ABOUT THE 2025-2026 SEASON Dear Friends, Our 18th season celebrates the human voice — the universal wellspring of musical expression. From the luminous harmonies of the Renaissance to the dramatic sweep of opera and the intimacy of Lieder, vocal artistry will be a radiant thread woven throughout the season. Even our instrumental programs will highlight works shaped by the lyricism and phrasing of the singing voice. We open on September 14 with a concert featuring three of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra’s “instrumental singers”: principal hornist Brad Gemeinhardt, bassoonist William Short, and clarinetist Anton Rist . Joined by their Met Orchestra colleagues and conducted by Artistic Director Michael Parloff , they will perform three of Mozart’s iconic wind concertos . The program also includes Haydn’s sparkling Symphony No. 6 (“The Morning”) , a joyful celebration of the individual virtuosity of the orchestra members. On October 12 , celebrated Metropolitan Opera tenor Lawrence Brownlee brings his thrilling artistry to a program of high-flying bel canto arias — the very repertoire that has made him a star on the world’s great opera stages. He will be joined by pianist Kevin J. Miller. On November 2 , the eloquent baritone Benjamin Appl and pianist James Baillieu will offer To Dieter: The Past and The Future , a heartfelt tribute to Appl’s mentor, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau , in the year of the great baritone’s centennial. Their wide-ranging program will survey art songs by Schubert, Brahms, Wolf, Tchaikovsky, Britten, Barber, and more . This event will include narration by acclaimed actor Peter Francis James. On December 7 , the celebrated Renaissance Choir The Tallis Scholars will illuminate five centuries of English sacred music in Mother and Child , a profoundly moving program that includes works by Tallis, Byrd, Taverner, Britten, and others . On January 18 , violinist Benjamin Beilman , cellist Jonathan Swensen , and pianist Orion Weiss will dazzle in an afternoon of Operatic Fantasies — virtuosic reimaginings of themes from Carmen, The Magic Flute, and more, in works by Beethoven, Wagner, Liszt, and others . The program will culminate with Mendelssohn’s stirring C-minor Piano Trio . On February 22 , Moldovan accordion sensation Radu Ratoi will make his PCC debut in a bold, genre-defying recital of Bach, Liszt, Saint-Saëns , and contemporary works. A trailblazer and a poet of the accordion, Ratoi promises an unforgettable musical experience. On March 8 , the distinguished pianist Jonathan Biss returns with a solo recital spanning three centuries from Mozart’s stormy C-minor Sonata, K. 457 , to Janáček’s nostalgic On an Overgrown Path , to Schumann’s passionate Fantasy in C — a love letter in sound to his beloved Clara Wieck. On April 26 , the renowned Jerusalem String Quartet returns with a far-ranging program of Haydn’s radiant “Sunrise” Quartet , a newly composed gem by Pulitzer Prize–winner Shulamit Ran , and Beethoven’s Quartet in B-flat, Op. 130 , displaying the full range of Beethoven’s late-life inventiveness and mastery. And on May 17 , we close the season with an all-Brahms finale . Violinist Chee-Yun, cellist Sterling Elliott , and pianist Henry Kramer will unite in a richly expressive journey through Brahms’s D-minor Violin Sonata, F-major Cello Sonata, and the majestic B-minor Piano Trio . I look forward to welcoming you soon to another inspiring season at Parlance Chamber Concerts! Michael Parloff
 Artistic Director 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

