An Evening with Sir Stephen Hough
Sun, Nov 24, 2024, 6:30 pm
David Geffen Hall
2 hours, including intermission
One of the most celebrated musicians of our time, Sir Stephen Hough makes his CMS debut as pianist and composer. In a unique program combining Liszt’s fearsomely virtuosic sonata with works by Chopin and the prolific Cécile Chaminade, Sir Stephen is joined by the enthralling Viano Quartet for the world premiere of his Piano Quintet.
Program
Frédéric Chopin
(1810–1849)Nocturne in E-flat major for Piano, Op. 9, No. 2
(1830–32)Frédéric Chopin
(1810–1849)Nocturne in F-sharp major for Piano, Op. 15, No.2
Frédéric Chopin
(1810–1849)Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat minor for Piano, Op. 31
Sir Stephen Hough
(b. 1961)Piano Quintet (Les Noces Rouges)
(2024)Quick Note
Taking inspiration from a gruesome, grisly vignette in Willa Cather's novel My Antonia, Hough's Piano Quintet takes the listener on a journey from a romantic wedding to a drunken party to a horrifying "murder by wolves" in this CMS commissioned premiere.
Cécile Chaminade
(1857–1944)“Automne” from Six Études de concert for Piano, Op. 35, No. 2
(c. 1886)Cécile Chaminade
(1857–1944)“Autrefois” from Six Pièces humoristiques for Piano, Op. 87, No. 4
(c. 1897)Cécile Chaminade
(1857–1944)Les Sylvains for Piano, Op. 60
(c. 1892)Franz Liszt
(1811–1886)Sonata in B minor for Piano, S. 178
(1852–53)
Sir Stephen Hough
Viano Quartet
One of the most distinctive artists of his generation, Sir Stephen Hough combines a distinguished career as a pianist with those of composer and writer.
Named by The Economist as one of Twenty Living Polymaths, Hough was the first classical performer to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship (2001). He was awarded Northwestern University’s 2008 Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano, won the Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist Award in 2010, and in 2016 was made an Honorary Member of RPS. In 2014 he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) and was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honors in 2022.
Since taking first prize at the 1983 Naumburg Competition in New York, Sir Stephen has appeared with most of the major European, Asian, and American orchestras and plays recitals regularly in major halls and concert series around the world from London's Royal Festival Hall to New York’s Carnegie Hall. He has been a regular guest at festivals such as Aldeburgh, Aspen, Blossom, Edinburgh, La Roque d’Anthéron, Hollywood Bowl, Mostly Mozart, Salzburg, Tanglewood, Verbier, Blossom, and the BBC Proms, where he has made 29 concerto appearances, including playing all of the works of Tchaikovsky for piano and orchestra, a series he later repeated with the Chicago Symphony.
Many of his catalogue of over 60 albums have garnered international prizes including the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis, Diapason d’Or, Monde de la Musique, several Grammy nominations, eight Gramophone Magazine Awards including ‘Record of the Year’ in 1996 and 2003, and the Gramophone ‘Gold Disc’ Award in 2008, which named his complete Saint-Saens Piano Concertos as the best recording of the past 30 years. His 2012 recording of the complete Chopin Waltzes received the Diapason d’Or de l’Annee, France’s most prestigious recording award. His 2005 live recording of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos was the fastest selling recording in Hyperion’s history, while his 1987 recording of the Hummel concertos remains Chandos’s best-selling disc to date.
Published by Josef Weinberger, Sir Stephen has composed works for orchestra, choir, chamber ensemble, organ, harpsichord, and solo piano. He has been commissioned by the Takács Quartet, the Cliburn, the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet, the Gilmore Foundation, The Genesis Foundation, the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation, London’s National Gallery, Wigmore Hall, Le Musée de Louvre, and Musica Viva Australia, among others.
A noted writer, Sir Stephen has contributed articles for the New York Times, The Guardian, The Times, Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine, and he wrote a blog for The Telegraph for seven years which became one of the most popular and influential forums for cultural discussion and for which he wrote over six hundred articles. He has published four books: The Bible as Prayer (Bloomsbury and Paulist Press, 2007); a novel: The Final Retreat (Sylph Editions, 2018); a book of essays: Rough Ideas: Reflections on Music and More (Faber & Faber and Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2019); and a memoir: Enough: Scenes from Childhood (Faber & Faber, 2023).
Sir Stephen resides in London where he is a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music and holds the International Chair of Piano Studies at his alma mater, the Royal Northern College in Manchester. He is also a member of the faculty at the Juilliard School.
Praised for their “virtuosity, visceral expression, and rare unity of intention” (Boston Globe), the Viano Quartet are one of the most sought-after young ensembles today and current members of CMS’s Bowers Program. Since soaring to international acclaim as winners of the 13th Banff International String Quartet Competition, they have performed at major venues across the globe.
During the 2024–25 season, the quartet makes its debut in Alice Tully Hall, followed by appearances at series including Wolf Trap, Tuesday Evening Concert Series, Northwestern University, Four Arts, MoCA Westport, Chamber Music Yellow Springs, and the chamber music societies of Dallas, Salt Lake City, and Carmel. In November, the quartet makes its debut in David Geffen Hall with Sir Stephen Hough for the world premiere of his new piano quintet. The quartet can be heard in Canada this season with debuts at the Cecilian Chamber Series as well as the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and Isabel Bader PAC in Kingston in a program with guitarist Miloš Karadaglic. As the inaugural June Goldsmith Quartet-in-Residence for the Music in the Morning series through the 2024–25 season, the quartet will return to Vancouver this March for concerts and community engagement initiatives.
In addition to their busy touring schedule, the quartet are also dedicated advocates of music education, and have worked with students at Music@Menlo, SUNY Buffalo, the Colburn Academy, Duke University, University of British Columbia, Northern Michigan University, Utah State University, University of Denver, and Virginia Commonwealth University. This season they will be returning to University of Victoria for several weeks of residency. The quartet has previously held graduate quartet residencies at Curtis and Colburn and were also the Peak Fellowship Quartet-in-Residence at Meadows School of the Arts at SMU.
The Viano Quartet has collaborated with world-class musicians including Emanuel Ax, Inon Barnatan, Fleur Barron, James Ehnes, Mahan Esfahani, Marc-André Hamelin, Bridget Kibbey, Paul Neubauer, David Shifrin, and Elisso Virsaladze. 2023 marked the release of the quartet’s first album, Portraits, on the Curtis label, featuring pieces by Schubert, Florence Price, Tchaikovsky, and Ginastera.
Before their career-defining achievement at the Banff International String Quartet Competition, they also received major prizes at the Wigmore Hall, Osaka, Fischoff, ENKOR, and Yellow Springs Chamber Music competitions. Each member of the quartet is grateful to the interminable support from their distinguished mentors at the Curtis Institute and Colburn Conservatory, including members of the Dover, Guarneri, and Tokyo string quartets.
