Program Book - CSO Chamber Music: Oberon Ensemble at Northeastern Illinois University Recital Hall

ONE HUNDRED THIRT Y-SECOND SE ASON Sunday, November 13, 2022, at 3:00 Northeastern Illinois University Recital Hall

CSO Chamber Music Series OBERON ENSEMBLE Qing Hou Violin Matous Michal Violin Catherine Brubaker Viola Karen Basrak Cello Julia Coronelli Harp Emma Gerstein Flute Stephen Williamson Clarinet ravel Introduction and Allegro for Harp, Flute, Clarinet, and String Quartet julia coronelli emma gerstein stephen williamson qing hou matous michal catherine brubaker k aren basr ak

roussel

Trio for Flute, Viola, and Cello, Op. 40 Allegro grazioso Andante Allegro non troppo

emma gerstein catherine brubaker k aren basr ak intermission

ravel

String Quartet in F Major

Allegro moderato Rather fast, very rhythmic—Slow Very slow Fast and restless matous michal qing hou catherine brubaker k aren basr ak

This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.

This performance is offered in partnership with Northeastern Illinois University.

comments by richard e. rodda maurice ravel

Born March 7, 1875; Ciboure, France Died December 28, 1937; Paris, France

Introduction and Allegro for Harp, Flute, Clarinet, and String Quartet composed 1905

The harp is among the most ancient of instruments. Its existence in Mesopotamia is documented as far back as 3000 bce, and it was known virtually from the dawn of recorded history in Egypt, Israel, and Greece.

The harp was common throughout Christian Europe and is still the heraldic symbol of Ireland.

The instrument remained essentially unchanged until about 1810 when the Parisian piano maker Sébastien Erard introduced a system of pedals to alter chromatically the pitches of the open strings. Though this instrument could effectively negotiate every note within its range, it was somewhat clumsy of operation, so various attempts were made to simplify the harp’s mechanics. At the end of the nineteenth century, Gustave Lyon developed a “chromatic harp,” an instrument without pedals in which a single string was devoted to each chromatic note. The Parisian instrument-making firm of Pleyel put Lyon’s invention into production in 1897 in direct competition with Erard et Cie and its longestablished pedal harp.

By the turn of the twentieth century, Pleyel was casting about for ways to win some business from Erard, who, as the supplier of pianos

a b o v e : Maurice Ravel, postcard photograph, ca. 1910

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and harps to the Paris Conservatory, enjoyed immense prestige across the Continent. In 1904 Pleyel succeeded in having a course devoted to their chromatic harp instituted at the Brussels Conservatory, and the company’s officials asked Claude Debussy to compose a work for the new instrument that would serve both as a test piece for the students and a demonstration of their harp’s potential to prospective buyers. In the spring of 1904, Debussy composed the Sacred and Profane Dances for chromatic harp and strings. To counter Pleyel’s commercial advances, Erard commissioned a harp piece from Maurice Ravel later that year, and the Introduction and Allegro premiered in Paris on February 22, 1907, with Micheline Kahn as soloist. It should be added, incidentally, that Lyon’s chromatic harp found little favor, with its vast curtain of strings, and it is Erard’s double-action pedal harp that remains the standard instrument to this day.

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he Introduction, limpid and atmospheric, not only previews some of the thematic material that returns later in the work but also opens an opulent world of sonority that seems out of all proportion to its limited instrumental resources. The Allegro is in a simple three-part form: two themes are presented in the opening section and repeated at the close, while the melody of the introduction and the second theme are elaborated in the central section.

COMMENTS

albert roussel

Born April 5, 1869; Tourcoing, France Died August 23, 1937; Royan, France

Trio for Flute, Viola, and Cello, Op. 40 composed 1929

Albert Roussel, born in 1869 in Tourcoing, at the Belgian border thirty miles from the North Sea, showed musical promise as a boy but decided on a naval career and was admitted to the French Naval Academy as a cadet in 1887. The duty and travels of military life did nothing to diminish his interest in music, however, and in 1894 he resigned from his naval commission to devote himself to the study of composition. After several years of private tuition and some tentative creative undertakings, he enrolled in 1898 in Vincent d’Indy’s Schola Cantorum to begin a demanding ten-year curriculum, which he saw to completion. Roussel was appointed to teach the counterpoint class at the Schola; he remained in that post for twelve years and numbered among his pupils Eric Satie and Edgar Varèse. By the time he completed his studies at the Schola in 1908, Roussel had already written several large works, including his first symphony. In 1909 he went on an extended tour of India and Southeast Asia, an exotic experience that deeply affected his creativity.

