presents

MAXIM LANDO, piano

FRI APR 2, 7:30 PM Hodgson Concert Hall

FRI APR 2, 7:30 PM – THURS APR 8, 10 PM Studio HH

SUPPORTED BY BRAD AND VERA TUCKER

Please silence all mobile phones and electronic devices. Photography, video and/or audio recording, and texting are forbidden during the performance. #ugapresents PROGRAM PROGRAM NOTES materials and compositional modes of treatment, the collection was partly By Luke Howard inspired by Béla Bartók’s Mikrokosmos, a well-known pedagogical series of Chick Corea (1941-2021) Chick Corea (1941-2021) keyboard exercises arranged according Children’s Songs Children’s Songs to difficulty. Corea’s goal in writing these Children’s Songs was, as he put The American / Chick Nikolai Kapustin (1937-2020) it, “to convey simplicity as beauty, as Corea grew up around jazz. His father, represented in the Spirit of a child.” Concert Etudes, Op. 40 Armando Corea, was a jazz trumpeter in the 1930s and 40s, and introduced But while simple, there is nothing (1873-1943) “Chick” (whose given name was also simplistic about the Children’s Songs. Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 36 Armando) to piano at the age of four. Corea’s palette is a sophisticated At age eight, Corea started taking interplay of musical discovery, growth, I. Allegro agitato percussion lessons and began exploring understanding, and wonder. And he II. Non allegro – Lento classical music, both of which would opened up these works for further III. Allegro molto exert deep influences on his later development, both in his own musical directions. Corea studied at performances (which were typically Columbia University and the Juilliard modified and adapted to the occasion) (1837-1910) School of Music, but quit both to and for others who played them. Corea , Op. 18 pursue a professional performance invited anyone who performs these career in jazz in the 1960s. songs to “play them, and play with them. Reharmonize, improvise, Chick Corea was the consummate orchestrate. Take a child’s approach collaborator, moving freely and and fool around with them…. Please confidently between disparate genres experiment. There are no rules.” of music—from bebop and fusion to children’s music, chamber, and orchestral works—alongside a “who’s Nikolai Kapustin (1937-2020) who” of jazz and classical performers. Concert Études, Op. 40 To a person, Corea’s co-collaborators relished their partnerships with such a Ukraine-born composer/pianist Nikolai gifted, astute, and collegial associate. Kapustin started out with lessons in Independent of his jazz works, Corea classical piano, and then discovered also ventured into concert-hall jazz just as World War II was ending. composition, producing (for example) Though he continued as a classical a piano concerto and a string quartet. pianist, graduating from the Over a prolific recording career, Corea Conservatory in 1961, Kapustin played won 25 Grammy Awards (from 65 in jazz groups through the 1950s, and nominations) as well as three Latin began to earn a reputation as a jazz Grammy Awards. arranger and composer. But he never accepted the label of “jazz pianist” Corea’s Children’s Songs began in because of his stated disinterest in 1971 and developed into a series of improvisation, adding rhetorically, short, simple melodies—only some “and what is a jazz musician without Maxim Lando appears by arrangement with Young Concert Artists, Inc. www.yca.org of which were first conceived for improvisation?” Program is subject to change. piano—that that were published in 1980, then recorded and released as In his desire to fuse classical and jazz a piano album in 1984. In its rhythmic idioms, Kapustin cited Oscar Peterson

