Sarasota Concert Association presents
The Duo-Piano Team
Cynthia Lawing and Gloria Cook
In a Munchtime Musicales Performance
February 17 § David Cohen Hall
(Sarasota, Florida) The Sarasota Concert Association’s free Munchtime Musicales series continues its 2015-2016 season with concert pianists Cynthia Lawing and Gloria Cook, in a program for one piano, four hands, February 17, noon, in David Cohen Hall at the Beatrice Friedman Symphony Center, 709 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. The program includes Brahms’ Four Hungarian Dances, Bizet’s Jeux d’Enfants, Two Slavic Dances, Op. 72 by Dvořák, Aram Khachaturian’s Waltz from Masquerade and impromptu variations on Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm.” The concert is free and open to the public. For more information about Munchtime Musicales, call 941-351-7467, or visit www.scasarasota.org.
Hong Kong natives and sisters Cynthia Lawing and Gloria Cook began piano lessons at the age of four and received their advanced degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music where they studied duo-piano repertoire under the legendary Babin-Vronsky team. As duo-pianists, the sisters have won several national and international competitions, performing for dignitaries in Hong Kong City Hall as well as on television in Asia. They have also performed numerous two-piano concerti with the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. Their most recent concert tour includes performances at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Wittenberg University, Ohio University, and a special performance at the presidential inauguration of the American Medical Association in Chicago.
The sisters also enjoy individual teaching and solo performance careers. Lawing’s performance career has taken her throughout the United States, Asia, Europe and South America. She has performed many notable private recitals, including an inauguration concert for Vasco Leotte de Almeida Costa, Royal Governor of Macau, and a private recital for Madame Chiang Kai-Shek in Taiwan. Lawing teaches at Davidson College.
As a soloist, Gloria Cook has performed with the Springfield Symphony, the Charleston Symphony and the Bach Festival Choir and Orchestra. She has also performed as a chamber music player at the Tanglewood Music Festival and the Charleston Piccolo Spoleto Festival. Cook teaches at Rollins College where she received the 2013-15 Cornell Distinguished Faculty award.
Munchtime Musicales is a series of free concerts featuring performances by high-caliber, area-based artists. The series is designed to offer a wide variety of musical genres, including classical, folk, and jazz, featuring both vocal and instrumental performers.
The 2015-016 Munchtime Musicales concert season continues with Studio Artists from the Sarasota Opera, Sarasota’s ambassadors of opera who bring opera to stages beyond the walls of the Opera House (March 16, 2106); and concludes with Belle Canto, Sarasota’s women’s choral ensemble that celebrates women’s voices with a varied repertoire (April 13, 2016).
All Munchtime Musicales performances are at noon at the Beatrice Friedman Symphony Center, 709 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. The series is free and open to the public. Seating is open; no reservations taken. For more information about Munchtime Musicales, call 941-351-7467 or visit www.scasarasota.org.
Sarasota Concert Association’s 2016 Great Performers Series at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall continues with the Cleveland Orchestra, long considered to be one of America’s greatest orchestras, under the baton of Franz Welser-Möst (January 31, 2016); the Miró Quartet, known for its exciting performances, technical finesse, eclectic programming, and for skillfully taking audiences across risky musical terrain with spectacular rewards (February 15, 2016); the groundbreaking Russian National Orchestra (RNO) under the baton of guest conductor Kirill Karabits, with violin soloist Stefan Jackiw (March 8, 2016); and the return of dynamic Russian pianist Olga Kern, renowned for her star power, vivid stage presence, passionately confident musicianship and extraordinary technique (March 14, 2016).
Great Performers Series concerts are at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 North Tamiami Trail in Sarasota. Individual tickets range in price from $30 to $100. Tickets for the series may be purchased at www.scasarasota.org or by calling 941-225-6500.
About the Sarasota Concert Association
The Sarasota Concert Association (SCA) is a not-for-profit organization that seeks to foster an appreciation for the musical arts by sponsoring professional concerts, featuring a variety of quality music. This is accomplished through the Great Performers Series of world-class musicians and Munchtime Musicales, a free community outreach program. For more information about SCA, visit www.scasarasota.org.
