Sacramento Saturday Club

We've Moved!

2009-01-29T11:23:00.000-08:00

The Saturday Club blog has moved! You can now find us here.

Winner's Concert

2008-05-26T20:30:00.000-07:00

The Bertha Stever/Pascal Monk Scholarship Winners Concert took place on Saturday, May 17, 2008 in the Choral Room (Capistrano Hall) of Sacramento State University. This year's scholarship winners are Ariana Uriz, soprano, Elaine Fitz Gibbon, 'cello, and Junyao Peng, piano. The program for this concert is available here

Ms. Ariana Uriz, soprano, was the voice-category recipient. She started the program by singing five arias (please see the attached program and biographies), demonstrating depth of repertoire, technical and musical expertise, and convincing (opera) character portrayal.

Ariana Uriz, soprano:
Handel: Piangerò (from Giulio Cesare)
DeBussy: Romance
Duparc: Chanson triste
Gounod: Jewel Song (from Faust)
Mozart: Come scoglio (from Cosi fan tutte)

Ms. Elaine Fitz Gibbon, 'cellist, was the orchestra instrument-category recipient. She gave a wonderful and emotive performance of Chopin's Polonaise Brillante, Op. 3. We hope her mother, Elaine's accompanist, will consider SSC membership-she's a great pianist! The New England Conservatory of Music will be lucky to have Elaine as a student!

Elaine Fitz Gibbon, 'cello:
Chopin: Polonaise brillante, Op. 3

Ms. Junyao Peng, pianist, was the piano-category recipient and she gave the final performance for the evening. Ms. Peng was amazing! She demonstrated mastery of many technical challenges, an understanding of different musical period nuances, and was able to provide a distinctively personal and appropriate interpretation of these well-known pieces (please see the attached program notes.) Ms. Peng will be attending Stanford University this fall and it is my sincere hope that she will continue to develop her musical talents.

Junyao Peng, piano:
Schubert, trans. Liszt: Gretchen am Spinnrade
Ravel: Ondine (from Gaspard de la Nuit)
Liszt: Transcendental Etude no.5 ("Feux Follets")
Chopin: Ballade No.1 in G minor, Op. 23

These scholarship recipients represent the present-day fruits of our organization and they are very grateful for your contributions to the scholarship fund. We are grateful for their hard work and for their current and future musical endeavors. Thanks also to Robert Seyfried, for doing such a wonderful job of running this year's Stever/Monk scholarship program. And to John Cozza, our fearless leader!

The Sacramento Saturday Club hosts the Bertha Stever/Pascal Monk Memorial Auditions every two years. This scholarship is open to students age 17-26 from Sacramento and adjoining counties. The next competition will be in Spring of 2010. More information on Sacramento Saturday Club Scholarships, including the Annual Scholarships, can be found here.

The auditions for this year's Bertha Stever/Pascal Monk Memorial Scholarship were held April 20, 2008, at CSUS. Congratulations!

The Sacramento Saturday club will be on hiatus during the summer months and will resume meetings in the fall, beginning with the Oktoberfest. See you there!

--- Thank you, Bruce Hubbard!

Annual Crocker Concert

2008-04-28T20:57:00.000-07:00

The Annual Sacramento Saturday Club Crocker Concert was held yesterday (Sunday), April 27, at CSU Sacramento, in the Music Recital Hall, at 3:00 p.m. Crocker concerts are being held at Sac State due to the remodel of the Crocker Museum, which should be completed some time in 2010.

This concert featured Ensemble Confluentes, which performed compositions by Baroque composers: Couperin, Bach, and Telemann. Please see the accompanying program notes for the specific pieces.

Members of Ensemble Confluentes are: Cathie Apple, Timothy Stanley, Charles Spruill, IV, and Sacramento Saturday Club's very own Alex Ives. Their biographies are included in the program notes.

Turnout for the concert was high, because of well-deserved and enthusiastic support for Ensemble Confluentes, and because of the efforts of our Publicity Board Member, Alex Ives, who arranged to have the Sacramento Saturday Club featured on Capital Public Radio's local radio program, Insight (listen).

Crocker Arts Board member and internationally respected pianist, Theresa Keene introduced the Crocker classical concert performance.

After several warm rounds of applause for Ensemble Confluentes, SSC President, John Cozza spoke to the audience about the history and mission of the organization and invited interested parties to visit our website or pick up a membership application and join our efforts to support aspiring music students in our community.

John then presented Mrs. Margaret Heilbron, 93, with an honorary lifetime membership plaque, in recognition for her many, many years of generous support and unflagging dedication to the Sacramento Saturday Club. It was due to Mrs. Heilbron's efforts that men were finally admitted to this prestigious organization.

On behalf of the men in our group, I thank you, Mrs. Heilbron!

