Musica Viva NY: Bachmaninoff

BACHMANINOFF Spirituality and Beauty in Bach and Rachmaninoff

Sunday, November 15 2020 5 PM Presented online

MESSAGE FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

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ohann Sebastian Bach and Sergei Rachmaninoff, two master composers and keyboardists that, on the surface, appear to be on the opposite side of the spectrum in their personality, intuition, and musical aesthetic, are interpolated in this program. Their music is split by a gulf of 200 years. So why pair them, you might ask?

First of all, I have a great love and admiration for the music of these two composers.

I also find their music to be similar: deeply spiritual (some might say expressive) and technically impeccable, particularly in the area of counterpoint, but most importantly, a perfect amalgam of mind and soul, reason and heart, intellectualism and humanism.

Although our original intent was to pair Bach’s Cello Suite No. 4 with Rachmaninoff’s All Night Vigil (a plan that had to be revisited twice due to the pandemic), I am glad we have the opportunity to perform for you some of my favorite Rachmaninoff songs.

Rachmaninoff wrote a total of 71 songs for voice and piano. Only a few composers, such as Franz Schubert, can outdo Rachmaninoff’s passion and dedication for this form of musical expression. As with Schubert’s lieder, this is music that travels directly from the heart of the composer to the heart of the listener.

It is a great privilege for us to present such beautiful music this evening and to share it with listeners far and wide. Please enjoy Bachmaninoff!

— Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez

MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

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n his note, Alejandro mentions that we had to revisit the plan for Bachmaninoff twice – first, to program it in November after its May cancellation, and then when it became obvious that we would need to continue postponing in-person gatherings, we re-imagined it for an online concert hall.

It is no small task to re-conceive the type of immersive, emotionally-driven, and thoughtfully interlocking programming that we have made our trademark, thanks to Alejandro’s vision. In searching for a way to preserve the spirit of our programming in the virtual setting, we have learned so much about how to effectively use this type of platform to reach people – to not only present music that can be viewed at home, but to perform and communicate it in ways that feel interactive and engaging despite our distance. I’m optimistic that we can carry some of what we have learned into our future seasons to enrich and augment our concert experiences, and make them accessible to even wider an audience than before.

There are so many people whose contributions made Bachmaninoff possible, from our artists, recording themselves in their homes, to the generous donors who have supported our guest artists and our move to a virtual platform through their gifts. I continue to be grateful for our community as we affirm together the value of arts in our lives, and find ways to stay connected through music even in the most difficult of circumstances.

— Danielle Buonaiuto —2—

Sunday, November 15, 2020 5pm Presented online

BACHMANINOFF Spirituality and Beauty in Bach and Rachmaninoff Musica Viva NY Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez, Artistic Director Musica Viva NY soloists Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez, piano Alan Richardson, cello Musica Viva NY choir

Program SERGEI RACHMANINOFF (1873-1943). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14 Jianing Zhang J.S. BACH (1685-1750). . . . . . . Cello Suite No. 4, Eb Major, BWV 1010: I. Prelude RACHMANINOFF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Oh, never sing to me again, Op. 4, No. 4 Nathan Siler BACH. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cello Suite No. 4, II. Allemande RACHMANINOFF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . As fair as day in blaze of noon, Op. 14, No. 9 Chloë Schaaf BACH. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cello Suite No. 4, III. Courante RACHMANINOFF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Oh stay, my love, forsake me not!, Op. 4, No.1 James Dargan BACH. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cello Suite No. 4, IV. Sarabande RACHMANINOFF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Lilacs, Op. 21, No. 5 Shabnam Abedi BACH. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cello Suite No. 4, V. Bourrée I/II RACHMANINOFF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . When silent night doth hold me, Op. 4, No. 3 Erik Anstine BACH. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cello Suite No. 4, VI. Gigue RACHMANINOFF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . All-Night Vigil, Op. 37: VI. Bogoróditse Devo Musica Viva NY choir Alan Richardson’s performance is generously supported by Elizabeth Harvey.

