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December 18, 2016: Mariko Anraku, harp; Emmanuel Ceysson, harp; David Chan, concertmaster; Catherine Ro, violin; Dov Scheindlin, viola; Rafael Figueroa, cello MELINDA WAGNER Pan Journal December 18, 2016: Mariko Anraku, harp; Emmanuel Ceysson, harp; David Chan, concertmaster; Catherine Ro, violin; Dov Scheindlin, viola; Rafael Figueroa, cello Melinda Wagner’s catalog of works embodies music esteemed for its exceptional beauty, power, and intelligence. Wagner received widespread attention when her colorful Concerto for Flute, Strings, and Percussion earned her the Pulitzer Prize in 1999. Since then she has composed such major works as her Trombone Concerto for Joseph Alessi and the New York Philharmonic, a piano concerto entitled Extremity of Sky for Emanuel Ax and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), and Little Moonhead for the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra as part of its popular “New Brandenburgs” project. Emanuel Ax has also performed Extremity of Sky on tour with the National Symphony and with the Staatskapelle Berlin and the Toronto and Kansas City Symphonies. Championed early on by Daniel Barenboim, Wagner has received three commissions from the CSO, most recently Proceed, Moon, which the CSO will premiere under the baton of Susanna Malkki in 2017. Melinda Wagner’s works have also been performed recently by the American Composers Orchestra, the United States Marine Band, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the American Brass Quintet, the Empyrean Ensemble, and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. Wagner’s many honors include a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). Wagner received her undergraduate degree and an honorary doctorate from Hamilton College, her master’s degree from the University of Chicago, and her Ph.D. and a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Pennsylvania. A passionate and inspiring teacher, Melinda Wagner has given master classes at many fine institutions across the United States, including Harvard, Yale, Eastman, Juilliard, and the University of California–Davis. She has held faculty positions at Brandeis University and Smith College, and she has served as a mentor at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, the Wellesley Composers Conference, and Yellow Barn. Ms. Wagner is currently on the faculty of the Juilliard School. Wagner composed Pan Journal in 2009 on a commission from the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society for harpist Elizabeth Hainen and the Juilliard String Quartet, who gave the premiere on April 26 that year at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center in the Perelman Theater. The title refers to the Greek god of pastures, forests, flocks, and herds, who in one famous myth invented the Pan flute or Pan pipes after chasing the wood-nymph Syrinx, who had been changed into a reed to escape his amorous advances. According to the composer, however, “the title came to me long after the piece was finished.” She continued: “I just liked the idea of ‘documenting’ a day in the life of a mythical being. . . . I never think in terms of a ‘story’ when I’m composing.” “Pan Journal,” says Wagner, “is rather mercurial and a bit volatile,” which speaks to Pan’s range of character, from love-lorn to impish. “Its form is loosely arch-like, with the work’s greatest intensity accumulating around its center. It opens with a slow introduction based on a cello melody that is referred to later in the piece and closes with an evanescent coda. I wanted the harp and the strings to be equal partners here so that they could play off one another, so, since the strings can easily sustain tones and play chromatically while the harp’s plucked notes fade quickly and can only be chromatically altered by using the foot-pedal mechanism, I made much use of several techniques—tremolo, pizzicato, glissando, etc.—that they share.” © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

GUILLERMO FIGUEROA, VIOLA One of the most versatile and respected musical artists of his generation – renowned as conductor, violinist, violist, and concertmaster – Guillermo Figueroa is the Principal Conductor of the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra. He is also the Music Director of the Music in the Mountains Festival in Colorado and Music Director of the Lynn Philharmonia in Florida. Additionally, he was the Music Director of both the New Mexico Symphony and the Puerto Rico Symphony . International appearances, among others, include the Toronto Symphony, Iceland Symphony, Orquesta Sinfonica de Chile and the National Symphony of Mexico . In the US he has appeared with the orchestras of Buffalo, Detroit, New Jersey, Memphis, Phoenix, Tucson and the New York City Ballet . As violinist, his recording of Ernesto Cordero’s violin concertos for the Naxos label received a Latin Grammy nomination in 2012. Figueroa was Concertmaster of the New York City Ballet , and a Founding Member and Concertmaster of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra , making over fifty recordings for Deutsche Grammophon . Also accomplished on the viola, Figueroa performs frequently as guest of the Fine Arts, Emerson, American, and Orion string quartets. Figueroa has given the world premieres of four violin concertos written for him: the Concertino by Mario Davidovsky, at Carnegie Hall with Orpheus ; the Double Concerto by Harold Farberman, with the American Symphony at Fisher Hall , Lincoln Center; the Violin Concerto by Miguel del Aguila, commissioned by Figueroa and the NMSO and Insula , by Ernesto Cordero with the Solisti di Zagreb in Zagreb.

