Final concert of Greencastle Summer Music Festival to feature Duo Diez

Monday, August 13, 2012
Espen Jensen and Donna Lively Clark -- aka Duo Diez -- will perform Wednesday night at Gobin Memorial United Methodist Church in the final concert of the Greencastle Summer Music Festival series. The free concert starts at 7:30 p.m.

With 10 strings to play, guitarist Espen Jensen and violist Donna Lively Clark -- known as Duo Diez -- will share a rich and varied repertoire for their Wednesday, Aug. 15 performance at Gobin Memorial United Methodist Church in Greencastle.

The final concert of the 2012 Greencastle Summer Music Festival will showcase music from Haiti, Cuba and Puerto Rico. The free concert begins at 7:30 p.m.

"This summer has been a wonderful experience, with our biggest audiences ever and far more donations than we've received in previous years," DePauw University music professor Eric Edberg, the festival's founder and artistic director, said.

"The theme of bringing the community together with 'friends making music for friends, old and new,' has obviously resonated with all of us," Edberg added. "The purposely varied repertoire of the last two summers, which has included folk, jazz, rock and improvised music art times, has helped bring in new audiences.

"Most importantly, it's the sense of a community gathering to connect with each other, experiencing music as performers and listeners, that has energized all of us."

For the 12th and final program of the series, Edberg says he's delighted to present Duo Diez.

"Espen and Donna have a shared passion for Caribbean and Latin American music, and are creating a new repertoire through their research, transcription, and arranging," he said. "It's exactly what classical musicians need to be doing -- innovative, engaging programming at the highest artistic level."

The program opens with music of Haitian composers Ludovic Lamothe and Justin Elie followed by an Afro Cuban Suite, including music of Ernesto Lecuona. More Haitian music continues with the premiere of Jensen's arrangements of five traditional songs presented as a suite.

The concert concludes with "El Gran Mambo" by Puerto Rican composer Dan Román.

Both performers have close connections to Haiti, which have led to their interest in the music of the Caribbean. Clark has taught viola in Haiti, while Jensen has done extensive research on Haitian music. Using this unique combination of viola and guitar (which have a similar tonal range), the base and lead lines can be exchanged, leading to arrangements that offer intricate interplay and uncommon tonal beauty.

Donna Lively Clark earned a full scholarship to study at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music under the renowned William Primrose. She holds a Bachelor of Music Education from Indiana University and a Master of Music in Viola Performance from Butler University.

Clark makes her home in Indianapolis where she performs in the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, with various ensembles including Duo Diez and the Lockerbie String Quartet and as a soloist. Every July she can be found in the Pacific Northwest playing in the Bellingham Festival OrA native of Norway, guitarist Espen Jensen is a recording artist currently living in the U.S. He is the winner of several awards, among them first prize in the 2001 Competition in Performance of Music of Latin America and Spain as well as first prize in Indianapolis Matinee Musicale.

In 2002, Jensen released his debut solo CD, "Nocturnal Variations." Soon after, he released his second album, "Elogio de la Danza y la Canci--n," featuring music of the Caribbean, Latin America and Spain. Other albums are in the making, one featuring premiere recordings of contemporary Norwegian music of the guitar and a second with Duo Diez's Haitian music.

He currently teaches classical guitar at Indiana University where he also serves as the artistic director of the Latin American Popular Music Ensemble and associate director of admissions for the Jacobs School of Music.

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