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HSIN-YUN HUANG, VIOLA Hsin-Yun Huang is firmly established since 1993 as one of the leading violists of her generation. Virtually simultaneously, in that year, she won the top prizes in the ARD International Music Competition in Munich and the highly prestigious Bunkamura Orchard Hall Award, which included a scholarship grant, and concerto and recital appearances in Japan. Ms. Huang was also the youngest-ever gold medalist in the 1988 Lionel Tertis International Competition on the Isle of Man. As a result of these and other successes, she has been telecast in concerto appearances with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra in Munich, the Zagreb Soloists in Paris and the Tokyo Philharmonic in Tokyo; other significant appearances include live broadcast performances with the Berlin Radio Symphony, the Russian State Philharmonic, and the National Symphony of Taiwan, among others. Recent solo highlights included collaboration with London Sinfonia in South America, with Naumberg Orchestra in Central Park, with ICE at Miller Theater, and with Children Orchestra Society at Alice Tully Hall. A native of Taiwan, Ms. Huang currently resides in New York, and is an active soloist and chamber musician in the U.S., the Far East, and Europe. She has participated in various prominent chamber music festivals, including the Rome Chamber Music Festival, Music@Menlo, Moritzburg Festival in Dresden, Spoleto Festivals in Italy as well as Charleston, SC, Cartagena Festival in Colombia, Chamber Music Northwest, the Marlboro Music Festival, Prussia Cove, England, St. Nazaire in France, Bridgehampton, the El Paso Chamber Music Festival, the Vancouver Chamber Music Festival, Festival de Divonne in France, the Appalachian Festival, the Rockport Chamber Music Festival, the Salt Bay Chamberfest, the Newport Festival, and many others. She has collaborated with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Jaime Laredo, Joshua Bell, Joseph Suk, Menahem Pressler, the Guarneri, Juilliard, Brentano, Orion, St. Lawrence, and the Johannes String Quartets. She has recorded Mozart Quintet with the Brentann String Quartet and presented the Mozart Quintets with them under the auspices of Carnegie Hall in 2007. Ms. Huang has recently embarked on a series of major commissioning projects for solo viola and chamber ensemble. In July 2006, she premiered a new work from Houston-based Taiwanese composer Shih-Hui Chen, Shu Shon Key (Remembrance) with the Broyhill Chamber Ensemble at An Appalachian Summer Festival in North Carolina. The work was co-commissioned by the festival along with Chinese Performing Arts, and has received performances at Boston’s Jordan Hall and Da Camera of Houston, the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra has commissioned a version of the work for solo viola and orchestra. A new work from Steven Mackey, also for solo viola and chamber ensemble, received its premiere at the Aspen Music Festival in the summer of 2007. Subsequent performances included presentations by the Fulcrum Point New Music Project in Chicago, the International Viola Congress 2008, the La Jolla Summer Festival, and at Princeton University. A new disc, Viola Viola, containing both works, will be released by Bridge Record in the fall of 2012. Ms. Huang was a member of the Borromeo String Quartet from 1994–2000. With the Quartet, she participated in festivals worldwide and in such prominent venues as New York’s Alice Tully Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, Berlin’s Philharmonie, and Japan’s Casals Hall. In 1998, the Borromeo String Quartet was awarded the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award and was chosen by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center to be members of “CMS Two” and featured in a “Live from Lincoln Center” telecast. She is currently a founding member of the Variation String Trio with violinist Jennifer Koh and cellist Wilhelmina Smith. Hsin-Yun Huang came to England at the age of fourteen to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School with David Takeno. She continued her studies at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia with Michael Tree, where she earned her Bachelor of Music degree, and at the Juilliard School with Samuel Rhodes, where she earned her Master of Music. She is a dedicated teacher and currently serves on the faculties of the Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music.

