Newport Classical Continues Free Community Concerts with Two Spring Performances in April and May
Newport Classical Continues Free Community Concerts with Two Spring Performances in April and May
Ji Su Jung (left) and Rasa String Quartet (right). Photo of Rasa String Quartet by Titilayo Ayangade; photo of Ji Su Jung courtesy of the artist. Available in high resolution here.
Newport Classical Continues Community Concerts with Two Spring Performances
Free, Casual, and Welcoming to All
Presented by BankNewport
Ji Su Jung’s Percussion Playground
Sunday, April 27, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Great Friends Meeting House | 21 Farewell Street | Newport, RI
Rasa Quartet and Percussion
Sunday, May 18, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Newport Craft Brewing Lawn | 293 JT Connell Highway | Newport, RI
Information & Registration: www.newportclassical.org
Newport, RI – Newport Classical announces two spring concerts as part of the 2024-2025 Newport Classical Community Concerts Series featuring Ji Su Jung’s Percussion Playground on Sunday, April 27, 2025 at 2:30pm at Great Friends Meeting House (21 Farewell Street) and Rasa Quartet and Percussion on Sunday, May 18, 2025 at 2:30pm on the Newport Craft Brewing Lawn (293 JT Connell Highway). Audiences can look forward to enjoying these casual, engaging, and welcoming concerts right in their Newport neighborhoods. Newport Classical’s Community Concerts Series is free and open to the community; advanced registration is requested but not required for both performances.
On April 27, experience the mesmerizing artistry of percussionist Ji Su Jung at the historic Great Friends Meeting House. The first solo percussionist to receive the Avery Fisher Career Grant, Jung has captivated audiences nationwide, performing with top orchestras at renowned venues including the Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center. Known for her depth, lyricism, and dazzling virtuosity, Jung transforms the marimba into an instrument of extraordinary expression. With a blend of traditional and contemporary music, this concert showcases the boundless possibilities of percussion in classical music and beyond. Join Newport Classical for this free, family-friendly performance in an afternoon of music and community right in the heart of Newport.
On May 18, Newport Classical welcomes the Rasa String Quartet (Emma Powell and Maura Shawn Scanlin, violin; Kiyoshi Hayashi, viola; Mina Kim, cello) and percussionist Brian Shankar Adler to Newport Craft. Enjoy a joyful outdoor concert celebrating each artists’ musical roots spanning from evocative Indian ragas and mysterious Argentine tangos to spirited Celtic fiddle tunes. This collaboration evokes the feelings of home and comfort inherent in our earliest musical memories, while also exploring the rhythmic connection across a wide array of genres. The program culminates in a brand-new work for string quartet and percussion by Brian Shankar Adler, inspired by this unique collaboration. Don’t miss this free, family-friendly concert on the lawn of Newport Craft, overlooking the Pell Bridge, where music and storytelling come together for a delightful afternoon.
These concerts are generously presented as part of the BankNewport Community Concerts Series with additional support from the NewportFed Charitable Foundation.
Up next, the Newport Classical Chamber Series continues with oboist James Austin Smith, hailed by The New York Times as “virtuosic,” and for his “dazzling” and “brilliant” performances, who joins forces with acclaimed pianist Michael Stephen Brown in music by William Grant Still, Clara Schumann, Camille Saint-Saëns, and more, on March 21. On April 25, Bulgarian-American violinist Bella Hristova, who has won international acclaim for her “expressive nuance and rich tone” (The New York Times) presents the music of Bach and Messiaen, alongside works by Grieg and Indian-American composer Reena Esmail, with pianist Anna Polonsky. Pianist Orion Weiss, known for his “powerful technique and exceptional insight” (The Washington Post), returns to Newport for a solo recital of Bach’s beloved Goldberg Variations on May 16. On June 13, the GRAMMY®-nominated Norwegian Trio Mediaeval, who captivate audiences with their crystalline voices, closes the 2024-2025 Newport Classical Chamber Series with an enchanting evening of Norwegian and Swedish traditional songs, hymns, fiddle tunes, and ballads.
The 2025 Newport Classical Music Festival will take place from July 4-22, 2025, with programming to be announced on March 25.
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., 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 56 years since, Newport Classical has become the most active year-round presenter of music in Newport County, 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.
May 9: Pentatonix Powerhouse Kevin Olusola Announces Debut Solo Album Dawn Of A Misfit on Sony Music Masterworks – Debut Single & Music Video Out Now
May 9: Pentatonix Powerhouse Kevin Olusola Announces Debut Solo Album Dawn Of A Misfit on Sony Music Masterworks – Debut Single & Music Video Out Now
Album Artwork (Download)
Pentatonix Powerhouse Kevin Olusola Announces Debut Solo Album Dawn Of A Misfit
Singer, Cellist, and Beatboxer Shares
Debut Single and Music Video for Dark Winter
Listen | Watch
Album Showcases Works by a Wide Range of Women Composers
Album Release Date: April 25, 2025
Pre-Order Available Now
Kevin Olusola, the dynamic singer, cellist, and beatboxer best known for his work with the 3x-GRAMMY® Award-winning a cappella group Pentatonix, will release his debut solo album, Dawn of a Misfit, on May 9, 2025 via Sony Music Masterworks. The record is available to pre-order and pre-save here.
The multi-faceted artist previews his new LP with the electrifying lead single Dark Winter, out now, which blends samples from Vivaldi's Four Seasons and symphonic strings with Olusola's potent beatbox percussion, 808s & elastic R&B hooks."
The song introduces a bit of edge for a musician often recognized for exuberant joy—and the music video for Dark Winter directed by Ron Jaramillo, follows in that spirit, following Olusola and his “Misfit Mafia” as they destroy objects from the classical tradition, including cellos, paintings, and statues. “My misfits and I are completely demolishing them,” Olusola says. “We don’t have to destroy the past, but we have to break the things that have been traditional or stereotyped in us to become exactly who we’re called to be. I want to shatter boundaries, only to bring all the pieces back together with a newfound harmony.” The official music video for Dark Winter is out now – watch here
Dawn of a Misfit follows two EPs: The Renegade, which explored classical music and celloboxing, and Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, which delved more into pop influences. This new LP seamlessly blends elements from both projects while continuing to expand his already-vast musical canvas. Dawn of a Misfit draws on his classical virtuosity and the graceful soulfulness of his vocals, partly fueled by his Nigerian and Grenadian heritage. While recording the new album, he was influenced by a diverse range of artists, including Sting, multi-hyphenate artist Jon Batiste, Nigerian musician Fela Kuti, American singer and actor Harry Belafonte, country-rap artist Shaboozey, cellist Jacqueline du Pré, pianist Harvey Lavan "Van" Cliburn Jr., and Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff.
The wide-ranging album touches on spirituality, fatherhood, and being a first-generation person in a Western country, all while fusing classical, pop, R&B, and hip-hop. It even includes a nod to Pentatonix with “Kevin’s Fifth,” a fan-favorite expansion on Beethoven’s 5th that he often performs during their live shows. The beloved quintet—who broke out after winning NBC’s The Sing-Off in 2011—have released 12 albums in total, including 2022’s GRAMMY-nominated Holidays Around the World. More recently, they starred in the #1 Netflix rom-com Meet Me Next Christmas.
KEVIN OLUSOLA - DAWN OF A MISFIT
Tracklisting
1. Dark Winter
2. Hallelujah (I Don't Think About You)
3. I Feel Misunderstood
4. Crazy
5. Like Us
6. Smile
7. A Change Is Gonna Come
8. Have I Told You
9. Love, Leigh & Kaia
10. Kaia's Swan
11. Showdown
12. Hymn for Christian
13. Kevin's Fifth
ABOUT KEVIN OLUSOLA
As one-fifth of multi-platinum-selling a cappella phenomenon Pentatonix, the multi-faceted artist, Kevin Olusola defies stereotypes by reimagining classical musicianship through a modern sonic and lyrical lens, all the while balancing his dynamic background of Nigerian and Grenadian heritage. With his debut solo album, Dawn of a Misfit, out May 9, 2025 via Sony Music Masterworks, Olusola uses his love of classical music as the backdrop to tell his story as a first-generation person growing up in a Western country. He hopes to unlock entry points for those unfamiliar with the classical genre and reach those in and outside the Black diaspora who may still be finding themselves through life’s hardships. “My purpose is to spread love far and wide with the unique frequency l've been given. I want to shatter boundaries, only to bring all the pieces back together with a newfound harmony,” Olusola says. “I hope my music makes you feel comfortable in who you are and the love you want to portray to the world.”
Follow Kevin Olusola
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Tiktok | YouTube
Sony Music Masterworks comprises Masterworks, Sony Classical, Milan Records, XXIM Records and Masterworks Broadway imprints. For email updates and information please visit www.sonymusicmasterworks.com.
Ariel Quartet Embarks on Monumental Beethoven String Quartet Cycle - Three Albums over Two Years - Volume One out April 4 on Orchid Classics
Ariel Quartet Embarks on Monumental Beethoven String Quartet Cycle Three Albums over Two Years
Ariel Quartet Embarks on Monumental Beethoven String Quartet Cycle Three Albums over Two Years
Culminating in 2027
Honoring Beethoven’s Legacy 200 Years After His Passing
Volume One to be Released Worldwide on April 4, 2025
On Orchid Classics
"A gripping and often very subtle reading, setting ear-melting tenderness against seething passion with a deft and precise touch" – The Washington Post
“the Ariel’s performance showed that when the minutiae of quartet playing are thoughtfully considered and perfectly executed, the sum of a quartet is indeed greater than its parts” – The Strad
Review CDs and downloads available upon request.
Pre-Save/Order: https://orchid-music.lnk.to/BeethovenQuartetsVol.1EM
Ariel Quartet: www.arielquartet.com/the-cycle
Upcoming Performances: www.arielquartet.com/schedule
The Ariel Quartet (Alexandra Kazovsky, violin; Gershon Gerchikov, violin; Jan Grüning, viola; and Amit Even-Tov, cello) – distinguished by its virtuosity, probing musical insight, and impassioned performances – will release the complete Beethoven String Quartets over two years, culminating in 2027, the 200th anniversary of Beethoven’s death. The Quartet will release the first volume of the series on April 4, 2025 on the Orchid Classics label, with subsequent volumes arriving in November 2025 and June 2026, and a special box set release in March 2027. Volume one of the cycle includes Beethoven’s Op. 18 string quartets over 2 CDs – on CD 1, String Quartet in F major, Op.18 No.1; String Quartet in D major, Op.18 No. 3; and String Quartet in B-flat major, Op.18 No. 6; and on CD 2, String Quartet in G major, Op.18 No. 2; String Quartet in C minor, Op.18 No. 4; and String Quartet in A major, Op.18 No. 5. The first single from the album, a selection from Op. 18 No. 5, will be released on March 7.
Formed when the members were just teenagers studying at the Jerusalem Academy Middle School of Music and Dance in Israel, the Ariel Quartet has a long history with the quartets of Beethoven. His String Quartet in C minor, Op.18 No.4 was the very first piece that the group tackled together as thirteen year olds, and the members credit the work for hooking them on the genre, for life.
Of Beethoven’s Op. 18 set, composed between 1798 and 1800, the Ariel writes, “Quartets were traditionally published in sets of six, and fittingly, Op.18 became the last great quartet set of the classical period: we hear a young Beethoven proving himself on the battleground of his teachers and peers, Haydn and Mozart, while signaling a bold move toward new musical horizons. . . Zooming in and familiarizing ourselves with Haydn’s and Mozart’s quartets of the time, we quickly understand that Beethoven’s set – while adhering to the same rules and principles – is distinctly ‘Beethovenian.’ While this impression can be broken down into factors such as motive-driven development, emotional contrasts, his characteristic expanded harmonic language, structural experimentation etc., the big achievement was his ability to unify these elements into a compositional language that expresses extraordinary emotional depth.”
In 2013 to mark its 15th anniversary, the Ariel Quartet performed its first complete Beethoven cycle – a milestone for the group, which has been performing Beethoven’s music since its inception. Since then, the Ariel has performed the complete cycle on six occasions throughout the United States and Europe. They view the complete quartets as part of their personal life-long journey reflected in Beethoven’s music – works that are interwoven with the evolution of the string quartet genre as well as the group’s own genesis story.
The Quartet writes:
“A happy accident kickstarted our group in 1998, when we were thirteen years old, at a school for music and dance. Amidst stretching ballerinas and improvising jazz pianists, we were simply assigned to play together. Our teacher spoon-fed us repertoire just beyond our ability, knowing we were about to discover the addictive magic of playing string quartets. We spent our teenage years rehearsing in the school attic, immersing ourselves in the rich string quartet repertoire while learning to navigate both the music and our evolving relationships.
Today, 27 years in and with three founding members still on board, our mission is to breathe life into the bread and butter of the string quartet repertoire while shining a spotlight on the compelling music of our time. This commitment led us to perform the complete Beethoven cycle before any of us turned 30.
Our unusual journey has been fundamental in shaping who we are. Beyond the demands of our shared professional path, we have walked together as friends who have truly become family. From late-night debates about tempo and sight-reading marathons to raising our children alongside one another while balancing an international concert career, we have shared every stage of life. This closeness has created a deep and unique bond that continues to shape our identity, both on stage and beyond.”
More about the Ariel Quartet: The Ariel Quartet was named a recipient of the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award, granted by Chamber Music America in recognition of artistic achievement and career support. Recent highlights include the Quartet’s sold-out Carnegie Hall debut, a series of performances at Lincoln Center together with pianist Inon Barnatan and the Mark Morris Dance Group, as well as the release of a Brahms and Bartók album for Avie Records. In 2020, the Ariel gave the U.S. premiere of the Quintet for Piano and Strings by Daniil Trifonov, with the composer as pianist for the Linton Chamber Music Series in Cincinnati. The Quartet serves as the Faculty Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), where they direct the chamber music program and present a concert series in addition to maintaining a busy touring schedule in the United States and abroad.
The Ariel Quartet regularly collaborates with today’s eminent and rising young musicians and ensembles, including pianist Orion Weiss, cellist Paul Katz, and the American, Pacifica, and Jerusalem String Quartets. The Quartet has toured with cellist Alisa Weilerstein and performed frequently with pianists Jeremy Denk and Menahem Pressler. In addition, the Ariel served as Quartet-in-Residence for the Steans Music Institute at the Ravinia Festival, the Yellow Barn Music Festival, and the Perlman Music Program, as well as the Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence at the Caramoor Festival.
Formerly the resident ensemble of the Professional String Quartet Training Program at the New England Conservatory, from which the players obtained their undergraduate and graduate degrees, the Ariel was mentored extensively by acclaimed string quartet giants Walter Levin and Paul Katz. It has won numerous international prizes in addition to the Cleveland Quartet Award: First Prize at the prestigious Franz Schubert and Modern Music Competition in Graz/Austria, Grand Prize at the 2006 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and the Székely Prize for the performance of Bartók’s String Quartet No. 4, and Third Prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition. About its performances at the Banff competition, the American Record Guide described the group as “a consummate ensemble gifted with utter musicality and remarkable interpretive power” and noted, in particular, their playing of Beethoven’s monumental Quartet in A minor, Op. 132, as “the pinnacle of the competition.”
The Ariel Quartet has received significant support from the American-Israel Cultural Foundation, Dov and Rachel Gottesman, and the Legacy Heritage Fund. Most recently, they were awarded a grant from the A.N. and Pearl G. Barnett Family Foundation.
Follow the Ariel Quartet:
www.instagram.com/arielquartet
www.facebook.com/ArielQuartet
ALBUM TRACK LISTING:
Beethoven: The Complete String Quartets Vol. 1
Ariel Quartet
Orchid Classics | Release Date: April 4, 2025
DISC 1
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
String Quartet in F major, Op.18 No.1
1. I Allegro con brio
2. II Adagio affettuoso ed appassionato
3. III Scherzo. Allegro molto
4. IV Allegro
String Quartet in D major, Op.18 No.3
5. I Allegro
6. II Andante con moto
7. III Allegro
8. IV Presto
String Quartet in B-flat major, Op.18 No.6
9. I Allegro con brio
10. II Adagio ma non troppo
11. III Scherzo. Allegro
12. IV La Malinconia: Adagio – Allegretto quasi Allegro
DISC 2
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
String Quartet in G major, Op.18 No.2
1. I Allegro
2. II Adagio cantabile – Allegro – Tempo I
3. III Scherzo: Allegro
4. IV Allegro molto quasi presto
String Quartet in C minor, Op.18 No.4
5. I Allegro ma non tanto
6. II Andante scherzoso quasi allegretto
7. III Menuetto. Allegretto
8. IV Allegro
String Quartet in A major, Op.18 No.5
9. I Allegro
10. II Menuetto
11. III Andante cantabile
12. IV Allegro
Ariel Quartet:
Alexandra Kazovsky, violin
Gershon Gerchikov, violin
Jan Grüning, viola
Amit Even–Tov, cello
Recorded at Robert J. Werner Recital Hall, University of Cincinnati College- Conservatory of Music on 16-18 September 2022 (Nos.1-3) & 13-16 September 2023 (Nos.4-6)
Producer: Jesse Lewis
Recording Engineers: Shauna Barravecchio & Jesse Lewis
Editing Engineer: Shauna Barravecchio, Caroline Shaffer Robin & Frank Shaw Mix Engineer: Jesse Lewis
Immersive Producer: Jesse Lewis
Immersive Mixing and Mastering Engineer: Christopher Moretti
Mastering Engineer: Christopher Moretti
Cover & booklet photography: Neda Navaee
© 2025 Orchid Music Limited
April 25: Violinist Esther Abrami to Release New Album Women on Sony Classical – Music Video for Valse Di Fantastica by Yoko Shimomura Out Now
April 25: Violinist Esther Abrami to Release New Album Women on Sony Classical – Music Video for Valse Di Fantastica by Yoko Shimomura Out Now
Acclaimed Violinist Esther Abrami to Release Women
New Album on Sony Classical
Music Video for Valse Di Fantastica by Yoko Shimomura
Out Now - Watch Here
Out Today
Album Showcases Works by a Wide Range of Women Composers
Album Release Date: April 25, 2025
Pre-Order Available Now
Celebrated violinist and social media sensation Esther Abrami announces the release of her highly anticipated new album Women set for release on April 25, 2025 via Sony Classical and available for pre-order now.
