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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

October 29, 2017: Peter Serkin, piano JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) Goldberg Variations BWV 988 October 29, 2017: Peter Serkin, piano A wonderful story, recounted by Bach’s early biographer J. N. Forkel, revealed that the Goldberg Variations were the result of a request by former Russian ambassador and insomniac Count Keyserlingk for some clavier pieces that his young house harpsichordist, Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, could play for him during sleepless nights. A great patron of the arts, the count lived in Dresden but often visited Leipzig, where in 1737 he had introduced the ten-year-old Goldberg to Bach, recommending him as a harpsichord student. Goldberg indeed took lessons from Bach, but also from his oldest son Wilhelm Friedemann, a great keyboard virtuoso who was working in Dresden. It may be, as some scholars claim, that the elder Bach wrote the monumental work for his son rather than for Goldberg, but Forkel’s account cannot be dismissed because some information for his biography came directly from Wilhelm Friedemann and from Bach’s second oldest son, Carl Philipp Emanuel. In any case, Goldberg, too, became an outstanding virtuoso, and seems to have played the Variations frequently. Bach visited Count Keyserlingk in Dresden in November 1741, having published the Variations that fall, and it is entirely likely that he gave him a presentation copy. The count referred to them as “my” variations, but the work cannot have been an official commission or Bach would have included a formal dedication. For posterity the Aria with 30 Variations will always be known as the Goldberg Variations. In the larger scheme of things, Bach, a master organizer, published the work as part of the series he unassumingly titled Clavier-Übung (Keyboard Exercise), which he issued in installments beginning in 1731. This “exercise” represents the pinnacle of Bach’s art and thus an incomparable peak in the whole of music. His six keyboard Partitas make up Part I, followed by the Italian Concerto and the French Overture as Part II, the Prelude and Fugue in E-flat major and various organ chorales as Part III, and, finally, the Goldberg Variations. He may even have included the Art of Fugue as Book V had he lived to see it published. In choosing to compose a large set of variations, Bach stood firmly in the tradition of Corelli, Handel, and Rameau, though he himself had not written a keyboard set since his youth. Aria was also a traditional title for the first movement of such a set—Bach’s Aria is a thirty-two measure theme that also appears in Anna Magdalena Bach’s Clavier-Büchlein of 1725. For the first eight bars the harmony and bass line (the basis for most Baroque variation sets rather than the theme itself) are the same as for Handel’s Chaconne avec 62 variations, which Bach surely knew. Handel’s treatment of the last variation as a simple canon (precise imitation of one line by another) must have sparked Bach’s imagination even before the Goldberg Variations, because he used the underlying progression as the basis for several canons. Versions of these later appeared in his Fourteen Canons (BWV 1087), which he eventually copied into his own print of Part IV of the Clavier-Übung, explicitly connecting these two collections. He probably also knew a set of sarabande variations attributed to the “Eisenach” Bach (1642–1703)—or to J. S. Bach’s older brother—which employ the same progression for the first four measures. Forerunners aside, Bach employed a much longer theme than his predecessors had, giving himself a much fuller range to explore his incomparable canonic and variation techniques. The whole set is carefully organized so that every third variation includes a canon, systematically increasing the pitch interval at which the second line begins its imitation, starting with a canon at the unison for Variation 3 and continuing through the interval of a ninth in Variation 27. (The canons in Nos. 12 and 15 proceed in contrary motion.) In addition Bach sets up a threefold pattern of variation types (beginning with the third variation) of canon, free counterpoint, and duet-style. Before No. 3 he includes two free variations and follows No. 27 with three more free variations before he recalls the Aria. Despite Bach’s organizational and canonic rigors, there is nothing dry and pedantic about the Goldberg variations, which certainly must have kept Count Keyserlingk highly engaged rather than lulled to sleep. Bach juxtaposes variations of contrasting meter, specific rhythmic