Saratoga Springs, NY
Mendelssohn's String Quintet in A MajorSun, July 13, 2025, 3:00 pm
Spa Little Theatre, Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Two hours with intermission
This program highlights the evolution of chamber music, beginning with Purcell’s Fantasia Upon One Note, a 17th-century marvel of counterpoint by the celebrated English composer, known for his innovations in sacred and secular music. Muffat’s Passacaglia from his Sonata in G Major for Strings follows, a dramatic Baroque piece by the Austrian composer who bridged French, Italian, and German influences. Mozart’s Quintet in B-flat major, K. 174 blends Classical refinement with emotional depth, while Beethoven’s Duet in E-flat Major, WoO 32, “With Two Eyeglasses Obbligato,” adds a playful and witty touch. The program concludes with Mendelssohn’s Quintet No. 1 in A Major, Op. 18, a youthful work brimming with lyrical Romanticism and joy.
Program
Henry Purcell
(1659–1695)Fantasia Upon One Note for Two Violins, Two Violas, and Cello
(c. 1680)Georg Muffat
(1653-1704)"Passacaglia" from Sonata in G major for Strings
(1682)Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(1756–1791)Quintet in B-flat major for Two Violins, Two Violas, and Cello, K. 174
(1773)Ludwig van Beethoven
(1770–1827)Duet in E-flat major for Viola and Cello, WoO 32, "With Two Eyeglasses Obbligato"
Felix Mendelssohn
(1809–1847)Quintet No. 1 in A major for Two Violins, Two Violas, and Cello, Op. 18
(1826, rev. 1832)
Bella Hristova
Arnaud Sussmann
Matthew Lipman
Paul Neubauer
Nicholas Canellakis
Acclaimed for her passionate, powerful performances, beautiful sound, and compelling command of her instrument, violinist Bella Hristova has appeared as a soloist with orchestras across the US, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and New Zealand. She was the featured soloist for an eight-orchestra concerto commission, written by her husband, composer David Serkin Ludwig, and recently recorded it with the Buffalo Philharmonic and JoAnn Falletta. Her discography also includes the complete Beethoven and Brahms sonatas with pianist Michael Houstoun. A champion of new music, her project Lineage features six new solo violin commissions by Dai Wei, Gloria Kravchenko, Nokuthula Ngwenyama, Eunike Tanzil, Joan Tower, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. She is a recipient of a 2013 Avery Fisher Career Grant and first-prize winner of the Michael Hill and YCA competitions. Hristova studied with Ida Kavafian and Jaime Laredo, is an alum of CMS’s Bowers Program, and plays a 1655 Nicolò Amati violin.
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.
American violist Matthew Lipman has made recent appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, American Symphony Orchestra, Munich Symphony Orchestra, and Minnesota Orchestra. He has performed recitals at Carnegie Hall and the Zürich Tonhalle, and has recorded on the Sony, Deutsche Grammophon, Cedille, and Avie labels. An alum of CMS’s Bowers Program, he performs regularly on tour and at Alice Tully Hall with CMS. An Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient and major prize winner at the Primrose and Tertis International Viola Competitions, Lipman is on faculty at Stony Brook University. He performs on a 2021 Samuel Zygmuntowicz viola.
Violist Paul Neubauer, hailed by the New York Times as a “master musician,” will release 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.
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.