2023-2024 SEASON Dear friends, Welcome to the 16th season of Parlance Chamber Concerts! A stellar array of artists will grace our stage in 2023-24. Among the many highlights will be a recital by the MET’s luminous star soprano, Angel Blue ; a musical visit to the 16th Century with legendary viola da gambist-conductor Jordi Savall and his early music ensemble, Hespèrion XXI ; and the long-awaited return of pianist Richard Goode performing late piano masterpieces by Beethoven . A spellbinding evening, “Candlelit Music of the Spirit ,” will feature international solo violinist Stefan Jackiw , with renowned clarinetist Anthony McGill, cellist Nicholas Canellakis and pianist Michael Stephen Brown . Their evocative program will culminate with Oliver Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time , one of the 20th Century’s most spiritually transcendent works. The passionate young Lysander Piano Trio and Munich-based Goldmund String Quartet will make their Parlance debuts, as will the celebrated chamber choir, Antioch Chamber Ensemble . The virtuoso singing group will join forces with the venerable Brentano String Quartet in program including English Madrigals, Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus , and the World Premiere of Memory Believes for string quartet and chamber choir by esteemed American composer Bruce Adolphe . Don’t miss our musical celebration of Mothers Day with acclaimed violinist Chee-Yun , pianistic power couple, Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung , and MET Orchestra principal hornist Brad Gemeinhardt . They will collaborate on an assortment of tender-hearted pieces inspired by motherhood and children. The season will conclude joyously with two of Mozart’s most beloved pieces, his Concerto for Flute and Harp featuring MET Orchestra principals, flutist Seth Morris and harpist Mariko Anraku , and the magnificent Sinfonia Concertante, K. 364 , spotlighting the father-son team of violist Paul Neubauer and violinist Oliver Neubauer . PCC’s Artistic Director, Michael Parloff, will conduct members of the MET Orchestra. I look forward to seeing you again soon at Parlance Chamber Concerts! Michael Parloff 2023-2024 SEASON October 15, 2023 Lysander Piano Trio November 12, 2023 Angel Blue, soprano Bryan Wagorn, piano December 3, 2023 Brentano String Quartet Antioch Chamber Choir January 14, 2024 Goldmund String Quartet February 18, 2024 Candlelit Music of The Spirit March 10, 2024 Richard Goode, Piano Late Beethoven April 7, 2024 Jordi Savall, Conductor Hespèrion XXI May 12, 2024 Mothers Day Concert June 2, 2024 Mozart’s Double Concertos 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

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

2014-2015 SEASON 2014-2015 SEASON 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

RUPERT BOYD, GUITAR RUPERT BOYD, CLASSICAL GUITARIST “Remember the name Rupert Boyd. While there may never be another classical guitarist like Segovia, this young Australian left his audience with the impression that someday there may not be the likes of him again, either.” - The Washington Post At the age of 22, Australian classical guitarist Rupert Boyd left Australia for the first time, bound for New York City with just a suitcase and a guitar, and not knowing a single person in North America. He has subsequently become regarded as one of the finest guitarists of his generation, having been described by Gramophone as “a very fine musician” and by The Washington Post as “truly evocative”, and has performed across four continents, from New York’s Carnegie Hall, to festivals in Europe, China, India, Nepal, the Philippines, New Zealand and Australia. Recent concert highlights include performances for the Moab Music Festival, Newport Music Festival, Caramoor, Strathmore, Festival Napa Valley, the Austin and Cleveland Classical Guitar Societies, and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. He was also recently named New Artist of the Month in Musical America for his work as a performer and curator. Active as both a soloist and chamber musician, Rupert Boyd regularly performs throughout the world in Boyd Meets Girl, with cellist Laura Metcalf, and the Australian Guitar Duo with guitarist Jacob Cordover. Boyd Meets Girl’s debut album reached #3 on the Billboard charts, has to date received over 4 million streams on Spotify, and garnered the following review in Gramophone Magazine : “they play like one, with a harmony of purpose as sure as their intonation.” Their follow-up album, Songs of Love & Despair , released in 2022 was also praised by Gramophone as “beguiling… fascinating… enchanting”. In 2024, Boyd Meets Girl gave the world premiere performances of ANAHATA, a cello and guitar double concerto composed by the Grammy- nominated Clarice Assad, and commissioned for the duo by the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. The Australian Guitar Duo’s debut album Songs from the Forest was described as “wonderfully entertaining” by Classical Guitar Magazine . Rupert Boyd also has three solo albums, with his most recent, The Guitar , being described as “an utterly exceptional recording” by Classical Guitar Magazine , and “a must-have album of 2019” by This Is Classical Guitar . Fantasías was selected by American Record Guide as “Critic’s Choice” of 2016, and Soundboard described the eponymous work on Boyd’s debut recording Valses Poéticos as “one of the best recorded performances of this work on guitar.” Rupert Boyd also recorded music for an episode of the wildly popular podcast Radiolab. Rupert Boyd holds a Bachelor of Music (First Class Honours) from the Australian National University School of Music, a Master of Music from the Manhattan School of Music and an Artist Diploma from the Yale University School of Music. His major teachers have been Timothy Kain, David Leisner and Benjamin Verdery. In addition to winning the Andrés Segovia award from the Manhattan School of Music, Rupert Boyd was also a winner of the Lillian Fuchs Chamber Music Competition and winner of the Eisenberg-Fried Concerto Competition. Rupert Boyd exclusively plays on D’Addario Strings, and lives in New York City, where he is co-artistic director of GatherNYC, a revolutionary Sunday morning concert series at the Museum of Arts and Design. www.rupertboyd.com

