Piedmont Piano Company in association with The No.1 Lady Pianists Society is pleased to present
Ladies Night featuring outstanding local pianists

Socorro de Castro -- Allison Lovejoy -- Debbie Poryes -- Annie Sajdera -- Victoria Theodore

Saturday, June 4 at 8PM
at Piedmont Piano Company's new store located at
18th & San Pablo, Oakland (1728 San Pablo Ave.)

$15 - please call 510-547-8188 to reserve tickets with your credit card

A graduate of the prestigious Berklee College of Music, major in Jazz Composition/Arranging with piano as principal instrument, Socorro de Castro's music career is backed by many years of live and recording studio experience. Originally from Manila, Philippines, she started playing the piano at the age of three, then was classically trained beginning at 4, had her first recital when she was 5 and wrote her first composition at 9 years old, then began a long line of performances as a solo artist as well as a member of different bands, singing groups and choirs, while expanding her interests in other keyboards.

Socorro captured the Grand Prix in the INTERNATIONAL YAMAHA ELECTONE GRAND PRIX CONCOURSE in Japan representing the U.S.A. at age 23. She went on to do concert tours in her home country upon the invitation of the Philippine Government in association with the Department of Tourism and back in the US as a Yamaha artist. Upon returning to Manila in the 80's, she subsequently gained recognition as acomposer, arranger, producer, and musical director / accompanist for some of her country's top artists.

Now a California resident since the 90s, Socorro, along with her husband, keyboardist Norman Landsberg, run Landsberg Music Productions, a full service music production company providing music direction, compositions and arrangements for album productions, live performances, and scoring for commercials and films. www.socorrodecastro.com

Allison Lovejoy has performed internationally as a soloist, chamber musician, and accompanist. Her insightful and passionate performances have received wide acclaim, and her varied repertoire highlights virtuoso works of the late 19th and early 20th century. She has performed the Beethoven “Emperor” Concerto with the Orchestra of the International Festival of Music in Nicaragua under the baton of Maestro Urs Leonhart Steiner, and has also appeared as soloist in Rachmaninov’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini”, Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and the Prokofiev Concerto No. 3. She was a prizewinner in the San Jose Young Artist and the San Francisco Concerto Orchestra Competitions, as well as a recipient of a Shenson Concert Series Grant. A guest speaker and performer at the 1998 San Francisco Symphony all-Gershwin concert at Stern Grove, she regularly presents concert-talks throughout California.

Miss Lovejoy received her M.M. from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, her B.M. from the University of the Pacific and the Royal Academy of Music in London. Her teachers include Robert Helps, Daniell Revenaugh, Mack McCray, Nathan Schwartz and Gyorgy Sandor. She was also a participant in the Holland International Music Sessions for young artists, where she participated in master classes with John O’Conor and Marie-Francois Bucquet.

Miss Lovejoy is a faculty member at the Academy of Art University and the Community Music Center, and has held positions at the College of Notre Dame and Foothill College. She has led master classes in the United States, Europe, and Nicaragua, and is dedicated to making music education and live performance available to everyone. www.allisonlovejoy.com

Born in Santa Monica, CA, Debbie Poryes’s early love for the piano—from Chopin to show tunes—was supplanted by Simon & Garfunkel, leading her to switch to the guitar. Her early inquisitiveness led to a lifelong fascination with musical theory and structure. At 17, when she heard jazz for the first time (Monk! Bill Evans!), she fell in love with it and decided to become a jazz pianist.

In the 1970s Debbie played all over the San Francisco Bay Area in configurations from solo piano to big band, including two summers as the pianist for Make-A-Circus, a non-profit organization that provided free shows for children in the public parks. All the time, she was listening, playing, teaching and transcribing from records and studying all her favorite jazz musicians (Miles! McCoy Tyner! and so on and so forth!). The 1980s saw Debbie in The Netherlands, in tenured positions in the jazz departments of the conservatories in Hilversum and Arnhem. She also toured Europe, performing at clubs and in festivals in Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, England and France. Back in the US, Debbie continues both to play, teach and to study. (Lucky students can take advantage of her Steinway ‘B’, which was played by many of the greats during its time at Berkeley’s Fantasy Studios.) In addition to her private teaching practice, she has taught at the Berkeley Jazzschool since 2000. She continues to refine her piano technique with classical teacher John Bloomfield.