-- Reported by Bruce Hubbard

On The Air Waves

2008-04-22T17:40:00.000-07:00

Today the Sacramento Saturday Club was featured on Insight, radio station KXJZ. John Cozza, SSC president, Margaret Heilbron, SSC member and Tim Stanley, cellist with Ensemble Confluentes are interviewed by Jeffrey Callison.

The segment from the archived recording can be heard here (courtesy of KXJZ/Insight, Jeffrey Callison).

Hat tip to Alex Ives for this information.

Scholarship Winners

2008-04-21T07:55:00.000-07:00

The Bertha Stever/Pascal Monk Memorial Auditions were held yesterday, April 20, 2008, at CSUS. The competition resulted in the following 2008 Stever/Monk Music Scholarship Winners:

Vocal
Winner: Ariana Uriz
Alternate: Kristin Bluemel

Piano
Winner: Junyao Peng
Alternate: Samantha Nielsen

Instrumental
Winner: Elaine R. Fitz Gibbon, 'Cello
Alternate: Senmiao "Ray" Zhou, Guitar

The email copy received from John Cozza, President of the Sacramento Saturday Club, concludes with: "Thank you all for your participation, and the best of luck to all of you in your future musical endeavors!"

Every two years, the Sacramento Saturday Club hosts the Bertha Stever/Pascal Monk Memorial Auditions, open to students age 17-26 from Sacramento and adjoining counties. The next competition will be in Spring of 2010.

More information on Sacramento Saturday Club Scholarships, including the Annual Scholarships, can be found here.

Mark your calendars - winners of Stever/Monk Competition will be performing in Room 151, Capistrano Hall, (Choral Room), CSUS on Saturday, May 17, 2008, at 7:00 pm.

Congratulations!

SSC Spring Recruting

2008-04-02T23:15:00.000-07:00

John Cozza and Bruce Hubbard were recruiting for the Sacramento Saturday Club, once again, at the Sacramento Philharmonic's Great Works Series: 03/29/08, at the Sacramento Community Center.

The Sacramento Philharmonic put on a wonderful performance: Elgar's Enigma Variations; Rozsa's Excerpts from the Choral Suite to Ben Hur; and Strauss' Vier Letzte Lieder, "Four Last Songs" (beautifully sung by soprano, Talise Trevigne).

But even more wonderful was the pre-curtain performance by young future musicians and the recipients of Jammies Awards for classical music: Ray Anthony Trujillo (12)- played the last movement of Medelsohn's Violin concerto (Ray and his family have attended a SSC meeting, at which Ray performed); and Robin Fisher's students, Amber Brent (15) and Ellen Presley (20)- performed the duet from Mendelsohn's Lobgesang Symphony.

The award recipients were preceded by a cute cadre of determined violinists.

Hope to see you at the next meeting! See our website calendar or check your email/mail for the next SSC Newsletter, for the date.

-- Reported by Bruce Hubbard

Students of Jacqueline Victorino

2008-03-19T22:16:00.000-07:00

The March 15, 2008 Concert was at the home of Pauline Cazanis. The performers were voice students of Jacqueline Victorino, accompanied by Roy Sanchez and Stephen Janzen:

Ariana Ruiz, soprano
Maureen Metté, soprano
Jaeho Lee, tenor
Roy Sanchez, piano
Stephen Janzen, piano

The program presented was:

Charles Gounod: The Jewel Song from "Faust"
Claude Debussy: Romance
Ernest Chausson: Les Papillons
Henri Duparc: Chanson Triste
Ariana Uriz, soprano
Roy Sanchez, piano

Arrigo Boito: Lontano, Lontano from "Mefistofele"
Jaeho Lee, tenor, Maureen Metté, soprano
Stephen Janzen, piano

Enrique Granados: La maja y el ruiseñor from "Goyescas"
Hugo Wolf: Elfenlied
Richard Strauss: Malven
Ariana Uriz, soprano
Roy Sanchez, piano

Umberto Giordano: Vicino a te from "Andrea Chenier"
Jaeho Lee, tenor, Maureen Metté, soprano
Stephen Janzen, piano

W.A. Mozart: Come scoglio from "Così fan tutte"
William Bolcom: Rita Billingsley's Aria from "A Wedding"
John Duke: I can't be talkin' of love
Ariana Uriz, soprano
Roy Sanchez, piano

Note: We were unable to have a blog post "reported from the field" for this performance. We hope to return to our usual format with the next post.

2008 CSUS Scholarship Recipients

2008-02-26T22:41:00.000-08:00

Bruce reports on the annual Scholarship Concert:

On Saturday, February 23, 2008, at 8:00 pm, at the California State University, Sacramento, Department of Music, Music Recital Hall, the Sacramento Saturday Club held its 2008 CSUS Scholarship Recipients Award concert. On an annual basis, the Sacramento Saturday club provides the CSUS Music Department with $5,000.00 in scholarship funds. Faculty members and a competitive jury process determine the scholarship recipient awardees. The gifted music students who received the scholarships this year are: Kristen Bluemel, Deborah Cardoza, Dakin Chamberlain, Marilyn Clark, George Hayes, Hans Hoffer, Noah Ryan, and David Wuchter.

