Jodi Levitz, viola
Bettina Mussumeli, violin
Susan Freier, violin
Stephen Harrison, cello
With guest pianist John Orlando
Sunday, October 26 at 4pm
PROGRAM:
This performance is dedicated to the memory of Paul Audie, ardent lover and supporter of classical music in our community.
Three Rags for String Quartet (1989) William Bolcomm (b.1938)
Poltergeist
Graceful Ghost
Incineratorag
String Quartet No.9 (1958) Quincy Porter (1897-1966)
Moderato-Allegro-Lento
Piano Quintet, Op. 38 by Arthur Foote (1853 – 1937)
With guest pianist John Orlando
Allegro Guisto: Appassionato
Intermezzo
Scherzo
Allegro Guisto
Now in its 30th year, the Distinguished Artists Concert & Lecture Series regularly brings distinguished artists from around the world to perform for the greater Santa Cruz community.
PASSIONATE PERFORMANCES
The Quartet has established a reputation for passion, precision, and provocative programming, winning accolades for playing that shows both super-refinement and visceral, rock-and-roll intensity.The Ives Quartet presents an annual home concert series in Silicon Valley and the Greater San Francisco Bay Area in addition to performing nationally and internationally at noted chamber music series and festivals.
ENGAGING ARTISTRY
The Ives Quartet has captivated audiences from San Francisco to New York; London to Taiwan. In a departure from convention, the Quartet combines players with American and European experience and sensibilities, drawing on the talent and experience of the international, solo, orchestral, chamber, and recording careers of its artist members – Bettina Mussumeli, violin; Susan Freier, violin; Jodi Levitz, viola; and Stephen Harrison, cello.
The quartet members share a strong commitment to the special challenges of the string-quartet literature and its performance. This value is expressed in the Quartet’s open-minded and critical engagement with the personal and private worlds of composers, exploration of the unique languages of string-quartet composers, and the introduction and immersion of audiences in these languages with carefully curated concert presentations.
John Orlando graduated summa cum laude with a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in performance from the 
University of Southern California. His teachers there were John Crown and Alice Ehlers. He has also worked with Dorothy Taubman, Edna Golandsky, Sergei Babayan, John Perry, Gyorgy Sandor, Pawel Skrzypek, Halida Dinova and Helene Wickett.
In 1968 Dr. Orlando was chosen first prize winner in the “Young Artist’s Competition” sponsored by the Fresno Philharmonic Association. In 1986 he gave the world premiere of the Concerto for Piano and Winds, written for him by New York composer, Anthony Newman. During the Spring and Summer of 1997 Dr. John Orlando premiered piano works written for him by Anthony Newman and George Barati on an international tour with performances in the United States, Australia, Italy, and Brazil.
He has performed with the San Jose, Santa Cruz County and Fresno Symphonies, the Cabrillo Festival, and the Institute for the Development of Intercultural Relations for the Arts in Santa Cruz. He is a founding member of the Johannes Trio and in 2005, he toured California with the Akademos Quartet in a performance of the Shostakovich Piano Quintet. In 2010 Dr. Orlando performed concertos by Mozart with the San Francisco Sinfonietta in the newly completed Samper Recital Hall at Cabrillo College and at Herbst Hall in San Francisco. Other engagements followed with the Cadenza Chamber Orchestra, directed by Maya Barsacq.
Dr. Orlando has held teaching positions at the Universities of Southern California and Santa Clara. He is instructor emeritus at Cabrillo College where he was head of the piano department for over a generation. Dr. Orlando is the director of the Distinguished Artists Concert & Lecture Series which he founded in 1984. He was one of the first recipients of the Gail Rich Award for community service in the Arts in Santa Cruz County, and was chosen Best College Teacher and Best Performer in Santa Cruz County by the Good Times Weekly local newspaper.
Tickets and more information are available at the Distinguished Artists website http://distinguishedartists.org or by calling 831.539.0000.