An evening of chamber music for piano and strings featuring original members of MRP’s roster of performers as well as some new friends. The program is about visiting New York and includes works by those who would “come and go” through NY for both work and play. The witty and beautiful Postcards from NY will be performed as well as works by Colin Pip Dixon, Rolando Garza Rodríguez and Dvorak’s Piano Quintet.
PROGRAM:
Colin Pip Dixon.....Postcards from New York
Colin Pip Dixon.....Invocation - A Prayer for Peace
Rolando Garza-Rodríguez.......For Those Gone Too Soon
Rolando Garza-Rodríguez.....Réquiem y Transfiguración
Rolando Garza-Rodríguez....New York I. LOVE. you (world premiere)
Rolando Garza-Rodríguez....Canto a mi tristeza (world premiere)
Antonin Dvorak.....PIano Quintet in A Major, op. 81
Artists:
Daniel Constant, violin
Colin Pip Dixon, violin and guest composer
Katie Kresek, violin
Arnaud Ghillebaert, viola
Jessica Constant, cello
Barbara Podgurski, piano
Rolando Garza Rodríguez, piano and guest composer
A native of New York, pianist and teaching artist Barbara Podgurski holds a DMA in piano performance from The Graduate Center (CUNY) as well as a BM in piano performance and an MM in both piano performance and music theory from the Mannes College of Music. Dr. Podgurski has performed as soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Caribbean and Europe, including a number of performances at Carnegie Hall. She has been featured in television and radio broadcasts which include appearances on numerous others. Dr. Podgurski was featured on a television documentary for NHK in Japan with her touring partner violinist Elizabeth Pitcairn and the famed “Red” Mendelssohn Stradivarius. A former faculty member at The Mannes College of Music, Hunter College and Mercy College, she is currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor at BMCC (CUNY), Staff Pianist for the Strings Department at NYU, and is on the faculty of the RiverArts Music Program in Hudson Valley. Barbara is a consultant for the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs as well as for the Board of Education in both NYC and NYS. By invitation in 2014, Dr. Podgurski became a Steinway Teaching Artist. She has performed with rock band Evanescence on their 2017/18 Synthesis Tour and with legendary vocal group Il Divo on their 2019 “Timeless” Tour and 2022 Greatest Hits Tour. Barbara recently completed a project with Alison Cook Beatty modern ballet company in NYC, performing Bartok 2 nd Sonata for Piano and Violin and Shostakovich Preludes live on stage during performance. Barbara is currently a contributing writer to Cambridge’s Nineteenth Century Music and has been an Arts Commissioner Advisor for the Queens Council on the Arts and is Chief Advisor on the advisory board of NY Sound Circuit. Barbara is the organist and music director at Trinity St. Andrews Evangelical Lutheran Church in Maspeth, Queens. She is an Associate Director of The Krakauer Institute; a program that brings students abroad for intensive summer study in Provence, France.
Mexican Composer, Pianist, Conductor and Opera Coach Rolando Garza Rodríguez started taking piano lessons at 8 years of age. At age 11 he won a national youth composition competition in Monterrey, Nuevo León “Looking for the new Mozart”. Bachelor in Music from The University of Houston and Master of Music from The Manhattan School of Music, where he studied piano with the late Phillip Kawin. He is currently Head of Music and Casting Advisor at Theater Bremen. In the past he also held that position at Luzerner Theater and Theater für Niedersachsen. He was the Opera Studio Music Director at Theater Basel, in Switzerland. Assistant Music Director at “Les jeunes voix du Rhin” in Colmar, France, for L’opéra national du Rhin. He has performed as pianist and conductor internationally and has taught at many prestigious summer programs in Europe, the United States and Mexico.
The first American woman to win a Tony award for Best Orchestrations, Katie Kresek’s career as performer, creator, and educator is defined by versatility and multi-genre musical artistry. She is currently the concertmaster of Moulin Rouge! The Musical on Broadway. In addition to a performing career as a classical orchestral player, chamber musician, and recording and touring musician with artists such as Norah Jones, Paul Simon, and Adele, she has played in 18 Broadway productions and numerous Off-Broadway shows. She has arranged for Ariana Grande, Lizzo, Beck, David Byrne, Lana Del Rey, and many others. Her portfolio also includes work as a music coordinator for such events as The Met Gala, The Rockefeller Christmas Tree Lighting, and in numerous television productions. A leading teaching artist for various New York City cultural institutions, her research and writings on artists who teach have been published nationally and internationally, and she has taught all over the United States and in France, The United Kingdom, Japan, Brazil, Abu Dhabi, Italy, and The Philippines. She holds Masters and Doctoral degrees in music and music education from Columbia University, where she also serves as adjunct faculty. Katie is also Director of The Krakauer Institute; a program that brings students abroad for intensive summer study in France.
