For the past 3 years, Art of Élan has been pioneering unique chamber music events and bringing back the excitement of classical music. Led by San Diego Symphony musicians Kate Hatmaker and Demarre McGill, Art of Élan is breaking down the barriers that surround classical music through its innovative, one-hour programming. For its fourth season, entitled “One Voice,” Art of Élan and the San Diego Museum of Art offer five art-inspired concerts that highlight the wonderful energy created when melody, culture and the human voice combine to form a language all of us can understand—music. Each program, held in the intimate Hibben Gallery, offers a wide variety of exciting classical repertoire and promises to provide an engaging experience for the listener. By drawing inspiration from the word élan, which represents momentum, vigor and spirit, Art of Élan hopes to engage and energize audiences in new ways.

PROGRAM

Tuesday, March 8th, 2011, 7PMHibben Gallery, The San Diego Museum of Art

Mozart En Route (Or, A Little Traveling Music) Aaron Jay Kernis

Kate Hatmaker, violinChi-Yuan Chen, viola

Alex Greenbaum, cello

I lie David Lang

Angelica Eclar, sopranoSACRA/PROFANA, chorus

Poucha Dass François Rabbath

Jeremy Kurtz, double bass

‘Lude Steven Mackey

Tien-Hsin Wu and Kate Hatmaker, violinsChi-Yuan Chen, viola

Alex Greenbaum, cello

Forever Young John Corigliano

Jenny Spence, sopranoSACRA/PROFANA, chorus

Diamond in the Rough Michael Daugherty

Tien-Hsin Wu, violinChi-Yuan Chen, viola

Greg Cohen, percussion

Support for Art of Élan performances at The San Diego Museum of Art comes from Gordon Brodfuehrer, Jean and Charles Hellerich, and Carol Strensrud; their extraordinary generosity helped to make this season possible. Additional thanks go to James Robbins, John Forrest and Deborah Pate, Pat and Jack Thomas, Jeanette Stevens, Joyce and Ted Strauss, and the Lewis and Marnie Klein Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation. We would also like to recognize Toni Robin for her tireless energy and support, as well as Ben Leggatt for his wonderfully creative and colorful graphics. Additional funding for the Museum comes from the Members of The San Diego Museum of Art, and by the County of San Diego Community Enhancement Program. Institutional support for the Museum is provided by the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture.

Memory can be a powerful and useful tool when observing or participating in the creation of art. In fact, when invoked in a work of art, it can be such a force that one doesn’t necessarily have to have gone through an experience to feel a connection to it. Inspired by the painting Memory of Turin, we wanted to create a program that offered several examples of musical memories. Whether the work is reminiscent of a particular style of the past, is a re-imagining of a well-known work or simply takes familiar lyrics and puts them in a new musical setting, memory has the ability to bond us to the seemingly unfamiliar. Throughout this “One Voice” season we have sought to show through our programming that no matter what we’re accustomed to hearing, with open ears and a little imagination, there is always something we can connect to. Our hope is that, if you listen closely, the musical “echoes” presented in this program will also resonate with you.

-Demarre McGill

Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978) ItalyMemory of TurinOil on canvas 1916Gift of Mrs. Jacquelyn Littlefield1986.65The San Diego Museum of Art©2011 Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York/SIAE, Rome

COMPOsitiOns

Kernis’ “Mozart En Route (Or, A Little Traveling Music)”

Aaron Jay Kernis (b.1960) has been proclaimed as the “most exciting” post-modernist composer of his generation, having produced a wide range of repertoire, from symphonies, to instrumental concerti, to choral works. While his style has varied quite considerably over the past few decades, his personal vision is to create music “that is beautiful, flowing easily from moments of dissonance to moments of lyrical resolution.” In this light-hearted work for string trio, Kernis imagines what it would be like if Mozart were to travel the United States, with all of its many idioms and diverse cultural influences. As Mozart wrote many string trios in his life, Kernis starts with this same format, and then infuses a bit of Americana into it, borrowing from bluegrass, jazz, and other folk elements. The violinist does a bit of “fiddling” in this piece, and the ever-changing rhythms create a true “melting pot” of sounds for the listener.

