Guest Artists, January 26
Sarah Bob, piano
Pianist Sarah Bob originally hails from Teaneck, NJ, which, amazingly enough, is also the home of Sesame Street's "Bob" and the place where Sarah's childhood infatuation with sharing the BOB name with Bob McGrath began. After starting piano lessons in the 3rd grade, Sarah not only became known as a brilliant pianist, but also as a girl who runs exactly like the character, "Laura Ingalls" from the beloved family show, Little House on the Prairie. Sarah, now living in Jamaica Plain, is in charge of putting new music concerts together with new visual art in Boston and calls the events the New Gallery Concert Series. She also plays with other musicians in groups called the Firebird Ensemble, Radius Ensemble, Boston Modern Orchestra Project and, with her percussionist husband, Primary Duo. Sarah loves to play concerts, from Carnegie Hall in New York City to De Doelen in Holland, and also teaches piano privately, at the Community Music Center of Boston and the College of the Holy Cross. Eventually, Sarah did meet Bob McGrath (she has the picture to prove it!) and while dark chocolate, dogs and flowers are only three of Sarah's favorite things, you can learn more about her on her website, www.sarahbob.net.
Violinist Shaw Pong Liu comes from the far-away land of California, where kids also watch the wonderful TV show, Sesame Street . In fact, it was on Sesame Street that Shaw Pong first saw a violinist perform, and where she first fell in love with the violin at age three. For this she is eternally grateful to her parents, who only let her watch PBS television as a kid. Now after many years of studying music, Shaw Pong still falls in love with the violin and music-making on a regular basis. Only love can explain what this warm-blooded Californian is doing in the freezing-cold Northeast, but indeed, getting to finish her Master's degree at the New England Conservatory, teach violin classes to kids in Dorchester, and play with talented friends, like Sarah Bob and David Russell, make Boston a delightful place to live. Being a fun-loving and adventurous kid at heart, Shaw Pong gets a kick out of playing improvised music (making music up!), developing her singing/narrating/choreographing skills, and also creating concerts that mix live acoustic music with fantasy, narration, story-telling, the occasional juggler. You can read more at myspace.
Cellist David Russell is a busy performer in the Boston area, serving as Principal Cello of Opera Boston, Assistant Principal Cello of the Springfield Symphony and making regular appearances with such ensembles as Pro Arte Chamber orchestra of Boston, the New England String Ensemble, Cantata Singers and Emmanuel Music. David was appointed to the teaching faculty of Wellesley College in 2005 and is serving as Visiting Assistant Professor in 2007.
A strong advocate and performer of new music, Mr. Russell has performed with such ensembles as Phantom Arts Ensemble for American Music, Dinosaur Annex, Collage New Music, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Music on the Edge, AUROS Group for New Music, Firebird Ensemble, the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players, and the Fromm Foundation Players at Harvard. He is a founding member of Furious Band, an ensemble devoted to the exploration and performance of works by young composers. Furious Band was the 2000 contemporary ensemble in residence at the Aspen Summer Music Festival.
Mr. Russell has premiered numerous works by living composers. Upcoming projects include a new concerto by Laurie San Martin, a new work for solo cello by Andrew Rindfleisch, residencies at the University of California-Davis and the Icicle Creek Center for Chamber Music and, with Firebird, recordings of works by Lee Hyla, Jon Deak and Tamar Diesendruck. He has recorded for the Albany Records, New World Records and Composers Recordings labels.