40th Season 2021-2022 - Corpus Christi Chamber Music Society

 
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40th Season 2021-2022 - Corpus Christi Chamber Music Society
40th Season
  2021-2022

  Corpus Christi
    Chamber
  Music Society
40th Season 2021-2022 - Corpus Christi Chamber Music Society
40th Season 2021-2022 - Corpus Christi Chamber Music Society
Corpus Christi
                                        Chamber Music Society
Welcome to the 40th season of the Corpus Christi Chamber Music Society’s
Concert Series. Our mission is to promote appreciation and enjoyment of
chamber music by bringing the finest chamber music ensembles to perform in
Corpus Christi and provide opportunities for students within the Coastal Bend
to participate in outreach programs with our guest artists.

Our concert series will include SIX performances by acclaimed chamber
ensembles: the Escher Quartet and Jason Vieaux, the Seraph Brass, the Merz
Trio, Room Full of Teeth, the Gryphon Trio, and the Ying Quartet with Billy
Childs. These concerts are made possible by generous grants from the City
of Corpus Christi Arts and Cultural Commission with funding provided by
Hotel Occupancy Tax Funds, the Morris L. Lichtenstein, Jr. Medical Research
Foundation, the Coastal Bend Community Foundation and individual donors.
We also thank KEDT-FM for promoting our concerts over the airwaves and
interviewing our guest artists whenever possible.

The Chamber Music Society is committed to expanding outreach programs
as we collaborate with area colleges and universities, the Corpus Christi
Independent School District, private and parochial schools and businesses.
Five of the chamber ensembles performing this season will present outreach
programs at different locations.

Our updated and expanded website, www.corpuschristichambermusic.org,
provides in-depth information on our guest artists, concert schedule, outreach
programs, ticket information, and ways that you can make a financial
contribution to support our efforts to promote chamber music in the Corpus
Christi area. Please visit our website, promote our concerts to your friends and
fellow music lovers, and like us on Facebook.

Enjoy the program!

John D. Bell
President

        The Corpus Christi Chamber Music Society is a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization
                         PO Box 60124 Corpus Christi, TX 78466-0124
                              www.corpuschristichambermusic.org
40th Season 2021-2022 - Corpus Christi Chamber Music Society
Special thanks to the following businesses and individuals:
 James Garcia, CCISD Choral Coordinator

 Elizabeth Ortego-Ruiz, CCISD String Coordinator

 Grunwald Printing

 Del Mar College Music Department

 Gill Landscape Nursery, Sally Gill

 KEDT-FM 90.3 and KEDT-TV

 Charles W. Thomasson

 Weber Bingo

                                THE MORRIS L. LICHTENSTEIN, JR.
                                MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNSDATION

               CORPUS CHRISTI
               MUSIC TEACHERS
               ASSOCIATION
40th Season 2021-2022 - Corpus Christi Chamber Music Society
ESCHER QUARTET
                                                     Saturday, October 9, 2021
                                                     7:30 p.m.
                                                     Adam Barnett-Hart, violin
                                                     Brendan Speltz, violin
                                                     Pierre Lapointe, viola
                                                     Brook Speltz, cello
                                                     with guest artist
                                                     Jason Vieaux, guitar

                                      ~PROGRAM~

Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 44, No. 3                                 Felix Mendelssohn
    Allegro vivace                                                           (1809-1847)
    Scherzo: Assai leggiero e vivace
    Adagio non troppo
    Molto allegro con fuoco
                                     (Escher Quartet)

Guitar Quintet in D Major, G. 448 “Fandango”                             Luigi Boccherini
     Pastorale                                                              (1743-1805)
     Allegro maestoso
     Grave assai – Fandango
                            (Escher Quartet and Jason Vieaux)

                                   ~INTERMISSION~

“Giga” from Violin Sonata No. 1, BWV 1001                           J.S. Bach (arr. Vieaux)
		                                                                           (1685-1750)

Vals in G Major, Op. 8, No. 3                                              Agustín Barrios
		                                                                           (1885-1955)

Four Paths of Light, Movement II (composed for and dedicated to Mr. Vieaux) Pat Metheny
		                                                                               (b.1954)

Danza Brasilera                                                               Jorge Morel
		                                                                           (1931-2021)
                                    (Jason Vieaux, guitar)

100 Greatest Dance Hits for Guitar and String Quartet                    Aaron Jay Kernis
     Introduction to the Dance Party                                             (b.1960)
     Salsa Pasada
     Middle of the Road Easy Listening Slow Dance
     Dance Party on the Disco Motorboat
                              (Escher Quartet and Jason Vieaux)
40th Season 2021-2022 - Corpus Christi Chamber Music Society
Management for ESCHER QUARTET:
               Arts Management Group, Inc., 130 W. 57th St., NY, NY 10019

                          Management for JASON VIEAUX:
    Jonathan Wentworth Associates, Ltd., 6118 40th Ave., #208, Hyattsville, MD 20782

                                     Program Sponsor
                           Coastal Bend Community Foundation

                                     BIOGRAPHIES

                          Escher String Quartet (escherquartet.com)

       The Escher String Quartet has received acclaim for its expressive, nuanced performances
that combine unusual textural clarity with a rich, blended sound. A former BBC New
Generation Artist, the quartet has performed at the BBC Proms at Cadogan Hall and is a
regular guest of Wigmore Hall. In its home town of New York, the ensemble serves as Season
Artists of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, where it has presented the complete
Zemlinsky Quartets Cycle as well as being one of the five quartets chosen to collaborate in
a complete presentation of Beethoven’s string quartets. Last season, the quartet toured with
CMS to China.
       Within months of its inception in 2005, the ensemble came to the attention of key
musical figures worldwide. Championed by the Emerson Quartet, the Escher Quartet was
invited by both Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman to be Quartet in Residence at each
artist’s summer festival: the Young Artists Programme at Canada’s National Arts Centre and
and the Perlman Chamber Music Programme on Shelter Island, NY. The Quartet has since
collaborated with artists including David Finkel, Leon Fleischer, Wu Han, Lynn Harrell,
Cho Liang Lin, Joshua Bell, Paul Watkins and David Shifrin, as well as saxophonist Joshua
Redman, vocalist Kurt Elling, legendary Latin artist Paquito D’Rivera and Grammy award-
winning guitarist Jason Vieaux. In 2013, the quartet became one of the very few chamber
ensembles to be awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.
       The Escher Quartet has made a distinct impression throughout Europe, performing at
venues such as Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Konzerthaus, London’s Kings Place, Tel
Aviv Museum of Art, Slovenian Philharmonic Hall, Auditorium du Louvre and Les Grand
Interprètes series in Geneva. With a strong collaborative approach, the group has appeared at
festivals such as Heidelberg Spring Festival, Incontri in Terra de Siena Festival, Dublin’s Great
Music in Irish Houses, Risør Chamber Music Festival in Norway, Hong Kong International
Chamber Music Festival and Perth International Arts Festival in Australia.
       Currently String Quartet in Residence at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas
and Tuesday Musical in Akron, Ohio, the quartet fervently supports the education of young
musicians and has given masterclasses at institutions such as the Royal Academy of Music in
London and Campos do Jorda-o Music Festival in Brazil.
       In Autumn 2016, the quartet released the third and final volume of the complete
Mendelssohn Quartets on the BIS label. The set has been received with the highest critical
acclaim: Volume Two was listed in the Top 10 CDs of 2016 by the Guardian and hailed for
40th Season 2021-2022 - Corpus Christi Chamber Music Society
its ”sheer finesse” by Gramophone, whilst Volume Three was nominated for a BBC Music
Magazine Award. The quartet has also recorded the complete Zemlinsky String Quartets in
two volumes, released on the Naxos label in 2013 and 2014 respectively, to accolades including
five stars in the Guardian with “Classical CD of the year,” a recommendation in The Strad,
“Recording of the Month” on Music Web International, and a nomination for a BBC Music
Magazine Award.
       The Escher Quartet takes its name from Dutch Graphic artist M.C. Escher, inspired
by Escher’s method of interplay between individual components working together to form a
whole.

