Nancy Allen, harp Hailed by The New York Times as “a major artist” following her New York recital debut in 1975, Nancy Allen joined the New York Philharmonic in June of 1999 as Principal Harp. She maintains a busy international concert schedule as well as heading the harp departments of The Juilliard School and the Aspen Music Festival and School, and teaching at Stony Brook University. In addition, Allen appears regularly with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. In May 2000 Allen was featured in the Philharmonic’s US Premiere of Siegfried Matthus’s Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra, with Music Director Emeritus Kurt Masur and Principal Flute Robert Langevin. Allen’s busy performing schedule includes solo appearances at major international festivals, and has featured collaborations with soprano Kathleen Battle, clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, and guitarist Manuel Barrueco, and with flutist Carol Wincenc and Philharmonic Principal Viola Cynthia Phelps in their trio, Les Amies. She has appeared on PBS’s Live From Lincoln Center with The Chamber Music Society, as well as with Battle, and has performed as a recitalist for “Music at the Supreme Court” in Washington, D.C. Allen’s recording of Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro with the Tokyo Quartet, flutist Ransom Wilson, and clarinetist David Shifrin received a Grammy Award nomination; she can also be heard on Sony Classical, Deutsche Grammophon, and CRI. Allen is a native of New York, where she studied with Pearl Chertok and undertook private lessons in piano and oboe. The summer of 1972 took her to Paris, where she studied with Lily Laskine. During that same year, she entered The Juilliard School to study with Marcel Grandjany. In 1973, Allen won the Fifth International Harp Competition, in Israel, and was later awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Solo Recitalist Award. Allen’s students hold positions in prominent orchestras around the world. She currently resides in New York with her daughter, Claire, who studies piano and cello.

CHELSEA KNOX, FLUTE Chelsea Knox is the principal flutist of the MET Orchestra. A sought-after performer, Ms. Knox has held positions as assistant principal flute of the Baltimore Symphony and principal Flute of the New Haven and Princeton Symphonies. She has been hailed by the New York Times for her warmth, precision, and clarity, as well as by the New York Classical Review for her “expressive life and full tone.” An active orchestral and chamber musician, Ms. Knox has appeared with numerous orchestras including the Seattle Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, San Diego Symphony, and IRIS Orchestra. Additionally, she was a member of the acclaimed woodwind trio, ETA3, managed by Manhattan Music Ensemble. As a soloist, Ms. Knox has performed concertos with the Baltimore Symphony, Hartford Symphony, Manchester Symphony, Juilliard Lab Orchestra, and Connecticut Youth Symphony. She has won competitions including the New York Flute Club Young Artists Competition and the Hartford Symphony Young Artists Competition. Ms. Knox earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Juilliard School in New York City as a student of Jeffrey Khaner. A native of Litchfield, CT, she received her early training at the Hartt School of Music, where she studied with Greig Shearer. In her spare time she is an active visual artist and her work has been displayed in galleries in New York and Connecticut.

