Interpretations of Music: Lessons for Life

Saturday, April 29, 2017
10:00am–12:00pm
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

This event is free and open to the public.

Program

Elgar - Serenade for Strings
Boston String Academy students 

Boston String Academy (BSA) is a non-profit organization inspired by El Sistema – a very successful music education philosophy that utilizes music as a vehicle for social change – El Sistema originated in Venezuela over 40 years ago and has inspired thousands of educators around the world. We are passionate about introducing children at an early age to music, promoting a love for and engagement in music making. Our mission:

• To provide a vibrant after school string program for inner-city young students, offering high quality string instrument instruction, using standards that will give them the necessary skills to build a strong foundation in their musical growth.
• To offer many performance opportunities, master classes, lessons and ensemble settings, which will enable students to build self-confidence, discipline, commitment, social skills, and other fundamental values essential to every child’s development.
• To forge social integration through music by creating a path for young people to become sensitive, responsible and creative human beings.

BSA was founded in November, 2012 by Marielisa and Mariesther Alvarez, and Taide Prieto-Carpio. They are graduates of the Boston Conservatory, and of El Sistema programs in their home countries of Venezuela and Peru, and have modeled BSA on that experience. BSA currently offers three programs in the Chinatown, Allston and Roxbury neighborhoods, serving more than 100 students.

As part of the efforts to expose the students to the highest level of musical expression, BSA provides them with opportunities to perform and work with internationally acclaimed artists including Rictor Noren, Lynn Chang, David Ying, Martin Chalifour, Edicson Ruiz, Midori Goto, and world renowned conductors Gustavo Dudamel and Sir Simon Rattle.

In partnership with Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and Longy School of Music of Bard College, BSA counts with the support of graduate student teaching assistants from these institutions.

BSA’s current funders include the Boston Philharmonic, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Harvard Allston Partnership Fund, Boston Cultural Council, D´Addario Foundation, and the Johnson String Project.

Beethoven - Coriolan Overture
Lina Marcela Gonzalez, conductor

Born and raised in Cali, Colombia, Lina Marcela Gonzalez is among a younger generation making her way in the music world today. Lina Marcela is the Artistic Director and founder of Unitas Ensemble, a dynamic chamber orchestra in the Boston Area specializing in Latin American repertoire. for her work with Unitas Ensemble Lina has been recently recognized as one of the most influential Latinos under 30 years old in the Boston area by both El Mundo and el Planeta Newspaper. Upcoming projects include the recording of Unitas Ensemble’s First album in collaboration with the Grammy winner Cuarteto Latinoamericano, and the production of the Children’s Opera El Gato con Botas with Boston Conservatory.

Since her debut in 2008 with the Youth Orchestra of Bellas Artes in Cali, Lina Marcela has led numerous ensembles around Latin America and the United States. Her latest engagement as Assistant conductor and faculty of the Filarmonica Joven de Colombia for their summer tour, “La Consagracion,” allowed Lina to work along with players of the Houston Symphony and its music director to shape the greatest talents of her country.

In 2010, Maestra Alondra de la Parra invited Lina Marcela to become Assistant Conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, which included several tours to Mexico during their Bicentennial celebrations and the release of the Orchestra’s Debut Recording Mi Alma Mexicana. Other venues include Jordan Hall in Boston and Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in New York City.

Summer engagements have included the 2016 Conductors Guild conductor training workshop at the Cabrillo Festival of contemporary Music as a recipient of the Bruno Walter Scholarship with Marin Alsop (Baltimore Symphony) and James Ross (Juilliard School of Music). She has also appeared in masterclasses with Kenneth Kiesler, Andrés Orozco Estrada (Houston Symphony, Colombia), Alondra de la Parra, Frank Battisti, Roselin Pabon, among others.

Lina Marcela graduated with honors with her Master’s degree in Conducting from New England Conservatory under the tutelage of Charles Peltz in May 2014, and with a Graduate Diploma in Choral Conducting in May 2015 with Erica Washburn. Lina is currently pursuing her Doctoral degree in Orchestral conducting at Boston University with Stefan Asbury.

Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 5, Mvt. 1
Michael Bukhman, conductor

Described as “discerningly intense” (The Boston Globe), giving a “riveting performance that engaged us both musically and intellectually” (The Dayton City Paper), and praised for “great playing” (The Boston Globe), pianist Michael Bukhman is becoming widely known as a top collaborator, chamber musician, and solo artist. His recent performance with violinist Itzhak Perlman in Sarasota, Florida, was lauded for “brilliant playing” and having “pushed the audience to the edge of frenzy” (Herlad-Tribune). In June of 2016 Bukhman performed a duo recital with Grammy award-winning violist Kim Kashkashian to great acclaim at the American Viola Society Festival in Oberlin, OH. He has also collaborated with Nobuko Imai, Donald Weilerstein, Dawn Upshaw, Sergiu Schwartz, Peter Frankl, Roger Tapping, Anthony Marwood, and many others. 

Bukhman’s concert appearances have taken him all across the United States, Israel, Canada, and Europe. He has recently performed in several cities in China with his wife, violist Xinyi Xu, and has given his Japan recital debut in Tokyo’s Ginza Yamaha Hall. An award-winning pianist, Bukhman’s accolades include: medalist in the 2009 Hilton Head International Piano Competition; top-ranked winner of the 2005 Jacob K. Javits Fellowship; first-prize winner at the 2006 Corpus Christi International Competition for Piano and Strings; and laureate of the 2006 Gina Bachauer Competition at the Juilliard School. Notable music festival concert appearances include Yellow Barn Music Festival, The Perlman Music Program, and the Ojai Music Festival. He has also performed on Boston’s charitable Music For Food concert series with members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to the standard repertoire, Bukhman has a keen interest in showcasing the music of our time, performing and premiering the solo piano and chamber music of such composers as Jonathan Harvey, Osvaldo Golijov, Philippe Hersant, Arlene Sierra, Judith Shatin, Tzvi Avni, Haim Shtrum, Ted Goldman, and others. He is also committed to teaching and working with children, and enjoys playing in schools as part of outreach programs. Some of these include Calgary-area middle schools as part of the Honens International Piano Competition’s School Ambassador program, schools on Hilton Head Island for the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, and middle and high schools in the Hudson Valley of New York. 

Bukhman served as visiting assistant professor of music at Bard College, where he founded Play/Chat@Bard, a concert series showcasing young musicians in performance with informal conversation. These very popular performances featured some of the most up-and-coming musicians of our time with Bukhman at the piano, including the Attacca Quartet, Met Opera soprano Rebecca Ringle, and violinist Tessa Lark. He had previously taught at Vassar College, and has served as faculty for the Young Artist Program at Yellow Barn Music Festival and the Killington Music Festival. 

Bukhman attended the Oberlin Conservatory of Music as a student of Robert Shannon, where he became the first in that institution’s history to graduate with Honors in Piano Performance. As part of his Honors project, Bukhman recorded and self-produced the complete 24 Preludes and Fugues of Shostakovich, performing ten of them in one recital. He received his Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Robert McDonald. He is currently on the staff and faculty of New England Conservatory in Boston, MA.

Beethoven - Symphony No. 5, Mvt. 1
Kens Lui, conductor

Kens Lui is currently the assistant conductor of the Greater Boston Asian American Youth Symphony, an ensemble he has led in many community outreach and concert hall performances in venues such as the New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall and Harvard’s Sanders Theater. In 2016, Lui led the orchestra in a fifth-year anniversary performance which included the American premiere of Danhong’s Rushi, (guzheng concerto) and Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony. In masterclass setting, Lui has conducted members from the South Carolina Philharmonic and Bulgaria’s New Symphony Orchestra working closely with Larry Rachleff and Donald Schleicher. Lui has also assisted and covered for Boston orchestras such as the Symphony Pro Musica and the New Philharmonia in Newton. An advocate for contemporary music, Lui has worked closely with young composers from Berklee and NEC in a wide variety of contexts, including interdisciplinary performances.

Also an accomplished trombonist, Lui has performed internationally as soloist and orchestral musician. In 2008 and 2009, Lui received first prize in the solo competition for the Hong Kong Schools’ Music and Speech Festival. In 2013, Lui performed in Carnegie Hall as a representative of the Asian Cultural Center for The International Shining Stars. Lui currently plays in several professional studio orchestras in Boston as a section trombonist, and is featured in YouTube movies and well-known video games such as the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts. He has played with the Aspen Festival Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra (side-by-side), Symphony Pro Musica, Hong Kong Festival Orchestra, Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and other local ensembles. A committed music educator, Lui was a teaching-assistant at the New England Conservatory, and a frequent guest teacher in NEC’s Preparatory Division.

Lui holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory and currently studies conducting with Ken-David Masur, who he will be assisting this summer at New York City’s Chelsea Music Festival. In the fall, Lui will pursue a Master’s Degree in orchestral conducting at the Eastman School of Music.