                           Jason Vieaux, guitar (jasonvieaux.com)

      Grammy-winner Jason Vieaux, “among the elite of today’s classical guitarists”
(Gramophone), is described by NPR as “perhaps the most precise and soulful classical guitarist
of his generation.”
      Vieaux recently made his debuts for the Domaine-Forget Festival, Carmel Bach Festival,
and Wolf Trap, and made returns to San Francisco Performances, Caramoor, Ravinia, and
Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. Other recent venues include the National Gallery of
Art, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, the 92Y, Seoul Arts Center, and Shanghai Concert Hall.
Jason Vieaux has performed as soloist with over 100 orchestras, including Cleveland, Toronto,
Houston, Nashville, and Orchestra of St. Luke’s.
      In March 2021, Vieaux performed the premiere recording of a new solo work, “Four
Points of Light” composed for Vieaux by jazz legend Pat Metheny for his new album Road
to the Sun. Vieaux performed the live recording of Jonathan Leshnoff ’s Guitar Concerto
with Nashville Symphony in 2019 (Naxos). Vieaux’s passion for new music has also fostered
recent premieres from Jeff Beal (House of Cards Symphony, BIS, 2017), Avner Dorman,
Vivian Fung, Mark Mancina, Dan Visconti, and many more. Slated for Summer 2021 release
is a new solo Bach recording on Azica. Of his Grammy-winning 2014 solo album Play, The
Huffington Post declared that Play is “part of the revitalized interest in the classical guitar.”
      Vieaux’s multiple appearances over the years with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln
Center, Music@Menlo, Strings Music Festival, Eastern Music Festival, etc., have forged
his reputation as a top chamber musician. Regular collaborators include the Escher String
Quartet, Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, harpist
Yolanda Kondonassis, and accordion/bandoneon virtuoso Julien Labro.
      As a teacher, Vieaux co-founded the guitar department at the Curtis Institute of Music in
2011, and has taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music for 25 years. Vieaux’s online Guitar
School has subscribers from over 30 countries.

                                  PROGRAM NOTES

Felix Mendelssohn
String Quartet in E-Flat Major, Op. 44, No. 3

      Although listed as Op. 44, No. 3, the E-flat major quartet was completed second of the
three Op. 44 quartets, on February 6, 1838. In some ways it is the most interesting of the three
and one that best realizes the possibilities of writing for the string quartet medium.
      The quartet starts with a bold dramatic opening – four fast notes as the upbeat to a
long-held note. After an expansive discourse on this theme, there is a loud measure of unison
sixteenth notes, which the first violin continues softly as the others play a hiccupy, upbeat-
40th Season 2021-2022 - Corpus Christi Chamber Music Society
downbeat subsidiary theme. Further episodes follow before the three lower instruments start a
repeated-note accompaniment over which the first plays the opulent concluding theme. With
a feeling of spontaneity that hides the craft, Mendelssohn then works through the various
motifs in the development. The second violin sneaks in with the recapitulation at the end of
a long chain of first violin sixteenth notes, while the first violin continues the running figure.
The coda is really another short development section, distinguished by its brilliant exploitation
of the quartet’s varied timbres.
       Widely acclaimed for his scherzo movements, Mendelssohn surely outdoes himself here.
This Scherzo starts with rapid, light, fleeting notes that John Horton, in his perceptive book
on Mendelssohn’s chamber music, hears as a musical evocation of hunters riding off into a
magical forest, a frequent theme of German music and folklore. Rather than continue in this
character, though, Mendelssohn has the viola start a little fugato, a learned musical device very
far removed from enchanted woodland scenes. The opening section then returns in a modified
repeat, to be interrupted once more, this time by a double fugue, with a brisk rhythmic tune
and a smooth descending chromatic line as the subject. The movement ends with a final
review of the opening, including a literal unison passage in which all four instruments play the
exact same notes!
       Although very much slower, the Adagio non troppo has a four-note upbeat figure that
recalls the opening of the first movement. Despite the theme’s solemn, treadlike quality,
Mendelssohn brings it up to a high level of fervid expression. Two features stand out as
he extends the melody: the first violin’s occasional fast-rising arpeggios and the rocking
accompaniment line. The latter continues as the link to the second theme, a sighing melody
that gently goes its two-beat way over the underlying three-beat meter. After Mendelssohn
brings back elisions of the two themes, he further integrates the quartet movements by
concluding with the rising arpeggio from the first subject, which then becomes the opening of
the finale.
       In the bravura last movement, the high-speed sixteenths at the beginning are given extra
energy by the slightly awkward three-and-one articulation of the alternate groups of four.
Mendelssohn adds a touch of humor through the second motif—three repeated notes and
an octave leap. Several times during the movement, one instrument or another plays the
same figure, but overshoots the mark in a simulated mistake. A quiet, cantabile subsidiary
theme calms the furor somewhat. But the vivacity of the principal theme prevails and easily
dominates the rest of this exuberant movement.
Program Notes by Melvin Berger

Luigi Boccherini
Guitar Quintet in D Major, G. 448 “Fandango”

