SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2017 AT 3 PM DANCES, ROMANCES, AND MENDELSSOHN’S OCTET BUY TICKETS RAFAEL FIGUEROA, CELLO Principal Cello, Met Orchestra MARK HOLLOWAY, VIOLA “Warm and intimacy.” — Neue Zürcher Zeitung PAUL NEUBAUER, VIOLA “A master musician.” — The New York Times MICHAEL BROWN, PIANO “Formidable pianist” — The New York Times DANBI UM, VIOLIN “Danbi Um’s playing is utterly dazzling…a marvelous show of superb technique” — The Strad ARNAUD SUSSMANN, VIOLIN “Beauty of sound and elegance.” — Nice Matin SEAN LEE, VIOLIN “Breathtakingly beautiful.” — The New York Times EMILY DAGGETT SMITH, VIOLIN “Irrepressible élan.” — The Seattle Times MIHAI MARICA, CELLO “Stunning Performance” — New York Times FEATURING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS Parlance Chamber Concerts’s gala opener will showcase nine dazzling artists in scintillating dances and soulful romances by Beethoven, Fauré, Saint-Saëns, Falla, and others . The afternoon will climax with their collaboration in Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet for strings , the 16-year-old composer’s miraculous melding of youthful exuberance and sovereign musical command. PROGRAM Frédéric Chopin Valse Brilliante in A flat, Op. 34, No. 1 for piano Program Notes Gabriel Fauré Romance in B flat, Op. 28 for violin and piano Program Notes Gaspar Cassadó Sardana and Jota from Suite for solo cello Program Notes Ludwig van Beethoven Romance in F, Op. 50 for violin and piano Program Notes Jenö Hubay Scenes de la Csarda, No. 3, Op. 18 for violin and piano Program Notes Félicien David La Nuit (arr. Vieuxtemps) for viola and piano Program Notes Manuel de Falla Danse Espagnole from La Vida Breve for violin and piano Program Notes Camille Saint-Saëns Romance, Op. 36 for cello and piano Program Notes Hermann Schulenburg Gypsy Romance and Csardas for viola and piano Program Notes Felix Mendelssohn Octet in E-flat, Op. 20 for strings Program Notes Arnaud Sussmann, violin; Michael Stephen Brown, piano: Fauré - Romance in B-flat, Op. 28: Hear violist Paul Neubauer and pianist Wu Han perform Valdez’s Gypsy Serenade:

October 17, 2021: Adam Barnett-Hart, violin; Brook Speltz, cello; Roman Rabinovich, piano JOSEPH HAYDN (1732-1809) Piano Trio in G, Hob. XV: 25 (“Gypsy”) October 17, 2021: Adam Barnett-Hart, violin; Brook Speltz, cello; Roman Rabinovich, piano Ethnomusicology—the comparative study of musics of the world, music as part of culture, and music of oral tradition—has only been considered a formal scholarly discipline since the 1880s. Yet the study of non-Western music dates back to the Renaissance with occasional flowerings in subsequent periods. Liszt in the Romantic period, for example, published The Gypsies and Their Music in Hungary (1859). In this context Haydn’s “ethnomusicological” activities in the Classic era prove intriguing. Haydn biographer Giuseppe Carpani (plagiarized by Stendhal in his well-known Haydn biography, translated in 1817 by William Gardiner) reported: Some years after Haydn’s establishment at Eisenstadt, when he had formed his style, he sought food for his imagination, by diligently collecting those ancient and original airs, which are to be found among the peoples of every country. The Ukraine, Hungary, Scotland, Germany, Sicily, Spain, Russia were laid under contribution by him. Though this passage confuses Haydn’s arrangements of folk tunes for British publishers with his other real use of folk tunes, it does speak to Haydn’s genuine interest in folk song. He was particularly interested in Hungarian-Gypsy lore (and their food!), a natural result of the geographical position of Esterháza in Hungary. The Esterházys’ appreciation of Hungarian-Gypsy folk music is reflected in an engraving made in 1791 from a drawing by Carl Schütz of an elaborate ceremony at the Esterházy castle that includes a Gypsy band playing off to the side. Haydn’s love of Hungarian-Gypsy melodies manifests itself from the 1760s through the 1790s. Haydn made no distinction (as in Bartók’s later painstaking work) between Hungarian and Gypsy music, using the label “Rondo all’ongarese” in his D major Piano Concerto (c. 1780) and “Rondo, in the Gypsies’ stile” (so-labeled in the authentic Longman & Broderip print) in the present G major Trio (1795). Hungarian scholar Ervin Major noted that the folk tunes Haydn used in his Finale are of particular significance for the history of Hungarian music: the dance melodies woven into [the Trio] belong to our earliest hitherto known recruiting [verbunkos] dances: among our more notable records, only