A Living Tribute to Jens Nygaard: Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players... It's Out of This World

A chamber music series to acknowledge and perpetuate the legacy of conductor Jens Nygaard, continuing a marvelous journey through the universe of music that includes works from the standard repertoire and the rarely-performed, and featuring outstanding musicians.

Join Us For Our 2024-2025 Season!

Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players

“This was music-making of a very high order”
“at the Jupiter concerts, there is always so much about which to be enthusiastic.”
“the rarities glittered like jewels”

Fred Kirshnit, The New York Sun
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Greetings!

    Welcome to Jupiter, where you’ll find heavenly music played by a constellation of stars.
    Just as you visit a museum to view art by major and minor masters, you’ll hear music of major and minor composers at Jupiter, in programs designed by our brilliant artistic director Michael Volpert.
    The familiar and new discoveries to enjoy are also enhanced by our venue’s great acoustics and convivial ambience.
    We thank our generous Patrons and Friends in spades for the privilege of offering these musical feasts made possible by their support. We thank the musicians for learning the repertoire, some of which is very difficult and will leave you gasping with awe and admiration. And we thank all of you for coming to Jupiter to savor its array of delectable concerts.

You’ll continue to have:

HEPA-filter air purifiers in operation
Ventilation—as much as possible
Spaced-apart seating for better sight lines

Affordable ticket prices

   Ticket reservations are advised to avoid disappointment at the door.

Not least, please consider a gift to help Jupiter create the best music making around.
   All gifts are tax deductible.
   Thank you so much,
Meiying

Jens Nygaard & pianist William Wolfram
circa late 1990s
Artistic director Michael Volpert and Jens Nygaard
circa late 1990s

Why the name Jupiter: When Jens Nygaard named his orchestra Jupiter, he had the beautiful, gaseous planet in mind—unattainable but worth the effort, like reaching musical perfection. Many, indeed, were privileged and fortunate to hear his music making that was truly Out of This World. Our Players today seek to attain that stellar quality.

View Our NEW Season Calendar

Click on the dates for 2024-2025 program details:

September 9 ~ Mad about Schumann
September 23 ~ Crème de la Crème

October 7 ~ Out of Judaism
October 21 ~ The Ricordi Legacy
October 28 ~ Amazing Women
November 11 ~ Spanish Flair
November 25 ~ Ukrainian Splendor
December 2 ~ Tinkerers
December 16 ~ Romantic Melodists
January 6 ~ Admired in Vienna

January 20 ~ Romance with Finns
February 3 ~ Love Exposed
February 17 ~ Getaway to UK
March 3 ~ The Franck Connexion
March 17 ~ Blazing Stars
March 24 ~ Classical Evolution
April 7 ~ A “Dvorák” Medley
April 14 ~ Poles Vault
April 28 ~ German Romantics
May 12 ~ Russian Musical Society

more details here...

View Our Printable Calendar and Ticket Order Form (pdf)

Take a look at our guest artists for this season.
Find out more about the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players.

Join us for our next concerts...

Michael Brown, piano
Geneva Lewis, violin
Isabelle Ai Durrenberger, violin
Natalie Loughran, viola
Sara Scanlon, cello
Sooyun Kim, flute
Roni Gal-Ed, oboe
Vadim Lando, clarinet
Karl Kramer, horn
Gina Cuffari, bassoon

Monday, February 3 2 PM & 7:30 PM
Love Exposed
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church
152 West 66 Street (west of Broadway)

Limited Seating

Tickets: $25, $17, $10 ~ Reservations advised
Call (212) 799-1259 or email admin@jupitersymphony.com
Pay by check or cash (exact change)​​​

Michael Stephen Brown piano
Winner of the 2018 Emerging Artist Award from Lincoln Center, a 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the 2010 Concert Artists Guild Competition ~ “working wonders at the keyboard” Chicago Tribune ~ “of compelling artistry and power” Seattle Times

