Music

The Hotchkiss Orchestra and school jazz ensemble, Right Brain Logic, will perform in concert Friday, May 24 at 7 p.m. in Katherine M. Elfers Hall, Esther Eastman Music Center. Admission is free and all are welcome. 

Writing music in a variety of styles comes naturally to Israeli-American composer Tamar Muskal. Her oeuvre ranges from dense symphonic works to documentary film scores to digital and more popular forms.
“Every medium touches on a different part of my brain,” Muskal says. Muskal will bring her musical gifts to our region and reflect on them this coming Sunday as part of Close Encounters With Music’s “Conversations With…” series, billed as “intimate and stimulating afternoons on music and ideas.”

Ukrainian-born pianist Inna Faliks and cellist Yehuda Hanani will present a program rich in Russian lore, Slavic emotionalism, Soviet-era sarcasm, and dazzling virtuosity: they will perform the cello/piano sonatas by Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, and Scriabin’s Sonata No. 5. In the Close Encounters With Music tradition, each performance is followed by an AFTERGLOW reception, with hors d’oeuvres and wine provided by local restaurants.

What better time to present music written by and for women? Christine Gevert and Crescendo will do it this coming weekend in a pair of concerts focusing on the soprano voice.
“Concerto delle Donne—Consort of Ladies,” features the early Baroque music of Luzzasco Luzzaschi, court composer to the Duke of Ferrara in late 16th-century Italy. At the time, the Duke had in his court three female sopranos—the eponymous “Consort of Ladies”—whom he supported as professional singers. They were likely the first such ensemble in Western history.