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Join Us For Our 2025-2026 Season! |
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Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players “This was music-making of a very high order” Fred Kirshnit, The New York Sun |
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View Our Printable Calendar and Ticket Order Form (pdf) Take a look at our guest artists for this season. |
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Join us for our next concerts...
Monday, November 17 ♦ 2 PM & 7:30 PM Tickets: $25, $17 ~ Reservations advised Hyunah Yu soprano Fei Fei piano Hina Khuong-Huu violin Fiona Khuong-Huu violin Vadim Lando clarinet Louis SPOHR Duo Op. 3 No. 3 The set of 3 violin duets was composed during a trip to Russia with Franz Eck, his violin teacher, and the duets were among the earliest pieces he published—in 1805. In 1799, Duke Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand of Brunswick had given Spohr a position in his court orchestra. The Duke also paid for him to accompany Eck as a pupil on a tour to St. Petersburg in 1802–1803 to complete his training as a violinist. In 1804 Spohr made his first independent concert tour of Germany, gaining a reputation as one of the country’s leading violinists, and in 1805 he was invited to lead the court orchestra in Gotha. Spohr (1784–1859) was a dominant force in German music and was as famous as Mozart and Beethoven. Sometimes called “The Forgotten Master,” he is considered the greatest classical violinist of his time, and one of the most admired and respected composers in his day. He served in a number of court positions, he was the celebrated leading violin virtuoso, he was one of the most sought-after and prolific composers of the first half of the 19th century, and is considered a forerunner of early Romanticism. He also was an ideas man—he invented the chin rest, introduced the use of the baton and rehearsal numbers, developed the double quartet after Andreas Romberg first proposed the idea, revived the music of Bach and Handel, and he was the author of an influential violin method, as well as a wonderful autobiography that included details his many travels throughout Europe. In addition to his musical activities, he was a family man who enjoyed a happy social life and varied pursuits like swimming, ice-skating, hiking, gardening, and painting. SCHUBERT 3 Lieder Baermann’s arrangements are notable for their fidelity to the original vocal lines and their exploration of the expressive possibilities of the clarinet. They appeared as Op. 88 in Baermann’s Collected Works. IV “Lob der Thränen” (In praise of tears) D.711 was Schubert’s setting of August Schlegel’s eulogy to the power of tears to bring renewal and redemption (1818–1821). V “Gretchen am Spinnrade” (Gretchen at the spinning wheel) D.118 is based on a text from Goethe’s Faust, depicting Gretchen’s emotions as she longs for Faust while spinning at her wheel (1814). II “Wohin” is the second song from the cycle Die schöne Müllerin D. 795, which tells of a young miller who falls in love with the miller’s daughter. The cycle follows his story of unrequited love and tragic fate. Schumann was a great admirer of Schubert’s music and played a crucial role in promoting Schubert’s music. Carl Baermann (1810–1885) was the son of the famous clarinet virtuoso Heinrich Baermann, for whom Weber composed his clarinet works. As a child he was taught the clarinet and the basset horn by his father. He played occasionally in the Munich court orchestra when he was 14 years old, and was appointed its second clarinetist in 1832. When his father retired in 1834, Carl succeeded him as principal clarinetist, holding that position until he retired in 1880. During a tour in Europe in 1833, he and his father premiered their friend Mendelssohn’s Concert Pieces Opp. 113 and 114 to great acclaim. The Pieces were composed in exchange for a culinary treat of sweet dumplings and cheese strudel. Apart from their musical prowess, the Baermanns were renowned for their cooking. Even the royal house of Saxony craved their dumpling specialty made from flour, yeast, sugar, butter, and eggs and cooked in a wine sauce. Carl also shaped clarinet history through his pedagogical writings, editorial articles, and compositions that were popular with clarinet virtuosos; and for his mechanical design of the clarinet—the Baermann-Ottensteiner key system, which he developed based on the widely-used Müller system in the late 19th century. Robert SCHUMANN Frauenliebe und Leben Op. 