Yvonne Chavez Hansbrough

FALL/WINTER 2009-2010

I just completed a four-week run of performing the great musical WICKED! at Proctors Theater. This experience was rewarding and a blast. I thoroughly enjoyed working with the traveling musicians and conductors and with nine local musicians.  Click here  for photos from the show.

SPRING/SUMMER 2009

I performed the Concerto for flute by Jacque Ibert on Saturday May 16 with the Glens Falls Symphony! It was a great and rewarding experience. The orchestra and Maestro Peltz were wonderful! I was so pleased to have three curtain calls! I appreciate the overwhelming support from my colleagues, friends, students and family.  See below for reviews of this performance.

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I was recently awarded two grants from The College of Saint Rose. A Reassigned Time Grant will allow me four credits of reassigned time to organize and direct the Saint Rose Camerata, a faculty chamber music series. I was also awarded a Professional Development Grant to attend and  perform at the 2009 National Flute Association Convention. I feel so fortunate to have these wonderful opportunities!

I will be performing at the August, 2009 National Flute Association Convention in New York!   I will be performing on a concert titled "American Composers" and will play Sonatine by Keith Gates.  The concert is Thursday, August 13 at 9:00 a.m.  More details to follow.

FALL 2008
The College of Saint Rose announces opening of the new  Massry Center for the Arts. This new building includes a 400-seat recital hall, rehearsal halls, smart classrooms, practice rooms, teaching studios, recording studio and  an art gallery. Read article and see pictures in  All Over Albany Article.

I will be performing the first recital in our wonderful new recital hall on Friday, September 5 during Convocation hour (10:25 a.m.).  Dr. Young Kim, pianist, will join me in a performance of music by Rutter, Poulenc, Ian Clarke and Keith Gates.   

Performance of the Concerto by Ibert for flute and orchestra with the Glens Falls Symphony, Saturday, May 16 2009

"The Glens Falls Symphony closed their season with a concert last Saturday evening, May 16, "on the road" in the Trombley Auditorium at Saratoga Springs Middle School, Wilton. The program consisted of Jacque Ibert's Flute concerto, nicely played by the orchestra and their principal flutist Yvonne Chavez Hansbrough.. The outer movements of the Ibert demand technical agility and breath control as the player runs madly through passages of almost perpetual motion. As one listener said to me after the performance "I am worn out just from listening to that." Mrs. Hansbrough didn't seem worn out, despite the oppressive heat in the hall that had her wiping her face, then drying her hands on her beautiful concert dress. In fact she seemed throughly energized as she tore through the music, easily transitioning from a rich low timbre to a beautifully rounded upper register while her fingers danced on the keys....."(The Chronicle, W. Martin, May 21-27, 2009)

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 "....Hansbrough did very well. She played with a big sound that she edged brilliantly and that projected easily. Her pitch was well centered, and her vibrato never intruded. She played all of the notes.....Hansbrough captured much of the exotic mysticism with gently nuanced and nicely phrased passages. Concertmaster Michael Emery’s solo sang.The third movement was fleet, and Hansbrough played the many notes and paced her cadenza well. Peltz and the orchestra gave her strong support without overdoing it." (Daily Gazette, G. Freedman, May 17, 2009)

Performance of Suite in B Minor by Bach, Saturday, May 10 with the Glens Falls Symphony Orchestra

 The Post-Star
Symphony hits the mark
By Stephen F. Leonard
Published: Tuesday, May 13, 2008

"Bravo to the Glens Falls Symphony Orchestra for their fine performance Saturday evening in the Hudson Falls High School Auditorium. After a season of ups and downs, conductor Peltz and the orchestra members got it right from start to finish.

 Opening with the J.S. Bach "Suite No. 2 in B minor," the ensemble of 12 players, plus flute soloist, exhibited a fine understanding of Baroque period performance practices. The execution of rhythmic articulation and ornamentation was just right -- crisp and clean.

The piece is a seven-movement work, including the typical overture followed by a series of dances. With its appearance sometime in the late 1720s, the suite was first performed in the United States in 1874.

