Solo Violin with Alternating Currents

Karen Bentley Pollick, Violin & Piano
Charles Norman Mason, Technical Director

Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 6:00 pm
Steiner Auditorium
Birmingham Museum of Art
2000 Rev. Abraham Woods Jr. Blvd.
205 254-2565
This program has been made possible by grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts and is presented by the Birmingham Museum of Art and Birmingham Art Music Alliance (BAMA).

Karen Bentley Pollick will premiere new compositions for violin with electronics by four Alabama composers: In collaboration with video artist Sheri Wills, Charles Norman Mason’s Metaman explores the concept of soloist as a visual and aural landscape.  Dorothy Hindman fuses live and recorded materials of her earlier compositions composed for Pollick in Fantasia for Karen Alone.  Capital Spheres by Michael Angell presents a musical cityscape in counterpoint with the voice of the violin.  Duetto con Bobik by Brian Moon weaves samples of Pollick’s hound dog Bobik with live violin.  Other compositions on the concert include Sole Injection by Illinois composer Zack Browning, Impossible Animals by Californian David A. Jaffe, Vista by Washington composer Alex Shapiro and Solo Blues for Violin and Piano by New York based jazz pianist Dan Tepfer. 

The Birmingham News writes about Dan Tepfer’s Solo Blues:

“It’s rare to see the violin and piano played simultaneously - by one person. Karen Bentley Pollick, a violinist, pulled off that exciting feat when she played Dan Tepfer’s “Solo Blues for Violin and Piano”. The piece called for the violin and piano to alternate between melody and accompaniment. Pollick gallantly bowed away on her violin while her free hand bounced across the keyboard. Fortunately, Tepfer’s fine piece was worth the effort….Pollick clearly has a personal connection with this piece, and she pretty much lit the house on fire with her movements as well as her playing …But after having played the piano and violin simultaneously, she deserved to go wild.”

Pollick has performed Solo Blues on numerous occasions including a YouTube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezvwqlz7Do0

Program notes are online at http://kbentley.com/upcoming.htm#2010-03-11

This program has been made possible by grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts and is presented by the Birmingham Museum of Art and Birmingham Art Music Alliance (BAMA).