Belmont Abbey College

Credo was formed in 2000 to sing choral music of many countries, musical styles and traditions. This esteemed vocal ensemble produces fresh interpretations of many well-known choral works that are customarily sung by larger choirs. Though the group is very young, each of its members has great working experiences in leading choirs of Saint Petersburg.

The ensemble’s name “Credo” is of Latin origin and means “I believe”. All members perform for Orthodox churches during the many beautiful liturgies of the Eastern tradition. Each of the singers professes a deep belief in the ministry of their musical works and they demonstrate a great understanding of the substance of the Divine Liturgies. Indeed, they are believers in the grace, beauty and divine nature of the gift of singing.

To paraphrase Richard Wagner, the ensemble believes that the human voice is the oldest and finest one of musical instruments, and the obligation to use it for singing is of the highest importance in one's life.

Credo members
Irina Grinberg — soprano, director, founder
Alexander Topuria — tenor
Marina Chihacheva — mezzo-soprano.
Mikhail Trifonov — baritone
Website www.credo-quartet.com

The young American pianist Thomas Pandolfi is an exciting virtuoso who, with each passing season, is becoming more and more sought after by audiences, and showered with superlatives by critics for his passionate artistry and amazing technique. His orchestral appearances often feature not only the beloved masterpiece concerti by Tchaikovsky,Rachmaninoff and Liszt, but also the equally brilliant ones by Paderewski, Rubinstein and Moszkowski. Additionally in the "Pops" genre, Thomas is considered a leading interpreter of the works of George Gershwin.

During the 2008-09 season, Pandolfi performed debut recitals in Canada, Germany and China, appeared with The Aberystwyth Symphony in Wales, and toured twice throughout Eastern Europe, both in recital and as guest soloist with orchestras. He also performed during last season with a number of American symphony orchestras, and presented recitals throughout the United States. Audiences this season will also enjoy his artistry in New York, North Carolina, Illinois, Michigan, Montana, Delaware, South Carolina, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Georgia, Florida, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC.

A graduate of The Juilliard School, Pandolfi earned both his Bachelor's and Master's degrees as a scholarship student.

Website www.ThomasPandolfi.com

French was the language of the chanson as Latin was of the Mass. Social and political conditions in France in the early 16th century were particularly favorable to the growth of secular music. The 15th century had witnessed the rise of a new and wealthy bourgeoisie. Of great importance, was the influence of popular art on cultivated art. The poetry of this time sought greater liberty. The new poetry in the form of chansons enjoyed wide dissemination, by the activities of several famous French printers such as Pierre Attaignant, who between 1528 and 1552 brought out in Paris more than fifty collections of chansons, about 1,500 pieces altogether. The popularity of the chanson is attested by hundreds of transcriptions for the lute and arrangements for solo voice with lute accompaniment that were published during the sixteenth century in both France and Italy.

Some works of great charm became well known. Pierre Sandrin's Douce mémoire enjoyed a deserved popularity and found its way into instrumental variations in Poland, Italy and Spain. Practically all the chanson writers produced Masses and motets and often used chansons as material for Mass themes.
Join us for an evening of song and dance with period instruments and voice 

Website www.carolinapromusica.org

Three time winners of the Baltimore Chamber Music Awards, D'Amore Duo has toured widely and performed at such venues as St. Martin in the Fields, The Washington National Cathedral, the Smithsonian, the Yale Centre for British Art, The Spanish Center in New York City and live on ABC International Radio in Sydney, Australia. They have had works written for them by numerous composers. The program will include the première of Tres Piezas Bajo el Cielo del written for them by Marcelo Ferraris (b. 1967)

Fatma Daglar, born in Istanbul Turkey, holds degrees from the Istanbul Conservatory and the Peabody Conservatory where she received both a Masters and Graduate Performance Degree. She has toured widely with a variety of chamber groups and orchestras in North America, the Middle East, Europe and Japan. She is currently principal oboe with the Annapolis, Maryland and Delaware Symphonies. Fatma Daglar has been described by the Washington Post as "a dexterous technician with attractive tone and a nifty sense of phrasing".

William Feasley was the first guitarist to be awarded the Peabody Conservatory's coveted Artist Diploma. Selected to play for Andrés Segovia at the master's historic last class at the University of Southern California in 1986, he was later featured on the CBS special Eulogy of Segovia.

Since making his debut in 1980 with the San Francisco Ballet, Feasley has maintained an active international touring schedule. He has toured with the Russian Chamber Orchestra Viva Musica, performed live on ABC International Radio in Australia, has been a featured soloist in Bratislava, Bolivia, Sarajevo, the Czech Republic, and Poland. Other tours have included Spain, the Caribbean, Greece, Serbia, Italy, Ecuador, New Zealand, Poland, Slovakia, The Czech Republic, Slovenia, Bosnia, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Iceland.

In March of 2110 William Feasley represented the US at the XI International Guitar Festival in Lima, Peru. While in Peru, played for other cities under the aegis of the US State Dept.
William Feasley most recent recording, the French Perspective, is out on the Center Earth label.

Website www.williamfeasley.com

This holiday event has become a community favorite. Instruments, voice and the organ in the wonderful acoustics of the Abbey Basilica offer a wonderful start to the holiday season.  Join Karen Hite Jacob, Abbey organist and campus choral director, Abbey students and friends for this concert of sacred and secular music.