       In composing his Guitar Quintet in D Major, G. 448, Boccherini borrowed and reworked
movements from two of his own earlier chamber works, the String Quintet Op. 10, No. 6, G.
270 and the String Quintet, Op. 40, No. 2, G. 341, both of which were composed for string
quartet plus an extra cello. Replacing the extra cello with guitar, the Fandango Guitar Quintet,
G. 448, opens with a pleasant Pastoral, an instrumental work intended to evoke the image of
shepherds playing their shawms and pipes. Focused on a tender, lilting theme in 6/8 time,
it will have listeners swaying gently back and forth in their seats. A spirited Allegro maestoso
follows and from the opening fanfare-like call this movement shows off the cello. Boccherini
was himself a cellist and often wrote more interesting cello parts in his chamber music than his
friend and contemporary Franz Joseph Haydn. In this movement the cello alternates between
the traditional role of being the firm foundation of the music and being more of a soloist
playing sparkling harmonics and showy passages in upper registers. Tranquility returns with
the simplicity, clarity, and balance of the Grave assai then moves without pause into the lively
Fandango, a traditional Spanish dance in which guitar and castanets figure prominently. It is
in this movement we hear the most aggressive and flashy guitar playing. The cello again gets a
chance to show off with portamenti and ricochet bowings, but all the string players share in the
fun as rhythmic and melodic motives are passed around inviting listeners to dance!
Program notes by Susan Sturman

Johann Sebastian Bach
Violin Sonata No. 1 in G Minor, BWV 100 - Giga (arr. Vieaux)

       Johann Sebastian Bach’s Three Sonatas and Three Partitas, BWV 1001-1006 were
composed in 1720, during the period in which Bach held the position of court Kapellmeister
under Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen. The three Sonatas are written in the style of the
Italian sonata da chiesa, the origins of which are founded in the earlier Italian liturgical practice
of playing instrumental interludes during the Mass. As the sonata da chiesa was practiced
and developed by composers outside the church, their later forms typically consisted of four
movements arranged slow-fast-slow-fast. The Sonata No. 1 in G Minor, BWV 1001, is perhaps
the darkest of Bach’s three Sonatas, but the virtuosic finale (Presto) is a bright, rhythmic version
of an Italian Giga.
Program notes by Jason Vieaux

Agustin Barrios

      The Paraguayan Agustín Barrios led a varied and colorful life. He was successful as a
touring guitar virtuoso in Latin America, performing in virtually every country in the region.
His success did not extend to other parts of the globe however: his trip to Europe in the 1930s
was met with some acclaim but was cut short by the Spanish Civil War, and his dream of
touring the United States never came to fruition.
      For many years Barrios billed himself as Nitsuga Mangoré, sometimes with the fanciful
slogan “The Paganini of the guitar from the jungles of Paraguay.” “Nitsuga” is Agustín spelled
backward and “Mangoré” was the name of a legendary chief from the Guaraní tribe indigenous
to Barrios’ native Paraguay. Barrios claimed to be descended from this chief, and appeared in
concert dressed in native Guaraní garb. Later in life he returned to traditional concert attire
and eventually settled on the name Agustín Barrios Mangoré.
      The music of Barrios can generally be divided into two styles: Latin American folk
and popular music, and romantic salon pieces. Vals Op. 8, No. 4 represents the latter style.
Although his works never truly ventured much into the compositional style of the twentieth
century, they exhibit a mastery of the harmonic language of the nineteenth century, extending
from Chopin to Tárrega, and they are quite moving.
      Vals Op. 8 No. 4 appeared in Barrios’ programs at least by 1923. He recorded it and
it was one of the few works that he published. It often appeared in his concert programs as
Vals Brillante, referring to the sweeping, virtuosic scale and arpeggio passages. Though Op. 8
reputedly originally consisted of five waltzes, only the third and fourth survive today. Both are
charming salon pieces in the style of Chopin.
Program notes by Erik Mann
Pat Metheny
Four Paths of Light, Movement II (composed for and dedicated to Mr. Vieaux)

       Guitar legend Pat Metheny is a master technician, an improviser of extraordinary,
natural fluidity, and a composer with a gift for exquisite melodies. And his albums—whether
performed solo or by the acclaimed Pat Metheny Group—are modern-day masterpieces. But
on his March 2021 release Road to the Sun, he takes a step back. Here, he entrusts performances
of two classical chamber works to guitarist friends and colleagues Jason Vieaux and the Los
Angeles Guitar Quartet. The album’s first work—four-movement solo guitar suite Four Paths
of Light—was written by Metheny for fellow American guitarist Vieaux, who Metheny has
admired for years. “I’d heard of Jason before I was even aware that he knew of me,” Metheny
tells Apple Music. “He kind of burst onto the scene as a significant new voice, and I was
immediately impressed not just by his brilliant playing, but how he could play complicated
things in a simple way. To me, he has the right mix of skills, but with a soul thing going on
too.” Four Paths of Light is a technical tour de force, but a work, too, of thrilling rhythmic
drive and intense beauty. “I wanted to offer Jason something that would take advantage of
his strengths, and also challenge him,” reveals Metheny. “I think when you write music for
somebody, or you bring somebody into your band who is very talented, you have an obligation
not just to utilize what they can do, but to take them someplace they had maybe never been
before.”

II. Pt. 2
       “Playing in the adagio style that you hear in this movement is something that Jason
is really good at, and it was a pleasure for me to know that he would have an immediate
understanding of how to do it. At the same time, it’s one of those pieces where you have a
melody on top, and it has to sing above this accompanying, almost left-hand piano writing.
It’s hard to get that balance. I worked up a version of this movement in a band setting, with
a quartet that I was playing with at the time, and it worked great, which was a little bit of a
surprise for me, as I wasn’t really thinking of it like that.”
Program notes from Pat Metheny

Jorge Morel
Danza Brasilera

      The popular and prolific Argentine-American guitarist-composer Jorge Morel began
his guitar studies in Buenos Aires with his father, a famous actor. After further studies with
Amparo Alvariza and the virtuoso Pablo Escobar, Morel emigrated to New York in 1961. The
urban and jazzy Danza Brasiliera, one of Morel’s best-known pieces, is close in spirit to the
modern samba and bossa nova.
Program notes by Richard M. Long

Aaron Jay Kernis
100 Greatest Dance Hits
     “100 Greatest Dance Hits” (1993) is an affectionate tribute to various sorts of popular
music that I heard when I was growing up or came to know during my life as an adult in New
York City.
     The influences in it range from the African roots of rock and roll in the short introductory
movement, to the salsa accents from the streets of the Upper West Side of Manhattan (where
I’ve lived since the early ’90s) to the undeniable remnants of middle-of-the-road, easy-listening
music that my parents gravitated toward and I detested as a teenager (only to succumb to the
charms of the memories of singing strings, Muzak, and Atlantic city club-dates that still bring
the image of my parents back to me with much affection). It wraps up with the final movement
steeped in ’70s disco and gentle funk that barrels on through diatonic hints of Soul Train,
crunchy and scratchy ultra-dissonant climaxes to a final moment of vocal percussion which
recalls early rap.
       “Dance Hits” channels these influences into a fun, joyous piece for guitar and string
quartet, both stretched quite a bit out of their usual “classical” playing traditions.
       The work was commissioned for the tenth season of Music from Angel Fire, and is
dedicated to my dear friend, guitarist David Tanenbaum and to Ida Kavafian.
Program notes by Aaron Jay Kernis
SERAPH BRASS
                                           Saturday, November 20, 2021
                                           7:30 p.m.
                                           Mary Elizabeth Bowden, trumpet
                                           Raquel Samayoa, trumpet
                                           Rachel Velvikis, horn
                                           Victoria Garcia, trombone
                                           Samantha Lake, tuba

