2017 Chestnut Hill Concerts program book

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Chestnut Hill Concerts 48th Season • 2017 Ronald Thomas, Artistic Director


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2017 Concert Season Ronald Thomas, Artistic Director

Board of Directors David A. Rackey, president Mahlon Hale, MD, vice president Richard Buel, treasurer Susan Castellan secretary James Brother Sheila Brown William J. French Sukey Howard Mihae Lee David Lopath

Staff Ann Drinan, managing director Paula Raggio, bookkeeper Vincent Oneppo, graphic designer and webmaster Christopher Melillo, technical manager Barbara Leish, program annotator

Chestnut Hill Concerts P.O. Box 183, Guilford, CT 06437 (203) 245-5736 www.chestnuthillconcerts.org Find us on Facebook 1


From the President of the Board To our Audience, Sponsors, Contributors, Musicians, and Board Members: As we approach our 50th anniversary I am happy to report that Chestnut Hill Concerts is alive and well. Our Music Director, Ronald Thomas, has arranged yet another spectacular series, and is beginning the season with an all-Bach concert using period instruments, thus playing music as it would have sounded during the composer’s lifetime. It is unlikely that Bach himself, or any of the other composers whose music we perform, would have guessed that their work would be played and loved for over two and one half centuries, and in a world that they could never have imagined. Nor, I would guess, would our Chestnut Hill founders have thought that this series would be still going strong after almost a half century after its founding. But such is the strength and timelessness of beautiful music played by world class performers. But all of this would not be possible without the solid support we’ve enjoyed from you, our loyal audience, our sponsors, our contributors, and our advertisers. All of you have, it’s fair to say, added substantially to the quality of life on the Connecticut shoreline. As many of you know, the revenue from ticket sales covers only about one third of our operating expenses. The rest comes from all of you. On behalf of the entire board, the musicians, and all the other people who make these concerts happen, we thank you.

David A. Rackey

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Welcome Music Lovers! Notes on this season’s program from our Artistic Director, Ronald Thomas This season we continue to celebrate both familiar and new music and musicians in our four programs here at The Kate. So, what’s new, you many ask? Well, for starters, everything involving our opening program is new, even if the music was written in the 18th century. Indeed, this is the first program since I began as Artistic Director in 1989, where we are presenting a concert on what are referred to as “period instruments” for an all-Bach program. The guest instrumentalists on that program, all new to Chestnut Hill Concerts, will be playing on instruments that replicate those from the time of Bach, with corresponding instrumental set-ups and the very different baroque bows. Also, the pitch to which we will tune will be A=415, instead of the modern standard of A=440, which results in a looser tension and increased resonance for the instruments. The string instruments also use gut strings instead of metal or synthetics, which are very similar to those used in the 18th century. And the flute is wooden instead of metal, and uses the technique of covering holes manually instead of with keys. The keyboard is a dual manual (two keyboards!) replica of an instrument of the 18th century, known as a harpsichord. The resulting sound of these instruments is much closer to the sounds that Bach heard when he wrote these works, and is quite different from the sound of modern instruments. I know that you will find this concert as beautiful as it is fascinating. The next program includes two works also never heard during my tenure. A transcription of Beethoven’s fourth Piano Concerto for solo piano and string quintet, and the famous Trout Quintet of Schubert. I almost can’t believe that I have not programmed the Trout Quintet earlier. It is one of Schubert’s most beloved works, the fourth movement of which is a set of variations based on one of his own songs called “The Trout,” hence the sub-title of the quintet. The next program is a study in the many compositional phases, to say nothing of moods, of the great Johannes Brahms. Although the three works are all Piano Trios, they represent very different characteristics. We will begin with Brahms’s last trio and his shortest chamber work, at about 24 minutes. It’s first and fourth movements are actually somewhat angry and angular, with Brahms interrupting himself before too much motivic development, as if to say to himself “get on with it, already!”, while the middle movements are at once autumnal and reflective, but with the ideas somewhat cut off uncharacteristically for Brahms. In the middle trio in C major, we find the most heroic version of Brahms, with the opening motive in the first movement reflecting a bit of fanfare with its open intervals. The themes of all four movements are fully developed, with an achingly beautiful slow movement, a spooky third, and an almost jolly fourth. 3


The B Major Trio, Op. 8, seems as if, judging from the opus number, it would be the least complex or developed. But Brahms revisited this work much later in his life and made radical changes to it, which is what we play today. The result is an amazing combination of the emotionally driven themes of a younger man and the structure and deep understanding of a much older and wiser master. The final program is made up of transcriptions, by Beethoven, of three of his own works. In this setting, a work for winds and piano becomes a work for strings and piano, a symphony becomes a piano trio, and a work for piano trio becomes a work for string quintet. All of these transcriptions were written by Beethoven himself. The obvious question is “why?�. The answers, theories actually, range from wanting to get his music performed to making a quick buck from a commission, and everything in between. We do know that Beethoven was always needing money (a crazy concept considering how gifted he was). It is also possible that finding an ideal wind group or number of groups was more difficult than finding string players. The work was clearly written first for winds, even though they share the same opus number, because the opening motive of the first movement, which is built on open intervals, is particularly idiosyncratic to wind instruments of that period. Perhaps his publisher wanted the work to have a chance for more performances? In any case, the work does work very well in both combinations. A symphony becoming a trio? Crazy, you say! But if you didn’t know the second symphony or that this work was a transcription of a symphony, you would probably just call it an excellent piano trio. The most wild of all is the early op.1, #3 piano trio becoming a string quintet. As we know, Beethoven was most familiar with the piano, and this is most apparent in his earliest chamber works where the piano dominates the proceeding with virtuosic writing, while the violin part is mostly melodic and the cello mostly doubling the bass line. So what possessed him to give that virtuosic piano writing to string players later on, and even assign to it its own opus number, emphasizing its place in the literature? I hope you enjoy our most varied season. Ronald Thomas, Artistic Director

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Program Index From the President of the Board................................................................................. 2 From the Artistic Director........................................................................................... 3 August 4 Concert ......................................................................................................... 7 August 11 Concert........................................................................................................23 August 18 Concert........................................................................................................35 August 25 Concert....................................................................................................... 45 2017 Gala Benefit Concert...........................................................................................52 2017 Community Outreach........................................................................................ 54 Artist Biographies Begin............................................................................................ 56 Donors........................................................................................................................ 66 Advertiser Index......................................................................................................... 68

Kids & Teens Come Free! Chestnut Hill Concerts is pleased to introduce young people to the world of classical music by offering complimentary tickets to all children and teenagers. Special opportunities for music teachers are also available. For more information, please call (203) 245-5736.

Large Print Programs Chestnut Hill Concerts provides program and program note pages in a large print format. Please ask an usher for a copy. Please Note The use of cameras and recording equipment without express written permission from Chestnut Hill Concerts is strictly prohibited. During the performance, please disengage alarms and cell phones. Please leave beepers or paging systems with the House Manager or an usher. Lost and found articles should be reported or turned in to the House Manager. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated. 5


All-Bach Program Sponsored by David Rackey and Emily Eisenlohr Mahlon and Zoe Hale Peter and Sukey Howard KeyBank Foundation

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Chestnut Hill Concerts 8:00 pm, Friday, August 4, 2017 Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center Music by

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Suite for Solo Cello in G major, bwv 1007 (1720?) Prelude Allemande Courante Sarabande Menuetts Gigue Ronald Thomas, cello

“Ei! wie schmeckt der Coffee süße,” from Cantata, bwv 211 (1732-35) “Meine Seele sei vergnügt” from Cantata bwv 204 (1726-27) Hyunah Yu, soprano David Ross, baroque flute Ronald Thomas, cello Paolo Bordignon, harpsichord Texts and translations are on the next page.

Italian Concerto for Solo Harpsichord, bwv 971 (1735) Paolo Bordignon, harpsichord intermission

“Jesus soll mein erstes Wort” from Cantata bwv 171 (1729) “Die Schätzbarkeit der weiten Erde,” from Cantata bwv 204 (1726-27) “Gelobet sei der Herr” from Cantata bwv 129 (1726) Hyunah Yu, soprano David Ross, baroque flute Min-Young Kim, violin Ronald Thomas, cello Paolo Bordignon, harpsichord

Trio Sonata in G major, bwv 1039 (1736-41?) Adagio Allegro ma non presto Adagio e piano Presto David Ross, baroque flute Min-Young Kim, violin Ronald Thomas, Paolo Bordignon, harpsichord 7


Texts and translations of the arias From Cantata Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht (the “Coffee Cantata”), bwv 211

From Cantata Be still, stop chattering, bwv 211

Ei! wie schmeckt der Coffee süße, Lieblicher als tausend Küsse, Milder als Muskatenwein. Coffee, Coffee muss ich haben, Und wenn jemand mich will laben, Ach, so schenkt mir Coffee ein!

Ah! How sweet coffee tastes, more delicious than a thousand kisses, milder than muscatel wine. Coffee, I have to have coffee, and, if someone wants to pamper me, ah, then bring me coffee as a gift!

From Cantata Ich bin in mir vergnügt, bwv 204

From Cantata I am content in myself, bwv 204

Meine Seele sei vergnügt, Wie es Gott auch immer fügt. Dieses Weltmeer zu ergründen, Ist Gefahr und Eitelkeit, In sich selber muss man finden Perlen der Zufriedenheit

May my soul be content, As God always ordains. To fathom the depths of this world is a dangerous and frivolous thing, rather in oneself must be found the pearls of contentment.

From Cantata Gott, wie dein Name, so ist auch dein Ruhm, bwv 171 (1729)

From Cantata God, as Your name is, so also Your praise is to the ends of the world, bwv 171 (1729)

Jesus soll mein erstes Wort In dem neuen Jahre heißen. Fort und fort Lacht sein Nam in meinem Munde, Und in meiner letzten Stunde Ist Jesus auch mein letztes Wort.

Jesus shall be my first word uttered in the new year. Again and again His name laughs in my mouth, and in my last hour Jesus will also be my last utterance.

