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January 27, 2019: Pinchas Zukerman Trio LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827) Kakadu Variations, Op. 121a January 27, 2019: Pinchas Zukerman Trio On July 19, 1816, Beethoven wrote to his Leipzig publisher Gottfried Christoph Härtel offering him his “Variations with an introduction and coda for Piano, violin, and violoncello upon a well-known theme by Müller,” adding, “They are from my earlier compositions but they do not belong to the reprehensible ones.” Beethoven had originally penned the Variations c. 1801–03, taking as his theme the well-known tune “Ich bin der Schneider Wetz und Wetz” (I am the tailor whet and whet) from Wenzel Müller’s 1794 singspiel (light opera with spoken dialogue) Die Schwestern von Prag (The sisters from Prague). The work charmed the Viennese in 130 performances at the Theater in der Leopoldstadt during Beethoven’s lifetime. An 1814 revival—the opera’s 122nd performance—may have prompted Beethoven to revisit the Variations and send them to his publisher in 1816, but he appears to have gone far beyond a mere dusting off. He likely made revisions in two stages, as scholar Lewis Lockwood has pointed out, both around 1816, and, since Härtel did not publish the work then, again around 1824 when Steiner published it as Opus 121a—the last of the master’s piano trios. In particular, Beethoven made substantial changes to his introduction and finale, the latter curiously labeled “rondo” in the 1824 publication but clearly not in that form. The popular tune that Beethoven used as his theme—now the opera’s best-known melody thanks to the Variations—underwent a name change by the time of the 1824 publication, because “Wetz und Wetz” (whet and whet, or grind and grind) had sexual connotations in Viennese dialect. The choice of the innocuous “Kakadu,” a comic bird, may have been related in some way to Mozart’s birdcatcher Papageno from The Magic Flute. In Müller’s singspiel, “Ich bin der Schneider Wetz und Wetz” is the entrance song of the tailor Krispin, who will disguise himself as the “sister from Prague” to gain the required approval for his master Herr von Gerstenfeld to marry Herr von Brummer’s daughter Wilhelmine against a field of undesirable suitors. Beethoven’s introduction, presumably expanded when he revisited the work, contrasts markedly from the more traditional ensuing variations. Fantasia-like, it anticipates the “Kakadu” tune in tantalizing bits as if, as Lockwood suggests, Müller’s simple, jocular theme is being “composed before our very ears.” Beethoven also seems to have tinkered with the last variation, elaborating it in a fugal manner and imbuing the coda with extra weight and the experience of his mature years. That Beethoven returned in Variations 1–9 to the more conventional if still engaging variations of his original set seems to say that he was happy with them as long as his introduction and conclusion now showed how far he had come in his maturity. After the drama of the introduction, the utterly simple presentation of Müller’s Papageno-like theme makes for a delightful comedic jolt. Variation 1 features the piano alone, Variation 2 highlights the violin in running triplets and birdlike ornaments over dainty piano, and Variation 3 presents the cello in lyrical lines to gentle piano accompaniment. Variations 4, 5, and 6 combine the three instruments—No. 4 sending the piano in cascading descents and ascents, No. 5 introducing contrapuntal imitation, and No. 6 requiring virtuosic delicate piano octave figurations with pointed “chirps” from the strings. Variation 7 gives the violin and cello a simple contrapuntal duet, Variation 8 shows Beethoven’s fleet-footed rhythmic play in alternation between strings and piano, and Variation 9 presents the requisite minor-mode Adagio for somberly expressive contrast. Variation 10 scampers at lightning speed until the coda begins in a simple, slightly martial Allegretto that Beethoven builds in fugal style to a grand, spirited conclusion. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

February 16, 2020: Ying Fang, soprano; Ken Noda, piano SERGEI RACHMANINOFF (1873–1943) Six Songs, Op. 38: In My Garden at Night, To Her, Daisies, Pied Piper, Dreams, A-oo February 16, 2020: Ying Fang, soprano; Ken Noda, piano Rachmaninoff composed all of his approximately ninety songs in the first half of his life—the first in 1890, when he was a student at the Moscow Conservatory, and his final set, op. 38, in 1916, the year before he left Russia for what turned out to be the last time. This last collection and the one before, op. 34, came about in part through a fan letter he received in 1912 from someone signed “Re.” Soon discovering that the sender was poet Marietta Shaganian, he wrote to ask for suggestions of poems to set, saying: “The authors may be living or dead—it makes no difference!—only that the things must be original, not translations, and must be no more than 8 to 12 lines long, at most 16. And one more thing: the mood should be sad rather than happy. The lighter shades don’t come easily to me!” Of the fourteen songs in Opus 34, half, he wrote to Shaganian, were ones she had suggested and analyzed for him. Most were Romantic poets with the addition of the more modern Bal’mont. For the Opus 38 set, she again provided texts for him, trying to turn his conservative tastes toward more contemporary symbolist poets, such as Blok, Bryusov, Severyanin, Sologub, and again Bal’mont. Though the composer had noted his affinity for dark moods, which had characterized his earlier songs, these two last sets for the most part transmit more peaceful, uplifting, and even humorous aspects than gloomy ones. Rachmaninoff had plenty of reason for gloom in the fall of 1916 because he was being treated at a sanatorium in Essentuki for tiredness and a pain in his wrist. Shaganian visited him there and described his state of total despair and self-doubt saying that he broke into tears several times as he described his inability to work and the galling idea that it was impossible to be anything more than “a well-known pianist and a mediocre composer.” She ended her lengthy description saying, “He spoke of the impossibility of living in the state he was, and all this in a terrible dead voice, almost that of an old man, with his eyes lifeless and his face grey and ill.” It was during that visit that she gave him a notebook full of her suggestions of poems to set, just as she had done four years earlier. This helped to jolt him out of his creative slump, but he was also aided by visits from other friends, his move out of the sanatorium to nearby spa city Kislovodsk—and above all spending time with the young soprano Nina Pavlovna Koshetz, whom he had accompanied in a recital that spring and who had also visited him at Essentuki. They made plans for another concert, he composed the Opus 38 Songs in August and September, and they premiered them in Moscow in October 24. Rachmaninoff opens the Six Songs with the haunting “In My Garden at Night,” his setting of Alexander Blok’s translation of Avetik Isaakian’s poem, in which he responds to the images of the weeping willow—metaphorically a lovelorn maiden—with simple, melancholic unmeasured phrases. The second half rises to an impassioned peak at “bitterly” as the poem promises that “tender maiden dawn” will dry weeping willow’s tears. “To Her” continues the lovelorn theme, this time a poem by Andrey Bely in which each of three verses ends with the poet calling futilely to his beloved. Rachmaninoff allows great metric freedom in his through-composed setting but preserves the structural text refrains with recognizably similar but ingeniously varied, impassioned phrases. Other striking features include the opening five-note chromatic gesture, which permeates the setting even when the accompaniment becomes more dense, and the fluid music for the river Lethe, the mythological river in Hades that causes forgetfulness. For “Daisies,” op. 38, no. 3, Rachmaninoff chose a 1909 unassuming nature poem by Igor Severyanin. His setting exudes charm with its treble-oriented sonorities, its graceful, independent melodies for the voice and the piano right-hand, and its memorable extended piano postlude. “The Pied Piper,” fourth in the set, shows Rachmaninoff’s rarely seen humorous side as he responds to Valery Yakovlevich Bryusov’s 1914 poem, itself a play on the famous legend. The piper lures—not rats or children—but his beloved out of her house with the enticing sounds of his flute. Rachmaninoff delightfully depicts the flute in both the voice and piano parts. In “A Dream,” op. 38, no. 5, Rachmaninoff responds ingeniously to poet Fyodor Sologub’s images of disembodied dreaming. His atmospheric piano part uses various bell-like sounds—a favorite device of his—to set the scene for the soaring vocal lines. Placed last in Opus 38, “A-oo” sets a 1909 poem by Konstantin Dmitriyevich Bal’mont in which a lover remembers fondly the laughter of his beloved and a dream of them running together to a mountain slope. Rachmaninoff’s pianistic shimmer aptly conveys the poet’s eager, anticipation of finding her, his agitated chords and short vocal phrases portray the lover’s confusion at not finding her, and the music builds to an incredibly impassioned peak as the lover calls “A-oo” hoping she’ll answer back. That hope clearly dies in the piano postlude, which trails off in open-ended quiet. © Jane Vial Jaffe Texts and Translations Ночью в саду у меня Ночью в саду у меня Плачет плакучая ива, И безутешна она Ивушка, Грустная ива. Раннее утро блеснет, Нежная девушка Зорька Ивушке, плачущей горько, Слёзы кудрями сотрет. —Alexander Blok In My Garden at Night At night in my garden a weeping willow weeps, and she is inconsolable, weeping willow, sad willow. When early morning shines tender maiden dawn will dry bitterly weeping willow’s tears with her curls. К ней Травы одеты перлами. Где-то приветы Грустные слышу, Приветы милые . . . Милая, где ты, Милая! Вечера светы ясные, Вечера светы красные Руки воздеты: Жду тебя, Милая, где ты, Милая? Руки воздеты: Жду тебя, В струях Леты смытую Бледными Леты струями… Милая, где ты, Милая! —Andrey Bely To Her Pearls adorn the grass. From somewhere I hear mournful greetings, Cherished greetings . . . Dear one, where are you? Dear one! The lights of evening are clear, The lights of evening are red, My arms raised, I await you, Dear one, where are you? Dear one? My arms raised, I await you; In the streams, Lethe washes the years away, Pale Lethe, In the streams, Dear one, where are you? Dear one! (Маргаритки) О, посмотри! как много маргариток— И там, и тут . . . Они цветут; их много; их избыток; Они цветут. Их лепестки трёхгранные—как крылья, Как белый шёлк . . . В них лета мощ! В них радость изобилья! В них слетлый полк. Готовь, земля, цветам из рос напиток, Дай сок стеблю . . . О, девушки! о, звезды маргариток! Я вас люблю . . . —Igor Severyanin Daisies Oh, look! how many daisies— here and there . . . they are blooming; so many; they are abundant. they are blooming. Their petals are triangluar—like wings, like white silk . . . they have the power of summer! the joy of abundance! they are a radiant regiment. Earth, prepare the flowers a drink of dew, give the stems juice. Oh, maidens, oh starry daisies, I love you! Крысолов Я на дудочке играю,— Тра-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля, Я на дудочке играю, Чьи-то души веселя. Я иду вдоль тихой речки, Тра-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля, Дремлют тихие овечки, Кротко зыблются поля. Спите, овцы и барашки, Тра-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля, За лугами красной кашки Стройно встали тополя. Малый домик там таится, Тра-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля, Милой девушке приснится, Что ей душу отдал я. И на нежный зов свирели, Тра-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля, Выйдет словно к светлой цели Через сад через поля. И в лесу под дубом темным, Тра-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля, Будет ждать в бреду истомном, В час, когда уснет земля. Встречу гостью дорогую, Тра-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля, Вплоть до утра зацелую, Сердце лаской утоля. И, сменившись с ней колечком, Тра-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля, Отпущу ее к овечкам, В сад, где стройны тополя. —Valery Yakovlevich Bryusov Pied Piper I play upon my little pipe,— tra-la-la-la-la-la-la, I play upon my little pipe, making people’s souls merry. I walk along a quiet stream, tra-la-la-la-la-la-la, gentle lambs doze, Fields wave softly. Sleep, sheep and lambs, tra-la-la-la-la-la-la, beyond the meadows of red clover slender poplars rise. A little house is hidden there, tra-la-la-la-la-la-la, a sweet girl will dream that I gave her my soul. And at the gentle call of my flute, tra-la-la-la-la-la-la, she will come as if to a radiant goal, through the garden, through the fields. And in the forest under a dark oak, tra-la-la-la-la-la-la, she will wait in dazed delirium for the hour when the earth falls asleep. I shall meet my dear guest, tra-la-la-la-la-la-la, I shall kiss her until morning, assuaging my heart with caresses. And once we have exchanged rings, tra-la-la-la-la-la-la, I’ll let her go to the lambs, to the garden with the slender poplars. Son (Сон) В мире нет ничего Дожделеннее сна, Чары есть у него, У него тишина, У него на устах Ни печаль и ни смех, И в бездонных очах Много тайных утех. У него широки, Широки два крыла, И легки, так лёгки, Как полночная мгла. Не понять, как несёт, И куда и на чем Он крылом не взмахнет И не двинет плечом. —Fyodor Sologub Dream There is nothing in the world better than sleep, he has an enchantment, he silence. He has on his lips neither sadness nor laughter and in bottomless eyes many secret pleasures. He has wide, two wide wings, and they are light, so light like a midnight shadow. How he carries you is unknown, and where, on what, he won’t flap his wing And he will not move his shoulder. Ау Твой нежный смех был сказкою изменчивою, Он звал как в сон зовёт свирельный звон. И вот венком, стихом тебя увенчиваю. Уйдём, бежим вдвоем на горный склон. Но где же ты? Лишь звон вершин позванивает Цветку цветок средь дня зажег свечу. И чей-то смех все в глубь меня заманивает. Пою, ищу, Ау! Ау! кричу. —Konstantin Dmitrevich Bal’mont A-oo! Your gentle laughter was a volatile fairy tale, calling like a flute in a dream. Now I crown you with a wreath of verse. Let’s go, let’s run together to the mountainside. But where are you? Only the sound of the heights is ringing a flower for another flower lit a candle midday. And someone’s laughter deep inside lures me. I sing, I search, “A-oo!” “A-oo!” I shout. Return to Parlance Program Notes

GOLDMUND STRING QUARTET Florian Schötz, violin 
 Pinchas Adt, violin 
 Christoph Vandory, viola 
 Raphael Paratore, cello The Goldmund Quartet is known to feature exquisite playing (Süddeutsche Zeitung) and such multi-layered homogeneity (Süddeutsche Zeitung) in its interpretations of the great classical and modern works of the quartet literature. Its inwardness, the unbelievably fine intonation and the phrases worked out down to the smallest detail inspire audiences worldwide. In keeping with the theme of their current CD "Travel Diaries", the past season was marked by international travel. The Quartet travelled to Colombia for the Cartagena Music Festival and toured the U.S. with stops in New York, Boston, Kansas, Tucson, Salt Lake City and Montreal. Back in Europe, their busy schedule took them to Italy, France, Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark. The 2022/23 season features a firework display of musical highlights. A tour of Japan by invitation of the Nippon Foundation is followed by the Quartet's debut at Gewandhaus in Leipzig. Performances in Padova and at Teatro Reggio Emilia lead the Quartet to Italy while performances of Chausson's Sextet with violinist Noa Wildschut and pianist Elisabeth Brauss are scheduled in Holland and Belgium. In the second half of the season the Quartet follows invitations from Sociedad Filarmonica in Bilbao and the Hemsing Festival in Norway before concluding the season with recitals at Berlin Konzerthaus, Prinzregententheater Munich, Musikverein Graz, Mercatorhalle Duisburg, Mönchengladbach, Bensheim and the Marvão Festival in Portugal. The winners of the renowned 2018 International Wigmore Hall String Competition and the 2018 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition have been selected by the European Concert Hall Organisation as Rising Stars of the 2019/20 season. Since 2019, they have been performing Antonio Stradivari's Paganini Quartet, provided by the Nippon Music Foundation. In addition, the quartet was awarded the Jürgen Ponto Foundation Music Prize in March 2020 and the Freiherr von Waltershausen Prize in December 2020. In 2016, the quartet was already a winner of the Bavarian Arts Promotion Prize and the Karl Klinger Prize of the ARD Competition. In 2020, Berlin Classics released "Travel Diaries", the Goldmund Quartet's third album with works by Wolfgang Rihm, Ana Sokolovic, Fazil Say and Dobrinka Tabakova, which Harald Eggebrecht described as "one of the liveliest and most stimulating string quartet CDs of recent times". (Süddeutsche Zeitung). Their Travel Diaries are the musical diary from their last decade together and a sound document that is both reflective and forward-looking. Chamber music partners include artists such as Jörg Widmann, Ksenija Sidorova, Alexander Krichel, Alexey Stadler and Wies de Boevé, Nino Gvetadze, Noa Wildschut, Elisabeth Brauss, Maximilian Hornung, Frank Dupree, Simon Höfele. In addition to studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich and with members of the Alban Berg Quartet, including Günter Pichler at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia and the Artemis Quartet in Berlin, master classes and studies with members of the Hagen, Borodin, Belcea, Ysaye and Cherubini Quartets, Ferenc Rados, Eberhard Feltz and Alfred Brendel gave the quartet important musical impulses.

