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ABOUT THE 2024-2025 SEASON Dear friends, Parlance Chamber Concerts’s 17th season will begin joyfully on September 29 with a “Cellobration” spotlighting four of today’s leading cellists. Carter Brey, principal of the New York Philharmonic; Rafael Figueroa , principal of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra Zvi Plesser , professor at The Juilliard School; and the versatile soloist and chamber musician Edward Arron will join forces in a rich selection of cello solos and ensembles. On October 20 , the elite Paris-based string quartet, The Modigliani , will make it’s Parlance debut. Their far-ranging program will include Joaquín’s Turina’s lushly impressionistic Bullfighter’s Prayer, Brahms’s tenderhearted Quartet in B-flat, Op. 67 , and Beethoven’s sublime Quartet in E minor, Op. 59, No. 2. On November 17 , the poetic English pianist Paul Lewis will return to PCC's stage. Universally acclaimed for his sovereign Schubert interpretations, Lewis will perform Schubert’s profound final trilogy of sonatas . A special mid-season “series with the series” will showcase the scintillating virtuosity of three of today’s most exciting performers: “The Virtuoso Flutist” On December 15 , the phenomenal Crimean flutist Denis Bouriakov will perform a recital of concertos for flute and orchestra by Mozart, Bach, François Devienne and Saint-Saëns . Denis will be supported by an ensemble of musicians from the New York Philharmonic. Michael Parloff will conduct. “The Virtuoso Organist” On January 19, organist Paul Jacobs will again grace our stage in a afternoon of towering masterpieces for the King of Instruments by Bach Mendelssohn, Franck, Ives and Liszt . Don’t miss the musician that the Washington Post called “one of the great living virtuosos. ” “The Virtuoso Cellist” On February 9, the renowned British cellist Steven Isserlis will make his long-awaited Parlance debut. Celebrated worldwide for his deeply communicative artistry, Isserlis radiates joy and virtuosity with every note he plays. His internationally diverse program will include works by Beethoven, Martinu, Boulanger , and Edvard Grieg’s soaring sonata for cello and piano. On March 9, celebrate Maurice Ravel’s 150th Birthday with the beguiling Russian-American soprano Erika Baikoff and the stellar Korean pianist Soohong Park . Their recital will feature a selection of Ravel’s most alluring song cycles and ravishing piano solos, including Shéhérazade and Gaspard de la nuit . On April 13, the lustrous Quartetto di Cremona will make their eagerly anticipated return to PCC. The award-winning Italian ensemble will perform pinnacles of the quartet repertoire, including Debussy’s luminous String Quartet and Beethoven’s spiritually transcendent Quartet in A minor, Op. 132 . On May 18 , you won’t want to miss our star-studded seasonal finale, Late Night with Leonard Bernstein . This multimedia cabaret will be hosted by the Maestro’s daughter, Jamie Bernstein , in collaboration with acclaimed soprano Amy Burton and pianists John Musto and Michael Boriskin . They will provide an affectionately intimate portrait of the multifaceted titan of 20th-century American music. I look forward to seeing you again soon at Parlance Chamber Concerts! Michael Parloff 2024-2025 SEASON September 29, 2024 Cellobration! October 20, 2024 Modigliani Quartet November 17, 2024 Paul Lewis Plays Schubert December 15, 2024 The Virtuoso Flutist Denis Bouriakov January 19, 2025 The Virtuoso Organist Paul Jacobs February 9, 2025 The Virtuoso Cellist Steven Isserlis March 9, 2025 Ravel’s 150th Birthday Concert April 13, 2025 Quartetto Di Cremona May 18, 2025 Late Night With Leonard Bernstein Artist Roster Parlance Program Notes LOCATION At West Side Presbyterian Church 6 South Monroe Street Ridgewood, NJ 07450 For map and directions, click here . CONCERT AMENITIES Whee lchair Accessible Fr e e Parking for all concerts

