Credit: SZALON logo by Mia Bosna
Sunday, November 19th, 2023, 7:00 PM ET - Welcome; 7:30 PM - SZALON. (Philadelphia, USA: GMT-4)
November 19th SZALON!
Iris Malkin, Mezzo-soprano, and Daniel Gledhill, Piano perform Hebrew songs and prayers from Iris's home in Los Angeles, CA
Accordionist/composer Guy Klucevsek will present videos of his works “Clarissa” and “Eleven Large Lobsters Loose in the Lobby,” from his home in Staten Island, NY
Bill Koutsouros and ANIMUS perform exciting original world fusion, from the Salon
V. Shayne Frederick, jazz piano and vocals, will perform a solo short, elegant and contemporary suite, from the Salon
Flutist Joan Sparks performs selections from Daniel Dorff’s “Songs of the Open Road” based on the Walt Whitman poem of the same title
Soprano Lisa Willson Denolfo and pianist Michal Schmidt perform selections from the songcycle Love in the Midst by Cynthia Folio to poetry by Susan Albertine, from the Salon
Bert Lee will perform two original songs in his signature folk rooted style, from the Salon
Alaska-based singer/songwriters Tom Begich and Sarah Sledge return to the Salon with their original music, exploring the complications and yearnings of the human condition
Kimberly Reighley, flute and Nina Siniakova, piano/composer perform two movements from Nina’s composition "Three Wishes", from the Salon
Keegan Tawa will deliver original ambient and contemporary compositions for the Duduk and Synthesizer with looping board, from the Salon
Karen Bentley Pollick performs 'Aftermath' (2017) for solo violin by Thomas E. Flaherty from her home studio in San Pancho, Nayarit, Mexico
Iris Malkin and Daniel Gledhill
Israeli born Mezzo-Soprano Iris Malkin graduated from the Jerusalem Academy of Music with a Master’s Degree in Vocal Performance and an Artist Diploma in Piano - with a Vocal Coaching emphasis. Iris has performed widely in concerts and festivals in Israel, Europe, and the United States, and her performances have been broadcast worldwide. In addition to the mainstream operatic repertoire, Iris has distinguished herself in the world of Hebrew and Jewish works as well as the highly nuanced Spanish song repertoire. Iris has performed under the baton of Pierre Boulez during the 2006 Lucerne Festival, including collaboration with Boulez’ celebrated Ensemble Intercontemporain, and in 2011 was a guest soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of the South Bay. In 2012 she released her CD Cadencia, with songs from England, Spain, and Puerto Rico with award-winning guitarist Edward Trybek. She is the featured soloist on Stig Jonas Pettersson’s 2015 Album The Dracula Letters. Iris is in demand as a vocalist for films, video games and movie trailers. She is a featured soloist on the soundtrack of the film Kill Zone, nominated for Best Original Score at the 2009 Hollywood Music in Media Awards. Iris is on the faculty of the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. Recently, she was a featured soloist with the LA Jewish symphony, performing works by women composers, including Andrea Clearfield's Women of Valor.
Daniel Gledhill began studying the piano at the age of 5. Since then, he has become an accomplished pianist, winning 1st prizes on both national and international stages. As a boy, a large part of Daniel’s musical influence came from videogames. The way they were able to portray the complex moods and emotions of simple pixelated characters greatly inspired him and he began composing melodies himself. Since beginning that journey he has developed many styles, but his favorite music to write has always been the lush, sweeping themes found in modern games that introduce the player to new worlds with the promises of grand adventures to come. His education continued at the University of Southern California where he attended the Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television program. Currently he works as a collaborative pianist for the University of California, Los Angeles and the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Hollywood. He also free-lances as a composer, writing for solo piano as well as small and large orchestral ensembles for film and concert settings.
Guy Klucevsek
Guy Klucevsek, composer/accordionist, was born in New York City and raised in western Pennsylvania. Young Guy (age six) cajoled his dad into buying him an accordion after seeing and hearing Dick Contino on television. Over the last 50+ years, Klucevsek has created an extensive body of music—much of it for modern dance and theatre—which he has performed internationally as a soloist; with his group projects Accordion Tribe, the Klucevsek/Bern Unit, Polka from the Fringe, and the Bantam Orchestra; and as a guest on Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. He was a member of Philadelphia’s Relache Ensemble during the years 1980-1990.