Geneva Lewis violin
Recipient of the 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant Grand Prize, 2020 Concert Artists Guild Competition, and Bronze Medal at the Fischoff competition as a member of the Callisto Trio

Isabelle Durrenberger violin
Fellow of Ensemble Connect’s 2023–2025 seasons, semifinalist at the 2022 Indianapolis Competition, and 3rd Prize at the 2018 Irving Klein String Competition

Natalie Loughran viola
Won First Prize and Audience Prize at the Primrose Viola Competition, and awarded a Special Prize at the Lionel Tertis Viola Competition

Sara Scanlon cello
Grand Finalist of the National YoungArts Competition ~ her many prize winnings include concerto competitions of the Chappaqua Orchestra, Hamden Symphony, and Adelphi Orchestra

Sooyun Kim flute
Winner of the Georg Solti Foundation Career Grant and a top prize at the ARD flute competition, she has been praised for her “vivid tone colors” by the Oregonian and as a “rare virtuoso of the flute” by Libération

Roni Gal-Ed oboe
First Prize winner of the Lauschmann Oboe Competition in Mannheim ~ “Outstanding” The New York Times ~ “Expressive, wonderful player” German SZ Magazine

Vadim Lando clarinet
Winner of the CMC Canada, Yale and Stonybrook competitions ~ “consistently distinguished...vibrant, precise, virtuosic playing” The New York Times

Karl Kramer horn
Winner of the 1997 and 1999 American Horn competitions ~ “Praise goes to the heroic horn playing of Karl Kramer.” New York Classical Review

Gina Cuffari bassoon
Principal Bassoonist of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, praised for her “sound that is by turns sensuous, lyric, and fast moving” Palm Beach Daily News

SCHUBERT  Fantasia in F minor D.940
   ~ among the musical wonders of the world—dedicated to Caroline Esterházy, his soulmate, or was she the object of his unrequited love?

Composed the year he died at age 31, the dedication was announced on 21 February 1828. If Schubert and Caroline were the first to play the divine Fantasia, the first other person to hear it was likely Schubert’s great friend Eduard Bauernfeld, a music connoisseur and dramatist, for whom Schubert and Franz Lachner played it on 9 May at a Schubertiade. It was published posthumously in 1829. The arrangement by Claus Ludwig for string quartet is from the original for piano-4 hands, one of the most ravishing pieces in the piano literature.

Countess Caroline Esterházy was born in 1805 into the wealthy and illustrious Esterházy family—the younger of two daughters of Johann Karl Count Esterházy of Galánta. She was a gifted pianist and sensitive musician. Schubert gave the sisters music lessons at their home in Vienna, as well as during the summers of 1818 and 1824 at the family estate in Zseliz. Thereafter, she and Schubert remained friends till his death in 1828. The memoir of Baron Karl von Schönstein, the Count’s close friend, throws some light on the relationship between Caroline and Schubert. However, because it was written in 1857, almost 30 years after Schubert’s death, the details of Schönstein’s recollections are inconsistent and not to be entirely trusted. Regardless, he disclosed that “a poetic flame sprang up in Schubert’s heart for Caroline. This flame continued to burn until his death.” He also recalled that “Caroline esteemed his talent very highly, but did not return this love; perhaps she did not realize the degree to which it existed. I say ‘the degree,’ because that he loved her must have been clear to her from a remark of Schubert’s—his only expression [of his love] in words. When she once jokingly teased Schubert that he had never dedicated a piece of his to her he responded: ‘Why do that? Everything is dedicated to you anyway.’” Further, Bauernfeld divulged in his diary in February 1828 that “Schubert seems to be seriously in love with Countess E[sterházy]. I like that in him. He is giving her lessons.” (To put the revelation in context, the diary entry was written at the time the Fantasia was dedicated to Caroline.) Love exists on many levels, and to say, as some have put forth, that she was the object of his unrequited love may not quite be the case. It could be more realistic that they were soulmates and shared a platonic love. We may never know for sure.

