Founded in 1964 Volume 32, Number 2

Founded in 1964 Volume 32, Number 2

Founded in 1964 Volume 32, Number 2

An officiIn aMemoriam:l publication of the AmericFernandoan Liszt Society, Laires Inc. TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 January 1925 – 9 September 2016

1 In Memoriam: Fernando Laires In Memoriam: Fernando Laires TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 January 1925 – 9 September 2016 2 President's Message In Memoriam: Fernando Laires TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 January 1925 – 9 September 2016 31 LetterIn Memoriam: from the FernandoEditor Laires

1 42In Memoriam:"APresident's Tribute toMessage Fernando Fernando Laires Laires," by Nancy Lee Harper 2 3President's Letter from Message the Editor 5 More Tributes to Fernando Laires 3 4Letter "A fromTribute the to Editor Fernando Laires," 7 Membershipby Nancy Lee Updates, Harper Etc. 4 "A Tribute to Fernando Laires," 85by NancyInvitationMore TributesLee to Harper the to 2017 Fernando ALS FestivalLaires in Evanston/Chicago 5 7More Membership Tributes to Updates, Fernando Etc. Laires 10 "Los Angeles International Liszt Competition Overview" 7 8Membership byInvitation Éva Polgár Updates, to the 2017 Etc. ALS Festival in Evanston/Chicago 8 InvitationIn Memoriam to the 2017 ALS Festival in Evanston/Chicago 10 JALS"Los AngelesUpdate International Liszt Competition Overview" 10 "Losby Angeles Éva Polgár International Liszt 11 Competition Chapter News Overview" In Memoriam by Éva Polgár 12 Member News In MemoriamJALS Update

1511JALS FacsimileChapter Update News Frontispiece of Liszt's "Dante" Symphony Fernando Laires with his wife and fellow pianist, Nelita True, in 2005. Photo: Rochester NY Democrat & Chronicle Staff Photographer Carlos Ortiz: http://www. 11 12Chapter Member News News democratandchronicle.com/story/lifestyle/music/2016/10/02/fernando-laires-eastman-liszt- 16 Picture Page obituary/91266512, accessed on November 12, 2016. Photo supplied by Nancy Lee 12 Member News Harper. Please see Dr. Harper's tribute to Fernando Laires on page four. and additional 15 Facsimile Frontispiece of Liszt's tributes beginning on page five. "Dante" Symphony Fernando Laires with his wife and fellow pianist, Nelita True, in 2005. Photo: Perpetuating the ideas of Rochester NY Democrat & Chronicle Staff Photographer Carlos Ortiz: http://www. 15 FacsimileFranz FrontispieceLiszt through excellence of Liszt's in democratandchronicle.com/story/lifestyle/music/2016/10/02/fernando-laires-eastman-liszt- 16"Dante" Picturemusic Symphony performance Page and scholarship Fernando Laires with his wife and fellow pianist, Nelita True, in 2005. Photo: Rochesterobituary/91266512 NY Democrat, accessed & Chronicle on NovemberStaff Photographer 12, 2016. Carlos Photo Ortiz: supplied http://www. by Nancy Lee democratandchronicle.com/story/lifestyle/music/2016/10/02/fernando-laires-eastman-liszt-Harper. Please see Dr. Harper's tribute to Fernando Laires on page four. and additional 16 Picture Page obituary/91266512tributes beginning, accessed on page on five. November 12, 2016. Photo supplied by Nancy Lee Perpetuating the ideas of Harper. Please see Dr. Harper's tribute to Fernando Laires on page four. and additional Franz Liszt through excellence in tributes beginning on page five. music performance and scholarship Perpetuating the ideas of Franz Liszt through excellence in music performance and scholarship PRESIDENT Jay Hershberger* President's Message Concordia College Music Department Moorhead, MN 56562 [email protected]

VICE PRESIDENT Alexandre Dossin* University of Oregon School of Music and Dance Eugene, OR 97403-1225 [email protected]

EXECUTIVE SECRETARY Justin Kolb* 1136 Hog Mountain Road Dear Fellow Lisztians, Fleischmanns, NY 12430 [email protected] I cannot think of the late Fernando Laires without reminiscing about his generous devotion to MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY students wherever he encountered them. Such was my own experience with him as a piano major Alexander Djordjevic* PO Box 1020 in Oklahoma. Fernando had traveled to the University of Tulsa to participate in the inaugural Wheaton, IL 60187-1020 Liszt Festival of the local chapter there where I was a student. Not only did I have the privilege of [email protected] hearing him play for the first time - his playing was awe-inspiring, a veritable feast of aristocratic TREASURER music making in the grand tradition - but I also was fortunate to play for him the Ballade No. 2 in Daniel Paul Horn* B minor by Liszt in the festival master class. I still have his notes, and whenever I review them the The American Liszt Society memory of that encounter comes flooding back with surprising clarity. Even more, Fernando PO Box 1020 Wheaton, IL 60187-1020 agreed to meet with me privately to visit about music making, career, and life in general. This was [email protected] above and beyond anything I could have imagined at the time, though looking back, it was part and parcel of Fernando’s commitment to passing on to the next generations his love for music and ALS JOURNAL Jonathan Kregor, Editor musicians. Mary Emery Hall Room 4240 I visited him at a private home where he was a guest during the festival. We sat in the living Cincinnati College-Conservatory room and I peppered him with questions, full of youthful enthusiasm and perhaps a fair bit PO Box 210003 Cincinnati OH 45221-0003 of naiveté. He treated me with great respect. Fernando’s answers were drawn from his own [email protected] experience with Isidor Phillip, the rich cultural environments he himself inhabited as a young man, and his own seasoned abilities as an artist/teacher of young musicians. He spoke to me ALS NEWSLETTER/WEBSITE Edward Rath, Editor/Webmaster* about the importance of the Lisztian ideal of immersing one’s self in all aspects of cultural life: 2603 Coppertree Road art, literature, poetry, architecture, theatre, and the humanities beyond the arts. He encouraged Champaign, IL 61822-7518 me to know the entire oeuvre of a composer’s output when studying an individual piece. He [email protected] offered practical advice about practicing, sight-reading, and ways to maintain one’s motivation BOARD OF DIRECTORS and discipline. He spoke about the necessity of live performances in the shaping and formation Joseph Banowetz of one’s own artistic image. His interest in me as a person was genuine, reflected in his own Paul Barnes Luiz de Moura Castro questions to me about my life, my family, and my aspirations. It was an afternoon that I have Alexander Djordjevic* never forgotten, and ten years later, when we met again, he remembered our time together that Gabriel Dobner afternoon, and he treated me as if we were old friends renewing our acquaintance after many years. Alexandre Dossin* Gila Goldstein Such was Fernando Laires. And such are the principal ideals of The American Liszt Society Jay Hershberger* that embody Fernando’s own vision as one of its chief founders. I am grateful for his tireless Daniel Horn* commitment to The American Liszt Society over the decades, as I am grateful for his successor, Geraldine Keeling Jonathan Kregor the late Thomas Mastroianni, whose own deep devotion to those same ideals was drawn in part Barbara Mellon Kolb from Fernando’s vision and dedication. In a world that seems filled with the banal, the trivial, and Justin Kolb* so much cultural ugliness, artistic organizations like The American Liszt Society play a vital role in Elyse J. Mach Ksenia Nosikova fleshing out Dostoevsky’s famous observation that beauty will save the world. Our task, as artistic Edward Rath* descendants of Fernando Laires, is to follow hard after his example. Nancy Roldán To that end, I invite all of you to attend the next ALS festival, April 28 - 30 at Northwestern Steven Spooner Helen Smith Tarchalski University in Evanston, Illinois. Festival director Dr. James Giles has assembled a marvelous Alan Walker roster of artists and scholars. This festival promises to carry on the festival tradition established by William Wellborn Fernando Laires, and reflected in so many of the recent festivals those in attendance have enjoyed. Richard Zimdars I hope to see each of you there. *Member, Executive Committee Excelsior! In Memoriam: Fernando Laires www.americanlisztsociety.net Jay Hershberger, President

2 The American Liszt Society - www.americanlisztsociety.net Letter from the Editor

Happy New Year! May 2017 bring much needed peace to the world and especially in your lives! I have long admired Pablo Casals as having been a humanitarian, teacher, champion of the downtrodden, superb cellist, and author. With regard to the latter, his biography, Joys and Sorrows, is one of the most highly praised volumes when one reads reviews and reactions by contributors of all ages and from all walks of life. The title provides, I think, an immediate overview of what the reader may expect. And it encapsulates my feelings as I think of Fernando Laires. For me, however, I would reverse the words in Casals' title to read, "Sorrows and Joys": the sorrows come from the music world's loss of a great contributor to music, pedagogy, and performance, along with my personal sorrow in not having gotten to know Fernando better. He and I collaborated on an article for this newsletter, after our having met at the 2006 festival in Athens, Georgia. The joys, however, have come from reading the many comments and reminiscences that many of our members have provided for this special memorial edition of the The American Liszt Society Newsletter. It would be presumptuous for me to pick and choose various quotes from such statements, so they are included below more or less verbatim. I would, however, like to focus on one contribution, that from President Jay Hershberger in his "President's Message" on the opposite page:

In a world that seems filled with the banal, the trivial, and so much cultural ugliness, artistic organizations like The American Liszt Society play a vital role in fleshing out Dostoevsky’s famous observation that beauty will save the world. Our task, as artistic descendants of Fernando Laires, is to follow hard after his example.

