The Program & the Artists

 Program

Aria for Flute (1957)

Yvonne Chavez Hannsbrough, Flute; Michael Clement, Piano

Sonata for Flute and Guitar (2004)

Yvonne Chavez Hannsbrough, Flute; Sten Issachsen, Guitar

Three Portraits (Words by Fenton Johnson) (1978)

Steven Marking, Baritone; Michael Clement, Piano

INTERMISSION

Sonata No. 1 for Flute and Piano (1976)

   Yvonne Chavez Hannsbrough, Flute; Michael Clement Piano

Spring Games (Sonata for Piano Four-hands) (2002)

             Vladimir Pleshakov & Elena Winther, Piano

THE ARTISTS

Composer ROBERT BAKSA was born in New York City and grew up in Tucson, Arizona where he graduated with a degree in Composition from the University of Arizona.  After a summer as a scholarship student at Tanglewood he returned to live in the city of his birth where he stayed until the turn of the century when he became a full time resident of Columbia County.  He began composing as a teenager and his first publications predate any formal training.  He has written close to 600 works in a variety of musical forms including choral works, art songs, orchestral music and documentary film scores.  Chamber music has been his main focus for the last three decades and he has written close to 100 pieces of music for various combinations of instruments as well as solo keyboard music.  The Bronx Arts Ensemble, The American Accordion Association, The West Point Concert Band and Harpsichord Unlimited have commissioned his works.  His one act opera Red Carnations was commissioned by Lincoln Center for use by the Metropolitan Opera to perform for students.  The opera was performed many times by the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and most recently as the touring opera for the Santa Fe Opera's 2004 Spring Season.

YVONNE CHAVEZ HANSBROUGH, Flute, holds a Doctorate in Flute Performance from Florida State University.  She has been on the faculties of New Mexico State University, Middle Tennessee State University and is presently Lecturer in Flute at the SUNY Albany and the College of Saint Rose.  She has performed with the Glimmerglass Opera, Shaker Mountain Music Festival and the Albany Symphony.  This past fall she assumed the position of principle flute with the Glens Falls Symphony.

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STEN YNGVAR ISACHSEN, Guitar , performs extensively throughout the state at major music centers and colleges such as Eastman and Ithica.  He holds a Masters degree from Ithica College and is on the faculties of SUNY Albany and the College of Saint Rose. He is a founding member of the Finger Lakes Guitar Quartet.

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STEVEN MARKING, Baritone, was born in Wisconsin.  He holds a Masters degree in Vocal Performance from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore.  Mr. Marking has performed more than 50 operatic roles with opera companies on the East Coast and in Italy and currently maintains a private voice studio in Troy, NY.  In addition to his performances as soloist in the great oratorio repertory he conducts the Concert Choir at Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute.

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ELENA WINTHER, piano, wasborn in San Francisco. She   made her debut with the San Francisco Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at age 17.  Ms. Winther has performed chamber music extensively in Europe and the United States. Her marriage to pianist Vladimir Pleshakov launched her as part of what European critics have called "one of the best duos to be heard anywhere in the world today." 

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VLADIMIR PLESHAKOV, piano,  was born in Shanghai but continued his musical education in Sidney, Australia and capped it with a Doctorate in music from Stanford University in California.  After more than a decade of concretizing in Europe, the Pleshakovs established the Pleshakov Music Center in Hudson in 2000.  In addition to the musical activities of the Pleshakov Duo, Vladimir is sought after for his lectures about the collection of priceless antique pianos, which have been housed at the Center. This season they move the center of their operations and the piano museum to Hunter Mountain on the other side of the Hudson River where they will be connected with the Catskill Mountain Foundation for the Arts.