02/03/08 Concert Program

Piano Trio in C Major, Op. 87 - J. Brahms (1833-1897)
-Allegro
-Scherzo: Presto
Ian MacKay, violin; Jacob MacKay, cello; Miles Walter, piano

Sonata in E Minor, Op. 90 - L. v. Beethoven(1770-1827)                                                                                                                                      
-Mit Lebhafttigkeit und durchaus mit Emfindung und Ausdruck
-Nicht zu geschwind und sehr singbar vorgetragen

Ballade in F Major, Op. 38 - F. Chopin (1810-1849)  
Nocturne in D-Flat Major, Op. 27 #2 - F. Chopin (1810-1849)    
Eric Stumacher, piano

The Neon Desert, a short story, published in Best New American Voices 2008 (Harcourt) - Adam Stumacher (b. 1975)
Excerpts read by the author

Ian Daniel MacKay, violinist, thirteen years old, performs regularly with the Keene Chamber Orchestra and the New Hampshire Philharmonic. He currently studies with Eva Gruesser, and has performed with the Triple Helix and the Ciompi Quartet. Ian was a scholarship student at Apple Hill in Summer 2007.

 Jacob Allan MacKay, cellist, thirteen years old, began music lessons at age 4 playing the violin. When he was 8 he switched to the cello.  He studies with Harel Gietheim at the Manchester Music School. Jacob performs regularly with both the Keene Chamber Orchestra and the NH Philharmonic, has performed with the Triple Helix and the Ciompi Quartet, and was a scholarship student at Apple Hill in Summer 2007.

Miles Walter, piano, thirteen years old, is a piano student of Vladimir Odinokikh. He also composes music and plays viola in KCO. Miles received a special recognition for talent and ability in the 2007 Windham Orchestra Concerto Competition for high school students and attended the Apple Hill Summer Festival in 2007. He will be performing his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra with KCO in the 2008-9 season.

Adam Stumacher, author, was winner of the Raymond Carver Short Story Award, and his work has appeared in publications such as Best New American Voices, The Massachusetts Review, The Sun, and the Guardian (UK).  He has taught creative writing at Saint Mary's College of California and the University of Wisconsin, and he also has many years experience as an educator in urban high schools.  He has completed a collection of short stories entitled Slipknot and is currently working on his first novel, entitled A Liar's Opus.  He holds degrees from Cornell University and Saint Mary's College.

Eric Stumacher, founder of the Keene Chamber Orchestra and in his eighteenth season as music director and conductor, studied conducting at The Juilliard School with John Nelson. As pianist, he performs concerti, solo recitals, and chamber music worldwide. For thirty-five years, Mr. Stumacher served as Pianist and Executive and Artistic Director of Apple Hill and Playing for Peace.

The Keene Chamber Orchestra, founded by Eric Stumacher in 1990, exists to provide rehearsals, performances, and recordings of orchestra repertoire at the highest artistic, expressive, and technical standard. Its personnel combines Monadnock Region of New Hampshire and Greater New England resources ranging from professional musicians to skilled, talented, and enthusiastic student musicians of all ages.  There is no age or background restriction. Our focuses are: love of music, craft, enthusiasm, constancy of commitment and effort, the highest possible artistic excellence, and a desire to share the joy of orchestra music.

The Orchestra will always strive to create an atmosphere of accessibility, warmth, challenge and encouragement for its participants, audience, and community, at the same time that it vigorously pursues artistic excellence. Its musical approach aligns with chamber music, with special emphases on specific listening, texture, blends of sound, phrasing, and expressive character.

The Orchestra is also strongly committed to music education­­—instrumental instruction, music appreciation, scholarship, and audience development.

We invite all who love vividly inspiring and expressive live orchestra music to join us in our pursuits.

Sonad Hall, in the home of Kathy and Eric Stumacher in Nelson, NH, is dedicated to housing artistic endeavors for the purpose of inspiring all who come here, in words spoken by Robert Kennedy the night Martin Luther King was killed, “to tame the savagery of humankind and make gentle the life of this world.”

Next Keene Chamber Orchestra Concert
Sunday, February 3, 2008, 4 PM
Keene Colonial Theatre
Marina Galstyan, piano soloist
“THE LONE RANGER GOES TO RUSSIA”
Finale from William Tell Overture
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 2

NOTE: The concert will be over in time to watch the New England Patriots win the Super Bowl.