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Baritone Westman to perform at UB
By SUE WUETCHER
Reporter Editor
Baritone James Westman, who has studied with such luminaries as Dame Joan Sutherland, will perform at UB this month as part of the prestigious Marilyn Horne Foundation residency program.
Westman, a finalist in the 1999 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, will perform at 8 p.m. Jan. 25 in Slee Concert Hall, North Campus. As part of his residency, he also will present informal programs featuring question-and-answer sessions in local schools.
The Westman recital, presented by the Marilyn Horne Foundation in conjunction with the UB Department of Music, is one of several events to be presented by the department during the month of January. Other concerts include an encore performance by the Muir String Quartet, a recital by prize-winning violinist and UB faculty member Movses Pogossian and a recital by organist and Eastman School of Music faculty member Hans Davidsson.
A professional singer since the age of 11, James Westman performed and toured as a boy treble with the Vienna Boys Choir. He was the first boy ever to perform the fourth movement of Mahler's "Symphony No. 4"—normally sung by a soprano—and toured this work throughout Europe with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
A baritone-in-residence with the San Francisco Opera's Adler Fellowship program until March 2000, Westman made his European debut as Germont in "La Traviata" and Redburn in "Billy Budd," both with the Cologne Opera. He also has sung with the Fort Worth Opera and Vancouver Symphony, and appeared in the 2000 production of "Falstaff" at Tanglewood, conducted by Seiji Ozawa.
This season, he performed his first role as Belcore in "L'Elisir d'Amore" with Opera Hamilton, and followed that with an appearance for the George London Foundation in New York. He also sang a solo recital in Toronto for the Aldeburgh Connection, performed "The Messiah" in Detroit and appeared in concert with mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabo at the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto.
The Muir String Quartet—long acknowledged as one of the world's most powerful and insightful ensembles—thrilled the Slee audience on Nov. 9 with its performance of the third concert in this season's 47th Annual Slee/Beethoven Cycle. The quartet will return to Slee at 8 p.m. Jan. 24 for the fourth concert in the series.
Winner of the 1981 Naumburg Chamber Music Award and the 1980 Evian International String Quartet Competition, the Muir has distinguished itself among audiences and critics with its "exhilarating involvement" (Boston Globe), "impeccable voicing and intonation" (San Francisco Examiner) and "unbridled musicality" (American Record Guide). The Grammy-nominated quartet is celebrating its 24th anniversary this season.
Since making his critically acclaimed American debut with the Boston Pops, performing the Tchaikovsky "Violin Concerto" in 1990, Movses Pogossian has embarked upon a multi-faceted career as a soloist, chamber musician, teacher and proponent of new music. He will present works by his favorite composers during a performance at 8 p.m. Jan. 29 in Slee.
Stephen Manes, pianist and chair of the UB Department of Music, will accompany Pogossian in this program, highlighted by Beethoven's "Kreutzer Sonata" and David Felder's "Another Face."
"Both of these pieces truly test the performer to the extreme in a 'take-no-prisoner' style—in a sort of emotional tornado," Pogossian said, calling Felder's composition a "hellishly difficult and intensely beautiful solo violin piece."
In 1989, Pogossian was the first Soviet musician to receive a fellowship to the world-renowned Tanglewood Music Festival, where he was awarded the Boston Symphony's Pierre Mayer Award for outstanding musicianship.
He regularly participates in several well-known festivals, including June in Buffalo, and has performed chamber music with the members of the Tokyo, Kronos, Arditti, Brentano, Borromeo, Blair and Audubon String quartets.
A visiting artist teacher and lecturer in the Department of Music, Pogossian is a member of the Baird Trio.
The Christmas spirit will return to Slee Hall with an organ recital by Eastman faculty member Hans Davidsson entitled "A Christmas Journey Over 250 Years: 17th Century Hamburg and 20th Century Paris." The performance will take place at 8 p.m. Jan. 31 in Slee. Davidsson will present a pre-concert lecture at 7:15 p.m., also in Slee.
The following evening, Feb. 1, the Fisk Organ again will see action as four advanced students of the Eastman organ program perform the 7th Annual Eastman Organists Day concert at 8 p.m.
A faculty member at the Eastman school since January 2001, Davidsson also is general artistic director of the Göteborg (Sweden) organ Art Center (GOArt), the leading center for interdisciplinary research in historical performance practice and instrument building founded by Davidsson in 1995. At GOArt, he has devoted much of his time—in collaboration with master organ builders, scholars and players—to developing ways of duplicating the high quality of 17th century instruments, as well as encouraging a higher standard of organ playing.
An active scholar and performer, he has given recitals, master classes and lectures in many venues, and has performed at prestigious festivals worldwide. His numerous recordings include works for the organ by Weckmann, Böhm, Widor, Franck and Duruflé.
In 2001, he was awarded the Åforsk research prize, one of Sweden's most distinguished research awards.
Eastman Organists Day was the brainchild of David Fuller, UB professor emeritus of music. It was conceived as an event to give students majoring in organ performance at Eastman—one of the schools in the country for those studying the instrument—the opportunity to perform on the Fisk Organ housed in Slee. This year, Sanghwa Lee, Christopher Petit, Yeon-Hee Sim and Frederick Teardo will perform works ranging from the 15th to 20th centuries.
Tickets for the concerts by Westman and the Muir String Quartet are $12 for the general public and $9 for UB faculty, staff and alumni, senior citizens and WNED members with card, and $5 for students. Tickets for Pogossian, Davidsson and Eastman Organists Day are $5. Tickets for all concerts may be obtained at the Slee Hall box office from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, from the Center for the Arts box office from noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and at all TicketMaster outlets.