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ANDERSON & ROE, DUO PIANISTS Known for their adrenalized performances, inventive programming, original compositions, and refined artistry, GREG ANDERSON and ELIZABETH JOY ROE have been described as “Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers transposed from the dance floor to the keyboard” (The Southampton Press). Together they bring a fresh and visionary approach to the concert stage, dazzling audiences around the world as a four-hand and two-piano team. Mr. Anderson and Ms. Roe met in 2000 as freshmen at The Juilliard School and the two formed their dynamic musical partnership shortly thereafter. They have since performed across North America, with notable recitals in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, St. Paul, Fort Worth, Milwaukee, Orlando, Miami, and Washington, D.C., as well as in nearly every New York City venue imaginable, from Carnegie Hall to children’s hospitals. They have also appeared on the Cliburn Concert Series, on chamber music festivals in Banff, Canandaigua, the Hamptons, and Kingston, and as presenters at EG (Entertainment Gathering). In May of 2004, they were featured on MTV’s Total Request Live, and in 2006 they appeared twice on NPR’s From the Top. The Anderson & Roe Piano Duo released their debut album, “Reimagine,” in 2008. Mr. Anderson and Ms. Roe left an indelible impression at The Juilliard School, where they both earned their bachelor’s and master’s degrees. A live performance by the Anderson & Roe piano duo is included on the “Sounds of Juilliard” CD celebrating the school’s centennial year. The duo was granted the honor to perform on several prominent Juilliard events, including a presentation for the “Women for Women” Association of the United Nations, the “Juilliard Young Artists and Their Mentors” concert at Zankel Hall, annual concerts for “Friends of the Library,” and repeated performances for the board of directors and donors of the school. In 2006, given only two months to compose and prepare, the Anderson & Roe piano duo gave the world premiere of their own composition “Star Wars Fantasy: Four Impressions for Two Pianos,” replacing John Williams on Juilliard’s “Cinema Serenades” concert in Alice Tully Hall. Additionally, the two directed the groundbreaking project “Life Between the Keys,” a concert that involved the entire Juilliard Piano Class of 2004; this event celebrated the class’s unique camaraderie and chronicled its Juilliard experience in an all-American program of piano music. The duo’s interactive website, andersonroe.net, has generated tremendous enthusiasm among fans and Internet bloggers. The duo responds regularly to user questions and comments, and their wildly creative, self-produced music videos have been viewed millions of times on YouTube alone. Greg Anderson & Elizabeth Joy Roe are Steinway Artists. “To say the anniversary concert actually mesmerized the audience understates the effect. The concert, a sensuous blend of two keyboards and souls completely in sync, provided an unforgettable emotion similar to star-crossed lovers in Shakespeare’s sonnets who end up fulfilling a blissful destiny. … the intense synchronization of genius.” The Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, TX), regarding the Anderson & Roe Piano Duo