2012-2013 SEASON 2012-2013 SEASON Artist Roster Parlance Program Notes LOCATION At West Side Presbyterian Church 6 South Monroe Street Ridgewood, NJ 07450 For map and directions, click here . CONCERT AMENITIES Whee lchair Accessible Fr e e Parking for all concerts

May 21, 2023: Zlatomir Fung, cello; Albert Cano Smit, piano BÉLA BARTÓK (1881–1945) Rhapsody No. 1, Sz 86 for cello and piano May 21, 2023: Zlatomir Fung, cello; Albert Cano Smit, piano Bartók first let on that he had written his Rhapsody No. 1—initially for violin and piano—when he wrote to his friend, violinist Joseph Szigeti in the autumn of 1928: “I simply have to talk to you. . . . I have written a minor (12-minute) composition for you (based on folk dances); and I want to talk to you about one or two points.” The same year Bartók wrote his Second Rhapsody for violin, which as it turns out was composed almost simultaneously with No. 1. The Second he offered to Zoltán Székely, a gifted young violinist who became the first violinist of the Hungarian Quartet. In his two Rhapsodies Bartók used many of the authentic folk tunes he had spent years collecting. In a long letter in 1931 to Romanian diplomat and music historian Octavian Beu, who was preparing a radio program about the composer, Bartók wrote: “The two Rhapsodies contain folk melodies from various sources. I intentionally did not indicate any source here, so I restrict myself to saying to you that No. 1 uses Romanian and Hungarian melodies, No. 2 Romanian, Hungarian, and Ruthenian.” Enterprising scholars have identified some of the melodies he used from his great collection entitled Romanian Folk Songs. Like his predecessor and compatriot Liszt, Bartók associated the rhapsody with typical folk improvisations consisting of two sections, lassú (slow) and friss (brisk or lively), and adapted the freely ornamented style, accompanimental figurations, and instrumental colors. Both first movements feature a characteristic short-long Hungarian rhythm—similar to the “Scotch snap” but probably unrelated. In the First Rhapsody Bartók went so far as to include the cimbalom (a Gypsy hammer-dulcimer-like instrument) in his orchestration, which he imitates in the original piano accompaniment. Bartók once admitted to his mother that there was something to be said for music that was pleasing and would make money by being played “a great many times, on the radio, etc.” To this end he made his Rhapsodies playable in as many ways as possible. Although both were initially written for violin with piano accompaniment, he transcribed them almost immediately for violin and orchestra. He also transcribed No. 1 for cello and piano—the version played here—which Pablo Casals played all over the world. Additionally, Bartók stated that each section (lassú or friss) of either Rhapsody could be performed separately. Curiously, not Szigeti but Székely premiered the First Rhapsody with the composer at the piano on March 4, 1929, in London. Szigeti, did, however, premiere the orchestral version in Königsberg on November 1, 1929, Hermann Scherchen conducting. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

ABOUT THE 2008-2009 SEASON 2008-2009 SEASON Artist Roster Parlance Program Notes LOCATION At West Side Presbyterian Church 6 South Monroe Street Ridgewood, NJ 07450 For map and directions, click here . CONCERT AMENITIES Whee lchair Accessible Fr e e Parking for all concerts