What a clarion call to all of us to work toward furthering the principles laid forth by Laires and continued by his successor, Thomas Mastroianni. And now, as we begin a new year under the continued leadership of Jay Hershberger, we have the perfect opportunity to rededicate and recommit ourselves to the ideals set forth by our namesake, Franz Liszt. The American Liszt Society There is so much talent within our membership, as we see in news of your musical and PRESIDENT Jay Hershberger professional activities. I dare say that even more is going on musically, but we don't always [email protected] hear about it! And this is the point I would like to make: Sharing our ideas, activities, and thoughts concerning music - in particular that of Franz Liszt - should carry the same NEWSLETTER EDITOR Edward Rath enthusiasm in print as it does when we gather at the annual ALS festivals. I should think we 2603 Coppertree Road are justifiably proud of what we do as performers, teachers, scholars, and music lovers, and I Champaign, IL 61822-7518 believe it is our good fortune to be associated with like-minded people who are members of [email protected] ALS or, by extension, those who use library copies of our newsletter to read of our activities Submit change of address information to: - not to mention those who view our activities on the website. MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY Please consider this a personal invitation to shine light on your musical "goings on"! It Alexander Djordjevic PO Box 1020 will be your own tribute to Fernando Laires - and your own personal joy! Wheaton, IL 60187-1020 [email protected] Ed

Layout: Lawrence Keach and Edward Rath Printed by Insty-Prints of Champaign, IL This newsletter is published twice annually, with a circulation of approximately 400 per issue. An official publication of the The American Liszt Society, Inc. ©2017 ALS, all rights reserved.

Volume 32, Number 2 3 A Tribute to Fernando Laires By Nancy Lee Harper, D.M.A. A Titan amongst musicians and During Fernando’s busy career as his letters as "F. L." Fernando worked to pianists, Portuguese-born Fernando pianist, pedagogue, adjudicator, and ensure that a quality peer-reviewed journal Laires, at age 19, achieved what is still artistic director, he performed many would also be espoused by the ALS. considered to be a rare musical feat recitals in Europe, China, and the USA, "The importance of Fernando’s work when he performed the entire cycle as well as concerto performances with the is not just the amount of time and effort of 32 Beethoven piano sonatas. The Vienna Symphony, Lisbon Philharmonic, he dedicated to ALS, but the vision and following year, in Lisbon, he performed New Zealand National Symphony, and the persuasive case that he made for a the complete Beethoven violin and piano other orchestras. He recorded more philosophy and a musical standard that he, sonatas with colleague, Antonino David. than 86 works, some of which can still himself, lived. It is what Liszt expounded These accomplishments, for one so be heard on YouTube and attest to and demonstrated to his era. It is the young, attracted praise and launched an his remarkable pianism. His colossal reason ALS exists: to serve and to international career on four continents technique was always at the service of the elevate our culture through high musical that would last for more than seven music. standards and to help and encourage decades. They also earned him, amongst Laires served as a professor on several others to do so as well." (Thomas others, a special gift of a grand piano music faculties, including the National Mastroianni, "Flores Musicais," Journal of (1945) endorsed by the entire faculty of Conservatory of Music in Lisbon; the American Liszt Society, 2003 - 2005, the National Conservatory of Music in Peabody Conservatory; Interlochen Arts pp. vii - viii.) Lisbon; the Beethoven Medal in memory Academy; University of Texas-Austin; For his pioneering Lisztian work, he of Artur Schnabel by the Harriet Cohen Catholic University in Washington, received the Franz Liszt Medal from the International Music Awards, London D. C.; and finally as Professor of Piano Liszt Society of Hungary (1984); the (1956); and the rank of Commander of at the University of Rochester’s Eastman Liszt Medal from the ALS (1985); and the the Order of Prince Henry the Navigator School of Music (1992-2004). He also Liszt Commemorative Medal from the by the Portuguese government (1982). conducted master classes around the Hungarian People’s Republic (1986). Fernando was a child prodigy. At world and published articles in several Fernando never forgot his age three, he began playing tunes by piano journals and publications. He native country. Recipient of many ear on the piano; by age four, he could was also permanent guest Professor of commissioned works, he set out to bring harmonize these melodies; and by Piano Performance at Shenyang (People's Portuguese music to the world. As age six, he was playing such pieces as Republic of China) Conservatory of artistic director for the production of Mozart’s "Turkish Rondo." He learned Music, from 1989, and was co-founder, 20 records of contemporary Portuguese to read music before he learned to read director, and performer at the Laires music under a grant from the Calouste Portuguese. Fernando studied with International Music Weeks in Beijing, Gulbenkian Foundation, Fernando invited his mother, Clementina da Conceição 2006. He and his wife, Nelita True, were international artists to record these works Belpho, until his 12th year. featured in the EPTA Piano Journal No. on the Educo label in California. In Although born in Lisbon, Fernando’s 34, when interviewed by Carola Grindea. his own country, he had the vision that early life in Mozambique from 1931- Fernando was often an adjudicator of Portuguese music should be included on 1936 (where his father, Joaquim international competitions, such as the every recital. As co-founder and director Augusto Laires, was a naval officer of Tchaikovsky International Competition of the Pro-Arte Concert Society with Ivo the Portuguese government) no doubt in Moscow, the Van Cliburn in Ft. Worth, Cruz (1951), an organization dedicated made important contributions to his the First North American Tchaikovsky, to programming Portuguese music and development as a musician. In Lourenço Casagrande, Gina Bachauer, and others. artists, this vision was realized and today Marques (now Maputo), Fernando For several years, he was the only Portuguese music is widely performed in was enthralled with the wildlife – wild final judge of the International Piano Portugal. Fernando graciously accepted monkeys jumping into his bedroom; lions Recording Competition in the USA. He to become an honorary member of roaring near his house at night; snakes was also the Founder-Director of the EPTA Portugal at its founding in 1999. nestling in the trees; sharks swimming University of Maryland Piano Festival As great as Fernando’s musical near the beach, and being able to fish and Competition. accomplishments were, it is perhaps in from a window in his home! There, Eventually becoming an American the area of education where he has made the expansiveness of time and space no citizen, Fernando was surprised to see the the most lasting impression. Graduating doubt made a deep impression on him scant reception and lack of appreciation with highest honors from Lisbon’s and allowed his artistry to take shape in for the music of Franz Liszt in that National Conservatory, where he studied ways that a conventional training could country. As co-founder and artistic under the aegis of Lúcio Mendes, its never permit. As a result, Fernando director of The American Liszt Society director, he also later received instruction acquired a huge repertoire that not (ALS) in 1964, he raised the awareness from Winifred Wolf, Isidor Philipp, only included the Beethoven piano and brought a new understanding of the Ernest Hutcheson, and James Friskin, sonatas, but also the complete Chopin composer’s music, which was heretofore and attended Alfred Cortot’s classes in études, most of Schumann’s works, considered as superficial or "too flashy". Lausanne. With travel grants from the the traditional pianistic repertoire and Noting that he shared the same initials Portuguese government and grants from chamber music of four centuries, and as the Hungarian pianist-composer, the U.S. Department of Health, contemporary music, much of which was Fernando sometimes humorously signed (continued on next page) written for him.