the Hungarian dances of József Bengráf (1790) and four Hungarian dances in the ‘Hadi és más Nevezetes Történetek’ are of an earlier date. Bibliographic details on the wealth of information about Haydn’s borrowed folk melodies can be found in H. C. Robbins Landon’s monumental multivolume Haydn study. Some of Haydn’s Hungarian melodies, with slight variances, are paralleled in an 1805 publication issued by the Vienna “Chemische Druckerey.” The variances seem to indicate that Haydn used them as he knew them, possibly from childhood, without referring to any publication. Haydn’s Gypsy Trio was one of Three Trios, op. 73, probably the last compositions he wrote on his final English sojourn. He dedicated them to Mrs. Rebecca Schroeter, a piano student of his in London who had helped him with certain business matters and with whom he kept up a correspondence after his return to Austria. His piano trios at that time were called “sonatas for pianoforte with the accompaniment of a violin and violoncello”; accordingly the piano part is most prominent though the violin occasionally dominates as in the E minor variation in the first movement and the middle section of the Poco adagio second movement. The cello almost always reinforces the piano’s bass line. In his use of a leisurely (Andante) movement to begin the Trio, Haydn followed his old sonata da chiesa (church sonata) pattern of the 1760s. This lovely set of variations is followed, however, by an even slower second movement that presents a different harmonic world. The triplet accompaniment pattern of the slow movement continues through the three sections of the A-B-A form; a nice touch occurs in the penultimate bar when the cello alone continues the triplet motion. Haydn’s use of a leisurely movement followed by an even slower one intensifies the effect of his brilliant “Gypsy” Finale, which made this Trio an enormous favorite in England and soon after on the continent. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

September 27, 2009 – Lawrence Dutton, viola; Ken Noda, piano JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897) Sonata in E-Flat, Op. 120, for viola and piano September 27, 2009 – Lawrence Dutton, viola; Ken Noda, piano The warm, middle-range sonorities of the viola and the clarinet cast the two instruments as natural musical allies. Both instruments are, by nature, warm and consoling. The viola was the favored chamber instrument of Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert, and the clarinet inspired late masterworks by composers as diverse as Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, and Bartók. There is a spiritual link between the two instruments, which Schumann exploited in Fairy Tales (heard earlier on this program). Brahms’ Sonata in E-Flat was originally composed for the clarinet, but he soon decided to arrange it for the viola, feeling that the work’s glowing, reflective character would be equally well-served by the rich-toned string instrument. In 1890 Brahms was entering his late 50s and felt that his composing days were coming to an end. Ever self-critical, he intended to complete a few unfinished works and burn the rest. Fortunately, he attended a performance around that time by the distinguished German clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld and was inspired to compose a series of crowning works to showcase his artistry. (Mozart was similarly inspired by the playing of the legendary Anton Stadler, to whom he dedicated a set of late masterpieces, including his great clarinet concerto, composed only weeks before his death.) Brahms’ E-flat-major sonata, heard here on the viola, is the final piece in the set of compositions that he wrote for Mühlfeld and his last piece of chamber music. Brahms found his unique compositional voice early in his career and maintained it until the end. Unlike Schumann, who favored poetic titles for his pieces, Brahms eschewed programmatic references, preferring to write “pure” music in traditional forms. In contrast to revolutionaries such as Wagner and Lizst, Brahms was, at heart, a Romantic Classicist, keenly aware of his place in the lineage of music history. As he grew older, his music became texturally simpler and more graceful, reflective, and relaxed. “Autumnal” is the term invariably applied to his late works, and that adjective perfectly describes the atmosphere of the sonata in E-flat major for viola or clarinet. The first movement is bathed in a warm, sustained lyricism. The atmosphere is pastoral, tranquil, and suffused with a golden inner glow. Brahms’ musical