Pianist and composer Paul Safar is a versatile composer, performer and music educator living and working in Eugene, Oregon. Having received his B.Mus from the College- Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, Ohio, he draws upon his classical music training while encorporating various popular styles. He has produced six CDs of original music, from folk to classical to jazz and children’s music.

Trio 180, the faculty piano trio-in-residence at the University of the Pacific’s Conservatory of Music, is dedicated to its roles as performer, proponent of new music, and educator. In addition to giving concerts and master classes throughout the United States, the trio has been featured on concert series in Mexico and Canada.

Trio 180 performs a wide range of music from the Classical era to the present and is an enthusiastic advocate of new music. The trio was awarded a Barlow Grant in 2006 to commission eminent composer Chen Yi’s first piano trio, Tibetan Tunes (Theodore Presser).

Allan Martin, born 1954 in San Francisco, grew up in Oregon. He studied piano and composition with the Czech composer Tomas Svoboda in Portland, Oregon, with Claire James, Robert Sheldon and John Adams at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and with Colin Horsley and Edwin Roxburgh in London, and has concertized and taught piano near Stuttgart, Germany for over thirty years. He specializes in playing historical pianos from the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. A previous CD of his, Everything is Ragtime Now, recorded with the Oregon ensemble De Organographia, appeared on the Pandourion label.

About the piano The composer Ignaz Joseph Pleyel, born near Vienna in 1757, founded in 1807 one of the most famous and important piano manufacturing companies in France. Pleyel’s son Camille became a business partner in 1815, and in the 1820s – working closely with famous artists of the time – took the leading role in the successful direction of the company. The production rooms in Paris had to be enlarged repeatedly. In 1830 the Salle Pleyel opened its doors.

For children:
rich poetic imagery
with lyrical musical phrases

“Take me to your Dreamland in a rowboat of pearl, with oars wrought of silver to show me your world.” Harpist Laura Zaerr has created a vivid and alluring musical dream world in her original new CD Dreamland. Laura’s gift for blending rich poetic imagery with lyrical musical phrases creates a varied set of lullabies to inspire the child of your heart. Soprano Laura Berryhill with flutists Diane Hawkins and Melanie Place add depth to the velvety sounds of the harp.

The album carries an international theme as well. If You Come from China is written for adoptive families of all shapes and sizes. Part of the proceeds of each CD sale will help fund the Chengde Social Welfare Institute in China, which is home for 40 children who are not up for adoption.

"Here is tonal and melodic music with wide-ranging sounds, which are often breathtakingly beautiful, sometimes exciting, and invariably pleasurable and satisfying. It is all beautifully played and well recorded. Both soloists have extensive international careers." [...]
- R. James Tobin

Igor Veligan, lecturer in violin, viola and chamber music at University of the Pacific, has performed extensively in the Ukraine, toured in Freiburg, Germany and Tokyo and Niigata, Japan. He is joined by Steinway Artist

Natsuki Fukasawa, whose music career has taken her throughout U.S. cities as well as to Europe, Scandinavia, Israel, Australia, Brazil, Japan, and China.

They perform George Enescu's (1881-1955) 'Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 3 in A Major, Opus 25' “Dans le caractère populaire roumain”, a wildy fascinating impression of the lively, mysterious, passionate, and colorful Romanian character.

Also from Eastern Europe, is included Ukrainian composer, Myroslav Mykhaylovych Skoryk's 'Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2' -- a gestural piece which holds much emotion in its three movements, at times free and quiet, then building to sonorous climaxes.

Finally, we get the somewhat mysterious and intriguing composer from Armenia, Arno Babajanian (1921 -1983). His 'Sonata for Violin and Piano' is loved by violinists and pianists who are lucky enough to know it, is a remarkable work, composed in 1959.

Every Tendril, a wish

electroacoustics with
with various instruments and voice
Bonnie Miksch

“... This is music that “moves beyond abstract relationships into the boundless realm of emotions and dreams.” Drawing on real life inspirations like her husband and infant son, Miksch leavens her electronic textures with acoustic instruments (flute, alto sax), that much-used staple of outdoor gatherings and festivals, the didgeridoo, her own voice, and fellow PSU professor Joel Bluestone from the Portland ensemble FearNoMusic in a solo percussion showcase. This promising disc affirms Miksch’s ascension to the top rank of Oregon composers..." -- BRETT CAMPBELL - Eugene Weekly.