September 26, 2021: Nicholas Canellakis, cello; Sihao He, cello; Paolo Bordignon, harpsichord LUIGI BOCCHERINI (1743-1805) Cello Sonata No. 6 in A major, G. 4 September 26, 2021: Nicholas Canellakis, cello; Sihao He, cello; Paolo Bordignon, harpsichord Boccherini achieved widespread recognition in his day both as a cellist and as an extremely prolific composer primarily of chamber music. He wrote more than 100 string quintets, close to 100 string quartets, and some 150 other chamber works, including more than thirty cello sonatas. He was and is especially celebrated for his string quintets in the two-violin, viola, two-cello configuration, contributing more to the genre than any other composer in history. The many gaps in our knowledge of Boccherini’s life and works were widened by the destruction of many of his manuscripts and his own thematic catalog in 1936 in Madrid during the Spanish Civil War—he had spent much of his life as a court composer in Madrid. Furthermore, some information long held to be true has been cast into doubt. During the years 1787 to 1796, for instance, he was assumed to have been in Prussia on the strength of an appointment there and a letter by him from Breslau. Since the letter now appears unauthentic and there is no record of him at the Prussian court, he probably remained in Spain, living on his royal pension and earning a Prussian salary by fulfilling his obligations long distance. He did compose for King Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia, the same cello-playing king for whom Mozart and Haydn wrote quartets and Beethoven wrote sonatas. The renown Boccherini enjoyed in his prime is attested to by the remarks of the usually cautious Charles Burney, famed eighteenth-century historian, who rated him “among the greatest masters who have ever written for the violin or violoncello,” placing him second only to Haydn. The taste for Boccherini’s elegant, galant style waned, however, and he died in Madrid in poverty. The latter half of the twentieth century has witnessed a periodic resurgence of interest in his music: Gérard’s thematic catalog was published in 1969, a complete edition was begun in the 1970s, and a manuscript containing eighteen cello sonatas—three hitherto unknown—was discovered in 1982; yet much of his music awaits rediscovery. The cello sonatas present an interesting set of problems. Was the “solo” part once intended for violin? The probable first edition appeared in that form; most evidence, however, points to the solo part having been written for cello. Was the accompanying part written for cello or bass? Furthermore, since the part is unfigured, should it really be realized at the keyboard? Many such realizations have been made and performances usually include keyboard. The present Sonata in A major, one of the best known, is called No. 6 because it appeared last in a group of six Boccherini sonatas published in the 1770s in both violin and cello versions. The same grouping of six was retained 100 years later when Alfredo Piatti reedited the sonatas in a cello and piano version for the publisher Ricordi, and in subsequent editions. A second version of the second movement remained unknown as did most of the other cello sonatas. A third movement, Affettuoso, also exists, but is frequently omitted in performance. Additional confusion besets the order of the movements. Most of the manuscripts and printed editions follow the order Adagio, Allegro moderato, Affettuoso, but the manuscript that Gérard used for his thematic catalog of Boccherini’s works reverses the order of the first two movements. The songful, highly ornamented Adagio outlines the simplest of binary forms in which the first half moves from the tonic key to the dominant and the second returns to the tonic. It is based on one theme, which receives a slight development at the beginning of the second half, but which—in a kind of elegant asymmetry—does not return at the close. The Allegro moderato again takes up binary form, with more suggestion of early sonata form, but demonstrating Boccherini’s characteristic structural flexibility. Such freedom is shown in the “recapitulation,” which contains no return to the first theme (that beginning after the introductory four bars), but rather to subsequent “exposition” material. Interestingly enough the little-known second version of this movement does contain a return of the first theme in the “recapitulation,” adding a certain formal stability but forfeiting some of the charming episodic ideas. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

ANNA POLONSKY, PIANO Anna Polonsky is widely in demand as a soloist and chamber musician. She has appeared with the Moscow Virtuosi, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, the Memphis Symphony, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, and many others. Ms. Polonsky has collaborated with the Guarneri, Orion, Daedalus, and Shanghai Quartets, and with such musicians as Mitsuko Uchida, Yo-Yo Ma, David Shifrin, Richard Goode, Emanuel Ax, Arnold Steinhardt, Peter Wiley, and Jaime Laredo. She has performed chamber music at festivals such as Marlboro, Chamber Music Northwest, Seattle, Music@Menlo, Cartagena, Bard, and Caramoor, as well as at Bargemusic in New York City. Ms. Polonsky has given concerts in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Alice Tully Hall, and Carnegie Hall’s Stern, Weill, and Zankel Halls, and has toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. A frequent guest at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, she was a member of the Chamber Music Society Two during 2002-2004. In 2006 she took a part in the European Broadcasting Union’s project to record and broadcast all of Mozart’s keyboard sonatas, and in the spring of 2007 she performed a solo recital at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium to inaugurate the Emerson Quartet’s Perspectives Series. She is a recipient of a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and the Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award. Anna Polonsky made her solo piano debut at the age of seven at the Special Central Music School in Moscow, Russia. She emigrated to the United States in 1990, and attended high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. She received her Bachelor of Music diploma from The Curtis Institute of Music under the tutelage of the renowned pianist Peter Serkin, and continued her studies with Jerome Lowenthal, earning her Master’s Degree from the Juilliard School. In addition to performing, she serves on the piano faculty of Vassar College, and in the summer at the Marlboro and Kneisel Hall chamber music festivals. Beginning in 2018, Polonsky performs in a trio with clarinetist David Shifrin and cellist Peter Wiley. Ms. Polonsky is a Steinway Artist.

