Brockport’s Winter Serenades music series begins with the JAY Trio at 3 p.m. on Sunday, February 6, at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, corner Main and State Streets. Cellist Jennifer Carpenter and violinist Aika Ito, both RPO musicians, will perform with pianist Yoshiko Arahata. Dr. Arahata teaches at the Hochstein School, Alfred University, and Nazareth College.
The acoustics at St. Luke’s make it an excellent venue for the three musicians to perform the solo, duet, and trio pieces they’ve selected. The program’s varied repertoire will include works by Clara Schumann, Chen Yi, Benjamin Britten, Camille Saint-Saens, and Johann Sebastian Bach.
There is no charge for any of these informal presentations. Families are encouraged to attend and to stay after for an opportunity to “Meet the Artists.” Current COVID guidelines will be strictly followed – masks are required for all attendees. The church is spacious, allowing for social distancing, and the performance will also be live streamed on YouTube for those who prefer to attend virtually from home.
Jennifer Carpenter is an experienced performer in a diverse range of musical styles and ensembles. She is a tenured member of Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and her past orchestral experiences include performances in the Juilliard Orchestra, where she served as principal cellist, Aspen Music Festival and School, where she served as a fellow in the conducting academy orchestra, and Cayuga Chamber Orchestra. As a dedicated chamber musician, she has performed at festivals such as The Perlman Music Program Chamber Music Workshop, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival fellowship program, Orford Musique, and the Castleman Quartet Program. She has also performed chamber music on the WXXI Live from Hochstein radio broadcast concert series and Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s Living Room Series. Additionally, she has given numerous chamber music and solo performances at The Juilliard School and Oberlin Conservatory, where she earned Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees, respectively. Her past teachers include Natasha Brofsky, Laurence Lesser, Phoebe Carrai, Darrett Adkins, Catharina Meints, Eric Kim, and Ellen Shertzer.
In addition to modern performance, Carpenter is an enthusiast of historical performance, and during her studies at The Juilliard School and Oberlin Conservatory she studied baroque cello and viola da gamba. Also an advocate of new music, she collaborates frequently with living composers, performs premieres, and has appeared with New Juilliard Ensemble, OSSIA New Music, and Oberlin Conservatory’s Contemporary Music Ensemble.
As an educator, over the years Carpenter has taught cello students of various ages and levels. She received training to be a Suzuki Method teacher at The School for Strings in New York. She has served as a Lecturer in Music at Nazareth College, and as a mentor and coach to students in the Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, Kneisel Hall Program for Maine Students, and Wyoming Seminary Performing Arts Institute. She is currently a member of the faculty at Eastman Community Music School and The Hochstein School. She also coordinates chamber music ensembles at the University of Rochester and serves as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the Eastman School of Music, where she is working towards a Doctor of Musical Arts degree and is a candidate for the Performer’s Certificate.
Aika Ito, a native of Tokyo, Japan, joined the first violin section of the RPO in September 2014. Previously she was a member of the Canton Symphony Orchestra and the Akron Symphony Orchestra. She has participated in several summer festivals including the Pacific Music Festival, Schleswig Holstein Music Festival, and the Tanglewood Music Festival. She is a violist of the Salaff Quartet, formed by RPO musicians in 2014, and the quartet has been an ambassador quartet for the Society of Chamber Music in Rochester since 2017. She plays the baroque violin as a member of Ogni Sorti, formed in 2016. The artists feel passionate about sharing early music with the greater Rochester community.
Yoshiko Arahata enjoys a multifaceted career as an internationally-active pianist, educator, improvisor, and composer. Her solo engagements have taken her to stages throughout the US, Asia, and Europe and she has made concerto appearances with both traditional orchestras and contemporary ensembles. A sought-after collaborator and chamber musician, she has performed with the renowned violinist Charles Castleman, musicians from Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, percussionist Joshua Graham on “Music after 2000” Midwest tour, Ensemble-in-Residence in Texas as the founding member of Elgin Trio, and at the Garth Newel Chamber Music Festival.
Rochester’s City Newspaper praised Arahata for “playing with a vibrancy not often heard” and staging that “isn’t just a standard recital presentation” for her 2020 Rochester Fringe Festival production of a contemporary opera and art songs with the acclaimed mezzo-soprano Jessica Ann Best. Additionally, she frequently collaborates with Mariah Steele of Quicksilver Dance.
A committed educator, Arahata has held diverse teaching, coaching, and collaborative piano positions and enjoys working with students from a wide range of ages and levels. Prior to teaching at Hochstein, she has taught at SUNY Geneseo, Nazareth College, Eastman School of Music (collegiate and community divisions), Northwestern University, and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. Currently, she also teaches piano, theory, and jazz ensemble as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at Alfred University and serves on the improvisation committee of the National Conference of Keyboard Pedagogy.
Arahata holds piano performance degrees from the Eastman School of Music (BM, DMA) and Northwestern University (MM).
Information on the Winter Serenades concert series can be found at www.brockportny.org or by calling 637-5300, ext. 110.
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