figuration, or texture, and he makes dramatic or witty variations with equal ingenuity. One of the most striking aspects of his elegant wit appears in the variations with hand-crossings, which appear already in the first variation. Here they require a certain athleticism, since Bach designates this variation to be played on just one of the harpsichord’s two manuals (keyboards). (Because Bach intended the Goldberg Variations for a two-manual harpsichord, transferring them to piano necessitates decisions about how best to distribute the two-manual variations, which pianists solve in many different ways.) Variations 5, 14, 20, and 28 also call for similar leaping hand-crossings rather than the type whose hand-crossings are the result of lines of counterpoint crossing each other—Nos. 8, 11, 17, 23, and 26. Both types require great virtuosity, the latter following in a long line of keyboard pieces known as bicinia or pièces croisées. Bach also includes dance types, such as a gigue for Variation 7 (labeled al tempo di Giga in his manuscript) or, though not so-designated, a highly ornamented sarabande for the slower Variation 13 with its emphasis on second beats. He labels Variation 10 a Fughetta, which though not a strict fugue contains an entrance of the fugue subject in every fourth bar. Variation 24 seems to have roots in the instrumental pastorale, similar to the siciliana in its lilting compound meter and deceptively simple or “rural” atmosphere. Many of the variations focus on a certain keyboard technique or challenge in the manner of the études of much later generations. Variation 8 suggests a study in arpeggios and contrary motion, Variation 23 a variety of virtuosic figures including parallel thirds, and 28, sustained measured trills, often in inner voices. Bach makes a striking gesture with French overture–style dotted rhythms as a kind of grand opening statement for the second half of the set. This variation also serves to bring back the prevailing major mode after No. 15, the first of only three variations in minor, whose canonic unfolding introduces two-note “sighs,” some daring chromaticism, and a curious ending that drifts upward. The last minor-mode variation, the soulful, chromatic No. 25, achieves the greatest weight and depth of the free variations, part of Bach’s scheme of increasing drama as well as technical brilliance as the set progresses. Most of the variations exhibit a two- or three-voice texture, though Bach intersperses four-voice variations at judicious intervals. Of these, two make specific reference to older polyphonic styles: Variation 22, marked Alla breve, employs Renaissance-style counterpoint as in a motet, and Variation 30 shows Bach having some fun in a quodlibet. Literally “as you like it,” the term had been used since the mid-fourteenth century to designate a humorous piece that combined two or more independent melodies, often folk tunes, in contrapuntal style. The Bach family reportedly improvised such pieces at family gatherings. Scholars have found at least six snippets in Variation 30 that appear to be folk quotations, of which the most obvious are phrases from “Ich bin so lang nicht bei dir g’west” (I’ve been away from you so long) and “Kraut und Rüben haben mich vertrieben” (Cabbage and turnips have driven me away). Bach’s witty combination of these phrases seems to refer to this “hodge-podge” (another meaning of Kraut und Rüben) having driven the main theme away, necessitating the recall of the Aria. Without any knowledge of quotations or elegant witticisms, however, Variation 30’s old-fashioned demeanor has the musical effect of halting the intensifying brilliance built up by the preceding variations, preparing for the Aria’s return to bring the work full circle. It is unlikely that Bach, his sons, or Goldberg played the set of variations straight through at a single performance. Nevertheless, its organization, carefully considered contrasts, cohesion, and technical challenges have made performances of the entire Goldberg Variations the lofty goal of many keyboard virtuosos—to the delight of the listening public. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

