The 2018 Subscription Series
Concerts feature world-class musicians in intimate settings.
If you would like to order tickets, please contact the Box Office at 207-373-1400.
June 25: Escher String Quartet
The summer opens with the Escher String Quartet’s Festival début. They begin with the only complete movement of Schubert’s mysteriously unfinished twelfth string quartet before exploring the early work of Arnold Schoenberg. Composed over a decade before the composer’s experiments with twelve tones, Schoenberg’s first Quartet features a densely woven motivic texture, stretching the limits of ‘D Minor’ and tonal expression. For the second half, the quartet joins forces with Alan Chow for Dvořák’s glorious Piano Quintet, setting the stage for several more programs featuring Dvořák’s music this season.
Escher String Quartet
Adam Barnett-Hart, Danbi Um, violin • Pierre Lapointe, viola • Brook Speltz, cello
FRANZ SCHUBERT
Quartettsatz No. 12 in C Minor, D. 703
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG
String Quartet No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 7
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK
Piano Quintet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 81
Alan Chow, piano
June 27: Brahms, Smit, & Beethoven
Amid favorites from Brahms and Beethoven, this evening’s concert also features the work of Leo Smit, the Amsterdam-born composer whose musical language matured in the Parisian milieu of Stravinsky and Milhaud. His Quintet was one of several pieces composed for Dutch virtuoso harpist Rosa Spier before both were captured by the Nazis during World War II. Spier was eventually released from Theresienstadt; Smit was murdered at Sobibór at the age of 43.
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Violin Sonata No. 2 in A Major, Op. 100
Robin Scott, violin • Elinor Freer, piano
LEO SMIT
Quintet for Flute, String Trio, and Harp
Linda Chesis, flute • Janet Ying, violin • Carol Rodland, viola • Jeffrey Zeigler, cello • June Han, harp
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Piano Trio No. 5 in D Major, Op. 70, No. 1 “Ghost”
Ani Schnarch, violin • Jeffrey Zeigler, cello • Tao Lin, piano
June 29: Shankar, Respighi, & Brahms
Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar, who devoted much of his career to spreading Hindustani classical music around the world, was nothing if not musically versatile, collaborating with Philip Glass, Yehudi Menuhin, and of course, George Harrison. Shankar continues to bring musical cultures into contact in his ‘Enchanted Dawn’, which opens this evening’s program. Then, a chance to hear the Violin Sonata of Respighi, himself an accomplished violinist, a piece which culminates in an energetic passacaglia and sets the scene for Brahms’s final piano trio.
RAVI SHANKAR
L’Aube Enchantée sur le Raga “Todi”
Laura del Sol Jiménez, flute • June Han, harp
OTTORINO RESPIGHI
Violin Sonata in B Minor
Almita Vamos, violin • Eugenia Monacelli, piano
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Piano Trio No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 101
David Bowlin, violin • Amir Eldan, cello • Pei-Shan Lee, piano
July 2: Ying Quartet
Opening their program with one of Mendelssohn’s early quartets, the ensemble then travels to Italy. First, they bring to life one of Puccini’s rare chamber music gems: better known for his contributions to the Italian stage, Puccini wrote the elegiac Crisantemi (Chrysanthemums) in response to the death of his friend, the Duke of Savoy. Then, Hugo Wolf, a composer famed for his song settings, creates an Italian melody for quartet in his exquisite Serenade. After the intermission, bassist Kurt Muroki joins the party for Dvořák’s String Quintet, dedicated “to my nation”.
Ying Quartet
Robin Scott, Janet Ying, violin • Phillip Ying, viola • David Ying, cello
FELIX MENDELSSOHN
String Quartet No. 1 in E-flat Major, Op. 12
GIACOMO PUCCINI
Crisantemi
HUGO WOLF
Italian Serenade
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK
String Quintet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 77
Kurt Muroki, bass
July 4: Mozart, Harbison, & Ravel
Mozart took easily to violin sonatas, composing his first at the age of six and returning to the form throughout his life. Things were slightly different for Pulitzer Prize–winning composer John Harbison (on faculty this summer), who was in his seventies when he composed his first Sonata for Violin and Piano, which features ‘Sinfonia’ and ‘Aria’ among its five interwoven movements. After the intermission, Ravel taps into his own Basque roots in his incandescent Piano Trio.
