transcr. Sharon Isbin November 2, 2014 – Isabel Leonard, mezzo-soprano, Sharon Isbin, guitar FEDERICO GARCÍA LORCA (1898–1936) Canciones españolas antiguas transcr. Sharon Isbin November 2, 2014 – Isabel Leonard, mezzo-soprano, Sharon Isbin, guitar García Lorca may be best known for his literary achievements, yet few great poets and playwrights have been involved in music to the extent that he was. Reported to have hummed tunes before he could talk, he received early musical training; by the age of eleven he was studying piano in Granada with Antonio Segura and Francisco Benítez. Pedro Revuelta, in his article “Lorca and Music” somehow assigned the precise figure of 87% to his life activities revolving around music. Lorca’s poems frequently bear musical titles—Songs, Gypsy Ballads, Suites; and many of his essays are devoted to musical topics—Ancient Spanish Lullabies, How a City Sings and Sleeps , and El cante jondo (often translated as “deep song,” referring to the whole body of flamenco or Gypsy music). Lorca’s inspiration came not only from his native Spanish music, but from composers of Western art music—he apparently listened obsessively to Bach’s Cantata 104: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme while writing the second act of his famous tragedy Blood Wedding (1933). Lorca loved the music of Debussy, particularly his Spanish-inspired works—he is said to have given exquisite performances on the piano of La soirée dans Grenade from Estampes and La puerta del vino from the second book of Préludes. Lorca formed one of the greatest friendships of his life with composer Manuel de Falla, to whom he was introduced as a prodigy poet when Falla visited Granada in 1919. Falla settled there permanently the following year and the two collaborated on many projects, including the celebrated cante jondo festival in 1922 for which Lorca wrote his lecture/essay El cante jondo . This discussion of the history and techniques of flamenco singing is notable for its consideration of the guitarist as the equal of the singer, since the latter had always been considered the main attraction. In his lecture/essay Ancient Spanish Lullabies , first given at Vassar College in 1930, Lorca dealt with a subject that had been part of him since birth. He particularly stressed that Spanish lullabies, unlike other European lullabies, are not sweet, soft, and monotonous, but they “awaken” the child to the dangers outside the mother’s protective arms; aware of the dangers, the child will realize the security of those arms and fall asleep. Eventually, however, the child must realize that he or she is alone. Lorca collected and arranged many Spanish folk songs, particularly from his native Andalusian region in the south—perhaps tinkering with their words himself. His moving performances of them, sometimes singing and accompanying himself on piano or guitar, became well known to millions of Spaniards before he was shot in the early days of the Spanish Civil War, apparently by supporters of Franco. His refusal to write down his arrangements is in keeping with the history of the oral tradition that so fascinated him. He also disliked the inability of the musical notation to reflect the characteristic microtonal and rhythmic complexities of this music. Fortunately in 1931 he made five records of his arrangements, sung by La Argentinita and accompanied by himself on the piano; these have been transcribed and performed countless times since. This evening’s selections of Canciones españolas antiguas , all arranged by Sharon Isbin, are interspersed throughout the program, beginning with “El café de Chinitas,” a song taught to Lorca by his great uncle, who earned his living playing in this flamenco nightclub in Málaga. The song’s protagonist brags that he is a better bullfighter and Gypsy than his brother and will kill the bull before four-thirty. The open-ended harmony (dominant) that ends all the song’s phrases and verses seems fitting in that we never find out what happens in the bullfight, but it is actually a typical practice in Spanish folk song, as in “Romance de Don Boyso.” Here, with distinctive melodic leaps of a fourth, we hear the story of a Spanish nobleman who finds a Christian girl held captive by the Moors, who turns out to be Rosalinda, his long-lost sister. “Nana de Sevilla” falls into the category of unsettling lullabies that Lorca mentioned in his famous lecture, since it tells of a baby, abandoned by its Gypsy mother, whose father may or may not build it a cradle. Lorca often performed his best-remembered song “Anda, jaleo” (Come, clap hands—or “have a good time,” or “make a commotion”) in his lectures and in his play La zapatera prodigiosa . La Argentinita made “Ande, jaleo” a dramatic popular dance when she toured in the 1930s and ’40s—she once called it a “romance of the smugglers of the nineteenth century” and a dance about “the cavaliers of the Sierra in their, fights, loves, and adieus.” Fit with explosive lyrics, it became a powerful resistance song during the Spanish Civil War, then resurfaced after Franco’s time as a flamenco number. With its repeating bass line and jaunty rhythms—together with Lorca’s occasionally piquant harmonic inflections—the folk version tells of a hunter tracking down his beloved who’s been taken away, and of the conflict between shooting to kill a dove (symbolic of her if she’s been unfaithful) and the pain it will cause him. Following pieces by Tárrega and Albéniz (see below), the evening’s second Lorca set begins with the Salamancan folk song “Los mozos de Monleón” (The Boys of Monleón). The music’s outward simplicity—with some sung and some recited text—belies the dramatic ending to its tale of boys going to a bullfight. For “Zorongo” Lorca took sensual Andalusian dance music—said to date back to the Moors—and fitted it with his own verses for La Argentinita to sing; he also imbued his guitar introduction with a plethora of parallel chords. The music’s quickly repeating patterns mingled with slowing phrases have made it a popular addition to flamenco tradition. The fifteenth-century “La morillas de Jaén” (The Three Moorish Girls of Jaén) unfolds with a simple chordal accompaniment and characteristic melodic ornaments. Its patterned introduction and interludes in 3/8 