IonSound
Project
Ensemble-in-Residence, University of Pittsburgh
WELCOME to IonSound Project
Contemporary concert music that engages, invents, and energizes
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November 1, 2009 7:00 pm Concert: Reduce Bellefield Hall University of Pittsburgh
December 20, 2009 7:00pm Concert: Renew Bellefield Hall University of Pittsburgh
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At the door
$10 General Admission
$6.50 Student
$15 General Admission
$10 Student
WHAT we do
IonSound Project is a sextet comprised of flutist Peggy Yoo, clarinetist Kathleen Costello, violinist Laura Motchalov, cellist Elisa Kohanski, pianist Rob Frankenberry and percussionist Eliseo Rael.
The members represent some of the most in demand young musicians in the Pittsburgh area. Collectively, they perform with such ensembles as the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Alabama Symphony, the Pittsburgh Opera, the Wheeling Symphony, the Erie Philharmonic, the Youngstown Symphony, the Canton Symphony, and have also appeared with the Columbus Symphony, and the Charleston Symphony.
IonSound Project seeks to add to Pittsburgh's cultural life by programming innovative concerts, commissioning works of new music, collaborating with artists in a variety of disciplines, and exploring the boundaries between concert and popular music.
ABOUT
June 28, 2009 12:00 pm
Bach, Beethoven, and Brunch
Mellon Park
IonSound: Thanks to everyone who came to our concert this past sunday. http://bit.ly/2I58gh
IonSound: Come hear our concert, "Reduce" tomorrow night at 7p. http://IonSound.org http://bit.ly/DciVI
IonSound: Come to "Reduce: Orchestral reductions for IonSound" Sunday, November 1 from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Reduce November... http://bit.ly/3CbUxP
IonSound: Eliseo is rocking out the cadenza in the Thompson percussion concerto. http://bit.ly/xY2Ht
IonSound: Just got our parts for Kindertotenlieder and Mother Goose. They look like good arrangements. Can't wait for the... http://bit.ly/rmfCK
IonSound: Get a discount on tickets when you buy them in advance. http://tinyurl.com/yg4scml
June 28, 2009 7:00 pm
Concert
Your Inner Vagabond
Collaborator: Folk Singer Mark Dignam
* October 2, 2009 8 p.m.
Phoenix Concert
Church of St. Matthew and St. Timothy NY, NY
November 1, 2009 7:00 pm
Concert: Reduce
Bellefield Hall University of Pittsburgh
Events
Advanced Tickets
December 20, 2009 7:00pm
Concert: Renew
$ 6.50 Student
At the Door
** April 6, 2010 7:00 pm
Concert: Pitt Student Composers
$ 15 General Admission
$ 10 Student
* $10 Suggested Donation
April 11, 2010 7:00 pm
Concert: Recyle
Bellefield Hall, University of Pittsburgh
** Free
Music ensemble's residency is a first at Pitt
Monday, August 18, 2008
By Andrew Druckenbrod, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
For the first time in the history of the University of Pittsburgh, its music department will have an ensemble-in-residence. IonSound Project, a new-music sextet based in Pittsburgh, will take the post this fall.
"The IonSound residency will be great for our undergraduate and graduate composers because our students will be able to work with this ensemble on an ongoing basis," said Mathew Rosenblum, chair of the music department. "The group is open to new music of all styles, and will help the students develop their craft through rehearsing and performing their compositions." IonSound will perform one public concert of student compositions a year and two concerts of its own repertoire.
While the robust tradition of ensembles taking residencies at universities worldwide is argument enough for Pitt's maneuver, it is crucial for a school such as Pitt to have one, says Rosenblum.
"Because we are a liberal arts department, not a conservatory, we lack the performance resources of those institutions," he said. "Instead, we bring professional ensembles to perform on our Music on the Edge new music series and then invite them to stay to work with our graduate composers.
"Working with professional musicians, and a distinguished composition faculty, is the best way to learn the art of composition. Now Pitt will have both."
IonSound's members are active in other groups. Violinist Laura Motchalov is a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony, and percussionist Eliseo Rael and flutist Peggy Yoo occasionally perform with it. Pianist Rob Frankenberry is a sought-after local performer (also as a tenor), Kathleen Costello is principal clarinetist of the Alabama Symphony and Elisa Kohanski is principal cellist of the Wheeling Symphony.
