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Date & Time: Saturday June 22, 7:30  p.m. Venue: Incarnation Episcopal Church, 1750 29th Avenue, San Francisco Tickets: $20 General, $15 Seniors/Students

Eventbrite Ticketing:     Buy tickets online

Ben Rosenblum Jazz Trio

Ben Rosenblum – piano/accordion Greg Feingold – bass Ben Zweig – drum

Award-winning jazz pianist, composer and accordionist Ben Rosenblum has been described as “mature beyond his years,” (Jon Neudorf, Sea of Tranquility), and as an “impressive talent” (C. Michael Bailey, All About Jazz), who “caresses [the music] with the reverence it merits” (Bob Doerschuk, Downbeat Magazine). Ben is based primarily in New York City, and is a graduate of the Columbia-Juilliard program (in 2016). His original music combines his extensive knowledge of the history of jazz with a free-wheeling, modern melodic sensibility and powerful narrative approach to the piano. His profound passion for jazz, swing and world music genres finds expression in his unique fusion of harmonic and rhythmic elements from a wide array of sources, and gives rise to a signature compositional sound and style at once iconoclastic and deeply rooted in such figures as Bill Evans and Wynton Kelly. Ben’s first priority in his composition and in his playing is always narrative – to tell a compelling story with his music, while reaching the hearts of his audience, connecting on an emotional, an intellectual and a spiritual level.

Reviewers of his debut album Instead – released in 2017 with bassist Curtis Lundy and drummer Billy Hart – have been impressed by his musicality and his tasteful playing in light of his immense technical skill. Bob Doerschuk of Downbeat Magazine gave the album four stars, and wrote, “He has the chops to shoot off a few fireworks, … but that doesn’t seem to be a priority when covering sacred material.” C. Michael Bailey notes approvingly: “there do emerge conservatoire aces with grit in their imagination and a facility to express such in their playing. Ben Rosenblum is one such performer/composer. The Julliard-Columbia trained pianist brings a freighter of technique to the keyboard, while still maintaining enough earthiness in his playing to satisfy even the fussiest listener.” Fred Stal of RG Magazine most recently described his experience of listening to Ben’s live CD release performance: “The music keeps you on your feet and not wanting to miss a single moment of magic. … Raindrops from heaven poured down with style and grace from Rosenblum’s piano.”

Since the release of Ben’s debut album, Ben has been touring regularly – both nationally and internationally – celebrating the album and collaborating with artists around the world. Ben’s trio made debuts in Japan and in Canada in 2018. During his two-week tour of Japan, Ben performed in eight different cities, including in Tokyo at Akasaka B-flat, and in Yokohama at Himawari-no-sato Concert Hall with famed koto player Yuko Watanabe. Highlights of his Canada tour included appearances at Upstairs Jazz in Montreal, Maelstrom and Bar Ste-Angele in Quebec City and the Southminster “Doors Open For Music” Concert Series in Ottawa. In the United States, Ben has traveled extensively throughout the Northeast, Midwest and West Coast, with trips planned for the South and Southwest. These domestic tours have featured performances at some of the most well-respected venues in the country, including Kuumbwa Jazz Center (Santa Cruz), Ravinia (Chicago), Cliff Bells (Detroit), An Die Musik (Baltimore), The Bop Stop (Cleveland), Mezzrow (New York City) and many others. As a sideman, Ben has had further opportunities to tour the world. In 2018, he traveled for three weeks through Croatia, Slovenia, Italy and Serbia with Astrid Kuljanic, during which the group performed at multiple festivals, including the Ljeto na Bundeka Festival in Zagreb and the Soboško Poletje Festival in Murska Sobota. He also performed for two nights at the Blue Note in Beijing alongside famed jazz singer Deborah Davis.

