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Home , Cello sonata, Cello Sonata (Britten), Cello suites (Britten), Cello Symphony (Britten), David Finckel, Wu Han (pianist)

CAL PERFORMANCES PRESENTS

Saturday, May 3, 2014, 8pm First Congregational Church

David Finckel, ,

PROGRAM

The Unfolding of Music

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) for da Gamba in G major, BWV 1027 (ca. 1736–1741) I. Adagio II. Allegro ma non tanto III. Andante IV. Allegro moderato

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 4 in C major, Op. 102, No. 1 (1815) I. Andante — Allegro vivace II. Adagio — Tempo d’andante — Allegro vivace

Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847) Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 2 in D major, Op. 58 (1843) I. Allegro assai vivace II. Allegretto scherzando III. Adagio IV. Molto allegro e vivace

INTERMISSION

CAL PERFORMANCES PROGRAM

Claude Debussy (1862–1918) Sonata for Cello and Piano (1915) I. Prologue II. Sérénade III. Finale

Benjamin Britten (1913–1976) Sonata for Cello and Piano in C major, Op. 65 (1960–1961) I. Dialogo II. Scherzo- III. Elegia IV. Marcia V. Moto Perpetuo

Cal Performances’ #!"$–#!"% season is sponsored by Wells Fargo.

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THE UNFOLDING OF MUSIC skill, that not only his appointment, but his family’s very arrival in Leipzig was reported in Through cello and piano duos spanning newspapers as far away as Hamburg, 180 nearly a quarter of a millennium, David miles away (“He himself arrived with his fam - Finckel and Wu Han take listeners through ily on two carriages at two o’clock and moved the extraordinary evolution of . into the newly renovated apartment in the St. Beginning with Bach’s vibrant sonata for the Thomas School.”). viola da gamba and harpsichord—the ances - The other great development to occur that tors of the cello and piano—the program tran - year was the partnership between Gottfried sitions seamlessly to Beethoven’s experimental Zimmermann’s coffeehouse, Leipzig’s most sonata from the twilight of the Classical per - prominent such establishment, and the iod, whose opening recollects the music of Collegium Musicum. The Collegium was a Bach. Mendelssohn, who paved the way for performing collective of singers and instru - full-blown Romanticism, is featured in his mentalists (largely comprising students) second sonata, an ebullient, virtuosic work founded i n 1701 by Geor g Philipp Telemann, that pushed the capabilities of the instruments and had since then played a vital role in to their limits at the time. Debussy, universally Leipzig’s musical culture. Zimmermann’s cof - regarded as the inspiration for musical mod - feehouse included a concert hall that could ac - ernism, composed his only late in commodate large ensembles and audiences of his life, the short work becoming the most 150 (the neighborhood Starbucks it most cer - important work for the cello in the Impressionist tainly was not). A series of weekly concerts— style. The program concludes with the extraor - always free of charge—sprung from this dinary sonata by the renowned Englishman partnership, and would eventually fall under , a composer who ranks with Bach’s supervision when he became the the greatest of the 20th century and who Collegium’s music director in 1729. stands shoulder-to-shoulder wi th England’s Though overseeing this series undoubtedly most celebrated composers, Henry Purcell and added a substantial commitment to Bach’s al - . Britten’s sonata, the first of five ready demanding church duties, he neverthe - masterworks he composed for Rostropovich, less thrived in his dual position as cantor at St. employs innovative ideas in each of its five Thomas’s and concert presenter at Zimmer - short movements, and is a true delight to hear man’s coffeehouse . In fact, in addition to offer - from beginning to end. was ing works by Handel, Locatelli, Scarlatti, and privileged to study the work with Rostro - others, Bach moreover took advantage of the povich, gaining priceless insight into the Collegium series as an opportunity to compose sonata’s conception through the intimate a good deal of nonliturgical music himself: pri - knowledge of its dedicatee. marily instrumental music, as well as a number of cantatas known as “moral cantatas,” light - hearted musical dramas dealing with themes of (9>@=–9?=8) moral virtue (including the famous “Coffee Sonata for Viola da Gamba in G major, Cantata,” which passes tongue-in-cheek judg - BWV 98:? (ca. 9?;>–9?<9) ment on the vice of caffeine addiction). The instrumental works Bach produced for On two occasions in 1723, the rich musical life this series include numerous important works, of Leipzig got magnificently richer. On May among them this first of three for Viola 22, the famous musician Johann Sebastian da Gamba, BW V 1027–29. Bach’s Collegium Bach arrived to assume the post of cantor and works for Zimmermann’s coffeehouse also in - music director at St. Thomas’s Church, one of clude the six Sonatas for and Keyboard the city’s musical epicenters. Bach, now 36 Obbligato, BWV 1014–19; the years old, had achieved enough celebrity in A minor, BWV 1065; and the famous throughout for his élite musical Double Concerto in D minor, BWV 1043.

