FanFaire Foundation Presents “From Paris To You 2014”

The Paris-based piano and viola duo of Zachary Deak and Virginie D’Avezac De Castera will perform a program of stirring music by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, and Clarke at the beautiful Village Church Chapel on Monday, February 24, 2014 at 7:00 pm. The performance is part of FanFaire Foundation’s “Free Family Concerts Series” presented in collaboration with The Village Church Concert Committee. 

Deak and D’Avezac are not new to the Rancho Santa Fe community, having been presented by FanFaire Foundation at the RSF Garden Club in April 2012 in an exquisite concert which spanned Western music from the Baroque to the 20th century. This time they have assembled a program of beautiful music by well-known composers of the Romantic era, and interestingly juxtaposes these with music by the late 20th century English-American woman composer and violist, Rebecca Clarke. Unfamiliar to many of us, Clarke is acclaimed in music circles for the lush textures and harmonies of her compositions for the viola, which have been compared with works by Ravel and Bloch, as well as for her songs and choral pieces. Her “Sonata for Viola and Piano”, which is the final number in the program, is today a standard of the viola repertoire. The duo will also perform Schumann’s “Marchenbilder for Viola and Piano”. Schubert’s “Piano Sonata in C minor, D.958” and Brahms’s “Intermezzo op.118 no.6” complete the program. What better way to bid Winter farewell than an evening of sublime music played with superb artistry and musicianship in the sacrosanct intimacy of the Village Church Chapel. 

San Diego-born and raised, (by an American mother and a Slovak father), Zachary Deak began his musical studies at the age of five as a pre-schooler in Encinitas. At age thirteen--a really young “American in Paris”--he began his studies at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris, which awarded him various “diplomes” in 2004 and 2007, culminating in 2011 with the coveted “Diplome Superieure d’execution avec l’unanimite”. Zachary has performed extensively in France as a soloist and in chamber groups, participating in the premieres of contemporary works. In June 2012, Zachary received the Hodgkins silver medal at the prestigious Chappell Medal piano competition in London. In January 2013, Zachary participated in the “Maria Joao Pires Academy” in Paris and performed in a concert at the Cite de la Musique. In July 2013, Zachary graduated from the Royal College of Music in London with a Masters degree in Performance with distinction. 

Like Zachary Deak, Virginie d’Avezac de Castera began her musical studies at age five as a piano student. She entered the Bordeaux National Conservatory at age ten where a few years later at age fourteen she found her true musical calling and began studying the viola, receiving first prizes from the Bordeaux Conservatory in viola, chamber music, harmony and counterpoint. Virginie studied with two of France's most respected violists and has played in many prominent orchestras across France. A professor of viola at the Cognac Conservatory of Music and conductor of the school’s string orchestra from 2004-2010, she now lives in Paris where she performs regularly with Zachary Deak and other musicians. Since 2011, she has been performing with the Magnolia Quartet of which she is a founding member. In September 2012, the Magnolia quartet was admitted to study at the prestigious European center of chamber music, Proquartet, in Paris. 

The concert is free and open to the public. 

When: Monday February 24, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. 

Where: The Village Church Chapel
6225 Paseo Delicias
Rancho Santa Fe, CA 92067 

For more information: www.fanfairefoundatio