PAST
PLANET SCHOENBERG 2023-24
Sunday, February 25, 4pm
First Presbyterian Church, Santa Monica
FIERCE BEAUTY PART I
Arnold Schoenberg – Five Piano Pieces, Op. 25
Pierre Boulez – 12 Notations
Leo Ornstein – Suicide in an Airplane
John Coltrane – A Love Supreme
Steven Vanhauwaert, piano
David Murray, saxophone
James Sanders, violin
Ethnic Heritage Ensemble
Lyris Quartet
Kahil El’Zabar, director
Schoenberg’s Five Piano Pieces, Op. 23, which marks the crystallization of his twelve-tone technique is the launchpad. Other groundbreaking piano methods are heard in Leo Ornstein’s Suicide in an Airplane, distinctive for its tone clusters. Pierre Boulez’s fascinating 12 Notations uses the number 12 as a self-imposed structure with a 12-note row forming the basis of 12 solo piano pieces, each just 12 bars long. The indirect passing of the Schoenberg baton is heard in A Love Supreme, a progressive jazz masterpiece by the famed innovator John Coltrane, whose groundbreaking style is rooted in Schoenberg’s techniques, gleaned from his teacher Dennis Sandole, a Schoenberg student. Coltrane also studied with Ornstein as a teenager in Philadelphia.
Dinner Break
Sunday, February 25, 7pm
First Presbyterian Church, Santa Monica
FIERCE BEAUTY PART II
Richard Strauss – Till Eulenspiegel, einmal anders!
Leonard Rosenman/Dunn – Rebel Without A Cause “Main Title” & “Planetarium”; East of Eden “Finale”
Arnold Schoenberg – Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9
J.S. Bach – Chaconne from Partita No. 2 in D minor
Schoenberg — Suite for Piano, Op. 25, “Gigue”
Gustav Mahler – Symphony No. 10, Adagio
Scott Dunn, piano
Movses Pogossian, violin
Andreas Apostolou, piano
Jacaranda Chamber Ensemble
Scott Dunn & Mark Alan Hilt, conductors
Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony No. 1 is an iconic masterpiece that compressed a whole symphony orchestra to 15 musicians and four movements to one. His model inspired many others, including Franz Hasenöhrl, who arranged Richard Strauss’s tuneful Till Eulenspiegel from a massive orchestra to violin, clarinet, horn, bassoon, and double bass. Two-time Oscar-winning film composer Leonard Rosenman studied with Schoenberg. Scott Dunn’s piano four hands arrangement offers a taste of Rosenman’s East of Eden. Two works packed with emotion provide a bittersweet finale to the final season. Bach’s monumental Chaconne is a 15-minute tour de-force. Jacaranda fades to black with Mahler’s final work, the fiercely beautiful Symphony No. 10 Adagio arranged by Hans Stadlmair for strings.
Thursday, February 8, 7:30pm
SPECIAL EVENT
Villa Aurora
520 Paseo Miramar, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272
Shuttle Service provided – no onsite parking
SCHOENBERG: WHY HE MATTERS
An evening with author Harvey Sachs in conversation with Larry Schoenberg
Dessert, savories, and fine wines afterward.
Belmont Music Publishers owner Larry Schoenberg talks about his father with Harvey Sachs, author of the critically acclaimed classical music bestselling biography Schoenberg: Why He Matters (2023). Praised by composer John Adams (“one of the great narratives of 20th-century Western culture, and one can see how the story of this artist’s struggle for acceptance against the backdrop of the societal calamities of his era was so appealing to Sachs”, New York Times) this astonishingly lyrical biography rescues Schoenberg from notoriety, restoring him to his rightful place in the pantheon of twentieth-century composers. Synthesizing Wagnerian excess with Brahmsian restraint, Schoenberg created a shock wave that never quite subsided, and, as Sachs powerfully argues, his compositions must be confronted by anyone interested in the past, present, or future of Western music. He has written for the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Times Literary Supplement; and for BBC, PBS, CBC and other radio and television networks. He has lectured at universities and cultural institutions worldwide; has held fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the New York Public Library’s Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He holds an honorary doctorate from Cleveland Institute of Music and was the NY Philharmonic Leonard Bernstein Scholar-in-Residence.
Sunday, January 14, 4pm
First Presbyterian Church, Santa Monica
TRANSATLANTIC
Arnold Schoenberg – Presto in C
Franz Schubert – Quartetsatz
Schoenberg – Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4
Eldon Rathburn – Schoenberg vs. Gershwin: A Tennis Match
Eric Zeisl – Pieces for Barbara
Ernst Krenek – George Washington Variations, Op. 120
Schoenberg – Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte, Op. 41
This Vienna/LA double portrait pairs Schoenberg’s delightful Presto in C Major with Schubert’s Quartetsatz in C minor. His debt to Schubert is heard in Transfigured Night. Solo piano works illustrate the composer in LA. Eldon Rathburn’s Schoenberg vs. Gershwin: A Tennis Match portrays close friends and tennis partners. The Canadian film composer won the LA Philharmonic Orchestra Young Artist Award in 1945 for which Schoenberg was a judge. Erich Zeisl’s Pieces for Barbara were composed for his young daughter who married Schoenberg’s son Ronald. Ernst Krenek, who emigrated in 1938, composed the witty and heartfelt George Washington Variations. Set to Lord Byron’s protest of tyranny, Schoenberg’s Ode to Napoleon, composed during WW II, extols Washington.
Lyris Quartet
Luc Kleiner, reciter
Mikhail Korzhev, Scott Dunn, and Gloria Cheng, piano
Saturday, January 13, 8pm
SPECIAL EVENT
UCLA Schoenberg Hall
445 Charles E Young Dr E, Los Angeles, CA 90095
CITY OF MUSIC TO CITY OF ANGELS
A Screening of Two Documentaries by Hilan Warshaw & Peter Rosen
Providing a compelling personal look at Arnold Schoenberg and some of the key factors that shaped him, Jacaranda, in conjunction with UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, is screening two documentary films by Emmy-nominated director, editor and writer Hilan Warshaw and Emmy-winner Peter Rosen that focus on different aspects of the legendary composer’s private life and career. Through the Darkness (52 minutes, 2021) tells the true story of two artistic geniuses – Schoenberg and painter Richard Gerstl – whose passion for their art and the same woman drew them together and ultimately drove one of them to take his life and changed the course of artistic history. Shadows in Paradise: Hitler’s Exiles in Hollywood (56 minutes, 2008), directed by Rosen and edited by Warshaw, chronicles the exile of tens of thousands of Germanic intellectuals and radicals, including many of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century, among them Schoenberg, to the US and LA, which was transformed by the exodus into one of the cultural centers of the world. Thomas Mann wrote, "Exile creates a special form of life, and the various reasons for banishment make little difference - the sharing of a common fate are more fundamental than such nuances of opinion... people find their way to one another. All of German literature settled here."
