Music for Clarinets, February 14-15, 2019

yale in new york David Shifrin, artistic director

Music for Clarinets

Thursday, February 14, 2019 | 4:30 pm Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall Friday, February 15, 2019 | 7:30 pm Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall

Robert Blocker, Dean

Program Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1756–1791

Francis Poulenc 1899–1963 adapted by David Shifrin

Adagio in B-flat major, K. 411 Romie de Guise-Langlois, clarinet I A David Shifrin, clarinet II F Graeme Steele Johnson, basset horn I A Sam Boutris, basset horn II A Andrew Grenci, basset horn III A

Sonate pour cor, trompette, et trombone, FP 33a I. Allegro moderato II. Andante III. Rondeau David Shifrin, clarinet F Graeme Steele Johnson, basset horn A Giovanni Bertoni, bass clarinet S

Alexander Kukelka b. 1963

Czernowitzer Skizzen (2012) No. I No. III No. V Benjamin Baron, clarinet I A Julie Asuma Levene, clarinet II A Sergiy Dvornichenko, clarinet III A Michael Moy, bass clarinet S

Zez Confrey 1895–1971 arr. Bill Holcombe

Dizzy Fingers (1923) Sergiy Dvornichenko, clarinet I A Benjamin Baron, clarinet II A Julie Asuma Levene, clarinet III A Michael Moy, bass clarinet S

Jeff Scott b. 1967

Expeditionary Airmen: A Three Day Pass for four clarinets and percussion (2017) David Shifrin, clarinet I F Graeme Steele Johnson, clarinet II A Richard Adger, clarinet III S Andrew Grenci, bass clarinet A YoungKyoung Lee, percussion S

Eubie Blake 1887–1983 arr. Vincent Oneppo, after Benny Goodman

Henry Lodge 1885–1933 arr. Vincent Oneppo, after Benny Goodman

Memories of You (1930) Vincent Oneppo, solo clarinet A Sam Boutris, clarinet I A Seunghee Lee, clarinet II A Maureen Hurd Hause, clarinet III A Bixby Kennedy, clarinet IV A Andrew Grenci, bass clarinet A Russell Fisher, percussion S

Temptation Rag (1909) Vincent Oneppo, solo clarinet A Bixby Kennedy, clarinet I A Seunghee Lee, clarinet II A Maureen Hurd Hause, clarinet III A Sam Boutris, clarinet IV A Andrew Grenci, bass clarinet A Russell Fisher, percussion S

intermission

As a courtesy to others, please silence all devices. Photography and recording of any kind is strictly prohibited. Please do not leave the hall during musical selections. Thank you.

Program, cont.

Peter Schickele b. 1935

Monochrome III (2015) Bixby Kennedy, clarinet I A Sergiy Dvornichenko, clarinet II A Benjamin Baron, clarinet III A Seunghee Lee, clarinet IV A Vincent Oneppo, clarinet V A Maureen Hurd Hause, clarinet VI A Julie Asuma Levene, clarinet VII A Michael Moy, clarinet VIII S Dennis Zhao, clarinet IX C

Steve Reich b. 1936

New York Counterpoint for 11 clarinets (1985) Giovanni Bertoni, solo clarinet S Graeme Steele Johnson, clarinet I A Michael Moy, clarinet II S Dennis Zhao, clarinet III C Richard Adger, clarinet IV S Julie Asuma Levene, clarinet V A David Shifrin, clarinet VI F Daniel Kim, clarinet VII C Jonathan Jalbert, clarinet VIII C Vincent Oneppo, clarinet IX (bass clarinet) A Andrew Grenci, clarinet X (bass clarinet) A Ransom Wilson, conductor F

Heitor Villa-Lobos 1887–1959 arr. Evan Solomon

Ă ria (Cantilena) from Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, W. 389 Seunghee Lee, solo clarinet A Sam Boutris, clarinet I A David Shifrin, clarinet II F Michael Moy, clarinet III S Graeme Steele Johnson, clarinet IV A Giovanni Bertoni, bass clarinet I S Richard Adger, bass clarinet II S

Astor Piazzolla 1921–1992 arr. Seunghee Lee

Johann Sebastian Bach 1685–1750 arr. Guido Six

Libertango (1977) Seunghee Lee, solo clarinet A Michael Moy, clarinet I S Graeme Steele Johnson, clarinet II A Sam Boutris, clarinet III A David Shifrin, clarinet IV F Giovanni Bertoni, bass clarinet I S Richard Adger, bass clarinet II S

Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 Bixby Kennedy, E-flat clarinet A Sam Boutris, clarinet I A Sergiy Dvornichenko, clarinet I A Romie de Guise-Langlois, clarinet I A Pavel Vinnitsky, clarinet I A Benjamin Baron, clarinet II A Julie Asuma Levene, clarinet II A Seunghee Lee, clarinet II A Michael Moy, clarinet II S Dennis Zhao, clarinet II C Maureen Hurd Hause, clarinet III A Jonathan Jalbert, clarinet III C Daniel Kim, clarinet III C David Shifrin, clarinet IV F Graeme Steele Johnson, clarinet IV A Christopher Zhou, clarinet IV C Richard Adger, bass clarinet I S Vincent Oneppo, bass clarinet II A Andrew Grenci, E-flat contra-alto clarinet A Giovanni Bertoni, B-flat contrabass clarinet S Ransom Wilson, conductor F

Yale School of Music faculty Yale School of Music alumnus S Yale School of Music student C Yale College student F

A

Artist Profiles Winner of the 2000 Avery Fisher Prize, clarinetist David Shifrin has appeared with the Philadelphia and Minnesota orchestras and the Dallas, Seattle, Houston, Milwaukee, Detroit, and Denver symphonies. He has appeared in recital at Alice Tully Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the 92nd Street Y in New York City, and at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. In addition, he has appeared in recital and as soloist with orchestras throughout Europe and Asia.

A three-time Grammy nominee, he has been the Artistic Director of Chamber Music Northwest since 1980. An artist member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 1989, he served as its Artistic Director from 1992 to 2004. A faculty member at the Yale School of Music since 1987, Shifrin is Professor in the Practice of Clarinet and Chamber Music, and serves as Artistic Director of the Oneppo Chamber Music Series and the Yale in New York concert series.

Ransom Wilson’s long and varied career has seen him as an international flute virtuoso and recording artist, celebrated chamber musician, and now a busy conductor. In addition to his post as Music Director & Conductor of the Redlands Symphony in California, he is Artistic Director of New York’s Le Train Bleu ensemble and Music Director of the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company. Professor of Flute at the Yale School of Music, he is also an Artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Richard Adger ’19MM is an aspiring clarinetist and chamber musician from Kansas City, MO. With his chamber group Trio Affettuoso he won second prize in the Enkor International Chamber Music competition. Richard completed his bachelor’s degree at the University of Kansas under the tutelage of Dr. Stephanie Zelnick, and is currently completing his master’s degree at the Yale School of Music under the guidance of David Shifrin.

Benjamin Baron ’02 MM is on the faculty of Montclair State University and member of the Montclair Wind Quintet, Quintet of the Americas, and principal clarinet of the Chamber Orchestra of New York. He performs regularly in the New York area including the American Symphony Orchestra, New York Pops, New Jersey Symphony, and many Broadway productions. Baron’s book, The Audition Method, written in collaboration with Mark Nuccio, is available through GIA Publications. He is a D’Addario Performing Artist and an Artist/Clinician for Buffet Music Group.

Giovanni Bertoni ’18MM ’19MMA is a clarinet Fellow at the New World Symphony.

He was a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center and is the winner of the 2017 Backun International Clarinet Competition. Originally from Italy, Mr. Bertoni received his master of music degree from the Yale School of Music, studying under David Shifrin.

Sam Boutris ’17MM’s 2018–19 season includes solo performances at La MaisonFranciase, the Crypt Sessions, and Dame Myra Hess. Recent season highlights include a solo recital appearance at the Greene

Space (WQXR live broadcast), solo recitals Lincoln Centers’ Paul Hall and Wilson Theater, and the Harvard Club. Boutris also regularly collaborates on chamber music recitals on the New York Piano Society at Carnegie Hall. In 2017 Boutris began the Artist Diploma program at Juilliard, and also holds degrees from Yale University and the Curtis Institute.

Sergiy Dvornichenko ’08MM ’09AD is the second clarinetist in the Glens Falls Symphony Orchestra and has performed with many of New England’s orchestras, and as a soloist with Orchestra Slobozhansky and Kharkov Philharmonic in Ukraine.