A tribute to women composers across history and a range of genres, Women showcases the exceptional talent of 14 remarkable composers, spanning newly composed works and rediscovered masterpieces. The album features Oscar winners Rachel Portman and Anne Dudley, as well as new arrangements of compositions by historic composers such as Pauline Viardot, Chiquinha Gonzaga, Teresa Carreño or Ethel Smyth. Women also includes Transmission, an original composition by Esther Abrami, who has arranged several pieces on the album. At its heart is the world-premiere recording of Ina Boyle’s Violin Concerto, a breathtaking, late-Romantic composition. Esther Abrami carefully chose each piece on Women not only for its musical brilliance but also for the emotional connection it holds for her, highlighting the often-overlooked voices of women in classical music.
“For as far back as I can remember, the only classical music I ever came across was written by male composers. I studied classical music for over 15 years in some of the top music schools and conservatoires in the world. During those years I never played a single piece written by a woman. It wasn’t that I actively avoided them - I simply didn’t know they even existed! Nobody talked about them, nobody played their music, no one ever introduced me to their compositions. It took stepping out of my formal education to question this reality. ‘Did any women ever compose classical music?’ Turns out they did! Just when I thought I knew all about the main classical composers, I discovered a hidden treasure. I spent months researching, drawn into a whole new world of music and stories from women left in the shadows of history. This album is my tribute to them. Women is a journey through centuries of music, told through the voices of women who composed, fought, lived, and created despite the odds. The stories of these women inspired me to create; they showed me the importance of leaving your mark for future generations to discover. I hope Women can inspire a new generation of young girls to compose.”
Throughout her career, Esther Abrami has been dedicated to celebrating and amplifying the voices of women composers. From her popular podcast Women in Classical, where she interviews influential musicians, composers and women working in classical music to her EP Spotlight, dedicated to women composers, Abrami continues her mission to highlight and elevate women’s contributions to classical music. With her new album Women, she is taking another major step towards breaking down barriers and redefining the landscape of the genre.
Women brings together an extraordinary lineup of collaborators, including the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of conductor Irene Delgado-Jiménez, pianist Kim Barbier, harpist Lavinia Meijer, and the Esther Abrami Quintet.
“I felt extremely lucky working with such an incredible orchestra and musicians on a project that is so personal. Hearing my own composition brought to life by a whole orchestra is a memory I will never forget.”
Esther Abrami - Women - Tracklist:
1) March of the Women* (Ethel Smyth / Esther Abrami)
2) Valse Di Fantastica* (Yoko Shimomura)
3) Flowers* (Miley Cyrus)
4) Hai Luli! (Pauline Viardot) with Lavinia Meijer and the Esther Abrami Quintet
5) Wiegala (Ilse Weber) with the Esther Abrami Quintet
6) Corta Jaca (Chiquinha Gonzaga) with the Esther Abrami Quintet
7) Medhel an Gwyns* (Anne Dudley)
8) O Virtus Sapientiae (Hildegard von Bingen) with the Esther Abrami Quintet
9) Apple Tree* (Rachel Portman)
10-12) Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (To the Memory of My Mother)* (Ina Boyle)
13) Mi Teresita ‘Little Waltz’* (Teresa Carreño)
14) Lua Branca (Chiquinha Gonzaga) with Kim Barbier
15) Solitude (Rita Strohl) with Kim Barbier
16) Transmission* (Esther Abrami)
* Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Irene Delgado-Jiménez
FOLLOW ESTHER ABRAMI
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Sony Music Masterworks comprises Masterworks, Sony Classical, Milan Records, XXIM Records and Masterworks Broadway imprints. For email updates and information please visit www.sonymusicmasterworks.com.
Esther Abrami – WOMEN - Track by Track Stories
The stories of these women inspired Esther Abrami to create. They showed her the importance of leaving a mark for future generations to discover. She hopes Women can inspire a new generation of young girls to compose.
March of the Women – Ethel Smyth, recomposed by Esther Abrami
A voice appears in the introduction to Esther Abrami’s album saying, “You have to make more noise.” Not just any voice, but the voice of Emmeline Pankhurst, a leading figure in the suffragette movement fighting to obtain women’s right to vote. The sample is taken from an original recording of a speech given by Emmeline in Hyde Park, London in 1908 and Esther Abrami incorporated it into her arrangement of “March of the Women.”
For the music, Esther was inspired by composer Ethel Smyth (1858–1944), who was also a warrior for women’s rights and wrote “March of the Women,” which became the official anthem of the suffragettes. It is said that after being arrested and imprisoned for activism, Ethel met a group of women, also arrested for the same cause, who were singing her anthem. One can picture Ethel in a prison cell, standing in front of a small window, conducting a group of women during their daily prison walk using all she had with her… a toothbrush!
Valse Di Fantastica – Yoko Shimomura
For those who enjoy gaming, this composition might sound familiar. This incredible piece was written for the video game Final Fantasy XV! Like many teenagers, Esther Abrami played video games growing up, and Yoko Shimomura (*1967) was one of the first female composers she ever heard—though she didn’t realize it at the time.
Flowers – Miley Cyrus, arr. Esther Abrami
“Flowers” adds a pop touch to this classical album. Being independent, living life on one's own terms, and working towards realizing a dream career isn't easy. This song by Miley Cyrus (*1992) gave Esther motivation and energy, representing a modern statement of female empowerment.
“Hai Luli!“ – Pauline Viardot, arr. Jan-Peter Klöpfel
Pauline Viardot (1821–1910) was a remarkable figure of the 19th century, often regarded as an “influencer” of her time. She was immensely popular and well-connected with the most significant artists of her era. Viardot had the ability to significantly impact the careers of those around her. Her Parisian salon regularly hosted luminaries such as Chopin, Liszt, the Schumanns, and her close friend George Sand, who also introduced Pauline to her future husband. Unlike many, he supported and financed Pauline’s musical career.
Regarded as a piano prodigy, Pauline took lessons with Franz Liszt from an early age and it is known that her hands would tremble during these lessons—not out of nervousness, but because of her admiration for him, a sentiment shared by many girls of the time. Viardot grew into become a legendary opera singer and composed over 450 pieces (for comparison, Chopin composed only 300 pieces in his lifetime). Esther considers ‘Hai Luli!’ to be one of Viardot’s most beautiful songs.
Wiegala– Ilse Weber, arr. Esther Abrami
“Wiegala” is a haunting lullaby written by Jewish composer and poet Ilse Weber (1903–1944). In 1942, she was imprisoned in the Theresienstadt concentration camp where she worked as a nurse. Without medicine to ease the children’s suffering, she used music—singing and composing lullabies to comfort them. When the children were sent to Auschwitz, she voluntarily accompanied them, and it is said that they sang “Wiegala” as they entered the gas chambers. Her husband, who survived the Holocaust, buried her music in the ground and later recovered it, ensuring that her voice would not be lost to history. Ilse Weber sacrificed her life out of pure altruism, and her music serves as a poignant reminder of the resilience of the human spirit.
Corta Jaca – Chiquinha Gonzaga, arr. Jan-Peter Klöpfel
Chiquinha Gonzaga (1847–1935) was a trailblazer. Born in 19th-century Brazil, she faced a difficult choice imposed by her husband: music or marriage. She chose music, a scandalous decision at the time. Gonzaga became the first woman in Brazil to conduct an orchestra and composed over 2,000 pieces, including the music that became the official hymn for the Brazilian Carnival. As the daughter of a Black slave, she fought for the abolition of slavery and women’s rights, selling her music to support these causes. Gonzaga was also a pioneer in copyright law, founding the first company to protect and advocate for composers’ rights, long before it became standard practice. “Corta Jaca” is a Brazilian tango and one of her most famous works, known for causing quite a scandal due to its title, which apparently had a sexual innuendo.
Medhel an Gwyns – Anne Dudley
Anne Dudley (*1956) is one of the very few women to have won an Academy Award for Best Original Score. Esther Abrami had the incredible experience of working directly with her in arranging the music from the Netflix show Poldark for violin and orchestra. “Medhel an Gwyns” has a folk music influence, which Esther felt inspired to express through her violin.
O Virtus Sapientiae – Hildegard von Bingen, arr. Penelope Axtens
Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179) is the earliest composer featured on this album, having lived during the Middle Ages. She is one of the first identifiable composers in the history of Western music. Hildegard was not only a composer but also a medieval nun, healer, writer, and visionary. She wrote music as well as one of the first known medical texts on women's health, openly discussing topics like menstruation and female pleasure in an era when such subjects were unspeakable. Hildegard was an extremely powerful figure, exchanging letters with Henry II, King of England, and Emperor Frederic I, both of whom held her in high regard. “O Virtus Sapientiae” offers a glimpse into her world, where spirituality and music were inseparable.
Apple Tree – Rachel Portman
Rachel Portman (*1960) is the first female composer to win an Oscar for Best Original Composition. “She is one of my biggest musical inspirations and I am honored to have collaborated with her on all my albums so far!,” says Esther. “Apple Tree” is a very sweet piece of music with a touch of nostalgia, personally reminding Esther of childhood moments in the countryside of southern France.
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (To the Memory of My Mother) – Ina Boyle
“I think it is most courageous of you to keep going with such little recognition. All I can say is that it sometimes does finally come.” This quote comes from composer Ralph Vaughan Williams in a letter to his student Ina Boyle (1889–1967). Ina lived during a challenging time, between two world wars, and received countless rejections for her compositions, yet she never stopped writing. This is the first-ever professional recording of her violin concerto, a piece Ina dedicated to her mother, based on a poem and filled with deep emotions. It is astonishing to think that she spent her entire life in a small Irish village, composing symphonies that the world is only now beginning to discover. Esther hopes that today is the day when “it does finally come” for Ina Boyle.
Mi Teresita / Little Waltz – Teresa Carreño, arr. Esther Abrami
Teresa Carreño (1853–1917), known as “The Lioness of the piano,” was one of the greatest piano virtuoso of her time. She was humorously described as a musician with “a male head, male fingers, and a female heart.” Born in Venezuela, she was a true child prodigy, invited at the age of nine to perform for President Lincoln at the White House. Admired by Liszt, Brahms, and Rubinstein, Carreño led a whirlwind life, marrying four times and constantly touring due to her remarkable performing career. Despite her immense fame as a performer, her compositions were often overlooked and forgotten, likely due to the fact that she was a woman from South America. “Mi Teresita,” a waltz inspired by Venezuelan rhythms, was written for her daughter.
Lua Branca – Chiquinha Gonzaga, arr. Esther Abrami
Another piece by Chiquinha Gonzaga (1847–1935), “Lua Branca” translates to “White Moon.” It features a very seductive melody, and the first time Esther Abrami hummed it, she knew she had to arrange it for the violin. Listening to this piece, one might imagine traveling all the way to the streets of Brazil.
Solitude – Rita Strohl, arr. Esther Abrami
Rita Strohl (1865–1941) decided at one point in her life to completely isolate herself from the world, moving away from society to be left with only music and solitude. She spent her days composing tirelessly. This piece resonates deeply with Esther Abrami, reminding her of the beauty found in countless hours spent alone, completely alone, with only her violin and music for company.
Transmission – Esther Abrami
Esther Abrami's grandmother was a violinist who stopped her career when she got married. Esther knows her grandmother never imagined that her only granddaughter would one day take up the instrument she had left behind. This piece is Esther's way of continuing her grandmother's story while also telling her own. “Transmission” represents the passing of music through generations. This is the first time Esther has ever recorded one of her own compositions.
April 11-12: Emerald City Music Presents Canellakis-Brown Duo in Humor & Harmony: An Evening of Music, Film, and Comedy
April 11-12: Emerald City Music Presents Canellakis-Brown Duo in Humor & Harmony: An Evening of Music, Film, and Comedy
Emerald City Music Season 09
Canellakis-Brown Duo
Humor and Harmony: An Evening of Music, Film, and Comedy
Friday, April 11, 2025 at 8:00pm
415 Westlake | 415 Westlake Avenue N | Seattle, WA
Tickets: bit.ly/EmeraldCanellakisBrown2025Seattle
Saturday, April 12, 2025 at 7:30pm
The Minnaert Center for the Arts | 2011 Mottman Rd SW | Olympia, WA
Tickets: bit.ly/EmeraldCanellakisBrown2025Olympia
“Emerald City Music [is] known for its innovative approaches to presenting classical music”– Cascade PBS
Seattle & Olympia WA – On Friday, April 11 and Saturday, April 12, 2025, Emerald City Music (ECM) and founding Artistic Director Kristin Lee continue ECM’s Season 09, welcoming cellist Nicholas Canellakis and pianist Michael Stephen Brown back to the Pacific Northwest for an evening of music, film, and comedy as the Canellakis-Brown Duo.
"A superb young soloist" (The New Yorker), Nicholas Canellakis is one of the most versatile cellists of his generation. From Carnegie Hall to internationally renowned festivals, his performances are hailed for their rich, alluring tone.
An award-winning composer and pianist, Michael Stephen Brown has been praised by The New York Times as “one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers.” His performances and compositions consistently push the boundaries of classical music.
The Canellakis-Brown Duo invites ECM audiences to an unforgettable evening that seamlessly blends chamber music, comedy, and film. World-renowned musicians Nicholas Canellakis and Michael Stephen Brown bring their unmatched synergy to the stage, combining technical brilliance with humor and emotional depth. Hailed as “relaxed and unselfconscious” (New York Classical Review), their performances feel like a captivating conversation with friends.
The esteemed pair of musicians bring a unique program with a twist to ECM’s stages, featuring a film – Canellakis’s short comedy My New Cello (2023), a mesmerizing new multimedia work for film and live score – directed by Canellakis and composed by Brown. Alongside this screening will be more evocative and thrilling music by Brown, in addition to composers with strong ties to the world of film.
The truly unique, multi-medium event will include: Frédéric Chopin’s Introduction and Polonaise brillante (1829-30); Lied (Romance) In F Minor by Sergei Rachmaninoff (1890); Romance, Op 36 by Camille Saint-Saëns (1874); Lukas Foss’s Capriccio (1948); Breakup Etude for the Right Hand Alone by Michael Stephen Brown (2020); Spinning Song by Michael Stephen Brown (2024); “Moses” Variations on one string by Niccolò Paganini (1818-19); and Bulgarian Bulge by Don Ellis, (arranged by Nick Canellakis) (1971).
Audiences can join the Canellakis-Brown Duo on Friday, April 11, 2025 at 8pm in Seattle at 415 Westlake (415 Westlake Avenue N), and Saturday, April 12, 2025 at 7:30pm in Olympia at The Minnaert Center for the Arts (2011 Mottman Rd. SW). During the concert at 415 Westlake, listeners can enjoy ECM’s flagship “date-night experience,” which combines vibrant classical performance with an open bar, and a “wander-around” concert setting with no stage dividing the audience from the musicians.
“It’s an absolute delight to welcome back Nick Canellakis and Michael Stephen Brown to the Emerald City Music stage—this time as a duo that’s equally musical and hilarious!,” says ECM Artistic Director Kristin Lee. “Nick and Michael have been dear friends of mine for years, and it has been inspiring to witness their creativity and extraordinary talents flourish into such a unique and brilliant careers. This is a rare opportunity to experience the perfect fusion of humor and musical artistry in one unforgettable evening—truly, a night not to be missed!”
Emerald City Music (ECM) is the Pacific Northwest home for eclectic, intimate, and vibrant classical chamber music experiences. Deemed “a welcoming and more inclusive environment for intimate music-making” (The Seattle Times), 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 venues including 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.
About the Artists: www.emeraldcitymusic.org/season-artists
About Kristin Lee, ECM Artistic Director: www.emeraldcitymusic.org/team/kristin-lee
About ECM: www.emeraldcitymusic.org/about
Follow ECM on Social Media:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/emeraldcitymusic
Instagram: www.instagram.com/emeraldcitymusic
March 21: Pianist Sarah Cahill Performing Music of Lou Harrison in Detroit
March 21: Pianist Sarah Cahill Performing Music of Lou Harrison in Detroit
Photo of Sarah Cahill by Kristen Wrzesniewski available in high-resolution at www.jensenartists.com/artists-profiles/sarah-cahill
Pianist Sarah Cahill: Music of Lou Harrison
Presented by Detroit Institute of Arts Friday Night Live! Series
Friday, March 21, 2025 from 7:00-8:30pm
Detroit Institute of the Arts | Rivera Court | 5200 Woodward Ave. | Detroit, MI
More Information
“Pianist Sarah Cahill commands a near godlike status among fans of contemporary classical music.” – NPR Music
Watch Sarah Cahill’s NPR Tiny Desk Concer
Sarah Cahill: www.sarahcahill.com
Detroit, MI – On Friday, March 21, 2025 from 7:00-8:30pm, Sarah Cahill, described as “a sterling pianist and an intrepid illuminator of the classical avant-garde” by The New York Times, returns for her third performance at the Detroit Institute of the Arts as part of its Friday Night Live! series in DIA’s Rivera Court (5200 Woodward Ave.). The concert is free and open to the public. Cahill presents Lou Harrison: A Celebration, highlighting the pioneering American composer’s groundbreaking contributions to 20th-century music. Known for his exploration of alternative tunings, international influences, and innovative instruments, Harrison’s work comes to life in this performance featuring several of his solo piano works as well as his enchanting Varied Trio performed by Cahill with percussionist Douglas Perkins and violinist Yvonne Lam, and two movements, Stampede and Round, from his otherworldly, gamelan-infused Grand Duo performed with Lam.
Sarah Cahill worked closely with Lou Harrison (1917-2003) during his lifetime and has championed many of his works for piano. In 1997, she was chosen to premiere his Festival Dance for two pianos with Aki Takahashi at the Cooper Union and worked with Harrison in rehearsals. She was also chosen to perform his Dance for Lisa Karon, discovered only a few years ago and not heard since its premiere in 1938, and she performed his Varied Trio, both piano concertos, and a number of solo and chamber works on her 2017 Lou Harrison tour celebrating his centennial year, with concerts in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Jose, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Orlando, Miami, Hawaii, Tokyo and Fukuoka in Japan, and more. In fall 2019, Cahill performed Lou Harrison's exuberant Concerto for Piano with Javanese Gamelan in two Berkeley performances and at the ICA Boston. She also performed and recorded the work with Gamelan Galak Tika at the Cleveland Museum of Art.
