Musica Viva NY Presents the Aeolus Quartet STRUM: Dvořák, Montgomery and Price Sunday, September 11, 2022 at 5pm All Souls Church 1157 Lexington Ave., New York, NY 10075
Today’s concert has most elements that characterize our 2022-23 season. It presents two female American composers, one of whom is living, as well as a beloved work from the classical romantic period. The three works are very different, but there is a thread that ties them all together - each piece explicitly celebrates the musical heritage of its composer. Similarly, you will find a vast variety of musical styles in all the concerts. But for each concert there is something that connects the pieces, whether musically, emotionally, thematically or historically. And that common thread is what we celebrate this season, in music and among ourselves.
AND THE EXECUTIVE
MESSAGE FROM
Thank you for coming and we hope that you will enjoy the concert!
Finally, please join us at the reception after the concert to meet our musicians and fellow patrons, and to help us thank Musica Viva NY Board President, Melanie Mason Niemiec, who is stepping down from her position next week. With her great generosity, big heart, experience in leadership, and vast knowledge of music, Melanie expertly led us over the past eight years, and through the most difficult two years of the pandemic. We have emerged a strong, vibrant, ambitious organization that is ready to grow and make an increasing impact on the New York music scene as well as nationally and internationally. Thank you, Melanie, for all you have done for Musica Viva NY, and we look forward to your continued involvement with the organization as a board member. At the same time, we would like to welcome our new Board President, Julie Brannan. We look forward to her leadership for many years to come!
We are excited to present concerts the way we used to pre-pandemic – in person, in front of live audiences, with pre-concert talks and post-concert receptions. As always, we celebrate music by women composers, contemporary music, American music as well as masterpieces from the classical music canon. Our hope is that the timeless, exciting, fun, romantic, sad, dramatic and peaceful pieces you will hear this season, will touch you profoundly, and ultimately lift your spirits and bring you joy.
—Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez, Artistic Director
— 2 — W elcome to our 2022-2023 season!
—Jasna Vasić, Executive Director THE DIRECTOR DIRECTOR
ARTISTIC
— 3 — Sunday, September 11, 2022 5 pm All Souls Church Musica Viva NY Presents the Aeolus Quartet STRUM: Dvořák, Montgomery and Price Aeolus Quartet Nicholas Tavani and Rachel Shapiro, violins Caitlin Lynch, viola Yi Qun Xu, cello PROGRAM Jessie Montgomery (1981-) ...................................... Strum Florence Price (1887-1953) .............. String quartet No. 2 in A minor I. Moderato II. Andante cantabile III. Juba - allegro IV. Finale - allegro Intermission Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) .................. Quartet in G Major, Op.106 I. Allegro moderato II. Adagio ma non troppo III. Molto vivace IV. Finale. Andante sostenuto — Allegro con fuoco We hope you will join us for a reception after the concert. Concertgoers should wear masks.
Price’s synthesis of vernacular folk language and contemporary string quartet conventions is noted by the Aeolus Quartet’s Rachel Kitagawa Shapiro, who shares, “during a time in American history when both her race and sex were considered liabilities, Price managed to not only create a substantial body of work but to infuse her music with an incredibly
ABOUT THE STRUMPROGRAM
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C ultural heritages are preserved and celebrated through various means; ancestral histories are passed down through stories, recipes are shared around tables, and in our case, musical traditions are notated and performed. Musica Viva NY brings a collection of musical traditions to life through their 2022-23 season opening, a program of chamber music played by its ensemble-in-residence, the award-winning Aeolus Quartet. The program features works by Jessie Montgomery (b. 1981), Florence Price (1887-1953), and Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904), presenting a narrative of cultural inheritance and national belonging.
T he program opens with Montgomery’s seven-minute piece Strum (2006, rev. 2012), where American folk idioms evolve from a ‘state of nostalgia to an ecstatic celebration.’ Montgomery introduces pizzicato ostinato that layer atop one another, their conversation evolving into a dance until melodies materialize from their expansive layers. As we continue through the work, melodic voices weave atop and under one another to form an energetic musical texture, only soon to dissolve into a tapestry of harmony. Whether playing rhythmic strumming or plucked strings, each instrumental voice contributes to the celebration of American musical experiences reimagined by Montgomery, a native New Yorker.
F lorence Price’s String Quartet no. 2 in A minor (1929) is a natural pairing, as the work features American folk idioms emerging from romantic aesthetics. The first movement opens with a rocking ostinato as its bedrock while the chromatic theme, reminiscent of a blues, sings between its crevices. A landscape of tension and release soon forms as harmonic dissonances soften into romantic themes. This ebb and flow continues into the second movement, where a hymn theme leans into modernist tendencies and allows space for a heartbeat ostinato to sound. The third movement, much like the third movement of her first symphony (1932), is written in the style of a percussive antebellum folk dance, “pattin’ juba.” The dance involves patterns of foot-tapping, handclapping, and thigh-slapping, and was historically accompanied by enslaved fiddlers and banjo players. The inclusion of an African American musical tradition in the third movement, that which was historically suppressed and excluded from classical conventions, speaks to Price’s engagement with her musical heritage atop her involvement in the Harlem Renaissance.
—Madison Schindele
ABOUT THE STRUMPROGRAM
Dvořák’s inclusion of Slavic folk influences paired with homebound joy in Op. 106 speaks to his belief that such idioms are direct musical representations of a nation and the soul of its people. Through his time in America, Dvořák encouraged composers to locate such idioms, those which would “make the home feeling well up” within each American.
“ W hat songs, then, belong to the American and appeal more strongly to him than any others? What melody could stop him on the street if he were in a strange land and make the home feeling well up within him, no matter how hardened he might be or how wretchedly the tune were played?” This query, posed by Antonín Dvořák in his 1895 Harper’s Magazine article “Music in America”, prompted a search for an American sound; Dvořák’s attempt to locate an answer ultimately resulting in his appropriation of African American and Indigenous musical traditions in works such as his New World Symphony.
Arguably, all three composers presented in this program, Dvořák, Price, and Montgomery, did just this, preserving their cultural heritage to be performed and celebrated for years to come.
— 5 — unique voice, blending her mastery of Western Classical compositional techniques with harmonic idioms characteristic of the Black musical tradition.” The final movement is a jubilant rondo with virtuosic solos that usher the melodic content into a celebratory finale.
While some claim to hear hints of American influence within Dvořák’s Quartet in G major, Op. 106 (1895), the work was written once he returned to Prague and incorporates Slavic folk influences. Ultimately, the quartet in G major is representative of the joy Dvořák experienced when back in his homeland, for after vacationing in Vysoka and finishing the work, Dvořák wrote to his friend, Alois Göbl, “God has been pleased to grant us this happy moment and so we all feel inexpressibly glad!”
Such joy is clear from the start of the work, as we are awoken by birdsong depicted via leaps, trills, and falling arpeggios that soon mold two amiable themes. The Adagio presents variations on a pair of contrasting Slavic themes. The somber first theme in E-flat minor sings over a supportive harmonic foundation, while the second theme offers catharsis through an E-flat major psalm. Almost reminiscent of a dumka, a Ukrainian elegy, this movement meditates on questions of mortality and spirituality in stark contrast to the joy presented in the other three movements. The scherzo resembles a dizzying dance characterized by a rhythmic minor theme soon juxtaposed by a pastoral trio, while the final movement beckons back to the first, characterized by familiar themes in conversation with an opening sighing hymn.
E steemed conductor and pianist Dr. Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez was named Artistic Director of Musica Viva NY and Director of Music of the historic Unitarian Church of All Souls in Manhattan in 2015. He is also Co-Founder of the New Orchestra of Washington and Artistic Director of the Victoria Bach Festival. He has earned accolades from The Washington Post as a conductor “with the incisive clarity of someone born to the idiom,” as well as praise from The New York Times for leading “a stirring performance” of Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem. At a concert commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the WWI Armistice (featuring the world premiere of Joseph Turrin’s cantata And Crimson Roses Once Again Be Fair) Oberon’s Grove wrote: “Maestro Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez drew rich, warm sounds from the musicians” in “a beautiful and deeply moving program.” He is featured in El mundo en las manos/Creadores mexicanos en el extranjero (The World in Their Hands/ Creative Mexicans Abroad), a book by the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs honoring Mexican nationals who are leading figures in diverse artistic fields. He is the recipient of a 2016 Shenandoah Conservatory Alumni of Excellence Award for his exemplary contribution to his profession, national level of prominence, and exceptional integrity. He resides in New York City and Washington, D.C.
— 6 — MEET THE ARTISTS F
ounded in 1977, Musica Viva NY is a chamber choir of thirty professionals and highly skilled volunteers, based in Manhattan’s historic All Souls Church. Its mission is to bring world-class music to a widening community through its annual concert series, community engagement programs, and an ambitious artistic vision. Under the baton of Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez since 2015, Musica Viva NY has been praised by The New York Times as an “excellent chorus.” Musica Viva NY has toured in France (2004), Germany (2006) and Italy (2012).
W ith performances acclaimed for both “high-octane” excitement (Strad) and “dusky lyricism” (New York Times), the Aeolus Quartet has been awarded prizes at nearly every major competition in the United States and performed across the globe with showings “worthy of a major-league quartet” (Dallas Morning News). Formed in 2008, the Quartet is comprised of violinists Nicholas Tavani and Rachel Shapiro, violist Caitlin Lynch, and cellist Alan Richardson. Mark Satola of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes, “The quartet
The Quartet has performed across North America, Europe, and Asia in venues such as Alice Tully Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Reinberger Recital Hall at Severance Hall, The Library of Congress, Renwick Gallery, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and the Shanghai Oriental Arts Center. In addition, the quartet was recently featured on the hit Netflix show The Defenders.
MEET THE ARTISTS To find out about ways to support Musica Viva NY through employer matching, volunteering, and monthly giving, please contact our Executive Director at jasna@musicaviva.org
The Aeolus Quartet has been fortunate to collaborate with many of today’s leading artists, including Renee Fleming, Ida Kavafian, Joel Krosnick, Peter Wiley, Michael Tree, and Paul Neubauer. They studied extensively with the Juilliard, Guarneri, St. Lawrence, Cavani, and Miró Quartets. Other mentors include Peter Salaff, Donald Weilerstein, Itzhak Perlman, and Mark Steinberg. Members of the Quartet hold degrees from the Juilliard School, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the University of Maryland, and the University of Texas at Austin.
The Aeolus Quartet has released two critically acclaimed albums of classical and contemporary works through the Longhorn/Naxos label which are available on iTunes, Amazon, and major retailers worldwide. Part of an ongoing series entitled Many-Sided Music, these albums promote the diversity and breadth of works by American composers.
— 7 — has a rich and warm tone combined with precise ensemble playing (that managed also to come across as fluid and natural), and an impressive musical intelligence guided every technical and dramatic turn.” The Aeolus Quartet has performed in venues ranging from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Lincoln Center’s Great Performers Series to Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, to Dupont Underground, a subterranean streetcar station in DC’s Dupont Circle. They were the 2013-2015 Graduate Resident String Quartet at the Juilliard School and are currently Quartet-inResidence at Musica Viva NY.
In addition to extensive touring throughout the United States, the Quartet has recently been featured on “Inside Chamber Music” presented by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, at the Artosphere Festival hosted by the Walton Arts Center, and in the New York City premiere of chamber opera “Ellen West” at the Prototype Festival. Last season, they performed at Cornell University, the Austin Chamber Music Festival, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, and NYC’s Bohemian National Hall, among others.
— 8 — MUSICA VIVA NY Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez Conductor and Artistic Director Trent Johnson Assistant Director of Music Jasna Vasić Executive Director Ray Henninger Operations ProductionandManager Dinah Nissen, Esq. Marketing Director Barbara de Bellis Librarian Nathan Siler Digital Marketing Consultant Board of Directors Melanie Niemiec President Bill Bechman Vice President Winnie Olsen Secretary Lisa O’Brien, Esq. Treasurer Constance Beavon Julie Shu-WieBrannanChen Dinah Nissen, Esq. Harold Norris Kate Phillips David Rockefeller, Jr. Thomas Simpson Advisory Board Seymour Bernstein Laurel Blossom Renée Fleming Galen Guengerich Susan WalterJollesKlauss ArtisticEmeritusDirector Jean-Louis Petit Bruce Saylor Our Team Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Youtube for photos, videos, and more facebook.com/musicavivany @musicavivany youtube.com/musicavivany
— 9 — APPASSIONATO$10,000andabove • Up to four Musica Viva NY soloists will perform at your private event in the NYC area • Invitation to a dinner featuring a special performance by the Artistic Director • Invitation to special Patron reception • Six complimentary season subscriptions • Reserved seating CON$5,000FUOCOto$9,999 • A Musica Viva NY soloist will perform at your private event in the NYC area • Invitation to a dinner featuring a special performance by the Artistic Director • Invitation to special Patron reception • Five complimentary season subscriptions • Reserved seating CON$3,000BRIOto $4,999 • Invitation to a dinner featuring a special performance by the Artistic Director • Invitation to special Patron reception • Three complimentary season subscriptions • Reserved seating RISOLUTO$1,000to $2,999 • Invitation to special Patron reception • Three complimentary season subscriptions • Reserved seating ESPRESSIVO$500to$999 • Invitation to special Patron reception • Two complimentary season subscriptions • Preferred seating CANTABILE$150-$499 • Invitation to special Patron reception • Preferred seating DOLCE$25-$149 • Acknowledgment in program at all levels B ecome a Patron of Musica Viva NY today! We need your generous contributions to support the outstanding concerts and outreach programming of the Musica Viva NY choir and instrumentalists. There is a level for every budget, and you will enjoy special benefits as a measure of our thanks. Your contribution can be made as a one-time gift, or on a recurring basis. PATRON LEVELS MUSICA VIVA NY PATRON SUPPORT LEVELS FOR OUR 2022-23 SEASON
— 10 — W e are deeply grateful to our Patrons listed below for their support of our 2022-2023 season. Thank you for joining us! Your support for our outstanding Musica Viva NY artists, our high-caliber, innovative choral and chamber music performances, and our community engagement is vital and essential. Corporate and Foundation Support The Heart & Soul Charitable Fund New York City Department of Cultural Affairs The Rea Charitable Fund Appassionato $10,000 and above Melanie & David Niemiec Susan & David Rockefeller, Jr. Con Brio $3,000 to $4,999 Shu-Wie Chen Gunlief Jacobsen and Thomas Simpson Charitable Fund Pamela Healey Dinah Nissen & Elizabeth Apelles Fritz MadonnaReuterK. Starr Brenda Walker & Peter Swords Risoluto $1,000 - $2,999 Constance Beavon Bill Bechman & Tom Garlock Tom & Heli Blum Julie Brannan Galen Guengerich & Holly Atkinson Elizabeth Harvey Margaret T. MacCary Ricardo Mestres Jr. & Patricia T. Hayot Harold Norris & Kell Julliard Winnie Olsen Laura Pedersen Espressivo $500 - $999 Lynne and Richard Allen Miles Chapin Dixie Goss and Dan Cryer Mary Gundermann Rose Marie Morse Kate NedDeborahKarenPhillipsSteeleTaylorWhitney& Martha Howell Klaus and Aracy Winter Cantabile $150 - $499 Mary Geissman Dana StevenIveyLane Millie & John Liebmann Marilyn AlisonClaireKatherineReaganReddRichardTung Dolce $25-$149 Anne ElaineBrewerJurumbo One anonymous donor MUSICA VIVA NY PATRONS 2022-23 This list reflects gifts received from June 1, 2022 to Sept 1, 2022
You can find full details on our website at www.musicaviva.org
Johannes Brahms, Liebeslieder Waltzer, Op. 52 Carl Orff, Carmina Burana
LUX AETERNA: Schubert, Einhorn, Lauridsen and others
THE SORROW AND THE BEAUTY: Pärt, Lang, Burhans, and Whitacre
— 11 — There are many opportunities to play a role in bringing Musica Viva NY ’s season to life as a sponsor, including: • Underwriting a concert • Underwriting the appearance of a professional singer or • orchestra member • Underwriting an appearance by the Aeolus Quartet • Underwriting an intimate post-concert reception with the artists Naming opportunities are available for sponsors. Contact Jasna Vasić, Executive Director at jasna@musicaviva.org . SPONSOR MUSICA VIVA NY
SONGS OF LOVE, FATE AND FORTUNE: Brahms and Orff
David Lang, The Little Match Girl Passion Arvo Pärt, Spiegel im Spiegel Caleb Burhans,, Super Flumina Babylonis Eric Whitacre, Cloudburst May 21, 2023
Jessie Montgomery, Starburst Judith Bingham, The Darkness Is No Darkness
Franz Schubert, Mass No. 2 in G Major, D. 167
Richard Einhorn, commission by Musica Viva NY on the theme of “Light” Morten Lauridsen, Lux Aeterna
March 12, 2023
All concerts will be performed on Sundays at 5pm at All Souls October 30, 2022
Save the dates for the rest of Musica Viva NY’s 2022-2023 season
Musica Viva NY is extremely grateful for the following help with its 2022-23 season from:
All Souls Unitarian Church (www.AllSoulsNYC.org) for Musica Viva NY’s meeting, rehearsal, performance, and reception spaces as well as for the facilities and events staff who help make all productions run smoothly
MVNY’s Community Engagement is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Heart & Soul Fund, Inc. for its longtime support of our outreach programming
Musica Viva NY 1157 Lexington Avenue New York, NY 10075 212 794 3646 info@musicaviva.org
