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October 24, 2018
CONTACT
Davidson & Choy Publicity
Tim Choy (323) 954-7510, T.Choy@DCPublicity.com
Segerstrom Center for the Arts
Tim Dunn (714) 556-2122 x4209, TDunn@SCFTA.org
Images: SCFTA.org/media
SEGERSTROM CENTER FOR THE ARTS PRESENTS THE CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER
COSTA MESA, CA – The renowned Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center returns to Segerstrom Center for the Arts on January 22, 2019 at 8 pm. Following its triumphant American and European tours and a spectacular recording release on Deutsche Grammophon, the stellar ensemble reunites for a program of essential works for piano quartet. Between repertoire favorites of Brahms and Dvořák, the artists offer the warm-hearted piano quartet by the renowned Czech Romantic composer and violinist Josef Suk. Ensemble members include Daniel Hope, violin, Paul Neubauer, viola and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Co-Artistic Directors David Finckel, cello and Wu Han, piano.
“The members of the group played like old friends, bending with one another, growing ferocious or seeming to ask some big metaphysical question…a wild ride, brilliantly executed.” – The Mercury News
Single tickets start at $39 and are now available online at www.SCFTA.org, at the Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa or by calling (714) 556-2787. For inquiries about group ticket savings of 10 or more, please call the Group Services office at (714) 755-0236.
Segerstrom Center for the Arts applauds the Colburn Foundation for its support of the Chamber Music Series, the E. Nakamichi Foundation for its support of this engagement, and its corporate partners including Kia Motors America, Official Automotive Partner; United Airlines, Official Airline; and Omaha Steaks International, Official Fine Food Retailer.
PROGRAM NOTES
Suk: Piano Quartet in A Minor, Op. 1 Josef Suk (1874-1935) composed the Piano Quartet in A Minor, Op. 1 when he was only seventeen studying at the Prague Conservatory. Suk had begun studying with composer Antonín Dvořák in 1891 who urged him to continue to develop what he saw as a particular affinity for the piano quartet. Suk would go on to marry Dvořák’s daughter several years later. The three movements of the Piano Quartet are traditional in form. They are characterized by attractive thematic material and harmonic language, and, above all, youthful exuberance.
Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 60 Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) first worked on this piece between the years of 1854-1856 when his close friend, Robert Schumann was suffering with severe mental illness. The composer had gone to Düsseldorf to help Robert’s wife Clara Schumann, for whom he had complicated romantic feelings. The turbulent emotions of this time are evident throughout the piece. The first movement, projects some of the darkest music the composer ever wrote. Combining turmoil and tender melody it ends in darkest gloom with the cello intoning the last sighs. The second movement energetically highlights the piano with lightning-quick chords crowded. A lyrical melody for the cello graces the third movement, before the final movement concludes with a return to the works somber opening, ending the piece with quiet resolve.
Dvořák: Piano Quartet No. 2 in E Flat Major, Op. 87 Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) wrote the quartet in E Flat Major at his creative peak in 1889. From the bold statement of the string in octaves to the rousing final notes, this work is filled with the joy, excitement, depth of feeling and distinctive character that is signature to the composer. After the distinctive unison opening, the first movement brings the greatest of contrasts including the most explosive piano writing with supporting punctuation from the strings, to the most tender, intimate sections, this time punctuated by soft heartbeats. The composer’s deep love for the cello is evident in the second movement, creating one of the great solos in the chamber music literature for the instrument, subtly accompanied by gentle chords and pizzicati in the piano and upper strings. The graceful third movement is almost waltz-like in feeling, with a lilting, uniquely Bohemian folk-type character and a trio section of contrasting material. The finale is filled with tremendous spirit with a fiery ascending four note motive throughout, providing a thrilling close.
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) is one of eleven constituents at Lincoln Center for the performing Arts. CMS has its home in Lincoln Center’s magnificent Alice Tully Hall. Through its many performance, education, recording, and broadcast activities, it brings the exhilarating experience of great chamber music to more people than any other organization of its kind. Under the leadership of Co-Artistic Directors David Finckel and Wu Han, CMS presents a wide variety of concert series and educational events for listeners of all ages, appealing to both connoisseurs and newcomers. The performing artists constitute a revolving multi-generational and international roster of the world’s finest chamber musicians, enabling CMS to present chamber music of every instrumentation, style, and historical period. Annual activities include a full season in New York as well as national and international tours, nationally televised broadcasts on PBS’s Live From Lincoln Center, an international radio series, and regular broadcasts on SiriusXM and American Public Media’s Performance Today. Audiences worldwide enjoy an extensive selection of New York performances through live stream on the CMS website.
Cellist David Finckel’s multifaceted career as concert performer, artistic director, recording artist, educator, and cultural entrepreneur distinguishes him as one of today’s most influential classical musicians. A recipient of Musical America’s Musician of the Year award, he appears annually at the world’s most prestigious concert series and venues, as both soloist and chamber musician. He tours extensively with pianist Wu Han, in trios with Philip Setzer, and in a quartet with Daniel Hope and Paul Neubauer. Together with Wu Han, he serves as co-artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and they are the founding artistic directors of Music@Menlo, the San Francisco Bay Area’s premier summer chamber music festival and institute. In East Asia, he serves as founding co-artistic director of Chamber Music Today, an annual festival in Seoul. His wide-ranging musical activities include the launch of ArtistLed, classical music’s first musician-directed and Internet-based recording company. BBC Music Magazine saluted the label’s 20th anniversary with a cover CD featuring David Finckel and Wu Han. This new recording was released on the ArtistLed label in fall 2018. He is professor of cello at The Juilliard School and artist-in-residence at Stony Brook University. Through a variety of educational initiatives, including directing the LG Chamber Music School in Seoul under the auspices of CMS, he has received universal praise for his passionate commitment to nurturing the artistic growth of countless young artists. David Finckel served as cellist of the Grammy Award-winning Emerson String Quartet for 34 seasons.
British violinist Daniel Hope has toured the world as a virtuoso soloist for 25 years and is celebrated for his musical versatility. Winner of the 2015 European Cultural Prize for Music, he is associate artistic director of the Savannah Music Festival, music director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, music director of San Francisco’s New Century Chamber Orchestra, and in 2019 begins his appointment as artistic director of the Dresden Frauenkirche. This season, he tours his Air—A Baroque Journey program with a host of stellar collaborators across Europe and the US, including a stop at Carnegie Hall. He also performs Britten’s Violin Concerto with the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra, and Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with CMS Artistic Directors David Finckel and Wu Han with the Atlanta Symphony and at the Savannah Music Festival. A member of the Beaux Arts Trio during its final six seasons, today he performs at all the world’s greatest halls and festivals: from Carnegie Hall to the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, from Salzburg to Schleswig-Holstein, from Aspen to the BBC Proms and Tanglewood. An exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist, he has recorded over 25 albums that have won the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis, the Diapason d’Or of the Year, the Edison Classical Award, the Prix Caecilia, seven ECHO-Klassik Awards, and numerous Grammy nominations. Hope was raised in London and studied with Zakhar Bron; he now lives with his family in Berlin. He plays the 1742 “ex-Lipinski” Guarneri del Gesù, placed generously at his disposal by an anonymous family from Germany.
Violist Paul Neubauer‘s exceptional musicality and effortless playing led the New York Times to call him “a master musician.” In 2018 he made his Chicago Symphony subscription debut with conductor Riccardo Muti and his Mariinsky Orchestra debut with conductor Valery Gergiev. He also gave the US premiere of the newly discovered Impromptu for viola and piano by Shostakovich with pianist Wu Han. In addition, his recording of the Aaron Kernis Viola Concerto with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, was released on Signum Records and his recording of the complete viola and piano music by Ernest Bloch with pianist Margo Garrett was released on Delos. Appointed principal violist of the New York Philharmonic at age 21, he has appeared as soloist with over 100 orchestras including the New York, Los Angeles, and Helsinki philharmonics; National, St. Louis, Detroit, Dallas, San Francisco, and Bournemouth symphonies; and Santa Cecilia, English Chamber, and Beethovenhalle orchestras. He has premiered viola concertos by Bartók (revised version of the Viola Concerto), Friedman, Glière, Jacob, Kernis, Lazarof, Müller-Siemens, Ott, Penderecki, Picker, Suter, and Tower and has been featured on CBS’s Sunday Morning, A Prairie Home Companion, and in Strad, Strings, and People magazines. A two-time Grammy nominee, Neubauer has recorded on numerous labels including Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, RCA Red Seal, and Sony Classical. Neubauer is the artistic director of the Mostly Music series in New Jersey and is on the faculty of The Juilliard School and Mannes College as well as a visiting professor at DePaul University.
Pianist Wu Han ranks among the most influential classical musicians in the world today. Leading an unusually multifaceted artistic career, she has risen to international prominence as a concert performer, artistic director, recording artist, educator, and cultural entrepreneur. A recipient of Musical America’s Musician of the Year award, she appears annually at the world’s most prestigious concert series and venues, as both soloist and chamber musician. She tours extensively with cellist David Finckel, in trios with Philip Setzer, and in a quartet with Daniel Hope and Paul Neubauer. Together with David Finckel, she serves as co-artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and founding co-artistic director of Music@Menlo, the San Francisco Bay Area’s premier summer chamber music festival and institute. In East Asia, she serves as founding co-artistic director of Chamber Music Today, an annual festival in Seoul. Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts recently appointed Wu Han artistic advisor for Chamber Music at the Barns. Her wide-ranging musical activities include the launch of ArtistLed, classical music’s first musician- directed and Internet-based recording company. BBC Music Magazine saluted the label’s 20th anniversary with a cover CD featuring David Finckel and Wu Han. This new recording was released on the ArtistLed label in fall 2018. Through a multitude of educational initiatives, including directing the LG Chamber Music School in Seoul under the auspices of CMS, she has received universal praise for her passionate commitment to nurturing the artistic growth of countless young artists.
Segerstrom Center for the Arts is an acclaimed arts institution as well as a beautiful multi-disciplinary cultural campus. It is committed to supporting artistic excellence, offering unsurpassed experiences and to engaging the entire community in new and exciting ways through the unique power of live performance and a diverse array of inspiring arts-based education and community engagement programs. Previously called the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Segerstrom Center is Orange County’s largest non-profit arts organization. In addition to its six performance venues, Segerstrom Center is also home to the American Ballet Theatre William J. Gillespie School.
The Center presents a broad range of programming for audiences of all ages, including international ballet and dance, national tours of top Broadway shows, jazz and cabaret, contemporary artists, classical music performed by renowned chamber orchestras and ensembles, family-friendly programming, free performances open to the public from outdoor movie screenings to dancing on the plaza and many other special events. Segerstrom Center is a leader among the nation’s performing arts centers for providing education programs designed to inspire young people through the arts. The Center’s programs reach hundreds of thousands of students each year in five Southern California counties. Community engagement programs developed through the Center for Dance and Innovation and Center Without Boundaries also connect the Center more comprehensively with Orange County’s many diverse communities. The CDI supports flagship artistic programming and a wide range of projects that celebrate innovation, nurture creativity and engage audiences of the future. It is home to the ABT Gillespie School and the School of Dance and Music for Children with Disabilities. The Center Without Boundaries develops partnerships with non-cultural organizations to help them in their own efforts to respond to the ever-changing needs of the community. Segerstrom Center for the Arts is also proud to serve as the artistic home to three of the region’s major performing arts organizations: Pacific Symphony, Philharmonic Society of Orange County and Pacific Chorale, who contribute greatly to the artistic life of the region with annual seasons performed at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. In addition to Segerstrom Center for the Arts as a presenting and producing institution, it also identifies the beautiful 14-acre campus that embraces the Center’s own facilities as well as two independently acclaimed organizations: Tony Award®-winning South Coast Repertory and a site designated as the future home of the Orange County Museum of Art.
CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER Segerstrom Center for the Arts – Samueli Theater 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, CA
Tuesday, January 22, 2019 at 8:00pm
Program: Suk: Piano Quartet in A Minor, Op. 1 Brahms: Piano Quartet in C Minor, Op. 60 Dvořák: Piano Quartet No. 2 in E Flat Major, Op. 87
Tickets – Start at $39 In person – The Box Office
600 Town Center Drive Costa Mesa, CA 92626 Open 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. daily Online – SCFTA.org Phone – (714) 556-2787
Open 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. daily Group Sales – (714) 755-0236
Information provided is accurate at the time of printing but is subject to change. Segerstrom Center for the Arts is a public, non-profit organization. “Segerstrom Center for the Arts” is a registered trademark.