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

December 5, 2021: Paul Jacobs, organ JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) Concerto in D Minor after Vivaldi, BWV 596 December 5, 2021: Paul Jacobs, organ While Bach was serving as court organist for the Duke of Weimar between 1708 and 1717, he avidly absorbed the style of Vivaldi and other masters in part by transcribing their concertos for clavier or organ. This particular endeavor resulted in sixteen clavier concertos (BWV 972–987) and four organ concertos (BWV 592–594, 596; not counting 595, which is a version of 984). Vivaldi is represented nine times, Alessandro and Benedetto Marcello once each, and Torelli and Telemann once each. Several are transcribed from unknown sources and four from concertos by the young Weimar prince, Johann Ernst. All but four of the concertos are in the three-movement, fast-slow-fast configuration that would become the norm for Bach’s own concertos. Johann Ernst was actually the pupil of Bach’s court colleague Johann Gottfried Walther, and both Bach and Walther transcribed different concertos for the youth’s instruction and enjoyment. They can be dated to such a narrow time frame partly by evidence of the manuscript paper, but also because Prince Johann Ernst had just returned in July 1713 from two years in Holland, presumably having heard Italian concertos played on the organ by Jan Jacob de Graaf and bringing back collections of works by Vivaldi and others from the famous publisher Estienne Roger of Amsterdam. Bach likely made his transcriptions before the prince left Weimar in July 1714. One of the publications Johann Ernst must have brought back was Vivaldi’s L’estro armonico, op. 3, a collection of twelve concertos issued by Roger in 1711, which was to become the most influential publication of the first half of the eighteenth century. The present D minor Concerto is Bach’s transcription of Vivaldi’s Concerto grosso in D minor, RV 565, for a solo group of two violins and cello with the accompaniment of strings and cembalo, which appeared as No. 11 in the Opus 3 collection. Bach stays faithful to the substance of Vivaldi’s original, but, as would have been conventional practice, fills in the texture and harmony of the continuo and adds melodic ornamentation. His manuscript is remarkable for its specific markings as to organ registration and the use of two manuals. The first movement opens with darting canonic figuration alternating between the two manuals and static harmony that breaks loose just before three chordal measures marked “Grave.” These serve as preparation for the full-fledged fugue that concludes the movement. The lovely relatively brief slow movement flows gently in a siciliano rhythm. The final movement unfolds briskly in a free ritornello form, its main theme featuring repeated-note lines that intertwine in the “solo” voices so as to create delightful brief dissonances. Bach reused this theme in the opening chorus of his Cantata 21: “Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis,” which was first performed on June 17, 1714, shortly before Prince Johann Ernst left Weimar. The movement continues its propulsive drive to the end with the active lines in a variety of textures migrating from manual to manual. —©Jane Vial Jaffe [from Vivaldi Concerto grosso in D minor, RV 565, op. 3, no. 11 (2 vlns, vc, strings, cembalo) [ http://conquest.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/b/b7/IMSLP475414-PMLP153710-Bach_596_Vivaldi_Concerto_Dm.pdf ] Bach also adapted concertos by other composers, notably Vivaldi, whose Italian concerto form exerted a lasting influence on him. He employed Vivaldi’s three-movement model—fast, slow, fast—for his concertos, as well as the ritornello form (in which a refrain alternates with episodic excursions), though adapted in his own way, and with his particular contrapuntal leanings. Was Bach aware that with his keyboard concertos he was creating an entirely new genre In about 1713–14 a decisive stylistic change came about, stimulated by Vivaldi’s concerto form. Bach’s encounter with Vivaldi’s music found immediate expression in the concertos after Vivaldi’s opp.3 and 7 ( BWV593 etc.). Features adapted from Vivaldi include the unifying use of motivic work, the motoric rhythmic character, the modulation schemes and the principle of solo–tutti contrast as means of formal articulation; the influence may be seen in the Toccatas in F and C BWV540 and 564. Apparently Bach experimented for a short while with a free, concerto-like organ form in three movements (fast–slow–fast: cf BWV545 + 529/2 and BWV541 + 528/3) but finally turned to the two-movement form, as in BWV534 and 536. Of comparable importance to the introduction of the concerto element is his tendency towards condensed motivic work, as in the Orgel-Büchlein. In 1711 Etienne Roger, the Amsterdam publisher, brought out what was to become the most influential music publication of the first half of the 18th century: Vivaldi’s L’estro armonico op.3, dedicated to Grand Prince Ferdinando of Tuscany; it comprised 12 concertos divided equally into works for one, two, and four solo violins. The change to Roger from local publishers, which several other eminent Italian composers made about the same time, reflected not only the superiority of the engraving process over the printing from type still normally used in Italy (a superiority acknowledged in Vivaldi’s preface to L’estro armonico) but also the enormous growth in demand for the latest Italian music in northern Europe. The third, fifth, and 12th concertos from op.3 (along with the concerto published individually under the title ‘The Cuckow’, RV335), became staples of the repertoire of many violinists, were arranged for a variety of instruments, and were extracted for use in violin tutors throughout the 18th century and beyond. Nowhere was the enthusiasm for Vivaldi’s concertos stronger than in Germany. Bach transcribed several of them (including five from op.3) for keyboard, and his noble patron Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar wrote concertos in Vivaldi’s style. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

