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November 19, 2017: Los Angeles Guitar Quartet PHILLIP HOUGHTON Opals November 19, 2017: Los Angeles Guitar Quartet Phillip Houghton (b. 1954) is one of the most recorded and influential Australian guitars composers. His work expresses a distinctly Australian aesthetic, reflecting the country’s vast landscapes and mystical “dreamtime” Aboriginal legends. He is famously a synesthete, wherein he sees very specific colors when he hears musical tones and timbres. “Opals” (1993, revised 2014) is a three-movement work for guitar quartet, and it attempts to capture the myriad glints and sparkles emanated by Australia’s opalescent national gemstone. In the score, there are detailed notes describing the particular colors and sheens that the music attempts to evoke. The composer provided the following notes for each movement: Rather than being pitch-black, the Black Opal is a stone of fantastic colour. Electric reds, purples, blues and greens of every shade predominate and refract and collide, in a fiery rainbow of splinters of brilliant light against a dark matrix. One could say that the opal is “made” from water, and, in the “Water Opal” movement, I imagined a kaleidoscope of colour in and against a transparent “water matrix”…colours floating, bleeding into each other. Against a white matrix the lighter colours of the White Opal are brilliant and translucent. Evident in this stone is what is called “pinfire” (glittering points of red and green) and the “rolling flash” (which describes the effect of layers of colour which, ripple abruptly and sparkle through the stone when the stone is moved). © William Kanengiser Return to Parlance Program Notes

HUGO VALVERDE, HORN Hugo Valverde carries an orchestral and solo career in the United States and his native Costa Rica as a French horn player, currently holding the position of Second Horn with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since 2017. As an orchestra player he has performed with the Costa Rican National Symphony Orchestra, the Classical Tahoe Festival Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Americas, The Pacific Music Festival Orchestra and The Philadelphia Orchestra. In his role as a soloist he performed Richard Strauss’ Concerto No. 1 with the Lynn Philharmonia Orchestra under Guillermo Figueroa and he premiered the piece “Tributo al Ciudadano Pablo” by Marvin Camacho with the Heredia Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica under Josué Jiménez. The piece is written and dedicated to him by the composer and it reflects Hugo Valverde’s commitment to Latin American repertoire, having performed and premiered in concert pieces by Manuel Matarrita, and other Latin American composers. He often performs chamber music concerts with his colleagues of the, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at the Carnegie Hall Concert Series (Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble) at Weill Recital Hall and also with the woodwind quintet “Quinteto de Luz” in Costa Rica. Mr. Valverde studied at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, Lynn University Conservatory of Music and the National Music Institute of Costa Rica. His main teachers are Luis Murillo, Gregory Miller and William VerMeulen. In his spare time, Hugo enjoys cycling in Central Park and his native Barva, in Costa Rica, and is a coffee lover.

SUNDAY, MAY 3, 2020 AT 3 PM PAUL HUANG AND DANBI UM, VIOLINS JUHO POHJONEN, PIANO BUY TICKETS DANBI UM, VIOLIN “Danbi Um’s playing is utterly dazzling…a marvelous show of superb technique” — The Strad JUHO POHJONEN, PIANO “Juho Pohjonen demonstrated his elegant musicianship, pearly touch, singing tone, and sensitivity throughout the program…everything about his recital was formidable” — The New York Times PAUL HUANG, VIOLIN FEATURING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS Three of today’s most scintillating young will join forces in an eclectic program of rarely performed masterpieces. The concert will include exhilarating works by Beethoven, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Pablo Sarasate, and a specially commissioned trio by the award-winning young American composer Chris Rogerson. PROGRAM Erich Wolfgang Korngold Suite from Much Ado about Nothing , Op. 11 Danbi Um, violin; Juho Pohjonen, piano Program Notes Moritz Moszkowski Suite for two violins and piano , Op. 71 Program Notes Ludwig van Beethoven Violin Sonata No. 8 in G Major, Op. 30, No. 3 Paul Huang, violin; Juho Pohjonen Program Notes Chris Rogerson New Work for two violins and piano Program Notes Amy Barlowe Hebrew Elegy for two violins Paul Huang and Danbi Um, violins Program Notes Pablo Sarasate Navarra, Op. 33 for two violins and piano Program Notes Watch violinists Paul Huang and Danbi Um perform Sarasate’s Navarra: Watch pianist Juho Pohjonen play Rameau’s Keyboard Suite No. 2:

