“A MULTIMUSICAL, MULTIMEDIA VISUAL TOUR OF IRELAND AND CELTIC MUSIC WITH AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION”

Friday, April 12, 2002

Aaron Plunkett, noted multi-ethnic percussionist, educator and recording artist, featured studio musician for Irish percussion sound tracks in the film “The Titanic”, will use slides of Ireland to highlight a program of Celtic music. Interweaving music skills and awareness through beat, rhythm, cross-polyrhythm, pitch, melody, dialogue, etc., Aaron will take the audience on a journey through “How-To” and “Hands-On” participation to a rousing conclusion where everyone plays Classic Irish Music – A Jig and a Reel.

 

“LUCKY CHARMS, LEPRECHAUNS, AND THE LOCH NESS MONSTER-A CELTIC ROMP!”

Friday, November 9, 2001

Join us as we step beyond our borders and cross the sea into the world of Irish and Scottish culture and lore! The acclaimed performance and recording artists known as BLACKWATERSIDE will take us there…Through the magic of their music, we will learn more about such Celtic instruments as recorders, pennywhistle, bodhrans, bones and more! On hand for the fun will be fairies, leprechauns, and yes…the Loch Ness Monster!

 

“HAMILTON HIGH SCHOOL BRASS ENSEMBLE”

Friday, April 6, 2001

The Hamilton High School Academy of music is one of LA’s prime resources for quality music education. Mr. Robinson will lead the distinguished brass ensemble in a concert and demonstration of music for trumpets, French horns, trombones and tuba. This is a wonderful opportunity for all children to learn more about brass instruments.

 

“USC WOODWIND QUINTET”

Friday, December 8, 2000

The USC Thornton School of Music ranks as one of our nation’s best music schools, having produced some of our finest composers, performers, artists and teachers. The members of the USC Woodwind Quintet will demonstrate their instruments: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and French horn, as well as perform a variety of classical and delightful new music.

 

“CELLOMAN” by Eugene Friesen

Friday, April 7, 2000

A special concert for young people Friesen's touching blend of humor and pathos in this performance piece speaks directly to that part of all of us that is forever young. His use of masks, mime, characterization, and music brilliantly reveals the passion that is behind a life dedication to the discipline of music; a passion that is at the heart of all creative expression.

Christoph Bull, an internationally acclaimed organist and a professor of UCLA, demonstrated the many facets and colors of the organ, also known as the King of Instruments. In this program he featured composers from Germany and France, as well as some of his own work. The repertoire included a work by Olivier Messiaen, who would have turned 100 this year, which incorporates sounds transcribed from bird song. Dr. Bull will also demonstrated how an organ worked and gave examples of its various stops and its capacity to create an astounding range of sound.


 


October 16, 2007

Koji Nakamura, one of Japan’s finest taiko drummers, and Marco Lienhard, an outstanding shakuhachi player originally from Switzerland, performed traditional Japanese music and introduced various Japanese instruments to the children; taiko, shakuhachi and shamisen. Both artists were former members of Ondekoza, one of the top taiko groups in Japan, which spawned another equally accomplished taiko ensemble called Kodo. This concert was part of the Art and Ideas, Pasadena Festival of Skin since taiko drum heads are made of cow skin and the shamisen is made of cat skin.

Guest artist: Mike Penny, shamisen

Eastern Thunder and Wind

For more than 700 years the violin has captured the listeners’ imagination with its distinct sounds. Linda Wang, a brilliant concert violinist who made her debut with the New York Philharmonic at the age of nine, uses her violin, a 1767 Guadagnini, demonstrated the workings of this fascinating instrument, including how to make the violin sing. She is currently an assistant professor of violin at the Lamont School of Music in Denver, Colorado.

The Magic of the Violin: Capturing the Imagination
This concert was supported in part with funds received from the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts, the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Foundation, the Pasadena Educational Foundation and the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.
December 7, 2007
This concert was supportyed in part by the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts, the Tournament of Roses Foundation, the Pasadena Educational Foundation and the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

Organica:An Organ Concert by Christoph Bull

March 7, 2008
This concert was supported by the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts, the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Foundation, the Pasadena Educational Foundation, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and the Church Organs Inc.

 

Children's Concerts

                                                           

  


These young people’s concerts help grade school students gain a familiarity with music
they may not have heard before. The series gives children the opportunity to learn about
composers, instruments, music making, and the rich and diverse cultural landscape from
which music emerges. We hope that through these concerts young people will gain a
wider perception of what music can be by guiding them toward new ways of listening.

The Shumei Arts Council continues to network with the surrounding educational communities, such as Inner-City Arts in Los Angeles, and the pasadena Unified School District to establish partnerships for the Children’s Concert Series.

The Importance of Music in Everyone's Life

Music and the Brain


 

               

           
                                                              

                    

"CELLOMAN" by Eugene Friesen

October 21, 2005

November 10, 2004

October 14, 2003

November 7, 2002

A Grammy Award winning cellist, Eugene Friesen performed as CelloMan at Shumei Hall. Mr. Friesen's unique blending of sonority, humor, pathos and theatrics spoke poignantly to that part of us which is forever young.

These concerts were sponsored by the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts.
 
 
"WHAT MAKES UP A CHORUS"      
     

January 24, 2003

An exciting Children's Concert performed by the outstanding choral group, the Los Angeles Chamber Singers, directed by Peter Rutenberg, a veteran of 34 years in the choral music field. They demonstrated how a chorus is built, showing each of its four sections (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) and how they function in relation to the six building blocks of music - melody, harmony, rhythm, color, texture and form.

This concert was sponsored by the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts.

Los Angeles Times Article

Pasadena Star News Review

Los Angeles Chamber Singers & Cappella

 

Children's Concert by Christoph Bull

December 10, 2004

November 7, 2003
   

Christoph Bull, professor of organ music at UCLA, demonstrated to the children how thythm has played a role in organ music through the ages. He started with medieval music and move through history via the Baroque period and Jazz to modern times.
   
   
   
 

These concerts were supported by the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts.

Sunday Star Review
"Makoto's Mesmerizing Marimba"
by Makoto Nakura, marimbist March 12, 2004
 
   
   
  The marimba is a 7' foot long, xylophone-like instrument. Mr. Nakura told us about the marimba, and demonstrated the intriguing world of his instrument. He played in an exciting, ballistic manner, and children enjoyed watching his mallet work as well as listening to his music. In part of the concert, he encouraged the audience to collaborate in an imaginative way.  
   
 
 
"Introducing Ashu and his amazing Saxophone"
March 4, 2005  
Concert saxophonist Ashu talked children about the saxophone, demonstrated its remarkable capabilities, and discussed how classical music can communicate vivid stories and emotions.
   
   
  This concert was supported by the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts and the Kawai America Corporation.  
   
Linda's Wondrous Violin
 
December 2, 2005    
This concert was supported by the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts.
   

A brilliant violinist, Linda Wang (Biography) made her solo debut with the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta when she was nine years old. She presented a celebration of violin music from the 17th century to the present. Children learned about the history of the violin and witness its wondrous capabilities.
   
   
   
Celebrating Vivaldi's Seasons
Hot and Cold Classical March 3, 2006
 

Antonio Vivaldi knows the four seasons inside and out. He paints musical pictures so vividly that you can feel the gentle breezes as they turn into thunderstorms. He even provides his listeners with the warmth of a roaring fireplace. Violinist of the Los Angeles Philharmnic, Paul Stein and pianist Cynthia Williams of Chamber Music Express bring a sampling of Vivaldi's Seasons as well as Beethoven's own Spring Sonata to Shumei Hall.

This concert was supported by the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts.
   
   
The Magical Birth of a New Piece
A Musical Presentation by Stephen Cohn
November 16, 2006  
 
Stephen Cohn is an Emmy award-winning composer and has been an Instructor of Music at UCLA.
         
He showed the children how a composer gets an idea and then develops it into a piece of music, through presenting a trio he composed for Flute, Viola and Cello. He talked about how the initial idea develops and having the musicians demonstrate the different sections. Along the way, they discussed the creative process, experiments with ideas and how they manifest musically. Toward the end, the children heard how all the parts and all the experiments come together to make a piece of music.  
This concert was supported in part by the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts and Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

A World of Harmony

Demonstration - Concert by the Los Angeles Chamber Singers directed by Peter Rutenberg

December 6, 2006

The Los Angeles Chamber Singers is an outstanding choral group directed by Peter Rutenberg, a veteran of 38years in the choralmusic field. The demonstration-concert featured a selection of American contemporary choral works in a variety of styles from classical to jazz that form the basis of a discussion about harmony. Starting with the musical scales in solfeggio (i.e., do, re, mi, fa...) and seeing how these notes can be combined into a variety of chords, students experienced first-hand the colorful ‘world of harmony’. The program was interactive and continues work begun with the ensemble’s first such concert at Shumei Hall in 2003— “What Makes a Chorus.”

This concert was supported in part by the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts and Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

 

 

Growing Up With Ludwig and Wolfgang

March 13, 2007

What a difference a parent makes! The childhoods of Beethoven and Mozart tell us fascinating stories about musical geniuses and how their parents coped with them. While Mozart's father was a talented music teacher, and Beethoven's father made every mistake that could possibly be made, the sons' musical talents were never diminished. Paul Stein, violinist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and his colleagues, Andrew Duckles (Viola) and David Garrett (Cello) entertained us with Beethoven's and Mozart's beautiful melodies.

This concert was supportyed in part by the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and the Tournament of Roses Foundation.