Published: August 15, 2008 01:45 pm            

Chamber made | Music series readies for season

BY RUTH RICE

RRICE@TRIBDEM.COM

Organizers of the Chamber Music Series of Greater Johnstown are gearing up for the 2008-09 season.

All six scheduled concerts will be held at First Presbyterian Church, 309 Lincoln St., downtown Johnstown.

Preconcert student recitals or discussions with the artists will begin at 7 p.m.

“The main concert starts at 7:30,” said Dr. Albert Mall, an organizer of the series.

“Some come just for the concert.”

Master classes for serious music students will be held before most of the performances.

Music teachers, parents or students may contact board member Victoria Czarnek at 467-7943 for information.

“A big part of our mission is to bring music to young people,” said Czarnek.

“The master classes have been so successful. After a few hours with a polished professional, the difference in students’ playing has been phenomenal.”

The season will begin with the encore of Soviet pianist Elena Ulyanova on Sept. 27.

Mall said Ulyanova will return to Johnstown by popular demand.

“When she played for us last year, the audience was overwhelmed by her virtuosity,” Czarnek said.

Ulyanova started studying piano with her mother, Larisa Ulyanova, at the age of 5.

After placing first in several Ukrainian competitions, she was awarded full scholarships to three different music schools in Moscow.

Her concert repertoire includes pieces by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Debussy, Haydn and other classical composers.

She immigrated to Washington, D.C., from the Ukraine in 2004.

Trio Arioso, two members of Johnstown Symphony Orchestra and another musician from Pittsburgh, will perform Oct. 25.

“We wanted a trio this year and didn’t have one, so the symphony put one together for us,” Mall said.

The trio is made up of Dena Miller, concertmaster for Johnstown Symphony, on violin; Thomas Godrey, principal flutist for the symphony; and Corinne Adkins of Pittsburgh on piano.

The trio was created to explore the diverse flute/violin/piano chamber music repertoire and perform some of the lesser-known works.

Compositions performed will range from Baroque through the 21st century.

All three musicians have been active freelance musicians and teachers in Pittsburgh for more than 20 years.

A bit of jazz will be thrown into the mix when Swingtet 8 performs Nov. 22.

“They’re a jazz octet from Pittsburgh with a vocalist,” Mall said. “They do swing music. We usually try to get one jazz group each year. I’d like to have more.”

Swingtet 8 is a band with five horns and a three-member rhythm section that uses arrangements that capture the sound and energy of the big bands with less than half the musicians – billing itself as a little big band.

The band’s foundation is in the harmonizations and improvisations of swing/jazz, but its music includes all the rhythms and tempos of dance.

Swingtet 8 was formed in early 2005 and produced its first CD, “Swingtime,” in 2006.

Mall explained that chamber music is any music performed in a small space.

“Anyone would fit in,” Mall said. “When chamber music was developed, people like Mozart were playing, but these days, it would be different.”

After a winter break, the series returns March 28 with the Castalia Ensemble performing Franz Schubert’s “Trout Quintet.”

“They came as a trio before, and I think a quartet,” Mall said. “The board asked them to come to hear a performance of ‘Trout Quintet.’ ”

Members are James Lyon on violin; Kim Cook on cello; Robert Nairn on double bass; Tim Deighton on viola; and Enrico Elisi on piano.

All are faculty members of the Penn State School of Music.

Former Miss Pennsylvania Victoria Bechtold Kush will give a vocal performance for the concert on April 25.

A former Johnstown resident, Kush now lives in Miami, where she is a freelance vocalist throughout the south Florida area, performing for weddings, banquets and other events.

“Last year, we had a local vocal group, White Noise, and were impressed,” Mall said.

“The audience said they were interested in vocalists. Some of the board members know Vicki and asked her to come.”

Kush was named Pennsylvania’s Outstanding Young Woman in 2001, then became Miss Pennsylvania in 2004.

She went on to represent the state in the Miss America competition the following year.

She also offers her expertise in public speaking and interview preparation for those needing training in verbal and nonverbal communication techniques.

The Appalachian Trio will end the season with a concert on May 23.

The trio features Marina diPretoro Lupinacci on piano; David McCollom on tuba; and Virginia Thompson on French horn.

Members of high school bands who attend will hear a different side of the tuba and French horn with this concert.

Lupinacci said the tuba has a rich, melodious sound that goes perfectly with the mellow sound of the French horn and virtuosity, or fluency, of the piano.

McCollom and Thompson are faculty members in the music department at West Virginia University.

Lupinacci also taught at West Virginia and at Duquesne University.

She now has a private studio in the Pittsburgh area where she coaches piano and chamber music students.

All three will perform individually as soloists as well as together as a trio.

“It’s an unusual ensemble,” Mall said. “We try to get a variety of performers.”

Mall added that the board of the chamber music series will be able to offer free tickets to clients of the Laurel Highlands Neuro-Rehabilitation Center through a grant.

Season tickets are $95 per person and individual tickets for each concert are $17 for regular admission, $10 for seniors and $5 for students.

To order season tickets, call 255-7116 or 255-6292.

Payments for season tickets may be mailed to Sonya Trausi in care of Dr. Albert Mall, 1111 Franklin St., Suite 230, Johnstown, Pa. 15905.

Mall said checks should be made payable to the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies and earmarked chamber music.

Individual tickets may be purchased at the door before each concert.



Concerts

What: 2008-09 season of the Chamber Music Series of Greater Johnstown.

Where: First Presbyterian Church, 309 Lincoln St., downtown Johnstown.

Tickets: $95 for season tickets, $17 for regular admission, $10 for seniors, $5 for students.

Information: 255-7116 or 255-6292.

        

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