Hannah Lash & Friends, October 1, 2017

Robert Blocker, Dean

faculty artist series

Hannah Lash & Friends

October 1, 2017 • Sunday at 3 pm Morse Recital Hall

Faculty Artist Series

Hannah Lash & Friends Maurice Ravel 1875–1937

Introduction and Allegro, M. 46 Ransom Wilson, flute David Shifrin, clarinet Hannah Lash, harp Rolston String Quartet

Hannah Lash b. 1981

Form and Postlude (2017) Ransom Wilson, flute David Shifrin, clarinet Hannah Lash, harp Rolston String Quartet intermission

Lash

Concerto for Piano and Chamber Ensemble (2017) I. Allegretto II. Adagio III. Presto Miles Walter, piano Hannah Lash, harp Rolston String Quartet

As a courtesy to the performers and audience, silence electronic devices.

Please do not leave the hall during selections. Photography or recording of any kind is prohibited.

Artist Profiles

Hannah Lash, harp/composition

a Composer Portraits Concert at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre. In the 2016Hailed by The New York Times as “striking 2017 season, Lash’s major, large-scale and resourceful … handsomely brooding,” orchestral work The Voynich Symphony Hannah Lash’s music has been commiswas premiered by the New Haven sioned by the Fromm Foundation, the Symphony Orchestra.

Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, the Lash obtained her Ph.D. in composition Library of Congress, Cabrillo Festival of from Harvard University in 2010. She Contemporary Music, Columbia has held teaching positions at Harvard University’s Miller Theatre, the Naumburg University (teaching fellow) and Alfred Foundation, and the Los Angeles Chamber University (guest professor of composition) Orchestra, as well as the Colorado and and currently serves on the composition Aspen Music festivals, among many others. faculty at the Yale School of Music.

Lash has received numerous honors and prizes, including the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, a Charles Ives Scholarship (2011) and Fellowship (2016) from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Fromm Foundation Commission, the Naumburg Prize in Composition, the Barnard Rogers Prize in Composition, and the Bernard and Rose Sernoffsky Prize in Composition, among others.

Ransom Wilson, flute Born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Ransom Wilson graduated from the Juilliard School in 1973 and spent a year in Paris as a private student of Jean-Pierre Rampal. An exclusive recording contract with Angel/EMI followed soon thereafter, along with extensive performances all over the world. As a flute soloist, he has appeared in concert with some of the greatest orchestras of our time, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and London Symphony Orchestra.

Recent premieres include Three Shades Without Angles for flute, viola, and harp, by the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Two Movements for violin and piano, commissioned by the Library of Congress for Ensemble Intercontemporain, a new chamber opera, Beowulf, for Guerilla Opera, As a conductor, in recent seasons he has led and new orchestral works for the Cabrillo opera performances at the New York City Festival of Contemporary Music, the Opera and was an assistant conductor at Alabama Symphony Orchestra, and the the Metropolitan Opera. He was recently Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, as well named music director of the Redlands as two concerti for harp premiered by the Symphony in California. The founder and American Composers Orchestra and the artistic director of Le Train Bleu ensemble, Colorado Music Festival, both with Lash he has been a guest conductor of the as soloist. In 2016, Lash was honored with London, Houston, KBS, Kraków, Denver,

Artist Profiles

New Jersey, Hartford, and Berkeley symphonies; the Orchestra of St. Luke’s; the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra; the Hallé Orchestra; and the chamber orchestras of St. Paul and Los Angeles. He has also appeared with the Glimmerglass Opera, Minnesota Opera, and the Opera of La Quinzena Musical in Spain.

As an educator, Ransom Wilson regularly leads master classes at The Juilliard School, Moscow Conservatory, Cambridge University, the Paris Conservatory, and others. His recording career, which includes three Grammy Award nominations, began in 1973 with Jean-Pierre Rampal and I Solisti Veneti. Since then he has recorded more than thirty albums as flutist and/or conductor.

Mr. Wilson is the professor of flute at the Yale School of Music, music director of the Redlands Symphony, and has been an artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 1991.

David Shifrin, clarinet One of only two wind players to have been awarded the Avery Fisher Prize since the award’s inception in 1974, clarinetist David Shifrin is in constant demand as an orchestral soloist, recitalist, and chamber music collaborator.

He has performed with numerous major orchestras including the Dallas, Seattle, Houston, Milwaukee, Detroit, Denver, and Memphis symphonies, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the Philadelphia

and Minnesota orchestras. Internationally, he has performed with orchestras in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and Taiwan. In addition, he has served as principal clarinetist with the American Symphony Orchestra (under Stokowski), with the Cleveland Orchestra, Honolulu, and Dallas symphonies, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the New York Chamber Symphony.