“It's always exciting to perform Lou Harrison's vibrant music, and this concert covers almost six decades of his extraordinary compositional life. He is a hero to me and so many others, not only for his kindness and radiant spirit, but also for his tireless activism for human rights, LGBTQ rights, and environmentalism. I was very fortunate to know him and work with him. Many of the scores on this concert are unpublished, gathered from him and his friends and colleagues, and from his biographer Bill Alves. I'm especially thrilled to perform with Doug Perkins and Yvonne Lam!
More 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, Metropolitan Museum, 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 6 to 8pm 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.
For Calendar Editors:
Description: Pianist Sarah Cahill, described as “a sterling pianist and an intrepid illuminator of the classical avant-garde” (The New York Times), returns for her third performance at the Detroit Institute of the Arts as part of its Friday Night Live! series in DIA’s Rivera Court (5200 Woodward Ave.). The concert is free and open to the public. Cahill presents a Lou Harrison: A Celebration, highlighting the pioneering American composer’s groundbreaking contributions to 20th-century music. Known for his exploration of alternative tunings, international influences, and innovative instruments, Harrison’s work comes to life in this performance featuring several of his solo piano works as well as his enchanting Varied Trio performed by Cahill with percussionist Douglas Perkins and violinist Yvonne Lam, and his otherworldly, gamelan-infused Grand Duo performed with Lam.
Concert details:
Who: Pianist Sarah Cahill with percussionist Douglas Perkins and violinist Yvonne Lam
Presented by Detroit Institute of Arts, Friday Night Live! Series
What: Music of Lou Harrison When: Friday, March 21, 2025 from 7:00-8:30pm
Where: Rivera Court, 5200 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI 48202
Tickets and information: www.dia.org/events/friday-night-live-sarah-cahill-music-lou-harrison
April 8: The Jupiter Quartet Presented by the Buffalo Chamber Music Society
The Jupiter Quartet Presented by the Buffalo Chamber Music Society
Photo of the Jupiter Quartet by Todd Rosenberg available in high resolution at www.jensenartists.com/artists-profiles/jupiter-string
The Jupiter String Quartet
Presented by the Buffalo Chamber Music Society
Performing Music by
Franz Joseph Haydn, Caroline Shaw, and Johannes Brahms
Tuesday, April 8, 2025 at 7:30pm
Mary Seaton Room, Kleinhans Music Hall
3 Symphony Circle | Buffalo, NY
Tickets and Information
“technical finesse and rare expressive maturity” – The New Yorker
Buffalo, NY – On Tuesday, April 8, 2025 at 7:30pm, the Jupiter String Quartet – internationally acclaimed winners of the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, who are known for their “compelling” performances (BBC Music Magazine) – will be presented in concert by the Buffalo Chamber Music Society in the Mary Seaton Room of the Kleinhans Music Hall (3 Symphony Circle.). There will be a pre-concert talk at 6:45pm.
Based at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and performing all across the nation, the Jupiter String Quartet is a particularly intimate group, consisting of violinists Nelson Lee and Meg Freivogel, violist Liz Freivogel (Meg’s older sister), and cellist Daniel McDonough (Meg’s husband, Liz’s brother-in-law). Brought together by ties both familial and musical, the Jupiter Quartet has been performing together since 2001. Exuding an energy that is at once friendly, knowledgeable, and adventurous, the Quartet celebrates every opportunity to bring their close-knit and lively style to audiences. Their connections to each other and the length of time they’ve shared the stage always shine through in their intuitive performances.
The Jupiter Quartet brings its well-honed, gracefully intertwined musical chemistry to three works composed from the turn of the 19th century to the present day. Each work embraces the unique attributes of its respective compositional form to create clever juxtapositions between texture and emotion, heightening the intensity of the performance. The program includes String Quartet in F Major, Op. 77, No. 2, Hob.III: 82 by Franz Joseph Haydn; Entr’acte by Caroline Shaw; and String Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 51 No. 1 by Johannes Brahms. The Jupiter Quartet’s lively and expressive playing style will showcase the dramatic tensions and strong emotions driving the music of this program.
“We are so pleased to return to play again for the Buffalo Chamber Music Society, one of our favorite venues.” says the Jupiter Quartet. “We have prepared a lively and engaging program that mixes a wonderful late Haydn quartet, full of clever interplay; a lovely contemporary work by the brilliant Caroline Shaw; and Brahms’s classically dramatic Quartet in C Minor. We hope the audience will enjoy the variety of moods and styles showcased in these three great works.”
Haydn’s String Quartet in F Major, Op. 77, No. 2 is the last of his many works in this genre. Considered by many to be the “grandfather of the string quartet,” Haydn developed the form over many years, experimenting with more dramatic structures and particularly with a more equal treatment of the four voices, instead of the first-violin dominated texture often heard earlier.
Caroline Shaw says of Entr’acte: “Entr’acte is structured like a minuet and trio, riffing on that classical form but taking it a little further. I love the way some music (like the minuets of [Haydn’s] Op. 77) suddenly takes you to the other side of Alice’s looking glass, in a kind of absurd, subtle, technicolor transition.”
Brahms’s first string quartet was composed in a painstaking process over the course of several years. The work’s four movements are presented in the form of two outer movements fueled by torment and anxiety, and two inner movements framed by a more delicate and calm musical aesthetic.
More About Jupiter String Quartet: The Jupiter Quartet has performed in some of the world’s finest halls, including New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, Boston’s Jordan Hall, Mexico City's Palacio de Bellas Artes, Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center and Library of Congress, Austria’s Esterhazy Palace, and Seoul’s Sejong Chamber Hall. Their major music festival appearances include the Aspen Music Festival and School, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, Rockport Music Festival, Caramoor International Music Festival, Music at Menlo, Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival, the Banff Centre, the Seoul Spring Festival, and many others. In addition to their performing career, they have been artists-in-residence at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign since 2012, where they maintain private studios and direct the chamber music program.
Their chamber music honors and awards include the grand prizes in the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition; the Young Concert Artists International auditions in New York City; the Cleveland Quartet Award from Chamber Music America; an Avery Fisher Career Grant; and a grant from the Fromm Foundation. From 2007-2010, they were in residence at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Two.
The Jupiter String Quartet feels a strong connection to the core string quartet repertoire; they have presented the complete Bartok and Beethoven string quartets on numerous occasions. Also deeply committed to new music, they have commissioned string quartets from Nathan Shields, Stephen Andrew Taylor, Michi Wiancko, Syd Hodkinson, Hannah Lash, Dan Visconti, and Kati Agócs; a quintet with baritone voice by Mark Adamo; and a piano quintet by Pierre Jalbert.
The quartet's latest album is a collaboration with the Jasper String Quartet (Marquis Classics, 2021), produced by GRAMMY-winner Judith Sherman. This collaborative album features the world premiere recording of Dan Visconti’s Eternal Breath, Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat, Op. 20, and Osvaldo Golijov’s Last Round. The Arts Fuse acclaimed, “This joint album from the Jupiter String Quartet and Jasper String Quartet is striking for its backstory but really memorable for its smart program and fine execution.” The quartet’s discography also includes numerous recordings on labels including Azica Records and Deutsche Grammophon. In fall 2024, the Jupiter Quartet will record their next album with Judith Sherman, featuring the world premiere recordings of Michi Wiancko’s To Unpathed Waters, Undreamed Shores, Stephen Taylor’s Chaconne/Labyrinth, and Kati Agócs's Imprimatur, which were all composed for the Jupiters.
The quartet chose its name because Jupiter was the most prominent planet in the night sky at the time of its formation and the astrological symbol for Jupiter resembles the number four.
For more information, visit www.jupiterquartet.com.
For Calendar Editors:
Description: The Jupiter Quartet, described by The New Yorker as an ensemble with “technical finesse and rare expressive maturity,” is presented in concert by the Buffalo Chamber Music Society. The ensemble will perform a concert program featuring music that embraces the unique attributes of its respective compositional form to create clever juxtapositions between texture and emotion, heightening the intensity of the performance. Featured works on the concert program will include: String Quartet in F Major, Op. 77, No. 2, Hob.III: 82 by Franz Joseph Haydn; Entr’acte by Caroline Shaw; and String Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 51 No. 1 by Johannes Brahms. There will be a pre-concert talk at 6:45pm.
Concert details:
Who: Jupiter String Quartet
Presented by the Buffalo Chamber Music Society
What: Music by Franz Joseph Haydn, Caroline Shaw, and Johannes Brahms
When: Tuesday, April 8, 2025 at 7:30pm, Pre-concert talk at 6:45pm
Where: Mary Seaton Room, Kleinhans Music Hall, 3 Symphony Circle, Buffalo, NY 14201
Tickets and information: www.bflochambermusic.org/index.php/season#jupiter
April 11: Pianist Simone Dinnerstein Performs Reflections in Richmond
GRAMMY®-nominated Pianist Simone Dinnerstein Performs Reflections, Presented by The Modlin Center for the Arts at University of Richmond
Photo by Lisa Marie Mazzucco available in high resolution at: https://www.jensenartists.com/artists-profiles/simone-dinnerstein
GRAMMY®-nominated Pianist Simone Dinnerstein
Performs Reflections
A Concert Shaped by Musical Interconnection
Presented by The Modlin Center for the Arts at University of Richmond
Friday, April 11, 2025 at 7:30pm
Camp Concert Hall | 453 Westhampton Way | Richmond, VA
Tickets and More information
“colorful and idiosyncratic” – The New York Times
Simone Dinnerstein: www.simonedinnerstein.com
Richmond, VA – GRAMMY®-nominated pianist Simone Dinnerstein, described by The New Yorker as an artist of “lean, knowing, and unpretentious elegance,” performs on Friday, April 11, 2025 at 7:30pm at Camp Concert Hall (453 Westhampton Way), presented by The Modlin Center for the Arts at University of Richmond.
Dinnerstein – who is celebrated for her Bach recordings – will perform the music of J. S. Bach and other Baroque era-inspired selections in a program titled Reflections, which includes Philip Lasser’s Twelve Variations On A Chorale By J.S. Bach (2002); Gavotte et 6 Doubles from Nouvelles Suites de Pieces de Clavecin by Jean-Philippe Rameau (c. 1729-30); J. S. Bach’s Fifteen Sinfonias, BWV 787–801 (1720-23); and Encore From Tokyo (1978) by Keith Jarrett.
“I have titled this program Reflections, as I think that each work sounds unusual because of the way it is reflected against the music around it,” Dinnerstein says. “To enhance this quality, I play each half of the program (Rameau-Lasser and Bach-Jarrett) without pause between the pieces.”
Simone Dinnerstein has been playing Philip Lasser’s Twelve Variations on a Chorale by J.S. Bach for over two decades – including as part of The Berlin Concert, her 2008 album. Lasser takes the chorale from Cantata No. 101 in which, he says, “Bach chooses a particular melodic moment from the Lutheran hymn and infuses all the other voices of the Chorale with this unique sonority, with an almost maniacal insistence. In my Variations, I take on this mania to see how far one can go.”
Bach’s contemporary Rameau also composed a set of variations but on his own gavotte: Gavotte et 6 doubles from Nouvelles suites de pieces de clavecin. In his preface, Bach wrote that his Fifteen Sinfonias were, “An honest guide by which the amateurs of the keyboard – especially, however, those desirous of learning – are shown a clear way…to achieve a cantabile style in playing and at the same time acquire a strong foretaste of composition." Keith Jarrett’s Encore from Tokyo embraces the Baroque convention of a descending repeating bass line and builds a harmonically adventurous and wide-ranging improvisation around it.
Dinnerstein released her newest album, The Eye is the First Circle, on October 18, 2024 via Supertrain Records. The album features Charles Ives’ Concord Sonata and its release was timed to coincide with the American composer’s 150th birthday (October 20, 1874). The new album is a live recording of the premiere of Dinnerstein’s multimedia production of the same title, which she conceived and directed. The performance took place at the Alexander Kasser Theater, Montclair State University, New Jersey on October 17, 2021. The Eye is the First Circle also marks Dinnerstein’s fourteenth and final recording produced with the late Adam Abeshouse.
About Simone Dinnerstein: American pianist Simone Dinnerstein first came to wider public attention in 2007 through her recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, reflecting an aesthetic that was both deeply rooted in the score and profoundly idiosyncratic. She is, wrote The New York Times, “a unique voice in the forest of Bach interpretation.”
Dinnerstein has played with orchestras ranging from the New York Philharmonic and Montreal Symphony Orchestra to the London Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale Rai. She has performed in venues from Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center to the Berlin Philharmonie, the Vienna Konzerthaus, Seoul Arts Center and Sydney Opera House. She has made thirteen albums, all of which topped the Billboard charts and were recorded by GRAMMY Award-winning producer Adam Abeshouse. During the pandemic she recorded three albums which form a trilogy: A Character of Quiet, An American Mosaic, and Undersong. An American Mosaic was nominated for a GRAMMY.
In recent years, Dinnerstein has created projects that express her broad musical interests. She gave the world premiere of The Eye Is the First Circle at Montclair State University, the first multi-media production she conceived, created, and directed, which uses as source materials her father Simon Dinnerstein’s painting The Fulbright Triptych and Charles Ives’s Piano Sonata No. 2. She premiered Richard Danielpour’s An American Mosaic, a tribute to those affected by the pandemic, in a performance on multiple pianos throughout Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery. Following her recording Mozart in Havana, she brought the Havana Lyceum Orchestra from Cuba to the U.S. for the first time, performing eleven concerts. Philip Glass composed his Piano Concerto No. 3 for her, co-commissioned by twelve orchestras. Working with Renée Fleming and the Emerson String Quartet, she premiered André Previn and Tom Stoppard’s Penelope at the Tanglewood, Ravinia and Aspen music festivals, and performed it at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and presented by LA Opera. Dinnerstein has also created her own ensemble, Baroklyn, which she directs. The Washington Post comments, “it is Dinnerstein’s unreserved identification with every note she plays that makes her performance so spellbinding.” In a world where music is everywhere, she hopes that it can still be transformative. For more information, please visit www.simonedinnerstein.com.
For Calendar Editors:
Description: GRAMMY-nominated® pianist Simone Dinnerstein, described by The New Yorker as an artist of “lean, knowing, and unpretentious elegance,” will perform a program of Baroque-era inspired works in a concert presented by The Modlin Center for the Arts at University of Richmond. Her program, titled Reflections, will include J.S. Bach’s Fifteen Sinfonias (1720-23), Philip Lasser’s Twelve Variations on a Chorale by J.S. Bach (2002), Keith Jarrett’s Encore From Tokyo (1978), and Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Gavotte et 6 Doubles from Nouvelles Suites de Pieces de Clavecin (c. 1729-30).
Concert details:
Who: Pianist Simone Dinnerstein
Presented by the Mobile Chamber Music Society
What: Reflections – Music by J.S. Bach, Philip Lasser, Keith Jarrett, Jean-Philippe Rameau
When: Friday, April 11, 2025 at 7:30pm
Where: Camp Concert Hall, 453 Westhampton Way, Richmond, VA 23173
Tickets and information: www.modlin.richmond.edu/events/page.html?eventid=22755&informationid=casData
March 28: Lorin Maazel conducts the Cleveland Orchestra – The Complete CBS Masterworks Recordings
March 28: Lorin Maazel conducts the Cleveland Orchestra – The Complete CBS Masterworks Recordings
Lorin Maazel conducts the Cleveland Orchestra – The Complete CBS Masterworks Recordings
This is the first release of Lorin Maazel’s complete commercially released Cleveland recordings in a single 15 CD edition
Includes the first release on CD of two special records once distributed through Columbia Special Products with recordings from Blossom Music Festival and Sydney Opera House, remastered from broadcasting tapes using 24 bit / 192 kHz technology
Original LP sleeves and labels, booklet with full discographical notes
Album Release Date: March 28, 2025
Reviewer Rate: $43.77
Pre-Order Available Now
When he was called to succeed George Szell as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra in 1972, the 42-year-old American conductor was hardly known in his home country. But over the next ten years, as the recordings collected for the first time in Sony Classical’s new 16-CD box set amply demonstrate, this enigmatic genius by the name of Lorin Maazel burnished the Cleveland image and maintained the exalted standards set by Szell, who had elevated his ensemble to pre-eminence among the US “Big Five” orchestras. This set will be released on March 28, 2025. Pre-order is available now.
Born in 1930 in Paris, Maazel moved with his family to Los Angeles in 1932 and began violin lessons, then conducting lessons with the associate conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He was not yet ten when he mounted the Pittsburgh Symphony’s podium and only eleven when he was invited by Toscanini to conduct the NBC Symphony in a concert broadcast nationally. In 1953, he made his European début; by 1960, he had conducted some 300 concerts with more than 20 European orchestras and become the youngest and the first American conductor to appear at the Bayreuth Festival.
When he arrived in Cleveland, By the time this brilliant young man reached the age of 15, he was determined to get a university education and withdrew from conducting engagements to study languages and philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh – meanwhile also giving violin recitals and playing in the Pittsburgh SO and the Fine Arts Quartet. After graduation, a Fulbright Scholarship took Maazel to Rome, and in 1953 he made his European debut, standing in for an indisposed conductor in Catania. A Rome Radio recording followed, and his career was now well underway. By 1960 he had conducted some 300 concerts with more than 20 European orchestras and, aged 30, became the youngest conductor, the first American and the first Jew since the fall of the Third Reich to appear at the Bayreuth Festival.
Maazel was already recording regularly for DG and Decca; immediately he joined the artist stable of Columbia/CBS, his new orchestra’s label. Their first album – works by Berlioz, Brahms and Barber– was released in 1973. The next one, also now being reissued for the first time in Sony’s new box, was a gripping performance of Brahms’s First Symphony taped in October 1973, when the Clevelanders became the first visiting orchestra to play in the concert hall of Sydney’s recently opened Opera House.
A decade earlier, Maazel had begun an association with the Vienna Philharmonic, recording, along with much else, works by Richard Strauss which he would revisit and record in Cleveland for Columbia/CBS. He seems to have had the Viennese sound in his ear in those interpretations of Don Juan, Till Eulenspiegel and Tod und Verklärung set down in Cleveland’s acoustically excellent Masonic Auditorium in May 1979. The Penguin Guide called the Don Juan “one of the most thrilling accounts on record.”
Also in Masonic Auditorium, in January 1977, Maazel set down an urgently paced, finely played Ein Heldenleben as well as the first of his three traversals of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique: “Rarely have the ‘March to the Scaffold’ and the ‘Witches Sabbath’ achieved fiercer bite and impact or sounded more terrifyingly demoniac” (High Fidelity). The last three Tchaikovsky symphonies collected here date from the early 1980s. Two decades earlier, he had undertaken the complete cycle in Vienna; comparing the versions in his review of this Cleveland remake, Gramophone’s reviewer enjoyed the newer recordings’ instances of more flexible phrasing, added breathing space and crisper ensemble.
