Great Orchestra
Top Talent
From Bratislava To Los Angeles: Meet Concertmaster Pavel Farkas
Cal Phil’s Concertmaster Pavel Farkas is the Artist Professor of Violin and Orchestra Studies at the University of Redlands School of Music. He was born in Czechoslovakia, joined the Bratislava Radio Symphony Orchestra at the age of 17, and only five years later became its concertmaster. He was also a member of the Slovak National String Quartet, representing Czechoslovakia during numerous performances in Western Europe and Russia. Farkas has served as Concertmaster of the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, Dutch Broadcasting Orchestra and the Orqesta Nacional de Mexico.
Other significant musical activities of Professor Farkas include having been a member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, a co-founder of the Pacific Symphony and serving as the concertmaster for the touring companies of both the Bolshoi and Joffrey Ballets. Farkas has appeared as a soloist in Russia, Germany, Holland, Japan and the People’s Republic of China. He has recorded for Grammy winners Whitney Houston, Linda Ronstadt, Aaron Neville, Cher, Barry White, John Williams, Maurice Jarre, Michelle Legrand, Lalo Schifrin, Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, Earth, Wind and Fire and the Police. His credits include film scores for the movies Titanic, Ghost, Dances With Wolves and many other Hollywood blockbusters.
Professor Farkas regularly visits his native country of Slovakia for appearances with the Slovakian Chamber Orchestra. He appeared as soloist in the Millennium Concert with the Bratislava Radio Symphony Orchestra (January 2000) and also recorded the 1958 Violin Concerto by renowned contemporary Slovak composer Alexander Moyzes.
Sing Out Loud: Meet CalPhil Chorale Chorus Master Marya Basaraba
Cal Phil Chorale Chorus Maestra, Marya Basaraba, is originally from Montreal, where she studied Orchestral Conducting with Maestro Alexander Brott and Choral Conducting with Wayne Riddell at McGill University. She has an eclectic performance background as an actor, television and radio host, operatic and symphonic soloist, vocal coach and choral conductor. She was the Co Founder of the Southern California Chamber Orchestra and is the Director of Music and Performing Arts Ministries at Grace Lutheran Church and Chorus Master at Temple Akiba, both in Culver City and the Music Director of the Spirit Alive Fellowship in Irwindale.Maestra Basaraba is the Chorus Master of the Redlands Bowl Festival Opera for which she prepared the chorus for The Barber of Seville, Tosca, La Traviata and Madama Butterfly. She was the Artistic Director of the 2007 and 2008 Peace Through Music concerts presented by the Pasadena Human Relations Commission and, as the Artistic Director of the Nevada State Opera, she produced La Bohème, Carmen, Madama Butterfly and Don Giovanni.
She is a highly acclaimed soloist with an extensive repertoire of both soprano and mezzo soprano roles in Aida, La Traviata, Un Ballo in Maschera, Il Trovatore, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, Gianni Schicchi, Carmen, Cavaleria Rusticana, I Pagliacci, Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro, The Magic Flute, Cosi fan Tutte, Die Fledermaus, Der Rosenkavalier, The Mikado and the Mothers in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Hansel and Gretel and Albert Herring. Her symphonic repertoire includes Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, and the soprano and alto solos in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Ms. Basaraba’s oratorio repertoire includes the Mozart, Duruflé, Fauré and Verdi Requiems, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solonelle and both the soprano and alto solos in Handel’s Messiah and the Vivaldi Gloria.
