Accordo Season Three Begins February 6
By: Gabrielle Sierra Jan. 06, 2012
Accordo, established in 2009, is a Minnesota-based chamber group featuring classical and contemporary chamber music in performance spaces. Its third season (Winter/Spring 2012) will be presented by The Schubert Club, Northrop Concerts and Lectures, and Kate Nordstrum Projects at the National Historic Landmark Christ Church Lutheran, one of the Twin Cities' great architectural treasures designed by the esteemed architect Eliel Saarinen and his son Eero Saarinen.
Accordo includes Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra principal players Steven Copes, Ruggero Allifranchini, Maiya Papach, Ron Thomas, and Tony Ross. This season also includes guest artists violist Rebecca Albers, percussionist Ian Ding, clarinetist Burt Hara and violinist Erin Keefe.
“Supporting and inspiring Twin Cities musicians to perform and contextualize classic and contemporary chamber music repertoire as part of this exciting new partnership aligns perfectly with the mission and goals of Northrop, Kate Nordstrum Projects, and The Schubert Club” said Ben Johnson, Director of Northrop Concerts and Lectures. “Using the historic mid-century modern Christ Lutheran Church and Longfellow neighborhood allows us to experiment and be more creative in supporting these great artists. And the dynamic nature of this collaboration will set the stage for more vibrant and leading-edge programming in the future.”
Audience members are invited to artist receptions in the Luther Lounge following each concert, sponsored by Solo Vino.
Accordo: Season 3 programs
Monday, February 6, 2012, 7:30pm
Romantic String Sextets
Strauss: Capriccio, Opus 85
Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night), Opus 4
Tchaikovsky: Souvenir de Florence in D minor, Opus 70
with Rebecca Albers, viola
Arnold Schoenberg's lush and moving early masterpiece Transfigured Night, inspired by a dark romantic poem by Richard Dehmel and written shortly before his immersion into serial or twelve-tone music, is centered between two other seminal works for string sextet. Richard Strauss' gorgeous curtain opener for his final opera Capriccio opens Accordo's new series at the architecturally stunning Christ Church Lutheran, and Tchiakovsky's brilliant Souvenir de Florence closes the program with all the unbridled passion and Russian folk melodies one expects from the composer of The Nutcracker.
Monday, March 12, 2012, 7:30pm
Bacchanalia
Beethoven: String Trio in G major
Jeffery Cotton: Meditation, Rhapsody & Bacchanal for Violin & Percussion (2004)
Dvorak: String Quartet in C major, Opus 61
with Ian Ding, percussion
Beethoven's spritely and humorous String Trio in G Major predates his monumental cycle of string quartets and, with one less player, manages to achieve the full breadth of expression with three equally demanding parts. American composer Jeffery Cotton created a similar joyous, boisterous energy in his colorful Asian and Blues-influenced duo for violin and percussion, pairing such unusual instruments as a waterphone and a Bulgarian tapan with a frenzied and furious violin part. The Dvorak String Quartet in C Major, while not as famous as the American Quartet, is arguably the most grand and virtuosic of all of Dvorak’s quartets and closes the March program with a Czech flourish.
Monday, May 14, 2012, 7:30pm
Brahms/Haydn Variations
Haydn: String Quartet in F minor, Opus 20 No. 5
Dahl: Concerto a tre
Brahms: Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Opus 115
with Burt Hara, clarinet; and Erin Keefe, violin
Accordo closes its third season with Brahms' monumental Clarinet Quintet, one of three pieces he wrote at the end of his life for the brilliant young clarinetist Richard Muhlfeld (after he had decided to stop composing), and one of the most tragic, intimate and heartrendingly beautiful pieces of music ever written. The Minnesota Orchestra's own brilliant Principal Clarinetist Burt Hara joins forces with Accordo to perform the Brahms as well as the rarely heard Concerto a tre by film and radio composer Ingolf Dahl, given its premiere in 1947 by jazz legend Benny Goodman. Mozart's hero Joseph Haydn earned his reputation as the “father of the string quartet” with the Op. 20 quartets, and the haunting opening melody of the fifth quartet begins this rich and varied spring evening of chamber music.
