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December 18, 2016: Mariko Anraku, harp; Emmanuel Ceysson, harp; David Chan, concertmaster; Catherine Ro, violin; Dov Scheindlin, viola; Rafael Figueroa, cello MELINDA WAGNER Pan Journal December 18, 2016: Mariko Anraku, harp; Emmanuel Ceysson, harp; David Chan, concertmaster; Catherine Ro, violin; Dov Scheindlin, viola; Rafael Figueroa, cello Melinda Wagner’s catalog of works embodies music esteemed for its exceptional beauty, power, and intelligence. Wagner received widespread attention when her colorful Concerto for Flute, Strings, and Percussion earned her the Pulitzer Prize in 1999. Since then she has composed such major works as her Trombone Concerto for Joseph Alessi and the New York Philharmonic, a piano concerto entitled Extremity of Sky for Emanuel Ax and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), and Little Moonhead for the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra as part of its popular “New Brandenburgs” project. Emanuel Ax has also performed Extremity of Sky on tour with the National Symphony and with the Staatskapelle Berlin and the Toronto and Kansas City Symphonies. Championed early on by Daniel Barenboim, Wagner has received three commissions from the CSO, most recently Proceed, Moon, which the CSO will premiere under the baton of Susanna Malkki in 2017. Melinda Wagner’s works have also been performed recently by the American Composers Orchestra, the United States Marine Band, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the American Brass Quintet, the Empyrean Ensemble, and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. Wagner’s many honors include a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). Wagner received her undergraduate degree and an honorary doctorate from Hamilton College, her master’s degree from the University of Chicago, and her Ph.D. and a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Pennsylvania. A passionate and inspiring teacher, Melinda Wagner has given master classes at many fine institutions across the United States, including Harvard, Yale, Eastman, Juilliard, and the University of California–Davis. She has held faculty positions at Brandeis University and Smith College, and she has served as a mentor at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, the Wellesley Composers Conference, and Yellow Barn. Ms. Wagner is currently on the faculty of the Juilliard School. Wagner composed Pan Journal in 2009 on a commission from the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society for harpist Elizabeth Hainen and the Juilliard String Quartet, who gave the premiere on April 26 that year at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center in the Perelman Theater. The title refers to the Greek god of pastures, forests, flocks, and herds, who in one famous myth invented the Pan flute or Pan pipes after chasing the wood-nymph Syrinx, who had been changed into a reed to escape his amorous advances. According to the composer, however, “the title came to me long after the piece was finished.” She continued: “I just liked the idea of ‘documenting’ a day in the life of a mythical being. . . . I never think in terms of a ‘story’ when I’m composing.” “Pan Journal,” says Wagner, “is rather mercurial and a bit volatile,” which speaks to Pan’s range of character, from love-lorn to impish. “Its form is loosely arch-like, with the work’s greatest intensity accumulating around its center. It opens with a slow introduction based on a cello melody that is referred to later in the piece and closes with an evanescent coda. I wanted the harp and the strings to be equal partners here so that they could play off one another, so, since the strings can easily sustain tones and play chromatically while the harp’s plucked notes fade quickly and can only be chromatically altered by using the foot-pedal mechanism, I made much use of several techniques—tremolo, pizzicato, glissando, etc.—that they share.” © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

May 6, 2018: Clara Neubauer, violin; Kerry McDermott, violin; Paul Neubauer, violan ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK (1841-1904) Terzetto in C, Op. 74 for 2 violins and viola May 6, 2018: Clara Neubauer, violin; Kerry McDermott, violin; Paul Neubauer, violan During some 1886 New Year’s Eve festivities, Dvořák met a young chemistry student and amateur violinist Josef Kruis, who was a fellow tenant in his mother-in-law’s house. Dvořák had heard Kruis practicing his sight-reading with his violin teacher Jan Pelikán, member of the National Theater Orchestra and Ondřiček Quartet, and wanted to compose something he could play with them on his viola. With lightning speed—precisely Sunday, January 7, to Sunday, January 14—Dvořák composed his Terzetto. When the trio got together to read the new piece, Dvořák found that the first violin part was too difficult for Kruis, so immediately he wrote his Drobnosti (Miniatures) for the same combination. By January 25 he turned this second trio into a version for violin and piano, which he published as Romantic Pieces, op. 75; the original trio version of the Drobnosti went unpublished until 1945, when it was designated Opus 75a. The delightful Terzetto he left in its nonstandard configuration of instruments, and premiered it on March 30, 1887, with two other violinists: Jan Buchal, a doctor, and Jaroslav Stastny, a lawyer. The work was published later that year as Opus 74. The Terzetto’s first movement contrasts a theme in sweet, fluid motion with a much more active, running passage that culminates in unison. Throughout the viola sometimes provides a bass line and other times accompanimental figuration. Toward the end Dvořák introduces some new chromatic inflections and closes with a note of drama as he makes a transition to the second movement. The Larghetto juxtaposes a poignant, lyrical section with one of marked dotted (long-short) rhythms. Dvořák indulges in some gentle canonic imitation before returning to his singing opening section. The Scherzo takes the form of a furiant, a fast Czech dance full of rhythmic play and shifting accents, together with quick changes between major and minor. The contrasting trio swings along as a stylized waltz with some delicate touches before the furiant resumes. For his finale Dvořák employed a theme with ten variations, each of individual character. The contrasts of melancholy and high spirits are typical of much of Dvořák’s native Czech music. Much to his credit, we often forget that we are listening to only three instruments, particularly as he builds to the close. Return to Parlance Program Notes

