July 10-31: California Symphony Presents Fresh Look – The Symphony Exposed

July 10-31: California Symphony Presents Fresh Look – The Symphony Exposed

Four Wednesday Evening Classes from July 10-31, 2024, 6:30-8pm
Hosted by Award-Winning Instructor Scott Foglesong

Don Tatzin Community Hall at Lafayette Library 
3491 Mt. Diablo Blvd. | Lafayette, CA
Registration $30 for 4 Classes: www.californiasymphony.org/fresh-look 

“the most forward-looking organization around” –Mercury News

www.californiasymphony.org 

WALNUT CREEK, CA –  California Symphony presents Fresh Look: The Symphony Exposed this July, expanding access to music education and offering a fun and informative introduction to classical music for “classically curious” adults in the Bay Area. Hosted by award-winning instructor Scott Foglesong, the four-part summer lecture series will be held on Wednesdays, July 10, 17, 24, and 31, 2024 from 6:30-8pm at Lafayette Library and Learning Center Foundation (3491 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Lafayette, CA). Fresh Look provides an introduction to classical music and the rich offerings of California Symphony, making classical music and the orchestra accessible to a broader audience.

Previous participants of the program have described the course as “most enjoyable, very accessible to all, and PACKED with good info and good listening!” and called Scott Foglesong “knowledgeable and enthusiastic” with a “sense of humor and breadth of knowledge.” Scott Foglesong has been lecturing about music since 2011, first as a Professor of Music for the University of San Francisco’s Fromm Institute, followed by posts at the University of California, Berkeley, and, most recently, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He has also served as pre-concert lecturer for the San Francisco Symphony, the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and California Symphony.

The Fresh Look curriculum – which was developed by Scott Foglesong, California Symphony Music and Artistic Director Donato Cabrera, and General Manager Sunshine Deffner – explores the instruments of the orchestra, different musical periods and styles — including one class that focuses almost exclusively on Beethoven — and the state of classical music today. As a special end-of-course treat, the final class includes a live performance and Q&A with California Symphony musicians.

Since its initial launch in partnership with the Walnut Creek Library in 2018, the course has developed steady participation and interest among the Walnut Creek community. With a target of 25 participants, the 2018 pilot series attracted 63 individuals. In 2019, the course attracted 105 attendees – a 67% increase over the pilot year. The third course, offered in July 2020, was presented entirely online due to COVID, and it attracted 300 participants. The most recent in-person class in summer 2023 reached venue capacity with 160 people enjoying the course.

Fresh Look is a prime example of California Symphony’s dedication to strengthening music education and access within their local community. Of the Symphony’s many nationally recognized education and community programs – including their acclaimed Young American Composer-in-Residence program, the nationally recognized Sound Minds program for underserved local students, and new Education Concerts initiative – California Symphony is committed to providing diverse programming that provides an accessible entry point to top-tier classical music for all age groups and education levels.

The fee for Fresh Look: The Symphony Exposed is $30 for the entire course, which can be redeemed toward the purchase of any adult-price California Symphony ticket for a 2024-25 season concert. California Symphony also offers an online version of the series for year-round on-demand viewing.

About Scott Foglesong: Scott Foglesong is a pianist, musician, teacher, writer, cat-lover, music history devotée, occasional computer geek and sometime programmer. He has been on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music since 1978; nowadays he serves as a department chair in addition to enjoying the honor of educating some of today's most promising young musicians. In 2008 he was named recipient of the Sarlo Family Foundation Award for excellence in teaching. He has taught Music 27 (Introduction to Music) for the Fall Freshman program at UC Berkeley since 1991, is associated with the San Francisco Symphony, both as a Contributing Writer and as an "Inside Music" lecturer for the Symphony's weekly subscription concerts, and is Program Annotator for the California Symphony, after formerly serving in the same capacity for the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, New Hampshire Music Festival, and Las Vegas Philharmonic Orchestra. Professor Foglesong was formally educated at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and the San Francisco Conservatory, but his informal education continues everywhere, without cease.

About California Symphony: Founded in 1986, California Symphony has been led by Donato Cabrera since 2013. It is distinguished by its vibrant concert programs that span the breadth of orchestral repertoire, including works by American composers and by living composers. Its concert season at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, California serves a growing number of music lovers from across the Bay Area. California Symphony believes that the concert experience should be fun and inviting, and its mission is to create a welcoming, engaging, and inclusive environment for the entire community. Through this commitment to community, imaginative programming, and its support of emerging composers, California Symphony is a leader among orchestras in California and a model for regional orchestras everywhere. 

June 14: ECM New Series Releases Pianist Anna Gourari's Recording of Hindemith and Schnittke

ECM New Series Releases

Paul Hindemith | Alfred Schnittke

Anna Gourari, Piano
Orchestra Della Svizerra Italiana
Markus Poschner, Conductor

ECM New Series 2752
CD: 0289 4875453 3
Release Date: June 14, 2024

Press downloads available upon request.

After three acclaimed solo piano programmes for the label, here Anna Gourari widens the instrumental spectrum with the Lugano-based Orchestra Della Svizzera Italiana under Markus Poschner’s direction in striking performances of Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra and Paul Hindemith’s The Four Temperaments.

Gourari’s pianistic command is one of “virtuoso polish and with flawless action,” to quote the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, and her holistic, wide-reaching grasp of the instrument is on full display in Schnittke’s shape-bending polystylistic concerto. The orchestra furthermore shines in a powerful interpretation of Hindemith’s Symphony Mathis der Maler. 

Contrasts emerge not only through the juxtaposition of the three works but from within the pieces, which have fiery temperaments and technically demanding scores in common.

Recorded at the Auditorio Stelio Molo in Lugano in December 2021, the album was produced by Manfred Eicher.

July 26: Tina Davidson's New Album Barefoot featuring Jasper String Quartet and Natalie Zhu out on New Focus Recordings

Composer Tina Davidson Announces New Album Barefoot
Featuring the Jasper String Quartet and Pianist Natalie Zhu

“vivid ear for harmony and colors” – The New York Times

Release Date: July 26, 2024
New Focus Recordings

CDs or press downloads available upon request.

www.tinadavidson.com | www.newfocusrecordings.com | www.jasperquartet.com

Composer Tina Davidson will release her next album, Barefoot, on July 26, 2024 on New Focus Recordings. Davidson is a highly regarded American composer who creates music that stands out for its emotional depth and lyrical dignity. Lauded for her authentic voice, The New York Times has praised her “vivid ear for harmony and colors.” Opera News describes her music as "transfigured beauty.” Tina Davidson has been commissioned and performed by leading ensembles and artists including the National Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, OperaDelaware, VocalEssence, Kronos Quartet, Cassatt Quartet, and GRAMMY® Award-winner Hilary Hahn. Barefoot features a selection of her chamber music performed by the Jasper String Quartet (violinists J Freivogel and Karen Kim, violist Andrew Gonzalez, and cellist Rachel Henderson Freivogel) and pianist Natalie Zhu.

The new album highlights five of Davidson’s chamber music pieces for varying combinations of strings and piano, composed over the past decade, including Tremble (2013) for violin, cello and piano; the title track Barefoot (2011) for violin, cello, viola, and piano; Wēpan (2014) for string quartet and piano; Hush (2017) for violin and piano; and Leap (2021) for violin, cello, viola, and piano.

All of the works are deeply personal for Davidson. She explains in her note for the album:

I am a composer who writes about where I am at that moment. For years I composed about a sense of connectedness to something larger than myself. But in this decade of life, I find myself returning to quieter issues. I have softened and come home to myself.

The works on this album are about personal thoughts and feelings. Barefoot is that urge to be outside and have contact with the earth; the urge to dance and turn and spin before God. Tremble is the sense of excitement, fear or love—the thing that causes the body to resonate in anticipation. Leap, written during the Covid pandemic, is where I found myself when I was pushed off the edge by circumstance. Hush is the remembrance of soothing a child. “Hush,” I say, “Hush, hush.”

Wēpan is just weeping; endless weeping. 

I am, I suppose, always looking to understand myself. I pry into these words, digging deeper into what it is for me to tremble, weep or leap – how I see myself, now, as I move forward.

Barefoot follows the publication last year of Davidson’s memoir Let Your Heart Be Broken (Boyle & Dalton), which was praised in The Marginalian as “a consummate read in its entirety,” written with “uncommon sensitivity and poetic insight.” Let Your Heart Be Broken traces Davidson’s extraordinary life in equally lyrical language, juxtaposing memories, journal entries, notes on compositions in progress, and insights into the life of an artist – and a mother – at work. VAN Magazine calls the book, "an unequivocally poetic memoir on love, loss, and music." Review copies of Davidson’s memoir are available upon request.

About Tina Davidson: Over her forty-five-year career, Tina Davidson has been commissioned by well-known ensembles such as National Symphony Orchestra, OperaDelaware, Roanoke Symphony, VocalEssence, Kronos Quartet, Cassatt Quartet, and public television (WHYY-TV). Her music has been widely performed by many orchestras and ensembles, including The Philadelphia Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Relâche Ensemble, and Orchestra 2001. Davidson was commissioned by GRAMMY® Award-winning violinist Hilary Hahn as part of her 27 Encores project. The work, Blue Curve of the Earth, was released on Deutsche Grammophon in 2013, and again in 2018 on Hahn’s new album, Retrospective.

Long-term residencies play a major role in Davidson’s career. As composer-in-residence with the Fleisher Art Memorial (1998-2001), she was commissioned to write for the Cassatt Quartet, Voces Novae et Antiquae, and members of the Philadelphia Orchestra. She also created the city-wide Young Composers program to teach inner city children how to write music through instrument building, improvisation, and graphic notation. She was composer-in-residence as part of the innovative Meet The Composer “New Residencies” with OperaDelaware, the Newark Symphony and the YWCA in Delaware (1994-97). During this residency, she wrote the critically acclaimed full-length opera, Billy and Zelda, as well as created community partner programs for homeless women, and with students at a local elementary school.

 The recipient of numerous prestigious grants and fellowships, Davidson was the first classical composer to receive a $50,000 Pew Fellowship. She has been awarded four Artist’s Fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, CAP grants from the American Music Center and numerous Meet the Composer grants. Her work, Transparent Victims, was selected by the American Public Radio as part of the International Rostrum of Composers, held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

Born in Stockholm, Sweden, Tina Davidson grew up in Oneonta, NY and Pittsburgh, PA. She received her BA in piano and composition from Bennington College in 1976 where she studied with Henry Brant, Louis Calabro, Vivian Fine and Lionel Nowak. She currently lives in Lancaster PA.

About the Jasper String Quartet: Celebrated as one of the preeminent American string quartets of the twenty-first century, the prizewinning Jasper String Quartet (J Freivogel and Karen Kim, violins; Andrew Gonzalez, viola; Rachel Henderson Freivogel, cello) is hailed as being “flawless in ensemble and intonation, expressively assured and beautifully balanced” (Gramophone). The Quartet is highly regarded for its “programming savvy” (Cleveland Classical) which strives to evocatively connect the music of underrepresented and living composers to the canonical repertoire through thoughtful programs that appeal to a wide variety of audiences.

A recipient of Chamber Music America’s prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award (2012), the Quartet’s playing has been described as “sonically delightful and expressively compelling” (The Strad). The ensemble has released eight albums, including its most recent release, Insects and Machines: Quartets of Vivian Fung (2023) which Strings Magazine praised as being “intensely dramatic throughout demonstrating both their advocacy of new music and their transcendent mastery.” The Quartet’s 2017 release, Unbound, was named by The New York Times as one of the year’s 25 Best Classical Recordings.

The Quartet regularly collaborates with some of today’s leading artists, including tenor Nicholas Phan, clarinetist Derek Bermel, pianists Amy Yang, Natalie Zhu and Myra Huang, and the Jupiter String Quartet. Collaborations and commissions with living composers include Lera Auerbach, Derek Bermel, Patrick Castillo, Vivian Fung, Brittany J. Green, Aaron Jay Kernis, Akira Nishimura, Reinaldo Moya, Michelle Ross, Caroline Shaw and Joan Tower.

The Jasper String Quartet is named after Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada and is represented by Suòno Artist Management.

About Natalie Zhu: Known for captivating interpretations of a wide repertoire, pianist Natalie Zhu is the recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, Musical Fund Society Advancement Award, the Andrew Wolf Memorial Chamber Music Award, and Astral Artists Award. The Philadelphia Inquirer heralded Zhu in recital as a display of “emotional and pianistic pyrotechnics”. Selections from her live performances are frequently broadcasted on Performance Today.

Natalie Zhu has performed throughout North America, Europe, and Asia as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. She has given solo recitals at the Carnegie Hall in New York City, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Seattle Chamber Music Society, New York’s Steinway Hall and Merkin Hall, Portland Piano Festival in Oregon, Munich’s Herkulessaal in Germany and Beijing and Shanghai Concert Hall in China. Zhu has performed with the Daedalus, Dover, Miami, Vermeer Quartets, and collaborated with members of the Guarneri, Orion, Mendelssohn, Ying Quartets, as well as the Beaux Arts Trio and Time for Three. She has been a touring recital partner with renowned violinist Hilary Hahn, including recording Mozart’s Violin Sonatas for Deutsche Grammophon. In 2023,  Ms. Zhu recorded with cellist Clancy Newman on the Albany album “From Method to Madness: American Sound.”

As an active chamber musician, she has appeared in Marlboro Music Festival, Tanglewood Music Festival, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Curtis-On-Tour, Seattle Chamber Music Society, Maestro Foundation Concert Series, Skaneateles Festival, Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, Bay Chamber Concerts, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Chicago Chamber Musicians. Since 2009, she has been the artistic director of the Kingston Chamber Music Festival in Rhode Island. 

Natalie Zhu began her piano studies with Xiao-Cheng Liu at the age of six in her native China and made her first public appearance at age nine in Beijing. At eleven she emigrated with her family to Los Angeles, and studied with Robert Turner and Ming-Qiang Li. By age fifteen she was enrolled at the Curtis Institute of Music where she received the prestigious Rachmaninoff Award and studied with Gary Graffman. She received both a Master of Music degree and Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music where she studied with the late Claude Frank. Natalie Zhu lives in the Philadelphia suburbs with her husband and daughter. 

Track List:

Barefoot
Music by Tina Davidson

The Jasper String Quartet | Natalie Zhu, Piano
New Focus Recordings | Release Date: July 26, 2024

1. Tremble (2013) for violin, cello and piano [9:49]
J Freivogel, violin; Rachel Henderson Freivogel; cello; Natalie Zhu, piano

2. Barefoot (2011) for violin, cello, viola and piano [10:13]
J Freivogel, violin; Andrew Gonzalez, viola; Rachel Henderson Freivogel; cello; Natalie Zhu, piano 

3. Wēpan (2014) for string quartet and piano [9:16]  
J Freivogel, violin; Karen Kim, violin; Andrew Gonzalez, viola; Rachel Henderson Freivogel; cello; Natalie Zhu, piano

4. Hush (2017) for violin and piano [9:18]
J Freivogel, violin; Natalie Zhu, piano 

Leap (2021) for violin, cello, viola and piano
5. I.  Uncertain Ground [5:16]
6. II. Sudden Passage [5:51]
J Freivogel, violin; Andrew Gonzalez, viola; Rachel Henderson Freivogel; cello; Natalie Zhu, piano

Total: 50:13 

Recorded at Gore recital Hall, University of Delaware, September 16-17, 2023
Recording Producer & Engineer: Andreas K. Meyer
Assistant Engineer: Ben Hadley
Post Production & Mastering at Swan Studios, NYC (www.swanstudios.nyc) 

Photo credits:
Tina Davidson © Nora Stultz
Jasper String Quartet  © Lisa-Marie Mazzucco
Natalie Zhu by Joie Elie Photography 

Art for Cover: Tina Davidson, tinadavidson.com
Cover Design: Shane Keaney, shanekeaney.com
Layout & typography: Marc Wolf, marcjwolf.com

Commissions: Leap was commissioned by The Nioka Trust.

