Wendy Clinard, Founder and Artistic Director of Clinard Dance, has been performing and teaching the art of Flamenco for more than 20 years. She has spent years researching the roots of Flamenco and her classes offer a comprehensive Flamenco foundation with a contemporary sensibility.

Dancers of all levels, beginner or professional, are welcomed into her intimate studio environment. Beginning the week of July 16th through August 26th, Clinard is hosting six weeks of intensive sessions in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago. The intensives are designed to challenge and expand on current studies at Clinard Dance as well as welcome and encourage new students.

The session “kicks off” with guest flamenco master África Fernández Montoya, de la Faraona, daughter of the dynasty maker, el Farruco. África will guest teach to set the tone for a summer of heartfelt and challenging studies on July 16th and July 17th.

* CLASSES OFFERED: Palmas (All Levels), Yoga-Based Floor Barre (All Levels), Multi-Level Technique (All Levels), Sevillanas (Beginner), Soleá Por Bulerías (Intermediate), Soleá (Intermediate), Bulerías/Tangos Por Fiesta (Intermediate/Advanced), Farruca (Advanced)

* PUNCH CARDS may be purchased on the first day of class and are priced in half hour increments at $8 per punch. Students may purchase as many punches as they like. (Please note: punch cards for the summer session expire on August 26th, 2018.)

* DROP-IN RATES are as follows: $20/1 hr | $25/1.25 hr | $30/1.5 hr

To reserve a spot, please send an email to [email protected].
For more information, including specific class descriptions and dates, visit clinardance.org.

Versatile and passionate internationally touring pianist Inna Faliks, who currently makes her home in Los Angeles and is professor and head of the piano department at UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music, brings her one woman concert-theater experience, Polonaise-Fantaisie: Story of a Pianist, home for one free performance on June 8, 2018 at 7:30pm at Schoenberg Hall, 445 Charles E Young Drive East, University of California, Los Angeles, CA. Admission is free; further information is available by clicking here.

Ms. Faliks, known for her moving and committed interpretations in performances at venues throughout the United States, Europe and Asia, such as Carnegie Weill Hall in New York City and The National Performing Arts Center in Beijing, offers this live performance to complement her double CD on Delos Records – Polonaise-Fantaisie: The Story of a Pianist.

The thirteen works on this recording span 289 years in their dates of composition and run the gamut from Bach and Mozart to Gershwin and Elliott Carter. The musical tracks appearing on the CD are interspersed with writings by the pianist chronicling her upbringing in Odessa, Ukraine; her musical and romantic awakenings; and her subsequent immigration to the US as a Jewish refugee. Each selection illustrates or relates to the text, either autobiographically or contextually. The album, which was recorded at UCLA, has been released in physical and digital format and is available at delosmusic.com as well as on Amazon, iTunes, Spotify, and more.

The musical selections featured are unified by their brevity. Representing a huge variety of styles, they are carefully curated to be emotionally and texturally illustrative of events unfolding in the life experience of the protagonist.

Works in the live performance are:

＊Rodion Shchedrin: Basso Ostinato
＊J.S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in G-sharp Minor, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1
＊Jan Freidlin: Ballade in Black and White* – *composed for Inna Faliks in 2011
＊W.A. Mozart: Fantasia in D Minor, K 397
＊Chopin-Liszt: The Maiden’s Wish
＊Paganini-Liszt: La Campanella
＊Frédéric Chopin: Polonaise-fantaisie, Op. 61
＊Ludwig van Beethoven: 6 Bagatelles, opus 126

For more information about Inna Faliks, please visit innafaliks.com.

TORCH comprises Brian Chin, trumpet; Eric Likkel, clarinets; Ben Thomas: vibes, bandoneón, and percussion; and Steve Schermer, bass. Conservatory trained, and yet jazz informed, all members of this Seattle based quartet are improvisers and also write for the group. The group’s name is inspired by the Thomas Mann quote, “Art is the sacred torch that must shed its merciful light into all life’s terrible depths.”

TORCH’s self-titled first full-length album features the varied and vibrant sounds of their composer collective. As an advocate for collaboration, TORCH works with visual artists, dancers, and creatives of all types to inspire socially conscious art.  A voyage of thirteen selections spanning forty minutes represents a wide representation of the diverse styles and influences of this ensemble from 20th century classical to contemporary jazz, European post-rock, and Argentine tango. From the modern tango inspired opening track “Tangent 7”, to the Bartok-inspired “Air” and Satie/Stravinsky adaptations, TORCH has landed solidly as a contemporary chamber ensemble worthy of note.

Member Brian Chin adds: “With enough repertoire for five records, we decided to create an album that could speak to some of the best of what we do while holding together as a stand alone recording.”

