MUSIC AT PORTSIDE: Opening concert featuring Nicole Taylor, soprano & Natasha Marin, Piano

INTRODUCING… Music At Portside, a new classical concert series in Ventura County, offers monthly chamber music recitals, played by brilliant local and international musicians.

Our opening concert features classical duo Nicole Taylor, soprano and Natasha Marin, piano — performing an intimate program on the different seasons of love, with beautiful songs by Brahms, Rachmaninov, R. Strauss, Chausson, and Hahn.

This is classical music in an intimate, informal, “come as you are” setting, perfect for a relaxing Sunday afternoon, a few steps away from the sea at Portside Ventura Harbor. If you are a classical music lover or if you don’t know very much about classical music, but want to learn more… Come and listen!

NB: Doors open at 5:15PM. The exact location at Portside Ventura Harbor will be shown after ticket purchase.

WHAT AUDIENCES ARE SAYING…

“Nicole Taylor gave us the immense joy and honor of giving a superb recital, she who remains an extraordinary soprano… A very interesting moment from a cultural point of view, and particularly moving… culminating in a standing ovation!” – La Dépêche France (translated)

“The soprano Nicole Taylor captivated her audience with her smooth voice and the spirituality of sacred songs, inspired by biblical texts.” – 2M Maroc (translated)

“With dominant vocals and passionate melodies, award-winning American soprano Nicole Taylor captivated the jam-packed auditorium. Her expressive performance of African-American spirituals relayed a greatness of a people, a culture, a struggle that merits respect and appreciation… Her performance was phenomenal.” – Ammon News Jordan

“A soprano, even of such strength and wide register, is not new in Lithuania, but Taylorʼs voice had a unique color, which was essential in the performance… Listening to the shatteringly sensual voice of Nicole, tells us stories about the greatness of spirit and majesty of silent resilience.” – Džiazo Taškas Lietuva Magazine (translated)

“American soprano Nicole Taylor gave a concert in Amman that was marked before anything else by genuine emotion. Ms. Taylor needed no more than a piano, and occasionally her voice only, to touch the audience… Taylor delighted and at the same time moved the full house. Her perfect tempi, controlled dynamics, immaculate phrasing and warm voice tone were a perfect match…” – Jordan Times

ABOUT NICOLE TAYLOR:
Originally from Los Angeles, soprano and Teaching Artist Nicole Taylor is a graduate of The Juilliard School in New York. Since her Carnegie Hall recital debut in 2006, she has appeared in a number of dramatic and operatic roles, including the female leads in Le Nozze de Figaro, Les Dialogues des Carmelites, Die Fledermaus, Cunning Little Vixen, The Turn of the Screw, and Porgy & Bess. Her extensive vocal repertoire includes classical art songs of the 19th and 20th centuries, and solo concert works such as Strauss’ Four Last Songs and Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915.

Ms. Taylor was featured soloist in Zemlinskyʼs Psalm 83, at Ring Festival LA with conductor James Conlon, and has sung in world premiere performances including the Suite for Peace by renowned jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell, in a tribute concert featuring jazz greats DeeDee Bridgewater, Lalo Schifrin, B.B. King, and special guest Stevie Wonder; Sir Paul McCartneyʼs oratorio Ecce Cor Meum with the Orchestra of St. Lukeʼs at Carnegie Hall; Eliott Goldenthalʼs opera Grendel directed by Tony Award-winning creative Julie Taymor for Lincoln Center Festival; and Olan Jonesʼ eclectic opera The Woman in the Wall, with Overtone Industries LA. Other highlights include solo recitals at Le Panthéon for the UNESCO Journée International du Jazz Paris, sponsored by the Thelonius Monk Institute LA; at UNESCO World Heritage Site – Pannonhalma Monastery in Hungary; and at Sugrįžimai Festivalis in Lithuania.

