Music

A celebration of music and moving water

2012-09-15T04:19:37Z

Compared to other outdoor music festivals in the region, the American River Music Festival is small. "Intimate" is a better word, though, for the weekend festival that opened for camping Friday and will treat music lovers to two days of performances along the banks of the South Fork of the American River in the Gold Country. This is the sixth annual outing for the event which has grown each year but still remains "friendly" and "manageable."

Festival founder Matt Semonsen said that last year's festival, with its approximately 1,000 attendees (as compared to about 6,000 at the Strawberry Music Festival that inspired him), turned the corner. He's designed a family-friendly event with plenty of kids' activities, and the festival is on track to actually make money, which goes toward music education in local public schools.

The town of Coloma, about an hour out of Sacramento, is home to the event. Music is presented on the Main Stage at Henningsen-Lotus Park, an 18-acre site right beside the river, convenient for a cooling dip still within earshot of the music. But there's also music to be heard in the festival campgrounds -- there are three to choose from -- and in local hot spots in town. Campground events range from straight-out performances to "join-in" shops where performers demonstrate and teach their craft.

There are five ticket packages available, ranging from the "get-it-all" Friday-Sunday camping/all-music package to single-day Main Stage tickets for either Saturday or Sunday (prices range from $159 for camping at Earthtrek site, which includes dinner and breakfast, to $40 for a one-day music pass). There are reduced prices for youths ages 8-17; children 7 and younger are free. Campsites opened at 9 a.m. Friday and campers can stay through 7 p.m. Sunday.

All the music presented can be (at least loosely) called "Americana." Performers range from such singer-songwriters as Tom Russell to rootsy rockers the Wheeler Brothers and the flat-out blues burners Roy Rogers and the Delta Rhythm Kings. Local legend Joe Craven (of Davis) revels in an "exploration in percussion," proving that any object can become not a "noise" -- but a "music" -- maker. Among hot "newer" acts to be showcased at the festival are Dangermuffin, which placed its single "Olly Oxen Free" at the top of radio's Homegrown Music chart, and the up-and-coming soulful, gospelly, doo-wop duo Birds of Chicago.

Here is the Main Stage schedule for each day:

Saturday

11 a.m. -- Birds of Chicago
12:15 p.m. --Ray Benneville (with Nina Gerber)
1:30 p.m. -- Wheeler Brothers
3 p.m. -- Tony Furtado
4:30 p.m. -- Dangermuffin

Sunday

11 a.m. -- Rita Hosking and Cousin Jack
12:15 p.m. -- Joe Craven Trio
1:30 p.m. -- Tom Russell
3 p.m. -- Poor Man's Whiskey
4:30 p.m. -- Roy Rogers and the Delta Rhythm Kings

For more information, go to www.americanrivermusic.org.

You can't beat 'Can't Touch This'

2012-06-05T23:17:27Z

Sacramento Ballet apprentice dancer Alex Stewart devised the first "At the Ballet" fundraiser for the local dance company three years ago as his senior project at Natomas Charter School. Last year, he and older brother Tim (another graduate of the Natomas school's performing and fine arts program, who now attends CSUS with a double major in theater and deaf studies) collaborated on a second installment. They're back -- with a vengenance -- this year with "At the Ballet III: Can't Touch This!" which continues at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays, through June 17. It is one exhilarating rush of a show, swift in pacing and sure in execution.

The brothers (Alex is 20, Tim 22) are co-writers, co-producers, co-directors and co-stars of the show, which features a dozen talented singers and dancers performing 22 songs ranging from MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This" to Beyonce's "Single Ladies," from the Dixie Chicks' "Cowboy Take Me Away" and Queen's "Somebody to Love" to Ethel Waters' "Stormy Weather." All the tunes are linked by a clever script that creates (or mimics -- it's hard to tell) real personalities of the cast members. Among them are divas, doufusses and daring dressers -- although most of the show is performed "in uniform" of shirt, jeans and sneakers. In addition to the Stewart brothers, the likable cast (many of whom are current or recent CSUS students) includes Olivia Hughes, Ryan Blanning, Taylor "Tay" Grossman, Ruby Brungess, Urias Davis, Hunter Guenza, Rebecca Yarborough, Annie Purvis and Julia Soto. Carly Stewart (yes, a talented younger sibling of the brothers) and "Sean Nill" (who has a surprisingly close relationship to Tim Stewart) also are featured.

