Cherry Street Music Presents CLASSICAL WITH A TWIST: POSTCARDS At Newton's Allen Center

Cherry Street Music's chamber music series Classical with a Twist continues with Postcards, celebrating the vibrant music traditions of India, China, and Japan, with a classical twist on Sunday, April 6th at 3:00 PM at The Allen Center in West Newton (MA). 

Led by Cherry Street Music's Artistic Director and renowned cellist, Allison Eldredge, this extraordinary collaboration blends Chinese and Japanese folk tunes with drama and historical sounds for a rich cross-cultural fusion.

Eldredge and pianist Sayuri Miyamoto will present Japanese Folk Tunes arranged by Enrico Mainardi.

 The afternoon will include works by Asian composers performed by violinist Julia Glenn with pianist Sayuri Miyamoto, including pieces from her new album Ink Traces.  They will also perform Chen Yi's Romance and Dance, and Gao Weijie's  The Road.  Eldredge will join them in Tan Dun's Triple Resurrection piano trio.

Performing classical Indian Carnatic music will be Kavitha Venkatesan (voice), Sharada Krishnan (Indian Violin) and L. Subramaniam, mridangam (Indian percussion) bringing together rhythms and harmonies from the rich musical culture of India.

Lexington teen cellist and composer Ruhan Iyer was been commissioned by Cherry Street Music to write a composition for this April 6th concert, for voice, mridangam, Indian violin and cello. This world premiere is titled Where the World Has Not Been Broken into Fragments, inspired by the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore, the Nobel Prize-winning Indian poet. 

Since winning the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant at 19, Allison Eldredge has been heralded for her “soaring sound” (American Record Guide) and acclaimed that “She belongs to “the crème de la crème” of cello talents!” (Het Noord Hollands Dagblad Amsterdam).  She has shared her love of cultural and classical music with audiences performing from Berlin to Moscow to Tokyo to Carnegie Hall as soloist with the world's great orchestras, with such distinguished conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Andre Previn, Charles Dutoit, Leonard Slatkin, Krzysztof Penderecki.  Chamber Music collaborations have included performances with Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Gil Shaham, Andre Previn, and Shmuel Ashkenasi. In addition to serving as Cherry Street Music Artistic Director, Allison, a Newton resident, is the Allen Center's Artist in Residence.

With a deep love for music new and old, Chinese culture and music, and exploring crossroads between music and language, Boston native Julia Glenn savors finding and contributing to unique artistic voices as an international performer of modern and baroque violins. She recently joined the Naumburg-winning Lydian String Quartet and the faculty of Brandeis University after teaching for three years at the Tianjin Juilliard School, where she served as violin and theory faculty and was a member of the Tianjin Juilliard Ensemble.

Sayuri Miyamoto teaches and performs with students and professional artists including members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, faculty at the New England Conservatory and Longy School of Music. She serves as a coach for the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras. She helped organize Japanese Children's Story/Craft Hour for the World Holiday Series under the auspices of the Newton 2000 World Cultures Committee.

Kavitha Venkatesan is a vocalist based in the Boston area with over 20 years of training in Carnatic music under her gurus Smt. Seetha Narayanan and Smt. Tara Bangalore. She has won prizes in music competitions in India and performed in several venues in the New England area.

Sharada Krishnan is a senior disciple of Sangita Kalanidhi Vidwan Sri Lalgudi GJR Krishnan, the torchbearer of the inimitable Lalgudi style of Carnatic violin. Sharada performs widely across North America and India as a soloist and accompanist, and has received many awards from the Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana, CMANA, and the Sringeri Vidya Bharathi Foundation.

L. Subramaniam (percussion) is a disciple of Sangitha Kala Acharya Vid K S Kalidas, who was a direct disciple of the mridangam and Kanjira maestro Palani Subramania Pillai. Subramanian has received awards from major institutions including the Madras Music Academy, the All India Radio, and Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana, and has performed extensively in the USA and India.

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