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February 5 , 2007
Newstead Trio to Play Works by Women Composers ...and "Mystery" Composition
The Pennsylvania Academy of Music celebrates Women's History Month by showcasing works of three women composers on the March Twilight Concert Series program featuring the Newstead Trio. Compositions by Julia Smith, Fanny Mendelssohn and Clara Schumann will be on the program, which takes place on Friday, March 2 at 8:00 p.m. at St. James Episcopal Church, Duke and Orange Streets in Lancaster. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for non-Academy students and can be reserved by calling 717.399.9733.
The concert will also feature the unveiling of a mystery – the Newstead will perform a movement from the composition featured in the Academy's “Name that Tune” contest, which requires entrants to correctly identify the composition and composer of a musical excerpt displayed at the construction site at 42 North Prince Street, the Academy's new facility. A winner will be announced, along with the composition, at the March 2 concert.
Composer Julia Smith (1911-1989) was a pianist, teacher and writer as well as composer. Born in Texas, she graduated from North Texas State University in 1930 and went on to study at The Juilliard School, eventually receiving her Ph.D. from New York University. She was pianist for the Orchestrette Classique, a New York women's orchestra, in the 1930s. In addition to composing and teaching, she wrote a biography of Aaron Copland.
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805-1847) was born into a family that valued musical accomplishment. She was encouraged in her musical studies and composed instrumental ensemble music, piano solos, cantatas, and songs. On a visit to England, her more well-known brother, the composer Felix Mendelssohn, had a private audience with Queen Victoria who asked if she could sing her favorite among his songs. Felix admitted it was not his song that was the Queen's favorite, but rather, that of his sister, Fanny.
Clara Schumann (1819-1896) was a well-known pianist who helped support her family through performing, often her husband Robert's music, but also the music of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. After Robert's death, she devoted herself to interpreting his music in concert, and eventually became teacher of piano at Hoch Conservatorium at Frankfurt am Main. Her compositions include songs, piano pieces, a piano concerto, a piano trio, choral pieces, and three Romances for violin and piano.
Robert Schumann said of his wife's composing: “Clara has composed a series of small pieces, which show a musical and tender ingenuity such as she has never attained before. But to have children, and a husband who is always living in the realm of imagination, does not go together with composing. She cannot work at it regularly, and I am often disturbed to think how many profound ideas are lost because she cannot work them out.”
The Newstead Trio, the Pennsylvania Academy's endowed Ensemble-in-Residence, has performed worldwide including Canada, Hungary, Italy, China, Singapore, as well as throughout the United States, and has been broadcast on live radio and television. The ensemble made its concerto debut performing Beethoven's Triple Concerto with the Beijing and Shanghai Symphony Orchestras and made its New York debut at Carnegie's Weill Hall in April 2000. Arnold Steinhardt, first violinist for the Guarneri String Quartet, has described them as “…three gifted players who make lovely music together. They perform with fine ensemble, youthful energy and a warm thoughtful musicality.” All three members of the Newstead Trio are on the faculty of the Pennsylvania Academy of Music.
Violinist Michael Jamanis earned his B.M. from the Juilliard School, his M.M. from Yale University and his D.M.A. from Rutgers University. He has received numerous awards throughout his career, including the Victor Herbert and Metro-Media Awards at Juilliard, and awards from the Ohio and Pennsylvania Federations of Music Clubs.
Cellist Sara Male earned degrees in performance and pedagogy from the Victoria Conservatory of Music and Camosun College. She subsequently received her baccalaureate in music from Rutgers University and her master's in music from the Mannes College of Music in New York City. The winner of national and international cello competitions and performance fellowships, Ms. Male has given solo recitals and performed with chamber groups in Canada and the United States.
Pianist Xun Pan earned his bachelor's degree from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, his M.M. from Syracuse University and his D.M.A. from Rutgers University. Dr. Pan has won many international piano competitions, including the Dr. Luis Sigall International Piano Competition in Chile in 1987 and the Frinna Awerbuch International Piano Competition in New York in 1992. He has presented highly acclaimed solo performances in concert and recital halls from Carnegie Hall in New York City to Beijing's Concert Hall.
The Pennsylvania Academy of Music is a non-profit pre-collegiate institution dedicated to the musical advancement of its students. Founded in 1990, the Academy attracts students from an immediate nine-county area as well as from around the world, who study disciplines ranging from instrumental, chamber music, orchestra, opera and vocal performance to music composition and theory, improvisation, accompanying ,jazz and recording. The Academy has a widely accomplished international faculty and is one of only 12 autonomous pre-collegiate music schools in the country accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music.
