By Signe Hammer
Pro Musica is delighted to announce our first-ever flute-and-piano recital, with radiant, lyrical flautist Adam Sadberry and pianist Nathan Cheung. They will play in St. Paul’s Church on Sunday, January 15, at 5pm. Sadberry is carving a distinctive career as musician and educator. A winner of Concert Artists Guild’s 2021 Competition, he has been principal flute with the St. Louis, Detroit, and Memphis Symphony Orchestras and has performed with other leading orchestras across the U.S., including the Minnesota, Seattle, and Sphinx Symphonies and the New World Symphony. He played in the Hollywood Bowl’s 2022 Juneteenth Celebration with Chaka Khan, Questlove, and Earth, Wind, and Fire and can be heard on the soundtrack of Disney’s “The Lion King.” In March, he debuts at New York City’s Merkin Hall, premiering a composition by Dameun Strange inspired by Sadberry’s late grandfather and unsung hero of the Civil Rights Movement, L. Alex Wilson.
As an educator, in addition to music Sadberry focuses on identity, his grandfather’s legacy, and mindfulness informed by the Alexander Technique. Currently on faculty at the University of Minnesota, his residencies, engagements, and master classes include Pepperdine, Oakland, and Memphis Universities. When not playing or teaching, he finds joy in reading, playing video games, roller skating, and spending time outdoors.
While most of the works in the concert will be unfamiliar, they are all magical and diverse. Katherine Hoover, composer of our first piece, “Winter Spirits,” writes that it was “influenced by Native American music” and inspired by a painting in which the sound of a Native American’s flute is represented by “a cloud of [beneficial] spirts.” Next is “Summerland” by William Grant Still, Jr., Harlem Renaissance notable whose “Afro-American Symphony” was for years the most performed symphony by any American composer. César Franck’s “Sonata for Piano and Flute” follows; it was originally composed as a wedding present for violinist Eugene Ysaÿe, who, after a quick rehearsal, played it for his wedding guests.
The second half opens with Jules Mouquet’s “La Flûte de Pan.” Pan pipes, like a flute or a soda bottle, are played by blowing across rather than into their tops. Next, Valerie Coleman’s tone poem, “Danza de la Mariposa” (Dance of the Butterfly), depicts the rich variety of South American butterflies, with sad Yaravi sounds in a rhythmically complex Peruvian lament. Arthur Honegger’s “Danse de la Chèvre” (Dance of the Goat) is dedicated to French flutist Rene Le Roy, solo flute with New York City Opera Orchestra, who later taught at the Paris Conservatory. Saint-Saëns’ “Romance, Opus 37” was composed shortly after the Franco-Prussian War, and he performed the Paris premiere with his close friend Paul Taffanel, whose “Fantaisie on Themes” from “Der Freischütz” (free shooter or marksman), the first great Romantic German opera, completes the program.
Tickets for the concert at St. Paul’s are 400 and 600 pesos donation each and are on sale through our website and at the concert 45 minutes before performance time. Details of all Pro Musica’s concerts and Patron Membership are on our website, www.promusicasma.org, or contact us at promusicasma@aol.com.
Pro Musica Concert Series
Adam Sadberry, Flute
Nathan Cheung, Piano
Sun., Jan. 15, 5pm
St. Paul’s Church, El Cardo 6
Tickets 400 and 600 pesos
