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SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2018 AT 3 PM BEETHOVEN: EARLY, MIDDLE, & LATE QUARTETS BUY TICKETS THE DANISH STRING QUARTET “That mixture of casualness and control that comes out when they perform makes them the quartet I would most want to hear play just about anything. Chords all have a diamond edge, tunes pour like molten silver, staccato passages skip like stones across a lake.” — Justin Davidson, New York Magazine FEATURING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS On April 8 , it will be a thrill to introduce the sizzling Danish String Quartet to our community. The Danes’s rare combination of rock star charisma, ensemble perfection, and consummate artistry have made them one of the most in-demand quartets of our time. Their All-Beethoven concert will feature three masterpieces from his early, middle and late periods. PROGRAM Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet in D, Op. 18, No. 3 Program Notes Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet in F, Op. 59, No. 1 Program Notes Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet in C# minor, Op. 131 Program Notes Watch the Danish String Quartet perform Beethoven’s Quartet No. 15, Op. 131: Watch the Danish String Quartet perform Beethoven’s Quartet No. 10 (The Harp), Op. 74:

December 13, 2015 – Kristin Lee, violin; Gilles Vonsattel, piano LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827) Violin Sonata in A major, op. 47, “Kreutzer” December 13, 2015 – Kristin Lee, violin; Gilles Vonsattel, piano In March 1803 Beethoven’s patron Prince Lichnowsky introduced him to the twenty-four-year-old violin virtuoso George Polgreen Bridgetower. Fresh from wildly successful concerts in Dresden, the violinist was visiting Vienna, having lived in London since his West Indian father had showed him off there as a child prodigy. After including the young violin virtuoso in a quartet reading at the home of the famous violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh, Beethoven arranged to give a public concert with Bridgetower on May 22—postponed to the 24th—and immediately set to work on a violin sonata for the occasion. Because time was short Beethoven drew on sketches for two movements begun earlier that year, and added a finale that he had originally written in 1802 for the A major Violin Sonata, op. 31, no.3, but had discarded and replaced because he thought it too brilliant. Even with these short cuts, Beethoven was scrambling to finish the piece in time, and summoned his student Ferdinand Ries at 4:30 one morning to copy out the violin part of the first movement. Poor Bridgetower had to read the middle variation movement from Beethoven’s messy manuscript at the concert, while the composer played from sketches. Luckily the last movement, because of its earlier origin, was in decent shape. Bridgetower later wrote that Beethoven was pleased with his playing, especially his improvisation on a “flight” in the piano part during the repeat of the fast part of the first movement. For his part Beethoven highly recommended Bridgetower as “a capable virtuoso who has a complete command of his instrument.” The composer wrote in his typical punning style on a draft score in quasi-Italian—untranslatable since “mulattica” and “mulattico” are made-up words—“Sonata mulattica composta per il mulatto Brischdauer, gran pazzo e compositore mulattico ,” meaning something like “A sonata of mixed colors, for the mulatto Bridgetower, big crazy person and mixed-up composer.” So why did Beethoven dedicate the Sonata to French violinist Rodolphe Kreutzer instead of Bridgetower? Late in his life Bridgetower reported that he and Beethoven had been constant companions at the time the Sonata was composed and that the first copy bore a dedication to him. Before he left Vienna, however, they had a quarrel “about a girl” and when Beethoven published the work he dedicated it to Kreutzer. Beethoven may have been trying to help pave the way for a projected visit to France with this dedication, but there seems to be no evidence that Kreutzer ever played the Sonata. This powerful Violin Sonata, associated with two violin virtuosos, is Beethoven’s most popular and brilliant. The composer acknowledged this quality when he labeled it: “written in a highly concertante style, almost in the manner of a concerto.” Russian author Leo Tolstoy also recognized its power when he used the first movement of the Kreutzer Sonata in his short story of the same name to incite his tragic hero to a crime of passion. Leoš Janáček, in turn, based his First String Quartet on Tolstoy’s story. The Kreutzer Sonata is Beethoven’s only violin sonata to open with a slow introduction. He presents the violin alone at first, in regal A major, but the demonic, tempestuous main part of the movement occurs in A minor . A momentary halt of the driving momentum allows the chorale-like second theme to illuminate the scene briefly. It bears a certain relationship to the slow introduction, which Beethoven also