PARLANCE CHAMBER CONCERTS’S EXECUTIVE BOARD Warren F. Cooke, Vice President Warren F. Cooke of Ridgewood, New Jersey, practiced law for 38 years with the international law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, engaging primarily in domestic and international financial transactions. He served as a member of the Board of Directors of The American Bird Conservancy for ten years until January, 2017, and as Chairman of the Board for the last four years. He is currently a Trustee of The Nature Conservancy, New Jersey, and a member of the Boards of Trustees of Valley Health System and Valley Medical Group. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Yale Law School. He is passionate about music, and is by avocation a dedicated pianist. Edward Lowenthal, Board Member Mr. Lowenthal brings to our Board years of experience in the development and operation of real estate. Mr. Lowenthal currently serves as Chairman of the Board of American Campus Communities (NYSE: ACC) (a public developer, owner and operator of student housing at the university level), is a Director of Omega Healthcare (NYSE: OHI), an owner of skilled nursing and senior living facilities and serves as Vice Chairman of the Board and as trustee of the Manhattan School of Music. From January 1997 to March 2002, Mr. Lowenthal served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Wellsford Real Properties, Inc. (a real estate merchant bank) and was President of the predecessor of Wellsford Real Properties, Inc. since 1986. He is co-founder of Wellsford Strategic Partners, a private real estate investment company and is non-executive Chairman of Tiburon Lockers, Inc., a private rental locker company. He has a B.A. degree from Case Western Reserve University and a Law Degree from Georgetown University. Michael Parloff, President, Treasurer, Artistic Director As Artistic Director of Parlance Chamber Concerts, Michael Parloff is responsible for planning programs, engaging guest artists, delivering spoken and written program notes and interviews, and setting organizational goals. Mr. Parloff’s longtime experience in the world of classical music includes 30 years as Principal Flutist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, 25 years as a faculty member of The Manhattan School of Music, and summer faculty positions at such institutions as The Lake Placid Institute, New York Summer Music Festival, Colorado College Music Festival, and The National Orchestral Institute in College Park, Md. Mr. Parloff has recorded extensively and regularly conducts and coaches conservatory woodwind ensembles. Donald W. Reeder, Chairman of the Board Donald W. Reeder is an attorney practicing in Bergen County, New Jersey, concentrating his practice in estate planning, estate administration. He graduated from Wesleyan University, cum laude and with honors, and New York University School of Law where he was a member of the Law Review. Mr. Reeder was admitted to the New York bar in 1971 and the New Jersey bar in 1973. After working in New York City and Bergen County as a corporate and securities attorney, he opened his own practice in Bergen County, New Jersey. He is married to Elizabeth Forbes and is the father of two children. His outside interests include choral singing, hiking and travel. Peter Riemer, Board Member Peter is an independent consulting healthcare actuary, advising employers on healthcare and welfare plan management. Peter holds a B.S. in Mathematics from Tufts University and an M.S. in Mathematics from Northeastern University. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, a Fellow of the Conference of Consulting Actuaries and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries. Peter and his wife, Suzanne Taranto, reside in Ridgewood, and have two adult children. In his spare time, Peter enjoys woodworking and photography.

EVAN EPIFANO, BASSOON Evan Epifanio was appointed Principal Bassoon of The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in 2018. Prior to The Met, Evan was a member of The Sarasota Orchestra and New World Symphony, as well as serving as Principal Bassoon of the Des Moines Metro Opera. He has also performed with other ensembles including The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and The Florida Orchestra. Evan can be heard playing with The MET Orchestra Chamber Ensemble at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall throughout the year. He has lead masterclasses at a variety of locations including The Academia Filarmónica de Medellín, Colombia and most recently The Juilliard School. During his summer months Evan has been heard performing with Classical Tahoe in Incline Village, Nevada and The Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego.

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