April 3, 2009 at

8 PM at the

Knights of Pythias Lodge

(1606 E Apache Blvd Tempe, AZ 85280). 

This concert will feature the premiere of the first work written for the Mill Ave Chamber Players: Chamber Symphony for Winds and Percussion by Phoenix-based composer Andrew Ardizzoia.  The premiere of will be joined with works for voice sung by Mezzo-Soprano Olga Perez, and a bassoon sonata performed by Joseph Kluesener.

*Tickets purchased online include a $1.00 charge.  Tickets will be sent via email and can be purchased until the day of the concert.

Andrew Ardizzoia

Composer Andrew Ardizzoia is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area, where he began his training as a horn player and branched quickly into the fields of composition and conducting.  He has worked in various capacities with musicians such as John DeHaan, Rex Cooper, Phil Meyers, environmental artist Basia Irland, dancer and choreographer Lisa Rie, filmmakers JP Duboucheron and Melinda Busch, as well as the Swedish Oratorio Chorus of Helsinki.  Mr. Ardizzoia has received numerous awards and commissions, including the Presser Foundation Award and a Herberger School of the Arts Travel Grant to present a paper on Charles Ives’s gendered language at the Freie Universität in Berlin in February 2008.  Most recently, Mr. Ardizzoia’s compositions have been featured on programs at the Haggin Museum, the University of Illinois, Otterbein College, the Ohio State University, Arizona State University and at the Phoenix Art Museum. 

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Olga Perez-Flora will be performing the Lorca Songs, a journey from unrequited infatuation (Madrigales) to “new and improved” love.  The intervening songs are manifestations of confusion, rage, and resignation, the styles of which range from atonal to lushly Romantic, are as diverse as the emotions they are meant to convey.  Olga Perez recently performed the role of Pitti-Sing in Arizona Opera’s critically acclaimed Mikado and was the mezzo-soprano for Arizona Opera’s Marion Rose Pullin Opera Studio Program last year during which she covered Prince Orlovsky and sing Ida in Die Fledermaus.  Perez will also perform The Whitman Lullabys composed by Ardiozzia based on Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.  The composer’s program notes reflect, “these tiny poems appear within ten pages or so of one another, and they seemed to emerge as a set not only because of their relative brevity, but also because of the similarities of their structures and themes.”

Jacob Harrison was recently appointed the next Director of Orchestral Activities and Assistant Professor of Music at Iowa State University.  He will begin his work in Iowa in August of 2009.   Since 2006, Mr. Harrison has served as Music Director of the North Valley Chamber Orchestra in Paradise Valley.   In addition, he has served as Director of the ASU Sinfonietta and as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for the orchestra program at Arizona State University.   While living in Phoenix, he has worked with such groups as the Phoenix Youth Orchestra, the Scottsdale Community Orchestra, the Arizona Repertory Orchestra, and the Poston Junior High Orchestra Program in Mesa, and the Highland High School Orchestra Program in Gilbert.

In 2007, Jacob Harrison was appointed Resident Conductor of the Chapparal Music Festival, a new music festival in Prescott, Arizona.  Being a passionate supporter of the music of our time, he works with many composers and has premiered numerous musical works for orchestras, wind ensembles and chamber groups.  Mr. Harrison is also a regular guest conductor with the Arizona Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME).

Jacob Harrison is currently completing a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Orchestral Conducting at Arizona State University where he studies conducting with Dr. Timothy Russell and Dr. William Reber.

Joseph “Joey” Kluesener, bassoon

Known as “a bassoonist that possesses intrigue and charm”, Kluesener is an international and local performer qualified by the United States Air Force, appearing as substitute bassoonist with The Phoenix Symphony and Principal Bassoonist of the Symphony of the Southwest.  Led to AZ by graduate studies at Arizona State University (ASU), he is the Graduate Teaching Assistant to Dr. Albie Micklich and a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate carrying undergraduate and graduate degrees cum laude from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and ASU.  Founding member of the local not-for-profit organization, the Mill Ave. Chamber Players (www.millavechamberplayers.org), Kluesener teaches private bassoon and aural skills and serves as Adjunct Faculty at Chandler-Gilbert Community College.  Performance has involved him with personalities such as James Levine, Philip Glass, John Corigliano and Michael W. Smith.  Kluesener has also appeared as conductor working various ensembles and styles at ASU and locally.  For fun, Kluesener likes cooking and learning about food, outdoor relaxation, travel, movies, and spending time with loved ones.