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DTSTART:20260101T080000
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UID:840451
DTSTART:20260201T020000
DTEND:20260201T040000
STATUS:TENTATIVE
SUMMARY:Brahms and Tchaikovsky with Shunta Morimoto, Scott Dunn, Natha
 n Le & the Four Seasons Orchestra
DESCRIPTION:This Concert is Presented by Parnassus Society\, a nonprof
 it organization dedicated to bringing classical music\, opera and art 
 to Southern California. \n”Music has always been my first\, and str
 ongest\, language to communicate with people from different countries 
 and backgrounds.” - Shunta Morimoto\n”[Scott Dunn] is a conductor
  of great promise… All of the elements (of the concerto) came togeth
 er to give the audience an experience closer to heaven than most of us
  will get in this lifetime.” - The East Hampton Star\nFEATURED ARTI
 STS:\nShunta Morimoto\, pianoNathan Le\, celloThe Four Seasons Orche
 straScott Dunn\, conductor\nPROGRAM:\nROMANTIC TITANS\nTCHAIKOVSKY V
 ariations on a Rococo Theme\, Op.33\nINTERMISSION\nBRAHMS Piano Conce
 rto No. 1 in D minor\, Op. 15     Maestoso     Adagio     Ron
 do: Allegro\nSHUNTA MORIMOTOShunta Morimoto was born in Kyoto\, Japan
 \, in December 2004. From a very early age he showed remarkable pianis
 tic gifts. At the age of twelve\, he won the prestigious first prize o
 f the Piano Teachers Association of Japan\, as well as the Fukuda Scho
 larship Award\, one of the most important prizes for a Japanese musici
 an today. This scholarship allowed him to study with some of the leadi
 ng pianists and pedagogues in the world. He took part in the Van Clibu
 rn Junior Competition in Dallas\, Texas\, in May 2019 to much public a
 cclaim and his extraordinary performances went viral on the internet\,
  gaining him a large global following of admirers\, musicians and crit
 ics.\nSince then he has performed with leading chamber ensembles\, mus
 icians and orchestras in Japan and abroad. In November 2021\, the phen
 omenal success of his recital in the historic hall of Santa Cecilia Co
 nservatory in Rome was one of the highlights of his early career. In F
 ebruary 2022\, at the age of 17\, amongst over 300 competitors\, he wa
 s awarded unanimously the first prize in the Hastings International Pi
 ano Concerto Competition playing the Schumann Piano Concerto with the 
 Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.\nHe currently studies with Maestro Willi
 am Grant Naboré at the world famous International Piano Academy Lake 
 Como and participates in the Masterclasses of the Academy as the young
 est student in the history of this venerable institution. He has since
  been awarded the Yamaha Scholarship for his studies at Santa Cecilia 
 Conservatory in Rome\, where he is enrolled in the class of Piano Acc
 ompaniment with Maestro Giovanni Velluti.\n–\nSCOTT DUNNNoted for hi
 s advocacy of American and contemporary music\, conductor\, arranger a
 nd pianist Scott Dunn has a special interest in cross-over and film 
 composers – ranging from George Gershwin and Richard Rodney Bennett 
 to Leonard Rosenman and Danny Elfman. As conductor\, Dunn has served a
 s Associate Conductor for the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra since 2012 and 
 previously held positions at Pittsburgh\, Glimmerglass and New York Ci
 ty Operas. He also serves as music director for the Parnassus Society 
 and regularly presents opera in concert at the Soka Performing Arts Ce
 nter with his Parnassus Society Orchestra.\nHe has appeared with the A
 tlanta Symphony\, BBC Concert Orchestra\, BBC Philharmonic\, Cleveland
  Orchestra\, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra\, Los Angeles Philharmonic\, Rus
 sian Philharmonic\, Royal Philharmonic\, Sydney Symphony\, Vienna Radi
 o Orchestra (RSO) and countless other distinguished ensembles. Dunn ha
 s collaborated with numerous headliners\, including Trey Anastasio\, B
 eck\, Chris Botti\, Bill Charlap\, Billy Childs\, Elvis Costello\, Il 
 Divo\, Danny Elfman\, David Foster\, Sutton Foster\, The Indigo Girls\
 , Sean Lennon\, Claire Martin\, Steve Martin\, Leslie Odom Jr. and Ruf
 us Wainwright among others.\nDunn’s interest in music outside the us
 ual classical canon can be traced to his long friendship with the late
  Sir Richard Rodney Bennett. Through Bennett\, Dunn discovered the con
 cert works of song-writer and composer Vernon Duke (a.k.a. Vladimir Du
 kelsky) whose ‘lost’ piano concerto (written for Rubinstein) Dunn 
 orchestrated and premiered at Carnegie Hall in 1999. In 2007 he record
 ed the piano concerto with other Duke works with the Russian Philharmo
 nic (Naxos\,2007). In 2012 he edited the Vernon Duke Songbook for Hal 
 Leonard and in 2013 he reconstructed Duke’s THE END OF ST. PETERSBUR
 G oratorio for performance in St. Petersburg Russia. Other Duke record
 ings include violin concerto and complete works for violin with Elmira
  Darvarova (Urlicht 2015) and a ‘new’ Duke musical MISIA (PS Class
 ics\, 2015) arranged and adapted by Dunn with orchestrations by Jonath
 an Tunick and a brilliant cast headed by Marin Mazzie. More recently D
 unn adapted and performed his own arrangements of Julius Eastman’s G
 AY GUERILLA (2018) for four pianos and Duke Ellington’s NEW WORLD A-
 COMIN’ for solo piano and chamber jazz ensemble (2019). In 2023\, St
 unt records released the much anticipated and highly praised recording
 \, I WATCH YOU SLEEP\, with Claire Martin and the Royal Philharmonic. 
