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The Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia Fifth Season Violin Concertos by Vivaldi and a world premiere by Kenyon Duncan Monday, December 18, 2023, 7pm Holy Comforter Episcopal Church 4819 Monument Ave., Richmond, Virginia with: Nicholas DiEugenio, violin Jessica Powell Eig, bass Natalie Rose Kress, violin Emily Monroe, violin Nurit Pacht, violin Carsten Schmidt, harpsichord Jessica Troy, viola Cameron Welke, lute James Wilson, cello
Program Concerto in D minor Antonio Vivaldi from “l’Estro Harmonico,” RV 565 (1678-1741) Allegro – Adagio e spiccato – Allegro Largo e spiccato Allegro Concerto in A major (“per eco in lontano”), RV 552 Vivaldi Allegro Larghetto Allegro we go where we need to go Kenyon Duncan (Variations for Baroque Ensemble) Intermission Violin Concerto in E-flat major Vivaldi (“La Tempesta di Mare”), RV 253 Presto Largo Presto Concerto in D minor for Lute and Viola d’amore, RV 540 Vivaldi Allegro Largo Allegro Concerto No. 10 in B-flat major (“The Hunt”), RV 362 Vivaldi Allegro Adagio Allegro
Artist Bios Ani Kavafian and Joel Krosnick in venues ranging from Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall to the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, TX and Rose Live Music in Brooklyn. Nicholas has twice been a prize winner at the Fischoff Competition and has recorded for the innova, New Focus, and Naxos labels. Nicholas is Associate Professor of Violin at UNC Chapel Hill where he directs the Luby Violin Symposium at UNC Chapel Hill, and MYCO, a youth chamber music program in Chapel Hill. Nicholas teaches at the Kinhaven Music School during the summers, and holds BM and MM degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and an AD and DMA from the Yale School of Music. Nicholas DiEugenio, violin A joyous and visceral artist, Nicholas DiEugenio leads a versatile performing life as a leader, chamber musician, and soloist. A core member of the Sebastians, a period group hailed as “topnotch” by the New Yorker, Nicholas also performs and records with mentors and colleagues such as Mimi Solomon, Kenyon Duncan, composer Kenyon Duncan is a composer, performer, conductor, and arranger based in Northern California. Recent commissions include works for iSing Silicon Valley, Touch of Blue: New American Vocal Ensemble, the Princeton Playhouse Choir &
Orchestra, and the Yale Undergraduate Chamber Orchestra. His sound installation Music for Strangers was featured at the Yale Center for Collaborative Arts and Media. Kenyon is currently an artist-citizen-in-residence with the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music in Mendocino County, CA. Kenyon’s vocal and instrumental arrangements have been commissioned by groups around the US and performed in venues all over the world. Recent commissions include reinterpretations of Charlie Smalls’ “Soon As I Get Home” from The Wiz and “Love Will Find A Way” from Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake’s landmark musical Shuffle Along. Kenyon’s experience as an ensemble leader has led to the production of 3 award-winning albums, bringing him around the world to lead workshops on vocal performance and ensemble technique. He spent a year directing The Whiffenpoofs, programming over 200 concerts across 25 states and 26 countries. Kenyon holds a B.A. in Computing & The Arts from Yale University, where he studied composition, computer music, and conducting. Carolina Baroque Orchestra, and Seraphic Fire. Jessica is also an active instructor, teaching artist, and clinician. She is Adjunct Applied Faculty in Classical Bass at George Mason University, guest lecturer in Double Bass Pedagogy at the University of Maryland, and has served on the summer faculties of the Chamber Music Conference and Composers’ Forum of the East, the Young Bassists program at the International Society of Bassists Convention, and the Viola da Gamba Society Conclave. Jessica completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in double bass performance at SUNY-Stony Brook, and earlier training at the Cleveland Conservatory of Music, Eastman, and Juilliard. Jessica Powell Eig, bass Jessica Powell Eig has crafted a dynamic and varied career performing on double bass, violone, and viola da gamba. In recent seasons she has appeared with Washington Bach Consort, National Philharmonic Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, Washington Concert Opera, REBEL, ARTEK, North
Center honoring Seiji Ozawa, and gave the world premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s “Music for String Quartet” at Tanglewood. As a member of the Quartet Salonnières, she was awarded the 2022 U.S. Embassy Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Public Diplomacy Grant to tour throughout Tanzania. She performs frequently with The Handel and Haydn Society, The English Concert, The Washington Bach Consort, Repast, and Relic. She currently teaches the Baroque Training Orchestra at The University of Maryland where she is pursuing a doctorate in historical performance pedagogy, and lives in Greenbelt, MD, with her husband Jonathan Davies, and their yorkie Henry. Arbor, Emily served as a section violinist in the Ann Arbor Symphony, acted as concertmaster of the University of Michigan’s Symphony Orchestra, and was a member of UM’s Baroque Chamber Orchestra. Previously, Emily attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts high school Natalie Rose Kress, violin Praised by the New York Times for her “splendid playing,” Natalie Rose Kress was awarded the Jules C. Reiner Violin Prize from the Tanglewood Music Center, and the English Concert in America Fellowship through The Juilliard School. She performed with Yo-Yo Ma at the Kennedy Center Emily Monroe, violin Originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, Emily Monroe currently makes her home in Richmond, Virginia where she serves as a section violinist in the Richmond Symphony. In 2022 Emily received a Master of Music in Violin Performance and Chamber Music from the University of Michigan. During her time in Ann
