For the past 4 years, Art of Élan has been pioneering unique chamber music events and bringing back the excitement of classical music. Created by violinist Kate Hatmaker and flutist Demarre McGill, Art of Élan is breaking down the barriers that surround classical music through its innovative, one-hour programming. For its 5th Anniversary Season, entitled “Steppin’ Out,” Art of Élan and the San Diego Museum of Art offer four art-inspired concerts that focus on the wide range of musical genres that make up the diverse cultural fabric of San Diego. Pairing colorful programming with the showcasing of local talent, Art of Élan continues its commitment to “step out” of the classical music norm.

Each program, held in the intimate Hibben Gallery, offers a wide variety of exciting classical repertoire and promises to provide an engaging experience for the listener. By drawing inspiration from the word élan, which represents momentum, vigor and spirit, Art of Élan hopes to engage and energize audiences in new ways.

PROGRAMTuesday, October 11, 2011, 7PM

Hibben Gallery, The San Diego Museum of Art Fandango Santiago de Murcia

Colin McAllister, guitarJustin DeHart, castanets

Temazcal Javier AlvarezJustin DeHart, maracas

Pre-recorded audio21 Grupos Miguel Ordóñez

I. RitmicoII. ElegiaIII. Toccata

Colin McAllister, guitarPor Siempre Sabines Julio César Oliva

I. Yo No Lo Se de CiertoII. No Es Que Muera de AmorIII. Me Doy Cuenta de Que Me Faltas

Barbara Tobler, sopranoColin McAllister, guitar

Homenaje a Gismonti Arturo MárquezKate Hatmaker and Pei-chun Tsai, violins

Travis Maril, violaAbe Liebhaber, cello

Pre-concert music by Mariachi Garibaldi from Southwestern College - directed by Jeff Nevin

Support for Art of Élan performances at The San Diego Museum of Art comes from Gordon Brodfuehrer, Jean and Charles Hellerich, and Carol Strensrud; their extraordinary generosity helped to make this season possible. Additional thanks go to James Robbins, John Forrest and Deborah Pate, Pat and Jack Thomas, Rosanne and W. Gregory Berton, Jeanette Stevens, Joyce and Ted Strauss, and the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture. We would also like to recognize Toni Robin for her tireless energy and support, as well as Ben Leggatt for his wonderfully creative and colorful graphics. Additional funding for the Museum comes from the Members of The San Diego Museum of Art, and by the County of San Diego Community Enhancement Program. Institutional support for the Museum is provided by the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture.

For the past 4 seasons we have strived to present colorful concerts that, through their shortened length and diverse musical selections, help to create a concert experience that encourages curiosity and imagination. For our 5th Anniversary Season we wanted to not only ‘step out’ further from classical music norms, but also to step out into the community to shine a light on the genres, art forms and cultures that contribute to the vibrancy of San Diego. We felt that the perfect way to begin this celebratory season was to pay homage to the Mexican culture that is such an important part of San Diego’s identity. As we look forward to a season of celebrating this wonderful city through music, we hope that our concerts continue to inspire musicians and audience members to leave all preconceived opinions about classical music at the door and simply embark on an hour-long aural adventure. Thank you for being with us on this journey.

Let the party begin!-Demarre McGill

Rufino Tamayo (1899–1991)The Somnambulist195439 1/2 in. x 31 1/2 in.The San Diego Museum of ArtAnonymous gift, 1964:130

COMPOSiTiOnSDe Murcia’s “Fandango”

Very little is known about Spanish composer and guitar player Santiago de Murcia (1682-ca. 1739), but as all three of his surviving collections of guitar music were found in Mexico, it is speculated that he emigrated to the New World at some point, writing in a style that combined traditional Spanish Baroque guitar traditions with dance forms of both Mexico and West Africa. Although the genesis of the fandango is also unknown, it appears to have been popularized in the late 18th century. It was written to be a couples’ dance, often in triple meter, and usually accompanied by castanets. In this particular fandango the melody is quite lively and colorful, sounding almost improvisational at times, with a castanet accompaniment that is entirely improvisational. Although it is being performed without dance this evening, it is not difficult to imagine this as an impassioned couples’ dance.