Saturday, November 11, 8pm – California Festival of New Music
First Presbyterian Church, Santa Monica
PERILOUS BALANCE
Richard Wagner – Elegy in A flat major
Arnold Schoenberg – Three Piano Pieces, Op. 11
Alban Berg – Piano Sonata, Op. 1
Anton Webern – Five Movements for String Quartet, Op. 5
Peter Knell – Arkhipov Synthesis
Schoenberg revered Wagner whose piano Elegy introduces the expressionist moods of Three Piano Pieces, Op. 11, Schoenberg’s first important piano work. The passion of Berg’s Piano Sonata Op. 1, a single movement ripe with Wagnerian chromaticism follows. Lyris Quartet performs Webern’s zingy Five Pieces of String Quartet. Then Jacaranda Chamber Ensemble, with David Bloom conducting, gives the world premiere of Peter Knell’s Arkhipov Synthesis, based on his gripping tale of apocalypse averted. This program is part of the California Festival: A Celebration of New Music — 100+ music institutions showcase forward-looking voices with new works written within the past five years.
Inna Faliks, piano
Lyris Quartet
Jacaranda Chamber Ensemble
Daniel Bloom, conductor
Saturday, September 23, 8pm
First Presbyterian Church, Santa Monica
HANGING GARDENS
Arnold Schoenberg – Book of the Hanging Gardens, Op. 15
Gustav Mahler – Symphony No. 4
Jacaranda opens its final season Planet Schoenberg on September 23 with Hanging Gardens. Schoenberg’s lush Book of the Hanging Gardens is a Late Romantic setting of bittersweet love poems by Stefan George. Its 1910 premiere received a lukewarm reception, but the tides turned in 1920 Paris when critics heard Schoenberg’s genius. Together pianist Steven Vanhauwaert and mezzo soprano Katarzyna Sadej take this forbidden journey into hanging gardens. Under the direction of Jacaranda's music director Mark Alan Hilt, soprano Julia Metzler and the Jacaranda Chamber Ensemble will perform the chamber version of Gustav Mahler’s beloved Fourth Symphony—composed in 1900 and arranged by Schoenberg disciple Erwin Stein in 1920. The always pragmatic Arnold Schoenberg believed such arrangements offered clarity and an affordable way to hear unknown symphonic music, especially by his friend Mahler.
Katarzyna Sądej, mezzo soprano
Steven Vanhauwaert, piano
Julia Metzler, soprano
Jacaranda Chamber Ensemble
Mark Alan Hilt, conductor
PAST
CAMARADERIE 2022-23
Saturday June 17, 4pm - Benefit Concert and Afterparty
First Presbyterian Church and Courtyard, Santa Monica
VERANDA BY THE SEA
Richard Danielpour – Joys and Sorrows – world premiere
Shahāb Pāranj - Āvāz-e Jān (excerpts)
Traditional Persian Music - for tanbour and percussion
Join Jacaranda for spellbinding piano music by the foremost Iranian American composer performed with sweeping grace by Inna Faliks —and rising stars of Persian music. Then relish a splendid feast of Persian delicacies and raise a flute to toast the coming 20th Anniversary season.
Inna Faliks, piano
Kimia Jamshid, cello & tanbour
Nasim Gorgani, percussion
Friday May 19, 8pm
First Presbyterian Church and Courtyard, Santa Monica
ZA’ATAR
Ilhan Mimaroğlu – Prelude XII
Richard Danielpour – The Enchanted Garden: Persepolis
Lev “Ljova” Zhurbin – Voices
Fazil Say - Black Earth
Shahāb Pāranj - Āvāz-e Jān
Camille Saint-Saëns – “Egyptian” Piano Concerto No. 5 (arr. Brandon Zhou)
Za’atar is a spice common in the cuisine of Turks, Israelis, Persians, and Egyptians. Pianist Inna Faliks sprinkles the spice liberally across contrasting textures and moods. Turkish American electronic music composer and jazz record producer Ilhan Mimaroğlu sets the stage. Richard Danielpour revisits his Persian childhood. Ljova honors the “Jewish Caruso”, a Ukrainian-born cantor whose voice was captured by wax cylinders. Fazil Say imitates the sounds of the Turkish Saz. Persian American Shahāb Pāranj’s solo cello suite exists in two poetic worlds. Lyris Quartet joins Faliks for the sparkling “Egyptian” Piano Concerto No 5 by Camille Saint-Saëns arranged for piano and string quartet that suggests a Nile boatman’s love song and finishes with thrilling exuberance.
Inna Faliks, piano
Kimia Jamshid, cello
Lyris Quartet
Saturday April 15, 8pm
First Presbyterian Church, Santa Monica
FANTASTICAL
AS HEARD ON NOON TO MIDNIGHT
William Kraft – Mosaic/Kaleidoscope – world premiere
Gabriella Smith – Brandenburg Interstices
Sarah Gibson – Tiny Tangled World
Thomas Kotcheff – and through and through and through
Mark Grey – Fantasmagoriana
Alyssa Park, Shalini Vijayan, Jessica Guideri, Xenia Deviatkina-Loh, violin
Luke Maurer and Alex Granger, viola; Timothy Loo and Michael Kaufman, cello
Brightwork Ensemble
Vicki Ray, conductor
Kaleidoscope, the last work of Bill Kraft (1923-2022), with the posthumous completion of its companion Mosaics by Joan Huang, opens as a tribute to our dear friend. How better to celebrate Kraft’s new music legacy than with fantastical music by four young California composers. Three of these brilliant works were previously heard at Disney Hall on Noon to Midnight.
