Music in Bass Hall: Virginia Eskin, Jose Lezcano, and Jazimina MacNeil

Virginia Eskin

Pianist Virginia Eskin has performed as a soloist with many orchestras, including the Annapolis, Buffalo, Louisville, New Hampshire, Rochester, San Francisco, Santa Barbara and Utah Symphony Orchestras, the Boston Classical, the Israel Sinfonietta, and the Boston Pops. She has also performed as a soloist with the New York City and Boston Ballet Companies, at Morgan Library in New York and Jordan Hall in Boston, and in concert halls and museums throughout the United States and Europe.

Among the highlights of her recent seasons were: a recital tour of Croatia (June 2014), a presentation of works by African American women composers at Boston University (March 2014), a recital at the U.S. embassy in Madrid (January 2014), performances of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20, K. 466, with the Augusta (Maine) Symphony (April 2013). In 2009 she premiered Vítezslava Kaprálová ‘s “Partita” with the Chamber Orchestra of Boston at Jordan Hall and performed Beethoven’s Piano Concertos No. 3 and No. 5 with the Boston Civic Symphony.

In 2007, in recognition of the 100th anniversary of Edward MacDowell’s death, Ms. Eskin performed his Piano Concerto No. 2 with the New Hampshire Philharmonic and with Boston’s Civic Symphony at Jordon Hall. She has continued her lengthy collaboration with the Portland String Quartet, with whom she performed the Amy Beach Quintet to open their 2008-09 season.
A native of San Diego, California, she studied in London with Gina Bachauer and Dame Myra Hess. She developed a strong interest in Spanish music during a four-year appointment at the International Institute in Madrid, 1983-1987.

Virginia Eskin received the Clarion Award 2007/Radio Documentary Series for First Ladies of Music
She is adjunct professor music at Keene State College, which in 2009 awarded her an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters in recognition recognize her contributions to women’s music.

Jose Lezcano 

 Described by Fanfare Magazine as “an excellent guitarist as well as an imaginative composer,” Jose Lezcano is a twice Grammy-nominated composer and performer who has concertized on four continents. His programs featuring traditional and Latin American repertory, and his own original Latin-inspired compositions have taken him as recitalist, collaborative musician, and concerto soloist from Carnegie Recital Hall and the North-South Consonance Series in New York City to major venues and festivals in Spain, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Crete, Brazil, China, the Czech Republic and Germany.  In November 2014, Jose appeared as soloist with the Portsmouth Symphony in Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, a cornerstone of the Spanish guitar repertory. Jose is a frequent performer on New England concert series, and has appeared recently on series for Electric Earth, Portland Chamber Music, Wisteria Chamber Music Society, Claremont Summer Concerts, and Apple Hill. He also presents concert/lectures throughout the state for the NH Humanities Council “To-Go” series. Jose is on the Artist Roster of NEFA as well as the NH State Arts Council, and was a 2003 Artist Fellow. He has received commissions from New England Meet-the-Composer, the Boston Guitar Society, the New York State Music Fund, and the Rochester Folk Art Guild.

In 2013 he served as Artist in Residence at the Studios of Key West where he completed a commission for Duo Amaral; the Key West Suite for two guitars can be heard on Youtube. Other 2014 performances include the Cuban premiere of his “Poemas Concertantes at the 27th Festival of Contemporary Music in Havana. Recent commissions and premieres include Fantasia Latina for guitar and harp, (2015 Centro del Mundo Festival in Quito, Ecuador), and “Canciones de Ausencia” (2015 Barcelona Festival of Song). His work has been performed and/or recorded by leading musicians including William Bennett, Stephen Aron, Antigoni Goni, Brett Deubner and Maestra Joanne Falletta, conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic. Jose has performed his solo concerti with orchestras including North-South Consonance Orchestra of New York City, the Orquesta Nacional del Peru, Orquesta Nacional del Ecuador, Orquesta Juvenil del Ecuador, Orquesta de Tolima (Ibague, Colombia), and the Keene Chamber Orchestra. Dr. Lezcano’s works are published by Alry and Mundoarts, and he is a member of ASCAP. Most recently he served as Visiting Professor at the Universidad Rovira y Virgili in Spring 2015, and performed concerts in Barcelona at the Escuela Nacional de Musica, and in Tarragona, Mollerusa, and Tortosa.

Jose Lezcano is Professor of Music at Keene State College (NH) where he coordinates the guitar program, and conducts the KSC Guitar Orchestra and KSC Latin American Ensemble. Dr. Lezcano’s guitar students have been frequent winners of the Department’s and College’s highest awards and scholarships, and members of the Guitar Orchestra under his direction have given concerts in Ecuador, New York City, and multiple appearances at the Boston Guitar Society Festivals. He also curates a biannual Guitar Festival at KSC featuring concerts and clinics by guest artists and faculty musicians, and attended by regional high school guitarists and their teachers. He was also honored by Keene State with its award for “Distinguished Faculty Research and Scholarship.”

Jazimina MacLean