20221028_Dohnanyi Chamber Players

COLLEGE OF MUSIC

Presents THE DOHNÁNYI CHAMBER PLAYERS

Ian Hobson, Artistic Director

Gregory Sauer, Cello

Read Gainsford, Piano

Featuring special guest Muen Vanessa Wei, Piano

Friday, October 28, 2022 Seven-thirty in the Evening Opperman Music Hall

Supporting theArts

PROGRAM

This is the inaugural concert of an ongoing series dedicated to the celebration of the life and music of Hungarian composer Ernst von Dohnányi (1877–1960), who spent the last decade of his life at Florida State University. We will present all his major works for chamber ensembles, as well as piano and 2 piano music. We aim to put this music in the context of music of his great predecessors and contemporaries from around the world.

Variations on a theme by Haydn, Op. 56b, for two pianos

Johannes Brahms Theme. Andante (1833–1897)

Variation 1. Andante con moto

Variation 2. Vivace

Variation 3. Con moto

Variation 4. Andante

Variation 5. Poco presto

Variation 6. Vivace

Variation 7. Grazioso

Variation 8. Poco presto Finale. Andante

Read Gainsford, piano Ian Hobson, piano

Cello Sonata, Op. 8

Ernst von Dohnányi Allegro ma non troppo (1877–1960)

Scherzo: Vivace assai Adagio non troppo - Tema con variazioni (Allegro moderato)

Gregory Sauer, cello Ian Hobson, piano

INTERMISSION

Please refrain from talking, entering, or exiting while performers are playing. Food and drink are prohibited in all concert halls. Please turn off cell phones and all other electronic devices. Please refrain from putting feet on seats and seat backs. Children who become disruptive should be taken out of the performance hall so they do not disturb the musicians and other audience members. Health Reminder: The Florida Board of Governors and Florida State University expect masks to be worn by all individuals in all FSU facilities. Thank you for your cooperation.

Liebesleid (Love’s Sorrow)

Fritz Kreisler Liebesfreud (Love’s Joy) (1875–1962)

arr. Sergei Rachmaninov (1873–1943)

Ian Hobson, piano

Suite No. 2, Op. 17, for two pianos Sergei Rachmaninov

Introduction (Alla marcia)

Valse (Presto)

Romance (Andantino)

Tarantella (Presto)

Muen Vanessa Wei, piano Ian Hobson, piano

ABOUT TONIGHT’S SPECIAL GUEST

Muen Vanessa Wei, a native of China, has performed internationally as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral pianist, and jazz pianist. She has been applauded by critics for her “delicate playing” and “admirable virtuosic skills”(The News-Gazette). She has appeared as a guest soloist under the baton of Ian Hobson, Donald Schleicher, and Xiaoying Zheng. As a chamber musician, Wei has collaborated with great musicians, such as Lynn Harrell, Henry Gronnior, Henry Hutchinson, Peter Lloyd, Ko Iwasaki, and Joel Smirnoff, among others. She joined the Astralis Ensemble in 2018 and performed with them across the United States. Wei also performed in many prestigious festivals, such as the Gilmore Keyboard Festival and the Montecito International Music Festival. In July 2017, she was invited to give a solo recital at the Dean Acheson Auditorium of the U.S. State Department.

In 2019, Wei released her debut Album Im 3/4 Takt, which was considered “one of Centaur’s finest releases to date” (Fanfare). American Record Guide described her playing in the recording: “her technique is remarkable, some of the playing is almost demonic, and everything is superb.”

Wei’s musicianship has been recognized in many competitions, including the Anton Rubinstein International Competition, Seattle International Competition, International Music Competition Paris Grand Prize Virtuoso, Artist Presentation Society Competition, Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition in New York, China Chopin Competition for Young Pianists in Beijing, the UI Symphony Concerto Competition and Sinfonia da Camera Concerto Competition. She was the recipient of University Fellowship from University of Illinois in 2012, and the Montecito International Music Festival Fellowship from 2013-2015.