June 12: John Malkovich & Aleksey Igudesman in The Music Critic at The Symphony - North American Orchestra Premiere with the Oregon Symphony in Portland

John Malkovich in The Music Critic at The Symphony
Written, conceived, and conducted by Aleksey Igudesman

North American Premiere with the Oregon Symphony on June 12 

Wednesday, June 12, 2024 at 7:30pm
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall | 1037 SW Broadway | Portland, OR
Tickets & Information 

More information: www.themusiccritic.com

John Malkovich stars in The Music Critic at the Symphony – a show in which classical music, theater, and comedy collide – written, conceived, and conducted by Aleksey Igudesman, with the Oregon Symphony on Wednesday, June 12, 2024 at 7:30pm at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall (1037 SW Broadway). This performance follows their highly successful cross-country U.S. tour of The Music Critic for chamber ensemble, and marks the first time the duo will perform the show with an orchestra in North America.

In The Music Critic, writer and composer Aleksey Igudesman fuses the sardonic and straight-faced humor for which legendary actor John Malkovich is renowned with his own slapstick and out-of-the-box zaniness. Equipped with a frivolous potpourri of musical insults, Malkovich slips into the role of the evil critic who believes the music of Beethoven, Debussy, Brahms, Ravel and the like to be weary and dreary. Aleksey Igudesman and the Oregon Symphony beg to differ and fight back, determined to avenge some of the most brilliant pieces of music which were railed and reviled by critics at their premieres, in this evening-length show.

As the Music Critic, John Malkovich batters, insults, and laughs at the music of composers like Rachmaninoff, Schumann, Dvořák and more, whose works premiered to jeers and negative press for performers and composers alike. Malkovich even attempts to take over the conductor‘s baton, claiming that conducting is a profession for charlatans. The fun doesn‘t end there, as the audience then experiences The Malkovich Torment, a piece that Igudesman wrote based on a truly horrific review – of none other than John Malkovich himself.

John Malkovich says, “I have always loved the opportunity to collaborate on The Music Critic with Aleksey Igudesman and many other gifted and thoughtful musicians. We are happy to present an evening which consists of some of the greatest compositions in the history of classical music, paired with the perhaps rather unexpected initial reactions those compositions elicited from some of the world’s renowned music critics, along with some other surprises.”

Aleksey Igudesman says, “The Music Critic is a project very close to my heart and bringing the orchestral version to the U.S. is something I dreamed of since its inception. My dear friend John Malkovich in the role of the evil critic is despicable and lovable at the same time and evokes the critic in every one of us.”

Tanja Dorn, Principal of Dorn Music, which is exclusively managing and booking the project, says, “We are thrilled to finally be bringing this insightful and hilarious show in its version with orchestra to audiences in the United States. Aleksey and John have created a brilliantly witty and creative evening of comedy and music making.”Official Trailer:

Press Room: https://bit.ly/TheMusicCriticPressRoom

 Exclusive Worldwide Management and Booking for “The Music Critic:”
Tanja Dorn & Anthony Acocella, Dorn Music LLC www.dornmusic.com

July 12: Pianist David Kaplan Releases Debut Solo Album - New Dances of the League of David - on New Focus Recordings

Pianist David Kaplan Announces New Album
New Dances of the League of David

15 New Piano Miniatures Interwoven with Robert Schumann’s Davidsbündlertanze Op. 6

“striking imagination and creativity” – The New York Times 

Release Date: July 12, 2024
New Focus Recordings 

CDs or press downloads available upon request.

www.davidkaplanpiano.com | www.newfocusrecordings.com

Pianist David Kaplan will release his debut solo album, New Dances of the League of David, on July 12, 2024 on New Focus Recordings. New Dances of the League of David features fifteen new piano miniatures commissioned by Kaplan between 2013 and 2015 from some of today’s leading American composers, interwoven with Robert Schumann’s Davidsbündlertanze, Op. 6. The commissioned composers are Augusta Read Thomas, Martin Bresnick, Michael Stephen Brown, Marcos Balter, Gabriel Kahane, Timo Andres, Andrew Norman, Han Lash, Michael Gandolfi, Ted Hearne, Samuel Carl Adams, Mark Carlson, Ryan Francis, Caroline Shaw, and Caleb Burhans.

Schumann’s Davidsbündlertanze is a collection of 18 short works from the 1830s, which the composer described as dances of the “League of David,” a musical society he created consisting of both real and imagined members – including the fictional characters Florestan and Eusebius, representing the two extremes of his own personality. The collection was dedicated to Robert Schumann’s wife, the composer and pianist Clara Wieck Schumann, and a mazurka she composed serves as its point of departure. Kaplan writes in the album’s liner notes, “Literary meanings, multiple personalities, and the border between reality and imagination aside, the Davidsbündlertänze is in purely musical terms a masterwork of startling originality; its genre simply has no precedent. . . The Davidsbündlertänze innovate in the contradiction between their apparent disjointedness and their stealthy, mysterious unity: pieces in different keys, with different affects, characters, tempi, lengths, and forms play on the same essential motives, and coexist with unlikely apposition. In a way, the young Schumann had invented the mixtape.”

Each 21st century commissioned composer contributed a work that is their own but remains in dialogue with Schumann. Kaplan requested that they write short pieces meant as interruptions or interludes to the Davidsbündlertänze, with each focusing on a different movement. “Each of the fifteen contemporary composers’ pieces . . . offers a unique statement of style, beauty, and wit; yet they are unified by their engagement with the spirit of Schumann,” Kaplan writes. “The composers all revel in rapid character shifts, multilayered rhythmic textures, and poignant eloquence.”

For David Kaplan, the new album is the culmination of a fascination with Schumann that began while he was still a child – at ten years old, he performed some of Schumann’s music for children at the Bard Festival. Since then, he has continued to explore the mercurial composer’s work in all its configurations – songs, chamber music, concertos, and solo pieces. He also became fascinated with creating concerts that juxtaposed short movements and pieces of larger works in a “tasting menu” approach, and became a close collaborator with living composers, counting them as colleagues and friends.

Kaplan’s premiere of New Dances of the League of David in New York in 2015 was named as one of the Best Classical Music Performances of the Year by The New York Times, with Anthony Tommasini reporting, “the excellent and adventurous young pianist David Kaplan paid tribute to that Schumann work by fashioning a contemporary equivalent with the help of [his] composer colleagues. Mr. Kaplan played New Dances of the League of David, a 60-minute suite that incorporates new miniatures by this 21st-century band of composers into Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze, a project commissioned by Lyrica Chamber Music and Metropolis Ensemble. . . New Dances is no gimmick. Rather, reaching back to a time when borrowing a master’s music was a compliment . . . the composers honor Schumann by reacting to and even rewriting his music. And it was fascinating to hear Schumann through the ears of these perceptive, stylistically varied contemporary composers.”

Kaplan sums up his approach: “The result, fifteen new American piano works of diverse style and authorship, sometimes graffitiing the walls and sometimes painting inside the lines, is simply a bigger party; Schumann, the host, is always hovering with more champagne and hors d’oeuvres.” 

For more information on each of the commissioned composers and their works, read the album’s liner notes here. 

About David Kaplan: Pianist David Kaplan has been called “excellent and adventurous” by The New York Times, and praised by The Boston Globe for “grace and fire” at the keyboard. As orchestra soloist, he has appeared with the Britten Sinfonia at London’s Barbican and Das Sinfonie Orchester Berlin at the Philharmonie, and next year makes debuts with the  Symphony Orchestras of Hawaii and San Antonio. As recitalist, he has performed at the Ravinia Festival, Sarasota Opera House, Music on Main in Vancouver, Strathmore, Washington’s National Gallery, and New York’s Carnegie and Merkin Halls.

​Kaplan has consistently drawn critical acclaim for creative programs that interweave classical and contemporary repertoire, often featuring newly commissioned works. As a guest artist of Piano Spheres at Los Angeles’ Zipper Hall, he recently premiered “Quasi una Fantasia,” a program exploring the grey area between composition and improvisation through works by Anthony Cheung, Christopher Cerrone, and Andrea Casarrubios, together with Couperin, Beethoven, Schumann, Saariaho, Ligeti, and his own improvisations. 

Balancing solo performances with meaningful collaborations, Kaplan has played with the Attacca, Ariel, Enso, Hausman, and Tesla String Quartets. As a core member of Decoda, the Affiliate Ensemble of Carnegie Hall, he performs frequently in New York’s most exciting venues, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art to National Sawdust, as well as creating innovative residencies as far away as Abu Dhabi, Mexico, and Scotland. He is a veteran of numerous distinguished chamber music festivals and series, such as the Seattle Chamber Music, Bard, and Mostly Mozart Festivals, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Chamber Music Northwest, and Barge Music. He is an alumnus of Tanglewood and the Ravinia-Steans Institute, and performs regularly as an alumnus of the Perlman Music Program, including with Itzhak Perlman at Miami’s Arsht Center. He serves as Co-Artistic Director of Lyrica Chamber Music, a community series in Morris County, NJ currently in its 36th season.

​Kaplan has recorded for Naxos and Marquis Records, as well as for Nonesuch as part of his longstanding duo with pianist/composer Timo Andres. In September 2023, Bright Shiny Things released Vent, Kaplan’s debut album with his wife, flutist Catherine Gregory, including music by Gabriela Lena Frank, David Lang, Timo Andres, Schubert, and Prokofiev.

Kaplan was a student of the late Claude Frank, and previously studied with Walter Ponce and Miyoko Lotto. His mentors over the years have included Anton Kuerti, Richard Goode, and Emanuel Ax. He studied conducting at the Universität der Künste Berlin with Lutz Köhler, under the auspices of a Fulbright Fellowship from 2008-2010. The recipient of a DMA from Yale University in 2014, Kaplan earned his Bachelor from UCLA, where he has also served on the faculty since 2016, and now is the Assistant Professor and Inaugural Shapiro Family Chair in Piano Performance. He is proud to be a Yamaha/Bösendorfer Artist, and when at home in Los Angeles, he enjoys practicing on his childhood piano, a 1908 Hamburg Steinway model A.

Photos of David Kaplan by Titalayo Ayangade and Dario Acosta available in high resolution - download here. 

Track List:

New Dances of the League of David
David Kaplan, Piano

New Focus Recordings | Release Date: July 12, 2024

Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6
1 I. Lebhaft [1:39]
2 II. Innig [1:32] 

Augusta Read Thomas (b.1964)
3 Morse Code Fantasy – Hommage to Robert Schumann [4:01]
4 III. Mit Humor (Schumann) [1:25] 

Martin Bresnick (b. 1946)
5 Bundists (Robert, György and me) Etwas ungeduldig [1:43]

Michael Stephen Brown (b.1987)
6 IV. Ungeduldig [2:01] 

Marcos Balter (b.1974)
7 ★★★ [2:06] 

Gabriel Kahane (b. 1981)
8 No. 6 Sehr rasch und in sich hinein [3:03] 

Timo Andres (b. 1985)
9 VII. Saccades [4:12]
10 VIII. Frisch (Schumann) [1:02] 

Andrew Norman (b. 1979)
11 Vorspiel [4:01]

Han Lash (b. 1981)
12 Liebesbrief an Schumann [2:51] 

Michael James Gandolfi (b. 1956)
13 Mirrors and Sidesteps [0:59] 

Ted Hearne (b. 1982)
14 Tänze (with a sense of urgency) [3:14] 

Samuel Carl Adams (b.1985)
15 II. Quietly [2:31] 

Mark Carlson (b. 1952)
16 X. Sehr rasch [3:21]

17 XI. Balladenmässig. Sehr rasch (Schumann) [1:36]
18 XII. Mit Humor (Schumann) [0:36]
19 XIII. Wild und lustig (Schumann) [3:00]                          

Ryan Francis (b. 1981)
20 Reminiscence (Delicate, wandering) [1:35]
21 XIV. Zart und singend (Schumann) [2:34]
22 XV. Frisch (Schumann) [1:42]

Caroline Shaw (b. 1982)
23 XVI. (mit gutem Humor, un poco lol ma con serioso vibes) [1:45]
24 XVI. Mit gutem Humor (Schumann) [0:58]

Adams
25 XVII. (Quietly, from Afar) [4:57]
26 XVIII. Nicht schnell (Schumann) [1:33]

Encore Couplet

Caleb Burhans (b. 1980)
27 Leid mit Mut (Molto Rubato) [1:56]
28 V. Einfach (Schumann) [1:54]

Total time: 64:02 

Recorded at the Evelyn and Mo Ostin Recording Studio at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, Los Angeles, CA, June 26-30, 2017.

Session co-producers: Benjamin Maas and Timo Andres

Sound engineer: Benjamin Maas

Producers: Benjamin Maas and David Kaplan

Editing, mix, and mastering: Benjamin Maas.

Yamaha DCFX piano preparation: Sean McLaughlin 

℗ & © 2024 David Kaplan 

Liner note author: David Kaplan
Liner note editor: Laura Hartenberger 

Cover Images: Synthesized images of Robert Schumann, using a 3d modeled/ computer rendered portrait of Robert Schumann by Hadi Karimi, and subsequently processed by Marc Wolf in Adobe Photoshop. hadikarimi.com/portfolio/robert-schumann-1850

Design, layout & typography: Marc Wolf, marcjwolf.com

Photos by Dario Acosta and Titilayo Ayangade

New Dances of the League of David graphic by Liana Finck, 2014

Aug. 24-Sept. 1: Composer Robert Sirota’s Muzzy Ridge Concerts Presents Fourth Season of Summer Performances in Searsmont, ME

L-R Larsen-Choi Duo (Cellist Benjamin Larsen, Pianist Hyungjin Choi);
Gossamer Trio (Flutist Carol Wincenc; Cellist Claire Marie Solomon, Harpist Nancy Allen),
Composer and Muzzy Ridge Founder, Robert Sirota

Composer Robert Sirota’s Muzzy Ridge Concerts Presents Fourth Season of Summer Performances in Searsmont, ME 

Saturday, August 24 and Sunday, August 25, 2024 at 3pm
Saturday, August 31 and Sunday, September 1, 2024 at 3pm
More Information 

“A unique and intimate concert experience” – The Republican Journal

robertsirota.com/muzzy-ridge-concerts

Searsmont, ME – Composer Robert Sirota’s annual Muzzy Ridge Concerts series returns for a fourth season in summer 2024. This year’s four performances are once again presented over two weekends on August 24-25 and August 31-September 1, all at 3pm.

On Saturday, August 24 and Sunday, August 25, 2024, the Larsen-Choi Duo – husband-and-wife-duo cellist Benjamin Larsen and pianist Hyungjin Choi – will perform a stylistically diverse program featuring music by Robert Sirota and Johannes Brahms, plus jazz improvisation by Choi. Over the following weekend – Saturday, August 31 and Sunday, September 1, 2024 – Muzzy Ridge Concerts will welcome the Gossamer Trio (GRAMMY®-nominated flutist Carol Wincenc; internationally-acclaimed cellist Claire Marie Solomon, and GRAMMY®- nominated New York Philharmonic principal harpist Nancy Allen). 

All the concerts will be presented in the Searsmont, Maine studio of series founder and Artistic Director Robert Sirota – the creative sanctuary where he has composed a great deal of his work throughout the past 35 years. Each of the concert programs performed on the two Saturdays will be repeated on the respective Sundays. Performances will run for approximately 60 minutes with no intermission. Indoor seating is limited to 50 patrons with an additional 20 outdoor seats.

On August 24 and 25, the Larsen-Choi Duo will shine a light on music across different historical eras and musical genres, performing Sirota’s Cello Sonata No. 2; Brahms’ Cello Sonata No. 2 in F Major, Op. 99; plus an original jazz improvisation by Hyungjin Choi. Written in 1886, Brahms’ Cello Sonata No. 2 evokes a sense of feisty passion intertwined with dark drama and slower contemplation over four movements. Robert Sirota composed his Sonata No. 2 for Cello and Piano specifically for Larsen and Choi in 2018, and conceived it as a companion piece for his Sonata No. 1 (which he wrote in 1988 for another married duo, cellist Norman Fischer and pianist Jeanne Kierman). Sirota describes the second sonata as having “architecture [that] mirrors and refracts the earlier piece.” Though Choi was classically trained from a young age, her added experience and training as a jazz pianist allows her to join together the beauty of these two genres in her performances and compositions, as shown through her original and improvisatory work.

Presented over the series’ second weekend, August 31 and September 1, the Gossamer Trio will perform an extensive program showcasing the works of several different composers and highlighting music from throughout the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries including Promenade Sentimentale (1904) by Théodore Dubois; Sleepers Awake (2020) and Folksong Suite by William Healy; Assobio A Jato, (The Jet Whistle) (1950) by Heitor Villa-Lobos, Sonatine En Trio (between 1903 & 1905) by Maurice Ravel, Après Un Reve (1878) and Morceau De Concours (1898) by Gabriel Fauré; and Romanian Folk Dances (1915) by Béla Bartók.

