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Ensemble for These Times (E4TT)
“Hollywood Exiles & Modern Noir”
Film noir meets E4TT’s much-loved “Emigres & Exiles in Hollywood” series! Featuring new tributes to film noir by modern movie mavens Germaine Franco (Encanto)and Lars Deutsch (The Passenger), paired with music by mid-century Hollywood emigre composers: Schoenberg’s stunning Verklaerte Nacht arr. for piano trio, plus works by Mikós Rózsa, Eugene Zador, and Erich Zeisl. Performed by E4TT with Jessica Folson, violin.
General Admission: $25 in advance / $30 at the door
Senior Admission: $15 in advance / $20 at the door
Student Admission: $5 in advance / $10 at the door
We are offering a limited number of seats for this performance. Advance purchase is recommended.
ENSEMBLE FOR THESE TIMES
Winner of The American Prize in 2021 for Chamber Music Performance, Ensemble for These Times (E4TT) consists of award-winning soprano/Artistic Executive Director Nanette McGuinness, cellist Megan Chartier, pianist Margaret Halbig, and Senior Artistic Advisor/composer David Garner. The group focuses on 20th and 21st century music that is relevant, engaging, original and compelling—music that resonates with today and speaks to tomorrow, that harnesses the power of artistic beauty, intelligence, wit, lyricism, and irony to create a deep understanding of our times and the human condition. E4TT performed at the 2016 Krakow Culture Festival, at the Conservatorio Teresa Berganza in Madrid in 2017, was sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Budapest in 2014 for a four-city tour in Hungary, and made its international debut in Berlin. In addition to its newest album, El Tiempo Latine, which was released in May, The group has recorded five albums, all of which have medaled in the Global Music Awards: Surviving: Women’s Words, The Hungarians: From Rozsa to Justus, Once/Memory/Night: Paul Celan, The Guernica Project, and Emigrés & Exiles in Hollywood, and produces a weekly podcast, “For Good Measure.” e4tt.org
NANETTE McGUINNESSSoprano and E4TT co-founder and Artistic Executive Director Nanette McGuinness has been hailed in the press for her "creamy golden tone" and "glorious soprano" across a repertory that ranges from 1600 to the present. A passionate advocate of music by living composers and women artists, she has performed operas, concerts, and recitals in 13 languages on two continents in over 25 operatic roles with the Silesian State (Czech Republic), Opera San Jose (Opera in the Schools), West Bay, Pacific Repertory, and Livermore Valley Opera, San Jose Symphony, Contra Costa Chorale, Monterey Peninsula Chorus, Solano Symphony, and Palo Alto Philharmonic, among many. She has been featured on nine albums with Centaur, Aerocade, and Yuggoth Records and her debut recording of music by 19th and 20th century women composers, Fabulous Femmes, was called “perfect for the song recital lover” by Chamber Music Magazine. McGuinness earned her doctorate from the UC Berkeley and her undergraduate degree from Cornell University. nanette.biz
MEGAN CHARTIERCellist Megan Chartier is “unafraid to display gutsy abandon,” as described by the South Florida Classical Review. She has performed internationally as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral cellist. Current positions include Opera San Luis Obispo principal cellist, and Vallejo Symphony section cello, following positions as Astralis Chamber Ensemble core cellist and Miami Symphony Orchestra principal cellist; she has recently performed with the San Antonio Symphony, One Found Sound, Nu Deco Ensemble, and the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. Semi-finalist in the 2017 PRISMA Concerto Competition, she won 1st prize in the Ann Arbor Society of Musical Arts’ 2015 Young Artist Competition and 2015 Miami Music Festival Concerto Competition. With an undergraduate degree from Eastern Michigan University, and masters from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Chartier is on faculty as Cello Lecturer at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. meganchartier.com
MARGARET HALBIG
E4TT pianist Margaret Halbig is in high demand as a collaborative artist in both the instrumental and vocal fields. She is currently Associate Chair and Voice Coach Managing Supervisor of the Voice Department at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she frequently collaborates with faculty and student instrumentalists. During the summer, Halbig is on faculty at Taos Opera Institute in New Mexico and also teaches at the Vocal Academy at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. An advocate of new and contemporary music, she has been the pianist for the new music collective Wild Rumpus since its inception and frequently plays with the contemporary chamber group Earplay. Halbig earned her DMA from UC Santa Barbara under the tutelage of Robert Koenig and holds performance degrees from the University of Missouri, Kansas City Conservatory and University of Evansville, Indiana.
JESSICA FOLSON
Violinist Jessica Folson is a versatile and instinctive artist who performs all genres with ease and energy. As an active freelancer and teacher in the Bay Area, some of her recent career highlights include recording at Skywalker Studios with 3232 Productions, playing in the pit orchestra at SF Playhouse, collaborating with Grammy-award winning composer Kinan Azmeh, and playing at SF Jazz with Chris Potter. Jessica plays with many Bay Area orchestras including the Monterey Symphony, Stockton Symphony, Vallejo Symphony, and the California Symphony, and played with the Boise Philharmonic for their 2025-2026 season. She is a founding member of Mosaic Strings, a community-focused chamber ensemble. She maintains an expanding private violin studio and is an orchestra coach at Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory. Folson earned her master’s degree at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Simon James.