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

GREGORY ZUBER, PERCUSSION Gregory Zuber is principal percussionist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, having joined the orchestra in 1986, and with its alter identities, the MET Orchestra and MET Chamber Ensemble. Prior to that, from 1985 to 1986, he was principal percussionist with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra. Zuber holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Illinois where he studied with Tom Siwe, and a Master of Music degree from Temple University, studying with Alan Abel of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He also studied with James Ross of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Zuber attended the Interlochen Arts Academy and the National Music Camp at Interlochen. He has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and at the Tanglewood Music Festival, with the Colorado Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. He can be heard on weekly international radio broadcasts, live from the Metropolitan Opera, as well as television broadcasts, and on many cd recordings and laser discs with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and MET Orchestra on the Sony, Deutsche Grammophon, and EMI recording labels. With the orchestra, he has toured throughout the United States, Europe and Japan. Mr. Zuber is an active soloist, recitalist, composer, and clinician, and performs regularly with Percussionists of the Met and his wife, flutist Patricia Zuber. In addition to being on the faculty of the Bard College Conservatory of Music he is a faculty member of the Juilliard School and the UBS Verbier Music Festival. In October of 2002 he premiered Legend composed by Hseuh-Yung Shen, for solo percussionist and orchestra at Carnegie Hall with James Levine and the MET Orchestra.

January 18, 2026: Benjamin Beilman, violin; Jonathan Swenson, cello; Orion Weiss, piano GABRIEL FAURÉ (1845-1924) Élégie, Op. 24 for cello and piano January 18, 2026: Benjamin Beilman, violin; Jonathan Swenson, cello; Orion Weiss, piano Fauré composed an elegiac piece for cello and piano in C minor in 1880 as what he thought would be the slow movement of a cello sonata, and it was likely performed privately that June at the salon of Camille Saint-Saëns. Fauré never composed the surrounding movements, however, and instead published it in January 1883 as a stand-alone work titled Élégie . The piece’s dedicatee, cellist Jules Loeb, gave the public premiere with the composer at the piano on a concert of the Société Nationale de Musique on December 15 that year. Some three years later Fauré arranged the Élégie for cello and orchestra (published 1900), which Pablo Casals premiered with Fauré conducting at the Société National in 1901, adding to the piece’s status as one of the most beloved in the cello repertoire. The title itself, meaning a lament or song of mourning, hints at the work’s sorrowful character, which Fauré expresses with remarkable restraint and elegance rather than dramatic excess. The Élégie opens with a darkly expressive theme in the cello, accompanied by quietly pulsing chords in the piano. This principal melody is one of Fauré’s most memorable—noble, introspective, and tinged with melancholy. His harmonic language, characterized by subtle chromatic shifts and unexpected modulations, creates an atmosphere of wistful yearning. The central section provides contrast with a more agitated character, building to a climactic moment before subsiding. The return of the opening theme brings a sense of resignation and acceptance, with the work concluding in an atmosphere of quiet reflection. —©Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

April 26, 2026: Jerusalem String Quartet Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) Quartet in B-flat, Op. 76, No. 4 (“Sunrise”) April 26, 2026: Jerusalem String Quartet When Count Joseph Erdödy commissioned the Opus 76 Quartets in 1796, Haydn had recently returned to Vienna from the second of his highly successful London visits. He had always composed with confidence, but a certain new boldness in his style may have come from the realization that the entire Western world considered him the greatest living composer. The six “Erdödy” Quartets show formal experiments both within or instead of sonata-form movements, a new profundity in their extremely slow-paced Adagios, fast “modern” minuets—scherzos in all but name—and more weight and novel tonal approaches in their finales. In June 1797 Haydn played some or all of the quartets on the piano for Swedish diplomat Frederik Silverstolpe, who considered them “more than masterly and full of new thoughts.” The Quartets were completed in time for a September 1797 performance at Eisenstadt as part of the