Prelude Cocktail is a collection of “major works for short attention spans,” including two world premieres and newly arranged favorites curated and performed by American flute and marimba duo Lawler + Fadoul. This CD is currently available for sale at CDBaby and will soon be available on Amazon and on iTunes.

The duo, featuring Zara Lawler, flutes; and Paul J. Fadoul, marimba and vibraphone, is celebrating this release with a series of house concerts in Massachusetts, New York and Washington, D.C.  Two public CD release concerts will be held on November 21, 2013, 7:30pm. at the Mansion at Strathmore (Shapiro Music Room) at Strathmore, Bethesda, MD; and at Edmonton Recital Society, Muttart Hall, Alberta College Conservatory of Music, Canada on November 27 at 7:30pm

Preludes are musical cocktails:  intriguing and intoxicating on their own, they also hold the promise of something more to come.  You might share cocktails before a big meal, just as a prelude often introduces a more substantial fugue.  Cocktails can be sweet (think of a Cosmo!), strong (gin martini), classic (Tom Collins, anyone?) or new and adventurous (what’s that one that is Red Bull and vodka?), and Lawler + Fadoul’s selections from four centuries of preludes are equally eclectic.  Prelude Cocktail includes two world premiere sets of preludes by American composers Katherine Hoover and Roshanne Etezady, as well as Lawler + Fadoul’s own brand new arrangements of favorites of the genre by Debussy, Gershwin, Bach, Chopin, Shostakovich and Scriabin.  Guest clarinetist, Christopher Grymes, joins the duo on two preludes and fugues by Shostakovich.

Lawler + Fadoul have performed in many of the United States’ most prestigious venues, including the Kennedy Center, Strathmore, Trinity Wall Street, and Vermont’s Yellow Barn Music School. Their Gronica Project is an ongoing program to increase the repertoire for their instrumentation both by commissioning new works from living composers and by creating their own arrangements of favorite works of the past. This CD is the culmination of the first years of the Gronica Project, which focused on preludes and fugues. (Lawler’s family coined the word gronica to describe a child’s main present at Christmas.)  Dedicated and creative educators, Lawler + Fadoul are teaching artists for the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC, and created Break it Down! for a week of Kinderkonzerts at the Kennedy Center in February 2013. They have worked as a duo since 2003.

Flutist Zara Lawler is known for innovative work 
that combines music, dance, theater, and poetry. In 2012 she staged the US première of Salvatore Sciarrino’s Il Cerchio Tagliato dei Suoni for 104 flutes at the Guggenheim Museum. She has performed her solo program, The Flute on its Feet, in venues across the US, with choreographer C. Neil Parsons. For many years, Lawler was flutist and Co-Artistic Director with Tales & Scales, touring the country performing works that integrated contemporary classical music with dance and theater, for children and family audiences. She studied at Juilliard with Carol Wincenc and Sam Baron.

Marimbist Paul J. Fadoul has performed solo and chamber music performances across North America and Spain, with such artists as Evan Ziporyn, Martin Bresnick, Robert van Sice, and the National Symphony Orchestra. He spends his summers in Newfoundland, where he composes, arranges and performs with the Canadian ensemble, Dark By Five. While touring with the educational ensemble Tales & Scales, he performed 200 shows annually, including solo performances with the Milwaukee, Buffalo, and Oregon symphonies. He graduated from the Yale School of Music and has taught at the Peabody Institute.

San Francisco, CA – Closing out a year which included concerts throughout the Bay Area, as well as tours to Arizona and Hawaii, San Francisco-based Baroque ensemble Musica Pacifica, is pleased to present their Fall 2013 Northern California Program, Baroque Splendor–Virtuosic Music from 17th- and 18th-century Europe, featuring concerts in Palo Alto, Berkeley, Ukiah, and Gualala on November 7, 8, 9, and 10, 2013. Concerts will feature Judith Linsenberg, recorder; Elizabeth Blumenstock, violin; John Dornenburg, viola da gamba; and JungHae Kim, harpsichord. Repertoire includes works by Bach, Rameau, Sammartini, Telemann, Turini, and more.

