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2019Season Two

M O S T L Y M O D E R N F E S T I V A L 1

WELCOME

music has been on National Public Radio’s Best Picks of the Year, and Dark Mountains was played on NPR’s Performance Today with JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic in 2018.

His works have been played by over one-hundred ensembles, including the Louisville Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Delaware Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, Austin Symphony, Vermont Symphony, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, AME, New York New Music Ensemble, BargeMusic, California EAR Unit, and Ensemble Aleph in Paris. Recent performances include the world premiere of Ghost Theater, commissioned by the Albany Symphony’s Dogs of Desire.

Highlights include The Nashville Opera world premiere of Three Way in January, 2017 and then a BAM production in Brooklyn, June, 2017. The New York Premiere of his opera, The Whole Truth with a libretto by Mark Campbell, sold out in January 2016, at Dixon Place in New York City. Walt’s America was premiered for orchestra and chorus by the Gulf Coast Symphony, Moon Music by the Claremont Trio, and Graffiti Canons by the Volti choir in San Francisco. His string orchestra work, entitled I See You was performed by an all-star orchestra conducted by Delta David Gier, with the Jack Quartet, Del Sol Quartet, PUBLIQuartet and American Modern Ensemble in 2015. In Aspen,Shine received its world premiere by the American Brass Quintet and is being performed at Juilliard, Princeton, and on their national tours.

Paterson is passionate about composing for choir. An album of Paterson’s choral music was recorded by Musica Sacra and Maestro Kent

WELCOME to SEASON TWO of the MOSTLY MODERN FESTIVAL!Welcome to our brand-new, beautiful, and exciting endeavor of ‘mostly modern’ music in Saratoga Springs, New York at Skidmore College! Composer & Artistic Director Robert Paterson, and Violinist & Executive Director Victoria Paterson have long envisioned starting a summer music festival and this June, 2019, marks their second season with the Mostly Modern Festival. With the success of their new music group, the American Modern Ensemble, now in its 15th season in New York City, two thriving indie record labels, and robust lives as professional musicians on Broadway and beyond, they have expanded AME’s mission and have created a broad educational component in Saratoga Springs, that serves over 100 composers, singers and instrumentalists, ages 18 and older. Past summers have included time at other festivals, whether as directors, faculty or guest artists at the Aspen Music Festival, Atlantic Music Festival, Rocky Ridge Music Center, and the Walden School, and have held adjunct professorships at esteemed institutions including New York University and the Eastman School of Music.

ROBERT PATERSONDescribed as a “modern day master” and the “highlight of the program” (The New York Times), Robert Paterson’s music is loved for its elegance, wit, structural integrity, and a wonderful sense of color. Paterson was named The Composer of The Year from the Classical Recording Foundation with a celebration at Carnegie’s Weill Hall in 2011. His music has been on the Grammy® ballot yearly and in 2019, won Best Producer of a Classical Album for his opera, Three Way with the Nashville Opera. His

M O S T L Y M O D E R N F E S T I V A L2

WELCOMETritle, released in 2015. Paterson was one of Volti Choir of San Francisco’s first Choral Arts Laboratory composers, and won the Cincinnati Camerata Competition for his setting of Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep (text by Mary Frye). The panel chose his music for its “expressive choral writing, text painting and imaginatively beautiful textures.”

Having written over one-hundred works to date, Paterson has received accolades and won awards for his works in virtually every classical genre. His awards include the Copland Award, a three-year Music Alive! grant from the League of American Orchestras and New Music USA, the American Composers Forum, the Utah Arts Festival Commission Competition, Cincinnati Camerata Composition Competitions, two ASCAP Young Composer Awards, and fellowships to Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Atlantic Center for the Arts.

Born in 1970, Paterson was raised in Buffalo, New York, the son of a sculptor and a painter. Although his first love was percussion, he soon discovered a passion for composition, writing his first piece at age thirteen. In the late 1980s, Paterson pioneered the development of a six-mallet marimba technique. He presented the world’s first all six-mallet marimba recital at the Eastman School of Music in 1993, and released the first-ever album of six mallet music, Six Mallet Marimba in 2012 (AMR) to a sold out crowd at the Rubin Museum in Chelsea, NY. In 2005, Paterson founded the American Modern Ensemble (AME), which spotlights American music via lively thematic programming. He serves as artistic director for AME as well as house composer, frequently contributing new pieces to the ensemble, and he directs the affiliated record label, American Modern Recordings (AMR), which is distributed by NAXOS.

He holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music (BM), Indiana University (MM), and Cornell University (DMA). Paterson gives master classes at numerous colleges and universities, most recently at the Curtis Institute of Music, Aspen Music School & Festival, University of Denver, New York University, and the Cleveland Institute of Music. He resides in New York City and in Saratoga Springs, with his wife, Victoria, and son, Dylan.

VICTORIA PATERSONVictoria Paterson is the Executive Director of the Mostly Modern Festival. In addition to directing the festival, Victoria is a violinist in New York City, well-known and beloved for her diversity and musicality. Recent shows on Broadway include performing first violin at; My Fair Lady, Sunset Boulevard, Heathers and The Addams Family.

Equally comfortable with contemporary, classical, and pop music, Victoria performs everywhere from Carnegie Hall, Birdland, and Madison Square Garden, to Late Night with Seth Meyers and The Today Show. Highlights include performing at Chelsea Clinton’s wedding, as well as for Pope Benedict XVI, Michelle Obama, Joe Biden, Diane Sawyer, Nancy Pelosi, and the Chief Rabbi of Israel. Victoria toured with Barbara Streisand for two years in 2006 and 2007.

Victoria is also the Executive Director of the American Modern Ensemble, and the founder of the Lumiere String Quartet, which performs all over New York City. Her albums are top sellers in the classical genre on Amazon and iTunes, and many of her tracks are in various films, including Social Network, The Loft, and The Secret Life of Pets. She also contracts for opera companies, including On Site Opera, American Opera Projects, Prototype, and many others. Her favorite outreach work is performing for Music That Heals at hospitals all around New York City.

Victoria regularly gives masterclasses and lectures about entrepreneurship and the business of music. She has taught at the Eastman School of Music’s Institute for Music Leadership, offering a class entitled Creating & Sustaining An Ensemble. Other schools where she has lectured include The Juilliard School, Cleveland Institute of Music, the New York Youth Symphony, Broadway Backstage, Broadway Inside, and Chamber Music America. Paterson studied at the Eastman School of Music and Indiana University.

She resides in New York City, and now in Saratoga Springs, with her husband, Robert Paterson, and their son, Dylan


http://www.americanmodernensemble.org/

http://www.lumierestringquartet.com/

http://www.robertpaterson.com/

http://www.robertpaterson.com/

FLORENCE PRICE – Beside the Sea Sunset Night Hold fast to dreamsFRANCIS POULENC – La courte paille I. Le SommeilERICH KORNGOLD – Das Stänchen II. Quelle aventure! Liebesbriefchen III. La reine de coeur IV. Ba, Be, Bi, Bo, Bu Versuchung V. Les anges musiciens VI. Le carafon Mond so gehst du wieder auf VII. Lune d’Avril

INTERMISS IONISABELLE ABOULKER – Savoir vivre et usages mondains A propos de la chausette blanche

JOHN METCALF – Plas Bodorgan (Caneuon y gerddi) Comment on offre le bras Plas y ward (Caneuon y gerddi) Et à propos de gants Y Foelas (Caneuon y gerddi)ELLEN REID – Comme les ailes d’un oiseau

CHRIS DEBLASIO – All the Way Through Evening I. The Disappearance of Light II. Train Station III. An Elegy to Paul Jacobs IV. Poussin V. Walt Whitman in 1989

JEFF BLUMENCRANZ – Recuerdo

ROBERT PATERSON* – Crossing the Hudson

Monday June 10th7:30 PM

Arthur Zankel Music CenterSaratoga Springs, New York

20TH CENTURY VOCAL MUSIC

ARTISTSRachel Shutz, soprano • Christopher Dylan Herbert, baritone • Timothy Long, piano


BIOGRAPHIES

RACHEL SCHUTZHailed for her “diamantine high notes, witty characterization, and giddily delirious coloratura” (Boston Globe), Welsh-American soprano Rachel Schutz is increasingly in demand throughout the US, Asia and Europe for her sensitive and evocative performances and wide range of repertoire. She enjoys a multi-faceted career which includes opera, concert, and recital performances, and her upcoming engagements include her debut with Opera Ithaca and Cornell’s Mayfest, and appearances at the Fall Island Vocal Seminar, the Mostly Modern Festival, and the Yellow Barn international chamber music festival.

Ms. Schutz has been praised for her “vibrant, convincing stage presence” (San Francisco Examiner) and “vivacious spirit” (San Francisco Chronicle) on the opera stage. Her recent opera roles have included Lise in Glass’s Les enfants terribles, Thérèse in Les mamelles de Tirésias and Jessie in Mahagonny Songspiel with Opera Parallèle; Papagena in Die Zauberflöte, Johanna in Sweeney Todd and Diana in Dove’s Siren Song with Hawai’i Opera Theatre; Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, Adele in Die Fledermaus and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro with Stockton Opera; and Giannetta in L’elisir d’amore with the Santa Fe Opera. Other roles have included Musetta in La Bohème, Blondchen in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Euridice in Orpheus ed Euridice, Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, Rose in A Street Scene, Gloria in Handel’s O come chiare e belle, First Maid in Daphne, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, and St. Settlement in Four Saints in Three Acts.

Equally at home in concert repertoire, she has performed Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Dvorák’s Stabat Mater, Brahms’s Ein Deutsches Requiem, Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre with the Stony Brook Symphony, and has toured the Northeast with the Boston Pops Orchestra, singing, most notably, Bernstein’s “Glitter and be gay.”

A seasoned recitalist known for her “communicative zest” (Boston Globe), Ms. Schutz has been invitedto perform at prestigious venues around the world including Carnegie Hall’s Stern, Zankel, and Weill Halls, the Ravinia Festival, the Ojai Festival, the Tanglewood

Music Center, the Honolulu Chamber Music Series, the Hawaii Concert Society, the Maui Arts and Cultural Center, and venues in China, Taiwan, Korea, Thailand and Germany. Ms. Schutz has performed with famed artists such as Dawn Upshaw, James Levine, James Conlon, JoAnne Faletta, Keith Lockhart, Leon Botstein,

Ms. Schutz is also a passionate supporter of new music and enjoys close working relationships with many young composers and new music ensembles. She has premiered dozens of new works, including pieces by Eugene Drucker (of the Emerson String Quartet), Michael-Thomas Fumai, Jeff Myers, Thomas Osborne, and Peter Winkler, and has worked with composers Phillip Glass, George Crumb, Jonathan Dove, William Bolcom, Libby Larsen, and Augusta Read-Thomas on their music. She is particularly known for her renditions of Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre, and Crumb’s Apparition.

Ms. Schutz is also an active community arts organizer. In 2017, she founded Artists for Social Justice Hawaii which unites artists of different disciplines to bring awareness to pressing social justice issues such as immigration, civil rights, and climate change. The group presents performances around Honolulu in collaboration with other arts organizations, and offers education and community art opportunities.

After making her professional debut at age 12 premiering John Hardy’s The Roswell Incident with Music Theatre Wales, Ms. Schutz began studying with Mark Gruett of the Deutsche Oper, Berlin. She holds a BA in Music from Stony Brook University, received her MM degree from the Dawn Upshaw-run Vocal Arts Program at Bard College, completed an MA in Linguistics at the University of Hawaii at M’noa, and in 2016 received her DMA from Stony Brook University.


http://www.emersonquartet.com/artist.php?view=bio&bid=141

http://www.michaelfoumai.com/

http://www.michaelfoumai.com/

http://www.jeffmyersmusic.com/

http://thomas-osborne.com/

http://www.artistsforsocialjustice.org/

http://www.artistsforsocialjustice.org/

BIOGRAPHIES

CHRISTOPHER DYLAN HERBERTAmerican baritone Christopher Dylan Herbert performs concerts and opera throughout the world, frequently with his twice GRAMMY®-nominated ensemble, New York Polyphony. Hailed by Opera News for his “exceptional” singing, Christopher has also received acclaim for his “smooth baritone voice”, his “consistently warm sound” and his “versatile dramatic abilities”. His outdoor Winterize/Winterreise project with Make Music New York is described by The New York Times as “brave and, in all senses, chilling... an elegantly lean performance that would have been impressive in any context but was remarkable under these conditions.”

Recent engagements in concert and opera include Vivier’s Koperninus in Buenos Aires, Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti at Tanglewood, concerts at the Cartagena International Music Festival in Colombia, John Cage’s Renga with the San Francisco Symphony, the title role in Handel’s Saul for Trinity Wall Street’s Twelfth Night Festival, performances of Schubert lieder with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, a Ginastera centennial celebration with the International Contemporary Ensemble, the world premiere of Judd Greenstein’s A Marvelous Order with the NOW Ensemble, Montresor in Stewart Copeland’s The Cask of Amontillado with the American Modern Ensemble. Previous seasons included performances of Hannah-

Before in Laura Kaminsky›s As One with the Fry Street Quartet for American Opera Projects at BAM, the title role in The War Reporter at The Prototype Festival and Stanford LIVE, Henrik in A Little Night Music at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Dover Beach at Lake George, Winterreise at the Austrian Cultural Forum of New York and Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, and various recitals with pianists Thomas Bagwell, William Kelley, Chris Reynolds, and Timothy Long. Christopher has also performed Sid in Britten’s Albert Herring with Opera Vivente, Connie in Gordon’s Grapes of Wrath at Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, and Il prigioniero in Il piccolo Marat at Avery Fisher Hall. In addition, he has toured as a soloist with the Boston Pops and Mark Morris Dance Group, and has appeared at Tanglewood, Wolf Trap, and Central City Opera.

