PROGRAM
October 9, 2020
Stacked
for Solo Flute & Electonics
by Allison Loggins-Hull
PERFORMERS
Allison Loggins-Hull
Allison Loggins-Hull is a flutist, composer and producer with an active career performing and creating music of multiple genres. In 2009 she and Nathalie Joachim co-founded the critically acclaimed duo Flutronix, which was praised by The Wall Street Journal for being able “to redefine the instrument.” Similarly, MTV Iggy recognized Flutronix for “redefining the flute and modernizing its sound by hauling it squarely into the world of popular music.”
Allison has performed at The Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Orchestra Hall (Chicago), World Cafe Live, and several other major venues and festivals around the world. She has performed or recorded with a wide-range of artists including the International Contemporary Ensemble, Imani Winds, Lizzo, The National Sawdust Ensemble and others. With Flutronix, she has released two full studio albums (Flutronix and 2.0), a live album (Live From the Attucks Theatre), an EP (City of Breath) and is signed to Village Again Records in Japan. As a member of The Re-Collective Orchestra, Allison was co-principal flutist on the soundtrack to Disney’s 2019 remake of “The Lion King,” working closely with Hans Zimmer. On the small screen, she has been featured in an internationally broadcast ESPN Super Bowl commercial, the 62nd annual GRAMMYs Award Show and the Black Girls Rock! Awards Show.
Allison has composed for Flutronix, Julia Bullock and others and has been commissioned by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Carolina Performing Arts, Alarm Will Sound and The Library of Congress. She was a co-producer of Nathalie Joachim’s celebrated album “Fanm d’Ayiti,” which was nominated for a 2020 GRAMMY for Best World Music Album. In support of her work, Allison has been awarded grants from New Music USA and a fellowship at The Hermitage Artist Retreat in Englewood, Florida.
Allison is on the flute faculty of The John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University. She’s a teaching artist at The Juilliard School’s Global Ventures and is a former faculty member of The Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program.
Mari Hwang
American pianist Mari Hwang believes in creating a safe world where people are inspired to live wholeheartedly. As a co-producer of The COMPASS Concerts (Community Online Meditation Performance and Salon Series), she and her partners, Shinichiro Inaji and Louis Yungling, have established a welcoming, safe environment for music performance where people from all over the world feel a sense of community, support, and healing.
Ms. Hwang’s earlier experiences and challenges with stage fright for solo performances has guided her to share mindfulness awareness practice, easing psychological tension, and connecting heart to music. She performs in variety of venues, in concert halls such as Carnegie Hall, DiMenna Center for Classical Music, Merkin Hall, Walt Disney Hall, and in cathedrals, hospitals, libraries, music schools, and private residences.
Her programming frequently shines light on works by unknown, undervalued, minor works of well known composers, and women composers. Her embodiment of often deeply personal storytelling resonates profoundly with audiences and leads to open and courageous dialogue.
In addition to her private teaching studio and being on the faculty for MSM Summer Program, she serves as a collaborative pianist at Manhattan School of Music in NYC.
Ms. Hwang has moved from a sunny suburb of Los Angeles, CA, to attend Manhattan School of Music, where she has received a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance. Subsequently, she has received a Master’s in Music from Mannes School of Music and a minor in impact entrepreneurship from The New School.
Shinichiro Inaji
Shin loves piano and has been learning on his own since he was a child, and finally started long-sought piano lessons under teacher and friend Louis Yungling since 2018. Piano and music are a big part of the joy of his life and he is very curious and appreciative to learn the connection of mind and body through piano playing. Currently he works as a freelance illustrator/animator and Licensed Massage Therapist in Portland Oregon where he lives with his husband Walter and Shiba-inu Yuki.
Shin is very happy to be a part of the COMPASS Concerts as a performer, an audience and co-producer with Mari and Louis through which he has been able to meet and interact with wonderful friends and musicians.
Francesca Leo
Francesca Leo is a cutting edge flutist, entrepreneur and educator. She has given solo and chamber performances internationally in Italy and France and has performed as a soloist with the New Albany Symphony Orchestra and the Manhattan School of Music Chamber Sinfonia. A Michigan native, she has won top prizes in many competitions including the Manhattan School of Music Eisenberg-Fried Concerto Competition, the Central Ohio Flute Association Young Artist and Collegiate Division Competitions, the Lima Symphony Young Artist Concerto Competition, the New Albany Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition and the MTNA Solo Division Competition.
A fierce advocate of contemporary music, Francesca has appeared as a soloist at the Society for Composers International (SCI) and the Society for Electroacoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS) Conferences, where her performance won a recording spot on the 2018 Music From SEAMUS, vol. 27 CD. She is the flutist and a founding member of the Quintilia Ensemble, a quintet committed to pushing the boundaries of contemporary chamber music. Francesca has participated in the premieres of many new works in solo, chamber, orchestral and operatic settings, including the Mid-American premiere of Kaija Saariaho's opera Émilie. She is currently working with numerous composers to premiere new repertoire for solo flute.
As an orchestral musician, Francesca has performed under the baton of renowned conductors such as Roderick Cox, George Manahan, and Leonard Slatkin. She specializes in performing arts health and is the founder of www.playingwithoutpain.com, an award-winning interactive web resource designed to provide collegiate music students with information to treat and prevent performance-based injury. She has presented her research at various institutions across the United States including the Manhattan School of Music, West Virginia University, Ohio Northern University, among others. Francesca currently serves as a board member on the National Flute Association Performance Health Care Committee and is a Social Media Assistant for the Art of Practicing Institute.
Francesca holds a masters degree in Classical Flute Performance from the Manhattan School of Music as a former Joseph F. McCrindle scholarship recipient and a bachelors degree in Music Performance and Entrepreneurship from Bowling Green State University. Francesca's primary teachers and mentors include Linda Chesis, Conor Nelson and Jeffrey Zook.
www.francescaleoflute.com
www.playingwithoutpain.com
Instagram: @francescaleoflute
Instagram: @playingwithoutpain
Ravenna Michalsen
Ravenna Michalsen is a cellist based in New Haven, CT. where she is faculty at Neighborhood Music School and maintains a private studio. She regularly plays with several area symphonies including Bridgeport, Ridgefield, Wallingford and Waterbury. She is the founder of Dignity Music, which brings live classical music to New Haven area soup kitchens and transitional housing center (www.DignityMusic.org). Ravenna hold two degrees from Yale University and one from the University at Colorado, Boulder and has released three original albums of dharma songs available on iTunes / Apple Music.
Louis Yungling
Hello, my name is Louis Yungling and I'm the founder of COMPASS. I'm also a pianist and teacher.
Meditation, mindfulness and awareness exercises are an integral part of my teaching and practice. Musicians benefit greatly from these practices by being able to fine tune their focus and get more out of their practice as well as increase their responsiveness to sound and be more present and confident in performance.
I created COMPASS concerts to extend these practices to audiences and give everyone a moment to pause and go inward. We do this by sharing a brief contemplation exercise before every concert. In this way we practice being aware of one another and give ourselves a chance to feel and appreciate our unique contribution.
Preparing our minds and bodies to receive and make music allows us to be more receptive to the beauty and generosity that goes into a musical performance. And practicing this type of mindful preparation regularly can help us open our hearts more to the experiences of our day to day lives.
I am thrilled to share this journey with you and the very talented, generous artists who perform here. Thank you to all my musician friends for sharing your gifts and creating beautiful programs of music for our COMPASS community. And thank you to all who come and partake in these heart-warming community concerts.
I currently live and teach piano in Valencia, Spain. My teaching website: Yungling Piano Studio.