Camerata Musica April 2013 Newsletter

[David Gortner]

Camerata Musica Newsletter

April 2013

 

The next Camerata Musica concert will be Sunday afternoon, April 21, at 2:30 p.m., in Loucks Auditorium of the Salem Public Library.  As usual, admission is free.  The musicians will be the Douglas Fir Trio: Anthea Kreston, violin; Jason Duckles, cello; and Cary Lewis, piano. 

 

The program will include pieces for violin and piano by Profokiev and Janacek, two movements from Bach’s Suite No. 5 for unaccompanied cello, and the romantic trio by Bedrich Smetana.

 

Violinist Anthea Kreston has received numerous awards for her chamber collaborations including honors at the Melbourne and Banff International Competitions, the Grand Prize at the Concert Artists Guild Competition, and Top Prize in the Munich ARD International Chamber Music Competition. The San Diego Reader said of Anthea "...Anthea is a soloist of the Heifetz- Shaham-Vengerov caliber, whose musical instincts could make even a mere bagatelle thrill the soul and stir the senses to a frenzy." Formerly a member of the Avalon Quartet, she is one of the few people equally at home on the violin as well as the viola, and has studied with Ida Kavafian and Felix Galimir. Anthea holds a B.A. in Women’s Studies from Cleveland State University, a performance degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, and a Master’s from the Hartt School of Music, where she was Professor of Violin for ten years.  She is now acting concertmaster of the Portland Opera.

 

A native of Corvallis, cellist Jason Duckles made his solo debut at the age of seventeen with the Oregon Symphony. He received his B.A. from Northwestern University and his Master’s and Doctorate from the SUNY Stony Brook as a student of Timothy Eddy. He has won prizes for his chamber collaboration such as grand prize in the Concert Artists Guild Competition and top prize in the Munich ARD International Competition. Jason has also been a member of the Avalon String Quartet, the first Quartet-in-Residence at the Caramoor International Music Festival. He was a member of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, the Caramoor Virtuosi, and has appeared frequently as the cellist for the Mark Morris Dance Group which tours throughout the United States and Europe. Jason is currently on the faculty of Willamette University and conducts the Eugene Youth Orchestra.  We heard him in a Camerata Musica concert last fall with Willamette University colleagues Dan Rouslin and Anita King.

 

The Kreston-Duckles Duo has been performing together since meeting at the Aspen Festival of Music in 1997.  Violinist Anthea Kreston and cellist Jason Duckles immediately fell for each other in every way.  Their performing styles are well matched – attention to detail, passion, and a love of collaboration – and this is the make-up of a successful partnership.  Jason and Anthea have performed together in many configurations – concerto partners, duo partners, trio and quartet partners, and as members of Yo Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project.  Travelling the world together, from Carnegie Hall (where they were presented by Isaac Stern four times) to the Steppes of Central Asia, Jason and Anthea have developed a joint playing style which is palpable and filled with vigor.  They take the name of their duo from their daughters, Tzippora and Mirabai Kreston-Duckles.

Last year, Anthea Kreston, Jason Duckles, and Cary Lewis collaborated in a cycle of all fifteen of the Beethoven sonatas for violin-piano and cello-piano.

 

Cary Lewis, pianist, is in constant demand as a collaborative pianist for soloists and chamber music groups. He is one of the founding members of the Lanier Trio.

 

With degrees from the University of North Texas, as well as a doctorate and performer's certificate from the Eastman School of Music, he was a Fulbright scholar for two years in Vienna. His teachers include Eugene List, Brooks Smith, and Dieter Weber. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, the White House, the Kennedy Center, and Wigmore Hall in London, as well as with the National Philharmonic in Warsaw and in other music capitals of the United States and Europe.

 

Dr. Lewis is retired from the faculty of Georgia State University in Atlanta, and currently resides in Portland, Oregon with his wife, cellist Dorothy Lewis. He appears in numerous festivals throughout the year. Dr. Lewis can be heard on the Turnabout, Vanguard, Musical Heritage Society, Albany, ACA, and Gasparo labels, among others.  Cary has been featured in several Camerata Musica concerts, most recently in February with violinists Sarah Kwak and her husband Vali Phillips.

 

PLEASE NOTE:  There will be a chamber music concert at the Unitarian Universalist church, 5090 Center Street NE at Cordon Road, on Saturday, April 27, at 4:00 p.m.  A Willamette University student string quartet play the Dvorak American Quartet; two student piano trios play the great trios by Shostakovich and Mendelssohn; and Linfield University students play music from a Schumann song cycle.  Suggested donation is $10; the concert is a benefit to fund private lessons for talented students from financially disadvantaged families.

 

See the Camerata Musica web page at www.cameratamusica.org, lovingly maintained by John Michels.  For further information, contact George Struble at 503-364-3929.