This digital production was assisted by a matching donation led by Shu-Wie Chen and Bill Bechman.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM BACHMANINOFF

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feel,” said composer and pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff in 1939, as the world teetered on the brink of war yet again, “like a ghost wandering in a world grown alien. I cannot cast out the old way of writing and I cannot acquire the new. I have made an intense effort to feel the musical manner of today, but it will not come to me.” Such was the way of this composer—scion and stalwart of Romanticism’s path, or shameless retrograde author of cloying rear-guard music, depending on who you ask—who, as the musical world began to embrace atonality and experimentalism as the lone path, never strayed from his own. But more someone who simply could not adapt, Rachmaninoff, with the clarity of time passing, stands historically as a terrific link between today and his own musical past, a fearless individualist with an impulse to rend the heart and sing of an artistic past—his once present—he could only obey.

Take, for example, his 1912 “Vocalise,” the final of fourteen songs for either tenor or soprano and piano, Opus 34. The individual songs that make up the whole piece—from which this movement is almost always divorced—assay texts (by Russian poets, Pushkin notably among them) to do with the tempests of the heart, with love lost and stormy inner inadmissible passions, capped off by this wordless movement: words fail, only music can explain. It is such a clear, expressive piece, deeply vocal (as is all good instrumental music) that it exists in arrangements for a panoply of instruments, from cello to flute to theremin, perhaps this famous composer’s best known work not written for solo piano.

Before Rachmaninoff struggled with cutting his cloth to the new ways, he wrote his Opus 4, in 1883, while still a student, at the height of the Romantic movement, and from this set of six songs we get “Oh, never sing to me again”, “Oh stay, my love, forsake me not!” and “When Silent Night Doth Hold Me.” Years later, in 1896, as the century drew to a close, he made the piece “As Fair as Day in Blaze of Noon” as part of his Opus 14. Heartbreak, and terror at the same, are the prevailing themes of the poems (judging by the titles alone!) and occupy the same rich harmonic worlds as the then-contemporary Tristan und Isolde of Wagner or, perhaps more clearly, Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht, both grueling musical tales of love gone horribly (or at least putatively) wrong. In all of these works, as was customary in the declarative and me-centered world of Romanticism, the heart pumps its blood close to the surface and the tensile harmonies and deliquescing, climactic melodies—to be plundered and shopworn by generations of film composers to come—express those emotions in their notes. None of these pieces are titled “songs,” but rather, aptly, “romances.”

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ABOUT THE PROGRAM Rachmaninoff was, during his life, a pianist who also composed, and few since Chopin have written with a defter touch for that instrument.

(A cursory Google search will net you the word “hands” early in the algorithm, so legendary were the parts of his body through which his music flowed.) His Preludes are so known that you have heard some of them even if you did not intend to—they are that much a part of the landscape—and the solo piece “Lilacs” from his 12 Romances Opus 21 is a good window into the head and hands of the composer, especially as he entered the Twentieth Century. Effortless harmony and pealing orchestral sounds, as much Debussy as Brahms, flow alongside his signature ponderous lightness.

But for a composer so known for piano music, one of his more renowned achievements is the 1915 setting of the Russian Orthodox All-Night Vigil (or, as it is more commonly known, Vespers), especially his “Bogoroditse Devo” (“Rejoice, O Virgin”) movement. If there was any doubt Rachmaninoff is anything other than a composer with whom to be reckoned, this ethereal, serious, wrought liturgical piece—as rooted in Tchaikovsky (who also set the Vigil) as in the dewy choral harmonies of contemporaries Ravel or Poulenc—should remove any hesitance.

To Johann Sebastian Bach, the “dance suite” was not for dancing, but rather a structural notion into which he could inject his musical notions, much like later formal design complexes like the “symphony”, “concerto” or “sonata.” And as a collective body of work, it is not overplaying one’s hand to call his suites for solo cello among the more widely loved and performed solo works for a string instrument.

The schematic design of a dance suite is, mnemonically, ACSOG— Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, “Optional,” Gigue—with, as in the instance of the Suite No. 4 in E-Flat Major (BWV 1010), Bach also providing a prelude, which here serves as an emotional overture to the grandeur of the work to come, followed by an easygoing Allemande, a spry Courante, a modest cathedral of a Sarabande (“Harmony,” the composer once famously said, “is next to Godliness”), a fleet Bourrée, and a Gigue that, despite the concert nature of the work, truly invites some dancing.

—Daniel Felsenfeld

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MEET THE ARTISTS

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ounded in 1977, Musica Viva NY is a chamber choir of thirty professionals and highly skilled volunteers, based in Manhattan’s historic All Souls Church. Its mission is to bring world-class music to a widening community through its annual concert series, community engagement programs, and an ambitious artistic vision. Under the baton of Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez since 2015, Musica Viva NY has been praised by The New York Times as an “excellent chorus.” Musica Viva NY has toured in France (2004), Germany (2006) and Italy (2012).

