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MODIGLIANI QUARTET The Paris-based Modigliani Quartet celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2023. They are regular guests at the world’s top venues and finest string quartet and chamber music series. In 2017 it was a special honor for the ensemble to be the first string quartet ever performing in the big hall of the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. In 2020, the quartet became artistic directors of the string quartet festival “Vibre! Quatuors à Bordeaux” as well as the renowned “The Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition”. In addition the quartet are founders and artistic directors of the Saint-Paul-de-Vence Festival. Since autumn 2023 they have been teaching the first String Quartet class at the École Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot. Modigliani Quartet has been recording for the Mirare label since 2008 and has released 13 award winning CDs since. In January 2024, the quartet’s latest album featuring quartets by Grieg and Smetana was published and received enthusiastically by the international press: “The French Quatuor Modigliani brings these highly emotional works to life with energy, color and glowing passion.” (Rondo, January 2024) The recording was also featured in the bestseller list 2-2024 (category chamber music) at the “Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik”. In the 2024/2025 season, Modigliani Quartet will be dedicated to the greatest challenge in the life of a string quartet: recording all 16 string quartets by Beethoven. Other highlights of the new season include a tour of North America in October 2024, as well as concerts at the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, the L’Auditori in Barcelona (as part of the string quartet biennial), the Konserthus Stockholm, and at the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg. Thanks to the generosity and support of private sponsors, Modigliani Quartet plays on four outstanding Italian instruments: Amaury Coeytaux plays a 1715 violin by Stradivari Loïc Rio plays a 1780 violin by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini Laurent Marfaing plays a 1660 viola by Luigi Mariani François Kieffer plays a 1706 cello by Matteo Goffriller

GRANTS Partial funding is provided by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts through Grant Funds administered by the Bergen County Department of Parks, Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs.

KERRY McDERMOTT, violin Violinist Kerry McDermott has been recognized as one of the most versatile and exciting artists of her generation. A first violinist with the New York Philharmonic, Ms. McDermott joined as its youngest member at the age of twenty-one, and has since appeared as soloist with them throughout North America. She has garnered prizes and awards in major competitions including the Montreal International Violin Competition and the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow – where she also received a special award for “Best Artistic Interpretation”. At age seventeen, Ms. McDermott became the youngest winner in the history of Artists International Auditions which resulted in her New York recital debut. She has performed on tour throughout Holland with Reizend Muziek, as well as North American tours with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Muir String Quartet. Ms. McDermott has also appeared at Summerfest La Jolla, Angel Fire, Music in the Vineyards, Chamber Music Northwest, Bravo! Colorado, Caramour, Marlboro, Tanglewood, Wolftrap, Mostly Mozart, OK Mozart, Newport, Fredericksburg, Ravinia and on three continents with the New York Philharmonic Ensembles. She has recorded for Cala, New World Records and Melodia, and her media appearances include a PBS/ABC/BBC Documentary, the motion picture FAME and an AT&T commercial for National Network Television. She is a member of The McDermott trio with her sisters, pianist, Anne-Marie and cellist, Maureen, and a Master Artist and National Reviewer for the National YoungArts Foundation. Ms. McDermott is an alumna of the Manhattan School of Music and Yale College.