Alvarez’s “Temazcal”

Mexican composer Javier Alvarez (b. 1956) is equally active as a performer, composer and researcher. Having studied both clarinet and composition in Mexico, he has since spent time both in the United States and London, where he attended the Royal College of Music and later served on the faculty. His compositional works reveal an interest in music technology, as well as with diverse instrumentation, reflecting a variety of influences from around the world. “Temazcal” is a perfect illustration of this, combining electroacoustic music with the traditional Mexican sound of maracas. Alvarez describes the piece as follows:

“ Temazcal stems from the Nahuatl (ancient Aztec) word literally meaning ‘water that burns.’ The maraca material is drawn from traditional rhythmic patterns found in most Latin-American musics, namely those from the Caribbean region, southeastern Mexico, Cuba, Central America and the flatlands of Colombia and Venezuela. In these musics in general, the maracas are used in a purely accompanimental manner as a part of small instrumental ensembles. The only exception is, perhaps, that of the Venezuelan flatlands, where the role of the maracas surpasses that of mere cadence and accent punctuation to become a soloistic instrument in its own right. It was from this instance that I imagined a piece where the player would have to master short patterns and

combine them with great virtuosity to construct larger and complex rhythmic structures which could then be juxtaposed, superimposed and set against similar passages on tape, thus creating a dense polyrhythmic web. This would eventually disintegrate clearing the way for a traditional accompanimental style of playing in a sound world reminiscent of the maracas’ more usual environment. The sound sources on tape include harp, a folk guitar and double bass pizzicatti for the tape’s attacks, the transformation of bamboo rods being struck together for the rhythmic passages and rattling sounds created with the maracas themselves for other gestures.”

Ordóñez’s “21 Grupos”

Miguel Ordóñez was interested in guitar at a young age, mainly through the influences of rock and jazz. He later went on to study guitar performance at the National School of Music in Mexico, but his interest in rock music led him to participate in an interesting competition that was held in the early 1980s in Mexico City. Out of the competing rock bands, 21 were chosen to make a joint record, which was called, appropriately, “21 Rock Groups.” The “21 Grupos” piece performed tonight pays tribute to that event in particular, and to rock music in general. It is written in three movements with the first movement, “Ritmico,” alternating between a ballad and a rhythmically pulsating dance piece. The second movement, “Elegia,” is an evocative and nostalgic intermezzo that helps clear the air before the driving energy of the final “Toccata” movement.

Oliva’s “Por Siempre Sabines”

Born in 1947 in Mexico City, Julio César Oliva has established an international reputation as one of Mexico’s foremost guitarists, as well as one of its most interesting and versatile composers of the 20th century. While he has arranged a great number of traditional Mexican songs for guitar, he has also produced a wide variety of original compositions that often incorporate more popular influences as well, such as the “Por Siempre Sabines” songs. The text is taken from the poems of famed Mexican writer Jaime Sabines (1926-1999) whose poems dealt mostly with everyday people and their various life experiences. Oliva had great respect for Sabines, and was able to relate on a personal level to many of his poems about love. In fact, he describes the “Por Siempre Sabines” songs more as simple love songs than serious classical music, as they seem to resemble nostalgic folk melodies, ones that could transcend any border.

“ Yo No Lo Sé de Cierto” Yo no lo sé de cierto, pero supongo que una mujer y un hombre algún día se quieren, se van quedando solos poco a poco, algo en su corazón les dice que están solos, solos sobre la tierra se penetran, se van matando el uno al otro. Todo se hace en silencio. Como se hace la luz dentro del ojo. El amor une cuerpos. En silencio se van llenando el uno al otro. Cualquier día despiertan, sobre brazos; piensan entonces que lo saben todo. Se ven desnudos y lo saben todo. (Yo no lo sé de cierto. Lo supongo)

“ No Es Que Muera de Amor” No es que muera de amor, muero de ti. Muero de ti, amor, de amor de ti, de mi alma de ti y de mi boca y del insoportable que yo soy sin ti. Muero de ti y de mí, muero e ambos, de nosotros, de ese, desgarrado, partido, me muero, te muero, lo morimos. Morimos en el sitio que le he prestado al aire. Morimos, lo sabemos, lo ignoran, nos morimos entre los dos, ahora, separados, del uno al otro, diariamente, en gestos que no vemos, en nuestras manos que nos necesitan. Nos morimos, amor, y nada hacemos sino morirnos más, hora tras hora, y escribirnos y hablarnos y morirnos.

“ I don’t know for certain” I don’t know it for certain, but I suppose that a man and a woman someday love each other, slowly they stay alone, something in their hearts tells them they are alone, alone on the earth they enter each other, they go on killing each other. It all happens in silence. The way light happens in the eye. Love unites bodies. In silence they fill each other. Any day they awaken, over their arms. They think, therefore, that they know everything. They see themselves naked and they know everything. (I don’t know it for certain. I suppose).

“ It’s Not That I Die of Love” It’s not that I die of love, I die of you. I die of you, love, of love of you. Of my urgency of my skin for you; of my soul for you, and of my mouth And the unbearable man that I am without you. I die of you and of me, I die of both Of us, of the one,torn, broken I die, I die of you, we die of it. We die in the place that I’ve lent to the air, so you would be out of me. We die, we know it, they ignore it, we die Between the two of us, now, apart, from one another, everyday, in gestures that we don’t see, in our hands, which need us. We die, love, and we do nothing, but die even more, hour after hour, and write and talk and die.