April 8, 2018: Danish String Quartet LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827) String Quartet in F, Op. 59, No. 1 April 8, 2018: Danish String Quartet Beethoven composed his three Quartets, op. 59, in 1805–06 for the Russian ambassador in Vienna, Count Andreas Kyrilovich Razumovsky. The count was an excellent amateur violinist, who played second violin in his own house string quartet, except when Louis Sina stepped in so he could sit back and listen. His first violinist was the illustrious Ignaz Schuppanzigh, whom Beethoven had known since 1794 and who premiered many of the composer’s works. The three Razumovsky Quartets represent an entirely different world than Beethoven’s six early Quartets, op. 18, published only four years before. In between he had written his never-mailed letter, the heartrending “Heiligenstädt Testament,” which dealt with the anguish of his deafness and solitude, and had composed such innovative new works as the Eroica Symphony, the Appassionata Piano Sonata, and the first version of his opera Fidelio . His radical new style, with its expanded sonata forms, epic themes, complexities, and individualities, met with hostility and derision from early performers and critics. “Perhaps no work of Beethoven’s,” wrote his famed early biographer Alexander Wheelock Thayer, “met a more discouraging reception from musicians than these now famous Quartets.” The first movement of the present F major Razumovsky Quartet is remarkable for its lush expansiveness. This is already apparent in Beethoven’s first theme, which unfolds lyrically in the cello over pulsing repeated-note accompaniment, then is taken over by the first violin. The shift in register is something that he explores throughout the work and is one aspect, in addition to length, that gives such a spacious impression. Once this theme peaks, Beethoven instantly changes texture and introduces several new ideas before moving on to his new key area. When the composer eventually launches what sounds like a repeat of the exposition, he suddenly shoots off in another direction, a grand deception clearly playing on the listener’s expectation of that repeat. A famous “first” in the annals of sonata-form, this “non-repeat” considerably alters the structure of the first movement by making it one long sweep and shifting a greater proportion of time and weight onto the development section. Beethoven takes full advantage of the space he created for development by indulging in contrasts of register, new figuration, tension-building, fugal writing, and a mysterious and enormous preparation for the onset of the recapitulation. Beethoven labeled his second movement “Allegretto vivace e sempre scherzando” rather than calling it a scherzo outright, perhaps because he ingeniously adopts a full-fledged sonata form instead of the traditional scherzo-trio-scherzo or five-fold expansion of that form. Placed second rather than in the more typical third spot in the sequence of movements, this extraordinary scherzo ranks as Beethoven’s most original in form. Again, expansiveness is the ruling feature of the movement, which grows out of the distinctive repeated-note rhythmic pattern of the opening. This idea generates a remarkable number of miniature themes, which Beethoven treats in wonderfully airy “scherzando” textures. The composer uses the relatively rare description “mesto” (mournful) in his performance direction for his slow movement, thereby acknowledging its tragic qualities. It was here in his sketches that he made the strange notation: “A weeping willow or acacia on my brother’s grave.” He may have been referring to his distress at his brother Caspar Carl’s marriage to Johanna Reiss, who was six months pregnant, or remembering another brother who died in infancy, but the main melody, featuring the first violin and then the cello in high register, is certainly an expressive lament. The movement closes with a florid cadenza for the first violin, in which the darkness seems to dissipate and which leads directly into the finale, a device Beethoven had explored in other middle-period works. Beethoven incorporated a Russian theme into each of the first two Razumovsky Quartets, making an audible connection to his patron, though it is uncertain whether the idea and the choice of theme was Beethoven’s or the count’s. Here the cello merrily introduces the Russian theme while the violin is still trilling. We wonder what Count Razumovsky thought of Beethoven’s cheerful rendition of the originally soulful melody. The mood has definitely lightened here, though the scope is still grand—a full sonata form, complete with repeat of the exposition. Beethoven crowns the work with an imaginative coda in which he slows the Russian theme, imbuing it with mock sadness, only to sweep it away with his virtuosic final flourish © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

November 2, 2014 – Sharon Isbin, guitar ENRIQUE GRANADOS (1867–1916) Spanish Dance in E minor, Op. 37, no. 5 November 2, 2014 – Sharon Isbin, guitar Enrique Granados is known chiefly for his colorful Spanish Dances (1892–1911) and his Goyescas (1911), piano pieces inspired by the paintings and etchings of Goya. He achieved great fame as a pianist in his native Spain and in Paris, where he had studied for two years, but his intense dislike of travel limited his touring. Many of Granados’s activities centered around Barcelona, where he had received much of his early musical training. In 1901 he founded a school there—the Academia Granados. Tragically, travel was at the heart of his untimely death. In 1916 he had reluctantly made the sea voyage to attend the Metropolitan’s highly successful premiere of his opera Goyescas , and had postponed his voyage home in order to play for President Woodrow Wilson. Having missed his ship to Spain, he sailed instead to Liverpool where he boarded the Sussex for Dieppe. The Sussex was torpedoed by a German submarine and, though Granados was picked up by a lifeboat, he jumped into the water to save his wife; both were drowned. Granados had published his Spanish Dances in four sets of three beginning in 1892. They were greatly admired by Massenet, Cui, Saint-Saëns, and Grieg because of their new and distinctive expression of folk characteristics of many different regions of Spain. TheDances are often referred to by descriptive titles, only one of which—Villanesca (No. 4)—appeared in the original edition. Several of the Dances acquired titles when they were published separately during Granados’s lifetime. The famous No. 5 is often referred to as “Andaluza” as it represents that southern region of Spain. It follows a simple A-B-A form, with the interesting touch that the chordal “B” section is previewed toward the end of the “A” section. The strumming and picking effects that the piano imitated in the original, return to the instrument of their inspiration in the transcription by Miguel Llobet. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

