Classical duo kicks off series
Concerts to support inaugural festival
NEW SERIES The Ghaderi-Focks Duo will perform in Morgan Hill as a benefit for the upcoming Coyote Creek Music Festival. Submitted photo
The first in a series of concerts to benefit the inaugural Coyote Creek Music Festival will feature the Ghaderi-Focks Duo Nov. 23 in Morgan Hill.
The duo—violinist Kimia Ghaderi and pianist Andrew Focks—are members of the artistic advisory committee to the chamber music festival, which will make its debut next June with three weekends of performances by more than a dozen professional classical musicians from around the country.
The festival has its roots in the now-defunct NorCal Music Festival, which was based at Advent Lutheran Church for two years. Kyle Jones, music director at Advent Lutheran, is the festival director.
The festival’s mission is to partner with diverse communities through transformative musical performances, relevant and inclusive programming, and accessible education opportunities, particularly in the south Santa Clara Valley.
The upcoming concert, and the festival, will be “a great way to introduce people who don’t go to San Jose or San Francisco” for classical performances, Ghaderi said. She is a Morgan Hill native who graduated from Live Oak High School in 2008.
“Kimia’s and Andrew’s performance will certainly establish Coyote Creek Music’s commitment to excellence in all we do,” Jones said. “Morgan Hill is a great community and great communities deserve great music and art. This concert is only the first of many more that lead up to the June festival.”
The festival itself will run June 12-20. Monthly chamber music performances beginning in January will be “mutually beneficial for our organization as well as the community with which we are partnering,” Jones said.
Pre-festival concerts are designed to create visibility in the south valley for the Coyote Creek Music Festival, expand the community’s opportunities for cultural enrichment and generate revenue for the festival itself, said Jones.
Ghaderi and Focks will perform Mozart’s Sonata for Violin and Piano in G Major, K 379; Clara Schumann’s Romance, Op. 22; Sarasate’s “Romania Andaluza;” Kreisler/Dvorak’s “Slavonic Fantasy;” Saint-Saens/Liszt’s “Danse Macabre;” and Grieg’s Sonata for Violin and Piano in C minor.
Ghaderi and Focks are music professors at the Cleveland Institute of Music and have collaborated since 2012. They performed at the 2018 and 2019 NorCal Festival, which presented both student and professional musicians in chamber and orchestral ensembles.
Ghaderi is a graduate of Rice University in Houston and the Cleveland Institute. She teaches violin at the institute and is violinist for the Akron Symphony and the Grand Rapids Symphony.
Focks teaches piano at Cleveland State University and piano and music theory at the Cleveland Institute. He studied at Florida State University, Rice and the Cleveland Institute.
Admission to the Ghaderi-Focks recital is free, with donations accepted for next year’s festival. The evening also will include a presentation about the 2019-2020 festival season.
The Ghaderi-Focks Duo will perform at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 23 at Advent Lutheran church, 16870 Murphy Ave., Morgan Hill. Admission is free; donations accepted. For information, visit www.coyotecreekmusic.org or call (408) 430-7121.
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