Defying the preconception of the cello and violin as purely classical instruments, cellist Ben Snellings and violinist/violist Gloria Justen present a duo concert exploring a colorful palette of musical styles ranging from French Romanticism and Impressionism to jazz and 21st Century originals. In this program of short pieces, the duo highlights the wide spectrum of sonorities that can be made with a bow on a string or with plucking, making sounds from sweet and singing to dramatic and noisy. Snellings and Justen also show that the cello and violin can be instruments of groove, as they bring improvisation, playfulness, and toe-tapping dance rhythms into the mix. Some composers featured on this concert in arrangements by Snellings will be Gabriel Fauré, Maurice Ravel, Paul McCartney, Paul Desmond, Dave Brubeck, and Antônio Carlos Jobim.
Both performers will also play original pieces of their own as solos and as a duo. Come and enjoy the sounds of strings as Ben and Gloria take you on a sonic magic carpet ride from Paris to San Francisco!
Featured Musicians:
Ben Snellings, cello
Gloria Justen, violin
Thursday, July 24 at 7pm
CMC Concert Hall
FREE (RSVP here)
About the Shenson Faculty Concert Series
The Shenson Faculty Concert Series returns this summer with free concerts spotlighting CMC’s talented faculty members. Each year, the Shenson Foundation sponsors free community concerts for musical projects to support CMC faculty as performing artists and ensure their work on stage is shared and celebrated in our community.
This year’s presenters will highlight a wide variety of musical styles, techniques, and creative inspirations, including original compositions, new arrangements of beloved classics, and traditions from around the globe—using music as a tool for cultural reflection, personal connection, and artistic experimentation.
Meet this summer’s talented faculty performers:
- July 10 – Larry Dunn, guitar
- July 24 – Ben Snellings, cello
- August 7 – Tregar Otton, violin
- August 14 – Juan Carlos Entrembasaguas, saxophone
About the Performers:
Ben Snellings has been performing and teaching in the San Francisco Bay Area for more than 25 years. His performing experience spans such musically diverse contexts as symphony orchestras, musical theater, television, chamber music ensembles and jazz combos. Ben’s credits include tenured positions in numerous regional orchestras of the San Francisco Bay Area, performances at the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, a European tour of “West Side Story”, performances with Different Strokes (a jazz strings duo), the Armadillo String Quartet on Princess Cruise Lines, the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra as well as musical engagements for private and corporate events.
He was also the Music Director of “Funky Fitness,” a TV show produced in San Francisco. Ben’s teaching experience includes positions as Instrumental Music Director, Artist in Residence, Strings Teaching Specialist, Chamber Music Coach, Cello Sectional Coach and Cello Instructor for numerous school districts, private schools, youth orchestras and community music schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the University of Arizona.
Gloria Justen is a versatile composer, violinist and violist known for dynamic, emotionally-charged performances. She was a student of Fredell Lack as a teenager in Houston, Texas; then she attended the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia (BM 1990) where she studied violin with Szymon Goldberg and David Cerone and viola with Karen Tuttle. Gloria has performed and toured internationally with The Philadelphia Orchestra, The San Francisco Symphony, and the Philip Glass Ensemble, and she played many works by other contemporary composers. She served as Concertmaster of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia from 2006-2011. She has also collaborated with modern dancers, video artists and electronic musicians.
Gloria has released two albums of original music, and her compositions, drawing upon influences from Bach to contemporary electronic music, have been performed by soloists, small ensembles and chamber orchestras in the United States and Europe. A resident of San Francisco since late 2007, she currently works as an independent performer, composer, recording artist, publisher of her own scores, and teacher.