Tickets for all Muzzy Ridge Concerts performances are now on sale at www.robertsirota.com/muzzy-ridge-concerts.

About the Artists:

About Hyungjin Choi: A native of South Korea, Hyungjin Choi is a New York-based pianist covering a broad spectrum of genres. She has recorded and performed actively in many venues including Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Le Poisson Rouge. With her husband, cellist Benjamin Larsen, she has been actively performing worldwide in the Larsen-Choi duo, covering a wide range of repertoire, including world premieres by notable composers such as Robert Sirota and Ke-chia Chen. Choi's debut album, Tales Of A Dreamer, was released on PND Records in March 2014. Her arranging work can be found in many records, including the Korean Music Award nominated, Coffee Calls for a Cigarette, and Lara Downes’ album Holes in the Sky, which was released on Sony Masterworks, and ranked number one on the Billboard chart. After training as a classical pianist from an early age, Choi graduated from the Seoul Institute of the Arts in 2006, and moved to New York in 2008 to attend the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, where she earned a BFA degree. She also holds a Master’s degree for collaborative piano at Manhattan School of Music, where she currently works as a staff pianist.

About Benjamin Larsen: Cellist Benjamin Larsen made his solo debut in 1999 at the Merryall Center for the Arts, where critic for the Danbury News Times, Frank Merkling, called him “remarkably gifted,” with “a charming, warm tone.” He has performed in various venues in the Tri-State area, including concerto performances with the Hartford Symphony and Farmington Valley Symphony, and solo and chamber performances in Asia and Europe. He is an avid chamber musician, and is founder and artistic director of the Brooklyn chamber series, Concerts on the Slope.  He is on the faculty of the Music School of Westchester, Brooklyn Music School, Tian Song Musical Arts, has a private studio, and is an experienced chamber music coach. Larsen has performed at summer music festivals including the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Castleman’s Quartet Program, Music@Menlo and Pacific Music Festival, and has won top prizes in several competitions. His chamber music mentors have included members of the Emerson, Tokyo, American and Keller String Quartets, as well as Robert Mann, Nicholas Mann, Peter Frankl, Andre Michel Schub, Daniel Epstein, and Sylvia Rosenberg.  Past teachers include Eric Dahlin, David Finckel, Julia Lichten, and Clive Greensmith, as well as lessons with Marta Casals Istomin and Bonnie Hampton. Larsen holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Manhattan School of Music, where he was the recipient of the Hans and Klara Bauer Scholarship and the 2011 Pablo Casals Award. He plays on an anonymous 19th century cello.

About Carol Wincenc: Hailed "queen of the flute" by New York Magazine, flutist Carol Wincenc has appeared as soloist with major orchestras worldwide, including the Chicago, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and London symphonies, the BBC, Warsaw, and Buffalo Philharmonics, as well as the Los Angeles, Stuttgart, and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestras. Ms. Wincenc has collaborated with such celebrated ensembles as the Emerson, Tokyo, Guarneri, Cleveland, Juilliard and Escher String Quartets, and performed with Jessye Norman, Emanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma. She plays with the New York Woodwind Quintet, Les Amies with New York Philharmonic Principals, harpist Nancy Allen and violist Cynthia Phelps, and The Gossamer Trio with cellist Claire Marie Solomon and harpist Nancy Allen. Her newest collaboration Duo Coquelicot is with the Boston-based cellist Velleda Miragias. Her solo career was launched in 1978 when she won the first prize at the prestigious Naumburg Competition for flute. Since that time she has garnered numerous awards including the Lifetime Achievement Awards from both the China and USA National Flute Associations, the National Society of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Music, and Distinguished Alumni Awards from Brevard Music Center and Manhattan School of Music. In addition, she received a GRAMMY® nomination and a Diapason d'Or Award for her recording of the Christopher Rouse’s Flute Concerto with the Houston Symphony, a Recording of Special Merit Award with pianist András Schiff, and Gramophone magazine's "Pick of the Month" with the Buffalo Philharmonic. 

About Claire Marie Solomon: Claire Marie Solomon, cellist, is a dynamic chamber, solo and orchestral musician based in Charleston, SC. She performs regularly with the Charleston Symphony and the Sarasota Orchestra in Florida. She has toured with the Staatskapelle Weimar, and spent many summers performing at the Aspen Music Festival. Solomon is a graduate of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, where she won the 2017 Cello Competition performing Saint-Saens Cello Concerto No. 1. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Yale University, where she served as principal of the orchestra and played and toured with Yale’s famed all-cello rock ensemble, Low Strung. Solomon has taught for over ten years maintaining a private studio as well as her popular online course, Hello Cello!. Passionate about all musical genres, she has produced covers and original music under the handle Clairemarie.cello. She recently founded a folk trio, Summerauer, with mandolinist Ben Somerville and guitarist Katelyn Fajardo. She studied primarily with Eric Kim, Wolfram Koessel, and Richard Aaron as well as piano with Hélène Jeanney. Solomon performs on a 2021 William Whedbee cello, and a 1840s Knopf-Bausch bow. 

About Nancy Allen: Nancy Allen has a solo career spanning 50 years. Principal harpist of the New York Philharmonic since 1999, Allen was the first prize winner of Israel’s Fifth International Harp Competition. She was sponsored by a National Endowment for the Arts Solo Recitalist Award, Affiliate Artists and the Pro Musicis Foundation. As an Angel/ EMI recording artist, her recording “The Music of Ravel and Debussy” earned a GRAMMY® nomination. A student in the last class of the legendary Marcel Grandjany, Allen also studied with Pearl Chertok, Lily Laskine, and with the renowned harpist Susann McDonald. Highlights of her career include performances for Music at the Supreme Court hosted by Justice Sandra Day O’Conner and for the 1986 opening of the Aspen Silverqueen Gondola at the top of Ajax Mountain along with singer John Denver. She has enjoyed close collaborations with soprano Kathleen Battle, guitarist Manuel Barrueco, flutists Carol Wincenc and Ransom Wilson, and with the Tokyo and American String Quartets. Nancy Allen has been head of the harp department of The Juilliard School since 1986. Her students hold major orchestral positions and prizes internationally. A veteran of summer music festivals, she has been a faculty/artist with the Aspen Music Festival since 1976.

About Robert Sirota: Over five decades, composer Robert Sirota has developed a distinctive voice, clearly discernible in all of his work – whether symphonic, choral, stage, or chamber music. Writing in the Portland Press Herald, Allan Kozinn asserts: “Sirota’s musical language is personal and undogmatic, in the sense that instead of aligning himself with any of the competing contemporary styles, he follows his own internal musical compass.”

Robert Sirota’s chamber works have been performed by Alarm Will Sound; Washington Square Contemporary Music Society; Sequitur; Sandbox Percussion; Yale Camerata; yMusic; pianist Jeffrey Kahane; TACTUS Ensemble; Chameleon Arts Ensemble; New Hudson Saxophone Quartet; Left Bank Concert Society; Dinosaur Annex; the Chiara, American, Telegraph, Ethel, Elmyr, and Blair String Quartets; the Peabody, Concord, and Webster Trios; and the Fischer Duo, and at festivals including the Tanglewood, Aspen, Yellow Barn, and Cooperstown music festivals; Bowdoin Gamper and Bowdoin International Music Festival; and Mizzou International Composers Festival. Orchestral performances include the Seattle, Vermont, Virginia, East Texas, Lincoln (NE), Meridian (MS), New Haven, Greater Bridgeport, Oradea (Romania) and Saint Petersburg (Russia) symphonies, as well as conservatory orchestras of Oberlin, Peabody, Manhattan School of Music, Toronto, and Singapore. He is currently at work on Rising, a dance piece in collaboration with the Neave Trio, Pigeonwing Dance, and choreographer Gabrielle Lamb. 

In 2021, Sirota launched the Muzzy Ridge Concerts series at his studio in Searsmont, Maine. Held in August each year, Muzzy Ridge Concerts is committed to presenting intimate performances by world-class musicians. Featured musicians have included the Fischer Duo, the Neave Trio, flutist Carol Wincenc, composer/pianist Nico Muhly, violist Nadia Sirota, violist Jonah Sirota, oboist Regina (Gigi) Brady, organist/pianist Victoria Sirota, cellist Velléda Miragias, violinist Laurie Carney, pianist David Friend. 

Recipient of grants from the Guggenheim and Watson Foundations, United States Information Agency, National Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer, and the American Music Center, Sirota’s works are recorded on Legacy Recordings, National Sawdust Tracks, and the Capstone, Albany, New Voice, Gasparo and Crystal labels. His music is published by Muzzy Ridge Music, Schott, Music Associates of New York, MorningStar, Theodore Presser, and To the Fore.

Before becoming Director of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University in 1995, Sirota served as Chairman of the Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions at New York University and Director of Boston University's School of Music. From 2005-2012, he was the President of Manhattan School of Music, where he was also a member of the School’s composition faculty.

A native New Yorker, Sirota studied at Juilliard, Oberlin, and Harvard and divides his time between New York and Searsmont, Maine with his wife, Episcopal priest and organist Victoria Sirota. They frequently collaborate on new works, with Victoria as librettist and performer, at times also working with their children, Jonah and Nadia, both world-class violists.

May 30: San Francisco Girls Chorus Presents Chorus School Spring Concert featuring World Premiere by Composer-in-Residence Sabha Aminikia

Photos available in high resolution at www.sfgirlschorus.org/press-room.

The San Francisco Girls Chorus Presents its Chorus School Spring Concert

 Featuring World Premiere by SFGC Composer-in-Residence Sabha Aminikia

Thursday, May 30, 2024 at 7pm
Oakland Scottish Rite Center | 1547 Lakeside Drive | Oakland, CA
Tickets & Information: www.sfgirlschorus.org/performances

San Francisco, CA –The San Francisco Girls Chorus (SFGC) concludes its 2023-2024 season, celebrating 45 years of empowering young women, when the Chorus School will showcase singers from Levels I through IV at its annual Chorus School Spring Concert at the Oakland Scottish Rite Center (1547 Lakeside Drive, Oakland) on Thursday, May 30, 2024 at 7pm, coming together to celebrate their accomplishments this year individually and as a school.

A culmination of their studies, students will perform the repertoire they have worked on this season. On the program are works by Gabriel Fauré, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Earlene Rentz, Alberto Favero, Felix Mendelssohn, and more. The chorus school led by Level III Director Terry Alvord closes the concert with the world premiere of SFGC Composer-in-Residence Sahba Aminikia’s newest work, Woman, Life, Freedom, written for SFGC.

Aminikia describes Woman, Life, Freedom as a protest song and an homage to Iranian women, which sets text by 14th century Persian poet Hafez›. Aminikia explains, “‘Woman, Life, Freedom’” is a slogan that originated within the women-led Kurdish movements. However, after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman who died in a hospital in Tehran, Iran under suspicious circumstances, this slogan became the name of the Iranian women's movement after September 2022. Prior to her death, Mahsa was detained by Tehran’s morality police for failing to properly cover her hair. Through the protests since then, 551 protestors were killed by security forces, including 502 men, 49 women, and 68 children in 26 provinces out of 31 provinces in Iran. The women’s rights movement in Iran originally initiated in the mid-19th century. However, the first official social movement emerged in 1910 after the Iranian constitutional revolution, leading to the establishment of societies and magazines shortly after, which continues until today.”

The San Francisco Girls Chorus School Composer-in-Residence program gives singers a chance to learn more about the process of creating new music, and to interact with a living composer over an extended period of time. During the year-long residency, the composer visits rehearsals, meets with Level Directors, and creates a new work expressly for the Chorus School, engaging each group at their own musical level, reaching out to musical minds spanning a broad age range. This program also encourages composers to consider the vast artistic potential of young girls' voices, finding new and colorful ways to bring this unique instrument into the broader musical life of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Since 1978, SFGC has provided girls and young women the unique opportunity not only to perform at the highest artistic caliber, but also to develop self-confidence, leadership skills, and an awareness of the role of the arts in civic engagement. A leader in the Bay Area and national music scenes, SFGC produces award-winning concerts, recordings and tours; empowers young women in music and other fields; and sets the international standard for the highest level of performance and education. SFGC has been recognized through numerous honors including five GRAMMY Awards, four ASCAP/Chorus America Awards for Adventurous Programming, and in 2002, becoming the first youth chorus to receive Chorus America's prestigious Margaret Hillis Achievement Award for Choral Excellence. Each year, hundreds of singers of diverse backgrounds from 45 Bay Area cities ranging in age from age four to eighteen participate in SFGC’s programs. The organization consists of a six-level Chorus School training program and the Premier Ensemble, a professional-level chorus of treble voices. 

Under the direction of Artistic Director Valérie Sainte-Agathe, SFGC has achieved an incomparable sound that underscores the unique clarity and force of impeccably trained treble voices fused with expressiveness and drama. As a result, the SFGC vibrantly performs 1,000 years of choral masterworks from plainchant to the most challenging and nuanced contemporary works, many created expressly for them, in programs that are as intelligently designed as they are enjoyable and revelatory to experience. 

Up next, on June 22 SFGC will perform at the Kronos Quartet’s 2024 Kronos Festival at SF Jazz. From June 8-22, Level IV Choristers will travel to Caen, France for a two-week intensive rehearsal and performance process culminating in the world premiere multi-disciplinary opera O Future by composer Thierry Pécou.  Later this summer, the SFGC Premier Ensemble embarks on a tour of South Africa from July 10-21, 2024.

More about the San Francisco Girls Chorus: www.sfgirlschorus.org/about

More about Valérie Sainte-Agathe: www.sfgirlschorus.org/valerie-sainte-agathe

The San Francisco Girls Chorus receives support from Grants for the Arts, The Kimball Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Sequoia Trust, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc., The Sam Mazza Foundation, The Bernard Osher Foundation, and the Joseph and Vera Long Foundation.

Pianist Charlotte Hu (formerly Ching-Yun Hu) Announces New Name & New PENTATONE Album Liszt: Metamorphosis - Out July 19

Pianist Charlotte Hu (formerly Ching-Yun Hu) Announces New Name
& New PENTATONE Album Liszt: Metamorphosis

“first-class talent” – The Philadelphia Inquirer

Release Date: July 19, 2024 

Album Release Concert: July 27, 2024 at 7:30pm
Academy of Vocal Arts | 1920 Spruce St. | Philadelphia, PA
Tickets & Information

CDs or press downloads available upon request.

www.charlottehu.com | www.pentatonemusic.com

Pianist Charlotte Hu (formerly known as Ching-Yun Hu) will release her next album, Liszt: Metamorphosis, on July 19, 2024 – it will be her debut album for PENTATONE. On it, Charlotte explores Hungarian composer and virtuoso pianist Franz Liszt’s chameleonic and evolving approach to composing – the metamorphosis of his music spanning from his early works inspired by Beethoven to the abstract tonality of his later works, as well as his incredible ability to transcribe and transform the music of other composers he admired. Liszt: Metamorphosis includes Liszt’s Les jeux d'eau à la Villa d'Este (The Fountains of the Villa d’Este) from 1877; his Lieder Transcriptions of art songs by Schumann and Schubert from 1838 and 1848; Three Concert Études from 1845-49; and Rhapsodie espagnole (Spanish Rhapsody) from 1858. Charlotte Hu will celebrate the release of the album with a performance of the program on July 27, 2024 at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, PA for Opening Night of the PYPA Piano Festival (tickets and information).

Described as a “first-class talent” (Philadelphia Inquirer) possessing a “superstar quality – musical, energetic, and full of flair” (Jerusalem Post), Taiwanese-American pianist Charlotte Hu has been praised by audiences and critics across the globe for her dazzling virtuosity, captivating musicianship, and magnetic stage presence. As a soloist, she has astounded audiences across the U.S., Europe, and  Asia, performing sold-out concerts at many of the world’s most prestigious venues, including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw, Taipei National Concert Hall, and Osaka’s Symphony Hall. She is a frequent guest at music festivals, such as the Aspen Music Festival, Ruhr-Klavier Festival, Oregon Bach Festival. Concerto engagements have included performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and Taiwan Philharmonic, among others. 

