May 21, 2023 - 3pm / in collaboration with Red Door Chamber Music / Featuring Cape Composers

When:

May 21, 2023 / 3pm

Where:

Provincetown United Methodist Church

20 Shank Painter Rd, Provincetown, MA

Performers: For classical musicians, and singers of all ages and levels who want to perform, contact us to sign up! (email: openmicclassical@gmail.com)

Featured composers: Bruce Abbott, John Thomas, Michael Holt

Musicians: Craig Combs (piano), Eric Maul (flute), Monika Veress Woods (clarinet)

Featured Program:

1. Prelude in C Minor - composed and played by Michael Holt, piano

2. Water - composed by John Thomas, piano

3. Фоае верде боб негаръ / Зелено Листо, Почерняло Зърно / Green leaf, blackened grain from Milkovitsa, Pleven region, Bulgaria ~ collected by Zoya Mikova composed by John Thomas, piano

3. Homage to Georgia O'Keefe - composed by Bruce Abbott

Played by The Red Door Chamber Trio: Craig Combs (piano), Eric Maul (flute), Monika Veress Woods (clarinet)

The inspiration for its title is found in two paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe, "Blue and Green Music" and "Music, Pink and Blue", two abstract works in which she tried to evoke the experience of sound.

4. Three Preludes for Piano - George Gershwin, arranged for Flute, Clarinet & Piano by Bruce Abbott

Played by The Red Door Chamber Trio: Craig Combs (piano), Eric Maul (flute), Monika Veress Woods (clarinet)

Three Preludes is a collection of three short pieces originally composed for solo piano in 1926 by George Gershwin in the jazz influenced American classical music style.

----------------------------------------------

Bruce Abbott has served on the faculties of Nauset Regional High School, Salve Regina University and the University of Rhode Island, where he earned a Masters Degree in Music Performance. He has performed at events and in concerts and clubs throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. Highlights of his performing career include a concert tour of South Korea with the Rhode Island Saxophone Quartet and a concert performance in Americus, Georgia with the North Star Jazz Ensemble as part of the festivities for former President Jimmy Carter’s 75th birthday celebration. He has performed at the Newport Jazz Festival and has toured with the Artie Shaw Orchestra. Bruce performed with Trio Vivo, North Star Jazz, Cape Cod Jazz Quintet, Fred Fried and many others. As a recording artist he has performed on over a dozen CDs with North Star Jazz and CommonGround as well as many other artists. To learn more about Bruce visit his website: https://www.bruceabbottmusic.com/

John Thomas has been a well-known creative artist in Provincetown, Cape Cod and Boston for three decades. He is a concert pianist, music director, composer and actor. He is the producer of the Great Music on Sundays @5 concert series at the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House of Provincetown. He was awarded a Bulgarian Fulbright Commission grant for study, research and performance for his project “Music without Borders: Bulgaria and America in Melody, Harmony and Rhythm”. He subsequently produced the video concert series “Music without Borders”, which was featured on Mindy Todd’s NPR program “The Point”. John has been a guest keyboard artist with Cape Symphony several times, most recently in 2022’s “Joy4July” outdoor celebration in Hyannis. He has performed music in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Mykonos, Greece; and Kathmandu, Nepal. His recording “Composing Myself” is available on all online platforms. More information with links to YouTube videos at https://johnwthomas.com

Michael Holt is a composer pianist, who grew up in New York, currently living in Truro.

You can listen to an excerpt from Michael's double album of 24 Preludes for Piano recorded on the beautiful Steinway of the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto https://soundcloud.com/michael-holt/prelude-in-e-flat-minor-rain

Holt writes in a blog "What I love most about classical music are its peaceful, contemplative side, and the times when it merges consonance and dissonance into something sublimely beautiful. For me, that merging of simple, lovely sounds with complex, challenging ones occurred most exquisitely around the turn of the 20th century (late Romanticism and early Modernism), and also much earlier in the music of J.S. Bach. " When not playing classical music Michael is the live-in caregiver for his mom and 105 year-old dad, and leads the Lower Cape dance band Woof Woof Meow.

Pianist Craig W. Combs trained at the Eastman School of Music where he earned his masters and doctorate in piano performance and literature. His first piano faculty positions were with Shenandoah Conservatory of Music and George Mason University. In the mid 90’s, he was a visiting artist at several NYC community music schools - Turtle Bay, Third Street Settlement as well as the PS 7 Elementary School in the Bronx. Additionally, Dr. Combs worked in arts administration at the New York Foundation for the Arts and Chamber Music America. In his forty plus years as a performer, Dr. Combs has appeared in hundreds of performances in a wide array of venues and repertoire. His stage appearances include Merkin Hall, CAMI Hall, the Kennedy Center as well as Yale, Cornell, and Stanford Universities. From 2004-2017, Combs lived in London pursuing a chamber music career performing in Ireland, Scotland, England, Spain, Lithuania and France. Reviews of his playing comment on “. . . the exceptional pianism of Craig Combs” and that “No praise is too high for his contribution.”

Eric Maul has enjoyed a wild and unorthodox career as a flutist, appearing as a recitalist, chamber musician, freelance flutist, and teacher. He has performed in concert halls such as the Meyerhoff and Jordan Hall. He can be heard on numerous recordings on the Naxos label. Eric is a founding member of Encanto Ensemble; a unique ensemble consisting of soprano, flute, harp, and viola. In the past, he premiered works by composers Joshua Armenta, Frances Pollack, Douglass Buchanan, and Stephen Yip. Eric studied with the ‘Heifetz of the flute’ Marina Piccinini, ‘American Treasure’ Paula Robison, and the piccolo pioneer, 40 year soloist of the Baltimore Symphony, Laurie Sokoloff. He holds degrees from the Peabody Institute (BM) and New England Conservatory (MM).

“Chosen by the clarinet”, Transylvanian born Hungarian clarinetist, and Cape Symphony 2013 Soloist winner, Mónika Veress Woods, was noted for her “tender and insightful playing” and “exquisite musicianship” in a review by Keith Powers also stating “her soft passages sounded like whispers, and when she played with force, it was with complete confidence.” (Cape Cod Times - By Keith Powers, May 05, 2013). Mónika Woods received her musical training at the prestigiuos Gh. Dima Music Academy, where she graduated with high honors and a Masters in Stylistics of Clarinet Performance. Mónika teaches multiple levels on multiple instruments, she loves to be diving into music from a variety of angles, and is grateful to live in a place that appreciates the arts. Monika is co-founder of Open Mic Classical. To learn more about Mónika visit her website: www.klarinetista.com

Admission: $15 general public / FREE for sign-up musicians, and children.

Donations for this event in addition to cash at the door are accepted via electronic payment (Paypal), and check. Please check out our Donate page to choose the best option for you: https://www.openmicclassical.org/donate

"This program is supported in part by a grant from the Brewster, Chatham, Harwich, Mid-Cape, Orleans, Provincetown, Sandwich, Truro Cultural Councils local agencies which are supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency." https://massculturalcouncil.org/