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
Violin Sonata No. 32 in B-flat Major, K. 454
Masumi Per Rostad, viola • Sonia Rostad, piano
JOHN HARBISON
Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano
Ayano Ninomiya, violin • Tao Lin, piano
MAURICE RAVEL
Piano Trio in A Minor
David Bowlin, violin • Ahrim Kim, cello • Alan Chow, piano
July 6: Narek Hakhnazaryan plays Tchaikovsky
This evening’s program opens with one of Brahms’s proudest dispatches from the Austrian countryside where he enjoyed creative summertime retreats. Then, composer-in-residence John Harbison transports us from the New England sun to the oppressively dark expanse of a Wisconsin winter for Snow Country, featuring the oboe against an earthy backdrop of string textures. To conclude the concert with the first orchestral performance this season, we welcome Armenian-born and internationally renowned cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan for his Festival début, playing Tchaikovsky’s concerto-like Rococo Variations.
JOHANNES BRAHMS
String Quintet No. 1 in F Major, Op. 88
David Bowlin, Janet Ying, violin • Carol Rodland, Masumi Per Rostad, viola • Julia Lichten, cello
JOHN HARBISON
Snow Country
James Austin Smith, oboe • Robin Scott, Janet Ying, violin • Carol Rodland, viola • Julia Lichten, cello • Joe Wandro, bass
PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33
Narek Hakhnazaryan, cello • Angel Gil-Ordóñez, conductor • Festival Orchestra
July 8: Sō Percussion
With innovative multi-genre original productions, sensational interpretations of modern classics, and an “exhilarating blend of precision and anarchy, rigor and bedlam” (The New Yorker), Sō Percussion has redefined the scope and vital role of the modern percussion ensemble. Sō’s repertoire ranges from “classics” of the 20th century, to commissioning and advocating works by contemporary composers, to distinctively modern collaborations with artists who work outside the classical concert hall. Sō Percussion also composes and performs their own works, ranging from standard concert pieces to immersive multi-genre programs. In these concert-length programs, Sō Percussion employs a distinctively 21st century synthesis of original music, artistic collaboration, theatrical production values and visual art, into a powerful exploration of their own unique and personal creative experiences.
Sō Percussion
Eric Cha-Beach, Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, Jason Treuting, percussion
VIJAY IYER
New Work
CAROLINE SHAW
Taxidermy
DONNACHA DENNEHY
Broken Unison
JASON TREUTING
Amid the Noise
July 9: Turtle Island Quartet
In this program, two-time GRAMMY winning Turtle Island Quartet pays homage to the brilliance of jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker. Classics such as A Night in Tunisia and Dewey Square are juxtaposed with original responses by quartet members, and intertwined with other thematic pieces from the bebop era and beyond such as Sonny Rollins’ Airegin, Miles Ahead by Gil Evans/Miles Davis, and Subconscious-Lee by Lee Konitz. Grammy-nominated composer David Balakrishnan contributes his newly commissioned work, Aeroelasticity: Harmonies of Impermanence.
Turtle Island Quartet
David Balakrishnan, Alex Hargreaves, violin • Benjamin von Gutzeit, viola • Malcolm Parson, cello
Bird’s Eye View: The Legend of Charlie Parker
July 11: Haydn & Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time represents a triumph of faith and creativity in the face of an uncertain future. When Messiaen, conscripted in the French army during World War II, was captured by the German forces and sent to the Stalag 8A prisoner-of-war camp outside Görlitz, he stowed a precious folder of beloved sketches close to his chest. These cherished materials, strung together with phrases from the Book of Revelation, inspired his masterpiece, which he and his fellow prisoners managed to premiere while in captivity.
JOSEPH HAYDN
Piano Trio in C Major Hob XV:27
Julian Martin, piano • Robin Scott, violin • Julia Lichten, cello
OLIVIER MESSIAEN
Quatuor pour la fin du temps
Ayano Ninomiya, violin • Amir Eldan, cello • Derek Bermel, clarinet • Pei-Shan Lee, piano
July 13: Rota, Mozart, & Dohnányi
Nino Rota is acclaimed in his native Italy for his prolific career in film, composing the scores to over a hundred films, including such classics as Fellini’s La Dolce Vita and Visconti’s Il Gattopardo. Here we explore his Trio, alternating toccata-like intensity with taut lyricism. Then, following Mozart’s duo sonata, the Ying Quartet with pianist Tao Lin perform Dohnányi’s splendid Quintet, ending the program with its rousing Finale in five-four time.
