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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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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Monday, November 12, 2pm & 7:30pm 
Making America Great
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church
152 West 66 Street (west of Broadway)

Maxim Lando piano
Gold Medal : 2017 Berliner International Competition; Gold Medal : 2015 International Television Contest for Young Musicians in Moscow; 2nd prize : Kissinger Klavier Olymp in Germany; Winner : 2014 Juilliard Pre-College Concerto Competition ~ “He has an ever so clear approach to the keyboard, and the molding and shaping of phrases straight from the musical angels.” Berkshire Fine Arts

Itamar Zorman violin
Recipient of the 2013 Avery Fisher Career Grant ~ winner of the 2011 Tchaikovsky and 2010 Freiburg competitions ~ “a virtuoso of emotions” Göttinger Tageblatt ~ “I cannot believe my ears... such musical originality, a tone full of colors and beauty and an emotional expression full of inner intensity” Hanoch Ron ~ Yedioth Aharonot (Israel's largest newspaper)

Paul CHIHARA  Ellington Fantasy
   ~ 3 songs popularized by Duke Ellington in an arrangement for string quartet by the Japanese-American composer often known for his film scores
    “I’m Beginning to See the Light”—a popular love song and jazz standard written by Ellington, Don George, Johnny Hodges, and Harry James, published in 1944. 3 versions were recorded in 1945, all making hit lists: by Ella Fitzgerald and the Ink Spots, by Harry James and his Orchestra with pop singer Kitty Kallen, and by Duke Ellington with Joya Sherrill.
    “Take the ‘A’ Train”—the signature tune of the Duke Ellington Orchestra, written in 1939 by Billy Strayhorn, who played the piano and wrote arrangements for the band. Ellington wrote in his autobiography that “Strayhorn was my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brainwaves in his head, and his in mine.”
    “Mood Indigo”—written by Ellington and Barney Bigard in 1930 with lyrics by Irving Mills. Ellington’s biographer, Terry Teachout, described it as “an imperishable classic, one of a handful of songs that come to mind whenever Ellington’s name is mentioned anywhere in the world.”

The Seattle native, born in 1938, studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris and with Gunther Schuller at Tanglewood. He studied film music at his childhood hometown movie matinees, soaking up film noir, westerns, and musicals. With Toru Takemitsu, Chihara was composer-in-residence at the Marlboro Festival in 1971. His 25-year Hollywood career began in 1974 when he composed the music for Roger Corman’s Death Race 2000. Since then he has written scores for more than 90 films and television series, working with such directors as Sidney Lumet and Arthur Penn. Active on Broadway and in the ballet world as well, he also composes prize-winning concert works. Chihara is currently on the faculty at New York University.

Paul SCHOENFIELD  Trio
   ~ zany, rowdy virtuosity for the clarinet, violin, and piano

Concocted with elements from the rich and varied traditions of klezmer, Eastern European folk, and gypsy music, the composition results in surprises elicited by their interactions. As the Jewish composer himself has said, this “is not the kind of music for relaxation, but the kind that makes people sweat; not only the performer, but the audience.”

Schoenfield, from Detroit, began playing the piano at age six and wrote his first composition the following year in 1954. Among his teachers was Rudolf Serkin. He was formerly a concert pianist, touring the United States, Europe, and South America as a soloist and with ensembles including Musicians from Marlboro. His compositions, which have been widely recorded, have drawn an expanding group of devoted fans. He has also lived on a kibbutz in Israel, and is a scholar of the Talmud and of mathematics. Currently, he holds the position of Professor of Composition at the University of Michigan.

Jerome MOROSS  Piano Quintet
   ~ Classical Hollywood at its best

Steven C. Smith gives the background of Moross and the Quintet: “The legacy of Jerome Moross (1913-1983) may confound those who prefer their composers more neatly pigeonholed in style and musical genre; but the numerous paths Moross followed—ranging from early atonal concert music to film scores to television to Broadway—have left less pedantic admirers a bounty of eclectic gems. For Moross, music was music, whether it was written for a string quartet, a pit theater orchestra, or tailored to a filmmaker’s vision. Moross never condescended to cinema.... But despite some recognition (including a 1959 Oscar nomination for The Big Country), Moross found Hollywood hostile turf for an independent composer, and his visits became increasingly rare. The movies’ loss was concert music’s gain. One happy intersection of these two media is a concert piece derived from a film Moross scored in 1964. The Piano Quintet, based on his music for the little-known short, Forget Me Not, is among its composer’s most charming later works; its evocation of remembered loss (the film chronicles a widower’s memories of his wife) is treated not as tragedy but as simple celebration. Moross introduced his chief, song-like theme immediately, exploring it in a series of gentle variations scored with elegant intimacy, and shaped by a propulsive lyricism that characterizes much of Moross’s most appealing work. Presented here in its concert incarnation...the Piano Quintet—like the Forget Me Not from which it flowered—is a moving testament to the power of memory.”

