Image: Gustav Mahler By Moritz Nähr - Public Domain
On SATURDAY, November 21 at 3 p.m. the SANTA BARBARA MUSIC CLUB will present another program in its popular series of concerts of beautiful Classical music at Faulkner Gallery in the downtown Public Library.
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 music for clarinet, flute, piano, and voice from the Classical, Impressionistic, Romantic, and Contemporary periods.
Program Details
(1824-1910)
- Allegro
Christopher Davis, piano
(1900-1990)
Jane Hahn, flute
Per Elmfors, clarinet
(1860-1911)
- Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft (I Breathed a Gentle Fragrance)
- Liebst du um Schönheit (If You Love For Beauty)
- Blicke mir nicht in de Lieder! (Look Not Into My Songs!)
- Um Mitternacht (At Midnight)
- Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen (I Have Become Lost to the World)
Christopher Davis, piano
(1770-1827)
- Allegro con brio
- Tema con variazioni: Andante con moto
- Rondo: Allegro
Betty Oberacker, piano
Notes on the Program
by Betty Oberacker
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 music for clarinet, flute, piano, and voice from the Classical, Impressionistic, Romantic, and Contemporary periods.
The program opens with the “Allegro” from Carl Reinecke’s Sonata in E major, Op. 167 (“Undine”), performed by Jane Hahn, flute, and Christopher Davis, piano. Reinecke was respected as one of the most influential and versatile musicians in the second half of the nineteenth century, and in his compositional output he sought to preserve the Classical tradition: in this sonata, for which he is best known, he utilizes the traditional harmonic and formal structures of his predecessors to delightfully fresh and charming effect. The work is based on the German romantic novel Undine, written by Friedrich de la Motte Fouque in 1811, which relates the tale of the water spirit Undine, daughter of the King of the Sea.
Next, Soprano Deborah Bertling, flutist Jane Hahn, and clarinetist Per Elmfors will present the evocative As It Fell Upon a Day, by the American composer Aaron Copland. Composed in 1923 when he was studying with the revered composition teacher Nadia Boulanger, Copland wrote: “I had been playing around with some ideas for the flute and clarinet assignment when I came upon a poem by the seventeenth-century English poet Richard Barnefield. ‘As It Fell Upon a Day’ had the simplicity and tenderness that moved me to attempt to evoke that poignant expression musically. … The imitative counterpoint between the two instruments in the introduction would satisfy my teacher’s request. The harmonies that seem to evoke an early English flavor were suggested by the nature of the text.”
The beautifully contemplative Rückert-Lieder of Gustav Mahler follow, performed by DeAndre Simmons, bass, and Christopher Davis, piano. Mahler identified profoundly with the emotional directness in the poetry of Friedrich Rückert, and declared, “After Des Knaben Wunderhorn [also by the same poet] I could not compose anything but Rückert — this is lyric poetry from the source, all else is lyric poetry of a derivative kind.” Comprised of five exquisitely subtle yet spellbinding songs, the composition’s titles immediately convey the deeply personal character of the music: “Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft” (“I Breathed a Gentle Fragrance”); “Liebst du um Schönheit” (“If You Love For Beauty”); “Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder!” (“Look Not Into My Songs!); “Um Mitternacht” (“At Midnight”): and “Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen” (“I Have Become Lost to the World”). Interestingly, the second song was a gift to Mahler’s wife, Alma, and the final one inspired to Mahler to say, “It is truly me.”
Note: Due to illness, the Mahler Rückert-Lieder have been replaced by Beethoven’s “An die ferne Geliebte,” Op. 98 (“To the Distant Beloved”), performed by Tyler Reese, baritone, and Mandee Sikich, piano.
Concluding the program, violinist Nicole McKenzie and pianist Betty Oberacker will interpret one of Ludwig van Beethoven’s most spirited compositions, his Sonata in D major, Op. 12, No. 1. The first of the composer’s ten Piano and Violin Sonatas (as they were entitled), it was composed in 1797, when Beethoven was 27, and is dedicated to Antonio Salieri, with whom Beethoven was studying vocal composition. Noteworthy is the fact that the sonata both commands and requires an absolute equality of collaborative technical and musical partnership between the two instruments — the very first instance of this dual equivalency in instrumental sonatas since those of Bach — and though a very early work it fully displays Beethoven’s boldly innovative and powerfully passionate creative genius.
The Performers
Jane Hahn, singer and flutist, grew up in Santa Barbara, and has studied and performed as a singer and a flutist her whole life. Her modest singing career includes several comprimario roles with Opera Santa Barbara, and she has been the soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah in Santa Barbara, Ventura and Santa Maria. Jane has directed the women’s vocal ensemble, LUX, as well as choirs at St. Michaels and Trinity Episcopal churches. Jane studied flute at the college level at UCSB, and continues to practice and perform as a freelance musician today, lately branching out into the Jazz genre. Jane is a retired Software Engineer and Project Manager. She and her husband are very proud of their two married sons and their precious grand-daughter. Her hobbies include yoga, pottery, and house-building with her husband.
