Inspector Pulse Discovers Magical Mystical Moonlight
Sun, Mar 15, 2026, 2:00 pm
Alice Tully Hall
1 hour, no intermission
For thousands of years, the moon has inspired people to write poems and compose music about its enchanting glow! Join us as we celebrate the mysteries of the moon with music by Debussy, Schumann, Clarke, Beethoven, and Bruce Adolphe.
For all who are curious, they can try out instruments at our Instrument Petting Zoo from 1:00–1:50 PM in the lobby. Children will also have the opportunity to talk to the artists by asking questions at the end of the show.
All patrons, including small children sitting in laps, must have a ticket to enter. All performances are appropriate for ages 6+ as long as guests are not disruptive to other patrons' enjoyment of the performance.
Program
Claude Debussy
(1862–1918)"Clair de lune" from Suite bergamasque for Piano
(c. 1890, rev. 1905)Claude Debussy
(1862–1918)"Clair de lune" from Fêtes galantes for Voice and Piano
(1903)Robert Schumann
(1810–1856)"Mondnacht" from Liederkreis for Voice and Piano, Op. 39, No. 5
(1840)Rebecca Clarke
(1886–1979)Midsummer Moon for Violin and Piano
(1926)Ludwig van Beethoven
(1770–1827)Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor for Piano, Op. 27, No. 2, "Moonlight"
(1801)Bruce Adolphe
(b. 1955)Marlboro Moon for Clarinet and Piano
(2023)
Bruce Adolphe
Susanna Phillips
Chelsea Wang
Julian Rhee
Anthony McGill
Resident lecturer and director of family concerts for CMS since 1992, Bruce Adolphe is a composer of international renown, much of whose output addresses science, history, and the struggle for human rights.
Resident lecturer and director of family concerts for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 1992, Bruce Adolphe is a composer of international renown, much of whose output addresses science, history, and the struggle for human rights. His works are frequently performed by major artists, including Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Fabio Luisi, Joshua Bell, Daniel Hope, Angel Blue, the Brentano String Quartet, the Washington National Opera, the Metropolitan Opera Guild, the Human Rights Orchestra of Europe, and over 60 orchestras worldwide. Among his most performed works are the violin concerto I Will Not Remain Silent, the violin/piano duo Einstein’s Light, and Tyrannosaurus Sue: A Cretaceous Concerto.
Alabama-born soprano Susanna Phillips is one of today’s most sought-after singing actors and recitalists. Ms. Phillips is a recipient of The Metropolitan Opera’s 2010 Beverly Sills Artist Award. Known for her sparkling portrayal of Musetta in La bohème, Ms. Phillips has sung at the Met as Musetta, Pamina, Donna Anna, Rosalinde, Antonia Stella, Micaëla, Donna Elvira, and most recently in her role debut as Mimi. Role highlights at the Met include Fiordigili, which The New York Times called a “breakthrough night”, and Clémence in the Met premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s L’amour de Loin. Ms. Phillips was also a featured artist in the Met’s Summer Recital Series.
The start of Ms. Phillips’s career found her at the Zürich Opera as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Sante Fe Opera as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, and Arminda in La finta giardiniera. As a member of the Ryan Opera Center, Ms. Phillips sang the female leads in Roméo et Juliette and Die fledermaus. Additional roles include Elmira in Reinhard Keiser’s The Fortunes of King Croesus and the title roles in Lucia di Lammermoor and Agrippina. Ms. Phillips paid tribute to Clara Schumann at the Library of Congress and collaborated with Jane Glover for Handel’s Messiah and Rival Divas program with Music of the Baroque. Ms. Phillips performed in a concert staging as Stella in Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire at Carnegie Hall opposite Renée Fleming - a role Ms. Phillips went on to perform, to rave reviews, at Lyric Opera of Chicago. Ms. Phillips has also performed with the Gran Teatro del liceu as Pamina, Cincinnati Opera as Countess Almaviva, and the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in her role and company debut as Birdie in Blitzstein’s Regina with Susan Graham. She sang Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes with the St. Louis Symphony in St. Louis and Carnegie Hall. Ms. Phillips gave a recital at the Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago and sang alongside Eric Owens at the Washington Performing Arts in a program co-curated by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Ms. Phillips has made appearances at Oper Frankfurt, Dallas Opera, Minnesota Opera, Fort Worth Opera Festival, Boston Lyric Opera, and Opera Birmingham.
Highly in demand by the world’s most prestigious orchestras, Ms. Phillips has appeared with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic under Alan Gilbert, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Santa Fe Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Atlanta Symphony, Santa Fe Concert Association, La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest, Boston Baroque, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and her native Huntsville Symphony where she celebrated the bicentennial of Alabama performing Strauss’s Vier Letzte Lieder.
Ms. Phillips is dedicated to oratorio works with credits including Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Mahler’s Second and Fourth Symphonies, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, the Fauré and Mozart Requiems, and Carmina Burana. An avid chamber music collaborator, Ms. Phillips has worked frequently with pianists Craig Terry and Myra Huang. Together they have performed solo recitals all over the United States. Ms. Phillips also co-founded Twickenham Fest, a chamber music festival in her native Huntsville, Alabama alongside bassoonist and Huntsville native, Matthew McDonald. In 2019, the festival celebrated its 10th Anniversary of chamber music with over ten concerts ranging from a children’s concert, to a late night Bach concert, and Philip Lasser’s Colors of Feeling.
This season, Ms. Phillips joins Music of the Baroque and conductor Dame Jane Glover for Handel’s Messiah, and later joins Fort Worth Symphony for Alan Fletcher’s Three American Songs and Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915. She returns to Lincoln Center for a concert alongside the Catalyst Quartet at Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and reunites with Kent Tritle for both Mahler’s 4th Symphony and Wayne Oquin’s Leaves of Grass. She also gave three performances alongside David Portillo and Robert Tweten at the Sag Harbor Song Festival, with repertoire including arias and ensembles of Verdi and Mozart, and songs, chamber works, and theater pieces by Barber, Morten Lauridsen, Gershwin, Sondheim, and others. Additional highlights include Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder with the Apollo Orchestra and David Chan and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. She also tours alongside Paul Neubauer, violist, and Anne-Marie McDermott, pianist with the SPA Trio to various venues across the United States.
Last season, Ms. Phillips appeared four times at Carnegie Hall, joining Musica Sacra for Exultate Jubilate, the Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble and conductor Yannick Nézet Séguin for Chabrier's "L'invitation au voyage," Oratorio Society of New York for Mendelssohn's Lobgesang and Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell’s All Shall Rise, and John Matthew Myers, Sasha Cooke, and pianist Evgeny Kissin in recital for Shostakovitch’s From Jewish Folk Poetry. She also returned to San Francisco Symphony Orchestra for Carmina Burana conducted by David Robertson, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and conductor Gemma New for Beethoven 9, and Seattle Symphony with David Robertson for The Creation.
The season prior, Ms. Phillips sang Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at Boston Baroque and joined the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra for Beethoven 9. She joined both Music of the Baroque and Oratorio Society of New York for the Mozart Requiem and Bach Magnificat, and returned to OSNY later in the season for Beethoven 9 and Mahler 2. In addition, she gave recitals with Myra Huang, Gloria Chein and Anthony McGill at Dallas Chamber Music Society, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Spivey Hall in Atlanta. Previous season highlights include a return to the Metropolitan Opera for role debut as Mimi in La Bohème, joining Dallas Symphony for Mendelssohn's Lobgesang and the Utah Symphony for Elijah with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and concert and recital engagements including Strauss's Vier letzte Lieder with the Amarillo Symphony, a recital with True Concord at the Tuscon Desert Song Festival, Vaughan Williams's Sea Symphony with Oregon Bach Festival, and a recital with Chamber Music Northwest. Other highlights included a return to her native Huntsville, engagements with OSNY and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Celebrity Boston Series, Bravo! Vail, and a world premiere of Picker’s Awakenings at OTSL.
A native of Huntsville, Alabama, over 400 people traveled from her hometown to New York City in December 2008 for Ms. Phillips’s Met Opera debut in La Bohème . She returns frequently to her native state for recitals and orchestral appearances.
Praised by the New York Times as an “excellent young pianist,” Chelsea Wang has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician throughout North America, Europe and Asia. She is a prizewinner of many international piano competitions, and has performed with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Des Moines Symphony and musicians from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Her festival appearances include Music@Menlo, Ravinia Steans Music Institute, Bravo!Vail, Tippet Rise, and many others. A native of West Des Moines, Iowa, Ms. Wang is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and Peabody Conservatory, where she studied with Meng-Chieh Liu, Ignat Solzhenitsyn, Leon Fleisher, and Yong-Hi Moon. She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music with James Giles. Additionally, Wang is a member of Ensemble Connect, a fellowship program under the joint auspices of Carnegie Hall, the Weill Institute, and the Juilliard School.
Winner of the prestigious 2024 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Korean-American violinist Julian Rhee came to international prominence following his prize-winning performances at the 2024 Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition and Silver Medal finish at the 11th Quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. He has appeared with orchestras including the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Oregon Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Belgian National Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Richmond Symphony, and San Diego Symphony. Julian is a member of CMS’s Bowers Program and has performed at festivals including Marlboro Music, Ravinia Steans Institute, and North Shore Chamber Music Festival. He studied at the New England Conservatory with Miriam Fried, and currently works with Christian Tetzlaff at the Kronberg Academy. Julian is the recipient of the 1699 “Lady Tennant” Antonio Stradivari violin and a Jean Pierre Marie Persoit bow on extended loan through the generosity of the Mary B. Galvin Foundation and the Stradivari Society.
Clarinetist Anthony McGill, Principal Clarinet of the New York Philharmonic, is one of classical music’s most celebrated performers and advocates. Hailed by the New York Times for his “brilliance, penetrating sound and rich character,” McGill was named Musical America’s 2024 Instrumentalist of the Year and received the 2020 Avery Fisher Prize. As a soloist, McGill performs with major orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, and Chicago Symphony. He is a sought-after chamber musician and recording artist, collaborating with the Pacifica Quartet and pianist Gloria Chien on acclaimed albums like American Stories and Here With You. An advocate for equity in classical music, McGill founded the #TakeTwoKnees movement and collaborates with the Equal Justice Initiative. He directs Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program and teaches at Curtis. A Curtis graduate himself, McGill serves on several arts organization boards and is a Backun Artist.