“BAROQUE SPLENDOR” CONCERT SCHEDULE, TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW! :

Thursday, November 7, 7:30 pm
All Saints Episcopal Church
555 Waverley St., Palo Alto, CA
Tickets $25 general, $20 senior and SFEMS (San Francisco Early Music Society) members, $10 student
mppaloalto.brownpapertickets.com

Friday, November 8, 8:00 pm
Trinity Chapel, Dana and Durant Sts., Berkeley, CA
Tickets $25 general, $20 senior and SFEMS members, $10 student
mpberkeley.brownpapertickets.com 

Saturday, November 9, 7:30 pm
Ukiah Community Concert Association
Ukiah High School Cafetorium, 100 Low Cap Rd., Ukiah, CA
www.ukiahconcerts.org
Tickets are available at the door or online for $20 ($5-student/child)
For more information, call 707-463-2738

Sunday, November 10, 4:00 pm
Gualala Arts Chamber Music Series
Gualala Arts Center, 46501 Gualala Road, Gualala, CA
$25 advance, $30 day of concert
Young people ages 7 through 17 admitted free with adult.
http://www.gualalaarts.org/Groups/Concert/2013-11MusicaPacifica.html 

Core Members of Musica Pacifica perform with Philharmonia Baroque and American Bach Soloists, and also appear with prominent early music ensembles nationally and abroad. They have performed on such prestigious concert series as The Frick Collection and Music Before 1800 (NYC), the Getty Museum (LA), Tage Alter Musik (Regensburg), Cleveland Art Museum, and the Berkeley Early Music Festival (four times), among others. They have performed at festivalsin Germany and Austria and have been featured on German National radio as well as on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today” and “Harmonia.” Musica Pacifica’s eight CD releases on the Virgin Classics, Dorian, and Solimar labels have won national and international awards, including Chamber Music America/WQXR’s 2003 Record Award, being featured on Minnesota Public Radio, and being chosen as “CD of the Month” by the early music journal Alte Musik Aktuell (Regensburg). Full bios of all musicians are at www.musicapacifica.org/bio.html.

Timescape is a collection of exciting and virtuosic selections from 1738 to the present day. Dave Camwell, who plays saxophones on all tracks, is assisted by other musical colleagues in bringing to life fifteen tracks of music that demonstrate the versatility and beauty of the saxophone sound applied to a wide chronological scope of musical styles, chosen from over four centuries of composition.

In addition to Timescape, Camwell has released two previous classical CDs, Bach-centric (2010), and Aeterna (2008) on the Teal Creek label to critical acclaim. See www.davecamwell.com for complete biography.

According to Camwell, “Each piece, either originally written for saxophone or adapted, highlights aspects of what my chosen instrument does best, namely its tonal flexibility, technical adroitness, and ability to blend and shine amongst other instruments. The saxophone has contributed much in the areas of jazz, pop, rock, and blues, and has come into its own as a classical instrument.”

Additional musical personnel include Ron Albrecht and Christy Eckerty (piano); Jillian Camwell (oboe and English horn); Kim Helton (flute); Stephen Page and James Romain (saxophones); and Mary Pshonik (cello).

Repertoire includes:
Johann Sebastian Bach Concerto for Oboe and Violin BWV 1060, arr. Camwell
Niccolo Paganini Allegretto (the hunt) from 24 Caprices, arr. Hekkema/Camwell
Francis Poulenc Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano, arr. Camwell
Steve Reich New York Counterpoint
Michael Touchi Tango Barroco for English Horn, Soprano Saxophone, and Piano
Marc Mellits Farfalle Cotte
Russell Peterson Trio for Flute, Alto Saxophone, and Piano

Recorded at Capp Audio Productions.

Timescape is available on Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, and CD Baby.

From September 29 to November 7, 2013, cellist Gabriel Cabezas will tour with the Sphinx Virtuosi, a conductorless ensemble comprising alumni of the Sphinx Competition. The tour includes a one-night only event at Chicago’s Harris Theater on Tuesday, October 1 at 7:30 pm, during which Cabezas will perform as one of two cello soloists on Vivaldi’s Concerto in G Minor for Two Cellos, Strings, and Continuo. Vocal star mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves will join the Sphinx musicians in a singular program including works by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Bach, Vivaldi, and Piazzolla. Tickets are $10-25 and are available at www.harristheaterchicago.org or by calling (312) 334-7777.

The tour also includes an event at Carnegie Hall, Stern Auditorium on Tuesday, October 8 at 6:00 pm, during which the ensemble will perform with former Sphinx laureates the Catalyst Quartet. Tickets are $25 and are available at www.CarnegieHall.org.

