The Rendez-vous Musical is back! The musicians in residence and Harriet Hale Woolley scholars are looking forward to welcoming you to the Grand Salon every second Sunday from October to May. This informal concert series is an opportunity for them to present the pieces they are working on, and for the audience to (re)discover classical, contemporary and sometimes even new compositions in a warm and friendly atmosphere.
The Program
Ferruccio Busoni
Bach Chaconne in D
John Kamfonas, piano
Alan Hovhaness
Suite for solo piano, op. 96
John Kamfonas, piano
Giovanni Bottesini
Concerto No. 2 in A minor
I. Allegro
II. Andante
Will McClain Cravy, double bass, John Kamfonas, piano
Jean-Louis Duport
Etudes Nos. 6 and 7 from 21
Etudes A. Piatti: Caprice No. 4 from his 12 Caprices, Op. 25
Andrew Briggs, cello, Will McClain Cravy, double bass
Béla Kovács
Hommage to Bach and to Manuel de Falla
Elias Rodriguez, clarinet
Niccolò Paganini
Caprice no. 20 in D major
Jossalyn Jensen, viola
About the Musicians
Embracing his penchant for improvisation alongside his passion for the classical and contemporary repertoire, the pianist John Kamfonas has given performances around the world, from Italy to India, Beijing to New York, which have been described as possessing “a grandeur that lifted the music into the sublime…and a delicacy that took one’s breath away.” He was Harriet Hale Wooley scholarship in 2015-2016. Last year, John was a musician in residence at the Fondation des Etats-Unis and was pursuing a graduate diploma at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris under the guidance of Marian Rybicki and Jean Fassina.
William McClain Cravy graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Southern California where he was a student of David Allen Moore. Will is a member of the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, and has performed concertos with the Colorado and Culver City Symphonies. He was awarded 2nd place in both the 2015 Aspen Music Festival Low Strings Competition, and the 2015 Pasadena Showcase House Instrumental Competition, and 3rd place in 2016 the Jefferson International Young Artists Competition. Will has appeared with the National Arts Centre Orchestra (Canada), the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic (UK), the New World Symphony (Miami), and the Las Vegas Philharmonic. He has spent the last four summers on fellowship at the Aspen Music Festival. Will completed the NAC Institute for Orchestral Studies in 2015, and returned to USC for a master’s degree on full scholarship. Will is currently a recipient of the Harriet Halle Woolley Artist’s Fellowship from the Fondation des Etats-Unis to study in Paris with double bass virtuoso François Rabbath.
Praised as “an artist with an already expanding reputation and great future” (The Well-Tempered Ear); cellist Andrew Briggs is a world traveler. Recent performances include recitals in Bergen, Netherlands and Narbonne, France; collaborations with the principal cellist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Amsterdam, NL); recital performances in Paul Hall, NYC; with Axiom Contemporary Ensemble in Alice Tully Hall, NYC; and concerto appearances in Wisconsin and Colorado. Last season, Andrew was a member of the Colorado Symphony cello section, principal cellist of the Crested Butte Music Festival, and guest artist on recital series in Chicago, New York City, and Denver. Completing his Masters Degree at The Juilliard School, he recently graduated from the University of Wisconsin with his doctoral project, “Piatti and the Body: An Integrative Approach to Learning the 12 Caprices, Op. 25,” on Youtube.com. Currently Andrew resides in Paris, France as a recipient of the Harriet Hale Woolley Scholarship from the Fondation des États-Unis, where he is studying and performing works of Duport, Debussy, and Poulenc.
Jossalyn Jensen, American violist, began playing music at the age of four. Her solo debut with orchestra was at the age of 9 and she has since appeared in concert across the United States and in Europe. She completed her studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music and The Juilliard School where she was a recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Artist Award. Ms. Jensen continues post-graduate work in Paris, France at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique and as a Fellow at the Fondation des États Unis. She was honored to spend her summer this year in the academies of the Verbier Festival and the Lucerne Festival. She was a laureate of the 2016-2017 Fulbright Grant.