Thank you to everyone who was part of the Classical Tuesdays 2011 Wine & Song Benefit! As always, we had a wonderful audience, dedicated volunteers, and generous support from local businesses and residents.
Tacoma photographer Dayton Knipher has generously shared her photos of the event. Below are soprano Christina Kowalski, tenor Gino Lucchetti, pianist Denes Van Parys, and our beautiful venue, the John Connelly Law Offices.
The Volcano recommends...
... that you come out tonight for our Wine & Song Benefit Concert!
Events - We Recommend...
Tuesday, Dec. 13: Classical Tuesdays Wine & Song Benefit
By Volcano Staff on December 7, 2011
This year's Classical Tuesdays Wine & Song Benefit in Old Town Tacoma will feature "American Arias and songs from operas, musicals and movies," according to the press release. It will also - more importantly - feature soprano Christina Kowalski and tenor Gino Lucchetti accompanied by pianist Denes Van Parys - doling out tunes by Gian Carlo Menotti, Bernard Herman, Samuel Barber, Oscar Hammerstein and others. This annual event benefits the free Classical Tuesdays in Old Town chamber music series.
American Arias and Songs from Operas, Musicals and Movies are the theme of this year's Classical Tuesdays Wine & Song Benefit.
Lyric soprano Christina Kowalski and tenor Gino Lucchetti (back by popular demand!) will be accompanied by pianist and raconteur Denes Van Parys (also welcomed back!) in songs by Gian Carlo Menotti, Bernard Hermann, Samuel Barber, Oscar Hammerstein and others.
Tickets:
Tickets are $25. This is our annual fundraising concert benefiting the free Classical Tuesdays In Old Town chamber music series. Following the performance, guests are invited to mingle and enjoy wine and hors d’oeuvres.
To reserve your seats, drop by Bay View Optical or The Spar Coffee Shop, both on 30th Street in Old Town, or call Pamela at 253-752-2135. There are no online sales for this event.
When and where:
The Wine & Song Benefit will be held at 7pm on December 13, at the handsomely refurbished Connelly Law Offices at 2301 N. 30th Street in Old Town.
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| photos by Jim Robbins |
Thanks to The Volcano for including the Classical Tuesdays November 8 concert as one of 5 Things To Do Tonight.
We appear to score somewhere below the bare-chested young men of the Twilight series.... With such competition, we appreciate the mention!
5. Classical Tuesdays in Old Town: The Manette Trio will perform Beethoven, Mozart, Kodaly and Dohnanyi as part of Classical Tuesdays inside the Slavonian Hall in Old Town Tacoma.
Thanks to our new neighbors, South Sound Magazine, for highlighting the Old Town District's lion dance and Classical Tuesdays' first concert of 2011-12! South Sound Magazine just moved to Old Town a few months ago, and we're delighted to welcome them to the district.
More information on the events:
Chinese Concert & Lion Dance on October 11
We would like to post a few good photos of the lion dance and the concert, and South Sound Magazine may also be able to use one or two photos. If you have photos to share, please drop us an email.
Last week, TV Tacoma's CityLine featured Classical Tuesdays Artistic Director Pamela Ryker along with segments on the Tacoma Film Festival and the Fall Free For All. CityLine is great to work with, and we're enjoying hearing from those of you who've already seen the episode.
If you missed the show last week, you can still catch it online or on cable:
Tomorrow night, we're delighted to both open the Classical Tuesdays 2011-12 season and also honor the Chinese Reconciliation Project and the newly-dedicated Fuzhou Ting. Friday's News Tribune gave a good description:
Chinese music program honors new park
By Rosemary Ponnekanti on October 7, 2011
With the Chinese Reconciliation Park just opened at the Old Town Tacoma waterfront, Tacoma has finally taken a step in throwing off its historically infamous relationship with its Chinese citizens, going some way toward apologizing for brutally evicting them in 1885. Next week, that step is honored further with a free concert of classical Chinese music in Old Town’s Slavonian Hall, preceded by an outdoor lion dance through Old Town.
The concert and dance are part of the seventh season of the Classical Tuesdays series, a free series of classical concerts presented by the Old Town business district that often goes out of the box: Upcoming concerts include a string trio, the annual opera aria fundraiser, a Tacoma composer and a medieval vocal consort.