recalls in the coda. In the second movement a rich theme begets four variations—the first playful, the second with repeated notes in perpetual motion, the third with an air of tragedy, the fourth ethereally florid—followed by an extended introspective coda. Bridgetower recalled about the premiere: “Beethoven’s expression in the Andante was so chaste, which always characterized the performance of all his slow movements, that it was unanimously hailed to be repeated twice.” The transplanted finale caps the Sonata brilliantly. A crashing A major chord cancels the remote key of the variation movement and launches a whirling movement based on the rhythm of the fast Italian dance known as the tarantella. Leading a merry chase through quasi-fugal terrain, “hunting” calls, breakneck “spinning” passages, and witty restarts, Beethoven ingeniously unfurls a sonata-rondo that pauses only to regain momentum. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

February 8, 2015 – David Finckel, cello; Wu Han, piano SERGEI RACHMANINOFF (1873–1943) Sonata for Cello and Piano in g minor, Op. 19 February 8, 2015 – David Finckel, cello; Wu Han, piano In the wake of the successful completion of his Second Piano Concerto, Rachmaninov spent the summer of 1901 on the family’s country estate Ivanovka in the Tambov region, several days’ travel to the south of Moscow. To judge by his letters, it was only after he returned to Moscow in late September that he began to work on the sonata, the performance of which was already planned. The Sonata for Cello and Piano, op. 19, was composed in the fall and early winter of 1901 for the cellist Anatoly Brandukov. Towards the end of the last movement, Rachmaninov wrote the date “November 20th”. At the very end he wrote “December 12th”, showing that he revised the ending immediately after the first performance. The work debuted in Moscow, on December 2nd 1901, by Anatoly Brandukov, with the composer at the piano. By mid-November he was crying off social engagements, complaining that “my work’s going badly, and there’s not much time left. I’m depressed…” On November 30th however he sent a message to the composer Taneyev inviting him to a rehearsal at 11.30 that morning. By the following January 15th he was hard at work on the final proofs of the piece: ‘I’ve found almost no mistakes’. In later years Rachmaninov remembered his cello sonata as one of a series of pieces through which, with the help of Dr. Nikolai Dahl, after a long period of depression and inability to create, he was born again as a composer: ‘I felt that Dr. Dahl’s treatment had strengthened my nervous system to a miraculous degree… The joy of creating lasted the next two years, and I wrote a number of large and small pieces including the Sonata for Cello…’ © Gerard McBurney Return to Parlance Program Notes

EDWARD ARRON, CELLO A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Mr. Arron made his New York recital debut in 2000 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Since that time, he has appeared in recital, as a soloist with major orchestras, and as a chamber musician, throughout North America, Europe and Asia. The 2024-25 season marks Mr. Arron’s 12th season as the co-artistic director with his wife, Jeewon Park, of the Performing Artists in Residence series at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Mr. Arron tours and records as a member of the renowned Ehnes String Quartet and he is a regular performer at the Boston and Seattle Chamber Music Societies, the Brooklyn Chamber Music Society, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Bargemusic, Caramoor, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival, Seoul Spring Festival in Korea, Music in the Vineyards Festival, Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival, Manchester Music Festival, and the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival in Finland. Other festival appearances include Salzburg, Ravinia, Tanglewood, Mostly Mozart, PyeongChang, Bravo! Vail, Bridgehampton, Spoleto USA, Santa Fe, Evian, La Jolla Summerfest, Chamber Music Northwest, Chesapeake Chamber Music, and the Bard Music Festival. Mr. Arron’s performances are frequently broadcast on American Public Media’s Performance Today . In 2021, Mr. Arron’s recording of Beethoven’s Complete Works for Cello and Piano with pianist Jeewon Park was released on the Aeolian Classics Record Label. The recording received the Samuel Sanders Collaborative Artists Award from the Classical Recording Foundation. A graduate of the Juilliard School, Mr. Arron currently serves on the faculty of the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