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steemed conductor and pianist Dr. Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez was named Artistic Director of Musica Viva NY and Director of Music of the historic Unitarian Church of All Souls in Manhattan in 2015. He is also Co-Founder of the New Orchestra of Washington and Artistic Director of the Victoria Bach Festival. He has earned accolades from The Washington Post as a conductor “with the incisive clarity of someone born to the idiom,” as well as praise from The New York Times for leading “a stirring performance” of Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem. At a concert commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the WWI Armistice (featuring the world premiere of Joseph Turrin’s cantata And Crimson Roses Once Again Be Fair) Oberon’s Grove wrote: “Maestro Alejandro HernandezValdez drew rich, warm sounds from the musicians” in “a beautiful and deeply moving program.” He is featured in El mundo en las manos/ Creadores mexicanos en el extranjero (The World in Their Hands/Creative Mexicans Abroad), a book by the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs honoring Mexican nationals who are leading figures in diverse artistic fields. He is the recipient of a 2016 Shenandoah Conservatory Alumni of Excellence Award for his exemplary contribution to his profession, national level of prominence, and exceptional integrity. He resides in New York City and Washington, D.C.

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s a founding member of the award-winning Aeolus Quartet, cellist Alan Richardson has performed in diverse venues across North America, Europe, and Asia. Mr. Richardson has appeared at concert series including Lincoln Center’s Great Performers, Chamber Music Society of Detroit, and Bargemusic, and at festivals including Bay Chamber Concerts, Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, Rockport Music Festival, and Kneisel Hall. He has collaborated with such artists as Renée Fleming, Peter Wiley, Michael Tree, and the Miró, Juilliard, and American String Quartets.

In addition to his work with the Aeolus Quartet, he holds positions as principal cellist of the New Orchestra of Washington and assistant principal cellist of Symphony in C. 2019-20 performance highlights include a concerto appearance with the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, multiple —6—

MEET THE ARTISTS guest performances with A Far Cry, and Aeolus Quartet featured at NYC’s PROTOTYPE festival and Lincoln Center’s “Inside Chamber Music.” Along with his colleagues in the Aeolus Quartet, Mr. Richardson serves as Co-Artistic Director of the Charles Wadsworth Piano Competition.

Mr. Richardson completed studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music, University of Texas at Austin, and the Juilliard School. He currently performs on a 2016 cello by Samuel Zygmuntowicz, generously on loan from the Five Partners Foundation.

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oprano Jianing Zhang is described by Opera News as “particularly affecting… with sensitive singing and alert, in-the-moment acting.” Zhang has performed as a soloist with the Hudson Chorale, Ensemble 212, and the China International Art Festival, and has been featured in productions of the operas La Clemenza di Tito, Così fan tutte, and Giulio Cesare. Zhang is currently soloist and section leader of Musica Viva NY. She holds two master degrees, one from Manhattan School of Music and one from Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

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athan Siler is a performer and composer who lives and works in NYC. In addition to singing as a soloist for MVNY, Composer’s Choir (New Haven, CT), Five Lines, and All Souls Church, he frequently performs as a chorister at Carnegie Hall with the Bard Festival Chorale and at Lincoln Center with NY Concert Chorale.

When not singing, Nathan keeps a busy schedule as a music producer, recording engineer, and videographer.

He is the chief architect of the NYC post-punk-prog band Portraiture.

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ezzo-soprano Chloë Schaaf has recently appeared as a soloist with the Helena Symphony, The Orchestra of the League of Composers, The Albany Symphony, and The Orchestra Now. In summer 2021, she will return to the Tanglewood Music Center as a Vocal Fellow. In December 2020, Chloë joins the Little Orchestra Society as The Mother in their digital production of Hansel and Gretel.

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ames Dargan is a creative artist and authenticity addict from the Southeastern US; he often works in New York City, where he sings ensemble and solo work, while playing the violin, composing, writing, teaching, and translating poetry and prose from several languages. He takes great joy from performing his social justice-oriented program “Oh, Glory!” anywhere and —7—

MEET THE ARTISTS everywhere, leads workshops on spirituals and the Black church, and is honoured to walk in his family tradition of telling truthful stories.