Wei received the Bachelor of Music Degree from the China Conservatory. In 2012, she received the Masters of Music Degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Daniel Shapiro, with the honor of the Dr. Joseph and Bess Scharff Leven Prize in Piano. She earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, under the instruction of Ian Hobson. Dr. Wei joined the faculty at Lee University as Assistant Professor in Piano in 2021.

ABOUT THE FACULTY ARTISTS

Pianist and conductor Ian Hobson—called “powerful and persuasive” by the New York Times—is internationally recognized for his command of an extraordinarily comprehensive repertoire, his consummate performances of the Romantic masters, his deft and idiomatic readings of neglected piano music old and new, and his assured conducting from both the piano and the podium.

As guest soloist, Hobson has appeared with many of the world’s major orchestras; in the United States these include the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra, the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Florida, Houston, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and the American Symphony Orchestra and Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico. Abroad, he has been heard with Great Britain’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Scottish National Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and Hallé Orchestra, ORF-Vienna, Orchester der Beethovenhalle, Moscow Chopin Orchestra, Israeli Sinfonietta, and New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

Most recently, Hobson appeared in solo recital at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, presented by Florida State University. The program, which featured works by Brahms and the contemporary American composer Robert Chumbley, also celebrated the composer Ernst von Dohnányi. Hobson has also recently released the final two volumes of his complete Frédéric Chopin edition on the Zephyr label.

An artist of prodigious energy and resource, Hobson has to date amassed a discography of some 60 releases, including the complete edition of the works of Frédéric Chopin, the complete piano sonatas of Beethoven and Schumann, and a complete edition of Brahms’s variations for piano.

Since his debut in the double role of conductor and soloist with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra in 1996, Maestro Hobson has been invited to lead the English Chamber Orchestra, the Sinfonia Varsovia (including an appearance at Carnegie Hall), the Pomeranian Philharmonic (Poland), the Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra (Bass Hall), and the Kibbutz Chamber Orchestra of Israel, among others.

Hobson is known for artfully programming recital series showcasing the complete piano works of noted composers, matching the subtleties of the composer’s works for each concert. He recently completed a six-concert series at New York’s downtown venue SubCulture entitled “Sound Impressions,” featuring the complete solo piano repertoire of Ravel and Debussy. Similar artistic endeavors include Hobson’s 2015 “Uptown/ Downtown: Preludes, Etudes, and Variations” series—focusing on outstanding examples of each genre by Fauré, Schumann, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, and Szymanowski, with world premieres by Yehudi Wyner (Preludes), Robert Chumbley (Etudes), and Stephen Taylor (Variations)—as well as his performance of the complete solo piano works and chamber music with piano of Johannes Brahms.

Hobson continues in the role of music director of the Sinfonia da Camera, a professional chamber orchestra affiliated with the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts and College of Fine and Applied Arts of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where Hobson is the Swanlund Emeritus Professor of Music. He is also Professor of Music at Florida State University.

In addition to being a celebrated performer, Hobson is a dedicated scholar and educator who has pioneered renewed interest in the music of such lesser known masters as Ignaz Moscheles and Johann Hummel. He has also been an effective advocate of works written expressly for him by a number of today’s noted composers, including Robert Chumbley, Benjamin Lees, John Gardner, David Liptak, Alan Ridout, and Yehudi Wyner.

Hobson is also a much sought-after judge for national and international competitions and has been invited to join numerous juries, among them the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (at the specific request of Cliburn), the Arthur Rubinstein Competition in Poland, the Chopin Competition in Florida, the Leeds Piano Competition in the U.K., and the Schumann International Competition in Germany. In 2005 Hobson served as Chairman of the Jury for the Cleveland International Competition and the Kosciuszko Competition in New York; in 2008 he was Chairman of Jury of the New York Piano Competition; and in 2010 he again served in that capacity of the newly renamed New York International Piano Competition.

One of the youngest ever graduates of the Royal Academy of Music, Hobson began his international career in 1981 when he won First Prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition, after having earned silver medals at both the Arthur Rubinstein and ViennaBeethoven competitions. Born in Wolverhampton, England, he studied at Cambridge University (England), and at Yale University, in addition to his earlier studies at the Royal Academy of Music.

