Program Announced For an Afternoon of Exceptional Music and Conversation

tessa-matias

The musical program has been set for our afternoon with cellist Tessa Seymour and Cal Performances’ Executive and Artistic Director Matias Tarnopolsky, and it’s full of cherished gems and lesser-known enchantments.

J.S. Bach: Selections from Suite No. 5
Krzysztof Penderecki: Selections from the Suite for Solo Cello
Pēteris Vasks: Dolcissimo
György Ligeti: Sonata for Solo Cello
Gaspar Cassadó: Intermezzo e Danza Finale

Tessa is on the brink of becoming a widely recognized concert artist. Freshly graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music, she has already performed as concerto soloist with numerous orchestras, made a televised debut at Carnegie Hall, and recorded a debut album set to release this year. Her viewpoint is a rare one – that of a young prodigy with a musical understanding beyond her years. We’ve shared a video below to give a sense of the depth of her musicality.

Joining the conversation with Tessa is none other than Cal Performances’ Director Matias Tarnopolsky. A seasoned veteran of the business of the performing arts, he’s worked with most all of the celebrated performers of the world, and brings to this conversation a singularly knowledgeable viewpoint.

We think this is a rare opportunity to learn something about the journey of a young artist and its many challenges, and to listen to exquisite music in an acoustically enhanced and intimate atmosphere. We hope to see you there!

Saturday, January 23, 2016

1 pm to 2:30 pm

$35.

Tickets and Info

Includes a reception and light refreshments. The cafe will also be open for lunch before and after.

 

2017-09-12T15:46:43-07:00January 14th, 2016|Coming up..., Meyer Sound|0 Comments
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An Afternoon of Exceptional Music and Conversation

 

Join us for a friendly conversation with two East Bay musical treasures: cellist Tessa Seymour, one of classical music’s most promising young talents, and Cal Performances’ Director Matias Tarnopolsky.

Tessa is on the brink of becoming a widely recognized concert artist. Freshly graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music, she has already performed as concerto soloist with numerous orchestras, made a televised debut at Carnegie Hall, and recorded a debut album set to release this year. Her viewpoint is a rare one – that of a young prodigy with a musical understanding beyond her years, well on the way into a career full of promise.

As director of Cal Performances, Matias is tasked with planning inventive and compelling programming for one of the most influential performing arts centers in the world. In doing so, he helps steward the many artists that perform on Cal Performances’ stages. Having worked with pretty much all of the celebrated performers of the world, he brings to this conversation a singularly knowledgeable viewpoint of the tough business of classical music today.

We hope to learn something about the journey of a young classical musician and its many challenges and enjoy some beautiful music. Our Meyer Sound-enhanced room allows us to provide a beautiful environment in which to enjoy live performances.

Saturday, January 23rd, 2016
1 pm to 2:30 pm

$35.

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2017-09-12T15:46:43-07:00January 6th, 2016|Commons Past Events, Events, Meyer Sound|Comments Off on An Afternoon of Exceptional Music and Conversation
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Musicians from Valley of the Moon Music Festival: Beethoven and Haydn

 

valley-of-the-moon

Join us for a light, 3-course prix-fixe dinner and an evening of Beethoven and Haydn at Oliveto Restaurant. Presented by Valley of the Moon Music Festival. Following the program, there will be time to meet the artists.

The performance takes advantage of Oliveto’s dining room — dubbed the Magic Room, it was designed by the acoustical wizards at Meyer Sound to enhance musical performances and conversation.

Program

Beethoven
A-Major Cello Sonata

Haydn
Trio

Performers 

Elizabeth Blumenstock, violin
Widely admired as a Baroque violinist of expressive eloquence and technical sparkle, Elizabeth Blumenstock is a long-time concertmaster, soloist, and leader with the Bay Area’s American Bach Soloists and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and is concertmaster of the International Handel Festival in Goettingen, Germany.

Tanya Tomkins, ‘cello
Artistic Director and Co-Founder of the Valley of the Moon Music Festival, cellist Tanya Tomkins is equally at home on Baroque and modern instruments. She has performed on many chamber music series to critical acclaim, including the Frick Collection, “Great Performances” at Lincoln Center, the 92nd Street Y, San Francisco Performances, and the Concertgebouw Kleine Zaal.

Eric Zivian, fortepiano
Music Director and Co-Founder of the Valley of the Moon Music Festival, Eric Zivian was born in Michigan and grew up in Toronto, Canada, where he attended the Royal Conservatory of Music. He graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he received a Bachelor of Music degree. He went on to receive graduate degrees from the Juilliard School and the Yale School of Music. He studied piano with Gary Graffman and Peter Serkin and composition with Ned Rorem, Jacob Druckman, and Martin Bresnick. He attended the Tanglewood Music Center both as a performer and as a composer.

Additional Information:

Dinner begins at 8:45 p.m., and the performance follows at 9:30 p.m. Beverages, 18% service charge on dinner ($45 value) and beverages, and tax are additional and will be charged that evening.

Friday, November 27th, 2015, 8:45 pm to 10:45 pm

$80.

