a set of 12 preludes for piano
L O O K B O O K
1 2 P R E L U D E L O O K CATA
S F O R P I A N O B O O K
FLOWERCATALOG OriginStory
FLOWERCATALOG Works+Process
MEETTHE COMMISSIONERS
LisedelaSalle
PINCUSHIONPROTEA MarianneParker
MARIGOLD EunbiKim
YELLOWROSE HollyRoadfeldt
DAFFODIL HollyRoadfeldt
DAYLILY DianeKatzenbergBraun
AndrewLitton
AdamSolsburg
BurcuKorkmazyurek etal
StephanieAnnBoyd
Informationregarding pieces,perusalscores,+ instrumentation
The reasons for writing these pieces were always there...
I grew up in Michigan Just enough outside Ann Arbor city limits that my parents could give me and my little sister an entire acre of land as our permanent babysitter. Outside violin lessons, all after school activities in all types of weather were simply: two little Boyd girls interacting with a small forest, a bit of creek that flowed into the great Huron River, and the flowers that appeared and disappeared throughout the year.
“I wanted our yard to be an edible yard”, my mother says. She planted an orchard on the side of the house while seven months pregnant with my sister, and she patiently gave us ziplock bags when we declared “we’re going to go pick raspberries and make raspberry jam!” even though she knew the berries would all go straight into our months and the bags would go unused. She taught us which birdsong belonged to which bird, which leaves belonged to which trees, and: the names and natures of the flowers that sprang up season after season without fail.
In the spring there was the thick carpet of lily of the valley that to this day grows alongside the creek, protected by the shadows of the forest growing next to it.
"I wanted our yard to be an edible yard"
The violets that grow nearby bleed into the grass and stay there for a week or two while the earth rumbles back to life in earnest Daffodils that signaled the end of winter and a forsythia that heralded the end of the school year made sure that there was a continuous bright shock of yellow underneath our childhood bedroom window. The lilac bushes nearby filled the air with their sweet perfume at the end of May when we were able to start wearing our summer clothes again and the days began to become exquisite again sunshine and humidity and spring breezes making our outdoor experience feel magic.
And often we would be taken five minutes down the road to Grandma’s house Her garden, small and loved and tended to daily yielded vivid blue and purple morning glories growing up a hand-made trellis that was so much taller than we were.
And her yellow rose bush with its small blooms and prickly spines, the honeysuckle hugging the back fence, the black-eyed susans and marigolds that gave their autumnal colors to the far corner of the garden underneath an old, old apple tree. These plants were all friends to us; we learned to respect them, to not attempt to turn them into bouquets all that often but to enjoy their fleeting presence and to look forward to their return the following year. And in retrospect, so many memories made the journey: staying in our consciousness from the moment they were made until our current state of adulthood... those memories that are painted on the canvas of those flowers; all of these happenings and mistakes and interactions and sorrows and joys playing out among these colors and scents
For me, the smell of lilacs will always bring about those ecstatic feelings of a fifth grader’s joy at the upcoming summer holidays. The sight of day lilies makes me recall the haze and immobile boredom of July heat. The lily of the valley's soft perfume will always point me to the optimism of a firmly established spring.
All this to say that before I began this project, I hadn’t taken the time to recognize how often these flowers were present in the first several chapters of my life and yet they’re there, photobombing every single outdoor memory in those formative years; memory and flora inextricably entangled.
And just as writing this piece has allowed me to revisit the perfume and velvet and translucence of these flowers from the lonely, pandemic-ridden concrete of New York City, I hope that reading about these pieces in this lookbook and listening to them–as their premieres and subsequent performances begin happening– brings you back also, that your own personal journey through the wildlife of your psyche and the flora most akin to your soul is a remarkable one.
- StephFlower Catalog is a book of twelve preludes for piano, inspired by Debussy’s Preludes in terms of scope and structure The idea for this project's subject matter started with a short work, Lilac, commissioned by Jenny Lin in 2018 The other eleven preludes have been commissioned by other piano soloists, each about her own favorite flower, and are all between 2 5-5 minutes in length so that the entire collection can live and breath as a full concert set but each prelude can also be utilized as a uniquely personal encore. The premieres of these pieces have begun and will continue into 2021 as the pandemic permits.
Flower Catalog is a commission by Lise de la Salle, Marianne Parker, Diane Katzenberg Braun, Eunbi Kim, Holly Roadfeldt, Adrienne Park, Susie Maddocks, Sarah Bob, Marta Aznavoorian, Jenny Lin, and Lucille Chung
P R O C E S S the
This project began in the normal ways:
After writing Lilac for Jenny Lin in 2018 and ending up with a short piece that told a big story, I started daydreaming about what a group of these pieces would look like; what alchemy might come from writing twelve of these stories, not just one.
I asked some of my favorite artists to come on this journey with me, to commission an aural portrait of their favorite flower for this collection so that we might end up with quite a bouquet for audiences to spend time with.
I did worry that two pianists would choose the same flower, but it didn’t happen like that at all. Marta Aznavoorian wrote me back immediately saying "IRIS!" and Holly and I had been talking about yellow roses as A Thing for months, while Lise de la Salle asked me whether I'd be more interested in a fleur-de-lis or a red rose, and when I said "....red rose", she told me––relieved-- that that had been her true choice all along.
After the choices were settled, then came the interviews I sat down with each pianist (whether this was in a coffee shop on the Upper West Side on a very chilly November morning like when Lucille and I brainstormed together about waterlilies, or over the phone like with Adrienne, where I had my black notebook out but her stories were so entrancing that I couldn't do anything but look out the window, looking at my own back yard while the imagery from her stories overlaid themselves upon mine) and I asked questions, and I listened....
It turns out that when you ask someone about their favorite flower, you're going to get some of their most potent, most fundamental memories in response. There will be cathartic moments on both sides - there can't not be when you're talking about a choice that usually gets made in childhood, often because of who was there to show us that garden or that gesture of affection or expose us to that symbolism or myths behind the bloom Nature is not simple and our interactions with it contain layers and layers and layers
So here we are: with twelve short pieces about twelve different flowers that spark both the loud and dramatic stories from our past and yet also ignite that reel of things we can’t quite picture because that memory faded to a blur of color and emotion a long time ago. And that flower’s name or scent or image is one of the limited number of keys that lets us open that door backwards in time.
Many thanks to the women who have made this art with me and who have shared their stories and their wishes with me. It’s been SUCH a joy to write this collection for you.
LISE DE LA SALLE RED ROSE
MARIANNE PARKER PINCUSHION PROTEA
LISE DE LA SALLE | RED ROSE
“Red Rose for me is love; a symbol of pure, absolute, romantic love… the love we see about, read about. It’s the color of passion.”
LISE DE LA SALLE
Red Rose is about the romantic symbolism of the flower: the type of love that exists in films and novels: the deep, heart-wrenching, soulfulfilling moods that that quality of affection brings about The main motif takes its refrain from the rising minor third, the same interval used when calling out to your lover: “darling?”