Saturday March 4, 8pm
First Presbyterian Church, Santa Monica
NEW ALBION
Thomas Adès – 50th Birthday Tribute
Blanca Variations
Four Berceuses from The Exterminating Angel – U.S. premiere
Three Songs from The Exterminating Angel – world premiere
Arcadiana Op. 12
Mazurkas
Court Studies from The Tempest – west coast premiere
Francisco Coll
Turia, concerto for guitar and seven players – U.S. premiere
Michael Kudirka, guitar; Kathryn Krasovec, mezzo-soprano
Gloria Cheng & Andreas Foivos Apostolou, piano
Sara Andon, flute; Brian Walsh, clarinet; Micah Wright, clarinet
Xenia Deviatkina-Loh, violin; Alex Granger, viola
Kellen McDaniel, viola; Marshall McDaniel, cello
Valerie Stern & Mari Kawamura, piano; Cory Hills, percussion
Lyris Quartet
Daniel Mallampalli, conductor
This belated 50th birthday tribute is chock full of chamber music premieres related to The Exterminating Angel opera triumph at The Met. Lyris Quartet performs Ades’s string quartet masterpiece Arcadiana, and Ades protégé Coll’s guitar concerto Turia receives its US premiere. Albion is an archaic and poetic term for Great Britain. Ades is the most important new voice of his generation of British composers.
Sunday, February 12, 4pm
First Presbyterian Church, Santa Monica
SIMILAR/CONTRARY PART I
Raven Chacon – Voiceless Mass
Karen Tanaka – Children of Light
Chris Castro – Cançoes dos Desassosego (Songs of Disquiet) – world premiere
Ben Johnston – String Quartet No. 4 “Amazing Grace”
Lyris Quartet with Sharon Harms, soprano
Mari Kawamura, piano
Jacaranda Chamber Ensemble, David Bloom, conductor
Dinner Break
Sunday, February 12, 7:30pm
First Presbyterian Church, Santa Monica
SIMILAR/CONTRARY PART II
Philip Glass – 85th Birthday Tribute
Etude no. 6 Piece in the Shape of a Square
Mad Rush
Music in Similar Motion
Music in Contrary Motion
Timo Andres and David Kaplan, piano Catherine Gregory and Ben Smolen, flute; Mark Alan Hilt, organ
Jacaranda Chamber Ensemble
Join the experience of Jacaranda's first 2023 concerts of the Camaraderie season! In two parts with a dinner break, Similar/Contrary will feature music by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Raven Chacon, Karen Tanaka’s magical Children of Light, a world premiere by Chris Castro, and music of the illustrious composer Philip Glass.
Friday & Saturday, October 21 & 22, 8pm – concert world premiere
Kirk Douglas Theatre - 9820 Washington Boulevard, Culver City
ARKHIPOV, a chamber opera
60th Anniversary of the nuclear crisis aboard a B-59 Soviet submarine.
Presented in partnership with the Wende Museum of the Cold War.
Peter Knell, composer
Stephanie Fleischmann, librettist
Cast/Characters
Edward Parks III, Vasili Arkhipov
David Leigh, Vitali Savitsky
Katharine Goeldner, Olga Arkhipova
Daniel Moody, Special Weapons Officer
with
Joel Balzun (Ivan Brisolov), Dominic Delzompo (Arkady Druganin)
Michael Dunlap (Daniil Antipov), Carlos Santelli (Ilya Gurkovsky)
Todd Strange (Vadim Orlov) and Max Zander (Fima Votov)
J. Ed Araiza, Interrogator and Political Officer
Elkhanah Pulitzer, Director; Cori Ellison, Dramaturg; Cath Brittan, producer
Daniela Candillari, conductor; Jacaranda Chamber Ensemble
Saturday, September 24, 8pm
First Presbyterian Church, Santa Monica
VINEYARDS OF MYTH
Benjamin Britten – Six Metamorphoses after Ovid
Andrew Norman – A Companions Guide to Rome
Veronika Krausas – Théâtre du Soleil
Dylan Mattingly – Bakkhai
Leslie Reed, oboe soloist
Trio Ukiyo: Xenia Deviatkina-Loh, violin; Alex Granger, viola; and Niall Taro Ferguson, cello
Kat Shuman, soprano; Katarzyna Sądej, mezzo soprano
Catherine Gregory, flute; Alex Granger, viola; Eric Shetzen, bass; Sidney Hopson, percussion; Cory Hills, percussion;
Holly Sedillos, soprano; Kathryn Krasovec, soprano; April Amante, soprano; Luc Kleiner, baritone
Jennifer Spier, oboe; Breana Gilcher, oboe; Eric Shetzen, bass Aron Kallay, synthesizer; Sidney Hopson, percussion; Cory Hills, percussion
Mark Alan Hilt and David Bloom, conductors
PAST
TURNING POINTS 2021-22
Saturday, September 11, 2021
First Presbyterian Church, Santa Monica
TWIN TOWERS
Joan Tower – In Memory
Steve Reich – WTC 9/11
Samuel Barber – “Adagio” from String Quartet Op. 11
Anthony Davis – Restless Mourning (texts by Quincy Troupe and
Allan Havis, West Coast premiere)
Lyris Quartet; Jacaranda Chamber Ensemble & Tonality; Anthony Parnther, conductor
Twenty years ago, most of us remember exactly where we were and what we were doing when the planes struck the buildings. One year later Joan Tower memorialized the tragedy with a single elegiac movement – passionate but stoic. Four years later, the recent Pulitzer Prize-winner Anthony Davis composed a chamber oratorio that investigated the 9-11 void through an African American jazz-infused perspective using contemporary texts and Biblical quotes. On the tenth anniversary, Steve Reich, who lived near the Twin Towers at the time, offered a harrowing journey of actual audio clips fused to string quartet rhythms. Since its ubiquitous beginning on live American radio as accompaniment to FDRs funeral, Samuel Barber’s Adagio has been a cathartic touchstone of remembrance – “America’s secular hymn for grieving the dead.” As we struggle to adjust to the challenges of 2021, Jacaranda offers this Twentieth Anniversary observance of 9/11 in the spirit of healing.
Saturday, January 22, 2022
Barnum Hall
GRATITUDE: (UPDATE: CANCELLED 1/4/22)
Arvo Pärt – Tabula Rasa
José Pablo Moncayo – Huapango
Claudio Monteverdi – Thanksgiving Processional & Vespers of 1610
Movses Pogossian & Varty Manouelian, violins; Gloria Cheng, piano;
UCLA Camarades String Orchestra, Mark Alan Hilt, conductor & organ; Mariachi Sol de Mexico & Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles; Jose Hernandez, conductor; Jacaranda Chamber Singers; Los Angeles Children’s Chorus; Agave Baroque, Aaron Westman, director; Tesserae Baroque, Alex Opsahl, director; Ryan Dudenbostel, conductor
By mid-January, LA County will have reached community immunity together – turning the corner on the pandemic after two years of concerted cooperative effort by countless good-hearted people. Jacaranda celebrates this enormous achievement with an ambitiously scaled concert at Santa Monica’s historic Barnum Hall – the fruit of the US Works Progress Administration that gave creative people work during the Depression. Arvo Pärt’s transcendent Tabula Rasa (Clean Slate) opens with UCLA Camarades made up of top students from around the world with favorite Jacaranda soloists. The combined forces of twenty-four male and female Mariachis will play rousing music by Jose Moncayo during intermission. A processional back into the hall, written in 1632 for a similar occasion when the plague in Venice Italy finally ended, will lead to glorious highlights from Claudio Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 by the combined forces of leading Baroque ensembles, children and adult choruses, and eight vocal soloists.
Saturday, March 19, 2022
First Presbyterian Church, Santa Monica
TROPOSPHERE
Olivier Messiaen – Petites esquisses d'oiseaux (excerpts) : Le rouge-gorge;
Le merle noir; La grive musicienne
Gérald Grisey – Nout
Messiaen – Theme et variations
Jeffrey Holmes – Kaun (Kenaz)
François-Bernard Mâche – Vigiles
Thierry Pécou – Méditation sur la fin de l'espèce (Meditation on the End of Species)
Sanctuary Series – Sandrine Cassidy, Jeffrey Holmes, & Thierry Pécou, 7:00 Click for more
Ensemble Variances: Carjez Gerretsen, clarinet; Jeffrey Stonehouse, flute; Romuald Grimbert-Barré, violin; David Louwerse, cello; Pierre Dekker, bass; Pierre Bibault, guitar; Marie Vermeulin, piano; Thierry Pécou, piano & musical direction
Ensemble Variances is based in the French city Rouen – famous for the cathedral that inspired 39 paintings by Claude Monet. The group brings this environmentally-themed program to Santa Monica, which considers the survival of birds and whales in the not-so-distant future. French composer Gérald Grisey invokes the Ancient Egyptian sky goddess. Receiving its world premiere – a ritual quintet by Jeffrey Holmes evokes apocalyptic dualities in an old Norse rune. Zoomusicologist and Messiaen student, Francois-Bernard Mache is vigilant to the music made by wildlife. Thierry Pécou invested a decade studying music and culture in Canada, Russia, Spain, and Latin America. He brings a global perspective and certain lyricism to the existential question: “Can we sustain planet earth?” In Europe, both Pècou and Mache are widely admired, decorated, and have more than a dozen albums between them, yet these mid-and-late career composers are nearly unknown in the US.
Saturday, April 16, 2022
First Presbyterian Church, Santa Monica
PASSION
Lou Harrison/R. Dees – Suite for Violin & Strings
Johann Sebastian Bach – Easter Oratorio, BWV 249 (LA Premiere)
Alyssa Park, & Shalini Vijayan, violins; Elissa Johnston, soprano; Kristen
Toedtman, alto; Todd Strange, tenor; Tonality chorus; James Walker, organ;
Jacaranda Chamber Orchestra; conductors Mark Alan Hilt & Scott Dunn
JS Bach’s stubbornly challenging but supremely rewarding Easter Oratorio (1725-46) has never been performed in Los Angeles! One might expect such a situation with some obscure piece that came to light because of recent Bach scholarship, but this lively 40-minute companion to the 4-hour St. Matthew Passion will receive it’s LA premiere April 16, 2022. Bach was so fond of the oratorio, he revised it three times over twenty years. Perhaps the virtuoso requirements of its vocal soloists, chorus, and orchestra (three trumpets, three oboes!), were too daunting for such a compact work to be undertaken in Los Angeles. Or more likely, incomplete editions of the score in 1874, revised in 1962, and again in 1977, weren’t authoritatively reconciled with Bach’s manuscripts until a full performing edition appeared in 2003.
Jacaranda’s mission is to introduce new and neglected music to concert life in Southern California. The Jacaranda team endeavors to offer you Bach’s fiery brilliance, sublime and spirited singing, and rousing instrumentation including organ continuo on the Schantz refurbished in 2019. Ten years ago, we provided a similarly exciting LA premiere of Lou Harrison’s ravishing Suite for Violin & Strings (1974-93) with a very pregnant and barefooted soloist Alyssa Park. The Suite began as a work with violin and American gamelan but was destined to reach a larger audience in an arrangement for strings, piano, and celesta sanctioned by the composer. Joined by conductor Scott Dunn, Ms. Park makes a triumphant solo return to give this emotionally rich and worthy suite an emphatic vote of confidence for entry into the chamber orchestra repertoire!
Saturday, May 21, 2022
First Presbyterian Church, Santa Monica
ITALIAN MODERN
Luigi Dallapiccola – Tartiniana Seconda
Ferrucio Busoni – All’ Italia! (In modo napolitano) – Elegy – Berceuse
Élégiaque
Luciano Berio – O King – Chamber Music (text by James Joyce) –
Wasserklavier, Erdenklavier, Luftklavier, Feuerklavier – Sequenza No. 2
Igor Stravinsky – Suite Italienne
Kristen Toedtman, mezzo-soprano; Steven Vanhauwaert, piano; Movses Pogossian, violin; Alison Bjorkedal, harp; Jacaranda Chamber Ensemble, Mark Alan Hilt, conductor
Italian cars, shoes and sculpture resonate for everyone with the idea of modernism, yet Italian music, not so much. Luigi Dallapiccola and Igor Stravinsky, inspired by Nicolo Paganini’s diabolical virtuosity, fashioned fiendish violin suites of Italian Baroque dance mannerisms twisted by modern obsessions with the machine. Two elegies by Ferrucio Busoni emerged from the end of the 19th century as it crashed into WWI, the influenza pandemic of 1918, and the aftermath of both. Luciano Berio penned an intimate elegy of Martin Luther King that would grow to his shatteringly original Sinfonia. The ultra modern writer James Joyce collected his love poems as Chamber Music and Berio set them as an offering to his teacher Dallapiccola. Sequenza II for Harp abandons stereotypes and turns to electronic inspiration. The four elements: water, earth, air, and fire stirred Berio to make a set of scintillating encores.