Christopher graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University with a B.A. in Music. He also holds an M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University, and a D.M.A. in Voice from The Juilliard School. He is an Assistant Professor at William Paterson University where he leads the Vocal Studies program. Christopher lives in Brooklyn, New York with his husband, pianist and conductor Timothy Long, and their dog Pumpkin.


http://www.newyorkpolyphony.com/

https://www.bso.org/brands/tanglewood-music-center/about-the-tmc.aspx?gclid=EAIaIQobChMItM3Z59eT3gIVkYizCh3VMQJIEAAYASAAEgJAQfD_BwE

https://www.sfsymphony.org/

https://www.trinitywallstreet.org/music-arts

http://www.chambermusicsociety.org/

http://www.chambermusicsociety.org/

http://iceorg.org/

http://www.nowensemble.com/

http://americanmodernensemble.org/

http://frystreetquartet.com/

http://aopopera.org/

http://prototypefestival.org/

https://live.stanford.edu/

https://www.opera-stl.org/

https://www.opera-stl.org/

http://www.wpunj.edu/coac/departments/music/studios/voice/

http://www.wpunj.edu/coac/departments/music/studios/voice/

http://timothylongmusic.com/

BIOGRAPHIES

TIMOTHY LONGTimothy Long is a pianist and conductor of Muscogee Creek and Choctaw descent who is Music Director of Opera at the Eastman School of Music.

His early training as a pianist and violinist led to work with singers, and eventually to conducting engagements that have included companies such as Boston Lyric Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, New York City Opera, Opera Colorado, Utah Opera, Tulsa Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, City Opera Vancouver, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Oregon Bach Festival, and the Prague Summer Nights Festival.

After working on Thomas Adès’s operatic tour-de-force, Powder Her Face, Tim was named by Robert Spano to be his assistant conductor for three years at the Brooklyn Philharmonic. He was subsequently named an associate conductor at the New York City Opera for two years.

In the past year, Tim conducted the world premiere of Missing, by Marie Clements and Brian Current, at City Opera Vancouver and Pacific Opera Victoria, the Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra with the great dramatic soprano Christine Goerke, Tulsa Opera’s 70th Anniversary Gala starring famed mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, Die Zauberflöte at the Prague Summer Nights Festival, Ricky Ian Gordon’s Tibetan Book of the Dead at the Eastman Opera Theatre, and the Oklahoma City Philharmonic. He has also played numerous recitals including a world premiere by White Mountain Apache violinist/composer Laura Ortman with Navajo

noise artist Raven Chacon at National Sawdust, and a concert with baritone Brian Mulligan on the Vocal Arts DC series at the Kennedy Center. Upcoming performances include conducting Don Giovanni at Eastman Opera Theatre, and a return to Prague Summer Nights to conduct Le Nozze di Figaro.

Off-Broadway, he was music director, conductor, and featured pianist for The New Group’s production of The Music Teacher, an “opera within a play” by Wallace Shawn and Allen Shawn. Bridge Records released a recording of this unique show with Parker Posey and Wallace Shawn in the leading roles.

As a pianist and harpsichordist he has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Jordan Hall, Wigmore Hall in London, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Dvorak Hall in Prague, the Aspen Music Festival, the Moab Music Festival, the Oregon Bach Festival, the Caramoor Festival, and the Dame Myra Hess Series in Chicago, among many others.

Naxos recently released Tim’s recording of the Dominick Argento song cycles, The Andrée Expedition and From the Diary of Virginia Woolf, with the internationally renowned baritone Brian Mulligan. This recording has been highly lauded, with Opera News stating that he “provides masterfully sculpted renditions of the varied and challenging piano parts, which range from spare and crystalline (evoking the icy North) to rolling and transcendent.”

He lives in New York City and Rochester, NY with his husband, baritone Christopher Herbert, and their sweet basset hound-mix, Pumpkin.


Our program explores the myriad and diverse styles to be found within the classification of “modern music.” Often a thing to be feared among audiences, modern music is considered at turns difficult, unattractive, lacking in emotion, and altogether incomprehensible. What we hope to show through this evening’s program is that music written after 1900 is, in fact, rich, diverse, and perfectly accessible.

We begin with a set of beautifully melodic songs by African-American composer Florence Price. She was a composer of great renown during the early part of the twentieth century and became the first African-American woman to have a symphony premiered by a major American orchestra. Much of her music, however, was lost during the latter half of the twentieth century and was only rediscovered in 2009 in an attic in Illinois. Her songs are frequently lyrical and melodic and often incorporate religious themes, and aspects of African American spirituals like syncopation.

We turn next to a combined set of songs by Francis Poulenc and Erich Korngold. These two men were not always taken seriously by scholars for much of the twentieth century, Poulenc because he dabbled in cabaret and humor, and Korngold because he became known principally as a composer of film music. Their music, quite different from one another, offers a rich contrast of sonorities, textures, and themes. Poulenc’s cycle, La courte paille, was the last written before his death in 1963. The short straw is a set of seven short vignettes set in a nursery. First, we hear from the exhausted mother, but quickly move to the child’s daydreams, games, and antics. The light-hearted set epitomizes Poulenc’s irreverence and humorous approach to song writing and offers a delightful contrast to Korngold’s more traditional Lieder. Rich in late-nineteenth century German Romantic harmonies, dense textures, and set to typical love poems, Korngold’s under-appreciated songs are interspersed between Poulenc’s song cycle. We paired the two sets deliberately because of shared poetic themes. Although Poulenc and Korngold never met, their songs complement one another effectively.

We continue our journey through the twentieth century with the cycle Savoir vivre et usages mondains by Isabelle Aboulker, a French composer living in Paris. Aboulker’s set, placed in a melodramatic cabaret style, employs texts

by the Comtesse de Gencé, France’s equivalent of Emily Post. Caneuon y Gerddi by Welsh composer John Metcalf diverge from Aboulker’s interest in the mundane and return to ancient texts and descriptions of landscapes in North Wales. Metcalf’s musical language match the texts perfectly: the open and modal harmonies paired with complicated rhythms give the sense of timelessness and freedom that the poems and landscapes themselves suggest. Finally, Ellen Reid brings the worldly and ethereal together in her song Comme les ailes d’un oiseau, a setting of a passage of the novel Les Échelles du Levant by Amin Maalouf. The passage depicts a scene in which, after many years, a pair of estranged lovers meet once again.

In 1990, Chris DeBlasio selected five Perry Brass poems to create All The Way Through Evening, a personal response to the AIDS crisis and his own HIV-positive status. DeBlasio made a living as a composer, pianist, and singer. He shows his brilliance as a composer of art song with this cycle. The central song, An Elegy to Paul Jacobs, is reminiscent of a French overture with inégale figures throughout the piano part. These figures, a deliberate allusion to Jacobs’ role as the harpsichordist of the New York Philharmonic, are foreshadowed at the end of the second song, Train Station, in the vocal part. The final song, Walt Whitman in 1989 draws upon the experience of the AIDS crisis and connects it, as Brass explains, “with a hidden history of grief and transcendence.” After a quasi- recitative opening, DeBlasio reveals a deep largo closing section with undulating quarter notes in the piano, providing a sense of eternity and calm.

Our final set this evening brings us much closer to home. These two engaging duets celebrate New York City and the bodies of water that surround it. Robert Paterson’s Crossing the Hudson was commissioned for the Five Borough Songbook and is an exciting celebration of life in New York City. Jeff Blumenkranz, known in the Musical Theater world both for his performances and compositions, wrote Recuerdo to a poem of Edna St. Vincent Milay and the tuneful and sweetly interweaving lines beautifully invoke the intimacy of the text. Both pieces, written within the last 15 years, offer clear example that modern music can be engaging, tuneful, and moving.

PROGRAM NOTES


ANNE LEBARON* – Noh Reflections

MORGAN EASTERDAY – Rumination** I. failure to realize II. overthinking III. meditation

JEREMI EDWARDS – Dream Sequence**

TIMOTHY LEE MILLER – Something More**

JACOB SNIDER – One Cricket Song**

THOMAS WELSH – Inward**

ROBERT PATERSON* – Star Crossing

PHILIP FOSTER – Mashup 2 I. II. III.

*MMF Composition Faculty**World Premiere

Program order subject to change.

Friday June 14th7: 30 PM


AMERICAN MODERN ENSEMBLE–CONCERT I

AMERICAN MODERN ENSEMBLESato Moughalian, flute • Keve Wilson, oboe • Tasha Warren, clarinet

Charles McCracken, bassoon • Matthew Ward, percussion • Joseph Rebman, harpEsther Noh, violin • Victoria Paterson, violin • Philip Payton, viola

Dave Eggar, cello • Anthony de Mare, piano

2019 CONDUCTING PROGRAMDuane Andrews • Jonathan Kirby • JaeEun Kim • Renée Anne Louprette

John McKeever • Austin Philemon • Alfonoso Piacentini


BIOGRAPHIES

AMERICAN MODERN ENSEMBLEAmerican Modern Ensemble (AME) is celebrating its 15th Season this fall and spotlights contemporary music via lively thematic programming. AME performs a wide repertoire, using a varied combination of instrumentalists, vocalists, and conductors, and the ensemble often highlights AME’s house composer and founder, Robert Paterson. Since it’s inception, AME has performed over 250 works by living composers, and has received critical success in The New York Times, Time Out, the New Yorker, among others. Sold out crowds at BAM, Merkin Hall, Lincoln Center, the Rubin Museum, Dixon Place, and National Sawdust are a winning testament to AME’s 15 year-track record as to what is ‘right’ about classical music today.

AME includes on-stage chats with composers and the creative team, allowing audience members to learn even more about the creative process. AME provides a welcoming environment for audience, creators and performers. Over 95% of the composers we program participate and attend our shows, including luminaries such as John Luther Adams, John Corigliano,

David Del Tredici, Aaron Jay Kernis, Libby Larsen, Steven Mackey, Paul Moravec, Christopher Rouse, Joan Tower, Chen Yi, and countless others. AME also enthusiastically performs works by America’s most talented, emerging and mid-career composers.

AME produces stellar recordings via its house label, American Modern Recordings (AMR), which has received fantastic reviews in Gramophone, theLA Music Examiner, The New York Times, Sequenza21, and New Music Box, and all our albums have made it to the Grammy® Ballot for the past four seasons.

AME’s summer home is now at the Mostly Modern Festival, located in Saratoga Springs, New York. This festival celebrates the music of our time. It is educational, with robust outreach initiatives. Other residencies include Princeton University, James Madison University, Keene State College, the CUNY Graduate Center, Adelphi, Rutgers, and many more. AME is deeply invested in collaboration. Some examples are On Site Opera, Cutting Edge New Music Festival, Prototype Opera Festival, American Opera Projects, the Dance Theater of Harlem, and the Mazzini Dance Collective.


PROGRAM NOTES

ANNE LEBARON – Noh ReflectionsWilliam P. Malm, in Japanese Music and Musical Instruments, describes Noh theater as a balance between “highly refined abstraction and the dramatic necessity of human emotions.” This idea of contrast and balance was a motivating force behind Noh Reflections, scored for string trio: violin, viola, and cello. I was also attracted to the mosaic-like structure of a Noh play, with its juxtapositions and overlapping of rigidly defined units. Furthermore, the tension between order and plasticity in the music gives an impression of tightly controlled spontaneity.

My first exposure to this unparalleled art form occurred in 1983 in Tokyo. A year later, a Noh performance in New York revitalized my interest, and I began composing the string trio, impelled to capture the sound-sense of Noh. My intention was to create a framework for the trio by exploring the ways that Western string instruments might simulate the sustaining tones and blurring glissandi of the Noh flute, the crisp percussive attacks of the drums, and the variations in vibrato, portamento, and tone projected by the voices.

Noh Reflections most clearly distills the sounds and music of Noh at the beginning of the piece. Contrasting material later overpowers these initial impressions until the very end, when the Noh-inspired material resurfaces. Noh Reflections was awarded the McCollin Prize by the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia in 1986.

MORGAN EASTERDAY – RuminationRumination: another word for overthinking. For me, this piece chronicles the stages of anxiety. The ensemble was chosen to represent two parts of a person, the body and the mind. The piano acts as the roll of the body, and the ensemble represents what goes on in their mind.

The first movement—failure to realize, shows how a person (pianist) in this scenario has thought themselves so deeply into self-doubt and fear that they can’t remember how to function as themselves. This is represented through dialogue between the body and mind,

and the fact that the pianist won’t be able to play the actual keys until they realize what they have been capable of all along. The repeating figures in the vibraphone, gong, and oboe are there to symbolize a memory that gets replayed and distorted over time in one’s mind, which creates feelings of self doubt and fear.

The second movement—overthinking, exhibits that even though the pianist feels closer to who they are inside, they still can’t get over their feelings of anxiety. The mind is very disjunct in this movement; this is shown through operating in different meters, registers, and rhythms to portray the feeling of going through a rollercoaster of emotions.

The third movement—meditation, is where the body and the mind finally operate in harmony, by integrating moments that were once fear and self-doubt by turning them into a serene experience. At the end, the pianist finds peace in the body and the mind.

JEREMI EDWARDS – Dream SequenceDream Sequence is a programmatic work that musically personifies the voyage of the human sleep cycle. This piece displays different styles of music to convey the different levels of the sleep cycle. As the piece progresses, each stage enters a deeper level of sleep eventually arriving into the dream sequence, where musical phrases overlap, echo, and decay. The process of researching and composing this piece has opened a new world of musical writing for me. During this compositional process, I found a new appreciation and inspiration from the scientific community. As a composer, finding new and creative ways to express ideas through music is always a challenge. Creating this piece has given me the foundation to carry my compositional process into the field of scientific research and I look forward to seeing this style of compositions develop into something new and enjoyable both listeners and performers.

With the completion of this piece, I am interested in creating more musical pieces, which reflect in depth scientific research.


PROGRAM NOTES

TIMOTHY LEE MILLER – Something MoreThe current direction of my writing is to try to create a fusion of classical and jazz elements that goes beyond just combining the styles, but more to the point of blurring the lines so much so that the two individually no longer exist, instead giving way to something else entirely. Something More is a step in that direction.

Something More begins with a simple melody that floats unrestricted by time over the top of an ostinato pattern in the piano that eventually yields to a bossa nova in 5/4. The bossa beat has its own melody that fits out of time in a polymetric 6/8 pattern, which ultimately takes over as the form evolves into a waltz-like feel. Originally written in 2016 as more of a purely jazz composition, it was produced as the title track of my 2018 Ansonica Records release Something More: Jazz Music of Timothy Lee Miller (AR00006). In this concert version, there are no improvised elements or solos; however, the chord structures and voicings, as well as the percussive patterns are most certainly borrowed from the jazz idiom. The original version included extensive improvised solos for each of the members of the ensemble, which included soprano saxophone, electric guitar, piano, bass, and drums. This rendering is more melodic in structure, but it does include a through-composed piano solo based on the original melody that explores the underlying intrinsic theme of the work, which, although is very subdued, to me is the highlight of the piece.

At the end of the day, how we construct music is left for the critics to ponder, but what happens when we hear music played or performed is the ultimate goal of the composer. As we wrestle with our own personal struggles and challenges, there is always something more that we can do to make things just a little better for the people around us. There is always room for kindness, and room for hope. It is my hope then that Something More ultimately creates in you the desire to search for and find the true meaning in life

JACOB SNIDER – One Cricket SongOne Cricket Song is a phrase from the poem “On the Grasshopper and Cricket” by John Keats. In it, the poet describes the power of nature as something unremitting, and worthy of our daily wonder. In this piece, I have tried to draw inspiration from my memories of east coast summer, and all of the creatures that made up its song.

ROBERT PATERSON – Star CrossingAlthough I will probably never have an opportunity to travel through outer space, I often look up at the stars with wonderment, marveling at the vastness of the night sky, wishing I could have that experience. This work is my attempt to impart the sensation of what I think it might feel like to travel through the galaxy, and to give the feeling, through sound, of staring up at the star-filled sky on a quiet, clear night.

PHILIP FOSTER – Mashup 2The idea for this piece came to me in Tallin, Estonia in June of 2018. Then I had been asked to write a new piece for classically trained student musicians. At the time I was not trained in traditional musical notation but needed to find a way to create a piece which those trained could easily play. An idea occurred to me to use standard repertoire, which musicians would know, but to make something new with it. For some time I had also felt that the frequent ongoing performance of classical music limited the exposure to contemporary audiences in the richness of contemporary music. I thought this might be a good opportunity to express this idea. This concept of this piece was first performed in New York City at the Tenri Cultural Center in May 2019.

All program notes are by the composers unless otherwise noted.


AARON COPLAND – Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson 1. Nature, the gentlest mother 2. There came a wind like a bugle 3. Why do they shut me out of heaven? 4. The world feels dusty 5. Heart, we will forget him 7. Sleep is supposed to be

HENRYK MIKOŁAJ GÓRECKI – Three Songs for Medium Voice 1. Do matki 2. Jai

.z do dzwon grobowy

3. Ptak

JOHN HARBISON – Mirabai Songs: 1,3,5

ALBERTO GINASTERA – Cinco canciones populares Argentinas Triste Zamba Chacerera

ROBERT PATERSON – Autumn Songs I. Ascension: Autumn Dusk in Central Park (Evelyn Scott) II. Under the Harvest Moon (Carl Sanburg)

ROBERT PATERSON* – Mother of Poisons (Aria from Carmilla) (John De Los Santos)

INTERMISS ION

VOCAL ARIAS AND ART SONGS


KAIJA SAARIAHO – Leinolaulut: Lino Songs for soprano and piano 1. Sua katselen 2. Sydän 3. Iltarukuos 4. Rauha

BRETT DEAN – Equality

CHEN YI – Meditation

Songs set to Emily Dickinson texts MARTHA SULLIVAN – The Sky Is Low ANDRÉ PREVIN – As Imperceptibly as Grief LORI LAITMAN – Four Dickinson Songs: 2, 4

ALEXANDER VON ZEMLINSKY – Songs Tiefe Sehnsucht Imerlin Rose Entietung

Program order subject to change

Saturday June 15th7:30 PM


2019 VOCAL PROGRAM Sydney Branch, soprano • Laura Couch, mezzo-soprano • Blythe Giassert*, mezzo-soprano

Ju Hyeon Han, soprano • Kerry Holahan, soprano • Natalia Hulse, sopranoSophia LeMaire, soprano • Juliet Schlefer, soprano • Brianna Weckerly, soprano

Jeffrey Todd, baritone • Yifei Xu, piano • Lesi Mei, piano • Nicole Brancato, pianoErika Switzer*, piano • Antony de Mare*,piano

*MMF Faculty


ROBERT PATERSON* – Enlightened City

JOSEPH REBMAN*† – Hyperion: Concerto for Harp and Orchestra** I. Helios (Sun) II. Selene (Moon) Cadenza: (Twilight) III. Eos (Dawn)

Joseph Rebman, harp

INTERMISS ION

BOHUSLAV MARTINU – Symphony No. 4 I. Poco moderato II. Allegro vivo – Trio. Moderato – Allegro vivo III. Largo IV. Poco Allegro

*MMF Faculty** World Premiere

†Winner of AMO’s First Annual Concerto Competition


Sunday June 16th3 PM


Ruth Reinhardt, ConductorJoseph Rebman, Harpist and Composer

AMERICAN MODERN ORCHESTRA


BIOGRAPHIES

RUTH RIENHARDTRuth Reinhardt is quickly establishing herself as one of today’s most dynamic and nuanced young conductors. She served as the Assistant Conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO) for two seasons under Jaap van Zweden and concluded her tenure at the end of the 2017/2018 season. Having recently made her debut with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic in summer 2018, this season Ms. Reinhardt will make debuts with the Grosses Orchester Graz and Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra; and in North America with the symphony orchestras of Fort Worth, Omaha, Orlando, Portland, Santa Fe, and Sarasota. Reinhardt will return to the Dallas Symphony three times this season, to conduct a subscription week as well as several concerts in the greater Dallas community and the DSO’s contemporary alternative ReMix series. She will also return to conduct the Cleveland Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Malmö Symphony, and at the Impuls Festival in Germany.

Last season, Reinhardt was selected as a Dudamel Fellow of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and in summer 2018, she served as the assistant conductor of the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra. In addition, she worked with Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra (NYO-USA), assisting Michael Tilson Thomas.

Highlights of her 2017/2018 season included guest engagements with the Indianapolis, San Diego, and North Carolina Symphonies, and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in the Primrose Viola Competition.

Ruth Reinhardt received her master’s degree in conducting from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Alan Gilbert. Born in Saarbrücken, Germany, she began studying violin at an early age and sang in the children’s chorus of Saarländisches Staatstheater, Saarbrücken’s opera company. She attended Zurich’s University of the Arts (Zürcher Hochschule der Künste) to study violin with Rudolf Koelman, and began conducting studies with Constantin Trinks, with additional training under Johannes Schlaefli. She has also participated in conducting master classes with, among others, Bernard Haitink, Michael Tilson Thomas, David Zinman, Paavo Järvi, Neeme Järvi, Marin Alsop, and James Ross.

Prior to her appointment in Dallas, Ruth was a conducting fellow at the Seattle Symphony (2015-16), Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Tanglewood Music Center (2015), and an associate conducting fellow of the Taki Concordia program (2015-17). During her time at Juilliard, she led the Juilliard Orchestra as well as concerts with New York City’s ÆON Ensemble, with whom she has led a collaboration with the Kronos Quartet.

A precocious talent, by age 17 she had already composed and conducted an opera, for and performed by the children and youths of her home town. While studying in Zurich, she also conducted the premieres of two chamber operas for children: Die Kleine Meerjungfrau (The Little Mermaid) by Swiss composer Michal Muggli, and Wassilissa by German composer Dennis Bäsecke. Other opera productions she has conducted include Dvorák’s Rusalka and Weber’s Der Freischütz for the North Czech Opera Company, and Strauss’ Die Fledermaus at the Leipzig University of the Arts.


BIOGRAPHIES

JOSEPH REBMANJoseph Rebman is a rising harpist and composer with a passion for new music. A recipient of the Alice Chalifoux prize for harp, Rebman has performed solo and with ensembles in thirteen different states. In the summer of 2019 he will be premiering his concerto “Hyperion” for harp and orchestra at the Mostly Modern Festival in Saratoga Springs, NY. Previous accolades include semi-finalist for both the Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh competition and the Classics Alive Artists Competition, and a finalist for the National Collegiate Solo Competition hosted by The United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own”. He was also a finalist for the Anne Adams Awards competition, and a finalist and honorable mention in the Coeur d’Alene Symphony’s Young Artist Competition. During the spring and summer of 2014 he performed the Debussy, Mozart, and Handel concertos with orchestras in Oklahoma and Colorado. He was a winner of the Rocky Ridge Music Center’s concerto competition, and a finalist for the Eastern Music Festival’s concerto competition. Rebman is currently principal harpist with the Kentucky Symphony, the Huntington Symphony (WV) and the Queen City Opera (OH). Previously he was acting principal with the Amarillo Symphony (TX), and guest principal with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic and Fort Smith Symphony (AR).

A strong believer in new music, Rebman is frequently involved in the premieres of new music and the promotion of the harp to young composers. 2017-2018 saw the culmination of a passion project to commission and premiere 11 new works for solo harp. These works will be the foundation of his first album of harp solos. Rebman was a featured harpist and composer for the 2018 inaugural season of the Mostly Modern Festival at Skidmore College, and at the TUTTI 2017 and 2015 New Music Festival at Denison University. He was also harpist in the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival–Yale School of Music’s New Music Workshop in the summer

of 2016. He first discovered a love of new music as principal harp for the FiveOne Experimental Orchestra in Cleveland.

After seeing a need for increased communication between harpists and composers, Rebman created a presentation and packet on the basics of composing for the harp. This lecture has been given to composition students at the Mostly Modern Festival, Atlantic Music Festival, Cleveland Institute of Music Young Composers Program, Rocky Ridge Music Festival, University of Oklahoma, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Based on this experience, Rebman was invited to be a featured presenter at the 2018 American Harp Society National Conference, speaking as part of a panel on the topic of commissions and working with composers.

As a composer, Rebman has written for a variety of ensembles, while also specializing in modern techniques of harp composition. 2017 featured the premiere of Twilight for solo harp at the 2017 TUTTI New Music Festival at Denison University. 2016 premieres included He Would Not Stay: Seven Poems of A.E. Housman for Baritone and piano, premiered by “The Secret Opera” in New York City, Prana for solo violin, commissioned by Catherine Rinderknecht, and Hyperion: Concerto for Harp and Orchestra premiered by the composer with piano. Mnemosyne, a suite of character pieces for harp and flute, was selected for performance at the NACUSA 2016 convention in Knoxville, Tennessee and at the 2015 TUTTI New Music Festival. Eros for solo harp was featured at the 46th annual Ball State Festival of New Music in 2016, and won third prize in the Ohio Federation of Music Clubs’ Collegiate Composers competition. Summer of 2014 found Rebman in Estes Park, Colorado, as a participant in RRMC’s composition program. The Faculty Ensemble there premiered his song cycle He Would Not Stay: Seven Poems of A.E. Housman for Baritone and pierrot ensemble.

Rebman is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, the University of Oklahoma, and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He has studied harp with Michelle Gwynne, Yolanda Kondonassis, Gaye LeBlanc, and Gillian Benet Sella. Compositions studies have been with Jeremy Allen, Robert Paterson, and Marvin Lamb. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Rebman discovered the harp at age ten through Disney’s Fantasia, creating a love for all things harp that was fostered through study with the late Michelle Gwynne and performance in his school’s string orchestra for eight years. Happiness is also found in video games, yoga, dogs, and Italian food.


ROBERT PATERSON – Enlightened CityThe title of this work, Enlightened City, is both literal and figurative. This piece was originally written for the one-hundreth anniversary of the Ithaca High School Orchestra, and is inspired by the glowing city lights that seem to appear from nowhere when driving at night towards Ithaca on Route 13. In a broader sense, the title may refer to any American city that is lit up at night. The title also refers to Ithaca being called “the most enlightened city in America” by Utne Reader magazine. Throughout the work, there are optimistic-sounding dance-like sections, but also others that are colorful and dark, counter-balancing the lighter, brighter moments.

JOSEPH REBMAN – HyperionHyperion is the god of light, one of the titans of Greek mythology. He had three children: Helios, god of the sun, Selene, goddess of the moon, and Eos, goddess of the dawn. Helios rides his chariot through the sky, bringing the day behind him. Selene does the same, bringing the night. Eos rises from the water, clearing the mist of the morning to make way for Helios.

This piece uses three main inspirations for each movement: The character of the gods (Helios, Selene, Eos), the items they represent (sun, moon, dawn), and common correlations with these items (heat and action of the day, chill and peace of the night, rebirth and resetting the cycle at dawn).

Throughout this work I explore the many facets of the harp in this unique setting, utilizing a wide array of extended techniques. These special sounds are meant to help the harp slide through all the different characters and roles in the narrative, breaking out of the “pretty and angelic” mold the harp is all too often stuck in.

BOHUSLAV MARTINU – Symphony No. 4The Symphony No. 4, H. 305, by Bohuslav Martin˚u was composed in New York City from April 1945, and completed at Martin˚u’s summer home at Cape Cod in June 1945. The finale bears the inscription South Orleans, 14th

June, 1945.

The work is in four movements and, according to the composer, grows out of a single motif. The first movement alternates between lyrical and rhythmical material presented in variation. The second movement, in 6/8 time is a Scherzo, marked by a rhythmically irregular Dvorákian leading melody. The slow third movement is dominated by the strings with short passagework for the woodwind. The finale is an energetic reworking of earlier material and concludes with a vibrant tutti.

The work is dedicated to his friends Helen and William Ziegler, and was premiered on 30 November 1945 at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy.

PROGRAM NOTES



https://www.revolvy.com/page/Bohuslav-Martin%C5%AF

https://www.revolvy.com/page/Bohuslav-Martin%C5%AF

https://www.revolvy.com/page/New-York-City

https://www.revolvy.com/page/Cape-Cod

https://www.revolvy.com/page/Anton%C3%ADn-Dvo%C5%99%C3%A1k

https://www.revolvy.com/page/Philadelphia

https://www.revolvy.com/page/Philadelphia-Orchestra

https://www.revolvy.com/page/Eugene-Ormandy

LUCIANO BERIO – Call

J.S. BACH – Prelude and Fugue in A Major BWV 888

DIMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH – Prelude and Fugue in A Major Op 87

JOSHUA BAERWALD – Palimpsest*

K. SCOTT EGGERT – Pentad*

BUNNY BECK – Fantasy for Brass*

ANDREW SORG – Existential Crisis* I. The Moment of Pain II. Regrets

*World Premiere


Wednesday June 19th7:30 PM


ATLANTIC BRASS QUINTET


BIOGRAPHIES

ATLANTIC BRASS QUINTETWidely acclaimed as one of the world’s finest and most versatile brass chamber ensembles, the Atlantic Brass Quintet has performed in 48 of the United States and dozens of countries across four continents. Atlantic specializes in masterful and vibrant presentations of repertoire spanning five centuries and a broad spectrum of styles, from Bach and Brahms to Mehldau and Monk to Brazil and the Balkans. Winner of six international chamber music competitions, the Quintet’s distinctive sound, impeccable ensemble, stunning virtuosity, and warm, inviting stage presence have won praise from scores of critics.

Founded in 1985, the Atlantic Brass Quintet launched its career with a phenomenal string of competition victories over a period of two years. Grand prizes include the Coleman Chamber Music Competition, Carmel Chamber Music Society Competition, the Shoreline Alliance Chamber Music Competition, the Summit Brass First International Brass Ensemble Competition, and the Rafael Mendez International Brass

Quintet Competition. Following these remarkable achievements, the ABQ was honored by Musical America by being named “Young Artists of 1988”. In May 1992, by unanimous decision, the Quintet won the “Premiere Prix” at the International Brass Competition of Narbonne, France, recognized worldwide as the preeminent competition of its kind.

Highlights in the Quintet’s busy concert career include performances at Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Fleet Boston Celebrity Series, Tanglewood, and the White House.

Atlantic has been the resident brass quintet of Boston University, the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and the Boston Conservatory. The Atlantic Brass Quintet Seminar, an annual residential immersive summer program established in 1993, endures as one of the most popular summer destinations for both student and professional brass players.


PROGRAM NOTES

JOSHUA BAERWALD – PalimpsestI have always been interested in the concept of “rewriting” something. A palimpsest is a manuscript or text where the original text has been removed or erased in order to make room for new text, but traces of the old remain. I think of the phenomenon of rewriting our own memories: numerous psychology studies have shown that each revisiting of a memory leads to a revision of that memory. This piece takes that concept of revision by presenting a “memory” of sorts, then taking apart and putting back together various sections, turning it into something new, while some of the old still remains.

K. SCOTT EGGERT – PentadPentad is another word for the number 5, and also for the pentachord. This piece is merely a meditation on the musical expressions of the number 5, which I deemed an appropriate subject in writing for a quintet. The main theme, which begins the piece, is a pentachord made up of the first 5 pitches of a G major scale, appearing in a 5/8 meter. In Pythagorean philosophy, in which numbers are revered as gods, the number 5 is identified as the fulcrum point between the two sides of a scale, and is thus the “dispenser of justice.” The piece was therefore composed as interplay of opposing forces, or contrasting musical dialects, even including quartertones in the mix, since they can be seen as .5 of a semitone. And also because I like quartertones. I am also fascinated by the complex beat patterns created by tight clusters of frequencies. Dissonance is only a way of perceiving this complexity of tonal interaction.

BUNNY BECK – Fantasy for BrassThe piece begins with the performers playing serious chorale style music. Unexpectedly, the music takes a subtle turn, and the performers suddenly find themselves playing swing riffs, which morph into a down and dirty blues, grows in intensity and suddenly stops!

The players “wake up” from their fantasy daze, become serious, and the chorale begins once again – this time with more musical freedom.

I originally composed the piece for saxophone quartet as Fantasy for Saxophones, which was premiered in Montpelier VT, February 2018.

ANDREW SORG – Existential CrisisI composed Existential Crisis for my friend and tubist Joseph Ready. He requested a solo tuba work in the stylings of my two brass quintets Mental Disorders and Voices In Da Fan, while keeping the integrity of original music. He expressed his desire for this piece to be dark, beautiful and painful, with hope fighting against the struggle inside us. An existential crisis is the moment you question the foundation of your life. Did you make the right choices defining the meaning of your life in this world? Feelings of pain, panic, regret, depression and loneliness plague the soul as the mind painfully battles for clarity.

Movement I – The Moment of Pain. The opening theme, which reoccurs throughout the piece, represents the pain.

Movement II– Regrets. The pain presents itself, but turns into a passionate lament.

– Andrew Sorg



ROBERT PATERSON* – Quintus

EUGENE MARLOW – Quirky**

ALPHONSO RAMIREZ – Tango Pierrot**

LEAH OFMAN – Never Anyone But You**

LEONID GALAGANOV – Transient Values**

STEPHEN CABELL* – The Distance to the Moon

NATHANIEL HEYDER – premonitions**

*MMF Composition Faculty**World Premiere


Friday June 21st7:30 PM


AMERICAN MODERN ENSEMBLE–CONCERT II

AMERICAN MODERN ENSEMBLELindsey Goodman, flute • Tasha Warren, clarinet • Charles McCracken, bassoon

Joseph Rebman, harp • Matthew Ward, percussion • Esther Noh, violinPhilip Payton, viola • Dave Eggar, cello • Blair McMillen, piano

2019 CONDUCTING PROGRAMAlex Arellano • JaeEun Kim • Renée Anne LoupretteJohn McKeever • Austin Philemon • Andreas Salazar


BIOGRAPHIES

AMERICAN MODERN ENSEMBLEAmerican Modern Ensemble (AME) is celebrating its 15th Season this fall and spotlights contemporary music via lively thematic programming. AME performs a wide repertoire, using a varied combination of instrumentalists, vocalists, and conductors, and the ensemble often highlights AME’s house composer and founder, Robert Paterson. Since it’s inception, AME has performed over 250 works by living composers, and has received critical success in The New York Times, Time Out, the New Yorker, among others. Sold out crowds at BAM, Merkin Hall, Lincoln Center, the Rubin Museum, Dixon Place, and National Sawdust are a winning testament to AME’s 15 year-track record as to what is ‘right’ about classical music today.

AME includes on-stage chats with composers and the creative team, allowing audience members to learn even more about the creative process. AME provides a welcoming environment for audience, creators and performers. Over 95% of the composers we program participate and attend our shows, including luminaries such as John Luther Adams, John Corigliano, David Del Tredici, Aaron Jay Kernis, Libby Larsen, Steven

Mackey, Paul Moravec, Christopher Rouse, Joan Tower, Chen Yi, and countless others. AME also enthusiastically performs works by America’s most talented, emerging and mid-career composers.

AME produces stellar recordings via its house label, American Modern Recordings (AMR), which has received fantastic reviews in Gramophone, theLA Music Examiner, The New York Times, Sequenza21, and New Music Box, and all our albums have made it to the Grammy® Ballot for the past four seasons.

AME’s summer home is now at the Mostly Modern Festival, located in Saratoga Springs, New York. This festival celebrates the music of our time. It is educational, with robust outreach initiatives. Other residencies include Princeton University, James Madison University, Keene State College, the CUNY Graduate Center, Adelphi, Rutgers, and many more. AME is deeply invested in collaboration. Some examples are On Site Opera, Cutting Edge New Music Festival, Prototype Opera Festival, American Opera Projects, the Dance Theater of Harlem, and the Mazzini Dance Collective.


PROGRAM NOTES

ROBERT PATERSON – QuintusIn medieval music, ‘quintus’ means the fifth voice or part. In Quintus, I highlight each part, usually as a solo, but sometimes two at a time, either in rhythmic unison or with a kind of call and response. Unless the solos are exposed, such as in the piano part, they are often backed by a virtual drumset consisting of percussive sounds made by the other instruments. A bass drum sound is created with deadstrokes on the marimba and by striking the body of the cello, a snare drum is created with clarinet multiphonics (playing more than one note at a time) and high marimba notes. Other sections just groove along, often with the marimbist playing a funky pattern using “marimshots” in the left hand (striking four notes at once, two with mallet heads and two with the shafts).

EUGENE MARLOW – QuirkyQuirky was begun in 2001 as a character study of one of my twin (fraternal) sons: Samuel Josef. Sam has always had great eyes from the moment of his birth. The evidence of this finds expression in his very early (at age three) manipulation of Sculpey Clay into all manner of forms, such as “Wallace and Gromit” of British stop-motion animation fame. He could take the clay medium and in moments create the characters with astonishing accuracy. Fast-forward to the present day, Sam has become a masterful 3D and 2D animator and cartoonist—five of his cartoons have been published in The New Yorker. Not a small feat by any means. In this regard, his cartoons as well as his in-person humor and personality are “quirky.” One definition of quirky is “... someone who’s interesting and unique.” Others include a person who “thinks outside the box,” is “creative,” and who “takes a look at himself and asks questions.” This is Sam. The “character study” composition attempts to capture who he is at his core.

ALPHONSO RAMIREZ – Tango PierrotTango Pierrot, as its name suggests, is a tango scored for Pierrot Ensemble. I’ve been drawn to the vibrancy and energy of the tangos of Astor Piazzolla for as long as I have listened to them. Something about the free nature of the effects they use, and the almost prideful melodrama of the music has always made them exciting to me, even if they can get to be too over the top every now and then. With this piece I hope to capture some of that spirit that has defined the tradition for generations.

LEAH OFMAN – Never Anyone But YouThis is a tone poem based off of an English translation of a French poem.

LEONID GALAGANOV – Transient ValuesThis composition is inspired by a meditation on values. They direct the way of the individual and the collective, but also tend to shift and transform throughout time. People make sense of the world and navigate their lives based on the values they hold, and although they are born into societies with pre-existing codes of behavior many re-evaluate their systems of meaning at times of crisis. Values may be ancient, deceptive, fashionable or expired. When the disheartened traveler reaches yet another dead end the sound of a drum reveals the lighthouse at the center. The abstraction of values changing throughout periods of our life is what informed the narrative and process behind Transient Values.

STEPHEN CABELL* – The Distance to the MoonThe Distance to the Moon is a realization of and reflection on the short story of a similar title by Italian surrealist writer Italo Calvino. The story begins with the 19th century scientific premise that millions of years ago, the Moon was much closer to the Earth and was gradually pushed away by the tides. Calvino imagines, at one time, that


PROGRAM NOTESthese two bodies were so close that during high tide one could jump from a boat into the Moon’s gravitational pull. There are three main characters: the narrator Qfwfq, his cousin, known only as “the Deaf One,” and the nameless wife of Captain Vhd Vhd. The three make this journey for the purpose of harvesting Moon-milk, a viscous, fermented mélange of terrestrial detritus, which has lifted off the Earth and settled into scaly crevices on the Moon’s surface.

Calvino’s peculiarly named characters form a love triangle—Qfwfq has an unrequited love for the harp-wielding wife of Captain Vhd Vhd; her unrequited love, the “Deaf One,” is himself enraptured only by the Moon. As the

Earth’s tides push the Moon further away, it becomes increasingly difficult to leap between the two. During their final journey, Captain Vhd Vhd’s wife intentionally maroons herself on the Moon in an attempt to become closer to that which “the Deaf One” desires. Despite attempts to reach her, she drifts further and further away, but for a time, Qfwfq is able to catch glimpses of her lightly strumming her harp until the distance is too great and her form fuses with the Moon, vanishing from sight.

In this work scored for flute, viola, and harp, the flute often represents the wife of Captain Vhd Vhd, the viola Qfwfq, and the harp the Deaf One and the Moon itself.



AnimalsMAURICE RAVEL – Histoires naturelles Le Paon Le Grillon Le Cygne Le Martin-Pêcheur La PintadeANDRÉ CAPLET – Trois fables de Jean de la Fonatine Le loup et l’agneauJAKE HEGGIE – Natural Selection Creation Alas Alak Animal Passion Connection Indian SummerJAKE HEGGIE – Hummingbird DuetRHIAN SAMUEL – The Hare in the Moon

INTERMISS ION

DIMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH – Satires: 1,4,5

LIBBY LARSEN – Love After 1950 Big Sister Says, 1967 Blond Men The Empty Song

VOCAL ARIAS AND ART SONGS


Saturday June 22nd7:30 PM


New York ThemeLIBBY LARSEN – I have 10 legsROBERT HEPPNER – New YorkPAOLA PRESTINI – Aquarium, Coney IslandALAN SMITH – Vignettes: Ellis IslandCONRAD CUMMINGS – Lamento del BaristaBORA YOON – Grand CentralROBERT PATERSON – Crossing the Hudson


2019 VOCAL PROGRAMSydney Branch, soprano • Laura Couch, mezzo-soprano • Ju Hyeon Han, soprano

Kerry Holahan, soprano • Natalia Hulse, soprano • Sophia LeMaire, sopranoJuliet Schlefer, soprano • Brianna Weckerly, soprano • Thomas Bocchi, tenor

Jeffrey Todd, baritone • Yifei Xu, piano • Lesi Mei, pianoNicole Brancato, piano • Chris Reynolds*, piano • Chantal Balestri, piano

* MMF Faculty


David Amado, Conductor

CLAUDE BAKER* – Tre Canzone** I. after Baude Cordier (1380-1440) II. after Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) III. after Clément Janequin (1485-1558)

Written with the generous assistance of a grant from Indiana University’s New Frontiers of Creativity and Scholarship Program

ROBERT PATERSON* – Suite for String Orchestra I. Allegro vivace II. Trapped waltz III. Nocturne IV. Balinese scherzo V. Finale: allegro moderato

INTERMISS ION

†Work by MMF Composition Institute Participant

TORU TAKEMITSU – Twill by Twilight – In Memory of Morton Feldman

*MMF Faculty** World Premiere

†This work will be chosen for performance from the works that receive orchestral readings earlier in the week at the festival, and

will be conducted by one of the conducting participants.


Sunday June 23rd3 PM




BIOGRAPHIES

DAVID AMADODavid Amado has been music director of the Delaware Symphony Orchestra since 2003, and in July 2016 he began a second music directorship at the Atlantic Classical Orchestra in Florida.

As a guest conductor Amado has led numerous prominent orchestras. In addition to the St. Louis Symphony, where he served as associate conductor from 2001 to 2004, he has led the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Rochester Philharmonic, and the Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Milwaukee, National, New World, and Toronto symphonies. Recent engagements have included the Mobile, New Bedford, New Haven and Toronto symphony orchestras and California’s Symphony Silicon

Valley. In June of 2019, he will make his debut at the Mostly Modern Festival in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Amado has been praised by the media, audiences, and fellow musicians for his deep musical insight and visceral energy. These qualities have allowed him to reinvigorate the Delaware Symphony, which has become a premier regional orchestra during his tenure. In 2010 the DSO released a critically acclaimed CD on the Telarc label, partnering with the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet in concertos by Joaquín Rodrigo and Sergio Assad; the recording debuted at number 11 on the Billboard charts and earned a Latin Grammy nomination. April of 2018 saw the release of a NAXOS recording featuring the DSO and Brasil Guitar Duo under Amado’s direction in concerti by Paulo Bellinati and Leo Brouwer.

He began his musical training in piano, studying in The Juilliard School’s pre-college and college divisions before going on to Indiana University, where he received a master’s degree in instrumental conducting. Returning to New York, he pursued further conducting studies at Juilliard with Otto-Werner Mueller. His first professional conducting post, an apprenticeship with the Oregon Symphony, was followed by a six-year tenure with the St. Louis Symphony, where he served as both a staff conductor at the orchestra and music director of the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra.


PROGRAM NOTES

CLAUDE BAKER – Tre CanzoneThe term “canzona” refers to a genre of Italian instrumental music first made popular in the sixteenth century. The earliest pieces were simply arrangements of French chansons for keyboard, lute, or other plucked string instruments, written in tablature. However, by the middle of that century, composers were creating canzonas that completely transformed the referenced chansons, rather than merely arranging and ornamenting them.

In a similar fashion, my Tre Canzone provides reworkings—or “reimaginings”—of three vocal compositions from the late Middle Ages, Renaissance, and early Baroque. These preexisting pieces form both the structural and programmatic bases of my composition and serve as points of departure for my own musical ideas. At certain times, elements of the older music emerge quite clearly, while at others, they are presented obliquely. In general, the texts are the driving force of my work—I try to capture the essence of the poetry through non-vocal commentary with allusions to the original composers’ settings.

Beyond these general observations, the poems themselves provide the best descriptions of the music. The opening movement is based on a chanson written in the old rondeau form by the late fourteenth-century composer Baude Cordier:

Lovers, love secretly If you wish to love long. Receive this advice: Lovers, love secretly; Because whoever does differently Makes the sweetness of love bitter. Lovers, love secretly If you wish to love long.

The form of this eight-line text can be represented as ABaAabAB, with the capital letters indicating the refrain. In the chanson, two musical phrases are provided for “A” and “B” respectively and are repeated according to this pattern. During the course of my

movement, Cordier’s piece emerges gradually— one could say “secretly”—from a texture of scurrying, furtive gestures, following the formal scheme above, until, at movement’s end, the brass play the original three-voice chanson in a transcribed version.

The middle movement is inspired by the second work in Claudio Monteverdi’s eighth book of madrigals, Madrigali guerrieri ed amorosi (Madrigals of War and Love), published in 1638. Monteverdi’s piece, “Hor che’l ciel e la terra,” is a setting of a sonnet by Petrarch for six voices, two violins, and continuo, and is unquestionably one of his greatest achievements:

Now that heaven and earth and wind are still and slumber has enthralled wild beasts and birds, and night leads her starry chariot about, and the waveless sea reposes on his bed, I wake, I ponder, I burn, I weep, and she who undoes me is always before me in my sweet pain: war is my lot, full of wrath and grief, and only in thinking of her do I have some peace. Thus, from a single, clear, living spring flow both the sweet and the bitter that comfort me; a single hand both cures me and wounds. And since my martyrdom has no end, a thousandfold each day I die, and a thousandfold I am reborn: so far am I from my salvation.

Like the book of madrigals as a whole, Monteverdi divides this work into two parts, the first corresponding to the opening eight lines of Petrarch’s sonnet, and the second, to its final six lines. Further mirroring the overall structure of the volume, the first part depicts the pursuit of love through the allegory of war (the battle to conquer love), and the second part chronicles the uncertainty and unhappiness of being in love. Too, each part is split into three sections, conforming to the layout of the text.


PROGRAM NOTESIn my treatment of the madrigal, I adhere to the general construction of the original, making both distorted and literal references to Monteverdi’s music. The voices, violins, and continuo, however, are supplanted by a full string section and a modest percussion complement of membranes, woods, and metals.

The third movement of Tre Canzone uses as its generative source Clément Janequin’s La bataille (Escoutez tous gentilz), published in 1528. This programmatic chanson was written to celebrate the French victory over the Swiss in the Battle of Marignano in 1515. In the work, Janequin imitates the noises of battle, including the sounds of various weapons, the cries of the wounded, and the calls of trumpets, fifes, and drums – all accomplished with only four solo voices! Herewith is an excerpt from the rather long text that is illustrative of the onomatopoeias:

Frere le le lan fan fan fan feyne Fire! Thunder! Fire, bombards and cannons. Charge! great swords and foils to relieve the comrades. Von pa ti pa toc von von Ta ri ra ri ra ri ra reyne Pon, pon, pon, pon la la la … poin poin le re le ron France! Courage! Strike some blows. Chipe chope, torche lorgne Pa ti pa toc tricque, trac zin zin Kill! To death! Close ranks! Take courage, Galant gentlemen.

Janequin’s genius lies in rhythmic invention and the skillful interweaving of these onomatopoeic effects. Although, on the surface, the music itself is quite static melodically and harmonically, it nonetheless contains a great many clever and subtle contrapuntal devices that contribute to its effectiveness as programmatic “battle music.” To convey a sense of strife and combat in my own score, I utilized the same sorts of compositional techniques Janequin employed in

his famous chanson: superimposing or sharply juxtaposing disparate musical ideas; metrically displacing otherwise straightforward rhythmic motifs; rapidly tossing fragments of lines back and forth among members of the ensemble; and even attempting to replicate instrumentally some of the sounds of sixteenth-century warfare.

–Claude Baker

ROBERT PATERSON – Suite for String OrchestraUnlike some of my previous works, Suite for String Orchestra is not inspired by an over-arching programmatic theme. Although there are some technical and motivic relationships between some of the movements—particularly the first and fifth—the movements are generally unrelated and are meant to be noticeably distinct. It is in five short movements and is intentionally written in an “old-fashioned,” somewhat archaic style. I initially played around with the idea of titling this work Old-fashioned Suite or Old Time Suite, but there seems to be a sufficient sprinkling of “new fangled ideas” in this work to make these alternative titles seem inadequate.

The first movement, Allegro vivace, is written in a “mid-20th century American” style. My model for a few of the sections in this movement is the evocative, German phrase Sturm und Drang, which literally translated means “storm and stress.”

In the second movement, Trapped waltz, I imagine an ethereal, yet cognizant waltz floating above the stratosphere, looking for a place to rest, but hobbled and shackled by a pounding rock and roll drumset. I see this as a metaphor for the various dances throughout history that have come and gone but are continually vying for attention in contemporary culture. The movement fades out at the end, as if the waltz is eternally looking for a place to settle down. Admittedly, I was somewhat inspired by the collage works of Charles Ives.


PROGRAM NOTESThe third movement, Nocturne, begins slowly and sadly, and I imagine the pulse in the beginning as similar to the gentle breathing of someone who is asleep. The middle of the movement is much more intense and violent, and the end is as soft and calm as the beginning. The first chair violin and the first chair violoncello have brief solos in this movement.

Although material from the middle of the fourth movement, Balinese scherzo, is derived from a Balinese scale, the beginning is somewhat chromatic and the ending is essentially based on the E-major scale. This movement is distinctive in that the orchestra is asked to play pizzicato almost the entire time.

The fifth movement, Finale: allegro moderato, is the movement that is most reminiscent of the first movement. The ending combines material from the beginning of both the first and fifth movements.

–Robert Paterson

TORU TAKEMITSU – Twill by TwilightOne of the most versatile composers of Japan has been Toru Takemitsu, who, until his death in 1996 was able to achieve a style of music which brought together the techniques of Western classical music with the traditional music of Japan in beautiful, surprising and even haunting ways. He did this in music for concert halls as well as scores for 93 films. As he stated it, his purpose was to always achieve “a sound that was as intense as silence.” His study of Western classical music came first, a task that was made all the more difficult by World War II, when it was forbidden to listen to Western music in Japan. In fact, it was not until the mid-1950’s that Takemitsu began to study the music of his own country.

The first Japanese composer to achieve worldwide recognition, thanks in some part to a fortuitous meeting with Igor Stravinsky in 1957, Toru Takemitsu was an autodidact who began his musical studies during the U.S. occupation of Japan after World War II. In reaction to the toxic nationalism that had gripped Japan during the war, the young Takemitsu turned his musical attention to Western styles, particularly 12- tone and serial methods. Over time, through his friendship with American composer John Cage, who introduced Takemitsu to traditional Japanese music, Takemitsu began to explore the philosophies and aesthetics of his native culture. His later music, including the award-winning score to Akira Kurosawa’s 1985 film Ran, combines a unique blend of Western and Eastern elements with a personal understanding of sound and its relationship to silence.

Takemitsu discovered both personal and musical affinities with American composer Morton Feldman; both men wrote understated music that tends to evolve slowly over time. Along with John Cage, Feldman helped create the concept of indeterminate music, in which some components of the music are determined by chance or the performer’s choices. After Feldman died, Takemitsu wrote, “His music was without strong contrasts, unassertive, arising from his sensitivity—a unique minimalism without excesses. Thus the inner content of his music is clearly defined.” Takemitsu began writing Twill by Twilight as a commission from the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra to commemorate that ensemble’s 25th anniversary. Morton Feldman died in the autumn of 1987, while Takemitsu was working on the commission; as he wrote, Takemitsu decided to dedicate his work-in-progress to his late friend. “[Feldman] was extremely nearsighted and wrote his music as if touching the notes with his eyes,” Takemitsu remembers. “Whenever I hear his music I think of its tactile quality, of his eyes ‘hearing’ the sounds.”


PROGRAM NOTESThe idea of touchable music informs Twill by Twilight, whose title references twill, a textile weave characterized by diagonal stitches. “The twill weave of the music takes effect by means of an extremely limited musical unit—or what we might better call the musical principle which exists prior to the forming of the melody or the taking shape of the rhythm,” Takemitsu writes. “Subtle variations in pastel- like colors express the moment just after sunset, when twilight turns toward darkness.”

Notes adapted from Elizabeth Schwartz and The Oregon Symphony

“In Twill by Twilight, the twill weave of the music takes effect by means of an extremely limited musical unit or what we might better call the musical principle which exists prior to the forming of the melody or the taking shape of the rhythm. Subtle variations in pastel colors express the moment just after sunset when twilight turns toward darkness. The work was commissioned by the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra on the occasion of its 25th anniversary. It was composed as a fond reminiscence of a man who was both my friend and a unique composer, Morton Feldman, who died in 1987.”

–Toru Takemitsu



EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARA – Etydit Op. 42, No. 1 Terssit

CLAUDE DEBUSSY – Douze Études pour le piano, XI. Pour les arpèges composes

ROBERT PATERSON* – Joy Ride

ROY HARRIS – Piano Sonata, Op. 1

MAURICE RAVEL – Selections from Valses Nobles et Sentimentales

IGOR STRAVINSKY – Piano Etude Op. 7, No. 4

INTERMISS ION

CLAUDE DEBUSSY – Isle Joyeuse

ANNIE GOSFIELD – Shattered Apparitions of the Western Wind, Movt 1-2 for Piano and Electronics (2011)

ROBERTO PIANA – Impressioni di danza No. 1 (for piano, four hands)

MARK APPLEBAUM – Meditation (for piano, six hands)

STEVE REICH / DIONYSIS BOUKOUVALAS – Fantasy on a theme by Steve Reich 1999, 2013 (for piano, six hands)


Monday June 24th7:30 PM


PIANO VIRTUOSOS

2019 PIANO PROGRAMChantal Balestri • Nicole Brancato • Geoffrey Burleson* • Lesi Mei

*MMF Faculty


BIOGRAPHIES

CHANTAL BALESTRIPraised for her “confidence and sound technique” (South Florida Classical Review), Italian/Swiss pianist Chantal Balestri is a versatile classical musician active in the music scenes worldwide. Highlights of her recent career include her debut at the Harbin Concert Hall, Freiburg Konzertsaal, Theatre du Martolet beside others for her Spring tourney both in Europe and Asia.

After her debut as a soloist with orchestra at age 13, she has concertized through Europe and North America at venues including Carnegie Hall (Weill and Stern), Lincoln Center, DiMenna Center, Greenfield Hall (New York, USA), Miniaci Performing Art Center (Miami, USA), Wiener Saal (Austria), Sala Piatti (Bergamo, Italy), Sala Stradivari (Cremona, Italy), Kaisersaal der Historisches Kaufhaus (Freiburg, Germany), Auditorium de La Lonja (Orihuela, Spain), Auditorium De Universidade (Aveiro, Portugal).

Since the age of seven, Chantal has won numerous national and international competitions, including the Osimo International Piano Competition and, most recently, the Miami Piano Festival 2017 and the NYU Piano Concerto Competition 2016. Her repertoire includes a wide range of styles, from Baroque to contemporary eras. She has presented premieres of solo and chamber music works in important contemporary music Festivals, including “Composers Now Festival”. Collaborations include Massimo Giuntoli (with Yamaha Europe), Rodion Shchedrin, Barbara Jazwinski, Gilead Mishory, Annie Gosfield, Roberto Piana, Paolo Marchettini, David Winkler e.g.

Chantal resides in NYC and is a staff pianist at the New York University and piano professor in different academies.

She is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Lunigiana International Music Festival and the President of the NY Chapter of the World Piano Teachers Association.

NICOLE BRANCATONew York-based pianist Nicole Brancato is a stimulating and adventurous musician. As an award-winning young artist, she has performed throughout America and Italy, appearing in such venues as Lincoln Center, the Guggenheim, and the 92Y, as well as the “underground” performance spaces in New York City and on New York Public Radio.

Brancato is a champion of creative and conceptual performance. She participated in the Guggenheim’s marathon performance of Satie’s Vexations honoring John Cage’s legendary premiere of the work in 1963. This unique 19-hour concert was featured in The New York Times and Art News. On the international network Rai Italia, Brancato gave an intimate televised concert and interview for the series “L’altra Italia” in which she explored her roots and her love for New York’s exhilarating music scene. Her modern big band project “The Titanics,” for which she acted as pianist and lead arranger, was deemed “brilliant” by New York Magazine and appeared multiple times in The New Yorker and Time Out New York. She is also a key member of 2Squared—a dynamic piano duo that tackles great canonic works, new compositions, and multidisciplinary collaborations.

With her passion for programming both traditional and avant-garde music in thought-provoking ways, Brancato has won multiple competitions during her career. She holds an M.A. in piano performance from Hunter College in New York City and a B.M. in piano performance from Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA.


PROGRAM NOTES

GEOFFREY BURLESONEqually active as a recitalist, concerto soloist, chamber musician, and jazz performer, Geoffrey Burleson, pianist, has performed to wide acclaim throughout Europe and North America. Current recording projects include Camille Saint-Saëns: Complete Piano Works, on 6 CDs, for the new Naxos Grand Piano label. Volumes 1 (Complete Piano Études), 2, 3 and 4 have been released to high acclaim from Gramophone, International Record Review, Diapason (France) and elsewhere. Other noteworthy recordings by Burleson include Vincent Persichetti: Complete Piano Sonatas (New World Records), which received a BBC Music Choice award from the BBC Music Magazine, and AKOKA (Oxingale Records), featuring Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, as well as companion works, for which Burleson was nominated for a 2015 JUNO Award for Classical Album of the Year. Mr. Burleson’s concerto appearances include the Buffalo Philharmonic, New England Philharmonic, Boston Musica Viva, and the Holland Symfonia in the Netherlands. He has also appeared as featured soloist at the Bard Music Festival, International Keyboard Institute and Festival (New York), Monadnock Music Festival, Santander Festival (Spain) and the Talloires International Festival (France). He is a core member of the American Modern Ensemble and Boston Musica Viva. Mr. Burleson teaches piano at Princeton University and is Professor of Music and Director of Piano Studies at Hunter College-City University of New York. He is also on the piano faculties of the CUNY Graduate Center, the International Keyboard Institute & Festival (New York), and the Interharmony International Music Festival (Italy).

LESI MEIPianist Lesi Mei has been involved in many fields—such as bioengineering and kinesiology—but piano and classical music have molded her in to the person she is. In front of the keys, her background and personality manifest in dazzling virtuosity and stunning musicality. She has participated in festivals such as International Keyboard Institute and Festival in New York City, Olympiad Piano festival (Semifinalist in Concerto Competition) in Colorado Springs, and received the performance diploma from European Music Institute Vienna from Prof. Martin Hughes. Here in San Diego, California, Lesi is a force to reckon with. Lesi maintains an active career as soloist and chamber musician, performing in venues such as Athenaeum Library, Temecula’s Merc Theater, the San Diego International Airport, and various libraries and community centers. Away from the concert hall, Lesi not only maintains a private piano studio, but also enjoys accompanying other student and professional musicians. Also, In 2016, Lesi served on the panel for the San Diego International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs.

Having just graduated from San Diego State University with Master of Music degree in Piano Performance, Lesi looks forward to even more performances and collaboration with other musicians. Lesi also holds Master of Science degree in Exercise Physiology from Florida State University, FL, and Bachelor of Engineering in Biological Engineering from Beijing Institute of Technology, CHINA.


CLAUDE DEBUSSY – String Quartet in G minor, L. 85, Op. 10 I. Animé et très decide II. Assez vif et bien rythmé III. Andantino, doucement expressif IV. Très modéré – En animant peu à peu – Très mouvementé et avec passion

MICHAEL JANZ – Translations I-VI; When Walking in Los Angeles** I. At Angels Flight II. At Olvera Street III. Skateboarding IV. Bernie! V. 3.4 Mile Collage VI. Grand Central Market

GILLIAN RAE PERRY – Looking for Friends**

INTERMISS ION

KEVIN MCCARTER – Come Along**

GUANG YANG – Night Clouds**

ROBERT PATERSON* – String Quartet No. 2** I. Colored Fields II. Rigor Mortis III. Dolente IV. Scherzando V. Collage

Comissioned by J.K. Billman and written for and dedicated to the Euclid Quartet

*MMF Composition Faculty** World Premiere

Program subject to change

Tuesday June 25th7:30 PM


EUCLID STRING QUARTET


BIOGRAPHIES

EUCLID QUARTETCelebrating its 18th anniversary season, the Euclid Quartet enjoys one of the most highly regarded reputations of any chamber ensemble of its generation, with its members’ constituting a multinational mix representing four continents: violinist Jameson Cooper (Great Britain), violinist Brendan Shea (United States), violist Luis Enrique Vargas (Venezuela), cellist Jacqueline Choi (South Korea).

Highlights of the Euclid Quartet’s career include significant global recognition as the first American string quartet to be awarded a top prize at the prestigious Osaka International Chamber Music Competition. Prior to its Japanese laurels, the quartet also won awards in numerous United States competitions, including the Hugo Kauder International Competition for String Quartets, The Carmel Chamber Music Competition and the Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition. In 2009, the Euclid Quartet was awarded the esteemed “American Masterpieces” grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

In 2007, the Euclid Quartet was appointed to the prestigious string quartet residency at Indiana University South Bend, where its members teach private lessons and coach chamber music. Passionately devoted to presenting the highest quality chamber music to young audiences, these seasoned teaching artists have performed for thousands and thousands of students and young adults, in part through support from the National Endowment for the Arts and collaborations with Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Association.

Active in the recording studio, the Euclid Quartet issued, most recently, a pair of CDs, comprising the six string quartets of Béla Bartók on Artek Recordings. The American Record Guide raved about these discs, “rarely has a group found such meaning and vision.” Their debut CD, on Centaur records, features the first four quartets of Hugo Kauder, a refugee from Nazi-occupied Austria who fled to the United States in the 1940s. He defied the atonal trend of his generation with his uniquely harmonic, contrapuntal style.


PROGRAM NOTES

CLAUDE DEBUSSY – String Quartet in G minor, L. 85, Op. 10Early in 1893, Debussy met the famed Belgian violinist Eugene Ysaÿe. Debussy was at this time almost unknown (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun was still a year in the future), but he and Ysaÿe instantly became friends—though Ysaÿe was only four years older than Debussy, he treated the diminutive Frenchman like “his little brother.” That summer, Debussy composed a string quartet for Ysaÿe’s quartet, which gave the first performance in Paris on December 29, 1893. Debussy was already notorious with his teachers for his refusal to follow musical custom, and so it comes as a surprise to find him choosing to write in this most demanding of classical forms. Early audiences were baffled. Reviewers used words like “fantastic” and “oriental,” and Debussy’s friend Ernest Chausson confessed mystification. Debussy must have felt the sting of these reactions, for he promised Chausson: “Well, I’ll write another for you …and I’ll try to bring more dignity to the form.”

But Debussy did not write another string quartet, and his Quartet in G Minor has become one of the cornerstones of the quartet literature. The entire quartet grows directly out of its first theme, presented at the very opening, and this sharply rhythmic figure reappears in various shapes in all four movements, taking on a different character, a different color, and a different harmony on each reappearance. What struck early audiences as “fantastic” now seems an utterly original conception of what a string quartet might be. Here is a combination of energy, drama, thematic imagination, and attention to color never heard before in a string quartet. Debussy may have felt pushed to apologize for a lack of “dignity” in this music, but we value it today just for that failure.

Those who think of Debussy as the composer of misty impressionism are in for a shock with his quartet, for it has the most slashing, powerful opening Debussy ever wrote: his marking for the beginning is “Animated and very resolute.” This first theme, with its characteristic triplet spring, is the backbone of the entire quartet: the singing second theme grows directly out of this opening (though the third introduces new material). The development is marked by powerful accents, long crescendos, and shimmering colors as this movement drives to an unrelenting close in G minor.

Notes adapted from Eric Bromberger and the La Jolla Music Society.

MICHAEL JANZ – Translations I-VI; When Walking in Los Angeles Translations are always imperfect, even more so when the material being translated is as rich and dense as a city soundscape. I have always been drawn to field recordings, and much of my recent work revolves around using field recordings as a means of generating musical content, not by simply sampling or quoting, but by deriving fundamental musical ideas from the vast sonic textures I have turned my microphone towards. Translations I-VI is based off a series of field recordings I made while wandering through Los Angeles. I processed, filtered, and analyzed these recordings, finding within them all the pitch material I needed for the work. The piece is made up of six small movements, each representing a kind of sound-collage of a certain location within the city. Each movement is succinct, needing no longer than a minute to perform. My hope is that you will hear a quick aural snapshot, an interesting cloud of notes that, in some small way, can serve as a translation of the city I call home into music.


PROGRAM NOTES

GILLIAN RAE PERRY – Looking for FriendsThe title of the piece is a reference to the children’s book The Little Prince by Antione de Saint-Exupéry. In the part of the book being referenced, the little prince is very sad and meets a fox. The fox asks him what he is doing, to which the little prince eventually responds that he is looking for friends.

KEVIN MCCARTER – Come AlongCome Along begins with the four instruments playing short figures that interact to create a buoyant composite texture. After the initial exploration of this idea, it yields to a second idea characterized by lyrical phrases and sustained tones. Eventually, the lyrical phrases gain momentum and lead to a variant of the opening texture. The music develops through expanding on these two ideas, sometimes combining portions of them.

GUANG YANG – Night CloudsI drew the idea of this piece from a sound in my head: a powerful sound representing the lightning and thunder in the night sky. While writing Night Clouds I thought upon the memories of my hometown, (Hangzhou China) with its night skies. I could see the moonlight penetrating layers of clouds, there is lightning, there is wind, there are birds.

ROBERT PATERSON – String Quartet No. 2 In some ways, String Quartet No. 2 is similar to my String Quartet No. 1: the five movements are stylistically diverse, I use a few snippets of pre-existing music, and the music, while idiomatic, is technically demanding. This work explores technical and aesthetic ideas I didn’t have a chance to explore in other works.

The first movement, Colored Fields, is inspired by abstract expressionist colored field painters, such as; Mark Rothko, Kenneth Noland, and Barnett Newman, but also pointillist painters such as Georges Seurat, Paul Signac. There are textures that emerge and submerge using articulations that gradually shift from soft to loud, or short to long, and there are a few transitions that utilize a technique I call pitch

phasing or phase modulation, as opposed to tempo phasing. In these transitions, two or more instruments gradually modulate (raise or lower) notes, motives, or phrases by gradual, very refined, microtonal, non-chromatic increments, settling on new areas of pitches that directly reflect the previous areas, just modulated up or down. The movement ends softly with a virtual desaturation of the rhythmic material, in that I remove notes, one by one, until there’s nothing left.

The second movement, Rigor Mortis, is inspired by a comic strip by David Lynch that ran in newspapers for many years. In this strip, Lynch sketched a stressed-out, black dog, looking very mean and almost buzzing with anger; it looked like it was about to explode. Every strip began with an accompanying paragraph that read, “The dog who is so angry he cannot move. He cannot eat. He cannot sleep. He can just barely growl. Bound so tightly with tension and anger, he approaches the state of rigor mortis.” This made me envision musicians playing with such ferocity and tension that the music seems to eventually cancel itself out, anger imploding in on itself. The movement begins with loud barking, represented by scratch tones on the strings. It then moves to a section representing the insane, growling dog running in circles. Next, there is a section inspired by some of the philosophical sentences Lynch used in this comic strip series. Then we hear the dog barking again, but he hears a familiar theme reminding him of his long lost love, so he simmers down for a bit. However, he soon remembers his predicament and becomes angry again. The movement ends with more furious barking: he is overcome by distilled tension, imploding inward with a final, loud, buzzing unison tremolo.

The third movement, Dolente, is sad, lush, and mournful. The only request I had when writing this quartet was to incorporate either a Norwegian fiddle tune or theme by Edvard Grieg, so I chose to use a theme or two from Grieg’s String Quartet No. 1. The form of this movement mimics the form of a song by Edvard Grieg’s entitled Spillemaend (Minstrels,


PROGRAM NOTESor Fiddlers). The poem that Grieg set in 1876 as the first of Six Ibsen Songs (Op. 25) is based on the Norwegian folktale of the fossegrim, a male water spirit who could teach the art of violin-playing, but often at the price of personal happiness, and in some case, with the poor violinist drowning in the end. Like the song, and echoing the second movement, this movement beginning with the protagonist’s longing, his desire for the beloved. Next, he encounters the fossegrim, who promises that becoming a master of music will allow the protagonist to become master of the beloved, as well. In the final stanza, the protagonist has become a master fiddler, but is now a cursed; wandering musician deprived of earthly love, and drowns himself. The supernatural fossegrim, like in Grieg’s work, is represented by tremolos, chromatic descents, unexpected dynamic contrasts, and dissonant harmonies such as fully-diminished seventh chords and augmented chords.

The fourth movement, Scherzando, is meant to be humorous, and capitalizes on effects that at times, often make the string players sound inebriated. Copious glissandi and tempos that fluctuate between 3/4 and 6/8 give a sense of unease.

The final movement, Collage, is similar the the first movement in that it is inspired by the visual arts, and specifically, collage painting and works by surrealists. Many themes from the first four movements are brought together in this odd-metered movement.

String Quartet No. 2 is commissioned by J. K. Billman and is written for and dedicated to the Euclid Quartet.



This program will consist of chamber pieces performed by MMF participants and faculty. An updated program insert with all artists and pieces will be provided at the concert and listed online.

KEITH FITCH* – Ruthless Voicings

ROBERT PATERSON* – Spring Songs**

*MMF Composition Faculty**World Premiere Version for Chamber Ensemble


Wednesday June 26th7:30 PM


CHAMBER HITS

ARTISTSJohn McKeever, conductor • Austin Philemon, conductor

Alok Kumar, tenor • Thomas Robertello, flute • Tasha Warren, clarinetVictoria Paterson, violin • Orlando Wells, viola • Dave Eggar, cello

Sam Soloman, percussion • Geoffrey Burleson, pianoother artists to be announced from the stage


PROGRAM NOTES

KEITH FITCH – Ruthless VoicingsMondegreen: a word or phrase that results from a mishearing of something said or sung, e.g., Ruthless Voicings, a mondegreen of the jazz term “rootless voicing” (a harmonization without the root of the chord, a.k.a “Bill Evans” voicing).

Ruthless Voicings is a one-movement work, comprised of five sections, all connected by related melodic, harmonic and/or rhythmic material. The work is based on three key musical elements: a fifteen-chord progression (marked “gentle, floating”) first introduced in the vibraphone, the melodic thread which it accompanies, and fast, angular rhythmic music (marked “jaunty, quirky”) which initially appears in the bass clarinet and is soon picked up by the rest of the ensemble. Throughout much of the piece, the bass clarinet often serves as a foil to the others, until it eventually fully joins them in the penultimate, climatic section and the final, coda-like music (although it does have the last word!). The work lasts approximately twelve minutes in performance.

Ruthless Voicings was commissioned by the No Exit ensemble, Timothy Beyer, director, in celebration of its tenth anniversary season and was premiered by them in February 2019. Additional funding was generously provided by the Ohio Arts Council

ROBERT PATERSON – Spring SongsSpring Songs for tenor and chamber ensemble or piano is my third song cycle celebrating the seasons. As with the first two, Winter Songs for bass-baritone and Summer Songs for soprano, this cycle contains settings of poems by various American poets.

Whereas both Winter Songs and Summer Songs end with scenes in New York City, Spring Songs begins with New York: a setting of English Sparrows (Washington Square) by Edna St. Vincent Millay, a poem about about a scene that takes place in the morning in Greenwich Village, a neighborhood in New York City where Millay lived in the early 1900s. The second movement is s setting of April 5, 1974 by Richard Wilbur, a poem about Wilbur wrote in honor of Robert Frost’s one-hundredth birthday, and I interpret as being about overcoming self-doubt through wisdom, and also about understanding the change of seasons, but also a change of mind. The third movement, Done With by Ann Stanford, I interpret to be about death and rebirth, and is symbolized by a house being torn down and the ground paved over, and the now suffocated plant life yearning to break through. The Widow’s Lament in Springtime, the fourth movement, is a setting of a poem by William Carlos Williams, and I interpret as a modernist, pastoral elegy that uses images of nature to lament the death of a loved one. The final movement, a setting of the poem Spring Rain by Sara Teasdale, is about a happy memory of a lover brought about by an evening thunderstorm.

Spring Songs was commissioned by Rick Teller and the piano/vocal version was premiered at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in 2018 by, Alok Kumar, tenor, and Geoffrey Burleson, piano.


https://robert-paterson.squarespace.com/winter-songs

https://robert-paterson.squarespace.com/summer-songs

MARC MELLITS – Splinter I. Scarlet Oak II. Sugar Maple III. Linden IV. Black Ash V. Cherry VI. River Birch VII. Weeping Willow VIII. Red Pine

THOMAS PALMER – Red-Eye*

BENJAMIN WEST – Why Fest*

OSWALD HUYNH – In Contrary Winds*

INTERMISS ION

THEO CHANDLER – Seed to Snag… I. Sprout II. Stretch III. Sew

STEVEN SNOWDEN – Sprocket** I. II. III. IV. V.

*World Premiere**Including MMF Faculty Percussionist, Samuel Solomon


Thursday June 27th7:30 PM


AKROPOLIS REED QUINTET


BIOGRAPHIES

AKROPOLIS REED QUINTETHailed for their “imagination, infallible musicality, and huge vitality” (Fanfare Magazine), Akropolis was founded in 2009 at the University of Michigan and has won seven national chamber music prizes since 2011, including the 2014 Fischoff Gold Medal and the 2015 Fischoff Educator Award. Akropolis is an alumnus of APAP’s prestigious Young Performer’s Career Advancement Program and is generously supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, CultureSource, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Chamber Music America, Alice M. Ditson Fund, Amphion Foundation, High Wire Lab, and Quicken Loans.

Celebrating their 10th anniversary, Akropolis’ 19/20 season features 10 commissions for the ensemble including the first concerto for reed quintet and wind band by Roshanne Etezady, a chamber concerto by Jenni Brandon with guest bassoonist Monica Ellis of Imani Winds, a work for reed quintet and rideable percussion bicycle by Steven Snowden, and more. The season also features a 10-show, choreographed and staged production with BodyVox Dance in Portland, OR and Akropolis’ 3rd annual Together We Sound festival in Detroit featuring a multimedia collaboration with Detroit projection artist, L05 (Carlos Garcia).

Akropolis’ recent and upcoming appearances includes stops at Caramoor, Chamber Music Northwest, the Oneppo Series at Yale University, the Chautauqua Institution, Artist Series of Sarasota, Chamber Music Abu Dhabi, Chamber Music Columbus, and more. Akropolis has been awarded a juried showcase at APAP (YPCA), Chamber Music America twice, Performing Arts Exchange, Western Arts Alliance, and the Mid-Atlantic Performing Arts Market. With three studio albums, including its March 2017 release of The Space Between Us, called “pure gold” by the San Francisco Chronicle, Akropolis has recorded 17 original reed quintet works.

Akropolis’ 2018 Together We Sound festival featured an improvisatory new work with YAK and a concert with acclaimed soprano Shara Nova. Akropolis premiered the first work for reed quintet and string quartet by David Schiff with the Dover Quartet in 2015 and has performed with artists like the Miró Quartet and renowned clarinetist David Shifrin. Akropolis has even performed with HarperCollins published author and scientist, Vic Strecher. In April 2017, Akropolis’ residency in Abu Dhabi featured a performance of Marc Mellits’ Splinter with original Arabic poetry performed by Khalifa University students, written around Mellits’ music.


BIOGRAPHIESEstablishing Akropolis WORKS in 2016, Akropolis’ members teach an annual 7-week music business mini-course at the University of Michigan as well as two semester-long courses at Michigan State University. They have delivered WORKS lectures to university musicians around the United States on marketing, financial planning, brand identity, and more. Equally committed to students K-12, Akropolis reached over 10,000 K-12 students in 2018. They conduct an annual school year long residency with students at three Detroit high schools including chamber music and music composition.

Winner of a coveted Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Grant, Akropolis has premiered more than 50 works from composers in 7 countries and was selected to adjudicate and premiere the 2018 Barlow Prize funded by the Barlow Endowment, the first time the prize was given for a reed quintet work. Akropolis’ members are the first of any reed quintet to judge major chamber music competitions including the Fischoff (2018) and Chamber Music Yellow Springs (2019) competitions. Akropolis produces a YouTube Web Premiere Series with more than 50,000 views, showcasing new works, arrangements, and composer interviews for a live Internet audience. In 2012 Akropolis created Akropolis Collection and has now sold over 400 original and arranged sheet music works to more than 100 new and established reed quintets.

Akropolis regularly appears in unconventional settings, including performances in office spaces in Detroit as part of its Corporate-to-Corner Tour in January 2017. In May 2016 Akropolis conducted a live recording session featuring audience participation for John Steinmetz’s Sorrow and Celebration for reed quintet and audience, which Akropolis commissioned in 2014. Akropolis presents its annual Together We Sound festival in Detroit each June, bringing together multidisciplinary collaborators, new works, and educational outreach to increase arts access throughout the city.

Akropolis is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization generously supported by individuals around the world. All Akropolis events include informative musical introductions and a chance to greet the artists. Originating at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Akropolis remains its founding members: Tim Gocklin (oboe), Kari Landry (clarinet), Matt Landry (saxophone), Andrew Koeppe (bass clarinet), and Ryan Reynolds (bassoon).


https://akropolisquintet.org/together-we-sound/

https://akropolisquintet.org/together-we-sound/

PROGRAM NOTES

MARC MELLITS – SplinterComposer Marc Mellits’ music contains driving rhythms, soaring lyricism, and colorful orchestrations, which might seem difficult to capture with just five instruments. In the case of his first work for reed quintet—formed in short miniatures like almost all of Mellits’ music–the listener experiences repetitious motives which, through subtle harmonic changes, create elongated phrases and broader musical structures. Even among the identical openings of movements 1 and 6 (as well as a few bars of directly transplanted content in movements 5 and 8), the listener gets a broader sense of the greater architecture in the work, even as motives continue to drive, repeat, and subtlety evolve. Mellits’ musical upbringing was varied, including rock and electronic music influences, which became a part of his musical instincts early on and make a thrilling contribution to his classical compositions today.

THOMAS PALMER – Red-Eye Red-Eye is a piece about the feeling I often have finding myself awake very late at night. I’ve found that the world in the dead of night can be incredibly still, but just as often be filled with a flurry of activity and action. In a similar vein, I’ve often found these perceptions of the world around me mirrored in myself—sometimes being awake when no one else is is peaceful and calming, and makes me look forward to joining the rest of the world in sleep. However, finding myself still awake when the rest of the world has gone to sleep is often a more sobering, anxious experience that follows marathon days and sleepless nights. On the longest of nights like these, I’ve found myself noticing how the night can seem so different when your eyes are red.

BENJAMIN WEST – Why Fest Why Fest is my attempt at blending modern political discourse with influences from the emotive drumming of percussionists such as Greg Saunier and Zach Hill. At its core, this piece aims to map out the machine-like and programmatic ways of capitalism and how all of the moving parts involved within the current structure of society are implicit in environmental and social disasters. While this description may sound pompous, I really hope that the structures presented in this piece can encourage listeners to get into the visceral mindset of some of the events that could ensue if society continues to map out in the ways that it has. Is there actually a calm after the storm? My title specifically refers to an abbreviated version of “Why Fester”, as I am directly trying to provoke thoughts of why society seems to be complacent in the negative oscillations it has been going through. Can this change? Can the emotionality behind music and art in general help us through this process? I sure hope so.

I also want to take the time to say that it is such an honor to get to work with Akropolis on this piece. Not only can they play anything thrown in their direction, but also the inquisitive nature they embody when approaching new music absolutely blows me away. Thank so much to Mostly Modern and everyone involved for making this musical experience come to life!

OSWALD HUYNH – In Contrary Winds In Contrary Winds is inspired by a quote attributed to Peter Marshall:

“When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure.”

The image of the oak tree was both vivid and powerful to me, and a reed quintet, inherently full of timbral possibilities, seemed to be the perfect ensemble to recreate this image musically. The oak tree is represented by two melodic themes, which are enveloped by flurries of notes to represent the wind. In Contrary Winds constantly and quickly changes between


PROGRAM NOTESthe two themes as the oak is jostled in the wind. As the winds grow stronger, the rhythmic activity becomes more frantic with polyrhythm, polymeter, and hockets.

THEO CHANDLER – Seed to Snag…Composer Theo Chandler has a diverse musical and educational background for a traditionally-trained classical composer (Oberlin, Juilliard, Rice), and so he explores textures in more ways than other composers might think to. If we define texture in music as the way two or more instruments’ sounds combine to create new sounds, Chandler is able to do this not just through various registers and chords, but through rapid scalar runs which weave different instruments together in the first movement, through layers of loud and quiet sounds such as in the second movement bassoon solo, and in the third movement through a playful

but unorthodox canon. Seed to Snag... was commissioned by Akropolis and the I-Park Foundation.

STEVEN SNOWDEN – SprocketSprocket was composed by Steven Snowden for Akropolis’ Together We Sound festival in Detroit, MI, and premiered in June 2019. Commissioned by Akropolis with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Sprocket combines reed quintet with percussion. In Detroit the percussion instruments were combined into a rideable percussion bicycle, which reflected the massive cycling culture of Detroit. Each movement utilizes different components of the reed quintet timbre in combination with different percussive elements. The original percussion bike was designed and built by Detroit resident and Kresge Arts Fellow, Juan Martinez, and premiered at Wasserman Projects gallery and the Dequindre Cut bike path in Detroit.



Plant Trees!Plant Trees!


Ward Stare, ConductorBradley Adam Bascon, Violin

ROBERT PATERSON* – Dark Mountains

ERICH KORNGOLD – Violin Concerto‡ Moderato Romanze Allegro assai vivace

Bradley Adam Bascon, violin

INTERMISS ION

†Work by MMF Composition Institute Participant

JOHN ADAMS – Harmonielehre I. The First Movement II. The Anfortas Wound III. Meister Eckhardt and Quackie

*MMF Faculty**World Premiere

‡ Winner of AMO’s First Annual Concerto Competition†This work will be chosen for performance from the works that receive orchestral readings earlier in the week at the festival, and

will be conducted by one of the conducting participants.


Friday June 28th7:30 PM




BIOGRAPHIES

WARD STAREHailed by the Chicago Tribune as “A rising-star in the conducting firmament,” Ward Stare was appointed the 12th music director of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in 2014. He has been praised for “inspiring musicians to impressive heights” by The New York Times, and as “a dynamic music director” by Rochester CITY Newspaper. In demand as a guest conductor, Stare has conducted the Symphony Orchestras of Baltimore, Sydney (Australia), Pittsburgh, Grant Park (Chicago), Atlanta, Detroit, Toronto as well as the New World Symphony and Calgary Philharmonic. Stare made his debut with the Metropolitan Opera in 2017, conducting nine performances of Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow, with Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano Susan Graham in the title role. Stare’s frequent collaborations with the Lyric Opera of Chicago began in 2012, conducting a production of Hansel and Gretel, returning in 2013 for Die Fledermaus, and again in 2014 to lead Porgy and Bess to rave reviews. Stare served as resident conductor of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra from 2008 to 2012 and, in 2009, made his highly successful Carnegie Hall debut with the orchestra, stepping in to lead H. K. Gruber’s Frankenstein. Stare has enjoyed an ongoing relationship with the SLSO and returns frequently as a guest.

As passionate advocate for arts education, Ward Stare has served as a Distinguished Artist at the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University since 2012. In the fall of 2016, Stare recorded Concerto for Violin, Rock Band and String Orchestra, by R.E.M. bassist and songwriter Mike Mills, with the ensemble and its founder, Robert McDuffie.

Stare is an enthusiastic collaborator and performer of new music, including the world premiere performance of ‘Pravda’, by Academy Award-winning composer Elliot Goldenthal and the regional premiere of Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award-winning composer Aaron Jay Kernis’ Flute Concerto, performed by Marina Piccinini. In the Spring of 2019, Stare and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra will release their first recording—an all American album featuring the world-premiere recordings of Grammy Award-winning composer Jennifer Higdon’s Harp Concerto, with Yolanda Kondonassis as soloist, and Patrick Harlin’s Rapture.

Ward Stare was trained as a trombonist at The Juilliard School in Manhattan. At 18, he was appointed principal trombonist of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and has performed as an orchestral musician with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, among others. As a soloist, he has concertized in both the U.S. and Europe.


BIOGRAPHIES

BRADLEY ADAM BASCONBradley Adam Bascon started playing violin at the age of four, and at the age of six won his first solo competition with the Southwestern Youth Music Festival. He is a 2015 grand prize

recipient in the Junior Division of Redlands Bowl. Bradley has performed as a soloist at the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and international performances include the 2012 London Olympics with the Irvine Classical Players Orchestra, Mozarteum in Austria, Concertmaster with Teatro Verdi in Italy with Claremont Young Musician’s Orchestra, and additional performances in Spain, Portugal, and Germany. Bradley is an alumnus of the Aspen International Music Festival and School where he studied with Paul Kantor, and performed with the Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra. Bradley is a performing member of the Young Artist Guild of California, and is currently an undergraduate student with Dr. Lina Bahn at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music.


PROGRAM NOTES

ROBERT PATERSON – Dark Mountains Vermont is famous for its green mountains, but I often find myself taking long drives through the mountains on overcast days or even at night, when the mountains lose color and become gray silhouettes. Many roads in Vermont are so dark, particularly in the Northeast Kingdom that you need to use headlights, even during the day. Dark Mountains is meant to portray the beauty and grandeur of the mountains and the peacefulness of the open roads, but also the darkness and occasional treacherous passes one may encounter during the evening hours. The piece is in three connected sections. The first section portrays the calmness and austerity of a quiet evening. The second is inspired by a fast drive down winding country roads, with twists and turns, frequent tempo changes and shifting gears. The final section evokes the feeling of looking at the nighttime sky with moonlight shining through the trees and the sounds of nature in the distance.

This piece is commissioned by and dedicated to the Vermont Symphony Orchestra and Jaime Laredo, and was originally written for the Made in Vermont Music Festival.

ERICH KORNGOLD – Violin ConcertoErich Wolfgang Korngold was born in Brünn, [now Brno, Czech Republic] on May 29, 1897, and died in Hollywood on November 29, 1957. He worked on his Violin Concerto between 1937 and 1939, revising and completing the score in 1945. The first performance was given by Jascha Heifetz and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Golschmann, on February 15, 1947.The published score is dedicated to Alma Mahler-Werfel.

When Erich Wolfgang Korngold was nine years old, his father-who happened to be Julius Korngold, the most influential music critic in Vienna-showed the boy’s first compositions to Gustav Mahler, who exclaimed: “A genius!” Mahler’s reaction was understandable. The young Korngold was a unique composing prodigy who had an instinctive grasp of the

most modern musical styles of the day. He grew up to be an extremely successful opera composer-his most talked-about work, Die tote Stadt (The Dead City), was written when he was twenty. Yet he was equally attracted to operetta, and was considered an expert on Johann Strauss, Jr. His involvement with new productions of Die Fledermaus and other Strauss operettas (as arranger and conductor) became legendary, and brought him into contact with Max Reinhardt (1873-1943), the foremost German stage director of the time. This turned out to be a life-saver, as it was with Reinhardt that Korngold first went to Hollywood, where he soon became the star among film composers. After the Nazi occupation of Austria in 1938, Korngold lost his original home base and settled permanently in Los Angeles.

His father, who in his seventies was forced to flee Austria and joined his son in Southern California, was deeply disappointed that Erich had given up serious” composition in favor of the movies. To his last day, the old man kept exhorting his son to return to concert music. His advice went unheeded for years, yet towards the end of Julius’s life, Erich wrote a string quartet (his third) and, after his father’s death, he returned to a project started years earlier but never completed: a concerto for violin and orchestra.

The great violinist Bronislaw Huberman-an old family friend since Vienna days-had long been asking Korngold for a violin concerto. When the work was finally completed, however, Huberman found himself unable to commit to a performance date. (The Polish violinist was in poor health and died in June 1947 at the age of 64). Korngold showed the concerto to Jascha Heifetz, who learned it within a few weeks and, with Huberman’s blessing, gave the world premiere in St. Louis on February 15, 1947.

At this point in Korngold’s career, the two aspects of his creative world-concert and film music—had become completely intertwined. His movie scores (of which the most famous


PROGRAM NOTESare Captain Blood and The Adventures of Robin Hood) were symphonic, even operatic, in their scope. The Violin Concerto, on the other hand, owes much to Korngold’s work in the film industry. Many of the major themes were taken over from film scores, and there are moments where the instrumentation and the thematic development also bring back Hollywood memories.

The opening theme of the concerto comes from a score written for a film that failed and was quickly forgotten (Another Dawn, 1937), the second from the historical movie Juarez (1939). The folk-dance theme of the last movement originated in the film adaptation of Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper (1937), and became the starting point for a set of brilliant variations. These different sources form a completely new entity in the Violin Concerto, quite independent from the screen originals. (The beautiful melody of the second-movement: Romance seems to have been written especially for this concerto.)

Since the 1970s, Korngold’s Violin Concerto has enjoyed a spectacular comeback, with at least half a dozen new recordings and increasingly frequent concert performances all over the world.

Notes adapted from Peter Laki and The Kennedy Center.

JOHN ADAMS – HarmonielehreThe first part is a seventeen-minute inverted arch form: high energy at the beginning and end, with a long, roaming Sehnsucht section in between. The pounding E minor chords at the beginning and end of the movement are the musical counterparts of

a dream image I had shortly before starting the piece. In the dream I’d watched a gigantic supertanker take off from the surface of San Francisco Bay and thrust itself into the sky like a Saturn rocket. At the time (1984–85) I was still deeply involved in the study of C. G. Jung’s writings, particularly his examination of medieval mythology. I was deeply affected by Jung’s discussion of the character of Anfortas, the king whose wounds could never be healed. As a critical archetype, Anfortas symbolized a condition of sickness of the soul that curses it with a feeling of impotence and depression. In this slow, moody movement entitled “The Anfortas Wound” a long, elegiac trumpet solo floats over a delicately shifting screen of minor triads that pass like spectral shapes from one family of instruments to the other. Two enormous climaxes rise up out of the otherwise melancholy landscape, the second one being an obvious homage to Mahler’s last, unfinished symphony.

The final part, “Meister Eckhardt and Quackie,” begins with a simple berceuse, or cradle-song, that is as airy, serene and blissful as “The Anfortas Wound” is earthbound, shadowy, and bleak. The Zappaesque title refers to a dream I’d had shortly after the birth of our daughter, Emily, who was briefly dubbed “Quackie” during her infancy. In the dream, she rode perched on the shoulder of the medieval mystic Meister Eckhardt, as they hover among the heavenly bodies like figures painted on the high ceilings of old cathedrals. The tender berceuse gradually picks up speed and mass … and culminates in a tidal wave of brass and percussion over a pedal point on E-flat major.

–John Adams



2019 AMERICAN MODERN ORCHESTRA PERSONNELCONDUCTORSDavid Amado*Ruth Reinhardt*Ward Stare*

FLUTELindsey Goodman*,

Sato Moughalian*, Thomas Robertello*, Principal

Yi-Ping ChouBaltazar DiazLaken EmersonSavannah GentryJoshua Weinberg

OBOE Keve Wilson*, PrincipalMarke DoerrTyler KuehnAlexis Mitchell

CLARINET Tasha Warren*, PrincipalTaylor BarlowRaymond BreinKim CassisaMelissa DemarjianElisabeth HartmarkNoel LiakosJustin Wisner

BASSOON Charles McCracken*,

PrincipalJake FowlerAlexandra JohnsonEmily Bivona-Maldonado

HORNSeth Orgel*,

PrincipalWesley BallardEvan McAleerHanah RahmanJoseph Venezia

TRUMPETThomas Bergeron*,

PrincipalTim Leopold*Sam FriedmanSteffi TetzloffEric Latini

TROMBONETim Albright*,

PrincipalJustin CoyneThanasit Pimnipapatrakul

TUBAJohn Manning*Jordan DeWesterLogan Jungman

PERCUSSIONSamuel Soloman*,

Matt Ward*, Principal

Michael BarnesHayden BusbyHunter Gross

2019 PIANO PROGRAMGeoffrey Burleson*,

Anthony de Mare*, Blair McMillen*, Principal

Amir Farid*Erika Switzer*Chris Reynolds*Chantal BalestriNicole BrancatoLesi MeiYifei Xu

HARPJoseph Rebman*,

PrincipalAnna DunlapAutumn Selover

VIOLIN Benjamin Sung*,

Bryan Hernandez-Luch*, Concertmaster

Robin Braun*, Esther Noh*, Principal Second

Bradley Adam BasconChe Hong LiuColleen MahoneyElizabeth Mandic-NowacVictoria Paterson* Dan QiaoPaige TowseyRobin TozzieEsther TranAlphonso RamirezAmanda BrinJameson CooperSonia Susi

VIOLAPhilip Payton*,

Orlando Wells*, Principal

Josiah BaarbéEric EakesAndrew GrishawSarah Ordonez CELLODave Eggar*,

PrincipalJoshua BaerwaldRocio Diaz de CossioCarolyn RegulaTom Valdez

BASSJaqui Danilow*,

Louis Levitt*, Principal

Cooke HarveyAndrew O’ConnorDylan RaderIsaac Said


2019 AMERICAN MODERN ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL

2019 VOCAL PROGRAMRachel Shutz, Soprano*Blythe Gaissert,

Mezzo-Soprano*Christopher Herbert,

Baritone*Timothy Long, Vocal Coach*Sydney Branch, SopranoJu Hyeon Han, SopranoKerry Holahan, SopranoNatalia Hulse, SopranoSophia Lemaire, SopranoJuliet Schlefer, SopranoBrianna Weckerly, SopranoLaura Couch, Mezzo-SopranoThomas Bocchi, TenorJeffrey Todd, Baritone

2019 GUITAR PROGRAMOren Fader*Thomas ClippingerDaniel ConantColin Fullerton

2019 SAXOPHONE PROGRAMChristopher Creviston*Jonathan DufresneKathleen FaracyWilson PoffenbergerNicholas Suoso

2019 CONDUCTINGPROGRAMDuane AndrewsAlex ArellanoJohnathan KirbyJaeEun KimRenée Anne LoupretteJohn McKeeverAustin PhilemonAlfonso PiacentiniAndreas Salazar

2019 COMPOSITION PROGRAMClaude Baker*Stephen Cabell*Keith Fitch*Anne LeBaron*Robert Paterson*Joshua BaerwaldBunny BeckMorgan EasterdayJeremi EdwardsKenneth Scott EggertPhilip FosterLeonid GalaganovNathaniel HeyderOswald HuynhMichael JanzEugene MarlowKevin McCarterTimothy Lee Miller

Leah OfmanThomas PalmerGillian Rae PerryAlphonso RamirezJacob SniderThomas WelshBenjamin WestGuang Yang

*2019 MMF Institute Faculty

MOSTLY MODERN FESTIVAL STAFFRobert Paterson,

Artistic DirectorVictoria Paterson,

Executive DirectorGrace Law,

Artistic Operations Coordinator

Stephen Cabell, Composition Program Coordinator

Sebastian Danila, Librarian & Stage Manager

Anniemeke de Keijzer, Social Media Strategist

Holly Hickman, Marketing Ken Yanagisawa, PhotographerChristian Amonson, Audio &

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