4 The American Liszt Society - www.americanlisztsociety.net More Tributes to Fernando Laires

Education, and Welfare, he was able to own…. We think instead that everything sense of the word, by his graciousness, observe music teaching in 20 universities they are going to learn will have to be and his commitment to musical and conservatories in the United States. imparted to them while they’re still in excellence, drawing it out of himself Fernando well understood the rigors school (or with a teacher)." (http://www. and planting its seeds in his students. of performance and the importance of musicalfossils.com/wpmf/overcoming-the-power- Probably my favorite memory of him encouraging students. of-old-myths-public-and-private, accessed on 1 is one of my very first. While studying "Have I mentioned to you that October 2016. with Nelita in the high-school division when I played the [op.] 106 [Sonata] in After such an active life, Fernando of Interlochen’s National Music Camp, I the [Beethoven] cycle, two young girls retired from the Eastman School of remember pacing around the backstage sat in the first row with the score and Music. He wrote to me: area of Kresge Auditorium one evening, turning pages as I went along. They were "Yesterday I gave my last lesson. waiting to perform in a 1972 concerto- sitting exactly in line with the keyboard, On Thursday, Eastman is giving me a winners concert. As I walked, I came obviously so that I could see them while retirement reception. Life goes on. I to the flat roof of a boathouse, which I played. It probably was the moment I have no plans to stop, but I have to overlooked the lake. There up ahead of was most nervous on stage. I remember continue improving my health…tonight me, I saw Nelita and Fernando sitting the feeling. I was under the greatest I have not been able to sleep, so I was on a park bench, their backs to me, nervous strain imaginable during the long at the piano playing Beethoven sonatas contentedly holding hands while they performance . . . . It amazes me, though, and Chopin’s Fantasy. It did me a lot of watched a motor boat skim across the that I did not have any memory slips good…." (Correspondence Fernando water. I regret that I didn’t have a camera during the series . . . ." (Correspondence Laires to the author, dated 5 May 2004). to record that moment, but somehow my Fernando Laires to Nancy Lee Harper, 3 - Fernando’s death at age 91 marks the mental image of it tells me as much about 4 February, 2005.) end of an era and a link to the "Great our departed friend as anything else that In a letter to a pupil, he said: Romantics." His kindness, wisdom, comes to mind. My heart, along with " . . . we have to be our most demanding understanding, inquisitiveness, love of everyone else’s, goes out to Nelita and the critics. People always compliment, music, and love for people and their entire family. I will support any initiative because they think that it is the right cultures made him a great man. Besides - scholarship, special concert event, or thing to do. We thank them and go right his wife, Nelita, he is survived by his anything else - that develops to honor his back to the piano to improve. Our lives, daughters Suzanne, Barbara, Jennifer, and memory and to honor Nelita. as pianists, depend on our commitment their families. Fernando Laires will be Daniel P. Horn to improve . . . . The best we can do sorely missed and fondly remembered by after a successful concert is to go back those fortunate to have known him. ••••••••••••••• to practicing and improve. We are never good enough. Our challenge is centered ••••••••••••••• Very sad news indeed. As I was on our capacity to improve… there is no organizing some old papers in my studio other way to reach our best . . . . What a Coming to this country, Luiz (de Moura this summer, I found an old master class privilege it is to make music! (Letter to Castro) received so many welcoming program, from my teenage years in the Louise Chan upon Fernando's retirement gestures from people of different nations 1980s, when Fernando came to Porto in 2004 at https://www.facebook.com/ and backgrounds. Certainly one of Alegre, my hometown in Brazil. It fernando.laires.1, accessed 1 October 2016.) the deepest and richest blessings came brought back great memories of his Finally, his own development led him from Fernando, who did not rest until teaching and wonderful personality. The to make these remarks as the Keynote he convinced Luiz of the necessity not piano world suffered a great loss today. I Speaker at the National Conference of only of joining but being committed to will support any effort to commemorate Piano Pedagogy in Schaumburg, Illinois, contribute to the ALS, be it in Festivals his life and special connection to the ALS. in 1992: in Europe, Asia, South America, or Alexandre Dossin "On the one hand, there are certain Canada and the US. Our lives and those fashions of the day that we must be of so many have been enhanced by the ••••••••••••••• careful about. One is that we glorify strengths and generosity of a wonderful teaching too much. And by that I mean man and musician. Fernando, we miss Fernando invited me to join the American we are forcing young people to remain you, but we shall always remember you. Liszt Society after my first book,The Piano Master Classes of Hans von Bülow, was students too long. We do it in our schools Bridget de Moura Castro and in our job markets by demanding the published. I joined, and he invited me highest degrees, which require people •••••••••••••• to lecture at the 1995 (6?) ALS Festival to stay in school until they are 30 or at Eastman. It began my two-decade so. Well, imagine if Mozart or Schubert I never studied with Fernando Laires, association with ALS that has brought had stayed in school until they were 30. but had many encounters with him at many new friends and wonderful musical Something is not right. But we get so Peabody, and later at various national experiences. His spirit of kindness and used to our ways that we end up believing events like MTNA conferences. I was inclusivity brought joy to many, including that we have the best in the world. The always struck by his embodiment of what my wife Paula and me. For this, we are point is that we must really believe that it means to be a gentleman in the truest and will remain, thankful. people can learn and grow on their Richard Zimdars (continued on next page)

Volume 32, Number 2 5 More Tributes to Fernando Laires (continued from page 5)

Fernando Laires was a great influence Fernando changed so many lives a collection of lovely cards, some lengthy on my life - both professionally and with his larger-than-life musical genius letters, numerous little notes - each personally. He taught me technical and that he seamlessly paired with sensitive was filled with such positivism, wit, musical concepts that are basic to my human beauty. I remember vividly, more intelligence, charm and thoughtfulness - playing and teaching, and that reflected than 40 years later, our first meeting as and, for me, each was thoroughly heartfelt his constant crusade for piano artistry. well as my first lesson with him. His and inspirational to read. He encouraged me in projects, believing I stunning artistry and passion lit a fire, Probably for me the most endearing could succeed, and continually challenged and I understood music as never before. memory of Fernando is when many years me to think deeply about music and life. It was appropriate that my interview ago we ended up being bus partners for In a discussion regarding a problem with a with him was the first ever inClavier a significant amount of time while being student, he stated, "All decisions must be Companion (Keyboard Companion at the driven all around Mexico City along made for the best interest of the student." time), as he represented so much of what with several other Lisztians to enjoy the This has since clarified many situations. can be right about teaching and must be city and then to attend an evening social He had the courage of his convictions, preserved. And people still talk about event. (Fernando had organized a Liszt evidenced by co-founding the American his address to the pedagogy conference! Festival at the University of Mexico and Liszt Society that has greatly affected Off-the-cuff, eloquent, and bold. He had invited several of us to participate in Liszt’s stature in the musical world today. was brilliant, elegant, creative, traditional, it.) The length of time on the bus ride Fernando’s observations were profound and also contemporary. I recall him allowed Fernando and me to go through a and thought provoking. In a Conference admonishing me at a dinner party at his "This is Your Life Up to Now" segment, address, he said, "Teachers must have the home sometime around 1982 while we and we both shared the ups and downs courage to let their students go. Where were huddled around his cool new toy. of our respective lives during this trip. At would we be if Schubert and Chopin He demonstrated to me how "behind the one point, Fernando spoke of his two would have been in graduate school at age times" I was. With merely a TV screen, failed marriages lamenting how he just 30?" typewriter keyboard, and a metal box on couldn't get it right, but then added, with He believed music is spiritual and can the floor he could create and store his Nelita (his third wife), "I finally got it change lives. I close many presentations American Liszt Society documents, phone right!" His face just beamed with delight with a question he asked me and also and address book, and so much more. and joy when he made that statement! answered. "What should be the goal He instructed me to enter my new home Dear Fernando, thank you for being of every piano teacher? To make their address and phone number. When I you, for sharing your immense talent, for students into better human beings. Their needed detailed instructions because I had nurturing so many other young talents only contact with culture and art may be no idea what I was doing, he slipped into so unselfishly, for your kindnesses and when they enter the teacher’s studio. The that sly smile and quipped, "Oh Helen. graciousness - we could go on and on. teacher has the obligation and privilege of You have been spending all your time at Most of all, thank you just for being. opening the student’s mind to this world just one keyboard. You must learn this You are in our memories forever. of beauty." one as well!" Elyse Mach Perhaps his greatest quality was Fernando was hospitalized on Friday, his humble spirit. Although a world- September 2 and it became apparent that •••••••••••••• renowned artist, people of all ages and the end was near. He died with Nelita and professions felt comfortable approaching his daughters at his bedside. When I first arrived at Peabody in him. He gave them his full attention Fernando taught in Maryland for many 1974, I met a few wonderful individuals and always had an answer that could years at Peabody, where I studied with him who remain in my heart as friends, be understood, yet challenged their and was active in the teacher association. humanitarians, and idealists, all musicians thinking. I will miss Fernando’s wisdom, I will definitely contribute to whatever of great caliber and above all, individuals philosophical observations, and his fund is established in his memory, a means who were honest and principled. personal charm, wit, smile, and twinkling by which we can keep the name of our Fernando has left us not only with the eyes. ALS co-founder and President Emeritus legacy of The American Liszt Society Nancy Bachus fresh and alive even for future generations. and its creation but above all with the Helen Smith Tarchalski exemplary life of an honest, sincere man, •••••••••••••• a true gentleman who never let his talent •••••••••••••• obscure his humanity. Please forgive my silence thus far. I am Upon my arrival in Baltimore, he deeply saddened by the loss of my dear I had the privilege of being a friend and a greeted me with warmth and in subtle teacher. My heart has been heavy since colleague of Fernando Laires for almost ways opened performance opportunities. Friday even though the news was not 47 years. During this period of time, I I remember one in particular where unexpected. I contacted Nelita on Friday, cannot once remember a conversation, I would meet the likes of Béla Nagy, and have been busy spreading the word to an encounter in person, or a discussion another great musician who did not classmates and coming to terms with this we had by phone where I hadn't walked hesitate to convey his support and closing of a personal era for myself and away smiling or feeling enlightened. The admiration during our appearance in a many others. correspondence we had over the years - "monster program" with Eugene List. (continued on next page)