A native Chicagoan, and recent graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Gabriel Cabezas was the 2012 winner of the Sphinx Competition, Senior Division, and will perform as a soloist at Chicago’s International Beethoven Festival this month. The 20-year-old cellist to has played Carnegie multiple times: In 2011 he performed with Randall Goosby and as a soloist in 2013; he has also previously played a showcase recital in Carnegie’s Weill Hall and participated in a From the Top taping.During their six-week tour, the Sphinx Virtuosi will also visit Chicago, Houston, and Washington, D.C. (complete schedule below or see www.sphinxmusic.org).

SPHINX VIRTUOSI – COMPLETE TOUR SCHEDULE:

Sunday, September 29, 4:00 pm: James Lumber Center for the Performing Arts, Grayslake, IL
Tuesday, October 1, 7:30 pm: Harris Theater, Chicago, IL (with special guest Denyce Graves)
Wednesday, October 2, 7:30 pm: Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI
Friday, October 4, 12:00 pm: Rockefeller University, New York, NY
Sunday, October 6, 3:30 pm: Cheyney University Arts and Lecture Series, Cheyney, PA
Tuesday, October 8, 6:00 pm: Carnegie Hall, New York, NY (with Catalyst Quartet)
Thursday, October 10, 7:30 pm: Norton Center for the Arts, Danville, KY
Saturday, October 12, 7:30 pm: Miller Outdoor Theater, Houston, TX (with Houston Symphony)
Tuesday, October 22, 7:30 pm: New World Center, Miami Beach, FL
Friday, October 25, 7:30 pm: Beaches Fine Arts Series, Jacksonville Beach, FL
Sunday, October 27, 4:00 pm: Arts Center of coastal Carolina, Hilton Head, SC
Tuesday, October 29, 7:00 pm: The Grand Opera House, Macon, GA
Friday, November 1, 8:00 pm: Blumenthal Performing Arts, Charlotte, NC
Sunday, November 3, 3:00 pm: Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
Tuesday, November 5, 7:00 pm: Denison University, Granville, OH
Thursday, November 7, 7:30 pm: Washington Performing Arts Society, Washington, DC

Cellist Gabriel Cabezas has appeared as soloist with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, the National Symphony of Costa Rica, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the New World Symphony, and the Nashville Symphony, among others. Cabezas has been portrayed as “…an intense player who connects to the music naturally, without artifice, and brings a singing line to the cello” (David Stabler, The Oregonian) and his debut performance with the Cleveland Orchestra described as a “…remarkably poised and elegant account, with superb attention to phrasing, nuance and tonal coloration” (Donald Rosenberg, The Plain Dealer).A passion for chamber music and collaboration has taken him to Marlboro Music, Music@Menlo, Music from Angel Fire, the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, Bargemusic, and Chicago’s Symphony Center Presents series. His television appearances include performances with Yo-Yo Ma at “The Tavis Smiley Show” and “Good Morning America”, and with Béla Fleck in “From The Top – Carnegie Hall.”2013-14 season highlights include a subscription debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, as well as a return to Chicago’s International Beethoven Festival. Cabezas’ 2012-13 engagements included concerts with the Detroit Symphony, the Nashville Symphony and the National Symphony of Costa Rica, as well as appearances with Musicians from Marlboro, at the International Beethoven Festival, and ChamberFest Cleveland.Formerly a recipient of an Education Grant by the Rachel Elizabeth Barton Foundation, Cabezas has supported music outreach and education programs including Midori’s Partners in Performance, the Sphinx Organization, Costa Rica’s national SINEM music education program, and Chicago’s Citizen Musician movement. He is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Carter Brey. As a writer, Cabezas has been featured in Teen Strings Magazine and has been a contributing writer for Strings Magazine.

The Sphinx Virtuosi (formerly Sphinx Chamber Orchestra) is a conductorless ensemble comprised of alumni from the Sphinx Competition for young Black and Latino string players. This unique group has earned rave reviews from The New York Times. Allan Kozinn of the Times described their performances as “first-rate in every way” and the ensemble to have “produced a more beautiful, precise and carefully shaped sound than some fully professional orchestras that come through Carnegie Hall in the course of the year.”The Sphinx Virtuosi Tour offers a diverse program featuring well-known repertoire in addition to works by African-American and Latino composers, including works by Mozart, Piazzolla, Michael Abels, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, and others. The Sphinx Virtuosi are exclusively represented in North America by California Artists Management (www.CalArtists.com). The national Sphinx Virtuosi tour is made possible with the generous support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from Art Works, the MetLife Foundation, and Aetna.