2024.04.28 | Yefim Bronfman

Yefim Bronfman

Sunday, April 28, 2024 | 3 PM

Soka Performing Arts Center at Soka University of America

Sponsored by the Parnassus Society

PROGRAM

FRANZ SCHUBERT

Piano Sonata in A Minor, D.784*

Allegro giusto

Andante

Allegro vivace

ROBERT SCHUMANN

Faschingsschwank aus Wien, Op. 26

Allegro Romance

Scherzino

Intermezzo

Finale

- INTERMISSION -

ESA-PEKKA SALONEN

Sisar

Written for Yefim Bronfman

FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN

Nocturne in D-flat Major, Op. 27, No. 2

SERGEI PROKOFIEV

Piano Sonata No.7, Op. 83

Allegro inquieto

Andante caloroso

Precipitato

* Posthumously published as Op. 143

Piano Sonata in A Minor, D.784

FRANZ SCHUBERT

Born January 30, 1797, Vienna

Died November 19, 1828, Vienna

Schubert composed this Sonata in A Minor in February 1823, just days after his twenty-sixth birthday. This was a difficult time for the composer. He had become ill the previous fall, and the illness grew so severe that Schubert had to be hospitalized in May 1823; he recovered his strength but would never be fully well again during the final five years of his brief life. Many have heard a new maturity in the music Schubert composed after his recovery, a greater depth of technique and expression, but there were signs of that growth even before the onset of the illness: the “Unfinished” Symphony dates from the previous fall.

The Sonata in A Minor has been hailed for looking forward to the refinement of Schubert’s later compositions. Maurice J. E. Brown calls it “the first of his mature sonatas, restrained and economical . . . and breaking completely with the graceful, ornamental style of his earlier sonatas.” The brief sonata is in three movements. The Allegro giusto opens quietly, almost epigrammatically, with the simple opening theme in octaves. After this elusive (and sometimes violent) beginning, the second subject–a beautiful chordal melody in E major–seems to take us into a different world. The massive development, which depends heavily on dotted rhythms, is based

primarily on the movement’s opening theme, though Schubert brings back the chordal second subject, now elongated with triplet rhythms. This movement–which is longer than the final two movements combined–concludes quietly.

The Andante is a slow rondo that alternates its climbing main theme with a turning figure that Schubert marks both pianissimo and sordini: “muted.” After the storms of the first movement, there is something appealingly calm about the main subject here–the whole movement breathes a sense of peace. The energetic finale, marked Allegro vivace races along on the triplet rhythms of its main theme. This movement is in a sort of rondo form, and Schubert breaks into the powerful rush of triplets with a wistful waltz that dances delicately on its three appearances. The triplet rhythms return to drive the sonata to a massive, almost brutal close.

Schubert submitted the Sonata in A Minor to the Viennese publisher Anton Diabelli, who had just brought out Beethoven’s epic Diabelli Variations. But Diabelli rejected it, and the sonata was not published until 1839, eleven years after Schubert’s death.

Faschingsschwank aus Wien, Op. 26

ROBERT SCHUMANN

Born June 10, 1810, Zwickau

Died July 29, 1856, Endenich

In the fall of 1838 Robert Schumann began an extended visit to Vienna, thinking that he and his bride-tobe Clara Wieck might make that fabled city their home. But the city that proved so attractive to Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Bruckner, and Mahler held little appeal for Schumann: he found it a closed society, so conservative in its attitudes that he could never think of publishing his journal of music criticism there.

But if the trip proved a dead end as a career route, this was nevertheless a rich time musically for the young composer, and he composed a great deal in Vienna. In the spring of 1839 he set to work on a large-scale work for piano in several movements, but he was unsure exactly what form he wished the music to take. To Clara, he described the piece as a “big romantic sonata,” but those plans came to nothing and he set the manuscript aside. Back in Leipzig, he returned to the manuscript in January 1840 and finished it.

But the completed work was not a sonata, and Schumann gave it a strange (and tongue-twisting) name: Faschingsschwank aus Wien, which has been translated as either “Carnival Jest in Vienna” or “Viennese Carnival Pranks.” In 1834, Schumann had composed his Carnaval, a series of twenty-one

brief pieces that offer portraits of various characters all swirling past in a carnival setting. Carnaval quickly became Schumann’s first real success as a composer, and in Faschingsschwank aus Wien he adopted the same general plan: this music is in only five movements and none has the name of a character, but each projects its own mood. These moods are abstract–Schumann gives the five pieces only general music titles–and they form a suite of contrasting movements. The “jest” of Schumann’s title appears to be his quotation of the Marseillaise in the first movement. In the politicallyconservative Vienna of this era, Metternich had strictly forbidden performances of the French anthem that symbolized political chaos to those in power. Perhaps to tweak a city he found diffident, Schumann sneaks in a brief whiff of the Marseillaise, re-barred to camouflage it slightly.

The opening Allegro, by far the longest movement, contrasts three quite different themes in music that is by turns lyric and brilliant. The Romance presents a tender melody over minimal accompaniment, while the characteristic dotted rhythm of the Scherzino recurs virtually throughout. It is a mark of Schumann’s indecision about the final form of what eventually became Faschingsschwank that he published the Intermezzo separately in December 1839; when he returned to the larger work he then incorporated the

Intermezzo as its fourth movement. This is striking music: over rippling left-hand accompaniment, the right hand lays out the declarative main theme. The concluding Finale is the most overtly virtuosic movement: great hammered chords and brilliant passagework finally drive Faschingsschwank aus Wien to its grand close.

Program notes © Eric Bromberger, 2024

Sisar

ESA-PEKKA SALONEN

Born June 30, 1958, Finland

Commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, Gustavo Dudamel, Music Director, with generous support from the Rauch Family Foundation. First performance on 30 January 2013, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, by Yefim Bronfman.

Program notes © Wisemusicclassical.com

Nocturne in D-flat Major, Op. 27, No. 2

FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN

Born March 1, 1810, Poland Died October 17, 1849, Paris

Chopin wrote Nocturnes throughout his career, defining his musical style and garnering popularity among his contemporaries. The set of two Nocturnes for solo piano, Opus 27, were written during the heat of the European summer in 1836 and saw publication in 1837. They were dedicated to Countess Thérèse

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

d’Appony, wife of the Austrian Ambassador in Paris, where Chopin often appeared as a guest in her salon.

No. 2, in Db Major, Lento Sostenuto, showcases Chopin’s lyrical and melancholic finesse, progressing into a more agitated melody that is played across three strophes. The composition also features a coda, featuring a delicate duet written for the right hand, floating in sixths off the end of the keyboard.

Program notes © Jaime Spataro, 2024

Piano Sonata No.7, Op. 83 SERGEI PROKOFIEV

Born April 23, 1891, Ukraine

Died March 5, 1953, Moscow

Prokofiev liked to plan works far in advance, and in 1939–when he was 48–he projected a series of three piano sonatas, which would be his Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth. He completed the first of these in 1940, but then came catastrophe–Hitler invaded Russia in June 1941, and Prokofiev’s plans were delayed and altered. Along with many other artists, he was evacuated, first to Nalchik in the Caucasus, then in the fall of 1941 to Tbilisi, near the border with Turkey. Here Prokofiev plunged into his project to compose an opera based on Tolstoy’s War and Peace: the heroic Russian resistance to Napoleon became a parallel for the struggle against Nazi Germany. And at the same time he worked on the opera, Prokofiev found time to compose his Piano Sonata No. 7, completing

the score in Tbilisi in April 1942. Young Sviatoslav Richter gave the first performance, in Moscow, on January 18, 1943.

Since the moment of that premiere, the Seventh has been acclaimed one of Prokofiev’s finest works. Almost inevitably, observers have claimed to hear the sound of war and national catastrophe in this music, but the composer himself made no direct connection, leaving such issues to his listeners. The first movement has the unusual marking Allegro inquieto, and unquiet this music certainly is. The opening section is quite percussive, and something of the music’s character can be understood from Prokofiev’s performance markings: tumultuoso, veloce, con brio, marcato, secco; at one point, he even requests that the performer make the piano sound quasi timpani. The pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy has compared this opening section to the sound of “drums beating and iron screeching,” which makes the second section all the more impressive. This is a singing and flowing Andantino, which Prokofiev marks espressivo e dolente (“grieving”); these two quite different kinds of music alternate before the movement comes to a quiet close.

The second movement also has an unusual marking, Andante caloroso (“warm”), and some have found

the opening almost sentimental in its relaxed songfulness. This is soon disrupted by an agitated middle section; the violence fades away, but the gentle opening makes only the briefest and most tentative return before the close. The famous last movement is a blistering toccata, marked simply Precipitato (“precipitous”). This is extremely fast, set in the unusual meter 7/8, and unremittingly chordal in its textures. It is also extraordinarily difficult music (Vladimir Horowitz sometimes used this movement as an encore piece), and it forms an exciting conclusion to the sonata. Along the way, material from the opening movement makes a brief reappearance, but the chordal violence of this movement overpowers it and drives the sonata to its hammering close.

Program notes © Eric Bromberger, 2022

YEFIM BRONFMAN

Internationally recognized as one of today’s most acclaimed and admired pianists, Yefim Bronfman stands among a handful of artists regularly sought by festivals, orchestras, conductors and recital series. His commanding technique, power and exceptional lyrical gifts are consistently acknowledged by the press and audiences alike.

Following summer festival appearances in Verbier, Israel, Aspen, Grand Tetons and Sun Valley the season begins with a European tour celebrating the auspicious 500th anniversary of the Munich Opera and Orchestra with concerts in Lucerne, Bucharest, London, Paris, Linz, Vienna and Munich. In partnership with Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra together they will visit Japan and Korea followed in the US by return engagements throughout the season with New York Philharmonic, Boston, Kansas City, National, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, San Francisco symphonies and Minnesota Orchestra. With Munich Philharmonic and both Brahms concerti on the program he will travel to Spain and Carnegie Hall followed by European engagements with Budapest Festival Orchestra. An extensive winter/spring recital tour will begin in Ljubljana and include Milan, Berlin, Cleveland, Chicago, Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, La Jolla and culminate in Carnegie Hall in early May.

Mr. Bronfman works regularly with an illustrious group of conductors, including Daniel Barenboim, Herbert Blomstedt, Semyon Bychkov, Riccardo Chailly, Christoph von Dohnányi, Gustavo Dudamel, Charles Dutoit, Daniele Gatti, Valery Gergiev, Alan Gilbert, Vladimir Jurowski, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Andris Nelsons, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Sir Simon Rattle, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jaap Van Zweden, Franz Welser-Möst, and David Zinman. Summer engagements have regularly taken him to the major festivals of Europe and the US. Always keen to explore chamber music repertoire, his partners have included Pinchas

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Zukerman, Martha Argerich, Magdalena Kožená, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Emmanuel Pahud and many others. In 1991 he gave a series of joint recitals with Isaac Stern in Russia, marking Mr. Bronfman’s first public performances there since his emigration to Israel at age 15.

Widely praised for his solo, chamber and orchestral recordings, Mr. Bronfman has been nominated for 6 GRAMMY® Awards, winning in 1997 with EsaPekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic for their recording of the three Bartok Piano Concerti. His prolific catalog of recordings includes works for two pianos by Rachmaninoff and Brahms with Emanuel Ax, the complete Prokofiev concerti with the Israel Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta, a Schubert/Mozart disc with the Zukerman Chamber Players and the soundtrack to Disney’s Fantasia 2000. His most recent CD releases are the 2014 GRAMMY® nominated Magnus Lindberg’s Piano Concerto No. 2 commissioned for him and performed by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Alan Gilbert on the Da Capo label; Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1 with Mariss Jansons and the Bayerischer Rundfunk; a recital disc, Perspectives, complementing Mr. Bronfman’s designation as a Carnegie Hall ‘Perspectives’ artist for the 2007-08 season; and recordings of all the Beethoven piano concerti as well as the Triple Concerto together with violinist Gil Shaham, cellist Truls Mørk, and the

Tönhalle Orchestra Zürich under David Zinman for the Arte Nova/ BMG label.

Now available on DVD are his performances of Liszt’s second piano concerto with Franz Welser-Möst and the Vienna Philharmonic from Schoenbrunn, 2010 on Deutsche Grammophon; Beethoven’s fifth piano concerto with Andris Nelsons and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra from the 2011 Lucerne Festival; Rachmaninoff’s third concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle on the EuroArts label and both Brahms Concerti with Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra (2015).

Born in Tashkent in the Soviet Union, Yefim Bronfman immigrated to Israel with his family in 1973, where he studied with pianist Arie Vardi, head of the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University. In the United States, he studied at The Juilliard School, Marlboro School of Music, and the Curtis Institute of Music, under Rudolf Firkusny, Leon Fleisher, and Rudolf Serkin. A recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize, one of the highest honors given to American instrumentalists, in 2010 he was further honored as the recipient of the Jean Gimbel Lane prize in piano performance from Northwestern University and in 2015 with an honorary doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music.

Dionne Warwick 2024-25

SUNDAY | 09.29.2024

5 PM Soka Performing Arts Center

Join us for an unforgettable evening with six-time GRAMMY® Award winner Dionne Warwick as she kicks off the 20242025 season at Soka Performing Arts Center. Known for her timeless hits “Do You Know the Way to San Jose”, “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again”, “Walk On By”, “I Say a Little Prayer” and more, Warwick’s soulful voice and captivating stage presence are sure to enchant audiences of all ages.

Soka Performing Arts Center Mission Statement

Our mission is to Engage, Educate, and Elevate the Human Spirit

Soka Performing Arts Center strives to elevate humanity through transcendent experiences. Come experience our exquisite acoustics. Come to expand your understanding and appreciation of music. Come to forge community and emotional connections through the shared experience of live music.

Soka Performing Arts Center is located on the beautiful hilltop campus of Soka University of America in Aliso Viejo. Our facility includes the 1,032seat Concert Hall featuring world-class acoustics designed by master acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota, designer of the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and Suntory Hall in Tokyo, among many others. We also have an intimate 350-seat Black Box Theatre that allows for multiple seating configurations including club seating with bistro tables.

More than 750 performances have taken place since the center’s dedication on May 27, 2011. The 2023-24 season marks our twelfth season presenting first-class programming in our world-class concert hall. We are continuing to expand our programming and outreach with the addition of a Children’s Concert Series, Blues Festival, and the only Great Pianists Series on the West Coast. From classical and jazz to world and contemporary music, the Soka Performing Arts Center has become a prized space for artists and audiences alike.

We are proud to be the home of the Pacific Symphony Chamber Orchestra. Our Sundays @ Soka Series with Pacific Symphony continues to be one of our most popular series year after year. Our presentations with other Orange County arts organizations have enabled us to reach further into our community to offer arts education and programming. Our partnership with the Philharmonic Society of Orange County includes our PSOC Series, which brings superlative artists to our stage. We also partner with PSOC for our Outreach Program, bringing over 7,000 school children to Soka Performing Arts Center to experience live performances with outstanding musicians.

With its world-class acoustics and first-class performances, Soka Performing Arts Center is quickly becoming one of the cultural jewels of Orange County.

OUR SUPPORTERS

DIRECTOR’S CIRCLE ($75,000+)

Dr. Kenneth & Sandra Tokita

Sam & Lyndie Ersan

CONCERTMASTER ($10,000+)

Ms. Emi Maeda

STAGE CHAMPION ($5000+)

Anonymous

STAGE BENEFACTOR ($1000+)

John and Sue Prange

Terumi Saito

Jochen Schumacher

Scott A Shuping

GOLD CLEF ($500+)

Jeffrey Hendrix

Jane A. Lynch

Alex & Sandy Scott

SILVER CLEF ($200+)

Lorraine Leiser

Anson and Marilyn Wong

BRONZE CLEF ($25+)

Raquel Bruno

Sammy Chang

Judy Kaufman

Jeannette Pease

Thomas Prigorac

Jonia Suri

Naomi Uchiyama

Joseph Whitaker

Joyce M Wrice

Taro Yamanashi

Anonymous

List current as of 02/14/2024

The Soka Performing Arts Center deeply appreciates the support of its sponsors and donors, and makes every effort to ensure accurate and appropriate recognition. Contact Renee Bodie, General Manager at (949) 480-4821 to make us aware of any error or omission in the foregoing list.

OUR PARTNERS

• Blueport Jazz

• Philharmonic Society of Orange County

• Pacific Symphony

• San Diego Symphony

• Parnassus Society

Soka PAC MANAGEMENT TEAM

Renée Bodie

General Manager & Artistic Director

John Morgan

Box Office Manager

Jarmil Maupin

Technical Services Manager

Jenski Nguyen

Stage Manager

Madeline Webb

Lighting Technician

Hiroyuki Connor Miki

Internal Events Manager

Jaime Spataro

Marketing & Communications Manager

Joe Nicholls

Marketing & Communications Assistant

Steve Baker

Interim Production/House Manager

SokaPAC @SokaPAC

SokaPerformingArtsCenter @SokaPAC

Website

Soka.edu/pac

Soka Performing Arts Center resides on the beautiful campus of Soka University of America. We thank the SUA Board of Trustees and the SUA Leadership Council for all of their support.

SUA BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Steve Dunham, JD

Chair Vice President and General Counsel Emeritus, Pennsylvania State University | Baltimore, Maryland

Tariq Hasan, PhD

Vice Chair Chief Executive Officer, SGIUSA | New York, New York

Andrea Bartoli, PhD

President, Sant’Egidio Foundation for Peace and Dialogue | New York, New York

Matilda Buck

Benefactor | Los Angeles, California

Lawrence E. Carter, Sr, PhD, DD, DH, DRS Dean, Professor of Religion, College Archivist and Curator, Morehouse College | Atlanta, Georgia

Andy Firoved

CEO, HOTB Software | Irvine, California

Jason Goulah, PhD

Professor of Bilingual-Bicultural Education and Director, Institute for Daisaku Ikeda Studies in Education, Director of Programs in Bilingual-Bicultural Education, World Language Education, and Value-Creating Education for Global Citizenship, College of Education, DePaul University | Chicago, Illinois

Clothilde V. Hewlett, JD  Commissioner of Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, State of California | San Francisco, California

Lawrence A. Hickman, PhD

Director Emeritus, The Center for Dewey Studies and Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, Southern Illinois University Carbondale | Carbondale, Illinois

Kris Knudsen, JD Attorney | Wilsonville, Oregon

Karen Lewis, PhD

Sondheimer Professor of International Finance and Co-Director, Weiss Center for International Financial Research, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Luis Nieves

Founder, Chairman Emeritus AUL Corp, Benefactor | Napa, California

Gene Marie O’Connell, RN, MS

Health Care Consultant, Associate Clinical Professor, University of California, San Francisco School of Nursing | Corte Madera, California

Adin Strauss

General Director, Soka Gakkai International-USA | Santa Monica, California

Yoshiki Tanigawa

Benefactor, Soka Gakkai | Tokyo, Japan

Edward M. Feasel, PhD

President, Soka University of America (ex-officio member) | Aliso Viejo, California

SUA LEADERSHIP COUNCIL

Edward M. Feasel, PhD

President

Chief Academic Officer

Professor of Economics

Archibald E. Asawa

Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration

Chief Financial Officer

Chief Investment Officer

Katherine M. King, PHR

Executive Vice President of University Community

Chief Human Resources Officer

Title IX and Section 504 Coordinator for Faculty, Staff and Others

Michael Weiner, PhD

Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

Professor of East Asian History & International Studies

Kevin Moncrief, PhD

Vice President for Mission Integration

Bryan E. Penprase, PhD

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Professor of Physics and Astronomy

Tomoko Takahashi, PhD, EdD, LHD

Vice President for Institutional Research and Assessment

Dean of the Graduate School

Professor of Linguistics and Education

David Welch, JD

Vice President University Counsel

M. Robert Hamersley, PhD

Dean of Faculty Professor of Environmental Biogeochemistry

Hyon J. Moon, EdD Dean of Students

Title IX and Section 504 Deputy Coordinator for Students

Michelle Hobby-Mears, MBA

Associate Dean of Students Director of Student Activities

Andrew Woolsey, EdD Dean of Enrollment Services

Martin Beck, MA

Executive Director of Strategic Marketing and Communications

Concessions

A wide variety of wine, beer, soft drinks and freshly prepared snacks will be available before the concert and during intermission in the lobby.

Staff Drink Pick Classic Negroni

We asked the artist for their favorite drink pick to feature at concessions!

The Classic Negroni was chosen by General Manager Renee Bodie and will be available for purchase before the performance and during intermission.

Click here for menu and to order

Pre-order your concessions for intermission and skip the line ahead of time!