Faculty Recitals

Pianist Richard Cionco will be performing along with guest cellist Burke Schuchmann on Sunday, February 10, at 2:00pm in the Music Recital Hall. Cionco, praised by Donal Henahan of the New York Times for his "sensitive pianism", first performed as soloist with orchestra at age nine, and has since performed with many orchestras including the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra, the Oakland Civic Symphony, and with the Seijo Symphony of Tokyo. He has delighted audiences in major concert halls such as New York's Carnegie Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Merkin Concert Hall, Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, and Steinway Hall. An International Steinway Artist, Mr. Cionco is a graduate of the University of Maryland and The Juilliard School, studying with Rudolf Firkusny, Thomas Schumacher, and Audrey Bart Brown. Burke Schuchmann studied in London, England with William Pleeth for five years, where he made his debut at the age of 19. He also studied for extended periods with Margaret Rowell and Colin Hampton. After his studies in England, he became Principal Cellist and soloist with the Salzburger Solisten in Austria. He has performed extensively as a soloist and chamber musician in Europe and the U.S., and has also been principal cellist and soloist with the former Sacramento Symphony. Admission for this concert is $8 general and $5 for students and seniors.

On Monday, March 24, sopranos Robin Fisher and Claudia Kitka will join baritone Michael Sokol in a recital beginning at 8:00pm in the Music Recital Hall. Robin Fisher won both the prestigious Fulbright-Hayes Scholarship and a Rotary Foundation Award to pursue studies in Europe, and received the coveted Artist's Diploma cum laude, from the Vienna Hochschule für Musik. She began her vocal studies at San José State University in California and went on to graduate cum laude from Smith College, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She recently completed her doctoral studies at The University of Texas at Austin and taught at Baylor University for nine years. Claudia Kitka holds degrees in music from Duke University and Eastman School of Music. Her diverse performance experience includes opera, musical theater, Shakespearean, and modern dramatic roles. Locally she has performed with the Camellia Symphony, the California Wind Orchestra, the Sacramento Symphony, Stockton Opera, UC Davis Music and Drama productions, and Davis Comic Opera Company. Baritone Michael Sokol grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, where as a child he was a member of the Phoenix Boys Choir for many years. He has sung "Faninal" in Der Rosenkavalier with the Nashville Opera; "Nardo" in Mozart's La Finta Giardiniera with the Netherland's Opera Zuid; "Popolani" in Offenbach's Barbe-Bleue with Opéra Français de New York; and the world premiere of There Is a Garden: The Music of Leonard Bernstein, conceived, created, and directed for Chicago Opera Theater by Sokol's wife, soprano Angelina Réaux. Admission for this concert is $8 general and $5 for students and seniors.

On Wednesday, April 9, the New Millennium Series will present our Faculty Gala Concert at 7:30pm in the Music Recital Hall. The year's gala will feature Pete Nowlen on horn, Laurel Zucker on flute, Joel Elias on trombone, Deborah Shidler on oboe, and staff accompanist Dr. John Cozza on piano. The program will include classical, romantic, and impressionistic solo and chamber music. Admission for this concert is $20 general, and $5 for students and seniors.

Guitarist Greg Williams will be giving a free recital on Thursday, May 1 at 8:00pm in Capistrano Hall 151. Greg graduated from Sacramento State, where he studied with Richard Savino, and is currently a part-time faculty member of the music department.

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