Three brilliant pianists return to festival
By Gilberto Munguia

Concert
Festival de San Miguel de Allende
Bernadene Blaha, Kevin Fitz-Gerald and Thomas Hrynkiw
Thu, Dec 20, 8pm
Teatro Àngela Peralta
Mesones 82

The Festival de San Miguel de Allende begins its fifteenth season on December 20, bringing sanmiguelenses the Baroque, Romantic and Contemporary chamber music repertoire of piano and strings. The festival has three brilliant pianists this year, concert artists who perform all over the world. You will remember them from previous seasons: Bernadene Blaha, Kevin Fitz-Ferald, and Thomas Hrynkiw.

Bernadene Blaha’s “brilliant command of the piano,” whether featured as recitalist, concerto soloist, or chamber player, has been heralded in performances throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Mexico.

Originally from Canada, Blaha first came to international attention as a prize winner in the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Competition and the Young Keyboard Artists International Piano Competition. A highly regarded chamber musician, she has been a regular guest at international festivals such as the Newport Festival, La Jolla SummerFest, the Banff Festival of the Arts and the Festival de San Miguel de Allende.

In her first CD, featuring the music of Chopin, Blaha’s artistry was lauded by a review in Piano & Keyboard as a “pianist of integrity, with lovely sonorities and total clarity of line.”

Blaha currently resides in Los Angeles where she has been a member of the faculty at the Thornton School of Music, University of Southern California, since 1993.

Kevin Fitz-Gerald enjoys a versatile performing career as recitalist, orchestra soloist and chamber musician. His performances have garnered international acclaim and he has been recognized for his “hypnotically powerful and precise pianism” and for his “dynamic and distinguished interpretations.”

Born in British Columbia, Fitz-Gerald studied at the Victoria Conservatory, the Banff School of Fine Arts and the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. In constant demand as a chamber musician, he has appeared at music festivals in Texas, Utah, California, Rhode Island, Mexico, Canada and Australia.

Fitz-Gerald is Professor of Piano and Collaborative Arts at the Thornton School of Music, University of Southern California, in Los Angeles. He resides in Altadena with his wife Bernadene Blaha and their son Sean.

Thomas Hrynkiw has been appearing in public since the age of 13 and is hailed as a pianist of “dramatic power and poetry.” At 19, his performance of the Tchaikovsky concerto with the great conductor Leopold Stokowski was acclaimed as a “stunning performance.”

Hrynkiw was a winner of the Gold Medal at the Geneva Competition, the Frank Huntington Beebe Award, the Harold Bauer Award and the National Music Teachers Association Award. Hrynkiw has played in the major concert halls in the United States, Europe and Mexico. He appears annually at the Newport Festival in Rhode Island and at the Festival de San Miguel de Allende.

Hrynkiw is one of the most sought-after chamber music performers. He has a long association with Metropolitan Opera basso Paul Plishka, with whom he has performed in the US, Europe and Russia. He has recorded over 800 solo pieces and accompaniments for the Yamaha Disklavier.

Gilberto Munguia is the director of the Festival de San Miguel de Allende.

The magic of Fine Wine
By Isaac Toporek

Jazz Concert Fine Wine Trio Fri, Dec 21 & Sat, Dec 22, 8pm El Viejo Topo Café-Teatro 150 pesos

What can we expect from a jazz concert when is performed by great musicians such as New York bassist Gene Perla, drummer and vocalist Bob Kaplan, and Cuban pianist Gabriel Hernández that form the Fine Wine Trio? Balance, depth of flavor, and a joyful and pleasant experience are just a few promises for the two concerts that Fine Wine Trio will give a couple of nights before Christmas.

Robert Kaplan, from Highland Park, New Jersey, was unloading tires from a tractor-trailer one day when he decided to leave home. With a school mate’s old Dodge and a silver sparkle Ludwig drum kit, he was off to the Catskill Mountains for a gig. Then he found the blues in Parkersburg, West Virginia, went to school at Berklee in Boston, lived through music on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and learned how to use a piece of rope as an emergency fan belt on a VW in Mexico.

One observer remarked, “The only musician I know who has gone from playing drums on some of the world’s most abstract music (on records with Marion Brown, Dave Burrell, Noah Howard and Gato Barbieri), drumming and singing with Dexter Gordon in Mexico, to placing in the top ten finalists of the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Vocal Competition, and tours around the world with bassist Gene Perla and the Fine Wine Trio. Some jazz magazine should have picked up on this guy’s story by now.”

Anyway, Robert became Bobby, who became R.B., who says, “Best of luck on everybody’s transitions out there. You know, there is always a new song to be sung, everywhere”

Gabriel Hernández Cadenas was born in Camagüey, Cuba on July 17, 1964, and started his piano education at seven years old in “Luis Casas Romero” Music Conservatory in Camagüey, Cuba. At fifteen, he completed his theory and professional pianist education and also received the EGREM Prize (Recordings and Musical Editions Enterprise) for the Best Musical Orchestration of annual recordings.

Gabriel has shared the stage with many great musicians including Roy Hargrove, Jean Carter, Chucho Valdez, Tito Puente, The Fine Wine Trio and many others.

Gene Perla grew up in northeastern New Jersey attending public school grades 1–12. After one year of post graduate study at New York Military Academy, he entered the University of Toledo majoring in civil engineering and business. He then attended Berklee School of Music and Boston Conservatory before heading to New York City.

After struggling with too many notes, and thanks to Charlie Haden’s performance on Ornette Coleman’s “The Shape Of Jazz To Come,” Perla, at 24, switched to the bass as his main instrument. Not long after arriving in the City, his talents became in demand and he found joy in performing with artists such as Willie Bobo, Carlos “Patato” Valdes, Nina Simone, Woody Herman, Sarah Vaughan, Elvin Jones, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis and Frank Sinatra.

Having a business sense, Gene has continuously expanded his activities to include music publishing, record labels, recording studios, promotional firms, Internet design and hosting and computer networking businesses as vehicles for his ideas.