Competition Winners chamber music society at yale May 3, 2011
david shifrin Artistic Director
music of Alwyn Brahms Mozart Plog
Robert Blocker, Dean
may 3, 2011 ¡ 8 pm Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall
Competition Winners anthony plog b. 1947
Mosaics Lento. Allegro Allegro Vivace Adagio Allegro David Wharton, trumpet Ryan Olsen, trumpet Jessica Lascoe, horn Matthew Russo, trombone Benjamin Firer, bass trombone
wolfgang amadeus mozart 1756–1791
Divertimento in E-flat major, K. 563 Allegro Adagio Minuet Andante Minuet Allegro Nayeon Kim, violin On You Kim, viola Soojin Chung, cello
As a courtesy to the performers and audience members, turn off cell phones and pagers. Please do not leave the theater during selections. Photography or recording of any kind is not permitted.
chamber music society at yale David Shifrin, Artistic Director
Intermission
william alwyn 1905–1985
Naiades Rosa Jang, flute Kristan Toczko, harp
johannes brahms 1833–1897
Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor, Op. 60 Allegro non troppo Scherzo: Allegro Andante Finale: Allegro comodo Helen Kim, violin Kendra James, viola Yoonhee Ko, cello Esther Park, piano
Special thanks to the coaches who worked with the ensembles: Plog, Mosaics Mozart, Divertimento Alwyn, Naiades Brahms, Piano Quartet
Scott Hartman Syoko Aki June Han Martin Beaver
anthony plog Mosaics
wolfgang amadeus mozart Divertimento in E-flat major, K. 563
At the young age of nineteen, Anthony Plog had already embarked on a career as a professional trumpeter, playing as a substitute in the Los Angeles Philharmonic. His career has taken him to trumpet positions with the Basel (Switzerland), Malmo (Sweden), Pacific (California), San Antonio, and Utah Symphonies, as well as the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, the Fine Arts Brass Quintet, and Summit Brass. It is not surprising, then, that Plog’s composition career has been largely defined by his writing for brass instruments. His catalog includes no fewer than forty works for brass, ranging from sets of solo miniatures to concertos for multiple brass soloists and orchestra.
The string quartet is often considered the preeminent genre of chamber music. There is something in the history of the medium, particularly in the way composers have treated the quartet as a balanced conversation among equal participants, that has lent the string quartet a certain gravitas. What is often forgotten is that many composers have created some of their most powerful works for alternative combinations of strings. Take, for example, the C major Quintet of Schubert, the E-flat major Octet of Mendelssohn, or the two early Sextets by Brahms. To this collection of outstanding works for unusual instrumentations, we must add the E-flat major Divertimento of Mozart.
Writing in the American Record Guide, critic Barry Kilpatrick had this to say about Mosaics: “The trumpeters play flugelhorns [a mellowsounding cousin of the trumpet] in three of the four movements, resulting in a quintet sound so homogeneous that it is often difficult to tell when a line shifts from one instrument to another. The final note of [movement] I, a long, quiet octave for five players, is a thing of beauty. II is a remarkable study in virtuoso ensemble interplay, III has a lot of solo work, [and] arid IV is a jagged, driving finale.”
Despite its title (a divertimento is usually composed as a lightweight entertainment), Mozart’s Divertimento for violin, viola, and cello is the composer’s longest chamber work. Its massive scope (performances often run fifty minutes) hints at Mozart’s lofty intentions in writing the piece. As the musicologist Alfred Einstein has written, “it is a true chamber-music work, and grew to such large proportions only because it was intended to offer . . . something special in the way of art, invention, and good spirits. . . . Each instrument is primus inter pares [first among equals], every note is significant, every note is a contribution to spiritual and sensuous fulfillment in sound.... [It is] one of his noblest works.” Written in 1788, the year of Mozart’s great final three symphonies, the trio was premiered in Dresden on April 13, 1789. Mozart himself took
william alwyn Naiades
the viola part. His collaborators were the organist and composer Anton Teyber on violin and Anton Kraft, the eminent cellist for whom both Haydn and Beethoven wrote concertos (the Cello Concerto No. 2 in D major, and the Triple Concerto in C major, respectively).
