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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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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Monday, November 19, 2pm & 7:30pm 
“Eastern” Mosaic
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church
152 West 66 Street (west of Broadway)

Mikhail Kopelman violin
Winner of the Jacques Thibaud competition, recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society Award and Concertgebouw Silver Medal of Honor ~ renowned for his style of immense grace and beauty combined with a flawless technique ~ was First Violin of the Borodin Quartet for 2 decades and of the Tokyo String Quartet for 6 years ~ currently leads the Kopelman Quartet

Elizaveta Kopelman piano
Honored by the Young Concert Artist Trust in London ~ she has been praised for “her great interpretive ability and formidable technique.” 

Anna Gourfinkel Kopelman piano
She has performed with members of the Borodin Quartet and has given numerous concerts throughout England, Italy, France, Russia, the Netherlands, and the U.S ~ a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, she is currently an Assistant Professor of Chamber Music and Accompanying at the Eastman School of Music 

Franz and Karl DOPPLER  “Souvenir de Prague” Op. 24
   ~ hear the Doppler effect by the Polish brothers in this flashy duo concertante on Bohemian motifs for flute, violin, and piano (originally with 2 flutes)

Born in Lemberg, Poland, Franz and his brother Karl were taught by their father, Joseph, who was a composer and oboist. Franz made his debut in Vienna at the age of 13 and became famous as a virtuoso flutist touring Europe with Karl, giving duo recitals before both became prominent members of Hungarian orchestras. Franz first joined the German Theatre from 1838, then the Hungarian National Theatre from 1841. He composed a German opera and several Hungarian operas that were produced at the Theatre, all with appreciable success. In 1853, together with Karl and others, they founded the Hungarian Philharmonic Orchestra, and the brothers also resumed their concert tours throughout Europe.

George ENESCU  Pastorale, menuet triste et nocturne
   ~ a real beauty in the salon style, with singing melodies, grace, and elegance for the unusual combination of violin and piano four-hands by Romania’s greatest and most versatile musician

Dedicated to the Veniel sisters (Marie, Geneviève, and Fernande), the trio was written for the Parisian receptions to which Enescu was often invited. He began composing in 1886 at age 5, and at age 7 he became the youngest student ever admitted to the Vienna Conservatory. At age 10 he met his idol, Brahms, and played his Symphony No. 1 under the composer’s baton. Enescu went to Paris in 1895 to continue his studies that included composition with Massenet and Fauré, whose influence can be heard in the trio.

Antonín DVORÁK  Largo in A Major B.15bis
   ~ the Bohemian composer’s dreamy Largo, interrupted by a couple of startling surprises ~ for another unusual combination of instruments, this time the flute, violin, viola, and triangle

The Largo is a curiosity because of its use of the triangle—a rare phenomenon in chamber music of the 19th century. It was also written during the period from 1866 to 1869, when there is virtually no direct evidence of works composed by Dvorák. A list he compiled of “Compositions I Tore Up and Burnt” from this period is evidently incomplete as Dvorák had signed and dated the manuscript of the Largo, 18 26/1 67 (26 January 1867). The manuscript was purchased from an antiquarian dealer by the Antonín Dvorák Museum in Prague in 1967.

Sergei PROKOFIEV  Overture on Hebrew Themes
   ~ sprung from the spirit of the klezmorim for the Jewish ensemble Zimro and premiered in New York City in January 1920 ~ for clarinet, piano, and string quartet

Prokofiev had a close relationship with the Bolsheviks before the Russian Revolution of 1917, but he went abroad, living in New York and Paris during most of the early years of the Soviet Union, and by the time he returned in 1935 he found cultural life under monitor—the Composers Union was formed to police the likes of Prokofiev and his more outspoken contemporary Shostakovich for alleged “formalist tendencies” considered to be intellectually elitist and anti-Soviet. Further, any freedom they may have had ended with the 1948 Zhdanov Decree, aimed at suppressing artistic self-expression. Prokofiev was now viewed as “anti-democratic” and much of his music was banned. Many concert and theater administrators refused to program his music, fearful of the consequences of supporting an artist denounced by the regime. He suffered censorship until his death in 1953.

BRAHMS  Hungarian Dances
   ~ a selection from the set of 21 pieces, the lively dance tunes based mostly on Hungarian themes, which enjoyed a phenomenal success ~ transcribed for violin and piano from the original for piano 4-hands

Arno BABADJANIAN  Piano Trio in F^# minor
   ~ extraordinary, lush Romanticism that reflects the Armenian composer’s perfectionism

One of the Soviet Union’s foremost pianists, Babadjanian composed music that was in the Russian tradition, but also contained echoes of Armenian folk songs as well as the sounds of his contemporaries—Khachaturian, Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, and Prokofiev. A dramatic first movement is followed by a gorgeous, poignant Andante, and the Trio concludes with a rhythmic Allegro vivace. Its premiere was performed in 1953 by violinist David Oistrakh, cellist Sergey Knushevitsky, and the composer at the piano.

Jupiter Players on this program:

Eunae Koh violin
Won second prize and the chamber music prize at the 2015 Michael Hill Competition

Maurycy Banaszek viola
Winner of numerous violin, viola and chamber music awards

Brook Speltz cello
First Prize winner of the Ima Hogg Competition ~ Cellist of the Escher String Quartet praised for his “fluid virtuosity” and “soulful melodies”

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

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

Monday, December 3, 2pm & 7:30pm 
Made in Vienna
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 ~ “He is an artist of the highest caliber; a pianist with complete technical command, a prodigious memory, and a highly individual personality at the piano.” Palm Beach Arts

Nigel Armstrong violin
Won 2nd Prize, the Ole Bull Prize, and Nordheim Award at the 2010 Menuhin Competition, Senior Division in Oslo, Norway, and 4th Prize plus the Commissioned Work Prize at the XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition ~ “one of many violinists with technique to burn... but to find that depth of musicianship in a young person is very unusual.” Jeffrey Kahane ~ Los Angeles Times

Hyunah Yu soprano
Prizewinner at the 1999 Naumburg competition and recipient of the Borletti-Buitoni Award ~ “absolutely captivating...with exceptional style and effortless lyrical grace. The audience, to judge by the general swooning, was helplessly in love by the end.” The Washington Post

Note: Nigel Armstrong replaces William Hagen for this concert

Karl WEIGL  5 Songs Op. 40
   ~ the song cycle for soprano and string quartet was premiered by the great German soprano Elisabeth Schumann in Vienna, and sung by her in London, where the songs were acclaimed as “powerfully expressive, masterly shaped”

Weigl was born in Vienna in 1881 to a Jewish bank official and keen amateur musician. After private lessons with Alexander Zemlinsky and schooling at the Franz-Joseph Gymnasium, he studied at the Vienna Music Academy where his composition teacher was Robert Fuchs, then at the University of Vienna where his classmate was Anton Webern. From 1904 to 1906, he worked under Mahler as solo performance coach. His only opera, Der Rattenfänger von Hameln, premiered in Vienna in 1932. When the Nazis occupied Austria in 1938, Weigl emigrated to the United States, together with his second wife, Valerie (Vally), and their son. His 11 years of exile were difficult even though he obtained a number of increasingly important teaching positions: at the Hartt School of Music, Brooklyn College, Boston Conservatory, and the Philadelphia Academy of Music. Weigl died in New York in 1949.

SCHUMANN  Kinderszenen “Scenes of Childhood” Op. 15
   ~ exquisite miniatures in many moods—musical sketches of childhood, but written for adults and meant to be played by adults ~ transcribed for wind quintet by the Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen

In March 1838 Schumann wrote to his fiancée Clara Wieck: “I have been waiting for your letter and in the meantime I have been composing a whole book of pieces—wild, wondrous and solemn.... You once said to me that I often seem like a child, and I suddenly got inspired and knocked off around 30 quaint little pieces.... I selected twelve and called them Kinderszenen. You will enjoy them, although you will need to forget you are a virtuoso when you play them.”

Schumann’s five-year courtship with Clara was fraught with challenges (primarily stemming from her father’s objections to the match) that included lawsuits and court battles, his banishment from the Wieck home, and a seven-month separation in 1838 because of Clara’s concert tour. It was during this time apart that Schumann went to Vienna with hopes of establishing himself as a journalist through Die Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, a music magazine he had cofounded with his teacher and future father-in-law Friedrich Wieck in Leipzig—his intent was to continue editing the paper under the auspices of a Vienna publishing firm. His efforts, however, came to naught. Despite this setback, Schumann’s stay in Vienna had its bright moments—he went to the opera and theater; made friends including Mozart’s son Franz Xaver Wolfgang; visited the city’s sights, especially the graves of Beethoven and Schubert; and obtained Schubert’s compositions from his brother Ferdinand, which resulted in the publication and performance of the Symphony in C by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra a few months later. Not least of all, Schumann composed obsessively. Before leaving Vienna in April 1939, he had completed several compositions, including the Kinderszenen.

SCHUBERT  “Salve Regina” D. 676
   ~ “Hail Holy Queen,” a Marian hymn for soprano and string quartet

As an essential component of the Compline service, the hymn has been set to music by various composers; Schubert wrote no less than 4 versions.

Schubert was Viennese through and through. He was born in Himmelpfortgrund, a district of Vienna, he lived much of his life in the city, and he died there. When he was away from Vienna, he would soon miss it. He would pine for his beloved Vienna and its life, his friends, and the theaters and cafes.

