First Sunday | February 2, 2020 at 3:00PM
Centre Theater in Norristown
208 DeKalb St, Norristown, PA 19401
The Centre Theater’s Director of Music, Steve Kramer, welcomes three exceptional musicians, all three with whom he will collaborate with on stage artistically. Bassoonist, Dominic Panunto, pianist Nam Hoang Nguyen, and composer and violinist Michael Shingo Crawford perform on the First Sunday of February. Dominic and Nam will perform Michael Shingo Crawford’s Bicycle for bassoon and piano.
Admission is free, and donations are appreciated. For more information, contact the Director of Music, Steve Kramer at 610-710-6100.
Artist Biography – Dominic Panunto
Dominic Panunto is a freelance bassoonist performing in the Greater Philadelphia area. A student of William Short at Temple University, Dominic performs with the University Symphony Orchestra. He recently became a member of the York Symphony Orchestra as their contrabassoonist. He has performed with Rutgers Symphony, Drexel Symphony, Penn Symphony, PhilOperaCo, Thomas Jefferson University Choir, Swarthmore Symphony and regional orchestras such as Reading Symphony Orchestra, Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, Bay Atlantic Symphony, and Symphony in C. Dominic has played with touring groups in live shows including Lindsey Stirling, Celtic Thunder, and Evanescence. Dominic is also active in the field of contemporary music. He is a permanent member or Arcana New Music Ensemble and played in large-scale productions of works by Stockhausen and Davidovsky.

Artist Biography – Nam Hoang Nguyen
Born in Hanoi, Vietnam, Nam Hoang Nguyen studied piano at Vietnam Academy of Music before matriculating at Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance where he is presently a doctoral student in Piano Performance. His principal teachers have included Ha Thu Tran, Harvey Wedeen, and Ching-Yun Hu; he also studied collaborative piano with Lambert Orkis. Besides playing traditional piano repertoire, Nguyen enjoys playing chamber music, participating in different ensembles of various sizes, as well as studying early keyboard music. He also has interest in music research, and has lectured on Vietnamese music for piano.

Artist Biography – Michael Shingo Crawford
Michael Shingo Crawford is a composer and violinist interested in exploring narrative through his concert music, creating representational works that correspond to concepts and concrete events and objects. This often involves working with musical processes that generate material and symbolic structures. His work is inspired and informed by literature, visual art, dance, and his Japanese heritage.
Under Construction, performed by PRISM Quartet, explores the concept of a work in progress, using additive processes that generate harmonic, rhythmic, and melodic material. In a similar vein, teru teru bouzu, written for Fresh Inc. Music Festival, is a colorful reimagining of a Japanese children’s song that incorporates quotations and effects that contribute to its symbology.
Michael is pursuing a Master’s in Music Composition at Temple University. His works have been performed by the New Music Ensemble, Sound Energy Trio and Temple Composers Orchestra. He was also selected as a finalist in the Costello Competition for Harp Composition and received a commission from OWLchestra. During this time, he studied with Emiliano Pardo-Tristan, Jan Krzywicki, and Adam Vidiksis.
During his undergraduate studies at Emory University, he studied composition with Richard Prior and John Anthony Lennon and violin with Shawn Pagliarini. He presented an honors composition recital in his senior year, where his music was performed by the Vega String Quartet, Elena Cholakova, and Emory’s student and alumni musicians. He was a recipient of the Louis B. Sudler Prize in the Arts, a prestigious award presented to the graduating senior who demonstrated the highest proficiency in one or more of the performing or creative arts at Emory.
As a violinist, he served as concertmaster of the Emory University Symphony Orchestra and was the winner of the 2015-2016 Concerto and Aria Competition with his performance of the Barber Violin Concerto. Over the summers, he attended Franklin Pond Chamber Music College Festival, National Symphony Orchestra Summer Music Institute, and Eastern Music Festival, where he was assistant concertmaster.

Photo with Jennifer Higdon and Steve Kramer from the Independence String Ensemble Fundraiser Concert for CHOP at the Philadelphia Ethical Society. (December 15, 2019)