May 6, 2018: Clara Neubauer, violin; Kerry McDermott, violin; Paul Neubauer, violan ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK (1841-1904) Terzetto in C, Op. 74 for 2 violins and viola May 6, 2018: Clara Neubauer, violin; Kerry McDermott, violin; Paul Neubauer, violan During some 1886 New Year’s Eve festivities, Dvořák met a young chemistry student and amateur violinist Josef Kruis, who was a fellow tenant in his mother-in-law’s house. Dvořák had heard Kruis practicing his sight-reading with his violin teacher Jan Pelikán, member of the National Theater Orchestra and Ondřiček Quartet, and wanted to compose something he could play with them on his viola. With lightning speed—precisely Sunday, January 7, to Sunday, January 14—Dvořák composed his Terzetto. When the trio got together to read the new piece, Dvořák found that the first violin part was too difficult for Kruis, so immediately he wrote his Drobnosti (Miniatures) for the same combination. By January 25 he turned this second trio into a version for violin and piano, which he published as Romantic Pieces, op. 75; the original trio version of the Drobnosti went unpublished until 1945, when it was designated Opus 75a. The delightful Terzetto he left in its nonstandard configuration of instruments, and premiered it on March 30, 1887, with two other violinists: Jan Buchal, a doctor, and Jaroslav Stastny, a lawyer. The work was published later that year as Opus 74. The Terzetto’s first movement contrasts a theme in sweet, fluid motion with a much more active, running passage that culminates in unison. Throughout the viola sometimes provides a bass line and other times accompanimental figuration. Toward the end Dvořák introduces some new chromatic inflections and closes with a note of drama as he makes a transition to the second movement. The Larghetto juxtaposes a poignant, lyrical section with one of marked dotted (long-short) rhythms. Dvořák indulges in some gentle canonic imitation before returning to his singing opening section. The Scherzo takes the form of a furiant, a fast Czech dance full of rhythmic play and shifting accents, together with quick changes between major and minor. The contrasting trio swings along as a stylized waltz with some delicate touches before the furiant resumes. For his finale Dvořák employed a theme with ten variations, each of individual character. The contrasts of melancholy and high spirits are typical of much of Dvořák’s native Czech music. Much to his credit, we often forget that we are listening to only three instruments, particularly as he builds to the close. Return to Parlance Program Notes

November 4, 2018: Pascual Martinez-Fortese, clarinet; Cynthia Phelps, viola; Alessio Bax, piano WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) Clarinet Trio in E flat, K. 498 (“Kegelstatt”) November 4, 2018: Pascual Martinez-Fortese, clarinet; Cynthia Phelps, viola; Alessio Bax, piano Let’s dispense with the nickname right away. Mozart composed this richly imaginative Trio for clarinet, viola, and piano for Franziska von Jacquin, one of his best piano pupils, as we learn from the 1844 memoirs of historical novelist Caroline Pichler, who herself took lessons from Mozart as a young girl. He no doubt wrote the clarinet part for his good friend Anton Stadler— for whom he also wrote his Clarinet Quintet, Clarinet Concerto, and prominent parts in La clemenza di Tito—and the viola part with himself in mind. Mozart dated the work August 5, 1786, in his own catalog, calling it simply: “A Trio for Piano, Clarinet, and Viola.” So what does this have to do with a Kegelstatt (skittles/bowling alley)? Mozart did love to play skittles, a game in which one threw or rolled (accounts vary) a wooden ball or disk to knock down nine pins. He also loved bocce, which he learned in Rome. However, the only inscription about skittles on one of his manuscripts appears not on the Trio but on the Duets for Two Horns, K. 496a (K. 487), completed only nine days earlier. It reads—not in his own hand—“Wien den 27.t Julius 1786 untern Kegelscheiben” (Vienna, 27th July 1786 while playing skittles). Somehow the nickname got transferred to the Trio in the nineteenth century, likely through a misappropriation from the Horn Duets. Köchel’s pioneering 1862 catalog transmitted the “Kegelstatt” nickname with the Trio, but at the time Köchel himself had no access to the manuscript, so he was unaware that it bore no inscription. Further, he had not seen the Horn Duets and had assigned K. 487 as Violin Duets—no inscription—and gave the date February 27, 1786. He often had to rely on information from collectors Aloys Fuchs, Josef Hauer, and Leopold von Sonnleithner, who may or may not have been responsible for the misinformation. Various writers perpetuated the “Kegelstatt” nickname for the Trio, as did later editions of the Köchel catalog (revised by others), even as they included the Horn Duets with the “untern Kegelscheiben” inscription. The Trio will probably always carry the spurious nickname, but does it help or hinder? Nicknames tend to save works from obscurity or promote more performances, and in this case it has led numerous writers to marvel that Mozart could have written such a poetic work amid the clatter of a skittles alley. Even without a nickname, however, clarinetists and violists would always have been happy to keep this unique work in the repertoire. Presumably the Trio was first performed shortly after its completion by Franziska von Jacquin, Anton Stadler, and Mozart himself at one of the “convivial” Wednesday soirees at the Jacquin home described by Caroline Pichler. When the Trio appeared in print in September 1788, Mozart’s publisher wanted to assure its commercial success by advertising it as “a trio