Baroque Chamber Concert

An evening of baroque chamber music with Natalie Carducci (violin), Gretchen Claassen and Bruno Hurtado Gosalvez (viola da gamba), and Derek Tam (harpsichord)
Date & Time: Sat. September 23,  7:30 pm Venue: 1750 29th Avenue, San FranciscoTickets: $20 General, $15 Seniors/Students
Full program details coming shortly. For more information visit https://susnetarts.wordpress.com
About the Artists
Violinist Natalie Carducci performs throughout the United States, appearing in venues ranging from Avery Fisher Hall in New York City to intimate cafes in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she is currently based. A versatile chamber and orchestral musician with a special interest in early music, she has recently performed with Bach Collegium San Diego, Pacific Bach Project, El Mundo, The Albany Consort, the San Francisco Bach Choir, One Found Sound, Karl Cronin and the Americana Orchestra, Magik*Magik Orchestra, and is a founding member of MUSA and the Alchemy Trio. In 2012, she won the Voices of Music Bach Competition, giving her the opportunity to perform in their concert series. This season she will also appear on the concert series Noe Valley Chamber Music, Benvenue House Music, and Santa Cruz Chamber Players.
Natalie has collaborated with renowned artists Steven Dann, Kenneth Slowik, James Boyd, and members of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and has appeared in music festivals around the world, including the St. Lawrence String Quartet Seminar, Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute, the International Music Academy Pilsen in the Czech Republic, Le Domaine Forget in Quebec, the American Bach Soloists Academy, Vancouver Baroque Instrumental Programme, and the Britten-Pears Baroque Orchestra in Aldeburgh, England. Natalie has performed under the baton of Christophe Rousset and Christian Curnyn, and in master classes for Jeanne Lamon, Amandine Beyer, and Rachel Podger, among others.
Passionate about the impact music can have in the lives of children, Natalie teaches at the non-profit Northern California Music and Art Culture Center and has coached inner-city school children through the Chamber Music Connection program in her native city of Columbus, Ohio. Natalie received her Master of Music degree at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, her Bachelor of Music degree from SUNY Purchase College Conservatory of Music, and her SAA Suzuki Teacher Training at the Hartt Suzuki Institute in Hartford, Connecticut. Her main teachers have included Michael Davis, Laurie Smukler, Calvin Wiersma, Ian Swensen, and Elizabeth Blumenstock. A certified Pilates instructor, Natalie promotes body-mind awareness for sustained physical well-being and enjoys sharing her knowledge with the music community at large.
Gretchen Claassen, a versatile chamber musician, often appears as ‘cellist, baroque ‘cellist and viol player in diverse groups around the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. She has recently performed with American Bach Soloists, Archetti, Wildcat Viols, Karl Cronin and the Americana Orchestra, and is a founding member of the Cello Street Quartet and period ensembles MUSA and the Alchemy Trio. During the 2013-14 season she will be appearing for the first time with Portland Baroque Orchestra, San Francisco Bach Choir, Nash Baroque Ensemble and Musica Pacifica, in addition to embarking on a US State Department-sponsored international tour with the Cello Street Quartet.
Gretchen has been named the winner of American Bach Soloists’ Jeffrey Thomas Award, and will perform as a featured soloist with that ensemble in May of 2015.
Gretchen’s love of chamber music began early on with three summers spent at the prestigious Kneisel Hall Chamber Music School and Festival in Maine, and string quartet studies with Joel Smirnoff of the Juilliard String Quartet. As a participant in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s acclaimed Chamber Music Masters series, Gretchen has collaborated with Menahem Pressler, Robert Mann, Bonnie Hampton, Roberto Diaz, and Joseph Swensen. In May of 2011, she was invited to perform alongside SFCM and Shanghai Conservatory faculty in China, as part of the Shanghai International Chamber Music Festival. While pursuing graduate studies, she was first introduced to historically informed performance practice and soon began performing widely on both baroque ‘cello and viola da gamba, participating in the American Bach Soloists Summer Academy and as an apprentice with Benvenue House Concerts, as well as performing as a soloist with SFCM’s Baroque Ensemble.
Gretchen was a student of Bonnie Hampton at The Juilliard School, where she received a BM in ‘Cello Performance. In 2012, she was awarded an Artist’s Certificate in Chamber Music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where she studied with Jennifer Culp and Elisabeth Reed.
 

Photo Credit: Ana Val

Bruno Hurtado Gosalvez was born in Barcelona. He started his musical education at the age of seven and studied violoncello, piano and music theory in the Conservatori professional de musica de Badalona with Mark Friedhoff, and later on in the Conservatori del Liceu in Barcelona with Peter Thiemann. After he was given a scholarship from Paul Casals Society and from the Generalitat de Catalunya, he pursued his studies at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, where he succesfuly obtained the title Bachelor of Arts in Music in the class of Roel Dieltiens. Later on he obtained the Master of Arts in Music Performance at the Hochschule der Kuenste Bern, where he studied violoncello with Louise Hopkins and viol with Brian Franklin, paralelly playing in orchestras such as Orquestra Sinfònica del Gran Teatre del Liceu, Sinfonieorchester Biel/Bienne, Orquestre Sinfonique de Mulhouse, Südwestdeutsche Philarmonie Konstanz among others, and with camber music groups such as Les elemens, The Queen’s Revels, Berner Kammerchor/Bern Consort, Perle Baroque, Allegria musicale or the Zürcher Singakademie. His interest in electronically music also brought him to collaborate with international known artists as Dj Swet. Recently he studies viol at the Academy of Music in Trossingen in the class of Lorenz Duftschmid. In demand as a conductor and historical keyboardist, Derek Tam performs regularly in the Bay Area and elsewhere. Praised for his “deft” conducting (San Francisco Chronicle), Tam appears frequently with choral and orchestral ensembles. Recent engagements include collaborations with Ars Minerva, Bay Pointe Ballet and Oakland Ballet.
A specialist on historical keyboards, Tam has been lauded as “a master of [the harpsichord]” (San Francisco Classical Voice). Recent concerto appearances include performances with Elevate Ensemble and the Modesto Symphony. In addition to performing as a soloist, Tam is a founding member and the harpsichordist of MUSA, a San Francisco-based Baroque ensemble. He has also served as principal keyboardist for the symphonies of Merced, Modesto, Napa Valley, Santa Rosa, and Santa Cruz.
Tam currently serves as the Director of Music at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, one of the major performances venues for classical music in the East Bay. He also is the Artistic Director of the Star Valley Children’s Choir (SVCC) and is the Music Director of the Berkeley Community Chorus Chamber Singers.
He has served on the faculty of the NAPA Music Festival and the San Francisco Early Music Society Recorder Workshop, and has been on staff at the American Bach Soloists Festival & Academy.
He currently chairs the Youth Advisory Board of Early Music America. Tam is a registered tax professional with the State of California. He is a graduate of Yale University.