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Friday, January 25, 2019, 8pm Zellerbach Hall g r e b s e k a l B

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Fifty for the Future David Harrington, John Sherba, violin Hank Dutt, Sunny Yang,

Brian H. Scott, lighting designer Scott Fraser, sound designer

Cal Performances’ 2018 –19 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo.

 Kronos Quartet Fifty for the Future

PROGRAM Kronos Quartet Islam Chipsy (arr. Jacob Garchik) Zaghlala (Blurred vision caused by strong light hitting the eyes) Aleksandra Vrebalov – My Desert, My Rose Oakland School for the Arts Quartet (arr. Jacob Garchik) At the Purchaser’s Option with variations Kronos Quartet Aab Darvishi – Daughters of Sol Jlin (arr. Jacob Garchik) – Little Black Book Berkeley High School Quartet (arr. Danny Clay) – Four Chinese Paintings Traditional/Turpan Dance Arrangement of Uyghur Chebiyat Maqam – ird Dastan for by Wu Man, arranged for by Danny Clay Kronos Quartet and Soo Yeon Lyuh Soo Yeon Lyuh – Yessori (Sound from the Past) with special guest Soo Yeon Lyuh, haegeum

INTERMISSION

Kronos Quartet Mario Galeano Toro – Tolo Midi (World Premiere) Nicole Lizée – Another Living Soul Crowden School Quartet Ken Benshoof – sweeter than wine: II. Postscript Kronos Quartet Misato Mochizuki – Boids (World Premiere) Kronos Quartet and Chamber Orchestra – Quartet Satz

All works on tonight’s program were commissioned as part of the Kronos Performing Arts Association’s Fiy for the Future: e Kronos Learning Repertoire , which is made possible by a group of adventurous partners, including Cal Performances, , and many others. To view or for more information on the videos you see tonight, please visit kronosquartet.org/fiy-for-the-future.  PLAYBILL PROGRAM NOTES

Kronos’ Fiy for the Future decade-long career, Kronos’ Fiy for the Future In 2015, the Kronos Performing Arts Associ a - presents string quartet music as a living art tion (KPAA), the -based non- form, providing emerging musicians with both profit organization of the Kronos Quartet, an indispensable library of learning and a blue - launched Fiy for the Future: e Kronos print for their own future collaborations with Learning Repertoire , an education and legacy composers. project that is commissioning—and distribut - In addition to freely distributing educational ing for free—the first learning library of materials online, Kronos has traveled the contemporary repertoire for string quartet. world—from Abu Dhabi to , DC, Cele brating more than 40 years of creative col - from Singapore to the East Bay–area schools laboration, Kronos’ Fiy for the Future is com - you see performing tonight— over missioning an eclectic group of composers— 120 residencies and workshops and mentoring 25 women and 25 men—representing the truly over 700 young musicians through Fiy for the globe-spanning genres of string quartet litera - Future . e scores and parts for the pieces re - ture in the early-21st century. Kronos Quartet/ leased thus far have been downloaded over Kronos Performing Arts Association has com - 12,000 times from 85 countries and territories missioned more than 1,000 works since it was around the globe. formed in 1973, but Kronos’ Fiy for the Future A multi-year, $2.5 million project, Kronos’ represents the largest single artistic and educa - Fiy for the Future is made possible through the tional project that it has undertaken. generosity and foresight of an adventurous ere is no shortage of string quartet reper - group of presenters, academic institutions, and toire and educational resources available to other arts organizations who participate in today’s young musicians who wish to specialize the program as Legacy Partners—of which Cal in the canon of works from Haydn through the Performances is one—and Commissioning great composers of the 20th century. Indeed, Partners. rough jointly designed master Kronos founder David Harrington’s own entry classes, workshops, and residencies, Kronos point into the string quartet was Beethoven’s works with each of these core partners to Op. 127. Similarly, there are pedagogical vol - extend the reach of their own educational pro - umes by major composers designed to demon - grams within their communities. Kronos’ Fiy strate a constellation of techniques on a given for the Future also receives generous support instrument, including, for the keyboard, Bach’s from foundations, corporations, and individual Well-Tempered Clavier and Bartók’s Mikro kos - donors, whose commitment to new repertoire mos . But there is no coordinated body of work allows Kronos Quartet/KPAA to shepherd the devoted to the most contemporary approaches creation of an extraordinary source of teaching to the string quartet. information, a primer of the musical world we Kronos’ Fiy for the Future responds to this occupy that will help grow the next generations need, not only providing young quartets with of string quartet players for the next 50 years the ability to immerse themselves in contem - and beyond. porary approaches to string quartet perform - ance, but to develop as players by working their Islam Chipsy (b. 1985) way through the ascending levels of complexity Zaghlala (Blurred vision caused by strong and difficulty within the project. Furthermore, light hitting the eyes) (2017) the project includes a wealth of companion ma - Arranged by Jacob Garchik (b. 1976) terials—audio recordings of Kronos perform - Islam Chipsy and his band EEK are a three-way ing each of the works, video interviews with the force of nature from Cairo, Egypt described by composers, videos and notes illustrating specific those who’ve been caught in the eye of their techniques, background material on sources storm as one of the most exciting live proposi - and inspiration for the works, and more. In the tions on the planet. At the core of the group lies forward-looking spirit of Kronos’ own four- keyboard pioneer Islam Chipsy, whose joyous,

