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Home , A Leaf, Cathy Berberian, Folk Songs (Berio), Hilding Rosenberg, Luciano Berio, Max Richter

Musik in the Air Presents PROJECT: Remembering the Future

Miki Aoki, Emre Engin, Zexun Shen (Jason),

Featuring works by , , Paul McCartney and more.

Saturday, October 31, 2020 at 2:00 pm ET

A pre-concert talk will start 45 minutes before the concert Reception with a Q&A session will be hosted on zoom immediately following the concert

1 ♫ Program ♫

On the Nature of Daylight Max Richter (1966-0000) Zexun Shen (Jason), cello Miki Aoki, piano

Selections from 6 Encores for Piano Luciano Berio (1925-2003) Wasserklavier Erdenklavier Luftklavier Feuerklavier

Miki Aoki, piano

Two Pieces for String Duo György Ligeti (1923-2006) Ballad and Hommage à Hilding Rosenberg

Emre Engin, violin Zexun Shen (Jason), cello

A Leaf Paul McCartney (1942-0000) Andante semplice Poco piu mosso Allegro ritmico Andante Allegro ma non tanto Moderato Andante semplice II

Miki Aoki, piano

Mercy Max Richter (1966-0000) Emre Engin, violin Miki Aoki, piano

Sequenza VIII for violin Luciano Berio (1925-2003) Emre Engin, violin

2 ♫ Concert in Brief ♫

This is the kind of program where the audience may wonder about the connection between a classical (Luciano Berio), One of (Paul McCartney) and one of today’s most successful movie/TV series soundtrack (Max Richter).

Luciano Berio, an avant-garde European composer (Italian) was born in 1925. It is hard to imagine that he had any connection to a group like the Beatles. It is surprising, but true that both sides had great admiration for each other. Paul McCartney was searching for new ideas for his music. On February 23, 1966 McCartney attended a lecture and taped a performance by Berio at the Italian Cultural Institute. In 1967, Berio arranged Beatles songs for soprano . Meeting with McCartney clearly had some impact on Berio and for the Beatles. Berio was a leading light in the classical world.

It is little known that Paul McCartney in fact composed serious classical works. A Leaf, featured in this program is a classical piano work written by Paul McCartney.

It may be hard to imagine that the composer who wrote the music for HBO’s My Brilliant Friend was classically trained: What's more, he was a student of Luciano Berio. It took Max Richter a long time to discover his characteristic musical language. When he went to study with Berio and showed him a rather complicated modernist work he was working on, Berio said to him, “Why don’t you being so complicated and get down to whatever story it is you want to tell?” Richter said this was the beginning of a new chapter for him as a composer.

This program is a tribute to a composer who was worshiped by not only young classical composers but was admired by those active in other diverse musical genres. Berio’s music is real. It tells a story. We are excited to bring you Berio’s works in this concert in such interesting combination of works by Paul McCartney and Max Richter.

The title of this concert is taken from a book by Luciano Berio himself.

— Miki Aoki

3 ♫ Program Notes ♫

Max Richter (1966-2006) duration: 6 minutes On the Nature of Daylight (2004)

This piece was part of Richter’s 2004 album . It has been used in a number of films including ‘Shutter Island’ (2010), ‘Disconnect’ (2012), ‘The Face of an Angel’ (2014), and ‘The Innocents’ (2016). Richter originally composed this piece for violin and piano. We will perform this piece on cello and piano in this concert. (Miki Aoki)

Luciano Berio (1925-2003) duration: 10 minutes 6 Encores for Piano

Brin (1990) Leaf (1990) Wasserklavier (1965) Erdenklavier (1969) Luftklavier (1985) Feuerklavier (1989)

6 Encores was written between 1965-1990. For this concert, the first two (Brin and Leaf) will not be performed.

Wasserklavier, Erdenklavier, Luftklavier and Feuerklavier portray the qualities of four elements: water, earth, air and fire. Klavier in German means piano, and Berio combines these words as this instrument creates these elements vividly.

Wasserklavier - inspired by Brahms’ Intermezzo Op.117-2

Erdenklavier - unique effect of the combination of held notes of different volume evokes solidity of the earth.

