UMS Concert Program, Saturday Jan. 21 To Feb. 10: University Musical Society: Winter 2006 - Saturday Jan. 21 To Feb. 10 --

Season: WINTER 2006
University Of Michigan Ann Arbor

ums University Musical Society
Winter 2006 Season 127th Annual Season
General Information
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Event Program Book
Saturday, January 21 through Friday, February 10, 2006
Tokyo String Quartet with 5
Sabine Meyer
Saturday, January 21, 8:00 pm Rackham Auditorium
Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with 13
Wynton Marsalis
Sunday, January 22, 4:00 pm Hill Auditorium
Louis Lortie 23
Saturday, February 4, 8:00 pm Hill Auditorium
Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano 29
Friday, February 10, 8:00 pm Hill Auditorium
Dear UMS Patron,
Thank you for attending this UMS performance. We appreciate your support of the performing arts and hope your experience at this con?cert will persuade you to attend more of our programs in the future.
Today is a challenging time for many arts organizations as they re-exam?ine their missions and roles in what has become an increasingly complex arts environment. Our performing arts program is more than selling tickets, rais?ing funds, and balancing budgets. It develops talent, it helps a community express and celebrate its identity, and it creates the cultural capital that makes Ann Arbor a stimulating place to live.
As a performing arts presenter affiliated with a great University, UMS is asked to be responsive to U-M's mission. We are keenly attuned to the marketplace because we need to sell tickets as well as enable students and community members to embrace differences and to understand one another. I think you would agree, this is no small task!
I have had the privilege of working for the past 16 years with excellent staff members who are committed to being wise stewards of the resources available to UMS, constantly striving to create an experience for you which will enrich and hopefully change your life in some small or large way.
That being said, like most other arts organizations, UMS faces reductions in our financial resources because of the current economic malaise which grips the State of Michigan. Since ticket revenues only cover a portion of the UMS operating budget, you can see how important it is that donations bridge the gap and allow UMS to continue to offer exciting shows and edu?cational programs to students, faculty, and community members. We hope you continue to support us through both your attendance and your financial gifts.
Best Wishes,
John B. Kennard Director of Administration
UMS Educational Events
through Friday, February 10, 2006
All UMS educational activities are free, open to the public, and take place in Ann Arbor unless otherwise noted. For complete details and updates, please visit www.ums.org or contact the UMS education department at 734.647.6712 or umsed@umich.edu.
Louis Andriessen in Concert
Artist Interview: Louis Andriessen
Monday, February 6, 12 Noon, Rackham Amphitheatre, 4th Floor, 915 E. Washington Ave
Louis Andriessen, one of the most distinctive and influential composers working today, will be interviewed by U-M School of Music professor and composer William Bolcom. For more infor?mation, please contact Marysia Ostafin at 734.764.0351 or mostafin@umich.edu.
Film Screening: The Death of a Composer: Rosa, a Horse Drama (1999)
Tuesday, February 7, 7 pm, Rackham Amphithe?atre, 4th Floor, 915 E. Washington Ave
The Death of a Composer: Rosa, a Horse Drama (1999) is a film-opera directed by Peter Greenaway with music by Louis Andriessen that explores sex, desire, jealousy, and death, all lavishly performed on stage. It tells the fictional story of Uruguayan composer Juan Manuel de Rosa, his dual love affair with fiancee Esmerelda and a black horse, and his mysterious murder by two strangers. The evening will begin with introductory remarks by Louis Andriessen. For more information, please contact Marysia Ostafin at 734.764.0351 or mostafin@umich.edu. This residency is a collabo?ration with the U-M Center for European Stud?ies, U-M Institute for the Humanities, U-M School of Music, U-M Institute for the Humani?ties, U-M Office of the Provost, and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
For mature audiences--includes explicit scenes of nudity, sex, and violence.
ums University Musical Society
with
Borders Group
and
Miller, Canfield,
Paddock and Stone
present
Tokyo String Quartet
Martin Beaver, Violin Kikuei Ikeda, Violin
Kazuhide Isomura, Viola Clive Greensmith, Cello
with
Sabine Meyer, Clarinet
Program
Franz Joseph Haydn
Antonin Dvorak
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Saturday Evening, January 21, 2006 at 8:00 Rackham Auditorium, Ann Arbor
String Quartet in g minor. Op. 74, No. 3
Allegro Largo assai Menuetto: allegretto Finale: allegro con brio
String Quartet No. 12 in F Major, Op. 96
Allegro ma non troppo
Lento
Molto vivace
Finale: Vivace ma non troppo
INTERMISSION
Quintet for Clarinet and Strings in A Major, K. 581
Allegro
Larghetto
Menuetto
Allegretto con variazione
Ms. Meyer
29th Performance of the 127th Annual Season
43rd Annual Chamber Arts Series
The photographing or sound recording of this concert or possession of any device for such pho?tographing or sound recording is prohibited.
Tonight's performance is sponsored by Borders Group and Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone.
Funded in part by the Japan Business Society of Detroit Foundation. Media partnership for this performance provided by WGTE 91.3 FM. The Tokyo String Quartet is managed exclusively by ICM Artists, Ltd.
Sabine Meyer is managed by Konzertdirektion Hans Ulrich Schmid, Hannover LondonNew York.
The Tokyo String Quartet is Artist-in-Residence at Yale University's School of Music.
The Tokyo String Quartet has recorded for AngelEMI, BMG Classics, CBS Master-works, Deutsche Grammophon, Vox Cum Laude, and Vanguard.
The Tokyo String Quartet performs on the four Stradivarius instruments known as the "Paganini Quartet," generously on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation.
Large print programs are available upon request.
String Quartet in g minor. Op. 74, No. 3, "The Rider"
Franz Joseph Haydn
Born March 31, 1732 in Rohrau, Lower Austria
Died May 31, 1809 in Vienna
The two long sojourns in London, which so pro?foundly changed Haydn as a symphonic com?poser, equally affected his chamber music output. In London, it wasn't only symphonies that were being performed at public concerts, but chamber music as well, which was a novelty for the 60-year-old composer. In both the sym?phonic and chamber genres, Haydn was sup?ported by the remarkable German-born violinist and impresario Johann Peter Salomon, who had brought him over from Austria. As an orchestra leader and a quartet musician, Salomon was eager to present Haydn to London audiences in every medium possible.
Like the London symphonies, Haydn's Lon?don quartets show us what a genius can do when he consciously tries to outdo himself. One of the most popular of this set of six works (three of them published as Op. 71, the other three as Op. 74, all dedicated to Count Anton Apponyi of Hungary) is the String Quartet in g minor known as the "Rider" Quartet. For an explanation of that title, you'll have to wait for the last movement. Yet the high kinetic energy is there from the first measure, which contains a powerful unison motif cut off by a general rest. A constant flow of triplets, which continues even during the lyrical, dance-like second theme, maintains the high level of excitement. The ending of the movement eases the dramat?ic atmosphere by modulating from the minor to the Major mode.
The slow movement must be regarded the centerpiece of the work. Set in E Major, a key extremely distant from the original g minor, this is music that leading Haydn specialist H.C. Rob-bins Landon has called "violently intense." Opening with a simple and subdued melodic motif, the music reaches fortissimo before its first, irregular-length phrase is over. In the short middle section in e minor, the tensions only con-
tinue to increase, thanks to a pulsating eighth-note accompaniment. After a beautifully embel?lished recapitulation, the "Largo" ends as softly as it began.
The third-movement minuet in G Major is gentle and relaxed, even though the Trio section (in g minor) has its share of dark chromaticism and moments of turbulence. But the true emo?tional counterweight to the "Largo" comes in the remarkable finale, with its irresistible "rid?ing" rhythms followed by a graceful dance melody, enlivened by many extraordinary har?monic adventures along the way.