                                   ~PROGRAM~

“Prelude” from Holberg Suite                                Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
  		                                                                     arr. Jeff Luke

“Sempre Libera” from La Traviata                          Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
		                                                                       arr. Jeff Luke

“Nessun Dorma” from Turandot                             Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
		                                                                 arr. Ivaylo Hristov

Two Pieces from Suite Española                               Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909)
    Asturias                                                               arr. Jeff Luke
    Sevilla

Hora Staccato                                             Grigoras, Dinicu (1889-1949)
		                                                                          arr. Tim Olt

Go 		                                                     Anthony Dilorenzo (b. 1967)

                                 ~INTERMISSION~

Khirkiyaan (Windows): Three Transformations for Brass           Reena Esmail (b. 1983)
I.   Rondo (Jo-g)
II. Joota/Shoe
III. Tutturana

“Polovetsian Dances” from Prince Igor               Alexander Borodin (1833-1887)
		                                                                arr. Rolf Smedvig

“Virgo” from Asteria                                    Catherine McMichael (b. 1954)

Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2                                       Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
		                                                                         arr. Jeff Luke
Seraph Brass is represented by

       Kevin Peters, Booking Agent		                             Manhattan Music Ensemble
        G.L. Berg Entertainment     and                          Reggie Bahl, Artist Manager
          (888) 654-6901 x 12		                                        212-721-1343
            www.gkberg.com 		                                      www.mmensemble.com

                                    BIOGRAPHIES

                                       (seraphbrass.com)

      Seraph Brass is a dynamic brass quintet drawing from a roster of America’s top female
brass players. Committed to engaging audiences with captivating programming, Seraph Brass
presents a diverse body of repertoire that includes original transcriptions, newly commissioned
works, and well-known classics. Seraph released their debut studio album, Asteria, on Summit
Records in January 2018.
      Seraph Brass has toured throughout the United States, Mexico, and Europe. They have
performed multiple concerts at the Lieksa Brass Week in Finland, and they were the featured
ensemble at the International Women’s Brass Conference. Seraph has performed concerts at
the Forum Cultural Guanajuato in León, Mexico, Dame Myra Hess Concerts in Chicago,
Gettysburg Concert Association, Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, SUNY
Cortland, Jamestown Concert Association, and they have toured extensively as Allied Concert
Service artists. Seraph is on the roster of the Manhattan Music Ensemble and G.L. Berg
Entertainment. As featured soloists with band, Seraph performed Rick DeJonge's Prelude and
Fantasy with the Rowan University Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Joseph Higgins,
and James Stephenson's Dodecafecta with the Bucknell University Wind Ensemble, under the
direction of William Kenny. Many members of Seraph Brass performed with Adele on her
North American tour in 2016.
      Enthusiastic about education, Seraph has developed strong relationships with Venezuelan
“El Sistema” programs in Philadelphia and Washington D.C., performing fundraising concerts
for Play-On-Philly! and Bridges: Music Through Harmony. Seraph has given residencies at
Stephen F. Austin University, University of Virginia, Wittenberg University, Western Illinois
Universities, Penn State Erie, and the Dreyfoos School of the Arts
      Committed to commissioning new works, Seraph commissioned and premiered “Wolf ”
for solo soprano and brass quintet from Philadelphia-based composer, Joseph Hallman.
Seraph has commissioned new works by Catherine McMichael and Rene Orth, featured on
Asteria. Seraph premiered Lucy Pankhurt’s Ouroboros with euphonium soloist Helene Escriva
at the International Women’s Brass Conference. Seraph also has many original arrangements
by trumpeter Jeff Luke, featured on Asteria and Seraph Brass Live!
      Members of Seraph Brass have performed with such esteemed ensembles as the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Musicians from
Marlboro, Luzern Music Festival in Switzerland, National Symphony, Brass Band of Battle
Creek, Daejeon Philharmonic in Korea, and Auckland Philharmonia in New Zealand.
They hold positions in the Richmond Symphony, Tucson Symphony, Louisville Orchestra,
Artosphere Orchestra, Tennessee Tech University, University of North Carolina at Pembroke,
Louisiana State University, University of Richmond, and North Carolina School of the Arts.

