Students of Boris Berman, April 4, 2018

Robert Blocker, Dean

horowitz piano series

Students of Boris Berman Celebrating the 70 th birthday of Professor Boris Berman

Boris Berman, Artistic Director Wednesday, April 4, 2018 • 7:30 pm Morse Recital Hall

horowitz piano series

Students of Boris Berman April 4, 2018 • Morse Recital Hall

Franz Schubert 1797–1828

Rondo in A major, D. 951

Felix Mendelssohn 1809–1847

Andante e Allegro Brillant, Op. 92 Duo Amadeae Esther Park ’12AD ’13MMA ’17DMA, piano Sun-A Park ’16AD ’17MMA, piano

Frédéric Chopin 1810–1849

Three Mazurkas, Op. 56 No. 1 in B major. Allegro non tanto No. 2 in C major. Vivace No. 3 in C minor. Moderato

Chopin

Fantasy in F minor, Op. 49 Ronaldo Rolim ’20DMA, piano

yale school of music

Isaac Albéniz 1860–1909

Maurice Ravel 1875–1937

Selections from Iberia, Book 1 (1906) I. Evocación III. El Corpus en Sevilla “Alborada del gracioso” from Miroirs, M. 43 Henry Kramer ’13AD ’19DMA, piano intermission

Béla Bartók 1881–1945

Sonata for two pianos and percussion, Sz. 110 I. Assai lento – Allegro molto II. Lento, ma non troppo III. Allegro non troppo icarus Quartet Larry Weng ’14MMA ’19DMA, piano Yevgeny Yontov ’14MM ’20DMA, piano Jeff Stern ’16AD, percussion Matthew Keown ’16MM ’22DMA, percussion

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

Duo Amadeae Esther Park ’12ad ’13mma ’17dma, piano Sun-A Park ’16ad ’17mma, piano Duo Amadeae was formed in 2014 by sister pianists Esther and Sun-A Park. The sisters have broad musical interests, frequently moving between different classical forms, including concerti, chamber music, and solo pieces.

The winner of the 2016 Chicago International Duo Piano Competition, Duo Amadeae has performed around the world at venues including Lincoln Center in New York City, Het Concertgebouw in the Netherlands, the Slovak Philharmonic in Slovakia, the National Concert Hall in Ireland, the Tel Aviv Museum of Arts in Israel, the Sendai Cultural Center in Japan, and the Miguel Delibes Cultural Center in Spain.

Both Esther and Sun-A have received international recognition in competitions, including first prizes at the 52nd and 61st Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Competition, and top prizes at the 5th International Sendai Music Competition, the Jose Roca Piano Competition, the 58th Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition, the Paderewski Internatonal Piano Competition, and the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition.

Both of the sisters have won the Woolsey Concerto Competition at the Yale School of Music — Esther in 2012 and Sun-A in 2015. As competition-winners, they performed Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Yale Philharmonia during the 2012 and 2015 concert seasons, respectively.

As individual performers, the Park sisters have played recitals at major venues in the United States, Europe, South America, and Asia. They have performed concertos with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Sendai Philharmonic, the San Marino Republic Orchestra, Orchester Haydn, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the Glens Falls Symphony Orchestra, the San Martino Republic Symphony Orchestra, the Albany Symphony Orchestra, and the Symphonic Orchestra of Castilla y León under the direction of such conductors as Peter Oundjian, Neeme Järvi, Eiji Oue, Arthur Hagen, and Krzysztof Urbanski.

Duo Amadeae is passionate about nurturing the next generation of pianists and has given masterclasses and workshops at the Chicago Duo Institute and the East Tennessee State University’s Pre-College Department.

The duo is scheduled to perform upcoming concerts at Temple Emanu-El in New York City and the Peabody Institute of Music at Johns Hopkins University.