There is a relaxed cameraderie among the performers that allows for friendly give-and-take banter between the smartly selected songs. "Okay, It's Alright With Me, "Forget You," "I Will Follow You," Make You Feel My Love, "Let's Get It On" are among the highlights. The tunes -- sultry, sexy, sometimes silly -- are accompanied by live music from the excellent four-piece Shlagel-Shlage and the Shlaggets band.

So far, "At the Ballet" has raised more than $12,000 for the ballet company. The third installment has six more performances this weekend and next to push that total higher.

Disclosure: My wife assisted in soliciting donations to be awarded by drawing at the conclusion of "At the Ballet III."

VITA Symphony Orchestra to play Dvorak, more

2012-05-22T06:36:33Z

Pete Nowlen, whose VITA Symphony Orchestra will perform Saturday at CSUS, has two audiences to serve. First there is the classical-music audience that comes to hear and enjoy this group of emerging professional musicians. Then there is the group of artists themselves. VITA stands for Vocal and Instrumental Teaching Artists -- and Nowlen helps to guide the musicians into a successful, satisfying career.

Saturday's program "all flows from (Antonin Dvorak's) New World Symphony," Nowlen said. "One of the reasons that I wanted it to flow from that piece was Dvorak's intent when he composed it. It really pointed the way for American music to come." Other pieces on the program, all from the 20th century, "reflect folk music from various countries but filtered through the American experience," Nowlen said. Harry T. Burleigh, who as Dvorak's assistant introduced the composer to African American music, will be represented on the program by his "Southland Sketches," a set of violin and piano pieces. Also on the program will be Aaron Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man," James De Mars' "Far From the Water" for American Indian flute and orchestra. and Chen Yi's "We Are America" from Angel Island Impressions, composed to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Angel Island Immigration Station.

The program was assembled to illustrate the thesis that "The world of music comes together here. in America" To make the lesson even more palatable, the concert will include special events, a drawing and ice cream at intermission.

But Nowlen's intent on more than entertaining an audience, He is, after all, an educator, and Saturday's performance will cap VITA's academic term. CSUS musician Charles Spruill IV will perform the violin solo in "Southland Sketches" and Deborah Pittman will be featured on the cedar flute in "Far From the Water. Ryan Murphy will conduct Dvorak's New World Symphony. "I wanted to give Ryan an opportunity to conduct a full-scale symphony as sort of a capstone experience for him," Nowlen said. "He really is what the organization is about. He started with us as a sophomore but a really talented sophomore. As a junior, he conducted a full-length Mass and an oratorio. He works with opera programs in San Francisco. He understands the principles, and knows how to talk to people. He's a musician and has led a choral performance, but he hasn't conducted a major work without vocalists."

VITA Academy is two years old, but it grew out of an existing organization, the Academy of All Hallows, which was inspired by Nowlen's experience in the classical music world.

"When i went to school, my goal was to get a job with a fulltime orchestra, which I did," Nowlen said in a recent telephone interview. "Then I got a bit bored with it and then that orchestra went away. I lost my job but not my passion for the music."

.Changing his own ideas about how to make money making music, Nowlen redirected his attention to "changing how young people view what a career in music can be. The general idea is that one is not going to spend one's time associating with one organization that will take care of you for all your career."

First with All Hallows and now with VITA, Nowlen.is teaching artists about expaning their opportunities. "Most every performer teaches, whether instrumental or vocal, via individual tutoring," he said, "but there are other educational opportunities," including going into the classroom as a cultural resource person.

VITA takes a three-prong approach, Nowlen said. It trains and gives practice to young musicians; it provides community engagement opportunities, primarily in elementary schools; and it provides performance opportunities. At All Hallows, the emphasis was mostly on performance, he said. At VITA, the emphasis is on the complete experience. VITA academics don't just play the program, they plan it, from script writing, program structuring, scheduling -- and finally performance.