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PAUL NEUBAUER, VIOLA Violist Paul Neubauer’s exceptional musicality and effortless playing led the New York Times to call him “a master musician”. He is the newly appointed Artistic Director of the Mostly Music series in New Jersey. This season he will be featured in a Live from Lincoln Center broadcast with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and will premiere a new work for viola and piano by Liliya Ugay written to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Carson McCullers’s birth. He also appears with his trio with soprano Susanna Phillips and pianist Anne-Marie McDermott, and as soloist with orchestra. His recording of the Aaron Kernis Viola Concerto with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, a work he premiered with the St. Paul Chamber, Los Angeles Chamber, and Idyllwild Arts orchestras and the Chautauqua Symphony will be released on Signum Records. A two-time Grammy nominee, in 2016, Mr. Neubauer released a solo album of music recorded at Music@Menlo. His recording of piano quartets with Daniel Hope, David Finckel and Wu Han was recently released on the Deutsche Grammophon label. Joan Tower’s Purple Rhapsody with Timothy Russsell and the Pro Music Chamber Orchestra, commissioned for him by seven orchestras and the Koussevitsky Foundation, was released by Summit Records. Other recorded works that were written for him include: Wild Purple for solo viola by Joan Tower for Naxos; Viola Rhapsody a concerto by Henri Lazarof on Centaur Records; and Soul Garden for viola and chamber ensemble by Derek Bermel on CRI. His recording of the Walton Viola Concerto was recently re-released on Decca and his Schumann recital album with pianist Anne-Marie McDermott was recorded for Image Recordings. During his six year tenure with the New York Philharmonic, Paul Neubauer appeared as soloist with that orchestra in over twenty performances. One particularly memorable performance was the New York premiere of Krzysztof Penderecki’s Viola Concerto with Penderecki conducting. He has appeared with over 100 orchestras throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the San Francisco, National, St. Louis, Dallas, Indianapolis, Puerto Rico and Cincinnati symphonies, the Bavarian State Radio Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Hungarian Radio Orchestra, the Orchester der Beethovenhalle Bonn (with whom he performed the world premiere of the newly revised version of Bartók’s Viola Concerto), the Kansas City Symphony (premiering Tobias Picker’s Viola Concerto), the English Chamber Orchestra (performing the world premiere of Gordon Jacob’s Viola Concerto no. 2), and the Knoxville Symphony (premiering David Ott’s Viola Concerto). Mr. Neubauer made his Carnegie Hall Debut playing the first performance of Joel Philip Friedman’s Concerto for Viola and Orchestra with the National Orchestral Association. He has also appeared with the Stockholm Chamber Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Ensemble orchestral de Paris, Orquesta Filharmonica de Buenos Aires, Bournemouth Symphony, and the Taipei National Symphony. In Rome, he has performed with violinist Vladimir Spivakov and the Orchestra of the National Academy of Santa Cecelia. Other collaborations include performances with Andre Watts and Vladimir Feltsman at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; with Joshua Bell and Steven Isserlis at London’s Wigmore and Queen Elizabeth Hall’s; and with Pinchas Zukerman, James Galway, Vladimir Spivakov and Alicia de Larrocha at the Mostly Mozart Festival. He has also collaborated with the Emerson, Shanghai, Juilliard, Cleveland, Fine Arts, Orion, Borromeo, Miami, and Brentano quartets. Mr. Neubauer’s musical activities are consistently creative. In a pair of highly acclaimed New York premieres, he performed Bartók’s Viola Concerto (which he helped to revise along with Bartók’s son, Peter and composer Nelson Dellamaggiore), and Max Bruch’s Double Concerto for Clarinet and Viola with clarinetist David Shifrin. He also gave the North American premiere of the Detlev Müller-Siemens Viola Concerto and Richard Suter’s Three Nocturnes for Viola and Orchestra. He has been featured as a special guest artist of the New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center in performances of Viola Alone, and on the popular radio show A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. He was very successful as the director of Voilà Viola, a viola festival held at Merkin Hall in New York, and has toured the United States with pianist Christopher O’Riley, violinist Pamela Frank, and cellist Carter Brey. In addition to his innumerable orchestral, recital, and festival appearances, Paul Neubauer is accessible to a broad range of television and radio audiences through Live from Lincoln Center telecasts with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He has been featured on CBS’s Sunday Morning; in recital on PBS’s Front Row Center and In Concert; on Argentinean, Brazilian, and Mexican television as soloist with orchestras; on National Public Radio’s Performance Today and Morning Edition, on St. Paul Sunday Morning, as well as on international radio performances throughout the world. Among Mr. Neubauer’s numerous awards are First Prize in the Mae M. Whitaker International Competition, the D’Angelo International Competition, and the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition. He has been the recipient of a Solo Recitalist’s Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and a special prize from the Naumburg Foundation, which awarded him an Alice Tully Hall recital debut. Moreover, the Epstein Young Artists Program has sponsored him and he was the first violist chosen to receive an Avery Fisher Career Grant. Born in Los Angeles and currently residing in New York City, Mr. Neubauer studied with Alan de Veritch, Paul Doktor, and William Primrose. He holds a Master’s Degree from The Juilliard School where he is now a member of the faculty. He also teaches at Mannes College.