meter contrast with the tune itself, which mixes 6/8, 4/4, and 2/4 to reflect the declamatory style of the text. The vivacious “Sevillanas del Siglo XVIII” (Sevillanas of the Eighteenth Century) takes its name from the fast, triple meter, major-mode couples dance from Seville, which originated as an Andalusian variant of the Castilian seguidilla. The dance is typically performed to a traditional type of verses of four or seven lines with footwork reflecting the animated rhythms of the guitar, castanet, or tambourine. Triana and La Macarena in the poem refer to neighborhoods in Seville, Triana being associated in particular with flamenco. In the concert’s second half, the jaunty style of Lorca’s “La Tarrera” provides a marked contrast to the pensive style of the opening “Aranjuez, ma pensée” by Rodrigo. One might be tempted to ascribe it to the difference between the southern Andalusian style and that of the area in central Spain where Aranjuez lies (to which Rodrigo pays tribute), except that “La Tarara” has often been traced back to Castilian roots. It is such an old children’s song (there’s a Spanish saying that something is “as old as Tarara”) that it has many regional variants, and Lorca may have picked up one in Analusia. The protagonist, “La Tarara,” is a free-spirited, dancing, flirting girl (some say alma gitano or Gypsy soul) who likes to wear all manner of crazy clothing—some versions have her wearing pants completely covered in buttons or a white dress on Maundy Thursday in addition to the verses with frills and bells. More recently she has been seen as a cross-dresser. In any case, this remains one of Lorca’s most lively and popular songs, here arranged by Emilio de Torre and transcribed by Sharon Isbin. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

CONRAD TAO, PIANO The only classical musician on Forbes’ 2011 “30 Under 30” list of people changing theworld, 18-year-old Chinese-American pianist Conrad Tao was found playing children’s songs on the piano at 18 months of age. Born in Urbana, Illinois, he gave his first piano recital at age 4; four years later, he made his concerto debut performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto in A Major, K. 414. In June of 2011, the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars and the Department of Education named Conrad a Presidential Scholar in the Arts, while the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts awarded him a YoungArts gold medal in music. Later that year, Conrad was named a Gilmore Young Artist, an honor awarded every two years highlighting the most promising American pianists of the new generation. In May of 2012, he was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. In January of 2012, Conrad’s performance of Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra was hailed by the Detroit News as “a blazing debut…a performance no less seductive in its lyrical beauty than hair-raising in its technical brilliance.” Following a recital at Carnegie’s Weill Hall in February of 2012, the New York Times wrote of the “lovely colors and poetic nuances” of his Liszt, and the eloquence and “fiery panache” of his Prokofiev. Later that year, in June, a writer for All Things Strings attended Conrad’s performance at the Montréal Chamber Music Festival and noted that “Tao is ready for his own TV show: he plays music as if the composer were at his side, with color, joy, and spontaneous poetry. He composes, studies, researches, writes…like that whiz kid on the West Coast, Conrad Tao should be licensed to operate by the time he’s 21.” Sporting a truly international career, Conrad has appeared as soloist in the United States with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Russian National Orchestra, and the Baltimore, Dallas, Detroit, and San Francisco Symphonies, among others. He has made multiple tours of Europe, giving solo recitals in Paris, London, Munich, Berlin, and Verbier, and performed with orchestras in Brazil, China, Hong Kong, Mexico, Moscow, and Singapore. Highlights of his 2012-2013 season include two more tours of Europe, including a concerto debut at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and a third reëngagement at the Louvre in Paris, appearances at the Mostly Mozart and Aspen Music Festivals, debuts with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Canada and a return to Asia with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and performances of all five Beethoven piano concertos in the United States. As an accomplished composer, Conrad has won eight consecutive ASCAP Morton GouldYoung Composer Awards since 2004; he also received BMI’s Carlos Surinach prize in 2005. For the 2012-2013 season, Conrad has been commissioned by the Hong Kong Philharmonic to write a concert overture ringing in their new season – frequent colleague Jaap von Zweden’s inaugural season there as music director – as well as celebrating the region’s annual China Day. He was also asked by the Dallas Symphony to compose a work observing the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, which will be performed in November of 2013. As an award-winning violinist, Conrad has performed with orchestras in Pennsylvania and Florida; in 2009, he gave nine performances of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor (followed by Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor in the second half) with the Symphony of the Americas in Boca Raton. Conrad’s violin prowess was featured on Jackie Evancho’s Dream With Me PBS special, on which Conrad also traded spots with David Foster behind the piano. Conrad is an exclusive EMI recording artist. His first album, released as an iTunes exclusive in February of 2012 as part of the “Juilliard Sessions” series, comprised works by Debussy, Stravinsky, and Conrad himself. His second record will also prominently feature Conrad’s own compositions, and is expected for release in 2013. Conrad currently attends the Columbia University/Juilliard School joint degree program and studies piano with Professors Yoheved Kaplinsky and Choong Mo Kang at Juilliard. He studies composition with Professor Christopher Theofanidis of Yale University, and studied violin with Ms. Catherine Cho for five years at Juilliard’s Pre-College Division.

