Bach Marathon Hour Seven: 1am to 2am
Your host is Mark Hinkley
This hour’s lineup, with performer bios and program notes:
Jesse Holstein (Cranston, RI, USA) & Jeff Louie (Providence, RI, USA)
Violin Sonata in c minor, BWV1017
Jesse Holstein, violinist and violist, has been a Resident Musician at Community MusicWorks since 2001. He was a founding member of the Providence String Quartet. Prior to studying with Marilyn McDonald at Oberlin and James Buswell at New England Conservatory, he worked with Philipp Naegele in Northampton, MA. An active recitalist, orchestral and chamber musician, Jesse is currently concertmaster of the New Bedford Symphony. He has performed at the Bravo! Festival, the Montana Chamber Music Festival, the Bay Chamber Concerts, the Worcester Chamber Music Society, The South Coast Chamber Music Series, the Rhode Island Chamber Music Concerts, and the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, among others. In 2009 Jesse was a Violin Professeur at L’Ecole de Musique, Dessaix Baptiste in Haiti and is currently on faculty at Brown University. One of his interests is how Buddhist mindfulness practice and meditation intersects with teaching and performing music.
Jeff Louie, pianist and violinist, is an accomplished instrumentalist, composer, and arranger across a wide range of musical disciplines. A virtuoso pianist and violinist, he studied the piano under Margaret Bachelder, Elizabeth Parisot, and Sara Laimon, and the violin under Janet Packer, Marylou Speaker Churchill, and James Buswell. He has soloed on both instruments with numerous Boston-area orchestras and has served as principal second violinist for the Yale Symphony and the Boston Philharmonic. Jeff has coached chamber music at the Apple Hill Summer Festival and at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School. As a composer, he studied under Larry Bell, Jan Radzynski, and Jonathan Berger. He is a BMI Student Composers Award winner, and at Yale he received the Wrexham Prize in Music and the Abraham Beechman Cox Prize for music composition. While at Yale, he served as the assistant conductor of the Berkeley Chamber Orchestra and studied conducting with Jeffrey Rink and James Sinclair. Jeff is also a singer/songwriter, guitarist, and electric bassist, as well as a versatile arranger and session musician for a diverse roster of ensembles and recording artists. He is also an avid cruciverbalist and has had one of his crossword puzzles published in the Los Angeles Times.
Holy People (New York, NY, USA)
Toccata & Fugue & Other Things, composed by Holy People
Leah Victoria Wishnia-Peña is a multi-disciplinary artist & musician. Their debut album “Jester to Her Majesty the People” is out now. Please visit: holypeople.bandcamp.com & @_holy_people on instagram.
Ealaín McMullin (Cranston, RI, USA) & Emmy Holmes-Hicks (Providence, RI, USA)
From the archives: Bach to the Future II (2014)
Trio sonata in G major
Ealaín McMullin, violinist, was first introduced to chamber music through one of Apple Hill’s very first Playing for Peace tours to Donegal, Ireland. An avid devotee ever since, Ealaín has been a long-time summer participant at Apple Hill and was a Playing for Peace scholar at Keene State College in 2006. A graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, and The Boston Conservatory, her influential teachers have included Michael D’Arcy, Elise Kuder, Mike Kelley and Lenny Matczynski. She has performed with members of the Miró, Brooklyn Rider, Kronos, and Lydian String Quartets and has performed at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival (Ireland) and Music from Salem (New York). In 2011-13, Ealaín was a Fellow at Community MusicWorks (Providence) a nationally acclaimed organization exploring the intersection between artistry, education and community. Currently, Ealaín is the co-director of the Newport String Project, a performance and youth mentoring initiative serving youth, families and audiences in Newport, RI.
Dr. EmmaLee Holmes-Hicks is a freelance musician and educator, passionate about chamber music, orchestral playing, traditional music and improvisation. After receiving her doctoral degree in violin performance from SUNY Stony Brook, EmmaLee moved to Providence to pursue a fellowship with Community MusicWorks, serving as resident musician, teacher and learning about non-profits and social justice. Dr. Holmes-Hicks is on faculty at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth and the Birch Creek Summer Performance Center. EmmaLee is principal second violinist of the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, a member of the Cape Symphony, performs regularly with the Southcoast Chamber Music Series and is a member of the new music collective, Verdant Vibes. A firm believer that music can move people, quite literally, EmmaLee plays in contra dance bands across New England and in the Midwest where her lively fiddle music drives the spirited old-time dancing. She has played fiddle with the Rusty Pickup String Band since she was ten years old and she has taken many championship prizes at fiddle contests.
Joe DeGeorge (Providence, RI, USA)
In Glove with Bach
joedegeorge.com
joedegeorge.bandcamp.com