Dear Friends of Chamber On The Mountain, 

It seems that the COVID-19 has changed everything – but we want to let you know that it has not changed our commitment to Chamber On The Mountain, and our wonderful artists and audience. What has changed, unfortunately, is that we must postpone the upcoming May 3rd performance by Clarinetist, Narek Arutyunian, accompanied by Pianist, Christopher Goodpasture. We will let you know as soon as possible what the new date will be, though it will not be until early 2021.

If you’ve already purchased tickets, you do not need to do anything at this time, as we’ll contact you when the new date is announced. If you are uncertain that you’ll be able to attend on the rescheduled date, tickets may be donated back to Chamber On The Mountain, or we will give you a refund.

As you likely know, our performance schedule is based upon the school year, so we do not have any other performances scheduled until Hanzhi Wang, Accordianist on Sunday, October 4th, followed by Albert Cano Smit, Pianist, on December 6th. The performance by Narek Arutyunian will follow these two.

Until then, like you, we will be living very different lives, while keeping safe and healthy, and hopefully rediscovering interests and finding happiness and fulfillment where we can until we get through these challenges.

Thank you for being part of it all,

Kevin Wallace
Director Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts
& Happy Valley Cultural Center  

CONCERT POSTPONED

New Date to be Announced

Narek Arutyunian, Clarinetist

with Christopher Goodpasture, Pianist

Photo by Christian Steiner

BIOGRAPHY

Narek Arutyunian, Clarinetist

2017 Leon Russianoff Memorial Award
First Prize, 2010 Young Concert Artists International Auditions
Rhoda Walker Teagle Concert Prize
Brownville Concert Series Prize
Leona Green Award for Winds
The Embassy Series Prize
Meridian Symphony Prize
Usedom Music Festival Prize

THE WASHINGTON POST:
"Arutyunian’s playing reaches passionate depths with seemingly effortless technical prowess, beguiling sensitivity and an energetic stage presence. [His] deepest notes were at once vibrant and enveloping. His highest range had the clarity of a vibrant coloratura."

THE BOSTON MUSICAL INTELLIGENCER:
"A challenge of any clarinet recital is to transcend the familiar sound of the instrument…Narek Arutyunian presented a wealth of colors, voices, articulations. We heard dazzling technique in the service of coherent and considered chamber music."

CLASSICAL (96.3 FM):
"His performance stopped time."

THE AUSTRALIAN:
"Arutyunian impressed with his crystalline articulation and expressive warmth."
 

Clarinetist Narek Arutyunian is an artist who "reaches passionate depths with seemingly effortless technical prowess and beguiling sensitivity" (The Washington Post). As soloist with orchestra, his performances include the Copland Clarinet Concerto with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Alice Tully Hall, Artie Shaw’s Concerto for Clarinet with The Boston Pops, the Mozart Concerto with Oregon’s Newport Symphony and New York’s St. Thomas Orchestra, appearances with Prague Radio Symphony, the Kaliningrad Philharmonic, the Moscow Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra and the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, and a recording of the Weber Concertino for clarinet with the New Russia State Symphony Orchestra.

Photo by Keith Saunders

As First Prize Winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Mr. Arutyunian was presented in debut recitals in New York at Merkin Concert Hall and in Washington, DC at the Kennedy Center to rave reviews. He has also been engaged to perform at Carnegie’s Weill Recital and the Morgan Library and Museum in New York, Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and for the Washington Center for the Performing Arts, Lied Center of Kansas, Buffalo Chamber Music Society, Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota, Weis Center for the Performing Arts, Westport Arts Center, Macomb Center for the Performing Arts, Paramount Theater (VT), Chamber On The Mountain in Ojai, CA, Tri-County Concerts Association (PA), St. John Armenian Church of Michigan, Arizona Friends of Chamber Music, Aaron Copland School of Music/Queens College, and Iowa State, Pepperdine, Southern Adventist and Missouri State Universities. In addition to solo recitals, he consistently receives acclaim for his educational outreach programs in New York City public schools and around the country.

Mr. Arutyunian has performed extensively in Australia, Asia and in Europe, including at the Musée du Louvre in Paris and the Palazzo del Principe in Genoa. Festival appearances include a recent last-minute engagement at the Tanglewood Festival, return engagements at the Marlboro Music Festival and at Juilliard’s ChamberFest, where he performed Osvaldo Golijov’s The Dreams and Prayer, the New York Festival of Song, Krzyzowa Music Festival in Poland, Germany’s Usedomer Musikfestival, Musica Viva’s Huntington Estate and Sydney festivals in Australia, and Young Concert Artists Festivals in Tokyo and Beijing.