 It’s a highly personal tribute created by Dunn and Martin for their 
 friend Richard Rodney Bennett and consists of Bennett’s own jazz son
 gs as well as his favorite standards to play and sing – all orchestr
 ated and conducted by Dunn and gorgeously sung by Claire Martin with t
 he Royal Philharmonic.\nDunn’s interest in film music stems from his
  friend and mentor\, Leonard Rosenman\, whose brilliant score for REBE
 L WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955) Dunn arranged for live orchestra to film for 
 premiere in 2016 with the LA Philharmonic at Disney Hall. He often con
 ducts REBEL and other live orchestra-to-film concerts through out the 
 US and Europe. His work with contemporary film composers\, includes Ra
 chel Portman\, for whom he conducted the BBC Philharmonic in MIMI AND 
 THE MOUNTAIN DRAGON (Decca\, 2019) for world-wide annual Christmas BBC
  broadcasts\; with Lior Rosner for whom he recorded SUGAR PLUM ON THE 
 RUN with the Royal Philharmonic and Jeremy Irons (Sony\, 2019) and wit
 h Danny Elfman\, for whom he worked on DANNY ELFMAN’S MUSIC FROM THE
  FILMS OF TIM BURTON and has conducted around the world – as well as
  work on other Elfman concert works including his 2008 ballet RABBIT A
 ND ROGUE for Twyla Tharp and the American Ballet Theatre.\nAs a pianis
 t\, Dunn has recorded and concertized extensively. Early in his career
  he toured Eastern Europe for the USIA and introduced former states of
  the Soviet Union to many twentieth century American works including I
 ves’ CONCORD SONATA. In 2024 Dunn will premiere a new rhapsody for p
 iano and orchestra commissioned from composer Joby Talbot Born and rai
 sed in Iowa\, Dunn studied piano with the legendary Byron Janis and is
  a former assistant to Lukas Foss – whose complete solo piano works 
 Dunn recorded (Naxos\, 2007). He has had a remarkably extensive educat
 ion\, which\, in addition to music degrees\, includes an M.D.\, reside
 ncy and board certification in eye surgery.\n–\nNATHAN LECellist Na
 than Le is a graduate of the New England Conservatory/Harvard dual-de
 gree program\, where he was a student of Laurence Lesser. Prior to his
  studies in Boston\, he studied with Ronald Leonard at the Colburn Mus
 ic Academy and with Ruslan Biryukov.\nA Los Angeles native\, Nathan ha
 s performed with many orchestras in the Los Angeles area\, such as the
  Torrance Symphony\, the Culver City Symphony\, the San Fernando Valle
 y Symphony\, the New West Symphony\, and the Dana Point Symphony\, per
 forming cello concerti by Elgar\, Haydn\, Saint-Saëns\, and Tchaikovs
 ky. The Culver City Examiner noted that he “[performed] flawlessly
 ” and praised his “superb mastery of technique…and artistry.”\
 nNathan’s artistry has also been nationally and internationally accl
 aimed. In 2015\, he was invited by the First Lady of Armenia to perfor
 m in a music festival commemorating the centennial of the Armenian gen
 ocide. He has garnered top prizes in competitions such as the Janigro 
 International Cello Competition in Zagreb\, Croatia\, the Tchaikovsky 
 International Competition for Young Musicians in Moscow\, Russia\, the
  Stulberg International String Competition in Kalamazoo\, MI\, and the
  Schadt String Competition in Allentown\, PA. Nathan has appeared on t
 he NPR radio show “From the Top\,” was the winner of the 2017 YMF/
 ASCAP Foundation Leiber and Stoller Scholarship Competition\, and is a
  regular performer on the the L’Ermitage Foundation Concert Series.\
 nNathan is also a dedicated chamber musician who has performed works b
 y composers as diverse as Felix Mendelssohn and Mieczysław Weinberg\,
  in ensembles ranging from piano trio to string septet. In May of 2022
 \, he had the opportunity to perform Schubert’s Piano Trio in E-flat
  Major\, D 929\, in the New England Conservatory Chamber Music Gala Co
 ncert\, which was held in the historic Jordan Hall. In the chamber mus
 ic setting\, Nathan has worked with esteemed coaches such as Merry Pec
 kham\, Vivian Weilerstein\, and the members of the Parker Quartet.  
URL:https://mpv.tickets.com/?agency=SOKV_PLAGENCY_MPV&orgId=43729&even
 tID=33750#/event/E33750
DTSTAMP:20260920T141826Z
ORGANIZER;SENT-BY="mailto:performingartscenter@soka.edu";CN=Renee Bodie:
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