Christopher Davis, pianist, has been concerto soloist with several orchestras including the Northwest Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, and has studied with renowned teachers and scholars in Germany, Austria, and Portugal. He earned his BA Degree from UC San Diego, his MM Degree from the University of Arkansas, and his DMA Degree from UCSB. In addition to serving as the Music Academy of the West’s House Manager (2009-2016), Dr. Davis has been on the staff of the Ojai Music Festival and Westmont College (2014-2016), and has worked for Camerata Pacifica, collaborating independently with many of their musicians.
Deborah Bertling (Soprano) earned her Bachelor of Arts degree at Bob Jones University, Greenville, SC. She also earned a certificate at American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles. She has performed in dozens of operas, plays, and concerts throughout California, most recently in Gianni Schicchi and Suor Angelica with Opera Santa Barbara. She is President of Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation, 1st Vice President of Community Arts Music Association, music docent in local elementary schools and mentor with Royal Family Kids. She will appear in the world premiere full-length feature film, Mirror Of My Soul, March of 2017. www.deborahmarksbertling.com
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.
Tyler Reece, baritone, is in his final year as a doctoral candidate at UCSB. He earned his BM Degree at Luther College (Iowa), and did graduate study with Dr. Linda Di Fiore at both the University of North Texas and UCSB. In February Tyler made his role debut as Count Almaviva in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro; other recent operatic engagements include the title role in Pasatieri’s comedy, Signor Deluso, as Malvolio in the West Coast premiere of Joel Feigin’s setting of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, and as Papageno in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte at the Amalfi Coast Music Festival in Italy. Tyler sings professionally at Old Mission Santa Barbara and with the Santa Barbara Choral Society, and in accordance with his passion for education, he has served as Teaching Assistant at UCSB.
Mandee Sikich completed her MM degree in Collaborative Piano in 2014 with Robert Koenig at UCSB where she was the recipient of a full-tuition music department fellowship. She also studied chamber music with Yuval Yaron. Mandee is the recipient of various awards including the Musician of the Year award (The Master’s College), the Christopher Parkening Scholarship for Excellence in Musical Performance, and the Estella Mays Memorial Award for Piano Performance. She has toured extensively to Italy, Germany, Israel, and Russia as a choral accompanist and served as the Westmont College Choir pianist from 2011 to 2014. She has maintained a private teaching studio in Santa Barbara since 2010 and is serving as the vice-president of the Santa Barbara Branch of the MTAC for the 2015-2016 season. Mandee has also worked as a music director for various theater companies in Santa Barbara including Elements Theatre Collective and Out of The Box Theatre Co. Her music direction credits Tom Greenwald Andrew Lippa’s John and Jen, Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins and Duncan Sheik’s and Steven Sater’s Spring Awakening for which she received an Indy Award for Music Direction in May 2012. She has spent the past eight years accompanying various opera productions in the Los Angeles area and has also collaborated with numerous vocalists and instrumentalists for recitals, competitions, and recordings. This summer she studied for six weeks in Austria as a Lieder Studio pianist for the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz.
Nicole McKenzie, violinist, has performed widely as soloist and chamber musician. The Santa Barbara Independent declared, “McKenzie made a splash… she performed with gorgeous musicality.” Winner of the Sutton Chamber Music Award, she graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy, earned a BM degree from Oberlin Conservatory, an MM degree from Florida State University, and studied with Gary Kosloski at the Music Academy of the West. She has studied improvisation with Christian Howes. Ms. McKenzie is concertmaster of the Santa Barbara Folk Orchestra, and performs in the accordion/violin duo Continental Cafe. She played electric violin in M.O.B. Jazz Ensemble, and regularly concertized with renowned pianist, Betty Oberacker. She has taught music to students of all ages, and is currently the elementary music teacher for the Carpinteria School District. She has worked at UC Santa Barbara as a lecturer and as a music director and music performer in the Theater and Dance Department. She has created a collaborative dance and music improvisation group and has performed in various music styles including classical, jazz, folk, klezmer, and musical theater. She performs on a violin created for her by Michel Eggimann of Rome, Italy.
Betty Oberacker, pianist, is internationally acclaimed for her interpretations of both traditional and contemporary solo and chamber music repertoire, and has toured throughout Europe, Israel, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and the U.S., including performances at Carnegie Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Philharmonic Hall and Vienna Musikverein. She has been Artist-in-Residence at 55 universities, conservatories and music festivals worldwide, and many important composers have dedicated their compositions to her. Her musical gifts were evidenced at three, when she began to play the piano and compose entirely by ear. Piano lessons started at age seven, and at nine she was accepted on scholarship as the only child student of the noted pianist Beryl Rubinstein. Her BM/MM Degrees are from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and her DMA Degree is from Ohio State University, where she was concomitantly a member of the piano faculty. Her discography includes Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier (Clavier Records), A Bach Commemorative Recital (MIT Great Performances Archives), Chamber Music of Emma Lou Diemer (Orion), Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire (Century), John Biggs’ Variations on a Theme of Shostakovich (VMM), and Diemer’s Piano Concerto (MMC), the latter two works composed for Oberacker. Honors accorded her include a Fulbright Research Fellowship to Italy and the University of California Distinguished Teaching Award, and her students hold important positions as performers and teachers in the U.S., Asia and Europe. Dr. Oberacker is UCSB Professor Emeritus, and enjoys an active performing, teaching and chamber music coaching schedule.
