Cellist-pianist duo bring benefit concert for Montessori playground fund

L-R: Daniel Gaisford, Josefina Melgar Gaisford, location and date not provided | Photo courtesy of Daniel Gaisford, St. George News

ST. GEORGE – A benefit for the newly opened Dixie Montessori Academy will be played by renowned American cellist Daniel Gaisford and his wife, acclaimed pianist Josefina Melgar Gaisford, Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Eccles Fine Arts Center Concert Hall on the Dixie State University campus, 225 South 700 East, St. George. Proceeds will go to the Dixie Montessori Academy playground fund. Ticket donations are $25 plus service fees.

The Gaisfords met in 1985 at The Juilliard School in New York and began playing together immediately.

“It was the most natural order of our relationship,” Daniel Giasford said. “We moved into marriage and parenthood with wonderful ease.”

Daniel Gaisford grew up in Salt Lake City spending much of his youth in Santa Clara riding his horse Ginger. Josefina Melgar Gaisford was raised in Manhattan while both her parents studied voice at The Juilliard School.

Josefina Melgar Gaisford gave the premiere performance of the Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Venezuela Symphony in Caracas at the age of 15. After winning first prize at the 1986 Juilliard School Shostakovich cello competition, Daniel Gaisford began touring the United States and abroad as a critically acclaimed soloist.

“Now that our boys have grown up a bit, we have begun touring again,” Daniel Gaisford said.

The concert will feature Johann Sebastian Bach’s Gamba Sonata in G, Gabriel Faure’s Elegie and Robert Schumann’s Folk Songs for cello and piano.

We are seriously considering playing the first half of the program on our electric set up,” Daniel Gaisford said. “It has the perfect harpsichord sound for the Gamba sonata.”

Event details and resources

  • What: Daniel and Josefina Gaisford benefit
  • When: Saturday, Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m.
  • Where: Eccles Fine Arts Center, Dixie State University campus, 225 South 700 East, St. George
  • Tickets are available at Dixie State University ticket office online
  • Josefina Melgar website
  • Daniel Gaisford website

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