March 9, 2025: Ravel’s 150th Birthday Concert, Soohong Park, piano Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) Le Tombeau de Couperin for piano March 9, 2025: Ravel’s 150th Birthday Concert, Soohong Park, piano The term tombeau originated in the seventeenth century as the title for memorial dirges composed to honor friends or famous people, specifically as used by lutenist-composer Denis Gaulthier (1603–1672). Couperin, influenced by Gaulthier’s style and his fanciful titles, went even further by composing entire suites to honor Lully and Corelli, entitled Apothéoses . Ravel took up the French tradition, paying homage “less, in reality, to Couperin himself,” he said, “than to eighteenth-century French music”—particularly harpsichord music. Conceived in 1914 but interrupted by Ravel’s participation in World War I, the original piano suite was completed in 1917. Ravel dedicated the six movements to the memory of six friends who had died in the War, making it a kind of double tombeau . Marguerite Long, a great champion of Ravel’s music, premiered the piano version on April 11, 1919. Before the year’s end Ravel heard that Rolf de Maré, director of the Ballet Suédois, wanted to produce a ballet of Le tombeau , but in an orchestral version. He happily chose four of the six original movements to orchestrate—Prélude, Forlane, Minuet, and Rigaudon. This version was first heard not as a ballet but at a concert of the Pasdeloup Orchestra of Paris in 1920 with the ballet version presented later that year. Reflecting Baroque style, the Prélude spins out in fast running triplets in a kind of perpetual motion, but with Impressionist harmonies. The Forlane, with its haunting melody, stems from the ancient dance of the same name, which actually originated in Italy and is distantly related to the French gigue. The lovely Minuet is a restrained movement, growing slightly more agitated in the middle section, but retaining the elegance of the courtly dance. Ravel based the festive Rigaudon on the ancient lively Provençal dance, which was immensely popular in its ballroom version during the reigns of Louis XIII, XIV, and XV. —©Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

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DIEGO URCOLA, TRUMPET Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, three-time Grammy Award nominee Diego Urcola has been a member of the Paquito D’Rivera Quintet since 1991. This in-demand trumpeter also performs regularly with the legendary saxophonist Jimmy Heath and the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Star Big Band. “A disciplined technician blessed with classical and jazz chops—but when he lets his bebop loose, this guy is pure excitement, with passionate range and attack.”

2017-2016 SEASON 2015-2016 SEASON OCTOBER 4, 2015 Richard Goode, piano NOVEMBER 15, 2015 Jeremy Denk, piano, and Stefan Jackiw, violin DECEMBER 13, 2015 Kristin Lee, violin; Paul Watkins, cello; Gilles Vonsattel, piano MARCH 6, 2016 Escher String Quartet APRIL 3, 2016 Sir James Galway and Friends MAY 15, 2016 Stephanie Blythe, mezzo-soprano; Craig Terry, piano 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

STEFÁN RAGNAR HÖSKULDSSON, FLUTE Stefan Ragnar Hoskuldsson, a native of Iceland, is principal flutist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and is quickly being recognized as one of the leading soloist in the country. Before winning the principal position in 2008, Stefan served as second flutist with the orchestra for four years. Under the direction of James Levine, Mr. Hoskuldsson regularly performs at Carnegie Hall and Zankel Hall with the MET Orchestra and Chamber Ensemble. He has performed under the batons of Valerie Gergiev, Daniel Barenboim, Seiji Ozawa, Essa Pekka Salonen, Ricardo Muti and has collaborated with such artists as Alfred Brendel, Yifim Brofman, Gil Shiham and Diana Damrau. Stefan can be heard and seen on live HD broadcasts with the Metropolitan Opera. One of these recordings include the 2008 performance of Lucia di Lammermoor where he collaborated with Anna Netrebko in the famous flute and soprano cadenza from the mad scene. In addition to his active schedule with the MET, Mr. Hoskuldsson performs as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the US, Europe, South America and Japan. In 2009, he was invited to be a special guest artist at the Sir James Galway International Flute master class in Lucerne, Switzerland where he performed a solo recital and had the honor of playing a duet with Sir James. Stefan returned there in the summer of 2010 to perform and give a workshop on the flute in operatic music. In March 2011, as a part of a European tour Mr.Hoskuldsson gave a series of very successful masterclasses and recitals at the Guildhall School and the Royal Academy of Music in London, and at the Conservatorio Real in Madrid. He is also a regular guest professor at Mannes College of Music and Manhattan School of Music. Stefan is a faculty member of the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan. As an active soloist Stefan performed the Lowell Liebermann Flute Concerto with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in 2006. He will return in August 2011 to perform Mozart Flute Concerto in D major in the newly inaugurated Symphony Hall “Harpa” in Reykjavik. Other Concerto engagements include a performance of the Mozart Flute and Harp Concerto with members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York in October 2011. Stefan will also perform the Nielsen flute concerto and the Bach b-minor Suite with the New York Repertory Orchestra in February 2012. In demand as an orchestral soloist, Mr. Hoskuldsson was invited to play Guest Principal Flute with the Mostly Mozart Festival during the 2009 season as well as with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the end of their 2010 -2011 season. Stefan attended the Royal Northern College where he studied with Peter Lloyd and Wissam Boustany. While in Iceland he attended the Reykjavik College of Music studying with Bernhard Wilkinson. Stefan has recorded for the Naxos label-American Classics Series.

