Thrills and Chills
Tue, Oct 31, 2023, 7:30 pm
Alice Tully Hall
2 hours, including intermission
A CMS performance falling on Halloween calls for a special program.
Beethoven’s “Ghost” Trio, reportedly inspired by the witches’ scene from Macbeth, is followed by a new work based on a ghoulish tale by Edgar Allan Poe, as well as Bartók’s edge-of-your-seat sonata combining two thundering pianos and a battery of percussion.
Masquerade and costumes welcome.
Program
Ludwig van Beethoven
(1770–1827)Trio in D major for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Op. 70, No. 1, “Ghost”
(1808)Quick Note
Beethoven employs dramatic contrasts and haunting melodies to create a sense of mystery and depth.
Listen for the ominous and ethereal atmosphere established in the second movement, where Beethoven introduces the ghostly theme that gives the trio its nickname, showcasing his innovative approach to chamber music composition.
Gregg Kallor
(b. 1978)The Tell-Tale Heart for Voice, Cello, and Piano
(2016)Béla Bartók
(1881–1945)Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, BB 115
(1937)
Alessio Bax
Arnaud Sussmann
Nicholas Canellakis
Ayano Kataoka
Ian Rosenbaum
Alessio Bax catapulted to prominence with First Prize wins at both the Leeds and Hamamatsu International Piano Competitions. He has appeared with more than 150 orchestras, including the London, Royal, and St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestras, the Boston, Dallas, and Sydney Symphonies, and the NHK Symphony in Japan, collaborating with such eminent conductors as Marin Alsop, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir Andrew Davis, Sir Simon Rattle, Yuri Temirkanov, and Jaap van Zweden. He released his 11th Signum Classics album, Italian Inspirations, whose program was also the vehicle for his solo recital debut at New York’s 92nd Street Y as well as on tour. He and his regular piano duo partner, Lucille Chung, have given recitals at Lincoln Center and were featured with the St. Louis Symphony and Stéphane Denève. This season he makes his debut with the Milwaukee Symphony, and will return for the fourth time for two recitals at the historic Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Last summer he made return appearances at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival and at the Bravo! Vail Music Festival with the Dallas Symphony and Fabio Luisi conducting. At age 14, Bax graduated with top honors from the conservatory of Bari, his hometown in Italy, and after further studies in Europe, he moved to the United States in 1994. A Steinway artist, he lives in New York City with pianist Lucille Chung and their daughter, Mila. He is a former member of CMS’s Bowers Program and on the faculty at the New England Conservatory.
Winner of a 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Arnaud Sussmann has recently appeared as soloist with the Vancouver Symphony and the New World Symphony. As a chamber musician, he has performed at the Tel Aviv Museum, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Dresden Music Festival, and the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. He has also given concerts at the Moritzburg, Caramoor, Music@Menlo, La Jolla SummerFest, Mainly Mozart, Seattle Chamber Music, Chamber Music Northwest, and Moab Music festivals. An alum of CMS’s Bowers Program, Sussmann is Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach and Co-Director of Music@Menlo’s International Program, and teaches at Stony Brook University. In September 2022, he was named Founding Artistic Director of the Boscobel Chamber Music Festival. Mr. Sussmann plays a 1731 Stradivarius violin on loan from a private owner.
Nicholas Canellakis has become one of the most sought-after and innovative cellists of his generation, praised in the New Yorker as a “superb young soloist.” Recent highlights include solo debuts with the Virginia, Albany, Bangor, and Delaware symphony orchestras; concerto appearances with the Erie Philharmonic, the New Haven Symphony, and the American Symphony Orchestra; Europe and Asia tours with CMS; and recitals throughout the US with his longtime duo collaborator, pianist-composer Michael Stephen Brown. An alum of CMS’s Bowers Program, he is a regular guest artist at many of the world’s leading music festivals. Canellakis is the Artistic Director of Chamber Music Sedona in Arizona and is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music (where he was recently appointed to the cello faculty) and New England Conservatory.
The first percussionist to join CMS’s Bowers Program, Ayano Kataoka is known for her brilliant technique and the distinctive elegance and imagination she brings to her performances. With cellist Yo-Yo Ma, she gave the world premiere of Bruce Adolphe’s Self Comes to Mind, and she has presented a solo recital on the B to C (Bach to Contemporary) series at Tokyo Opera City Recital Hall. Additional highlights include Steven Mackey’s Micro-Concerto at Alice Tully Hall; Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du soldat at 92nd Y with violinist Jaime Laredo and actors Alan Alda and Noah Wyle; and Bartók’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion at CMS with pianists Emanuel Ax and Yoko Nozaki. Ms. Kataoka is a full professor of percussion at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she received the 2023–24 Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series honor and the Chancellor’s Medal. She has also served as a visiting professor at Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln and on the faculty of Yellow Barn and the So Percussion Summer Institute.
Praised for his “spectacular performances” (Wall Street Journal), and his “unfailing virtuosity” (Chicago Tribune), percussionist Ian Rosenbaum has developed a musical breadth far beyond his years. As a passionate advocate for contemporary music, Mr. Rosenbaum has premiered dozens of new chamber and solo works, and his recordings have been nominated for eight Grammy awards. In 2012, Mr. Rosenbaum joined the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two) as only the second percussionist selected in the program’s history. Mr. Rosenbaum is a founding member of Sandbox Percussion, and is on faculty at the Peabody Institute, the Mannes School of Music, and the University of Missouri-Kansas City.