At the heart of her success is a story of strength, dedication, and resilience that has powered her dream of becoming a world-class artist. Moving to the United States from Taiwan at age 14 without her parents to begin studies at The Juilliard School was the first of many challenges Charlotte overcame in building her illustrious career – one that has included winning top prizes at the 12th Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition and the Concert Artists Guild Competition, performing on classical music’s biggest stages, and fostering the next generation of musicians as an advocate for classical music through entrepreneurial and philanthropic initiatives.

Today, in addition to her prolific performing career, Charlotte is the founder of two piano festivals across two continents: the Yun-Hsiang International Music Festival in Taipei and the PYPA Piano Festival in Philadelphia. Now in its 12th year, PYPA has become an important fixture in the classical music world, cultivating a deeper appreciation for classical music and serving as a bridge of cultural partnerships between West and East. A tireless advocate for humanity, Charlotte raised $27,000 for youth education charities through a Hope Charity Concert live-streamed on her Facebook page in June 2020. The online concert reached more than 140,000 people across the globe.

With this album’s release, Charlotte Hu announces a metamorphosis of her own – a new name. She says, “When I came to America from Taiwan at the age of 14, my Chinese name was translated to Ching-Yun. Though musical sounding, the translation from Chinese did not reflect its origin. I've long felt the need to embrace my evolving identity. To better reflect this new direction, I have chosen Charlotte Hu as my new stage name. Having lived as Ching-Yun in the media for decades and through so many important life milestones, it was not an easy decision. However, with time, experience, and self-realization comes strength to embrace change. Charlotte, with French origins, means freedom. As a Taiwanese-American, Charlotte embodies the core of my personality and lifelong aspiration to have the courage to act, think, and speak without hindrance or restraint.” 

Charlotte Hu on the music featured on Liszt: Metamorphosis:

“Les jeux d'eau à la Villa d'Este presents Liszt as a composer of vivid, painterly impressions decades before the musical style made famous by Debussy and Ravel. With its waves of whispering and shimmering arpeggios gliding throughout the full range of the keyboard, this work immediately enchants listeners and draws them in.

A collection of five lieder transcriptions speak to a side of Liszt often forgotten – one rooted in his spirituality and deep love for German poetry. These Schubert and Schumann lieder are instantly recognizable to many listeners, and even without their texts, Liszt's mesmerizing transcriptions chart a journey of the heart – reflecting on love and longing, the passage of time, and the supernatural realm that lies beyond what our eyes can see.

The album’s second half offers some of Liszt's most colorful and spirited music. The Three Concert Études are scintillating tone poems that, in terms of cinematic scope, match the power of those he wrote for large orchestra. And the Rhapsodie espagnole brings a showstopping conclusion in an exhilarating celebration of Spanish culture, inspired by the composer's own travels to the Iberian Peninsula in 1845.”

More about Charlotte Hu: An active recording artist, Charlotte Hu’s debut album of Chopin works on ArchiMusic was named Best Classical Album of the Year by Taiwan’s prestigious Golden Melody Award, and recordings released on Naxos/CAG Records and BMOP/sound with Boston Modern Orchestra Project have received overwhelming critical acclaim. Her Rachmaninoff album on Centaur/Naxos received a five-star review by the U.K.’s Pianist magazine, which called it “essential listening for Rachmaninoff admirers.” 

With a dedication to making classical music more accessible, Charlotte Hu presents captivating programs that tell human stories inclusive of gender and race. By juxtaposing audience favorites with underperformed treasures and newly commissioned works, Charlotte’s recitals consistently offer musical and narrative contrasts that encourage people to listen deeply and discover anew the work of even the most well-known composers. 

A Steinway Artist, Charlotte Hu serves as an artist in residence at Temple University in Philadelphia, in addition to her busy performance schedule. She is a frequent guest artist, leading master classes and artist residencies at universities and music festivals worldwide. She holds degrees from The Juilliard School, Cleveland Institute of Music, and Germany’s Hanover University of Music, Drama, and Media, where she studied with Herbert Stessin, Sergei Babayan, and  Karl-Heinz Kammerling, respectively.

Track List: 

Liszt: Metamorphosis
Charlotte Hu, Piano

PENTATONE | Release Date: July 19, 2024

1. Les jeux d'eau à la Villa d'Este, from Années de pèlerinage – Troisième année [7:57]

[2-6] Five Lieder Transcriptions

2. Leise flehen meine Lieder (Schubert) [4:53]
3. Auf dem Wasser zu Singen (Schubert) [4:07]
4. Ave Maria (Schubert) [5:21]
5. Erlkönig (Schubert) [4:31]
6. Widmung (R. Schumann) [4:21]

[7-9] Three Concert Études

7. Il lamento [10:09]
8. La leggierrezza [5:47]
9. Un sospiro [6:13]

10. Rhapsodie espagnole [13:58]

June 8: GRAMMY®-Winning Flutist Brandon Patrick George Brings his Community Concerto Project to the Albany Symphony Led by Music Director David Alan Miller

Photo by Lauren Desberg available in hi-resolution here.

GRAMMY®-Winning Flutist Brandon Patrick George Brings his Community Concerto Project to the Albany Symphony

World Premiere of Flute Concerto by Michael Gilbertson Features
Brandon Patrick George, Albany Symphony, 
& Albany High School Chamber Choir

Saturday, June 8, 2024 at 7:30pm
EMPAC at RPI | 44 8th Street | Troy, NY

Tickets and More information

“a knockout musician with a gorgeous sound”
– The Philadelphia Inquirer

www.brandonpatrickgeorge.com

Albany, NY – GRAMMY®-winning flutist Brandon Patrick George – who has been praised as a “knockout musician with a gorgeous sound” by The Philadelphia Inquirer – brings the inaugural installment of his BPG: Community Concerto Project to the Albany Symphony, conducted by Music Director David Alan Miller, as part of the Symphony’s American Music Festival on Saturday, June 8, 2024 at 7:30pm at EMPAC at RPI (44 8th Street, Troy, NY). Through this ongoing initiative, which is supported by the Ford Foundation, Brandon is partnering with orchestras across the country to commission new flute concertos that involve orchestras' local communities by including students in the process and in the performance. For this partnership, the commissioned composer is Michael Gilbertson, who has written a flute concerto to be performed by Brandon with the Albany Symphony and students from the Albany High School Chamber Choir. The all-American concert program also features Joan Tower’s 1920/2019; the world premiere of Clarice Assad’s Flow, Suite for Piano and Orchestra with Assad as the piano soloist; and Christopher Theofanidis’ On the Bridge of the Eternal.

In November 2023, Brandon Patrick George visited the Albany High School Chamber Choir together with composer Michael Gilbertson, getting to know the students and hearing them perform. Brandon and Michael will also work with the students when they are in Albany during the week leading up to the performance, further solidifying the valuable aspect of mentorship which is a significant part of Brandon’s initiative.

Beginning in May 2020, Brandon Patrick George received frequent invitations to serve on panels about diversity in classical music, being repeatedly asked what institutions can do to support and reflect the communities they serve. These conversations, and desire to use his platform for change, inspired him to create BPG: The Community Concerto Project. Facilitating the creation of a new piece which tells the story of a community, while also representing the community on stage, illustrates Brandon’s vision of working with orchestras to deepen their connections with their audiences, inspire young musicians, and expand the repertoire with programming that reflects the community they serve.

Brandon says, “Community building through musical storytelling is at the core of my initiative. This new set of concertos, beginning with Michael Gilbertson’s, seeks to celebrate community, while supporting arts education, local music programs, and the creation of new music for flute and orchestra. With the flute as soloist, I am creating a new, hopeful story of the Pied Piper. In my version, the piper uses music as a force for change, inspires young people, and uplifts communities through new compositions that reflect their city.”

Michael Gilbertson’s new piece will reflect the sentiments he encountered when visiting students at Albany High School. “After visiting the Albany High School Chamber Choir with Brandon [Patrick George], I decided to adapt Rudyard Kipling's poem If, which is reminiscent of the thoughts expressed by the members of the choir,” he says. “A choral song based on Kipling's text begins the third movement and was the starting point for this work.”

About Brandon Patrick George: Brandon Patrick George is a leading flute soloist and GRAMMY-winning chamber musician whose repertoire extends from the Baroque era to today. He is the flutist of Imani Winds and has appeared as a soloist with the Atlanta, Baltimore, and Albany symphonies, American Composers Orchestra, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, among others. He has been praised as “elegant” by The New York Times, as a “virtuoso” by The Washington Post.

Brandon has performed at the Elbphilharmonie, the Kennedy Center, the Dresden Music Festival, and the Prague Spring Festival. In addition to his work with Imani Winds, Brandon’s solo performances include appearances at Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 92nd Street Y, Tippet Rise, and Maverick Concerts. Additional recent and upcoming performance highlights include concerts presented by the Dayton Philharmonic, Chamber Music Pittsburgh, Hancher Auditorium, Bard Music Festival, and Shriver Hall.

In 2021, Brandon was part of the inaugural class of WQXR’s Artist Propulsion Lab, a program designed to advance the careers of early and mid-career artists and support the future of classical music. During his yearlong residency at WQXR, Brandon guest hosted Evening Music, interviewed Ford Foundation president Darren Walker about diversity and equity in the performing arts, and recorded with pianist Aaron Diehl and harpist June Han.

Brandon's latest album Twofold was released on In a Circle Records in 2024. Twofold explores musical dialogues that transcend space, time, and identity by pairing canonical works for solo flute with new compositions and features music by C.P.E. Bach, Claude Debussy, Reena Esmail, Saad Haddad, Shawn E. Okpebholo, Ruth Crawford Seeger, and Toru Takemitsu. His debut solo album was released in 2020 on Haenssler Classics, and he was featured in The New York Times around the album’s release in an article titled “A Flutist Steps into the Solo Spotlight,” which described the album as “a program that showcases the flute in all its wit, warmth and brilliance."

Raised by a single mother in Dayton, OH, Brandon is the proud product of public arts education. He draws on his personal experiences in his commitment to educating the next generation, performing countless outreach concerts for school children every year, and mentoring young conservatory musicians of color embarking on performance careers. Brandon trained at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the Conservatoire de Paris, and the Manhattan School of Music. He serves on the faculty of the Curtis Institute and the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. www.brandonpatrickgeorge.com

About Michael Gilbertson: The works of Michael Gilbertson have been described as “elegant” and “particularly beautiful” by The New York Times, “vivid, tightly woven” and “delectably subtle” by the Baltimore Sun, “genuinely moving” by The Washington Post, and “a compelling fusion of new and ancient” by The Philadelphia Inquirer. Michael served as BMI Composer in Residence with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, and joined the faculty of SFCM in 2017. He was one of three finalists for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in Music for his Quartet.

Michael Gilbertson’s works have been programmed by the Minnesota Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Washington National Opera, Albany Symphony, New World Symphony, Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Grand Rapids Symphony, and Santa Barbara Symphony, wind ensembles including The United States Marine Band, and professional choirs including Musica Sacra, The Crossing, Volti, Conspirare, The Swedish Radio Choir, and Yale Choral Artists. A graduate of Juilliard and Yale, he has been the recipient of the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Lieberson Fellowship, a Copland House Residency Award, five Morton Gould Awards from ASCAP, and a BMI Student Composer Award.

Michael Gilbertson’s one-act opera Breaking, a collaboration with playwright Caroline McGraw, was commissioned by the Washington National Opera and premiered at The Kennedy Center. He has twice composed and conducted original ballets for the New York City Ballet’s Choreographic Institute. His fifth ballet, a collaboration with choreographer Norbert De La Cruz, was premiered by the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet. From 2009-2021, Gilbertson served as director of ChamberFest Dubuque, an annual music festival that raised money for community music education in his hometown of Dubuque, Iowa. www.michaelgilbertson.net

For Calendar Editors:

Concert details:
Who: Flutist Brandon Patrick George Brings his BPG: Community Concerto Project to the Albany Symphony
What: World Premiere of Composer Michael Gilbertson’s Flute Concerto Plus Music by Joan Tower, Clarice Assad, and Christopher Theofanidis
When: Saturday, June 8, 2024 at 7:30pm
Where: EMPAC at RPI, 44 8th Street, Troy, NY, 12180
Tickets and information: www.albanysymphony.com/upcomingconcerts/2024/6/1/amf

Description: GRAMMY®-winning flutist Brandon Patrick George, praised as a “knockout musician with a gorgeous sound” by The Philadelphia Inquirer, brings the inaugural installment of his BPG: Community Concerto Project to the Albany Symphony as part of the Symphony’s American Music Festival, in the world premiere of a flute concerto by composer Michael Gilbertson, written for Brandon, the Albany Symphony, and the Albany High School Chamber Choir conducted by the Symphony’s Music Director David Alan Miller. The all-American concert program also features Joan Tower’s 1920/2019; the world premiere of Clarice Assad’s Flow, Suite for Piano and Orchestra with Assad as the piano soloist; and Christopher Theofanidis’ On the Bridge of the Eternal.

July 26: The Juilliard String Quartet Plays Schoenberg – The First Release of the Juilliard Quartet’s Complete 1975 Cycle of String Quartets on CD

The Juilliard String Quartet Plays Schoenberg
with the first release of the Juilliard Quartet’s
Complete 1975 Cycle of String Quartets on CD

Album Release Date: July 26, 2024
Reviewer Rate: $30.01 + shipping/handling fees 
Preorder Now

Schoenberg at 150 on Sony Classical

Arnold Schoenberg, one of the most influential musical figures of the 20th century, was born in Vienna in 1874. Sony Classical is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the great composer’s birth with the reissue of 20 CDs of recordings from CBS/American Columbia. The company was a pioneer in documenting Schoenberg’s achievements and already demonstrated that commitment during his lifetime (he died in 1952). In 1940, with the composer conducting, Columbia Masterworks produced the first recording of one of his most captivating and revolutionary works, Pierrot lunaire; and in the 1950s and 60s, the label undertook a ground-breaking multi-volume series entitled “The Music of Arnold Schoenberg”. But arguably no recordings have done more to further the cause of Schoenberg’s orchestral and vocal works than those of Pierre Boulez, while none have done more to promote his chamber music than those by the Juilliard Quartet. Sony Classical now presents all of Boulez’s Schoenberg for CBS/Columbia in a 13-CD box, and all of the Juilliard’s in a 7-disc set.

The Juilliard Quartet brought its “profoundly intelligent” Schoenberg interpretations (Gramophone) into the studio over an even longer span – four decades, beginning with its first traversal of the numbered string quartets in 1951/52 (“Magnificent recordings” – Gramophone). The Juilliard returned to Columbia’s 30th Street Studio in 1975 for a stereo remake of the four “official” quartets, now coupled with the ensemble’s first recording of the early D major Quartet – a charming student work that could almost be mistaken for Dvořák.

But it wasn’t only advances in technology that prompted the Juilliard Quartet to re-record Schoenberg after years of regularly performing the quartets in concert. In an interview about their evolving interpretations with the recording’s producer, the players spoke of an increasingly romantic approach, especially to Nos. 3 and 4, with less emphasis on rhythmic drive but greater emotional intensity. The set won them the 1977 Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance.

The mono and stereo quartet cycles are both included in Sony Classical’s new 7-CD collection of the complete Juilliard Schoenberg recordings. And there are also two Juilliard versions for comparison – one from 1966 (the work’s LP premiere), the other from 1985 – of the extraordinarily intense String Trio which Schoenberg composed in the aftermath of a massive heart attack that caused his heart to stop beating. Something of that experience is reflected in the music. And, apropos comparison, the New York Philharmonic’s recording of Schoenberg’s sumptuous orchestral arrangement of his Verklärte Nacht in the Pierre Boulez collection is complemented here by the leaner original sextet version, with the Juilliard Quartet joined in 1991 by violist Walter Trampler and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

SET CONTENTS - The Juilliard String Quartet Plays Schoenberg

DISC 1:

Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 1, Op. 7 (1952 recording)
Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 4, Op. 37 (1952 recording)

DISC 2:

Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 2 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 10 (1951 recording)
Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 3, Op. 30 (1951 recording)

DISC 3:

Schoenberg: Trio for Violin, Viola and Cello, Op. 45
Schoenberg: Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte, Op. 41 with John Horton and Glenn Gould

DISC 4:

Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 7 (1975 recording)

DISC 5:

Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 2, Op. 10 (1975 recording)
Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 3, Op. 30 (1975 recording)

DISC 6:

Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 4, Op. 37 (1975 recording)
Schoenberg: String Quartet in D Major (1975 recording)

DISC 7:

Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4 with Yo-Yo Ma
Schoenberg: String Trio, Op. 45 with Yo-Yo Ma

June 21: Garden of Memory Celebrated Summer Solstice Concert Back for 2024 – Presented by New Music Bay Area and Chapel of the Chimes

Photo credit: Top: Chris Tompkins;
Bottom Left: John Sanborn; Bottom Middle: Michael Zelner; Bottom Right: John Sanborn

Garden of Memory
Celebrated Summer Solstice Concert Back for 2024
Presented by New Music Bay Area and Chapel of the Chimes

Celebrating Bay Area Performers and Composers

Friday, June 21, 2024, 5-9pm
Chapel of the Chimes | 4499 Piedmont Avenue | Oakland, CA

Parking is limited. Public transit and carpooling are recommended.