String Quartet No. 12 in F Major, Op. 96, "American"
Antonin Dvorak
Born September8, 1841 in Muhlhausen, Bohemia
Died May 1, 1904 in Prague
Written in 1893--exactly 100 years after the Haydn quartet that precedes it on the present program--Dvorak's "American" is the work of another composer who undertakes his most extended voyage at a mature age. In each case, the new environment had a direct influence on the evolution of the composer's style; Haydn was inspired by the new audiences he encoun?tered, while Dvorak responded to the new musi?cal idioms he came into contact with.
From 1892 to 1895, Dvorak served as the director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York. He spent the summer vacation of 1893 in Spillville, Iowa, a village that was home to a sizable Czech community. Dvorak obviously went there to be in the company of his own fel?low countrypeople, but at the same time he was very interested in whatever he could learn about American traditional music. He felt that his mis?sion in America was to help create a distinctly American style of musical composition, and he was convinced that American art music had to be based on the country's folk music. He want?ed to get to know Negro spirituals and his stu?dent Harry T. Burleigh was of great help in this endeavor. In addition, he attended a perform-
ance of Native American songs and dances dur?ing his stay in Iowa. Traces of these experi?ences--and others, since the third movement contains the near-quote of a birdsong Dvorak had heard at Spillville--may be found in his "American" Quartet. The most recognizable folk element is the use of the pentatonic scale, used in all the most important melodies of the work. Yet pentatonicism could also be found in Euro?pean folk traditions and was present in Dvorak's music before the American trip. (As an interest?ing coincidence, a younger contemporary that Dvorak would never have heard of, a Frenchman by the name of Claude Debussy, wrote his own string quartet [that also famously uses penta?tonicism] in the very same year, 1893.)
What makes the "American" Quartet a mas?terpiece is the fact that Dvorak was able to express himself perfectly through the use of the pentatonic idiom adopted from outside sources. Although the melodies are fairly simple, they were subjected to some fairly sophisticated the?matic development. The accompaniments (whether figurative or contrapuntal) show great care and extreme variety, as does the planning of key changes to avoid the commonplace. In other words, Dvorak assimilated the folk-inspired materials into the art-music idiom he had inherited from Beethoven, Schubert, and Brahms, and in this sense, the "American" Quar?tet is a thoroughly "European" creation.
Dvorak was one of the last composers to speak with an individual voice while using the conventional forms of the Romantic era. In this sense, his work stands at the end of that "age of innocence" in music where there was as yet no gulf whatsoever between artists and their audiences.
Quintet for Clarinet and Strings in A Major, K. 581, "Stadler's Quintet"
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Born January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria
Died December 5, 1791 in Vienna
In Mozart's time, the clarinet was not yet fully established as a permanent member of the orchestra. Many of Mozart's symphonies and concertos do very well without it. But when it does appear (as in Symphony No. 39), Mozart always makes sure it plays a prominent role. The clarinet's special sound quality--especially its wonderful low register--quickly turned this newcomer among instruments into a real star. By the end of the 18th century, the clarinet was certainly the most frequently used woodwind instrument in solo and chamber works.
Mozart had the good fortune to be acquaint?ed with two of the best clarinet players of the day, the brothers Anton and Johann Nepomuk Stadler. Both brothers were members of the court orchestra in Vienna, and Anton was par?ticularly well known as a virtuoso. The first chamber-music work Mozart wrote for him was the so-called "Kegelstatt" Trio (K. 498) in 1786. (The trio received its nickname--"Bowling-Alley Trio"--from the wholly unfounded rumor that Mozart composed it while he was out bowling one night.) In this trio, Mozart played the viola part, Stadler the clarinet and one of Mozart's pupils, Franziska von Jacquin, the piano. The Clarinet Quintet in A Major followed in 1789 and the Clarinet Concerto in A Major in 1791 -two great tributes to Stadler's musicianship and two masterpieces that are exceptional even by Mozartian standards.
It is interesting that these two works were not originally written for the clarinet as we know it. Stadler had devised a special instru?ment that probably no one else ever played, called the "basset clarinet." This instrument extended the famous low register of the clar?inet, the so-called chalumeau register, by a major third. It looked strikingly different from the regular clarinet in that its shape was not straight; the bell was found at the end of a
transverse pipe, perpendicular to the main body of the instrument. In both works, Mozart took full advantage of the extra low notes, but since the regular instruments didn't have them and Stadler's model never quite caught on, the pub?lished versions were adapted to the ordinary clarinet. Mozart's original manuscripts are lost, so one can either attempt to reconstruct the original (as several players have done) or give up the extra-low notes.
Tenderness and gentle lyricism are, perhaps, some of the words that come closest to describ?ing the beauties of the piece. From the very beginning, the strings set the intimate tone of the work, but when the clarinet enters, the gates of a hitherto unknown magical realm seem to open up before us. When the second theme, a graceful violin melody, is taken over by the clarinet, the tonality shifts from Major to minor, agitated syncopations appear in the accompaniment, and Classicism gives way to Romanticism for a brief moment. The develop?ment section creates high tension just by having the five instruments trade simple arpeggio (bro?ken-chord) figures back and forth. The Roman?tic episode is even extended during the recapitulation, which ends with a reaffirmation of the heavenly opening theme.
The second-movement "Larghetto" begins as an aria for the clarinet and later develops into a love duet between clarinet and first violin. In this work, even the third-movement minuet avoids stronger accents and remains poised, ele?gant, and well-balanced. There are two "trio" sections. The first one, a passionate piece in the dramatic minor mode, is scored for strings only, giving the clarinet a well-earned respite. After the repeat of the minuet, the second trio fea?tures the clarinet in a graceful Austrian Landler dance. A final repeat of the minuet closes this movement.
The finale is a set of variations on a beguil-ingly simple melody. Of the first four variations, the first, second, and fourth feature the clarinet or the first violin in passages of increasing tech?nical virtuosity; only the third variation strikes a more melancholy note, with a return of the
minor mode and the melody assigned to the darker voice of the viola. As in many of Mozart's variation movements, an introspective adagio is inserted as the penultimate event, after which the fast conclusion sounds even more irre?sistible.
Program notes by Peter Laki.
The Tokyo String Quartet has captivated audiences and critics alike since it was founded more than 30 years ago. Regard?ed as one of the supreme chamber ensembles of the world, the Quartet--Martin Beaver and Kikuei Ikeda (violins), Kazuhide Isomura (viola), and Clive Greensmith (cello)--has collaborated with a remarkable array of artists and com?posers, built a comprehensive catalogue of criti?cally acclaimed recordings, and established a distinguished teaching record. Performing well over 100 concerts worldwide each season, the Tokyo String Quartet has a devoted international following.
In the 0506 season, the Tokyo String Quartet continues its residency at New York's 92nd Street Y by offering three programs in recogni?tion of the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth. The Tokyo celebrates with a series of concerts featuring some of the composer's most tran?scendent works for small ensembles--his last three string quartets written in 1789 and 1790. Distinguished European and American musicians join the Tokyo String Quartet in works for larger ensembles, including pieces showcasing clar?inet, oboe, piano, and viola.
Also this season, the ensemble will perform three new commissions by leading composers Lera Auerbach, Jennifer Higdon, and Peter Sculthorpe. With several tours planned this sea?son, the quartet will travel extensively through Europe, with stops in Belgium, Estonia, Ger?many, Great Britain, Holland, Italy, Sweden, and Austria.
The members of the Tokyo String Quartet have served on the faculty of the Yale School of Music since 1976 as quartet-in-residence. They
devote a considerable amount of time to Yale during the academic year and to the prestigious Norfolk Chamber Music Festival in the summer. They also regularly participate in master classes throughout North America, Europe, and the Far East.