Born and raised in New York City, Ben had the opportunity to study with some of the most influential figures in jazz piano, including Frank Kimbrough, Bruce Barth, Ben Waltzer and Roy Assaf. At the early age of sixteen, the originality of his work was already being recognized with numerous awards, including the ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award (2010), the Downbeat Student Music Award for Best Original Song (2010) and the Downbeat Student Music Award for Best Arrangement (2011). As a result, even before entering Columbia, Ben was commissioned by the XIBUS World Orchestra to write a piece for performance at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall in 2012. Ben has continued to earn numerous distinctions and honors in recent years. In 2015, he was a finalist at the American Jazz Pianist Competition in Melbourne, Florida, and in 2016, at the Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition in Jacksonville, Florida. In 2018, he earned further recognition from the ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award competition in the form of an honorable mention, and he was featured at the ASCAP Foundation’s 2018 “We Write The Songs” event at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.

In addition to his own work, Ben often collaborates with other musicians. He has worked extensively with Grammy-nominated singer Ryland Angel on several compositional projects, including the project Unspoken, which premiered at the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis, in November of 2016. His debut album Instead has received very favorable reviews from a wide range of sources throughout the world, including Downbeat Magazine, All About Jazz, Drumset Magazine (Italy) and The Jazz Writer (Germany).

Ben performed with the Bachiana Brasileira Orchestra at Lincoln Center (conducted by Joao Carlos Martins and featuring Dave Brubeck), and he was a featured soloist at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium with the New York Harmonic Band (conducted by Reona Ito). He traveled to New Delhi, India, to perform at a Max India Benefit, and was a participant at Il Grande Veggio, in Perugia, Italy. He has played at the Masten Jazz Festival (Buffalo), the Richmond Jazz Festival (Richmond), the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival (Maryland), Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival (Manhattan), the DUMBO Arts Festival (Brooklyn), Musikfest (Bethlehem, PA) and the Music Mountain Festival (Connecticut). He has also appeared at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, the Appel Room at Lincoln Center, Ryles Jazz Club, Webster Hall, Symphony Space, The Blue Note, Smoke, Smalls and a host of other music venues throughout the northeast.

Ben has worked extensively with such jazz luminaries as Curtis Lundy, Neal Smith, Winard Harper, Wayne Escoffery and Deborah Davis, and he has performed in bands led by Bobby Watson, TS Monk, Chris Washburne and Warren Wolf. In addition, he has shared the stage with many other jazz legends, including Wycliffe Gordon, Brian Lynch, Phil Woods, Houston Person, Jerry Dodgion, Eliot Zigmund, Clarence Penn, Craig Handy, Dave Stryker, James Cammack, Ameen Saleem, Bob Nieske, Steve Nelson, Yasushi Nakamura, Essiet Essiet, Willie Williams, Patience Higgins, Josh Evans, Kenny Davis and Rogerio Boccato.?

While at Columbia University, Ben founded the Columbia Jazz House, a student-run jazz advocacy group that promotes jazz on campus through concerts, educational workshops and jam sessions. On December 28th, 2015, the Columbia Jazz House was featured in a New York Times article titled “Melodies Night and Day in this Columbia Dorm.”

Greg Feingold started playing bass at the age of 10. He quickly realized that bass was something he would pursue for the rest of his life and was accepted to the Chicago Academy for the Arts. After graduating from the Academy, Greg was given a scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music. Greg was very active both locally and nationally while at Berklee. He began playing with the International String Trio and performing regularly with Berklee faculty such as Bill Pierce, Neal Smith, Jon Hazilla, Doug Johnson, Rebecca Cline and many others. After graduating, Greg moved to New York and began playing in Winard Harper’s Jelli Posse. Throughout his stay in New York, he worked with legendary jazz performers such as Jimmy Cobb, Eric Reed, Eric Harland, Cyrus Chestnut, Steve Turre, Jim Rotondi, Jackie Ryan, Stephen Scott as well as continuing to tour with the International String Trio and the Valinor Quartet. Greg moved to Seattle in 2015 to change his surroundings and currently performs with a variety of groups around the west coast. He can be seen performing regularly with Thomas Marriott, Julian MacDonough, Miles Black and other great local Seattle musicians. He also co-leads the 200 Trio which performs around the country as one of the up and coming jazz guitar trios.