Winner of numerous international competitions in Ukraine, Russia and Romania, Dvorcnichenko is also the Co-Founder of the Muzichna Maysternya music festival in Kharkov, Ukraine. He serves as a member of faculty at the Mahanaim Music School and Luzerne Music Center.

Russell Fisher ’20MMA is a percussion performer, educator, and composer. He is completing a master of musical arts degree at the Yale School of Music under the tutelage of Robert van Sice. Fisher is an active member of the new music community and is currently commissioning several new chamber and solo works. One of Fisher’s current projects is a new solo suite for double seconds steel pans.

Andrew Grenci ’84MM earned a master of music degree at Yale in 1984 under Keith Wilson. He was bass clarinetist with the Coast Guard Band for 24 years, and is often heard with Connecticut orchestras. His CD of music for bass clarinet and piano,

Excursions, was praised by The Clarinet for “impeccable musicianship.” In 2017 he recorded his composition Concerto in Rock with the Coast Guard Band. Grenci teaches clarinet at Western Connecticut State University and is an active soloist and chamber player.

Romie de Guise-Langlois ’06MM ’07AD is a first prize winner of the Ima Hogg Competition, the Canadian Music Competition, and at the Yale and McGill Universities Concerto Competitions. She has appeared as soloist with the Houston Symphony, the Burlington Chamber Orchestra, the Guanajuato Symphony Orchestra; at Festival Mozaic and Banff Center for the Arts.

Currently Assistant Professor of Clarinet at UMass/Amherst, she is a former member of CMS Two, Astral Artists, Ensemble Connect, and Musicians from Marlboro.

Maureen Hurd Hause ’96MM ’97MMA ’02DMA has performed with the American Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and New York City Opera Orchestra, in Europe and Asia, at Norfolk, Skaneateles, Lancaster and Zodiac Festivals and ICA ClarinetFests, and recorded for Naxos and MSR Classics. Head of Woodwinds/Associate Professor of Clarinet at Rutgers University, she earned master’s and doctoral degrees from the Yale School of Music studying with David Shifrin, and is a Selmer Paris and D’Addario Artist.

Jonathan Jalbert ’22 BA is a first-year in Yale College (TC ‘22) where he is studying as many subjects as he can. He is an avid member of the Yale Glee Club, and an alumnus of Kinhaven Music School,

Artist Profiles, cont.

NYO-USA, and the National YoungArts Foundation. Jonathan is from Houston, TX, and is a proud graduate of the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. His past clarinet teachers include Sean Krissman and David Sapadin.

Winner of the Hellam Young Artists’ Competition and the Yamaha Young Performing Artists Competition, Graeme Steele Johnson ’17MM ’18MMA appeared recently as soloist with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra.

His upcoming engagements include performances at the Phoenix Chamber Music Society, Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts series, the Ravinia Festival, and as a featured speaker at TEDxOakLawn.

Johnson is on the Young Artists roster of the Center for Musical Excellence and holds graduate degrees from the Yale School of Music.

Admired for his “suppleness and beauty of tone,” Bixby Kennedy ’16MM has performed in Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, The Kennedy Center, and Marlboro Music Festival. He is the clarinetist for the “explosive” chamber ensemble Frisson and as an orchestral musician, Bixby currently holds titles as the Associate Principal Clarinetist of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Associate Principal in the Albany Symphony, and the Principal Clarinetist of Symphony in C. He is a former member of Ensemble Connect and studied with David Shifrin at Yale.

Daniel Kim ’22 BA is currently a first-year student at Yale University, originally from Skillman, New Jersey. In the past, Daniel has participated in NYO-USA and Orford Academy of Music. Daniel’s previous teachers include Gi Lee and Giovanni Bertoni.

YoungKyoung Lee ’18MM ’19MMA is a young percussionist who performs internationally as a soloist and chamber musician.

As an advocate of chamber music, Lee has performed as a member of the Yale Percussion Group. Lee completed her bachelor of music degree at the Peabody Conservatory and master of music degree at Yale School of Music. Lee is currently pursuing a master of musical arts degree at the Yale School of Music, where she studies with Robert van Sice.

Julie Asuma Levene ’97MM is an active performer and educator living in Connecticut.