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habnam Abedi has been a member of the Musica Viva NY choir and the All Souls choir since 2016 as one of the Soprano section leaders. She received her Bachelors degree from Mason Gross School of the Arts in Vocal Performance and is now pursuing her Masters degree in jazz voice at Juilliard. She has explored many styles of music throughout her journey, including Indian classical music. She strives to dig to the depths of her musical understanding and flexibility as her journey continues.

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raised for the beauty of his voice and the vitality of his performances, American basso Erik Anstine is making a name for himself on opera and concert stages in North America and Europe. Recent seasons have seen Anstine perform with San Francisco Opera (Leporello/ Don Giovanni), Opera Omaha (Osmin/Abduction from the Serail), Staatsoper Hamburg (Antinoo/Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria), and Salzburger Festspiele (Antonio/ Le nozze di Figaro, Oste, Sergente/Manon Lescaut).

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ita Sloan is acknowledged internationally as a leading teacher of piano, collaborative piano and chamber music. In 1999, she was appointed a piano faculty member and director of the collaborative piano program at the University of Maryland. As an Artist Faculty Member at the Aspen Music Festival, Ms. Sloan founded their Collaborative Piano Program. She has performed as soloist with both the Aspen Festival Orchestra and Chamber Symphony as well as in chamber music with many of Aspen’s distinguished guest artists including pianists Wu Han and Orli Shaham, violinists Sarah Chang and Nadia Salerno-Sonnenberg, cellist Gary Hoffman, bassist Edgar Meyer and flutist Emmanuel Pahud.

Teaching residencies and master class presentations have included Tainan National University of the Arts and National Normal University in Taiwan, China Conservatory in Beijing, China, leading universities in Seoul, Korea, London’s Royal College of Music, American universities and conservatories including numerous visits to the Juilliard School in New York. Ms. Sloan has performed with orchestra, in recital, and in chamber music throughout the U.S., Europe, South America and Japan. She has been a guest in many chamber music venues and has performed with members of the Emerson and Guarneri String Quartets. Born in Russia to Polish parents, Ms. Sloan graduated from the Juilliard School, where she studied with Martin Canin and Rosina Lhévinne. Further studies were with Leon Fleisher, Aube Tzerko, Herbert Stessin and Vladimir Ashkenazy.

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TEXTS All Rachmaninoff song translations printed below are found in Rachmaninoff’s Complete Songs (Indiana University Press, 2014),

by Richard D. Sylvester.

Rachmaninoff: Oh, never sing to me again, Op. 4 No. 4 Text by Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin Ne pój, krasávitsa, pri mné Ty pésen Grúzii pechál’naj: Napaminájut mné ané Drugúju zhýzn’ i béreg dál’naj.

Uvý, napamnájut mné Tvají zhestókije napévy I stép’, i nóch, i pri luné Chertý daljókaj bédnaj dévy!..

Ja prízrak mílyj, rakavój Tebjá uvídev, zabyváju; No tý pajósh i preda mnój Jevó ja vnóf’ vaabrazháju.

Ne pój, krasávitsa pri mné Ty pésen Grúzii pechál’naj: Napaminájut mné ané Drugúju zhýzn’ i béreg dál’naj.

Do not sing for me, fair beauty, Your songs of sad Georgia: They remind me Of another life and distant shore.

Alas, they bring back memories, Your cruel melodies, Of the steppe at night, and, in the moonlight, The features of a poor maiden far away!...

Seeing you, I forget That dear, fateful vision; But when you sing, again I imagine it before me.

Do not sing for me, fair beauty, Your songs of sad Georgia: They remind me Of another life and distant shore.

Rachmaninoff: As fair as day in blaze of noon, Op. 14 No. 9 Text by Nikolai Maksimovich Vilenkin Aná, kak pólden’, kharashá, Aná zagádachnej palnóchi.

U néj ne plákafshyje óchi I ne stradáfshaja dushá.

A mné, ch’ja zhýzn’ bar’bá i góre, Pa néj tamítsa suzhdenó.

Tak véchna pláchushcheje móre V bezmólvnyj bérek vljublenó.

She is as beautiful as midday, More enigmatic than midnight.

Her eyes have not known weeping Nor her soul suffering.

And I, who know but strife and grief, Am destined to long for her.