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2017-2018 SEASON Dear Friends, Welcome to the second decade of Parlance Chamber Concerts! Our eleventh season will bring thirty-one outstanding artists to our community in eight electrifying events. On September 24 , our gala opener will showcase nine dazzling artists in scintillating dances and soulful romances by Beethoven, Fauré, Saint-Saëns, Falla, and others . The afternoon will climax with their collaboration in Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet for strings , the 16-year-old composer’s miraculous melding of youthful exuberance and sovereign musical command. On October 29, pianist Peter Serkin will make his long-awaited Parlance debut. Hailed worldwide as an artist of passion and integrity, Serkin is one of the most thoughtful and individualistic musicians appearing before the public today. His program will feature sublime works by Mozart and Bach , culminating in the pinnacle of Bach’s keyboard art, The Goldberg Variations . On November 19 , the Grammy Award-winning Los Angeles Guitar Quartet will offer a varied program of classical favorites, tracing a broad dramatic arc and emotional journey. For three decades, the LAGQ has set the standard for expression and virtuosity among guitar ensembles. Their acclaimed transcriptions of concert masterworks provide a fresh look at the music of the past while their interpretations from the contemporary realm continually break new ground. December 17 ’s concert will highlight the pianistic partnership of Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung . Their musical marriage has been described as one “of wondrous colors and dextrous aplomb, subtly balanced to make a musical performance sound as one.” Their virtuosity, passion, and artistic chemistry will be on display in glittering duets by Mozart, Shostakovich, Lutoslawski, and Rachmaninoff . On February 17, Saturday at 8 PM , the highly acclaimed Chiara String Quartet will recreate the candlelit ambience of the 1787 premiere of Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Christ , his timeless masterpiece of spiritual music. At 7:00 PM , I will introduce the work and its history in a half-hour multimedia preview. Our March 11 event will spotlight two of today’s fastest-rising stars, violinist Benjamin Beilman and pianist Orion Weiss . Their deeply communicative performances go far beyond technical mastery and have won them worldwide acclaim. Their far-flung musical journey will range from the 18th to the 21st centuries, including music by Mozart, Beethoven, Kreisler, and a newly composed work by the renowned American composer Frederic Rzewski . On April 8 , it will be a thrill to introduce the sizzling Danish String Quartet to our community. The Danes’s rare combination of rock star charisma, ensemble perfection, and consummate artistry have made them one of the most in-demand quartets of our time. Their All-Beethoven concert will feature three masterpieces from his early, middle and late periods. On May 6 , the stellar Neubauer-McDermott Family will bring our eleventh season to an exhilarating conclusion. Violist Paul Neubauer (of the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society), violinist Kerry McDermott (of the New York Philharmonic), and their children, violinists Oliver and Clara Neubauer , will be joined by Kerry’s sister, CMS pianist Anne-Marie McDermott , in music of Bach, Dvořák, Ravel, and Schumann . The concert will include the World Premiere of Gilad Cohen’s* “Moments of a Moonrise” for Three Violins, Viola, and Piano , commissioned by PCC especially for this event. Inspired by the familial theme, Cohen’s work will focus on children’s songs from Israel, America, and Spain. Michael Parloff * Gilad Cohen is a Ridgewood resident and a professor at Ramapo College. A Princeton Ph.D., he the winner of the 2016 Barlow Prize and the 2010 Israeli Prime Minister Award for Composers. Programs and artists are subject to change. 2017-2018 SEASON September 24, 2017 Dances, Romances, and Mendelssohn’s Octet October 29, 2017 Peter Serkin, piano Mozart and Bach November 19, 2017 Los Angeles Guitar Quartet December 17, 2017 Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung A Pianistic Partnership February 17, 2018 Chiara String Quartet Candlelit Haydn The Seven Last Words of Christ March 11, 2018 Benjamin Beilman, violin Orion Weiss, piano April 8, 2018 Danish String Quartet All-Beethoven May 6, 2018 Neubauer-McDermott Family Concert 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