Lang’s “I Lie”

American composer David Lang was born in 1957 in Los Angeles and is the co-founder and co-artistic director of New York’s legendary music festival, Bang on a Can. Having won a Pulitzer Prize in 2008 for his “Little Match Girl Passion,” Lang is quickly becoming a much sought-after composer. Although his compositional style has been characterized as modernist, minimalist and even rock-influenced, the work being performed tonight, “I lie,” is based on an old Yiddish poem. According to Lang: “I lie was commissioned by the California vocal ensemble Kitka, in part with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts. I have a long history with this ensemble, having worked with them on music for the American Conservatory Theater’s production of the play Hecuba, directed by Carey Perloff and starring Olympia Dukakis. Kitka is an all woman group and it concentrates on music that comes out of the various folk traditions of Eastern Europe, so when they asked me to write a kind of ‘modern folk song’ it seemed natural to me to take the text of an old Yiddish song and give it new music. I chose this particular text because it has a darkly expectant feeling about it. It isn’t about being happy or sad or miserable or redeemed; rather, it is about waiting for happiness or sadness or misery or redemption. As is the case in many Yiddish songs, something as ordinary as a girl waiting for her lover can cast many darker, more deeply beautiful shadows.”

i LieBy David Lang

Text in Yiddish by Joseph Rolnick

Leyg ikh mir in bet araynUn lesh mir oys dos fayerKumen vet er haynt tsu mirDer vos iz mire tayer

Banen loyfn tsvey a togEyne kumt in ovntKh’her dos klingen – glin glin glonYo, er iz shoyn noent

Shtundn hot di nakht gor filEyns der tsveyter triberEyne iz a fraye norVen es kumt mayn liber

Ikh her men geyt, men klapt in tir,Men ruft mikh on baym nomenIkh loyf arop a borveseYo! Er iz gekumen!

I lie down in bed aloneAnd snuff out my candleToday he will come to meWho is my treasure

The trains run twice a dayOne comes at nightI hear them clanging – glin, glin, glonYes, now he is near

The night is full of hoursEach one sadder than the nextOnly one is happyWhen my beloved comes

I hear someone coming, someone raps on the doorSomeone calls me by nameI run out barefootYes! He is come!

Rabbath’s “Poucha Dass”

Bassist/composer François Rabbath was born in Aleppo, Syria, in 1931 into a musical family. Largely self-taught, François studied bass briefly at the Paris Conservatory before striking out on his own to pursue a career in music. His innovative techniques on the instrument led him to publish a series of revolutionary method books for the bass, and his love for many types of music led him to compose and perform “cross-over music” long before the term was coined. “Poucha Dass” was inspired from his first meeting with Indian classical musician Ravi Shankar. It is based on the sound of classical Indian ragas as performed on the sitar, an instrument that dates back to the Middle Ages. --Jeremy Kurtz

Mackey’s “Lude”

Steven Mackey was born in 1956 to American parents stationed in Frankfurt, Germany. Although his first musical passion was playing the electric guitar in rock

bands based in northern California, he has since composed for orchestras, chamber ensembles, dance and opera. He regularly performs his own work, including two electric guitar concertos, and is also active as an improvising musician. He is currently on faculty at Princeton University and continues to write and perform extensively. His “Lude” string quartet was born out of a “Bach Perspectives” project that the Brentano String Quartet was undertaking, and, in his own words:

In Lude, my aim was to use melodic and rhythmic materials from Bach’s Contrapunctus XI in new contrapuntal contexts that would stake out a musical territory that I could claim as my own, in sharp contrast to Bach. I was not interested in rhetorical opposition to Bach, but rather an earnest characterization, using Bach’s themes, of where I stand as an American composer working in the early 21st century. I’ve always been interested in exploring the edges that delineate contrast, and, by interspersing Lude around and inside C.P XI, had 4 edges to work with: as a pre-Lude, my music recedes gently and allows C.P XI to emerge; as an inter-Lude I latched on to a particularly obsessive patch of C.P XI and extended the obsession until it reached escape velocity and found its way back to Lude. The most challenging transition for me was returning from Lude back to Bach. It is quite a drawn-out process culminating in what I hope is a gentle little bump as the tempo of Lude downshifts to the tempo of C.P. XI…After the Bach ends the post-Lude dances off into the distance.

Corigliano’s “Forever Young”

Born in 1938, American composer John Corigliano has enjoyed a prolific career as a writer of symphonic, solo, choral and chamber music works. He has written much music for film as well, and his score to “The Red Violin” won him an Oscar in 1999. He also won 2 Grammy Awards in 2008 for his song cycle “Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan,” to which “Forever Young” belongs. The song cycle was originally written for a Carnegie Hall concert, at the request of Sylvia McNair, whose only stipulation was that the work have an American text. Turning to the folk songs of Bob Dylan, Corigliano decided to treat these former works as poetry, ignoring the musical settings and recasting them more as “art songs.” According to the composer, “I wanted to take poetry I knew to be strongly associated with popular art and readdress it in terms of concert art-crossover in the opposite direction, one might say. Dylan granted his permission [to use his texts], and I set to work.” The work was completed in 2000 and then later arranged for either an orchestral or an a cappella chorus accompaniment. It is performed this evening with solo soprano and a cappella chorus.