From a resonant, pensive, okay beginning to the weighty climax and on through to the crystalline ending: this work pays homage to a human experience that is nearly impossible
Red Rose is 3 5 minutes long, with a main melody adorned by blooming grace notes, and dreamy, moody chordal passages Its climax is full of fury and reverence, and it ends with a delicate, quiet, translucent coda
A native of France, Ms. de la Sa international attention in 2005, at th Bach/Liszt recording that Gram selected as “Recording of the Month who records for the Naïve label, w recognized in 2008 for her recor concertos of Liszt, Prokofiev and remarkable feat for someone only 20 recordings offered works of Sch Complete Works of Rachmaninof Orchestra with Fabio Luisi and Zurich The 2017-2018 season will se Bach-focused disc on Naïve incl Concerto, the Liszt Fantasy & Fug B A C H and the Bach/Busoni Chacon
Lise de la Salle has played with m leading orchestras and conductor London Symphony Orchestra debu and in 2016 returned to the orche Pappano Luisi, who invited her to Artist-in-Residence of the Zurich O also frequently featured Ms de la Sa Symphony, including a performance Great Performers Series at Lincoln C Ms de la Salle has played with the Chicago Symphony at the Ravi Francisco Symphony, and four tim Angeles Philharmonic, among othe appearance with the Minnesota Orc the Gershwin Concerto in F, a inspired one critic to exclaim, “she most exciting young artist in classica
Following triumphs in 2016-17 with National Symphony, Morlot and Orchestra, and stepping in for And Philadelphia Orchestra and Luisi, coming seasons include appearance Austin, Dallas, Detroit, Ft Worth, Q Valley Symphonies She will be h Chicago, Montreal, New Orleans, Washington, DC, and will also be a g Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Ce
In recent seasons, Ms. de la Salle was heard with leading symphonic ensembles in London, Paris, Munich, Tokyo, Baltimore, Detroit and Quebec, among others, with such esteemed conductors as Osmo Vanska and Douglas Boyd Concertos of Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Ravel, and Rachmaninoff demonstrated her fresh interpretations, compelling musicality, and dynamic pianism A sought-after recitalist, she made her debut in the Chicago Symphony recital series She has also captivated enthusiastic audiences and critics in major series in New York, Boston, Washington, D C , San Francisco, Montreal, Toronto, and at the Philharmonie in Berlin, Wigmore Hall in London, the Louvre in Paris, and colleges and universities around the country. Ms. de la Salle also takes pleasure in educational outreach and conducts master classes in many of the cities in which she performs
Her critically acclaimed Naïve CDs include an all-Chopin disc with a live recording of the Piano Concerto 2, Op 21 with Fabio Luisi conducting the Staatskapelle Dresden, and the Four Ballades. In May 2011, Naïve issued her sixth recording, released in celebration of Liszt’s Bicentennial The recording includes both original Liszt compositions, such as the Ballade No. 2 in b minor, Funerailles, and the Dante Sonata, as well as Liszt’s transcriptions of others’ pieces, such as Mozart’s Lacrymosa and Schubert’s Ständchen Diapason Magazine named the album the “Diapason D’or,” and it was the “Editor’s Choice” in Gramophone Magazine, which stated that “…the wonderfully gifted 23-year-old Lise de la Salle gives us a Liszt recital of astonishing strength, poetry, and, for one so young, musical maturity ”
Born in Cherbourg, France in 1988, Ms de la Salle was surrounded by music from her earliest childhood She began studying the piano at the age of four and gave her first concert at nine in a live broadcast on Radio-France. When she was eleven, Ms. de la Salle received special permission to enter the Paris Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique to study with Pierre Réach. At 13, she made her concerto debut with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in Avignon, and her Paris recital debut at the Louvre before going on tour with the Orchestre National d’Ile de France playing Haydn’s Concerto in D Major. Ms. de la Salle graduated in 2001 and subsequently enrolled in the postgraduate cycle with Bruno Rigutto Since 1997, she has worked closely with Pascal Nemirovski and studied with Genevieve Joy-Dutilleux
In 2003, Ms de la Salle won the European Young Concert Artists Auditions in Paris, and in 2004 she won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York. Later that year, the organization presented both her New York and Washington, D C debuts At the Ettlingen International Competition in Germany, Ms. de la Salle won First Prize and the Bärenreiter Award. She has also won First Prize in many French piano competitions, including the Steinway, Sucy, Vulaines, and Radio-France Competitions In 2003, she won the “Groupe Banque Populaire Natexis” Prize, for which she received a three-year scholarship.
More about Lise can be found on her website at lisedelasalle.com
of Lise by Stéphane Gallois
“ I hear the explosion of the color and of the brightness . . . the juxtaposition of angles and pointiness with the lushness.”
MARIANNE PARKER
"I kind of like the textures of succulents" is how our initial meeting about this piece began. Marianne had discovered the Pincushion Protea about five years ago while searching for the right flower to put in her bridal bouquet. She was entranced by this pointy, brilliant orange, alienlooking, joyful bloom, and this piece is all about capturing those textures and angles while balancing the resulting jagged rhythms–Marianne is a percussionist at heart, after all–with lushness and romance
Pincushion Protea is 4.5 minutes long, and is bright, sparkling, and eager, with rhythmic asymmetry and quick shifts between flowing staccatti sections and lux, high, melodic passages Grooves balance with glamour in this piece whose coda begins haunting and misty and ends in crisp, bright, jubilant chords that flash like fireworks
Pianist Marianne Parker’s playing has been described as “a cut above...her sympathetic fingers offering well-sculpted phrases and impassioned pealing” (Chicago Classical Review) Her debut album, Pages intimes, released in early 2019, features recently re-discovered works by Haitian composers. Marianne is currently curating an anthology of 21st century works for solo piano through NewMusicShelf
An active chamber musician, Marianne co-founded the marimba and piano new music ensemble, L+M Duo, in 2016 along with marimbist Laurel Black The duo is committed to commissioning new work for their instrumentation by today’s composers This season, the duo was featured in Chamber Music Magazine; performed at the Nief-Norf New Music Festival in Knoxville, TN; and produced a public concert in Chicago to celebrate the centennial of the iconic Wrigley Building A fierce advocate of New Music, Parker is in demand as a collaborator for instrumentalists and vocalists alike. She serves as Vice President of the membership group New Music Chicago, and co-produces the monthly series New Music Chicago Presents at the Chicago Cultural Center
Marianne performs with many prominent chamber ensembles across the Midwest, including Milwaukee’s Present Music, and Chicago’s Access Contemporary Music, Fourth Coast Ensemble, Crossing Borders Music, and more Marianne served as the principal pianist for the Chicago Civic Orchestra, and has performed under the batons of Riccardo Muti, Jaap Van Zweden, Michael Tilson Thomas, Ludovic Morlot, Carlos Miguel Prieto, and Michael Christy
Marianne’s work is driven by her passion to communicate the vibrancy and variety of classical music, especially to those who have yet to discover it
More about Marianne on her website at marianneparker.com
Photos of Marianne courtesy of the artist
“I would like the journey for listeners to be a respite.”
EUNBI KIM
When Eunbi and I first talked about what she wanted from this project, she showed me an old photograph of her parents in a field of marigolds; this polaroid from the 1980s, old enough now that it’s hard to know whether the patina over the radiant, warm colors of all those marigolds is due to the photograph’s age, the photography technology at the time, or whether that was simply the truth of the hues on that day, in that meadow of orange
In this piece, I’ve envisioned this field of marigolds during different times of the day; imagined that space illuminated by different qualities and shades of light I’ve kept the hands quite close on the piano; sometimes even overlapping each other, to pay tribute to the relationship between Eunbi’s parents
Marigold is 3 5 minutes long, begins in a wash of bright gold watercolor tones, hazy and nostalgic, the main melody tinged with dissonance until it picks up speed, climaxing in cascading runs at full tilt, its joyous exuberance gradually fading back into a softer ending. The final melodic fragment of Marigold is a pair of notes, also signifying the love that existed that day between two people in a bright orange field filled with life.
U N B I
Pianist EUNBI KIM (pronounced OON-bee, like book) is creating new ways of experiencing concert music as a performer, speaker, and arts advocate. Through these avenues, Kim shapes the concert experience on and off the stage by seeking interdisciplinary collaborations, commissioning new works, and mentoring the next generation. Her adventurous performances are characterized by their vividly personal themes ranging from dreams to mental illness to familial memories to finding meaning within life. For her efforts, Kim has received international recognition on television and in print, including from the BBC, I Care If You Listen, the Houston Chronicle, The Japan Times, and NHK Television
In 2017, she released her debut album, A House of Many Rooms: New Concert Music by Fred Hersch on Albany Records The album features a collection of premiere recordings of relatively unknown contemporary classical works by the luminary jazz composer The album was celebrated as “superb” by textura Magazine and by Mainly Piano as “an impressive debut [of] skill, heart, and technique”.
ative new work, Kim collaborates regularly composers. She has subsequently become s most sought after performers, having main’s (DBR) dedicated work “It Feels Like ver 50 times across the United States, ennedy Center Other performances of her ive performance concepts have been enter, 92nd Street Y, Asia Society Texas rean Cultural Center NY, the PianoForte rsity, Bennington College, and many more.
tor, performer, and producer of Murakami rk inspired by the novels of Haruki enjoyed multiple sold-out performances, national press, and enjoyed a featured HK documentary on the acclaimed author ommercial success of the production, Kim n Murakami’s use of music in his novels, s to speak at numerous media outlets, urnals, including Pace University, NHK, ore.
s selected for the New York Foundation for reneur” program, Kim has developed equal he stage In 2018, Kim launched bespoken . bespoken is a music mentorship program ops, and strategies to elevate the visibility contemporary, and jazz industries. The ntifying, non-binary, trans-women artists adership skills to create rewarding careers, istic visions, while helping them navigate industry
often recognized for her advocacy and e is invited to be a speaker, mentor, and nstitutions, including the Chamber Music , the Asian-American Arts Alliance, the he New York Foundation for the Arts, and 17 TEDx talk, “Performing Through Fear,” rmance anxiety through learning to , Eunbi Kim is based in New York City She ee from the Manhattan School of Music, fellowship in the institution’s Center for is grateful to her former and current nthony de Mare respectively.
te at eunbikimmusic.com
ez
“The yellow rose is completely sentimental. Lovely, unexpected, and the perfect flower of friendship.”