Ronaldo Rolim ’20dma, piano With “a special ability to present touching interpretations” (El Norte), Brazilian pianist Ronaldo Rolim is a prominent figure among the newest generation of outstanding musicians. Acclaimed for his “consummate elegance” (New York Concert Review) and “mastery of phrasing, agogic accents, and dynamics” (Oberbaselbieter Zeitung), he is a winner of Astral’s 2017 National Auditions and has performed across four continents. Mr. Rolim has captured top prizes at numerous international competitions, including the RNCM James Mottram International

artist profiles

Piano Competition, the Bösendorfer International Piano Competition, the San Marino Piano Competition, the Lyon International Competition, the Teresa Carreño Piano Competition, and the prestigious Concours Géza Anda in Zurich. He has performed with groups such as the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Concerto Budapest, the Phoenix Symphony, and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as many of Brazil’s foremost ensembles. A passionate advocate of chamber music, he is a founding member of Trio Appassionata and greatly enjoys working with diverse chamber musicians, having performed with Ensemble Connect, the Baltimore Symphony, the Brazilian Symphony, Bronx Arts Ensemble, and the Jasper, Aizuri, and São Paulo quartets.

Born in 1986, Mr. Rolim studied at the Magda Tagliaferro School in Brazil. In 2005, he moved to the USA, where he has studied with Flavio Varani, Benjamin Pasternack, and Boris Berman. » ronaldorolim.com Henry Kramer ‘13ad, ’19dma, piano The winner of the Second Prize at the 2016 Queen Elisabeth Competition and the 2015 William Petschek Recital Debut Award from The Juilliard School, pianist Henry Kramer is establishing himself as one of the most exciting American musicians of his generation. His performances have been praised by critics as “triumphant” and “thrilling” (New York Times), and “technically effortless” (La Presse, Montreal).

A Maine native, Mr. Kramer has also

earned top prizes in the 2015 Honens International Piano Competition, the 2011 Montreal International Music Competition, and the 6th China Shanghai International Piano Competition. He is a laureate of the 2017 American Pianist Association Awards, a prizewinner in the 8th National Chopin Competition in Miami, and a recipient of the 2014 Harvard Musical Association Arthur Foote Award. He is a winner of Astral’s 2014 National Auditions.

Henry has been invited to play with orchestras across the globe including the National Belgian Orchestra, the Brussels Philharmonic, the Calgary Philharmonic, the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra in Ankara, Turkey, the Portland (Maine) Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Métropolitain du Montreal, and the Yale Philharmonia. He has soloed under the batons of preeminent conductors Marin Alsop, Jan Pascal Tortelier, and Stéphane Dénève. In recent seasons, Mr. Kramer was featured in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the National Orchestra of Belgium and Hans Graf, in Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional in the Dominican Republic, Ravel’s Concerto in G with Gerard Schwarz and the Indianapolis Symphony, and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with Symphony in C. Mr. Kramer has been a guest performer in recitals at Portland (Oregon) Piano International, the Cliburn Foundation, and the National Chopin Foundation in Miami, and in important venues such as Carnegie Hall (Zankel and Weill), the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Queen Elizabeth Hall in Antwerp, and BOZAR

artist profiles

in Brussels. Deeply committed to the chamber music repertoire, he has been featured in performances at Lincoln Center and has participated in the Steans Institute at the Ravinia Festival, La Jolla Music Society’s Summerfest, Music@ Menlo’s International Program, and the Verbier Festival Academy, where he was awarded the Tabor Prize in piano. He appeared on Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute tour, which included performances at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and Morgan Library in New York, as well as an unprecedented appearance as a cultural ambassador in Havana, Cuba. This past summer, Mr. Kramer performed in the Orchestra of St. Luke’s Resonance Festival dedicated to the works of Schubert, and in the Salon Chamber Music Festival in Provence where he shared the stage with prominent members of the Berlin Philharmonic, including Emmanuel Pahud and Daishin Kashimoto.

Mr. Kramer holds a Master of Music and a Bachelor of Music degree from The Juilliard School, along with an Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music, where he received the Charles S. Miller Award for most outstanding first-year pianist. He is currently finishing his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Yale School of Music. He was a visiting artist in piano at Smith College, and he is currently the Assistant Teaching Professor of Piano at the University of Missouri Kansas City Conservatory of Dance and Music. His musical mentors include Julian Martin, Robert McDonald, and Boris Berman.

His first commercial recording, dedicated to the Oratorio Transcriptions of Liszt, was recently released on the NAXOS label. » henrykramerpiano.com

icarus Quartet Larry Weng ’14mma ’19dma, piano Yevgeny Yontov ’14mm ’20dma, piano Jeff Stern ’16ad, percussion Matthew Keown ’16mm ’22dma, percussion Like the mythological figure from which it draws its name, the half-piano, halfpercussion icarus Quartet dares to fly towards the sun, aspiring to new heights of artistry. Following their Carnegie Hall debut, composer Paul Lansky remarked, “This is music making of the highest order.”