The group publicly begins it tenure with a concert Sept.20 at Pitt's Bellefield Hall Auditorium.
Post-Gazette classical music critic Andrew Druckenbrod can be reached at adruckenbrod_post-gazette.com or 412-263-1750. He blogs at community.post-gazette.com/blogs/classical.
First published on August 18, 2008 at 12:00 am
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Kathleen Costello holds the position of Principal Clarinet with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. She continues to spend time in Pittsburgh, where she performs with the ensemble IonSound Project, which she helped to found in 2004. She has recently graduated with a Master of Music degree from Duquesne University where she studied with Pittsburgh Symphony clarinetist Ron Samuels, and holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University where she studied with Russell Dagon. She has also studied with the former Second and Eb clarinetist of the Buffalo Philharmonic, Dan Johnston.
In addition to maintaining an active free-lance career, Kathleen has held positions with the Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater Orchestra, the Youngstown Symphony, and the McKeesport Symphony. She has also performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Charleston Symphony, the Canton Symphony, the Wheeling Symphony, and the Renaissance City Winds. During her time in Pittsburgh she has held adjunct teaching positions with Seton Hill University and the University of Pittsburgh. Kathleen spends two weeks each summer performing with the Lancaster Festival Orchestra in Lancaster, Ohio.
Peggy Yoo began her flute studies during an afterschool music program and soon thereafter enrolled in the Pre-College Division of the Juilliard School in New York. Her musical training, however, came to a complete halt when she attended Swarthmore College where she earned a degree in Comparative Religion. But she returned to the flute a few years after graduating and later began studies at the Manhattan School of Music and then later, Carnegie Mellon University. She spent three years playing with the Chicago Civic Orchestra and currently lives in Pittsburgh teaching and playing with various ensembles around the area, such as the Pittsburgh Symphony Orhcestra, the Wheeling SYmphony and Pittsburgh Live Chamber Orhcestra.
Canadian violinist Laura Motchalov joined the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra during the 2003-2004 season. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree and Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music and a Master of Music degree from the Cleveland Insitute of Music.
Laura comes from a very musical family. Her father is a violinist, and her brother is a pianist. She began studying the violin at the age of four and by the age of six, was accepted into the Mount Royal College Conservatory of Music program in Calgary. As a teen, she won many awards at the local, provincial and national levels. She won the Provincial Grand Prize award in Alberta in 1997 as well as prizes at the Austrian-Canadian Mozart Competition and the Canadian Music Competitions. In 2001, she won Second Prize at the Corpus Christie International Concerto Competition in Texas.
Throughout the years, she has participated in many summer music festivals such as the Indiana String Academy, Music Academy of the West, Aspen Music Festival, Keshet Eilon, Spoleto USA, National Repertory Orchestra and the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival. She has studied with William Preucil, Linda Cerone, Zvi Zeitlin, Oleh Krysa, Edmond Agopian, Steven Bryant and Dr. Lise Elson. She has also studied chamber music with members of the Ying Quartet, Cleveland Quartet, and the Cavani Quartet.
Laura is very active as both a chamber musician and soloist. Locally, she often collaborates with other members of the PSO and is also a member of the new music ensemble, IonSound Project. In the past, she was a member of the Atlantica trio in Rochester and toured New York State and New Jersey. She has appeared as a soloist with the Calgary Civic Symphony Orchestra, the
National Repertory Orchestra, and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
When not playing the violin, Laura enjoys hiking in the mountains, biking, running, reading and trying new restaurants.
Elisa Kohanski is principal cellist of the Wheeling Symphony and the Pittsburgh Ballet Orchestra and is a member of several other orchestras, including the Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra, and the Erie Philharmonic. She serves as adjunct faculty at Grove City College along with maintaining a private studio, teaching students ages five to sixty. In the summers, Elisa enjoys teaching cello choir and sectionals at the Carnegie Mellon Summer Strings Program. A native of Warwick, Rhode Island, Elisa travels home each June to perform in the chamber music festival, Music on the Hill. She is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where she studied with Pamel a Frame. Elisa received her Masters of Music from Carnegie Mellon University as a student of Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras Anne Martindale Williams and David Premo.