grand festivities surrounding the visit of the Viceroy of Hungary, Palatine Archduke Joseph. Count Erdödy’s rights to the Quartets precluded their being published until 1799. That year English music historian Charles Burney wrote to Haydn that he “never received more pleasure from instrumental music: [the Quartets] are full of invention, fire, good taste, and new effects.” The B-flat major Quartet exudes the composer’s supreme confidence and originality: in one of the greatest openings in chamber music, the lovely first violin melody rises out of a chord sustained by the three lower instruments in a wonderful sunrise effect that earned the Quartet its nickname. Several commentators have remarked on the feeling of growth that this idea initiates in the movement. The continuation of the main theme brings great contrast with an energetic idea that fosters all the fiery passages in the movement, including the remarkable fortissimo bursts that close the exposition and recapitulation. The second theme uses the “sunrise” idea of the opening but in a kind of mirror image—the cello plays a winding descent as the others sustain the chord. Throughout the movement one hears the kind of mastery that so impressed Beethoven as he began writing string quartets with his Opus 18 series. Haydn’s Adagio somberly explores the possibilities of its first five notes. For a major-mode movement, this is one of the most dark-hued in the repertoire and seems to create a direct link with the poetic slow movements of Beethoven’s later quartets. Delicate filigree erupts not merrily but poignantly and the great downward leaps at the ends of sections seem to release but not totally relieve built-up tension. The second half, which begins like the opening, exaggerates these qualities with more filigree and wider plunges. For his fast Menuetto Haydn takes a little repeated two-note slur and fashions two entire sections from it. The second much longer section includes a varied return to the first, signaled by the little repeated slur in the cello—a nice bit of humor. Partway through this return, the focus again shifts briefly to the cello, soon followed by the viola. The Menuetto ends with another subtle touch of humor as twice the upward arpeggio fails to resolve in its own register. The contrasting trio evokes a truly rustic atmosphere with its folklike drones in the manner of a musette or bagpipes. The finale is a little masterpiece based on what some suspect is an English folk tune heard on his travels, but which he treats to sophisticated bits of contrapuntal and rhythmic manipulations. The matching first and third sections surround a no less jolly minor-mode section that contains several impish surprises. Following the return of the opening section Haydn takes us on an extended whirlwind ride, suddenly picking up speed only to shift to yet a higher speed for a virtuosic thrill. —©Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

October 27, 2019: Quartetto di Cremona LUIGI BOCCHERINI (1743-1805) Quartet in C, Op. 2, No. 6 October 27, 2019: Quartetto di Cremona Boccherini achieved widespread recognition in his day both as a virtuoso cellist and as an extremely prolific composer, primarily of chamber music. He wrote more than 100 string quintets, close to 100 string quartets, and some 150 other chamber works, including more than thirty cello sonatas. The renown that Boccherini enjoyed in his prime is attested to by the remarks of the typically cautious Charles Burney, famed eighteenth-century historian, who rated him “among the greatest masters who have ever written for the violin or violoncello,” placing him second only to Haydn. In 1756 young Luigi made his concerto debut in his native Lucca, and the following year he likely accompanied his bass-playing father and his older siblings on engagements in Venice and Trieste. The following year Luigi gave a successful solo performance in Vienna, and he and his father were soon hired for subsequent full-season orchestral engagements there, returning for the 1760–61 and 1763–64 seasons. Though he continued to give performances in Vienna and in various Italian cities, times were such that a musician could not earn a living as a solo cellist alone, which is why he took various orchestra jobs and began composing at a great rate. This, then, is the backdrop for Boccherini’s first chamber works, composed in 1761—the six String Trios, op. 1, and six String Quartets, op. 2. After his father died in 1766, Boccherini embarked on a concert tour with violinist Filippo Manfredi, traveling first to Paris, where the Trios and Quartets were published in 1767 (with the opus numbers reversed) and where most of Boccherini’s works would continue to be published. They soon left for Madrid and environs, which through royal patronage