THE BEAT GOES ON -- 2019-2020 Programs have started with the Summer at UCLA's Powell Library Rotunda

January 15th 2020 
Victor Shlyakhtenko goes to Chopin US competition

We started off the New Year with concert by our young star Victor, 17, whom we have known for about 4 years. He was our guest pianist at the FWC Centennial Program in 2018.

Today's program included major pieces by F. Chopin, J. S. Bach, and W. A. Mozart.

Victor Shlyakhtenko's solo piano concert at the home of Arlene and Francois

From left: Rochelle, Arlene (the hostess), guest, VICTOR, Francois (the host),
Zorana (Music Section chair), Stan, Jarka

Our Music Section included a small but strong audience of supporters. We enjoyed the piano recital by Victor (standing).

We wished him the best in his forthcoming Chopin competition to be held in Miami (February 2020).

The program we heard included demanding pieces by Bach, Mozart, and Chopin.
He also played an encore Chopin pieces.


Victor is interested in the art of piano performance, theory, composition, conducting, and yesterday, we found out that he also plays organ. He also explained for us choreography of Polish dances, such as polonaise in the Polish folk tradition. There was plenty of time to meet him, congratulate him, and wish him the best in his US Chopin competition in Miami.

THE PROGRAM

Nocturne in D flat, op. 27 No. 2 by Frederick Chopin (1810-1849)
Prelude and Fugue in A minor WTC I, BWV 865, by J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
Sonata in A minor, K 310 by W. A. Mozart (1756-1791)

                    ~~~ break ~~~

Ballade No. 3 in A flat major Op.47, by F. Chopin
Impromptu No. 1 in A flat major, Op. 29, by F. Chopin
Grande Polonaise Brillante, Op. 22, by F. Chopin
Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58, by F. Chopin

November 20th was held at the Cypress Lounge & Bar, Faculty Center at UCLA.

On behalf of the Music Section, Zorana Ercegovac, the founding chair of the Section, invited the Faculty Women's Club members to attend this recital. Faculty Center guests were welcomed as well. We encouraged attendees to enjoy a meal at the Faculty Center and take a beverage to the Cypress Lounge & Bar, modeling a 90-year-old Hollywood Bowl tradition.

Special Notes:
The concert started at 12:30 PM. 
If you are late, please wait to be seated during intermissions.

ARTISTS: The guest flutist Mr. Jae Uk Jeon, is accompanied by Ms. Jennie Kim, pianist.
Our Music Section member Kay Lee invited both performers to play for us.

ARTISTS with a subset of the audience
From left: Mrs Jeon (wife of the flutist); Gloria, Jaime, Jennie Kim (pianist), June, Mary Anne, Simone,
the flutist Mr. Jae Uk Jeon, Jeanine, Kay Lee (coordinator), Mireya, Zorana (Music Section chair), and Rochelle

Program:

>> Francis Poulenc (1899-1963): Sonate pour flute et piano

>> George Bizet - Francois Borne: Fantasie brilliante sur des themes de Carmen
~~~~~~~~~~ Intermission ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>> Pietro Morlacchi (1828-1868): Il pastore svizzero (The Swiss Shepherd)
>> Paul-Agricole Genin (1832-1903): Variation Carnival de Venice

The November 20th chamber music concert was put together by the Music Section founding chair Zorana Ercegovac and our Music Section member Kay Lee.

Speaking about the program, and the sonata for flute and piano by F. Poulenc (1957)

In the Cypress Lounge of the Faculty Center, the audience enjoyed the program, many of whom desired the opportunity to have a live concert in the same setting in near future.

While the weather was cold and rainy, at least for the Southern California standards, we hosted several guests outside our music section membership. This might be a start of a new tradition: widening the audience beyond the Music Section membership.


The venue includes wood carvings designed by Evelyn Ackerman in 1959.

Our 2019-2020 Music Section included The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) on September 29th, SUNDAY at 7 PM, Royce Hall, UCLA. We especially enjoy LACO's pre concert lectures which begin at 6 PM. Come early to meet, greet and sip a glass of bubbly.

HERE'S the schedule for the Sunday Special: MAKING GREAT MUSIC PERSONAL

5:00 pm Subscriber Appreciation Party -- come festive, joyful, and ready for the historic debut of music director Jaime Martin.
6:00 pm Pre-concert talk with music director Jaime Martin and creative advisor Ellen Reid.
7:00 pm Welcome Jaime! Concert

Welcome Jaime! Martin Concert

The Program features 
A world premiere from composer Andrew Norman (about 12 minutes)
Hector Berlioz, Les nuits d'ete (about 30 minutes)
Ludwig von Beethoven, Symphony 7 (about 36 minutes)

We will also hear Anne Sofie von Otter 

In his first season as Music Director, Jaime Martin will be in attendance on September 29th. In the 2019-2020 music season, Maestro Martin will conduct 7 orchestral programs as well as other ambitious performances.

Maestro Jaime Martin, a newly appointed Music Director of the
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra

Maestro Jaime Martin, LACO's Music Director speaks with Ellen Reid and
Andrew Norman, Artist-in-residence

Ellen Reid is one of the most innovative artists of her generation. A composer and sound artist whose breadth of work spans opera, sound design, film scoring, ensemble and choral writing, she recently became the first composer to have works premiered by Los Angeles’ four leading musical institutions — the Los Angeles Philharmonic, LA Opera, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and others

LACO commissioned an award-winning composer Andrew Norman to
write a piece, Begin, for LACO's concert.

Orchestration: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, percussion, harp, piano, strings. Andrew is innovative composer with interests in architecture, video games, and films.

Jaime Martin with Zorana, chatting during the pre-concert reception party

Please mark your calendars:

October 16th, Wednesday, features WEST COAST JAZZ with Joanie Harmon. The event will be held at the 3340 Reading Room, Moore Hall at UCLA at 12:30 PM. This event is our regular Music Section meeting. Bring your favorite snack.

Lari Pittman's WHAT is a part of the artist's retrospective at HAMMER MUSEUM

WHAT: West Coast Jazz with Joanie Harmon, GSE&IS at UCLA

Moore Hall, UCLA, the home of GSE&IS

Joanie will be presenting our first Music Section
talk at the 3340 Reading Room, Moore Hall, 12:30 PM.

Moore Hall 3340 Reading Room

Joanie Harmon and Zorana Ercegovac at Moore Hall Reading Room, UCLA
Photo credit: Simone King

From left: Simone King, Zorana Ercegovac
(Chair, Music Section), Shirley Ho, and
Helen Nefkens (seated)
Photo credit: Joanie Harmon

Joanie Harmon, Music Section member, was invited
by Zorana Ercegovac, Chair, to give a talk on one of
Joanie's favorite topics: WEST COAST JAZZ.

We heard about its beginnings, main actors, places,
heard several clips from various albums, discussed differences between the West Coast Jazz and Chicago
or New Orleans Jazz, and enjoyed great Music in America.

We were also delighted to have Mireya Lund with us, who
always asks great questions. Native from Chile, Mireya
brings experiences from the Latin Jazz, and more.
Another member was Tara Brown who joined us as well.

More photographs will be added as they become available for sharing.

Listened to Barbara Morrison, Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All Start -- Jazz Rolls Roys, others.

The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music in the 21st century
An impressive chronology since 1946

November 17th will feature Stravinsky's Pulcinella & Prokofiev's Symphony no. 1, also known as "classical", Ravel's Le tombeau de Couperin, and Missy Mazzoli's West Coast premiere of Dark with Excessive Bright for double bass and strings.
Where: Royce Hall.
This is a part of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO).
Tickets are required.

Summer 2019 at the Powell Rotunda:

The Henry J. BRUMAN SUMMER Chamber Music Festival is in its 31st season (1913-2005).

Festival is dedicated to the memory of Bernice M. Wenzel, professor emerita in the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and the Department of Physiology.

The July 31st program (see below) featured APERTURE DUO with Adrianne Pope, violin, and

Linnea Powell, viola.

The DUO explores the music by contemporary composers, new sounds, voices, and techniques.

Their interpretation is precise and innovative.

They commissioned diverse new works, and work closely
with composers.

The Festival is supported by the UCLA Center for 17th- & 18th-Century Studies and UCLA's Powell Library.

Powell Library Rotunda has continued to offer its beautiful venue for the Summer Chamber Music Festival.

Its Rotunda is a premier stage, acoustically, architecturally, and as place to relax, ponder, read, and meet with colleagues.

Linnea Powell, viola with Adrianne Pope, violin

                                         Our MUSIC SECTION gathered for a few photos.

Kyesun Lee, Joanie Harmon, Jaime and June Bulkacz
Photo credits: Zorana Ercegovac (Chair, Music Section)