Allegheny Ensemble Performs 'Russian Revolutionaries' Concert February 15

SALISBURY, MD---The Allegheny Ensemble performs the concert “Russian Revolutionaries” 7 p.m. Wednesday, February 15, in the Great Hall of Salisbury University’s Holloway Hall.

Guest soprano Angela Marchese joins the ensemble for the performance. The concert features music by Russian composers who challenged musical traditions and forged a unique, nationalistic style. Selections include S. Rachmaninoff’s Romances for Soprano and Piano, Op. 34, No. 1-7, with texts by Russian poets Pushkin and Balmont, among others. Also on the program are works by Mikhail Glinka, considered the founder of the Russian classical music, as well as Shostakovich, one of the most prominent composers of the 20th century.

Comprised of cellist Jeffrey Schoyen, violinist Sachiho Murasugi and pianist Ernest Baretta, the trio is named for the Allegheny River, which flows through the Pittsburgh area where the musicians originally played together. They reunited as a trio upon moving to the Eastern Shore.

Conductor and music director of the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra (SSO) and the Salisbury Youth Orchestra, Schoyen teaches cello and bass at SU.  He has given concerts throughout the United States, Germany, Mexico, Spain and Ecuador, and received a Frank Huntington Beebe Grant to study in London with William Pleeth. He is also a Tanglewood Gustav Golden Award recipient. Schoyen honed his cello skills at the New England Conservatory of Music and Carnegie Mellon University, before earning his D.M.A. at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Murasugi has performed extensively as a professional orchestral and chamber musician. She has been concertmaster of the Filarmonica del Bajio in Mexico, and a member of the West Virginia Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic and Springfield Symphony. She received the National Endowment for the Arts Rural Residency Grant in chamber music and has performed in such venues as the Kennedy Center, Museo del Prado, and the Music Center at Strathmore. She is a graduate of Manhattan School of Music and holds a D.M.A. from Ohio State University. Currently she is currently concertmaster for the SSO.

A successful soloist and chamber musician, Barretta has performed extensively throughout the U.S. and Canada. A member of the piano faculty at Juilliard School of Music, he recently appeared at the Seoul Music Festival and Academy in South Korea. A collaborative artist, he has played with such internationally recognized musicians as baritone Christopher Robertson and trumpeter Terry Everson. He studied at Oberlin Conservatory and earned a D.M.A. from Peabody Conservatory.

Marchese, faculty at Northern Virginia Community College, is an accomplished performer in the U.S. and abroad, and has participated in master classes given by Luciano Pavaroti and Giuseppi Taddei. Her most recent achievements include performing as soprano soloist in Mozart’s Requiem with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and placing second at the Regional metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. In addition, she has been a national semifinalist in Indiana Opera Theatre’s McAllister Awards Competition and won the I Malatesta Centro di Lingua e Cultura Competition in Rimini, Italy.

Sponsored by the Music, Theatre and Dance Department, admission is free and the public is invited. For more information call 410-548-5588 or visit the SU website at www.salisbury.edu.