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 AT 3 PM Jason Vieaux, guitar; Escher String Quartet BUY TICKETS ESCHER STRING QUARTET “The Escher players seemed to make time stand still, effortlessly distilling the essence of this introspective music with expressive warmth and a natural confiding intimacy.” — Chicago Classical Review JASON VIEAUX, GUITAR “…perhaps the most precise and soulful classical guitarist of his generation.” – NPR FEATURING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS Our gala opener on September 25 will have you dancing in the aisles. Grammy Award-winning guitarist Jason Vieaux will collaborate with the stellar Escher String Quartet in an exuberant international mix. The afternoon will journey from Hugo Wolf ’s buoyant Italian Serenade to Luigi Boccherini ’s sizzling Fandango , reaching a toe-tapping climax with Alan Jay Kernis ’s irrepressible 100 Greatest Dance Hits for Guitar and String Quartet . PROGRAM Hugo Wolf Italian Serenade for string quartet Program Notes Antonio Vivaldi Guitar Concerto in D, RV 93 Program Notes Luigi Boccherini Quintet in D for guitar and string Program Notes Johann Sebastian Bach Suite in E minor, BWV 996 for solo guitar Program Notes Francisco Tárrega Capricho árabe for solo guitar Program Notes Alan Jay Kernis 100 Great Dance Hits for guitar and string quartet Program Notes Jason Vieaux performs Albéniz’s Sevilla: The Escher String Quartet performs Schubert’s ‘Death and the Maiden’ Quartet, Mvts 1 & 2:

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TIMOTHY COBB, DOUBLE BASS Timothy Cobb is the principal bass of the New York Philharmonic, prior to which he served as principal bass for the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Mr. Cobb serves as bass department chair for the Juilliard School, as well as serving on the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music, Purchase College and Rutgers University. Mr. Cobb also holds the title ‘Distinguished Artist in Residence’ at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fl. Mr. Cobb has appeared at numerous chamber music festivals worldwide, and as a former participant in the Marlboro Music festival, has toured with the Musicians from Marlboro series. Mr. Cobb serves on the faculty of the Sarasota Music Festival each June, and in 2014 helped to launch a new bass program for the Killington Music Festival in Killington, VT. Mr. Cobb serves as principal bass for Valery Gergeiv’s” World Orchestra for Peace”, an invited group of musicians from around the world who donate their time biannually to form an orchestra promoting international friendship and understanding. From his affiliation with the World Orchestra, Mr. Cobb has been designated a ‘UNESCO Artist for Peace’. Mr. Cobb also served as principal bass for the Mostly Mozart festival orchestra from 1989-2015. Mr. Cobb graduated from the Curtis Institute where he studied with Roger Scott. While at Curtis, Mr. Cobb was a substitute with the Philadelphia Orchestra and in his senior year became a member of the Chicago Symphony under Sir Georg Solti. Mr. Cobb can be heard on all Met recordings after 1986, New York Philharmonic recordings and broadcasts from 2011 on, as well as on the Naxos label, in a recording of Giovanni Bottesini’s duo bass compositions with fellow bassist Thomas Martin, of London. Additionally, Mr. Cobb has an ongoing collaboration with actor Stephen Lang, performing the solo bass soundtrack for Mr. Lang’s animated short, ‘The Wheatfield’, which depicts a moving and factual story from the Battle of Gettysburg. Mr. Lang and Mr. Cobb were joined by historian Harold Holzer when they were invited to Gettysburg in 2013 to mark the 150th anniversary of the battle by performing ‘The Wheatfield ‘at the Gettysburg Museum. In the 2018/19 season, Mr. Cobb will appear on the New York Philharmonic’s Merkin Hall chamber series, as well as two appearances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at Alice Tully Hall in New York City, and the Harris Theatre in Chicago. Mr. Cobb will also make two appearances at the Parlance Chamber Series in Ridgewood, New Jersey. Additionally, Mr. Cobb will travel to several countries in Asia and Europe to give master classes, as well as performing a full schedule with the New York Philharmonic and a performance of Beethoven’s ninth symphony with the World Orchestra for Peace in November in Germany marking the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, the end of WW1.

