© Hermann Wendler

Rendez-vous Musical #6

Join the resident musicians and Harriet Hale Woolley scholars for the sixth Rendez-vous Musical of the season.

The Program

William Sharpe: Prelude no. 6
William Sharpe, Piano 

Charles Koechlin: Epitaphe de Jean Harlow, Op. 164
Alyssa Hoffert, Alto Saxophone, Matthew Angelo, Flute, Emiri Koumura, Piano

Nikola Resanovik: The Ox and the Lark
Jenny Maclay, Clarinette, Wilson Poffenberger, Alto Saxophone

François Rabbath: Poucha Dass
Sarah Favinger, Contrebasse

Aram Khatchaturian: Toccata John Kamfonas: Diverging paths, part I
John Kamfonas, Piano

Luciano Berio: Sequenza IXb
Wilson Poffenberger, Alto Saxophone

Paul Hayden: Janus I. Janus Coeli II. Janua Inferni
Alyssa Hoffert, Alto Saxophone, Matthew Angelo, Flute

The Musicians

Sarah Favinger has blended her passion for jazz and dance music with extensive classical training to create an exciting musical life. As a bassist and music historian, Ms. Favinger has traveled the United States and Europe to perform and study music. Currently, she studies with renowned double bass soloist François Rabbath in Paris.

Concert saxophonist, avid chamber musician, and versatile music educator, Alyssa Hoffert has performed extensively throughout the United States and Europe. She holds an MM in Saxophone Performance from the Hartt School and a B.S in Music Education cum laude from Case Western Reserve University/the Cleveland Institute of Music. As a 2015 recipient of the Frank Huntington Beebe Grant, Hoffert is currently studying saxophone at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Boulogne-Billancourt in Paris under the tutelage of Jean-Michel Goury. She is also a Conn-Selmer endorsed artist and performs on Selmer (Paris) saxophones and mouthpieces.

Embracing his Penchant for improvisation alongside his passion for the classical and contemporary repertoire, pianist John Kamfonas has given concerts around the world, from Italy to India, Beijing to New York. Mr. Kamfonas is currently a musician in residence at the Fondation des Etats-Unis in Paris where he is pursuing a performance diploma at the Ecole Normale de Musique in the class of pianist, pedagogue, and author Jean Fassina.

Vandoren Regional Artist Jenny Maclay is quickly establishing her career as a clarinet soloist, recitalist, orchestral player, and chamber musician. Ms. Maclay is the recipient of a 2015-2016 Harriet Hale Woolley Award to study music in Paris, where she attends the Versailles Conservatoire. She has achieved a number of notable musical honors, including selection as a semi-finalist and finalist for such international competitions as Astral Artists and Concert Artists Guild. Her teachers are Philippe Cuper, Mitchell Estrin, and Donald Dowdy.

Wilson Poffenberger is a saxophonist and educator based out of the United States. A strong advocate for new music, Wilson premiered has new works for the saxophone is both the United States and Europe. Wilson is pursuing the Cycle D’Orientation Professionnelle at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Boulogne-Billancourt under the tutelage of Jean-Michel Goury.

William Sharpe is a student from New York City. He has been studying composition at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris for five years. In 2012 he started to write a set of Preludes for piano which he has performed at concerts and recitals most recently in the Salle Cortot. Last year, he was commissioned to compose a String Quartet in three movements for a garden party near New York. Before moving to France, he also studied classical guitar and violin for ten years.

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