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ANNI CROFUT, DANCER Anni began ballet and modern dance as a child and studied under Lester Horton and Judith Jameson at Jacob’s Pillow as a teen. As an adult she explored Salsa, African dance, Capoeira and Tango abroad. After returning to the U.S. in 2006, Anni has performed with the Berkshire Pulse and at the Mahaiwe Theatre where she introduced her own choreography in ‘The Soldier’s Tale.’ In 2010, Anni created a piece for four women titled ‘Rain,’ focusing on the remembrance of sensuality in young mothers, which was performed at the Sandisfield Arts Center in Sandisfield, MA. This dance sparked a desire to create a full suite of dances about the different stages of a woman’s life. This year, she choreographed a piece called ‘The Queen Years,’ which explores the period in a woman’s life from her 50’s through her 60’s. ‘The Queen Years’ was performed at the International Women’s Day conference at Simon’s Rock of Bard College, and also at the Sandisfield Arts Center.

September 27, 2009 – Danielle de Niese, soprano; Ken Noda, piano GEORGES BIZET (1838-1875) Three Songs September 27, 2009 – Danielle de Niese, soprano; Ken Noda, piano Although the three songs in this set were composed at different times in Bizet’s life and are based on texts by three different poets, they form a beguiling and unified triptych. A lighthearted spirit pervades the songs, which blend images of love and the natural world. Louis Bouilhet’s poem “Song of April” evokes the beauty of a glistening spring morning as a young woman encourages her beloved to get up and join her in savoring the gorgeous day in progress. Victor Hugo’s “The Ladybug” teasingly presents the image of a bashful 16-year-old boy at a dance party, too shy to summon the courage to kiss the young beauty with a ladybug on her neck. Waltz music accompanies the scene as the disappointed insect finally flies off, reproaching the young man for his reticence. And Édouard Pailleron’s “Tarantella” inspired Bizet to compose a delightfully virtuosic showpiece, again based on themes of love and flight. The airborne butterfly, musically represented by the soprano’s coloratura passagework, conjures the image of her lover’s frivolity and inconstancy. By Michael Parloff Return to Parlance Program Notes

March 19, 2023 – Rachel Naomi Kudo, piano JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) Chorale Prelude “Ich ruf zu Dir, Herr Jesu Christ”, BWV 639 (arr. Busoni) March 19, 2023 – Rachel Naomi Kudo, piano Our discussion of the present three Bach transcriptions must begin with Ferrucio Busoni, who was Egon Petri’s teacher. As a youth Busoni adored Bach above all other composers, a passion that endured throughout his life. He not only drew on Bach’s music for inspiration in his own works but he issued a monumental edition of Bach’s solo keyboard works transcribed for piano—a twenty-five volume collection plus a seven-volume set—aided by his students Egon Petri and Bruno Mugellini. So synonymous did Bach and Busoni become in the public’s mind that on Busoni’s first American tour his wife Gerda was once introduced by a society matron as “Mrs. Bach-Busoni.” This anecdote was related by Petri, a superb German pianist of Dutch descent, who began studying with Busoni in Weimar in 1901. Petri eventually settled in the United States, taught at Mills College, and authored many Bach transcriptions at Busoni’s behest. Busoni issued his Bach edition in two collections: the twenty-five-volume Klavierwerke, and the seven-volume Bach-Busoni edition. Although Busoni’s name appears on each volume of the Klavierwerke, many were edited by Petri and a few by Bruno Mugellini. Petri had expected Busoni to supervise his and Mugellini’s editorial work and they strove to operate under his principles and to emulate his style, yet Busoni concerned himself very little with reading their proofs, much to Petri’s surprise. Busoni strove to remain true to the essence of Bach’s music in his transcriptions, but inevitably his own Romantic sensibilities crept in with his addition of tempo and pedal markings, dynamics, register changes, repeats, and performance suggestions. Nevertheless, these transcriptions are rewarding additions to the piano repertoire. Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ—which appears as No. 5 in Busoni’s collection of Ten Chorale Preludes (1898) and No. 41 (BWV 639) in Bach’s Orgel-Büchlein (Little Organ Book)—has become a favorite of pianists and audiences for its poignant serenity. Flowing arpeggios in the middle voice accompany the tender, mostly unadorned chorale melody, supported by a steady “walking bass.” Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme is actually Busoni’s transcription of what was already a transcription by Bach himself. In 1731 Bach had composed the fourth movement of his Cantata 140 (Wachet auf) in chorale-prelude style with tenor(s) taking the chorale melody, surrounded by a a lyrical countermelody for upper strings in unison and supported by continuo (bass line and harmony). Thus it was a simple task to transfer all three parts to organ, which he did in BWV 645, one of a group of six late works that became known as the “Schübler Chorales” after their publication by Johann Georg Schübler in 1748–49. Busoni’s transcription for piano, No. 2 in his Ten Chorale Preludes, maintains the lilting flow in the upper line against the steady chorale in the middle voice. Turning to the first piece of the group of transcriptions, Egon Petri arranged his version of Schafe können sicher weiden (Sheep may safely graze) not from a chorale preude by Bach but rather a soprano aria from Cantata 208 Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd! (What pleases me is above all the lively hunt). Bach wrote secular cantatas for aristocratic patrons to celebrate special occasions such as birthdays, name days, and accession days, or for academic ceremonies, and he composed Cantata 208 on a text by Weimar court poet Salomo Franck for the birthday of Duke Christian Weissenfels in 1713. Known as the Hunt Cantata, it contains “Schafe können sicher weiden,” the well-known aria for Pales, second soprano to Diana, goddess of the hunt. For centuries listeners have been captivated by its texture of rocking parallel thirds for two flutes—the quintessential pastoral instrument—accompanying the tender main melody, which praises Duke Christian for ruling his people as a good shepherd. The lovely aria has been transcribed for countless times for various performing forces, among the first—Percy Grainger’s for band (1931), Mary Howe’s for solo piano and two pianos (1935), and William Walton’s for orchestra (1940). Egon Petri’s transcription, published in 1944 has become the best-known transcription for piano. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

March 26, 2017: Jerusalem String Quartet ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK (1841-1904) String Quartet No. 13 in G major, op. 106 March 26, 2017: Jerusalem String Quartet Dvořák endured three homesick years in New York as director of the National Conservatory of Music, with one blissful sojourn in his beloved Czechoslovakia for the summer of 1894. When he again returned home for the summer of 1895, nothing could persuade him to return to America, yet despite feeling “inexpressibly happy,” he was unable to compose anything new for several months. Then in a great rush in November and December he completed the G major Quartet, op. 106, followed by the A-flat major, op. 105. The Bohemian Quartet gave the first performance of Opus 106 in Prague on October 9, 1896. The G major Quartet shows the composer embarking on a new path, and one wonders what would have followed these last two quartets had he lived beyond sixty-three years. Would he have developed a “late” style by continuing to work in short fragmented motives instead of extended melodic lines, and let his building of these motives increasingly dictate his forms? Would he have made even more bold harmonic experiments? Here in one of Dvořák’s finest first movements, he creates a first theme area from brief gestures—repeated leaps, trills, oscillating descending triplets and alternating chords—and a second idea that one commentator aptly described as “a funny little unison bear-dance motive.” The second theme, though more lyrical, also consists of fragments, based on a repeating four-note motive. His harmonic explorations here and his transformation of materials as he develops and recapitulates show consummate skill. The slow movement is one of chamber music’s most beautiful. Dvořák treats his poetic main theme—which shows a remnant of American influence in its pentatonic configuration—in a series of rich, free variations, alternating major and minor modes as he loved to do. The freedom of his conception, shaped more by pauses and pacing than by cadential divisions, lends an originality to his form and allows him to build to a impressive climax. In the galloping scherzo, Dvořák delights in certain unexpected features, such as the crazy duet between viola and cello that serves as an accompaniment to a new statement of the main theme. Another surprise is the “false” trio, in which the lyrical pentatonic melody first presented by the viola shows a kinship with the second movement’s main theme. The “real” trio introduces a gently rocking pastoral theme, punctuated by trills and fleeting arpeggios. The finale begins with a slow anticipation of its jolly, syncopated main theme. With great structural freedom, Dvořák strings together a series of themes that includes a more extended exploration of his slow introduction, which in turn brings a chain of developmental reminiscences from his first movement. It is fascinating to see Dvořák making further developments across movements, rather than including a development section proper. He rounds out the movement with a lusty recall of his exuberant main theme. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

