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Our recent benefit concert presented by violinist Elmar Oliveira was a success! Read a review of the concert by Baltimore Sun Music Critic Tim Smith. Feel free to leave a comment to let us know what you thought of the concert!
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What better way to end our 2008-2009 concert series than with some jazz on the green this Sunday at 3:30 p.m. with the Jolley Twins Trio? Performers, composers, and producers Nathan Noble Jr. hail from Washington, D.C., and are recent Peabody graduates who have already achieved critical acclaim.
"Nathan is an equally confident and expressive player whose performance was a display of youthful athleticism; he buoyed and bounced around the kit with an elasticity that matched the shifting dynamics of his drumming. It was explosive musicianship that deserved a bountiful audience." -JazzTimes
" . . . fiercely talented and full of promise. Pianist Noble packs a Tyner-ish wallop and his solos shone a real knack for textural drama." -JazzTimes
Bassist Eric Wheeler, a Washington, D.C. native and graduate of Howard University, completes the trio. Wheeler was raised in teh great tradition of another famous Washington jazz musician, Duke Ellington.
Bring a blanket or lawn chair and an afternoon snack and enjoy the beautiful green of Second Presbyterian Church, amazing young performers, and a silent auction that benefits the Govans Ecumenical Development Corporation (GEDCO). We hope to see you there!
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Unsurpassed in his combination of elegance and impeccable artistry, Elmar Oliveira is one of the most distinguished violinists in the world today. His rigorous international itinerary includes appearances as soloist with many of the world's great orchestras, among them the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus, London Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, and the Zurich Tonhalle.
A prodigious recording artist, Elmar Oliveira can be heard on Artek, Angel, Sony Masterworks, Vox, Delos, IMP, Naxos, Andine, and Melodiya records, covering a wide range of works from the Baroque period to the present. His bet selling recording of the Rautavaara violin concerto with the Helsinki Philharmonic (Ondine) won the "Cannes Classical Award" and has appeared on Gramophones' "Editor's Choice" and other "Best Recordings" lists around the world.
Mr. Oliveira has collaborated with more than fifty world renowned conductors, a small sample of which includes Marin Alsop, Charles Dutoit, Gunther Herbig, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Andrew Previn, Yuri Temirkanov, Michael Tilson Thomas, and David Zinman.
Elmar Oliveira remains the only American violinist to win the gold medal at Moscow's prestigious "Tchaikovsky International Competition." He was also the first prize winner at the Naumburg International Competitiona and the first violinist to receive the coveted "Avery Fisher Prize."
The son of Portuguese immigrants, Mr. Oliveira began studying the violin with his brother John at the age of nine. He later continuted his studies with Arianna Bronne and Raphael Bronstein. He performs on a 1729 Guarneri del Gesu called the "Stretton", and on several outstanding contemporary violins.
David Simon, Community Concerts at Second Music Committee
What the press is saying about Elmar Olivera:
"A major artist in the very top international echelon." - New York Times
"Oliveira was the soloist in an ardent performance of Glazvnov. The dark suspense of the opening established the mood and intensity of the performance. Through it all, he played with conviction, and an exalted sense of lyrical projection." - Philadelphia Enquirer
"There is an aristocratic poise about his playing that is reminiscent of Nathan Milstein." - Strad Magazine
"Oliveira's performance was simply astonishing. His technical command, musical understanding, and intensity of feeling are beyond criticism." - Chicago Tribune
"While he's definitely his own musician, Oliveira is one of the true aristocrats of the fiddle in the manner of Nathan Milstein. The tone is silvery, the phrasing elegant, the technical effects assured." - Indianapolis Star
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Please join us for this special concert event and be part of the excitement when the first prize winner is chosen from an outstanding group of Finalists! This is an event you won't want to miss. Please see our website for more details about the competition. Our distinguished panel of judges: Barbara Denver In fifteen seasons at the metropolitan opera, the dramatic mezzo-soprano Barbara Denver has been heard in Il Trouvatore, Aida, Unbalio in Maschera, Don Carlo, Salome, Jenufa, Suor Angelia, and Die Walkure. Other operatic roles performed by her include Charpentiers Louise, Les Dialogues des Carmelites at La Scala under the baton of Ricardo Muti, Das Reingold, Adriana Lecouvreur, Elektra, and as Delila opposite Placido Domingo's Samson in Mexico City. Miss Denver has appeared with the Boston Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Israel Philharmonic under renowned conductors, among them James Levine, Sir Andrew Davis, Seiti Ozawa, and Zubin Metha. Miss Denver regularly performs works from the concert repertoire. In a live telecast from Lincoln Center heard throughout North America, she appeared in concert with the late Luciano Pavarotti. Vincent Dion Stringer Vincent Dion Stringer, baritone of Hartford, Connecticut holds a Masters Degree with distinction in opera performance from the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, MA. His undergraduate degrees and voice studies have been earned at Eastern Nazarene College and the New England Conservatory. Graduate studies in opera history and German Lieder led to fellowships in Germany at the Goethe Institute, and as a soloist and Lieder coach with Swiss tenor, Ernst Haefliger at the Marlboro Music Festival. He performed roles in the Philip Glass opera, The White Raven, both in Portugal and for the America Premiere at Lincoln Center in New York City. Mr. Stringer is the founder and artistic director of The National Spiritual Ensemble and Director of Opera at Morgan State University in Baltimore. Philip A. Olsen Philip A. Olsen is in his eighteenth year as Director of the Upper School choirs at McDonogh School. Prior to coming to McDonogh, he held positions as Assistant Professor of Music and Conductor of the University Chorus at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, and Director of the Euterpean Choral Ensemble in New York City. He holds a master’s degree in choral conducting from Florida State University where he studied with Joseph R. Flummerfelt and Colleen J. Kirk. In addition to his responsibilities at McDonogh, he holds the position of Music Director for the Second Presbyterian Church of Baltimore. Rebecca Jones Trout Rebecca Jones Trout, pianist, has appeared as a guest soloists with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra as a duo pianist with Jeffrey Winfield and with the Verliaine Quartet. For more than a decade of summers, Ms. Trout has been a resident accompanist for the "Explorations in Singing" Workshop conducted by Thomas Houser and Ruth Drucker at Marywood College. She holds the B.A. Cume Laude from Maryland's College of Notre Dame and is the recipient of a full graduate assistantship from the Peabody Conservatory, where she earned her M.M. In addition to her active perfrormance schedule, Ms. Trout has served on the faculties of the Garrison Forest School in Catonsville, The Bryn Mawr School, and Carroll Community College. She is presently on faculty at the Baltimore School for the Arts.
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Welcome to the new website for Community Concerts at Second!
We are excited to have this new site launched and encourage you to browse and enjoy regularly. We want to give you the best opportunity to learn about our artists to enhance your concert-going experience. We always welcome any comments, suggestions, and any blogs that you might want to add!
See you at the concerts!
Jennifer Jester Managing Director