Mosbacher Salon Concerts Presents

Join in the fun early, meet the musicians, enjoy delicious refreshments, and say hello to new friends. Find your seat and enjoy a delightful concert!

Refreshments graciously provided by My Cellar Wine Bar, 9258 Forrest Blfs Vw, Colorado Springs, CO 80920. Thank you Sheryl and Eric Medeiros, Owners!

Clarinet Sonata Camille Saint-Saens

Allegro (1835 – 1921)

Allegro Animato

Lento

Molto Allegro

Sentimental Waltz Boris Lyatoshinsky

(1895 - 1968)

Peace Jesse Montgomery

for viola and piano (b. 1981)

---Pause---

Prelude Rebecca Clarke

(1886 - 1979)

Prayer Kinan Azmeh

(b. 1976)

Eight Pieces Max Bruch Andante (1838 – 1920)

Rumänische Melodie

Allegro agitato

50 Minutes Runtime, 15 Minute Break

Please no photography, audio, or video

recording of any kind during the performance.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Susan Grace

Grammy nominated pianist and Steinway Artist Susan Grace has performed solo and chamber recitals and has appeared as soloist with orchestras in the United States, Europe, the former Soviet Union, Korea, India and China. She has also performed in the Aspekte Festival in Salzburg, St Paul Chamber Orchestra's new-music series Engine 408, Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., the Grand Teton Festival, the Cape Cod Music Festival, Festival Mozaic, Concordia Chamber Players, Music at Oxford, and the Helmsley Festival in England. She is a member of Quattro Mani, an internationally acclaimed two-piano ensemble with NY pianist Steven Beck. Recent performances include CUNY Graduate Center, Bargemusic, National Sawdust, Subculture and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and Steinway Hall in NY, La Labortoire Cambridge, Curtis Institute in Philadelphia and the Alabama and Austin Symphonies. Grace has recorded for Bridge Records, the Belgium National Radio, WFMT in Chicago, the Society of Composers, Wilson Audio, Klavier International and Klavier Music Productions. Her recording on the Bridge label of Stefan Wolpe's violin and piano music was listed in the London Sunday Times as one of the top ten Contemporary recordings of 2015 and was also included on the Fanfare "Critics Want List 2016". Bridge Records recently released 4 new CDs by Quattro Mani featuring American and European composers; Lounge Lizards and Re-Structures in 2018 as well as Stefan Wolpe's music for two pianos and the Poul Ruders Edition, Volume 15 released in 2019, all to critical acclaim. Grace was awarded the 2020 Gresham Riley Award, Alumni Association's highest honor for service to Colorado College.

Grace is associate chair, artist-in-residence and senior lecturer in music at Colorado College. She is also music director of the renowned Colorado College Summer Music Festival, now entering its 39th season. She was awarded the Christine S. Johnson Professorship of Music from 2014-16. In June 2014, Mayor Steve Bach and the city of Colorado Springs presented Ms. Grace with the Spirit of the Springs award for her work with the Colorado College Summer Music Festival. Grace was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Small Ensemble Performance category.

Shauna Smith

Shauna M. Smith graduated Magna Cum Laude from the College of Idaho with three diplomas: violin performance, philosophy, and visual art. She then went on to earn her Master of Art and an Artist Diploma in violin/viola performance from the Aaron Copeland School of Music, City University of New York where she studied with Burton Kaplan and Daniel Phillips. Her passion for music education earned her the 2018/2018 Colorado Springs Youth Symphony Association’s “Inspire Teacher of the Year Award.” Other honors include College of Idaho’s most outstanding musician and concerto competition winner, 2000. In 2010, the Aaron Copland School of Music awarded Smith most outstanding chamber musician and in 2011 she won the music school’s concerto competition on viola.

Before moving to New York, she was the violinist/violist in residence for the Idaho Shakespeare Festival for 4 seasons. Ms. Smith has played section and principal violin and viola with the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra, Spokane Symphony, Boise Philharmonic, the New York City Nova Philharmonic, and the Las Vegas Symphony. She is currently a private violin/viola instructor, freelance musician, frequent sub with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, and Director of Education Outreach for EPIC, a non-profit chamber music performance organization, epicmustsee.org.

Beside music, Shauna loves hiking, backpacking, traveling, baking, and everyday adventures with her family.

Sergei Vassiliev

Sergei Vassiliev recently founded Educational Partnerships Immersive Concerts (EPIC) - a ‘non-stuffy’ classical concert series that received Peak Arts Prize upon its inception in 2020 and has been described by the Colorado Springs Gazette as “not your parents’ classical music series”. EPIC has enjoyed a consistent confluence of world-class talent such as principal musicians of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Paris National Opera Orchestra. More information about EPIC can be found at epicmustsee.org.

