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  "AMERICAN PRELUDE AND FUGUE"U.S. PREMIERE
Friday, Sept. 12, 2008
7:30 pm
Fort Wayne, IN
FREE ADMISSION - OPEN TO PUBLIC
The Alliance for Research in Music Medicine proudly announces the U.S. premiere of the “American Prelude and Fugue”, an original music score composed by Dr. Alexander Tentser for the opening of the ARIMM 2008 conference on Music and Medicine at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW).
The composer will perform his work at a special piano concert on Friday evening, September 12, 2008, at 7:30 p.m. The concert will be held in the Rhinehart Recital Hall in the Rhinehart Music Center on the campus of IPFW.
 In continuing the good spirit of musical collaboration begun at the 2007 Tucson Conference, Tentser and Dr. Hamilton Tescarollo, Music Director of Keyboard Studies at IPFW, will perform works by Mozart, Schubert, and G. Rossini. This underscores the collaborative nature of the entire Conference as a sincere mutual effort to understand the healing properties of sound.
The piano concert is open to the general public, free admission, doors open at 7:00 p.m.
 Alexander Tentser, Ph.D.University of Arizona Dept. of Music
Pima College Dept. of Music
Co-Chairman 2007 Tucson Conference
Born in Kiev, Ukraine, Alexander Tentser studied piano performance under professor Theodor Gutman, pupil and assistant of Henry Neuhaus, at the celebrated Russian Music Academy (former Gnessin Music Institute) in Moscow, Russia. Alexander immigrated to the United States in 1990 and immediately impressed audiences with his fresh performance style. While earning his doctorate in musical arts at the University of Arizona, he made his debut with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra in 1993 performing Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto. Since that time, he has appeared as a soloist, not only with the Tucson Symphony (in 1998, and 2002), but also with the Lake Placid Sinfonietta, Southern Arizona Symphony, and Catalina Chamber Orchestra. He was one of the first soloists invited to perform with the recently formed Sierra Vista Symphony in 1997, and, also, in 2001. Alexander, and his wife, Anna, who is a violinist with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, frequently appear with the Daystar Chamber Ensemble in Tucson, Arizona.
In addition to his appearances as a performer, Dr. Tentser maintains a busy schedule as an educator. He lectures on music at the “Learning Curve” Educational Association, teaches piano and music theory at Pima Community College, and is the author of special courses for music teachers. His students include winners of both Tucson and Sierra Vista Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Concerto Competitions. During the summer of 2001 Alexander directed Adirondack Piano Institute - piano program for students and music teachers, sponsored by the Saranac Lake Young Arts Association in Saranac Lake, New York.
Alexander Tentser frequently appears as a conductor. In 1999-2001 he was a Music Director of the Cochise College Chamber Orchestra in Sierra Vista, Arizona, and, currently, is the Music Director of the Pima Community College Orchestra in Tucson. His biography is included in the 2003-2005 editions of “Who is Who in America”.
About "American Prelude and Fugue" Composition
"I composed “American Prelude and Fugue” this summer for the opening of the ARIMM Conference on Music and Medicine at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. For a long time I wanted to incorporate the language of modern American music with the elements of so-called “traditional old style”. I have studied Preludes and Fugues by J. S. Bach all my life and consider it a true encyclopedia of musical language of the Baroque style. These pieces, composed for any keyboard instrument, (harpsichord and clavichord were the instruments that Bach mostly used) had a profound influence on hundreds of musicians - from Mozart and Beethoven to Shostakovich and Stravinsky.
So, how a modern musician can reconcile this old musical style with the sounds of today? Is there a balance? I believe it is possible to combine them in a logical sequence. Bach was the greatest organ improviser of, probably, all the time, and we know that the elements of American music, primarily jazz, use improvisation as the centerpiece of the musicianship. So, there is a connection right there. I am interested in American music: blues and jazz in particular. This is true American art that originated in this country and spread around the globe in the last century. Among the courses I teach at the College is “Popular Music in America”. It is a fascinating subject where so many different ethnic elements are finally synthesized in a coherent whole.
For this piece I used the genre of Prelude and Fugue where a Prelude is a piece of free developing and improvisatory nature and Fugue is an example of much more organized musical material (the word “fuga” translated as “to run” from Latin). I hope that the audience of today can relate to it and enjoy the piano sound of this composition.
Our collaboration with Hamilton was suggested by Dr. Nancy Jackson in good spirit of continuing the tradition of the Tucson Conference where John Ritter and myself performed Mozart’s Sonata for two pianos in D Major. It underscores the collaborative nature of the entire Conference as a sincere mutual effort to understand the healing properties of sound. We particularly wanted to include another composition by Mozart in our program as well as more modern pieces.
I am greatly honored to perform in Fort Wayne at IPFW and want to thank Dr. Angela LaSalle and Dr. Nancy Jackson for their organizational efforts that made it possible."
Alexander Tentser, DMA
Hamilton S. Tescarollo, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor & Music Director of Keyboard Studies
Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne
Since his orchestral debut with the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra (OSESP) and conductor Roberto Tibiriçá as a winner of this orchestra’s prestigious Young Soloists National Competition, Tescarollo has performed as a soloist and collaborative artist in the United States, Canada, Europe, and South America.
Tescarollo has held teaching positions at Santa Marcelina College, The Municipal School of Music of São Paulo and Arizona State University, where he served most recently as a Visiting Professor of Piano. Tescarollo received the “Teacher of the Year” award at the 2001 Schimmel-AZ Piano Young Artist Piano Competition.
Dr. Tescarollo received Piano Performance degrees from Arizona State University (D.M.A. and Master’s), Faculdade Santa Marcelina (B.M.), and Escola Municipal de Música de São Paulo (Diploma). His main teachers include Gilberto Tinetti (a pupil of Magda Tagliaferro, Alfred Cortot, and Friedrich Wuehrer) and Caio Pagano (also a pupil of Tagliaferro, as well as of Conrad Hansen and Carl Engel). He has also studied with Robert Hamilton, Sandra Abrão and Paulo Bergamo, and has coached with Menahem Pressler, Paul Badura-Skoda, Lazar Berman, Barbara Hesse-Bukowska, Helena Sá e Costa, and Maria João Pires, among others.
He has recently recorded a CD with Venezuelan clarinetist Jorge Montilla, with music by Central and South American composers, to be released in the near future.
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