ANN ARBOR SYMPHONY 2 Music in the Key of A ®

presents CHAD BURROW BENJAMIN FRANCISCO AMY I-LIN CHENG

THE MUSIC OF BRAHMS VIRTUAL 10.17.20 CONCERT This concert is sponsored by Jane Wilkinson and Howard Ando

and is supported by a grant from

- PROGRAM -

JOHANNES BRAHMS in A Minor, Op. 114 Allegro Adagio Andantino grazioso Allegro

BRAHMS for Piano and Cello No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 38 Allegro non troppo Allegretto quasi menuetto Allegro

Special thanks to KERRYTOWN CONCERT HOUSE for recording space. This concert is the second of our House Concerts at Kerrytown Concert House PROGRAM NOTES BY BENJAMIN TISHERMAN

Johannes Brahms is born Cello Sonata No. 1 Brahms dies in in Hamburg, Germany is published Vienna, Austria

1833 1862 1865 1891 1897

Brahms begins writing Clarinet Trio is Cello Sonata No. 1 composed

Trio in A Minor for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano, Op. 114 (1891) Johannes Brahms

In 1890, after completing his String in G Major, Op. 111, Brahms decided to – somewhat prematurely – end his career as a composer. Although he hadn’t yet reached his 58th birthday, he believed his life’s work was complete, resolving to lay down his pen. The composer even drew up a will, bequeathing his few assets to his siblings, stepmother, and beloved landlady. Fortunately, Brahms’s retirement became a mere hiatus when he heard clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld with the Meiningen Court Orchestra. After the performance of Carl Maria von Weber’s First Clarinet , Brahms wrote to Clara Schumann that it is “impossible to play the clarinet better than Herr Mühlfeld does.” Hearing the beauty and refinement with which Mühlfeld played reinvigorated the old composer. The resulting friendship between Brahms and Mühlfeld inspired four works: The Clarinet Trio, Op. 114; the , Op. 115; and two Clarinet , Op. 120. The Trio Op. 114 was premiered alongside the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, Op. 115, in a performance in Berlin in 1891. The entire piece is filled with a sense of pathos owing to the melancholy timbre of the clarinet as well as the dark, swirling piano accompaniment underneath. The first movement is written in a sonata-form allegro – a classical-era form Brahms uses to organize many of his works. In this movement, each instrument achieves a sense of independence as Brahms writes extended melodies for the cello, and arpeggios spread over the clarinet’s melodic range. In contrast with the melancholy first movement, the second movement is more tender and expressive, featuring exchanges between the cello and clarinet where the instruments echo each other. The interplay between the cello and clarinet is an important technique Brahms uses to create balance throughout the Trio. The subsequent movement, a minuet and trio in A Major, is light-hearted and waltz-like, a musical palate-cleanser before the tumultuous finale. Despite Brahms’s conservative approach to musical form, his music features moments of astonishing originality with regards to rhythm and meter. Music theorists continue to be fascinated by Brahms’s use of metric ambiguity, a phenomenon where the listener’s perception of the beat may differ from the actual notated time signature. This compositional trickery is quite common in Brahms’s chamber works; see if you can catch it toward the middle first movement as well as the finale. Sonata for Piano and Cello No. 1 in E minor, Op. 38 (1865) Johannes Brahms

The music of Johannes Brahms often looks toward the future with a healthy respect for the past. His First Cello Sonata is no exception in that regard, a piece filled with tenderness, fury, and deep despair. Like in Beethoven’s Sonatas for and Piano, Brahms emphasized the equality of the two instruments in his Cello Sonata by publishing it as “Sonata for Piano with Violoncello.” According to the inscription in the Henle Urtext edition, the piano should be “a partner – often a leading, often a watchful and considerate partner – but it should under no circumstances assume a purely accompanying role.” Written between 1862 and 1865, the sonata is dedicated to Josef Gänsbacher, a voice teacher and amateur cellist. However, the version that was later published in 1866 would not have been the one that Brahms and Gänsbacher would have played. Brahms’s original work was in three movements: a sonata-form Allegro, an Adagio, and a Minuet. In 1865 he added a contrapuntal finale, but before publication he removed the Adagio. According to Henry S. Drinker in his 1974 book on Brahms’s , during a private performance for an audience of friends, Brahms played the piano part so loudly that Gänsbacher complained he could not hear his cello. “Lucky for you, too,” growled Brahms, and continued his thunderous accompaniment. The sonata, like many of his works, is conservative in structure and pays homage to composers who came before him. The expressive power of the first movement is contained in a long-winded sonata form, with the somber, lyrical quality of the cello’s opening motive flowing through the musical architecture. While some call the second movement minuet a whimsical “valse triste,” it also shows similarities to a Baroque dance suite. Brahms’s veneration of J. S. Bach is evident in the third movement of the Cello Sonata, which takes a bristling, fugal style seemingly modeled after Bach’s Art of the Fugue. While Brahms is often mentioned along with the names Bach and Beethoven, he himself believed that he was living in the shadow of giants, and never a giant himself. Brahms held Beethoven in especially high regard, keeping his first symphony in his back pocket until late in his career as he tried to live up to Beethoven’s reputation. By exploring novel possibilities of harmony and meter within the integrity of classical forms, Brahms solidified himself within the canon of Western music.

