Sokolovic: Love Songs (excerpts)
Lyndsay Promane, mezzo-soprano
Ligeti: Sonata for Solo Cello
Marza Wilks, cello
Pérotin: Viderunt Omnes*
Sederunt Principes*
Alleluia Nativitas*
Kyle Gilner, violin
Maria Myrick, violin
Inna Karsheva-Tillman, violin
Kevin Hartnett, electronics
Joseph Kraft, electronics
*arranged for violins and electronics by Kevin Hartnett and Joseph Kraft
“At the Still Point of the Turning World” is a seamless, hour-long production featuring the music of Ana Sokolovic, György Ligeti, and arrangements of three works by medieval composer Pérotin for violins and electronics. Mezzo-soprano Lyndsay Promane, cellist Marza Wilks, and violinists Kyle Gilner, Maria Myrick, and Inna Karsheva-Tillman will perform music that challenges our preconceived notions of what is old and what is new.
Praised for "a genuine and deeply satisfying sound" (The WholeNote), Canadian mezzo-soprano Lyndsay Promane is known as a “top-notch performer” (Opera Canada) and an artist with “an arresting presence on the opera stage and a thoughtful concert artist" (Schmopera). She is the 2018 winner of the Symphony on the Bay Young Artist Competition and a recipient of the Art Song Foundation of Canada Scholarship.
In the 2018/2019 season, Lyndsay appeared as a soloist in Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, and Handel’s Messiah among others. Lyndsay performed several world premieres including Queen of Darkness by Ottawa-based composer Matthew-John Knights as well as premieres for voice and chamber orchestra at Orford Musique under the direction of Veronique Lacroix. She also made her debut in the Canadian Opera Company Chorus in Verdi’s Otello and most recently appeared in Puccini’s Turandot.
Highlights for the 2019/2020 season include appearing in recital with Pocket Concerts and Toronto Summer Music. Lyndsay made her mainstage debut with Tapestry Opera in TAP:EX Augmented Opera and with OperaQ in the world premiere of Medusa. She will also appear as a soloist in Beethoven’s Mass in C major and Mendelssohn’s Elijah.
Marza Merophi Wilks, a Peruvian-born cellist, recently graduated with a Masters Degree from The Juilliard School where she studied with Natasha Brofsky. She also holds a Bachelor of Music degree and a Graduate Diploma from the New England Conservatory, where she was a student of Natasha Brofsky and Paul Katz. Ms. Wilks has appeared as soloist with Symphony New Hampshire, World Civic Orchestra, the Genesee Symphony, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, and Orchestra of the Southern Fingerlakes playing in venues such as the Civic Center, Alice Tully Hall, the Duomo in Orvieto Italy, and more. She has toured with the Sphinx Virtuosi, performing in venues as Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center.
A semi-finalist of the Sphinx Competition, Marza has a strong passion for community engagement and sharing her music with underrepresented communities. As a part of this mission, Ms. Wilks founded the Adelphi Quartet, a group of young and talented African-American/LatinX musicians. The quartet will be performing at the Cosmos Club in Washington DC in 2020.
Ms. Wilks has played in many orchestras including the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, and Apollo Orchestra. She is thrilled to be a soloist on the Grammy-Nominated album “Ruggles, Stucky, & Harbison: Orchestral Works” which was performed by the National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic with David Alan Miller as the conductor.
Ms. Wilks plays a cello made in 2007 by Lawrence Wilke.
Kyle Anthony Gilner holds degrees from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, as well as the Cleveland Institute of Music. He has studied with Guido Lamell, Henry Gronnier, and William Preucil. Mr. Gilner has participated in the National Orchestral Institute, Brevard Music Center, National Repertory Orchestra, Vermont Mozart Festival, and most recently, the St. Lawrence String Quartet Seminar. He has been coached by and participated in masterclasses with members of the Danish String Quartet, Takács String Quartet, Schubert Ensemble of London, Laredo-Robinson Trio, Jan Sloman, Arnold Steinhardt, the St. Lawrence String Quartet, and the Emerson String Quartet.
Maria Myrick is a violinist born, raised, and based in Los Angeles. An advocate for equal access to the arts and quality public education, Maria taught for six years at Renaissance Arts Academy, a public charter school. She received her bachelor’s degree in violin performance with a minor in philosophy from Chapman University and her master’s degree from San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Maria is a gigging musician whose work now centers around community organizing.
Inna Karsheva-Tillman, a native Bulgarian violinist, holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Violin Performance and an Artist Certificate in Music from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and a Master’s Degree in Violin Performance from Arizona State University. She has held teaching positions at My Music Box and Angelic Music International in Arcadia, CA; Music and Arts Music Store and ASU’s String Project in Phoenix, AZ; The Joy of Music School and Knoxville Strings in Knoxville, TN, as well as being an assistant with Suzuki Chamber Music Class and teaching privately. Inna has won numerous competitions and played for world class violinists in their masterclasses. She has served anywhere from a sectional player to a principal second violinist and concertmaster in many orchestras in Europe and the U.S. Currently residing in Los Angeles, CA, Inna is a Violin Music Advisor at Renaissance Arts Academy, as well as a freelance session/touring violinist.