BRENTANO STRING QUARTET The Brentano String Quartet Mark Steinberg , violin Serena Canin , violin Misha Amory , viola Nina Lee , cello Since its inception in 1992, the Brentano String Quartet has appeared throughout the world to popular and critical acclaim. “Passionate, uninhibited and spellbinding,” raves the London Independent ; the New York Times extols its “luxuriously warm sound [and] yearning lyricism.” Within a few years of its formation, the Quartet garnered the first Cleveland Quartet Award and the Naumburg Chamber Music Award and was also honored in the U.K. with the Royal Philharmonic Award for Most Outstanding Debut. Since then, the Quartet has concertized widely, performing in the world’s most prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall in New York; the Library of Congress in Washington; the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; the Konzerthaus in Vienna; Suntory Hall in Tokyo; and the Sydney Opera House. In addition to performing the entire two-century range of the standard quartet repertoire, the Brentano Quartet maintains a strong interest in contemporary music, and has commissioned many new works. Their latest project, a monodrama for quartet and voice called “Dido Reimagined,” was composed by Pulitzer-winning composer Melinda Wagner and librettist Stephanie Fleischmann, and premiered in spring 2022 with soprano Dawn Upshaw. Other recent commissions include the composers Matthew Aucoin, Lei Liang, Vijay Iyer, James Macmillan, and a cello quintet by Steven Mackey (performed with Wilhelmina Smith, cello.) The Brentano Quartet has worked closely with other important composers of our time, among them Elliot Carter, Charles Wuorinen, Chou Wen-chung, Bruce Adolphe, and György Kurtág. They have also been privileged to collaborate with such artists as soprano Jessye Norman, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, and pianists Richard Goode, Jonathan Biss, and Mitsuko Uchida. The Quartet has recorded works by Mozart and Schubert for Azica Records, and all of Beethoven’s late Quartets for the Aeon label. In 2012, they provided the central music (Beethoven Opus 131) for the critically-acclaimed independent film A Late Quartet. Since 2014, the Brentano Quartet has served as Artists-in-Residence at the Yale School of Music. They were formerly the Ensemble-in-Residence at Princeton University, and were twice invited to be the collaborative ensemble for the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. The Quartet is named for Antonie Brentano, whom many scholars consider to be Beethoven’s “Immortal Beloved”, the intended recipient of his famous love confession.