                                  PROGRAM NOTES

      The brass quintet is a relative newcomer in the world of chamber music. While standard
ensembles such as the string quartet or the piano trio date back to the 18th century, the
modern brass quintet did not emerge as a standard ensemble until the formation of the New
York Brass Quintet in 1954, when they introduced the now standard instrumentation of two
trumpets, horn, trombone, and tuba. New types of chamber ensembles have the difficulty of
programming with limited existing repertoire, but, from the beginning, brass quintets have
sought to commission new works from modern composers as well as to arrange works from
the wider classical and popular music repertoire. Many of these arrangements have been made
by members of the groups themselves – by the brass players who know best how to allow
their instruments to shine - and serve to introduce audiences to the wide-ranging musical
capabilities of brass instruments through the prism of more widely known music. Such is
the case with this evening’s program, where all four of the listed arrangers are brass players
themselves, with trumpeter Jeff Luke having written his arrangements specifically for Seraph
Brass. Conversely, several original compositions on the program are either quickly becoming
part of the standard brass quintet repertoire (Anthony DiLorenzo’s Go) or continuing to add
to a growing and increasingly diverse repertoire (Reena Esmail’s Khirkiyaan and Catherine
McMichael’s Asteria.)
      The program opens with the “Prelude” from Edvard Grieg’s Holberg Suite. Written in
1884 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of the humanist playwright Ludvig
Holberg, Grieg composed this five-movement suite in a neo-classical style, recalling the music
of the early Classical period which Holberg would have heard during his lifetime. This opening
prelude is gracefully propelled along by a constant repeating eighth-note and double sixteenth-
note rhythm (long-short-short), ideally suited for a professional brass ensemble, for which
such agile articulation of notes is perhaps even more natural than for the piano or strings, as in
Grieg’s original versions of the work.
      Opera fans will no doubt recognize Verdi’s “Sempre Libera” from La Traviata or Puccini’s
beautiful “Nessun Dorma” from the final act of Turandot. To some, these arias might seem to
be curious sources for new brass quintet repertoire; however, opera has long been a source of
inspiration for brass players, dating back to the rise of several virtuosos in the touring wind
bands of the late 19th century. Soloists such as cornetist Herbert C. Clarke or trombonist
Arthur Pryor rose to prominence at a time when music written for brass instruments was not
widely available, especially in the United States, and they would often turn to operatic arias
and other well-known songs as sources for arrangements or as thematic material for virtuosic
showpieces. In these arrangements, Mary Elizabeth Bowden’s trumpet takes on the role of
Violetta in Verdi’s coloratura aria, and trombonist Victoria Garcia is featured on Puccini’s
beautiful tenor aria.
      Isaac Albéniz, along with several of his contemporaries, such as Enrique Granados and
Manuel de Falla, was part of a movement of Spanish composers known for elevating Spanish
music around the turn of the 20th century. The Suite Española originated as a suite for solo
piano, with each movement paying respect to various regions of Spain. “Asturias” is given the
subtitle of “Leyenda,” or “legend,” and is steeped in the Flamenco tradition; “Sevilla” is based
on the style of the sevillanas – a Castilian dance. Interestingly, while the bulk of Albéniz’s
compositional output was solo piano repertoire (Albéniz was a piano soloist himself ), his music
is most often performed today in the form of transcriptions for other instruments. Devotees
of classical guitar will surely recognize these two selections, as they are often performed as
standalone works for solo guitar.
      Hora Staccato is the most famous work by the Romanian composer and violinist Grigoras,
Dinicu. This violin showpiece is written in the style of the Romanian hora (a traditional
Balkan circle dance) and was made most famous in an arrangement by Jascha Heifetz in 1932.
Subsequent arrangements have been published for many instruments, with one for trumpet
and piano receiving frequent performances. This arrangement by Tim Olt was arranged
specifically for Raquel Samayoa to perform with the Seraph Brass.
      Anthony Dilorenzo’s Go, provides a virtuosic, toccata-like showpiece to conclude the
program’s first half. This exciting four-minute work is emblematic of DiLorenzo’s exciting
compositions for brass, many of which are enthusiastically received by brass players and
audiences alike. Go was premiered by the Center City Brass Quintet, of which the composer
is a member, and is dedicated to the late trombonist Steve Witser. DiLorenzo writes that he
“dedicates this piece to [Witser’s] memory, in remembrance of his tireless intensity and positive
energy.”
      Reena Esmail is a composer of Indian-American descent who has on her resume degrees
from two prominent Western classical conservatories, The Juilliard School and the Yale
School of Music, as well as a Fulbright-Nehru grant, on which she traveled to India to study
Hindustani music. Both musical sound worlds are heard throughout Khirkiyaan, opening the
second half of the program. This work arose as a reimagining of several of Esmail’s existing
compositions. “Khirkiyaan” is the Hindi word for “windows;” thus each of these movements
serves as a window into Esmail’s own music seen through the new prism of the brass quintet.
      The opening movement “Rondo (Jog)” originated as a part of the composer’s string
quartet Ragamala. Inspired by the improvisatory Indian musical form of the raga, the
movement utilizes a mercurial third scale degree, playing with the Western concept of major
and minor tonality. “Joota/Shoe” arose as part of a song cycle for mezzo soprano and guitar,
Chuti Hui Jagah (The Space Between). It draws inspiration from a verse of the Indian poet
Manav Kaul: “When the shoe bites / Then it becomes difficult to navigate through the world /
And when the shoe stops biting / Then it becomes difficult to navigate through time.” Finally,
“Tuttarana,” originally a work for women’s choir, serves to brilliantly showcase the virtuosity of
the brass quintet. The title is a portmanteau of “tutti,” a familiar Italian musical term meaning
“all” or “together,” and “tarana,” a Hindustani musical form, which serves to highlight the
singer’s dexterity and agility.
      Reena Esmail writes of Khirkiyaan: “If I had set out to write a brass quintet, I am sure
it wouldn’t have been this piece. I would have started with my own limited, preconceived
notions of what I thought a brass quintet should be and worked outward from there. But it
was through working with brass players, being shown the seeds of what was already there in
my existing work, and then transforming it for these instruments that allowed these windows
to be opened in my work.”
      Alexander Borodin’s “Polovetsian Dances” from Prince Igor has proven to be one of his
most enduring works, though tragically left unfinished at the time of his death. Thankfully,
fellow Russian composers Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Glazunov created a
performing edition of the opera in 1890, which introduced audiences to Borodin’s score.
Today, the “Polovetsian Dances” have become quite popular with audiences and are often
performed as a standalone work for orchestra. Many of Borodin’s melodies from these dances
have found their way into the popular culture of the years, with one memorable example being
the 1953 musical Kismet. Much of the musical source material for this musical was derived
from Borodin’s music, with several songs, such as “Stranger in Paradise,” borrowing directly
from the “Polovetsian Dances.”
      Seraph Brass commissioned the Michigan-based composer and pianist Catherine
McMichael to write Asteria, recording it on their album of the same name. “Asteria” is an
ancient Greek word referring to the stars, and each movement of the piece is in reference to a
constellation. “Virgo” is the largest of the twelve Zodiac constellations, and is associated with
fertility and agriculture, usually depicted with angelic wings and holding an ear of wheat in her
left hand. Musically, she is depicted by McMichael in a peaceful and flowing five-minute work,
highlighting the lyrical capabilities of brass instruments. In particular, note the more mellow
and dark sound from the flugelhorns, employed instead of trumpets to better suit the tone of
this beautiful composition.
       Finally, Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 has long been a favorite of classical music
audiences, whether in its original iteration for solo piano, or as adapted for orchestra by the
composer (or several others.) Perhaps, though, it is best remembered for associations with
classic cartoon characters such as Tom and Jerry or Bugs Bunny. Here arranger Jeff Luke once
again artfully reimagines a classic work for the brass quintet.
Program Notes by Donald Pinson
MERZ TRIO
                                                   Saturday, January 29, 2022
                                                   7:30 p.m.
                                                   Brigid Coleridge, violin
                                                   Julia Yang, cello
                                                   Lee Dionne, piano

                                        ~PROGRAM~

                                      “The Painted Lens”
Merz Trio presents a program about looking back. Featuring Tchaikovsky’s great elegiac Trio,
“in the memory of a great artist,” as well as a shorter work by contemporary composer Felipe
Nieto-Sáchica composed in direct response, the program gathers around it a community of
smaller works ranging from Nicola Matteis to Edith Piaf, Alma Mahler to Irish traditional
tunes, all exploring a similar question of what it means to see life through a lens, rose-colored
or otherwise. The Trio will introduce the program and guide the audience through the various
works.

