Tacoma Youth Symphony select small ensembles Jan 11, 2022, at 7:00pm in Slavonian Hall
By Pamela Butler Ryker on Friday, December 31, 2021 0 comments
December 14 : Annual Wine & Song Benefit: Accordion and Seasonal Sing-Along!
Tuesday, December 14, 2021
at Old St Peter’s Church,
2910 N Starr Street in Old Town Tacoma
Lyle Schaefer on Accordion! Our Voices in Song!
Lyle Schaefer, accordion |
At 7:00pm, join us for music and singing at Old St Peter’s Church in Old Town Tacoma, 2910 N. Starr St., Tacoma, Wash.
$25 ticket includes gift coupon packet
Sold at: Old Town Wine Skins, 2208 N 30th St, Tacoma (253-267-5325)
or at door (only 50 seats available!)
Please come prepared:
Welcome back! Come prepared to show proof of vaccination (a photo on your phone will do the trick) and wearing a mask.
A maximum of 50 guests will be seated in the pews, spread out at appropriate distance so we are all comfortable and confident of our health safety.
By Pamela Butler Ryker on Monday, November 22, 2021 0 comments
Filed under: concerts
Great write-up in The News Tribune/Great performance by Trio Guadalevin
On November 9, we were enthralled by Trio Guadalevin's colorful, heart-warming music - and insights into some historical origins of the music. Our thanks to Trio Guadalevin members Tony Gomez (on panderos, cajĆ³n, teponaztli, jarana and additional percussion), Abel Rocha (on voice, harp, jarana, guitar, quinta) and Gus Denhard (on baroque guitar, oud, jarana, theorbo and vihuela), and collaborator Ke Guo (voice, harp, and dizi).
A video of the October string quartet concert and a write-up of the Classical Tuesdays series ran in The News Tribune and the TNT's blog, and Q13 FOX played a video on their morning local news segment.
You might enjoy reading and listening to these items - you just may learn something about our series that you hadn't heard before!
By Pamela Butler Ryker on Monday, November 22, 2021 0 comments
Filed under: video
Nov 9, 7:00pm Classical Tuesdays: A Musical Trip from Spain to Mexico
Next on our calendar! Classical Tuesdays is excited to feature Trio Guadalevin for our gathering on November 9, 7:00pm in Slavonian Hall, Old Town Tacoma. Because word is out that the series is live in Slav Hall, we recommend that you pre-register – by mailing prryker@gmail.com. Again, we will ask for proof of vaccination and that you all wear a mask during the event. Arrive by 6:50 to claim your seat.
Join TrĆo GuadalevĆn for a musical journey that will travel from Spain/the Mediterranean to Veracruz, La Huasteca and the Pacific coast of Mexico, with novel arrangements shaped from son huasteco, baroque melodies, son jarocho, Sephardic Jewish balladry, Zapotec songs and more.
Tony, Abel, Gus |
Many instruments and sonorities new to our experience will be heard! The trio features Abel Rocha (voice, harp, jarana, guitar, quinta) with Gus Denhard (baroque guitar, oud, jarana, theorbo and vihuela) and Antonio GĆ³mez (panderos, cajĆ³n, teponaztli, jarana and additional percussion).
This concert debuts a new collaboration with Ke Guo, (voice, harp, dizi) which harks back to the Manila-Acapulco trade route that connected China with Mexico, by way of the Philippines. A student of Spain's Paco Diez, Ms. Guo will also perform a selection of Sephardic Jewish music.
Ke Guo, voice, harp, dizi |
By Pamela Butler Ryker on Wednesday, October 27, 2021 0 comments
Video of the October 12 String Quartets in Slavonian Hall, Old Town
Thanks to our fabulous string players and socially distanced audience! It was wonderful to bring Puget Sound musicians to a live audience again.
In 2021-22, Classical Tuesdays is delighted to host a hybrid season of live concerts and video. Below is the video of this performance on YouTube. The video is also on Facebook.