program and graduated with a Bachelor of Music and a minor in Baroque Violin from Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music. Emily has performed with Three Notch’d Road: The Virginia Baroque Ensemble and previously played with Nashville’s Music City Baroque Ensemble. International Music Competition in Texas. As a soloist she was featured on tours and concerts with the Pacific Symphony, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the Houston Symphony and the Young Israel Philharmonic, the Rhode Island Philharmonic, the Des Moines Symphony, the Santa Rosa Symphony, the National Symphony in Columbia, and the Brooklyn Philharmonic. Championing new music, Noam Sherif dedicated his violin concerto “Dibrot” to her and she has performed with Philip Glass and Pierre Boulez. In 2015, she performed for Pope Francis on his visit to New York and gave a recital tour of Ukraine funded by the State Department. In 2017, she recorded as soloist with the English Symphony Orchestra for Toccata Classics. Her Wigmore recital debut in London was released by Nimbus Records. With her husband and co-composer, guitarist Rami Vamos, she regularly performs in Lincoln Center’s Passport to the Arts programs geared towards audiences with disabilities and in Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Society’s CMS Kids. Her students have won scholarships to top conservatories, important positions in leading orchestras and accolades as soloists. Nurit Pacht, violin Critics have described violinist Nurit Pacht as having “instrumental technique to burn, and temperament to equal her dexterity.” She was a top prize winner in the Irving Klein International Music Competition in California, the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition in Switzerland and the Kingsville
which he has premiered more than one hundred. He has appeared at such venues as the German Mozart Festival, Ravinia Festival in Chicago, Schubert Festival in Amsterdam, Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, Merkin and Weill Recital Halls in NYC, the Moscow Conservatory, and the Kuhmo Festival in Finland. Since 2003 he has also been increasingly active as a conductor, leading productions of operas by Handel and Purcell, and orchestral repertoire ranging from Marais to Mahler. Carsten Schmidt graduated with distinction from the Folkwang Institute in Germany, and subsequently received an Artist Diploma from Indiana University and a doctorate from Yale. He joined the faculty at Sarah Lawrence College in 1998, and is artistic director of the Staunton Music Festival in Virginia. and Mark Morris Dance Group Music Ensemble. She can be heard on the Marlboro Festival's 50th anniversary CD in György Kurtág's Microludes for string quartet, which she prepared with the composer. She has subbed and Carsten Schmidt, harpsichord Carsten Schmidt made his professional debut with the Essen Philharmonic in Germany in 1984, and has performed extensively throughout Europe, North America, and Japan. Active both as a pianist and harpsichordist, his repertoire ranges from the early seventeenth century to contemporary works, of Jessica Troy, viola Jessica Troy wears a variety of freelance hats. Ensembles with which she regularly performs include: Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, the Sebastians, New York Baroque Inc., Orchestra of St. Luke's, New York City Opera, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra,
had her own chair on numerous Broadway shows (ranging from Porgy & Bess to Tootsie) and played on many film scores (most recently Joker and Little Women). She has recorded quartet tracks for Lou Reed and Ani DiFranco, performed on tv with Renée Fleming and Whitney Houston, and on film with David Byrne. consummate phrasing and endearing expressivity” (Chestnut Hill Local). Past and current engagements include performances with the Washington Bach Consort, Tempesta di Mare, the Folger Consort, the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Three Notch’d Road, and Hesperus. In 2022, he gave the first lute masterclasses to ever take place in the Dominican Republic through La Fundación de la Villa de Santo Domingo. He explores repertoire for two baroque lutes in Duo Silvio with duo partner Richard Stone, and is a co-founder of the early music collective Magdalena. Cameron began his musical life as a classical violinist and a rock and jazz guitarist. He holds a B.M. in classical guitar performance from Belmont University, where he studied with Francis Perry and John Pell, and a M.M. in historical performance on lute and theorbo from the Peabody Conservatory, where he studied with Richard Stone. He currently lives in Richmond, VA. Cameron Welke, lute Cameron Welke spends most of his time explaining to well-meaning strangers that the lute is, in fact, quite a different instrument from the flute. He brings a passionate curiosity and a deep creative drive to all manner of historical plucked instruments, which he plays with “expert technical dexterity, consummate phrasing and James Wilson, cello Cellist James Wilson is a performer, administrator, and educator, who has performed in venues and festivals around the world including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Sydney Opera House, the Elbphilharmonie in
Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, and the Musikverein in Vienna, the DeutchesMozartfest, the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival in Finland, and the MostlyMozart Festival. In demand for his ensemble and leadership skills, Mr.Wilson is a member of the acclaimed Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, regularlyserves as guest principal cellist of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra andperforms with groups such as the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, TrinityBaroque Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic. He currently teachescello at Columbia University in New York. One of the founders ofCMSCVA, Mr. Wilson has served as the organization’s Artistic Director since 2004.
Notes on tonight’s program Antonio Vivaldi’s concertos collectively known as the Four Seasons are the anti-heros for this concert. Ubiquitous on concert stages since the Vivaldi revival of the mid-20th
century, they can also be heard in countless movies, elevators, and TV commercials.Tonight’s program goes beyond these famous works and presents five of Vivaldi’sother equally wonderful concertos, each with its own unique character and inspiration. The composer was born in Venice in 1678. His unusual life started the day he wasborn. He was dedicated to the priesthood at birth, possibly because of an earthquakethat occurred that very day. He was trained to play the violin by his father, who was abarber before turning professional violinist. Because of a health condition (possiblyasthma) that prevented him from saying mass, Vivaldi withdrew from priestly dutiesnot long after ordination and instead in 1705 became the musical director of Ospedale della Pietà, a home for orphaned children. While the boys in the home learned trades, the girls received a musical education, and under Vivaldi’s direction the orchestra andchoir of the hospital became famous in Venice and abroad. Vivaldi, who was known atthe Ospedale as the “Red Priest” because of the color of his hair, would write most of his The D minor concerto that opens our program was probably written during a yearwhen Vivaldi was let go form the Ospedale and worked as a freelance musician (only tobe rehired!). It is one of six concertos forming the collection L'estro armonico (or Harmonic Inspiration), which was published in 1711 and became very well-known throughout Europe. Written for two solo violins and solo cello plus ensemble, it has several arresting features. The concerto starts with an extended duet for the soloviolins, followed by a transition passage and then a fugue for the entire ensemble. Theslow movement features only one violin in a melody written as a traditional
Italian folk dance, the Siciliano. This concerto was admired by J. S. Bach, who transcribed it for solo organ. Roughly six years after writing the D minor concerto, Vivaldi was offered a position as Maestro di Cappella in the court of the governor of Mantua. During this period of time there he wrote the collection of twelve violin concertos entitled Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione (the Battle Between Harmony and Invention). This collection included the famous four concertos themed to the seasons, as well as other concertos drawing on picturesque themes. Tonight’s program features two of these. The concert in B-flat known as “the Hunt” imitates the rough and folksy fiddling style also employed in the Fall concerto from the Four Seasons. As a contrast, the slow movement is an elegant aria for solo violin supported by the basso continuo group. Although reduced for this movement, today’s performance uses a full basso continuo section – the harpsichord, the lute and the bass are all playing the same bass line, providing a rich accompaniment for the treble instruments. The E-flat concerto uses fast scales and turbulent solo passagework to evoke a storm. As with many of Vivaldi’s slow movements, the one in this concerto has some surprises including unison accompaniment from all of the ensemble. The other two concertos on tonight’s program were commissioned by the Ospedale and performed for a special occasion in 1740, a visit by Prince Frederick Christian, the son of the King of Poland. These include the lovely concerto in D minor for the elegant pairing of lute and viola d’amore. The later instrument is a cousin of the violin, although with six or seven playing strings. In addition, it has an equal number of sympathetic strings located below the fingerboard which are not played directly but vibrate in sympathy with the notes played. Although tonight’s performance will be on violin, one can imagine how the music would benefit from the silvery sounds of the ringing string. Of all the concertos on tonight’s program, this one has the most intimate character, the most like chamber music. We know from his diary that the Prince of Poland particularly enjoyed the A major "Echo" concerto, in which several instruments were seated at a distance for special echo effects. Charming and clever, this concerto also has a gentle quality. These two concertos may very well be among his last works, because soon after the festive performance, Vivaldi moved to Vienna, where he died in poverty the following year. Tonight’s performance lets us hear performances of a range of Vivaldi’s music (still amazing for the variety of scoring and compositional approaches in so much music over so many years). But it also transports us, in a kind of musical time machine, to a period and lifestyle that has certainly disappeared in the last 250 years, one in which chamber music can encompass the entire world in one small room.
we go where we need to go takes inspiration from the musical form of a theme and variations and from collage art. Instead of presenting successive variations of a complete theme, I opted to take the theme and explode it, only taking portions of the melody and using those as portals to new phrases, styles and moods. These refractions do not always progress in order and the original theme on which the piece is based does not appear in full until it is stated by the strings in the middle slow section. The title of the piece comes from something a friend said to me as I was contemplating an upcoming crossroads in my life and struggling to make a plan for what would come next. These words “we go where we need to go” have echoed in my head as a reminder to embrace the non-linearity of our lives, accepting each detour and retread and retreat as a reflection of something integral to who we are and who we are becoming. — Kenyon Duncan
The Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia would like to thank the following individuals and foundations who have made financial gifts over the past year, allowing us to dream up artistic programming and serve our community. Donors (up to $99): David and Shiu-Min Block Eugenia H. Borum Douglas Durso Marilyn T. Erickson Christine Ertell Martha Faulkner Richard Fine and Sara Ferguson Diana Gabay-Selby Kevin Hoover Julie Laskaris Denis and Carol Lisz Hortense Liberti Rob McTier Sharon and Edson Pederson Ragan Phillips Paul Quel Kevin Rosengren John Rupp Teresa Shuk Theresa Singleton Elisabeth S. Wollan Members ($100 - $249): Anonymous Dennis Anderson Charles and Jean Arrington Carolyn and Gary Bokinsky John B. H. Caldwell Frances Caldwell Kevin Campbell Col. & Mrs. Robert M. Clewell Diana Damschroder David Depp Alan W. Dow II Martin and Hope Armstrong Erb Ann H. Franke Sharon Fuller Martin Gary Janet and Jonathan Geldzahler Ralph and Jocelyne Graner Eric and Christiana Jacobson Carlyle Robin Jones Harry and Barbara Kaplowitz James Kidd Joann L. King Tricia and Jack Pearsall Ellen Sayles Margaret Stokely Misa Stuart Robert & Mary Ellen Wadsworth George and Carolyn Watkins Marsden Williams Rick and Laurie Williams Jane and Brian Wilson Patrons ($250 - $499) Laurel Nelson Brooks Clarke Bustard Ross Decker Jeffrey Riehl Fran and John Freimarck Gita and Davis Massey Phyllis McCafferty Jack and Marilyn McClard Grace E. Suttle Perry and Ernest Wilson
Artist Sponsors ($500 - $999): Anonymous Phoebe Antrim Rosa E. Bosher Zade Child Lois Wilson-Crabtree Mary Boodell and Evan Davis Virginia Weight Michael and Molly Wray Outreach Sponsors ($1000 - $2499): Anonymous Sarah Harriman Elizabeth A. King Elizabeth Lowsely-Williams Peter Gilbert and Ann Reavey James H. Wilson Coille Limited Partnership LP Concert Sponsors ($2500 and up): Anonymous Jennifer A. Cable and David Lingerfelt The Virginia A. Arnold Fund of the Community Foundation serving Richmond and Central Virginia The Virgina Commission for the Arts Thanks also to: Rev. Hilary Smith, Jim Bennett, and everyone at Holy Comforter Episcopal Church. Our musician hosts: Frances Caldwell, Margie Gray, Susanne Hall and Joe Willis, and Mike and Molly Wray . And all of our wonderful volunteers who are essential to our organization. CMSCVA's 2023-24 Season is presented in partnership with the Richmond Public Library and is supported in part by the Allan and Margot Blank Foundation, the Community Foundation for a Greater Richmond, the Virginia Commission for the Arts, which receives support from the Virginia General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. Thank you for being a part of CMSCVA’s 19th Season! Consider donating to support future events here through this QR code.