All of the young students gave deserving performances. Please see the accompanying program notes and biographies for further information. It is an honor and a privilege to be able to help these students achieve their musical goals. In the long term, these students will contribute to the rich cultural arts legacy that Sacramento has fostered these many years.

I hope to see you at the March 2008 concert, which will be held on Saturday, March 15th, and features the voice students of Jacqueline Victorino. Please see your newsletter for the concert location and directions.

January 2008 Home Concert

2008-01-23T20:52:00.000-08:00

Bruce Continues his double-duties as Board Member and Blog Contributor:

On Saturday, January 19, 2008, at 8:00 pm, the Sacramento Saturday Club held its January Home Concert at the beautiful and spacious Bradshaw residence.

Merlin and Arlene Bradshaw were the perfect host and hostess, and, once again, Arlene Bradshaw and Joan McCloud, the Hospitality duo par excellence, provided club members with tempting pastries and beverages.

The group Duo Concertante, comprised of violinist Anita Fetsch Felix, and her father, pianist Wolfgang Fetsch, were the featured performers for the evening. With flair, precision, and feeling, they played Beethoven’s Sonata for violin and piano in G Major, Op. 96; Max Bruch’s Violin concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26; and Andre Previn’s Dance.

How fortunate we are to have such members!

-- Posted with much gratitude to Bruce Hubbard

Recruiting for SSC

2008-01-15T23:18:00.000-08:00

John Cozza contacted the marketing director for the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra and arranged for Sacramento Saturday Club representatives to provide Philharmonic audience members with information about the Sacramento Saturday Club. On January twelfth, John Cozza and Bruce Hubbard attended the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra's Bravo Beethoven performance, which is part of their Great Works Series. The program was comprised of three wonderful pieces: Prometheus, Op. 43, Triple Concerto in C Major, Op. 56, - Susan Lamb Cook, a Sacramento Saturday Club performing member was the 'cellist in this concerto and she did a wonderful job!- and the "Eroic," Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 55.

Prior to the performance and during the intermission, John and Bruce handed out pamphlets and applications and answered questions from attendees who wanted to learn more about the Sacramento Saturday Club. It is hoped that this effort will lead to a greater SSC membership base and the ability to provide music students with larger scholarship awards.

Annual Holiday Party 2007

2007-12-03T22:32:00.000-08:00

Bruce continues his Saturday Club meeting posts (with photos) with this description of our 2007 Annual Holiday Party:

The Sacramento Saturday Club's Annual Holiday Party was held at the historic and beautiful Witter Ranch, home to Ed and Eleanor Witter, on Sunday, 12/02/07, at 3:00 p.m.
Many thanks to the Witter family, for their hospitality, generosity, and festive decorations!

Thanks also, to Susan Lamb Cook, gifted 'cellist and 'cello instructor, and to her students. Susan's students, a trio from the SYS Chamber Music Workshop and a quartet comprised of undergraduate and graduate students from the UC Davis Department of Music and the CSUS Department of Music, performed during the "programmed" portion of the party.

The Trio Undici (eleven) gave a brilliant performance of Mikhail Glinka's Romance.

Susan's older students provided the audience with three evocative movements from Dmitri Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 6, op.101. They followed up with beautiful arrangements of several popular Christmas carols.

We had about 45 SSC members and guests in attendance and about the same number of delicious desserts and beverages: wine, coffee, hot wassail, tortes, cakes, cookies, panatone, fudge, pfeffernussen, fruitcake...I could go on...

The Cozza-Fisher family, always in the holiday spirit, offered up some more Christmas carols and Robin brought the sacred into our midst by singing Ave Maria.

Hannes Busch, accompanied by John Cozza, gave excellent performances of several German carols.

If you missed the festivities, I hope you make it next year. Otherwise, see you at the January home concert.

- Bruce

Thanks one more time, Bruce, for blogging the last meeting of 2007. We invite all Sacramento Saturday Club members to submit their own impressions and reviews of each meeting.

Rictor Noren & Ellen Deffner

2007-11-27T19:38:00.000-08:00

Bruce provides us with yet another performance post, from Sunday, November 18, 2007. This was not a Saturday Club meeting, but the performance featured a former Club member:

Former Junior Saturday Club member, Rictor Noren, gave a recital for Georgetown's Music on the Divide series, on Sunday, 11/18/07. Rictor is a gifted and animated violin and viola soloist and is currently on the faculty at the Boston Conservatory and the New England Conservatory of Music.

