Chopin in Berkeley
Sunday, august 24th, 3pm | BERKELEY Hills
Join us at the beautiful and historic Villa Maybeck as we explore the Preludes of Frédéric Chopin through the lens of Julian White, beloved Bay Area pianist and composer whose lectures and teaching inspired generations of musicians and audiences. The evening will include anecdotal stories about Julian’s life and legacy, archival video footage of Julian presenting in front of a live audience in 1972, and a special performance of selected works by Chopin featuring pianist Audrey Vardanega. Afterwards we will enjoy a light dinner prepared with ingredients sourced from producer/restaurateur (and our film’s videographer) Bob Klein’s groundbreaking Community Grains project.
CHOPIN PRELUDES: A Film by Bob Klein
Produced and directed by Bob Klein for San Francisco’s Video Free America in 1972, this film offers an intimate glimpse into some of Frédéric Chopin’s most well-known Preludes, presented and performed with the sense of enthusiasm, accessibility and virtuosity that Julian White was known and celebrated for in the Bay Area and beyond.
The Program
— Wine & Opening Reception —
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Julian White
Welcome & Anecdotes - L. John Harris
Introduction to the Film - Bob Klein
Chopin Preludes - A Film
Frédéric Chopin
Introduction to the Music - Christos Vayenas
Select Works - Audrey Vardanega
Light Supper
Community Grains Pasta Salad
Crudité & Cheese
Wine
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ARTISTS & PResenters
Julian White
For some thirty years, pianist, composer and teacher Julian White was actively associated with the human potential movement in America. He presented seminars throughout the country on the connection between music and self-knowledge sponsored by The Jungian Society and Association for Humanistic Psychology, appearing in programs with Joseph Campbell and the poet Robert Bly.
Mr. White, a graduate of The Juilliard School and professor of Music at California State University in Hayward, Mills College, Oakland and Dominican College in San Rafael, taught piano and composition in his studio in Kensington and was an active concert pianist and composer.
Over the course of his career he won many awards including “Master Teacher of the Year” in 1965 from the Music Teachers Association of California, and was named a California Arts Council Fellow of Performing Arts.
Audrey vardanega
Praised as a “[musically] eloquent” (San Francisco Classical Voice) player “with the kind of freedom, authority, and strength…that one expects from the world’s finest pianists” and a “bewitching musical presence” (The Piedmont Post), American pianist and arts entrepreneur Audrey Vardanega (b.1995) has performed as a solo and collaborative pianist across Europe, China, and the United States.
In 2019, in response to her passion for bringing artists together for new opportunities for performance, the creation of new work, and interdisciplinary collaboration, Audrey founded Musaics of the Bay.
Bob Klein
As founder and president of Community Grains, Bob Klein has spent the last 10 years working to rebuild our local grain economy in Northern California.
Besides being a prominent restaurateur, Bob has been a broadcast executive producer, a national program consultant, and developer/syndicator. With 38 years in media, he has produced hundreds of television programs including Bay Area Backroads, the highest rated locally produced series ever in the San Francisco market.
Bob is the recipient of the DuPont Columbia Award, a broadcast journalism award from the Columbia School of Journalism. He’s also earned several IRIS Awards, awarded by the National Association of Television Program Executives, and has received four Northern California Emmies. He holds a BA in English from San Francisco State College (now University), with additional master's work in film.
community Grains
The bold flavors, aromas, and wholesome goodness of locally grown whole grains were once commonplace in our agrarian past. The grains’ distinct personalities – from the natural interaction of seeds, soil, weather, the farmer, and the mill – were nearly lost a century ago due to commodification and industrial milling.
In response to this dilemma, Community Grains has teamed up with renowned Bay Area farmers, millers, bakers, chefs, and cooks to break from convention and create a production cycle that values flavor, nutrition, and transparency over uniformity — and we’re restoring a vibrant local grain economy in the process.