On Wednesday, March 16, 2011, at 7:30 PM, organist Nancianne Parrella is joined by Jorge Ávila (violin), Victoria Drake (harp) and Arthur Fiacco (cello) in a program of original works and transcriptions for various combinations of this unique instrumentation. The program begins with Antonio Vivaldi's Sonata No. 6 for Violoncello and Basso Continuo, RV46, using the cello, portative organ and harp, and Concerto No. 2 in A Minor for Two Organs, here with harp and organ, by Vivaldi's contemporary Antonio Soler. Violin and cello are featured in Three Duets of Rheinhold Glière. The cello and harp get respective solo turns with the organ in the Scherzo from Ludwig van Beethoven's Cello Sonata No. 3 in A Major and Aria from Suite for Harp and Organ by Louie White. Harp and organ will serve as the orchestra in a transcription of Ernest Chausson's Poème, Op. 25, with solo violin. Sarabande from Josef Rheinberger's Suite for Violin, Cello and Organ, Op. 149, and two solo organ selections-Hymne d'Actions de graces (Te Deum) by Jean Langlais and the US premiere of Sounding Heaven and Earth by Cecilia McDowall round out the program.
All St. Ignatius recitals on the N.P. Mander organ are enhanced by the presence of a large-screen video projection unit. Audience members are invited to a tour and demonstration of the organ following the recital.All concerts take place at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, 980 Park Avenue at 84th Street, New York City, easily reached via the 4/5/6 subway lines or buses on Madison, Lexington, and Fifth Avenues, and on 86th Street. The church is accessible to the physically challenged. Choral and organ series subscriptions are available at a savings of up to 15%. Single tickets for all concerts are also available. Concert information and tickets are available by calling the concert information line at 212-288-2520 and through Sacred Music in a Sacred Space's website at www.smssconcerts.org. Email inquiries may also be sent to music@saintignatiusloyola.org. Cash, checks and all major credit cards are accepted.Nancianne Parrella is Associate Organist of the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, where she works closely with director Kent Tritle in the Church's extensive liturgical music program and is featured frequently on the concert series, Sacred Music in a Sacred Space. During the 2009-2010 season she was organist for the November 11 SMSS concert and she played a pre-concert recital of organ works of Purcell, Howells, and Eben. Later in the season, she headlined an Organ Plus! recital with Arthur Fiacco, cello; Victoria Drake, harp; and Jorge Avila, violin.
Ms. Parrella's signature Organ Plus! recitals, which demonstrate the versatility of the organ with various combinations of instruments, have become audience favorites. In addition to performances at St. Ignatius Loyola, she has brought Organ Plus! to the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Newark, NJ; New York's Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church; Calvary Church, Summit, NJ; and at St. Agnes Cathedral, Rockville Center, NY. Ms. Parrella has also been featured with Mr. Fiacco at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival Organ Series in Charleston, SC.
Continuing her active performance career, in the spring of 2009, Nancianne Parrella was one of two organists with the New York Philharmonic for Music Director Lorin Maazel's farewell concerts of the Britten War Requiem, and in July she performed on the prestigious Methuen Memorial Music Hall 2009 Organ Recital Series in Massachusetts.
In the summer of 2008, the first Gettysburg Festival in Pennsylvania invited Nancianne Parrella to be Artistic Director of the Interlude Concerts, a chamber music series based on the popular intermezzo series she introduced to the Spoleto Festival USA in the 1970s. During the 2008-2009 season she performed recitals at All Saint' Episcopal Church, Fort Worth, Texas, and at the Princeton University Chapel. She was part of the American Guild of Organists' celebration of the International Year of the Organ, both in New York City and as soloist with the University of Massachusetts Amherst Symphony Orchestra, where she performed the Poulenc Concerto for Organ, Strings, and Timpani and Stephen Paulus's Concerto for Organ, Timpani, Percussion, and Strings.
In 2007, Ms Parrella performed the Paulus concerto for the New York City Regional Convention of the AGO. Other notable recent performances have been with both Musica Sacra and the Oratorio Society of New York conducted by Kent Tritle; with Voices of Ascension under Dennis Keene; with the Choir of Trinity Church, Wall Street; and with the Women's Ensemble AMUSE. At Spoleto Festival USA, she played the Poulenc Concerto and Julian Wachner's Cymbale, of which the Charleston Post and Courier reported that "...Nancianne Parrella as featured soloist took charge of Mr. Wachner's vigorous complexity with gusto and aggressive control."
Among America's preeminent choral accompanists, Nancianne Parrella is an Emeritus Faculty member of Westminster Choir College of Rider University, Princeton, NJ, where she was accompanist and assistant director of the famed Westminster Choir and Symphonic Choir, directed by Joseph Flummerfelt. She toured and recorded extensively with Westminster Choir and can be heard on their most recent CD Heaven to Earth, released by AVIE.
Ms. Parrella was long associated with America's pioneering choral conductor, Robert Shaw, with whom she toured and recorded in the U.S., France, and Brazil. She has also collaborated with noted conductors: Kurt Masur, Charles Dutoit, Lorin Maazel and the New York Philharmonic; Wolfgang Sawallisch and The Philadelphia Orchestra; Zdenek Macal and Neeme Järvi and the New Jersey Symphony; and James Bagwell and Louis Langreé in New York's Mostly Mozart Festival.
Previous church music collaborations include with Frederick Grimes at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, New York City, and its Bach Vespers, and with John Bertalot at Trinity Church, Princeton, NJ. She was also for many seasons organist for the Bethlehem Bach Festival, directed by Greg Funfgeld, and co-director with William Trego of the renowned Princeton High School Choir.
Nancianne Parrella has recorded on the MSR, AMDG, AVIE, Chesky, Delos, Gothic, Dorian, Telarc and Teldec labels. The American Organist magazine hailed her CD Les Corps Glorieux, performed with cellist Arthur Fiacco and harpist Victoria Drake as one that "...exudes a spirit of lovely serenity...," and her Jubilations, recorded with St. Ignatius Brass as "...sweeping, dramatic and awe inspiring..." She is featured in two remarkable DVDs: The Organistas and Creating the Stradivarius of Organs, which reveal the development of the King of Instruments and the design and installation of the N.P. Mander Organ at St. Ignatius Loyola, both released by Pheasant Eye Productions.
Jorge Ávila has won attention as an outstanding young violinist through numerous appearances as a soloist, recitalist, concertmaster, and chamber musician. A recipient of numerous awards and honors, Jorge received his resident status in the United States under the "Extraordinary Talent" category. He was also awarded first prize at the 2001 Mu Phi Epsilon International Music Competition.
Mr. Fiacco is a member of the Orchestra of St. Luke's. He serves as principal cellist for the Musica Sacra Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Oratorio Society of New York, and the Orchestra of St. Ignatius Loyola. At St. Ignatius Loyola he performed the American premiere of John Tavener's Requiem and the world premiere of Paul Moravec's Pulitzer-nominated cello concerto Montserrat on the acclaimed Sacred Music in a Sacred Space series. Other premieres include compositions by Lou Harrison, Meyer Kupferman, Gerald Busby and the infamous punk rock band The Pixies.
Noted as a "distinguished chamber musician" of " impressive virtuosity" (Consort magazine), Mr. Fiacco's recording of the late Mozart Symphonies in Hummel's piano quartet transcriptions has garnered praise as "first rate" and "definitive" by The New York Times.
Mr. Fiacco plays a cello made by the Venetian master Carlos Tononi dated 1730. His favorite composers are George Frederick Handel, Frédéric Chopin, Meredith Monk and Erik Satie.
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