HOLLY ROADFELDT
Holly once received a bouquet of yellow roses, each bloom containing layer upon layer upon layer of petals. And after their turn as live, luminous flowers, Holly hung the bouquet to dry. To this day, she feels that "of all the bouquets I've ever received this is the one I most want to keep".
For my own part, my grandfather proposed to my grandmother with a yellow rose and in turn that's how my father also proposed to my mother. So when Holly who by now has become such a dear friend and confidant as well as a master interpreter of my work, decided to commission this piece I couldn't imagine an artist and a soul I'd rather write this piece with I'd like to think that Yellow Rose is a symbol of our mutual trust in each other to hold dearly these tender, personal memories
Yellow Rose is 4 minutes long, with its lush chords inseparable from the melody like all these golden petals overlapping each other in a thick spiral that continues to its core. Long, generous runs lend a fluid and airy texture at the prelude's middle, tones wafting up the keyboard like the rose's perfume teasing the nose of the bouquet holder. The prelude ends dry and thin, echoes of the melody now as lonely tones in the highest octave while pedal tones hold archaic resonance below.
HFew musicians balance the new opposite the old quite like American pianist Holly Roadfeldt Recently deemed a “perfect pairing of technical prowess and innate sensitivity” (American Record Guide), Roadfeldt has established herself as one of contemporary music’s most prolific ambassadors to date, she has made over 150 world premieres by more than four dozen composers. Recognized by audiences and critics for both her technical facility and distinctive interpretation of music from all eras, Roadfeldt has appeared on stages and venues across Canada, Europe, Asia, and over 30 U.S. states.
Roadfeldt tirelessly searches for like-minded composers who share her obsession with creating opportunities for listeners to relate to the music they hear. Best demonstrating this ethos is her three-year artistic flagship, “The Preludes Project,” which saw Holly premiere 65 new preludes by 16 composers. In touring the concept across 17 states, her lecture-recitals connected the present and the past, pairing the newly composed preludes with curated works within the standard repertoire. The concept drew rave reviews and attention across the industry, leading to Holly’s debut album, a collaboration with multi-GRAMMY® award winning producer Andreas Meyer. The Preludes Project CD (2016) released on PARMA Recordings, pairing Chopin’s Op. 28 Preludes with composer Kirk O’Riordan’s Twenty-Six Preludes for Solo Piano (2014). The album complements her numerous PARMA album collaborations with composers, including Mara Gibson’s Sky-Born (2017), and two other albums with O’Riordan: Strange Flowers (2013) and the recent release of Autumn Winds (2020), her second collaboration with Andreas Meyer.
Music critics across the United States, Canada, Italy, U.K., and Spain have taken notice, including American Record Guide, whose Autumn Winds review simply remarked that “Holly Roadfeldt is on fire.” Gramophone’s Donald Rosenberg praised her as “a vivid pianist” with “beautiful playing”, while for The Preludes Project CD, she received accolades from World Music Report for an “utterly convincing, breathtaking sense of elation” with “a varied
touch that perfectly matches the mood of each piece ” Sonograma deemed the album worthy of “all of our highest praise,” joining other colorful superlatives like “jaw-dropping” (Mainly Piano) and “exquisite” (Cinemusical)
Known for premiering an eclectic array of exciting music, much of Roadfeldt’s pedagogical and artistic philosophy can be credited to Lisa, a 13-year old student who wondered why they “were only studying music written by men ” Compelled to make changes in her approach to music, Holly has since prioritized including composers across the gender spectrum in her pedagogy. Composers she has commissioned span a number of the field’s most innovative voices, including Stephanie Ann Boyd, Rasa Daukus, Mara Gibson, Michelle McQuade Dewhirst, Kala Pierson, Jessica Rudman, Julia Seeholzer, and many others. With Lisa in mind, Roadfeldt hopes to encourage young female students to walk fearlessly down the road of self-expression and creativity.
masterclasses across the United States, teaching effective piano writing to university level composers Her recurring lecture series “Classical Café” and “Classical Conversations” intersects Roadfeldt’s equal comfort with both performing and relating music to audiences. Taking place since 2017, each event explores themes like darkness, virtuosity, and even Bob Dylan, showing their direct influence on iconic repertoire throughout history using live musical examples. Taking place since 2017, each event explores themes like darkness, virtuosity, and even Bob Dylan, showing their direct influence on iconic repertoire throughout history using live musical examples.
olly has taken the stage in myriad contexts and remains n high demand as a performer. Among her fondest memories are her performances of Chopin’s complete atalog of Preludes with revered Montréal-based dance oupe Compagnie Marie Chouinard. As a chamber musician, Holly has performed with members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the New York hilharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony, the Orchestre Philharmonique de trasbourg, the Frankfurt Opera, the Finnish Radio ymphony Orchestra, and the Brussels Philharmonic as ell as with concert artists Alexa Still, Bonita Boyd, and Marcia Baldwin
olly’s first professional performance came at 13 years d, performing with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra er fire in pursuing contemporary music ignited at the astman School of Music, where she was first able to ollaborate with composers Roadfeldt would go on to in First Prize in the Frinna Awerbuch International iano Competition in its Contemporary Music category. he holds faculty positions at Muhlenberg College and afayette College, where she is the Director of Keyboard tudies. Previously, she taught at the University of elaware, Susquehanna University, Gettysburg College, he University of Colorado-Boulder, Indiana University, nd was Artist Faculty with Distinction at The Music chool of Delaware.
A native of Ohio, Holly makes her home in Easton, Pennsylvania where she lives with her husband, Kirk O’Riordan. To view her full discography, scheduled performances, and other information, visit hollyroadfeldt.com.
“When
a daffodil appears out of its green stem, the energy is glorious. No dainty flowers there. Strength and beauty. Unexpected with a unique shape. A combination of strong lines and softer edges.”
HOLLY ROADFELDT
Written for and commissioned by Holly Roadfeldt, this short work seeks to capture the effervescent beauty of daffodils; the cycle of life that sees them emerging out of brown bulbs when the land is still covered in snow, their papery yellow bodies whose presence signifies the true beginning of spring, their descent back into the earth I am grateful to Holly for taking Lilac on her concert tour in 2019 and bringing such a gorgeous interpretation to that piece, and I am so honored that Holly has commissioned two flowers in this collection: Daffodil and Yellow Rose
Daffodil is 5 minutes long and begins as a single descending melodic line, a bulb's green shoot waking up slowly, slowly slowly arching its back into the sunlight from the cold, finally blossoming over a series of runs that result in the melody becoming thick with luscious dissonance, its range expanding until it spans the keyboard A gossamer middle section in a weighty 6/4 places the melody into cooler colors accompanied by continuous and delicate arpeggios. The final section of Daffodil fragments the melody, letting it return to earth once more.
“Yellow -If you would ask me what my favorite color is, I would say blue, then purple, then red, then green and all the shades in between never yellow except in a flower.
My favorite flowers are yellow Maybe because it is that invitation of spring The yellow reminds me of the sun: warmth, smiles, happiness.