Jazz drummer and educator, Ben Zweig, “is able to combine history with the current musical environment, making it sound fresh” (Don Sickler). After moving to NYC in 2011, the 26 year old has accompanied an impressive array of jazz luminaries, including; Randy Weston, Johnny O’Neal, Larry Ridley, David Williams, Roy Hargrove, Deborah Davis, Joe Cohn, Champian Fulton, Jerry Dodgion, and Steve Nelson. Described by downbeat as “especially crisp and articulate,” Zweig has presented his personal sound performed with tours throughout the continental US, Asia and Canada. He currently tours regularly with Ben Rosenblum’s trio and leads a bi-weekly residency hosting the Sunday late night jam sessions at Smalls Jazz Club in NYC. Zweig is an avid educator. He has taught clinics across the country with the Champian Fulton quartet and has also directed the after-school percussion program at WHEELS middle and high school. Mentored by master drummers such as Joe Farnsworth, Billy Hart, Kenny Washington, Rodney Green, Justin DiCioccio, Christopher Brown, John Riley, and Rogerio Boccato, Ben is committed to passing down the information he has received from these legends. In his formative education, Ben was classically trained by Kenneth Piascik, culminating in performances with the NAfME All-Eastern Orchestra and as principal percussionist with the MENC All-National Concert Band. He currently maintains a private drum studio in Morningside-Heights with students of all ages. Ben received his B.M. and a M.M. from the Manhattan School of Music.

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Mi querida virgin morena #sunsetdistrictsf #sunsetdistrict415 #sunsetdistrictsanfrancisco #thesunsetdistrict #sunsetdistrictsanfrancisco #sanfrancisco #sanfran #sfc #sfcitylife#sanfranciscoca #sanfranciscocalifornia #sfcnights #sfnights #sanfrancisconights #sanfrancisconight #california #sanfranpsycho #sanfranciscobayarea #sanfranciscolife #sfcbased #sfc415 https://www.instagram.com/p/BuJijz3lDZW/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=f371qjwkqpx2

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Ben Rosenblum Jazz Trio

Date & Time: Saturday June 22, 7:30  p.m. Venue: Incarnation Episcopal Church, 1750 29th Avenue, San Francisco Tickets: $20 General, $15 Seniors/Students

Brown Paper Ticketing: Buy tickets online Eventbrite Ticketing:     Buy tickets online

Ben Rosenblum Jazz Trio

Ben Rosenblum – piano/accordion Greg Feingold – bass Ben Zweig – drum

Award-winning jazz pianist, composer and accordionist Ben Rosenblum has been described as “mature beyond his years,” (Jon Neudorf, Sea of Tranquility), and as an “impressive talent” (C. Michael Bailey, All About Jazz), who “caresses [the music] with the reverence it merits” (Bob Doerschuk, Downbeat Magazine). Ben is based primarily in New York City, and is a graduate of the Columbia-Juilliard program (in 2016). His original music combines his extensive knowledge of the history of jazz with a free-wheeling, modern melodic sensibility and powerful narrative approach to the piano. His profound passion for jazz, swing and world music genres finds expression in his unique fusion of harmonic and rhythmic elements from a wide array of sources, and gives rise to a signature compositional sound and style at once iconoclastic and deeply rooted in such figures as Bill Evans and Wynton Kelly. Ben’s first priority in his composition and in his playing is always narrative – to tell a compelling story with his music, while reaching the hearts of his audience, connecting on an emotional, an intellectual and a spiritual level.

Reviewers of his debut album Instead – released in 2017 with bassist Curtis Lundy and drummer Billy Hart – have been impressed by his musicality and his tasteful playing in light of his immense technical skill. Bob Doerschuk of Downbeat Magazine gave the album four stars, and wrote, “He has the chops to shoot off a few fireworks, … but that doesn’t seem to be a priority when covering sacred material.” C. Michael Bailey notes approvingly: “there do emerge conservatoire aces with grit in their imagination and a facility to express such in their playing. Ben Rosenblum is one such performer/composer. The Julliard-Columbia trained pianist brings a freighter of technique to the keyboard, while still maintaining enough earthiness in his playing to satisfy even the fussiest listener.” Fred Stal of RG Magazine most recently described his experience of listening to Ben’s live CD release performance: “The music keeps you on your feet and not wanting to miss a single moment of magic. … Raindrops from heaven poured down with style and grace from Rosenblum’s piano.”