With the outbreak of World War I, he rejoined the armed forces, and after a period as an ambulance driver, he was taken into the artillery corps. Following the war, Roussel lived on the coast in Brittany and later in Normandy, where despite persistent health problems, he produced a succession of major scores. Roussel’s life-long interest in music education was reflected in the composition that he left unfinished at his

death in 1937: a large theatrical piece involving workers’ choral groups.

Roussel’s Trio for Flute, Viola, and Cello was commissioned in 1929 by Mrs. Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, one of America’s most munificent patrons of the musical arts, who also commissioned works from Copland, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Bartók, and many other outstanding composers. She promoted chamber music performance throughout the United States and Europe and, after establishing a fund, built an auditorium in the Library of Congress to encourage the musical life of the nation’s capital. The trio was premiered in Paris on October 29, 1929, by three of the greatest virtuosos of the day: the Frenchman Georges Barrère (then principal flutist of the New York Symphony Orchestra), the Englishman Lionel Tertis (who helped to establish the viola as a solo instrument), and the Dutchman Hans Kindler (principal cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra and founder of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C.).

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he trio’s first movement is a compact sonata form, with its nimble main theme introduced by the flute and arching second subject assigned to the viola. A tiny fanfare-like motif from the flute closes the exposition and figures prominently in the ensuing development section. The earlier materials, somewhat compressed, are recalled to round out the movement.

The Andante follows a three-part form (A–B–A), whose first section is occupied by duets for flute and viola (buoyed upon the cello’s undulant accompaniment) and then viola and cello. The central episode begins with a soliloquy for cello, and the closing part reprises the flute-viola

a b o v e : Albert Roussel, ca. 1923. Bibliothèque nationale de France

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duet. The finale is a rondo, with the returns of the perky main theme in the flute, separated by contrasting episodes, two quicker in tempo

and a third evoking an icy landscape with its tranquil flute melody draped across glistening string harmonics.

maurice ravel

String Quartet in F Major composed 1902–03

Ravel was admitted as a student to the Paris Conservatory in 1889, the year in which the World Exposition introduced the Javanese gamelan orchestra and Russian music to Paris (and left the Eiffel Tower as an imposing souvenir), but his academic career proved to be somewhat less than meteoric. While gaining a reputation for such pieces as the Pavane for a Dead Princess and Jeux d’eau during the next sixteen years, he audited classes with Gabriel Fauré and other teachers and competed, never successfully, for the Prix de Rome. At the end of 1902, after his second attempt to win the Prix de Rome had proven unsuccessful, Ravel felt it necessary, as had Claude Debussy a decade before, to subject the modernity of his musical speech to the discipline of one of the most demanding of all classical genres—the string quartet. He completed the first movement in time to submit it to a competition at the conservatory in January 1903, but the reactionary judges found this glowing specimen of musical color and light “laborious” and “lacking simplicity.” Ravel left the conservatory and never again set foot in one of its classrooms. More angry than discouraged, he completed the quartet in April 1903.

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he quartet opens with a sonata-form Allegro, whose precise classical structure is made to accommodate effortlessly the piquant modality of its themes. The principal subject is a lovely violin melody accompanied by scalar harmonies in the lower instruments, rising and falling through a long arc with elegance and ease. Passages of greater animation lead to the complementary theme, a melancholy song given in octaves by first violin and viola above the rustling background figurations of the second violin. The development section is as concerned with the rustling figurations as with the thematic materials. As in the Mozartian model, the recapitulation returns the earlier themes to balance and complete the movement.

The second movement (marked “rather fast, very rhythmic”) is a modern scherzo with snapping pizzicatos and superimposed meters. The center of the movement is occupied by a wistful melody in slow tempo initiated by the cello. The third movement is in the character of an improvisation for quartet, a free rhapsody for four instruments joined by some magical centripetalism into an extraordinarily satisfying whole. The powerful, metrically irregular motif that launches the finale is brought back as the movement proceeds, much in the manner of the old rondo form, to separate the contrasting episodes that recall musical events from the earlier movements.

Richard E. Rodda, a former faculty member at Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Institute of Music, provides program notes for many American orchestras, concert series, and festivals.

a b o v e : Maurice Ravel, photographed by Pierre Petit (1832–1909), 1907

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profiles Qing Hou Violin Qing Hou has been a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1997. A native of China, she attended the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing before coming to the United States in 1988 to continue her studies. She holds degrees from the Peabody Institute and the New England Conservatory. Before joining the CSO, Hou was a member of the San Francisco Symphony. An avid chamber musician, she has performed for the Andover Chamber Music Society and at festivals in Madison, Napa, El Paso, and Sun Valley. She has been heard on NPR’s Performance Today and regularly appears with various ensembles in the Chicago area. In 1997 Hou founded the Lincoln Quartet with her sister, CSO violinist Lei Hou, and CSO viola Lawrence Neuman, now Qing’s husband.

