James H. Rogers, music for violin and piano

James Hotchkiss Rogers 1857-1940 Rogers was best known in his lifetime as a composer of vocal and organ music. He was born in Connecticut, and died in Pasadena, California. His early education was at Lake Forest Academy in Illinois. With his father he witnessed the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. At age seventeen he travelled by himself to Europe to study in Berlin with Haupt (organ), and in Paris with Widor (composition) and Guilmant (organ). After five years in Europe, Rogers returned to the United States and had a fifty-year career in Cleveland, Ohio. Rogers met his first wife, Fernanda Tedesca, by accompanying her violin lessons. in Paris. She was a young American violinist who was attempting to make a career as concert violinist in Europe. She declined to return to the United States with Rogers and died from consumption in 1885 in France. The violin pieces by Rogers were probably intended for Tedesca’s use in her concerts. Rogers used the musical style of the late nineteenth century. Each of the violin pieces has a suggestive title in the manner of character music. Scores for the violin pieces are difficult to locate in the present century. As a composer Rogers used three nom de plume: Edward Campion (vocal music), Hugo Bergthal (piano music) and Jules Latour (violin music). Rogers operated his own music publishing company in Cleveland until 1905. He was also music critic for the Cleveland newspaper The Plain Dealer. Charles Lowry Echols Dr. Erin Aldridge is Professor of Violin and Director of Orchestras at the University of Wisconsin-Superior. Since 2005, she has also been the Concertmaster of the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Aldridge has won numerous awards as both soloist and chamber musician and has been featured throughout Europe, South America, and the United States. She is a well sought after performer and pedagogue. Dr. Aldridge maintains an active performance schedule as a soloist and chamber musician. She has been a soloist with the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, the Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra, the Long Prairie Chamber Orchestra, and the Itasca Symphony Orchestra. She has been a guest artist at the Indiana University Summer Music Festival, Arizona State University, DePaul University Contemporary Concert Series, Madeline Island Music Camp, Ashland Chamber Music Series with Trillium Piano Trio, National String Workshop, "Live at the Chazen" Concert Series, and has been broadcast on the BBC and Wisconsin Public Radio. Erin is also a lover of rock and metal music and has been known from time to time, to lend her musical talents, adapting her abilities with the violin, to local bands and events that allow her to express the awesome versatility of her instrument. These include collaborations with The Three Altos, Sara Thomsen and Ryan Van Slooten. Alexander Sandor is a piano player who likes to wander and think. He currently resides in northern Wisconsin.