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The G major Sonata for Viola da Gamba also inches its way upwards before quickly laugh - exists as a for two flutes and basso ing its way back down to its starting point. continuo, BWV 1039, which is almost cer - The third movement is a languishing Andante tainly the earlier version (probably from Bach’s in the relative minor, which the finale answers days as Cappellmeister at Cöthen). By the lat e with another jovial fugue. 1730s (around the time of Bach’s arrangement In the great wealth of solo and chamber in - for viola da gamba of his trio sonata), the viola strumental works throughout Bach’s œuvre , da gamba had already begun to fall out of favor the Sonatas for Viola da Gamba are among as a solo instrument. Marin Marais, the in - those gems that have, though certainly not ig - strument’s greatest virtuoso, had died in 1728. nored, somewhat taken a back seat to the Bach remained a champion of the instrument, , the Sonatas and Partitas for however, as evidenced by his use of it in nu - Violin, Die Kunst der Fuge , and other such merous concerti, cantatas, and the St. John and works. Even 200 years ago, Johann Nikolaus St. Matthew Passions, in addition to these Forkel, Bach’s first biographer, only quaintly sonatas. They remain today as standard reper - made note of “Several Sonatas for toire for both viola and cello; the latter’s more Harpsichord and Violin, Harpsichord and burnished tone, compared to the delicacy of Flute, Harpsichord and da Gamba. They the gamba, demands a heightened sensitivity are admirably written and most of them are of the player to the nuances of Bach’s writing. pleasant to listen to even today.” These sonatas The early Bach biographer Philipp Spitta— are far from second-tier pieces, however, and who ranked the G major among the three demonstrate Bach’s genius in the mature years gamba sonatas “the loveliest, the purest idyll of his career as fully as any other works. conceivable”—also noted that the viola da gamba “afforded a great variety in the produc - Patrick Castillo tion of tone, but its fundamental character was tender and expressive rather than full and vig - (9??8–9@:?) orous. Thus Bach could rearrange a trio orig - Sonata for Cello and Piano No. < in C major, inally written for two flutes and bass, for viol Op. 98:, No. 9 (9@9=) da gamba, with harpsichord obbligato, with - out destroying its dominant character.” Beyond the heroic struggles of his middle pe - The sonata does indeed demonstrate trio riod, and by this time almost completely deaf, sonata-style writing. Instead of a sparse basso Beethoven looked to the future in his last two continuo accompaniment to the through- cello sonatas. As in the A major sonata, the composed gamba part, Bach provides a com - cello begins alone, but in an entirely new plete keyboard accompaniment, which moves world. Whereas the A major theme is solid and in melodic and contrapuntal dialogue with firmly grounded in the cello’s lower register, the soloist. In the opening movement, a dig - this one breathes an unearthly air, and the en - nified yet dance-like Adagio , the keyboard tire Andante seems to float somewhere beyond and gamba bear equal melodic responsibility, reality. The writing is contrapuntal, with inde - often following each other in canon. The pendent voices of equal importance moving movement’s latter half features an intricately gently against each other. The thematic mater - involved dialogue between the two, colored ial is once again more complex: the decorative gracefully in turn by florid countermelodies elements Beethoven once applied in his early and ornamental trills. period are now fused seamlessly into the larger The work follows the four-movement struc - structure. Long trills function not merely as ture of the Italian (“church ornaments but as orchestration, adding inner sonata”) from the lat e 17th and early 18th cen - intensity to the sound. turies. Following a slow introduction, Bach The demonic and anguished Allegro vivace launches into the fugal Allegro ma non tanto , shatters the hypnotic serenity, Beethoven whose rollicking, perfectly shaped subject using every possible device to contrast with

