WEDNESDAY NOON CONCERTS
Today we present Roxanne Michaelian and Marilyn Thompson both on piano!
Roxanne Michaelian, piano
Roxanne Michaelian comes from a family of professional musicians. Her father was first violinist in the S.F. Symphony for 50 years, and her sister was chosen by Leonard Bernstein to perform as soloist with the N.Y. Philharmonic. Roxanne began piano lessons at age five, studying with Claire James at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She continued her education there, completing an undergraduate and graduate degree in Piano Performance, studying with Paul Hersh. Roxanne's first appearance as soloist with orchestra was at the age of 12, when she performed with the San Francisco Symphony on its youth concert series. She subsequently received first prize in the North American Young Artists Competition in Denver, Colorado, performing with the Denver Symphony. She also was overall winner in the Young Musicians National Foundation Competition, performing at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Other orchestras she has soloed with are the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, Oakland Symphony, and the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra.
Roxanne is an active and much sought after collaborator. A past winner of national chamber music competitions, Roxanne has toured the United States with nationally known artists, and has performed in concert with Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Jamie Laredo, members of the San Francisco Symphony and members of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. She has performed on such series as Chamber Music Sundaes, Chamber Music West, San Jose Chamber Music Society, performed at Davies Symphony Hall for the San Francisco Symphony Chamber Music Series, and has played with the New Century Chamber Orchestra. Roxanne has been teaching piano lessons for over 30 years, both privately as well as at schools, and has been coach for various chamber music workshops throughout the United States. She has been an active member of the Music Teachers National Association for over 10 years. She was a private piano instructor at the Nueva Center for Learning in Hillsborough for 13 years, taught piano lessons at Santa Rosa Junior College, and has been adjudicator for many competitions throughout California, including the Junior Bach Festival, United States Open Music Competition, and the Music Teachers Association.
Marilyn Thompson, piano
Pianist Marilyn Thompson received her Bachelor’s Degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she was a student of Adolph Baller. She was awarded a Fulbright grant to the Vienna Academy of Music, and subsequently received her Master’s Degree from Stanford University, where she studied under the Helen Evans Memorial Scholarship - a full-tuition grant. While at Stanford, she gave the West Coast Premiere of Roger Sessions’ Piano Concerto. She has given countless recitals in the United States and abroad, and has been the featured soloist in concerti of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Gershwin, Martinu, Hindemith, Barber and others. She has performed virtually the entire standard chamber music repertoire. Her recordings include performances of the Thomas Beversdorf Cello sonata, the Brahms Trio Op.87, and Ravel’s Violin-Piano Sonate. Miss Thompson has performed in chamber music concerts in Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center; the 92nd Street “Y” in New York City; the Philip’s Gallery, Washington D.C.; Boston’s Symphony Hall; Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco; and most recently in the Teatro Nacional, San Jose, Costa Rica. In the 1980’s she was the pianist member of the Chamber Soloists of San Francisco and the San Francisco Trio. At the present time Miss Thompson is the pianist of the Navarro Trio, a group which performs frequently throughout the Bay Area. Marilyn Thompson has taught at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music; the College of Holy Names, Oakland, California; at the University of California at Santa Cruz; and is presently on the faculty of Sonoma State University where she has taught since 1976.
The community is invited to our complimentary Wednesday Noon Concert series. As part of our ongoing mission to use the transformative power of the arts to inspire and enrich our community, we have opened our doors for the past two years, every Wednesday at Noon, and presented concerts performed by talented musicians that are free of charge to the public. These free noon performances offer listeners the opportunity to discover the beauty of music in an intimate accessible setting, while providing the community with cultural enrichment and exposure to talented performers.
Concerts are in a one-hour format and performances take place in the intimate Tivoli or Crescendo where both audience and musicians can sit in vibrant, close proximity. Musicians often stay after the performance to informally speak about the program and their upcoming concerts.