voice is wise and consoling throughout this exceptionally beautiful movement. The passionate second movement, in the form of a vigorous Scherzo, begins with a fiery viola solo. A reassuring, chorale-like middle section starts with the piano alone in music of sustained nobility and confidence. The trio is followed by a short transition, heralding a return to the urgency and passion of the first section. The final movement starts with a flowing, folk-like theme, which is followed by six variations. Brahms was always fascinated by the element of rhythm, and he uses complicated syncopated patterns as important structural components in several of the variations. In the first one, for instance, the piano and viola play on opposite sides of each pulse, alternating in playing on and off the beat. The second variation has a cradle-like motion; the simple melody is accompanied by an arpeggiated pattern that teeters back and forth across the octaves. Variation 3 is a calm, filigreed conversation between the two instruments, and the fourth variation extends the tranquil atmosphere in a gentle but rhythmically off-balance dialogue that often masks the downbeats. Variation 5 insistently reestablishes the rhythmic equilibrium, diving headlong into a vigorous, E-flat-minor allegro. The sixth and final variation begins with a serenely flowing stream of melody that gradually gains in momentum, culminating in a strong, triumphant conclusion. By Michael Parloff Return to Parlance Program Notes

ABOUT THE 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

SUNDAY, MAY 17, 2026 AT 4 PM A BRAHMSIAN FINALE CHEE-YUN, VIOLIN STERLING ELLIOTT, CELLO HENRY KRAMER, PIANO CHEE-YUN , VIOLIN STERLING ELLIOTT , CELLO HENRY KRAMER , PIANO “Chee-Yun was at once playful and passionate, her bow was consistently precise even at NASCAR speed.” — The Washington Post “Sterling Elliot is a star cellist who has risen beyond hopeful promise to astonishing maturity. If you see his name on an upcoming venue, take the leap, and hear what he is up to, no matter what the program offers.“ — The Millbrook Independent “Henry Kramer was as technically flawless and precise as a faceted diamond…” — Portland Press Herald ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS 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 FEATURING BUY TICKETS Violinist Chee-Yun returns to Parlance Chamber Concerts following her unforgettable 2024 performance of Brahms’s Horn Trio — an interpretation so compelling that Artistic Director Michael Parloff invited her back for an afternoon devoted entirely to Brahms’s chamber music. She will be joined by two extraordinary young artists: Sterling Elliott , a cellist of “astonishing maturity” (The Millbrook Independent ), and Henry Kramer , a pianist whose Brahms playing has been called “thrilling and nearly flawless” (Cleveland Classical Review ). Their program will open with Brahms’s dramatic D-minor Violin Sonata , followed by the lyrical F-major Cello Sonata . The concert will culminate in a performance of Brahms’s towering B-minor Piano Trio , uniting all three artists in a powerful and expressive finale to Parlance Chamber Concert’s 18th season. PROGRAM Johannes Brahms: Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108 Program Notes Johannes Brahms: Cello Sonata No. 2 in F, Op. 99 Program Notes INTERMISSION Johannes Brahms: Piano Trio No. 1 in B, Op. 8 Program Notes Watch violinist Chee-Yun’s scintillating performance of Brahms’s Horn Trio with hornist Brad Gemeinhardt and pianist Alessio Bax: Watch cellist Sterling Elliott play Elgar’s Cello Concerto in London: Watch pianist Henry Kramer play Ravel’s Alborada del Gracioso from Miroirs:

November 12, 2023: Angel Blue, soprano; Bryan Wagorn, piano RICHARD STRAUSS (1864–1949) Songs November 12, 2023: Angel Blue, soprano; Bryan Wagorn, piano Strauss wrote songs all his life, from his first song, “Weinachtslied” (Christmas song), at the age of six, to his Four Last Songs, so-named by his publisher, which he composed at the age of eighty-four. Many of his more than 200 songs were written for soprano Pauline de Ahna who became his wife in 1894; the composer himself usually accompanied her on the piano. Some of his songs remain infrequently performed—often because of their difficulty—while others hold a firm place both in recital and in orchestrated versions by Strauss and others on symphonic programs. Strauss composed the four marvelous songs of Opus 27 in 1894 as his wedding present to Pauline. He had become interested in a group of poets—followers of Max Stirner and his socialist ideals—who