Links:
https://www.facebook.com/guy.klucevsek
Recordings: https://starkland.org/
Video:
Bill Koutsouros & ANIMUS
Bill Koutsouros grew up with a household of music and dance with his father performing in Greek and Middle Eastern Ensembles and his mother an eminent dancer. Bill’s band Animus, beloved in the Philadelphia music scene, has evolved into an original Bouzouki driven World Fusion ensemble taking "World Fusion" music to exciting new extremes. Currently, Bill works with Musicopia in the Spice Route Ensemble, conducts music residencies in Philadelphia public schools and provides private instruction for Bouzouki and traditional Middle Eastern Percussion. He performs with ANIMUS, his Traditional Greek Ensemble Opa Band and other ensembles in the Philadelphia area.
Video:
V. Shayne Frederick
V. Shayne Frederick is a vocalist, pianist, and film composer with performances spanning decades. “Soulful,” DownBeat Magazine. "Silken baritone and elegant charm,” Philadelphia Inquirer. “Elastic vocalist,” Metro Philadelphia. “His stunning baritone effortlessly soars,” WXPN. “One to watch [...] a shining light,” All About Jazz. He’s electrified TEDx, NPR, and countless stages throughout the nation such as Minton’s Harlem, Con Alma Pittsburgh, Welcome America Fest, The Barnes Foundation, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Long Beach Island Foundation, Piton International Film Festival, and The Kimmel Center for Performing Arts. Shayne’s fifth recording, The King Suite, has gained international media attention, and his vocals have also been featured on projects released on Ropeadope Records and Outside In Music. He is a Governor on the Board of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Recording Academy, and an Adjunct Professor of Music at The University of the Arts.
Website: Vshayne.com
Venmo/cashapp: @vshayne
Album:
https://vshayne.bandcamp.com/album/the-king-suite
Videos:
Joan Sparks
Flutist Joan Sparks has had a musical career that features solo, orchestral, and chamber music concerts up and down the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Based in her home state of Delaware, she was for many years a first call substitute of the Philadelphia Orchestra, member of the Bethlehem Bach Festival Orchestra, the Delaware Symphony and other performing organizations. She and harpist Anne Sullivan formed the duo, "Sparx" in the late 1980's and went on to win 4 national awards as well as the Chamber Music America Ensemble Residency award which continued for 15 years. A champion of new music, Joan has commissioned several new works, among them Lowell Liebermann's "Sonata for Flute and Harp, Op 56", and Daniel Dorff's "Songs of the Open Road" for solo flute. As the owner of Flute Pro Shop, Joan has enjoyed matching flutes and flutists since 2010.
www.fluteproshop.com
www.twitter.com/fluteproshop
www.facebook.com/fluteproshop
www.fluteproshop.blogspot.com
www.youtube.com/fluteproshop
Lisa Willson DeNolfo and Michal Schmidt
Lisa Willson DeNolfo recently earned her Doctoral of Musical Arts degree from Temple University where her studies and performances were focused on the vocal works of Philadelphia women composers. Her published monograph, Twenty-First Century Women Composers of Philadelphia: An Analysis of Individualistic Expression of Collaborative Art Song As Demonstrated in Andrea Clearfield’s A Reminiscence Sing and Jennifer Higdon’s Love Sweet. Her final doctoral recital was performed with Dr. Michal Schmidt, collaborating on both piano and cello. Michal and Lisa will also begin recording a CD of works by Philadelphia women composers, including Cynthia Folio’s song cycle, Love in the Midst, in conjunction with orchestral arrangements of songs by Philadelphia native, Romeo Cascarino. Recently, Lisa’s performances include, soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Temple University Symphony Orchestra at the Kimmel Center, Strauss’ Vier Letze Lieder with both Temple University Symphony Orchestra and the Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra, and selections from Wagner’s Die Walküre and Die Götterdammerung with the Lower Merion Symphony. Other performances include Wagner’s Liebestod with the Lansdowne Symphony, where she will return on April 28, 2024 to sing Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915
https://www.youtube.com/live/QwAXIkKB5jU?si=Gdg6LkzoQifVOmhh
https://www.youtube.com/live/oafqOCS6fW8?si=Vz9hNQ2R0ftnfAXr
Israeli musician Michal Schmidt has been active in Philadelphia as a cellist and pianist since she came from Israel for studies at the Curtis Institute of Music. She received an Artist Diploma for both instruments at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Michal completed a Masters degree at the University of the Arts and DMA degree in Cello Performance at Temple University. In 2007 Michal established a series named Tribute - dedicated to new music by the many composers she has personal connections with. She recently completed a three disc set of Bach’s six cello suites and multiple piano works as well. She’s currently working on the new CD of Brahms Solo piano works.