Event details
Concerts: Mondays at 7:30pm; February 6, March 12 and May 14 (2012)
Venue: Christ Church Lutheran, 3244 34th Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55406-3493
Tickets: $20, $17 senior and U of M Alumni, $12 student
Box office:
Online: www.schubert.org/accordo
By phone: 651.292.3268
In person: Schubert Club Office, 302 Landmark Center, 75 W 5th Street, Saint Paul, MN 55102 , Monday - Friday, 8:30am-4:30pm
Day of concert: Christ Church Lutheran, 3244 34th Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55406-3493, Monday, 6:30-7:30pm. Pending availability.
Post concert: Join musicians and patrons in the Luther Lounge after each Accordo concert. Enjoy complimentary wine courtesy of Solo Vino and small bites.
Biographies
ACCORDO MEMBERS:
Ruggero Allifranchini is the associate concertmaster of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. He was born into a musical household in Milan, Italy and raised on a diverse musical diet, ranging from Beethoven to John Coltrane. He studied at the New School in Philadelphia with Jascha Brodsky and later at the Curtis Institute of Music, with Szymon Goldberg and, for chamber music, Felix Galimir. He was the recipient of the Diploma d’Onore from the Chigiana Academy in Siena, Italy. In 1989, he co-founded the Borromeo String Quartet, with which he played exclusively for eleven years. As a chamber musician of diverse repertoire and styles, Allifranchini is a frequent guest artist of the Chamber Music Societies of Boston and Lincoln Center, as well as chamber music festivals in Seattle, Vancouver and El Paso, among many others. He is the violinist of the trio Nobilis, with pianist and former SPCO Artistic Partner Stephen Prutsman and cellist Suren Bagratuni. Nobilis has performed chamber music and solos with orchestras in Europe, South America, and South Africa, as well as in North America. Allifranchini plays on the “Fetzer” violin made by Antonio Stradivari in 1694, which is on loan to him from the Stradivari Society of Chicago.
A native of Los Angeles, violinist Steven Copes leads a diverse and enthusiastic musical life as soloist, chamber musician and orchestral leader. He joined the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra as concertmaster in 1998 and has led the orchestra from the chair in several highly acclaimed, eclectic programs, and performed concertos by Berg, Brahms, Hindemith, Kirchner, Lutoslawski, Mozart, Prokofiev, and Weill. A zealous advocate of the music of today, he gave the world premiere of George Tsontakis’ Grammy-nominated Violin Concerto No. 2 (2003), which won the 2005 Grawemeyer award, and has been recorded for KOCH Records. Copes was co-founder of the Alpenglow Chamber Music Festival in Colorado and is a member of Accordo, a new chamber group in the Twin Cities. He has also performed at festivals and concert series such as Boston Chamber Music Society, Bridgehampton, Caramoor, Chamber Music Northwest, La Jolla Summerfest, Mainly Mozart, Mozaic, Norfolk, Seattle Chamber Music Society, Skaneateles, and the Styriarte Festival in Graz, among others. A frequent guest concertmaster, Copes has toured extensively in Europe and Asia with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and has performed in the same capacity with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the London Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony, and the Baltimore Symphony. He holds degrees from The Curtis Institute and Juilliard.
Maiya Papach is acting principal viola of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and served as acting principal last year. She has made frequent national and international appearances as a chamber and orchestral musician, performing both traditional and contemporary repertoire. This past fall, Papach performed Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with Concertmaster Steven Copes and the SPCO. She is a founding member of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), which is rapidly establishing itself as one of the leading new music ensembles in the United States. She is also a member of Accordo, a new chamber ensemble in the Twin Cities. Papach has performed across the former Soviet Union with the Da Capo Chamber Players and toured the Philippines with Cultures in Harmony. Prior to joining the SPCO, she performed regularly with the IRIS Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. In New York, Papach has performed in chamber concerts at Bargemusic, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, and Miller Theater, among others. As a former member of the Andros and Rothko string quartets, she
was a finalist and prizewinner in a number of competitions, including the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and Concert Artists Guild. Papach has participated in such festivals as Kneisel Hall, Yellow Barn, and the Marlboro Music Festival. In addition, she performs with Musicians from Marlboro, the touring extension of the festival. Papach is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory and the Juilliard School and has studied with Roland Vamos, Karen Tuttle, Benny Kim, and Hsin-Yun Huang.