Forever YoungBy John CoriglianoText by Bob Dylan

May God bless and keep you always May your wishes all come trueMay you always do for others And let others do for youMay you build a ladder to the stars And climb on every rungMay you stay forever youngForever young, forever young May you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous May you grow up to be trueMay you always know the truth And see the lights surrounding youMay you always be courageous Stand upright and be strongMay you stay forever youngForever young, forever young May you stay forever young.

May your hands always be busy May your feet always be swiftMay you have a strong foundation When the winds of changes shiftMay your heart always be joyful And may your song always be sungMay you stay forever youngForever young, forever young May you stay forever young.

Daugherty’s “Diamond in the Rough”

Born in 1954 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Michael Daugherty is one of the most commissioned, performed and recorded composers on the American concert music scene today. His works are characterized by an interest in American pop culture, and he has written several pieces based on famous American “icons,” including Superman, Elvis and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. “Diamond in the Rough” was written in 2006 to commemorate the 250th birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and is scored

for violin and viola (like Mozart’s “Sinfonia Concertante), as well as percussion (one player performing on glockenspiel, tambourine, triangle, metal wind chimes, and tuned crystal glasses filled with water). According to the composer, it was “inspired by the multifaceted music of Mozart, a composer whose life, like a diamond, reflects and refracts many stories and myths. In the first movement, ‘Magic,’ complex rhythms and unusual orchestrations create different angles on Papageno’s glockenspiel heard in ‘The Magic Flute.’ Crystal glasses resonate in the second movement, ‘Fifty-Five Minutes Past Midnight,’ echoing the supposed exact time of Mozart’s mysterious death on December 5, 1791. The last movement, ‘Wig Dance,’ mirrors the image of Mozart as an avid partygoer who once remarked he preferred ‘the art of dancing rather than music.’” *Program notes by Kate Hatmaker

MusiCiAnsChi-Yuan Chen

Born in Taipei, Taiwan, violist Chi-Yuan Chen is recognized as one of the leading violists from his country and serves as the violist of the Great Wall String Quartet. He has won top prizes in both the International Paris Viola Competition as well as the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and has performed as guest artist with the Boston Chamber Music Society, Metamorphosen and the Gardner Museum Chamber Ensemble in Boston. He has performed all over the world and collaborated with artists such as Elliot Carter, John Corigliano, Yo-Yo Ma, Kurt Masur and Seiji Ozawa. A graduate of New England Conservatory with the highest distinction in performance in both Bachelor and Master degrees, Mr. Chen also holds a Doctoral of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook University. His principal teachers are Peng Pan, Ben Lin, James Dunham, Martha Katz, Katherine Murdock and Nobuko Imai.

Greg Cohen

Gregory Cohen is currently Principal Percussionist of the San Diego Symphony. A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Gregory received his B.M. in percussion performance from Boston University and his M.M. from the New England Conservatory, also in percussion performance. Gregory has performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the LA Philharmonic, the St. Louis Symphony, the Pacific Symphony and the Kansas City Symphony. He has collaborated with the world’s leading conductors in both Europe and the United States and has recorded on Telarc, Reference Recordings, Albany Records, Mode Records labels and is a Zildjian orchestral artist. In addition to his work at the San Diego Symphony, Gregory is on faculty at San Diego State University and maintains an active private percussion studio in San Diego.

Alex Greenbaum

Alex Greenbaum began playing the cello at age three. Born in New York, in the past few years he has performed at diverse venues throughout the city, including Bargemusic, Carnegie Hall, Tonic, Lincoln Center, Baryshnikov Arts Center, the Brooklyn Lyceum and Le Poisson Rouge. As a member of The Knights orchestra Alex has visited Germany, Ireland, the Canary Islands, the Caramoor and Ravinia festivals, and collaborated with artists including Dawn Upshaw, Yo-Yo Ma, Christina Courtin, Gil Shaham and Osvaldo Golijov. He has appeared as soloist with the National Repertory Orchestra, Brandywine Chamber Orchestra and the Lehman Concert Artists. An active chamber musician, Alex is a member of the Tarab Cello Ensemble, Hutchins East and performs often with the FLUX Quartet. Also a frequent performer in Mexico, Alex was a member of the Orquesta Sinfonica Sinaloa de las Artes, based in the state of Sinaloa, and returned there to perform as soloist with the Tarab Cello Ensemble in the Feria de las Artes. Alex has recorded for Bridge, Koch, Ancalagon, Sony and In a Circle records, along with music for film, television and commercials. Alex plays a cello crafted in 2006 by Michele Ashley. He lives in Brooklyn.