Preludio e fantasia                                               Nicola Matteis (1650-1715)
		                                                                             Arr. Merz Trio

Piano Trio No. 45 in E-flat Major,                                        Franz Joseph Haydn
Hob XV/29 (1797)                                                                 (1732-1809)
     Poco allegretto

New Work (world premiere)                                       Felipe Nieto-Sáchica (b. 1988)

Undiluted days (2000)                                               Jeffrey Mumford (b. 1955)

Laue Sommernacht (Mild summer night, 1910)                          Alma Mahler (1879-1964)
		                                                                            Arr. Merz Trio

La vie en rose (Life in pink, 1945)                                      Piaf/Louiguy/Mannot
		                                                                              Arr. Merz Trio

Moro, lasso, al mio duolo (I die. Alas in my suffering, 1611) Carlo Gesualdo (1566-1623)
		                                                                         Arr. Merz Trio

“Samradh Samradh” (“Summer Summer”)                                            Irish Traditional
		                                                                               Arr. Merz Trio
~INTERMISSION~

Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50 (1882)                            Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
“À la mémoire d’un grand artiste” (In memory of a great artist)              (1840-1893)
      I. Pezzo elegiaco. Moderato assai – Allegro giusto
      II. (A) Tema con variazioni: Andante con moto
   		     (B) Variazioni finale e coda

“Morgen!” ("Tomorrow”), Op. 27 No. 4 (1894)                       Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
		                                                                              Arr. Merz Trio

                                Merz Trio is a winner of the
                       Concert Artists Guild International Competition
                                     and is represented by
                                    Concert Artists Guild
                               135 East 57th Street, 7th Floor
                                    New York, NY 10022
                                  (www.concertartists.org)

                                     BIOGRAPHIES

                                         (merztrio.com)

      Hailing from opposite corners of the globe, Merz Trio’s members can only agree on
two things: (1) how to pronounce the word ‘Merz’ in a faux German accent, and (2) that
shopping for concert clothes should be classified as a form of torture. The Trio met in the
middle of a snow storm in NYC in December 2016; hilariously – and gloriously – we now
spend the majority of our lives together, rehearsing, traveling and arguing: usually over music
and whether Australian English is better than American English. Together, we’ve walked onto
stages around the world and are humbled to have been recognized as Winners of the 2019
Concert Artists Guild and Fischoff Competitions, the 2018 Chesapeake Competition, and
2021 Naumburg Chamber Music Competition.
      But whether on concert stages or competition venues, large or small, the most thrilling
thing about all of these experiences is the energetic communities that have emerged from them.
Merz Trio loves to be in community with others. We love talking and getting carried away – in
the rehearsal room, on stage, after the concert. We understand what we do as a conversation
between ourselves, the composer, our audience, and the changing world we step into each day.
Our name, Merz, speaks to this; It’s the term coined by German artist and polymath Kurt
Schwitters, who once floor-to-ceiling decorated his parent’s house in Hanover with found
objects and insisted that art occurred only in shared spaces. So Merz refers to connection, to
sharing, to possibility. And yes, we’re very glad Schwitters didn’t live with us.
      Our rehearsal room is a noisy fusion of our interests: Music of all varieties, literature,
theatre, cooking, dance, running, unnecessarily snobbish ideas about beverages. We love this
messiness. We play in living rooms and large halls; galleries and schools; black box theaters and
crypts. There are very few places we don’t feel at home.
      And we love investigating other people’s messiness. Alongside our ‘traditional’ recitals, we
create original inter-disciplinary projects, sometimes just with ourselves and our extra-musical
interests, more often with inspiring and generous artists. So far, we’ve brought ourmusic into
conversation with dancers, directors, chefs, sommeliers, puppeteers, and graphic designers,
and each time we collaborate we understand the music that we play differently.
      We’ve been encouraged in our explorations by the New England Conservatory in Boston
and its visionary faculty. We’re grateful too, for other homes around the world: Yellow Barn,
Snape Maltings, Avaloch Farm Institute, the Lake Champlain Olympic, and Chesapeake
Music Festivals, and the Fischoff Competition, not to mention hundreds of welcoming venues
and hosts around the US, Australia, and the UK. We’re with Schwitters on this one: Art
happens where people are. We hope you’ll come along for the ride.

                                         Biography
                           Felipe Nieto-Sáchica (felipe@artsmg.com)

      Considered a “deft orchestrator” (I care if you listen), composer Felipe Nieto-Sáchica
writes music rooted in a combination of lyricism and rhythmic complexity touching upon
themes that range from simple sound exploration to political commentary. At the same time,
he believes strongly in versatility and feels that his musical language is open to the exigencies of
every piece he composes. Felipe has received first prize at the annual PubliqQuartet Composition
Competition (NY), first prize at the Exit 128 Ensemble Composition Competition (University
of Missouri), as well as Honorable Mentions at the Buffalo Chamber Players call for scores
(NY) and the Boston Guitar Festival Competition.
      Felipe is a two time recipient of the Smadbeck prize for Music Competition at Ithaca
College and was selected as one of the participant composers of American Composers
Orchestra’s EarShot program, to have his orchestral work “Artesania Sonora” workshopped and
performed by the Charlotte Symphony in North Carolina. The 20/21 season brought about
the premier of his latest work “C U Z A: four nocturnes for wind quartet” written for the San
Francisco based “Quinteto Latino” and commissioned by the American Composers Forum.
Felipe’s music has been heard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NY), DiMenna Center
for Music (NY), the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra (North Carolina), National Museum
of Bogota (Colombia), Mizzou New Music Festival (University of Missouri), Conservatorio
Superior de Musica Joaquin Rodrigo (Valencia, Spain), Boston Guitar Festival, Brooklyn
Bazaar (NY) Brooklyn Chamber Music Society (NY) and at the America’s Society Concert
Series (NY). Felipe is currently artist-in-residence at the New York City based “Las Americas
en Concierto”, a concert series that specializes in presentation of music by composers from
Latin America. Felipe is also an avid performing arts professional and when away from his
composition studio, he devotes the other half of his tine to the development and growth of the
career of some of today’s most exciting performing artists and ensembles.

