Summer Kundiman Concert
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Everyone is invited to a concert by
Harel Gietheim and Kanako Nishikawa
Saturday, August 14 - 7:00pm
At The Ernst Cultural Center - NOVA Annandale Campus
Wakefield Chapel & Little River Turnpike, Annandale, Virginia
Harel Gietheim, cellist, has played western classical works of Brahms, Beethoven and Mozart, among
others. However, on Saturday August 14, 2010, with pianist Kanako Nishikawa, they will take a detour by
premiering the musical arrangements of the Philippine classical genre known as a kundiman by young
American composer Brian John. Gietheim plays an exquisite interpretation of "Pakiusap" (A Plea), an aria
favored by Philippine opera singers, composed by Francisco Santiago.
Kanako Nishikawa has been playing the kundimans for more than 5 years in concerts with violinist Stephen
Y.S. Shey. Ms. Nishikawa will premiere Francisco Buencamino's “Mayon, a Fantasy” on the same concert
stage at the Ernst Cultural Center in Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), Annandale Campus on
August 14.
The concert is to benefit L'Arche International, a movement of communities serving the needs of persons
with developmental disabilities. “Punla” is the Philippines L’Arche community.
The Philippine Kundiman is derived from the Tagalong phrase “Kung hindi man,” literally: “if it is not
possible.” The genre is an articulation of love, more adequately emoted as “love of country.” Felipe de Leon,
Jr., son of a Kundiman master, writes that “[it] is a unique musical form expressing intense longing, caring,
devotion and oneness with a beloved.” At the height of the Filipino revolution against Spain, the genre
flourished and during the U.S. occupation in the early 1900s, the kundiman found its way in zarzuela
productions until musical stage productions were banned as subversive plays. “Bayan Ko,” a kundiman by
C. de Guzman became the rallying call during the People Power Revolution against the Marcos regime in
the late 1980s.
A native of Japan, Kanako Nishikawa studied piano at the age 4 and won the Machida Piano Competition in
Japan at age 7. She continued her
studies after completing her receiving her Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from the Toho-
Gakuen School of Music. She received a Master of Music degree with Honors at the New England
Conservatory of Music and she was the recipient of the Artist Diploma with Honors in Piano Performance &
Chamber Music at Longy School of Music in Boston, MA where she has performed extensively with the Longy
Chamber Orchestra. She has performed at the prestigious Aspen Music Festival and is a Fellow at the
International Musical Arts Institute in Maine. Ms. Nishikawa combines her wide activity as soloist, recitalist
and chamber musician through the United States, Europe, Israel, Malaysia and Japan. Currently she
teaches at the Dana Hall School of Music in Boston, MA.
Equally at home as both soloist and chamber musician, Harel Gietheim has performed across North
America and abroad. Orchestra positions include appearances as principal cellist for the New Hampshire
Symphony, Nashua Symphony, Back Bay Chorale, and Boston Masterworks Chorale. New Hampshire’s
Hippo Press singled out Gietheim’s solo playing as “top notch”. He has participated in many master
classes with renowned cellists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Lynn Harrell, Janos Starker, and Aldo Parisot, and in
1988 won a major prize in a cello competition organized by Yehuda Hanani. This prize provided him with a
full scholarship to the Aspen Music Festival in Aspen, Colorado, and laid the foundations for his future
studies in the United States. Gietheim has served as the principal cellist and soloist of the Young
Philharmonic Orchestra of Israel which performed concerts held throughout Israel and Europe under
conductors such as Zubin Metha and Kurt Mazur. In 1995, he came to the United States to study at Longy
School of Music, where he completed his Master’s degree. Harel Gietheim is currently based in Boston,
Massachusetts and is a faculty member at Manchester Community Music School, St. Paul’s School, and has
coached Chamber Music at Longy School of Music. His most recent project is a recording of Eric Sawyer’s
Quartet No. 2 and is available on the Albany Label.
L’Arche International since its founding, is striving to increase the community of homes, programs and
support network for those with developmental disabilities. Founded in 1964 by Jean Vanier, the son of
Canadian Governor General Georges Vanier and Pauline Vanier, L’Arche today operates in 39 countries.
Vanier brought together individuals of different age groups and disabilities, and began a radical housing
movement by insisting that staff and he himself make their home with the residents. The late Fr. Henri
Nouwen, author of The Wounded Healer, lived a year in the original L’Arche in France and became the
resident pastor of a Canadian L'Arche community, “Daybreak.” He has written about his experience in his
book Adam, God’s Beloved.#
For more information, contact Remé Grefalda at 703 862 7232 or email ashfrock@gmail.com
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7th Annual Asian Festival, Reston, Virginia
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Everyone is invited to the 7th Annual Asian Festival to be held at the Lake Newport Tennis Facility at 11452
Baron Cameron Avenue, Reston, VA 20194 from 31 July to 01 August 2010.
As the showcase country, a Philippine Village will be put-up in the Festival. It will feature Filipino cuisine, arts
and crafts, interactive displays and games for children and cooking and arnis demonstration.
Cultural performances will also be held at the main Festival stage and the Philippine stage.
Free shuttle bus service will be available the whole day at the "off-site parking" at the Reston Association,
1930 Isaac Newton Square, Reston, VA 20190 located only 2 miles away.
To volunteer, interested parties may call:
Mary Anne T. Fadul 703.927.6521 or email mfadul@coxnet
Dulce Guevara 301.871.7423 or email dulce_guevara_2000@yahoo.com
Eillen Nadal 301.580.7103 or email eileen_nadal@yahoo.com
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