SUNDAY, MAY 21, 2023 AT 4 PM INSPIRED BY FRIENDSHIP BUY TICKETS MICHAEL PARLOFF, lecturer ALBERT CANO SMIT, PIANO “He established himself as an artist to watch.” — Montreal Gazette ZLATOMIR FUNG, CELLO The first American in four decades and youngest musician ever to win First Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition Cello Division. KEVIN ZHU, VIOLIN “Awesome Technical Command and Maturity.” — The Strad FEATURING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS Great music has often been inspired by friendships between like-minded artists. In this multimedia event, Artistic Director Michael Parloff will illuminate the relationships that inspired a trio of masterpieces by Brahms, Bartók, and Rachmaninoff to be performed by three of today’s fastest-rising young musicians: violinist Keven Zhu, cellist Zlatomir Fung, and pianist Albert Cano Smit. Preview: In the summer of 1886, the 53-year-old Johannes Brahms fell under the spell of the young contralto Hermine Spies. Inspired by her artistry and beauty, he composed songs for them to perform together at the idyllic Swiss resort of Thun. Later that summer, he wove themes from ‘her’ songs into the fabric of his radiant Violin Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 100. Béla Bartók maintained a lifelong friendship with his esteemed violinist colleague Joseph Szigeti. Their fruitful partnership yielded many remarkable works, including Bartók’s First Violin Rhapsody, dedicated to his friend and compatriot Szigeti. At the onset of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s career, the renowned Peter Tchaikovsky was one his most encouraging supporters. When the 53-year-old Tchaikovsky died unexpectedly in 1893, the shocked 20-year-old composer mourned and memorialized his lost mentor in his eloquent Trio élégiaque No. 2, dedicated “In Memory of a Great Artist.” PROGRAM Johannes Brahms Sonata in A, Op. 100 for violin and piano Kevin Zhu, violin; Albert Cano Smit, piano Program Notes Béla Bartók Rhapsody No. 1, Sz 86 for cello and piano Zlatomir Fung, cello; Albert Cano Smit, piano Program Notes Sergei Rachmaninoff Trio élégiaque No. 2 in D minor, Op. 9 Kevin Zhu, violin; Zlatomir Fung, cello; Albert Cano Smit, piano Program Notes Watch Zlatomir Fung play perform Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme: Watch Kevin Zhu play Weiniawski’s Fantasy on Themes from Gounod’s Faust: Watch pianist Albert Cano Smit perform Beethoven’s Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31 (“Tempest”) at the 2022 Van Cliburn Competition:

SYLVIA DANBURG VOLPE, VIOLIN Sylvia Danburg Volpe joined the orchestra as Associate Principal Second Violin in the year 2000. A native of Houston, Texas, she began her undergraduate studies with Ken Goldsmith at the Shepard School of Music at Rice University, and completed her Bachelor of Music at Juilliard with Glenn Dicterow. She made her New York solo debut at Alice Tully Hall in 1996, where she was praised by the New York Times for “beautiful tone — both lyricism and virtuosity”. Sylvia plays with the MET Chamber Ensemble concert series at Carnegie Hall, and has performed a wide variety of classical and cross-over music both here and abroad. In addition to this, for several weeks a year she actively dedicates herself to the pursuit and refinement of the perfect Christmas cookie.

