Dave Eggar

Biography

Dave Eggar—Surel’s Place’s artist-in-residence for August 2016—was a musical prodigy
as a child, performing on Broadway and at The Metropolitan Opera by age 7. Having trained as a classical cellist at The Julliard School and Harvard University, Eggar has gone on to perform across the globe, including concerto appearances at Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall, London’s Barbican Center, the Paris Opera, and the Hollywood Bowl. Eggar has performed and recorded with many artists across musical genres including Coldplay, Beyoncé, Ornette Coleman, Amy Winehouse, Taylor Swift, and Pete Seeger.

During his residency, Eggar worked on two distinct projects aimed at engaging young students of cello. Both projects acted as educational resources, incorporating contemporary music, rather than focusing on repertoire from other centuries, which often feels antiquated or irrelevant to today’s youth. First, Eggar created a 20-minute work for electric cello, incorporating orchestra and electronics. Second, he created a technique book for contemporary cello covering everything from chords and scales to strumming the cello like a guitar. Along the same lines, he also hosted a workshop titled “Creativity, Improvisation, and the Music Industry.” This was an innovative interactive workshop about using the tools of jazz improvisation, contemporary classical music, and songwriting to find the voice within and develop participants’ own unique sound and story.

Finally, he also held a performance called “CHAMBER DANCES: Cellist Dave Eggar with Special Guests LED.” Featuring an all-star lineup, Chamber Dances was a collaboration between visiting artist Dave Eggar and Boise’s own LED dancers, Lauren Edson and Brett Perry. Accompanied by Portland’s Heather Mastel-Lipson on violin and Mario Diaz on classical guitar, Eggar performed chamber works by Bach, Villa-Lobos, Kodaly, Ravel, Gershwin, and Faure. Lauren Edson choreographed a dance that she and Perry performed alongside Eggar’s trio.

ABOUT THE CHAMBER DANCES ARTISTS

LAUREN EDSON is co-founder and choreographer for Boise-based dance company LED. Edson began her studies at Ballet Idaho and continued her formal training at the North Carolina School of the Arts and The Juilliard School. She has danced with Trey McIntyre Project, BodyVox, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and Idaho Dance Theatre. As a choreographer, she has won numerous fellowships and awards and has been commissioned by companies and Universities throughout the nation.

BRETT PERRY graduated from The Juilliard School in 2008 and began his professional career with Trey McIntyre Project in Boise, Idaho where he spent six years with the company. Perry has since worked with Aszure Barton and Artists, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, Adam Weinert, Ballet BC, and Lauren Edson. He is a recipient of the prestigious Princess Grace Award for Dance 2010. After spending 2016 dancing with Ballet BC for their 30th Anniversary season, Perry has returned to Boise to dance full-time with LED.

MARIO SANTIAGO DIAZ is a classical guitarist and vocalist whose distinctive style blends Latin, classical, jazz, pop, and flamenco. A native of Oregon and of Peruvian descent, Diaz has performed across the USA and Latin America as both a soloist and chamber musician. A graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Mario currently serves on the faculty of Portland State University and Portland Community College.

HEATHER MASTEL-LIPSON is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music (BM) and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (MM), Mastel-Lipson has performed as a soloist with orchestra, as a chamber musician and as an orchestral player. Mastel-Lipson is a regular member of the Portland Opera Orchestra, Oregon Ballet Theatre Orchestra, and associate concertmaster of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. As an orchestral player, Mastel-Lipson has performed as concertmaster of Eastman Philharmonia and the San Francisco Conservatory Orchestra as well as the Brainerd Chamber Orchestra and Minnesota All-State Orchestra.

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