                                   PROGRAM NOTES

Dear listeners,
      If this program seems atypical for a trio recital, we assure you: it’s simpler than it looks.
For us, it came down to a simple question: what does it mean to emotionally experience a
45-minute work like the Tchaikovsky Trio -- an elegy of symphonic proportions -- and how
can we ensure that that experience is prepared as resonantly as possible for our listeners? To take
that question one step further, is there a way to render clear, in our programming choices, those
elements that form the building blocks of the Tchaikovsky and that would ultimately deepen
and enhance our audience’s encounter with the work? To address this question, we’ve curated a
series of works on our program’s first half, many of them our own arrangements, along with a
new commission from composer Felipe Nieto- Sáchica, each of which dives into one or more
themes from the Tchaikovsky (love, memory, grief, loss, nostalgia, golden recollection).
       In addition to being thematically related, the first half ’s pieces explore contrasting ideas
of what it means to express oneself on both incredibly personal as well as universal levels;
many of these works are miniatures that seem to contain entire worlds within themselves.
The Tchaikovsky, for its part, does the opposite, taking the deeply personal -- be it the elegiac
opening theme or the initial intimacy of its second movement -- and expands these into a
richly varied universe.
       Below are some further details on each of the works on the program (with the
Tchaikovsky as starting point), but we hope you’ll also enjoy the program as a whole, the
consonances and dissonances, as we journey from one work to the next, and the way in which
the emotional trajectory of the first half ultimately sets us up to sink that much more deeply
into the Tchaikovsky in all its richness.

***

       Tchaikovsky wrote his Piano Trio between 1881 and 1882, in memory of his great friend
and mentor, the pianist / composer / conductor Nikolai Rubinstein. It stands in a long tradition
of elegiac slavic piano trios (Smetana, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich) but is the largest
example of its genre. Notable are its masterful integration of formal materials and its emotional
range, expressing not just grief, but also great joy and the full spectrum that lies between.
       When Tchaikovsky’s famous patron, Nadezhda von Meck, had initially requested a trio
from him in 1880, he had refused, writing to her,
       “I simply cannot endure the combination of piano with violin or cello. To my mind the
timbre of these instruments will not blend ... it is torture for me to have to listen to a string
trio or a sonata of any kind for piano and strings.”
       Yet within a few years he had obviously revised his opinion. Perhaps the suggestion had
had time to sink in, or perhaps the unique circumstances of the piece inspired Tchaikovsky to
explore new territory. In any case, what resulted was one of the most monumental works in the
Trio repertoire, and yet it holds together as a single utterance.
       Much of the Trio’s singular coherence stems from its musical material. Every theme we
hear in the first movement, as well as the theme of the variations, derives essentially from
the same musical material, often characterized by a lamenting falling step (though this figure
becomes more exuberant and amorous in the first movement’s second theme). In the variations
the theme is inverted, ascending upwards and taking on a new, hopeful naïveté. The new theme
is used not only for all the variations but also for the “final variation,” a proper movement in
itself that concludes the work.
       Yet the underlying motivation for this obsession is emotional: the monothematic quality
of the work underscores the complexity of grief in its inescapable fixation of loss that can
permeate even our most hopeful moments. Nowhere is this more evident than at the finale’s
exuberant peak, which suddenly veers out of control, tumbling into what we realize is a final
return of the elegiac version of the theme, experienced as a final, devastating utterance by the
strings, played high in octaves, fortississimo and even then threatened to be overwhelmed by the
roiling emotion of the piano part.
       In its sheer scale and immensity, the coda also makes palpable this feeling of the universal,
which Tchaikovsky himself expressed in his fear that he had unintentionally written music of
a symphonic nature and merely arranged it for these three instruments. Intentional or not,
the effect is magnificent, and we delight in the piece’s orchestral qualities, not only in its
proportion, but in the inventiveness of the second movement, where in many places the piano
takes on qualities of a harp, woodwinds, or even sleigh bells. It seems in the end Tchaikovsky
did find his way of writing for piano and strings, by finding in the piano all the colors and
qualities of an orchestra.
      As a coda to the coda of the Tchaikovsky, we’ll perform our arrangement of Richard
Strauss’ Morgen! (Tomorrow!) We hope you’ll experience with us why this feels like the right
choice.

***

       Finally, having introduced the Tchaikovsky, let’s loop back to the first half of the program
and why we’ve chosen these works to pair with it.
       The first two works on the program come to us from a pair of celebrated expatriates,
the Neapolitan Nicola Matteis and the Austrian Joseph Haydn, each living in London
over a hundred years apart. Both were renowned for their powers of creativity and playful,
improvisatory spirits. Both enjoyed their peaks of success overseas at the end of their careers.
As introductory works, the Matteis prelude and the Haydn first movement both possess a
quality of absolute freedom and invention in their approach. Both works, like the Tchaikovsky,
feature the technique of variations, the Matteis spinning out from a single musical idea, the
Haydn -- though it is in sonata form, constituting a series of increasingly elaborate variations
on its initial theme. In this pairing of Matteis and Haydn, we particularly enjoy the trajectory
of darkness opening onto light, also paralleling numerous moments in the Tchaikovsky.
       Following these works is a new commission, generously funded by the Corpus Christi
Chamber Music Society, of a trio by Felipe Nieto building directly on musical material from
the Tchaikovsky. The Tchaikovsky was initially performed on Corpus Christi’s series in only
its second season, in 1983-1984, and on this 40-year anniversary of the season we felt it was a
golden opportunity to celebrate this early performance of a trio masterwork with the response
from an exciting contemporary voice.
       Closing out the first half is a set of four eclectic arrangements of disparate styles, each,
again, linked to the Tchaikovsky. The first three range from expressionist Austrian lieder (Alma
Mahler) to 20th-century popular song (Louiguy / Mannot), to Renaissance Italian madrigal
(Carlo Gesualdo). Like the Tchaikovsky, all three works are deeply infused with a strength
of personality and involve looking back on a life, sometimes with rose-tinted glasses (La vie
en rose), sometimes with pain and suffering (Moro, lasso, al mio duolo). In many ways, each of
these three works is a stand-in for a specific personality:
       Alma Mahler was lauded by Tom Lehrer in his ballad Alma as “the prettiest girl in
Vienna… the smartest as well.” She is known for her close relationships with some of the most
brilliant artists and thinkers of the early 20th century, yet her most enduring legacy lies in her
magnificent body of art song. Only seventeen of a presumed fifty songs survive, but they display
an utter mastery of the genre in both the subtlety of text setting and her aphoristic gestures that --
like Gustav Mahler’s work -- often distills a world of association into a few poignant quotations.
       La vie en rose, which directly follows, was composed in 1947 by Louiguy and
Marguerite Mannot, but was of course popularized through singer Édith Piaf, for whom it
was her signature song. Here, it provides a similar affective pairing to the Mahler, as well as a
transition to Carlo Gesualdo’s extraordinary and darkly compelling Moro, lasso, al mio duolo.
       Carlo Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa, was in a league of his own in terms of personality,
known infamously, even in his own time, for his violent and gruesome murdering of his wife
and her lover whom he caught together in bed in their sleep. His privileged position no doubt
contributed to his being acquitted of the crime, but he lived the rest of his life with it hanging
over his head. Moreover, even from a young age, he devoted his life almost exclusively to
music, which has made his output a fascinating grounds for psychological readings of his
works; as Lively and Bleile have recently argued, Moro, lasso, al mio duolo... (I die, alas, in
my suffering…) with its repetitive verse and structure, has the quality of a kind of Freudian
repetition compulsion of this traumatic moment, the inverse, if you will, of La vie en rose.
      Finally, we end the first half with our own arrangement of an Irish traditional tune,
Samradh, Samradh (Summer, Summer), opening from the darkness of Gesualdo onto the
golden days and easy radiance of a Mayday celebration, the traditional ushering in of summer.
-- Lee Dionne
September, 2021
TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS
Laue Sommernacht                               Mild summer night
Otto Julius Bierbaum                           English Translation by Richard Stokes

