Saratoga Springs, NY
Enchanting WindsSun, July 21, 2024, 3:00 pm
Spa Little Theatre, Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Two hours, including intermission
CMS is more than proud to have helped little-known yet deserving works enter the standard chamber repertoire. These performances of Bloch’s and Suk’s quintets will astound, as they have worldwide, in the hands of CMS musicians.
Program
Gioachino Rossini
(1792–1868)Quartet No. 4 for Flute, Clarinet, Horn and Bassoon in B-flat major
Camille Saint-Saëns
(1835–1921)Sonata for Oboe and Piano, Op. 166
(1921)Quick Note
This sonata was one of the last chamber works written by Saint-Saëns, dedicated to the memory of his friend and fellow composer, Henri Woollett.
Listen for the seamless interaction between the oboe and piano, as Saint-Saëns explores a wide range of emotions and textures.
Paul Taffanel
(1844–1908)Quintet in G minor for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, and Horn
(1876)Quick Note
Francis Poulenc
(1899–1963)Sonata for Flute and Piano
(1956–57)Quick Note
This sonata stands out in the chamber music repertoire for its fusion of neoclassical elements with jazz influences, offering a unique and vibrant listening experience.
Listen for Poulenc's characteristic juxtaposition of playful melodies and poignant moments, as well as his exploration of the flute's agility and expressive capabilities.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(1756–1791)Quintet in E-flat major for Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, and Piano, K. 452
(1784)Quick Note
Evren Ozel
Demarre McGill
Juri Vallentin
Romie de Guise-Langlois
Peter Kolkay
Hugo Valverde
American pianist Evren Ozel has established himself as a musician of “refined restraint” (3CR), combining fluent virtuosity with thoughtful interpretations. Having performed extensively in the US and abroad, he is the recipient of a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant and a 2022 Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant. He is represented by Concert Artists Guild as a winner of their 2021 competition. A dedicated chamber musician, he has played at the Marlboro Festival and ChamberFest Cleveland with artists including Jonathan Biss, Hsin-Yun Huang, Joseph Lin, Christoph Richter, and Peter Wiley. He performs on Musicians from Marlboro tours at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center and New York’s Carnegie Hall. His 2022–23 season includes recitals with violinist Geneva Lewis for Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and Washington Performing Arts. In the 2023–24 season, he will perform Beethoven trios with violinist Stephanie Zyzak and cellist Alexander Hersh for Capital Region Classical, and make his debuts at the Gardner Museum and Frick Collection with violinist Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux. Ozel received his bachelors and masters degrees from the New England Conservatory, and is currently a candidate in their prestigious Artist Diploma program, all under the tutelage of Wha Kyung Byun. Other mentors include Jonathan Biss, Imogen Cooper, Richard Goode, and Mitsuko Uchida.
Demarre McGill is a leading soloist, recitalist, and chamber and orchestral musician. Winner of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and Sphinx Medal of Excellence, he has appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the San Francisco, Seattle, Dallas, San Diego, and Baltimore symphony orchestras, among others. Now principal flute of the Seattle Symphony, he previously served as principal flute of the Dallas Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Florida Orchestra, and Santa Fe Opera Orchestra. He has also served as acting principal flute of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. A founding member of The Myriad Trio and former member of Chamber Music Society Two (now The Bowers Program), he has participated in the Moab, Santa Fe, La Jolla, Marlboro, Seattle, and Music@Menlo chamber music festivals, to name a few. He is the co-founder of Art of Élan, a chamber music organization in San Diego and, along with clarinetist Anthony McGill and pianist Michael McHale, founded the McGill/McHale Trio in 2014. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School, McGill is currently the Associate Professor of Flute at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) and an artist-faculty member of the Aspen Music Festival and School.
