Welcome to Music for Life, enhancing the Armstrong concert experience. I'm your host, Ryan Malone. In today's episode, we will preview the new concert season at Armstrong Auditorium, the 2021-22 year, kicking off Wednesday, October 27th, 2021. This will be our first full season in a couple years, featuring an array of talent from around the world, an orchestra from Poland, a ballet from Russia, and an ensemble of all-stars from the Brazilian music scene. The series will also feature a variety of different instruments, from the more traditional string quartet to a guitar quartet, from the harp to the saxophone, and even a recorder and lute. Plus, we also have two all-male vocal ensembles gracing our stage this year. So stick around. This exciting preview of the 21-22 season is coming up next on Music for Life.
Two seasons ago, the concert series here at Armstrong Auditorium faced an incomplete season with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the various lockdowns that ensued. Last season, we were able to have a limited series, both with a couple rescheduled events, plus a couple new ones. As is the purpose of this program, we discussed these events on Music for Life in the lead up to those concerts, and we even replayed some of those events on our episodes. So we're very excited to be able to present a more complete season once again at Armstrong Auditorium, and I'd like to use this week's episode to introduce you to the incredible lineup we have secured for this season. And we'll spend a little more time discussing the first event since that is coming.
We kick off the season Wednesday, October 27th, with the Brazilian All-Stars. The unique sound of the music of Brazil is a fusion of styles, Portuguese, American jazz, Cuban, and African rhythms, plus additional influences from other South American regions. Performed by some of the most renelling... Brazilian musicians in the world to form this supergroup known as the Brazilian All-Stars. We will see on our stage veteran Brazilian musicians like Claudio Cesar Ribeiro on guitar, Mario and Goma on percussion, vocalist Lilian Raquel Aguiar e Silva, and Andrei Sarbib on vocals and piano, who is one of the most prestigious musicians in the Portuguese music scene in the field of jazz and other genres. He's a self-taught pianist who has four albums to his name. These veteran Brazilian musicians will join with the younger Brazilian generation, drummer Leandro Leonet, Felipe Teixeira, bassist, not to be confused with the retired Portuguese football player of the
same name, and cellist Magdalena Petrovic, who was born in Serbia, grew up in Bulgaria, and in 2019 was in the semifinals of Bulgaria's Got Talent. These Brazilian all-stars will take a uniquely memorable and spectacular musical journey through Brazil's most famous songs, sambas, bassanovas, virtuoso instrumental tracks, and more. I have a copy of their setlist, and it looks awesome. There's a famous samba called Watercolor from Brazil, the Bassanova Corcovado, which is now a jazz standard, Waters of March, considered one of the all-time best Brazilian songs, other songs like One Note Samba, Bubblegum and Banana, and of course Girl from Ipanema, and a song about the berimbau, a single-string percussion instrument from... Brazil. All right, so for a little teaser for this concert, I have a six-minute compilation of Brazilian tunes that these specific all-star musicians have put together to promote their concert. I hope you enjoy.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
That was a compilation of some of the greatest hits of Brazilian music presented by a group kicking off our 21-22 season at Armstrong Auditorium, the Brazilian All-Stars.
For the second concert of the season, we will stay somewhat in the Latin sphere. On Thursday, November 11th, the Romero's Guitar Quartet returns to Armstrong Auditorium. Based in the San Diego area, this quartet was one of the most frequent performers at our parent organization's concert venue, the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, California. They have played on our series a few times, even before Armstrong Auditorium opened. They played in the auditorium itself 10 years ago in 2011, and little-known fact, they were the first unofficial artists on the concert circuit to play in Armstrong Auditorium before it opened. They were performing at our previous concert venue on campus, the Johnny Miss Fieldhouse.
and on their way, they stopped by the auditorium, which was under construction. Now, the building was enclosed at that point, and the stage was there, but the theater was just concrete tiers, no seats. They wanted to see the future home of where they'd be performing one day, so we took them to the stage, a couple of them pulled out their guitars, put a foot up on some five-gallon buckets there, and started playing in the austere concrete space. They seemed honored to be our first unofficial impromptu performance in the building. We plan to have an entire episode devoted to the program they'll be bringing, which will feature a variety of guitar solos, duets, trios, and of course quartets. We will spotlight the various players from this musical family, and as a teaser for that, I'll play...
you an original written by one of the members of the group, Pepe Romero, and this is from their aptly titled 2002 album, Generations. This is Recuerdos del Pasado. That was Recuerdos del Pasado from the 2002 album of the Romero's Guitar Quartet titled Generations, and that piece was written by Pepe Romero and performed by his quartet, which includes his brother and two nephews. Los Romeros will be performing at Armstrong Auditorium on Thursday, November 11th, as the second event of our 21-22 concert season. Exactly three weeks after that, we are very excited to present a young lady who has been dubbed the Yo-Yo Ma of the harp, Bridget Kibbe.
