2019 Performances

San Francisco, Nayarit

Plaza del Sol

Friday, February 22, 2019 @ 6:15 pm

Operatic Violin & Piano Duos

Violinist Karen Bentley Pollick teams up with pianist Oana Rusu Tomai, Artistic Director of the Romanian American Chamber Concerts in Seattle.

Ruggero Leoncavallo: Mattinata (arranged by Karen Bentley Pollick)

George Gershwin/Jascha Heifetz: Porgy & Bess Suite

Grigor Dinicu: Mocirita, March Hora, Romanian Rhapsody & The Lark

Manuel Ponce/Jascha Heifetz: Estrellita

Carlos Gardel/John Williams: Tango Por Una Cabeza

Saturday, March 16, 2019 at 6:45 pm (Chacala time)

Chacala Music Festival

Karen Bentley Pollick, violin

works by Bach, Bentley, Enescu and more

Wednesday, April 24, 2019 at 7:00 pm

6:15 pm pre concert talk

Valse Café Orchestra performs on Coastal Concert Series

Florence Events Center

715 Quince Street

Florence, Oregon

Seattle’s Valse Café Orchestra originated with a singular goal: to win hearts with post-modern renditions of dance hall classics. Their eclectic repertoire celebrates a romantic mélange of bygone eras. Paris in the 30s, a mix of swing tunes, foxtrots, one step, two steps, polkas and tangos. There is something for everyone.

Spring Rendezvous For Duo

What: Eclectic violin/viola and harpsichord duo concert, classics and the music of now

When: Saturday May 4 at 7:30

Where: First Presbyterian, Cowper/Lincoln, Palo Alto

Musicians: Karen Bentley Pollick violin/viola; Jonathan Salzedo harpsichord

Composers: Bach, Forqueray, Stuart Diamond, Alex Shapiro, Ole Saxe, Dominique de Williencourt, Anatolijus Senderovas

Tickets: $30

Details/Contact: www.kbp-js.com 408-829-8116 jonathan@albanyconsort.com

Long time collaborators Karen Bentley Pollick (violin/viola) and Jonathan Salzedo (harpsichord) connect again for a concert in Palo Alto on Saturday, May 4 (First Presbyterian, Cowper/Lincoln, 7:30pm).

Karen and Jonathan have been playing together for 20 years. Jonathan lives in Sunnyvale, and Karen is a native of Cowper Street traveling all over the world with her music, currently residing in Mexico. Each spring, when their schedules align, this time for Karen between Music Festivals in San Pancho & Chacala, Valse Café Orchestra (Oregon), Colorado MahlerFest (Boulder), and for Jonathan between San Diego (Angelus), gigs nearer home (Danville, Sacramento), they romp through five centuries in a breathtaking hour of music. They will improvise on a 16th century bass, play a beloved Bach trio (how can two musicians play a trio? – come and find out!), and include non-politically-correct music by Bach’s infamous contemporary Forqueray. Karen will pay musical homage to Mount Ararat and Jascha Heifetz (Dominique de Williencourt, AnatolijusSenderovas). Plus pieces from a growing repertoire of new works for the duo – Telling Tales (Stuart Diamond, based on children’s stories), Alex Shapiro (Fleas, the first of Three Insanities), Ole Saxe (Amigos). And some Romanian lautari fiddler tunes.

www.kbp-js.com provides more details including ticketing and contact info. Miss this one and you’ll have to wait another year!

Join us on Facebook!

Full concert video by Harvey Wolfson

MahlerFest XXXII

This year’s featured work:
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D major

Chamber Concerts May 15 and May 17

Symposium with leading Mahler scholars May 18

Open Rehearsals

Orchestral Concerts

May 18 – Saturday

6:30pm – Pre-concert Lecture
7:30pm – Orchestral Concert – Macky Auditorium, CU Campus

The Inaugural MahlerFest Chamber Orchestra Concert!
Johann Strauss Jr. arr. Arnold Schönberg – The Emperor Waltz
Gustav Mahler arr. Arnold Schönberg- Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer)
Viktor Ullmann arr. Kenneth Woods – Chamber Symphony opus 46a (String Quartet no. 3) – Colorado Premiere!
Beethoven arr. Mahler: Quartet in F Minor opus 95 “Serioso”
Kenneth Woods conducting the Colorado MahlerFest Chamber Orchestra
Reserved seating

May 19 – Sunday

2:30pm – Pre-concert Lecture
3:30pm – Orchestral Concert – Macky Auditorium, CU Campus

