THROUGH THE GREAT WAR - Cloudinary · KEITH ROBINSON, cello SOOYUN KIM, flute ... Prize for his First Piano Concerto. He ... Emerson String Quartet

The Chamber Music Society acknowledges with sincere appreciation Ms. Tali Mahanor’s generous long-term loan of the Hamburg Steinway & Sons model “D” concert grand piano.

TUESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 20, 2018, AT 7:30 3,797TH CONCERT

Alice Tully Hall, Starr Theater, Adrienne Arsht StageHome of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

ORION WEISS, pianoCHO-LIANG LIN, violinALEXANDER SITKOVETSKY, violinPAUL NEUBAUER, violaKEITH ROBINSON, celloSOOYUN KIM, flute

JAMES AUSTIN SMITH, oboeROMIE DE GUISE-LANGLOIS,

clarinetMARC GOLDBERG, bassoonERIC REED, horn

ERNŐ DOHNÁNYI(1877–1960)

MAURICE RAVEL(1875–1937)

EDWARD ELGAR(1857–1934)

Quintet No. 2 in E-flat minor for Piano, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello, Op. 26 (1914) Allegro non troppo Intermezzo: Allegretto ModeratoWEISS, SITKOVETSKY, LIN, NEUBAUER, ROBINSON

Le tombeau de Couperin for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, and Horn (1914–17) (arr. Mason Jones)  Prélude: Vif Fugue: Allegro moderato Menuet: Allegro moderato Rigaudon: Assez vifKIM, SMITH, DE GUISE-LANGLOIS, GOLDBERG, REED

INTERMISSION

Quintet in A minor for Piano, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello, Op. 84 (1918–19) Moderato—Allegro Adagio Andante—AllegroWEISS, LIN, SITKOVETSKY, NEUBAUER, ROBINSON

PLEASE TURN OFF CELL PHONES AND OTHER ELECTRONIC DEVICES.Photographing, sound recording, or videotaping this performance is prohibited.

THROUGH THE GREAT WAR

www.ChamberMusicSociety.org

Dear Listener,

If this concert program has a rather somber title, there’s no real way to avoid the fact that artists have historically responded to events in the world around them in ways both powerful and meaningful. Often the work of those artists has wound up defining their times more vividly than could be said in words. Think of Seurat’s Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte; Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans; Picasso’s Guernica. And of course music, which many regard as the most powerful wordless art of all, has followed events through the ages. Indeed, one could learn much history from simply connecting the many dots between our beloved repertoire and the context of its times.

World War I, called the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was the most cataclysmic event of modern times. With casualties of some sixteen million, its personal cost was beyond comprehension. Fear and sorrow needed to be counterbalanced by hope and remembrance. The music on our program today provides human perspectives on that difficult time which are in fact timeless and relevant today. As journalist Masha Gessen titled her recent prizewinning book The Future is History, so can we expect that the spirit of the music we hear today will always be there to strengthen us when tough times cycle back to challenge humanity. 

On a lighter note: isn’t it wonderful to be able to come to CMS and hear, in a single concert, not one but two piano quintets, plus a woodwind quintet? We keep asking ourselves where else we’d find that opportunity, and we’re delighted and proud to make such multi-dimensional listening a vital part of the CMS experience. 

Enjoy the performance,

ABOUT TONIGHT’S PROGRAM

David Finckel              Wu HanARTISTIC DIRECTORS

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

I adore the music on this program. At the Menuhin School where I studied, I grew up with a photograph of Edward Elgar next to the 17-year-old Yehudi Menuhin during their famous recording of Elgar’s Violin Concerto. Elgar’s Serenade was also the first piece I ever played in the school orchestra as a nine year old. I think he is a true master as a composer and the Piano Quintet is one of his best pieces. When I play it, the writing is sometimes so complex and grand that I feel I’m part of a symphony orchestra, and other times the music is incredibly intimate with hushed pianissimos and just one person playing at a time.

Moving on to the Dohnányi, for me he is the biggest underrated composer I know. I think he is an absolute genius and every work of his that I have played has been a masterpiece. This quintet is no exception. From the first phrase you will be drawn into a unique sound world that only Dohnányi can create. The second movement is a wonderful melancholic waltz with a fun scherzando trio section. And the final movement starts with an incredible fugue for string quartet before the piano is introduced with a chorale theme of its own. By the end of the piece the audience will definitely feel that they have gone on an incredible journey. Enjoy the concert!

—Alexander Sitkovetsky

NOTES ON THE PROGRAM

Ernő Dohnányi was among the 20th-century’s foremost composers, pianists, teachers, and music administrators. Born on July 27, 1877, in Pozsony, Hungary, 

(now Bratislava, Slovakia), he inherited his musical interests from his father, a talented amateur cellist, who gave him his first lessons in piano and theory. At 17, he entered the newly established Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, the first Hungarian of significant talent to do so. The young composer was honored with the Hungarian Millennium Prize for his Symphony No. 1 in 1895, and two years later he received the Bösendorfer Prize for his First Piano Concerto. He graduated from the Academy in 1897 and toured extensively for the next several years, appearing throughout Europe, Russia, the United States, and South 

ERNŐ DOHNÁNYI  Born July 27, 1877, in Pozsony, Hungary  (now Bratislava, Slovakia).

  Died February 9, 1960, in New York City.

Composed in 1914.  Premiered on November 12, 1914, in Berlin by the Klinger Quartet and the composer.

  First CMS performance on November 6, 1987, by pianist Richard Goode and the Emerson String Quartet.

