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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Greetings!     Welcome to Jupiter, where you’ll find heavenly music played by a constellation of stars.     Just as you visit a museum to view art by major and minor masters, you’ll hear music of major and minor composers at Jupiter, in programs designed by our brilliant artistic director Michael Volpert.     The familiar and new discoveries to enjoy are also enhanced by our venue’s great acoustics and convivial ambience.     We thank our generous Patrons and Friends in spades for the privilege of offering these musical feasts made possible by their support. We thank the musicians for learning the repertoire, some of which is very difficult and will leave you gasping with awe and admiration. And we thank all of you for coming to Jupiter to savor its array of delectable concerts. You’ll continue to have: ♦ HEPA-filter air purifiers in operation ♦ Ventilation—as much as possible ♦ Spaced-apart seating for better sight lines ♦ Affordable ticket prices    Ticket reservations are advised to avoid disappointment at the door. Not least, please consider a gift to help Jupiter create the best music making around.    All gifts are tax deductible.    Thank you so much,

Artistic director Michael Volpert and Jens Nygaard circa late 1990s

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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Find out more about the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players.

Join us for our next concerts...

Monday, December 16 ♦ 2 PM & 7:30 PM
Romantic Melodists
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church
152 West 66 Street (west of Broadway)
Limited Seating

Tickets: $25, $17, $10 ~ Reservations advised
Call (212) 799-1259 or email admin@jupitersymphony.com
Pay by check or cash (exact change)​​​

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

Vadim Gluzman violin
Winner of the Henryk Szeryng, Tibor Varga, CIEM Geneva, Corpus Christi and Irving Klein competitions ~ “...a commanding technique, spontaneity, and visionary breadth... capable of both delicate nuances and incendiary passion.” The Washington Post  ~ “Gluzman displayed his immaculate prowess like a proud jeweler cutting a diamond of outstanding quality.” Edward Clarke ~ Classical Source

Isabelle Durrenberger violin
Fellow of Ensemble Connect’s 2023–2025 seasons, semifinalist at the 2022 Indianapolis Competition, and 3rd Prize at the 2018 Irving Klein String Competition

Mark Kosower cello
Principal Cello of the Cleveland Orchestra, plays with a “signature sound” and distinctive style that embodies the concept of the complete musician ~ “the music allows Kosower to showcase his stunning virtuosity, passionate intensity, and elegant phrasing” Strings Magazine

Sara Scanlon cello
Grand Finalist of the National YoungArts Competition ~ her many prize winnings include concerto competitions of the Chappaqua Orchestra, Hamden Symphony, and Adelphi Orchestra

Nina Bernat double bass
Won First Prize at the 2019 International Society of Bassists Solo Competition; recipient of the 2019 Keston MAX Fellowship

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

Eric Reed horn
Member of the American Brass Quintet and Ensemble Échappé, a sinfonietta dedicated to 21st century music; he plays regularly with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Orpheus, and Orchestra of St. Luke’s. He is on the faculty at Juilliard, Aspen, and Round Top.

Gina Cuffari bassoon and soprano
Principal Bassoonist of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, praised for her “sound that is by turns sensuous, lyric, and fast moving” Palm Beach Daily News ~ A versatile singer of many different styles, Gina has performed several shows of contemporary classical music at the Undergroundzero Festival, Metropolitan Club, and Soho Playhouse ~ “the right balance of gracefulness and passion” The New York Times

Robert KAHN  Violin Sonata No. 2 in A minor Op. 26
   ~ glorious melodies ignite with fervor and turbulence, pierce the heart in the slow movement, and excite with gusto in the finale that was described by musicologist Wilhelm Altmann as a “kind of Bolero”

The late-Romantic Sonata was dedicated to Carl Halir, second violinist in the Joachim Quartet and Kahn’s frequent partner in violin sonata recitals.