Timeline of Historical Events 1861 – American Civil War begins 1862 – Brahms begins work on his Sonata for Piano and Cello 1865 – Abraham Lincoln assassinated, Civil War ends 1866 – Brahms’s Sonata for Piano with Violoncello published 1872 – Yellowstone becomes America’s first National Park 1876 – Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone 1879 – Thomas Edison invents the light bulb 1887 – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle publishes first Sherlock Holmes story in U.K. 1890 – Brahms hears Richard Mühlfeld perform a concerto with the Meiningen Court Orchestra 1891 – Brahms Trio Op. 114 published CHAD BURROW

A2SO Principal Clarinet Chad Burrow is recognized as one of the premiere clarinetists of his generation. He has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in concert halls across the globe. The European press has said that Chad performs with “brilliant technique and tonal beauty mixed with an expressive ferocity.” Danish critic Henrik Svane went on to describe a performance as filled with “virtuosity, energy, and power without compromise.” The New York Times recently called a Carnegie Hall appearance in Poulenc’s Sonata as giving a “strong impression” and being a “bright and genial account.” In 2009, Chad was appointed to the clarinet faculty of the University of Michigan, where he teaches clarinet and chamber music and serves as the director for the Michigan Chamber Players. Additionally, he serves as co- artistic director for the Brightmusic Society of Oklahoma (http://brightmusic.org) and is on the faculty of the Sewanee Summer Music Festival (www.sewaneemusicfestival.org) and Alpenkammermusik Festival in Austria (http://alpenkammermusik.com). He is the former principal clarinetist of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, the New Haven Symphony, Quartz Mountain Music Festival and the Arizona Musicfest Orchestra. Chad was also the past Associate Professor of Clarinet at Oklahoma City University. Chad’s recent concert engagements abroad have included concerts in Austria, Denmark’s Thy Chamber Music Festival, a recital in the National Concert Hall in Taipei, Taiwan, concerts in Strasbourg, France and Concerto appearances with the Taichung Philharmonic, the “Classic” Orchestra of Taichung and the Shin Sharn Ensemble in Taipei. Recent performances in the have included appearances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in Alice Tully Hall, Chamber Music Northwest and performances on a series of Benny Goodman centennial concerts in Carnegie Hall and . Other performances have included venues at Rice University, the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York, the University of Houston, three International Clarinet Association conferences, Northwestern University, the Music Mansion in Providence (RI), University of Notre Dame, Texas Tech University, University of North Texas, Texas Christian University, the University of Texas, Louisiana State University and the University of Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium, among many others. In addition to his own schedule of performances, Chad is the clarinetist for Duo Clarion, formed in 1999 at Yale University with pianist Amy I-Lin Cheng. Duo Clarion maintains an active series of performances throughout the United States, Europe and the Far East. Duo Clarion’s work has been recorded and released by Albany Records, CD Baby and Wei Studios in Taiwan. The Duo’s most recent recording features works of Brahms and Schumann on CD Baby. Violinist Sean Wang joins Duo Clarion to form Trio Solari. The trio has had a regular touring schedule around the world since 2006. Trio Solari’s most recent recording, on the Centaur label, features works of Bartók, Khachaturian, Milhaud, and Edward Knight. A recording of William Bolcom’s with the University of Michigan Symphony is awaiting release. Chad is the winner of prizes and awards from the 2001 Young Concert Artist International Competition in , the 2000 Woolsey Hall Competition, the 2000 Artist International Competition, and the 1997 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University where he was a student of Russell Dagon, and a Master of Music degree from Yale University, where he was a student of . Chad serves as an artist for Vandoren and . He plays exclusively on Backun, MOBA . Chad previously appeared as soloist with the A2SO in Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in January 2018. BENJAMIN FRANCISCO