SEAN LEE, VIOLIN Violinist Sean Lee has attracted audiences around the world with his lively performances of the classics. A recipient of the 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Lee enjoys a multifaceted career as both performer and educator. Embracing the legacy of his late teacher, Ruggiero Ricci, Lee is one of the few violinists who perform Niccolò Paganini’s 24 Caprices in concert, and his YouTube series, Paganini POV, continues to draw attention for its new perspective and insight for aspiring young violinists. As an artist at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Lee continues to perform regularly in New York City at Lincoln Center, as well as on tour in the 2016-17 season across the United States and Asia. Lee has called New York City home since moving at the age of seventeen to study at the Juilliard School with his longtime mentor, violinist Itzhak Perlman. He currently teaches at the Juilliard School’s Pre-College Division, as well as the Perlman Music Program, where he was a student. Lee performs on a violin originally made for violinist Ruggiero Ricci in 1999, by David Bague.

STEVEN BANKS, SAXOPHONE Winner of the prestigious 2022 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Steven Banks is an ambassador for the classical saxophone, establishing himself as both a compelling and charismatic soloist, dedicated to showcasing the vast capabilities of the instrument, as well as an advocate for expanding its repertoire. Steven is also the first saxophonist to capture First Prize at the Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions (2019). He was also recently chosen to join WQXR’s 2022 Artist Propulsion Lab, a program designed to advance the careers of artists and support the future of classical music. Steven has recently appeared as soloist with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Aspen Festival Orchestra, Oregon Mozart Players, Colorado Music Festival, Colorado Symphony, Utah Symphony, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra and on subscription with the Cleveland Orchestra, performing with such conductors as John Adams, Peter Oundjian, Earl Lee, Xian Zhang, Nicholas McGegan, and Rafael Payere. Upcoming orchestral engagements include the Kansas City Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Detroit Symphony, New World Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra. Prior to his invitation as soloist with The Cleveland Orchestra, Steven appeared with the ensemble under conductors including Franz Welser-Most, Jahja Ling, Matthias Pintscher, Alain Altinoglu, and Roderick Cox. He can be heard on a Naxos recording as baritone saxophonist of the award-winning Kenari Quartet. Steven made his debut at the Spoleto Music Festival in Charleston, SC with the St. Lawrence String Quartet and will reunite with the Quartet this season on the Stanford Live series at Bing Concert Hall. Upcoming and recent recitals include Festival Napa Valley, Usedomer MusikFestival, Spoleto Festival USA, and the San Francisco Symphony’s Spotlight Series at Davies Hall. His critically acclaimed recital debut was streamed from Merkin Concert Hall, and co-sponsored by Washington Performing Arts featuring world premieres by Carlos Simon, Saad Haddad, and one of his own compositions. An emerging composer, the music of Steven Banks showcases “a unique and ambitious blend of feelings and sounds” and portrays “a deep intimacy” and “a sense of vulnerability” (Cleveland Classical). Steven’s original composition for alto saxophone and string quartet titled Cries, Sighs and Dreams premiered at Carnegie hall alongside the Borromeo String Quartet, and was performed again this past summer at the Aspen Music Festival and School. He has also recently completed commissions for the Project 14 initiative at Yale University and the Northwestern University Saxophone Ensemble. Steven is an advocate for diversity and inclusion in music education, performance, and newly commissioned works in the classical realm. He presented at the TEDxNorthwesternU 2017 conference presenting his dynamic approach to overcoming institutionalized prejudices against women and people of color, and he has written and given lectures on the history of black classical composers. He also collaborated with flutist Anthony Trionfo and violinist Randall Goosby to create the Learning to Listen roundtable, a discussion on the nuances of the Black experience in classical music and beyond. In partnership with the Sphinx Organization, they also created the Illuminate! series, which opened three essential conversations on the subject of music education, artist activism, and the LGBTQIA+ community in classical music. Having previously served as Assistant Professor of Saxophone at Ithaca College, in the coming season Steven will hold the Jackie McLean Fellowship at the University of Hartford and also serve as a Visiting Faculty member at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he’ll offer individual saxophone lessons, as well as master classes, and other residency activities. Steven has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Saxophone Performance with a minor in Jazz Studies from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and Master of Music degree from the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music. His primary saxophone teachers have been Taimur Sullivan, Otis Murphy, Jr., and Galvin Crisp. Steven is an endorsing artist for Conn-Selmer instruments, D’Addario Woodwinds, lefreQue Sound Solutions, and Key Leaves.