Vassiliev has served as principal clarinetist with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic Orchestra since 2009. Sergei appeared in the US and Europe as a soloist, chamber musician, and clinician. Vassiliev performed chamber music at Chatter, Festival Mozaic, Colorado College Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, Sarasota Festival, and Green Box Arts Festival. Sergei held principal clarinet positions with Des Moines Metro Opera Orchestra, and Boise Philharmonic, performed as guest principal at the Music in the Mountains Festival, and has performed with Houston, Colorado Symphonies, and many other symphony orchestras. In 2019, he was honored to be featured in the “Signature Series” with the CSPO where he played the role of artistic director and soloist.

Sergei maintains a sought-after teaching studio in Colorado Springs and serves on the faculties of the University of Colorado - Colorado Springs and Colorado State University in Fort Collins. He has presented masterclasses at the University of Connecticut, the University of Tennessee, and the Kharkiv Conservatory in Ukraine. Vassiliev's principal teachers are Yehuda Gilad, Richard Hawkins, Fred Ormand, and Michael Webster.

He holds degrees and awards from the University of Michigan, Rice University, and the University of Southern California. Sergei is a D’Addario Artist.

Karen Mosbacher

Two - Time EMMY® Award Nominated and EMMY® Award winning, internationally known American artist Karen Mosbacher is a multidisciplinary artist, known for the synesthetic qualities in her artwork.

Karen currently exhibits at Auric Gallery, Colorado Springs, Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, ADC Fine Art, Cincinnati, OH, Victoria at Home, Santa Fe, and JRB ART at the Elms Gallery, Oklahoma City. Mosbacher's multidisciplinary work focuses on painting, mixed media, encaustic, sculpture, and installation work.

Recently, Mosbacher was entered into The National Library of Israel, located in Jerusalem, which is dedicated to the preservation of Jewish culture, alongside Dr. Ofer Ben-Amots for her paintings of many of his music compositions. She was chosen to create paintings for a CD cover for Dr. Ben-Amots, Israel and Dr. Jennifer Barker, Ireland.

Karen is a visiting teacher at Colorado College and teaches mathmeticians and scientists to paint. Mosbacher also leads the Multae Manus (Many Hands) Collective mentoring new and emerging artists to elevate their own artwork. Mosbacher's upcoming works are collaborative in nature and will present throughout 2024 in varying cities. Her recent work is painting live with emerging and professional musical groups. Mosbacher is commissioned by composers, performers, and music enthusiasts.

Collateral BEAUTY is Mosbacher's politically stoked cry for the halt of silent abusive relationships. In November 2023, Mosbacher exhibited the first of the series, “No More Silence,” which relates to speaking out about silent abuse in relationships both romantic and otherwise. Ms. Mosbacher began this body of work for herself, however quickly realizing it is for anyone who has been abused, criticized, or controlled so that they cannot be who they truly, beautifully, and deeply are. Jerry Saltz, Lead Art Critic for New York Magazine, and her friend, encourages Mosbacher to continue. She has begun studies for Collateral BEAUTY: Part 2, SCARS, looking toward 2026. Her work for justice has shown in Toronto, Canada, and the US.

Beginning in 2018, the body of work, All.That.Jazz. was welcomed by her gallery in Lyon, France. All.That.Jazz. exemplifies her resonance with rhythm and color. She is also is collaborating with musician Jacob Clewell, classical and contemporary violinist and violist, and The Ezra Duo (Toronto, Canada), Jacob Clewell and Sasha Built-Ito, on Paint:Music, a project of painted Chromaeasthetic representations of selected classical and new music works.

Karen’s earlier projects included the Welcome Home series, and a series entitled The Enchanted Land, both depicting synesthetic visions of scenes and observations from Karen’s return to Santa Fe after spending two years in Atlanta. While in Atlanta, she was honored by a mentorship and residency with a well-known southern abstract expressionist, Clara Blalock, a student of Philip Guston. Ms. Mosbacher was awarded an extended residency in Orquevaux, France in 2019 and will complete a residency in Santa Fe, NM in 2024 with her encaustic mentor, Paula Roland, as well as one in Florence, Italy in December 2024.

Away from the studio, Karen has volunteered for the Fragile Kids Foundation, Atlanta, Gerard’s House, Santa Fe, and Santa Fe Pro Musica, and is a member of The National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Oklahoma Contemporary Art Center, Denver Art Museum, Site Santa Fe, Chamber Orchestra of the Springs, and the Colorado Springs Fine Art Center. Karen served on Santa Fe Pro Musica’s Coda Circle Committee and Board of Directors, served as Artist-in-Residence for Santa Fe Pro Musica for 2 years, and is a member of the Graphic Artist’s Guild. She has also authored and illustrated Grief Exposed, a two-book series of Poetic Illustrations exploring the process of grief. She lives and works with her canine studio assistant, Ruby, in Colorado Springs, CO.

Host or Publisher Mosbacher Salon Collective