Cherry Street Music Will Perform CLASSICAL WITH A TWIST - WEST NEWTON POPS

Cherry Street Music will present Classical with a Twist- West Newton Pops, a variety pops program with rising stars and celebrated artists, on Sunday, November 17th at The Allen Center in West Newton (MA).   

Cherry Street’s Artistic Director, international concert cellist Allison Eldredge, has designed a cross-cultural song and Latin dance music program of chamber music and dance that spans the centuries, from Franz Schubert to Stevie Wonder. “Classical with a Twist: West Newton Pops will focus on popular music through a cross-cultural lens,” explains Eldredge. “And we’ll be featuring Marisa and Peter Kovacs of Boston Ballroom®  dancing to the music program accompanied by both emerging and established musicians.”

The classical elements of the program are represented by Franz Schubert’s An die Musik; two movements from Édouard Lalo’s  Cello Concerto in D minor;,  two works of Latin classical music by Astor Piazzolla;  Oblivion and Libertango. and Ennio  Morricone’s Love Theme from Cinema Paradiso. 

The twist includes songs by jazz great Charlie Parker’s “Billie’s Bounce,” R&B master Sam Cooke’s arrangement of Charles Trenet’s “I Wish You Love,” the inimitable Stevie Wonder’s “Summer Soft,” Latin jazz classic, Queen Será’s “Sway” and  Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Shall We Dance (arr. by Stephen Prutsman). 

Like the music they’re playing, the musicians span the range from established, including  pianist Max Levinson, cellist Allison Eldredge and the Cherry String Cello Quartet, to emerging artists Jeremiah Cossa, piano; Jakob Kobal, accordionist; and Natalie Levinson, vocalist. In addition to Eldredge, the Cherry Street Cello Quartet includes cello Professor Miriam Bolkosky, Dr. Julie Reimann, MD and The Allen Center’s Managing Director, Adrienne Hartzell Knudsen

Since winning the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant at 19, solo cellist Allison Eldredge has been performing from Berlin to Moscow to Tokyo to Beijing to Amsterdam to Carnegie Hall as soloist with many of the world's great orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony and the Royal Philharmonic and performed with such distinguished conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Andre Previn, Charles Dutoit, Leonard Slatkin, Krzysztof Penderecki, Yevgeny Svetlanov, Hans Vonk and Jaap van Zweden.  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 is the Allen Center’s Artist in Residence and a resident of Newton.

Recipient of the Andrew Wolf Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and first prize in the 1997 Dublin International Piano Competition, Newton resident Max Levinson has appeared as a soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, St. Paul Chamber and Boston Pops orchestras, as well as the St. Louis, Detroit, San Francisco, Baltimore, Oregon, Indianapolis, Colorado, and Utah symphony orchestras. He has performed in chamber music concerts with Pinchas Zukerman, Richard Stoltzman, Tokyo, Vermeer, Mendelssohn, and Borromeo Quartets and has appeared at major music festivals, including the Santa Fe, Marlboro, Tanglewood, and Mostly Mozart.  Levinson is on the faculty of The Boston Conservatory at Berklee and The New England Conservatory of Music.

Director of Boston Ballroom®, Peter Kovacs, is a recognized dance choreographer and dance educator, who has been featured in dance films, documentaries, and teaching videos for Latin, Ballroom, Rhythm and Smooth.  He was a recipient of a Mass Cultural Council Grant for his dedication to the art of dance in the Boston area community.  Marisa Panos Kovacs, a choreographer and dance educator, was born and raised in Newton, MA. She  received her dance training at the Boston Ballet School, under the direction of E. Virginia Williams, Sydney Leonard, Violette Verdy, Bruce Marks, and Anne-Marie Holmes. She performed for over a decade with Boston Ballet, before moving on to Milwaukee Ballet, The Kennedy Dancers, International Dance Project, Ballet Theatre of Boston, and Boston Dance Company. 

Jeremiah Cossa is a versatile pianist active as a soloist, chamber musician and band member in a dizzying array of projects. Jeremiah has been featured as a soloist with Claremont Symphony Orchestra and Boston Conservatory’s Contemporary Music Ensemble. Jeremiah tours nationally with the acclaimed Chamber Music and Rock crossover group, Cordis, and plays locally with on-the-rise Punk band Nurse Joy and with his jazz trio. 

Jakob Kobal, accordionist is originally from Slovenia and is currently studying music at the Berklee College of Music. He is exploring all the possibilities of playing the accordion in different ensembles and genres, including jazz, folk, classical, “gypsy” and tango.  Among his most notable performances were with Marc Pignataro and his septet at the prestigious Regattabar Jazz Club and with the Boston Civic Symphony and soloist Allison Eldredge at  New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall.

Natalie Levinson, soprano, was raised in Newton, MA, and graduated from Newton North High School and New England Conservatory Preparatory School in Vocal Studies with Jennifer Caraluzzi in 2021. A member of the Newton North High School Family Singers, Jubilee Singers, Theatre Ink, and director of Forte A Cappella, Levinson went on to study Classical Voice, Opera, and Jazz at Pasadena City College. Levinson recently made her opera debut as Madame Herz in Pasadena City College’s production of Mozart’s TheImpresario. In 2023, she appeared as a soloist with the New Philharmonia Orchestra and has been a regular guest artist at the popular Allen Center Pop-Up Lunches in 2023 and 2024. Levinson was the 2023 winner of the Oboe Foundation Music Scholarship in the Classical Voice category and won awards in Music History and Opera in 2024. Natalie Levinson can be found on YouTube and Instagram at @natalielevinsonvocalist. 

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