Paul WIANCKO  America Haiku
   ~ richly-textured duo that incorporates Appalachian fiddling, percussive patterns, and Japanese folk-inspired melodies ~ commissioned by Ayane Kozasa for viola and cello

Wiancko has led a multifaceted life as a cellist, composer, and collaborator. Winner of the 2018 S&R Foundation Washington Award for Composition, the Japanese-American’s music has been described as “dazzling” and “compelling” by the Star Tribune, and “surprising, fun, fresh, and innovative” by Sequenza21. Wiancko has composed works for the award-winning Aizuri and Parker Quartets, Metropolitan Opera soprano Susanna Phillips, cellist Judith Serkin, violist Ayane Kozasa, yMusic, cellist Gabriel Cabezas, the Boston Cello Quartet, Bargemusic, and many others, and has been the composer-in-residence at the Caramoor, Twickenham, Newburyport, and Methow Valley Chamber Music Festivals.

Arthur FOOTE  Piano Quintet in A minor Op. 38
   ~ the “Boston Classicist” scores high marks for every movement of this ravishing Romantic Quintet

A native of the witch city of Salem, Foote was the first important American composer educated entirely in America. In 1873 he graduated at age 21 with the first master’s degree in music awarded by an American university—Harvard—where he studied fugue and counterpoint with John Knowles Paine. From Paine, he gained an admiration for and was influenced by the leading European Romantic composers of the day, including Mendelssohn, Schumann, Dvorák, and Brahms. The Quintet integrates this legacy with Foote’s wealth of melodic invention and his idiomatic keyboard writing. Its premiere was performed by Foote at the piano and the Kneisel Quartet, its dedicatee. The reviewer of the Transcript commented, “The form is so clear, the development so natural, so inevitable-seeming, the writing so brilliant and vivacious; then the fertility of the melodic invention and resource the composer shows, the warm glow and charm of his second themes, all these elements combine to make the work a continuous inspiration to the listener.”

Jupiter Players on this program:

Lisa Shihoten violin
Winner of the Marcia Polayes, Menuhin and Nakamichi competitions

Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt viola
Winnings include First Prize at the 2013 Banff Competition, Gold Medal and Grand Prize at the 2010 Fischoff Competition, First Prize at the Lionel Tertis Viola Competition, and top prizes at the Tokyo and Sphinx competitions ~ “she should have a great future” Tully Potter ~ Wigmore Hall ~ “lyricism that stood out...a silky tone and beautiful, supple lines” Strad Magazine

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; 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

Monday, October 22, 2pm & 7:30pm 
From Nordic Lands
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church
152 West 66 Street (west of Broadway)

Maxim Lando piano
Gold Medal : 2017 Berliner International Competition; Gold Medal : 2015 International Television Contest for Young Musicians in Moscow; 2nd prize : Kissinger Klavier Olymp in Germany; Winner : 2014 Juilliard Pre-College Concerto Competition ~ “He has an ever so clear approach to the keyboard, and the molding and shaping of phrases straight from the musical angels.” Berkshire Fine Arts

William Hagen violin
Third prize winner of the 2015 Queen Elisabeth Competition (the highest ranking American since 1980) ~ a “brilliant virtuoso…a standout” The Dallas Morning News ~ “an intellectual command of line and score, and just the right amount of power” Violinist.com ~ “plays with an obvious and sincere love for the very act of music making” North Texas Performing Arts News

Erkki MELARTIN  String Trio Op. 133
   ~ a remarkable work wherein Modernist and traditional harmonies are mysteriously combined, with shifts in styles and textures

Overshadowed by Sibelius, Melartin (1875-1937) was a prolific composer, as well as a conductor, philosopher, mystic, naturalist, painter, linguist, and an influential teacher. His style ranged from late Romanticism to restrained Expressionism, in an individual voice. While his most important works are his six symphonies, he is most remembered for his lyric pieces, including salon music, which brought him greatest popularity. In the early decades of the 20th century he introduced Finnish audiences to the music of Mahler, Strauss, and other contemporary composers.

Franz BERWALD  Grand Septet in B^b Major
   ~ in the early Romantic style of Hummel, Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Louis Spohr, the innovative, exuberant work is “memorable for its entrancing combination of emotional sequences” [The Strad, December 1995]

Berwald, born in Stockholm in 1796 to a long line of musicians, is considered Sweden’s foremost composer, the founder of Romanticism in Sweden, and its first important symphonist. He was, however, unable to earn a living as a musician, and became a successful orthopedic surgeon in 1835 and in 1850 he took over the management of a glass factory, then launched a saw mill, and was also active as a polemicist from about 1856. He began composing again after his move to Vienna in 1841, the 1840s being his most productive musical years. In 1866, at the age of 70, he was finally acknowledged for his musical achievements with the award of the Swedish Order of the Polar Star, but it was not until the 20th century that his work became more widely recognized.

Jean SIBELIUS  Piano Quintet in G minor
   ~ original ideas fill this dark, symphonic, ambitious work, influenced by the Piano Quintet of the Norse composer Christian Sinding, while he probed his own Finnish roots

The Quintet was written during a year of private study in Berlin, following his graduation from the Helsinki Music Institute. The premiere of its first and third movements was performed by none other than the great Italian pianist Ferruccio Busoni (his teacher and lifelong friend) and the Norwegian composer and violinist Johan Halvorsen, both of whom were impressed with the Quintet.

Jupiter Players on this program:

Lisa Shihoten violin
Winner of the Marcia Polayes, Menuhin and Nakamichi competitions

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

Paul Wiancko cello
Juggles an exceptionally multi-faceted musical life as a cellist, composer, and collaborator

Ha Young Jung double bass
Gold Medalist in the 2017 Berliner competition, multiple prizewinner at the 2016 Irving Klein and 2016 Boulder Chamber Music competition, First Prizes at the 2013 Koussevitzky and 2007 International Double Bass competitions, Grand-Prix in the 2006 String Competition in Moscow ~ “Disarming prodigy who achieved the rare distinction of making her instrument seem worthy of solo status.” Daily Telegraph of London

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
“a sound that is by turns sensuous, lyric, and fast moving” Palm Beach Daily News

Monday, October 29, 2pm & 7:30pm 
Tapping Tapas
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church
152 West 66 Street (west of Broadway)

Adam Neiman piano
Winner of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, Gilmore Young Artist Award & Young Concert Artists Auditions ~ “His technique is imposing... he balanced sheer power with a high sense of drama.” The New York Times ~ “This was playing of wisdom and light.” The Washington Post

Stefan Milenkovich violin
Winner of the Indianapolis, Paganini, Tibor Varga, Queen Elisabeth, Yehudi Menuhin, and Young Concert Artists competitions ~ “a stunning virtuoso.” Strings ~ “Milenkovich has remarkable control over his instrument and is blessed with superb intonation and what seems like a limitless capacity for sustaining a big, broad, smooth line.” Los Angeles Times

Manuel Braulio CANALES  String Quartet in D Major Op. 3 No. 1
   ~ buoyant and vivid yet graceful, the quartet (from a set of 6) is of historical importance as an example of how far the Viennese and Italian tradition had penetrated Spain by the late 18th century

The extensive use of sharply contrasting dynamics as an expressive device and the 4-movement structure point to the influence of Haydn (most of the other composers were still using the 3-movement form of the Mannheim school). Boccherini’s music, which he also encountered in Madrid, is said to be of some influence; and there is the influence of Spanish dance music as well, as evident in the Largo assai. Born in Toledo in 1747, Canales studied music with Jaime Casellas, director of the Toledo Cathedral Choir. He sang and danced in certain cathedrals as one of 6 choir boys, and later excelled as a cellist and bassist. In 1770, he moved to Madrid to work for the Duke of Alba. After his protector died in 1776, Canales returned to Toledo, where he worked as an assistant director at the Cathedral. He died in 1786 at the age of 39.