42 The text of “Woman’s Love and Life” is from a cycle of poems by the French-born German poet Adelbert von Chamisso, penned in 1830. It describes a woman’s love for her darling from her perspective—from their first meeting through marriage to his death, and after. The year 1840 was an artistic triumph for Schumann. Known as his “Year of the Song,” he composed in a single year this song cycle and at least 137 art songs (more than half his total output). The inspiration for this burst of creativity was his impending marriage to Clara Wieck. Her father had forbade the marriage, but the court finally granted them permission to marry one day shy of Clara’s 21st birthday. The deep adoration in Chamisso’s poetry and Schumann’s music mirrors the couple’s devotion to one another as newlyweds. It is his most personal work for voice. Reimann, the German composer and arranger, was born into a musical family in Berlin in 1936. He became a répétiteur at the Deustche Oper Berlin and a distinguished accompanist of lieder, most notably in performances with the great German lyric baritone, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, for whom many of his original works were written, including the opera King Lear. August KLUGHARDT Piano Quintet in G minor Op. 43 Influenced by Schumann in structure, the Quintet combines the prevalent symphonic style of the day with the finesse and intimacy of chamber music. It is notable for its dramatic and passionate opening movement, intricate thematic development, and contrasting moods. Born in 1847, August Klughardt was one of the great composers of the 19th century, alongside Brahms and Bruckner, who made significant contributions to music history. Beginning at age 10 he studied at Cöthen, Dessau, and Dresden; held theater positions in Posen, Neustrelitz, and Lubeck; and in 1869 became court music director at Weimar, where he became friends with Liszt. It was the beginning of his enthusiasm for the Neudeutsche Schule (New German School). At the same time, he was loyal to the classical practice, and was influenced by Schumann and Brahms as well—his work was a synthesis of these dissimilar tendencies. In 1873, at the premiere of Liszt’s Christus, he met Wagner, who influenced a great deal of his music. He dedicated his symphonic poem Lenore to Wagner; his Symphony in F minor was written under the impact of hearing the Ring at the first Bayreuth Festival in 1876; and in 1892 and 1893 he conducted Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. Among his distinctions were an appointment to the Berlin Academy of Arts in 1898 and an honorary doctorate conferred by the University of Erlangen. When asked to direct the “Singakademie” in Berlin, he rejected this offer. Klughardt died suddenly in Roßlau at the age of 54.
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Monday, December 1 ♦ 2 PM & 7:30 PM Tickets: $25, $17 ~ Reservations advised Michael Stephen Brown piano Jennifer Frautschi violin Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt viola Samuel BARBER Summer Music Op. 31 The piece also showcases the individual qualities of each wind instrument. Written in 1953 as a commission by the Detroit Chamber Music Society, Barber’s fee was raised by donations from the audience, with the Society acting as a guarantor for a minimum of $2,000. The principal players of the Detroit Symphony gave the premiere in March 1956. Born in 1910 in West Chester, Pennsylvania, Barber is considered one of the most expressive representatives of the lyric and Romantic styles in the 20th century. At the age of 9, he determined to be a composer. He explained to his mother: “I have written this to tell you my worrying secret. Now don’t cry when you read it because it is neither yours nor my fault. I suppose I will have to tell it now without any nonsense. To begin with I was not meant to be an athlet [sic]. I was meant to be a composer, and will be I’m sure. I'll ask you one more thing Don’t ask me to try to forget this unpleasant thing and go play football. —Please— Sometimes I’ve been worrying about this so much that it makes me mad (not very).” Barber entered the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia in 1924, at age 14, and graduated in 1934, after which he devoted himself to composing in a polished style and with integrity. Every day of his life he played or studied the music of Bach, and he also loved Brahms. For those who withstood the barbs of his waspish tongue he was a loyal friend, a fantastic conversationalist, and an endlessly entertaining companion. Barber—cosmopolitan