Program Notes: Brahms with Bronfman

MAY 24 BRAHMS WITH BRONFMAN WEDNESDAY May 24, 2017 – 7:30pm Special Guest: piano Yefim Bronfman (See page 38 for biography)

A CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES CONCERT

San Diego Symphony Chamber Music Series is generously underwritten by Sam B. Ersan.

SDSO Musicians: violin Jeff Thayer violin Alexander Palamidis violin Zou Yu violin Yumi Cho viola Chi-Yuan Chen viola Dorothy Zeavin viola Ethan Pernela cello Yao Zhao cello Marcia Bookstein cello Xian Zhuo

Performance at the Jacobs Music Center's Copley Symphony Hall

PROGRAM JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-97)

String Sextet No. 1 in B-flat Major, Op. 18 (1860) Allegro, ma non troppo Andante, ma moderato Scherzo: Allegro molto Rondo: Poco allegretto e grazioso Zou Yu, violin Yumi Cho, violin Dorothy Zeavin, viola Ethan Pernela, viola Marcia Bookstein, cello Xian Zhuo, cello

INTERMISSION JOHANNES BRAHMS

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Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34 (1864) Allegro non troppo Andante, un poco Adagio Scherzo: Allegro Finale: Poco sostenuto - Allegro non troppo Yefim Bronfman, piano San Diego Symphony String Quartet: Jeff Thayer, violin Alexander Palamidis, violin Chi-Yuan Chen, viola Yao Zhao, cello

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ABOUT THE ARTISTS

BRAHMS WITH BRONFMAN - MAY 24

JEFF THAYER, CONCERTMASTER

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iolinist JEFF T H AY E R holds the Deborah Pate and John Forrest Concertmaster Chair of the San Diego Symphony. Mr. Thayer is also one of the founding members of the chamber music ensemble, Camera Lucida, which performs throughout the year in the Conrad Prebys Music Center on the UC San Diego campus.

After 14 summers at the Music Academy of the West where he served as concertmaster and violin faculty member, Mr. Thayer has been involved teaching at other festivals including The National Youth Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, the National Orchestral Institute and Interlochen Arts Camp. Other festivals include The Grand Teton Music Festival, Ernen Muskidorf, the Tibor Varga Festival, Amelia Island, Mainly Mozart, La Jolla SummerFest, The Pierre Monteux Institute and the Astoria Music Festival. He is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Eastman School of Music and the Juilliard School’s Pre-College Division. His teachers include William Preucil, Donald Weilerstein, Zvi Zeitlin and Dorothy DeLay. A native of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, Mr. Thayer began violin lessons with his mother at the age of three. He has appeared as soloist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Jupiter Symphony, the North Carolina Symphony, the Canton Symphony Orchestra, the Pierre Monteux School Festival Orchestra, the Spartanburg Philharmonic, the Cleveland Institute of Music Symphony Orchestra, The Music Academy of the West Festival Orchestra, the Williamsport Symphony Orchestra, the Nittany Valley Symphony Orchestra and the Conservatory Orchestra of Cordoba, Spain, among others.

Through a generous gift to the SDSO from Joan and Irwin Jacobs and the Jacobs' Family Trust, Jeff Thayer performs on the 1708 "Bagshawe" Stradivarius. n

ALEXANDER PALAMIDIS, PRINCIPAL SECOND VIOLIN

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L E XA N D ER PA LA M I D I S is Principal Second Violin with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, and member of the San Diego Symphony String Quartet. He has held the position of Concertmaster with Orchestra Nova, San Diego Chamber Orchestra, Istanbul Radio String Orchestra and Glendale Chamber Orchestra, and he has performed as soloist and Acting Concertmaster with the SDSO on several occasions. He was a member and soloist with many orchestras including the Istanbul State Symphony, Denver Symphony, Austin Symphony, Austin Lyric Opera and the Denver Chamber Orchestra. He performed and toured with the L’Amoroso String Quartet. Prior to his appointment with San Diego Symphony Orchestra he was offered the position of Principal First Violin with the Melbourne Symphony in Australia.

Mr. Palamidis earned a Master of Music in Violin Performance from the University of Southern California where he was a member of the USC String Quartet. He attended classes with emphasis on Chamber Music and Violin Performance at The Mozarteum Academy of Music in Salzburg, Austria. A graduate of the Istanbul Conservatory of Music (where he was appointed as violin instructor right after graduation), he also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. He is very active in education, giving master classes with emphasis on solo repertoire as well as orchestral excerpts, working with young musicians, chamber ensembles, coaching high school orchestras and youth orchestras and maintaining a busy private teaching studio.

When not playing the violin, Mr. Palamidis’ special interests include Eastern philosophy, Japanese jazz-fusion, old violins and travel. n

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ZOU YU, ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL SECOND VIOLIN

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native of China, Z O U YU recently joined the San Diego Symphony Orchestra as Associate Principal Second Violin. Ms. Yu received her master's degree from the Yale School of Music and her bachelor's degree from the Oberlin Conservatory. Her teachers have included Ani Kavafian, Milan Vitek, Glenn Dicterow, Lisa Kim and David Kim. As a soloist, Ms. Yu has given numerous recitals in Asia, Europe and the United States.

In chamber music settings, she has collaborated with Gerard Poulet, Philippe Bianconi, Francoise Gneri, Nicholas McGegan, David Kim and Richard O'Neill. Ms. Yu is also an active and enthusiastic promoter of contemporary music and art. She has participated in the Oberlin CME Ensemble, Lucerne Festival and Cantata Profana. In her summers, Ms. Yu has attended the Verbier Festival, Tanglewood Music Center and Aspen Music Festival. Zou Yu recently collaborated with the Yale School of Drama and performed a new music and theater work at the Yale Cabaret. The New Haven Review hailed her performance as “stunning, amazing, inspiring.” n

YUMI CHO, VIOLIN

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UM I C H O is a graduate of the fiveyear dual degree program between Barnard College/Columbia University

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ABOUT THE ARTISTS

BRAHMS WITH BRONFMAN - MAY 24 and The Juilliard School. She received her B.A. with honors in Economics and Environmental Science and her M.M. in Violin Performance under the tutelage of Ronald Copes, Naoko Tanaka and Dorothy DeLay. She has also studied with Pamela Frank at The Peabody Institute and Tom Johnson, a former member of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. Her music festival credits include the Verbier, Lucerne, International Holland Music Sessions, La Jolla SummerFest, Cascade, Stuttgart, BrittenPears, Music Academy of the West, IMS Prussia Cove, Carnegie Hall Professional Workshop, Pacific, New York String Seminar and Aspen festivals.

Ms. Cho’s interests span beyond her passion for music. She is an avid traveler and outdoor enthusiast. She has been extremely fortunate to have traveled to 60+ countries for both musical and exploratory excursions. Road/ trail running, trekking and biking are just a few of her outdoor pleasures, which she loves to combine with her travels. A few of her most recent adventures include biking down the Curonian Spit in Lithuania/Russia, completing a half marathon on the Ankgor Wat grounds in Cambodia, a “midnight sun” full marathon 350 km north of the Arctic Circle in Norway and an ultra-marathon along the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in South Africa. She has also traveled the 7000+ km ride on the Trans-Siberian Railway through Mongolia and Russia, trekked to Mount Everest Base Camp at 18,000 ft. (above sea level) in Nepal and trekked through Patagonia at the southern tip of Chile and Argentina.

Yumi Cho is so thankful that music has brought her to San Diego. She is appreciative of her position with the Orchestra and is always delighted to share music with audiences in San Diego and elsewhere. n

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aiwanese violist C H I -Y UAN CH E N holds the Karen and Warren Kessler Chair as Principal Viola of San Diego Symphony Orchestra. A top-prize winner of both the 2000 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and the 2004 International Paris Viola Competition Ville d’Avray, Mr. Chen has already established himself as one of the leading violists of his generation. Mr. Chen is also a recipient of the Henri Kohn award from the Tanglewood Music Center.

