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“People
come to music events to experience enthusiasm or truth, astonishment or beauty, and anyone hearing the Blue Rose Trio will
find what they’re looking for.” -- Grant Barnes, audience member
“We
just love the events!” -- Carol Lemlein & Eric Natwig, audience members
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Concert III: DANCE April
5, 2008 PROGRAM:
*** Laura Karlin & Marlon Pelayo of Invertigo Dance Theater
in concert with
The Blue Rose Trio
Audrey Solomon – Violin Rose Chen – Piano Lars Hoefs – Cello
All
choreography by Laura Karlin,
newly created for this L.A. Musical Salon concert
***
Joseph Haydn
Piano Trio in G Major,
H.XV No. 25, “Gypsy” I. Andante II. Poco adagio III. Rondo all’Ongarese
Antonin Dvorak
Piano Trio in F Minor, Op. 65 II. Allegretto
grazioso
Mark O’Connor: Appalachia Waltz
Jay Ungar: The Wizard’s Walk
Roberto Menescal/Ronaldo Boscoli
O Barquinho (The Little Boat)
Heitor Villa-Lobos
O Canto do Cisne Negro (Song of the Black Swan)
Neal Desby: Danza de la Rosa Azul
Astor Piazzolla: Oblivion
Neal Desby: Tango à
Trois
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Gifted choreographer
and dancer Laura Karlin and dancer Marlon Pelayo, both of Invertigo Dance Theater,
joined the Blue Rose Trio (“BRT”) for a whirlwind musical trip inspired by dance. For this
third and final concert of the 2008 Inaugural Season, the BRT crafted a program of unexpected depth, scope and conceptual
artistry, that stretched from Eastern Europe through the United States to South America.
The BRT opened with
Haydn’s beloved “Gypsy” Trio, with its lively rondo based on an Hungarian gypsy tune, followed by the wonderful
second movement from Czech composer Antonin Dvorak’s F Minor Piano Trio, pulsing with the rhythm of his native folk
music. Hopping across the Atlantic, we sampled a bit of “traditional” American music with the
lyrical “Appalachia Waltz” arranged for piano trio, and were treated to another side of violinist Audrey Solomon,
two-time Alaska State Fiddling Champion, when she "fiddled" to accompaniment of the piano and cello in
the BRT's own arrangement of “Wizard’s Walk.”
The L.A. Musical Salon
had commissioned four new pieces of choreography from Ms. Karlin for this concert. Working in close collaboration
with the BRT, and within the constraints of a small performance space, she created a foursome of extremely witty, athletic
and strongly visual dances for two dancers, all of which had their world premieres at this concert.
In an interesting programming
twist, the BRT chose to include two pieces which it had played at earlier concerts – “Song of the Black Swan”
and “Tango à Trois” – among those Ms. Karlin choreographed, in order to give the audience two entirely
different sensory experiences of the same music, while at the same time weaving a connecting thread through the three-concert
series.
The dance portion
of the concert opened with Menescal/Boscoli “O Barquinho” (“The Little Boat”) to an arrangement for
piano trio created by the BRT, followed by an evocative work developed by Ms. Karlin for Villa-Lobos’ “O Canto
do Cisne Negro” (“Song of the Black Swan”).
The dancers took
a brief break for the BRT to play their theme song -- the extremely engaging “Danza de la Rosa Azul” (“Dance
of the Blue Rose”), specially written for the BRT by composer Neal Desby.
Ms. Karlin and Mr.
Pelayo returned to dance Piazzolla’s “Oblivion” and, lastly, one of the high points of the evening –
the “Tango à Trois.” Taking her cue from the title (“Tango for Three,” inspired
by a romantic triangle), Ms. Karlin’s clever and comedic choreography told the story of jealous lovers and romantic
triangles, using members of the BRT (who were hard-pressed to keep their mind on the music as they played) as part of the
ever-shifting triangles.
One of the most hilarious moments came when Ms. Karlin and Mr. Pelayo
glided onto the piano bench on either side of pianist Rose Chen as she played, crowding her until she yelled at them in Chinese,
greeted by howls of laughter throughout the room – later, to Rose’s total chagrin, she learned that one of the
audience members was unexpectedly fluent in Mandarin Chinese and understood what she had said!
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