PAUL HUANG, VIOLIN Recipient of the prestigious 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the 2017 Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists, violinist Paul Huang is quickly gaining attention for his eloquent music making, distinctive sound, and effortless virtuosity. The Washington Post proclaimed Mr. Huang as “an artist with the goods for a significant career” following his recital debut at the Kennedy Center. His recent and forthcoming engagements include his recital debut at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland as well as solo appearances with the Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev (St. Petersburg’s White Nights Festival), Berliner Symphoniker with Lior Shambadal (Philharmonie Berlin debut), Detroit Symphony with Leonard Slatkin, Houston Symphony with Andres Orozco-Estrada, Orchestra of St. Luke’s with Carlos Miguel Prieto, Seoul Philharmonic with Markus Stenz, and Taipei Symphony with Gilbert Varga (both in Taipei and on a U.S. tour). This season, he will also be making his Chicago orchestral debut at the Grant Park Music Festival, as well as appearances with the Buffalo Philharmonic and with the Baltimore, Alabama, Pacific, Santa Barbara, Charlotte, and Taiwan’s National Symphony Orchestras. During the 2018-19 season, Mr. Huang will make debuts at the Hong Kong Chamber Music Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and return to the Palm Beach Chamber Music Society with the Emerson String Quartet and pianist Gilles Vonsattel for a performance of the Chausson Concerto for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet. In addition, Mr. Huang continues his association with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Camerata Pacifica where he will present all three violin sonatas by Johannes Brahms. Mr. Huang’s recent recital engagements included Lincoln Center’s “Great Performers” series and return enagagement at the Kennedy Center where he premiered Conrad Tao’s “Threads of Contact” for Violin and Piano during his recital evening with pianist Orion Weiss. He also stepped in for Midori with Leonard Slatkin and the Detroit Symphony to critical acclaim. Mr. Huang has also made debuts at the Wigmore Hall, Seoul Arts Center, and the Louvre in Paris. His first solo CD, Intimate Inspiration, is a collection of favorite virtuoso and romantic encore pieces released on the CHIMEI label. In association with Camerata Pacifica, he recorded “Four Songs of Solitude” for solo violin on their album of John Harbison works. The album was released on the Harmonia Mundi label in fall 2014. A frequent guest artist at music festivals worldwide, he has performed at the Seattle, Music@Menlo, Caramoor, Bridgehampton, La Jolla, Moritzburg, Kissinger Sommer, Sion, Orford Musique, and the Great Mountains Music Festival in Korea. His collaborators have included Gil Shaham, Cho-Liang Lin, Nobuko Imai, Lawrence Power, Maxim Rysanov, Mischa Maisky, Jian Wang, Frans Helmerson, Lynn Harrell, Yefim Bronfman, and Marc-Andre Hamelin. Winner of the 2011 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Mr. Huang made critically acclaimed recital debuts in New York and in Washington, D.C. at the Kennedy Center. Other honors include First Prize at the 2009 International Violin Competition Sion-Valais (Tibor Varga) in Switzerland, the 2009 Chi-Mei Cultural Foundation Arts Award for Taiwan’s Most Promising Young Artists, the 2013 Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant, and the 2014 Classical Recording Foundation Young Artist Award. Born in Taiwan, Mr. Huang began violin lessons at the age of seven. He is a proud recipient of the inaugural Kovner Fellowship at The Juilliard School, where he earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees under Hyo Kang and I-Hao Lee. He plays on the 1742 ex-Wieniawski Guarneri del Gesù on loan through the generous efforts of the Stradivari Society of Chicago.

