Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players

“This was music-making of a very high order”
“at the Jupiter concerts, there is always so much about which to be enthusiastic.”
“the rarities glittered like jewels”

Fred Kirshnit, The New York Sun
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Jupiter 2018 - 2019 Season
20 Mondays at 2:00 PM & 7:30 PM

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Concert Venue:
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church
152 West 66 Street (west of Broadway), New York

“one of the most refined and intelligent church spaces in New York” ~ The New York Times Built in 1893 by Josiah Cleveland Cady, architect of the old Metropolitan Opera House and the American Museum of Natural History

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155 West 68th Street, Suite 319
New York, NY 10023
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Listen to a live recording of the Jupiter Symphony
Chamber Players from September 23, 2013
Recorded by Joseph Patrych

Roman Rabinovich piano
Xiao-Dong Wang violin
Mihai Marica cello

Antonín DVORÁK  Piano Trio No. 1 in B^b Major Op. 21
i. Allegro molto
ii. Adagio molto e mesto
iii. Allegretto scherzando
iv. Finale

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Jupiter in the News

“the performers were top notch”
“The homey church where these concerts take place, nestled on West 66th Street in the shadow of Lincoln Center, is an intimate and acoustically vibrant place for chamber music.”
Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times   more...

Strad Magazine
“A finely forthright, fluent and expressive account of Haydn's Divertimento in E-flat major opened this programme of miscellaneous chamber music in a series known for adventurous programming.”
Dennis Rooney, Strad Magazine   more...

ConcertoNet
“Mr. Nygaard’s cadenza flowed down Mozart lanes and paths, each with beautiful backgrounds. And at the very end, Mr. Nygaard brought forth that martial major theme, like an unexpected gift.” 
Harry Rolnick, ConcertoNet   more...

“...the group’s efforts proved illuminating ...Brown played a lovely, subtly virtuosic cadenza for Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24 by Jens Nygaard, the ensemble’s founder, who died in 2001, but whose fascination with rarities continues to drive its programming”
Allan Kozinn, The New York Times   more...

Monday, March 25, 2pm & 7:30pm 
Czech Medley
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church
152 West 66 Street (west of Broadway)

Evren Ozel piano
First prize at the 2016 Boston Symphony Concerto Competition, second prize at the 2016 Thomas and Evon Cooper Competition, and second prize as well as the Mozart and Chopin special prizes at the 2018 Dublin Piano Competition ~ scholarships from the Chopin Foundation and YoungArts Foundation

Josef Spacek violin
Concertmaster of the Czech Philharmonic ~ winner of the Michael Hill Violin Competition ~ “His high-charisma playing was fueled by priceless musical comprehension.” Philadelphia Inquirer ~ “Never mind the superb technical accomplishment of his playing, it’s the musical and interpretative achievement that is so impressive here.” International Record Review

Frank Morelli bassoon
Member of the renowned quintet, Windscape ~ “Morelli’s playing is a joy to hear” Gramophone ~ “as good as it gets” American Record Guide ~ “Morelli has set a new standard of playing that will undoubtedly influence generations to come” IDRS Journal 

Joseph FIALA (1748-1816)  Bassoon Quartet No. 3 in F Major
   ~ delightful Classical piece by Mozart’s close friend

After hearing a small wind group playing at Herr Albert’s tavern in Munich, Mozart was quite impressed. On 3 October 1777, he wrote a letter of praise to father: “They did not play at all badly together.... You can tell at once that Fiala has trained them. They played some of his compositions and I must say that they were very pretty and that he has some very good ideas.” Fiala became a close friend of the Mozarts and his name frequently appears in the family’s correspondence. The eminent oboist, virtuoso viola da gambist, cellist, and teacher began his professional career as an oboist in the service of Countess Netolická in Lochovice (his hometown) and Prague. He next served in the court orchestra of Elector Maximilian Joseph in 1777 in Munich, where he met Mozart. After the Elector’s death in 1778 Mozart helped Fiala find another job. In 1785 Fiala went to Vienna, and in 1786 to Saint Petersburg where he worked in the court of Catherine the Great. In 1790 he moved to Prussia where he served as a viola da gamba player in the court of Friedrich Wilhelm II. Finally in 1792 he became Kapellmeister to Prince Fürstenberg at Donaueschingen, where he spent the rest of his life.

