September 14, 2025: “SINGERS” FROM THE MET ORCHESTRA ANTON RIST, CLARINET; MUSICIANS FROM THE MET ORCHESTRA; MICHAEL PARLOFF, CONDUCTOR WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) Clarinet Concerto in A, K. 622 September 14, 2025: “SINGERS” FROM THE MET ORCHESTRA ANTON RIST, CLARINET; MUSICIANS FROM THE MET ORCHESTRA; MICHAEL PARLOFF, CONDUCTOR Mozart composed his Clarinet Concerto for his friend and fellow Freemason Anton Stadler, who played in the imperial court orchestra in Vienna and whose playing was admired far and wide. Mozart’s relationship with Stadler has always fascinated historians. The clarinetist constantly borrowed money from his friend, who could ill afford to lend it. Once Mozart loaned him two watches to pawn and, when Mozart also loaned him the money to redeem them, he spent that as well, so Mozart permanently lost his watches. The composer’s widow Constanze reported that Stadler also stole silver from them! Stadler’s great artistry, charming personality, lively conversation, and membership in the Masonic order more than outweighed his sponging ways in Mozart’s eyes—for which we have some of the composer’s loveliest music as testament. Not only the Concerto, but the wonderful Clarinet Quintet and the obbligato solos in two of the arias in La clemenza di Tito were written for specifically Stadler. Stadler was especially known for his expressive playing in the “chalumeau” or lower register of the clarinet and had a special clarinet made for him by Theodor Lotz, another Freemason, that extended the lower range of the normal clarinet in A. Though Mozart’s original manuscripts for both the Clarinet Concerto and the Quintet no longer survive—Stadler is thought to have pawned or sold them—scholars have discovered that both were written for this extended range instrument, and have been able to reconstruct “original” versions of both. “Parto, parto” from La clemenza di Tito was also written with this special clarinet in mind. (Modern reconstructions of this instruments have resulted in replicas known as “basset clarinets.”) The Clarinet Concerto actually began as a Concerto in G major for basset horn (crescent-shaped alto clarinet). Mozart completed 199 measures of the first movement before deciding that it should really be written for the higher clarinet in A (with the extended range) and started over in A major. Completed in October 1791, just two months before his death, the Clarinet Concerto stands as one of the true gems of the clarinet repertoire, exploring every range of the instrument, from high to low and from poignant lyricism to agile merriment. The first movement shows the abundance of melodic ideas that we have come to expect from Mozart, here with a kind of luminous lyricism rather than impassioned energy. The tone quality is colored by Mozart’s light orchestration that includes no oboes and naturally no clarinets, but in which the flutes impart a limpid beauty. The dialogue between the clarinet and orchestra is masterful—often harmonious, occasionally competitive. Of particular note is the imitative play between the strings, joined by the clarinet, in elaborating the first theme even before the main solo entrance of the clarinet. Another fascinating passage has the clarinet playing an Alberti bass (broken chord pattern) in its lowest register in accompaniment to witty repartee between the first and second violins. Mozart’s recapitulation is a model of concision after the more expansive exposition and development. Words cannot possibly do justice to Mozart’s sublime slow movement, one of his simplest yet most profound utterances. The clarinet “sings” the melody to a tranquil rocking accompaniment and the whole is repeated by the combined ensemble. The clarinet then climbs with almost unbearable grace to a peak in its second phrase, again repeated by all. This entire opening section returns, ingeniously varied, after a middle section that shows off the clarinet’s ability to leap and decorate expressively. Mozart’s concluding Rondo reveals its riches in five sections—three occurrences of its capricious refrain alternate with two contrasting episodes. Mozart manages to display the soloist’s virtuosity while maintaining the highest level of artistic integrity—the clarinet dances, soars, tiptoes, leaps, wallows—all with incredible eloquence. Especially poignant is the haunting episode in minor with its heart-in-the-throat hesitations and pauses. Mozart’s lighthearted refrain banishes the shadows and the movement concludes in a coda of elegant exuberance. —©Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

