Archives: Events

Candlelight Sound Healing with Musicians, with violinist Monique Mead
Festive Strings: a Celebration of Dances and Romances, with TY Zhang, guitar and Monique Mead, violin

Monique Mead’s rich and varied career is a testament to her enduring belief that music has the power to connect, heal, and uplift humanity. Whether performing violin on stage, in nature, or in the community, Monique strives to create transformative musical experiences that connect people more deeply with themselves and others. Mentored by Leonard Bernstein at a young age, Monique chose a path that would open the world of classical music to new audiences of all ages. Since 1998 her youth and family programs with major orchestras and festivals in the United States and Europe have drawn international acclaim for their popular appeal and innovative approach. Her recordings with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Berlin Radio Orchestra, and West German Radio Orchestra have reached millions via radio and television broadcasts. In addition to performing as a soloist and chamber musician, Monique currently serves as Director of Music Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University, where she helps rising musicians find new pathways for music in the 21st century.  More at moniquemead.com

Peter Yarrow (of Peter Paul and Mary) commitment and life’s work have been framed by his awareness that music of conscience can be extremely effective when used as a source for inspiring and uniting efforts to heal and create a better world. As a performer and social activist, Peter has used music in just that way, bringing people together to create a more just, peaceful, and compassionate society. Through such efforts, beginning in the early 1960’s, the music of Peter, Paul and Mary became, for literally millions of people, the genesis of their activism and commitment to advancing positive social change. Peter’s gift for songwriting has produced some of the most moving songs in the Peter, Paul & Mary repertoire including “Puff, the Magic Dragon,” “Day is Done,” “Light One Candle,” and “The Great Mandala.” Currently Yarrow’s efforts are mainly focused on the non-profit, Operation Respect (OR) with its classroom-based program called “Don’t Laugh At Me” (DLAM) that utilizes music and the arts combined with social/emotional learning curricula for elementary and middle school children, now utilized in over 20,000 schools worldwide. Peter believes that DLAM and other such programs that build community and catalyze positive attitudinal and behavioral change, can enable today’s children to break the cycle of hatred, bias, racism and bullying, helping them to envision and create a more just and peaceful world.

Pamela Polland is an award-winning singer/songwriter, with three albums on Columbia and Epic as well as two more independently released albums to her credit. Over the course of literally 50 years in the music business, this seasoned professional has performed and recorded with such luminaries as Bonnie Raitt, Kenny Loggins, Jackson Browne, Van Morrison, Ry Cooder, Taj Mahal, John Denver, Manhattan Transfer and a host of others. In 1970, Pamela joined the famed Mad Dogs & Englishmen Tour with Joe Cocker and Leon Russell, appearing on the resulting album as well as in the movie. Her songs have been recorded by the likes of Linda Ronstadt, Helen Reddy, The Byrds, Anita Carter, Vicki Carr, Nancy Ames and Bobby Bare. Pamela has also won numerous awards, including two coveted gold records. She also appeared in the Academy Award and Grammy Award winning film, 20 Feet from Stardom. After achieving status as a well-established vocal coach and jazz singer, Pamela then devoted herself to Hawaiian culture for nearly twenty years studying language, dance, and music with the pre-eminent teachers in each field. Pamela’s love of Hawaiian music and language and her rich history in contemporary music inevitably coalesced, inspiring her CD, Hawaiianized.

Ross Gualco was born and raised in Oakland, California, where he studied piano with renowned bay area jazz pianist Don Burke. He studied music at Cal State Hayward before touring as musical director of the show band “Sounds of Joy”. He has played with jazz and rock luminaries such as Tom Scott, Steve Miller, Joe Satriani, Michael Bublé, Clark Terry, John Handy and Tommy Smothers. He has been musical director for many well-known Bay Area artists and shows including Val Diamond and Teatro ZinZanni, and more recently the San Francisco Circus Cabaret.

Barry Cahill and Delene St. Clair are a husband & wife, singer-songwriter, vocal-instrumental team from the San Diego, California area. For the last 35 years, they have been inspiring audiences in the U.S., Costa Rica, Bhutan, Ireland, and England. As songwriters, one of their songs “Time to Go Home,” from their album “Songs for Humanity,” is aired on CBS. Two of their other songs won awards in the UNISONG International Song Contest and the International Songwriting Competition. They are members of the Positive Music Association and their music can be heard in regular rotation on many internet stations. As performers, they have a heart-to-heart connection and synergistic energy onstage with each other and their audiences. Delene’s guitar stylings and Cahill’s soulful sax and flute solos, coupled with their perfect vocal blend, provide a sonic beauty that moves, grooves, and inspires the listener. Besides their original music, Cahill & Delene perform jazz and folk-rock covers from the 60’s-80’s, so be ready to sing and clap along!

