SEGUE BIOGRAPHY 
SEGUE founding member and violinist Sarah E Geller brings to the   ensemble her own personal, defining sound that probes the depths of a composer's colors and message to form multiple layers of communication with each audience member. SEGUE features various combinations of award-winning artists, musicians and dancers who have performed in a variety of prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, Steinway Hall and Merkin Concert Hall.

SEGUE not only premieres new works and mines hidden gems of mainstream composers and alternative genres; the ensemble also unlocks the music of the great masters. With their nod to the future and tribute to the past, SEGUE’s performances move beyond the mere dictation of ideas to facilitate the sharing of nuances between performer and audience.

Whether SEGUE appears in alternative performance spaces or in the traditional concert hall, the integrity of their often daring interpretations always adheres to the composer’s vision and the influences of the time. The contrast between their hushed and gently poetic phrases and their dynamic intensity both calms and exhilarates the listener. SEGUE’s audiences are diverse, and members often comment that the performances are “soulful” and “bring tears to my eyes.”

SEGUE INDIVIDUAL BIOGRAPHIES
EVA CONTI ALEGRIA brings a lifetime of music performance and study to her dance. Since graduating from the Manhattan School of Music, she has been performing extensively as a professional classical musician on both French horn and guitar. As a flamenco dancer, she has studied with Jose Molina, Omayra Amaya, La Meira, Elena Andujar, Laura Manzella, Inmaculada Ortega and Julia Chacon. This past July she participated at the Maria Benitez Institute for Spanish Dance workshop and performance in Santa Fe and in 2008 at the National Institute of Flamenco Festival workshop in Albuquerque. Since 2004 she has been a featured dancer and musical arranger with the Alborada Spanish Dance Theatre in the New York and New Jersey Metropolitan area.

With a degree in classical guitar from the University of Rhode Island, Eva has studied with Vincent Fraioli, Rey de la Torre and Sharon Isbin. She has studied flamenco guitar with Rogelio Moreno and Carlos Lomas, and has transcribed several flamenco guitar pieces for Mr. Lomas. Eva has been featured as guest artist and lecturer in flamenco at Fairleigh Dickinson University and in many high schools throughout Northern New Jersey.

Eva is currently principal French horn with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and is in the orchestra of “Billy Elliot” on Broadway. She has held the position of principal horn with the New Israeli Opera, Israel Camerata and the Haifa Symphony. She has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, New Jersey Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, The Radio City Orchestra, the New York City Opera touring Company, Aspen Quintet, and in numerous Broadway shows. She has toured the US, Canada and Europe as a member of the Barbra Streisand Orchestra and is on the recently released CD and DVD of the 2006 US tour. Eva teaches horn privately and serves on the faculty at Drew University.

Clssical and flamenco guitarist JARED NEWMAN has performed with Flamenco Latino and Andrea del Conte Danza España at Lincoln Center Out of Doors, the Atlantic Theatre and Thalia Spanish Theatre and as composer and guitarist for The Phantom Lady by Calderón de la Barca at the Soho Repertory Theatre in NYC. Additionally, Jared participated in the Music in the Mountains Festival in Granada, Spain, where he was filmed by the BBC in a solo recital and included in the “BBC Holiday” television series.

In 2002 Jared and dancer/choreographer Deirdre Towers began developing “Exploraciones…,” a music and dance ensemble presenting Spanish classical, renaissance and flamenco side by side. They have performed at Symphony Space and the Poet’s Theatre in New York City and have been featured every summer since 2006 in the Diamond Dance Festival in Woodstock.

In addition to being an active performer, Jared is an active teacher and music editor and arranger. As a teaching artist in New York City Center’s Arts in Education program, he composed and performed an African/flamenco fusion piece, Rumba Verde, with dancers from the R.R. Green High School. He has served on the faculty of the American Institute of Guitar in New York City and been an instructor and Ulster County (NY) Co-chair for MusicLink™, a national organization providing low and no-fee private music instruction to deserving children. Jared co-founded American International Guitar Publications in 1990, editing Dennis Koster’s acclaimed Keys to Flamenco Guitar series. Also, Bold Strummer Ltd. published Jared’s arrangements, New Anthology of Falsetas for Flamenco Guitar.

Jared holds a BA in Music from the University of California, Berkeley, studying guitar with the Cuban maestro Rey de la Torre, and an MM in Performance from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, working with Jerry Willard. He has also studied with Alice Artzt.

SEGUE CONCERT HISTORY
Garden Intermezzo - NYU's Casa italiana Zerilli-Marimò(NYC) – August 2009
Classical Candy Series – Pete’s Candy Store (NYC) – June 2009
Donnell @ LPA – Bruno Walter Auditorium (NYC) – April 2009
Ramapo College York Room Salon Series (NJ) – March 2008
YM-YWHA of Washington Heights & Inwood (NYC) – March 2008
Heritage Hills Concert Series (NY) – 2007, 2006
Chappaqua Library Auditorium (NY) – 2006, 2005

 
SEGUE SUGGESTED PROGRAMS
Ritmo, Color y Pasión II
With the flashes of colorful flamenco skirts, the plaintive plucking of the guitar, and the warmth of the violin’s voice, this series of programs is deeply rooted in Spain’s time-honored flamenco dance. The repertoire explores the tragically romantic soleá, the passionate tientos and the fiery tango, as well as soulful songs and instrumental dances of de Falla, Granados and Albéniz. (Can be combined with Ritmo, Color y Pasión I. Please refer to suggested solo programs.)

VIOLIN-GUITAR-DANCE
Guajiras
Soleá
Seguiryas
Sevillanas
Tientos/Tango

VIOLIN-GUITAR
Concert Music
Albéniz – Suite
I. Zambra Granadina
II. Tango in D
III. Córdoba (with castanets)
Manuel de Falla – Siete Canciones Populares
Españolas Granados – Danzas Españolas
I. Villanesca (No. 4)
II. Andaluza (No. 5)
III. Danse triste (No. 10)

Dance Music
Flamenco Suite
I. Alegrías
II. Farruca
III. Bulerías
Zambra and Rumba

SOLOS
Guitar
Manuel de Falla – Homenaje
Federico Mompou – Preludio y Canción
Joaquín Turina – Fandanguillo

Violin-Piano
Manuel de Falla – El Amor Brujo
Sarasate – Selections
Granados – Danzas Españolas
Joaquín Nin – Seguida Española