had established themselves as a force against sentimental mid-nineteenth-century poets and against folk and mock-ancient poetry. Strauss was little interested in their politics, but latched onto their Romantic outpourings. Third in the set, “Heimliche Aufforderung” (Secret invitation) sets a text by Scottish-born but German-raised Stirner disciple, John Henry Mackay. His text is an ardent love song, sung during a tryst amid a crowd of merrymakers. The eager vocal line is accompanied by rippling figurations that change several times to a more static texture to reflect the text. A peaceful postlude follows the ecstatic appeal for night to fall. “Allerseelen” (All Soul’s Day) belongs to Strauss’s first set of published songs, Acht Gedichte aus Letzte Blätter von Hermann von Gilm (Eight Poems from Last Leaves by Hermann von Gilm), op. 10. He had come across the poems in an 1864 volume brought back from Innsbruck by his friend and composer Ludwig Thuille. Strauss composed the songs in 1885, dedicating them to Heinrich Vogl, principal tenor at the Munich Court Opera, who had expressed admiration for them to the young composer. “Allerseelen” (All Souls’ Day), which appears last in the Opus 10 collection, refers to November 2, the day when Western Christians commemorate those dear to them who have died. The poet of Strauss’s setting is longing for his departed love to return, tenderly wishing for things to be as they once were. The song shows the twenty-one-year-old’s lyrical and harmonic mastery, in this case unfolding in a through-composed form that becomes progressively more dramatic. Another of Strauss’s greatest songs, “Befreit” (Freed), third in the Opus 39 set of 1898, sets a text by controversial but now largely forgotten Expressionist poet Richard Dehmel, whose poems became popular for their rich symbolism of erotic love, beauty, art, and feeling. Though Dehmel professed that poetry should have many equally valid interpretations, he went so far as to publish a criticism of Strauss’s setting but without giving specifics about why he thought it “too soft-grained.” He did admit that even though he had envisioned a man’s parting with his dying wife, there are many kinds of farewells. The title “Befreit” represents the loving couple so freed from suffering that not even death is a threat. Strauss’s moving setting emphasizes the constancy of their love and acknowledges with his poignant setting of “O Glück!” at the end of each verse that happiness radiates even through sorrow. “Morgen!” (Tomorrow!), which concludes the Opus 27 group (see above), sets another romantic text by John Henry Mackay. Strauss fashioned a delicate, rapturous setting, begun by one of his most extended and engaging introductions. The song concludes in recitative style followed by a condensed reminder of the introduction. Strauss dashed off “Cäcilie” on September 9, 1894, the day before his wedding. In a nice parallel, he was setting a poem that had been written to honor the wife of the poet, Heinrich Hart. (The text is often misattributed to Heinrich’s brother Julius.) Strauss is said to have embellished the already full and virtuosic accompaniment when performing the song, so it comes as no surprise that he decided to orchestrate it in 1897. Strauss placed it second in the Opus 27 set (see above), but it makes a perfect concluding selection here as his most impassioned and ecstatic love song. —©Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

March 19, 2023 – Rachel Naomi Kudo, piano JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) French Suite No. 2 in C minor, BWV 813 March 19, 2023 – Rachel Naomi Kudo, piano As demand increased for his keyboard teaching, Bach realized that he needed instructive materials other than the virtuoso works of his early years—not only for students who sought him out, but for his own children who were beginning to show considerable musical talents. Thus between 1717 and 1725 he composed a large number of works of varying degrees of difficulty as teaching tools. Heinrich Nikolaus Gerber, who studied with Bach from 1724 to 1727, left an account of his teaching methods, which included starting a student on the two-part Inventions, followed by the three-part Sinfonias, moving on to the so-called French Suites, then the English Suites, and finally to the great “48,” the preludes and fugues of the Well-tempered Clavier. Bach’s own son, Carl Philipp Emanuel, reported the same course of study. The title “French” that became attached to these Suites in the years following Bach’s death is somewhat mystifying. Though he gave the title in French—Suites de clavecin—the Suites contain as many German and Italian characteristics as they do French. Similarly, the “English” Suites, whose original title was also given in French, do not seem particularly English. In Bach’s lifetime the French Suites were called the “Little” Suites to distinguish them from the more extensive English Suites. Bach first began collecting the so-called French Suites, composed c. 1722–25, in a notebook he was compiling for his second wife, Anna Magdalena. It is clear that these pieces were, to a certain extent, works in progress, because Bach returned to them several times to make revisions, perhaps with different students in mind. He also left his own copy relatively free of ornamentation, possibly to encourage his students to develop improvisational skills in that regard. What is now Suite No. 6 does not appear in that notebook, having been added to the other five around 1725; there also exist two other similar suites that Bach might have considered including at one time. In all of these “French” suites he decided to omit the prelude that opens his other suites, even going so far as to remove one he had already composed to make it fit the group. Bach based his suites on a standard series of Baroque dance movements, which by this time were no longer meant for actual dancing—Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, and Gigue. All the movements employ binary form (two sections, each repeated). A variety of additional dance movements could be inserted between the Sarabande and Gigue, the typical place for any slightly more “modern” dance forms. Because the French Suites contain no preludes, the opening Allemandes take on that function and even contain gestures and figuration similar to that of Bach’s preludes. Suite No. 2 in C minor is one for which several variants exist in the sources, particularly in the Allemande and Courante. The Courante exhibits the “running” style of the Italian corrente in a two-voice texture. For his inserted dances Bach chose an Air, also in two voices, and one or two minuets, depending on the version one follows. The delightful Gigue employs the upbeats, dotted rhythms, and strong-beat accents of the French dance known as the canarie. Bach’s imitative entries add another level of allure. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

Development Director Inmo Parloff Leadership Council Thomas and Heidi Ahlborn Anne Bosch William and Zitta Chapman Catherine Coo ke Christina Hembree Adrian and Christina Jones Ronald and Mollie Ledwith Youngick and Joyce Lee Carol Martin Dorothy Neff Suzanne Taranto Donald and Gigo Taylor Richard and Michelle Vaccaro

January 31, 2010 – Cecilia Brauer, glass harmonica WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) Adagio in C for Armonica, K. 617 January 31, 2010 – Cecilia Brauer, glass harmonica While visiting England in 1757, Benjamin Franklin attended a concert by a “wine glass organist.” Charmed by the ethereal tones that the performer drew from the rims of the crystal goblets, the ever creative Franklin imagined a mechanical instrument that would allow for greater technical fluency and a full range of chord voicing. His resulting invention, the “armonica, ” was later described by an Italian acquaintance, Alessandro Vietri: “I have been to see the Newton of electricity, the famous Franklin. He is a man of over fifty years of age. You know that by pressing and sliding a moistened finger over the edge of a glass a sound is produced. He has made the instrument on this principle. He has strung on a spindle, or common axis, as many glass bells as correspond to the pegs of a harpsichord, proportionately graduated. The spindle turns by means of the left foot, with a wheel, as the knife grinder does. At the same time one touches with the fingers, as one does a harpsichord, the bells which spin like wheels, after having first wet them slightly with a sponge. A melody comes out which goes to the heart.” Franklin’s musical invention became voguish during the 18th and 19th Centuries. European monarchs were captivated by the instrument, and major composers such as C.P.E. Bach, Gaetano Donizetti, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Camille Saint-Saëns contributed works to showcase its unique sonority. Mozart first encountered the instrument in the Vienna home of the famous German physician-astrologist Franz Mesmer, who incorporated its hallucinogenic strains into his displays of “Mesmerism.” In 1791 the 35-year-old Mozart attended a performance by the reigning armonica virtuosa of the day, Marianne Kirchgaessner. Blinded at the age of four by smallpox, she had learned the armonica as a child and had become a sensational performer on the instrument. A critic of the day wrote, “she plays with an unbelievable talent, full of gentle grace and feeling.” Mozart evidently concurred. So inspired was he by the performance that he composed for her the Adagio in C for solo armonica; the Adagio & Rondo in C for armonica, flute, oboe, viola, and cello; and he began to write a third work, a Fantasia in C for the same combination, but completed only the first 13 measures. Mozart’s two completed works for armonica ranked among the most popular works in Kirchgaessner’s repertoire. The four-minute Adagio, composed at the same time as The Magic Flute, perfectly captures the angelic essence of the armonica. Spiritually akin to the dignified chorales and marches that Mozart wrote for the Priests of Isis and Osiris, the Adagio blends innocence and simplicity with an aura of mystery and timeless wisdom. By Michael Parloff Return to Parlance Program Notes

December 3, 2023: Bruce Adolphe, Composer Bruce Adolphe (1955) Memory Believes (a requiem) December 3, 2023: Bruce Adolphe, Composer Bruce Adolphe is known to millions of Americans from his public radio show Piano Puzzlers, broadcast weekly on Performance Today since 2002. But his talents and interests are so broad as to connect “neuroscience, human rights, nightmares, or dinosaurs” with his many career pursuits as composer, author, lecturer, and performer. Among his works based on writings of neuroscientist Antonio Damasio, Self Comes to Mind for cello and two percussionists—on a text Damasio wrote specifically for the project—received its premiere by Yo-Yo Ma in 2009 at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. On other science themes, Adophe’s Einstein’s Light was premiered and recorded by violinist Joshua Bell and pianist Marija Stroke, and his tribute to NASA scientist and astronaut Piers Sellers, I saw how fragile and infinitely precious the world is, was performed in 2019 at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Among his human rights works are I Will Not Remain Silent for violin and orchestra and Reach Out, Raise Hope, Change Society for chorus, wind quintet, and three percussionists—both are both recorded on the Naxos/Milken Archive label. Some other career highlights include Itzhak Perlman’s world premiere of Adolphe’s The Bitter, Sour, Salt Suite at the Kennedy Center and Avery Fisher Hall, Angel Blue singing the world premiere of Water Songs at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the premieres of two full-length operas on Jewish subjects at the 92nd Street Y, and ten world premieres at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Among the many other artists who have performed his works are Fabio Luisi, Daniel Hope, Sylvia McNair, Carlo Grante, the Washington National Opera, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Jeffrey Kahane and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Zürich Philharmonia and Chamber Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, ROCO in Houston, the IRIS Orchestra, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Beaux Arts Trio, the Chicago Chamber Musicians, the Brentano String Quartet, the Miami Quartet, the Cassatt Quartet, the Currende Ensemble of Belgium, members of the Silk Road Ensemble, and over sixty symphony orchestras worldwide. Resident lecturer and director of family concerts for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Adolphe concurrently serves as composer-in-residence at the Brain and Creativity Institute. He is also the founding creative director of The Learning Maestros and artistic director of the Off the Hook Arts Festival. Adolphe is the author of several books, including Visions and Decisions: Imagination and Technique in Music Composition (Cambridge, 2023) and The Mind’s Ear, which has already merited a third edition (2021) with Oxford University Press (OUP). He contributed the chapter “The Musical Imagination: Mystery and Method in Musical Composition” to the recently published Secrets of Creativity: What Neuroscience, the Arts, and Our Minds Reveal (OUP, 2019). He also contributed the chapter “The Sound of Human Rights: Wordless Music that Speaks for Humanity” to The Routledge Guide to Music and Human Rights (2022). Note by the composer Memory Believes (a requiem) is dedicated to the memory of my brother, Jonathan Adolphe (1952–2022). The structure of the piece is as follows: 1. Meditation I for violin solo 2. Because I could not stop for Death (Emily Dickinson) for choir and quartet 3. Meditation II for cello solo 4. Are there not a thousand forms of sorrow (Ethan Canin) for choir and quartet 5. Meditation III for viola solo 6. Memory Believes (William Faulkner) for choir and quartet 7. Meditation IV for string quartet Texts 1. Emily Dickinson, first stanza of Because I could not stop for Death: “Because I could not stop for Death— He kindly stopped for me— The Carriage held but just Ourselves— And Immortality.” 