"Voices of the New World," featuring the VITA Symphony Orchestra with the Women of the Slavic Chorale and guest soloists and conductors, takes place at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Music Recital hall at Sacramento State University. Tickets are $20 general, $10 for students with ID and $8 for ages 6 to 16. For more information, call (916) 486-8538. or go to www.vitaacademy.org.

Editor's note: The phone number in this article was edited after publication.

Community Concert Association announces new season

2012-05-17T07:59:57Z

The April 1 concert by Celtic music group Colcannon closed the 59th season of shows presented by Sacramento Community Concert Association. Many thought the season would never take place -- some in the organization had even urged a hiatus the year before -- but not only did Season 59 come off, it was so successful that Season 60 was announced at that concert.
SCCA president Elaine Myer, a former board member who assumed the presidency two years ago, was proved right when she said the organization could survive -- and thrive again -- if it faced the new economic reality of arts presentation. For all of its first half-century, SCCA was a full-season-subscription-only concert promoter. The shows were presented in the Community Center Theater at various times and on different days, depending upon the theater's availability. Over the years, concerts got more expensive to present and audiences grew smaller -- too small to justify the 2400-seat theater. Something had to change.
"The organization has a proud history of putting on concerts at reasonable prices. The one thing they didn't do was have an open attitude and keep up with the times," Myer said. "Even the president of the United States only serves eight years -- if he's re-elected. Some board members had served 20 years. When a member questioned why things had to be done a certain way, the answer was 'because that's the way we've always done it.' "
Myer took over at the end of SCCA's 57th year (the organization started in 1953). Until then, it had existed solely by subscription sales. "One of the first things I said, at the first meeting, was we need to sell ads, find sponsors, and get contributions," Myer said. (The eight-page program for the Colcannon concert had two full pages of advertising.)
SCAA also began to offer single-ticket purchases. "Many people are reluctant to buy a subscription," Myer said. "With the world being as busy as it is, people can't be sure that they will always be available. I don't think that's unreasonble, but they (former board members) would not sell individual tickets. Now we do, and for the first time this year, we're on-line. We're trying to modernize, keep up with the times.
"It's amazing how well we've done and been so backward for so many years," she said.
Brochures for the new season are about to go out to former subscribers, and already nearly 200 subscriptions have been sold.
Myer is now pushing to find corporate sponsors for the season or for individual concerts next season. In this endeavor, SCCA is competing with other city arts organizations for a limited pot of money. Crafting an appealing concert series of varied entertainment shows is how SCCA hopes to do that.
The 2012-2013 season (booked through arts presenter Live on Stage) includes an eclectic brass quintet, a chamber orchestra and a swinging jazz band among its five concerts. Here is the season (all shows presented at 3 p.m. in the Crest Theatre, 1013 K St., Sacramento):
Boston Brass, a jazz and classical ensemble, Sept. 16
A Far Cry, a hot, young chamber orchestra from Boston, Sept. 30
Robert Post, who performs a one-man variety show, Feb. 24, 2013
Terry Barber, a countertenor opera singer and former member of the group Chanticleer, March 24, 2013
Side Street Strutters, a jazz band with a knockout female vocalist, May 19, 2013.
Season tickets are $90 (student tickets are half-price). To order tickets, or for more information, call (916) 974-1357.

Bravo Bach! Festival features final trio of concerts

2012-04-28T00:11:49Z

St. Mark’s third annual Bravo Bach! Festival continues with three concerts this weekend. The first and the third feature local pianists with burgeoning careers. The middle show, on Saturday, features a jazz cabaret with the Joe Gilman Trio riffing on Baroque themes. That popular concert sold out last year.
The festival, which presented three concerts last weekend, continues at 7:30 p.m. today with pianist Anyssa Neumann playing keyboard music of Bach, Handel and Couperin. Neumann grew up in Sacramento, studied at Sac State, and performed at the first Bravo Bach! Festival. She performs nationally and internationally and is noted for her “deep connection to the Bach repertoire.” In addition to performing, she teaches music history at Oxford University and is a Ph.D. candidate in musicology at King’s College in London. She will perform on a Steinway piano provided by Sherman Clay.
Tickets to Neumann’s concert, which will be performed in the church Sanctuary, are $15.
Saturday, the Gilman trio will take over the church’s MacMurdo Hall for a cabaret-style show (table seating and refreshments), at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20, but may not be available at the door. Last year, people were turned away at the door, so if you’re interested, call for advance tickets, if any are still available.
Sunday’s headliner is Kevin Sun, an 18-year-old Carmichael resident who graduated last June from Mira Loma High School and is now studying at Stanford University. Mira Loma, he said in a recent telephone interview from campus, was “pretty sciencey,” which was good for him. He’s “thinking about engineering as an undergraduate degree and perhaps going to medical school.”
Do engineering and classical music compute? “You really have to be an engineer at heart with Bach,” he said. “If you study music theory, it’s very mathematical, all these intervals and chords.
“I think of music as a language,” Sun said, “so you’re studying a foreign language.”
Sun started his piano study when he was 5, “during the summer after kindergarten. Back then, I didn’t even know what classical music was,” he said. “My parents would play some of it but not much. My parents don’t read music or play instruments. It came down to: They thought I should learn to play music, that it would be good for me.”
He wasn’t thrilled at first. “I wanted to play sports,” he said. “Soccer was my passion at the time. I resisted. But after the fourth lesson or so, I was captivated. We’d keep a log, and I would practice and practice because I loved it so much. The great joy was when I memorized a piece,” he said.
Sun’s favorite musical period is the Baroque era. “From the time I was about 12, Bach has had a special place in my heart,” he said. The music is “more simple, less complex than (music of the) Romantic period. The texture sometimes is a little sparse.” But “what I really like is the polyphony, the complex interplay. It’s so fluid. When you really dissect the music, it’s incredibly complex.”
Sunday will be his first time playing a concerto (the Keyboard Concert No. 5 in f minor) for an audience, Sun said. The piano can be complicated enough sometimes, he said. “You have two hands and you’re playing three or four notes at the same time. It’s the most mentally challenging instrument,” he said, adding, “It’s much more demanding to play with an orchestra.
“With a symphony, you’re watching that you’re coordinated right with the strings. You have to establish your relation to the rest of the music. It’s like being a member of a choir.”
Festival artistic director Jack D. Miller will lead the 19-piece Festival Orchestra for the program, which also will feature Sac State violinist Charles “Chase” Spruill performing Bach’s Violin Concerto in E Major. Other works on the program include Handel’s Water Music Suite No. 1 and Gluck’s “The Dance of the Furies,” among other pieces. The concert will begin at 4 p.m. in the church Sanctuary. Tickets are $30.
St. Mark’s is at 2391 St. Marks Way, near Watt and El Camino avenues. For more information, or to purchase tickets online, go to: www.stmarksumc.com.

Bravo for St. Mark's Bravo Bach! Festival

2012-04-21T22:43:28Z

The third annual St. Mark’s Bravo Bach! Festival opened Friday with an evening of music by . . . Handel. The six-concert series, which continues today and Sunday and April 27, 28 and 29, is -- like the more-famous Carmel Bach Festival -- a celebration of Baroque music in general, with an emphasis on “the music of the immortals, J.S. Bach and G. F. Handel.”

A 19-piece orchestra and 28-voice chorus under the direction of festival artistic director Jack D. Miller performed Handel’s “Messiah parts II and III” and, as was the custom in his day, an organ concerto, this one the concerto in F Major, opus V, no. 5. The “Messiah” is Handel’s most popular work, but it’s usually Part I that’s performed, and that’s usually around Christmastime. Parts II and III, though less frequently performed, are perfectly suited to Eastertime. These parts tell the story of the birth, death and resurrection of the Christ and the spreading of his gospel.

Performed in the Sanctuary at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church, the work’s obvious religious subject is emphasized, but Handel himself called the piece “a fine entertainment,” and Miller presented that aspect equally well. As the chorus “All We Like Sheep Have Gone Astray” worked its way repetitively through the vocal range from soprano to baritone, the theatrical element of Handel’s work was evident.