Since the release of Ben’s debut album, Ben has been touring regularly – both nationally and internationally – celebrating the album and collaborating with artists around the world. Ben’s trio made debuts in Japan and in Canada in 2018. During his two-week tour of Japan, Ben performed in eight different cities, including in Tokyo at Akasaka B-flat, and in Yokohama at Himawari-no-sato Concert Hall with famed koto player Yuko Watanabe. Highlights of his Canada tour included appearances at Upstairs Jazz in Montreal, Maelstrom and Bar Ste-Angele in Quebec City and the Southminster “Doors Open For Music” Concert Series in Ottawa. In the United States, Ben has traveled extensively throughout the Northeast, Midwest and West Coast, with trips planned for the South and Southwest. These domestic tours have featured performances at some of the most well-respected venues in the country, including Kuumbwa Jazz Center (Santa Cruz), Ravinia (Chicago), Cliff Bells (Detroit), An Die Musik (Baltimore), The Bop Stop (Cleveland), Mezzrow (New York City) and many others. As a sideman, Ben has had further opportunities to tour the world. In 2018, he traveled for three weeks through Croatia, Slovenia, Italy and Serbia with Astrid Kuljanic, during which the group performed at multiple festivals, including the Ljeto na Bundeka Festival in Zagreb and the Soboško Poletje Festival in Murska Sobota. He also performed for two nights at the Blue Note in Beijing alongside famed jazz singer Deborah Davis.

Born and raised in New York City, Ben had the opportunity to study with some of the most influential figures in jazz piano, including Frank Kimbrough, Bruce Barth, Ben Waltzer and Roy Assaf. At the early age of sixteen, the originality of his work was already being recognized with numerous awards, including the ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award (2010), the Downbeat Student Music Award for Best Original Song (2010) and the Downbeat Student Music Award for Best Arrangement (2011). As a result, even before entering Columbia, Ben was commissioned by the XIBUS World Orchestra to write a piece for performance at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall in 2012. Ben has continued to earn numerous distinctions and honors in recent years. In 2015, he was a finalist at the American Jazz Pianist Competition in Melbourne, Florida, and in 2016, at the Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition in Jacksonville, Florida. In 2018, he earned further recognition from the ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award competition in the form of an honorable mention, and he was featured at the ASCAP Foundation’s 2018 “We Write The Songs” event at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.

In addition to his own work, Ben often collaborates with other musicians. He has worked extensively with Grammy-nominated singer Ryland Angel on several compositional projects, including the project Unspoken, which premiered at the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis, in November of 2016. His debut album Instead has received very favorable reviews from a wide range of sources throughout the world, including Downbeat Magazine, All About Jazz, Drumset Magazine (Italy) and The Jazz Writer (Germany).

Ben performed with the Bachiana Brasileira Orchestra at Lincoln Center (conducted by Joao Carlos Martins and featuring Dave Brubeck), and he was a featured soloist at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium with the New York Harmonic Band (conducted by Reona Ito). He traveled to New Delhi, India, to perform at a Max India Benefit, and was a participant at Il Grande Veggio, in Perugia, Italy. He has played at the Masten Jazz Festival (Buffalo), the Richmond Jazz Festival (Richmond), the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival (Maryland), Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival (Manhattan), the DUMBO Arts Festival (Brooklyn), Musikfest (Bethlehem, PA) and the Music Mountain Festival (Connecticut). He has also appeared at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, the Appel Room at Lincoln Center, Ryles Jazz Club, Webster Hall, Symphony Space, The Blue Note, Smoke, Smalls and a host of other music venues throughout the northeast.

