Mid-Day Music

Mid-Day Music May 11, 2016

The May 11, 2016 Mid-Day Music program features Olav van Hezewijk and Eric Trudel, oboe and piano: Song transcriptions by Schubert and Fauré. The concert starts at 12:05 p.m. and lasts approximately one-half hour. The recital is free but donations are gladly accepted. A light lunch follows for a $5 donation.

Holland native Olav van Hezewijk is a very familiar performer here at St. Paul's for many years. He has charmed audiences in the Connecticut/New York area since 1982 with his dazzling technique and lyrical phrasing. Following his 1984 Yale School of Music graduation, he was a prize winner in the famed Gillet International Double Reed Competition in Graz, Austria and has since established himself in elite circles both as a performer and teacher. He is principal oboe of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra (William Boughton, music director) and the renowned Colorado Music Festival in Boulder (Jean-Marie Zeitouni, music director). In 2003, Olav toured as guest principal oboe for two months with the China National Symphony. In addition to playing in Beijing, the orchestra went on an extensive tour of Europe, Australia and Japan during that time. He was, subsequently, offered a position in both the orchestra and the Central Conservatory in Beijing but the onset of SARS thwarted that pursuit. Olav has made guest appearances with the Baltimore Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic and has been a frequent concerto soloist with the New Haven Symphony, Jupiter Symphony, Colorado Music Festival and Yale Camerata. In addition, Olav plays English horn with the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra (Toshiyuki Shimada, music director) and principal oboe with the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra (Leif Bjaland, music director) and principal oboe of the Canterbury Choral Society Orchestra in New York.

Most recently, Olav and his wife, Marta Boratgis, another regular performer here, as well as instrumental contractor, were invited as guest performers with I Musici Montreal (Jean-Marie Zeitouni, music director) in February. Earlier this month, Olav appeared with New Haven's Wall Street Chamber Players along with friend and colleague, Eric Trudel, who is a regular member. Olav is in demand as a recitalist because of his exceptional repertoire of difficult works that few oboists ever perform and or maintain.

A native of Quebec, Canada, Eric Trudel graduated with top honors from the Quebec Conservatory of Music. He won the prestigious Prix d’Europe competition, which enabled him to study privately with pianists Garrick Ohlsson, Jean-Claude Pennetier, Marc Durand and Louis Lortie. He has taught and performed extensively throughout Canada, Italy, Germany, Austria, Japan, Korea, Spain, and the United States. His New York City credits include recitals at Weil Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall and the 92nd Street Y. While pursuing an active career as a pianist, he took conducting lessons from Raffi Armenian and Ronald Zollman.

Mr. Trudel has worked as a pianist, coach and/or conductor with many organizations, amongst which the Montreal International Piano Festival , the Banff Center Festival for the Arts, L'Opéra de Montréal, Connecticut Grand Opera, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, the OK MOZART Festival the Pro Arte Singers and the Stamford Chorale.

His faculty appointments include the Banff Centre for the Performing Arts, the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec in Trois-Rivières, Montréal Opera’s Atelier Lyrique, the Université du Québec à Montréal and more recently Yale University's School of Music (2001-2005) and Western Connecticut State University. He currently is on faculty at University of Hartford's Hartt School of Music and Southern Connecticut State University.

His long association with the CBC includes numerous television and radio performances as a soloist, chamber musician and accompanist. On CD, he can be heard on the CBC, Star, and Naxos labels. In 2005, he was involved in the recording of the complete songs of Charles Ives for Naxos.

In 2008, the national publication Classical Singer Magazine chose Eric Trudel to be "Vocal Coach of the Year", a crowning acknowledgement of his many years of collaborative work with opera singers.

In the opera field, he has recently conducted productions of Carmen, Dialogues des Carmélites, Street Scene, Suor Angelica, Les Mamelles de Tirésias and Peter Grimes.

Eric Trudel just joined the Wall Street Chamber Players, a group of first chair musicians from the New Haven Symphony and other orchestras who have been performing in their own subscription series through Connecticut for the past 35 years.

For three years, Mr. Trudel was the music director at First Congregational Church in Watertown, where he prepared and conducted the choir and honed his organ skills. He is currently pianist and organist for Tremont and Emanu-El Temples Synagogue in Scarsdale NY. A devoted student and practitioner of the Alexander Technique, he gratefully credits his teacher Rachel Bernsen with weekly life-changing experiences.

The concert will be held at St. Paul’s on the Green, 60 East Avenue, Norwalk, CT 06851.

For additional information, contact events@seaburynorwalk.org or call (203) 847-2806 x13

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