"City Without Jews" at Baruch PAC: Get Classical (preview)
Cassatt String Quartet: Boston Music Intelligencer (Review)
'Manuscripts Don't Burn' in LA and NYC
Pianist Inna Faliks highlights new album and book in performances in LA and NYC
May 19: BroadStage (Santa Monica, CA) &
May 23: National Sawdust (Brooklyn, NY)
Recitals feature works written for Faliks by Clarice Assad, Maya Miro Johnson, and more
Pianist Inna Faliks highlights her forthcoming album Manuscripts Don't Burn (rel. May 17, 2024, Sono Luminus) and her new book with recitals in Southern California and New York City. On May 19 at 2 pm, she performs at the BroadStage in Santa Monica, CA and on May 23 at 7:30 pm she performs at National Sawdust in Brooklyn. Tickets and program details below.
The program features many works featured on the new album, including the premiere of Mike Garson's "Psalm for Odesa" (written in tribute to the Ukrainian city in which she was raised), and works written for the pianist by Ljova, Veronika Krausas, and Maya Miro Johnson. Other program highlights include Beethoven's "Eroica" Variations alongside works by Rodoin Shchedrin, Chopin, Paganini, and Bach.
The forthcoming album Mansucripts Don't Burn features five world premiere recordings alongside works by Schubert, Fanny Mendelssohn, and Fazil Say. Several of the selections on the album relate to a seminal novel of art censorship - Mikhail Bulgakov's "Master and Margarita"; and others speak to the pianists' homeland of Ukraine and her Jewish heritage.
"I consider this very personal recording to be something of a mirror image to my memoir, as it intertwines the literal images from "Master and Margarita" with more autobiographical themes and layers," says the pianist who first read the book as a child growing up in Soviet Ukraine. "I took it with me when my parents and I immigrated to the U.S. Throughout the years, the book played a role in my life. My childhood best friend from Odesa reread the book in adulthood and decided to find me - we are now together for 20 years, with two kids."
The recitals also feature Inna Faliks reading excerpts from her recently published memoir The Weight in the Fingertips: A Musical Odyssey from Soviet Ukraine to the World Stage (Backbeat Books, October 2023). The memoir has been widely praised, most recently in the LA Review of Books. Anne Midgette (formerly of The Washington Post) writes "There are a lot of musician's memoirs out there; this one, about a piano prodigy turned professional, is a standout. Highly recommended."
Pianist Inna Faliks
Manuscripts Don't Burn in recital
MAY 19, 2024 at 2 PM
BroadStage (1310 11th St., Santa Monica, CA)
Tickets start at $30 and are available at BroadStage.org
MAY 23, 2024 at 7:30 PM
National Sawdust (8 North 6th St, Brooklyn, NY)
Tickets are $25 and are available at NationalSawdust.org
PROGRAM
Ljova Zhurbin: Sirota for piano and historical recording*
Mike Garson: Psalm for Odessa (world premiere)*
J.S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in G-sharp minor, Book 1
Rodion Shchedrin: Basso Ostinato
Veronika Krausas: Have You Stopped Loving Me?*
Veronika Krausas: 14th on the Month of Nisan*
Maya Miro Johnson: Manuscripts Don't Burn*
Frederic Chopin: Polonaise-Fantasie
L.V. Beethoven: "Eroica" Variations and Fugue on an Original Theme
Paganini (arr. Liszt): La Campanella
*written for Inna Faliks
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
“Adventurous and passionate” (The New Yorker) Ukrainian-born American pianist Inna Faliks has made a name for herself through her commanding performances of standard piano repertoire, as well genre-bending interdisciplinary projects, and inquisitive work with contemporary composers. After her acclaimed teenage debuts at the Gilmore Festival and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, she has performed on many of the world’s great stages in recital and with many major orchestras, performing with conductors Leonard Slatkin, Keith Lockhart and many others.
Ms. Faliks collaborates with and premieres music by some of today’s most significant composers, including Billy Childs, Richard Danielpour, Timo Andres and Clarice Assad. She is known for her poetry-music series Music/Words, and has worked with a number of prominent poets. She regularly tours her monologue-recital Polonaise-Fantasie, the Story of a Pianist, which tells the story of her immigration to the United States from Odessa (recorded on Delos). Her discography includes Manuscripts Don't Burn (Sono Luminus, May 2024), which consists of world premiere recordings alongside 19th and 20th century works. Also in her catalogue: Reimagine: Beethoven and Ravel (Navona), and all-Beethoven and Rachmaninoff/Ravel/Pasternak discs on MSR Classics.
In addition to her other impressive accomplishments, she is is head of Piano Studies at UCLA and is a critically acclaimed writer. Her memoir, Weight in the Fingertips (Backbeat Books) was published in October 2023, and her articles and essays have appeared in Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post. Inna Faliks is a Yamaha Artist.
May 31: Sylvan Winds @ 45 at Merkin
Sylvan Winds celebrates 45th anniversary season on May 31 at Merkin Hall
"Mighty Winds" program features music by Richard Strauss, Mozart, and Elizabeth Brown
On May 31, 2024 at 7 pm the Sylvan Winds, hailed by the New York Times for their "adventuresome programming and stylishness of performance," celebrates their 45th anniversary season at Kaufman Music Center's Merkin Hall (129 W 67th St., Manhattan). A ticketed reception will follow the concert. Details here.
The program features larger works for winds, including Mozart's Serenade in C minor for 8 players, and Richard Strauss's Suite in Bb Major for 13 players, alongside a contemporary work by Elizabeth Brown. The current members of the ensemble (Svjetlana Kabalin, flute; Kathy Halvorson, oboe; Nuno Antunes, clarinet; Gina Cuffari, bassoon; and Zohar Schondorf, horn) will be joined by former members and guest artists for this special performance.
Brown's "Pentalogue" was written for the quintet in 2021 in the shadow of the Black Lives Matter protests and COVID-19 pandemic. "I was trying to write something with beauty and hope, but the five movements contain all my anxiety about breath. Maybe that’s why three dark musical quotes insinuated themselves into my subconscious so many times that I gave up trying to get rid of them," says Brown. The work quotes from a Bach cantata, a Mahler symphony, and "Three Blind Mice."
Over 45 years ago, flutist Svjetlana Kabalin joined forces with her colleagues to form what would become one of the most long-lived wind quintets in the country. Since then, the Sylvan Winds have performed under the auspices of Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival, Caramoor International Music Festival, and venues across the globe. They have recorded for Koch Classics, CRI/New World, North/South, and Albany record labels, enjoyed collaborations with such distinguished artists as Gerard Schwarz, Ransom Wilson and the Guarneri String Quartet, and commissioned dozens of works.