for harpsichord or pianoforte with violin and viola accompaniment,” adding that the violin part could be performed by clarinet. With violinists more plentiful than clarinetists at the time, it made business sense, but Mozart clearly loved the mid and low range of the clarinet—Stadler’s specialties—paired with the warm sound of the viola. The piano’s top billing also reflected the custom of the day, but Mozart treats all three instruments with remarkable equality. The lovely first movement flows at a gentle Andante pace, perhaps dispensing with the need for a slow second movement. It seems perfectly suited for Mozart’s reveling in the mid-range sonorities of two of his favorite instruments. Throughout his entire sonata form he engages the ear with the imaginative settings and permutations of the five-note ornamental turn that occurs at the outset. Also striking is Mozart’s interest in chromaticism in the form of rising half-step flourishes at the ends of many of his phrases. Chromaticism takes on a more astonishing aspect in the trio section of the minuet. This is an intimate, serious Menuetto of expansive proportions, far removed from the courtly dance tradition. The outer minuet sections feature emphatic contrasts between loud and soft, the former emphasized by the piano’s distinctive bass figure doubled in octaves and the latter concentrated in the treble register. Chromaticism takes on a special yearning quality toward the end of the second section. It is the Trio, however, that brings chromaticism spectacularly to the fore: Mozart focuses pointedly on a four-note motive that circles in on itself in half steps, alternating this idea with spates of running triplets—a truly novel idea. The finale with its sunny, lyrical refrain unfolds as a seven-section rondo—A-B-A-C-A-D-A, in which Mozart ingeniously varies each return of the main theme. The mood darkens suddenly for the middle episode with the viola’s stormy outburst in the minor mode. This movement features some especially brilliant passages for all the instruments—the piano in particular, which would have shown off Franziska von Jacquin’s fleet fingers to great advantage. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

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November 17, 2024: Paul Lewis, piano Franz Schubert (1797-1828) Sonatas in C minor, D. 958; A major, D. 959; and B-flat major, D. 960 November 17, 2024: Paul Lewis, piano Schubert’s three magnificent late sonatas—all completed in September 1828—are actually the product of a composer in his prime, whose tragically early death two months later deprived him of a true “late” period. Whether or not he had a premonition that he would never recover from his latest bout of illness, he produced an amazing number of pieces from August to October, widely varying in character and containing some of his most beautiful music—not only the sonatas but the song collection Schwanengesang (Swan song), the inspired C major String Quintet, and Der Hirt auf dem Felsen (The shepherd on the rock). Composing piano sonatas in the year after Beethoven’s death must have seemed a daunting prospect, but Schubert, while wishing to pay homage, also had new things to say. Although he purportedly played them “with much success” for friends just days after completion, the sonatas were slow to gain acceptance precisely because of their novelties—in particular his now-celebrated untraditional harmonic procedures, unexpected developmental passages, turbulent outbursts characteristic of the piano fantasy, and sheer length. Even Schumann, to whom publisher Diabelli dedicated the works after Schubert’s death, strained to sound enthusiastic. Belatedly, at least since the mid-twentieth century, the three sonatas have been embraced as monuments of the piano literature. Piano Sonata in C minor, D. 958 Schubert clearly had in mind the theme of Beethoven’s celebrated 32 Variations in C minor when he fashioned the opening of his Sonata in the same key. He immediately departs from this tribute, however, not only because he is writing a sonata rather than a series of variations, but because his creative personality differed greatly from Beethoven’s. After an expansive treatment of his first-theme group—and this group contains a plethora of ideas—Schubert begins his lyrical second-theme group in the expected key but makes one of his imaginative fluid shifts into a neighboring yet distant territory. The movement’s most striking and individual music, however, is the new material that prepares the recapitulation. Into an innocuous broken-chord pattern Schubert introduces an ominous-sounding bass line, which sometimes crosses into treble range, but ultimately winds darkly under successive strands of eerie chromatics. The solemn Adagio, an unusually slow movement for Schubert, follows a five-part scheme he especially favored—two kinds of music alternating in the pattern A-B-A-B-A. The “A” music breathes serenity, whereas the “B” music suggests a profound sense of disquiet. In fact, with its echoes of his recent Winterreise song cycle, the movement may reflect the painful world of that work’s unlucky lover, with whom Schubert himself identified (a suggestion offered by scholar and pianist Charles Fisk). Schubert asks for his Menuetto to be played Allegro, avoiding the term scherzo . Correspondingly, his witticisms are more graceful than hearty, playing with meters, phrase lengths, and expectant pauses. The last of these silences introduces the central trio, straightforward in its phrase lengths with delightful little major-minor shifts and unexpected touches of counterpoint. Galloping along ferociously on an extended, imaginative tonal and structural ride, the tarantella-style finale has often been called a