Principal Cello Anthony Ross has been a soloist many times with the Minnesota Orchestra, performing concertos by Schumann, Dvorák, Victor Herbert, James MacMillan, Beethoven, Saint-Saëns, Elgar and Shostakovich, among others, as well as many chamber works. In May 2010 he played the Brahms Double Concerto alongside Acting Concertmaster Sarah Kwak. He returned to the solo spotlight in October 2010, performing Walton’s Cello Concerto. He will next be featured as soloist in February 2012, when he will perform Prokofiev’s Sinfonia Concertante for Cello and Orchestra under the baton of James Gaffigan. Ross was principal cello of the Rochester Philharmonic in New York before joining the Orchestra in 1988; he assumed his current position in 1991.
Away from Orchestra Hall, Ross is active as a chamber musician, festival performer and educator. He has appeared in the Mostly Mozart, Cactus Pear (San Antonio), and Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society (Madison) festivals, and has performed on stages from Pensacola, Florida, to Rhodes, Greece. Ross has taught at the Eastman School of Music, the Aspen Festival, and the Grand Teton orchestra seminar. Ross’ recordings include Bernstein’s Three Meditations with the Minnesota Orchestra under Eiji Oue, the George Lloyd Cello Concerto with the Albany Symphony under David Alan Miller, and works of Rachmaninoff and Elliott Carter for Boston Records.
A graduate of Indiana University, Ross earned a master’s degree at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. In 1982 he was awarded the bronze medal at the prestigious Tchaikovsky Competition, and he received McKnight Fellowships in 2001 and 2005.
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra principal cellist Ronald Thomas sustains one of the most active and varied careers in today’s music world as performer, teacher and artistic administrator. Thomas is the co-founder and artistic director of the Boston Chamber Music Society with whom he appears regularly and has produced a number of highly acclaimed recordings. He has appeared as soloist and in recital with orchestras throughout the United States, Europe, and the Far East and has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center both at Alice Tully Hall and on tour. Other appearances include the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, Bravo! Colorado Chamber Music Festival, Spoleto Festival, Blossom Festival, Chamber Music Northwest Festival, La Musica, Music at Menlo, Sarasota Festival, Music from Angel Fire, Music in the Mountains, Yale at Northfolk Festival, and the festivals of Dubrovnik, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, and others. Thomas is the artistic director of Chestnut Hill Concerts and has been involved at Bargemusic in New York City. While he was a member of the Boston Musica Viva and the Aeolian Chamber Players, he premiered countless new works. Thomas has taught at M.I.T., Brown University, Boston Conservatory, and Peabody Conservatory. Prior to winning the Young Artists Auditions at the age of nineteen, he attended the New England Conservatory and the Curtis Institute. His principal teachers were Lorne Munroe, David Soyer, and for early studies, Mary Canberg.
ACCORDO GUEST ARTISTS:
Rebecca Albers is among the Minnesota Orchestra’s newest members, having joined the ensemble in 2010 as assistant principal viola. She also continues to tour with the Albers Trio, a string ensemble she and two sisters formed. She previously toured with fiddler Mark O’Connor’s Appalachia Waltz Trio and was a member of the East Coast Chamber Orchestra and Phoenix Quartet. As a substitute musician, she has performed with such ensembles as the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. For her European recital debut in 2008, she performed a program at Paris’ Auditorium du Louvre.
Albers, a faculty member at the North American Viola Institute in Orford, Quebec, has also joined the faculty of the Perlman Music Program in New York, and serves on the executive board of the American Viola Society. She was formerly on the faculty of the University of Michigan. She has participated in festivals including the Marlboro Music Festival, Perlman Music Program and, at Prussia Cove in the United Kingdom, the International Musicians Seminar, and Open Chamber Music.