 PROGRAM NOTES

freewheeling sonic blitz warps the standard ori - on a keyboard designed for Middle Eastern ental scale system into otherworldly shapes, scales. e instrument allows him to play huge, as flanked by Mohamed Karam and Mahmoud swooping glissandos with a finger, “glissing an Refat raining down a percussive maelstrom be - octave or more up or down, and I wasn’t sure hind dual drum kits. if Kronos would be able to handle the speed and About Zaghlala , Andy Gilbert writes: If Kro - range. e string players have to do the hard nos Quartet had a motto it might be something work, but it comes off really well.” like: Taking string players to places they’ve While some pieces by Arab composers that never been before. With Jacob Garchik’s surging Garchik has arranged for Kronos require care - arrangement of Zaghlala (Blurred vision caused ful notation to capture microtonal nuances, on by strong light hitting the eyes) by Egyptian key - Zaghlala , he was more concerned with main - boardist Islam Chipsy, Kronos not only trans - taining the piece’s relentless momentum. ports intrepid string quartets to the ecstatic “One of them actually has to play a percus - milieu of a Cairo nightclub, but the chart also sion instrument,” he says. “at’s always a literally turns one ensemble member into a challenge, but Kronos is not afraid. For the drummer, adding percussive drive to the tune’s other players, the parts are very rhythmic and lapidary churn. As part of Fiy for the Future , syncopated. I simplified the drum part so that Kronos’ ongoing project to make new-music it’s playable for someone in a string quartet. e works readily available to aspiring string en - challenge is to play together and get a nice sembles, Garchik’s score is accessible and free groove.” on the Kronos website, “where you can see how the piece can be played in such a way that each Aleksandra Vrebalov (b. 1970) one of us can be the drummer,” says David My Desert, My Rose (2015) Harrington. “Wouldn’t it be cool if every string Aleksandra Vrebalov, a native of the former quartet player in the world could be this Arabic Yugoslavia, le Serbia in 1995 and now lives in drummer? So far Hank Dutt is ours, but that’s not New York City. She has written more than 60 to say that the rest of us won’t do it at some point.” works that range from concert music, to opera With his ear already drawn to the region and modern dance, to music for film. by the Arab Spring protests, Harrington “kept Vrebalov’s collaborative work with director Bill coming back to Islam Chipsy,” he says. Part of Morrison, Beyond Zero (1914–1918) , was com - Egypt’s thriving underground music scene, missioned and premiered by Kronos here at Chipsy’s EEK trio has carved out a singular Cal Per formances in April 2014 and had its sonic niche distinct from the electro- chaabi European premiere at the Edinburgh Inter - artists who are almost required at wedding cel - national Festi val that summer. Her string quar - ebrations. Raw and lo-fi, his music is both vir - tet …hold me, neighbor, in this storm… was tuosic and unabashedly hand-craed: “ere’s written for and recorded by Kronos for the a certain way that he plays—where he takes his album Floodplain . Her string quartet Pannonia fist and slams it into the keyboard—that feels so Boundless , also for Kronos, was published by visceral and exciting,” Harrington says. “ere’s Boosey & Hawkes as part of the Kronos also this sense of fun and abandonment. I can Collection , and recorded for the album Kronos imagine thousands of people dancing.” Caravan . In 2016 she collaborated with chore - Kronos premiered Zaghlala at NPR Music’s ographer Patricia Okenwa on a new piece for 10th Anniversary Concert in December 2017. Rambert Dance Company. For Garchik, the challenge was capturing the About the piece, Aleksandra Vrebalov torrential textures generated by the drum kit writes: “ My Desert, My Rose consists of a series tandem of Mohamed Karam and Mahmoud of patterns open in length, meter, tempo, and Refat and Chipsy’s keyboard, “which he plays dynamics, different for each performer. e like a percussionist,” Garchik says, employing unfolding of the piece is almost entirely le to inexpensive, cracked soware like FruityLoops each performer’s sensibility and responsiveness

 PLAYBILL PROGRAM NOTES to the parts of other members of the group. Giddens’ televised performances include ap - Instinct and precision are each equally impor - pearances on e Late Show , Austin City Limits , tant in the performance. e patterns are (no - Later…with Jools Holland , and both CBS tated as) suggested rather than fixed musical Saturday and Sunday Morning , among numer - lines, so the flow and the length of the piece ous other notable media appearances . She per - are unique to each performance. e lines formed for President Obama and the First merge and align to separate and then meet Lady on a PBS-televised White House Tribute again, each in a more concrete and tighter to Gospel, along with Aretha Franklin and way. e piece ends in a metric unison, like Emmy lou Harris. Giddens collaborated with a seemingly coincidental meeting of lines country superstar Eric Church on his power - predestined to reunite. It is like a journey of ful anti-racism song “Kill a Word,” which four characters who start in distinctly different was in the Top 15 on country radio; the two places; who, aer long searching and occa - have also performed the song on e Tonight sional, brief meetings, end up in the same Show and at the CMA Awards. Giddens re - space, time, language. ceived the BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for Singer “e writing of this piece, in a form that is of the Year and won the Steve Martin Prize both open and tightly coordinated, was possible for Excellence in Bluegrass and in 2016. thanks to 20 years of exposure to the rehearsal In 2017 Rhiannon Giddens was honored to be - and performance habits of the Kronos Quartet, named a MacArthur Foundation “Genius” a group for which I have written 13 out of 14 of Grant Winner. my pieces involving string quartet.” Giddens, who studied opera at Oberlin, made her acting debut with a recurring role on Rhiannon Giddens (b. 1977) the television drama Nashville , playing the role At the Purchaser’s Option with variations of Hanna Lee “Hallie” Jordan, a young social (2016) worker with “the voice of an angel.” Arranged by Jacob Garchik At the Purchaser’s Option with variations is Singer-songwriter Rhiannon Giddens is the co- an instrumental variation of a song from founder of the Grammy Award–winning string Giddens’ album Freedom Highway (Nonesuch, band Carolina Chocolate Drops, in which she 2017), arranged by Jacob Garchik. She wrote also plays banjo and fiddle. She began gaining the song aer finding in a book a 19th-century recognition as a solo artist when she stole the advertisement for a 22-year-old female slave show at the –produced Another whose nine-month-old baby was also for sale, Day, Another Time concert at New York City’s but “at the purchaser’s option.” is piece was Town Hall in 2013. e elegant bearing, prodi - inspired by that advertisement, and by think - gious voice, and fierce spirit that brought the ing about what that woman’s life might have audience to its feet that night is also abundantly been like. evident on Giddens’ critically acclaimed solo debut, the Grammy-nominated album Tomor - Aab Darvishi (b. 1987) row Is My Turn , which masterfully blends Amer - Daughters of Sol (2017) ican musical genres like gospel, , , and Aab Darvishi was born in Tehran, Iran. She country, showcasing her extraordinary emo - started playing violin at age five, and as she grew tional range and dazzling vocal prowess. older, she became acquainted with instruments Giddens’ follow-up album, Freedom Highway, like the kamancheh (an Iranian string instru - was released in February 2017 . It includes nine ment) and classical piano. Darvishi has studied original songs Giddens wrote or co-wrote along music performance at the University of Tehran, with a traditional song and two civil rights-era composition at the Royal Conservatory of e songs, “Birmingham Sunday” and the Staple Hague, and composing for film and Carnatic Singers’ well-known “Freedom Highway,” from music (South Indian music) at the Conser va - which the album takes its name. tory of .