Kahn was born in 1865, the son of one of the wealthiest Jewish families in Mannheim. After attending the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin directed by Joseph Joachim, Kahn studied with Joseph Rheinberger at the Musikhochschule in Munich, where he met Brahms in 1887. Brahms was so impressed with Kahn he offered to give him composition lessons. The young man, however, was too overawed to accept. As Kahn explained in 1947, “From my early youth I felt a deep love and veneration for Brahms the musician. To that was added, now that he welcomed me so warmly in Vienna, a deep, even rapturous love for Brahms the man. It filled my entire heart, but I kept it carefully hidden from him in shyness and restraint.” Kahn was also given support by Joachim, Clara Schumann, and the conductor Hans von Bülow (the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by von Bülow premiered Kahn’s one orchestral work). Kahn composed mostly Lieder, chamber, vocal, and choral music which were widely performed and published by major publishers. As a pianist he worked extensively with singers, and was much sought-after as a collaborative pianist with prominent artists, including Josef Szigeti and Adolf Busch. In 1897 Kahn was appointed full professor at the Prussian Academy of the Arts in Berlin, where he taught composition and piano for 36 years. Among his pupils were Arthur Rubinstein and Wilhelm Kempff. He was removed from his position at the Academy in 1934 by the Nazis, who vilified him and suppressed his work. In 1938 Kempff persuaded him to flee to England, where he lived in obscurity in Biddenden, Kent. His creativity unfettered, Kahn continued to write over 1100 piano pieces in his Tagebuch in Tönen (Diary in Sounds) until 1949. He died in 1951. From a distinguished family of bankers and merchants, his seven siblings included Otto Kahn, the financier and chairman of the board of the Metropolitan Opera; and Felix Kahn, a banker, director of Paramount Pictures, and noted violin collector.

Max BRUCH  Septet in Eb Major
   ~ an awesome achievement at age 11, influenced by Beethoven and Schubert—for 2 violins, cello, double bass, clarinet, horn, and bassoon

Bruch wrote his first composition, a song for his mother’s birthday, at age 9. From then on, music became his first love and he wrote many small works as well as an orchestral overture to a projected opera. The biographer Christopher Fifield commented that “the Septet has the early hallmarks of Bruch’s melodic writing, the freshness of his youth, and the charm of his Rhenish background. The scoring is remarkably assured, though he makes no distinctions in the three wind instruments, producing a horn part of some intricacy. In both the large-scale form and harmonic planning, the young Bruch was equally precocious.” His gift of melody was ingrained for life. Sir Donald Francis Tovey enthused, “it is not easy to write as beautifully as Max Bruch…it is really easy for Bruch to write beautifully, it is in fact instinctive for him.… Further, it is impossible to find in Max Bruch any lapses from the standard of beauty which he thus instinctively sets himself.”

Born in Cologne in 1838, Bruch was awarded the prestigious Frankfurt Mozart Foundation Prize at the age of 14, and was well aware of Mozart’s importance. The Prize was recommended by the acclaimed composer and conductor Ferdinand Hiller, founder of the Cologne Conservatory. Hiller had heard a number of his works while visiting the Bruch home on occasion. The prize allowed Bruch to study composition with Hiller as well as piano with Carl Reinecke. At the age of 14, Bruch also wrote a symphony, and he later conducted orchestral and choral societies in Mannheim, Koblenz, Sondershausen, Berlin, Bonn, Liverpool, Breslau, and Wraclaw. His importance as a composer and to German musical life was finally acknowledged in 1890 when he was given a professorship and a master class in composition at the Hochschule für Musik (Berlin Academy), where he taught until his retirement in 1910. He died in Friedenau (now part of Berlin) in 1920. Bruch is best remembered for his Scottish Fantasy, Kol Nidrei, and 3 violin concerti. His music fell out of favor because he rebuffed the New German School, defending Romanticism instead, and carrying the banner for Mendelssohn and Schumann.

Clara Mathilda FAISST  2 Songs
    “Auf den grünen Auen” (“On the Green Meadows”) Op. 4 No. 2
    “Wiegenlied vor dem Schlafengehen” (“Lullaby for Bedtime”) Op. 20 No. 3
    ~rarities by an obscure composer and pupil of Max Bruch and Robert Kahn

Faisst (1872–1948) was the youngest of 6 children born in Karlsruhe to Emma and August Faisst, who died when she was a year old. A quiet and dreamy child, she suffered poor health throughout most of her childhood. Nevertheless, she received a sound musical education at an early age, and was the youngest student of harmony (at age 7) at the Hoftheater Karlsruhe. From 1894 to 1896 she continued her studies at the Royal Academy of Music in Berlin—composition with Max Bruch, piano and music theory with Robert Kahn, counterpoint with Clara Schumann’s half-brother Woldemar Bargiel, and piano with Ernst Rudorff (Clara’s pupil). She corresponded with Bruch for most of his later life. Bruch also wrote the lyrics and musical directions for her “Five Songs for Voice with Pianoforte.” After her graduation, Faisst embarked on an extended concert tour of Germany and Switzerland, performing her own works and those of other composers. The public was impressed by her compositions and interpretations of music. Her compositions are described as having very expressive melodies, and rich harmonies reminiscent of late Romanticism. Returning home in 1900, Faisst settled in Karlsruhe and was active as a composer, teacher, pianist, and poet. She organized chamber music concerts in her home—especially after World War II, when much of the infrastructure and cultural life of Karlsruhe was in ruins—playing her own pieces as well as those by Bach, Beethoven, and others. A prolific composer of over 100 works, her oeuvre comprises 33 opus numbers—collections of songs, ballads, choral music, and sonatas for violin and piano. Pieces written after 1918 were self-published; 20 of her songs were issued as music supplements in magazines. Among her famous friends was Albert Schweitzer, with whom she corresponded. Faisst never married. Many years after her death at age 76, some of her letters and music were rescued from a trash site in Karlsruhe Durlach in the early 1990s and preserved in the Badische Landesbibliothek Karlsruhe.

