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Classical Voice, Piano and Violin

Pianist David Lofton and coloratura soprano Yukiko Ishida

Yukiko Ishida, a coloratura soprano with extensive international experience, will perform works by Sergei Rachmaninoff, George Gershwin, Pablo Sarasate, Kurt Weill and others in a concert entitled Turn of the Century on Friday, October 26, at 8 p.m. The performance will take place in the Meagher Theatre.

Ishida will be accompanied by pianist David Lofton and violinists Amy and Ray Iwazumi. Selections will include Gershwin’s Summertime, Sarasate’s Danza Espagnola and Weill’s My Ship.

An associate professor of music at Neumann, Ishida has won numerous awards including the Combs College Centennial Award, the Liberace Competition, the Cascarino Memorial Competition and the Mario Lanza Competition. She is artistic director of the College Concert Chorale and minister of music at Union Methodist Church in Havertown.

She has performed in England, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and America, including solo performances with the Czech National Orchestra in Prague; the St. Giles Orchestra in Oxford, England; the Chitose Symphony Orchestra and the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra in Japan; the National Philharmonic in Washington, D.C.; and the Delaware County Symphony in Aston.

Lofton, a native Philadelphian, is a graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music. He has conducted concerts of operatic and symphonic music with the famed Harlem Boys Choir at Carnegie Hall. In addition, he has served as coach and accompanist at The Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition and assistant conductor for televised productions of Bizet's Carmen and Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors. Lofton is a master vocal coach at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and director of music at Saint Paul's Episcopal Church in Elkins Park.
 
Ray and Amy Iwazumi, brother and sister, perform extensively as individuals and as a violin duo specializing in repertoire for two solo violins. They have played together in the United States, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Japan. In New York, they have performed at Lincoln Center, the Sejong Music Center, and Steinway Hall. They have been featured several times on the Young Artists Showcase on New York’s WQXR-FM.

General admission to the concert is $8. Senior and student tickets are $5 each. For more information or to reserve seats, call 610-558-5626.

10/8/07