THE DANISH STRING QUARTET FREDERIK ØLAND (VIOLIN); RUNE TONSGAARD SØRENSEN (VIOLIN); ASBJØRN NØRGAARD (VIOLA); FREDRIK SCHØYEN SJÖLIN (CELLO) Among today’s many exceptional chamber music groups, the GRAMMY® nominated Danish String Quartet continuously asserts its preeminence. The Quartet’s playing reflects impeccable musicianship, sophisticated artistry, exquisite clarity of ensemble, and, above all, an expressivity inextricably bound to the music, from Haydn to Shostakovich to contemporary scores. Performances bring a rare musical spontaneity, giving audiences the sense of hearing even treasured canon repertoire as if for the first time, and exuding a palpable joy in music-making that have made them enormously in-demand on concert stages throughout the world. The recipient of many awards and prestigious appointments, including Musical America’s 2020 Ensemble of the Year and the Borletti-Buitoni Trust, the Danish String Quartet was named in 2013 as BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists and appointed to the The Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two). In 2021-2022, the Danish String Quartet introduce DOPPELGÄNGER, an ambitious 4-year international commissioning project. DOPPELGÄNGER pairs world premieres from four renowned composers—Bent Sørensen, Lotta Wennäkoski, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, and Thomas Adès—with four major works from the masterful chamber music repertoire of Schubert. Each season, the Danish String Quartet will perform a world premiere on a program with its doppelgänger—the Schubert quartet or quintet that inspired it—culminating in the premiere of a quintet by Adès, after the great String Quintet in C major. The DOPPELGÄNGER pieces are commissioned by the Danish String Quartet with the support of Carnegie Hall, Cal Performances, UC Santa Barbara Arts & Lectures, Vancouver Recital Society, Flagey in Brussels, and Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam. The first commission, composed by Bent Sørensen and inspired by Schubert’s quartet in G Major (D.887), is scheduled to premiere in 2021. In addition to performances of DOPPELGÄNGER, the Danish String Quartet gives over 20 performances throughout North America in the 2021-2022 season. Highlights include debuts at the University of Georgia, Virginia Tech’s Moss Arts Center, Shriver Hall, and Virginia Arts Festival, return trips to Boston’s Celebrity Series, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Ensemble Music Society of Indianapolis, Chamber Music Cincinnati, and University of Washington’s Meany Hall, and a tour of Florida. European highlights include tours of Denmark, France, Germany, and Amsterdam. As part of a multi-year residency, the Danish String Quartet brought a series of five concerts, which mirror the programs in its ongoing recording project with ECM New Series, PRISM, to La Jolla Music Society in November 2019. Each PRISM program is an exploration of the symbiotic musical and contextual relationships between Bach fugues, Beethoven string quartets, and works by Shostakovich, Schnittke, Bartok, Mendelssohn, and Webern, forming an expertly curated musical evolution within each individual program and across the entire PRISM repertory. Prism I, the first disc of this five-album project for the ECM label, was released in September 2018 and garnered a GRAMMY® nomination in the category of Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance for the group’s recordings of Beethoven’s Op. 127 in E-flat Major, Bach’s Fugue in E-flat Major (arranged by Mozart), and Shostakovich’s final string quartet, No. 15 in E-flat minor. Prism II was subsequently released in September 2019 to rave reviews including a five-star review from BBC Music Magazine, “Best Classical Music of 2019” from New York Times, and “Classical Music You Must Hear” from Apple Music. Prism III—featuring Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 13, Op. 131, Bartók’s String Quartet No. 1, and Bach’s Fugue in C-sharp minor, BWV 849 from The Well-Tempered Clavier—was released in March 2021. The Danish String Quartet returned to North America in the 2019-2020 season as one of the most prominent musical voices in the monumental celebrations of Beethoven’s 250th year. With two sweeping North American tours, the Danish engaged its expansive audience in programming centered around the towering Beethoven string quartets, as well as many important works which inspired, and were inspired by, these revered giants of the classical canon. The Danish returned to Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center as the featured string quartet performing the entire Beethoven cycle over the course of six concerts in February 2020. The Quartet performs the cycle again for the Schubert Club in St. Paul, MN, in November 2021. The group takes an active role in reaching new audiences through special projects. In 2007, they established the DSQ Festival, which takes place in an intimate and informal setting at Copenhagen’s Bygningskulturens Hus. The 2020 DSQ Festival featured an array of meticulously curated programs including such guests as