Robert Blocker, Dean
faculty artist series
A 75 th Birthday Celebration for Boris Berman, piano
with Ettore Causa, viola & Paul Watkins, cello
Johannes Brahms 1833–1897
Sonata No. 1 in E minor for cello and piano, Op. 38
I. Allegro non troppo
II. Allegretto quasi menuetto
III. Allegro
Sonata in E-flat major for viola and piano, Op. 120, No. 2
I. Allegro amabile
II. Allegro appassionato
III. Andante con moto – Allegro
intermission
Three Intermezzos for piano, Op. 117
I. Andante moderato
II. Andante non troppo e con molto espressione
III. Andante con moto
Trio in A minor for viola, cello, and piano, Op. 114
I. Allegro
II. Adagio
III. Andantino grazioso
IV. Allegro
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.
Artist Profiles
Boris Berman, piano
A performer well-known to audiences in fifty countries on six continents, Boris Berman regularly appears with orchestras, on recital series, and at festivals around the world. He studied at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory with distinguished pianist Lev Oborin.
An active recording artist and Grammy Award nominee, Berman was the first pianist to record Prokofiev’s complete solo piano works. Some of Berman’s other acclaimed recordings include all of Scriabin’s piano sonatas and a performance of piano works by Shostakovich that received the Edison Classic Award (the Dutch equivalent of the Grammy). His double CD of Debussy Preludes and other works on Palais des Degustateurs label has received the Choc mark from the French Classica. His new double CD of Brahms Piano Pieces has just been released by the same label.
At the Yale School of Music, Berman teaches a studio of graduate students, coaches chamber groups, and heads the Piano Department. He is the Artistic Director of the School’s Horowitz Piano Series and frequently gives solo and collaborative performances as part of that series and others. Berman regularly performs and coaches at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival/Yale Summer School of Music, teaches master classes throughout the world, and adjudicates national and international competitions.
Berman has authored two books published by the Yale University Press: Prokofiev’s
Piano Sonatas: A Guide for the Listener and the Performer (2008) and Notes from the Pianist’s Bench (2000; the new, electronically enhanced edition 2017). These books were translated into several languages. He is also the editor of the critical edition of Prokofiev’s piano sonatas (Shanghai Music Publishing House, 2011).
Ettore Causa, viola
Awarded both the “P. Schidlof Prize” and the “J. Barbirolli Prize” for “the most beautiful sound” at the prestigious Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition in 2000, Italian-born violist Ettore Causa has been praised for his exceptional artistry, passionate intelligence and complete musicianship. He has made solo and recital appearances in major venues around the world, and has performed at prestigious festivals. A devoted chamber musician, Causa has collaborated extensively with internationally renowned musicians.
At the Yale School of Music, Causa teaches graduate-level viola students and coaches chamber ensembles. He has performed on the School’s Faculty Artist Series and Oneppo Chamber Music Series and at the Yale Summer School of Music/Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. Before Causa joined the faculty of the School of Music in 2009, he taught both viola and chamber music at the International Menuhin Music Academy. He attended the International Menuhin Music Academy, where he studied with Alberto Lysy and Johannes Eskar, and the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Michael Tree.
Causa has published many highly-regarded CDs on the Claves label. One notable recording is Romantic Transcriptions for Viola and Piano, on which he performs his own transcriptions, which was awarded a prestigious “5 Diapasons” by the French magazine Diapason.
In 2015, he was one of the honored guests at the 43rd International Viola Congress, where he performed his own arrangement of the Schumann Cello Concerto. Causa is an honorary member of British Viola Society and he performs on a viola made for him by Frederic Chaudière in 2003.
Paul Watkins, cello
Acclaimed for his inspirational performances and eloquent musicianship, cellist Paul Watkins enjoys a distinguished career as a concerto soloist, chamber musician, and conductor. Appointed Principal Cellist of the BBC Symphony Orchestra at age 20, he performs regularly as a concerto soloist with major orchestras throughout the world, including eight concerto appearances at the BBC Proms. A dedicated chamber musician, Watkins was a member of the Nash Ensemble from 1997 to 2013 and joined the Emerson String Quartet in May 2013. In 2014, he was appointed Artistic Director of the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival in Detroit. Watkins also maintains a busy career as a conductor and, since winning the 2002 Leeds Conducting Competition, has conducted all the major British orchestras and many others in the USA, Europe, Australia, and Japan. Watkins has made over 70 recordings, including 18 solo
albums for Chandos, as well as chamber music discs for Decca Gold, Deustche Grammophon, and Hyperion.
At the Yale School of Music, Watkins teaches a studio of graduate-level cellists, coaches chamber ensembles, and directs the Yale Cellos with Assistant Professor Adjunct of Cello Ole Akahoshi. He has been featured in performance many times at Yale as a member of the Emerson String Quartet.
Born in 1970, Watkins studied cello with William Pleeth, Melissa Phelps, and Johannes Goritzki. He plays on an instrument made by Domenico Montagnana and Matteo Goffriller in Venice, circa 1730.
Upcoming Events at YSM
apr 5
Lunchtime Chamber Music
12:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall
Free admission
apr 6 Peter Oundjian, principal conductor & Augustin Hadelich, violin
Yale Philharmonia
7:30 p.m. | Woolsey Hall
Tickets start at $12, Yale faculty/staff start at $8, Students free*
apr 19 Lunchtime Chamber Music
12:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall
Free admission
apr 20 Martin Bresnick & Christopher Theofanidis, faculty composers
New Music New Haven
7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall
Free admission
apr 26
Lunchtime Chamber Music
12:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall
Free admission
May Rossini’s Le Comte Ory
5 & 7 Yale Opera
Fri 7:30 pm & Sun 2 pm | Morse Recital Hall
Tickets start at $12, Students start at $5
may 6 Peter Oundjian, principal conductor & Anna Lee, violin
Yale Philharmonia
7:30 p.m. | Woolsey Hall
Tickets start at $12, Yale faculty/staff start at $8, Students free*
yale school of music box office
Sprague Memorial Hall, 470 College Street New Haven, CT 06511
203 432–4158 | music-tickets.yale.edu
Connect with us @yalemusic yale.music YaleSchoolofMusicOfficial
yalemusic
If you do not intend to save your program, please recycle it in the baskets at the exit doors.