SUNDAY, MAY 3, 2020 AT 3 PM PAUL HUANG AND DANBI UM, VIOLINS JUHO POHJONEN, PIANO BUY TICKETS DANBI UM, VIOLIN “Danbi Um’s playing is utterly dazzling…a marvelous show of superb technique” — The Strad JUHO POHJONEN, PIANO “Juho Pohjonen demonstrated his elegant musicianship, pearly touch, singing tone, and sensitivity throughout the program…everything about his recital was formidable” — The New York Times PAUL HUANG, VIOLIN FEATURING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS Three of today’s most scintillating young will join forces in an eclectic program of rarely performed masterpieces. The concert will include exhilarating works by Beethoven, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Pablo Sarasate, and a specially commissioned trio by the award-winning young American composer Chris Rogerson. PROGRAM Erich Wolfgang Korngold Suite from Much Ado about Nothing , Op. 11 Danbi Um, violin; Juho Pohjonen, piano Program Notes Moritz Moszkowski Suite for two violins and piano , Op. 71 Program Notes Ludwig van Beethoven Violin Sonata No. 8 in G Major, Op. 30, No. 3 Paul Huang, violin; Juho Pohjonen Program Notes Chris Rogerson New Work for two violins and piano Program Notes Amy Barlowe Hebrew Elegy for two violins Paul Huang and Danbi Um, violins Program Notes Pablo Sarasate Navarra, Op. 33 for two violins and piano Program Notes Watch violinists Paul Huang and Danbi Um perform Sarasate’s Navarra: Watch pianist Juho Pohjonen play Rameau’s Keyboard Suite No. 2:

THE ESCHER STRING QUARTET The Escher String Quartet has received acclaim for its profound musical insight and rare tonal beauty. Championed by the Emerson String Quartet, the group was a BBC New Generation Artist from 2010–2012, giving debuts at both Wigmore Hall and BBC Proms at Cadogan Hall. In its home town of New York, the ensemble serves as Artists of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and in 12/13 presented a critically acclaimed 3-concert series featuring the quartets of Benjamin Britten. In 2013, the quartet became one of the very few chamber ensembles to be awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. Within months of its inception in 2005, the Escher Quartet was invited by both Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman to be Quartet in Residence at each artist’s summer festival: the Young Artists Programme at Canada’s National Arts Centre; and the Perlman Chamber Music Programme on Shelter Island, NY. The quartet has since collaborated with artists including David Finckel, Leon Fleischer, Wu Han, Lynn Harrell, Cho Liang Lin, David Shifrin, and guitarist Jason Vieaux. Last season, the Escher Quartet undertook an extensive UK tour with pianist Benjamin Grosvenor. The Escher Quartet is increasingly making a distinctive impression throughout Europe as it builds important debuts into its diary and receives consistently high acclaim for its work. Recent such engagements have included the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Auditorium du Louvre in Paris and the Conservatoire de Musique in Geneva among others. In 2013, the group’s first appearance at Israel’s Tel Aviv Museum of Art resulted in an immediate re-invitation, and its performance at Wigmore Hall was followed by an invitation to establish a regular relationship with the venue. The current season sees further significant debuts at London’s Kings Place, Berlin’s Konzerthaus, and Slovenian Philharmonic Hall in Ljubljana, as well as Great Music in Irish Houses and the Risør Festival in Norway. Alongside its growing European profile, the Escher Quartet continues to flourish in its home country, performing at Alice Tully Hall in New York, Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and Ravinia and Caramoor festivals. Last season saw a critically acclaimed debut at Chamber Music San Francisco and an appearance at Music@Menlo in California. Elsewhere, the group gave its first Australian performances at Perth International Arts Festival in 2012, and this season makes its debut at the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival. Adding to the current season is the quartet’s involvement in the education of young musicians, with coaching activities at Campos do Jordão Music Festival in Brazil and the Royal Academy of Music in London. The quartet has recorded the complete Zemlinsky String Quartets on the Naxos label, releasing two highly acclaimed volumes in 2013 and 2014 respectively. Forthcoming releases include the complete Mendelssohn Quartet cycle on the BIS label. The Escher Quartet takes its name from Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher, inspired by Escher’s method of interplay between individual components working together to form a whole.

