1/21/2023 ECMSA David Shifrin, clarinet

MUSIC AT EMORY

This concert is presented by the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts. 404.727.5050 | schwartz.emory.edu | boxoffice@emory.edu

Audience Information

Please turn off phones and all electronic devices. Photography, recording, or digital capture of this concert is not permitted.

Health and Safety

The Schwartz Center follows the Emory University Visitor Policy with additional protocols outlined at schwartz.emory.edu/faq.

Ushers

The Schwartz Center welcomes a volunteer usher corps of approximately 60 members each year. Visit schwartz.emory.edu/volunteer or call 404.727.6640 for ushering opportunities.

Accessibility

The Schwartz Center is committed to providing performances and facilities accessible to all. Please direct accommodation requests to the Schwartz Center Box Office at 404.727.5050, or by email at boxoffice@emory.edu.

Design and Photography Credits

Cover Design: Lisa Baron | Cover Photo: Mark Teague David Shifrin Photo: Courtesy of artist Vega Quartet Photos: Fernando Decillis William Ransom Photo: Courtesy of artist

Acknowledgment

This season, the Schwartz Center is celebrating 20 years of world-class performances and wishes to gratefully acknowledge the generous ongoing support of Donna and Marvin Schwartz.

Saturday, January 21, 2023, 8:00 p.m.

David Shifrin, clarinet The Vega Quartet William Ransom, piano

Emerson Concert Hall Schwartz Center for Performing Arts

Program

Prelude, Allegro, and Pastorale (1941) Rebecca Clarke (1886–1979)

David Shifrin, clarinet; Yinzi Kong, viola

Sonata in F Minor, op. 120, No. 1 (1894) Johannes Brahms Allegro appassionato (1833–1897) Andante un poco adagio Allegretto grazioso Vivace

David Shifrin, clarinet; William Ransom, piano —Intermission—

Quintet in A Major, K. 581 (1789) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Allegro (1756–1791) Larghetto Menuetto—Trio I—Trio II Allegretto con variazioni

David Shifrin, clarinet; The Vega Quartet

The Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta is supported by the Cherry L. Emerson Endowment, the Rebecca Katz-Doft Chamber Music Endowment, the Ethel Orentlicher Gershon Fund, a generous gift from Dr. John and Linda Cooke, and by music lovers like you.

David Shifrin, clarinet

Winner of both the Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Avery Fisher Prize, David Shifrin is in constant demand as an orchestral soloist, recitalist, chamber music collaborator, and educator.

Shifrin has appeared with the Philadelphia and Minnesota orchestras and the Dallas, Seattle, Houston, Milwaukee, Detroit, Fort Worth, Hawaii, and Phoenix symphonies among many others in the United States; and internationally with orchestras in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. He has also received critical acclaim as a recitalist— appearing at such venues as Alice Tully Hall, Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, and the 92nd Street Y in New York City, as well as at the Library of Congress in Washington. D.C. A much sought-after chamber musician, Shifrin has collaborated with such distinguished ensembles and artists as the Guarneri, Tokyo, Emerson, Orion, Dover, and Miro string quartets, trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis, and pianists Emanuel Ax, André Previn, and André Watts.

An artist member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMSLC) since 1989, Shifrin served as its artistic director from 1992 to 2004. He has toured extensively throughout the United States with CMSLC and hosted and performed in several national television broadcasts on PBS’s Live From Lincoln Center. He concluded his tenure with Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, Oregon, in summer 2020 after having been the festival’s artistic director since 1981. Shifrin is currently also the artistic director of the Phoenix Chamber Music Festival. In addition, he has served as principal clarinetist with the Cleveland Orchestra; American Symphony Orchestra (under Stokowski); the Honolulu, Dallas, and New Haven symphonies; the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; and the New York Chamber Symphony.

Shifrin joined the faculty at the Yale School of Music in 1987 and since 2008 has been artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Yale and Yale’s annual concert series at Carnegie Hall. In January 2022, he was named the Samuel S. Sanford Professor in the Practice of Clarinet. He has also served on the faculties of the Juilliard School, University of Southern California, University of Michigan, Cleveland Institute of Music, and the University of Hawaii.

Shifrin has been instrumental in broadening the repertoire for clarinet and orchestra by commissioning and championing the works of 20th- and 21st-century American composers including John Adams, Joan Tower, Stephen Albert, Bruce Adolphe, Ezra Laderman,

Lalo Schifrin, David Schiff, John Corigliano, Bright Sheng, Ellen Zwilich, Alvin Singleton, Hannah Lash, Martin Bresnick, Aaron Jay Kernis, Valerie Coleman, Richard Danielpour, and Peter Schickele.

Shifrin’s recordings on Delos, DGG, Angel/EMI, Arabesque, BMG, Sony, and CRI have consistently garnered praise and awards. He has received three Grammy Award nominations and his recording of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, performed in its original version on a specially built elongated clarinet, was named Record of the Year by Stereo Review. Recent releases include the Beethoven, Bruch, and Brahms clarinet trios with cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han on the ArtistLed label and a recording for Delos of works by Carl Nielsen, which includes the first recording of the Nielsen Clarinet Concerto arranged for chamber orchestra. In 2018, Delos released a recording of three clarinet quintets—written for Shifrin by Peter Schickele, Richard Danielpour, and Aaron J. Kernis with the Miro, Dover, and Jasper quartets respectively—as well as a second volume of clarinet quintets featuring David Schiff’s arrangement of Duke Ellington pieces. In early 2021, the Musica Solis label released a recording of original music and several newly arranged works for clarinet by Francis Poulenc.

In addition to the Avery Fisher Prize, Shifrin is the recipient of a Solo Recitalists’ Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and the 2016 Concert Artist Guild Virtuoso Award. He received an Honorary Membership to the International Clarinet Society in recognition of lifetime achievement and at the outset of his career, he won prizes at both the Munich and the Geneva international competitions. Shifrin is also the recipient of Distinguished Alumni Awards from the Interlochen Center for the Arts and the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara and a Cultural Leadership Citation from Yale University. In January 2018 he received the Richard J. Bogomolny National Service Award at the Chamber Music America Conference, an award which recognizes an individual or entity who has provided historic service to the small ensemble music field.

Shifrin performs on a Backun “Lumiere” cocobolo wood clarinet made by Morrie Backun in Vancouver, Canada, and uses Légère Reeds exclusively.

William Ransom, piano

Pianist, artistic director, master teacher, editor, and judge for international competitions, William Ransom appears around the world as soloist with orchestras, recitalist, and chamber musician. His performances have been broadcast on National Public Radio and television in the United States, Argentina, Poland, and Japan. He regularly collaborates with musicians including Yo-Yo Ma, Richard Stoltzman, William Preucil, Stephen Isserlis, Robert McDuffie, and members of the Emerson, Tokyo, Cleveland, Juilliard, American, St. Petersburg, Borromeo, Parker, Ariel, and Lark string quartets; the Empire Brass Quintet; Eroica Trio; and the percussion group Nexus, among others. As a master teacher, Ransom also performs and gives master classes at numerous schools of music and universities around the world. He has recorded for ACA Digital and Rising Star Records. Ransom is the Mary Emerson Professor of Piano at Emory University where he is founder and artistic director of the Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta. A graduate of the Juilliard School and the University of Michigan, in the summers, Ransom is artistic director of the Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival in North Carolina and for a decade was an artist-faculty member at the Kamisaibara Pianists Camp in Japan. In 2016 he was named artistic director of the Juneau Jazz and Classics Festival and also one of Musical America Worldwide’s “30 Musical Innovators.” Recently, Ransom was appointed artistic director of the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival.

The Vega Quartet

The Vega Quartet, quartet-in-residence at Emory University, is cultivating a new generation of chamber music lovers through dynamic performances and innovative community engagement. The New York Times raved that “[the quartet’s] playing had a kind of clean intoxication to it, pulling the listener along . . . the musicians took real risks in their music making” and the Los Angeles Times praised their “triumphant L.A. debut.” The musicians concertize both nationally and internationally, most recently in Baltimore, Chicago, Nashville, Berlin, San Miguel Mexico, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Brahmssaal in Vienna’s Musikverein. The quartet’s major performing projects at Emory have included the complete cycle of Beethoven quartets, as well as pairing Bach’s complete works for solo violin, viola, and cello with the six Bartók quartets. The quartet has also developed a series of “Jazz Meets Classics” programs, bringing the two genres together.

One of the unique aspects of the quartet’s residency at Emory is to bring performance into the classroom, collaborating with academic professors to create interdisciplinary parallels and conversations. The members of the quartet also enrich the cultural life of their community, having founded the Emory Youth Chamber Music Program, which gives intensive training in small ensemble playing to advanced pre-college students. The quartet was appointed to the roster of the Woodruff Arts Center’s Young Audiences program, engaging thousands of students throughout the greater-Atlanta school system. It has also held residencies in Augusta, Jacksonville, and Juneau that combined traditional performances with educational outreach, performances in non-traditional venues, and master classes for area students.

Emily Daggett Smith and Jessica Shuang Wu, violins; Yinzi Kong, viola; Guang Wang, cello

The Vega Quartet has won numerous international awards, including at the Bordeaux String Quartet Competition, as well as top prizes from the Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition, the Carmel Chamber Music Competition, and the National Society of Arts and Letters String Quartet Competition. The quartet tours throughout Asia, Europe, and North America, and has appeared at Weill Hall and Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, Bargemusic, and Duke Hall at the Royal Academy of Music, London. The members of the Vega Quartet collaborate with some of the world’s finest musicians including Andres Cardenes, Eliot Fisk, Christopher O’Riley, William Preucil, Richard Stoltzman, Mark O’Connor, Robert Spano, Charles Wadsworth, Peter Wiley, and the Eroica Trio. The musicians also commission, premier, and record works by leading composers. The quartet is a frequent guest at numerous music festivals including Amelia Island, Aspen, Brevard, Highlands-Cashiers, Juneau Jazz & Classics, Kingston, Mostly Mozart, Rockport, San Miguel de Allende, and SummerFest La Jolla.

Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta

Celebrating its milestone 30th anniversary season, the Southeast’s largest and most active chamber music organization brings together some of the city’s finest resident musicians with internationally known performers who are dedicated to performing the most delightful, exciting, and interesting music from the chamber repertoire in some of the most acoustically and visually beautiful spaces in Atlanta. Guests have included Yo-Yo Ma, Richard Stoltzman, Alan Gilbert, Dave Brubeck, William Preucil, Eliot Fisk, Mark O’Connor, Robert Spano, and many others.

Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta’s mission is to create new generations of passionate and educated music lovers who will cherish and support this great art forever. To support this mission by giving to ECMSA, visit chambermusicsociety.emory.edu.

A full schedule of ECMSA events taking place on Emory’s campus and throughout the community can be found online by visiting chambermusicsociety.emory.edu or by scanning this QR code.

Upcoming Emory Music Concerts

Many spring music events at Emory are free to attend. Visit music.emory. edu or schwartz.emory.edu to view descriptions and information for upcoming music events. If an event requires a ticket for attendance, prices are indicated in the listings below in the following order: Full price/Emory student price (unless otherwise noted as the price for all students).

Sunday, January 22, 4:00 p.m., Chinese New Year Celebration, ECMSA: Family Series, Carlos Museum, free

Friday, January 27, noon, Itamar Zorman, violin; Liza Stepanova, piano, ECMSA: Cooke Noontime Concert, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free

Thursday, February 2, 8:00 p.m., Anne-Sophie Mutter and the Mutter Virtuosi, Candler Concert Series, 20th Anniversary Celebration, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, $90/$10, tickets required

Friday, February 3, 7:00 p.m., Pajama Concert: Musical Bedtime Stories, ECMSA: Family Series, Carlos Museum, free

Saturday, February 4, 8:00 p.m., Maria Clark, soprano, Artist Affiliate Recital, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free

Friday, February 10, 8:00 p.m., Emory Jazz Fest 2023, Warren Wolf and the Emory Jazz Fest All-Stars, Schwartz Artist-in-Residence Program, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, $30/$10, tickets required

Saturday, February 11, 8:00 p.m., Emory Jazz Fest 2023, Emory Big Band with the Gary Motley Trio and members of the Emory University Symphony Orchestra, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free, tickets required

Sunday, February 12, 4:00 p.m., The Bach Bowl: A Very Varied Goldberg Variations, ECMSA: Emerson Series, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free

Saturday, February 18, 8:00 p.m., Friends and Mentors, ECMSA: Emerson Series, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free

Wednesday, February 22, 8:00 p.m., Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free

Friday, February 24, noon, Vivaldi Four Seasons, ECMSA: Cooke Noontime Series, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free

Saturday, February 25, 8:00 p.m., Emory University Symphony Orchestra with Elisabeth Remy Johnson, harp, and the Vega String Quartet, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free

Sunday, February 26, 4:00 p.m., Emory Wind Ensemble, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free

Thursday, March 2, 8:00 p.m., West-Eastern Divan Ensemble with Michael Barenboim, Candler Concert Series, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, $50/$10, tickets required

Saturday, March 4, 8:00 p.m., Elena Cholakova, piano, and Anyango Yarbo Davenport, violin, Schwartz Artist-in-Residence Program, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free

Friday, March 10, and Saturday, March 11, 8:00 p.m., Magnificat: Bach, Byrd, Rachmaninoff, Stanford, Howells, and Pärt, Atlanta Master Chorale, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, $38/$10 all students, tickets required

Friday, March 17, 8:00 p.m., Lawrence Brownlee, tenor, Rising, Schwartz Artist-in-Residence Program, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, $50/$10, tickets required

Saturday, March 18, 2:00 p.m., Athena Grasso, Junior Piano Recital, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free Saturday, March 18, 5:00 p.m., Vivian Zhao, Junior Piano Recital, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free

Sunday, March 19, 2:00 p.m., Thomas Sarsfield, Senior Violin Recital, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free

Sunday, March 19, 4:00 p.m., Atlanta’s Young Artists, ECMSA: Family Series, Carlos Museum, free

Sunday, March 19, 5:00 p.m., Eric Zhang, Senior Piano/Violin Recital, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free

Friday, March 24, noon, Bernadene Blaha, piano, ECMSA: Cooke Noontime Concert, Carlos Museum, free online registration required

Music at Emory

Music at Emory brings together students, faculty, and world-class artists to create an exciting and innovative season of performances, lectures, workshops, and master classes. With more than 150 events each year across multiple Emory venues, audiences experience a wide variety of musical offerings.

We hope you enjoy sampling an assortment of work from our student ensembles, community youth ensembles, artists in residence, professional faculty, up-and-coming prodigies, and virtuosos from around the world. 404.727.5050 music.emory.edu