As a solo, chamber, and orchestral artist, A2SO cellist Benjamin Francisco is fiercely committed to deepening his knowledge of the musical language and inspiring the same curiosity in others. This passion began at the age of four when he began his studies in the Suzuki and Preparatory programs of the Cleveland Institute of Music. He quickly engaged himself in Cleveland’s celebrated and diverse artistic community, winning the Elementary, Junior, and Senior divisions of the Cleveland Cello Society’s scholarship competitions, and playing as principal cellist of the Youth Orchestra under its director, James Feddeck. He also served as the principal cellist of the Contemporary Youth Orchestra in Cleveland under Liza Grossman, where the opportunity to perform contemporary works outside of the traditional symphonic repertoire and collaborate with pop legends such as Jefferson Starship and Jon Anderson of Yes was instrumental in sparking his passion for music of all forms and genres. Benjamin’s studies have since carried him to schools and music programs around the country from New York to Alaska and put him in touch with countless inspiring artistic mentors. He received his Bachelor of Music degree in 2017 cum laude from Rice University where he studied with Desmond Hoebig. In 2019, he completed his Master of Music as a graduate fellow at the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre, & Dance with Richard Aaron. He has attended multiple summer programs including the Meadowmount School of Music and the Heifetz Institute, and was awarded fellowships by the Aspen Music Festival and the Tanglewood Music Center. His performances have ranged from playing Eleanor Rigby in the streets of Aspen to Lutosławski’s Concerto for Orchestra on the stage of Carnegie Hall. Artists he has worked with along the way include Melissa Kraut, Zuill Bailey, Ralph Kirshbaum, Frans Helmerson, , and members of the Cavani, Cleveland, and Juilliard . When not practicing, teaching, or performing, Benjamin enjoys arm-chair quarterbacking, attending baseball games, backpacking Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and playing chef in his apartment kitchen. https://www.benjaminfrancisco.com

AMY I-LIN CHENG

Born in Taiwan, pianist Amy I-Lin Cheng has appeared on the concert stage in the United States, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Taiwan, Brazil, Canada, France, and Israel. She has been described by the New York Concert Review as a pianist whose “control of the keyboard is complete, technique easy and relaxed, with a wide range of touch.” Late pianist Claude Frank describes her as “a brilliant, sensitive, imaginative and most beguiling pianist.” Cheng’s live performances have been heard on WGBH, KCSC, WHYY, La Radio Suisse Romande-Espace 2, and NPR. She has presented recitals at venues such as the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Merkin Concert Hall in New York City, Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall, and National Concert Hall in Taipei, as well as on concert series across the United States. Cheng made her Boston concerto debut at the age of 17 at Jordan Hall under the direction of Benjamin Zhander. Since then, she has appeared as a concerto soloist with the ‘Musica Viva’ Chamber Orchestra, Taichung Philharmonic, Orchestra of the Pines in Texas, University Symphony Orchestra (University of Michigan), and the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, among others. During the 2015-16 season, she gave the North American premiere of the Kapralova Piano Concerto at Hill Auditorium as part of the week-long Kapralova Festival, hosted by the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre & Dance. A dedicated chamber musician, Cheng has enjoyed collaborating with others since a very young age. Currently, she is the co-artistic director of the Brightmusic Society of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City, a non-profit organization presenting chamber music concerts since 2003. In addition to regular season concerts, Brightmusic launched its first Spring Chamber Music Festival in 2012, and in June 2017, Brightmusic presented its 6th Chamber Music Festival with the music of Bach and Brahms. As a member of Duo Clarion, formed in 1999 with clarinetist Chad Burrow, she has performed in venues such as Zankel Hall in Carnegie Hall and National Concerto Hall in Taipei, as well as venues across the U.S. and Asia. Duo Clarion has released recordings through CDBaby, Albany, and WeiStudio. Duo Clarion’s most recent release of music by Brahms and Schumann received an outstanding review in the ICA publication. Violinist Sean Yung-Hsiang Wang joined the duo to form Trio Solari in 2006. Trio Solari released its debut CD through Centaur Records in 2016. Cheng has performed as a guest pianist with the American Chamber Players and America’s Dream Chamber Artists and performs frequently on the Michigan Chamber Players Series. As a chamber musician, Cheng has been part of many commissioning initiatives and has recorded chamber music works by composers such as Edward Knight, Laura Schwendinger, Stephen Rush, and Adolphus Hailstork on Centaur, Albany, and Block M Records. A highly sought-after collaborator, Cheng has performed with artists such as Wenzel Fuchs, Sophie Shao, David Buck, David Shifrin, and Misha Quint, and has been the pianist in residence for the International Double Reed Society Convention in 2010 and 2011, as well as the International Woodwind Festival in 2001, 2002, and 2012. Other festival chamber music appearances include the Interharmony International Music Festival in Germany, Quartz Mountain Music Festival, Taos School of Music, LaJolla SummerFest, OKMozart International Music Festival, Sewanee Summer Music Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and Jerusalem Chamber Music Encounter. Cheng’s principal teachers were Claude Frank, Wha-Kyung Byun, Rolf-Peter Wille, and Yi-Hsien Chang. She studied chamber music with Robert McDonald (Taos), , Michael Friedmann, and . Committed to music education of the younger generation, Cheng devotes her time to instructing young pianists. She has worked with young pianists and young chamber music groups in summer festivals, at the Franklin School for the Performing Arts Massachusetts, and at the Community Music School of Ann Arbor. In addition, she maintains a studio of private students, age 6-15. Prior to moving to Ann Arbor, Cheng was the head of the piano area at Oklahoma City University Wanda L. Bass School (2006-09), and the assistant professor of piano at the Oklahoma State University (2002-06). After serving as a collaborative pianist for the School of Music, Theatre & Dance at the University of Michigan, Cheng joined the Department of Piano faculty in 2012 as a lecturer in Piano, where she teaches piano and chamber music. In the summer, Cheng teaches at Sewanee Summer Music Festival. She lives in Ann Arbor with husband Chad Burrow, two children, and two family dogs.