March, 10 2024: Richard Goode, piano LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827) Six Bagatelles from Op. 119 March, 10 2024: Richard Goode, piano Beethoven was constantly composing piano miniatures, and he saved those that never found a home in his piano sonatas for later publication as collections of unrelated pieces, some to be used as exercises. When he published his first set of Bagatelles, op. 33, in 1803, he was the first to attach the French term for “trifle” to a set of unrelated pieces for piano, though occasionally the term had been used in the previous century for sets of dances or songs. He published two other collections of Bagatelles—Opus 119 in 1823 and Opus 126 in 1825. Those of the last set date from 1824, but the dates of composition for the Opus 119 set range from his early Bonn days through 1822, the period of the Missa solemnis and the three last piano sonatas, opp. 109, 110, and 111. In Beethoven’s mind these miniatures were by no means inferior to his more extended piano works but were simply ideas that were complete in themselves. We can well imagine his incensed reaction, reported by Anton Schindler, when the publisher Peters returned six of them in 1823 saying they weren’t worth his asking price and that he ought to consider it beneath his dignity to waste his time on such trifles. The publication of the set of eleven Bagatelles in 1823—by Clementi in London and Schlesinger in Paris as Opus 112, “corrected” to 119 later in the century—actually caps a convoluted history, discussed by scholars in exhaustive detail. One of the most salient points is that in April 1820 Beethoven broke off work on the Missa solemnis to comply with a request from Friedrich Starke for a contribution to his piano pedagogy book, Wiener Piano-Forte-Schule . Beethoven ended up supplying Nos. 7–11 of the eventual Opus 119 for the 1821 publication, calling them by the German term Kleinigkeiten , in the same wave of German patriotism that had seen him using the term Hammerklavier . Beethoven’s sketches from this time are fascinating in that they show the first movement of the E major Sonata, op. 109, to have originated from the impetus to supply bagatelles, which helps account for its unusual form. Clearly this impetus also inspired him to complete Nos. 1–6, for which he drew on his rich store of materials from as early as 1791–1802. As it happens, however, the improvisatory-sounding No. 6 that begins this evening’s selection is of 1822 vintage judging by sketches that appear amid work on the Credo of the Missa solemnis . It seems wholly appropriate to group Nos. 6 through 11 together as examples of a somewhat later style. The Bagatelles sometimes employ a binary form (two sections with repeats), as in the intimate, chromatically inflected No. 8, or a rounded binary (second half returns to the opening material, both halves repeated) as in the valse triste of No. 9. But many times Beethoven lets the material command its own form, as in the aforementioned No. 6, which puts us in mind of his improvisations, not only at concerts or private gatherings but for himself alone. No. 7 is especially striking for its trills—that sound like chiming bells at the outset but become almost demonic before the precipitous ending—and No. 10, briefest of all, is notable for its single-minded playfulness. With the profound No. 11, one suspects that Beethoven found its individual form totally satisfying—first section repeated, second section a series of varied thoughts—and decided against marring its delicate nuances by employing it in another context. —©Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

November 12, 2023: Angel Blue, soprano; Bryan Wagorn, piano Spirituals Good News; You Can Tell the World; Deep River; Ride on King Jesus November 12, 2023: Angel Blue, soprano; Bryan Wagorn, piano Spirituals Angel Blue concludes her program with a set of four traditional spirituals, an apt choice as it reflects a significant time in her life when she and her sister dreamed of being opera singers. Interviewed for PBS’s Great Performance: The Magic of Spirituals episode, she reflected on Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle’s Spirituals in Concert, which she as a seven-year-old and her older sister watched with intense interest. Said Blue, “We took it upon ourselves to become Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle. So we would hold hands in my sister’s room and we would play on VHS ‘He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands,’ and we would sing that back and forth to each other. . . . And we’d sing it over and over again. This concert has been one of the things in my life I think that has kept me going in terms of opera and what it means to be a classical singer.” The four spirituals she has selected range from the jubilant “Good News,” which rejoices in the “robe” and “crown” awaiting in “that Kingdom,” and the equally upbeat “You Can Tell the World,” to the profoundly moving “Deep River,” concluding with the triumphant “Ride on King Jesus.” Her emotional involvement with these spirituals reflects her deep family ties, not only to her sister but to her father Sylvester Blue, a singer and choir director who she says is “the reason I sing, the reason I know anything about opera.” —©Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