Videos:
Bert Lee
Long a central figure in the Greenwhich Village music scene, composer and author Bert Lee has played in a variety of musical ensembles as widely varied as The Central Park Sheiks (the eastern kings of western swing!), and the New York Tibetan Singing bowl ensemble under the direction of Raphael Mostel. He is known for his sharp wit and his loving approach to songwriting.
You can discover more of his music at bertlee.bandcamp.com and on his youtube channel, @ElbertLeeIII.
Novels and short stories can be found at https://www.amazon.com/author/bertlee.net.
Videos:
Tom Begich and Sarah Sledge
When Singer/songwriters Tom Begich and Sarah Sledge aren’t working for their community – he just retired from the Alaska State Senate and she just retired as the head of an education non-profit – they are on-tour performing their original music around the country. Tom has released 5 solo CDs, a compilation music/poetry CD with acclaimed poet Tim Mason, and has published a book of sonnets “Six Truths”. Tom and Sarah are working on their newest music compilation now, “Stories Told”, with an expected release of Fall 2024.
Recordings of music and poetry books can be purchased at www.tombegich.com. This site provides free shipping and most proceeds go to the artists. Tom’s music is also available on iTunes, Spotify and through other music sites.
For additional information send a note to Tom at tom@tombegich.com
Video:
Kimberly Reighley and Nina Siniakova
Kimberly Reighley is Professor of Flute at West Chester Univ. PA, co-artistic director of mélomanie2 and principal flutist of the Delaware Symphony and OperaDelaware. Recent recordings include Mélomanie’s a hint of light remains, Up to the Light, and Ultraviolet on the Meyer Media label. www.wcupa.edu/music/instrumentalFaculty/kReighley.aspx
Nina Siniakova is a musician of a diverse cultural background and broad interests. Her music explores eternal subjects of beauty, love, life, and death. She enjoys an international career as a composer and a pianist. Her colleagues describe her style as “unique and refined” (Mark Hagerty) , which in their opinion makes Nina Siniakova “one of the most interesting composers of her generation” (Krzysztof Meyer). Her interests in musical genres span music written in contemporary classical style to minimalism, jazz, easy listening, and music for children.
Videos:
Keegan Tawa
Keegan Tawa is an aspiring saxophonist, duduk player, synthesist, and songwriter from Philadelphia. His unique fusion of engineering and composition gives his music a characteristically modern sound. Tawa is a super-collaborator, working constantly to intersect the skills of Philadelphia’s incredible musical population. His background in jazz, vocation as an engineer, and passion for storytelling give him a razor-sharp edge as a producer. Tawa is currently developing a new album entitled "Tessellation," which is deeply inspired by Middle Eastern, Pan-Arabic, Armenian, and Turkish music. It seeks to juxtapose ancient instrumentation with cutting-edge, modern electronics, while also blending traditional, Maqam-inspired melodic approaches with Western Jazz songwriting techniques and harmonic progressions. The album is expected to release in early 2024.
Watch on YouTube
Follow on Instagram
Purchase on Bandcamp
Videos:
Karen Bentley Pollick
A native of Palo Alto, California Karen Bentley Pollick studied with Camilla Wicks in San Francisco and joined the class of Josef Gingold at Indiana University, earning BM and MM degrees with a cognate field in Choral Conducting. She joined the Paul Dresher ElectroAcoustic Band in 1999. Her multimedia project ‘Solo Violin and Alternating Currents’ received a grant from the NEA and evolved into ‘Violin, Viola & Video Virtuosity’. Karen received a Seed Money Grant for Disseminated Performances from New York Women Composers. Karen’s debut recording for Toccata Classics presents Hermann Graedener’s two violin concertos with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. Her recordings garnered top recognition in the Global Music Awards. A founding member of Virtuosos de Cámara, Karen presents chamber music concerts in Puerto Vallarta and Nayarit. Recent concerts include the premieres of Pietà by Jerry Mader and ROMANTARCTICA by Henning Kraggerud, plus live video of MAQA VIOLIN by Yitzhak Yedid. She presented ‘Homage to Ukraine’ with music by Ukrainian composers Ludmila Yurina and Virko Baley at Stanford University’s CCRMA in September 2022 and launched Music for Emily Dickinson with pianist Timothy Hoft at University of Nevada Doc Rando Recital Hall on August 31, 2023.
https://www.facebook.com/kbpollick/
https://www.youtube.com/@felextc
https://virtuososdecamara.com/
https://www.youtube.com/@virtuosos
https://toccataclassics.com/product/virko-baley-music-emily-dickinson/
Videos:
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