"AN AFTERNOON OF J. S. BACH," FEATURING SONATAS FOR CLAVIER AND VIOLIN WITH CONTINUO, AT BARD COLLEGE ON SUNDAY, MARCH 19 Concert features violinist Sanford Allen, harpsichordist Edward Brewer, and cellist Robert Martin
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—On Sunday, March 19, The Bard Center presents "An Afternoon of J. S. Bach," featuring sonatas for clavier and violin with continuo. The concert, free and open to the public, begins at 4:00 p.m. in Olin Hall at Bard College.
The four sonatas by Bach will be performed by violinist Sanford Allen, harpsichordist Edward Brewer, and cellist Robert Martin. The program includes the Sonata no. 2 in A Major, Sonata no. 5 in F Minor, Sonata no. 6 in G Major, and Sonata no. 3 in E Major, all of which date from between 1717 and 1723, while Bach was Kapellmeister at the Court of Coethen. The music was originally conceived for clavier and violin, with a cello, or continuo, line added at a later time.
The concert is made possible, in part, through the generosity of the Homeland Foundation and the Leon Levy Foundation at Bard College. For further information about call The Bard Center at 914-758-7425.
About the Artists:
Sanford Allen, violinist, "a musician of obvious taste with a flair for new music," wrote Paul Hume in the Washington Post, rejoins Robert Martin, with whom he used to play in a trio including pianist Evelyn Crochet at Livingston College. He has an active solo career and has been responsible for many commissions and premiere performances of the music of contemporary composers, particularly black composers. He has performed as a recitalist and a member of chamber music concerts throughout the world, including solo appearances with the Symphony of the New World, Quebec Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Miami Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, and the New York Philharmonic. In 1979 he appeared at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., in a recital presented by the Kennedy Center National Commission on Blacks in the Performing Arts, and in 1998 he joined noted jazz pianist and composer Sir Roland Hanna at the Center. He was awarded the High Fidelity Magazine Koussevitsky International Recording Award for his performance of the Roque Cordero Violin Concerto as part of an anthology of the music of black composers for Columbia Records. Allen is a native New Yorker who started his study of the violin at the age of seven and entered the Juilliard School at the age of ten. He studied under Madame Vera Fonaroff at Juilliard and continued to work with her while attending the High School for the Performing Arts in Manhattan. After graduating, he attended the Mannes College of Music as a scholarship student. He also studied at the Marlboro Festival and the Berkshire Music Center, where he received a Music Club Award. At the age of twenty, Allen was the first black musician to play in the orchestra at Lewisohn Stadium, then home of the summer series of the New York Philharmonic. In 1962, he became the first black musician to be a regular member of the New York Philharmonic. He remained in the orchestra until 1977. He has served on the faculty of Livingston College of Rutgers University, the advisory panel of the New York States Arts Council, and was a member of the executive board of the Kennedy Center National Black Music Colloquium and Competition. Allen is currently on the advisory commission of the High School of the Performing Arts in Manhattan, on the faculty of the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, and the director of the Hudson Valley Leaf Peeper Chamber Music Series presented by Clarion Concerts in Columbia County.
Edward Brewer
, harpsichordist, who plays "sensibly, reliably, and with excellent taste," according to the New York Times, has been an active performer in the New York area for more than thirty years. He performs regularly in Manhattan's concert halls and is highly regarded not only for his solo appearances, but also for his chamber music collaborations. His affiliations include Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Orchestra, Philharmonia Virtuosi, the New York Collegium, and Amor Artis. His chamber music recordings are frequently aired over New York's classical music stations. Brewer has made over thirty recordings including a solo performance of Bach's Fifth Brandenburg Concerto with the Philharmonia Virtuosi. His other recordings include six Handel operas with the Brewer Chamber Orchestra. He is the director of the Soclair Music Festival and the founder of the Soclair Ensemble. He appears regularly with the North Country Chamber Players in New Hampshire and has conducted the Berkshire Bach Society.Robert Martin,
cellist, "offers a polished, vital music-making in an imaginatively conceived program," according to the Los Angeles Times. Martin is Dean of Graduate Studies and Associate Dean of Bard College, professor of philosophy and music, and codirector of the Bard Music Festival. He was the cellist of the Sequoia String Quartet from 1975 to 1985, during which time the ensemble made many recordings and toured internationally. He was the Assistant Dean of Humanities at UCLA and founded and produced the Los Angeles chamber music series "Music for Mischa," which is now presented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Martin studied cello at the Curtis Institute of Music with Leonard Rose and Orlando Cole, and he studied liberal arts at Haverford College. He made his New York recital debut, with pianist Richard Goode, in the Young Concert Artist Series. During his doctoral studies in philosophy at Yale University, he was the principal cellist of the New Haven Symphony and cellist of the Group for Contemporary Music, then at Columbia University. After receiving his Ph.D., he pursued a dual career in music and philosophy, holding joint appointments at SUNY–Buffalo and Rutgers University.# # #
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