A complete cycle of symphonies that Maazel committed to disc on only one occasion is Beethoven’s, and it naturally forms the centerpiece of this collection. The set, released complete in 1979, was acclaimed by the critics: “The music‐making is full-bodied, intense, hearty and impassioned,” wrote the New York Times. “The First, Second, Fourth, and Eighth symphonies are breathtaking, and the Fifth and Seventh are truly exciting, as well.” High Fidelity’s reviewer called the “Pastoral” a ravishing performance – “crystalline and beautifully graded in sound, patrician and well sprung in rhythm.” Gramophone found the First, Second, Fourth and Eighth Symphonies “played with the kind of inspiring directness we have come to expect from Cleveland … Led by outstandingly lucid readings of the Sixth and Seventh symphonies and distinctive readings of the three overtures, [Maazel’s cycle is] a bracing experience aesthetically and intellectually.”
Finally, the new set brings a curiosity, Lorin Maazel’s own “symphonic realizations” of chansons by the French pop star Serge Lama. After accompanying the singer-songwriter on the violin on a French TV show, he hatched the idea of “lending Lama’s poetry a new, larger dimension”. This is the 1980 album’s first international release, as well as its CD début.
SET CONTENTS
DISC 1:
Berlioz: Le carnaval romain, H 95: Overture
Brahms: Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80
Barber: The School For Scandal, Op. 5: Overture
Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 68
DISC 2:
R. Strauss: Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40
DISC 3:
Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21
Beethoven: Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36
DISC 4:
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. 55 "Eroica"
DISC 5:
Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 in B-Flat Major, Op. 60
Beethoven: Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93
DISC 6:
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67
Beethoven: Egmont Overture, Op. 84
Beethoven: Leonore Overture No. 3, Op. 72
DISC 7:
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 "Pastoral"
DISC 8:
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92
Beethoven: Fidelio Overture, Op. 72
DISC 9:
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral"
DISC 10:
Strauss: Don Juan, Op. 20
Strauss: Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, Op. 28
Strauss: Death and Transfiguration
DISC 11:
Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14
DISC 12:
Lama: Les P'tites Femmes de Pigalle
Lama: Chez Moi
Lama: Je t'aime à la folie
Lama: Je suis malade
Lama: L'esclave
Lama: La Chanteuse a vingt ans
Lama: La Salle de Bains
Lama: Ah!
Lama: L'enfant au piano
Lama: Femmes, Femmes, Femmes
Lama: L'enfant d'un autre
Lama: An old-fashioned Waltz
DISC 13:
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64
DISC 14:
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74 "Pathétique"
DISC 15:
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 36
March 21: Sony Classical Presents the Guarneri String Quartet – The Complete RCA Victor Collection
March 21: Sony Classical Presents the Guarneri String Quartet – The Complete RCA Victor Collection
Sony Classical Presents the Guarneri String Quartet
The Complete RCA Victor Collection
9 recordings new to CD and 1 recording previously unreleased
Album Release Date: March 21, 2025
Reviewer Rate: $120.16
Pre-Order Available Now
In the early 1960s, four young musicians who had been playing chamber music at Rudolf Serkin’s Marlboro School and Festival in Vermont were encouraged to form a string quartet. In July 1964, the Guarneri Quartet gave its first concert and less than a year later made its first recordings under contract to RCA Victor. For the next 45 years, with only one change of personnel, the Guarneris performed all over the world and amassed a large, wide-ranging, prize-winning discography. Sony Classical now presents, for the first time in a single collection, all the recordings made by the Guarneri Quartet for RCA between 1965 and 2005. Pre-order is available now. The set will be released on March 21, 2025.
When the announcement came of its retirement at the end of the 2008–09 season, the eminent British critic Rob Cowan wrote a perceptive, affectionate tribute to the Guarneri Quartet in Gramophone, comparing it to the Juilliard Quartet, the other superb ensemble that had dominated the American quartet catalogue for so many years. Using their respective Bartók recordings as an example, he contrasted the “cut-glass precision” of the Juilliard’s early-60s set to the Guarneri’s “volatile, free-spirited, generously expressive and tonally rich” performing style in its RCA cycle from the mid-70s.
That characterization of the Guarneri Quartet’s playing runs through virtually all the reviews garnered in their long recording career, a story that began with the 1966 release of two of Mozart’s late “Prussian” Quartets and an album coupling Dvořák and Smetana. HiFi Stereo Review wrote that “not since the Juilliard String Quartet set the New York music world on its collective ear some 25 years ago has a new chamber group created such a furor as the Guarneri Quartet on the occasion of its New York début in February, 1965. This pair of discs demonstrates eloquently what all the shouting was about, for these players – Arnold Steinhardt, John Dalley, Michael Tree, and David Soyer – blend precision with flexibility of phrasing and rhythm in a way not often encountered in contemporary American string groups. Here, indeed, is the influence of the seed bed from which the quartet stems – the Marlboro of Rudolf Serkin, Alexander Schneider, and Pablo Casals … To the Smetana [‘From My Life’] the Guarneri Quartet brings blazing intensity and fierce rhythmic verve, while the wonderful slow movement of the Dvořák [Op. 105] comes forth from the stereo speakers with an almost orchestral lushness, yet with inner voices flawlessly balanced.”
Other critics concurred in their reviews of these two LPs: “The foursome produces an unfailingly luscious tone, plays with letter-perfect intonation, and displays all sorts of felicitous pinpoint balances and coloristic effects. And how these gentlemen stay together … even in the most wayward of tempo changes. In short, this is ensemble work of a transcendental variety … The Guarneri Quartet is the most gifted group of its kind I have heard in years” (High Fidelity). “This is distinguished Mozart playing indeed. Its technical excellence needs little comment: as with the Dvořák/Smetana record … last month, with this team you take technical mastery for granted as soon as you hear the first phrase, and straightaway it's the intensely musical quality of the playing which strikes you. Theirs is Mozart played with the classical virtues, above all with firm line, poise and sensibility. The surface of the music is polished, but how much the Guarneri Quartet find beneath” (Gramophone).
Arthur Rubinstein was the quartet’s longtime keyboard partner. In 1966, they recorded the Piano Quintets of Schumann and Brahms: “Rubinstein and the Guarneris search out to equally convincing effect the flowingly lyrical aspects of the music, and this yields special rewards in a ravishing slow movement [the Brahms]” (HiFi Stereo Review). Dvořák’s followed in 1971: “The performance is beautifully balanced between the gentleman at the keyboard and the gentlemen with strings, and the sense of give and take comes from the experience of many collaborations” (High Fidelity).
They also recorded the piano quartet literature, beginning in 1967 with “beautiful performances” (High Fidelity) of Brahms. Their reading of Fauré’s Op. 25 in C minor was judged (also by High Fidelity) to be “beautifully played and exquisitely well reproduced. The instrumental lines are wonderfully clear in this highly directional recording … Rubinstein displays his regal style.” And in a disc containing both of Mozart’s piano quartets, “the playing throughout both sides is extremely beautiful … and superbly integrated – at once expressive and elegant, making all of Mozart’s points with clarity, straightforwardness, and the exalted give-and-take that is the life’s breath of real chamber music. The recorded sound, too, is exceptional for its richness, balance, and clarity” (HiFi Stereo Review).
One of many other composers who feature prominently in Sony’s Guarneri collection is Haydn. About the ensemble’s 1977 recording of the two Op.77 quartets, HiFi Stereo Review wrote that “these spirited, attractive performances of Haydn's two greatest string quartets are marked by a sense of real involvement. Articulation is crisp, ensemble is impeccable, and there is an organic flow from the first phrase to the last in each work”, while Gramophone praised their “deeply thoughtful, powerfully paced” 1986 reading of Haydn’s Seven Last Words.
With reinforcement from the Budapest Quartet in 1965, the Guarneris produced an “absolutely stunning performance (HiFi Stereo Review) of Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence sextet. In 1966, they recorded quartets by Mendelssohn and Grieg (the latter receiving its CD première in this set): “The Guarneri ensemble does itself proud throughout this disc – most notably in the Mendelssohn, in which they display a tonal homogeneity and a warmth of phrasing that are truly striking. It is as though one instrument, not four, were producing the lovely sound that emerges from the speakers. Happily, the RCA recording staff has come up here with a string quartet sonority of the utmost intimacy, yet endowed with just enough room tone to enhance the naturally warm tone of the Guarneris” (HiFi Stereo Review).
But the heart of any string quartet’s repertoire is inevitably the Beethoven cycle, and it is with these works that the Guarneris were most closely associated. They made their complete recording for RCA between 1966 and 1969. Gramophone described the Early Quartets as “elegant and buoyant, with well-chosen tempos, subtle bowing, crisp articulation, telling contrasts between staccato and legato, and a consistent sense of style.” HiFi Stereo Review enumerated the virtues of their Middle Quartets: “(1) excellent intonation; (2) glowing tone; (3) ensemble that is balanced and accurate but always flexible and natural; (4) superb phrasing and line-building; (5) good feeling for a high Beethoven style. These are strong and expressive readings that often achieve great poetic insight and a powerful dynamic impulse.” The HiFi Stereo Review’s critic rhapsodized over their Late Quartets: “If I had to make the choice of a very few records to take with me to a desert island, I’d choose recordings of the last five Beethoven string quartets. Now, with the arrival of this new album (complete with the Grosse Fuge) by the Guarneri Quartet, I’ve got my island package. All I need is the island. The Guarneri is, without a doubt, one of the most extraordinary string quartets before the public these days: the group has an absolutely stunning sense of both soloistic and ensemble color. Indeed, I can’t think of another string quartet that can match them for sheer sensuous appeal.”
SET CONTENTS
DISC 1:
Smetana: String Quartet No. 1 in E Minor T.116 "From my life"
Dvorák: String Quartet No. 13 in A-Flat Major, Op. 105
DISC 2:
Mozart: String Quartet No. 22 in B-Flat Major, K. 589
Mozart: String Quartet No. 23 in F Major, K. 590
DISC 3:
Tchaikovsky : Souvenir de Florence, Op. 70
DISC 4:
Mendelssohn: Quartet in A Minor, Op. 13
Grieg: String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 27
DISC 5:
Brahms: Piano Quintet in F Minor, Op. 34
DISC 6:
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 7 in F Major, Op. 59, No. 1, "Razumovsky"
DISC 7:
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 8 in E Minor, Op. 59, No. 2
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 9 in C Major, Op. 59, No. 3
DISC 8:
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 10 in E-Flat Major, Op. 74, "Harp"
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 11 in F Minor, Op. 95 "Serioso"
DISC 9:
Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25
Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 60
DISC 10:
Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 26
Schumann: Piano Quintet in E-Flat Major, Op. 44
DISC 11:
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 13 in B-Flat Major, Op. 130
Beethoven: Große Fuge, Op. 133
DISC 12:
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 131
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 12 in E-Flat Major, Op. 127
DISC 13:
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 15 in A Minor, Op. 132
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Op. 135
DISC 14:
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 1 in F Major, Op. 18 No. 1
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 18 No. 2
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Op. 18, No. 3
DISC 15:
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 4, in C Minor, Op. 18, No. 4
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 5 in A Major, Op. 18, No. 5
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 6 in B-Flat Major, Op. 18, No. 6
DISC 16:
Dvorák: Piano Quintet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 81
DISC 17:
Schubert: String Quartet No. 13 in A Minor, D. 804
Schubert: String Quartet No. 12 in C Minor, D. 703 "Quartettsatz"
DISC 18:
Dvorák: Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-Flat Major, Op. 87
DISC 19:
Dvorák: String Quartet in No. 11 in C Major, Op. 61
Dvorák: Terzetto in C Major, Op. 74
DISC 20:
Debussy: Quartet in G Minor, Op. 10
Ravel: String Quartet in F Major, M. 35
DISC 21:
Mozart: String Quartet No. 14 in G Major, K. 387
Mozart: String Quartet No. 15 in D Minor, K. 421
DISC 22:
Mozart: String Quartet No. 16 in E-Flat Major, K. 428
Mozart: String Quartet No. 17 in B-Flat Major, K. 458 "Hunt"
DISC 23:
Fauré: Piano Quartet No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 15
Fauré: String Quartet in E Minor, Op. 121
DISC 24:
Mozart: String Quartet No. 18 in A Major, K. 464
Mozart: String Quartet No. 19 in C Major, K. 465 "Dissonant"
DISC 25:
Schubert: String Quintet in C Major, D. 956
DISC 26:
Dvorák: String Quartet in No. 6 in F Major, Op. 96 "American"
Dvorák: String Quintet No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. 97
DISC 27:
Schubert: Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D.810 "Death and the Maiden"
Wolf: Italian Serenade
DISC 28:
Bartók: String Quartet No. 1, Sz. 40 (1909)
Bartók: String Quartet No. 2, Sz. 67 (1915-17)
Bartók: String Quartet No. 3, Sz. 85
DISC 29:
Bartók: String Quartet No. 4, Sz. 91 (1928)
Bartók: String Quartet No. 5, Sz. 102 (1934)
Bartók: String Quartet No. 6, Sz. 114 (1939)
DISC 30:
Mozart: Piano Quartet in G Minor, K. 478
Mozart: Piano Quartet in E-Flat Major, K. 493
DISC 31:
Haydn: String Quartet in G Major, Hob.III:81 "Lobkowitz"
Haydn: String Quartet in F Major, Hob.III:82
DISC 32:
Schubert: Quartet No. 15 in G Major, D.887
DISC 33:
Beethoven: String Quintet in C Major, Op. 29
Mendelssohn: Quintet in B-Flat Major, Op. 87
DISC 34:
Haydn: String Quartet in D Major, Hob.III:34
Haydn: String Quartet in G Minor, Hob.III:74
DISC 35:
Brahms: String Quartet No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 51 (1909)
Brahms: String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 51
DISC 36:
Brahms: String Quartet No. 3 in B-Flat Major, Op. 67
Schumann: String Quartet No. 1, Op. 41 No. 1
DISC 37:
Schumann: String Quartet No. 2, Op. 41 No. 2
Schumann: String Quartet No. 3, Op. 41 No. 3
DISC 38:
Dvorák: String Quartet No. 14 in G Major, Op. 106
DISC 39:
Borodin: String Quartet No. 2 in D Major
Dohnányi: String Quartet No. 2 in D-Flat Major, Op. 15
DISC 40:
Mozart: String Quartet No. 20 in D Major, K. 499
Mozart: String Quartet No. 21 in D Major, K. 575
DISC 41:
Brahms: String Quintet No. 1 in F Major, Op. 88
Brahms: String Quintet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 111
DISC 42:
Schubert: Piano Quintet in A Major, D. 667 "Trout"
Mozart: Eine kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525
DISC 43:
Verdi: String Quartet in E Minor
Tchaikovsky: String Quartet No. 1 in D Major, Op. 11
DISC 44:
Haydn: The Seven Last Words of Christ Op. 51
DISC 45:
Mozart: String Quintet No. 1 in B-Flat Major, K. 174
Mozart: String Quintet No. 4 in G Minor, K. 516
DISC 46:
Mozart: String Quintet No. 2 in C Minor, K. 406
Mozart: String Quintet No. 5 in D Major, K. 593
DISC 47:
Mozart: String Quintet No. 3 in C Major, K. 515
Mozart: String Quintet No. 6 in E-Flat Major, K. 614
DISC 48:
Dohnányi: String Quartet No. 2 in D-Flat Major, Op. 15
Kodály: String Quartet No. 2, Op. 10
Dohnányi: String Quartet No. 3 in A Minor, Op. 33
DISC 49:
Mendelssohn: Octet for 4 Violins, 2 Violas and 2 Cellos in E-flat Major, Op. 20
Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Op. 44 No. 1 (previously unreleased)
March 23 - Myra Foundation Presents: Concerts in the Galleries with GRAMMY®- Nominated Pianist Simone Dinnerstein and Violinist Rebecca Fischer
March 23 - Myra Foundation Presents: Concerts in the Galleries with GRAMMY®- Nominated Pianist Simone Dinnerstein and Violinist Rebecca Fischer
L-R Violinist Rebecca Fischer, Pianist Simone Dinnerstein
Myra Foundation Presents:
Concerts in the Galleries with GRAMMY®- Nominated Pianist Simone Dinnerstein and Violinist Rebecca Fischer
Sunday, March 23, 2025 at 2pm
North Dakota Museum of Art | 261 Centennial Drive | Grand Forks, ND
Tickets and More information
www.simonedinnerstein.com | www.rebeccafischerviolin.com
Grand Forks, ND – On Sunday, March 23, 2025 at 2pm GRAMMY®-nominated pianist Simone Dinnerstein, described by The New Yorker as an artist of “lean, knowing, and unpretentious elegance,” and violinist Rebecca Fisher, described by the Boston Music Intelligencer as having “beautiful tone and nuanced phrasing,” will perform in the Myra Foundation Presents: Concerts in the Galleries series at the North Dakota Museum of Art (261 Centennial Drive).
Dinnerstein and Fischer will collaborate on a program of stylistically diverse and intricate works by several different composers, including Dissolve, O My Heart (2010) by Missy Mazzoli; Sonata for Violin and Keyboard No, 4 in C Minor by J.S. Bach; Encore from Tokyo (1975; transcribed by Uwe Karcher) by Keith Jarrett; and Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 10 in G Major, Op. 96 by Ludwig van Beethoven.
Each a celebrated and prolific performer in their own right, Dinnerstein and Fischer have a well established connection through musical collaboration, which spans many years. Most notably, Fischer is the concert master of Baroklyn, a string ensemble Simone Dinnerstein founded and directs – often conducting from the piano – which specializes in the music of Bach. The two musicians will share the galleries of the North Dakota Museum of Art for a performance that features their unified musicianship in classic works by Bach and Beethoven, as well as polished displays of their solo artistry through the modern day works of Missy Mazzoli and Keith Jarrett. Strings Magazine has described Fischer’s performance of Mazzoli’s Dissolve, O My Heart as “quite beautiful.” Dinnerstein’s performances of Jarrett’s Encore from Tokyo – a work that was originally an improvisation – have earned her lively standing ovations, with Dinnerstein noting that she finds Jarrett’s music “fascinating” as she has reflected on “how to make this piece [her] own” over time.