An exclusive contract with Deutsche Gram-mophon firmly established the ensemble as one of the world's leading quartets, and it has since released more than 30 landmark recordings on DG, CBS Masterworks, and Vox Cum Laude. The quartet's recordings have earned such honors as the Grand Prix du Disque Montreux, "Best Chamber Music Recording of the Year" awards from both Stereo Review and Gramophone magazines, and seven Grammy nominations. The Tokyo continues its recording momentum with the recent release of Mozart's late "Prussia"
Quartets (Biddulph Recordings). The ensemble's disc of the Brahms Clarinet Quintet in b minor, Op. 115 on Harmonia Mundi has been greeted with high accolades. On the heels of this release, the Tokyo has embarked on a multi-record proj?ect with the label and their next recording of Beethoven's three middle quartets is slated in the 0506 season. The Quartet is scheduled to record the complete Beethoven cycle by 2008.
The Tokyo String Quartet performs on "The Paganini Quartet," a group of renowned Stradi-varius instruments named for legendary virtuoso Niccol6 Paganini, who acquired and played them during the 19th century. The instruments have been loaned to the ensemble by the Nip?pon Music Foundation since 1995, when they were purchased from the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.
Officially formed in 1969 at The
Juilliard School of Music, the Quartet traces its origins to the Toho School of Music in Tokyo, where the founding members were profoundly influenced by Professor Hideo Saito. The original members of what would become the Tokyo String Quartet eventually came to America for further study with Robert Mann, Raphael Hillyer, and Claus Adam. Soon after its creation, the Quartet won First Prize at the Coleman Competition, the Munich Competition, and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions.
UMS ARCHIVES
Tonight's concert by the Tokyo String Quartet--the eighth in Ann Arbor--marks a long and distinguished history between the group and UMS stretching back to February 1975. Ms. Meyer makes her second appearance at UMS after her debut in November 2002 with Gidon Kremer and Oleg Maisenberg.
Tokyo String Quartet
Sabine Meyer is regarded as one of the most outstanding soloists of our time. It is largely due to her that the clarinet, often underestimated as a solo instrument, has regained its prominence on the concert plat?form.
After studying with Otto Hermann in Stuttgart and Hans Deinzer in Hanover, Ms. Meyer joined the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Munich and subsequently played as a soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic. As she became increasingly in demand, she left one year later and now performs worldwide in con?cert. Ms. Meyer has given recitals and concerts in all the major European musical centres, as well as in Brazil, Israel, Canada, Africa, and Aus?tralia. For the past 20 years, she has also regu?larly performed in Japan and the US.
Ms. Meyer has performed with many of the world's leading orchestras, including the Vienna, Berlin, and London Philharmonic Orchestras, Chicago Symphony, NHK Symphony Orchestra Japan, and the radio symphony orchestras of Vienna, Prague, and Budapest.
Ms. Meyer was featured "Artist-in-Resi-dence" at the Lucerne Festival in 2000, where she performed a wide variety of repertoire including the world premiere of Metamorphosis composed by Toshio Hosokawa, as well as per?forming with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe
and Heinz Holliger. Ms. Meyer returns regularly to the Lucerne Festival as guest soloist with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra under the baton of Claudio Abbado. In Summer 2002, Ms. Meyer made her debut with the Vienna Philharmonic, as part of the Salzburg Festival with conductor Christian Thielemann.
Additionally, she has performed in various chamber music projects: duo recitals with Lars Vogt, the Blaserensemble Sabine Meyer, as well as with the Big Band of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Meyer has performed with Bar?bara Hendricks, Heinrich Schiff, Gidon Kremer, the Alban Berg and Hagen Quartets, and the Vienna String Sextet. In 0506 she tours in Europe with the Hagen Quartet, and in the US with the Tokyo String Quartet.
In 1983, Ms. Meyer founded the ensemble Trio di Clarone with her husband Reiner Wehle and her brother Wolfgang Meyer, involving orig?inal works of Mozart with bassetthorn. In 1988, Ms. Meyer founded the Blaserensemble Sabine Meyer, which is a collaboration between princi?pal woodwind soloists of major European orchestras. This ensemble regularly performs internationally with a versatile repertoire, from classical to the present.
As a huge proponent of new music, composers including Jean Francaix, Niccolo Castiglioni, and Manfred Trojahn have dedicated their composi?tions to Ms. Meyer.
In 1994 and 1996, she was awarded the ECHO prize of "Artist of the Year" for her exem?plary recordings of the Stamitz concertos. In 2000, she received this prestigious award for her recording of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto in A Major with the Berlin Philharmonic and Claudio Abbado. In 2003, she received it for the fourth time for her recording of works by Weber, Mendelssohn, and Baermans with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields.
Sabine Meyer
ums University Musical Society
with
KeyBank and
McDonald Financial
Group
and
Gil Omenn,
Martha Darling, and
David Omenn
present
Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Marsalis, Music Director, Trumpet
Sean Jones, Trumpet
Ryan Kisor, Trumpet
Marcus Printup, Trumpet
Andre Hayward, Trombone
Vincent R. Gardner, Trombone
Wycliffe Gordon, Trombone
Sherman Irby, Saxophone
Ted Nash, Alto and Soprano Saxophone, Clarinet
Walter Blanding, Tenor and Soprano Saxophone, Clarinet
Victor Goines, Tenor and Soprano Saxophone, Bb and Bass Clarinet
Joe Temperley, Baritone and Soprano Saxophone, Bass Clarinet
Dan Nimmer, Piano
Carlos Henriquez, Bass
AN Jackson, Drums
Program
Sunday Afternoon, January 22, 2006 at 4:00 Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor
A Love Supreme:
A Tribute to John Coltrane
This afternoon's program will feature Mr. Marsalis' arrangement of John Coltrane's A Love Supreme along with additional selections to be announced by the artists from the stage. It will include one intermission.
30th Performance of the 127th Annual Season
12th Annual Jazz Series
77ie photographing or sound recording of this concert or possession of any device for such pho?tographing or sound recording is prohibited.
This afternoon's performance is co-sponsored by KeyBank and McDonald Financial Group.
This afternoon's performance is supported by Gil Omenn, Martha Darling, and David Omenn.
Media partnership for this performance provided by WEMU 89.1 FM, WDET 101.9 FM, and Michigan ChronicleFront Page.
The Steinway piano used in this afternoon's performance is made possible by William and Mary Palmer and by Hammell Music, Inc., Livonia, Michigan.
The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra appears by arrangement with ICM Artists, Ltd.
Brooks Brothers is the official clothier of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis.
Large print programs are available upon request.
A Note on the Program
This afternoon's performance includes legendary jazz selections, original compositions, and a big band arrangement of John Coltrane's seminal suite A Love Supreme.
Recorded at the end of 1964 for Impulse! Records, John Coltrane's original A Love Supreme has been called one of the most important recordings of the 20th century. The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis took a unique and very challenging path, interpreting this legendary recording and releasing its own A Love Supreme in 2005 on Palmetto Records.
Mr. Marsalis explains: "A Love Supreme is, obviously, one of the most influential and revered of jazz recordings. Most of [John Coltrane's] innovations were not in what was written, but in how his band played. His great?est importance and influence came through the extraordinary improvising of a saxophonist, a pianist, a bassist, and a drummer. Coltrane's music was in his and his ensemble's playing, and he could not have achieved what he did with musicians of any less originality and intensity than those in what is now called the classic John Coltrane Quartet."
A Love Supreme will also be performed in Chicago, Illinois, January 26-28, 2006.
Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) is a not-for-profit arts organization dedicated to jazz. With the world-renowned Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, and a comprehensive array of guest artists, Jazz at Lincoln Center advances a unique vision for the continued development of the art of jazz by producing a year-round schedule of perform?ance, education, and broadcast events for audi?ences of all ages. These productions include concerts, national and international tours, resi?dencies, weekly national radio and television programs, recordings, publications, an annual high school jazz band competition and festival, a band director academy, a jazz appreciation curriculum for children, advanced training through the Juilliard Institute for Jazz Studies, music publishing, children's concerts, lectures, adult education courses, and student and edu?cator workshops. Under the leadership of Artis?tic Director Wynton Marsalis, Chairman of the Board Lisa Schiff, President & CEO Derek E. Gor?don, Executive Director Katherine E. Brown, and Jazz at Lincoln Center board and staff, Jazz at Lincoln Center will produce hundreds of events during its 0506 season. In October 2004, Jazz at Lincoln Center opened Frederick P. Rose Hall--the first-ever performance, education, and broadcast facility devoted to jazz.
The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra (LCJO), composed of 15 of the finest jazz soloists and ensemble players today, has been the Jazz at Lincoln Center resident orches?tra for over 12 years. Featured in all aspects of Jazz at Lincoln Center's programming, the remarkably versatile LCJO performs and leads educational events in New York, across the US, and around the world; in concert halls, dance venues, jazz clubs, public parks, river boats, and churches; and with symphony orchestras, ballet troupes, local students, and an ever-expanding roster of guest artists.
Education is a major part of Jazz at Lincoln Center's mission and its educational activities are coordinated with concert and LCJO tour pro-
gramming. These programs, many of which fea?ture LCJO members, include the celebrated Jazz for Young People family concert series, the Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival, the Jazz for Young People Curriculum, educational residencies, workshops, and concerts for students and adults worldwide. Jazz at Lincoln Center educational programs comprise two-thirds of its overall pro?gramming, and annually reach over 110,000 students, teachers, and general audience mem?bers.
The JALC weekly radio series, Jazz at Lincoln Center Radio with Ed Bradley, is distributed by the WFMT Radio Networks. Winner of a 1997 Peabody Award, Jazz at Lincoln Center Radio with Ed Bradley is produced in conjunction with Murray Street Enterprise, New York.
Under Music Director Wynton Marsalis, the LCJO spends over half of the year on tour. The
LCJO performs a vast repertoire, from rare his?toric compositions to Jazz at Lincoln Center-commissioned works.
LCJO also regularly premieres works commis?sioned from a variety of composers, including Benny Carter, Joe Henderson, Benny Golson, and Christian McBride, as well as from current and former LCJO members Wynton Marsalis, Wydiffe Gordon, Ted Nash, and Ron Westray.
Over the last few years, the LCJO has per?formed collaborations with many of the world's leading symphony orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Russian National Orches?tra, and the Berlin Philharmonic. The LCJO has also been featured in several education and per?formance residencies in the last few years, including ones in Vienne, France; Perugia, Italy; Prague, Czech Republic; London, England; Lucerne, Switzerland; Berlin, Germany; and Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra
Television broadcasts of Jazz at Lincoln Cen?ter programs have helped broaden the aware?ness of its unique efforts in music. Concerts by the LCJO have aired around the globe. The Orchestra has appeared on six Live From Lincoln Center broadcasts, carried by PBS stations nationwide, most recently on October 18, 2004 during the grand opening of Jazz at Lincoln Center's new home, Frederick P. Rose Hall. The LCJO was also featured in a ThirteenWNET pro?duction of Greaf Performances, entitled "Swingin' with Duke: Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis," which aired on PBS. In September 2002, BET Jazz premiered a weekly series called Journey with Jazz at Lin?coln Center, featuring performances by the LCJO around the world.
To date, 11 recordings featuring the LCJO have been released and internationally distrib?uted: Don't Be Afraid...The Music of Charles Mingus (2005), A Love Supreme (2005), All Rise (2002), Big Train (1999), Sweet Release & Ghost Story (1999), Live in Swing City (1999), Jump Start and Jazz (1997), Blood on the Fields (1997), They Came to Swing (1994), The Fire of the Fundamentals (1993), and Portraits by Ellington (1992).
For more information on Jazz at Lincoln Cen?ter, please visit www.jalc.org.
Wynton Marsalis (Music Director, Trumpet) is the Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1961, Mr. Marsalis began his classical training on trumpet at age 12 and soon began playing in local bands of diverse genres. He entered The Juilliard School at age 17 and joined Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Mr. Marsalis made his recording debut as a leader in 1982, and since he has recorded more than 30 jazz and classical recordings, which have won him nine Grammy Awards. In 1983, he became the first and only artist to win both classical and jazz Grammys in the same year. Mr. Marsalis's rich body of compositions includes Sweet Release, Jazz: Six Syncopated Move?ments, Jump Start, Citi MovementGriot New York, At the Octoroon Balls, In This House, On This Morning, and Big Train. In 1997, Mr. Marsalis became the first jazz artist to be award?ed the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in music, for his oratorio Blood on the Fields commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln Center. In 1999, he released eight new recordings in his unprecedented "Swinging into the 21st" series, and premiered several new compositions, including the ballet Them Twos, for a June 1999 collaboration with the New York City Ballet. On March 9, 2004, he released The Magic Hour, his first album on Blue Note records. The following year, Wynton Marsalis: Live at The House Of Tribes was released on August 30, 2005. He has also writ-
UMS ARCHIVES
This afternoon's performance marks the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra's ninth UMS appearance since their debut in 1994. Wynton Marsalis has appeared 10 times under UMS auspices, both with the Orchestra and in other ensembles, including the presen?tation of his Pulitzer Prize-winning oratorio, Blood on the Fields, in February 1997. Mr. Marsalis made his UMS debut in January 1996 with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Three other Orchestra members are making their UMS debuts this evening: Sean Jones on trumpet, Sherman Irby on saxophone, and Dan Nimmer on piano.
ten three books: Sweet Swing Blues on the Road in collaboration with photographer Frank Stew?art, Jazz in the Bittersweet Blues of Life with Carl Vigeland, and the recently released To a Young Musician: Letters from the Road with Selwyn Seyfu Hinds, published by Random House in 2004. In October 2005, Candlewick Press released Marsalis's JazzABZ, an A to Z collection of 26 poems celebrating jazz greats. Mr. Marsalis serves on Lieutenant Governor Lan-drieu's National Advisory Board for Culture, Recreation, and Tourism, a national advisory board to guide the administration's plans to rebuild Louisiana's tourism and cultural economies. He has also been named to the Bring New Orleans Back Commission, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin's initiative to help rebuild New Orleans. He helped lead the effort to construct Jazz at Lincoln Center's new home--Frederick P. Rose Hall--the first educa?tion, performance, and broadcast facility devoted to jazz, which opened in October 2004.
Walter Blanding (Tenor and Soprano Saxo?phone, Clarinet) was born on August 14, 1971 in Cleveland, Ohio to a musical family and began playing the saxophone at age six. In 1981, he moved with his family to New York, and by age 16, he was performing regularly with his parents at the Village Gate. Mr. Blanding attended LaGuardia High School for Music & Art and the Performing Arts and continued his stud?ies at the New School for Social Research. Mr. Blanding lived in Israel for four years, where he had a major impact on the music scene, inviting great artists such as Louis Hayes and Eric Reed to perform. He also taught in several Israeli schools and toured the country with his ensemble. Dur?ing this period, Newsweek described him as "Jazz's Ambassador to Israel." His first record?ing, Tough Young Tenors, was acclaimed as one of the best jazz albums of 1991. Since then, he has performed or recorded with many artists, including Cab Calloway, the Wynton Marsalis Septet, Marcus Roberts, Illinois Jacquet, Eric Reed, and Roy Hargrove. His latest release, The Olive Tree, features fellow members of the LCJO.
