The Fourteenth Season: Russian Reflections July 15–August 6, 2016 WELCOME TO MUSIC@MENLO Dear Friends, With our 2016 season, we are thrilled to offer a festival that illuminates the cul- tural dialogue between Russia and the West, from which Russian classical music grew into one of the most powerful and beloved of all musical genres. Seven Concert Programs connect Russian and Western music through universal concepts. The reverence for skill inspires our “Mastery” program, which pairs the technically astounding Piano Quintet by Sergei Taneyev with music by Vienna’s most demanding compositional pedagogue, Johannes Brahms. The dignity of grief is movingly illustrated in our “Lamentations” program of Russian, French, and Jewish-inspired music, while the joy of fond remembrance brings the season to an ecstatic conclusion with our final program, “Souvenirs.” Alongside Music@Menlo’s thematic main-stage programs, four Carte Blanche Concerts devote themselves exclusively to Russian repertoire which displays that country’s unsurpassed musical instinct for instrumental invention and flair. Three fascinating Encounter lectures explore Russian music from diverse per- spectives, and our popular master class and Café Conversation series will further deepen the festival experience. A quick glance at the Festival Artists page will reveal delights sure to convince many to make Music@Menlo 2016 a priority, among them the return of the exciting young Russian violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky, in the company of his phenomenal duo partner, pianist Wu Qian; the festival debuts of the stunning Calidore String Quartet and one of the world’s great violinists, Kyoko Takezawa; the return of charismatic Tchaikovsky Competition gold medal winner violinist Elmar Oliveira, in the company of cellist Paul Watkins and debut pianist Alon Goldstein; the ascent to the main stage of four spectacular International Program alumni: violinist Katie Hyun, violist Matthew Lipman, cellist Nicholas Canellakis, and pianist Michael Brown; and lastly, but commanding very special attention, our beloved Schubert baritone, Nikolay Borchev, returns to give us Russian songs in his native language. We hope that you choose to join us for this extraordinary musical and cultural journey through Russia. By its conclusion, we will know that faraway land in the deeply personal way that only music can inspire. David Finckel and Wu Han Artistic Directors The Martin Family Artistic Directorship 2 subscribe at www.musicatmenlo.org | 650-331-0202 Contents Welcome 2 Welcome from the Artistic Directors 4 Festival Introduction Concerts 6 Concert Programs 20 Carte Blanche Concerts 25 Prelude Performances and Koret Young Performers Concerts 26 Music@Menlo Winter Series 2016–2017 38 Festival Calendar Discovery and Engagement 22 Michael Steinberg Encounter Series 23 AudioNotes 23 Music@Menlo LIVE 23 Music@Menlo Travel 23 Recording and Broadcasting 24 Chamber Music Institute 25 Prelude Performances and Koret Young Performers Concerts 25 Café Conversations and Master Classes Artists 5 Artist Roster 27 Visual Artist 27 Artist Biographies Ticket and Patron Information 32 Join Music@Menlo 34 Reserving Your Summer Festival Tickets 34 Summer Festival Subscriber Information 36 The Festival Campus 37 Performance Venues, Map, and Parking 37 For Visitors to Our Area 38 Festival Calendar subscribe at www.musicatmenlo.org | 650-331-0202 3 RUSSIAN REFLECTIONS 4 subscribe at www.musicatmenlo.org | 650-331-0202 “ Inspiration is a guest that does not willingly visit the lazy.” —Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky The soul of Russian music is impossible to capture with ARTISTS words. It is utterly unique and a confoundingly glorious Piano Calidore String tradition. Russia’s music is the sui generis expression of Alessio Bax Quartet* her people’s experiences. Yet, at the same time, many of Michael Brown* Jeffrey Myers,violin* the elements that distinguish Russian music ultimately Gloria Chien Ryan Meehan, violin* defy cultural boundaries: love and death, passion and Lucille Chung Jeremy Berry, viola* pathos, struggle and triumph. Alon Goldstein* Estelle Choi, cello* Gilbert Kalish Woodwinds Music@Menlo’s 2016 season, Russian Reflections, brings Hyeyeon Park Tara Helen O’Connor, flute together Russian and Western composers to magnify Wu Han Wu Qian* Voice the universal resonance of Russia’s musical culture. We’ll Dina Kuznetsova, soprano hear the Romantic poignancy of Rachmaninov and Violin Nikolay Borchev, baritone Ivan Chan† Shostakovich alongside Schumann, Fauré, and Dvořák; Nicolas Dautricourt Encounter Leaders encounter the sophisticated elegance of Tchaikovsky Paul Huang* Ara Guzelimian next to music by Mozart and Mendelssohn; and marvel Katie Hyun* Stuart Isacoff at the impeccable craftsmanship of Prokofiev, Taneyev, Ani