became Boccherini’s base for the remainder of his life. In 1770 he added to his other duties the position of “court chamber composer” to the King of Prussia, an arrangement through which he sent twelve works a year but never actually visited or lived there. The last years of Boccherini’s life brought loss of family members, illness, and dwindling financial resources, though reports of him dying in poverty are likely exaggerated. The Opus 2 Quartets brim with elegant Italianate melodic lines and perhaps a few Viennese traits but predate any Parisian influence. The works are notable for the cello’s equality with the other instruments and Boccherini’s frequent use of its tenor register—natural features for a cellist-composer. The C major Quartet, op. 2, no. 6, like the others in the set, contains three movements: a fast first movement, a slow middle movement, and—in this case, like Nos. 3 and 4—a closing minuet. Boccherini launches the spirited first movement with a forthright chord, a sprightly upward gesture, and a gradual sequential descent, all over pulsing repeated notes that lend forward propulsion. Both the second theme, led off by paired second violin and high cello, and the exposition’s closing theme maintain the elegant figures and pulsating drive. The second half begins like the first, but Boccherini soon introduces the minor mode and more sinuous lines before the merriness returns, not with the opening theme but with the second and closing themes. The brief slow movement contains a wealth of ideas—melancholy imitative entries, chromaticism, gentle wide leaps, paired triplets, a lovely passage for second violin and cello, descending gestures answered by emphatic chords, and a flowing cello passage. The concluding section, which begins like a development section, drifts into quiet contemplation with the cello in a haunting prominent role. The closing minuet swings along extrovertedly, relying on loud-soft contrasts. After a more introverted trio section, the cheerful minuet returns to round off the movement. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

Parlance Chamber Concerts. New Jersey Symphony and Classical Orchestra Style Concerts 2023-2024 SEASON COVID-19 Info for Parlance Chamber Concerts attendees: Read more here. BUY TICKETS PAST 2023 – 2024 CONCERTS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2023 AT 4 PM LYSANDER PIANO TRIO ITAMAR ZORMAN, VIOLIN; MICHAEL KATZ, CELLO; LIZA STEPANOVA, PIA NO SCANDINAVIAN INSPIRATIONS The extraordinary Lysander Piano Trio will perform a Scandinavian-themed program including music by the great Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg and 19th-century Swedish composer Amanda Maier . The concert will conclude with Sc hubert’s towering Piano Trio in E-flat, Op. 100 , which features the poignant Swedish folk song “Se solen sjunker” (The Sun Is Setting). LEARN MORE “Incredible ensemble, passionate playing, articulate and imaginative ideas, and wide palette of colors.” — The Strad “Soaring, ripely romantic playing…exhilarating panache.” — Washington Post SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2023 AT 4 PM ANGEL BLUE, SOPRANO BRYAN WAGORN, PIANO SONGS, ARIAS, AND SPIRITUALS In recent seasons, Angel Blue has emerged as one of the most beloved sopranos before the public today. The two-time Grammy Award winner has triumphed at the MET as Vio letta in La Traviata , Mimi in La Boheme , Bess in Porgy and Bess , and the central female role in Terre nce Blanchard's Fire Shut Up in My Bones . For her Parlance debut, Angel Blue and pianist Bryan Wagorn will perform a program cherished songs, opera arias, and spirituals. “Luminous soprano voice and unforced charisma.” — New York Times LEARN MORE SUNDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2023 AT 4 PM “MEMORY BELIEVES” BRENTANO STRING QUARTET ANTIOCH CHAMBER CHOIR ”The Brentano String Quartet, by now well established in the international pantheon, offers performanc es both fiercely intelligent and expressively pristine." — The New Yorker
 “The Antioch Chamber Ensemble performed with clarity of tone and intonation so pure that you could hear the buzz of overtones… — New York Times The celebrated quartet and chamber choir will collaborate on an eclectic and moving program including Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus, Beethoven’s Cavatina from his 13th string Quartet , a selection of favorite English Madrigals , and the World Premiere of Bruce Ado l phe’s Memory Believes (a requiem) , written in honor of the composer’s brother, artist Jonathan Adolphe. LEARN MORE SUNDAY, JANUARY 14, 2024 AT 4 PM GOLDMUND STRING QUARTET Musical Love Letters Fast-rising stars of the string quartet firmament, the Munich-based Goldmund Quartet has garnered worldwide acclaim for their deep