MESSAGE FROM
GEORGE STEEL ABRAMS CURATOR OF MUSIC
Dear Friends,
Each season, we are delighted to share with you a collection of concerts that we believe Isabella herself would have been proud of—and excited to enjoy.
This Fall is no different, comprising indelible masterpieces, two newly commissioned dance works, and an exploration of French music from the Belle Époque connected to our upcoming exhibition: Manet: A Model Family.
It will be an extraordinary season, but not one without change. As part of a comprehensive budget review, the Museum has made the difficult decision to raise concert ticket prices.
Tickets will be available at three new price points based on location within Calderwood Hall. Prices will range from $50 to $85 for non-members; members will continue to receive a generous discount. We are pleased to retain student tickets at $20, and to continue our practice of general seating in all sections. We are incredibly grateful to our audiences and hope you will understand that these adjustments support the Gardner Museum’s ongoing excellence, including its world-class concert series.
Since Isabella created her Museum, it has been a home for music devotees like herself. We look forward to welcoming you to feel the energy that makes the Gardner such a special place.
Sincerely,
George Steel Abrams Curator of Music
Season Opener
Sunday, September 22, 2024 at 1:30 pm
ESCHER STRING QUARTET WITH BRANDON PATRICK GEORGE, FLUTE
W.A. Mozart: Flute Quartet in D Major, K. 285 (1777)
Maurice Ravel: String Quartet (1903)
Amy Beach: Theme and Variations, Op. 80 (1916)
Alberto Ginastera: Impresiones de la Puna (1934)
Samuel Barber: Adagio from String Quartet, Op. 11 (1936)
Amy Beach was perhaps Boston’s most important composer during Isabella Stewart Gardner’s lifetime. She wrote much of her remarkable music at the MacDowell Colony, where she was a regular presence for over 20 years. Her ravishing Theme and Variations for flute and string quartet is one of her masterpieces. Ginastera’s Impresiones de la Puna evokes the landscape and culture of a region in the Argentinian Andes. One of Mozart’s terrific flute quartets, Ravel’s luscious quartet, and Barber’s iconic Adagio (in its original instrumentation) round out the program.
This concert is made possible by the generous support of David Scudder in memory of his wife, Marie Louise Scudder.
Sunday, September 29, 2024 at 1:30 pm
JULIA PERRY CENTENNIAL
Castle of our Skins
Julia Perry: Prelude for Piano (1946)
Julia Perry: Stabat Mater (1951)
Julia Perry: Symphony in One Movement for Violas and String Basses (1961)
Julia Perry: Quinary Quixotic Songs (1976)
Irene Britton Smith: Violin Sonata (1947)
Nadia Boulanger: Selected songs (1908/1922)
The Gardner is delighted to partner with Castle of our Skins to celebrate the centenary of American composer Julia Perry. An American modernist maverick, Perry studied with Dallapiccola at Tanglewood and in Italy, and with the legendary Nadia Boulanger at Fontainebleau, where Perry was awarded the grand prix. She was uncompromising and fearless in her music, and overcame myriad challenges to pursue her art. Works by her contemporary Irene Britton Smith and her teacher Nadia Boulanger complete the program.
Sunday, October 6, 2024 at 1:30 pm
BORROMEO STRING QUARTET WITH PAUL NEUBAUER, VIOLA
W.A. Mozart: String Quintet No. 4 in G minor, K. 516 (1787)
Grażyna Bacewicz: String Quartet No. 6 (1960)
Adolphus Hailstork: String Quartet No. 2, Variations on “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” (2013)
Although a five-part string texture was standard in French music in Lully’s day, the four-voiced string quartet became the European standard after Haydn. Through his six string quintets, Mozart revived five-part string writing—in all its custardy richness—adding a second viola. The Borromeo String Quartet also offers some of the tart Slavic modernism of Polish master Bacewicz and a gorgeous spiritual-based work by American composer Adolphus Hailstork.
Sunday, October 20, 2024 at 1:30 pm
AWADAGIN PRATT, PIANO
Franҫois Couperin: Les barricades mystérieuses (1717)
Frédéric Chopin: Nocturne in B Major, Op. 62, No. 1 (1846)
Franz Liszt: Sonata in B minor (1853)
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Prelude in D Major, Op. 23, No. 4 (1903)
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Selections from 24 Negro Melodies, Op. 59 (1905)
Philip Glass: Opening from Glassworks (1981)
Piano superstar Awadagin Pratt comes to the Gardner with a program built around Liszt’s astonishing Sonata in B minor. By Lisztian standards, a work called “sonata” is practically neo-classical; the music is among his greatest for the keyboard: theatrical, formally taut, harmonically daring, and driving.
Sunday, October 27, 2024 at 1:30 pm
SPHINX VIRTUOSI WITH BRITTON-RENÉ COLLINS, PERCUSSION
Teresa Carreño: Tempo di Marcia from Serenade for Strings (1895)
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Four Novelletten, Op. 52 (1903)
Scott Joplin (arr. Norpoth, Montgomery): Treemonisha Overture (1911/2023)
Derrick Skye: American Mirror Part One (2018)
Juantio Becenti: Hané (2000/2024)
Curtis Stewart: Drill (2024)
The wonderful Sphinx Virtuosi, a string orchestra drawn from the nation’s finest Black and Latinx orchestral performers, returns to the Gardner Museum, their Boston home. We are especially excited to hear works by Derrick Skye and Juantio Becenti, both of whom the Gardner has previously commissioned. Sphinx is bringing music of the remarkable 19th-century composer Teresa Carreño, who was a globe-trotting pianist. Her music is only now coming to wider audiences. The program also includes a premiere by the wonderful New York-based violinist and composer Curtis Stewart.
Sunday, November 3, 2024 at 1:30 pm
MUSIC OF THE BELLE ÉPOQUE AND THE GREAT WAR
Kara Dugan, mezzo soprano
Peter Dugan, piano
Catalyst String Quartet
Charles Overton, harp
special performance by Tom Gold Dance
Emmanuel Chabrier: Selected piano works (1881–1897)
World premiere choreography by Tom Gold, ISGM commission
Cécile Chaminade: Selected songs (1892–1898)
Ernest Chausson: Chanson perpétuelle (1898)
André Caplet: Les Prières (1917)
Louis Vierne: Piano Quintet, Op. 42 (1918)
We are delighted to collaborate with Kara and Peter Dugan on this program exploring the ebullient beauties of Belle Époque French music, and, as a counterweight, two little-known masterpieces written in response to World War I. Vierne’s piano quintet— which belongs among the greatest treasures of French chamber music—and the “prayers” of André Caplet (conductor of French repertoire for the Boston Opera in the early 1900s) are ravishing and heartbreaking responses to the tragedies of the War. Choreographer Tom Gold will create a dance in honor of our Fall exhibition: Manet: A Model Family.
Saturday, November 9, 2024 at 2:00 pm
BOSTON CHILDREN’S CHORUS
Program to be announced
Named Boston’s “Ambassadors of Harmony” by The Boston Globe, BCC harnesses the power of music to connect Boston’s diverse communities, cultivate empathy, and inspire social inquiry.
Please note the special time.
Sunday, November 10, 2024 at 1:30 pm
RAPHAËL FEUILLÂTRE, GUITAR
J.S. Bach: Concerto in D Major, BWV 972 (after Vivaldi) (arr. J. Perroy) (1714)
François Couperin: Les barricades mystérieuses (arr. A. Fougeray) (1717)
Domenico Scarlatti: Sonata K. 208, L. 238 (arr. G. Abiton) (c. 1750)
Julián Arcas: Fantasia on Themes from La Traviata (about 1860)
Isaac Albéniz: Asturias (Leyenda) from Suite española, Op. 47 (c. 1898)
Born in Djibouti and raised in western France, Raphaël Feuillâtre is a thrilling guitarist. He is magically able to articulate the independent voices in the polyphony of Bach and Scarlatti and yet he can conjure the spirit of Iberia with true Flamenco duende. This will be a memorable debut by a memorable artist.
Sunday, November 17, 2024 at 1:30 pm
FAZIL SAY, PIANO
W.A. Mozart: Piano Sonata No. 11 in A Major, K. 331 (1783)
Beethoven: Piano Sonata in D minor, Op. 31, No. 2, “The Tempest” (about 1802)
Erik Satie: Gnossiennes Nos. 1–3 (1890)
Claude Debussy: Selections from Préludes—Book 1 (1909)
Fazıl Say: Yeni hayat (“New Life”) Sonata for Piano, Op. 99 (2021)
The Turkish virtuoso pianist and composer Fazıl Say comes to the Gardner with a program that wittily ranges from Mozart’s A Major sonata (which ends with the famous “Turkish” rondo) to his own genuinely Turkish piano sonata, written more than 230 years later.
Sunday, November 24, 2024 at 1:30 pm
JULIUS EASTMAN X KYLE MARSHALL
Kyle Marshall Choreography
Adam Tendler, piano
Richard Valitutto, piano
Seth Parker Woods, cello
Castle of our Skins, cello ensemble
JiJi, electric guitar
Julius Eastman: Touch Him When (1970)
Julius Eastman: Gay Guerilla (1980)
Julius EastmaWorld premiere choreography by Kyle Marshall, ISGM commission
Julius Eastman: The Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc (1981)
Julius EastmaChoreography by Kyle Marshall, ISGM commission (2019)
Julius Eastman was one of the most exciting figures in American music from the 1960s through the 1980s. He was a pianist, conductor, an excellent singer, and—most enduringly —one of the most innovative composers of his time. We are thrilled to present three of his Minimalist masterpieces in concert. Kyle Marshall will premiere a new ISGM-commissioned dance and revive one we commissioned four years ago, with a score for ten cellos!
This performance is made possible by the Anne Hawley Fund for Programs.
TICKET INFORMATION WEEKEND CONCERT SERIES IN CALDERWOOD HALL
SEATING SECTIONS AND RATES
Performance Level and First Balcony:
Members $65, Adults $85, Seniors $75, Students & Children ages 7–17 $20
Second Balcony:
Members $50, Adults $65, Seniors $55, Students & Children 7–17 $20
Third Balcony:
Members $40, Adults $50, Seniors $45, Students & Children ages 7–17 $20
MEMBER CONCERT PRESALE
August 7–13
Purchase tickets before they become available to the general public on August 14.
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Learn more and buy tickets at gardnermuseum.org/about/music Or call the box office at 617 278 5156.
Open daily from 10 am–4 pm.
Open until 6 pm on Thursdays; Closed Tuesdays.
Additional information about seating sections and policies is available online. Concert programs and COVID guidelines are subject to change; please see the website for up-to-date information.
Music at the Gardner is supported by Nora McNeely Hurley / Manitou Fund. Hemenway & Barnes LLP is the lead corporate sponsor of the Weekend Concert Series. The Museum thanks its generous concert donors: The Coogan Concert in memory of Peter Weston Coogan; Fitzpatrick Family Concert; James Lawrence Memorial Concert; Alford P. Rudnick Memorial Concert; David Scudder in memory of his wife, Marie Louise Scudder; Wendy Shattuck Young Artist Concert; and Willona Sinclair Memorial Concert. The piano is dedicated as the Alex d’Arbeloff Steinway. The harpsichord was generously donated by Dr. Robert Barstow in memory of Marion Huse, and its care is endowed in memory of Dr. Barstow by The Barstow Fund. Music at the Gardner is also supported in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which is supported by the state of Massachusetts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Member Presale Starts August 7!
COVER: Julius Eastman, photo by George Oliver. INSIDE: George Steel, Abrams Curator of Music, photo by Whitney Lawson; Calderwood Hall in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston. Photo by Nic Lehoux; Raphaël Feuillâtre, photo by Stefan Höderath; Britton-René Collins, photo by James Hardy; Escher String Quartet, photo by Shervin Lainez; Fazıl Say, photo by Fethi Karaduman; Awadagin Pratt, photo by Rob Davidson; Brandon Patrick George, photo by Marco Borggreve; Paul Neubauer, photo by Richard Termine; Borromeo String Quartet, photo by Jürgen Frank; Sphinx Virtuosi, photo by Scott Jackson; Julia Amanda Perry, credit: Talbott Music Library Special Collections and Westminster Choir College Archives (Julia Perry Collection), Rider University. Digital image, ⓒ 2021; Julius Eastman, photo by Chris Rusniak