2. Ethan Canin, from A Doubter’s Almanac: “Are there not a thousand forms of sorrow? Is the sorrow of death the same as the sorrow of knowing the pain in a child’s future?” (Used with the kind permission of Ethan Canin) 3. William Faulkner, from Light in August: “Memory believes before knowing remembers. Believes longer than recollects, longer than knowing even wonders.” I chose the first stanza of the Emily Dickinson text because my brother certainly did not stop for Death. In his final year, struggling with the pain of pancreatic cancer, Jon worked at his art with remarkable determination and intensity, creating pieces that would go to galleries in Europe that he would never visit in person. The second text, by Ethan Canin, has haunted me ever since I read A Doubter's Almanac in 2016, and it needs no commentary. I chose the quote from Light in August because Jon, who read most of the major writers of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, was a fan of Faulkner’s poetic prose, and because this quote uniquely captures a truth about the tapestry of memory, believing, knowing, and wondering in language that is as precise and lyrical as music. Like music, my brother’s paintings, especially his last ones, inhabit a spectral topography of texture and space, where memories, some that we shared but many more forgotten, can exist as gestures that can be believed, and that will endure longer than their sources can possibly be recalled or known. We can only wonder.” Return to Parlance Program Notes

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2015 AT 3 PM Kristin Lee, violin; Paul Watkins, cello; Gilles Vonsattel, piano BUY TICKETS GILLES VONSATTEL, PIANO Winner of 2008 Avery Fisher Career Grant “Mr. Vonsattel used his razor-sharp technique to make the older works sound as adventurous as the more recent ones.” – The New York Times PAUL WATKINS, CELLO “Britain’s finest cellist, Watkins’ account [of the Elgar concerto] seems the best to have appeared on disc for years. It has intensity, presence and warmth.” — The Guardian KRISTIN LEE, VIOLIN “Kristin Lee gave a sterling performance…the performance was beautifully integrated and seamless.” — Oberon’s Grove FEATURING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS In an afternoon of Beethoven’s most beloved chamber works, violinist Kristen Lee and pianist Gilles Vonsattel (both winners of the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant) will join forces with Paul Watkins , the Emerson String Quartet’s acclaimed cellist. Korean-American violinist Kristin Lee is an artist of remarkable musicality and impeccable technique. She enjoys a vibrant career as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician and is equally noted for her growing reputation in collaborations with various genres of music. Paul Watkins joined the famed Emerson String Quartet in May 2013 and enjoys a distinguished career both as cellist and conductor. In 2009 he became the first-ever Music Director of the English Chamber Orchestra. The Swiss-born American pianist Gilles Vonsattel has been called “a wanderer between worlds.” Comfortable with an enormous range of repertoire, Vonsattel displays a musical curiosity and sense of adventure that has gained him admirers the world over. PROGRAM Ludwig van Beethoven Sonata No. 4 in C, Op. 102, for cello & piano Program Notes Ludwig van Beethoven Sonata No. 9 in A, Op. 47 (Kreutzer) for violin & piano Program Notes Ludwig van Beethoven Trio in D, Op. 70, No. 1 (Ghost) for violin, cello, & piano Program Notes Beethoven’s 9th violin sonata: The Kreutzer or the Bridgetower? Kristin Lee and Michael Mizrah - Beethoven Sonata No. 9 (Kreutzer), last movement (Phillips Gallery, Washington DC) Paul Watkins - Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society Profile Gilles Vonsattel and Arnaud Sussmann - Mozart Violin Sonata in E minor, Mvt 2 (Parlance Chamber Concerts) Gilles Vonsattel - Brahms Piano Quintet in F minor, Mvt. 3 (Parlance Chamber Concerts)

ABOUT THE 2010-2011 SEASON 2010-2011 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