6 The American Liszt Society - www.americanlisztsociety.net More Tributes to Fernando Laires Membership (continued from page 6) Updates, Etc. Reading that program, I discover familiar that it was not recorded. This memory NEW MEMBERS names such as Joseph Banowetz, Nelita allows me to make a special point about True, and Thomas Mastroianni, all Fernando. He always refused to use his Sarah Qishan Shi names that bring positive memories. position as President of The American Azusa, CA 91702 After Fernando left Peabody we found Liszt Society to promote himself. You one another here and there, usually at an will search through the old programs of Danae Vlasse ALS festival or in competitions in the the ‘seventies and ‘eighties in vain for Covina, CA 91724 USA or in Canada. He always had some any appearance of him as a performer in advice, wise and true to share. One of ALS festivals. I often protested that his Matthew Hagle my first ALS festival experiences (under modesty was misplaced, that he should Morton Grove, IL 60053 his direction) took place at Peabody. I appear alongside his peers as a soloist. believe the idea of shared performances But he insisted that it was a conflict of Jing Wen Yang (Anna Young) in a recital format was his. In time, interest and would not budge. It was Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province, China I would learn to appreciate and find only when the ALS came to Canada in inspiration in such performances, both the 1990s and joined forces with my John McCarthy as member of the audience and as a Great Romantics Festival (a collaboration San Francisco, CA 94122 performer. Eventually, the ALS festivals that lasted for three years) that I was in a and a profound musical experience in position as the festival director to insist Nathanael Filippelli Ravello (with Louis Nagel, Thomas that he should appear as a soloist, which Williamsburg, IA 52361 Mastroianni, and Luiz de Moura he did. Castro) inspired me to create the Liszt- Many tributes other than mine will Garrison competition with the multi- be offered having to do with Fernando’s Enrico Elisi has asked that we provide his edged idea of performance, inspiration, gifts as a pianist, as a teacher, and as a new professional address: mentoring, and learning. A memory of festival organizer. But perhaps the thing University of Toronto - Faculty of Music Fernando’s beautiful playing remains in we should treasure most is that he was a Edward Johnson Music Building my heart: Fernando performing the Liszt- superior human being, for in the end, it 80 Queen's Park Mendelssohn transcription of "On Wings is humanity that counts - above all in the Toronto, ON M5S 2C5 Canada of Song" in a program that might have profession of music. It was this quality been his farewell recital at Peabody. that helped Fernando transform the Memories now converge to bring ALS from a mere society into a family NEW LIFE MEMBER together all these caring and talented of friends, and that makes us all his musicians that at some point were present beneficiaries. Pamela Celeste Weber in my life. Farewell, Tom, Noel, and Alan Walker Halsey, OR 97348 Fernando. Thank you for the legacy, the memories, and the music making. •••••••••••••• •••••••••••••• Nancy Roldán I have been deeply saddened at the news Policy on publishing members' •••••••••••••• of Fernando's passing, even though I was addresses and other contact expecting it, as I was aware of Fernando's information: My friendship with Fernando went back condition for some time. It goes without for more than 40 years, to a time in the saying that we have all lost an incredible For the time being, the Newsletter early 1970s when he brought me into artist/teacher and friend. The American will publish only the name and city of the American Liszt Society. By nature, Liszt Society's debt to him is, of course, members, pending a review of issues I am a non-joiner and I refused his first enormous. pertaining to members' privacy. invitation. But Fernando persisted and I first met both Fernando and Nelita his celebrated powers of persuasion did back in in 1972, when we all were on the •••••••••••••• the rest. We met soon afterward at an summer faculty of the National Music ALS Festival in Flint (Michigan) and Camp at Interlochen. We remained Corrections. became firm friends. I quickly came to close friends in all the years following. admire Fernando’s extraordinary range of Fernando and I later were mutual In the previous edition of The American talents, and especially his piano playing. I participants in festivals in both Canada Liszt Society Newsletter, the names of still have in my memory’s ear the best live and Portugal. two authors were absent. Dr. Dmitry performance of the first book of Liszt’s My thoughts are of course now Rachmanov was the author of the Années de pèlerinage that I have ever heard, with Nelita. She was deeply devoted to article summarizing the 2016 Festival at which Fernando gave in Stockholm when Fernando and did everything possible to Northridge. Geraldine Keeling was we joined our colleagues in the European make his final time as free from pain as the author of the lead article concerning Liszt Society for a special festival possible. I am extremely grateful that he the Los Angeles International Liszt there, directed by Lennart Rabes. His could be at home during his last days. Competition. The Editor apologizes for interpretation was flawless and I regret Joseph Banowetz these omissions.

Volume 32, Number 2 7 An Invitation to Attend the 2017 Conference of The American Liszt Society

On behalf of the Chicago/Midwest Chapter of the ALS, I am delighted to invite you to the festival this spring at Northwestern University. Besides the evening concerts by Sergei Babayan, the Northwestern Symphony Orchestra, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, we will enjoy a daytime schedule packed with fascinating music and lectures. Please make your plans as soon as possible. The Chicago Symphony concert tickets in particular are going fast, and we have been told by the CSO that it may sell out soon. For more information, please visit liszt.northwestern.edu, where you may register for the festival. James Giles, Festival Director

AllSchedule events are in Galvin for Recital 2017Hall unless ALSotherwise stated.Conference Schedule subject to change. April 27 - 30 Thursday, April 27 4:00pm - ALS Board of Directors meeting and dinner, Jean Gimbel Lane Reception Room 7:30pm - Recital - Sergei Babayan 9:30pm - Reception (sponsored by Yamaha's Institutional Solutions Group), Jean Gimbel Lane Reception Room Friday, April 28 9:30am - Welcome Remarks 9:45am - Recital: "Beginnings" Liszt: Les Préludes, transcribed for two pianos by the composer - Luiz and Bridget de Moura Castro Debussy: Prélude to the Afternoon of a Faun, transcribed by Mikhail Olenev - Michael Boyd Wagner: "Prelude" to Parsifal, transcribed for two pianos by Engelbert Humperdinck - James and Sevgi Giles 10:45am - Master Class - Sergei Babayan 12:15pm - Lunch on your own 1:15pm - Alan Walker Book Award, Ryan Opera Theater 1:30pm - Lecture: "Liszt Repertorium" - Rena Mueller, Ryan Opera Theater The transmission of information on virtuosity as seen through the volume Liszt Repertorium, a collection curated by Liszt’s early biographer Lina Ramann and containing commentaries by Liszt pupils on various works. 2:15pm - Recital: "Prometheus Unbound" Alkan: Symphonie - José Raúl López Liszt: Prometheus - Dong-wan Ha and Natasha Stojanovska 3:15pm - Recital: "Faustian Fantasies" Liszt: "Danse des Sylphes" from Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust - Gila Goldstein Liszt: Three Pieces from Goethe’s Faust: "Osterhyme" - Caroline Hong; "Marsch" and "Polonaise" - Heejin An and Sean Yeh