  Duration: 25 minutes

Quintet No. 2 in E-flat minor for Piano, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello, Op. 26


America. From 1905 to 1915, Dohnányi taught at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik, a position he assumed at the invitation of his friend, the eminent violinist Joseph Joachim. He returned to Budapest in 1915, becoming director of the Academy in 1919 and musical director of Hungarian Radio in 1931. He served as conductor of the Budapest Philharmonic for the 25 years after 1919 while continuing to concertize at home and abroad and remaining active as a composer. In addition to his work as a performer and composer, Dohnányi’s contributions to the musical life of his homeland included inspiring and performing the works of younger composers (notably Bartók and Kodály), reforming the Budapest Academy’s music curriculum, guiding the development of such talented pupils as Georg Solti, Géza Anda, and Annie Fischer, and serving as a model in musical matters through the strength of his personality and the quality of his musicianship.

In 1944, Dohnányi left Hungary, a victim of the raging political and militaristic tides that swept the country during World War II. He moved first to Austria, then to Argentina, and finally settled in Tallahassee in 1949 as pianist and composer-in-residence at Florida State University. Though Dohnányi was in his seventies, his abilities remained unimpaired, and he continued an active musical life. He appeared regularly on campus and in guest engagements; his last public performance was as 

conductor of the FSU Symphony just three weeks before his death. He died in New York on February 9, 1960 during a recording session.

Dohnányi composed his Piano Quintet No. 2 in the summer and early autumn of 1914; he gave the work’s premiere in Berlin on November 12 with the distinguished Klinger Quartet. That was an anxious time for Germany. Following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo on June 28th, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria declared war on Serbia. War fever intensified in Berlin (H.W. Nevinson, war correspondent of London’s Daily News, reported that “up and down the wide road of Unter den Linden crowds paced incessantly by day and night, singing German war songs”), and on August 4th, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Franz Joseph’s ally, opened the hostilities against Russia, France, and Britain that began World War I. Some of the anxiety of the summer of 1914 seems to have filtered into Dohnányi’s Piano Quintet No. 2, which he cast in the somber key of E-flat minor, though the work ends optimistically and frequently posits brighter emotions to counter its darker passages. 

The quintet opens with a hushed main theme begun with an upward leap that is intoned in octaves by violin and cello above a foreboding rumbling in the piano. The other strings repeat the theme before the piano adds a hymn-like idea in block chords and all the participants join in a rising, muscular strain with dotted rhythms. The tension subsides and the piano again plays the opening theme as a bridge to the movement’s formal second subject, a sweet, lyrical melody begun in duet by first violin and viola. The exposition closes with a luminous stream of chords in the piano. The brief development section treats, in turn, the rumbling figures of the opening, the hymn-like 

Some of the anxiety of the summer of 1914 seems to have filtered into Dohnányi’s Piano Quintet No. 2


idea, the muscular strain and the main theme. The arrival at the recapitulation is marked by a sudden break in the music’s momentum, after which the viola recalls the main theme in long notes against a rippling keyboard background. The lyrical second subject and the piano’s luminous chord streams return before the movement closes quietly with an echo of the opening measures.

The Intermezzo begins in a lighthearted Viennese mood, a 1914 analogue to Brahms’s Liebeslieder Waltzes, but it seems unable to commit fully to such frothy music-making and moves on to an anxious, scherzo-like passage. This feverish music provides some energy for a while but it soon disintegrates as well. The waltz is tried again, more assertively this time, but with little more conviction than before. The ensemble then remembers the lyrical second theme from the preceding movement but cannot sustain it, and the waltz and the scherzo are recalled 

again, but with waning enthusiasm. The Intermezzo comes to an unsettled (and unsettling) end, a mirror, perhaps, of Berlin’s apprehensive mood at the time of its creation and a prescient chamber counterpart to Maurice Ravel’s disturbing musical commentary on the fall of the ancient Habsburg empire, La Valse of 1920.

The finale is music of transformation. The movement starts with a stern canon, with each of the strings in turn imitating the winding melody first entrusted to the cello; the piano offers a solemn, prayer-like chorale in response. The canon begins again and grows more aggressive until the piano resolutely adds the main theme of the first movement as antagonist. These two ideas contend, and the canon melody is ultimately subdued to a final, quiet, isolated line in the cello. In a magnificent postlude, the doubt of the first movement’s main theme is transfigured into a serene, confident benediction.  u

The inspiration for Le tombeau came from two obsessions that filled Ravel’s mind in 1917—the sorrow caused by World War I and the need to retain the sanity represented by the tradition of French culture. In the piano suite that was the first version of Le Tombeau, each of the movements was dedicated to one of six friends of the composer who had fallen on the battlefield, a musical memorial to his countrymen and, perhaps, to his recently deceased mother as well. (He orchestrated four of them in 1920.) In a similar way, composers of the French Baroque age, François Couperin (1668–1733) 

MAURICE RAVEL  Born March 7, 1875, in Ciboure, France.  Died December 26, 1937, in Paris.

Arranged by Mason Jones (1919–2009).

Composed in 1914–17 for piano; orchestrated in 1920; arranged for woodwind quintet in 1970.  Piano version premiered on April 11, 1919, in Paris by Marguerite Long; orchestral version premiered on February 28, 1920,  in Paris, conducted by Rhené-Baton.

  First CMS performance on March 1, 2005, by Imani Winds.


Le tombeau de Couperin for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, and Horn


It seemed that Elgar’s world was crumbling in 1918. Four years of war had left him, as so many others, weary and numb from the crush of events. Many of his friends of German ancestry were put through a bad time in England during those years; others whom he knew were killed or maimed in action. 

The traditional foundations of the British political system were skewed by the rise of socialism directly after World War I, and Elgar believed that his beloved Edwardian world was drawing to a close. His music seemed anachronistic in an era of polychords and dodecaphony, a remnant of stuffy conservatism, and he composed little of importance during the war years. His health became unsettled soon after he passed his 60th birthday, in 1917, and infected tonsils was diagnosed as the cause of his distress. Surgery early the next year cured the problem, but did little to alleviate Elgar’s depressed mental state. The family decided that a place in the country might offer some relief from the difficulties of life in London, so they rented a capacious thatched-roof cottage called Brinkwells, near the West Sussex village of Fittleworth. (Petworth House, 

among them, paid tribute in music to recently deceased colleagues. Such a piece was called a “tombeau,” literally a “tomb,” and Ravel intended such an association here. Beside just a way of eulogizing his comrades, however, the association with Couperin also represented for Ravel the continuity of the logic and refinement of French civilization. It was in this great Gallic tradition that Ravel sought intellectual and emotional shelter from crushing contemporary events. The title of Le tombeau de Couperin, therefore, has a triple meaning: it is a memorial to family and close friends; it is a revival of some aspects of the musical style of the French Baroque; and, probably most significant for Ravel, it is a continuation 

of the venerable tradition of French culture and thought in a time of despair and nihilism.

The arrangement of Le tombeau de Couperin for woodwind quintet is by Mason Jones, Principal Horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1939 to 1978, co-founder of the Philadelphia Woodwind Quintet, and faculty member of the Curtis Institute of Music. The gossamer Prélude contains some dazzling solo and ensemble virtuosity. The Fugue, based on a delicate, tear-drop theme, is an ethereal revival of the noblest of the Baroque contrapuntal forms. The Menuet is the most durable of all Baroque dances. The Rigaudon is a vigorous duple-meter dance that originated in Provence.  u

EDWARD ELGAR  Born June 2, 1857, in Broadheath, England.  Died February 23, 1934, in Worcester.

Composed in 1918–19.  Premiered on May 21, 1919, at Wigmore Hall, London by the British String Quartet (Albert Sammons, W.H. Reed, Raymond Jeremy, and Felix Salmond) and pianist William Murdoch.

  First CMS performance on December 2, 1973, by pianist Richard Goode, violinists Ani Kavafian and Jaime Laredo, violist Walter Trampler, and cellist Leslie Parnas.


Quintet in A minor for Piano, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello, Op. 84


immortalized in the late paintings of J.M.W. Turner, is only a short walk away.) Elgar settled into Brinkwells in April 1918, and the transformation in his physical and emotional conditions was swift and beneficent. The fresh, country air, long walks along the lanes and through the woods, and freedom from the stress of city life restored him remarkably, and by summer he was planning four new works, his first important compositions since Falstaff was completed in 1913: a violin sonata, a string quartet, a piano quintet, and a concerto for cello.

Elgar began the Piano Quintet in the summer of 1918 at Brinkwells, and worked on it throughout the rest of year simultaneously with the String Quartet and the Violin Sonata. (They were assigned, respectively, the consecutive opus numbers 84, 83, and 82.) The quintet was completed early the following year, and given a private performance in London on April 26, 1919 by the British String Quartet (Albert Sammons, W.H. Reed, Raymond Jeremy, and Felix Salmond) and pianist William Murdoch; the work received its public premiere at Wigmore Hall on May 21st. George Bernard Shaw was inspired enough by his attendance at the April concert to write a long admiring letter to Elgar (“the quintet knocked me over at once,” Shaw allowed) which served 

as the basis of the warm friendship between those two pillars of British culture until the composer’s death 15 years later. Billy Reed, second violinist in the quintet’s early performances and a close associate of Elgar at that time, noted in his later writings about the composer the profound effect that the woody surroundings of Brinkwells had on the chamber works written there in 1918. Reed visited West Sussex frequently, trying out Elgar’s new music, offering advice on points of string technique, and joining the composer in his walks through the countryside. Standing in stark contrast to the largely halcyon environs of Brinkwells was a blasted plateau at Flexham Park, near Bedham, capped by an eerie copse of gnarled and twisted trees, struck by lightning, Reed judged, which produced “a ghastly sight in the evening.” Elgar, enthralled with misty legends and supernatural tales, saw some mystical significance in the strange trees, which his wife, Alice, described as “sad” and “dispossessed.” In his 1933 biography of Elgar, Basil Maine expounded a legend he said was connected with the trees: “The withered trees near Elgar’s cottage in Sussex have inspired a legend in those parts. Upon the plateau, it is said, was once a settlement of Spanish monks, who, while carrying out some impious rite, 

The Adagio’s noble and introspective music held a special place in Elgar’s affections.

When the composer became mortally ill in 1933, Fred Gaisberg, an executive with

HMV Records, had a special recording made of the quintet which Elgar could play

whenever he wished, and Billy Reed reported that “[Elgar] could not refrain from

weeping whenever the slow movement was reached.”


© 2018 Dr. Richard E. Rodda

were struck dead; and the trees are their dead forms.” Research has not revealed the existence of any ancient Spanish community in the area, though there was a nearby priory of Augustine monks in Medieval times. Not a scrap of evidence supports any factual basis for the old Sussex legend, but its haunted, romantic mood played strongly upon Elgar during the writing of the quintet, and provided the emotional foundation upon which much of the music is based—the work is signed “Brinkwells” at the end, but “Bedham” following the first movement. “It is strange music I think & I like it—but—it’s ghostly stuff,” Elgar wrote in 1919 to the critic and writer Ernest Newman, to whom the composition was dedicated.

Alice, Elgar’s wife, commented to her diary about the “wonderful weird beginning [of the Piano Quintet] ... evidently reminiscence of sinister trees & impression of Flexham Park.” The movement follows a fully developed sonata form framed at beginning and end by a ghostly strain superimposing 

a slow-moving chant melody in the piano upon a spectral processional of thematic fragments in the strings. The main theme, given in a newly vitalized tempo by the full ensemble, is marked by troubled sentiments and implied tragedy. The second theme appears in an unsettled major tonality after a tiny but distinctive passage of saccharine harmonies in the strings. The development section, launched by the recall of the chant–introduction, incorporates all the principal thematic materials. The priestly procession hovers once again above the music to bring this strange and haunting movement to a mysterious close. The Adagio is tranquil and lyrical in its outer sections, and more animated and rhythmically intense in its central episode. The finale returns the woodland mood (and some thematic material) of the first movement, though it is more stridingly confident in nature and optimistic in outlook than the earlier music.