PLAYBILL PROGRAM NOTES the previous music. Not only dynamics, of fantasy and invention. There are inexplica - rhythm and texture are changed but also ble starts and stops which must have sounded tonality: the rest of the movement is no longer very strange to listeners in Beethoven’s time in the sonata’s main key of C major but in the (as indeed they still do). There is a fugato pas - relative A minor. (In th e Op. 5 sona tas, both sage and, at the end, a brilliant coda that introductions and subsequent movements shows he had not lost interest in using virtu - were in the same key). This movement is writ - osic feats to create excitement. After a brief ten in a style new to Beethoven’s cello works. unwinding, a surprise finish recalls the end of In his late period, Beethoven drastically varied the F major sonata. the length of his movements. Some of his shorter movements, while having all the struc - David Finckel and Michael Feldman tural requirements, are devoid of transitions— Beethoven simply stops writing one kind of (9@8A–9@Europe’s major cul - ulation moving through several keys before tural capitals, the recently ascendant Friedrich coming to an inconclusive halt. At this mo - Wilhelm IV had lured Mendelssohn from ment, a different kind of music emerges, Leipzig. Though compensated handsomely in deeply tender in a way that is unique to both payment and prestige, however, Beethoven. He then proceeds to create some - Mendelssohn would not find personal satis - thing unexpected and of inspired beauty: the faction in Berlin over the coming three years. sonata’s opening theme reappears, but this His professional responsibilities remained time so warmly that its first incarnation seems frustratingly undefined—besides which, he only a dream. Phrases repeat over and over, as regarded that city as “one of the most sour ap - if asking for something in prayer. After this ples into which a man can bite”—and, in 1843, deeply confessional episode, the Allegro vivace Mendelssohn resumed his conducting duties begins in a humorous way, and we are off on at the Leipzig Gewandhaus. Moreover, with a frisky and sometimes funny adventure, full his beloved mother’s death on December 12 ,