This Tuesday kicks off with the U.S. China Music Ensemble led by Warren Chang, a Seattle-based orchestra of traditional Chinese instruments like erhu, pipa, dizi and guzheng blending to create that shimmery Asian soundscape.
October 11th, 2011, kicks off our seventh season of Classical Tuesdays in Old Town! We'll feature four widely varied free concerts, plus our annual benefit concert. The line-up is:
October 11 Chinese Concert & Lion Dance
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| Pipa |
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| Erhu |
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| Guzheng |
We hope to see you tomorrow, February 8, for our final concert of the season! It's nice to end with a bang, so we're doubly glad to be among The News Tribune's Critic's Pick:
Critic's Picks: William Wolfram piano at UPS, African American history portraits, Classical Tuesdays in Old Town and Garrison Keilor at the Pantages
By Rosemary Ponnekanti on February 4, 2011
Classical Tuesday features “Expanded Sounds”
This month’s Classical Tuesday in Old Town will expand your listening ears with contemporary classical music for electric guitar, marimba, flute, voice and electronics. 7 p.m. Feb. 8. Free. Slavonian Hall, 2306 N. 30th St., Tacoma. 253-752-2135, classicaltuesdays.blogspot.com
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| Jasper Tollefson |
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| Miho Takekawa |
Despite the weather, Classical Tuesdays had a lovely evening with the Tacoma Youth Symphony chamber ensembles. Thanks to The News Tribune for a nice tribute to our young performers:
Free Arts Month: youthful chamber music in a snowy Old Town
By Rosemary Ponnekanti on January 11, 2011
You could almost believe you were in Europe – listening to Haydn and Handel before walking outside into a snowy street. Tonight was a concert in the Classical Tuesdays in Old Town series, free shows in Slavonian Hall on North 30th Street that range from really new percussion compositions to saxophone quartets and baroque lute songs. Tonight’s concert showcased the young musicians in the Tacoma Youth Symphony Association, in particular their wind and string principals as they combined in various permutations to make chamber music.
It wasn't a professional concert, unlike some fantastic ones the Classical Tuesdays folk have put together. But it’s a learning experience for these fine young musicians – playing chamber music is like having an erudite, enthusiastic conversation where everyone speaks at once and yet you’re listening to what everyone’s saying. It’s hard to do well, but these teenagers achieved some graceful moments, from the opening Haydn string quartet (rather solemn) to the pleasant woodwind quartet and lush string quintet by Spaniard Joaquin Turina. Violinists Jonathan Galle and Ana Campo shone, as did cellist Wesley Newsome; and there was a rocking bass quartet playing with deadpan deliberation and great intonation (which is difficult, as I know from many personal experiences.)
And then, of course, all that beautiful snow…
Tonight Classical Tuesdays is proud to present the Tacoma Youth Symphony Association's chamber players. See the Tacoma Weekly for some great photos of our young performers.
It's looking wintry outside, so join us for a cozy night with delightful chamber music and delicious coffee, cocoa, and cookies!
When and where:
Tuesday, Jan. 11th, 2011, at 7 pm, FREE.
Slavonian Hall, 2306 N. 30th St., Old Town Tacoma
Info here or (253)752-2135
Thanks to all who came out for our 2010 Wine & Song benefit concert! The "Romantic Arias" theme was an instant favorite, and the reception was lovely as always, thanks to our wonderful volunteers.
Tacoma photographer Dayton Knipher was kind enough to provide photos of the event. Below are soprano Alexandra Picard, baritone Charles Robert Stephens, and pianist Denes Van Parys in the handsome John Connelly Law Offices.
The Weekly Volcano says to come down to Old Town for tonight's benefit concert!
5 Things to Do Today
1. "Wine & Song" - what more could you want from a Tuesday evening? Check out Classical Tuesdays in Old Town Tacoma tonight for the annual Wine & Song benefit, welcoming Alexandra Picard and baritone Charles Robert Stephens for what's being billed as an evening of "Romantic Arias."