Concert – Thursday 5pm Oaktree Pavilion

Peter Yarrow (of Peter Paul and Mary) commitment and life’s work have been framed by his awareness that music of conscience can be extremely effective when used as a source for inspiring and uniting efforts to heal and create a better world. As a performer and social activist, Peter has used music in just that way, bringing people together to create a more just, peaceful, and compassionate society. Through such efforts, beginning in the early 1960’s, the music of Peter, Paul and Mary became, for literally millions of people, the genesis of their activism and commitment to advancing positive social change. Peter’s gift for songwriting has produced some of the most moving songs in the Peter, Paul & Mary repertoire including “Puff, the Magic Dragon,” “Day is Done,” “Light One Candle,” and “The Great Mandala.” Currently Yarrow’s efforts are mainly focused on the non-profit, Operation Respect (OR) with its classroom-based program called “Don’t Laugh At Me” (DLAM) that utilizes music and the arts combined with social/emotional learning curricula for elementary and middle school children, now utilized in over 20,000 schools worldwide. Peter believes that DLAM and other such programs that build community and catalyze positive attitudinal and behavioral change, can enable today’s children to break the cycle of hatred, bias, racism and bullying, helping them to envision and create a more just and peaceful world.

GRAND TOUR – Mariacarla Cantamessa (flute) & Lorenzo Marasso (piano)
Program:

Johann Sebastian Bach: Sonata in G-minor BWV 1020
Paul Hindemith: Flute sonata
Francis Poulenc: Flute sonata FP 164
George Enescu: Cantabile and presto

VARIATIONS & FANTASIAS – Mariacarla Cantamessa (flute) & Lorenzo Marasso (piano)

Program:
Chopin: Variations on a Theme by Rossini
W.A. Mozart: Fantasia in C-minor (for piano solo)
Fauré: Fantaisie, Op.79
Borne: Fantaisie brillante sur ‘Carmen’

Mariacarla Cantamessa is a distinguished musician and educator with a rich background in transverse flute, music education, and instrumental teaching. She holds advanced degrees in these fields and has further honed her expertise through the prestigious Advanced Research Course for Music Education, organized by the Philharmonic Academy of Bologna in collaboration with the Italian Society for Music Education. As the co-artistic director of Cherasco Classical and Contemporary and the chamber music festival in collaboration with the Zephyr International Chamber Music Festival, Mariacarla has been instrumental in curating and promoting high-caliber musical events that bridge classical and contemporary genres. Her visionary leadership has brought together talented musicians and captivated audiences with innovative programming. Mariacarla’s passion for music education extends beyond performance. She has dedicated several years to educational research, contributing valuable insights to the field. Her expertise has been recognized on the international stage, where she has presented at conferences in Bremen, Dublin, Beijing, Cyprus, Samos, and Helsinki. Her scholarly work has been widely published, reflecting her commitment to advancing music education globally. With a blend of artistic excellence and academic rigor, Mariacarla continues to inspire and influence the world of music through her multifaceted career.

Lorenzo Marasso is an impassioned and sympathetic concert pianist, chamber musician, conductor, and recording artist. Dubbed the “king of repertoire”, his creative programming spans centuries and continents, often revealing lesser-known masterpieces. Lorenzo’s performances have been broadcast in numerous media outlets, including Radio Vaticana in Italy and Seattle’s 98.1 Classical King FM Northwest Focus LIVE, a radio show showcasing the Pacific Northwest’s diverse music scene. Equally inspired by contemporary music, performances have included the world premiere of, among others, “Partizan“, a staged melologue for pianist and actor, that Lorenzo commissioned LA-based composer Anne LeBaron, and the European premiere of Keith Jarrett’s Sonata for Violin and Piano. Further, in July 2020 he completed the Invention Project, a commission of 15 new pieces for piano inspired by J.S. Bach’s Inventions and Sinfonias. In 2017 Lorenzo founded Bauhaus Records, a recording label devoted to restoring a more healthy and direct relationship between musicians and the recorded product. The current catalogue includes the complete Inventions and Sinfonias by J.S. Bach, performed by Lorenzo, and Haydn’s The Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross. In 2019 Lorenzo released his fourth album, Abenteuer, which captures enchanting performances of works by JS Bach and his son CPE Bach, Alban Berg, Joseph Haydn and Franz Liszt. Born in Torino, Italy, Lorenzo earned degrees in music performance from the Conservatorio di Milano in Italy and the Royal Academy of Music in the UK. Lorenzo lives in Seattle, Washington, where he performs regularly and enjoys collaborations with the Music Faculty at the University of Washington and Seattle University.

New York-based pianist Eleonor Bindman and Seattle-based pianist Lorenzo Marasso meet at Rancho La Puerta to offer the Ranch’s guests two concerts in the combination “one piano-four hands” or “piano duet”.

The first concert will feature an all J.S. Bach program, with solo pieces, performed by both pianists, as well as in “duet” formation, performing one of Ms. Bindman’s transcriptions of the Bach’s Orchestral Suite #2.

The second concert will also feature both pianists in “duet” formation and explore the Classical, Romantic and Impressionist repertoire with works by Mozart, Schubert, Barber and Ravel.

