Aliso Viejo, CA –Thirteen-year-old local resident Umi Garrett will perform a solo piano recital at Soka Performing Arts Center. The concert will take place on Sunday, April 13, 2014 at 3:00 p.m. Tickets are $20 for general admission and net proceeds will go to the Orange Coast Cities branch of Music Teachers’ Association of California. Purchase tickets online at performingarts.soka.edu or by calling 949-480-4ART (4278).
Umi was 8 years old in May 2009 when she made her public broadcast appearance on NBC’s The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Since then, she has been performing as a soloist worldwide and appearing regularly with symphony orchestras across the United States and around the world.
Umi has won numerous top awards at international piano competitions, including the First prize at the 13th Osaka International Music Competition in Japan, at the Chopin International Competition Chopin Plus in Budapest, Hungary, and at the Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition in New York in 2012.
She was also the Grand Prix winner (the highest award) at the Chopin International Competition in Hartford, Connecticut in 2010, and was subsequently invited to perform at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall in New York. In 2013, Umi received the Most Promising Award at the 17th Hamamatsu International Piano Academy in Hamamatsu, Japan.
Umi Garrett, who grew up in Aliso Viejo, received scholarship funds from Music Teachers’ Association of California—Orange Coast Cities Branch, to support her concert career. Now Umi and Soka Performing Arts Center will be donating the net proceeds of the concert back to that organization so they can support other young musicians at the start of their careers. Her program for this event will include the following:
- Beethoven – Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 13 “Sonata Pathetique;” Piano Sonata No. 14 in C Sharp Minor, Op. 27 No. 2 “Moonlight”
- Chopin – Nocturne Op. Posthomus No. 21 in C Minor; Ballade Op. 38 No. 2 in F Major; Scherzo Op. 20 No. 1 in B Minor
- Gershwin – 3 Preludes
- Debussy – Clair de Lune (from Suite Bergamesque)
Additionally at Soka Performing Arts Center, in the vein of young musical sensations, former child prodigy Midori will be playing a solo violin recital on Saturday, April 26 at 8:00 p.m. and 17-year-old Simone Porter will be the solo violinist with Pacific Symphony at the Sundays at Soka concert on Sunday, April 27, 2014 at 3:00 p.m.
For more details and ticket information, see www.performingarts.soka.edu.
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Soka Performing Arts Center is located at 1 University Drive, Aliso Viejo on the campus of Soka University of America. The 1,000-seat concert hall features world-class acoustics designed by Yasuhisa Toyota, acoustic designer of noted performance venues like Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and Suntory Hall in Tokyo.
Designed to truly reflect the university’s commitment to sustainability, the concert hall and adjacent Maathai Hall (featuring a black box theatre and dance studio) have been built to Gold LEED standards and feature vegetated green roofs.
Photo voltaic cells on the Soka Performing Arts Center roof generate approximately 15% of the facility’s electrical needs. Soka University of America is a private, non-profit, four-year liberal arts college and graduate program.
The campus was rated in the Top 50 National Liberal Arts Colleges in US News and World Report’s “Best Colleges 2014.” The university is open to top students of all nationalities and beliefs and was founded upon the Buddhist principles of peace, human rights and the sanctity of life. For more information: www.soka.edu.
Wendy Harder
Event Info:
Soka Performing Arts Center
Soka University of America
1 University Drive
Aliso Viejo, CA 92656
