2010-2011
Download 2010-2011 Season Brochure [~2MB] and Postcard [PDF ~0.3MB].
Jorge Miguel Flamenco Ensemble
Jorge Miguel Flamenco Ensemble
“Passion” is a word that applies to the latest work by Jorge Miguel, to the music and to his commitment to explore the roots of the tradition and to find within that depth the seeds of new possibilities for the ancient art of Flamenco.” — Jowi Taylor – CBC’s Global Village
Flamenco is one of the oldest forms of ‘world’ music inhabiting the contemporary performing arts- passionate, fatalistic music that has deep roots in Andalucía in southern Spain. It has three key elements- the guitar or ‘toque’, the song or ‘cante’ and the dance or ‘baile’. Jorge Miguel’s mission is to offer the flamenco tradition through the fingers, voice and feet of an ensemble committed to its authentic spirit. Jorge Miguel is a Spanish Canadian guitarist and composer from Toronto. His family comes from Cadiz, a city in the flamenco heartland and he has spent much time living and studying there. Flamenco is best learned from ‘the elders’ and Jorge’s teachers included some of the best- Carlos del Rio in Madrid, Augustin ‘Bola’ Carbonell in Seville and other veterans.
Jorge Miguel’s style of Flamenco is full contact, hard-core. This is the real thing. Alegrias, Bulerias, Tangos and Sevillanas, the traditional songs and dances passed down through the generations after hundreds of years of development and growth. The arpeggios, rasgueados and alzapua of the Flamenco guitar, the escobillas, zapateado and llamadas of the Flamenco dancers, the cante jondo and chico of the Flamenco song, and the palmas, castanets and percussion driving the complex compound rhythms.
To realize his vision Jorge has drawn from Toronto’s finest flamenco aficionados- singers who have immersed themselves in the tradition, and percussionists and bassists who are at home in many musical styles and bring Latin and jazz influences to the table as well as a deep knowledge of the flamenco ritmo. Flamenco is only partly about music. Flamenco without dance is like Andalucía without sun and Jorge works with several dancers trained in the best schools of Seville and Jerez, absorbing the tradition while grafting new shoots onto old roots. Together Jorge Miguel and associates create new music that both takes flamenco somewhere new and preserves its duende- an untranslatable Spanish word that means spirit or soul. Olé!
The Jorge Miguel Flamenco Ensemble is represented by Gary Cristall, Vancouver BC.
Showcase Performance
The Jorge Miguel Flamenco Ensemble will be performing at the Manitoba Arts Network Showcase Contact event on Saturday, October 17/09 in the Roxy Theatre in Neepawa, MB. Their performance will be during the final showcase, 7:30PM to 9:30PM.
Tour#2
Alessio Bax & Lucille Chung – One Piano Four Hands
Bax & Chung
“Theirs is a marriage of wondrous colours and dextrous aplomb, subtly balanced to make a musical performance sound as one” (Music and Arts, UK) and “Chung and Bax play memorably as one” (International Piano). These are just a few of the numerous quotes the international press has used to describe the Bax/Chung piano duo. Not very often two young and celebrated concert pianists get together on stage on a regular basis and build an extensive repertoire.
Alessio, Italian-born and Canadian permanent resident, is the First Prize Winner of the Leeds International Piano Competition and the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition and Montreal-born Lucille, is the First Prize Winner of the Stravinsky International Competition. Between themselves, they have performed with over 130 leading orchestras such as the London Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony, BBC National Orchestra under the direction of conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Charles Dutoit and Krzysztof Penderecki. As recitalists, they have performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, London’s Royal Festival Hall and Wigmore Hall, Washington’s Kennedy Center, and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall.
They met at the 1997 Hamamatsu Competition, and began a friendship that eventually led to their marriage in 2004. In 2003, the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival had the brilliant idea to put them together as a piano duo at the National Arts Centre NAC for their Piano Extravaganza, where their performance was hailed as “a lucid and deeply moving musical experience” (American Record Guide). Since then, the two-piano and piano-four-hand format has become an important addition to their solo careers. They have recently expended their repertoire to include the wonderful works for two pianos and orchestra of Bach, Mozart, Poulenc, Saint-Saëns and John Adams which they have performed with the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Irving Symphony Orchestra, South Dakota Symphony, New Philharmonic Orchestra, Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra, and EurOrchestra di Bari.
They have performed together on the world’s most prestigious platforms in the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Israel, Palestine, Korea, China, Barbados, Aruba, Guatemala, USA and Canada. Festival appearances include the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, the opening concert of the Chungmu Hall in Seoul, Korea, the Pau Casals, Castilla y Leon, Denia, Alicante, and Pamplona International Festivals in Spain, the Felicja Blumental Festival in Tel Aviv, the Lübecker Kammermusikfest in Germany, EurOrchestra Piano Festival in Italy, Ottawa Chamber Festival in Canada, Bravissimo Festival in Guatemala, Aruba International Piano Festival, the Bard Festival and Dakota Sky Festival in the US.