GILAD COHEN, COMPOSER Gilad Cohen’s new quintet for three violins, viola, and piano, Parlance Chamber Concerts’s first commissioned work, will be premiered by the Neubauer-McDermott Family Concert on May 6, 2018. An active composer, performer, and theorist, Israeli musician Gilad Cohen focuses on a variety of musical genres that include concert music, rock, and music for theater. His works have been performed in North America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East by renowned artists ranging from London’s Nash Ensemble and the Apollo Chamber Players to the Brentano Quartet and Tre Voci (Kim Kashkashian, Marina Piccinini and Sivan Magen), as well as orchestras and choirs throughout Israel and his own rock band, Double Space. Recipient of myriad honors and top composition prizes, Cohen was recently awarded the 2016 Barlow Prize, resulting in the commission of a duet for violin and piano that will be premiered by a consortium of performers. His other recent and current projects include Around the Cauldron, commissioned by Concert Artists Guild with support from the Adele and John Gray Endowment Fund, to be premiered at Carnegie Hall in 2017, and Doaa and Masa, which will be premiered this year by harpist Sivan Magen in Hong-Kong, Israel, and Columbia. He is also working on a new quintet for the 10th anniversary of the Israeli Chamber Project for premiere performances on their 2018 tours. On the rock/pop front, Cohen’s music for Double Space and modern-klezmer ensemble Klezshop was awarded the Outstanding Achievement in Songwriting Award in the 11th Annual Great American Song Contest and was a finalist at the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. As a theorist Cohen has researched structure in the music of Pink Floyd, resulting in articles in prestigious publications, lectures in the U.S. and Israel, a four-credit course at Ramapo College, and the first-ever academic conference devoted to Pink Floyd that he coproduced at Princeton University with composer Dave Molk. As a performing musician, Cohen has played piano, bass guitar, and guitar at renowned venues worldwide, and he has served on occasion as a choral conductor and music director of musicals. A faculty member at Ramapo College, Cohen holds a Ph.D. in composition from Princeton University, and he is a graduate of Mannes College of Music, the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, and the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. Among his principal teachers were Robert Cuckson, Steven Mackey, and Paul Lansky.

DR. GARETH ICENOGLE, NARRATOR Dr. Gareth Icenogle became the Senior Pastor of West Side Presbyterian Church in February, 2009. He has degrees in ministry from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA, and music degrees from the University of California, Riverside, and California State University of Los Angeles. His masters degrees are in music (voice and composition) and divinity, and his doctorate is in ministry, with a focus on spiritual formation and discipleship. He has written an internationally used textbook on the theology, purposes, and dynamics of faith formation through small groups. Gareth comes to West Side from the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC, where he served as Senior Pastor from 2004 to 2008. Before that he served First Presbyterian Church of Bethlehem, PA, as Senior Pastor and Co-Senior Pastor for 14 years. Previously he was the Director of the Doctor of Ministry program at Fuller Seminary. Both natives of southern California, Gareth and his wife, Vida Smith, have been married for 36 years. They have two daughters, Tamara, 29, and Tonya, 26.

JORDI SAVALL, VIOLA DA GAMBA Jordi Savall is an exceptional figure in today’s music world. His career as a concert performer, teacher, researcher and creator of new musical and cultural projects, makes him one of the principal architects of the current revaluation of historical music. His task, which has earned him world renown and which is always brimming with live emotion and spectacular creative vitality, is one in which he has always sought to be faithful to historical music, which is to say the reappraisal of the value of repertoires as specific and as universal as the music of Europe, the Mediterranean and of the whole world. Jordi Savall began his musical studies when he was six years old as a singer in the Children’s Choir in Igualada (Catalonia), his hometown, and then he went on to learn the cello, completing his studies in the Barcelona Conservatory (1964). In 1965 he started, as an autodicact, to study the viola da gamba and early music (Ars Musicae) in 1965, so he moved on to start advanced studies in 1968 at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (Switzerland). There he succeeded his teacher August Wenzinger in 1973, and was teaching for some time many courses and master classes. With his three ensembles Hespèrion XXI (1974), La Capella Reial de Catalunya (1987) and Le Concert des Nations (1989), all founded together with Montserrat Figueras. Jordi Savall has explored and fashioned universe full of emotions and beauty, and has projected it to the world and to millions of music lovers, to introduce the viola da gamba and the music which had fallen into oblivion, becoming one of the most important