Ben has worked extensively with such jazz luminaries as Curtis Lundy, Neal Smith, Winard Harper, Wayne Escoffery and Deborah Davis, and he has performed in bands led by Bobby Watson, TS Monk, Chris Washburne and Warren Wolf. In addition, he has shared the stage with many other jazz legends, including Wycliffe Gordon, Brian Lynch, Phil Woods, Houston Person, Jerry Dodgion, Eliot Zigmund, Clarence Penn, Craig Handy, Dave Stryker, James Cammack, Ameen Saleem, Bob Nieske, Steve Nelson, Yasushi Nakamura, Essiet Essiet, Willie Williams, Patience Higgins, Josh Evans, Kenny Davis and Rogerio Boccato.?

While at Columbia University, Ben founded the Columbia Jazz House, a student-run jazz advocacy group that promotes jazz on campus through concerts, educational workshops and jam sessions. On December 28th, 2015, the Columbia Jazz House was featured in a New York Times article titled “Melodies Night and Day in this Columbia Dorm.”

Greg Feingold started playing bass at the age of 10. He quickly realized that bass was something he would pursue for the rest of his life and was accepted to the Chicago Academy for the Arts. After graduating from the Academy, Greg was given a scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music. Greg was very active both locally and nationally while at Berklee. He began playing with the International String Trio and performing regularly with Berklee faculty such as Bill Pierce, Neal Smith, Jon Hazilla, Doug Johnson, Rebecca Cline and many others. After graduating, Greg moved to New York and began playing in Winard Harper’s Jelli Posse. Throughout his stay in New York, he worked with legendary jazz performers such as Jimmy Cobb, Eric Reed, Eric Harland, Cyrus Chestnut, Steve Turre, Jim Rotondi, Jackie Ryan, Stephen Scott as well as continuing to tour with the International String Trio and the Valinor Quartet. Greg moved to Seattle in 2015 to change his surroundings and currently performs with a variety of groups around the west coast. He can be seen performing regularly with Thomas Marriott, Julian MacDonough, Miles Black and other great local Seattle musicians. He also co-leads the 200 Trio which performs around the country as one of the up and coming jazz guitar trios.

Jazz drummer and educator, Ben Zweig, “is able to combine history with the current musical environment, making it sound fresh” (Don Sickler). After moving to NYC in 2011, the 26 year old has accompanied an impressive array of jazz luminaries, including; Randy Weston, Johnny O’Neal, Larry Ridley, David Williams, Roy Hargrove, Deborah Davis, Joe Cohn, Champian Fulton, Jerry Dodgion, and Steve Nelson. Described by downbeat as “especially crisp and articulate,” Zweig has presented his personal sound performed with tours throughout the continental US, Asia and Canada. He currently tours regularly with Ben Rosenblum’s trio and leads a bi-weekly residency hosting the Sunday late night jam sessions at Smalls Jazz Club in NYC. Zweig is an avid educator. He has taught clinics across the country with the Champian Fulton quartet and has also directed the after-school percussion program at WHEELS middle and high school. Mentored by master drummers such as Joe Farnsworth, Billy Hart, Kenny Washington, Rodney Green, Justin DiCioccio, Christopher Brown, John Riley, and Rogerio Boccato, Ben is committed to passing down the information he has received from these legends. In his formative education, Ben was classically trained by Kenneth Piascik, culminating in performances with the NAfME All-Eastern Orchestra and as principal percussionist with the MENC All-National Concert Band. He currently maintains a private drum studio in Morningside-Heights with students of all ages. Ben received his B.M. and a M.M. from the Manhattan School of Music.

[incarnationsf]

