Belmont Abbey College

 

The Mission of The Bechtler Ensemble is to present musical performances that are educational in nature, primarily designed to weave a connection between the historical and creative contents of the music to the art exhibited at The Bechtler Museum.

Tanja Bechtler, cello, holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the North Carolina School of the Arts and a Master of Music Degree from the Manhattan School of Music. Bechtler served as an orchestral player for the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra for 12 years. She is the founder of the Bechtler Ensemble, which she co-directs with pianist Paul Nitsch, and serves on the faculty of Gardner-Webb University.

Paul Nitsch is the Carolyn G. McMahon Professor of Music and Artist-in-Residence on the faculty of Queens University of Charlotte, North Carolina. He also serves as Artistic Director for the Friends of Music at Queens University of Charlotte and as Executive Director for the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival.   Nitsch served as Assistant Director, Pianist-in-Residence, and Pianist of the Garth Newel Piano Trio at the Garth Newel Music Center in Hot Springs, Virginia. He also served for nine years as Artistic Director for the Fontana Concert Society in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he earned an ASCAP award for “adventuresome programming.”

Nitsch earned the Bachelors and Masters degrees in piano performance at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, Maryland. His teachers were Walter Hautzig and Leon Fleisher. He was awarded two Fulbright Scholarship Grants for study at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna, Austria. He earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Collaborative Piano at the Cleveland Institute of Music

Monica Boboc has been a first violinist with the Charlotte Symphony since 2004. She is on the music faculty at Gardner Webb University and a member of the Faculty String Quartet. She earned a B.M., at Bucharest Music Conservatory (Romania), a Performance Certificate (chamber music) at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a  M.M. at Northern Illinois University and a Performance Certificate (chamber music) at Northern Illinois University  She is a winner of numerous International Prizes in Chamber Music.
www.bechtlerensemble.com

 

Carolina Pro Musica was established in 1977 to promote music before 1800 with historic instrument copies and in the performance style of the periods.  Since that time they have maintained a concert series in Charlotte presenting music from medieval times through the twentieth century. The ensemble has received grants from state and local arts councils in the Carolinas and the National Endowment for the Arts.
They have offered the American premieres of cantatas by J.A. Hasse, the rediscovered “Gloria” by Handel and a commissioned work by American composer Margaret V. Sandresky. Tours abroad have been to Poland and London where they performed at Handel’s House. They have been artists-in-residence at Belmont Abbey College since 2002.    www.carolinapromusica.org

Dean Hoffman teaches in the Interdisciplinary Studies division at UNCC.  His interest in Robin Hood dates to his college days. His articles on the Robin Hood legend have appeared in Neuphilologische Mitteilungen (Helsinki), TDR: the Drama Review, and Studia Neophilologica (Uppsala). He has addressed learned societies both in North America and in the United Kingdom on the subject and performed readings.  He completed his Ph.D. at University of California, Riverside and was a Leverhulme Trust postdoctoral fellow in Scotland at the University of Dundee.  Dr. Hoffman also plays Renaissance woodwinds and is a member of Early Music America. 
www.carolinapromusica.org

 

Cynthia Lawing (Nee Fok Ming Chu), a native of Hong Kong, is an associate professor at Davidson College in North Carolina. Her musical career has taken her throughout the United States, Europe, South America and Asia, where she frequently presents solo recitals, lectures and Master Classes.

 

 

Throughout her career, Lawing has performed with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Orquestra de Macau, the Charlotte Symphony, the Wittenberg University Symphony, Davidson College Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, the Springfield Symphony, the Piedmont Concert Band, Western Piedmont Symphony and the Salisbury Symphony, featuring concertos of Beethoven, Mozart, Ravel, Shostakovitch, Bach, Grieg, Saint-Saens, Poulenc, Chopin, and Gershwin.

Lawing has also performed notable private recitals, including an Inauguration concert for Vasco Leotte de Almeida Costa, Royal Governor of Macau [Special Administrative Region], and a private recital for Madame Chiang Kai-shek, the widow of the legendary Chinese nationalist general Chiang Kai-shek.

In addition to her work as a solo recitalist and chamber musician, she is a member of a duo-piano team with Gloria Cook, Associate Professor of Piano at Rollins College and a member of a piano and trumpet duo with William Lawing, J. Estes Millner Professor of Music at Davidson College.

