Bach to Blues 2022
Bach to Blues Concert
Saturday, March 19, 2022 at 7:30 pm
5055 Santa Teresa Blvd., Gilroy 95020
VIP Tickets $25
General $15
Students & Seniors $10
All proceeds will benefit the Gavilan College Music Program
Bach to Blues is a fundraising concert that showcases regional talent, and features Gavilan College faculty and students. This year's guest performers are Nate Pruitt with Rick Vandivier, and flamenco dancing troop Koko de la Isla Flamenco. They will be joining Maria Amirkhanian, Dahveed Behroozi, Albert Marques, and the winner of the Marian Filice Youth Piano Competition.
Buy your tickets now! Space is limited.Buy tickets at the Gavilan College Bookstore, the Hollister Gavilan College site, BookSmart and at the door
Ticket holders:
- Must show proof of vaccination at the door
- Must have Photo ID
- Masks will be required indoors
- Subject to change based on current public Health Guidelines
Maria Amirkhanian
A native of Yerevan, Armenia, Maria Amirkhanian began piano lessons at the age of five. After graduating from Tchaikovsky School of Music, Maria was accepted to Komitas State Conservatory, where she obtained her B.M. in
piano performance under guidance of Armine Mokatsian. In 1993, Maria was accepted, with a full scholarship, to CSU Fresno where she became a student of Andreas Werz. In addition to performing throughout California and
internationally, Maria has participated in master classes with Peter Frankl, Barbara Nissman, Tomas Ungar, Ruth Loredo and Oxana Yablonskaya. In 1994, Maria was awarded second place at the Franz Liszt International Piano Competition in Pasadena. The following year she won first place at the 1995 MTA Solo Competition, a statewide event. Maria was the winner of the Fresno Organizers Scholarship Award in 1996. In 2000, she obtained her DMA from Moscow Conservatory, Russia, where she studied under Yuri Hayrapetian. After serving as a piano instructor at CSU Fresno, Maria joined the faculty of the Gavilan College Music Program in the Fall of 2006. In addition to teaching, Maria is the coordinator for the Bach to Blues Concert series and the Marian Filice Youth Piano Competition.
Dahveed Behroozi
Pianist and Composer Dahveed Behroozi is a Bay Area based musician primarily devoted to the independent jazz and classical scenes. Dahveed’s playing has been described as highly expressive, lyrical and colorful by
numerous publications nationwide. Dahveed has recorded and performed as a leader, as well as a sideman with Thomas Morgan, Tim Bulkley, Billy Mintz, Dayna Stephens, Ed Neumeister, Todd Neufeld, Aaron Lington, John Shifflett, Jason Lewis, Bob Kenmotsu, Cuong Vu and Jeff Denson.
Originally from San Jose, CA, Dahveed studied with pianist Hans Boepple at Santa Clara University. He received his BA in Jazz Piano from The Manhattan School of Music in 2002 where he studied under Fred Hersch. He then received his Master’s from The Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College.
Albert Marques
Early Musical Influences: “Because I grew up in a Spanish family, music played an integral part of my daily life as a child. Some of my fondest memories from my childhood were the weekends or family events when my family
would gather and perform music. My first guitar teacher was my father who gave me an appreciation of various styles of music, including flamenco, blues, and rock. Soon after, I began studying basic music theory, improvisation and scalar harmony under guitarist, John Garcia.”
Marques has performed at the Flamenco Society, Classical Guitar Society, and Music Teacher Association of California. He moved abroad to study in Spain with the modern masters of Spanish guitar. Flamenco
originated in Spain and is considered to be one of the most difficult style of guitar in the world.
Nate Pruitt
In addition to two Primary Colors albums, Nate has recorded more than a half-dozen albums, including:
Steve Czarnecki, Soul Jazz Quintet (1997)
Soul Rendezvous (2001)
A Little Night Music, Late One Night (1983)
Sitting Ducks (1984)
His singing has been featured in numerous movies (including The Lost Man with Sidney Poitier and Mad City with John Travolta and Dustin Hoffman) and commercials. Highlights of his performing career have included appearances at the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Monterey Blues Festival, the Berlin and North Sea Jazz Festivals, and the W. C. Handy Memorial Jazz Fest in Alabama. Among the many artists he has performed with are Dizzy Gillespie, Diane Schuur, Dave Brubeck, Carmen McRae, Quincy Jones, Lionel Hampton, the Mitchell/Ruff Duo, Ernie Watts, and John Abercrombie.