Physical and digital distribution for TORCH is through their own Common Tone Records imprint, and is now available through CDBaby, Bandcamp, Amazon, Spotify, and through their website TorchTheMusic.com. It will also soon be available on iTunes.

The album was engineered by Floyd Reitsma (Dave Matthews Band, Pearl Jam) on August 30-31, 2017, at Nickerson Studios, Seattle, WA. It was self-produced by TORCH, and mastered by Ed Brooks.

Tracks included:

Tangent 7 (Ben Thomas) 3:08
Air (Brian Chin) 4:01
The Surface of an Emerald (Ben Thomas) 1:45
Tennis (Erik Satie | Eric Likkel) 0:49
Yachtie (Erik Satie | Eric Likkel) 3:55
Fire (Ben Thomas) 3:01
Nana (Manuel de Falla | Brian Chin) 3:29
Valse d’Alchimie (Eric Likkel) 1:44
Larghetto-Land (Igor Stravinsky | Brian Chin) 2:13
Lento Bash (Igor Stravinsky | Brian Chin) 3:39
Picardy (Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence) (Trad. French | Eric Likkel) 3:57
April 21 (Rabbit) (Ben Thomas) 5:16

For more about TORCH, please visit TorchTheMusic.com.

In conjunction with its Project W initiative which makes bold steps for gender equity in classical music, Chicago Sinfonietta announces performances of Hear Me Roar at Wentz Concert Hall in Naperville, IL (March 11, 2018, 3pm); and at Symphony Center, Chicago (March 12, 2018, 7:30pm).

This performance is the fourth of five Main Stage programs throughout the Sinfonietta’s 30th Anniversary Season. Maestro Mei-Ann Chen, who is Music Director of Chicago Sinfonietta, will conduct. Chicago Sinfonietta is Chicago’s professional orchestra dedicated to modeling and promoting diversity, inclusion, and both racial and cultural equity in the arts.

This timely and topical program includes new works Dance Card by recent Grammy winner Jennifer Higdon, as well as #MeToo by Reena Esmail, both commissioned as part of Sinfonietta’s Project W initiative. Featured instrumentalists include Carol Dylan, violin; Karen Nelson, violin; Marlea Simpson, viola; and Ann Griffin, cello. Hear Me Roar falls right after International Women’s Day (March 8) and within Women’s History Month (March).

The Program includes:
*Dances in the Canebrakes by Florence B. Price
*Dance Card by Jennifer Higdon (Chicago Premiere)
*#MeToo by Reena Esmail (World Premiere)
*Symphony in F sharp minor, Op. 41 by Dora Pejačević (Chicago Premiere)

The concert will be performed at Wentz Concert Hall, North Central College, 171 E. Chicago Ave, Naperville, IL on Sunday, March 11 at 3pm; and at Symphony Center, 220 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL on Monday, March 12 at 7:30pm.

Tickets range from $20-$99 for concerts at Symphony Center and $49-$62 for concerts at North Central College with special $10 pricing available for students at both concerts. Tickets can be purchased by calling Chicago Sinfonietta at 312-284- 1554 or online at chicagosinfonietta.org. Hear Me Roar is sponsored in part by Skadden, ITW, and Fifth Third Bank, in partnership with YWCA Metropolitan Chicago. Chicago Sinfonietta Season Sponsors include Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aon, and Southwest Airlines.

Ticket holders are invited pre-show and during intermission to experience activities with Girls Rock! Chicago and YWCA. These activities are presented as part of BRIDGE – Chicago Sinfonietta’s audience engagement thematic concert programming established to break social, racial, and economic barriers within the symphonic experience.

Leading Women Executives, an experiential program for high-potential women who are prepared to advance from senior management roles to executive leadership positions, is sponsoring a private event for their alumnae prior to the concert, with Motorola Solutions as co-host. The pre-concert event includes a networking reception & panel discussion with a panel of female conductors, composers and musicians.

“Hear Me Roar takes Chicago Sinfonietta into uncharted repertoire with two major new commissions among three Chicago Premieres” says Music Director Chen. She continues: “the entire program is comprised of incredible works created by women composers – both past and present. While Jennifer Higdon and Reena Esmail represent the new generation of composers who are making symphonic history with every piece they compose, Florence Price and Dora Pejačević wrote music that has literally become the hidden gem of the orchestral repertoire as very few music lovers know their music well. With less than 2% of the symphonic repertoire annually performed by American professional orchestras being works written by women, the Chicago Sinfonietta has hit the national radar championing for one of the most underrepresented minorities in the classical music world – the women who expressed their life experiences through the musical voices of symphony orchestras.”

For more information, please visit chicagosinfonietta.org