When a daffodil appears out of its green stem, the energy is glorious. No, dainty flowers there. Strength and beauty. Unexpected with a unique shape. A combination of strong lines and softer edges
In the same way that the daffodil matches my quirky side, the yellow rose is completely sentimental. Lovely, unexpected, and the perfect flower of friendship The yellow rose was the favorite flower of one of my early music teachers. When all the young girls swooned over red roses, she said she always preferred the yellow. I don’t know if she was trying to tell me something else at that moment, but I remember how I felt. The yellow rose was unique, special, warm, and unexpected. I felt like she was telling me that I didn’t have to be the popular red rose I would be treasured by those important few who saw the beauty in a rose that was different. From that moment on, I loved yellow roses, but I rarely shared these feelings.
I kept it a secret I think because I wanted to see who shared this preference. Who else loves the yellow rose? When I receive those flowers, I then know this secret bond. A coincidence, maybe? But, to me, they will always be special.”
- Holly Roadfeldt
“It's not just about the beauty of the Day Lily... it's about the coloring: the strong structure and the indeterminate color.”
DIANE KATZENBERG BRAUN
Diane and I first met before her performance of my work Among Darkened Peonies, for violin and piano. We instantly got along the moment we began discussing our mutual love for peonies before rehearsal, and Diane went on to tell me of her love of gardening, and of all the different flowers she was cultivating.
When she first commissioned Day Lily, she sent me a photo of this flower that was the palest shade of rosey pink, with a bright yellow center Diane asked for the work to capture its watercolor pastel effervescence, to pay attention to its form that was "pointed, like a star" Day Lily holds fast to the fun and the vivid color of day time, balancing and augmenting her soft-hued, more tender moments
Day Lily is 3 5 minutes long, and begins in a timid 5/4, its pastel, blurred texture quickly giving way to a high-octane, vibrant clave rhythm that glistens and shimmers with syncopation and verve. The prelude ends with a sudden bright shock of B major chords.
Music Street founder Diane Katzenberg Braun grew up in Baltimore, Maryland where she graduated from the Peabody Preparatory program and studied with teachers from the Peabody Conservatory and Goucher College. At the age of 16 she was invited by Argentinian violinist and Yehudi Menuhin protégée Alberto Lysy to study chamber music in Italy for the summer. She is a graduate of Oberlin College where she majored in Sociology, having spent one year in the Oberlin Conservatory Ms Braun also did post graduate work in music theory and history at Brandeis University. After 25 years of teaching piano privately and at the Groton School and Indian Hill Arts, she returned to school in 1999 graduating with honors from the New England Conservatory, earning a Master of Music degree in Collaborative Piano. Her piano teachers there were Irma Vallecillo and Kayo Iwama Working with numerous singers and instrumentalists, she performed in masterclasses for Warren Jones, Pierre Vallet, Dianne Richardson, Bruce Yeh, Paul Katz, James Buswell, Ben Zander, Karl Paulnak amongst many others Past teachers have included Renaldo Reyes, Emil Danenberg, Victor Rosenbaum and the Apple Hill Chamber Players
Ms. Braun was the long time assistant to renowned mezzo soprano D’Anna Fortunato in her studio at the New England Conservatory, coaching and accompanying students in their performances. Collaborating with talented young players at the Walnut Hill School in Natick, Massachusetts, at the New England Conservatory, with Project Step in Boston, with Lowell House Opera singers, with Harvard University instrumentalists, she has partnered with a large assortment of instrumentalists Ms Braun has premiered works of Boston composers Curtis Hughes, Howard Frazin, Thomas Oboe Lee and Stephanie Ann Boyd. She is a current staff collaborative pianist at the New England Conservatory, performing a wide range of repertoire from winds to brass to strings, as well as accompanying in voice studios.
With Music Street Ms Braun aims to share the joy and innovation of unique musical programs as a means of connecting to audiences in the many venues where they perform We especially value our annual visits to the homeless shelter Rosie’s Place and the two Spaulding Rehab Hospitals Most recently, Music Street has established a concert series on the island of Martha’s Vineyard at the West Tisbury Library All Music Street musicians are award winning graduates of Boston's New England Conservatory and have national and international performing careers.
Read more about Diane on her website at musicstreet1.com
Photos of Diane by I-Jung Huang
“I have always been fascinated by the spiritual and serene nature of a waterlily, floating on a static pond and rising above all.”
LUCILLE CHUNG
Born in Montréal, Canadian pian been acclaimed for her “s performances” by Gramophone m vigor and suppleness with na elegance” (Le Soir).
She made her debut at the age of Symphony Orchestra and Charle invited her to be a featured soloist Tour in 1989. Since then, she has p concerto repertoire with over 70 le as the Philadelphia Orchestra, M National Orchestra of Wales, Flem Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerífe, O Bilbao, Staatskapelle Weimar, Phil Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, Be Seoul Philharmonic, KBS Orc Symphony, Dallas Symphony, (Mexico), Israel Chamber Orches major Canadian orchestras, includ Vancouver, National Arts Centr Winnipeg and Metropolitain, am appeared with conductors such as Vladimir Spivakov, Vasily Petre Séguin, Peter Oundjian, Gerd A Dutoit.
As a recitalist, she has performed prestigious venues such as the Wi New York’s Carnegie Hall and Kennedy Center and Phillips Coll D.C., the Dame Myra Hess Se Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Nacional, the Great Hall of the Fr Budapest, and the Palais des Be Festival appearances include th Switzerland, MDR Sommer Festiva Kammermusikfest, Santander Int Spain, Felicja Blumental Festival in Montreal International Festiva Festival, Bard Music Festival Keyboard Institute and Festival Festival in China, and the Br Guatemala
In 1989, she was recognized on the international scene as the First Prize winner at the Stravinsky International Piano Competition. She won Second Prize at the 1992 Montreal International Music Competition, at which she also won a Special Prize for the best interpretation of the unpublished work. In 1993, she received the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Governor General of Canada and in 1994 won the Second Prize at the First International Franz Liszt Competition in Weimar In 1999, she was awarded the prestigious Virginia Parker Prize by the Canada Council for the Arts
She graduated from both the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School before she turned twenty She decided to further her studies in London with Maria CurcioDiamand, Schnabel’s protégée, at the “Mozarteum” in Salzburg with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling and received the Konzertexam Diplom from the Hochschule “Franz Liszt” in Weimar, where she worked with the late Lazar Berman She also graduated from the Accademia Pianistica in Imola, Italy with the honorary title of “Master” and from Southern Methodist University under Joaquín Achúcarro Ms Chung is the recipient of the prestigious Honors Diploma at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy. Lucille Chung has been hailed as “a considerable artist, admirable for her bold choice of music” by The Sunday Times for her recordings of the complete piano works by György Ligeti on the Dynamic label. The first volume was released in 2001 to great critical acclaim, receiving the maximum R10 from Classica-Répertoire in France, 5 Stars from the BBC Music Magazine, and 5 Stars on Fono Forum in Germany. The final volume, which also contains works for two pianos, was recorded with her husband, Alessio Bax and once again received the prestigious R10 from Classica-Répertoire Her all-Scriabin CD won the “Best Instrumental Recording” prize at the 2003 Prelude Classical Awards in Holland as well as the coveted R10 from Classica-Répertoire in France She also recorded the two Mendelssohn Piano Concerti on the Richelieu/Radio-Canada label, which was nominated for the Prix Opus in Canada. In August 2005, Bax and Chung recorded Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals with the Fort Worth Symphony under Maestro Miguel Harth-Bedoya, which was released in 2006. In 2007 she released a solo album for the Fazioli Concert Hall Series Lucille then embarked on an exclusive contract with Disques XXI/Universal and two CDs: Piano Transcriptions of Camille SaintSaëns and Mozart & Me. 2013 marked the release of a piano duo disc with Alessio Bax, presenting Stravinsky’s original four-hand version of the ballet Petrouchka as well as music by Brahms and Piazzolla for Signum Records. In 2015, she released an all Poulenc album for Signum Records, which was chosen as the “Recording of the Month” on MusicWeb and most recently in 2018, a Liszt solo album was released
Lucille is fluent in French, English, Korean, Italian, German, and Russian. She and husband, pianist Alessio Bax make their home in New York City with their daughter, Mila, and are artistic co-directors of the Joaquín Achúcarro Foundation.