NANCY WU, VIOLIN Nancy Wu has served as Associate Concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since 1989. She performs regularly with the MET Chamber Ensemble and has been a guest artist with the Chamber Music Society of Martha’s Vineyard and the Fondation Giannada in Martigny, Switzerland. Ms. Wu has been a coach for the Verbier Festival Orchestra since its founding in 2000. She is an exclusive artist for Thomastik-Infeld Strings. A Fulbright grant recipient, Ms. Wu graduated with honors from Stanford University and the Vienna Hochschule für Musik, and lives in Pleasantville, New York, with her husband, double bassist Leigh Mesh and their two children.

October 19, 2008 – Sheryl Staples, violin; Cynthia Phelps, viola WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) Duo in G, K. 423, for violin & viola October 19, 2008 – Sheryl Staples, violin; Cynthia Phelps, viola Mozart’s relationship with the Archbishop of Salzburg, Hieronymus Colloredo, was never a cordial one. The Archbishop regarded court musicians as members of his household staff, obliged to serve at the whim of the master. Mozart, feeling increasingly resentful and constricted, finally submitted his resignation in 1781. Afterwards, he wrote to his father, “I am no longer so unfortunate as to be in Salzburg’s services – today was that happy day for me.” The tense relationship between the composer and the prince ended ingloriously; the archbishop’s chief steward, Count Arco, dismissed the unruly musician with a “kick in the behind,” as Mozart reported to his father. In the summer of 1783, Mozart returned to Salzburg for the first time since his break with Archbishop Colloredo. It was a nervous visit for Mozart, who was bringing his new wife, Constanze, to meet his father for the first time. In a letter he expressed concern that the archbishop might have him arrested. While in Salzburg, Mozart found the court music director, Michael Haydn (the younger brother of Joseph), suffering from a protracted illness and unable to complete a commission from the Archbishop for six duos for violin and viola. The impatient Archbishop had threatened to cut off Haydn’s salary until the two remaining duos were complete. As a favor to his old friend, Mozart composed the missing duos and gave them to Hadyn to pass off as his own. The two resulting works, in G and B-flat major, received more praise than the other four. It must have given Mozart an ironic pleasure to know that his old enemy Colleredo was unwittingly enjoying the music of his despised former employee. Mozart was a skillful player of both instruments, although his preference was for the viola. The Duo in G reflects this preference, as he treats the lower instrument as a full partner in the musical discourse, rather than relegating it to its more familiar role as an accompanying voice. The first movement features a sparkling interchange between the two instruments. The lyrical slow movement is built on an aria-like main idea, reflecting Mozart’s lifelong love of opera and the human voice. The liting Rondo is a movement of great charm and virtuosity. Although composed in a lighter vein, as befit the style of his older musical colleague, Mozart’s effortless mastery shines through at every turn, often bringing to mind the writing in his earlier masterpiece for solo violin and viola, Symphonie Concertante. By Michael Parloff Return to Parlance Program Notes

CYNTHIA PHELPS, VIOLA “Not only does Cynthia Phelps produce one of the richest, deepest viola timbres in the world, she is a superb musician” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). Principal Violist of the New York Philharmonic, Ms. Phelps has distinguished herself both here and abroad as one of the leading instrumentalists of our time. The recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the 1988 Pro Musicis International Award and first prize at both the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and the Washington International String Competition, she has captivated audiences with her compelling solo and chamber music performances. She is “a performer of top rank…the sounds she drew were not only completely unproblematical –technically faultless, generously nuanced– but sensuously breathtaking” (The Boston Globe). Ms. Phelps performs throughout the world as soloist with orchestras, including the Minnesota Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, Orquesta Sinfonica de Bilbao, and Hong Kong Philharmonic. She has appeared in recital in Paris, Rome, Los Angeles, Boston and Washington, and at New York’s Alice Tully Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, and St. David’s Hall in Cardiff, Wales. She has also been heard on National Public Radio’s St. Paul Sunday Morning, Radio France, and RAI in Italy, and has been featured on The MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour, and CBS Sunday Morning. Ms. Phelps has performed internationally as a collaborator with such artists as Isaac Stern, Itzak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Yo-Yo Ma, Lynn Harrell, and Yefim Bronfman, among many others. A much sought-after chamber musician, she performs regularly with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, New York’s Bargemusic, the Boston Chamber Music Society, and Music From Copland House. Ms. Phelps has performed with the Guarneri, American, Brentano, and Prague String Quartets, the Kalichstein-Robinson-Laredo Trio, and at the Mostly Mozart, Marlboro, Seattle, Bridgehampton, Ravinia, La Jolla, Santa Fe, Bravo!Colorado, Naples, Cremona, Schleswig-Holstein, and Chamber Music Northwest Festivals. Ms. Phelps regularly receives enthusiastic reviews for her performances as soloist with the New York Philharmonic; works she has performed include Berlioz’s Harold in Italy, the Bartok Viola Concerto and Strauss’s Don Quixote, the Benjamin Lees Concerto for String Quartet, and the recent premiere of a concerto written for her by Sofia Gubaidulina. Recent performances have included a New York Philharmonic International tour featuring the Gubaidulina, a new work written for her by composer Steven Paulus (commissioned by the Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival), and return solo engagements with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the San Diego Symphony and numerous other orchestras. This season, Ms. Phelps appears in virtually every major concert hall in New York City, including performances with the American String Quartet, the Kalichstein-Robinson-Laredo trio, and mezzo-soprano Suzanne Mentzer. She also performs in recital in La Jolla, as well as on tour with violinist Ida Kavafian and cellist Ronald Thomas. She looks forward to a new viola concerto written for her by Richard Danielpour. Her solo debut recording is on Cala Records, and can also be heard on the Marlboro Recording Society, Polyvideo, Nuova Era, Virgin Classics, and Covenant labels. Ms. Phelps and her husband, cellist Ronald Thomas, reside in New Jersey and have three children, Lili, Christinia, and Caitlin.