Sunday, May 22, 2022
First Presbyterian Church, Santa Monica
FESTA BY THE SEA
Franz Liszt – Les jeux d’eau à la Villa d’Este
Nicolo Paganini – Caprice No. 24
Luciano Berio – Sequenza No. 2 for harp
Berio – Folk Songs
Steven Vanhauwaert, piano; Movses Pogossian, violin; Alison Bjorkedal,
harp; Kristen Toedtman, mezzo soprano; Mark Alan Hilt, conductor
Continuing the Italian Modern theme, avant garde composers of the nineteenth century Liszt and Paganini are represented by works that set the high water mark for virtuosity, and that inspired generations well into the twentieth century. Such virtuosity is evident in Luciano Berio’s brief Sequenza for harp, reprised from Saturday night’s concert. Folk Songs, Berio’s most popular work, was a vehicle for his then-wife Cathy Berberian’s linguistic talents It is sung in Italian, English, Armenian, French, Azerbaijani, Occitan, and Russian. Steven Vanhauwaert, piano, Movses Pogossian, violin, and Alison Bjorkedal, harp, return in solos. Mezzo-soprano Peabody Southwell returns with conductor Mark Alan Hilt and Jacaranda Chamber Ensemble to perform Folk Songs.
PAST
REMEMBER THE FUTURE 2019-20
Saturday, September 21, 2019, 8:00
ORGANIC RUSH
J.S. Bach – Toccata & Fugue in d minor; Chorale Trio Herr Jesu Christ
Olivier Messiaen – Apparition de l’Église Éternelle; Verset pour la Fete de la Dédicace
Charles Ives – Processional “Let there be light”
Arvo Pärt – Pari intervallo; Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten
Francis Poulenc– Concerto for Organ, Tympani & Strings
Sanctuary Series – Mark Alan Hilt & Thomas Mellan, 7:00 (click for more)
Thomas Mellan, organ; Brian Cannady, percussion; Jacaranda Strings & Festival Chorus; Mark Alan Hilt, organ/conductor
Iconic organ works by the two great masters of the instrument, Bach and Messiaen, and Poulenc’s dramatic concerto bookended ceremonial and serene music to dedicate the rebuilt Schantz organ. On the first half Mellan, was joined by Jacaranda Festival Chorus singing unaccompanied source music for the Bach Chorale, and Messiaen’s dedicatory work. Mellan joined Jacaranda Strings and chorus conducted by Mark Alan Hilt in a rare work by Ives. As organist, Hilt performed Pärt, and then he conducted Pärt’s famous Britten tribute for strings. Mellan rejoined the orchestra for the Poulenc with timpanist Brian Cannady conducted by Hilt.
Sunday, October 20, 2019, 2:00
ORGANIC I – TY WOODWARD
Jehan Alain – Litanies (1937); Postlude for the Office of Compline (1930)
Maurice Duruflé – Prelude from Suite Op. 5 (1934/rev. 1937)
Marcel Dupré – Cortège et Litanie (1924)
Alan Hovhaness – Prayer of St. Gregory (1946)
Charles Ives – Variations on America (1891)
Leo Sowerby – Pageant (1931)
Ty Woodward, organ; David Searfoss, trumpet
International organist Ty Woodward helped design the original Schantz organ. He will inaugurate a new series with French showpieces by Jehan Alain, Maurice Duruflé and Marcel Dupre, as well as American works by Charles Ives, Alan Hovhaness (with guest trumpet), and Leo Sowerby.
Saturday, November 9, 2019, 8:00
THE WAYWARD
Harry Partch – The Wayward; Dark Brother; Castor and Pollux
Sanctuary Series – John Malpede & John Schneider, 7:00 (click for more)
PARTCH Ensemble with guests: Derek Stein, adapted viola; Dan Rosenboom, trumpet; Ulrich Krieger, saxophone
After a decade, PARTCH Ensemble returned to Jacaranda for the first-ever complete performance of Harry Partch’s The Wayward, a chronicle of hobo life from 1935-41. Dark Brother, new to their repertoire, and the ever-popular Castor and Pollux completed the program. T.J. Troy intoned the Dark Brother text excerpted from God’s Lonely Man by Thomas Wolfe. Three guest artists – Derek Stein, adapted viola, Dan Rosenboom, trumpet, and Ulrich Krieger, saxophone – joined the core eight-member ensemble founded by Artistic Director John Schneider. The ensemble plays 14 custom instruments reproduced from Partch’s originals.
Saturday, December 7, 2019, 8:00
GIDEON’S SUITCASE
Wolfgang Mozart – Fantasy in C minor, K475
Arnold Schoenberg – Six Little Piano Pieces Op. 19
Leos Janáček – Sonata 1.X. 1905, “From the Street”
Gideon Klein – Piano Sonata; Fantasie & Fugue for string quartet; Partita for string trio, Divertimento for wind octet
Sanctuary Series – Peter Daniels, 7:00 (click for more)
David Kaplan, piano; Lyris Quartet; Jacaranda Winds; Mark Alan Hilt, conductor
Pianist/composer Gideon Klein entrusted his sister with a suitcase of his scores before the Nazis captured him. She hid the suitcase so well that the scores weren’t discovered until 1990. Pianist David Kaplan performed works that Klein championed in the concert hall, as well as his piano sonata composed in Terezin, on his actual 100th birthday. Lyris Quartet and Jacaranda Winds joined to perform a program of Klein’s most important works, including the haunting final Partita.