Read more about Lucille on her website at lucillechung.com
Photos of Lucille by Lisa-Marie Mazzucco
“Upon listening to Stephanie's Lilac for piano solo, one is immediately drawn to its beauty and tranquility, like the flower itself ”
JENNY LIN
Lilacs are my favorite flower, this probably arising from a childhood spent running around in the back yard of my home that was graced by two gigantic lilac bushes whose blooms appeared for two weeks every May. It made sense to have lovely things in twos: after all, the back yard was a secret garden playspace only inhabited by two little Boyd girls as their childhood together ran its span.
My little sister and I would take cuttings of the fragrant purple fronds and make small bouquets for our bedroom dresser but try as we might, our bouquets would always wilt and die within mere hours. Nonetheless, we kept making those tiny bouquets, year after year.
In the next chapter of my life, I made prom corsages out of cuttings from those same bushes In college, I would time my trips home from Chicago for the end of May so that I could be present for their period of blooming Now that I live in Manhattan, I visit the bodega on the corner about once a week in May and June and spend too much money on bouquets of lilacs that hang on for a few days, pumping my apartment full of purple perfume and the memories that are now intrinsically bonded with it
I'm so pleased that Jenny asked for small pieces from us ICEBERG composers; works that were to be an amuse bouche but still have depth and character. And of course upon Lilac's creation, I felt an immediate urge to write the memories of others, and so now we have the entire Flower Catalog.
Lilac is 3.5 minutes long and begins soft and dreamy. Dense, dark textures give lushness and gravitas, warm triplets murmur nostalgia until the melody builds into a buoyant zenith, and reeling chromatic runs bring this purple flower its aural perfume.
J E N N Y
Pianist Jenny Lin is an artist of keen musicianship, brilliant technique, and a compelling perspective shaped by a deep fluency in global culture. Born in Taiwan, raised in Austria, educated in Europe and America, Lin has built a vibrant international career, notable for innovative collaborations with a range of artists and creators. In every performance, Jenny Lin places her considerable technical skills and her fierce intellect at the service of the composer’s intention, yielding results that win the loyalty and rapt attention of audiences and fellow artists alike.
In this most unusual season, Lin has performances – both digital, and in person – at the Mostly Mozart Festival, Washington Performing Arts Society, Winnipeg New Music, the Morris Museum, St. Olaf College, OKM Music in Oklahoma, and Silo Hill. She is the featured pianist in Elliot Goldenthal's original motion picture score for Julie Taymor's 2020 film, The Glorias.
Jenny Lin also continues her close collaboration with Philip Glass, performing his Etudes in concerts around the globe (she has appeared regularly with him since 2014). This experience has inspired the creation of her own commissioning initiative, The Etudes Project, in which she works with a range of living composers to create new technical piano etudes, pairing each new piece with an existing etude from the classical canon. The results form both a series of solo recital programs and albums released by Sono Luminus. The first volume showcases Lin’s commissioning by ICEBERG New Music, a composer collective including a range of brilliant emerging composers. The Etudes Project; Vol. 1 ICEBERG was released to critical acclaim in 2019, and Volume 2 will be released in 2021.
Another recent project includes a new album (created in the summer of 2020 in “contactless” fashion) with accordionist Guy Klucevsek featuring the music of Georgian composer Giya Kancheli Other notable recordings in Lin’s catalogue (which includes more than 30 albums, on Hänssler Classic, eOne, BIS, New World, Albany, et al) include Philip Glass’s Etudes, the music of Arthur Schnabel, the complete Chopin Nocturnes, Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues Op 87, the Liszt Sonata and Schumann Fantasie. Lin has also recorded “Get Happy,” an album of Broadway song arrangements, and her ingenious Steinway & Sons release of transcriptions of the songs of Chinese pop singer Teresa Teng.
Jenny Lin is the central figure in “Cooking for Jenny” by Felix Cabez for Elemental Films, a musical documentary portraying her journey to Spain. Other media appearances include CBS Sunday Morning, NPR Performance Today, and “Speaking for Myself”, a documentary by filmmaker Bert Shapiro, about Manhattan as seen through the eyes of eight contemporary artists
A passionate advocate for education, Jenny created “Melody’s Mostly Musical Day“, a musical album and picture book for children, following the adventures of an imaginative little girl from breakfast to bedtime, told in a collection of 26 classical piano works from Mozart to Gershwin. Since the publication of the book in 2016, Lin has toured a multimedia concert version of the program which she performs regularly at schools and educational institutions throughout North America.
Lin has performed with orchestras throughout the world, including the American Symphony Orchestra, NDR and SWR German Radio Orchestras, the RAI National Symphony Orchestra, and others, with conductors including Lothar Zagrosek, Jiri Starek, Urs Schneider, Alexander Mickelthwate, Kek-Tjiang Lim, Wen-Pin Chien, Peter Bay, James Bagwell, and Celso Antunes She has been presented in performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, at BAM Next Wave, Spoleto USA, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, and elsewhere
Fluent in English, German, Mandarin, and French, Jenny Lin studied Noel Flores at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna, with Julian Martin at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, and with Dominique Weber in Geneva. She has also worked with Leon Fleisher, Richard Goode, and Blanca Uribe, and at Italy’s Fondazione Internazionale per il pianoforte with Dimitri Bashkirov and Andreas Staier In addition to her musical studies, Lin holds a bachelor’s degree in German Literature from The Johns Hopkins University. Jenny Lin currently resides with her family in New York City.
Read more about Jenny at her website: jennylin.net
Photos of Jenny by Liz Linder
“Grace, elegance, and resiliency. My mother used to cut and arrange the vibrant irises in her kitchen. Their beauty always mirrored hers.”MARTA AZNAVOORIAN
The Iris takes its name from the Greek word for a rainbow, and along with its kaleidoscopically beautiful shades of color and pattern, Marta and I were both drawn to this flower’s grace, its poise; the way its internal structure still stays intact long after its petals have dried up and fallen off, the way that irises come back unfailingly year after year, rising from the earth. Iris follows this cycle of elegance and decay, of hardness and softness, of life and rebirth.
Iris is 4 minutes long, and begins with a perpetually cascading series of 32nd notes, building up a gusty, crisp, dark perfume of color soon kaleidoscoping into a rainbow of drama and hue. Grace notes and lush triplet 8th note chords give a velvet thickness the prelude's climax. The haunting coda has a music box feel; open intervals letting the melody now exist simply as a hollow, brittle exoskeleton of its former self.