As first violinist for the Chiara Quartet, Rebecca Fischer participated in a Chamber Music America Rural Residency at the North Dakota Museum of Art, just as her career was unfolding. Living, performing and teaching in Grand Forks for two years, she helped launch a revival of interest in chamber music and stringed instruments that has re-invigorated the music community in the Red River Valley.
About Rebecca Fischer: Violinist Rebecca Fischer is sought after as a highly expressive, intuitive performer of solo, chamber music and chamber orchestra repertoire. Garnering attention for her compelling programs of solo violin and singing violinist music, Fischer has premiered solo works by composers Lisa Bielawa, Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, Paola Prestini, Mathew Fuerst, Augusta Read Thomas, Byron Au Yong, Pierre Jalbert and others. Recent solo recital engagements include Columbia University’s Miller Theater Pop-Up series, The Stone, and the University of Oregon. Fischer is also a member of The Afield, a multidisciplinary collaboration with visual artist/writer Anthony Hawley combining new and original compositions for violin, voice, and electronics with video and other media. The Afield has performed at the Harare International Festival of the Arts in Zimbabwe, Carnegie Hall, and the Atlanta Contemporary Museum, and has published work in Art Papers.
First-violinist of the Chiara String Quartet for eighteen years until the group’s final season in 2018, Fischer recorded and performed numerous works by heart, held residencies at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Harvard University, and premiered many major new works by composers such as Gabriela Lena Frank and Philip Glass. Performance highlights include the complete Bartók Quartets by heart at Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, several complete Beethoven quartet cycles, and collaborations with such artists as the Juilliard and Saint Lawrence Quartets, Roger Tapping, Robert Levin, and the electronic duo Matmos.
Rebecca. Fischer has recorded for Azica Records (the complete string quartets of Brahms and Bartók) and New Amsterdam Records (the string quartets of Jefferson Friedman, a Grammy-nominated album). She is the Executive Director and Director of Senior Camp at Greenwood Music Camp, where she has been on the faculty since 2006. During the year she teaches violin and chamber music at the Mannes School of Music and serves as co-chair of the string department. She. holds degrees from Columbia University (B.A.) and The Juilliard School (M.M., A.D.). Her book of personal essays The Sound of Memory: Themes from a Violinist’s Life (Mad Creek Books, the Ohio University State Press) was released in April 2022. The “intimate and vulnerable” (Strings Magazine) collection has been featured on WNYC, and Fischer has given readings of her “personal, absorbing response to the author’s practical and creative journey” (Strad Magazine) at Rice University and the New School. For more information, visit www.rebeccafischerviolin.com.
About Simone Dinnerstein: American pianist Simone Dinnerstein first came to wider public attention in 2007 through her recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, reflecting an aesthetic that was both deeply rooted in the score and profoundly idiosyncratic. She is, wrote The New York Times, “a unique voice in the forest of Bach interpretation.”
Dinnerstein has played with orchestras ranging from the New York Philharmonic and Montreal Symphony Orchestra to the London Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale Rai. She has performed in venues from Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center to the Berlin Philharmonie, the Vienna Konzerthaus, Seoul Arts Center and Sydney Opera House. She has made thirteen albums, all of which topped the Billboard charts and were recorded by GRAMMY Award-winning producer Adam Abeshouse. During the pandemic she recorded three albums which form a trilogy: A Character of Quiet, An American Mosaic, and Undersong. An American Mosaic was nominated for a GRAMMY.
In recent years, Dinnerstein has created projects that express her broad musical interests. She gave the world premiere of The Eye Is the First Circle at Montclair State University, the first multi-media production she conceived, created, and directed, which uses as source materials her father Simon Dinnerstein’s painting The Fulbright Triptych and Charles Ives’s Piano Sonata No. 2. She premiered Richard Danielpour’s An American Mosaic, a tribute to those affected by the pandemic, in a performance on multiple pianos throughout Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery. Following her recording Mozart in Havana, she brought the Havana Lyceum Orchestra from Cuba to the U.S. for the first time, performing eleven concerts. Philip Glass composed his Piano Concerto No. 3 for her, co-commissioned by twelve orchestras. Working with Renée Fleming and the Emerson String Quartet, she premiered André Previn and Tom Stoppard’s Penelope at the Tanglewood, Ravinia and Aspen music festivals, and performed it at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and presented by LA Opera. Dinnerstein has also created her own ensemble, Baroklyn, which she directs. The Washington Post comments, “it is Dinnerstein’s unreserved identification with every note she plays that makes her performance so spellbinding.” In a world where music is everywhere, she hopes that it can still be transformative. For more information, please visit www.simonedinnerstein.com.
For Calendar Editors:
Description: GRAMMY-nominated® pianist Simone Dinnerstein, described by The New Yorker as an artist of “lean, knowing, and unpretentious elegance” and violinist Rebecca Fischer, who is recognized for “beautiful tone and nuanced phrasing” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), are presented by the Myra Foundation as part of the Concerts in the Galleries Series at the North Dakota Museum of Art. The concert program will include Dissolve, O My Heart by Missy Mazzoli (2010); Sonata for Violin and Keyboard No, 4 in C Minor by J.S. Bach; Encore from Tokyo by Keith Jarrett, transcribed by Uwe Karcher (1975); and Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 10 in G Major, Op. 96 by Ludwig van Beethoven.
Concert details:
Who: Pianist Simone Dinnerstein and Violinist Rebecca Fischer
Presented by The Myra Foundation as part of the Concerts in the Galleries Series
What: Music by Missy Mazzoli, J.S. Bach, Keith Jarrett (arr. Uwe Karcher), and Ludwig van Beethoven
When: Sunday, March 23, 2025 at 2pm
Where: North Dakota Museum of Art, 261 Centennial Drive Grand Forks, ND 58202
Tickets: www.ndmoa.com/concerts-in-the-galleries
More information: Brian Lofthus, North Dakota Museum of Art, 701-777-4195
March 14: ECM New Series Releases Patrick Demenga's Recording of Alexander Knaifel's Chapter Eight
ECM New Series Releases Patrick Demenga's Recording of Alexander Knaifel's Chapter Eight
ECM New Series Releases
Alexander Knaifel: Chapter Eight
Patrick Demenga, violoncello
The State Choir Latvija, Youth Choir Kamēr and Riga Cathedral Boys Choir
Andres Mustonen, conductor
Release Date: March 14, 2025
ECM 2637
CD: 0028948598533
Press downloads and CDs available upon request.
Chapter Eight: Canticum Canticorum is among the most remarkable compositions of Alexander Knaifel. Written in 1992 and 1993 and based upon the eighth chapter of the Old Testament Song of Songs, the Song of Solomon, it is conceived as a “community prayer”. In his imagination, while writing it, Knaifel said he “heard it in the most reverberant church acoustics.” A slowly moving piece that acquires a cumulative power with enveloping and radiant atmosphere, it proposes what Knaifel referred to as a “non-concerto situation.” As the work progresses, the cellist is called upon to renounce the soloist’s role of leadership and to surrender to the total sound at the nexus of the choirs, arranged in cross formation inside the church.
Here the cellist is Patrick Demenga who, together with his brother Thomas, made the first of ECM’s recordings of Knaifel’s music in 1998 with Lux Aeterna. Many of Knaifel’s works implied a spiritual or contemplative dimension and in its obituary of the Russian composer, who died last year, Gramophone wrote that “his style proved ideal for the ECM aesthetic, allowing the luminous, meditative qualities of the music to shine through.” Those qualities are evident as Estonian conductor Andres Mustonen subtly directs three Latvian choirs: the State Choir Latvija, the Youth Choir Kamēr and the Riga Cathedral Boys Choir. “Andres Mustonen managed to make the choral voices float,” wrote Michael Dervan, a witness to the performance here, in the Irish Times. “The sounds sometimes seemed to emerge as imperceptibly as a cloud slowly forming in a clear sky. In the welcoming rococo interior of Lucerne’s Jesuit Church, the effect was of prolonged, quiet ravishment.”
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Alexander Knaifel was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in 1943, and grew up in St Petersburg. Setting out, initially, to be a cellist, he studied with teachers including Mstislav Rostropovich at the Moscow Conservatory in the early 1960s. As a composer he was soon allied with an emerging Soviet avant-garde, a network of friends such as Alfred Schnittke, Arvo Pärt, Sofia Gubaidulina and Valentin Silvestrov. Like them, he subsequently found his way to a more personal idiom. His own compositions, from the mid-1970s onwards, include a number of slowly evolving pieces: “quiet giants” was his own term for these works, whose quest for beauty often has a metaphysical dimension or a sacred subtext. Knaifel sought to convey something of the heart of faith by, as he put it, "speaking in a low voice, hoping to hear a voice within oneself.”
The premiere performance of Chapter Eight took place in Washington’s National Cathedral in 1995, with Mstislav Rostropovich in the cellist’s role.
Further recordings of the music of Alexander Knaifel on ECM are Svete Tikhiy (2002) with Oleg Malov, the Keller Quartett, Tatiana Melentieva, and Andrei Siegle, Amicta Sole (2005), with Rostropovich and Melentieva plus the Glinka College Boys Choir and the Hermitage Orchestra, Blazhenstva (2008) with Melentieva, Ivan Monighetti, Piotr Migunov, the Hermitage Orchestra and the Lege Artis Choir, and Lukumoriye (2018), with Malov, Migunov, Melentieva, and Lege Artis.
Swiss cellist Patrick Demenga was born in 1962. He studied at the Bern Conservatory, in Cologne with Boris Pergamenschikow, and in New York with Harvey Shapiro. He has premiered works by Isang Yun, Gerhard Schedl, Heinz Holliger and many others. Patrick Demenga first appeared on ECM New Series in 1995 with 12 Hommages à Paul Sacher, with music of Berio, Boulez, Britten, Dutilleux, Ginastera, Henze, Holliger, Lutosławski and more.
Andres Mustonen was born in Tallinn in 1953. Renowned as both conductor and violinist, he was a founder of the early music consort Hortus Musicus, and has long juxtaposed investigations into old music with ardent championing of the new.
The State Choir Latvija is the largest professional choir in the Baltic States. Founded in 1942 its repertoire extends from the renaissance to the present day. The Latvija choir has given world premieres of Pärt’s The Deer’s Cry and Lera Auerbach’s Russian Requiem.
Youth Choir Kamēr was founded in 1990, and established a reputation for its expressive performance style. The choir has commissioned pieces from composers including John Tavener, Giya Kancheli, Dobrinka Tabakova and John Luther Adams, and participated in collaborations with Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica, Yuri Bashmet, Maxim Rysanov, and others.
The Riga Cathedral Boys Choir was first established in Latvia in 1950, and has since toured the world on many occasions.
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Chapter Eight with Patrick Demenga and the three Latvian choirs under the direction of Andres Mustonen, was recorded at Jesuitenkirche Luzerne in March 2009, in the context of the Lucerne Festival. The Jesuitenkirche - whose acoustic properties are an essential component of this interpretation of Knaifel’s piece - was built in the 17th century, as the first large Baroque church in Switzerland north of the Alps.
May 23: Sony Classical Releases Moonlight Variations New Album by Cellist Pablo Ferrández – Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33: Var. 6. Andante Out Today
May 23: Sony Classical Releases Moonlight Variations New Album by Cellist Pablo Ferrández
Sony Classical Releases Moonlight Variations
New Album by Cellist Pablo Ferrández
Out Today
Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33: Var. 6. Andante - Listen Here
Album Release Date: May 23, 2025
Pre-Order Available Now
Pablo Ferrández Unites Moonlit Nocturnes with Sunlit Tchaikovsky
Star cellist Pablo Ferrández has realized a twenty-year dream to record Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations on his latest album for Sony Classical, combining the spirited work with melancholy nocturnes to create Moonlight Variations - an album he describes as ‘night followed by day.’ The album will be released internationally on May 23, 2025 - pre-order is available now. Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33: Var. 6. Andante is out today – listen here.
The night-time has long fascinated Ferrández. On his new album, he assembles eleven handpicked gems by composers from Antonín Dvořák to Manuel Ponce that speak of the heightened emotional intimacy of the dark hours. The cellist has arranged songs, piano nocturnes, violin works and an opera aria. ‘I feel more creative at night,’ says the cellist. ‘I’m not alone in that. So many composers have written special music connected to this time. They all felt a difference in the world once the sun had gone down.’
In addition to Tchaikovsky’s extended variation set, recorded in Örebro with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra under Martin Fröst, Ferrández includes movements from Liszt’s Liebestraum and Schumann’s Kinderszenen, transcriptions of piano nocturnes by Chopin and songs by Schubert and Debussy. The album also includes two additional works by Tchaikovsky including the composer’s own arrangement for cello and orchestra of his ‘Nocturne’ from 6 Pieces for Piano.
‘We made a decision to make our arrangements true to the instrument I’m playing while not removing the piece from its original concept,’ says Ferrández. ‘The idea was to give each piece a personality of its own that suits the cello. I was thinking, of course, of singing - of that more human kind of expression. One reason I love to play lieder is that we always try to sing though the cello.’
The recording constitutes Ferrández’s first on the 1689 Archinto Stradivarius he recently acquired. ‘I haven’t heard any other cello with this warmth and I think it really suits my vocal approach and the mellow feeling I wanted to convey here,’ he says.
Ferrández’s attitude to the night hours is supported by recent scientific research, which suggests the brain’s neurotransmitters shift gear markedly at night, opening up pathways to pleasure and communication. ‘My timing feels different at night,’ days Ferrández, ‘I am somehow more relaxed, more open.’
Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations is a staple of the concertante repertoire for solo cellists. Ferrández has played the work for twenty years. He relished the opportunity to record it with fellow Sony artist Martin Fröst and his Swedish Chamber Orchestra. ‘I just love Martin as a musician, he is full of intuition and sensibility and is incredibly inspiring,’ says Ferrández. ‘I have played with him a few times and I think he must be the best clarinetist in history. As a conductor, I thought he would be a perfect fit for the Rococo Variations because of his expertise in Mozart. Mozart was Tchaikovsky’s favorite composer and Tchaikovsky is clearly channeling something of his Classical spirit in this piece.’
Joining Ferrández for the piano and cello works is his regular piano partner Julien Quentin. ‘Julien is a great musician and a great friend,’ says the cellist. ‘We have previously recorded night-themed music together for Sony, which came out of our Night Sessions project where we would gather musicians and friends together at Julien’s house and play, talk and drink wine. We have tried to capture the same atmosphere in our collaboration on this album. Every time we play together it feels like being at home.’
Pablo Ferrández was born in 1991 Madrid and named after the great Spanish cellist, Pablo Casals. He released his debut solo album on Sony in 2021 to critical acclaim and has since recorded as a concerto partner with Anne-Sophie Mutter and won an Opus Klassik Awards.
March 5: Telegraph Quartet Presented by University of Iowa
March 5: Telegraph Quartet Presented by University of Iowa
Available in high resolution at: www.jensenartists.com/artists-profiles/telegraph-quartet
Telegraph Quartet Presented by University of Iowa
Performing the Music of Ludwig van Beethoven, Kenji Bunch, and Mieczysław Weinberg
Wednesday, March 5, 2025 at 7:30pm
Voxman Music Building | 93 East Burlington St. | Iowa City, IA
More information
“soulfulness, tonal beauty and intelligent attention to detail ... an incredibly valuable addition to the cultural landscape.”
– San Francisco Chronicle
Iowa City, IA – On Wednesday, March 5, 2025 at 7:30pm, the 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 the University of Iowa at the Voxman Music Building at (93 East Burlington St.). The award-winning ensemble will perform a program featuring Kenji Bunch’s String Quartet No. 2 “Concussion Theory,” Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 10 in E-flat major, Op. 74 “Harp” and Mieczysław Weinberg's String Quartet No. 6 in E minor, Op. 35. This performance is free and open to the public and is the culmination of a three day residency with the University of Iowa Sting Quartet Residency Program which had been supported in part by the Linda and Rick Maxson Chamber Music Fund.
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.
Known for their technical prowess and appreciation for the history behind music, the Telegraph Quartet bring their musical synchronicity and nuanced performance style to a program of music that highlights three very distinct forms of struggle that range from that of self-contained individual adversity to national plights of natural disasters, as well as the uncertainty of global conflict.
Beethoven’s “Harp” quartet, composed during a French attack on Vienna, is actually one of his most melodious works, despite it being written during the composer’s 11-year-long struggle with hearing loss, which inevitably kept him from fully experiencing this work. During World War II Mieczysław Weinberg fled his homeland of Poland and having failed to convince his family to come with him, almost all of them would be murdered in the concentration camps. His String Quartet No. 6 contains an innocent mundanity that erupts throughout the work into desperation, sorrow, and tragic indignation as he dealt with the ramifications of his exile and learned to live warily in his newfound home of the Soviet Union. The work, which was banned in Stalin’s USSR and was never performed in Weinberg’s lifetime, is now being championed by the Telegraph Quartet.
Kenji Bunch’s String Quartet No. 2, Concussion Theory, explores many aspects of the historically unprecedented plight of [the 1930’s Dustbowl] and the highly unorthodox experiments the nation tried in order to address it.
“The first movement, No Man's Land, presents a dire scene of the parched, barren earth of the Great Plains, with a scorching sun and only a rustling of tumbleweed to interrupt the desolate stillness. Black Sunday recalls a battered, downtrodden community church gathering in 1935 on the day of one of the worst dust storm of that era blacked out an area spanning five states. The third movement, Concussion Theory, depicts the blazing fireworks of explosives fired into the heavens above, followed by A Gentle Rain, a fantasy of cathartic rainfall; a bittersweet, would-be outcome of this experiment that, alas, in reality never actually occurred.
The Telegraph Quartet’s latest album, 20th Century Vantage Points: Divergent Paths, was released in 2023 on 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 Quartet has performed in concert halls, music festivals, and academic institutions across the United States and abroad, including 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. The Quartet is currently the Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Michigan.
Notable collaborations include projects with pianists Leon Fleisher and Simone Dinnerstein; cellists Norman Fischer and Bonnie Hampton; violinist Ian Swensen; and the St. Lawrence Quartet and Henschel Quartett. A fervent champion of 20th- and 21st-century repertoire, the Telegraph Quartet has premiered works by Osvaldo Golijov, John Harbison, Robert Sirota, and Richard Festinger.