March 26, 2017: Jerusalem String Quartet JOSEPH HAYDN (1732-1809) String Quartet in D major, Hob. III/63, op. 64, no. 5, “The Lark” March 26, 2017: Jerusalem String Quartet Haydn composed his Opus 64 Quartets in 1790, a year of great change in his life owing to circumstances at Esterháza where he had been employed for thirty years. In February Prince Nicolaus’s wife died, and the grief-stricken Prince kept Haydn—his friend as well as his servant—constantly by his side. Haydn’s letters show that, much as he valued his friendship with the Prince, he felt imprisoned, frustrated, and lonely. In September the music-loving Prince Nicolaus died. His successor, Prince Paul Anton II, did not care for music and dismissed most of the music staff, though he continued to pay Haydn’s salary, requiring him to supply music only for occasional functions. Haydn was free at last to pursue other interests and embarked on his first trip to London with violinist and impresario Johann Peter Salomon, who had been trying to lure him there for years. Haydn quartet scholar László Somfai suggested that the “stronger profile” of the last two Opus 64 Quartets—the Lark and No. 6 in E-flat major—owed to these great changes in Haydn’s life. The six Opus 64 Quartets are known as the “second” set of “Tost” quartets because of their dedication to Johann Tost, former violinist in the Esterháza orchestra who by this time had become a cloth merchant. (Haydn had also dedicated to Tost his six previous quartets, published in two groups of three as Opus 54 and 55.) Haydn’s relationship with Tost was complicated because Tost apparently profited unscrupulously from selling some of Haydn’s symphonies and quartets in Paris, but he clearly esteemed him as a musician. Though the Quartets may have been commissioned by Tost, several commentators have suggested that it was wealthy patron Maria Anna von Gerlischek (or Jerlischek; Fräulein Nanette in Haydn’s letters) who urged Haydn to compose them. She had ascended to head housekeeper at Esterháza after Prince Nicolaus’s wife died, and she married Tost when he returned to Austria. The D major Quartet, op. 64, no. 5, became known as “The Lark” because of the soaring, circling violin melody in the first movement. The designation, though fitting, was not attached by Haydn, nor was the Quartet’s other less famous nickname, “Hornpipe,” which refers to the merry Finale’s fleeting resemblance to an old English sailors’ dance. The opening movement’s elegantly prancing staccato provides the perfect foil for the first violin’s exquisite “lark” melody in high register. This beloved theme lies at the heart of one of the movement’s most ingenious features—a second recapitulation after he had already produced one in the home key. This produces a wonderful sense of spaciousness and a chance to hear the lovely melody yet again. Equally striking is the sharply modulating transition to his second theme, which begins with a cascade of triplets that takes on a prominent role in the development section. The intimate slow movement follows Haydn’s usual plan—A-B-A with the middle section unfolding in the minor mode. This “B” section turns out to be an imaginative variation on the material of the outer section. Variation also plays a key role in the return of “A,” especially in the added figuration for the first violin. In the wittily elegant minuet Haydn revels in impish grace notes, metric shifts between groups of twos and threes, and unexpected chromatic inflections. His trio section is remarkable for its chromatic minor-mode counterpoint. At breakneck pace in exhilarating perpetual motion, the Finale unfolds in A-B-A form, with elements of sonata form evident in the developmental nature of the middle section. This imaginative minor-mode fugato brilliantly brings out the main theme’s contrapuntal potential without an interruption in the steady stream of fast notes and shines the spotlight equally on all four participants. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