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1842, Felix shared the realization with his with a dramatic recitative, marked appassion - younger brother, Paul, that “we are children ato ed animato . The spirited dialogue between no longer.” This sentiment may have partly cello and piano continues in the finale, now impelled the 34-year-old composer to act returning to the effervescence of the opening upon his longtime ambition of founding a movement. An increased restlessness in the conservatory (now the Felix Mendelssohn piano accompaniment matches the virtuosic Bartholdy University of Music and Theater), cello writing measure for measure until the whose charter faculty would include himself, stirring final cadence. Robert and Clara Schumann, and others of Though th e Op. 58 Sonata bears a dedica - Germany’s musical élite. tion to the Russian cellist and arts patron Despite the turbulence surrounding this time, Count Mateusz Wielhorski, Felix truly in - 1843 nevertheless represented a solidly pro - tended the work for the aforementioned Paul, ductive year. In addition to the Op. 58 Sonata, the cellist of the Mendelssohn family. It is the Mendelssohn completed his incidental music second of two cello sonatas Mendelssohn to A Midsummer Night’s Dream , the Capriccio composed: the first, the Sonata in B-flat major, for (later published as Op. 81, Op. 45 (1838), as well as the earlier Variations No. 3), five Lieder ohne worte for piano, and nu - concertantes for cello and pian o (1829), w ere merous choral pieces, among other works. likewise composed for Paul. Befitting Mendelssohn’s mature composi - tional language, the D major Sonata is firmly © GEEM Patrick Castillo rooted in the tenets of Classicism inherited from Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven, but (9@>:–9A9@) meanwhile demonstrates the pathos of the Sonata for Cello and Piano (9A9=) Romantic period. Each of the sonata’s four movements portrays a vital dimension of The last years of Debussy’s life were largely Mendelssohn’s musical identity. The opening unhappy times. He once wrote: “Try as I may, Allegro assai vivace is all soaring lyricism and I can’t regard the sadness of my existence with propulsive rhythmic energy, even at its tender caustic detachment. Sometimes my days are second theme. The movement’s ecstatic tone dark, dull, and soundless like those of a hero dispels the misguided aphorism that music’s from Edgar Allan Poe; and my soul is as ro - emotional content must correlate to biogra - mantic as a Chopin Ballade.” Though his mar - phy—there is nothing in this movement, after riage to the singer Emma Bardac was all, to betray Mendelssohn’s grief over his sufficiently content, Debussy nevertheless mother’s passing—but, rather, its great emo - found domestic life increasingly stifling. His tive breadth reflects the Zeitgeist of the melancholy was compounded in 1909, when Romantic period at large. The second move - he was diagnosed with cancer, and the onset ment offers further Romantic cantabile , but of war in 1914 deeply dismayed the already couched in a signature Mendelssohnian fragile composer. (He mused in a letter to scherzo. The cello complements the piano’s sly Stravinsky: “Unless one’s directly involved in a staccato figures with piquant pizzicati before war, it makes thought very difficult.”) indulging in breathless melody. The homo - In 1915, Debussy underwent an operation phonic, hymn-like piano introduction to the to treat his cancer, which took a severe physi - slow movement furtively recalls Bach—one of cal toll, leaving him almost unable to com - Mendelssohn’s formative influences—but with pose. Nevertheless, feeling that he had little an unmistakably 19th-century touch : time left, he continued to work as feverishly Mendelssohn’s instruction sempre arpeg - as his strength would allow, planning a set of giando col pedale (arpeggiated and with pedal) six sonatas for various instruments. A letter imbues each chord with a distinctly more lush from October 6 of that year to conductor and immersive sound than would characterize Bernardo Molinari thoroughly illustrates the a Baroque organ chorale. The cello answers state of Debussy’s psyche at the time:

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Mon cher ami, subtlety in both the piano and cello. The work Your kind letter has reached me in a furthermore demonstrates an economy of lan - little spot by the sea where I’ve come to guage characteristic of the composer’s mature try and forget the war. For the last three style, but also offers a rare example in Debussy’s months I’ve been able to work again. works of , the predominant musical When I tell you that I spent nearly a structure since the Classical era. Debussy was year unable to write music…after that most explicit about his ambivalence towards I’ve almost had to re-learn it. It was such acknowledged past masters as Beethoven, like a rediscovery and it’s seemed to Tchaikovsky, and Brahms, and their musical me more beautiful than ever! forms; nevertheless, he wrote to his publisher Is it because I was deprived of it for Jacques Durand, “It’s not for me to judge [the so long? I don’t know. What beauties Cello Sonata’s] excellence, but I like its propor - there are in music ‘by itself,’ with no tions and its almost classical form, in the good axe to grind or new inventions to sense of the word.” amaze the so-called ‘dilettanti’.... The The Prologue opens with a resolute gesture emotional satisfaction one gets from it in the piano, solidly in the key of d minor, but can’t be equaled, can it, in any of the this conventional harmony yields almost im - other arts? This power of ‘the right mediately to more mysterious, Impressionistic chord in the right place’ that strikes sounds, sung in the cello’s upper register. The you.... We’re still in the age of ‘har - development section continues to defy monic progressions’ and people who Classical harmony, mixing major and minor are happy just with beauty of sound tonalities. Debussy’s musical ideas unfold with are hard to find. a graceful logic throughout, and are set sensi - … tively to each instrument’s acoustic strengths: I haven’t written much orchestral in a turbulent excursion towards atonality, ag - music, but I have finished: Douze itated rhythms in the lower register of both in - Études for piano, a Cello Sonata, and struments create an excited murkiness, before another sonata for flute, viola, and building into the bright and sweeping reprise harp, in the ancient, flexible mould of the opening measures (marked largement with none of the grandiloquence of declamé by the composer), soaring tri - modern sonatas. There are going to be umphantly at the top of the cello’s range. six of them for different groups of in - The bold opening measures of the animated struments and the last one will com - Serenade lean even further towards atonality, bine all those used in the previous five. giving the impression of abandoning western For many people that won’t be as im - Classical harmony altogether. Guitar-like portant as an opera .... But I thought it pizzicati in the cello, evocative of Spanish was of greater service to music! music, provide the engine for the movement’s forward motion. As in the Prologue, Debussy’s In addition to the Cello Sonata and the gestures here afford a certain degree of elas - Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp, Debussy ticity, but consistently remain compact and would two years later complete the third understated. Recurrent whole-tone figures sonata of the projected six, for violin and lend the movement an exotic touch. The dar - piano. The fourth sonata was to be for oboe, ing gestures and nuances of this Serenade il - horn, and harpsichord, and the fifth for trum - lustrate Debussy the visionary: the movement pet, clarinet, bassoon, and piano. The Violin sounds as fresh and modern today as the Sonata would prove to be his final work, how - works of any present day composers. ever: Debussy took ill and died in Paris in After a static and suspenseful passage, 1918, at the age of 55. marked by a bowed return to the opening gui - The Cello Sonata utilizes a rich palette of tim - tar-like theme, the music launches attacca into bres, which Debussy achieves with exquisite the lively finale. The cello soars again in its

