Tue

8/2/2011

8:00pm

Classical

Katri Ervamaa & Joel Hastings

• $25 Assigned Rows 1-2
• $15 Assigned Rows 3-5
• $10 General Admission
• $5 Student

• Katri Ervamaa, cello
• Joel Hastings, piano

Event Details

This activity is supported by the MICHIGAN COUNCIL FOR ARTS AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS and the NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS.

Program

Enrique Granados - Madrigal for Cello and Piano
Frédéric Chopin - Cello Sonata in g minor, Op. 65
Carter Pann - Differences
Dave Brubeck - The Desert and the Parched Land
Astor Piazzolla - Grand Tango

Katri Ervamaa

Internationally recognized cellist Katri Ervamaa, DMA, is a versatile performer who specializes in chamber music, new music and creative improvisation. Finnish-born, she has performed and given master classes throughout North America, Europe and Taiwan. Her festival appearances include the Orlando, Kuhmo, Bowdoin, Lyckå and Norrtäjle Chamber Music Festivals (with the Finnish Owla String Quartet) as well as the Denison University Tutti! New Music Festival, Poison City Music Festival and Finnfest, among others. She has also performed at Ann Arbor’s Edgefest with Lars Hollmer’s Global Home Project, Guy Kluscevic, Mark Kirschenmann, E3Q, Andrew Bishop and Ed Sarath. She studied cello with Erling Blöndal Bengtsson at the University of Michigan, Marc Johnson at the Northern Illinois University, Kazimierz Mikhalik in Poland and Lauri Laitinen at the Oulu Conservatory in Finland. She also studied chamber music with Andrew Jennings and the members of the Vermeer, Alban Berg, Amadeus and Borodin String Quartets, and frequently at the Britten-Pears School in England.

Katri is a founding member and past president of Brave New Works new music ensemble (bravenewworks.org). She is also a member of the Muse string trio and E3Q, an improvisation-based genre-defying trio with her husband Mark Kirschenmann and percussionist Michael Gould. She has recorded with Andrew Bishop’s Hank Williams Project and Ed Sarath’s Timescape, among others, and appears on Envoy Recordings, Block M Records, and AMP Records labels. A champion of new classical music, Katri has premiered numerous chamber music and solo cello works and worked with such composers as William Bolcom, Bright Sheng, Michael Daugherty, Gabriela Lena Frank, Robert Morris, Chen Yi and Forrest Pierce. In addition to her lively performance career, Katri is on faculty at the University of Michigan’s Residential College, where she is the head of the music program and teaches chamber music. She has also been on the cello faculty at the Eastern Michigan and Bowling Green State Universities. Most recently, she has given master classes and participated in residencies at Cornell and Oklahoma State Universities, University of Puget Sound and the Oulu Conservatory in Finland. Katri is a mother of three and lives in Ann Arbor with her family.

Joel Hastings

Canadian-born Joel Hastings was the winner of the 2006 8th International Web Concert Hall Competition, and the 1993 International Bach Competition at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. After delivering a stunning performance at the Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Texas, one reporter designated Mr. Hastings the “audience favorite” while another declared, “the kinetic fingers of this young Canadian reminded me strongly of his late countryman, Glenn Gould.” In a Newsweek review he “pulled the audience to their feet after a wild performance of Franz Liszt’s Totentanz.” Reviewers have described his playing as passionate, mesmerizing, hypnotic, and transcendental.

Mr. Hastings has performed solo recitals across Canada and the United States, while his orchestral engagements have included the Toronto Philharmonic; the Oakville, Okanagan, Windsor, Kamloops, Niagara, Racine, Timmins and the University of Michigan Symphonies; the Kitchener-Waterloo and Michigan Chamber Orchestras, the Huntsville Festival Orchestra and the Ann Arbor Concert Band. He has worked with conductors including Gustav Meier, Kerry Stratton, Roberto Declara, Daniel Swift, Susan Haig, John Morris Russell, Dwight Bennett, Matthew Jones, Douglas Sanford, Donald Schleicher, Alexander Platt, Bruce Dunn and Vincent Danner. As a collaborative artist Mr. Hastings has toured internationally with vocal ensembles, performing in such venues as the Vatican and St. Paul's Cathedral in London, and he has recorded with the Cranbrook Singers of Michigan and the University of Michigan Symphony Band.

From the Royal Conservatory of Music Mr. Hastings earned his ARCT diplomas in piano and organ, receiving a gold medal for the highest score in the country. He holds degrees in both instruments from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and taught as visiting faculty at the University of Windsor, Ontario. Additionally, he has given master-classes and adjudicated competitions and festivals across Canada and the United States. Mr. Hastings has been the recipient of multiple grants from The Canadian Council for the Performing Arts. Mr. Hastings has recently recorded a CD of Franz Liszt's song and operatic transcriptions and a CD of Frederic Chopin’s 24 Etudes available on the Prestant Records label. His debut CD Sessions has been featured on CBC radio.