She is a member of the Greater Bridgeport Symphony and the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, and has performed with touring shows at the Palace Theater in Waterbury and new musical productions at Goodspeed Opera House’s Terris Theater.

Ms. Levene is adjunct faculty at Sacred Heart University, Choate Rosemary Hall, and Neighborhood Music School in New Haven, where she teaches clarinet and coaches chamber ensembles.

Michael Moy ’19MM is a student of David Shifrin at Yale, and previously studied at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

While in Colorado, he was second clarinet in the Boulder Chamber Orchestra for two seasons and principal in the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra for one. He attended the Aspen Music Festival in 2014 and 2015 and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival in 2018. In 2017, he placed second in the International Clarinet Association Young Artist Competition.

Vincent Oneppo ’73MM earned his master of music degree at Yale, where he studied with Keith Wilson and later served in various administrative roles until his retirement in 2011. Comfortable in swing, jazz, and classical, he was a member of the New Haven and Bridgeport symphony orchestras, Orchestra New England, and the Bales-Gitlin Band, among others. He performed often as saxophonist with the Yale Philharmonia, and was clarinet soloist in several concerts of music from the Benny Goodman Archives.

Pavel Vinnitsky ’05MM currently performs with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

Previously he has been an associate clarinetist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and appeared as a guest clarinetist with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Chicago Symphony, among others. Mr. Vinnitsky is a clarinet and chamber music faculty member at NYU Steinhardt. He has been featured on Grammy-winning albums as well as numerous major motion picture soundtracks.

Christopher Zhou ’19BS is a senior in Yale College majoring in Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry. He was a member of the 2013 National Youth Orchestra of the USA under Valery Gergiev, and is currently principal clarinet of the Yale Symphony Orchestra, Keith L. Wilson Principal Clarinet of the Yale Concert Band, and winner of the 2018 Berkeley College Orchestra Concerto Competition. He will attend medical school next year, but plans to continue his musical endeavors.

Dennis Zhao ’19BS is a senior Computer Science & Mathematics major in Yale College.

He is principal clarinet of the Yale Symphony Orchestra and has also played principal clarinet with the Opera Theatre of Yale College. When not playing clarinet, Dennis is head librarian for the Yale Symphony Orchestra and also conducts research on graphical models and signal processing.

Program Notes introduction Graeme Steele Johnson Just as it has been said that Mozart invented the soul of the clarinet with his concerto and chamber music — realizing for the first time its lyrical, cantabile potential, its agility, and the vocal, operatic qualities inherent in the contrast between its registers — so, too, did his music for clarinet ensembles breathe life into the future genre of the clarinet choir. While still a far cry from the 27-piece clarinet assemblage that sprouted in Brussels 100 years after his death, Mozart’s works for three to five mixed members of the clarinet family seem to respond to the same homogeneity of timbre and extensive range that made the full-sized clarinet choir attractive in later centuries. Indeed, its uniform, reedy texture throughout its formidable range of up to six octaves has prompted some to point to the organ-like qualities of a fullrange clarinet choir, an association that Guido Six tests in his arrangement of Bach’s famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor that culminates this program.

The aforementioned Belgian band of clarinets was created in 1896 by Professor Gustave Poncelet at the Brussels Conservatory, and is generally considered the earliest true clarinet choir. It was after hearing Poncelet’s group — in an arrangement of none other than Mozart’s G minor symphony — that Richard Strauss was inspired to include the entire instrument family in his orchestras: he did so in his 1909 opera Elektra, which calls for eight players of various clarinets and its derivatives.

In the United States, New York Philharmonic Principal Clarinetist Simeon Bellison spearheaded the most significant clarinet choir of its time, growing the ensemble from its humble beginnings as a quartet of his students in 1927, to a 75-member, mixed gender choir by 1948. Sponsored by the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Bellison’s Clarinet Ensemble appears in New York Philharmonic’s program archives as early as 1931 for performances at Carnegie Hall and Town Hall, and received financial support from the orchestra for instrument commissions and member scholarships.

The Clarinet Ensemble’s repertoire consisted of works written specifically for it, supplemented by arrangements of music of the great composers done by Bellison himself.

One New York Philharmonic program from 1936 asserts that “the clarinet is the only wind instrument which can be assembled as an orchestral unit, owing to its colorful tone approximating the human voice, its technical flexibility and its long range.”