Sunday, December 15, 2019, 2:00
ORGANIC II – JAMES WALKER
J.S. Bach/James Walker – Pastorale from Christmas Oratorio
Hugo Distler – Partita No. 1, Nun Komm der Heiden Heiland
Gary Bachlund – Cantabile Semplice
Charles Ives – Adeste Fidelis in an Organ Prelude
David Lang – Sleeper’s Prayer
Bach – Ten Christmas Chorale Preludes from Orgelbüchlein
Bach/Gounod – Ave Maria
James Walker, organ; Felicity Robles, treble
Former organist of All Saints Pasadena, James Walker celebrates advent with Adeste Fidelisin a Preludeby Charles Ives, Ten Christmas Chorale Preludes of Bach, Partita by Hugo Distler and Sleeper’s Prayer, Jacaranda’s 2016 co-commission for treble voice and organ by David Lang.
Sunday, February 2, 2020, 4:30 pm
PAX AMERICANA I
Charles Ives – First Piano Sonata
Danny Elfman – Piano Quartet
Sanctuary Series – Scott Dunn & Danny Elfman, 4:00 pm (click for more)
Adam Marks & Scott Dunn, piano; Alyssa Park, violin; Luke Maurer, viola; Michael Kaufman, cello
On Super Bowl Sunday, Jacaranda offers an alternative to concussions, commercials and corporate excess. New York-based pianist Adam Marks makes his regular series debut with Ives’ Piano Sonata No. 1, after his stunning Los Angeles debut at the Wende Museum of the Cold War in Jacaranda’s November 2018 program. Members of Lyris Quartet, and pianist Scott Dunn remember the future with film and concert composer Danny Elfman’s remarkable Piano Quartet, commissioned and recorded for Sony Classical by the Berlin Philharmonic Piano Quartet. This will be the first performance after the group’s exclusivity agreement expires in North America. No intermission.
Sunday, February 2, 2020, 7:00 pm
PAX AMERICANA II
Allen Ginsberg/Philip Glass – “Wichita Vortex Sutra” (from Hydrogen Jukebox)
Charles Ives – Second Violin Sonata, “Autumn”
Glass – Another Look at Harmony, Part IV
Sanctuary Series – Jeff Solomon, 6:30 pm, Renaissance Room (click for more)
Adam Marks, piano; Alyssa Park, violin; Scott Dunn, piano; Jacaranda Chamber Singers; Thomas Mellan, organ; Ryan Dudenbostel, conductor
Two seminal works by Philip Glass bracket Charles Ives’ irrepressible but rarely performed Second Violin Sonata, “Autumn.” Marks tackles the Allen Ginsburg-inspired Wichita Vortex Sutra, a virtuosic showpiece originally intended to accompany the poet. Dudenbostel conducts the Jacaranda Chamber Singers and Mellan in Another Look at Harmony. Composed at the same time as the 1976 opera Einstein on the Beach, the hour-long small ensemble work has gained more prominence in a choral and pipe organ version championed by Jacaranda in 2011.
PAST
…DREAM IN COLOR 2018-19
Saturday, October 20, 2018
TIME FOLDER
Dylan Mattingly - Achilles Dreams of Ebbets Field (2014; LA Premiere)
Kathleen Supové, piano
Sanctuary Series - Alex Purves, 7:00 (click for more)
Making her Jacaranda debut, one of America’s most acclaimed and versatile contemporary music pianists, Kathleen Supové tackled Achilles Dreams of Ebbets Field, an epic 24-movement piano cycle by Dylan Mattingly. The cycle interlaces the four seasons with rituals, dances and portraits of the heroes Achilles and Hector, and Jackie Robinson.
Sunday, February 3, 2019 4:00
PREMONITION 1
Pavel Haas - String Quartet No. 2 “From the Monkey Mountains” (1925)
Georg Friedrich Haas - String Quartet No. 2 (1998)
Jörg Widmann - String Quartet No. 3 “The Hunt” (2003)
Lyris Quartet
Three quartets foreshadowed the Mahler Sixth Symphony – from the future. Pavel Haas, student of Leos Janacek, died in Auschwitz, but his quartet “From the Monkey Mountains” was inspired by a popular tourist spot in the Twenties. The rarely performed original version with a drum kit tapped into his fascination with Jazz after WWI. Seven decades later, Austria’s Georg Friedrich Haas says of his Second Quartet, “Tradition shines through again and again, but it appears as something lost, distant, clouded poised on the edge of abandon and dread.” In his 2003 quartet “The Hunt,” the Berlin-based German composer Jörg Widmann repeatedly quotes a motif by Schumann that the obsessive Romantic composer often quoted in his works. Founded in 2008, the LA Times described the Lyris Quartet as "radiant…exquisite... and powerfully engaged.”
Sunday, February 3, 2019 7:30
PREMONITION 2
Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 6 "Tragic" (1904) (4-hands arr. Zemlinsky)
Sanctuary Series - Russell Steinberg, 6:45 (click for more)
Inna Faliks & Daniel Schlosberg, piano
Gustav Mahler’s compelling Sixth Symphony – like the sprawling Seventh, one of his lesser known – is subtitled “Tragic.” Given his public struggles with anti-Semitism, some think the 1904 symphony sees into the calamitous future –– a premonition. More personally, the promiscuity of his wife Alma is a subtext that anticipates notorious future affairs. He dedicated the rapturous adagio to her. Mahler’s friend, composer Alexander von Zemlinsky (and one of Alma’s lovers), made a piano four hands reduction to increase access to the daring new work. Of their National Gallery of Art debut performance of the work The Washington Post said, Inna Faliks and Daniel Schlosberg “offered a highly personal and subjective reading, full of shifts in color and tempo, with individual passages brimming with character.” Jacaranda added percussion from the full score: Mahler’s critically important hammer blows and the atmospheric cowbells to enhance the concert hall experience.
