Vallejo Symphony to present debut performance of string quartet

(Originally published in the 2/26/16 edition)

   For its final production of the season, Vallejo Symphony will be presenting a chamber performance by New Falcon String Quartet. 

   The group is comprised of violist Raphael Gold, cellist Burke Schuchmann and violinists Joseph Gold and Dan Kristianson. On Sunday, March 6, the quartet will be performing their debut gig together, but Kristianson says all four members are accomplished musicians and he and Schuchmann had worked together previously. 

   “We’ve given concerts in Mendocino at the arts center,” he said. 

   Schuchmann was principal cellist and soloist with the Salzburg Solisten in Austria, and has been principal cellist and soloist with the Sacramento Symphony and Mendocino Music Festival. 

   Joseph is a graduate of the University of Southern California, where he studied under legendary violinist Jascha Heifetz. Joseph has performed throughout the Bay Area and was the subject of the 2011 documentary “Gold Violin: Bow of Death,” which was an Official Selection for the Mill Valley Film Festival that year.

   Joseph’s son, Rafael, has played in several orchestras and chamber groups throughout the Bay Area and has performed in international music festivals in Mexico, Spain, Nicaragua and beyond. 

   Finally, Kristianson has been performing with the Vallejo Symphony for 14 years as assistant principal second violinist, and has been a member of a group called Symphony Orchestra of Northern California which has performed in venues in Fairfield and Napa. Additionally, he received his music degree from Yale University and studied in Japan under Shinichi Suzuki, founder of the Suzuki method, which posits that musicians learn from their surrounding environments. He has also been the assistant principal second violinist for the North State Symphony of Chico and Redding for 20 years and was the gust principal second violinist last season for Symphony Napa Valley and Solano Symphony. 

   Kristianson says the diversity of talents among the group often comes into friendly conflict.

   “The best and the worst thing is that we are all highly opinionated,” he said. “We have strong musical opinions, and there’s a wealth of different musical ideas that are generally quite well-founded and well-grounded, but then we have to duke it out in rehearsal to see the way they’re presented when they’re actually performed.”

   Nonetheless, the members of New Falcon String Quartet enjoy each other’s company, especially when the senior members share stories. 

   “Burke and Joe are loads of fun to work with because they are filled with literally hundreds of thousands of anecdotes about musical performances and famous musicians they’ve collaborated with,” Kristianson said. “We break the tension with a story and probably talk a little more often than we ought to in rehearsal.” 

   The quartet will be performing three orchestral pieces from three different eras of symphonic music. The evening will begin with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Divertimento in No. 3,” which Kristianson says was unanimously chosen by the group as the introductory piece.

   “It’s a very optimistic and forward-moving piece, and it’s a great piece to introduce yourself to an audience,” he said. “You don’t want to start off with anything that’s too tragic or too wistful.”

   The group will continue with Felix Mendelssohn’s “String Quartet in E Minor,” which Kristianson described as a good middle piece due to it being performed in E minor— a step above what has been cited as “the saddest of all keys.”

   “It’s a little bit more dramatic in nature,” he said. 

   The evening will conclude with Antonin Dvorak’s “American” quartet.

   “Of all the great European composers, (Dvorak) was the one most adopted by American styles,” Kristianson said. “It’s great European music, but it has some great flavor of the United States.”

   “He had studied the spirituals and folk music, and you can hear it in his composition,” he added. 

   Kristianson believes the three pieces will be strong showcases of three different musical periods, with Mozart representing the classical era, Dvorak representing the Romantic era and Mendelssohn representing a bridge between the two. Additionally, he feels the audience will be treated to great music.

   “You will hear some of the finest string playing you’ll have heard in Vallejo in years,” he said. “You don’t often get a chance to hear musicians of the caliber.”

   New Falcon String Quartet’s concert will begin at 4 p.m., Sunday, March 6, at the First Presbyterian Church in Vallejo, located at 1350 Amador St. Tickets are $10 for students 13 and older, and $20 for adults. They can be purchased at BrownPaperTickets.com. For more information, visit VallejoSymphony.org. 

   

Vallejo Symphony continues search for new conductor

(Originally published in the 11/4/15 edition)

    The Vallejo Symphony Orchestra will continue with the second round of its search to find a permanent conductor Sunday. The next new face to hold the baton? Christian Baldini.

   Baldini is a conductor who has led orchestras across the globe. Among the items on his resume: the Munich Radio Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Buenos Aires Philharmonic. He has also worked with the North State Symphony in Chico and Redding and conducted 11 concerts with the San Francisco Symphony for the 2014-2015 season. 

   “I grew up with music,” Baldini said. “It was a crucial part of my life, even though I didn’t realize at the time it was going to be my profession. We had no professional musicians in the family, so it was more like a really fun thing to do.”

   Baldini soon learned to enjoy the challenge of being a conductor.

   “It’s a very sociable profession,” he said. ‘You need to learn to collaborate with people and inspire them to do your best. Whichever orchestra, group or singers you’re performing with, your goal is to get their very best energy so that we can come together in a cohesive way and provide a strong performance.”

   Baldini’s work as maestro has often been lauded. He recorded a CD with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and soprano Elizabeth Watts titled “Mozart: Opera Arias and Overtures,” which was named by BBC Music Magazine as the recording of the month.

   “It was a wonderful surprise,” Baldini said. “We musicians work hard on every project that comes our way.” 

   Most recently, Baldini did conducting duties for Mercury Soul, a project by DJ and composer Mason Bates that combines classical music with electronica. The collective performed at San Francisco’s Ruby Skye club on Oct. 2.

   “It was really exciting,” Baldini said. “ It’s a very different kind of audience. As musicians, we need to be thinking about not just what we perform and how we perform it but for whom. Whatever we can do to expand the interests and constituencies of every community is very important.”

   Baldini plans to bring a similar sense of variety to Sunday’s concert. The program, “Poetic Genius,” will begin with the debut of a new six-minute piece, “Satellite,” by Swedish composer and Berkeley resident Mika Pelo.

   “The orchestra hasn’t done a lot of new music, so this is nice,” Baldini said. “(Pelo) is a composer with a great ear for color and texture.”

   The evening will continue with Sacramento-based soprano Carrie Hennessey performing arias  from the operas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Giuseppe Verdi. 

   Finally, the night will conclude with a performance of Robert Schumann’s “Spring Symphony.”

   “That’s a piece I feel very close to,” Baldini said. “Schumann is one of my favorite composers, and I noticed that the Vallejo Symphony has not performed much of his music, so this is a nice occasion to bring one of the great symphonies into their venue.”

   Baldini says the three parts are a way to showcase who he is as a composer.

   “We will showcase one of the wonderful symphonies by Schumann, innovation with the new piece and also a great operatic tradition with a wonderful soprano,” he said. 

   Overall, Baldini wants audience members to treat the concert as they would reading a good novel. 

   “If it’s a really good book, it’s something you’re going to be thinking about while you’re reading it,” he said. “Even after you’ve finished the book, it was something that made a strong impression on you. The concert is very similar, and in that respect, it’s something that makes your imagination travel to different places.”

   “You can sense a lot of excitement, beauty, sadness and love in the music,” he added.

   “Poetic Genius” will be performed at 3 p.m., Nov. 8 at the Hogan High School auditorium, located on 850 Rosewood Ave. Tickets are available at VallejoSymphony.org.