Romantic Bridge
1. | Introduction | 00:00:46 |
2. | Schubert: Fantasie in F minor for Piano, Four Hands, D. 940, Op. 103 | 00:21:09 |
3. | Schumann: Quintet in E-flat major for Piano, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello, Op. 44 | 00:36:34 |
4. | Closing | 00:00:30 |
The first work on this program, "Romantic Bridge" is Schubert’s bewitching Fantasie in F minor, for piano four-hands. Conjuring orchestral sonority with only twenty fingers and one piano, this work is one of the most sublime creations of Schubert’s entire output. Continuing a Romantic theme, the work that follows, Schumann's Piano Quintet in E-flat major, is dedicated to his wife, Clara and was written during the prolific first years of their marriage.
PROGRAM
Franz Schubert (1797–1828) |
Fantasie in F minor for Piano, Four Hands, D. 940, Op. 103 (1828) Ken Noda, Wu Han, piano |
Robert Schumann (1810–1849) |
Quintet in E-flat major for Piano, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello, Op. 44 (1842) Gilbert Kalish, piano; Ani Kavafian, Francisco Fullana, violin; Che-Yen Chen, viola; Dmitri Atapine, cello |
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Ken Noda
Wu Han
Gilbert Kalish
Ani Kavafian
Francisco Fullana
Dmitri Atapine
Ken Noda is Musical Advisor to the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera. After a 28-year tenure, he retired from his full-time Met position as a coach and teacher in July 2019. He is a guest coach at the Carnegie Hall/Weill Music Institute, the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, the Marlboro Music Festival, and the Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center. From 2020 through 2023, he coached a Mozart/da Ponte opera cycle in Salzburg conducted by Sir András Schiff that will be repeated from 2026 through 2028 in Vicenza, Italy. He studied piano with Daniel Barenboim and in his first career as a piano soloist, played with the Berlin, Vienna, Israel, New York, and Los Angeles Philharmonics; the London, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto, and Montreal Symphonies; as well as the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, the Cleveland Orchestra, and L’Orchestre de Paris under Abbado, Barenboim, Chailly, Kubelik, Leinsdorf, Levine, Mehta, Ozawa, and Previn. He has collaborated in chamber music with Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Lynn Harrell, Nigel Kennedy, Cho-Liang Lin, and the Emerson String Quartet, and as vocal accompanist to Paul Appleby, Kathleen Battle, Hildegard Behrens, Maria Ewing, Ying Fang, Ryan Speedo Green, Kate Lindsey, Tamara Mumford, Aprile Millo, Erin Morley, Lisette Oropesa, Ailyn Pérez, James Morris, Kurt Moll, Jessye Norman, Matthew Polenzani, Morris Robinson, Russell Thomas, Dawn Upshaw, and Deborah Voigt.
Pianist Wu Han, recipient of Musical America’s Musician of the Year Award, enjoys a multi-faceted musical life that encompasses artistic direction, performing, and recording at the highest levels. Co-Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 2004 as well as Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Silicon Valley’s innovative chamber music festival Music@Menlo since 2002, she also serves as Artistic Advisor for Wolf Trap’s Chamber Music at the Barns series and Palm Beach’s Society of the Four Arts, and as Artistic Director for La Musica in Sarasota, Florida. Her recent concert activities have taken her from New York’s Lincoln Center stages to the most important concert halls in the United States, Europe, and Asia. In addition to countless performances of virtually the entire chamber repertoire, her concerto performances include appearances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony, and the Aspen Festival Orchestra. She is the Founder and Artistic Director of ArtistLed, classical music’s first artist-directed, internet-based recording label, which has released her performances of the staples of the cello-piano duo repertoire with cellist David Finckel. Her more than 80 releases on ArtistLed, CMS Live, and Music@Menlo LIVE include masterworks of the chamber repertoire with numerous distinguished musicians. Wu Han’s educational activities include overseeing CMS’s Bowers Program and the Chamber Music Institute at Music@Menlo. A recipient of the prestigious Andrew Wolf Award, she was mentored by some of the greatest pianists of our time, including Lilian Kallir, Rudolf Serkin, and Menahem Pressler. Married to cellist David Finckel since 1985, Wu Han divides her time between concert touring and residences in New York City and Westchester County.
