by Brianna Suazo | Mar 7, 2023
Doors: 6:45 PM
Concert: 7:30 PM
Artists:
Peter Oundjian, conductor
Joshua Bell, violin
In the first evening of a two-part preview performance, 2023 Artist-in-Residence Joshua Bell performs selections from Elements, an unparalleled work for violin and orchestra in five movements, each written by a different acclaimed composer. In this concert, Bell performs the first three movements of Elements: “Fire” (composed by Jake Heggie), “Air” (Jennifer Higdon); “Water” (Edgar Meyer); “Ether” (Jessie Montgomery); and “Earth” (Kevin Puts). The program closes with a beloved favorite by Debussy; the musical brushstrokes of La Mer create Impressionistic sketches of the sea.
(A co-commissioned project with five major orchestras, Elements will receive formal premieres around the world beginning in September 2023. Hear it at the Festival first!)
Program:
The Elements
Suite for Violin and Orchestra
“Fire” by Jake Heggie
“Ether” by Jessie Montgomery
“Water” by Edgar Meyer
(Commissioned by Joshua Bell)
—
Claude Debussy, La Mer
Note: All ticket and subscription purchases subject to service fees
by Brianna Suazo | Mar 7, 2023
Doors: 6:00 PM
Concert: 6:30 PM
Artists:
Peter Oundjian, conductor
Joshua Bell, violin
In his first appearances as 2023 artist-in-residence, the one and only Joshua Bell performs Bruch’s Violin Concerto. The great 19th century violinist Joseph Joachim, to whom the composer dedicated this masterpiece, considered this concerto to be “the richest, most seductive” of all German violin concertos. Bruch’s Violin Concerto has become one of the most legendary works for the instrument and is an exquisite vehicle for Bell’s showmanship. The second half features Mussorgsky’s instantly recognizable Pictures at an Exhibition, a suite of musical paintings inspired by the sketches of the composer’s close friend Viktor Hartmann. The program opens with Sphinx Medal of Excellence recipient Carlos Simon’s Motherboxx Connection, the first movement of his Tales: A Folklore Symphony for orchestra; in Simon’s words the motherboxx is “an all-knowing entity that is aware of the multi-faceted aspects of blackness.”
Program:
Carlos Simon, “Motherboxx Connection” from Tales: A Folklore Symphony for orchestra (2021)
Max Bruch, Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor
—
Modest Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. Ravel)
Note: All ticket and subscription purchases subject to service fees
by Brianna Suazo | Mar 7, 2023
Doors: 7:00 PM
Concert: 7:30 PM
Artists:
Brentano String Quartet
The 2023 Robert Mann Chamber Series continues with the “wonderful, selfless music-making” (The Times, London) of the Brentano String Quartet, Ensemble-in-Residence at the Yale School of Music. The program opens with Mozart’s intriguing “Hoffmeister” String Quartet, a chamber gem of character and complexity. Two touching memorial pieces by James MacMillan follow: his brief and delicate Memento and the miniature For Sonny, rife with pizzicato nursery rhymes and harmonies of shifting tones, composed to honor the memory of a friend’s grandson. It is fitting that Brentano ends their performance with one of the last and most profound pieces by Beethoven, since the Quartet takes its name from arts patron Antonie Brentano, believed to have been Beethoven’s mysterious “Immortal Beloved.”
Program:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, String Quartet No. 20 in D Major, K. 499
James MacMillan, Memento for string quartet (1994)
James MacMillan, For Sonny for string quartet (2011)
—
Ludwig van Beethoven, String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat Major, Op. 130
Note: All ticket and subscription purchases subject to service fees
by Brianna Suazo | Mar 7, 2023
Doors: 7:00 PM
Showtime: 7:30 PM
Artists:
Peter Oundjian, conductor
Joshua Bell, violin
In his first appearances as 2023 artist-in-residence, the one and only Joshua Bell performs Bruch’s First Violin Concerto. The great 19th century violinist Joseph Joachim, to whom the composer dedicated this masterpiece, considered this concerto to be “the richest, most seductive” of all German violin concertos. Bruch’s Violin Concerto has become one of the most legendary works for the instrument and is an exquisite vehicle for Bell’s showmanship. The second half features Mussorgsky’s instantly recognizable Pictures at an Exhibition, a suite of musical paintings inspired by the sketches of the composer’s close friend Viktor Hartmann. The program opens with Sphinx Medal of Excellence recipient Carlos Simon’s Motherboxx Connection, the first movement of his Tales: A Folklore Symphony for orchestra; in Simon’s words the motherboxx is “an all-knowing entity that is aware of the multi-faceted aspects of blackness.”
Program:
Carlos Simon, “Motherboxx Connection” from Tales: A Folklore Symphony for orchestra (2021)
Max Bruch, Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor
—
Modest Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. Ravel)
Note: All ticket and subscription purchases subject to service fees
by Brianna Suazo | Mar 7, 2023
Doors: 6:00 PM
Concert: 6:30 PM
Artists:
François López-Ferrer, conductor
Grace Park, violin
This concert was created with Mozart fans in mind! Guest conductor François López-Ferrer begins with the delightful overture to Mozart’s tongue-in-cheek opera Impresario, followed by his ornate and impressive Third Violin Concerto, performed here by the “fresh, different and exhilarating” (San Francisco Chronicle) violinist Grace Park. The orchestral arrangement of his solemn Adagio and Fugue follows intermission, and the concert culminates with Mozart’s inventive Symphony No. 36, the “Linz,” which he composed in only four days after a surprise request while visiting the Austrian town of the same name.
Program:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, The Impresario Overture, K. 486
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Violin Concerto No. 3 in G Major, K. 216
—
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Adagio and Fugue in C Minor, K. 546
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Symphony No. 36 in C Major, K. 425, “Linz”
Note: All ticket and subscription purchases subject to service fees