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. March 9. 2025 Maurice Ravel’s Shéhérazade Erika Baikoff, soprano; Soohong Park, piano February 9, 2025 Camille Saint-Saëns’ Romance, Op. 36 Steven Isserlis, cello; Connie Shih, piano December 15, 2024 Mozart’s Flute Concerto No. 1 in G, K. 313 Denis Bouriakov, flute; Michael Parloff, conductor Musicians from the New York Philharmonic François Devienne’s Flute Concerto No. 7 in E minor Denis Bouriakov, flute; Michael Parloff, conductor Musicians from the New York Philharmonic October 20, 2024 Michael Parloff Introduces Joachín Turina’s La oración del torero ("The Bullfighter’s Prayer”) Joaquín Turina’s La oración del torero ("The Bullfighter’s Prayer”) Modigliani String Quartet September 29, 2024 Cellobration (Part 1) Carter Brey, Rafael Figueroa, Edward Arron, and Zvi Plesser, cello Jeewon Park, piano Cellobration (Part 2) Carter Brey, Rafael Figueroa, Edward Arron, and Zvi Plesser, cello Jeewon Park, piano June 2, 2024 Michael Parloff Introduces Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, K. 364 Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, K. 364 Oliver Neubauer, violin; Paul Neubauer, viola Members of the Met Orchestra; Michael Parloff, conductor MAY 12, 2024 Michael Parloff Introduces Dvorak’s Songs My Mother Taught Me Dvorak’s Songs My Mother Taught Me Chee-Yun, violin; Alessio Bax, piano Michael Parloff Introduces Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite Alesso Bax and Lucille Chung, piano Brahms’s Trio for violin, horn, and piano, Op. 40 Chee-Yun, violin; Brad Gemeinhardt, horn; Alessio Bax, piano March 10, 2024 Michael Parloff Introduces Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations, Op. 120 Richard Goode, piano JANUARY 14, 2024 Michael Parloff Introduces Anton Webern’s Langsamer Satz for String Quartet Anton Webern’s Langsamer Satz Goldmund String Quartet Michael Parloff Introduces Alexander Borodin’s String Quartet No. 2 in D Alexander Borodin’s Quartet No. 2 in D Major Goldmund String Quartet Robert Schumann’s Quartet No. 3 in A, Op. 42, No. 3 Goldmund String Quartet DECEMBER 3, 2023 Bruce Adolphe and Michael Parloff discuss Bruce Adolphe's “Memory Believes (a requiem)” Bruce Adolphe: Memory Believes (a requiem) Brentano String Quartet & Antioch Chamber Ensemble (choir) October 15, 2023 Michael Parloff Introduces Amanda Maier’s Piano Trio in E-flat Major Amanda Maier’s Piano Trio in E-flat Major The Lysander Piano Trio MAY 21, 2023 Michael Parloff Introduces Béla Bartók’s Rhapsody No. 1 for cello and piano Béla Bartók’s Rhapsody No. 1 for cello and piano, BB94c, Sz. 88 Zlatomir Fung, cello; Albert Cano Smit, piano Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Trio élégiaque No. 2, Op. 9 Kevin Zhu, violin; Zlatomir Fung, cello; Albert Cano Smit APRIL 2, 2023 Brahms’s E-minor Cello Sonata, Op. 38 Paul Watkins, cello; Boris Berman, piano MARCH 19, 2023 Bach’s French Suite in C minor, BWV 813 Rachel Naomi Kudo, piano Three Bach Transcriptions by Egon Petri and Ferruccio Busoni Rachel Naomi Kudo, piano Bach’s Italian Concerto, BWV 971 Rachel Naomi Kudo, piano FEBRUARY 12, 2023 Three Pieces by Fritz Kreisler Benjamin Beilman, violin; Gloria Chien, piano Michael Parloff Introduces Johann Strauss’s Emperor Waltz and Korngold’s Suite, Op. 23 (arr. Schoenberg) Johann Strauss’s Emperor Waltz; Arranged for Chamber Ensemble by Arnold Schoenberg Gloria Chien, piano; Benjamin Beilman and Alexi Kenney, violin; Milena Pajaro-Van de Stadt, viola; Mihai Marica, cello; Yoobin Son, flute; Pascual Martínez-Forteza, clarinet Michael Introduces Erich Korngold’s Suite for Two Violins, Cello, and Piano Left-Hand, Op. 23 Erich Korngold - Suite for 2 violins, cello, and piano left-hand; Parlance Chamber Concerts Gloria Chien, piano; Benjamin Beilman and Alexi Kenney, violin; Mihai Marica, cello JANUARY 29, 2023 Mozart, Divertimento in F, K. 318 The Danish String Quartet Benjamin Britten, Three Divertimenti The Danish String Quartet Elvis Presley, Can’t Help Falling in Love, arr. Danish String Quartet The Danish String Quartet DECEMBER 4, 2022 Sam Perkin, Freakshow The Sitkovetsky Trio NOVEMBER 20, 2022 Michael Parloff Introduces Erwin Schulhoff’s Hot Sonata for Saxophone and Piano Erwin Schulhoff’s Hot Sonata Steven Banks, saxophone and Xak Bjerken, piano Michael Parloff Introduces Claude Debussy’s Rapsodie for Saxophone and Piano Claude Debussy’s Rapsodie for Saxophone and Piano Steven Banks, saxophone and Xak Bjerken, piano OCTOBER 30, 2022 Brahms, String Sextet No. 2 in G, Op. 36 Emerson String Quartet with Guillermo Figueroa, viola, and David Finckel, cello NOVEMBER 14, 2021 Michael Parloff introduces Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in A minor, Op. 13 Mendelssohn, String Quartet in A minor, Op. 13 Schumann String Quartet Ravel, String Quartet in F Schumann String Quartet FEBRUARY 16, 2020 Verdi, Caro Nome (from Rigoletto) Meigui Zhang, soprano; Ken Noda, piano JANUARY 19, 2020 Beethoven, Sonata in C# minor, Op. 27, No. 2 (“Moonlight”) Paul Lewis, piano DECEMBER 15, 2019 Michael Parloff introduces Stravinsky’s “The Soldiers Tale” (Music from the 1918 pandemic) Stravinsky, “The Soldier’s Tale” Benjamin Luxon, narrator; Benjamin Beilman, violin; Innhyuck Cho, clarinet; Frank Morelli, Bassoon; Chris Coletti, trumpet; Demian Austin, trombone; David J. Grossman, bass; Ian Rosenbaum, percussion; Anni Crofut, dancer-choreographer OCTOBER 27, 2019 Boccherini, String Quartet in C, Op. 2, No. 6 Quartetto di Cremona Respighi, String Quartet No. 3 in D Quartetto di Cremona Verdi, “Quando le sere al placido” (from Luisa Miller) Quartetto di Cremona MAY 19, 2019 Michael Parloff introduces Mozart’s Adagio & Rondo, K. 617 for glass harmonica, flute, oboe, viola, and cello Mozart, Adagio & Rondo, K. 617 Friedrich Heinrich Kern, glass harmonica; Chelsea Knox, flute; Elaine Douvas, oboe; Jeremy Berry, viola; Estelle Choi, cello APRIL 14, 2019 Michael Parloff Introduces Corelli’s “La Folia” Violin Sonata in D minor, Op. 5, No. 12 Corelli (arrg. Poxon), “La Folia”: Sonata in D minor, Op. 5, No. 12 Anne Akiko Meyers, violin; Jason Vieaux, guitar Michael Parloff introduces