While pursuing their graduate degrees at the Yale School of Music, the members of iQ were brought together to represent the school in its prestigious Yale in New York concert series with the Yale Percussion Group, under the guidance of Robert van Sice. Composition chair Martin Bresnick regarded an appearance of the Quartet as “one of the best student performances of any work I have ever heard.” They have since performed throughout the Northeast as well as in a recent set at the 2017 New Music Gathering in Bowling Green, Ohio.

In the 2017–18 season, Icarus serves as Ensemble-in-Residence for Music at St. David’s in Baltimore.

Passionate about educating and engaging with the next generation of musicians, iQ often works in school and university settings. They give classes and coachings on chamber music, as well as composition seminars on writing for their instruments.

The icarus percussionists (icarus Duo) are in residence with Yale College, reading, workshopping, and premiering new student works.

artist profiles

Larry Weng, Yevgeny Yontov, Matthew Keown, and Jeff Stern are all celebrated soloists in their own rights and winners of international prizes. Together, they have found a special chemistry and joy playing chamber music. They are dedicated to the composition, discovery, and performance of new works, but what distinguishes their approach to modern music is a strong background in the classical genre. icarus Quartet is committed to interpreting contemporary pieces with a method informed by centuries-old performance styles.

A laureate of the 2016 Queen Elisabeth International Piano Competition, Larry Weng has been described in The New York Times as playing with “steely power and incisive rhythm.” Of his 2014 New York debut at Weill Hall, the New York Concert Review described him as “an extremely sensitive musician and mature interpreter,” and “mature beyond his years.” Mr. Weng has appeared as soloist with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, the New England Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestra Nationale de Belgique under the baton of Marin Alsop. As of the 2017 season, Mr. Weng is a full-time member of the Icarus Quartet. In 2009, Mr. Weng graduated from the highly selective joint degree program between Columbia University and The Juilliard School with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance under the tutelage of Professors Jerome Lowenthal and Matti Raekallio. He continued his studies with Professor Boris Berman at the Yale School of Music, where he is a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate.

Finalist and recipient of the Prize for Best Performance of Chamber Music in the 2017 Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, Yevgeny Yontov has established himself as one of the most promising Israeli pianists of his generation.

Other international top prizes include the gold medal at the Wideman International Piano Competition in Louisiana, as well as additional prizes in competitions such as the Boesendorfer International Piano Competition, the Olga Kern International Piano Competition, and the Citta di Pinerolo International Piano Competition. A founding member of icarus Quartet and Artistic Director of The Second Movement chamber concert series in New Haven, CT, Yevgeny holds chamber music close to heart. He has played as a chamber musician in Israel, Europe, the United States, Canada, and South America, in venues that include Carnegie Hall in New York and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. After completing his Bachelor of Music degree summa cum laude at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel-Aviv University, where he studied with Professor Arie Vardi, Yevgeny moved to the United States to study with Professor Boris Berman at the Yale School of Music, where he is currently pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts degree.

Percussionist Jeff Stern is emerging as an exciting new voice in today’s contemporary music scene. He has worked closely with and given premieres of works by composers such as Martin Bresnick, John Luther Adams, Michael Laurello, and James Wood, including Wood’s recent marimba solo, Secret Dialogues. Jeff is a founding member of the icarus Quartet, championing

artist profiles

the repertoire’s staples as well as new works from great young composers of his generation. He has performed at prominent venues such as Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Lincoln Center, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as well as solo and ensemble performances throughout Europe. Jeff has appeared at the Yellow Barn Music Festival, the Bang on a Can Summer Festival, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and the Eighth Blackbird Creative Lab. He can also be heard on Cantaloupe Records’ release of Pulitzer Prize-winning John Luther Adams’ large-scale percussion work, Inuksuit. Jeff is a part-time faculty member at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University as well as a co-director of the Peabody Preparatory percussion program.

Jeff holds degrees from University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Peabody Conservatory, where he was awarded the Harold Randolph Prize in Performance.

He recently earned an Artist Diploma at the Yale School of Music, where he studied with marimba virtuoso Robert van Sice.

Jeff is a proud artist endorser of Vic Firth sticks and mallets and Pearl/Adams drums and percussion.

