Shostakovich: 1906-1975
Sun, Feb 1, 2026, 5:00 pm
Alice Tully Hall
2 hours, including intermission
Dmitri Shostakovich was an unsurpassed musical chronicler of his life and times, and of the Soviet state’s complicated relationship with artists. Despite being a highly decorated member of the Communist Party, he wrote works that clashed with the state and led to denouncements on multiple occasions. His body of music speaks to the tension of being both celebrated and denigrated by a government that fell short of its own ideals as it embraced paranoia and persecution. The Sitkovetsky Trio performs a work which blends lyrical beauty with uneasy discord, soprano Andriana Chuchman performs songs set to the words of a poet who also had a contentious relationship with the Soviet state, and the program finishes with a chamber version of Shostakovich’s enigmatically ironic final symphony.
Program
Dmitri Shostakovich
(1906–1975)Trio No. 1 in C minor for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Op. 8
(1923)Dmitri Shostakovich
(1906–1975)Seven Romances on Poems of Alexander Blok for Soprano, Violin, Cello, and Piano, Op. 127
(1967)Dmitri Shostakovich
(1906–1975)Symphony No. 15 in A major for Ensemble, Op. 141 (arr. Derevianko)
(1970-71, arr. 1972)Andriana Chuchman
Paul Huang
Jonathan Swensen
Victor Caccese
Ayano Kataoka
Ian David Rosenbaum
Sitkovetsky Trio
Ukrainian-Canadian soprano Andriana Chuchman has earned much acclaim for her performances in a wide range of repertoire including the heroines of Mozart and Handel, 20th-century masterpieces, and the premieres of new operas and orchestral works. Recent appearances include the Dallas Opera’s world premiere of Joby Talbot’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and three important role debuts: Violetta in La Traviata at Opera Omaha, Juliette in Romeo et Juliette at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at the Houston Grand Opera. She recently made her role debut as the title role in Alcina with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra.
Ms. Chuchman has appeared with many prestigious opera companies including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Dallas Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Washington National Opera, Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Omaha, Glyndebourne Festival Tour, Salzburg Whitsun Festival and the Hamburg State Opera. In her native Canada, she has appeared with the Canadian Opera Company, Manitoba Opera, and Edmonton Opera. Her many roles include Giulietta in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Marie in La Fille du Regiment, Adina in L'Elisir d'Amore, Cleopatra in Guilio Cesare, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, Valencienne in The Merry Widow, the title role in Orphée et Eurydice, and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi. She has also received critical acclaim for her performances in many contemporary operas including Mary in Jake Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life, Pat Nixon in John Adam’s Nixon in China, Kumudha in John Adam’s A Flowering Tree, Boonyi/India in the world premiere of Jack Perla's Shalimar the Clown, Magnolia in Show Boat, and Guinevere in Camelot.
In concert, Ms. Chuchman has appeared at Lincoln Center’s White Lights Festival in staged performances of the Pegolesi Stabat Mater, and has also appeared with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Rhode Island Symphony, Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, and the Cincinnati May, Bellingham, and Ravinia festivals.
Born in Winnipeg, Ms. Chuchman received her bachelor’s degree in voice performance from the School of Music at the University of Manitoba. She is also an alumna of the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program. Her awards include the San Francisco Opera’s 2019 Emerging Star of the Year, Opera Theatre of St. Louis's 2017 Mabel Dorn Reeder Award, and prizewinner at the Finals of the 2009 Neue Stimmen Competition in Germany.
Recipient of a 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant and a 2017 Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists, violinist Paul Huang has made recent appearances with the Rotterdam Philharmonic with Lahav Shani, Dallas and NHK Symphonies with Fabio Luisi, Detroit Symphony with Leonard Slatkin, Baltimore Symphony and Seoul Philharmonic with Markus Stenz, San Francisco Symphony with Mei-Ann Chen, and Houston Symphony with Andrés Orozco-Estrada. In the 2024–25 season, he returns to the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, Hiroshima Symphony, and Residentie Orkest Den Haag with Jun Markl, and makes his London debut at the Barbican Hall with BBC Symphony and Marie Jacquot. He recently stepped in for Anne-Sophie Mutter at the Bravo! Vail Music Festival, playing Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4 with Chamber Orchestra Vienna-Berlin, and made recital debuts at the Lucerne and Aspen Music Festivals, all to critical acclaim. In fall 2021, he also became the first classical violinist to perform his own arrangement of the US national anthem for the opening game of the NFL at the Bank of America Stadium to an audience of 75,000. Winner of the 2011 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Huang earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Juilliard School. He plays on the legendary 1742 ex-Wieniawski Guarneri del Gesù on loan through the Stradivari Society of Chicago. He is on the faculty of Taipei National University of the Arts and resides in New York.
Rising star of the cello Jonathan Swensen is the recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and was featured as “One to Watch” in Gramophone Magazine upon the release of his debut recording Fantasia, an album of works for solo cello which received rave reviews on its release. Jonathan fell in love with the cello upon hearing the Elgar Concerto at the age of six, and ultimately made his concerto debut performing that very piece with Portugal’s Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música. He has performed with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Mobile Symphony, Greenville Symphony, and the Aarhus, Odense, and Iceland symphonies. He made his critically acclaimed recital debuts at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater and New York’s Merkin Concert Hall, with additional performances in Boston’s Jordan Hall, the Morgan Library and Museum, and the Krannert Center. He is a frequent performer of chamber music in the US and Europe, appearing at the Tivoli Festival, Copenhagen Summer Festival, Chamberfest Cleveland, Krzyżowa-Music, Vancouver Recital Society, and San Francisco Performance, among others. He has captured first prizes at the Windsor International String Competition, Khachaturian International Cello Competition, and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. In 2024, he begins his tenure as a member of CMS’s Bowers Program. A graduate of the Royal Danish Academy of Music, Swensen continued his studies with Torleif Thedéen at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo and Laurence Lesser at New England Conservatory, where he receives his Artist Diploma in May 2023.
Victor Caccese is a founding member of the Brooklyn-based percussion quartet Sandbox Percussion and a Grammmy-nominated percussionist. As a member of Sandbox, he has performed over 200 concerts worldwide and taught at institutions such as University of Missouri-Kansas City, the New School College of the Performing Arts, the Peabody Conservatory, the Curtis Institute, Yale School of Music, Michigan State University, Vanderbilt University, University of Kansas, and University of Massachusetts Amherst. Victor has collaborated with composers such as Amy Beth Kirsten, Andy Akiho, David Crowell, James Wood, John Luther Adams, and Thomas Kotcheff. This past summer Victor taught and performed at the eighth annual Sandbox Percussion Seminar, a chamber music festival accepting students from around the world to study and perform some of today’s leading contemporary percussion pieces. Also a composer and arranger, Victor has written a number of pieces for percussion. His works have been performed by Sandbox Percussion more than 50 times throughout the United States. While music is at the core of his professional life, Victor has also worked as a photographer and videographer. As head of media and content development for Sandbox Percussion, he has developed and maintained a YouTube presence consisting of performance videos, workshop documentaries, and travel vlogs. Victor holds degrees from the Peabody Conservatory and the Yale School of Music. He is also a member of The Percussion Collective, a stunning ensemble founded by performer and pedagogue Robert van Sice. Victor serves on faculty at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory as a percussion instructor and ensemble-in-residence with Sandbox Percussion. He also is on faculty at the New School College of the Performing Arts, and has served as visiting artist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst with Sandbox Percussion.
