Concerts on the Hill

Release from  Concerts at the Hill

The fourth year of "Concerts at The Hill" chamber music performances will debut at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 26, in The Hill Auditorium at the southwest corner of Euclid Avenue and Fifth Street in Ontario. The monthly series will run through May, 2009, and the concerts are free.

The season opening concert will feature the acclaimed Jung Trio, conprised of sisters Ellen Jung, piano; Julie Jung, cello, and Jennie Jung, pianist. The trio is widely recognized in music circles as one of the most notable rising young ensembles of today and has been featured in several leading classical music magazines.

Having performed all across the U.S. and around the world, press reviews have hailed the Jung Trio for "soul-stirring performances" and "wonderful musicality." Born and raised in Toronto, their early music training was at the Royal Conservatory of Music. Later, they studied at Yale University School of Music. The sisters currently reside in Southern California.

For the Concerts at The Hill performance, they will play Piano Trio in E-flat major, Op. 1 No. 1 by Ludwig van Beethoven; Invierno Porteno/Winter from Las Cuatro Estaciones Portenas/The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires by Astor Piazzolla, and the Piano Trio in A Minor by Maurice Ravel.

Each of the Concerts at The Hill offers a performance to a student musician as part of its music education mission. Featured on this program will be young cellist Bradford Jackson of Rancho Cucamonga. He will perform the first movement of the Shostakovich cello concerto and a cello transcription arranged by his mother and accompanist, Sue Jackson, of the theme from the "Schindler's List" movie soundtrack by John Williams.

Jackson, a 16-year-old Etiwanda High School student, has won numerous musical competitions, including a scholarship with the Idyllwild Festival Orchestra for a performance at Disney Hall. He was a recent winner of "Spotlight on the RC" competition at Lewis Playhouse and a finalist in the prestigious Redlands Bowl Competition. He has played with the Claremont Young Musicians Orchestra since the 7^th grade.

Concerts on The Hill are being presented this year by the new Claremont Chamber Music Society (CCMS) and the Western Society of Chamber Music, the organization that started the monthly chamber music series three years ago. The two share the same board of directors and officers and is an all-volunteer California nonprofit corporation based in Claremont. The chairman of the board and chief executive officer is Linda Battram, a Claremont attorney.

This is the first season the series has been scheduled on a Sunday afternoon each month. In past years the concerts have been presented on week nights or Saturday nights. "Our feeling is that Sunday afternoon will prove to be a much more convenient time for senior citizens as well as families who enjoy chamber music," said George Collier, media relations director for Concerts on The Hill. Financial support comes entirely from audience donations and sponsor patrons.

The next concert in the series will be at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 23, and will feature classical guitarist Jack Sanders (www.sandersguitar.com).