Curious about next Tuesday's Wine & Song benefit concert? The Tacoma Weekly has a preview:
Romantic Arias
By Dawn Quinn, TacomaWeekly.com
December 09, 2010
Annual holiday opera concert to benefit Classical Tuesdays
October through February, the Classical Tuesdays in Old Town series offers free classical concerts the second Tuesday night of each month. Though the program is put on in part through grants from the Tacoma Arts Commission and local businesses, in order to keep the program going every year it too needs some help. Enter the fourth annual benefit “Wine and Song,” which will be taking place Dec. 14 in Old Town. ...
The 2010 benefit theme is “Romantic Arias.” Featured artists will be soprano Alexandra Picard and baritone Charles Robert Stephens (who has sung for the series on a number of occasions). Denes Van Parys will accompany both on piano.
“Charles Stevens has sung with us a few times in the past and we love him,” Ryker said. “He has a wonderful baritone voice and used to sing with the New York City Opera and then moved to the Northwest. We see his name often now in programs around here and with the Seattle Opera as well. Alexandra Picard spends half the year in Vienna and half in Seattle; her career is really taking off for a young soprano.” ...
The annual Wine and Song benefit will take place Dec. 14 at 7 p.m. at John Connelly Law Offices, located at 2301 N. 30th St. in Old Town. Tickets are on sale now for $25 at Bayview Optical, 2217 N. 30th St., or The Spar coffee shop. All proceeds go toward funding the Classical Tuesdays In Old Town series for next year. For more information, call (253) 752-2135 or visit http://classicaltuesdays.blogspot.com.
Tickets are now available for December's Wine & Song event "Romantic Arias." Visit Bayview Optical at 2217 N. 30th, Suite 106 or The Spar Coffee Shop at 2121 N. 30th, both in Old Town, to purchase tickets (at $25 each, to benefit the series), or call (253) 752-2135.
A $25 ticket admits you to a festive evening of great arias, tasty food and wines, and neighborly conviviality at the handsome John Connelly Law Offices, 2301 N. 30th Street.
Join us Tuesday, November 9th, as Classical Tuesdays presents an evening of strings!
The Tacoma Weekly has a nice feature on our concert. One correction to the article: November's concert will be at the Slavonian Hall.
Held on the second Tuesday of each month from October to February, the informal concert series seeks to engage listeners in a dialogue with musicians while creating a strong sense of community. ...
The series kicked off on Oct. 12 with a concert by world-renowned Native American flutist Gary Stroutsos, and returns again on Nov. 9 in a performance by a string quartet comprised of violinists Maria Sampen and Jennifer Caine, violist Timothy Christie and cellist Sally Singer.
Sampen and Christie are both faculty members at University of Puget Sound, while Caine and Singer are members of the faculty at Icicle Creek Music Center in Leavenworth. The four will be performing “Leyendas: an Andean Walkabout” by Gabriela Frank, a contemporary American composer. Several movements and vignettes will reflect Frank’s Peruvian heritage and travels.
Classical Tuesdays' next concert on Tuesday, November 9th is a News Tribune Critic's Pick!
The Classical Tuesdays in Old Town series this month features a UPS faculty-based string quartet playing Gabriela Frank’s “Legends,” a composition reflecting her heritage and travels.
"inspiration from the idea [that] cultures can coexist without the subjugation of one by the other. As such, this piece mixes elements from the western classical and Andean folk music traditions."
Tonight's Classical Tuesdays concert is the Weekly Volcano's #1 pick!
5 Things To Do Today: Where it comes and where it goes
October 12, 2010
1. Classical Tuesdays in Old Town presents a free concert tonight of Native American Flute performed by Gary Stroutsos, whose music was showcased in the Ken Burns PBS documentary, Lewis and Clark: Journey of the Corps of Discovery. Stroutsos will perform at 7 p.m. inside the Slavonian Hall in Tacoma.
The News Tribune highlights Classical Tuesdays' first concert of the 2010-2011 season!
Native American flute at first Old Town Tuesdays concert
By Rosemary Ponnekanti
October 4, 2010
The Classical Tuesdays in Old Town concert series is a little-known gem: free midweek concerts in Tacoma’s Old Town that feature unusual local musicians and music. The season opener next Tuesday night is Gary Stroutsos on Native American flutes.
