Fall Christmas Concerts with Accordionists Mary Tokarski and Joseph Natoli
The New Music Guild, Inc. will open its 2019-20 season in mid December with two internationally known accordionist guest artists: Mary Tokarski and Joseph Natoli. The first concert will be at 7:00 p.m., Friday, December 13th, 2019 at Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Holy Apostles Parish, 421 Covington Street in downtown Youngstown. The second program will take place at 7:00 p.m., Saturday, December 14th, 2019 at Jefferson Congregational Church (UCC), 41 East Jefferson Street, Jefferson, OH (near Ashtabula). Both concerts will include Christmas music and have free admission.
Mary currently serves as American Accordionists Association annual Festival Chair and 1st Vice President, and is a member of the Accordionists and Teachers Guild, International (ATG). Both organizations are members of the Confederation Internationale de Accordionistes, as well as IMC-UNESCO.
Tokarski’s appearances as orchestral soloist include the Auckland Symphony (New Zealand), the Prince George Philharmonic (Maryland), the Pioneer Valley Symphony (Massachusetts), the Waterbury Symphony (Connecticut), the Bronxville Pops Orchestra (New York), the Mantovani Orchestra (mainland China tour), the Wolf Trap Orchestra in a live performance of the sound track of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project at the New England Conservatory in Virgil Thomson’s Four Saints in Three Acts, and many more.
Mary has released 7 CD albums. She has performed in many countries all over the world. Along with piano and accordion teaching at her home studio, she travels extensively presenting workshops, master classes, coaching privately, and adjudicating for national and international juries.
Joseph Natoli is a Northeast Ohio native and organizer of the International Digital Electronic Accordion Symposium (IDEAS), which just completed its second season.
He recently released 2 CD Albums. He holds Bachelors and Masters of Music degrees from the University of Toronto, a Bachelor in Computer Science from Youngstown State, and an MBA from Franklin University.
Natoli is a virtuoso performer on the accordion. He will perform several of his own compositions on the concerts. Tokarski and Natoli will perform several duets together.
In addition to an active career as performer and accordion teacher, Joe has worked in the Information Technology industry for major corporations and banks.
Violinist Gwyneth Rollin and pianist Robert Rollin, Coordinators of the New Music Guild, Inc., will open the concerts with several of Rollin’s original compositions.
There will be special parties honoring guest artists, Mary Tokarski and Joseph Natoli after each recital. Refreshments will be served. The New Music Guild, Inc. cordially invites the public to attend.
Download the Poster for the 35th Annual New Music Guild Festival
Download the Poster for the 35th Annual New Music Guild Festival
PDF file (748 KB)
Artwork by Susan Dunn
35th Annual New Music Guild Festival, May 24-25, 2019, with Dana Alumni Pianist Thomas Osuga, & Ecuadorian Violinist Galo Arboleda Solorzano
On Friday, May 24th Osuga and Arboleda will kick off the 35th annual Festival by playing three School Children’s Concerts. At 10:00 a.m. they will perform at St. Joseph the Provider School in Brier Hill; and at 1:00 p.m. they will visit Holy Family School in Poland. The third school concert will be announced.
Osuga has delighted area school children with his inventive and imaginative programs for the past six years and frequently plays children’s concerts in metropolitan New York. Arboleda has his own arrangements of Ecuadorian folk music to share with the students. They will also play music by Japanese and American composers and pieces from the virtuoso violin and piano literature.
They will highlight the Festival Gala at Sts. Peter & Paul Church, Holy Apostles Parish, on Friday evening, and play a duo recital on Saturday night at Jefferson Congregational Church in Jefferson, Ohio, both at 7:00p.m. Admission is free.
Thomas Osuga has been a respected teacher on the Piano Preparatory Department Faculty at New York’s Mannes College of Music since 1994. He performs new works on concerts in major New York venues. He maintains a large private piano studio in upper Manhattan. This year he is also directing musical performances at Hunter Elementary, a school for gifted children. His facility at the piano is legendary.
Kent State graduate, Galo Arboleda Solorzano is no stranger to Youngstown. Last year the Festival Chamber Orchestra premiered his Adagietto for Strings, a beautiful slow, lyrical piece. He has played in the orchestra for several years. He has performed the Sibelius and Tchaikovsky Violin Concertos with the Stow Ohio Orchestra, and appeared as soloist in tandem with renowned violinist Schlomo Mince on the Bach Double Concerto with the National Symphony in Quito, Ecuador. He often pays solo recitals in Quito.
Arboleda has composed a new piece entitled Elegy for French Horn and Strings for the Festival Chamber Orchestra. Dan Fackler will be soloist. Fackler has served as horn with the Woody Hermann Thundering Horde in the group’s Silver Anniversary Tour and with other popular groups. He also was Principal Horn of the Elgin and Elmhurst Symphonies, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Woodstock Mozart Festival, and Illinois Chamber Symphony. Ecuadorian composer Eduardo Florencia’s Fantasia Para orquesta de cuerdas, Op. 39 will receive its American premiere by the Festival Chamber Orchestra at the Friday night Gala. It is a charming piece containing folk music elements.
Cleveland Composers Guild member Ryan Charles Ramer’s Cat & Mouse for string orchestra will receive its string orchestra version premiere by the Orchestra. YSU Professor Emeritus, Robert Rollin’s Eli Ata, A Chassidic Song, an original contrapuntal setting, will have its world premiere.
There will be catered receptions after each free evening concert in honor of Thomas Osuga, Galo Arboleda Solorzano, and Dan Fackler.