Saturday, March 23, 2019 8:00
FLYING DREAM
Florence Price - Piano Sonata (1932)
William Grant Still - Ennanga (1958)
George Walker - Lyric for string quartet (1946)
Duke Ellington - "Single Petal of a Rose" from The Queen’s Suite (1958)
”In a Sentimental Mood” (1935, arr. Art Tatum)
New World A-Comin' (1945; arr. Scott Dunn world premiere)
Sanctuary Series - Althea Waites, 7:00 (click for more)
Lyris Quartet; Althea Waites & Cecil Lytle, piano; Allison Bjorkedal, harp; Jacaranda Chamber Ensemble; Scott Dunn, conductor
Lyris Quartet played the original version of Lyric, the late 96-year old George Walker’s most often performed work. This haunting music by the first Black composer to receive a Pulitzer Prize was surrounded by composers who joined his quest for recognition and success. Florence Price (1887-1953) has received extensive favorable ink in The New Yorker and the New York Times. Pianist Althea Waites prepared a performing edition to record the Price Piano Sonata in 1993. She joined the Lyris Quartet and a harpist in William Grant Still’s Ennanga. On her championship of Still’s music, Ann Arbor News hailed her as “a pianist who is blessed with a profound musicality." Waites performed Ellington’s exquisite tone poem “Single Petal of a Rose’ inspired by his meeting Queen Elizabeth in 1958. A new version of Ellington’s one-movement piano concerto New World A-Comin’ closed the program, conducted and arranged by Scott Dunn.
Saturday, April 13, 2019 8:00
STAY ON IT!
James Tenney - Three Pieces for Drum Quartet (1974-75)
1. Wake for Charles Ives
2. Hocket for Henry Cowell
3. Crystal Canon for Edgard Varèse
Frederic Rzewski - De Profundis (1994)
Lukas Foss - Solo for piano (1981)
Julius Eastman - Stay On It (1973)
Sanctuary Series - Scott Dunn, Seth Parker Woods & Renée Levine Packer, 7:00 (click for more)
Scott Dunn & Adam Tendler, piano; MB Gordy, Sidney Hopson, Dustin Donahue, TJ Troy, percussion; Seth Parker Woods, cello/leader; Max Opferkuch, clarinet; David Brennan, alto saxophone; Shalini Vijayan, violin; Zanaida Robles, voice
The recent emergence of Julius Eastman (1940-90) has caused a re-thinking the roots of American minimalism and the history of Black classical music, as well as a fresh look at the milieu from which Eastman emerged: the Center of the Creative and Performing Arts at SUNY Buffalo. Founded by Lukas Foss, this hotbed of creativity attracted James Tenney from the Fluxus scene in New York, and Frederic Rzewski from Italy. Ensemble works by Tenney and Eastman bracketed solo piano music by Foss and Frederic Rzewski . Scott Dunn, a Jacaranda regular since 2005, recorded Foss’s Solo under the composer’s supervision. This concert took place on Rzewski’s actual 81st birthday: Adam Tendler performed his setting for “speaking pianist” of Oscar Wilde’s open letter from prison to Lord Alfred Douglas. Tendler returned to LA after three sold out John Cage concerts at the Broad Museum.
Saturday, May 25, 2019 8:00
VIVID REVERIES
Witold Lutoslawski - Five Dance Preludes (1954)
Mauricio Kagel - Piano Trio No. 3 (2007)
Alban Berg - Four pieces (1913)
Wolfgang Mozart - Quintet in E-flat K 452 (1784)
Sanctuary Series - Marek Zebrowski & Steven Vanhauwaert, 7:00 (click for more)
Michele Zukovsky, clarinet; Gloria Cheng, piano; Alyssa Park, violin; Tim Loo, cello; Steven Vanhauwaert, piano; David Kaplan, piano; Danielle Ondarza, horn; Ted Sugata, oboe; Don Foster, clarinet; Anthony Parnther, bassoon;
Mauricio Kagel’s last important work condensed his dramatic world to a masterful piano trio. The Argentine-born German poignantly remembered such 18th century composers as Mozart while spinning a dream of farewell. For this valedictory work Lyris Quartet members joined pianist Steven Vanhauwaert, hailed by the LA Times for his “monster technique,” Making his Jacaranda debut, pianist David Kaplan led oboe, clarinet, horn & bassoon in Mozart’s landmark quintet. Kaplan has been called “excellent and adventurous” by The New York Times and praised by the Boston Globe for “grace and fire.” The highly acclaimed former LA Phil principal clarinetist Michele Zukovsky partnered with pianist Gloria Cheng for a classic pair of 20th century duos: Alban Berg’s expressionist Four Pieces, and Witold Lutoslawski’s extrovert Dance Preludes. A Jacaranda perennial since the first season, Grammy-winning pianist Gloria Cheng recently added an Emmy award for her local PBS documentary Montage: Great Film Composers and the Piano.
“Three California Millennials”
(L-R) Thomas Kotcheff, Dylan Mattingly, Sarah Gibson
Saturday, June 1, 8:00
THREE CALIFORNIA MILLENNIALS
Noon to Midnight/Walt Disney Concert Hall
Thomas Kotcheff - and through and through and through (world premiere)
Sarah Gibson - tiny tangled world (2018)
Dylan Mattingly - Gravity and Grace (world premiere)
Lyris Quartet; Jessica Guideri & Adrianne Pope, violin; Linnea Powell, viola; Michael Kafumann, cello; Aron Kallay & Vicki Ray, piano; Joanne Pearce Martin, organ
PAST
AWAKE 2017-18
Jacaranda’s 15th season, explored conscience and consciousness with six program ideas: environment, power, solidarity, sensuality, science, and identity.
October 21, 2017
MICRO CLIMATES
Lou Harrison – Varied Quintet for violin, harp, harpsichord, bells, & percussion (1987)
Yuri Inoo, percussion; Aron Kallay, harpsichord; Shalini Vijayan, violin; Alison Bjorkedal, harp; T.J. Troy, percussion
Ben Johnston – String Quartet No 9 (1988)
Lyris Quartet
Karen Tanaka – Jardin des Herbes (1989)
Gloria Cheng, piano
Steven Stucky – Two Holy Sonnets of John Donne (1982)
Peabody Southwell, mezzo-soprano; Carolyn Hove, oboe; Ms. Cheng, piano
Philip Glass – Symphony No. 3 (1995)
Lyris Quartet; Alma Fernandez, viola; Charlie Tyler, cello
Sanctuary Series – Robert Lempert, 7:00 (click for more)
Environment: Exotic tunings combatted equal temperament in the season opener. Microtonal pioneers Harrison and Johnston were featured. Lyris Quartet debuted Johnston’s Quartet No. 9. Alto Peabody Southwell, oboist Carolyn Hough, and pianist Gloria Cheng remember Stucky.
