Harriet Hale Woolley alumna Sarah Ghandour (2017 – 2018) and current fellow Andrew Briggs come together to perform French music written for two cellos. From the Baroque to operetta to the present day, Sarah and Andrew will sing their way through a program featuring the cellos as a graceful and whimsical duo.
Free admission, advance reservation is recommended:
Program
Jean-Baptiste Barrière
Sonata No. 10
Andante
Adagio
Allegro
Prestissimo
Jean-Pierre Duport
Sonata in A, Op. 4 No. 5
Allegro
Adagio
Presto
Jacques Offenbach
Duo for 2 cellos Op. 53 No. 2
Allegro
Andante
Allegro
Camille Saint-Saëns
Le Cygne de Carnaval des Animaux
Jules Massenet
Meditation from the opera Thaïs
Claude Debussy
Beau Soir
Paul Tortelier Siamois
For 2 cellos only
Andante tranquillo
Georges Bizet (1838-1875)
Excerpts from the opera Carmen
The Musicians
Praised as “an artist with an already expanding reputation and great future” (The Well-Tempered Ear); cellist Andrew Briggs is a world traveler. Recent performances include recitals in Bergen, Netherlands and Narbonne, France; collaborations with the principal cellist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Amsterdam, NL); recital performances in Paul Hall, NYC; with Axiom Contemporary Ensemble in Alice Tully Hall, NYC; and concerto appearances in Wisconsin and Colorado. Last season, Andrew was a member of the Colorado Symphony cello section, principal cellist of the Crested Butte Music Festival, and guest artist on recital series in Chicago, New York City, and Denver. Completing his Masters Degree at The Juilliard School, he recently graduated from the University of Wisconsin with his doctoral project, “Piatti and the Body: An Integrative Approach to Learning the 12 Caprices, Op. 25,” on Youtube.com. Currently Andrew resides in Paris, France as a recipient of the Harriet Hale Woolley Scholarship from the Fondation des États-Unis, where he is studying and performing works of Duport, Debussy, and Poulenc.
Sarah Clarice Ghandour, a 2017 graduate of Bard College Conservatory, is currently pursuing a master and doctoral degree in music at Stony Brook University, New York, under the tutelage of cellist Colin Carr. At Bard, Sarah studied with cellists Peter Wiley and Luis Garcia-Rénart. Following graduation with degrees in music and mathematics, she enjoyed an artist residency at la Fondation des États-Unis in Paris as a recipient of the Harriet Hale Woolley Scholarship 2017-2018. She studied there with Cyrille Lacrouts, principal cellist of the Paris National Opéra Orchestra, and collaborated with the Ensemble Calliopée, performing Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Sextet at the Fondation des États-Unis, among other concerts in France. Sarah is honored to return to the Fondation des États-Unis for this wonderful collaboration with this year’s Harriet Hale Woolley Scholar. An avid chamber musician, she has performed with artists Peter Wiley, Peter Serkin, Daniel Phillips, and Dawn Upshaw. Sarah has also participated in summer chamber music festivals such as Music@Menlo, Yellow Barn, Encore String Quartet Intensive, and Rencontres Musical de Saint-Cézaire-sur-Siagne.