Vincent R. Gardner (Trombone) was born in Chicago in 1972 and raised in Virginia. His fam?ily had a strong musical background, including his mother, his brother, and his father, Burgess Gardner, a trumpeter and music educator who has been very active on the Chicago music scene since the 1960s. Singing in church from an early age, he began playing piano when he was six, and soon switched to the violin, saxophone, and French horn before finally deciding on the trom?bone at age 12. Mr. Gardner, upon graduating high school, went on to Florida A & M Universi?ty in Tallahassee and the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. In college, he took a sum?mer job performing with a jazz band at Walt Dis?ney World in Orlando, Florida, where he caught the ear of Mercer Ellington, who hired him on his first professional job. After graduating in 1996, he moved to New York to pursue his pro?fessional career. Mr. Gardner has performed, toured, andor recorded with The Duke Ellington Orchestra, Bobby McFerrin, The Count Basie
Wynton Marsalis
Orchestra, Frank Foster, A Tribe Called Quest, Nancy Wilson, Matchbox 20, Jimmy Heath, and Lauryn Hill. He has been a member of the LCJO since 2000.
Victor L. Goines (Tenor and Soprano Saxo?phone, Bb and Bass Clarinet) is Juilliard's first Director of Jazz Studies, and conductor of the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra. Mr. Goines has been a member of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and The Wynton Marsalis Septet since 1993, touring throughout the world and recording over 20 releases including Wynton Marsalis' Pulitzer Prize winning recording Blood on the Fields (Columbia Records, 1997). He is an acclaimed solo artist and leads his own quartet and quintet. As a leader, Mr. Goines has five recordings, the latest being New Adventures scheduled for release in Spring 2006 from Criss Cross Records. Born in 1961 and raised in New Orleans, he began studying clarinet at age eight. He received a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Loyola University in New Orleans in 1984, and a Master of Music degree from Vir?ginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia in 1990. In addition to performing and recording, Mr. Goines is deeply committed to his work in jazz education. Mr. Goines has recorded andor performed with Terence Blanchard, Ellis Marsalis, Bo Diddley, Dizzy Gillespie, Freddie Hubbard, Ray Charles, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Bob Dylan, James Moody, and Dianne Reeves.
Wycliffe Gordon (Trombone) enjoys an extraordinary career as a performer, conductor, composer, arranger, and educator, receiving high praise from audiences and critics alike. Mr. Gordon tours the world performing hard-swing?ing, straight-ahead jazz for audiences ranging from heads of state to elementary school stu?dents. His trombone playing, which mixes pow?erful, intricate runs with sweet notes extended over clean melodies, has been universally hailed by jazz critics. Mr. Gordon received the Jazz Journalists Association 2001 and 2002 Award for "Trombonist of the Year," the Jazz Journal?ists Association 2000 Critics' Choice Award for
"Best Trombone," and was nominated for the 2003 Jazzpar Award. Currently, Mr. Gordon teaches at The Juilliard School.
Andre Hayward (Trombone) was born in Hous?ton, Texas in 1973. He started playing trombone and tuba at age 11, performing in his junior high school jazz band and studying with local trombonist Steve Baxter. Mr. Hayward attended Texas Southern University and landed his first engagement with Roy Hargrove, touring with the trumpeter to Europe. Summers spent per?forming at Walt Disney World gave him the opportunity to perform with many noted singers, including Joe Williams, Diane Schuur, Eartha Kitt, and Rosemary Clooney. Mr. Hay?ward performed with the late singerbandleader Betty Carter for five years, and has performed andor recorded with Illinois Jacquet, Russell Gunn, and the Ellington Orchestra under Mercer Ellington. He has been a member of the LCJO since 1999.
Carlos Henriquez (Bass) was born in 1979 in the Bronx, New York. After having studied clas?sical guitar in junior high school, he started play?ing bass at The Juilliard School's Music Advancement Program. Mr. Henriquez entered LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Per?forming Arts, where he performed in the LaGuardia Concert Jazz Ensemble This ensemble earned first place in the Jazz at Lincoln Center first annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival in 1996, and sec?ond place the following year. Mr. Henriquez has performed with artists as diverse as Steve Turre, Eddie Palmieri and Tito Puente, Carlos Santana, and George Benson. He traveled with the LCJO during its 20-city Summer 1998 tour through the US, Canada, and Japan. Mr. Henriquez was also featured on the LCJO Fall 1998 World Tour, which traveled to 33 cities in Europe, South America, and the US. Since then, he has recorded, toured, and performed with artists including Wynton Marsalis, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Danilo Perez, and Celia Cruz.
Sherman Irby {Saxophone) was born and raised in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and chose the viola as his first instrument. Encouraged by his mother to explore music, Mr. Irby later studied the guitar and piano, which he played in church. Although he was studying classical music in school, playing gospel music in church, and R&B at dances, he was influenced by listening to Charlie Parker to turn to jazz. At Clark-Atlanta University, he played in the school jazz orchestra and performed with Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Rouse, and Kenny Burrell. In 1994, he moved to New York and played with the Boys Choir of Harlem and the following year he landed the second alto chair with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. In 1996 and 1997, he participated in Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead pro?gram. He has toured with Marcus Roberts and worked with the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orches?tra and the New York City Ballet. Also in 1997 Mr. Irby joined Roy Hargrove's band, performing with the Grammy Award-winning "Crisol" proj?ect. Mr. Irby has recorded three records to date: Full Circle (Blue Note), Big Mama's Biscuits (Blue Note), and Black Warrior (BWR). The New York Times voted his record, Big Mama's Biscuits, as one of the top 10 records of 1998. He continues to tour with his own group and promote Black Warrior.
AN Jackson (Drums) was born on April 3, 1976 and began studying the piano at five, which laid the foundation for his melodic approach to the drums. He graduated from Cass Technical High School, known for producing some of the most renowned names in jazz, including Paul Cham?bers, Donald Byrd, Barry Harris, and Geri Allen. He won the Clarence EddinsBlue Bird Inn Schol?arship for outstanding music achievement and was selected to be a featured soloist for "Bea?cons in Jazz" honoring jazz legend Max Roach. A graduate of the Mannes College of Music For Jazz and Contemporary Music at the New School for Social Research, he continues to expand his study of fine art. His style, a power?ful blend of technical mastery and showman?ship, is strongly influenced by his late Uncle
Oliver "Bops" Jackson Jr., Papa Jo Jones, and Lionel Hampton. Mr. Jackson has always been outspoken in making sure that young people are properly informed about jazz and its tradition. For the past several years, he has been part of Young Audiences, a program that strives to edu?cate New York youth about jazz. He has per?formed and recorded extensively, working with some of the world's finest artists including Wyn-ton Marsalis, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Aretha Franklin, Marcus Roberts, Gerald Albright, Jacky Terrasson, Rodney Kendrick, Buster Williams, Milt Hinton, and the New York City Ballet.
Sean Jones (Trumpet) earned a degree in classi?cal trumpet performance from Youngstown State University then went on to earn a masters degree from Rutgers University. He teaches at Duquesne University. In his young career, Mr. Jones has worked with the Chico O'Farrill Orchestra, the Gerald Wilson Orchestra, the Illi?nois Jacquet Big Band, the Louis Armstrong Legacy Band, Charles Fambrough (he was fea?tured on Mr. Fambrough's release Live At Zanz?ibar Blue), Joe Lovano, and the International Jazz Quintet, in addition to leading his own groups. He has released a debut album, Eternal Journey, on Marck Avenue records.
Ryan Kisor (Trumpet) was born on April 12, 1973, in Sioux City, Iowa and began playing trumpet at age four. In 1990, he won first prize at the Thelonious Monk Institute's first annual Louis Armstrong Trumpet Competition. Mr. Kisor enrolled in the Manhattan School of Music in 1991, where he studied with trumpeter Lew Soloff. He has performed andor recorded with the Mingus Big Band, the Gil Evans Orchestra, Horace Silver, Gerry Mulligan, Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, the and Philip Morris Jazz All-Stars. As well as being an active sideman, Mr. Kisor has recorded several albums as a leader, including Battle Cry (1997), The Usual Suspects (1998), and Point of Arrival (2000). He has been a mem?ber of the LCJO since 1994.