Like Anthony Plog, William Alwyn enjoyed a significant career as an orchestral musician, serving as a flautist in the London Symphony Orchestra. He was also a professor of composition at the Royal Academy of Music from 1926 to 1955, having been appointed at the tender age of twenty. Alwyn was a prolific composer of symphonies, concertos, operas, chamber music, and especially film scores. Between 1941 and 1962, Alwyn composed music for over seventy films. Although well-known and respected in his native England, Alwyn’s music is little known in the United States. Certainly his music’s biggest exposure to American (and worldwide) audiences came in 1998, when figure skater Michelle Kwan skated to Alwyn’s Lyra Angelica, a concerto for harp and strings, at the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Naiades is a short work for flute and harp, composed in 1971, and first performed at that year’s Bath International Music Festival. Cast as a suite of contrasting episodes that develop material drawn from the flute’s opening phrase, Naiades has an impressionistic aura, vaguely suggestive of the work of Maurice Ravel. According to the composer, the work was inspired by the ever-changing lights and colors of the estuary of the River Blyth and the rippling Reed Marshes, which he could see from his studio window.
johannes brahms Piano Quartet in C minor, Op. 60
Like many of Brahms’ works, the third of his piano quartets endured a protracted gestation. During the mid-1850s, Brahms began three quartets for piano, violin, viola, and cello. Two of these were finished relatively quickly, becoming his Op. 25 (in G minor) and Op. 26 (in A major). The third, however, languished for twenty years before seeing the light of day as Op. 60. When Brahms began the work in 1855, it was set in the overall key of C-sharp minor and consisted of three movements. The first two quartets were published in 1861, but Brahms withheld the C-sharp minor quartet from publication because neither he nor his esteemed circle of musical friends were satisfied with it. In 1869 Brahms considered publishing the work as Op. 54, but again he held back, ultimately choosing to revise the work substantially over the winter months of 1973–74. After this revision, the work was placed in the key of C minor, and two new movements were added. Ultimately, the work consisted of the original opening movement from 1855–56 (transposed), a scherzo composed between 1856 and 1861, and the Andante and Finale, both completed in 1875. The turbulent nature of this work, along with some of Brahms’s letters about it, have suggested to many that the quartet was inspired by the story of Goethe’s young tragic hero Werther. Brahms wrote to his publisher Simrock, “you may attach a picture on the title page, i.e. a head with the pistol before it.” (Werther, unable to cope with an unrequited love, ultimately takes his life with a pistol.) Brahms also referenced
Werther’s costume in a letter to his close friend, the pioneering surgeon Theodor Billroth: “The quartet has communicated itself to me only in the strangest ways. . . . For instance, the illustration to the last chapter of the man in the blue frock and yellow waistcoat.” Many have wondered if this passionate and angst-ridden music is an expression of despair for an unrequited love in Brahms’ own life. – Jordan Kuspa
artist profiles
with the Brentwood-Westwood Symphony and the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra. She was a prizewinner in the Atlantic Symphony Concerto Competition and the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra Instrumental Competition, and has been awarded the Howard Engelman Scholarship and a British Columbia Arts Council Scholarship. Kendra has collaborated with performers such as Ani Kavafian, Ron Leonard, Paul Neubauer, and Paul Coletti, and has been coached by Michael Tree, Pinchas Zukerman, Clive Greensmith, and Martin Beaver. Kendra will be a featured artist in the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra’s 2011-12 chamber music season. She has participated in numerous festivals, and this summer will attend the Sarasota Music Festival and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. Kendra studied at the Vancouver Academy of Music and holds a Bachelor of Benjamin Firer, a native of Massapequa Park, Music degree from the Colburn School. She is NY, began playing trombone at the age of twelve. currently pursuing her master’s degree at Yale An advocate of new music, he has premiered as a student of Ettore Causa. works for both brass quintet and trombone with electronics. Benjamin