Gayatri Venkatesan (soprano) in concert Date & Time: Saturday March 26, 2022 at 7:30 p.m. Venue: 1750 29th Avenue, San Francisco Tickets: $25 General, $20 Seniors/Students Details at sunsetarts.wordpress.com #vocals #vocal #vocalist #opera #aria #artsong #instrumental #classicalmusic #livemusic #liveentertainment #liveevents #sf #sfconcerts #concert #sunsetdistrict #sunsetdistrictsf #sunsetdistrictsanfrancisco #episcopal #episcopalian #diocal #episcopalchurch #google (at The Episcopal Church of the Incarnation) https://www.instagram.com/p/CbYMUqgPbsH/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Details at sunsetarts.wordpress.com Journey to the world of Portuguese Fado as interpreted by Ramana Vieira, a northern California native of Portuguese descent. Vieira’s parents immigrated to the United States from Portugal, where her grandfather was a well-known musician and composer from Madeira Island. Vieira’s work captures traditional Fado and influences from the Portuguese diaspora in a musical tapestry that ranges from the whispering, haunting ballads of Fado, to American classics and jazzy blues. She also is a proficient pianist and a gifted songwriter having penned and composed her own original Fados, of which several have been nominated at the International Portuguese Music Awards. #fado #portugal🇵🇹 #portugal #worldmusic #worldmusicday #sanfrancisco #sunsetdistrict #sunsetdistrictsf #sunsetdistrictsanfrancisco #livemusic #portuguesefado #portuguesefadosinger (at The Episcopal Church of the Incarnation) https://www.instagram.com/p/B8B044fh1PO/?igshid=1khsec1guqtxm

[incarnationsf]

The Schubert Project – Ensemble 1828

Date & Time: Friday June 28 at  7:30 pm Venue: 1750 29th Avenue, San Francisco Tickets: $20 General, $15 Seniors/Students Buy tickets online

Celebrate pride and the genius of Franz Schubert (1797-1828) in an all-Schubert program for violin, cello, and piano.

Franz Peter Schubert (31 January 1797 – 19 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast oeuvre, including more than 600 secular vocal works (mainly Lieder), seven complete symphonies, sacred music, operas, incidental music and a large body of piano and chamber music. Appreciation of Schubert’s music while he was alive was limited to a relatively small circle of admirers in Vienna, but interest in his work increased significantly in the decades following his death. Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms and other 19th-century composers discovered and championed his works. Today, Schubert is ranked among the greatest composers of the 19th century, and his music continues to be popular.

Program

Ensemble 1828 — violinist Nicole Oswald, cellist Isaac Pastor-Chermak, and pianist Alison Lee — makes their debut with an eight-concert tour throughout Northern California in Summer 2019. Honoring Schubert’s last and most productive year with their name, Ensemble 1828 will present an all-Schubert program, highlighting music composed in their namesake year and featuring varied groupings of violin, cello and piano. Come for the timeless solo piano impromptus, stay for the intimate duos for cello and piano and violin and piano, and come back after intermission for the epic, symphonic Piano Trio No.1.

Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano in A minor, D.821

Impromptu in G-flat major, Op.90 No.3

Impromptu in A-flat major, Op. 90 No.4

Violin Sonata in A major, D.574

Piano Trio No.1 in B-flat major, D.898

About the Artists

Nicole Oswald recently received an Artist Diploma from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, studying under renowned concert violinist and pedagogue Charles Castleman as a graduate teaching assistant and Henry Mancini Institute fellow.  Prior to attending Frost, Nicole studied violin at the Utrechts Conservatory, Netherlands and the Eastman School of Music. Nicole began her studies of music in her hometown of Boise, Idaho. She has accumulated many honors in the Northwest including; 1st prize at the Coeur d’Alene National Young Artists Competition 2012 and 3rd prize at the national level of the Music Teacher’s National Association: Senior String Division competition held in NYC, 2012. Her string quartet also received 1st prize in the Boise Chamber Music Series: String Quartet Competition in 2012 and 2013. Alongside performing within numerous symphony orchestras, Nicole has performed contemporary music in many ensembles including, Ossia New Music, the Empire Film Music Ensemble, and the Slee Sinfonietta (University of Buffalo, NY). Nicole has been a guest artist at the Castleman Quartet Program and has studied chamber music with members of the; Pacifica, Fine Arts, Ying, Dover, Cavani, Concord, Juilliard, Bergonzi and Chilingirian String Quartets. She has appeared in solo master classes with; Rachel Barton Pine, Christian Tetzlaff, Mimi Zweig, Giora Schmidt, Csaba Erdélyi, Irvine Arditti, and Vadim Repin. While in Miami, Nicole was a chamber music coach for Miami Youth for Chamber Music, appeared as a guest performer with the Bergonzi String Quartet and played in the Palm Beach Opera Orchestra. In fall of 2018, Nicole will continue her studies as the teaching assistant of Andres Cardenes at Carnegie Mellon University.