M A R T A
Aznavoorian has worked with such renowned conductors such as the Late Sir George Solti, Michael Tilson Thomas, Lukas Foss, Henry Mazer, Francesco Milioto, Kirk Muspratt among others She has won numerous awards, including first prize at the Stravinsky in the Stravinsky International Competition where she was also lauded the special prize for best interpretation for the commissioned contemporary work As a recipient of the 1990 Level 1 award in the National Foundation for the Arts Recognition and Talent search, Ms. Aznavoorian became a Presidential Scholar and was invited to the White House where she met former President George W Bush and performed as soloist at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Ms Aznavoorian is founding member of the Lincoln Trio which Fanfare Magazine has labeled as “one of the hottest young trios in the business”. The Grammy Nominated trio tours regularly throughout the world and just celebrated their most recent CD release from Cedille Records called Trios from our Homelands which was also nominated for a Grammy in the best small ensemble/chamber music performance in 2017
In strong demand as a chamber musician, Ms. Aznavoorian has worked with many artists all over the world and has frequented many festivals including Tanglewood Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Caramoor Festival, Hornby Island, Green Lake Festival and she will be making her 9th straight season appearance at the Ravinia Festival in 2017
A champion and lover of new music, Ms Aznavoorian has worked with the worlds leading composers including William Bolcom, Osvaldo Golijov, Jennifer Higdon, Shulamit Ran, Augusta Read Thomas, Joan Tower, Lera Auerbach, Pierre Jalbert, Stacy Garrop, Laura Schewendinger, and continues to collaborate with several of the most innovative composers of our time. In 2017 she was awarded the "Standing Ovation Alumni Legend Award" for her outstanding outreach, performance and teaching mentoring to her hometown community in Chicago
A student of the renowned teacher Menahem Pressler, Aznavoorian received her Bachelor degree and Artist Diploma at Indiana University and her Masters Degree from New England Conservatory where she studied with the late Patricia Zander. A passionate teacher and educator, Aznavoorian has taught and given masterclasses at Universities throughout the United States and abroad, and is on faculty at the Music Institute of Chicago, and Piano and Chamber Music faculty at DePaul University School of Music Aznavoorian records for Naxos, ARTEC label, Cedille Records and has just recently released Violin and Piano arrangements of the Music of Charlie Chaplin under the Warner Classics and Erato label with violinists Philippe Quint and Joshua Bell
Marta Aznavoorian is a Steinway Artist
More about Marta on her website at: martaaznavoorian.com
Photos of Marta courtesy of the artist
“There’s something so human and supernatural about the morning glory… they’re temporary and small but their presence is so strong.”SARAH BOB
When Sarah chose the Morning Glory as her flower, she told me that she was drawn to its cycles: its hopefulness every morning and its downtime during the rest of the day and night; how every stage of its life is temporary but how powerful its presence is even in that short period of bloom time. In this piece, we decided to write something that displayed those cycles while also touching on the perhaps supernatural, more human aspects of this flower and its capabilities
Morning Glory is 5.5 minutes long, and is constructed of several cycles that begin delicate and pale, flourishing quickly into a dense, melodic polyrhythm, finally reaching an apex of mirror-image sextuplet and quintuplet sixteenth notes that bloom and bloom and bloom with a rampant, ferocious need. The final cycle is a magnified version of the cycles prior: this time those final sixteenth notes loudly bloom with all their might, continuously erupting with joy and courage and exuberance until a long decrescendo gradually takes them out of aural view.
“Every city has at least one Everybody knows at least one They’re the dynamic players who bring your hometown scene to life and make it what it is and you’re just certain that if everyone everywhere knew about them, they’d be world-famous World, meet Sarah Bob she’s been That Player in Boston The one who not only advocates for new music, but also makes it happen The one who plays the local composers not only because they’re local, but because they’re damn well worth playing…Sarah Bob she’s a superstar. Spread the word.”
- Steve Smith of National Sawdust
Pianist Sarah Bob is an active soloist and chamber musician noted for her charismatic performances, colorful playing and diverse programming. A strong advocate for new music, Sarah is the founding director of the New Gallery Concert Series, a series devoted to commissioning and uniting new music and contemporary visual art with their creators The goal, her strong suit, is to introduce music in a loving, inclusive, and intoxicating way Inspired by current events, she is also the creator of The Nasty Cooperative, numerous dialogue driven artistic events created to build community, help raise funds for organizations in need, and encourage others to do the same. Her most recent album, …nobody move… Commissions and Premieres for the New Gallery Concert Series, instantly received international acclaim, earning a place on the Boston Globe’s best of classical recordings list and ALBUM OF THE WEEK in National Sawdust among other accolades. According to AllMusic, nobody move also exemplifies Sarah as “ pianist as curator, which is a different thing from simply selecting a program for a recording the program, despite its variety, has a unique coherence forged by Bob’s mixture of technical control and a certain verve and humor One finishes the album interested in what Bob and other pianists may do with this concept in the future.”
Sarah is an original member of many ensembles including her piano/percussion group, Primary Duo, and Radius Ensemble, a chamber music collective that presents both the traditional and cutting edge. Recognized as a risk taker, she is top prizewinner of the International Gaudeamus Competition 2001 and grant recipient of the Yvar Mikhashoff Trust for New Music. Sarah was featured as one of Boston’s Most Inspiring Stories in the Boston Voyager and maintains other accolades including Outstanding Alumni Award from the New England Conservatory of Music, the St. Botolph Club Foundation’s Grant-in-Aid Award, an honor that recognizes the quality of her work and artistic merit, the first annual John Kleshinski Award in honor of her daring, exciting and high quality New Gallery Concert Series presentations, a successful three year fellowship at the prestigious St. Botolph Club, and funding from the Trust for Mutual Understanding that brought her to Sofia, Bulgaria and Berlin, Germany to present and perform music by living American composers She can be heard playing music on Tzadik, Albany Records, Cauchemar, NLM Records, BMOP/sound label, collaborations with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project on New World and Oxingale Records, Ludovico Ensemble Edition, Radius Ensemble, and Avie Records
Past roles include original member of the Firebird Ensemble, Director of Classical Music at the Stone Mountain Arts Center in Brownfield, Maine, 2019 Artist in Residence of The Music Mansion which won the 2019 Dorry Award for “Best Performance Series” during her time as curator, contributor to SONUS: A Journal of Investigation into Global Musical Possibilities, and, with the composer’s blessing, arranger of her solo piano rendition of Lee Hyla’s “My Life on the Plains” coming soon through Carl Fischer Publishing Sarah maintains a private studio, and teaches "The Power of Art" on faculty at the Longy School of Music of Bard College For more information, please go to www.sarahbob.net.
Morning Glory was commissioned by Sarah Bob and the New Gallery Concert Series
“I think of the fragrance of a hydrangea, how it captivates my senses effortlessly and transports me to a beautiful dreamlike scene”
SUSIE MADDOCKS
When Susie told me about her deep love for hydrangeas and their importance in her family, I knew we had something really special on our hands Hydrangea tells a little bit about the transparent and beautiful way Susie lives her life, and attempts to capture the gorgeous, pale, dark shades of color that these flowers are often found in and the gravitas they carry with them in meaning for both Susie and myself.
Hydrangea is 5 minutes long and begins with a highregister melody made out of viscous, glossy triplets that grows, sinking its roots deeper into the lower part of the piano as it gains strength and volume and speed and ecstasy. Organ-like chords pervade the heavy, agape emotional peaks of this prelude that ends in a hymn fragment alongside echoes of the initial triplets.
“Thinking of my ancestors, particularly my Popo (Grandmother) who was essentially royalty in China before the depression and moved to Seattle after an arranged marriage during the depression. She learned how to be grateful with little and how to start over a whole new life style. She poured herself into her community, with her regular restaurant customers referring to her as “Mom”. Dorothy Chun (my Popo) was included among several of the first Chinese ancestors to settle in Seattle.
I think of my own parents and how I have learned what it is to be grateful with what we are given, and to always strive for excellence in all that I do, giving God nothing short of my heart and soul
When I think of the characteristics of a hydrangea, I immediately recall gorgeous, romantic palettes, stunning and show-stopping beauty for the garden, and heart-felt emotion for the appreciative gazer. With its asian influence, I am even more deeply moved by the allure of its form and function. It thrills me to think of the broad spectrum of colors Stephanie can compose with this dual imagery of hydrangea and reminiscence of one’s past.”
Pianist Susie Maddocks has traveled a rich and diverse path as a collaborator, soloist, band member and songwriter. She has had the privilege of working with brilliant piano artists such as Menahem Pressler, Nelita True, Stephen
Pierce, Jerry Wong, and James Barbagallo A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where she completed her degree in piano performance, Susie has studied under the tutelage of Anton Nel, Jeffrey Kahane, David Burge and Lucille Straub She has received many Southern California Piano Guild awards, being immersed in the California world of music with Bach Festivals and Southwestern Youth Music Festivals The fourth child in a musical family, Susie quickly took to the piano as her “voice” while her 3 siblings perfected the violin and cello. This made for a wonderful life of music-making, as Susie pursued ways to collaborate in any and every kind of forum.
Since 1999, Susie has worked as a collaborative pianist in Northern Colorado with many renowned artists, including Jim Walker, Conor Nelson, Philip Dikeman, Christina Webster, Nicole Esposito, Erin Murphy, Timothy Hagen, Krzystof Kaczka, Catherine Ransom Karoly, Kerry DuWors, Stephanie Ann Boyd, Jennifer Koh, Robert Maine, Kathy Winkler and Tim Pitts.
Throughout her life, Susie discovered the wonder of making music with others, whether it be with a fellow pianist, violinist or flutist. Performing with her past duo p i li i d i i d i d international soloist Dr. Jerry Wong, Ms. Maddocks quic comes with a partner. Susie has immensely enjoyed her forward to many more seasons of artistry and enthusiasm
“The Lily of the Valley was like a love letter from grandpa to grandma.”