PAUL LEWIS, PIANO Paul Lewis is one of the foremost interpreters of the Central European piano repertoire, his performances and recordings of Beethoven and Schubert receiving universal critical acclaim. He was awarded CBE in 2016 for his services to music, and the sincerity and depth of his musical approach have won him fans around the world. This global popularity is reflected in the world-class orchestras with whom he works, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, London Symphony, Philharmonia, Bavarian Radio Symphony, NHK Symphony, New York Philharmonic, LA Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw and Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestras. His close relationship with Boston Symphony Orchestra led to his selection as the 2020 Koussevitzky Artist at Tanglewood. With a natural affinity for Beethoven, he took part in the BBC’s three-part documentary Being Beethoven and performed a concerto cycle at Tanglewood during summer 2022. He has performed the cycle all over the world, including Boston Symphony Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, Melbourne Symphony, Orquestra Simfonica Camera Musicae, São Paulo State Symphony and Royal Flemish Philharmonic orchestras, and was the first pianist to play the complete cycle in a single season at the BBC Proms in 2010. Over the last 2 seasons Paul Lewis has been performing a 4 program Schubert piano sonata series at over 30 venues around the globe showcasing the completed sonatas from the last twelve years of Schubert’s life. Beside many award-winning Beethoven and Schubert recordings for Harmonia Mundi, his discography also demonstrates his characteristic depth of approach in other Classical and Romantic repertoire such as Haydn, Schumann, Mussorgsky, Brahms and Liszt.In chamber music, he is a regular at Wigmore Hall, having played there more than 100 times. He works closely with tenor Mark Padmore in lied recitals around the world – they have recorded three Schubert song cycles together. Lewis is co-Artistic Director of Midsummer Music, an annual chamber music festival held in Buckinghamshire, UK, and this year is the Co-Artistic Director of Norway’s Lofoten International Chamber Music Festival up in the Artic Circle. He is a passionate advocate for music education and the festival offers free tickets to local schoolchildren. He also gives masterclasses around the world alongside his concert performances. He himself studied with Joan Havill at Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London before going on to study privately with Alfred Brendel. In 2021 Paul Lewis became an Irish citizen. Awards : Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist of the Year; two Edison awards; three Gramophone awards; Diapason d’Or de l’Annee; South Bank Show Classical Music Award; honorary degrees from Liverpool, Edge Hill and Southampton universities; appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2016 Queen’s Birthday Honors. Recital venues: Royal Festival Hall, Alice Tully, Carnegie Hall, Musikverein, Konzerthaus, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Concertgebouw, Berlin Philharmonie and Berlin Konzerthaus Festivals: Tanglewood, Ravinia, Schubertiade, Edinburgh, Salzburg, Lucerne

March 11, 2018: Benjamin Beilman, Violin; Orion Weiss, piano LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827) Sonata No. 10 in G, Op. 96 (1812) March 11, 2018: Benjamin Beilman, Violin; Orion Weiss, piano Beethoven wrote his ten sonatas for piano and violin (his generation still thought of the piano first and the violin second) during his early and middle periods. Of his celebrated late, introspective, otherworldly style we catch only a foretaste—in his very last Sonata, the present G major, op. 96. Drawing on materials he had begun earlier, Beethoven composed this Sonata in December 1812 for French violinist Pierre Rode, who was visiting Vienna. Rode’s inclinations surely account for some of Beethoven’s leaning in the introverted direction, especially in the finale. As the composer wrote to his patron and pupil Archduke Rudolph: I have not hurried unduly to compose the last movement merely for the sake of being punctual, the more so as in view of Rode’s playing I have had to give more thought to the composition of this movement. In our finales we like to have fairly noisy passages but R does not care for them—and so I have been rather hampered. Rode played the premiere of “his” G major Sonata with the Archduke joining him on the piano December 29, 1812, at a soiree of another of Beethoven’s patrons, Prince Lobkowitz. The Sonata was one of a group of works that Beethoven sold to publisher Anton Sigmund Steiner in 1815 in repayment of a debt. The debt must have been substantial because the batch also included the Archduke Trio, the Seventh and Eighth Symphonies, the Serioso Quartet, and several smaller works. As with many of his other works, Beethoven dedicated Opus 96 to the Archduke. Beethoven gives the delicate opening of the first movement with its signature trill figure to the violin alone. Opening with an unaccompanied stringed instrument was a device he had used before in his Kreutzer Sonata, Cello Sonata, op. 69, and Trio, op. 70, no. 2, and would again in his Cello Sonata, op. 102, no. 1. With such highlighting he assures that the motive will be recognizable even in its most disguised permutations. Here such manipulations occur throughout the movement, as in the mysterious low-range interplay between violin and piano at the beginning of the coda. This spot apparently came to Beethoven as an afterthought when he was preparing the Sonata for publication in 1815. With the sublime serenity of the Adagio espressivo we enter the intimate, personal world of Beethoven’s late style. The glorious hymn tune of the piano’s opening moves fluidly into a tender continuation by the violin. After a decorative flourish we listen