Events
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Armato/De Sapio Duo
Sunday, March 2, 2pm
Free
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Michael De Sapio (violin) and John Armato (guitar) return to the Athenaeum--this time branching out from their Baroque roots to play a delightful program of duos for violin and classical guitar. Enjoy a program of rarely heard chamber works from early Romanticism to the 21st century--music that is sweet, sensuous, and easygoing.
Performance Program
Niccolo Paganini: Sonata No. 1 in a minor
Franco Margola: Sonatina
David Warin Solomons: Bergamasca Variations
Jollity
Debussy: La fille aux cheveux de lin (The Girl with the Flaxen Hair)
Rodrigo: En los trigales (In the Wheat Fields)
Mauro Giuliani: Grand Duo in e minor
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Write Like a Woman Networking Workshop
Saturday, March 8, 1 pm
Free
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Founder and Facilitator, KaNikki Jakarta, welcomes you to year 9 of the WRITE LIKE A WOMAN NETWORKING WORKSHOP. This popular workshop invites amateur and professional women writers of all genres ages 18–100. Each workshop centers on uplifting and inspiring through writing and allows participants to enhance their writing styles through writing prompts and encouragement.
Space is limited, please RSVP to greatpublishing@yahoo.com
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New Strings
Sunday, March 16, 2 pm
Free
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Original Works for Guitar Solo and Violin-Guitar Duet
by Oscar Somersalo and Neal Learner
String-instrument lovers are invited to enjoy a unique recital of new works for guitar solo and violin-guitar duet by composers Oscar Somersalo (guitar) and Neal Learner (violin). The event promises something for everyone with virtuosic playing and delightful compositions that span musical genres from classical and jazz to pop and rock.
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About Oscar Somersalo
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Award-winning Finnish guitarist Oscar Somersalo performs as a soloist and chamber musician in America and Europe. In recent seasons Somersalo has appeared with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra at Finlandia Hall in Helsinki, and with Panama National Symphony Orchestra in Panama. His performance in Helsinki was described as "passionate virtuosity" in Helsingin Sanomat.
Somersalo won 1st prize in 2019 at ECU Guitar Competition in the USA. In 2017 he won 1st prize at Appalachian Guitar Fest Solo Guitar Competition and Philadelphia Classical Guitar Competition in the USA as well as 2nd prize in 2009 at the International Guitar Competition “Ciudad de Llerena” in Spain.
Somersalo earned the Master of Music degree and the Graduate Performance Diploma from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, where he studied under international virtuoso Manuel Barrueco. He is also a graduate of the famed Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where he earned the Bachelor of Music degree. More: www.youtube.com/@oscarsomersalo9241
About Neal Learner
Neal Learner is a multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and composer whose work draws on many influences, from classical and musical theater to bluegrass and rock.
In October 2021, he debuted a series of his violin-piano compositions in a performance with then Alexandria Poet Laureate KaNikki Jakarta called Poetry With Strings Attached. The recital this year features compositions that Learner wrote for violin and guitar.
His most recent musical theater work, TREES: A New Musical, had its world premiere in October 2023 by the Bethesda Little Theatre company. His other musical theater works include the operetta, Get Me Home, which debuted at the Athenaeum in November 2022, and the sung-through work "LIFE: A Comic Opera in Three Short Acts," which premiered at the 2017 Capital Fringe Festival.
Learner attended the University of Michigan School of Music as a violin performance major before earning his degrees in anthropology and political science. More: www.learnermusic.com
© 2019 The Athenaeum/NVFAA 201 Prince Street