Professor of Cello Gregory Sauer joined the College of Music in 2006. A native of Davenport, Iowa, Gregory Sauer attended the Eastman School of Music and the New England Conservatory. His principal teachers included Ada Marie Snyder, Charles Wendt, Paul Katz, Laurence Lesser, Bonnie Hampton and Colin Carr. For eleven years prior to his arrival at FSU Sauer taught at the University of Oklahoma, where he was named Presidential Professor (2005).

Praised for his versatility, Sauer performs in many different musical arenas. He has appeared in recital at the Old First Concert Series in San Francisco, the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, the Brightmusic Concert Series in Oklahoma City, at universities and schools of music such as the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt, the Shepherd School at Rice University, the University of Iowa and the University of Tennessee, among many others. Sauer was a prizewinner in the Hudson Valley Philharmonic and Ima Hogg National competitions and has performed concertos with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, the Houston Symphony, the New American Chamber Orchestra, the Quad City Symphony, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, the Columbus (GA) Symphony, the Tallahassee Symphony, and the Missoula Symphony, among others.

Sauer joined the Carpe Diem String Quartet in 2019, playing concerts in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Siena, Italy, and in the group’s first China tour. Along with his brother, Thomas Sauer, he serves as co-Artistic Director of Chamber Music Quad Cities in their hometown of Davenport, Iowa. Other chamber music ventures have resulted in appearances at the Austin Chamber Music Center, the Snake River Music Festival, the Victoria Bach Festival, the Texas Music Festival, the Colorado Music Festival, and the Garth Newel Music Center. As a member of the Fidelio Quartet, a prizewinning group in the London International String Quartet Competition, he performed concerts in the UK, Germany, Italy, and the Tanglewood and Aspen Music Festivals.

In 2006, Sauer was appointed to the music faculty at Florida State University. Prior to that he taught eleven years at the University of Oklahoma, where he was named Presidential Professor. Other teaching/performing positions have been a visiting professorship at the University of California at Los Angeles, summer programs such as the Texas Music Festival, the Duxbury Music Festival, the Foulger International Music Festival, the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, Red Lodge Music Festival, and the Hot Springs

Music Festival.

Sauer has recorded for MSR Classics, Harmonia Mundi, Albany, and Mark Records.

Sauer attended the Eastman School of Music and the New England Conservatory. His teachers included Ada Marie Snyder, Charles Wendt, Paul Katz, Laurence Lesser, Bonnie Hampton, and Colin Carr.

A native of New Zealand, Read Gainsford began full-time music study with top piano teachers, Janetta MacStay and Bryan Sayer, before receiving a grant from the Woolf Fisher Trust and the top prize in the Television New Zealand Young Musician of the Year. Gainsford then relocated to London, where he studied privately with Brigitte Wild, a protégée of Claudio Arrau, before winning a place in the Advanced Solo Studies course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he studied with Joan Havill, graduating with the prestigious Concert Recital Diploma (premier prix).

Read Gainsford has performed widely in the USA, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa as solo recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician. He has made successful solo debuts at the Wigmore Hall and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, and has performed in many other venues, including the John F. Kennedy Center, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Barbican Centre, Fairfield Halls, Birmingham Town Hall and St-Martin-in-theFields. He has recorded for the Amoris label, BBC Radio Three, Radio New Zealand’s Concert Programme, and has broadcast on national television in New Zealand, the UK and Yugoslavia.

Gainsford moved to the United States in 1992 to enter the doctoral program at Indiana University, where he worked with Karen Shaw and Leonard Hokanson. Since that time he has been guest artist for the American Music Teachers Association and has also given numerous recitals, concerto performances and master-classes. He has appeared at the Gilmore Keyboard Festival and the Music Festival of the Hamptons, spent several summers at the Heifetz International Music Institute, is a member of the contemporary music group Ensemble X, and the Garth Newel Chamber Players. Gainsford has also enjoyed working with such musicians as Jacques Zoon, William Vermuelen, Roberto Diaz, Eddie vanOosthuyse and Luis Rossi. Formerly on the faculty of Ithaca College, where he received the college-wide Excellence in Teaching Award in 2004, Gainsford joined the piano faculty at Florida State University in 2005.

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