Ludwig THUILLE  Sextet in Bb Major Op. 6
   ~ unremittingly delightful, the joyful piece for piano and wind quintet is dedicated to his wife Emma Dietl

Written over a period of 2 years, the Sextet is anchored in the classicism of his teacher Josef Rheinberger, while reminiscent of Liszt and Brahms as well. It received the approval of Richard Strauss, his lifelong friend who was instrumental in arranging the premiere performance in 1889 at the Wiesbaden Festival, with Thuille playing the demanding piano part and the winds shining in their harmonies and solo turns. It was well received and appreciated by both the press and public. In the view of musicologist Byron Adams, “Thuille’s enthusiasm for the Mage of Bayreuth was further quickened by his marriage in 1887 to Emma Dietl, who was a passionate Wagnerite. Even so, Thuille retained a certain ambivalence towards Wagner; he once remarked approvingly to a student that ‘The astonishing thing is that you have kept yourself entirely free from the Wagnerian influence!’ As with Schumann, the years following Thuille’s marriage prompted a burst of creative activity. Among the scores that Thuille completed during this joyous period is an attractive Sextet…[which] exemplifies Thuille’s style at its most graceful, fluent, and polished.”

Thuille (1861–1907) was both a pupil of Rheinberger, whom he later succeeded as counterpoint teacher at the Königliche Musikschule in Munich, and a lifelong friend of Strauss. Born of Savoyard ancestry in Bolzano (then in Austria, now in Italy), he was orphaned at the age of 11. His stepuncle took him in and oversaw his secondary education in Kremsmünster. There, he served as a chorister in the Benedictine Abbey and studied the organ, piano, and violin. From 1876 he lived with his half-sister’s family in Innsbruck, his expenses paid by the generous widow of Matthäus Nagiller. He continued his studies with Joseph Pembauer and in 1877 met Richard Strauss, who was three years his junior and whose parents were acquainted with the Nagiller family. They became and remained fast friends (interrupted by a quarrel) until his untimely death at age 45. In 1879 Thuille began his studies, steeped in Viennese Classicism, with Josef Rheinberger at the Royal Academy, graduating with honors in 1882. Although he was musically conservative and sternly disciplined by Rheinberger, “a decisive change suddenly occurred in his style through his association with Alexander Ritter, a forceful figure who converted him and…Strauss into rich orchestral colourists in the late Romantic vein. Ritter diverted Thuille’s attention to opera of Wagnerian proportions and encouraged the young composer to cultivate bold harmonic ideas [New Grove Dictionary].” Before his death, Thuille made one other contribution: his Harmonielehre—a treatise on harmony that survived into the 1930s.

Antonín DVOŘÁK  “Songs My Mother Taught Me” from Gypsy Songs Op. 55
   ~ the most famous of his 7-song cycle—for all the mothers in the world

Originally for voice and piano, Fritz Kreisler arranged it for violin and piano in 1914 and performed it frequently. Dvořák composed the songs at the request of the Viennese tenor, Gustav Walter, with texts from a collection of poems by Adolf Heyduk. The song was recommended by Classic FM (UK) as one of “10 beautiful pieces of classical music for Mother’s Day.”

The nostalgic lyrics pay tribute to a mother’s tears, memories, and influence:

“Songs my mother taught me, in the days long vanished;
Seldom from her eyelids were the teardrops banished.
Now I teach my children, each melodious measure.
Oft the tears are flowing, oft they flow from my memory’s treasure.”

