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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Dear Friends and Music Lovers,    During this coronavirus pandemic, our concerts this fall may be as rare as the music of the forgotten composers we often perform. While this horrid beast prevails we hope to lessen the risk of indoor gatherings. Also, please check the status of every concert on our website or by phone. If there is a cancellation, the program will be video recorded and made available for viewing on our website.    By now you know the danger of gathering indoors with people outside your bubble. If you come, it’s at your own risk. If you are in the least bit fearful, please do not come. We can, however, offer: ♦ Limited seating spaced 6 feet apart ♦ Hand sanitizer from dispensers ♦ Required wearing of masks by audience & staff ♦ Doors to open 20 minutes before concert starts ♦ Request 6 feet distancing when entering & exiting ♦ And suggest minimal, quiet talking    This season there are no subscriptions. Tickets are by reservation only. Please visit our ticket page for details. As these are indeed challenging times, please consider of gift of $100 or more and become a “Friend,” or please give as much as you can to help keep Jupiter alive and thriving. Your financial support is truly needed.    All gifts are tax deductible.    Thank you so much,

Caricature of Jens Nygaard on iPad by Elizabeth "Lizzi" Volpert, age 12

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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Take a look at our guest artists for this season.
Find out more about the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players.

Join us for our next concerts...

Monday, October 5 ♦ 2 PM & 7:30 PM
English Worthies
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church
152 West 66 Street (west of Broadway)
Limited Seating

Maxim Lando piano
Winner of the 2020 Gilmore Young Artist Award, winner in the 2018 Young Concert Artists Auditions, Gold Medal at the 2017 Berliner International Competition, Gold Medal at the 2015 International Television Contest for Young Musicians in Moscow, 2nd prize at the Kissinger Klavier Olymp in Germany, winner of the 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 ~ “Lando boasts technical skill” Anthony Tommasini ~ The New York Times ~ “He was simply brilliant” Cleveland Classical

Stefan Milenkovich violin
Winner of the Indianapolis, Paganini, Tibor Varga, Queen Elisabeth, Yehudi Menuhin, and Young Concert Artists competitions ~ “a stunning virtuoso.” Strings ~ “Milenkovich’s recital at the Kennedy Center was so disarmingly magical that it is not easy to describe its glories. This is not so much a matter of a dazzling virtuosity (though he has it all) as of searching musicianship.” The Washington Post

Cynthia Phelps viola
Principal Violist of the New York Philharmonic ~ first prizewinner of the Lionel Tertis and Washington International String competitions, and the Pro Musicis Award ~ “Not only does Cynthia Phelps produce one of the richest, deepest viola timbres in the world, she is also a superb musician.” Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Geneva Lewis violin
Won First Prize at the YoungArts, ENKOR, and 2019 New England Conservatory Concerto Competitions; and the Bronze Medal at the Fischoff competition as a member of the Callisto Trio

Christine Lee cello
Winner of the Isang Yun competition as well as a laureate of the Queen Elizabeth first cello competition in 2017

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

Note: Maxim Lando replaces Mackenzie Melemed for this concert

Samuel COLERIDGE-TAYLOR  Clarinet Quintet in F^# minor Op. 10
  ~ highly individual, rhythmically complex, and endlessly lyrical

The post-Romantic Quintet, written at age 20, was played by none other than Richard Mühlfeld, for whom Brahms wrote his Clarinet Trio and Clarinet Quintet.

The “Black Mahler”—son of a Sierra Leonean Creole father and English mother—was named Samuel after the poet, and in 1890 at age 15 he entered the Royal College of Music as a violin student. When he switched to studying composition with Charles Villiers Stanford, his tutor challenged him to write a clarinet quintet without any inkling of the influence of his favorite composer, Brahms. The Clarinet Quintet is a testament to his success. Much admired in his day, his greatest hit was the cantata Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast. Coleridge-Taylor was proud to be “an Englishman” even though he suffered intense racism. On several occasions he visited the United States, where he was warmly received; he met Booker T. Washington and President Theodore Roosevelt, who invited him to the White House. He was an ardent supporter of the Pan African Movement, and was intent on establishing “the dignity of the Black man.” In 1912, he contracted double pneumonia and died at the age of 37. He left two children, Hiawatha and Gwendolyn, both of whom had distinguished careers as conductors and composers.

Cyril SCOTT  Piano Quartet Op. 16
  ~ voluptuous late Romanticism with an intense, powerful Andante

Premiered in April 1902 at a Classical Chamber Concert in Liverpool, the Quartet made its London debut on 12 February 1902 at a Broadwood Concert at St. James Hall, with violinist Fritz Kreisler, Emil Kreuz on viola, cellist Ludwig Lebell, and Scott at the piano.

The son of a Greek scholar, Scott (1879–1970) was sent to the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt at age 12 to study music with Engelbert Humperdinck and Lazzaro Uzielli, one of Germany’s finest piano pedagogues. His English classmates there included Percy Grainger, who remained a close friend. He also befriended the poet Stefan George, whose work he later translated. After he left Frankfurt in 1898, he taught piano and gave recitals in Liverpool. In 1905 Scott wrote Lotus Land, a mystically atmospheric parlor piece that became a huge commercial hit. By the 1920s, his music gravitated toward neoclassicism. He also became absorbed with theosophy and the occult sciences and wrote successfully on these and other topics, publishing no less than 40 books, of which only 4 are on music. During World War II Scott suffered a health crisis that evolved into a creative spurt, first with the help of Grainger and then, in 1963, when a group of friends formed a “Cyril Scott Society” to help promote his music.

Frank BRIDGE  Piano Quintet in D minor
  ~ dense, richly melodic masterwork, cast in a rhapsodic post-Romantic English style, yet influenced by Fauré, with a yearning theme in the slow movement

First written when Bridge was in his mid-20s, the Quintet was radically revised just after he turned 30. The refined version premiered on 29 May 1912 with pianist Harold Samuel and the English String Quartet. Bridge studied composition with Sir Charles Villiers Stanford at the Royal College of Music, where he also studied violin. He played the viola in string quartets (most notably the English String Quartet), conducted and taught, before devoting himself to composing. Bridge was the private tutor of Benjamin Britten, who later championed his teacher’s music and paid homage to him in Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge.

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

By now you know the danger of gathering indoors with people outside your bubble. If you come, it’s at your own risk. If you are in the least bit fearful of CoVid-19, please do not come. We can, however, offer:

♦ Required wearing of masks
♦ Limited seating spaced 6 feet apart
♦ Hand sanitizers
♦ Doors to open 20 minutes before the concert
♦ A short pause in place of an intermission
♦ No refreshments
♦ Request 6 feet distancing when entering and exiting
♦ Suggest minimal, quiet talking
♦ Windows and/or doors will be open

Please use the restrooms before or after the concert.
Thank you for accommodating the new format at this time.

In addition to the above guidelines, New York State Covid-19 Travel Advisory requires visitors from certain states to quarantine for 14 days. If you are traveling to NYC from any of these states, visitors are required to complete the online Travel Health Form.

Jupiter 2020 - 2021 Season
20 Mondays at 2:00 PM & 7:30 PM

View Our NEW Season Calendar

To reserve Tickets ~ $25, $17, $10 
please call (212) 799-1259
or e-mail admin@jupitersymphony.com

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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html5 audio player

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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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

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...