musicality and astounding ensemble precision. In recent seasons, they have won first prizes in international competitions in London, Germany, and Melbourne, Australia. Following their triumphant 2019 tour of Japan, the Nippon Music Foundation awarded them the use of Antonio Stradivari’s coveted set of string instruments once possessed by the legendary violinist Niccolò Paganini. For their Parlance debut, the Goldmund Quartet will perform masterpieces by Alexander Borodin, Anton Webern, and Robert Schumann. LEARN MORE “The Goldmund Quartet are a class act…they delivered a triumphant performance — Edi nburgh Music Review SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 AT 5 PM CANDLELIT MUSIC OF THE SPIRIT AN THONY MCGILL, CLARINET STEFAN JACKIW, VIOLIN NICHOLAS CANELLAKIS, CELLO MICHAEL STEPHEN BROWN, PIANO “Music is the electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks and invents.” — Ludwig van Beethoven M usic has always been considered a direct pathway to the spirit. In this special candlelit event, four of today’s leading virtuosos will perform spiritually resonant works by A r v o Pärt, Max Bruch, Maurice Ravel, Jesse Montgomery, and Olivier Messiaen’s 1941 masterpiece, Quartet for the End of Time. Composed an d premiered in a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp, Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time is a work of overwhelming originality and power. He rose above his physical confinement to create a work of soaring spiritual transcendence. LEARN MORE “Music is an outburst of the soul.” — Frederick Delius “Music can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable.” — Leonard Bernstein SUNDAY, MARCH 10, 2024 AT 4 PM GOO DE PLAY S BEET HOVEN RICHARD GOO DE, PIANO Hailed for music-making of tremendous emotional power, depth and expressiveness, Richard Goode has been acknowledged worldwide as one of today’s premier interpreters of Be ethoven’s music. In his much-anticipated return to Parlance Chamber Concerts, he will perform late Beethoven masterpieces including Six Bagatelles from Op. 119, Sonata No. 30 in E, Op. 109, and Beethoven’s monumental “Diabelli Variations, ” Op. 120, one of the greatest sets of variations ever composed. LEARN MORE “It is virtually impossible to walk away from one of Mr. Goode’s recitals without the sense of having gained some new insight, subtle or otherwise, into the works he played or about pianism itself.” — The New York Times '‘Every time we hear him, he impresses us as better than we remembered, surprising us, surpassing our expectations and communicating perceptions that stay in the mind.” — Gramophone Magazine SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2024 AT 4 PM JORDI SAVALL, viola da gamba & conductor HESPÈRION XXI, Early Music Ensemble LE NUOVE MUSICHE: 1560 — 1660 THE BAROQUE REVOLUTION IN EUROPE “The term ‘early-music superstar’ is surely an oxymoron, but Jordi Savall comes close to being one. Wherever he wishes to travel, an audience will follow. This early-musi c master’s fervent community of admirers is the result of both the consistently gorgeous playing of Hespèrion XXI — the ensemble he conducts and plays in — and Mr. Savall’s ceaseless pursuit of unfamiliar repertoire...glorious ensemble sound to make a listener truly feel like a time traveler" — New York Times J ordi Savall and his legendary early-music ensemble, Hespèrion XXI , will explore 100 years of musical history in a fascinating concert of music by early Baroque masters including Andrea Falconiero, Girolamo Frescobaldi, Tobias Hume, Vincenzo Ruffo, and others. LEARN MORE SUNDAY, MAY 12, 2024 AT 4 PM MOTHERS DAY CONCERT CHEE-YUN, VIOLIN; ALESSIO BAX, PIANO LUCILLE CHUNG, PIANO BRAD GEMEINHARDT, HORN (PRINCIPAL, MET ORCHESTRA) “Alessio Bax is clearly among the most remarkable young pianists now before the public.” — Gramophone “Chung exudes grace and poise at the keyboard, directing all of her energy toward making the music speak clearly.” — Toronto Star PCC’s musical Mothers Day celebration will feature four tenderhearted works inspired by motherhood and children. Th is musical celebration of motherhood will feature four favorites including: Dvořák’s “Songs My Mother Taught Me,” Schumann’s “Scenes from Childhood,” Ravel’s “Mother Goose Suite,” and Brahm s ’s stirring Trio for violin, horn, and piano ., composed in memory of his mother. “Chee-Yun was at once playful and passionate, her bow consistently precise even at NASCAR speed.” — Washington Post LEARN MORE SUNDAY, JUNE 2, 2024 AT 4 PM MOZART’S DOUBLE CONCERTOS SETH MORRIS, FLUTE (PRINCIPAL, MET ORCHESTRA) MARIKO ANRAKU, HARP (ASSOC. PRINCIPAL, MET ORCHESTRA) OLIVER NEUBAUER, VIOLIN PAUL NEUBAUER, VIOLA with MEMBERS OF THE MET ORCHESTRA MICHAEL PARLOFF, CONDUCTOR Parlance Chamber Concerts’s 16th season