Piano on Park presents:
Influences and Generations
Andrea Casarrubios & Audrey Abela - cello and piano duo
The musical connections between some of the most eminent French composers of the 19th and 20th centuries and their legacy and influence outside of France. Camille Saint-Saëns taught Gabriel Fauré. Nadia Boulanger, who studied with Fauré herself, mentored many composers of the 20th century, including Phillip Glass. This concert promises to be filled with colorful and moving music and includes an original composition inspired by the program.
Doors at 7.00 pm; Music at 7:30 pm
free admission (with donation for musicians appreciated)
PROGRAM:
Phillip Glass (b. 1937 -)
Orbit for solo cello
Andrea Casarrubios (b. 1988 )
Mensajes del agua for cello and piano
Nadia Boulanger (1887 - 1979)
Three pieces for cello and piano
Gabriel Fauré (1845 -1924)
Sonata No 2. in G minor Op. 117 for cello and piano
Après un rêve
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921)
"The Swan"
Suite for Cello and Piano Op. 16
Praised by the New York Times for having "traversed the palette of emotions" with "gorgeous tone and an edge of-seat intensity" and described by Diario de Menorca as an "ideal performer" that offers "elegance, displayed virtuosity, and great expressive power," Spanish cellist Andrea Casarrubios has played extensively as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe, Asia, Africa and America. She has collaborated in festivals such as the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival in Los Angeles, Ravinia RSMI Festival in Chicago, Pablo Casals Festival in France, the International Cello Forum in Spain, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in Germany, and the Menuhin and the Verbier Festivals in Switzerland. Andrea has also performed with artists including Daniel Phillips, Ralph Kirshbaum, Soovin Kim, François Salque, and Ida Kavafian.
Andrea is a founding member of Trio Appassionata, along with violinist Lydia Chernicoff and pianist Ronaldo Rolim. The trio has performed in Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall in 2011 among other venues in the U.S, Spain, the U.K., Italy, Brazil and China. The ensemble released a CD on Odradek Records entitled “gone into night are all the eyes” in 2014. Andrea is also a member of the Brandenburg String Trio based in Berlin and the Manhattan Chamber Players in New York. Andrea's solo appearances include recitals for cello and piano of a wide range of repertoire, performances of the Franz Schubert's Arpeggione Sonata in A minor arranged for cello and orchestra, a debut solo concert at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall of the Caude Debussy Sonata, performances in Spain of several works for cello and orchestra including Joseph Haydn Cello Concerto in C major. She is also a pianist and a composer herself, and she has premiered dozens of contemporary works including Meredith Monk's Backlight (2015), Thomas Kotcheff's Piano Trio (2012-2013), As the Universe Unfolds for cello and acoustics (First Prize "Prix D'Eté 2010") by composer Griffin Cohen, and many of her own works, including Maktub for three cellos, which was premiered at the VI Festival Luigi Boccherini in 2013. Her latest album,Caminante, released in 2019 on Odradek Records, includes some of her own compositions written in the last five years.
Andrea is a first prize winner of numerous competitions including the Solo Violoncello Competition Illa de Menorca-FIDAH 2010, the American Fine Arts Festival International Concerto Competition 2012, the SOR Solo String Concerto Competition 2009, and the National Piano Competition Rio del Oro 2005 in Spain among others. She was also awarded second and special prize at the XIV Llanes International Cello Competition 2012, and has been sponsored by the Wingate Foundation in the U.K., the Spanish Cello Forum, as well as Juventudes Musicales of Madrid. She was awarded the Beatrice Feldman Kahn and Raymond S. Kahn Endowed Cello Scholarship in order to pursue a Bachelor's degree in cello performance at the Peabody Conservatory, from where she graduated in 2011 receiving the Grace Clagett Ranney Prize in Chamber Music. Andrea Casarrubios began to play the piano at the age of two under the guidance of composer María Escribano and continued her development with pianists Ludmil Angelov, Seth Knopp, and Bernadene Blaha in Toledo (Spain), Baltimore and Los Angeles respectively. At the age of five she started to take cello lessons and became a student of Maria de Macedo in Madrid. Andrea expanded her studies with Lluis Claret in Barcelona before moving to the United States in 2007, in order to study at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University with Amit Peled. Andrea has also had the pleasure of working closely with Frans Helmerson, Laurence Lesser, Gary Hoffman, Timothy Eddy, Paul Katz, Lluis Claret, Hans Jorgen Jensen, Donald Weilerstein, Leon Fleisher, Miklós Perényi, and Thomas Demenga. In 2011 she was invited on a full scholarship to the University of Southern California where in 2013 she completed her Master of Music degree under the tutelage of Ralph Kirshbaum. As part of her doctorate degree in New York, Andrea had Marcy Rosen as a performance mentor and studied form and composition with John Corigliano.
Andrea currently lives in New York City where she works as an advisor for Ensemble Connect in residence at Carnegie Hall. Andrea has taught at The Juilliard School, Lake Champlain Music Festival, Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, as well as masterclasses on tour. Andrea's latest engagements include tours of South Africa, China and Brazil, and solo and chamber music concerts in Spain, Germany, New York, Vermont, Illinois, Maryland, and California.
website: Andrea Casarrubios
Praised for her sensitive and individual interpretations, French pianist Audrey Abela has performed extensively in the United States, South America and Europe in major venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Symphony Space, Steinway Hall, Chicago Cultural Center, Salle Gaveau, Salle Cortot, Salle Pleyel and the Royal Dublin Society. Passionate about chamber music, she has appeared at Concerts at One at Wall Street Trinity Church, International Beethoven Project in Chicago, Musique au Coeur de Baronnies and Festival Jeunes Talents in France.
After the completion of her musical studies in France, first with Olivier Cazal, then at the Conservatoire de Boulogne-Billancourt with Hortense Cartier-Bresson, Audrey Abela moved to New York to study at the Manhattan School of Music from which she now holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. There, she worked with Nina Svetlanova, a pupil of the legendary Heinrich Neuhaus, and Marc Silverman. Subsequently, she was offered a five-year tuition fellowship to complete her Doctor of Musical Arts degree with Ursula Oppens and Thomas Sauer at CUNY Graduate Center. She is currently in the process of completing her dissertation, a study on French pianism. In addition, she had the privilege to work with and be influenced by artists such as Menahem Pressler, Paul Badura-Skoda, Robert McDonald, John O’Connor, André Laplante, Evelyne Crochet and David Dubal, among others.
She was a prizewinner in the 2013 Metropolitan international Piano Competition - New York. She has also taken part in many piano festivals including Piano Texas, Pianofest in the Hamptons, International Keyboard Institute and Festival, Banff Piano Masterclasses, and Gijon International Piano Festival. Over the years, she has been the recipient of several awards and grants, including the Artur Balsam Endowed Scholarship.
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
This concert has limited seating available (First Come First Sit!). If you need to be able to sit, please kindly send us a message so we can reserve a chair for you. Also keep in mind that the event is taking place in a "shoe-free zone". Choose your socks wisely!
About Piano on Park:
Piano on Park offers an intimate and refreshing way to experience live music. The house concert series was launched when pianist Cyrus von Hochstetter opened his doors to host regular performances by soloists, chamber ensembles and small bands of all musical styles and colors. The venue enables a direct and unhindered exchange between performers and public, resulting in a unique and impactful musical experience.