ANTIOCH CHAMBER ENSEMBLE, CHOIR Widely regarded as one of the finest professional choral ensembles in the United States, The Antioch Chamber Ensemble is currently celebrating its 23rd season of exceptional music-making. Under the leadership of founding Artistic Director Joshua Copeland, and executive director Stephen Sands, the ensemble strives to present as diverse a program as possible of the world’s greatest choral literature, both sacred and secular, and has performed works ranging from Renaissance polyphony to contemporary masterpieces with a core group of ten to twelve of the New York metropolitan area’s finest singers. Antioch has been awarded first-place honors in the highly prestigious Tolosa International Choral Competition in Spain, establishing them among the top rank of professional choirs in the world. In recent seasons, Antioch has been called “stellar,” “flawless,” “an exceptional group,” and “a spectacular example of what a classical choir should sound like” by the national press. Of the ensemble’s début for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, The New York Times wrote: “The Antioch Chamber Ensemble performed … with clarity of tone and intonation so pure that you could hear the buzz of overtones created by some of the close harmonies. The most daring of these often color the sighs and wordless exclamations that punctuate both spiritual and secular texts, and the Antioch singers gave each its expressive register: impassioned, weak-kneed, swooning.” Other past performance highlights include concerts for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC), the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, the American Choral Directors Association Eastern National Conference and the Festival des Choeurs Lauréats in France.

DEAN LEBLANC, BASSET HORN Clarinetist Dean LeBlanc has been performing with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra as an Associate Musician since 1998. He enjoys a versatile performance career as an orchestral musician and has also performed with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Orchestra, Lincoln Center Festival, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Santa Fe Opera, New York City Opera, American Symphony Orchestra, Bard Music Festival, American Ballet Theatre Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. As a chamber musician he has performs frequently with the MET Chamber Ensemble, Skaneateles Festival, the New York Chamber Music Festival, and the New York Philharmonic’s CONTACT! Series to include a few. Mr. LeBlanc has recorded for Decca, Atlantic, Telarc, New World Records, and EMI labels as well as for numerous major motion picture soundtracks including the Emmy Award Winning HBO Miniseries Mildred Pierce and the Oscar Winning Films True Grit, and Joker. He can be heard on four of the MET’s Grammy Award winning recordings, including Der Ring des Nibelungen, The Tempest, Porgy and Bess, and Akhnaten. Mr. LeBlanc is a Selmer Artist and serves on the Adjunct Faculty of the Juilliard School.

October 4, 2015 – Richard Goode, piano JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897) Sechs Klavierstücke (Six Piano Pieces), op. 118 October 4, 2015 – Richard Goode, piano In the four sets of piano pieces that appeared in 1892–93, opp. 116–119, Brahms took up the writing of “miniatures” that he had begun with the Ballades, op. 10, and the Piano Pieces, op. 76. The later pieces, particularly the intermezzos, which make up fourteen of the twenty pieces in these four sets, tend generally toward the introspective, though flashes of youthful exuberance flare up occasionally—in the outer sections of both the Ballade, op. 118, no. 3, and the Capriccio, op. 116, no. 7, for example. No precise chronology can be determined for these pieces, yet the structural economy and tendency toward harmonic and textural “impressionism” all point to Brahms’s late style. Four of the six pieces in Opus 118 are labeled “intermezzo,” Brahms’s nonspecific designation that covers a fairly wide range, from the opening passionate, stormy Intermezzo (op. 118, no. 1) to the desolate, haunting tone picture of the last (no. 6). The first of these, laid out in two sections, each repeated, presents a recurring feature in Brahms’s works, namely a descending melodic shape. Many have associated the descending line, which recurs particularly in the late works, with resignation on the part of the composer. The closing Intermezzo in E-flat minor casts its tragic spell from the opening single-voice theme, fashioned from only three neighboring pitches. Its inward aspect gives no hint of the intensity of the climax in the middle section. Similar in nature to the “cradle-song” intermezzos, op. 117, the serene, beautiful A major Intermezzo (no. 2), lies within the grasp of good amateur players, and hence is one of the best known of these pieces. Its more restless middle section, full of Brahms’s beloved three-against two rhythms, contains several well-integrated contrapuntal devices. Imitation