Kavafian Michael Parloff and Brahms. Over seven Concert Programs, these and Jessica Lee* other juxtapositions will cast Russia’s musical identity in Sean Lee *Music@Menlo debut Elmar Oliveira sharp relief, while also revealing an essential character †Guest artist-faculty that transcends any cultural divide. Alexander Sitkovetsky Arnaud Sussmann Kyoko Takezawa* Viola Matthew Lipman* Paul Neubauer Cello Dmitri Atapine Nicholas Canellakis David Finckel Clive Greensmith Keith Robinson Paul Watkins Bass Scott Pingel Troika Race in Moscow. Date photographed: February 1, 1959. © Jerry Cooke/Corbis subscribe at www.musicatmenlo.org | 650-331-0202 5 Concert Program I TOWARDS THE FLAME R ussia Transformed 6 subscribe at www.musicatmenlo.org | 650-331-0202 “ If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything, is ready, we shall never begin.” —Ivan Turgenev As Russia marched towards revolution, her music was likewise headed for radical change. The Romantic spirit of Tchaikovsky—nowhere in greater evidence than in his magnificent Serenade for Strings—found its torchbearer a generation later in Sergei Rachmaninov. Mean- while, Rachmaninov’s boyhood schoolmate Aleksandr Scriabin developed a bold new language of his own, as audacious as it was fiercely expressive. This summer’s first Concert Program follows the course of Russian music at the turn of the twentieth century, from Romanticism vers la flamme (towards the flame). The evening culminates with The Rite of Spring, Stravinsky’s sea-parting masterpiece that forever changed Western music. Sergei Rachmaninov (1873–1943) Saturday, July 16 Suite no. 2 in c minor for Two Pianos, 6:00 p.m., The Center for Performing Arts at op. 17 (1900–1901) Menlo-Atherton Tickets: $70/$62 full price; Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) $30/$20 under age thirty Serenade in C Major for Strings, op. 48 (1880) Prelude Performance* Aleksandr Nikolayevich Scriabin (1871–1915) 3:30 p.m., The Center for Performing Arts at Preludes for Piano Menlo-Atherton Andante in B Major, op. 16, no. 1 (1894–1895) *Prelude Performances feature young artists from Andante in B-flat Major, op. 11, no. 21 (1896) the Chamber Music Institute. Admission is free. For Aleksandr Nikolayevich Scriabin more information, see pp. 24–25. Vers la flamme, poème, op. 72 (1914) Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) Le sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring) for Piano, Four Hands (1911–1913) Artists Gloria Chien, Lucille Chung, Gilbert Kalish, Wu Han, pianos; Nicolas Dautricourt, Paul Huang, Katie Hyun, Jessica Lee, Ryan Meehan, Jeffrey Myers, violins; Jeremy Berry, Matthew Lipman, Paul Neubauer, violas; Dmitri Atapine, Estelle Choi, cellos; Scott Pingel, bass Members of the Ballets Russes de Diaghilev dance in the Paris production of The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971). English photographer, 1913. Private collection/Roger-Viollet, Paris/ Bridgeman Images subscribe at www.musicatmenlo.org | 650-331-0202 7 Concert Program II D ARK PASSIONS Shostakovich, Arensky || Mahler, Dohnányi 8 subscribe at www.musicatmenlo.org | 650-331-0202 “ Countless as the sands of sea are human passions, and not all of them are alike, and all of them, base and noble alike, are at first obedient to man and only later on become his terrible masters.” —Nikolai Gogol The compositional and emotional elements that distinguish Russian musical culture— its opulence, pathos, lyricism, and more—resonate far and wide. This summer’s second Concert Program delves into one of these characteristically Russian elements and reveals it to be truly universal. “Dark Passions” permeate the music of Dmitry Shostakovich and Anton Arensky, whose respective first piano trios bookend the program. Music by these composers’ Central European counterparts, Dohnányi and Mahler, echoes Shostakovich’s and Arensky’s turbulent strains. Dmitry Shostakovich (1906–1975) Tuesday, July 19 Piano Trio no. 1 in c minor, op. 8 (1923) 8:00 p.m., The Center for Performing Arts at Menlo-Atherton Ernő Dohnányi (1877–1960) Tickets: $80 full price; $35 under age thirty Piano Quintet no. 2 in e-flat minor, op. 26 (1914) Prelude Performance* 5:30 p.m., The Center for Performing Arts at Gustav Mahler (1860–1911) Menlo-Atherton Piano Quartet in a minor (1876) *Prelude Performances feature young artists from Anton Stepanovich Arensky (1861–1906) the Chamber Music Institute. Admission is free. For Piano Trio no. 1 in d minor, op. 32 (1894) more information, see pp. 24–25. Artists Wednesday, July 20 Michael Brown, Gloria Chien, 8:00 p.m., The Center for Performing Arts at Gilbert Kalish, pianos; Nicolas Dautricourt, Menlo-Atherton Paul Huang, Ani Kavafian,violins; Tickets: $70/$62 full price; Matthew Lipman, Paul Neubauer, violas; $30/$20 under age thirty Dmitri Atapine, David Finckel,