Thus eternally the weeping sea Is drawn by love to the silent shore.

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TEXTS Rachmaninoff: Oh stay, my love, forsake me not!, Op. 4 No. 1 Text by Dmitry Sergeyevich Merezhkovsk O, nét, maljú, ne ukhadí!

Fsjá ból’ – nishtó pered razlúkaj Ja slíshkam shcháslif ètaj múkaj, Sil’néj prizhmí menjá ggrudí, Skazhý “ljubljú.” Prishól ja vnóf’ Bal’nój, izmúchennyj i blédnyj.

Smatrí, kakój ja slábyj, bédnyj, Kak mné nuzhná tvajá ljubóf’…

Muchénij nóvykh fperedí Ja zhdú, kak lásk, kak patselúja, I ab adnóm maljú, taskúja: O, but’ samnój, neukhadí!

O, but’ samnój, neukhadí!

Oh no, I beg you, don’t leave!

This paid is slight compared to separation, I’m too happy in this state of torment, Press me hard against your breast, Say “I love you.” I’ve come to you again, Sick, tormented, and pale.

See how weak and pitiful I am, How much I need your love…

New torments lie ahead, I greet them like caresses, like kisses, And beg for one thing only in my agony, Oh, stay with me, don’t leave!

Oh, stay with me, don’t leave!

Rachmaninoff: The Lilacs, Op. 21 No. 5 Text by Ekaterina Andreyena Beketova Pa utrú, na zaré, Pa rasístoj travé, Ja pajdú svézhym útram dyshát’; I v dushýstuju tén’, Gde tesnítsa sirén’, Ja pajdú svajo shchástje iskát’…

V zhýzni shchástje adnó Mne najtí suzhdenó, I to shchástje f siréni zhyvjót; Na zeljónykh vetvjákh, Na dushýstykh kistjákh Majo bédnaje shchástje tsvetjót…

In the morning, at dawn, Through dewy grass, I walk and breathe the fresh morning air; And to the fragrant shade, Where lilacs cluster, I’ll go in search of my happiness…

Only one happiness Am I destined to find in life, And that happiness lives in the lilacs; On green branches, In fragrant clusters, My poor happiness blossoms…

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TEXTS Rachmaninoff: When silent night doth hold me, Op. 4 No.3 Text by Afanasy Afanas’yevich Fet O, dólga búdu já, v malchán’ji nóchi tájnaj, Kavárnyj lépet tvój, ulýpku, vzór, vzór sluchájnyj, Perstám paslúshnuju valós, valós tvaíkh gustúju prját’ Iz mýslej izganját’ i snóva prizyvát’; Sheptát’ i papravlját’ bylýje vyrazhén’ja Rechéj maíkh s tabój, ispólnennykh smushchén’ja, I v ap’janén’ji, naperekór umú, Zavétnym ímenem budít’ nachnúju t’mú, Zavétnym ímenem budít’ nachnúju t’mu.

O, dólga búdu já, v malchán’ji nóchi tájnaj, Zavétnym ímenem budít’ nachnúju t’mú.

Oh, long will I, in the silence of the mysterious night, Your sly chatter, smile, glance, casual glance, Hair pliant to my fingers, your thick shock of hair, Banish from my thoughts and summon back again; Whisper and improve past words I spoke to you, so full of shy confusion, And in rapture, against all reason, With your cherished name, awake night’s darkness, Awake night’s darkness with your cherished name.

Oh, long will I, in the silence of the mysterious night, Awake night’s darkness with your cherished name.

Rachmaninoff: All-Night Vigil, Op. 37: VI. Bogoróditse Devo Church Slavonic text Translation by Barry Johnston Bogoróditse Dyévo, ráduisya, Blagodátnaya Maríye, Gospód s tobóyu.

Blagoslovyéna ty v zhenákh, i blagoslovyén plod chryéva tvoyevó, yáko Spása rodilá yesí dush náshikh.

Rejoice, virgin mother of God, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you.

Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, for you have borne the Savior of our souls.

