FREE CHAMBER MUSIC CONCERT AT BARD ON FRIDAY, MARCH 5 Hudson Pro Musica, with bassoonist Elisabeth Romano, oboist Stephen Hammer, and pianist Sylvia Suzowsky, present music for woodwinds and piano
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.-A chamber music concert will be offered on Friday, March 5, at Bard College. The program, presented by the Music Program at Bard and Hudson Pro Musica, will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Bard Hall. The performers-bassoonist Elisabeth Romano, oboist Stephen Hammer, and pianist Sylvia Suzowsky-are all instructors in Bard's Music Program. Admission is free.
The program will explore the Romantic and post-Romantic virtuoso woodwind traditions in England and France, and includes the brilliant Trio for oboe, bassoon, and piano by Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) and the rollicking Second Fantasy on an Austrian Theme by Henri Brod (1799-1839). In addition, Romano will play the Fantasy for Bassoon (Op. 86) by Malcolm Arnold (1921-) and Hammer will perform the Six Metamorphoses after Ovid by Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) on a MIDI wind synthesizer.
Elisabeth Romano
has played bassoon with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, Toledo Symphony, and Con Spirito Woodwind Quintet. She maintains a busy schedule teaching at Bard, Vassar, and Marist Colleges and performing with groups such as the Albany Symphony, Hudson Valley Philharmonic, Woodstock Chamber Orchestra, and Mistral Wind Trio. Romano is also a music therapist and certified Kindermusik instructor, and resides in the New Paltz area.Stephen Hammer
is one of America's leading players of historical woodwinds, serving as principal oboe and recorder of the Boston Handel and Haydn Society, Concert Royal, the Aston Magna Festival at Bard, and other groups. He was cofounder of the New York Collegium and served as its first artistic director. Hammer has also performed on and experimented extensively with the Yamaha WX7 wind controller and created a wide array of sounds for it on various MIDI synthesizers; his wind synthesizer reading of the Britten Metamorphoses represents a novel approach to playing old music on modern instruments. He lives near Tivoli, N.Y.Sylvia Suzowsky
is principal keyboardist of the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, with which she appears frequently as soloist, most recently playing the Shostakovich First Piano Concerto; she also performs widely in recital and chamber settings. She serves on the faculty of the M.F.A. in conducting program of the Conductors Institute at Bard, is a presenter at the Bard Lifetime Learning Institute and the Marist Center for Lifetime Study, and teaches privately. She is also an award-winning photographer, an avid sailor and hiker, and a nationally ranked Masters swimmer with two bronze medals from world meets. Suzowsky lives in Catskill, NY.For further information about the concert, call the Music Program at 845-758-7250.
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(2.11.04)
[Editor's Note: For interviews with the performers, please contact Stephen Hammer at 845-756-2920 or [email protected].]