Since meeting at the University of Southern California in 2018, Mircea Gogoncea and Marley Eder have performed dozens of concerts throughout southern California for organizations including Pasadena Showcase House, Huntington Gardens, Desert Hot Springs Classical Concerts, and programs in underserved communities throughout L.A. for the Thornton Community Engagement Program. The duo was first introduced to local audiences when they participated in the Afternoon Concert Crawl in 2020. Audiences raved about their performance so the duo was selected to be included in the 2021 series of online concerts. Now they return to Desert Hot Springs to perform on the main stage, and will be presenting Dance!, an eclectic program of dance music from all over the world including Argentina, Hungary, and Macedonia, among others.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Flutist Marley Eder leads a multifaceted career as a performer and educator in Los Angeles. He performs regularly with numerous orchestras throughout the southwest including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestra Santa Monica, Las Vegas Philharmonic, and San Luis Obispo Symphony, where he serves as principal flute. Additionally, he collaborated with the London Symphony Orchestra playing second flute under Sir Simon Rattle during their North American tour in 2022. As a result of reaching the semi-finals in the Nielsen International Flute Competition in 2019, he performed C.P.E. Bach’s Flute Concerto with members of the Odense Symphony (Denmark) on Medici TV. Eder is currently on the faculty of Santa Monica College, Glendale Community College, and Northern California Flute Camp. He is also a teaching artist for the Young Musician Foundation. He completed his Doctor of Musical Arts in flute performance at the University of Southern California where he held a position as a student instructor. He earned his previous degrees from the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas (BM) and Louisiana State University (MM) where he was a graduate teaching assistant.
www.marleyedermusic.com
Dr. Mircea Gogoncea is a Romanian-German guitarist based in Los Angeles. He has performed over 400 concerts on 5 continents. In 2018, he organized the first-ever classical guitar masterclass and workshop in Lagos, Nigeria. Fundraising for the project consisted of a 7-concert tour of India. The documentary he made about his journey inspired luthiers and performers to donate professional instruments to the young musicians in Lagos. In 2022, Gogoncea made his debut as a composer with an hour-long interactive performance consisting of music he composed for guitar, live electronics, and audience interaction. Through this innovative format, he breaks down barriers between performers and listeners, encouraging audiences to engage with music more deeply. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in guitar performance from USC Thornton in Los Angeles, in addition to 5 other university degrees. He graduated with honors from the Advanced Diploma program of the Royal Academy of Music in London and the post-master program Konzertexamen of the Robert Schumann University in Düsseldorf, Germany.
www.mircegogoncea.com