The Stan Ruttenberg Memorial Concert
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D major
Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Violin Concerto (Zoë Beyers, violin)
Beethoven orchestrated by Mahler: Leonore Overture No. 3 – Colorado Premiere!
Kenneth Woods conducting the Colorado MahlerFest Orchestra
Reserved seating

Review by Kelly Dean Hansen

Sunday, June 2, 2019 at 6 pm

Fountainhead Gallery in Queen Anne

625 West McGraw Street, Seattle, Washington 98119

Romanian American Chamber Concerts & Arts

You are invited to attend the upcoming recital “Enescu, Debussy, Kurt Weill”, a Fountainhead and ROCCA joint event!
Sunday, June 2nd at 6 pm.
ROCCA Founder & Fountainhead Concerts Artistic Director, pianist Oana Rusu Tomai will join LA Phil. soprano, Laura Bohn, MahlerFest violinist, Karen Bentley Pollick for an afternoon of great music making.

IN advance 17% off $25 tickets: https://knct.club/2UK9eFT

In the Program:
We will enjoy the exquisite Sept Chansons de Clement Marot by George Enescu, brilliant Sonata for violin and piano by Claude Debussy and edgy, theatrical songs of Kurt Weill.

Reception with wine and snacks will follow.

Sit one foot away from the artists and enjoy concert surrounded by evocative new paintings by world traveler LiDona Wagner!

IN advance 17% off $25 tickets: https://knct.club/2UK9eFT

Facebook Event

Friday, October 25, 2019 at 7:30 pm Stanford University CCRMA Stage in Palo Alto, California

600 Lomita Drive Stanford, CA 94305

Free Admission: Seating is Limited

Saturday, October 26, 2019 at 8:00 pm Paul Dresher Studio in Oakland, California

Tickets for Saturday, October 26 at Eventbrite

Advanced reservations required for October 26: Seating is Limited

Ticket: General $25 | Support the Artists $50 | No One Turned Away for Lack of Funds

Karen Bentley Pollick, violin

Monica Scott, cello

Marja Mutru, piano

“In Search Of Lost Beauty…” (2016)

For violin, cello, piano, electronics and video

Concept, music and video by Žibuoklė Martinaitytė

“Beauty is the mystery of life. It is just not in the eye. It is in the mind. ” (Agnes Martin)

“In Search of Lost Beauty…” (2016) is an hour-long sequence of audiovisual novellas on the elusive subject of beauty. Here the experience of time is slowed down as to transport us into an alternate dimension where the commonly apprehended reality is inverted into the otherworldly mystique of reflections and shadows. The amplitude of this ephemeral search for beauty encompasses phenomena found in nature, everyday life, and in art. There is no particular narrative or story visualized in the piece. It is rather an invitation to pay attention to commonly seen and familiar phenomenon, which one could call beautiful but often wouldn’t bother to stop and take a closer look.

“In Search Of Beauty…” was born as a contradiction to an ever more increasing speed of our lives influenced by technology. So often people look at the illuminated screens of their devices rather than the surrounding world. This “search of beauty” gently induces to slow down our usual perception and ever-fastening mind, mostly operating in the mode of automatism, by bringing it to the current Moment of Being.

Parts: Prelude (subliminal), Blue, Ephemeral, Longings in Perpetual Motion, Interlude (transient), Serenity Diptychs, Shadows of Memories, Interlude (fleeting).“Je ne sais quoi”, Inhabited Silences, Postlude (evanescent).

Available Now:
Žibuoklė Martinaitytė: In Search of Lost Beauty…
“One of the most significant releases thus far from the enterprising Starkland label”
– Gramophone
“Really does create its own sonic world.”
– John Schaefer, New Sounds
“If this music transports you into a haunting, mysterious dream world,
don’t worry about it – it’s only doing its job.”
–Ingram Marshall
Bandcamp | Amazon | iTunes
Spotify | Video Trailer

Thursday, November 14, 2019 at 7:00 pm

Casa Europa Mexico

San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato- MEXICO

Duo KarMu

Karen Bentley Pollick, violin & viola

Alfredo Muro, guitar

Music by J.S. Bach, Niccolò Paganini, Dominique de Williencourt, Astor Piazzola, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Carlos Gardel, Baden Powell, Latin songs, choros & tangos

Sunday, November 17, 2019 at 1:00 pm

Gene Byron Museum

Guanajuato Capital – MEXICO