Natural Harmony
Sunday, August 17th • Berkeley Piano Club
Drawing from community-based submissions of poems and short stories, ‘Natural Harmony’ is the culminating event of our week-long summer residency where composers, musicians and visual artists come together to create new works, bringing these stores to life musically and visually. All artists presented and performed their works live at the Berkeley Piano Club.
The Program
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JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH - CELLO SUITE NO. 1 IN G MAJOR, BWV 1007
I. Prelude
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH - SONATA FOR GAMBA AND HARPSICHORD NO. 3, BWV 1029
I. Vivace
II. Adagio
III. Allegro
FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN - CELLO SONATA IN G MINOR, OP. 65
I. Allegro moderato
III. Largo
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The Musicians
Tanya Tomkins
Artistic Director and Co-Founder of the Valley of the Moon Music Festival, cellist Tanya Tomkins is equally at home on Baroque and modern instruments. She has performed on many chamber music series to critical acclaim, including the Frick Collection, “Great Performances” at Lincoln Center, the 92nd Street Y, San Francisco Performances, and the Concertgebouw Kleine Zaal.
She is renowned in particular for her interpretation of the Bach Cello Suites, having recorded them for the Avie label and performed them many times at venues such as New York’s Le Poisson Rouge, Seattle Early Music Guild, Vancouver Early Music Society, and The Library of Congress.
Nigel Armstrong
Nigel Armstrong is emerging as a dynamic and creative artist both within and beyond the realm of classical music. From his musical beginnings as a member of "The Little Fiddlers" in Sonoma, CA to collaborations with tango musicians in Argentina he's enjoyed using the violin in a versatile manner throughout his life.
As soloist and chamber musician Nigel has performed with orchestras throughout the world, and feels fortunate to have had the chance to explore great orchestral literature throughout his career.
Nigel also recently had the opportunity to live with and learn from the Plum Village community founded by Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, where he spent a year working on their organic farm and taking part in their daily life, an experience for which he continues to be grateful.
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 response to her passion for bringing artists together for opportunities for performance, the creation of new work, and interdisciplinary collaboration, Audrey founded Musaics of the Bay in 2019.
Karna Mendonza
Karna Mendonca is a composer-pianist currently and researcher living in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Karna began studying composition and piano at age six, and attended summer programs in composition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Interlochen Arts Academy. Since the age of thirteen, Karna has also played the oboe and alto saxophone in various community orchestras and jazz bands respectively, bringing a wide range of influences to his compositional palate. He currently studies both piano and composition with Eric Zivian, and has composed works for world-class instrumentalists, including as Audrey Vardanega, Coleman Itzkoff, Christopher Goodpasture, and Nigel Armstrong through the annual residencies of Musaics of the Bay. In addition to composing, Karna is passionate about math and science; he graduated from UC Berkeley in 2022, and is currently pursuing his PhD in computer science at Northeastern University, where he researches machine learning and computational biology.