awestruck as Beethoven lingers with infinite patience over the unfolding of his harmonies in the middle section. Another flourish brings us back, not to the real world, but to the serene main theme. As this final section continues he savors each fragment of the intimate conversation between the two instruments. After seeming to come to rest Beethoven adds one unsettled chord to lead directly into the brief Scherzo. Here the minor-mode outer sections impishly play with our metric expectations by accenting normally unaccented beats. The interior trio settles into a lyrical dance tune—straightforward until with seeming innocence he plays again with our sensations of the basic pulse. Beethoven’s solution for a finale to please Rode is one that also offers great variety—a theme-and-variations movement. He takes a simple little theme, with one nice harmonic twist, and treats it ingeniously in six variations. These are not simple embellishments of the tune, but foreshadow his great Diabelli Variations in their remarkable transformations of the theme. The general momentum halts for the meditative fifth variation, which distances itself utterly from the folkish simplicity of the tune. The resumption of the movement’s high spirits points to the composer’s well-developed sense of humor. But Beethoven is far from finished—further surprises include an introspective fugal passage and one additional application of the brakes before the final race to the close. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

ANGEL BLUE, SOPRANO Angel Blue has emerged in recent seasons as one of the most influential sopranos before the public today. The two-time Grammy Award winner, 2020 Beverly Sills Award recipient, and the 2022 Richard Tucker Award winner is celebrated worldwide for her honeyed soprano and affecting deliveries of many of the most beloved roles in the operatic repertory. The 2023 spring and summer season began with Ms. Blue as Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata at the Metropolitan Opera with Maestro Nicola Luisotti, and her debut in the titular role in Aida at the Royal Opera House with Sir Mark Elder. She can be seen in concert with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Oskana Lyniv, and in recital with distinguished Canadian pianist Dr. Bryan Wagorn at Arizona Opera. Ms. Blue's first summer appearance begins in Europe on tour with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, under the direction of world-renowned conductor Yannick Nézét-Seguin. She will then make appearances at the Hollywood Bowl in Verdi's Requiem with the star maestro Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, shortly followed by her return to the Santa Fe Opera to sing the title role in Tosca. She makes her Aspen Music Festival debut in a solo recital with pianist Myra Huang. The 2023-2024 season introduces audiences to Angel Blue as Leonora in Verdi’s Il trovatore at the San Francisco Opera, followed by a highly anticipated return to the Vienna State Opera. She continues her season with performances as Micaëla in Carmen and a role debut as Magda in La Rondine at the Metropolitan Opera. On September 23, 2019 she opened the Metropolitan Opera’s 2019/2020 season as Bess in a new production of George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. These performances followed her internationally praised French Opera debut and role debut as Floria Tosca at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in July of 2019. She has also been recognized for performances in countless other theaters, such as the Vienna State Opera, Semperoper Dresden, Los Angeles Opera, Seattle Opera, Theater an der Wien, Teatro alla Scala, Baden-Baden Festspielhaus, Paris Opera, English National Opera, and San Diego Opera. Puccini’s La Bohéme has played an especially prominent role in the development of Angel Blue’s career. She made her United States operatic debut as Musetta at the Los Angeles Opera in 2007 while a member of the company’s Young Artist Program and subsequently made her debut at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan in the same role in 2015. As Mimí, she has earned exceptional international acclaim. Ms. Blue first sang the role at the English National Opera in London in 2014 and has since performed Mimí for her house debuts at the Palau de Les Arts in Valencia, the Vienna State Opera, and the Canadian Opera Company, the Semperoper Dresden, Hamburg State Opera, and of course, the Metropolitan Opera. Equally active on the concert platform, Ms. Blue has appeared in recital and in concert in over forty countries including Hungary, Kazakhstan, India, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, South Korea, China, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Brazil, and Mexico. In 2011 Ms. Blue opened the Royal Opera House, in Muscat, Oman. Orchestral engagements have included concert versions of Porgy and Bess at the Berliner Philharmoniker under Sir Simon Rattle and with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Marin Alsop, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Münchener Philharmoniker under the baton of Zubin Mehta, and Verdi’s Requiem in Sydney, Australia with Oleg Caetani. She has also sung Strauss’s Vier Letzte Lieder and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Peri in Schumann’s Das Paradis und die Peri with the Accademia Santa Cecilla in Rome, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Cincinnati Symphony under Music Director Louis Langree. During the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, Ms. Blue dedicated her time to encourage younger singers to stay motivated to finish their studies and continue in opera, through an online talk show called, "Faithful Friday" where she interviewed people who she found to be inspiring. The online talk show received much acclaim from its viewers, many called the show, "Uplifting, and exactly what is needed right now." Ms. Blue has since shifted her focus back to her family life and her singing engagements. However, she still maintains that encouraging and uplifting younger singers in the opera world is at the forefront of her platform. Angel Blue was raised in California and completed her musical studies at UCLA. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and son.