Performed by
Maria Sampen and Svend Ronning, violin
Timothy Christie, viola and Alistair MacRae, cello
Program
Boulogne, Joseph, Chevalier de Saint-Georges ………. Quartet No. 5 in G major
I. Allegro Assai
II. Gratioso
Haydn, Joseph……. Quartet Op. 74, No. 3; “Apponyi, The Horseman (‘Rider’)”
I. Allegro
II. Largo assai
III. Minuet. Allegretto
IV. Finale. Allegro con brio
Prokofiev, Sergey…………………Quartet No. 2, Op. 92 (1941)
I. Allegro sostenuto
II. Adagio—Poco piu animato—Poco meno—Tempo I
III. Allegro—Pochissimo meno—Tempo I—Andante molto—Quasi Allegro I, ma un poco piu tranquillo
By Pamela Butler Ryker on Tuesday, October 26, 2021 0 comments
Filed under: video
Program for October's String Quartets
October 12, 2021 in Slavonian Hall, Old Town Tacoma
String Quartets
Performed by
Maria Sampen and Svend Ronning, violin
Timothy Christie, viola and Alistair MacRae, cello
Program
Boulogne,
Joseph, Chevalier de Saint-Georges ………. Quartet No. 5 in G
major
I.
Allegro Assai
II. Gratioso
Haydn, Joseph……. Quartet Op. 74, No. 3; “Apponyi, The Horseman (‘Rider’)”
- I. Allegro
- II. Largo assai
- III Minuet.
Allegretto
- IV Finale.
Allegro con brio
Prokofiev,
Sergey…………………Quartet No. 2, Op. 92 (1941)
- I.
Allegro sostenuto
- II.
Adagio—Poco piu animato—Poco
meno—Tempo I
- III. Allegro—Pochissimo meno—Tempo I—Andante molto—Quasi Allegro I, ma un poco piu tranquillo
This evening’s performers:
Timothy Christie, Violinist and violist, enjoys a multifaceted
career as performer, teacher, public speaker and recording artist. He is the
Founder and Artistic Director of the Walla Walla Chamber Music
Festival (WWCMF). He
is on the faculty of the Community Music Department at the University of Puget
Sound in Tacoma, WA, and is a member of IRIS
Orchestra in Memphis, TN and Brave
New Works. Christie regularly collaborates with Third
Coast Percussion, Spektral Quartet, PRISM Quartet, PROJECT Trio, Sybarite5,
Turtle Island Quartet, the Harlem Quartet, The Westerlies. He can be heard on
recordings of William Bolcom’s Piano Quintet and William Albright’s Clarinet
Quintet on AMP Records.
Christie earned dual undergraduate degrees in
Music and English Literature at the University of Michigan, and a Master of
Music degree, also from U of M.
Cellist Alistair MacRae is the Cordelia
Wikarski-Miedel Artist in Residence at University of Puget Sound School of
Music and the cellist of the Puget Sound
Piano Trio. He has appeared as a soloist, chamber
musician, and orchestral principal throughout North America and in Europe,
Asia, South America, and the Middle East. He is Principal Cello of the
Princeton Symphony Orchestra and also performs with his wife, soprano Allison
Pohl, in the voice and cello duo Soprello. In addition, he is a member of the
Artist Faculty at the Brevard Music Center. Alistair’s playing has been praised
for its "rich sound and lyrical phrasing" (Palm Beach Daily News) and
his performances have been featured in radio broadcasts across the United
States on WQXR, WWFM, WDAV, WCQS, KING FM, and Vermont Public Radio.
Svend RĆønning, violinist, is Chair of the String Division at
Pacific Lutheran University and
Professor of Music. Dr. RĆønning a native of the Pacific Northwest, holds a
degree in violin performance from PLU, and the Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from Yale University. He is Concertmaster of Symphony
Tacoma, and performs frequently as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician and
recording artist. Dr. RĆønning is Artistic Director of the Second City Chamber
Series. He has appeared at Aspen, Eastern,
Harkness, Jerusalem, Methow, Pacific, Rhode Island, Spoleto and
Wintergreen Music festivals and served as Concertmaster of
the Charlottesville Symphony, the San Jose Symphony, the Spoleto
U.S.A. Chamber Orchestra, and the Tacoma Opera Orchestra. As
soloist, he has appeared with numerous orchestras, including
the Charlottesville Symphony, the Prague Radio Symphony, Orchestra
Seattle, and Symphony Tacoma.
