Welcome to the FWC Centennial Celebration -- The MUSIC SECTION

Section Chairs Meeting: October 3rd 2018 at the UCLA's Faculty Center

Zorana Ercegovac, FWC Vice President for Sections, held the kickoff 2018-2019 meeting welcoming old and new sections chairs. The photo below shows those of us in attendance.

Shirley Ho (President Elect), Elisabeth Furster, Zorana Ercegovac (FWC VP Sections)
Sandy Spolsky, Marjorie Friedlander, Dorothea Frederking, Diane Childs, Phyllis Amboss
Dianne Homsher, Simone King, Marianne Tereszcuk, Helene desRuisseaux, Marianne Afifi

Summer and Fall 2018 MUSIC SECTION_BUZZ

We continue with unique events and programs for this FWC Centennial Year.
"Evolution of the Argentine tango music," presented by Jaime Bulkacz started off the 2018-2019 Season (October 17, 2018).

Zorana Ercegovac, Chair of the Music Section
with our presenter Jaime Bulkacz

The topic attracted many of our Section members as well as other listeners; the event was hosted again by Jarka and Tom Wilcox.

As we move forward into the HOLIDAYS 2018, we look forward to celebrate our Centennial year together with FWC diverse members from several sections (e.g., Music home section, book section, the executive board) along with husbands and partners. As in earlier years, we will gather on December 19th at Jarka and Tom's home for the HOLIDAY SING ALONG POTLUCK PARTY. Be festive, merry, bring regional delicacies to sample, and be ready to sing holiday carols from your own country. Zorana will be at piano and a photographer on site.

Our dear Music Section member Roma King (see a photo of her below), has made an amazing personal and professional achievement, and we wish to share this with all of you.

I invited Roma  invited Roma for an afternoon coffee in her neighborhood coffee place in Santa Monica and chatted about her forthcoming event: the book is now available on the screen, and she will be traveling to Poland for the premiere of her film: "Footsteps in the Snow."

Roma King with a copy of her book:
 "Footsteps in the Snow: A true story of one family's journey out of Siberia"
Photo credits: Zorana Ercegovac
August 30th 2018

The premiere was held at the DWOR WILKOWICE, about 70 km away from Warsaw, where she will show her documentary 60 minute film to a group of guests (September 8th) followed by an official premiere at a large theater in Warsaw (September 18th).

Roma shared the invitation to her film premiere, and I wish to share the copy with you.

Many of us were fortunate to view Roma's story on the big screen on October 21st at 3 pm and at 5 pm (The Laemmle's Film Center in Santa Monica, 1332 2nd street).
It tells the story of the Michniewicz family and childhood memories, but most of all it is the story of the family's escape from Siberia during WWII.

Roma, who earned her master's in education, has been our FWC member since 1981 with varied interests in sections on music, cooking, bridge, writing, and theater. She joined the FWC as a UCLA faculty wife. Now that she is retired, she is as busy as she was prior to her retirement. What an achievement! Congratulations!

Besides our own programs, we seek local music events and programs performed in concert halls, libraries, museums, private residences, churches, historical sites, and street corners. Here's one led by Ivan and Tzvetanka Varimezov with their students of the Balkan Ensemble (UCLA Ethnomusicology).

Our next meeting is "Leonard Bernstein at 100": November 17, Schoenberg Hall at 8 PM
See you all at our HOLIDAY SING ALONG: December 19, at 12:00 noon.

We post numerous performances held at the following local venues, including:
>The Broad Stage in Santa Monica
>The Da Camera Society (at historic sites including The Doheny Mansion, Greystone Mansion, The Bradbury Building, etc.
>The Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts (Beverly Hills)
>UCLA's Royce Hall, Schoenberg Hall, The Hammer Museum, and other theaters.

The UCLA Faculty Women's Club Centennial Celebration started off earlier, in December of 2017. However, I want to share with you another celebratory Music Section event and program that was held yesterday, February 21, 2018. Varied and rich program and the inclusive makeup of our attendees celebrated the 2018 Lunar New Year at the home of Shirley Ho.
Below is the photo of the FWC members who participated in the event and this unique and festive, interdisciplinary program.