Calendar Listing
Friday, May 31 at 7 pm
Mighty Winds
Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Music Music Center
129 W 67 St, New York, NY
Tickets are $30 general admission
(Premium seating: $45; Seniors/Students: $25; Children $15)
Sylvan Winds
Svjetlana Kabalin, flute; Kathy Halvorson, oboe; Nuno Antunes, clarinet;
Gina Cuffari, bassoon; Zohar Schondorf, horn
Program to include:
Elizabeth Brown: Pentalogue
W.A. Mozart: Serenade in C minor, K.388
Richard Strauss: Suite Bb Major, Op. 4
Program subject to change, additional works TBA
These concerts are made possible, in part, with funding from the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council
New album from Inna Faliks: "Manuscripts Don't Burn"
Pianist Inna Faliks releases new recording on May 17: Manuscripts Don't Burn
Features works written for Faliks by Clarice Assad, Ljova Zhurbin, Veronika Krausas, Maya Miro Johnson, and Mike Garson
Plus music by Fanny Mendelssohn, Fazil Say, and Schubert
Album is companion piece to Faliks' memoir Weight in the Fingertips (Backbeat Books, 2023)
"Inna Faliks is a superb concert pianist" – Berkshire Fine Arts
The pianist Inna Faliks’ new album, Manuscripts Don’t Burn, is released on May 17, 2024 on Sono Luminus. “It is my most personal album yet, with five premieres written for me in celebration of my favorite book, Mikhail Bulgakov's Master and Margarita, my Ukrainian-Jewish heritage, my hometown of Odesa, and so much more,” says Faliks. "This collection of music speaks to my love of dialogue between music and words. The connections between text and sound here are not just literal but emotional, based on memory, intuition, dreams and hopes."
Master and Margarita is a seminal Russian novel of art censorship and dictatorship. Several of the works on the album are directly related to this book: Maya Miro Johnson's theatrical and extended techniques-filled "Manuscripts Don't Burn" (the phrase is a crucial line in the book) and the elegant, understated "Master and Margarita Suite" by Veronika Krausas. Clarice Assad's "Godai" for speaking pianist features a poem by Steve Schroeder depicting the same imagery of the "manuscripts don't burn" line. The lieder of Schubert transcribed for solo piano by Liszt alludes to the mythical and Faustian lore that is also in Master and Margarita: "Gretchen [Margarita] at the Spinning Wheel," a mystical love story "By the Sea," a monstrous Elf King and the death of a child in "Erlkonig." The rarely heard "Notturno" by Fanny Mendelssohn* connects to the story through the dark, impassioned character of Margarita.
The other works tie into the pianist's experiences and memories growing up Jewish in Ukraine. Fasil Say's "Black Earth"* takes the listener on a journey from Odesa across the Black Sea, while Mike Garson's "Psalm to Odesa" pulls from a well-known Odesan song and features improvisatory elements. "Voices" by Ljova Zhurbin features historical recordings of Jewish cantorial and klezmer music alongside Faliks' piano.
The recording is a mirror image to Faliks's newly-published memoir, The Weight in the Fingertips: A Musical Odyssey from Soviet Ukraine to the World Stage (Backbeat Books, rel. October 2023), as it intertwines the literal images from Master and Margarita with more autobiographical themes and layers. The memoir has been widely praised, most recently in the LA Review of Books. Anne Midgette (formerly of The Washington Post) writes "There are a lot of musician's memoirs out there; this one, about a piano prodigy turned professional, is a standout. Highly recommended."
* the works by Fanny Mendelssohn and Fazil Say are only available on the digital album
Pianist Inna Faliks
Manuscripts Don't Burn
Release date: May 17, 2024 | Sono Luminus (DSL-92275)
Note: physical CD (DSL-92259) does not include Fanny Mendelssohn & Fazil Say tracks
TRACK LISTING
Veronika Krausas (words by Mikhail Bulgakov, trans. Inna Faliks)
Master and Margarita Suite for Speaking Pianist^
[01] I. Time to Go – a Sarabande 1:37
[02] II. 14th of the Month of Nisan 3:06
[03] III. Night Streets of Moscow – a Polonaise 2:00
[04] IV. Yellow Flower Waltz 2:40
[05] V. Fantasia, “Have you stopped loving me?” 2:30
[06] VI. Behemoth’s Somersaults into Cognac – a Bagatelle 2:08
[07] VII. Listen to the Silence – Epilogue 2:330
Franz Schubert (arr. Franz Liszt)
[08] Gretchen am Spinnrade (Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel) S. 558/8 4:30
Maya Miro Johnson (words by Mikhail Bulgakov, trans. Inna Faliks)
[09] Manuscripts Don’t Burn, for Speaking Pianist^ 6:59
Fanny Hensel-Mendelssohn (digital album only)
[10] Notturno in G minor, H337 4:23
Franz Schubert (arr. Franz Liszt)
[11] Erlkonig (Erlking) S.558/4 4:43
[12] Am Meer (By the Sea) S. 560/4 4:37
Fazil Say (digital album only)
[13] Black Earth 7:06
Mike Garson
[14] A Psalm for Odesa^ 4:36
Ljova Zhurbin
Voices, Suite in Three Movements for piano and historical recordings^
[15] I. Sirota 6:51
[16] II. Alter(ed) Zhok 5:16
[17] III. Freydele 6:05
Clarice Assad (words by Steve Schroeder)
Godai, the Five Elements, for Speaking Pianist^
[18]I. Dry Bones – Wind 2:30
[19] II. Absence – Fire and Water 3:07
[20] III. Earth 2:01
[21] IV. Ascension-Sky 2:19
[22] Hero for piano solo 2:22
Total Time = 84:10
^ – signifies world premiere recording
ARTIST BIO
“Adventurous and passionate” (The New Yorker) Ukrainian-born American pianist Inna Faliks has made a name for herself through her commanding performances of standard piano repertoire, as well genre-bending interdisciplinary projects, and inquisitive work with contemporary composers. After her acclaimed teenage debuts at the Gilmore Festival and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, she has performed on many of the world’s great stages in recital and with many major orchestras, performing with conductors Leonard Slatkin, Keith Lockhart and many others.
Ms. Faliks collaborates with and premieres music by some of today’s most significant composers, including Billy Childs, Richard Danielpour, Timo Andres and Clarice Assad. She is known for her poetry-music series Music/Words, and has worked with a number of prominent poets. She regularly tours her monologue-recital Polonaise-Fantasie, the Story of a Pianist, which tells the story of her immigration to the United States from Odessa (recorded on Delos). Her discography includes Manuscripts Don't Burn (Sono Luminus, May 2024), which consists of world premiere recordings alongside 19th and 20th century works. Also in her catalogue: Reimagine: Beethoven and Ravel (Navona), and all-Beethoven and Rachmaninoff/Ravel/Pasternak discs on MSR Classics.
In addition to her other impressive accomplishments, she is is head of Piano Studies at UCLA and is a critically acclaimed writer. Her memoir, Weight in the Fingertips (Backbeat Books) was published in October 2023, and her articles and essays have appeared in Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post. Inna Faliks is a Yamaha Artist.
Chou Wen-chung Centennial Concert Review
On March 21, 2024 professor Frank J. Oteri brought students from his class “Analyzing and Placing Music in Historical Context” at The New School College of Performing Arts to the Chou Wen-chung Centennial Concert at Miller Theatre in NYC. The students reviewed the concert for an assignment, this is one of those reviews.
Chou Wen-chung Centennial Concert Review
By Claire Coven
”Analyzing and Placing Music in Historical Context” Spring 2024
Professor Frank J. Oteri | The New School College of Performing Arts
The Miller Theatre at Columbia University was bustling with fans, friends, and family of Chou Wen-chung Thursday evening for his Centennial Concert. Performed by Continuum, led by Joel Sachs, the evening was exciting and enlightening for those who knew and were new to Chou Wen-chung and his music.
The retrospective opened, and later closed, with the American premiere of In the Mode of Shang, composed in 1956. Continuum filled the stage as a complete ensemble and enraptured the audience throughout the seven-minute piece. One need not read the program notes–although they are illuminating–to appreciate how Chou developed the theme: he seamlessly alternated the melodic line between the entire ensemble and solos, duos, and trios from each section, building and changing the line with each pass. This became a defining characteristic of the work we heard Thursday evening: an avid calligrapher, Chou simultaneously drew melodies from and inspired by ancient Chinese techniques with those of the Western twentieth century, melding them just enough that something new is created while maintaining a distinct deference for each culture.
Upon the first listen, In the Mode of Shang paints vivid scenes through the solo melody. The discernable sections of the piece were marked by the entire orchestra coming together before returning to solo or small ensembles continuously developing the theme. The final piccolo solo, singing like a bird with unrelenting melodious legato, left us just satisfied enough to end the piece, yet it felt as though the piece could have continued. Continuum’s vivid playing allowed us to experience Chou’s early musical landscape in those few minutes.
Next we heard Yü Ko. Composed in 1965, this piece was perhaps the most traditional in its use of ancient Chinese techniques we heard that evening. Performed by a smaller ensemble led by winds and brass, with piano, violin, and percussion, it was interesting to hear how Chou was able to achieve such authentic ancient Chinese idioms and colors from Western instruments alone. To produce this, he had both the violinist and pianist pluck strings, and had a mute on the trombone to manipulate the sound. Again, the theme was played by few and then all.
The first half of the concert closed with Twilight Colors. Composed in 2007 and scored for a double trio–one with flute, oboe, and clarinet and the other with violin, viola, and cello–this piece consisted of vignettes in four movements and a coda. “A Thread of Light” began the series with a deep cello drone solo that continued to penetrate when the other instruments joined in. “Colors of Dawn” followed without pause, employing both trios in chaotic bowing until they calmly unwound. Next, in “In the Mist,” Chou programmatically writes a thick layer of mist by having the strings repeat narrow, chromatic intervals that the flute and clarinet permeate. In “Mountain Peaks Rising,” the ensemble created a topography with ascending and descending intervals. After playing a chord together, each musician continued to play their own unique theme, creating at once unexpected harmony and juxtaposition. The penultimate movement concluded with a hauntingly beautiful woodwind trio, as if birds were flying out of and around the mountain peaks. “Coda” flourished in a full ensemble sound reminiscent of late-Romantic quartets.
After intermission there was a panel discussion moderated by Kathryn Knight, music publisher and President of Edition Peters USA from 2019 to 2023, and included Chou’s sons Luyen and Sumin, and former students Lei Liang and Shyhji Pan. They spoke not only of the important mentor that Chou Wen-chung was, but also shared stories of his life that gave new meaning and insight to the pieces performed and his compositional process. Lei Liang said that Chou asked every student “When is a line not a line?” One can hear in his music that he taught by example, constantly asking himself the same question. Shyhji Pan synthesized Chou’s mission and technical philosophy stating that the “Confluence of East and West is what he dedicated his life to,” and that, “...technique lies in delicacy of details, that was consistent throughout his life.” His sons provided insight about the posthumously-published In the Mode of Shang: Chou wrote the piece in 1956 for his first wife who died a few months after the first partial performance in 1957. Bereaved, this is perhaps why Chou never published this early work, and why works composed after this tragedy reflected his “profound grief.” Chou later married concert pianist Chang Yi-an in 1962. Luyen described that “big leaps of faith defined” both his parents’ lives, and that music saved his father’s life.
Next we heard Joel Sachs perform The Willows Are New. Composed in 1957, this is Chou’s only composition for solo piano. At once dark with sprinkles of light, Sachs brought the single line to life through subtle and drastic dynamic shifts. After that we heard Ode to Eternal Pine, composed in 2009. Originally composed for an ensemble of traditional Korean instruments, we heard this piece performed on Western instruments. Notably, the piano was played in traditional Western style. Despite the Western instrumentation, we could hear the inspiration of traditional Korean music in each movement. The ensemble was tight and attuned to each other, maintaining continuity through tough transitions.
Ending the program the way it began, the whole Continuum ensemble came out to play In the Mode of Shang once again. With the information from the panel discussion and from listening to pieces ranging throughout Chou's career, the piece had a new levity to it. This was especially so after Sumin Chou described how his father wrote this piece when he was young and full of hope, and before experiencing the profound grief of the death of his first wife. The ensemble played with a robust and infectious sense of excitement. It was a wonderful way to end a meaningful evening of inspiring music.
Born in Yantai, China in 1923, Chou immigrated to the United States in 1946 leaving war-torn China to study architecture at Yale. However, it was on the ship that he realized he must pursue his passion for music, and upon arrival, gave up his fellowship at Yale. He subsequently began his music studies with Nicolas Slonimsky and Edgard Varèse in Boston, the latter of whom Chou became closest mentee and lifelong champion. Chou later studied at Columbia University where he became instrumental in the establishment of the Electronic Music Center (later revitalized into the Computer Music Center), the Fritz Reiner Center for Contemporary Music at Columbia, and the US-China Arts Exchange. Not only is Chou the first world-renowned Chinese-born composer, but he is also responsible for the success of the following generations of Chinese composers who he mentored through his US-China Arts Exchange. In his music you can hear the sounds of his childhood in China, adulthood studying with Varèse and other luminaries, and–above all–his dedication to fusing cultures of the East and West in harmony.
Insider Interview with classical accordionist Hanzhi Wang
On April 19, Baruch Performing Arts Center presents classical accordionist Hanzhi Wang in recital. Acclaimed for her “staggering virtuosity,” Ms. Wang is the only accordionist to ever win the Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions. Her wide-ranging recital features works by Piazzolla, Bach, Boulanger, Gubaidulina and others. We spoke with her about being a pioneer for her instrument, the differences between classical accordion and similar instruments, and the upcoming program at Baruch PAC.
What first attracted you to the accordion?
When I was around five years old, I had a chance encounter with an accordion while watching a classical Italian movie called "Cinema Paradiso" with my parents. The soundtrack immediately caught my attention and I noticed a unique sound that I had never heard before from any other classical musical instrument. I became intrigued and since then, I wanted to learn how to play the accordion.
How did you come to the unusual focus of classical music on your instrument? Do you think of yourself as a classical musician who plays accordion, or as an accordionist who plays classical music?
I consider myself a classical musician who plays the accordion. Unfortunately, the classical accordion is not yet commonly recognized in the US. I have noticed that the accordion is generally associated with folk music. However, the classical accordion has the potential to perform many types of music. The main difference between the classical accordion and the regular accordion is the left-hand part. While the regular accordion produces an "Oom-pa-pa" sound, the classical accordion has single tones in the left hand which allows us to perform polyphonic music such as Bach or any great classical composers.
What are the challenges of playing classical music on the accordion? How is your performance approach different from popular or folk music?
Playing the classical accordion can be quite challenging. The right-hand side has 107 buttons while the left-hand side has 120 buttons, none of which are visible while playing. Additionally, the player's left wrist and arm must control the compression and bellows turning. Therefore, there are technically three things going on simultaneously while performing.
Tell us about your instrument. Where's it from? What makes it unique? How long have you had it?
For almost two decades, my accordion has been with me, its origins tracing back to the picturesque town of Castelfidardo in Italy - the "accordion city" situated along the stunning coast of Ancona. With every passing year, the sound of my instrument only gets better and better.
Classical accordionist Hanzhi Wang at Baruch PA
Award-winning classical accordionist Hanzhi Wang in recital at Baruch PAC
April 19 program features music by Piazzolla, Bach, Boulanger, Gubaidulina and more!
“Staggering virtuosity that held the audience in a state of breathlessness, as thrilling to watch as to hear.” – Oberon's Grove
On Friday, April 19 at 7:30 pm the award-winning classical accordionist Hanzhi Wang performs at the intimate Engelman Recital Hall at Baruch Performing Arts Center (55 Lexington Ave (entrance on 25th St), New York, NY). Tickets are $35, available here.
Highlights of Ms. Wang's program include selections from Bach's Goldberg Variations heard fresh in this arrangement for accordion, a work by Katherine Balch written for Ms. Wang, an original work by the accordionist, and music by Sofia Gubaidulina, Rebecca Clarke, Lili Boulanger, and Astor Piazzolla. Full program details below.
Acclaimed for her “staggering virtuosity,” Ms. Wang is praised for her captivating stage presence and performances that display passion and finesse. A groundbreaking artist, Hanzhi was the first accordionist to win Young Concert Artists International Auditions, the first to be named Musical America’s “New Artist of the Month,” and the first solo accordionist on WQXR Radio’s Young Artists Showcase. Ms. Wang earned her Bachelor’s degree at the China Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. She completed her Master’s degree and Soloist Diploma at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen with the renowned accordion professor Geir Draugsvoll.
Baruch Performing Arts Center is at 55 Lexington Avenue (enter on 25th Street between Third and Lexington Avenues, on the south side of the street) in the heart of Manhattan. Praised for its superb acoustics, the Rosalyn and Irwin Engelman Recital Hall has been called "a perfect hall for chamber music" by Anthony Tommasini of The New York Times. This spring Baruch PAC presentations include the PUBLIQuaret & Harlem Quartets; pianist Maxim Lando; toy-piano/electronic Chromic Duo; Heartbeat Opera's annual spring festival in a co-presentation; and classical accordionist Hanzhi Wang.
CALENDAR LISTING
Friday, April 19, 2023 at 7:30 pm
Baruch Performing Arts Center presents:
Accordionist Hanzhi Wang
Engelman Recital Hall at Baruch Performing Arts Center
55 Lexington Ave., New York, NY
(enter on 25th St. between 3rd and Lexington Aves)
Tickets are $35 available at bpac.baruch.cuny.edu
PROGRAM
J.S. Bach: selections from Goldberg Variations
Sofia Gubaidulina: De Profundis
Rebecca Clarke: Lullaby & Grotesque
Lili Boulanger: Cortège
Katherine Balch: Impromptu for Hanzhi
Hanzhi Wang: My Story
Astor Piazzolla: Chinquilin de Bachin, Milonga del Angel, and La Muerte del Angel
Program subject to change
(Photo credit: Matt Dine)
Pianist Inna Faliks: Insider Interview
The pianist Inna Faliks is gearing up for an action-packed year. Her forthcoming album Manuscripts Don’t Burn (Sono Luminus; rel. May 17, 2024) features world premiere recordings written for her by Clarice Assad, Mike Garson, Ljova Zhurbin, Maya Miro Johnson, and Veronika Krausas. Her memoir Weight in the Fingertips was released October 2023, and has been widely critically acclaimed, and this spring she performs the premiere of a piano concerto by Clarice Assad. We recently spoke to her about the forthcoming album, its connection to a cult Ukrainian novel, and more.
The centerpiece of the concept of your new album, Manuscripts Don’t Burn is the cult novel The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, which the album’s title work by Maya Miro Johnson is based on. What is the significance of the book to you?
This book is about so many things, and has so many layers. It is, fundamentally, about the power of art to survive, transcend evil regimes, in this case Stalin's totalitarian murderous Soviet Union. It is about censorship, it is also a great love story, a retelling of Faust and the story of Christ, all in one book. It is a book that many Russian speakers are obsessed with.
I first read it at age 10 and brought it with me through immigration. It had been banned in the USSR, and my grandfather had typed it out on his typewriter, a "Samizdat" thing. I had memorized the book, because I read it so many times. It is also a burlesque, magnificently funny and whimsical. It, in some ways, continues Nikolai Gogol's literary tradition, as far as its fantasy elements go. Bulgakov was born in Ukraine, as, of course, was Gogol.
When at 15, I had won the Illinois Young Performers Competition and played with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, they made a short biographical clip about me , and in this clip, I am reading the book out loud - and also playing Tchaikovsky Concerto # 1, 3rd movement, with Chicago Symphony.
When my best friend from childhood, Misha, read the book as an adult, he remembered me. That made him want to find me. And now we are married and live in LA with our two kids. When my Mom had a stroke and I flew, during Covid, to help her regain language and movement skills (this was before we found out that she had brain cancer), I read the book to her out loud and she read it back to me.
A film version of The Master and Margarita will be released in the US year. What do you make of that timing?
It is completely coincidental but delightful. I had the luck to be at a screening and love what the director Michael Lockshin had done with the film - I think it is the first truly successful screen adaptation of the very complicated material. And, of course, politically it makes a stand. As the book did.
How does the work by Johnson tie into the overall program of the new album?
It complements the other Master and Margarita piece on the disc - the Suite by Veronika Krausas. Maya's piece is wild, it imagines Margarita, the muse of the Master, in the moment that she has become a witch and is about to meet Woland the devil. The piece uses a lot of extended techniques and has me whisper a phrase from the novel, in Russian. In contrast, Veronika's Suite plays on the Baroque dance suite. It is very elegant, understated, extremely beautiful and evocative, powerful in its contained grace.
You recently premiered a piano concerto by Clarice Assad, called “Lilith” at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Lilith is a primordial she-demon, and “The Master and Margarita” is essentially a retelling of Faust. Am I seeing a throughline? (Devil in literature, perhaps? Or, Famous Devils I have known?)
What can I say. Devils are fun! It somehow is a coincidence too, Lilith and Master and Margarita. In the novel, Satan actually saves the main character, the master. And, as Goethe says, "I am that power that always wishes for evil but ends up doing good." Bulgakov really plays on this phrase.
NYC-Arts Top 5 Picks: Chou Wen-chung Centennial Concert
Praise for Orli Shaham's Complete Mozart Piano Sonatas
The internationally renowned concert pianist Orli Shaham released the final two volumes of her multi-year endeavor of recording all of Mozart’s piano sonatas in February 2024. Volumes 5 & 6 of "Mozart: The Complete Piano Sonatas" (Canary Classics CC24) is available on CD and on digital streaming and download platforms. The complete box set with all six volumes will be released in spring 2024.
The set has been incredibly well received across North America, Europe and the United Kingdom. Here’s what the critics are saying:
“A top-tier and consistently satisfying Mozart cycle.” – International Piano
“a significant recording achievement for Mozarteans ... brilliantly handled ... it is time to mark this as one of the significant releases in the Mozart discography and now one can even listen through all the sonatas in chronological order, though the pairings throughout the series have been intelligently determined and help each sonata stand on its own well. Highly Recommended!" – Cinemusical
"Shaham’s artistry... easily holds its own alongside some of my favourite modern-day Mozart sonata cycles" - Gramophone
“Shaham avoids the common pitfall of painting Mozart's portrait as a dainty child prodigy, and instead brings out his free and youthful spirit, an essential feature of his melodic lines. ... Under her hands, this is not simply the music of cute little powdered-wig Wolfgang, but the music of a master of the keyboard who knew exactly how to make the piano sing and dance.” – Classical Music Sentinel
"a remarkable set" - Classical Candor
Visit OrliShaham-Mozart.com for streaming audio, liner notes, purchase links and critical acclaim.
Orli Shaham interview on WWFM's "A Tempo"
Pianist Orli Shaham released the final volumes of her 6-disc recording cycle of Mozart’s complete piano sonatas in February 2024. In a recent interview with WWFM’s Rachel Katz, Shaham speaks about the recording project, Mozart’s longevity, championing women composers, and commissioning new works. Below are some excerpts from the interview.
To listen to the full 30-minute interview “Finding Tradition and Cutting Edge in Mozart,” stream the program at WWFM.org.
On Mozart:
I spent a lot of time in my formative years studying historical musicology, especially with the wonderful Mozart scholar Elaine Sisman at Columbia University. It's something that one talks about with music of the Enlightenment and the logical distinctions between ideas that was so important at the time. Mozart’s sonatas were used as teaching tools to show not only how to play a sonata, but also how to decorate and embellish a sonata, as any good pianist was expected to be able to do on the spot.
They really span his adult life, the piano sonatas. It's a wonderful way to look at Mozart’s entire development as a mature composer. He also had the incredible experience of living in a time that was the most exciting moment for keyboard instruments. The instruments couldn't possibly have been changing more. The invention of a pedal that you don't have to whack with your knees completely changed how he could sit at the keyboard, the kinds of sounds he could make, and the imagination that he could pour into it. He was clearly so inspired by these changes.
On commissioning new works:
I'm always thinking about the next project I'm doing with a living composer, and the next project I'm doing with a no longer living composer. This season I'm playing a new piano concerto which my husband, conductor David Robertson, wrote for me. I've also been working a lot with the composer Karen Tanaka. We premiered a piece of hers at Juilliard Pre-College last year, and I'm premiering another work of hers in April 2024.
I really think the composers should be as free as possible to be creative and come up with whatever makes their heart excited. It's very important for a composer to write what they love, and so you get to know their writing. Once that happens, you have some idea that you can trust them, but you never know what's going to come out.
On Clara Schumann and other overlooked composers:
In the last couple of years, I've become obsessed with Clara Schumann, a woman not only worthy of our admiration, but also worthy of great study. She is a special, influential person in the whole of music history. She shaped at least two generations of pianists, and had a teaching legacy that lasted into a very, very long old age. As many as a third of Europe's pianists came to study with her. It's an enormous legacy for piano and pianism and how to interpret music at the instrument.
In conjunction with these Clara Schumann-based programs, over the pandemic I discovered Amanda Röntgen-Maier. She composed a number of incredible chamber works, including a violin sonata, which I just think is the cat's pajamas. I'm thrilled that every violinist I have played it with says, “Where has this piece been all my life?” They're all putting it into their repertoire permanently. How wonderful for us that we live in a time when we can discover these overlooked composers.
Listen to the full interview at wwfm.org
周文中誕生百週年音樂會 (2024年3月21日）
周文中誕生百週年音樂會
回顧其寶貴傳承
(2024年3月21日）
周文中是上世紀首位贏得國際聲譽的華人作曲家，畢生貢獻包括成就
譚盾、周龍、陳怡、盛宗亮等中國作曲家於上世紀80年代赴美國留學
音樂會由紐約著名Continuum樂團擔任演出，喬爾·薩克斯（Joel Sachs）負責指揮
在中國出生的作曲家周文中（1923‒2019）為美國古典音樂界帶來重要貢獻，影響深遠。他曾輔助新生代一批卓越的年青中國音樂家於上世紀80年代赴美國留學。他們包括奧斯卡得主譚盾、普利策大獎得主周龍、古根海姆獎得主陳怡及麥亞瑟“天才”獎得主盛宗亮。周文中是聲明顯赫的現代作曲家埃德加·瓦雷兹（Edgard Varèse）的入室弟子，多年與大師緊密合作。
音樂會由以演繹當代音樂馳名的Continuum樂團負責演出，喬爾·薩克斯執棒，展示周文中融合中國與西方風格、技巧與理念的獨特才華。曲目中特別亮點是《商調》的美國首演（1956年作品，為室内樂團而作）。中場休息后，周文中的兒子與合作夥伴將進行簡單對話。詳細演出曲目列於下頁。
這場音樂會是延續周文中寶貴傳承的項目之一。其他紀念周文中誕生百週年活動包括在中美兩國以他的名義委約新作品、在加州大學聖地牙哥分校二十一世紀中國研究中心舉辦系列講座及哥倫比亞大學美中藝術交流中心項目等。
“簡單地說，沒有任何一個紐約音樂機構可比Continuum樂團的演出
更引人思考、或比他們的曲目編排更令人滿意。”
——《紐約時報》
***
Spiralis 音樂基金聯同哥倫比亞大學音樂系呈獻
紀念周文中誕生百週年音樂會暨回顧其寶貴傳承
2024年3月21日（週四）晚上7時30分
哥倫比亞大學米勒劇院
（地址：紐約曼哈頓百老匯2960號，位於西116街）
門票：20元（學生/長者10元優惠），可於米勒劇院官網購買
Continuum樂團；喬爾·薩克斯（Joel Sachs，指揮兼鋼琴）；主要成員包括Renée Jolles與Airi Yoshioka（小提琴）；Stephanie Griffin （中提琴）；Kristina Reiko Cooper （大提琴）; Emily Duncan（長笛）; Moran Katz（單簧管）
演出曲目（全部周文中作品）
《商調》（1956年）（美國首演）
室内樂團
《柳色新》（1957年）
鋼琴獨奏
《漁歌》（1965年）
小提琴、管樂、鋼琴與打擊樂
《霞光》（2007年）
木管與弦樂六重奏
《誦松》（2009年）
室内樂團
作曲家介紹
在中國出生的作曲家周文中（1923‒2019）於1946年赴美國求學，在新英格蘭音樂學院師從尼古拉斯·斯洛尼姆斯基，往後移居紐約市，成為埃德加·瓦雷兹的入室弟子。上世紀50年代初在哥倫比亞研究院深造，導師是奧托·呂寧；曾跟隨作曲家博胡斯拉夫·馬爾蒂努及音樂學家保羅·亨利·朗學習。周文中自1964年至1991年在哥倫比亞大學任教。他致力發展哥大至今國際知名的作曲課程，期間有13年掌管哥大藝術學院的學術事務。
周文中於1978年創辦中美藝術交流中心，與來自東亞及東南亞的專家與機構合作，共創項目包括在日本札幌創辦的太平洋音樂節（1990年）；在中國舉辦藝術教育項目（長達15年）；還有自1990年開始，致力在世界上最多元化的地區之一——雲南——策劃文化保護與發展項目。
周文中是美國藝術暨文學學會會員、國際現代音樂協會及亞洲作曲家聯盟榮譽會員，2001年獲法國藝術及文學勛章（軍官勛位）。
樂團介紹
紐約Continuum樂團曾獲西門子國際大獎、四度榮獲美國作曲家作詞家協會“冒險性節目”大獎。自1966年創辦以來，在新音樂界舉足輕重。
Continuum在美國各地亮相，包括肯尼迪中心及國會圖書館；曾遠赴歐洲巡演十數次，也多次到訪亞洲及拉丁美洲。
樂團的演出及活動曾在美國CBS電台、國家公共電台、美國之音以及歐洲廣播網絡播出。Continuum已錄製過20多張唱片，即將發行Roberto Sierra作品專輯（NAXOS唱片公司）。演出曲目涵蓋20世紀經典（如埃夫斯、喬普林、魏本等作曲家）以及全球各地當代作曲家的作品。
Pianist Inna Faliks in conversation with WETA
Pianist Orli Shaham: "insightful and perspicacious"
Pianist Orli Shaham releases final volumes of
"Mozart: The Complete Piano Sonatas"
Volumes 5 & 6 include Sonatas K.309, K.311, K.330, K.457 and K.533/494
Digital release: February 9, 2024
Physical release: February 23, 2024
on Canary Classics
"insightful and perspicacious playing"
— Classical Music Sentinel
The internationally-renowned concert pianist Orli Shaham is wrapping up her multi-year endeavor of recording all of Mozart’s piano sonatas. Volumes 5/6 of Orli Shaham's "Mozart: The Complete Piano Sonatas" (Canary Classics CC24) is released on CD February 23, 2024. The digital album is currently available for download and streaming. The complete box set with all six volumes will be released this spring.
Preparing to record the sonatas inspired Shaham to keep in mind where Mozart was when he wrote each of them. Whether it was Munich or Paris or Salzburg, she said in the album's liner notes written by Donald Rosenberg, “Was he trying out that piano? Was he writing for someone’s daughters? I want that something from every single one of them.”
"Mozart is both subtle and daring in his distinctive handling of materials," writes Rosenberg. "And to Shaham, there’s more. 'He’s also experimenting with audience manipulation—with the things he sets up beautifully and fulfills, how he thwarts your expectations. I do see through these sonatas that you the listener or amateur pianist—you were on his mind. In his letters, ‘you’ means whatever your level of musical training.'"
Critics call Shaham "an intelligent and sensitive guide" for this music. For a digital or physical copy of Volumes 5/6 or any of the previously released discs, contact ClassicalCommunications@gmail.com.
“A top-tier and consistently satisfying Mozart cycle.”
– International Piano
Pianist Orli Shaham
Mozart Piano Sonatas
Volumes 5 & 6
K.309 ● K.311 ● K.330
K.457 ● K.533/494
Canary Classics CC24
Digital release: February 9, 2024
Physical release: February 23, 2024
UPC: 5 060133 300144
TRACK LIST
Volume 5 (Total time 65:11)
1–3 Piano Sonata in C Major, No. 7, K.309
4–6 Piano Sonata in D Major, No. 8, K.311
7–9 Piano Sonata in C Major, No. 10, K.330
Volume 6 (Total time 53:05)
1–3 Piano Sonata in C minor, No. 14, K.457
4–6 Piano Sonata in F Major, No. 15, K.533/494
Hailed as “a first-rate Mozartean” by Chicago Tribune, Orli Shaham has established an international reputation as one of today's most gifted pianists.
Orli Shaham has performed with many of the major orchestras around the world, and has appeared in recital from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House. She is Artistic Director of Pacific Symphony’s chamber series Café Ludwig in Costa Mesa, California and Artistic Director of the interactive children's concert series, Orli Shaham’s Bach Yard, which she founded in 2010. She has served on the juries of both the Cliburn and Honens International Piano Competitions.
In 2024, Ms. Shaham releases Volumes 5 and 6, the final volumes of "Mozart: The Complete Piano Sonatas". Her Mozart recording project also includes Piano Concertos with St. Louis Symphony, all of which are part of her discography of over a dozen titles on Canary Classics, Deutsche Gramophone, Albany Records, SFS Media and more.
Orli Shaham is a Co-Host and Creative for the national radio program From the Top. She is on the piano and chamber music faculty at The Juilliard School and is chair of the board of trustees at Kaufman Music Center in New York.
March 16: Sylvan Winds perform Debussy, Bach and more
Sylvan Winds continues 45th anniversary season with two concerts
March 16: "World Winds: Traditions Reimagined" features works by Debussy, Bach, and more
May 31: Season finale at Merkin Hall
"a superb group of musicians" – Fanfare
The Sylvan Winds is in the midst of their 45th anniversary season. On March 16, 2024 the quintet performs a program of some of their favorite compositions, including music by Bach, Debussy, Irving Fine, and José-Luis Hurtado.
"It's a delight to return to this repertoire that we know so well," says founding member and flutist Svjetlana Kabalin. "Each time we present the works in a new context, we find different aspects of the music to bring out. This particular program 'World Winds: Traditions Reimagined' highlights the longstanding tradition of composers pulling inspiration from older styles. Mordechai Rechtman created a brilliant arrangement of a Bach concerto (which itself was an arrangement of a Vivaldi concerto) and Gordon Davies’ transcription of Debussy’s Petite Suite is a longtime concert favorite.”
Tickets to the March 16 concert at 2 pm at Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church (152 W 66th St, Manhattan) are $25, with discounts available for students, seniors, and children, available at SylvanWinds.com.
On May 31, the 45th anniversary season concludes with a special performance at Kaufman Music Center's Merkin Hall (129 W 67th St., Manhattan). The grand finale features larger works for winds, including Mozart's Serenade in C minor, and Richard Strauss's Suite in Bb Major, alongside contemporary works by Elizabeth Brown and Valerie Coleman. A ticketed reception will follow the concert. Details here.
Hailed by The New York Times for "…its adventuresome programming and stylishness of performance," Sylvan Winds was founded in 1982. Founding member and flutist Svjetlana Kabalin is joined by oboist Kathy Halvorson, clarinetist Nuno Antunes, Gina Cuffari on bassoon, and horn player Zohar Schondorf, completing the traditional woodwind quintet instrumentation. The quintet has appeared under the auspices of Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival and the Caramoor International Music Festival.
Calendar Listing
Saturday, March 16 at 2 pm
World Winds: Traditions Reimagined
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church
(152 West 66th Street, New York, NY)
Tickets are $25 general admission
(Seniors/Students: $20; Children $10)
Sylvan Winds
Svjetlana Kabalin, flute; Kathy Halvorson, oboe;
Nuno Antunes, clarinet; Gina Cuffari, bassoon;
Zohar Schondorf, horn
PROGRAM
Claude Debussy: Petite Suite
José-Luis Hurtado: Son de la Bruja
J.S. Bach (arr. Rechtman): Concerto No. 2 after Vivaldi, S.593
Irving Fine: Partita
Program subject to change
These concerts are made possible, in part, with funding from the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council
March 12: Cassatt String Quartet at Symphony Space
March 12: Cassatt String Quartet and Ursula Oppens perform piano quintets by Joan Tower and Tania León at Symphony Space
Part of Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival's 27th season
Also: Victoria Bond's Blue and Green Music and Wang Jie's Song for Mahler in the Absence of Words
On March 12, 2024 at 7:30 pm, the internationally acclaimed Cassatt String Quartet and pianist Ursula Oppens perform at Symphony Space. The program is part of Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival and features 21st century works for strings and piano by Tania León, Joan Tower, Victoria Bond and Wang Jie. For more on Oppens, read a profile of the pianist in the New York Times.
The highlight of the program is Victoria Bond’s Blue and Green Music, which the quartet recorded for Albany Records and is based on a Georgia O’Keefe painting of the same title. Tania León's Ethos, Joan Tower’s Dumbarton piano quintet and Wang Jie’s Songs for Mahler in the Absence of Words for piano quartet are also on the program. The concert will explore facets of contemporary music by living composers, all of whom will be present to discuss their works on stage with host and creator, Victoria Bond.
"I'm so delighted to invite the Cassatt String Quartet and Ursula Oppens back to the Cutting Edge Concerts' stage. The Cassatts are one of the finest ensembles of today, and it's been such a pleasure to hear them take my work Blue and Green Music on tour around the country this past season. I cannot wait to hear this program along with the audience," says Bond.
Program details for the March 12 concert are below. The performance is at Symphony Space's Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater (2537 Broadway, Manhattan). Tickets are $25 in advance ($20 senior/student) and available at SymphonySpace.org.
Calendar Listing
CUTTING EDGE CONCERTS NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL
Cassatt String Quartet and Pianist Ursula Oppens
Tuesday, March 12, 2024 at 7:30 pm
Symphony Space (2537 Broadway, Manhattan)
Tickets: $25 in advance (at SymphonySpace.org)
PROGRAM
Victoria Bond: Blue and Green Music
Tania León: Ethos for Piano and String Quartet
Wang Jie: Song for Mahler in the Absence of Words
Joan Tower: Dumbarton Quintet for piano quintet
About Cassatt String Quartet
Hailed for its “mighty rapport and relentless commitment,” the New York City-based Cassatt String Quartet has performed throughout the world for nearly four decades, with appearances at Alice Tully Hall and Weill Recital Hall; Tanglewood Music Center; the Kennedy Center; Théâtre des Champs-Élysées; Centro National de las Artes; Maeda Hall; and Beijing’s Central Conservatory. The Quartet’s prolific discography – featured three times in Alex Ross’s “10 Best Classical Recordings” column in The New Yorker – includes over forty recordings, for the Koch, Naxos, New World, Point, CRI, Tzadik, and Albany labels.
The Cassatt Quartet’s 2023-2024 season includes performances and recordings of works by Tania León, Adolphus Hailstork, Chen Yi, Joan Tower, Zhou Long, Victoria Bond and Daniel S. Godfrey; their annual residencies at the Seal Bay Festival in Maine and Cassatt in the Basin! in West Texas; hometown concerts in the New York area, including at Symphony Space and Bargemusic; and appearances at Treetops Chamber Music Society, Maverick Concerts, and Music Mountain.
The CSQ is named for the American Impressionist painter Mary Cassatt.
Chromic Duo Insider Interview
On March 5, Baruch Performing Arts Center presents Chromic Duo. Blending classical music, keyboards (including toy piano) and electronics into compelling genre-fluid performances and installation the duo - Lucy Yao and Dorothy Chan - will perform music by Ryuichi Sakamoto, Andy Akiho, Maurice Ravel and more. We spoke to them about their upcoming program, pushing genre, experimenting with multimedia, and more!
Classical Music Communications: How did you meet, and what prompted you to join together as a duo?
Lucy Yao: We met in a hallway! I saw Dorothy carrying this huge case of what looked like a piano, except it was shrunken down. And from that day on, we started to ask ourselves, “why not?” and started to experiment with whatever instruments could make sound. From toy pianos, to electronics, to other art forms that weren’t as familiar to us, but could help us express ourselves, and collaborate to explore new ideas, like dance, film, and technology.
Dorothy Chan: Curiosity and our openness to experimentation really brought us together. In our journey we’ve found that the core of what makes us want to create and connect to the people and community is to look further inside. To find the little moments, the joys, the reckonings, and really capture and remember the importance of them.
CMC: Why toy piano? What intrigues you about it? How do you manage the contrast in timbre and volume in a duet with toy piano and grand piano?
DC: Did you know that toy pianos could be made out of a variety of materials, resulting in very different sounds and timbre? Metal rods, hollow rods, glass bars even (in the very early days), plastic hammers vs. wood hammers…It’s fascinating! The toy piano first captured my attention when I realized how this “toy” is considered an instrument and that there are numerous pieces written just for it. I was playing a lot of contemporary classical at the time, and discovering the toy piano was such a joyful moment — to see ‘serious’ music made on this ‘non-serious’ instrument, and how it breaks through traditional expectations and creates an accessibility through curiosity.
LY: That is what’s really exciting for me! The fact that you can reimagine the things that you would find in your everyday life, into new possibilities. With that, what else can be reimagined into new possibilities? What other things might we have overlooked in our everyday lives? How can we see things in a new light?
It’s these kinds of questions that guide us in our work - it could be anything from a performance, to an installation, to community engagement, where we find real joy and meaning in collaborating and listening to the stories of the communities we work with, and reimagine empathy and curiosity together.
CMC: Electronics are a mainstay of your programs. How do you create these sounds, and how are they incorporated with the sound of the pianos? How much improvisation is involved?
Chromic Duo: We started experimenting much more with electronics when the pandemic hit. We realized the limitations posed by the pandemic could actually be a place of opportunity for us to expand. We found that with electronics, as well as technology, we could tap into a different way of telling stories. Just like our soundwalk “Listen to Chinatown”– we interviewed mural artists, small business owners and community members in Chinatown, and integrated their stories to the work using spoken words and poetry, bringing users to behind-the-scenes stories, inspirations, and even food recommendations. This work also exists as a concert piece “Homecoming”, where we program for concert hall goers, revealing hidden stories that deserve to be heard on platforms that traditionally do not include them. Storytelling never fails to be the heart of our work, and through that, we can reshape and rethink conversations to make them as accessible as possible to reach a wider spectrum of audiences.
CMC: The program also includes one of your own compositions. Tell us about this work, and about your composition process as a duo.
Chromic Duo: “From Roots We Carry” explores the complex intergenerational legacies that live inside of us. We interviewed community members and asked them - What do you carry? What have we inherited through familial bonds from the past generation? What are the legacies that we want to keep, and what are some that we want to shed?
We collaborated with artist Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya to create a monument and performance ritual, which invites audiences to reflect on their own bonds with their past – both the gifts given to us by our ancestors and the heights and weight of those expectations we feel obligated to reach - and to choose what we want to keep carrying, and what to leave behind. Trailer linked here.
CMC: This concert is part of a larger series that Baruch College has started since just last October. You are also Artists-in-Residence at the Silberman Residency where you will talk to students majoring in a huge variety of fields, who are curious about your process. Can you tell us about how you are approaching engaging with the students? And how does your creative process link to that?
Chromic Duo: When we first started working together in 2019, we struggled for so long to “define ourselves”, as musicians and artists. Music school, especially, has taught us to internalize a rigid way of thinking– you’re either this or that, successful or not, musician or composer– when it’s really not only about those labels.
We’ve since broken out of those labels, these boxes, and in our work, you can see that it expands from events like a concert, that is accessible and meets audiences where they are at, to interactive installations focused on student health and wellness (recently at Purdue University), to Augmented Reality soundwalks– the medium and genre are always changing and flexible. But one thing we do want to make clear, in both our creative process, and in our engagement with the students at Baruch, is that you can rely on collaboration – you don’t have to be everything. You also don’t have to be just one thing. We believe that it’s super important to acknowledge that your voice is something that can be heard and celebrated.
Out February 23: Solomiya Ivakhiv's "Ukrainian Masters"
Violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv releases “Ukrainian Masters: Sonatas for Violin and Piano by Bortkiewicz, Kosenko and Skoryk”
Album features sonatas spanning the 20th century with pianist Steven Beck
Featuring a world premiere recording; released February 23 on Naxos
“a fabulous tone and virtuoso panache that feels just right.” — Gapplegate Classical
The Ukrainian-American violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv has made it her mission to share the music of her home country. Her latest release, “Ukrainian Masters” (Naxos 8.579146, rel. February 23, 2024) includes violin sonatas spanning 1922 to 1991 by three seminal Ukrainian composers, including a world premiere recording of Viktor Kosenko's Sonata in A minor, Op. 18. Ivakhiv is joined by the renowned pianist Steven Beck who frequently performs with the New York Philharmonic.
Each of the three composers on the new album are major figures in Ukrainian classical music and in Ivakhiv's own musical life. "I knew Kosenko's piano music growing up, but it was not popular to play Ukrainian music, as the Soviet government only promoted Russian composers. Therefore his music was not professionally recorded. I discovered the sonata after I moved to the U.S. when I was studying at Curtis and planning my recitals."
Bortkiewicz's music on the other hand was completely banned in the Soviet Union as he was a refugee and fled Ukraine via Istanbul, Belgrade, Sofia, Serbia and Vienna when Russians occupied Eastern Ukraine. "He was declared an enemy of the people as a result, and I only discovered his music with the war in Ukraine," continues the violinist. "Skoryk I did know personally, and had the opportunity to play his music for him before he passed away in 2020."
In addition to Ukrainian Masters, Ivakhiv has highlighted works from Ukrainian composers on her recordings Poems and Rhapsodies with the National Symphony of Ukraine (Centaur, 2022) and Ukraine - Journey to Freedom (NAXOS, 2016). Other album releases include Haydn + Hummel Concertos (Centaur, 2020) and Mendelssohn Concertos (Brilliant Classics, 2019).
Contact ClassicalCommunications@gmail.com to request a physical CD or digital copy of Ukrainian Masters.
February 9: Album release performance and panel discussion in NYC
To celebrate the release of Ukrainian Masters, Ivakhiv and Beck will perform selections from the album at the Ukrainian Institute of America in NYC on February 9 at 7 pm. The evening will feature a conversation on "Ukrainian Composers and their Words" with Maria Sonevytsky, Professor of Music, Bard College and Peter Schmelz, Professor of Music, Johns Hopkins University. Admission includes a copy of the CD. Ticket information coming soon.
"There is absolutely no stuffiness about this playing, just a constant outpouring of joy.”
– Classical Candor
Ukrainian Masters: Sonatas for Violin and Piano by Bortkiewicz, Kosenko and Skoryk
Solomiya Ivakhiv, violin
Steven Beck, piano
Naxos 8.579146
Release date: February 23, 2024
TRACKS
Viktor Kosenko: Violin Sonata in A minor, Op. 18 (1927)* 17:42
[01] I. Allegro 9:24
[02] II. Andantino semplice 8:06
Myroslav Skoryk: Violin Sonata No. 2 (1991) 14:58
[03] I. The Word: Moderato con moto 5:15
[04] II. Aria: Andante con moto 5:56
[05] III. Burlesque: Vivo 3:40
Sergei Bortkiewicz: Violin Sonata in G minor, Op. 26 (1922) 25:21
[06] I. Sostenuto – Allegro drammatico 10:22
[07] II. Andante 7:24
[08] III. Allegro vivace e con brio 7:30
*world premiere recording
Ukrainian born violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv is a highly celebrated soloist, chamber musician and educator. She has made solo appearances with the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Lviv National Philharmonic of Ukraine, Charleston Symphony in the United States and Hunan Symphony Orchestra in China, and has performed at chamber music festivals worldwide, including Tanglewood, Newport, Nevada Chamber Music Festival and KyivFest. Her recordings have been featured on NPR’s Performance Today and have placed in the top charts on iTunes and Spotify.
Since 2010, Dr Ivakhiv has served as artistic director of the Music at the Institute (MATI) Concert Series in New York City, where her primary focus is to introduce audiences to Ukrainian classical music. She is also artistic director of the Caspian Monday Music Festival in Greensboro, Vermont. She holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music and Stony Brook University, and is associate professor of violin and viola and head of strings at the University of Connecticut. In 2021, she was named Honoured (Merited) Artist of Ukraine, her native country’s highest cultural honour.
A graduate of The Juilliard School, pianist Steven Beck made his concerto debut with the National Symphony Orchestra. His annual Christmas Eve performance of Bach’s Goldberg Variations at Bargemusic has become a New York institution. As an orchestral musician he has appeared with the New York Philharmonic and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Beck is an experienced performer of new music, having worked with Elliott Carter, Pierre Boulez, Henri Dutilleux, Charles Wuorinen, George Crumb, George Perle and Fred Lerdahl. He is a member of The Knights, the Talea Ensemble, Quattro Mani and the Da Capo Chamber Players. His discography includes George Walker’s piano sonatas for Bridge Records, and Elliott Carter’s Double Concerto on Albany Records. He is a Steinway Artist, and is on the faculty of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.