Berlioz: "Une puce gentille" from La Damnation de Faust Wagner: "Lied der Mephistopheles I" from 7 Kompositionen zu Goethes Faust Busoni: "Lied des Mephistopheles" from Doktor Faust Mussorgsky: "Mephistopheles’s Song in Auerbach’s Cellar" Schubert: "Szene aus Faust" Kevin McMillan, baritone, and Gabriel Dobner, piano 4:00pm - Lecture-Recital: Jeffrey Swann Liszt: "Gretchen" from Eine Faust Symphony, Mephisto Waltz No. 1, and Mephisto Waltz No. 2 5:00 - Dinner on your own in Evanston 7:30pm - Concert: Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra - Victor Yampolsky, conductor and student soloists (TBA) Liszt: Legend of St. Cecilia, Piano Concerto No. 1 and Piano Concerto No. 2 Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, Evanston (adjacent to the Ryan Center) (continued on next page)

8 The American Liszt Society - www.americanlisztsociety.net Schedule for 2017 ALS Conference (concluded)

Saturday, April 29 9:15am - Recital: "Liszt and Wagner" Liszt: Totentanz - Stijn de Cock; Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 13 - Enrico Elisi; Wagner-Liszt: "Overture" to Rienzi - Steven Spooner 10:00am - Lecture: "Historic Recordings of Liszt Orchestral Music" - Gregor Benko, McClintock Recital Hall 10:30am - Presentation of The American Liszt Society Medal to Gregor Benko, McClintock Recital Hall 11:00pm - Berlioz-Liszt: Symphonie Fantastique - Kemal Gekić 12:00pm - Lunch (Preordered box lunches served in Norris Student Center) We recommend preordering the box lunch when you register since most campus dining options will be closed on Saturday. 1:00pm - Recital: Chamber Music Berlioz: Harold in Italy (III. "Serenade") - Helen Callus, viola and Toni-Marie Montgomery, piano Liszt: Orpheus (trio version by Saint-Saëns) - Rodolfo Vieira, violin; TBA, cello; and Yasuko Oura, piano Liszt: Tristia ("Vallée d’Obermann" from Années de Pelèrinage I) - Gerardo Ribiero, violin; TBA, cello; Alan Chow, piano Liszt: Malédiction (version for string sextet) - Jerome Lowenthal, piano; Gerardo Ribiero and Nanao Yamada, violins; Helen Callus, viola; TBA, cellos; and Andrew Raciti, bass 2:00pm - Presentation of The American Liszt Society Medal to Jerome Lowenthal 2:15pm - Liszt: Sonata in B minor arranged for two pianos by Saint-Saëns - Adam Gyorgy and Yangmingtian Zhao 3:00pm - Recital: "Bülow and Liszt" Liszt: "Les Cloches de Genève" and "Orage" - Eugene Alcalay Von Bülow: Sonnet von Dante arranged by Liszt for solo piano as "Tanto gentile e tanto onesta" - Roberta Rust Bülow: Mazurka-Fantasie, Op. 13; Liszt: "Dante" Sonata - Mark Anderson 3:45pm - Beethoven-Liszt: Symphony No. 7 in A Major - Frederic Chiu 4:30pm - Lecture: "Improvising and Preluding in the Paris School"- Robert Gjerdingen, McClintock Recital Hall An examination of how conceptions of orchestral sonority and "bandwidth" were abetted by new methods (Colet and Kalkbrenner) that extended patterns across the whole keyboard. 5:00pm - Dinner on your own in Evanston 6:45pm - Bus leaves from the Hilton Orrington for CSO concert 8:00pm - Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Riccardo Muti, conductor, and Radu Lupu, piano Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 ("Emperor") Liszt: "Dante" Symphony Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Avenue We highly advise you to purchase tickets for this concert as soon as possible. Got to http://www.liszt.northwestern.edu/ and click on the prompt at the bottom left side of the page Sunday, April 30 9:15am - Winners of the 2016 Los Angeles International Liszt Competition 9:45am - Lecture-Recital: "Chicago Composers John Downey, Robert Muczynski, and Leo Sowerby" - Justin Kolb 10:15am - Recital: "Liszt and Mozart" "A la Chapelle Sixtine" ("Lento," after Allegri's "Miserere" "Andante con pietá," after Mozart's "Ave Verum Corpus") - Jose Ramon Mendez and Amy Gustafson Mozart-Liszt Requiem ("Confutatis" and "Lachrymosa") - Jay Hershberger 10:45am - Recital: Beethoven-Liszt Symphony No. 9 in D Minor for two pianos Members of the Chicago/Midwest Chapter of The American Liszt Society I. Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso - Alexander Djordjevic and Daniel Paul Horn II. Scherzo: Molto vivace - Aaron Stampfl and George Radosavljevic III. Adagio molto e cantabile - Karin Redekopp and Mark Edwards IV. Presto; Allegro molto assai; Andante maestoso; Allegro energico - Claire Aebersold and Ralph Neiweem 12:15pm - Final Banquet - The Farmhouse Restaurant in the Hilton Orrington, Evanston 3:00pm - Post conference bonus recital (transportation is on your own) Mozart: Larghetto and Allegro for Two Pianos; Stravinsky: Concerto for Two Pianos; Debussy: En blanc et noir; Stravinsky: Rite of Spring Marc-Andre Hamelin and Leif Ove Andsnes Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Avenue

Excerpt from Liszt's "Dante" Symphony. ©By Erigena - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index. php?curid=17315656.

Volume 32, Number 2 9 2016 Los Angeles International Liszt In Memoriam Competition Overview by Éva Polgár The fourteenth biennial Los Angeles Candace Bogan, student of Frank Fetta Vladimir Leyetchkiss International Liszt Competition for piano Over $11,000 in cash was awarded to and voice took place November 19 - 20, First-Fifth Place Winners in each of the One of the last pupils of the great 2016. The competition was co-sponsored 11 divisions. They also received plaques Heinrich Neuhaus, Vladimir by The American Liszt Society, Pasadena and certificates. All 160 contestants Leyetchkiss died October 11, 2016. Branch of the Music Teachers’ Association received volume two of Alan Walker's He began his piano studies in Baku, of California, California Federation of Liszt biography and a Liszt portrait by Russia and later studied at the Moscow Music Clubs, National Cultural Fund of Pál Palovits. The judges received Alan Conservatory. Emigrating from Russia Hungary, Steinway Pianos, Azusa Pacific Walker's Reflections on Liszt. Selected to the United States in 1974, Vladimir University, and Trinity United Methodist winners will be performing at the ALS built a reputation as a concert pianist, Church of Pomona, CA. Principal Festival in Chicago, the Nixon Library in teacher, and a transcriber, specializing in Patron of the 2016 competition was Dr. Whittier, and Azusa Pacific University. Russian and Romantic music. Leyetchkiss Andrea Vígh, President of the Franz Liszt The total cost of the competition is was a frequent performer on WFMT Academy in Budapest. about $40,000, of which less than $15,000 in Chicago and made several European Since 1990 this competition has came from entry fees. The rest came tours. He served as a juror in many presented exclusively the music of Liszt. from sponsors, listed in the opening piano competitions, including the Los The 2016 competition had 160 contestants paragraph, and from almost 60 private Angeles International Liszt Competition, from eight states and four countries. donors. We thank all of them. and appeared as soloist at national The Budapest Concert Piano Winner We are also grateful to our judges, who conventions of The American Liszt is Hanbo Ma, student of Daniel Pollack donate their time to promote the music Society, The Great Romantics Festival, at the University of Southern California. of Liszt. Our 14 judges came from ten and the International Rachmaninoff She will be giving a full concert at the Liszt states and three countries. Many of the Society. Great Romantics Festival Ferenc Museum and Research Center on judges are members of The American Director Alan Walker said, "I recall May 27, 2017. She will also perform at the Liszt Society. The piano judges were: his performance of Samuil Feinberg’s Hungarian Embassy in Washington, D.C., Michael Boyd, Alexander Djordjevic, transcription of the third movement of and at the Hungarian Cultural Centre in Horst Förster, Jay Hershberger, Jenő Tchaikovsky’s "Pathétique" Symphony London. Jandó, Justin Kolb, José Raúl López, as one of the highlights of that year’s The New York Concert Vocal Winner Ksenia Nosikova, Éva Polgár, Logan festival. It was an outbreak of rejoicing is Judy Gallego, student of Vladimir Skelton, Steven Spooner, and Orsolya that such a thing was possible for ten Chernov from the University of California Szabó. The voice judges were MeeAe fingers and a keyboard of a mere 88 at Los Angeles. She will be performing a Nam and Laura Strickling. notes. I will never forget it, not will I full concert of Liszt songs in New York The Los Angeles International Liszt forget him." City in spring, 2017. Competition was founded in 1990 by Leyetchkiss' recordings for Orion, The Concerto Winner is Martin Geraldine Keeling under the inspiration Centaur, and Classic Digital include Leung, student of Myong-Joo Lee at the of Mária Eckhardt. It is co-directed by Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations and Sonata Colburn School in Los Angeles. He will her and Judith Neszlenyi. 2016 marked in E Major, Op. 109, Russian Virtuoso be performing with the Akademisches the addition of Éva Polgár as assistant Piano Music, Great Piano Transcriptions, Orchester Leipzig, under the direction director. We thank everyone in The Taneyev and Scriabin, My Favorite Tchaikovsky, of Dr. Horst Förster, on November 13, American Liszt Society for their support Russian Piano Masterpieces and his most 2017. of this competition. recent compact disc, Russian Reveries. His The American Liszt Society Award transcriptions include a piano version of was presented to Katalin Gonda, student Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, approved by of Attila Némethy at the Franz Liszt the composer and published in Moscow Academy of Music in Budapest. Katalin and in New York by G. Schirmer. He received First Prize in Division IV (ages JALS Update was also the translator for My Memories 17 - 20) and Second Prize in Division VI The most recent issue of the Journal of Liszt, by Alexander Siloti, a student of (Longer Works). She also was awarded of The American Liszt Society, Volume Liszt. Best Performance of Any Concert Étude. 67 (2016) was mailed recently. Other first-place winners were as Congratulations to Editor Jonathan •••••••••••••• follows: Division I (ages 12 and under) Kregor for a superb collection of articles. - Carey Byron, student of Myong-Joo If by chance you have not yet received Noel Lester Lee; Division II (ages 13 - 14) – Victor your copy, claims for missing issues Shlyakhtenko, student of Teresa de Jong must be received within 90 days of the Nancy Roldán writes that Dr. Noel Pombo; Division III (ages 15 - 16) – mailing date. Please contact Alexander Lester, her "dear friend, piano partner, Tristan Paradee, student of Hans Boepple; Djordjevic, ALS Membership Secretary, and extraordinary collaborator for over 40 Division V (ages 21 - 35) - Lishan Xue, PO Box 1020, Wheaton, IL 60187-1020. years," died of brain cancer on November student of William Heiles; Division VI Alexander will send you a replacement 17, 2016, at age 65. "Although we all (Longer Works) - Yukino Miyake, student copy. Please be sure to keep your address knew his death was imminent, the reality of Tali Margulis; and Division IX (Voice) - up to date with the ALS office!! of his absence has made grief a daily companion." (continued on next page)