Dr. Christina Placilla, Associate Professor of Strings at Winston-Salem State University, is a viola soloist, chamber musician, scholar and teacher. She earned her Bachelor of Music in performance at California State University, Long Beach, her Master of Music at the Hartt School in West Hartford, Connecticut and her Doctorate of Musical Arts in viola performance at the University of Colorado. She has given solo and chamber music recitals in California, Colorado, Connecticut, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, South Carolina Sydney, Australia and Madrid, Spain.

She is currently a member of the Placilla-Rice duo with Dr. Karen Rice and Ensemble Argos. Her first solo CD Remembrances from Home will be released in 2010 under the Centaur Record Label. With Ensemble Argos, Dr. Placilla has been invited to perform at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina. Dr. Placilla has played in professional symphony orchestras, ballet orchestras, and opera orchestras throughout the United States. As an advocate for new music, Christina has given numerous world premier performances and has been invited to perform at composition conferences. During the summer, Dr. Placilla is on faculty of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

Karen Rice holds a D.M.A. and M.M. in piano performance from UNC Greensboro and a B.A. in piano performance from Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Dr. Rice is Assistant Professor of Piano at Winston Salem State University, where she teaches applied and class piano and coordinates the accompanying program.

In addition to being a solo performer, Rice is an active collaborative pianist both locally and throughout the mid-Atlantic region in recitals, competitions, and conferences. She recently served as Competitions Chair for the North Carolina Music Teachers Association and has served as a judge for South Carolina Music Teachers Association and for several piano festivals in North Carolina. Rice is currently involved with several publication and presentation projects centered on the piano compositions of Third Stream composer, Henry Martin.

Vocal and instrumental works by António Literes, José de Torres, Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, Joseph Bodin de Boismortier and Domenico Scarlatti will be featured. The 18th century saw a great variety in chamber music but most of these works are rarely heard today. Join the Abbey Artists in Residence for a window on early music.

Carolina Pro Musica was established in 1977 to promote the performance of music written before 1800 through the use of historic instruments and/or copies and in the performance practice of the periods in which the music was written. The Ensemble has had a concert series since that time utilizing Charlotte churches and historic St. Mary's Chapel. They have performed in the Southeast, and in Europe (Poland and the UK) including Handel's London home, now a museum.

In the summer of 2009, Carolina Pro Musica performed on a fringe concert of the Boston Early Music Festival and for the 23rd Moravian Music Festival. Their latest CD "Following the Lamb" was recorded using the historic 1800 Tannenberg Organ in Old Salem, N.C. and features music of J.S. Bach and Moravian composers. Belmont Abbey College has honored them annually with Abbey Artists status since the 2001-2002 academic year.

Website www.carolinapromusica.org

 

The New Century Saxophone Quartet programming ranges from the Baroque to innovative contemporary works to imaginative transcriptions. The recipient of grants from the National Endowment of the Arts, The Aaron Copland Recording Fund, Chamber Music America and the North Carolina Arts Council, New Century has been heard in major concert venues in Los Angeles, New York and Amsterdam; on radio and television in the United States, Europe and Central America, including its own radio series in North Carolina; in recordings for the Channel Classics label; and in unusual concert settings, ranging from two command performances for President Clinton in the White House to a concerto performance with the United States Navy Band.

New Century premiered "New Century Suite," a concerto for saxophone quartet and orchestra by Peter Schickele with the North Carolina Symphony in September 2000. A November 2000 performance of the concerto with the Canton (OH) Symphony was featured twice on National Public radio's "Performance Today. "New Century's 1993 New York debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall earned the group praise for their "virtuosic display of dexterity and keen ensemble work," in which the "players handled all the music with panache (New York Post).

Upon becoming the first saxophone quartet presented at the Ambassador Auditorium in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times heralded the Quartet's West Coast debut: "Tackling brave new territory in the conservative-leaning realm of classical music takes a unique blend of conviction, refined talent and a bit of damn-the-torpedoes ambition. Those qualities are amply in evidence with the New Century Saxophone Quartet, not to mention a finely honed musicality deserving wider acceptance.

The New Century Saxophone Quartet has appeared on television and radio across the United States in features on National Public Radio's Performance Today, the Voice of America and North Carolina Public TV. New Century has been the resident ensemble of two radio stations in North Carolina, WUNC in Chapel Hill (1995) and WHQR in Wilmington (1996). Outside of the United States, Panamanian TV aired a documentary and live performance, and in the Netherlands, Dutch radio presented a live broadcast from the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In January 1998 the ensemble participated in a special performance for the Chinese New Year that was broadcast live to over 100 million people on television throughout the world.

For more than a fifteen years New Century has been responsible for a significant broadening of the repertoire for saxophone quartet through its commissioning projects, and premiering new works

Michael Stephenson, soprano saxophone
Connie Frigo, baritone saxophone
Stephen Pollock, tenor saxophone
Chris Hemingway, alto saxophone

Website: www.newcenturysax.com

Abbey Chorus, and music students present an afternoon of classics to Broadway and popular song. Versatility and variety are a part of this annual end of the college year event.