They recorded the complete works of György Ligeti for piano four hands as well as two pianos on the Dynamic label, which garnered the maximum R10 Classica from the French magazine Répertoire and 5 Stars from Fono Forum in Germany. They also released Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra under Miguel Harth-Bedoya and Michael York as narrator in 2006.
Their live broadcast performances of the Rachmaninov Suites and Stravinsky’s own astonishing four-hand version of his complete ballet Petrouchka on CBC/Radio-Canada, have established them as one of the most dynamic and brilliant young Canadian piano duos of their generation.
As committed educators at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and as co-artistic directors of the Joaquín Achúcarro Foundation, they know how important it is to nurture our future audiences and foster the local talent. As co-artistic directors, they organize 8-12 master classes a year at the local arts high school in Dallas and have created an international platform for young artists, by promoting recitals in Spain and the USA with the help of the Spanish Embassy and local consulates. Giving back has always been a priority in their lives and they feel fortunate to be doing this together as fellow partners in life and music. They have given master classes at reputable institutions such as New York University, the International Keyboard Festival at Mannes, Cornell University, University of Kansas in Wichita, Southern Methodist University and Texas Christian University, to name a few. They have also served together on juries of international piano competitions in North and South America.
They found that people tend to connect to them in a more immediate way as a duo couple. They identify with them first as individuals: woman and man, and then as a successful couple both personally and professionally. With the Bax/Chung duo, the concert becomes a unique experience, “a perfect combination and balance of unity of thought and individual personalities”, filled with their passion for music and zest for life.
Showcase Performance
Piano Duo Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung will be performing at the Organization of Saskatchewan Arts Councils’ Showcase event on Saturday, October 24/09 in the Theatre in the Living Sky Casino and Resort in Swift Current, SK. Their performance will be during the Saturday afternoon showcase at 2:25 PM.
Tour #3
Martha Guth, soprano and Tyler Duncan, baritone with Erika Switzer, piano
Martha Guth
Martha Guth, soprano
Soprano Martha Guth has been acclaimed for her “’thrilling top range, rare breath control and an awesome legato” (Globe and Mail). The young soprano has sung with world-renowned conductors such as Seiji Ozawa, Helmut Rilling, Richard Bradshaw, and Ty Patterson. On the concert stage, Martha has sung with the Bach Akademie Orchestra, The Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Santa Fe Symphony, the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. She has been recorded live by the BBC in London, CBC Radio/ Radio Canada and CBC Television.
Martha is passionately devoted to recital repertoire, and it is in song and chamber music that her polished craft and collaborative spirit shines. Martha won the coveted first prize at the 2007 Wigmore Hall International Song Competition in London, where she was praised by Opera Now as “magical” for her performances. Martha’s 2009 recital engagements at the legendary Hall are with Graham Johnson at the piano. Recent and upcoming recitals include MusicFest Vancouver, The New Orleans Art Gallery, and Trinity Church on Wall Street in NYC. She sang for Claveçin en Concert with Radio Canada in Montreal, returned to the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, gave a Joy in Singing recital at Lincoln Center, and for the Vancouver International Song Institute (where she is also on faculty). Past engagements also include working with pianist Graham Johnson for performances at St. John’s Smith Square in London, and in Vancouver. She has performed with the Aldeburgh recital series in Toronto, the Andre Turp Recital Series (CBC Radio Canada), as well as a tour with Debut Atlantic. Martha’s most recent operatic credits include the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni for Opera Lyra; Pamina in The Magic Flute; Konstanze in The Abduction from the Seraglio in Göggingen, Germany. Martha’s roles at the Santa Fe Opera include singing Lauretta in Bizet’s Dr. Miracle for their 50th anniversary season, and Norina in their touring production of Don Pasquale.
Martha grew up in Vancouver and holds an undergraduate degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and a Master of Music degree from the Cincinnati College/Conservatory of Music. Martha has a degree of Meisterklasse from the Hochschule für Musik in Augsburg/Nürnberg after receiving a generous grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to study with Edith Wiens. Martha was awarded the Joseph Rouleau First Prize at the 2001 Jeunesses Musicales competition in Montreal, and second place at the CBC Young Musicians Competition in 2003.
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Tyler Duncan
Tyler Duncan, baritone
Baritone Tyler Duncan – ‘that rare mixture of elegant phrasing and resonant power’ (Toronto Star) – is the winner of the 2008 New York Oratorio Society Competition, the 2007 Prix International Pro Musicis Award and the Bernard Diamant Prize awarded annually by the Canada Council for the Arts. Fluent in German and English, he is in high demand as an artist at home in lieder, opera and oratorio repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to modern music. In the summer of 2008, he was in Halle (Germany) for Handel’s RESURREZIONE, with the Berkshire Choral Festival in Vancouver performing Vaughan Williams’ FIVE MYSTICAL SONGS, Ottawa for concerts with Les Voix Baroque at the International Chamber Music Festival, and Vancouver for Brahms’ REQUIEM for Musicfest Vancouver.