Praised by The New York Times for her “lively, clear-textured and urbane” pianistic style and her “impressive clarity of purpose and a full grasp of the music’s spirit,” Eleonor Bindman hails from Riga, Latvia. She holds a BA in music from NYU and completed her MA in piano pedagogy at SUNY New Paltz.

Ms. Bindman’s recital appearances have included Carnegie Hall, The 92nd Street Y, Merkin Hall and Alice Tully Hall; concerto appearances have included engagements with the National Music Week Orchestra, the Staten Island Symphony, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, the New York Youth Symphony, and the Moscow Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra.

Classical Archives declared: “Prepare to be surprised” when encountering Ms. Bindman’s vast range of musical activity. Lately, she has been focusing on transcribing and performing the music of J.S. Bach. Her Brandenburg Duets, a new arrangement of the six Brandenburg Concertos for Piano-four-hands, was declared “breathtaking in its sheer precision and vitality” by Pianist Magazine, while the Cello Suites for Piano, a new version of Bach’s iconic set, made its debut at #7 on the Billboard® Classical Charts. 2022 marked the release of Bach’s complete Orchestral Suites for piano duet as well as a solo recording of the 6 keyboard Partitas.

A passionate music educator, Eleonor conducts online workshops for adult amateur pianists focusing on efficient practicing, score analysis and memorization.  She also created many family-friendly @Classical4Kids playlists available on Spotify and Apple Music.
Website:  https://eleonorbindman.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@EleonorBindman/

Lorenzo Marasso is an impassioned and sympathetic conductor, concert pianist, chamber musician, educator and radio host. Dubbed, by Mexican-American pianist Ana Cervantes, the “king of repertoire”, Lorenzo’s creative and intrepid programming spans centuries and continents, often revealing lesser known masterpieces and rarely performed arrangements.

Lorenzo’s performances have been broadcast in numerous media outlets, including Seattle’s 98.1 Classical King FM and NPR. In 2021 Lorenzo founded the Seattle Chamber Orchestra and is serving now as the ensemble’s music director. In the same year he also started hosting a weekly radio program called Dress Rehearsal on 107.3FM KBFG Seattle.

Equally inspired by contemporary music, Lorenzo has commissioned and performed world premieres of new works by several international composers who have written and dedicated pieces to him. Lorenzo’s on-going collaboration with Los Angeles-based composer, Anne LeBaron, whose pieces for “speaking pianist” offer a new way of interaction between performance and acting, led him to commission the writing of a new piece titled Partizan, as part of her projected series The Well-Read Clavier, using fictional texts by Italian novelist Beppe Fenoglio, which was premiered at the Alba Music Festival in Italy, in 2018. In July 2020 he completed the Invention Project, a commission of new pieces for piano inspired by J.S. Bach’s Inventions and Sinfonias.

From 2012 to 2016 Lorenzo, while in Los Angeles, was Music Director of String Orchestra Project, an ensemble devoted to performing the chamber orchestral repertoire with no boundaries of styles or combination of players. Under Lorenzo’s baton and artistic directorship, the group has presented a regular season of concerts featuring repertoire spanning from J.S. Bach and W.A. Mozart to P. Hindemith and S. Reich. In 2015, SOP was invited to accompany the winners of the Derek Jones Piano Competition in a gala concert, which Lorenzo conducted, at Thayer Hall in Downtown Los Angeles.

Lorenzo was born in Torino, Italy and graduated from the Conservatorio di Milano in 1994. The same year, he enrolled in the postgraduate program at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he also studied orchestral conducting. In 1996, he participated in the Park Lane Group Young Artist Series performing at the Southbank Centre in London, a solo recital of contemporary compositions by Paul Patterson, James Macmillan, John McCabe and Nimrod Borenstein. Lorenzo’s commitment to performing contemporary works led him to participate in the Valentino Bucchi Piano Competition in Rome, Italy, where he was a prize winner. Further engagements included performing the UK premiere of Keith Jarrett’s Sonata for Violin and Piano at the Hatherleigh Festival as well as works by Nigel Clarke and John McCabe in the presence of the composers.

Lorenzo currently lives in the Seattle area where he continues his activity of solo, chamber musician and educator and enjoys collaborations with the University of Washington and Seattle University.
Website https://www.lorenzomarasso.com
YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@lorenzomarasso7525/videos
Seattle Chamber Orchestra https://www.seattlechamberorchestra.org
Recordings Music for Two Pianos https://open.spotify.com/playlist/72lYagUga8CwH3S1qETAmo?si=7dd85d5702f94851
Inventions and Sinfonias https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5VX3C5GphxFoRApVnEKbTY?si=a94a31f863674faf
The Seven Last Words https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3v5B4PutaGZhw3WNYJt6w5?si=07f4166794a14501
Abenteuer https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3YHDod8MXUEhjGvVl3f6QE?si=802a68fe0a084a5b
Radio Show “Dress Rehearsal” live on 107.3 KBFG Seattle http://fulcrumcc.org/listen
Radio Show “Dress Rehearsal” Spotify Archive https://open.spotify.com/show/3Pc1lreYBZhDUhaNFthzI8?si=98c7163b6dbd4826