10 The American Liszt Society - www.americanlisztsociety.net In Memoriam (concluded) Chapter News

Even though he was not officially a (Baltimore/Washington Chapter Chicago/Midwest Chapter member of The American Liszt Society, (http://lisztgarrisoncompetition.org) (http://facebook.com/LisztChicago) Noel served on the advisory board of Nancy Roldán, President. Alexander Djordjevic, President. the Liszt-Garrison competition from its inception, providing expertise and It is my pleasure to confirm that Dr. The Chicago/Midwest chapter presented support as both a preliminary and Caroline Hong, ALS-Ohio chapter its Sixth Annual Franz Liszt Birthday competition judge, as well as making president, is now in charge of the Liszt- Gala Concert on Saturday, October 22nd, financial contributions in support of Garrison competition. I will remain 2016 at 7:30 pm at Nichols Concert the event. Since 2006 he featured the active as Executive Advisor. As agreed Hall in Evanston, IL, and was dedicated "collaborative artist" winners in his with Caroline, the competition name is to the memory of ALS Co-Founder, concert series at Hood College. Due to now announced in our shared website Fernando Laires. This year's theme his illness, he was not able to attend the (http://lisztgarrisoncompetition.org/lg/) as was "Liszt Times Two - A Celebration last concert by the duo winners of the The Franz Liszt Festival & International of Liszt's Piano Music for Two Pianos competition in October 2016. Competition to be hosted at The Ohio - Four Hands." Performers included To ease his family’s financial burdens, State University October 12 - 15, 2017. duo-pianists Claire Aebersold and Nancy organized and performed two The 2017 event will take place under Ralph Neiweem, Daniel Paul Horn fundraising recitals. A duo recital in the aegis of the ALS and presented under and Alexander Djordjevic, Alex Yuill May took place in Towson at the home the auspices of both the Baltimore/ and Andrew Guo, Matthew Hagle of Dr. Elizabeth Gammon with the Washington and Ohio chapters. Funds and George Radosavljevic, Karin collaboration of violinist José Cueto. In formerly in Baltimore/Washington Redekopp and Mark Edwards, and June, Nancy organized a trio recital in Chapter accounts have been transferred James and Sevgi Giles. Frederick (MD) at Grace Church, this to the Ohio Chapter under the A special greeting on the 60th time with the additional collaboration supervision of ALS Treasurer Daniel anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian of cellist Lachezar Kostov (2011 LG Horn and ALS-Ohio chapter treasurer Revolution was presented by Dr. Ádám collaborative artist winner). Nancy closes Dr. Ryan Behan. Application forms Márkusfalvi-Tóth, Consul, Hungarian with, "Noel lives in my heart as one of are posted on the Liszt-Garrison website Consulate-General of Chicago, and my closest friends, a wonderful musician, (shown above), which will remain under excerpts from the poem "For Ferencz a loving and caring family man, and a the Baltimore/Washington Chapter name Liszt" by Mihály Vörösmarty were read in generous and warm supporter of young until further decisions are forthcoming Hungarian and in English by Etelka Tatar musicians - a true mentor." from Dr. Hong. Deadline (postmark and Dr. Clara Orban. date) for applications is May 15, 2017. •••••••••••••• The transition is indeed a fact, but Zoltán Kocsis attending to all details will require more New York/New Jersey Chapter than one year. We anticipate the positive (http://gilagoldstein.com/liszt/). Zoltán Kocsis, the great Hungarian good will and mentoring spirit of the Gila Goldstein, President. pianist and conductor, died November competition will continue through future Pianist Sofya Melikyan (www.sofyamelikyan. 6, 2016. Numerous accounts of his life decades. com) gave a recital for the NY chapter and obituary may be found online by on October 6, 2016. She performed the Googling "Zoltan Kocsis." entire book of Goyescas by Granados and Boston Chapter the second half was entirely dedicated ([email protected]) to Liszt. A wonderful and colorful Tish Anne Kilgore, President. artist, she delivered very convincing and moving interpretations. Following the The ALS Boston Chapter was delighted concert, Justin Kolb conducted Q & A to collaborate with Boston University session that was spontaneous and well in presenting Paul Barnes in a recital appreciated! The intimate crowd enjoyed featuring piano music of Philip Glass the evening very much. on December 3, 2016 at the BU College The chapter will present Italian pianist of Fine Arts. Paul gave a splendid and Emanuel Rimoldi on Thursday, May 18 at engaging performance of pieces that 7:30 p.m. As usual, the concert will take he had premiered and recorded over place at Yamaha Piano Salon at 689 Fifth the last several years of his professional Avenue in NYC, third floor. This concert association with Philip Glass. The will be co-hosted by the London-based concert was well attended by Boston Keyboard Charitable Trust. Rimoldi University students and the public at was trained at the Moscow Conservatory Excerpt from Liszt's "Dante" Symphony. large, who were thrilled with Paul's with Eliso Virsaladze and currently ©By Erigena - Own work, CC BY-SA brilliant performance. Paul was equally studies at the Hannover School of Music 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/ thrilled to enjoy New England lobster in Germany with Arie Vardi. He will index.php?curid=17316076. afterward! (Picture on page 16.) perform works by Bach, Mozart, Liszt, (continued on next page)

