Hoff-Barthelson Music School Artist Series Presents A Dazzling Evening Of Mozart, Poulenc, Honegger, Milhaud, And More

Hoff-Barthelson Music School will present the second faculty concert in the HB Artist Series, a captivating evening of classical music that promises to enchant and inspire audiences. The concert will be held on Friday, October 27, 2023, at 7:30 pm in the School's Joan Behrens Bergman Auditorium, 25 School Lane, Scarsdale, New York.

Featured faculty members are Laura Giannini, violin; Andrew Gonzalez, viola; April Johnson, violin; Dominic Meiman, piano; Joseph Piscitelli, flute; Peter Seidenberg, cello; and Daniel Spitzer, clarinet with guest artist Emily White, piano. The program includes:

• Sonata for Flute and Piano by Francis Poulenc, a charming and witty work that blends neoclassicism and jazz elements in three contrasting movements.

• Sonatine by Darius Milhaud, a lively and rhythmic piece for flute and piano that showcases the composer's characteristic style of polytonality and jazz influences.

• Danse de la Chèvre by Arthur Honegger, a solo flute piece that depicts the dance of a goat on a grassy hill after the winter snows have melted away.

• Sonata in F Major, K. 332 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, one of the three sonatas that Mozart published in Vienna in 1784 as his Op. 6. It has three movements: an Allegro in sonata form, an Adagio in B major, and a lively Allegro assai in rondo form.

• Clarinet Quintet in F-sharp minor, Op. 10 by Samuel Coleridge Taylor, a romantic and expressive work that features a dramatic opening theme, a lyrical slow movement, a playful scherzo, and a fugato finale.

Tickets are $20 general admission and free of charge to HBMS students. Tickets may be purchased in advance via Eventbrite, by visiting the School's website (www.hbms.org), by calling 914-723-1169, or e-mailing hb@hbms.org. Program and artists subject to change.

Hoff-Barthelson faculty comprises some of the nation's most distinguished performers and educators. Many hold chairs in prominent New York orchestras, are members of world-class chamber ensembles, perform in major Broadway productions and are in international demand as solo artists. Others teach at leading conservatories including The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, and Mannes College of Music. The School's superb faculty has contributed to the Music School's national recognition for unsurpassed leadership in music education, performance and community service. Hoff-Barthelson prides itself on providing access to these outstanding artist-educators in the heart of Westchester. Held in Scarsdale, these concerts guarantee riveting music making of the highest caliber, in an intimate setting, at prices far below those in New York's major concert halls.

Additional concerts in the series will be held on November 17, 2023, and February 9, March 1, and April 19, 2024.

Violinist Laura Giannini, at age 19, was selected by violinist Uto Ughi to perform as a soloist and member of his Festival Omaggio a Roma Orchestra. Awarded in duo and piano trio competitions throughout Europe, Laura collaborated there with Accademia dei Cameristi, A.Gi.Mus. Roma, Musica a Piazza Navona, and Deutscher Tonkünstlerverband. She has played with Semplice Players, Kollective366, The Symphony Orchestra of the Americas, Broadway Sings, The Queens Consort, and Ensemble Leonarda. With the New Britain Symphony, she was a featured performer for its virtual Music Monday series. As a chamber music enthusiast, Laura is a founding member of the OLLA Rhapsody, violin duo, and the QueensSound Ensemble, which performs vocal and instrumental music.

Hailed by the Strad Magazine for his “warm hearted playing and mellow tone,” violist Andrew Gonzalez lives a fulfilling career as both a soloist and chamber musician. As a sought-after chamber musician, his playing has allowed him to collaborate with respected ensembles such as the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Sejong Soloists, as well as members of the Guarneri, Juilliard, Tokyo, Orion, Borromeo, and Vermeer quartets. In the fall of 2020, Andrew became the violist of the Jasper String Quartet. Andrew is one of the few people in the world who plays the Violoncello da Spalla, a five stringed mini cello that is played on the shoulder. 

Violinist April Johnson has performed throughout the US as soloist, chamber musician and orchestral freelancer. She has appeared as concertmaster with the Jupiter Symphony and the Galatea Ensemble, the Queens Oratorio Society and the Canton Symphony of Canton, Ohio. She has also performed with the Norwalk Symphony as assistant concertmaster, and the New York Chamber Soloists, the Ridgefield, Bridgeport, New Haven, Fairfield, Harrisburg Symphony Orchestras, and the Pennsylvania Philharmonia. With her husband, cellist Peter Seidenberg and pianist Kate Boyd, she is a member of The Oracle Trio. She has recorded with Lyrichord, Dorian and Newport Classics labels.

In addition to his teaching, Dominic Meiman has worked as a pianist/conductor on several Columbia Artists Management national tours. For several years, he was the principal pianist for the Light Opera of Manhattan, performing most of the Gilbert and Sullivan canon. Mr. Meiman is the composer of the children's opera, Jack and the Beanstalk and is the arranger and co-librettist/lyricist of The Ring of the Fettuccines, an introduction to opera for children. He also orchestrated the show The Night They Invented Champagne, Operettas and the Musicals They Influenced. 

Flutist Joseph Piscitelli made his solo debut at the notable age of sixteen at New York's Town Hall and Alice Tully Hall. As a busy New York musician, Mr. Piscitelli performs regularly with the New York Chamber Orchestra, Solisti New York, Musica Sacra, Opera Ensemble of New York, Philharmonia Virtuosi, Greenwich Symphony and Lar Lubavitch Dance Company. He has toured the United States, Canada, Mexico, France, England and the Netherlands. He made his television debut on ABC's All My Children and played for the original cast of Les Miserables. The New York Times hailed his playing as “sensitive” and “endowed with a sense of charm and a great deal of inherent musicality.”

Peter Seidenberg has performed in major halls throughout the US, Europe, and Asia. He made his solo debut with the Chicago Symphony, and has since appeared as soloist with many orchestras, including the Century Orchestra of Osaka, Japan, the New American Chamber Orchestra, the De Paul Chamber Orchestra, New York Chamber Soloists, and the Eastman Rochester Philharmonic. He was a founding member of the critically acclaimed Elements Quartet which created groundbreaking commissioning projects involving over thirty composers. He has collaborated with members of the Cleveland, Tokyo, Juilliard, and Emerson Quartets, and has participated in the Marlboro, Aspen, Caramoor, Casals, and Norfolk Festivals.

For complete faculty artist biographies visit https://hbms.org/faculty/

About Hoff-Barthelson Music School

Hoff-Barthelson Music School has achieved national recognition as a premier community music school for its unsurpassed leadership in education, performance, and community service. With a faculty drawn from the region's most talented teachers and performers, Hoff-Barthelson has long been one of Westchester County's most cherished cultural resources. At Hoff-Barthelson, students find a warm, friendly music school dedicated to the highest standards of education, performance, and community service. Students of all ages, aptitudes, and levels of interest enjoy a supportive, joyful learning environment; a focus on the whole person; exceptional teaching; and a multifaceted curriculum.

Hoff-Barthelson Music School is proud to be a grantee of ArtsWestchester with funding made possible by Westchester County government with the support of County Executive George Latimer. Programs are made possible, in part, with support from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.

Photo credits: HBMS Faculty members violist Andrew Gonzalez and flutist Joseph Piscitelli. Photos provided by the artists.