Bedřich SMETANA  Piano Trio in G minor Op. 15
   ~ written in memory of his beloved first daughter Bedřiška, snuffed out at age 4 by scarlet fever

Smetana was devastated by the death of Bedřiška, a musical child with whom he had an especially close relationship. The rhapsodic, heartrending elegiac work with unbridled passion, completed in 2 months, is influenced by Bohemian folk music. It was condemned by critics at the premiere on 3 December 1855, but praised by Liszt (his friend and teacher), and in our time by Harold Schonberg, who said it is “of unusual loveliness.” Many years after its composition, Smetana wrote in a letter to one of his doctors, “The death of my eldest daughter, an exceptionally talented child, motivated me to compose...my Trio in G minor. It was performed the same year in Prague [with Smetana playing the piano part]... The audience was unresponsive and the critics hated it.” A year later, when the Trio was played in Smetana’s Prague apartment, Liszt was in attendance; he was profoundly moved and arranged for subsequent performances in Germany and Austria. Smetana’s wife, Kateřina Kolářová, whom he had married in 1849, was also not well at that time, having been diagnosed with tuberculosis.

Smetana was the first major nationalist composer of Bohemia and the founder of the Czech national school of music. The 11th child and first son to survive infancy, Bedřich was born in 1824 to a keen amateur violinist and master brewer in the service of Counts Waldstein and Czernin. First taught by his father, he was playing the violin in a performance of a Haydn quartet by age 5. The following year, he made his debut as a pianist; at age 8 he was composing folk and dance tunes. Although he had no formal musical training, he completed a general education at a school in Pilsen. At the age of 20, Smetana studied composition with the distinguished teacher Josef Proksch in Prague. From 1844 to 1847 he was appointed as resident piano teacher to the family of Count Leopold Thun. This job lifted him out of dire poverty. He also met Liszt, Berlioz, and Robert and Clara Schumann in Prague. Encouraged by Liszt, he opened a piano school in Prague in 1848. Two months before the school’s opening, he participated in the Prague Revolution, which was aborted on 11 June and resulted in Bohemia’s failure to disentangle itself from the autocratic rule of the Austrian Hapsburgs. The event had strongly aroused Smetana’s patriotism—he helped to defend the barricades and wrote revolutionary marches. By 1856, he became so disenchanted with Prague’s stifling atmosphere and discouraged by the cool reception to his Piano Trio that he moved to Gothenburg. He was very productive in Sweden—he wrote his first symphonic poems and was appointed conductor of the Gothenburg Society for Classical Choral Music. After 5 years, he returned to Prague, where he played a leading part in the establishment of the national opera house. In 1874 Smetana became deaf from syphilis, yet he continued to compose until the last few days of his life when his mental faculties broke down, and he was cared for in a lunatic asylum. Before then, on 4 January 1880, Smetana played in his Piano Trio at a concert commemorating the 50th anniversary of his first public performance. At one moment in the Trio, he horrified the audience when he cried out “Pianissimo!” in a stentorian voice. Smetana’s death in 1884 drew an outpouring of national mourning, with many tributes paid to him. Liszt lamented his passing, declaring that “he was undoubtedly a genius.”

Avery Gagliano, piano
Hao Zhou, violin
Isabelle Ai Durrenberger, violin
Cara Pogossian, viola
Christine Lamprea, cello
Gabriel Polinsky, double bass
Sooyun Kim, flute
Vadim Lando, clarinet
Karl Kramer, horn
Gina Cuffari, bassoon

Monday, February 17 2 PM & 7:30 PM
Getaway to UK
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church
152 West 66 Street (west of Broadway)

Limited Seating

Tickets: $25, $17, $10 ~ Reservations advised
Call (212) 799-1259 or email admin@jupitersymphony.com
Pay by check or cash (exact change)​​​

Avery Gagliano piano
Winner of the First Prize and Best Concerto Prize at the 2020 National Chopin Piano Competition, other winnings include the Audience Prize at the 2019 Cliburn Junior Piano Competition, and First Prize at both the Aspen Concerto and MostArts Piano competitions ~ “...a compelling presence at the piano. She immediately draws you in… She has the technique and the musicianship, which is the ultimate combination of a young artist.” National Public Radio ~ From the Top