April 23, 2017: Isabel Leonard, mezzo-soprano; Warren Jones, piano ENRIQUE GRANADOS (1867–1916) love songs April 23, 2017: Isabel Leonard, mezzo-soprano; Warren Jones, piano Enrique Granados received most of his musical training in Barcelona, although he did study in Paris for two years. On his return he began to achieve great acclaim as a pianist, but his intense dislike of travel limited his touring. He founded a concert society in Barcelona in 1900 and a music school, the Academia Granados, the following year. Essentially self-taught as a composer, he began gaining recognition with his colorful Spanish Dances (1892–1911), which were among his first published pieces. He considerably enhanced that reputation with Goyescas (1911), piano pieces inspired by the paintings and etching of Goya. Tragically, travel was at the heart of his untimely death at age forty-nine. Accompanied by his wife, he had reluctantly made the sea voyage to attend the Metropolitan's premiere of his opera Goyescas in 1916, and had postponed his voyage home in order to play for President Woodrow Wilson. Having missed the ship to Spain, they sailed instead to Liverpool where they boarded the Sussex for Dieppe. The Sussex was torpedoed by a German submarine and, although Granados was picked up by a lifeboat, he jumped into the water to save his wife from him and they both drowned. Granados published two important song collections: his Tonadillas and his Canciones amatorias, which show opposite sides of his song-writing art, although both are based on love poetry and both are indebted to his fascination with Goya. The Tonadillas , shorter by definition, link directly with the same eighteenth- and nineteenth-century majas and majos of Goya's paintings through the poetry of Fernando Periquet (1873–1940) and feature relatively spare, guitar-like accompaniments. ( Majas and majos were lower-class people of Spanish society distinguished by their elaborate dress and cheeky manners.) The Canciones amatorias , settings of Renaissance texts, boast longer, imaginatively spun-out melodies and more elaborate accompaniments. They have been somewhat overshadowed by the overt link of the Tonadillas to Goya and to popular Spanish song, but the Canciones amatorios show a distinct affinity with Granados's Goyescas , the piano pieces that brought him so much recognition outside of Spain, and they get to the heart of his expressive capabilities—still incorporating folk idioms but in a highly personal style. The Canciones amatorios received their first performance in Barcelona on April 5, 1915, at the debut of soprano Conchita Badía, accompanied by the composer who dedicated two of the songs to her, “Llorad, corazón” and “Gracia mia.” “Discover the thought ,” like many of the songs in this collection, is striking for its harmonic adventurousness. The song's anonymous poet, in the tradition of courtly love, pines for a woman above his social status. Granados provides “Mañanica era” (It was daybreak) with a delicate setting, befitting its images of blooms and seraphs. He gently shifts to a melancholy expressiveness toward the end for the lover who comes to die. Characteristic “strumming” permeates the accompaniment of “No lloráis, ojuelos” (Don't cry, little eyes), whose melodic lines Granados embellishes gracefully. The middle section provides harmonic interest, and the return to the opening text receives a soaring variation. Granados enhances the bittersweet melancholy of “Llorad, corazón” (Weep, heart) with winding chromaticism. He also creates a special effect with the gently rising leaps in the first section. Today's selections conclude with the delightfully ornamented and flowing “Gracia mia” (My graceful one). Spanish rhythms, mixed meters, triplet embellishments, and mercurial shifts between major and minor provide native color—all with Granados's inspired personal stamp. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

MATTHEW POLENZANI, TENOR One of the most gifted and distinguished lyric tenors of his generation, Matthew Polenzani has been praised for the artistic versatility and fresh lyricism that he brings to concert and operatic appearances on leading international stages. This season Mr. Polenzani returned to the Metropolitan Opera in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, conducted by James Levine, and in Verdi’s Rigoletto, opposite Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Alexandra Kurzak. He is Massenet’s Des Grieux in Laurent Pelly’s production ofManon at the Royal Opera Covent Garden, and he makes his role debut as Tito in David McVicar’s production of La Clemenza di Tito at Lyric Opera of Chicago, opposite Joyce DiDonato. The tenor makes his debut at the Deutsche Oper Berlin opposite Elina Garanca and Ildebrando D’arcangelo, as Berlioz’sFaust, under the baton of Sir Donald