between the two hands is also important in the quietly agitated F minor Intermezzo (no. 4), both in the opening section and in the chordal textures of the middle section. The G minor Ballade (no. 3) provides contrast to all the other pieces in the set with its bold and lively spirit. One of its playful aspects is the brief recall of the opening theme in the “wrong” key (D-sharp minor) in the middle of the central section. The fifth piece, which Brahms labeled “Romanze,” again suggests a cradle song with its melodic directness and rocking chordal accompaniment; the impression continues in the middle section with its melodic decorations over a rocking repeated pattern in the bass. Brahms’s masterful variation techniques are apparent not only here, but in the elaborations of the basic material in the outer sections. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

WARREN JONES, PIANO WARREN JONES has recently been named as “Collaborative Pianist of the Year” for 2010 by the publication Musical America. He performs with many of today’s best-known artists, including Stephanie Blythe, Denyce Graves, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Matthew Polenzani, Ruth Ann Swenson, Bo Skovhus, Samuel Ramey, James Morris, John Relyea, Joseph Alessi, and Richard “Yongjae” O’Neill-and is Principal Pianist for the exciting California-based chamber music group Camerata Pacifica. In the past he has partnered such great performers as Marilyn Horne, Håkan Hagegård, Kathleen Battle, Barbara Bonney, Carol Vaness, Judith Blegen, Tatiana Troyanos and Martti Talvela. His collaborations have earned consistently high praise from many publications: The Boston Globe termed him “flawless” and “utterly ravishing”; The New York Times, “exquisite”; and The San Francisco Chronicle said simply, “He is the single finest accompanist now working.” Mr. Jones has often been a guest artist at Carnegie Hall and in Lincoln Center’s “Great Performers Series,” as well as the festivals of Tanglewood, Ravinia, and Caramoor. His international travels have taken him to recitals at the Salzburg Festival, Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, the Maggio Musicale Festival in Florence, the Teatro Fenice in Venice, Paris’ Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and Opéra Bastille, Wigmore Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Cultural Centre in Hong Kong and theatres throughout Scandinavia and Korea. Mr. Jones has been invited three times to the White House by American presidents to perform at concerts honoring the President of Russia, and Prime Ministers of Italy and Canada – and three times he has appeared at the U.S. Supreme Court as a specially invited performer for the Justices and their guests. As a guest at the Library of Congress, Mr. Jones has appeared with the Juilliard Quartet in performances of the Schumann Piano Quintet. Recent seasons have included his debut with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in a work commissioned for Stephanie Blythe and him, “Covered Wagon Woman,” by Alan Louis Smith. In addition to performances with the Borromeo and Brentano Quartets, he has been heard at the New York Philharmonic in the Sextet of Ernst von Dohnanyi, and been invited to participate regularly in the annual Marilyn Horne Foundation gala festivities at Carnegie Hall, both as performer and Master Class teacher. In the summer of 2009, he conducted sold-out, critically-acclaimed performances of Mascagni’s “L’amico Fritz” with the Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera. Mr. Jones’ discography includes more than 25 recordings: the latest is a compilation of new songs by the American composer Lori Laitman on the Albany label. He can be heard on every major record label, in diverse repertory from Schubert and Brahms to more esoteric compositions of Gretchaninoff, Clarke, and Smit, as well as contemporary works by Harbison and others. Mr. Jones is a member of the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, where highly gifted young artists work with him in a unique graduate degree program in collaborative piano. Each summer he teaches and performs at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. For ten years he was Assistant Conductor at the Metropolitan Opera and for three seasons served in the same capacity at San Francisco Opera.
 Mr. Jones is also a prominent musical jurist, having been a judge for the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, the Walter Naumberg Foundation Awards, the Metropolitan Opera Auditions, Artists’ Association International Fine Arts Competition, and the American Council for the Arts. Born in Washington, D.C., Mr. Jones grew up in North Carolina and graduated with honors from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. He has been honored with the Conservatory’s Outstanding Alumni Award, and currently serves on the Board of Overseers of that institution. A resident of New York City, Mr. Jones enjoys cooking, exercise, historical novels, and lively political discussion.