October 17, 2021: Escher String Quartet JOSEPH HAYDN (1732-1809) String Quartet in B-flat, Op. 76, No. 4 (“Sunrise”) October 17, 2021: Escher String Quartet When Count Joseph Erdödy commissioned the Opus 76 Quartets in 1796, Haydn had recently returned to Vienna from the second of his highly successful London visits. He had always composed with confidence, but a certain new boldness in his style may have come from the realization that the entire Western world considered him the greatest living composer. The six “Erdödy” Quartets show formal experiments (continued, as mentioned above, in his Opus 77 quartets) both within or instead of sonata-form movements, a new profundity in their extremely slow-paced Adagios, fast “modern” minuets—scherzos in all but name—and more weight and novel tonal approaches in their finales. In June 1797 Haydn played some or all of the quartets on the piano for Swedish diplomat Frederik Silverstolpe, who considered them “more than masterly and full of new thoughts.” The Quartets were completed in time for a September 1797 performance at Eisenstadt as part of the grand festivities surrounding the visit of the Viceroy of Hungary, Palatine Archduke Joseph. Count Erdödy’s rights to the Quartets precluded their being published until 1799. That year English music historian Charles Burney wrote to Haydn that he “never received more pleasure from instrumental music: [the Quartets] are full of invention, fire, good taste, and new effects.” The B-flat major Quartet exudes the composer’s supreme confidence and originality: in one of the greatest openings in chamber music, the lovely first violin melody rises out of a chord sustained by the three lower instruments in a wonderful sunrise effect that earned the Quartet its nickname. Several commentators have remarked on the feeling of growth that this idea initiates in the movement. The continuation of the main theme brings great contrast with an energetic idea that fosters all the fiery passages in the movement, including the remarkable fortissimo bursts that close the exposition and recapitulation. The second theme uses the “sunrise” idea of the opening but in a kind of mirror image—the cello plays a winding descent as the others sustain the chord. Throughout the movement one hears the kind of mastery that so impressed Beethoven as he began writing string quartets with his Opus 18 series. Haydn’s Adagio somberly explores the possibilities of its first five notes. For a major-mode movement, this is one of the most dark-hued in the repertoire and seems to create a direct link with the poetic slow movements of Beethoven’s later quartets. Delicate filigree erupts not merrily but poignantly and the great downward leaps at the ends of sections seem to release but not totally relieve built-up tension. The second half, which begins like the opening, exaggerates these qualities with more filigree and wider plunges. For his fast Menuetto Haydn takes a little repeated two-note slur and fashions two entire sections from it. The second much longer section includes a varied return to the first, signaled by the little repeated slur in the cello—a nice bit of humor. Partway through this return, the focus again shifts briefly to the cello, soon followed by the viola. The Menuetto ends with another subtle touch of humor as twice the upward arpeggio fails to resolve in its own register. The contrasting trio evokes a truly rustic atmosphere with its folklike drones in the manner of a musette or bagpipes. The finale is a little masterpiece based on what some suspect is an English folk tune heard on his travels, but which he treats to sophisticated bits of contrapuntal and rhythmic manipulations. The matching first and third sections surround a no less jolly minor-mode section that contains several impish surprises. Following the return of the opening section Haydn takes us on an extended whirlwind ride, suddenly picking up speed only to shift to yet a higher speed for a virtuosic thrill. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

COVID-19 POLICIES AND PROTOCOLS COVID-19 INFORMATION FROM PARLANCE CHAMBER CONCERTS An Updated Message to Our Audience Members About Attendance Policies and Protocols Date: August 1, 2026 The safety and security of our audience members, artists, and staff remain our highest priority. In view of recent changes in CDC guidelines and the availability of vaccines and boosters, please note the following updates in Parlance Chamber Concerts’s COVID-19 policies: Masking is optional at Parlance Chamber Concerts’s events. Proof of vaccination is no longer required at PCC performances. If you receive a positive test for Covid-19 or have any onset symptoms in the days prior to our events, please do not attend a Parlance Chamber Concert. You may request refunds, donate your tickets, or request ticket exchanges by writing to parlance@parlancechamberconcerts.org Please review Parlance Chamber Concerts’s Liability Waiver . Complete and up-to-date safety protocols —including any changes— will be included in pre-concert email reminders and our Covid-19 information Page . PCC will continue to monitor all state, federal, and local public health guidelines. We will continue to adjust our policies and protocols accordingly as the situation evolves.