CHRIS COLETTI, TRUMPET Internationally acclaimed trumpeter Chris Coletti, most known for his work with the legendary Canadian Brass, is a soloist, chamber music/orchestral musician and Assistant Professor at Ithaca College School of Music. Comfortable in many musical styles, he has collaborated with a broad spectrum of musicians ranging from the Metropolitan Opera Brass, New York Philharmonic Principal Brass, Pierre Boulez, Michael Tilson Thomas and Ricardo Muti to Quincy Jones, Carlos Santana, Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine. Chris also performs on the Baroque Trumpet with various early music ensembles in and around NY. Chris regularly performs with NOVUS NY, the all-star contemporary music orchestra of Trinity Church Wall Street in Manhattan. With Canadian Brass, Chris has performed hundreds of concerts in the finest concert halls in the world, countless live TV appearances and radio broadcasts, and regularly appears in front of major symphony orchestras. Chris can be heard on 9 Canadian Brass recordings, most of which feature his original arrangements, and countless other recordings and music videos with world-class artists. Chris got his professional start in 2008 as Principal Trumpet of The Huntsville Symphony Orchestra in Alabama, a position he still holds. As an educator, Chris has taught master classes at top conservatories around the world, and his students have won positions in professional orchestras and have been accepted into top music programs including Manhattan School of Music, McGill University and Tanglewood. Chris’s articles have been featured in notable publications such as the International Trumpet Guild, International Trumpet Guild Youth Journal, SONIC – Magazin für Holz – und Blechinstrumente (Germany) and The Brass Herald (England), and have been translated into German, Spanish, and Japanese. Chris has been a featured guest on many music performance and music business podcasts, and maintains a popular blog and email newsletter for trumpeters and other musicians. Chris received his Masters Degree from The Juilliard School and his Bachelors Degree from Manhattan School of Music. Throughout his education Chris received multiple awards and scholarships, and won a number of competitions including the Music Academy of the West Chamber Concerto Competition, Manhattan School of Music Concerto Competition, LaGuardia Arts Concerto Competition, Staten Island Symphony Concerto Competition, The Tanglewood Music Center Charles E. Culpeper Foundation Fellowship and Susan B. Kaplan Fellowship, The Juilliard School Frieda and Harry Aronson Scholarship, and The Manhattan School of Music President Scholarship. Among his numerous accolades, Chris also has perfect pitch, is a professional whistler, and has the unique ability to sing an operatic high C.

FRANK MORELLI, BASSOON Introduced to the bassoon in the Massapequa, NY public schools, Frank Morelli studied with Stephen Maxym at the Manhattan School of Music and later became the first bassoonist to be awarded a doctorate by the Juilliard School. He has made nine appearances as soloist in New York’s Carnegie Hall playing concertos, Sinfonias concertantes, and even a solo ballad with the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band. The Miami Herald has hailed his “breathtaking virtuosity” and the Toronto Globe and Mail proclaimed his performance: “the kind of Mozart even the most tireless concertgoer is lucky to hear once a year.” Morelli has four solo CDs on MSR Classics: From the Heart: 20th Century Music for Bassoon and Piano and Romance and Caprice, with pianist Gilbert Kalish, Bassoon Brasileiro with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and guitarist Ben Verdery and Baroque Fireworks, which features harpsichordist Kenneth Cooper and bassoonist Harry Searing. The magazine, Gramophone proclaimed: “Morelli’s playing is a joy to behold.” The American Record Guide stated: “the bassoon playing on this recording is a good as it gets.” Of his DG recording of the Mozart Bassoon Concerto with Orpheus, Gramophone Magazine noted the “delicacy of articulation and colouring, [and] the lyrical warmth of the Andante.” Fanfare Magazine added that this recording “reset a reviewer’s standards at too high a level for comfort in a world more productive of ordinary music making.” The Orpheus CD “Shadow Dances,” which features Frank Morelli, won a 2001 Grammy Award. A prolific chamber musician, Frank Morelli appeared with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center on numerous occasions, including at the Whitehouse for the final State Dinner of the Clinton Presidency. He has participated in many major music festivals, including the Norfolk and Sarasota Chamber Music Festivals, Marlboro, Banff, Angel Fire, Casals Festival (France) and Music@Menlo. He is a member of Festival Chamber Music and the woodwind quintet, Windscape, in residence at the Manhattan School of Music with whom he has recorded two recent CDs, one featuring the music of Antonin Dvorak and the other music of Maurice Ravel (which includes his transcriptions of “Mother Goose” and “Valses Nobles et Sentimentales” both published by TrevCo). Chosen to succeed his teacher, Stephen Maxym, Mr. Morelli serves on the faculties of the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music and the Yale School of Music, as well as SUNY Stony Brook. Morelli’s students are active in major orchestras and on important faculties
throughout the USA, Canada, Mexico, the Far East, and Europe. He is editor of Stravinsky: Difficult Passages for Bassoon, a landmark excerpt book for bassoon and contra bassoon published by Boosey & Hawkes, and has several transcriptions for bassoon, woodwind quintet and other ensembles to his credit, published by Trevco Music. His unprecedented edition, The First Complete Weissenborn Bassoon Method and Studies Op. 8 Vols. 1&2 and Ludwig Milde’s Scale and Chord Studies Op. 24, is now available worldwide, published by Carl Fischer. Mr. Morelli performs exclusively on the Leitzinger Bassoon Model 1.

