International music will be heard Wednesday at Gobin

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

American violist Donna Lively and Norwegian guitarist Espen Jensen, known as "Duo Diez," will perform music of Latin America (Cuba, Argentina, Chile, and Brazil) and Norway Wednesday at 7:30 PM in the sanctuary of Gobin Memorial United Methodist Church.

The concert, the sixth in the 2008 Greencastle Summer Classical Music Festival, is free, with donations accepted. York Chrysler Jeep Dodge of Greencastle is the main underwriting sponsor of the festival.

With 10 strings in play, Jensen and Lively offer a rich and varied repertoire they have developed. Given two instruments with a similar tonal range, the bass and lead lines can be exchanged, leading to arrangements that offer intricate interplay and uncommon tonal beauty. Both musicians are known for their interpretation of 20th-century music and their compelling performances of Latin American music.

Fans of this duo find the enthusiasm and expertise of the artists to be what turns a great repertoire into a memorable listening experience.

Cuban composer Dan Román's "El Gran Mambo," will open the program.

The composer has written, "El Gran Mambo talks about many aspects of Caribbean music at once. The idea of the mambo includes multiple genres and styles related to what we know as Afro Antillean music."

The program also features "Suite BueonsAires" by Maximo Pujol. Lively explains the piece is "a music tour of four barrios in Buenos Aires starting with Pompeya, the rough working class suburb where tango developed.

It continues with San Telmo, the very old market where tourists go to tango shows and flea markets. We then visit Palermo -- much like Broad Ripple but more hip -- and finish with the high energy and cacophony of traffic jams in the city center."

Other pieces in Wednesday's "musical tour" include "Zero Hour/Café 1930," a tango by Astor Piazzolla, "Sahara" by Chilean composer Alberto Cumplido, a sonata by the Brazilian composer Radames Gnatalli, and Preludes for solo guitar by Kjell Marcussen of guitarist Jensen's native Norway.

Donna Lively Clark earned a full scholarship to study at Indiana University School of Music under the renowned William Primrose and has also studied with William Lincer, Georges Janzer, and Alan de Veritch. She holds a bachelor of music education degree from Indiana University and a master of music in viola performance degree from Butler University.

An active and well-known performer, teacher and clinician, she has served as guest professor of viola at Indiana University and Ball State University. Other significant teaching engagements include the Viola Camp at Pepperdine University; the National String Workshop at University of Wisconsin-Madison; Butler University, École Saint Trinité in Port au Prince, Haiti and as the director of the Carmel Conservatory of Music Summer Chamber Music Camp.

The festival continues July 2 with a concert featuring clarinetist Gareth Guest, pianist Eugenio Urruttia, and violinist Allison Guest Edberg.

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