Elisa resides in Pittsburghs Squirrel Hill neighborhood but travels extensively, having performed in an array of local and international venues, including the Schlossfestspiele in Heidelberg, Germany; the AIMS Opera Festival in Graz, Austria; Royal Albert Hall in London, England; Carnegie Hall in New York City; and in Pittsburgh at the Carnegie Music Hall, Pittsburgh Playhouse, the City Theater and Hazlett Theater. Ms. Kohanski has performed with artists including Olivia Newton John, Phil Keaggy, Garrison Keillor, Robert Shaw, and John Tesh and has toured China and the US with the Mantovani Orchestra.
Robert Frankenberry leads a multi-faceted career as a tenor, pianist, and conductor. On stage, he has performed roles ranging from Mozart in Amadeus and John Adams in 1776 to the title roles in The Tales of Hoffmann and Don Carlo, and include principal tenor roles in Tosca, Carmen, La Traviata, Lucia di Lammermoor, and Rigoletto. He has originated roles in works by Roger Zahab, Jeremy Beck, Seymour Barab, and Daron Hagen, and in 2008 traveled to Edinburgh with PNME as Narcissus in Just Out of Reach, by Kevin Noe and Kieren MacMillan. Also active as a vocal recitalist, he performs contemporary song repertoire regularly in New York for the Phoenix Concerts, PRISM Projects, and the Tobenski-Algera Recital Series. He recently sang the premiere of several works by David Del Tredici for Symphony Space's Adventurers series, as well as George Lewis' Dancing in the Palace of Darkness on the Guggenheim's Works and Process series. Robert can be heard as Louis Sullivan in Hagen's Shining Brow with the Buffalo Philharmonic on the Naxos label, and on the Albany label singing Eric Moe's & a Warm Hello from the Alien Ant Farm, with the composer at the piano.
Frankenberry's credits in musical direction range from Sweeney Todd to The Tales of Hoffmann, including the staged premiere of Daron Hagens Vera of Las Vegas for CCO. He has been assistant conductor for productions of Don Carlo, Poliuto, La Forza del Destino and Aida for Chicagos DaCorneto Opera, and assisted Maestro Julius Rudel on Opera Theater of Pittsburghs 2008 production of Kurt Weills Lost in the Stars. At the piano, he performs both standard and contemporary chamber music, and is a member of IonSound, the Music On the Edge Chamber Orchestra, Trio AnimeBOP, and the Phoenix Players. He is on the faculty of the Seasons Festival Conductors Seminar in Yakima, WA, and is also Artist-in-Residence at the Seasons Music Festival. Robert holds a Bachelors Degree in Piano from Mercyhurst College, where he studied piano with Sam Rotman and conducting with Walter Hendl; and a Masters Degree in Voice from Carnegie Mellon, where he was a student of John Shirley-Quirk.
Eliseo Rael currently performs as principal percussionist of the chamber ensemble IonSound Project. He earned his Master of Music from New England Conservatory of Music and his Bachelor of Music from the University of North Texas, having studied with Will Hudgins, Kalman Cherry, Leigh Howard Stevens, She-e Wu, and Dr. Robert Schietroma. He most recently earned his Artist Diploma from Duquesne University where he studied with Andrew Reamer and Chris Allen.
Eliseo performs frequently with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Wheeling Symphony. He has previously served as Principal Percussionist of The Pittsburgh Live Chamber Orchestra, Principal Timpanist with the Texas Wind Symphony, and the Arlington Opera. He has been a section percussionist with the Boston Philharmonic, Las Colinas Symphony, Irving Symphony, and the El Paso Wind Symphony.
Eliseo was also a member of the UBSVerbierFestival Orchestra in Switzerland. He was chosen for this orchestra in an international audition that included thirty-two countries, and over a thousand applicants. As a member he performed in the Verbier Music Festival, the Swiss Expo, and the World Economic Summit. In addition he played in some of the world's finest halls while on a 30 day European tour under the Baton of Music Director James Levine and gust conductor Mstislav Rostrapovich. He has performed with Chick Corea, and played under the direction of Kurt Massur, Rafael Frubeck de Burgos, Pavo Jarvi, Leonard Slatkin, Manfred Honeck, Erich Kunzel, Gunther Schuller, Marvin Hamlisch, Bobby McFerrin, and Eugene Corporone among others.
Eliseo taught privately in the Dallas area for two years before moving to Pittsburgh. His students have been members of the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony, Three Rivers Youth Symphony, South Hills Jr. Orchestra, Dallas all-region band, Texas All-Area band, Texas All-State band, Ohio All-State Band, Ohio All-State Orchestra, Pittsburgh Honor Band, Pittsburgh Honor Orchestra, and have been winners of the Pittsburgh Concert Society Young Artist Competition. His students have also been accepted to New England Conservatory, Cleveland Institute of Music, Oberlin College, Michigan University, the University of North Texas, and Duquesne University. He currently teaches privately in the in the Pittsburgh area.
Sunday June 28, 2009
10:30a - 12:00p
BECK Slow Motion
ZAHAB entelechronicity
MARTINU Trio-mvmts 1 & 3
MILHAUD Suite for clarinet, cello, and piano
SATIE Three pieces in the Shape of a Pear
MONPOU Paysages
REICH Music for Pieces of Wood
AMAYA Trio
TORKE Telephone Book (1 & 3)
Coffee House Concert
7:00 pm
$10 general admission
BECK In Flight Until Mysterious Night
BECK Third Delphic Hymn
KOLM Haven
RILEY In C
SKIDMORE Whispers
HAGEN Angel Band mvt I
The Phoenix Concert
chamber works
Friday, October 2, 2009
Church of Saint Matthew and Saint Timothy, 26 West 84th Street, New York City, at 8 PM
Peggy Yoo, flute • Laura Motchalov, violin • Elisa Kohanski, cello
Rob Frankenberry, piano • Eliseo Rael, percussion
Jed Distler New Work (2009)
Michael Torke After the Forest Fire (2005)
Satie / Frankenberry Three Pieces in the Shape of a Pear (1903/2009)
Orianna Webb Sequence Dreams (2000)
Libby Larsen Firebrand (2003)
Reduce
11/1/09
Bellefeild Hall, University of Pittsburgh
Mahler: Kindertotenlieder
Thompson: Percussion Concerto
Ravel: Mother Goose Suite
As the group heads into the second year of its residency with the University of Pittsburgh, IonSound will kick off the season at Bellefield Auditorium on Sunday, November 1st, 2009 at 7 pm with Reduce, a program featuring an original work by Pittsburgh film director and video artist Chris Ivey. The program celebrates musical reductions of larger works including Maurice Ravel's Mother Goose Suite, Pittsburgher Philip Thompson's Percussion Concerto, and Gustav Mahler's Kindertotenlieder. For this concert IonSound is thrilled to welcome back Daphne Alderson, whose rich contralto voice shines in this moving work by Mahler.
Tickets are $8.50 general admission, $5 for students and seniors when purchased in advance through ProArts (www.proartstickets.org), and can be purchased at the door for $15/10. For more information and concert updates please visit www.ionsound.org.
2009-2010 season: Reduce, Renew, Recycle
Sunday November 1st 2009 at 7:00 pm
Bellefield Hall Auditorium
IonSound Project
Chris Ivey, film director and video artist
Daphne Alderson, contralto
MAURICE RAVEL Mother Goose Suite
PHILIP THOMPSON Percussion Concerto (remixed)
GUSTAV MAHLER Kindertotenlieder
Advance tickets $8.50/5
Tickets at the door $15/10
Program Notes
Renew
December 20, 2009, 7:00 pm
Bellefield Auditorium
Ionsound plays works that examine the different facets and stages of renewal including Michael Torke's After the Forest Fire, Libby Larsen's Firebrand, and a new work by Pittsburgh area composer Jonathan Kolm. An exihibit featuring artists that work with recycled or renewable materials including local artists Amy Rappa and Lauren Braun will be on display.
Recycle
April 11, 2009, 7:00 pm
IonSound's final concert of the series at Bellefield presents a diverse look at musical 'recycling', with works by Francis Poulenc, Joan Tower, Daron Hagen, and featuring guest pianist Amy Williams in Lukas Foss' mesmerising Solo Observed. This concert will be paired with a unique installation project aimed at promoting recycling in the city of Pittsburgh.
Bellefield Hall
Address:
315 S Bellefield Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