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CHI-YUAN CHEN, PRINCIPAL VIOLA

DOROTHY ZEAVIN, VIOLA

An advocate in contemporary music, Mr. Chen has collaborated with legendary composers such as Elliott Carter, John Corigliano, Toshio Hosokawa and George Perle. In chamber music settings, he has performed with artists in the highest caliber such as Colin Carr, Ani and Ida Kavafian and Yo-Yo Ma, as well as members of the American, Arditti, Brentano, Cleveland, Emerson, Guarneri, Mendelssohn and Miami string quartets. Mr. Chen’s recent concert and festival engagements include Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Macau, Indonesia, Japan, Korea and North America. A frequent performer on the SDSO’s Chamber Music Series, Mr. Chen has performed as guest artist with numerous ensembles such as Camera Lucida, Boston Chamber Music Society and the Gardner Museum Chamber Ensemble in Boston, where he was the principal violist from 1999 to 2002.

A violist of the Great Wall String Quartet which resides in Beijing’s Great Wall International Music Academy, Mr. Chen gives concerts and masterclasses frequently throughout Asian countries.

In 2012 the quartet released their debut album, titled The Great Wall. The same album was awarded "Best Performance of Classical Music" by the 24th Golden Melody Award in Taiwan in 2013.

Chi-Yuan Chen holds a Doctoral degree from State University of New York at Stony Brook; he also holds both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree from the New England Conservatory in Boston, where he received the highest distinction in performance on both degrees. n

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an Diego Symphony Orchestra violist D O ROT H Y Z EAV I N received her Bachelor of Music degree from Cal State Northridge and also attended UCLA studying with Alan De Veritch, Walter Trampler, Jeffrey

Solow and Raphael Hillyer. During the three years at UCLA she studied bass viola da gamba and performed Renaissance and Baroque music.

She has been a member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, YMF Debut Orchestra, Camerata of Los Angeles (touring Europe), Hong Kong Philharmonic, Colorado Music Festival, Oregon Bach Festival and the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival. Her Helmut Keller viola was made for her in 1976 from a 300-year-old Yugoslavian bedpost. Her sister, Marcia Bookstein, plays cello in the SDSO, and their older sister, Carol is a violinist in N.Y. Ms. Zeavin also is an inventive cook and an accomplished baker, and several times a year she holds Irish Concerts in her home and cooks for 65 people.

She is the proud mother of a daughter who is a psychotherapist, and a son who is studying for a doctorate in Exercise and Sport Psychology at the University of Utah. n

ETHAN PERNELA, VIOLA

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native of Oregon, ETHA N PER N ELA joined the viola section of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra in spring of 2015. Mr. Pernela completed his Bachelor of Music, Master of Music and Graduate Diploma with honors at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where he studied with James Dunham and

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ABOUT THE ARTISTS

BRAHMS WITH BRONFMAN - MAY 24

Martha Strongin Katz.

After receiving a fellowship to the New World Symphony in 2007, Mr. Pernela won a viola position in the Honolulu Symphony under the baton of Andreas Delfs. Prior to his move to Honolulu, he performed with the Saint Louis Symphony, Portland Symphony, World Symphony Orchestra of Korea, Aspen Festival Orchestra, Verbier Chamber Orchestra and the Verbier Festival Orchestra, where he served as principal violist. Mr. Pernela has also performed in festivals including Yellow Barn, Taos School of Music, Kneisel Hall, Musicorda and the Interlochen Center for the Arts.

An active chamber musician, Ethan Pernela has collaborated with artists including Donald Weilerstein, Jon Kimura Parker, Chee-Yun Kim, Joyce Yang, Natasha Brofsky and the Borromeo String Quartet. His passion for chamber music comes from his work with Eric Rosenblith and Raphael Hillyer at New England Conservatory, where his quartet was accepted into the Honors Ensemble Program. n

YAO ZHAO, PRINCIPAL CELLO

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ailed in New York Concert Review as “… a superb cellist with intense and sensuous sound,” and described by the Los Angeles Times as “… being able to handle the most intricate musical works with unblinking ease and expressive zeal,” cellist YAO ZH AO performs with a rare and captivating dynamism that has secured him a successful career as the tenured Principal Cello for San Diego Symphony Orchestra, and as a faculty member at San Diego State University and Idyllwild Arts Academy. He is one of the founding members of the award-winning Great Wall String Quartet, and in 2013 he was honored as one of China’s Ten Extraordinary Cellists of the Generation.

Mr. Zhao made his first concert appearance at

age five and his solo debut in the Beijing Concert Hall at age nine. He garnered further attention in 1988 upon winning first prize at the First Chinese National Cello Competition and went on to win more than 13 competitions, awards and honors.

His career has seen him performing in over 40 cities around the world, including a successful solo debut at the Weil Recital Hall (Carnegie Hall) in New York. His quartet, which concluded their debut season to great acclaim in 2009, released their first recording - Great Wall - in September of 2012 and won the Best Performance Award at the 2013 24th Golden Melody Award in Taiwan. Their second album – Tango – which was released in the summer of 2015, was awarded the Best String Quartet Album of the 11th HiFi Award in China. The Great Wall String Quartet has proudly represented the Great Wall of China in a documentary for UNESCO about six great historical sites in Beijing.

Beyond a busy performance schedule, Mr. Zhao continues to dedicate himself to the education of the next generation in the arts by serving on faculties at Idyllwild Arts Academy and San Diego State University. His achievements and generous contributions to music performance and education have been recognized and highly commended by the City of Los Angeles, Government of Macau and Hong Kong.

Born in Beijing in 1976, Mr. Zhao began his studies on the cello and piano at the age of four under the instruction of his father, a distinguished cellist. He was educated at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and later in the United States at the Idyllwild Arts Academy and the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, where he studied with renowned pedagogue, Professor Eleonore Schoenfeld. n

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a Jolla resident MARCIA B O O K ST EI N has been with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra since 1977.

Ms. Bookstein also performs in the San Diego Opera Orchestra and has performed on a number of recordings. She is the proud mother of two adult children and one-half of a therapy team with a fairly magnificent dog named Lady Bird, and she enjoys bringing her music to school classrooms. She has played in several chamber ensembles, including an Orchestrabased group called the Silvergate Ensemble.

MARCIA BOOKSTEIN, CELLO

her Bachelor of Arts at Northridge. She also attended USC – for cellist Gregor Piatigorsky's master class. Ms. Bookstein played principal cello in the Jerusalem Symphony (Kol Yisrael) for the 1975-76 season, and studied with cellist Jacqueline du Pré in 1984. She is currently in an Improvisational Comedy Training class with San Diego creativity trainer Jacquie Lowell. n

XIAN ZHUO, CELLO

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raised for his stunning technique, sensitivity and superb artistry, San Diego Symphony Orchestra cellist X I A N Z H UO is a young professional musician whose artistry is recognized by awards and audiences.

The winner of the 2011 Isidor Handler Award (1st Prize) at the 38th Dr. Luis Sigall International Cello Competition in Chile, Mr. Zhuo's recent exciting engagements included concertos and master classes in Chile, Brazil, China and the USA. Mr. Zhuo first gained national recognition when he won 1st prize in the China National Competition. In addition to the Isidor Handler Award, he won 1st prizes in the Corpus Christi International Competition, Loeb/ Louviere International Competition and the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus Young Artists Competition, among others. He joined the SDSO in 2014. n

Ms. Bookstein attended UCLA and received

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