NINO ROTA
Trio for Flute, Violin, and Piano
Susan Kang, flute • David Bowlin, violin • Alan Chow, piano
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
Sonata for Piano Four-Hands in F Major, K. 497
Elinor Freer, Pei-Shan Lee, piano
ERNO DOHNÁNYI
Piano Quintet No. 1, Op.1
Ying Quartet • Tao Lin, piano
July 16: Brentano String Quartet
The Brentano String Quartet returns to the Festival for the first time since 2014. The first half of their program spans the breadth of the string quartet genre: from Haydn’s Op. 20 that defined the form and solidified him as the ‘father of the string quartet’, to a late work from one of the most prolific quartet composers of the twentieth century, Shostakovich. In the second half, Phillip Ying joins their ranks to perform Mendelssohn’s mature String Quintet.
Brentano String Quartet
Mark Steinberg, Serena Canin, violin • Misha Amory, viola • Nina Lee, cello
JOSEPH HAYDN
String Quartet in C Major, Op. 20, No. 2
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
String Quartet No. 12 in D-flat Major, Op. 133
FELIX MENDELSSOHN
String Quintet No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 87
Phillip Ying, viola
July 18: Beethoven, Bermel, & Dvořák
Mozart receives Beethoven’s treatment in the variations that open this evening’s concert, inspired by Papageno’s charming aria from the ever-popular Magic Flute. Those are followed by another set of variations, on a hymnlike theme, in Derek Bermel’s Turning. Bermel returns for his ninth season as composer-in-residence at the Festival. In the second half, Dvořák’s Quintet composed in Spillville, Iowa.
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
12 Variations on ‘Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen’, Op. 66
Steven Doane, cello • Elinor Freer, piano
DEREK BERMEL
Turning
Kevin Ahfat, piano
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK
String Quintet No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 97
Itamar Zorman, Robin Scott, violin • Liz Freivogel, Ivo-Jan van der Werff, viola • David Ying, cello
July 20: Rachmaninoff, Say, & Brahms
This evening presents piano trios of two renowned pianist-composers. Rachmaninoff composed his first Trio élégiaque at the age of nineteen. Though still a student in Moscow, this early work features the lush harmonies and flashes of pianistic virtuosity for which Rachmaninoff would become famous. Its lugubrious conclusion is followed by the celestial trio of Turkish-born virtuoso Fazil Say, written the year after Felix Baumgartner took his record-breaking skydive from the stratosphere. The concert finishes with Brahms’s magisterial first Piano Quartet, complete with its irrepressibly crowd-pleasing Finale ‘alla zingarese’.
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF
Trio élégiaque No. 1 in G Minor
Sergiu Schwartz, violin • David Ying, cello • Tao Lin, piano
FAZIL SAY
Space Jump, Op. 46
Itamar Zorman, violin • Ahrim Kim, cello • Elinor Freer, piano
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Piano Quartet No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25
Janet Sung, violin • Kirsten Docter, viola • Paul Katz, cello • Yong Hi Moon, piano
July 23: Jupiter & Ying Quartets
We happily welcome the Jupiter String Quartet back to the Festival, joining the Ying Quartet for this double-feature. The opening viola quintet is Mozart’s transcription of an earlier Serenade for winds; the string arrangement brings rich depth to this introspective work. Next, we’ll hear the sextet which opens Strauss’s final opera, Capriccio, frequently performed as a standalone concert work. Finally, no double-quartet program would be complete without young Mendelssohn’s Octet, allowing each performer to relish exuberant musical conversation and virtuosic counterpoint.
Jupiter String Quartet
Nelson Lee, Meg Freivogel, violin • Liz Freivogel, viola • Daniel McDonough, cello
Ying Quartet
Robin Scott, Janet Ying, violin • Phillip Ying, viola • David Ying, cello
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
String Quintet No. 2 in C Minor, K. 406
RICHARD STRAUSS
String Sextet from “Capriccio”
FELIX MENDELSSOHN
Octet in E-flat Major, Op. 20
July 25: Ravel, Mazzoli, & Shostakovich
Death Valley Junction, CA: Population, 3; Amenities: a café, a hotel, and the still-active Amargosa Opera House. Guest composer Missy Mazzoli’s duo is dedicated to Marta Beckett (1924-2017), the actress who kept the Amargosa up and running as long as she lived. Mazzoli’s quartet is paired with Ravel’s duo Sonata, dedicated to the memory of Debussy whose death had recently shaken the musical world of France. The second half journeys through Shostakovich’s Trio, a work of extremes composed in the midst of midst of World War II.
MAURICE RAVEL
Sonata for Violin and Cello
Robin Scott, violin • Ahrim Kim, cello
MISSY MAZZOLI
Death Valley Junction
Ivalas Quartet
Anita Dumar, Reuben Kebede, violin • Caleb Georges, viola • Pedro Sánchez, cello
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
Piano Trio No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 67
Mikhail Kopelman, violin • Steven Doane, cello • Pei-Shan Lee, piano
July 27: Jongen, Mazzoli, & Dvořák
A beguiling gem by Belgian composer Joseph Jongen opens this concert. Known principally for his contributions to organ repertoire, Jongen assimilated a range of European inspirations, studying briefly with Richard Strauss in Berlin, mingling with Fauré and d’Indy in Paris, and sojourning in Italy and England before settling as director of the conservatory in Brussels. Musical forces increase for Mazzoli’s cascading melodies in her Still Life with Avalanche, inspired by the death of a beloved cousin. Strings take over the second half of the program, performing Dvořák’s breakthrough Sextet, a composition which helped spread his fame across Europe.
JOSEPH JONGEN
Pieces en trio for Flute, Cello and Harp, Op. 80
Linda Chesis, flute • Keiko Ying, cello • June Han, harp
MISSY MAZZOLI
Still Life with Avalanche
Linda Chesis, flute • Tyler Hsieh, clarinet • Kate Dreyfuss, violin • Jennifer Carpenter, cello • Peter Basquin, piano • Luke Rinderknecht, percussion
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK
String Sextet in A Major, Op. 48
Mikhail Kopelman, Renee Jolles, violin • Liz Freivogel, Kirsten Docter, viola • Daniel McDonough, Keiko Ying, cello
July 29: Peter Serkin
It is with great excitement that we welcome Peter Serkin to the Festival this summer. One of the most accomplished pianists alive today, Serkin has performed recitals across the world and collaborates frequently with premier orchestras, including recently the Boston, Chicago, American, Sydney and St. Louis Symphonies, New York Philharmonic and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Known for a career of ambitious commitment to new music, Serkin brings a classical palette to the Festival, exploring Mozart’s keyboard sonatas and Schumann’s woodland scenes.
Peter Serkin, piano
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
Adagio in B Minor, K.540
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
Piano Sonata No. 17 in B-flat Major, K. 570
ROBERT SCHUMANN
Waldszenen, Op. 82
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
Piano Sonata No. 8 in A Minor, K. 310
July 30: Jupiter String Quartet
The centerpiece of the Jupiter String Quartet’s program is a new work by Canadian composer Kati Agócs, recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a lifetime achievement award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The new work is framed by two canonical quartets that each stretched the genre in their own ways. Beethoven deconstructs the classical four-movement form, opting instead for a radically integrated work, motivically dense and contrapuntal. Debussy, on the other hand, preserves a more traditional structure for his only string quartet, exploring new textural and harmonic frontiers.
Jupiter String Quartet
Nelson Lee, Meg Freivogel, violin • Liz Freivogel, viola • Daniel McDonough, cello
CLAUDE DEBUSSY
String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 10
KATI AGÓCS
New Work TBA
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 131
August 1: Debussy, Schoenfield, & Strauss
Tonight’s concert spans a vast emotional range, from the protean levity of Schoenfield’s Café Music to Strauss’s intensely poignant Metamorphosen. Composed as World War II was drawing to a close in Germany, Metamorphosen is performed this evening in its original scoring for string septet. To set the tone for it all is the bucolic pastorale which opens Debussy’s late Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp, one of a set of sonatas Debussy was composing at the time of his death.
CLAUDE DEBUSSY
Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp
Julie Lee, flute • Kirsten Docter, viola • June Han, harp
PAUL SCHOENFIELD
Café Music
Janet Sung, violin • Ahrim Kim, cello • Tao Lin, piano
RICHARD STRAUSS
Metamorphosen
Renee Jolles, Meg Freivogel, violin • Kirsten Docter, Ivo-Jan van der Werff, viola • Steven Doane, Keiko Ying, cello • Kurt Muroki, bass
August 3: Itamar Zorman plays Dvořák
We finish the season with characteristic panache, welcoming Itamar Zorman to the stage alongside the full Festival orchestra. Zorman, winner of the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition and recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant, performs Dvořák’s String Sextet earlier this season (July 18). Now he brings his touch to Dvořák’s innovative Violin Concerto, composed just as Dvořák was beginning to explore integrating traditional Slavonic music into his own work. The exhilarating Finale will send us dancing off in Czech style until next summer!
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
String Quintet No. 5 in D Major, K. 593
Robin Scott, Janet Sung, violin • Kirsten Docter, Phillip Ying, viola • Daniel McDonough, cello
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in A Minor, Op. 53
Itamar Zorman, violin • Angel Gil-Ordóñez, conductor • Festival Orchestra