In the 2008-2009 season, he has appeared as soloist in Haydn’s DIE SCHÖPFUNG with L’Orchestre symphonique de Québec (Yoav Talmi), Beethoven’s SYMPHONY NO. 9 in Munich, Berlin, Stuttgart and Frankfurt with Justus Frantz and Philharmonie der Nationen, and MESSIAH for the Iseler Singers in Toronto, at St. Thomas Church in New York and with Portland Baroque in Oregon. He appeared in John Blow’s VENUS AND ADONIS for the Boston Early Music Festival, sang Bach’s solo cantata ICH HABE GENUG with Symphony Nova Scotia and was in Houston for Bach’s MAGNIFICAT for Mercury Baroque conducted by Antoine Plante. His season continued with Bach’s MATTHÄUS PASSION with the Dresdner Kreuzchor/Dresdner Philharmonie as well as several performances in Holland. In New York, where he currently lives, he performed with the New Amsterdam Singers (Britten and Finzi) and a recital for Joy in Singing. On the opera stage he was seen in Lully’s ARMIDE for Mercury Baroque and as Demetrius in Britten’s MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM for the Princeton Festival.
Highlights of his 2009-2010 Season include Bach’s ICH HABE GENUG with Tafelmusik in Toronto, Haydn’s DIE JAHRESZEITEN for the Calgary Philharmonic, MESSIAH with the Toronto Symphony, DIE SCHÖPFUNG with the Winnipeg Symphony and FIVE MYSTICAL SONGS at Carnegie Hall with the New York Oratorio Society.
British Columbia-born and until recently a German resident, Mr. Duncan has been heard in performances throughout Europe and North America. Highlights include a North American tour of the Monteverdi Vespers of 1610 with Tragicomedia and Concerto Palatino, the role of Papageno in Holland and Belgium, the High Priest in the Strauss adaptation of Mozart’s IDOMENEO at the Richard Strauss Festival in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and as the Count in a tour of LE NOZZE DI FIGARO through Switzerland with the Munich Chamber Orchestra under Christoph Poppen. He performs often with pianist Erika Switzer and their recitals have been applauded in Canada, The United States, Germany, Sweden, France and South Africa. Often heard on the CBC, WGBH Boston and the BR (Bavarian Radio), he is featured on the Boston Early Music Festival recording of Conradi’s DIE SCHÖNE UND GETREUE ARIADNE on the CPO label, and the upcoming ATMA release of Carissimi’s JEPTHE with Les Voix Baroque.
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Erika Switzer, piano
Erika Switzer
Widely known for her brilliant, expressive, and technically confident playing, Erika Switzer grows her reputation as the collaborative pianist of choice. Throughout Europe, North America, and South Africa, she has been praised for her ability to match emotional playing to dramatic texts. Highlights include a recent debut at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, as well as recitals with many of Canada’s finest singers: baritone Tyler Duncan, soprano Martha Guth, tenor Colin Balzer, and soprano Edith Wiens. She has also performed with the Vocal Arts Society of Washington, DC. As a “Pro Musicis Artist”, she has performed in New York City’s Carnegie Hall, Boston’s Longy Hall, and in Paris, at the Salle Cortot. Other European performances include the New Discoveries series in Baden-Baden Festspiele, and the Winners & Masters concert series in both Munich and Bielefeld. She has also played at the Cape Classic Chamber Music Festival in Capetown, South Africa. In her native Canada, she has performed at the Andre Turp Recital Society and Chamber Music Festival of Montreal, and at MusicFest Vancouver. When not performing the “serious” repertoire, Erika has performed in the cabaret act “Leave it to Diva”.
Ms. Switzer has been recorded by the CBC, Dutch Radio (Radio 4) and in Germany for SWR and the Bayerische Rundfunk. She was recently broadcast live on WGBH in Boston in concert with Tyler Duncan, which broadcast on NPR in the US.
Erika Switzer won First Prize for best pianist at the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition and the Best Pianist award at the Robert Schumann International Vocal Competition. Following seven years of studies in Germany, Ms. Switzer is currently based in New York City where she is a C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellow at the Juilliard School of Music.
Showcase Performance
Alberta Showcase Event October 16 – 18/09 Fort Saskatchewan, AB — Martha Guth, soprano and baritone Tyler Duncan with Erika Switzer, piano will be performing at the Arts Touring Alliance of Alberta Showcase event on Friday, October 16/09 in the Shell Theatre at the Dow Centennial Centre, Fort Saskatchewan AB. Their showcase will be the first performance of the entire weekend on the Friday afternoon showcase at 1:30PM. Don’t be late!