Ted Nash (Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute) was born in Los Angeles into a musical family--his father, Dick Nash, and uncle, Ted Nash, were well-known jazz musicians. He first came to New York at the age of 18 and soon after, released his first album, Conception, as a leader. During his first three years in New York he became a regular member of the Gerry Mulligan Big Band, the National Jazz Ensemble, and the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra. In 1994, Nash was commis?sioned by the Davos Musik Festival (Switzerland) to compose for a string quartet in a jazz setting. This commission was the inspiration for Nash's CD Rhyme and Reason, which was voted one of the top five CDs of 1999 by Jazz Times maga?zine. Currently, Mr. Nash is a member of both the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and the Jazz Composers Collective, a musician-run, non-prof?it organization dedicated to presenting the orig?inal works of composers who are pushing the boundaries of their self-expression. His CDs have received many awards, including top ten CD lists in The New York Times, Village Voice, Boston Globe, New York Newsday, The New Yorker, Downbeat, and Jazz Times magazine. His most recent release, La Espada de la Noche (March 2005), featuring his band Odeon, has received much critical acclaim, and quickly moved to the 1 position on the CMS radio chart.
Dan Nimmer (Piano) was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1982. At age 10, his family inherited a piano and he started playing by ear. Soon, Mr. Nimmer was given classical lessons and at the age of 15 he began to study jazz at the Mil?waukee Conservatory of Music. His parents took him to local jazz clubs to hear music and even?tually get opportunities to sit in and meet artists. It wasn't too long before he started working with Milwaukee legend, saxophonist, and his mentor, Berkley Fudge. Upon graduation from high school, Mr. Nimmer studied music at Northern Illinois University for two years. He was working in Chicago clubs nightly and expanding his contacts and repertoire. Soon, he joined guitarist Fareed Haque's band, with whom he has been touring and recording ever since. Mr.
Nimmer made the move to New York in January 2004, and began working with Wynton Marsalis in March 2005. Mr. Nimmer has appeared at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Vienne Jazz Festival, and North Sea Jazz Festival. He has had the pleasure of sharing the stage with Curtis Fuller, Benny Golson, Ed Thigpen, Frank Wess, Wess Ander?son, Wynton Marsalis, Kurt Elling, and Carl Allen.
Marcus Printup (Trumpet) was born and raised in Conyers, Georgia. He had his first musical experiences hearing the fiery gospel music his parents sang in church, and he later discovered jazz as a senior in high school. While attending the University of North Florida on a music schol?arship, he won the International Trumpet Guild Jazz Trumpet competition. In 1991, Mr. Printup's life changed drastically when he met his mentor to this day, the great pianist Marcus Roberts. Mr. Roberts introduced him to Wynton Marsalis, which led to his induction into the LCJO in 1993. Mr. Printup has performed andor record?ed with Betty Carter, Dianne Reeves, Eric Reed, Cyrus Chestnut, Wycliffe Gordon, and Mr. Roberts. Mr. Printup has several records as a leader, Song for the Beautiful Woman, Unveiled, Hub Songs, Nocturnal Traces, and his most recent, The New Boogaloo. He made his screen debut in the 1999 movie Playing by Heart and recorded on the film's soundtrack.
Joe Temperley (Baritone and Soprano Saxo?phone, Bass Clarinet) was born in Scotland and first achieved prominence in the United King?dom as a member of Humphrey Lyttelton's band from 1958 to 1965, which toured the US in 1959. In 1965, he came to New York, where he performed andor recorded with Woody Her?man, Buddy Rich, Joe Henderson, Duke Pearson, the Jazz Composer's Orchestra, the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, and Clark Terry. In October 1974, he toured and recorded with The Duke Ellington Orchestra as a replacement for Harry Carney. Mr. Temperley played in the Broadway show Sophisticated Ladies in the 1980s, and his film soundtrack credits include the Cotton Club,
Biloxi Blues, Brighton Beach Memoirs, When Harry Met Sally, and Tune In Tomorrow, com?posed by Wynton Marsalis. Mr. Temperley is a mentor and a co-founder of the FIFE Youth Jazz Orchestra program in Scotland, which now enrolls 70 young musicians ages seven to 17 playing in three full-size bands. Mr. Temperley has released several albums as a leader, includ?ing Nightingale (1991), Sunbeam and Thunder?cloud with pianist Dave McKenna (1996), With Every Breath (1998), and Double Duke (1999) with several fellow LCJO members. He is an original member of the LCJO and serves on the faculty of the Juilliard Institute for Jazz Studies.
Jazz at Lincoln Center Board of Directors
Lisa Schiff, Chairman
Shahara Ahmad-Llewellyn.Wce Chair
John Arnhold
Ed Bradley
Robert H. Burns
Diane M. Coffey, Vice Chair
Alan D. Cohn, Treasurer
Christopher Dark
Gordon J. Davis, Founding Chairman
Andre V. Duggin
Gail May Engelberg
Ahmet Ertegun
Hughlyn F. Fierce
Pamela Fiori
Michael D. Fricklas
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Robert L. Johnson
Dena Kaye
June Noble Larkin
Thomas H. Lee
John A. Levin
Edward T. Lewis
Adam Lindemann
Wynton Marsalis
Albert Murray, Secretary
Peter Norton
Charles E. Phillips, Jr.
Michael F. Price
Robert A. Pritzker
Keith Reinhard
Jonathan F. P. Rose
Mark Rosenthal
Jack Rudin, Vice Chair
Ashley R. Schiff
Paul C. Schorr, IV
Melanie Shorin
David J. Stern
Faye Wattleton
George Wein
George Weissman, Director Emeritus
Ex-Officio Members
Hon. Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor of the City of New York Hon. C. Virginia Fields, President of the Borough of Manhattan Hon. Gifford Miller, Speaker of the New York City Council Reynold Levy, President, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc.
ums University Musical Society
and
CFI Group
present
Louis Lortie
Piano
Program
Saturday Evening, February 4, 2006 at 8:00 Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor
The Complete Etudes of Frederic Chopin
Twelve Etudes, Op. 10
No. 1 in C Major No. 2 in a minor No. 3 in E Major No. 4 in c-sharp minor No. 5 in G-flat Major No. 6 in e-flat minor
No. 7 in C Major No. 8 in F Major No. 9 in f minor No. 10 in A-flat Major No. 11 in E-flat Major No. 12 in c minor
INTERMISSION
Trois Nouvelles Etudes, Op. Posth.
Twelve Etudes, Op. 25
No. 1 in A-flat Major No. 2 in f minor No. 3 in F Major No. 4 in a minor No. 5 in e minor No. 6 in g-sharp minor
No. 7 in c-sharp minor No. 8 in D-flat Major No. 9 in G-flat Major No. 10 in b minor No. 11 in a minor No. 12 in c minor
31st Performance of the 127th Annual Season
127th Annual Choral Union Series
The photographing or sound recording of this concert or possession of any device for such pho?tographing or sound recording is prohibited.
Tonight's performance is sponsored by CFI Group.
Tonight's pre-concert Prelude Dinner was sponsored by TIAA-CREF.
Special thanks to Susan Isaacs Nisbett, entertainment writer, The Ann Arbor News, for her participation in tonight's Prelude Dinner.
Special thanks to Alan Aldworth and ProQuest Company for their support of the UMS Classical Kids Club.
Media partnership for this performance provided by WGTE 91.3 FM and Observer & Eccentric Newspapers.
The Steinway piano used in this evening's performance is made possible by William and Mary Palmer and by Hammell Music, Inc., Livonia, Michigan.
Special thanks to Tom Thompson of Tom Thompson Flowers, Ann Arbor, for his generous contribution of floral art for tonight's performance.
Mr. Lortie appears by arrangement with Seldy Cramer Artists.
Mr. Lortie's recordings are available on the Chandos and DeccaLondon Labels.