ERIKA BAIKOFF, SOPRANO Russian American Soprano, Erika Baikoff, is a recent graduate of the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. As a Lindemann Young Artist, she sang the roles of Xenia in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov and Barbarina in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro . At Maestro Nézet-Séguin's invitation, she joined the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra's tour of Das Rheingold and was featured as the soprano soloist in Mahler's 4th Symphony with Maestro Rustioni and the Ulster Orchestra. Equally passionate about chamber music, she made her debuts with Schubertíada and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, both of which she will return to in future seasons. The 2023/2024 season includes debuts with the Houston Grand Opera, London Symphony Orchestra, and Ciclo de Lied. From 2018 to 2020, Erika was a member of the Opéra National de Lyon Studio, where her roles included Le Feu/ Princesse/ Rossignol in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges , Juliet in Boris Blacher’s Romeo and Juliet , Anna in Verdi’s Nabucco, and the soprano solo in Mahler's 4th Symphony. Erika is the first prize winner of the 2019 Helmut Deutsch Liedwettbewerb and the 10th Concours international de chant-piano Nadia et Lili Boulanger with her duo partner, Gary Beecher. Other awards include the 6th Prize, Oratorio-Lied Prize, and Schubert Prize at the Tenor Viñas Contest, George London Award, Sullivan Foundation Career Development Grant, 2020 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Semi-finalist, Career Bridges Grant, Mondavi Young Artist Founders’ Prize, and the Bouchaine Young Artist Scholarship. Erika is an alumni of the Atelier Lyrique at the Verbier Festival, where she sang Musetta in Puccini’s La Bohème, and the Académie Vocal Residency of the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in French Studies from Princeton University and a Master of Music from The Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

December 18, 2016: Mariko Anraku, harp; David Chan, concertmaster; Catherine Ro, violin; Dov Scheindlin, viola; Rafael Figueroa, cello CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862-1918) Danse sacrée et profane December 18, 2016: Mariko Anraku, harp; David Chan, concertmaster; Catherine Ro, violin; Dov Scheindlin, viola; Rafael Figueroa, cello Please refer also to the “private little war” in the notes for Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro. The customary double-action harp is fashioned with seven pedals, which can make each of the seven notes of the diatonic scale either flat, natural, or sharp. In 1897 the famous Paris instrument-making firm of Pleyel introduced a new chromatic harp, which contained a string for every half step, thus almost doubling the number of strings. In 1903 Pleyel invited Debussy to compose a test piece, which was to be used for a class that was being initiated in the new instrument at the Brussels Conservatory. The resulting work, Deux danses (Danse sacrée et profane ), for harp and string orchestra has long since become a beloved part of the repertoire, while the chromatic harp has become a museum piece. The work is now played on the double-action harp, a possibility Debussy had allowed for on the title page; he also transcribed it for two pianos. Debussy used the collective title Danses for the work, which contains two movements, both in triple meter and A-B-A form. The slow Danse sacrée was suggested to Debussy by a piano piece by his friend, composer and conductor Francisco de Lacerda, but also owes something to Erik Satie’s Gymnopédies , of which Debussy was fond enough to transcribe two for orchestra. A vague ritualistic atmosphere, imparted by its slow-moving modal sonorities, often in parallel octaves, accounts for the title “sacred dance.” Similarly, the suggestion of a lilting waltz, rather than any specific pagan scene, gives rise to the title Danse profane . © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

SARAH CROCKER VONSATTEL, VIOLIN Violinist Sarah Crocker Vonsattel has been a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since 2008. She previously held positions in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Colorado Symphony. Sarah has appeared as soloist with the musicians of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Syracuse Symphony, and the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, among others. Recent performances include appearances at Lake Tahoe Summerfest, the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series, the Bronxville Chamber Music Series, Downtown Music at Grace Church, the New Marlborough House Concerts, and the Syracuse Society for New Music. As a founding member of the Verklärte Quartet, Sarah was a Grand Prize Winner of the 2003 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, leading to concert tours in the U.S. and Italy with this ensemble. A proponent of new music, Sarah has appeared with the iO string quartet and the Talea Ensemble and can be heard on the Bridge Records label performing the music of Poul Ruders and Tod Machover. She has appeared as both performer and faculty member at festivals including the Orfeo International Music Festival (Italy), the Wellesley Composers Conference (Massachusetts), and the Musical Friends Academy (Tunisia). She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she was a student of David Updegraff, and a Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School, where she studied with Ronald Copes and Naoko Tanaka. In her spare time, she enjoys distance running and traveling.