April 8, 2018: Danish String Quartet LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827) String Quartet in D, Op. 18, No. 3 April 8, 2018: Danish String Quartet The D major Quartet may have been the first of the Opus 18 Quartets that Beethoven completed. When he began composing quartets in 1798 he was well aware that he was entering a hallowed and well-populated arena, represented at its best and therefore most daunting by Mozart and Haydn. He was particularly cognizant of the six quartets Mozart had dedicated to Haydn, as well as Mozart’s Prussian Quartets and Haydn’s own Opus 20, 71, 74, and 76 quartets. Only with the composition and publication of piano trios, piano sonatas, cello sonatas, string trios, and violin sonatas under his belt did Beethoven feel ready to begin writing quartets in earnest. His sketchbooks show that he composed Quartets Nos. 3, 1, 2, and 5 in that order; there is some indication that No. 6 was composed last, but little information exists as to where No. 4 fits into the scheme. The Opus 18 Quartets were commissioned by Beethoven’s new patron Prince Lobkowitz, who at the same time commissioned six from the aging Haydn, who was unable to produce more than two and part of another. Inevitably Beethoven must have felt the heat of competition on many levels, and the task, which took him two years to complete, involved much revision. He is famously quoted as writing to his friend Karl Amenda in 1801 about an early version of Opus 18, no. 1, saying not to circulate it, for “I have greatly changed it, having just learned how to write quartets properly.” The Quartets were published in 1801 by Mollo, one of three publishers kept busy by Beethoven that year. As a measure of how far Beethoven had come by the time he wrote the Opus 18 Quartets we should remember that his First Symphony, also published in 1801, came into existence alongside the Quartets. The striking opening of the D major Quartet occurs within a quiet framework as the first violin alone offers a yearning leap, then gently fills in the space and descends even further over murmured chordal support by the other instruments. This signature leap marks various entrances throughout the movement, and is used ingeniously in anticipation of the recapitulation (played by second violin) and immediately following as the recapitulation begins (first violin). Beethoven’s inventiveness at this structural juncture shows in the textural and dynamic contrast and in the slight harmonic adjustment at the actual moment the recapitulation begins. The rich warmth of the slow movement is palpable even without knowing that Beethoven accomplished this color change in part thought his choice of a somewhat remote key (B-flat major). A nice touch is the start of the main theme with the second violin on top of the texture, soon to be leapfrogged by the first violin. The scherzo, though not so named, delights in offbeat accents and curious pauses. In the minor-mode trio section Beethoven created a wonderfully windy, slightly eerie effect with a line of swirling eighth notes passed off from the second to the first violin, accompanied by the slower parallel descent of the other three instruments. The opening of the finale is just as memorable as that of the first movement, again initiated by the first violin. This time, however, we are whisked away in a merry romp, in which Beethoven’s sense of humor roundly deposits us on unexpected harmonic way stations. Both the development section and coda of this masterfully conceived sonata form feature a grand display of the composer’s early period contrapuntal prowess, which would find ultimate expression in the monumental Grosse Fuge . With irrepressible wit Beethoven winds up the movement in a whisper, employing the little three-note motive that launched the proceedings. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

March 9, 2025: Ravel’s 150th Birthday Concert, with Erika Baikoff, Soprano; Soohong Park, piano Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) Cinq mélodies populaires grecques for soprano and piano March 9, 2025: Ravel’s 150th Birthday Concert, with Erika Baikoff, Soprano; Soohong Park, piano Early in 1904 French musicologist and philologist Pierre Aubry was preparing a lecture on Greek and Armenian folklore entitled “Songs of the Oppressed,” and he asked Greek-born fellow musicologist and critic Michel-Dimitri Calvocoressi to provide some examples from Greece. Singer Louise Thomasset agreed to perform them on short notice, but only with piano accompaniment, so Calvocoressi enlisted the help of his longtime friend Ravel. They selected five folk songs—four out of Pericles Matsa’s Chansons (Constantinople, 1883) and the fifth, “Les cueilleuses de lentisques,” from a Hubert Pernot collection entitled Chansons populaires de l’le de Chio . Ravel came up with the accompaniments in only thirty-six hours—his first foray into folk settings—and the lecture-demonstration duly took place on February 20 at the Sorbonne. The following year Ravel decided