Large print programs are available upon request.
Twelve Etudes, Op. 10
Trois Nouvelles Etudes, Op. Posth.
Twelve Etudes, Op. 25
Frederic Chopin
Born March 7, 1810 in Zelazowa Wola, Poland
Died October 17, 1849 in Paris
To perform all 27 of Chopin's etudes in a single recital is not only a pianistic tour de force of the very first order, but also a journey around the piano in 80 minutes, give or take a few. In terms of their style and mood, the etudes constitute a rather varied body of music, to say nothing of the fact that from a technical point of view, they amount to a veritable encyclopedia of the expanded virtuosic possibilities of the instru?ment.
It is not obvious that "etudes" or studies should been intended for public performance, and Chopin's etudes were the first to make the historic transition from a teacher's studio to the concert hall. The etudes of earlier composers-most notably Carl Czerny, whom piano students to this day know all too well--served exclusively instructive purposes, whereas Chopin success?fully combined pedagogical interest with intrin?sic musical value. In so doing, he reconnected with an earlier Baroque tradition of Clavier-Ubungen (Piano Exercises), the title J.S. Bach gave to some of his greatest keyboard works, from the partitas to the Goldberg Variations.
Chopin did not write his piano etudes in groups but rather assembled them for publica?tion when a dozen pieces had been completed. In assembling the sets, he was careful to juxta?pose only related keys in adjacent etudes.
The first two etudes were written before Chopin left his native Poland in 1830; he wrote 10 more in Vienna and Paris over the next two years, and the whole set was published in 1833 as Op. 10 with a dedication to Franz Liszt, who was probably the only person aside from Chopin who could play these pieces at the time. Chopin composed a second set of 12 etudes (Op. 25) written in the following years and published in 1837; these were dedicated to the Countess Marie d'Agoult, Liszt's companion and the
mother of his children. The three so-called nou-velles etudes date from 1839-40; they were written for Ignaz Moscheles's Methode des methodes, a pedagogical volume published in Paris. Thus, the 27 etudes span about a decade in Chopin's life--the decade in which he estab?lished himself as the foremost pianist-composer in Europe.
Each of the etudes addresses a specific tech?nical problem such as arpeggios, scales, the independence of the two hands, or the balance between melody and accompaniment. They also reflect Chopin's way of playing the piano which, by all accounts, was strikingly individual. While most of the etudes emphasize velocity, there are several in slow tempi, where the challenge is to sustain an extended legato and to make the piano "sing" like the heroes of the Bellini operas that Chopin loved so much. The slow etudes in E Major (Op. 10, No. 3) and c-sharp minor (Op. 25, No. 7) stand out among Chopin's most exquisite musical creations. The latter, whose exceptionally beautiful melody is played by the left hand in the cello register, is sometimes referred to as the "cello etude."
Other pieces that have to be singled out among the etudes include the "Revolutionary" etude in c minor (Op. 10, No. 12), which Chopin reportedly composed upon receiving the news that the Polish insurrection of 1830-31 had been defeated. The fiery melody in march rhythm over the cascading 16th-notes in the left hand conveys authentic pathos, and the fanfare-like chords near the end give an otherwise dra?matic piece the character of a heroic song. This etude found an echo in the second a minor piece of the second set (Op. 25, No. 11), which begins most unusually with a slow march melody, first unaccompanied and then in four-part harmony, before the "storm" breaks out (the etude became known as the "Winter Storm") and the same march rhythm becomes the carrier of extremely strong and violent passions. Another etude that has acquired a nickname is Op. 25, No. 12, known as the "Ocean Etude" on account of its enormous waves of arpeggios (broken chords).
An overview of the technical problems found in the Chopin etudes
Op. 10, No. 1 (C Major): wide-spanned broken chords in the right hand
Op. 10, No. 2 (a minor): fast chromatic scales in right hand
Op. 10, No. 3 (E Major): slow, sustained legato melody, middle section with widely spaced chords
Op. 10, No. 4 (c-sharp minor): fast runs in both hands
Op. 10, No. 5 (G-flat Major): broken chords in right hand in a relatively narrow range
Op. 10, No. 6 (e-flat minor): legato melody over an active inner voice
Op. 10, No. 7 (C Major): fast runs in right hand in two voices
Op. 10, No. 8 (F Major): fast runs and broken chords in both hands
Op. 10, No. 9 (f minor): long melodic phrase, broken chords in accompaniment
Op. 10, No. 10 (A-flat Major): different accentuation patterns in the two hands
Op. 10, No. 11 (E-flat Major): arpeggios (very fast broken chords)
Op. 10, No. 12 (c minor): thundering octaves, fast runs
Nouvelles etudes 1 (f minor): four notes against three
2 (A-flat Major): three notes against two
3 (D-flat Major): waltz-fantasy with two-voice texture in right hand
Op. 25, No. 1 (A-flat Major): melody emerging from broken chords
Op. 25, No. 2 (f minor): two different kinds of triplet motion going on simultaneously
Op. 25, No. 3 (F Major): chord progressions with ornamentation
Op. 25, No. 4 (a minor): legato melody, staccato chordal accompaniment
Op. 25, No. 5 (e minor): quick chord progressions with light touch; slower middle section with
melody in left hand, broken chords in right hand Op. 25, No. 6 (g-sharp minor): trills and fast runs in thirds
Op. 25, No. 7 (c-sharp minor): long lyrical melodic phrases in left hand, also some fast runs Op. 25, No. 8 (D-flat Major): fast melody in parallel sixths Op. 25, No. 9 (G-flat Major): fast octaves with an extremely light touch Op. 25, No. 10 (b minor): thundering fast octaves in both hands, slow middle section with lyrical
melody in octaves Op. 25, No. 11 (a minor): fast runs and arpeggios over several octaves in both hands, against a
march-like main melody Op. 25, No. 12 (c minor): simultaneous sets of broken chords in both hands
The first two of the etudes nouvelles boldly experiment with polyrhythm (four notes against three, or two against three, in a consistent fash?ion). The last one, a waltz in the form of an etude, or an etude in the form of a waltz, is dif?ferent in style from most of the earlier pieces. Yet it shares with the other etudes the basic characteristic of the genre: it is the challenge to make the almost inhumanly difficult appear as if it were easy.
Canadian pianist Louis Lortie has been praised for the fresh perspective and indi?viduality he brings to a deliberately broad spectrum of the keyboard canon. He studied in Montreal with Yvonne Hubert (a pupil of French pianist Alfred Cortot), in Vienna with the Beethoven specialist Dieter Weber, and subse?quently with Schnabel disciple Leon Fleisher.
Mr. Lortie has performed the complete works of Ravel in London and Montreal for the BBC and CBC and is also known for his interpretation of Chopin. Following a recital of Chopin's com?plete etudes in London's Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Financial Times wrote: "Better Chopin play?ing than this is not to be heard, not anywhere." Recently Mr. Lortie has performed works of such contemporary composers as Kurtag (a BachKurtag program at Columbia University), Carter, and Ades.
Also celebrated for his interpretation of works by Beethoven, Mr. Lortie has performed the complete Beethoven sonatas in London's Wigmore Hall and the Sala Grande del Conser-vatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan. In Berlin, Die Welt called his performances "possibly the most beautiful Beethoven since the times of Wilhelm Kempff." With the Montreal Symphony, he per?formed and conducted all five Beethoven piano concertos.
In September 2004, Louis Lortie opened the Bonn Beethoven Festival playing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58 with Kurt Masur conducting, and was immediately re-engaged for September 2005. He performs again with Mr. Masur next season with the New
York Philharmonic and in Paris. Over four seasons Mr. Lortie plays and conducts the 27 Mozart piano concertos with the Montreal Symphony, culminating in 2006, the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth. In 0506 Mr. Lortie begins a LisztWagner series in Florence, Italy and in Lon?don's Wigmore Hall; performs recitals in Sydney, Ann Arbor, Atlanta, and Washington D.C.; and returns to the Dallas Symphony and the Sydney Symphony among many other major interna?tional engagements.
