Rossini Club Event Calendar
The Public Concert Series of The Portland Rossini Club Now in its 152nd Season
Sunday, September 25, 2022 at 3:00 pm
The Rossini Club ushers in the 2022-23 season with their opening concert featuring music for violin and piano, performed by Eleanor Lehmann and Leah Neuchiller; a selection of music from classic Broadway composers Rodgers and Hammerstein, performed by Danielle Vayenas and the Club’s new President, Jonathan Prak; and piano pieces performed by award-winning Portland Conservatory of Music student, Logan Peters.
The program includes:
Eleanor Lehmann, violin and Leah Neuchiller piano
Adoration, and The Deserted Garden by Florence Price
L’ Abeille (The Bee) by François Schubert
Danielle Vayenas, soprano and Jonathan Prak, piano
Musical theater selections by Rodgers and Hammerstein
It Might As Well Be Spring – State Fair
Out Of My Dreams – Oklahoma
We Kiss In A Shadow/I Have Dreamed – King and I
If I Loved You, Mister Snow, and You’ll Never Walk Alone – Carousel
Climb Every Mountain – Sound of Music
Logan Peters, piano, winner of the 2022 Ocy Downs competition
Sonata In B minor, Hob.XVI, No. 32 by Franz Joseph Haydn
1. Allegro Moderato
2. Menuet
3. Finale – Presto
General Lavine – Eccentric (From Preludes Book 2) by Claude Debussy
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Prelude in G Major, Op 53, No.3 by Nikolai Kapustin
Location of event:
The Cathedral Church of St. Luke, 143 State Street, Portland
Suggested donation $15/$10 seniors
Students are admitted free of charge
For more information: (207)318-7465
Performing Members AND GUEST
ELEANOR LEHMANN, VIOLIN (VIOLA):
Eleanor began her musical studies on violin at the age of 5 with John M. Ray in San Francisco, California. She then attended the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where she studied with Jack O’Brian (Griller String Quartet) and Marion Ford. In 1963, she received a degree in music education and performance from San Francisco State University and joined the teaching force for the public school system of S.F. as a music teacher for one year. Shortly thereafter, she and her husband were offered an opportunity to move to Mexico City where she taught violin/viola at the Conservatorio Nacional de Mexico and performed with many of the professional orchestras of the region. In 1975, she along with her family spent a year living in Holland where she was active in the musical community of Nijmeggen as violist in chamber orchestras and as soloist. In 1986, she returned to California where she played the viola in the Merced, Modesto and Stockton Symphonies. In 2003, she moved to Maine and began teaching both violin and viola in her studio and at the Portland Conservatory of Music. In 2007, she initiated violin classes at USM, Portland, for the Osher-Lifelong Learning Institute. Today, she is an active member of both the Portland Rossini and Marston- Kotzschmar Music Clubs of Portland, and served as President for both.
LEAH NEUCHILLER, PIANO:
Leah studied piano from the age of 9 and began college as a music major at Brandeis University, where she studied with the French pianist Evelyne Crochet. She went on to a career as a clinical social worker and psychotherapist, but playing the piano continued to be a passionate avocation. Music once again became central to Leah’s life when she moved to Maine in 2006 and began studying piano with Laura Kargul and earning a Masters of Music degree in piano pedagogy at USM. Leah has had a second career as a piano teacher, teaching at the French School of Maine, the Friends School of Portland, and her home studio in Cumberland Foreside. She has been a member of the Rossini Club since 2012.
JONATHAN PEKDEY PRAK, PIANIST:
Jonathan Prak is a Saco native currently living in Portland. He’s been playing the piano since he was 6 years old and studied with the late Colette Kelly of Québec, Canada. Jonathan studies with Dr. Laura Kargul at the Osher School of Music of the University of Southern Maine. He has won numerous awards, including Rossini Club’s Lucia Wright Piano Scholarship in 2015 and 2016. He recently participated in a masterclass with instructors Steve Pane and Lily Funahashi on works for two pianos, and appeared as a guest soloist for the Portland Rossini Club before becoming a member. He loves playing works by Mozart, Chopin, Liszt, Ravel and Prokofiev, just to name a few. Jonathan is proudly the current President of the Portland Rossini Club. Outside the world of music, Jonathan has a knack for learning languages, and enjoys adventures, traveling, and running.