 

From left: Rochelle, Marianne, Debby, Joy, June, Olga, Zorana, Roma, Shirley
Helen, Maria, Mary Ann, Dorothea, Bette, Jarka (Jo attended, not in the photo)
Photo credit: Kelli Yang

Shirley, our hostess and vocalist, introduced us in the meanings of the Lunar New Year with various symbolic representations for longevity, prosperity, and healthy foods. Notice the posters each of us holds as well as the fortune cookies beautifully wrapped below.

The program included a live performance by Ceri Hui on the Chinese instrument ERHU.

Ceri Hui explaining the instrument and performing:
Full of Joy, and Fengyang Flower Drum

The attendees enjoyed selected readings of poems by Robert Frost, A Prayer in Spring, read by Zorana, Shakespeare's Sonnet 98, read by Mary Ann, Dorothea recited a poem in English and German, and Debby read verses in Italian.

Joy brought a CD for us to listen to La Primavera concerto No. 1 in E major Op. 8 by Antonio Vivaldi (in three movements: Allegro, Largo, Allegro). Earlier in the year, Debby Kennel, our Music Section productive member, presented the entire session on Vivaldi.
Scroll down this blog to see that session.


As the program shows, Shirley, our hostess and vocalist, treated us with a delicious and healthy luncheon.

Shirley Ho about to perform Chinese folk songs:
I Love You
the Snow That Comes from Beyond the Great Wall
Sing Jiang Folk Song

At the Ho's residence, on May 9th 2018, the Birthday Section celebrated a double birthday of Joyce Glantz and of Mary Lou Ward (neither of whom was in attendance). However, Zorana Ercegovac, VP Sections, stopped by to capture special moments, below:

B-day Section members: (from left standing)
Simone, June, Mireya, Shirley (the hostess), Elisabeth, Maria, Dagmar, Sandy
Helen and Patti are sitting

A closer look at that beautifully decorated cake was recorded, and here is the frosting with the inscribed names of Joyce and Mary Lou. We missed you, hope you feel better soon !!

The BIRTHDAY Cake for Joyce and Mary Lou

We attend excellent concerts like the one honoring Hindustani (North Indian) music tradition:

Students performing sitar and tabla in the UCLA Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Gardens

HOLIDAY SING-ALONG POTLUCK GATHERING -- December 20th 2017
We are starting off with our traditional Sing-Along holiday potluck music program. This year we invited, besides all music section members, the "bookies," play-readers, FWC board members, as well as husbands and/or partners.

Our vocalists accompanied by Zorana at the piano (home of Jarka and Tom Wilcox)

Shirley Ho introduced the "Sing-Along" program with two traditional Christmas songs

Shirley Ho, FWC Music Section vocalist-in-residence

Joy and Gerry Frank, this time we invited the husbands. The event was very successful!

A subset of the Music Section membership
From left: Glorya, Mireya, Helen, Simone, Rochelle, Joy, Zorana (Chair),
Jarka (hostess), Jo (guest), Olga, Debby (presenter: Purcell), June (newest member)

Tomorrow (March 21st 2018) is our special treat at Jaka's home with her own presentation of a Czech composer Bedrich Smetana (1828-1884). Will hear his great music pieces from the well known symphonic cycle Ma Vlast (My Homeland), and selections from his equally well know opera The Bartered Bride.

For those of you who would like to read about
Smetana's biographical details and hear his music, visit our many local and UCLA libraries.

See you all tomorrow.
















For those of you who would like to be ahead of our next program, titled "Chopin -- Master Pianists, Pride of Poland (1810-1849)," visit numerous sources to listen and learn.

There are numerous good sources to get you started. Start with
music, mostly for the piano (some of the works you might like:
ballads, etudes, impromptus, mazurkas, nocturnes, polonaises,
preludes, scherzos, sonatas, waltzes), as well as concertos, songs,
and more. The son of a Polish mother and a French father, Chopin was brought up in Warsaw, graduated from the Warsaw
Conservatory, and 21, he arrived in Paris. There, he met writers such as Victor Hugo, Balzac, and Heine, became close friends with Delacroix, Liszt, and Berlioz.

He divided his time between performing, composing, and
a teaching.

Listen to many of the great CDs, DVDs, youtube, and above, live performances.

Looking forward to our January 17th Music Section gathering at Joy's house. The presenters are Joy and Rochelle.