Mark Menzies & Colleagues

Gayle Blankenburg (piano), Mark Menzies (piano), Justin DeHart (percussion), Roanna Funcke (percussion)

PROGRAMME:
George Crumb - Music for a Summer Evening for two amplified pianos and percussion (2 players) (1974);
Claude Debussy - En Blanc et noir for two pianos;
Steve Reich - Nagoya Marimbas for two Marimbas.

Gayle Blankenburg has performed extensively to great critical acclaim as a solo pianist, chamber musician, and vocal accompanist. Gayle is currently on the piano faculties of the Claremont Colleges, teaching at Pomona College and at Scripps College. The University of Canterbury is very privileged to have her in residence again in May 2019.

Mark Menzies has established an important, world-wide reputation as a violist, a violinist and a pianist: he has recently taken up a Professor of Music position at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. His career as a viola and violin virtuoso, chamber musician and pianist, conductor and advocate of contemporary music, has seen performances in Europe, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and across the United States, including a series of appearances at New York’s Carnegie Hall.

Justin DeHart, from Sacramento, California, is a GRAMMY nominated performer of contemporary musical styles from classical to pop, and from world to electronic. Justin is a current member of Los Angeles Percussion Quartet (LAPQ) and joined the University of Canterbury School of Music as a Senior Lecturer in 2017.

Roanna Funcke, completed her MusB(Hons) Percussion at the University of Canterbury where she has also served as a tutor in percussion performance. She is Associate Principal Percussionist with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, and also performs with Pandemonium and the Christchurch Bicycle Band.

This concert is part of the 2019 season of Christophers Classics.