Rentarō Taki’s Kōjō no Tsuki (The Moon Over the Ruined Castle) Rentarō Taki, Kōjō no Tsuki (The Moon Over the Ruined Castle) Anne Akiko Meyers, Violin Elvis Presley, Can’t Help Falling in Love Anne Akiko Meyers, violin, and Jason Vieaux, guitar MARCH 24, 2019 Bach, Violin and Keyboard Sonata in E Major, BWV 1016 Sarah Crocker Vonsattel, violin, and Gilles Vonsattel Bach, Keyboard Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052 Gilles Vonsattel, piano soloist, and chamber orchestra JANUARY 27, 2019 Michael Parloff Introduces Beethoven’s “Kakadu Variations,” Op. 121A Beethoven, “Kakadu Variations”, Op. 121A for piano trio Pinchas Zukerman Piano Trio Anton Arensky, Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 32 Pinchas Zukerman Piano Trio DECEMBER 16, 2018 Michael Parloff introduces Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110 Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110 Emerson String Quartet Schubert, String Quintet in C Major, D. 956, Op.Posth 163 Emerson String Quartet with cellist David Finckel NOVEMBER 4, 2018 Saint-Saëns: Carnival of the Animals Alessio Bax & Lucille Chung, pianos with Members of the New York Philharmonic Michael Parloff introduces Vivaldi’s Flute Concerto in D, Op. 10, No. 3 (“The Goldfinch”) Vivaldi, Flute Concerto in D, Op. 10, No. 3 (“The Goldfinch”) Yoobin Son, flute Members of the New York Philharmonic SEPTEMBER 23, 2018 Michael Parloff introduces Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 14 in E flat, K. 449 (Chamber Version) Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 14 in E flat, K. 449 Michael Brown, piano, and string quintet Schubert, Rondo in A, D. 438, for violin and string quartet Sean Lee, violin, and string quartet Chausson, Concerto in D, Op. 21, for violin, piano, and string quartet Arnaud Sussmann, violin; Michael Brown, piano, and string quartet APRIL 8, 2018 Michael Parloff Introduces Beethoven’s Quartet in F, Op. 59, No. 1 (Razumovsky No. 1) Ludwig van Beethoven: Quartet in F, Op. 59, No. 1 Danish String Quartet Michael Parloff Introduces Beethoven’s Quartet in C# minor, Op. 131 Ludwig van Beethoven: Quartet in C# Minor, Op. 131 Danish String Quartet MARCH 11, 2018 Beethoven, Sonata No. 10 in G, Op. 96 for violin and piano Benjamin Beilman, violin, and Orion Weiss, piano Ravel, “Blues” from Sonata No. 2 in G, for violin and piano Benjamin Beilman, violin, and Orion Weiss, piano A pre-performance conversation about Frederic Rzewski’s “Demons” (2017) Michael Parloff interviews Benjamin Beilman and Orion Weiss Frederic Rzewski, “Demons” (2017) for violin and piano Benjamin Beilman, violin, and Orion Weiss, piano FEBRUARY 17, 2018 Michael Parloff introduces the history of Haydn’s “Seven Last Words of Christ.” (5 minutes) Haydn, “The Seven Last Words of Christ” Chiara String Quartet Michael Parloff’s multimedia lecture on the history and music of Haydn’s “Seven Last Words of Christ” (55 minutes) DECEMBER 17, 2017 Rachmaninoff, Romance from Suite No. 2, Op. 17 for 2 pianos) Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung, pianos Rachmaninoff, Tarantella from Suite No. 2, Op. 17 for 2 pianos Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung, pianos Lutosławski, Variations on a Theme of Paganini for 2 pianos Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung, pianos NOVEMBER 19, 2017 Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 6, Mvt. 1 Los Angeles Guitar Quartet Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 6, Mvts. 2 & 3 Los Angeles Guitar Quartet OCTOBER 29, 2017 Michael Parloff Introduces Mozart’s Adagio in B minor, K. 540 Mozart, Adagio in B minor, K. 540 Peter Serkin, piano Mozart, Sonata in B-Flat Major, K. 570 Peter Serkin, piano Bach, The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 Peter Serkin, piano SEPTEMBER 24, 2017 Michael Parloff introduces Mendelssohn’s Octet for Strings, Op. 20 Mendelssohn, String Octet in E-flat, Op. 20 Arnaud Sussmann, Sean Lee, Emily Daggett Smith, & Danbi Um, violins; Mark Holloway & Paul Neubauer, violas; Rafael Figueroa & Mihai Marica, cellos Strolling Violist Paul Neubauer plays Schulenburg’s Puszta-Märchen Fauré, Romance in B-flat, Op. 28 for violin and piano Arnaud Sussmann, violin, and Michael Brown, piano Saint-Saëns, Romance in F, Op. 36 for cello and piano Mihai Marica, and Michael Brown, piano MARCH 26, 2017 Michael Parloff introduces Haydn’s Quartet in D, Op. 64, No. 5 (The Lark) Joseph Haydn, Quartet in D, Op. 64, No. 5 (The Lark) Jerusalem String Quartet DECEMBER 18, 2016 Gilad Cohen, Trio for a Spry Clarinet, Weeping Cello, and Ruminative Harp Michael Parloff interviews the composer followed by the trio performance Michael Parloff introduces Debussy’s Sacred and Profane Dances & Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro Claude Debussy, Sacred and Profane Dances Harpist Mariko Anraku with Met Orchestra principal musicians Maurice Ravel, Introduction and Allegro Harpist Emmanuel Ceysson with Met Orchestra principal musicians NOVEMBER 20, 2016 Michael Parloff introduces Dvořák’s Quartet No. 12 in F (American Quartet) Antonín Dvořák, String Quartet No. 12 in F (American) New York Philharmonic String Quartet George Gershwin, Lullaby New York Philharmonic String Quartet OCTOBER 30, 2016 Michael Parloff introduces Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No. 1 in C minor, Op. 8 Shostakovich, Piano Trio No. 1 in C minor, Op. 8 Wu Han, piano; David Finckel, cello; Philip Setzer, violin APRIL 3, 2016 Bach, Badinerie from Suite in B Minor BWV 1067 Sir James Galway, flute Benjamin Beilman and Danbi Um, violins Mark Holloway, viola; Nicholas Canellakis, cello Timothy Cobb, bass; Paolo Bordignon, harpsichord MARCH 6, 2016 Michael Parloff introduces Schubert’s String Quartet in D minor, K. 810 (“Death and the Maiden”) Escher String Quartet Schubert, String Quartet in D minor (“Death and the Maiden”), Mvts 1 & 2 Escher String Quartet Schubert, String Quartet in D minor (“Death and the Maiden”), Mvts 3 & 4 Escher String Quartet DECEMBER 13, 2015 Michael Parloff introduces Beethoven’s Cello Sonata No. 4 in C Paul Watkins, cello, Gilles Vonsattel, piano Beethoven, Cello Sonata in C, Op. 102, No. 1 – Full Performance Paul Watkins, cello, Gilles Vonsattel, piano Michael Parloff