2020- 2021 SEASON: TOGETHER

Chicago Phil Chamber presents "Romantic Strings” Led by violinist Robert Hanford ​ Sunday, September 13 2020, 6:00pm North Shore Center, Skokie

Robert Hanford violin ​ ​ Injoo Choi violin ​ Rose Armbrust Griffin viola ​ ​ Paula Kosower cello ​

STRING QUARTET IN D MAJOR, OP. 11 ...... PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893) I. Moderato e semplice II. Andante cantabile III. Scherzo. Allegro non tanto IV. Finale. Allegro giusto – Allegro vivace

DANZAS DE PANAMA ...... WILLIAM GRANT STILL (1895-1978) ​ ​ I. Tamborito II. Mejorana y Socavón III. Punto IV. Cumbia y Congo

I CRISANTEMI ...... GIACOMO PUCCINI (1858-1924) ​

LA ORACIÓN DEL TORERO ...... JOAQUIN TURINA(1882-1949) ​

STRING QUARTET NO. 2 IN D MAJOR ...... ALEXANDER BORODIN (1833-1887) III. Nocturne

Event time approximately 1 hour 20 minutes

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String Quartet in D Major, Op. 11 ​(1871) ​ ​ Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

As one of the most popular and enduring composers of all time, Tchaikovsky is best known for his works for orchestra. His symphonies, ballets, and even operas are like pop music for classical music enthusiasts – hummable melodies set to extraordinary orchestration. With his penchant for grand gestures, Tchaikovsky wrote just a handful of pieces for chamber ensembles. One of his few notable chamber pieces is his first string quartet, a wonderful outlier to Tchaikovsky’s orchestral st masterpieces. It’s as rare as an acoustic song from a 21 ​ century electronic pop artist. ​

Danzas de Panama (1948) ​ William Grant Still (1895-1978)

th William Grant Still was one of the great 20 ​ century American composers. His ​ mastery as a composer and conductor was so undeniable that he achieved countless breakthrough roles while America was a segregated nation, including the distinction of becoming the first African American conductor to lead the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1936 and New Orleans Philharmonic in 1955. Today he is gaining recognition as a composer whose style shaped American classical music as much as Gershwin, Copland, or Bernstein.

Much like Tchaikovsky’s compositions, most of Still’s works were written for orchestra. Danzas de ​ Panama,​ one of his few works for string quartet, celebrates the fusion of African, Spanish, and Native Central American musical styles. To create the piece, Still borrowed melodies collected by Elizabeth Ann Dentzel, an impressive violinist and ethnomusicologist who was raised on the edge of the Yakama Indian Reservation, was trained by Russian-born violinist Jascha Heifetz, and extensively studied and toured in Central and South America. Each movement of Danzas de Panama contains​ ​ two or three Panamanian folk dances. Still incorporated percussive elements for the string players, evoking the sound of native Panamanian instruments.

I Crisantemi (1890) ​ Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)

The Tuscan composer Puccini has been dubbed “the greatest composer of Italian opera after Verdi," and his operatic skill touched the few chamber pieces he wrote as well. I Crisantemi was​ written quickly (reportedly in a single ​ evening) in 1890 as an elegy for the Amadeo I, the Duke of Aosta, an Italian nobleman who briefly ruled Spain in the 1870s. Puccini called the piece “crisantemi," translated as “chrysanthemums,” as the flowers are associated

2 2020- 2021 SEASON: TOGETHER with funerals in Italy. The brief string quartet features a beautiful, poignant melody that Puccini would later use in his 1893 opera Manon Lescaut.​ ​

La Oración del Torero (1925) ​ Joaquin Turina (1882-1949)

th Joaquin Turina was one of the great early 20 ​ century Spanish nationalist ​ composers, bringing the country to the forefront of the classical music scene usually dominated by Germany, France, and Italy. Turina was born and raised in Seville but came into his own as a composer during his time in Paris; his most inspired works combine the color of the great French impressionists and the melodies and rhythms of native Andalusian music. Turina wrote La Oración del ​ Torero ​in 1925 for the Spanish lute ensemble Quarteto Aguilar, and he arranged it for string quartet in 1926. Here Turina describes his inspiration for the piece:

“One afternoon of bullfighting in the Madrid arena...I saw my work. I was in the court of horses. Behind a small door, there was a chapel, filled with incense, where toreadors went right before facing death. It was then there appeared…this subjectively musical and expressive contrast between the hubbub of the arena, the public that awaited the fiesta, and the devotion of those who, in front of this poor altar, filled with touching poetry, prayed to God to protect their lives.”

String Quartet No. 2 in D Major, Nocturne (1881) ​ ​ Alexander Borodin (1833-1887) ​ Alexander Borodin is an impressive figure in Russian history. As a member of the “Mighty Handful,” he was one of five composers to create a uniquely Russian style of classical music untethered to the dominant traditions of Western European music. He was also a brilliant mind as an organic chemist and doctor. Although he considered science his “day job,” his contributions to the field were numerous. He founded the School of Medicine for Women in Saint Petersburg and taught there for most of his life.

Borodin wrote his second string quartet in 1881, in the final stages of his composition career, as a love letter to his wife Ekaterina. The entire quartet is written warmly, suggesting a strong, blissful relationship. The Nocturne ​seems to depict a tender conversation between the cello and first violin ​ with long, expressive melodies.

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Robert Hanford violin ​ ​ Robert Hanford is the concertmaster of the Lyric Opera of Chicago. During the summer he is also a concertmaster at the Aspen Music Festival. Previously, Mr. Hanford was the Associate Principal Second Violinist of the Minnesota Orchestra and a member of both the Milwaukee Symphony and Chicago's Grant Park Symphony. He has appeared as soloist on many occasions with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony, and other Midwestern orchestras, including the Chicago Philharmonic. Mr. Hanford attended Northwestern University and is currently on the faculty as a violin instructor. He graduated with first prize from the Orpheus Conservatory in Athens, Greece. For many summers he was concertmaster and violin instructor at the Birch Creek Music Festival in Wisconsin. He has also performed and taught at the Apollo, the MidAmerica, the Milwaukee, and the Roycroft Chamber Music Festivals. In addition to his professional career as a violinist, Robert has studied and performed on the theremin, one of the first electronic instruments. Robert is also an amateur artist blacksmith, having attended courses of study in Wyoming and Illinois. Mr. Hanford lives in Evanston, Illinois, with his wife Sheila, also a violinist. They have three sons.

Injoo Choi violin ​ Injoo Choi is an active performer and a teacher, she has toured to Asia and Europe and continues to perform as the substitute of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Injoo Choi frequently performs with the Chicago Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s MusicNow. During the summer seasons, she performs at the Grant Park Music Festival as the first violin of the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra. In addition, Injoo Choi has been an active chamber musician and has performed in South America, Asia, and the major cities throughout the US and Canada. In the Chicago area, Injoo Choi performs actively for the Chicago Philharmonic Chamber Players and the Chicago Symphony Chamber Series. She also performs frequently with her husband, Sung Hoon Mo, as a violin-piano duo. She has been heard on NPR's Performance Today. Her teachers include Sylvia Rosenberg, Miriam Fried, Josef Gingold, Yuval Yaron, and Myron Kartman. She received her Bachelor of Music at Indiana University and her Master’s Degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music. Injoo Choi is a faculty member at the Music Institute of Chicago. Her students have won numerous local and national competitions.

Rose Armbrust Griffin viola ​ ​ Violist Rose Armbrust Griffin received her Bachelor of Music from The Juilliard School, Artist Diploma from The Curtis Institute of Music, and Master of Music from Indiana University. Rose is currently a member of the Chicago Philharmonic and The Lake Forest Symphony. Rose’s chamber music 4 2020- 2021 SEASON: TOGETHER performances include concerts at The Kennedy Center, Avery Fisher Hall, and Ravinia’s Steans Institute. She is an active member of the International Chamber Artists and The Jupiter Chamber Players.

Paula Kosower cello ​ Paula Kosower is an active performer and teacher currently residing in Chicago. Performances this season include concerts for Fulcrum Point New Music Project, the Music Institute of Chicago, the Chicago Philharmonic Chamber Music Series, North Park University faculty concerts, and the Tuesday at 1:00 Series at the University of Illinois Chicago. She has also performed live broadcasts this season on WFMT 98.7. She frequently serves as a cello substitute for both the Chicago Symphony and Lyric Opera of Chicago. Ms. Kosower is a faculty member at North Park University, where she teaches applied undergraduate lessons and cello class ensemble. She teaches cello pedagogy courses for undergraduate and graduate students at Northwestern University and DePaul University, and she teaches private cello lessons for pre-college students at the Northwestern University Music Academy. She received her B.M. and M.M. degree at Indiana University where she was a scholarship student of Janos Starker. She also served as Mr. Starker’s graduate teaching assistant. She completed her D.M. degree at Northwestern University where she studied with Hans Jørgen Jensen.

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