November 19, 2017: Los Angeles Guitar Quartet MUSIC FROM THE TIME OF CERVANTES, ARRANGED FOR FOUR GUITARS “Music from the Time of Cervantes” (arr. W. Kanengiser) November 19, 2017: Los Angeles Guitar Quartet Jácaras – Anonymous (17th century) El Villano – Antonio Martín y Coll Diferéncias Sobre Las Folias – Antonio Martín y Coll Chacona (“La Vida Bona”) – Juan Arañéz Oy Comamos – Juan de Encina In March 2009, LAGQ debuted the theatrical production “The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote” with British actor/comedian John Cleese. Interweaving tales from the classic novel with arrangements of pieces that Cervantes could have heard in his lifetime, it melded music and storytelling. Tonight’s recital includes selections from this production. Jácaras is an anonymous canción (“No hay que decir primor”) from the 17th century. With raucous strumming and castanets imitating horses’ hooves, it accompanies Don Quixote’s departure from his farm to become an adventuring knight. El Villano (“The Rustic”) is a country dance from the anthology “Flores de Música” collected by Antonio Martín y Coll. It introduces Sancho Panza, Quixote’s trusty squire. Diferéncias Sobre Las Folias is a set of variations contrasting on the famous harmonic progression, Folias de Espana. It tells of the famous argument between knight and squire, and of their reconciliation. Chacona (“La Vida Bona”), from the Libro Segunda de Tonos y Villancicos (1624) by Juan Arañes, is one of the most celebrated early examples of the form. The chacona, which by Bach’s time had become one of the most noble and profound of all dance forms, was a suggestive and prohibited danza in 1500s Spain, almost their version of our macarena. It features the lines, “here’s to the good life, good little life: let’s do the Chacona”). Oy comamos y bebamos is a four-voice villancico from the Cancionero Palacio, written by Juan de Encina. The opening stanza is “Hoy comamos y bebamos, y cantemos y holguemos, que mañana ayunaremos” (Today we eat and drink, and sing and make merry, for tomorrow we must fast”). It serves as a fitting epilogue for Don Quixote’s quixotic character. Return to Parlance Program Notes

ABOUT THE 2015-2016 SEASON OCTOBER 4, 2015 AT 3:00 PM Richard Goode, piano Music by Mozart and Brahms On October 4, Parlance Chamber Concerts will welcome back pianist Richard Goode, one of the preeminent musicians of our time. This thrilling artist is universally hailed as a deeply insightful interpreter of the Viennese classics. His emotionally far-ranging program will alternate between two of Mozart’s most dramatic sonatas and two late sets of Brahms’s warmhearted intermezzi, ballades, and romances. LEARN MORE NOVEMBER 15, 2015 AT 3:00 PM Jeremy Denk, piano, and Stefan Jackiw, violin Music by Brahms, Franck, and Ives On November 15, the compelling pianist Jeremy Denk, winner of a 2013 MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, teams up with the scintillating violinist Stefan Jackiw, widely recognized as one of his generation’s most captivating artists. This noteworthy duo will perform cherished sonatas by Brahms and Franck in counterpoint with rarely performed gems by the iconoclastic American master, Charles Ives. Jeremy Denk will enrich the afternoon with his insightful, thought-provoking commentary. LEARN MORE 2015-2016 SEASON OCTOBER 4, 2015 Richard Goode, piano Music by Mozart and Brahms NOVEMBER 15, 2015 Jeremy Denk, piano, and Stefan Jackiw, violin Music by Brahms, Franck, and Ives DECEMBER 13, 2015 Kristin Lee, violin; Paul Watkins, cello; Gilles Vonsattel, piano Music by Beethoven MARCH 6, 2016 Escher String Quartet Music by Mozart, Janacek, and Schubert APRIL 3, 2016 Sir James Galway and Friends Music by Bach MAY 15, 2016 Stephanie Blythe, mezzo-soprano; Craig Terry, piano “As Long As There Are Songs” 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 DECEMBER 13, 2015 AT 3:00 PM Kristin Lee, violin; Paul Watkins, cello; Gilles Vonsattel, piano Music by Beethoven Beethoven will be spotlighted on December 15 as the spectacular young violinist Kristin Lee and pianist Gilles Vonsattel (winners of the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant) join forces with the celebrated cellist Paul Watkins of the Emerson String Quartet. Their program will feature three highlights of Beethoven’s chamber music: his heroic “Kreutzer” violin sonata, intimate C-major cello sonata, and ever-popular “Ghost” Trio. LEARN MORE MARCH 6, 2016 AT 3:00 PM Escher String Quartet Music by Mozart, Janacek, and Schubert On March 6, the stellar Escher String Quartet will make its long-awaited debut on our series. Championed by the Emerson Quartet, the Escher is one of the few ensembles to be awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. The fast-rising quartet currently serves as Artists of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Their sumptuous program will include masterworks by Mozart and Janáček, culminating with one of the pillars of the chamber repertoire, Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” Quartet. LEARN MORE APRIL 3, 2016 AT 3:00 PM Sir James Galway and Friends Music by Bach On April 3, the legendary flutist Sir James Galway returns to Parlance Chambers Concerts with an