 

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2017-09-12T15:46:47-07:00November 21st, 2015|Commons Past Events, Events, Meyer Sound|Comments Off on Musicians from Valley of the Moon Music Festival: Beethoven and Haydn
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Sunday Impromptu Concert

Tessa-and-jiyeon

 

Jiyoen Kim and Tessa Seymour
Sunday, November 22, 2015

This Sunday, we’ll be interrupting our regularly scheduled program for an impromptu performance by cellist Tessa Seymour and guitarist Jiyeon Kim, two prodigiously talented artists from the Curtis Institute of Music with exceptionally bright futures before them.

Seymour and Kim will be performing in the later half of Sunday evening, dining with us and playing as the mood strikes. Friends as well as colleagues, they are mesmerizing to watch as they perform both classical repertoire and contemporary work . As always we’ll be enhancing their musical interludes with our Magic Room’s marvelous Meyer Sound system .

The performance is free. Please come, book a table during the later half of Sunday evening, and enjoy some compelling music.

Jiyeon Kim is a multifaceted instrumentalist, playing a wide range of music from free improvisation to contemporary classical music on both classical and electric guitar. Hailing from Seoul, South Korea, Kim entered the Curtis Institute of Music in 2011 and studied with renowned guitarists David Starobin and Jason Vieaux. Ms. Kim has appeared on NPR’s From the Top, and has performed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Great Mountains International Music Festival, and the Bang on a Can Music Festival.

Tessa Seymour recently graduated from Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Carter Brey, principal cello of the New York Philharmonic, and Peter Wiley of the Guarneri Quartet. Ms. Seymour held the Jack Kent Cooke Fellowship at Curtis. Ms. Seymour made her televised Carnegie Hall debut in 2007 and has performed as concerto soloist with numerous orchestras. Her debut solo album is set to be released this year. Ms. Seymour’s cello is the 1720 Carlo Giuseppe Testore “Camilla” of Milan.

Kim and Seymour will also be performing at the Center for New Music on November 25th: Five Faces of Modernity, with works by Falla, Reich, Vasks, and Gardiner.

2017-09-12T15:46:47-07:00November 18th, 2015|2015, Commons Past Events, Happened already..., Kitchen Notes, Meyer Sound|0 Comments
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Telegraph Quartet: Britten and Haydn

Join us for a light, 3-course prix-fixe dinner and an evening of Britten and Haydn performed by the Telegraph Quartet at Oliveto Restaurant. Following the program, there will be time to meet the artists. Presented by Benvenue House.

The Telegraph Quartet was formed in September 2013 with a commitment to a passionate approach to the standard chamber music repertoire as well as contemporary and non-standard repertoire, alike. Described alternately as “intensely urgent” and “poignantly resonant”, the Telegraph Quartet received the prestigious Grand Prize of the 2014 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and has gone on to perform in concert halls, music festivals, and academic institutions across the United States, from Santa Barbara to New York.

The members of the quartet are graduates of top conservatories and universities including The Juilliard School, The Cleveland Institute of Music, Rice University and San Francisco Conservatory of Music. The Telegraph Quartet is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The performance takes advantage of Oliveto‘s dining room — dubbed the Magic Room, it was designed by the acoustical wizards at Meyer Sound to enhance musical performances and conversation.

Additional Information:

Dinner begins at 8:45 p.m., and the performance follows at 9:30 p.m. Beverages, 18% service charge on dinner ($45 value) and beverages, and tax are additional and will be charged that evening.

Friday, January 15th, 2016, 8:45 pm to 10:45 pm

$80.

 

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2017-09-12T15:46:50-07:00October 21st, 2015|Commons Past Events, Events, Meyer Sound|Comments Off on Telegraph Quartet: Britten and Haydn
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Oliveto’s Sound System is in The New Yorker

Olivetos_30-Oct-14_209576 550

We were thrilled to music critic Alex Ross’s most recent piece in The New Yorker — it is all about Meyer Sound and features our new Constellation and Libra sound systems. He really couldn’t have described the system better:

On a recent visit to Oliveto, a nouvelle Italian restaurant in the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland, California, I paid attention less to the food than to the sound. I was at a table of six, in the restaurant’s upstairs section. It was a Friday night, and by the middle of the meal the room was crowded. Conditions were primed for restaurant cacophony: that inexorable crescendo of talking, barking, cackling, and clanking, which threatens to drown out any conversation and prompts diners to shout at one another, adding to the din. On this night, though, I found myself able to tune out the noise and hear only what I wanted to hear. When someone at a nearby table began guffawing at his own jokes, I could still follow the remarks of the calm-voiced man sitting next to me. Friends on the other side of the table spoke across the breadbasket without having to raise their voices. Although we were aware of a general buzz, it all happened at a comfortable distance. It was two hours of acoustical paradise. …

Read the rest of the article on The New Yorker website, or grab a copy of their February 23 issue when it hits newsstands.

2017-09-12T15:47:04-07:00February 19th, 2015|2015, Events, Happened already..., Kitchen Notes, Meyer Sound, This Just In|0 Comments
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