has attended summer Rosa Jang, a native of South Korea, began playmusic festivals including Chautauqua, Orford, ing flute at the age of eight and made her debut Eastern, Hot Springs, and the Bar Harbor Brass performance at the age of fifteen at Gumho Art Week. In spring 2010 he was awarded the State Hall in Seoul. After her first year at the prestiUniversity of New York Thayer Fellowship for gious Seoul Arts High School, she decided to his performances conducting the Aries Chamber continue her education in America, studying Ensemble. Currently a student at the Yale School with Sara Andon at the Idyllwild Arts Academy. of Music, he is pursuing a Master of Music Rosa was the principal flute of the Idyllwild degree under the tutelage of Scott Hartman. Arts Academy Orchestra from 2003–2006 under At Yale he performs extensively with the Yale conductor Ransom Wilson. Rosa has won first Philharmonia, Yale Symphony Orchestra, Yale prize in Redland Bowl Competition, was a finaJazz Ensemble, and the Yale Trombone Quartet. list in the Pasadena Music Competition, and Upcoming engagements include performances received prizes in various competitions in Korea. at the National Orchestral Institute in College As a winner of the concerto competition at Seoul Park, Maryland and the Norfolk Chamber Arts High School, she performed as a soloist with the Seoul Arts High School Orchestra. Music Festival. Rosa has attended masterclasses with Jeanne Kendra James, viola, a native of Vancouver, be- Baxtresser, William Bennett, Michel Debost, gan the violin at age four and switched to viola John Heiss, Thomas Robertello, and Jim Walker. at fourteen. Kendra has performed as a soloist She graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree Cellist Soojin Chung began studying cello at age eleven. In 2001 she gave her first concerto performance with orchestra, performing Haydn’s Concerto in D major with the Prime Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2004, she gave a solo recital at the Ewon Cultural Center. She has also performed with the Ewha University Symphony Orchestra. She was invited to participate in the Tong-Yeoung International Music Festival and performed as a member of a string quartet there. Soojin received a full scholarship from Ewha Womans University and earned her Bachelor of Music degree summa cum laude. In Korea, she received lessons from Hyungwon Chang and studied with Il-hwan Bae at Ewha. She is now continuing her studies with Aldo Parisot at the Yale School of Music, where she is earning her Master of Music degree.
in 2010 from the New England Conservatory, where she studied with Fenwick Smith. She has received an Irving S. Gilmore Fellowship from Yale University and is currently pursuing her M.M. degree at the Yale School of Music, where she studies with Ransom Wilson. Helen Kim, 21, began her musical studies at the age of 5 on the piano. She started taking violin lessons shortly thereafter, and within a few years had garnered top prizes in national competitions on both instruments. Violin eventually became her instrument of choice, and she recently graduated cum laude from the University of Southern California, studying with Robert Lipsett and Margaret Batjer. As an undergraduate, Helen served as concertmaster of the USC Symphony and Chamber Orchestra for three consecutive years. She was principal second violin of the New York String Orchestra Seminar in 2007 and has performed with orchestras such as the St. Louis Symphony as a substitute player. An avid chamber musician, Helen has performed chamber music with renowned artists such as violinist Midori Goto. She has had master classes with Gil Shaham, Vadim Repin, Ruggiero Ricci, and members of the Juilliard, Guarneri, and TakĂĄcs Quartets. She is now pursuing her Master of Music degree at the Yale School of Music under the tutelage of Syoko Aki. Helen performs on a J.B. Ceruti (1804) violin, on generous loan from the Mandell Collection. Violinist Nayeon Kim was born in South Korea and enjoyed five years as a first violinist in the Bucheon Philharmonic Orchestra in Korea. She has participated in Seoul Tutti Ensemble and Ensemble TIMF (Tongyeong International Music Festival). As a soloist, Ms. Kim has performed with Seoul National University Orchestra, Sinfonietta, and Incheon Youth Symphony Orchestra. She has won the Eumag Journal Competition, Seoul City University