Stroutsos, a Greek-Italian American, has collaborated with some of the finest Native artists around, including Navajo flute maker Paul Thompson, and has played and retold traditional stories on ancient and modern flutes for 30 years. His music was showcased in the score for Ken Burns’ PBS documentary “Lewis and Clark: Journey of the Corps of Discovery,” and at a subsequent command performance at the White House for President Bill Clinton. He has released over 20 recordings.
Stroutsos plays at Classical Tuesdays 7 p.m. Oct. 12. Free. Slavonian Hall, 2306 N. 30th St., Tacoma. 253-752-2135, classicaltuesdays.blogspot.com
www.garystroutsos.com
October 12th kicks off our sixth season of Classical Tuesdays in Old Town! We'll feature four widely varied free concerts and our annual benefit concert:
October 12
Gary Stroutsos: The Enduring Legacy of the Native American Flute
Join us tomorrow, February 9th, at 7pm for the last Classical Tuesdays concert of the season!
The Tacoma Weekly describes our performers, the Miho and Diego Duo:
Miho & Diego Duo has been boldly blending Latin and Japanese musical traditions since 2006. Both accomplished musicians in their own right, Miho Takekawa and Diego Coy came together after years of admiring each other’s work and discovering that their sounds could be combined to make something genuinely new and unique.
Takekawa is a percussion lecturer at Pacific Lutheran University where she directs percussion and steel pan ensembles. She is also a doctoral candidate in percussion performance at the University of Washington, and is the Japan Tour Coordinator and Activities Liaison for the University of Washington School of Music.
Coy is from Santiago de Cali, Colombia. He is the former musical director of “Fundacion Viva La Musica” and “Fundacion Funmusica” in Cali, Colombia where he taught Colombian folk music and mastered the quena and the zampoña, and learned to hand make his own instruments....
For their Classical Tuesdays concert, besides performing their unique Japanese-South American duo selections, each performer will solo on his/her own instrument.
The final concert of the current season will feature Miho Takekawa and Diego Coy. To hear them is to love them and their music! They boldly blend Latin and Japanese musical traditions to make something genuinely new and unique. The Miho & Diego Duo has performed widely in Japan and the United States.
Miho is percussion lecturer at Pacific Lutheran University where she directs percussion and steel pan ensembles. She is also a doctoral candidate in percussion performance at the University of Washington, and is the Japan Tour Coordinator and Activities Liaison for the University of Washington School Of Music.
Diego Coy is from Santiago de Cali, Colombia. He is the former musical director of “Fundacion Viva La Musica” and “Fundacion Funmusica” in Cali, Colombia where he taught Colombian folk music and mastered the quena and the zampoña, and learned to handmake his own instruments.
Tuesday, Feb 9th, 7 pm, FREE.
Slavonian Hall, 2306 N. 30th St., Tacoma
Info: (253) 752-2135
Thank you to everyone involved in Tuesday's concert! The composers and the performers did Tacoma proud.
And thank you to the incredible crowd who came to listen! We so enjoyed sharing the evening with all of you, and the icing on the cake was all the great conversation between musicians and audience.
The next Classical Tuesdays event is February 9th. We'll keep you posted!
And, Yes!, Tacoma Arts Commission has renewed their financial support for Classical Tuesdays in Old Town for the coming season (our 6th!, and their 6th year of support!)
Our thanks to everyone, the many businesses in Old Town and TAC and our generous audience, for supporting chamber music in Old Town.
Happy New Year!
Rosemary Ponnekanti at The News Tribune gives a great description of the very "Tacoma" nature of tonight's concert:
this Tuesday, you can hear local composers played by local musicians in a classical music series that's one of Tacoma's hidden gems: Classical Tuesdays in Old Town.
Completely free, this monthly series often features unusual instruments or music, and this coming Tuesday is no exception. Music from five Tacoma composers will be on the program....
Tacoma has some great composers, and they don't often get a look-in on bigger programs. Thanks to the Old Town series, they're getting the attention they deserve.
Happy 2010! Let's celebrate Tacoma music!
Join us for a free concert January 12 at 7pm at our usual venue, the lovely Slavonian Hall. We'll feature chamber music by Tacoma composers, performed by several of Tacoma's finest musicians.
North End resident Deborah Anderson has written a quartet for four clarinets.
Clarinetist Cindy Renander will perform a solo piece for bass clarinet, Lone Wolf by Greg Youtz.
