Season Brochure - The Phillips Collection

PHILLIPS MUSIC
2016 / 2017 Season
WELCOME
Museum founder Duncan Phillips believed that the experiences of
art and music were complementary, and The Phillips Collection has
embodied that vision through Phillips Music’s renowned concert
series. As music provides people with “spiritual nourishment and
exultation,” he thought that “paintings . . . seek only to speak to
their souls in the same musical way.” These beliefs resonate through
the curation of Phillips Music’s 2016/2017 season.
This season Phillips Music builds on its long history by promoting an
astonishing number of debuts and premieres beside celebrated classics.
This imaginative programming alongside the exciting innovations of
Leading International Composers and collaborations with the University
of Maryland present the best of a historic repertoire while exploring new
possibilities. Phillips Music is especially grateful for the generous support
of our valued Music Endowment donors, Season Sponsors, and Phillips
Chamber Society subscribers, who ensure the lasting success of our
concerts. All of us—audience, donors, and staff alike—are guardians of a
rich and illustrious tradition. Through listening, participating, and creating,
we guarantee its continued vitality.
Dorothy Kosinski
DIRECTOR
CONTENTS
5
SUNDAY CONCERTS
24 LEADING INTERNATIONAL COMPOSERS
29 THURSDAY MUSIC
MUSIC STAFF
31
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND CONCERTS
33
SUPPORTING PHILLIPS MUSIC
37
PHILLIPS MUSIC 2016/2017 CALENDAR
Caroline Mousset | Director of Music
Caitlin Meredith | Phillips Music Assistant
Kathryn Rogge | Manager of Academic Programs and Phillips Music
1
Edward J. Kelly | Recording Engineer
Julia Shannon | Music Intern
Roberto Alcaraz | Music Operations Assistant
Richard Goode, March 27, 2016
2
CELEBRATING PHILLIPS MUSIC
“The seasons of chamber music concerts must be carried on. They have
been in complete accord with my policy for the paintings, adding the
contemporary to the classic, and the regional to what has proved to be
universal and for all times.”–Duncan Phillips,1965
All music lends us the opportunity for celebration,
reflection, and inspiration. Phillips Music celebrates
its 76th season this year with diverse and invigorating
performers from across the globe. No season is
bound to a strict theme, as not to limit our musicians’
creative sensibilities; however, this season’s musicians,
exhibitions, and programs share a thematic resonance
of discovery and movement.
It was Duncan Phillips’s personal assistant Elmira Bier who spearheaded Phillips Music from
1941–1972. Bier put into practice the same principles that guided Duncan Phillips: to take
risks, encourage emerging artists, and seek unusual pairings in works of art. Phillips Music
continues to celebrate these principles in developing a program that embraces all genres of
music for audiences of all ages.
Caroline Mousset
DIRECTOR OF MUSIC
Building on the extraordinary success of our 75th anniversary
season, the Phillips has planned myriad events this season to
celebrate the past, present, and future of Phillips Music:
In conjunction with our upcoming exhibition People on the
Move: Beauty and Struggle in Jacob Lawrence’s Migration
Series and the University of Maryland School of Music, we
will be featuring music inspired by and related to the African
American experience. On December 2, UMD music ensembles
will perform at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center in
tribute to Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series, which shines a
bright light on the post-Civil War diaspora of Black America.
Leading International Composers returns for its eighth season,
and we are proud to feature our first composer from East Asia,
Zhou Long of China. We also welcome Anders Hillborg of
Sweden. Both concerts are planned in close collaboration with
their respective national embassies to ensure an abundance of
cultural representation.
This holiday season, we invite Stewart Goodyear to return
to play his arrangement of The Nutcracker, following his
successful performance last season of Glenn Gould’s US
debut program which took place at the Phillips in 1955.
3
Leading International Composers: Arvo Pärt, May 29, 2014
4
SUNDAY CONCERTS
A BRIEF HISTORY OF PHILLIPS MUSIC
Duncan Phillips was always fascinated by the relationship between music and the visual arts.
In 1915 he wrote that while music provides people with “spiritual nourishment and exultation . . .
paintings seek to speak to their souls in the same musical way.” When the museum opened
in 1921, music quickly became an important part of its activities, with concerts held in the
oak-paneled Music Room. The Washington Chamber Music Society put on concerts regularly,
including a series given by candlelight; the Society Editor of The Washington Post wrote in 1937:
“Dusk yesterday at the Phillips Memorial Gallery found the famous paintings in the main room
illuminated, all other lights dimmed, and a representative group gathered for the season’s first
Candlelight Concert.”
Given the success of these concerts, it was an obvious step for the Phillips Memorial Gallery
(as it was then known) to put on its own concert series. This began in 1941, running through
the years of World War II and providing the solace of music during these dark times; the
combination of music and art provided a potent source of hope.
The Sunday Concerts at the Phillips are now the longest continuously running series in
Washington, DC. In the early years, concerts explored the classics of the chamber music
repertoire while other performances were devoted to living composers, including a tribute to
Amy Beach on her 75th birthday in 1942. Offering a platform to the most promising young
musicians was always an important aspect of the concerts. The most celebrated of these was the
sensational US debut of Glenn Gould. Paul Hume wrote in The Washington Post on January 3,
1955: “January 2 is early for predictions, but it is unlikely that the year 1955 will bring us a finer
piano recital than that played yesterday afternoon in the Phillips Gallery. We shall be lucky if
it brings others of equal beauty and significance . . . Glenn Gould is a pianist with rare gifts for
the world . . . We know of no pianist anything like him of any age.” Others at or near the start of
their careers soon followed, including Gary Graffman, Emanuel Ax, and Jessye Norman.
From 1942 until 1972, the Director of Music was Elmira Bier—originally Duncan Phillips’s
personal assistant—and her aim was always to encourage artists, whether young or established,
to present unusual and challenging programs. Sometimes she arranged themed series of
concerts by composer, including Mozart for the 15th anniversary year in 1956, and a rare chance
to hear a cycle of Haydn’s piano trios a year later. Bier was followed by Charles Crowder, who
continued the Phillips’s combination of innovative programing, imaginative choice of artists,
and the best possible presentation of the classics. He retired in 1997, after 25 years in the post,
and was succeeded by Mark Carrington, formerly a Washington Post music critic. Building on
the work of his predecessors, Carrington began to commission new works, which has since
inspired new works from a number of composers, including Bright Sheng and Frederic Rzewski.
In 2009, Caroline Mousset became the fourth Director of Music. Renewing the traditions of her
forebears with ideas inspired by Phillips’s vision for introducing new artists and new composers
to Washington audiences, Mousset pioneered the Leading European Composers series and
expanded it last season to become Leading International Composers. These events—in which
composers choose their own works—take place alongside the long-established Sunday
afternoon concerts. Further innovation came in the 2012/2013 season with the establishment
of the Phillips Camerata, a chamber orchestra made up of some of the finest players in the
Washington area.
This extraordinary concert series celebrated its 75th anniversary last season, and as it heads
confidently toward its centenary, its freshness remains undimmed, always remaining faithful
to Elmira Bier’s concept for the concerts—as true now as it was in 1951 when she wrote:
“The byline of the Gallery is ‘A Gallery of Modern Art and Its Sources.’ This is as exciting in
music as it is in painting.” –Nigel Simeone, 2016
Performances begin promptly at 4 pm unless otherwise noted. General admission seating
is first-come, first-served beginning 45 minutes prior to concert start time. Tickets are $40,
$20 for members and students with ID; museum admission for that day is included. Advance
reservations are strongly recommended.
United States Navy Band Sea Chanters, May 14, 2016
5
6
SUNDAY CONCERTS
SEPTEMBER 25
l Denyce Graves, mezzo-soprano & Laura Ward, piano
Ralph Kirshbaum, cello & Shai Wosner, piano
PHILLIPS DUET DEBUT
PHILLIPS DEBUT
Acclaimed mezzo-soprano Denyce
Graves is a native of Washington, DC.
She graduated from the Duke Ellington
School of the Arts in 1981, going on to
study at Oberlin Conservatory and New
England Conservatory before embarking
on her professional career at the Wolf Trap
Opera Company. She made her debut at
the Metropolitan Opera in New York in
1995 as Carmen—a role she has sung there
more than 40 times. Her other roles at the
Met have included Maddalena in Verdi’s
Rigoletto, Federica in Luisa Miller, and Dalila
in Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila, in which
she sang opposite Plácido Domingo. She
currently sits on the voice faculty of the
Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore.
OCTOBER 2
OCTOBER 9 l
In addition to his long and successful international solo career, Ralph Kirshbaum is also a highlyregarded teacher. He has played with orchestras all over the world, and his recordings include
acclaimed concertos, sonatas, and chamber music. For many years he taught at the Royal
Northern College of Music in Manchester, England, before taking up the Gregor Piatigorsky
Chair in Violoncello at the University of Southern California. Shai Wosner studied piano with
Emanuel Ax, and his performances as a soloist and as a chamber musician are particularly
renowned. These two outstanding artists present a program of Beethoven’s music for cello and
piano, spanning the composer’s creative life.
l Niklas Walentin, violin, Christina Bjørkøe, piano,
Jean Thorel, conductor & Sō Percussion
DC DEBUT
Though still in his early twenties, Danish-Swiss violinist
Niklas Walentin is already a widely traveled soloist
and chamber musician, with a passion for performing
rarely-heard works alongside more familiar music. His
Carnegie Hall recital in June 2015 coincided with the
release of a CD of Carl Nielsen’s music for violin and
piano, including the Sonata Op. 9, which features in this
concert. Additionally, Walentin, joined by Sō Percussion
under conductor Jean Thorel, will perform Lou Harrison’s
Concerto for Violin and Percussion Orchestra. One of
the most remarkable features of Harrison’s music is its
embracing of other traditions, especially gamelan. In his
concerto, Harrison also uses “junk” percussion, including
brake drums, washtubs, clock coils, and flower pots.
OCTOBER 16
l Denis Kozhukhin, piano
DC DEBUT
Denis Kozhukhin is a Russian pianist with an
unusually international background. After
childhood lessons in Russia, he studied at
the Queen Sofia Conservatory in Madrid
and subsequently at the International Piano
Academy at Lake Como, where his teachers
included Menahem Pressler, Charles Rosen,
Andreas Staier, Peter Frankl, and Boris
Berman. He was a prizewinner at the Leeds
International Piano Competition in 2006,
and in 2010 he won the Queen Elisabeth
Competition in Brussels. He has given recitals
and concerto performances all over Europe
and the Americas, and his solo recordings
include music by Prokofiev and Haydn.
8
SUNDAY CONCERTS
OCTOBER 23 l
Rahim AlHaj, oud
NOVEMBER 6 l
PHILLIPS DEBUT
PHILLIPS DEBUT
Czech pianist Lukáš Vondráček had
already appeared as a soloist with
leading orchestras in the USA and
Europe before winning the renowned
Queen Elisabeth Competition in
2016—previous winners included
Emil Gilels, Leon Fleisher, and
Vladimir Ashkenazy. Vondráček
made his debut with the Czech
Philharmonic in 2002 at age 15, with
Ashkenazy conducting. In this recital,
he presents sonatas by Mozart and
Brahms alongside Liszt’s Ricordanza
(memorably described by Busoni as
“a bundle of faded love-letters”) and
a group of Smetana’s Czech Dances,
music that is imbued with the spirit
of Vondráček’s homeland.
Rahim AlHaj is a virtuoso on the oud, one
of the oldest of all string instruments.
Related to the lute but without frets,
the oud features in traditional music
throughout the Middle East. The earliest
image of an oud is found on a seal in
Mesopotamia dating back 5,000 years.
Born in Baghdad, AlHaj studied under
notable oud player Munir Bashir. Forced
to leave Iraq due to his activism against
the regime of Saddam Hussein, AlHaj
worked in Syria and Jordan before settling
in New Mexico in 2000. Widely traveled
and recorded, he was awarded a National
Heritage Fellowship from the National
Endowment for the Arts in 2015.
OCTOBER 30 l
Heath Quartet
NOVEMBER 13 l
The British Heath Quartet was the
winner of the first Young Artists
Award from the Royal Philharmonic
Society in 2013. Their concerts
cover the whole range of quartet
repertoire, with a particular interest in
contemporary music. In this concert
they present string quartets from
three centuries and three countries.
One of their first recordings was of Sir
Michael Tippett’s cycle of five string
quartets, made live at Wigmore Hall
in London. Here they perform one of
Tippett’s last works alongside Haydn
at his most innovative, plus one of the
pair of quartets that marked Dvořák’s
farewell to chamber music.
9
Lukáš Vondráček, piano
Vadym Kholodenko, piano
DC DEBUT
Born in Ukraine and following studies in
Russia, Vadym Kholodenko first came
to international prominence when he
won the Van Cliburn Piano Competition
in 2013. Since then his combination of
spectacular technique and intelligent
musicianship has attracted praise all over
the world, not only in solo repertoire but
also in chamber music. In this concert,
Kholodenko frames music by Schumann—
notably Kreisleriana, dedicated to
Chopin and described by Schumann
himself as his “favorite piece”—with the
delectable restraint of Ravel’s Sonatine and
Tombeau de Couperin along with two of
Rachmaninoff’s mighty Études-tableaux.
10
SUNDAY CONCERTS
NOVEMBER 20 l
Nadia Sirota, viola
& Liam Byrne, viol
DECEMBER 4 l
Carter Brey, cello & Benjamin Pasternack, piano
PHILLIPS DEBUT
DC DUET DEBUT
Violist Nadia Sirota’s energetic advocacy of new music has led to a reputation as “a one-woman
contemporary-classical commissioning machine.” A graduate of the Juilliard School, she has
collaborated on new works with composers such as Nico Muhly, Judd Greenstein, and Missy
Mazzoli. Liam Byrne is a celebrated viol player and was a member of the Fretwork Consort of
Viols. While much of his work is in music from the 17th century, he has been involved in several
projects with 21st-century musicians, including Damon Albarn. The program will include the
Washington premiere of Donnacha Dennehy’s Tessellatum, an innovative piece using viola,
viols, and electronics, conceived on a large scale.
NOVEMBER 27 l
Aristo Sham, piano
DC DEBUT
Pianist Aristo Sham won the 2016 New York
International Piano Competition at age 20.
Born in Hong Kong and educated at Harrow
School in England, he is currently completing
his studies at Harvard University and New
England Conservatory. He has already given
concerts in China, Singapore, England, and
the US, and his competition success in New
York is only the most recent of such esteemed
prizes. His programs range from music by
Bach to contemporary composers, with a
particular focus on repertoire from Chopin to
Rachmaninoff.
11
Carter Brey has been principal cellist of the New York
Philharmonic since 1996. In 1981 he was a prizewinner
in the Rostropovich International Cello Competition,
and he has appeared as a soloist with most of America’s
leading orchestras. He has also performed with the
Emerson and Tokyo string quartets and given recitals
with celebrated pianists. Benjamin Pasternack, a
graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music who now sits
on the piano faculty at Peabody Conservatory, regularly
performs with symphonies and chamber musicians on
multiple continents. Brey and Pasternack share a special
affinity for American music, reflected in this concert with
major works by Elliott Carter and Leon Kirchner as well
as Pasternack’s own Bernstein arrangement alongside
Romantic masterpieces by Schumann and Chopin.
DECEMBER 11 l
Alexander Sitkovetsky, violin & Wu Qian, piano
DC DUET DEBUT
Alexander Sitkovetsky and Wu Qian are both
highly distinguished soloists. Sitkovetsky,
a student of Yehudi Menuhin, comes from
a musical family—his father played in the
pioneering Russian rock band Autograph and
his uncle is violinist Dmitry Sitkovetsky. He has
worked regularly with Wu Qian for many years—
they were fellow students at the Menuhin School
and won the Trio di Trieste Duo Competition
in 2011. Two magnificent sonatas for violin and
piano—Schumann’s d minor and Grieg’s Sonata
in c minor, famously recorded by Kreisler and
Rachmaninoff—accompany de Falla’s vibrant
arrangements of popular Spanish songs alongside
Schnittke’s pastiche Suite in the Old Style, derived
from the composer’s film scores.
12
SUNDAY CONCERTS
DECEMBER 18 l
Stewart Goodyear, piano
JANUARY 15 l
Canadian pianist Stewart
Goodyear returns to The Phillips
Collection after his noteworthy
re-creation of Glenn Gould’s
iconic 1955 recital last season. This
year, he brings the perfect musical
Christmas concert with his own
arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s
Nutcracker. This is some of the
first music he ever heard: in an
interview with The Huffington
Post, Goodyear recalled that “I
listened to it over and over. I was
enchanted by what I heard and
couldn’t get enough,” adding,
“for me, The Nutcracker has
always represented December.”
JANUARY 8 l
Stephen Kovacevich, piano
PHILLIPS DEBUT
Born in 1940, Stephen Kovacevich, whose
performances are often revelatory, is
one of the most insightful pianists of his
generation. As a chamber musician he has
worked with many other musical greats
such as Martha Argerich, Jacqueline du Pré,
and Lynn Harrell, and he has also conducted
concerto performances from the keyboard.
A pupil of Dame Myra Hess, his core
repertory includes the late sonatas of
Beethoven and Schubert—some of which are
included in this concert. Kovacevich will also
perform Berg’s Piano Sonata and music by
Bach, which were included in his sensational
London debut at Wigmore Hall in 1961.
13
Lise de la Salle,
piano
PHILLIPS DEBUT
Lise de la Salle gave her first broadcast
concert at age nine, and since then
this gifted French pianist, still in her
twenties, has gone on to build an
impressive career in solo and concerto
repertoire. In this recital she opens
with Schumann—notably the glorious
Fantasy Op. 17—before turning to
transcriptions: the “Love-Death” from
Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde arranged
by his father-in-law Franz Liszt, and
Prokofiev’s own brilliant transcriptions
of dances from his most famous ballet,
Romeo and Juliet.
JANUARY 22 l
Isabelle Faust, violin
PHILLIPS DEBUT
German violinist Isabelle Faust won the
Paganini Competition in 1993 and since then
has established herself as one of the most
intelligent and thoughtful violinists of her
generation. Her career has been marked by
a ceaseless curiosity for unusual repertoire
and for fresh approaches to performing the
classics, influenced by period instrument
specialists. In a 2013 interview, she described
the combination of “clarity and intimacy” that
gives Bach’s music for unaccompanied violin
such a unique character. Along with Bach’s
Partita in E Major and the Sonata in C Major,
this concert ends with the Partita in d minor,
concluding with the monumental Chaconne.
14
SUNDAY CONCERTS
JANUARY 29 l
Jean-Guihen Queyras, cello
PHILLIPS DEBUT
Jean-Guihen Queyras is a
French cellist with a vast
repertoire stretching from
Bach to Kurtág and Ligeti.
As well as performing as a
soloist, he is also a regular
chamber music partner,
often in a piano trio with
Alexander Melnikov and
Isabelle Faust. This concert is
a precious opportunity to hear
all six of Bach’s Cello Suites,
performed by a cellist whose
recording of these works was
welcomed with tremendous
enthusiasm on its first release
and is notable for the vitality
and inventiveness of his
interpretations.
FEBRUARY 5 l
Trilogy, violin trio
Signum Quartet
DC DEBUT
Since its founding in 1994, the Signum Quartet has established a reputation for energetic
performances and imaginative programs. As enthusiastic advocates of new music and
unusual repertoire, they develop in this concert the idea of the fugue in string quartets, from
Mozart’s arrangements of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier and his own “Hunt” Quartet to the
astonishing fugal finale of Beethoven’s Op. 59 No. 3. The concert also includes a much more
recent “Hunt” Quartet (2003) by German composer Jörg Widmann, which uses Schumann’s
Papillons as its starting point. Also featured on this concert are some of Signum’s signature
quartweets, or various composers’ Twitter-submitted quartets of 140 notes or less.
FEBRUARY 19 l
US DEBUT
Founded in 2011, Trilogy
is made up of violinists
Hrachya Avanesyan,
Lorenzo Gatto, and Yossif
Ivanov, each a soloist in his
own right. As Trilogy, their
aim is to present new and
exciting arrangements for
three violins that range
from the classics to recent
popular music. In this
program, Trilogy will play
unique versions of music
from the 18th to the 21st
centuries—from Vivaldi to
Daft Punk.
15
FEBRUARY 12 l
Morgenstern Trio
PHILLIPS DEBUT
Named for German poet Christian
Morgenstern, this trio was founded
while all three players were students at
the Folkwang Conservatory in Essen.
They quickly attracted critical praise
for the bravura and polish of their
performances and their championing
of rarities such as Germaine Tailleferre’s
Piano Trio and Lili Boulanger’s D’un
matin de printemps. American composer
Pierre Jalbert wrote his Piano Trio
No. 2, premiered in 2014 and featured
on this performance, specifically for the
Morgenstern Trio. This concert ends
with Ravel’s great Piano Trio, composed
just before the outbreak of World War I.
16
SUNDAY CONCERTS
FEBRUARY 26 l
Dennis Russell Davies, piano
& Maki Namekawa, piano
DC DUET DEBUT
MARCH 5 l
Marc Bouchkov, violin
& Katia Skanavi, piano
PHILLIPS DEBUT
17
Marc Bouchkov, born in 1991, is a French violinist
who had already made a striking impression even
before winning First Prize with Special Distinction
at the Paris Conservatoire in 2010. Since then,
he has embarked on a busy concert career,
performing a repertoire ranging from the classics
to recent works such as the Violin Concerto by
Pēteris Vasks. Pianist Katia Skanavi was born in
Moscow and has made a number of very wellreceived recordings of Chopin, Schumann, and
Rachmaninoff. The combination of these two
artists on this concert with pieces by Mozart,
Prokofiev, and Schumann promises to be exciting,
as does Bouchkov’s performance of one of Ysaÿe’s
remarkable unaccompanied violin sonatas.
Dennis Russell Davies has had
a distinguished career as both a
pianist and a conductor in the
US and in Europe. Founder of the
American Composers Orchestra,
he has also held esteemed positions
with the St. Paul Chamber
Orchestra, the Bruckner Orchester
Linz, and the Stuttgart Opera. His
partnership with Maki Namekawa
began in 2003, and together they
have performed all over the world in
programs that often include music
by Philip Glass. Maki Namekawa,
a renowned piano soloist, has
the distinct honor of recording
Glass’s complete piano études.
This concert, celebrating Philip
Glass’s 80th birthday, features
Glass’s Four Movements for Two
Pianos alongside works by Kurt
Schwertsik and the tour de force
that is Stravinsky’s four-hand
arrangement of The Rite of Spring.
MARCH 12 l
Teo Gheorghiu, piano
DC DEBUT
A talented actor as well as a pianist, Teo
Gheorghiu starred in the film Vitus in 2004
when he was 12 years old, the same age at
which he made his concert debut. A pupil at
the Purcell School in England, he continued
his studies at the Curtis Institute with
Gary Graffman. In addition to his concerto
appearances and solo recitals all over the world,
he also plays chamber music, particularly with
the Carmina Quartet. Three great pillars of
Russian virtuoso piano music make up this
recital: the descriptive genius of Mussorgsky’s
Pictures at an Exhibition, Rachmaninoff’s
stirring Études-tableaux Op. 33, and Balakirev’s
dazzling “oriental fantasy” Islamey.
MARCH 19 l
Andrei Ioniţă, cello & Yekwon Sunwoo, piano
DC DEBUT
Romanian cellist Andrei Ioniţă won first
prize in the cello section of the 2015
International Tchaikovsky Competition,
confirming his status as one of the leading
cellists of his generation. He has appeared in
many important European concert venues
in recitals and has recently made debuts
with the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester in
Berlin and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic
Orchestra. He is joined by South Korean
pianist Yekwon Sunwoo, an established
soloist and chamber musician. This recital
includes five major works for cello and
piano, including one of Beethoven’s late
cello sonatas, Schubert’s sonata originally
composed for the arpeggione, and
contrasting masterpieces by Brahms and
Debussy, ending with a welcome rarity:
Martinů’s Variations on a Theme by Rossini.
SUNDAY CONCERTS
MARCH 26 l
Jupiter Quartet
APRIL 9 l
PHILLIPS DEBUT
Formed in 2001, the Jupiter Quartet first
came to prominence as the winner of
the Banff International String Quartet
Competition and through its subsequent
residency with the Chamber Music Society
of Lincoln Center. The quartet has played
all over the world and has commissioned
several new works. The Jupiter Quartet is
currently the Quartet in Residence at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
This program includes the first of Mozart’s
great set of quartets dedicated to Haydn,
the most daring and experimental of
Bartók’s quartets, and the most ardent
and lyrical of the quartets by Schumann,
dedicated to his friend Mendelssohn.
APRIL 2 l
Anthony Marwood, violin
& Aleksandar Madžar, piano
DC DEBUT
19
Gould Piano Trio &
Robert Plane, clarinet
TRIO’S 25TH ANNIVERSARY,
ROBERT PLANE’S DC DEBUT
The Gould Piano Trio celebrates its 25th
anniversary together in 2017. This British
ensemble has long been recognized as one of the
most outstanding piano trios (The Washington
Post likened it to the Beaux Arts Trio), and these
musicians have a close artistic relationship with
celebrated clarinetist Robert Plane. Widely
praised for its enterprising rediscovery of
neglected repertoire, the trio has also recorded
complete cycles of Beethoven and Brahms. This
program includes Bartók’s Contrasts, originally
written for the composer himself to play with
Benny Goodman and Joseph Szigeti, and the
most resplendent of Brahms’s piano trios.
British violinist Anthony Marwood is
a versatile musician, working regularly
as a soloist and in chamber ensembles,
recording extensively—particularly
as a member of the Florestan Trio. He
plays a large repertoire, including works
composed for him by Thomas Adès and
Sally Beamish. For this recital he is joined
by Serbian pianist Aleksandar Madžar,
a distinguished soloist who came to
prominence after winning third prize at
the 1996 Leeds Piano Competition and
who has worked extensively as a chamber
musician in collaborations with Marwood
and the Irish Chamber Orchestra. Their
program frames Beethoven and Ravel
with two 20th-century classics: the
passionate and intense sonata by Janáček
and Prokofiev’s joyous Sonata No. 2,
originally for flute but reworked by the
composer for David Oistrakh.
APRIL 16 l
Lukas Geniušas, piano
DC DEBUT
Lukas Geniušas, born in 1990, won the
silver medal in the 2015 International
Tchaikovsky Competition, having
already embarked on a solo career
as a pianist. His programs often
include works that deserve to be
heard more often, and this concert is
no exception. Schumann’s ebullient
Faschingsschwank aus Wien is
followed by a group of Chopin
mazurkas, which are among the most
perfect reinventions of a traditional
dance form. Bartók’s Burlesques
and Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata No. 2
both count among the most boldly
inventive of their early works.
20
SUNDAY CONCERTS
APRIL 23 l
Anne Akiko-Meyers, violin
APRIL 30 l
Quatuor Danel
DC DEBUT
Formed in 1991, the Quatuor
Danel has been acclaimed for its
fresh and exciting interpretations
of the classics, its dedication to
new music, and its passionate
advocacy of two great Russian
composers: Shostakovich and
his friend Mieczysław Weinberg,
including complete recorded cycles
of both composers’ string quartets.
While Shostakovich’s quartets
are well known, this concert
provides a rare opportunity to hear
Weinberg’s Quartet No. 3, a work
of magnificent concentration and
intensity composed in 1944.
PHILLIPS DEBUT & WORLD PREMIERE OF MORTEN LAURIDSEN’S O MAGNUM MYSTERIUM
A native of San Diego, California, and a graduate of Indiana University (where she was taught
by Josef Gingold) and Juilliard (where her teachers included the legendary Felix Galimir
and Dorothy DeLay), Anne Akiko-Meyers is one of the most successful violinists of her
generation. A passionate proponent of new works for her instrument—including, among
many others, pieces by Jennifer Higdon, Arvo Pärt, and Einojuhani Rautavaara—she has also
made a series of acclaimed recordings of core violin repertoire, from Vivaldi to Samuel Barber.
This concert features the world premiere of Morten Lauridsen’s O Magnum Mysterium,
written for Akiko-Meyers.
MAY 7 l
Kyung Wha Chung, violin
PHILLIPS DEBUT
A legendary figure in classical music, Korean
violinist Kyung Wha Chung comes from an
exceptionally musical family (her younger
brother is conductor Muyng-Whun Chung).
She made her debut on the Mendelssohn
Violin Concerto with the Seoul Philharmonic
at age nine and subsequently moved to the
United States, studying with Ivan Galamian at
Juilliard. In 1967, Chung was the joint winner
(with Pinchas Zukerman) of the Leventritt
Competition, launching her concert career
with America’s greatest orchestras. Her
large discography includes some particularly
successful collaborations with André Previn
and Sir Georg Solti, as well as chamber music
recordings with her brother and sister as the
Chung Trio, and with pianists such as Radu
Lupu and Krystian Zimerman.
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LEADING INTERNATIONAL COMPOSERS
In 2009, European embassies in Washington, DC, and The Phillips Collection joined forces to
create an unprecedented concert series: Leading European Composers. Presenting some of the
greatest living composers of our time, this series is unique in that the featured composer designs
a program of their works with performers they select. Last season, Phillips Music broadened its
scope to create Leading International Composers, infusing the series with comprehensive views
on the state of new music beyond geographical borders. This season welcomes Chinese composer
Zhou Long and Swedish composer Anders Hillborg.
PREVIOUSLY FEATURED LEADING INTERNATIONAL COMPOSERS
Hans Abrahamsen (Denmark)
Dušan Bavdek (Slovakia)
Avner Dorman (Israel)
José Luis Greco (Spain)
Olli Kortekangas (Finland)
Tristan Murail (France)
Arvo Pärt (Estonia)
Matthias Pintscher (Germany)
Kaija Saariaho (Finland)
Miroslav Srnka (Czechoslovakia)
Anna Thorvaldsdottir (Iceland)
Erkki-Sven Tüür (Estonia)
Michel van der Aa (The Netherlands)
Pēteris Vasks (Latvia)
CODA SESSIONS
Concerts are held in The Phillips Collection’s 150-seat Music Room, followed by Coda Sessions,
giving audience members a chance to ask questions and converse with these important voices
in contemporary music.