Sophia Perez
Sophia was born on July 17, 2007, and is currently living in Gilroy, CA. She started playing piano when she was five years old with her first piano teacher Mrs. Noleina and her current piano teacher is Maria Amirkhanian. She has been playing piano for 11 years. In her spare time, she is reading her favorite books, creatively doodling, and enjoys going to the park. Along with those hobbies, she likes to spend quality time with the people she cherishes. She enjoys playing sports for fun such as basketball and volleyball. As she progresses through her freshman year she is looking forward to becoming a surgeon, whilst involving music in her life.
Irina Smolyakova
Irina received a Master of Arts degree in Music, with honors, from California State University, Fresno, where she studied piano under professor Andreas Werz. Irina has participated in numerous piano master classes with such distinguished artists and educators as Markus Groh, Vahan Mardirossian, Elena Kuschnerova, Vardan Mamikonian, Giuseppe Andaloro, Biljana Urban and Jon Nakamatsu. She was the winner of the 2009 and 2015 Fresno State Concerto Competition which resulted in performances as soloist in Schumann’s Piano Concerto and Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Fresno State Symphony Orchestra. In the spring of 2010 she was featured in the Young Artist Spotlight on the KVPR radio station. Irina has given recitals at Gavilan College, Porterville Community College, and The Music Tree music store in Morgan Hill. She has also performed as a guest pianist at the Marian Filice Youth Piano Cometition at Gavilan College and at the MTAC (Music Teachers Association of California) meeting in the Valley Music Center. She was a finalist in the 2012 Kruschke Piano Competition, a system-wide event of the California State University held at CSU, Chico. Irina performs regularly as an orchestral pianist, and she has performed with the Fresno Philharmonic, Modesto Symphony and Monterey Symphony Orchestra. She maintains a private piano studio and collaborates with musicians in various chamber music groups.
Koko de la Isla Flamenco
Koko de la Isla started her formal dance training at the age of ten. She has studied a variety of dance forms including ballet, baroque dance, modern dance, jazz and tap. She received a Bachelor of Art degree in dance and continued on to the graduate study in dance choreography at the University of California, Irvine, where she found Flamenco as her lifework. After she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to focus on Flamenco, she has studied in Spain, USA and Japan with Carmen Ledesma, Carmen Herrera, El Junco, Juana Amaya, Eva la Yerbabuena, Belen Maya, El Guito, La Tania, Rosa Montoya, Diana Alejandre and Isa Mura. She has performed throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and in Japan as a soloist.
From 1995 to 1997, she returned to Japan, "the Flamenco heaven" where Flamenco is most appreciated besides Spain. She studied with El Poka Okazaki and "Angelita Vargas" from Spain and performed with the Flamenqueros as a soloist. In Japan, she performed at tablaos, "El Pancho" in Kobe and "Esperanza" ,“Casa Artistas” and "Olé! Olé!" in Tokyo as a guest artist.
Back in the Bay Area since 1997 she has regularly performed at local tablaos. Koko has taught flamenco classes to a large number of culturally diverse students, and conducted flamenco performances at colleges and community organizations since 1999.
Rick Vandivier
Rick has been performing and recording in the San Francisco Bay Area for the last 35 years. He is composer and leader of his own dynamic group, Vandivier, a contemporary eclectic trio. Vandivier’s most recent album release “Under One Roof” went public in October 2017 and received robust national airplay over a twelve week period, and was tracked in the top one hundred by JazzWeek. In Andrew Gilbert’s San Jose Mercury piece from September 7th, 2017, he writes “Vandivier has . . . never sounded better than on his new album “Under One Roof”. His previous recordings are “Vandivier” (2008) and “Spirit of the Room” (2003). In addition, he is co-leader of Primary Colors, along with vocalist extraordinaire, Nate Pruitt. The group specializes in jazz and grooves with adventuresome interplay. Primary Colors has three CD releases to date. Rick has performed with artists that include Carl Saunders, Albert "Tootie" Heath, Bruce Forman, John Handy, Mose Allison, David Grisman, Richie Cole and Dr. Lonnie Smith.