Lawrence Bradley will perform a clarinet solo by Lawrence Ebert.
Clarinetist Craig Rine will join flutist Pamela Ryker and marimba player Miho Takekawa in Trio by Rob Hutchinson.
Saxophonist Tracy Knoop will join percussionists Miho and Brian Yarkosky in a duo by Clem Reid.
Another couple of pieces will round out the celebration of Tacoma composers and Tacoma musicians.
Thanks to all of you, Tuesday’s Wine & Tango benefit was a great success! Every seat was filled and it was a festive evening.
Bertram Levy's Tangoheart Quartet played wonderfully. Their tango was sultry, at times melancholic, and entirely out of the ordinary.
We love the Connelly Law Offices’ beautiful space, with the lights reflecting off the marble and woodwork. It felt like an Old Town living room bedecked for the holidays!
This was truly a community event. The beautiful centerpiece on the reception table was donated by Ambrosia Florist. Martha Scoville set up a lovely reception, with the help of Chris Reynolds (who also, along with Laura Williamson, baked beautiful sweets), Kate Butler and Helen Amsbary. Nicki Tollefson donated tasty empanadas (Argentine pasties) made by Pampeana Empanadas. Kathy Manke, owner of The Spar, contributed the excellent Argentine wines. Todd and Jake brought the chairs over from Slavonian Hall; John Trueman washed and delivered wine glasses; and Jack Connelly prepared the space for our set-up. And it was all videotaped by Bea Geller. (Check out the video of last year's "Opera in Old Town" on YouTube.)
Thank you to everyone for an evening of great music, excellent wines and foods, and warm community! See you at the January and February Classical Tuesdays in Old Town concerts.
Ron Swarner at The Volcano has come up with the perfect antidote to rush hour and road rage: tonight's Classical Tuesdays benefit concert featuring Tangoheart!
Traffic congestion in Old Town Tacoma after quitting time is no fun — especially when a train is added. Instead of the road rage you're bound to encounter, wouldn't you rather just tango? The folks behind Classical Tuesdays in Old Town are betting you would, which are why they're hosting the TangoHeart Quartet as the main attraction for their benefit concert Tuesday. Led by Bertram Levy, the quartet dedicates their lives to performing the music of Astor Piazzolla and the classic orchestrations of the golden age of tango.
The reception for Tuesday’s concert will showcase Old Town gems. The Spar and Cafe Divino are donating the wines. Proprietress Nancy Oltman of Pampeana will provide the empanadas. The coffee will be donated by Old Town Starbucks.
The Tacoma Weekly gives a perfect description of tomorrow's tango-themed benefit concert:
a full evening of rousing music, tasty treats and convivial conversation for just $25 a ticket.
As artistic director of Tangoheart Quartet and a regular visitor to Argentina, Levy has spent more than a decade collecting and transcribing the classic orchestrations of tango....
An accomplished bandoneon player, which gives tango music its unique sound, Levy is one of the few musicians outside of Argentina to add this traditional accordion-type instrument to his tango musical ensemble. Levy and the Tangoheart players present not the stylized, overly dramatic caricature of tango seen in Hollywood films, but rather the elaborate and sophisticated conversation between two dancers that is the real tango... an art form with a history similar to that of American jazz.
Next Tuesday's Argentine tango benefit concert is a News Tribune Critic's Pick:
Old Town TangoMore on the event here.
This year’s Classical Tuesdays in Old Town Series benefit concert features the TangoHeart quartet, with wine and empanadas reception. 7 p.m. Dec. 8. $25. Connelly Law Offices, 2301 N. 30th St., Tacoma. Tickets from Bayview Optical (2217 N. 30th St.) and The Spar (2121 No. 30th St.)
Posted By Rosemary Ponnekanti on December 4, 2009
Tickets for the December 8 "Wine & Tango" benefit are available now at two Old Town locations!
Stop in at Bayview Optical or at the coffee shop at The Spar. Both shops are located on 30th Street. Tickets at $25 each are your passport to a lovely evening of Argentine tango, wine and empanadas.
Once again this year, the benefit will be held in the Connelly Law Office's handsome wood and marble premises at 2301 N. 30th St.
We can't wait for Bertram Levy and his Tangoheart Quartet to guide us through the history of tango!
