July 20: Pianists Sarah Cahill and Regina Myers Perform at Mendocino Music Festival – Featuring a Special Preview of Bodywork Theresa Wong
Photo credit: Miranda Sanborn
Pianists Sarah Cahill and Regina Myers Perform at
Mendocino Music Festival
Featuring a Special Preview of Bodywork Theresa Wong
Plus Music by
Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington (arr. by Jed Distler),
Lou Harrison, Elena Kats-Chernin, Eleanor Alberga,
Mamoru Fujieda, Meredith Monk, and Germaine Tailleferre
Monday, July 20, 2026 at 2:30pm
Preston Hall | 44867 Main St. | Mendocino, CA
Tickets and More Information
www.sarahcahill.com | www.reginamusic.com
Mendocino, CA – Pianists Sarah Cahill and Regina Myers will be presented together in concert, performing at the Mendocino Music Festival on Monday, July 20, 2026 at 2:30pm in Preston Hall (44867 Main St).
The energetic duo brings their interpretations of a wide range of contemporary two-piano music. The two San Francisco-based pianists have collaborated on many occasions, most recently for a duo performance at the 2025 Flower Piano in Golden Gate Park. In Mendocino, they will perform both venerable and new pieces, including a special preview of Theresa Wong’s new piece, Bodywork, for which Wong will be in attendance. The rest of the program will include Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s jazz classic, Tonk!; the brilliantly percussive Folkdance by Meredith Monk, Festival Dance by Lou Harrison; Dance of the Paper Umbrellas by Elena Kats-Chernin; Eleanor Alberga’s Two-Piano Suite; Sprites in a Large Camphor Tree by Mamoru Fujieda, and Jeux de plein air by Germaine Tailleferre.
Theresa Wong’s Bodywork is a 4-hand piece for piano written for and co-commissioned by Cahill and Myers. In her program notes, Wong describes the unconventional work as follows: “[Bodywork] is an homage to ‘caring hands’ with the intention to transform the experience of a health crisis into a ritual of beauty and healing. The two pianists are dressed in ceremonial jumpsuits which take inspiration from hospital and auto mechanic uniforms, and perform body work on the piano through various acts of making sound. The score consists of through-notated components as well as text-based frameworks for improvisation, which are played on the keyboard, inside the piano, and under and around the piano body with the help of auto-mechanic 'creepers', or rollers. The intention is to transform the performance venue into a ritual-like atmosphere.”
Writer Jed Distler, who transcribed the version of Tonk to be performed in this program says of the piece: “Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn enjoyed playing impromptu piano duets in informal situations, which directly resulted in Tonk. Credited to both men but actually written by Strayhorn, they recorded it in 1945 as a piano duet and again in 1950, this time at two pianos. My two-piano transcription of Tonk was commissioned by Nurit Tilles and Edmund Niemann for Double Edge, and combines both recorded versions."
A longtime friend and champion of his works, Cahill holds a special relationship with composer Lou Harrison and in particular, with his work Festival Dance. Not only was Cahill asked to premiere Lou Harrison’s Festival Dance for two pianos with Aki Takahashi at the Cooper Union, she and Regina Myers went on to perform this piece for its West Coast premiere in October 2021. Harrison originally wrote the work in the 1960s but it wasn’t performed until all those years later.
Dance of the Paper Umbrellas was written for the Hush Music Foundation – an Australian non-profit dedicated to producing and licensing original music and arts projects with the aim of improving healthcare environments and patient outcomes. Elena Kats-Chernin says of the idea behind the music: “I wondered what kind of piece I could write that would be uplifting. I wanted to enter the world of magic and dreams. I imagined a cake adorned with multi-coloured umbrellas. A dance formed in my head, starting with a pattern in harp, marimba, plucked strings and flutes.”
Eleanor Alberga’s Two-Piano Suite is a sprightly one movement work that is as lively and uplifting as is the reason for its composition. A Jamaican-born, British composer, Alberga wrote the work to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Jamaica's independence in 1987.
Cahill has long been an enthusiastic supporter of Mamoru Fujieda’s work, playing a central role in the post-minimalist composer’s Pattern of Plants receiving a solo piano recording for the first time outside of Japan, when Cahill recorded the music on Pinna Records in 2014. Cahill’s performance on the recording was widely praised, with I Care If You Listen saying "Sarah Cahill expertly interprets and gives a clear voice to Fujieda's beautiful work," and The New York Times describing the music as “Delicate miniatures that unfold quietly and calmly.”
Written in 1996, Folkdance embraces the connection between Meredith Monk’s music and the pianists themselves. The work incorporates tangible rhythm keeping through clapping and vocalization in chanting, adding an extra layer of expression unique to each artist who performs the work.
One of Germaine Tailleferre’s most well known works, Jeux de plein air (Outdoor Games), leans into the recreational nature of its title and evokes the imagery of young children playing together. The work consists of two short movements of contrasting moods: One is cheerful but calmer while the other is driven by a quicker tempo and more frenetic motifs.
For more information about Sarah Cahill visit www.sarahcahill.com.
For more information about Regina Myers visit www.reginamusic.com.
For Calendar Editors:
Description: Pianists Sarah Cahill and Regina Myers perform a colorful and diverse program of 2-piano music at the Mendocino Music Festival. The close friends and Bay Area artists will perform vibrant and expressive works from the 20th and 21st centuries, including a special preview of Bodywork, a new piece by Theresa Wong, who will be in attendance at the concert. The program will also include music by Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington (arr. by Jed Distler), Lou Harrison, Elena Kats-Chernin, Eleanor Alberga, Mamoru Fujieda, Meredith Monk, and Germaine Tailleferre.
Concert details:
Who: Pianists Sarah Cahill and Regina Myers
Presented by Mendocino Music Festival
What: World Premiere of Body Work by Theresa Wong, plus music by Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington (arr. by Jed Distler), Lou Harrison, Elena Kats-Chernin, Eleanor Alberga, Mamoru Fujieda, Meredith Monk, and Germaine Tailleferre
When: Monday, July 20, 2026 at 2:30pm
Where: Preston Hall, 44867 Main St, Mendocino, CA 95460
Tickets and information: https://mendocinomusic.org/event/piano-series-cahill-myers-duo/