Manuel de FALLA  El amor brujo: Pantomime and Ritual Fire Dance
   ~ distinctively Andalusian in character, the two movements are from the ballet El amor brujo (“Love, the Sorcerer”) celebrating flamenco ~ arranged for piano sextet (the original version was for piano, flute, oboe, trumpet, horn, viola, cello, and double bass

Based on a story of love, death, exorcism, and release, the heroine of the ballet is an Andalusian gypsy woman named Candelas. In the most famous movement—Danza ritual del fuego—the village holds a ritual fire dance, wherein Candelas dances an exorcism to rid herself of the ghost and its powers. The music distills native folk music to its most elemental components, and has moments of remarkable beauty and originality. Falla, born in Cádiz, is the most distinguished Spanish composer of the early 20th century, his music representing the spirit of Spain at its purest.

Luigi BOCCHERINI  Musica Notturna delle Strade di Madrid G. 324
   ~ programmatic music vividly evoking the bustling streets of Madrid at night—church bells, drum rolls from a military barracks, a minuet of the blind beggars, a rosary prayer, street singers, and “La Ritirata di Madrid” (the retreat of the “Military Night Watch of Madrid” bringing on the curfew and closing down the streets) ~ for string quartet and double bass

Boccherini was born into a musical family in Lucca, Italy, spent some time in Vienna and Paris, and from 1769 lived and worked in Spain. In 1770 he was appointed to the service of the Infante Don Luis as composer and performer. When Don Luis married an Aragonese aristocrat (in effect, a commoner) in 1776, King Charles III, fearful of his brother, found cause to banish the Infante to Las Arenas palace in Avila. Boccherini went with him and composed more than 100 works, including the Musica Notturna, in rural seclusion. The Quintet was famous in Spain during Boccherini’s life, but it was not published until years after his death as he had told his publisher, “The piece is absolutely useless, even ridiculous, outside Spain, because the audience cannot hope to understand its significance, nor the performers to play it as it should be played.”

Rodion SHCHEDRIN  In the Style of Albeniz
   ~ the Russian composer’s tribute to Isaac Albéniz through his rendition of a tango for violin and piano—a fusion of folk traditions with classical music, full of aching dissonances and shifting phrases

As the music critic Jay Nordlinger so knowingly explained in the National Review, “Shchedrin is one of those people with a huge appetite for music, music of every period, and of every type. And his own music reflects an awareness, and absorption, of the past. He is not trying to invent the wheel; he knows he stands on shoulders.”

Shchedrin is recognized as one of Russia’s greatest living composers, and has won numerous awards, including the 1972 USSR State Prize, the 1984 Lenin Prize, and the 1992 State Prize of the Russian Federation. He was also honored with a membership in the Berlin Academy of Arts in 1989. In 1958 he married Maya Plisetskaya of the Bolshoi Ballet and wrote several ballets for her. Among his other compositions are symphonies, operas, concertos, chamber and instrumental music, and choral and vocal music. Shchedrin is a virtuoso pianist and organist as well.

Joaquín TURINA  Piano Quintet in G minor Op. 1
   ~ Franckian in its cyclic manner and influenced by Debussy, but there is Spanish color as well, and a spectacular Rondo for its finale

Born in Seville, Turina lived in Paris from 1905 to 1914. He studied at the Schola Cantorum— piano with Moritz Moszkowski and composition with Vincent d’Indy, whose teacher was Cesar Franck. After the Quintet’s première he went to a cafe with his good friends Falla and Isaac Albéniz, both of whom persuaded him to write in a more consciously Spanish style. The meeting led to a new kind of nationalism in Spanish music— as Turina put it, “We were three Spaniards gathered together in that corner of Paris and it was our duty to fight bravely for the national music of our country.” The Quintet won a prize in the Salon d’Automne, judged by a jury comprising Louis-Albert Bourgault-Ducoudray, Louis Bruneau, Fauré, d’Indy, Lucien Magnard, Octave Maus, Armand Parent, and Gabriel Pierné.

Jupiter Players on this program:

Eunae Koh violin
Second prize and chamber music prizewinner of the 2015 Michael Hill competition

Lisa Sung viola
Won a special prize at the 2016 Lionel Tertis competition, won top prizes at the 2017 Manhattan and Vivo competitions, twice winner of the Australian States Concerto Competition

Mihai Marica cello
Winner of the Irving Klein, Viña del Mar, Salon de Virtuosi and Dotzauer competitions ~ “We just witnessed a future superstar. Mihai is a brilliant cellist and interpreter of music. His playing is spellbinding.” Mitchell Sardou Klein

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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