introduces Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 9 in A, Op. 47 (The “Bridgetower-Kreutzer”) Beethoven: Violin Sonata No. 9 Violin Sonata No. 9 in A, Op. 47 (The “Bridgetower-Kreutzer”) Kristin Lee, violin; Gilles Vonsattel, piano NOVEMBER 15, 2015 Charles Ives: Violin Sonata No. 1 Stefan Jackiw, violin; Jeremy Denk, piano and speaker OCTOBER 4, 2015 Mozart, Sonata in F, K. 563 & K. 494 Richard Goode, piano Brahms: 4 Klavierstücke, Op. 119 Richard Goode, piano APRIL 26, 2015 Jules Styne, I Fall in Love Too Easily Stefon Harris, vibraphone/marimba, Alex Brown, piano MARCH 29, 2015 Frederic Weatherly, Danny Boy Matthew Polenzani, tenor, Ken Noda, piano Ravel, Five Popular Greek Songs Matthew Polenzani, tenor, Ken Noda, piano Michael Parloff introduces Samuel Barber’s Hermit Songs Samuel Barber, Hermit Songs, Op. 69 Matthew Polenzani, tenor; Ken Noda, piano Beethoven, Adelaide Matthew Polenzani, tenor; Ken Noda, piano FEBRUARY 8, 2015 Michael Parloff introduces Prokofiev’s Cello Sonata in C, Op. 119 Prokofiev, Cello Sonata in C, Op. 119 David Finckel, cello, Wu Han, piano JANUARY 4, 2015 Beethoven, Quartet No. 12 in E-flat, Op. 127 Emerson String Quartet Movement 1 Movement 2 Movement 3 Movement 4 NOVEMBER 2, 2014 Manuel de Falla, Polo from Seven Popular Songs Isabel Leonard, mezzo-soprano, Sharon Isbin, guitar OCTOBER 5, 2014 Mozart, Violin Sonata in E Minor, K. 308 Arnaud Sussmann, violin, Gilles Vonsattel, piano Michael Parloff introduces Mozart’s Violin Sonata in E minor, K. 308 Movement 1 Movement 2 OCTOBER 5, 2014 Brahms, Piano Quintet in F minor, 3rd Movement Erin Keefe, Arnaud Sussmann, violins, Hsin-Yun Huang viola, Rafael Figueroa, cello, Gilles Vonsattel, piano APRIL 27, 2014 William Walton, Façade Highlights Stephanie Blythe & Raymond Menard, reciters, Members of the Met Orchestra, Michael Parloff, conductor JANUARY 27, 2013 Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-flat, Op. 110 Richard Goode, piano Movement 1 Movement 2 Movement 3 OCTOBER 31, 2012 Mozart, Concerto in C, K. 299 for Flute and Harp Stefán Höskuldsson, flute, Deborah Hoffman, harp, Members of the Met Orchestra, Michael Parloff, conductor Michael Parloff introduces Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp, K. 299 Movement 1 Movement 2 Movement 3 Prokofiev, Peter and the Wolf (Introducing the instrumental characters) Midge Woolsey, narrator, Members of the Met Orchestra, Michael Parloff, conductor Prokofiev, Peter and the Wolf (Complete performance) Midge Woolsey, narrator, Members of the Met Orchestra, Michael Parloff, conductor SEPTEMBER 23, 2012 Reicha: Sinfonia in D, Op. 12 for four flutes Sir James Galway, Robert Langevin, Stefán Höskuldsson, Denis Bouriakov, flutes Movement 1 Movement 2 Movement 3 Movement 4

< Back AS LONG AS THERE ARE SONGS Stephanie Blythe will announce the program selections from the stage. No Program Notes Previous Next

MICHAEL STEPHEN BROWN, PIANO Winner of the 2018 Emerging Artist Award from Lincoln Center and a 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Brown has recently performed as soloist with the Seattle Symphony, the National Philharmonic, NFM Leopoldinum, and the North Carolina, Wichita, Grand Rapids, New Haven, and Albany Symphonies; and recitals at Carnegie Hall, the Mostly Mozart Festival, and Lincoln Center. Brown is an artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, performing frequently at Alice Tully Hall and on tour. This season he opens the Society’s season with Bach and Mendelssohn concertos, and makes European recital debuts at the Beethoven-Haus Bonn and the Chopin Museum in Mallorca. He was selected by András Schiff to perform on an international tour making solo debuts in Berlin, Milan, Florence, Zurich’s Tonhalle and New York’s 92nd Street Y. He regularly performs recitals with his longtime duo partner, cellist Nicholas Canellakis, and has appeared at numerous festivals including Tanglewood, Marlboro, Music@Menlo, Gilmore, Ravinia, Saratoga, Bridgehampton, Caramoor, Music in the Vineyards, Bard, Sedona, Moab, and Tippet Rise. As a composer, he recently toured his own Concerto for Piano and Strings (2020) around the US and Poland with several orchestras. He was the Composer and Artist-in-Residence at the New Haven Symphony for the 2017-19 seasons and a 2018 Copland House Residency Award recipient. He has received commissions from the Gilmore Piano Festival, the NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra; the New Haven and Maryland Symphony Orchestras; Concert Artists Guild, Shriver Hall; Osmo Vänskä and Erin Keefe; pianists Jerome Lowenthal, Ursula Oppens, Orion Weiss, Adam Golka, and Roman Rabinovich; and a consortium of gardens.
 A prolific recording artist, his latest album Noctuelles, featuring Ravel’s Miroirs and newly discovered movements by Medtner was called “a glowing presentation” by BBC Music Magazine. He can be heard as soloist with the Seattle Symphony and Ludovic Morlot in the music of Messiaen, and as soloist with the Brandenburg State Symphony in music by Samuel Adler. Other albums include Beethoven’s Eroica Variations; all-George Perle; and collaborative albums each with pianist Jerome Lowenthal, cellist Nicholas Canellakis, and violinist Elena Urioste. He is now embarking on a multi-year project to record the complete piano music by Felix Mendelssohn including world premiere recordings of music by one of Mendelssohn’s muses, Delphine von Schauroth. Brown was First Prize winner of the Concert Artists Guild Competition, a winner of the Bowers Residency from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (formerly CMS Two), a recipient of the Juilliard Petschek Award, and is a Steinway Artist. He earned dual bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano and composition from The Juilliard School, where he studied with pianists Jerome Lowenthal and Robert McDonald and composers Samuel Adler and Robert Beaser. Additional mentors have included András Schiff and Richard Goode. A native New Yorker, he lives there with his two 19th century Steinway D pianos, Octavia and Daria. He will not reveal which is his favorite, so as not to incite jealousy. In his spare time, he learns Italian, carves stumps into coffee tables, and plays a lot of Mendelssohn.