Runnicles. He then returns to the Bayerische Staatsoper for I Capuleti e I Montecchi, with Elina Garanca as Romeo, and Riccardo Frizza conducting. Concert appearances include Britten’s Serenade for Tenor and Horn with the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, and with the LA Philharmonic in La Traviata, with Gustavo Dudamel conducting. Among the many highlights from recent Metropolitan Opera seasons are the premieres of Bartlett Sher’s production of L’elisir d’amore, which opened the 2012 season, and David McVicar’s production of Maria Stuarda, Willy Decker’s production of La traviata, Julie Taymor’s legendary Die Zauberflöte, Jürgen Flimm’s production of Salome with Valery Gergiev, and revivals of Don Pasquale, Don Giovanni, Roméo et Juliette, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Così fan tutte, Falstaff, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and L’Italiana in Algeri. To date, he has sung over 285 performances at the Met, many conducted by his musical mentor James Levine. In other American theaters, appearances include Werther, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, La traviata, Roméo et Juliette, and Die Entführung aus dem Serail with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Die Entführung, and Il barbiere di Siviglia for San Francisco Opera, and Die Zauberflötewith James Conlon at Los Angeles Opera. Following Matthew Polenzani’s debut as Gérald in Delibes Lakmé with Opera Bordeaux in France in 1998, appearances in other major European theatres included productions of Don Pasquale and La traviata at the Teatro Comunale in Florence, the Aix en Provence Festival (commercially available on DVD on Bel Air Classiques) and on a tour of Japan with Turin’s Teatro Reggio; I Capuleti e I Montecchi at the Paris Opera; L’elisir d’amore at the Vienna State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Naples’ Teatro San Carlo, and Rome Opera; Così fan tutte at Covent Garden with Sir Colin Davis and in Paris with Philippe Jordan; Lucia di Lammermoor at Frankfurt Opera, the Paris Opera, and Vienna State Opera; La Damnation de Faust in Frankfurt; Manon on a tour of Japan with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden under Antonio Pappano; Idomeneo in Turin with Gianandrea Noseda, Manon with Fabio Luisi, and La traviata at La Scala; Rigoletto at the Vienna State Opera conducted by Jesus Lopez-Cobos, and at the Salzburg Festival in Don Giovanni in a new production by Klaus Guth, conducted by Bertrand de Billy. Mr. Polenzani is in great demand for symphonic work for the world’s most influential conductors including Pierre Boulez, James Conlon, Sir Colin Davis, Riccardo Frizza, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Louis Langrée, James Levine, Jesús López-Cobos, Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Muti, Simon Rattle, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Leonard Slatkin, Sir Jeffrey Tate, Michael Tilson Thomas, Franz Welser-Möst, and David Zinman, and with many major orchestras both in the United States and Europe, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Orchestra della Santa Cecilia, Orchestre National de France, Orchestra Giovanile “L. Cherubini” at the Salzburg Whitsun Festival, and the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris at the Saint Denis Festival. In recital, Matthew Polenzani has appeared in recital with Julius Drake at Wigmore Hall, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Celebrity Series Boston at Jordan Hall, and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society; with noted pianist Richard Goode in a presentation of Janáček’s The Diary of One Who Disappeared at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, and in recital at the Verbier Festival with pianist Roger Vignoles (commercially available on CD on VAI). In a recent season, Mr. Polenzani was honored to have appeared on all three stages of Carnegie Hall: in concert with the MET Chamber Ensemble at Zankel Hall; in solo recital with James Levine at the piano in Weill Hall; and in a Schubert Liederabend on the stage of Isaac Stern Auditorium with colleagues Dorothea Röschmann, Waltraud Meier, and René Pape, again with James Levine as pianist. Matthew Polenzani was the recipient of the 2004 Richard Tucker Award and Metropolitan Opera’s 2008 Beverly Sills Artist Award. An avid golfer, he makes his home in suburban New York with his wife, mezzo-soprano Rosa Maria Pascarella and their three sons.