violinist Malin William-Olsson, cellist Andreas Brantelid, and pianist Marianna Shirinyan. In 2016, they inaugurated a new music festival, Series of Four, in which they both perform and invite colleagues—the Ebène Quartet, mandolin player Chris Thile, among others—to appear at the venerable Danish Radio Concert Hall. Concerts this season featured collaborations with iconic Scandinavian artists including Andreas Brantelid, Lars Ulrik Mortensen, and the Danish National Girls Choir. Since its debut in 2002, the Danish String Quartet has demonstrated a special affinity for Scandinavian composers, from Carl Nielsen to Hans Abrahamsen, alongside music of Mozart and Beethoven. The Quartet’s musical interests also encompass Nordic folk music, the focus of Wood Works, an album of traditional Scandinavian folk music, released by Dacapo in 2014. As a follow-up, the Danish String Quartet released Last Leaf for ECM, an album of traditional Scandinavian folk music. This recording was one of the top classical albums of 2017, as chosen by NPR, Spotify and The New York Times, among others. Named Artist-in-Residence in 2006 by the Danish Radio, the Quartet was offered the opportunity to record the Nielsen string quartets at the Danish Radio Concert Hall. The two CDs, released in 2007 and 2008 on the Dacapo label, garnered enthusiastic praise for their first recordings—“these Danish players have excelled in performances of works by Brahms, Mozart and Bartók in recent years. But they play Nielsen’s quartets as if they owned them,” noted the New York Times. In 2012, the Danish String Quartet released a recording of Haydn and Brahms quartets on the German AVI-music label, for which they also received critical notice. “What makes the performance special is the maturity and calm of the playing, even during virtuosic passages that whisk by. This is music-making of wonderful ease and naturalness,” observed the New York Times. Subsequently, they recorded works by Brahms and Robert Fuchs with clarinetist Sebastian Manz, released by AVI-music in 2014, and in 2017, an album with music of Thomas Adès, Per Nørgård, and Abrahamsen, the Quartet’s debut on ECM. The Danish String Quartet has received numerous citations and prizes, including First Prize in the Vagn Holmboe String Quartet Competition and the Charles Hennen International Chamber Music Competition in the Netherlands, as well as the Audience Prize at the Trondheim International String Quartet Competition in 2005. In 2009, the Danish String Quartet won First Prize in the 11th London International String Quartet Competition, now known as the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet competition, and return to the celebrated London concert hall frequently. The Quartet was the awarded the 2010 NORDMETALL-Ensemble Prize at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival in Germany, and in 2011, they received the Carl Nielsen Prize, the highest cultural honor in Denmark.

STEPHANIE BLYTHE, MEZZO-SOPRANO A renowned opera singer and recitalist, mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe is considered one of the most highly respected and critically acclaimed artists of her generation. Her repertoire ranges from Handel to Wagner, German lieder to contemporary and classic American song. Ms. Blythe has performed on many of the world’s great stages, such as Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, Paris National Opera and San Francisco, Chicago Lyric and Seattle Operas. Ms. Blythe was named Musical America’s Vocalist of the Year in 2009, received an Opera News Award in 2007 and won the Tucker Award in 1999. Ms. Blythe recently released her first crossover recording on the Innova label with pianist Craig Terry. Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe is considered to be one of the most highly respected and critically acclaimed artists of her generation. Ms. Blythe has sung in many of the renowned opera houses in the US and Europe including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Seattle Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and the Opera National de Paris. Her many roles include the title roles in Carmen, Samson et Dalila , Orfeo ed Euridice, La Grande Duchesse, Tancredi, Mignon, and Giulio Cesare; Frugola, Principessa, and Zita in Il Trittico, Fricka in both Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, Waltraute in Götterdämmerung,Azucena in Il Trovatore, Ulrica in Un Ballo in Maschera, Baba the Turk in The Rake’s Progress, Ježibaba inRusalka, Jocasta in Oedipus Rex, Mere Marie in Dialogues des Carmélites; Mistress Quickly in Falstaff, andIno/Juno in Semele. She also created the role of Gertrude Stein in Ricky Ian Gordon’s 27 at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Ms. Blythe has also appeared with many of the world’s finest orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Orchestra of New York, Minnesota Orchestra, Halle Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Ensemble Orchestre de Paris, and the Concertgerbouworkest. She has also appeared at the Tanglewood, Cincinnati May, and Ravinia festivals, and at the BBC Proms. The many