Competition, and Strad Competition in Korea. Ms. Kim has performed in master classes given by Igor Ozim and Young Uck Kim. She graduated with honors from Seoul National University and currently studies with Hyo Kang at the Yale School of Music, where she is pursuing her Master of Music degree. Violist On You Kim began her music studies in Seoul, Korea, at the age of six. At first a violinist, Ms. Kim graduated from Sun Hwa Arts High School in Korea with top honors. She then enrolled at Seoul National University, where she completed her bachelor’s degree in violin performance. She was a laureate in numerous competitions in Korea, which led to solo recitals and numerous appearances with orchestras in Seoul. As an orchestral musician, Ms. Kim has participated in the Orchestra Academy at the Toho School in Japan and was a member of the Bucheon Philharmonic Orchestra. In the summer of 2007, Ms. Kim switched to viola and began studying with Hung Wei Huang, the principal violist of the Seoul Philharmonic. As a violist, Ms. Kim graduated from the Colburn School under the guidance of Paul Coletti. She has performed with distinguished artists such as Ronald Leonard and Menahem Pressler. Ms. Kim has participated in the Sarasota Music Festival, Music@Menlo, and Rencontres Musicales Camerata Lysy. Ms. Kim is currently pursuing her Master of Music degree at the Yale School of Music, studying with Ettore Causa. Cellist Yoon Hee Ko began her musical studies at the age of five. She is a prizewinner of many competitions, including the Coleman Chamber Music Competition, Eum Yeon Competition, Eum Ak Chun Chu Competition, and the Hanyang University Competition. She has performed at the Sejong Arts Center, Kim Young Eue Hall, Seoul Arts Center, Carnegie Hall, and the Kennedy Center. Yoon Hee has soloed
with the Deokwon Symphony Orchestra and Ewha Womans University Orchestra as a winner of the concerto competition. A recipient of the Aldo Parisot Prize, she is currently pursuing her Artist Diploma at the Yale School of Music under the tutelage of Aldo Parisot. Jessica Lascoe, horn, is a native of Albany, NY, currently pursuing a Master of Music degree in horn performance at Yale University as a student of William Purvis. Jessica is the recipient of the George Wellington Miles Scholarship and Fellowship. In Boston, Jessica has performed with the Atlantic Symphony and the NEC Philharmonia and Wind Ensemble. She was a member of the Artus Quintet, which was selected as an Emerging Masters Chamber Ensemble for the Virginia Arts Festival in 2008. Her summers have been spent studying at the Pierre Monteux School in Hancock, Maine. Jessica received her Bachelor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory, where she was a recipient of the Willem Valkenier Scholarship and Beneficient Society Scholarship. While at NEC, she was a student of Boston Symphony Orchestra horn players Jonathan Menkis and Daniel Katzen. Other influential teachers and coaches include Richard Sebring, Norman Bolter, and John Heiss.
principal trumpet in the Burlando Brass. In 2009, Olsen graduated magna cum laude from Lawrence, earning both a Bachelor of Music in performance and a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy. Recent engagements include performances with the Fox Valley, Waterbury, and Yale Symphony Orchestras, and his playing can be heard on the documentary John Muir in the New World, broadcast on PBS this past April. He is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree in performance at the Yale School of Music, where he studies with Allan Dean and performs with the Yale Philharmonia. Pianist Esther Park has performed as a soloist with orchestras and in recitals across the United States, Asia, and Europe. She has appeared as soloist with the Corpus Christi Symphony, Filharmonia Pomorska (Poland), Orchestra Filarmonica (Romania), Shanghai Philharmonic, Juilliard Symphony, and the New Jersey Symphony, among others. Ms. Park has appeared at festivals including the Music Academy of the West, Aspen, Bowdoin, Tel-Hai (Israel), and the Van Cliburn–TCU Institute. She is the winner of the 2009 Prix Amadeo and the 2009 Chopin Gesellschaft Klavierwettbewerb, as well as the 2004 Gina Bachauer Piano Competition, the Juilliard Concerto Competition, and the 52 nd Kosciusko International Piano Competition. She is a recipient of President Clinton’s Prodigy Award. Born in Pusan, Korea in 1984, Ms. Park began to play in public soon after her first piano lessons at the age of four. She moved to the United States in 1995. Ms. Park has since received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Juilliard School, studying with Yoheved Kaplinsky. Ms Park is currently an Artist Diploma candidate at the Yale School of Music under the guidance of Boris Berman.
