Free Admission
GLENDALE NOON CONCERTS
Every First & Third Wednesday at 12:10-12:40 pm,
has returned to live performances
in the Sanctuary of Glendale City Church!
RELAX DURING YOUR LUNCH HOUR WITH LIVE MUSIC
On Wednesday AUGUST 6, 2025
at 12:10 -12:40 pm PT
the Free Admission Glendale Noon Concerts program
will be performed live in the Sanctuary of Glendale City Church.
610 E. California Ave Glendale, CA 91206
PARKING INFO:
https://glendalecitychurch.org/location
Glendale Noon Concerts
Wednesday AUGUST 6, 2025 at 12:10-12:40 pm PT
Daniel Kessner- flute/bass flute/composer
Eric Charnofsky – piano/composer
Daniel Kessner (b.1946)
Sonatina Bassa, for Bass Flute and Piano
1. Allegretto meccanico
2.Adagio cantabile
3.Finale, allegro ma non troppo
Eric Charnofsky (b. 1965)
Echo, version for Bass Flute Solo
(originally composed for shakuhachi)
Daniel Kessner
Fleeting Thoughts, for Solo Piano
Eric Charnofsky
Two Pieces for Flute and Piano
1. Lamentation
2.Jubilation
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE ARTIST BIOS:
STILL AVAILABLE! Watch
previous Glendale Noon Concerts streamed concerts
(April 2020-February 1, 2023):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oAfaPgGGMw&list=PLms1LJpnTpJzK7Yf6ryh2zyFMlkl7qC2z
Read about the previous programs:
http://glendalenoonconcerts.blogspot.com
Facebook 8/6/25 event page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/24331932393109011
Preview of the next concert:
Wednesday AUGUST 22, 2025 at 12:10-12:40 pm
JAMES DOMINE- composer
Concerto for flute, movt. 2
Concerto for viola
Katherine Marsh - flute
Patrick Marsh -viola
Brendan White - piano
Born in Los Angeles in 1946, composer-conductor-flutist Daniel Kessner received
his Ph.D. with Distinction at UCLA in 1971, studying with Henri Lazarof. His more than
180 compositions have received over 1000 performances, and are published by Universal Edition in Vienna. Most important awards include the 1972 Queen Marie-Jose International
Composition Prize in Geneva, a 2003 Fulbright Senior Scholar Award in Trossingen, Germany,
a Fulbright Senior Specialist Grant in Trondheim, Norway in 2007, a residency at the Universidade do Minho in Portugal in 2011, and most recently one at Paradise AIR
(Artist-in-Residence) in Matsudo, Japan. He is Professor Emeritus at California State University, Northridge, retired in 2006 after a career of 36 years teaching composition, music theory, and directing various ensembles.
Eric Charnofsky works as a pianist, composer, lecturer,conductor, and narrator. As a
collaborative pianist, he has performed with members of major American orchestras,
and as an orchestra keyboardist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Cleveland orchestra. He has also worked as a classical radio announcer, church choir director,
pre-concert lecturer for the Cleveland orchestra, Associate Faculty member at the Music Academy of the West, music director and pianist for musical theater production, and he is featured on recordings on the Capstone, Albany, Navona, and Crystal labels. Mr. Charnofsky
has received composition commissions from Pacific Serenades, the Chamber Music Society
of Ohio, the Cleveland Chamber Collective, and others. A graduate of The Juilliard School,
where he majored in piano accompanying, Mr. Charnofsky also holds degrees in solo piano performance and composition from California State University, Northridge.
Program Notes:
Sonatina Bassa was written in 2008 and was premiered the following year at l’Eglise Saint-Merry in Paris by the composer and his late wife Dolly Eugenio Kessner. While it is cast in a
classical 3-movement form, the melodic lines are gently jazz-influenced, designed to
take full advantage of the “cool” sound of the bass flute, especially in agile, free-wheeling
passages. The notes in the score encourage the performers to use a “jazz/be-bop” approach
to articulation and rhythmic alterations.
Echo, for shakuhachi, was composed in 2018 on a commission from shakuhachi player
and composer Shawn Head, who premiered and recorded the
piece. The Omomuki
Foundation provided the funding for the project. The piece has since been
transcribed for alto flute by George Pope, and today marks its first
performance on the bass flute. Specific pitch
level is unimportant, so long as the intervallic relationships are maintained throughout.
In this sense, the piece can be performed on any kind of flute.
The title “echo” (the Japanese title translates to something more like “reverberation”)
Reflects the imitation and dynamic variety found in the music. The piece is largely built on the Fibonacci series; often, the performer plays a number of notes fund in that series and then
plays an “echo” of that pattern, featuring a smaller number of notes in the series, usually
slower and at a softer dynamic level. While the rhythms are notated precisely, the performer is invited to play freely and expressively throughout, with the metronome markings taken as
suggestions. Most importantly, the performer should strive to showcase the stylistic traits of
Japanese shakuhachi performance.
Fleeting Thoughts, written in 2020, is part of an ongoing group of works exploring
the idea of presenting a series of relatively unrelated ideas, flowing smoothly from one to the next, much like a stream of consciousness. As in many of the composer’s works, the music moves freely back and forth between rhythmic freedom and strict meter sometimes
changing suddenly, sometimes more smoothly. The premiere was given by Japanese-Czech
pianist Julia Okaji on her recital at the Festival Forfest Czech Republic in the town of
Kromeriz in June of 2023. Today will be its American Premiere.
Two Pieces for Flute and Piano were actually composed several years apart, with Lamentation
written back in 1992. I always liked the sound of this little work, but I also knew it was too short
to put on a program by itself. In the summer of 2001, I decided to add a companion piece, one
that could be performed with Lamentation as its diametric opposite. Out of this idea,
Jubilation was fashioned. The two pieces are meant to be played as one unit, with only a short pause in between. Lamentation is quite slow and lyrical. As the title implies, the music
sounds melancholy and reflective, with rather doleful sounding harmonies. Jubilation
on the other hand is uplifting and spirited. This piece has a short 3-part form that unfold like a theme with variations. It’s primarily in 10/8 meter with lots of rhythmic challenges for
the performers. It should become evident that these two pieces are influenced by a
few different sources, including music of Copland, Stravinsky, and jazz. They were
premiered in Los Angeles in 2001 by flutist Catherine Ransom, with the composer
at the piano.