Hao Zhou viollin
Grand Laureate of the 2019 Montreal competition ~ as a member of the Viano String Quartet, which he cofounded, he has also won First Prize at the 2019 Banff, Grand Prize at the ENKOR, and Third Prize at the Wigmore Hall competitions ~ described as “dynamic” and “striking” by the Los Angeles Times

Isabelle Durrenberger violin
Fellow of Ensemble Connect’s 2023–2025 seasons, semifinalist at the 2022 Indianapolis Competition, and 3rd Prize at the 2018 Irving Klein String Competition

Cara Pogossian viola
2022 winner of the Borromeo String Quartet Guest Artist Award, First Prize winner of NEC’s 2023-2024 Lower Strings Concerto Competition

Christine Lamprea cello
First Prize winner of the Sphinx and Schadt competitions, winner of the 2013 Astral Artists’ Auditions and recipient of an award from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts ~ praised by the Boston Musical Intelligencer for her “supreme panache and charmingly effortless phrasing”

Gabriel Polinsky double bass
Associate Principal Bass of the Philadelphia Orchestra at age 23 ~ winner of the 2019 Philadelphia Orchestra Allen Greenfield Competition, and fourth prize at the Irving Klein Competition

Sooyun Kim flute
Winner of the Georg Solti Foundation Career Grant and a top prize at the ARD flute competition, she has been praised for her “vivid tone colors” by the Oregonian and as a “rare virtuoso of the flute” by Libération

Vadim Lando clarinet
Winner of the CMC Canada, Yale and Stonybrook competitions ~ “consistently distinguished...vibrant, precise, virtuosic playing” The New York Times

Karl Kramer horn
Winner of the 1997 and 1999 American Horn competitions ~ “Praise goes to the heroic horn playing of Karl Kramer.” New York Classical Review

Gina Cuffari bassoon
Principal Bassoonist of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, praised for her “sound that is by turns sensuous, lyric, and fast moving” Palm Beach Daily News

Susan SPAIN-DUNK  Phantasy Quartet in D minor
   ~ in one movement for string quartet, it was written for the prestigious Cobbett Competition

The Cobbett Competitions, designed to encourage the younger generation of British composers to write chamber music, was sponsored by the industrialist Walter Wilson Cobbett, a chamber music aficionado. He also wished to revive the Elizabethan fantasy form of a single movement that includes a variety of moods and structural elements usually found in 3 or 4 movements. Spain-Dunk’s Phantasy has 4 distinct sub-movements within the larger one, from a bold opening through pastoral and fugal sections, and ending with a chordal version of the theme.

Almost forgotten today, Spain-Dunk enjoyed the spotlight in the 1920s. Born in Folkestone in 1880, she played her first concert at the age of 13 and participated with enthusiasm in the flourishing musical life of the town. In 1900 she performed the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, and passed her music exams with honors. She then attended the Royal Academy of Music, where she studied violin with Alfred Gibson (she married his nephew Henry). She also was a pupil Stewart Mcpherson in harmony and won the Charles Lucas Medal for composition. After several of her early compositions were published, she achieved her breakthrough in 1924 when Sir Henry Wood included her “Suite for Strings” in one of his Promenade Concerts. From then till 1927 her works were featured annually at the Proms. Spain-Dunk was also the first woman to conduct a regimental band, and she became the second woman to conduct at the Proms (Dame Ethel Smyth was the first). She later taught harmony and composition at the Royal Academy of Music and at Trinity College in the 1930s. She died in 1962.