2 3 as his biggest influence, but unlike of Tchaikovsky, who didn’t hesitate to “I look at my early works and see how distant key of E minor for a lilting Peterson, he wrote out his proclaim him an equal. much there is that is superfluous. theme. In a parallel to the opening “improvisatory” passages in full, Even in this sonata, so many voices are movement, the theme is then believing it improved them. The jazz Rachmaninoff left Russia after the moving simultaneously, and it is too reimagined in the relative major (G piano remained central to his work— October 1917 Revolution and never long.” Another final revision, on the major) and undergoes further variation. almost all of Kapustin’s compositions returned, shuttling for the next two advice of his friend , More allusions to the first movement’s (like Chopin’s) are for solo piano or decades between New York and came in 1942. materials appear, then another include the piano in an ensemble. Switzerland. In 1935 he settled in modulatory passage that leads back to Beverly Hills, and became a United Similar in structure and technique B-flat for the finale. Kapustin’s Eight Concert Études, States citizen just before he died in to his famous Piano Concerto No. 3 published in 1984 as his Op. 40, are 1943. It was during this period that (1909), Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano The transitional passage heard between exuberant miniatures that explore he cemented his reputation as a piano Sonata was likewise not an immediate the first two movements is repeated technical aspects of keyboard performer, and composed very little. success, but eventually endeared itself again before the finale Allegro( molto), playing—as an étude, by definition, But Rachmaninoff always considered to its public. The technical demands which presents a sizzling juxtaposition should—but overlaid with a sense of himself primarily as a composer, not at least equaled anything else in the between furious virtuoso passagework poetry and artistry. They are not merely a pianist. literature to that point, and while there and staccato cheerfulness before technical studies, in other words, are numerous who are able to concluding optimistically. but are character pieces with evocative As a composer, Rachmaninoff was handle the technique, conquering the titles that, in the tradition of Liszt, completely unmoved by the modernist musical and aesthetic demands is explore multiple technical issues in musical experiments of the early 20th another issue still. Rachmaninoff did Mily Balakirev (1837-1910) each étude. Individually, the Concert century, clinging steadfastly to the not care for the piece himself—he Islamey (“An Oriental Fantasy”), Études have become popular as recital opulent and lyrical Romanticism of the found the sonata frustrating, while Op. 18 encores, but as a group they form an . This mostly pleased his admitting that Horowitz played it better archetypal representation of Kapustin’s audiences, but failed to impress the than he did. Mily Balakirev was a pivotal figure in career and his lasting interests in jazz music historians and modernist critics Russian 19th-century music at a time and classical repertoires. who at first regarded his works as stale, Formally this work follows the classical when two opposing cultural forces uninteresting remnants from a past era. pattern of piano sonata composition, were in play—one of them stubbornly It was only after his death that with a sonata-allegro first movement, a Western in its outlook, and the other Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) Rachmaninoff’s reputation as a lyrical and expressive slow movement, doggedly nationalistic. Balakirev was Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, composer rose to match his standing and a dynamic, dramatic finale. The firmly camped on the nationalist side, Op. 36 as one of the pre-eminent pianists of first movement Allegro( agitato) in putting him at odds occasionally his day. B-flat minor opens with a cascading with more “cosmopolitan” So many of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s first subject that is soon transformed like Glazunov, Rachmaninoff, and Russian contemporaries came to music While visiting Rome in 1913, taking a when the harmonies shift to the relative Tchaikovsky (who, ironically, was only after abandoning plans to study break from his rigorous concert major, D-flat. A gentle second subject Balakirev’s student), but alongside law, medicine, or some other schedule, Rachmaninoff started to seems drawn from the same thematic Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, Musorgsky, profession. But Rachmaninoff was compose his Piano Sonata No. 2. well that produced the composer’s and Cui, forming with them the group always going to be a musician—his It was a busy year for him—he was Op. 32 preludes—lyrical, elegant, and known as the “Mighty Handful” of background and connections virtually simultaneously working on his choral pianistic. The development section, Russian nationalist composers. demanded it. Rachmaninoff’s parents symphony The Bells—and there was simplified and radically truncated in were both musicians, and his still much work to be done on the the 1931 revision, includes evocations Balakirev was notoriously slow to grandfather had studied with the sonata after he returned to Russia in of chiming bells (something of a complete some of his larger legendary Irish pianist John Field. His the summer. He continued revising the Rachmaninoff thumbprint) that leads compositions, and his colleagues cousin, Alexander Siloti, was a former work later in 1913, and again (more into a final recapitulation. occasionally worked his own ideas into pupil of Liszt and one of the most extensively) in 1931 when he was their own pieces before Balakirev had important musical figures in Russia at concerned that his finger technique After a transitional introduction, the a chance to develop them himself. But the time. And while Rachmaninoff was was not as supple and agile as it had meditative and improvisatory second his Islamey, an “Oriental Fantasy” for still a teenager he became a protégé once been. He wrote at the time, movement (Lento) settles into the piano solo, and one of the 19th century’s most celebrated virtuoso

4 5 showpieces, came to him quickly in even he couldn’t manage. Nikolai Mr. Lando was also invited to play at the grand opening of Steinway and Sons in the fall of 1869 after a trip to the Rubinstein premiered it later in 1869, Beijing, and has performed at the National Center for Performing Arts in Beijing, Caucasus. Balakirev recalled meeting and Liszt championed the piece that Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, Samos Young Artist Festival in Greece, Rising a prince there “who frequently came to was already gaining a reputation as Stars Munich, Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players in New York City, Ravinia and me and played folk tunes on his “unplayable.” Aspen Music Festivals, and Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Chicago’s Millennium Park. instrument, that was something like a famously injured his right hand in violin. One of them, called Islamey, a the early 1890s from over-practicing Dedicated to making classical music accessible to his own generation, Maxim dance-tune, pleased me extraordinarily Islamey. And two of Balakirev’s Lando has been featured on CNN’s Best of Quest, NPR’s “From The Top,” BBC and… I began to arrange it for the colleagues, Borodin and Rimsky- Radio 4, and WQXR. A proponent of Sing For Hope’s mission, he served as a piano.” It took Balakirev only one Korsakov, included quotations from it last-minute replacement for Lea Salonga at its 2017 Gala. month to complete the work. He in their own compositions. It remains revised it in 1902. an audience favorite today—a Winner of the Gold Medal at the 2017 Berlin International Music Competition, brilliant, fiendishly difficult folk-in- Maxim Lando has participated in the Artemisia Akademie at Yale University, is Though Balakirev was renowned as one fluenced masterpiece of 19th-century an alumnus of the International Music Foundation, and is a student of of the leading virtuoso pianists of his Russian pianism. Hung-Kuan Chen (YCA Alumnus) and Tema Blackstone at Juilliard Pre-College. day, there were passages in Islamey that

ABOUT THE ARTIST

MAXIM LANDO, piano Maxim Lando began playing the piano at age three and made his Carnegie Hall debut at the age of six. He first received national attention at the age of fourteen, appearing on the piano bench alongside Lang Lang to perform the parts intended for Mr. Lang’s injured left hand, on tour and at Carnegie Hall’s Gala Opening Night with the Philadelphia led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. In 2020, Mr. Lando was awarded the prestigious Gilmore Young Artist Award, and in January was named Musical America’s “New Artist of the Month.”

In the 2020-2021 season, Mr. Lando was invited to appear as a soloist with the Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, and the Massapequa Philharmonic Orchestra. He has previously performed with the symphonies of Pittsburgh, Toronto, Vancouver, and Hawaii, Russia’s Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, St. Petersburg Symphony, Russian National Orchestra, Bolshoi Symphony, Moscow Philharmonic, Kazakh State Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, and China’s NCPA Orchestra.

Mr. Lando won First Prize at the 2018 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. He opened the 2019-20 Young Concert Artists Series with recital debuts in Washington, DC, at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, and in New York in the Peter Marino Concert at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall, which made the New York Times’s “10 Months of Classical Concerts You Won’t Want to Miss.” Matt Dine

6 7 THE PRODUCER’S CLUB Franklin College Chamber Music Society PERFORMING ARTS CENTER DONORS James & Dana Anderson Russell & Kathy Jane & Bruce King Bill & Sharon Ross Wyatt & Margaret Crenshaw Tom & Susan Landrum Lynne Schmidt Anderson Clarissa Finco Barbara Laughlin Dr. Janice Simon Thomas P. & M. Jean Caroline D. Strobel Ambassador $5,000 and more June Ball & George Daly Wayne A. & Linda Kirk Fox Sally B. Carter Kent Darling Garbee Lauth Murray & Dorris Tillman Anonymous Eagle Granite Co, Inc. Pinnacle Bank Roger Swagler & Bob and Claire Clements Cynthia Ward & Don & Jo Anne Lowe Brad & Vera Tucker Cable East, Inc. Kent Darling Garbee Piedmont Athens Julia Marlowe Madelaine Cooke & Tom Chris Gehr Kirsten Lundergan-Linker Ursula Uhlig Meg & Steve Cramer Sandra Strother Hudson Regional Dianne D. Wall Wittenberg Max M. Gilstrap John Maltese Juergen K. W. & Heidi Carl W. Duyck & & Cecil C. Hudson, M. D. Donald O. Schneider & Robert Wall Meg & Steve Cramer Susan & Claiborne Glover Roger & Alexandra Moore Weigel Dennis J. Flood Robert E. Paul, Jr. Julie Cashin-Schneider Jean M. Dixen Lawrence & Mary Kathryn & Carl Nichols Patricia Dixen Hepburn Richard C. Owens The Dixen Foundation Gregory & Jennifer Gordhan & Jinx Patel Barbara & John Dowd Holcomb Robert E. Paul, Jr. Benefactor $2,500 - $4,999 Carl W. Duyck & Emily Honigberg Cynthia & Joe Athfest Educates Gregory & Jennifer Virginia M. Macagnoni Dr. Maxine & John Rofano Dennis J. Flood Dr. Carl S. Hoveland Prescott-Reynard Laura W. Carter Holcomb John A. Maltese Caroline D. Strobel The Dixen Foundation Dr. Carl S. Hoveland Gordhan & Jinx Patel The Graduate Hotel Patricia A. Dixen Jane & Bruce King Pricewaterhouse Ursula Uhlig Kay & Stu Fors Carol & Paul Kurtz Coopers LLP Jim & Carol Warnes Arts Education Partners Lawrence & Mary Thomas P. & M. Jean Doris M. Ramsey Myrna Adams West & Athfest Educates Diane M. Kohl Dr. Janice Simon Hepburn Lauth Janet Rodekohr Herb West Leslie & Jim de Haseth Carol & Paul Kurtz Roger Swagler & Julia Carl W. Duyck & Thomas P. & M. Jean Marlowe Dennis J. Flood Lauth The Graduate Hotel Patron $1,000 - $2,499 Marihope T. & William Red & Jean Petrovs P. Flatt Pinnacle Bank Anonymous Marihope T. & William Tom & Susan Landrum Claire Cochran Swann James & Patricia Bozman P. Flatt Anne & Steve Marcotte Murray & Dorris Tillman Sally B. Carter Amy & Hank Huckaby Libby V. & Van C. Morris Brad & Vera Tucker William Chambers Thomas & Karen Kenyon Annette Poulsen & Jan B. & Mark Wheeler Allen and Phyllis Crowell Connie L. Key Jeffry Netter Suzi Wong & Jed Rasula June Ball & George Daly Charles B. & Lynne V. Joyce Reynolds James & Leslie de Haseth Knapp Malcolm & Priscilla Sumner

Contributor $500-$999 Jean M. Dixen Emily Honigberg Dr. Janice Simon Donald S. Wilson Lisa & Bill Douglas Diane M. Kohl Carl & Pat Swearingen Rosemary C. Woodel Clarissa I. Finco Donald & Jo Anne Lowe Juergen K. W. & Heidi Max M. Gilstrap Red & Jean Petrovs Wiegel

Friend $100-$249 William Edwards Jeffrey Q. Martin Juber A. A. Patel Jane Hutterly Jerry L & Gary A. Mitchell Jim & Fran Sommerville Barbara Laughlin Roger & Alexandra Moore Nancy E. Leathers Mallory A. Moye

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