The Lunar Ensemble comes to Dixon Hall on Tulane’s uptown campus, Wednesday, March 13 at 7:00 PM to perform Arnold Schoenberg’s original 21-song cycle Pierrot Lunaire for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, soprano, and percussion, as part of their Pierrot Centenary Project. There will be a pre-concert lecture by Dr. Melissa Pausina.

Thursday, March 14, at 7:00 PM, the ensemble will perform brand new Pierrot Lunaire text settings by Tulane student composers.

Admission is free and open to the public.

Visit lunarensemble.com for more info.

Free and open to the public

The St. Louis Cathedral Concert Choir will be performing the annual Christmas Concert under the direction of Mr. Dreux Montegut on December 16 at 5:30 P.M. in the Cathedral. 

This year Rabbi Edward Cohn, Cantor Joel Colman and the Temple Sinai Choir will join the Cathedral Choir to celebrate Chanukah and Christmas in a concert titled “Festivals of Light”. 

The combined choirs, soloists, and the St. Louis Cathedral Orchestra will perform excerpts from Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus and all of Vivaldi’s Gloria.  The concert is free and open to the public.

In addition to the St. Louis Cathedral, the Elise M. Cambon Memorial Fund of the St. Louis Cathedral provides funding for this program. 

CHRISTMAS ORGAN SPECTACULAR

Thursday, December 13, 6 pm in a free recital

For his “Christmas Organ Spectacular” recital at the Cathedral-Basilica of St. Louis, King of France on Thursday, December 13, at 6 pm, Mr. Liégeon has selected an all French repertoire ranging from the 18^th- through 20th century.  Included are 18^th-century French Christmas carols by Louis-Claud Daquin and Claude Balbastre; music by the ever popular nineteenth-century composer Louis James Alfred Lefébure-Wély, and the twentieth-century composer Marcel Dupré.  Mr. Liégeon, prize winner of 5 international organ competitions, will also improvise on the Christmas carol “Lo! How a rose e’er blooming.”  He will close the program by improvising a “Petite symphonie” based upon popular Christmas carols.

Samuel Liégeon, Young Artist in Residence at the St. Louis Cathedral,  was born in Besançon, France.  He first studied organ, piano and chamber music in the conservatory of that city and later in the conservatory of St-Maur with Eric Lebrun (organ) and Pierre Pincemaille (improvisation) where he finished with honors.  At the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris, his studies in improvisation were with Thierry Escaich, Philippe Lefebvre, Jean-François Zygel, Cyrille Lehn and Pierre Pincemaille. He has been a prizewinner at some of Europe’s most prestigious organ competitions, including the Haarlem, Munster, Strasbourg, Leipzig and Chartres competitions.  Since 2009 he has been the Titular Organist of the church Saint Pierre de Chaillot in Paris. Samuel plays recitals throughout France and Europe and also improvises for silent movies at the Cine Balzac of Paris and elsewhere.

Funding for this program is provided by the St. Louis Cathedral, and the Elise M. Cambon Memorial Fund of the St. Louis Cathedral.

NEW ORLEANS FRIENDS OF MUSIC

SEASON CONTINUES WITH

THE KALICHSTEIN-LAREDO-ROBINSON PIANO TRIO

November 12, 2012

Tulane University, Dixon Hall.

New Orleans Friends of Music presents the second concert of its 58th season of chamber music on Monday, November 12, 2012 with a performance by the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio at TulaneUniversity’s Dixon Hall. The performance begins at 8 p.m., preceded at 7 p.m. by a free lecture by Dr. John Joyce of the Newcomb Department of Music faculty. Admission is $25 (free for Tulane students). Tickets are sold at the door or in advance atwww.friendsofmusic.org or (504) 895-0690. A six-concert season subscription is currently available for $110, a $60 discount over single-ticket prices. This concert is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Stuart Farber, a past president of the Friends of Music.

Pianist Joseph Kalichstein, violinist Jaime Laredo, and cellist Sharon Robinson plan a dynamic program of classical and contemporary pieces. Beethoven (Opus Posthumus) and Brahms (Piano Trio Op. 8) are featured alongside living composers Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and Richard Danielpour. Zwilich, the first female composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for music, wrote her piano trio specifically for the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, who premiered the work in 1987. Danielpour’s new work, Inventions on a Marriage, is a special commission by the New Orleans Friends of Music and others. This seven-movement set of duets for violin and cello was written for Laredo and Robinson in celebration of their 35^th anniversary.

