The musicians of the Fondation des Etats-Unis invite you to break the barrier… of sound. The musicians want to express their love for art, culture, and humanity, regardless of nationality or religion. Music is the universal language, but if bodies cannot travel, neither do arts and cultures. Some of the most inspiring musicians on earth are Muslim or from Mexico, Iran, and the other countries represented by the restrictions that were recently imposed by the new American government. As a demonstration of their respect for all cultures, the resident musicians have organized a concert with musicians from the affected countries, including several CiuP residents.
The Program
Farhad Fakhredini
4 Mezrab Chahargah
Léo Marillier & Darling Geneve Dubberly, violin, Alyssa Hoffert, saxophone, Will McClain Cravy, double bass
Dolores Castro Adiós – Salvador Elizondo El silencio – Jose Emilio Pacheco
A la mitad de un suspiro
Ximena Salmeron, actress
Francois Rabbath
Le Cri de Venise
Will McClain Cravy, double bass & John Kamfonas, piano
Improvisation sur des thèmes arabiques
Wilson Poffenberger, saxophone et John Kamfonas, piano
Morteza Hannaneh
Lieder on poems by Hafez (No.2) (On a poem by HAFEZ 14st century Persian Poet)
Anousha Nazari, voice & Karan Salajeghe, piano
M.S. Sharifian
Ruba’i No. 1 : Do Zolfoonat (On a poem by Baba Taher 11st century Persian Poet)
Anousha Nazari, voice & Karan Salajeghe, piano
Samin Baghtcheban
In Memory of Ferdowsi (On a poem by Ferdowsi 10st century Persian Poet)
Anousha Nazari, voice & Karan Salajeghe, piano
Manav Kaul
Joota/Shoe
Reena Esmail, Léo Marillier, violin & Mark Kaylor, guitar
Xenakis
Mikka
Léo Marillier, violin
Zack Neece
Eternal Morning (Thoreau)
Jenny Maclay, clarinet & Orlando Bass, piano
Leonard Bernstein & Steven Sondheim
“I feel pretty” from West Side Story
Isabel Almario, voice, Léo Marillier, violin, Will McClain Cravy, double bass & John Kamfonas, piano
The Musicians
Orlando Bass is a student at the CNSMD in Paris since 2013, where he was first accepted in a writing class, then in 2014 in the accompaniment class and in 2015 in the piano and improvisation classes. He obtained in 2014 his prize for harmony and counterpoint, in 2015 the fugue. He already performed in several festivals as a pianist and harpsichordist and also plays jazz and improvised music.
William McClain Cravy graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Southern California where he was a student of David Allen Moore. A tenured member and acting Principal Bass of the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, Will has played as a soloist with numerous orchestras including the Colorado and Culver City Symphonies, and was featured in a 2015 Aspen Music Festival Student-Spotlight Recital. As an orchestral musician, Will has appeared with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (UK), the New World Symphony (Miami), the Las Vegas Philharmonic, the Juneau Symphony, as principal bass of Aspen Opera under Robert Spano and alongside his teacher in the Aspen Chamber Orchestra. Will has performed chamber music with members of the LA Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony and has participated in the Aspen, Lake George, Domaine Forget, Wabass Institute, and Colorado College music festivals.
Darling-Geneve Dubberly, violinist, is currently earning her Diploma Superior d’Enseignment at Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris. She has won 1st place in the Marlin-Engel competition, the PVYO Concerto Competition, and in the MSMTA ASTA MDDC String Solo Festival. Darling has performed at the Waterford Concert Series in Waterford, Virginia, Luxembourg Embassy, Strathmore Music Center, Carnegie Hall, and at the Alfred Cortot Music Hall. Darling was the concertmistress of the Rappahanock Youth Symphony, Fredericksburg Area Young Musicians Orchestra, Mid-Atlantic Strings Festival, the Potomac Valley Youth Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra Summer Strings Institute. She has been invited to tour Spain with the Shenandoah Conservatory under the baton of Jan Wagner, and has been to master classes with Igor Volochine in Tuscany and Nice. She is currently studying with Liana Gourdjia.