THE THRILL OF THE HUNTSUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2018, 5:00 PM ALICE TULLY HALL

The Danish Quartet performs a surprising collection of works inspired by the age-old ritual of the hunt.

THE ROARING TWENTIESSUNDAY, MARCH 4, 2018, 5:00 PM ALICE TULLY HALL

As the Western world turned giddy with 1920s post-war optimism, composers fed the cultural fires with an astonishing array of newly-conceived musical ideas.

UPCOMING CONCERTS AT CMS


ROMIE DE GUISE-LANGLOIS  Praised as “extraordinary” and “a formidable clarinetist” by the New York Times, Romie de Guise-Langlois has appeared as soloist and chamber musician on major concert stages internationally. She has performed as soloist with the Houston Symphony, Ensemble Connect, the Burlington Chamber Orchestra, and the Guanajuato Symphony Orchestra, as well as at Festival Mozaic, Music@Menlo, and the Banff Center for the Arts. She was awarded first prize in the Houston 

Symphony Ima Hogg competition, the Yale University Woolsey Hall Competition, the McGill University Classical Concerto Competition, and the Canadian Music Competition. She has performed as principal clarinetist for the Orpheus and Saint Paul chamber orchestras, NOVUS NY, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the New Haven and Stamford symphony orchestras, and The Knights Chamber Orchestra. She is an alumnus of Astral Artists, Ensemble Connect, and Chamber Music Society Two, and has appeared at series such as the Boston and Philadelphia chamber music societies, Musicians from Marlboro, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and Chamber Music Northwest, among others. A native of Montreal, Ms. de Guise-Langlois earned degrees from McGill University and the Yale School of Music. She is currently on the faculty at Montclair State University and UMass Amherst.

MARC GOLDBERG  A member of the New York Woodwind Quintet and St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, Marc Goldberg is principal bassoonist of Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, the American Ballet Theater, the NYC Opera, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Riverside Symphony, and a member of the American Symphony Orchestra. Previously the associate principal bassoonist of the New York Philharmonic, he has also been a frequent guest of the Metropolitan Opera, the Boston 

Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and Orpheus, touring with these ensembles across four continents and joining them on numerous recordings. Solo appearances include performances throughout the US, in South America, and across the Pacific Rim with the Brandenburg Ensemble, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra, Riverside Symphony, Jupiter Symphony, New York Chamber Soloists, and the New York Symphonic Ensemble. He has been a guest of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Da Camera Society of Houston, Musicians from Marlboro, Music@Menlo, the Brentano Quartet, Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Band, and the Boston Chamber Music Society. He has appeared at the summer festivals of Spoleto, Ravinia, Chautauqua, Tanglewood, Caramoor, Saito Kinen, and Marlboro, and has been associated with the Bard Music Festival since its inception. He is on the faculty of The Juilliard School Pre-College Division, Mannes College, the New England Conservatory, The Hartt School, the Bard College Conservatory of Music, Columbia University, and New York University.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

BILL W

AD

MA

NM

ATT D

INE


SOOYUN KIM  Praised as “A rare virtuoso of the flute” by Libération, Sooyun Kim has established herself as one of the rare flute soloists in the classical music scene. Since her concerto debut with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra at age ten, she has enjoyed a flourishing career performing with orchestras around the world including the Bavarian Radio, Munich Philharmonic, Munich Chamber, and Boston Pops orchestras. She has been presented in recital series worldwide in 

Budapest, Paris, Munich, Kobe, Helsinki, Stockholm, the Algarve in Portugal, and Seoul; and at the Gardner Museum, Kennedy Center, and Carnegie and Jordan halls. Her European debut recital at the Louvre was streamed live on medici.tv to great acclaim. This season’s highlights include orchestral appearances with Glacier Symphony, Kobe City Chamber, and Amadeus Festival orchestras performing concertos of Christopher Rouse, Mercadante, and Mozart. Also, as a member of Third Sound, she performed music of American composers at the Havana Contemporary Music Festival in Cuba. A winner of the Georg Solti Foundation Career Grant, Ms. Kim has received numerous international awards and prizes including the third prize at the ARD International Flute Competition. Her summer appearances include the Music@Menlo, Spoleto USA, Yellow Barn, Rockport, Olympic, and Chamber Music Northwest festivals. A former member of CMS Two, she studied at the New England Conservatory under the tutelage of Paula Robison. Ms. Kim performs on Verne Q. Powell flutes.

CHO-LIANG LIN  Violinist Cho-Liang Lin is lauded the world over for the eloquence of his playing and for superb musicianship. In a concert career spanning the globe for more than 30 years, he is equally at home with orchestra, in recital, playing chamber music, and in the teaching studio. Performing on several continents, he has appeared with the orchestras of New York, Detroit, Toronto, Dallas, Houston, Nashville, San Diego, and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; in Europe with the 

orchestras of Bergen, Stockholm, Munich, and the English Chamber Orchestra; and in Asia with the orchestras of Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Bangkok, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan. An advocate of contemporary music, he has collaborated with and premiered works by Tan Dun, Joel Hoffman, John Harbison, Christopher Rouse, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Lalo Schifrin, Paul Schoenfield, Bright Sheng, and Joan Tower. Also an avid chamber musician, he has made recurring appearances at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. As music director of La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest since 2001, Mr. Lin has helped develop the festival from one that focused on chamber music into a multidisciplinary festival featuring dance, jazz, and a new music program. He also serves as artistic director of the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival. In 2000 Musical America named him its Instrumentalist of the Year. He is currently a professor at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. He plays the 1715 “Titian” Stradivarius.

