November 7, 2006 > Living Music

by Mona Shah

Renowned 20th century Argentinean composer, Alberto Ginastera once said, "Art is first perceived by our senses; it then affects our sentiments and in the end awakens our intelligence. Without sensibility, the work of art is only a cold mathematical study and without intelligence, it is only chaos."

Music at the Mission helps raise the awareness that society can not adequately thrive without art music. It is for that reason that they present a wide array of exceptional classical concerts that would challenge, provoke, inspire and amuse.

Their newest presentation is "Living Music", a concert of exciting new American works written specifically for this group of musicians and their instruments. 2005 Grammy Award nominee, composer and vibraphone player, David Colson has brought together these musicians for an unprecedented performance in the Bay area.

Alto Flutist, Yael Ronen, is a former member of the Jerusalem Symphony and appears regularly with the Israeli Philharmonic. Ben Kamins, Basoonist is a former principal of Houston Symphony and former assistant principal of Minnesota Orchestra. David Colson, Vibraphone, was nominated for the 2005 Grammy Award for his recording of George Crumb's "Ancient Voices of Children". Bill Everett, Double Bassist is principal of Symphony Silicon Valley, founding member of Adorno Ensemble and former acting member of the San Francisco Symphony.

Composers David Colson, George Burt and Richard Lavenda will be among the composers touring California with this group. George Burt wrote numerous film scores including those for a number of Robert Altman films. He also wrote "The Art of Film Music", a standard text on that subject and was a student of Milhaud, Sessions, Babbitt and Ligeti. Richard Lavenda has had numerous commissions including Houston Symphony, Slovak Radio Orchestra, Sun String Quartet and Earplay.

For more information, visit musicatmsj.org. Online ticketing is available at www.ticketweb.com.

Living Music
Friday, November 10
8 p.m. (7:30 p.m. doors)
Old Mission San Jose
43300 Mission Blvd., Fremont
(510) 656-2364
Tickets: $25 general; $20 students/seniors