Concert saxophonist, avid chamber musician, and versatile music educator, Alyssa Hoffert has performed extensively throughout the United States and Europe. She holds an MM in Saxophone Performance from the Hartt School and a B.S in Music Education cum laude from Case Western Reserve University/the Cleveland Institute of Music. Hoffert is currently studying saxophone at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Boulogne-Billancourt in Paris under the tutelage of Jean-Michel Goury. She is also a Conn-Selmer endorsed artist and performs on Selmer (Paris) saxophones and mouthpieces.
Embracing his penchant for improvisation alongside his passion for the classical and contemporary repertoire, the pianist John Kamfonas has given performances around the world, from Italy to India, Beijing to New York, which have been described as possessing “a grandeur that lifted the music into the sublime…and a delicacy that took one’s breath away.” He was Harriet Hale Wooley scholarship in 2015-2016. John is currently a musician in residence at the Fondation des Etats-Unis and is pursuing a graduate diploma at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris under the guidance of Marian Rybicki and Jean Fassina.
Mark Kaylor received his Bachelor and Master of Music from the Florida State University where he studied with world-renowned pedagogue Bruce Holzman. He has performed in the master classes of leading guitar figures, such as: Pavel Steidl, Jason Vieaux, Gabriel Bianco, and Adam Holzman. More recently Mark has been studying privately with celebrated concert artist and pedagogue Judicael Perroy.
Vandoren Regional Artist Jenny Maclay is quickly establishing her career as a clarinet soloist, recitalist, orchestral player, and chamber musician. Ms. Maclay was the recipient of a 2015-2016 Harriet Hale Woolley Award to study music in Paris, where she attends the Versailles Conservatoire. She has achieved a number of notable musical honors, including selection as a semi-finalist and finalist for such international competitions as Astral Artists and Concert Artists Guild. Her teachers are Philippe Cuper, Mitchell Estrin, and Donald Dowdy.
Léo Marillier, violinst, earned his Bachelor and Masters with the highest distinction from the Paris Conservatory and NEC in Boston, thanks to a scholarship from the Florence Gould Foundation. Invited by numerous festivals in Europe, America, and Korea, he participated in the Aspen Music Festival on a full scholarship. Also a composer, he is edited by Delatour.
Anousha Nazari was born in Tehran. She started singing with local orchestras at the age of 15 before joining the Sonata Philharmonic Orchestra and Ensemble. She won the Fadjr International Prize in the Choir section both in 2013 and 2014. She performs in many national and international festivals. In 2014 she joined the Tehran Symphony Orchestra, the most ancient and well-known orchestra in Iran, supervised by Maestro Alexandre Rahbari. After studying architecture for a few years, she decided to come to France in 2016, where she studies opera singing at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Cergy.
Wilson Poffenberger is a saxophonist and educator based out of the United States. A strong advocate for new music, Wilson premiered has new works for the saxophone is both the United States and Europe. Wilson is pursuing the Cycle D’Orientation Professionnelle at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Boulogne-Billancourt under the tutelage of Jean-Michel Goury.
Karan Salajegheh was born in Tehran. He started learning to play the piano at the age of 6 before studying with Delbar Hakimova. After a few years in architecture school, he decided to return to his first passion, the piano, before being admitted to the arts university of Tehran in 2010, where he studied with Raphael Minaskanian. Dreaming of travel and discovery, he came to France in 2010. He is now studying composition at the Conservatoire Régional à Rayonnement of Paris with Edith Canat de Chizy.
Ximena Salmerón was born in Texas. She graduated from La Casa del Teatro in Mexico City in 2014, one of the three most prestigious acting schools of Mexico City. She has participated in many plays and short-films both as an actress and as a director. She is a member of RáfagaTeatro, a Mexican company that specializes in producing plays in one square meter. Currently she is finishing her first of two years at the professional course at the Ecole International de Theatre Jacques Lecoq in Paris.