Bedrich SMETANA  Z domoviny “From the Homeland” JB 1:118
   ~ the mood of the two intensely personal duos is one of melancholy as well as joy, laced with infectious folk themes ~ “They are genuinely national in character, but with my own melodies,” wrote the Czech composer of the showpieces for violin and piano, while in pain and poverty—he was already deaf for two years and in failing health from neurosyphilis, and subsisting on a meager and often delayed pension

Josef Bohuslav “J B” FOERSTER  Nonet Op. 147
   ~ deeply personal post-Romanticism, with appealing melodies, rich chromatic harmonies, and touches of folk music, it resembles, in form, a Baroque suite of dances in eight short movements, some flowing together without a pause, with each instrument given a virtuosic turn ~ for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon, violin, viola, cello, and double bass

The New Grove Dictionary confirms the Czech composer’s importance, noting that “Together with his contemporaries Janácek, Novák, Suk, and Ostrcil, he led the development of Czech music from the nationalist trinity of Smetana, Dvorák and Fibich to the interwar avant garde.” Born in Prague in 1859, Foerster was renowned in his day not only as a composer, but as a writer, critic, teacher, and watercolorist as well. His literary and musical output was enormous. Born into an established musical family, he succeeded Dvorák as organist of St. Vojtech in 1882. Subsequently he held teaching positions at the Hamburg Conservatory, the New Conservatory in Vienna, the Prague Conservatory, and Prague University; and was a music critic for the influential daily, Die Zeit. He personally knew Smetana and Dvorák; and was on friendly terms with the poet Jan Neruda, Tchaikovsky, and many other artistic figures. He later became friends with Mahler. His musical language was at first influenced by the Romanticism of Grieg and Fibich. It then became expressively subjective and meditative, then more like Smetana, Dvorák, and Fibich, and drew on folksong and the traditions of Czech music. A Society in his name was founded in 1919 to promote contemporary music in his time. In 1946 he was declared a National Composer, and when he died in 1951, he was granted a state funeral.

Antonín DVORÁK  Piano Trio No. 2 in G minor Op. 26
   ~ be captured by its magic Slavic spell, at times laden with tragic emotion, his expression of grief for the death of Josefa, his two-day-old daughter

Jupiter Players on this program:

Cong Wu viola
Assistant Principal Violist of the New York Philharmonc, won 3rd Prize in the 14th Primrose Viola Competition and a Special Prize in the 12th Lionel Tertis Competition

Ani Aznavoorian cello
Winner of the Julius Stulberg and Paolo competitions ~ “shows great sensitivity and great virtuosity at all moments” Los Angeles Times ~ “stunning in her assured technical mastery” Kansas City Star

Xavier Foley double bass
Recipient of the 2018 Avery Fisher Career Grant, First Prize winner at the 2016 Young Concert Artists Auditions, 2014 Sphinx Competition, 2014 Astral National Auditions, 2009 (Junior Division) and 2011 (Senior Division) Bassists Society competitions ~ “The double bass world could use Xavier Foley... a standout player.” The Philadelphia Inquirer

Barry Crawford flute
“Crawford’s playing was superb. I admired his tone, his phrasing and breath control, and the joy-giving communicative quality of his playing.” Southampton Press

Hassan Anderson oboe
Noted for his clarity of tone, range of colors, and energetic stage presence

Vadim Lando clarinet
Winner of the CMC Canada, Yale and Stonybrook competitions ~ “consistently distinguished...vibrant, precise, virtuosic playing” The New York Times

Karl Kramer horn
Winner of the 1997 and 1999 American Horn competitions ~ “Praise goes to the heroic horn playing of Karl Kramer” New York Classical Review

Monday, April 8, 2pm & 7:30pm 
Batons at Rest
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church
152 West 66 Street (west of Broadway)

Albert Cano Smit piano
First Prize at the 2017 Naumburg Piano Competition and finalist and CMIM grant recipient of the 2017 Concours International Musical de Montréal ~ “a superb musician has spoken” Le Devoir

Elizabeth Fayette violin
Prizewinner in the 2013 Ima Hogg Competition ~ Second Prize winner in the Young Concert Artists Auditions, awarded the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia Career Grant ~ praised by The New York Times for her “alluring, lustrous sound and seasoned virtuosity”

Kristina Bachrach soprano
Won the grand prize at the American Prize in Vocal Performance and the inaugural Ziering Conlon Art Song Competition for Recovered Voices

Note: Albert Cano Smit replaces pianist Stephen Beus for this concert

Arturo TOSCANINI  2 Songs
   ~ “Desolazione” (Desolation) and “Son gelosa” (I am jealous) ~ for soprano and piano by the Italian conductor with the phenomenal memory

George SZELL  Piano Quintet in E Major Op. 2
   ~ an appealing late Romantic work written by a very mature 14-year-old

The Hungarian-born American conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra imposed stern discipline, drilling his musicians mercilessly, but won their devotion by his own fierce dedication. New York Times critic Peter G. Davis, in a review of a concert of music by Szell and Mitropoulos presented by Jens Nygaard at Carnegie Recital Hall in 1975, commented: “Szell was such an autocratic conductor and forbidding personality that the jolly, unbuttoned romanticism of his Piano Quintet, a cross between late Dvorak and early Richard Strauss, comes as quite a shock. But since Szell was only [14] when he wrote the work (he gave up composing before he was 20), its derivativeness is less surprising than its precociousness.” Jens was the pianist at this concert.

Dmitri MITROPOULOS  “Kassiani”
   ~ the young Greek conductor’s special, dramatic, beautiful song dedicated to Katina Paxinou, with whom he had a passionate love affair ~ for soprano and piano

Davis, in the same New York Times review, described “Kassiani” as “the tortured monologue of a sinning woman...[it] betrayed more than a trace of Ravel and Mussorgsky, but these influences have been thoroughly absorbed by a really imaginative creative mind.” Mitropoulos, considered by some to be the equal of Toscanini and Wilhelm Furtwängler, was noted for having a photographic memory (he conducted without a score, even during rehearsals) and for his solitary lifestyle due to his deeply religious, Greek Orthodox beliefs.

Jens NYGAARD  Cadenza for Mozart Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor K. 491
   ~ composed for William Wolfram, who described it as “really remarkable. It was everything that Jens IS. It’s a remarkable cadenza, extremely original—like nothing else. It was HIM in a cadenza.”

Felix WEINGARTNER  Octet in G Major Op. 73
   ~ virtually a chamber symphony for clarinet, horn, bassoon, 2 violins, viola, cello, and piano in the chromatic idiom of Liszt (his teacher), Wagner, and the German late Romantics—in turns poignant, dramatic, yearning, and adorned with lyricism ~ the much-revered Austrian maestro, noted for his conducting with clarity and economy of movement, had five wives

Jupiter Players on this program:

Coleman Itzkoff cello
Gold Medalist in the 2017 Berliner competition and a multiple prizewinner at the 2016 Irving Klein and 2016 Boulder Chamber Music competitions ~ “flawless technique and keen musicality” Alex Ross ~New Yorker

Vadim Lando clarinet
Winner of the CMC Canada, Yale and Stonybrook competitions ~ “consistently distinguished...vibrant, precise, virtuosic playing” The New York Times

Karl Kramer horn
Winner of the 1997 and 1999 American Horn competitions ~ “a prominent, perilously chromatic horn line, which Karl Kramer played beautifully.” The New York Times

Gina Cuffari bassoon
Praised for her “sound that is by turns sensuous, lyric, and fast moving” Palm Beach Daily News

Monday, April 15, 2pm & 7:30pm 
Virtuoso Pianist-Composers
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church
152 West 66 Street (west of Broadway)

Roman Rabinovich piano
Winner of the Rubinstein, Animato and Arjil competitions, the Mezzo and Salon de Virtuosi awards, and the Vendome Prize ~ “admirable interpretations...performed with a rich, full-blooded sound, singing lines and witty dexterity.” The New York Times

Asi Matathias violin
Protégé of Pinchas Zukerman, already recognized as one of the most talented musicians of his generation. He made his debut at the age of fourteen with the Israel Philharmonic under the baton of Zubin Mehta, displaying a musical maturity and inspiration far beyond his years.

Note: Asi Matathias replaces violinist Itamar Zorman for this concert

Ferruccio BUSONI  Suite in G minor
   ~ melancholy as well as zest from the young teen genius who ranks among the world’s great pianists ~ for clarinet and string quartet

Born in 1866, the Italian prodigy met Brahms and Anton Rubinstein at age 9. Upon the urging of Brahms in 1886, Busoni moved to the cultural center of Leipzig, where he met Tchaikovsky, who took a keen interest in him. When he won the first Rubinstein competition, Tchaikovsky described the 24-year old laureate as “remarkably interesting” and with a “brilliant mind,” who “will soon be talked about....”