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SAVE THE DATES FOR THE REST OF THE MUSICA VIVA NY 2020-2021 SEASON

February 28, 2021 at 5pm

Songs of Lament and Praise

May 16, 2021 at 5pm

Misericordia: Barber, Britten, MacMillan

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MUSICA VIVA NY Roster of Bogoróditse Devo Performers SOPRANO Shabnam Abedi* Mary Esbjornson Kate Wolfe Johnson Emily Mikesell Reldalee Wagner Sarah Worthington Jianing Zhang* ALTO Barbara Fusco-Spera* Dinah Nissen Chloë Schaaf* Devony Smith*

TENOR Shawn Bartels* Paul D’Arcy* Nathan Siler* Andrew Troup* BASS Erik Anstine* David Baldwin* James Dargan* Bryan McNamara Harold Norris Gary Press Christopher Rothko Augustus Young *Section leader

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MUSICA VIVA NY Staff Artistic

Administrative

Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez Conductor and Artistic Director Trent Johnson Assistant Director of Music

Danielle Buonaiuto Executive Director Bryan McNamara Administrator and Production Manager Dinah Nissen, Esq. Marketing Director Barbara de Bellis Librarian Hannah Nacheman Digital Marketing Consultant

Board of Directors Melanie Niemiec President Bill Bechman Vice President Winnie Olsen Secretary

Lisa O’Brien, Esq. Treasurer Constance Beavon Shu-Wie Chen Dinah Nissen, Esq. Harold Norris

Kate Phillips David Rockefeller, Jr. Thomas Simpson

Advisory Board Seymour Bernstein Laurel Blossom Renée Fleming

Galen Guengerich Susan Jolles Walter Klauss Artistic Director Emeritus

Jean-Louis Petit Bruce Saylor

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for photos, videos, and more facebook.com/musicavivany

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@musicavivany

MUSICA VIVA NY PATRON SUPPORT LEVELS FOR OUR 2020-21 SEASON

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ecome a Patron of Musica Viva NY today! We need your generous contributions to support the outstanding concerts and outreach programming of the Musica Viva NY choir and instrumentalists. There is a level for every budget, and you will enjoy special benefits as a measure of our thanks. Your contribution can be made as a one-time gift, or on a recurring basis.

PATRON LEVELS APPASSIONATO $10,000 and above ⚫ Up to four Musica Viva NY soloists will perform at your private event in the NYC area ⚫ Invitation to a dinner featuring a special performance by the Artistic Director ⚫ Invitation to special Patron reception ⚫ Six complimentary season subscriptions ⚫ Reserved seating CON FUOCO $5,000 to $9,999 ⚫ A Musica Viva NY soloist will perform at your private event in the NYC area ⚫ Invitation to a dinner featuring a special performance by the Artistic Director ⚫ Invitation to special Patron reception ⚫ Five complimentary season subscriptions ⚫ Reserved seating

CON BRIO $3,000 to $4,999 ⚫ Invitation to a dinner featuring a special performance by the Artistic Director ⚫ Invitation to special Patron reception ⚫ Three complimentary season subscriptions ⚫ Reserved seating RISOLUTO $1,000 to $2,999 ⚫ Invitation to special Patron reception ⚫ Three complimentary season subscriptions ⚫ Reserved seating ESPRESSIVO $500 to $999 ⚫ Invitation to special Patron reception ⚫ Two complimentary season subscriptions ⚫ Preferred seating CANTABILE $100 to $499 ⚫ Invitation to special Patron reception ⚫ Preferred seating DOLCE $25 to $99 ⚫ Acknowledgment in program at all levels — 15 —

MUSICA VIVA NY PATRONS 2020-21

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e are deeply grateful to our Patrons listed below for their support of our 2019-2020 season. Thank you for joining us! Your support for our outstanding Musica Viva NY artists, our high-caliber, innovative choral and chamber music performances, and our educational outreach is vital and essential.

Corporate and Foundation Support

Espressivo $500 - $999

Gunleif Jacobsen and Thomas Simpson Charitable Fund The Ida & William Rosenthal Foundation

Appassionato $10,000 and above Susan & David Rockefeller, Jr. Melanie & David Niemiec

Con Fuoco $5,000 to $9,999 Don & Georgia Gogel Jennifer Shotwell Tom Simpson

Con Brio $3,000 to $4,999 Catherine & Robert Brawer Shu-Wie Chen Dinah Nissen & Elizabeth Apelles Madonna K. Starr, in memory of Evelynn C. Gioiella Brenda Walker & Peter Swords Susan Witter

