The Water is Wide - Music of Greg Bullen

With Special Guests

Lura Johnson, Piano
Aaron Engebreth, Baritone
The Adesso Chamber Orchestra, David Hodgkins, Conducting

Students $12
Seniors and BMA Members $15
General Admission $20
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Sonata for Violin and Piano (1989)
Netanel Draiblate, violin - Lura Johnson, piano

Three Folk Ballads (2019) – Premiere

Aaron Engebreth, baritone - Netanel Draiblate and Ivan Stefanovic, violins - Jacob Shack, viola - Lachezar Kostov, cello - Lura Johnson, piano

Concerto for Piano & Orchestra (2020) – Premiere

Lura Johnson, soloist
with the Adesso Chamber Orchestra, David Hodgkins, conducting

The Guest Artists:

Steinway Artist Lura Johnson is celebrated by critics and audiences for her insightful, emotionally impactful performances. Lura is Resident Pianist of the Baltimore Symphony and Principal Pianist of the Delaware Symphony, positions which synthesize her finely honed ensemble skills, soloistic virtuosity, and versatility. She has played principal keyboard for seven albums recorded by the Baltimore Symphony, including Leonard Bernstein’s Mass, which received a Grammy nomination in 2010.

Twice GRAMMY-Award nominated for Best Operatic Recording, baritone Aaron Engebreth enjoys a varied solo career in opera, oratorio, & recital. He devotes considerable energy to the performance of both established music and contemporary premieres, and is frequently featured as a guest soloist on stages from Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and Boston's Symphony Hall. His recent New York City Opera debut in Dominick Argento’s A Waterbird Talk performed at Carnegie Hall, compelled the New York Classical Review to state, "Engebreth is a marvelous actor, capable of holding his character’s many facets and motivations in tension." As a recording artist, Mr. Engebreth is featured on nearly 30 commercially released recordings from the Baroque to modern premieres.

David Hodgkins is the Artistic Director of award–winning Coro Allegro in Boston, Artistic Director of The New England Classical Singers, Director of Music at The Commonwealth School, and advanced conducting instructor at the Kodály Music Institute. Mr. Hodgkins has conducted over 35 critically acclaimed world and Boston premiere performances of significant works by composers ranging from Marianne Martinez to Arvo Pärt. With Coro Allegro, which Boston Globe critic Michael Manning deemed “one of Boston’s most accomplished choruses,” Mr. Hodgkins received the 2019 Chorus America ASCAP Award for Adventurous programming and the 2012 Chorus America Alice Parker/ASCAP Award. Mr. Hodgkins has been featured on Boston Public Radio, and in numerous magazine articles and musical blogs. He has served as producer for many recordings, including three award-winning CDs by La Donna Musicale, Laury Gutiérrez, Artistic Director. A graduate of the University of Massachusetts/Amherst and Temple University, Mr. Hodgkins was awarded fellowships at the Aspen and Sandpoint music festivals. His conducting mentors include Wayne Abercrombie, Alan Harler, James Roth, Gunther Schuller, and Paul Vermel.

Greg Bullen is a composer who works across many genres. Integrating musical idioms, ideas, and vocabularies, both intentionally and intuitively, has always been at the center of his work. Orchestral compositions recorded and released on the MMC label include Elegy Eroica (Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Robert Stankovsky conducting), The Parable of the Blind (London Symphony Orchestra, Roger Briggs), and Scherzo (Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Gerard Schwartz). Trio for violin, cello and piano was recorded by the Solati Trio and released on the CD The Solati Trio (MMC). The Jazz Clarinet Quartet was recorded by Darryl Harper and released on the CD The Need’s Got to Be So Deep (Hypnotic Records.) Vesper Adest, a secular cantata for mixed chorus, flute, and piano four-hands, won the Virginia Choral Society's 60th Anniversary Choral Competition. Other musicians and ensembles who have performed his orchestral, choral, instrumental, and jazz compositions include the Amherst College Choir, Aviva Chamber Players, Berlin Saxophone Quartet, Coro Allegro, flautist Michael Feingold, pianist Gregory Hayes, clarinetist Darryl Harper and The Onus, Holyoke Civic Symphony, flautist Susan Kurian, guitarist Robert Phelps, Pioneer Valley Cappella, Pioneer Valley Symphony, soprano Dianne Smith, Gregg Smith Singers, Solati Trio, jazz pianist Helen Sung, Virginia Choral Society, and the University of Massachusetts Chamber Choir.

Educated at the University of Massachusetts and Smith College, Mr. Bullen studied music composition with Charles Fussell, Robert Stern, Donald Wheelock, and Ronald Perera. Post-graduate compositional work included private study with jazz pianist and composer William Thomas McKinley. Mr. Bullen also enjoyed a career in high school education at schools in both Massachusetts and Maryland, where he taught music courses, conducted choral and instrumental ensembles, and served as department administrative chair.

For musical scores and recordings, as well as additional information, please visit gregbullenmusic.com.