Maria Sampen, violinist, performs both standard
repertoire and new experimental works, including concertos, concerts and
masterclasses, in Europe, Asia, Canada and throughout the United States. Dr.
Sampen has commissioned and premiered recent concertos and chamber works by
composers David Glenn, Marilyn Shrude, Robert Hutchinson, and by Marcos Balter,
Andrew Mead, Robert Morris, Nico Muhly and Forrest Pierce. She performed solo
recitals and masterclasses at the Sichuan Conservatory in Chengdu, China and recently
performed Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante and the premiere of David Glenn’s
“Romantic Rhapsody on Themes of Mozart” with the Walla Walla Symphony,
performances with the Turtle Island Quartet in Seattle and as a featured
chamber musician at the Icicle Creek Summer Chamber Music Institute and the
Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival. She has been featured as a soloist on KING
FM and other public radio stations across the country and has released
recordings on AMP Records, Block M Records and Perspectives in New Music/Open
Space. In addition to her work as a soloist, Sampen concertizes frequently with
her new music group, Brave New Works, as well as the IRIS Orchestra of
Tennessee, and the Puget Sound Piano Trio.
Classical Tuesdays’ next event: November 9
at 7:00pm in Slavonian Hall and virtual
Trio
Guadalevin with guest artist Guo Ke for a musical journey from Spain to Mexico!
By Pamela Butler Ryker on Monday, October 11, 2021 0 comments
Filed under: concerts
October 12: String Quartet! Live and Virtual
Tuesday October 12th at 7:00pm,
join us in Slavonian Hall, Old Town Tacoma for
An evening of string quartets
performed by
Maria Sampen and Svend Ronning, violins;
Tim Christie, viola; and
Alistair MacRae, cello.
Classical Tuesdays will be live, in person, in Old Town and a video will be available later on YouTube and Facebook.
For the in-person audience:
Welcome back! Come prepared to show proof of vaccination (a photo on your phone will do the trick) and wearing a mask.
We will set out a maximum of 49 chairs spread out at appropriate distance so we are all comfortable and confident of our health safety.
As much as we have enjoyed our intermissions over these many years – getting to know each other and the musicians – we will not take an intermission and will not serve coffee. Let’s play it safe so that we can enjoy this and many more live performances!
By Pamela Butler Ryker on Sunday, October 03, 2021 0 comments
Filed under: concerts
September 14: Clan Gordon celebrates Old Town Tacoma
To open our 2021-22 season, the Clan Gordon Pipe Band helped us celebrate the Old Town neighborhood and Old Town businesses that support the Classical Tuesdays series of musical events. The pipers played traditional folk tunes and dances for patrons gathered at Connelly Law Offices, Ginkgo Winery, The Spar, and Old Town Wine Skins - all businesses on North 30th Street.
By Pamela Butler Ryker on Wednesday, September 15, 2021 0 comments
Videos of Classical Tuesdays 2020-21 season on YouTube & Facebook
Many thanks to Tacoma Creates, Old Town Tacoma's Connelly Law Offices, Ted Brown Music, and many individual sponsors for sustaining Classical Tuesdays through the challenging 2020-21 season. And thanks to you, our audience, for your unwavering support! We were able to bring you a full season through Zoom, Youtube, and Facebook. In fact, because of the pandemic we have a lovely cache of videos for your further enjoyment!
Below are the 2020-21 season's videos, with links to fuller information on each event.
May 2021 - Elizabeth CD Brown performs
Music for healing and comfort
Performing on lute, baroque guitar, original 19th century guitar and modern classical guitar, PLU Guitar and Lute faculty member Elizabeth CD Brown brings us a program based around the themes of healing and comfort, in response to the pain and stress we have experienced in the last year. Featuring music by Thomas Flippin, including a brief introduction by Thomas himself, as well as music by John Dowland, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, Fernando Sor, Justin Holland, and Ida Presti. Recorded by Paul Brown.
