Sacred and Profane
Sat, Feb 10, 2024, 7:30 pm
Alice Tully Hall
2 hours, including intermission
Chamber music comes with a seemingly endless range of emotion from understated and charming to complex and spellbinding.
Notable works by trailblazers Debussy and Ravel follow an elegant duo by the founder of the Baroque French violin school, Jean-Marie Leclair, and Olivier Messiaen’s The Blackbird, an extravagant example of the composer’s fascination with bird calls.
Program
Jean-Marie Leclair
(1697–1764)Sonata in E minor for Two Violins, Op. 3, No. 5
(1730)Olivier Messiaen
(1908–1992)Le Merle noir (The Blackbird) for Flute and Piano
(1951)Claude Debussy
(1862–1918)Danse sacrée et Danse profane for Harp, Two Violins, Viola, Cello, and Bass
(1904)Marcel Tournier
(1879–1951)Suite for Flute, Violin, Viola, Cello, and Harp, Op. 34
(1928)Maurice Ravel
(1875–1937)Sonatine for Flute, Cello, and Harp
(arr. Carlos Salzedo) (1903–05)Maurice Ravel
(1875–1937)Trio in A minor for Piano, Violin, and Cello
(1914)
Wu Qian
Alexander Sitkovetsky
Danbi Um
Paul Neubauer
Blake Hinson
Bridget Kibbey
Tara Helen O'Connor
Winner of a 2016 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award, as well as classical music’s bright young star award for 2007 by The Independent, pianist Wu Qian has maintained a busy international career for over a decade. She has appeared as soloist in many international venues including the Wigmore, Royal Festival, and Bridgewater halls in the UK, City Hall in Hong Kong, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. As a soloist she has appeared with the Konzerthaus Orchester in Berlin, the Brussels Philharmonic, the London Mozart Players, I Virtuosi Italiani, the European Union Chamber Orchestra, and the Munich Symphoniker. She won first prize in the Trio di Trieste Duo Competition and the Kommerzbank Piano Trio competition in Frankfurt, and has received numerous other awards. Appearances this season include performances in the UK, Germany, USA, Korea, Australia, Spain, and The Netherlands and collaborations with Alexander Sitkovetsky, Leticia Moreno, Cho-Liang Lin, Clive Greensmith, and Wu Han. Her debut recording of Schumann, Liszt, and Alexander Prior was met with universal critical acclaim. She is a founding member of the Sitkovetsky Piano Trio with which, in addition to performing in major concert halls and series around the world, she has released two recordings on the BIS label and also a disc of Brahms and Schubert on the Wigmore Live Label. Wu Qian an alum of The Bowers Program.
Violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky was born in Moscow into a family with a well-established musical tradition. Since his concerto debut at the age of eight, he has performed as soloist and chamber musician in many of the major venues around the world including Vienna’s Musikverein, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and the Wigmore Hall in London. This season he will make his subscription debut with the Budapest Festival Orchestra, among other engagements. He is the Artistic Director of the NFM Leopoldinum Chamber Orchestra in Wrocław, Poland, and is a founding member of the Sitkovetsky Trio, which regularly performs throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas and is recognized as one of the most important ensembles performing today. Sitkovetsky is an alum of CMS’s Bowers Program and plays the 1679 “Parera” Antonio Stradivari violin, kindly loaned to him through the Beare’s International Violin Society by a generous sponsor.
Violinist Danbi Um is a Menuhin International Violin Competition Silver Medalist, a winner of the prestigious 2018 Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant, and a recent top prizewinner of the Naumburg International Violin Competition. Recent and upcoming engagements include appearances with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Cleveland Chamber Music Society, Chamber Music San Francisco, and the Rockport, Moab, Saratoga Performing Arts (SPAC), Santa Fe, and North Shore Music Festivals. Born in Seoul, South Korea, Ms. Um moved to the United States to study at the Curtis Institute of Music, where she earned a bachelor’s degree. She also holds an Artist Diploma from Indiana University. She is an alum of CMS’s Bowers Program and plays a 1683 “ex-Petschek” Nicolo Amati violin, on loan from a private collection.
Violist Paul Neubauer, hailed by the New York Times as a “master musician,” released two new albums in 2025 on First Hand Records, featuring the final works of two great composers: an all-Bartók album including the revised version of the Viola Concerto, and a Shostakovich recording that includes the monumental Viola Sonata. Appointed principal violist of the New York Philharmonic at the age of 21, Neubauer has appeared as soloist with the New York, Los Angeles, and Helsinki Philharmonics; the Chicago, National, St. Louis, Detroit, Dallas, San Francisco, and Bournemouth Symphonies; and the Santa Cecilia, English Chamber, and Beethovenhalle Orchestras. He has premiered viola concertos by Bartók (revised version), Friedman, Glière, Jacob, Kernis, Lazarof, Müller-Siemens, Ott, Penderecki, Picker, Suter, and Tower. A two-time Grammy nominee, Neubauer is artistic director of the Mostly Music series in New Jersey and serves on the faculties of the Juilliard School and Mannes College.
Blake Hinson is a New York–based performer and educator. Assistant Principal Bass of the New York Philharmonic since 2016, and a member of the bass section since 2012; he maintains an active career that blends orchestral work, chamber music, and teaching. Beyond the Philharmonic, he has performed with Gerard Schwarz’s All-Star Orchestra in its 2022 and 2023 seasons and has recorded on major film soundtracks, including West Side Story (2021), In the Heights, and Don’t Worry Darling. Previously, he served as Principal Bass of the Grand Rapids Symphony and performed with the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center. An avid chamber musician, Hinson appears frequently with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center as well as the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach, and on the Philharmonic’s Merkin Hall series. He teaches at the Manhattan School of Music and has held faculty and guest teaching roles at leading institutions.
Harpist Bridget Kibbey is known for her great musical instincts that transcend her instrument. According to the New York Times, “she makes it seem as though her instrument had been waiting all its life to explode with the energetic figures and colors she was getting from it.” 2024–25 highlights include concerto debuts with the Baltimore Symphony and Richmond Symphony, and features at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Helicon Foundation, and Chamber Music City. Kibbey collaborates with notable artists including Kathleen Battle, Dawn Upshaw, Avi Avital, and the Dover and Calidore String Quartets, while touring her own productions crossing French masterworks, Baroque transcriptions, and global music alongside today’s top Latin Jazz artists. Kibbey has recorded for Pentatone, Deutsche Grammophon, and SONY Records. She is a recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Premiere Prix at the Journées de les Harpes Compétition, and a Salon de Virtuosi SONY Recording Grant. She is an alum of CMS’s Bowers Program.
Tara Helen O’Connor, recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and a two-time Grammy nominee, was the first wind player to participate in CMS’s Bowers Program. A regular performer at major music festivals around the country, she is also the Co-Artistic Director of the Music from Angel Fire Festival in New Mexico, the Artistic Director of the Essex Winter Series, a member of the woodwind quintet Windscape, and a founding member of the Naumburg Award–winning New Millennium Ensemble. She has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, EMI Classics, Koch International, CMS Studio Recordings, and Bridge Records, and can be heard on numerous film and television soundtracks. She has premiered hundreds of new works and has collaborated with the Orion, St. Lawrence, and Emerson String Quartets. A Wm. S. Haynes flute artist, O’Connor is on faculty at Yale School of Music. Additionally, she teaches at Bard College and the Manhattan School of Music.