and highly cultivated—won a Pulitzer Prize for his opera Vanessa (1958) and Piano Concerto (1962). He felt most at home in Capricorn, a retreat in Mount Kisco, New York, which he purchased in 1943 with his partner Gian Carlo Menotti. He died in his New York City apartment in 1981. For a fascinating account of Barber, see Paul Wittke’s article: https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/composer/72/Samuel-Barber/ Amanda HARBERG “Urban Hootenanny”from Philadelphia Suite A native of Philadelphia, Harberg writes for a broad range of instruments that weaves classical Western tradition with contemporary influences to create a distinctively personal style. Her music has been widely commissioned and performed in major venues, such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, in the United States and abroad. She has also scored several documentaries for PBS. Her awards include a Fulbright/Hays Fellowship to study with composer/pianist Frederic Rzewski, Juilliard’s Peter Mennin Prize for outstanding accomplishment, a MacDowell Colony summer residency, and multiple NFA Newly Published Music awards. As the in-house composer for Common Good Productions, Harberg composed scores for The Abominable Crime, an award-winning feature documentary, and Beyond Borders: Undocumented Mexican Americans which aired over 2,000 times on PBS stations across the country. Her recordings are on the Koch, Centaur, and Albany labels. Harberg is an Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music, and in the summers she is on the composition faculty at the Interlochen Arts Camp. Rosario SCALERO Violin Sonata in D minor Op. 12 The Sonata made such a huge impression on the American violinist and influential educator, David Mannes, that he invited Scalero to head the composition department of his conservatory in 1919. Scalero’s style has been described as Italo-Brahmsian in a rich harmonic language and with strong melodic appeal. Scalero (1870–1954) was born in Moncalieri (a suburb of Turin, Italy), noted for its medieval castle. By the age of 6, he studied violin at the Conservatorio St. Cecilia in Rome, then in Turin, after which he went to Genoa to study with Camillo Sivori (the only known pupil of Paganini) until 1889. He appeared with the Sivori Quartet as well. For the next few years he performed throughout Europe to critical acclaim, and met composers, including Gustav Mahler. He made his recital debut in Leipzig in 1891, and he also gave the first Italian performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. In moving to Vienna in the 1890s Scalero studied composition with Eusebius Mandyczewski, Brahms’s longtime friend. He then went to London in 1895 (or 1900) to study and assist violinist August Wilhelmj (concertmaster of the world premiere of Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelungs in Bayreuth). In 1907 he went to Rome, where he joined, in 1913, the Società del Quartetto and became its musical director and first violinist. Upon the invitation to succeed Ernest Bloch and teach composition at the David Mannes Music School, Scalero set sail for the United States in August 1919. In 1924 he began teaching at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, becoming the head of theory and composition three years later. His inaugural class included the 14-year-old Samuel Barber, who would evolve as a composer through many years of work directly with Scalero. Among his other pupils were Gian Carlo Menotti (his favorite), Nino Rota, George Walker, Ned Rorem (counterpoint, 1943), and Lukas Foss. In 1946 Scalero returned to his home, the Montestrutto Castle near Ivrea, where he died on Christmas Eve 1954. Today, there is a Rosario Scalero Festival to explore the arts and Canavese area in the Piedmont. As a teacher of composition, Scalero emphasized the study of counterpoint as well as a deep understanding of all musical forms and genres. His approach was both “rigorous” and “traditional.” The American composer Constant Vauclain attested to the demanding and disciplined nature of his methods, and described his unique approach to teaching counterpoint: “It was supposed to be done without touching the piano so that we developed the ability to objectify the many voices in our heads without having to have an instrument to try things out. The only other composers in the twentieth century who had a course of study like this were other Scalero pupils and people like Bartók, who studied the same way in Budapest, and Hindemith. It produces a kind of technique which is recognizable…a kind