One Heart Institute Presents Three Nights of Virtuoso Concerts June 26-28

This is a press release from the One Heart Institute:

The One Heart Institute will present three virtuoso concerts at the Sudhana Center Recital Hall located at 225 South Hope Street in Ukiah at 7PM on Friday, June 26, Saturday, June 27, and at 3PM on Sunday, June 28. Each concert will present a different program. Friday’s “Saxophone Night” will feature music presented by saxophonists Dr. Wenbo Yin, Dr. Kendra Wheeler, Carrie Koffman, and Jonathan Hulting-Cohen and pianists Elio Villafranco and Tamami Honma. Saturday’s “Things with Strings” will feature San Francisco Symphony cellist Barbara Bogatin, guitarist Alex de Grassi and the two pianists. Sunday’s Grand Finale will bring together all the performers and special guest pianist and local luminary Spencer Brewer, in a variety of ensemble settings. Tickets can be purchased in advance for $30 for a single concert or for $80 for a three-concert pass online at oneheartinstitute.org/programs/virtuoso-concert-series or at Mendocino Book Company in Ukiah. They will be available at the door for $35 per concert.

The One Heart Institute is a non-profit organization that offers intensive music and wellness programs, founded in 2023 with the goal of bringing internationally acclaimed musicians together to teach, perform, and share their skills in a setting that also offers wellness practices such as Tai Chi, meditation, mindfulness and yoga. This year’s program will run from June 21 to June 28, and classes range from four-day workshops to one-week programs. The faculty includes San Francisco Symphony cellist Barbara Bogatin, Steinway artist Elio Villafranca (Jazz piano), conductor and author Dr. Alexander Kahn, as well as founding faculty members Dr. Wenbo Yin and Alex de Grassi. A series of free to the public talks will be presented each evening by cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Clifford Saron (Monday 6/22), guitarist Alex de Grassi (Tuesday 6/23) Emmy award-winning producer and USC mindfulness professor Richard Wolf (Wednesday 6/24), and psychiatrist and author Margaret Cullen together with cellist Barbara Bogatin (Thursday 6/25).

After receiving his doctorate at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, Chinese born saxophonist Wenbo Yin relocated to Ukiah to study at Dharma Realm Buddhist University, and he is now Director of Jazz Ensemble and Symphonic Winds at Mendocino College as well as the Artistic Director and Co-founder of the One Heart Institute. He will be leading a professional musicians’ retreat and teaching Tai Chi throughout the program and will perform in several configurations in the concerts. Saxophonist Dr. Kendra Wheeler received her DMA in Saxophone Performance from Michigan State University and has since commissioned more than 25 new works for the instrument. She leads Beyond the Instrument, a grant-supported commissioning and recording initiative. She currently teaches at Louisiana State University. On Friday June 26, they will be joined in concert by Carrie Koffman, University of Hartford professor and founding member of the American Saxophone Academy who is also a champion of the Voiced project—a series of compositions that gives voice to stories and experiences not normally expressed in classical music—as well as many other innovative collaborations. Also joining Friday’s concert is Jonathan Hulting-Cohen, professor of saxophone at University of Massachusetts Amherst, recording artist and touring performer with the Moanin’ Frogs Saxophone Quartet.

Barbara Bogatin has been playing cello with the San Francisco Symphony and chamber groups for the past 31 years, and she is also an educator in the field of mindfulness training for musicians. In addition to performing, she will be offering meditation-based strategies to help musicians achieve their goals. Renowned guitarist/composer Alex de Grassi has made over 20 recordings, toured internationally extensively, and he has received commissions from the New York Guitar Festival and String Letter Publishing. He is the author of the Alex de Grassi Fingerstyle Guitar Method, many articles about guitar music, and has been a guest teacher at the University of Wisconsin, Berklee School of Music and the Omega Institute as well as being the founder of the Mendocino Guitar Workshop.

Cuban-born pianist and composer Elio Villafranca is a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow recipient, Grammy® nominee, and two-time winner of Downbeat magazine’s Rising Star award. He has recorded and performed with several jazz luminaries including Chick Corea, Wynton Marsalis, and Cecile McLorin Salvant, and he has been commissioned by New York City’s prestigious Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. He currently teaches at Julliard School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, and Princeton University. A member of the faculty of the Stanford University Music Department, pianist Tamami Honma has been celebrated with 5-star reviews from Gramophone and BBC Music magazines for her performance of Romantic era composers at such venues as Carnegie Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, and as a featured soloist with the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra. Divine Arts Recordings has recently released her renditions of the complete 35 Beethoven Sonatas.

The concerts will bridge many musical genres—from folk to jazz and classical selections guaranteed to offer something for everyone. The recently refurbished Sudhana Center Recital Hall makes an excellent acoustic venue for unamplified music in an intimate setting with limited seating. Expect a sold-out show. For more information about the music camp, please visit oneheartinstitute.org.