Mother Lode Friends presents chamber concert

The Mother Lode Friends of Music, the classical music performance organization serving the central region of California’s gold country, presents its next concert of chamber music on Sunday, April 15, starting at 2 p.m. in the Church of the Nazarene, 14050 Ridge Road, in Sutter Creek.

The program features in the first half the Septet in C minor for oboe, horn, violin, viola, cello, bass and piano of Alexander Fesca. Fesca (1820-1849), of German nationality with Italian ancestry, was a contemporary of Mendelssohn and Schumann.

His septet, with its unusual instrumentation, is an undiscovered jewel of the chamber music repertory. In four movements, the work is characterized by one beautiful melody after the other, giving each of the seven instruments many moments to shine individually and in various combinations.

The work will be performed by Jane Buzzard, oboist from Sonora, Bill Minkel, French hornist from Camp Connell, violinist Bruce Chan of Sonora, violist Billie Gonzalez of Ione, cellist Alice Williams of Murphys, bassist Dave Duggan of Murphys, and pianist Ron Brickman of West Point.

All are regular performing members of the Mother Lode Friends of Music, with the exception of Chan, who will be making his local debut with the organization.

Chan, director of business planning and marketing for Sonora Regional Medical Center, moved to the area two years from Kansas City. Since the age of 14, he has performed with orchestras including Fresno State Orchestra, the New England Chamber Orchestra, the Pacific Union College orchestra, where he was concertmaster, and most recently the Kansas City Civic Orchestra.

With these ensembles and others, he has toured Asia, South Africa and Europe.

In the second half of the program, mezzo-soprano Karen Solaegui Lyman will sing arias and songs by Mozart, Barber, Duparc, Wolf and Gounod, accompanied by Brickman on piano.

Lyman is the Friends of Music’s Distinguished Young Artist this season, a distinction awarded each year to a young artist just finishing advanced training and embarking upon a professional career.

A native of Reno, Nev., where she currently resides, Lyman recently acquired a degree in opera performance at the University of Minnesota, where she was a student of John De Hahn.

While in Minnesota, she performed roles in Mozart’s “Magic Flute,” Britten’s “The Rape of Lucretia” and Puccini’s “Suor Angelica.”

Lyman now regularly performs with the Nevada Opera Company. She sang the role of Marcellina in the company’s production of Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” and will perform the role of Kate Pinkerton in an upcoming production of Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly.”

Lyman has a recently acquired connection with California’s gold country as the wife of Travis Lyman, son of Darwin and Ellen Lyman of Fiddletown.

Admission to the concert is free.

For more information consult the Friends of Music’s Website at mlfm.org or call 209-293-4227.