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expressive upper register, then launches into a While lending testament to a wondrous mu - jaunty melody. The movement features two sical partnership, the Sonata in C carries a notably distinct interludes: in the first, the greater significance as well, given the political piano offers a lyrical melody in high octaves, context of the 1960s. The alienation between again evoking an exotic Spanish flavor; the Western and Eastern Europe was strong at the cello appropriately accompanies with strum - time of Rostropovich’s introduction to Britten, ming pizzicati. Later, the lively theme suddenly the composer of the and an out - dissipates again into a trance-like music, this spoken pacifist. Such a sympathetic, not to time with the stylishly lethargic swagger of fin- mention high-profile, Anglo-Soviet collabo - de-siècle Paris. Recalling with a vengeance the ration was not to go unnoticed. During a visit declamatory measures of the entire sonata, to the Soviet Unio n in 1963, Britten offered Debussy returns to d minor, and punctuates the following in an interview with Pravda : the work with a defiant self-assurance. I must own that until my arrival in the Benjamin Britten (9A9;–9A?>) U.S.S.R. I was assailed with doubts Sonata for Cello and Piano in C major, whether the Soviet audiences would Op. >= (9A>8–9A>9) understand and accept our musical art which had been developing along dif - Benjamin Britten’s Sonata in C is the first of ferent national lines than the Russian. I five products—each of them bona fide am happy at having had my doubts dis - masterpieces—of a rich artistic relationship pelled at the very first concert. The with the Russian cellist , Soviet public proved not only unusually whom the composer first met in 1960 . In musical—that I knew all along—but September of that year, Britten was invited to showed an enviable breadth of artistic attend the première, being given in , of perception. It is a wonderful public. the First of Shostakovich, an - other of the myriad composers for whom This interview appeared internationally and, Rostropovich has served as muse. in its transcendence of political circumstance Rostropovich by that time was already a great (Britten also noted, “I disbelieve profoundly admirer of Britten’s music; the admiration in power and violence.”), can only have bene - would quickly be reciprocated. The cellist once fited relations between the two nations. surmised in an interview: “He wrote the Cello The opening movement, aptly subtitled Sonata, then the , followed by Dialogo , shows off Britten’s impeccable compo - three Unaccompanied Cello Sonatas. I take sitional technique. The entire movement is a that as a personal compliment. If I had played meditation on the wide expressive potential of the Cello Sonata poorly, would Britten have whole steps and half steps. In the conversational written his Symphony for me?” introduction, the piano’s fragmentary scale fig - Britten agreed to Rostropovich’s request for a ures underscore sighing stepwise gestures in the new sonata, which he completed in January of cello, which Britten directs to be played lusin - the following year and sent to Rostropovich. The gando (“coaxingly”). The animated first theme two agree to meet for the Sonata’s first rehearsal emerges, extending the subdued whole step and on the cellist’s next trip to London two months half step figures into a turbulent ride. Following later. By Rostropovich’s account, both musicians a boisterous transitional passage in which were so nervous that they began the session with triplets are bowed across the second string (fin - “four or five very large whiskies.” With Britten at gered) and first (open)—still a succession of the piano, the S onata received its première at the major and minor seconds—a lyrical second on July 7, 1961; th e evening’s theme appears. The ascending whole steps in program also included the Debussy and the cello are interrupted by a striking slide up a Schubert Sonatas, as well as the Schumann minor seventh (or, more fittingly, an inverted Cello Concerto, conducted by Britten. whole step), which Rostropovich so described