October 20, 2024: Modigliani Quartet Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) String Quartet in B-flat, Op. 67 October 20, 2024: Modigliani Quartet Brahms composed his third and last quartet, op. 67, in 1875 at Ziegelhausen, near Heidelberg, on one of his extended summer holidays. Completed and published the following year, it received its first public performance by the celebrated quartet led by his friend Joseph Joachim at the Berlin Singakademie on October 30, 1876. Brahms dedicated the work to his musical friend Professor Theodor Wilhelm Engelmann, a physiologist in Utrecht. The B-flat major Quartet differs greatly in character from its two preceding quartets, op. 51, nos. 1 and 2, both minor key works of a more serious nature. Brahms’s last quartet, a predominantly sunny work, may have served as a kind of release after the completion of his weighty First Symphony, and the piece abounds in unusual touches. The Vivace has a dance-like character more often reserved for last movements. The opening hunting call in 6/8 meter is frequently likened to Mozart’s Hunt Quartet (K. 458) but may also recall the Scherzo of Brahms’s own B-flat Sextet (op. 18). In the second theme area Brahms ingeniously juxtaposes and combines another dance type in 2/4 with the preceding 6/8 rhythms. The Andante contains another unusual rhythmic feature in its middle section: two bars of 5/4 interrupting the 4/4 meter reflect the improvisatory character of the phrase development. Another striking feature is the return of the opening theme, disguised in an elaborate variation on itself and beginning in the third-related “wrong” key of D major. The third movement shows the composer’s fondness for “scherzo alternatives,” since a scherzo would have seemed redundant after the first movement. Brahms’s innovative color scheme of unmuted viola in combination with the three other muted instruments has often been noted; equally memorable is the viola’s absence when the Trio (so marked) begins as a true trio of violins and cello, which then become the background for another viola melody. The finale, one of Brahms’s great achievements in variation form, provides the weight one might have expected from the opening movement. The crowning glory of the movement, and indeed of the work, is the recall of two themes from the first movement in the last two variations, not as mere cyclic reminiscence, but exhibiting their close ties with the variation theme itself. —©Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

April 3, 2016: Ying Fang, soprano; Sean Lee, violin; Nicholas Canellakis, cello; Paolo Bordignon, harpsichord JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) Jesus soll mein erstes Wort from Cantata 171 for soprano, violin and continuo April 3, 2016: Ying Fang, soprano; Sean Lee, violin; Nicholas Canellakis, cello; Paolo Bordignon, harpsichord When Bach took the position of Kantor of the Thomasschule and civic music director in Leipzig in 1723, he set out to compose five cycles of cantatas, roughly sixty per year, for use in the city’s main churches. The two hundred or so that survive represent a remarkable achievement in inventiveness and quality. Bach typically chose his texts from a variety of poets, but in the summer of 1728 Christian Friedrich Henrici (Picander), his chief librettist between 1725 and 1742, provided him with a full year’s series of texts. This, the fourth of Bach’s cycles, is often called the “lost” cycle, because only nine survive. Of these, Cantata 171, Gott, wie dein Name, written for New Year’s Day and the Feast of the Circumcision, was most likely first performed on January 1, 1729. The Gospel text for New Year’s Day (Luke 2:21) refers to the naming of Jesus when he was circumcised, so the poet’s expansion of the idea into a multimovement cantata revolves around the importance of his name for the Christian world. In the midst of a large-scale work for chorus, oboes, trumpets, and strings, Bach writes a beautiful, intimate soprano aria with lovely violin obbligato, in which the protagonist says that just as Jesus’ name shall be the first word uttered in the new year, so shall it be the last in the hour of death. Always a judicious recycler, Bach reworked this aria from “Angenehmer Zephyrus” (Pleasant zephyr) from his secular Cantata 205 (1725), where the elaborate violin phrases depicted a gentle zephyr wind. Bach changed the basically though-composed form, albeit with instrumental ritornellos, into a ternary form by keeping the first and middle sections as well as the closing ritornello basically unchanged, but making the third section an artfully modified return of the opening section. © Jane Vial Jaffe Text and Translation Jesus soll mein erstes Wort In dem neuen Jahre heißen. Fort und fort Lacht sein Nam in meinem Munde, Und in meiner letzten Stunde Ist Jesus auch mein letztes Wort. —Picander Jesus should be my first word spoken in the new year. On and on his name laughs in my mouth, and in my last hours Jesus is also my last word. Return to Parlance Program Notes

