Piedmont Piano Company is pleased to present
photo: Leone Julitte
The Anna Laura Quinn-tet
with special guest Tessa Lark
Vocalist and New Orleans resident Anna Laura Quinn brings together the stellar Bay Area ensemble that was featured on her debut EP, I Feel the Sudden Urge to Sing!, to perform her heartfelt arrangements of classic jazz, cabaret, French, and Brazilian tunes. For this highly anticipated engagement at Piedmont Piano, the band— Rob Reich on accordion and piano, Scott Foster on guitar, Joe Kyle Jr. on bass, and Justin Ouellet on violin—will be joined by Anna’s special guest, the award-winning New York violinist, Tessa Lark.
$20 General Admission
Raised in San Francisco and based in New Orleans since 2010, vocalist Anna Laura Quinn is rapidly gaining notice in both cities for her particular blend of contemporary jazz, well-loved tunes from the American Songbook, French and Brazilian music, and more, all delivered with style, emotional power and sensitivity, and a joie de vivre that recalls the charm and mystique of a bygone era. A self-proclaimed “jazz acolyte,” Anna uses her voice to convey her deep regard for the legacy of jazz music to audiences of all ages, backgrounds, and musical proclivities.
Anna is currently in her final year of the Jazz Studies masters program at the University of New Orleans and in 2019 she made her debut appearance at the 50th annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival with the UNO Jazz All-Stars. Outside the university, Anna’s New Orleans gig calendar is rapidly expanding. She regularly engages with a mix of seasoned and emerging musicians alike, and has appeared onstage at such venerable jazz venues as Snug Harbor, Preservation Hall, and Dos Jefes Uptown Cigar Bar, where she has a monthly gig.
In December 2018 Anna released her debut EP, I Feel a Sudden Urge to Sing!, which was recorded in San Francisco and features guitarist Scott Foster, bassist Joe Kyle Jr., violinist Justin Ouellet, and accordionist Rob Reich. Music critic Holly Devon, in her review of the recording in Antigravity Magazine, describes Anna’s voice as “a well-worked instrument that brings new vitality to classic tunes from the likes of Cole Porter and Duke Ellington,” with “arrangements that are part jazz, part bossa nova, with a dash of violin menouche mixed in for good measure.”
Anna is also a proud member of the Living Jazz community, and has been attending Jazz Camp West since 2016. annalauraquinn.com
Violinist Tessa Lark, recipient of a 2018 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and a 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Silver Medalist in the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, and winner of the 2012 Naumburg International Violin Competition, is one of the most captivating artistic voices of our time. A budding superstar in the classical realm, she is also a highly acclaimed fiddler in the tradition of her native Kentucky. Since making her concerto debut with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra at sixteen, Ms. Lark has appeared with dozens of orchestras, festivals, and recital venues including Carnegie Hall, Ravinia, San Francisco Performances, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, the Buffalo Philharmonic, and Marlboro Music. Highlights of her 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons included multiple performances of two works for violin and orchestra written for her: Love Letter by bassist-composer Michael Thurber, and Sky, a bluegrass-inspired concerto by Michael Torke premiered and recorded with the Albany (NY) Symphony Orchestra. Additional recording projects include a fantasia-themed album including Ms. Lark’s own Appalachian Fantasy and works by Telemann, Ravel, Kreisler, and Schubert; Invention, a debut album of the violin-bass duo Tessa Lark & Michael Thurber that comprises music of J.S. Bach along with non-classical original compositions; and a genre-bending disc in collaboration with such artists as multi-instrumentalist/composer Jon Batiste and American fiddling legend Michael Cleveland. Recent and upcoming activities include Australia’s Musica Viva festival—a four-concert engagement highlighted by a duo collaboration with bassist/composer Edgar Meyer—and debuts with the Seattle and Indianapolis symphonies. Scheduled for May 2020 is a Lincoln Center recital debut on its prestigious Great Performers Series. Ms. Lark is a graduate of New England Conservatory with an Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School. She plays a ca. 1600 G.P. Maggini violin on loan from an anonymous donor through the Stradivari Society of Chicago. tessalark.com