The profound influence of pianist Gilbert Kalish as an educator and pianist in myriad performances and recordings has established him as a major figure in American music-making. This season he appears with the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic, performs at the Ojai Music Festival, and holds a residency at the San Francisco Conservatory. In 2006 he was awarded the Peabody Medal by the Peabody Conservatory for his outstanding contributions to music in America. He was the pianist of the Boston Symphony Chamber Players for 30 years, and was a founding member of the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, a group that flourished during the 1960s and 70s in support of new music. He is particularly known for his partnership of many years with mezzo-soprano Jan DeGaetani, as well as for current collaborations with soprano Dawn Upshaw and cellists Timothy Eddy and Joel Krosnik. As an educator and performer he has appeared at the Banff Centre, the Steans Institute at Ravinia, the Marlboro Music Festival, and Music@Menlo; from 1985 to 1997 he served as chairman of the Tanglewood faculty. His discography of some 100 recordings embraces both the classical and contemporary repertories; of special note are those made with Ms. DeGaetani and that of Ives' Concord Sonata. A distinguished professor at SUNY Stony Brook, Mr. Kalish has been an Artist of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 2006.
Violinist Ani Kavafian enjoys a prolific career as a soloist, chamber musician, and professor. She has performed with many of America’s leading orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and San Francisco Symphony. In the 2019-20 season, she continued her longtime association as an artist of the Chamber Music Society with appearances in New York and on tour. Last summer she participated in several music festivals, including the Heifetz International Institute and the Sarasota Chamber Music, Bridgehampton, Meadowmount, Norfolk, and Angel Fire festivals. She and her sister, violinist and violist Ida Kavafian, have performed with the symphonies of Detroit, Colorado, Tucson, San Antonio, and Cincinnati, and have recorded the music of Mozart and Sarasate on the Nonesuch label. She is a Full Professor at Yale University and has appeared at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall numerous times with colleagues and students from Yale. She has received an Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions award and has appeared at the White House on three occasions. Her recordings can be heard on the Nonesuch, RCA, Columbia, Arabesque, and Delos labels. Born in Istanbul of Armenian heritage, Kavafian studied violin in the US with Ara Zerounian and Mischa Mischakoff. She received her master’s degree from The Juilliard School under Ivan Galamian. She plays the 1736 Muir McKenzie Stradivarius violin.
Spanish-born violinist Francisco Fullana, winner of the 2018 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the 2023 Khaledi Prize, has been hailed as “frighteningly awesome” (Buffalo News). His latest album on Orchid Classics, Bach’s Long Shadow, was named BBC Music Magazine’s Instrumental Choice of the Month. Its five-star review stated: "Fullana manages to combine Itzhak Perlman's warmth with the aristocratic poise of Henryk Szeryng." His thoughtful virtuosity has led to collaborations with conducting greats like Sir Colin Davis, Hans Graf, and Gustavo Dudamel. Besides his career as a soloist, which includes recent debuts with the Philadelphia and St. Paul Chamber Orchestras and a season-long artist residency with the Grammy-winning orchestra Apollo’s Fire, he is making an impact as an innovative educator. He created the Fortissimo Youth Initiative, a series of seminars and performances in partnership with youth and university orchestras, and co-founded San Antonio’s Classical Music Institute, an outreach-focused chamber music festival that serves hundreds of Title I underrepresented minority students every summer. He was a first-prize winner of the Johannes Brahms and Angel Munetsugu International Violin Competitions and is an alum of CMS’s Bowers Program. A graduate of the Juilliard School and the University of Southern California, Fullana performs on the 1735 Mary Portman ex-Kreisler Guarneri del Gesù violin, on loan from Clement and Karen Arrison through the Stradivari Society of Chicago.
Dmitri Atapine has been described as a cellist with “brilliant technical chops” (Gramophone), whose playing is “highly impressive throughout” (The Strad). He has appeared on some of the world's foremost stages. An avid chamber musician, he frequently performs with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and is an alum of The Bowers Program. He is a frequent guest at leading festivals, including Music@Menlo, La Musica Sarasota, Pacific, Aldeburgh, Aix-en-Provence, and Nevada. His performances have been broadcast nationally in the US, Europe, and Asia. His many awards include first prize at the Carlos Prieto Cello Competition, as well as top honors at the Premio Vittorio Gui and Plowman chamber competitions. He has collaborated with such distinguished musicians as Cho-Liang Lin, Paul Neubauer, Ani and Ida Kavafian, Wu Han, Bruno Giuranna, David Finckel, David Shifrin, and the Emerson Quartet. His many recordings include a critically acclaimed world premiere of Lowell Liebermann’s complete works for cello and piano. He holds a doctorate from the Yale School of Music, where he was a student of Aldo Parisot. Atapine is Professor of Cello at the University of Nevada, Reno, and is Artistic Co-Director of the Friends of Chamber Music Kansas City, Apex Concerts (Reno, Nevada), and the Ribadesella Chamber Music Festival (Spain), as well as the Co-Director of the Young Performers Program at Music@Menlo Chamber Music Institute (California).