Sir Charles Villiers STANFORD  Serenade in F Major Op. 95
   ~ an uplifting nonet for strings and winds that radiates a buoyant spirit and fun—by the influential musician who contributed to the renaissance in British music

Written in London the same year he was composing his 6th Symphony as well as basking in the success of his Requiem in Düsseldorf, the Serenade premiered at a Broadwood Concert in London’s Aeolian Hall on 25 January 1906. Enthusiastically received, The Times noted its “spontaneity, charm, and classical purity of structure.” Sir Hubert Parry, Stanford’s severest critic, was also impressed, and when he heard it again in March 1913 at a performance by a student ensemble at the Royal College of Music, he described it as “a nice specimen of his [Stanford’s] work.” Professor Jeremy Dibble further stated that it “reveals a side of Stanford’s style in which formal craftsmanship is combined with an enchanting chemistry unique to the composer—Brahmsian adroitness united with Mendelssohnian felicity.”

Born to a musical family, Stanford left Dublin at the age of 18 for Cambridge, where he distinguished himself. He also studied in Leipzig (with Reinecke) and in Berlin (with Friedrich Kiel, at the urging of Joachim). An illustrious career then ensued; he composed prolifically, conducted, and taught at the Royal College of Music, which he cofounded. Among his pupils were Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, John Ireland, and Frank Bridge, to name a few. The New Grove Dictionary summarizes his achievements and influences: “First, he swept away the empty conventions and complacencies which had debased English church music since Purcell.... Second, he set a new standard in choral music with his oratorios and cantatas.... Third, in his partsongs, and still more in his solo songs with piano he reached near perfection both in melodic invention and in capturing the mood of the poem.... [Fourth, he] exercised the most powerful influence on British music and musicians, that of the paramount teacher of composition....” Stanford was knighted in 1902; he died in 1924 and his ashes were buried in Westminster Abbey.

BEETHOVEN  Scottish, Welsh, and Irish Songs
   ~ arranged by the genius for soprano and piano trio

The tunes are winsome and the accompanying piano trio occasionally sounds unmistakably like vigorous echoes of his muscular style. Between 1806 and 1818 Beethoven collaborated with a Scottish collector of folk music by the name of George Thomson in arranging more than 100 folk songs for an estimated £550.

Frank BRIDGE  Piano Quintet in D Minor
   ~ dense, richly melodic masterwork, cast in a rhapsodic post-Romantic English style—colored by the French music of the era and a solid dose of Brahmsian flair—with a yearning theme in the slow movement

First written when Bridge was in his mid-20s, the Quintet was radically revised just after he turned 30. The refined version premiered on 29 May 1912 with pianist Harold Samuel and the English String Quartet.

Bridge was considered one of the most gifted figures on the British music scene, wearing multiple hats well. He was a composer of poetic insight and consummate technique, an excellent violist, an outstanding conductor and chamber musician, and a remarkable teacher. Born in the seaside resort of Brighton in 1879 to a working class family, Frank was the 10th of a dozen children. His father was a lithographic printer, but was passionate about music; in middle age he switched professions, becoming music director of the Empire Theatre and a violin teacher. From childhood, Frank learned the violin and played in the orchestra, began composing, and substituted for his father as conductor at the Theatre. In 1899 he won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music, where he studied composition with the famously dismissive Charles Villiers Stanford in addition to the violin. When Bridge left RCM in 1903, he took up the viola and played in string quartets, most notably as a member of the English String Quartet, founded officially in 1908. While composing, he earned his income from long hours of playing all over London. He was also called upon to conduct as he was a phenomenal score reader. And he supplemented his income with teaching. Bridge was the private tutor of Benjamin Britten, who later championed his teacher’s music and paid homage to him in Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge. He died in 1941 in Eastbourne.

