Image: The Westmont Chamber Singers, 2018
On Saturday, April 21 at 3 PM, the SANTA BARBARA MUSIC CLUB will present another program in its popular series of concerts of beautiful Classical music. The concert will be held at the First United Methodist Church, 305 East Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara. Admission is free.
One of the highlights of Santa Barbara Music Club’s concerts is the opportunity for audiences to hear great music from a variety of historical periods, with a diversity of musical forms, performed by excellent artists. This concert features the Westmont Chamber Singers, directed by Grey Brothers, music for woodwinds by Paul de Wailly and Dag Wirén and two works by Leslie Hogan, Call, for oboe and piano, and the premiere of Moments, for solo piano.
This concert has been generously sponsored by Jane Ramsay in memory of her husband, William Ramsay
Program Details
(1854-1933)
(1905-1986)
- Andante-allegro
- Intermezzo: Vivace
- Lento espressivo
- Tema con variazione: Andante
Per Elmfors, clarinet; Nicoletta Christina Browne, cello
(b. 1964)
(1924-1997)
Arr. Aurelio Tello
Grey Brothers, director
Notes on the Program
Mary Jo Hartle, flute, Adelle Rodkey, oboe, and Per Elmfors, clarinet, will perform Paul de Wailly’s sparkling and lyrical Aubade for Flute, Oboe, and Clarinet (1906). They will be joined by cellist Nicoletta Browne for Swedish composer Dag Wirén’s Kvartett för flauto, oboe, klarinett och violoncell, op. 31. Dag Wirén (1905-1986) is a Swedish composer who received his musical training at the Stockholm Conservatory of Music. His compositions comprise stylistic genres from serious to popular, and include five symphonies as well as chamber music and film scores. True to Wirén’s stated desire “to entertain and please,” the Kvartett, Op. 31, composed in 1956, is characterized by expressive melodies and rhythmic piquancy.
Evan Losoya, oboe, and Leslie Hogan, piano, will perform Hogan’s Call. Composed in 1996, Call is a brief lyrical work, an elegy. Hogan will premiere Moments, for solo piano. Moments is a series of brief movements unified by the intent to capture in each a single affect or image—in a word, a moment.
The Westmont Chamber Singers, directed by Grey Brothers, conclude the program with a set spanning several centuries. They will perform 16th century madrigals by Luca Marenzio and Giles Farnaby, recent setting of Shakespearean texts by Andrew Carter and Bob Chillcott, and the rousing classic tango Naranjo en flor, arranged by Aurelio Tello.
The Performers
Nicoletta Christina Browne, cellist, is from Tucson, AZ and has played cello since age 10. She earned her BA Degree in Chemistry from Pomona College, where she studied cello with Roger LeBow, and her MS Degree in Earth Science is from UCSB, where she was awarded an Earth Research Institute Fellowship for her project, “Petrogenesis of Late-State, High-K Magmas Within a Continental Arc: Insights From Petrographic Studies.” Ms. Browne performed in the Pomona College Orchestra, is a longtime member of the Santa Barbara City College Orchestra, and hosts a radio show, Hardly Strictly Americana, on KCSB.
Per Elmfors, clarinetist, was born in Sweden and earned his PhD in Physics from Chalmers Institute of Technology (Gothenburg, Sweden). An avid chamber musician, his emphasis has been on performing with string and woodwind ensembles. He is currently Principle Clarinet in the SBCC Symphony, and also plays in several chamber music ensembles. Dr. Elmfors moved to Santa Barbara in 2010, and is a Senior Systems Engineer at FLIR Systems.
Mary Jo Hartle, flutist, received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Harvard University and did graduate work in anthropology at the University of Chicago. As Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of the South, her specialty was Indian Goddess Worship. A student of Anne Diener Zentner, former Principal Flute of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, she pursues her love of chamber music as a member of the Firecat Trio and other ensembles, and is frequent participant in the Humboldt State University Chamber Music Workshops. Ms. Hartle is the author of children’s books as well as a former anthropologist, and is currently President of the Chamber Music Society of Santa Barbara.
Composer/pianist Leslie A. Hogan received her principal training at the University of Kansas and the University of Michigan. Her music often manifests her longtime fascination with other art forms and with the potential of music to reflect or respond to visual stimuli from the natural world. As a pianist, she has performed with UC Santa Barbara’s Ensemble for Contemporary Music and was a co-founder and frequent performer for the Current Sounds concert series in Santa Barbara. She was on the board of the Chamber Music Society of Santa Barbara for over a decade. She has received awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (Charles Ives Fellowship, 2002; Charles Ives Scholarship, 1993), the Rapido Composition Contest, the American Music Center, ASCAP, and the Chicago Civic Orchestra, among others. Dr. Hogan has taught composition in the College of Creative Studies at the University of California-Santa Barbara since 1995.
Evan Losoya, oboist, has studied oboe for eleven years and played both oboe and English horn in orchestras since age nine. Currently a freshman Music Composition major in the UCSB College of Creative Studies, studying with Dr. Jeremy Haladyna, he has composed for various film projects, was commissioned to compose a 90-minute film score for Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, and his piano piece, Hypnotic Suggestion, was prizewinner in the MTNA competition. A piano student of Dr. Charles Asche, he performs on both oboe and piano as a member of UCSB’s Ensemble for Contemporary Music.
Adelle Rodkey, oboist, received her BM Degree in Music Pedagogy, magna cum laude, from Wheaton Conservatory of Music (Illinois), where she studied oboe with Carl Sonik. A native of Santa Barbara, she was an oboe student of Anne Anderson and a piano student of Lana Bodnar and Marilyn Clemons. Honors accorded her have included the President’s Award from Wheaton College, as well as awards from the Music Teachers National Association and the Pillsbury Foundation. Adelle performs frequently in several orchestras and chamber music ensembles, and is Instructor of Oboe at Westmont College. As a member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas, she maintains a private studio of oboe and piano students.
The Westmont Chamber Singers, Grey Brothers, director, is a select ensemble drawn from the Westmont College Choir. The ensemble offers elite, small-vocal-ensemble experience to advanced singers who wish to explore challenging literature written for few voices per part, and specializes in sacred and secular music from the 15th century to present-day. Their repertoire includes madrigals and motets of the Renaissance, contemporary sacred and secular music, folk-song arrangements, spirituals, and present-day jazz and pop music, as well as early Spanish choral music from Mexico and the United States. The ensemble comprises soprano: Lillyana Huerta, Bethany Le, Jessica Lingua; alto: Sharon Ko, Justice Patocs, Naomi Pulver, tenor: Christopher Browning, Kenny Galindo, Fritz Mora; bass: Alex Dell, Sean McElrath, Nathan Sirovatka.