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Darvishi has presented her music in various has morphed its sounds into something entirely festivals in Europe and Asia, working with a new. Released in 2015, her debut album, Dark range of ensembles. She has also attended vari - Energy , presented an innovative sound that ous artistic residencies with groups including propelled it to the top of many of the year’s “Best AiEP Contemporary Dance Company (Milan), Of” lists. Jlin’s sophomore album, Black the Kinitiras studio (Athens), and Akropoditi Origami, was released to even greater critical Dance Center (Syros). She is a former member acclaim and attention. In 2017 Jlin also com - of KhZ ensemble, an experimental electronic posed the music for a major new dance work ensemble with the supervision of Yannis Kyria- by Wayne McGregor, one of the UK’s best- kides that has performed in events such as the known choreographers. Holland Festival. Aer her graduation, she has regularly been invited as a guest lecturer at the Wu Man (b. 1963) University of Tehran. Four Chinese Paintings (2015) In 2014 Darvishi was short-listed for the Arranged by Danny Clay (b. 1989) 20th Young Composer Meeting in Apeldoorn Recognized as the world’s premier pipa virtu - (Nether lands), and in 2015 she won the Music oso and a leading ambassador of Chinese Education Award from Listhus Artist Resi - music, Grammy Award–nominated musician dency to hold workshops for presenting Persian Wu Man has carved out a career as a soloist, music to music teachers at the music school of educator, and composer, giving her lute-like Fjallabyggd, Iceland. In 2016 Darvishi received instrument—which has a history of over 2,000 the prestigious Tenso Young Composers Award years in China—a new role in both traditional for her piece And the world stopped Lacking and contemporary music. Having been brought you… for a cappella choir. up in the Pudong School of pipa playing, one of About the piece, Aab Darvishi writes: the most prestigious classical styles of Imperial “Daughters of Sol is inspired by a poem by China, Wu Man is now recognized as an out - Ahmad Shamloo, a contemporary Iranian poet. standing exponent of the traditional repertoire is piece contains gentle transitions and as well as a leading interpreter of contemporary detailed changes, which leads to the dissolving pipa music by today’s most prominent com - of different shades and colors. It is a constant posers. Wu Man’s efforts were recognized when evolution between shadows and light. It is a she was named Musical America’s 2013 Instru - journey about conveying gentle circular move - mentalist of the Year, the first time this presti - ments, which I think resemble cycles of life. We gious award has been bestowed on a player of a evolve and dissolve in gentle and harsh conver - non-Western instrument. sions. We change colors, yet we tend to go back Born in , China, Wu Man studied to our roots despite of our differences.” with Lin Shicheng, Kuang Yuzhong, Chen Zemin, and at the Central Conser - Jlin (b. 1987) vatory of Music in Beijing, where she became Little Black Book (2018) the first recipient of a master’s degree in pipa . Arranged by Jacob Garchik Accepted into the conservatory at age 13, Wu Jlin, one of the most prominent electronic pro - Man’s audition was covered by national news - ducers of the current generation, first appeared papers and she was hailed as a child prodigy, on Planet Mu’s second Bangs & Works compi - becoming a nationally recognized role model lation, which had a huge impact on elec - for young pipa players. In 1985 she made her tronic/club music. ough she is known for first visit to the as a member of bringing footwork to a wider audience, Jlin the China Youth Arts Troupe. Wu Man moved doesn’t consider herself a footwork artist. to the US in 1990 and currently resides with her Hailing from Gary, Indiana, a place close to yet husband and son in . distant enough from Chicago to allow her to About Four Chinese Paintings, Wu Man writes: develop a different perspective on the genre, she “Aer two decades of collaborating with the

 PLAYBILL PROGRAM NOTES

Kronos Quartet, I am finally beginning to un - I first played the haegeum for Kronos violinist derstand Western string instruments. With the David Harrington, he commented that the group’s encouragement and support, I was able sound seemed ‘ancient,’ and commissioned me to create this, my first work for string quartet. to write a piece that explores aspects of Korean “Four Chinese Paintings is a suite consisting traditional music. With this observation in of four short pieces which, taken together, re - mind, I composed Yessori , which is Korean for semble a set of portraits of traditional cultures ‘sound from the past.’ from around the country. In Chinese traditional “e first time I experienced Korean tradi - music, instrumental pieces oen have poetic ti - tional music, the relative pitch relationships and tles to express their content and style. I decided fluid nature of the rhythmic cycles felt chaotic, to continue this tradition with this collection. perhaps because of my background in Western “e inspiration for this suite came from music. However, over the past two decades of styles of traditional music in China familiar to studying the haegeum , I came to love these me, including Uyghur Maqam of Xinjiang unique qualities and am excited to share them province, a pipa scale from the 9th century, through Yessori. and the Silk-and-Bamboo music, or teahouse “My compositional process began with im - music, from my hometown of Hangzhou. provisations on the haegeum in the style of “e first two movements, ‘Gobi Desert at traditional Korean music. I then adapted the Sunset’ and ‘Turpan Dance,’ are adapted from distinctive techniques, vibrato, and articulations the Uyghur Maqam ‘Chebiyat.’ In 2008, thanks for string quartet.” to the Aga Khan Music Initiative, I had the opportunity to learn these pieces directly from Mario Galeano Toro (b. 1977) the Uyghur musicians Abdullah Majnun and Tolo Midi (2018, World Premiere) Sanu bar Tursun. e third movement, ‘Ancient Mario Galeano Toro, born in Bogotá, has been Echo,’ is based on a scale found among the old - focused over the past 15 years on researching est tunes for pipa . e fourth movement, ‘Silk Colombian tropical music and its diaspora and Bamboo’ is a variation on the tune ‘Joyful throughout the continent. His search has re - Song’ ( Huanlege ) from the collection of Silk- sulted in influential tropicalista projects that and-Bamboo music. range from roots music to , “I feel quite grateful to be able to bring these such as Frente Cumbiero, Los Pirañas, and old styles of traditional music—Uyghur Maqam, Ondatrópica . His work has been released on Jiangnan Silk-and-Bamboo music, and ancient nearly a dozen vinyl records, and performed in pipa music—into the repertoire of Western more than 35 countries worldwide. string ensembles. e le-hand portamento, or Galeano studied composition in the world sliding, technique called for here is quite distinct music department of the Rotterdam Conser - from the types of expression found in Western vatory in the Netherlands. He has achieved music. I hope that audiences will come to better grants and distinctions from cultural organiza - understand music from China through these tions from Colombia and abroad, as well as a four stories told in regional dialects. Latin Grammy for musical production. Toro is “I’d like to thank Kronos for their trust and a record collector of music from Latin America, encouragement, for letting me be a part of the the Caribbean, and Africa. He is a university Fiy for the Future project, and for giving me this teacher of music history, and a record cutting opportunity to share my musical experiences apprentice. with young string quartets around the world!” About the work, Mario Galeano writes: “ Tolo Midi is a piece influenced by the rhythmic and Soo Yeon Lyuh (b. 1980) melodic universe of Cumbia, a musical style Yessori (Sound from the Past) (2016) born in the Colombian caribbean as a result of For more about Soo Yeon Lyuh, please see p. 27. the encounter between indigenous American, About Yessori , the composer writes: “When African, and European people. It is a rhythmic

