Contact:
Zon Eastes, music director
Juno Orchestra
zoneastes@msn.com
802.380.9550

website: http://www.junoorchestra.org
press page: https://junoorchestra.org/about/press/

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Family Connections

Juno Orchestra enters its third season with an exploration entitled “Family Connections.” Along with works appearing from well-known musical households (like Bach and Mozart), Juno also introduces a newly commissioned work by local composer Stan Charkey. ‘J/J’, for cello and string orchestra, which features Stan’s son, soloist Jacob Charkey.

“I wanted to write a piece for Jake that connects to his experiences in both the western and Indian traditions. It’s called J/J for Jake and Juno.” Composer Stan Charkey taught at Marlboro College for many years.

Jacob Charkey got his earliest musical training in Brattleboro starting with the violin for a year. “After a year of screeching cacophony, my father mercifully gave me a cello to try,” laughed Jacob.

Jake studied cello 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. After grad school Jake moved to Montreal, where he 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 for six years. 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.

Jake’s father, composer Stan Charkey, is a recipient of awards for composition from the Renée B. Fisher Foundation and Vermont Music Teachers Association as well as fellowships at the Ragdale Arts Foundation and the Kimmel-Harding Center For the Arts. His compositions include commissions for a variety of ensembles and musicians, including the Apple Hill Chamber Players, cellist Paul Cohen, pianists Luis Batlle and Michael Arnowitt, violist Michael Tree and of course his son, cellist Jake Charkey. In addition, he has written for dance, theater, and television. Vermont Headstones, 12 Songs for Baritone, Viola and Oboe, settings of headstone inscriptions in Vermont cemeteries, was performed throughout the state in recent years.

“I hope the orchestra likes the piece. I hope the audience likes it, too. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever written,” Stan mused. Music director Zon Eastes remarked, “We are very pleased to work with Stan and Jake on this project. This new work blends western and Indian elements in quite a striking way. Part Dvořák, part improvisation, the piece is built on principles of harmonic balance that allow for remarkable flexibility within a unified context. The work is entirely accessible.” The central portion of the piece calls for an extended improvised cadenza inspired by Indian ragas. His father quipped, “Who knows what Jake will do?”

In addition to the Charkey family connection, Juno’s upcoming program includes an instrumental Sinfonia by J.S. Bach, this one from Cantata 174. Zon Eastes notes, “In a singularly superhuman, six-year outburst, Johann Sebastian  Bach composed and produced a new cantata every Sunday. Every single Sunday! And this was just one of a number of duties he had while serving as music director at St. Thomas in Leipzig. On some Sundays, his choir got a break from performance, so Bach would supply an orchestral opening for that Sunday’s cantata. Many times, Bach reworked earlier compositions to fit the occasion. Wait till you hear this particular Sinfonia!”

Juno will likewise visit the Mozart family by way of a work from 16-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus, his delightful Divertimento in F Major, K. 138. There is evidence that young Wolfgang penned three works (Juno performs the third of the set) as his first ‘publishable’ string quartets, but his exacting father selected the moniker ‘Divertimenti’ instead. “Whatever, dad,” remarked Eastes, “The three works are brief, delightful, and expressive. The final movement of the F Major is about as clicky as it gets.”

Edward Elgar, English composer, grew up in an arts-favorable family. His father was a piano tuner and his mother carefully saw to her children’s musical studies–Elgar was the fourth of seven children. He composed the Serenade while in his mid-30s. Its intimacy and brevity are positively charming, while its depth and directness characterize the more mature Elgar.

Continuing with Juno’s exploration of the middle Haydn symphonies (those composed about the same times as the American Revolution), Juno will feature Symphony No. 46 in B Major. “Whenever one talks about the Sturm und Drang symphonies, one returns to words like unexpected, cascading, quirky, bedazzling. Haydn surely had a sturdy set of compositional tools that allowed him remarkable, always recognizable freedom to express his wit, his imagination, and his respect for his discipline,” explained Eastes. “Symphony No. 46 is no exception.”

Concerts take place on Saturday, September 7 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, September 8 at 4 p.m. at the Brattleboro Music Center, Brattleboro, Vermont. Tickets range in price from $10 to $40, and can be purchased by calling the BMC, 802.257.4523.

Juno Orchestra is in residence at the Brattleboro Music Center.

For more information, visit www.junoorchestra.org or call 802.380.9550.

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Concerts
Saturday, September 7, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, September 8, 4 p.m.
Brattleboro Music Center, 72 Blanche Moyse Way, Brattleboro

Program
Stan Charkey, J/J 
J.S. Bach, Sinfonia from Cantata 147
W.A. Mozart, Divertimento in F Major, K. 138
Edward Elgar, Serenade, Op. 20
Franz Joseph Haydn, Symphony No. 46 in B Major

Tickets
$40, $20, $10. Available 802.257.4523 or online: https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?ticketing=bmcvt