Miss Kibbe will be joined by the phenomenal Dover Quartet, a string quartet which won the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant and was recently named the first ever quartet in residence for the Kennedy Center. Their Bach interpretations contribute to their practically meteoric rise and confirm their status as, quote, the young American string quartet of the moment, unquote, as stated in The New Yorker. This collaboration with Bridget Kibbe will feature a celebration of Bach, including the famous toccata and fugue in D minor, the profound Goldberg variations, one of the beloved Brandenburg concerti, and more. To give a little teaser for Miss Kibbe's execution of Bach, here is a recording of her with another string quartet. The Sebastians, a rendition of Bach's harpsichord concerto in F minor.
That was a string quartet named The Sebastians, with harpist Bridget Kibbe in her rendition of J.S. Bach's harpsichord concerto in F minor. Ms. Kibbe will join the renowned Dover Quartet on Thursday, December 2nd at Armstrong Auditorium to present a Bach celebration. After that, and for the first concert on the 2022 side of the season, we are very excited to bring back, after a few years' break, the Russian National Ballet. They will perform Tchaikovsky's masterpiece, The Sleeping Beauty, on Wednesday, January 26th. Choreographed by Mario Spettipa, this ballet's soaring leaps, high extensions, and daring lifts will combine with lavish stage scenery to bring this beloved story to life.
Two weeks later, on Thursday, February 10th, we are very pleased to present the saxophonist Branford Marsalis and his quartet. He is one of the most influential and revered figures in contemporary music. The NEA Jazzmaster Grammy Award winner and Tony Award nominee has led the Branford Marsalis Quartet for more than three decades with minimal personnel changes. This particular concert is based on his new album, The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul, the quartet's most emotionally wide-ranging and melody-driven collection to date. I'd like to play something from their 2004 album as a little teaser here. This is The Ruby and the Pearl.
You are listening to Music for Life. I'm your host, Ryan Malone. This is KPCG. In today's episode, we are previewing the upcoming concert season at Armstrong Auditorium for the 2021-22 year. We just heard The Ruby and the Pearl from Branford Marsalis' 2004 album. Branford will be gracing our stage with his quartet on Thursday, February 10th.
Less than two weeks later, we are pleased to present the acapella male sextet, The King Singers. They will return to the Armstrong Auditorium stage on Sunday, February 20th, 2022, with a program titled Finding Harmony, a deeply moving collection of the countless moments in history when songs have united nations, cultures, and causes. The program is a unique collection of pieces that span the globe, from the Reformation Age to South African freedom songs, from the Scottish Highlands to the American Civil Rights Movement. For this episode, I'd like to give a little teaser of them with one of my favorite recordings they've ever done. This is their adaptation of the Billy Joel classic, And So It Goes.
That was And So It Goes, arranged by Bob Chilcott, one of the former King Singers from its illustrious 50-year history. The King Singers will be presenting their program, Finding Harmony, on Sunday, February 20th at Armstrong Auditorium.
A week and a half later, on Wednesday, March 2nd, we're very excited to present the largest music institution in eastern Poland, the Polish Wieniewski Orchestra, founded in 1942 and named after one of Poland's great composers and violinists. They won't be doing any works by Wieniewski, but they will be doing one of the most famous violin concerti ever written. I plan to discuss this on a future episode at greater length, but they will be performing Tchaikovsky's insanely difficult violin concerto, which was considered unplayable after it was first written. Alongside that, the Polish Wieniewski Orchestra will also be performing the Silken Ladder Overture by Rossini and the Symphony No. 9 by Franz Schubert.
