SONOS

PARIS: THE CRAZY YEARS

“The SONOS trio are fearless musicians who delivered an exquisite performance that kept our audience engaged throughout. Their music is a wonderful collaboration spanning cultures and times.  Rachel’s overwhelming knowledge of her subject matter and the balance of history and their incredible musical talent creates magical partnership that your audience will never want to end!”
~Janet Hendricks, former Director of Education, Programs and Design, Academy Art Museum

“The SONOS trio provides an intimate listening experience that is almost magical. The blend of jazz, classical, and folk music spans continents, cultures, and time in a truly unique way.”
~Michael Kurtz, President Emeritus, Friends of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra.

SONOS is Chamber Music with a Twist. Led by acclaimed pianist Rachel Franklin and featuring the consummate talents of violinist Christian Tremblay and fretless bass player Jonathan Miles Brown, their programs explore the cross-pollination between different musical art forms, with compelling stories of how these musical cultures intersect. Blurring the edges between timeless chamber works and jazz improvisation, SONOS have performed widely throughout the mid-Atlantic area, delighting audiences with their imaginative storytelling, unique instrumental sounds, and fiery virtuosity.

Paris: The Crazy Years is classic SONOS, a fascinating, immersive tribute to America’s momentous 1917 entry into the First World War, and the extraordinary period in Paris that followed, known as the Crazy Years – les Années Folles. Our journey through the City of Light glitters with music by Debussy, Gershwin, Ravel, Thelonious Monk, Cole Porter and more.

PARIS: THE CRAZY YEARS

Claude Debussy (1864-1918):
L’Isle Joyeuse
Rachel Franklin

George Gershwin (1898-1937):
I Got Rhythm, medley
(arr. Jonathan Miles Brown)
Christian Tremblay, Jonathan Miles Brown, Rachel Franklin

James P. Johnson (1894-1955):
Old Fashioned Love
Rachel Franklin, Jonathan Miles Brown

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937):
Sonate pour violon & piano
Allegretto
Blues – moderato
Perpetuum mobile – allegro
Christian Tremblay, Rachel Franklin

Intermission

Erik Satie (1866-1925):
First Gnossienne
Jonathan Miles Brown, Rachel Franklin

Thelonious Monk (1917-1982):
Misterioso
Rachel Franklin, Jonathan Miles Brown

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971):
from Suite Italienne
Introduzione
Serenata
Tarantella
Christian Tremblay, Rachel Franklin

Cole Porter (1891-1964):
You Do Something To Me
Rachel Franklin, Jonathan Miles Brown

Eleanor Daley (1955-):
In Flanders Fields
Text: John McCrae
 (arr. Jonathan Miles Brown)
Jonathan Miles Brown

George Gershwin
An American in Paris
 (arr. SONOS)
Christian Tremblay, Rachel Franklin, Jonathan Miles Brown

Rachel Franklin

British-born concert pianist Dr. Rachel Franklin is a renowned performer and music lecturer. As a Pro Musicis International Award winner, she gave her solo debuts in Carnegie Recital Hall, New York, and Jordan Hall, Boston. The Boston Globe enthused about her “beautiful differentiations of color, touch and texture” and described a performance on her solo debut CD as “not inferior…to the recorded performances by Cortot and Rubinstein.” She has also given European Pro Musicis solo debuts in Paris and Rome. At the Wigmore Hall, London, critics applauded her “stunning individuality,” and “amazing power and solidity of technique.” The Washington Post has praised her “cool-headed bravura and panache” and the Baltimore Sun lauded the “warmth and electricity in her playing.” Recent successes include concertos with the Columbia Orchestra, the Arlington Philharmonic, the Amadeus Orchestra, the Washington Sinfonietta, the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Piedmont Symphony and others. She is also doubly talented as an accomplished jazz pianist, and has led her classical/jazz chamber ensemble SONOS for over a decade.

Deeply committed to musical outreach and education, Rachel has a busy dual career as a popular music speaker, and since 2020 she has been greatly in demand for her unique online presentations. She is one of the Smithsonian Associates’ most popular live-streaming lecturers, and her topics explore intersections between classical and jazz music, film scores, and the fine arts. She is the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s Strathmore Music Scholar in Residence and gives all the BSO’s pre-concert presentations at their Bethesda, MD venue, Strathmore Hall, as part of their “Inside the Classics” series. In 2023 she was one of the featured speakers at the Aspen Ideas: Health Conference in Colorado, presenting and performing on the subject of Music and the Natural World, a topic about which she was interviewed by WHYY’s Maiken Scott for The Pulse. For the past two New Years she has given the Plenary Lunchtime Performance for the prestigious Renaissance Weekend conference in Charleston, SC, and in May 2024 she presented a unique show on 90 years of film music Oscars for the Avalon Theatre Chevy Chase’s annual gala

Her wide range of musical expertise has brought her back repeatedly to enthusiastic audiences across the region, including the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Easton Academy Art Museum, the Chesapeake Film Festival and many others.

Christian Tremblay

Dr. Christian Tremblay enjoys a diverse, exciting career as performer and pedagogue. Most recently he performed in multiple concerts and coached chamber music as string faculty for the prestigious Heifetz International Music Institute. He is Director of the Performance Academy for Strings, and Chair of the String Department at the Peabody Preparatory of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He is also violin and chamber music faculty at Peabody Conservatory.

Christian Tremblay holds a Diplôme D’Études Supérieures II from the Conservatoire de Musique de Québec where he studied with Liliane Garnier-Le Sage. He also earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Peabody Conservatory studying with violinist Martin Beaver. Christian Tremblay has been heard in cities throughout Canada and the United States as a recitalist and chamber musician. He is a member of the SONOS classical/jazz trio with pianist Rachel Franklin and bassist Jonathan Miles Brown, and is Principal Second violin with the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, performing regularly with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and National Philharmonic.

Jonathan Miles Brown 

Dr. Jonathan Brown started his musical career as a chorister in the choir of Truro Cathedral, UK where in addition to singing at services and concerts he gave several solo recitals around the South West of the UK. At university he took up the electric bass, imparting his “singing” to the instrument.  Subsequently he performed with a wide range of jazz artists in formats including UK and European jazz festivals, BBC broadcasts, and venues such as the National Theatre, London and Ronnie Scott’s jazz club. These days, when he’s not running various biotechnology projects, he can be found playing in jazz venues in the DC area. He has been a frequent performer at the annual Maryland Summer Jazz festival and is a regular member of the “workshops” run by Annapolis based sax star Jeff Antoniuk.

Jonathan’s instrument is a Jazz Bass, originally hand built by Leo Fender, which he has ultra-customized by removing the frets, re-siting the bridge and adding numerous self-designed features and circuits.  The result is a wide sonic spectrum, from woody warmth to metallic brilliance, with glittering harmonics and large dynamic range.  Commented the Baltimore Sun: “The warm sound Brown produces is like no other I’ve heard.”

Contact SONOS at rff@rachelfranklin.com