Rockport Music

CONTACT: Karen Herlitz, Director of Marketing [email protected] Phone: 978-546-7391, Ext. 110 DATE: June 19, 2015

The Rockport Chamber Music Festival’s Final Weekend brings Anonymous 4, Richard Stoltzman, the Escher Quartet and more

On Tuesday, July 7 at 7:30 pm, cellist Cicely Parnas and pianist Noreen Polera make their Rockport Music debut. A young cellist of remarkable talent, Cicely Parnas is hailed by the New York Times for her “velvety sound, articulate passagework and keen imagination.” Parnas has won numerous competitions, including First Prize at the 2012 Young Concert Artists International Auditions and the 2011 Cello Concerto Competition at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Parnas holds the Anne and George Popkin Cello Chair of Young Concert Artists. In 2011 she was the inaugural Artist-in-Residence for the NPR program Performance Today. Parnas gave the world premiere of Jim McGrath’s Concertino for Cello, and in 2012, she made her Carnegie Hall concerto debut, performing the Saint-Saëns Concerto with the New York String Orchestra under the baton of Jaime Laredo. With her sister, violinist Madalyn Parnas, she has formed the duo parnas, and have released three albums on the Sheffield Lab label: Parnas Double (2008), Gare du Nord (2010), and duo parnas NOW (2014). She is the granddaughter of the distinguished cellist Leslie Parnas. The evening’s program includes:

BEETHOVEN: Sonata in F major, Op. 5, No. 1 MESSIAEN: “Louange à l’éternité de Jésus” from Quartet for the End of Time PETER JOHN: From The Zodiac (2014) BRAHMS: Sonata No. 1 in E minor, Op. 38

Tickets: $19-$34

After 25 years as a leading a capella ensemble, on Thursday, July 9 at 8 pm, Anonymous 4 will perform in the Rockport Chamber Music Festival as part of their final tour. Renowned for their unearthly vocal blend and virtuosic ensemble singing, the four women of Anonymous 4 combine historical scholarship with contemporary performance intuition to create their magical sound. Anonymous 4 has performed for sold-out audiences on major concert series and at festivals throughout North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and has made 20 best-selling recordings for harmonia mundi (USA). Their programs have included music from the year 1000, the ecstatic music and poetry of the 12th-century abbess and mystic Hildegard of Bingen, 13th-century chant and polyphony from England, France, and Spain, American folksongs, shape note tunes and gospel songs, as well as works newly written for the group.

Their recordings have received France's prestigious Diapason d'Or, Classic CD's Disc of the Year, Classic FM's Early Music Recording of the Year, several Gramophone Editor's Choice awards, Italy's Antonio Vivaldi Award and Le Monde de la Musique's Choc award. The program is entitled Anthology 25—A program of 25 songs from Anonymous 4’s 25 albums featuring music from the Middle Ages to today. The program features five primary sections--Ladymass, Visions & Miracles, Sisterhood, Ardor, and Partings. Tickets: $49-$68

On Friday, July 10 at 8 pm, two-time Grammy Award-winning clarinetist Richard Stoltzman joins with acclaimed composer and pianist Yehudi Wyner and Rockport Chamber Music Festival Artistic Director and pianist David Deveau for a program of Schumann, Brahms, Hindemith and many more. Stoltzman’s virtuosity, technique, imagination and communicative power have revolutionized the world of clarinet playing, opening up possibilities for the instrument that no one could have predicted. He was responsible for bringing the clarinet to the forefront as a solo instrument and is still the world’s foremost clarinetist.

A composer, pianist, conductor, and educator, Yehudi Wyner has created a diverse body of over 60 works including compositions for orchestra, chamber ensembles, solo voice and solo instruments, and music for the theater, as well as liturgical services for worship. Wyner has received two Guggenheim Fellowships, the Brandeis Creative Arts Award, the Elise Stoeger Award from Chamber Music Society, elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a Pulitzer Prize. In addition to being the Walter W. Naumburg Professor of Composition at Brandeis University, Wyner also taught at Yale for fourteen years and served as Dean of the Music Division at SUNY Purchase. Since 1991, he has been a frequent visiting professor at Harvard University and served on the chamber music faculty at the Tanglewood Music Center for over 20 years. Celebrating his twentieth year as Artistic Director of the Rockport Chamber Music Festival, David Deveau has been critically acclaimed internationally for his expressive and poetic interpretations of solo piano repertoire ranging from Haydn to the present. He has been heard on four continents in recital, concerti and chamber music, and in recent years has presented the world premieres of works of John Harbison, Peter Child, Scott Wheeler and other significant American composers. Deveau has performed frequently in New York, as well as a myriad of other series throughout the US, Canada, and China. A music faculty member at MIT since 1988, Deveau has given master classes in piano and chamber music throughout the US.