Volume 32, Number 2 11 More Chapter News Member News and Rachmaninov's entire Préludes, Op. 23. Oregon Chapter Sophia Agranovich presented a recital His web site is www.emanuelrimoldi.com. (http://liszt.uoregon.edu/) of romantic piano compositions at the To RSVP and reserve tickets, e-mail Alexandre Dossin, President. Polish Cultural Foundation in Clark, NJ [email protected]. Admission is on Saturday, October 1. She also played $20/$10, and you should plan to pay at The Oregon Chapter presented a a piano recital at the Donald Palmer the door. series of concerts and other events to Museum of the Springfield (NJ) Public In June 2017 the ALS NY/NJ Chapter commemorate the birthday of Franz Liszt Library, where the program included will collaborate once again with the in fall 2016. On Monday, October 17, music by Liszt, Chopin, Rachmaninov, Dorothy Taubman Piano Festival at musicologist Dr. Marian Smith presented and others. Most recently, she performed Montclair State University in New Jersey. a lecture on "Dance Elements in Liszt's in a concert sponsored by the Leschetizky The festival will take place June 23 - 25 Hungarian Rhapsodies," and there was Association (http://leschetizky.org) in New at the Cali School of Music at MSU. The a showing of Ophra Yerushalmi's film York on February 4. The concert took evening piano recital on Saturday, June 24, Liszt's Dance With The Devil later that place at the Tenri Cultural Institute and will feature pianist Yillan Zhao. Born in evening. On Tuesday, Wednesday, and included works by Beethoven, Chopin, southern China, Ms. Zhao has studied at Thursday, student pianists performed the Rachmaninov, and Liszt. Juilliard since 2011, working first in the entire three-volume set of Liszt's Années Pre-College Division with Choong Mo de pelèrinage. On Friday evening, October Joseph Banowetz writes that reviews of Kang. She is currently enrolled at The 21, Dr. Dmitry Rachmanov of the his CD recording of Ignaz Freidman's Juilliard School as a student of Hung- California State University Northridge piano transcriptions may be found Kuan Chen. She has won prizes in several music faculty (and host of the most at https://www.amazon.com/Friedman- international piano competitions in Spain, recent ALS conference) presented a Piano-Transcriptions-Joseph-Banowetz/dp/ Russia, and New York. Ms. Zhao has lecture on "Liszt in Russia." A master B01K8HUSQK/ref=sr_1_3?s=music&ie= given concert tours in China and Europe. class with Dr. Alexander Tutunov took UTF8&qid=1473711765&sr=1-3&keywor The recital is free and open to the public. place on Saturday, October 22, Liszt's ds=joseph+banowetz#customerReviews. For further information, please contact actual birthday, and Dr. Alexandre Dr. David Witten at [email protected]. Dossin presented a concert at 7:30 p.m. Sara Davis Buechner was featured on that evening, featuring Liszt's Sonata in WNYC radio's "The Fishko Files," where B minor and "Dante" Sonata. For more she spoke about her return to the United Ohio Chapter information, please go to Oregon Liszt States. WNYC also broadcast her live (lisztgarrisoncompetition.org) Celebration at http://liszt.uoregon.edu/ performances of Mozart's Fantasy in D Caroline Hong, President. liszt-week/. You will also want to view minor, KV 397 and Busoni's Elegy No. 2 and listen to Dr. Alexandre Dossin's ("All' Italia!"). As you will have read elsewhere in the performance of the Gounod-Liszt Baltimore/Washington Chapter news in "Waltz" from the Opera Faust at https:// Alexandre Dossin, Vice President this issue, the Franz Liszt Festival and www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7fZY0J3ZLQ. of The American Liszt Society, was International Piano Competition will promoted to the rank of full professor be held at The Ohio State University, at the University of Oregon. Dr. Dossin October 12 - 15, 2017. Applications is also one of 14 UO faculty members for the competition must be sent by selected as recipients of the university's mail and postmarked by the deadline of prestigious Faculty Fund for Excellence May 15, 2017, or sent via e-mail by the in recognition of their research, teaching, deadline of May 15, 2017. The postal and leadership. The selection committee’s address is Dr. Caroline Hong, ALS Ohio notes on Prof. Dossin’s candidacy include President, Weigel 110, 1866 College Road, the following: Columbus, OH 43210, and the e-mail "After almost a decade of study in address is [email protected]. Moscow and a Doctorate in the Musical Dr. Ryan Behan, ALSOHIO Arts in Piano Performance at UT Austin, treasurer, performed an all-Liszt recital Professor Alexandre Dossin joined the at The Ohio State University Weigel UO School of Music and Dance in 2006. Auditorium on February 6. He has performed extensively both locally and on the international circuit, where he has also won numerous awards in piano competitions. Since 2010 he has released full-length solo recordings of Bernstein, Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Prokofiev, and Tchaikovsky, with six more major recordings planned and scheduled for the next two years. His university and (continued on next page)

12 The American Liszt Society - www.americanlisztsociety.net More Member News professional service includes founding by Alberto Ginastera for the Music final installment on March 5 will be the Oregon Chapter of The American Teachers’ Association of California State dedicated to "The Americans – Liszt Society and judging the Los Angeles Convention in Los Angeles. composers from the Windy City and International Liszt Competition, as In September, John took the Hord/ the Great Plains to Gotham on the well as membership in the UO Senate, Liszt Tour to Minnesota and North Hudson." The remaining program carries the Graduate Council, and the Faculty Dakota. Host Dr. Jay Hershberger kept a price of $30 and include beverages Advisory Council." John busy with such activities at and hors d’oeuvres. Each concert will Most recently, Alexandre was Concordia College as a lecture/recital be performed on a resonant, gorgeous- performing and teaching in one of on Liszt - "Humanity & Spirituality"; toned, nine-foot concert grand in a the largest music festivals in Brazil, a master class and private coaching; at large, yet intimate performance space the Santa Catarina International Music Gethsemane Episcopal Cathedral, the with panoramic views. Concerts take Festival. Five performances and eight same lecture/recital; and at Riverview place on Sunday afternoons at 3:00 p.m. master classes in 10 days! He writes Assisted-Living Center, performances of Reservations are required due to limited that he was "particularly excited about works by Liszt and Persichetti, followed seating: please call 845-586-3588 e-mail my performance on January 28, when I by a hymn sing. John spent a few days [email protected]. The concert venue concluded the concert with Liszt’s Sonata coaching (piano and baseball!) in Detroit is located at 1136 Hog Mountain Rd. in B minor, playing to a sold-out crowd of Lakes, MN. Fleischmanns, NY 12430. about 2000! Before the concert, there John is Program Chair for the Music was an informal talk with the audience Teachers’ Association of California, Frank Lioni has offered access to his about the program. For 30 minutes Fresno Branch. He has presented paper on Liszt: "Étude, Opus 6, No. I shared my passion for Liszt and the members of the Fresno Branch lecturing 11, History and Analysis" at http:// sonata with the festival director, hoping about their childhood music education americanlisztsociety.net/Lioni%20Article.pdf. to help the audience to better understand in countries other than the United Liszt and this wonderful work." States. The membership has learned of Elyse Mach celebrates 50 years (that's music education in Singapore, Indonesia, right, 50 years!) as a member of The Gila Goldstein toured China in October Taiwan, Canada, Russia, Germany, and American Liszt Society this year. She 2016. She reports it was a wonderful tour Armenia became affiliated with the organization of teaching and performing in four cities John’s review of the book, Math and after being invited by Dr. Robert Lee, one and five schools, including the middle the Mona Lisa, has been published on the of the original organizers of the Society, school of Beijing Central Conservatory website of Alibris Books, Inc. Upcoming to present a lecture, "The Technical and Minzu University in Beijing, the in 2017: January - an all-Liszt recital, Aspects of Liszt Pedagogy" at the 1967 middle school of Xinghai Conservatory "Humanity and Spirituality" in Hanford, American Liszt Festival that was held at in Guangzhou, Wuhan Conservatory, CA; February - will host ALS member Radford College (now called University) and Shanghai Conservatory. In Gila's Dr. William Wellborn in Fresno at in Radford, Virginia. There were 26 words, "It was a joy to teach such talented Steinway Gallery for a master class and in attendance at this Festival. She first students!" recital; March, Maryland and Fresno served as Secretary of the Society for In December she played a recital in "Sposalizio - Raphael/Liszt"; April - several years during its early existence Israel and in early February she gave Texas; May, host Dr. Richard Fountain, and now continues to enjoy serving as a her Boston University recital at the Tsai recitals; June, New York and Texas Music member on the Board of Directors of the Performing Arts Center, which included Teachers’ Association State Conference in Society. Among numerous other awards, works by Janáček, Liszt, Bartók, Medtner, Dallas - "Fear is my Friend: How to make she is a recipient of The American Liszt and Prokofiev. Fear your Friend"; July, Music Teachers’ Society Medal. Association of California performing John S. Hord has been enjoying his joined his life-long friend retirement from higher education to Liszt's Grand Galop Chromatique and Edward Rath Corigliano's Fantasia on an Ostinato; and colleague, conductor Dr. Don V pursue, well, higher education. Some Moses, to present "Ten Points in the months past, Pascal Rogé was in Fresno September - Georgia and Florida; and in 2018, events in Kansas and Japan. Performance of Classical Music." The to perform with the Philharmonic. He presentation was part of a short series of graciously spent time at John’s studio In January 2017, Justin Kolb began events involving choral conducting and to hear one of John’s students perform music education students at the University Debussy. (See photo on page 16.) a series of concerts and commentary entitled, "From the Bench." The series is of Illinois School of Music, where Moses In June, John hosted ALS member and Rath were Director and Associate Dr. in a recital in dedicated to the memory of Christopher Richard Fountain Desler, co-founder of the Honest Brook Director, respectively, for many years. Fresno at Steinway Gallery. The recital The topic is one on which they have included the Sonata in B Minor of Liszt. Music Festival. The first concert bore the topic, spoken numerous times, most frequently Also in June, John presented "At Home in Eisenstadt, Austria as part of the Preparations for Students and Parents" "Chopin and his Circle of Romantics." February 5 was the date for the second Classical Music Festival, which Moses for the Texas Music Teachers’ Association founded in 1976. The focus was on the State Conference in Dallas. In July he presentation, "The Musical Impressionists of France and Elmira, New York." The masses and piano sonatas of Joseph performed Suite de Danzas Criollas (continued on next page)