Mr. Shifrin has appeared in critically acclaimed recitals around the world, including at Alice Tully Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and the 92nd Street Y in New York City, the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and throughout Germany. His recordings (on Delos, DGG, Angel/EMI, Arabesque, BMG, SONY, and CRI) continue to garner praise as well as awards, and he has received three Grammy nominations. Sought after as a chamber musician, he has appeared with such distinguished artists as the Guarneri, Tokyo, and Emerson string quartets and Wynton Marsalis.

Mr. Shifrin continues to broaden the repertoire for clarinet and orchestra by championing the works of twentieth and twenty-first century American composers including, among others, John Adams, Joan Tower, Bruce Adolphe, Ezra Laderman, Lalo Schifrin, David Schiff, John Corigliano, Bright Sheng, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich.

An artist member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 1989, Mr. Shifrin served as its artistic director from 1992 to 2004. Along with his work at CMSLC, Mr. Shifrin is also the artistic director of Chamber Music Northwest in

Artist Profiles

Portland, Oregon. He has been a professor at the Yale School of Music since 1987. He has also served on the faculties of The Juilliard School, the University of Southern California, the University of Michigan, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the University of Hawaii. Mr. Shifrin has been the artistic director of the Oneppo Chamber Music Series at Yale and Yale in New York since 2008.

Rolston String Quartet Luri Lee, violin Jeffrey Dyrda, violin Hezekiah Leung, viola Jonathan Lo, cello First Prize laureate of the 12th Banff International String Quartet Competition, the Rolston String Quartet was named among the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s 2016 “30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians Under 30.”

Recently, Musical Toronto said, “they performed with a maturity and cohesion rivaling the best string quartets in the world.” A winner of Astral’s 2016 National Auditions, the quartet was also the Grand Prize winner of the 31st Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition, as well as prizewinners at the M-Prize competition (2016) and the 2016 Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition.

On the heels of their Banff win, the Rolstons immediately embarked upon the competition’s tour in the 2016-2017 season, which took them to Germany,

Italy, Austria, and Canada, in addition to the United States. In the 2017-2018 season, they will perform throughout Canada, the United States, Europe, and Israel. Highlights include appearances in such venues as the Smithsonian, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Koerner Hall at the Toronto Royal Conservatory of Music, and the Esterházy Palace.

In the fall of 2017, the Rolstons began their tenure as the Yale School of Music’s fellowship quartet-in-residence. They have also served as the graduate quartet-inresidence at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and have participated in residencies and fellowships at the Académie musicale de Villecroze, Aspen Music Festival, Banff Centre, McGill International String Quartet Academy, Yale Summer School of Music/Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Robert Mann String Quartet Institute, St. Lawrence String Quartet Seminar, and the Yehudi Menuhin Chamber Music Festival.

Notable collaborations for the Rolston String Quartet include performances with renowned artists Andrés Díaz, Gilbert Kalish, Mark Morris, Donald Palma, Jon Kimura Parker, and Miguel da Silva.

Additionally, they have worked with composers John Luther Adams and Brian Current. Primary mentors include the Brentano String Quartet, James Dunham, Norman Fischer, and Kenneth Goldsmith, and the quartet has received additional guidance from the St. Lawrence String Quartet, Barry Shiffman, Miguel da Silva, and Alastair Tait.

Artist Profiles

The Rolston String Quartet was formed in the summer of 2013 at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity’s Chamber Music Residency. They take their name from Canadian violinist Thomas Rolston, founder and longtime director of the Music and Sound Programs at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

Luri Lee plays a Carlo Tononi violin, generously on loan from Shauna Rolston Shaw.

The Rolston String Quartet is endorsed

by Jargar Strings of Denmark.

Miles Walter, piano Miles Walter is a performer and composer from New Hampshire. As a pianist, he has performed on two continents as a cabaret accompanist, chamber musician, jazz player, gospel bandleader, and concert soloist; as a stage actor, he has worked professionally within New England. As a composer, his works have had recent performances at the Bowdoin International Music Festival (Maine), the Ostrava Days Festival for New and Experimental Music (Czech Republic), and at Yale University. Miles is currently pursuing a B.A. in Music at Yale, where he is a piano student of YSM faculty pianist Wei-Yi Yang and a composition student of Yale College faculty composers Kathryn Alexander and Konrad Kaczmarek and YSM faculty composer Hannah Lash.

Notes on the Program

maurice ravel Introduction and Allegro, M. 46 Maurice Ravel wrote his Introduction and Allegro in 1905. It was commissioned by the Érard piano company, the maker of the double action pedal harp and the supplier of both harps and pianos for the Paris Conservatoire. Ravel dashed off the piece in a few days so that he could embark upon a planned yachting excursion with friends.