ABOUT THE 2011-2012 SEASON 2011-2012 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

September 25, 2016: Jason Vieaux, guitar; Escher String Quartet ALAN JAY KERNIS 100 Greatest Dance Hits September 25, 2016: Jason Vieaux, guitar; Escher String Quartet Aaron Jay Kernis came to national attention as a twenty-three-year-old composer in 1983 when the New York Philharmonic premiered his Dream of the Morning Sky. He went on to receive the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for his String Quartet No. 2, “Musica instrumentalis,” and the 2002 Grawemeyer Award for Colored Field for cello and orchestra (originally an English horn concerto). In both cases he was the youngest composer to win these prestigious awards. His highly imaginative, sophisticated yet accessible works have been commissioned and performed by a pantheon of music organizations, ensembles, and soloists. Growing up in Philadelphia, Kernis first studied violin, then taught himself piano at age twelve, and turned to composition the following year. He studied with John Adams at the San Francisco Conservatory, Charles Wuorinen at the Manhattan School of Music, and Jacob Druckman and Morton Subotnick at Yale University. He describes his wide-ranging influences as embracing everything from “Gertrude Stein to hard-edged rap to the diaphanous musical canvas of Claude Debussy.” He has taught at the Yale School of Music since 2003, has directed the Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute, and held composer residencies with Astral Artists, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Albany Symphony, Minnesota Public Radio, and the American Composers Forum. In the early 1990s many of Kernis’s compositions were concerned with dark images: his Second Symphony (1992) dealt with the Gulf War, Still Movement with Hymn (1993) with World War II and the Holocaust, and Colored Field (originally 1994) reflected his visits to the Auschwitz and Birkenau death camps. But his varied and colorful writing has also encompassed the humorous—The Four Seasons of Futurist Cuisine, and the erotic—Goblin Market, based on Christina Rossetti’s moody poem. More recently, for Renée Fleming he composed the alternately ferocious and lyrical Valentines (2000) on the feminist texts of Carol Ann Duffy, Newly Drawn Sky (2006) in honor of James Conlon’s first season as director of the Ravinia Festival, and his Viola Concerto (2014) for Paul Neubauer and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Most recently Marina Piccinini and the Detroit Symphony premiered his Flute Concerto in January 2016. Kernis composed 100 Greatest Dance Hits in 1993, intending it as a celebration of popular styles of the ’90s, but he admits that sounds of the ’70s occurred to him more as he composed. The piece was premiered on September 3, 1993, for the tenth anniversary of the Music from Angel Fire Festival (New Mexico) by guitarist David Tanenbaum, violinists Ida and Ani Kavafian, violist Scott St. John and cellist Christopher Costanza. Said Kernis, “I borrowed the title from those old K-Tel advertisements on late-night TV for 100 Greatest Motown Hits or 100 Greatest Soul Hits.” The piece unfolds in four movements, drawing on popular styles ranging from salsa and rap to disco and easy listening. The short, rhythmic introduction has the string players producing all manner of unconventional sounds. The ensuing “minuet/scherzo” movement features captivating dance gestures, drawing its title, Salsa Pasada (“Rancid Salsa”) from a pun on old-fashioned salsa dancing and the condiment when it is past its prime. Kernis drew on this movement for the finale of his 1997 Guitar Concerto. Kernis entitled the contemplative slow movement (also refashioned for his Guitar Concerto) “MOR Easy Listening Slow Dance”—MOR referring to the “middle-of-the-road” kind of music his parents would like—“what they hope to find on the radio dial.” The driven finale’s impetus came from the television show Soul Train, with its over three decades of R&B, soul, hip-hop, and disco. Kernis simply substituted modes of transportation in his title—a boat for a train: Dance Party on the Disco Motorboat. The striking conclusion was inspired, said Kernis, by “kids on the subways doing intricate rap rhythms vocally, playing on their bodies even, so that the different syllables they were using and the different sounds they were making sounded like specific percussion instruments.” © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

JESSICA PHILLIPS, CLARINET Jessica Phillips won her position of Second Clarinet and E-flat Clarinet in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in 2001. She graduated cum laude from Barnard College, Columbia University, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Music. While at Barnard, she was accepted into the joint lesson program at the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied under Ricardo Morales. Throughout her career she has appeared as Guest Principal Clarinet with the Chicago Symphony, as well as performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, All Star Orchestra, Bavarian State Opera Orchestra, Mainly Mozart Festival, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, American Ballet Theater, Santa Fe Opera, St. Bart’s Music Festival, and the American Symphony Orchestra. An active chamber musician, Jessica has performed at Carnegie Hall numerous times with the MET Chamber Ensemble, Mainly Mozart, Orchestra of St. Luke’s chamber music series, at the Kingston Chamber Music Festival. She has performed in recital at the Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium, Lisbon International Clarinet Meeting, International Woodwind Festival, Peabody Conservatory, International Clarinet Association’s ClarFest in Japan and Canada, and appeared as a featured soloist with the Lincoln Symphony at the Nebraska. She can be heard on numerous “Live From Lincoln Center” performances with the Grammy award-winning Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the Emmy award-winning PBS broadcasts with The All Star Orchestra .

MICHAEL PARLOFF Principal Flutist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra from 1977 until his retirement in 2008, Michael Parloff has been heard regularly as a recitalist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist throughout North America, Europe, and Japan. He has collaborated with such noted artists as James Levine, Jessye Norman, James Galway, Peter Serkin, Dawn Upshaw, Thomas Hampson, Jaime Laredo, and the Emerson String Quartet and has performed on numerous occasions at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. As a lecturer, conductor, and teacher, Michael Parloff has appeared at major conservatories and university music schools in the United States and abroad. These venues include The Juilliard School, Yale University, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Music@Menlo, the Verbier and Tanglewood Festivals, and the National Orchestral Institute at the University of Maryland. He has been a faculty member at the Manhattan School of Music since 1985. Michael Parloff is the founder and Artistic Director of Parlance Chamber Concerts. The mission of Parlance Chamber Concerts is to promote the appreciation and understanding of classical music in Northern New Jersey by presenting the world’s finest singers and instrumentalists in affordable, innovatively programmed public concerts and educational events. In recent seasons, Parlance Chamber Concerts has presented such renowned artists as the Emerson and Brentano String Quartets, pianists Emanuel Ax, Richard Goode, Jeremy Denk, and Simone Dinnerstein, Met Opera singers Stephanie Blythe, Thomas Hampson, Matthew Polenzani, Isabel Leonard, and Nathan Gunn, flutist James Galway, and clarinetist Richard Stoltzman. Since 1996, Michael has also presented over 30 benefit concerts for various nonprofit organizations and humanitarian causes in Northern Bergen County, New Jersey. Michael Parloff has recorded extensively with the Metropolitan Opera for Deutsche Grammophon, Sony Classical, London, and Philips and has recorded solo recital repertoire and 20th-century chamber music for E.S.SAY, Gunmar, CRI, and Koch. To view Michael Parloff’s videos and multimedia lectures, click here .