In August 2023, the Telegraph Quartet released its latest album Divergent Paths, the first in a series of recordings titled 20th Century Vantage Points, on Azica Records. This first volume features two works that (to the best of the Quartet’s knowledge) have never been recorded on the same album before: Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major and Arnold Schoenberg’s String Quartet No. 1 in D minor, Op. 7. Through this series, the Telegraph Quartet intends to explore string quartets of the 20th century – an era of music that the group has felt especially called to perform since its formation. The New York Times praised the Telegraph’s performance as “…full of elegance and pinpoint control…” Divergent Paths follows Into The Light (Centaur, 2018), an album highlighting a gripping set of works by Leon Kirchner, Anton Webern, and Benjamin Britten.
Beyond the concert stage, the Telegraph Quartet seeks to spread its music through education and audience engagement. The Quartet has given master classes at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music 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. 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. In the summers of 2022 and 2024, the Telegraph Quartet traveled to Vienna to work with Schoenberg expert Henk Guittart in conjunction with the Arnold Schoenberg Center, researching all of Schoenberg's string quartets.
For more information, visit www.telegraphquartet.com.
For Calendar Editors:
Concert details:
Who: Telegraph Quartet
Presented by the University of Iowa
What: Music by Ludwig van Beethoven, Kenji Bunch, and Mieczysław Weinberg
When: Wednesday, March 5, 2025 at 7:30pm
Where: Voxman Music Building, 93 East Burlington St., Iowa City, IA 52240
Tickets and information: www.gpsg.uiowa.edu/event/147476/0
Description: The award-winning Telegraph Quartet, which the San Francisco Chronicle describes as having “soulfulness, tonal beauty and intelligent attention to detail” and being “an incredibly valuable addition to the cultural landscape,” is presented by the University of Iowa on Wednesday, March 5, 2025. The concert, which is free and open to the public, will feature Kenji Bunch’s String Quartet No. 2 “Concussion Theory,” Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 10 in E-flat major, Op. 74 “Harp” and Mieczysław Weinberg's String Quartet No. 6 in E minor, Op. 35. Through this performance, the Telegraph Quartet presents music that explores a wide range of bold emotions and experiences, inspired by dramatic events of individual, national and global scale.
March 22 & 23: High Drama and a World Premiere are Featured in California Symphony's TCHAIKOVSKY PASSION
March 22 & 23: High Drama and a World Premiere are Featured in California Symphony's TCHAIKOVSKY PASSION
Photo of David Fung by Studio D2 for Steinway and Sons; Donato Cabrera by Kristen Loken; Saad Haddad by Bess Adler; high resolution photos available here.
High Drama and a World Premiere are Featured
in California Symphony's TCHAIKOVSKY PASSION
Led by Donato Cabrera, Artistic & Music Director
In Concert March 22 at 7:30pm & March 23 at 4:00pm
at Walnut Creek’s Lesher Center for the Arts
Featuring Piano Soloist David Fung in Grażyna Bacewicz’s Piano Concerto,
the World Premiere of Composer-in-Residence Saad Haddad’s Fantasia for Strings,
and Tchaikovsky’s Final Symphony, Symphony No. 6
California Symphony’s 2024-2025 Season Showcases the Crowning Achievements of Composers at the Peak of Their Powers: Watch Donato Cabrera’s Introduction
Tickets & Information: www.californiasymphony.org
WALNUT CREEK, CA – California Symphony and Artistic and Music Director Donato Cabrera continue the 2024-2025 season, showcasing the crowning achievements of composers at the peak of their powers, with TCHAIKOVSKY PASSION – two concerts featuring music that is full of drama and high emotion on Saturday, March 22, 2025 at 7:30pm and Sunday, March 23, 2025 at 4:00pm at Hofmann Theatre at the Lesher Center for the Arts (1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek). Centered around Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s powerful final symphony, Symphony No. 6, the concerts will also include the world premiere of Composer-in-Residence Saad Haddad’s second commission for the orchestra Fantasia for Strings, and the California Symphony debut of pianist David Fung as soloist in Grażyna Bacewicz’s rarely heard virtuosic Piano Concerto.
Saad Haddad, who is California Symphony’s Young American Composer in Residence from 2024-2026, writes music that frequently delves into the relationship between the West and the East by transferring the performance techniques of traditional Arab instruments to Western symphonic instruments. His Fantasia for Strings takes inspiration from English composer Ralph Vaughn Williams’ famous Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, fused with Arab maqam or melodic structure. Pianist David Fung, praised by The Washington Post for his “poetic and exquisitely sculpted interpretations,” joins the orchestra as soloist in Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz’s Piano Concerto. Tchaikovsky’s sixth and final symphony is also known as the “Pathétique,” but the composer originally called it the “Passionate.” Grand, sweeping, and with themes recognizable from movies and pop culture, it is one of the Russian melody master’s most popular and frequently performed works.
“While programming an entire season around the final symphonies of well-known composers was exhilarating, it is always a particular challenge to find the right tone and arc when programming a concert in and around Tchaikovsky’s uniquely final symphony, the Pathétique,” says Donato Cabrera. “Using the original definition of pathetic as a guide immediately led me to the compositions of Grażyna Bacewicz. Her music is not new to the California Symphony and this powerful Piano Concerto will be brilliantly performed by our guest soloist, David Fung. The concert begins with our composer-in-residence Saad Haddad’s Fantasia for Strings – its emotional and dramatic atmosphere is a perfect companion to both the Bacewicz and Tchaikovsky.”
Saad Hadded writes of his new piece, Fantasia for Strings, that he took a “snapshot” of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and created “an entire soundscape of my own aesthetic based on his.” He explains, “The role of the solo string quartet is to evoke the Vaughan Williams theme within the framework of the Arab maqam system, while the rest of the orchestra plays in an aesthetic closer to the original Vaughan Williams. So there is an internal dialogue going on between the two groups.” The two groups trade back and forth until they both merge together and the two styles – Arabic and European – sound as one.
Grażyna Bacewicz was one of the first women composers to achieve national prominence in Poland. In the 1930s, she studied in Paris with the pioneering composer Nadia Boulanger, who taught many other great 20th century composers. Despite taking care of her sister who was wounded and her own family, Bacewicz composed and premiered new works at private concerts in Nazi-occupied Warsaw during the Second World War. She composed her Piano Concerto in 1949, and it was premiered that year by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. Bacewicz incorporates Polish folk themes in this work which features intense moments of drama and a demanding and virtuosic solo piano part. In his notes for this program, Scott Fogelsong describes Bacewicz’s music, writing, “Her long-overlooked music is well worth exploring: beautifully crafted, vital and passionate, it carves out a stylistic journey from the Gallic influences of her youth to the dark complexities of her late years.”
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s final symphony, Symphony No. 6, is nicknamed the Pathétique Symphony and premiered just nine days before his death. As Fogelsong explains, “Pathétique plotlines have been conjured up throughout the work’s century-plus history: suicide note, presentiment of death, death wish, despair of being homosexual in a violently anti-gay culture.” However, the composer originally named the symphony Pateticheskaya, meaning passionate or emotional, and was in good health when he composed the piece. Tchaikovsky wrote to his nephew Vladimir ‘Bob’ Davydov of the work, “I certainly regard it as easily the best – and especially the most ‘sincere’ – of all my works, and I love it as I have never before loved one of my musical offspring.”
Illustrating California Symphony’s signature approach to creating vibrant concert programs that span the breadth of orchestral repertoire, including works by American composers and by living composers, the 2024-2025 season features the iconic final symphonies of titans of classical music Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky; the unfinished masterpieces of Anton Bruckner and Franz Schubert; a Grammy-winning Disney Fantasia-esque concerto for film and orchestra by Bay Area composer Mason Bates paired with Benjamin Britten’s lively introduction to the ensemble; a world premiere by the orchestra’s 2024-2026 Young American Composer-in-Residence Saad Haddad; a recent work by Grammy-nominated composer and Kennedy Center composer-in-residence Carlos Simon; Joaquín Rodrigo’s famous tour-de-force guitar concerto Concierto de Aranjuez; and rarely performed music by 19th-century French composer Louise Farrenc and 20th-century Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz.
Season tickets are now available for California Symphony’s 2025-2026 season. Read the season announcement here.
Founded in 1986, California Symphony has been led by Donato Cabrera since 2013. 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.
Single tickets start at $50 and at $25 for students 25 and under. A free 30-minute pre-concert talk by lecturer Scott Fogelsong will begin one hour before each performance. More information is available at CaliforniaSymphony.org.
FOR CALENDAR EDITORS:
WHAT: California Symphony presents TCHAIKOVSKY PASSION
California Symphony’s March concerts, conducted by Artistic and Music Director Donato Cabrera, feature music that is full of emotion and high drama, concluding with Tchaikovsky’s powerful final symphony, Symphony No. 6. The concerts begin with the world premiere of Fantasia for Strings, Composer-in-Residence Saad Haddad’s second commission for the orchestra. Haddad’s music frequently delves into the relationship between the West and the East by transferring the performance techniques of traditional Arabic instruments to Western symphonic instruments. Pianist David Fung, praised by The Washington Post for his “poetic and exquisitely sculpted interpretations,” makes his California Symphony debut as soloist in 20th century Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz’s Piano Concerto. Bacewicz incorporates Polish folk themes in this work which features intense moments of drama and a demanding and virtuosic solo piano part. Tchaikovsky’s sixth and final symphony is also known as the “Pathétique,” but the composer originally called it the “Passionate.” Grand, sweeping, and with themes recognizable from movies and pop culture, it is one of the Russian melody master’s most popular and frequently performed works.
California Symphony takes the stuffiness out of the concert experience: Take selfies at the photo booth, order a signature cocktail, and sip at your seat. Tickets include a free 30-minute pre-concert talk by award-winning instructor Scott Foglesong, starting one hour before the show.
WHEN: Saturday, March 22, 2025 at 7:30pm
Sunday, March 23, 2025 at 4:00pm
WHERE: Hofmann Theatre at the Lesher Center for the Arts
1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek
CONCERT:
Tchaikovsky Passion
7:30pm, Saturday, March 22
4:00pm, Sunday, March 23
Donato Cabrera, conductor
David Fung, piano soloist
California Symphony
PROGRAM:
Saad Haddad: Fantasia for Strings (World Premiere)
Grażyna Bacewicz: Piano Concerto
David Fung, piano
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique)
TICKETS: Single tickets start at $50 and at $25 for students 25 and under.
INFO: For more information or to purchase tickets, the public may visit CaliforniaSymphony.org or call the Lesher Center Ticket Office at (925) 943-7469 (open Wed – Sun, noon to 6pm).
PHOTOS: Available here.
About the California Symphony:
Founded in 1986, California Symphony has been led by Artistic and Music Director 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.
Since 1991, California Symphony's three-year Young American Composer-in-Residence program has provided a composer with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to collaborate with the orchestra over three consecutive years to create, rehearse, premiere, and record three major orchestra compositions, one each season. Every Composer-in-Residence has gone on to win top honors and accolades in the field, including the Rome Prize, Pulitzer Prize, Grammy Awards, and more.
The orchestra's nationally recognized educational initiative Sound Minds impacts students' trajectories by providing instruction for violin or cello and musicianship skills. Sound Minds has proven to contribute directly to improved reading and math proficiencies and character development, as students set and achieve goals, learn communication and problem-solving skills, and gain self-confidence. Inspired by the El Sistema program of Venezuela, the program is offered completely free of charge to the students and families of Downer Elementary School in San Pablo, California.
Through its innovative adult education program Fresh Look: The Symphony Exposed, California Symphony provides lifelong learners a fun-filled introduction to the orchestra and classical music. Led by celebrated educator and California Symphony program annotator Scott Foglesong, these live classes are held over four weeks in the summer annually and are available to stream online year-round.
In 2017, California Symphony became the first orchestra with a public statement of a commitment to diversity. Its website is available in both Spanish and English.
Reaching far beyond the performance hall, since 2020 the orchestra's concerts have been broadcast nationally on multiple radio series through Classical California (KUSC/KDFC) and the WFMT Radio Network, reaching over 1.5 million listeners across the country.
For more information, visit CaliforniaSymphony.org.
California Symphony’s 2024-25 season is sponsored by the Lesher Foundation.
March 21: Newport Classical Presents Oboist James Austin Smith and Pianist Michael Stephen Brown in Next Chamber Series Concert
Newport Classical Presents Oboist James Austin Smith and Pianist Michael Stephen Brown
James Austin Smith. Photos available in high resolution here.
Newport Classical Presents
Oboist James Austin Smith and Pianist Michael Stephen Brown
in Next Chamber Series Concert
Friday, March 21, 2025 at 7:30pm
Newport Classical Recital Hall | 42 Dearborn St | Newport, RI
Tickets and Information
Newport, RI – Newport Classical continues its fourth full-season Chamber Series, featuring twelve concerts held on select Fridays at 7:30pm at the organization’s home venue the Newport Classical Recital Hall (42 Dearborn St.), with a recital by oboist James Austin Smith and pianist Michael Stephen Brown on Friday, March 21, 2025 at 7:30pm. Their compelling program features music by William Grant Still, Clara Schumann, Camille Saint-Saëns, Frédéric Chopin, Benjamin Britten, and more.
Praised for his “virtuosic,” “dazzling,” and “brilliant” performances (The New York Times) and his “bold, keen sound” (The New Yorker), James Austin Smith is a soloist, chamber musician, and artistic director. He appears regularly with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, at Carnegie Hall, on tour as Co-Principal Oboe of the conductor-less Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and as an artist of the International Contemporary Ensemble. Smith is also Artistic and Executive Director of Tertulia Chamber Music, which creates intimate evenings of food, drink, and music in singular cultural experiences in New York, San Francisco and Serenbe, Georgia, as well as an annual weekend festival of food and music in a variety of global destinations. Smith’s previous projects include Hearing Memory, an evening of performance, story-telling and archival film footage documenting politically engaged musicians in the former East Germany. Smith holds a master’s degree from the Yale School of Music and bachelor’s degrees in political science and music from Northwestern University. He spent a year as a Fulbright Scholar at the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Conservatory in Leipzig, Germany.
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, newly expanded to twelve concerts held between September and June, reaffirms Newport Classical’s commitment to offer 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 and homemade treats by Newport Classical volunteers.
As part of Newport Classical’s desire to create connections between classical music, the artists who perform it, and the Newport community, all musicians performing on the Chamber Series also visit Newport-area schools to perform for, speak with, and inspire students, through Newport Classical’s Music Education and Engagement Initiative.
Up next, the Newport Classical Chamber Series presents Boyd Meets Girl, coming to Newport for a performance on Valentine’s Day, February 14 – the impressive husband-and-wife guitar and cello duo has toured the world sharing their eclectic mix of music from Debussy and Bach to Radiohead and Beyoncé. On February 28, the acclaimed Trio Karénine, which has established itself in recent years as a key group on the French and international stage, pairs Schubert’s second piano trio with Dvořák’s rarely programmed second piano trio, filled with color, warmth, lively dance, and Slavic folk elements.
On April 25, Bulgarian-American violinist Bella Hristova, who has won international acclaim for her “expressive nuance and rich tone” (The New York Times) presents the music of Bach and Messiaen, alongside works by Grieg and Indian-American composer Reena Esmail, with pianist Anna Polonsky. Pianist Orion Weiss, known for his “powerful technique and exceptional insight” (The Washington Post), returns to Newport for a solo recital of Bach’s beloved Goldberg Variations on May 16. On June 13, the GRAMMY®-nominated Norwegian Trio Mediaeval, who captivate audiences with their crystalline voices, closes the 2024-2025 Newport Classical Chamber Series with an enchanting evening of Norwegian and Swedish traditional songs, hymns, fiddle tunes, and ballads.
The 2025 Newport Classical Music Festival will take place from July 4-22, 2025, with programming to be announced at the end of March.
Special Note: Newport Classical is currently hiring for seasonal roles to support the summer Newport Classical Music Festival – Operations Coordinator, Box Office Coordinator, and Production Crew. Those interested in joining a dynamic team and helping produce exceptional classical music events can view available positions at www.newportclassical.org/employment.
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., 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 56 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.
March 28: Jupiter Quartet Presented by the University of Vermont Lane Series
Jupiter Quartet Presented by the University of Vermont Lane Series
Photo of the Jupiter Quartet by Todd Rosenberg available in high resolution at https://www.jensenartists.com/artists-profiles/jupiter-string
The Jupiter Quartet
Presented by the University of Vermont Lane Series'
Performing Music by
Franz Joseph Haydn, Caroline Shaw, and Johannes Brahms
Friday, March 28, 2025 at 7:30pm
UVM Recital Hall | 384 South Prospect Street | Burlington, VT
Tickets and Information
“technical finesse and rare expressive maturity” – The New Yorker
Burlington, VT – On Friday, March 28, 2025 at 7:30pm, the Jupiter String Quartet – the internationally acclaimed winners of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and Banff International String Quartet Competition who are known for their “compelling” performances (BBC Music Magazine) – will be presented in concert by the University of Vermont Lane Series in the UVM Recital Hall (384 South Prospect Street).
Based at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and performing all across the nation, the Jupiter String Quartet is a particularly intimate group, consisting of violinists Nelson Lee and Meg Freivogel, violist Liz Freivogel (Meg’s older sister), and cellist Daniel McDonough (Meg’s husband, Liz’s brother-in-law). Brought together by ties both familial and musical, the Jupiter Quartet has been performing together since 2001. Exuding an energy that is at once friendly, knowledgeable, and adventurous, the Quartet celebrates every opportunity to bring their close-knit and lively style to audiences. Their connections to each other and the length of time they’ve shared the stage always shine through in their intuitive performances.
The Jupiter Quartet brings its highly developed, intertwined musical chemistry to three works composed from the turn of the 19th century to the present day. Each work embraces the unique attributes of its respective compositional form to create clever juxtapositions between texture and emotion, heightening the intensity of the performance. The program includes: String Quartet in F Major, Op. 77, No. 2, Hob.III: 82 by Franz Joseph Haydn; Entr’acte by Caroline Shaw; and String Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 51 No. 1 by Johannes Brahms.The Jupiter Quartet’s lively and expressive playing style will showcase the dramatic tensions and strong emotions driving the music of this program.
“We are very pleased to share this lively and engaging program of works with the UVM audience,” says Jupiter Quartet. “Haydn and Brahms have remained great favorites of ours throughout our years together, and we are excited to explore the sound world of the fantastic contemporary composer, Caroline Shaw.”
