Freeport, Bahamas - The Grand Bahama Performing Arts Society (GBPAS) will open the new year with a Chamber Music Concert featuring four artists on Saturday, January 21st, at 8pm at the Grand Bahama Yacht Club on Midshipman Drive.

In addition to this concert, the quartet will be visiting 3 schools to perform for the students and talk about the music and instruments (other schools will be bused to those locations as well).

Three of the artists performed in Grand Bahama in January 2010 for the "Winter Music Festival with Trio Collage". Pianist Tannis Gibson, violinist Janna Lower and cellist Mark Tanner return and will be joined by  flautist Judith Pierce. The Trio Collage was extremely well received as accolades poured in after last year's show!  “A wonderful week-end of enthralling music,” said GBPAS supporter, Barbara Chester. “Passionate,” commented Bahamian author, Marina Sarles. Grand Bahama resident Caroline Sayers said, “Truly Fantastic!”.

Judith Pearce

Tannis Gibson

Pianist Tannis Gibson’s performances have been described as “luminous” ( The Boston Globe) and “thoroughly captivating.” ( The Washington Post) Her artistry has been praised for its “brilliance, energy and personality” ( Tucson Citizen) and a recent review from Fanfare Magazine commended Gibson for her “stunning performance and powerhouse pianism.”

Ms. Gibson has been heard in concert halls throughout North America, Europe, South America and Asia. Venues include Weill Recital Hall (Carnegie), the Kennedy Center, Merkin Hall, Corocoran Gallery, National Gallery of Art and the Gardner Museum in Boston. Her festival performances include among others, the Bath Festival in England, the ppAINISSIMO festival in Sofia, Bulgaria, Chile’s Jornados Musicales de Invierno and New York’s Bang-on-a-Can and Weekend of Chamber Music Festivals. She has collaborated with many fine artists, as well as ensembles such as the Shanghai, Muir, American, Lark, Audubon and Calder String Quartets. This past winter she toured major cities throughout China as concerto soloist with the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Gibson has recorded for CRI, ASV (London), Naxos, JRI, The Classics Label and Summit Records.  This year, her CD Song of the Birds with cellist, Nancy Green, was chosen as “CD of the Fortnight” by Classical Music magazine in London. The Monticello Trio’s CD of Nicholas Maw’s Piano Trio, with Gibson as pianist, was nominated for a Gramophone Award in London and selected as “Editor’s Choice” for Gramophone Magazine. Ms. Gibson has been featured in live performance on WGBH Boston and WQXR New York. She has been heard on NPR’s “Performance Today” on numerous occasions and has also appeared on the Today Show (NBC).

Tannis Gibson hols a B.M. from the University of Regina in Canada and a M.M. from the Juilliard School where she was a scholarship student of Sascha Gorodnitzki and Herbert Stessin.

Currently, Ms. Gibson resides in Tucson where she is Associate Professor of Music and Keyboard Area Coordinator at the University of Arizona. She also holds the position of Distinguished Visiting Artist at Asuza Pacific University in Los Angeles. Ms. Gibson is an award-winning teacher and her students have received prizes in international, regional and local competitions. Several now hold faculty positions in institutions throughout the United States.

Mark Tanner

Mark Tanner: Hailed by the Los Angeles Times as a "commanding" cellist, Mark Tanner has led an active musical life, spanning four continents and nearly four decades.  
 
He began his cello studies at the age of eight with Joel Krosnick; a year later, he was accepted by Aldo Parisot, and remained with him for the next 15 years, receiving both Bachelor of Arts cum laude and Master of Music degrees from Yale University.  
 
A regular soloist with orchestras from coast to coast, Mr. Tanner performs extensively as a chamber musician. He has performed in the prestigious Marlboro Festival and has been a guest artist with the Wall Street Chamber Players, the Coyote Consort, and the 20th Century Unlimited in Santa Fe. Recently he appeared with conductor Raymond Leppard and the Grand Rapids Symphony.  
 
Mr. Tanner’s travels take him repeatedly to South America, where he has presented many series of concerts and master classes in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, as well as throughout Chile. He has also presented numerous recitals and master classes in Seoul and Suwon, South Korea, including at the Seoul National University.  
 
Currently principal cellist of the New West Symphony, Mr. Tanner has also participated in numerous music festivals ranging from Colorado to St. Bart's, and currently performs each summer in Los Angeles, Canada, Cape Cod and Kansas, where he has been principal cellist, featured soloist, and chamber music coach of the Sunflower Music Festival for the past twenty seasons. 

Janna Lower

Janna Lower is a professor of violin and head of the strings area at the University of Florida.  Preceding her appointment there, she was artist teacher of  violin at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.  

Dr. Lower performs throughout Europe and North and South America.  She enjoys a broad and diverse career, appearing frequently as recitalist, chamber musician, concerto soloist, as well as concertmaster and principal 2nd of orchestras and festivals.  She has performed extensively throughout Chile. 
    
In a continuing effort to broaden her musical experience, Dr. Lower auditioned for and won a one-year appointment as concertmaster of the Charlotte (NC) Symphony Orchestra for the 2002-03 season .She led the orchestra in 68 performances as well as appeared as concerto soloist four times in their Mostly Mozart Series.  
    
She currently serves as assistant artistic director of the Buzzard's Bay Festival, organizing the chamber music concerts of this highly regarded festival in Marion (MA), which will celebrate its 14th anniversary in 2010.
 
With her long-time duo partner Alan Smith, she performs recitals at institutions around the country.  Additionally, she has presented master classes at such institutions as the University of Southern California, Penn State University, Duquesne University, and University of South Florida, as well as in Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Canada.
 
When she was fifteen she was accepted to the Juilliard Pre-College Division, and went on to receive both bachelor's and master's degrees from the Juilliard School, under the tutelage of Joseph Fuchs.  For four consecutive summers she was a performer for the International Master classes of Nathan Milstein in Zurich.  After a 2-year residency at the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada, touring across the country, she completed her education at the University of Michigan, where she received the Doctorate of Musical Arts, studying with Camilla Wicks.
 
Her recorded works include the Lou Harrison Violin Concerto on New World Records, as well as chamber works on Opus One and Capstone Records.