Tickets ($20 general, $15 students & seniors, $5 children 5-12)
available through Eventbrite.

No Tickets Sales On-Site; Online Sales Only

More information: www.gardenofmemory.com

Oakland, CA – On Friday, June 21, 2024 from 5-9pm, Garden of Memory – the beloved annual summer solstice celebration presented by New Music Bay Area and Chapel of the Chimes – returns to celebrate the longest day of the year with a rich variety of musical performances. Tickets, which will be available through online sales only, are limited to 2750. Though not required, masks are encouraged for indoor performances.

Described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “a walk-through fun house of musical and visual splendor” and by the East Bay Times as “the best party of the year,” this highly anticipated and locally renowned solstice concert features a cornucopia of performances happening simultaneously around the grounds of the Chapel of the Chimes. Composers, musicians, sound artists, and other performers present a variety of acoustic and electronic music, installations, and interactive events. Listeners are free to explore the multilevel labyrinth of interior gardens, cloisters, stairwells, fountains, alcoves, pools, and antechambers during the performances, each person crafting their own unique musical journey throughout the day.

Select highlights of programming and performers for 2024, with more artists to be announced:

• Pianist Sarah Cahill will perform Mamoru Fujieda's Patterns of Plants

• Pamela Z, a multimedia artist, composer, and pioneer of digital looping techniques

• Kitka, acclaimed women's vocal ensemble

• Harmonic Drift, featuring interactive gongs and found instruments

• Evan Ziporyn GRAMMY-winning composer, conductor, clarinetist, collaborator, who will perform the West Coast premiere of a new work composed for him by Terry Riley

• SORIAH (stage persona of Enrique Ugalde), an internationally-acclaimed throat singer and ritual artist

Additional artists to be featured in this year’s festivities, many of whom are known in the Bay Area, include: Sparrows & Ortolans - Laetitia Sonami & James Fei; Laura Inserra; Brian Baumbusch; Paul Dresher & Joel Davel; Liam Herb; Dylan Mattingly, Kitka; Orchestra Nostalgico; Cardew Choir; Dan Plonsey & friends; Randy Porter & Jennifer Ellis; Andy Meyerson; John Benson; Beth Custer, Will Bernard, & Stephen Kent; Sidney Chen; Gyan Riley; Monica Scott; The Mycos Project; Giacomo Fiore; Wendy Reid & Friends; Edward Schocker; Voicehandler-Jacob Heile & Danishta Rivero; Harmonic Drift; Roco Córdova & Adrián Montúfar; Sruti Sarathy; Tom Djll, Karen Stackpole, Cheryl Leonard; Kaitlin McSweeney; Regular Music; ROVA; Anne Hege; Silvia Matheus; Dean Santomieri, Cindy Sawprano, & Christina Braun .

Garden of Memory offers a unique and personal musical experience to every listener roving freely through the Chapel of the Chimes. Getting lost is part of the experience as guests climb up and down the three floors of this Oakland Historic Landmark building and its unique architectural elements, which rise into vaulted ceilings. Seamless in feel, there are three separate design sections created by four architects; Cunningham & Politeo 1909, Julia Morgan 1926-1951 (consulting until her retirement 1951), Aaron Green 1956-1986 and JST Architects 1986-1998. In the older section the complexity of chapels, columbaria, and mausoleum areas are adorned with murals, paintings, sculpture, mosaics, California tile and 16th century antiquities. All architectural and garden areas have excellent acoustics and are illuminated by gentle natural light, often through beautiful arrangements of stained glass.

Drawing crowds of over four thousand people in past years (including a large number of children), Garden of Memory has become a favorite summer solstice celebration for Bay Area audiences. Since the pandemic, the audience is now limited to 2750. Information about performances, directions, parking, accessibility, food/beverage, and is available at www.gardenofmemory.com.

Since 1996, New Music Bay Area, a nonprofit organization which provides opportunities and information to composers and performers of new music throughout the Bay Area, has hosted the Garden of Memory solstice concert every June 21st from 5pm-9pm. Board president Sarah Cahill came up with the idea after wandering into the Chapel of the Chimes, and now Cahill and Lucy Farber Mattingly organize the concert each year, in collaboration with the small board of New Music Bay Area and the Chapel of the Chimes.

Cahill recalls, “As I meandered around the building, I heard distant organ music, and tried to follow the sound to its source, through a labyrinth of magical gardens and gothic alcoves with the afternoon light filtering through stained glass. I imagined putting musicians all around this maze, so that when you turn a corner you might encounter a string quartet or an electronic music installation or a Georgian choir. So that's what we did.”

Chapel of the Chimes, the largest above-ground cemetery west of the Mississippi, started out as a street car station and became the California Memorial Crematorium and Columbarium in 1909. The property was expanded and transformed by Julia Morgan and later, Aaron Green – a protégé of Frank Lloyd Wright. The lobby and hallways feature artwork by Diego Rivera, a marble table top from the Medici family crest and a page from the Gutenberg Bible.

The facility’s numerous chapels, columbaria, and mausoleum areas are adorned with antiquities that date back to the 16th century. All architectural and garden areas have excellent acoustics and are illuminated by gentle natural light, often through beautiful arrangements of stained glass.

About Sarah Cahill: Sarah Cahill, hailed as “a sterling pianist and an intrepid illuminator of the classical avant-garde” by The New York Times, has commissioned and premiered over seventy compositions for solo piano. Composers who have dedicated works to Cahill include John Adams, Terry Riley, Frederic Rzewski, Pauline Oliveros, Julia Wolfe, Roscoe Mitchell, Annea Lockwood, and Ingram Marshall. She was named a 2018 Champion of New Music, awarded by the American Composers Forum (ACF).

Cahill’s latest project is The Future is Female, an investigation and reframing of the piano literature featuring more than seventy compositions by women around the globe, from the Baroque to the present day, including new commissioned works. Recent and upcoming performances of The Future is Female include concerts at The Barbican, Carolina Performing Arts, National Gallery of Art, Carlsbad Music Festival, Detroit Institute of Arts, University of Iowa, Bowling Green New Music Festival, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, North Dakota Museum of Art, Mayville State University, the EXTENSITY Concert Series’ Women Now Festival in New York, and the Newport Classical Music Festival. Cahill also performed music from The Future is Female for NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert series.

Sarah Cahill’s discography includes more than twenty albums on the New Albion, CRI, New World, Tzadik, Albany, Innova, Cold Blue, Other Minds, Irritable Hedgehog, and Pinna labels. Her three-album series, The Future is Female, was released on First Hand Records between March 2022 and April 2023. These albums encompass 30 compositions by women from around the globe, from the 17th century to the present day, and include many world premiere recordings.

Cahill’s radio show, Revolutions Per Minute, can be heard every Sunday evening from 8-10 pm on KALW, 91.7 FM in San Francisco. She is on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and is a regular pre-concert speaker with the San Francisco Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

For more information, visit www.sarahcahill.com.

San Francisco Girls Chorus Raises $220,000 for Music Education Programs and Scholarship Fund at 45th Anniversary Gala

Photos by Rachel Ziegler Photography available in high resolution here.

San Francisco Girls Chorus Celebrates 45th Anniversary Season with Annual Gala and Auction

Featuring Remarks by San Francisco Mayor London Breed

 Guest Speaker Diane Jones Lowrey

Head of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Common Sense Media 

And Guest Artist Silvie Jensen, Mezzo-Soprano & SFGC Alumna

More information about the San Francisco Girls Chorus: www.sfgirlschorus.org

San Francisco, CA – The San Francisco Girls Chorus (SFGC) celebrated 45 years of empowering young women with its Annual Gala and Auction on Friday, April 26, 2024 at 6pm at the Julia Morgan Ballroom. The event raised over $220,000 in support of SFGC’s Music Education Programs and the Elizabeth Avakian Need-Based Scholarship Fund.

Among the 160 guests enjoying the festivities were San Francisco Mayor London Breed, renowned San Francisco attorneys Paul and Louise Renne, philanthropist Navid Armstrong, co-founder and board president of Clinic by the Bay Janet Reilly, real estate philanthropist Clint Reilly, and Head of DEI at Common Sense Media and the San Francisco Commissioner for the Commission on the Status of Women Diane Jones Lowrey, who was also the featured guest speaker. At the gala, Mayor Breed presented SFGC Artistic Director Valérie Sainte-Agathe with a Proclamation, declaring April 26, 2024 as San Francisco Girls Chorus Day and highlighting the role of SFGC in the cultural life of the city.

The evening began with a cocktail reception with music provided by guitarist Karl McHugh followed by performances by the GRAMMY® Award-winning SFGC Premier Ensemble led by Valérie Sainte-Agathe, the Level IV Ensemble conducted by Monica Baruch, and soloists Samsara Dluzak, Adea Hansen-Whistler and Vibuhti Singh. Guests enjoyed a fine dining experience with artisan wine provided by Whistler Vineyards, as Ann Gray Miller, the President of SFGC’s Board of Directors, welcomed guests to the celebration, recognizing the 45th anniversary year and the Board, staff and faculty in the room. Mezzo-soprano and SFGC Alum Silvie Jensen, a highly sought-after oratorio soloist described by The New York Times as “marvelous,” “elegant,” and “beautiful,” performed throughout the evening.

The 2024 SFGC Gala Committee included chairperson Sarah Hollenbeck, Laura Lane, Ann Gray Miller, Kim Nakahara, John Sanborn, Leah Fitschen Schloss, Sheila Schwartzburg, Alma Sorensen, and Stephanie Wei.

SFGC Gala Table Sponsors included Ryan and Johanna Aipperspach, Shoshana Berger, Jen Bilik, Ellen and Joffa Dale, Charles Ferguson and Kay Dryden, Leah Fitschen Schloss '85 and Randall Schloss, Carol and Richard Harris, Sarah Hollenbeck and David Serrano Sewell, Alison Huang and Jonathan Howe, Ann Gray Miller, Erin Pettigrew and Matthew Fong, Sheila and Thomas Schwartzburg, Julia Trujillo and Richard Bourgon.

The 2024 SFGC Gala was sponsored by The Julia Morgan Ballroom, Image Orthodontics, and Whistler Vineyards.

Fundraising included a live auction and a fund-a-need paddle raise. Led by San Francisco auctioneer Greg Quiroga, guests snapped up a 3-night retreat to the coastal haven of Sea Ranch, California; a day trip to Oliver Ranch in the heart of Sonoma County; a 4-night Parisian getaway; a complete orthodontic treatment courtesy of Image Orthodontics; and an opportunity to conduct SFGC at Davies Hall. All proceeds supported SFGC’s music education program and the Elizabeth Avakian Scholarship Fund, ensuring that every young singer is able to access SFGC’s transformative music education programs.

Since 1978, SFGC has provided girls and young women the unique opportunity not only to perform at the highest artistic caliber, but also to develop self-confidence, leadership skills, and an awareness of the role of the arts in civic engagement. A leader in the Bay Area and national music scenes, SFGC produces award-winning concerts, recordings and tours; empowers young choristers in music and other fields; and sets the international standard for the highest level of performance and education. SFGC has been recognized through numerous honors including five GRAMMY Awards, four ASCAP/Chorus America Awards for Adventurous Programming, and in 2002, becoming the first youth chorus to receive Chorus America's prestigious Margaret Hillis Achievement Award for Choral Excellence. Each year, hundreds of singers of diverse backgrounds from 45 Bay Area cities ranging in age from four to eighteen participate in SFGC’s programs. The organization consists of a six-level Chorus School training program and the Premier Ensemble, a professional-level chorus of treble voices.

Under the direction of Valérie Sainte-Agathe, SFGC has achieved an incomparable sound that underscores the unique clarity and force of impeccably trained treble voices fused with expressiveness and drama. As a result, the SFGC vibrantly performs 1,000 years of choral masterworks from plainchant to the most challenging and nuanced contemporary works, many created expressly for them, in programs that are as intelligently designed as they are enjoyable and revelatory to experience. The SFGC 2023-2024 season is no exception.

More about the San Francisco Girls Chorus: www.sfgirlschorus.org/about

More about Valérie Sainte-Agathe: www.sfgirlschorus.org/valerie-sainte-agathe

The San Francisco Girls Chorus receives support from Grants for the Arts, The Kimball Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Sequoia Trust, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc., The Sam Mazza Foundation, The Bernard Osher Foundation, and the Joseph and Vera Long Foundation.

GatherNYC Sunday Morning Concerts at MAD in Columbus Circle Close Season with Megan Conley May 12 and Kristin Lee & Friends May 26

GatherNYC Continues 2023-2024 Season at Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in Columbus Circle

Every Other Sunday Morning at 11AM

MAY 12 • Ocean Music Action - Honoring Mother Earth: Megan Conley (harp) + friends

MAY 26 • Kristin Lee (violin) + friends

Read about GatherNYC in The Strad!

“thoughtful, intimate events curated with refreshing eclecticism by its founders, the cellist Laura Metcalf and the guitarist Rupert Boyd, complete with pastries and coffee”
– The New Yorker 

“A sweet chamber music series”
– The New York Times

“Impressive Aussie/American led concert series proves music can be a religion.”
– Limelight Magazine 

Museum of Arts and Design | The Theater at MAD | 2 Columbus Circle | NYC

Tickets & Information: www.gathernyc.org

New York, NY – GatherNYC, a revolutionary concert experience founded in 2018 by cellist Laura Metcalf and guitarist Rupert Boyd, continues its 2023-24 season at the series’ home venue, Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) (2 Columbus Circle) with six remaining concerts this spring. The season runs through May 2024, with concerts held every other Sunday at 11am in The Theater at MAD. Coffee and pastries are served before each performance at 10:30am.

Guests at GatherNYC are served exquisite live classical music performed by New York’s immensely talented artists, artisanal coffee and pastries, a taste of the spoken word, and a brief celebration of silence. The entire experience lasts one hour and evokes the community and spiritual nourishment of a religious service – but the religion is music, and all are welcome. 

Spoken word artists perform briefly at the midpoint of each concert, many of whom are winners of The Moth StorySLAM events. “It’s an interesting moment of something completely different from the music, and it often connects with the audience,” Metcalf told Strings magazine in a feature about the series last year. “Then we have a two-minute celebration of silence when we turn the lights down, centering ourselves in the center of the city. Then the lights come back on, and the music starts again out of the silence. We find that the listening and the feeling in the room changes after that.”

Metcalf and Boyd say, “We are thrilled to be returning to the beautiful Museum of Arts and Design, offering 16 concerts throughout our 2023-24 season, our most exciting lineup yet. We look forward to providing our audiences with world-class musical experiences in an intimate, unique setting, complete with spoken word, silence, coffee and a communal, welcoming environment.”

Up next, Sundays, 11AM:

May 12: Ocean Music Action: Honoring Mother Earth
On Mother’s Day, harpist Megan Conley brings her Ocean Music Action project to GatherNYC with a concert paired with a volunteer day of climate action. OMA uses the transformative power of music to inspire greater stewardship of oceans and waterways, and the musical selections are inspired by the natural world. Megan, formerly the principal harpist of the Houston Symphony now living in Honolulu, will be joined by several of her esteemed colleagues from The Knights for a special program honoring mother earth.