Matt Keown is a founding member of icarus Quartet. Keown is also a member of the Percussion Collective Robert van Sice. This innovative ensemble is an assemblage of talent rather than a fixed ensemble; as such, it morphs from an intimate duo to a large scale ensemble providing programs for a wide variety of audiences and venues. Keown was a fellow at the inaugural Eighth Blackbird Creative Lab in Ojai, California. There he received the rare opportunity to be trained in the intricacies of the Blackbird’s business

model and performance techniques that led to their iconic career in contemporary chamber music. Keown made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2012 when he was selected to be a member of the 21st Century Orchestra program where he played under David Robertson and John Adams. Keown is currently enrolled in the prestigious Doctor of Musical Arts degree program at Yale University, and is only the fourth percussionist to have been accepted to the program in twenty years. Through his studies at both Yale University and the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, Keown is under the tutelage of legendary percussionist and educator, Robert van Sice. Keown has delivered clinics across the United States, Malaysia, and Lithuania, and is a performing artist for Vic Firth drumsticks, Remo Drumheads, and Offworld Percussion. » icarusquartet.org

artist profiles

Boris Berman Well known to audiences in more than fifty countries on six continents, Professor Berman regularly appears with leading orchestras, on major recital series, and in important festivals. He studied at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory with the distinguished pianist Lev Oborin.

An active recording artist and a Grammy Award nominee, he was the first pianist to record the complete solo works of Prokofiev.

Other acclaimed releases include all of Alexander Scriabin’s piano sonatas and a recital of Shostakovich’s piano works, for which he received the Edison Classic Award (the Dutch equivalent of the Grammy).

He also recorded three Prokofiev concertos with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra with Neeme Järvi conducting, as well as works by Mozart, Beethoven, Weber, Schumann, Brahms, Franck, Debussy, Stravinsky, Janáček, Schnittke, Shostakovich, Joplin, and Cage.

In 1984, Professor Berman joined the Yale School of Music faculty, where he is Professor in the Practice of Piano, coordinator of the piano department, and artistic director of the Horowitz Piano Series. He was the founding director of the Yale Summer Piano Institute and the International Summer Piano Institute in Hong Kong. He also gives master classes throughout the world and frequently serves as a juror at international competitions.

In 2005, he was given the title of Honorary Professor of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and in 2013 was named a Honorary Professor of Royal Danish Conservatory in Copenhagen.

In 2000, Yale University Press published Professor Berman’s Notes from the Pianist’s Bench, which has been translated into several languages. In 2008, the same publisher released his book Prokofiev’s Piano Sonatas: A Guide for the Listener and the Performer. He is the editor of the new critical edition of Piano Sonatas by Prokofiev (Shanghai Music Publishing House).

Recent performing and teaching engagements have taken Professor Berman to Austria, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Holland, Israel, Italy, Portugal, and Russia, in addition to the United States.

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Upcoming Events Peter Oundjian, principal conductor april 6 Yale Philharmonia Principal conductor Peter Oundjian leads the Yale Philharmonia in a performance of Mahler’s deeply affecting Symphony No. 9 in D major.

Woolsey Hall | Friday | 7:30 pm Tickets start at $10 • Yale Faculty/Staff $8 Students $5 $3 surcharge for purchases at the door Brentano String Quartet april 10 Oneppo Chamber Music Series The Brentano String Quartet, YSM’s ensemblein-residence, performs Mozart’s captivating “Dissonance” Quartet and works by Beethoven and Shostakovich.

Morse Recital Hall | Tuesday | 7:30 pm Tickets start at $26 • Students $13

Marin Alsop, guest conductor april 20 Yale Philharmonia Guest conductor Marin Alsop leads the Yale Philharmonia, Yale Glee Club, and Yale Camerata in a performance of Beethoven’s monumental Ninth Symphony, on a program that also includes Bernstein’s Opening Prayer and Chichester Psalms.

Woolsey Hall | Friday | 7:30 pm Tickets start at $10 • Yale Faculty/Staff $8 Students $5 $3 surcharge for purchases at the door Yale Cellos april 25 YSM Ensembles Aldo Parisot leads the beloved Yale Cellos in arrangements of music by Ravel, Corelli, Bach, Joplin, Vivaldi, Schumann, and Rossini.

Morse Recital Hall | Wednesday | 7:30 pm Tickets from $10 • Students from $5

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Robert Blocker, Dean