Finally a lively and dance-like coda ends the work, spinning to a close with enormous energy and good spirits. hannah lash Form and Postlude (2017)

Form and Postlude is a piece in one continuous movement but with a distinct postlude which ends the work. I play throughout At just about this same time (1904), a rival with the idea of pacing on many levels: company, Pleyel, had just invented a chro- the largest level is the idea of proportion matic harp, and in order to enhance sales of sections to one another, then, harmonic of this new instrument, commissioned rhythm (in the broad sense), then harmonic Claude Debussy to write his Danses sacrée rhythm on a more local level, and of course et profane. Both Debussy’s and Ravel’s works then on the surface of the music, there is have enjoyed enormous success since their instrumental texture and how fast the premieres, but the chromatic harp has all notes go by. Along with this sense of play but given way to the double-action harp, in terms of the pacing and motion is the and it has long been customary for idea of color. I love this ensemble, and its Debussy’s piece to be played on the same palette of color has been part of my DNA, type of harp as Ravel’s. as it were, for many years, because Ravel’s wonderful work Introduction and Allegro is Introduction and Allegro is a work that begins such a cornerstone in the harpist’s repertoire. with a short section which luxuriates in While composing, I found myself feeling slow and elegant waves, the flute and that I was entering into this colorful world clarinet in thirds introducing material that is possible with this combination of that will be used throughout the work. instruments, almost as if it were possible After this short introduction, the piece to step into a painter’s palette in a real and proper begins with its brilliant colors visceral way, physically interacting with created by impressive double-tonguing all the different colors. The title Form techniques in the winds blended with and Postlude nods to Ravel’s Introduction shimmering strings and delicate harp and Allegro, although my piece lives in its figures. The harp steps forward as the own very distinct space apart from Ravel. soloist at key moments, and finally breaks into a cadenza towards the end of the piece, This piece was generously commissioned allowing the music to unwind, breathe, and by Chamber Music Northwest, where its be illuminated through a slower metabolism premiere took place in July of 2017. I espesomewhat reminiscent of the introduction. cially want to thank David Shifrin for

Notes on the Program

making this work possible, and for his extraordinary artistry and playing, which helped shape the work.

The final movement is a wild and spinning presto with ripping figures in the piano, romping through the ensemble and finally careening towards an explosive end.

hannah lash Concerto for Piano and Chamber Ensemble (2017)

I am deeply grateful to Miles Walter for his beautiful and sensitive work on this piece. He is a pleasure to work with and his talents cannot be overstated.

Concerto for Piano and Chamber Ensemble is a reduction of a larger work in progress.

It is in three movements, all of which are connected thematically and structurally.

The first movement features material that is clearly melodic in nature, and plays with the traditional form of a first movement for concertos. The first theme is introduced in the orchestra, and the piano introduces the second theme when it enters, so that the ensemble and piano are delineated not only dramatically but thematically as well. The piano later picks up the first theme, and then following its cadenza, both themes are combined.

The second movement is a dream-like exploration of dovetailing harmonies and themes. Unresolved dissonances are allowed to trail off into silence until a second character emerges—a kind of gentle dance which lives in a world that weaves freely into and out of the slower more emotionally charged music. The piano has the last word, after one final outcry which roars with blurred dissonances: a slow cadenza made up of long suspensions counterpointing a transformation of the opening melody.

Robert Blocker, Dean

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Upcoming Events Ransom Wilson, Ole Akahoshi, & Peter Frankl october 2 Faculty Artist Series Faculty artists Ransom Wilson, flute, Ole Akahoshi, cello, and Peter Frankl, piano, perform a program of works by Haydn, Mendelssohn, Poulenc, and Schubert Morse Recital Hall | Monday | 7:30 pm fr ee a dmission

Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble october 3 Oneppo Chamber Music Series The revered Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble performs a compelling program of music by Dvořák and Enescu Morse Recital Hall | Tuesday | 7:30 pm Tickets start at $26 • Students $13

Sir Jonathan Mills October 5 Talks and Master Classes Sir Jonathan Mills, Trumbull Fellow, presents “A State of the Arts: the case for cosmopolitanism – putting culture at the center of multiculturalism,” the second of four public lectures that address issues related to “Culture, Creativity, and Community” Whitney Humanities Center Auditorium Thursday | 5 pm free admission Janna Baty, mezzo-soprano october 7 Faculty Artist Series A recital program by faculty mezzo-soprano Janna Baty Morse Recital Hall | Saturday | 7:30 pm fr ee a dmission

Lunchtime Chamber Music october 4 Yale School of Music Ensembles YSM students perform a midday chamber music program Morse Recital Hall | Wednesday | 12:30 pm fr ee a dmission

The Rolston Quartet october 8 Yale School of Music Ensembles An afternoon performance by the Rolston Quartet, YSM’s fellowship quartet-in-residence Morse Recital Hall | Sunday | 3 pm fr ee a dmission

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Robert Blocker, Dean