All-Bach extravaganza. One of the world’s supreme artists, Sir James will share his great love of Bach in a special collaboration with nine brilliant young vocal and instrumental soloists. Highlights of the afternoon will include the ‘Flute Suite’ in B minor and the 4th Brandenburg Concerto. Don’t miss this unforgettable afternoon of music-making! LEARN MORE MAY 15, 2016 AT 3:00 PM Stephanie Blythe, mezzo-soprano; Craig Terry, piano “As Long As There Are Songs” On May 15 the legendary mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe and pianist Craig Terry will take the audience on a musical journey through the American Songbook, sharing gems from some of the greatest composers and lyricists of their age, including Irving Berlin, Saul Chaplin and Sammy Cahn, Harry Warren and Mack Gordon, Jerome Kern and B.G. DeSylva, Harold Arlen, George Gershwin and Johnny Mercer. From tender loves songs to passionate torch songs to melodies that remind us to always “to look for the silver lining,” they defined their generation and helped see our country through the Great Depression and two World Wars. This will be a memorable afternoon of music making and a celebratory conclusion to Parlance Chamber Concert’s 9th season! LEARN MORE

Shirien Taylor, violin Updated bio December 17, 2021 With heavy hearts, we announce the death of Shirien Taylor-Donahue. Shirien was our beloved Principal Second Violin who passed unexpectedly at the tender age of 62. Below are some tributes from members of the orchestra. Shirien and I met each other when I joined the Met Orchestra. She in fact was on my audition committee and later told me that she had voted for me in the deciding final round. But our real friendship developed years later when we decided to carpool together on our long drive from Rockland County to the Met. We were neighbors and often made this trip twice a day. And it wasn’t uncommon that after dropping me off after a rehearsal she would pick up her son Craig from school and drive right back to Lincoln Center for him to attend an ABT rehearsal before she played the evening performance at the Met. We cried on each other’s shoulders during difficult times and laughed tears countless other times when things were good; and things were good most of the time when you were with Shirien. Even this one time when we were in horrific traffic on Riverside drive, desperately trying to get to the Met on time while listening to our orchestra playing the overture to the Marriage of Figaro on the radio, – which we were supposed to be playing as well… She was the most delightful violin teacher for my daughter Sophia when she was about 10 years old. They had so much fun,- often a violin lesson was combined with a cooking or baking lesson as well,- as she was the most incredible cook and had fun sharing it with my daughter. She was there for my family during Hurricane Sandy when we lost our electricity and couldn’t live at our house for a week. She had us stay with her and she cooked for us and made sure we were okay until we could live at home again. She was the most charming hostess at dinner parties which we were so fortunate to be part of many times. Did I mention that she cooked incredibly well,- or that she could do the most beautiful cartwheel in slow motion anybody would ever see? Shirien was a delightful, talented, fun-loving, generous and caring person who got her happiness in life out of taking care of the people who meant the most to her. And for those years, I was lucky enough to be part of her world. It’s hard for me to come to grips with the fact that she was taken from us at such a young age, but I will forever be grateful that my life was connected to hers in such a personal and meaningful way. I will miss her terribly but she will always be in my thoughts and in my heart. Caterina Szepes On tour in Japan As I recall, Shirien was the first violinist to win a Violin Section audition and shortly thereafter the audition for Principal Second – which she won, and had prepared for at the same time that she was playing a full performance/rehearsal load. It seemed ground-breaking, at the time. I first met her before she was at the MET and our conversation led her to say that she felt that a great artist would and should play beautifully in any situation whether as a soloist or in a section. So now I am sure she is happily joining in with our illustrious colleagues in the next realms. Shem Guibbory I had a lot of fun sitting with Shirien; she had a quick laugh and her musical gifts made sharing a stand a delight. I already miss her friendship and spirit. Karen Marx Shirien and I were a month apart when pregnant with our first children. Seen here with former Principal Trumpet Mel Broiles. We shared most of life’s crazy twists and turns spending many wonderful Thanksgivings together . Our kids grew up with wonderful holiday memories together. We all miss her terribly. We commuted for 20+ years helping each other stay awake late nights after the Opera. Always a smile and a hug and her little giggle. Funny memories of a Parks concert in Brooklyn when it started to pour. The concert ended and we had to make a mad dash to the car- we spotted a few black garbage bags on the site so we grabbed two, pulled