More on Elizabeth and her performanceMarch 2021 - Songs for the Spring of Waiting
by Tacoma composer Greg Youtz and Tacoma Poet Laureate emerita Josie Emmons Turner
Tacoma Poet laureate emerita Josie Emmons Turner and composer Gregory Youtz discuss and then premiere “Songs for the Spring of Waiting.” Josie’s response to the pandemic shutdown of March 2020 was an explosion of poems that ranged from gardening to students to thinking about the poet Walt Whitman and his response to crisis. Greg’s response to the poems was to set them to music as documents of this unique time. Soprano CyndiaSieden, mezzo-soprano Soon Cho and pianist Oksana Ezhokina premiere the five songs in a way that is also a document of these times- socially distanced and online!
More on the performers and the event
February 2021 - Greg Youtz and Zhang Er discuss their opera about the expulsion of Chinese-Americans from Tacoma in 1885
Greg Youtz, composer and professor of music at Pacific Lutheran University, and Zhang Er, poet, librettist, and professor at The Evergreen State College, discuss their collaboration on a 2016 opera titled "Fiery Jade" that tells of the lives of women across time and around the world, struggling in times of upheaval. And now, in 2020-21, they have again collaborated to produce a second opera titled "Tacoma Method" which portrays the 1855 expulsion of Chinese laborers, businessmen and families from Tacoma, Washington.
More on the performers and the event
January 2021 - Pianist Joe Williams leads
A Guided Music-Meditation
Pianist Joe Williams showcased Tacoma’s Black arts community in a meditation of music, dance and poetry intended to foster reflection during the hard times of the pandemic. Recorded at the Lakewold Gardens January 2021 by Joe, dancer Celeste Reed, and videographer/producer Serena Berry.
More on the performers and the event
December 2020 - Srivani Jade leads a Classical Tuesdays concert honoring Diwali, India's Festival of Lights
This was our annual benefit evening in support of Classical Tuesdays in Old Town Tacoma. Our theme this year was the celebration of love and light, featuring performances from the Puget Sound region and Hyderabad, India, by Satyajit Limaye on bamboo flute, Ashim Bhaumik on Baul vocals, Rahul Deshpande (Harmonium), Manoj Biswas (Tabla drums), and Srivani Jade (Classical Vocals).
More on the performers and the event
November 2020 - Violinist Maria Sampen Previews the Future of Classical Music
Maria Sampen, Professor of Violin at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, performs a concert of the classical music of our times, including music of women composers and composers of color. Accompanied by pianist Isabella Jie.
More on the performers and the event
October 2020 - Torch and Scott Kolbo present a Multimedia Event
This live multimedia Zoom event was not fully captured on video, but the trailer is on Vimeo:
Each season, Classical Tuesdays features a “new music” event by Northwest musicians. This performance provided colorful sounds from Torch layered with story-telling and visuals in Scott Kolbo’s video “Passages: A Fable in Six Cycles”.More on the performers and the event
September 2020 - Steel Pan Performance at Chinese Reconciliation Park
Classical Tuesdays hosted Steel Pan performing the music of Trinidad. Led by Miho Takekawa, the group performed several selections outdoors in Tacoma’s Chinese Reconciliation Park.
More on the performers and the event
By Pamela Butler Ryker on Tuesday, May 11, 2021 0 comments
May 18: Elizabeth CD Brown: Music for healing and comfort
Music for healing and comfort
Performing on lute, baroque guitar, original 19th century guitar and modern classical guitar, PLU Guitar and Lute faculty member Elizabeth CD Brown brings us a program based around the themes of healing and comfort, in response to the pain and stress we have experienced in the last year. Featuring music by Thomas Flippin, including a brief introduction by Thomas himself, as well as music by John Dowland, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, Fernando Sor, Justin Holland, and Ida Presti.
Elizabeth's Bio:
Elizabeth CD Brown, lutenist, guitarist
A
specialist in standard classical guitar as well as various early guitars and
lutes, Elizabeth C. D. Brown is a very active performer in the
United States. Highlights from recent seasons include being a featured soloist
at the Northwest Guitar Festival, performing concertos by Vivaldi and Sierra
and premiering a new work for guitar and orchestra with the Seattle Symphony.