conductors with whom she has worked include Harry Bicket, James Conlon, Charles Dutoit, Mark Elder, Christoph Eschenbach, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Alan Gilbert, James Levine, Fabio Luisi, Nicola Luisotti, Sir Charles Mackerras, John Nelson, Antonio Pappano, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Robert Spano, Patrick Summers, and Michael Tilson Thomas. A frequent recitalist, Ms. Blythe has been presented in recital in New York by Carnegie Hall in Stern Auditorium and Zankel Hall, Lincoln Center in both its Great Performers Series at Alice Tully Hall and its American Songbook Series at the Allen Room, Town Hall, the 92nd Street Y, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She has also been presenter by the Vocal Arts Society and at the Supreme Court in Washington, DC; the Cleveland Art Song Festival, the University Musical Society in Ann Arbor, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Shriver Hall in Baltimore, and San Francisco Performances. A champion of American song, Ms. Blythe has premiered several song cycles written for her includingTwelve Poems of Emily Dickinson by the late James Legg, Covered Wagon Woman by Alan Smith which was commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and recorded with the ensemble (CMS Studio Recordings); and Vignettes: Ellis Island, also by Alan Smith and featured in a special television program entitled Vignettes: An Evening with Stephanie Blythe and Warren Jones. Ms Blythe starred in the Metropolitan Opera’s live HD broadcasts of Orfeo ed Euridice, Il Trittico, Rodelinda,and the complete Ring Cycle. She also appeared in PBS’s Live From Lincoln Center broadcasts of the New York Philharmonic’s performance of Carousel and her acclaimed show, We’ll Meet Again: The Songs of Kate Smith. Her recordings include her solo album, as long as there are songs (Innova), and works by Mahler, Brahms, Wagner, Handel and Bach (Virgin Classics). This season, Ms. Blythe’s many engagement include her returns to the Metropolitan Opera for The Rake’s Progress, the Lyric Opera of Chicago for Il Trovatore, the Seattle Opera for Semele, and Carnegie Hall for a recital in Stern Auditorium. This summer she sings the title role in Samson et Dalilah with the Atlanta Symphony, and next season she returns to the San Francisco Opera as Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd and the Houston Grand Opera as Nettie Fowler in Carousel. She also performs her new program, Sing, America! at Carnegie Hall. Ms. Blythe was named Musical America’s Vocalist of the Year for 2009. Her other awards include the 2007 Opera News Award and the 1999 Richard Tucker Award. She is also the Artistic Director of the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar at the Crane School of Music.

LADY JEANNE GALWAY, FLUTE An accomplished flutist, Lady Jeanne Galway continues to grace the international platforms with her virtuosity. One of the leading female flute soloists of the decade, Lady Galway brings to the audience her unique style and elegance. Her touring schedule regularly takes her to many of the major cities in the U.S. to perform as soloist with orchestras such as Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Denver, and the National Symphony. Internationally, she has appeared in the cultural capitals of the world including London, New York, Milan, Rome, Vienna, Salzburg, Zurich, Dublin, Belfast, Tokyo, Beijing, and Singapore. Appearing regularly as the premiere flute duo partner with her husband Sir James Galway, the two delight audiences and bring a rare freshness to the platform, unique in the music world. The 2014/15 season saw Lady Galway joining her husband in performances right around the globe, opening the season with a tour through Asia, Canada, and the U.S., incorporating her educational work alongside her concert performances. A long awaited South America tour was preceded by a special Birthday Tribute Concert in honor of her husband at New York’s Carnegie Hall in aid of Music Education and Autism. A return to Europe saw Lady Galway performing a JS Bach tribute in London, closing the year with her husband at their annual New Year’s Eve concert in Switzerland. The New Year brought in more educational work and a tour of South Africa with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra. The first South African Galway Flute Festival concluded with a spectacular Starlight Classics concert in Cape Town, incorporating flute students from the festival. Spring brought in a return to the U.S., with concerts in NY and LA to name a few, followed by a return to various performances throughout Europe. Lady Galway is devoting most of the summer to her educational outreach programmes, including First Flute, an online Flute education community. Launched in December 2013, is the groundbreaking “First Flute,” which Sir James and Lady Galway have created together. This online Educational Network is geared for students, teachers, and music lovers, allowing them to have first-hand access to Sir James’ invaluable expertise ( www.firstflute.com ). Actively pursuing her love of teaching, Lady