Márquez’s “Homenaje a Gismonti”

Renowned Mexican composer Arturo Márquez (b. 1950) was surrounded by a variety of musical influences in his youth, as his father was a mariachi musician in both Mexico and Los Angeles and his paternal grandfather was a famed Northern Mexican folk musician. Having studied violin, trombone and piano as child, Márquez was well versed in many genres, including jazz and the popular “salon music” of Mexico. He started composing as a teenager and won a Fulbright Scholarship to continue his studies both in Paris and at the California Institute of the Arts, and while his orchestral compositions include the popular “Danzon no. 2,” made famous by Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra, he has also written many works for chamber ensemble and film. “Homenaje a Gismonti” pays homage to the great Brazilian composer and multi-instrumentalist Egberto Gismonti. Like Márquez, Gismonti was influenced by a multitude of musical genres and his compositions reflect his conviction that “popular” and “serious” idioms need not be polar opposites. The jazzy, dance-like rhythms of tonight’s quartet certainly reflect that belief as well, reminding the listener that music can sometimes just be music, and does not always need to be codified a certain way.

Program notes by Kate Hatmaker

“ Me Doy Cuenta de Que Me Faltas” Me doy cuenta de que me faltas Cuando me quedo solo me quedo más solo solo por todas partes y por ti y por mí. No hago sino esperar. Esperar todo el día hasta que no llegas. Hasta que me duermo y no estás y no has llegado y me quedo dormido y terriblemente cansado preguntando.

“ I Realize You Are Absent From Me” I realize you are absent from me When I stay alone I stay lonelier alone everywhere and for you and for me. I do nothing but wait. Wait all day until you don’t arrive. Until I fall asleep and your’re not here and haven’t arrived and I stayed asleep questioning.

MuSiCiAnSJustin DeHart

From Sacramento, California, Justin DeHart is a dedicated performer of contemporary mu-sic. DeHart recently earned a doctorate degree in music from UCSD with Steven Schick and became a member of the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet (LAPQ). DeHart has performed concerts throughout the United States, Canada, and Asia and has participated as a musi-cian and producer on Sono Luminus, Innova, Albany, Mode, New World, MCA, Skunk, Anicca, Cornerstone, R.A.S, and Sub Pop record labels. As a Fulbright Scholar in 2001, De-Hart traveled to Chennai, India to study South Indian percussion for nine months with T.H. Subash Chandran. He has also studied North Indian tabla with Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri at the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael and at the California Institute of the Arts. www.justindehart.com

Kate Hatmaker

Kate Hatmaker is currently a violinist with the San Diego Symphony, in addition to being the co-founder and Artistic Director of Art of Élan. Ms. Hatmaker has played with a wide variety of American orchestras, including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the New World Symphony, and the Pittsburgh “Live Chamber Orchestra,” which she helped promote in an effort to draw younger audiences to classical music. In addition to teaching at the Coronado School of the Arts, as well as privately in the San Diego area, Ms. Hatmaker is a frequent chamber music recitalist and has been a featured soloist with both the San Diego Symphony and the Breckenridge Music Festival orchestras. She completed her Master of Music degree at Carnegie Mellon University, in the studio of Andrés Cárdenes, and her undergraduate training at both the University of Iowa and the Sorbonne University in Paris, France, graduating Phi Beta Kappa with high honors and degrees in both Political Science and French.

Abe Liebhaber

Abe Liebhaber, from Santa Barbara, has performed chamber music throughout Italy and in master classes with Ann Martindale-Williams, Peter Reijto, Eleanor Schoenfeld, and Yo-Yo Ma. His teachers include Charlene Wilson, David Gibson, Barry Gold, and he has been coached by Daniel Rothmuller in Los Angeles and Harvey Shapiro in New York. He received his degrees in music performance from University of California Los Angeles as well as California State University Sacramento and holds positions in the Arizona Opera

and Sarasota Opera orchestras. Abe’s interest in the study of opera italiana as well as the works and biographical life of Giuseppe Verdi has led to the study of Italian literature and opera at Middlebury College’s Italian Language School during the last two summers. He performs on a 1805 cello by the Gagliano family of luthiers.

Travis Maril

Violist Travis Maril teaches viola at Point Loma Nazarene University and San Diego State University, where he also heads the string department. Mr. Maril was a top prize winner at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, has had performances broadcast on “Performance Today” and has collaborated with the Miró String Quartet and members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He plays frequently with the San Diego Symphony and Orchestra Nova, and records with local band The Tree Ring, whose debut album won a San Diego Music Award. Recent festival appearances include La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival and Mainly Mozart. Mr. Maril is Co-Artistic Director of the chamber music en-semble Camarada and President of the San Diego chapter of ASTA. He was selected as an Outstanding Graduate at the University of Southern California and earned his masters from Rice University.