PLAYBILL PROGRAM NOTES to his student, and the cellist on this program, the opening melody, an anguished cry in the David Finckel: “It should be as if the devil comes upper register of the cello. along and grabs your cello from you” (at which An energetic Marcia follows, evoking the point Rostropovich himself, in the devil’s ab - sounds of a full marching band. The cello sence, pulled the instrument upward from be - opens with a low, trombone-like quintuplet hind his student’s chair to produce the required figure, answered rhythmically by drums and abruptness of the melodic leap). flutes. Over the course of the movement, the The second movement offers further evi - marching band seems to pass before the lis - dence of Britten’s complete technique as a com - tener’s eyes and ears, eventually dying away in poser: though not a cellist himself, he spins a the cello’s high harmonics. The menacing tone cello part ingeniously suited to the instrument. of Britten’s march also calls to mind, whether Furthermore, the Scherzo-pizzicato —so desig - consciously or not, the more sardonic works nated because the entire movement is played of Shostakovich. with plucked rather than bowed strings— In the Moto Perpetuo , Britten fashions a vig - demonstrates the most virtu osic use of this orous finale, full of short-tempered mood technique in the entire cello literature. swings and fierce syncopations. A constant Pizzicati are played by both the right and left eighth- and 16th-note rhythm provides the hand, often in rapid alternation; full chords rhythmic engine throughout the entire move - are strummed across all four strings; and in ment. The music is written in triple meter, addition to conventional pizzicato technique, though the listener would be challenged to clap Britten also calls for the cellist to hammer out a waltz. This rhythmic ambiguity sits along - notes out directly on the . These side Britten’s ironic designation of the entire liberties speak not only to the composer’s abil - work as a “Sonata in C” (all white keys after all, ity, but to his deep trust in the instrumental right?), given its tonal ambiguity throughout. wizadry of his Sonata’s dedicatee. The cello part is directed to be played saltando The Elegia sets a mournful melody in the (“jumping”), a technique in which the bow is cello against morose, atmospheric chords in the thrown against the cello and made to ricochet piano. The accompaniment simultaneously off the strings. Midway through the movement, drives the music’s harmonic motion and estab - Britten transforms the central saltando figure lishes the movement’s plaintive character. into a singing, dolce melody: a short-lived Perhaps recalling the first movement, major respite before a tremendous unison passage be - and minor seconds predominate throughout, tween the cello and piano hurl forward into the and continue when the piano’s low chords yield work’s forceful close. to sparse high notes. Harsh triple- and quadru - ple-stops herald an impassioned variation of Patrick Castillo

