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 FEBRUARY 18, 2026
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 FEBRUARY 18, 2026 at 12:10-12:40 pm PT
SAKURA TSAI- violin
NATALIA HUDSON- piano
AMY BEACH (American,1867-1944)
Violin Sonata in a minor, Op. 34
1.Allegro moderato
2. Scherzo. Molto vivace
3. Largo con dolore
4. Allegro con fuoco
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE ARTIST BI0S and program notes:
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 event page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/4497457293803445
Preview of the next concert:
Wednesday MARCH 4, 2026 at 12:10-12:40 pm
Violin Duo Recital
Chloe Chiu
Sheng-Ching Hsu
Program:
LeClair- Sonata for Two Violins, Op.3 No.4
J.W Kalliwoda- Duo in B-flat, Op.181
Kenji Bunch -3 American Folk Hymns for 2 Violins
ARTIST BIOS:
Violinist and educator Sakura Tsai enjoys a multifaceted career having performed nationally and internationally as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician.
A native of Southern California, Dr. Tsai earned degrees (B.M., M.M., and D.M.A.) in violin performance from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music where she was honored the prestigious Order of Areté and became a member of Pi Kappa Lambda. Her mentors and teachers included Midori Goto, Kathleen Winkler, Hagai Shaham, and Alice Schoenfeld. Additional fields of study while pursuing the Doctor of Musical Arts degree included music theory and analysis, violin pedagogy with Endre Granat, and kinesiology.
A dedicated educator, Dr. Tsai is Artist Teacher of Violin at the University of Redlands. She is also on faculty at California School of the Arts-San Gabriel Valley, California State Summer School for the Arts, Junior Chamber Music (Inland Empire), and most recently, Montecito International Music Festival. Dr. Tsai makes frequent appearances as an adjudicator and serves as a clinician in schools around Southern California where she mentors aspiring young musicians. In 2018, Dr. Tsai was selected to be the guest conductor of the San Bernardino County High School Honor Orchestra. She coaches instrumentalists in the Walnut Valley Unified School District at both Diamond Bar and Walnut High Schools while being actively involved with the Diamond Bar High School Performing Arts Academy Advanced Music Program. In addition, Dr. Tsai has a robust private studio and has previously held faculty positions at Marymount California University and Idyllwild Arts Academy.
As a performer, Dr. Tsai is currently a member of the Redlands Symphony Orchestra and Long Beach Symphony. She performs in several regional orchestras and has spent summers at the Lucerne Festival (Switzerland) and Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival (Germany) academies, and Music Masters Course Japan (Japan). Dr. Tsai maintains an active career as a chamber musician winning honors at international competitions such as the International Young Artists Peninsula Music Festival and the Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition. As a violinist with chamber ensembles Definiens, DuselForty58, and the What’s Next? Ensemble, Dr. Tsai has championed works of numerous living composers. An avid performer of contemporary music, extensive collaboration with young composers with these ensembles included residencies and performance projects at institutions such as Idyllwild Arts Academy, California State University, Northridge and Long Beach, University of California, Riverside, and University of Southern California. Dr. Tsai’s solo and ensemble performances have been featured live on world-wide television and radio broadcasts such as classical KUSC, KRTU-FM, Norddeutscher Rundfunk (Germany), and Japan Broadcasting Corporation – NHK (Japan).
Natalia Hudson has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the U.S. and Europe in numerous festivals and concerts, including the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, First Night Charleston, the International Piano Series, the Young Artist Concert Series, the Drayton Hall, the LACC, and Moreno Valley College Concert Series. A native of South Carolina, Hudson was awarded the Isabella Mebane Piano Performance Scholarship to pursue a performance degree under Uruguayan pianist Enrique Graf at the College of Charleston. She continued her artist education at the Conservatory in Madrid, Spain under German-born pianist, Uta Weyand. Her other main influences include Vitalij Margulis (Ukraine), Ilana Vered (Israel), and Oxana Yablonskaya (Russia/Israel).
She received her master’s degree from the University of Southern California and has participated in the World Piano Pedagogy (WPPC), MTNA and Focus on Piano Literature conferences. She is also skilled at teaching in Spanish, and has taught master classes, private lessons and dual-immersion classes in Spanish and English. A member of the California and National Music Teacher Associations, Hudson is a sought-after teacher, jurying competitions and conducting lessons and master classes in numerous music schools and festivals. She currently teaches at her private piano studio, Hudson Conservatory, and serves on the piano faculty at Colburn School of Performing Arts in downtown Los Angeles.
Program notes:
“Amy Beach (1867-1944) née Cheney was born in Henniker, New Hampshire. She studied piano with several at the time well-known piano teachers, including Ernst Perabo and Kal Baermann, but with regard to composition she was almost entirely self-taught. She made her concert debut at the age of 16. Two years later, she married a physician 24 years her senior, Dr.Henry Harris Aubrey Beach. During her lifetime, she was known neither by her maiden name nor her own given name but my the moniker “Mrs. H.H.A. Beach.” That this was so, one must remember that this was the practice at the time and even the most celebrated actresses in Britain and America were known by their husband’s names. Hence, all of her compositions appeared under the name of Mrs. H.H.A. Beach and it is only recently in more egalitarian times that she has finally become known under her own name, Amy Beach. For social propriety’s sake, her husband, as a member of Boston’s upper crust, insisted that she limit her concert performances to one a year. It was only after his death in 1910 that she embarked on a concert tour of both Europe and America. She wrote in most genres and was the first American woman to write a symphonic work. Ultimately, she was considered one of America’s leading composers and the only female composer to be ranked alongside of Arthur Foote, George Chadwick, Edward MacDowell, and Horatio Parker. Her writing is in a late Romantic idiom, showing the influence of Brahms and and Cesar Franck.
Her Sonata in a minor for Violin and Piano dates from 1897. It was premiered in the same year with her at the piano and Franz Kneisel, concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra as soloist. The music is valedictory but not without passion and is influenced by both Brahms and Cesar Franck. The opening movement, Allegro moderato, in an ominous fashion, dark and autumnal. Next comes a Scherzo, which as you might expect, is brighter and more upbeat, complete with contrasting trio. The third movement, marked Largo con dolore, begins with a lengthy introduction in the piano before the violin Presents the mournful, but also passionate, main theme. The finale, Allegro con fuoco, explodes in dramatic fashion, full of fire with occasional more lyrical interludes which release the tension.” -Editions Silvertrust