Cynthia Lawing received a B.A. in Music from Wittenberg University, a B.A. in Music (Dalcroze Eurhythmics) from The Cleveland Institute of Music and an M.A. in Music from Case Western Reserve Univeristy. Some of her teachers include pianists Robert Wynne and William Kurzban, duo pianist Vitya Vronsky Babin, and harpsichordist and organist Judy Faber.  She also studied composition with Jan Bender and Dalcroze Eurhythmics with Elsa Findlay. 

 

The American pianist Thomas Pandolfi returns to the Abbey for a second performance of music by the great masters. His orchestral appearances often feature not only the beloved masterpiece concerti by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Liszt, but also the equally brilliant ones by Paderewski, Rubinstein and Moszkowski. Thomas is considered a leading interpreter of the works of George Gershwin.

The 2008-09 season, marked Thomas' debut recitals in Canada, Germany and China. Highlights during the 2009-10 season, included the world premiere of British composer, Simon Proctor's, dazzling and unique "James Bond" Piano Concerto in London, debuts with  Cluj Philharmonic, Great Falls Symphony,  Memphis Symphony,  Allegro Chamber Orchestra, and American Festival Pops Orchestra. Audiences this 2010-11 season will enjoy his artistry in New York, North Carolina, Illinois, Michigan, South Carolina, Massachusetts, California, Washington, Ohio, Connecticut, Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC. He will also make debut appearances with Craiova Philharmonic, Pitesti Philharmonic, Gettysburg Chamber Orchestra, and LaPorte Symphony. Thomas' 6th CD recording will be released. A graduate of The Juilliard School, Pandolfi earned both his Bachelor's and Master's degrees as a scholarship student. For additional information www.thomaspandolfi.com.

 

Karen Hite Jacob, abbey and college organist directs the chorus for this event and leads the audience in singing!. She has been with the college since 2000.

 

Italian musician Mattheo Bevilacqua graduated from the Conservatory of Padova, in mandolin, becoming among the first in Italy to acquire the degree and the first in the region of Puglia, where he currently resides. In 2000 he was appointed Ministerial Commissioner for entry into teaching mandolin in the Conservatory. He has given hundreds of concerts with attention to the original repertoire for mandolin thoughout Italy and in the Czech Republic (Brno) where he performed Preludes by Calace for mandolin solo, being among the most virtuosic compositions. He is founder and mandolin solo of the quartet "900 Napoletano" which offers the golden age of Neapolitan song.

Bevilacqua also graduated with honors in violin from the Conservatory "U. Giordano" and was awarded the best student. Additional studies were with Felix Ayo. Having won prizes in numerous competitions in violin he embarked on a concert career preferring music of the romantic period. He has recorded for the label in Milan IKTIUS CD "Amarcord". He taught violin at the conservatories of Vibo Valentia and Benevento. He currently holds the violin position at the Conservatory of Foggia.  He concertizes on the violin and mandolin.
www.matteobevilacqua.it

 

Carolina Pro Musica was established in 1977 to promote music before 1800 with historic instrument copies and in the performance style of the periods. In this concert they present works from the high baroque by Bach, Handel and Telemann. Included will be Bach arias and trios for two 18th c. flutes, recorder and viol, solo harpsichord. Come hear the music on instruments from the past.
www.carolinapromusica.org

 

Sam Stowe has been a lifelong resident of Belmont except for college and four years as an Air Force flutist. He is a graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University and Appalachian State University, with special study with Philip Dunigan at the North Carolina School of the Arts while at Appalachian.
He has played in several community orchestras in the Carolinas, among them the Charleston Symphony and Western Piedmont Symphony, and has been principal flute of the Charlotte Civic Orchestra since 1986. He has been adjunct professor of flute at Gardner-Webb University since 1993.

Vikki Husband studied the flute with Philip Dunigan at the NC School of the Arts and went on to receive a bachelor’s degree in Music Therapy from Florida State University. She practiced music therapy for 15 years with psychiatric patients and individuals suffering from dementia-related illnesses. Vikki obtained a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Pace University in 1991 and currently is a practicing massage therapist in Gastonia, NC.

 

 

The lovely acoustics of the Abbey Basilica lend a helping hand to sacred selections with or without organ.  Secular works point us toward spring.