ACADEMIC COMPONENT
Beginning in 2016 each composer will spend a day with students and faculty of the University
of Maryland’s School of Music at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center in College Park to
give fresh insight into their work or hold master classes.
Performances begin promptly at 6 pm unless otherwise noted. General admission seating
is first-come, first-served beginning 45 minutes prior to concert start time. Tickets are $40,
$20 for members and students with ID; museum admission for that day is included. Advance
reservations are strongly recommended.
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Leading International Composers: Arvo Pärt, May 29, 2014
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LEADING INTERNATIONAL COMPOSERS
DECEMBER 8 l
Zhou Long, China
Zhou Long is a composer whose music brings together the aesthetic concepts and
musical elements of East and West. Winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for his first opera,
Madame White Snake, Dr. Zhou has been a two-time recipient of commissions from the
Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation. He has received fellowships from the National
Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations, and the New
York Foundation for the Arts. In 2015, Zhou Long was nominated for a Grammy Award.
Born in 1953 in Beijing, Zhou Long began his studies at the Central Conservatory of
Music in Beijing in 1977. In 1983 he was appointed composer-in-residence with the
China Broadcasting Symphony. He traveled to the United States in 1985 to attend
Columbia University, where he studied with Chou Wen-chung, Mario Davidovsky, and
George Edwards, receiving his doctorate in 1993. He was director of Music From China, a
group founded in 1984 with the aim of presenting concerts of traditional Chinese music
in the United States. He is currently Distinguished Professor of Music at the University
of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance.
Recent works include his Tsingtao Overture, Beijing Rhyme: A Symphonic Suite
(commissioned by the Beijing Symphony Orchestra), a string quartet commissioned by
Wigmore Hall and Lincoln Center, and Postures, a piano concerto commissioned by the
BBC Proms and the Singapore Symphony. His epic symphonic work Nine Odes (2013),
which set poems by Qu Yuan for four solo voices and orchestra, was commissioned by
the Beijing Music Festival.
Zhou Long’s music embraces elements of traditional Chinese music and of American
symphonic music. Newsweek described him as a composer who is “creating striking
works that fuse memories and music from the East with Western-style compositions,
drawing on Chinese folk songs, literature, poetry, and history.”
This performance features
musicians from the ensemble
Music From China, performing
on traditional Chinese
instruments. In partnership with the Embassy
of the People's Republic of China
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LEADING INTERNATIONAL COMPOSERS
MARCH 9 l
Anders Hillborg, Sweden
Anders Hillborg was born in 1954. He studied counterpoint, composition, and
electronic music at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm between 1976 and
1982. His teachers included Gunnar Bucht, Lars-Erik Rosell, Arne Mellnäs, and Pär
Lindgren. Brian Ferneyhough, who was a guest lecturer on several occasions, was
also an important inspiration. Since graduation, Hillborg has worked as a full-time
composer, with a significant output for orchestra (with and without soloists) and
chamber music, as well as his early choral work Mouyayoum.
Hillborg is a regular collaborator with conductor and composer Esa-Pekka
Salonen, who has described Hillborg’s music as exploring tensions and contrasts:
“the static and the hyperactive, the mechanical and the human, the nobly
beautiful and the banally brutal, the comic and the moving. Almost never
sentimental, but surreal in a way—like Dalí’s melting watches. And when
something familiar does return, it is . . . distorted so far from its original guise that
it becomes something quite different.”
Hillborg’s major works include a Violin Concerto, Dreaming River for orchestra,
Cold Heat—first performed by the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by David
Zinman—and the vocal/orchestral work Sirens, dedicated to Salonen and first
performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Master Chorale with soloists
including Anne Sofie von Otter. At Carnegie Hall in 2013, Renée Fleming gave the
premiere of Hillborg’s song-cycle The Strand Settings, based on poems by Mark
Strand, with the New York Philharmonic under Alan Gilbert. Anthony Tommasini
wrote in The New York Times that the music was “at once atmospheric, elegiac,
and unsettling,” adding that this was music that “keeps its secrets to itself and
makes you want to hear it again to figure out more.”
Performers for this concert include the Calder Quartet, clarinetist Magnus
Holmander, and Axiom Brass.
In partnership with the Embassy of Sweden
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THURSDAY MUSIC
Performances begin promptly at 6 pm unless otherwise noted. General admission seating
is first-come, first-served beginning 45 minutes prior to concert start time. Tickets are $20,
$8 for members and students with ID; museum admission for that day is included. Advance
reservations are strongly recommended.
OCTOBER 27 l
Ultra Violet & The Factory Tribute
JANUARY 19 l
So-Mang Jeagal, piano
PHILLIPS DEBUT
Born in Daegu, South Korea, in 1983, So-Mang Jeagal gave his first recital at age 11. He won the
Grand Prize at the 2014 Washington International Piano Competition and first prize at the
Los Angeles International Liszt Competition in the same year. A pianist with a wide repertoire
and a particular sympathy for music in the grand Romantic tradition, Jeagal’s program at the
Phillips includes Rachmaninoff’s formidable Second Sonata—a work championed by Vladimir
Horowitz—plus a set of four scherzi by Chopin.
PHILLIPS DEBUT
A multimedia event from New York-based French artist Pascal Blondeau, this performance
is a tribute to his mentor Ultra Violet, who was the studio assistant and muse of Salvador
Dalí in the 1950s and a member of Andy Warhol’s Factory in the 1960s. Ultra Violet also
exhibited throughout the world works that focus on energy, light, and humor.
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UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND CONCERTS
In fall 2015, The Phillips Collection and the University of Maryland
launched a bold partnership with a shared vision to dramatically
transform scholarship and innovation in the arts. Through this
partnership, the Phillips will expand its education programs, reach
new and diverse audiences, and pursue key initiatives that align
with the museum’s strategic mission as an “experiment station”
and institution for learning. At the same time, UMD will grow its
established scholarship and academic programs within the arts,
provide unparalleled research and education opportunities for UMD
faculty and students, and expand its footprint in the nation’s capital.
The University of Maryland Center for Art and Knowledge at The
Phillips Collection (the expansion of the Center for the Study of
Modern Art) is the museum’s nexus for academic work, scholarly
exchange, and innovative interdisciplinary collaborations. Key
collaborations under the newly named Center include joint
programs with UMD. Two concerts this season feature UMD School
of Music performers, and students have the opportunity to attend
other Phillips Music concerts and participate in master classes
related to the Leading International Composers series.
OCTOBER 13, 6 PM l
DECEMBER 2, 8 PM l
University of Maryland and Derek Bermel
at Dekelboum Concert Hall
The UMD School of Music Symphony Orchestra performs Derek Bermel’s Migration
Series, joined onstage by UMD’s Jazz Band, Chamber Singers, and Wind Orchestra. The
performance is inspired by paintings from The Phillips Collection’s Migration Series by
Jacob Lawrence, depicting the mass movement of African Americans from the rural
South to the urban North between the World Wars. Duke Ellington’s Harlem, depicting
the Harlem Renaissance, and John Harbison’s Flight into Egypt will also be performed in
accordance with the migration theme. Tickets are $25, $20 for The Clarice NextLEVEL subscribers, $10 for students. Proceeds
support School of Music undergraduate scholarships. Visit theclarice.umd.edu for tickets.
University of Maryland Chamber Concert
Henri at 100: Mystery and Memory
Standing at the intersection of tonality, modality, and serialism, Henri Dutilleux (1916–2013)
came of age in France during the Second World War. He absorbed and mastered all the
dominant strands of the European musical tradition and garnered an esteemed reputation
as a composer. Dutilleux created a new musical language of beauty, exoticism, and passion
from the wreckage of postwar Europe. In celebration of Dutilleux’s centenary, the UMD
School of Music offers an engaging cross-disciplinary retrospective highlighting some of
the composer’s most important works, presented with works by Debussy and Ravel.
Tickets are $20, $8 for members and students with ID; museum admission for that day is
included. Advance reservations are strongly recommended.
A second performance of this program will also take place at The Clarice Smith Performing
Arts Center at the University of Maryland on Sunday, October 16, at 3 pm.
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Visitors viewing Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series (1940-41)
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JOIN THE CELEBRATION
PHILLIPS MUSIC SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
The success of our 75th anniversary season, made possible by our
dedicated friends and supporters, serves as an ambitious road
map for our future. Ticket income alone does not cover the cost
of a season; your generosity to Phillips Music will help sustain the
programs in place while enabling us to build new initiatives.
We invite you to join us in celebrating the 2016/2017 concert
season by making a gift in support of Phillips Music:
SEASON SPONSORSHIP
Sponsorship opportunities begin at $5,000. Sponsors receive recognition
in promotional materials for the 2016/2017 season and enjoy benefits
including reserved seating at all Sunday Concerts, Leading International
Composers performances, and Thursday Music, as well as opportunities
to meet Phillips Music artists and invitations to exclusive Phillips Music
events.($3,500 tax-deductible)
MUSIC ENDOWMENT FUND
A current or legacy gift to endow Phillips Music allows the Phillips to
expand its impact, engage still more diverse communities, build creative
conversations with partners around the globe, and interact with a broader
community of artists. Endowment gifts are fully tax-deductible.
For more information on supporting Phillips Music,
contact the Development Department at 202.387.2151 x250.
PHILLIPS CHAMBER SOCIETY
Consider adding a $1,500 season subscription to any category of
museum membership. Benefits include: two guaranteed tickets to all
Sunday Concerts, Leading International Composers performances, and
Thursday Music; priority access to seating; advance e-mail notification of
concert programming; and acknowledgment in concert programs. This
subscription is not tax-deductible.
To join, contact [email protected] or 202.387.3036.
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Metropolis Ensemble, May 8, 2016
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THANK YOU
Phillips Music is made possible by generous contributions from individuals, as well as
corporate and foundation grants. Thank you for helping to ensure that the world's
finest musicians, together with promising emerging performers, continue to appear at
The Phillips Collection.
SEASON SPONSORS
MUSIC ENDOWMENT FUND
Ms. Louise R. de la Fuente and
Mr. Mace Rosenstein
Susan and Christopher DeMuth
Ms. Martha R. Johnston and Mr. Robert Coonrod
Gary and Phoebe Mallard
Eileen and Michael Tanner
Leslie Whipkey and Lee Hoffman
Mary Blake
In memory of Sylvia C. Winkelman
by Ann and Donald Brown
In memory of Esther Silver Burstein
and Louise Bernheimer Ehrman
by the Silver-Burstein Foundation
Thomas Carothers
In honor of Elisabeth Wisner Chisholm
by the Chisholm Foundation
Clark-Winchcole Foundation
In memory of its founder, Dallas Morse Coors
by The Dallas Morse Coors Foundation
for the Performing Arts
The Cosmos Club Foundation
Helen and Charles Crowder
James and Donna Devall
In memory of Tamara Dmitrieff by her friends
The Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation
Florence Fasanelli
Mr. and Mrs. Carl M. Freeman
The Friday Morning Music Club and Foundation
The Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation
Joseph and Alma Gildenhorn
In memory of Elmira Bier by Virginia Glover
In honor of John D. Graubert by his wife
Gilbert Greenway
Richard A. Herman
Lynne and Joseph Horning
Paul Hume
James Johnston
David Lloyd Kreeger
In memory of Mr. and Mrs. William
Andrew Pollard by Rebecca Pollard Logan
Geneviève Guérin Mason
PHILLIPS CHAMBER SOCIETY
Betty Bullock and John Silton
Ms. Sandra Cummins-Haid and Mr. Allen Haid
Mr. Justin M. Dempsey
Dr. Florence D. Fasanelli
Mr. Bernardo Frydman
Ms. Nancy Hirshbein and Mr. Robert Roche
Joseph and Lynne Horning
Deborah Houlihan
John and Kathleen McNamara
Mr. John O’Donnell
Andrew Oliver
Ms. Sandra C. Pollen
Carol Ridker
Roberta Ong Roumel
Al and Nadia Taran
Dr. Philip Posner and Dr. Carol Van Hartesveldt
Dr. Bension Varon
Mr. Warren C. Zwicky
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In memory of Harry McClure
William and Inna Metler
Alice and Arthur Nagle
The Edward John Noble Foundation
Gerson Nordlinger, Jr.
To honor our nation's great composers
by F. Warren O‘Reilly
In memory of Nancy Hanks
by Mr. and Mrs. Laurance S. Rockefeller
In honor of Joyce B. Cowin
by Patricia Bennett Sagon
In memory of H. Theodore Shore
In memory of Colonel C. Haskell Small
and Ruth B. Small by their family
In memory of Alice T. Strong
by the Hattie M. Strong Foundation
AS OF JULY 2016
For information about how to support Phillips Music, please contact
[email protected] or 202.387.2151 x250.
The Phillips Collection gratefully acknowledges support from the following partners:
Cosponsor of Leading
International Composers
Official Supporter of our
International Artists
Official Hotel Sponsors
Official Broadcast
Sponsor
PHOTO CREDITS: Denyce Graves: Devon Cass; Niklas Walentin: Thorbjørn Fessel; Ralph Kirshbaum: Daniel Anderson/USC; Shai Wosner: Marco
Borggreve; Denis Kozhukhin: deniskozhukhin.com; Rahim AlHaj: Douglas Kent Hall; Heath Quartet: Kaupo Kikkas; Lukáš Vondráček: Susan
Wilson; Vadym Kholodenko: Ellen Appel; Nadia Sirota: Samantha West; Liam Byrne: liambyrne.net; Aristo Sham: aristosham.net; Carter Brey:
Chris Lee; Alexander Sitkovetsky: dianesaldick.com; Wu Qian: wuqianpiano.com; Stewart Goodyear: Anita Zvonar; Stephen Kovacevich: Amy
T. Zielinski; Lise de la Salle: Stephane Gallois for Vanity Fair; Isabelle Faust: Marco Borggreve; Jean-Guihen Queyras: Yoshinori Mido; Trilogy:
Gaetan Nerincx; Signum Quartet: Irène Zandel; Morgenstern Trio: Irène Zandel; Dennis Russell Davies: Reinhard Winkler; Maki Namekawa:
Wolfgang Winkler; Marc Bouchkov: Nikolaj Lund; Teo Gheorghiu: Roshan Adhihetty; Andrei Ioniţă: Daniel Delang; Jupiter Quartet: Brian
Stauffer; Anthony Marwood: Sussie Ahlberg; Aleksandar Madžar: Keith Saunders; Gould Piano Trio: Jake Morley; Robert Plane: robertplane.com;
Lukas Geniušas: Irina Polyarnaya; Anne Akiko-Meyers: Nico Nordström; Quatuor Danel: Ant Clausen; Kyung Wha Chung: Kang Taewook; Zhou
Long: Southern Illinois University; Music From China: Man Asura; Anders Hillborg: Mats Lundqvist; Calder Quartet: Autumn de Wilde; Magnus
Holmander: harmonien.no; Axiom Brass: Dario Acosta; Ultra Violet & Warhol: Corbis; So-Mang Jeagal: Village Concerts; Arvo Pärt concert:
Sardari Group; Richard Goode and Calidore Quartet concerts: Joshua Navarro; The Migration Series: Max Hirshfeld
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PHILLIPS MUSIC 2016/2017 CALENDAR
Visit PhillipsCollection.org/music to reserve tickets and view up-to-date concert details.
Select performances are broadcast on Front Row Washington on Classical WETA 90.9 FM
on Monday evenings at 9 pm. All artists and programs are subject to change.
SUNDAY CONCERTS, 4 pm, $40/$20 members and students
LEADING INTERNATIONAL COMPOSERS, 6 pm, $40/$20 members and students
THURSDAY MUSIC, 6 pm, $20/$8 members and students
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND CONCERTS
SEPTEMBER
JANUARY
25 | Denyce Graves, mezzo-soprano
& Laura Ward, piano
8 | Stephen Kovacevich, piano
15 | Lise de la Salle, piano
19 | So-Mang Jeagal, piano
22 | Isabelle Faust, violin
29 | Jean-Guihen Queyras, cello
OCTOBER
2 | Niklas Walentin, violin,
Christina Bjørkøe, piano, Jean Thorel,
conductor & Sō Percussion
9 | Ralph Kirshbaum, cello
& Shai Wosner, piano
13 | UMD Chamber Concert, 6 pm
16 | Denis Kozhukhin, piano
23 | Rahim AlHaj, oud
27 | Ultra Violet & The Factory Tribute
30 | Heath Quartet
NOVEMBER
6 | Lukáš Vondráček, piano
13 | Vadym Kholodenko, piano
20 | Nadia Sirota, viola & Liam Byrne, viol
27 | Aristo Sham, piano
DECEMBER
2 | UMD & Derek Bermel at
Dekelboum Concert Hall, 8 pm
4 | Carter Brey, cello
& Benjamin Pasternack, piano
8 | Leading International Composers:
Zhou Long, China
11 | Alexander Sitkovetsky, violin
& Wu Qian, piano
18 | Stewart Goodyear, piano
FEBRUARY
5 | Trilogy, violin trio
12 | Signum Quartet
19 | Morgenstern Trio
26 | Dennis Russell Davies, piano
& Maki Namekawa, piano
MARCH
5 | Marc Bouchkov, violin
& Katia Skanavi, piano
9 | Leading International Composers:
Anders Hillborg, Sweden
12 | Teo Gheorghiu, piano
19 | Andrei Ioniţă, cello
& Yekwon Sunwoo, piano
26 | Jupiter Quartet
APRIL
2 | Anthony Marwood, violin
& Aleksandar Madžar, piano
9 | Gould Piano Trio
& Robert Plane, clarinet
16 | Lukas Geniušas, piano
23 | Anne Akiko-Meyers, violin
30 | Quatuor Danel
MAY
7 | Kyung Wha Chung, violin
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Calidore Quartet, December 14, 2014
Allan Rohan Crite, Parade on Hammond Street (detail), 1935,
Oil on canvas board. 18 x 24 in. The Phillips Collection, Acquired 1942
PhillipsCollection.org |
1600 21st Street, nw, Washington, dc