This program was designed to celebrate and affirm this tradition of the clarinet ensemble in a similar fashion to Bellison’s programming: from its inception in Mozart to its apotheosis in reimagined Bach, passing through an eclectic array of originals and adaptations in between.

All notes by Graeme Steele Johnson unless otherwise indicated Adagio in B-flat major mozart With a range laying between the clarinet and the longer, lower bass clarinet, the basset horn represents a sort of alto-voice cousin of the clarinet. Mozart came in contact with the instrument via his friend and dedicatee of most all of his clarinet works, Anton Stadler, beloved in Vienna for his clarinet and basset horn playing alike. Mozart discovered the lushness of the triple basset horn sonority in his five trio Divertimenti, but his addition here of two extra clarinets lends an unusual breadth to the instrumental texture, allowing solo voices to emerge as needed while enjoying the velvety carpet of the basset horn and clarinet mixture below. Understated, yet highly expressive, the Adagio relishes such delicious harmonic hallmarks of late Mozart as the striking clashes that result as suspensions rub against each other, or a deceptive resolution’s sweet tinge of cheeky melancholy.

Sonata for horn, trumpet, and trombone poulenc (adapted by David Shifrin) Written in 1922, revised in 1945 and reimagined for clarinet, basset horn and bass clarinet in 2018, Poulenc’s curious trio of brass instruments is his second extant chamber work, following, ironically, the Sonata for two clarinets. The opening movement, sarcastic, distractible and almost courtly, seems at first a half-serious pastiche of 18th century divertissement

styles: in Roger Nichols’ words, “Pergolesi with his wig awry.” A somber, apologetic midsection sows the motivic seeds for the second movement lullaby, which finds an even smokier hue in the softer and more homogenous blend of this clarinet family recasting. The rude interruption of the boisterous final movement is yet another reminder of Poulenc’s penetrating wit that has been on display for the whole piece, but the composer insisted that the trademark humor of French music did not signify a lack of substance. “Our composers, too, write profound music,” he said in 1950.

“But when they do, it is leavened with that lightness of spirit without which life would be unendurable.”

Czernowitzer Skizzen kukelka Nestled among the Carpathian Mountains that arc through Eastern Europe lies the wooded Bukovina region that dips into Romania and Ukraine. Once the capital of the region, the mystical city of Czernowitz (Chernivtsi) has long represented the cultural intersection of Eastern and Western Europe. Historically the home to such manifold ethnic minorities as the Jewish, Polish, Romanian and Ruthenian populations, Czernowitz incubated a robust intelligentsia that bore a vibrant cultural tradition in the form of music, theatre and literature (most notably, the poet Paul Celan).

Czernowitz housed about 50,000 Jews before World War II, a third of its population, and they indelibly colored the city’s cultural and institutional face. This influence is immediately evident in Kukelka’s

Program Notes, cont. klezmer-laden language in his “sketches,” interestingly composed for the same odd instrumentation that was the 1927 ancestor of Simeon Bellison’s clarinet choir: two clarinets, a basset horn and a bass clarinet.

Kukelka’s movements exhibit a counterintuitive energy that seems to contradict the devastation of the city’s loss of Jewish life due to deportation and ghettoization; in his own words, “As if coming from far away, one can perceive the faded sound of a culture, which in a tragicomic way does not want to take note of its collapse.”

rate of just 2.5 days per 30 days of service.

When I was asked to write this quartet, I thought about the stress and rigors of the life in the service and how it might have affected me as a young man... an average civilian who enjoyed a night out, a few beers and all the trouble I could find within reason. This piece is a programmatic depiction of what my first Three Day Pass might have been like as a 19-year-old Airman... left in New York City! From getting lost, to getting pickpocketed, to having a few too many drinks, to waking up in strange surroundings and finally scuffling my way back to the aircraft carrier.

Dizzy Fingers confrey (arr. Bill Holcombe) Delightfully dazzling and aptly titled, “Zez” Confrey’s 1923 hit “Dizzy Fingers” mostly speaks for itself. Confrey originally wrote the short piece for piano following the success of his solo, “Kitten on the Keys,” two years earlier. Both tunes represent fixtures of the novelty piano genre that succeeded ragtime as a consequence of the popularity of piano roll music in the 1910s.

