Absolute Music

2008 Absolute Music Series Concert Performers

Joe Edelberg,

Santa Rosa Symphony's concertmaster, has performed for many years with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and the San Francisco Opera, and has appeared as guest leader or soloist with many Bay Area groups, including the BerkeleySymphony, The San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, Magnificat Baroque Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, the California Symphony, and, farther afield, with the Summer Festival Orchestras of Mendocino and San Luis Obispo. A graduate of Amherst College in his native Massachusetts, he counts Phillip Naegele, Felix Galimir, and John Baron among his teachers.

Cellist Thalia Moore

is a native of Washington, D.C. She began her cello studies with Robert Hofmekler, and received Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the (uilliard School as a student of Lynn Harrell. Ms. Moore has been Associate Principal Cellist of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, and a member of the cello section of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. She has appeared as soloist at Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Recital Hall, Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, Herbst Theater, and the San Francisco Legion of Honor. She also performed
as guest artist at the Olympic Music Festival, the Grand Teton Music Festival, and the Music in the Vineyards Chamber Music Festival. She has performed with the Dunsmuir Piano Quartet and is a member of the Empyrean Ensemble, with whom she also recorded. Her recent leave from the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra allowed her to appear as Acting Principal Cellist of the Houston Grand Opera.

Anthony Martin

recognized as "the violist" by The New York Times, made his debut in Harvard University's Sanders Theater with a performance of the Schubert Cello Quintet. He has appeared as viola soloist with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, American Bach Soloists, and many other groups. As founder and utility violist with the Artaria Quartet, he has played much of the early repertoire for string quartet on period instruments—from Gabrieli to Schoenberg. Born and raised in
Santa Rosa, Mr. Martin lives with his wife, a music therapist from the Netherlands, and their three children on the Hayward Fault near Richmond.

REBECCA PLACK

soprano, with her “velvety” voice (La Nuova Ferrara), has a hybrid career that defies stereotypes. A song specialist, she has given recitals at the International Great Romantics Festival in Hamilton, Canada and the ATERForum Festival in Ferrara, Italy. In 2006, she made her London and Budapest recital debuts as winner of the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition. Locally, she has given solo recitals for Music at Saint Matthew’s in San Francisco and the Crowden School’s Afternoons at Four series in Berkeley, California; in October 2006 she also performed Liszt songs at San Francisco’s Old First Church.

Ms. Plack is a true singer-scholar. She holds degrees in voice from the San Francisco Conservatory and Manhattan School of Music, graduated magna cum laude in music from Princeton University and is finishing her Ph.D. in musicology from Cornell.

Ms. Plack was born in Texarkana, Texas and grew up in San Francisco and Davis, California. She now lives in Davis where she maintains a private voice studio.

STEPHEN GUGGENHEIM

tenor, has been heralded as "a talent to be watched." "His voice is a magnificent instrument, capable of great variety." (The Herald). Mr. Guggenheim's career has taken him to the stages of the world's greatest opera houses and concert halls.

Highlights include singing the roles of Tito in La Clemenza di Tito with Fredericka von Stade at the San Francisco Opera, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor also with San Francisco Opera, and Don Jose in Carmen with L'Opera de Lyon and on tour to Guam and Japan with the San Francisco Opera.

A native of Saratoga, California, Mr. Guggenheim graduated from San Jose State University and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He continued his studies in Italy at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy with Carlo Bergonzi. Mr. Guggenheim is also an accomplished Cantor having served Temple Beth Jacob in Redwood City, California and Temple Emanu-EI in San Jose, California.

Blaise Bryski

earned a D.M.A. in Eighteenth-Century Performance Practice at Cornell University, where he studied fortepiano with Malcolm Bilson and also served on the piano faculty. Before that, he spent many years as staff accompanist for the UCLA Department of Music. He is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and received his Master of Fine Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts. As a fortepianist, his credits include the Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra Chamber Music series, the New York Concert Singers, and the Aldeburgh Connection/CBC Radio.

Sonia Tubridy

co-founder of the Coffee Concert chamber music series, grew up in NYC and Israel, receiving classical training as a pianist and conductor at the Tel Aviv Music Academy. Living on Kibbutz Hazorea as a high school student, she played accordion every Friday night for folk dancing. Since moving to Guerneville in 1975 she has been active as a piano teacher, accompanist, chamber musician, director of the River Choir and local children's choirs, and music director for many theaters. Theater projects have included Chutzpah for West County Theater Arts Guild and Songs of Edith Piaf for Cinnabar Theater. Sonia is a member of Jubilee Klezmer Ensemble and is the cultural coordinator of Russian River Jewish Community.  

Catskill Klezmorim

founded in 1995, is a six-member group of professional musicians who blend traditional and contemporary styles of Eastern European Jewish folk music. The band has performed scores of concerts along the eastern seaboard at colleges and universities, synagogues, and Jewish Community Centers . They have appeared at Club Tonic, one of New York City’s popular klezmer venues, and are featured regularly at the annual Syracuse KlezFest. This will be their first appearance in California. Their concerts typically engage the audience in much joyous singing and dancing. The ensemble’s two recordings have received praise from music critic Seth Rogovoy, author of the “The Essential Klezmer”, and George Robinson of The Jewish Week.

A special feature of this event at the Friedman Center is the performance of two works by composer Brian Wilson, chair of the music department at Sonoma State.University. “The Golem of Prague” is a klezmer tone poem based on the legend in Yiddish folklore of a giant made from clay. “GMT Plus Two” is a jazz- inspired composition utilizing the rhythmic and modal inflections of traditional Eastern European folk music. Both works were commissioned and written expressly for the The Catskill Klezmorim.

Miriam Peretz

holds a B.A. in performing arts with a dance emphasis from St. Mary’s College in California. For her thesis she completed a three-part DVD documentary, costume study, and research paper on dances of the Roma “Gypsy” Trail (Rajastan, Egypt, Turkey, Balkans, and Spain.)