them over our heads and realized we couldn’t see, so laughing and giggling we poked two holes (uneven of course) in the bags trying all the while to hold our violins and purses thru the pounding rain in the dark like two black zombies bumping into everything! We lost sight of each other but we followed the howls of laughter to stay together! Kathy Caswell The ladies of the orchestra threw us a baby shower in the Orchestra Lounge We have so many fond and loving memories of Shirien over the years. In the 21 years Bob and I ran the Concerts in Windham (1997-2018) Shirien appeared 18 times, most often as concertmaster of the Chamber Orchestra, but also in chamber music, performing Bob’s music and most noteworthy in recital with Peter Serkin. There’s an interesting backstory to that recital. On a 2005 Performance Today broadcast, Fred Child announced Shirien as the violin soloist in the Finzi Romance from Windham, identifying her as principal 2nd violin of the MET Orchestra. On returning from vacation that summer Shirien was surprised to find a voicemail from Peter saying how much he enjoyed the performance and especially her solo. He obviously had gotten her number from the Orchestra secretary at the time. That was their first communication ever. Some years went by and at a C level rehearsal when Peter was to appear with the orchestra he kept looking over at Shirien. They struck up a conversation and he suggested they play together. When Bob and I contacted Peter in early 2010 about doing a solo recital in Windham, he said he’d like to do a joint one with Shirien. Just one of many memories… We miss her terribly and are grateful for our performances with her outside of the MET, but especially for our long, loving friendship. Our hearts go out to Paul, Craig and Livia. Magdalena Golczewski Shirien was a great colleague. She had such a lovely smile and was always up for a good joke. I will miss you. Tom Brennand With her husband Paul Donahue

March 9, 2025: Ravel’s 150th Birthday Concert, with Erika Baikoff, Soprano; Soohong Park, piano Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) Manteau de fleurs for soprano and piano Ballade de la reine morte d’aimer for soprano and piano March 9, 2025: Ravel’s 150th Birthday Concert, with Erika Baikoff, Soprano; Soohong Park, piano Ravel is one of the most famous composers never to win the prestigious annual Prix de Rome administered by the Paris Conservatory, though he entered five times. Even though he was often a blatant frontrunner, corruption within the judging system, especially in their dismissal of his non-traditional harmonic style, eventually brought reform, but his third loss in 1903 brought with his dejection a need to take on some commissions purely for money. One of these, “Manteau des fleurs” (Cloak of flowers) meant he had to set a text by actor Paul Gravollet (pseudonym for Paul Barthélemy Jeulin), who somehow convinced twenty-two composers to set poems of his for a collection published in December 1905 under the title Les frissons . Ravel took pleasure in employing whole-tone chords and consecutive ninths that he had avoided for the Prix. Does the persistence of pink now resonate more with the 2024 Barbie revival craze? The “Ballade de la reine morte d’aimer” (Ballad of the queen who died of love) is one of Ravel’s earliest song settings, written in 1893 just around the time when composing came to the forefront of Ravel’s career path alongside piano. It also coincided with his acquaintance with non-establishment figure Erik Satie. The text by Belgian writer Roland de Mar allowed Ravel to delve not only into Satie’s aesthetic as seen in his Trois mélodies (1887), but to invoke archaic-sounding fifths and especially the “great bells of Bohemia and the little bells of Thule.” Bell imagery would take on great significance in Ravel=s later works. —©Jane Vial Jaffe Texts and Translations Manteau des fleurs Toutes les fleurs de mon jardin sont roses, Le rose sied à sa beauté. Les primevères sont les premières écloses, Puis viennent les tulipes et les jacinthes roses, Les jolis oeillets, les si belles roses, Toute la variété des fleurs si roses Du printemps et de l’été! Le rose sied à sa beauté! Toutes mes pivoines sont roses, Roses aussi sont mes glaïeuls, Roses mes géraniums; seuls, Dans tout ce rose un peu troublant, Les lys ont le droit d’être blancs. Et quand elle passe au milieu des fleurs Emperlées de rosée en pleurs, Dans le parfum grisant des roses, Et sous la caresse des choses Tout grâce, amour, pureté! Les fleurs lui font un manteau rose Dont elle pare sa beauté. —Paul Gravollet Ballade de la reine morte d=aimer En Bohême était une Reine, Douce soeur du Roi de Thulé, Belle entre toutes les Reines, Reine par sa toute Beauté. Le grand Trouvère de Bohême Un soir triste d’automne roux Lui murmura le vieux: je t’aime! Âmes folles et cœurs si fous! Et la Très Belle toute blanche Ballad of the Queen Who Died of Love In Bohemia there once was a queen, sweet sister to the king of Thule, beautiful among all other queens, queen by her beauty alone. The great Bohemian trouvère one sad evening in red autumn murmured to her the old: “I love you!” Crazy souls and such mad hearts! And the all-white Pure Beauty the gentle poet loved so