Ms. Taylor has also sung with the opera ensembles of San Francisco Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Sarasota Opera, Lincoln Center Festival and Mostly Mozart Festival (NYC) under the direction of Louis Langrée, John de Main, John Mauceri, Victor De Renzi, James Robinson and Tito Capobianco, as well as with New York Harlem Productions, the international touring company of “Porgy and Bess”, with performances at Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Oper Leipzig, Bremen Musical Theater, Kölner Philharmonie, Nationaltheater Mannheim, Komische Oper Berlin in Germany, Teatro Perez Galdos in Spain, Teatro Massimo Bellini in Sicily, and many more. An accomplished recitalist and a passionate teacher, Ms. Taylor is also a senior member of the Arts Envoy Program of the U.S. Department of State. Since 2010, she has performed more than 150 lecture concerts and music educational outreach programs in 15 countries across Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, under the auspices of the Embassies and Consulates of the United States of America.

Ms. Taylor is the founder of Creativity Through Music, a cultural consulting agency and Music At Portside, a new chamber music concert series.

ABOUT NATASHA MARIN:
Russian-born pianist Natasha Marin enjoys working as a soloist, with orchestra, chamber ensembles and piano duos. She was featured on the radio and TV, recorded and has been performing extensively in the United States and internationally, appearing in venues such as St. Petersburg Philharmonic and Capella Halls in Russia, Carnegie Weill Recital Hall in New York, Comerica Theater in Phoenix, AZ, and Zipper Hall, Schoenberg Hall and Thorne Hall in Los Angeles among many others.

Natasha’s collaborative programs include piano duos with internationally acclaimed pianists Gerald Robbins and Dmitry Rachmanov, as well as innovative “Double Sharp” project with Maria Demina incorporating custom designed costumes by Vera Chernova DeFehr. Natasha often performs as a pianists and a harpsichordist with instrumentalists and vocalists from the US and Europe. Her recent engagements include concert appearances in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota and Texas, USA as well as in Payerbach, Austria; Bordeaux, Colmar, Mulhouse and Paris, France; Jerusalem, Israel; Tokyo, Japan; Auckland, New Zealand; St. Petersburg, Russia; and Barcelona, Spain. Natasha’s solo and collaborative recordings were released in the USA and Europe.

Besides her love for classical repertoire, Natasha embraces other genres of music. She has lent her talent for the recording of the classical crossover album “Siren” by Sasha and Shawna, produced by Grammy Award-winning producer Peter Asher; performed with American rock/pop vocalist Jon Fiore; and recorded music for a documentary film “Searching for Posada: Art and Revolutions.” Natasha also performs with actor/comedian Cheech Marin. Together they appeared at the Hollywood Bowl, House of Blues and The Mayan Theater in Los Angeles, the Inaugural Gala for the Valley Performing Arts Center of the California State University, Northridge, as well as Bonnaroo Festival in Manhester, TN, and Boulder Theater, CO among others. Natasha began her piano studies in St. Petersburg where she attended Special Music School for Gifted Children, and her higher education continued both in the USA and Russia. She earned her BA with honors from the Rimsky-Korsakov Music College in the class of Oleg Koshelev and later completed her studies for graduate degrees at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory where she studied with Leonid Sinstev and Igor Lebedev and at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she studied piano performance with Vitaly Margulis and Antoinette Perry, contemporary music with Grammy Award-winning pianist Gloria Cheng and worked with acclaimed scholar/media author Robert Winter. Natasha recently completed her doctoral degree at the University of Southern California, with major in piano performance, academic minor in music education and minors in Early music and electro-acoustic composition.

Natasha is the Founder of the Marin Salon Series and the owner and designer of the music inspired line of jewelry High Notes Collection®. Natasha was married to actor/comedian Cheech Marin on August 8, 2009 in the ceremony officiated by the Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and in 2010 has changed her last name from Rubin to Marin. The Marins divide their time between California and St. Petersburg, Russia.