Ryan Olsen, a native of St. Paul, Minnesota, began his study of music on the piano at age six and took up the trumpet at eleven. A selftaught trumpeter through high school, he performed with the 2002-2003 Minnesota AllState Concert Band and served as co-principal trumpet of the 2003-2004 All-State Orchestra. As an undergraduate, Olsen studied with John Daniel and Brent Turney at Lawrence University. He was principal trumpet in the Lawrence Symphony Orchestra as well as the Lawrence Wind Ensemble. He also played lead trumpet A native of New Hartford, NY, trombonist in the Lawrence University Jazz Ensemble and Matthew F. Russo is a graduate student at the
Yale School of Music. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree with concentrations in trombone performance and music education from the Hartt School, where he was a member of the Performance 20/20 Honors Chamber Music Program. Matthew is a co-founder of the Northeast New Music Collective. Initially a student-run contemporary ensemble at the Hartt School, the ensemble now creates programs for new classical music to reach new audiences. His passion for new chamber music has led him to premiere more than a dozen new chamber works. In the fall of 2008, Matthew founded the West End Brass Quintet, which, in addition to winning the 2009 Paranov Concerto Competition, has gone on to perform as guest ensemble in several festivals through the United States, including the 2010 Chicago Brass Festival. In the fall of 2009, Matthew became one of the few brass players to be awarded the Laureate prize in the van Rooy Competition for Musical Excellence. His principal teachers are Scott Hartman and Ronald A. Borror.
Nancy Allen and Deborah Hoffman, and is currently a M.M. candidate in the Yale School of Music, studying with June Han.
Trumpeter David Wharton is a rising young artist from Columbus, Ohio. He is currently completing his Master of Music degree at the Yale School of Music with Allan Dean and will pursue a Doctor of Musical Arts this fall at the University of Connecticut. David is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory and Interlochen Arts Academy. This summer he will attend the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival with the Excalibur Brass Quintet. A freelance musician, David enjoys playing trumpet around New England. His outreach work includes performing chamber music for children’s concerts with Yale’s Music in Schools Initiative. He performs with a wide range of ensembles, including performances on natural trumpet with the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra. Last summer David had a teaching assistantship for trumpet at the Atlantic Music Festival in Maine and attended the Colorado College Music Festival. Kristan Toczko, a native of New Brunswick, David enjoys arranging music, running, and Canada, plays both harp and piano and has fishing on his homebuilt Power Skiff. found her place on stage with both instruments. She earned her B. Mus. in harp performance from McGill University as a student of Jennifer Swartz. She has received awards from the Royal Conservatory of Music, won the CBC RadioCanada Jeunes Artistes 2006 competition, and made recordings for national broadcast on radio and television. Kristan was harpist with the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, performing concerts in Canada, the United States, and Italy. She was principal harpist for the Prince Edward Island Symphony and various orchestras in the Montreal area and has performed at the Baie des Chaleur International Chamber Music Festival. Kristan recently attended the Aspen Music Festival and School, studying under
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Lunchtime Chamber Music May 4 | 12:30 pm | Wed | Sprague Hall Music of Zelenka, Brahms, and more. Wendy Sharp, director.
Guitar Chamber Music May 4 | 8 pm | Wed | Sprague Hall Featuring Terry Riley’s groundbreaking In C along with music by Takemitsu, Bartók, and Joan Tower, and the world premiere of a new work by Max Zuckerman and Adrian Knight.
Clarinet Chamber Music May 5 | 5 pm | Thu | Sudler Recital Hall David Shifrin and graduate clarinetists perform music by Mozart, Poulenc, Joan Panetti, and others, plus arrangements of works by Joplin, Gershwin, Piazzolla, and more. With alumni guest artists Vincent Oneppo and Paul Cho.
YSM Commencement Concert May 22 | 4 pm | Sun | Sprague Hall The School of Music presents outstanding performers from the Class of 2011.
chamber music society at yale 2011-12 season to be announced soon!