EVAN EPIFANIO, BASSOON Evan Epifanio was appointed Principal Bassoon of The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in 2018. Prior to The Met, Evan was a member of The Sarasota Orchestra and New World Symphony, as well as serving as Principal Bassoon of the Des Moines Metro Opera. He has also performed with other ensembles including The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and The Florida Orchestra. Evan can be heard playing with The MET Orchestra Chamber Ensemble at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall throughout the year. He has lead masterclasses at a variety of locations including The Academia Filarmónica de Medellín, Colombia and most recently The Juilliard School. During his summer months Evan has been heard performing with Classical Tahoe in Incline Village, Nevada and The Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego.

Karen Dreyfus, viola Karen Dreyfus enjoys a wide-ranging career, as a noted orchestral soloist, recitalist and chamber musician, and as a pedagogue. Prized for her impassioned musicianship and her rich mahogany tone, she has inspired a variety of contemporary music’s finest composers to write scores specifically tailored to her communicative talents. Born into a family of musicians, Dreyfus began studying the violin with her father, a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra, before pursuing the career of a concert violist under the tutelage of the longtime master, Leonard Mogill. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Michael Tree and Karen Tuttle, Dreyfus was subsequently a prizewinner of such prestigious musical competitions as the Washington International Competition, the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, and the Naumburg Viola Competition. Karen Dreyfus soon moved to New York City, and to the world stage, concertizing extensively in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia and South America. She has performed in such ensembles as the New York Philharmonic and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, with Musicians From Marlboro, the Theater Chamber Players of the Kennedy Center and Philomusica, and she has collaborated with such legendary artists as Yehudi Menuhin, Alexander Schneider, Leon Fleisher, jazz great Chick Corea, and her husband, Glenn Dicterow as well as performed chamber music with members of the Budapest, Galimir, Guarneri, Tokyo and Emerson quartets. Her wide discography includes traversals of such classics of the literature as the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante (alongside violinist Glenn Dicterow) and Walton’s Viola Concerto, beside her collaborations in the chamber music of Dvorak, Strauss and Turina. Dreyfus’s first recording as a recitalist, entitled Romanze (Bridge Records), essaying a program of Hindemith, Schumann, Debussy, Falla and Bruch, won considerable acclaim, the American Record Guide citing her as “a terrific player with impeccable technique and intonation, beautiful tone, and real musicianship. Her playing is highly expressive and responsive to the many moods elicited by this varied program.” When the classically schooled jazz pianist Chick Corea composed his Lyric Suite for Sextet, he engaged his longtime colleague, vibraphonist Gary Burton, and a quartet of the finest chamber players, including Karen Dreyfus. The resultant recording, for the ever-searching ECM label, was subsequently nominated for a Grammy Award as Best Chamber Music Performance. Many equally searching, equally lyrically focused composers have subsequently written scores specifically for Dreyfus. She has recorded two CDs of contemporary viola concertos for the MMC label, American Journeys and Karen Dreyfus Viola Concertos Volume II. She and the composer William Thomas McKinley have had a special connection, he writing several concertos for her, plus the gloriously nimble Concert Variations for Dreyfus and Glenn Dicterow. In recent decades, Dreyfus has found a particular niche as a teacher. She joined the faculty of the Juilliard School, leading a sonata class for violists and pianists, among other duties. She has also taught at New York’s Third Street Music School Settlement, SUNY Purchase and Queens College. In 2022 Karen Dreyfus was given the status of Faculty Emerita by the Manhattan School of Music, where she participated in the Graduate Program in Orchestral Performance and viola studies for 30 years. Currently Dreyfus teaches viola and chamber music at the USC Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles. Many of her students have gone on to win positions in major orchestras and at universities around the globe. During the summer season she is on the faculty of Santa Barbara’s Music Academy of the West, while performing and teaching in a variety of music festivals and academies around the nation, and beyond. Recently Karen Dreyfus and Glenn Dicterow performed as a soloist with the Shanghai Symphony and Guangzhou Symphony Orchestras along with coaching members of the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra. Dreyfus is a founding member of the Lyric Piano Quartet – whose initial recording for Black Box Records was nominated as an “Editor’s Choice” by Gramophone Magazine – and the Amerigo Trio, touring with both groups. And in her spare time, she has often been a “first call” session player on numerous movie soundtracks, and pop, jazz and rock recordings.