Galway dedicates much of her time to working with the younger generation through her educational articles, master classes, blogs, and recordings. During the 10 day “Galway Flute Festival” held each summer with her husband in Switzerland, Lady Galway works with students of all levels, offering tips and advice on flute playing, performing, and career management. Through these, and the numerous other classes they hold worldwide throughout the year, they are able to have a hands-on mentoring to the students they meet throughout their work. In addition to her highly successful career as a soloist, Lady Galway is also an accomplished chamber musician, touring regularly with various chamber ensembles including her trio Zephyr (pianist Jonathan Feldman and cellist Darrett Adkins). Alongside their concert performances, they look forward to sharing their expertise as a group with the chamber musicians of tomorrow. The group’s first recording Zephyr – Winds of Romance, includes works by Haydn, Martinu, and Weber. Her versatile concert engagements include performances in the presence of The Empress of Japan, HRH The Earl and Countess of Wessex, TRH The Duke and Duchess of Kent, The Queen of Norway, The Queen of Spain, UK Prime Minister David Cameron, President Shimon Peres, President Mary McAleese, President Michael D. Higgins, and Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny. Lady Galway serves as a patron to the charity Future Talent headed by the Duchess of Kent and Ambassador of The European Brain Council. Her versatile concert engagements are often for fundraising events for UNICEF, SOS, FARA, and Marie Curie Cancer Care. She has recorded to critical acclaim for RCA Victor, BMG Classics, and Deutsche Grammophon. Irish America magazine awarded Sir James and Lady Jeanne Galway the “2008 Spirit of Ireland” award in recognition for their roles as musical ambassadors.

A native of New York and graduate of the New York City’s Mannes College of Music, Lady Galway lives with her husband, Sir James Galway, in Switzerland. She is currently performing on a new 18-carat, James Galway edition gold Nagahara flute.

MICHAEL BORISKIN, PIANO Best known as an internationally-active pianist and prolific recording artist, Michael Boriskin has been extensively involved in every aspect of the concert music world, and has been hailed by American Record Guide as “one of the most skilled and versatile musical figures of his generation.” A native New Yorker, he has performed throughout the United States and in over 30 countries. Taking listeners on captivating journeys across four centuries of music, he has appeared at many of the world's foremost concert venues, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the BBC, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Berlin and South West German Radios, and Vienna’s Arnold Schönberg Center. He has also performed as soloist with the Munich and Polish National Radio Orchestras, San Francisco, Utah, and Seattle Symphonies, UNAM Philharmonic of Mexico, and American Composers Orchestra, and as a sought-after chamber music collaborator with the Borromeo, Lark, St. Lawrence, and St. Petersburg String Quartets, Dorian and Arioso Wind Quintets, and New York Philharmonic Ensembles. His innovative broadcast series, CENTURYVIEW, on National Public Radio was heard regularly by over one million listeners on 200 stations coast-to-coast. A prolific recording artist, his large discography ranges from Brahms and Tchaikovsky to the present on labels such as BMG/Conifer, New World, Harmonia Mundi, Bridge, Albany, Koch International, and SONY Classical, which has re-released in Europe his acclaimed recording with Jonathan Sheffer and the EOS Orchestra of Gershwin’s complete works for piano and orchestra. Mr. Boriskin has worked with virtually every major American composer of the past 30 years. He is a frequent guest of major educational institutions for master classes, residencies, workshops, and lectures, and is also an accomplished writer whose work has been published by Schirmer Books, American Record Guide , Symphony , Fanfare , Piano and Keyboard , Clavier , Stagebill (Lincoln Center), Chamber Music , Ballet Review , and other periodicals. He was Music Director for three seasons of Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project, overseeing the musical production and performance of nearly 250 concerts on ten national and international tours. In addition, he has served as artistic advisor or program consultant for many prominent organizations and institutions, including the United States Department of State, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Tisch Center for the Arts at the 92nd Street Y, New Line Cinema, and Columbia University’s Miller Theater, among many others. Michael Boriskin was named Artistic Director of Copland House in 1998, and his title was expanded to include Executive Director in 2003. As Artistic and Executive Director, he works closely with the Board of Trustees to guide the institutional development and administration of Copland House, and formulate and implement all of its programs and operations.