Soloists Meghan Gibbens (messo soprano), Anthony Tavianini (tnor), Kate Murphy (soprano), Matt Hidalgo (tenor), Andrea Bubilitz (soprano), Brandon Anderson (baritone) and Francis Swiecki (alto) were all strong and assured. Baritone Daniel Yoder was especially authoritative in the air and recitative “Why Do the Nations so Furiously Rage Together” and countertenor Doug Salazar delivered a stirring “Thou Art Gone up on High.”

The concerto which came between the two parts of the “Messiah” featured organists Miller and Faythe Vollrath, he playing the Handel-reproduction organ provided by its maker, Bill Trabucco, and she on the church’s pipe organ.
Tonight’s program, “Fanfares & Flourishes” at 7:30 p.m., features a brass quintet, percussion and organ in pieces by Bach and Handel as well as Georg PhillipTelemann, Jean-Joseph Mouret and Jeremiah Clarke, among others. Sunday’s 4 p.m. concert features the esteemed Camerata Capistrano directed by Sac State’s Dr. Lorna Peters. Speaking before Friday’s opening concert, Peters said her group’s program, which includes Bach’s Trio Sonata in G Major and selections from John Dowland’s “Lachrimae” or Seaven Teares, as well as works by Telemann, Marin Marais and Jean-Philippe Rameau, is one of the Camerata’s strongest and most exciting.

Next weekend’s concerts include pianist Anyssa Neumann performing keyboard music of Bach, Handel and Francois Couperin (7:30 p.m. April 27), the Joe Gilman Trio presenting jazz improvisations on Baroque themes in a cabaret setting (7:30 p.m. April 28 in the church’s MacMurdo Hall) and the festival’s gala closing concert (4 p.m. April 29) featuring the Bravo Bach festival orchestra, with violinist Charles Spruill performing Bach’s Violin Concert in E Major and pianist Kevin Sun playing Bach’s Keyboard Concerto in F minor.

For tickets and more information, call (916) 483-7848 or go to www.stmarksumc.com.

St. Mark's goes for Baroque with Bravo Bach Festival

2012-03-27T01:00:29Z

The Bravo Bach Festival is almost a month away, but already one of the event's concerts is on its way to selling out. The Baroque Jazz Cabaret, scheduled at 7:30 p.m. April 28, is a perennial festival favorite.

"Last year, we had to turn away people at the door," said Jack D. Miller, artistic and musical director of St. Mark's United Methodist Church, which presents the festival. The cabaret features the Joe Gilman Jazz Ensemble performing improvizations on Baroque themes and melodies. "Bach himself was an improviser. I think he'd be quite comfortable with what Joe Gilman's doing," said Miller, who has two music degrees from the University of Southern California.

Gilman's concert is presented cabaret-style, with table seating and refreshments, in the church basement. The other concerts in the six-show, two-weekend festival are presented in the church Sanctuary, which has excellent acoustics for classical music. It also features a superb, powerful 52 rank Hupalo & Repusky pipe organ, which Miller will play during the April 21 "Baroque Flourishes and Fanfares" concert.

A look at attendees at any classical music concert will reveal an audience that is generally middle-aged or older. But Miller would like to attract younger audiences with concerts such as the jazz cabaret and others featuring younger performers. One concert will be performed by Camerata Capistrano, the Sacramento State University early-music ensemble, and the festival gala concert will star pianist Kevin Sun, a Sacramento native who is a freshman at Stanford University. "Young people need to see people their own age performing," Miller said.

This year's festival -- the third presented by St. Mark's -- will include six concerts, one per day April 20-22 and 27=29. Advance tickets are available online now (www.stmarksumc.com/bravobach). All concerts are at the church, 2391 St. Marks Way, Sacramento (near Watt and El Camino avenues). For more information: (916) 483-7848.

Here is a brief rundown on the six shows on the festival:

April 20 -- Handel's "Messiah," the Easter Portion (the lesser-known parts 2 and 3), directed by Miller and featuring orchestra, chorus and soloists. 7:30 p.m., $30.

April 21 -- Baroque Flourishes and Fanfares, featuring music by Bach, Handel, Rameau and others performed by a brass quintet accompanied by percussionist Michael Bayard and Miller on the church pipe organ.7:30 p.m.; $15.

April 22 -- Camerata Capistrano, the CSUS early-music ensembled directed by Dr. Lorna Peters, performing Baroque music from England, France, Italy and Germany. 4 p.m., $15.

April 27 -- Pianist Anyssa Neumann in a recital featuring pieces by Bach, Couperin and Handel played on a Steinway grand piano provided by Sherman Clay. 7:30 p.m., $15

April 28 -- Baroque Jazz Cabaret featuring the Joe Gilman Jazz Ensemble, presented with table seating and refreshments included. 7:30 p.m., $20.

April 29 -- Gala Festival Concert, with pianist Kevin Sun playing Bach's Keyboard Concerto #5 in f minor and violinist Chase Spruill playing Bach's Viola Concerto in E Major. Handel's "Water Music Suite #1" and Gluck's "Dance of the Furies" also will be performed. 4 p.m.; $30.

Arts in River Park presents a New Year's Eve-Eve party

2011-12-22T01:33:08Z

Party hats and horns are part of the outfit this time of year, but they’ll be doubly appropriate Friday, Dec. 30, when Arts in River Park presents a New Year’s Eve-Eve party that celebrates 10 years of the arts-and-music festival organization.

And talk about horns – musical entertainment at the event will be provided by ReUnion as Bump City, a Tower of Power tribute band. Just like Tower of Power, this tribute band is funkified and horn-driven. ReUnion was begun in 2005 and began its Bump City tribute to Tower of Power in 2009, quickly becoming one of the few TOP tribute bands. Its repertoire includes all the familiar TOP hits, including “Down to the Nightclub,” “So Very Hard To Go,” “What Is Hip?” and “Still a Young Man.”

The concert and attendant arts show and sale (which also will mark the birthday of Arts in River Park co-founder Brenda Waters) will begin at 7 p.m. at Central United Methodist Church, 5265 H St. Tickets are $15, and checks may be made payable to Arts in River Park, P.O. Box 191312, Sacramento, CA 95819.

Saxophonist/singer Billy Sims, one of the founders of ReUnion, is a protégé of Tower of Power’s original lead trumpet and trombonist Mic Gillette. “ Being the son of a sax player and having an uncle who was a member of Lionel Hampton’s trombone section, I grew up listening to big band music,” Sims said recently. “When I reached my teens, James Brown and Ray Charles had big bands that featured horn sections. Then there was Blood, Sweat & Tears and Chicago, too. When Tower of Power arrived, with their five-piece horn section blending with the tight rhythm section and vocals, I wanted to play in a band just like that.”

When fellow ReUnion co-founder Matt Martinez suggested a Tower of Power tribute, Sims was immediately on board. The group, whose other members include Sacramento native (and CSUS music grad) Christopher J. Tootle and Stockton-reared vocalist Jerry Littlejohn, “eats, sleeps and drinks Tower of Power’s music,” Sims said. “Mic Gillette is our mentor. He even helps contribute arrangements to our music. And when Mic attends our practices, I call it boot camp,” he said.

ReUnion’s Bump City tribute also includes music of another horn-driven Bay Area musical group, Lydia Pense and Cold Blood. Singer Christine Acosta dispenses the Pense vocals.
The Arts in River Park organization spent its first two years as the H Street Festival, a multimedia event (arts, crafts, information booths and entertainment) held first at a shopping center in River Park and then at the Masonic Scottish Rite center. Its first event was a multicultural fair held exactly one year after 9/11. For the past eight years, it has functioned as Arts in River Park and staged a couple of events a year.

In addition to music by ReUnion, the Dec. 30 event will feature handmade items including ceramics by Robyn Slakey, crafts and paintings by Deborah and Michael Smith and Joy Gee, jewelry and art by Matrix Arts, jewelry and crafts by Sister Sheba and purses by Anastasia Kryukova.

For more information and reservations, e-mail Brenda Waters at BjewWaters@aol.com or call her at (916) 457-3337.

Disclosure: I have dealt with Brenda Waters for many years in my former job as entertainment writer and editor. She asked me to work with her on getting the word out on this event.