October 20, 2017 — 5:30 pm
Music of Poulenc, Finzi, and Dvořák
| Program: | |
|---|---|
| Sonata for clarinet and piano | Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) |
| Five Bagatelles, Op. 23 | Gerald Finzi (1901-1956) |
| Romance in F minor | Antonin Dvořák (1841-1904) |
As clarinetist/bass clarinetist for the San Francisco Opera Orchestra from 1980 to 1998, Gregory Dufford performed with many of the world’s finest opera singers. His performing experience went well beyond the opera stage to include 13 years as Principal Clarinetist of the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. During that period, the group produced seven CD’s on various labels, and premiered works by Elliott Carter, John Cage, John Harbison and others.
Gregory also performed with and was a founding member of several other chamber music ensembles in the San Francisco area, such as the Anchor Chamber Players, the Stanford Woodwind Quintet and the Beaumont Ensemble. He also held teaching positions at Stanford and San Francisco State Universities.
After moving to Evergreen, Colorado, in 1998, he taught full-time at Metropolitan State College and coached chamber music for the Evergreen Chamber Orchestra and at various schools.
Peggy Lyon is a concert pianist whose playing has been described as “radiating beauty and an inner intensity of feeling which is simply overwhelming”. She has performed solo recitals in Austria, Peru, and major cities in the western United States, and has given world premieres of works by David Baker, Eugene Kurz and Istvan Hornyak. She has also performed concertos with orchestras in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, in Pullman, Washington, and in Denver, Evergreen and Golden Colorado. Most recently she performed the Strauss Burlesque with the Jefferson Symphony Orchestra in October of 2011. She has recorded ten solo CD’s.
Peggy’s award-winning specialty is giving concerts with commentary about the music and the composers. Her talks are informative and humorous, and they are unique for including outrageous pronouncements of critics.
Peggy studied piano and voice at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. She has a Masters in piano performance from Washington State University and a Masters in voice performance from the University of Denver.
Gregory Dufford and Peggy Lyon have been performing together for more than thirteen years, and they have also recorded five CDs together.