OLIVER NEUBAUER, VIOLIN Violinist Oliver Neubauer is a senior at The Dalton School, a student of Li Lin at The Juilliard Pre-College, and a student of Itzhak Perlman, Catherine Cho, and Sean Lee at the Perlman Music Program. In September, 2018, Oliver will attend the Juilliard School as a proud recipient of the Kovner Fellowship in the studios of Itzhak Perlman and Li Lin. Concerts this season include performances with the Symphony of Westchester (as a winner of their 2017 Young Artist Competition), YoungArts Week 2018 (as a winner of the 2018 YoungArts Competition), Neue Galerie (NYC), American Museum of Natural History, Great Performers Series (Palm Beach), Weill Recital Hall, Paul Hall, and the Asian Cultural Center. Oliver was a winner of the 2017 Young Musicians Competition at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, a Young Performer at the Music@Menlo Chamber Music Institute, and a member of the New York Youth Symphony Chamber Music Program. In May, 2013 Oliver made his Lincoln Center debut at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Young Ensembles Concert . In addition, Oliver has performed at Summerfest La Jolla, Music@Menlo, Mostly Music Series, NJ, Lake Champlain Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, Brooklyn Chamber Music Society, Music from Angel Fire, and Art in Avila in Curaçao. In 2013, Oliver made his debut with the New York Philharmonic as the narrator for Britten’s Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra. Oliver is also a competitive chess player, participating in dozens of national tournaments. Oliver was the recipient of a Scholastic Art & Writing Silver Key Award and was a National Merit Scholarship Program Semi-Finalist. As the recipient of a Gold Award from YoungArts, Oliver is currently a Semi-Finalist candidate for a 2018 Presidential Scholar in the Arts Award.

2009-2010 SEASON 2009-2010 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: Kevin Zhu, violin; Albert Cano Smit, piano JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897) Sonata in A, Op. 100 for violin and piano May 21, 2023: Kevin Zhu, violin; Albert Cano Smit, piano Brahms composed the A major Violin Sonata during the summer of 1886 in idyllic Hofstetten, Switzerland. That summer he eagerly anticipated the visit of Hermine Spies, the young contralto for whom he wrote many of his late songs. He noted that the Sonata’s second theme quotes one of the songs he wrote with her in mind, “Wie Melodien zieht es mir” (As if melodies were moving), op. 105, no. 1. Commentators have also linked “Komm bald” (Come soon), op. 97, no. 6, with this movement and found references in the finale to two other Opus 105 songs, “Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer” (My slumber grows more and more peaceful)—which climaxes with the same words, “Komm’, O komme bald”—and “Auf dem Kirchhofe” (In the churchyard). Brahms’s friend Elisabet von Herzogenberg was moved to characterize the entire A major Sonata as “a caress.” As was his custom, Brahms himself participated in the premiere of the Sonata on December 2, 1886, with violinist Joseph Hellmesberger, leader of the Hellmesberger Quartet and enthusiastic supporter of the composer. The performance occurred a little over a week after Brahms had accompanied Hermine in her Viennese debut recital. The first movement breathes the kind of lyricism associated with Brahms’s songs whether or not one hears the specific allusions. It is the second theme in this sonata form that recalls his lovely “Wie Melodien,” borrowing the first phrase only, which Brahms varies rhythmically and gives a new continuation. The tune reappears in the recapitulation and furnishes the violin’s last utterance to close the coda. The second movement combines a slow movement and scherzo in alternating sections, in a manner similar to the middle movement of the F major Quintet. Each returning section brings a subtle variation of its former appearance. Brahms marked the finale “Allegretto grazioso quasi Andante” in order to achieve a non-hurried, graceful atmosphere. The climactic phrase “Come, o come soon” (from “Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer”) can be detected in the rondo theme. The first contrasting episode introduces a haze of arpeggiated chords rather than a “tune” before the rondo refrain returns, but the second episode sounds more traditionally songful. A variation of the first theme returns in the coda, extended by warm double stops in the home key. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