German oboist Juri Vallentin has gained international attention as a prize winner of major competitions such as the International Tchaikovsky Competition as first oboist, the German Music Competition, and the International Oboe Competition of Japan. He has performed as soloist with the MDR Symphony Orchestra; the Mariinsky Orchestra, St. Petersburg; the Beethoven Orchestra, Bonn; the Lower Saxony State Orchestra, Hanover; Musikkollegium Winterthur; the Brandenburg State Orchestra, Frankfurt; and the Munich Chamber Orchestra, among others. In 2021 he won the Berlin Prize for Young Artists curated by VAN magazine with his solo performance Inner Voices developed together with stage director Neil Barry Moss. His albums Bridges, with music from five centuries, and Ebenbild, which combines music and literature, as well as numerous radio productions for BR, SWR, and Deutschlandfunk document his artistic work. Together with four other distinguished woodwind players, he founded the wind quintet BREEZE in 2021 as a playing field for new approaches to wind music. Born in Mainz, he studied in Nuremberg and at the renowned Conservatoire de Paris, where he graduated with highest honors. In 2021, Vallentin was appointed professor of oboe at the Karlsruhe University of Music. He joins CMS’s Bowers Program in 2024.
Praised as “extraordinary” and “a formidable clarinetist” by the New York Times, Romie de Guise-Langlois has appeared as soloist and chamber musician on major concert stages internationally. She has performed as soloist with the Houston Symphony, Ensemble Connect, the Burlington Chamber Orchestra, and the Guanajuato Symphony Orchestra, as well as at Festival Mozaic, Music@Menlo, and the Banff Center for the Arts. She was awarded first prize in the Houston Symphony Ima Hogg competition, the Yale University Woolsey Hall Competition, the McGill University Classical Concerto Competition, and the Canadian Music Competition. She has performed as principal clarinetist for the Orpheus and Saint Paul chamber orchestras, NOVUS NY, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the New Haven and Stamford symphony orchestras, and The Knights Chamber Orchestra. She is an alum of Astral Artists, Ensemble Connect, and CMS's Bowers Program, and has appeared at series such as the Boston and Philadelphia chamber music societies, Musicians from Marlboro, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and Chamber Music Northwest, among others. A native of Montreal, Ms. de Guise-Langlois earned her bachelor’s degree from McGill University and her master’s degree from Yale School of Music. She is currently assistant professor of clarinet at UMass Amherst.
Called “superb” by the Washington Post and “stunningly virtuosic” by the New York Times, Peter Kolkay is the only bassoonist to receive an Avery Fisher Career Grant. In addition to performing with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, he regularly appears at the Music@Menlo and Bridgehampton summer festivals, and has performed on the Emerald City, Tertulia, and String Theory series. He actively engages with composers in the creation of new music for the bassoon and has premiered solo works by Joan Tower, Mark-Anthony Turnage, and Tania León, among others. His 2022–23 season included the premiere of a new work for bassoon and piano by Reinaldo Moya, and the release of two recordings: an album of contemporary works performed with the Calidore Quartet, and the Christopher Rouse Bassoon Concerto with the Albany Symphony. He is a member of the IRIS Collective in Germantown, Tennessee, and has also served as guest principal bassoon of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. A dedicated teacher, he is Associate Professor at the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University and has given master classes throughout the United States and Mexico. Kolkay is an alumnus of CMS’s Bowers Program, and holds degrees from Lawrence University, the Eastman School of Music, and Yale University. A native of Naperville, Illinois, he currently calls the Melrose neighborhood of Nashville home, and is the recipient of a 2022–23 Individual Artist Fellowship in music performance from the Tennessee Arts Commission.
Hugo Valverde carries a professional orchestral and solo career in the United States and his native Costa Rica as a French horn player, currently holding the position of Acting Third Horn with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. As an orchestral player he has performed with the Costa Rican National Symphony Orchestra, the Classical Tahoe Festival Orchestra, the Strings Music Festival Brass Ensemble, the Orchestra of the Americas, the Pacific Music Festival, the New York City Ballet, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. As soloist he has performed Richard Strauss’s Concerto No. 1 with the Lynn Philharmonia Orchestra under Guillermo Figueroa, and he premiered Marvin Camacho’s Tributo al Ciudadano Pablo with the Heredia Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica under Josué Jiménez. He has also premiered pieces by Manuel Matarrita and other Latin American composers. He often performs chamber music with his colleagues of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at the Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and with the woodwind quintet Quinteto de Luz in Costa Rica. A dedicated educator, he has been involved in pedagogical programs in the United States and Latin America, and is currently on faculty at the Bard College Conservatory of Music and the Precollege Division at Manhattan School of Music. Valverde studied at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, Lynn University Conservatory of Music, and the National Music Institute in San José, Costa Rica. His main teachers are Daniel León, Luis Murillo, Gregory Miller, and William VerMeulen.