The musicians in residence and Harriet Hale Woolley Scholars, alongside a musician guest offer you a varied program for this Sunday’s Rendez-vous Musical: Offenbach, Franck, Bottesini, Schubert and Schumann! Free admission subject to availability.
Program
Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880)
I. Air d’Aristée, Ophée aux Enfers
II. Couplets du roi de Béotie, Orphée aux Enfers
III. Triolet de Gardefeu, L Vie parisienne
IV. Couplets de Barbe-Bleue, Barbe-Bleue
Grégoire Ichou, tenor & John Spyro Kamfonas , piano
César Franck (1822-1890)
Sonata for cello and piano in A major
I. Allegretto ven moderato
III. Recitativo – Fantasia (Ben moderato – molto lento)
Sarah Ghandour, cello & Claire Krupka, piano
Giovanni Bottesini (1821-1889)
Concerto no. 2 in A major
I. Allegro
William McClain Cravy, double bass & Lucas Belkhiri, piano
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Sonata in B-flat major D.960
I. Molto moderato
Claire Krupka, piano
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Fantasiestücke pour alto et piano op. 73
I. Zart un mit Ausdruck
II. Lebhaft, leicht
III. Rasch und mit Feuer
Jossalyn Jensen, viola & Lucas Belkhiri, piano
Musicians’ Biographies
Sarah Clarice Ghandour, an honored recipient of a full five year scholarship, graduated May 2017 from Bard College and Conservatory with a Bachelor of Art in Mathematics and a Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance, having studied under Cellist Peter Wiley. An avid chamber musician, Sarah has collaborated with artists including Peter Wiley, Peter Serkin, Daniel Phillips, and Dawn Upshaw. As principal cellist of the Bard Conservatory Orchestra, she has performed in New York, Eastern Europe, Russia, and most recently in Cuba, including collaboration with Camerata Romeu, a female Cuban string orchestra. Sarah was a finalist in the 2016 Bard Conservatory Concerto Competition, and in May 2017 had the pleasure of performing the Korngold Cello Concerto with The Orchestra Now. Following her study in the Fall of 2015 at the American University of Paris, and cello studies with Xavier Gagnepain, Conservatoire Boulogne-Billancourt, Sarah had the distinct pleasure of performing the Rachmaninoff Sonata for Piano and Cello, and the Brahms Clarinet Trio, at the Royal Castle of Warsaw, Poland on invitation by Bard Conservatory. Sarah has also delighted in participating in Music at Menlo, Yellow Barn, and Encore String Quartet Intensive Summer Chamber Music Festivals. After her 2017-2018 artist residency at the FEU Sarah will pursue a master’s degree at Stony Brook University, New York, under the tutelage of cellist Colin Carr.
Jossalyn Jensen, American violist, began playing music at the age of four. Her solo debut with orchestra was at the age of 9 and she has since appeared in concert across the United States and in Europe. She completed her studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music and The Juilliard School where she was a recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Artist Award. Ms. Jensen continues post-graduate work in Paris, France at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique and as a Fellow at the Fondation des États Unis. She was honored to spend her summer this year in the academies of the Verbier Festival and the Lucerne Festival. She is a laureate of the 2016-2017 Fulbright Grant.
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 scholar 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.
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.
Lucas Belkhiri began playing the piano at the age of 8 with Marie Hélène Barrier, at the Houilles Municipal Conservatory and then at the Sartrouville Conservatory with Pascal Mantin. He completed his training by attending master-classes and summer academies, notably with Anne Queffélec, Jean-François Hesser and Marie-Josèphe Jude. He holds a degree in musicology from the Sorbonne and a DNSPM in piano, obtained in June 2016 in Michel Béroff’s class at the CNSMDP, where he is currently finishing his Master 2 at Florent Boffard. Passionate about chamber music and also interested in teaching, he obtained his DE in piano then entered in 2017 in CA training at the CNSMDP as well as in piano accompaniment courses. He enjoys giving solo recitals as much as he enjoys playing in various classical formations or other musical styles.
Grégoire Ichou is a tenor and national tour guide. He graduated from the Sorbonne and the École du Louvre in Musicology, Art History and Cultural Mediation. He studied lyrical singing at the C.R. R. of Paris and perfected his skills abroad with internationally renowned singers. In 2012, he was the winner of the Honorary Competition of the Union Professionnelle des Maîtres du Chant Français and finalist of the Concours National de Chant Lyrique de Béziers. Among his many concerts, he performed at the Ognissanti Church in Florence and was invited by the French Institute of Valencia. In 2015, he gave a recital in Vienna with pianist Daniel Sarge (Anna Netrebko’s vocal conductor). He brings together his various skills and passions by carrying out concerts within museums, monuments and associations throughout France. Grégoire Ichou and the American pianist John Kamfonas have just released a CD (recorded in the Grand salon of the Fondation des Etats-Unis).
Claire Krupka (guest pianist) studied in Arras (France) and Riga (Latvia) before joining Dana Ciocarlie’s class at the Conservatoire Régional de Paris where she unanimously obtained the Music studies diploma. Her encounter with pianist Frédéric Lagarde marked a turning point in her life as a young musician, and she decided to study with him before joining Fabrizio Chiovetta’s class at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Genève. She won second prize at the Brest International Competition, first prize at the Paris Conservatoires Chamber Music Competition, and graduated from the Académie des Sciences, Arts et Lettres d’Arras. She performed at the Festival Les Inouïes, at the Théâtre de Neuchâtel (Switzerland), in Bourges, at the Festival Musique aux Mirabelles, in Paris (Festival d’Hiver du 19e, Grand Salon des Invalides, Mairie du 3e arrondissement, Auditorium St Germain), as well as at the Rencontres Musicales de Haute Provence.