Ashland and Mt. Shasta repeat shows to follow
Jackson and Josephine counties – At the Redwood Campus in Grants Pass on July 11 at 7 p.m., the Rogue Community College (RCC) Music Department will sponsor a classical chamber music concert featuring pianist Chiharu Sai, cellist Michal Palzewicz and violinist Abigail Wilensky.
The music program will include piano trios by Beethoven and Mozart as well as various pieces by Bartók, Elgar, Gliere, Shostakovich, Granados and Rubinstein. All three featured artists perform professionally and each brings significant credentials to the trio’s launch.
Sai has been heading the music department at RCC since 2020. She is the director of Chamber Music Ensemble and Rogue Chorus as well as the instructor of various music classes. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance from the Manhattan School of Music. Prior to her arrival at RCC, she held teaching positions at Southern Oregon University, Pacific Crest Chamber Music Festival, College of the Siskiyous, New York’s Manhattan School of Music Summer Program, and Arizona State University. Selected by Japan’s major newspaper as one of the “100 People in Tokyo to Represent the 21st Century,” Sai performs widely as a soloist and chamber musician, both in Asia and the United States.
Palzewicz has performed extensively throughout the United States and Europe, both as a soloist and ensemble player, including at prestigious venues such as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City and Wigmore Hall in England. He attended Warsaw Conservatory of Music in Poland and then the Manhattan School of Music where his quartet received full scholarships as well as artist-in-residence status. His teachers and mentors include the members of the Amadeus String Quartet, David Soyer, Michael Tree, Hugh Maguire, Robert Mann, Pinchas Zuckerman and Isidore Cohen.
Wilensky has performed in high level orchestras, operas, chamber groups and as a soloist in Memphis, Nashville, Cleveland, New York City and the Rogue Valley. She has also been a member of a variety of bands, playing folk, rock and fiddle, and has played in orchestras supporting larger acts, such as the Foo Fighters, Dennis DeYoung of Styx and Ruby Wilson.
There is a suggested $25 donation for general admission. Admission is free for youth 12 and under, and students are $10. For full-time RCC students, admission to the July 11 concert is free with student identification. No advance ticketing is required for the July 11 event.
The same program will be offered by the trio in Ashland on July 12 at 7:30 p.m. and Mt. Shasta, California, at 3 p.m. July 16. Tickets for the Ashland and Mt. Shasta concerts may be reserved in advance online at eventbrite.com; search Piano Trio Concert. The Ashland concert will be at 7:30 p.m. July 12 at the First United Methodist Church at 175 N. Main Street; doors open at 7 p.m. The Mt. Shasta concert will be at 3 p.m. July 16 at the Jefferson Center for the Arts, 1124 Pine Grove Drive, Mt. Shasta; doors open at 2:30 p.m.
The RCC Rogue Auditorium July 11 event, is located at 3345 Redwood Highway, Grants Pass. Concert-goers may use the East Entrance to RCC at Demaray Drive for easier access to the auditorium and adjacent parking. To view a campus map, visit roguecc.edu/maps and select “Redwood Campus.”
“It is my hope that these concerts and the RCC Music Department will provide students and community members opportunities to enrich and celebrate their lives through music,” said Sai.
Promoting the importance of music in education, Sai notes, “All RCC ensembles and most music classes are set up for either credit or non-credit participation. High school students ages 14 and up can start earning college music credit at RCC while adult community members are welcome to join for either credit or personal enrichment.”
For more information, contact Chiharu Sai, RCC Music Department coordinator, at csai@roguecc.edu or 541-955-7054. To learn more, visit RCC Music on Facebook or Instagram, or visit RCC’s website at roguecc.edu/music.
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For general media inquiries or to schedule an interview with RCC staff, please contact Kelly Gonzales, Public Information Officer, Marketing Director, at 541-956-7525, kgonzales@roguecc.edu.