Special thanks to our our audience for making this season a resounding success and also to our four Finalist Candidates for guest conducting this past season! BARS will announce its next Music Director in the 3rd week of July along with Season Ticket sales.
Cyrus Ginwala
Christian Baldini
Jessica Bejarano
Dawn Harms
About Dr. Cyrus Ginwala
Conductor Cyrus Ginwala has appeared with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Boca Pops, the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica, the Aspen Concert Orchestra and the Sewanee Summer Festival Orchestra. He has served as visiting faculty at the Peabody Conservatory and the St. Petersburg Conservatory in Russia. Since relocating to the Bay Area in 2005, he has conducted concerts throughout the region, including during the inaugural season of the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony.
Born and raised in Boston, his early training was as singer and pianist. While in high school, he studied at the Tanglewood Young Artist Program, after which he was appointed to the faculty for an additional three years. After completing a B. Mus. in piano at Boston University, he earned Master and Doctor of Music degrees in Orchestral Conducting at the Peabody Conservatory, where he conducted opera productions annually and was the only student in the conservatoryâs modern history entrusted with a major production of the Peabody Opera Theater.
From 1989-1996, Dr. Ginwala was Music Director of the Orchestra and the Opera Workshop at Towson University in Baltimore and, from 1994-96, Music Director of the Young Victorian Opera Company.
Music Director of the Symphony of the Mountains from 1996-2005, he conducted more than 100 works in subscription and pops series, while expanding the orchestraâs concert and education programs. During the same period, Dr. Ginwala was Resident Conductor of the Sewanee Summer Music Center, one of the oldest summer orchestral training programs in America.
An outspoken advocate for social and community causes, he was founding member of Equality Tennessee, created following the 2000 March on Washington, and the Kingsport Community Foundation. He lives in Oakland with his husband Dennis and two unreasonably demanding cats..
About Dr. Christian Baldini In his early 30s, based in California, and of Argentinian and Italian descent, Christian Baldini is a dynamic and diverse young artist. Equally at home in the core repertoire as in the most daring corners of the contemporary repertoire, he is an accomplished conductor and a natural communicator, with a pure and warm sense of musicality. He has conducted orchestras and ensembles internationally, including the Munich Radio Orchestra, Buenos Aires Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra (Washington, D.C.) and San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. He has also conducted opera for the Aldeburgh Festival (England). Equally at home conducting symphonic repertoire, chamber ensembles, and opera, Baldini has been an advocate for contemporary music since early on in his career and has conducted the world premiĂšres of more than 60 new works. In this capacity he has collaborated closely with composers such as Brian Ferneyhough, Steven Stucky, Philippe Hurel, Fabian Panisello and Steve Mackey. After conducting the SĂŁo Paulo Symphony Orchestra (OSESP, Brazil), the Folha de SĂŁo Paulo gave him a rave review "this charismatic young conductor lead Brahms' Symphony No. 1 by memory, lavishing his musicality and leaving sighs all over the hall and the rows of the orchestra." In Buffalo, New York, Baldini garnered excellent reviews conducting Stravinsky's LâHistoire du soldat with members of the Buffalo Philharmonic at the Kavinoky Theater.
Baldini was privileged to learn from such conducting luminaries as Peter Eötvös, Martyn Brabbins, Leonard Slatkin and Kurt Masur. He holds degrees from the State University of New York at Buffalo (Ph.D. in Composition), the Pennsylvania State University (Masterâs in Conducting), and the Catholic University of Argentina (Bachelorâs Degree in Conducting and Composition).
Baldini is also a noted composer and his music has been performed in Europe, South America, North America and Asia by orchestras and ensembles including the Orchestre National de Lorraine, Southbank Sinfonia (London), New York New Music Ensemble, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Israel Contemporary Players, Daegu Chamber Orchestra (South Korea), Munich Radio Orchestra, Chronophonie Ensemble (Freiburg) and Ensemble Modern (Frankfurt). His music appears on CD on the Pretal Label, and has been broadcast on SĂŒdwestrundfunk and Bayerischer Rundfunk in Germany, as well as on the National Classical Music Radio of Argentina. He has also conducted and recorded contemporary Italian music for the RAI Trade and Tactus labels. His compositions are published by Babel Scores in Paris.