DANIELLE VAYENAS, SOPRANO:
Danielle recently appeared in Sound of Music at Maine State Music Theater as understudy for “Mother Abbess”/ensemble, and has also performed with organizations such as Opera Maine, Longwood Opera, Heartwood Theater, Biddeford City Theater, Portland Players and more. Some of her roles have included the title role in Carlisle Floyd’s opera, Susannah, “Micaela” in Carmen, “Mimi” in La Boheme, “Mother” in Amahl and the Night Visitors, “Jenny” in Company, “Mrs. Nordstrom” in A Little Night Music, “Lady Thiang” in “The King and I”, and “Widow” in Zorba. Danielle has performed as concert soloist in Maine with groups such as the Oratorio Chorale, Midcoast Symphony Orchestra, Maine Music Society, Bowdoin Chorale, ChoralArt and Lincoln Festival Chorale; and in the greater Boston area with the Salem Philharmonic, the Masterworks Chorale, and the Paul Madore Chorale. She has performed many oratorio works, from the Requiems of Mozart, Brahms, Dvorak and Verdi, to Mozart’s Mass in c minor; Haydn’s Creation, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and other concert works. She has studied voice with David Goulet, leading to NATS awards in Maine and Boston, and with Malinda Haslett, and has coached with Kathleen Scott. Danielle joined the Rossini Club in 2015.
LOGAN PETERS*, PIANIST:
Logan is a 17 year-old junior at Falmouth High School. He began playing piano when he was eight years old and enjoyed playing blues and jazz, but above all else, he enjoyed composing his own music. In 2016, at the age of 10, he won First Place at the Bagaduce Composer’s Competition for his piece Hunting on a Full Moon, and earned the opportunity to perform the piece at the 2016 Blue Hill Pops Festival. In the spring of 2020, Logan discovered his love of classical music, and by September that same year began studying classical piano at the Portland Conservatory of Music with accomplished instructor, Naydene Bowder, with whom he continues his studies today. Since then, he has won several awards, culminating in the Ocy Downs Piano Competition. In addition to classical music, Logan still enjoys playing jazz and performs with the Falmouth High School Jazz Band. When he is not playing piano, Logan enjoys singing with the Falmouth Jazz Singers, Chamber Choir and Chorus. Logan is also an active member of Boy Scouts, holding the rank of Life Scout, while he continues to work towards becoming an Eagle Scout. *Guest performer
Click here for all Past Performances
The Public Concert Series of the Portland Rossini Club in it’s 152nd Season
Sunday, October 30th, 2022 at 3 p.m.
Portland Rossini Club Program
Three Hundred Years of Opera Favorites (in 15 minutes)
- Song of the Moom (Rusalka) Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
- Sull’ aria (Marriage of Figaro) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
- What Good Would the Moon Be? (Street Scene) Kurt Weill (1900-1950)
- ~ Malinda Haslett, soprano*, Kaleigh Hunter, soprano* and Scott Wheatley*, piano
Sonata in D major, K. 311 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- I. Allegro con spirito
- II. Andante con espressione
- III. Rondeau – Allegro
- ~ Steven Blumenthal, piano
Twenty Four Preludes for Piano Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)
- No. 11 in G major Allegretto
- No. 12 in G sharp minor Allegro non troppo
- No. 13 in F major Moderato
- No. 14 in E flat minor Adagio
- No. 15 in D flat major Allegretto
- No. 16 in B flat minor Andantino
- No. 17 in A flat major Largo
- No. 18 in F minor Allegretto
- 24 Jazz Preludes, Op. 53 Nikolai Kapustin (1927-2020)
- No. 23 in F major
- ~ Michael Bostock, piano* winner of the 2020 Ocy Downs Competition
*Guest
There is a Fall business meeting (for all members) following the concert.
Click here for all Past Performances
Location: The Cathedral Church of St. Luke, 143 State Street, Portland
Suggested donation $15/$10 seniors (students are admitted free of charge)
For more information: 207-318-7465
Musician Biography
Steven Blumenthal, piano:
Steven studied piano at Columbia University with the late Niels Østbye, a student of Edwin Fischer. While pursuing his medical education and later directing a pediatrics emergency room in New York City, Steven continued post-graduate music studies at Columbia University and at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. He participated in master classes with Jeanne-Marie Darré. He now lives in Cape Elizabeth with wife and PSO violinist/teacher Holly Ovenden, and recently retired from pediatrics practice in Portland. Steve has been a member of the Rossini Club since 2009.