As a soloist, Qing Hou has appeared with orchestras in China and in the cities of Boston, Baltimore, and Chicago. In the fall of 2003, she made her first appearance with the Orchestra as soloist, performing Mozart’s Violin Concerto in G major conducted by Daniel Barenboim.

Matous Michal Violin Matous Michal was appointed to the violin section of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by Zell Music Director Riccardo Muti in February 2016.

Previously, he was a member of the first violin section of the Grant Park Orchestra.

A native of the Czech Republic, Matous Michal began his violin studies at the age of four under his father Ladislav Michal. At fourteen, he made his solo debut after winning the Dubai International Competition for Young Virtuosos P H OTOS BY TO DD RO S E NB E RG

performing Paganini’s Violin Concerto no. 1 with the symphony orchestra of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory. Since then, he has won numerous other awards, such as the grand prize for best interpretation of a twentieth-century piece at the Czech National Competition, EMCY Art for Music Artist of the Year, and the Bärenreiter Prize at the Kocian Violin Competition.

Also at fourteen, Michal began studies at the Prague Conservatory as a student of Jaroslav Foltýn. After graduating, he joined the studio of Glenn Dicterow at the Juilliard School, where he completed his bachelor’s degree. Michal earned a master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music in the orchestral performance program under Dicterow and Lisa Kim, receiving praise from the New York Times for his appearance as concertmaster of the Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra. He completed his master’s degree four months after joining the CSO. Michal has served as a concertmaster of the Verbier Festival Orchestra, Juilliard Orchestra, Music Academy of the West Festival Orchestra, and Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra. Among his principal teachers are Charles Avsharian and Kathleen Winkler, and he has collaborated with leading chamber musicians such as Joseph Kalichstein, Peter Salaff, Sylvia Rosenberg, and Earl Carlyss.

Catherine Brubaker Viola A member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1989, Catherine Brubaker is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where she was a student of William Lincer.

Among her other teachers are Karen Tuttle and Masao Kawasaki. She is a former member of the Dallas and Seattle symphony orchestras and has served on the music faculty of Northwestern University, teaching orchestral repertoire for viola.

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Her performance highlights include serving as a soloist in CSO performances of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto no. 6. An avid performer of chamber music, Brubaker appears on the CSO’s MusicNOW and Chamber Music series as well as recent performances on CSO Sessions.

She has been a guest artist on WFMT Chicago’s Live from Studio One broadcasts and on the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts series. Other guest appearances include performances with the Pilgrim and Rembrandt chamber players, Northwestern University’s Winter Music Festival, and the Civitas Ensemble. She has performed as soloist with the Kenosha Symphony and principal viola of Music of the Baroque.

Reared in a musical family, Brubaker has siblings in the symphony orchestras of Minnesota, Houston, and Tucson. Her parents were active music educators in Arizona, where she grew up.

Karen Basrak Cello Karen Basrak joined the cello section of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2012. A native of Arlington Heights, Illinois, Basrak began her studies with Adele O’Dwyer, Gilda Barston, and Richard Hirschl. She received her bachelor of music degree in cello performance from the University of Southern California, where she studied with Eleonore Schoenfeld.

While at USC, Basrak received several honors, most notably the Gregor Piatigorsky Award.

Before returning to Illinois, she was an associate and acting principal cello of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. Basrak has performed extensively throughout the United States and Europe and has appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Northwest, Harper, Kishwaukee, Elmhurst, Skokie Valley, and Greenville symphony orchestras; and the Winnetka Chamber Orchestra, Marina del Rey–Westchester Symphony, and American

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Youth Symphony. As an advocate of music education, she has performed in schools throughout the nation. In recognition of her efforts, she was awarded the key to the city of Greenville, South Carolina. Basrak is on the faculty of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.

Julia Coronelli Harp Widely recognized as one of the leading harpists of her generation, Julia Coronelli is the newly appointed principal harpist of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and faculty member of DePaul University School of Music.

Previously, she held positions as the principal harpist of the Sarasota Orchestra and the New World Symphony in Miami Beach. She has performed in many of the world’s greatest halls, including Carnegie Hall, Teatro alla Scala, Philharmonie de Paris, Teatro San Carlo, and Chicago Symphony Center. Performance highlights include concerts with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Milwaukee and San Diego symphonies, and the Rochester Philharmonic.

An advocate of new music, Coronelli has appeared with esteemed contemporary ensembles and series such as the CSO MusicNOW series, New Juilliard Ensemble, Axiom, and Syzygy New Music. A passionate teacher, she was the founding faculty of the harp studio at the Uptown Academy of the People’s Music School, an El Sistema music school in Chicago.

Coronelli is well versed in performing different music styles in a variety of venues across the country, from Carnegie Hall to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan, and from the Chautauqua Auditorium in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado to the runways of New York Fashion Week. Pop, rock, and hip-hop performances include shows with Sarah McLachlan, the Indigo PHOTOS BY TODD ROSENBERG, KRIS LOU + ERIK ROBERT PHOTOGRAPHY

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Girls, My Morning Jacket, and Common. She has performed at private events for Jasper Johns, Martin Scorsese, Michelle Obama, Katherine Deneuve, Glenn Close, Neil Peart, Rush, Timothy B. Schmit, and the Eagles. Coronelli has appeared on radio stations across the country and on PBS’s Great Performances, which was broadcast internationally.

Born in Chicago, Julia Coronelli began playing the harp at the age of four. She holds a master’s degree from the Juilliard School and a bachelor’s degree from the Chicago College of Performing Arts. Her primary teachers were Sarah Bullen, principal harpist of the CSO, and Nancy Allen, principal harpist of the New York Philharmonic.

Emma Gerstein Flute Emma Gerstein was appointed second flute of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2017 by Zell Music Director Riccardo Muti. Prior to becoming a member of the CSO, she appeared as a guest flutist and joined the Orchestra on the Asian tour in 2016. Most recently, Gerstein served as the section principal flute of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra in New Zealand.

Gerstein was a flute fellow with the New World Symphony and principal flute of the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra in Kentucky.

She has performed as part of the flute section of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and as guest principal flute of the Seattle Symphony.

Gerstein has participated in the Aspen, Spoleto USA, Sarasota, Orford, and Cabrillo music festivals.

Beyond her post in the Orchestra, Gerstein regularly appears on the CSO MusicNOW, CSO Chamber, and Once Upon a Symphony series.

She is an active chamber musician and soloist, recently performing with the Lexington P H OTOS BY TO DD RO S E NB E RG

Philharmonic. Gerstein has played with Eighth Blackbird, Chicago Chamber Musicians, Dempster Street Pro Musica, Civitas Ensemble, and Spektral Quartet.

A native of Chicago’s Hyde Park, she began her flute studies at the age of eight with Susan Levitin and later became a member of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. She went on to study at the Manhattan School of Music with Robert Langevin and at Indiana University with Thomas Robertello.

Gerstein teaches at Roosevelt University and has given master classes at the universities of Kentucky, Auckland, Indiana, and Northwestern University; the Australian National Academy of Music; and as a guest of the Chicago Flute Club and the Utah Flute Association. She also serves as a flute coach for the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and the New World Symphony.

Stephen Williamson Clarinet Stephen Williamson is principal clarinet of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, appointed in 2011 by Music Director Riccardo Muti. Williamson was principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and has been a frequent guest principal clarinet with the Saito Kinen Festival Orchestra in Japan under Seiji Ozawa.

Currently a faculty member of DePaul University, Williamson has served on the faculty at Columbia University and the Mannes College of Music in New York City. He has recorded for Sony Classics, Telarc, CRI, BMG, Naxos, and Decca and can be heard on numerous film soundtracks. He was a featured soloist with the CSO under John Williams, recording his Oscar-nominated score for Steven Spielberg’s film Lincoln.

An avid soloist and chamber musician, Williamson has performed extensively in CSO.ORG

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the United States, Europe, and Asia. He has collaborated with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Mitsuko Uchida, Jeffrey Kahane, Anne-Marie McDermott, Emanuel Ax, and Meliora Winds; and the Aspen, Dorian, and Sylvan wind quintets. Williamson made his CSO solo debut in 2016 under guest conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky, subsequently performing on the Orchestra’s East and West Coast tours under Riccardo Muti.

Williamson received his bachelor’s degree and performer’s certificate from the Eastman School of Music and his master’s degree from the Juilliard School. As a Fulbright Scholar, he furthered his studies at the Hochschule der Künste

in Berlin. Past awards include the Saunderson Award from the Coleman Chamber Music Competition, the 1997 New York Concert Artist Guild Competition Nathan Wedeen Award, and the grand prize in the First Annual Buffet Crampon North American Clarinet Competition in 1994. He was also the only American semifinalist in both the 1993 and 1998 ARD International Music Competition for Clarinet.

A longtime Selmer Paris and Vandoren artist, Williamson currently plays Selmer Signature clarinets and uses Vandoren traditional reeds with a James Pyne JX/BC mouthpiece. He resides in Wilmette with his wife, Jill; sons Ryan, Connor, and Matthew; and their dog, Lila.