Women of Power!
BAINBRIDGE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Music Director & Conductor Mario Alejandro Torres
The Program
ELFRIDA ANDRÉE: Concert Overture in D Major (1873)
AMY BEACH: Piano Concerto in C-Sharp minor, Op. 45
SOLOIST: YUKA SASAKI
LOUISE FARRENC: Symphony No. 3 Op. 36 in G minor
READ THE GUEST COLUMN FROM MAESTRO TORRES
Tune in Friday, FEBRUARY 7 to King FM Musical Chairs: Featured guest Mario Alejandro Torres
Host Mike Brooks interviews Mario about music that he finds especially meaningful, with a playlist including selections from BRAHMS: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77, MOZART: Sinfonia concertante in E-flat major K.364, SHOSHTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47, and DVOŘÁK: Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op. 70.
Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra and Music Director & Conductor Mario Alejandro Torres present a unique concert filled with great and powerful works composed exclusively by women composers. These Women of Power went to great lengths to ensure that they had the same rights to work and to be acknowledged in the same way as their male counterparts. Works by Elfrida Andrée, Amy Beach, and Louise Farrenc will give our beloved audience a glimpse of the extraordinary, but often overlooked, contributions of women to orchestral music.
Mario Alejandro Torres
Mario Alejandro Torres is a conductor, teacher, and performer native to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Currently based in Seattle, Washington, Mr. Torres made his Benaroya Hall conducting debut in collaboration with Maestros Ludovic Morlot and David Alexander Rahbee in an exciting concert with the University of Washington Symphony Orchestra. For the past two years, he has served in a conducting fellowship with the Seattle Symphony, assisting Maestro Morlot in collaboration with artists such as Hilary Hahn and John Luther Adams. As the Music Director of Poulsbo Community Orchestra, he has brought a new and exciting sound to the ensemble. Outside of the United States, he has conducted performances with the Eddy Snijders Orchestra in Paramaribo, Suriname, and in his hometown with the professional Chamber Orchestra of San Pedro Sula, and Victoriano Lopez School of Music Choir.
As an advocate for Education, Mr. Torres serves as Assistant Conductor of the University of Washington Symphony Orchestra, where he is a candidate for the doctoral degree in orchestral conducting under the mentorship of David Alexander Rahbee and Seattle Symphony Music Director Ludovic Morlot. His energy and passion to work with young musicians have brought the UW Campus Philharmonia Orchestras to a higher level of artistic performance. He has also held teaching positions at the Victoriano Lopez School of Music in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, and Louisiana Academy of Music in Natchitoches, Louisiana. In his work for social inclusion, Mr. Torres has appeared internationally as a guest conductor and clinician for programs such as The National Music School of Suriname in South America and the Académie Musicale Occide Jeanty in Croix des Bouquets, Haiti.
As a violist, he has performed as a soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of San Pedro Sula, NSULA Symphony and Chamber orchestras, Rapides Symphony Orchestra, and the Monteux School and Music Festival. He has been co-principal violist for Texarkana Symphony Orchestra, South Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, and Shreveport Summer Music Festival. He has also played with Symphoria, Shreveport, Longview, Rapides, Marshall, and Costa Rica Symphony orchestras. Mr. Torres performed with the Youth Orchestra of the Americas in Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, and England.
Mr. Torres holds a Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from Ithaca College under the mentorship of Jeffery Meyer, and a Bachelor and a Master of Music in Viola Performance from Northwestern State University of Louisiana (NSULA). Mr. Torres completed a professional program with the Youth Orchestra of the Americas’ Global Leaders Program, focusing on community leadership, teaching artistry, and social entrepreneurship. Mr. Torres also holds degrees in Computer Information Systems and Business Administration.
His wife Jenny is an active member of the community, supporting and engaging in activities with the Seattle Music Partners Program, and the Special Events department of the Seattle Symphony.
Yuka Sasaki, piano
“….Superbly talented…this pianist should be mentioned above all.” – TESSINAR ZEITUNG, Switzerland
Pianist Yuka Sasaki has garnered glowing concert reviews and top prizes at competitions from the U.S. and abroad. She began playing piano at age five in Johannesburg, South Africa before moving back to her native Japan, where her teachers included Kazuko Yasukawa and Henriette Puig-Roget at the Toho Gakuen School of Music (Tokyo), where she earned her Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance. Winner of the NHK Debut Award in Tokyo, Ms. Sasaki then pursued her graduate studies with Bela Siki at the University of Washington where she received both her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in piano performance. During this time she was awarded the Mortar Board Alumnae and Brechemin Scholarships, as well as the Ladies Musical Club of Washington Scholarship. She continued her studies with Randolph Hokanson in Seattle and Seymour Bernstein in New York. Ms. Sasaki has won top prizes at the Trani International Piano Competition (Italy), the Nena Plant-Widerman Piano Competition (Louisiana), as well as First Prize in the Bushell, the Ladies Musical Club competitions (Seattle), and was the First Prize winner of the Northwest Young Artist Piano Competition. Yuka Sasaki has concertized internationally including recitals at the Teatro Civico and Domenico Sarro in Italy, the Piccolo Mondo International Music Festival in Switzerland as well as in Japan at the Yokohama Kenmin Hall, OJI Hall and Tokyo’s prestigious Suntory Hall, where she received praise as possessing a “…virtuosic technique, fantastic musical temperament with a beautiful sound” (Ongakuno Tomo magazine, Japan). Concerto appearances include performances with the Okazaki Symphony in Japan, Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra, Sammamish Symphony, University of Washington Symphony Orchestra, Northwest Symphony Orchestra, Thalia Symphony, and the Federal Way Symphony. She has also performed at the Frye Art Museum, the Seattle Art Museum, and Seattle Asian Art Museum on behalf of the Seattle Music Teachers Association. Currently on the faculty at the Music Department of Seattle Central College, she also has served as adjudicator for the Washington Music Educators Association and the Northwest Chopin Festival. Ms. Sasaki maintains a private studio from which her students have won numerous awards and been accepted to some of the world’s foremost music schools and conservatories.
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Tickets
Adults - $21.00 USD
Discounted - $18.00 USD
Youth 18 and under (free with paying adult) - $0.00 USD
Youth in Music Initiative: Please phone the BPA Box Office at 206.842.8569 to take advantage of this offer for youths, 18 and under.
Performances
February 8 & 9, 2020