will conclude with two of Mozart’s most joyous works, the Concerto for Flute and Harp, K. 299 and Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola, K. 364 . Composed when Mozart was in his early 20s, these uniquely-scored double concertos show the young genius reveling in the unbounded imagination and budding profundity of his early maturity. The four charismatic soloists will be supported by fifteen members of the MET Orchestra, conducted by PCC’s Artistic Director, Michael Parloff. “Paul Neubauer is a master musician.” — New York Times “Oliver Neubauer was a captivating performer, fully bringing-out the shifting moods, wit, and lyricism of Mozart’s music.” — The Epoch Times “Mariko Anraku a masterful artist of intelligence and wit.” — New York Times “Seth Morris, who did some of his playing onstage in the Met’s new production of The Magic Flute, made a fine flutist and cast member, both.” — The New Criterion LEARN MORE ABOUT PARLANCE CHAMBER CONCERTS VIDEO INTRO TO PARLANCE CHAMBER CONCERTS Michael Parloff introduces the mission and history of PCC. Audience members share their experiences. LEARN MORE PCC: A VIDEO SAMPLER See short video clips from past seasons, featuring the Emerson Quartet, Sir James Galway Richard Goode, and others. MEET THE ARTISTS ABOUT THE SEASON 16 YEARS OF GREAT MUSIC MAKING

WARREN JONES, PIANO WARREN JONES has recently been named as “Collaborative Pianist of the Year” for 2010 by the publication Musical America. He performs with many of today’s best-known artists, including Stephanie Blythe, Denyce Graves, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Matthew Polenzani, Ruth Ann Swenson, Bo Skovhus, Samuel Ramey, James Morris, John Relyea, Joseph Alessi, and Richard “Yongjae” O’Neill-and is Principal Pianist for the exciting California-based chamber music group Camerata Pacifica. In the past he has partnered such great performers as Marilyn Horne, Håkan Hagegård, Kathleen Battle, Barbara Bonney, Carol Vaness, Judith Blegen, Tatiana Troyanos and Martti Talvela. His collaborations have earned consistently high praise from many publications: The Boston Globe termed him “flawless” and “utterly ravishing”; The New York Times, “exquisite”; and The San Francisco Chronicle said simply, “He is the single finest accompanist now working.” Mr. Jones has often been a guest artist at Carnegie Hall and in Lincoln Center’s “Great Performers Series,” as well as the festivals of Tanglewood, Ravinia, and Caramoor. His international travels have taken him to recitals at the Salzburg Festival, Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, the Maggio Musicale Festival in Florence, the Teatro Fenice in Venice, Paris’ Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and Opéra Bastille, Wigmore Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Cultural Centre in Hong Kong and theatres throughout Scandinavia and Korea. Mr. Jones has been invited three times to the White House by American presidents to perform at concerts honoring the President of Russia, and Prime Ministers of Italy and Canada – and three times he has appeared at the U.S. Supreme Court as a specially invited performer for the Justices and their guests. As a guest at the Library of Congress, Mr. Jones has appeared with the Juilliard Quartet in performances of the Schumann Piano Quintet. Recent seasons have included his debut with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in a work commissioned for Stephanie Blythe and him, “Covered Wagon Woman,” by Alan Louis Smith. In addition to performances with the Borromeo and Brentano Quartets, he has been heard at the New York Philharmonic in the Sextet of Ernst von Dohnanyi, and been invited to participate regularly in the annual Marilyn Horne Foundation gala festivities at Carnegie Hall, both as performer and Master Class teacher. In the summer of 2009, he conducted sold-out, critically-acclaimed performances of Mascagni’s “L’amico Fritz” with the Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera. Mr. Jones’ discography includes more than 25 recordings: the latest is a compilation of new songs by the American composer Lori Laitman on the Albany label. He can be heard on every major record label, in diverse repertory from Schubert and Brahms to more esoteric compositions of Gretchaninoff, Clarke, and Smit, as well as contemporary works by Harbison and others. Mr. Jones is a member of the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, where highly gifted young artists work with him in a unique graduate degree program in collaborative piano. Each summer he teaches and performs at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. For ten years he was Assistant Conductor at the Metropolitan Opera and for three seasons served in the same capacity at San Francisco Opera.
