Clazzical Notes presents an online presentation of “Tunes and Tones by Strings,” an all-acoustic strings program, on Thursday, September 23, streamed on Clazzical Notes’ Facebook page.
For “Tunes and Tones,” Jerri Price Gaines, Clazzical Notes Executive Director and the driving force behind the program, has assembled five accomplished string composers and musicians: California Native pianist William Foster McDaniel, Chinese pipa musician Yihan Chen, pizzicato cellist Stephen Katz, violinist Marisa McCleod, cellist Giovanna Moraga Clayton, and Latin and Classical guitarist Greg Poree.
“My passion for string instruments started as a young violinist in middle school. Over the years, my love for strings is enhanced listening to Carlos Jobim, Santana, BB King, and now Questlove. People will love this intimate, and fun look at string instruments from five accomplished string composers and musicians.”
“When talking just doesn’t seem to work, the best way to communicate is music!” says Price Gaines. “We celebrate this date in history as we’ve learned that not all enslaved people were told they were freed that day. We note this occasion through words and music. We observe. We Rejoice. We learn.”
William Foster McDaniel is a graduate of the Conservatory of Music at Capital University, in Columbus, Ohio. He earned his Master of Music degree at Boston University. As a pianist, he appears frequently in solo recitals and chamber concerts featuring his own compositions as well as works from the standard concert repertoire. He is in demand as a conductor in musical theater and has served as musical director for many popular on- and off Broadway shows. McDaniel’s compositions have been performed by The New York Housing Authority Orchestra, the Yonkers Civic Philharmonic Orchestra, the New Symphony of New York, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Philharmonia of Greensboro, Bergen Philharmonic, Antara Ensemble, Savannah Symphony Orchestra, Mozart Society Orchestra at Harvard University and the BBC Concert Orchestra.
Yihan Chen, an internationally renowned pipa virtuoso and educator, has performed at leading venues in Asia, North America and Europe, including the Lincoln Center Festival, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Library of Congress, Spoleto Festival USA, the World Stage Series at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, Festival de Création Musicale by Radio France, La Cité de la Musique, Le Festival Avignon, Le Festival Musique en Scène, Encontros Acarte Portugal, and Winnipeg Symphony’s New Music Festival. Chen was the resident pipa soloist with the Huaxia Chamber Ensemble in Beijing and Music From China in New York City. and was a prize winner of international accolades such as the 1995 Freedom International Chinese Instrument Competition and the 1989 Art Cup.
Stephen Katz is a trailblazing cellist and award-winning composer who has charted new territory for the cello with the groundbreaking approach he calls Flying Pizzicato He has performed his compositions at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and toured internationally as a soloist, and with the Paul Winter Consort, Rachael Sage, Susan Werner, and the Essex String Quartet. He has been featured on American Public Media national broadcasts of Performance Today and is a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant through the State University of New York/Buffalo Arts in Healthcare Initiative. As a film composer, Katz’s score won the Jury Prize Gold Medal for Best Impact of Music in a Documentary at the Park City Film Music Festival. His other film scores include “Two Square Miles,” a film about Hudson, NY, which has been broadcast nationally on PBS/Independent Lens.
Marisa McLeod, a native of Newark, New Jersey, received her Bachelor of Music degree at Montclair State University, and her Master of Music degree from the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music. For 10 years, she was a member of the Anderson String Quartet, artists in residence and members of the music faculty at CSU Los Angeles. McLeod studied the art of string quartet playing with the Cleveland Quartet, Juilliard String Quartet, American String Quartet, and William Fitzpatrick of Le Quatuor de Deux Monde, in Fontainebleau, France. As a freelance violinist, she has also performed and recorded for artists like Snoop Dog, Smokey Robinson, En Vogue, Moesha, Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind and Fire, and many others. She presently performs with California Philharmonic, Santa Barbara Symphony, and various orchestras in Southern California. She maintains a private violin and viola studio in her home and on Zoom.
Giovanna Moraga Clayton, the daughter of professional musicians, was born in Toluca, Mexico and raised in Southern California. She has earned several accolades as a young cellist. Making her orchestral solo debut at the age of 14, Clayton has continued to solo with orchestras in the U.S. as well as Central America, while holding tenured positions with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Working in the Los Angeles studio scene for the last 14 years, Clayton has played on countless movie soundtracks, records and television shows. In search of a more creatively challenging project, she became a founding member of the Latin Grammy-nominated group Quattro, now known as Quattrosound. Touring with the group has provided a new platform for her to expand her musical reach.
Greg Porée was born in Chicago and has lived in Southern California since he was seven. His father was from New Orleans, a Creole, and knew a lot of the earlier musicians including Sidney Bechet. His mother was more a fan of Ellington and Basie. He fell in love with the guitar and started playing seriously when he was 15. At 23, Porée got the first break in his career when saxophonist Harold Battiste, one of his mentors, helped him land the position of musical director for Sonny & Cher. In 1970, he became the musical director for Gladys Knight and the Pips. and soon was working with many of the Motown acts, serving as musical director and guitarist for Diana Ross, Thelma Houston and Syreeta Wright. He has toured with Paul Anka, Sammy Davis Jr., Aretha Franklin and Isaac Hayes. Porée has been the guitarist on the BBC hit show ‘Dancing With The Stars‘ since it’s first season, and is still as enthusiastic about playing guitar as he was early in his life.
For more information, visit www.clazzicalnotes.org, contact Jerri Price Gaines at (626) 833-2750 or email clazznotes@gmail.com.
