Piano Professor Robin McCabe produces this quarterly series highlighting music inspired by great works of literature, performed by top UW music students and special guests. Each performance includes a pre-concert lecture. The May 7 program includes a pre-concert lecture, "Words, Sounds, and Images: The Connection to Music to Literature and the Other Arts, by UW Professor Michael Shapiro, the College of Arts & Sciences' divisional dean of Humanities, and performances by UW piano and voice students.
Lecture: 4 pm
Concert: 4:30 pm
LECTURE
Dean MICHAEL SHAPIRO: “Words, Sounds, and Images: The Connection to Music, to Literature, and the Other Arts”
PROGRAM
(from Songs of the Clown, Opus 29): “Come Away, Death” .........................................................Erich W. Korngold
“The Death of Ophelia” ............................................................................. Hector Berlioz
GEMMA BALINBIN, soprano
STEVEN DAMOUNI, piano
Après une lecture du Dante, Fantasia quasi sonata ........................................ Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
GABRIEL MANALAC, piano
INTERMISSION
Fairy Tale, Opus 20, No. 1...................................................................... Nicolai Medtner (1879-1951)
STEVEN DAMOUNI, piano
“Märchenbilder,” Opus 113, for viola and piano ............................... Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Nicht schnell Lebhaft Rasch Langsam, mit melancholischem Ausdruck
ALESSANDRA BARRETT, viola LAURE STRUBER, piano
BIOS
MICHAEL SHAPIRO has been on the faculty of the University of Washington since 1970. He is currently Professor of Hindi in the Department of Asian Languages and Literature and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Linguistics. He also serves as the University of Washington's Divisional Dean for the Humanities. He did his undergraduate study (in linguistics) at Queens College of the City University of New York and his graduate work (also in linguistics) at the University of Chicago. His research and teaching is related to the languages, linguistics, literatures, and cultures of North India. Topics on which he has published books and articles include the sociolinguistics of the South Asian subcontinent, the grammar and history of the Hindi language, twentieth-century Hindi literature, and the language and rhetoric of pre-modern North Indian religious texts.
GEMMA BALINBIN is in her first year of graduate study for vocal performance at the University of Washington. An avid traveler, she performed with the Milan Symphony Orchestra in Verdi's Requiem and as the soprano soloist for Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle. Previous credits include Don Giovanni, Susannah, Oklahoma, and Nozze di Figaro. She will be playing the role of Suor Genovieffa this summer in the Amalfi Coast Music and Arts Festival's production of Suor Angelica. Violist
ALESSANDRA BARRETT is pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts in string performance at the University of Washington, studying with Melia Watras. Alessandra holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts in violin and viola performance as well as a Master of Music degree in viola performance from the UW. Over the years Alessandra has also studied and performed at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute in Massachusetts, the International Music Academy Pilsen in the Czech Republic, the Kinhaven Music School in Vermont, the Idyllwild Arts Academy in California and the Composers Forum at the University of Oregon. Alessandra's performance career includes concerts on five continents, including such places as Kathmandu, Nepal; Ubud, Bali; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Delhi, India; and Kigali, Rwanda. She formerly was a member of the Isaura String Quartet in Los Angeles and the Daana String Quartet in Seattle.
STEVEN DAMOUNI is an active performer of both contemporary and traditional repertoires. He holds a Bachelors of Music in Piano Performance and a Masters of Art in Music from Washington State University where he graduated Magna Cum Laude. Steven has performed in masterclass for many prominent teachers including: Nelita True, Doug Humphreys, Robert McDonald, Stephen Drury, and Jonathan Feldman among others. In the summer of 2015, he participated in New England Conservatory’s Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice where he performed the Concord Sonata of Charles Ives in masterclasses and at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. He has won numerous regional and state competitions and is equally at ease as a chamber musician. He is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts at the University of Washington where he is studying with Dr. Robin McCabe.
GABRIEL MANALAC is currently in the first year of his Doctor of Musical Arts degree program at the University of Washington School of Music where he earned his Master of Music degree under the direction of Dr. Robin McCabe. He acquired his undergraduate degree from Loyola University New Orleans where he studied with Dr. John Murphy. A native of the Philippines and raised in New Orleans, LA, Gabriel currently lives in Blaine, WA where both he and his wife teach piano and perform for the surrounding community. French-born pianist
LAURE STRUBER is currently pursuing a doctorate in piano performance at the University of Washington, where she is a student of Dr. Robin McCabe. She has widely performed throughout Europe and in the United States as a soloist, chamber musician and main keyboardist for the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra. Laure has been the recipient of numerous awards including a Fulbright scholarship, a France-Fulbright Alumni distinction and a Soroptimist prize. Most recently, she won the UW School of Music concerto competition with the Chopin E minor Concerto. Laure holds a bachelor degree in Musicology from the University of Strasbourg and a piano performance and early music diploma from the Strasbourg Conservatory of Music. Under the guidance of Mr. McCray, she completed a Master of Music in piano performance at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she has been honored with the Marina Grin Award for "fine pianism and selfless giving to the musical community.” She recently joined the teaching staff of Kristina Lee Music LLC where she fosters a culture of creativity and independent spirit in her students and is writing her dissertation on the influence of Art in Debussy’s sonic world.