Jupiter 2024 - 2025 Season
20 Mondays at 2:00 PM & 7:30 PM

Good Shepherd Church ♦ 152 West 66 Street

View Our Season Calendar

Tickets: $25, $17, $10 ~ Reservations advised
Call (212) 799-1259 or email admin@jupitersymphony.com
Pay by check or cash (exact change)​​

Please visit our Media Page to hear Audio Recordings from the Jens Nygaard and Jupiter Symphony Archive

Concert Venue:
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church
152 West 66 Street (west of Broadway), New York

Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church

one of the most refined and intelligent church spaces in New York~ The New York Times

Built in 1893 by Josiah Cleveland Cady, architect of the old Metropolitan Opera House and the American Museum of Natural History

Office Address:
JUPITER SYMPHONY
155 West 68th Street, Suite 319
New York, NY 10023

admin@jupitersymphony.com
(212) 799-1259

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Jupiter in the News

ConcertoNet
knocked the socks off this listener...It was wondrous chamber music. And the three artists gave it the deserving excitement, volition and imagination.” 
Harry Rolnick, ConcertoNet   more...

The New York Times
the performers were top notch
The homey church where these concerts take place, nestled on West 66th Street in the shadow of Lincoln Center, is an intimate and acoustically vibrant place for chamber music.”
Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times   more...

Strad Magazine
A finely forthright, fluent and expressive account of Haydn's Divertimento in E-flat major opened this programme of miscellaneous chamber music in a series known for adventurous programming.
Dennis Rooney, Strad Magazine   more...

ConcertoNet
Mr. Nygaard’s cadenza flowed down Mozart lanes and paths, each with beautiful backgrounds. And at the very end, Mr. Nygaard brought forth that martial major theme, like an unexpected gift.” 
Harry Rolnick, ConcertoNet   more...

The New York Times
“...the group’s efforts proved illuminating ...Brown played a lovely, subtly virtuosic cadenza for Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24 by Jens Nygaard, the ensemble’s founder, who died in 2001, but whose fascination with rarities continues to drive its programming
Allan Kozinn, The New York Times   more...

As promised, here are the videos of John Field’s Divertissement No. 1 and Sir Hamilton Harty’s Piano Quintet. Fortuitously, our Jupiter musicians had the good sense to record the rehearsal in an impromptu decision, literally minutes before pressing the record button. Pianist Mackenzie Melemed (replacing Roman Rabinovich at the last minute) learned the music in 2 days! Bravo to him.

Both works are Irish rarities that were scheduled for the March 16 performances which had to be canceled because of the coronavirus epidemic. Even though the entire program could not be recorded because of technical issues, we are pleased to be able to share with you the 2 musical gems. Enjoy.

John FIELD  Divertissement No. 1 H. 13
  ~ simply delicious piano quintet, alternately titled Rondeau Pastoral and better known in its version for solo piano, Twelve O’clock Rondo, on account of the 12 “chimes” at the end ~ by the creator of the Nocturne, which had a major influence on Chopin

We thank the University of Illinois (Champaign) for a copy of the Divertissement music.

Mackenzie Melemed piano
Abigel Kralik violin
Dechopol Kowintaweewat violin
Sarah Sung viola
Christine Lamprea cello

Sir Hamilton HARTY  Piano Quintet in F Major Op. 12
  ~ in a lyrical Romantic idiom, with a distinct, breezy Irish-salted voice

Andrew Clements of the Guardian proclaimed the beautiful Quintet “a real discovery: a big, bold statement full of striking melodic ideas and intriguing harmonic shifts, which adds Brahms and Dvořák into Harty’s stylistic mix, together with Tchaikovsky in some passages.” There’s folk music charm as well, reminiscent of Percy Grainger—notably in the Scherzo (Vivace) with its folksy quirks and nonchalance, and the winding, pentatonic melody in the Lento.

Our gratitude to the Queen’s University Library in Belfast, Northern Ireland, for a copy of the autograph manuscript of the music. Much thanks, too, to Connor Brown for speedily creating a printed score and parts from Harty’s manuscript.

