Young Musician Competition Winners

Concert

Sunday, Sept. 18

 4:00 PM - 5:15 PM

The Piedmont Center for the Arts is excited and proud to present another concert of young classical musicians who have won prestigious competitions throughout the country.

This program will feature outstanding violinist Maya Ramchandran, pianist Leyla Kabuli, and jazz vibraphonist Gus Hurteau. These accomplished musicians will perform works of Bach, Korngold, Ravel, Duke Ellington and others. Preben Antonsen, pianist, will be the accompanist for this concert.

Sunday, September 18. 4:00pm to 5:15pm.

General admission is $15.00, Students $10.00.  Available at the door.

For more information, call 510-414-7356.

About the Musicians & the Program:

Leyla Kabuli, pianist, will play:

J. S. Bach: The Art of Fugue BWV 1080, Contrapunctus I, IX
Nikolai Medtner: Fairy Tales Op. 51, No. 1, 5, 6
Gershwin/Say:  Summertime Variations Igor Stravinsky: Trois Mouvements de Petrouchka: Danse Russe

Leyla Kabuli, 16, is a scholarship student at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre-College Division, and is the pianist of SF Symphony Youth Orchestra. She received a 2016 National Young Arts Award and performed on NPR’s From the Top. In addition to being a Chopin Foundation Scholarship recipient, Leyla won first prizes in international piano competitions, including Los Angeles Young Artists, American Protége, Wildflower Music, eMuse, state and national competitions including Pacific Musical Society, MTAC, CAPMT, Kruschke, Mindell, Ghiglieri, Classical Masters, East Bay, Berkeley Etude Club, US Open, and MTNA Piano Duet. Her other top prizes were in Virginia Waring, Enkor, and Seattle International competitions, CMTANC, McKee, SF Chopin, and Zeiter. Her piano studies include masterclasses and summer programs at BU Tanglewood Institute, Southeastern Piano Festival, Colburn Academy, and IIYM. She performed with Ensemble SF, and as a soloist with the Waring Festival Orchestra; she will perform as a soloist with El Camino Symphony and with Nova Vista Symphony as winner of their concerto competitions, and with Sonoma Philharmonic as their Young Artist of the Year. Leyla especially enjoys chamber music and collaborative piano, and also plays bassoon and violin. She frequently shares her music with retirement communities and senior centers, and volunteers for various benefit events. Leyla is a senior at Davis High School.

Maya Ramchandran, violinist, will perform

A minor fugue by J.S. Bach,
Violin Sonata (the Blues and the Perpetual Motion movements) by Maurice Ravel,
1st movement of the violin concerto, by Korngold

Maya Ramchandran is a 22 year-old violinist currently based in Boston pursuing a Masters degree at New England Conservatory under the tutelage of Paul Biss.  She completed her undergraduate studies in 2015 at Brown University, earning a degree in Applied Math and Biology. A native of Berkeley, Maya began her violin studies at age three and later attended the Crowden Music School, and has performed extensively as soloist and chamber musician in the Bay Area. Her previous teachers include Wei He from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Lois Finkel of the Rhode Island Philharmonic and Brown University.
Maya was recently named a semifinalist in the 2016 Klein International String Competition, and previously was a top prizewinner at the Oakland East Bay Symphony, Fremont Symphony and the Mondavi Center Young Artists Competitions. She has appeared as a soloist with the Berkeley Symphony, Fremont Symphony, Oakland Youth Orchestra, and San Francisco Youth Chamber Orchestra, and has participated in masterclasses by Augustin Hadelich, Vadim Gluzman Karen Gomyo, Joseph Genauldi, and John Adams. Previous festivals include the Heifetz Institute, where she studied with artists including David Cerone and Elmar Oliveira, the Keshet Eilon String Mastercourse, where she studied with Ilya Kaler and Vadim Gluzman, the Mendocino Music Festival, and Hotchkiss Summer Portals. In 2015, she premiered a violin work entitled “Homeric Rhapsody” which was dedicated to her by the composer Benjamin Nacar.

Gus Hurteau, vibraphonist, will play:

Armondo's Rhumba -     Chick Corea
No Moon At All -            Dave Mann
Wave -                           Antonio Carlos Jobim
Driftin-                            Herbie Handcock
Isfahan-                         Duke Ellington
Spain-                            Chick Corea
African Flower -              Duke Ellington
A Night In Tunesia -        Dizzy Gillespie
Caravan-                         Duke Ellington

Gus Hurteau first sat behind a drum set when he was five years old. He credits his middle school music teacher, Randy Porter, for introducing him to jazz and the vibraphone. Under his direction, Gus earned a rare "Outstanding Solo" award at the Great America Festivals of Music, as well as a 2014 Downbeat Award for Outstanding Middle School Jazz Solo. Other notable concerts include Sheila E's Elevate Oakland at the Fox, as well as in Davies Symphony Hall, Carnegie Hall and venues in London with the Young People's Symphony Orchestra. He was honored to perform a duet to open for Stefon Harris and Kenny Barron at the San Francisco Performances' 35th Anniversary Gala.  He has also had a blast playing rock music at various Bay Area venues with his band "Lyla, Gus and Kevin," and he performs at Oakland's Two Mile Wines regularly with a jazz quartet called "Sharp Four."  Gus is beginning his junior year in the instrumental music program at Oakland School of the Arts, where he will play drums, vibes and bass guitar.

Preben Antonsen, piano

Preben Antonsen, a composer, pianist, and lifelong lover of chamber music, will be the accompanist for this concert. At Yale he made software synthesizers and noise machines from Radio Shack parts, but lately has returned to a more classical idiom. As music director at St. Jerome Church in El Cerrito, he hosts recitals featuring local musicians. He has also played in a tango band for live dancers, and participated in various pop-up contemporary music ensembles.