PROGRAM PETER SCULTHORPE: Songs of Sea and Sky SCHUMANN: Fantasiestücke for clarinet and piano, Op. 73 HINDEMITH: Sonata for clarinet and piano WILLIAM THOMAS MCKINLEY: Andantino from Sonata for Clarinet and Piano WYNER: Commedia for clarinet and piano BRAHMS: Sonata in F minor, Op. 120, No.1

At 7 pm, all ticketholders are welcome to a free Pre-Concert Talk with Dr. William Matthews at 7 pm. Tickets: $49-$68

The Escher performs twice in the final weekend—on Saturday, July 11 at 8 pm with pianist Gilles Vonsattel and Sunday, July 12 at 5 pm with flutist Carol Wincenc. The Escher String Quartet has received acclaim for its profound musical insight and rare tonal beauty. Championed by the , the ensemble serves as Artists of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, where they presented a critically acclaimed three-concert series featuring the quartets of Benjamin Britten. In 2013 the Quartet became one of the very few chamber ensembles to be awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Chamber Music Society has named the Quartet the 2015 Martin E. Segal Award winner. Within months of its inception in 2005, the Escher Quartet was invited by both and to be Quartet in Residence at each artist’s summer festival: the Young Artists Programme at Canada’s National Arts Centre and the Perlman Chamber Music Program. In addition, the Quartet has since collaborated with artists including Leon Fleischer, David Finckel, , Joseph Kalichstein, as well as jazz vocalist . The Quartet has an ongoing relationship with Wigmore Hall and recently returned in a collaboration with jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman. The Escher Quartet takes its name from Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher, inspired by Escher’s method of interplay between individual components working together to form a whole. Swiss-born American pianist Gilles Vonsattel is an artist of extraordinary versatility and originality. Comfortable with an enormous range of repertoire, Vonsattel displays a musical curiosity and sense of adventure that has gained him many admirers. After capturing the top prize at the prestigious 2002 Naumburg International Piano Competition, he went on to win numerous prizes in major international events such as the Cleveland and Honens competitions, and was the winner of the 2006 Concours de Genève and an Avery Fisher Career Grant. He has been heard frequently on NPR’s Performance Today, Radio France Musique, CBC, ARD, and the BBC. Vonsattel’s recording of Liszt solo works and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with L’Orchestre de Chambre de Genève was released to critical acclaim and his recording of Bartók’s Contrasts with members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center was named one of Timeout NY’s classical albums of the year. After studying with pianist David Deveau in Boston, Vonsattel received his B.A. in political science and economics from Columbia University and his M.M. from The Juilliard School. He is Assistant Professor of Piano at University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

PROGRAM MOZART: Quartet No. 15 in D minor, K.421 JANACEK: Quartet No. 1 Kreutzer Sonata TANEYEV: Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 30

At 7 pm, all ticketholders are welcome to a free Pre-Concert Talk with Dr. William Matthews at 7 pm. Tickets: $45-$65

On Sunday, July 12 at 5 pm, the Escher Quartet joins flutist Carol Wincenc for the Festival. An acclaimed Grammy- nominated flutist, Carol Wincenc was the recipient of the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Flute Association and the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Arts and Letters. She recently celebrated her 25th anniversary as a faculty member at The Juilliard School in a gala recital of colleagues, students and friends, including the Escher String Quartet and members of the Les Amies Trio. She has premiered concertos written for her by Christopher Rouse, Lukas Foss, Henryk Górecki (with a most recent release on Naxos with Warsaw Philharmonic, May 2012), , Paul Schoenfield, Jake Heggie, Peter Schickele, and . A prolific recording artist, her performance of Pulitzer Prize winner Christopher Rouse's Flute Concerto won the coveted Diapson d'Or Award with the Houston Symphony on Telarc as well as Gramophone's "Pick of the Month." After winning the Naumburg Solo Flute Competition, her performance with Andras Schiff in an all French CD for Music Masters was awarded the Recording of Special Merit. Her recording of the Mozart Flute Quartets on Deutsche Grammophone with the Emerson Quartet is regarded as one of the definitive interpretations of these works. A renowned pedagogue, masterclass performer and juror at the most prestigious international flute competitions, Wincenc continues her teaching legacy at both and her alma mater, The Juilliard School. The program includes:

MOZART: Quartet for flute and strings in C major, K. 285b YUKO UEBAYASHI: Misericordia for flute and strings (2013) ** Massachusetts premiere ** SCHUBERT: Quartet in G major, D. 887

Tickets: $45-$65

The Rockport Chamber Music Festival will officially conclude on Saturday, August 1 with a stand-alone concert by pianist Benjamin Grosvenor.

ADDITIONS TO THE SUMMER SCHEDULE Sunday, August 2, 3 PM Ms. Lisa Fischer and Grand Baton Tickets: $55-$85

Saturday, August 8, 8 PM Pousette-Dart Band Tickets: $25-$39

Tuesday, July 28, 8 PM CAST PARTY: Podcast Festival Live in Cinemas Tickets: $18

All concerts are held at Rockport Music’s Shalin Liu Performance Center which is celebrating 5 years since the opening of the hall. Subscriptions provide a 10% discount with purchase of 5-9 concerts and the purchase of 10 or more concerts provide a 15% discount. All subscribers are eligible for exchange privileges and purchasing additional concerts without additional handling fees. For more information, visit our website at www.rockportmusic.org or call 978.546.7391.

Rockport Music is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and is supported in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.