Kate Hatmaker

Kate Hatmaker is currently a violinist with the San Diego Symphony, in addition to being the co-founder and Artistic Director of Art of Élan. Ms. Hatmaker has played with a wide variety of American orchestras, including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the New World Symphony, and the Pittsburgh “Live Chamber Orchestra,” which she helped promote in an effort to draw younger audiences to classical music. In addition to teaching in the San Diego area, Ms. Hatmaker is a frequent chamber music recitalist and has been a featured soloist with the San Diego Symphony and the Breckenridge Music Festival orchestras. She completed her Master of Music degree at Carnegie Mellon University, in the studio of Andrés Cárdenes, and her undergraduate training at both the University of Iowa and the Sorbonne University in Paris, France, graduating Phi Beta Kappa with high honors and degrees in both Political Science and French.

Jeremy Kurtz

San Diego Symphony principal bassist Jeremy Kurtz has a diverse musical background that includes solo, chamber and orchestral performance. He is the winner of numerous competitions, including the 1997 International Society of Bassists solo competition. His recital experience is extensive, including solo appearances in Houston, Memphis, Philadelphia, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, and Toronto. He performed Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Harbison’s bass concerto with the San Diego Symphony in March 2007, and has also appeared as soloist with New Jersey’s Riverside Symphonia and the Chamber Orchestra of

Philadelphia. He is on the faculty of San Diego State University and The Idyllwild Arts Academy, and is also on the board of directors of the International Society of Bassists. His first CD, “Sonatas and Meditations,” was released in 2008 in partnership with Houston Classical Radio, KUHF. www.jeremykurtz.com

Tien-Hsin Wu

Violinist Tien-Hsin “Cindy” Wu enjoys a versatile career as a soloist and chamber musician throughout North America, Europe and Asia. She has appeared as a soloist with many orchestras, including the Russian State Symphony Orchestra and National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, and has also collaborated in concert with Gary Graffman, Gary Hoffman, Kim Kashkashian, Ida Kavafian, William Preucil, Thomas Quasthoff, and members of the Alban Berg, Guarneri, Orion, and Tokyo string quartets at such prominent venues as the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress and Alice Tully Hall. A dedicated educator, Ms. Wu began teaching violin in the fall of 2010 as an adjunct professor at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California.

SACRA/PROFANA

Since its debut in Feburary 2009, SACRA/PROFANA has rapidly been gaining a reputation as an exciting new voice in American choral music. Noted for its “youthful enthusiasm” and “maturity of technique” (David Chase, Director of La Jolla Symphony Chorus), SACRA/PROFANA specializes in a unique blend of classic and contemporary styles. With a repertoire including everything from Schoenberg and Smashing Pumpkins to Leonard Cohen and Ligeti, the 22-voice choir is committed to providing a rewarding, entertaining concertgoing experience. Under the direction of Yale-educated conductor Krishan Oberoi, this dynamic young ensemble boldly champions the music of living composers, while breathing new life into timeless masterpieces. More information at www.sacraprofana.org.

uPCOMinG eventsVOCE

Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011, 7PM Hibben Gallery, The San Diego Museum of Art

The final concert of the season, “Voce,” will explore different uses of the human “voice” in classical music. From percussionists using their actual voices to accompany the violin in Chen-Yi’s “Yangko” to Claude Debussy’s seductive “The Songs of Bilitis” for two flutes, two harps, celeste and voice, this concert will leave the listener counting the myriad uses of voice as a means of expression.

In partnership with

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To support Art of Élan concerts at the Museum, please consider a donation to:The San Diego Museum of ArtAttn. Art of Élan concert series

PO Box 122107San Diego, CA 92112-2107

Contributions to this partnership in any amount are appreciated. Those contribut-ing $500 or more will be invited to a special end-of-season dinner to celebrate the year’s performances. Contributions can also be e-mailed to Stephanie Ward at sward@sdmart.org.

Art of Élan Board of Directors Kate HatmakerAlena HerranenDemarre McGill

Deborah PateJames Robbins

Alan Ziter

If you enjoyed this concert tonight, please join our Art of Élan family of supporters. Contributions of any kind are much appreciated, as even $25 can help us continue to provide exciting concerts. We believe that with our energy, innovative programming ideas, and genuine desire to share classical music with a wider audience, we can change the cultural climate of San Diego. We don’t need a million dollars to do it, but we do need your help and support.

To support Art of Élan, please send your donation to: 3730 1st Ave. #1, San Diego, CA 92103

Phone: 619.692.2081www.artofelan.org

Art of Élan is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and, as such, all contributions are fully tax-deductible. Tax ID: 20-8136710