of mastery over the way voices should be put together.” Vincent PERSICHETTI Pastoral Op. 21 Persichetti’s fondness for wind instruments dates back to his teens—his Serenade for Ten Winds Op. 1 was written at the age of 14. Pastoral is one of 2 pieces he composed for wind quintet. “Written during his late twenties, while still a doctoral student, many scholars feel Pastoral reflects a composer who was yet on the cusp of finding his own compositional voice, possessing a technique still much influenced by Stravinsky, Bartók, Hindemith, and Copland. Flavored as it is with a Coplandesque folk song sensibility and angular harmonies reminiscent of early 20th century composers, the voice of Persichetti’s influences is fairly obvious; but so too is his unique character — full of surprises, twists, and turns [Jason McKinney of Manitou Winds].” Persichetti, a lifelong Philadelphian, was noted for his succinct polyphonic style (based on interwoven melodic lines), forceful rhythms, and generally diatonic melodies (moving stepwise; not atonal or highly chromatic). Born to an Italian father and a German mother in 1915, he was a piano and organ prodigy who supported himself at age 11. He began piano lessons at the age of 5, composed his first two works at 14, and earned money as a church organist during his adolescence. At age 20, he was simultaneously the head of the music department at Combs College, a conducting major under Fritz Reiner at the Curtis Institute, and a piano and composition student at the Philadelphia Conservatory. Seven years later, in 1942, he himself was teaching at the Conservatory, and from 1947 he taught at Juilliard the rest of life (while living in Philadelphia). He also was music editor of the publisher, Elkan Vogel (later acquired by Theodore Presser). When Persichetti died in 1987, he left some 120 works notable for its extraordinarily broad stylistic range from extreme diatonic simplicity to complex, contrapuntal atonality. His work developed “during a period when American composition was deeply divided among rival stylistic factions, each seeking to invalidate the work of its opponents. In the face of this partisan antagonism, Persichetti advocated, through his lectures and writings, as well as through his music, the notion of a broad working vocabulary, or ‘common practice,’ based on a fluent assimilation of all the materials and techniques which had appeared during the 20th century [Philadelphia Chamber Music Society].” Vittorio GIANNINI Piano Quintet The irrepressibly Romantic quintet is an embodiment of his musical creed and advocacy of melody as an inspirational genesis of music. He once declared that he was driven by “an unrelenting quest for the beautiful, with the humble hope that I may be privileged to achieve this goal, if only for one precious moment and share this moment with my listeners.” His whole output is, in fact, a display of prolific melodic content. Giannini (1903–1966) was an Italian-American Neoromantic composer born in Philadelphia to a musical family. His father, Feruccio, was a tenor at the Metropolitan Opera and the first to record on a flat phonograph disc in the 1890s; his mother, Antonietta, was a concert violinist. Both emigrated from Italy in the 1880s. His sister, Dusolina, was a leading operatic soprano in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s; another sister, Euphemia, was a member of the vocal faculty of the Curtis Institute for many years. Vittorio, at age 5, was first taught by his mother. At age 9, he was awarded a scholarship to study at the Verdi Conservatory in Milan. When World War I escalated, he returned to the United States and studied composition at Juilliard under Rubin Goldmark (teacher of George Gershwin and Aaron Copland). In 1932 he won the Prix de Rome, granting him 4 years of further study at the American Academy in Rome. Giannini himself became a distinguished teacher of composition and music theory at Juilliard, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Curtis Institute (among his pupils were John Corigliano and David Amram). And he was the founder and president of the North Carolina School of the Arts. His niece, Maura Giannini, a violinist, divulged that “he loved life, music, fast cars and cigars and believed passionately in the future of the arts through young students.” His substantial oeuvre included more than a dozen operas, 7 symphonies, scores of songs, and a variety of concertos and choral, band, and chamber works. His most famous opera, Taming of the Shrew, was produced on color television by NBC Opera Theater in 1954; it won the Music Critics Circle Award. The critic Howard Taubman wrote, “the score is instinct with the spirit of Italian lyricism.” |