Colin McAllister

Via a diverse range of musical interests and an uncommon versatility, Colin McAllister main-tains an active performance schedule throughout the United States, Mexico and Europe. His repertoire spans the gamut of historical periods and styles: from the late fourteenth-century polyphony of the ars subtilior to recent modernist works, as well as jazz. A compassionate advocate for the contemporary repertoire, Colin has premiered over fifty new works and has worked closely with many leading composers. Recent performances include contemporary music festivals in Germany, Mexico City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago; jazz fes-tivals in Alaska, Hungary and the Netherlands; and visiting artist residencies at Colorado College and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He has recorded for the Innova, Albany, Old King Cole, Vienna Modern Masters, Carrier and Tzadik record labels. Colin earned the Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of California, San Diego in 2004.

Barbara Tobler

Barbara Tobler is a powerfully emotive performer whose vocal range, clarity and stage presence have captivated audiences both nationally and abroad. With a “voice of striking

richness, flexibility and dimension” (Roger Malouf, New York City Opera), Barbara brings mesmerizing beauty and passion into all her performances. While living in Switzerland, Barbara was a resident artist singing roles with the St. Gallen Opern. She has been a fea-tured soloist at the Mozarteum Sommerakademie in Austria and the Festival dell Nazioni di Musica Camera in Italy, and was engaged to sing Die Königen der Nacht with Shanghai Opera. Barbara premiered the role of Meg in Opera Delaware’s production of Libby Larson’s A Wrinkle in Time, and she has been a frequent soloist with the Baltimore Symphony Or-chestra. Barbara has sung lead roles in opera and musical theater with companies up and down the east coast. She is also an avid recitalist and versatile vocalist who is known for her ability to cross over into different styles seamlessly.

Pei-Chun Tsai

A native of Tainan, Taiwan, Pei-Chun Tsai completed both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees at The Juilliard School under violinist Joseph Fuchs, and made her solo debut at the Carnegie Weill Recital Hall in 1997. Her other important teachers include Earl Carlyss, Daniel Phillips, Harvey Shapiro, and Sally Thomas. First Prize winner in the 1990 and 1992 Taiwan National Violin Competition and three time First Prize winner of the Tainan Violin Competition, Pei-Chun has performed as soloist and chamber musician at Lincoln Center in New York city and the National Concert Hall in Taiwan. She has participated in the Alfred, Encore, Yellow Barn, and Taos music festivals in the United States and in Amsterdam at the Holland Music Session. Pei-Chun currently lives and works in California, is a member of the San Diego Symphony, and is on the faculty at San Diego State University. She received her Doctorate in Violin Performance from the City University of New York in January 2010.

uPCOMinG EvEnTSA FiDDLER’S TALE

Tuesday, November 29th, 2011 at 7PM

Partnering with the theater community, Art of Élan presents “A Fiddler’s Tale” on this second concert of the season, a work for narrator and small chamber ensemble that was written by famed jazz musician Wynton Marsalis. In an effort to modernize “The Soldier’s Tale” by Igor Stravinsky, Marsalis combines elements of jazz, swing and ragtime in this haunting tale of damnation that features a female violinist who “sells out” to the “devil,” portrayed by a record company executive.

in partnership with

1450 El Prado, Balboa Park • Phone: 619.696.1978www.TheSanDiegoMuseumofArt.org

To support Art of Élan concerts at the Museum, please consider a donation to:The San Diego Museum of ArtAttn. Art of Élan concert series

PO Box 122107San Diego, CA 92112-2107

Contributions to this partnership in any amount are appreciated. Those contributing $500 or more will be invited to a special end-of-season dinner to celebrate the year’s performances. Contributions can also be e-mailed to Stephanie Ward at sward@sdmart.org.

Art of Élan Board of Directors W. Gregory Berton

Kate HatmakerAlena HerranenDemarre McGillDeborah Pate

James RobbinsAlan Ziter

If you enjoyed this concert tonight, please join our Art of Élan family of supporters. Contributions of any kind are much appreciated, as even $25 can help us continue to provide exciting concerts. We believe that with our energy, innovative programming ideas, and genuine desire to share classical music with a wider audience, we can change the cultural climate of San Diego. We don’t need a million dollars to do it, but we do need your help and support.

To support Art of Élan, please send your donation to: 3730 1st Ave. #1, San Diego, CA 92103

Phone: 619.692.2081www.artofelan.org

Art of Élan is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and, as such, all contributions are fully tax-deductible. Tax ID: 20-8136710