From Cantata Ich bin in mir vergnügt, bwv 204

From Cantata I am content in myself, bwv 204

Die Schätzbarkeit der weiten Erden Laß meine Seele ruhig sein. Bei dem kehrt stets der Himmel ein, Der in der Armut reich kann werden.

The valuables of the world leave my soul undisturbed. For him heaven will always return who can be wealthy in poverty.

From Cantata Gelobet sei der Herr, mein Gott, bwv 129

From Cantata Praised be the Lord, my God, bwv 129

Gelobet sei der Herr, Mein Gott, mein Heil, mein Leben, Des Vaters liebster Sohn, Der sich für mich gegeben, Der mich erlöset hat Mit seinem teuren Blut, Der mir im Glauben schenkt Sich selbst, das höchste Gut.

Praised be the Lord, my God, my light, my life, the most beloved Son of the Father, who gave Himself for me, who has redeemed me with His precious blood, who in faith presents Himself to me, the highest good.

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Program Notes by Barbara Leish

Music by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750) Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007 (c. 1720) Throughout his long career as a contrapuntal master, keyboard virtuoso, and composer of radiant church and secular music, Bach “preferred to travel completely untrodden musical paths,” as Christoph Wolff writes. The six Suites for Unaccompanied Violoncello are marvelous examples of where his zeal for breaking new ground led him. In 1717 Bach was appointed Capellmeister at the court of Prince Leopold of AnhaltCöthen, “a gracious prince who both loved and understood music,” according to Bach. The prince had assembled an orchestra of first-rate musicians, and the musical life at his court was rich and vibrant. Bach flourished in this world. During his Cöthen years he composed many of his great instrumental works, including the Brandenburg Concertos, the French Suites, book one of The Well-Tempered Clavier, the Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin, and the six Suites for solo cello. The cello was a relatively new instrument in Bach’s day, and mostly it had been consigned to the role of providing bass support for other instruments. Bach turned it into a remarkably expressive, emotionally rich, virtuosic solo vehicle. The challenge was how to write polyphonically – how to give the impression that many voices were being played simultaneously – on a single-voice instrument in which one string is bowed at a time. As you’ll hear in today’s Cello Suite, Bach succeeded brilliantly: the Suites are a technical triumph. More, they open what Pablo Casals called “a new world of space and beauty.” The Cello Suite No. 1, like the other five, is built around traditional dances, presented in an order that would have been familiar to Bach’s audiences: Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Gigue. Listeners would also expect a few additional dances to be added, as Bach does here, placing two Minuets between the Sarabande and the Gigue. He also adds an introductory Prelude that sets the scene and establishes the Suite’s personality. From the beginning of the Prelude, you can hear some of the ways in which Bach creates his illusion of both harmony and multiple voices. There are the opening arpeggios that establish the harmonic base; the weaving together of several melodic ideas to suggest multiple voices; the way these melodic ideas alternate with the arpeggios; the stunning harmonic progressions at the end; and Bach’s dramatic use of the cello’s range, especially the rich lowest notes. 10


Each movement that follows has its own particular rhythm, tempo, and character. The Allemande, which like the Prelude flows on a steady pattern of 16th notes, has a stately dignity. The high-energy Courante, which bounces along on complex rhythms, contrasts with the Sarabande with its wonderful melding of expressive melody and resonant triple-stop chords. There are more mood swings in the two Minuets, the first sprightly, the second in a minor key and more sober. As the goodnatured Gigue brings the Suite to a spirited close, Bach’s listeners may well have been tapping their feet in time to the music. It’s a satisfying ending to a thrilling work.

Arias for Soprano with Flute and Violin Obligati and Continuo After six satisfying years at Prince Leopold’s court, Bach left in 1723 to become cantor and music director at St. Thomas Church and school in Leipzig. He would remain in that position for the rest of his life. The requirements at St. Thomas were daunting: a cantata for each Sunday and feast day of the church year, plus special programs at Christmas and Easter, Passion music on Good Friday, oratorios, motets, and chorales, not to mention Masses and a Magnificat. On top of this demanding schedule, Bach’s relationship with the church’s board was contentious. As Bach complained to a friend, “I must live amid almost continual vexation, envy, and persecution.” Nonetheless, these were extraordinarily productive years that saw an outpouring of both church and secular music. Bach, a devout Lutheran, pushed the cantata genre to new heights. Over the course of his career he wrote an astonishing 295 of them, most of them composed during his years in Leipzig. In addition to the church cantatas, he also wrote some 30 secular cantatas. Some were written to honor a particular person or event. Others were so-called moral cantatas that dealt with virtues and vices. Many of these were performed at public concerts held at a local gathering place for Leipzig music lovers, Zimmermann’s Coffeehouse. Whether sacred or secular, Bach’s arias are filled with riches. Aria 1. We start with humor. The aria “Ei! Wie schmeckt der Coffee süsse” is from one of Bach’s most light-hearted secular cantatas, the so-called Coffee Cantata (BWV 211), a good-natured satire on a craze for coffee that was gripping Leipzig. To a sprightly flute accompaniment, a flighty young woman sings of her coffee passion, in a cantata Martin Geck describes as an imaginative character study with an element of farce. Arias 2 and 4. In a more serious vein, the secular cantata Ich bin in mir vergnügt (On Contentment, BWV 204) shares themes with Bach’s religious cantatas. In the arias “Meine Seele sei vergnügt” and “Die Schätzbarkeit der weiten Erden,” flute and violin play busy obbligatos beneath ornate vocal lines that suggest dignity and joy. The soprano solo in this philosophical exploration is particularly demanding. Aria 3. Each of the five movements of the Cantata Gelobet sei deer Herr (BWV 129) begins with the words “Praised be the Lord.” There’s a wonderful moment early on 11


when the soprano arrives on the word “Leben” (life) with a long trilled flourish. One of the ways Bach creates a sense of celebration in this cantata for Trinity Sunday is through the repeated motif of 16th notes. Aria 5. Like other busy church musicians, Bach often borrowed material from himself. For “Jesus soll mein erstes Wort” (from the New Year’s Day Cantata BWV 171), he took music from a cantata written to celebrate a name day and turned it into a glorious and uplifting church aria. As Bach’s biographer Philipp Spitta wrote, “The purity and restraint of his polyphonic writing remains essentially the same in secular or in sacred music.”

Italian Concerto for Solo Harpsichord in F Major, BWV 971 (1735) At the age of 46, Bach decided to become a music publisher. Between 1731 and 1741 he produced a massive four-volume survey of keyboard music under the title Clavier-übung (Keyboard Practice). Part I contained the six keyboard Partitas; Part II, a “Concerto after the Italian Taste” and an “Overture after the French Manner:” Part III, organ works; and Part IV, the Goldberg Variations. The Clavier-übung was a spectacular demonstration of Bach’s mastery of popular genres and compositional techniques. The collection also served as a reminder of Bach’s own clavier and organ virtuosity: the Italian Concerto, like the other works in the Clavier-übung, demands great dexterity. Bach’s legendary virtuosity rested on two revolutionary ideas. Traditionally, keyboard players had used just four fingers, and they had kept their fingers straight when they played. Bach raised the thumb to the level in importance of the fingers, and he curved his fingers. Bach’s first biographer, Johann Nikolaus Forkel, described his manner of placing the hand on the keyboard: “The five fingers are bent so that their points come into a straight line, and fit the keys,” and every finger “is ready over the key which it may have to press down…. There can therefore be none of the scrambling, thumping, and stumbling which is so common in persons who play with their fingers stretched out, or not sufficiently bent.” Part 11 of the Clavier-übung was a bravura achievement, with Bach taking two of the most popular orchestral forms and translating them into keyboard works that reflected two very different national spirits, Italian and French. Bach knew the Italian concerto well. Over the years he had studied the Italian concerto grosso, which pitted large instrumental groups against smaller ones. He especially admired Vivaldi, many of whose energetic and virtuosic concertos he had transcribed for both harpsichord and organ. But Bach had never before tried to combine both orchestral and solo parts in an original work for a single solo instrument, as he does here. Like the Cello Suites, the Italian Concerto is an exhilarating display of Bach’s ingenuity. Bach wrote the Concerto in the fast-slow-fast pattern of Vivaldi’s concertos, with two high-spirited outer movements flanking a wondrous Andante. Starting with 12


the first movement – with its recurring orchestral theme (known as the ritornello), its ongoing conversation between tutti (orchestra) and solo, its separation of parts through dynamic contrasts, its thematic inventiveness – Bach joyfully captures the spirit of the concerto grosso while putting his own stylist stamp on the work. (Christoph Wolff describes that style as “the coupling of Italianism with complex yet elegant counterpoint.”) The two movements that follow brim with invention. In the Andante a lyrical, ornamented melody unwinds hypnotically over a steady ostinato bass. The Concerto closes with a merry, contrapuntally-adroit Presto that is propelled by sparkling runs and other virtuosic delights. For sheer exuberance and great good humor, it’s hard to top this buoyant work. Not surprisingly, it was an instant popular success.

Trio Sonata in G Major, BWV 1039 (1720?) For Flute, Violin, and Continuo As if Bach didn’t have enough on his plate, in 1729 he assumed directorship of the Leipzig Collegium Musicum, one of two local music societies that provided secular musical entertainment for a music-loving public. Founded in 1701 by Georg Philipp Telemann, the Collegium had formed an association with Gottfried Zimmermann, who owned the city’s largest and most prestigious coffeehouse. The society presented free weekly concerts there, performed by a steady supply of professional musicians and talented university students. As the city’s most eminent musician, Bach for several years had participated in these concerts as conductor, composer, and performer. Now he was taking over. The directorship was a major new commitment. According to John Eliot Gardiner, “It has been estimated that Bach was in charge of sixty-one two-hour collegium secular concerts each year for a period of at least ten years, which works out at more than 1,200 hours of music” – considerably more even than the liturgical music he provided over his 27 years as cantor at St. Thomas. Blessed with extraordinary energy, Bach thrived under this dual regime. His aim in the coffeehouse concerts was to present the best and newest music, artists, and instruments. To supply a steady stream of music, he presented works by many of his contemporaries as well as his own keyboard compositions, secular cantatas, and chamber music. Among his many instrumental works that appeared on the Collegium concert schedule was the Trio Sonata in G Major. Bach probably wrote it during his years in Cöthen; years later he prepared a revised version for viola da gamba and harpsichord. (Bach frequently rewrote or rearranged his own works, sometimes to suit a different instrument, sometimes to provide music to play with a visiting virtuoso.) The trio sonata was a popular genre with composers in Bach’s day. The term referred to the fact that the sonata had three voices, not necessarily three performers. Trios could be difficult to construct, since “each of the voices must have a fine melody, yet all must at the same time support the triad as if they met by accident,” as one 13


of Bach’s contemporaries wrote. Bach made it look easy: his sunny G Major Trio Sonata flows effortlessly. The Sonata is in the slow-fast-slow-fast format of the Italian sonata da chiesa or church sonata. Bach alternates tender, graceful slow movements with energetic fast movements that demonstrate his contrapuntal prowess. Each movement has a strong personality. In the Adagio that opens the Sonata, the flute and violin pass a gently-flowing melody back and forth in Baroque imitative style. After the relative harmonic simplicity of the first movement, Bach turns to a jaunty, fugal Allegro, where the counterpoint becomes more complex. In an elegant second Adagio, treble arpeggios alternate repeatedly over continually shifting bass harmonies. With his usual consummate skill, Bach brings the sonata to a close with a jovial three-voice fugue – an outburst of the joie de vivre that animates much of his secular music.

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Chestnut Hill Concerts 8:00 pm, Friday, August 11, 2017 Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center Sponsored by Northstar Wealth Partners

Piano Trio in C Major, K. 548 (1788)

Allegro Andante cantabile Allegro

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Eunice Kim, violin Ronald Thomas, cello Randall Hodgkinson, piano

Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4, Op. 58 (1805-06) Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Transcribed by Vinzenz Lachner (1811-1893)

Allegro moderato Andante con moto Rondo (Vivace) Randall Hodgkinson, piano Steven Copes and Eunice Kim, violin Matthew Sinno, viola Ronald Thomas, cello Blake Hinson, double bass intermission

Quintet in A major, D.667 “Trout” (1819)

Allegro vivace Andante Scherzo: Presto Andantino – Allegretto Allegro giusto

Franz Peter Schubert (1797 – 1828)

Steven Copes, violin Matthew Sinow, viola Ronald Thomas, cello Blake Hinson, double bass Randall Hodgkinson, piano

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Program Notes by Barbara Leish

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791) Piano Trio in C Major, K. 548 (1788) Mozart’s cheerful C Major Trio shows how little his state of mind affected the mood of his music. His anxiety was intense in the summer of 1788. Money woes consumed him. In his best years his income had trouble keeping pace with his lavish lifestyle, and recently he had been hurt by a serious drop from commissions, performances, and publications. Burdened by debts, he had moved to a less expensive apartment, pawned valuables, and borrowed money. In June he wrote the first of a series of begging letters to a fellow Mason, the wealthy businessman Michael Puchberg, asking for loans. His self-abasement makes these letters hard to read. “Dearest best of Friends!” the first letter begins; “The conviction that you are indeed my friend, and that you know me for a man of honor, emboldens me to disclose all my heart to you, and to make you the following petition…. If you would be so kind, so friendly, as to lend me the sum of one or two thousand gulden for a period of one or two years, at suitable interest, you would be doing me the greatest service!” Then, though, after a doleful catalogue of problems, Mozart added a surprising P.S.: “When are we to have a little music at your house again? I have written a new trio!” For despite Mozart’s doldrums, the summer was marked by an extraordinary surge of creative energy. In just two months he composed his final three symphonies and two piano trios. The symphonies for years met with a mixed reception; many listeners felt they were written just for connoisseurs. But the C Major Trio – written that July, just three weeks before the great C Major “Jupiter” Symphony – was a charmer, an engaging piece of Hausmusik for Vienna’s eager amateur musicians. The Trio follows the same opening pattern as that of the Jupiter Symphony: a bold forte announcement, followed by a quiet piano response. The movement moves merrily along with playful rhythms, keyboard bravura, and a genial second theme. But there are also depths beneath the sunny surface. Hints of darker emotions emerge in the development section, with its unexpected shift to a minor key, its modulations, and its descending sighing phrases. The brightness returns in the recapitulation, but now it is tempered a bit by a few brief reminders of the minor key and of the sighs. The spacious Andante cantabile is one of Mozart’s beautiful, flowing songs, with the three instruments creating rich textures as they pass melodies back and forth. Alfred Einstein calls it “endlessly moving in its soft and delicate religious quality.” Here too, though, there are a few darker suggestions, such as the sforzandos in the opening measures and the surprisingly stern octaves that introduce the middle section. All 25


ends well with a jolly Allegro finale, a feast of bouncy rhythms and brilliant runs. There’s a more intense minor-key section in the middle, but it doesn’t lessen the overall wit and playfulness of this musical treat.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58 (1806) Arranged for Piano and String Quintet by Vinzenz Lachner This chamber arrangement of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 is a chance to hear familiar music in a fresh and novel way. Transcriptions such as this one were increasingly common as the 19th century progressed. There was a thriving market for scaled-down arrangements of popular orchestral works, so that music could be enjoyed at home or performed in public without the cost of a full orchestra. Publishers frequently commissioned musicians other than the composer to make transcriptions for chamber groups. Actually, Beethoven himself at one point had prepared an adaption of his Fourth Concerto for string quintet at the request of his patron Prince Lobkowitz, at whose palace the full concerto with orchestra was given its first public performance in 1807, and who wanted to put on less costly performances. But Beethoven had someone else transcribe the orchestral part, and while he himself handled the piano score, he changed many passages. The appeal of the transcription you’ll hear tonight – prepared by the composer Vinzenz Lachner and published in 1881 – is that it sticks faithfully to the original piano score while felicitously transcribing the orchestral part for string quintet. Beethoven’s lyrical, inward-looking Fourth Piano Concerto is well suited to this more intimate chamber treatment. The German music critic Paul Bekker described it as “characterized by quiet, reflective gravity, by a latent energy, capable from time to time of expressing intense vitality, but usually preserving the mood of tranquility.” The Concerto opens daringly: Instead of beginning with a conventional orchestral tutti, the first five measures are given over to the piano, which introduces a gentle

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theme. “With this pensive, quiet phrase,” Lewis Lockwood writes, “the piano casts an unforgettable spell over the whole movement and, in a way, over the entire work.” After this striking opening, the strings take over in an unexpected, harmonicallydistant key, and the piano isn’t heard again for many measures. When it does reappear, it enters with a rhythmic acceleration – from 8th notes to 16th notes to triplets, followed by a downward rush of sextuplets – that is a characteristic pattern in the movement. Throughout this long, expansive Allegro moderato, with its sense of calm and spaciousness, there is a close interweaving of the piano and orchestral parts, a relationship that works well with the smaller quintet. The more intimate scoring is just as effective in the brief Andante con moto, which Charles Rosen calls “perhaps the most dramatically conceived ever written.” It is a remarkable dialogue between gruff, impassioned octave chords in the strings and a dreamy, calming piano response. Beethoven’s 19th-century biographer Adolph Bernard Marx famously linked this movement to the classical story of Orpheus taming the wild beasts. The piano by the end does subdue the strings. With spirits restored, the Andante leads directly into a cheerful, capricious Rondo in which the piano has many virtuosic turns and the quintet matches the piano’s energy. The overall result is a version of the Concerto that is musically tantalizing and a very satisfying listening experience.

Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828) Quintet for Piano and Strings in A Major, D. 667, “Trout’ (1819) For Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello, and Double Bass Schubert wrote the “Trout” Quintet during a happy time in his life, before he had begun to suffer from the syphilis that would kill him at the age of 31. In the summer of 1819 the singer Johann Michael Vogl invited Schubert to vacation with him in Steyr, his picturesque hometown in Upper Austria. Schubert was enchanted by the town and the surrounding countryside. In a letter to his brother he wrote, “At the house where I am lodging there are eight girls, nearly all pretty. So you see, one is kept busy.” In addition, he added, “The country around Steyr is inconceivably lovely.” During his stay Schubert met the wealthy music patron Sylvester Paumgartner, an enthusiastic amateur cellist who hosted musical evenings in his home. Paumgartner loved Schubert’s popular song “Die Forelle” (“The Trout”), a charming story of a fish that darts and splashes to escape a cunning angler. Paumbartner asked Schubert to write a piano quintet in which one of the movements would be variations on the song. Schubert agreed, began the Quintet in Steyr, and finished it when he returned to Vienna in the fall. Thus was born one of chamber music’s best-loved works. The carefree weeks spent in Steyr, Schubert’s delight in the romantic landscape, the playful song about the nimble fish – all combined to inspire Schubert’s melodious and effervescent Trout Quintet, which Charles Osborne aptly calls “an enchanting youthful effusion.” 27


There are many reasons for the Quintet’s enduring popularity. Like the song itself, the Quintet flows joyfully along, its texture enriched by the unusual instrumental combination. Each of the five movements overflows with melodic invention and harmonic color. An unusual feature of three of the movements – the Allegro vivace, the Andante, and the Finale – is that the second half of each is the same as the first, except in a different key. Among the many highlights of the Quintet are the highspirited interplay between piano and strings from the beginning of the opening Allegro vivace; the three wonderful contrasting themes of the songlike Andante; the unusual modulations of the rhythmic Scherzo; and the rambunctious Finale that brings the Quintet to its good-natured close. The heart of the piece, of course, is the delectable fourth movement, with its set of six variations on “The Trout.” Each of the instruments gets a chance to shine, in variations that range from subdued to brilliant to tempestuous to lyrical. Teasingly, Schubert saves for the last variation the leaping arpeggios found in the original song, which paint a picture of the trout darting around in the sparkling water. Like so much of Schubert’s music, the Trout Quintet disappeared during his lifetime. After his death his brother found the manuscript and in 1829 sold it to a publisher, who declared it a masterpiece. It has remained a popular and beloved work ever since. And in Steyr today, at Paumgartner’s former house, there is a plaque that commemorates his role in bringing the Quintet to life.

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Music adds a dimension to everything we experience. Imagine a beautiful candlelit dinner, a special celebration, an afternoon spent in reflective thought, a drive in the country…. all the beautiful moments and memories. And then imagine them without music… it’s just not the same. Bruce & Kathy Briggs

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Chestnut Hill Concerts 8:00 pm, Friday, August 18, 2017 Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center Sponsored by Bruce and Kathy Briggs

Piano Trios by

Johannes Brahms (1833-97) Arturo Delmoni, violin Ronald Thomas, cello Mihae Lee, piano

Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 101 (1883) Allegro energico Presto non assai Andante grazioso Allegro molto

Piano Trio in C Major, Op. 87 (1880-82) Allegro Andante con moto Scherzo: Presto Allegro giocoso intermission

Piano Trio in B Major, Op. 8 (1854, revised 1889) Allegro con brio Scherzo: Allegro molto Adagio Allegro 35


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Program Notes by Barbara Leish

Music by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) Piano Trio in C Minor, Op. 101 (1886) When Brahms finished his Piano Trio in C Minor, he sent the manuscript to his friend the pianist Elisabeth von Herzogenberg for her reaction. Her enthusiastic response: “It’s better than any photograph and thus the true picture of you.” She could have been talking about any of the three trios on tonight’s program, for these works illuminate both the man and his musical journey. Age and loss were very much on Brahms’s mind when he wrote his weighty and powerful C Minor Trio. At 53, while outwardly cheerful, he was troubled by the thought of getting old and perhaps losing his gifts. He also worried that when he died, so too would die the great Germanic musical tradition that he had sought to perpetuate. His anxieties rose to the surface in the Op. 101 Piano Trio, a titanic work whose turbulent first movement reflects his turmoil. Musically, Brahms takes both conciseness and metrical innovation to new levels. The single brief motive that opens the Trio dominates the first movement, which develops with a terseness that makes it the shortest first movement in Brahms’s chamber music. Brahms was relentless in paring the movement down, crossing out, for example, the repeat of the exposition that originally was included in the manuscript. The music drives forward fiercely and relentlessly; even the broadly lyrical second theme, introduced by the strings, cannot withstand the vehemence of the opening theme and its development. Meanwhile, after a brief rhythmic ambiguity at the very beginning of the Trio – when three notes in the strings are pitted against four in the piano – Brahms introduces the first extended irregularities in the development section, where at times it is difficult to identify the meter or to tell where the beat falls. The mood softens and rhythmic order is restored in the second-movement Presto, with its ghostly melody and a wonderfully-scored middle section in which pizzicato arpeggios flit over piano chords. The metrical adventures heat up again in the third-movement Andante, which features a tender melody and constantly-changing time signatures. The movement opens with a seven-bar phrase that is comprised of one bar in 3/4 time alternating with two bars in 2/4 time. At one point, Brahms switches to a five-bar phrase that alternates bars of 9/8 and 6/8 time. Most of the time, piano and strings alternate rather than play together. What’s interesting is that despite the metrical irregularities, the melody comes across as simple and natural. 37


Brahms continues his unpredictable rhythms in the restless finale (Tovey called it “grimly energetic”), beginning the movement with an upbeat that sounds like a downbeat, and later employing cross-rhythms. Surprisingly, after all the turmoil, the Trio ends triumphantly in C major. Clara Schumann, who at first found the daunting piano part a challenge, played the Trio during her last English tour in 1888. It was, she wrote in her diary, “wonderfully gripping” and “inspired throughout in its passion, its power of thought, its gracefulness, its poetry.”

Piano Trio in C Major, Op. 87 (1880-1882) Brahms spent many of his winters touring and performing, an activity that he enjoyed but also carried out with a certain amount of grumbling. “I can think of nothing more detestable or more contemptible than this kind of occupation,” he complained to Clara Schumann. Summers were his time for unwinding. Each year he would spend several months at a resort, where he relaxed, socialized, and composed. In the summer of 1880 Brahms decided to try the Austrian resort of Bad Idchl, the summer home of Emperor Franz Josef and Viennese high society. When a friend worried that half of Vienna would be there, Brahms replied, “I should probably flee from half Berlin or even half Leipzig, I admit; but half Vienna is quite pretty,

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and very easy to look at.” That summer Brahms wrote the first movement of the C Major Piano Trio. Two summers later Brahms returned to Bad Ischl, following a triumphant winter during which he took his Second Piano Concerto on tour around Germany, Switzerland, and Holland. “Brahms is celebrating such triumphs everywhere as seldom fall to the lot of a composer,” Clara wrote in her journal. The summer was remarkably productive. In three months Brahms wrote three major compositions: the ebullient F Major String Quintet; a dark work for orchestra and chorus, Gesang der Parzen; and the C Major Piano Trio that he had begun two years earlier. The C Major Trio is the work of a master – a seductive blend of Classical structure and Romantic voice, tightly constructed, melodically rich, filled with grand sonorities. One of the many impressive features of the first movement is the way Brahms balances the three instruments. The strings introduce the main theme in unison octaves and continue to play it every time it appears; not until the very end does the piano join them to bring the movement to a rousing close. Throughout the movement, as themes flow, the strings play together while the animated piano at times accompanies them and at times goes its own independent way. Their complex dialogue creates drama as the music swells and subsides. The soulful theme of the wonderful A-minor Andante has a Hungarian flavor, with a characteristic “Scotch snap” rhythm (an accented short note followed by a long one). Here, as they did in the first movement, the strings introduce the theme in octave unison. While all five of the wide-ranging variations sing, the fourth, in A Major, is a particular highlight. After another skittering, ghostly Scherzo – marked pianissimo and lightened by a mellifluous middle section – Brahms concludes with a lively and good-humored (giocoso) Finale that adroitly combines sonata and rondo forms. It features an outpouring of themes and a lengthy coda that dances its way to a cheerful close. Even the famously self-critical Brahms considered the C Major Trio a masterpiece, sending it to his publisher with the comment, “I tell you, you have not ever had anything so good from me!”

Piano Trio in B Major, op. 8 (1854, revised 1889) If the C Minor Piano Trio reflects turmoil and the C Major Trio catches Brahms in a more upbeat mood, the third of tonight’s Trio masterpieces offers something quite different: an unusual opportunity to watch him grow as a composer. Brahms was notorious for destroying compositions that didn’t live up to his own rigorous standards. Rarely did he return to a work that he already had allowed to be published. But that is what he did in this late revision of a very early work. Brahms was 20 when he met Robert and Clara Schumann. Dazzled by Brahms’s gifts, they arranged for his first publications: piano sonatas that were filled with youthful Romantic fervor and that demonstrated an impressive grasp of compositional 39


techniques. The B Major Piano Trio that followed soon after – it was Brahms’s first published chamber work – was equally ardent but less technically assured. Clara Schumann was puzzled by its constant changes in tempo, and by structural lapses such as the digressiveness of the long opening movement. She also found much to admire, though, including the meltingly lyrical melody that opens the Trio, the superb Scherzo, and the overall charm of the work. More than three decades later the publisher Simrock planned a new edition of Brahms’s early works. From Bad Ischl, where he was spending the summer, Brahms wrote to Clara, “With what childish amusement I while away the beautiful summer days you will never guess. I have rewritten my B Major Trio…. It will not be so wild as before – but will it be better?” To a friend he said that he was “not going to put a wig on the wild man’s head, but comb his hair and tidy it up a bit.” And to Simrock he wrote that the new version would be “shorter, hopefully better, and in any case more expensive.” In his extensive revisions Brahms deftly preserved the youthful fire while tightening the structure of the sprawling original. He kept the gorgeous opening melody, but to complement it he added a dynamic second theme that enabled him to overcome the static nature of the original movement, and that allowed a more intense and integrated development of thematic material. The movement ends with a luxurious new Coda that basks in the beauties of both themes. The only movement Brahms didn’t touch was the Mendelssohnian Scherzo, with its mysterious vitality and warm central Trio. The most important change to the hymn-like Adagio was the addition of an ardent minor-key song for the cello, which replaced a reminiscence of a Schubert song. The surprise of the tumultuous minor-key Finale is that despite a new, brighter second theme, its mood remains agitated to the end. Brahms wasn’t happy with his revision. He told Simrock, “I must categorically state that the old one is bad, but I do not maintain that the new one is good.” He was wrong. The revised Trio is a wonderful example of the good that can come when technical mastery tempers youthful impetuosity.

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Chestnut Hill Concerts 8:00 pm, Friday, August 25, 2017 Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center Sponsored by Brenton Point Wealth Advisors Music by

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) The composer’s transcriptions of his own music Piano Quartet in E-flat, Op. 16 (1797, revised 1801) After the Wind Quintet Grave - Allegro, ma non troppo Andante cantabile Allegro, ma non troppo Catherine Cho, violin Cynthia Phelps, viola Ronald Thomas, cello Mihae Lee, piano

Piano Trio in D Major, Series 11, No. 90 (1805) After the Symphony No.2, Op.36 Adagio – Allegro con brio Larghetto quasi andante Scherzo: Allegro Allegro molto Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu, violin Ronald Thomas, cello Mihae Lee, piano intermission

Quintet for Strings, Op.104 (1817) After the Piano Trio, Op. 1, No. 3 Allegro con brio Andante cantabile con Variazioni Minuetto – Quasi allegro Prestissimo Todd Phillips and Catherine Cho, violin Cynthia Phelps and Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu, viola Ronald Thomas, cello 45


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Program Notes by Barbara Leish

Music by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 16 (1796?) The three transcriptions you’ll hear tonight show what a master recycler Beethoven was of his own works. The delightful Piano Quartet that opens the program began life as a Wind Quintet. When the Quintet was published as Op. 16 in 1801, Beethoven included this Quartet arrangement for Piano and Strings (also designated Op. 16), probably in an effort to appeal to as wide an audience as possible – Vienna was filled with amateur musicians eager to buy copies of Beethoven’s music. The piano part is the same in both versions; Beethoven simply allocated the wind parts to the strings. In either version, it’s a delectable work in which Beethoven’s ingenuity comes face to face with Mozart’s Classical style. Beethoven was riding a wave of public acclaim when he wrote it. He had taken Vienna’s salons by storm as a brilliant improviser and keyboard virtuoso; he had demonstrated his mastery of Viennese Classical form; and he had launched a major career as a composer. While Mozart remained a fundamental influence, Beethoven increasingly was asserting his own strong musical personality. Beethoven most likely modeled the Wind Quintet on Mozart’s Quintet for Piano and Winds, K. 452, written a dozen years earlier. Beethoven’s work is written in the same key of E-flat major, scored for the same instruments, and given the same three-movement structure. You can hear external similarities throughout the work, from the first movement’s long, stately introduction to the last-movement Rondo with its hunting theme. This being Beethoven, though, it’s no surprise that he didn’t stick faithfully to the Classical script. With all of Opus 16’s surface nods to the Mozart Quintet, there are noteworthy substantive differences – in the way, for instance, that Beethoven focuses on thematic development, and especially in the prominent role assigned to the piano. The appeal of the Opus 16 Quartet lies in its freshness, affability, and wit. The first movement charms with its genial themes, its engaging dialogue between piano and strings, a briefly stormy development section that ends, playfully, with a return in a Classically-incorrect key, and a graceful coda. The Andante cantabile is striking for the beautiful melody with which the piano opens the movement, and for the increasingly elaborate embellishments and rich instrumental textures as the movement progresses. High spirits reign in the good-natured last movement, a Rondo in which, as in the other movements, the piano glitters. Beethoven’s pupil and friend Carl Czerny summed up the work’s appeal nicely when he wrote that it “possesses 47


in its melodies and effects, a charm which will never grow old.” Beethoven demonstrated both his keyboard virtuosity and his impish sense of humor at the premiere of the Quintet version. According to Ferdinand Ries, who was there, in the finale “Beethoven suddenly started improvising, taking the Rondo subject as his theme and entertaining himself and those listening for quite some time.” The audience loved it. His fellow musicians reportedly were not amused.

Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36 (1801-2) Arranged by Beethoven for Piano Trio For Beethoven, 1802 was a year of crisis. For several years his hearing had been getting worse. On the advice of a doctor he moved that spring to Heiligenstadt, a quiet village outside of Vienna. Months earlier he had written defiantly to a friend: “I will seize Fate by the throat; it shall certainly not bend and crush me completely.” Now, though, he was in despair. In October he wrote what has become known as the Heiligenstadt Testament, an anguished letter to his two brothers (never sent, but found after his death) in which he bemoans his deafness and writes, “I would have ended my life – it was only my art that held me back.” Remarkably, none of his torment is reflected in the Second Symphony, which Beethoven was working on at the time. It is a sunny and outgoing work, steeped in Classical tradition but also filled with inventive ideas that look forward to the revolution Beethoven was about to launch. As Maynard Solomon writes, it is “the work of a mature master who is settling accounts – or making peace – with the existing symphonic tradition before embarking on an unprecedented musical voyage.” The Symphony’s dynamic contrasts, unexpected modulations, dramatic gestures, distinctive rhythms, and propulsive movement all point to the future. Earlier, Beethoven had told a friend, “From today on I will take a new path.” The Second Symphony gives an exciting preview of where that path will lead. The innovations begin with an expansive, harmonically wide-ranging Adagio molto that is longer and more dramatic than a Classical Haydn slow introduction. It leads into a dynamic Allegro con brio – one of many sharp contrasts that are among the distinguishing features of the symphony. The sensuous Larghetto that follows – Berlioz called it “a ravishing picture of innocent pleasure” – moves at what for Beethoven is an unusually leisurely pace. The real shock to Beethoven’s listeners came in the last two movements. First, Beethoven ignored Classical convention by replacing the traditional minuet with an exuberant scherzo; it was the first appearance of a scherzo as the third movement of a symphony. Even more startling than the Scherzo, with its uninhibited humor, was the rollicking Finale. Its manic energy puzzled listeners and led one critic to describe the Symphony as “a crass monster, a hideously writhing wounded dragon that refuses to expire.” Another reviewer found it “all too bizarre, wild, and ugly.” 48


On the contrary, says Lewis Lockwood, “This symphony signaled that from now on in Beethoven’s orchestral works, power and lyricism in extreme forms were to be unleashed as never before... and that contemporaries, ready or not, would have to reshape their expectations to keep up with him.” Three years after he finished the Second Symphony, Beethoven prepared this Piano Trio version. One reviewer wrote, “It is for those who through recollection want to repeat the pleasure of the complete performance.” There’s pleasure aplenty in this transcription, which shows there is more than one way to enjoy a Beethoven symphony.

Quintet in C Minor for Strings, Op. 104 (1817) For 2 Violins, 2 Violas, and Cello An Arrangement by Beethoven of the Piano Trio Op. 1, No. 3 Arrangements were a flourishing business in Beethoven’s time, with composers rearranging their works for different combinations of instruments as a way to promote their music and increase revenues from the sale of scores. Beethoven, who was sensitive to what he disdainfully called “the economics of music,” was a willing participant in the practice. Some of the rearrangements of his music were done by his pupils Ferdinand Ries, who arranged several piano sonatas for string quartet, and Carl Czerny, who transcribed the nine symphonies for two pianos. Others were by Beethoven himself. In an age when there were no copyright protections and pirating was common, Beethoven worked hard to control his own work. In 1817 a Herr Kaufmann submitted to Beethoven his quintet arrangement of the Piano Trio Op. 1, No. 3. It was a clumsy effort; Beethoven mocked it as “a threevoiced Quintet.” But he decided to rework it and publish it under his own name as Op. 104, noting on the published score that Kaufmann’s attempt had been “raised from the most abject misery to some degree of respectability.” Humor aside, the arrangement is an engaging alternative version of an early Beethoven masterpiece. Twenty years earlier a young Beethoven, intent on making a splash in Vienna with his first published work, had carefully chosen three piano trios to be published in 1796 as his Opus 1. Haydn apparently had attended a performance of the trios, and while he admired the first two, he told Beethoven that he didn’t think the public would understand the third, especially because of its C minor key. Beethoven attributed Haydn’s reaction to jealousy. The Piano Trio Op. 1, No. 3 proved to be one of Beethoven’s most popular and successful works. More, over the next several years Beethoven wrote some of his most dramatic and fiery music in the key of C minor. Still, Haydn had reason to be uneasy. The explosive C Minor Trio is a far cry from the genteel Classical trios the Viennese were used to. It is a turbulent work, grandly conceived in four movements and marked by extremes of tempo and dynamics. The Allegro con brio begins dramatically with a brief, quiet opening theme, a pause, and then an impassioned exposition packed with contrasts. Throughout 49


the movement there are unmistakably Beethovenian moments, such as the sforzando accents scattered about the exposition, the unexpected tonal shifts in the development section, and the fortissimo return of the quiet opening theme at the start of the recapitulation. Beethoven lowers the emotional temperature in a lovely Andante with variations, where he shows his skill at transforming a simple theme, and in a sprightly Menuetto. The smoldering intensity returns in the Finale, although the heat is tempered by a tender second theme. Beethoven saves one of his most surprising challenges to convention for the end. Rather than the expected big finish, the music winds down quietly in a long pianissimo Coda – a final daring gesture that’s just as gripping in the Quintet.

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A benefit supporting the Connecticut Early Music Society Sunday, 15 October 2017, from 5 to 7 PM The Jealous Monk Olde Mistick Village Mystic, CT Tickets are $75, and include heavy hors d’oeuvres, beer, wine and, of course, ample offerings of Bach. For more information: www.ctearlymusic.org info@ctearlymusic.org (Artwork by Will Bullas)

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2017 Gala Benefit Concert Chestnut Hill’s 2017 Gala Benefit Concert took place on Sunday, May 21, at the Essex Yacht Club. The room was lovely, with a patio overlooking the Connecticut River, and was filled to capacity. The musical program featured Artistic Director and cellist Ronald Thomas, pianist Mihae Lee, and clarinetist Romie DeGuise-Langlois. They performed the Schumann Fantasiestücke for cello and piano, Poulenc’s Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, and Beethoven’s Trio in B-flat for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano. Former Board member Jeanne Guertin-Potoff and her husband Mort, both longtime and loyal supporters of CHC, were the honorees. The sponsors for the afternoon were Bruce & Kathy Briggs, Richard Buel, Mahlon & Zoe Hale, Dave Rackey & Emily Eisenlohr, and Joan Terranova. Benefactors were Richard & Kathy Berluti, Andrew & Ellen Blight, Robert Donahue & Michael D’Agostino, Bill & Sandy French, Carol Kaimowitz, and Jean Richards & Boynton Schmitt.

Mihae Lee and Romie DeGuiseLanglois performing the Poulenc Sonata for Clarinet and Piano.

Photos by Algis Kaupas

Artistic Director Ronald Thomas addressing the audience

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Left, Mihae Lee, Romie DeGuise-Langlois, and Ronald Thomas take a bow after performing the Beethoven Trio for Cello, Clarinet and Piano. Right, the musicians with honorees JeanneGuertin Potoff and her husband, Mort.

Gala Benefit Sponsors: Joan Terranova, Richard Buel, Kathy & Bruce Briggs, Mahlon & Zoe Hale, David Rackey & Emily Eisenlohr, with performers Ronald Thomas, Mihae Lee, and Romie DeGuise-Langlois.

Benefit Concert Benefactors: Carol Kaimowitz, Boynton Schmitt & Jean Richards, Bill & Sandy French, Andrew & Ellen Blight, Richard & Kathy Berluti, with performers Ronald Thomas, Romie DeGuise-Langlois, and Mihae Lee.

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2017 Community Outreach 2017 marked our fourth year of bringing “Musicians from Chestnut Hill Concerts” to Essex and Old Saybrook, to introduce chamber music to young and old alike. The wonderful musicians of Haven Quartet, the permanent quartet-in-residence of Music Haven, were our 2017 outreach artists. The Haven String Quartet (violinists Yaira Matyakubova & Gregory Tompkins, violist Annalisa Boerner, and cellist Philip Boulanger) spearheads a nationally-recognized, free after-school lessons program for more than 80 students from New Haven’s most under-served neighborhoods. The quartet performed a concert in Hamilton Hall at Essex Meadows retirement home on Sunday afternoon, June 4th, with a very lively question-and-answer session, followed by a performance at the facility’s health center. On Monday, June 5th, the quartet gave wonderful performance/demonstrations at Old Saybrook High School, Goodwin Elementary School, and Old Saybrook Middle School for hundreds of students, from pre-schoolers to juniors and seniors in high school. The quartet’s comfort in presenting lively and educational in-school concerts was most evident in the manner in which they captivated the students with age-appropriate lessons and inspiring music-making. The CHC Outreach Program was designed by pianist and CHC board member Mihae Lee, in consultation with artistic director Ronald Thomas. This year, the program was sponsored by the generosity of Essex Meadows and resident Joan Terranova. The Haven String Quartet performs for students at Goodwin Elementary School.

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Above: The Haven Quartet (Yaira Matyakubova, Gregory Tomkins, Philip Boulanger, and Annalisa Boerner) performs at Essex Meadows Health Facility. Clockwise from below left: The quartet performs in concert at Essex Meadows on June 4th to a full hall of appreciative residents; at Old Saybrook Middle School; performing at Goodwin Elementary School. 2017 Outreach Sponsor Joan Terranova, with CHC Board Members David Lopath and Richard Buel; Philip Boulanger takes questions at Goodwin Elementary Schoo; performing at Old Saybrook High School.

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Artist biographies Ronald Thomas, cellist, has been Artistic Director of Chestnut Hill Concerts since 1989. He sustains an active and varied career in today’s music world as performer, teacher, and artistic administrator. Former principal cellist of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, from 1990 to 2016 he was principal cellist and frequent chamber music programmer and performer with the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego before resigning prior to the 2017 season. His solo appearances include performing with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the St. Louis, Baltimore and Seattle Symphony Orchestras, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Handel and Haydn Society and Pro Arte Chamber Orchestras of Boston and the Blossom Festival Orchestra, among many others. Mr. Thomas has played recitals in virtually every state in the United States as well as New York City, Washington, D.C., Boston and Los Angeles, and numerous concerts in Europe and Asia. In great demand as a chamber music collaborator, Mr. Thomas is also co-founder and artistic director emeritus of the Boston Chamber Music Society and has appeared with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center both at Alice Tully Hall and on tour. Other chamber music appearances include the Seattle, Bravo! Colorado and Portland Chamber Music Festivals, and the Spoleto, Blossom and Yale at Norfolk Festivals, as well as the festivals of Dubrovnik, Edinburgh and Amsterdam. Mr. Thomas was a member of the Players in Residence committee and the Board of Overseers at Bargemusic in New York. While he was member of the Boston Musica Viva and the Aeolian Chamber Players he premiered countless new works, including compositions by Gunther Schuller, Michael Colgrass, Ellen Zwillich, Donald Erb, William Bolcom and William Thomas McKinley. Before winning the Young Concert Artists auditions at nineteen, Mr. Thomas attended the New England Conservatory and the Curtis Institute. His principal teachers were Lorne Munroe, David Soyer, and Mary Canberg.

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Paolo Bordignon is harpsichordist of the New York Philharmonic and has performed with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Camerata Pacifica, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, the Knights, English Chamber Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with Itzhak Perlman, Renee Fleming, Reinhard Goebel, Wynton Marsalis, Bobby McFerrin, and Midori. For the opening of Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall, he gave the east coast première of Philip Glass’s Harpsichord Concerto. He has appeared on NBC, PBS, CNN, NPR, the CBC, and on Korean and Japanese national television. Mr. Bordignon has worked with composers such as Elliott Carter (performing “Double Concerto for Harpsichord and Piano” for his 90th birthday celebration), David Conte, Jean Guillou, Stephen Hartke, Christopher Theophanides, and Melinda Wagner. With the Clarion Music Society, he premièred several newly-rediscovered chamber works of Felix Mendelssohn. Mr. Bordignon has performed organ recitals at St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue (New York) and St. Eustache (Paris), and has been a regular organ recitalist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, including a 10-recital residency. He served as Director of Music at St. Paul’s Church in Houston, overseeing a large choral program in the Anglican tradition, as well as recitals & lectures, chamber music society, fine arts academy, choral concerts and residencies in the U.S. and Europe. He was previously Associate Director of Music at St. Bartholomew’s Church, New York, where he helped oversee one of the nation’s pre-eminent church music programs. Born in Toronto of Italian heritage, he attended St. Michael’s Cathedral Choir School before studying at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School. Doctoral studies brought him to Leipzig and Berlin, where he examined the manuscript and original performance materials of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Cantata Halt im Gedächtnis Jesum Christ.”

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Catherine Cho’s orchestral engagements have included performances with the Detroit and National Symphony orchestras, the Montreal, Edmonton, and National Arts Centre Orchestras in Canada, the Korean Broadcasting Symphony, Daejon Philharmonic, and Seoul Philharmonic in Korea, the Barcelona Symphony, the Orchestra of the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and the Aspen Chamber Symphony. Ms. Cho’s concert performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, with the Buffalo Philharmonic under the baton of Jo-Ann Falletta, was broadcast nationwide on PBS Television. Ms. Cho has collaborated with pianist Mia Chung in performances of the complete cycle of Beethoven’s violin sonatas in the U.S. and Asia, and is currently engaged in an all-Beethoven project with pianist, Robert McDonald. Ms. Cho was a participant in the Marlboro Music Festival from 1993 - 2001, and has taken part in eleven “Musicians from Marlboro” national tours. Ms. Cho has performed at festivals such as Chamber Music Northwest, Bridgehampton, Eastern Shore, Rockport, Santa Fe, and Skaneateles, and has performed with the Boston Chamber Players. She is a founding member of the chamber ensemble, La Fenice, and was a member of the Johannes String Quartet from 2003-6. A winner of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, Ms. Cho won top prizes at the Montreal, Hanover, and Queen Elizabeth International Violin Competitions. Ms. Cho is a member of the violin and chamber music faculty at The Juilliard School, and has taught at the Starling-DeLay Symposium, New York String Seminar, Great Mountains, Heifetz Institute, and the Perlman Music Program.

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Violinist Steven Copes leads a diverse life as soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral leader. A native of Los Angeles, he became concertmaster of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO) in 1998, and since then has led the orchestra from the chair in several highly-acclaimed, eclectic programs. He also appears frequently as soloist with the SPCO, performing concerti by Bach, Beethoven, Berg, Brahms, Hartmann, Hindemith, Kirchner, Korngold, Lutoslawski, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Piazzolla, Prokofiev, Schnittke, and Weill. A zealous advocate of today’s music, he has given world premieres of Pierre Jalbert’s Violin Concerto (2017) and George Tsontakis’ Grammy-nominated Violin Concerto No. 2 (2003), both with the SPCO. Recent solo engagements include the Korngold Concerto with Rossen Milanov and the SPCO, the Berg Chamber Concerto with pianist Kirill Gerstein at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Berg Concerto with the Orlando Philharmonic, and the Bartok Concerto #2 with the Colorado College Summer Festival Orchestra. Mr. Copes was co-founder and director of Colorado’s Alpenglow Chamber Music Festival and is also a founding member of Accordo, a chamber group in residence in the Twin Cities and now in its 9th season. A frequent guest concertmaster, Mr. Copes has recorded and toured extensively throughout Europe and Asia with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and performed in the same capacity with the Baltimore, Pittsburgh and San Francisco Symphonies, the London and Royal Flemish Philharmonics, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He holds degrees from the Curtis Institute and Juilliard, and studied with Robert Lipsett, Aaron Rosand, Robert Mann and Felix Galimir for chamber music. Mr. Copes performs on a 2014 violin by Brooklyn maker Samuel Zygmuntowicz, patterned after the ‘Kreutzer’ Stradivarius of 1727.

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Arturo Delmoni, violinist, is one of the most celebrated artists of his generation. His remarkably distinctive playing embodies the romantic warmth that was the special province of the great virtuosi of the golden age of violin playing. Yo-Yo Ma describes Mr. Delmoni as “an enormously gifted musician and an impeccable violinist. His playing style is unique, and his gorgeous sound is reminiscent of that of great violinists from a bygone era.” Glenn Dicterow, former concertmaster of the NY Philharmonic, says “Delmoni’s playing always goes right to the heart and his charisma is irresistible.” Mr. Delmoni’s stylish, elegant interpretations of classical masterpieces have earned him critical acclaim in the United States and abroad. Mr. Delmoni made his Carnegie Hall debut at the age of 14, playing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the Little Orchestra Society under the direction of Thomas Scherman. He has appeared with major orchestras across the country, including those of Dallas, St. Louis, Boston, Los Angeles, and with the NYCB Orchestra in New York. He has appeared as a recitalist throughout the US and Europe, as well as Japan and Hong Kong. As a chamber musician, Mr. Delmoni has performed with illustrious colleagues including Mr. Ma, Pinchas Zukerman, Emanuel Ax, Elmar Oliveira, Nathaniel Rosen, Jon Kimura Parker, Jeffrey Kahane, and Dudley Moore. He regularly appears at chamber music festivals throughout the country during the summer months. Mr. Delmoni has recorded approximately twenty CDs, and performs on a J. B. Guadagnini, 1780.

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Blake Hinson joined the New York Philharmonic in September 2012 and is the orchestra’s Assistant Principal Bass. Previously he served as Principal Bass of the Grand Rapids Symphony for two seasons, played with the New World Symphony as a fellow, and performed with The Philadelphia Orchestra. A native of West Des Moines, Iowa, Mr. Hinson was accepted at age 16 to The Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Bass Harold Robinson and Edgar Meyer. He spent three summers at the Aspen Music Festival and School on fellowship, where he played in the Aspen Chamber Symphony and Aspen Festival Orchestra and won the 2006 low strings competition. Mr. Hinson won third prize in the 2009 International Society of Bassists Double Bass Competition and made his solo debut at Boston’s Symphony Hall.

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Randall Hodgkinson has achieved recognition as a winner of the International American Music Competition for pianists sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation. He has appeared frequently as soloist and chamber music artist in festivals throughout the United States, and as a featured soloist with major orchestras, including those of Philadelphia, Atlanta, Buffalo, the American Symphony, the Orchestra of Illinois and abroad in Italy and Iceland. His solo debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra was presented in Boston, Philadelphia and in New York at Carnegie Hall. Mr. Hodgkinson studied at The Curtis Institute and the New England Conservatory. He has been an artist member of the Boston Chamber Music Society since 1983. While a member of Boston Musica Viva, he performed throughout the U.S. and Europe, and his recordings on several labels have brought notable acclaim. His solo CD “Petrouschka and Other Prophesies” received a double five-star rating from the BBC magazine. Other recordings include a live performance of the world premiere of the Gardner Read Piano Concerto with the Eastman Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Morton Gould Concerto with the Albany Symphony. His CD of solo piano music on the Ongaku label has received fervent critical praise, and his recording of Bernard Hoffer’s Piano Concerto with the National Orchestra of Ireland was released last year. Mr. Hodgkinson also performs four-hand and twopiano literature in duo recitals with his wife, Leslie Amper. He is a member of the Gramercy Trio, which commissioned and performed the premiere of the Gunther Schuller’s Third Piano Trio. Mr. Hodgkinson is a member of the piano faculty of the New England Conservatory and Wellesley College.

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A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, violinist Eunice Kim has been proclaimed “just superb” (The New York Times) and “a born performer” (Epoch Times). Ms. Kim recently made solo debuts with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Bakersfield Symphony, as well as the Philadelphia Orchestra, Louisville Symphony, Seongnam Philharmonic, and Jersey City Philharmonic. Ms. Kim made her solo debut at the age of seven with the Korean Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra in Seoul, Korea. Her NAXOS recording of George Tsontakis’s Unforgettable with the Albany Symphony Orchestra will be released on August 11, 2017. This summer, she will be featured as the concerto soloist on San Jose Youth Symphony’s 2017 European tour. An avid chamber musician, Ms. Kim has performed at festivals such as Marlboro Music School and Festival, Ravinia’s Steans Institute of Music, and Music From Angel Fire. As a member of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, she just recently completed a European tour across Italy, Germany, and Austria. She performed at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts as an artist in the 2016 Evnin Rising Stars series, and has been invited back to perform in the 2017 series. A winner of Astral Artists 2012 audition, she has been partnered with the Philadelphia Orchestra Department of Education to perform outreach series, and has also been invited to be a teaching artist for the William Penn Residency at schools in the Philadelphia area. Ms. Kim graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree at the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Ida Kavafian and was the recipient of the Rose Paul Fellowship. She served as concertmaster of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, and was awarded the prestigious Milka Violin Artist Prize upon graduation.

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Min-Young Kim is first violinist of the internationallyacclaimed Daedalus Quartet, a winner of the Banff String Quartet Competition. She performs regularly with the Daedalus throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia at leading musical venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Library of Congress, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and the Concertgebeouw in Amsterdam. She has also toured extensively with Musicians from Marlboro and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and has collaborated with members of the Juilliard, Guarneri, Cleveland, Takåcs, and Vermeer Quartets. Ms. Kim enjoys working closely with composers and has premiered many new works. She has also performed and recorded on the baroque violin with Apollo’s Fire, the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra, and New York Collegium. A graduate of Harvard University and the Juilliard School, Ms. Kim teaches violin and chamber music at the University of Pennsylvania. Her major teachers include Donald Weilerstein, Robert Mann, and Shirley Givens.

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Praised by the Boston Globe as “simply dazzling,” Korean-born pianist Mihae Lee has captivated audiences throughout North America, Europe, and Asia in solo recitals and chamber music concerts, in such venues as Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Jordan Hall, Berlin Philharmonic, Academia Nationale de Santa Cecilia in Rome, Warsaw National Philharmonic Hall, and Taipei National Hall. An active chamber musician, Ms. Lee is a founding member of the Triton Horn Trio and was an artist member of the Boston Chamber Music Society for three decades. She has appeared frequently at numerous international music festivals including Dubrovnik, Amsterdam, Groningen, Medellin Festicamara, Great Woods, Seattle, OK Mozart, Mainly Mozart, Music from Angel Fire, El Paso, Arizona Friends of Chamber Music, Chamber Music Northwest, Rockport, Sebago-Long Lake, Bard, Norfolk, Mostly Music, Music Mountain, and Chestnut Hill Concerts. In addition, she has been a guest artist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Bargemusic, and Speculum Musicae; has collaborated with the Juilliard, Tokyo, Muir, Cassatt, and Manhattan string quartets; and has premiered and recorded works by such composers! as Gunther Schuller, Ned Rorem, Paul ! ! Lansky, Henri Lazarof, Michael Daugherty, and Ezra Laderman. Ms. Lee is often ! heard over the airwaves on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today,” and on ! ! other stations around the country. First prizewinner at the Kosciuszko Foundation ! Chopin Competition, Ms. Lee received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from ! The Juilliard School and her artist diploma from the New England Conservatory, ! studying with Martin Canin and Russell! Sherman. Currently Artistic Director of ! the Essex Winter Series in Connecticut !and Music Director of the Sebago-Long Lake Music Festival in Maine, she has released recordings on the Bridge, Etcetera, ! 765 Bos EDI, Northeastern, and BCMS www.barbouchee.com labels. ! ! !! ! ! ! !

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Violist Cynthia Phelps’ versatile career includes appearances as chamber musician, soloist, and Principal Violist of the New York Philharmonic, with which she has appeared as soloist on major stages across the globe in a wide range of repertoire. Solo appearances include the Minnesota Orchestra, Shanghai, Vermont and San Diego Symphonies, Orquesta Sinfonica de Bilbao, and Rochester and Hong Kong Philharmonic. She has collaborated with artists including Itzhak Perlman, Emmanual Ax, Pinchas Zukerman, Gil Shaham, Yo-Yo Ma, Lynn Harrell, and Yefim Bronfman, among many others, and has given recitals in the international major music capitals. Featured in nationwide “Live from Lincoln Center” telecasts, on National Public Radio, Radio France, Minnesota Public Radio, and Italy’s RAI, Ms. Phelps, a founding member of “Les Amies,” a flute-harp-viola trio, performs regularly with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and with ensembles including the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, the Guarneri, American, and Brentano String Quartets. She is a frequent guest at the Summerfest LaJolla, Bridgehampton, Bravo!Vail, Mostly Mozart, Santa Fe, Naples, and Schleswig-Holstein Festivals, and her honors include First Prize in both the Lionel Tertis International and Washington National Competitions; she was winner of the Pro Musicis International Award. Her most recent recording, Air, for flute, harp and viola, was nominated for a Grammy Award. She is on the faculty of The Juilliard School Shanghai Academy, Music Academy of the West, and Mannes College of Music.

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Todd Phillips is a member of the Orion String Quartet, sharing the first violin chair of that renowned ensemble with his brother, Daniel. The Orion, whose members serve as Artist Members of Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, is one of America’s most highly-regarded and in-demand quartets. Apart from his career with the Orion, Todd Phillips has performed as guest soloist with leading orchestras throughout North America, Europe and Japan including the Pittsburgh Symphony, New York String Orchestra, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, with whom he made a critically-acclaimed recording of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for Deutsche Grammophon. Mr. Phillips has appeared at the Mostly Mozart, Ravinia, Santa Fe, Marlboro and Spoleto Festivals, and with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Chamber Music at the 92nd St Y and New York Philomusica. His experience as a frequent leader of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra has led to guest appearances as conductor/leader with chamber orchestras worldwide, including the New World Symphony in Florida, Mannes Sinfonietta in NY, Camerata Nordica of Sweden, Tapiola Sinfonietta of Finland, the Brandenburg Ensemble and the Risor Festival Strings in Norway. Mr. Phillips has collaborated with such renowned artists as Rudolf Serkin, Jaime Laredo, Richard Stoltzman, Peter Serkin and Pinchas Zukerman, and has participated in eighteen “Musicians from Marlboro” tours. He serves on the violin and chamber music faculties of New York’s Mannes College of Music and Manhattan School of Music, Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, and Bard College Conservatory of Music. He has recorded for the Arabesque, Albany, Delos, Deutsche Grammophon, Finlandia, Koch International, Marlboro Recording Society, New York Philomusica, RCA Red Seal and Sony Classical labels.

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Praised by the New York Times for the “limpid sweetness” of his baroque flute playing, David Ross performs frequently as a baroque flute soloist with the Sebastians in New York City, as principal flutist with Mercury in Houston, and many other ensembles including the English Concert, the Trinity Wall Street Baroque Orchestra, New York Baroque Incorporated, the Washington Baroque Consort, and the Lyra Baroque Orchestra. Mr. Ross earned historical performance degrees from both the renowned Koninlijk Conservatorium in Holland and the relatively new program at the Juilliard School in NYC. Prior to his specialization in early music, he studied modern flute at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Mr. Ross’s expertise in historical flutes ranges from the emergence of the one-key baroque flute around 1700 to the many-key conical flutes of the late 1800s that would have been familiar to Brahms. Mr. Ross is increasingly in demand as a private teacher in NYC. In addition to teaching amateurs and professional modern flutists with some interest in baroque flute, he is also teaching graduate students at New York University who split their degree recitals between baroque and modern.

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Winner of the 2014 Juilliard Concerto Competition, violist Matthew Sinno made his New York Concerto debut playing Hindemith’s Der Schwanendreher with the Juilliard Orchestra in Alice Tully Hall. He has also made solo appearances with the Music Academy International Festival Orchestra, Boston Youth Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, and Rhode Island Soloist Ensemble as winner of their respective concerto competitions. An avid chamber musician, Mr. Sinno participated in the 2015 Perlman Music Program Chamber Workshop where he collaborated with Donald Weilerstein. He has also spent summers at the Music Academy of the West, Heifetz International Institute, and International Summer Academy at Bad Leonfelden. An equally passionate orchestral player, Mr. Sinno regularly substitutes with the New York Philharmonic and New World Symphony. A 24-year-old native of Boston, Mr. Sinno recently finished his studies at the Juilliard School where he received both his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. His principal teachers were Heidi Castleman, Cynthia Phelps, and Toby Appel. He will continue his studies next year at the Curtis Institute with Roberto Diaz and Michael Tree.

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Praised by the Seattle Times as “Simply marvelous” and Taiwan’s Liberty Times for “astonishingly capturing the spirit of the music,” violinist Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu enjoys a versatile career as a soloist, chamber musician, and educator throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Ms. Wu has collaborated in concert with renowned artists such as Teddy Abrahms, Gary Graffman, Kim Kashkashian, Ida Kavafian, Midori, Thomas Quasthoff, Yuja Wang, and members of the Alban Berg, Brentano, Cleveland, Guarneri, Miró, Orion, and Tokyo string quartets at prominent venues such as the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and festivals as the La Jolla Summerfest, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Mainly Mozart, and the Marlboro Music Festival. She has also collaborated as a guest violist with the Dover Quartet, Formosa Quartet, Orion Quartet, and Shanghai Quartet. Among Ms. Wu’s many awards are the Milka Violin Artist Prize from the Curtis Institute of Music, and third prize at the International Violin Competition of David Oistrakh. She taught violin, chamber music, and string pedagogy as an adjunct professor at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California from 2010-2015, and has coached chamber music at the Encore School for Strings and Hotchkiss Summer Portals. She is currently the Artist in Residence of the Da Camera Society in Los Angeles. Ms. Wu plays on a 1734 Domenico Montagnana violin, and a 2015 Stanley Kiernoziak viola.

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Soprano Hyunah Yu has received acclaim for her versatility in concert and opera roles of several centuries, for her work in chamber music, for her support of new music written by contemporary composers, and for her recorded and broadcast performances. She is known particularly for her performances of the music of J. S. Bach. Ms. Yu appears regularly with esteemed conductors, opera houses, well-known music festivals, and major orchestras throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. A prizewinner at the Walter Naumburg International Competition and a finalist in both the Dutch International Vocal and Concert Artist Guild International competitions, she also received the coveted Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award in 2003. An avid chamber musician and a recitalist, Ms. Yu enjoys re-engagements with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Baltimore’s Shriver Hall Concert Series, Musicians from Marlboro, Great Mountain Music Festival, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the Vancouver Recital Society, the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., and many others. She has recorded Bach and Mozart arias for EMI and two solo recitals broadcast for the BBC. Ms. Yu also holds a degree in molecular biology from the University of Texas at Austin.

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Donors As it is with most arts organizations, the annual operating expenses of Chestnut Hill Concerts exceed our ticket income. Each concert season is made possible by generous gifts from individuals, foundations and corporations. We are happy to acknowledge those who have contributed to our success this season.

Concert Season Concert Sponsors Aug 4 - Key Bank Foundation Mahlon & Zoe Hale Peter & Sukey Howard Dave Rackey & Emily Eisenlohr Aug 11 - Northstar Wealth Partners, LLC Aug 18 - Bruce & Kathy Briggs Aug 25 - Brenton Point Wealth Advisors Outreach Sponsors Essex Meadows Joan Terranova Government Support Connecticut Office of the Arts Maestro Kathy & Bruce Briggs Richard Buel Zoe & Mahlon Hale Sukey & Peter Howard Bill & Paulette Kaufmann David A. Rackey & Emily Eisenlohr Benefactors Andrew & Ellen Blight Sheila Brown Susan Castellan & Michael Sarlin

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Donations are recognized as of July 8. Patrons Anonymous (2) William & Loulie Canady Richard B. Larson Arthur Thompson Mia Unson Supporters Anonymous George & Janice Atkeson Jim Eckerle & Mark Renfrow Faith Hentschel Frank & Elizabeth Landrey Morris & Ellen Morgenstein Laura & Alan Moss Rolf Peterson Jeanne & Mort Potoff Katha Pollitt & Steven Lukes Boynton Schmitt & Jean Richards Jane Siris & Peter Coombs Mary Schroeder & Catherine Spencer Joan & Thomas Steitz Contributors Anonymous Paul Bauer, PT Joseph & Ruthanne Benkovitz Mary & Don Crane David Burkholder & Penelope Pettis Kay Knight Clarke Connie & Peter Dickinson Ann Drinan & Algis Kaupas Joe & Nancy Gertner Helen Greene

Thomas & Maria Haar Joanna & Lee Jacobus Mihae Lee & William Purvis Carol LeWitt in memory of Marilyn Buel Martin & Ann Mackay Michael & Suzanne Maney Bud & Peggy Middleton Andrew & Gail Morris Laura & Alan Moss Melvin Woody & Nissa Simon Friends Anonymous Harold D. Bornstein, Jr., M.D. Rita Christopher & H. David Frank George P. Drenga Michael & Ellen Ebert Joyce Fingerhut Joseph & Veronica Germain Heather & Michael Greenaway David Grossman Patricia Hurley Nancy King Elizabeth D. C. Meyer Bud & Peggy Middleton Rena & Sam Powell Marilyn & Robert Regan Lorraine Samela Jonathan Worley & Martha Leclair


Benefit Concert Sponsors Bruce & Kathy Briggs Richard Buel Mahlon & Zoe Hale Dave Rackey & Emily Eisenlohr Joan Terranova Benefactors Richard & Kathy Berluti Andrew & Ellen Blight Bob Donahue & Michael D’Agostino Bill & Sandy French Carol Kaimowitz Jean Richards & Boynton Schmitt

Donations are recognized as of July 8. Honorees Jeanne & Mort Potoff Donors Anonymous (3) George & Janice Atkeson Mary & Don Crane Kay Knight Clarke Cynthia & Randy Clegg Connie & Peter Dickinson Barbara Erskine Barbara J. Fantone Elizabeth Frankel Fritz & Cynthia Jellinghaus Marilyn & Robert Regan Salvatore & Marion Zaffino

In-Kind Donations Musicians Romie DeGuiseLanglois Mihae Lee Ronald Thomas Photography Algis Kaupas

Giving to Chestnut Hill Concerts We invite you to join these generous donors and sponsors who not only make it possible for our concerts to continue, but who ensure that they are affordable for a wide audience. To contribute, send a check to Chestnut Hill Concerts, PO Box 183, Guilford, CT 06437, call (203) 245-5736 for a credit card contribution, or give online at www.chestnuthillconcerts.org. Support Levels Maestro: $1,200 or more Benefactor: $600-1199 Patron: $250-599 Supporter: $120-249 Contributor: $60-119 Friend: $25-59 Visit our website or call to learn more about sponsorship opportunities. 73


Christmas Concerts: Saturday & Sunday, December 9 & 10, 2017

Rutter: Magnificat Spring Concert: Sunday, April 15, 2018

Haydn: Lord Nelson Mass Christ the King Church • 1 McCurdy Road, Old Lyme, CT Tickets: $30 • Call 860-526-5399 or visit conbrio.org

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Index of Advertisers Alforno Trattorio......................................18 Anne Penniman Associates......................15 Atlas Construction Services........................ .................................... Inside back cover B&L Construction....................................17 Bishops Orchards..................................... 20 Black Seal Seafood Grille..........................15 Blue Hound Cookery & Taproom.......... 29 Bonsai Gardens........................................ 68 Brenton Point Wealth Advisors............... 44 Caulfield & Ridgway................................ 29 Centerbrook Architects and Planners.... 28 Community Music School......................40 Con Brio Choral Society......................... 74 Connecticut Early Music Festival............51 Connecticut Office of the Arts/DECD..... 63 Cortland Park Cashmere..........................15 Copper Beech Inn ................................. 32 Cruise Holidays and Vacations...............66 David McDermott Lexus........... Back cover Dina Varano Jewelry................................ 62 Diver’s Cove ............................................ 20 Douglas M. Callis, DMD........................... 59 Ecker Eye Surgeons...................................71 Essex Meadows........................................ 43 Essex Olive Oil..........................................61 Essex Steam Train.....................................19 Essex Vision Center ................................ 26 Essex Winter Series...................................33 Finkeldey Landscaping & Tree Care....... 50 Guilford Sportsmen’s Association.......... 67 Hammonasset Package Store.................. 65 Ideal Cleaners........................................... 64

Ivoryton Playhouse...................................31 J. Alden Clothiers..................................... 64 Jeffrey Mehler, CFP LLC........................... 36 John A. Bysko Associates, LLC..................57 Kala............................................................21 Kebabian’s..................................................9 Kitchings & Potter, LLC............................14 Lenny and Joe’s Fish Tale......................... 42 Lori Warner Gallery................................. 30 Lori’s Hair Design.................................... 50 Madison Dry Cleaners..............................71 Musical Masterworks............................... 38 North Madison Wine and Spirits........... 32 Northstar Wealth Partners...................... 22 Olea Restaurant........................................21 Pasta Vita...................................................16 Physical Therapy Specialists.................... 42 Primary Flow Signal, Inc............................. ....................................Inside front cover Quality Care Drug................................... 56 Robbie Collomore Concert Series..........69 Robert’s Food Center................................41 Secor Auto Group.................................... 24 Shore Discount Liquors.......................... 58 Shore TV and Appliances........................ 46 The Shoreline Vine ................................. 20 Spirits of Madison....................................61 Star Fish Market....................................... 32 Sullivan Financial Services...................... 70 Toolan Construction................................33 Tower Laboratories...................................31

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Atlas Construction Services

30 Northeast Industrial Road Branford, CT 06405 Phone: (203) 315-4516 www.atlasconstructionco.com

Atlas Outdoor

30 Northeast Industrial Road Branford, CT 06405 Phone: (203) 483-9013 www.atlasoutdoor.com


The McDermott Auto Group proudly supports the 2017 Season of

Chestnut Hill Concerts

2017 Lexus RX www.lexusofnewhaven.com

Check our web site for a vast selection of both new and used vehicles, and service specials for your Lexus

David McDermott Lexus

655 Main Street East Haven, Connecticut 06512 203-466-9999


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