The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio are longtime favorites of New Orleans audiences. The three members maintain active solo careers and hold faculty positions at the prestigious Cleveland Institute of Music and Juilliard School of Music. In 35 seasons performing as a Trio, they have toured around the world and released a variety of successful recordings, including the complete piano trios of Schubert, Brahms and Beethoven. They are also committed advocates for new music, having given premiere performances of works by Arvo Part, Andre Previn, Ned Rorem, and Joan Tower, among others. The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio were Musical America’s Ensemble of the Year for 2002 and are the Chamber Ensemble-in-Residence at the Kennedy Center.

NEW ORLEANS FRIENDS OF MUSIC

The 2012-2013 Friends of Music season includes a wide variety of outstanding chamber music performers, including returning appearances by Bach specialist Simone Dinnerstein and the Emerson Quartet as well as local debuts by the Venice Baroque Orchestra, Jerusalem Quartet, and Imani Wind Quintet. New Orleans Friends of Music is an all-volunteer, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the performance and appreciation of fine chamber music. Annual programming includes a mainstage concert season presented by the Friends of Music and Tulane University, a series of masterclasses by visiting artists, and a family concert. For tickets or information, visit www.friendsofmusic.org

New Orleans Friends of Music opens its 58th consecutive season of chamber music on Wednesday, October 17, 2012 when the acclaimed Jerusalem String Quartet takes the stage at Tulane University’s Dixon Hall. The performance begins at 8 p.m., preceded at 7 p.m. by a free lecture by Dr. John Joyce of the Newcomb Department of Music faculty. Admission is $25 (free for Tulane students), with sales at the door or in advance at www.friendsofmusic.org. Full season subscriptions are offered at $125 for the entire seven-concert season.
 
The Jerusalem String Quartet makes their local debut with this performance. This dynamic young Israeli chamber group, has developed a coordinated and beautiful sound in almost two decades making music together. Violinists Alexander Pavlovsky and Sergei Bresler, cellist Kyril Zlotnilov, and new member Ori Kam on viola enjoy excellent international reputations as soloists in addition to their continued acclaim as chamber musicians. The Quartet records exclusively for the Harmonia Mundi label and has released critically-praised interpretations of Mozart, Haydn, and Schubert.
 
Their New Orleans program includes late Mozart (String Quartet No. 22, the “Prussian No. 2”); one of Hugo Wolf’s only works for chamber ensemble, the Italian Serenade; and Brahms’ third string quartet. The Jerusalem Quartet brings a particularly intense focus to the Brahms, honed by recent European residencies dedicated to that composer’s chamber music. The “Prussian” can be heard on the group’s recent all-Mozart recording, which won them their third BBC Music Magazine Award.
 
In addition to their October 17 concert, the Jerusalem Quartet will present a free masterclass at 10 a.m. on Thursday, October 18 at Roussel Hall on the Loyola University campus. The masterclass is free and open to the public. This event is one of several masterclasses that will be presented in the coming season by Friends of Music performers as a service to students and the community.

Musaica chamber ensemble will perform the first concerts of its 7th Season on October 18, 7:30 p.m. at St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church, 1545 State Street in uptown New Orleans; and on October 22, 7:30 p.m. at Munholland Methodist Church, 1201 Metairie Road. 

The program, “Musaica Goes To The Movies” features works by composers who wrote for or acted in film, or whose works were featured prominently in well known movies. 

Included will be pieces by Gershwin, Madeline Dring, Takemitsu, Mozart, Kodaly, Rota, and John Williams.  No tickets are necessary although we have a recommended donation of $10 for adults and $5 for students and seniors. 

Information can be found at their website, www.musaica.org, or by calling 304-8608.

Musaica chamber ensemble performs its next concerts on April 10, 7:00 p.m., at the Jefferson Parish Public Library, 4747 W. Napoleon Ave, in Metairie, and on April 12, 7:30 p.m. at Loyola University’s Roussel Hall, 6363 Saint Charles Ave.  Featured will be the world premiere of “Suite in A Minor for Oboe Quartet” by award winning composer and Xavier professor, Dan Shore.  Also on the program will be the rarely heard Saint-Saens’ “Caprice on Danish and Russian Airs” for flute, oboe, clarinet, and piano; and Rebecca Clarke’s “Prelude, Allegro, and Pastorale” for viola and clarinet.  As a grand finale to Musaica’s sixth season the group will perform Mendelssohn’s Octet for Strings.  For more information please visit their website, www.musaica.org or call 504-304-8608.

Friends of Music Concert Repertoire:

Mozart Trio in E-flat, K. 498 “Kegelstadt Trio”
Bartok Contrasts for Violin, Clarinet and Piano (1938)
-Intermission-
Khatchaturian Trio for Clarinet, Violin and Piano
Balcom Afternoon Cakewalk - Rag Suite of Joplin, Lamb, Scott, and Bolcom