Luftklavier - the fast-repeating motif played softly depicts the air

Feuerklavier-flickering fire can be heard through over a perpetuo texture. Luftklavier and Feuerkalvier are technically extremely demanding, Luftklavier is the longest piece out of the six. (Miki Aoki)

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György Ligeti (1923-2006) duration: 5 minutes Two Pieces for String Duo Ballad and Dance (1950) Hommage à Hilding Rosenberg (1982) As one of Luciano Berio’s contemporaries, the Hungarian-Austrian composer György Ligeti shares musical influences with Luciano Berio and , especially in . Their three names often appear on the same articles or concert programs, and they are significant leading figures of contemporary music in the second half of the twentieth century. The two selections in this concert program were written in different time periods. Baladă și joc (Ballad and Dance) is one of Ligeti’s early works. Similar to Bartok, Kodaly and other Hungarian composers, Ligeti includes in his compositions. In 1949, Ligeti researched specifically in Romania. This early work is based on two Romanian folk songs. Although it was originally written for two , I arranged to play one part on the cello without changing the register so that the music remains in its original character and sound effects. Two years after Ligeti composed the Ballad and Dance, he went to Tanglewood where he met Berio and Boulez. Thereafter, Ligeti showed great interest in electronic music. In December 1956, two months after the Hungarian revolution, the 33-year-old Ligeti escaped Budapest to and then Cologne. He worked in the Cologne Electronic Music Studio for three years and then became a professor in University of in where he met the outstanding Swedish composer Hilding Rosenberg. His enthusiasm and experimentation with electronic music eventually resulted in his iconic work Le Grand Macabre in 1977, the only that Ligeti wrote. After Le Grand Macabre, Ligeti began a new journey seeking a new style. During that period of time, Ligeti did not write any major work, only one organ piece and two pieces for harpsichord before composing Hommage à Hilding Rosenberg. This piece was originally written for violin and cello as a birthday greeting to the Swedish composer Rosenberg. (Zexun Shen)

Paul McCartney (1942-2006) duration: 10 minutes A Leaf (1995)

A Leaf is one few classical works Paul McCartney composed. It was first performed on March 25, 1995 in England for a live recording session at the Royal College of Music. Prince Charles was present at this event. This piece consists of 7 short movements/sections and in the last section, the opening movement returns. These movements are played without break. This piece was later transcribed for , but this is the original version. (Miki Aoki)

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Max Richter (1966-2006) duration: 5 minutes Mercy (2010)

Mercy was commissioned by as part of the Encores Project 2010. In the music is a pure quality, somewhat like an elegy. (Miki Aoki)

Luciano Berio (1925-2003) duration: 14 minutes VIII for violin (1977) Sequenza VIII was written in 1976 for violinist Carlo Chiarappa. Sequenza is the name for a set of fourteen pieces for instruments and voice by Luciano Berio. Sequenza is Italian for Sequence, a very common 18th and 19th century method of ornamenting a melody with the restatement of a motif or a melodic passage at a higher or lower pitch in the same voice. In its form, the Sequenza VIII is built around the same technique, which is closer to a Chaconne (variations over a repeated melodic or rhythmic pattern in the bass). The repeating musical pattern in Sequenza VIII is derived from the notes A and B. One might call it two dramatic opposites; the central tone A and the rival tone B. There is also a great deal of contrast between the chromatic, atonal clusters, leaping melodies, consisting of no measurable tonal center, and the chords and intervals that sound more tonal and singing. This tension can be translated into a drama around the past and the future. A real struggle is presented in this work. The one between the chaos, represented by the clusters and wind-like fast passage work, and the long-awaited systematic order of the world, depicted by the passages that require a pre-calculation by the performer on pages 8 and 9. As Berio himself puts it into his own words; “ While almost all the other develop to an extreme degree a very limited choice of instrumental possibilities, Sequenza VIII deals with a larger and more global view of the violin: and can be listened to as a development of instrumental gestures. Sequenza VIII is built around two notes (A and B), which - as in a chaconne - act as a compass in the work’s rather diversified and elaborate itinerary, where polyphony is no longer virtual but real, and where the soloist must make the listener constantly aware of the history behind each instrumental gesture. Sequenza VIII, therefore, becomes inevitably a tribute to that musical apex which is the Ciaccona from ’s Partita in D minor, where - historically - past, present and future violin techniques coexist.” (Emre Engin)