The flute is presented both as a member of the ensemble and, at times, featured soloist. No matter its position, flutist Yvonne Chavez Hansbrough brought a sense of style and correctness to the performance. Whether blending as a member of the ensemble or standing out as a soloist, Hansbrough's tone was fluid with effortless ornamentation. Lyrical melodic lines and virtuosic passages were performed with an ease of expression and execution. Particularly nice was the interplay not only found amongst the violin, flute and cello during the "Bouree," but also between the flute and cello in the "Polonaise."

Not to be ignored, the supporting string ensemble surpassed the performances earlier in the season of Bach and Handel. Intonation and ensemble playing were solid.

Usually referred to as the "Badinerie" (from the French for 'jest'), the final movement was titled "Tandelei" (from the German for 'dalliance'). Either title works as this free-for-all was another fine example of the talent on stage giving the audience a fine example of musicianship they deserve. Some music historians even have stated that this final movement is a built-in encore for the soloist.
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The Chronicle, May 14, 2008
Acoustics were eh, but GFSO prevailed at HF
by  William Martin 

".....Lacking funds to pay its players to rehearse the scheduled Jacques Ibert Flute Concerto (in part due to the poorly-attended Amy Grant fund-raiser last fall), the Symphony substituted J. S. Bach's "Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B Minor --- all well and good, since this piece works very well as a concert opener.

The piece featured the orchestra's excellent principle flutist, Yvonne Chavez Hansbrough, and a scaled-down group of 11 strings plus harpsichord.  But the poor acoustical environment at Hudson Falls left the small group of strings sounding distant and thin at times.  The performance would have sounded really good in the lively and intimate setting of the Froelich Auditorium at The Hyde Collection, but struggled as the historically correct orchestra size bumped up against the historically incorrect size of the  600-seat auditorium (instead of the much cozier original setting of a coffeehouse in Leipzig, circa 1725).

Unlike other schools where the Glens Falls Symphony sometimes plays, Hudson Falls does not have an acoustic shell to place behind the musicians, which aids in projecting the sound. So a full string orchestra section, while not true to the original score, would have helped.

 Ms. Hansbrough's choice of tempos was excellent.  I especially liked the bounce of the "Bouree" and the spirited chase of the "Tanelei," but I think the "Sarabande" could have used a little warmer sound from the strings with more attention to centering the pitch.

The "Rondo" [sic] had nicely shaped phrases.  Throughout, the flute and strings matched dynamics.  Of special note were the rhythmic energy, precise articulation and dynamically balanced sound of the orchestra.  The precision of the ornamentation between the flute and the rest of the group was also pleasurable. ("Ornamentation" is the device of replacing a single note of music with a rapid series of neighboring pitches, such as trills and turns. Much thought and study is now devoted to this once improvised art.)

After the Bach, the full orchestra displayed its full palate with Sergey Prokofiev's monumental "Symphony No. 5 in B flat major.."

Daily Gazette article Saturday, May 10, 2008
GERALDINE FREEDMAN
Orchestra closes season with spirited Prokofiev

HUDSON FALLS —
"......As an interesting contrast, the first part of the program was devoted to J. S. Bach’s Suite in B minor for flute and strings. Principal flutist Yvonne Hansbrough, supported by 11 string players and a harpsichordist, gave a solid but sometimes breathless reading...... Hansbrough’s round tone and tasteful ornamentation shone in the Sarabande and the Bouree was perky. Her duet with principal cellist Jameson Platte was also quite good."

Additional  Performance Reviews:

…Cantata No. 78 "Jesu, der du meine Seele (Jesus, though who didn't take my soul)." Here the emotional content came mostly from the Empire Orchestra, an early music group organized by cellist Andre Laurent O'Neil. During an aria by Harrison, Yvonne Chavez Hansbrough had a haunting and memorable solo on the wooden flute.  (Times Union, Albany NY, June 2006)

Baksa’s grand “Sonata No 1 for Flute and Piano (1976)….Yvonne Chavez Hansbrough made her flute sing like our finest singers …..After intermission Baksa’s recent (2004) “Sonata for Flute and Guitar” was all gossamer lightness and poetry…..Hansbrough repeating her success with the flute. (Register-Star, Jan. 27, 2005 by John Paul Keeler)

Flutist Hansbrough, in the Keith Gates opener, showed a very nice, smooth, un-vibrato  sound……. (Vox in Camera, Albany, NY 2001)