JULY 14, 2020 @ 3:00 PM
A Tribute to France
Marc André Hamelin, piano,
Lara St. John, violin &
Ulysses String Quartet
Claude Debussy, Sonata for violin and piano, L. 140, (1917) —
Allegro vivo
Intermède: Fantasque et léger
Finale: Très animé
Maurice Ravel, String Quartet in F major, (1903) —
Allegro moderato – très doux
Assez vif – très rythmé
Très lent
Vif et agité
INTERMISSION
Amédée-Ernest Chausson, Concert in D for violin, piano and string quartet, Op 21, (1889-91) —
Décidé
Sicilienne
Grave
Très animé
THIS CONCERT WAS LIVE STREAMED
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
“A performer of near-superhuman technical prowess” (The New York Times), pianist Marc André Hamelin is known worldwide for his unrivaled blend of consummate musicianship and brilliant technique in the great works of the established repertoire, as well as for his intrepid exploration of the rarities of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries – in concert and on disc – earning him legendary status as a true icon of the piano.
Mr. Hamelin begins the 19/20 season performing the Brahms Piano concerti with the Orchestre Métropolitain and Yannick Nézet-Séguin at Le Festival de Lanaudière, and the world premiere of Ryan Wigglesworth’s piano concerto at the BBC Proms, led by the composer. Other summer appearances include recitals at the Schubertiade, Helsingborg Piano Festival, Mänttä Music Festival, Domaine Forget, Orford Music Festival, the Newport Music Festival, and at the Rosendal Chamber Music Festival with friend and regular collaborator, Leif Ove Andsnes.
“A performer of near-superhuman technical prowess.” — The New York Times
Recital appearances this season include a return to Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage on the Great Artists Series. He also performs at Wigmore Hall, the George Enescu Festival, Ascona (Switzerland), Prague, Munich, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Moscow State Philharmonic, at the Elbphilharmonie for the Husum Rarities of Piano Music Festival, Monte Carlo, and the Heidelberg Festival, among other dates.
Mr. Hamelin is the inaugural guest curator for Portland Piano International, where he opens the season with two solo recitals. He returns to San Francisco Performances – a series with whom he has a long and deeply supportive artistic relationship – as a Perspectives Artist for their 40th Anniversary Season, performing a solo recital; Die Winterreise with tenor Mark Padmore; and the world premiere of his own Piano Quintet, commissioned by SFP and performed by himself and the Alexander String Quartet.
An exclusive recording artist for Hyperion Records, in 19/20, Hyperion releases two albums by Mr. Hamelin – one a solo disc and the other with the Takács Quartet. He recently released a disc of Schubert’s Piano Sonata in B-Flat Major and Four Impromptus; a landmark disc of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Concerto for Two Pianos with Leif Ove Andsnes; Morton Feldman’s For Bunita Marcus; and Medtner’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski. His impressive Hyperion discography of more than 60 recordings includes concertos and works for solo piano by such composers as Alkan, Godowsky, and Medtner, as well as brilliantly received performances of Brahms, Chopin, Liszt, Schumann, and Shostakovich.
He was honored with the 2014 ECHO Klassik Instrumentalist of Year (Piano) and Disc of the Year by Diapason Magazine and Classica Magazine for his three-disc set of Busoni: Late Piano Music and an album of his own compositions, Hamelin: Études, which received a 2010 Grammy nomination and a first prize from the German Record Critics’ Association.
Mr. Hamelin was a distinguished member of the jury of the 15 th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2017 where each of the 30 competitors in the preliminary round performed Hamelin’s Toccata on L’Homme armé; this was the first time the composer of the commissioned work was also a member of the jury. Mr. Hamelin has composed music throughout his career, with nearly 30 compositions to his name. The majority of those works – including the Études and Toccata on L’Homme armé – are published by Edition Peters.
Mr. Hamelin makes his home in the Boston area with his wife, Cathy Fuller. Born in Montreal, Marc-André Hamelin is the recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the German Record Critics’ Association and has received seven Juno Awards and eleven GRAMMY nominations. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Chevalier de l’Ordre du Québec, and a member of the Royal Society of Canada.
Canadian-born violinist Lara St. John has been described as “something of a phenomenon” by The Strad and a “high-powered soloist” by The New York Times.