Expeditionary Airmen (A Three Day Pass) scott Jeff Scott Expeditionary Airmen (A Three Day Pass) was commissioned by the USAF Band of the Golden West Clarinet Quartet in conjunction with The Air Mobility Command Unit in 2017. One of the rarities in the life of an active airmen or anyone in the armed services is to have a couple of days of “Leave” or “Pass.” They are normally accrued at a

blake “Memories of You” lodge “Temptation Rag” (arr. Vincent Oneppo, after Benny Goodman) Eubie Blake composed the sentimental ballad “Memories of You” in 1930 in collaboration with lyricist Andy Razaf, and Benny Goodman soon adapted the song for his famed sextet. Vincent Oneppo’s arrangement for clarinets of Goodman’s version seems especially fitting given the Yale backdrop that unites all three musicians and frames this program: Eubie Blake was one of the original group of Yale’s 30 Duke Ellington Fellows in 1972; Benny Goodman donated his extensive collection of arrangements, programs, photos and films to Yale in the 1980s; and Vincent Oneppo enjoyed a 30-year career at Yale, ultimately directing the School of Music’s Concert and Media Office. Oneppo repurposed Henry Lodge’s “Temptation Rag” via Benny Goodman in a similar fashion, but whereas “Memories” sways nostalgically, the angular rhythms

and minor mode of Lodge’s rag evoke the sort of sinister seduction of a femme fatale.

Monochrome III schickele Equally respected as a prolific American composer in his own right and as the clever musical satirist who invented the fictional composer P. D. Q. Bach (“history’s most justly neglected composer”), Peter Schickele penned a numbered series of Monochrome works, each written for a multiple number of a single instrument.

Third in the series of six, Schickele’s work for nine clarinets follows Monochrome I for eight flutes and Monochrome II for seven trombones. Monochrome III breaks down into two large sections, the first a cool jazz rondo, followed by another rondo based on a waltz theme.

New York Counterpoint reich Along with Terry Riley and Philip Glass, Steve Reich was a leading pioneer of the musical minimalism movement that flourished in America in the 1960s. Sometimes traced as far back as Beethoven or into such popular artists as The Who, minimalist music evolves very gradually through subtle variations, bounded by deliberately limited musical materials and often producing a trancelike effect. Written in 1985 for clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, the throbbing New York Counterpoint seeks to capture the constant hum of activity in Manhattan.

While the piece was actually intended to

be performed by one soloist accompanied by 10 pre-recorded parts, Reich has sanctioned this program’s ambitious live performance. This performance’s connection to the composer is further strengthened by the baton of flutist-conductor Ransom Wilson, for whom Reich wrote his earlier Vermont Counterpoint.

Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 villa-lobos (arr. Evan Solomon) Originally scored for soprano backed by eight cellos, Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 is the best known of its series of nine suites, in which Villa-Lobos sought to marry Baroque harmonic and contrapuntal procedures with folk and popular idioms of his native Brazil. Each number couples a movement with a “Bachian” title (Preludio, Fuga, etc.) with a Brazilian-titled movement to form a multi-movement suite, itself another Bach reference. This program extracts from No. 5 the Ária (Cantilena), which pairs in the suite with a Dança (Martelo), pitting long-breathed, floating melody against the “hammered” (martelo) persistence of the Brazilian embolada rhythm.

Libertango piazzolla (arr. Seunghee Lee) Piazzolla studied composition in Paris with the legendary Nadia Boulanger, teacher of many of the 20th century’s leading composers, including Copland, Milhaud, Carter, Glass, and many others. Embarrassed of his nonclassical background, Piazzolla tried in vain to conceal his penchant for vernacular

Program Notes, cont.

Argentinian music. After failing to impress Boulanger with his classical compositions and confessing his tango roots, Piazzolla reluctantly demonstrated a few bars of a tango of his own. He recalls in his memoir, “She suddenly opened her eyes, took my hand, and told me: ‘You idiot, that’s Piazzolla!’” Libertango, a portmanteau on the words “Libertad” and “Tango,” represents Piazzolla’s breakout from Classical Tango into Tango Nuevo, characterized by extended jazz harmonies, dissonance and counterpoint.