September 29, 2024: Edward Arron, Carter Brey, Rafael Figueroa, and Zvi Plesser, cellos Georg Goltermann (1824-1898) Serenade Op. 119, No. 2 for four cellos September 29, 2024: Edward Arron, Carter Brey, Rafael Figueroa, and Zvi Plesser, cellos Following cello studies in Hanover with August Christian Prell (student of Romberg), Georg Goltermann studied in Munich with Joseph Menter and soon embarked on a short career as a touring virtuoso. Having also studied composition with Ignaz Lachner, Goltermann began receiving recognition for his compositions such as his Symphony in A and his First Cello Concerto. He stopped touring in 1852 to become music director in Würzburg, but he left just one year later for Frankfurt where he served briefly as assistant music director before rising to principal music director in 1874. Goltermann’s prolific body of work went on to include further orchestral pieces, seven more cello concertos, myriad songs—many with cello and piano accompaniment—and dozens of character pieces for cello and piano. He is best remembered for his cello concertos (No. 4 in particular), which continue to be valued as effective teaching tools, and—owing to the huge popularity of ensemble music for multiple cellos—his Deux morceaux (Romance and Serenade) for four cellos, op. 119. The work was first published in 1895 and dedicated to cellist Ferdinand Forino, professor at the newly founded Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome. Of the two lush, lyrical pieces—Romance and Serenade—we hear the second, a luxurious A-B-A form in which the contrasting center section explores some colorful harmonic inflections before settling back into the opening music. —©Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

PETER FRANCIS JAMES, NARRATOR Peter Francis James is an acclaimed American actor and voice-over artist whose career spans stage, screen, and television. He made his professional debut in 1979 in Coriolanus , appearing alongside Earle Hyman and Morgan Freeman. From 2000 to 2020, he taught Shakespeare at the Yale School of Drama, nurturing the next generation of classical actors. James is a two-time Obie Award winner: first for his performance as Claire in Jean Genet’s The Maids , and again for his portrayal of Colin Powell in David Hare’s Stuff Happens , which also earned him Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Awards. He played Oscar opposite Dame Maggie Smith in Edward Albee’s The Lady from Dubuque at London’s Theatre Royal Haymarket, later reprising the role opposite Jane Alexander in New York. On television, James is widely recognized for his role as Raymond Parks in The Rosa Parks Story (2002), and for his recurring performances as Judge Kevin Beck on Law & Order: SVU and as Jahfree Neema in HBO’s Oz . Other TV credits include Gossip Girl , Third Watch , Law & Order , Criminal Intent , and Guiding Light , where he played Clayton Boudreau. His film and television movie appearances include Double Platinum , Long Day’s Journey into Night (1982), and Hamlet (1990), directed by Kevin Kline. He portrayed Thurgood Marshall in PBS’s American Experience: Simple Justice (1993) and played Isaac Coles in the miniseries The Wedding (1998).