AN

DR

EW K

IMSOPHIE Z

HAI


PAUL NEUBAUER  Violist Paul Neubauer’s exceptional musicality and effortless playing led the New York Times to call him “a master musician.” This season he will appear in recital and with orchestras in the United States and Asia including his Chicago Symphony subscription debut with Riccardo Muti performing Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with violinist Robert Chen. His recording of the Aaron Kernis Viola Concerto with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, a work he premiered with the St. Paul 

Chamber, Los Angeles Chamber, and Idyllwild Arts orchestras and the Chautauqua Symphony, will be released on Signum Records. Appointed principal violist of the New York Philharmonic at age 21, he has appeared as soloist with over 100 orchestras including the New York, Los Angeles, and Helsinki philharmonics; National, St. Louis, Detroit, Dallas, San Francisco, and Bournemouth symphonies; and Santa Cecilia, English Chamber, and Beethovenhalle orchestras. He has premiered viola concertos by Bartók (revised version of the Viola Concerto), Friedman, Glière, Jacob, Kernis, Lazarof, Müller-Siemens, Ott, Penderecki, Picker, Suter, and Tower and has been featured on CBS’s Sunday Morning, A Prairie Home Companion, and in Strad, Strings, and People magazines. A two-time Grammy nominee, he has recorded on numerous labels including Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, RCA Red Seal, and Sony Classical, and in 2016 he released a solo album of music recorded at Music@Menlo. Mr. Neubauer was recently appointed artistic director of the Mostly Music series in New Jersey and is on the faculty of The Juilliard School and Mannes College.

ERIC REED  Eric Reed is an internationally recognized horn player, chamber musician, and educator. He is the newest member of the American Brass Quintet, and serves on the horn and chamber music faculties at The Juilliard School. In addition to his work with the ABQ, he performs regularly with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. He is a former member of the Canadian Brass and Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, as well as the Oregon, New World, and 

Harrisburg symphonies. Based in New York City, he has performed with dozens of New York City’s cultural organizations, including the Metropolitan Opera, New York Philharmonic, and American Ballet Theater. He holds degrees from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and The Juilliard School. He is a member of the newly formed Ensemble Échappé, a sinfonietta dedicated to music of the 21st century. He has recently given world premiere performances of works by John Zorn, Eric Ewazen, William Bolcom, Steven Franklin, Robert Paterson, Kenneth Fuchs, and Eric Nathan. Mr. Reed is on the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival and School and Round Top Festival Institute, and has regularly appeared at the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival and the Strings Music Festival in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

BER

NA

RD

MIN

DIC

HA

SU

KA

YAN

O


KEITH ROBINSON  Cellist Keith Robinson is a founding member of the Miami String Quartet and has been active as a chamber musician, recitalist, and soloist since his graduation from the Curtis Institute of Music. He has had numerous solo appearances with orchestras including the New World Symphony, The American Sinfonietta, and the Miami Chamber Symphony, and in 1989 won the P.A.C.E. “Classical Artist of the Year” Award. His most recent recording released on Blue Griffin Records 

features the complete works of Mendelssohn for cello and piano with his colleague Donna Lee. In 1992, the Miami String Quartet became the first string quartet in a decade to win First Prize of the Concert Artists Guild New York Competition. The quartet has also received the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award, won the Grand Prize at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, and was a member of CMS Two. He regularly attends festivals across the United States, including the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Music@Menlo, Kent Blossom Music, Mostly Mozart, Bravo! Vail, Savannah Music Festival, and the Virginia Arts Festival. Highlights of recent seasons include appearances in Bern, Cologne, Istanbul, Lausanne, Montreal, Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Paris. Mr. Robinson hails from a musical family and his siblings include Sharon Robinson of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, and Hal Robinson, principal bass of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He plays a cello made by Carlo Tononi in Venice in 1725.

ALEXANDER SITKOVETSKY  Violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky was praised by Gramophone magazine for “his confident, entirely natural musicianship.” He has performed with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Tonkünstler Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, New York Chamber Players, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonietta Riga, 

Brussels Philharmonic, and St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra. Highlights this season include engagements with the Arctic Symphony Orchestra, National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Russian State Philharmonic Orchestra, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, and a return to Camerata Salzburg. His critically acclaimed CPO recording of Andrzej Panufnik’s Violin Concerto with the Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin won the 2015 ICMA Special Achievement Award. He was awarded first prize at the Trio di Trieste Duo Competition alongside pianist Wu Qian, with whom he then toured Italy and appeared in recital at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. He is a former member of CMS Two, and in 2016 received the Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award. He is a member of the Sitkovetsky Piano Trio, with which he has won the Mecklenburg Vorpommern Kammermusik Prize. Mr. Sitkovetsky was born in Moscow into a family with a well-established musical tradition. He studied at the Menuhin School in the United Kingdom, and performed several works with Lord Menuhin, including the Bach Double Concerto, Bartók Duos at St James’ Palace, and the Mendelssohn concerto under Menuhin’s baton.

TAR

A M

cMU

LLENS

ERB

AN

MES

TECA

NEA

NU


JAMES AUSTIN SMITH  Praised for his “virtuosic,” “dazzling,” and “brilliant” performances (New York Times) and his “bold, keen sound” (New Yorker), oboist James Austin Smith performs equal parts new and old music across the United States and around the world. He is an artist of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Decoda (Affiliate Ensemble of Carnegie Hall), Talea, and Cygnus, as well as co-artistic director of Tertulia, a chamber music series that takes place in restaurants in New 

York and San Francisco. A devoted educator, he serves on the oboe and chamber music faculties of Stony Brook University, the Manhattan School of Music, and Purchase College. His festival appearances include Marlboro, Music@Menlo, Lucerne, Bowdoin, Orlando, Stift, Schleswig-Holstein, Stellenbosch, Bay Chamber Concerts, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and Spoleto USA; he has performed with the St. Lawrence, Orion, and Parker string quartets and recorded for the Nonesuch, Bridge, Mode, and Kairos labels. Mr. Smith holds a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music and Bachelor of Arts (Political Science) and Music degrees from Northwestern University. He spent a year as a Fulbright Scholar at the Mendelssohn Conservatory in Leipzig, Germany, and is an alumnus of Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect. Mr. Smith’s principal teachers are Stephen Taylor, Christian Wetzel, Humbert Lucarelli, and Ray Still.

ORION WEISS  One of the most sought-after soloists in his generation of young American musicians, the pianist Orion Weiss has performed with the major American orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and New York Philharmonic. His deeply felt and exceptionally crafted performances go far beyond his technical mastery and have won him worldwide acclaim. His current season opens with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra 

performing Beethoven's Triple Concerto and ends with the Colorado Symphony and Mozart’s Concerto in C major, K. 467; in between he will play with 11 orchestras, go on a recital tour with James Ehnes, and perform chamber music around the country. His 2016-17 season also featured collaborative projects, including those with the Pacifica Quartet and with Cho-Liang Lin and the New Orford String Quartet in a performance of the Chausson concerto. Other highlights of recent seasons include his third performance with the Chicago Symphony, a North American tour with the world-famous Salzburg Marionette Theater in a performance of Debussy’s La Boîte à Joujoux, the release of his recording of Christopher Rouse’s Seeing, and recordings of the complete Gershwin works for piano and orchestra with his longtime collaborators the Buffalo Philharmonic and JoAnn Falletta. Named the Classical Recording Foundation’s 2010 Young Artist of the Year, Mr. Weiss made his debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood in 2011 as a last-minute replacement for Leon Fleisher. In 2004, he graduated from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Emanuel Ax.

MA

TT DIN

EJA

CO

B B

LICK

ENS

TAFF


Contributors to the Annual Fund provide vital support for the Chamber Music Society's wide-ranging artistic and educational programs. We gratefully acknowledge the following individuals, foundations, corporations, and government agencies for their generous gifts. We also thank those donors who support the Chamber Music Society through the Lincoln Center Corporate Fund.

ANNUAL FUND

LEADERSHIP GIFTS ($50,000 and above)The Chisholm FoundationHoward Gilman FoundationWilliam and Inger G. GinsbergDr. and Mrs. Victor GrannEugene and Emily GrantJerome L. Greene FoundationMr. and Mrs. Paul B. GridleyRita E. and Gustave M. HauserElinor and Andrew Hoover

Jane and Peter KeeganSusan Carmel LehrmanLincoln Center Corporate FundNational Endowment for the ArtsNew York State Council on the ArtsStavros Niarchos FoundationThe New York Community TrustMr. and Mrs. James P. O'ShaughnessyBlanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund

The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc.

Ellen Schiff Elizabeth W. SmithThe Alice Tully FoundationElaine and Alan WeilerThe Helen F. Whitaker Fund

GUARANTORS ($25,000 to $49,999)Ann Bowers, in honor of Dmitri Atapine

Thomas Brener and Inbal Segev-BrenerSally D. and Stephen M. Clement, IIIJoseph M. CohenJoyce B. CowinLinda S. DainesEstate of Anthony C. GoochGail and Walter HarrisFrank and Helen Hermann FoundationRobert and Suzanne Hoglund

Harry P. KamenEstate of Peter L. KennardAndrea Klepetar-FallekBruce and Suzie KovnerMetLife FoundationRichard Prins and Connie SteensmaNew York City Department of  Cultural Affairs

Dr. Annette U. RickelDr. Beth Sackler and Mr. Jeffrey CohenJudith and Herbert Schlosser

David SimonMr. and Mrs. Erwin StallerWilliam R. Stensrud and  Suzanne E. Vaucher

Joost and Maureen ThesselingTiger Baron FoundationMr. and Mrs. Jarvis WilcoxKathe and Edwin WilliamsonShannon Wu and Joseph Kahn

BENEFACTORS ($10,000 to $24,999)The Achelis and Bodman FoundationAnonymous (2)Ronald AbramsonEstate of Marilyn Apelson Jonathan Brezin and Linda KeenColburn FoundationCon EdisonThe Gladys Krieble Delmas FoundationJon Dickinson and Marlene BurnsHoward Dillon and Nell Dillon-ErmersThe Lehoczky Escobar Family David Finckel and Wu HanJohn and Marianne Fouhey

Sidney E. Frank FoundationMr. and Mrs. Peter FrelinghuysenAnn and Gordon Getty FoundationFrancis Goelet Charitable Lead TrustsThe Hamilton Generation FundIrving Harris FoundationMichael Jacobson and Trine SorensenPriscilla F. KauffVicki and Chris KelloggJeehyun KimDouglas M. LibbyMillbrook Vineyards & WineryMr. Seth Novatt and Ms. Priscilla Natkins

Marnie S. PillsburyTatiana PouschineDr. and Mrs. Richard T. RosenkranzMrs. Robert SchuurFred and Robin SeegalSeth Sprague Educational and  Charitable Foundation

Joe and Becky StockwellCarlos Tome and Theresa KimSusan and Kenneth Wallach

PLATINUM PATRONS ($5,000 to $9,999)Anonymous (2)Mr. James A. Attwood and  Ms. Leslie K. Williams

William and Julie Ballard Murat BeyazitJoan BennyNathalie and Marshall CoxRobert and Karen DesjardinsValerie and Charles DikerCarole DonlinJohn and Jody EastmanMrs. Barbara M. ErskineMr. Lawrence N. Field and Ms. Rivka Seiden

Mr. and Mrs. Irvine D. FlinnThe Frelinghuysen FoundationMarlene Hess and James D. Zirin, in loving memory of Donaldson C. Pillsbury

The Hite FoundationC.L.C. Kramer FoundationJonathan E. LehmanHelen Brown LevineLeon Levy FoundationJane and Mary MartinezMr. and Mrs. H. Roemer McPhee,  in memory of Catherine G. Curran

The Robert and Joyce Menschel  Family Foundation 

Linda and Stuart NelsonMr. and Mrs. Howard Phipps, Jr.Eva PopperThomas A. and Georgina T. Russo  Family Fund

Lynn G. StrausMartin and Ruby VogelfangerPaul and Judy WeislogelNeil Westreich

Artistic Directors Circle

Patrons

GOLD PATRONS ($2,500 to $4,999)AnonymousNasrin AbdolaliElaine and Hirschel AbelsonDr. and Mrs. David H. AbramsonMs. Hope AldrichAmerican Friends of Wigmore HallJoan AmronJames H. ApplegateAxe-Houghton FoundationLawrence B. Benenson

American Chai TrustConstantin R. BodenMr. and Mrs. John D. CoffinThe Aaron Copland Fund for MusicRobert J. Cubitto and Ellen R. NadlerVirginia Davies and Willard TaylorSuzanne DavidsonJoseph and Pamela DonnerHelen W. DuBoisJudy and Tony Evnin

Dr. and Mrs. Fabius N. FoxMrs. Beatrice FrankFreudenberg ArtsDiana G. FriedmanFrederick L. JacobsonKenneth Johnson and Julia TobeyAlfred and Sally JonesPaul KatcherEd and Rosann KazMr. and Mrs. Hans Kilian


Mr. and Mrs. Robert W. KleinschmidtJudy and Alan KosloffChloë A. KramerHarriet and William LembeckJennifer ManocherianDr. and Mrs. Michael N. MargoliesSassona Norton and Ron FillerMr. and Mrs. Joseph Rosen

The Alfred and Jane Ross FoundationMary Ellen and James RudolphDavid and Lucinda SchultzPeter and Sharon SchuurMichael W. SchwartzCarol and Richard SeltzerThe Susan Stein Shiva FoundationDr. Michael C. Singer

Gary So, in honor of Sooyun KimMrs. Andrea W. WaltonSally WardwellPatricia and Lawrence WeinbachLarry Wexler and Walter BrownJanet Yaseen and the  Honorable Bruce M. Kaplan

Noreen and Ned Zimmerman

YOUNG PATRONS* ($500+)Jordan C. AgeeRaoul Boisset Jamie ForsethRobert J. HaleyYoshiaki David KoLiana and Joseph Lim 

Shoshana LittLucy Lu and Mark FranksZach and Katy MaggioMr. Edwin MeulensteenKatie NojimaJason Nong

Nikolay Pakhomov and Aneta SzpyrkaEren Erdemgil Sahin and Erdem SahinShu-Ping ShenErin SolanoMr. Nick Williams and Ms. Maria DoerflerRebecca Wui and Raymond Ko

SILVER PATRONS ($1,500 to $2,499)Anonymous (4)Alan AgleHarry E. AllanLawrence H. AppelBrett Bachman and Elisbeth ChallenerDr. Anna BalasBetsy Shack BarbanellMr. and Mrs. William G. BardelCaryl Hudson BaronRichard L. BaylesMr. and Mrs. T. G. BerkAdele BilderseeJudith Boies and Robert ChristmanCahill Cossu Noh and RobinsonCharles and Barbara BurgerJeff and Susan CampbellAllan and Carol CarltonDale C. Christensen, Jr.Judith G. ChurchillBetty CohenMarilyn and Robert CohenMr. Mark Cohen, in memory of May LazerAlan and Betsy Cohn FoundationJoan DyerThomas E. Engel, Esq.Mr. Arthur FergusonHoward and Margaret FluhrMr. Andrew C. Freedman and  Ms. Arlie Sulka

Mr. and Mrs. Burton M. FreemanEdda and James Gillen

Rosalind and Eugene J. GlaserJudith HeimerCharles and Nancy HoppinDr. Beverly Hyman and 

Dr. Lawrence BirnbachBill and Jo Kurth JagodaDr. Felisa B. KaplanKeiko and Steven B. Kaplan,  in honor of Paul Huang

Stephen and Belinda Kaye Thomas C. KingPatricia Kopec Selman and Jay E. SelmanDr. and Mrs. Eugene S. KraussRichard and Evalyn LambertCraig Leiby and Thomas ValentinoDr. Donald M. LevineJames Liell Walter F. and Phyllis Loeb Family Fund  of the Jewish Communal Fund

Dr. Edward S. LohNed and Francoise MarcusCarlene and Anders MaxwellEileen E. McGann Ilse MelamidMerrick Family FundMr. and Mrs. Leigh MillerBernice H. MitchellAlan and Alice ModelAlex PagelBarbara A. PelsonCharles B. Ragland

Mr. Roy Raved and Dr. Roberta LeffDr. Hilary Ronner and Mr. Ronald FeimanJoseph and Paulette RoseDiana and Michael RothenbergMarie von SaherDavid and Sheila RothmanSari and Bob SchneiderDelia and Mark SchulteMr. David Seabrook and Dr. Sherry Barron-Seabrook

Jill S. SlaterMorton J. and Judith SloanDiane Smook and Robert PeduzziAnnaliese SorosDr. Margaret Ewing SternDeborah F. StilesAlan and Jaqueline StuartSusan Porter TallJoseph C. TaylorErik and Cornelia ThomsenLeo J. TickSalvatore and Diane VaccaMr. and Mrs. Joseph ValenzaPierre and Ellen de VeghDr. Judith J. Warren and  Dr. Harold K. Goldstein

Alex and Audrey WeintrobRobert Wertheimer and Lynn SchackmanTricia and Philip WintererGilda and Cecil Wray, Jr.

PRESTO ($1,000 to $1,499)

ALLEGRO ($600 to $999)

Anonymous (4)Bialkin Family FoundationMaurice and Linda Binkow Philanthropic Fund of the United Jewish Foundation

Allyson and Michael ElyMr. Stephen M. FosterKris and Kathy HeinzelmanDr. and Mrs. Wylie C. HembreeMr. and Mrs. James R. HoughtonThomas Frederick JamboisThe David Minkin Foundation

Dot and Rick NelsonChristine PishkoMimi Poser James B. RanckMs. Kathee RebernakMs. Linda C. RoseMr. David RosnerCharles S. Schreger Monique and Robert SchweichMr. and Mrs. William G. Selden

Robert A. SilverEsther Simon Charitable TrustBarbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel and Ambassador Carl Spielvogel

Andrea and Lubert StryerMs. Jane V. TalcottHerb and Liz TulchinJill and Roger WittenFrank Wolf

Anonymous (2)Mrs. Albert Pomeroy BedellBrian Carey and Valerie TomaselliDorothy and Herbert FoxMrs. Margherita S. FrankelDorothy F. GlassMiriam GoldfineAbner S. GreeneSharon GurwitzEvan and Florence JanovicPete KlostermanPeter Kroll

Peter and Edith KubicekLinda LarkinLeeds Family FoundationBarbara and Raymond LeFebvreMr. Stanley E. LoebLinda and Tom Marshella, in memory  of Donald F. Humphrey

Merrill Family FundDr. and Mrs. Richard R. NelsonMs. Jessie Hunter PriceAmanda ReedLisa and Jonathan Sack

Diana and John SidtisAnthony R. SokolowskiMr. and Mrs. Myron Stein, in honor of Joe Cohen

Dr. Charles and Mrs. Judith  Lambert Steinberg

Mr. David P. StuhrSherman TaishoffMr. and Mrs. George WadeWillinphila FoundationGro V. and Jeffrey S. Wood

*as of January 31, 2018

Friends

*For more information, call (212) 875-5216 or visit chambermusicsociety.org/yp


The Chamber Music Society wishes to express its deepest gratitude for  The Daniel and Joanna S. Rose Studio, which was made possible by 

a generous gift from the donors for whom the studio is named. 

CMS is grateful to JoAnn and Steve Month for their generous contribution of  a Steinway & Sons model "D" concert grand piano.

The Chamber Music Society's performances on American Public Media's  Performance Today program are sponsored by MetLife Foundation.

CMS extends special thanks to Arnold & Porter for its  great generosity and expertise in acting as pro bono Counsel.

CMS gratefully recognizes Shirley Young for her generous service as International Advisor.

CMS wishes to thank Covington & Burling for acting as pro bono Media Counsel.

CMS is grateful to Holland & Knight LLP for its generosity in acting as pro bono international counsel.

This season is supported by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State

Legislature; and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.

David Finckel and Wu Han, Artistic Directors Suzanne Davidson, Executive Director

ADMINISTRATIONKeith Kriha, Administrative DirectorMartin Barr, ControllerSusan Mandel, Executive and

Development Assistant

ARTISTIC PLANNING & PRODUCTIONBeth Helgeson, Director of

Artistic Planning and AdministrationKari Fitterer, Director of

Artistic Planning and TouringJen Augello, Operations ManagerLaura Keller, Editorial ManagerSarissa Michaud, Production

ManagerGrace Parisi, Production and

Education AssociateJiwon Kang, Touring Coordinator

DEVELOPMENTSharon Griffin, Director of

DevelopmentFred Murdock, Associate Director,

Special Events and Young PatronsJanet Barnhart, Manager of

Institutional GivingJoe Hsu, Manager, Development

Operations and ResearchJulia Marshella, Manager of

Individual Giving, PatronsErik Rego, Manager of

Individual Giving, Friends

EDUCATIONBruce Adolphe, Resident Lecturer and

Director of Family ConcertsDerek Balcom, Director of Education

MARKETING/SUBSCRIPTIONS/ PUBLIC RELATIONS

Emily Holum, Director of Marketing and Communications

Trent Casey, Director of Digital Content

Desmond Porbeni, Associate Director, Audience and Customer Services

Marlisa Monroe, Public Relations Manager

Melissa Muscato, Marketing Content Manager

Natalie Dixon, Audience and Customer Services Associate

Sara Ricci, Marketing AssistantBrett Solomon, Subscription and

Ticketing Services Assistant

Administration

James P. O'Shaughnessy, ChairmanElinor L. Hoover, Chairman ElectElizabeth W. Smith, Vice ChairmanRobert Hoglund, TreasurerPeter W. Keegan, Secretary

Nasrin AbdolaliSally Dayton ClementJoseph M. CohenJoyce B. CowinLinda S. DainesPeter DuchinPeter Frelinghuysen William B. GinsbergPhyllis GrannPaul B. GridleyWalter L. HarrisPhilip K. HowardPriscilla F. KauffVicki KelloggJeehyun Kim

Helen Brown LevineJohn L. LindseyTatiana PouschineRichard PrinsDr. Annette U. RickelBeth B. SacklerHerbert S. SchlosserDavid SimonJoost F. ThesselingSuzanne E. VaucherAlan G. WeilerJarvis WilcoxKathe G. Williamson

DIRECTORS EMERITIAnne CoffinMarit GrusonCharles H. HamiltonHarry P. KamenPaul C. LambertDonaldson C. Pillsbury (1940–2008)

William G. SeldenAndrea W. Walton

GLOBAL COUNCILHoward DillonJohn FouheyCharles H. HamiltonRita HauserJudy KosloffMike McKoolSeth NovattJoumana RizkMorris RossabiSusan SchuurTrine SorensenShannon Wu

FOUNDERSMiss Alice TullyWilliam SchumanCharles Wadsworth, 

Founding Artistic Director

Directors and Founders

Documents

THROUGH THE GREAT WAR - Cloudinary · KEITH ROBINSON, cello SOOYUN KIM, flute ... Prize for his First Piano Concerto. He ... Emerson String Quartet