As a child in Longmont, Colorado, Albers began piano and violin studies at the age of 2, picking up the viola at 9 for an ensemble her mother, a Suzuki teacher, was putting together. While a student at the Juilliard School, where she worked with Heidi Castleman and Hsin-Yun Huang, she won the school’s viola competition, resulting in her performance of Adler’s Viola Concerto with the Juilliard Orchestra at Lincoln Center.
Ian Ding is a versatile performer whose work encompasses solo & orchestral percussion, new music, improvisation, and composition. He is currently a Lecturer of Percussion at the University of Michigan, a position he has held since 2005, and recently completed eight seasons as Assistant Principal Percussionist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, where he worked under music directors Neeme Järvi and Leonard Slatkin. He was also previously a member of the New World Symphony in Miami under Michael Tilson Thomas and timpanist with the Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland under James Levine.
A committed performer of new and experimental music, Ian is a founding member and co-director of the contemporary music collective New Music Detroit (NMD). In this capacity, he has helped organize a number of alternative classical music events throughout the city of Detroit, including the annual Strange Beautiful Music festival. Recent NMD collaborators include artist-?lmmaker Matthew Barney and composer Jonathan Bepler (their feature-length ?lm/opera Khu), Detroit noise band Slither, and composers Alexandra du Bois, Marc Mellits, Virgil Moore?eld and Nico Muhly.
Ian?s other recent projects include solo recitals at the Detroit Institute of Arts; tours throughout the U.S. and Europe with the Bang on a Can All-Stars - including collaborations with Glenn Kotche (Wilco), Bryce Dessner (The National), Kronos Quartet, and DJ-composer Mira Calix; and concerts with the Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Kansas City, and Saint Louis symphony orchestras, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Worldwide Chinese Festival Orchestra in Beijing. He can also be heard on recordings on the Arabesque, Electronic Music Foundation, Equilibrium, Koch International, and Naxos labels.
Besides his work as a percussionist, Ian also composes and produces soundtracks for documentary ?lms, collaborating with Detroit Public TV, KDN Films in Detroit and Radiant Features in Los Angeles. His work has been shown on PBS and on display at the Honolulu Academy of Art, the Yale School of Architecture, and the United States Embassy in Berlin, Germany.
Originally from Arlington Heights, IL, Ian is a graduate of the University of Illinois and the Juilliard School. His principal percussion teachers include Jim Ross, Tom Stubbs, Thomas Siwe, William Moersch, and Gregory Zuber. He also studied world percussion and improvisation with Jamey Haddad, Sriram Balasubramanian, and Oussama Naja. Ian currently lives in Minneapolis, MN.
In 24 years as the Minnesota Orchestra’s principal clarinet, Burt Hara has drawn acclaim for his solo appearances—in works of Nielsen, Debussy, Weber, Copland, Bernstein, and others—and many chamber performances. In recent seasons he has been featured on Orchestra programs playing Messiaen’s Abyss of the Birds from Quartet for the End of Time, Copland’s Clarinet Concerto, Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto and Sinfonia Concertante, Bernstein’s Clarinet Sonata, and Crusell’s Second Clarinet Concerto.
Before his appointment in Minnesota, Hara was principal clarinet of the Alabama Symphony. He also served for one year as principal clarinet of the Philadelphia Orchestra and has appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Tucson Symphony, Aspen Chamber Symphony, Fargo-Moorhead Symphony, Monterey Symphony, Cedar Rapids Symphony, and Colonial Symphony. In January 2010 he performed with the New York Philharmonic as acting principal clarinet for one week.
An active chamber musician, Hara has performed at the Aspen Music Festival, Pensacola Chamber Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Music in the Vineyards, Salt Bay Chamberfest, La Jolla Music Society SummerFest, and the Minnesota Orchestra’s Sommerfest.
Hara has been a faculty member at the University of Alabama and University of Montevallo and now serves on the faculty of the University of Minnesota School of Music. He is also a faculty member of the Aspen Music Festival. As a guest lecturer and clinician, he has presented master classes at institutions and for ensembles including the Curtis Institute, Yale University Duquesne University, East Carolina University, Grand Teton Orchestral Training Seminar, New World Symphony, Northwestern University, Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium, University of Missouri-Kansas City, University of Southern California, West Coast Clarinet Symposium and Minnesota Youth Symphonies.