Alison Lee recently completed the Doctor of Musical Arts in piano performance at the University of Minnesota, where she studied with Lydia Artymiw. She received her MM degree from Rice University under Jon Kimura Parker, and BM degree from Oberlin Conservatory under Angela Cheng.  A native of Fremont, California, Alison studied with Hans Boepple and Jed Galant during her precollege years.

Alison was the first prize winner in several piano competitions, including Thursday Musical’s Young Artist Scholarship Competition in Minnesota, the Pacific Musical Society Competition in San Francisco, the Dorothy Van Waynen Piano Competition in Berkeley, and the Graves Music Competition in Ohio. Most recently, she won second place in the 2016 Midwest International Piano Competition, where she performed Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto with the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony. An avid chamber musician, she frequently collaborates with colleagues and friends as well as with her sister Katherine as duo pianists.

In Summer 2018, following nine years of world-class education around the United States, Alison returns to the Bay Area to launch her career as an educator, collaborator, and soloist. She is already in high demand as a studio piano teacher, and looks forward to a number of performance engagements throughout the Western United States in the 2018-19 season. In July 2018, Alison will coach chamber music at ChamberFest LIVE, a summer day camp for middle- and high-school students in Fremont, CA; and in August 2018, she will appear as staff pianist at the Castleman Quintet Program in Portland, OR.

Isaac Pastor-Chermak is Principal Cellist of Portland Opera and Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony; Associate Principal Cellist of Stockton Symphony; and a member of Santa Barbara Symphony, Monterey Symphony, Santa Cruz Symphony, and Dayton Philharmonic. Beginning August 2018, he will conclude his summers performing at the Lake Tahoe Music Festival. Mr. Pastor-Chermak is the cellist of Black Cedar Trio, the only professional flute-cello-guitar ensemble in the country, and enjoys frequent sonata collaborations with pianists Miles Graber and Alison Lee.

Mr. Pastor-Chermak is in constant demand as a soloist and recital artist, performing more than 100 concerts every season on an 1889 Riccardo Antoniazzi cello. In the first half of 2018 alone, he will perform a major duo recital with pianist Alison Lee, featuring works of Gershwin, Chopin, Beethoven and Prokofiev; C.P.E. Bach’s Cello Concerto in A minor with Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony; Eugen d’Albert’s Cello Concerto in C major with Oakland Civic Orchestra; Leonard Bernstein’s Meditation No.3, also with Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony; two performances of the complete Bach Suites for Solo Cello; and a live-recorded concert with Black Cedar Trio. Mr. Pastor-Chermak fits these creative projects around weekly symphonic programs throughout the country, as well as his local teaching and conducting obligations.

As an educator, Mr. Pastor-Chermak is Beelard Foundation Artist-in-Residence at Young Artists Conservatory of Music in Vacaville, CA; and a faculty member at Dominican Sisters School of Music in Fremont, CA. His cello students and chamber ensembles receive consistent high marks in regional competitions. He is founder and principal conductor of Solano Youth Chamber Orchestra, the first youth orchestra in the city of Vacaville. Pastor-Chermak serves on the Board of Directors of the East Bay Music Foundation, where he supports outreach and performance opportunities for young musicians in Alameda, Contra Costa and Solano counties. Pastor-Chermak holds degrees from the University of California, Berkeley (B.A. with honors) and San Francisco Conservatory of Music (M.M. with honors). He makes his home in the North Berkeley hills, but is at home wherever the music takes him. www.isaacpastorchermak.com.

[incarnationsf]

Dear Friends,

We are very excited to announce our fifth season with many new and returning artists. The season continues out tradition of strong offerings in solo instrumental performances, vocal recitals, choral music, opera, and jazz/world music  concerts.

Our season opener will feature a chamber concert on Friday January 11, 2019 with award winning artists – New York based cellist, Ben Capps, and Russian pianist, Vassily Primakov.

Our 2019 season offers concerts throughout the year. We hope that you will join us as we close out our 2018 season and look forward to sharing the joy of more unique performances in 2019.

Thank you!