May 26: Kristin Lee & Friends
GatherNYC’s 2023-24 season concludes with a celebratory program curated and performed by one of New York City’s most accomplished violinists, Kristin Lee. Kristin enjoys a vibrant and multi-faceted career as a soloist with major orchestras like the Philadelphia Orchestra and St. Louis Symphony, a chamber musician on the roster of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, an Assistant Professor of Violin at the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, and Founder and Artistic Director of Emerald City Music, a chamber music series in Washington State. Kristin and her colleagues will share a virtuosic and exciting program to finish the season.

For tickets and information, visit www.gathernyc.org.

GatherNYC's programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

GRAMMY® Award-Winning American Composer, Collaborator & Guitarist Bryce Dessner Signs Extensive Partnership with Sony Music Masterworks

GRAMMYⓇ Award-Winning American Composer,
Collaborator & Guitarist 
Bryce Dessner

Signs Extensive Partnership with Sony Music Masterworks

Creating A New Home Base
For His Classical Works and Select Soundtracks

Makes Sony Classical Début With New Album Solos
Available Everywhere August 23 – Pre-Order Now

Out Today – Lead Single “Lullaby For Jacques Et Brune”
Listen Here

Featuring Anastasia Kobekina, Colin Currie, Katia Labèque, Lavinia Meijer, Nadia Sirota, Pekka Kuusisto And Bryce Dessner

“Dessner […] moves fluidly between rock and classical and everywhere in between.” 
– The Guardian, October 2021

“Dessner, who closely studied the Labèques’ repertoire, throws all manner of writing at the pianists, who play cascading figures in canon, stuttering syncopations, gently articulated polyrhythms, jabbing chords and twinkling starbursts of notes. The orchestra, mesmerized, follows their lead.” – The New York Times, December 2023

“It’s the sheer brilliance and ebullience of the music, with insistent rhythms that seem to owe as much to rock as they do to Steve Reich.” – The Guardian, February 2024

Sony Music Masterworks announces today, May 3, 2024 a unique far-reaching partnership with versatile composer, sought-after musical collaborator and guitarist Bryce Dessner, who is also a founding member of GRAMMYⓇ Award-winning rock band The National. The newly inked partnership will see Dessner’s classical compositions released on Sony Classical, while sister label Milan Records will continue to be a home for some of his celebrated soundtracks. This innovative tailored approach will give Dessner maximum artistic freedom to pursue these two essential strands of his creative output.

Dessner will make his Sony Classical début on August 23, 2024 with Solos, a collection featuring a series of unaccompanied instrumental works written by the composer over the past few years. Selected from both his classical and soundtrack worlds, the works showcase not only Dessner’s compositional flair but also the immense talent of his acclaimed collaborators, many of whom work regularly with him and are his friends. Featured soloists include cellist Anastasia Kobekina; violinist Pekka Kuusisto; pianist Katia Labèque; harpist Lavinia Meijer; violist Nadia Sirota; percussionist Colin Currie; and Bryce Dessner himself on guitar. Accompanying today’s announcement and album pre-order is the first single from Solos – “Lullaby for Jacques et Brune” – a lullaby for piano, written by Bryce Dessner for his godchildren.

Says Dessner of these pieces:

“Writing a solo piece for me is always a great challenge and joy, as you have all the personality and talent of the player plus the physicality and resonance of the solo instrument, a bit like a Shakespearean monologue. These solo pieces for violin, viola, cello, harp, percussion, guitar and piano represent many years of my compositional process. When I began composing, I mainly wrote solo pieces for myself to play and I have always loved unaccompanied instrumental music – including the solo Bach lute and cello suites and the Renaissance lute fantasies of John Dowland, which I used to play myself on the classical guitar. These pieces of mine are often written like poems, where the musical language itself dictates the form and evolution of the piece, and were often opportunities for me to explore more deeply my relationship to the instruments they were composed for. They also represent in each case close collaborative relationships and friendships I have been very lucky to develop with the incredible musicians who play them. Katia, Pekka, Anastasia, Nadia, Lavinia and Colin are all exceptional artists who brought so much of their amazing talent to these recordings.”   

Dessner is a prolific classical composer, whose output has garnered him a Grammy Award and ranges from intimate chamber pieces and scaled-down works for solo instrumentalists to full orchestral scores and concertos.

In addition to his role as one of eight San Francisco Symphony Collaborative Partners, Bryce Dessner is currently Creative Chair of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, and Artist-in-Residence at London’s Southbank Centre and with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. Major new works include a Piano Concerto premièred by Alice Sara Ott and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich in January 2024 and now being performed internationally; a Concerto for Two Pianos premièred by Katia & Marielle Labèque and the London Philharmonic Orchestra; and a Violin Concerto premièred and performed internationally by Pekka Kuusisto. Dessner’s in-demand compositions have been performed by leading orchestras around the world, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Philharmonia Orchestra of London and San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. 

He has co-founded several new-music festivals, including the Cincinnati-based MusicNOW Festival in 2006, Copenhagen’s Haven Festival and the Cork-based Sounds from a Safe Harbour.

Bryce Dessner’s musical career has been rich and eclectic. Born into a musical family based in Cincinnati, he started out learning the flute as a child before switching to classical guitar in his teenage years, graduating from Yale University with a Masters in Music before finding fame as a founder member, guitarist, arranger and writer for alternative rock band The National.

Alongside his classical compositions, Dessner is also much sought after as a film composer, with recent and upcoming releases including the film Sing Sing starring Colman Domingo (due for release by A24 in summer 2024), limited series Manhunt (released in March 2024 on Apple TV), and John Crowley’s We Live in Time (due for release 2024 on A24). Over the years he has garnered great acclaim for his work on films such as Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant with the late Ryuichi Sakamoto and for his music to Netflix’s Fernando Meirelles’s The Two Popes. Dessner’s many musical collaborations include working with Philip Glass, Johnny Greenwood, Bon Iver, Steve Reich, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Sufjan Stevens, Taylor Swift and Thom Yorke.

Extraordinarily gifted, collaborative, secure in his own musical language and brimming with ideas, Bryce Dessner is a singular talent whose addition to the roster is warmly welcomed as he expands the repertoire with his new music, bringing with him his trademark original deep thinking, enthusiasm for all types of music and forward-thinking creative partnerships.

On this new arrangement with Sony Music, Bryce Dessner commented: “I am very much looking forward to an ongoing collaboration with Sony Music Masterworks and their wonderful team on several upcoming projects around my compositional work.”

Per Hauber, President, Sony Classical added: “As Bryce Dessner embarks on this exciting new chapter with Sony Classical, we look forward to showcasing his extraordinary talent and pushing boundaries of classical music together. We believe Sony Music Masterworks is the ideal new home for his releases and we warmly welcome him!”

Alexander Buhr, SVP International A&R adds: “Bryce is a uniquely gifted composer and musician, and a very important voice in contemporary music. With his broad range of influences and inspirations he crafts music that is daring and ambitious, while making instant emotional connection with the audience. All this is introduced perfectly on Solos. We are very happy to welcome Bryce to the Sony family.”

Bryce Dessner’s music is published by and available from Chester Music, part of the Wise Music Group.

Solos Tracklist

1. Lullaby for Jacques et Brune 2:26
Katia Labèque piano

2. Francis 2:19
Bryce Dessner guitar

3. Tuusula 11:24
Anastasia Kobekina cello

4. Song for Octave 3:42
Katia Labèque piano

5. Tromp Miniature 6:59
Colin Currie percussion

6. Ornament and Crime I 4:16

7. Ornament and Crime II 2:14

8. Ornament and Crime III 6:28
Pekka Kuusisto violin

9. A Good Person 2:42
Katia Labèque piano

10. On a Wire 11:02
Lavinia Meijer harp

11. Walls 2:58
Bryce Dessner guitar

12. Delphica I 7:31

13. Delphica II 4:32
Nadia Sirota viola

14. Ornament III Piano 7:21
Katia Labèque piano

15. Song for Ainola 1:19
Anastasia Kobekina cello

Sony Classical Signs Pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason – First Recital Album to be Released in 2025

© Johanna Berghorn/Sony Classical

Sony Classical Signs Pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason
for First Recital Album to be Released in 2025

Sony Classical is delighted to announce the exclusive signing of pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, who records her first recital album this year for release in Spring 2025.

The 22-year-old British pianist has already impressed critics with her “poetry and confidence” (The Guardian) and as a “vivid soloist” (The Sunday Times) who performs “straight from the heart, with care, sparkle and self-possession” (BBC Music Magazine). Following her début tour of Australia, the Chronicle exclaimed: “There was maturity in performance and interpretation … Effortless, yes. Impressive, even more so – and exciting is probably an understatement.”

Jeneba’s first recording on the label displays her wide-ranging curiosity for repertoire and individual approach to programming, with a recital that juxtaposes works by Frédéric Chopin, Claude Debussy and Alexander Scriabin with music by under-represented composers Margaret Bonds, Florence Price and William Grant Still.

Already an established performer of music by Florence Price, on her 2023 recording of the composer’s Concerto in One Movement, The Observer noted that “Price could have no more persuasive an advocate”. Of her performance of the work at the BBC Proms, the Evening Standard wrote that “she proved an eloquent advocate for the piece with her sensitive yet alert playing”.

Jeneba notes: “I am so happy and honoured to join the prestigious roster of artists at Sony Classical. I can’t remember a time when classical music wasn’t an integral part of my life, and I am a huge advocate for its positive influences and ability to really connect with such a wide range of people. The piano repertoire is enormous and I’m excited to be able to explore it, discovering the old, the new, and to perform pieces by more women, as well as black and minority ethnic composers.”

“I am delighted to welcome Jeneba Kanneh-Mason to Sony Classical. We can’t wait to shape the next steps of Jeneba’s career together with her as her exclusive recording partner.” Per Hauber, President, Sony Classical International

“Jeneba’s musical prowess is simply electrifying. With curiosity and a vibrant spirit, she brings her very own fresh perspective to every piece she plays. We are absolutely thrilled to have Jeneba join the Sony Classical family, bringing her infectious energy to our joint musical journey!” Dr. Alexander Buhr, SVP A&R, Sony Classical International

“We are thrilled that Jeneba is joining the fantastic roster of artists at Sony Classical. From the beginning of our discussions with the label, it was clear that the whole international team understood Jeneba’s needs and wishes as a young pianist, starting to forge her own path. We look forward to a close and collaborative relationship with the label and can’t wait to see what the future will bring!” Kathryn Enticott, Enticott Music Management

Jeneba, who was a finalist in the 2018 BBC Young Musician competition and a recent Classic FM Rising Star, completes her studies at the Royal College of Music this summer, where she holds the Victoria Robey Scholarship. Pianist magazine celebrates Jeneba’s signing to Sony Classical by featuring her on the June cover.

“I’ve wanted to be a pianist for as long as I can remember and it feels like a wonderful opportunity to work with the label and to have their confidence and support. I will look forward to our first recording!” Jeneba is well on track as she joins the Sony Classical roster and begins her journey alongside eminent fellow pianists Leif Ove Andsnes, Khatia Buniatishvili and Igor Levit, as well as historical legends such as Glenn Gould and Arthur Rubinstein.

Biography

Pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason was a finalist in the 2018 BBC Young Musician and made her London début in 2020 at the age of 18, performing Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra. In the same year she gave the UK première of Florence Price’s Concerto in One Movement with Chineke! at the Royal Festival Hall, returning to the work for her first BBC Proms appearance in 2021.

Early reviews encapsulate the young pianist’s talent:

“Poised, polished, professional and full of the joy of music-making … It’s rare to find such a youthful pianist able to listen to and blend with an orchestra quite so expertly” – The Arts Desk.

“Kanneh-Mason is perfectly attuned to Price’s world – her clarity is remarkable … Although still at music college, it is clear this is a name that will be one to watch” – Seen and Heard International.

Now, three years later, as she completes her studies at the Royal College of Music, Jeneba is ready to embrace the future. Having recently returned from the United States, where she made her début with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, she is currently preparing for a recital tour that takes her across the UK and culminates at London’s Wigmore Hall in September.

Highlights of the 2024/25 season include performances with the Philharmonia and Marin Alsop, as well as débuts with the Munich Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lyon, Stockholm Philharmonic and Royal Philharmonic. This autumn Jeneba also tours with the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra performing Chopin’s and Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concertos in concert throughout the UK.

Jeneba holds the Victoria Robey Scholarship at the Royal College of Music, where she has been studying piano with Vanessa Latarche. She is grateful to Lady Robey, to The Nottingham Soroptimist Trust and to The Nottingham Education Trust, who have all supported her studies and early career.

May 18: Pianists Sarah Cahill & Regina Myers Presented by New Performance Traditions in Duo Concert Program featuring Music for Four Hands and Two Pianos

Pianists Sarah Cahill and Regina Myers
Presented by New Performance Traditions

Performing Music by Hanna Kulenty,
Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington (transcribed by Jed Distler),
Mamoru Fujieda, Eleanor Alberga, Riley Nicholson, and Colin McPhee

Dresher Ensemble Studio | 2201 Poplar Street | Oakland, CA
Saturday, May 18, 2024 at 7pm

Tickets and More Information

“Pianist Sarah Cahill commands a near-godlike status among fans of contemporary classical music” – NPR Music

www.sarahcahill.com | www.reginamusic.com

Oakland, CA – On Saturday, May 18, 2024 at 7pm, pianists Sarah Cahill and Regina Myers will be presented together in concert at the Dresher Ensemble Studio (2201 Poplar Street). Cahill and Myers will perform a duo program featuring works for four hands and two pianos: Van by Hanna Kulenty, Tonk? by Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington (transcribed by Jed Distler), Sprites in a Large Camphor Tree by Mamoru Fujieda, 3-Day Mix by Eleanor Alberga, Up by Riley Nicholson, and Balinese Ceremonial Music by Colin McPhee. Nicholson will be present at the performance to speak about his work.

Cahill, known not only for her solo artistry but also her collaborative spirit, has a long and well-established relationship with fellow Bay Area musician Regina Myers. The two pianists have collaborated on many occasions, most recently for a duo performance at the 2023 Flower Piano festival, which The Rehearsal Studio wrote “deserved attentive listening.” It was at this performance that the two friends and colleagues gave the U.S. premiere of Mamoru Fujieda’s Sprites in a Large Camphor Tree. They also collaborated in 2022 on a performance which included the world premiere of Riley Nicholson’s Up –– a 35 minute work commissioned by Cahill and Myers.

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.”

Jamaican-born, British composer Eleanor Alberga wrote 3-Day Mix in 1991. Alberga explains of her work 3-Day Mix: “As implied by the title, 3-Day Mix was written in 3 days when, with very short notice, an opportunity to compose a piano duet for a concert came about in 1991. This work…contains jazzy elements, but the melodic lines over ostinato figures appear in all my other ‘light’ works. It lasts about 9 minutes and is meant to be no more than a fun piece.”

Riley Nicholson says of his four-movement epic work: “Up’s one unifying theme is simply that: ‘up.’ The piece moves ‘up’ in so many directions: literally, opening with an upward motif that gets pinged between pianos in a groovy, dizzying counterpoint; gradually with increasing frequency moving up the circle of fifths; with upbeat syncopations and tempi; constantly one-upping itself with a burgeoning energy that trips over itself with virtuosic fits; and many other upward motions and themes. Up is a manic trip that both explores joyous energy and that darker underbelly of positivity when energy and motion become simply too much to be contained.”

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."

Polish composer Hanna Kulenty composed "VAN..." in 2014 at the request of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Warsaw on the occasion of the State Visit of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands. It premiered during the Warsaw Autumn Festival. "VAN..." playfully explores minimalist patterns during which the pianists' hands collide as they continue each other's patterns.

Colin McPhee (1900-1964) was both a composer and an academic. His musical style has come to be known for an acute sensitivity to specific timbres and an appreciation for complex rhythmic textures. A three movement work, each of the sections of Balinese Ceremonial Music were arranged between 1934 and 1938. The two pianos heard together in the music manifest a type of ringing –– much like the metallophones of the gamelan –– effortlessly imparting a sonic quality of the gamelan to the instrumental medium of the piano.

About Sarah Cahill: Sarah Cahill, hailed as “a sterling pianist and an intrepid illuminator of the classical avant-garde” by The New York Times, has commissioned and premiered over seventy compositions for solo piano. Composers who have dedicated works to Cahill include John Adams, Terry Riley, Frederic Rzewski, Pauline Oliveros, Julia Wolfe, Roscoe Mitchell, Annea Lockwood, and Ingram Marshall. She was named a 2018 Champion of New Music, awarded by the American Composers Forum (ACF). Sarah Cahill’s discography includes more than twenty albums on the New Albion, CRI, New World, Tzadik, Albany, Innova, Cold Blue, Other Minds, Irritable Hedgehog, and Pinna labels. Her three-album series, The Future is Female, was released on First Hand Records between March 2022 and April 2023. These albums encompass 30 compositions by women from around the globe, from the 17th century to the present day, and include many world premiere recordings.