Born in Armenia, Narek Arutyunian’s family moved to Moscow when he was three. As a teenager, he won First Prizes in the International Young Musicians Competition in Prague and the Musical Youth of the Planet Competition in Moscow. He graduated from the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory as a student of Evgeny Petrov, received a Bachelor’s degree from The Juilliard School, where he worked with Charles Neidich, and then earned a Master’s Degree with Mr. Neidich at the Manhattan School of Music on a Leon Russianoff Memorial Scholarship.

Narek Arutyunian is represented by Young Concert Artists, Inc.

Biography

Christopher Goodpasture, Pianist

 
Praised by the Dallas Morning News for his “rhetorical grandeur, romantic warmth, and surefire technique”, Christopher Goodpasture has established himself as a musician of refined style. The Toronto Concert Review described his playing as a “rare combination of strength, energy and sublime musical sensitivity...matched by a heavenly sense of melodic line”. As a recitalist, his approach to programming reflects an inclination towards unusual repertoire and narrative that is both unconventional and provocative. He has performed solo recitals in concert venues throughout North America, including the Kennedy Center (Washington D.C.), Benaroya Hall (Seattle), Koerner Hall (Toronto), Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, Weill Recital Hall (New York), Bing Concert Hall (San Francisco), and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Recent and upcoming orchestral appearances include concertos with the Dallas Chamber Symphony, Sioux City Symphony, The Oakville Symphony, Northumberland Orchestra, Riverside Symphonia, Acadiana Symphony Orchestra, and the Chamber Orchestra of New York. Among his forthcoming projects is a CD to be recorded on KNS Classical Records, as well as solo recitals on the Dame Myra Hess Series in Chicago and as a Eurasia Festival Emerging Artist in New York City.

Winner of Astral Artists 2019 National Auditions, Christopher is also a top-prize winner of the Washington, Seattle, Iowa and Dallas International Piano Competitions, as well as the Serge and Olga Koussevitzky Competition for Pianists. He holds graduate degrees from Yale University and The Juilliard School, where his teachers included Hung-Kuan Chen, Peter Frankl, Jerome Lowenthal and Christopher Elton. Born in Los Angeles, California, his formal training began at the Pasadena Conservatory, where he enrolled in theory, chamber music, and for four years, composition with American composer, Andrew Norman. He continued his studies with Stewart Gordon and John Perry at the University of Southern California and the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.

From a young age, Christopher developed a keen interest in collaboration and now is a sought-after chamber musician. He has appeared as a fellow in Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, in the intensive chamber music program of David Finckel and Wu Han in Aspen, at the Music Academy of the West, and in the festivals of Kneisel Hall, Sarasota and Banff. Among his collaborators have been members of the Takacs, Ysaye, St. Lawrence, Amenda, Guarneri, and Tokyo String Quartets. Christopher’s work with pianists Seymour Lipkin, Joseph Kalichstein, Robert Levin, Claude Frank, Leon Fleisher and violinists Pamela Frank and Sylvia Rosenberg has left a meaningful impact on his work. Currently, Christopher is a member of New York based Ensemble Connect (formerly Ensemble ACJW), a fellowship program of Carnegie Hall, the Juilliard School and the Weill Institute, emphasizing audience engagement, teaching and performing chamber music.

More information at ChristopherGoodpasture.com

Hanzhi Wang, Accordianist
Photo by Matt Dine

Sunday, October 4, 2020

Hanzhi Wang, Accordianist

3:00 pm, Logan House
at the Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts
8585 Ojai-Santa Paula Rd. (in Upper Ojai)
Ojai, CA 93023
Detailed map and directions

Additional Information

Albert Cano Smit, Pianist

Sunday, December 6, 2020

Albert Cano Smit, Pianist

3:00 pm, Logan House
at the Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts
8585 Ojai-Santa Paula Rd. (in Upper Ojai)
Ojai, CA 93023
Detailed map and directions

Additional Information

Former SYSO musician Heidi Lehwalder is an internationally renowned harpist who has performed and taught around the globe. In recognition of Lehwalder's remarkable career and her ongoing dedication to coaching young musicians, SYSO is thrilled to present her with their first-ever Distinguished Alum Award at The Power of Music Benefit Luncheon, April 22, 2018.

Heidi Lehwalder's career highlights include:

• First recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize (now the Avery Fisher Career Grant)
• Only harpist to ever tour with the famed Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont
• Served as Professor of Harp at the School of Music at the University of Washington
• Appeared on Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts on CBS at age 14
• Performed as guest artist with more than 65 orchestras including: New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, and, of course, Seattle Symphony where she has appeared 55 times