Haydn’s String Quartet in F Major, Op. 77, No. 2 is the last of his many works in this genre. Considered by many to be the “grandfather of the string quartet”, Haydn developed the form over many years, experimenting with more dramatic structures and particularly with a more equal treatment of the four voices, instead of the first-violin dominated texture often heard earlier.
Caroline Shaw says of Entr’acte: “Entr’acte is structured like a minuet and trio, riffing on that classical form but taking it a little further. I love the way some music (like the minuets of [Haydn’s] Op. 77) suddenly takes you to the other side of Alice’s looking glass, in a kind of absurd, subtle, technicolor transition.”
Brahms’s first string quartet was composed in a painstaking process over the course of several years.The work’s four movements are presented in the form of two outer movements fueled by torment and anxiety, and two inner movements framed by a more delicate and calm musical aesthetic.
More About Jupiter String Quartet: The Jupiter Quartet has performed in some of the world’s finest halls, including New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, Boston’s Jordan Hall, Mexico City's Palacio de Bellas Artes, Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center and Library of Congress, Austria’s Esterhazy Palace, and Seoul’s Sejong Chamber Hall. Their major music festival appearances include the Aspen Music Festival and School, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, Rockport Music Festival, Caramoor International Music Festival, Music at Menlo, Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival, the Banff Centre, the Seoul Spring Festival, and many others. In addition to their performing career, they have been artists-in-residence at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign since 2012, where they maintain private studios and direct the chamber music program.
Their chamber music honors and awards include the grand prizes in the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition; the Young Concert Artists International auditions in New York City; the Cleveland Quartet Award from Chamber Music America; an Avery Fisher Career Grant; and a grant from the Fromm Foundation. From 2007-2010, they were in residence at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Two.
The Jupiter String Quartet feels a strong connection to the core string quartet repertoire; they have presented the complete Bartok and Beethoven string quartets on numerous occasions. Also deeply committed to new music, they have commissioned string quartets from Nathan Shields, Stephen Andrew Taylor, Michi Wiancko, Syd Hodkinson, Hannah Lash, Dan Visconti, and Kati Agócs; a quintet with baritone voice by Mark Adamo; and a piano quintet by Pierre Jalbert.
The quartet's latest album is a collaboration with the Jasper String Quartet (Marquis Classics, 2021), produced by GRAMMY-winner Judith Sherman. This collaborative album features the world premiere recording of Dan Visconti’s Eternal Breath, Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat, Op. 20, and Osvaldo Golijov’s Last Round. The Arts Fuse acclaimed, “This joint album from the Jupiter String Quartet and Jasper String Quartet is striking for its backstory but really memorable for its smart program and fine execution.” The quartet’s discography also includes numerous recordings on labels including Azica Records and Deutsche Grammophon. In fall 2024, the Jupiter Quartet will record their next album with Judith Sherman, featuring the world premiere recordings of Michi Wiancko’s To Unpathed Waters, Undreamed Shores, Stephen Taylor’s Chaconne/Labyrinth, and Kati Agócs's Imprimatur, which were all composed for the Jupiters.
The quartet chose its name because Jupiter was the most prominent planet in the night sky at the time of its formation and the astrological symbol for Jupiter resembles the number four.
For more information, visit www.jupiterquartet.com.
For Calendar Editors:
Description: The Jupiter Quartet, described by The New Yorker as “an ensemble of eloquent intensity,” is presented in concert by the University of Vermont Lane Series. The ensemble will perform a concert program featuring music that embraces the unique attributes of its respective compositional form to create clever juxtapositions between texture and emotion, heightening the intensity of the performance. Featured works on the concert program will include: String Quartet in F Major, Op. 77, No. 2, Hob.III: 82 by Franz Joseph Haydn; Entr’acte by Caroline Shaw; and String Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 51 No. 1 by Johannes Brahms.
Concert details:
Who: Jupiter String Quartet
Presented by the University of Vermont Lane Series
What: Music by Franz Joseph Haydn, Caroline Shaw, and Johannes Brahms
When: Friday, March 28, 2025 at 7:30pm
Where: UVM Recital Hall, 384 South Prospect Street, Burlington, VT 05405
Tickets and information: www.uvm.edu/laneseries/jupiter-string-quartet
Aug. 9-10, 16-17: Composer Robert Sirota’s Muzzy Ridge Concerts Celebrates Milestone Fifth Season of Summer Performances in Searsmont, ME
Muzzy Ridge Concerts Celebrates Milestone Fifth Season of Summer Performances in Searsmont, ME
Clockwise: (Regina Brady, Taavi Sirota, Jonah Sirota, Victoria Sirota, Robert Sirota), Laurie Carney, David Friend
Searsmont Composer Robert Sirota
Celebrates Muzzy Ridge Concerts’ Milestone Fifth Season
Two Weekends of Performances in August
Saturday, August 9 and Sunday August 10, 2025 at 3pm
Saturday, August 16 and Sunday August 17, 2025 at 3pm
Tickets and More Information
“A unique and intimate concert experience” – The Republican Journal
robertsirota.com/muzzy-ridge-concerts
Searsmont, ME – Muzzy Ridge Concerts – the annual series of summer concerts founded by composer Robert Sirota – celebrates its fifth season in August 2025. The milestone year will feature four performances, presented over two weekends in late summer: Saturday, August 9 and Sunday August 10, 2025 and Saturday, August 16 and Sunday August 17, 2025. All performances will take place at 3pm. The cherished Maine chamber series will feature the return of several friends of Muzzy Ridge, as well as a special collaboration between Robert Sirota and members of his family.
All the concerts will be presented in Robert Sirota’s Searsmont, Maine studio – 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. Tickets are on sale now.
Robert Sirota says:
“Muzzy Ridge Concerts were born in August of 2021 when Vicki and I invited a few friends to our house to spend a couple of weekends performing chamber music. Now in its fifth season, It has become a mainstay of the Maine summer concert calendar. To celebrate this milestone we are gathering three generations of Sirotas to play together. In addition we joyfully welcome back Laurie Carney and David Friend who performed in our inaugural concerts. We invite you to join us!”
On Saturday, August 9 and Sunday August 10, 2025, Robert Sirota will perform as pianist alongside four members of his musical family: pianist Victoria Sirota, violist Jonah Sirota, oboist Regina Brady, and flutist Taavi Sirota. The multi-generational quintet of Sirotas will perform a stylistically diverse program of traditional and contemporary works, featuring Terzetto for flute, oboe and viola by Gustav Holst; Collision Etudes for solo oboe by Alyssa Morris; and Concerto for flute, oboe d’amore, viola d’amore and continuo by Georg Philipp Telemann. The program will also feature music by two of the five Sirotas: Spin for Flute, Oboe, Viola and Piano by Jonah Sirota, and Compendium de Lumine for solo viola by Robert Sirota.
During the following weekend on Saturday, August 16 and Sunday August 17, 2025, Muzzy Ridge Concerts will present the extraordinary duo of violinist Laurie Carney and pianist David Friend, who last performed in Searsmont as part of Muzzy Ridge Concerts’ first season in 2021. The duo will perform a colorful array of chamber selections that will include W.A. Mozart’s Violin Sonata No. 32 in B-flat major K454; Robert Sirota’s Sonata No. 2 for violin and piano; Lili Boulanger’s Three Pieces; and Claude Debussy’s Sonata for violin and piano.
Tickets for all Muzzy Ridge Concerts performances are now on sale at www.robertsirota.com/muzzy-ridge-concerts.
About the Artists
Robert Sirota’s works have been performed by orchestras across the US and Europe; ensembles such as Alarm Will Sound, Sequitur, yMusic, Chameleon Arts, and Dinosaur Annex; the Chiara, American, Blair and Telegraph String Quartets; the Peabody, Concord, and Webster Trios; and at festivals including Tanglewood, Aspen, Yellow Barn, and Cooperstown; Bowdoin Gamper and Bowdoin International Music Festival; and Mizzou International Composers Festival. Recent commissions include the Neave Trio, Judith Clurman/Essential Voices USA, Jeffrey Kahane and the Sarasota Music Festival, Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, Palladium Musicum, American Guild of Organists, the American String Quartet, Alarm Will Sound, the Naumburg Foundation, and yMusic, Thomas Pellaton, Carol Wincenc, Linda Chesis, Trinity Episcopal Church (Indianapolis), and Sierra Chamber Society, as well as arrangements for Paul Simon.
Grants include the Guggenheim and Watson Foundations, NEA, Meet the Composer, and the American Music Center, Sirota’s works are recorded on Navona Records, Legacy Recordings, National Sawdust Tracks, and the Capstone, Albany, New Voice, Gasparo and Crystal labels. His music is published by Muzzy Ridge Music, Hal Leonard, MorningStar, Theodore Presser, and To the Fore.
Victoria Sirota, organist, Episcopal priest and author, holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Boston University and Harvard Divinity School. She has studied organ with Andre Marchal in Paris and Gustav Leonhardt in Amsterdam and has performed organ recitals in the United States, France and Germany. The Rev. Dr. Sirota has taught at Boston University, Yale Divinity School and Institute of Sacred Music, and The Ecumenical Institute of Theology at St. Mary’s Seminary and University. Former National Chaplain for the American Guild of Organists and The Association of Anglican Musicians, she is the author of articles, reviews and texts for hymns, cantatas and song cycles. Her book Preaching to the Choir: Claiming the Role of Sacred Musician is available from Church Publishing, and, in addition to recordings on Northeastern and Gasparo labels, her recording of organ works by Robert Sirota Celestial Wind is available from Albany Records.
Composer, producer, and violist Jonah Sirota is equally at home scoring and recording music for film, TV, and video games, writing concert music, and performing as a soloist and chamber musician. A 2024 Society of Composers and Lyricists LA mentee, and a 2022 fellow in the Sundance Film Music Intensive, his soundtrack for the NPR web documentary “Return of the American Bison” was nominated for a regional Emmy award in 2019. His first full-length feature film as composer, The Grand Strand, will be hitting film festivals in 2025, while his piano trio Dry Ocean was premiered in the spring of 2023 by the Grammy- nominated Neave Trio. He has played on numerous projects including as violist and arranger for Lindsay Marcus’ score to the 2021 Oscar-winning animated short If Anything Happens I Love You…, and major cinematic releases including Avatar: The Way of Water, Oppenheimer, and The Mandalorian. Jonah was the violist of the recently-disbanded Chiara String Quartet for all of its 18 years. With the Chiara Quartet, he toured internationally, recorded seven albums, premiered over 30 works, and played in numerous major venues worldwide. He is sought after as a session player, maintains an active performance schedule with several chamber music groups in the Los Angeles area, and regularly plays with major orchestras, including the Long Beach Symphony, where he is Assistant Principal Viola. He teaches at the Colburn School, Cal State University Fullerton and the Greenwood Music Camp, and gives viola and composition masterclasses and residencies across the country. He resides in South Pasadena, CA.
Taavi Sirota is a multi-talented flautist and producer from Los Angeles, California. They play principal flute in the Colburn Youth Orchestra, a position they have held for the last three years. In 2023, they performed Cécile Chaminade’s Concertino as a soloist with the orchestra. They also play in an honors chamber music group as a part of Colburn’s Ed and Mari Edelman Chamber Music Institute. For the last two years, Taavi has spent their summers at Greenwood Music Camp in Cummington, Massachusetts, where they performed over ten chamber works, including the premieres of Walt Conte’s “To The Mountains,” and the quintet version of Ilaria Hawley’s “The Earth, a Purple Blaze.” Before that, they attended the Idyllwild Arts Orchestra Intensive. In 2024, they won the San Diego Flute Guild’s annual competition in the junior division.They have played masterclasses for Christina Jennings, Jean-Yves Thibodet, and Kathy Caroly, with whom they currently study full-time. Taavi’s talents extend beyond a traditional classical training, though, as they enjoy producing, composing, and recording electronic and electro-acoustic music.
Equally adept on oboe and English horn, Regina (Gigi) Brady is a sought-after performer on both coasts. Gigi performs regularly with orchestras around Los Angeles, including the Pacific Symphony, LA Opera Orchestra, MUSE/IQUE, New West Symphony, and Long Beach Symphony. Performances highlighting her versatility include an appearance with the LA Opera orchestra in collaboration with the Hamburg Ballet, a chamber music performance live to film at the Wende Museum of the Cold War, an English horn solo in a pop release, and the premiere performance of an Opera NFT at NFT LA. She has performed chamber music with Jean-Yves Thibaudet, David Breitman, and in a duo with her partner, violist/composer Jonah Sirota. A passionate advocate for new music, she has premiered dozens of new works. She has been a fellow at Kent/Blossom Music Festival, Texas Music Festival, and Sarasota Music Festival. A passionate educator, Gigi is a teaching artist for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles) program, the Pasadena Symphony’s Youth Orchestra program, and maintains a private teaching studio. She is also on both the faculty and the board of Greenwood Music Camp where she teaches oboe and coaches chamber music. Gigi holds degrees in Oboe Performance and Neuroscience from Oberlin where she studied with Robert Walters, Colburn Conservatory where she studied with Ariana Ghez and Anne Marie Gabriele, and Bard College, where she performed for three years with The Orchestra Now. She is a graduate of the Juilliard Pre-College Division where she studied with Richard Dallessio.
A founding member of the American String Quartet, Laurie Carney comes from a prodigious musical family. Her father was a trumpeter and educator, her mother a pianist, and her three siblings all violinists. She began her studies at home and at the age of 8 became the youngest violinist ever to be admitted to the Preparatory Division of the Juilliard School. At 15 she was the youngest to be accepted into Juilliard’s College Division. Ms. Carney studied with Dorothy DeLay and received both BM and MM degrees from Juilliard. She has shared the stage with many of the world’s leading artists, including Isaac Stern, Yefim Bronfman, Pinchas Zukerman, and Frederica von Stade, and been featured in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with the Bournemouth Symphony and the Basque (Spain) Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Carney frequently performs duo recitals with Guarneri Quartet violist Michael Tree. She was featured in the New York premiere of Giampaolo Bracali’s Fantasia. A member of the Manhattan School of Music faculty and the faculty of Aspen Music School, she has held teaching positions at the Mannes College of Music, Peabody Conservatory, the University of Nebraska, and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. Her frequent master classes have taken her to California, Colorado, Indiana, Michigan, and New Mexico. Ms. Carney performs the duo repertory with her husband, cellist William Grubb. Her nonprofessional interests include animal rights and environmental concerns. Her violin is by Carlo Tononi (Venice, 1720).
The New York Times describes David Friend as “[one] of the finest, busiest pianists active in New York’s contemporary-classical scene.” He has performed at major venues internationally including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Disney Hall, Royal Festival Hall (London), Museo Reina Sofia (Madrid), the Chan Centre (Vancouver), and the National Centre for the Performing Arts (Beijing). He has also performed extensively in alternative, underground, and DIY venues including (Le) Poisson Rouge, Issue Project Room, Roulette Intermedia, National Sawdust, MoMA P.S.1, St. Ann’s Warehouse, REDCAT, Constellation (Chicago), Bop Stop (Cleveland), Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, LiteraturHaus (Copenhagen), Music Gallery (Toronto), and Logos Tetrahedron (Ghent), and has appeared in major festivals including the Lincoln Center Festival, Mostly Mozart Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, Beijing Modern Music Festival, Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Next on Grand Festival, Whitney Biennial, Prague Spring Festival, TIME:SPANS Festival, Rewire Festival (the Hague), Long Play Festival, CTM Festival (Berlin), Big Ears Festival, June in Buffalo, Ultima Festival (Oslo), and the Venice Biennale. He has recorded for the New Amsterdam, Harmonia Mundi, Albany, Cedille, Dacapo, Innova, a wave press, Naxos, and New World labels, and his playing has been heard on radio stations across the country, including on National Public Radio’s Performance Today, WQXR’s Hammered!, and WNYC’s New Sounds. He records frequently with a wide variety of collaborators and is featured on Third Coast Percussion’s album of music by Steve Reich, which won the Grammy Award for best chamber music performance.
APRIL 25: Sony Classical Presents Eugene Ormandy – The RCA Victor Recordings 1935-42
Sony Classical Presents Eugene Ormandy – The RCA Victor Recordings 1935-42
Sony Classical Presents
Eugene Ormandy – The RCA Victor Recordings 1935-42
Album Release Date: April 25, 2025
Reviewer Rate Available Upon Request
Pre-Order Available Now
16 recordings on CD for the first time ever
55 recordings for the first time on CD as authorized releases from the original masters
1931 was the breakthrough year for 32-year-old Hungarian immigrant Eugene Ormandy. First, he was engaged by the Philadelphia Orchestra to deputize for his idol Toscanini, who was briefly indisposed. Then, a few months later, he was asked to step in for the conductor of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, also indisposed – but in this case permanently. Soon Ormandy was hired to take over that rising Midwestern orchestra. At the end of his five-year tenure in Minneapolis, which produced a considerable discography for RCA Victor (available in an 11-CD Sony Classical box set), Ormandy was called back to Philadelphia, this time to become its co-conductor with Leopold Stokowski. In 1936, he began recording regularly for Victor with his new orchestra, picking up the pace in 1938 when he became its sole music director. Sony Classical is pleased to continue its comprehensive documentation of Eugene Ormandy’s discography with a new 21-CD release of everything he set down in Philadelphia before the ban on commercial recording instigated by the musicians’ union in 1942. By the time the strike ended in 1944, Ormandy and the orchestra had moved to Columbia Masterworks. The set will be released on April 25, 2025. Pre-order is available now.
As connoisseurs have long known, these early Philadelphia albums are among the most impressive performances Ormandy set down in over 40 years at the orchestra’s helm. The first to be released – fittingly enough for a Russian music specialist – was Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique” Symphony, recorded by Victor on December 13, 1936. That three-hour session in Philadelphia’s Academy of Music, the orchestra’s home, was the first of more than 400 led by Ormandy. And it was highly productive – Ormandy had a reputation as a fast worker – yielding not only the Tchaikovsky, but also two Bach arrangements by Lucien Cailliet, a Philadelphia Orchestra clarinetist and its staff arranger, the first three movements of Schumann’s Second Symphony and, most importantly, Fritz Kreisler’s arrangement of Paganini’s D major Violin Concerto, with Kreisler himself as soloist.
More Tchaikovsky followed during this early Victor stint: in 1941, Ormandy and the Philadelphians recorded the Fifth Symphony and the Nutcracker Suite. The latter’s matrices suffered from processing problems that rendered them too noisy to release until now. The orchestra’s contract, however, allowed them to re-make the recording for RCA in 1945, even though they’d already gone over to Columbia, and it has been possible to include both versions here.