January 27, 2019: Pinchas Zukerman Trio ANTON ARENSKY (1861-1906) Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 32 January 27, 2019: Pinchas Zukerman Trio Arensky was influenced by some of the greatest figures of Russian music: Rimsky-Korsakov, his composition teacher at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and Tchaikovsky, his colleague at the Moscow Conservatory, where Arensky taught upon his graduation. In turn he instructed other great Russians in Moscow, notably Rachmaninoff, Skryabin, and Glière. Returning to St. Petersburg in 1895, Arensky become director of the Imperial Chapel on Balakirev’s recommendation. From 1901 on, receiving a pension from the chapel, Arensky devoted himself to composing and to appearances as a conductor and pianist. Having been addicted to alcohol and gambling for some time, his life became more and more disorganized, according to Rimsky-Korsakov. He spent his final years in a tuberculosis sanatorium in Finland, where he died in 1906. Of his three operas, the first, Son na Volge (A dream on the Volga) achieved the greatest success, but his reputation generally rests on a few shorter works, such as the present D minor Trio, and short piano pieces at which he excelled. Arensky composed his D minor Piano Trio in 1894 and dedicated it to Karl Davïdov (1838–1889), who had been principal cellist of the St. Petersburg opera and later director of the conservatory there. The work might be classified in the “chestnut” category because of its familiarity, but this is a familiarity that is sensed even by one who is hearing the piece for the first time. The work evokes other composers in certain places—the trio of the Scherzo, for example, brings Saint-Saëns’s Second Piano Concerto to mind and the opening theme of the Finale suggests the “Polonaise” in the last movement of Tchaikovsky’s Third Orchestral Suite. Despite these influences, Arensky’s Trio could not have withstood the test of time without its own distinct identity. The first movement, in the tradition of late German Romanticism, unfolds in a grand sonata form, with the striking feature of an adagio statement of the opening theme to close the movement. The imaginative Scherzo, placed second, frames a trio that shows the Russian-Slavic-German fondness for an idealized kind of waltz. The slow Elegia, its somber mood enhanced by muted strings, is the movement that particularly pays tribute to the memory of Davïdov. It follows ternary form with a varied return of the “A” section. The Finale, a real tour de force, immediately dispels the mood with its exuberant polonaise-like main theme. The coda unifies the entire work, recalling the theme of the middle section of the Elegia and the first theme of the first movement in its adagio setting before the fast-paced conclusion. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

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INON BARNATAN, PIANO Pianist Inon Barnatan has rapidly gained international recognition for engaging and communicative performances that pair insightful interpretation with impeccable technique. Described by London’sEvening Standard as “a true poet of the keyboard”, Mr. Barnatan performs a diverse range of repertoire, encompassing both classical and contemporary composers, with the variety of the pieces he performs reflected in his being equally valued as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. Since moving to the United States in 2006, Mr. Barnatan has made his orchestral debuts with the Cleveland Orchestra and the Houston, Philadelphia, and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras, and has performed in New York at Carnegie Hall, the 92nd Street Y, the Metropolitan Museum and Alice Tully Hall. In 2009 he was awarded a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, an honor reflecting the strong impression he has made on the American music scene in such a short period of time. In addition to his American appearances, Mr. Barnatan has appeared as a soloist with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, London Soloists Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of New Europe, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and a tour with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields as a conductor and soloist. An avid chamber musician, Mr. Barnatan recently completed three seasons as a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s CMS Two program. In 