Prism Percussion*

A ticketed Meet-the-Artist Meal begins at 6:00. On the menu: roast pork tenderloin with tropical salsa, basmati rice pilaf with orange & cherries, roasted peppers/onions/zucchini/carrots, green salad with herb vinaigrette, rolls/bread & butter, vanilla fudge marble bundt cake with vanilla ice cream Vegetarian option available upon request to randerson@holytrinityakron.org. (includes the menu items above, substituting garbanzo beans & roasted cashews for roast pork, plus a double salad portion) 

Please see below to purchase tickets! 

Prism Percussion, a San Francisco-based percussion duo, was founded in 2018 by Divesh Karamchandani and Elizabeth Hall. The dynamic duo regularly performs works by underrepresented composers and demonstrates repertoire for a wide pallet of sounds available to percussionists. Prism Percussion's presence on stage is "both musically and visually stunning" affirms Jessica Balik of San Francisco Classical Voice. Divesh and Elizabeth's mutual passion for percussion chamber music and excitement for collaborating with composers and other musicians led them to create this duo. They enjoy fostering the creation of new works and have commissioned three new works in the past year.

Divesh and Elizabeth met at the Zeltsman Marimba Festival in 2011 and bonded over their love of the marimba. Their friendship grew and their paths crossed again when they both moved to San Francisco to attend the San Francisco Conservatory of Music for their masters degrees. They performed together throughout college and professionally with diverse groups and concerts including Mercury Soul, One Found Sound, The Hot Air Music Festival, Post:Ballet, Calvary Choir, Golden Gate Symphony, and Cantare Con Vivo. They look forward to continuing their creative collaboration with other progressive artists. 

Divesh Karamchandani is a San Francisco-based percussionist and educator performing regularly in chamber and large orchestral projects throughout the Greater Bay Area. He is also the Principal Percussionist of Opera Modesto as well as One Found Sound, a San Francisco conductorless chamber orchestra. Divesh's recent performances include Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera, Music in the Mountains, Academy Orchestra, Center Repertory Company and the newly formed SF-LA Collective. He can also be seen performing regularly with Cantare Con Vivo, Golden Gate Symphony, Mercury Soul, Merced Symphony and other regional orchestras around San Francisco.  

   Divesh graduated in 2012 from California State University, Stanislaus with a Bachelor of Music degree in percussion performance and instrumental music education. He graduated in 2014 from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music with a Masters of Music in percussion performance. He studied under the tutelage of Jack Van Geem, Jacob Nissly, James Lee Wyatt III, Chris Woodham and Allen Brown. Divesh is equally passionate about teaching as he is about performing. He is the percussion coach with the San Francisco Symphony’s Music and Mentors program. Divesh also coaches at several schools outside of San Francisco. He recently joined the faculty at West Valley College as an Applied Music Instructor of Percussion. 

 

Elizabeth Hall is a San Francisco-based percussionist and vocalist. She is enthusiastic about chamber music and contemporary music and has played with many groups including San Francisco Opera, Santa Cruz Symphony, One Found Sound, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, and Adesso Ensemble. Elizabeth regularly plays with Americana duo, Gutter Swan and recently recorded an album with the same. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Bowling Green State University and her Master’s degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She studied with Jack Van Geem, Trey Wyatt, Roger Schupp, Isabelle Huang, and Bill Bleyle.

 

Special Guest Nicholas Pavkovic received an A.B. from the University of Chicago in mathematics and an M.M. in composition from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Elinor Armer. His 2011 composition, "Angelus Novus," received the school’s James Highsmith Award for orchestral composition. 

   A prolific composer for film, Pavkovic has scored more than two dozen narrative features and shorts, and was named a Sundance Composers Lab fellow in 2008. In the same year he received the grand prize in the Percussive Arts Society composition competition for Concertino for Piano and Percussion. 

   He is active in the planning and administration of the San Francisco Conservatory’s annual Hot Air Music Festival, which hosted the premiere of his chamber opera, "Sredni Vashtar," in 2010. In 2011, SFCM alumnus and pianist Robin Sutherland premiered Pavkovic’s Rhapsody for Viola and Piano with San Francisco Symphony violist Jonathan Vinocour. Sutherland subsequently commissioned "Volante," a three-movement suite for clarinet and piano. 

   Mr. Pavkovic is Executive Director of the Ross McKee Foundation, and a professor of musicianship and music theory at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.   

Area soprano Emily Hall joins this trio for a special selection.

ON THE PROGRAM:

Ivan Trevino - 2+1

marimba

Derek Tywoniuk - Fin, for now

vibraphone

Yaz Lancaster - photism: Sounds

found objects

Kyle Hovatter - Four Terry Severhill Poems

I. Haiku 

II. Havoc

III. March

IV. Freeze Frame

vibraphone, flower pots, woodblock, triangles, sheep bells, and voice

Leonardo Gorosito & Rafael Alberto - Seeds

caxixi, shakers, maracas, bells, and finger cymbals

Andrea Venet - Faded Lines

field drum, piccolo snare drum, and bass drum

Piece with vocalist - TBD

Emily Hall, vocalist

Nicholas Pavkovic - Transit

marimba, vibraphone, and keyboard

Nicholas Pavkovic, keyboard