VIDEO
VIDEO
Make a joyful noise unto the Lord - Psalm 100:1
Begin the music, strike the tambourine, play the melodious harp and lyre. - Psalm 81:2
Violinist Lacy Rostyak
Sonatasia is more than a performance, it is an experience of music and dance which unfolds all around you. There is no stage. The stage is everywhere. Enjoy a wonderful evening as guests at a beautiful private home, where you will meet new people and perhaps make friends, and enjoy a performance experience you will always remember.
S O N A T A S I A
Please join us for an evening of fine music with coloratura soprano
Kirsten Ashley Wiest, and pianist Alastair Edmonstone
This recital will be held at a private home in Laguna Beach on Saturday evening, November 2. Doors open at 6:30; concert begins at 7:00.
Formal Dress Required. Wine and Light Refreshments Will Be Served
Featured Work: Gyorgy Ligeti's mind (and ear) bending
"Mysteries of the Macabre"
On November 2, Halloween will have come and gone, but it won't be too late for the Mysteries of the Macabre, as conjured up by Soprano Kirsten Ashley Wiest and pianist Alastair Edmonstone. Transcribed for piano and high soprano ("high" as in vocal range, not as in...nevermind) from Gyorgy Ligeti's 1996 opera "La Grande Macabre", "Mysteries of the Macabre" defies musical description, pushing the vocal envelope beyond levels previously imagined by men or fallen angels, and redefining what playing the piano can be. Yet Wiest and Edmonstone are up for the task. (Fifth Element's "Diva" has nothing on Kirsten!). Be warned, however. Mysteries of the Macabre might just wake the dead, so delve therein only if thou darest.
The remainder of the program to be announced...but who cares?
Tickets are $35 Per Person
Space is extremely limited
Sonatasia wishes to thank Corina Augustine Cheung
for graciously hosting this event
Sonatasia is directed by David M. Parker, Architect.
Please email us at sonatasia@yahoo.com to be invited to future Sonatasia performances.
"The audience demanded it to be repeated. Kirsten Ashley Wiest...demonstrated why."
- Los Angeles Times
"...extraordinary performance virtuosity."
-Sequenza21
"Bright, dazzling vocal technique."
- San Diego Story
"Feathery, ethereal glory." - Sequenza21
Sonatasia Presents
An Evening with Soprano Kirsten Ashley Wiest
In Recital at a Private Home in Laguna Beach
With Pianist Alastair Edmonstone
Saturday, November 2, 7:00 pm
About Kirsten Ashley Wiest, DMA
Award winning coloratura soprano Kirsten Ashley Wiest is firmly committed to the continuous evolution of classical vocal music. Her “bright, dazzling vocal technique” (San Diego Story) has captured the attention of composers worldwide, resulting in numerous world premiere performances including works by James Erber (UK), Lei Liang (CN/US), Veronika Krausas (CA/US), Gérard Pape (FR), Rand Steiger (US), Jeffrey Holmes (US), Jack Van Zandt (US), and Annie Hsieh (AU), among many others.
Kirsten has sung as a soloist with the GRAMMY-winning Partch ensemble, La Jolla Symphony and Chorus, YMF Debut Orchestra, MiraCosta Symphony, HEAR NOW Festival of New Music, the Industry, kallisti chamber opera, Musica Vitale, wild Up new music collective, Joe Garrison and the Night People, UCLA John Cage Symposium, UCSD's Palimpsest, CalArts New Century Players Ensemble, and Chapman University’s New Music Ensemble, and has performed at venues including Walt Disney Concert Hall, REDCAT, Copley Symphony Hall, Aratani Japan America Theater, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Théâtre Le Palace in Perigueux, Autonomous University of Baja California, and the Moore Theater.
Kirsten holds a DMA in Contemporary Music Performance in Voice from UC San Diego, an MFA from California Institute of the Arts, and a BM cum laude from Chapman University’s Conservatory of Music. She founded UC San Diego's annual Undergraduate Opera in 2017, producing and directing full operas each Spring and a Fall scenes program comprised entirely of undergraduate Voice Majors. Kirsten currently lectures in Music at California State University San Bernardino.
Please visit her website: www.kirstenashleywiest.com
About Pianist Alastair Edmonstone, DMA
Alastair Edmonstone has performed as soloist, chamber musician and collaborative pianist throughout North America, Europe, and Africa. Recent performances include recitals at Peabody Conservatory, University of Maryland, Boston’s Jordan Hall, Seattle’s Meany Theater, Seattle Art Museum, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, the University of Edinburgh and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.
An advocate of modern music, Edmonstone has collaborated with leading composers such as Paulo Chagas, Jonathan Harvey, Huck Hodge, Lee Hyla, Kirk Mechem and Gunther Schuller. Championing challenging works of the 20th and 21st Century repertoire, Alastair gave the Seattle premier of Luciano Berio’s Sonata per pianoforte solo, the Boston premier of Gunther Schuller’s Grand Concerto for Percussion and Keyboards and over a dozen performances of Olivier Messiaen’s legendary piano cycle Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jésus.
Currently, Edmonstone is the Collaborative Pianist in residence at California State University San Bernardino. Previously he served on the piano faculty of both Towson University and Lincoln University of Pennsylvania. From 2010-12 he was faculty opera coach at Birmingham Conservatoire in England.
A native of Perth, Scotland, Edmonstone holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Washington, and a Master of Music and Graduate Diploma from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He earned his undergraduate degree in Piano from Birmingham Conservatoire in England, and also studied at the Royal Conservatory, Brussels.
Please visit his website at: www.alastairedmonstone.com