The first percussionist to be chosen for The Bowers Program, Ayano Kataoka is known for her brilliant and dynamic technique, as well as the unique elegance and artistry she brings to her performances. Together with cellist Yo-Yo Ma at the American Museum of Natural History, she gave the world premiere of Bruce Adolphe's Self Comes to Mind for cello and two percussionists, based on a text by neuroscientist Antonio Damasio, and featuring interactive video images of brain scans triggered by the live music performance. She presented a solo recital as part of the prestigious B to C (Bach to Contemporary) recital series at the Tokyo Opera City Recital Hall, which was broadcast nationally in Japan on NHK television. Other highlights include a performance of Steven Mackey’s Micro-Concerto for Percussion Solo and Chamber Ensemble at Alice Tully Hall, a theatrical performance of Stravinsky's Soldier's Tale at the 92nd Street Y with violinist Jaime Laredo and actors Alan Alda and Noah Wyle, and performances of Bartók's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion at the Chamber Music Society with pianists Emanuel Ax and Yoko Nozaki. Her performances can be also heard on Deutsche Grammophon, Naxos, New World, New Focus, and Albany recording labels. A native of Japan, Kataoka began her marimba studies at age five, and percussion at 15. She received her artist diploma degree from Yale School of Music, where she studied with marimba virtuoso Robert van Sice. She is currently a full professor at University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Praised for his “spectacular performances” (Wall Street Journal), and his “unfailing virtuosity” (Chicago Tribune), Grammy-nominated percussionist Ian David Rosenbaum has developed a musical breadth far beyond his years. As a passionate advocate for contemporary music, he has premiered over 100 new chamber and solo works. He has collaborated with and championed the music of established and emerging composers alike. He was nominated for three Grammy awards in 2021 for his performances on albums of music by Andy Akiho and Christopher Cerrone, including two nominations for Seven Pillars, an album by Sandbox Percussion released on Aki Rhythm Productions, a record label he co-founded with Akiho in 2021. In 2012 he joined the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two) as only the second percussionist selected in its history, and has performed regularly with CMS since then. He is a founding member of Sandbox Percussion, the Percussion Collective, and the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble. He has recorded for the Bridge, Innova, Naxos, and Starkland labels and is on faculty at the Mannes School of Music and the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Rosenbaum performs with Pearl/Adams instruments, Vic Firth mallets, and Remo drumheads.
The Sitkovetsky Trio has established itself as an exceptional piano trio of today. Their thoughtful and committed approach has brought the ensemble critical acclaim and invitations to renowned concert halls around the world including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Frankfurt Alte Oper, Palais des Beaux Arts, Musée du Louvre, l’Auditori Barcelona, Wigmore Hall or Lincoln Center New York.
Recently the Sitkovetsky Trio received the Chamber Music Award of the BBC Music Magazine. Furthermore they are first prize-winners of the International Commerzbank Chamber Music Award and recipients of the NORDMETALL Chamber Music Award at the MecklenburgVorpommern Festival, as well as the Philharmonia-Martin Chamber Music Award. They have been supported by the Hattori Foundation, the Musicians Benevolent Fund, the Fidelio Trust and the Swiss Global Artistic Foundation. Last season, the Sitkovetsky Trio received generous funding from the Initiative Musik as part of the Neustart Kultur programme launched by the German government.
In 2014, the Sitkovetsky Trio released their first recording for BIS Records with works by Smetana, Suk and Dvořák to much critical acclaim. This led to further releases of works by Brahms and Schubert on the Wigmore Live Label and another recording for BIS of Mendelssohn Trios, as well as Beethoven’s Trios, Op. 1 and Op. 70, and Allegretto in B-flat major for Piano Trio, WoO 39. The album received a Diapason d’Or ARTE and was released as Vol. 1 of a complete Beethoven cycle. In July 2021, the Trio’s fifth album -- Ravel Trio and Saint-Saëns Trio No. 2 -- was released to great critical acclaim and received a Supersonic Award from Pizzicato Magazine. Vol. 2 of their Beethoven cycle, released in September, enjoyed rave reviews in BBC Music Magazine, The Strad and Gramophone, the latter also featuring the recording in its “Editor’s Choice” for the month.
Additional highlights of the 2023/2024 season include concerts at the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Brucknerhaus Linz, the Cologne Philharmonie and the Elbphilharmonie. They are also on tour in the USA and Italy and will perform Ludwig Van Beethoven's Triple Concerto with the Staatstheater Darmstadt and the Munich Symphony Orchestra. Alexander Sitkovetsky is playing the 1679 ‘Parera’ Antonio Stradivarius Violin, kindly loaned to him through the Beare’s International Violin Society by a generous sponsor; Isang Enders is playing a cello by Carlo Tononi (Venice, 1720) which has been kindly loaned by the J. & A. Beare Violin Society.