February 9, 2025: The Virtuoso Cellist, with Steven Isserlis and Connie Shih Bohuslav Martinů (1809-1959) Cello Sonata No. 1 February 9, 2025: The Virtuoso Cellist, with Steven Isserlis and Connie Shih The life circumstances of Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů made him an exile twice—first by choice, then by force; he ultimately became a wanderer. In 1923 he won a small scholarship to study in Paris and ended up making the French capital his home for seventeen years. Blacklisted by the Nazis, he and his wife were forced to flee in 1940, arriving in New York in 1941 after a series of delays. Never entirely comfortable in the United States, Martinů spent the seven years following World War II in and out of the country, unable to accept a position in 1946 in Czechoslovakia owing to a slow recovery from a bad fall and other personal considerations. With the help of a Guggenheim fellowship he relocated to Paris in 1953, then lived briefly in Nice, later in Italy, and twice more in the US, not to mention many shorter sojourns in various places. He finally “settled” in Switzerland, where he died in 1959. Martinů had been living in Paris for fifteen years by the time he wrote the First Cello Sonata in May 1939. Tension had gripped Europe with the Nazis’ rise to power, and his Czech homeland had been invaded just weeks before. Further, Martinů was in the midst of a personal crisis over his intense extramarital affair with young composer and conductor Vítězslava Kaprálová. Though works of art do not necessarily coincide with biographic events, the Sonata’s angularities, laments, and bristling drive have often been described as reflective of this stressful time in Martinů’s life. The composer dedicated the Sonata to French cellist Pierre Fournier, who gave the premiere with pianist Rudolf Firkušny, a fellow Czech exile, in Paris on May 19, 1940. Just nine days earlier Germany had invaded France, which prompted Martinů to look back on the concert as “a last greeting, a beam of light from a better world. . . . For several minutes we realized what music could give us and we forgot about reality.” The following month he and his wife Charlotte fled to the south of France and then to New York. Much of the first movement swings along like a dance, but its dark hues have suggested a danse macabre to several commentators. Martinů opts for an almost Neoclassic sonata form, the main exception being the coda’s expansive proportions and its introduction of new material that seems to challenge returning materials. In the impassioned slow movement, Martinů features an icily searching piano theme contrasted by a beautifully haunting cello melody. A great climax builds in the central section before the pathos of the opening cello melody returns. A series of piano chords and cello pizzicato evoke an eerie twinkling atmosphere that then sinks back into the opening lament. Propulsive energy permeates the final sonata-form movement. Martinů provides contrast to his driven main theme with a swinging, lighthearted second theme, but the rhythmic vigor builds up again almost immediately. The development grows ever more insistent and the recap and coda only magnify the perpetual motion to the final triumphant C major chord. —©Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

2016-2017 SEASON Dear Friends, Welcome to the exciting 10th-Anniversary Season of Parlance Chamber Concerts ! Twenty-six exceptional artists will grace our stage in seven celebratory events. 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 . On October 30 , New York City’s “Musical Power Couple,” cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han , will join Emerson Quartet violinist Philip Setzer for an afternoon of favorite piano trios. Shostakovich ’s youthfully ardent C-minor trio, composed at 17, was inspired by his first love, Tanya. Beethoven ’s Trio in E-flat, Op. 1, No. 1, was the publishing debut of the supremely confident 25-year-old genius who already sensed his power to permanently alter the musical landscape. The program will conclude with the 30-year-old Schubert ’s profound Trio in E-flat Major, the soulful outpouring of the still-young composer who knew he was nearing the end of his much-too-short life. On November 20 , the internationally celebrated pianist Jonathan Biss will partner with the incomparable principal string players of the New York Philharmonic : concertmaster Frank Huang , principal associate concertmaster Sheryl Staples , principal violist Cynthia Phelps , and principal cellist Carter Brey . Their “English-speaking” program will include Dvořák ‘s luminous American Quartet , Gershwin ’s charming Lullaby , and Elgar ’s lushly romantic quintet for piano and strings. On December 18 , The Met Orchestra’s exquisite harpists , Mariko Anraku and Emmanuel Ceysson , will join forces with seven principal players of the Met Orchestra for a celestial afternoon of music making. Their alluring program will include duos and ensemble works featuring the harp by Debussy and Ravel and engaging new music by the award-winning, Ridgewood-based composers Melinda Wagner * and Gilad Cohen *. On February 26 , the legendary pianist Emanuel Ax will grace our stage for the first time. Hailed the world over as one of the paramount musical artists of our age, he will offer a ruminative set of Impromptus by Schubert , Chopin , and the young American composer Samuel Adams , followed by his signature interpretation of Chopin’s great Sonata in B minor . This dramatic work ranges across a panoramic musical terrain, at times majestic, at times tragic, culminating in the tour-de-force finale regarded as one of the most technically daring movements in the entire piano repertoire. On March 26 , the elegant Jerusalem String Quartet will make its Parlance debut. Strad Magazine characterized this ensemble in glowing terms, saying, “Superlatives are inadequate in describing just how fine this playing was from one of the young, yet great quartets of our time .” The first half of their program will have an undercurrent of Hungarian passion as they perform Beethoven ’s gripping, Gypsy-inflected C-minor string quartet and Bartók ’s darkly musing second quartet. After intermission, Dvořák ’s last string quartet in G major brings the afternoon to a jubilant, sunlit resolution. On April 23 , Parlance’s 10th-anniversary season will arrive at a celebratory conclusion with the return of the Met’s ravishing mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard , one of the most charismatic and fast-rising vocal stars of our time. Her sold-out Parlance debut in 2014-15 was one of the highlights of our past seasons. Isabel will be joined by the masterful collaborative pianist Warren Jones , a great favorite of our audience since his debut appearance in the winter of 2008. Don’t miss this glittering final event of Parlance Chamber Concert’s 10th-Anniversary season! Michael Parloff *Melinda Wagner is a Pulitzer Prize winner. Her Trombone Concerto was recently premiered by the NY Philharmonic, and she is currently working on a piece for the Chicago Symphony. *Gilad Cohen, a professor at Ramapo College, is a Princeton Ph.D. and the winner of the 2010 Israeli Prime Minister Award for Composers. Programs and artists are subject to change. 2016-2017 SEASON SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 Jason Vieaux, guitar; Escher String Quartet OCTOBER 30, 2016 Philip Setzer, violin; David Finckel, cello; Wu Han, piano NOVEMBER 20, 2016 Jonathan Biss, piano, and the Principal strings of the NY Philharmonic DECEMBER 18, 2016 Mariko Anraku, harp; Emmanuel Ceysson, harp; Leading members of the Met Orchestra FEBRUARY 26, 2017 Emanuel Ax, piano MARCH 26, 2017 Jerusalem String Quartet APRIL 23, 2017 Isabel Leonard, mezzo-soprano; Warren Jones, 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