A native of California, Hara earned a bachelor of music degree in 1984 from Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music, where his principal teachers were Donald Montanaro, Yehuda Gilad and Mitchell Lurie. He is a Buffet Crampon USA performing artist.
PRESENTING PARTNERS:
Kate Nordstrum Projects is a Twin Cities based arts management agency specializing in independent music curation and communication strategies for adventurous artists, ensembles and institutions. Current projects include co-presentations and partnerships with the Walker Art Center, Cedar Cultural Center, Northrop Concerts and Lectures, The Schubert Club, Shapiro & Smith Dance and New Amsterdam Records.
Kate Nordstrum enjoyed years of employment on staff at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Inc., New York City Center and the Southern Theater (Minneapolis). She is now works as a special projects curator at the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. In 2008, Nordstrum created a robust new music program at the historically dance-centric Southern Theater that in just two seasons established the venue as a national hot spot for innovative new music programming. In 2009, the Southern was named “best new music venue” by Minnesota Monthly; in 2010, Nordstrum was singled out as the “most adventurous music curator in town” (MinnPost.com); and in 2011, the Star Tribune praised her as “a presenter of rare initiative.” Nordstrum collaborates regularly with dance, theater and film makers on cross-disciplinary programming initiatives; creates sustainable series and thematic festivals; and digs deep for the most virtuosic, visual and visceral music in the world to bring to the theatrical stage. Her work in the field of performing arts marketing and communications is extensive.
By appointment of Minneapolis City Council, Nordstrum has served on the Minneapolis Arts Commission since 2008.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kate-Nordstrum-Projects/111835538921451
Northrop Concerts and Lectures at the University of Minnesota
Northrop Concerts and Lectures at the University of Minnesota is the performing arts presenting organization for the University of Minnesota. Northrop Concerts and Lectures is dedicated to the advancement of the education, research, public engagement, and diversity mission of the University of Minnesota through the pursuit of excellence and innovation in the performing arts, community service and creative exchange. Northrop Concerts and Lectures is also committed to civic engagement and community discourse with the values of partnership and collaboration, committed to bridging the intellectual and artistic life of the University with the goals and issues of the local community, the nation, and the world.
The Schubert Club is an internationally renowned performing arts organization dedicated to expanding the enjoyment of music through world-class recitals, premier educational programs and rare collections of musical treasures.
Founded in 1882, The Schubert Club maintains a highly regarded national and international reputation among leading classical music performers. Its International Artists Series has brought Jascha Heifetz, Arthur Rubinstein, Cecilia Bartoli, Alfred Brendel, Renee Fleming and Yo-Yo Ma, among many others, to the Twin Cities to perform in recital for sold-out audiences.
The Schubert Club is a member of the Arts Partnership, programming a vibrant future for the performing arts in downtown St. Paul together with The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, the Minnesota Opera and The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.
SPONSORS:
Christ Church Lutheran is a congregation rooted in the Longfellow neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, centering its life on creative, liturgical worship with excellence in music and preaching. A vibrant, inclusive community, it is marked by joyful hospitality, care for our neighbors, lively imagination, and thoughtful engagement with the world.
Christ Church is a congregation with a rich architectural heritage. It is housed in a remarkable modernist structure designed by Eliel Saarinen and his son, Eero Saarinen. Named a National Historic Landmark by the United States Department of the Interior in 2009, it is the only church building in Minnesota with this designation.
Celebrating its 100th anniversary, Christ Church Lutheran is a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and welcomes all people to its life of worship, community, and service. Sunday worship services are at 9:30 a.m. http://www.christchurchluth.org/
Classical MPR
Minnesota Public Radio® (MPR) operates a 43-station radio network serving virtually all of Minnesota and parts of surrounding states. Reaching one million listeners each week, Minnesota Public Radio produces programming for radio, Internet and face-to-face audiences, and is home to the largest and most experienced radio newsroom in the Upper Midwest. Programs produced by Minnesota Public Radio's parent company, American Public Media™, reach 16 million listeners on more than 800 radio stations nationwide each week. A complete list of stations, programs and additional services can be found at www.minnesotapublicradio.org.
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