CAL PERFORMANCES ABOUT THE ARTISTS o c c u z z a M e i r a M - a s i L

USICAL AMERICA ’s 2012 Musicians of Grammy Awards including two honors for Mthe Year, cellist David Finckel and pi - “Best Classical Album,” three Gramophone anist Wu Han rank among the most esteemed Awards, and the prestigious Avery Fisher and influential classical musicians in the world Prize, awarded i n 2004 for the first time to a today. The talent, energy, imagination, and chamber ensemble. dedication they bring to their multifaceted en - In addition to their distinction as world- deavors as concert performers, recording class performers, the duo has established a artists, educators, artistic administrators, and reputation for their dynamic and innovative cultural entrepreneurs go unmatched. Their approach to the recording studi o. In 1997, duo performances have garnered superlatives Mr. Finckel and Ms. Wu launched ArtistLed, from the press, public, and presenters alike. classical music’s first musician-directed and In high demand year after year among Internet-based recording company, which has audiences worldwide, the duo served as a model for numerous independent has appeared each season at the most presti - labels. All 16 ArtistLe d recordings, including gious venues and concert series across the the most recent Dvořák Piano Trios, have met , Mexico, Canada, the Far East, with critical acclaim and are available via the and Europe to unanimous critical acclaim. company’s website at ArtistLed.com. Recent highlights include performances at Mr. Finckel and Ms. Wu have served as , the Kennedy Center, and Artistic Directors of the Chamber Music Aspen’s Harris Concert Hall, recitals in Korea Society of Lincoln Center since 2004. They ar e and at Germany’s Mecklenburg Festival, and also the founders and Artistic Directors of their presentation of the Britten Concerto at Music@Menlo, a chamber music festival and Aspen Music Festival. They have also been institute in now celebrating its frequent guests on American Public Media’s eleventh season. In these capacities, they have Performance Today , Saint Paul Sunday , and overseen the establishment and design of the other popular classical radio programs. For 34 Chamber Music Society’s CMS Studio years, Mr. Finckel served as cellist of the Recordings label, as well as the Society’s record - in addition to his duo ing partnership with Deutsche Grammophon work, during which he garnered eight (which includes CMS concert downloads made

PLAYBILL ABOUT THE ARTISTS available through the Digital DG Concerts to nurturing the careers of co untless young Series); and Music@Menlo LIVE, Music@ artists through a wide array of education ini - Menlo’s exclusive recording label, which has tiatives. For many years, the duo taught been praised as a “breakthrough” ( Billboard ) alongside the late at and “probably the most ambitious recording and the Jerusalem Music Center. They ap - project of any classical music festival in the peared annually on the Aspen Music world” ( San Jose Mercury News ). In 2011, Festival’s Distinguished Artist Master Class Mr . Finckel and Ms. Wu were named Artistic series and in various educational outreach Directors of Chamber Music Today, an annual programs across the country. This season, festival held in Korea. Mr. Finckel and Ms. Wu will launch a cham - The duo’s repertoire spans virtually the en - ber music studio at Aspen Music Festival. tire literature for cello and piano, with an Under the auspices of the Chamber Music equal emphasis on the classics and the con - Society of Lincoln Center, Mr. Finckel and temporaries. Their modern repertoire in - Ms. Wu have established the LG Chamber cludes all the significant works, from Music School, which provides workshops to Prokofiev and Britten to Alfred Schnittke and young artists in Korea and . André Previn. Their commitment to new Mr. Finckel was named honoree and Artistic music has brought commissioned works by Director of the Mendelssohn Fellowship in , , Gabriela Lena 2012 , a program established to identify young Frank, Pierre Jalbert, , Korean musicians and promote chamber and George Tsontakis to audiences around the music in . Mr. Finckel and world. In 2010 , the duo released For David Ms. Wu reside in New York with their 19- and Wu Han (ArtistLed), an album of four year-old daughter, Lilian. To learn more, visit contemporary works for cello and piano ex - www.davidfinckelandwuhan.com. pressly composed for them. In 2011 , Summit David Finckel and Wu Han appear by Records released a recording of the duo per - arrangement with David Rowe Artists forming Gabriela Lena Frank’s concerto, (davidroweartists.com). Their public relations Compadrazgo , with the ProMusica Columbus and press representative is Milina Barry PR. Chamber Orchestra. David Finckel and Wu Han’s recordings are Mr. Finckel and Ms. Wu have achieved uni - available exclusively on ArtistLed. Wu Han versal renown for their passionate commit ment performs on the Steinway Piano.

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