OSMO VÄNSKÄ, CLARINET Osmo Vänskä started his musical career as an orchestral clarinetist with the Turku Philharmonic (1971–76). He then became the principal clarinet of the Helsinki Philharmonic from 1977 to 1982. During this time, he started to study conducting with Jorma Panula at the Sibelius Academy, where his classmates included Esa-Pekka Salonen and Jukka-Pekka Saraste. In 1982, he won the Besançon Young Conductor’s Competition. Vänskä became principal guest conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra in 1985, and chief conductor in 1988. He concluded his tenure with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra in 2008 and is now the orchestra’s Conductor Laureate. His complete set of Sibelius symphonies with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, also on the BIS label, has garnered widespread acclaim. He has recorded extensively with his Lahti orchestra for the BIS label, including music of Kalevi Aho, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Bernhard Crusell, Uuno Klami, Tauno Marttinen, Robert Kajanus, Sofia Gubaidulina, Joonas Kokkonen, Jan Sandström, Jean Sibelius, and Fredrik Pacius. Vänskä was chief conductor of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra from 1993–1996. In 1996, he was appointed chief conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (BBCSSO), and served in that capacity until 2002. With the BBCSSO, he made recordings of the complete Carl Nielsen symphonies for the BIS label. In 2003, he became the music director of the Minnesota Orchestra. Vänskä and the orchestra have received critical praise, and he is generally regarded as having enhanced the quality of the orchestra. In May 2008, an orchestral piece composed by Vänskä titled “The Bridge” was premiered by the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, led by William Schrickel, assistant-principal bassist of the Minnesota Orchestra. In January 2014 Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra won a Grammy for best orchestral performance for the album of Sibelius’ Symphonies Nos. 1 and 4.

September 27, 2009 – Danielle de Niese, soprano; Ken Noda, piano WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) Al desio di chi t’adoro September 27, 2009 – Danielle de Niese, soprano; Ken Noda, piano The Marriage of Figaro received a decidedly positive reception at its Viennese premiere in 1786. The cast was strong and the audience so enthusiastic that almost every piece had to be encored, effectively doubling the opera’s already considerable length. In order to ensure reasonable ending times at subsequent performances, Emperor Joseph decreed that only the solo arias could be repeated. Despite its initial success with the public, Figaro was dropped from the Burgtheater repertoire after only nine performances, not return to Vienna for another three years. Mozart had powerful competitors in the court’s musical establishment, Antonio Salieri among them, and these politically savvy rivals may have contributed to the opera’s disappointingly short initial run. Although the performances of The Marriage of Figaro were an artistic and public triumph, they did not constitute the financial success that Mozart had hoped for. In 1789, Figaro returned to Vienna with a greatly altered cast. Perhaps the most significant change was the loss of Nancy Storace, the enchanting English/Italian soprano for whom Mozart had created the role of Susanna. Storace’s replacement was Adriana Ferrarese, one of the most successful sopranos of the day but a singer of very different vocal and dramatic strengths. Storace was known for the subtlety of her singing and the wit and flexibility of her acting. Ferrarese, by contrast, was reared in the more formal world of Opera Seria and was known for her dramatic gravitas, formidable power and coloratura agility. In order to ensure the success of the all-important second Viennese run of Figaro, Mozart felt that some musical adjustments should be made in the role of Susanna. Mozart liked to boast that he could make an aria fit a singer like a well-made garment. Here he outfitted Ferrarese with music designed to highlight her particular blend of dignity and virtuosity. In the fourth act he abandoned Susannas’s subtly seductive aria, Deh vieni non tardar, and replaced it with Al desio di chi t’adoro, a more extroverted work tailored around Farrarese’s strengths. Al desio is written in the form of a two-movement (slow/fast) rondó concertante, the longest and most aristocratic type of aria then in vogue. Accompanied by an unusual complement of solo woodwind instruments (including basset horns, French horns, and bassoons), the aria evokes the sufferings of a tragic heroine. The aria is extremely expressive and provides opportunities for the soprano to display her dramatic temperament and vocal agility. Although rarely included in modern day performances of The Marriage of Figaro, Al desio has taken its rightful place as a favorite concert aria in the Mozartian soprano repertoire. By Michael Parloff Return to Parlance Program Notes