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piece that aims to give the interpreter an im - ing Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall (), mersion into syncopation, and the fundamen - and Muziekgebouw (Amster dam), and in fes - tal legacy of Africa in America (be strict with tivals including the BBC Proms (UK), Hud- accents!), while exploring native melodic phras - ders field (UK), (USA), ing from the tolo (one of the names of the Ros kilde (Denmark), Classical:NEXT (Rotter- indigenous flutes that provided the melodic dam), Melos-Ethos (Slovakia), Suoni Per Il identity for Cumbia). Although Cumbia origi - Popolo (Canada), X Avant (Canada), Lumi- nated in Colombia, it spread impressively nato (Cana da), Switchboard (San Francisco), through the whole continent unlike any other Casalmag giore (Italy), and Dark Music Days style in the Americas. e piece could even be (Iceland). performed from California to Patagonia and be In 2013 Lizée was awarded the prestigious recognized as local.” Canada Council for the Arts Jules Léger Prize for New . A Civitella Ranieri Nicole Lizée (b. 1973) Foundation Fellow (New York City/Italy), Lizée Another Living Soul (2016) was selected in 2015 by acclaimed composer Called a “brilliant musical scientist” and lauded and conductor to be his protegee for “creating a stir with listeners for her breath - as part of the Governor General’s Performing less imagination and ability to capture Gen-X Arts Awards. is Will Not Be Televised , her and beyond generation,” Montreal-based com - seminal piece for chamber ensemble and turn - poser Nicole Lizée creates new music from an tables, was chosen for the 2008 UNESCO eclectic mix of influences including the earliest Inter national Rostrum of Composers’ Top 10 MTV videos, turntablism, rave culture, glitch, Works. Hitchcock Études for piano and notated Hitchcock, Kubrick, Lynch, 1960s psychedelia, glitch was chosen by the International Society and 1960s modernism. She is fascinated by the for Contemporary Music and featured at the glitches made by outmoded and well-worn 2014 World Music Days in Poland. Additional technology, and captures, notates, and inte - awards and nominations include a Prix Opus grates these glitches into live performance. (2013), Dora Mavor Moore Awards in Opera Lizée’s compositions range from works for (2015), two Prix collégien de musique contem - orchestra and solo turntablist featuring fully no - poraine (2012, 2013), and the 2002 Canada tated DJ techniques, to other unorthodox in - Council for the Arts Robert Fleming Prize for strument combinations that include the Atari achievements in composition. 2600 video game console, omnichords, stylo - About the piece, Lizée writes: “ Another phones, Simon™, and karaoke tapes. In the Living Soul is stop-motion animation for string broad scope of her evolving work she explores quartet. Considered one of the most complex such themes as malfunction, reviving the obso - and idiosyncratic art forms, stop motion de - lete, and the harnessing of imperfection and mands imagination, cra, isolation, an unwa - glitch to create a new kind of precision. vering vision, fortitude, and copious amounts In 2001 Lizée received a master’s degree in of time. e act of beginning the process invites music from McGill University. Aer a decade both angst at the daunting task that has just and a half of composition, her commission list begun and a kind of zen acceptance of the of over 40 works is varied and distinguished labyrinthine road ahead. and includes works for the Kronos Quartet, “e earliest stop motion—those beings and BBC Proms, San Francisco Symphony, l’Or - worlds created by Harryhausen, Starevich, ches tre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal, New Clokey, et al—still impresses and inspires. York City’s Kaufman Center, TorQ Percussion, Oozing creativity, their work has a rough-hewn Fondation Arte Musica/Musée des beaux-arts beauty and a timeless enchantment. de Montréal, Calefax, ECM+, Continuum, and “roughout its evolution, the end result has Soundstreams, among others. Her music has always been incrementally imbuing vitality and been performed worldwide in venues includ - life to something devoid of any such spark on its

 PLAYBILL PROGRAM NOTES own. e close quarters, intimacy, and cama - Misato Mochizuki (b. 1969) raderie of the people who work in this art form Boids (2018, World Premiere) are mirrored by the scrutiny and care they af - Born in Tokyo, Misato Mochizuki is equally ford their tiny subjects and the attention to active in Europe and in Japan. Aer receiving minutiae required to render a work that is life - a master’s degree in composition at the like. e impossible becomes possible—souls National University of Fine Arts and Music in emerge from where once there were none.” Tokyo, she was awarded first prize for compo - sition at the Conservatoire National Supérieur Ken Benshoof (b. 1933) in Paris in 1995, and then joined the Compo - sweeter than wine (2015) si tion and Computer Music program at IRCAM Composer/ Ken Benshoof was born on (1996–97). a Nebraska farm. He went through high school In her very own combination of Occidental in Fairbanks, Alaska. Studies at Pacific tradition and the Asiatic sense of breathing, Lutheran University and the Spokane Mochizuki’s style of writing developed magical Conservatory were followed by a two-year stint rhythms and unusual sounds of great formal in the US Army, a bachelor’s degree from the and stylistic freedom. Her catalogue of works University of Wash ington, a master’s degree at (published by Breitkopf & Härtel) consists of San Francisco State University, and studies in about 40 works today, including 15 symphonic London at the Guildhall School of Music as a compositions and 12 pieces for ensemble. Her Fulbright Scholar. His most influential teach - works, which have been performed at interna - ers were Volfgangs Darzins, John Verrall, tional festivals such as the Salzburg Festival, the Roger Nixon, George Frederick McKay, and Biennale di Venezia, the Folle Journée in Tokyo, Afred Neiman. and the Festival, have received Primarily a composer of chamber pieces, awards including the audience prize at the Benshoof has received commissions from a Festival Ars Musica in Brussels for Chimera in wide variety of sources, most notably Kronos 2002, the Japanese State Prize for young artistic Quartet, for whom he has produced eight talent in 2003, the Otaka Prize for the best works. He also served as resident composer at symphonic world premiere in Japan in 2005 San Diego’s Old Globe eater over several (for Cloud nine ), the Grand Prize of the Tribune seasons and at the Repertory eater internationale des compositeurs in 2008 (for for a number of years. Recently retired from a L’heure bleue ), and the Heidelberg Women teaching career at the , Artists’ Prize in 2010. Her most ambitious pro - Benshoof resides in Seattle with his wife, ductions include an orchestral portrait concert eresa, a cellist with the Seattle Symphony. at Suntory Hall in Tokyo (2007), a cinema con - About sweeter than wine , Benshoof writes: cert at the Louvre with the music to the silent “In the spring of 2015, David Harrington sug - film Le fil blanc de la cascade by Kenji Mizo - gested I take another look at ‘Kisses Sweeter guchi (2007), and a portrait concert at the than Wine.’ I had put a refrain of that tune in Festival d’Automne in Paris (2010). the Traveling Music quartet in 1973, a work Between 2011 and 2013 Mochizuki was the composed for Kronos. Before that, I had made composer-in-residence at the Festival interna - arrangements and references to it in several tional de musique de Besançon. Since 2007 she other works. (is was a natural outgrowth of has been professor of artistic disciplines at the an extensive interest in and some as - Meiji Gakuin University in Tokyo. She has been pects of popular American music, a fling with a invited to give composition courses in Darm- five-string banjo, and a love of Dorian mode.) stadt, Royaumont, Takefu, and Amsterdam. “is year’s view is delicate, with tenderness. Within the framework of her activities, she con - It is a gentle walk, nostalgic in its various tinually reflects on the role of the composer in moods, comfortable in its own quietness, warm today’s society. In addition, Mochizuki writes in its strengths.” about music and culture in her own column