May 6, 2018: Oliver Neubauer, violin; Anne-Marie McDermott, piano MAURICE RAVEL (1875-1937) Tzigane, rapsodie de concert May 6, 2018: Oliver Neubauer, violin; Anne-Marie McDermott, piano On one of his many performing tours to England, Ravel attended a private soiree in 1922 at which Hungarian violin virtuoso Jelly d’Arányi played the composer’s Duo with cellist Hans Kindler. As the evening progressed Ravel asked her to play a Gypsy melody, then another, until the party finally broke up at five o’clock in the morning. Though that occasion planted the seed for his Tzigane, rapsodie de concert (Gypsy, concert rhapsody), it took another two years for him to complete the piece because of numerous intervening projects such as his opera L’enfant et les sortilèges (The child and the sorceries). As it turns out, Ravel completed the brilliant, challenging Tzigane just days before Arányi and pianist Henri Gil-Marchex were to premiere it on April 26, 1924, in London. Her sensational performance dazzled the audience and critics—all but one, who expressed confusion over whether the composer was parodying Hungarian Gypsy violin music or launching a new style with more warmth than his previous works had shown. On November 24 that year Arányi also premiered Ravel’s orchestrated version, this time in Paris with Gabriel Pierné conducting the Concerts Colonne orchestra. While Ravel had been working on Tzigane he had sought technical advice from his violinist friend Hélène Jourdan-Morhange. “Come quickly,” he telegrammed her, “and bring the Paganini Caprices with you.” This speaks volumes about the kinds of feats expected of the violinist in this one-movement piece. The colorful but spare orchestral accompaniment prominently features the harp ingeniously combined with the solo violin. The opening “cadenza” for the unaccompanied violin sounds improvisatory and declamatory, beginning, in the instrument’s sultry lowest range and progressing through slides, trills, octave passages, and harmonics, all the while calling for the kinds of changes and bending of tempo so characteristic of Gypsy music. Toward the end of the cadenza the accompaniment sneaks in quietly but with an unexpected harmony. The violin and piano together launch the dancelike main section of the piece, which varies ideas from the cadenza and introduces two new themes—a sprightly patter first given to the piano and a swaggering theme marked “grandiose.” Ravel creates an effect of humorous suspense by slamming on the brakes several times during his brilliant drive to the close. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

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