VIDEOS PARLANCE PERFORMANCE VIDEOS VIDEO CONCERT PREVIEWS PARLOFF MULTIMEDIA LECTURES AND INTERVIEWS Watch in full screen Go to the video you'd like to watch. Press the red button with white arrow to play video. At the bottom-right of the video player, click full screen icon. PARLOFF LECTURES AT LINCOLN CENTER CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY THE SIXTEEN BEETHOVEN STRING QUARTETS Lecture on Beethoven’s Quartet, Op. 18, Nos. 1, 2, & 3 Lecture on Beethoven’s Quartet, Op. 59, Nos. 1, 2, & 3 Lecture on Beethoven’s Quartet, Op. 132, Op. 130, & the “Grosse Fuge,” Op. 133 Lecture on Beethoven’s Quartet, Op. 18, Nos. 4, 5, & 6 Lecture on Beethoven’s Quartet, Op. 74, Op. 95, & Op. 127 Lecture on Beethoven’s Quartet, Op. 131 & Op. 135 THE FIFTEEN SHOSTAKOVICH STRING QUARTETS Lecture on Shostakovich’s Life and Works Lecture on Shostakovich String Quartet Nos. 1, 5, 6, & 12 Lecture on Shostakovich String Quartet Nos. 3, 7, 13, & 14 Lecture on Shostakovich String Quartet Nos. 4, 8, 10, 11 Lecture on Shostakovich String Quartet Nos. 2, 9, & 15 HAYDN’S SEVEN LAST WORDS OF CHRIST Lecture on Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Christ SCHUBERT’S WINTERREISE Lecture on Schubert’s Winterreise THE HISTORY OF RUSSIAN MUSIC Lecture on the history of Russian Music THE INCREDIBLE DECADE: 1820 - 1830 Eloquent Masterpieces: Beethoven Piano Sonata, Op. 110, Schubert, “Arpeggione” Sonata, D. 821, and Mendelssohn, Quintet No. 1, Op. 18 Beethoven Reflected: Beethoven String Quartets, Op. 95 “Serioso” and Op. 132, and Mendelssohn String Quartet No. 2, Op. 13 Masterpieces for Eight: Schubert Octet in F major for Winds and Strings, D. 803 and Mendelssohn Octet in E-flat major for Strings, Op. 20 Transcendence: Beethoven String Quartet, Op. 135 and Schubert Cello Quintet, D. 956, Op. 163 PARLOFF LECTURES AT MUSIC@MENLO GEORGE CRUMB’S “BLACK ANGELS” AND OLIVIER MESSIAEN’S “QUARTET FOR THE END OF TIME” Part 1: Lecture on George Crumb’s “Black Angels” for Electric String Quartet Part 2: Lecture on Olivier Messiaen’s “Quartet for the End of Time” HAYDN’S LIFE AND TIMES Haydn’s Life and Music: Part 1 (1732 – 1770) Haydn’s Life and Music: Part 2 (1770 – 1809) CLASSICAL TWILIGHT: SCHUBERT & BEETHOVEN IN THE 1820S Part 1: Lecture on Schubert and Beethoven’s Relationship Part 2: Lecture on Schubert’s Winterreise THE MUSICAL HISTORIES OF LONDON, PARIS, AND SAINT PETERSBURG Part 1: Lecture on Music in London, Paris, and Saint Petersburg From 1509 to 1860 Part 2: Lecture on Music in London, Paris, and Saint Petersburg From 1860 to 1942 SEARCHING FOR THE MUSICAL SOUL OF RUSSIA Part 1: Lecture on Russian Music History (Medieval through the 19th Century) Part 2: Lecture on Russian Music History (20th Century) THE ART OF LATE BACH Lecture on Bach’s Musical Offering Lecture on Bach’s Art of Fugue FROM EXOTICISM TO FOLKLORISM: THE QUEST FOR MUSICAL AUTHENTICITY Lecture on The Style Hongrois Lecture on Bartók’s Quest for Musical Authenticity MUSIC AND SPIRITUALITY: EXPRESSING THE INEXPRESSIBLE Part 1: Defining Musical Spirituality Includes a discussion of Andrea Clearfield’s Tibetan Buddhist-inspired Cantata, Tse Go La Part 2: Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Christ PARLOFF LECTURES ON PONANT CRUISE LINES BRAHMS AND THE SCHUMANNS Part 1: Lecture on Brahms and the Schumanns (1850 – 1853) Part 2: Lecture on Brahms and the Schumanns (1853 – 1897) INTERVIEWS A CONVERSATION WITH THE MET FLUTISTS Michael Parloff interviews Metropolitan Opera flutists Denis Bouriakov, Stefán Ragnar Höskuldsson, Stephanie Mortimore, and Maron Khoury Part 1: Biographies Part 2: Life at the Met PARLOFF FLUTE PERFORMANCES François-Joseph Gossec: Gavotte Five Selections from Anna Magdalena Bach’s Notebook Albert Franz Doppler: Fantaisie Pastorale Hongroise, Op. 26 Cécile Chaminade: Concertino, Op. 107

JONATHAN BISS, PIANO Jonathan Biss is a world-renowned pianist who extends his deep musical and intellectual curiosity from the keyboard to classical music lovers in the concert hall and beyond. In addition to his performance schedule, he has spent eight summers at the Marlboro Music Festival, and has written extensively for prestigious media outlets about his own relationships with the composers with whom he shares a stage. A member of the faculty of his alma mater, the Curtis Institute of Music, since 2010, Biss led the school’s first massive open online course (MOOC) to a virtual classroom of 51,000 students last season. Recently, Biss performed throughout the United States and Europe, including appearances with the Chicago, Danish National, BBC, Stuttgart Radio, and Finnish Radio symphony orchestras; the New York Philharmonic; the Philharmonia and Minnesota orchestras, and the Los Angeles and Netherlands chamber orchestras. Biss toured Italy and the United States with Mark Padmore and performed with the Belcea Quartet at Wigmore Hall. He also had recitals in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Houston, Denver, and at the Aldeburgh and Rheingau festivals and the International Piano Series in London. Additional performances include the UK premiere at the BBC Proms of the Bernard Rands piano concerto commissioned by Biss, Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Riccardo Muti, and an appearance with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Biss has embarked on a nine-year, nine-disc recording cycle of Beethoven’s complete piano sonatas, releasing the first disc in the series in 2011. Biss’ first Amazon Kindle Single, Beethoven’s Shadow, was the first-ever Single written by a classical musician. It spent many weeks on the Kindle Singles bestseller list opposite works by major commercial fiction writers and was the number one music title in the Kindle Store for months. In 2013, Biss partnered with the Curtis Institute of Music and Coursera to offer a MOOC, Exploring Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas. The course relaunched in 2015 on Coursera in a new format, allowing students to watch all the video lessons at once or progress at their own pace. The second part of the course, on additional Beethoven sonatas, was added later. Biss’ Schumann: Under the Influence project was a 30-concert exploration of the composer’s role in musical history. Biss and several hand-picked collaborators performed Schumann’s work in juxtaposition with the music of Purcell, Beethoven, Schubert, Berg, Janacek, and Timo Andres. As part of the project, Biss recorded Schumann and Dvořák Piano Quintets with the Elias String Quartet and wrote an Amazon Kindle Single on Schumann, A Pianist Under the Influence. Throughout his career, Biss has been an advocate for new music. Among the works he has commissioned are Lunaire Variations by David Ludwig, Interlude II by Leon Kirchner, Wonderer by Lewis Spratlan, Three Pieces for Piano and a concerto by Bernard Rands, which he premiered last season with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He has also premiered piano quintets by Timothy Andres and William Bolcom and is developing a commissioning project based on Beethoven’s piano concerti. Biss represents the third generation in a family of professional musicians that includes his grandmother Raya Garbousova, one of the first well-known female cellists (for whom Samuel Barber composed his Cello Concerto), and his parents, violinist Miriam Fried and violist/violinist Paul Biss. Growing up surrounded by music, Biss began his piano studies at age six, and his first musical collaborations were with his mother and father. He studied at Indiana University with Evelyne Brancart and at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia with Leon Fleisher. At age 20, Biss made his New York recital debut at the 92nd Street Y’s Tisch Center for the Arts and his New York Philharmonic debut under Kurt Masur. Biss has been recognized with numerous honors, including the Leonard Bernstein Award presented at the 2005 Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Wolf Trap’s Shouse Debut Artist Award, the Andrew Wolf Memorial Chamber Music Award, Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, the 2003 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, and the 2002 Gilmore Young Artist Award. He was an artist-in-residence on American Public Media’s Performance Today and was the first American chosen to participate in the BBC’s New Generation Artist program. For more information about Jonathan Biss, please visit www.jonathanbiss.com .

DAVID GOULD, BASSET HORN David Gould is the bass clarinetist with the American Ballet Theatre Orchestra in New York City. He has performed with The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, National Symphony, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, New York City Ballet, New York City Opera, New York Philharmonic, L’Orchestre National de France, and Philadelphia Orchestra. Gould has given master classes, concerts, and lectures at many prestigious schools such as the Boston Conservatory, Colburn School, Eastman School of Music, Indiana University, Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, and the University of Michigan. He has edited and corrected etudes by Alessio, Labanchi, and Stark and pieces by Paul Jeanjean and Rene de Boisdeffre for International Music Diffusion (IMD). He has recorded for Naxos, Mode Records, and MSR Classics. David Gould is a graduate of the Juilliard School and was awarded the Harriet Hale Woolley Scholarship, to study music in France. He is a unanimous first prize winner from the Conservatoire National de Region de Versailles in France. He studied with Michel Arrignon, Philippe Cuper, Stanley Drucker, Jacques Lancelot, and David Weber. David Gould is a performing artist and clinician for Buffet Crampon and Vandoren Paris.

January 4, 2015 – Emerson String Quartet WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) String Quartet in G major, K. 387 January 4, 2015 – Emerson String Quartet One of Mozart’s most earthshaking developments musically upon his move from his native Salzburg to Vienna in 1781 was meeting Joseph Haydn for the first time and hearing the older composer’s Opus 33 Quartets. The profound influence of these works on the younger composer resulted in his composing six Quartets—the first three between December 1782 and July 1783 and the second three between November 1784 and January 1785. He dedicated these “fruits of a long and arduous labor” to his esteemed friend saying, “During your last stay in this capital you yourself, my dear friend, expressed to me your approval of these compositions. Your good opinion encourages me to offer them to you and leads me to hope that you will not consider them wholly unworthy of your favor.” In fact, on that occasion in 1785 when Haydn had heard Wolfgang, his father Leopold, and two friends play these Quartets, Haydn had told Leopold: “I tell you before God as an honest man that your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by reputation. He has taste, and what is more, the most profound knowledge of composition.” Haydn’s Opus 33 Quartets, which he himself had said were written “in an entirely new manner,” influenced Mozart particularly in their new equality of part-writing for the four individual instruments and their treatment of thematic elaboration as a integral part of a whole work rather than belonging only to traditional development sections. Mozart’s Haydn Quartets show these elements in abundance along with his own inspired brand of grace and inventiveness. Mozart completed the G major Quartet, K. 387, the first of the Haydn Quartets, on December 31, 1782. The stunning variety of the four movements and their combined effusive optimism have made this perhaps the most popular quartet of the six. The first movement revels in contrasts—soft and loud, determined and tender, ascending and descending, diatonic and chromatic. The opening gesture’s forthrightness followed by its gentle tag immediately demonstrates this, as does the contrast between the entire first theme and the gently marching second theme with its repeated notes. Not only is the development remarkable for Mozart’s ingenious spinning out of these ideas, but the recapitulation delights in further elaboration. The Menuetto takes dynamic contrast to a new level of detail when, following two graceful downward leaps, his chromatic lines alternate soft and loud with every note. As a counterbalance Mozart introduces a second theme—as part of this section’s miniature sonata form—now featuring repeated notes followed by