The Kennedy Center Announces 2020–2021 Season Programming for Fortas Chamber Music Concerts

Home , David Shifrin, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, John Harbison, Joseph Kalichstein

Press Release February 10, 2020 Download photos here

Highlights Include Two Appearances from the Dover Quartet, Recitals from Benjamin Grosvenor and Augustin Hadelich, and Several Commissioned Works, Including a Song Cycle by Richard Danielpour and Rita Dove

Dover Quartet’s Residency is Extended Through 2022–2023 Season

(WASHINGTON)—The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announces programming for the 2020–2021 season of Fortas Chamber Music Concerts, the series’s 39th season and 24th under the leadership of artistic director and pianist Joseph Kalichstein.

The Fortas Chamber Music Concerts offer 11 performances in 2020–2021, with a bold mix of traditional and innovative programming. Five new works commissioned by the Kennedy Center will premiere next season, emphasizing the ability of the Fortas series to blend pieces from the established chamber music catalog with works that expand the repertoire. Many familiar ensembles return, though some in unexpected ways. Next season features an octet comprised of two Fortas series mainstays, a vocal program that paints scenes from recent American history, and a cello quintet with members from Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson (KLR) Trio. The Dover Quartet celebrates its renewed role as Kennedy Center Quartet-in-Residence with two concerts. Two recitals with young, celebrated artists and a percussion ensemble round out an adventurous season of programming.

“One naturally expects a close-knit partnership within a chamber group,” said Joseph Kalichstein. “But you will also hear partnerships of two string quartets, of composers and poets, and of composers and their interpreting performers. You will also hear the music, some of it newly commissioned, of 11 living composers of different ages, genders, and styles, but all imbued with imagination, energy, and individuality—a testament to the resilience and power of classical music.”

The Dover Quartet opens the 2020–2021 season, beginning its third year as Quartet-in- Residence at the Kennedy Center. They are joined by the Escher Quartet for a program of string octet works by Shostakovich and Mendelssohn, as well as George Enescu’s Octet in C major, which is rarely heard and regarded asa successor to Mendelssohn’s own Octet. (October 20)

Acclaimed mezzo-soprano Susan Graham is joined by the Music from Copland House chamber ensemble for a distinctly North American program in collaboration with the Kennedy Center’s Renée Fleming VOICES series. Pierre Jalbert’s Canadian-inspired Crossings begins the program, followed by John Harbison’s Songs America Loves to Sing. A Kennedy Center co- commission, A Standing Witness, by composer Richard Danielpour with text by former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove, concludes the program. The work is made of musical snapshots of America since 1968, the year of the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, culminating in the political unrest of today. (November 18)

The formidable Takács Quartet returns in December for a traditional program of Schubert’s Quartettsatz, Debussy’s String Quartet, and Beethoven’s String Quartet, Op. 132, as a farewell to the “year of Beethoven.” (December 8)

The Calidore Quartet returns to the Fortas stage playing a new Kennedy Center co- commissioned work by Grammy®-nominated composer Anna Clyne entitled Breathing Statues. Ever inventive, Clyne’s work spans genres, from electronic to acoustic to symphonic. The Calidore Quartet builds upon the established chamber music repertoire with Breathing Statues, performing it alongside works from other composers integral to the chamber literature—Barber, Beethoven, and Dvořák. Winners of the 2016 M Prize, this American quartet continues to emphasize excitement and novelty in their performances. (January 28, 2021)

A cello quintet makes its appearance at the Kennedy Center early in 2021. Consisting of violinist Jaime Laredo and cellist Sharon Robinson of the KLR Trio, violinist Cathy Meng and cellist Keith Robinson of the Miami Quartet, and violist Hsin-Yun Huang, this quintet performs the second Kennedy Center co-commission of the season by Richard Danielpour and Schubert’s String Quintet in C major, D. 956. Danielpour wrote his new work, called A Shattered Vessel, as a complement to Schubert’s String Quintet, one of the great pillars of the chamber music literature. (January 31, 2021)

Kennedy Center’s longtime Trio-in-Residence, Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, is a staple of every Fortas season, and next year the three are joined by clarinetist David Shifrin. A celebrated chamber musician himself, Shifrin was awarded the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Award for Extraordinary Service to Chamber Music in 2019. The highlight of the program is the world premiere of a moving new work by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. Abgang and Kaddish was inspired by the music written by prisoners in concentration camps during World War II. “Ellen [Taaffe Zwilich] seemed really shaken by working on this and says that having it finished was a great emotional release for her,” remarked Joseph Kalichstein following a personal conversation with the composer. (March 3, 2021)

The all-female Aizuri Quartet formed in 2012 and has already met with great critical acclaim. Reflective of the overall Fortas season, the group’s repertoire emphasizes the importance of playing new works alongside exciting, modern performances of the great masterpieces of chamber music history. Their program does just that, combining a 1989 work by György Kurtág with music by Britten and Beethoven. The quartet comments, “Each work on the program invokes a feeling of expanse… as if the composer were standing on the edge of a cliff, looking out over a broad new terrain.” (March 25, 2021)

Pianist Benjamin Grosvenor performs a solo recital this April with a program that demonstrates the wide possibilities of the piano literature, from the most intimate and inward- looking Brahms Intermezzi to the huge canvas and high drama of Chopin’s last Sonata, capped by a late Beethoven Sonata that has both. Grosvenor’s technical proficiency materializes on such a program; he is an artist who seeks to explore the minutiae of his instrument. Highly lauded, he has

3 received Gramophone’s Young Artist of the Year and Instrumental Awards. Grosvenor also makes an appearance with the National Symphony Orchestra in the 2020–2021 season. (April 1, 2021)

Sō Percussion is an acclaimed, boundary-pushing percussion quartet. Joined by composer and vocalist Caroline Shaw, the group will premiere Shaw’s newest composition alongside Steve Reich’s hypnotic Music for Pieces of Wood and Julia Wolfe’s unorthodox String Quartet for Percussion, written specifically for Sō Percussion and co-commissioned by the Kennedy Center. Sō Percussion and Shaw challenge listeners to change their perception of what chamber music can be with these creative works. (April 28, 2021)

In its second performance this season, the Dover Quartet resumes its role as a leader of the Fortas series and Quartet-in-Residence at the Kennedy Center. Two string quartets by Mendelssohn and Dvořák bookend the world premiere of Kennedy Center Composer-in- Residence Mason Bates’s new work, co-commissioned by the Kennedy Center. It is a celebration for the Dover Quartet, having performed one of Bates’s works during each year of the first three years of their residency. (May 14, 2021)

For the final concert of the Fortas season, renowned violinist Augustin Hadelich is accompanied by pianist Orion Weiss in recital. Hadelich was named Instrumentalist of the Year by Musical America in 2018, won a Grammy® in 2016, and has won numerous other competitions and awards. Highlights of the program include Isaac Albéniz’s lively El Puerto from Ibéria, John Adams’s minimalist Road Movies, and Beethoven’s “Kreutzer” Sonata. (May 23, 2021)

Full details and programs for Fortas Chamber Music Concerts in the 2020–2021 season can be found in the following chronological listing of events.

Subscriptions for 2020–2021 are available beginning February 5.

ABOUT FORTAS CHAMBER MUSIC CONCERTS The Kennedy Center Fortas Chamber Music Concerts are dedicated to presenting the best from the world of chamber music. In September 1981, the Center’s then–artistic director, Marta Istomin, established a chamber music series in the newly opened Terrace Theater. The Fortas Chamber Music Concerts series, established two years later, observes its 39th season in 2020–2021, which is Joseph Kalichstein’s 24th at the helm of the series.

The late Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas, for whom the series is named, maintained a lifelong avocation as a violinist and dedicated amateur chamber music player. Justice Fortas, who served as a Kennedy Center trustee from 1964 until his death in 1982, was an extraordinary source of wisdom and counsel to the organization. He gave generously of his time and energy in all areas, from legal to artistic.

In recognition of his devotion, the Kennedy Center’s Abe Fortas Memorial Fund was established for the support of chamber music concerts at the Kennedy Center and for the further development of the musical programs Fortas envisioned. Carolyn Agger, the late Washington, D.C., attorney and Fortas’s widow, left a sizable gift to the Kennedy Center’s Abe Fortas Memorial Fund. The Fund supports the highest level of chamber music at the Kennedy Center, whether performed by distinguished international artists or bright and emerging talent. In addition, it supports The Kennedy Center Chamber Players—featuring musicians of the National Symphony Orchestra.

Joseph Kalichstein is finishing his 23rd season as artistic advisor for chamber music to the Kennedy Center and artistic director of its Fortas Chamber Music Concerts, devoted to presentation of the world’s finest chamber music. Acclaimed for the heartfelt intensity and technical mastery of his playing, pianist Joseph Kalichstein enthralls audiences throughout the United States and Europe, winning equal praise as orchestral soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. During his long professional history with the Kennedy Center, Kalichstein has appeared with the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, given solo recitals, and performed with the National Symphony Orchestra. In his current capacity with the Kennedy Center, Kalichstein has additionally played a major role in festivals devoted to Brahms, Beethoven, and the history of the piano itself.

Born in Tel Aviv, Kalichstein came to the United States in 1962. His principal teachers included Joshua Shor, Edward Steuermann, and Ilona Kabos at The Juilliard School. Prior to his 1969 Leventritt Award victory, he won the Young Concert Artists Auditions. As a result, he gave a heralded New York recital debut and, at the invitation of Leonard Bernstein, performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with the New York Philharmonic, as part of the nationally televised Young People’s Concerts.

With his diverse repertoire of works ranging from Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms to 20th-century works by Bartók, Prokofiev, and others, Kalichstein has collaborated with celebrated conductors and appeared internationally with the world’s finest symphony orchestras. He continues to play in music capitals worldwide with the famed Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson piano trio, the Trio-in-Residence of the Fortas Chamber Music Concerts series, and which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2017.

FORTAS CHAMBER MUSIC CONCERTS 2020–2021 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF EVENTS

All concerts take place in the Terrace Theater unless otherwise noted.

The Dover Quartet and the Escher Quartet Tuesday, October 20 at 7:30 p.m. Joel Link, violin Bryan Lee, violin Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola Camden Shaw, cello Adam Barnett-Hart, violin Danbi Um, violin Pierre Lapointe, viola Brook Speltz, cello

SHOSTAKOVICH Two Pieces for Octet, Op. 11 MENDELSSOHN Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20 ENESCU Octet in C major, Op. 7 ______

Susan Graham and Music from Copland House Wednesday, November 18 at 7:30 p.m.

Susan Graham, mezzo-soprano Music from Copland House

JALBERT Crossings HARBISON Songs America Loves to Sing DANIELPOUR A Standing Witness ______

Takács Quartet Tuesday, December 8 at 7:30 p.m. Edward Dusinberre, violin Harumi Rhodes, violin Geraldine Walther, viola András Fejér, cello

SCHUBERT Quartettsatz in C minor, D. 703 DEBUSSY String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10 BEETHOVEN String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132 ______

Calidore Quartet Thursday, January 28, 2021, at 7:30 p.m. Jeffrey Myers, violin Ryan Meehan, violin Jeremy Berry, viola Estelle Choi, cello

BARBER String Quartet in B minor, Op. 11 CLYNE Breathing Statues (co-commissioned by the Kennedy Center) BEETHOVEN Grosse Fuge in B-flat major, Op. 133 DVOŘÁK String Quartet No. 12 in F major, Op. 96, “American” ______

Cello Quintet Sunday, January 31, 2021, at 2 p.m. Jaime Laredo, violin Cathy Meng, violin Hsin-Yun Huang, viola Sharon Robinson, cello Keith Robinson, cello