protectors of the early music. With his key contribution to Alain Corneau’s film Tous les Matins du Monde (winner of a César best-soundtrack award), his busy concert life (over 140 concerts a year) and recording schedule (6 recordings a year), and with the creation of his own record label Alia Vox (1998), he demonstrates that the early music does not have to be necessary elitist, so it can be very interesting for a public each time younger and more numerous. Notable in his operatic repertoire are his participation in the rediscovery of Una cosa rara (performed in 1991) and Il burbero di buon cuore (performed in 1995 and 2012) by Vicent Martín i Soler. In 1993 he presented Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo for the first time at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, (in 2002 it was recorded by the BBC-Opus Arte and published on DVD). He has also conducted Farnace by Vivaldi at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid (2001), Bordeaux (2003), Vienna (2005), Paris (2007) and published on CD by Alia Vox. He has also conducted J. J. Fux’s Orfeo ed Euridice, performed at the Styriarte Festival in Graz in 2010, and Vivaldi’s Il Teuzzone performed in 2011 in a semi-concert version at the Opéra Royal de Versailles. His more than 40 years devoted to the recovery of musical heritage have earned him many distinctions. His recorded works, more than a hundred on a number of labels such as EMI, ASTREE/AUVIDIS and ALIA VOX, have also received numerous awards.

ANGEL BLUE, SOPRANO Angel Blue has emerged in recent seasons as one of the most influential sopranos before the public today. The two-time Grammy Award winner, 2020 Beverly Sills Award recipient, and the 2022 Richard Tucker Award winner is celebrated worldwide for her honeyed soprano and affecting deliveries of many of the most beloved roles in the operatic repertory. The 2023 spring and summer season began with Ms. Blue as Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata at the Metropolitan Opera with Maestro Nicola Luisotti, and her debut in the titular role in Aida at the Royal Opera House with Sir Mark Elder. She can be seen in concert with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Oskana Lyniv, and in recital with distinguished Canadian pianist Dr. Bryan Wagorn at Arizona Opera. Ms. Blue's first summer appearance begins in Europe on tour with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, under the direction of world-renowned conductor Yannick Nézét-Seguin. She will then make appearances at the Hollywood Bowl in Verdi's Requiem with the star maestro Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, shortly followed by her return to the Santa Fe Opera to sing the title role in Tosca. She makes her Aspen Music Festival debut in a solo recital with pianist Myra Huang. The 2023-2024 season introduces audiences to Angel Blue as Leonora in Verdi’s Il trovatore at the San Francisco Opera, followed by a highly anticipated return to the Vienna State Opera. She continues her season with performances as Micaëla in Carmen and a role debut as Magda in La Rondine at the Metropolitan Opera. On September 23, 2019 she opened the Metropolitan Opera’s 2019/2020 season as Bess in a new production of George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. These performances followed her internationally praised French Opera debut and role debut as Floria Tosca at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in July of 2019. She has also been recognized for performances in countless other theaters, such as the Vienna State Opera, Semperoper Dresden, Los Angeles Opera, Seattle Opera, Theater an der Wien, Teatro alla Scala, Baden-Baden Festspielhaus, Paris Opera, English National Opera, and San Diego Opera. Puccini’s La Bohéme has played an especially prominent role in the development of Angel Blue’s career. She made her United States operatic debut as Musetta at the Los Angeles Opera in 2007 while a member of the company’s Young Artist Program and subsequently made her debut at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan in the same role in 2015. As Mimí, she has earned exceptional international acclaim. Ms. Blue first sang the role at the English National Opera in London in 2014 and has since performed Mimí for her house debuts at the Palau de Les Arts in Valencia, the Vienna State Opera, and the Canadian Opera Company, the Semperoper Dresden, Hamburg State Opera, and of course, the Metropolitan Opera. Equally active on the concert platform, Ms. Blue has appeared in recital and in concert in over forty countries including Hungary, Kazakhstan, India, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, South