that three of the songs were “too brief,” so he arranged three others from the Pernot collection, which together with two of the originals, “Quel galant” and “Chanson des cueilleuses,” now make up his Cinq mélodies populaires grecques . On April 28, 1906, Calvocoressi presented a recital on popular Greek song, on which Marguerite Babaïan gave the first performance of the set in its new configuration. These songs were the first of Ravel’s pieces to be accepted by prestigious music publisher Durand, who wished to be granted first option on all of his subsequent works. Ravel left his stamp on these accompaniments with their chromatic inflections and reinterpretations of modes, but without destroying their original flavor. “Chanson de la mariée” (Song of the bride) is a lively wake-up call for a bride on her wedding day. Ravel accentuates the modal tune (Phrygian) with his chromatic harmonies and uses rapid-fire repeated notes to generate excitement. “Là-bas, vers l’église” (There by the church) takes up the same mode, but in gentle, serious reflection on those buried in the cemetery, replete with softly chiming “bells.” “Quel galant m’est comparable” (What galant compares with me?) begins in a boastful proclamation, takes up a dancelike strut, then indulges in a moment of tenderness, before a brief return to the dance. In “Chanson des cueilleuses de lentisques” (Song of the lentisk gatherers) Ravel keeps his setting simple, with floating harmonies and occasional spun-out elaboration for the voice alone. “Tout gai” (All gay!) cavorts happily in the major mode with no chromatic inflections. Ravel’s alternating-hand patterns provide lively interest to the ebullient “Tra-la-las.” —©Jane Vial Jaffe Texts and Translations Cinq mélodies populaires grecques Chanson de la mariée Réveille-toi, réveilletoi, perdrix mignonne, Ouvre au matin tes ailes. Trois grains de beauté, mon coeur en est brûlé! Vois le ruban d’or que je t’apporte, Pour le nouer autour de tes cheveux. Si tu veux, ma belle, viens nous marier! Dans nos deux familles, tous sont alliés! Làbas, vers l’église Làbas, vers l’église, Vers l’église Ayio Sidéro, L’église, ô Vierge sainte, L’église Ayio Costanndino, Se sont réunis, Rassemblés en nombre infini, Du monde, ô Vierge sainte, Du monde tous les plus braves! Quel galant m’est comparable Quel galant m’est comparable, D’entre ceux qu’on voit passer? Dis, dame Vassiliki? Vois, pendus à ma ceinture, pistolets et sabre aigu . . . Et c’est toi que j’aime! Chanson des cueilleuses de lentisques Ô joie de mon âme, Joie de mon coeur, Trésor qui m’est si cher; Joie de l’âme et du cœur, Toi que j’aime ardemment, Tu es plus beau qu’un ange. Ô lorsque tu parais, Ange si doux Devant nos yeux, Comme un bel ange blond, Sous le clair soleil, Hélas! tous nos pauvres cœurs soupirent! Five Popular Greek Songs Song to the bride Awake, awake, you cute partridge, open your wings to the morning. Three beauty marks, my heart is on fire! See the golden ribbon I bring you, to tie around your hair. If you want, my beauty, we shall marry! In our two families, all are allied! There, by the church There, by the church, by the Ayio Sidero church, the church, o holy Virgin, the church Ayio Costanndino, are gathered, assembled in infinite numbers, of the world, o holy Virgin, of the world, all the most brave folk! What gallant compares with me? What gallant compares with me, among those one sees passing by? Tell me, lady Vassiliki! See, hanging on my belt, pistols and curved sword . . . And it is you whom I love! Song of the lentisk (mastic tree) gatherers O joy of my soul, joy of my heart, treasure that is so dear to me, joy of my soul and heart, you whom I love ardently, you are more beautiful than an angel. O when you appear, angel so sweet, before our eyes, like a beautiful, blond angel, under the bright sun, alas! all our poor hearts sigh! Return to Parlance Program Notes

September 25, 2016: Jason Vieaux, guitar; Escher String Quartet ALAN JAY KERNIS 100 Greatest Dance Hits September 25, 2016: Jason Vieaux, guitar; Escher String Quartet Aaron Jay Kernis came to national attention as a twenty-three-year-old composer in 1983 when the New York Philharmonic premiered his Dream of the Morning Sky. He went on to receive the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for his String Quartet No. 2, “Musica instrumentalis,” and the 2002 Grawemeyer Award for Colored Field for cello and orchestra (originally an English horn concerto). In both cases he was the youngest composer to win these prestigious awards. His highly imaginative, sophisticated yet accessible works have been commissioned and performed by a pantheon of music organizations, ensembles, and soloists. Growing up in Philadelphia, Kernis first studied violin, then taught himself piano at age twelve, and turned to composition the following year. He studied with John Adams at the San Francisco Conservatory, Charles Wuorinen at the Manhattan School of Music, and Jacob Druckman and Morton Subotnick at Yale University. He describes