The Ballet Of Phantoms

Solo Piano Compositions by Dana Carlile Performed by Pianist Susan DeWitt Smith

For the story of Dana's grandfather Ferdinand Sorenson and his sons Hubert, Richard, Mayo and Quinten (Pete) Sorenson click on the link to Preludes for Silence and Darkness to your left.

SUSAN DeWITT SMITH'S MUSICAL BIOGRAPHY

Pianist Susan DeWitt Smith earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth College and her Master of Music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Nelita True. Her many musical accolades include a second prize in the Young Keyboard Artists' International Competition, semi-finalist standing at the International Stravinsky Awards Competition, several performance awards from Dartmouth College and a performer's certificate and teaching award from Eastman.

Smith has performed throughout the United States and New Zealand. An avid chamber musician, she has played at the Hot Springs Music Festival, the Grand Teton Music Festival, the Nelson Music Festival and the Olympic Music Festival. Her professional recordings include several works for Radio New Zealand. She has recorded for the Manu label and appears on a disc of works by New Zealand composers. KOCH International Classics recordings include Bloch's Concerto Grosso No. 1 with the San Diego Chamber Orchestra, three recordings with flutist Alexa Still and a recording of works by Roy Harris with the Third Angle New Music Ensemble.

Smith has appeared as a soloist with the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Chamber Orchestra, Palomar Symphony, San Diego Symphony and Oregon Symphony. She is a member of the Oregon-based Third Angle New Music Ensemble and lives in Portland, where she teaches at Reed College and Marylhurst University. She maintains an active performing schedule. This is the second CD Susan has recorded for Dana. She recorded Preludes for Silence and Darkness for Dana in 2003.

A BIT ABOUT DANA

Composer Dana Carlile is an amateur pianist who had several years of piano instruction as a child from his mother Dorothy. He took up the piano again on his own after hearing Istvan Nadas play the complete keyboard works of J. S. Bach at Reed College in 1979. The Ballet of Phantoms is a selection from the 80 pieces in his collections Songs Without Words Book One and Two.

Audio Editing, Mastering and Graphic Layout (including misspelling) by Dana Carlile

Cover photo is Stefano Mascagno with a student at the Christensen Dance Studio in Portland, Oregon. Mascagno was brought from Italy by Mose Christensen to teach ballet at his studio. There is more below about Mose below.

The CD is dedicated to Dana's uncle Richard Sorenson

Many thanks to The Multnomah County Library Portland, Oregon

Mose Christensen (1871-1920)

Mose Christensen, a founder and conductor of the Portland Symphony Orchestra was born on February 12th 1871 in Salt Lake City, Utah. His father Lars Christensen (1825-1908) had emigrated from Denmark in the early 1850s to Utah as part of the First Mormon migration. Mose' mother, Elsa Bjerregaard (1839-1911) was Lars Christensen's second wife in a plural marriage.

Mose began his musical training with his father Lars who played the violin and his mother Elsa who played piano. His brothers Chris, Frederic and Lars Peter were part of the Christensen Orchestra that traveled around northern Utah playing for dances and social functions. The Christensen bothers relocated from Brigham City to Ogden, Utah in 1890 and became partners in a dance hall to advance their music careers. In 1893 the Christensen bothers moved to Salt Lake City where they played for social dances and were part of the group of musicians that accompanied the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to the Chicago World's Fair in 1893.

After Mose married Carrier Nichols in 1898 he went to the East Coast to study with the German violinist Henry Schradieck. On returning to the West he settled in Boise, Idaho in 1901. During his early years in Boise he traveled to Boston, Massachusetts to study dancing at the M. B. Gilbert School. In Boise, Mose was a partner in the Riverside Pavilion ballroom where he carried on with the social dancing business. Besides playing in his dance orchestra he also played in string quartets and was the conductor of the Boise Philharmonic in 1908.

In about 1909 Mose and his family left Boise. Settling in Portland, Oregon Mose once again opened a dance hall and in 1910 joined the American National Association, Masters of Dancing in New York City. He was elected president of the organization in 1916. In order to develop a professional approach to dance at his studio Mose brought Stefano Mascagno from Italy to Portland to teach ballet.

In 1911 Mose gathered with a number of his musician friends at his dance hall to form the Portland Symphony Orchestra on a permanent basis. Up until then symphony concerts were only intermittent affairs and years would sometime pass with no concerts at all. Mose was the first president of the symphony, played viola and was one of the conductors on a rotating basis. Mose stopped conducting in 1918 when Carl Denton become the permanent conductor. Mose died two years latter in October in 1920 at 49.

The Christensen Brothers, An American dance epic Debra Sowells, author Nearly 70 Years of Orchestral Music Frederick Goodrich, author
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