Volume 32, Number 2 13 More Member News

Haydn, based on performance practice Fantin-Latour. In the piano version, Debussy film: pianists Philippe Bianconi, ideas postulated by Dr. Vera Scharz the overture is used as a subject by Paul Frederic Chiu, and Taka Kigawa; (d. 1980), founder of the Performance Cézanne in his "Young Girl at the Piano-- singers Maya Lahyani and Faustine de Practice Institute at the University of Overture to Tannhäuser" (1869). Liza's Mones; and authors Dana Gooley and Graz. Rath also performed as part of an chamber ensemble, the Lysander Piano Kenneth Hamilton. Lending a particular October house concert in Natchitoches, Trio, began performing Liszt's Hungarian poetic touch is actor Julian Sands in LA, and with baritone Ronald Hedlund Rhapsody No. 9 ("Carneval de Pesth") conversation and recitations. Glimpses performed a "Tribute to Frank Sinatra" this year, in the composer's own version from a master class with Richard Goode in Champaign, IL, which program they for trio. The ensemble played it for its give an idea as to what it takes to play will repeat twice in March as fundraisers debut at the Mostly Mozart Festival in Debussy on the piano. Included as well for youth programs provided by the Lincoln Center's David Geffen Hall is a rare Jerome Robbins dance, 'Antique Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra. (formerly Avery Fisher Hall) in August, Epigraphs,' performed this past year by and in a variety of American venues the New York Theatre Ballet. Nancy Roldán writes that the 2015 such as San Francisco's Music at Kohl "Weaving together the participants’ release of her Piazzolla CD (with José Mansion, the Da Camera Society in Los responses and perspectives, Prélude to Cueto) brought about rave reviews and Angeles, at Queens College, as well as Debussy anticipates the 2018 centennial several engagements, most notably in in Nantucket, MA, Sheridan, WY, and of the composer’s death and invites the Italy for the Alba Music Festival and Juneau, AK. On April 3, 2017, the group viewer to re-enter the magical world of in Latina. On January 6, 2017, Nancy will perform the work again for its debut the sounds of Claude Debussy. The performed a memorial for Noel Lester at the Kravis Center in Palm Beach, FL. term 'prélude' is a linking thread in the at the Coffman Chapel in Hood College. To cap a Liszt-filled season, Liza will be film. Préludes are about brevity and Partners on this occasion were José performing a few short piano works by abstraction, about time itself. Debussy’s Cueto, mezzo soprano Deidra Palmour, the master at the Hungarian Consulate 'journey' from the lyricism of Prélude bassist David Lester, and violist Noah on May 4, 2017, in a mixed program to the Afternoon of a Faun (1894) to his Chaves. Upcoming recitals include solo presented by the Omega Ensemble. Twenty- Four Préludes (I 1910, II 1913) is and chamber music appearances for his journey." Music at Penn Alps and two recitals for Tibor Százs has posted a recording of The premiere screening of Prélude to the Summer Concert Series at Hood Debussy took place in Paris on January College. Schumann's Sonata No, 1 in F-sharp minor, Op. 11, in a live performance available at 20, 2017, at 7:00 p.m., in Reid Hall at http://youtu.be/lfJ0QHGD2Ic. Montparnasse 75006. M. Jean-Yves Jane Solose continues to leads an active Tadié, author of Le Songe Musical: Claude career as a featured concerto soloist, solo Debussy, participated. recitalist, chamber musician, duo pianist, Tamás Ungár invites you to inform your students of the opportunity to and master teacher that has taken her to Martha von Sabinin's Acht Lieder, Op. 1, Korea, Japan, Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, witness a great music event by applying to PianoTexas International Academy were published by F. Whistling in 1855 Romania, Serbia, Russia, Argentina, in Leipzig. Sabinin, a piano student of Canada, and around the U.S. This past & Festival. Enrollees will hear the Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Liszt's in Weimar, received advice from May she was invited to serve as Chair Liszt as she pursued composing. Tenor of the Jury at the 23rd Dinu Lipatti Piano Competition in person. Included are master classes, private lessons, and Lawrence Bakst and pianist Richard Jeunesses International Piano Competition Zimdars performed the Acht Lieder at held in Bucharest, Romania. Dr. Solose discussions about our music profession, the 2016 ALS Festival in Northridge. is Professor of Piano and Keyboard presented by jury members and special Furore Press (Kassel) will publish the first Coordinator of Chamber Music at the guests. For further information visit modern edition of the songs, edited by Conservatory of Music and Dance, the Academy/Festival website at www. Bakst, and unveil it at the 2017 Frankfurt University of Missouri-Kansas City. pianotexas.org. Application deadline is music trade fair, April 5 - 8. February 20!

This past summer, Liza Stepanova Ophra Yerushalmi describes herself as recorded her debut solo CD with "a pianist-turned-filmmaker." HerPrélude Grammy-winning engineer Adam to Debussy follows the elusive composer by Abeshouse in New York. The disc, titled focusing on that which most mattered to Tones and Colors will be released by CAG him: a unique relationship with French Records this spring. It is dedicated to poets Verlaine, Mallarmé, and Pierre connections between music and visual Louÿs, and a love of nature, as described art and features Liszt's transcription of in La mer, "Clair de lune," and Prélude to the Wagner's "Overture" to Tannhäuser. The Afternoon of a Faun. CD also includes works from Bach to "In a similar way to my previous films, Ligeti. Wagner's opera inspired several Chopin’s Afterlife and Liszt’s Dance with the painters, especially Frenchmen like Henri Devil, colleagues with special affinity to the composer have joined me for the

14 The American Liszt Society - www.americanlisztsociety.net Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886), A Symphony to Dante's Divine Commedia, 1855 - 56. Frontispiece of the score, 1859. ©De Agostini/Lebrecht Music & Arts, London. Used by permission. Now known best as the "Dante" Symphony, this work will be featured on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert performed Saturday, April 29, 2017, at the ALS Festival.

Volume 32, Number 2 15 Picture Page

Maestro Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Sym- phony, to be featured in concert on April 29. Sergei Babayan, keynote recital- Photo: Todd Rosenberg Photography ist at ALS 2017. Photo: Marco Borggreve

L to R: ALS member John Hord, with his student Emilie Haskell and French pianist Pascal Rogé.

Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra, Victor Yampolsky, conductor, to be featured in concert on April 28. Photo: Kelly Norris

L to R: ALS members Tish Ann Kilgore, Paul Radu Lupu, soloist with the CSO. Barnes, and Gila Goldstein, after Paul’s recital Photo Courtesy of Opus 3 Artists for the Boston Chapter.

L to R: Co-Director Judith Neslenyi, Dr. István Grof (Con- L to R: Nelita True, Dr. Cecil Ewing, Fernando Laires, and Elyse sul of Hungary), and Katalin Gonda, winner of numerous Mach at a Great Romantics Festival. prizes at the Los Angeles Competition.

16 The American Liszt Society - www.americanlisztsociety.net