rondo, though this amazing movement actually unfolds in a vast sonata form. One of its features, a three-key exposition, was a great favorite of Schubert’s and something that exerted its influence on Brahms. Despite moments of light that peek through endearingly, the overall impression is one of darkness. Commentators have likened the movement to a dance of death, but here, as in the “tarantella” finale of his celebrated Death and the Maiden Quartet, Schubert confronts death defiantly, as symbolized by the final emphatic chords. Piano Sonata in A major, D. 959 Outwardly straightforward in form, the A major Sonata opens by immediately revealing Schubert’s developmental urge. The main theme, majestic at first, soon develops its rising thirds and rippling triplets, and leads to several unexpected key changes even before the second theme is introduced. The “development proper” is unusual for its concentration of a tiny phrase from a point near the end of the exposition. Like Beethoven, Schubert infuses his broad coda with yet more development. The Andantino again relies on a traditional form (three parts, A-B-A), but the tempestuous, declamatory outburst of the middle section is like no other. Schubert’s mastery of the lulling effect—short lyrical phrases over gently rocking accompaniment—throws this wild “fantasy” into highest relief. The waltzing character of the scherzo movement furnishes delightful variety. One senses that Schubert may indeed have been working concurrently on his C major String Quintet when the piano writing in the outer sections sometimes suggests string pizzicato, and in the trio (middle section) when the pianist’s right hand carries the chordal theme like the three middle instruments while the left crosses back and forth to exchange “first violin” and “cello” motives. Schubert borrows the lovely main theme of the finale from the variation movement of his own A minor Piano Sonata, D. 537. He also draws on the finale of Beethoven’s G major Piano Sonata, op. 31, no. 1, for the structure of his sonata-rondo, but with what different and imaginative results! Most striking are the dramatic second episode, the entrance of the recapitulation in an astonishing key, the curiously halting version of the main theme, and the unifying reminder of the Sonata’s opening at the very end. Piano Sonata in B-flat major, D. 960 This, Schubert’s last sonata, may be the one that has received the most performances. Profound quiet envelops the spacious first movement, in which meditative qualities vie with nobility. Perhaps, as scholar Brian Newbold has suggested, Schubert had the character of Beethoven’s Archduke Trio in the back of his mind, as well as his way of constructing the opening. Both stem the flow at the end of the first strain and, before proceeding with a second presentation of the theme, they pause—Beethoven introducing trills and an interlude and Schubert a low bass trill and a rest. Despite possible modeling, there is no mistaking Schubert’s originality as idea after idea rolls out seemingly effortlessly in his broad, masterful sonata form—again with a three-key exposition. It is particularly intriguing to follow Schubert’s trill and the various harmonies it introduces, and also to trace the new idea in the bass in the development’s rolling-triplets section, which becomes a theme in its own right. Schubert had the daring to continue with a sustained andante after his stately opening movement, but the character of the two differs so greatly that no one would wish it otherwise. First and foremost he chooses the contrasting key of C-sharp minor—almost as remote from the first movement’s home key as possible. Further he employs a kind of contemplative rocking figure in his accompaniment, which he alters subtly with a bass rumble when the first section returns. In the center a rich theme unfolds chordally over pulsing repeated notes, then appears with an imaginative new texture, all followed by a “repeat” of the two-part procedure with subtle alterations. The movement’s most heartrending moments come with Schubert’s delicate shifts into the major mode. The quicksilver Scherzo provides remarkable contrast after the slow movement, but Schubert avoids a jarring affront by employing soft dynamics and delicate character. The interior trio injects a more serious tone, but the rests and syncopations keep it buoyant. The finale leaves a joyful impression, though Schubert seems to relish occasional moments of doubt. The opening of this sonata-rondo clearly invites the listener on an adventurous harmonic journey, with perhaps the most luxurious moment arriving already in the first theme’s “repetition” where he slips effortlessly into a foreign key (A-flat major). Three new ideas comprise the first “episode,” the first of which contains another delightful harmonic surprise. The last condensed return of the main theme suddenly shifts into a brief presto coda that ends Schubert’s sonata career in grand style. —©Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2025 AT 4 PM “FOR DIETER: THE PAST AND THE FUTURE” A CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF DIETRICH FISCHER-DIESKAU BENJAMIN APPL, BARITONE JAMES BAILLIEU, PIANO
