Noon Music in May
Free Concerts - Wednesday at Noon
Stowe Community Church, Main Street, Stowe

May 7
Eugene Barban ~ Piano
“A skilled technician with a keen lyrical sense”
(The New York Times)
Mr. Barban is well-known to Adamant School audiences. This is Mr. Barban’s first appearance in the Noon Music in May concert series.

“Piano playing of a very high artistic level – a marked sense of romantic sound, brilliant technique and the capacity to fulfill high artistic demands.”
SALZBURG, AUSTRIA

EUGENE BARBAN is a pianist who has gained world-wide recognition for his musicianship and technical brilliance in repertory ranging from the Baroque to the Avant-Garde. Among his many solo performances are recitals at Alice Tully Hall, the Merkin Hall and Weill Recital Halls in New York, the National Gallery of Art and Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., and appearances on international concert series in Aix-en-Provence, Salzburg, Bombay and Rotterdam. He has been guest soloist with orchestras in the United States, Asia and South America. His recent recording on the Americus label, “An American Piano Odyssey”, containing works of Lees, Gottschalk, Bolcom, Dello Joio and Barber, has won critical acclaim. Currently professor of piano at Winthrop University, Eugene Barban has been on the faculties of the Interlochen Music Camp and the Adamant School in Vermont.

As a chamber musician, Eugene performed for three years with the Aeolian Trio and has appeared as a guest artist with many other chamber groups. He has served as collaborative artist with vocalists and instrumentalists throughout American and Europe and has served on many international piano competition juries both here and abroad.

A native of Ohio, Eugene Barban received his undergraduate degree from Capital University, his Master’s degree from Ohio University and the Doctor of Musical Arts from the College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati. His teachers have included Olga Conus, George Katz, and Loy Kohler. He has coached with Richard Goode, Walter Hautzig, Josef Raieff and Adele Marcus.

If you work during the day, or just want to hear Mr. Barban again, come to a special repeat performance at 8 p.m. in Stowe Community Church. The concert is free thanks to the generosity of The Whip Restaurant at the Green Mountain Inn.

May 14
Global Winds Project ~ Woodwind Quintet

This Vermont-based quintet will perform a varied program of classical, jazz, and Latin music.

DOMINIQUE GAGNE
Dominique Gagné, originally from NH, is a professional flutist, pianist, teacher and composer. She has a Master's in Jazz Composition and Arranging from UMass Amherst and a Bachelor’s in Music Education from Oberlin. She spent five weeks in Brazil this past winter, studying flute with Carlos Malta. He has invited her to return to Brazil to co-write a book on the Flute Traditions of Brazil. She has been in the Burlington-based latin band Guagua for three years (Seven Day's 2006 jazz album of the year) and co-leads the Brazilian-Cuban band Naquele Tempo. (CD soon to be released) Recent performances include the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival, the National Flute Association Jazz Flute Big Band, as well as club appearances in LA, San Diego, New York and Boston. Teachers include John Rautenberg, Ali Ryerson, Jimmy Mosher, Mark Levine, Jamie Baum and Julius Baker.

DAVID GOODMAN
Clarinetist David Goodman has performed extensively with orchestras, chamber music ensembles and as a soloist. He the founder of the Vermont Chamber Players, has been co-principal clarinet with the Montpelier Chamber Orchestra, and appears frequently as a chamber musician in concerts around Vermont. He was a longtime student of David Weber (Juilliard clarinet professor, and principal clarinet with New York City Ballet and New York Philharmonic), and has studied with Pasquale Cardillo of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Lawrence Sobol. He has also performed in the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival in Blue Hill, Maine. Goodman also plays alto saxophone (jazz and classical), Eb clarinet, and is a founding member of the Kesher Tov Trio, a Klezmer music ensemble. He holds a B.A. from Harvard, and is the author of six books, including the national bestsellers, Static: Government Liars, Media Cheerleaders and the People Who Fight Back (Hyperion, 2006), and The Exception to the Rulers (2004). An avid skier, he is also the author of the guidebooks, Backcountry Skiing Adventures. He lives with his wife and two children in Waterbury Center, Vermont.

THEA CALITRI-MARTIN
Educated at Skidmore College and Western Connecticut State College , Thea Calitri-Martin is the principal horn with the Vermont Philharmonic. She has played with many groups, including the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, Lyric Theater, the Dartmouth Symphony and the Heritage Brass. Thea studies jazz horn with John Clark and the philosophy of music with David Kaslow. She is the general and instrumental music teacher at the Hanover Street School in Lebanon, N.H.

SANDRA CATHEY
Sandra Cathey graduated from Goddard College in 1969 with a BA in Music and Education. She has been principal oboe in the Vermont Philharmonic since her graduation, and joined the Montpelier Chamber Orchestra as principal oboe last year. In addition, she has been a member of several woodwind quintets and small ensembles, performing around Vermont, New Hampshire and the Boston area. She has advanced her studies in conducting, performing and teaching at the University of Vermont, the Hart School, and Berkley School of Music. Her teachers include Lawrence Thorstenberg, (Boston Symphony), Neil Boyer, (Portland Maine Symphony), and most recently, Humbert Lucarelli (world renowned oboe soloist and faculty member at the Hart School and Purchase). Sandra teaches private oboe, recorder and clarinet as well as Kindermusik in her studio in Montpelier.

TAMARA PLUMMER
Tamara Plummer started playing bassoon when she was as tall as the bassoon itself and honed her skills at LaGuardia High School of Music and Arts & the Performing Arts, or "the Fame School" in New York City. She continued instruction through the Music Appreciation Program at the Julliard School, studying under the direction of Gail Hightower. Tamara went on to Bard College where she majored in bassoon, completing a senior project in Negro Spirituals. Chamber music has become Tamara's passion as she continues to participate in the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music Festival each summer. Currently, Tamara works at the University of Vermont and continues to play throughout the area.

May 21
John Weaver ~ Organ

Since retiring to Vermont Mr. Weaver has played the beautiful W. B. Simmons Tracker Pipe Organ at Stowe Community Church – and attracted a great number of fans! This is his first appearance in the Noon Music in May concert series.

John Weaver, one of the America’s finest concert organists, was Director of Music at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City from 1970-2005. He was Head of the Organ Department at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia from 1972 to 2003, and also Chair of the Organ Department at The Juilliard School from 1987 to 2004. He currently lives in Vermont and continues to concretize and lead workshops and master classes around the world.

Weaver traces his love for the "King of Instruments" back to his childhood. Born in the Eastern Pennsylvania town of Mauch Chunk (now called Jim Thorpe), his first introduction to music was through the organ at the First Presbyterian Church where his father was the pastor.

His formal musical studies began at the age of six in Baltimore's Peabody Conservatory when it was discovered that he had perfect pitch. Shortly thereafter he acquired an old harmonium which stimulated his desire to learn to play the organ. At the age of fourteen he began organ study with Richard Ross and George Markey, and the same year he also became organist of a Baltimore church and played his first organ recital. In 1989 John Weaver was honored by The Peabody Conservatory when he was presented with Peabody's Distinguished Alumni Award. He has received honorary Doctor of Music degrees from Westminster College, New Wilmington PA, and The Curtis Institute of Music. In 2005 he was named “International Performer of the Year” by the New York City chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

John Weaver's undergraduate study was at The Curtis Institute from which he graduated in 1959 as a student of Alexander McCurdy. That year he was appointed Director of Music at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in New York City, a post he held for eleven years. During this time he spent two years in the Army as organist/choir-director of the Post Chapel at the United States Military Academy at West Point, and earned a Master of Sacred Music degree from Union Theological Seminary, studying with Robert Baker. In 1968 he founded a highly successful Bach Cantata Series at Holy Trinity, conducting his choir and orchestra in two seasons of these works. At these services he also played most of the major organ works of Bach and numerous chorale-preludes. At the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church he annually conducted a large concert choir, The St. Andrew Chorale, in several major works with orchestra. In addition to his teaching at The Curtis Institute and The Juilliard School, he has served Westminster Choir College, Union Theological seminary and the Manhattan School of Music. He has written numerous articles for organ and church music magazines and has served as President of the Presbyterian Association of Musicians.

Dr. Weaver has been active as a concert organist since coming under management in 1959. He has played throughout the USA, Canada, Western Europe, the United Kingdom, and Brazil. Each year finds him in many different parts of the country playing recital programs drawn from his large repertoire of memorized works from every important era and national school of organ literature. His wife, Marianne, an excellent flutist whose teachers include Kincaid and Rampal, frequently adds an extra and very special stop to the organ by appearing on these programs.

John Weaver has performed on national television and radio network programs in the US and Germany. He has made recordings for Aeolian-Skinner, The Wicks Organ Company, the Klais Orgelbau of Germany, a CD on Gothic Records for the Schantz Organ Company, and a recording on the Pro Organo label on the new Reuter organ at University Presbyterian Church in Seattle. His most recent recording release “The Organ and Choral music of John Weaver” is available on the JAV label and features a program of his own organ and choral compositions. His published compositions for organ, chorus/organ and flute/organ are widely performed.