much that at that instant her white soul expired toward the stars. The great bells of Bohemia and the little bells of Thule pealed the supreme hosanna of the queen who died of love. Cloak of Flowers All the flowers in my garden are pink, pink suits her beauty. The primroses are the first to bloom, then come the tulips and the pink hyacinths, The pretty carnations, such beautiful roses, all the varieties of such pink flowers of spring and summer! Pink suits her beauty! All my peonies are pink, pink also are my gladioli, pink my geraniums; however, in all this disturbing pinkness, the lilies have the right to be white. And when she passes through the flowers pearly with teardrops of dew, among the heady perfume of roses, and under the caress of these things all is grace, love, purity! The flowers make her a pink cloak with which she adorns her beauty. Le doux Poète tant aima Que sur l’heure son âme blanche Vers les étoiles s’exhala. Les grosses cloches de Bohême Et les clochettes de Thulé Chantèrent l’hosana suprême De la Reine morte d’aimer. —Roland de Mar Return to Parlance Program Notes

VIANO QUARTET Praised for their “virtuosity, visceral expression, and rare unity of intention” (Boston Globe), the Viano Quartet has quickly soared to international acclaim as one of the most dynamic and in-demand string quartets of their generation. Winners of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2025, the ensemble has captivated audiences worldwide ever since they were awarded First Prize at the 13th Banff International String Quartet Competition, with appearances at renowned venues such as Lincoln Center in New York, Berlin’s Konzerthaus, Toronto’s Koerner Hall, Hong Kong’s City Hall, and London’s Wigmore Hall. The Viano Quartet are Bowers Program Artists at The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center from 2024-2027. Highlights of the Viano Quartet’s 2025–26 season include debut performances at London’s Southbank Centre, the Frick Collection in New York, Dublin’s National Concert Hall, Coast Live Music, Friends of Chamber Music Kansas City, Apex Concerts, the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, the Fortas Series at the Kennedy Center, Premiere Performances HK, and a mainstage full recital debut at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. The quartet also makes return appearances at Stanford Live, Forte Chamber Music, the Beaches Fine Arts Series, the Buffalo Chamber Music Society’s Slee Series (for the second half of their Beethoven cycle), Chamber Music Albuquerque, and the Sanibel Music Festival. The quartet looks forward to visiting residencies this season at Stanford University through the St. Lawrence Legacy Series, the University of Victoria, Music in the Morning in Vancouver, and the Auditorium Chamber Music Series at the University of Idaho. This season also features exciting collaborations with mandolinist Avi Avital, pianist Sir Stephen Hough, pianist Gilbert Kalish, clarinetist Anthony McGill, guitarist Miloš Karadaglić, and singer-songwriter Vienna Teng. Equally committed to both beloved masterworks and contemporary repertoire, the Viano Quartet actively collaborates with today’s leading composers, including Sir Stephen Hough, Kevin Lau, Chris Rogerson, and Caroline Shaw. They are set to premiere a newly written string quartet by Indian American composer Reena Esmail in the summer of 2026. The quartet’s recent discography highlights the ensemble’s range across both traditional and modern repertoire. Their first full-length album Voyager was newly released in summer 2025 with Apple Music/Platoon Records. Inspired by humankind's enduring spirit of exploration that connects music and people across vast boundaries, the album features Beethoven’s Op. 130 alongside Alistair Coleman’s Moonshot . Their debut EP Portraits was released in 2023 as one of the first albums to be launched on the Curtis Studio label, featuring works by Schubert, Florence Price, Tchaikovsky, and Ginastera. Passionate about sharing their love for chamber music with the next generation of musicians, the quartet has worked with some of the most talented young artists at the world’s leading universities and music institutions, including Northwestern University, Music@Menlo Chamber Music Institute, the Colburn Academy, and Duke University. They have also collaborated with many of the world’s finest artists, including Emanuel Ax, Inon Barnatan, Fleur Barron, Mahan Esfahani, Marc-André Hamelin, James Ehnes, Bridget Kibbey, Paul Neubauer, David Shifrin, and Pinchas Zukerman. The Viano Quartet was formed in Los Angeles at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in 2015. Each member of the quartet is grateful for the unwavering support from their mentors at the Curtis Institute and Colburn Conservatory, including members of the Dover, Guarneri, and Tokyo string quartets. "Viano" is a portmanteau that symbolizes how the four individual instruments of a string quartet—each beginning with the letter "v"—work harmoniously as one, like a piano, creating a unified instrument called the "Viano." OFFICIAL BIO FOR THE 2025-2026 SEASON. LAST UPDATED JULY 2025. PLEASE DESTROY ALL PREVIOUSLY DATED MATERIALS. https://www.opus3artists.com/artists/viano-quartet