 PETER FRANCIS JAMES, NARRATOR BENJAMIN APPL , BARITONE JAMES BAILLIEU , PIANO PETER FRANCIS JAMES , NARRATOR “Benjamin Appl sounds as if singing is his most natural mode of expression; and since he has an extraordinarily beautiful voice, there should be decades of happiness as he continues to expand his repertoire.” — BBC Music Magazine “Appl’s voice has a burnished, oaky beauty as well as considerable sweetness, while the interpretations are suffused with a gentle intelligence, an instinct for unforced but direct communication and what feels like a real love for the repertoire.” — Gramophone “James Baillieu is in a class of his own, he is in the Gerald Moore/Graham Johnson bracket, a remarkable pianist.” — The Daily Telegraph 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 BBC Music Magazine has called baritone Benjamin Appl “not only a singer of boundless promise, but already a great artist.” Appl will bring his warmly expressive voice and deeply personal artistry to a heartfelt tribute honoring his mentor, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, in the year of the legendary baritone’s centennial. Entitled “To Dieter: The Past and The Future,” this richly varied program will feature songs by Schubert, Brahms, Clara Schumann, Wolf, Tchaikovsky, Britten, Barber, and others — composers who shaped Fischer-Dieskau’s legacy and continue to inspire Appl’s own musical journey. He will be joined by his superb recital partner, pianist James Baillieu . This event will include narration by acclaimed actor Peter Francis James. Dietrich Fischer‑Dieskau was a renowned German Lieder baritone, widely regarded as one of the greatest interpreters of art song in the 20th century. His expressive depth, intellectual rigor, and unmatched command of text and nuance elevated the Lied to new artistic heights, influencing generations of singers and reshaping standards for vocal recital performance. Benjamin Appl was Fischer‑Dieskau’s final protégé. On May 28, 2025, in honor of the 100th anniversary of Fischer‑Dieskau’s birth, Appl penned the following appreciation for The New York Times: “What I Learned From Dietrich Fischer‑Dieskau, a Sublime Voice” Read program description by Benjamin Appl For Dieter: the past and the future PROGRAM FOR DIETER: THE PAST AND THE FUTURE FIRST ENCOUNTER Franz Schubert (1797-1828) Liebesbotschaft (Rellstab) D957/1 3‘00" Am Bach im Frühling (Schober) D361 3‘40" Der Musensohn (Goethe) D764 time 2’10" CHILDHOOD IN BERLIN Albert Fischer-Dieskau (1865-1937) Heidenröslein (Goethe) from his Singspiel Sesenheim 1’30” Klaus Fischer-Dieskau (1921-1994) Nocturne I (excerpt) (Der Mutter gewidmet) op. 1/1 (1935) 1’00” Wehmut (Goethe) (1936) op. 3/2 1‘30” YOUTH AND FIRST STEPS AS A SINGER Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) Wie bist du meine Königin (Daumer) op. 32/9 4’30” WAR TIMES AND BEING A SOLDIER 1944/45 Hugo Wolf (1860-1903) Andenken (Matthison) 2’20” Aribert Reimann (1936-2024) Tenebrae (Celan) (UA 1962, Berlin) 3’00” PRISONER OF WAR 1945-1947 Christian Sinding (1856-1941) Sylvelin (Vislie) op. 55/1 2’10” Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt (Goethe) op. 6/6 3’10” Eduard Künneke (1885-1953) Ich bin nur ein armer Wandergesell (Haller/Rideamus) 1’30” RETURN TO BERLIN 1947 Hanns Eisler (1898-1962) Die Heimkehr (Brecht) 2’00” Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) Der Traum (Bodenstedt) 3’30 INTERMISSION FIRST STEPS OF A WORLD CAREER Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) Vier ernste Gesänge op. 121 18‘00" Denn es gehet dem Menschen wie dem Vieh (Ecclesiastes) Ich wandte mich, und sahe an (Ecclesiastes) O Tod, wie bitter bist du (Ecclesiastes) Wenn ich mit Menschen (Corinthians) SONG ACCOMPANISTS AND FRIENDS Franz Schubert (1797-1828) An mein Klavier (Schubart) D342 3’20” Samuel Barber (1910-1981) A Green Lowland of Pianos (Harsymowicz/Miłosz) op. 45/2 2’10 Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) Proverb III (Blake) op. 74 0’50" LOSS OF HIS FIRST WIFE IRMEL 1963 Carl Loewe (1796-1869) Süßes Begräbnis (Rückert) op. 62/4 3‘10” DEATH OF MOTHER THEODORA 1966 Hanns Eisler (1898-1962) Mutterns Hände (Tucholsky) 2’15” MARITAL LIFE (Ruth Leuwerik 1965-1967//Kristina Pugell 1968-1975 //Julia Varady 1977-2012) Franz Grothe (1908-1982) Excerpt from film music of ‘Vater braucht eine Frau‘ (1952) 0’20" Franz Schubert (1797-1828) Liebhaber in allen Gestalten (Goethe) D558 2’00” Clara Schumann (1819-1896) Liebst du um Schönheit (Rückert) op. 12/2 2‘30” EPILOGUE Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826) Meine Lieder, meine Sänger (Löwenstein-Werthheim) op. 15/1 2’30" Franz Schubert (1797-1828) Litanei auf das Fest Allerseelen (Jacobi) D343 2’00" An die Musik (Schober) D547 2’40" Watch Benjamin Appl and James Baillieu perform Schubert’s Erlkönig: Watch Benjamin Appl perform Bach’s “Jesus remains my joy” from Cantata BWV 147:

CHEE-YUN, VIOLIN Chee-Yun has performed with many of the world's foremost orchestras and conductors. Orchestral highlights include her tours of the United States with the San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas and Japan with the NHK Symphony, a concert with the Seoul Philharmonic conducted by Myung-Whun Chung that was broadcast on national television, and a benefit for UNESCO with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Avery Fisher Hall. Chee-Yun has performed with such distinguished conductors as Michael Tilson Thomas, Jaap van Zweden, Manfred Honeck, Hans Graf, James DePriest, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Krzysztof Penderecki, Neeme Järvi, Pinchas Zukerman, Giancarlo Guerrero, José Luis Gomez, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, and Carlos Kalmar. She has appeared with the Toronto, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Atlanta, and National symphony orchestras, as well as with the Saint Paul and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestras. Other orchestral engagements include performances with the Orquesta Sinfonia Nacional and the Mobile and Pasadena Symphonies, in addition to appearances with the National Philharmonic, Colorado and Pacific Symphonies, and the Tucson, Detroit, and Pensacola symphony orchestras. A champion of contemporary music, Chee-Yun has performed Christopher Theofanidis’ Violin Concerto