March 19, 2023 – Rachel Naomi Kudo, piano JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) Chorale Prelude “Ich ruf zu Dir, Herr Jesu Christ”, BWV 639 (arr. Busoni) March 19, 2023 – Rachel Naomi Kudo, piano Our discussion of the present three Bach transcriptions must begin with Ferrucio Busoni, who was Egon Petri’s teacher. As a youth Busoni adored Bach above all other composers, a passion that endured throughout his life. He not only drew on Bach’s music for inspiration in his own works but he issued a monumental edition of Bach’s solo keyboard works transcribed for piano—a twenty-five volume collection plus a seven-volume set—aided by his students Egon Petri and Bruno Mugellini. So synonymous did Bach and Busoni become in the public’s mind that on Busoni’s first American tour his wife Gerda was once introduced by a society matron as “Mrs. Bach-Busoni.” This anecdote was related by Petri, a superb German pianist of Dutch descent, who began studying with Busoni in Weimar in 1901. Petri eventually settled in the United States, taught at Mills College, and authored many Bach transcriptions at Busoni’s behest. Busoni issued his Bach edition in two collections: the twenty-five-volume Klavierwerke, and the seven-volume Bach-Busoni edition. Although Busoni’s name appears on each volume of the Klavierwerke, many were edited by Petri and a few by Bruno Mugellini. Petri had expected Busoni to supervise his and Mugellini’s editorial work and they strove to operate under his principles and to emulate his style, yet Busoni concerned himself very little with reading their proofs, much to Petri’s surprise. Busoni strove to remain true to the essence of Bach’s music in his transcriptions, but inevitably his own Romantic sensibilities crept in with his addition of tempo and pedal markings, dynamics, register changes, repeats, and performance suggestions. Nevertheless, these transcriptions are rewarding additions to the piano repertoire. Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ—which appears as No. 5 in Busoni’s collection of Ten Chorale Preludes (1898) and No. 41 (BWV 639) in Bach’s Orgel-Büchlein (Little Organ Book)—has become a favorite of pianists and audiences for its poignant serenity. Flowing arpeggios in the middle voice accompany the tender, mostly unadorned chorale melody, supported by a steady “walking bass.” Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme is actually Busoni’s transcription of what was already a transcription by Bach himself. In 1731 Bach had composed the fourth movement of his Cantata 140 (Wachet auf) in chorale-prelude style with tenor(s) taking the chorale melody, surrounded by a a lyrical countermelody for upper strings in unison and supported by continuo (bass line and harmony). Thus it was a simple task to transfer all three parts to organ, which he did in BWV 645, one of a group of six late works that became known as the “Schübler Chorales” after their publication by Johann Georg Schübler in 1748–49. Busoni’s transcription for piano, No. 2 in his Ten Chorale Preludes, maintains the lilting flow in the upper line against the steady chorale in the middle voice. Turning to the first piece of the group of transcriptions, Egon Petri arranged his version of Schafe können sicher weiden (Sheep may safely graze) not from a chorale preude by Bach but rather a soprano aria from Cantata 208 Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd! (What pleases me is above all the lively hunt). Bach wrote secular cantatas for aristocratic patrons to celebrate special occasions such as birthdays, name days, and accession days, or for academic ceremonies, and he composed Cantata 208 on a text by Weimar court poet Salomo Franck for the birthday of Duke Christian Weissenfels in 1713. Known as the Hunt Cantata, it contains “Schafe können sicher weiden,” the well-known aria for Pales, second soprano to Diana, goddess of the hunt. For centuries listeners have been captivated by its texture of rocking parallel thirds for two flutes—the quintessential pastoral instrument—accompanying the tender main melody, which praises Duke Christian for ruling his people as a good shepherd. The lovely aria has been transcribed for countless times for various performing forces, among the first—Percy Grainger’s for band (1931), Mary Howe’s for solo piano and two pianos (1935), and William Walton’s for orchestra (1940). Egon Petri’s transcription, published in 1944 has become the best-known transcription for piano. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

CATHERINE RO, VIOLIN Catherine Ro, violinist in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, has established herself as an active chamber musician, soloist, and recitalist. Her concerts have taken her all around the globe to such countries as Russia, Finland, Lithuania, Spain, France, China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea. Ms. Ro made her debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Since then, she has performed with various other orchestras including the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra, Palo Alto Philharmonic, Diablo Symphony, Los Angeles Youth Orchestra, and the Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra at Tanglewood. In addition, she has performed at Carnegie Hall with the MET Chamber Ensemble under James Levine. Ms. Ro received her Bachelor and Master degrees from the Juilliard School, where she was the recipient of the Gluck Fellowship Award, as well as scholarships from the Starling Foundation and the Dorothy DeLay scholarship, given to one violinist per year. While at Juilliard, she studied with Dorothy DeLay, Masao Kawasaki, and the late Felix Galimir. Ms. Ro was a teaching fellow and assistant to Dorothy DeLay both at the Juilliard School and the Aspen Music Festival. She has also been on the faculty of the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra Chamber Music Workshop. Ms. Ro resides in the New York City area with her husband, violinist David Chan, and their children Annalise, Micah, and Arianna.