Baldiniâs work has received awards in several competitions including the top prize at the Seoul International Competition for Composers (South Korea, 2005), the Tribune of Music (UNESCO, 2005), the Ossia International Competition (Rochester, NY, 2008), the Daegu Chamber Orchestra International Competition (South Korea, 2008), and the SĂŁo Paulo Orchestra International Conducting Competition (OSESP - Brazil, 2006). He was also a finalist for the NestlĂ© and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award in April 2012.
In past seasons, Baldini has been an assistant conductor with the BBC Symphony and the Britten-Pears Orchestras, and a cover conductor with the National Symphony Orchestra (Washington, D.C.). Since 2009, Baldini has served as the Music Director of the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra (University of California), and was recently appointed as Music Director with the Camellia Symphony Orchestra in Sacramento. In the summer of 2012, he made his debut in South Africa conducting two concerts with the National Youth Orchestra, and returned for a second engagement conducting the Buenos Aires Philharmonic.
About Jessica Bejarano
Jessica Bejarano currently serves as Music Director of West County Winds; Artistic Director of the Chamber String Orchestra of San Francisco; Associate Conductor of the Community Womenâs Orchestra; Instrumental and Vocal Director of the Jewish Community High School; and Artist-In-Residence with LEAP...Imagination in Learning in San Francisco.
Jessica received her Master of Arts in Conducting from the University of California, Davis; Bachelor of Music in Music Education from the University of Wyoming; and Associate of Fine Arts in Music Education from Casper College.
During the summer of 2007, Jessica attended the International Academy of Advanced Conducting in Saint Petersburg, Russia where she received âHonorable Mentionâ for her performance with the Classical Symphony Orchestra of Saint Petersburg. Jessica was invited back by the Academy (IAAC) in 2008 to continue her studies with Maestro Leonid Korchmar and to conduct a performance with the Chamber String Orchestra of Urbino in Urbino, Italy. During the same summer, she also attended the International Institute for Conductors in Bac?u, Romania where she conducted the Philharmonic Orchestra âMihail Joraâ of Bacau in two separate performances. In September, 2010, Jessica was one of ?fteen conductors selected from around the world to study with Maestro Jorma Panula and conduct the Ruse National Philharmonic in Ruse, Bulgaria.
Recently, in June, 2012, Jessica was invited to the Conductorsâ Guild Conducting Mastercourse with Maestra Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. In July, Jessica was selected to participate in the International Conductors Masterclass in San Lorenzo del Escorial, Spain. During her time in Spain she worked closely with Maestro Jorma Panula and conducted the Camerata Antonio Soler Orchestra in performance. In August, after Spain, Jessica was accepted into the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music as a conductor with Maestra Marin Alsop and Maestro Gustav Meier in Santa Cruz, California.
About Dawn Harms
Dawn Harmsâ diverse career ranges from playing Take Me Out to the Ballgame at a Giants game with Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, to playing on her cousin Tom Waits' CD's, Alice, Blood Money, and Bad as Me. A member of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and associate concertmaster of the critically acclaimed New Century Chamber Orchestra, Dawn also performs as co-concertmaster with the Oakland East Bay Symphony.
Dawn was chosen to be one of the fellows at the exclusive American Academy of Conducting at the Aspen Music Festival, where she worked with some of the top conductors of the world. She is co-founder and Music Director of the Music at Kirkwood chamber music festival and currently serves on the music faculty at Stanford University.
As a strong advocate for children's music education, Dawn was conductor and music director of the Amarillo Youth Orchestra and continues to design and perform educational concerts throughout the United States. She recently performed her one-woman family show with the Lincoln Symphony, the Oakland Symphony, Berkeley Symphony and the Napa Youth Symphony.
Dawn was featured in a concert at the Guggenheim Museum, premiering works by Jake Heggie and Gordon Getty, where she collaborated with Frederica von Stade, Zheng Cao, Eugenia Zukerman, and Matt Haimowitz.
Another highlight of her career was a performance at the GLAAD awards in San Francisco, with the New Century Chamber Orchestra, in which Suze Orman had the honor of introducing them for the first time to a very diverse audience.
After returning from a highly successful two and a half week east coast tour with the New Century Chamber Orchestra, Dawn had an even busier schedule this Spring. She was invited to conduct the Tennessee honors youth orchestra, in Chattanooga Tennessee, in February. She then conducted the Livermore-Amador Symphony in April, and played the first movement of the Barber Violin Concerto as well as a world premiere by Peter B. Allen with the Folsom Symphony in May.