conducted by David Alan Miller as part of the Albany Symphony's American Festival, in addition to performing Kevin Puts’ Violin Concerto with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. As a recitalist, Chee-Yun has performed in many major U.S. cities, including New York, Chicago, Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Atlanta. Career highlights include appearances at the Kennedy Center's "Salute to Slava" gala honoring Mstislav Rostropovich and with the Mostly Mozart Festival on tour in Japan, as well as a performance with Michael Tilson Thomas in the inaugural season of Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall and the U.S. premiere of Penderecki’s Sonata No. 2 with pianist Barry Douglas. In 2016, Chee-Yun performed as a guest artist for the Secretary General at the United Nations in celebration of Korea's National Foundation Day and the 25th anniversary of South Korea joining the UN. Other career highlights include recitals in St. Paul, Buffalo, Omaha, Scottsdale, and Washington, D.C., duo recitals with cellist Alisa Weilerstein, a recital tour with pianist Alessio Bax, and a performance at American Ballet Theatre's fall gala. Firmly committed to chamber music, Chee-Yun has toured with Music from Marlboro and appears frequently with Spoleto USA, a project she has been associated with since its inception. Additional chamber music appearances include performances at the Ravinia, Aspen, Bravo! Vail Valley, La Jolla, Caramoor, Green Music, Santa Fe, Orcas Island, Hawaii Performing Arts, and Bridgehampton festivals in the U.S.; the Great Mountains Music Festival in South Korea; the Clandeboye Festival with Camerata Ireland in Northern Ireland; the Opera Theatre and Music Festival in Lucca, Italy; the Colmar Festival in France; the Beethoven and Penderecki festivals in Poland; and the Kirishima Festival in Japan. Chee-Yun has received exceptional acclaim as a recording artist since the release of her debut album of virtuoso encore pieces in 1993. Her recent recording of the Penderecki Violin Concerto No. 2 on Naxos was acclaimed as "an engrossing, masterly performance" (The Strad) and "a performance of staggering virtuosity and musicality" (American Record Guide). Her releases on the Denon label include Mendelssohn's E-minor Violin Concerto, Vieuxtemps' Violin Concerto No. 5, Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole and Saint-Saëns' Violin Concerto No. 3 with the London Philharmonic under the direction of Maestro Lopez-Cobos, and violin sonatas from Debussy, Fauré, Franck, Saint-Saëns, Szymanowski, Brahms and Strauss. Two compilation discs, Vocalise d'amour and The Very Best of Chee-Yun, feature highlights of Chee-Yun's earlier recordings. In 2007, Chee-Yun recorded the Beethoven Triple Concerto with Camerata Ireland, pianist Barry Douglas, and cellist Andrés Diaz for Satirino Records. In 2008, Decca/Korea released Serenata Notturno, an album of light classics that went platinum within six months of its release. Chee-Yun has performed frequently on National Public Radio's Performance Today and on WQXR and WNYC radio in New York City. She has been featured on KTV,a children's program on the cable network CNBC, A Prairie Home Companion, Public Radio International, and numerous syndicated and local radio programs across the world. She has appeared on PBS as a special guest on Victor Borge's Then and Now 3, in a live broadcast at Atlanta’s Spivey Hall concurrent with the Olympic Games, and on ESPN performing the theme for the X Games. In 2009, she also appeared in an episode of HBO's hit series Curb Your Enthusiasm. A short documentary film about Chee-Yun, “Chee-Yun: Seasons on the Road,” premiered in 2017 and is available on YouTube. Chee-Yun's first public performance at age eight took place in her native Seoul after she won the Grand Prize of the Korean Times Competition. At 13, she came to the United States and was invited to perform Vieuxtemps’ Concerto No. 5 in a Young People's Concert with the New York Philharmonic. Two years later, she appeared as soloist with the New York String Orchestra under Alexander Schneider at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. In 1989, she won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, and a year later she became the recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. In Korea, Chee-Yun studied with Nam Yun Kim. In the United States, she has worked with Dorothy DeLay, Hyo Kang, Daniel Phillips, and Felix Galimir (chamber music) at The Juilliard School. In addition to her active performance and recording schedule, Chee-Yun is a dedicated and enthusiastic educator. She gives master classes around the world and has held several teaching posts at notable music schools and universities. Her past faculty positions have included serving as the resident Starling Soloist and Adjunct Professor of Violin at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and as Visiting Professor of Music (Violin) at the Indiana University School of Music. From 2007 to 2017, she served as Artist-in-Residence and Professor of Violin at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

JAVIER GÁNDARA, HORN Javier Gándara has been a member of the Met Opera Orchestra since 1999. He began his professional career at age sixteen, when he won a position in the Puerto Rico Symphony while attending high school at La Escuela Libre de Música in San Juan. Javier later graduated from The Juilliard Schoo, where he studied with Ranier De Intinis. He has held positions with the Orquesta del Principado de Asturias, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Orquesta de Euskadi, and the Oregon Symphony. He is on faculty at the Manhattan School of Music, The New School, and Juilliard Pre-College.

