• What Might It Mean?
• Nancy Garniez
• Tonal Refraction
• Alaria Chamber Ensemble
• Links to other websites

Pianist and guiding spirit of Alaria Chamber Ensemble, former organist and liturgical music director, amateur cellist and madrigal singer, Nancy Garniez has enjoyed music in the company of people of all ages and backgrounds, first in her native Chicago, at Oberlin College, in Frankfurt am Main (where she studied on a Fullbright grant) and in New York City, where she has lived since 1961.

She teaches piano and chamber music at the Mannes College of Music in New York City, and is Coordinator of Chamber Music in the Mannes Extension Division, where Alaria Chamber Ensemble has been in residence since 1984. In 2000-1 she inaugurated two new courses: Singing for Non-singers, and Chamber Music Pedagogy. She has taught music in the context of elementary and middle school mathematics and language arts. In 1993 she devised Tonal Refraction, a flexible code that objectifies subjective aspects of hearing, using color to show how the ear relates tones, and a grid to represent perceived auditory space and time. The technique has been used experimentaly in collaboration with Dr. Concetta Tomaino at The Institute for Music and Neurologic Function in New York City.

Tonal Refraction breaks the barrier of notation for dyslexic students, makes clear the relation of single tones to structure even for very young beginning students, and accesses musical coordination from an alternative source, enabling victims of stroke and neurologic disease to play their instruments again though they no longer remember how. The code arose out of the author's extraordinary awareness of hearing, and her multi-faceted approach to music and to the piano.

Alaria Chamber Ensemble, founded in 1983, is dedicated to bringing to life the special experience of chamber music by presenting a well-rounded selection of styles and genres in spaces admirably suited to this most intimate of musical genres. With a core instumentation of violin (Yuri Vodovoz), cello (Diliana Momtchilova), and piano, the Ensemble features guest artists in unusual programs, seeking to provide a truly out-of-the-ordinary concert experience. Over the years Alaria has premiered works by Jeremy Beck, William David Earnest, David Loeb, Ursula Mamlok, Ronald Roseman, Eric Sawyer, John Carbon, and Phillip Johnston.

Since 1986 Alaria has presented an annual series in New York's most beautiful chamber music setting, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Seating only 268, the hall offers everyone intimate sight and sound contact with the performers. A typical Alaria concert might be compared to a small gallery display contrasted with a one-person retrospective at a major art museum.

Alaria's 16th season at Weill continues on Tuesday evening, February 6th 2001. Tickets ($21@) are available at the Main Box Office at Carnegie Hall or thru Carnegie Charge.

Alaria in Italy: Alaria has to its credit three highly successful tours in the summers of 1997, 1998 and 1999. The Ensemble's 1999 appearance in the International Festival at Ljubljana, Slovenia received rave reviews: "Sparkling virtuosity" in "unstarched, non-academic collars".

Alaria's Chamber Music at Mannes is in its 18th year. All of the courses that Alaria offers at Mannes are available to the general public through the Extension Division of Mannes, a Division of New School University. Distinguished flutist Patricia Spencer (Da Capo Chamber Players), a frequent guest artist with the Ensemble, has joined the program. Enid Blount, clarinet, is apprentice coach.

Links to other websites

Music for the Love of It: The newsletter for people who love making music

Mannes College of Music (a division of New School University)

New School University

Amateur Chamber Music Players, Inc.

Istituto Italiano di Cultura

Friends of Liturgical Music at Corpus Christi


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*Photograph of Nancy Garniez by Hildegard Bachert


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