up-coming

bay

area

concerts

about

the

concert

Since 1995, Karen and Jonathan have enjoyed working together on music both modern and ancient. Their concerts frequently combine improvisations with works from the 18^th century, seamlessly woven with the music of now, including pieces written for them. This program includes pieces written recently (Charles Mason, John Kreitler, Ludmilla Yurina), some Bach and some surprises.

venue

info

Friday April 11 at 7:30pm. Music in Los Altos at Los Altos Lutheran, 460 S El Monte at Cuesta

Sunday April 13 at 2pm. First Presbyterian, 1140 Cowper at Lincoln, Palo Alto

Tuesday April 15 at 2pm. San Francisco Noontime Concerts at Old St Mary’s, 660 California at Kearney, San Francisco

remi-niscing

photo

gallery

	Photos are from a recent concert at Stanford Hospital Atrium by Mao Mei Sonkin

their

bios

Karen Bentley Pollick is one of America's leading contemporary musicians, performing a wide range of solo repertoire and styles on violin, viola, piano and Norwegian Hardanger fiddle (hardingfele) to extend the boundaries of the concert experience, from the Baroque to cutting-edge contemporary music and live improvisation.

A native of Palo Alto, California, she began piano lessons at age five with the Armenian pianist Rusana Sysoyev. She then studied violin with Camilla Wicks in San Francisco, performing in the master-classes of Nathan Milstein, Jean-Jacques Kantorow and Glenn Dicterow, and studying with Rostislav Dubinsky, Josef Gingold and Yuval Yaron at Indiana University, where she received both Bachelors and Masters of Music Degrees in Violin Performance, with a cognate in Choral Conducting.

Her recordings include Electric Diamond, Angel, Konzerto and Succubus and Ariel View, for which she received three music awards from Just Plain Folks, including Best Instrumental Album and Best Song. On her own record label, Ariel Ventures, she has produced music featuring chamber works by Ivan Sokolov on <amberwood>, Homage to Fiddlers and Russian Soulscapes; solo-violin music by the Swedish composer Ole Saxe on Dancing Suite to Suite and Peace Piece; and filmed Dan Tepfer's Solo Blues for Violin and Piano for one performer simultaneously. She has also recorded for Albany, Blue Coast Records, Bridge, Camel Productions, CRI, Innova, the Lithuanian Music Centre, Mode, Neos, Numinous, RCA, Sony and Tzadik.

Her first recording for Toccata Classics featured the two violin concertos of Hermann Grädener (tocc 0529) with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine and was universally well received, garnering a Silver Medal in the 2019 Global Music Awards for Album and Instrumental Solo Performance: 'Karen Bentley Pollick is at her very best here', the reviewer for MusicWeb International reported; and Fanfare judged that 'violinist Pollick plays with rare purity and radiance of tone, and with deep concentration of emotional expression'. Her second recording for Toccata Classics presents duos for violin, viola and piano of Russian pianist/composer Ivan Sokolov (tocc0560) and was awarded a Gold Medal for Composer in the 2020 Global Music Awards. 'Karen Bentley, a triple threat on violin, viola, and piano(!), is a superb player on all three instruments, and this sonata could not be in better hands from either performer. Her passion in the very dramatic final movement simply could not be bettered. When I heard her playing, I wondered if she might have studied with Josef Gingold (she demonstrates a certain je ne sais quoi quality) and in reading the notes, discovered that she had, as well as with Camilla Wicks.' Fanfare 'It was a lucky thing for both him and Karen Bentley Pollick to have found each other back in 2004 since when they have developed a close understanding of each other's musical abilities which further enriches Sokolov's writing and their playing. As I wrote in the introduction it is unusual on a single disc for a musician to be recorded playing three different instruments as Pollick does and the biographical details in the notes takes over two pages to list all her awards and performance history; she is extraordinarily talented. The sound is exemplary as is to be expected from Toccata Classics and it is to their credit that these works are their first recordings. Thank goodness there are recording companies like them that are not solely motivated by profit for music and composers like Sokolov would certainly be the losers.' MusicWeb International

Her third recording for Toccata Classics 'Music for Emily Dickinson' presents music by Ukrainian-American composer Virko Baley with pianist Timothy Hoft and soprano Lucy Shelton and was awarded the 2024 American Prize Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for the Performance of American Music.

Karen tracked the hardangerfele solos in her San Pancho home studio for New Zealand composer Stephen Gallagher's score for Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim, released in December 2024.

Since moving to California in 1981, British-born harpsichordist Jonathan Salzedo has become a popular Freeway Philharmonic collaborator with many organizations including Jubilate, San Francisco Symphony, Symphony San Jose and Black Box Baroque. He can also be heard in Anchorage Alaska, in festival and university productions. With his wife Marion Rubinstein, he co-directs The Albany Consort, now in its 51^st year, which tackles the entire spectrum of baroque music from duos to opera. He performs new music with violinist Karen Bentley Pollick, using the harpsichord in unusual contexts. Once a maker of instruments, Jonathan still enjoys voicing and repair work. He also considers moving harpsichords (generally single-handedly) and tuning them (he is an expert on early tuning systems) to be cherished parts of a harpsichordist's life. Jonathan has two grownup children who are both fine musicians. In his spare time, he sings at Congregation Etz Chayim, Palo Alto and teaches Alexander Technique.

social

media

Find us on  Facebook.

get

in touch

Karen  karen@kbp-js.com
Jonathan  jonathan@kbp-js.com