The Chamber Music Society Of Lincoln Center

THE CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER DAVID FINCKEL AND WU HAN, ARTISTIC DIRECTORS

PRESENTS 2009-2010 OPENING NIGHT 40TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON A VIENNESE EVENING SOPRANO DAWN UPSHAW IN WORLD PREMIERE BY DAVID BRUCE PLUS – BEETHOVEN, MAHLER, SCHUBERT, & JOHANN STRAUSS, JR. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 8PM ALICE TULLY HALL The Chamber Music Society opens its 2009-2010 season on Wednesday, September 23, at 8pm in Alice Tully Hall. The gala evening offers a heady mix of works by Beethoven, Mahler, Schubert, and Johann Strauss, Jr., evoking the musical hothouse of the seductive city of Vienna, and a world premiere by British-American composer David Bruce written for, and performed by, guest artist soprano Dawn Upshaw. Upshaw will also be heard in Mahler’s Sehr behaglich from Symphony No. 4 in G major, Chamber version for Soprano and Ensemble (arr. Erwin Stein). Photo: Dario Acosta. Joining Upshaw on the program is a sensational line-up of world-renowned chamber players including pianists Gilbert Kalish, Anne-Marie McDermott, and André-Michel Schub; clarinetists Alexander Fiterstein, Todd Palmer, and David Shifrin; mandolin player Avi Avital; violinists Todd Phillips and Arnaud Sussmann; violist Paul Neubauer; cellists Andres Diaz and David Finckel; double bassist Kurt Muroki; flutist Tara Helen O’Connor; oboist Stephen Taylor; harpist Bridget Kibbey; and percussionist Ayano Kataoka. In addition to David Bruce’s The North Wind Was a Woman for Soprano and Chamber Ensemble (CMS Commission), and Mahler’s Sehr behaglich , the program includes Beethoven’s Trio in B-flat major for Clarinet, Cello and Piano, Op. 11; Schubert’s Allegro in A minor for Piano Four Hands, D. 947, Op. 144, “Lebensstürme;” two waltzes

by Strauss, in arrangements by Arnold Schoenberg: Kaiser-Walzer for Flute, Clarinet, String Quartet, and Piano, Op. 437; and Anton Webern: Schatz-Walzer for String Quartet, Piano, and Harmonium, Op. 418. The original text for David Bruce’s The North Wind Was a Woman, features three poems by Alasdair Middleton (the librettist for his opera A Bird in Your Ear), and two by the composer himself. Middleton wrote the libretto for Bruce’s opera A Bird in Your Ear, and along with Dawn Upshaw, several performers on this concert also enjoy a previous association with Bruce. The composer supplied the following comment about his new work, and his relationships with the artists: It is my fantastic privilege to be writing this piece for Dawn Upshaw, whom I have got to know over the past couple of years and who has been tremendously supportive of my work as a composer. Dawn sang my Piosenki last year on a number of occasions, and in those same concerts I was particularly taken with her performances of some lyrical and melancholy songs by John Downland. It was this side to her voice that I decided I wanted to bring out in these songs, which are also inspired to some extent by Medieval French song, and more distantly, by Strauss's elegiac Four Last Songs. Aside from Dawn herself, inspiration also came from knowing the fantastic array of players who will be performing, several of whom I am lucky enough to count among my friends. These include harpist Bridget Kibbey, who premiered my solo harp piece Caja de Música at Carnegie Hall in April; clarinetist Todd Palmer, who premiered my clarinet quintet, Gumboots (also at Carnegie) last autumn; leading mandolin player Avi Avital with whom I have worked on a number of projects; and violinist Arnaud Sussman who premiered my piece Groanbox with Metropolis Ensemble earlier this year. ARTIST BIOS Soprano Dawn Upshaw has achieved worldwide celebrity as a singer of a wide rage of opera and concert repertoire. Her ability to reach to the heart of music and text has earned her both the devotion of an exceptionally diverse audience, and awards and distinctions accorded to only the most distinguished of artists. In 2007, she was named a Fellow of the MacArthur Foundation, the first vocal artist to be awarded the five-year “genius” prize, and in 2008 she was named a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Upshaw is Artistic Director of the Vocal Arts Program at Bard College Conservatory of Music. In addition to her acclaimed performance in traditional repertoire, Dawn Upshaw has championed many contemporary composers, often in works written especially for her, among them John Harbison’s opera The Great Gatsby; Kaija Saariaho’s opera L’Amour de Loin and oratorio La Passion de Simone; John Adams’s oratorio El Niño; and Osvaldo Golijov’s chamber opera Ainadamar and song cycle Ayre. In the past decade, Upshaw has premiered more than 25 works. This season, in addition to the CMS season-opener by David Bruce, she sings world premieres by Alberto Iglesias (with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra) and a song cycle by Osvaldo Golijov. At Carnegie

Hall, she will also reprise her role in John Adams’s El Niño and take part in a festival celebrating Louis Andriessen. David Bruce is developing an international reputation as a composer, particularly in the field of opera and vocal music. His one-act opera A Bird in Your Ear (2008) was commissioned by Bard College, where Dawn Upshaw is Artistic Director of the Vocal Arts Program, and first performed by her graduate students there. After its successful premiere, the work has had performances as a finalist in the National Opera Association's Chamber Opera competition 2008; a student production at New York University; and as part of the 2009 VOX festival by New York City Opera. Anthony Tommasini of The New York Times hailed A Bird in Your Ear as “skillfully written and imaginative..." Bruce was born in Connecticut to English and Welsh parents. He began his undergraduate studies in music in 1988 at Nottingham University before moving on to the Royal College of Music (1991-3) where he earned a Masters Degree in Composition, studying with Tim Salter and George Benjamin; and a PhD in Composition at King's College, London (1995-9) under the supervision of Sir Harrison Birtwistle. This season, CMS is pleased to welcome harpist Bridget Kibbey to its artist roster, where she will begin a three year residency in the CMS Two program for exceptional young chamber players. Kibbey is a recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and winner of the 2007 Concert Artists Guild International Competition. She recently joined soprano Dawn Upshaw in recording Luciano Berio's Folk Songs and Osvaldo Golijov's Ayre. Her solo album, “Love is Come Again,” was listed in the Time Out New York Top Ten list for 2007. Kibbey recently joined the harp faculties of Bard Conservatory, Vassar College, New York University, and The Juilliard School Pre-College program. She holds both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School where she completed studies with Nancy Allen. Listing Information: The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at Alice Tully Hall Wed., Sept. 23, 8pm, Opening Night Gala Tickets: $150 (includes post-concert reception with the artists), $90, $45, $25 Student Rush $10 available day of concert at box office Tickets: 212.875.5788; on-line www.ChamberMusicSociety.org Alice Tully Hall box office (Broadway @ 65th St.) For information on pre-concert reception and dinner call 212.875.5216. A VIENNESE EVENING Performers: Dawn Upshaw, soprano; Gilbert Kalish, Anne-Marie McDermott, pianos; André-Michel Schub, harmonium/piano; Avi Avital, mandolin; Todd Phillips, Arnaud Sussmann, TBD, violins; Paul Neubauer, viola; Andres Diaz, David Finckel, cellos; Kurt Muroki, bass; Tara Helen O’Connor, flute; Stephen Taylor, oboe; Alexander Fiterstein, Todd Palmer, David Shifrin, clarinets; Bridget Kibbey, harp; Ayano Kataoka, percussion.

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

Trio in B-flat major for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano, Op. 11 (1797)

FRANZ SCHUBERT

Allegro in A minor for Piano, Four Hands, D. 947, Op. 144, “Lebensstürme” (1828)

DAVID BRUCE

The North Wind Was a Woman for Soprano and Chamber Ensemble (CMS Commission, World Premiere) (2009)

JOHANN STRAUSS, JR.

Kaiser-Walzer for Flute, Clarinet, String Quartet, and Piano, Op. 437 (arr. Schoenberg) (1889) Schatz-Walzer for String Quartet, Piano, and Harmonium, Op. 418 (arr. Webern) (1885)

GUSTAV MAHLER

Sehr behaglich from Symphony No. 4 in G major, Chamber version for Soprano and Ensemble (arr. Erwin Stein) (1892, 1899-1900, rev. 1901-10, arr. 1921)