his wide-ranging influences as embracing everything from “Gertrude Stein to hard-edged rap to the diaphanous musical canvas of Claude Debussy.” He has taught at the Yale School of Music since 2003, has directed the Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute, and held composer residencies with Astral Artists, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Albany Symphony, Minnesota Public Radio, and the American Composers Forum. In the early 1990s many of Kernis’s compositions were concerned with dark images: his Second Symphony (1992) dealt with the Gulf War, Still Movement with Hymn (1993) with World War II and the Holocaust, and Colored Field (originally 1994) reflected his visits to the Auschwitz and Birkenau death camps. But his varied and colorful writing has also encompassed the humorous—The Four Seasons of Futurist Cuisine, and the erotic—Goblin Market, based on Christina Rossetti’s moody poem. More recently, for Renée Fleming he composed the alternately ferocious and lyrical Valentines (2000) on the feminist texts of Carol Ann Duffy, Newly Drawn Sky (2006) in honor of James Conlon’s first season as director of the Ravinia Festival, and his Viola Concerto (2014) for Paul Neubauer and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Most recently Marina Piccinini and the Detroit Symphony premiered his Flute Concerto in January 2016. Kernis composed 100 Greatest Dance Hits in 1993, intending it as a celebration of popular styles of the ’90s, but he admits that sounds of the ’70s occurred to him more as he composed. The piece was premiered on September 3, 1993, for the tenth anniversary of the Music from Angel Fire Festival (New Mexico) by guitarist David Tanenbaum, violinists Ida and Ani Kavafian, violist Scott St. John and cellist Christopher Costanza. Said Kernis, “I borrowed the title from those old K-Tel advertisements on late-night TV for 100 Greatest Motown Hits or 100 Greatest Soul Hits.” The piece unfolds in four movements, drawing on popular styles ranging from salsa and rap to disco and easy listening. The short, rhythmic introduction has the string players producing all manner of unconventional sounds. The ensuing “minuet/scherzo” movement features captivating dance gestures, drawing its title, Salsa Pasada (“Rancid Salsa”) from a pun on old-fashioned salsa dancing and the condiment when it is past its prime. Kernis drew on this movement for the finale of his 1997 Guitar Concerto. Kernis entitled the contemplative slow movement (also refashioned for his Guitar Concerto) “MOR Easy Listening Slow Dance”—MOR referring to the “middle-of-the-road” kind of music his parents would like—“what they hope to find on the radio dial.” The driven finale’s impetus came from the television show Soul Train, with its over three decades of R&B, soul, hip-hop, and disco. Kernis simply substituted modes of transportation in his title—a boat for a train: Dance Party on the Disco Motorboat. The striking conclusion was inspired, said Kernis, by “kids on the subways doing intricate rap rhythms vocally, playing on their bodies even, so that the different syllables they were using and the different sounds they were making sounded like specific percussion instruments.” © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

JONATHAN BISS, PIANO Pianist Jonathan Biss is recognized globally for his “impeccable taste and a formidable technique” (The New Yorker). Praised by The Boston Globe as “an eloquent and insightful music writer,” Biss published his fourth book, ‘Unquiet: My Life with Beethoven’, in 2020. The book was the first Audible Original by a classical musician and one of Audible’s top audiobooks of the year. Throughout the 2024-25 season, Biss will continue his ongoing project pairing Schubert’s last sonatas with new compositions by Alvin Singleton, Tyson Gholston Davis, and Tyshawn Sorey, including performances at the Frederic Chopin Society in St. Paul, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Meany Center in Washington and more. He appears with the Boston Symphony led by Xian Zhang, BBC Symphony led by Jakub Hrusa, Ottawa’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. Biss will also join the Doric String Quartet for dates in Denmark before going on to perform with Liza Ferschtman, Malin Broman, and Antoine Lederlin in Madrid, Helsinki, and throughout the Netherlands. Biss has appeared as a soloist with some of the world’s foremost orchestras, including the Los Angeles and New York Philharmonics, Boston Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw, London Symphony and more. He has served as the Co-Artistic Director of the Marlboro Music School and Festival alongside pianist Mitsuko Uchida since 2018. He served on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music for ten years and has been a guest professor at schools such as the Guildhall SOMAD and the New England Conservatory of Music. As author of ‘Unquiet: My Life with Beethoven’, he examines music and his own life’s journey through the lens of Beethoven’s