Colin Pip Dixon is a violinist, composer, and co-artistic director of The Elsewhere Ensemble ( www.ElsewhereEnsemble.com ). With Elsewhere Ensemble he has performed in Paris and Lyon, France, in Belgium (international MAX Festival), Montreal, Beirut, New York City, Boston, Virginia and throughout Oregon. The Ensemble creates concerts bringing together chamber music, literature and theater. As a composer he has received grants from several important French music institutions (SACEM, SPEDIDAM) and worked closely for many years as composer/performer with the French theater company Compagnie la Première Seconde. Some of his important compositions include Invocation – a prayer for peace (performed with Grammy Award winning baritone Kenneth Overton and acclaimed soprano Camille Ortiz in Eugene and Portland with support from the Oregon Humanities Center, excerpts live on ALLCLASSICAL Portland Radio, as well as in Virginia for an International Peace Builder’s conference); Icarus Quartet for string quartet and narrator based on the Greek Myth (performed in Oregon, Belgium and France), Chekhov Triptych – three Chekhov stories in concert (Paris, New York, Portland) and The Happy Prince for piano quartet and narrator (performed in three different languages on three different continents). He also helped create and co-produce His Majesty, the Devil – a play with music at the Edinburgh and New York International Fringe Festivals. Commissions include Beethoven in the Stars (text, music and concept) by Pacific University (2020) and Chaucer’s The Rooster & The Fox (commissioned and performed by Chamber Music Amici 2021 and 2025) and songs for Birds Flying Through produced by A-Squared productions. Currently based in Eugene, Oregon he performs regularly as a violinist with the Eugene Symphony, Eugene Opera, Oregon Mozart Players, Chamber Music Amici, among others. He has taught violin in French Conservatories in Versailles, Reims, at Great Neck Music Conservatory and Oregon State University Chamber Music camp, teaches workshops for musicians online (Virtuosity.Online), at Universities and conferences (American String Teacher’s Association National Conferences) and is Associate Director of the newly created Krakauer Institute in Provence, France.
Daniel Constant began studying violin in NYC under Barbara Krakauer at both the Mannes School of Music and at what is now the Krakauer Institute for Intensive Summer Study. After her passing, he would go on to study with Sally Thomas and Ann Setzer while at Mannes and at the Meadowmount School of Music. He has since gone on to become a fixture in the vibrant Northeast music scene where he regularly features with groups such as the American Composers Orchestra, the grammy award winning 8-Bit Big Band, Wordless Music Orchestra, among others. In Addition, he has made a career performing on cruise ships, recording film scores and albums with artists such as Ariana Grande, and playing on Broadway.
Originally from Paris, Arnaud Ghillebaert has performed as an orchestra musician with The Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields (Sir Neville Mariner) and the London Symphony Orchestra and most recently with the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London. He toured Europe for two summers with the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra under the baton of Sir Colin Davis and Herbert Blomstedt and has been a member of the Artosphere Festival Orchestra for many years. In 2024 he toured the West Coast with the Belgian Akhtamar String Quartet and performed Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante as soloist with the Oregon Mozart Players. A founding member and co-artistic director of the Elsewhere Ensemble, in 2013 he created the role of the Shadow in His Majesty the Devil-a play with music (performed at 59E59 Theaters in New York City, Fringe NYC, and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival). A dedicated chamber musician, he was invited to perform at the Louis Moreau Institute in New Orleans and in the “Starry Nights” music series at the Staller Center for the Arts alongside Colin Carr, Eugene Drucker (Emerson String Quartet) and Nick Cords (Silkroad Ensemble, Brooklyn Rider). He received his Masters from the Royal College of Music in London and completed his Doctorate in Violin and Viola performance at Stony Brook University in 2016. He is currently the viola instructor at the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance (since 2017) and gives presentations and masterclasses in schools and National and Statewide conferences around the country. In Oregon he performs regularly with Oregon Bach Festival, Chamber Music Amici and microphilharmonic. He is also the principal violist of the Eugene Symphony, the Oregon Mozart Players, and Eugene Opera.
Cellist Jessica Constant, following in the footsteps of her siblings, started playing the cello at the age of seven. A graduate of the Juilliard Pre-College, Jessica along with her siblings performed as the Constant Family String Trio. From the tunnels of Grand Central Station to the concert hall at Kennedy Center in Washington DC, the trio enthralled audiences with their musical talents as well as academic achievements. During her earlier musical career, Jessica has made many public appearances. She was featured on the well-renowned radio show, “From the Top”, where she performed a duet with the prestigious vocalist, Bobby McFerrin. She has also appeared on Unsolved Mysteries, where she was featured as a Child Prodigy, and in a documentary titled “The Music in You”. Along with her two older brothers, they have appeared in multiple newspaper articles including the Washington Post, and NY Times. While music has always been an important part of her life, Jessica has managed to balance both her musical and academics studies. With over a decade of experience as a Registered Nurse, Jessica completed a Masters of Science in Nursing at Hunter College in 2014, and currently works as a Nurse Practitioner for Middletown Medical. Despite a successful career in nursing, music remains Jessica’s first love. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she found solace in her music, which inspired her to pursue more artistic and creative endeavors. Since then, she has shifted her focus towards pursuing music and sharing her passion with others. She was set to make her re-debut in 2019 for the 20th anniversary of Musica Reginae Productions, but like many performances, this was canceled due to the pandemic. Undeterred, she continued to hone her skills and prepare for future opportunities to share her music with the world.
MRP is so proud to share that Jessica and Daniel Constant were featured on one of the very first “Tomorrow’s Artists Today” concerts presented by MRP in its earliest years. They appeared alongside their brother Pierre performing in a string trio at The Church-in-the Gardens when they were between the ages of 12 and 15.