Laue Sommernacht: am Himmel                    Mild summer night: in the sky
Stand kein Stern, im weiten Walde              Not a star, in the deep forest
Suchten wir uns tief im Dunkel,                We sought each other in the dark
Und wir fanden uns.                            And found one another.
Fanden uns im weiten Walde                     Found one another in the deep wood
In der Nacht, der sternenlosen,                In the night, the starless night,
Hielten staunend uns im Arme                   And amazed, we embraced
In der dunklen Nacht.                          In the dark night.
War nicht unser ganzes Leben                   Our entire life – was it not
So ein Tappen, so ein Suchen?                  Such a tentative quest?
Da: In seine Finsternisse                      There: into its darkness,
Liebe, fiel Dein Licht.                        O Love, fell your light.

                                               Translation © Richard Stokes,
                                               author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)
La vie en rose
Édith Piaf                                     Life in rosy hues

Des yeux qui font baisser les miens            Eyes that gaze into mine,
Un rire qui se perd sur sa bouche              A smile that is lost on his lips—
Voilà le portrait sans retouches               That is the unretouched portrait
De l’homme auquel j’appartiens                 Of the man to whom I belong.
Quand il me prend dans ses bras
                                               When he takes me in his arms
Il me parle tout bas                           And speaks softly to me,
Je vois la vie en rose                         I see life in rosy hues.
Il me dit des mots d’amour                     He tells me words of love,
Des mots de tous les jours                     Words of every day,
Et ça me fait quelque chose                    And in them I become something.
Il est entré dans mon cœur                     He has entered my heart,
Une part de bonheur                            A part of happiness
Dont je connais la cause                       Whereof I understand the reason.
C’est lui pour moi, moi pour lui dans la vie   It’s he for me and I for him, throughout life,
Il me l’a dit, l’a juré pour la vie            He has told me, sworn to me for life.
Et dès que je l’aperçois                       And from the things that I sense,
Alors je sens en moi                           Now I can feel within me
Mon cœur qui bat                               My heart that beats.

Moro, lasso, al mio duolo,                     I die, alas, in my suffering,
e chi può darmi vita,                          And she who could give me life,
ahi, che m’ancide e non vuol darmi aita!       Alas, kills me and will not help me.
O dolorosa sorte,                              O sorrowful fate,
chi dar vita mi può,                           She who could give me life,
ahi, mi dà morte!                              Alas, gives me death.
Samhradh, samhradh, bainne na ngamhna,                Summer, Summer, milk of the calves,
Thugamar féin an samhradh linn.                       We have brought the Summer in.
Samhradh buí na nóinín glégeal,                       Yellow summer of clear bright daisies,
Thugamar féin an samhradh linn.                       We have brought the Summer in.

Thugamar linn é ón gcoill chraobhaigh,                We brought it in from the leafy woods,
Thugamar féin an samhradh linn.                       We have brought the Summer in.
Samhradh buí ó luí na gréine,                         Yellow Summer from the time of the
                                                      sunset,
Thugamar féin an samhradh linn.                       We have brought the Summer in.

Bábóg na Bealtaine, maighdean an tSamhraidh,          Mayday doll, maiden of Summer
Suas gach cnoc is síos gach gleann,
Cailíní maiseacha bán-gheala glégeal,                 Up every hill and down every glen,
Thugamar féin an samhradh linn.                       Beautiful girls, radiant and shining,
                                                      We have brought the Summer in.

Cuileann is coll is trom is caorthann                 Holly and hazel and elder and rowan,
Thugamar féin an samhradh linn.                       We have brought the Summer in.
An fuinseog ghléigeal bhéil an Átha                   And bright ash-tree at the mouth of the
                                                      Ford,
Thugamar féin an samhradh linn.                       We have brought the Summer in.

Samhradh, samhradh                                    Summer, summer
Samhradh, samhradh                                    Summer, summer
Is cé bhainfeadh dínn é?                              And who’d take it from us?
Samhradh, samhradh                                    Summer, summer
Is cé bhainfeadh dínn é?                              And who’d take it from us?
Is cé bhainfeadh dínn é?                              And who’d take it from us?

Ó lui na gréine                                       From the setting of the sun.

                                                      Tomorrow!
Morgen!                                               And tomorrow the sun will shine again
John Henry Mackay
                                                      And on the path that I shall take,
Und morgen wird die Sonne wieder scheinen             It will unite us, happy ones, again,
Und auf dem Wege, den ich gehen werde,                Amid this same sun-breathing earth ...
Wird uns, die Glücklichen, sie wieder einen           And to the shore, broad, blue-waved,
Inmitten dieser sonnenatmenden Erde ...
Und zu dem Strand, dem weiten, wogenblauen,           We shall quietly and slowly descend,
Werden wir still und langsam niedersteigen,
Stumm werden wir uns in die Augen schauen,            Speechless we shall gaze into each other’s
Und auf uns sinkt des Glückes stummes Schweigen ...   eyes,
                                                      And the speechless silence of bliss shall fall
                                                      on us ...

                                                      Translation © Richard Stokes,
                                                      author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)
ROOMFUL OF TEETH
                       Saturday, February 26, 2022, 7:30 p.m.

                                    ~PROGRAM~

Partita for 8 Voices                                                     Caroline Shaw
      1. Allemande                                                           (b. 1982)

Run Away                                                               Judd Greenstein
		                                                                           (b. 1979)

bits torn from words                                                         Peter Shin
      III.GaNaDaRaMaBaSa AJaChaKaTaPaHa                                       (b. 1991)

Vesper Sparrow                                                           Missy Mazzoli
		                                                                           (b. 1980)

bits torn from words                                                         Peter Shin
      VI. If __________ did happen, how bad would it be                       (b. 1991)

                                  ~INTERMISSION~

The Isle                                                                 Caroline Shaw
		                                                                           (b. 1982)

Psychedelics                                                           William Brittelle
     I. Deep Blue (You Beat Me)                                               (b. 1976)
     II. I am the Watchtower
     III. My Apothecary Light

                    Roomful of Teeth are represented by MKI Artists;
                   One Lawson Lane, Suite 320, Burlington, VT 05401
                           https://www.roomfulofteeth.org/
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