For today's teaser, I'd like to play something from the violinist who will be featured alongside this orchestra. Sarah Dragan has won first prize in over 50 violin competitions across Europe, Asia, and the U.S., including the International Wienewski and Lipinski Violin Competitions. So she's the one who'll be tackling the Tchaikovsky Concerto. But here's an outstanding recording of her playing Yenu Huboy's Carmen Fantasy Brillante. It was violinist Sarah Dragan playing the Carmen Fantasy Brillante by Yenu Huboy.
Sarah will be the violin soloist when the Polish Wyniewski Orchestra comes to Armstrong Auditorium on Wednesday, March 2nd, and performs the insanely difficult violin concerto by Peter Tchaikovsky. Two weeks after that, on Wednesday, March 16th, we are very excited to add a special event to the series that has, to this point, not really been publicized yet. Our very own Chamber Choir in Residence, the 33-member Armstrong Chamber Choir, will join with professional Baroque musicians from our area to present George Friedrich Handel's oratorio, Israel in Egypt. Handel is most famous for his oratorio, Messiah, but this work is far more imaginative in many ways. He uses the music to describe...
the events leading up to and past the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. This track that I'll play here today, recorded by conductor John Elliot Gardner, the Monteverdi Choir, and the English Chamber soloists, depicts the plagues of flies, lice, and locusts, and you can hear the incredibly fast violin playing meant to depict these buzzing and irritating creatures. That was the plagues of flies, lice, and locusts from G.F. Handel's imaginative oratorio, Israel in Egypt, which the Armstrong Chamber Choir and a professional orchestra will present on Wednesday, March 16, 2022, here at Armstrong Auditorium.
Just over two weeks later, Armstrong is pleased to present the unbelievably talented recorder player, Tavia Dibus, on Thursday, March 31st. Tavia has been described by the Times London as a charismatic virtuoso. Just watch any video of hers on YouTube and you'll see what they mean. She is constantly exploring the horizons of music for recorder and has performed widely across Europe, Asia, Colombia, and the US. Her critically acclaimed program, Orwurm, is a delightful compilation of toe-tapping tunes, earworms, that's what Orwurm is German for, from the 17th and 18th centuries, supported and partnered by Alon Sariel on lute. This pair will make for an engagement.
amazingly virtuosic and memorable performance. To give a little sample of her skills on the recorder, here is a recording of hers, a piece by the young contemporary composer Danny Howard, titled Two and a Half Minutes to Midnight. There are places where Tabia has to bring her leg up so she can set the recorder on her thigh to block off the bottom hole of the instrument and therefore allow her to play higher pitches. You are listening to Music for Life. I'm your host, Ryan Malone. This is KPCG. In today's episode, we have been previewing the upcoming concert season at Armstrong Auditorium for the 21-22 year. More information about the series and how to get tickets can be found at armstrongauditorium.org. You can like Armstrong Auditorium on Facebook or you can follow it on Twitter at Armstrong Odd. You can also follow Music for Life on Twitter at musicforlifepcg. We will also include information about these upcoming concerts in our show notes on iTunes and SoundCloud. We just heard Two and a Half Minutes to Midnight composed by Danny Howard and performed on solo recorder by Tabia Dibus.
Tabiel will join lute player Alon Sariel for an unforgettable night of music making on March 31, 2022. This will be the penultimate event of our 21-22 season. The season ends on Tuesday, April 26, 2022, with the Grammy-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer, dubbed by the New Yorker as the world's reigning male chorus. This is a reschedule from an event that was to occur two springs ago, right at the outset of the COVID-19 lockdowns. So they are planning to present the program they were to present then, titled Trade Winds, Exotic Climbs, Exotic Locations. So, capping off an internationally diverse concert season will be a program that is itself a journey around the world, featuring sea shanties from either side of the Atlantic and the Portuguese and Spanish colonization in Asia, as well as both folk and contemporary works from China, Japan, Korea, and Samoan culture. Chanticleer brings the voyage to a close with a set of beautiful Hawaiian songs evocative of the limitless Pacific horizon. To end today's episode, I want to hear an exquisite recording of theirs of a folk song from Scotland. This is Loch Lomond. I hope you enjoy, and I hope to see you this season.
You have been listening to Music for Life, a production of KPCG 101.3 on the FM dial in Edmond, Oklahoma. From the Herbert W. Armstrong College campus, I'm Ryan Malone. Thanks for joining me.