Korea, China, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Brazil, and Mexico. In 2011 Ms. Blue opened the Royal Opera House, in Muscat, Oman. Orchestral engagements have included concert versions of Porgy and Bess at the Berliner Philharmoniker under Sir Simon Rattle and with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Marin Alsop, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Münchener Philharmoniker under the baton of Zubin Mehta, and Verdi’s Requiem in Sydney, Australia with Oleg Caetani. She has also sung Strauss’s Vier Letzte Lieder and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Peri in Schumann’s Das Paradis und die Peri with the Accademia Santa Cecilla in Rome, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Cincinnati Symphony under Music Director Louis Langree. During the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, Ms. Blue dedicated her time to encourage younger singers to stay motivated to finish their studies and continue in opera, through an online talk show called, "Faithful Friday" where she interviewed people who she found to be inspiring. The online talk show received much acclaim from its viewers, many called the show, "Uplifting, and exactly what is needed right now." Ms. Blue has since shifted her focus back to her family life and her singing engagements. However, she still maintains that encouraging and uplifting younger singers in the opera world is at the forefront of her platform. Angel Blue was raised in California and completed her musical studies at UCLA. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and son.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2015 AT 3 PM Richard Goode, piano BUY TICKETS RICHARD GOODE, PIANO “Richard Goode is one of the finest pianists in the world. Few can match his unfailingly beautiful tone, effortless technical command, interpretive insight, and emotional commitment to the music he plays.” – The Washington Post FEATURING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS One of today’s most thrilling and highly acclaimed artists, Richard Goode is universally hailed as a deeply insightful interpreter of the Viennese classics. His emotionally rich, far-ranging recital will feature two of Mozart’s most dramatic sonatas in alternation with a selection of Brahms’s beloved intermezzi, ballades, and romances. “The best pianists are able to produce an alluring sound from any instrument. Richard Goode, during a magisterial performance of late Beethoven sonatas in May at Carnegie Hall, produced a glowing, warm sound that encompassed a wide dynamic spectrum from muted intimacy to full‐throttle power without ever sounding harsh.” – The New York Times PROGRAM Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Sonata No. 8 in A minor, K. 310 Program Notes Johannes Brahms Klavierstücke, Op. 118 Program Notes Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Sonata No. 15 in F, K. 533 Program Notes Johannes Brahms Klavierstücke, Op. 119 Program Notes A short introduction Brahms’s Klavierstücke, Op. 119; Richard Goode, pianist: Hear the story behind Mozart’s A-minor Piano Sonata; Richard Goode, pianist: Watch a short video about pianist Richard Goode: Richard Goode, pianist - Beethoven Sonata No. 31 in A-flat, Op 110, Mvt. 1:

April 3, 2016: Sean Lee, violin JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) Adagio and Presto from Sonata No. 1 in G minor for Unaccompanied Violin, BWV 1001 April 3, 2016: Sean Lee, violin Though we find precedents for Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for unaccompanied violin in works by Johann Jacob Walther, Heinrich Biber, and Johann Paul Westhoff, Bach’s contributions totally eclipsed these and remain unsurpassed to this day in invention and magnificence. Trained as a violinist in his youth by his father, Bach knew the capabilities of the instrument and expanded greatly upon them. The autograph manuscript, dated 1720, presents three sonatas in alternation with three partitas. The sonatas represent the serious Italian sonata da chiesa (church sonata) form with four movements in a slow, fast, slow, fast pattern; the partitas resemble the sonata da camera (chamber sonata), a series of dance movements, which if Bach had been writing in the French style would have been called a suite. Throughout the unaccompanied violin works and in those for solo cello, Bach showed his mastery at creating a many-voiced texture with what is essentially a single-line instrument, often by the use of double stops or rolled chords, but even more often by implying several melodic lines by artful figuration. He counted on the ability of the ear to pick out and