Weaver has made several concerto appearances with the Portland, Maine Symphony, the Musica Sacra Orchestra and the Harrisburg Symphony. He has played solo recitals at numerous regional and national conventions of the American Guild of Organists as well as the 1987 International Congress of Organists in Cambridge, England. He has been guest artist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at Alice Tully Hall and Washington's Kennedy Center, and has played solo recitals at Boston Symphony Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Philadelphia's Academy of Music, Chicago's Orchestra Hall, Cleveland’s Severance Hall as well as colleges, cathedrals and churches through the US.

The Weavers love to climb the New England mountains, especially their tradition of an annual ascent of Mt. Washington. Marianne is an avid gardener and John's hobby is a deep fascination with trains, both model and prototype.

May 28
Winterstein/Zaretsky Duo ~ Violin/Piano Duo

Vermont Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster Katherine Winterstein and pianist Inessa Zaretsky will perform Beethoven violin sonatas, including the famous “Kreutzer Sonata.”

KATHERINE WINTERSTEIN
Violinist Katherine Winterstein holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music and a Master of Music degree from Boston University. She was a member of the Seneca String Quartet and has collaborated in chamber music settings with Andres Diaz, Ida Kavafian, Ann-Marie McDermott, Steven Tenenbom, and Peter Zazofsky. She has performed in Washington DC’s Embassy Series, Boston’s Ashmont Hill Chamber Music Series, the Staunton Music Festival, and the McIntire Chamber Music Series at the University of Virginia and appeared as soloist with the Blue Ridge Chamber Orchestra, the Boston Virtuosi and other orchestras. Ms. Winterstein is concertmaster of the Vermont Symphony, was assistant concertmaster of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, and has been a member of the Boston Lyric Opera and the Breckenridge Music Institute Orchestra. From 1999-2002, she was a member of the performance faculty at the University of Virginia’s McIntire Department of Music. Currently, she is a member of the music faculty at Middlebury College in Vermont.

INESSA ZARETSKY
Russian born Inessa Zaretsky is known worldwide for her “masterful and passionate” piano performances (Moscow Times) and for her “free-ranging and thoroughly wrought” compositions (New York Times).
Ms. Zaretsky emerged on the composition scene seven years ago winning four ASAP Composition Awards and a “Commission USA” Grant from Meet the Composer Foundation. Her “masterful, expressive and well constructed” cello concerto was premiered by Eugene Moye – principal cellist of the NY City Ballet. The Baltimore Sun found her to be “a prodigiously gifted composer” for her piece For 3 violins and piano, which was released on the CD Three Violinists in Concert. In the Garnett Newspapers it was said that her trio for violin, cello and piano is “immediately engaging and accessible; driving rhythms, broad seamless lyricism, moments of intimate instrumental dialogue and a powerful conclusion”. The Village Voice said “the best performance of the evening” of her piece for Violin, Soprano, & Piano. Many prominent musicians and ensembles, such as The Blossom Festival Orchestra in Cleveland, St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble and Lincoln Center Chamber Society 2 in New York, “Vocal Essence” Ensemble in Minneapolis, Cassat, Pheadrus, Claring and Miro String Quartets, members of the New York Philharmonic, Orpheus, Boston and Minnesota Orchestras and others have performed her compositions.
As a pianist, Ms. Zaretsky has performed extensively throughout the United States and in Italy, Turkey, Greece, Israel, Austria, Mexico, Canada and a special Millennium Concert in Havana, Cuba. In New York, she has appeared at such venues as Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall, Symphony Space, Steinway Hall, and at Lincoln Center. Her success on WQXR’s “Young Artists Showcase” has led to repeat appearances and her live performances have been broadcast on WNYC and on WNPR across the United States. Ms. Zaretsky has collaborated with Cavani, Cassat and Miro String Quartets. Known as a master interpreter of Scriabin, Inessa Zaretsky has recorded many of this composer’s works.
Ms. Zaretsky began her piano training at age six at the Gnesin Music School and went on to the Moscow Conservatory College. At the age of nine, Inessa Zaretsky was First Prize Winner in the Moscow Young Artists Piano Competition. At fourteen, she won the Gnesin School Concerto Competition. After immigrating to the United States, she went to Mannes College, where she was the winner of the Mannes Concerto Competition, Joseph Fidelman Competition and, upon graduating, received the Performance Excellence Award. Ms. Zaretsky is a winner of the Frina Auerbuch International Competition and has been the recipient of scholarships from Mannes College, Yale, and the EXXON Corporation.
Ms. Zaretsky studied with Richard Goode, completing her Master’s degree in his class at the Mannes College. She studied chamber music with Felix Galimir, Julius Levine and Claude Frank, and composition with Robert Cuckson.
Ms. Zaretsky is on the Piano faculty of Mannes College in New York, Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival in North Carolina and Summertrios Music Festival in Pennsylvania.