Mr. Lortie has made over 30 recordings on the Chandos label, ranging from Mozart to Stravinsky. His recording of Beethoven's Eroica Variations won the Edison Award, and his disc of Schumann's Bunte Blatter and other works by Schumann and Brahms was named one of the best CDs of the year by BBC Music Magazine. His recording of the complete Chopin etudes, Opp. 10 and 25, has been cited by BBC Music Magazine's special Piano Issue as one of "50 Recordings by Superlative Pianists." Mr. Lortie's most recent CD release is the final recording in his three-CD series of Liszt's complete works for
Louis Lortie
piano and orchestra with the Residentie Orches?tra of The Hague. It was immediately named "Editor's Choice" by Gramophone magazine.
Born in Montreal, Louis Lortie made his debut with the Montreal Symphony at the age of 13 and the Toronto Symphony three years later. In 1984, he won First Prize in the Busoni Competition and was a prize-winner at the Leeds Competition. In 1992 he was named Offi?cer of the Order of Canada, and received both the Order of Quebec and an honorary doctorate from Laval University. As his schedule permits, he teaches at Italy's renowned piano institute at Imola.
Tonight's recital by Mr. Lortie marks his second UMS appearance. He made his Hill Auditorium debut in January 2005 with Finland's Lahti Sym?phony.
urns
Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano
Jesus "Chuy" Guzman, Musical Director Natividad Cano, Director
Program
Friday Evening, February 10, 2006 at 8:00 Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor
This evening's program will be announced by the artists from the stage and is performed without intermission.
32nd Performance of the 127th Annual Season
The photographing or sound recording of this concert or possession of any device for such pho?tographing or sound recording is prohibited.
Funded in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.
Media partnership for this performance provided by WEMU 89.1 FM and Metro Times.
Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano appear by arrangement with ICM Artists, Ltd. Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano are managed by Pleiades Management.
Large print programs are available upon request.
The Origin of Mariachi
The word "mariachi" is a term that can be used to describe the individual musician, the ensem?ble, or the musical genre itself. A definitive ori?gin has never been established. Perhaps the most common misconception is that the term is derived from the French word for "marriage"-manage--the theory being that these unnamed ensembles were often hired by the French court in Mexico during the Maximilian epoch (1861-1867) to play at fiestas and weddings. Presumably, Mexicans began calling these groups of strolling musicians "mariachi." Today there are many facts to support the idea that the term predates the French occupation. Many Mexican scholars argue that groups called "mariachi" were already in existence by 1830.
Scholarly investigations also support the pos?sibility of indigenous roots. Evidence substanti?ates the existence of an Indian "mariachi" that used a single-head skin drum. One investigation suggests the term derives from the YutonahuatI language group, signifying a hard floor or dance area called a mihache of tarima. Another hypothesis suggests the term comes from cele?brations honoring the Virgin known as Maria H or Maria Hache, evolving into the word "mari?achi."
The Instruments of Mariachi
The original mariachi came from rural Western Mexico, primarily the states of Jalisco, Colima, Michoacan, Nayarit, and Sinaloa. The first groups were string-based ensembles, making the term mariachi "band" inappropriate as bands, by def?inition, emphasize brass and woodwinds. The first mariachi instrumentation consisted primari?ly of violins and the diatonic harp--a non-pedal and therefore non-chromatic instrument. The harp provided rhythmic and harmonic support while the violins played the melodic lines.
As the mariachi ensemble developed, a small, generally five-stringed flat-back guitar, called a quinta or guitarra de golpe was added to sup?port the rhythm. In the area around Cocula, for reasons not completely understood, a rounded-back set of instruments was used instead. The five-stringed vihuela, a rounded-back instru?ment, along with the more recent addition of the guitar, provides the underlying rhythm essential for the musical sound of every mariachi ensemble.
The guitarron, a larger rounded-back instru?ment, plays the bass-line. The original guitarron used four or five gut strings; eventually the instrument became standardized with six nylon strings, giving it sufficient volume to support the
Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano
bass. Because it is capable of modulating to dif?ferent keys (and easier to carry), the guitarron eventually replaced the harp in most ensembles. In the early 1930s, when the ensembles began to think in terms of arrangements and commercial possibilities, a trumpet was added, the rationale being that it would create a better, more penetrating sound for radio broadcasts. In later years, two trumpets have become a stan?dard part of mariachi ensembles, although it is not uncommon to find three or more in some of today's groups.
Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano has existed for nearly 45 years and is noted for demanding musical arrange?ments that highlight the individual skills and voices of the players. The ensemble employs the finest musicians from Mexico and the US and has performed for audiences throughout the US and Canada.
Mariachi Los Camperos was one of four mari-achis that collaborated on Linda Ronstadt's album, Canciones de Mi Padre (Songs of my Father). In 1988-89, the group worked on the promotion of the album, including national tel?evision appearances on programs including The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and the Grammy Awards show. They also appear on Linda Ronstadt's Mas Canciones (More Songs). The ensemble has recorded eight albums including: Puro Mariachi (Indigo Records, 1961); North of the Border (RCACarino Records, 1965); El Super Mariachi, Los Camperos (Latin International, 1968); Valses de Amor (La Fonda Records, 1973); Canciones de Siempre (PolyGram Latino, 1993); Sounds of Mariachi (Delfin Records, 1996); Fiesta Navidad (Delfin Records, 1997); Viva el Mariachi (Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, 2003); and Llegaron Los Camperos, (Smithsonian Folkways, 2004). Llegaron Los Camperos was recently nominated for a Grammy Award. The ensemble shared a 2005 "Best Musical Album for Children" Grammy Award for cELLAbrationl, A tribute to Ella Jenkins.
This evening's performance marks Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano's UMS debut.
A traditionalist and a visionary, Natividad (Nati) Cano has both mirrored and shaped the history of mariachi music. He was born in 1933 into a family of mariachi musicians of Ahuisculco, Jalisco, a small, rural town much like the many other west Mexican communities that gave life to mariachi tradition. His career took him first to nearby Guadalajara, Mexico's second largest city, and then further away to Los Angeles, one of the most populous and influential cities of "greater Mexico." In Los Angeles, he and the group he founded and directed for nearly 43 years, Los Camperos, emerged as a major driving force of the mariachi music tradition in the US, and to a certain extent, in Mexico as well.
I first heard Los Camperos in 1968 at La Fonda, the restaurant they had opened that same year at 2501 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. I was a student at UCLA, where I had
Natividad (Nati) Cano
joined the student mariachi ensemble, a "world music" performance class of the Institute of Eth-nomusicology. For me and my fellow student mariachi enthusiasts, a trip to La Fonda was akin to visiting a sacred temple of mariachi music, and Nati Cano was its Saint Peter. The repertoire Los Camperos played during the early years of La Fonda was a mix of older rhythms of the son jalisciense, songs from the 1950s and earlier, and contemporary pieces marked by the more complex harmonies of American and Mexican commercial popular music. For us young ethno-musicologists, the enduring, hard-driving sones and the emotion-packed canciones rancheras (country songs) held the greatest attraction. The pieces in the popular music vein seemed like an encroachment of commercial interests on the older repertoire that made mariachi music spe?cial. Little did we know that this blending of old and new mariachi sounds was part of Nati Cano's musical and social agenda. His life goal
has been to bring greater acceptance, under?standing, and respect to the mariachi tradition as a whole, and to reach the widest possible audience with his music. His uncompromising position has been to preserve the essential "mariachi sound," in his words, as the baseline of the tradition. I know that many would agree that in this, he has succeeded.
Biography by Daniel Sheehy, Director and Curator, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.
This evening's performance marks Nati Cano's UMS debut.