JEREMY DENK, PIANO One of America’s most thought-provoking, multi-faceted, and compelling artists, pianist Jeremy Denk is the winner of a 2013 MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, the 2014 Avery Fisher Prize, and Musical America’s 2014 Instrumentalist of the Year award. He has appeared as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and London, and regularly gives recitals in New York, Washington, Boston, Philadelphia, and throughout the United States. In 2014–15, he launched a four-season tenure as an Artistic Partner of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; made debuts with the Cleveland Orchestra under Susanna Mälkki and the New York Philharmonic led by Esa-Pekka Salonen; appeared as a soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony; and performed Bach concertos with Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London and on tour throughout the U.S. Future engagements also include his appearances with the Finnish Radio Symphony, a return to London’s Wigmore Hall, and his recital debut at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In 2014, Denk served as Music Director of the Ojai Music Festival, for which, besides performing and curating, he wrote the libretto for a comic opera. The opera was presented by Carnegie Hall in the 2014–15 season. To coincide with the release of his second Nonesuch Records album, Bach: Goldberg Variations, Denk opened the 2013–14 season with performances of the “Goldbergs” in Boston, Chicago, and Washington, and went on to perform them as part of the Barbican’s season in London. The album reached number one on Billboard’s Classical Chart and was featured in “Best of 2013” lists by the New Yorker and the New York Times. Other season highlights included his return to Carnegie Hall with the San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas, and appearances at the Tanglewood Festival playing the Goldberg Variations and with the Philadelphia Orchestra playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1. He also appeared on tour with the Australian Chamber Orchestra playing Bach. Denk is known for his original and insightful writing on music, which Alex Ross praises for its “arresting sensitivity and wit.” The pianist’s writing has appeared in the New Yorker, the New Republic, The Guardian, and on the front page of the New York Times Book Review. One of his New Yorker contributions, “Every Good Boy Does Fine,” forms the basis of a memoir for future publication by Random House. Recounting his experiences of touring, performing, and practicing, his blog, Think Denk, was recently selected for inclusion in the Library of Congress web archives. For his work as a writer and pianist, Out magazine included Denk on its “Out 100” list celebrating the most compelling people of 2013. In 2012, Denk made his Nonesuch debut with a pairing of masterpieces old and new: Beethoven’s final Piano Sonata No. 32, Op. 111, and György Ligeti’s Études. The album was named one of the best of 2012 by the New Yorker, NPR, and the Washington Post, and Denk’s account of the Beethoven sonata was selected by BBC Radio 3’s Building a Library as the best available version recorded on modern piano. Denk has a long-standing attachment to the music of American visionary Charles Ives, and his recording of Ives’s two piano sonatas featured in many “best of the year” lists. In March 2012, the pianist was invited by Michael Tilson Thomas to appear as soloist in the San Francisco Symphony’s American Mavericks festival, and he recorded Henry Cowell’s Piano Concerto with the orchestra. Having cultivated relationships with many living composers, he currently has several commissioning projects in progress. Denk has toured frequently with violinist Joshua Bell, and their recently released Sony Classical album, French Impressions, won the 2012 Echo Klassik award. He also collaborates regularly with cellist Steven Isserlis, and has appeared at numerous festivals, including the Italian and American Spoleto Festivals, and the Santa Fe Chamber Music, Verbier, Ravinia, Tanglewood, Aspen Music, and Mostly Mozart Festivals. Jeremy Denk has earned degrees from Oberlin College, Indiana University, and the Juilliard School. He lives in New York City, and his web site and blog are at jeremydenk.net.

KRISTIN LEE, VIOLIN A recipient of the 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant, as well as a top prizewinner of the 2012 Walter W. Naumburg Competition and the Astral Artists’ 2010 National Auditions, Kristin Lee is a violinist of remarkable versatility and impeccable technique who enjoys a vibrant career as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and educator. “Her technique is flawless, and she has a sense of melodic shaping that reflects an artistic maturity,” writes the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and The Strad reports, “She seems entirely comfortable with stylistic diversity, which is one criterion that separates the run-of-the-mill instrumentalists from true artists.” Kristin Lee has appeared as soloist with leading orchestras including The Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, New Mexico Symphony,West Virginia Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Tacoma Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Nordic Chamber Orchestra of Sweden, Ural Philharmonic of Russia, Korean Broadcasting Symphony, Guiyang Symphony Orchestra of China, Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional of Dominican Republic, and many others. She has performed on the world’s finest concert stages, including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Kennedy Center, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center,the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Steinway Hall’s Salon de Virtuosi, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Ravinia Festival, Philadelphia’s World Cafe Live, (Le) Poisson Rouge in New York, the Louvre Museum in Paris, Washington, D.C.’s Phillips Collection, and Korea’s Kumho Art Gallery. An accomplished chamber musician, Kristin Lee is a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, performing at Lincoln Center in New York and on tour with CMS throughout each season. She has also appeared in chamber music programs at Music@Menlo, La Jolla Festival, Medellín Festicámara of Colombia, the El Sistema Chamber Music festival of Venezuela, the Sarasota Music Festival, Festspiele Mecklenburg- Vorpommern of Germany, the Hong Kong Chamber Music Festival and the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, among many others. In addition, Lee is the co-founder and artistic director of Emerald City Music, a chamber music series that presents authentically unique concert experiences and bridges the divide between the highest caliber classical music and the many diverse communities of the Puget Sound region of Washington State. Recent highlights include performances presented by the San Francisco Symphony with Itzhak Perlman, Amarillo