Classical Noon Concert featuring
Ayaka Isono, piano
Born in Japan, Ayaka Isono received her Bachelor of Music from Indiana University, Bloomington, and her Master of Music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, taking her piano studies with Mack McCray, Marc Steiner, John Bloomfield, Paul Hersh, Eckert Selheim. Boaz Sharon, Shigeo Neriki. and Hiroshi Tajika. She has received awards and scholarships from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Indiana University, AIMS Music Festival in Austria, Piano Master Class in the Czech Republic, and Madeline Island Chamber Music Festival in Minnesota. Ms. Isono has performed throughout the United States and Europe, and locally, has worked and performed with the San Francisco Symphony, Oakland Ballet, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She has also been on the piano faculty of the San Domenico School in San Anselmo, California. As a collaborative artist, she has performed with principal musicians of the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theater Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, and New Zealand National Symphony.
Ms. Isono became visually impaired in 2001, yet continues to teach and perform, now studying her scores in Braille. She has been a guest speaker at San Francisco State University and was invited to lecture on Braille music at the California Transcribers and Educators for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CTEBVI) convention. Her notable accomplishments have been profiled on NBC news Bay Area.
In the years since the birth of her son in 2008, Ms. Isono has been teaching extensively at her private studio in the East Bay. She has worked with a wide variety of music students from all over the Bay Area, including some from as far away as San Jose. She has also performed several concerts in recent years with members of the San Francisco Opera and Ballet orchestras. All Bach, Ms. Isono’s most recent recording, is available at various online merchants and was highlighted in the San Francisco Examiner: “In a time when there is far from a shortage of Bach recordings, All Bach offers performances that are sure to engage and sustain the attention of the serious listener.”
Concert Program
Theme: ENFANCE(CHILDHOOD)
CARL MARIA VON WEBER
CRADLE SONG
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
MINUET, K. 2
BIN KANEDA
ONCE UPON A TIME
JOHANN SEBASTIEN BACH
MINUET IN G FROM THE NOTEBOOK FROM ANNA MAGALENA BACH
NO. 1 C-MAJOR FROM TWO-PART INVENTIONS
MUSETTE FROM ENGLISH SUITE NO. 3
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
SONATINA FOR PIANO ANH. 5
MODERATO
ROMANCE
ALLEGRETTO
JOHANN FRIEDRICH BURGMULLER
FROM 25 PROGRESSIVE PIECES, OP. 100
SINCERITY
THE CLEAR STREAM
THE WAGTALE
AUSTRIAN DANCE
TARANTELLE
BARCAROLLE
ANGELS’ VOICES
FRIEDRICH KUHLAU
SONATINA IN C MAJOR, OP. 55, NO. 1
I. ALLEGRO
II. VIVACE
YOSHINAO NAKADA
A WINTER MELODY
DANCE OF THE ABORIGINES
WILLIAM GILLOCK
FROM ALBUM FOR CHILDREN
IN OLD VIENNA
AT THE BALLET
FRENCH DOLL
THE JUGGLER
SARABANDE
GOLDFISH
JACQUES IBERT
THE LITTLE WHITE DONKEY
FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN
VALSE OP. 69, NO. 2
CLAUDE DEBUSSY
GOLLIWOGG’S CAKE WALK FROM CHILDREN’S CORNER
BÉLA BARTÓK
CHILDREN’S DANCE FROM FOR CHILDREN
SIX ROMANIAN FOLK DANCES
I. STICK GAME
II. PEASANT COSTUME
III. STANDING STILL
IV. MOUNTAIN HORN SONG
V. ROMANIAN GARDEN GATE
VI. LITTLE ONE
Wednesday Noon Concerts
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 three years, every Wednesday at noon, and presented concerts performed by talented musicians that are free of charge to the public. These complimentary 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.