ADRIENNE PARK
This work is all about the delicate and tiny cream-colored flowers known as Lily of the Valley, and it is also all about Adrienne's grandparents: a husband who planted flowers in the yard nearly at random so that his wife would be surprised every spring as flowers came up out of the ground, all over the place.
A constant and reliable springtime visitor, however, was a tuffet of Lily of the Valley flowers that he planted outside her kitchen window decades after they were planted, they still come up every year This work is written in honor of Adrienne's grandparents, and speaks to the magic and perfume that these little flowers give off with such abundance, and a long, long romance out of which blossomed flowers and a family
Lily of the Valley is 5 minutes long and is a bit of a moto perpetuo at first, ebullient staccato sixteenth notes eventually giving way to a tender, fragile second section An aching, plodding third section brings us to our dewy ending: the sixteenth notes again, now dissonant and crystalline, lead the music towards an icy ending whose notes ring like small bells
Adrienne Park has a wide breadth of experience performing as a collaborative pianist in chamber music settings and as a pianist within symphonic settings. For six years at the Banff Centre’s Music and Sound program in Canada, she was the faculty collaborative pianist for the fall and winter residencies, with the central mission of helping resident musicians realize their artistic endeavors. Adrienne has collaborated in recital with many renowned artists, including violinists Joshua Bell and Andrew Dawes, cellists Shauna Rolston and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, bassist Edgar Meyer, flutists Paul Edmund Davies, Timothy Hutchins and Tara Helen O’Connor, bassoonist Frank Morelli, saxophonist Nikita Zimin, horn player Frøydis Ree Wekre, percussion group NEXUS, soprano Mary Wilson, and tenor Telly Leung
Adrienne is Principal Piano and Celeste with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Robert Moody, a position she has held since 2004 In addition to their symphonic series, the MSO collaborates annually with Ballet Memphis, New Ballet Ensemble and Opera Memphis. In 2011, she performed Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra with Steinway Artist Victor Santiago Asuncion and Conductor Laureate Mei-Ann Chen She will perform a solo piano concerto with the MSO in April 2021 under the direction of Assistant Conductor Kalena Bovell.
She also performs regularly with IRIS Orchestra, directed by Michael Stern, whose roster includes musicians from some of the country’s best orchestras, universities and chamber groups. For fifteen seasons, she has been a featured artist with the Memphis Chamber Music Society
Adrienne is on faculty at the University of Mississippi, where she has been an Instructor of Music and Collaborative Pianist since 2001 She is Artistic Director and founder of Sonic Explorations, a chamber series highlighting music faculty and professional musicians in the region. Central to concert events is the use of multi-media projected film, art, and poetry with unique lighting designs and innovative stage positioning
As a proponent of contemporary music, Adrienne has performed many world premieres With Kokoro Dance, she premiered Sunyata, Truths of the Blood, Dance of the Dead, Encounters with the Goddess, Sade Part II, and Embryonic Cavatina. With Joe Ink Dance, she performed in a contemporary jazz ensemble led by composer John Korsrud to premiere Swing Theory and Seven She co-founded the trio SqueezPlay with accordionist and composer Douglas Schmidt and percussionist David Carlisle. With producer Mark S. Willsher, SqueezPlay recorded a CD entitled rubber horn of original works, which they performed at the Winnipeg New Music Festival with cellist Shauna Rolston
During the Continuum Music Festival at Crosstown Arts in Memphis in 2018, she had the pleasure of working with American melodist Stephanie Ann Boyd of ICEBERG New Music Adrienne is delighted to perform the world premiere of Stephanie Ann Boyd’s solo piano prelude “Lily of the Valley” from Flower Catalog
Adrienne studied with Abbey Simon and Ruth Tomfohrde at the University of Houston and with Robert Silverman at the University of British Columbia More about Adrienne on her website at adrienneparkpiano.com
Photos of Adrienne by Diane Bond of Bella Vie Photography
T H A N K Y O U
to Andrew Litton, for being my toughest critic and most dedicated editor to Adam Solsburg, for all the fleeting moments that your lens and your eyes capture and make permanent to Burcu Korkmazyurek, the creator of the floral illustrations seen throughout this lookbook; it's a Very Big Thing for a composer to experience visual art that feels like a cousin to our own aural artistry, and to me, Burcu's work feels like coming home to Stefan, for your love and patience and encouragement jeden tag to my grandmother, for trusting me to carry this particular torch, to my mother, for introducing me to the natural world again and again and again and finally, to the women who trusted me with their stories , their visions, their exquisite artistry thank you
Michigan-born American composer Stephanie Ann Boyd (b 1990) writes melodic music about women’s memoirs and the natural world for symphonic and chamber ensembles Her work has been performed in nearly all 50 states and has been commissioned by musicians and organizations in 37 countries Boyd’s five ballets include works choreographed by New York City Ballet principal dancers Lauren Lovette, Ashley Bouder, NYCB soloist Peter Walker, and XAOC Contemporary Ballet’s Eryn Renee Young Eero, a ballet commissioned by Access Contemporary Music and Open House New York, was written for the grand opening of the TWA Hotel at JFK Airport. Stephanie’s music has been praised as “[with] ethereal dissonances” (Boston Globe), “[music that] didn’t let itself be eclipsed” (Texas Classical Review), “arrestingly poetic” (BMOP), and “wide ranging, imaginative” (Portland Press Herald).
Boyd’s music has been commissioned and performed by concertmasters of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Singapore Symphony, the New York City Ballet Orchestra, the Des Moines Symphony, the Faroe Islands Symphony, the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra, the Fort Smith Symphony, the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra, and principal players in the Colorado Symphony Orchestra Her music has been played by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the New England Conservatory Philharmonic, the Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra, the New York Jazzharmonic, the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, the Roosevelt University Orchestra, the Eureka Ensemble, the JVL Festival Orchestra, the Texas State University Symphony, the Cremona International Academy Orchestra, the UW La Crosse Symphony, the Detroit Civic Orchestra, and the El Paso Youth Symphony Her work has been presented by the Thalia and her Sisters concert series, the Moirae Ensemble, and Sandcastle New Music in New York City; Æpex Contemporary Music in Michigan; Juventas New Music, Collage New Music, and the New Gallery Concert Series in Boston; Cincinnati Soundbox, and others Stephanie has worked with conductors such as Andrew Litton, Lina Gonzales, Earl Lee, Nathan Aspinall, Cliff Colnot, Gill Rose, Julian Benichou, Kristo Kondakci, and Kevin Fitzgerald
The 2020/2021 season includes commissions from the Wyoming Symphony, Astral Artists with cellist Tommy Mesa, violinist Megan Healy, pianists Lara Downes, Lise de la Salle, Marta Aznavoorian, Lucille Chung, Susie Maddocks, Adrienne Park, Diane Kaztenburg Braun and Music Street, Sarah Bob and the New Gallery Concert Series, Holly Roadfeldt, Marianne Parker, Eunbi Kim, the Kurganov-Finehouse Duo, and others This season also includes performances by the Lincoln Trio, Juventas New Music, Jennifer Reason, Lisa Pegher, Shouthouse, Ayanna Witter-Johnson, including concerts at the Kaufman Center, the Boston New Music Festival, the Festival of New American Music, Pianoforte in Chicago, live on Chicago’s WFMT radio station, and elsewhere.
Recent commissions include a new violin concerto for Kurt Nikkanen and the Chesapeake Youth Symphony Orchestra, a piece for River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, a ballet for the Ashley Bouder Project, a mass for women’s choir, soprano solo and orchestra for The Eureka Ensemble, and a piece for the Chicago College of Performing Arts Wind Ensemble.
Her work has been performed in venues such as the Detroit Symphony Orchestra Hall, the Martha Graham Studio, Singapore Symphony’s Esplanade Hall, The Joyce Theater, Boston’s Jordan Hall, the Midwest Conference, Poisson Rouge, Tenri Cultural Center, Ganz Hall, the DiMenna Center, and the TWA Hotel.