 Mr. Jones is also a prominent musical jurist, having been a judge for the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, the Walter Naumberg Foundation Awards, the Metropolitan Opera Auditions, Artists’ Association International Fine Arts Competition, and the American Council for the Arts. Born in Washington, D.C., Mr. Jones grew up in North Carolina and graduated with honors from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. He has been honored with the Conservatory’s Outstanding Alumni Award, and currently serves on the Board of Overseers of that institution. A resident of New York City, Mr. Jones enjoys cooking, exercise, historical novels, and lively political discussion.

October 5, 2014 – Arnaud Sussmann, violin; Gilles Vonsattel, piano WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) Violin Sonata in E minor, K. 300c (K. 304) October 5, 2014 – Arnaud Sussmann, violin; Gilles Vonsattel, piano Mozart had written his father from Mannheim on October 6, 1777: “I send my sister herewith six duets for clavicembalo and violin by [Joseph] Schuster, which I have often played here. They are not bad. If I stay on I shall write six myself in the same style, as they are very popular here.” Mannheim flutist Johann Baptist Wendling also encouraged him to write “duets for piano and violin” to help make a living once he got to Paris. Of the seven sonatas resulting from these urges, he wrote five of them in Mannheim in early 1778 and two (including the E minor) in Paris in the early summer of that year. Six of these became known as the Palatine sonatas because Mozart dedicated them to Maria Elisabeth, wife of the Elector of Palatine, when they were published in November 1778 in Paris. The remaining Sonata in C major was included in a group of six published in 1781. Five of the Palatine Sonatas, including the present E minor, consist of only two movements, a configuration Mozart may have borrowed from Johann Christian Bach or Joseph Haydn—or possibly Schuster, whose six sonatas mentioned above unfortunately do not survive. The E minor Sonata, which many consider the greatest of the Palatine Sonatas, is one of only two chamber works with piano and strings in which Mozart employed a minor key (the other being the G minor Piano Quartet, K. 478). Many have suggested that this alternately dramatic and elegiac Sonata and the equally emotionally intense A minor Piano Sonata, K. 310, written around the same time, reflect personal loss—his beloved mother, who had traveled with him to Paris, died on July 3, 1778, after a brief illness. Or he may have been reacting to the enforced separation from his new-found love, Aloysia Weber, the young soprano who lived in Mannheim. Speculation must end there, however, because no one knows the precise dates of composition. The E minor Sonata’s dramatic unison opening leads to a harmonized presentation of the same melody. Each new idea in this movement contains a bit of something that went before, thus unifying the whole. The recapitulation begins with a dramatic reharmonization of the first theme that points to the Romantic world of Beethoven. The second and final movement is labeled “Tempo di Menuetto,” but it behaves more like a rondo, with two episodes interpolated between recurrences of the soulful minuet “refrain.” The first of these episodes offers a stylish sweetness and a piano flourish leading back to the minuet theme. The second, an extended section with two halves each repeated, begins with a soft chordal theme in the piano, and permits, in the words of the great Mozart scholar Alfred Einstein, “a brief glimpse of bliss.” © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes