Shanghai Quartet with Simone Dinnerstein - Peak Performances

Quartet-in-Residence

Shanghai Quartet Photo by Lisa Marie Mazzucco

Photo by Stephen Taylor

with Simone Dinnerstein, piano

October 5, 2019 • 8:00pm Alexander Kasser Theater

Dr. Susan A. Cole, President Daniel Gurskis, Dean, College of the Arts Jedediah Wheeler, Executive Director, Arts + Cultural Programming

Quartet-in-Residence

Shanghai Quartet Weigang Li, violin Yi-Wen Jiang, violin Honggang Li, viola Nicholas Tzavaras, cello

Guest Artist Simone Dinnerstein, piano

Program Piano Quartet no. 2 in E-flat Major, K.493 Allegro Larghetto Allegretto

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)

String Quartet no. 1 in E Minor, “From My Life” Allegro vivo appassionato Allegro moderato à la Polka Largo sostenuto Vivace

Bedřich Smetana (1824–1884)

~~Intermission~~ Piano Quartet no. 1 in G Minor, K.478 Allegro Andante Rondo

Mozart

Simone Dinnerstein is represented worldwide by Romana Jaroff/IMG Artists.

PEAK Journal—where page and stage converse PEAK Journal is a place for exploratory conversations between live art and the written word. Pick up your copy in the lobby or online at peakperfs.org and click Journal.

Duration: 1 hour 40 minutes, including one 15-minute intermission.

In consideration of both audiences and performers, please turn off all electronic devices. The taking of photographs or videos and the use of recording equipment are not permitted. No food or drink is permitted in the theater.

About the Artists Shanghai Quartet

Thirty-six years after the Shanghai Quartet’s formation, the ensemble continues to promote chamber music to audiences around the world. Renowned for its passionate musicality, impressive technique, and multicultural innovations, the Shanghai Quartet was the first chamber group to establish an international career after the opening up of China. The group’s elegant style melds the delicacy of Eastern music with the emotional breadth of Western repertoire, allowing it to traverse musical genres including traditional Chinese folk music, masterpieces of Western music, and cutting-edge contemporary works. Formed at the Shanghai Conservatory in 1983, the Quartet has worked with the world’s most distinguished artists and regularly tours the major music centers of Europe, North America, and Asia. The Quartet has appeared at Carnegie Hall in chamber performances and with orchestra. Among innumerable collaborations with noted artists, they have performed with the Tokyo, Juilliard, and Guarneri Quartets; cellists Yo-Yo Ma and Lynn Harrell; pianists Menahem Pressler, Peter Serkin, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and Yuja Wang; pipa virtuoso Wu Man; and the vocal ensemble Chanticleer. The Quartet has a long history of championing new music and juxtaposing traditions of Eastern and Western music. With more than 30 commissioned works, their recent premieres include works by William Bolcom, Zhao Lin, Chen Yi, Penderecki, and Tan Dun. A diverse and interesting array of media projects ranges from a cameo appearance playing Bartók’s String Quartet no. 4 in Woody Allen’s film Melinda and Melinda to PBS television’s Great Performances series. Violinist Weigang Li appeared in the documentary From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China, and the family of cellist Nicholas Tzavaras was the subject of the film Music of the Heart, starring Meryl Streep. The Shanghai Quartet is the subject of a documentary film, Behind the Strings, currently in production, to be released in 2019. The Quartet was the cover story of The Strad’s May 2019 issue.

The Shanghai Quartet perform on four exceptional instruments by Stradivari, Guarneri, Goffriller, and Guadagnini, generously loaned through the Beare’s International Violin Society to honor the quartet’s 35th anniversary. Using these instruments, the quartet is currently performing eight cycles of the complete Beethoven String Quartets throughout the world. Since 2002, the Shanghai Quartet has been the quartet-in-residence at the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University.

They are proudly sponsored by Thomastik-Infeld Strings and BAM Cases.

Simone Dinnerstein

American pianist Simone Dinnerstein is known for her “majestic originality of vision” (The Independent) and her “lean, knowing and unpretentious elegance” (The New Yorker). 2018 was a banner year for Dinnerstein, including a highly lauded recital at the Kennedy Center, her debut with the London Symphony Orchestra, a live recital for BBC’s Radio Three, and an ambitious season as the first artist-in-residence for Music Worcester, encompassing performances, school outreach, master classes, and lectures. Dinnerstein also spent 2018 touring Piano Concerto no. 3, a piece that Philip Glass wrote for her as a co-commission by twelve orchestras. Circles, her world premiere recording of the concerto with Grammy-nominated string orchestra A Far Cry, topped the Classical Billboard charts. She has since performed the piece in France, Germany, Italy, and Canada, including a tour with the Baltic Sea Philharmonic and Kristjan Järvi. This summer, Dinnerstein participated in the premiere of André Previn and Tom Stoppard’s Penelope with Renée Fleming and the Emerson String Quartet at the Tanglewood, Ravinia, and Aspen Music Festivals, where they were joined by actors Uma Thurman, Jennifer Ehle, and Victoria Clark.

Dinnerstein released Mozart in Havana in 2017, recorded in Cuba with the Havana Lyceum Orchestra.

She went on to bring the orchestra to the United States for its first-ever American tour, which was featured in specials for PBS and NPR. That same year, she collaborated with choreographer Pam Tanowitz to create New Work for Goldberg Variations, which was on the year-end top-ten lists of critics at the New York Times and the Boston Globe. This project continues to tour and will be given a run of performances at New York’s Joyce Theater in November. Future highlights also include a residency in San Francisco with the New Century Chamber Orchestra including a collaboration with Daniel Hope and Lynn Harrell for the Beethoven Triple Concerto.

For more information please visit www.simonedinnerstein.com.

Online programs may be found at https://www.peakperfs.org/programs/.

Staff Office of Arts + Cultural Programming

College of the Arts

Jedediah Wheeler, Executive Director Stephanie Haggerstone, Managing Director Jill Dombrowski, Producing Director J. Ryan Graves, Director of Production Chrissy D’Aleo Fels, Cultural Engagement Director Camille Spaccavento, Marketing & Media Director Robert Hermida, Audience Services Director Regina Vorria, Associate Producer Andy Dickerson, Production Coordinator Colin Van Horn, Technical Director Andrew R. Wilsey, Master Stage Electrician Jeff Lambert Wingfield, Box Office Manager Patrick Flood/Flood Design, Art Director Blake Zidell Associates, Media Representatives Natalie Marx, Media Creator Martin Halo, Webmaster Susan R. Case, Copy Editor Bart Solenthaler, Program Layout Design Maureen Grimaldi, House Manager Nick Hawrylko, Kevin Johnson, Production Run Crew Dana De Castro, Nickie Delva, Student Assistants

Daniel Gurskis, Dean Ronald L. Sharps, Associate Dean Linda D. Davidson, Assistant Dean Marie Sparks, Director of Administration Zacrah S. Battle, College Administrator Abby Lillethun, Art and Design Thomas McCauley, John J. Cali School of Music Keith Strudler, School of Communication and Media Randy Mugleston, Theatre and Dance Patricia Piroh, Broadcast and Media Operations

The Office of Arts + Cultural Programming (ACP) enhances the cultural, creative, and academic life of the Montclair State campus and the broader community. Its signature program, Peak Performances, features innovative works by international contemporary artists of exceptional merit, and by the next generation of great artists training at Montclair State University’s College of the Arts. Through its Cultural Engagement program, ACP offers master classes, workshops, lectures, and discussions designed to deepen participants’ understanding of the aesthetic, cultural, and social contexts of the performances presented.

ACP gratefully acknowledges our student staff and volunteers: Box Office Representatives Alexis Amore, Jose Baez, Crystal Bass, Jacob Batory, Peace Biyibioku, Imani Carney, Isabella Ciervo, Noelle Florio, Ameer Gonzalez, Dale Harris, Terralyn Hayes, Jonathan Johnson, Tony Jordan, Shannon Mulraney, Vic Ortiz, Martin Pyda, Tamir Rios, Will Taylor, Tashae Udo, Lauren Winston Assistant House Managers William Collins, Jocelyn Hernandez Ushers Eleziel Castro, Andrew DeSisto, Patzy Gutierrez, Katherine Hall-Lapinski, Azariah Johnson, Ivy Meyer, Joseph Respicio, Christie Rosales, Steven Ruiz, Madalyn Rupprecht, Nia Soanes, Danielle Sossi, Belah Watson

Next Up PEAK Debut October 16–20, 2019 Lena Herzog Last Whispers

Programs in this season are made possible in part by funds from: The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts Discover Jersey Arts New England Foundation for the Arts–National Dance Project Peak Performances is in partnership with WNET’s All Arts.

Peak Patrons: Joanna Conrad; Bob Fisher/Monroe Denton; Paul Horowitz; Eric Levin; Karen Lundry; Gerard Piserchia, Jr. To view our complete season and for more information, visit peakperfs.org. @peakperfs

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