Boyd has made ballets with New York City Ballet principal dancer Lauren Lovette (Red Spotted Purple commissioned by the Ashley Bouder Project, 2018), New York City Ballet principal dancer Ashley Bouder (Out of the Dust commissioned by NYU Center for Ballet and the Arts, 2019), New York City Ballet soloist Peter Walker (Eero, commissioned by Access Contemporary Music and Open House New York for the grand opening of the TWA Hotel at JFK, 2019), and choreographer Eryn Renee Young (EARTH, commissioned by the Eryc Taylor Dance Company, 2019). Upcoming projects include new ballets for NYC's Satellite Collective and XAOC Contemporary Ballet
Stephanie has given her talk “Two Steps Out the Door: a tough love, get-over-yourself guide to engineering a career right out of music school” at Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts, the Longy School of Music of Bard College, the University of Northern Colorado, the University of Arkansas, the University of Central Florida, Texas State University, Northwest Arkansas Community College, and others, and has given talks on her work at the New Music Gathering conference and the Continuum Music Festival in Memphis. Stephanie especially believes in instilling agency and sparking initiative in young people, and as such has given talks on creativity at high schools in Wyoming, New Mexico, Michigan, and Hawaii.
Stephanie was the 2016-18 Composer in Residence for the Eureka Ensemble in Boston, the 2013/14 Collage New Music Fellow, and has had composition residencies at summer festivals in Italy, Canada, and the US Boyd has taught composition privately for ten years and her students have been accepted into the music schools at the University of Toronto, the University of Michigan, Indiana University, UC Boulder, Michigan State University, and others She is a recipient of the Donald Martino Award for Excellence in Composition and is a two-time recipient of the CCPA Vector Award, and has won numerous grants from the Women’s Philharmonic Advocacy She holds degrees from Roosevelt University and New England Conservatory (with honors) Boyd was one of the last violin students of renowned pedagogue John Kendall.
Boyd is a member of the Iceberg New Music composers collective. Her catalog is published by TRN Music and FEMOIRE. A critic for American Record Guide and I Care If You Listen, Boyd lives in Manhattan For concert premieres and red carpet appearances, she is usually dressed by MILLY creator Michelle Smith or Boston-based designer Sasha Parfenova.
Stephanie intensely adores jazz big band screaming trumpets, the smell of camp fires and old cars, that moment when planes leave the ground during takeoff, contemporary fiction, and her cat Bruce
stephanieannboyd.com
photos of Stephanie by Adam Solsburg
ONDINE | Symphony Orchestra (2014) Written for the New England Conservatory Philharmonic 1 movement, 11 minutes
HOUSE OF FOUNTAINS | Symphony Orchestra (2014) Written for the New England Conservatory Philharmonic 1 movement, 12 minutes
SHELTERING VOICES | (2018) Soprano, Women’s Choir, Orchestra Commissioned by the Eureka Ensemble 5 movements, 20 minutes
TEKTON | Cello Concerto (2017) Commissioned by the Eureka Ensemble 3 movements, 25 minutes
RITUUM | Bassoon Concerto (2017) Commissioned by Eric Barga 3 movements, 16 minutes
SYBIL | Violin Concerto (2010) Written for Eunae Koh 3 movements, 22 minutes
VERMILION | Violin Concerto (2019) Commissioned by: the Chesapeake Youth Symphony Orchestra 3 movements, 24 minutes
BEYOND THE GATE | String Orchestra (2011) Commissioned by the JVL Festival Orchestra 3 movements, 9 minutes
DARK SKY SOLILOQUY | String Orchestra (2012) Commissioned by the JVL Festival Orchestra 1 movement, 7 minutes
A KALEIDOSCOPED MENAGERIE | String Orchestra (2013) Commissioned by Cremona International Music Academy 1 movement, 10 minutes
SUMMER WALKER DANCES | Double String Orchestra (2014) Commissioned by Gurrie Middle School for youth ensembles 1 movement, 4 minutes
ETERNAL GOLDEN BRAID | String Orchestra (2013) Commissioned by YOURS Project Chicago for youth ensembles 1 movement, 4.5 minutes
FAIRY MOVEMENTS | Solo Piano (2011) Written for Lina Song 3 movements, 10 minutes
PHOTINUS | Solo Percussion (2015) Commissioned by Harrison Honor 1 movement, 10 minutes
PEREGRINE | Solo Bass Trombone (2016) Commissioned by Sun He 10 movements, 11 minutes
LILAC | Solo Piano (2018) Commissioned by Jenny Lin 1 movement, 3 5 minutes
ESPERANZA | Solo Guitar (2017) Commissioned by Aaron Larget-Caplan 1 movement, 3 minutes
ELECTROGENIC | Solo Guitar (2019) Commissioned by 21st Century Guitar Conference 1 movement, 5 minutes
NOSTRORBIS | Solo Violin (2017) Commissioned by the Violinists of the World Sonata Project 7 movements, 13 minutes
MINNIE | Solo Violin (2019) Commissioned by Megan Healy 3 movements, 10 5 minutes
WATERWAY | Solo Violin (2019) Prairie Tunes on the Iowa Rivershed Commissioned by Catherine Rinderknecht Moritz for Shared Stories Iowa
FANTASIA OLORA | Cello + Piano (2008) Written for David Burns 1 movement, 10 minutes
AMONG DARKENED PEONIES | Violin + Piano (2011) Written for David Lakirovich 1 movement, 6 minutes
AUCTUMNUS | Clarinet Trio (2013) Commissioned by the Jennifer Fischer Trio 3 movements, 12 minutes
IMOGEN | Flute + Piano (2015) Commissioned by Cincinnati Soundbox 3 movements, 11 minutes
ANCESTRY VARIATIONS | Piano Trio (2014) Commissioned by the Meadowlark Trio 1 movement, 11 minutes
OUT OF THE DUST | String Trio (2013/15) 3 movements, 10 minutes
TIDES | Bb Clarinet, Violin, Cello, Piano (2017) Commissioned by: Diane Katzenberg Braun and Music Street 1 movement in five sections, 12 minutes
GALLIARD | Woodwind Quintet (2015) Commissioned by Washington Square Winds 1 movement, 7 minutes
LULLABY FOR SOPHIE | Piano Trio (2017) Commissioned by Igor Yuzefovich 1 movement, 4 minutes
ASTRUM AGRI | String Quartet (2016) Commissioned by Tony Berendsen 1 movement, 7 minutes
WONDER | Piano Quintet (2017) Commissioned by Tony Berendsen 3 movements, 13 minutes
AMARE | Alto Sax + Piano (2016) Commissioned by Alan Theisen 3 movements, 11 minutes
AMERIGO | Violin + Piano (2015) Commissioned by the Violinists of the 50 State Sonata Project
TERRA LIBERI | Pierrot + Percussion (2014) Commissioned by Collage New Music
SAPIEN | Flute, Oboe, Cello, Piano (2018) Commissioned by the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra 4 movements, 15 minutes
PANORAMA | Piano Trio (2019) Commissioned by Access Contemporary Music 1 movement, 8 minutes
EERO | Clarinet + String Trio (2019) Commissioned by Access Contemporary Music 1 movement, 4 minutes
CHARTREUSE | Flute + Piano (2019) Commissioned by Tammy Evans Yonce 3 movements, 14 minutes
HART SONGS | Soprano + String Trio (2017) Commissioned by the Moirae Ensemble
Text by Monica Ferrell 1 movement, 4 minutes
EVEN A WOMAN | Mezzo Soprano + String Quartet (2019) Commissioned by the Dark Sky Project 3 movements, 10 minutes
POETRY FOR SOPRANO + PIANO (2019) Undressing for a Personal Apocalypse
Text by Jessica Lynn Suchon Commissioned by Paulina Swierczek 1 movement, 5 minutes
EVERY SHADOW TAKES THE SHAPE OF A DAUGHTER (2019) Vocal Ensemble
Text by Jessica Lynn Suchon Commissioned by Iceberg New Music for Ekmeles 1 movement, 6 minutes
RECORDINGS, PERUSAL SCORES, AND SCORES TO PURCHASE CAN BE FOUND AT STEPHANIEANNBOYD.COM