 PROGRAM NOTES

for the renowned Yomiuri Shimbun , the most Brooklyn Academy of Music. Symphony No. 9 widely read daily newspaper in Japan. was completed in 2011 and premiered in About the piece, Misato Mochizuki writes: on January 1, 2012 by the Bruckner Orchestra, “Boids was composed as an apostil to Brains , followed by a US premiere in New York at a string quartet I wrote in 2017. ey can Carnegie Hall on January 31, 2012 as part of be played separately, or enchained. In Boids , the composer’s 75th birthday celebration. Sym- the and viola each have scales that rep - phony No. 10 was completed that spring and resent ‘personalities’—chromatic, whole tone, received its European premiere in France in the and pentatonic—that all swim together in the summer of 2012. same direction to create the sense of a flock. In August of 2011, Glass launched the inau - Each strike from the cello is a stone thrown gural season of the Days And Nights Festival, into the water: aer each pizz the ‘fish’ dis - a multidisciplinary arts festival in Carmel/Big perse, but eventually they begin to flock to - Sur, California. gether anew.” About Quartet Satz , Andy Gilbert writes: “Serving as both muse and vehicle for Philip Philip Glass (b. 1937) Glass’ music, Kronos Quartet has played an es - Quartet Satz (2017) sential role in the composer’s creative realm for Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Philip Glass is a decades. But Quartet Satz , Glass’ contribution graduate of the University of Chicago and the to Kronos’ Fiy for the Future initiative, isn’t just . In the early 1960s, Glass spent a dazzling addition to a body of work that con - two years of intensive study in Paris with Nadia stitutes one of new music’s definitive relation - Boulanger and while there, earned money by ships. Solemn, measured, and inexorable as the transcribing ’s Indian music into tides, the sweeping piece distills the rhythmic Western notation. and emotional currents that have woven Glass’ By 1974 Glass had a number of innovative music into our consciousness.” projects, creating a large collection of new “Each movement feels like an entire uni - music for the , and for the verse,” says Kronos’ David Harrington. “at’s Mabou Mines eater Company. is period what I thought before we even played it. Philip culminated in and the was giving us something that encapsulates landmark opera , for his entire vision in one work. I think it’s one which he collaborated with Robert Wilson. of his most amazing pieces. Philip has this con - Since Einstein , Glass has expanded his reper - nection to the early root system of the string toire to include music for opera, dance, theater, quartet, a connection you hear it in this work’s chamber ensemble, orchestra, and film. gorgeous sonorities.” His scores have received Academy Award At this point it’s impossible to know whether nominations ( , e Hours , Notes on a we experience Glass’ work as cinematic because Scandal ) and a Golden Globe ( e Truman of the countless times film scores have em - Show ). Glass’ Symphony No. 7 and Symphony ployed his music or whether there’s something No. 8, along with Waiting for the Barbarians , inherent in his palette of pulse and texture and an opera based on the book by J.M. Coetzee, melodic imagination that evokes the moving premiered in 2005. In April 2007, the English image. No collaboration better embodies the National Opera, in conjunction with the Metro - depth of Glass’ relationship with Kronos than politan Opera, remounted Glass’ , the score for Todd Browning’s Dracula , which which appeared in New York in April 2008. they performed together live numerous times Glass’ opera , based on the life and work at screenings of the classic 1931 film and docu - of and commissioned by Linz mented on a 1999 Nonesuch album. 2009, Cultural Capital of Europe, and Landes - Glass has written several other major pieces theater Linz, premiered in September 2009 in specifically for Kronos, starting with 1991’s Linz, Austria and in November 2009 at the String Quartet No. 5 (featured on the 1995

 PLAYBILL PROGRAM NOTES

None such album Kronos Quartet Performs ther’s favorite composer. I grew up with him, Philip Glass ). All of those experiences came to and we actually share a birthday, January 31st. play in writing Quartet Satz , as Glass had the I know the Schubert landscape like the back ensemble in mind as he was composing. “I au - of my hand.” tomatically visualize them playing the music Under the auspices of Kronos’ Fiy for the and know how they sound,” he says. “I’m think - Future , Glass’ hand now gracefully welcomes ing, ‘is will be a good part for Hank. He will new generations of string players. Mastering like this part.’ I think it’s likely I’ll never have this Quartet Satz means grappling with the string kind of a relationship with another quartet.” quartet as an organic organism, and the piece’s Glass’ history with Kronos isn’t the piece’s architectural strength means that Kronos can only subtext. Some of the ideas in Quartet Satz usher young musicians inside the piece. At a re - first appeared in a piece he wrote for Robert cent string festival at Austria’s Esterházy Palace Hurwitz marking the end of his spectacularly “we had an amazing experience with two very productive tenure running Nonesuch. But the fine quartets we were mentoring, Canada’s title also unambiguously references Schubert’s Rol ston String Quartet and South Korea’s Esmé famously incomplete Quartettsatz , a move that Quartet,” Harrington says. “e 12 of us played Glass acknowledges with a chuckle as “a form Satz as an encore and it sounded glorious.” of self-aggrandizement. Schubert was my fa -

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

For 45 years, San Francisco’s Kronos Quartet — orthodox, Vietnam War-inspired work featur - David Harrington (violin), John Sherba (vio - ing bowed water glasses, spoken word pas - lin), Hank Dutt (viola), and Sunny Yang sages, and electronic effects. Kronos then (cello)—has pursued a singular artistic vision, began building a compellingly eclectic reper - combining a spirit of fearless exploration with toire for string quartet, performing and record - a commitment to continually reimagine the ing works by 20th-century masters (Bartók, string quartet experience. In the process, Webern, Schnittke), contemporary composers Kronos has become one of the most celebrated (, Aleksandra Vrebalov, and influential groups of our time, performing Sahba Amini kia), jazz legends (Charles Mingus, thousands of concerts worldwide, releasing Maria Schneider, elonious Monk), rock artists more than 60 recordings of extraordinary (, e Who’s , breadth and creativity, collaborating with many Sigur Rós), and artists who truly defy genre of the world’s most intriguing and accom - (performance artist , visual plished composers and performers, and com - artist Trevor Paglen, spoken-word poets from missioning more than 1,000 works and Youth Speaks). arrangements for string quartet. Kronos has re - Integral to Kronos’ work is a series of long- ceived over 40 awards, including both the Polar running, in-depth collaborations with many of Music Prize and Avery Fisher Prize, two of the the world’s foremost composers. One of the most prestigious awards given to musicians, a quartet’s most frequent composer-collaborators Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance is “Father of Minimalism” , whose (2004), and “Musicians of the Year” (2003) from work with Kronos includes Salome Dances for Musical America. Peace (1985–86); Sun Rings (2002), a NASA- Kronos’ adventurous approach dates back to commissioned multimedia ode to the earth and the ensemble’s origins. In 1973 David Harring- its people that features celestial sounds and im - ton was inspired to form Kronos aer hearing ages from space; and e Serquent Risadome, ’s Black Angels , a highly un - premiered during Kronos’ 40th Anniversary

 ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Celebration at Carnegie Hall in 2014. In 2015 (Nederlands Dans eater) have created pieces released One Earth, One with Kronos’ music. People, One Love: Kronos Plays Terry Riley , a Kronos’ work has been featured prominently five-disc, four album box set dedicated to Riley in a number of films, including the Academy that included the new release Sunrise of the Award-nominated documentaries How to Planetary Dream Collector: Music of Terry Riley . Survive a Plague (2012) and Dirty Wars (2013), Kronos commissioned and recorded the three for which Kronos’ David Harrington served string quartets of Polish composer Henryk as music supervisor. Kronos also performed Górecki, with whom the group worked for scores by Philip Glass for the films Mishima and more than 25 years. e quartet has also col - Dracula (a 1999 restored edition of the 1931 laborated extensively with composers such as Tod Browning-directed Bela Lugosi classic); Philip Glass, recording an album of his string by for the Darren Aronofsky quartets in 1995 and premiering String Quartet films Noah (2014), e Fountain (2006), and No. 6 in 2013 and No. 7 in 2014; Azerbaijan’s (2000); by Terry Riley for Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, whose works are featured François Girard’s Hochelaga terre des âmes on the full-length 2005 release Mugam Sayagi ; (2017); and by Jacob Garchik for Guy Maddin’s , with whom Kronos has worked on e Green Fog—A San Francisco Fantasia recordings of the Grammy-winning composi - (2017). Additional films featuring Kronos’ tion Different Trains (1989) , music include La grande bellezza (e Great (2001), and WTC 9/11 (2011); among many Beauty , 2013), 21 Grams (2003), Heat (1995), other composers and arrangers. and True Stories (1986) . A ousand oughts , In addition to composers, Kronos counts nu - a live documentary co-directed and written by merous performers from around the world filmmakers Sam Green and Joe Bini, which among its collaborators, including the Chinese features live narration by Green and live music pipa virtuoso Wu Man; Azeri master vocalist Kronos Quartet, premiered in 2018 at the ; legendary Bollywood “playback Sundance Film Festival and Wexner Center for singer” , featured on Kronos’ 2005 the Arts at the Ohio State University and begins Grammy-nominated CD You’ve Stolen My touring the world later this year. Heart: Songs from R.D. Burman’s Bollywood ; e quartet spends five months of each year Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq; Mexican rock - on tour, appearing in concert halls, clubs, and ers Café Tacvba; the Romanian gypsy band festivals around the world including Carnegie Taraf de Haïdouks; the Malian griot musicians Hall, Disney Hall, the Barbican Centre in Trio Da Kali; and Iranian vocalist Mahsa London, BAM’s Next Wave Festival, Big Vahdat. Kronos has performed live with the Ears, Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, likes of Paul McCartney, , Patti WOMAD, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Smith, , Jarvis Cocker, Zakir Shang hai Concert Hall, Lincoln Center Out of Hussain, the , Noam Doors, , Victoria Hall in Chom sky, Rokia Traoré, , Rhiannon Geneva (Switzerland), and Haydn Hall in Gid dens, Howard Zinn, Betty Carter, Van Dyke Schloss Esterhazy. Parks, , k.d. lang, Amanda Kronos is equally prolific and wide-ranging Palmer, Jherek Bischoff, e National, múm, on recordings. e ensemble’s expansive disc - and Lau’s Martin Green, and has appeared on ogra phy on Nonesuch Records includes collec - recordings by artists such as , tions like Pieces of Africa (1992), a showcase of Dan Zanes, Glenn Kotche, Dave Matthews African-born composers, which simultaneously Band, , , Don topped Billboard ’s classical and world music Walser, Angelique Kidjo, and Dan Wilson. charts; 1998’s 10-disc anthology Kronos In dance, the famed choreographers Merce Quartet: 25 Years ; Nuevo (2002), a Grammy- Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Twyla arp, Eiko and Latin Grammy–nominated celebration & Koma, and Paul Lightfoot and Sol León of Mexican culture; and the 2004 Grammy

 PLAYBILL ABOUT THE ARTISTS winner, ’s , featuring sioning, concert tours and local performances, renowned soprano . In celebra - education programs, and a self-produced Kro - tion of the quartet’s 40th anniversary season in nos Festival in San Francisco. 2014, Nonesuch released both Kronos Explorer Series, a five-CD retrospective boxed set, and Soo Yeon Lyuh is a haegeum (Korean two- the single-disc A ousand oughts, featuring string bowed instrument) player, composer, mostly unreleased recordings from throughout and improviser currently based in the San Kronos’ career. Kronos’ most recent releases in - Francisco Bay Area. Rigorously trained in court clude Folk Songs , which features Sam Amidon, and folk repertories from a young age, Lyuh is , Rhiannon Giddens, and Natalie known for her masterful performances of new Merchant singing traditional folk songs with compositions for the haegeum . In South Korea, arrangements by Jacob Garchik, Nico Muhly, she served as a member of the National Gugak Donnacha Dennehy, and ; the Center’s new-music group for 12 years. collaborative album Ladilikan with Trio Da Deeply invested in exploring new musical Kali, an ensemble of Malian griot musicians as - possibilities via improvisation, she has collabo - sembled by Aga Khan Music Initiative; the rated with the William Winant, Fred Frith, Joan collaborative album Landfall with the venera - Jeanrenaud, and numerous other international ble multidisciplinary artist Laurie Anderson; performers and composers. Lyuh has pre - Clouded Yellow, a collection of work written for miered over 50 new-music compositions in the Kronos by Bang on the Can founding composer last two years, including pieces by Cindy Cox, Michael Gordon; and vinyl re-releases of Pieces Larry Polansky, David Evan Jones, and Jean of Africa , Dracula , Requiem for a Dream , and Ahn. She has performed renowned contem - e Fountain . Music publishers Boosey & porary and experimental concerts in festivals Hawkes and Kronos have released two volumes and venues all over the world, including at the of Kronos Collection sheet music, featuring Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival (MASS works by Terry Riley, , Aleksan - MoCA), Ecstatic Music Festival (e Greene dra Vrebalov, and . Space at WQXR, New York), as a featured In addition to its role as a performing and soloist with the UC Berkeley Symphony Or - recording ensemble, the quartet is committed ches tra on tour (Spain), Isang Yun Music Festi - to mentoring emerging performers and com - val (North Korea), Büyükşehir Belediyesi Sanat posers and has led workshops, master classes, ve Kültür Sarayı (Turkey), Siri Fort Auditorium and other education programs with Carnegie (India), and the Seoul Arts Center (South Hall’s Weill Music Institute, Kaufman Music Korea). Lyuh has recorded multiple CDs of Center’s Face the Music, Ruth Asawa San Korean court music, jazz, and improvisation, Francisco School of the Arts, San Francisco as well as being featured on an improvisational Conservatory of Music, and through the recording with Henry Kaiser, Rudresh Mahan - Embassy Adoption Program (a program of thappa, Bill Laswell, and Simon Barker. Washington Performing Arts and District of Lyuh holds a BA, MA, and PhD in Korean Columbia Public Schools), among other insti - musicology from Seoul National University, tutions in the US and overseas. Kronos has where she taught for six years. More recently, recently undertaken extended educational res - she has organized workshops and lecture-con - idencies here at Cal Performances, as well as at certs in collaboration with composition and the Holland Festival, Texas Performing Arts ethnomusicology faculty at UC Berkeley, UC Association at the University of Texas at Austin, Santa Cruz, UC Davis, Mills College, and the New York University Abu Dhabi, and Mount University of Hawaii at Manoa. Lyuh seeks to Royal University Conservatory. continually expand contemporary haegeum With a staff of 11, the nonprofit Kronos possibilities through work with new media and Performing Arts Association (KPAA) manages technology. She is currently a scholar-artist in all aspects of Kronos’ work, including commis - residence at Mills College.

 ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Berkeley High School Quartet mission to offer immersive arts experiences in e Berkeley High School Quartet is comprised a college preparatory setting. e instrumen - of violinists Lev Gordon-Feierabend and Clio tal department encompasses 150 students and Petty, violist Natalie Couch, and cellist Zealin five programs—jazz, chamber music, piano, Glickrieman. e musicians’ chamber orchestra guitar, and world music—that immerse stu - teacher is Mary Dougherty. dents in a broad range of musical genres, giving students a well-founded, and well-rounded Crowden School Quartet musical education. e Crowden School Quartet is comprised of violinists Annika Lin and Leila Yokoyama, For the Kronos Quartet/Kronos Performing violist Mali Nguyen, and cellist Meilani Huynh. Arts Association e ensemble’s associate artistic director is Eu - Janet Cowperthwaite, managing director gene Sor. Mason Dille, development manager e Crowden School, recognized as the first Dana Dizon, business operations manager of its kind in the United States, is a coeduca - Sarah Donahue, production operations tional day school for grades four through eight manager that balances music and academics to provide Lauren Frankel, development associate a transformative education. Every morning, Scott Fraser, senior sound designer students spend two hours on a comprehensive Sasha Hnatkovich, communications manager study of music, followed by a full academic Sara Langlands, community engagement school day. e school is noted for using the and festival manager cooperative art of chamber music in remark - Reshena Liao, creative projects manager able ways to expand the learning potential of Nikolás McConnie-Saad, office manager its students. Crowden School quartet members Brian Mohr, Sound Designer, technical Mali Nguyen, Annika Lin, Leila Yokoyama, and manager Meilani Huynh attend eighth grade and will Kären Nagy, strategic initiatives director graduate this spring. e Crowden School is the Brian H. Scott, lighting designer flagship program of Crowden Music Center in Berkeley, a Bay Area nonprofit serving 12,000 Zach Miley, assistant music lovers of all ages each year. Kronos Quartet/Kronos Performing Arts Oakland School for the Arts Quartet Association e Oakland School for the Arts Quartet is P. O. Box 225340 comprised of violinists Kayla Phan and Ra pha - San Francisco, CA 94122-5340 ella Brown, violist Izabelle Itom, and cellist Ari - adne Bashore-Walker. e ensemble is coached kronosquartet.org by Justin Ouellet and Crystal Pascucci, and facebook.com/kronosquartet over seen by Nicholas Kanozik, Chair, Instru- instagram.com/kronos_quartet mental Music. twitter.com/kronosquartet Oakland School for the Arts is a public char - ter school in the Oakland Unified School Dis - e Kronos Quartet records for Nonesuch trict founded by Jerry Brown in 2002 with a Records.

 PLAYBILL PROGRAM NOTES

the experience gained in Meiningen working sidiary subject, floated high in the violin’s com - with one of Europe’s best orchestras, Strauss pass, provides lyrical contrast. e center of the also met there the violinist and sometime com - movement is devoted to a loquacious develop - poser Alexander Ritter, who introduced him to ment of the principal motives before a full the revolutionary works of Wagner and Liszt, recapitulation of the earlier themes provides music that Strauss’ reactionary father had for - balance and formal closure. ough Strauss ti - bidden him to hear. Strauss became convinced tled the second movement “Improvisation,” by Ritter, and the musical examples he pro - there is nothing extemporaneous about the vided, that an instrumental piece could spring work’s precisely delineated form nor about its from the inspiration of what Strauss later called richly textured instrumental lines. An arching “a poetic idea,” and need not be restricted to the violin melody, a wordless product of Strauss’ abstract expression of the Classical master - skill as a song writer, occupies the Andante’s works that had served as the models for his first section before the movement moves onto earlier compositions. e Sonata for Violin and more animated and chromatically inflected Piano of 1887 –88, the last work of Strauss’ music in its center region. e opening melody, youthful Classicism, stands at this nexus in his considerably elaborated, returns to round out creative life. the movement. e main theme of the sonata- Strauss’ is firmly rooted in the form finale, previewed in a shadowy piano in - Classical models he mastered as a youth, but it troduction, revives the bold, quasi-symphonic also shows the breadth of gesture and the sharp - style of the first movement. A delicately playful ening of artistic profile he had gained through transition leads to the second theme, a broad the contemporaneous work on his first three melody introduced by the violin over sweep - symphonic poems, Aus Italien , Macbeth, and ing piano arpeggios. e development section Don Juan . Indeed, the heroic proclamation is brief, little more than a few iterations of the from the piano that serves as the main theme main subject at various tonal levels. e reca - of the sonata’s opening movement could well pitulation is announced by the piano’s bold have been chiseled for Don Juan . e violin theme. A dashing coda, based on the principal responds with a tender reflection of the piano’s theme, closes this final work of Richard Strauss’ phrase without losing the music’s impetuous apprenticeship. rhythmic drive and sense of urgency. e sub - —©2019 Dr. Richard E. Rodda

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Nicola Benedetti is one of the most sought- bits, , Kristjan Järvi, Vladi mir aer violinists of her generation. Her ability to Jurowski, , Andrea Marcon, Peter captivate audiences with her innate musician - Oundjian, Vasily Petrenko, Donald Run ni cles, ship and dynamic presence, coupled with her omas Søndergård, Krzysztof Urbań ski, Juraj wide appeal as a high-profile advocate for clas - Valcua, , Pinchas Zuker man, and sical music, has made her one of today’s most Jaap van Zweden. influential classical artists. Benedetti regularly works with the world’s With performances at the heart finest orchestras and has enjoyed rich collabo - of her career, Benedetti is much in demand with rations with the London Symphony Orchestra, major orchestras and conductors across the London Philharmonic Orchestra, New York globe. Conductors with whom Benedetti has Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra worked include Vladimir Ashkenazy, Jiří Bělo - (Washington, DC), Orchestra of the Mariin sky h lávek, Stéphane Denève, Christoph Eschen- eatre, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, Frank - bach, James Gaffigan, Hans Graf, Valery furt Radio Symphony, Camerata Salz burg, Ger giev, , Jakub Hrůša, Kirill Kara - Czech Philharmonic, Danish National Sym -

 PLAYBILL ABOUT THE ARTISTS phony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philhar monic, she became Sistema Scotland’s official musical San Francisco Symphony, and the Chi cago “Big Sister” for the Big Noise project, a music Symphony at the Ravinia Festival. initiative partnered with Venezuela’s Last summer saw Benedetti make her debut (Fundación Musical Simón Bolívar). As a board at the Philharmonie de Paris with Karina member and teacher, Benedetti embraces her Canellakis and the Orchestre de Paris. She re - position of role model to encourage young peo - turned to the BBC Proms with Andrew Gour - ple to take up music and work hard at it, and lay and the BBC Concert Orchestra and she continues to spread this message in school performed at the Edinburgh International visits and master classes, not only in Scotland, Festival twice: with Marin Alsop and the Bal - but all around the world. timore Symphony Orchestra and with Richard In addition, Benedetti has developed her Egarr and the Academy of Ancient Music. own education and outreach initiative—e is season Benedetti makes her debut with Bene detti Sessions— which gives hundreds of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and collab - aspiring young string players the opportunity orates with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, to rehearse, undertake, and observe master Chicago Symphony, Lucerne Symphony Or - classes, culminating in a performance alongside ches tra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Bene detti. She has presented e Benedetti Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Sessions at the Royal Albert Hall, Cheltenham Orchestre de Bretagne, Seattle Symphony, San Festival, and Royal Concert Hall Glasgow, and Francisco Symphony, Frankfurter Museums- has plans to develop the program on an inter - orchester, Toscanini Orchestra, and Philhar - national scale. monia Orchestra with Pablo Heras-Casado. Winner of Best Female Artist at both the She will also undertake tours with the Scottish 2012 and 2013 Classical BRIT Awards, Bene - Chamber Orchestra, performing Mozart violin detti records exclusively for Decca (Universal , and with the National Youth Or - Music). Her most recent recording, Shosta ko - chestra of Great Britain, performing the Bruch vich & Glazunov Violin Concertos, has been met . with critical acclaim. Richard Morrison of e With her regular duo partner pianist Alexei Times maintains that “is riveting perform - Grynyuk, Benedetti frequently performs reci - ance of Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto is tals in the world’s leading concert halls and fes - Nicola Benedetti’s best recording to date.” Her tivals with recent highlights including Wig more past seven recordings on Uni versal/Deutsche Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Utrecht, Grammophon include a varied catalogue of Rome, Copenhagen, Dortmund, Biele feld, works, from the Szymanowski Concerto (Lon - Ludwigshafen, and Kiel. Benedetti is also a de - don Symphony Orchestra/Daniel Harding) to voted chamber musician and collaborates with Homecoming; A Scottish Fantasy , which made cellist Leonard Elschenbroich and pianist Alexei Benedetti the first solo British violinist since the Grynyuk (the three have been performing as a 1990s to enter the Top 20 of the official UK trio since 2008). Recent performances include Albums Chart. London’s Cadogan Hall, Amsterdam’s Concert - Benedetti attracts an enormous amount of gebouw, Birmingham Symphony Hall, Edin - worldwide media attention following the vari - burgh Festival, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, ous facets of her extraordinary career and her Frankfurt Alte Oper, Ravinia Festival, New international television appearances have been York’s 92nd Street Y, and Hong Kong City Hall. wide and varied, including performing at the Also this season, the trio embarks on a month- Opening Ceremony of the 2014 - long Australian tour, performing 12 times in wealth Games to a television viewing audience seven cities. of 9.4 million people. Fiercely committed to music education, Benedetti was the youngest-ever recipient of Benedetti has formed associations with schools, the Queen’s Medal for Music (2017), and was music colleges, and local authorities. In 2010 appointed as a Member of the Most Excellent

 ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 Festival in the United States, and other presti - New Year Honours, in recognition of her inter - gious festivals and venues. He has performed national music career and work with musical concertos with the Mexico State Symphony Or - charities throughout the United Kingdom. chestra, Krakow Philharmonic, Odessa Phil - Born in Scotland and of Italian heritage, har monic, Brighton Philharmonic, National Benedetti began violin lessons at the age of five Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, and the with Brenda Smith. In 1997, she entered the Bolshoi Symphony Orches tra, among others, Yehudi Menuhin School, where she studied under Enrique Bátiz, Natalia Ponomarchuk, with Natasha Boyarskaya. She then continued Oksana Lyniv, Hobart Earle, Stephen Bell, her studies with Maciej Rakow ski and Pavel Adam Clocek, Barry Words worth, Vladimir Vernikov. She continues to work with multiple Sirenko, and Kirill Karabits. acclaimed teachers and performers. His recitals have been broadcast by BBC Nicola Benedetti plays the Gariel Stradivarius Radio 3, Hessicher Rundfunk, Bayerischer (1717), courtesy of Jonathan Moulds. Rundfunk, KRO4 Hilversum, and Radio France, and televised on Ukrainian, Chinese, Kiev-born pianist Alexei Grynyuk displayed and Russian channels. His career has been gen - tremendous interest in music from an early age erously supported by the Alexis Gregory Foun - and gave his first public concerts at the age of dation, which led Grynyuk to perform at the six. At 13, he attracted wide attention by win - renowned piano series at the Metropolitan ning the first prize at the Sergei Diaghilev All- Museum of Art in New York, Sophia Bhabha Soviet Union piano competition in Moscow. Hall in Mumbai, and Vaux le Vicomte in France. By then he had already been touring Eastern In recent years the music of has Europe as a soloist as well as performing Mozart been an important part of Grynyuk’s repertoire. and Chopin piano concertos with Ukrainian He celebrated Liszt’s bicentenary at a special orchestras. Grynyuk went on to achieve first concert in Kiev in 2012, performing the com - prizes at the Vladimir Horowitz International poser’s Sonata in B minor followed by both Piano Competition in Kiev and the Shanghai piano concertos. Later that year, his perform - International Piano Competition in China. ance of the sonata was broadcast live on BBC His musical development was shaped by his Radio 3 as a part of the Live in Concert series. studies at the Kiev Conservatory under Natalia In 2013 Grynyuk released a Liszt CD on the Gridneva and Valery Kozlov. He also studied Orchid Classics label. with Hamish Milne at the Royal Academy of In 2017 Alexei Grynyuk embarked on a 27- Music in London. concert tour of the United States, performing Grynyuk performs throughout the world Prokofiev and Schumann piano concertos with and has been invited to give recitals at the Great the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Wigmore and making his New York trio debut at the Hall in London, Palau de la Música Catalana, 92nd Street Y with his regular partners Nicola Salle Cortot and Salle Gaveau in Paris, ‘Musica Benedetti and Leonard Elschenbroich. He also Sacra’ Festival’ in Netherlands, Duszniki Cho - made his recital debut at the Verbier Festival in pin Festival in Poland, Otono International Switzer land, and performed Beethoven’s Choral Music Festival in Madrid, Newport Music Fan tasy with the Kiev Philharmonic.

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