She has performed in operas by Purcell, Blow, Paisiello, Rossini and Verdi, as
well as all of Monteverdi's surviving operatic works. Elizabeth's first solo
recording, La Folia de EspaƱa: Dances for Guitar, features works
for baroque, 19th century, and modern guitars, and has been praised for its
"...apparently effortless ease." (Lute News, UK) She is also featured
in the recording Dolce Desio as a member of the early music
trio Le Nuove Musiche, and in the recording Navidad: Christmas in the
New World with Seattle Pro Musica. Her second solo recording, In
Her Honor, includes music from the Princess [Queen] Anne Guitarbook and the
Elisabeth of Hesse Lutebook, as well as her own arrangements of works
by Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre. An enthusiastic advocate for the
guitar and lute, Elizabeth has given numerous outreach performances at schools,
senior centers, and community centers for the Seattle Classic Guitar Society
and the Early Music Seattle, as well as by arrangement while on tour. She is
head of the Guitar and Lute program at Pacific Lutheran University, and has
taught at Cornish College of the Arts and Seattle Pacific University. See
her on YouTube at www.youtube.com/user/ElizabethCDBrown or
for more information visit: www.elizabethcdbrown.com
By Pamela Butler Ryker on Monday, May 10, 2021 0 comments
Filed under: concerts, performers, video
Premiere: Songs for the Spring of Waiting will be available for our listening March 16
Available from March 16 onward, we welcome the premiere of songs reflecting our reactions to the Covid-19 pandemic, Watch for the posting at YouTube.com/classicaltuesdays
Join Tacoma Poet laureate emerita Josie Emmons Turner and
composer Gregory Youtz as they discuss and then premiere “Songs for the Spring
of Waiting.” Josie’s response to the
pandemic shutdown a year ago was an explosion of poems that ranged from
gardening to students to thinking about the poet Walt Whitman and his response
to crisis. Greg’s response to the poems was to set them to music as documents
of this unique time. Soprano CyndiaSieden, mezzo-soprano Soon Cho and pianist Oksana Ezhokina will premiere the
five songs in a way that is also a document of these times- socially distanced
and online!
Cyndia Sieden, soprano |
Oksana Ezhokina, piano |
Soon Cho, mezzo soprano |
Gregory Youtz, composer |
By Pamela Butler Ryker on Sunday, February 28, 2021 0 comments
Classical Tuesdays in Old Town Tacoma: a conversation between poet and composer
Our next Classical Tuesdays in Old Town Tacoma event, a conversation between 2 artists, is available from February 8 onward at https://www.YouTube.com/classicaltuesdays.
Listen in as Greg Youtz, composer and professor of music at Pacific Lutheran University, and Zhang Er, poet, librettist, and professor at The Evergreen State College, discuss their collaboration on creating an opera - or two!
Together they produced, in 2016, an opera titled "Fiery Jade" that tells of the lives of women across time and around the world, struggling in times of upheaval. And now, in 2020-21, they have again collaborated to produce a second opera titled "Tacoma Method" which portrays the 1855 expulsion of Chinese laborers, businessmen and families from Tacoma, Washington, led by the mayor. Perhaps our artists will discuss the recurrence of similar issues and events throughout history, especially as observed again in recent times. Zhang Er, poet, librettist
By Pamela Butler Ryker on Wednesday, February 03, 2021 0 comments
January 2021 video-concert: Pianist Joseph Williams and Friends
Learn more about Joe, Celeste, and Serena here.
Joe's program includes music by 15 living composers! Below are links to help you explore the composers:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosamon...
- https://marivalverde.com/
- https://www.ahmedalabaca.com/
- https://www.inticomposes.com/bio.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigran_...
- https://music.amazon.co.uk/artists/B0...
- http://www.mariacorley.com/
- https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-cult...
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_H...
- https://www.mcicomposers.com/kevin-da...
- Nkeiru Okoye - Dusk
- Deborah Anderson - selections from 12 Lullabies for Grandmother
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arvo_P%...