Bonnie Miksch, a composer and performer whose music embraces multiple musical universes, creates both acoustic and electroacoustic works. She is passionate about music which moves beyond abstract relationships into the boundless realm of emotions and dreams.

Ensemble De Organographia: Gayle Stuwe Neuman: voice, viola da braccio (early violin), viola da gamba, sackbutt, recorder, cornamuse, ayacachtli (gourd rattle), claves, bell, tabor, tambourine; Philip Neuman: sackbutt, recorder, krummhorn, cornamuse, douçaine, Praetorius and Schnitzer schreierpfeiffen, rackett, tartold, spinettino, shawm, curtal, bagpipe, violone

Oregon Renaissance Band directed by Gayle and Philip Neuman: David Bryan: tenor sackbutt, Sharon Cheney: great bass rackett, Daphne Clifton: tenor recorder, Ben Fitch: tabor, Lori Fitch: soprano recorder, Polly Gibson: soprano recorder, Andrew Harris: tenor sackbutt, Kathy Langley: soprano recorder, Cindy Markham: tenor recorder, Kathryn Richer: bagpipe and tenor recorder

Ensemble De Organographia and the Oregon Renaissance Band Directed by Philip and Gayle Neuman

Wolcum Yole Seasonal Music for Celtic Harp
and various instruments
Laura Zaerr

Yule-tide music for the Celtic harp. The word yule is from an Old English word meaning Christmas, geol. Yuletide is celbrated at the time of year when light returns to the world. As the physical light returns with the barely perceptible lengthening of days, we also envision spiritual light bathing the earth with good will and community. In this spirit of global well-being, proceeds from this recording will be forwarded to an organization dedicated to enhancing world-wide service - The Krista Foundation -Rosewood Music, 2001.

Laura Zaerr began playing the harp at the age of ten. She studied at the university of Oregon under the direction of Sally Maxwell where she obtained a bachelor's degree in music performance and composition.

Capricci armonici sopra la chitarra spagnola by Ludovico Roncalli (1654-1713) is the last in a long line of books for the Baroque guitar (or chitarra spagnola as it was called back then) published in Italy, spanning nearly one hundred years. These publications run the gamut from rudimentary instruction books with simple pieces intended for beginners to collections of highly sophisticated music.

The latter elevated the status of the guitar from an accompaniment instrument used in popular music to a solo instrument with a serious and respectable repertoire. Capricci armonici contains arguably some of the best music written for the guitar and thus is one of the most important sources for the instrument.

Cynthia Stillman Gerdes

All of the places she's lived have influenced her music: From the sagebrush and wild west of Pasco and Boise in the "Idaho Toccata Trio" to the more cosmopolitan influences of San Francisco, Seattle and Portland.

Backyard Toccata ia one of those early spring days when the breeze moves the wind chimes, backyard birds are trying to attract mates and stake out territories in the big trees. It's easy to find the scene comic to irritatingly restless. At the end a door closes, an attempt to shut out nature's uproar. Of course it doesn't.

Idaho Toccata Trio is a love song to a community (Boise, Idaho) and an era (late 1940s). It's written from the un-conflicted perspective, musically and otherwise, of a ten year old. One melodic motif knits the piece together.

The mandolino, or the Baroque mandolin, was the predecessor to the modern mandolin. Unlike its offspring, it had 6 courses of strings (instead of 4) and was mostly played with the fingertips (instead of with a plectrum). Though mostly unknown today, it enjoyed a modest popularity in the 17th- and 18th-centuries and a sizeable repertoire.

This recording contains pieces from the Filippo Dalla Casa Manuscript, dated 1759 from Bologna, Italy. Though by mostly unknown composers, the quality of the music is very high and compares with the best lute, keyboard, and chamber music from the period. Mandolino is played by Hideki Yamaya, and continuo on lute is played by John Schneiderman.