last piano sonatas. In 2015, Biss embarked on a groundbreaking journey with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, launching the Beethoven/5 commissioning project, which has yielded a collection of five new piano concerti, each written by a distinguished composer in response to one of Beethoven’s iconic works. In April of 2024, Orchid Classics released the first volume of the recorded series, pairing Beethoven’s fifth piano concerto, the ‘Emperor’, together with its companion work, ‘Gneixendorfermusik: Eine Winterreise’, by lauded composer Brett Dean, recorded with the Swedish Radio Symphony under the baton of David Afkham. The second volume of the series releases in October 2024 and features the commissioned concerto by Sally Beamish, ‘City Stanza’s, paired with Beethoven’s piano concerto no. 1. The three subsequent volumes will include works by Caroline Shaw, Timo Andres, and Salvatore Sciarrino with releases planned through 2026. Over the course of his career, Biss has collaborated with a wide range of esteemed musicians, from Mark Padmore to Midori. In the 2023-24 season, he joined the critically acclaimed Brentano String Quartet and double bassist Joseph Conyers for a tour of Beethoven’s late works and Schubert’s Trout Quintet. In the spring of 2024, Biss joined forces with fellow pianist Mitsuko Uchida to highlight Schubert’s four-hand piano music in a series of concerts at Carnegie Hall, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Princeton University, and Schenectady’s Union College, following an international tour to London, Dublin and at the Salzburg, San Sebastian and Gstaad Festivals. An advocate of newly commissioned works, Biss most recently collaborated with composers Alvin Singleton, Tysahwn Sorey, and Tyson Gholson Davis for his Schubert commissioning project, which he presented at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, San Francisco Performances, and the Ravinia Festival in the 2023-24 season. Coinciding with the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth in 2020, Biss recorded the composer’s complete piano sonatas, and offered insights to all 32 landmark works via his free, online Coursera lecture series ‘Exploring Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas’. In March 2020, Biss gave a virtual recital presented by 92NY, wherein he performed Beethoven’s last three piano sonatas for an online audience of more than 280,000 people. In 2024, Biss participated in Princeton University Concert’s Healing Through Music Series, appearing alongside author Adam Haslett for a panel discussion on anxiety, depression, and creativity. Biss is the recipient of numerous honors, including the Leonard Bernstein Award, the Andrew Wolf Memorial Chamber Music Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, and a Gilmore Young Artist Award. His albums for EMI won the Diapason d’Or de l’Année and Edison awards. He was an artist-in residence on American Public Media’s Performance Today and was the first American chosen to participate in the BBC’s New Generation Artist program. Biss is a third-generation professional musician; his grandmother is Raya Garbousova, one of the first famous female cellists (for whom Samuel Barber composed his Cello Concerto), and his parents are violinist Miriam Fried and violist/violinist Paul Biss. Growing up surrounded by music, Biss began his piano studies at age six, with his first musical collaborations alongside his mother and father. He studied with Evelyne Brancart at Indiana University and Leon Fleisher at the Curtis Institute of Music.

2008-2009 ARTIST ROSTER Howard Alden, guitar David Chan, violin Mary Hammann, viola Ken Noda, piano Bucky PIzzarelli, guitar Elizabeth Roe, piano Frank Vignola, guitar Greg Anderson, piano Rafael Figueroa, cello Yoon Kwon, violin Joel Noyes, cello Morris Robinson, bass John Novacek, piano Nancy Allen, harp Katherine Fong, violin Jon Manasse, clarinet Elmar Oliviera, violin Catherine Ro, violin Lucy Shelton, soprano

ANNE MARIE SCHARER, HORN Anne Marie Scharer, Acting 2nd Horn Metropolitan Opera Orchestra . Anne has been playing horn at the Met since the 1997-1998 season. Previously she played third horn for thirteen seasons and fourth horn for six seasons. Anne was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin and went on to study music at Indiana University where she studied with Myron Bloom and Michael Hatfield, and then went to the Juilliard School to study with Julie Landsman. Her first professional orchestral position was in Oviedo, Spain as co-principal horn. In 1994 she returned to the United States to play associate principal/third horn with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra for three years, before winning her job at the Met. In addition to her work with the Met Opera, she performs with Classical Tahoe in the summer. Anne has also performed with the New York Philharmonic , The Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Monarch Brass and records for commercial and movie soundtracks.