December 5, 2021: Paul Jacobs, organ JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor, BWV 582 December 5, 2021: Paul Jacobs, organ For the last work in this 335th anniversary celebration of Bach, we turn to the earliest work on the program and one of his most famous, the Passacaglia in C minor. Not only has this organ work been arranged numerous times for orchestra, piano, or various chamber groups, but it has made its way into popular culture through films and such diverse renditions as Jimi Hendrix’s Lift Off and the jazz flute version by Hubert Laws, both in 1973. Precise dating of the Passacaglia is educated guesswork, but a range between 1706 and 1713 is typically given. Though no manuscript in Bach’s hand exists, the various sources show enough variants to suggest that the original version was written out in organ tablature (system of notation with numbers, letters, and other signs to indicate keys). The thinking is that Bach may have made such a version during his visit to Lübeck in 1705–06 or perhaps shortly after he got back to Arnstadt, where he soon felt stifled after the stimulation of Lübeck and moved to an organist position at Mühlhausen. Or it could be that a later version spilled over into his early years at Weimar (see the note for BWV 582 for more about Weimar). The form of a passacaglia, often indistinguishable from that of a chaconne, consists of a series of variations based on a repeating pattern in the bass—typically four or eight measures—and relies on traditional chord progressions. Such pieces flourished especially during the Baroque era, when many composers made use of existing passacaglia themes for their own sets of variations. In Bach’s case, his work consists of a theme and twenty variations, the last of which is extended without pause by a fugue, which could also count as Variation 21. Some scholars have conjectured that Bach may have composed the Fugue first, basing it on two main subjects—the first drawn from a mass by French organist André Raison from his Livre d’orgue, published in Paris in 1699, and the second, which he would tweak to become the Passacaglia’s second half, placed as a pulsing countersubject to the first subject. Yet a third fugue subject in faster note values then enters as a countersubject to the combined counterpoint of the first two. The tweaked second half of the Passacaglia has been found to be similar to a passacaille in a different mass by Raison, which some view as just a coincidence. Whether or not the Fugue or the Passacaglia came first, both show added influences of other composers such as Buxtehude and Legrenzi whose works on repeating patterns Bach was studying around that time. Many commentators have proposed theories of what sorts of symbolism or symmetries seem to be at work in the Passacaglia, and there are numerous differences of opinion as to where formal divisions and groupings lie. A general consensus, however, seems to be that there is a break in intensity after Variation 12, followed by an “interlude” of three variations and another group of five that ends with great majesty. The Fugue is the work’s crowning achievement—more complicated than a fugue on a single subject and thus called a double fugue by many, though definitions vary. The upshot is that Bach was thinking about counterpoint in remarkably sophisticated ways and surpassing all of his models in creating an original design. After the first presentation of the subject and countersubject, this pair returns four times, migrating systematically among voices and moving out of and back into the home key—and at the same time incorporating a third subject (countersubject) as well as a layer of freely composed material. All of this leads with dramatic purpose to a resounding conclusion. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

ALBERTO PARRINI, CELLO ALBERTO PARRINI, cellist, is an associate musician with the Metropolitan Opera and a member of the American Symphony and Orchestra of St. Luke’s. He performs regularly with East Coast Chamber Orchestra, Lenape Chamber Ensemble, Lighthouse Chamber Players, Richardson Chamber Players, New Jersey Symphony and New York Philharmonic. As principal cellist of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic (2007 -2023), he was a featured soloist in concertos by Brahms, Haydn, Saint-Saens and Tchaikovsky. With the Zukofsky Quartet he has given performances of the complete string quartets of Milton Babbitt in New York and Chicago. He performed throughout the U.S. with the American Chamber Players (2004- 2010), was the cellist of the St. Lawrence String Quartet (2002-2003) and spent one season as assistant principal with the Richmond Symphony. Alberto has toured North America, Europe and Asia with Mikhail Baryshnikov and the White Oak Dance Project and performed with Arco Ensemble, Concertante, Continuum, Mark Morris Dance Group, Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Mirror Visions, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Proteus Ensemble and Sinfonietta of Riverdale. His principal teachers were Timothy Eddy, Joel Krosnick, David Soyer, Colin Carr and Enrico Egano; he is a graduate of the Curtis Institute and the Juilliard School. Alberto teaches cello and chamber music at Princeton University. He is also co-director of the Adult Chamber Music Workshop at Kinhaven.