The A2SO has the latest Duo Clarion and Trio Solari CDs available for sale. Contact the office at 734.994.4801 for more information. BEETHOVEN FESTIVAL GOODYEAR & BEETHOVEN THE BEROFSKYS & BEETHOVEN

SEASON HillSeptemberSeptember Auditorium 26, 10th, 2020 2020 September 27, 2020 Still Available For Sale! BEETHOVEN ”Waldstein” Sonata BEETHOVEN ”Spring” Sonata PREVIEW BEETHOVEN ”Appassionata” Sonata BEETHOVEN Violin Sonata No. 7 BEETHOVEN ”Rondo” from Violin Stewart Goodyear, piano Concerto

Aaron Berofsky, violin Charles Berofsky, piano THE MUSIC OF BRAHMS SIMON, HAYDN, & BORODIN MOZART’S VIENNA TCHAIKOVSKY & SIBELIUS

October 17, 2020 November 14, 2020 January 23, 2021 March 20, 2021 Available Anytime After 5:30 PM Available Anytime After 5:30 PM 8PM - Michigan Theater 8PM - Michigan Theater BRAHMS Clarinet Trio Carlos SIMON The Warmth of Other JACOB JOYCE EARL LEE BRAHMS Cello Sonata in E Minor Suns conductor conductor HAYDN “Emperor” clarinet MOZART Concerto No. 10 for 2 THEOFANIDIS Rainbow Body Chad Burrow, BORODIN No. 2 Benjamin Francisco, cello SCHUBERT Symphony No. 5 SIBELIUS Violin Concerto Amy I-lin Cheng, piano Christina Adams, violin RAVEL La Valse TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4 Jiayi Zheng, violin STRAUSS Der Rosenkavalier Suite Kyung Sun Lee, violin Veronika Vassileva, Arthur Greene, piano Alicia Rowe, cello Christopher Harding, piano

RACHMANINOFF & WAGNER POPS HOLIDAY POPS NIGHT AT THE MOVIES SUBSCRIPTION PACKAGES AVAILABLE ONLINE MAY 1ST

SINGLE TICKETS AVAILABLE AUGUST 1ST

Single Tickets Only April 24, 2021 December 11, 2020 March 13/14, 2021 8PM - Hill Auditorium 8PM - Hill Auditorium 8PM | 4PM - Michigan Theater PERRY SO ORIOL SANS MORIHIKO NAKAHARA conductor conductor conductor CHIN Frontispiece A family-friendly concert featuring Hear your favorite movie music RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto holiday hits both new and old! come to life in this celebration of No. 2 Hollywood’s greatest soundtracks. WAGNER Act III of Tannhäuser Sergei Babayan, piano Learn more at a2so.com/newseason UMS Choral Union Artists & Repertoire Subject to Change