Rites of Spring
Sunday, June 2nd at 2pm, Berkeley
Join pianist Audrey Vardanega, accompanied by Valley of the Moon directors cellist Tanya Tomkins and pianist Eric Zivian, for a very special afternoon featuring music for four hands piano, solo cello, and cello and piano duets!
recordings of the performance
Featured Artists
Audrey Vardanega, Piano
Praised as a “[musically] eloquent” (San Francisco Classical Voice) player “with the kind of freedom, authority, and strength…that one expects from the world’s finest pianists” and a “bewitching musical presence” (The Piedmont Post), American pianist and arts entrepreneur Audrey Vardanega (b.1995) has performed as a solo and collaborative pianist across Europe, China, and the United States. In response to her passion for bringing artists together for opportunities for performance, the creation of new work, and interdisciplinary collaboration, Audrey founded Musaics of the Bay in 2019.
Musaics is a nonprofit chamber music series dedicated to connecting musicians, composers, and visual artists for collaborations, residency programs, mentorship, and the creation of new work in the Bay Area and beyond. From March 2020 to April 2021, Musaics of the Bay presented "The Stay-at-Home Symposium," commissioning over 75 new works of music inspired by community-submitted artwork. The Symposium involved over 100 artists from around the world, including performers, composers, poets, filmmakers, painters, photographers, and more, for virtual collaboration.
Tanya Tomkins, Cello
Artistic Director and Co-Founder of the Valley of the Moon Music Festival, cellist Tanya Tomkins is equally at home on Baroque and modern instruments. She has performed on many chamber music series to critical acclaim, including the Frick Collection, “Great Performances” at Lincoln Center, the 92nd Street Y, San Francisco Performances, and the Concertgebouw Kleine Zaal.
She is renowned in particular for her interpretation of the Bach Cello Suites, having recorded them for the Avie label and performed them many times at venues such as New York’s Le Poisson Rouge, Seattle Early Music Guild, Vancouver Early Music Society, and The Library of Congress.
eric Zivian, Piano
Music Director and Co-Founder of the Valley of the Moon Music Festival, Eric Zivian has given solo recitals in Toronto, New York, Philadelphia, and the San Francisco Bay Area. He has performed Mozart and Beethoven concertos with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the Beethoven Triple Concerto with the Santa Rosa Symphony and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. He performed the Beethoven Choral Fantasy with Philharmonia Baroque in April 2018.
Since 2000, Mr. Zivian has performed extensively on original instruments, playing fortepiano in the Zivian-Tomkins Duo and the Benvenue Fortepiano Trio. He is also a member of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble and has performed with the Empyrean Ensemble and Earplay. He is a frequent guest artist on the San Francisco Conservatory’s faculty chamber music series. Mr. Zivian’s compositions have been performed widely in the United States and in Tokyo, Japan. He was awarded an ASCAP Jacob Druckman Memorial Commission to compose an orchestral work, Three Character Pieces, which was premiered by the Seattle Symphony in March 1998.