Sunday, April 13, 2008, 3:00pm |
This concert sponsored
by |
Brass Roots Trio presents "Con Brio!" |
 In
2004 Travis Heath, Douglas Lundeen and Rosetta Senkus Bacon joined
forces to form the Brass Roots Trio.
The music, the personalities and the spirits melded together, and
the fusion of piano, horn and trumpet exploded into an extraordinary
fourth personality…Brass Roots Trio!Blending the classical chamber music genre
with contemporary American styles, the trio has created a new sound that
transcends traditional musical boundaries.
Brass Roots Trio’s colorful programs run the musical gamut with
classical masterpieces, sizzling jazz, decadent tangos and heart-warming
Americana. With extensive
conservatory training and a broad range of performing experience on the
recital stage, with symphony orchestras and in jazz venues, the three
musicians display incomparable virtuosity, musical finesse and charisma
that give their performances an exuberance rarely seen on the classical
stage. Their relaxed stage
presence and rapport with their listeners allows them to establish an
immediate connection to their audiences.
With around 40 concerts a season, Rosetta, Doug and Travis keep a
busy schedule along with teaching, music ministry and families. The
founding member of Brass Roots Trio, pianist Rosetta
Senkus Bacon has performed extensively throughout North
America, Europe and Asia with concerts at the Kennedy Center in
Washington, DC, Taipei County Cultural Center in Taiwan, St.
Moritz Cultural Center in Switzerland, and Kaunus Philharmonic Hall
in Lithuania. A frequent
guest at international festivals, Rosetta has served on faculties and
performed at “The International Summer Chamber Music Festival” in
Taiwan and “The International School of Performing Arts” in
Bucks County, PA where she accompanied Master Classes of Metropolitan
Opera stars Sherrill Milnes and Gilda Cruz-Roma.
She concertized with Metropolitan Opera soprano Judith Raskin and
the internationally acclaimed Lithuanian clarinetist Algirdas Budrys.
In a lighter vein she was one of the duo-pianists in “Side
By Side By Sondheim” starring Arlene Francis and Hermione Gingold.
A native of West Virginia, Rosetta graduated from West Virginia
University and received a Masters Degree from the Manhattan School of
Music in New York. She was
the recipient of the “Outstanding Musician Award” from the West
Virginia Arts & Humanities Commission. Equally at home with both classical and
jazz genres, Travis Heath’s international performances have
included solo works, big band, and chamber music. He has been a
soloist with the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra and Metropolis Ensemble,
and performed frequently with the Brevard Symphony Orchestra and Orlando
Philharmonic. In addition, Travis has performed commercially at
Universal Studios and for the Walt Disney World Co. He played lead
trumpet with Nashville based touring groups Truth and the American
Rhapsody Orchestra celebrating the George and Ira Gershwin centennial.
He was also the lead trumpet for Ray Charles on two different PBS
broadcasts. Currently Travis performs around the globe with the
Brass Roots Trio and Crescendo Brass, including recently at the opening
of PNC Hall in Japan, Banff Centre in Canada, the Guinness Jazz festival
in Cork, Ireland, and in the UK at Oxford University and St. James
Piccadilly. He can be heard on the Naxos, BRT, and Mark recording
labels. A native of Vero Beach, FL, Travis holds a Doctor of Musical
Arts degree from Rutgers University and is the Coordinator of the Brass
Department at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago. Alongside his studies on the French horn, Douglas
Lundeen began his musical training in opera in Manhattan, coaching
with Metropolitan Opera assistant conductor Frank Basilice.
It was maestro Basilice, whose father had been principal horn of
the Met orchestra under Toscanini, who encouraged Doug to pursue a
horn-playing career while he waited for his voice to mature.
An engagement as Principal Horn with the Orquesta
Naçional de Costa Rica began what has turned into a 35-year career
as a hornist. Equally at
home as a soloist, chamber player and orchestral musician on the modern
horn, Doug is also one of the leading players in North America on the
valveless natural horn. Since
winning first prize for solo natural horn in the 1987 American Horn
Competition, he has played principal horn in period instrument
orchestras in New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Montréal, Boston,
and Washington, D.C., and has recordings on the Sony, Koch, Titanic,
Hyperion, and Musical Heritage Society Labels.
On the modern horn, Doug has played principal horn with
orchestras in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, in Philadelphia with Peter
Nero and the Philly Pops and the Chamber
Orchestra of Philadelphia, on Broadway with “Jekyll
and Hyde” and “Aida,” and
he is currently Principal Horn of the Princeton Symphony.
In addition he has performed at the Mostly Mozart Festival in NY,
the Gustav Mahler Festival in Paris, The Montreal Bach Festival,
Thomaskirche in Leipzig, St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, and the Palao
de la Musica in Valencia, Spain. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts
degree from Cincinnati Conservatory and is Associate Professor of Horn
at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.
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The program should include: |
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“Rodeo!” ~^~ "Basically
Baroque" ~^~ “Operatic Romance” Romance & Duet from “The Pearl Fishers” - G. Bizet/Bacon La donna é mobile – G. Verdi ~^~ “Appalachian
Echoes” Holy
Manna – J. Martin On the Blue Ridge - J. Martin/Bacon ~^~ “Red,
White & Blues” ~<^>~ I N T E R M IS S I O N ~<^>~ “Move Over
Mozart!” ~^~ “Tango Argentina!” Libertango – A. Piazzolla/Bacon ~^~ “Sounds
of the Rain Forest” ~^~ “Soulful
Spirituals” |