SCHULHOFF Duo for Violin and Cello DANIELPOUR A Shattered Vessel String Quintet (Co-commissioned by the Kennedy Center) SCHUBERT String Quintet in C major, D. 956 Op. posth. 163 ______

Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio with David Shifrin Wednesday, March 3, 2021, at 7:30pm Joseph Kalichstein, piano Sharon Robinson, cello Jaime Laredo, violin David Shifrin, clarinet

MOZART Piano Trio in B-flat major, K. 502 ZWILICH Abgang and Kaddish (2019) for Piano Trio and Clarinet (World Premiere) BRAHMS Piano Trio No. 1 in B major, Op. 8 (revised version) ______

Aizuri Quartet Thursday, March 25, 2021, at 7:30 p.m. Ariana Kim, violin Miho Saegusa, violin Ayane Kozasa, viola Karen Ouzounian, cello

“EXPANSE”

KURTÁG Officium Breve in memoriam Andreae Szervánszky, Op. 28 BRITTEN String Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 25 BEETHOVEN String Quartet No. 12 in E-flat Major, Op. 127 ______

Benjamin Grosvenor Thursday, April 1, 2021, at 7:30 p.m. Benjamin Grosvenor, piano

BRAHMS Three Intermezzi, Op. 117 BEETHOVEN Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op. 101 LISZT Berceuse, S. 174 CHOPIN Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58 ______

Sō Percussion with Caroline Shaw Wednesday, April 28, 2021 at 7:30 p.m. Eric Cha-Beach, percussion Josh Quillen, percussion Adam Sliwinski, percussion Jason Treuting, percussion Caroline Shaw, vocals

REICH Music for Pieces of Wood WOLFE String Quartet for Percussion (co-commissioned by the Kennedy Center) SHAW New work ______

Dover Quartet Tuesday, May 11, 2021, at 7:30 p.m. Joel Link, violin Bryan Lee, violin Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola Camden Shaw, cello

MENDELSSOHN String Quartet No. 1 in E-flat major, Op. 12 BATES New work TBD (co-commissioned by the Kennedy Center) DVOŘÁK String Quartet No. 13 in G major, Op. 106 ______

Augustin Hadelich in recital Sunday, May 23, 2021, at 2 p.m. Augustin Hadelich, violin Orion Weiss, piano

DEBUSSY Violin Sonata in G minor

ALBÉNIZ El Puerto (from Ibéria) TARREGA Recuerdos de la Alhambra (arr. Ricci) SARASATE Romanza Andaluza ADAMS Road Movies BEETHOVEN Violin Sonata No. 9 in A major, Op. 47 “Kreutzer” ______

FUNDING CREDITS The Fortas Chamber Music Concerts are supported by generous contributors to the Abe Fortas Memorial Fund, and by a major gift to the fund from the late Carolyn E. Agger, widow of Abe Fortas.

The Kennedy Center Abe Fortas Memorial Fund Trustees: Nancy S. Abramowitz, Michael Brewer, Harold Burson†, Charles Burson, R. Scott Pastrick, and David M. Rubenstein.

Joseph Kalichstein is artistic director of the Fortas Chamber Music Concerts and artistic advisor for chamber music to the Kennedy Center.

The Advisory Committee, chaired by Joseph Kalichstein, includes Emanuel Ax, Richard Goode, Marilyn Horne, Marta Istomin, Jaime Laredo, Yo-Yo Ma, Gianandrea Noseda, Leonard Slatkin, and Frederica von Stade.

TICKETS AND INFORMATION

Subscriptions for the 2020–2021 season are available for renewal or purchase beginning February 5 at the Kennedy Center Subscription Office, online at kennedy-center.org/subscribe, and via phone through InstantCharge, (202) 467-4600; toll-free at (800) 444-1324. For all other ticket- related customer service inquires, call the Advance Sales Box Office at (202) 416-8540.

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PRESS CONTACT Rachelle Roe (202) 416-8443 [email protected]

FOR PHOTOS Iain Higgins (202) 416-8442 [email protected]

TICKETS & INFORMATION (202) 467-4600; (800) 444-1324 kennedy-center.org