- http://www.shawnokpebholo.com/
- Steve Wallace - "II. The Tents of Kedar" from Piano Sonata #2 (Liberation of Royalty)
The video above may be found at:
https://www.youtube.com/user/classicaltuesdays and
https://www.facebook.com/classicaltues/
By Pamela Butler Ryker on Tuesday, January 19, 2021 0 comments
Filed under: video
Classical Tuesdays in Old Town Tacoma welcomes Pianist Joseph Williams Jan 2021
On January 19, 2021, Tacoma pianist Joseph Williams offers "a guided music-meditation".
Joe Williams, pianist |
Joe is assisted by dancer Celeste Reed; filming will take place at Lakewold Gardens with Serena Berry behind the camera.
Joe has performed at venues across the country, including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and abroad in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. He has performed on numerous series highlighting composers of African descent: Celebrating Art/ists of the African Diaspora curated by Dr. Lora-Ellen McKinney, 253 SOULfood sessions curated by Kellie Richardson, Sundae Sermon: A Celebration of Black Folks curated by Chevon Powell, Renaissance & Remembrance: A Musical Celebration of Black History curated by Stephanie Ann Ball, Opera... From a Sistah's Point of View curated by Angela Brown, and Let the Strings Speak Love curated by Mona Terry & Lesa Terry. In 2017, he was invited to perform at Gateways Music Festival in Rochester, NY. This beautiful organization connects and supports professional classical musicians of African descent and enlightens and inspires communities through the power of performance. He is a member of the International Society for Black Musicians.
In 2020, Williams was honored to produce a docu-concert featuring pianist and scholar Dr. William Chapman Nyaho. This film explores Nyaho’s most recent album “Kete” as well as his monumental 5 volume anthology “Piano Music from Africa and the African Diaspora.” Featured contributors include Music Teachers National Association President Martha Hilley and distinguished scholar Dr. Kofi Agawu, among others. He then served as creative director for “A Long Way from Home,” a docu-concert examining the subject of African-American spirituals in an art song context. He appears in “Still Dreaming: Frances Walker at 93,” a documentary which chronicles the life of his beloved late mentor, legendary pianist Frances Walker-Slocum. He is a juror for the 2021 Seattle Black Film Festival.
SERENA BERRY is an award winning independent filmmaker and producer from Tacoma, Washington. She holds a BA in Communications from the University of Washington-Tacoma. Serena has been working in independent cinema Pacific Northwest for nearly a decade. Her debut short film Shards was shown at HollyShorts Film Festival and won Best Narrative Short at the Synimatica Short Film Festival. Before penning Shards she worked as a freelance producer for PBS affiliate KCTS9 as well as multiple projects for Puget Sound non-profits organizations such as the Museum of Glass, America’s Car Museum and the Hilltop Artist Program . Her goal has always been to create stories that often don’t get told about real people.
CELESTE REED is an artist native to Tacoma, Washington. She is a dancer, performer, and teacher. Her earliest years of formal dance are influenced by the YMCA and Tacoma School of the Arts. In 2018, Reed earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Modern Dance from the University of Utah. Reed is passionate about the moving body--its functionality and beauty--and its political position in society. She is also deeply interested in the healing powers of movement. This year you might find her teaching dance to Tacoma youth and making work with her fellow creatives. You might also find her dancing in her yard or at a park or on a sidewalk, just because it feels good to move. You'll never find her eating an orange.
A video recording of Joe's Classical Tuesdays performance will be available January 19, 2021 onwards. at:
www.youtube.com/classicaltuesdays and
www.facebook.com/classicaltues/
By Pamela Butler Ryker on Monday, January 04, 2021 0 comments
Filed under: concerts
Classical Tuesdays in Old Town Tacoma celebrated Love & Light Dec 2020
In December Classical Tuesdays celebrated Diwali, India's Festival of Lights! With songs and instrumental music by Srivani Jade and friends, performing live from the Puget Sound region and India!
This was our annual benefit evening in support of the Classical Tuesdays in Old Town Tacoma series of free musical events. Our theme this year was the celebration of love and light, featuring performances by:- Satyajit Limaye on bamboo flute
- Ashim Bhaumik on Baul vocals
- Rahul Deshpande (Harmonium)
- Manoj Biswas (Tabla drums)
- Srivani Jade (Classical Vocals).
By Pamela Butler Ryker on Saturday, January 02, 2021 0 comments
Filed under: video