ERIN BOURIAKOV, FLUTE Erin Bouriakov is an international soloist, chamber musician, lecturer and a teacher, and is a faculty at UCLA. She has appeared as a soloist with the Mariinsky theater Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Euro-Asian Philharmonic Orchestra, Musica Viva and others. Together with her husband, Denis Bouriakov, they frequently perform and record together worldwide. Erin has won a number of competitions both in USA and abroad. Mrs. Bouriakov was born in Seoul, Korea. She has moved to USA to study at the Interlochen Arts Academy, where she studied with Tyra Gilb. She then went on to studying at Oberlin Conservatory with Michel Debost, and later at the Royal Academy of Music in London with William Bennett. Erin has also studied with a former principal of La Scala Bruno Cavallo in Milano, Italy. She had been appointed the Principal Flute of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra Co. in 2006. As an orchestral musician Ms. Bouriakov has performed in many orchestras, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. While living in New York, she was an assistant teacher at Juilliard pre-college. Erin is a Haynes flutes artist since 2016 and is playing a 14K all gold model.

BARRY CENTANNI, PERCUSSION A graduate of the Juilliard School, Barry is principal percussionist for the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. His engagements with St. Luke’s have included recordings for Sony, Music Masters, Telarc and Deutsche Grammophon, as well as appearances on “Live from Lincoln Center”. As a freelance musician, he has performed on “Late Night with David Letterman”, as well as “Saturday Night Live”. He has also appeared with the bands Yes, the Moody Blues and Metallica and with artists such as Tony Bennett, Sting, Elton John, and Frank Sinatra. He has also performed as an extra percussionist for the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, the American Symphony, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Little Orchestra Society, the American Composers Orchestra, the New York Pops, the New York City Opera, the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic. An active teacher, he has been on the faculty of the Mannes School of Music,The College of New Jersey, SUNY Purchase, New York University and Columbia Teachers College. Presently, he is Chairman of the percussion department of Montclair State University.

MILENA PAJARO-VAN DE STADT, VIOLA Praised by Strad magazine as having “lyricism that stood out…a silky tone and beautiful, supple lines,” violist Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt has established herself as one of the most sought-after violists of her generation. In addition to appearances as soloist with the Tokyo Philharmonic, the Jacksonville Symphony, and the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra, she has performed in recitals and chamber-music concerts throughout the United States, Latin America, Europe and Asia, including an acclaimed 2011 debut recital at London’s Wigmore Hall, which was described in Strad as being “fleet and energetic…powerful and focused”. Ms. Pajaro-van de Stadt was the founding violist of the Dover Quartet, and played in the group from 2008-2022. During her time in the group, the Dover Quartet was the First Prize-winner and recipient of every special award at the Banff International String Quartet Competition 2013, and winner of the Gold Medal and Grand Prize in the 2010 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. Her numerous awards also include First Prize of the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and top prizes at the the Sphinx Competition and the Tokyo International Viola Competition. While in the Dover Quartet, Ms. Pajaro-van de Stadt was on the faculty at The Curtis Institute of Music and Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, and a part of the Quartet in Residence of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. A violin student of Sergiu Schwartz and Melissa Pierson-Barrett for several years, she began studying viola with Michael Klotz at the Bowdoin International Music Festival in 2005. Ms. Pajaro-van de Stadt graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Roberto Diaz, Michael Tree, Misha Amory, and Joseph de Pasquale. She then received her Master’s Degree in String Quartet with the Dover Quartet at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, as a student of James Dunham.