2021-2022 SEASON June 5, 2021 Dear Friends, Greetings and welcome back to Parlance Chamber Concerts! I am delighted to announce the resumption of our live events during the 2021-22 season. Nine Sunday afternoon concerts will showcase the talents of thirty-five of the world’s most extraordinary performing artists . There will be many notable Parlance debuts, eagerly anticipated returns, and musical riches for you to savor throughout our 14th season. Sunday, September 26 at 3 PM : PCC’s celebratory Opening Gala will feature fifteen remarkable artists in a program of perennial favorites. Highlights will include the ever-popular Four Seasons of Antonio Vivaldi and a star-studded performance of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 6. Sunday, October 17 at 3 PM : Our second concert, Haydn Seeking , will illuminate the wit, eloquence, and profundity of Joseph Haydn . The brilliant Haydn interpreter pianist Roman Rabinovich will collaborate with the superb Escher String Quartet in a survey of the master’s sparkling works for keyboard, piano trio, and string quartet. As a special treat, the multitalented Roman Rabinovich will accompany his own delightful animations in his short film, Imaginary Encounters with Haydn . Sunday, November 14 at 3 PM : The dazzling Schumann String Quartet will make their Parlance debut. Hailed worldwide for their fire, energy, and supreme technical accomplishment, this fast-rising ensemble will perform three best-loved string quartets by Mendelssohn, Ravel, and Mozart . Sunday, December 5 at 3 PM : It will be an honor to welcome back America’s foremost organist, Paul Jacobs . The inimitable virtuoso will introduce and perform a selection of towering masterpieces by Johann Sebastian Bach , composed and arranged especially for the King of Instruments Sunday, February 20 at 3 PM : Two scintillating violinists, Paul Huang and Danbi Um , will collaborate with the superlative Finnish pianist Juho Pohjonen in an exhilarating afternoon of musical treasures by Beethoven , Erich Korngold , Pablo Sarasate , and others. The musical centerpiece will be Afterword , a mesmerizing new work created especially for the ensemble by the award-winning young American composer Chris Rogerson . Sunday, March 13 at 3 PM : Impressions of Debussy and Ravel will showcase glittering musical highlights from La Belle Époche. Three of today’s most charismatic young musicians, violinist Kristin Lee, cellist Nicholas Canellakis, and pianist Michael Brown will perform Claude Debussy’s beguiling violin and cello sonatas in alternation with Maurice Ravel’s ravishing duo for violin and cello — Ravel’s elegy to Debussy — and his kaleidoscopic piano trio. Sunday, April 24 at 3 PM : It will be a thrill to welcome the celebrated Canadian master pianist Marc-André Hamelin to our stage. Renowned for his compelling artistry, jaw-dropping technique, and inventive programming, his Parlance debut will include works of CPE Bach , Prokofiev , Scriabin , and a culminating performance of Beethoven’s Olympian “Hammerklavier ” Sonata . Sunday, May 8 at 3 PM : Our 14th season will conclude with a special, multimedia event, Meeting Mozart . I will connect the biographical facts of Mozart’s life with three magnificent works to be performed by a distinguished ensemble of Mozartians: violinist Arnaud Sussmann, pianist Anna Polonsky, violist Paul Neubauer, and cellist Fred Sherry. Sunday, June 19 at 3 PM : The star-studded Zukerman Trio will return for an all-Beethoven afternoon. The legendary violinist Pinchas Zukerman will be joined by the passionate cellist Amanda Forsyth and the eloquent pianist Shai Wosner , for performances of Beethoven’s “Spring” violin sonata , G-minor cello sonata , and soaring “Archduke” Trio . I look forward to welcoming you back soon to Parlance Chamber Concerts! Michael Parloff 2021-2022 SEASON Sun., Sept. 26, 2021 Gala Opener Featuring The Four Seasons Sun., Oct. 17, 2021 Haydn Seeking Sun., Nov. 14, 2021 Schumann String Quartet Mendelssohn, Ravel, and Mozart Sun., Dec. 5, 2021 Paul Jacobs, Organ Welcome Bach! Sun., Feb. 20, 2022 Paul Huang & Danbi Um, violins Juho Pohjonen, piano Sun., Mar. 13, 2022 Impressions of Debussy and Ravel Sun., Apr. 24, 2022 Marc-André Hamelin, piano The "HAMMERKLAVIER" Sonata Sun., May. 8, 2022 Meeting Mozart Sun., Jun. 19, 2022 Zukerman Trio Beloved Beethoven Artist Roster Parlance Program Notes LOCATION At West Side Presbyterian Church 6 South Monroe Street Ridgewood, NJ 07450 For map and directions, click here . CONCERT AMENITIES Whee lchair Accessible Fr e e Parking for all concerts