Toccata and Fugue in D minor bach (arr. Guido Six) Now considered the most famous work in the organ repertoire, Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor is surrounded by uncertainty regarding its date of composition, its first century of existence, and even its authorship, though most scholars are comfortable attributing it to Bach. The famous opening three statements make their way down the range to a growling pedal tone that becomes the foundation for a towering diminished seventh chord, spelled out one note at a time. The rhapsodic, improvisatory toccata that follows eventually gives way to an academic, fourvoice fugue that will take adventurous harmonic turns on its way to the final coda. Marked “Recitativo,” the final 17 bars see five tempo changes before the final “Molto Adagio” plagal resolution.

Yale School of Music Established in 1894, the Yale School of Music continues a position of international leadership in the training of performers, composers, and teachers. A professional graduate school and the only school of music in the Ivy League, the Yale School of Music maintains a highly selective admissions process, admitting approximately 200 students who come from the finest American and international conservatories and universities to study with a distinguished faculty. The School has one of the highest international profiles at Yale, engaging globally in cooperative partnerships with leading conservatories, schools, orchestras, and opera companies.

Alumni of the Yale School of Music hold major positions throughout the music world. In addition to performing with and conducting preeminent American and international orchestras, many graduates have founded or joined prominent chamber music ensembles. Voice alumni earn renown in professional opera companies, with over a dozen Yale graduates on the artist roster of the Metropolitan Opera. Yale composition alumni enjoy noted success with continual premieres of new music.

Along with artistic accomplishment, Yale School of Music graduates provide strong leadership in guiding the course of numerous academic and cultural institutions.

The Yale School of Music awards the doctor of musical arts, master of musical arts, and master of music degrees, as well as the artist diploma and the certificate in performance. music.yale.edu

yale school of music staff Robert Blocker, Dean Melvin Chen, Deputy Dean Michael Yaffe, Associate Dean Krista Johnson, Manager of Concert Programs Graeme Steele Johnson, Project Coordinator, Music for Clarinets Kate Gonzales, Concert Office Coordinator Winona van Alstyne, Assistant Concert Office Coordinator Matthew LeFevre, Recording Engineer Mackenzie A. Dilbeck, Director of Communications Katie Kelley, Designer Manager David Brensilver, Communications Officer Travis Wurges, Video Producer Tara Deming, Operations Manager Chris Melillo, Operations Associate Manager Patty Torello, Business Manager Charles Stupekevich, Financial Analyst Elizabeth Wilford, Business Office Assistant

special thanks Graeme Steele Johnson Seunghee Lee

Upcoming Events Yale in New York Mar 29

Upcoming Events Yale School of Music

Music for Guitars Yale in New York 7:30 pm | Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall | Tickets $25 carnegiehall.org

Faculty guitarist Benjamin Verdery leads students from the YSM guitar studio in a celebration of the instrument and the guitar-ensemble tradition. With faculty conductor Thomas C. Duffy, and René Izquierdo ’99mm ’01AD. Bach: Allegro from trio sonata BWV 529 Bernstein: Clarinet sonata (world premiere for string quartet and guitar, arr. Verdery) Hindemith: Rondo for Three Guitars Mudarra: Two fantasies Schubert: Songs from Die schöne Müllerin Terry Riley: Y Bolanzero Works by Kathryn Alexander, Martin Bresnick, Bryce Dessner, Ezra Laderman, Lisa Moore, Randall Myers, Christopher Theofanidis, and Jack Vees With guitarists Aaron Cardenas, Drake Duffer, Roberto Granados, Satchel Henneman, Nate Huvard, Xioabo Pu, Tyler Rhodes, and Nicoletta Todesco

feb 15 Eugene Onegin feb 16 Yale Opera feb 17 Yale Opera presents a new production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin with the Yale Philharmonia.

fri & sat 8 pm | sun 2 pm

Shubert Theatre Tickets start at $19 • shubert.com feb 22 Philharmonia in Sprague Yale Philharmonia

Music by Kodály, Mozart, and

Dvořák, with pianist Llewellyn

Sanchez-Werner ’20AD. 7:30 pm | Morse Recital Hall Tickets start at $12, Yale faculty/ staff $8, students $5 feb 26 Jordi Savall and members of Le Concert des Nations

Oneppo Chamber Music Series

Music from the film Tous les

Matins du Monde.

7:30 pm | Morse Recital Hall Tickets start at $28, students $13 Mar 28 Preview Concert:

Music for Guitars

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