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Donald E. Osborne, Director California Artists Management 564 Market Street, Suite 420, San Francisco, CA 94104-5412 415 362-2787 / fax: 415 362-2838 / Skype: calartistsdon / Email |
Susan Endrizzi Morris, Director California Artists Management P.O. Box 2479, Mendocino, CA 95460-2479 707-937-4787 / cell: 415-302-1083 / Skype: sueendrizzi / Email |
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ALEXANDRA HAWLEY |
Alexandra Hawley is one of America's outstanding
flutists. The New York Times hailed her "extraordinary range of tone and
color" and "spontaneous, perceptive musical sensitivity.
The daughter of two preeminent woodwind players - Alexander Williams,
principal clarinetist of the NBC Symphony and celebrated flutist Frances
Blaisdell - Ms. Hawley studied flute with the distinguished teacher Murray
Pannitz of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Ms. Hawley launched her career in two of the
world's more prominent concert halls: she made her professional European debut
at the famed Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and her American debut at New York's
Carnegie Recital Hall. Since then
Alexandra Hawley has performed throughout the United States as a recitalist, in
chamber music ensembles, and as soloist with chamber orchestras Concert
performances and a recording with the legendary flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal
remain one of the highlights of her
varied career.
Alexandra Hawley is the Founding and Artistic
Director of the chamber music series AVEDIS, America's only concert series
devoted exclusively to the flute's full chamber repertory. Founded during the
1980's and based in San Francisco, AVEDIS presents an annual season of four-five
concerts. Programs are created for ensembles of flute with winds, flute with
keyboard, harp or guitar, flute with strings and with other diverse
combinations. Guest artists include The Stanford Woodwind Quintet, guitarists
David Tanenbaum and Richardo Cobo, violinist Roy Malan, cellist Stephen
Harrison, pianists Paul Hersh and Robin Sutherland, harpist Marcella DeCray, and
other prominent artists. Ms. Harley has produced and performed in dozens of
AVEDIS concerts, gaining a depth and breadth of hands-on chamber music
experience unsurpassed among flutists.
A champion of contemporary music, Ms. Hawley has
recorded Robert Muczynski's complete solo and chamber music for flute, with
members of the Stanford Woodwind Quintet, which she co-founded, and the composer
at the piano. The Marco Polo label release is highlighted by
Moments, written especially for Ms. Hawley with the participation of
guest artist Jean-Pierre Rampal. Alexandra Hawley has commissioned new works for
flute and guitar by the seminal American composer Terry Riley and French
composer Jean-Michael Damase; Marc Mellits has also written music for her. She
teaches on the music faculty of Stanford University.
CRITICAL RESPONSE for ALEXANDRA HAWLEY:
“The flute, by its very
nature, is charming and composers make the most of its decoration and sylvan
suggestions. But from the beginning of her recital on Friday evening, Alexandra
Hawley went beyond charm with a confident assurance that promised much. The
promise was kept in her even tone, in the brilliance of the cadenza in
Dutilleux’s Sontine, the wistful melody in the slow movement of the Devienne
sonata, the dramatic passion in Reinecke’s Undine, the vigor and bounce she
brought to Prokofiev’s big sonata in D major.
Hawley had the advantage of a splendid pianist in Rudolf Jensen, and these
composers gave the pianist good parts. The two artists had played together
before and thought in the same spirit. He did not hesitate to use the full depth
and power of the grand piano when playing alone. But while Hawley was playing
his discretion did not allow him to cover even her softest passages.
Encores sometimes sum up the qualities heard all through, and the slow movement
of Poulenc’s Sonata showed the delicacy, the charming phrase, the varied tone of
each artist.”
PENINSULA
TIMES TRIBUNE
“Alexandra Hawley plays
beautifully…displaying a vivid conception and mercurial fluency that imbues the
work with great vitality.”
FANFARE:
“The program focused on the
musical duo of flutist Alexandra Hawley and pianist Paul Hersh. Hawley and Hersh
played the Introduction and Rondo by
the Danish flute master of the early 19th century, Daniel Friedrich
Kuhlau, and the Poulenc Sonata. They
represent a fetching combination of talents, being musical equals in every way.
The Kuhlau shone as one of those pieces that resounds with effervescent ease, a
“feel-good” item for any contemporary duo team, and few could match the Gallic
wit and taste with which Hawley and Hersh dispatched the silken charms of this
work.”
SAN FRANCSICO CHRONICLE
"The 1997 work 'Lifting the
Veil of Anxiety' by Jean-Michel Damase was a delightful addition to the
literature for the combination of flute, viola and harp. The aria duetto between
violist Paul Hersh and flutist Alexandra Hawley was at time sweet, at times
passionate. Their execution was flawless and inspired."
SFCV.org -
SAN FRANCISCO CLASSICAL VOICE
CRITICAL RESPONSE, page 2
“The Avedis Trio, with its
unusual instrumentation of flute, cello and piano, closed out the Friends of
Chamber Music series with a program that included works not often heard.
Alexandra Hawley, flute; Julian Hersh, cello; and Paul Hersh, piano, performed
trios by Haydn, Jean-Michel Damase, Telemann and Weber, plus a duet for flute
and piano by Schubert.
The one contemporary work,
Damase’s Sonate en Concert, though
written in the form of a baroque dance suite, employs a modern and much more
effective technique for exploiting the qualities of the flute. It proved the
program’s highlight, offering the best showcase for the trio’s talents.
Hawley has an excellent technical command of the flute.
Her tone has a concentrated core and brilliance in the upper range.
Cellist Hersh….played with a resonant tone and careful attention to phrasing and
balance. His father, the trio’s pianist, also displayed a formidable technique.
There was satisfaction from this interesting program.”
MODESTO RECORD
“In planning their recital program, flutist Alexandra Hawley and pianist Robin
Sutherland betrayed their musical preferences quite clearly: they have none. And
because they have none, they’re able to successfully perform styles as varied as
Bach and Bartok without apology.
Hawley’s fluid gracefulness made for some interesting moments, as when she sets
the flute to dancing like sun motes in the Faure
Fantasie, or in the driving urgency of
the gigue; double in Bach’s C minor Site. Each movement of the Three Romances
contains that combination of the pastoral and the majestic that is peculiarly
Schumannesque. This proved to be one
of the highlights of the evening, being played with obvious enjoyment by both
artists.”
PENINSULA
TIMES TRIBUNE