CHEE-YUN, VIOLIN Chee-Yun has performed with many of the world's foremost orchestras and conductors. Orchestral highlights include her tours of the United States with the San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas and Japan with the NHK Symphony, a concert with the Seoul Philharmonic conducted by Myung-Whun Chung that was broadcast on national television, and a benefit for UNESCO with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Avery Fisher Hall. Chee-Yun has performed with such distinguished conductors as Michael Tilson Thomas, Jaap van Zweden, Manfred Honeck, Hans Graf, James DePriest, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Krzysztof Penderecki, Neeme Järvi, Pinchas Zukerman, Giancarlo Guerrero, José Luis Gomez, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, and Carlos Kalmar. She has appeared with the Toronto, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Atlanta, and National symphony orchestras, as well as with the Saint Paul and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestras. Other orchestral engagements include performances with the Orquesta Sinfonia Nacional and the Mobile and Pasadena Symphonies, in addition to appearances with the National Philharmonic, Colorado and Pacific Symphonies, and the Tucson, Detroit, and Pensacola symphony orchestras. A champion of contemporary music, Chee-Yun has performed Christopher Theofanidis’ Violin Concerto conducted by David Alan Miller as part of the Albany Symphony's American Festival, in addition to performing Kevin Puts’ Violin Concerto with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. As a recitalist, Chee-Yun has performed in many major U.S. cities, including New York, Chicago, Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Atlanta. Career highlights include appearances at the Kennedy Center's "Salute to Slava" gala honoring Mstislav Rostropovich and with the Mostly Mozart Festival on tour in Japan, as well as a performance with Michael Tilson Thomas in the inaugural season of Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall and the U.S. premiere of Penderecki’s Sonata No. 2 with pianist Barry Douglas. In 2016, Chee-Yun performed as a guest artist for the Secretary General at the United Nations in celebration of Korea's National Foundation Day and the 25th anniversary of South Korea joining the UN. Other career highlights include recitals in St. Paul, Buffalo, Omaha, Scottsdale, and Washington, D.C., duo recitals with cellist Alisa Weilerstein, a recital tour with pianist Alessio Bax, and a performance at American Ballet Theatre's fall gala. Firmly committed to chamber music, Chee-Yun has toured with Music from Marlboro and appears frequently with Spoleto USA, a project she has been associated with since its inception. Additional chamber music appearances include performances at the Ravinia, Aspen, Bravo! Vail Valley, La Jolla, Caramoor, Green Music, Santa Fe, Orcas Island, Hawaii Performing Arts, and Bridgehampton festivals in the U.S.; the Great Mountains Music Festival in South Korea; the Clandeboye Festival with Camerata Ireland in Northern Ireland; the Opera Theatre and Music Festival in Lucca, Italy; the Colmar Festival in France; the Beethoven and Penderecki festivals in Poland; and the Kirishima Festival in Japan. Chee-Yun has received exceptional acclaim as a recording artist since the release of her debut album of virtuoso encore pieces in 1993. Her recent recording of the Penderecki Violin Concerto No. 2 on Naxos was acclaimed as "an engrossing, masterly performance" (The Strad) and "a performance of staggering virtuosity and musicality" (American Record Guide). Her releases on the Denon label include Mendelssohn's E-minor Violin Concerto, Vieuxtemps' Violin Concerto No. 5, Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole and Saint-Saëns' Violin Concerto No. 3 with the London Philharmonic under the direction of Maestro Lopez-Cobos, and violin sonatas from Debussy, Fauré, Franck, Saint-Saëns, Szymanowski, Brahms and Strauss. Two compilation discs, Vocalise d'amour and The Very Best of Chee-Yun, feature highlights of Chee-Yun's earlier recordings. In 2007, Chee-Yun recorded the Beethoven Triple Concerto with Camerata Ireland, pianist Barry Douglas, and cellist Andrés Diaz for Satirino Records. In 2008, Decca/Korea released Serenata Notturno, an album of light classics that went platinum within six months of its release. Chee-Yun has performed frequently on National Public Radio's Performance Today and on WQXR and WNYC radio in New York City. She has been featured on KTV,a children's program on the cable network CNBC, A Prairie Home Companion, Public Radio International, and numerous syndicated and local radio programs across the world. She has appeared on PBS as a special guest on Victor Borge's Then and Now 3, in a live broadcast at Atlanta’s Spivey Hall concurrent with the Olympic Games, and on ESPN performing the theme