November 19, 2017: Los Angeles Guitar Quartet JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) Brandenburg Concerto No. 6, BWV 1051 November 19, 2017: Los Angeles Guitar Quartet Written in 1721 as a means of gaining favor from the Margrave of Brandenburg, Bach’s “Six concerts à plusieurs instruments” never garnered payment or even thanks for the composer. Yet they establish him today as the master of the concerto grosso style pioneered by Corelli. Brandenburg Concerto #6 is scored for string orchestra, but without violins; violas carry the upper melodic material. This lower tessitura makes the piece ideal for an arrangement for guitar quartet. Set in a fast-slow-fast structure, the piece showcases Bach’s peerless use of imitative writing. The first movement is drivingly propulsive, with the two top parts chasing each other in a canon at the 1/8th note. The middle movement is one of Bach’s stately and shimmering Adagios, while the final movement is one of Bach’s most joyous gigues, with a rondo theme recurring in a variety of guises. Return to Parlance Program Notes

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2022 AT 3 PM PAUL HUANG AND DANBI UM, VIOLINS JUHO POHJONEN, PIANO BUY TICKETS JUHO POHJONEN, PIANO “Juho Pohjonen demonstrated his elegant musicianship, pearly touch, singing tone, and sensitivity throughout the program…everything about his recital was formidable” — The New York Times PAUL HUANG, VIOLIN Paul Huang possesses a big, luscious tone, spot-on intonation and a technique that makes the most punishing string phrases feel as natural as breathing.” — The Washington Post DANBI UM, VIOLIN “Danbi Um’s playing is utterly dazzling…a marvelous show of superb technique” — The Strad FEATURING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS 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. PROGRAM Erich Wolfgang Korngold Suite from Much Ado about Nothing , Op. 11 Danbi Um, violin; Juho Pohjonen, piano Program Notes Moritz Moszkowski Suite for two violins and piano , Op. 71 Program Notes Ludwig van Beethoven Violin Sonata No. 3 in E-flat major. Op. 12, No. 3 Paul Huang, violin; Juho Pohjonen Program Notes Chris Rogerson Afterword for two violins and piano Program Notes Amy Barlowe Hebraique Elegie for two violins Paul Huang and Danbi Um, violins Program Notes Pablo Sarasate Navarra, Op. 33 for two violins and piano Program Notes Watch violinists Paul Huang and Danbi Um perform Sarasate’s Navarra: Watch this short documentary about violinist Paul Huang: Watch pianist Juho Pohjonen play Rameau’s Keyboard Suite No. 2:

JOEL NOYES, CELLO Joel Noyes is Assistant Principal Cellist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and is also very much in demand as chamber musician and recitalist. He regularly appears at the most prestigious concert halls throughout North America, and in 2018 alone his performing schedule will bring him from New York to Norway to China and across the U.S. He performed with Renee Fleming in the opening night concert of Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall and has been seen there many times since as part of the Musicians from the Met chamber series. He has been featured at festivals including Marlboro Music, La Jolla Summerfest, Strings Music Festival of Steamboat Springs, and serves as principal cellist of the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra. He has also collaborated with many of the world’s leading chamber musicians, including members of the Guarneri, Juilliard, and Vermeer Quartets. Along with fulfilling the demanding schedule at the Met Opera, at various times in his orchestral career Joel has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Born into a musical family in the state of Maine, he began playing the cello at the age of three under the tutelage of his father. Joel graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where he studied with David Soyer. His other teachers have included Richard Aaron at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Marc Johnson of the Vermeer Quartet. A versatile musician, Joel composes his own music, has played Egyptian music in a band in New York, has performed on CBS’ Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and has participated in numerous movie soundtracks.