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Jupiter 2025 - 2026 Season Tickets: $25, $17 ~ Reservation advised Please visit our Media Page to hear Audio Recordings from the Jens Nygaard and Jupiter Symphony Archive Concert Venue:
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As promised, here are the videos of John Field’s Divertissement No. 1 and Sir Hamilton Harty’s Piano Quintet. Fortuitously, our Jupiter musicians had the good sense to record the rehearsal in an impromptu decision, literally minutes before pressing the record button. Pianist Mackenzie Melemed (replacing Roman Rabinovich at the last minute) learned the music in 2 days! Bravo to him. Both works are Irish rarities that were scheduled for the March 16 performances which had to be canceled because of the coronavirus epidemic. Even though the entire program could not be recorded because of technical issues, we are pleased to be able to share with you the 2 musical gems. Enjoy. John FIELD Divertissement No. 1 H. 13 We thank the University of Illinois (Champaign) for a copy of the Divertissement music. Mackenzie Melemed piano
Sir Hamilton HARTY Piano Quintet in F Major Op. 12 Andrew Clements of the Guardian proclaimed the beautiful Quintet “a real discovery: a big, bold statement full of striking melodic ideas and intriguing harmonic shifts, which adds Brahms and Dvořák into Harty’s stylistic mix, together with Tchaikovsky in some passages.” There’s folk music charm as well, reminiscent of Percy Grainger—notably in the Scherzo (Vivace) with its folksy quirks and nonchalance, and the winding, pentatonic melody in the Lento. Our gratitude to the Queen’s University Library in Belfast, Northern Ireland, for a copy of the autograph manuscript of the music. Much thanks, too, to Connor Brown for speedily creating a printed score and parts from Harty’s manuscript. Mackenzie Melemed piano I Allegro 0:00 | |||||||
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Jupiter featured on Our Net News American program opener on March 18, with grateful thanks to Michael Shaffer of OurNetNews.com for recording the matinee concert, and making available the Horatio Parker Suite video for our viewing pleasure. Horatio Parker Suite in A Major, Op. 35, composed in 1893 Stephen Beus piano
More video from this performance can be viewed on our media page |
Jupiter on YouTube NEW YORK CANVAS : The Art of Michael McNamara is a video portrait of the artist who has painted iconic images of New York City for more than a decade, capturing the changing urban landscape of his adopted city. Our Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players provide the music from Brahms’s Piano Quartet in G Minor, underscoring the inspiration the artist has drawn from Jens Nygaard and the musicians. Michael was also our Jupiter volunteer from 2002 to 2010. Here is a video of the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players performance of the Rondo alla Zingarese movement:
The producer-director, Martin Spinelli, also made the EMMY Award-winning “Life On Jupiter: The Story of Jens Nygaard, Musician.” For more information, visit our media
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“Some great musicians get a statue when they pass away. Some get their name imprinted on the roof of a well-known concert hall. But the late conductor Jens Nygaard has a living tribute: an entire ensemble of musicians and a concert series to go along with it... It is one of the city’s cultural jewels... In the end, if Mr. Nygaard was known for anything, it was unmitigated verve. That’s what the audience regularly returned for, and that’s what they got Monday afternoon. To have a grassroots community of musicians continue to celebrate Mr. Nygaard with indomitable performances like these week after week, even without the power of world-famous guest soloists, is proper tribute. And with more large orchestras and ensembles needing more corporate sponsorship year after year, I, for one, hope the Jupiter’s individual subscriber-base remains strong. New York’s musical life needs the spirit of Jens Nygaard, and Mei Ying should be proud she’s keeping it alive.” Read the complete article on our reviews page. |
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performances, except where otherwise noted, are held at: Copyright © 1999-2025 Jupiter Symphony. All rights reserved. |
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