Mr. Noren was accompanied by the internationally lauded, Ellen Deffner, pianist.

Pieces performed were: Sonata for Viola and Piano, by Rebecca Clarke; Fantasy Pieces op. 73 bis, by Robert Schumann; Suite No. 1 1007, by Johann Sebastian Bach; and Suite Italienne, by Jiovanni Pergolesi/Igor Stravinsky.

Mr. Noren and Ms. Deffner received a standing ovation, for their gifts, to the audience, of skilled and evocative performances. They provided a peaceful and reflective encore, in the form of Ashokan Farewell, by Jay Unger.

During the intermission, and for the reception following the recital, tasty pastries, beverages, and hot entrees were provided by the women of the Music on the Divide Guild. Of course, I gave Rictor and Ellen applications, to become performing members of SSC.

- Bruce Hubbard

Barbara Wieman & James Gentry

2007-11-27T19:18:00.000-08:00

Bruce Hubbard provides our second post for the November Home Concert, Saturday, November 17, 2007:

I begin with an apology: I forgot my camera, so I don't have any pictures for the November Home Concert.

With stars shimmering in the cloudless, black tableau of night, the Sacramento Saturday Club home concert took place on a crisp, cool evening - a declaration that winter is fast approaching.

Members and guests arrived, with rosy cheeks, at the beautiful home of the Anderson family.

Barbara Wieman, accomplished pianist, teacher, and longtime SSC member and supporter, was first to perform for the evening's program. She provided excellent interpretations of M. Ravel's Sonatine (Moderate), F. Schubert's Impromptu, Op. 90, No.4 (Allegro), F. Chopin's Nocturne Op. 15, No. 1, and L.V. Beethoven's Sonata No. 8, Po. 13 (Grave/Allegro Molto). Thank you, Barbara!

Longtime SSC member, James Gentry, baritone, and his accompanist, Melanie Bietz, pianist, completed the evening's program. Mr. Gentry, attired in frontiersman garb, gave a hearty performance of Four Old American Songs, by A. Copland. He then got into character, by changing into Baroque attire, complete with long, blonde hair, for a humerous offering of G.F. Handel's Aria from Acis and Galatea. Mr. Gentry's last selection, J.J. Niles, Four Gambling Songs, saw him back in the lime light, wearing the costume of a riverboat gambler. What creativity, fun, and talent these two artists, James Gentry and Melanie Bietz, provided our audience. Thank you, James and Melanie!

A big thank you to Programming Board Member, Pauline Cazanis, for contacting and scheduling this evening's performance.

A big thank you to the Anderson family, for their hospitality.

And, of course, a big thank you to the hospitality team, Arlene Bradshaw and Joan McCloud (and Merlin and Elliot), for the "yummies."

- Bruce Hubbard

For those of us unable to attend, Bruce's post is a wonderful reminder of what we missed. Thank you!

Leah Nieman, piano

2007-10-28T16:14:00.000-07:00

Our Inaugural Concert Post comes from Bruce Hubbard:

The Sacramento Saturday Club held its first concert/meeting of 2007-2008 on Saturday, October 20, at the beautiful home of CSUS Music Department faculty members and well-known and talented musicians, John Cozza and Robin Fisher.

Ms. Leah Nieman, an accomplished pianist and musical educator, was the soloist for the evening’s gathering. She was warmly greeted by approximately 45 attending Saturday Club members. Ms. Nieman’s program consisted of Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin’s Sonata No. 2 in G# minor, sometimes referred to as the “Sonata Fantasy,” and Robert Schumann’s Fantasy in C Major, Opus # 17.

Before performing both pieces, Ms. Nieman provided interesting background information about the composers and the specific pieces. Both the sonata and fantasy were wonderfully evocative and beautifully performed.

Greeted with resounding and enthusiastic applause, Ms. Neiman, as an encore, performed Felix Mendelssohn’s “Spinning Song,” from the Song without Words Collection.

The meeting arrived at its sweet conclusion in the Cozza-Fisher’s dining room, thanks to the wonderful talents and diligent work of Mrs. Arlene Bradshaw and Mrs. Joan McCloud, the organization’s Board members for hospitality. Guests enjoyed sinfully delicious chocolate cake, among other treats and beverages.

- Bruce Hubbard

Thanks, Bruce, for taking the time to share your thoughts and photos.

Welcome!

2007-10-20T15:39:00.000-07:00

Since 1893, the Sacramento Saturday Club has contributed to "the musical improvement of its members and the stimulation of musical interests in Sacramento." Now, in 2007 (a full one hundred and fourteen years later,) we begin sharing the musical and social highlights of Club activities through pictures, reviews and stories.

Please join us, members and non-members, musicians and non-musicians, Sacramentans and non-Sacramentans, as we blog the fun and delight of each Saturday Club performing season.