Academy Artists Present

GEOFFREY DUCE

Piano Recital and Chamber Music Concert

February 10, 2013, 2:00 pm 

Green Lake Church of Seventh-day Adventists
6350 East Green Lake Way N, Seattle, WA

Geoffrey Duce, Piano

With Pamela Liu, Violin

Jennifer Glenn, Viola

Michael Center, Cello

$15 suggested donation

Program

Debussy - Images II (1907)

I - Cloches a travers les feuilles
II - Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut
III - Poissons d'or

 Morton Feldman - Extensions 3 (1952)

Liszt - Benediction de Dieu dans la solitude, S.173/3 (1852)

~ Intermission ~

Brahms Piano Quartet in c minor, Op. 60

  I. Allegro non troppo
II. Scherzo: Allegro
III. Andante
IV. Finale: Allegro comodo

Scottish pianist Geoffrey Duce has performed throughout Europe, in the USA, Japan and Hong Kong. As a concerto soloist he has appeared with the Sinfonie Orchester Berlin in the Berlin Philharmonie, as well as with the New York Sinfonietta, the Scottish Sinfonia, the Edinburgh Philharmonic, and the Olympia Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Duce has also performed in London’s Wigmore Hall, New York’s Carnegie Hall, Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall and in Edinburgh’s Queen’s Hall. He won the Young Artists Award from Britain's National Federation of Music Societies, and was awarded the Prix de Piano at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France.  Also in demand as a chamber musician and accompanist, he has recorded for BBC Radio 3 and Hong Kong Radio, and has performed in Berlin’s Konzerthaus and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He has given masterclasses at institutions in the USA, including at Hawaii University, Shorter College, Georgia, the Academy of Music Northwest in Seattle and in the Middle East.Geoffrey initially studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and Manchester University, before receiving a DAAD scholarship to the Universität der Künste, Berlin.  He completed his doctorate at the Manhattan School of Music, New York, where he was also a faculty member, and taught at SUNY (State University of New York). He is currently Assistant Professor of Music at Indiana University South Bend.

Pamela Liu, violin, returned to the Northwest 10 years ago after receiving a Bachelors in Violin Performance at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, and performing abroad in the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra. With ESO, Pam toured Asia and Europe for two years before returning to the University of Washington to pursue her Masters in Music. She met her husband, Chris, and they settled down in Kirkland where they are raising their two children and seven chickens. In her spare time, she teaches at MusicWorks Northwest in Bellevue and plays chamber music with the Bella Sala Quartet.

Pam is concertmaster of the Cascade Symphony and so far this season has collaborated in a solo opportunity with the orchestra and an orchestra recording with travel guru, Rick Steves, "A Symphonic Journey," which will air on PBS. Other upcoming performances include the Brahms Piano Quartet No. 1 (op. 25) with Bella Sala on May 31, and some trips out to Yakima with the Yakima Symphony. Pam tremendously enjoys coaching the Debut and Junior violinists of the Seattle Youth Orchestras and the talented chamber students of the Academy of Music Northwest.

Jennifer Glenn has performed throughout the United States, Austria, China and Mexico.  She received her Bachelors in Viola Performance from the University of the Pacific, and Masters in Viola Performance from the University of Arizona .  She did further studies in Vienna, Austria .  Her primary teachers include Joyce Ramee, Dr. Michael Allard, Hong-Mei Xiao, and Gertrude Rossbacher, former violist with the Berlin Philharmonic.  Currently free-lancing throughout Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, Jennifer regularly performs with the Yakima and Federal Way Symphonies, Seattle Choral Company and Puget Sound Concert Opera. She is violist with the Bella Sala Quartet and is involved in film and videogame soundtrack recordings.  In addition to performing, Jennifer also enjoys coaching chamber music at Academy of Music Northwest and assists Academy with community outreach recitals (Academy Young Artists Series).

Michael Center holds degrees in music from the New England Conservatory and the Peabody Institute where his teachers were Colin Carr and Ronald Thomas.  His early studies were with Toby Saks. As an orchestral musician, he has been a member of the Sacramento Symphony, the Phoenix Symphony, and the Washington Chamber Orchestra, of which he was a founding member and principal cellist.

While in Baltimore, he played with the award-winning Trio Fervore, which played many concerts and was featured in radio broadcasts in Boston, Baltimore, and New York.  As a chamber musician, he has also concertized with members of the Julliard, Vermeer, Chicago, and Audubon String Quartets and regularly appears with musicians from the San Francisco, Cleveland, Minnesota, and Chicago Symphonies. Mr. Center has participated in the Prague, Taos, Music in the Mountains, Red Rocks and Utah chamber music festivals. He has performed chamber music, concertos, and recitals on both coasts of the U.S. as well as in Europe.

Michael Center has taught chamber music and cello lessons at the School of the Arts in San Francisco, the Marrowstone Music Festival, and the Peabody Conservatory as the teaching assistant of Ronald Thomas. He is currently the principal cellist of Lake Union Civic Orchestra. In his spare time, he enjoys cooking and building fine furniture.