Mattina Musica featuring Martin Chalifour

add to outlook add to google calendar remind me

Monday, February 4th, 2013
Reception 9:45 AM Performance 10:30 AM

Co-presented by Sarah Hagen and the Sid Williams Theatre Society

Mattina Musica returns to the Comox Valley for an exciting third season.

Italian for �Morning Music�, Mattina Musica is a 5 concert series of classical music, each taking place on a Monday morning. Patrons are warmly invited to meet in the Sid lobby at 9:45 am for tea, coffee, and conversation before the 10:30 am concert.

The series is hosted by pianist Sarah Hagen, who is thrilled to have flautist Krzysztof Kaczka, cellist Ariel Barnes, harpist Heidi Krutzen, violinist Martin Chalifour, tenor Ken Lavigne, and violist Vaida Rozinskaite bring their world-class artistry to the Comox Valley. The musicians, all known for their perceptive, eloquent and entertaining commentary, will take time to offer personal insights into the music.

Can you think of a better way to spend a Monday morning?

For the third concert in the Mattina Musica series, violinist Martin Chalifour makes his way to the Comox Valley from sunny California where he is concert master of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Pianist Sarah Hagen and Martin first met in Powell River in 2010 at Symphony Orchestra Academy of the Pacific, where they discovered a mutual enthusiasm for coffee, collaboration with dancers, and Mendelssohn.

Martin Chalifour - Violin

Martin Chalifour began his tenure as Principal Concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1995. The recipient of various grants and awards in his native Canada, he graduated with honors from the Montreal Conservatory at the age of 18 and then moved to Philadelphia to pursue studies at the Curtis Institute of Music.

In 1986 Chalifour received a Certificate of Honor at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow; he was a laureate of the Montreal International Competition the following year. Since then he has concertized extensively, playing hundreds of concerto performances from a repertoire of more than 50 works. He has appeared as soloist with conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Sir Neville Marriner, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Outside the U.S., he has appeared as a guest soloist with the Auckland Philharmonia, the Montreal Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the National Orchestra of Taiwan, and the Malaysian Philharmonic, among others.

Chalifour began his orchestral career in 1984 with the late Robert Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony, playing as Associate Concertmaster for six years. Subsequently he occupied the same position for five years in the Cleveland Orchestra, where he also served as Acting Concertmaster under Christoph von Dohn�nyi. While in Cleveland, Chalifour taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music and was a founding member of the Cleveland Orchestra Piano Trio.

Chalifour is a frequent guest at several summer music festivals, including the Sarasota Festival and the Mainly Mozart Festival since 1989. Maintaining close ties with his native country, he has returned there often to teach and perform as soloist with various Canadian orchestras, most recently with the Vancouver Symphony in the 2010/11 season.

Martin Chalifour is a professor at the University of Southern California�s Thornton School of Music. He records for the Yarlung label; his latest album was released in September 2011, and features solo music composed by Esa-Pekka Salonen and Steven Stucky, as well as Mozart and Lutoslawski concertos with the Los Angeles Philharmonic recorded live at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

http://www.laphil.com/philpedia/martin-chalifour


Sarah Hagen - Piano

Pianist Sarah Hagen has been heard in concert halls and on the airwaves to critical acclaim throughout North America and Europe. Originally from the Comox Valley, she has performed as soloist and guest artist with the Victoria Symphony, the Emily Carr String Quartet, Ballet Victoria and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, among many others.

Sarah is the Artistic Director for Pro'ject Sound, a performance project involving live piano with large-scale projected images. She curates, hosts, and performs on four recital series in British Columbia, sharing the stage with artists from Canada, the United States and Europe. Miss Hagen has been heard on Swedish Radio 2, CBC Radio 1 and 2, WDAV (North Carolina) WOSU (Ohio), KFUO (Missouri), CKUA (Edmonton), WKAR (Michigan), WITF (Pennsylvania), 98.1 KING FM (Seattle) and has appeared on Bravo Television. Her solo album, Glass House Dancing, was nominated for Classical Recording of the Year at the 2009 Western Canadian Music Awards.

Sarah�s primary teachers and mentors have been Jamie Parker, Glen Montgomery, Gregory Chaverdian and Christine Purvis. Passionate for inspiring students of all ages, she is in demand as an adjudicator and clinician and is on faculty at the Vancouver Academy of Music. She is the director of the Piano Programme at the Comox Valley Youth Music Centre where she has been on faculty for over a decade.

Since her move in 2011 to an artist loft in one of Vancouver�s most vibrant neighbourhoods, she has become deeply involved with intricate projects inspired by urban vitality.

Sarah's motivation is the belief that music has the power to be a window into our souls regardless of age or knowledge.

http://www.sarahhagen.com/

�Exquisite phrasing and a refreshingly imaginative approach make her one to watch.�
-Marcia Adair, TheOmniscientMussel.com

�Her Bach and Haydn were outstandingly inventive � this is a young woman ready to take interpretive risks.�
-University of Waterloo Gazette


Interested in the entire Mattina Musica series?
Buy all 5 performances for $115. Member price for the series is $90.