BRAHMS  Piano Trio in B^b Major
   ~ transcribed from his exquisite String Sextet No. 1 (composed in 1859-1860) by Theodor Kirchner, with Brahms’s blessing

A letter that Brahms wrote to his publisher Fritz Simrock, dated 18 March 1883, reveals his comments on Kirchner’s arrangements of his 2 String Sextets: “The Trios give me extraordinary pleasure! If it was your idea, then I must congratulate you, but Kirchner has done a remarkable job.” Although essentially forgotten, Kirchner was Brahms’s close friend, from their first meeting in 1865 until Brahms’s death in 1897. He was also Schumann’s protégé, Mendelssohn’s pupil, Wagner’s accompanist, Dvorák’s arranger, dedicatee of Reger’s second Violin Sonata, Clara Schumann’s lover (a brief, discreet, unhappy liaison in the early 1860s), and the would-be lover of the poet and writer Mathilde Wesendonck (she was immortalized by Wagner’s “Wesendonck Songs”). Kirchner was universally admired as a marvelous musician—a celebrated pianist, organist, and composer in his own right—but he could not maintain a job or marriage, and his gambling and extravagance led to destitution in his later years, so much so that his publisher and friends, including Brahms, bailed him out of debt.

Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, beginning in 1863 until his death in 1897. Brahms met Robert and Clara Schumann in 1853, and the three became lifelong close friends.

Jupiter Players on this program:

Randall Mitsuo Goosby violin
Winner of many awards, including 1st Prize at the 2018 Adelphi Orchestra competition and 3rd prize and Audience Choice of the 2018 Sphinx Competition (senior division); and he was the youngest First Prize winner of the 2010 Sphinx Concerto Competition at age 13 ~ He is also a 2015 Rising Star of the Stradivari Society, and was featured on NPR’s “From the Top” in 2012

Maurycy Banaszek viola
Winner of numerous violin, viola and chamber music awards

Timotheos Petrin cello
Winner of the 2015 Astral Artists Auditions

Barry Crawford flute
He plays “with steely accuracy and a superb singing tone.” Fred Kirshnit ~ New York Sun

Roni Gal-Ed oboe
First Prize winner of the Lauschmann Oboe Competition in Mannheim ~“Outstanding” The New York Times ~ “Expressive, wonderful player” German SZ Magaziner

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, December 17, 2pm & 7:30pm 
Romanticism : 3 Ways
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church
152 West 66 Street (west of Broadway)

William Wolfram piano
Winner of the William Kapell, Naumburg, and Tchaikovsky competitions ~ “Wolfram’s technique is flabbergasting; fiendishly difficult octave passages were as child’s play, and his strength is tempered by an easy poetry.” The New York Times ~ “Wolfram is a dazzling performer.” Kalamazoo Gazette

Robin Scott violin
Winner of the California Young Artists, WAMSO, Yehudi Menuhin, Irving Klein, and Stulberg competitions ~ “sweetly spun tone and formidable technique” Washington Post

Carl Maria von WEBER  Clarinet Quintet Op. 34
   ~ an early Romantic mini-concerto written by the cousin of Mozart’s wife Constanze for his friend, the virtuoso clarinettist Heinrich Baermann ~ it’s one of his most charismatic works for the clarinet, and one of the most technically demanding

Robert FUCHS  Piano Trio No. 3 in F^# minor Op. 115
   ~ for the unusual combination of piano, viola, and cello, the highly-regarded teacher’s late-Romantic Trio recalls Brahms, who, while known for withholding praise for other composers, wrote of his friend in 1891: “Fuchs is a splendid musician, everything is so fine and so skillful, so charmingly invented, that one is always pleased.”

Born in the Austrian state of Styria in 1847 to a musical family, Fuchs moved to Vienna in 1865 to study under Anton Bruckner, Felix Otto Dessoff, and Joseph Hellmesberger. Ten years later he joined the faculty at the Vienna Conservatory, teaching there for 37 years—harmony, at first, then theory and counterpoint. Among his pupils were Mahler, Sibelius, Richard Strauss, George Enescu, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Franz Schmidt, Franz Schreker, Hugo Wolf, and Alexander Zemlinsky. The New Grove Dictionary notes that Brahms “gave him early encouragement as a composer and introduced him to Simrock. Brahms thought highly of his work, being particularly impressed by the Symphony No.1 in C, for which Fuchs was awarded the Beethoven prize in composition by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in 1886.” Other admirers included the conductors Arthur Nikisch, Felix Weingartner, and Hans Richter, all of whom championed his works. When he died in 1927, a few days after his 80th birthday, he was given a grave of honor in the Central Cemetery in Vienna.

Max BRUCH  Piano Quintet in G minor
   ~ among his few works for piano, the dramatic, engaging, memorable quintet was composed for and dedicated to Andrew Kurtz, a friend and amateur pianist from his Liverpool days, when he spent 3 seasons as conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society from 1880 to 1883

Jupiter Players on this program:

Lisa Shihoten violin
Honored by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, and winner of the Menuhin and Paganini violin competitions

Maurycy Banaszek viola
Winner of numerous violin, viola and chamber music awards

Zlatomir Fung cello
Winner of the 2017 Young Concert Artists Auditions and 2017 Astral National Auditions; First Prizewinner of the 2018 Schoenfeld, 2016 Enescu, 2015 Johansen, 2014 Stulberg, and 29th Irving Klein Competitions; Second Prizewinner at the 2018 Paolo (Finland) competition; selected a 2016 Presidential Scholar of the Arts

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

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...

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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