She has performed as soloist with the orchestras of Cleveland, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Belgrade, Amsterdam, the Royal Philharmonic, NDR Symphony, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Camerata Ireland, Queensland, Adelaide, Auckland, Tokyo, Kyoto, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, the China Philharmonic, Shanghai, Hong Kong, São Paulo, Orquestra Sinfonica Brasileira and Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México, among many others.
Recitals in major concert halls have included New York, Boston, San Francisco, Washington, Prague, Berlin, Toronto, Montreal, Bogotá, Lima and the Forbidden City.
Lara manages her own label, Ancalagon, which she founded in 1999. Her Mozart recording won a Juno Award in 2011. In 2014, her Schubert album, with harpist Marie-Pierre Langlamet, cellist Ludwig Quandt and soprano Anna Prohaska, was chosen as one of the “Best CDs of Spring” by Der Tagesspiegel. Her 2016 release of re-imagined folk music, with pianist Matt Herskowitz, earned a five-star review from All About Jazz.
She has been featured in People, US News and World Report, NPR’s All Things Considered, the CBC, BBC, a Bravo! special and on the cover of Strings.
Lara began playing the violin when she was two, made her first appearance as soloist with orchestra at four, and her European debut at 10. She entered the Curtis Institute at 13. Her teachers have included Felix Galimir and Joey Corpus.
She performs on the 1779 “Salabue” Guadagnini.
The Ulysses String Quartet has been praised for their “textural versatility,” “grave beauty,” “the kind of chemistry many quartets long for, but rarely achieve” (The Strad) as well as “avid enthusiasm … [with] chops to back up their passion” (San Diego Story), “delivered with a blend of exuberance and polished artistry” (Buffalo News).
Founded in the summer of 2015, the group won first prize in the 2018 Schoenfeld International String Competition and the grand prize and gold medal in the senior string division of the 2016 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Ulysses also finished first in the American Prize and won second prize at the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in 2017. The quartet were most recently grand prize winners of the Vietnam International Music Competition in August 2019.
Consisting of Christina Bouey and Rhiannon Banerdt on violin, Colin Brookes on viola and Grace Ho on cello, the Ulysses Quartet were appointed Lisa Arnhold Fellows of the Juilliard School.
Hailing from Canada, the United States and Taiwan, the Ulysses String Quartet has performed in such prestigious halls such as the Harbin Grand Theatre, Jordan Hall, and the Taiwan National Recital Hall. Recent performance highlights have included their debut at Alice Tully Hall, along with appearances at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and La Jolla Music Society Summerfest. Other notable recent engagements include Buffalo Chamber Music Society, Jordan Hall, South Orange Performing Arts Center, Sprague Hall at Yale University, Mostly Music, Rhode Island Chamber Music Concerts, Chamber Music Society of Bethlehem, Premiere Performances Hong Kong, the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Bargemusic, Eastman School of Music and the Vietnam Connection Music Festival.
For the last three years, Ulysses was in residence at the Louis Moreau Institute in New Orleans, working with the composer Morris Rosenzweig. As a special project, the group will record the quartets of composer Joseph Summer at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts, over the next several years. In 2020 Ulysses will embark on recording projects for five albums involving three quartet albums, and collaborations with artists flutist Ransom Wilson and guitarist Ben Verdery.
Upcoming performances include a Carnegie Hall debut, Cecilia Concerts in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Montreal Chamber Music Festival, Naumburg Orchestral Concerts Summer Series, Carnegie Hall’s Beethoven Festival at YIVO, the Idyllwild Festival in California, Quogue Chamber Music in Long Island, New York, Geneva Music Festival, Music Mountain, Emory University in Atlanta, and Dumbarton Concerts in Washington, DC.
The group’s name pays homage to Homer’s hero Odysseus and his 10-year voyage home. Additionally, the quartet’s members live in close proximity to the resting place of former U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant in Upper Manhattan. The Ulysses String Quartet believes intensely in the power of music to inspire, enlighten and bring people together. The quartet is committed to sharing this passion by increasing access to and appreciation for classical music while enhancing audience engagement. To this end, the quartet offers interactive programs and workshops for all ages that serve to demystify the traditional repertoire while introducing audiences to exciting new works. Their programs frequently enable participants to learn about the inner workings of a string quartet, and to explore the connections between classical music and our world today.
The members of Ulysses hold degrees from the Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory and Yale University. The musicians perform on instruments and bows graciously on loan from the Juilliard School, Canada Council of the Arts Instrument Bank and the Maestro Foundation. Ulysses is grateful for the support of Shar and Connolly Music.