Since 2007 she has recorded and released three CDs: A Song in Jazz, her trio CD on the Jazzschool Records label, featuring Bill Douglass on bass and David Rokeach on drums; Catch Your Breath, a quartet CD released in 2010 on the Origin/OA2 Records label with the same rhythm section and New York-based saxophonist Bruce Williamson; and just this April 2011 another Origin/OA2 release, Two and Fro, a duo with Bruce WIlliamson. All three recordings have received outstanding reviews, and sold copies across the country as well as in Japan, Australia and England. Jazz Chicago wrote, "Poryes's playing is confident, yet playful, thoughtful, but full of life," and All About Jazz said, “Poryes colors outside the lines and plays to challenge and compel, but never forgets to entertain.” Herb Wong said in his liner notes to Catch Your Breath, “Impressive, too, is how her swinging joyousness articulates every note she plays.” In his liner notes for the latest CD, Mark Levine wrote, “Debbie Poryes and Bruce Williamson are so tuned in to each other that the flow remains uninterrupted. Beautiful music results.” Recent appearances include Yoshi's Jazzclub, the Jazzschool, the Healdsburg Jazz Festival and Piedmont Piano Company. And, she still loves to go out and play at weddings and private parties!www.debbieporyes.com

Classically trained pianist and keyboardist Anne Sajdera received her bachelor's degree in composition from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where not only did she perform her own compositions but also representative works from all of the SFCM composition faculty. In 2002 she performed Mozart’s Concerto in G Major, No. 17 with the Ohlone Community College Orchestra and she has performed with many large ensemble productions including the Aguas da Bahia dance production at the Ethnic Dance Festival at the Palace of Fine Arts (2002) and the BrasArte Brazilian dance review Misturada V featured at the Cowell Theater in San Francisco (2003). In addition, she has performed with Phil Thompson's award-winning band Rio Thing, the California Music Award winning Brazilian rock band, Bat Makumba, and most recently with Latin Jazz Singer-Songwriter Alexa Weber Morales. Anne is currently finishing a CD featuring her original, Brazilian groove-influenced compositions for piano trio. myspace.com/anniesajdera

Victoria Theodore received her Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Arts degrees in Classical Piano Performance and Computer Music from Oberlin College / Conservatory of Music, and her Master of Arts degree in Classical Piano Performance from Stanford University. As a teen, Victoria studied piano and voice in the UC Berkeley Young Musician's Program (YMP) and sang (and began her accompanying career) with the Oakland Youth Chorus under the direction of Trente Morant. Through YMP, Victoria studied piano primarily with Eugene Gash (1920-1995), the first African-American concert pianist to perform a solo concert at Carnegie Hall, and a student of E. Robert Schmitz (1889-1949), a student of composer Claude Debussy. During her Stanford years, Victoria also studied Jazz Piano with Mark Levine, Bill Bell and Frank Martin. Shortly after graduation from Stanford, Victoria toured nationally as a keyboardist for Captiol Records artists Oaktown 357 - produced by MC Hammer.

After Oaktown 357’s tour ended, Victoria moved to New York City to run a multimedia company. In 2000, Victoria returned to the Bay Area after several years running her company, GlobalDisc.com – a very successful venture which is still a market leader in same day media duplication.

Beginning in August, 2007, Victoria was hired to tour with legendary musical genius Stevie Wonder, playing keyboards and singing background vocals in his band. She has traveled around the world with Stevie and looks forward to more touring! (And yes, it's as fabulous as you'd imagine!) Victoria is a highly sought after Bay Area pianist, keyboardist and accompanist, respected for her wide ranging musical versatility. Victoria resides in San Leandro, CA, and teaches students from her home when she’s not performing with various R&B, jazz, gospel, pop and classical artists. www.vtmusicworks.com