2009 he curated a festival of Schubert’s late solo piano, songs and chamber music works for the Society, the first musician other than the Society’s Artistic Directors to be invited to program concerts. ‘The Schubert Project’ program has also been performed at the Concertgebouw, the Festival de México, and at the Library of Congress. Other chamber music performances include the complete Beethoven piano and violin sonatas at the Concertgebouw, the Bergen International Festival in Norway, the Vancouver Chamber Music Festival, the Delft and the Verbier Festivals and the Lyon Musicades. His rigorous U.S. festival schedule has included a broad range of concerts at the Spoleto Festival USA, the Aspen and Bridgehampton Music Festivals, and the Santa Fe and Seattle Chamber Music Festivals. He has collaborated with musicians such as Liza Ferschtman, Miriam Fried, Martin Fröst, Gary Hoffman, Janine Jansen, the Jerusalem String Quartet, Ralph Kirshbaum, Cho-Liang Lin, Paul Neubauer and Alisa Weilerstein. In 2008 he received the Andrew Wolf Memorial Award in Rockport, awarded every two years to an exceptional chamber music pianist. Mr. Barnatan’s 2011-12 season appearances include a solo performance as part of the Lincoln Center’s Great Performers series, chamber music appearances in New York and a U.S. tour with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and West Coast recitals including opening the Music@Menlo Winter Series and performances at the Portland Piano International. He will make orchestral appearances with the Billings, Chattanooga, Eugene, Jacksonville and Oregon Symphony Orchestras and the Nordwestdeutschen Philharmonie with repertoire spanning a wide range of composers, including Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Ravel, Saint-Saëns and Tchaikovsky. In February 2012 he will embark on an eight-city European tour with cellist Alisa Weilerstein, preceded by concerto and chamber performances in Israel, and he will also undertake a three-week concerto and recital tour of South Africa in November. In 2012, Mr. Barnatan will release his second solo recording, Darkness Visible featuring wide-ranging but thematically-related works: Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit, Thomas Adés’s Darknesse Visible, Debussy’s Suite Bergamasque, Ronald Stevenson’s Peter Grimes Fantasy and Ravel’s La Valse. Intrigued by the fact that all of these works were inspired by other works of art (Ravel’s Gaspard is based on three poems by Aloysius Bertrand; Darknesse Visible is based on a John Dowland song; Debussy was inspired by a Verlaine poem; Stevenson’s Peter Grimes Fantasy is based on the Benjamin Britten opera; and La Valse is inspired by a story by Edgar Allen Poe), Mr. Barnatan examines how different characteristics of darkness are represented in music. These works will be performed by Mr. Barnatan at his solo recitals this season. Passionate about contemporary music, Mr. Barnatan regularly commissions and performs music by living composers, including works by Thomas Adès, George Benjamin, George Crumb, Avner Dorman, Kaija Saariaho and Judith Weir among others. Last season, he participated in Carnegie Hall’s “Making Music: James MacMillan” series, performing the composer’s Piano Sonata and chamber piece Raising Sparks. Mr. Barnatan’s debut CD of Schubert piano works was released on Bridge Records in 2006. London’s Evening Standard wrote: “The young, Israeli born pianist Inon Barnatan is a true poet of the keyboard: refined, searching, unfailingly communicative… This is musicianship of the highest caliber.” Gramophone recommended the recording in its November 2006 award issue, calling Barnatan “a born Schubertian” and praising the CD’s “sensitivity, poise and focus.” His second CD of works for piano and violin by Beethoven and Schubert with violinist Liza Ferschtman was described by All Music Guide as “a magical listening experience.” Born in Tel Aviv in 1979, Inon Barnatan started playing the piano at the age of three after his parents discovered he had perfect pitch, and he made his orchestral debut at eleven. His studies connect him to some of the 20th century’s most illustrious pianists and teachers: he studied with Professor Victor Derevianko, who himself studied with the Russian master Heinrich Neuhaus, and in 1997 he moved to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music with Maria Curcio – who was a student of the legendary Artur Schnabel – and with Christopher Elton. Leon Fleisher has also been an influential teacher and mentor and in 2004 he invited Mr. Barnatan to study and perform Schubert sonatas as part of a Carnegie Hall workshop, an experience that has had a lasting resonance for Mr. Barnatan. In 2006 Mr. Barnatan moved to New York City, where he currently resides in a converted warehouse in Harlem. For more information about Mr. Barnatan visit www.inonbarnatan.com or visit his page on Facebook.

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