Ormandy recorded Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, one of his most celebrated interpretations, in 1937, but not in the familiar Ravel orchestration that he would always use later. Having just taken over as sole conductor of the orchestra after Stokowski’s resignation, he wanted his own version of the Pictures, so he commissioned a new score from the orchestra’s house arranger, Lucien Cailliet.
The Philadelphia Orchestra’s most famous Russian connection was with Sergei Rachmaninoff, who premièred a number of his works with them during Stokowski’s tenure. When Ormandy assumed the music directorship, he was thrilled to continue the partnership – especially as he had developed a friendship with the composer at his 1931 Minneapolis SO début concert, in which Rachmaninoff was the soloist. The partnership reached its height in late 1939 when Ormandy mounted a “Rachmaninoff Festival” at the Academy of Music and New York’s Carnegie Hall to mark the 30th anniversary of his Philadelphia Orchestra début. They also took advantage of the opportunity to record three of Rachmaninoff’s concertos for RCA, the First, Third and Fourth, legendary performances that have never been out of the catalogue and are, of course, reissued here.
At the Budapest Academy, Ormandy had studied the violin with a pupil of Brahms’s great friend Joseph Joachim – who also encouraged Ormandy as a child, so Brahms’s music was in his blood from the beginning. As a conductor, Brahms’s symphonies were at the core of his repertoire, and he gave more performances of them with the Philadelphia Orchestra than any other conductor in American musical history. He first recorded the Second with the Philadelphians anonymously for the “World’s Greatest Music” series in March 1939, and nine months later conducted a tauter, “official” version for release on RCA. Both are included here along with Ormandy’s other recordings for “World’s Greatest Music”, all made in 1938: the Mozart G minor, Beethoven’s Fifth, Schubert’s “Unfinished” and the Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 2 and 3.
Two other famous Brahms recordings from 1939 are the Alto Rhapsody with Marian Anderson and the Double Concerto with Jascha Heifetz and Emanuel Feuermann, about which Gramophone’s original reviewer wrote: “Rarely can the powers of two string players have been so fully extended, so richly proved … The whole thing is tremendous: a manifestation, for all who have an ear of the soul, of the composer’s greatness of heart and mind.”
Soloists revered Ormandy throughout his career. Said Isaac Stern: “There was not a single conductor who was a greater colleague in the making of a concerto record.” In addition to the Brahms Double and the Paganini First Concerto with Kreisler, mentioned earlier, the new Sony collection reissues the Mendelssohn and Spohr’s No. 8 with another famous violinist, Albert Spalding, and the Grieg Piano Concerto with Arthur Rubinstein: “A glittering specimen and exuberantly played … The best of the modern readings” (Gramophone).
Sibelius was another leading composer Ormandy knew personally and performed regularly – he also visited him in Finland and brought him to Philadelphia. For an album to mark the composer’s 75th birthday in 1940, he recorded three tone poems, while the next year saw a new recording of the First Symphony (Ormandy’s earlier one was made in Minneapolis in 1935), which he identified as “the first of the master’s symphonies I ever conducted”. Two further versions would follow, in 1962 (for Columbia) and in 1978 (for RCA).
Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra were Victor’s chief Richard Strauss exponents during these years, making the first electrical recording of the Symphonia Domestica in 1938, followed in 1939 by Ein Heldenleben and in 1940 by Don Quixote, with Emanuel Feuermann. Hindemith’s “Mathis der Maler” Symphony was still a new work when Ormandy recorded it in 1940, only six years after the composer introduced it with his own Berlin Philharmonic recording. Strauss family waltzes had already featured in Ormandy’s Minneapolis recordings. The three waltzes in this Philadelphia set earned praise from Gramophone in 1942: “You will enjoy the brilliance of the combinations of tone, and their balance – one of the exciting things about all the best American recordings … Here is full-voiced tonal splendour.”
American music was a prominent feature of this conductor’s repertoire – he was always eager to promote the composers of his adopted homeland. Here we find the first recording of any work by Gian Carlo Menotti, his Amelia Goes to the Ball Overture, and the earliest recording of an orchestral work by Samuel Barber, his First Essay for Orchestra, as well as pieces by Roy Harris and two Sousa marches from the orchestra’s last session before the musicians’ strike shut down commercial recording for the next three years. But not before Ormandy and his Philadelphians had amassed the treasures brought together here for the first time.
SET CONTENTS
DISC 1:
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64
Spohr: Violin Concerto No. 8 in A Minor, Op. 47 "Gesangscene"
Paganini: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major, Op. 6: I. Allegro maestoso - Tempo giusto
DISC 2:
Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21
Schumann: Symphony No. 2 in C Major, Op. 61
DISC 3:
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74 "Pathétique"
Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (suite), Op. 71a
Rimsky-Korsakov (arr. Ormandy): Christmas Eve, Act III: Church Scene (first release)
DISC 4:
Mussorgsky (arr. Cailliet): Pictures at an Exhibition
Liszt: Les Préludes, S. 97
Enescu: Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 in A Major, Op. 11
Debussy (arr. O'Connell) I: Préludes, Book I, L. 117: No. 12, Minstrels (first release)
DISC 5:
Beethoven: Ah perfido!, Op. 65 - Konzertarie für Sopran und Orchester
Weber: Oberon, Act II: "Ozean Du Ungeheuer"
Beethoven: Fidelio, Op. 72, Act I: "Abscheulicher, Wo Eilst Du Hin?"
Wagner: Die Walküre, WWV 86B, Act I: "Du bist der Lenz"
Wagner: Die Walküre, WWV 86B, Act II: "Ho-Yo-To-Ho" - Hans Lange, conductor
Wagner: Lohengrin, WWV 75, Act I: Elsas Traum - Hans Lange, conductor
Wagner: Lohengrin, WWV 75, Act II, Scene 2: "Euch Lüften, die mein Klagen "
Wagner: Tannhäuser, WWV 70, Act II: "Dich teure Halle, grüß ich wieder" - Hans Lange, conductor
Wagner: Tannhäuser, WWV 70, Act III: Elisabeths Gebet - Hans Lange, conductor
Wagner: Götterdämmerung, WWV 86D, Act III: "Starke Scheite schichtet mir dort" (Brünnhilde's Immolation)
Bach, J.S.: Cantata No. 140: Now Let Every Tongue Adore Thee
Charpentier: Louise, Act III: "Depuis le jour où je me suis donnée"
Debussy: L'enfant prodigue, L. 57: "L'année, en vain chasse l'année"
DISC 6:
Wagner: Die Walküre, WWV 86B, Act I: Winterstürme "Spring Song"
Wagner: Siegfried, WWV 86c, Act I: "Notung! Notung! Neidliches Schwert!"
Wagner: Siegfried, WWV 86c, Act I: Schmiedelied "Hoho! Hoho! Hohei" Schmiede, mein Hammer" - Edwin McArthur, conductor
Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, WWV 96, Act I: "Am stillen Herd"
Wagner: Die Meistersinger, WWV 96, Act III: Morgenlich leuchtend "Prize Song"
Wagner: Lohengrin, WWV 75, Act III: "In fernem Land" "Lohengrin's Narrative"
Wagner: Parsifal, WWV 111, Act III: "Nur eine Waffe taugt"
Wagner: Wesendonck Lieder, WWV 91: No. 4, Schmerzen}
Wagner: Wesendonck Lieder, WWV 91: No. 5, Träume
Wagner: The Flying Dutchman, WWV 63, Act I: Steuermann Lied - Edwin McArthur, conductor
Wagner: Tannhäuser, WWV 70, Act I: "Dir töne Lob!" - Edwin McArthur, conductor
Wagner: Tannhäuser, WWV 70, Act III: Rome Narrative - Edwin McArthur, conductor
Wagner: Lohengrin, WWV 75, Act III: Mein lieber Schwan "Lohengrins Abschied und Finale"
Wagner: Parsifal, WWV 111, Act II: "Amfortas! Die Wunde!"
Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, WWV 96, Act III: "Tanz der Lehrbuben"
DISC 7:
Strauss, R.: Sinfonia Domestica, Op. 53
Strauss, R.: Der Rosenkavalier, Suite, TrV 227d
DISC 8:
McDonald: Symphony No. 1 "The Santa Fé Trail"
McDonald: From Childhood "Suite for Harp and Orchestra" – Harl McDonald, conductor
McDonald: Cakewalk - Scherzo from Symphony No. 4
McDonald: 3 Poems on Aramaic Themes
DISC 9:
Vivaldi (arr. Cailliet): L'estro armonico, Op 3, No. 8: Concerto for 2 Violins in A Minor (Arr. Lucien Cailliet)
Purcell (arr. Cailliet): Suite from Dido and Aeneas
Mozart: Divertimento No. 10 in F Major for Strings and 2 Horns, K. 247
Telemann: Ouverture-Suite, TWV 55: a2
Jenkins (arr. Cailliet): Five-Part Fantasy in D Major (first release)
DISC 10:
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 1
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Minor, Op. 40
DISC 11:
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30
Grieg: Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 16
DISC 12:
Brahms: Concerto for Violin and Cello in A Minor, Op. 102
R. Strauss: Don Quixote, Op. 35: Fantastic Variations on a Theme of Knightly Character
DISC 13:
Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73
Brahms: Alto Rhapsody, Op. 53 "Harzreise im Winter"
Brahms (orch. Hertz): 8 Lieder and Songs, Op. 59, No. 8: Dein blaues Auge hält so still
Brahms (orch. Hertz): 5 Poems, Op. 19, No. 4: Der Schmied
Brahms (orch. Hertz): 5 Lieder, Op. 105: "Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer"
Brahms (orch. Hertz): Von ewiger Liebe, Op. 43, No. 1
DISC 14:
Strauss, R.: Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40
Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé - Suite No. 2
DISC 15:
Sibelius: Finlandia, Op. 26
Sibelius: Lemminkäinen Suite, Op. 22, No. 2: The Swan of Tuonela
Sibelius: Lemminkäinen Suite, Op. 22, No. 4: Lemminkäinen's Return
Sibelius: Symphony No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 39
DISC 16:
Hindemith: Mathis der Maler Symphony
Menotti: Amelia Goes to the Ball - Overture
Barber: First Essay for Orchestra, Op. 12
Harris: 3 Pieces for Orchestra
Sousa: Washington Post March
Sousa: The Stars and Stripes Forever
DISC 17:
Bach, J.S. (arr. Cailliet): Prelude and Fugue in F Minor, BWV 534 (Arranged for Orchestra by Lucien Cailliet)
Bach, J.S. (arr. Cailliet): Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring (from Cantata No. 147, BWV 147)
Bach, J.S. (arr. Cailliet): Preludio in E Major from Partita No 3 for Violin Unaccompanied, BWV 1006 – Leopold Stokowski, conductor
Bach, J.S. (arr. Cailliet): Prelude and Fugue in B Minor, BWV 544
Bach, J.S. (arr. O'Connell): St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244: Herzliebster Jesu
Strauss, Johann II: Frühlingsstimmen - Walzer, Op. 410
Strauss, Johann II: Wiener Blut Walzer, Op. 354
Strauss, Johann II: Kaiser-Walzer, Op. 437
DISC 18:
Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (suite), Op. 71a
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No 5. in E Minor, Op. 64
DISC 19:
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67
Schubert: Symphony No. 8 in B Minor, D.759 "Unfinished"
DISC 20:
Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, K. 550
Bach, J.S.: Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F Major, BWV 1047
Bach, J.S.: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major, BWV 1048
DISC 21:
Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73
March 20: Violinist Kristin Lee & Pianist Michael Stephen Brown Perform American Sketches at Lincoln Center
March 20: Violinist Kristin Lee & Pianist Michael Stephen Brown Perform American Sketches at Lincoln Center
L-R Kristin Lee, Michael Stephen Brown
Photo of Kristin by Harrison Truong; Photo of Michael Stephen Brown by Anela Bence Selkowitz
Violinist Kristin Lee and Pianist Michael Stephen Brown
Perform American Sketches
Presented by The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
Thursday, March 20, 2025 at 7:30pm
Daniel and Joanna S. Rose Studio
165 W. 65th St. 10th floor | New York, NY
Tickets & Information
Kristin Lee: www.violinistkristinlee.com
New York, NY – On Thursday, March 20, 2025 at 7:30pm, violinist Kristin Lee – hailed in The Strad for her “elegance” and “vivacity and electric energy” – will perform with pianist Michael Stephen Brown The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s 2024-2025 Season at the Daniel and Joanna S. Rose Studio (165 W 65th St., 10th floor). This performance follows the release of Kristin Lee’s debut solo album, American Sketches, on First Hand Records on November 15, 2024. American Sketches reflects the distinct and recognizable sound of American music and its rich history, encompassing both Lee’s journey as an American, as well as the journeys of the composers she selected. An accomplished chamber musician, 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. She performs at Lincoln Center in New York and on tour with CMS throughout each season.
For this performance for The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Kristin Lee has taken inspiration from the concept of her new album and will perform Praeludium and Allegro by Fritz Kreisler; Sonata No. 4, Children’s Day at the Camp Meeting by Charles Ives; Sonata No. 2, Poeme Mystique by Ernst Bloch; Road Movies by John Adams; Concert Fantasy on Themes from George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess Op. 19, by Igor Frolov; and Romance Op. 23 by Amy Beach, which can be found on Lee’s new album.
A violinist of remarkable versatility and impeccable technique, Kristin Lee 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.”
American Sketches has a personal resonance for Lee. A native of Seoul, Korea, she emigrated to the U.S. at the age of seven. During her childhood, playing the violin was a refuge from bullying and racism for Kristin – she moved to the U.S. not speaking any English, and felt the violin became her voice. As a foreign-born citizen of the U.S., Lee was compelled to select repertoire for her album American Sketches, which would express her pride in the country she now calls her own. On it, Lee has recorded works by American composers that have a distinct and recognizable sound of American music and its rich history.
Of performing her American Sketches program in recital for The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Lee says:
“I am deeply honored to present this recital alongside my esteemed colleague, Michael Stephen Brown, at The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center,” says Kristin Lee.
“As we approach the 250th anniversary of America in 2026, I’ve been reflecting on what this nation means to me and how its music captures the essence of its history. This program explores the many facets of American music and its profound influence on the evolution of musical traditions and spiritual roots. My hope is that this evening brings an opportunity for listeners to immerse themselves in the richness, complexity, and joy of American music.”
About Kristin Lee:
As a soloist, Kristin Lee has appeared with leading orchestras including The Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony, Hawai’i Symphony, Tacoma Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Nordic Chamber Orchestra of Sweden, Ural Philharmonic of Russia, Korean Broadcasting Symphony, Guiyang Symphony Orchestra of China, Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional of Dominican Republic, Singapore National Youth Orchestra, and many others.
She has performed on the world’s finest concert stages, including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Kennedy Center, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Steinway Hall’s Salon de Virtuosi, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Ravinia Festival, Philadelphia’s World Cafe Live, (Le) Poisson Rouge in New York, the Louvre Museum in Paris, Washington, D.C.’s Phillips Collection, and Korea’s Kumho Art Gallery.
For seven years, she was a principal artist of Camerata Pacifica in Santa Barbara, sitting as The Bernard Gondos Chair. Lee has also appeared in chamber music programs at Music@Menlo, La Jolla Festival, Medellín Festicámara of Colombia, Moab Music Festival, the Sarasota Music Festival, Chamber Music Sedona, Music in the Vineyards, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern of Germany, the Hong Kong Chamber Music Festival and the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, among many others.
In addition to her prolific performance career, Lee is also a devoted educator. She is on the faculty of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music as an Assistant Professor of Violin. She has also been in residence with the Singapore National Youth Orchestra, the El Sistema Chamber Music Festival of Venezuela, and is a summer faculty member at Music@Menlo’s Chamber Music Institute.
Lee is the founding artistic director of Emerald City Music (ECM), a chamber music series that presents authentically unique concert experiences and bridges the divide between the highest caliber classical music and the many diverse communities of the Puget Sound region of Washington State. Since 2015, she has crafted unconventional and captivating programs that have led to Emerald City Music’s renown for its eclectic, intimate, and vibrant classical chamber music experiences. The series was recently deemed "the beacon for the casual-classical movement" (CityArts).
An advocate for living composers, Kristin Lee has collaborated with many of today’s prominent composers, including Vivian Fung, Andy Akiho, Patrick Castillo, Jakub Ciupiński, Shobana Raghavan, Steve Coleman, Jeremy Jordan, and more. She made the world premiere recording of Vivian Fung’s Violin Concerto, written for her, which won a Juno Award and is available on Naxos.
Kristin Lee’s honors include an Avery Fisher Career Grant, top prizes in the Walter W. Naumburg Competition and the Astral Artists National Auditions, and awards from the Trondheim Chamber Music Competition, Trio di Trieste Premio International Competition, the SYLFF Fellowship, Dorothy DeLay Scholarship, the Aspen Music Festival’s Violin Competition, the New Jersey Young Artists’ Competition, and the Salon de Virtuosi Scholarship Foundation. Her performances have been broadcast on PBS’s “Live from Lincoln Center,” the Kennedy Center Honors, WFMT Chicago’s “Rising Stars” series, WRTI in Philadelphia, and on WQXR in New York. She also appeared on Perlman in Shanghai, a nationally broadcast PBS documentary that chronicled a historic cross-cultural exchange between the Perlman Music Program and Shanghai Conservatory.
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 Calendar Editors:
Description: Violinist Kristin Lee, praised in The Strad for her “elegance” and “vivacity and electric energy,” will perform with pianist Michael Stephen Brown in American Sketches, a concert inspired by Lee’s debut solo album of the same title, which reflects the distinct and recognizable sound of American music and its rich history, encompassing both Lee’s journey as an American, as well as the journeys of the composers she selected. The program, presented by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, will include works by Fritz Kreisler, Charles Ives, Ernst Bloch, John Adams, Igor Frolov, Amy Beach.
Concert details:
Who: Violinist Kristin Lee with Pianist Michael Stephen Brown
Presented by The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
What: American Sketches
When: Thursday, March 20, 2025 at 7:30pm
Where: Daniel and Joanna S. Rose Studio, 165 W 65th St. 10th floor, New York, NY 10023
Tickets and information: www.chambermusicsociety.org/our-concerts/at-lincoln-center/events/24-25/art-of-the-recital/