November 18, 2017
OPPOSING NATURES
Noon to Midnight/Walt Disney Concert Hall
Mark Grey – Fantasmagoriana (world premiere)
Sara Andon, flute; Claire Brazeau, oboe; James Sullivan, clarinet; Anthony Parnther, bassoon; Allen Fogle, horn; Steve Suminski, trombone; Sidney Hopson, percussion; Alyssa Park, Sarah Thornblade, violins; Diana Wade, viola; Tim Loo, cello; Eric Shetzen, bass; Don Crockett, conductor
Dylan Mattingly – Three Choruses from The Bakkhai (2013)
Holly Sedillos, Suzanne Waters, Zanaida Robles, sopranos; Luc Kleiner, baritone; Claire Brazeau, Breana Gilcher, oboes; Tim Loo, cello; Eric Shetzen, bass; Aron Kallay, synthesizer; Sidney Hopson, MB Gordy, percussion; Andreas Levisianos, conductor
Power: November 18 at Disney Hall, Greek drama clashed with literature’s original dark universe – by two John Adams protégés: Mark Grey and Dylan Mattingly.
January 20, 2018
INDIVISIBLE
Frederick Rzewski – The People United Will Never be Defeated (1975)
Inna Faliks, piano
Julius Eastman – Gay Guerilla (1980)
Daniel Schlosberg, Louise Thomas, Billy Childs & Scott Dunn, piano
Sanctuary Series – Renée Levine Packer, 7:00 (click for more)
Solidarity: The epic protest classic The People United Will Never Be Defeated by Frederick Rzewski, and LA premiere of Gay Guerilla by Julius Eastman were performed by pianist Inna Faliks, and friends, to observe Inauguration Day.
February 24, 2018
EXTRASENSORY
Andre Jolivet – Chant de Linos (1944)
Rachel Beetz, flute; Alison Bjorkedal, harp; Alyssa Park, violin, Luke Maurer, viola; Timothy Loo, cello
Eric Tanguy – Sonata for Two Violins (1999)
Alyssa Park & Shalini Vijayan, violins
Olivier Messiaen – Oiseaux Exotiques (1956)
Aron Kallay, piano; Jonathan Hepfer, glockenspiel; Dustin Donohue, xylophone
Mark Alan Hilt, conductor; Jacaranda Chamber Orchestra
Messiaen – La Mort du Nombre (1930)
Suzanne Waters, soprano; Tim Gonzalez, tenor; Jessica Guideri, violin; Jack Dettling, piano
Betsy Jolas – Quatour III (1973)
Lyris Quartet
Claude Debussy – Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894, arr. 1920)
Mark Alan Hilt, conductor; Jacaranda Chamber Orchestra
Sanctuary Series – Joel Salinas, MD, 7:00 (click for more)
Sensuality: February and March concerts updated Jacaranda’s OM Century – a two-season celebration 2007-2009 of Olivier Messiaen’s centenary – his models, friends, and students. Messiaen’s countryman and contemporary Andre Jolivet (1905-74) shared membership in the so-called Jeune France group. Eric Tanguy (b.1968) studied with Messiaen pupil Gerard Grisey (1946-98); Betsy Jolas (b. 1926) also studied with Messiaen and succeeded him at the Paris Conservatoire. From age 11, Messiaen was obsessed with the music of Debussy, its color, perfume, unique sense of time and advanced harmony. His music was represented with an early work indebted to Debussy, and a classic mid-century masterpiece exploring his love of birds.
March 17, 2018
MENTAL ENERGY
Olivier Messiaen – Quatre études de rythme (1950)
Steven Vanhauwaert, piano
Iannis Xenakis – Psappha (1975)
Jonathan Hepfer, percussion
Jean Barraqué – Piano Sonata (1952)
Mr. Vanhauwaert
Sanctuary Series – Mr. Hepfer & Mr. Vanhauwaert, 7:00 (click for more)
Science: This concert continued Jacaranda’s OM Century redux with an extraordinary turning point in piano composition, the transformational Quatre études de Rhythm. Messiaen’s new work inspired many leading lights including Jean Barraqué (1928-74). His student wrote this rarely performed and legendary Mt. Everest of piano sonatas. Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001) began study with Messiaen as a mathematician and architect. He was among the first to reconcile computer science with music. Psappha is his best-known work for percussion and is now a solo classic. The evening was devoted to the mid-century mental energy that intensified an impulse – dating back to Bach and before – to bring a scientific approach to exploring music and sound.
May 19, 2018
REGIONAL ACCENTS
Manuel De Falla – Fantasia Baetica (1919)
José Menor, piano
Roberto Gerhard – String Quartet No. 2 (1962)
Lyris Quartet
Gerhard – Three Impromptus for Piano (1950)
Mr. Menor
Tomas Peire-Serrate – Awake (2013)
Andreas Levisianos, conductor; Rachel Beetz, flute; Jonathan Sacdalan, clarinet; Adrianne Pope, violin; Michael Kaufmann, cello; Dustin Donahue, percussion
Peire-Serrate – React (2011)
Jim Sullivan, clarinet; Lyris Quartet
Gerhard – Fantasia (1957)
Michael Kudirka, guitar
De Falla – Homenaje a Debussy & La Vida Breve/Danza No. 1 (1920)
Mr. Kudirka
Peire-Serrate – Toccata for Solo Piano (2016)
Mr. Menor
De Falla – Harpsichord Concerto (1926)
Gloria Cheng, harpsichord; Ms. Beetz; Jason Kennedy, oboe; Mr. Sacdalan; Ms. Pope; Mr. Kaufmann
Sanctuary Series – Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, 7:00 (click for more)
Identity: The season climaxed with a survey of three generations of Spanish/Catalan music. Two thrilling recent works by Tomas Peire-Serrate (b. 1979) living now in Los Angeles; solo piano, guitar, and string quartet music by the mid-century master Roberto Gerhard (1896-1970); plus, by Manuel de Falla (1876-1946), a major and astonishing solo piano work, two infectious guitar finds, and his neoclassic treasure the Harpsichord Concerto.