TORCH LIGHT: Multi-Album Release Show, with Chérie Hughes and Asta & Dainius Vaičekonis
SUGGESTED TICKET DONATIONS | sliding scale
general public: $15, $20, $25
students: $5
What is a sliding scale? Click here to learn more about our pricing & ticketing process.
Our final TORCH LIGHT concert of the season serves as a multi-album release show with Chérie Hughes and Dainius Vaičekonis. Come ready to celebrate these incredible artists and preorder their new albums! Our post-show hang will be at Old Stove Brewery, 600 W. Nickerson St.
LIVESTREAM: https://youtube.com/live/1Cz2M6r3ktE?feature=share
Click here for a PDF of tonight’s program.
Click here to fill out an Album Order Form!
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
-
An accomplished chamber musician and soloist, Chérie Hughes has performed throughout the United States and Mexico. She is a frequent collaborator with guitarist Roberto Limón, and as the Pacific Duo they have toured throughout Mexico and been featured in recital at the famed Bellas Artes Manuel Ponce Chamber Hall in Mexico City.
While their repertoire includes works by well-known composers such as de Falla, Argento, and Schubert; the two are passionate advocates for lesser known treasures, as well as for new commissioned works—particularly those of Mexican and Latin American composers. Past engagements include the San Miguel de Allende International Guitar Festival, a concert tour sponsored by the Mexican government’s Coordinación Nacional de Música y Ópera to Mexico City, Guanajuato, and Salamanca; and appearances at the XI Festival de Guitarra Internacional del Noreste in Saltillo, Mexico. As part of their Artists in Residency award with the Seattle Jack Straw Cultural Center and a grant from Seattle Pacific University, the duo released their first recording, ON MY PEOPLE, in 2016 on the Origin Classical label.
In addition to performances with Roberto Limón, Dr. Hughes has continued her passion for chamber music with other musicians as well; collaborating with violinist Laura Klugherz, clarinetist John Bruce Yeh, and pianist Steve Heyman as a guest artist to the Chenango Summer MusicFest; with Brian Chin and Ben Thomas on the premiere of Tom Baker’s Songs of Sleep and Dreams; with the Seattle jazz orchestra SCRAPE; and with other musicians throughout the greater Seattle Puget Sound region. In 2019 she released Poesía en una cancion, a collection of art songs from Latin America with pianist Dainius Vaiçekonis on Common Tone Records.
While chamber music is her great passion, Dr. Hughes is also noted for her rich vocal color and dramatic sparkle in the operatic and oratorio repertoires. Her solo appearances include oratorio performances as the soprano soloist in Handel’s MESSIAH, Haydn’s CREATION, Beethoven’s SYMPHONY #9, Mozart’s MASS IN C MINOR, and J.S. Bach’s MAGNIFICAT. Other appearances include the operatic roles of Musetta, Susanna, Gretel, and Pamina; and solo recitals with the NW Chopin Foundation, the WA State Governor’s Mansion, and the Celebrate Song Series. Dr. Hughes was Head of Performance Voice and European Musicology at Seattle Pacific University. She currently lives in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
-
Asta and Dainius Vaičekonis lead an active concert life as piano duet, as well as solo pianists, collaborating and recording artists. As a piano duo they are celebrating their 25th anniversary. Asta and Dainius were the first pianists to perform in Benaroya’s Nordstrom Recital Hall on Open House concert series in 1998. The Vaičekonises were soloists with the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra. They presented recitals in University of Notre Dame - Indiana, Western Washington University, Seattle Pacific University, Music Works NW, Frey Museum, Seattle Asian Arts Museum, Bumbershoot Festival, Čiurlionis house-museum concerts series in Lithuania.
Vaičekonis duo performed “Baltic Piano Music” and “Cultural Crossroads” recitals at the University of Washington, “French Piano Duet Music” in Shoreline CC Piano Series, “American Piano Duet Music” in Resonance Hall at Soma Towers, Bartok’s Sonata for Two pianos and Percussion at Music Works Northwest and Shoreline CC, “Triple Piano Espresso” for four and six hands at Seattle Public Library, “Keyboard Confections” in Twisp, WA, “Double the Icelandic Fun” at the Mostly Nordic series at the Nordic Heritage Museum, livestream recital “20th Century Popular Music for Two Pianos” during Covid pandemic. Their project “Music for Two Pianos by Living Composers of Israel, US and Lithuania” was presented in schools of Israel - Jerusalem Academy of Music, Beer Sheva Conservatory, and the Levinsky Pedagogical College in Tel Aviv. They also collaborated with Chamber Dance Company at the University of Washington.
ABOUT THE SERIES
The TORCH LIGHT series features the work of the TORCH Artist Collective, our friends in Seattle, and beyond. We serve as a platform to highlight powerful artists and create socially responsive work. Each show is performed in front of a live audience and simultaneously broadcast across the world. We have deliberately placed TORCH LIGHT events on (mostly) the last Monday of each month to attract as many creators, musicians, and art lovers as possible. Tickets are at the door and by suggested donation.