Cahill’s radio show, Revolutions Per Minute, can be heard every Sunday evening from 8 to 10pm on KALW, 91.7 FM in San Francisco. She is on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory and is a regular pre-concert speaker with the San Francisco Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

For more information, visit www.sarahcahill.com.

About Regina Myers: Regina performs as a solo artist and with ensembles around the Bay Area. She received a Bachelor's degree in Piano Performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a Master's in Piano Performance and Literature from Mills College, where she focused on new and experimental music under the guidance of pianist Marc Shapiro, ensemble leader and composer Steed Cowart and percussion master William Winant. In 2004 she founded the concert series, and now ensemble, New Keys: New Keys' mission is to surface and promote the newest and most innovative music for the piano. We challenge composers to explore the vast untapped potential of the piano and strive to craft the experience of a piano recital as both captivating and approachable for our audience. Before going on hiatus to rapidly and accidentally expand her family, Regina proudly taught piano to beloved students for 17 years.

She has participated in the Hot Air, Switchboard, Garden of Memory Summer Solstice and SF Friends of Chamber Music SF Music Day music festivals and has had the honor of playing many concerts with the William Winant Percussion Group as well as the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. She can be heard on Luciano Chessa's album Petrolio, Danny Clay/Joseph Colombo LP (with New Keys) and on Eighty Trips Around the Sun: Music by and for Terry Riley on which she plays four-hand music by Terry Riley with her duo partner Sarah Cahill. Regina prides herself on expanding the reach of new music for piano by commissioning new works and organizing concerts for their premieres and recording. She relishes working with young and emerging composers as well as keeping seminal new music masterpieces alive.

For Calendar Editors:

Description: Pianist Sarah Cahill, described by NPR Music as “command[ing] a near-godlike status among fans of contemporary classical music,” and pianist Regina Myers, are presented together in concert at the Dresher Ensemble Studio with pianist Regina Myers. Cahill and Myers will perform a concert program of various works for four hands and two pianos, including Van by Hanna Kulenty, Tonk by Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington (transcribed by Jed Distler), Sprites in a Large Camphor Tree by Mamoru Fujieda, 3-Day Mix by Eleanor Alberga, Up by Riley Nicholson, and Balinese Ceremonial Music by Colin McPhee. Riley Nicholson will be present at the performance to speak about his work.

Short description: Pianists Sarah Cahill and Regina Myers are presented together in concert at The Dresher Ensemble Studio. The duo performance will include music by Hanna Kulenty, Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington (transcribed by Jed Distler), Mamoru Fujieda, Eleanor Alberga, Riley Nicholson, and Colin McPhee. Nicholson will be at the performance to speak about his work.

Concert details:
Who: Pianists Sarah Cahill and Regina Myers
Presented by New Performance Traditions
What: Music by Hanna Kulenty, Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington (transcribed by Jed Distler), Mamoru Fujieda, Eleanor Alberga, Riley Nicholson, and Colin McPhee.
When: Saturday, May 18, 2024 at 7pm
Where: Dresher Ensemble Studio, 2201 Poplar Street, Oakland, CA 94607
Tickets and information: www.dresherensemble.org/performances

May 19: San Francisco Girls Chorus Presents Premier Ensemble with Leading Percussionist and Composer Haruka Fujii

Photo of Haruka Fujii by DNPhollyhock ERIKO WATANABE. Press photos at www.sfgirlschorus.org/press-room

The San Francisco Girls Chorus Presents its
Premier Ensemble with Percussionist & Composer Haruka Fujii

Valérie Sainte-Agathe, SFGC Artistic Director

Sunday, May 19, 2024 at 3pm
San Francisco Conservatory of Music | 50 Oak Street | San Francisco, CA
Tickets & Information: www.sfgirlschorus.org/performances

San Francisco, CA –The San Francisco Girls Chorus (SFGC) continues its 2023-2024 season, celebrating 45 years of empowering young women, with a performance by the SFGC Premier Ensemble joined by percussionist and composer Haruka Fujii and conducted by SFGC Artistic Director Valérie Sainte-Agathe on Sunday, May 19, 2024 at 3pm at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (50 Oak Street).

The concert will take listeners around the world, listening to messages of hope for future generations. It features the world premiere of Fujii’s new work titled Dareno Chikyu, commissioned by and written for SFGC; Belong Not by Aviya Kopelmann, originally written for SFGC’s 2019 fully staged choral music and dance co-production with Berkeley Ballet Theater, Rightfully Ours; Bring Me Little Water, Silvy by Huddie Ledbetter arranged by Moira Smiley; Letters to God by Akira Miyoshi based on the 2008 Japanese book compiling children’s letters to God; the South African prayer song Ndikhokhele Bawo arranged by Michael Barrett; and the world premiere of Toro Ya Alkebulan by Mokale Copeng, commissioned for SFGC's upcoming South Africa tour by Classical Movements as part of the Eric Daniel Helms New Music Program, featuring words adapted from the poem “He Had a Dream, an African Dream” by Njeri Wangari.

“I am thrilled to welcome Haruka Fujii as our guest artist. Since our first meeting in June 2023 during our opera production Tomorrow’s Memories: A Little Manila Diary by Matthew Welch, our collaboration has been effortless and an obvious match,” says SFGC Artistic Director Valérie Sainte-Agathe. “Haruka's experience as a professional performer, her precision, musicianship, and creativity set a high standard for young professionals. I am also proud that we have commissioned her first work for choral singers, contributing to our mission to develop the repertoire of choral music for young singers. Together, with chorus and percussion, we are forging new paths in the world of new music.”

Haruka Fujii’s new piece sets survey responses she received from members of the San Francisco Girls Chorus answering two questions: What are the words that come to your mind when you think about the state of the world we live in today? And, what do you want the adults in your world to do to make your future brighter?

Fujii says, “Their words, expressing their views, frustrations, anger, and hopes, were painfully raw and pure, and so inspiring that it did not require much time to come up with the music to accompany their beautiful emotions. These young artists’ perspectives, and the process of creating this work have given me hope to share with my ten-year-old daughter for her future.”

One of the most prominent solo percussionists and marimbists of her generation, Haruka Fujii has won international acclaim for her interpretations of contemporary music, having performed numerous premieres of works from luminary composers, and appeared as a soloist with orchestras including the San Francisco Symphony, Munich Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and more. Since 2010, she has performed as an artist of the Grammy Award-winning Silkroad Ensemble, joining a group of international musicians founded by Yo-Yo Ma, and serves as one of the artistic leadership team alongside with the artistic director Rhiannon Giddens. Her interest in percussion was influenced by her mother, noted marimbist Mutsuko Fujii. She studied music at the Tokyo National University, the Juilliard School, and the Mannes College of Music. Fujii previously collaborated with SFGC on the world premiere of the choral opera Tomorrow’s Memories: A Little Manila Diary by Matthew Welch.

Since 1978, SFGC has provided girls and young women the unique opportunity not only to perform at the highest artistic caliber, but also to develop self-confidence, leadership skills, and an awareness of the role of the arts in civic engagement. A leader in the Bay Area and national music scenes, SFGC produces award-winning concerts, recordings and tours; empowers young women in music and other fields; and sets the international standard for the highest level of performance and education. SFGC has been recognized through numerous honors including five GRAMMY Awards, four ASCAP/Chorus America Awards for Adventurous Programming, and in 2002, becoming the first youth chorus to receive Chorus America's prestigious Margaret Hillis Achievement Award for Choral Excellence. Each year, hundreds of singers of diverse backgrounds from 45 Bay Area cities ranging in age from age four to eighteen participate in SFGC’s programs. The organization consists of a six-level Chorus School training program and the Premier Ensemble, a professional-level chorus of treble voices.

Under the direction of Valérie Sainte-Agathe, SFGC has achieved an incomparable sound that underscores the unique clarity and force of impeccably trained treble voices fused with expressiveness and drama. As a result, the SFGC vibrantly performs 1,000 years of choral masterworks from plainchant to the most challenging and nuanced contemporary works, many created expressly for them, in programs that are as intelligently designed as they are enjoyable and revelatory to experience.

SFGC's season continues on May 30, 2024, when the Chorus School will showcase singers from Levels 1 through IV at its annual Chorus School Spring Concert at the Oakland Scottish Rite Center, coming together to celebrate their accomplishments from the year individually and as a school. The performance will feature the world premiere of a new work by SFGC Chorus School composer-in-residence Sahba Aminikia. On June 22, SFGC will perform at the Kronos Quartet’s 2024 Kronos Festival at SF Jazz. This summer, Level IV Choristers will travel to Caen, France for a two-week intensive rehearsal and performance process culminating in the world premiere multi-disciplinary opera O Future by composer Thierry Pécou.

More about the San Francisco Girls Chorus: www.sfgirlschorus.org/about
More about Valérie Sainte-Agathe: www.sfgirlschorus.org/valerie-sainte-agathe
More about Haruka Fujii: www.harukafujii.com/about

San Francisco Girls Chorus - Upcoming Highlights 

SFGC Premier Ensemble with Percussionist & Composer Haruka Fujii
May 19, 2024 at 3pm
San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak St, San Francisco, CA

Chorus School Spring Concert
Featuring a World Premiere by SFGC Composer-in-Residence Sahba Aminikia
May 30, 2024
Oakland Scottish Rite Center, 1547 Lakeside Dr, Oakland, CA 94612 

Tickets & information: www.sfgirlschorus.org 

The San Francisco Girls Chorus receives support from Grants for the Arts, The Kimball Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Sequoia Trust, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc., The Sam Mazza Foundation, The Bernard Osher Foundation, and the Joseph and Vera Long Foundation.

May 17-18: Emerald City Music Presents Mother – Two Evenings of Music and Visual Storytelling Featuring the World Premiere of a Film by Carlin Ma

Photo of Carlin Ma by Elle Logan. Hi-Resolution available here.

Emerald City Music Presents Mother
Two Evenings of Music and Visual Storytelling
Featuring the World Premiere of a Film by Carlin Ma

“[Emerald City Music is] creating a welcoming and more inclusive
environment for intimate music-making” – The Seattle Times

Friday, May 17, 2024 at 8pm
415 on Westlake | 415 Westlake Avenue N | Seattle, WA
Tickets

Saturday, May 18, 2024 at 7:30pm
The Minnaert Center for the Arts | 2011 Mottman Rd SW | Olympia, WA
Tickets

www.emeraldcitymusic.org

Seattle & Olympia, WA – For its Season 08 finale, Emerald City Music (ECM) –– deemed “the beacon for the casual-classical movement” by City Arts Magazine –– presents a special program titled Mother, over two evenings on Friday, May 17, 2024 at 8pm in Seattle at 415 on Westlake (415 Westlake Avenue N) and Saturday, May 18, 2024 at 7:30pm in Olympia at The Minnaert Center for the Arts (2011 Mottman Rd SW). Featuring the world premiere of an ECM-commissioned documentary by filmmaker Carlin Ma, this Mother’s Day-minded program blends Ma’s community-based visual storytelling with the music of Antonín Dvorák, Clara Schumann, Amy Beach, Anna Clyne, and Johannes Brahms, performed by Mezzo Soprano Erica Convery; Pianist Oksana Ejokina; Violinists Kristin Lee, Sunmi Chang, Vanessa Moss, Karin Choo, Sol Im, Annika Kounts; Violists Erin Wight, Aaron Conitz, Elizabeth Boardman Cellists Christine Lee, Page Smith-Bilks, and Holly Reeves; Bassists Mas Podgorny, Ross Gilliland, and Ramon Salumbides.

Mothers are foundational to the human experience: a figure in the lives of every person – whether one associates as positive or negative, joyful or complex feelings with their own mother. Yet center-lane celebrations of Mother’s Day do not provide a wholly adequate platform for expressing the immensity of these complex relationships. In this collaborative initiative, Emerald City Music aligns the mediums of film and live music together to explore the true diverse stories of Pacific Northwesterners that coalesce to define one word: “mother.” These challenging and inspirational accounts – as told by community members and captured by filmmaker Carlin Ma – are presented alongside works by Dvorák, Brahms, Anna Clyne, and more that musically give voice to this ubiquitous theme.

Ma says of her film’s meaning and what she hopes comes from watching her work:

“To understand our essence and story, we must understand what formed us… our mothers. We need to recognize inherited patterns and decide whether to grasp or let go. It has been a humbling journey, collecting the kaleidoscope of human experiences and weaving them together into a cohesive mosaic, with representation across age, class, and race.

Short film chapters are juxtaposed between each musical selection. This way, audiences may digest their emotional reactions to each film through the music. My goal is to spark earnest conversations, so that we can share what really matters to our being, from the beautiful to the challenging. We need to listen and learn from one another. Then, we can truly connect, building towards hope and healing.”

Emerald City Music is the Pacific Northwest home for eclectic, intimate, and vibrant classical chamber music experiences. Known for its casual environment combined with performances by award-winning musicians, ECM encourages attendees to enjoy its flagship “date-night experience” at 415 on Westlake, which features an open bar and a “wander-around” concert setting with no stage dividing the audience from the musicians. The Seattle Times calls ECM’s programming “very different,” praising its “nontraditional atmosphere” which allows for “artists [to] mingle with the audience during the intermission.” To reach audiences beyond its live presentations, all of ECM’s concerts are recorded and made available on Emerald TV, ECM’s subscription-based streaming platform for performances and additional video content.

About Carlin Ma: Seeking means of discovery and expression, Carlin Ma has dedicated her life to music and the arts, including filmmaking, photography, solo piano, chamber music, and interdisciplinary projects.  As a professional photographer and filmmaker, she has collaborated with institutions such as Aspen Music Festival, Seattle Symphony, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Music@Menlo. Special merit recognitions include front page feature in Symphony Magazine, publications in major news outlets like New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle, and 1st place Aspen Chamber of Commerce Photo Contest. Carlin has been the resident photographer for Emeraldy City Music since their opening 2016.

As a pianist, she has performed at international prestigious venues including the Kennedy Center, Ravinia Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Capella Hall (Russia), and more. She finds it equally meaningful to initiate performances in local venues, including the inaugural Seattle Musicians@Google. As a pedagogue, she credits her mentors, including Menahem Pressler, Yoshi Nagai, Arnaldo Cohen, Evelyne Brancart, Emile Naoumoff, and Karen Taylor. Carlin was the Associate Instructor at Indiana University. In 2021-2023, Steinway & Sons awarded her with “Top Piano Teacher in Seattle” for her private studio.

Carlin finds music and film/photo emerging from the same internal chord, which has led to many interdisciplinary projects. He is Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Hawaii International Music Festival, creating projects that interweave classical music with Hawaiian inspirations. Seattle Symphony also invited her as an interdisciplinary artist in Octave 9’s inaugural season. Fostering perpetual discovery for herself and others is her committed passion.

About Kristin Lee, ECM Artistic Director: Emerald City Music’s founding Artistic Director Kristin Lee is a violinist of remarkable versatility and impeccable technique who enjoys a vibrant career as a soloist, chamber musician, educator, and artistic director. “Her technique is flawless, and she has a sense of melodic shaping that reflects an artistic maturity,” writes the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and The Strad reports, “She seems entirely comfortable with stylistic diversity, which is one criterion that separates the run-of-the-mill instrumentalists from true artists.” As a soloist, Lee has appeared with leading orchestras including The Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Hawai’i Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Ural Philharmonic of Russia, Korean Broadcasting Symphony, Guiyang Symphony Orchestra of China, and Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional of Dominican Republic. She has performed on the world’s finest concert stages, including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Kennedy Center, Kimmel Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Ravinia Festival, the Louvre Museum, the Phillips Collection, and Korea’s Kumho Art Gallery. An accomplished chamber musician, Kristin Lee became a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center after winning The Bowers Program audition and completing the program's three-year residency. In addition to her prolific performance career, Lee is a devoted educator. She is on the faculty of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music as an Assistant Professor of Violin. Kristin Lee’s honors include an Avery Fisher Career Grant and top prizes in the Walter W. Naumburg Competition and the Astral Artists National Auditions. Born in Seoul, Lee moved to the United States and studied under prestigious teachers including Sonja Foster, Catherine Cho, Dorothy DeLay, Donald Weilerstein, and Itzhak Perlman. Lee holds a Master’s degree from The Juilliard School. Lee’s violin was crafted in Naples, Italy in 1759 by Gennaro Gagliano and is generously loaned to her by Paul & Linda Gridley. For more information, visit www.violinistkristinlee.com.