Risoluto $1,000 - $2,999 Constance Beavon Bill Bechman & Tom Garlock Stillman Brown & Meg Raftis Lisa & Richard Cashin Grace Cho & Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez George Dorsey Patricia T. Hayot & Ricardo A. Mestres Jr. Pamela Healey Kell Julliard and Harold Norris Winnie Olsen Aracy & Klaus Winter

Lynne & Richard Allen Barbara de Bellis, In Memory of Greta Minsky Christina Bellamy Heli & Tom Blum Robin Bossert Stillman Brown Lois Gaeta, In Memory of David Remember Baker Dixie Goss & Dan Cryer Rev. Richard Leonard Carri Lyon, In Honor of Dinah Nissen Suzanne May Kate Phillips Epp Sonin Deborah Taylor

Cantabile $100 - $499 Sylvia Agostini Mark Barth, In Honor of Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez Michelle M. Boston Anne Brewer Anne Buonaiuto Judy Chang Miles Chapin Sandra Lotz Fisher Joan Flesch, In Memory of Inez Miller Molly O’Neil Frank June Freemanzon Mary Gundermann Barbara Hosein, In Honor of Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez Michele Rodin Jawin Peggy Kampmeier & Ed Harsh Christie Noelle Krase — 16 —

MUSICA VIVA NY PATRONS 2020-21 Carol Kirkman Margaret MacCary Teresa Manzella Lisa O’Brien Lynne S. Randall Erik Resurreccion & Alice Heminway Gayle S. Sanders Heather Steans Hanan Watson Jerilyn Watson Richard White Doug Wingo Rachel Ziemba

Dolce $25 - $99 Shellie Bailkin Louise Barbrack Jean & Shawn Bartels Lindsey Blackhurst Danielle Buonaiuto Muriel Carlson-Simon Elizabeth Clancy, In Memory of Betty Clancy Catherine Corkill Ivana Edwards

Christine Foland Alexis G. & Ravi J. Erika Mikkelsen Halford Dana Ivey Allyn Keiser John Liebmann, Jr. Lila G. McFarlin Bryan McNamara Tara McNamara Judith Moldover Peggy Montgomery John T. Moran Pam Ondracek Annette Porter Pam Richardson Andrew Troup Paula Viscogliosi

Virtual Event Matching Campaign Many thanks to the following donors for their generous support for our recording and production of our digital performances this season.

Bill Bechman & Tom Garlock* Christina Bellamy Bob & Cathy Brawer Anne Buonaiuto Shu-Wie Chen* Molly O’Neil Frank Mary Gundermann Miriam Michel Dinah Nissen & Elizabeth Apelles

Lisa O’Brien Winnie Olsen Annette Porter Deborah Taylor Rachel Ziemba Two anonymous donors *Matching donor

This list reflects gifts received from June 1, 2020 to November 6, 2020.

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SUPPORT MUSICA VIVA NY We are seeking to raise $100,000 through our VIVA LA MUSICA campaign to support our programming and our community engagement activities. We are about three quarters of the way to our goal - please help us get all the way there by making a donation at musicaviva.org/support-us or clicking here.

To find out more about other ways to support Musica Viva NY (including employer matching, volunteering, and monthly giving) please contact our Executive Director at dbuonaiuto@musicaviva.org.

SPONSOR MUSICA VIVA NY There are many opportunities to play a role in bringing Musica Viva NY’s season to life as a sponsor, including: ⚫ Underwriting a concert ⚫ Underwriting the appearance of a professional singer or orchestra member ⚫ Underwriting an appearance by the Aeolus Quartet ⚫ Underwriting an intimate post-concert reception with the artists

Naming opportunities are available for sponsors.

Contact Danielle Buonaiuto, Executive Director at dbuonaiuto@musicaviva.org.

We hope you’ll join us for our post-concert reception!

The Zoom link is in your email.

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Musica Viva NY is extremely grateful for the following help with its 2020-21 season from:

All Souls Unitarian Church (www.AllSoulsNYC.org) for Musica Viva NY’s meeting, rehearsal, performance, and reception spaces as well as for the facilities and events staff who help make all productions run smoothly

Greater than One (www.greaterthanone.com) for Musica Viva NY’s website and publicity design

Heart & Soul Fund, Inc. for its longtime support of our outreach programming

We are deeply grateful to Nathan Siler and pLafond music for editing all digital media files used in this performance.

Musica Viva NY 1157 Lexington Avenue New York, NY 10075

212 794 3646 info@musicaviva.org