Moritz MOSZKOWSKI  Suite in G minor Op. 71
   ~ praised by critics as spectacular and brilliant, the showpiece for 2 violins and piano was among the best known works of the “Sunshine Composer” before its disappearance from the concert stage

Of Polish-Jewish descent, the German composer was also a virtuoso pianist with a formidable technique. Ignacy Paderewski said, “After Chopin, Moszkowski best understands how to write for the piano, and his writing embraces the whole gamut of piano technique.” He became the most successful salon composer at the turn of the 20th century. His musical triumphs and his road to affluence began in 1873 when he made his debut as a pianist, and soon his reputation spread. He began teaching as well—from 1875 at the Berlin Conservatory, where his pupils included Frank Damrosch, Joaquín Nin, and Joaquín Turina. By the time he moved to Paris in 1897, he was rich and famous. Among his pupils there were Thomas Beecham, Josef Hofmann, Wanda Landowska, and, informally, Gaby Casadesus. Moszkowski, however, died in ill health and poverty, having lost everything when his investments in bonds and securities were rendered worthless at the outbreak of the Great War.

Anton RUBINSTEIN  Piano Quintet in G minor Op. 99
   ~ a massive work showing considerable depth of thought and masterful development by Russia’s first great pianist and founder of the St. Petersburg Conservatory

At least one important composer loved Rubinstein—Leos Janácek. He was the pianist for a performance of the Quintet on 5 January 1879. Later in the year, on 22 November, he presented a concert of Rubinstein’s works, including the Quintet, this time with Rubinstein at the piano. Janácek also declared, “When I hear Rubinstein’s compositions I feel extraordinary: my spirit truly melts, it takes wing, becomes free and, at the moment when I listen to it, paints free pictures for itself. I like his compositions so much that it seems to me that some day I should become his heir. This verve, this speaking ‘to the soul’ I find nowhere else but in his compositions.”

Jupiter Players on this program:

Diana Cohen violin
Recipient of the Jerome Gross Prize and winner of the Milhaud competition ~ concertmaster of the Calgary Philharmonic since 2012 and founding member of Trio Terzetto, she has previously served as concertmaster and soloist with the Richmond, Charleston, and Kalamazoo Symphonies, and the National Repertory and Iris orchestras

Cong Wu viola
Assistant Principal Violist of the New York Philharmonc, won 3rd Prize in the 14th Primrose Viola Competition and a Special Prize in the 12th Lionel Tertis Competition

David Requiro cello
Winner of the Naumburg, Irving Klein and Washington String competitions ~ “Requiro has everything—musicianship, poise, dazzling technique, and even that great indefinable, star quality” San Francisco Classical Voice

Vadim Lando clarinet
Winner of the CMC Canada, Yale and Stonybrook competitions ~ “consistently distinguished...vibrant, precise, virtuosic playing” The New York Times

Dear Friends and Music Lovers,    These days there’s much ado about mining bitcoins. Well, let’s consider mining Jupiter instead.    Why? Jupiter is a valuable asset that offers growth in enjoyment, with interesting and varied programs, and it’s the best in class. It also offers many performance opportunities to numerous remarkable musicians, while continuing to keep ticket prices low. No speculation needed, no volatility expected. The yield includes rock solid support of super talents and guaranteed high returns in bliss from top quality music making. There’s nothing to lose in mining Jupiter. No risk.    So sign up now for a full series of 20 concerts, or miss out on half the fun and sign up for 10 concerts. We’ll even more than welcome you on a per concert basis!    How is this investment possible at such bargain rates? Here’s where you come in—your gift is the seed capital for a thriving Jupiter! Please give as much as you can. You’ll have our gratitude in spades. All gifts are tax deductible. Thank you so much,

Why the name Jupiter: When Jens Nygaard named his orchestra Jupiter, he had the beautiful, gaseous planet in mind—unattainable but worth the effort, like reaching musical perfection. Many, indeed, were privileged and fortunate to hear his music making that was truly Out of This World. Our Players today seek to attain that stellar quality.

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