About ECM: Emerald City Music (ECM) is the Pacific Northwest home for eclectic, intimate, and vibrant classical chamber music experiences. Deemed "the beacon for the casual-classical movement" (CityArts), ECM hosts world-renowned musicians in unique concert experiences. Founded in 2015, Emerald City Music produces and tours seven productions annually, with each tour visiting Seattle’s South Lake Union (415 Westlake, a chic contemporary venue with an open bar), Olympia’s Minnaert Center (a 495 seat modern concert hall), a once annual concert at the Bellingham Music Festival, and an annual concert in New York City.

ECM has gained recognition regionally and nationally as a major player in the chamber music scene. Emerald City Music made a name for itself beginning in its second season with a national collaborative commission with Grammy-winning composer John Luther Adams, and has continued to press the boundary of chamber music with accolades like a tour of Steve Reich’s iconic and rare Music for 18 Musicians, a pitch-black performance of Georg Haas’s “In the Dark” quartet, and the West Coast debut of the Danish folk group The Dreamers’ Circus.

ECM values real, authentic connection and holds the belief that music possesses the innate power to connect people, inclusive of varying backgrounds and perspectives. Over eight years, artists from every corner of the globe have visited Emerald City Music to prove just that: there exists a special connection between artist and listener that only music can facilitate.

Follow ECM on Social Media

Facebook: www.facebook.com/emeraldcitymusic
Instagram: www.instagram.com/emeraldcitymusic

May 4 & 7: Telegraph Quartet Presented by Berkeley Chamber Performances in Two Concerts

Photo of the Telegraph Quartet by Lisa Marie Mazzucco available in high resolution at: www.jensenartists.com/artists-profiles/telegraph-quartet

Telegraph Quartet Presented by
Berkeley Chamber Performances on May 4 and 7

Performing the Music of
Fanny Mendelssohn, Kenji Bunch, and Antonin Dvořák

Saturday, May 4, 2024 at 7:30pm
Lafayette Library | 3491 Mount Diablo Blvd. | Lafayette, CA

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 at 7:30pm
Berkeley City Club | 2315 Durant Ave. 2nd floor | Berkeley, CA

Tickets and More information

New Album: Divergent Paths (Azica Records)
Available Now

“The programming … bespeaks a wonderful boldness of spirit, and the [Quartet’s] performances, which are vibrant and full of exploratory fervor, follow through beautifully.” – San Francisco Chronicle

www.TelegraphQuartet.com

Berkeley, CA – The San Francisco-based Telegraph Quartet (Eric Chin and Joseph Maile, violins; Pei-Ling Lin, viola; Jeremiah Shaw, cello), a group described by The Strad as having "precise tuning, textural variety and impassioned communication,” will be presented in concert by Berkeley Chamber Performances on Saturday, May 4 at Lafayette Library (3491 Mount Diablo Blvd.) and Tuesday, May 7, 2024 at the Berkeley City Club (2315 Durant Ave. 2nd floor), performing the music of Fanny Mendelssohn, Kenji Bunch, and Antonin Dvořák.

The Telegraph Quartet formed in 2013 with an equal passion for standard and contemporary chamber music repertoire. Described by the San Francisco Chronicle as, “an incredibly valuable addition to the cultural landscape” and “powerfully adept… with a combination of brilliance and subtlety,” the Telegraph Quartet was awarded the prestigious 2016 Walter W. Naumburg Chamber Music Award and the Grand Prize at the 2014 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. For these two concerts, the award-winning quartet will perform an array of works shaped by a mix of personal relationships, cultural experiences, and stylistic adventurousness.

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel wrote her String Quartet in the shadow of her highly praised brother Felix, taking a bold step and ultimately choosing to embrace her own musical voice rather than defer to a style or form that would have been more accepted by her sibling and long-time musical confidant. American composer Kenji Bunch’s third string quartet, Apocryphal Dances, is inspired by 17th century French dance music but the 12 minute work is not written with ardent fixation on the style. Bunch’s intent is for a light and lively experience between the performance of the quartet and the listening audience. Shifts in the melody, chord progressions, and rhythmic structure lead the work to reflect qualities of various musical styles. Dvořák crafted his String Quartet No. 14 in A flat-major –– his final chamber piece –– in two stages: starting around March 1895 when he was scheduled to depart the United States to return to his homeland and then revisiting the work in December 1895, after writing his Quartet in G Major. He finished the A flat-major in just under three weeks and the music largely reflects Dvořák’s spiritual temperament during this time, which was one of uplifting positivity and joy

The Telegraph Quartet’s latest album, 20th Century Vantage Points: Divergent Paths, was released on August 25 via Azica Records. The first in the Telegraph’s three-album series focused on string quartets of the first half of the 20th century, Divergent Paths explores the bewildering and unbridled creativity of the period through the music of Arnold Schoenberg and Maurice Ravel, whose music on this album weaves threads of great contrast and surprising similarity. The album has been met with critical acclaim, with The New York Times reporting, “[I]n the Schoenberg, they achieve something truly special, meticulously guiding its often wayward progress. At times Schoenberg makes the four strings sound almost orchestral, but the Telegraph players can also make his contrapuntal tangles radiantly clear. Every minute of their account sounds gripping and purposeful, which is one of the highest compliments you can pay the piece.”

More about Telegraph Quartet: The Telegraph Quartet has performed in New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Chamber Masters Series, and at festivals including the Chautauqua Institute, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, and the Emilia Romagna Festival. They have collaborated with pianists Leon Fleisher and Simone Dinnerstein; cellists Norman Fischer and Bonnie Hampton; violinist Ian Swensen; composer-vocalist Theo Bleckmann; St. Lawrence Quartet, and the Henschel Quartett. A fervent champion of 20th- and 21st-century repertoire, the Telegraph Quartet has premiered works by John Harbison, Osvaldo Golijov, Robert Sirota, and Richard Festinger. In 2018 the Quartet released its debut album, Into the Light, featuring works by Anton Webern, Benjamin Britten, and Leon Kirchner on the Centaur label. The Telegraph Quartet released its new album, 20th Century Vantage Points: Divergent Paths––which features Ravel’s renowned quartet and Schoenberg’s first quartet––on August 25 via Azica Records.

Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Quartet is currently on the chamber music faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as the Quartet-in-Residence and has given master classes at the SFCM Collegiate and Pre-College Divisions, through the Morrison Artist Series at San Francisco State University, and abroad at the Taipei National University of the Arts, National Taiwan Normal University, and in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Telegraph has also served as artists-in-residence at the Interlochen Adult Chamber Music Camp, SoCal Chamber Music Workshop, and Crowden Music Center Chamber Music Workshop. In November 2020, the Telegraph Quartet launched ChamberFEAST!, a chamber music workshop in Taiwan and in fall 2020, Telegraph launched an online video project called TeleLab, in which the ensemble collectively breaks down the components of a movement from various works for quartet.

For more information, visit www.telegraphquartet.com.

For Calendar Editors:

Description: The award-winning Telegraph Quartet, described by The New York Times as being “full of elegance and pinpoint control,” is presented in two performances by Berkeley Chamber Performances on Saturday, May 4 and Tuesday May 7, 2024, at 7:30pm. The Bay Area ensemble performs music heavily shaped by the composers’ personal experiences and relationships, written in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries: Fanny Mendelssohn’s String Quartet (1834), Kenji Bunch’s String Quartet No. 3 (2017), and Antonin Dvořák’s String Quartet No. 14 in A-flat Major, Op. 105 B. 193 (1895).

Short description: The Telegraph Quartet, an ensemble “full of elegance and pinpoint control” (The New York Times), is presented in two concerts by Berkeley Chamber Performances on Saturday May 4 and Tuesday May 7, 2024, at 7:30pm. For each concert, the ensemble will perform the music of Fanny Mendelssohn, Kenji Bunch, and Antonin Dvořák.

Concert details:

Who: Telegraph Quartet
Presented by Berkeley Chamber Performances
What: Music by Fanny Mendelssohn, Kenji Bunch, and Antonin Dvořák
When & Where:
Saturday, May 4, 2024 at 7:30pm
Lafayette Library, 3491 Mount Diablo Blvd., Lafayette, CA 94549
Tuesday May 7, 2024 at 7:30pm
Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave 2nd floor, Berkeley, CA 94704

Tickets and information: www.berkeleychamberperform.org/telegraph-quartet

May 17: Magdalena Kuźma Explores the Concept of Home in Newport Classical's Next Chamber Series Concert

Photo by Dario Acosta available in high resolution here.

Magdalena Kuźma Sings Barber, Rachmaninoff, and Chopin

Friday, May 17, 2024 at 7:30 PM
Newport Classical Recital Hall | 42 Dearborn St | Newport, RI
Tickets and Information

“a voice that instantly engages the listener: shining, free, and lustrous”
– Seen and Heard International

Newport, RI – Following its sold-out performance by the Balourdet Quartet in April, Newport Classical presents its next Chamber Series concert featuring soprano Magdalena Kuźma on Friday, May 17, 2024 at 7:30pm at Newport Classical Recital Hall (42 Dearborn St.). Kuźma’s Newport Classical program explores the idea of home with works by Tom Cipullo, Frédéric Chopin, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Stefania Turkewich, Samuel Barber, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, and Meredith Willson.

Newport Classical's Chamber Series takes place at Newport Classical Recital Hall in downtown Newport, known for its striking architecture and excellent acoustics. The Chamber Series reaffirms Newport Classical’s commitment to year-round classical music programming. Audiences are invited to enjoy performances by world-class classical musicians in a relaxed setting, with a complimentary glass of wine from Greenvale Vineyards. Both performers and audience members alike have described these concerts as some of their favorites. “The energy of [the] performers and audience was amazing. A truly culturally diverse audience, something we all strive for in the arts,” raved one attendee.

Praised as a “standout” with “star quality” by Opera News, Polish-American Magdalena Kuźma is establishing a name for herself in both concert and operatic repertoire. A current Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist, Kuźma made her mainstage Met debut this season as Giannetta in L’elisir d’amore. This summer, she makes her role debut as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro as a Fleming Artist at the Aspen Music Festival. Previously, she has appeared at Opera Orlando, Santa Fe Opera, Yale Opera, Oberlin Opera, Chautauqua Opera, and Teatro Petrarca. An avid recitalist, Kuźma recently performed with LyricFest and made her Wigmore debut with leading song pianist James Baillieu.

Magdalena Kuźma holds multiple degrees in music and social neuroscience from The Juilliard School, Oberlin College & Conservatory, and Yale University. Well known on the competition circuit, Kuźma won first place in the Butler International, SAS Performing Arts, Opera Ithaca, ACPC Sembrich, Pasadena Opera, Mississippi Opera, Partners for the Arts, and Concert Artists Guild competitions. Later this year she debuts various programs at The Green Music Center, Merkin Hall, Bruno Walter Theater, and the Society of the Four Arts. She is also a proud alumna of San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program, Santa Fe Opera, Ravinia Festival, Renée Fleming’s SongStudio at Carnegie Hall, Houston Grand Opera's Young Artists Vocal Academy, Music Academy of the West, Chautauqua Institute, and The Bach Institute at Emmanuel Music.

More about the Concert Program:

Magdalena Kuźma’s concert explores the many facets of the word home. The program begins with music from both sides of Kuźma’s Polish-American heritage. American composer Tom Cipullo’s Late Summer song cycle sets the poetry of William Heyen, Emily Dickinson, and Stanley Kunitz to themes of sun-filled summer days. Composed in 1829, Chopin’s Polish Songs, Op. 74 was published posthumously in 1859 by Julian Fontana. Kuźma will perform “Życzenie” (“The Maiden’s Wish”) and “Wiosna” (“Spring”), the first two songs from Polish Songs. Kuźma continues her program with Rachmaninoff's Six Romances, Op. 38, which draws on the rich Russian romance tradition. 

Following intermission, Kuźma opens with a selection from Stefania Turkewich’s Ukrainian Folk Songs. Recognized widely as Ukraine’s first prominent woman composer, Turkewich blended modern musical styles with the traditions of Ukrainian folk music. Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 incorporates excerpts from James Agee’s writing of the same name, a prelude to his novel A Death in the Family. Knoxville was premiered in 1948 by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Serge Koussevitzky and featuring soprano soloist Eleanor Steber, who commissioned the piece. Since its premiere, Barber’s work has become a mainstay of the soprano repertoire. Closing out Kuźma’s Newport Classical concert are two hit songs from Broadway. “If I Loved You” from Rodgers & Hammerstein's 1945 show Carousel is penultimate on the program with “Goodnight, my someone” from Meredith Willson’s six-time, Tony Award-winning musical The Music Man closing the concert.

More about Magdalena Kuźma: www.magdalenakuzma.com

Up next, Newport Classical presents two free Community Concerts featuring Empire Wild on April 28, 2024 at Newport Craft Brewing (293 JT Connell Highway) and Invoke on May 19, 2024 at Miantonomi Memorial Park (120 Hillside Ave). On June 7, pianistic powerhouse Asiya Korepanova closes this season’s Chamber Series at Newport Classical Recital Hall (42 Dearborn Street) with music by Rachmaninoff, Mussorgsky, Beach, Chopin, and more. The 2024 Newport Classical Music Festival will take place from July 4-21, 2024. Celebrating its 55th anniversary, this year the Festival includes 27 concerts held in 11 historic venues over 18 days featuring 120 artists. Highlights include Opening Night with the dynamic and inspiring Sphinx Virtuosi and cello soloist Thomas Mesa; a sensational recital by acclaimed violinist Anne Akiko Meyers; the return to Newport of Chanticleer, Canadian Brass, and A Far Cry with special guests Kinan Azmeh and Dinuk Wijeratne; the Music Festival debut of the storied, Boston-based Handel and Haydn Society; two enchanting evenings with Tony Award-winning Broadway star Laura Benanti, recently a featured guest on HBO’s The Gilded Age; plus performances by star pianists Lara Downes, Joyce Yang, Llewellyn Sánchez-Werner, Drew Petersen, and Daniel del Pino; and appearances by numerous celebrated chamber ensembles including the Isidore String Quartet; PUBLIQuartet; Duo Kayo; Lincoln Trio; Fenway Quintet; Poulenc Trio with accordionist Hanzhi Wang; and Sō Percussion with vocalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw.

For Newport Classical’s complete concert calendar, visit www.newportclassical.org/concerts

About Newport Classical:

Newport Classical is a premier performing arts organization that welcomes people of every age, culture, and background to intimate, immersive musical experiences. The organization presents world-renowned and up-and-coming artistic talents at stunning, storied venues across Newport – an internationally sought-after cultural and recreational destination.

Originally founded in 1969 as Rhode Island Arts Foundation at Newport, Inc. and previously known as Newport Music Festival, Newport Classical has a rich legacy of musical curiosity having presented the American debuts of hundreds of international artists and is most well-known for hosting three weeks of concerts in the summer in the historic mansions throughout Newport and Aquidneck Island. In the 55 years since, Newport Classical has become the most active year-round presenter of music on Aquidneck Island, and an essential pillar of Rhode Island’s cultural landscape, welcoming thousands of patrons all year long.

Newport Classical invests in the future of classical music as a diverse, relevant, and ever-evolving art form through its four core programs – the one-of-a-kind Music Festival; the Chamber Series in the Newport Classical Recital Hall; the free, family-friendly Community Concerts Series; and the Music Education and Engagement Initiative that inspires students in local schools to become the arts advocates and music lovers of tomorrow. These programs illustrate the organization’s ongoing commitment to presenting “timeless music for today.” 

In 2021, the organization launched a new commissioning initiative – each year, Newport Classical will commission a new work by a Black, Indigenous, person of color, or woman composer as a commitment to the future of classical music. To date, Newport Classical has commissioned and presented the world premiere of works by Stacy Garrop, Shawn Okpebholo, Curtis Stewart, and Clarice Assad.