BRAHMS  Piano Trio No. 1 in B Major Op. 8
   ~ absolutely ravishing, with a restless, dark character

Originally composed at age 20, shortly after he met the Schumanns, Brahms began revising the Trio in the summer of 1889 while on holiday in Bad Ischl. The original version is the first piece of Brahms’s works that was performed in the United States—in New York on 17 November 1855, six weeks after its premiere in Danzig, Prussia. The revised version (the one now usually performed) premiered on 10 January 1890 in Budapest with Brahms at the piano, violinist Jenö Hubay, and cellist David Popper. His satisfaction is revealed in a letter to Clara Schumann, “I had already sent this piece to the grave and had no interest to play it anymore. Now I enjoy the fact that I did play it, and it was a very pleasurable day.”

Monday, January 6 ♦ 2 PM & 7:30 PM
Admired in Vienna
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church
152 West 66 Street (west of Broadway)
Limited Seating

Tickets: $25, $17, $10 ~ Reservations advised
Call (212) 799-1259 or email admin@jupitersymphony.com
Pay by check or cash (exact change)​​​

Drew Petersen piano
Recipient of the 2018 Avery Fisher Career Grant and 2017 American Pianists Awards, 2015 Leeds (4th prize), Kosciuszko-Chopin competitions, Jan Gorbaty Award, and Artist-in-Residence at the University of Indianapolis ~ “Thrilling piano playing wedded to astute quite astonishing musicianship.” East Hampton Star

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

Franz Anton HOFFMEISTER  Duo in F Major Op. 6 No. 2
   ~ pleasing Classical duet for violin and cello, by the prominent Viennese publisher and friend of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven

Although Hoffmeister (1754–1812) had a flourishing publishing business, his passion was composing. He was madly prolific, writing 66 symphonies, 100 flute quartets, numerous quintets, and other pieces. As a composer he was highly respected by his contemporaries, and many of his Viennese works were popular in foreign cities. His most successful opera was performed in Budapest, Hamburg, Prague, Temesvár, Warsaw, and Weimar; his numerous chamber works were published in Amsterdam, London, Paris, Venice, and throughout the German-speaking regions. A tribute published in Gerber’s Neues Lexikon der Tonkünstler in the year of his death attests to Hoffmeister’s esteem: “If you were to take a glance at his many and varied works, then you would have to admire the diligence and the cleverness of this composer.... He earned for himself a well-deserved and widespread reputation through the original content of his works, which are not only rich in emotional expression but also distinguished by the interesting and suitable use of instruments and through good practicability. For this last trait we have to thank his knowledge of instruments, which is so evident that you might think that he was a virtuoso on all of the instruments for which he wrote.”

Hoffmeister’s publishing business, established in 1784, was astute in its choice of composers. Its catalog included Albrechtsberger, Clementi, E.A. Förster, Pleyel, Vanhal, and Wranitzky (composers presented at Jupiter); as well as Beethoven, Haydn, and particularly Mozart (his personal friend). In 1795 Hoffmeister sold the firm, in part, to Artaria. Then he had a partnership with Ambrosius Kühnel of Leipzig under a new firm, the Bureau de Musique, which was later taken over by C. F. Peters, one of the oldest publishing houses still surviving today.

Heinrich von HERZOGENBERG  Piano Quintet in Eb Major Op. 43
   ~ radiant melodies by the Austrian composer influenced by Brahms—for piano, oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon

Herzogenberg (1843–1900) was born in Graz, the son of an Austrian court official. He began studying philosophy and law in 1861 at the University of Vienna, then from 1862 to 1864 he studied composition with Felix Otto Dessoff, a professor at the Vienna Conservatory and conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic. It was at Dessoff’s house that Herzogenberg met Brahms, and the two formed a lifelong friendship. His wife Elisabeth, whom he married in 1868, was a pianist and close friend of Brahms as well; and the family met the Schumanns through Brahms. In 1872 Herzogenberg moved to Leipzig, where he founded the Bach Society two years later and served as its director for 10 years. In 1885 he was appointed professor of composition at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, where he also conducted a master class in composition from 1889. He taught until 1900, with lengthy absences caused by ill health and his wife’s death. Herzogenberg’s musical activities were influenced by the various movements and composers of the 19th century. Among them were Wagner in his orchestral works, Brahms in his chamber music, Schumann in his piano works and songs, and Bach in his church music. The influential musicologist Wilhelm Altmann described Herzogenberg as “a composer of great refinement. He in his way was an original thinker and a musician of genuine emotional and poetic qualities. His chamber compositions in particular stand out...for they are not only masterly from the technical point of view, but interesting intellectually.”

Fritz KREISLER  Caprice Viennois Op. 2
   ~ creating a Viennese ambience—for violin and piano

Born in Vienna in 1875, Kreisler began to learn the violin at age 4 with his father, a doctor and enthusiastic amateur violinist. At age 7 he was the youngest ever to enter the Vienna Conservatory, where he studied violin for 3 years with Joseph Hellmesberger and theory with Anton Bruckner. He won a gold medal at age 10, an unprecedented distinction. He then studied composition and violin at the Paris Conservatoire. After a successful concert tour in the United States in 1888–1889, he returned to Vienna to study medicine. He next studied art in Paris and Rome and served as an officer in the Austrian army. In 1899 he resumed concertizing and became one of the most successful virtuosos of his time. In 1910 Kreisler premiered Edward Elgar’s Violin Concerto (dedicated to him) with the London Symphony Orchestra and Elgar conducting; it was a triumph. After 1915 he lived mainly in the United States but continued to tour widely in Europe. In 1941 he was struck by a truck in New York City and nearly died from the injuries; although he recovered, his playing and hearing were never the same. He died in New York in 1962.

As a violinist, Kreisler was unique. He played with a “tone of indescribable sweetness and expressiveness…. The matchless colour was achieved by [an intense] vibrato in the style of Wieniawski.… Kreisler applied vibrato not only on sustained notes but also in faster passages which lost all dryness under his magic touch. His methods of bowing and fingering were equally personal [New Grove Dictionary].” Kreisler was also a gifted composer, and wrote many pieces for the violin, string quartets, and the operetta “Apple Blossom.” And he was known as the “secret” composer of the Classical Manuscripts, published as his arrangements of works by the old masters, including Vivaldi and Couperin. When he admitted in 1935 that the pieces were a hoax, many critics were indignant while others accepted it as a joke.

SCHUBERT  Piano Trio in Bb Major Op. 99
   ~ cheerful, with unrivaled lyricism, as heartwarming as it is magnificent

Upon hearing this celestial, significant work, Schumann declared, “One glance at Schubert’s Bb Trio—and the troubles of human existence disappear and all the world is fresh and bright again.”

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.

Jupiter 2024 - 2025 Season
20 Mondays at 2:00 PM & 7:30 PM
Good Shepherd Church ♦ 152 West 66 Street

View Our Season Calendar

Tickets: $25, $17, $10 ~ Reservations advised
Call (212) 799-1259 or email admin@jupitersymphony.com
Pay by check or cash (exact change)​​

Please visit our Media Page to hear Audio Recordings from the Jens Nygaard and Jupiter Symphony Archive

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

Office Address:
JUPITER SYMPHONY
155 West 68th Street, Suite 319
New York, NY 10023
admin@jupitersymphony.com
(212) 799-1259

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Jupiter in the News

ConcertoNet
“knocked the socks off this listener...It was wondrous chamber music. And the three artists gave it the deserving excitement, volition and imagination.” 
Harry Rolnick, ConcertoNet   more...

“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...

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
  ~ simply delicious piano quintet, alternately titled Rondeau Pastoral and better known in its version for solo piano, Twelve O’clock Rondo, on account of the 12 “chimes” at the end ~ by the creator of the Nocturne, which had a major influence on Chopin

We thank the University of Illinois (Champaign) for a copy of the Divertissement music.

Mackenzie Melemed piano
Abigel Kralik violin
Dechopol Kowintaweewat violin
Sarah Sung viola
Christine Lamprea cello

Sir Hamilton HARTY  Piano Quintet in F Major Op. 12
  ~ in a lyrical Romantic idiom, with a distinct, breezy Irish-salted voice

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
Abigel Kralik violin
Dechopol Kowintaweewat violin
Sarah Sun viola
Christine Lamprea cello

I Allegro 0:00
II Vivace 10:43
III Lento 14:44
IV Allegro con brio 23:59