Wonderful Review for the Camellia Symphony Orchestra, Er-Gene Kahng & Christian Baldini

"It’s a challenging proposition for an orchestra to put forward a whole program of not-very well-known music, and the Music Director Christian Baldini, and the Camellia Symphony are to be applauded for their bold programming and excellent artistic execution."

"It all took great skill for the orchestra to navigate, and Kahng’s violin offered clarity and warmth of tone, as well as brilliant precision in the technical demands.  It was a completely thrilling performance, and I joined the audience in an energized ovation."

"the orchestra navigated the surprises of this new work with great skill, and it was definitely a thought-provoking piece."

"The orchestra’s performance was brilliant and energetic, and I completely enjoyed hearing it.  I am so thrilled to have been able to attend this wonderful concert by the Camellia Symphony Orchestra – and I look forward to hearing more from this orchestra!"

Liane Curtis, a musicologist and the President of the Women's Philharmonic Advocacy, an organization "leveling the playing field for women composers" has written a glowing review of the Camellia Symphony Orchestra's last performance celebrating Black History Month. Kudos to everyone involved in making this concert such a success!

Click here to read the entire review.

Violinist Er-Gene Kahng in Conversation with Christian Baldini

In preparation for our performance of Florence Price's Violin Concerto No. 2 in Sacramento with the Camellia Symphony Orchestra, I had the pleasure of interviewing Er-Gene Kahng, concertmaster of the Arkansas Philharmonic and Fort Smith Symphony, and Professor at the University of Arkansas, who will be our soloist for our performances.

Christian Baldini: Er-Gene, it is a real pleasure to have you with us for this beautiful work by Florence Price. You were instrumental in the rediscovery and recording of this piece. Can you tell us how this project came into being? How did you first become acquainted with the compositions by Florence Price?

Er-Gene Kahng: I would be remiss if I didn't mention that it has been the collective work of our librarians who rescued the manuscripts, our historians and musicologists who have been researching, writing and thinking about Price's life and work since at least the 1970s, the archivists who continue the work to bring her legacy to the fore, and also the many performers before me who were already performing her compositions before we came to discover the lost manuscript of her violin concertos. It has been the combined efforts of a strong community over the course of many decades. 

I first performed Florence Price's String Quartet in G major (1929) at the Florence Price symposium at the University of Arkansas in 2015. After that introduction, my initial curiosity manifested into increasing levels of passion and commitment. One day, while at our special collections library, I found myself looking at Price's violin concerto manuscripts thinking, "this would be really great if someday, somebody recorded these works. Could that person be me... maybe?"


CB: What is so special about Florence Price's music? You bring a very beautiful sound and shape to every phrase in this concerto. Why is this music so special to you?

EGK: Thank you! It *is* beautiful music. And by that, I don't simply mean that it is pretty or pleasing, but that it holds a truth that is deep, layered and impactful. I hear the homage to the classical tradition in which she was trained (and a mastery its language), but also an homage to her Southern roots (even as she came to live the majority of her adult life in Chicago). The very tradition she honored and mastered was also the tradition that limited her opportunities. She questions this tradition without destroying its basic framework. Her answers to these artistic polarities (innovation vs. preservation of tradition) are manifested in the rich world she creates for her listeners, and the language she confidently develops and owns. She holds a space that generously houses classicism and modernist instability in a manner that is searching and assertive, all the while inviting us to respond to these polarities and clashes in our own way. I deeply admire her artistic vision.


CB: In this concert you are also playing the world premiere of Chris Castro's work "Sing High". I know Chris is very excited to have written this piece for you. What can you tell us about this piece?

EGK: I am very excited to share Chris's piece! It is an evocative work with a cornucopia of musical allusions and references, past and current. Despite it being a short, single movement work, it deals with big ideas which always circle around - it seems to me - the question of defining, elaborating and questing the very essence of 'music'. I find that so much of music is actually philosophy. Chris's piece really reminded me of this.


CB: How do you feel about having been so important in this great revival and interest in the music by Florence Price? Did you imagine it was going to have such a positive impact when you started your project?

EGK: I am genuinely surprised, elated and humbled. I had no predictions to its reception; in the beginning, I was simply consumed with the fear and anxiety that the project - for a number of reasons - would fail to finish. When we finally finished, I was overcome with a feeling of relief and gratitude, possibly even a moment of disbelief. As you know, any kind of recording project of this scope is dependent on many, many elements to come together at the right time, not to mention the strong faith, morale and dedication of each team member. Even the most carefully constructed plans cannot guarantee successful completion. I feel lucky and fortunate to have had the right elements in place at the right time with the right people.


CB: You are also a Professor, and have surely had many wonderful students over the years. Are there any tips you would give to aspiring musicians?

EGK: I really like and appreciate my students, not only as artists, but as people; and yes, I've had wonderful students over the years! The tips I would offer aspiring musicians are the same ones I aspire myself: actively creating an environment and attitude of learning; additionally, strengthening and utilizing all available resources for critical self-reflection.
Creating an environment for optimal learning might be something as literal as creating a good practice schedule, or making sure one gets enough sleep so that one isn't tired the next morning. Or, it might mean attending as many live concert performances as one's schedule might allow, or finding time in the day to discuss musical ideas with friends. At the core, it hinges on the idea that successful results require successful processes and that certain environments are more conducive to encouraging that success to surface than others; therefore, we should strive to set the stage for success, whatever this stage might look for you, whatever success means for you.
Bringing an attitude of learning means setting one's ego aside so that the challenges to artistic mastery aren't driven by our ego's need to personalize everything or preserve itself at the cost of truth-seeking or objective/unbiased observation.
Finally, over the years, I have found that keeping in touch with my mentors and role models, and allocating time to write regularly in my practice journal has vastly aided in clarifying my musical values and thinking process. I constantly work toward expanding my musical conceptions, keeping an open mind, and developing my musical empathy. I understand I still have a long way to go, and many, many more things to learn.

CB: As a performer, which answer would you give to folks that normally don't go to the concert hall and that might wonder: why is music still relevant or important in society nowadays?

EGK: I would encourage people to take a chance and enter that special space of live music-making. I more than understand that classical music and traditional concert hall culture may not be for everyone, and that sometimes it may only be successful in capturing the imagination and attention of a few. I also understand its challenges to aural accessibility. However, I do believe that the world of classical music, despite its cultural specificity, represents a very profound world, and creates/maintains a compelling connection to our shared history. It is a powerful anchor in affirming our humanity.


CB: Er-Gene, thank you very much for your time, and for sharing your immense talent with us. We can't wait to share your beautiful playing with our audiences in Sacramento!

EGK: Thank you so much for the invitation and the opportunity!

Er-Gene Kahng

Er-Gene Kahng’s performances have been described as possessing a “caressing sense of phrase” and “an honest musicianship[which] translates the music into a meaningful discourse few virtuosi accomplish”; her recording of Florence Price’s Violin Concertos (Albany Records, 2018) has been cited and praised by The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, and The New York Timesas an important contribution to American classical music, and has aired on programs like NPR’s Songs we Love, and APM’s Performance Today.  Alex Ross described the recording as “Price’s best outing on disk to date… Kahng plays the solo parts with lustrous tone and glistening facility.”

Er-Gene currently serves as Concertmaster with the Fort Smith Symphony, who has also completed a Florence Price preservation project by recording her symphonies no. 1 and no. 4 (a world premiere). Er-Gene also serves as Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra’s concertmaster, where she premiered Florence Price’s Violin Concerto no. 2.  Previously, Er-Gene has held title positions with the North Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, SoNA (Symphony of Northwest Arkansas), Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, as well as section positions with the Lancaster Symphony, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Eastern Connecticut Symphony and the Artosphere Festival Orchestra.

Er-Gene co-curated a new music series “Fuse” (2015-16), at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art featuring the works of American minimalism, indeterminacy, and postmodernism. Her A/V collaborations include working with animator Wilson Borja, whose work, “Cheré” explores themes of forced and voluntary migration of the African diaspora. Other collaborations include those with the Texas Ballet Theater, and the Hong Kong Arts Academy, performing an original score “Crash” by choreographer Jonathan Watkins.  

Er-Gene was a Visiting Wolfson Fellow at the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, UK in 2016-2017. She received degrees from UCLA, Yale and Northwestern.  Her primary teachers include Mark Kaplan, Erick Friedman, Syoko Aki, the Tokyo String Quartet and Almita and Roland Vamos. She isProfessor of Violin and the Director of Graduate Studies at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.  Her students have gained admission to some of the top music schools in the country, including New England Conservatory, University of Southern California, Peabody Conservatory/Johns Hopkins University, University of Minnesota, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, as well as being prizewinners of the MTNA regional and national level competitions.  

Composer Profile: Chris Castro in conversation with Christian Baldini

In preparation for the world premiere performance of his new work "Sing High", written for violinist Er-Gene Kahng and the Camellia Symphony Orchestra, I had the opportunity of asking composer Chris Castro a few questions about his music, the relationship of "concert" music with other genres, and more.

Christian Baldini: Chris, it is such a pleasure to be bringing to life your new piece, especially written for our soloist and our orchestra. You were a member (principal bass) of this orchestra for two seasons. Did that inform the way you would write this piece for them?

Chris Castro: Yes, of course. I was able to play standard repertoire, 20th, and 21st century music with this group. After playing with a group for a few seasons you get an idea for what they like in sound and how much enthusiasm they bring to their performances. A highlight during my tenure with the CSO was Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony. This orchestra, under your baton, has an affinity for dark hued, burnished sounds, which I kept in mind. I am also friends with many of the musicians, and included a brief melody written by the daughter of one of the horn and oboe players in the score. I thought about the orchestra throughout.

CB: You mention that much of your music is informed by other music. Can you develop some more on this concept?

CC: A lot of contemporary music I feel is often written with not necessarily a program, but with extra-musical ideas. A piece could be about climate change, or social justice, etc. While I do not think this is a bad thing I often feel like one of the last composers to hold a torch for 'abstract' music: music dealing with itself. I often think of Gérard Grisey's quote:

"We are musicians and our model is sound not literature, sound not mathematics, sound not theatre, visual arts, quantum physics, geology, astrology or acupuncture."

My friends tease me by calling me a 'repertoire hound' because I love and think about the canon of classical music often and it comes out in my music. In Sing High for example, after the opening chord in the orchestra, four percussive attacks are heard in the woodblock and clave. While I use this motive differently, it is a direct allusion to Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. Just one detail of many veiled references to a wealth of classical and jazz repertoire that I feel I must come to terms with in my own way. My music is 'about' music.

CB: And specifically about this new piece, "Sing High", what would you say to anyone coming to the concert? What can they expect? What would you like them to take away from this performance?

CC: I can only say how I hear the piece; I do not like to tell anyone how to listen to my or any music. It has a Baroque sound to me, as the violin soloist is playing constantly, decorating the orchestral texture. The orchestra plays dark, rich, blurred sonorities mostly out of the way of the soloist. I hear it as a stoic piece, with moments of bizarre humor. It has a large narrative and arc. My music is obsessed with being transitory. A climax may be reached but the energy and momentum will be blurred to push the music forward until its final moments.

CB: Who are some musicians from the past that you wish you had worked with?

CC: What a question! For conductors, I have always admired the recordings of both Pierre Monteux and Otto Klemperer and would have loved to have played under their batons. My old bass teacher, Homer Mensch, said that of all the conductors he played under that Klemperer was the most sensitive to a soloist.

For a teacher, either the famed Nadia Boulanger or her (in my view) jazz counterpart, the great pianist Lennie Tristano. Singing and listening was everything to both of them and I would have loved the first hand experience of being taught how to listen by them.

For performers, I have always loved singers. I would have loved to play bass behind Sarah Vaughan - no one quite like her. I also fantasize about an opportunity for bass players in New York in 1978. After Eddie Gomez left Bill Evans trio Evans held auditions with the drummer Philly Joe Jones. The audition was to go to the Village Vanguard and sit in with those two. Can you imagine? The most coveted bass player seat in the history of jazz, open for all who dared. People like George Mraz and Rufus Reid tried out etc. I would have loved to have played just a single root for the greatest pianist ever.

CB: Your background as a performer is vast. You've played in orchestra for many years, including concerts with some wonderful conductors while at Juilliard or Tanglewood. Can you tell us some of the most memorable experiences you've had?

CC: I am very fortunate to have worked with some great conductors. A lot of the concerts stick out (like Das Lied von der Erde with Michael Tilson Thomas, Anne Sofie von Otter, and Gregory Kunde) but there are two rehearsals that still resonate with me. I'll never forget having Yannick Nézet-Séguin stop a rehearsal of Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe and grab the meaty part of his forearm and whisper to the orchestra "This is music of the flesh...." That gesture changed the entire string sound. I couldn't believe the color change. 

All conductors have heard the Richard Strauss quote "Never look encouragingly at the brass...." The late great James DePreist was leading us in a rehearsal of Strauss's Ein Heldenleben, specifically the brass heavy "Battle Scene." He stopped us, asked the brass not to play but to listen to the intense string passages underneath them. Afterwards he rhetorically asked "Did you know all of that was going on?" DePreist was all about respect for everyone, such an egoless man, and he wanted the brass to be aware that we were all sweating, trying to keep up with their tremendous sound. Every string player was thrilled. 

CB: And how about your background playing jazz or other kinds of music? When did you become interested in this, and how has it affected your compositions?

CC: The unfortunate thing about being a classically trained double bassist is the lack of chamber music repertoire one gets to take part in. Maybe you get called to play the “Trout” Quintet every few years but that is about it. I love playing with orchestras, but I really wanted to play chamber music, to have an equal say in a group, not just have conductors mold our sound. I came to jazz late, after hearing the Miles Davis and Gil Evans "Porgy and Bess" album. After that I needed to play it, and it really filled the void of chamber music for me. I was an equal member of a small group, able to voice my opinions, either through rehearsals or the way I was playing. 

Jazz has a subtle effect on my compositions in terms of the sound, but the structure can be deliberately similar. I have a series of pieces (Choruses I - IV) that are based heavily on the formal structures of specific jazz standards. They do not, however, sound jazzy or jazz influenced. I would not consider them genre-bending or hybrids, it is simply my music being "about" other music. That being said, I do believe that jazz and jazz standards have given the 20th century a new lease on harmony, which forever obsesses me. I consider myself a harmonic composer. If I am stuck in a composition of my own I do one of two things: play a Bach chorale or a song by Rodgers & Hart.

CB: Tell us about your background and growing up in New York. How did you start learning the bass, and when did you realize it would be your career?

CC: Both of my parents were born and still live in Brooklyn, New York. It seems like a dying thing now but my elementary school had a strings program. In the 2nd grade every student started the violin. In the 3rd grade you were allowed to choose among the  violin, mandolin, cello, xylophone, and double bass. Everyone gravitated towards the mandolin and xylophone, and to be honest I felt very sad that the bass was being ignored, so I decided to try it out. My parents pushed and pushed me to practice against my will for years, driving me to rehearsals and lessons. When I was 14, after playing bass for 6 years, an orchestra I was in began rehearsing Prokofiev's 5th Symphony. That's all it took. I had no idea music could sound like that. With that piece I was either fighting back tears or trying not to drop my bass from laughter. I still am. After that I was sold on music. I have to give full credit to my parents for driving me all around New York against my will. I love them deeply.

CB: Wow. That is such a powerful and beautiful way to have realized how important music was to you! Are there any tips, or any advice you'd like to give to any aspiring young musician starting off, or considering taking music seriously?

CC: You have to love to listen. Listening is hard. You have to practice how to listen. I mean that. It is not a natural trait. Listen deeply. Listen often. Listen to something new once a week. I have often heard writers say if you want to be a better writer you just have to read. Same thing applies. Learn to listen to the way you play. Practicing means nothing if you are not listening to yourself. Practice slowly. Listen slowly. Listen, listen, listen.

CB: Thank you very much for your time, and for sharing your incredible talent with us. We very much look forward to sharing your beautiful music with our audience here in Sacramento!

CC: Thank you so much for great questions, and for leading such a great group. It has been my pleasure.

Composer Chris Castro - Photo by Justin Han, Copyright UC Regents

Chris Castro is a composer and double bassist. He has a Ph.D. in Composition and Theory from UC Davis and a Bachelor's in Music from The Juilliard School in both double bass and composition. His compositions include a work for the St. Louis Symphony and David Robertson, a piano duo for the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, and a love song to drunkenness, Brooklyn Narcissus, a song cycle for soprano and chamber orchestra. He currently lectures at UC Davis and Sacramento State University. He is also head brewer at Pals Brewin'.