Melinda Coffey, pianist
"Exquisite pianism devoted entirely to the music itself"
-Denis Matthews
Reviews:
CD Favorites from the David Gordon website: www.spiritsound.com
"A spectacular recording of meditative classical piano music - Debussy, Schumann, Chopin and Brahms, and the premiere recording of three pieces by American composer William Zeitler. A rich and spacious listening experience. One of my top favorites. Very highly recommended."
"Local piano virtuoso, Melinda Coffey, has just released an enchanting and sumptously relaxing CD of classical melodies called "Season of Dreams". Beautifully played selections by Debussy,Chopin, Schumann and Brahms inspire dreamy reveries in the listener. Coffey also includes three sweet and soothing works of composer William Zeitler." Monterey County Herald, Sept.17, 1998
"Pianist Melinda Coffey has released a gorgeous new CD, "Season of Dreams", containing lullabies and other introspective works by Debussy, Chopin, Schumann and Brahms... Coffey's playing is superbly suited to this program." Coast Weekly, Sept. 10, 1998
Melinda took up piano at age nine in her hometown, Healdsburg, California, because ballet school was too expensive and too far away. She fell into the hands of an exceptional piano teacher, Alla
Dakserhof, from the pre-revolutionary St. Petersburg Conservatoire, who guided her for nine years, up until she entered the University of California at Santa Barbara, where Mrs. Dakserhof had already chosen a teacher for her.
College degrees (bachelor’s at UCSB, summer study in Switzerland, and M.A at the University of British Columbia) followed, pro forma finishing touches on the exceptional foundation laid by Mrs. Dakserhof. On graduation from UBC she won first prize in the National Competitive Music Festival in Toronto and settled into her Canadian orbit: eighteen years of concertizing, recording
(60 recitals for the CBC, television, CDs for Meridian Records of London and Waterlily Records,Toronto), touring (from the Northwest Territories to Montreal, England, France, Israel and the U.S.), and teaching (Vancouver Academy of Music, Vancouver Community College and private
studio) in Vancouver, Canada. This stimulated and refined her professional life, but left her unable to remember what the sun looked like.
Fate stepped in, bringing her to Carmel to play with the Carmel Bach Festival for the first time in 1988, when any resistance to the charms of California melted like sand castles at high tide. Since coming “home†in 1991 she has performed with the Marin Opera Orchestra(soloist, “Rhapsody
in Blueâ€); Friends of Music at St. John’s, Ross; Russian River Chamber Music, Healdsburg; Anchor Chamber Players of San Francisco; The Colburn School at USC; Music at All Saints, Beverly Hills; Bargemusic, New York City; City University of New Jersey Orchestra, Carmel Bach Festival, Mozart Society of California, and Ensemble Monterey. Since 1995 she has been Music Director at the Church in the Forest in Pebble Beach, enabling her to engage and perform
with outstanding professional musicians. She also teaches piano privately. She is a natural teacher. Claims she can’t help it, that wisdom simply oozes out of her. Like when you put too much batter in the waffle iron.
She has recorded and produced three solo piano CDs:“Season of Dreamsâ€, “Beyond Words†and “Christmas Reflectionsâ€. (If you talk to somebody who claims not to have any of them in the trunk of her car for sale, then you are not talking to her.)
You know that feeling when you dream you’ve awakened and gotten up and had breakfast and are walking out the front door, and then you really wake up and have to do it all over again?
She’s like that all the time.
Track List:
1. Lullaby by William Zeitler
2. Phantasy by Zeitler
3. If Only I Could Kiss It and Make It Better; by Zeitler
4. Clair de lune by Debussy
5. Reverie by Debussy
6. La fille aux cheveux de lin by Debussy
7. Nocturne in D flat op. 27 no. 2 by Chopin
8. Berceuse op. 57 by Chopin
9. From foreign lands by Schumann
10. Traumerei (Dreaming) by Schumann
11. Evening op. 12 no. 1 by Schumann
12. Intermezzo in A op. 118 no. 2 by Brahms
13. Waltz in A flat op. 39 no. 15 by Brahms
14. Cradle Song op. 49 no. 5 by Brahms
Other Genres:
"Exquisite pianism devoted entirely to the music itself"
-Denis Matthews
Reviews:
CD Favorites from the David Gordon website: www.spiritsound.com
"A spectacular recording of meditative classical piano music - Debussy, Schumann, Chopin and Brahms, and the premiere recording of three pieces by American composer William Zeitler. A rich and spacious listening experience. One of my top favorites. Very highly recommended."
