LIVE at Piedmont Piano Company
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. E4TT has performed locally at the German Consulate General, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Old First Concerts, JCC Peninsula, Trinity Chamber Concerts, and Noontime Concerts, among other venues. E4TT 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 earned her doctorate from the UC Berkeley and her undergraduate degree from Cornell University. nanette.biz
MARGARET HALBIG
Pianist Margaret Halbig is in high demand as a collaborative artist in both the instrumental and vocal fields. She is currently Associate Chair of the Voice Department and Principal Vocal Coach at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she also frequently collaborates with faculty and student instrumentalists. During the summer, Margaret is Collaborative Piano Coordinator of Interlochen Arts Camp. An advocate of new and contemporary music, Margaret is the pianist for Ninth Planet, a San Francisco-based new music collective where she also serves on the board. She is a member of Frequency 49, a wind and piano sextet, which performs all over the Bay Area. Margaret earned her DMA from the University of California Santa Barbara and also holds performance degrees from the University of Missouri, Kansas City Conservatory and University of Evansville, Indiana. sfcm.edu/study/faculty/margaret-halbig
MEGAN CHARTIER
Cellist Megan Chartier is “unafraid to display gutsy abandon,” as described by the South Florida Classical Review. She currently holds positions as principal cellist of Opera San Luis Obispo and section cello in the Vallejo Symphony, and is joining San Francisco’s contemporary Ensemble for These Times in the spring of 2025. Previous notable positions include core cellist of the Astralis Chamber Ensemble, principal cellist of the Miami Symphony Orchestra, and extra cello of San Antonio Symphony. She teaches cello at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. meganchartier.com