chromatic descents. Drama explodes in the trio in minor-key unison where one might often find more pastoral repose. By now we expect dynamic contrast, which certainly abounds in the slow movement, though with a preponderance of quiet that is especially striking at the close of the first phrase. What becomes more salient as the movement unfolds is the contrast in textures between slow-moving lines and the fast notes of Mozart’s filigree, which is not always confined to the first violin part. A striking harmonic surprise prepares the second theme of this slow-movement sonata form (that is, exposition and recapitulation without a development section). In the recap’s brief delicate extension, Mozart emphasizes the triplet motion that had made an appearance toward the end of the first theme and become a defining feature of the second. The last movement gives us a wonderful preview of the composer’s crowning Jupiter Symphony, both in its four-note theme and in its fugal (imitative) treatment. The miracle of Mozart’s fugal style here comes in the ease with which he switches back and forth between contrapuntal and homophonic texture (melody and accompaniment). Thus his fugal writing becomes an enticing propellant rather than an academic exercise. These effortless shifts of style correspond to structural divisions in which the fugal texture presents the main thematic material of sonata form, and the homophonic texture the transitional and cadential material. Mozart takes his leave with a nice Haydnesque touch—forceful, seemingly conclusive chords that then give way to the quiet “true” ending. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

SUNDAY, JANUARY 18, 2026 AT 4 PM THE VIRTUOSO OPERA FANTASY BENJAMIN BEILMAN, VIOLIN JONATHAN SWENSEN, CELLO ORION WEISS, PIANO BENJAMIN BEILMAN , VIOLIN JONATHAN SWENSEN , CELLO ORION WEISS , PIANO “Virtuosic and profoundly musical, Benjamin Beilman had a fluidity of phrasing that at times astounded as he stretched the musical lines to the limits and then stretched them some more.” —Limelight Magazine “Jonathan Swenson proves to be a mature artist with a bold, rounded sound and the chops to back it up.” — Clive Paget, Musical America “"When you're named after one of the biggest constellations in the night sky, the pressure is on to display a little star power — and the young pianist Orion Weiss did exactly that in a high-powered and often ferocious recital…” — The Washington Post ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS 2025-2026 SEASON September 14, 2025 “Singers” from the Met Orchestra October 12, 2025 Lawrence Brownlee, tenor November 2, 2025 Benjamin Appl, baritone; James Baillieu, piano December 7, 2025 The Tallis Scholars January 18, 2026 Benjamin Beilman, violin; Jonathan Swenson, cello; Orion Weiss, piano February 22, 2026 Radu Ratoi, accordion March 8, 2026 Jonathan Biss, piano April 26, 2026 Jerusalem String Quartet May 17, 2026 Chee-Yun, violin; Sterling Elliott, cello; Henry Kramer, 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 FEATURING BUY TICKETS THE VIRTUOSO OPERA FANTASY This thrilling program showcases three of today’s most exciting young artists — violinist Benjamin Beilman, cellist Jonathan Swensen, and pianist Orion Weiss — in a dazzling celebration of operatic fantasies. Drawing on melodies from such beloved operas as Mozart’s The Magic Flute, and Bizet’s Carmen , the program features instrumental works that transform iconic operatic themes into virtuosic showpieces. The concert promises to be an electrifying homage to opera’s enduring influence on instrumental brilliance. The program will include works by Beethoven-Mozart, Wagner-Liszt, Massenet, Bizet-Waxman, Fauré, and Mendelssohn. PROGRAM Ludwig van Beethoven: 12 Variations on “Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen” (from Mozart’s The Magic Flute), Op. 66 for cello and piano Program Notes Richard Wagner-Franz Liszt: Isolde’s Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde for piano Program Notes Jules Massenet: Méditation from Thaïs for violin and piano Program Notes Franz Waxman: Carmen Fantasie based on themes from the opera of George Bizet for violin and piano Program Notes INTERMISSION Gabriel Fauré: Élégie, Op. 24 for cello and piano Program Notes Felix Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 2 in C minor, Op. 66 Program Notes Watch violinist Benjamin Beilman play Three Pieces by Fritz Kreisler with pianist Gloria Chien: Watch cellist Jonathan Swenson play Chopin’s Cello Sonata in G minor with pianist Soyeon Kate Lee: Watch pianist Orion Weiss play Chopin’s Barcarolle, Op. 60:

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 26, 2021: James Thompson, violin; Oliver Neubauer, violin; Clara Neubauer, violin; Jeanelle Brierley, violin; Paul Neubauer, viola; Isabella Bignasca, viola; Nicholas Canellakis, cello; Sihao He, cello; Joel Noyes, cello; David J. Grossman, bass; Paolo Bordignon, harpsichord ANTONIO VIVALDI (1678-1741) Concerto for Four Violins in B minor, RV 580, op. 3, no. 10 September 26, 2021: James Thompson, violin; Oliver Neubauer, violin; Clara Neubauer, violin; Jeanelle Brierley, violin; Paul Neubauer, viola; Isabella Bignasca, viola; Nicholas Canellakis, cello; Sihao He, cello; Joel Noyes, cello; David J. Grossman, bass; Paolo Bordignon, harpsichord If one were to compose a concerto every month for thirty-five years, one would still not match Vivaldi’s feat. Of his close to 500 concertos, more than 230 were written for solo violin and strings, some 120 for a variety of other solo instruments with string accompaniment, many for more than one soloist, and approximately 60 for string orchestra without solo instrument known as ripieno concertos. And, he managed to compose solo and trio sonatas, operas, oratorios, masses, motets, and cantatas in addition to performing, teaching, and traveling. Vivaldi’s extraordinary mastery of instrumental forms and orchestration influenced generations of composers. Vivaldi was an accomplished violinist himself, having studied with his father, a violinist at the famous St. Mark’s cathedral in Venice. Vivaldi trained for the priesthood, taking his Holy Orders in 1703, the same year he became maestro di violino at the Pio Ospedale Pietà, an orphanage and renowned conservatory for girls in Venice. Though his later activities as a composer and impresario occasioned much travel, Vivaldi retained his association with the Pietà throughout his life and many of his instrumental works were designed for his students there. About 1711 the Amsterdam firm of Estienne Roger issued Vivaldi’s first published set of concertos, L’estro armonico (“harmonic caprice”), op. 3, one of the most influential collections of instrumental music of the eighteenth century. The twelve concertos were composed over a period of years, probably for the Pio Ospedale Pietà. L’estro armonico was and still is prized for its wealth of originality in regard to style, form, orchestration, and concentrated rhythmic designs. Bach was among the many who were enthralled by the collection, transcribing six of the concertos for his own use and imitating Vivaldi’s rather flexible forms in his own concertos. Vivaldi established the three-movement norm for concertos. He typically cast his first and last movements in ritornello form, in which periodic returns of thematic material alternate with contrasting episodes. Ritornello elements are present in the present Concerto’s first movement, but the ritornello itself is subordinate to the domination of the four soloists. Instead of opening with a typical ritornello for the full ensemble, Vivaldi introduces the major motives in two of the solo violins. The texture of the four solo parts is constantly varied, but the four soloists are never featured simultaneously; most often they play singly or in pairs. The slow movement follows the multisection style of previous composers such as Corelli. The sections consist of a Largo featuring dotted rhythms, a Larghetto made up entirely of elaborative repeated figures—a different figure in each part—and an Adagio probably meant for a cadenza-like elaboration. The dancelike finale in 6/8 meter follows a much more clear-cut ritornello form. The first solo violin predominates, but each soloist is given an opportunity to shine. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes