As a rich arts community, Brattleboro can make a claim in helping to launch the careers of a number of fine professional musicians. As one of its stated goals, Juno eagerly welcomes soloists at work in the larger musical world who grew up in the Brattleboro area and received early musical training there.

Concert VI

Jake Charkey
Stan Charkey J/J, for cello and strings (commissioned 2019)
September 7 and 7, 2019

Jake Charkey started playing violin at the age of 6. After a year of suffering the scratchy cacaphony of beginning violin, his father mercifully gave him a cello to try, and and he took it up like an old friend.

Jake studied cello in the Western Classical tradition under Zon Eastes, Paul Cohen, Leopold Teraspulsky, and finally with Norman Fischer at the Shepherd School of music at Rice University in Houston, TX. Seeking to broaden his musical skills and vocabulary after conservatory training, he took an interest in Hindustani music. His studies began in Toronto with the sarangi player, Aruna Narayan, who urged him to adapt Hindustani music to cello rather than learn an Indian instrument. He continued in Los Angeles where he took up intensive training with Jagan Ramamoorthy, a senior disciple of the violin virtuoso Padmabushan Dr. N. Rajam. He completed his M.F.A. at CalArts in Hindustani music under the guidance of Aashish Khan and Swapan Chaudury and with additional instruction on cello and contemporary techniques from Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick. While at CalArts he also incorporated other modalities of improvisation into his playing with Vinny Golia, Wadada Leo Smith, and Charlie Haden.

After grad school Jake moved to Montreal, where continued to perform Hindustani music, both as a soloist and accompanist for Kathak dance and was a occasional collaborator with tUnEyArds. In 2010 he travelled to India with an arts fellowship from the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute to support formal study under Padmabushan Dr. N. Rajam with whom he continued to learn for the 6 years he stayed there.

In India he recorded and performed with many of the most celebrated musicians in Bollywood. His unique sound can be heard on season 2 of MTV’s Coke Studio, multiple episodes of MTV Unplugged, and in a number of Bollywood soundtracks.

Since returning to the USA in 2016 Jake has joined the Slipstream Ensemble at Marlboro College, a composer/performer ensemble in residence and performs with Layale Chaker and Sarafand. He also performs with Adam Rudolph’s GO Organic Orchestra and is a frequent collaborator with the Brooklyn Raga Massive. He has been an advocate for new music for solo cello which he programs in recital alongside Hindustani music. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

photo: Sahil Mane Photography

Concert III

Jennifer Slowik
Johann Sebastian Bach Concerto in A Major for oboe d’amore, BWV 1055r
September 29 and 30, 2018

Jennifer Slowik is principal oboe with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), Odyssey Opera, Monadnock Music Festival, assistant principal with the Orchestra of Indian Hill, and a member of the weekly Bach cantata series at Emmanuel Music, where she was the recipient of the 2009-10 Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson fellowship. Jennifer is a frequent performer with organizations all over New England and beyond, including the Boston Philharmonic, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, Boston Midsummer Opera, the west coast and Canadian tour of “The Music of Star Wars”. As a soloist and chamber musician, she has appeared with the Chameleon Arts Ensemble, Collage New Music, ALEA III, and is a frequent recitalist on Trinity College’s Summer Chamber Music Series in Connecticut. Highlights in recent years include performances at the Library of Congress, the world and US premieres of Tod Machover’s multi-media opera Death and the Powers in Monte Carlo’s Sally Garnier Theatre and Chicago, and composer Livia Lin’s Honorable Mention in the 2011 International Music Prize competition for Ju for solo oboe, written especially for her. Ms. Slowik is featured on numerous recordings on the BMOP/sound label, most notably the 2016 Grammy nominated PLAY, by Andrew Norman, Lisa Bielawa’s Synopsis #10: for solo English Horn, and the recently released CD of Thomas Oboe Lee’s Persephone, for oboe and strings. Born in Livonia, Michigan, Jennifer moved to Vermont at the age of 6, growing up in South Newfane and Williamsville. Beginning on the recorder, she took lessons at the Brattleboro Music Center with Marion Lowe, before taking up both the oboe and the saxophone in the 7th grade. She attended Leland and Gray Union High School, during which time she participated in UMASS Amherst’s Youth Wind Ensemble. She holds bachelors and masters degrees from the New England Conservatory.

photo: Susan Wilson

Concert II

Eric Bartlett
Franz Joseph Haydn Cello Concerto in D Major, Hob. VII b/2
June 9 and 10, 2018

Cellist Eric Bartlett is a member of the New York Philharmonic, Speculum Musicae, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. His solo appearances include the Cabrillo Festival, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, the Anchorage Symphony, the Hartford Chamber Orchestra, the Aspen and Julliard Orchestras, and the New York Philharmonic’s Horizons ’84 series. Mr. Bartlett is the recipient of a Solo Recitalist’s Award from the National Endowment for the Arts and a special Performance Award as a finalist of the 1987 New England Conservatory/ Piatigorsky Award.

Recognized as a leading performer of contemporary music, Mr. Bartlett has participated in over ninety premieres with ensembles such as Speculum Musicae, the New York New Music Ensemble, The Group for Contemporary Music and the Columbia String Quartet, and he has commissioned new works for the cello from American composers. During the summer of 2000 Mr. Bartlett was invited by Marin Alsop to be a featured soloist in the North American premiere of James McMillan’s Triduum, the middle third of which is a cello concerto. He has served as either Artist-President or Vice-President of Speculum Musicae since 1990. Bartlett has performed at the Mostly Mozart, Marlboro, Aspen Adirondack, Grand Teton and Waterloo Music festivals, and has been a regular participant at the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival since 1996. From 1984 until he joined the New York Philharmonic in 1997, Mr. Bartlett served as both the principal cellist of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra and co-principal of Orpheus, and for two seasons was also guest principal of the American Ballet Theatre Orchestra.

A native of Marlboro, Vermont, Mr. Bartlett’s early teachers included George Finckel and Blanche Honegger Moyse. From 1973 to 1975, he was a student of Leopold Teraspulsky at the University of Massachusetts. He was awarded full scholarships to both the Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School and received both his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Juilliard where he was a student of Leonard Rose and Channing Robbins.

Eric Bartlett recorded the cello music of Larry Bell for North-South Records on a disk entitled “River of Ponds” (which includes an interesting collaboration with narrator Robert J. Lurtsema) and has also recorded for CRI, Opus One, Bridge, Delos, and Deutsche Grammophon. He teaches Orchestra Repertoire at the Juilliard School and is the lead coach of the Juilliard Chamber Orchestra.

photo: Matt Dine

 

Concert I

Natalya Rose Vrbsky
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Bassoon Concerto in B-flat major, K. 191
September 30, 2017

Natalya Rose Vrbsky has held the principal bassoon chair in the Sarasota Opera Orchestra since 2010 and has performed as guest principal with the symphony orchestras of Vermont, Delaware, Knoxville, Symphoria, Harrisburg, and also as acting principal bassoon of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra in Florida. A former member of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, she also recently served as acting second bassoon/contrabassoon with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and was a frequent substitute with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Company of Philadelphia, and the Academy of Vocal Arts Orchestra. She has performed as a substitute with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Oregon Symphony, and ProMusica Chamber Orchestra. As a chamber musician, Rose has performed as a guest artist with the Saratoga Chamber Players, Bay Chamber Concerts, Astral Artists Concerts, the Knights, Orchestra 2001, and A Far Cry. Rose attended the Tanglewood Music Center, Pacific Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, American Institute of Musical Studies (Graz), New York String Orchestra Seminar, and participated for four summers at the Marlboro Music Festival in addition to joining the Musicians from Marlboro on tour. She received a bachelor’s degree from the New England Conservatory, followed by a master’s degree from Temple University and a diploma from the Curtis Institute. Her primary teachers were Richard Ranti and Daniel Matsukawa. She is a proud graduate of Guilford Elementary School and BUHS where she played in the BUHS band.