"Local piano virtuoso, Melinda Coffey, has just released an enchanting and sumptously relaxing CD of classical melodies called "Season of Dreams". Beautifully played selections by Debussy,Chopin, Schumann and Brahms inspire dreamy reveries in the listener. Coffey also includes three sweet and soothing works of composer William Zeitler." Monterey County Herald, Sept.17, 1998
"Pianist Melinda Coffey has released a gorgeous new CD, "Season of Dreams", containing lullabies and other introspective works by Debussy, Chopin, Schumann and Brahms... Coffey's playing is superbly suited to this program." Coast Weekly, Sept. 10, 1998
Melinda took up piano at age nine in her hometown, Healdsburg, California, because ballet school was too expensive and too far away. She fell into the hands of an exceptional piano teacher, Alla
Dakserhof, from the pre-revolutionary St. Petersburg Conservatoire, who guided her for nine years, up until she entered the University of California at Santa Barbara, where Mrs. Dakserhof had already chosen a teacher for her.
College degrees (bachelor’s at UCSB, summer study in Switzerland, and M.A at the University of British Columbia) followed, pro forma finishing touches on the exceptional foundation laid by Mrs. Dakserhof. On graduation from UBC she won first prize in the National Competitive Music Festival in Toronto and settled into her Canadian orbit: eighteen years of concertizing, recording
(60 recitals for the CBC, television, CDs for Meridian Records of London and Waterlily Records,Toronto), touring (from the Northwest Territories to Montreal, England, France, Israel and the U.S.), and teaching (Vancouver Academy of Music, Vancouver Community College and private
studio) in Vancouver, Canada. This stimulated and refined her professional life, but left her unable to remember what the sun looked like.
Fate stepped in, bringing her to Carmel to play with the Carmel Bach Festival for the first time in 1988, when any resistance to the charms of California melted like sand castles at high tide. Since coming “home†in 1991 she has performed with the Marin Opera Orchestra(soloist, “Rhapsody
in Blueâ€); Friends of Music at St. John’s, Ross; Russian River Chamber Music, Healdsburg; Anchor Chamber Players of San Francisco; The Colburn School at USC; Music at All Saints, Beverly Hills; Bargemusic, New York City; City University of New Jersey Orchestra, Carmel Bach Festival, Mozart Society of California, and Ensemble Monterey. Since 1995 she has been Music Director at the Church in the Forest in Pebble Beach, enabling her to engage and perform
with outstanding professional musicians. She also teaches piano privately. She is a natural teacher. Claims she can’t help it, that wisdom simply oozes out of her. Like when you put too much batter in the waffle iron.
She has recorded and produced three solo piano CDs:“Season of Dreamsâ€, “Beyond Words†and “Christmas Reflectionsâ€. (If you talk to somebody who claims not to have any of them in the trunk of her car for sale, then you are not talking to her.)
You know that feeling when you dream you’ve awakened and gotten up and had breakfast and are walking out the front door, and then you really wake up and have to do it all over again?
She’s like that all the time.
Track List:
1. Lullaby by William Zeitler
2. Phantasy by Zeitler
3. If Only I Could Kiss It and Make It Better; by Zeitler
4. Clair de lune by Debussy
5. Reverie by Debussy
6. La fille aux cheveux de lin by Debussy
7. Nocturne in D flat op. 27 no. 2 by Chopin
8. Berceuse op. 57 by Chopin
9. From foreign lands by Schumann
10. Traumerei (Dreaming) by Schumann
11. Evening op. 12 no. 1 by Schumann
12. Intermezzo in A op. 118 no. 2 by Brahms
13. Waltz in A flat op. 39 no. 15 by Brahms
14. Cradle Song op. 49 no. 5 by Brahms
Other Genres:
- CLASSICAL: Traditional
- KIDS/FAMILY: Lullabies
- MOOD: DREAMY