for the X Games. In 2009, she also appeared in an episode of HBO's hit series Curb Your Enthusiasm. A short documentary film about Chee-Yun, “Chee-Yun: Seasons on the Road,” premiered in 2017 and is available on YouTube . Chee-Yun's first public performance at age eight took place in her native Seoul after she won the Grand Prize of the Korean Times Competition. At 13, she came to the United States and was invited to perform Vieuxtemps’ Concerto No. 5 in a Young People's Concert with the New York Philharmonic. Two years later, she appeared as soloist with the New York String Orchestra under Alexander Schneider at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. In 1989, she won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, and a year later she became the recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. In Korea, Chee-Yun studied with Nam Yun Kim. In the United States, she has worked with Dorothy DeLay, Hyo Kang, Daniel Phillips, and Felix Galimir (chamber music) at The Juilliard School. In addition to her active performance and recording schedule, Chee-Yun is a dedicated and enthusiastic educator. She gives master classes around the world and has held several teaching posts at notable music schools and universities. Her past faculty positions have included serving as the resident Starling Soloist and Adjunct Professor of Violin at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and as Visiting Professor of Music (Violin) at the Indiana University School of Music. From 2007 to 2017, she served as Artist-in-Residence and Professor of Violin at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

ANNE SCHARER, FRENCH HORN Anne Marie Scharer has been playing horn in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since the 1997-1998 season. She was appointed to second horn by James Levine in 2016. Previously she played third horn for thirteen seasons and fourth horn for six seasons. Anne was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin and went on to study music at Indiana University and The Juilliard School. Her first professional orchestral position was in Oviedo, Spain as co-principal horn. In 1994 she returned to the United States and played associate principal/third horn with the Columbus Symphony for three years before joining the Met. In addition to her work with the Opera, she teaches horn at Interlochen Center for the Arts and records for commercial and movie soundtracks.

JERUSALEM QUARTET Alexander Pavlovsky, 1st violin Sergei Bresler, 2nd violin Ori Kam, viola Kyril Zlotnikov, cello “Passion, precision, warmth, a gold blend: these are the trademarks of this excellent Israeli string quartet.” Such was the Times’ (London) impression of the Jerusalem Quartet. Since the ensemble's founding in 1993 and subsequent 1995 debut, the four Israeli musicians have embarked on a journey of growth and maturation. Their breadth of repertoire and stunning depth of expression have firmly established their unique place in the string quartet tradition. The ensemble has found its core in a warm, full, human sound and an egalitarian balance between high and low voices. This approach allows the quartet to maintain a healthy relationship between individual expression and a transparent and respectful presentation of the composer's work. It is also the drive and motivation for their continuing refinement of its interpretations of the classical repertoire as well as exploration of new epochs. The Jerusalem Quartet is a regular and beloved guest on the world’s great concert stages. The 2024/25 season will mark the Quartet’s 30th anniversary. To celebrate this milestone, the Quartet will put a spotlight on the cycle of Shostakovich’s 15 quartets, which they will present in 10 cities worldwide including St. Paul, Cleveland, and Portland, Ore., London, Zurich, Amsterdam, Cologne, and Sao Paulo. Additional highlights this season include performances in Houston, Miami, Boston, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Iowa City, Cincinnati, and Monterrey, Mexico, among other North American cities, and a return to the Konzerthaus in Berlin; the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, and London’s Wigmore Hall. The Jerusalem Quartet’s numerous recordings have garnered many awards and accolades including the Diapason d'Or and the BBC Music Magazine Award for chamber music. After releasing 16 albums for the Harmonia Mundi label starting in 2005, the quartet now records exclusively for the BIS label. The quartet’s inaugural release for BIS, in December 2024, will include Shostakovich quartets Nos. 2, 7, and 10. Previous releases for Harmonia Mundi include a unique album exploring Jewish music in Central Europe between the wars including a collection of Yiddish Cabaret songs from Warsaw in the 1920s, featuring Israeli Soprano Hila Baggio. In 2020, the Jerusalem Quartet released the second (and last) album of their complete Bartók cycle.