On Sunday, September 28, 2008, 3 P.M. North Bay pianist Kenn Gartner '60 and soprano Margo-Sherelle Alexander will debut at San Francisco’s prestigious Herbst Theater. 

A prodigy, he began piano study at two and a half.  Dr. Gartner was to be a violinist.  After breaking two of them, his mother decided on something a little sturdier.  A member of the Children’s Opera Company of NY, he sang at City Center, Winter Garden, and the Metropolitan Opera.  Kenn has a phenomenal academic background studying piano at Cornell University with John Kirkpatrick (Charles Ives’s pianist) and Donald Grout, The Juilliard School with Adele Marcus and Edward Steuermann (Arnold Schoenberg’s pianist), and New York University with Eugene List where he received a Ph.D. in Piano Technique.  With performances in over 60 countries, Dr. Gartner’s experiences range from a command performance for the Mayor of Halifax, Nova Scotia, to a Master Class in Piano Technique, The Shanghai Institute, Shanghai, China. 

Nationally certified as a Teacher of Piano and of Voice by the Music Teachers National Association, ‘Dr. G’ teaches the extremely gifted and committed.  Active as an accompanist, music, and vocal coach, he was recently elected to the Board of Directors, Bay Area Summer Opera and Theater Institute (BASOTI).

A California native, Ms. Alexander initially studied with Willimena Gunn.  As an adult, she attended the Mannes Conservatory of Music (New York City) on a scholarship to study with Antonia Lavanne, senior voice faculty.  Margo then toured and participated in several international vocal competitions, the result of which was a contract with L’Opera de Monte Carlo.  A resident of NYC, she returned to California for this recital.  She continues to develop with Dr. G. a unique technique of team vocal coaching:  an approach that produces remarkable results in a very short time.  She continues to perform concert style Opera, Oratorio, lieder, and melodies recitals

These Piano and Soprano works were chosen for their eclecticism. The piano material will demonstrate a variety of styles and techniques from Classicism through Modernism.  The Soprano material, especially the Wesendonck Lieder, demonstrates the incredible range of the soprano voice.  After a performance at Greenwich House in New York City, Richard Hundley, a composer who has written for Anna Moffo and other operatic stars, told her, “The Wesendonck Lieder were written for your voice!”  She and Kenn performed this recital program in Greece, on the island of Kefalonia and in Athens.  Recently they presented this same program in Guerneville, in what may have been the premier performance of the Wesendonck Lieder in Sonoma County. 

Visit www.hotchops.net for more information about this renowned pianist and teacher.

Herbst Theater 401 Van Ness (at McAllister Street), San Francisco, CA 94102.  Tickets are available online and tickets.com charge-by-phone: 1-800-225-2277 or at the City box office, Monday - Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (Visa, MasterCard or cash only)

Event details are as follows:

  Kenn Gartner, Pianist  

 And 

Advance Tickets Presently Available 

 Tickets:  $35 and $30 

Ms. Alexander will perform Richard Wagner’s rarely heard Wesendonck Lieder in their original settings as well as selections by Cilea, Gershwin, Herbert, and others.

Dr. Gartner will perform works by Liszt, Chopin, Respighi, The William’s Albright and Bolcom, Skryabin, et al.