Symphony, Chamber Music Sedona, a tour with the Silk Road Ensemble, Parlance Chamber Concerts, Moab Music Festival, Lyra Music Festival, Olympic Music Festival, North Carolina New Music Initiative, and the Leicester International Music Festival. Upcoming performances include Music in the Vineyards, Olympia Symphony Orchestra, and tours with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Camerata Pacifica, as well as return performances at Music@Menlo, the Highlands Chapel Series, and the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival. Reflecting on both her personal journey and her professional journey, Kristin Lee has developed a new project, Americana, which showcases a broad spectrum of illustrious composers and the American musical styles which influenced them, as well as their own musical styles which influenced generations of composers to come. As a foreign-born citizen of America, Lee was compelled to select this unique collection of composers and works to express her pride of the country she now calls her own, and offers recital programs that have a distinct and recognizable sound of American music and its rich history. Kristin Lee is a principal artist with Camerata Pacifica, sitting as The Bernard Gondos Chair. She is also concertmaster of the Nu Deco Ensemble in Miami, Florida, and is a member of Steve Coleman’s Natal Eclipse, a hybrid chamber-jazz ensemble that explores the very foundations of group improvisation and spontaneous composition. Lee’s performances have been broadcast on PBS’s “Live from Lincoln Center,” the Kennedy Center Honors, WFMT Chicago’s “Rising Stars” series, WRTI in Philadelphia, and on WQXR in New York. She also appeared on Perlman in Shanghai, a nationally broadcast PBS documentary that chronicled a historic cross‑cultural exchange between the Perlman Music Program and Shanghai Conservatory. She made the world premiere recording of Vivian Fung’s Violin Concerto, written for her, which won a Juno Award and is available on Naxos. Lee’s many honors include awards from the 2015 Trondheim Chamber Music Competition, 2011 Trio di Trieste Premio International Competition, the SYLFF Fellowship, Dorothy DeLay Scholarship, the Aspen Music Festival’s Violin Competition, the New Jersey Young Artists’ Competition, and the Salon de Virtuosi Scholarship Foundation.She is also the unprecedented First Prize winner of three concerto competitions at The Juilliard School– in the Pre-College Division in 1997 and 1999, and in the College Division in 2007. Born in Seoul, Lee began studying the violin at the age of five, and within one year won First Prize at the prestigious Korea Times Violin Competition. In 1995, she moved to the United States and continued her musical studies under Sonja Foster. Two years later, she became a student of Catherine Cho and Dorothy DeLay in The Juilliard School’s Pre-College Division. In January 2000, she was chosen to study with Itzhak Perlman after he heard her perform Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with Juilliard’s Pre-College Symphony Orchestra. Lee holds a Master’s degree from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Itzhak Perlman and Donald Weilerstein, and served as an assistant teacher for Perlman’s studio as a Starling Fellow. She is a member of the faculty of the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College and has served on the faculties of the LG Chamber Music School in Seoul, Korea, El Sistema’s chamber music festival in Caracas, Venezuela, and the Music@Menlo Chamber Music Festival.

April 2, 2023: BORIS BERMAN, PIANO JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897) Three Intermezzos for piano, Op. 117 April 2, 2023: BORIS BERMAN, PIANO In the four sets of piano pieces that appeared in 1892–93, opp. 116–119, Brahms took up the writing of “miniatures” that he had begun with the Ballades, op. 10, and the Piano Pieces, op. 76. The later pieces, particularly the Intermezzos, which make up fourteen of the twenty pieces in these four sets, tend generally toward the introspective. No precise chronology can be determined for these pieces, yet the structural economy and tendency toward harmonic and textural “impressionism” all point to Brahms’s late style. Brahms used the label “intermezzo” for a wide range of expressive styles, but all three of the Opus 117 pieces can be considered lullabies. If the sweet lilt of the famous first Intermezzo were not suggestion enough, Brahms headed the piece with two lines of the Scottish ballad Lady Anne Bothwell’s Lament in Herder’s translation: Schlaf sanft, mein Kind, schlaf sanft und schön! Mich dauert’s sehr, dich weinen sehn. (Sleep softly, my child, sleep softly and well! It grieves me so to see you weep.) The piece presents its tender melody “cradled” in an inner voice in the right hand. Brahms employs ternary form here as in most of his Intermezzos and, true to type, he varied the return of the opening, this time with gently leaping chords and later a rippling “inner-voice” accompaniment pattern. The darker central section in the tonic minor sets up the special radiance of the reprise. The second Intermezzo, as beloved as the first, maintains a delicate arpeggiated texture in its first section, which seems only to be hinting at a melody. The melody becomes more explicit in the second section, which in the manner of a sonata form is presented in a secondary key area. After a short development of sorts, an altered and still developmental “reprise,” and a coda based on the “second theme,” we realize that Brahms has treated us to a full miniature sonata form. Brahms’s first biographer Max Kalbeck was the first to point out that the third Intermezzo may also have been inspired by another Herder translation of a Scottish poem, O weh! O weh, hinab ins Thal’ (O woe! o woe, down into the valley), which Brahms had copied out alongside Schlaf sanft in one of his notebooks. The somber murmuring in bare octaves reminds us of similar Brahms themes, such as the opening of the finale of his Third Symphony. This Intermezzo is also in ternary form with a major-key central section that delicately ranges the entire keyboard. Again the return to the opening is varied; here the main melody appears in an inner voice. In a letter to a friend Brahms referred to the Intermezzos as “three lullabies to my sorrows.” And when his publisher hoped the first might be another smash hit as a song—just as the famous Lullaby, op. 49, no. 4, had been—Brahms warned him that it would have to be entitled “Lullaby of an Unfortunate Mother,” or “of a disconsolate bachelor,” or with illustrations by Max Klinger entitled “Sing Lullabies of My Sorrow.” The air of sadness in many of Brahms’s late works gives them that quality that commentators so often call “autumnal,” but if they are tinged with regret they also show the mastery and poetry that Brahms could only have gained through years of experience. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

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