UPPER LAKE — Cuba comes to Lake County with the musical stylings of Elena Casanova at the Tallman Hotel as a part of its fourth season of monthly Saturday evening “Concerts with Conversation.” The show begins at 7:30 p.m. Acclaimed pianist Casanova will appear as entertainer in the series joined by cellist Joel Cohen to present a variety of classical and contemporary pieces plus some music from Casanova”s native Cuba. She recently released a CD of classical and modern Cuban music called Recordando.
Ten percent of all proceeds from the concerts will be donated to the Soper-Reese Community Theatre Fund, which is converting the historic single-screen movie theater in Lakeport into a performing arts center.
Casanova, the Cuban-born pianist, has a passion for her native music. She studied at the Alejandro Garcia Caturla Music Conservatory in Havana, the San Francisco Conservatory, Pacific Union College and graduated with a Bachelor of Music in piano performance from University of Redlands. She recently performed Poulenc Concerto for Two Pianos with Elizabeth MacDougall. She often performs as a soloist with the Ukiah Symphony Orchestra and was the soloist with Pacific Union College Orchestra.
As an active member of the community in Mendocino County, Casanova serves on the Board of the Community Concert Association and donates her time and energy to promote organizations like the Alzheimer”s Foundation, the Allegro Scholarship Fund, Music for Youth and many other organizations in her community.
Cellist Cohen has played with orchestras in California, Canada, Vienna, Boston; chamber music concerts in Vienna, Boston, southern France, Martha”s Vineyard and San Francisco. He”s lived in Canada, France and Austria and toured with various ensembles in Europe, Japan and the United States as well as to South America, North Africa, Turkey and China.
First he was with the Oakland Symphony Orchestra where he became co-principal cellist in 1979. Cohen continued in that position until he moved to Vienna in 1985 where he played with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and soon after arriving in Austria, and while living there he also played regularly with the Vienna Radio Symphony, the Wiener Kammeroper, the Johann Strauss Festival Orchestra and was a member of Quartett Yggdrasil, a string quartet specializing in “Music from the music of the 20th century.”
In 1997 his career brought him back to the United States, landing him in Boston. He played with the Boston Symphony, the National Lyric Opera, The Landmarks Orchestra and was cello teacher at the College of the Holy Cross. In 2001 he became a founding member of Quartet San Francisco, a string quartet playing modern genres, including jazz and tango. The group won Grammy nominations for “Best Classical Crossover CD” for two consecutive productions.
He now lives in Mendocino County. Along with continuing his classical explorations as recitalist, chamber musician and soloist with orchestra, he has also been exploring the expanding role of the cello in non-classical settings, including jazz, Celtic and improvisation. He leads Cello Big Band at the annual New Directions Cello Festival and teaches at Alasdair Fraser”s Sierra Fiddle Camp every summer.
Cohen will be performing the Brahms Double Concerto along with violinist Joseph Edelberg in May 2010 with the Ukiah Symphony.
Upcoming concerts with Conversation include an evening with veteran recording artist and internationally acclaimed keyboard virtuoso Rodney Franklin on March 27.
Based in Berkeley, Franklin is educated in the traditions of both jazz and classical music. He is the recipient of awards in numerous piano competitions, has performed at Carnegie Hall. His 14th recording is due for release around the time of his Tallman appearance.
On April 24, Grammy Award-winning composer and instrumentalist Paul McCandless will make his second appearance in the Tallman series together with pianist J. R. Burr, a multi-instrumentalist and composer, McCandless specializes on the oboe, English horn, bass clarinet, soprano sax and a collection of folk flutes reflecting his grounding in both classical and jazz disciplines. McCandless brings lyricism to his playing that has been integral to the ensemble sound of two seminal world music bands, the original Paul Winter Consort and the relentlessly innovative quartet, OREGON. On May 22, the group Quintessential will conclude the series with innovative renditions of classical and modern chamber music. Composed of Becky Ayres on flute and Beth Aiken on oboe together with Paul Hadley (horn), Ann Hubbard (bassoon) and Eric Van Dyke (clarinet), the members have a long history of playing together in the Lake County and Ukiah symphony orchestras, as well as the Symphony of the Redwoods.
Tickets for Concerts with Conversation are $25 each, and entitle the holder to a 10-percent discount on a pre-concert dinner at the Blue Wing Saloon & Caf? next door. The concerts are held in Riffe”s Meeting House next to the hotel, which seats up to 45 people comfortably. Coffee and cookies are served at the concert venue. Tickets to any or all of these events can be obtained by calling the Tallman Hotel reception desk at 275-2244. For more information, visit www.TallmanHotel.com.