6 ♫ Biography ♫

Praised for “genuinely memorable performance” by BBC Music Magazine, pianist Miki Aoki is widely recognized for her diverse abilities as pianist and as a collaborative artist. A frequent guest artist of prestigious concert series and festivals around the world, Ms. Aoki made her debut at age of 12 at the Royal Festival Hall in 's South Bank Centre as a soloist with the National Orchestra. Ms. Aoki also performed as soloist with London Soloist Chamber Orchestra, Hamburger Camerata, Korean Chamber Orchestra, Washington Sinfonietta and Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de México. Her performances have been broadcast on NDR-North German Radio, RBB Radio , Brandenburg, BR Classics, WDR, Hessischer Rundfunk, Radio Suisse Romande, ORF Austria, Radio France, 98.7 WFMT Chicago, MPR Classic and ABC Classic FM Australia and BBC Radio 3. Ms. Aoki is recording exclusively for German Label Profil Hänssler. Her third CD “Mélancolie” was featured on New Classical Tracks on Classical MPR and was awarded a special prize by the Japanese music magazine “Record Geijutsu”. Her latest CD, “Tokyo Story” won critical acclaim and received another prize from Record Geijutsu. As a collaborative artist, Ms. Aoki performs frequently with world-renowned musicians including members of Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic . She also collaborates with outstanding young musicians at the Kronberg Academy in Germany where she has been on the piano faculty since 2009. Ms Aoki joined the Heifetz Institute faculty in 2018. She holds a Bachelors degree from Indiana University, a Masters degree from Yale University and a Konzertexamen degree from Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg (Germany). Currently based in , Ms. Aoki is a doctorate candidate at SUNY Stony Brook and is a teaching assistant for the piano department under Gilbert Kalish. Since September 2019 Ms. Aoki is a staff pianist at the for the viola studio of Carol Rodland.

Emre Engin, one of the proteges of Maestro Pinchas Zukerman, was awarded “The Young Soloist of the Year” by the International Istanbul Music Festival, which was followed by many other awards such as the “ Award” by the Royal College of Music, “Best Emerging Artist” by Donizetti Classical Music Awards, 1st prize at the Ilhan Ozsoy Presidential Violin Competition, and the prestigious “Career Grant” by N. Eczacibasi Foundation. He has given solo and performances in many countries such as the United States, Canada, England, , Holland, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, and Israel.

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Mr. Engin completed his bachelor’s degree with Itzhak Rashkovsky at the Royal College of Music, London with first class honors and his master’s degree with Pinchas Zukerman and Patinka Kopec at the School of Music on a full scholarship, generously supported by the CEV “Harika Yetenekler” Foundation. He is currently pursuing his doctoral degree at Stony Brook University Music Department and holding a violin teaching assistant position. Mr. Engin was appointed as the concertmaster of the New Manhattan Sinfonietta by the legendary conductor Gurer Aykal in 2018.

Cellist Zexun Shen has performed extensively in the U.S. and abroad as a soloist and chamber musician, playing at venues such as the Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Steinway Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Metropolitan Museum, Morgan Library Museum, and has taken part in music festivals such as Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival, the Gong Geng Academy Summer Festival in China, The Sarasota Music Fesitval and the Taos School of Music working with the members of the Borromeo , Brentano String Quartet, the Moscow Rachmaninoff Piano Trio, the Guarneri String Quartet, and the Orion String Quartet, amongst others. He has also performed and worked with world- renowned musicians such as Shmuel Ashkenazi, Vladimir Feltsman, Herbert Greenberg, Christoph Henkel, Andres Diaz, Paul Katz, Ralph Kirshbaum, Laurence Lesser, Robert McDonald, Joseph Silverstein, Mark Steinberg, and Michael Tree. He served as Artist-in-Residence at Heifetz International Music Institute in 2018 and 2020 and won first prize in the 2018 Ackerman Chamber Music Competition. Mr. Shen is currently a tenured member of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra as well as a doctorate (DMA) candidate (studying with British cellist Colin Carr) at Stony Brook University where he had a teaching assistant position from 2016-2018. Mr. Shen plays on a 1723 Italian cello with an 1860 French bow made by Joseph Henry. The instrument is loaned by an anonymous sponsor, and the bow is made available to Mr. Shen as a gift from a sponsor from Taiwan.

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