The Annual

 Glebe Music Festival

In conjunction with The Glebe Society Inc

Concert 2:
Margaretta Cottage concert
Saturday 13^th November 2010 at 8pm

Programme

Donna Cain accompanied by Darren Saady	Ambre Hammond

Donna Cain accompanied by Darren Saady	Sophie Seraphino accompanied by Clemens Leske

Photos courtesy of: Patricia Baillie

Biographies

Donna Cain: In March 2010, Donna performed as Musetta in La Bohème in Mudgee in aid of the Vision Australia charity, and at The Prince of Wales Opera House, Gulgong, with the Very Small Opera Company. Also in March, Donna and soprano Katherine Langford performed a recital at May Gibbs’s Nutcote, the historic house and grounds once inhabited by the famous author, in Neutral Bay. Last year Donna performed the role of Musetta at the Norman Lindsay Gallery, Faulconbridge for an audience of 250, again with Very Small Opera.

On 22nd May 2009, Donna presented a solo recital of Vivaldi and Bach Baroque sacred repertoire at Campbell Street Presbyterian Church, Balmain, accompanied by the pipe organ. Also in 2009, Donna produced and sang in a jazz and opera ensemble concert, Concert of Dreams 2 at North Sydney’s The Independent Theatre.

On 3 Nov 2008, Donna produced her first concert at The Independent Theatre, Concert of Dreams, featuring Donna with sopranos Audrey Gabor and Lisa Hurst. The pianist for both of the Concert of Dreams series was Zsuzsanna Giczy.

Donna was a soloist and performed with the choir Polyphony, for the Manly Music Festival in 2008. Also in 2008, Donna performed in an Australian premiere of the opera The Long Ride Home.

Composed and conducted by Australian Thomas Rimes, this opera was set in Australia and New York. A pianist coach with the Domingo/Cafritz Young Artist Program, Tom resides in Washington D.C. and works at the Washington National Opera, with Placido Domingo as his mentor. Interviews and clips from this production, which was filmed for The 7.30 Report, can be found at: www.tomrimes.com

On April 15, 2008, Donna performed a solo recital of arias and art songs at Armidale, NSW, in a programme ranging from Bizet and Massenet through to Rimsky-Korsakoff and Rachmaninov.

Having been a soloist at St John’s Anglican Church, Glebe, for Christmas and Easter in 2007 and prior, Donna sang for the midnight mass in 2008 at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Parramatta.

Donna performed the role of Queen of the Night in North Sydney Opera's March 2006 production of Mozart's The Magic Flute.

Donna has performed in various music festivals including Glebe Music Festival (2005) and Campbelltown Cultural Festival. In 2005, Donna was adjudicator of the Light Entertainment section at the eisteddfod held by Ravenswood School for Girls.

Sophie Serafino: Sophie has performed more than 400 concerts around the globe, has a Bachelor of Music Performance degree from Sydney Conservatorium (Violin Major) and the Associate & Licentiate Diplomas of Music in Violin Performance from the Australian Music Examinations Board. On occasion, Sophie has worked as a session musician for EMI and Warner Music Artists including Goldfrapp, The Hoodoo Gurus and The Veronicas. 

Sophie’s musical style has evolved after years of technical experimentation with many musical genres, has been described as entirely unique. Sophie mixes world music with rock, dance, some Middle Eastern influence and classically inspired strings. She freely communicates with the audience who never know when it’s safe to look away- one moment she is on the stage, the next she is right next to you.

Born in London, Sophie grew up in Australia and began violin lessons at the age of 3, placing in competitions and receiving A grades for all violin exams during her school years. She studied dance from the age of 10 and singing and acting at 15, and at 16, was already imagining something different to classical dance and classical violin and writing her own music. She is recognized as a formidable talent acknowledged by her ongoing endorsement deal with Yamaha and frequent sponsorship deals.

Ambre Hammond: Born in Cairns, Australia in 1977, Ambre began piano studies at the age of 3 and gave her first public concert at age 5. In 1989, at age 11, Ambre achieved a World Record, which she still holds, when she received the Associate and Licentiate Diplomas of music in the same year.

At 16 she received the First Prize in her first International Music Competition held in Argentina, South America. The following year Ambre was invited to return to Argentina to perform the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.3 as her debut with the Cordoba Symphony Orchestra. This performance was recorded live, released as a CD and has been acclaimed by the Rachmaninoff Society of USA as one of the finest interpretations of this piece.

At 16, Ambre recorded and released a CD of music by Franz Liszt titled 'Devotion' which was funded by Australian artist Arthur Boyd who was astounded with Ambre's natural ability and also invited her to be first Artist-In Residence at his Shoalhaven Property 'Bundanon' on the South Coast of Australia.

Ambre has performed both solo and with Orchestra throughout Switzerland, England, Italy, Spain, Poland, North and South America, New Zealand and China. Ambre performs not only the great classics but showed a flair for jazz and blues by combining talents with James Morrison in a series of concerts displaying a fusion of musical styles.

One of these performances was with the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra in New Zealand at which she delighted audiences playing the magical Rachmaninov 2nd piano concerto as well as teaming up with James Morrison for some blues and other jazz standards.

In 2006 Renowned Hollywood film writer and composer Lalo Schifrin was commissioned to write a unique Double Concerto for Jazz Trumpet, Classical Piano and Symphony Orchestra especially for Ambre and James Morrison. Ambre traveled to Schifrin's home in Los Angeles where she played the piece to Lalo who has dedicated the Concerto to her.

The World Premiere performance was held in Sydney at the Opera House with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Schifrin Conducting in July 2007 to great acclaim from both critics and public alike.

In January 2008 & 2009 Ambre took on the position of Artist-In-Residence at the Launceston University. It is important to Ambre to give back to the community through her ability as much as possible and she has been named Ambassador of the Brain Foundation of Australia and has performed at their Annual Awards at the Great Hall of Sydney University with the NSW Governor for 3 years running. Ambre is also Youth Ambassador of the National Trust and will commence a Tour of their Historic Properties in 2010.

In 2008, Ambre traveled to New York to record the music of outstanding American composer, Patrick Zimmerli at the legendary Studio's of Rudy Van Gelder, working with Producer Don Sickler and Van Gelder himself. This year Ambre has performed in excess of 50 concerts for Charity because of a profound love of music, and sharing her love of performing Classical music to audiences of all ages from all backgrounds.

Ambre is currently touring regional areas of Australia, playing in restored Theatres. In 2011, Ambre will undertake another tour of Australia both playing and giving workshops for children in primary and secondary schools. Ambre is currently producing a Music Video of the music of Piazzola, collaborating with some of Australia’s finest musicians. Ambre’s new CD ‘Reverie’ is a compilation of Romantic compositions written for piano, by various composers.

Darren Saady: Darren Saady has this year completed (minus the thesis) his Master of Music in opera repetiteur under Stephen Mould at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. The thesis will be on the ambiguity present in the operas of Benjamin Britten. Before this he gained a Masters in Piano performance from the Queensland Conservatorium and studied lieder and chamber music in Germany with Irmgard Priester.

Darren has played orchestral keyboard with the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra (Peter Grimes, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and The Makropulos Secret) and been engaged as accompanist for Opera Australia. Darren is working towards being a repetiteur and vocal coach for an opera company in Australia or overseas.

Clemens Leske

One of Australia's most distinguished pianists, Clemens Leske has been concerto soloist with all of Australia's symphony orchestras (Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Tasmanian, West Australian and Queensland) under such conductors as Vladimir Spivakov, Nicholas Braithwaite, Muhai Tang, Vernon Handley, Raimon Gamba and Tommy Tycho.

During his studies at the Juilliard School, New York, Clemens Leske regularly appeared at Lincoln Center in the famed 'Bang on a Can' and 'Focus' festivals of contemporary music and won numerous prizes and awards, including the ABC Young Performer of the Year, the David Paul Landa Memorial Scholarship (Australia), and the Hattori Award (London).

Leske has regularly performed with the Australian String Quartet, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Moscow Virtuosi and at such festivals as the Barossa International, Huntington, Spring and Adelaide. He was recently soloist with the Bangkok Symphony performing the Schumann piano concerto for the King of Thailand's birthday concert, and with the Sydney Symphony performing the Tchaikovsky concerto, to great acclaim.

Leske has released three discs of solo piano and chamber music and has recorded extensively for Australian radio stations ABC-FM, 2MBS and 5UV.

In May 2005 Leske gave his London debut in the Royal Festival Hall, performing Rachmaninov's First Piano Concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. As a result of this success, he has been invited to perform Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Eastbourne Festival in February 2008.

Recent appearances include a performance at Eastbourne Festival UK as soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008, performances in the eight-piano Steinway Spectacular, a performance of Bach's 'Goldberg' Variations at the Adelaide Fringe Festival, the World Premiere of Carl Vine's 'Anne Landa Preludes' (2006) and a solo recital as part of Historic Houses Trust’s ‘House Music’ series at Government House.

Other engagements have included four appearances as soloist with the Sydney Symphony at Angel Place and the Opera House, performing Mozart's K413 Piano Concerto in July next year; and a national tour with the very successful "Steinway Spectacular" stage show.

Future engagements include four appearances as soloist with the Sydney Symphony in July 2009, performing Mozart's Piano Concerto in F Major, K413, and three performances of Strauss' "Burlesque" with the same orchestra, under the baton of Vladimir Ashkenazy, in May 2010.

He is currently Lecturer in Keyboard at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

For more information go to www.clemensleske.com