hold onto notes in one register and string them together over time as an independent voice; one can often hear such implied voices in counterpoint, occurring in two or more registers. Bach’s elaborate ornamentation in the G minor Adagio makes a fitting opening to the Sonata and indeed to the entire set of sonatas and partitas. He was not content to simply write out a few chords and a figured bass and leave the rest up to the performer. Rather, his ornamentation is carefully notated, though the Adagio gives a free, improvisatory impression. The Presto closing movement runs along in constant sixteenth-note motion and single-voice texture until the concluding chords of each half. This lighter style provides wonderful contrast to the weightier preceding movements. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

November 17, 2024: Paul Lewis, piano Franz Schubert (1797-1828) Sonatas in C minor, D. 958; A major, D. 959; and B-flat major, D. 960 November 17, 2024: Paul Lewis, piano Schubert’s three magnificent late sonatas—all completed in September 1828—are actually the product of a composer in his prime, whose tragically early death two months later deprived him of a true “late” period. Whether or not he had a premonition that he would never recover from his latest bout of illness, he produced an amazing number of pieces from August to October, widely varying in character and containing some of his most beautiful music—not only the sonatas but the song collection Schwanengesang (Swan song), the inspired C major String Quintet, and Der Hirt auf dem Felsen (The shepherd on the rock). Composing piano sonatas in the year after Beethoven’s death must have seemed a daunting prospect, but Schubert, while wishing to pay homage, also had new things to say. Although he purportedly played them “with much success” for friends just days after completion, the sonatas were slow to gain acceptance precisely because of their novelties—in particular his now-celebrated untraditional harmonic procedures, unexpected developmental passages, turbulent outbursts characteristic of the piano fantasy, and sheer length. Even Schumann, to whom publisher Diabelli dedicated the works after Schubert’s death, strained to sound enthusiastic. Belatedly, at least since the mid-twentieth century, the three sonatas have been embraced as monuments of the piano literature. Piano Sonata in C minor, D. 958 Schubert clearly had in mind the theme of Beethoven’s celebrated 32 Variations in C minor when he fashioned the opening of his Sonata in the same key. He immediately departs from this tribute, however, not only because he is writing a sonata rather than a series of variations, but because his creative personality differed greatly from Beethoven’s. After an expansive treatment of his first-theme group—and this group contains a plethora of ideas—Schubert begins his lyrical second-theme group in the expected key but makes one of his imaginative fluid shifts into a neighboring yet distant territory. The movement’s most striking and individual music, however, is the new material that prepares the recapitulation. Into an innocuous broken-chord pattern Schubert introduces an ominous-sounding bass line, which sometimes crosses into treble range, but ultimately winds darkly under successive strands of eerie chromatics. The solemn Adagio, an unusually slow movement for Schubert, follows a five-part scheme he especially favored—two kinds of music alternating in the pattern A-B-A-B-A. The “A” music breathes serenity, whereas the “B” music suggests a profound sense of disquiet. In fact, with its echoes of his recent Winterreise song cycle, the movement may reflect the painful world of that work’s unlucky lover, with whom Schubert himself identified (a suggestion offered by scholar and pianist Charles Fisk). Schubert asks for his Menuetto to be played Allegro, avoiding the term scherzo . Correspondingly, his witticisms are more graceful than hearty, playing with meters, phrase lengths, and expectant pauses. The last of these silences introduces the central trio, straightforward in its phrase lengths with delightful little major-minor shifts and unexpected touches of counterpoint. Galloping along ferociously on an extended, imaginative tonal and structural ride, the tarantella-style finale has often been called a rondo, though this amazing movement actually unfolds in a vast sonata form. One of its features, a three-key exposition, was a great favorite of Schubert’s and something that exerted its influence on Brahms. Despite moments of light that peek through endearingly, the overall impression is one of darkness. Commentators have likened the movement to a dance