May 21, 2023: Kevin Zhu, violin; Zlatomir Fung, cello; Albert Cano Smit, piano SERGEI RACHMANINOFF (1873–1943) Trio élégiaque No. 2 in D minor, Op. 9 May 21, 2023: Kevin Zhu, violin; Zlatomir Fung, cello; Albert Cano Smit, piano Rachmaninoff had composed his first Trio élégiaque in 1890–91, his last year as a student at the Moscow Conservatory. This one-movement work, an elegy for no one in particular, already showed his admiration for Tchaikovsky and his Piano Trio in A minor, which the older master had composed in response to the death of his friend Nikolai Rubinstein. When Tchaikovsky died on October 25, 1893, the grief-stricken Rachmaninoff began composing his second Trio élégiaque that very day, to mourn the composer who had become such a mentor and friend. Rachmaninoff worked on the piece relentlessly for seven weeks. “While working on it,” he wrote, “all my thoughts, feelings, energies were devoted to it. . . . As it says in one of my songs, ‘all the time I was tormented and sick in heart.’ I trembled for every phrase, sometimes crossed out everything and began to think, think.” Completed on December 15, 1893, the second Trio élégiaque in D minor was dedicated “to the memory of a great artist.” The first performance took place on January 31, 1894, on an all-Rachmaninoff chamber music concert—the only all-Rachmaninoff concert for many years to come—with the composer at the piano, accompanied by his friends violinist Julius Conus (Yuly Konyus) and cellist Anatoly Brandukov. Rachmaninoff revised the work in 1907 and again in 1917, but it never achieved solid footing in the repertoire, quite unlike the Tchaikovsky Trio on which it was modeled. The second Trio élégiaque consists of three movements, expanding on Tchaikovsky’s two by making a short third movement out of what had been a coda to the second movement in Tchaikovsky’s Trio. Grief and despair are present from the outset of Rachmaninoff’s first movement, which opens with the piano playing a kind of repeating pattern suggesting a funeral dirge to the keening of the violin and cello. The second theme, with is sorrowful descent, becomes more prominent than the first in the course of the movement. Following Tchaikovsky’s example, Rachmaninoff set the second movement as a theme and variations. Just as Tchaikovsky had chosen a theme that had personal associations with Rubinstein, Rachmaninoff chose a theme that he associated with Tchaikovsky. Rachmaninoff had recently showed his orchestral fantasy The Rock to his mentor, who had been impressed enough to offer to premiere the work—a promise thwarted by his unexpected death. Rachmaninoff’s theme, altered slightly from the main theme in The Rock, had the added advantage—intentional or not—of hinting at the melodic contour of the theme for Tchaikovsky’s variations. An unexplained curiosity of the first version of Rachmaninoff’s variation movement was his request for the theme to be played by harmonium (sometimes called a reed organ), though piano was permitted as a substitute. That he discarded the idea of the harmonium in the first revision has been universally applauded by commentators. The eight variations offer a variety of moods and textures. The brief third variation is memorable for its weightless texture of flitting piano figures and string pizzicatos, contrasted greatly by the drone of the unison strings and piano chords in the fourth variation. The exotic-sounding melody of the fifth variation with trills and staccato chords also creates an unusual atmosphere. The seventh variation is notable for its quite different, quasi-religious atmosphere in which the piano with its low pattern in the left hand (several commentators have pointed out its foreshadowing of a motive in his First Symphony) alternates with the simple, unaccompanied lines of a violin and cello duet. The piano opens the relatively short third movement in a lush display of chords, figuration, and a widening wedge of sound. The strings most often play in unison or octave doublings, both in quiet passages and those of grandeur as at the peak of the movement. Rachmaninoff rounds off the entire Trio by bringing back the lament of the work’s opening. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

DEAN LEBLANC, BASSET HORN Clarinetist Dean LeBlanc has been performing with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra as an Associate Musician since 1998. He enjoys a versatile performance career as an orchestral musician and has also performed with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Orchestra, Lincoln Center Festival, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Santa Fe Opera, New York City Opera, American Symphony Orchestra, Bard Music Festival, American Ballet Theatre Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. As a chamber musician he has performs frequently with the MET Chamber Ensemble, Skaneateles Festival, the New York Chamber Music Festival, and the New York Philharmonic’s CONTACT! Series to include a few. Mr. LeBlanc has recorded for Decca, Atlantic, Telarc, New World Records, and EMI labels as well as for numerous major motion picture soundtracks including the Emmy Award Winning HBO Miniseries Mildred Pierce and the Oscar Winning Films True Grit, and Joker. He can be heard on four of the MET’s Grammy Award winning recordings, including Der Ring des Nibelungen, The Tempest, Porgy and Bess, and Akhnaten. Mr. LeBlanc is a Selmer Artist and serves on the Adjunct Faculty of the Juilliard School.

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