Michael Bostock, piano:
A resident of Falmouth, Maine, Michael is currently a Junior and an honor student at Waynflete School in Portland. He currently studies classical piano under Naydene Bowder at the Portland Conservatory of Music, and has been playing piano since 2012. Michael is a member of the Karger College Prep program at the Conservatory, where he plays in advanced ensembles. Michael placed 2nd in the 2022 Hannah Powell Memorial Piano Competition, was a recipient of the Kotzschmar Memorial Trust Scholarship in 2021 and was the winner in the Ocy L. Downs Biennial Piano Competition in 2020.
Malinda Haslett, soprano:
A worldwide performer with more than 30 leading roles to her name, Malinda earned her Doctor of Music in Arts degree from Stony Brook University. She is currently the Director of Vocal Studies at the University of Southern Maine. Selected international solo performances include those at the Royal Opera House (London, UK), solo recitals in Beirut (Lebanon) and Danang (Vietnam). Her Berlin debut took place at the famed Konzerthaus in the German premiere of Ethel Smyth’s Prison. She has sung Nannetta in Falstaff, both with the Le Grand Théâtre de Limoges and the Le Grand Théâtre de Reims. She has sung
Pamina in Die Zauberflöte and Micaëla in Carmen with the Festival Lyrique-en-Mer and in Italy. Earlier this fall, she presented a lecture recital in Wales (with pianist Scott Wheatley), championing the music of Claude Arrieu, female composer and member of the French Resistance. In addition to singing recitals at University of Southern Maine and Tulane University, her upcoming orchestral performances include Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate at Merrill Auditorium in Portland, Maine, followed by John Mackey’s Places We No Longer Go with Casco Bay Wind Symphony. In the spring, she will sing Vive la revolution! Songs that created change in celebration of the 19th Amendment ratifying the women’s right to vote, followed by performances in Boston at the Eustis Estate and St. Bardolph’s Club.
Kaleigh Hunter, soprano:
A senior classical vocal performance major at the University of Southern Maine’s Osher School of Music. Previously, she played Pamina in The Magic Flute and she played Cendrillon in Pauline Viardo’s Cendrillon last spring semester. Her freshman year she won first place at classical NATS and received the Lillian Nordica Scholarship award as the youngest recipient of that scholarship. Kaleigh has since won a place in her school’s annual Honors Recital and placed in the most recent Rossini Club Scholarship competition.
Scott Wheatley, piano:
A native of Kansas, Scott holds degrees from the University of Missouri/Kansas City Conservatory of Music and the University of South Florida. Formerly residing in New York City, he relocated to Portland and is pleased to be on the faculty of the University of Southern Maine and the Portland Conservatory of Music. He serves as the rehearsal accompanist for the Oratorio Chorale and is the Music Director at the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church in Portland. In addition to a busy teaching and singing schedule (he’s a baritone who has performed in operas and concerts both nationally and worldwide), Scott enjoys an active career as a coach/accompanist collaborating with both singers and instrumentalists.
The Public Concert Series of the Portland Rossini Club in its 152nd Season
Sunday, November 27th, 2022 at 3 p.m.
Portland Rossini Club Program
Sopranos Luette Saul and Jazmin DeRice* will perform duets by by Chausson, Brahms, and Viardot
Clarinetist Stephen Schiffman and Ladies of Note will play Mozart’s Quintet in A major, K. 581
Soprano Stacy Geyer*, assisted by pianist Jonathan Prak, will sing five Italian art songs by Marcello, Caccini, Bononcini, Scarlatti, and Legrenzi
*Guest
Location: The Cathedral Church of St. Luke, 143 State Street, Portland
Suggested donation $15/$10 seniors (students are admitted free of charge)
For more information: 207-318-7465
Click here for all Past Performances
The Public Concert Series of the Portland Rossini Club in its 152nd Season
Sunday, January 22, 2023 at 3 p.m.
Pianist Jonathan Prak will perform works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Liszt, and Sergei Prokofiev
Pianists Leah Neuchiller and Ruth Matt will play the first movement of Nicolas Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, Opus 35
Arranged for piano/four hands
Pianist Logan Peters* and Ladies of Note will perform the first movement of Mozart’s Piano Quartet in E flat major
*Guest
Location of event: The Cathedral Church of St. Luke, 143 State Street, Portland
Suggested donation $15/$10 seniors
Students are admitted free of charge
For more information: (207)318-7465
Click here for Past Performances
The Public Concert Series of the Portland Rossini Club in its 152nd Season
Sunday, February 19th, 2023 at 3 p.m.
The Program of music and singers has not been set as of today.
Once available the event will be updated.
Location of Concerts:
The Cathedral Church of St. Luke, 143 State Street, Portland, Maine
Suggested donation $15/$10 seniors (students are admitted free of charge)
For more information: 207-318-7465