of death, but here, as in the “tarantella” finale of his celebrated Death and the Maiden Quartet, Schubert confronts death defiantly, as symbolized by the final emphatic chords. Piano Sonata in A major, D. 959 Outwardly straightforward in form, the A major Sonata opens by immediately revealing Schubert’s developmental urge. The main theme, majestic at first, soon develops its rising thirds and rippling triplets, and leads to several unexpected key changes even before the second theme is introduced. The “development proper” is unusual for its concentration of a tiny phrase from a point near the end of the exposition. Like Beethoven, Schubert infuses his broad coda with yet more development. The Andantino again relies on a traditional form (three parts, A-B-A), but the tempestuous, declamatory outburst of the middle section is like no other. Schubert’s mastery of the lulling effect—short lyrical phrases over gently rocking accompaniment—throws this wild “fantasy” into highest relief. The waltzing character of the scherzo movement furnishes delightful variety. One senses that Schubert may indeed have been working concurrently on his C major String Quintet when the piano writing in the outer sections sometimes suggests string pizzicato, and in the trio (middle section) when the pianist’s right hand carries the chordal theme like the three middle instruments while the left crosses back and forth to exchange “first violin” and “cello” motives. Schubert borrows the lovely main theme of the finale from the variation movement of his own A minor Piano Sonata, D. 537. He also draws on the finale of Beethoven’s G major Piano Sonata, op. 31, no. 1, for the structure of his sonata-rondo, but with what different and imaginative results! Most striking are the dramatic second episode, the entrance of the recapitulation in an astonishing key, the curiously halting version of the main theme, and the unifying reminder of the Sonata’s opening at the very end. Piano Sonata in B-flat major, D. 960 This, Schubert’s last sonata, may be the one that has received the most performances. Profound quiet envelops the spacious first movement, in which meditative qualities vie with nobility. Perhaps, as scholar Brian Newbold has suggested, Schubert had the character of Beethoven’s Archduke Trio in the back of his mind, as well as his way of constructing the opening. Both stem the flow at the end of the first strain and, before proceeding with a second presentation of the theme, they pause—Beethoven introducing trills and an interlude and Schubert a low bass trill and a rest. Despite possible modeling, there is no mistaking Schubert’s originality as idea after idea rolls out seemingly effortlessly in his broad, masterful sonata form—again with a three-key exposition. It is particularly intriguing to follow Schubert’s trill and the various harmonies it introduces, and also to trace the new idea in the bass in the development’s rolling-triplets section, which becomes a theme in its own right. Schubert had the daring to continue with a sustained andante after his stately opening movement, but the character of the two differs so greatly that no one would wish it otherwise. First and foremost he chooses the contrasting key of C-sharp minor—almost as remote from the first movement’s home key as possible. Further he employs a kind of contemplative rocking figure in his accompaniment, which he alters subtly with a bass rumble when the first section returns. In the center a rich theme unfolds chordally over pulsing repeated notes, then appears with an imaginative new texture, all followed by a “repeat” of the two-part procedure with subtle alterations. The movement’s most heartrending moments come with Schubert’s delicate shifts into the major mode. The quicksilver Scherzo provides remarkable contrast after the slow movement, but Schubert avoids a jarring affront by employing soft dynamics and delicate character. The interior trio injects a more serious tone, but the rests and syncopations keep it buoyant. The finale leaves a joyful impression, though Schubert seems to relish occasional moments of doubt. The opening of this sonata-rondo clearly invites the listener on an adventurous harmonic journey, with perhaps the most luxurious moment arriving already in the first theme’s “repetition” where he slips effortlessly into a foreign key (A-flat major). Three new ideas comprise the first “episode,” the first of which contains another delightful harmonic surprise. The last condensed return of the main theme suddenly shifts into a brief presto coda that ends Schubert’s sonata career in grand style. —©Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes