Jazzin’ With the Classics for Christmas

Saturday, December 27, 2014 at 3 p.m., Emmanuel Episcopal Church

— from Jeffrey Cohan —

A Baroque and Jazz Christmas Concert!

Emmanuel Episcopal Parish and Music at Emmanuel presents the eighth annual YULETIDE BAROQUE & BEYOND, for the third year in a row subtitled, JAZZIN’ WITH THE CLASSICS FOR CHRISTMAS, featuring soprano Linda Tsatsanis, jazz flutist, pianist and clarinetist Martin Lund, classical flutist Jeffrey Cohan, and jazz bassist Nate Omdal on Saturday afternoon, December 27, 2014 at 3:00 PM at Emmanuel Episcopal Parish in Eastsound. This completely new program follows last year’s immensely popular program. Please call (360) 376-2352 for more information. The suggested donation will be $10, and those 18 and under are free.

In this program, four renowned classical and jazz artists and friends meld their musical perspectives in an unusual collaboration and unique celebration of the Yuletide season that is guaranteed to generate an abundance of Christmas cheer. Tsatsanis, Lund, Cohan and Omdal will team up to bridge contemporary improvisational jazz and the “art music” of baroque and renaissance times. Instrumental musicians have “jazzed up” melodies familiar to them in the style of their day for centuries, and this team’s virtuoso improvisations on Yuletide favorites, and their renditions of classical standards such as arias from Handel’s Messiah will bring together the best of jazz and classical worlds.

LINDA TSATSANIS
Hailed as “ravishing” (New York Times) and possessing “sheer vocal proficiency, a bright, flexible voice, big but controlled, shaded with plentiful color” (Boston Globe), Canadian soprano Linda Tsatsanis enjoys an active and diverse career. Ms. Tsatsanis’ versatile voice makes her equally comfortable on the opera stage and concert hall while being able to sing intimate renaissance song or world premier performances such as a stunning arrangement made for her, cello and string orchestra of the Preludes of Bach’s Cello Suites. Ms. Tsatsanis has appeared as soloist with the Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Auburn Symphony, Pacific Musicworks, Orchestra Seattle, Helios Opera, Pacific Baroque Orchestra and has recently been presented by the Early Music Society of the Islands (Victoria, BC), Indianapolis Early Music Festival, San Francisco Early Music Society, and Magnolia Baroque Festival. Ms. Tsatsanis holds degrees from the University of Toronto and Indiana University. She has a solo album with Origin Classical, And I Remain: Three Love Stories, described as a “seductive recital of the darker sides of 17th-century love” (Gramophone), and can also be heard on recordings by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Naxos. Currently Ms. Tsatsanis lives in Seattle, Washington.

MARTIN LUND
Martin Lund, one of the most diverse musicians in the universe, has played with some of the great blues artists of our time and worked in the studios of LA as a composer, arranger and musician with artists like Mel Torme to Isacc Hayes. His eclectic background has allowed him to move freely through any style of music from classical to rock and from jazz to Broadway. He is equally adept at clarinet, saxophone, flute and piano. Martin is a well-known performer and teacher who produces one of Orcas Island’s most popular summer music events, The One World Music Festival, a jazz-based musical variety show with Orcas Island’s best musicians and top-notch talent from beyond the islands. Martin graduated from the University of Washington with a BA in both music and music education.

JEFFREY COHAN
Flutist Jeffrey Cohan has performed as soloist in 25 countries, both on modern and early transverse flutes from the Renaissance through the present. The winner of many important competitions and awards, he has performed throughout Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States, and worldwide for the USIA Arts America Program.  Many works have been written for and premiered by him, including five new flute concerti since 2000.  He is artistic director of the Capitol Hill Chamber Music Festival in Washington, DC, the Black Hawk Chamber Music Festival in the Midwest and the Salish Sea Early Music Festival in the Pacific Northwest. He can “play many superstar flutists one might name under the table” according to the New York Times and is “The Flute Master” (headline) according to the Boston Globe.

NATE OMDAL
Bassist, composer and producer Nate Omdal is one of Seattle’s leading musical innovators, as the music director for million dollar fundraisers, prestigious winery events, and through the most popular radio and web-based Hiphop media sources. In 2010, Omdal began a partnership with MC/Producer Spekulation, whose work has been described as reaching “highbrow requirements, leveraging elegance and elevation on the boards.” (Dave Segal, The Stranger). Omdal has been honored to have worked with such artists as LeRoy Bell of X-Factor, Marnie Nixon, NPR’s RadioLab, Tiler Peck (Principal Ballerina, New York City Ballet), Matthew Rushing (Rehearsal Director, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre), Animation Dancer Marquese “Nonstop” Scott, GRAMMY Award Winning Artists Josh Rawlings and Jeremy Jones, Sub Pop Records artists, Rose Windows, Prometheus Brown, D’Vonne Lewis, Beth Fleenor, Stefan Mitchell, Perry Porter and DJ Absolute Madman. Omdal graduated from Cornish College of the Arts, and has received support from Jack Straw, 4Culture, and the Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs.

MORE INFO: Emmanuel Episcopal Church at (360) 376-2352 ADMISSION: Suggested donation (free will offering) $10; 18 & under free