Mackenzie Melemed piano
Abigel Kralik violin
Dechopol Kowintaweewat violin
Sarah Sun viola
Christine Lamprea cello

I Allegro 0:00
II Vivace 10:43
III Lento 14:44
IV Allegro con brio 23:59

FEb 8 2021 HAYDN  Sonata No. 1 in G Major
​​​​​​Oliver Neubauer violin, Mihai Marica cello, Zoe Martin-Doike viola

FEb 8 2021 HOFFMEISTER Duo Concertante No. 1 in G Major
Sooyun Kim flute, Zoe Martin-Doike viola

Feb 8 2021 MOZART Piano Quartet No. 2 in Eb Major
Oliver Neubauer violin, Janice Carissa piano
Mihai Marica cello, Zoe Martin-Doike viola

Feb 8 2021 KREUTZER  Quintet in A Major
Sooyun Kim flute, Vadim Lando clarinet, Janice Carissa piano
Mihai Marica cello, Zoe Martin-Doike viola

Video Viewing ~ Classical Treats
February 8, 2021 Jupiter Concert

Greetings! Three months ago, our musicians brought warmth and joy with their wonderful music making on a cold, winter’s day with Classical Treats. The viewing is offered for $25, and we hope to cover the costs of production. Thanks so much for viewing the video of this concert, and for supporting Jupiter with gifts as well! MeiYing

View the video for $25

You will be automatically directed to the video page once payment is made. If not, click on the “return to merchant” link after checkout. Please go through the checkout process only once and do not use the back button or reload the page while making the purchase. If there are any problems, contact jupiternews@jupitersymphony.com.

Viewers comments of previous videos:

“Oh I thoroughly enjoyed the concert. Good to see Maxim and his dad. Familiar faces to me. I enjoyed the notes about the players. Till the next time...”

“Great playing and really nice camera work. Probably better than being there!

“We so enjoyed the concert. The pianist was outstanding as was the musical selection.

“It was wonderful. Thank you.

♦ ♦ ♦

Musicians

Janice Carissa piano
Young Scholar of the Lang Lang Foundation, recipient of the 2018 Salon de Virtuosi Grant, winner of the 2014 piano competition at the Aspen Festival, and a top prizewinner of the IBLA Foundation’s 2006 piano competition (at age 8)

Oliver Neubauer violin
Recipient of the Gold Award at the 2018 National YoungArts Competition and winner of the 2017 Young Musicians Competition at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Zoë Martin-Doike viola
Member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, top prizewinner of the Primrose and Lenox competitions on viola and violin, respectively and founding violinist of the Aizuri Quartet

Mihai Marica cello
Winner of the Irving Klein, Viña del Mar, Salon de Virtuosi and Dotzauer competitions ~ “Mihai is a brilliant cellist and interpreter of music. His playing is spellbinding.” Mitchell Sardou Klein

Sooyun Kim flute
Winner of the Georg Solti Foundation Career Grant and a top prize at the ARD flute competition, she has been praised for her “vivid tone colors” by the Oregonian and as a “rare virtuoso of the flute” by Libération

Vadim Lando clarinet
Winner of the CMC Canada, Yale and Stonybrook competitions ~ “consistently distinguished...vibrant, precise, virtuosic playing” The New York Times

♦ ♦ ♦

Program

HAYDN  Sonata No. 1 in G Major Hob XVI:40 ▪ 1784
  ~ sophisticated and subtly wrought, the Sonata is from a set of 3, arranged for string trio from the original for keyboard and published by Johann André in 1790

The sonatas were written for Princess Marie, the new bride of Prince Nicholas Esterházy, grandson of Haydn’s employer, Prince Nicholas I. Cramer’s Magazin der Musik, in its review in 1785, observed that they were “more difficult to perform than one initially believes. They demand the utmost precision, and much delicacy in performance.” In 2 contrasting movements, the pastoral Allegretto innocente is followed by a gleeful zany romp.

Conradin KREUTZER  Quintet in A Major ▪ between 1810 and 1820
  ~ in the late Classical–early Romantic style, the charming Quintet is written for the unusual combination of piano, flute, clarinet, viola, and cello with the piano as primus inter pares, first among equals—each movement a winner bearing a variety of melodic gifts and revealing a lively feeling for rhythm and color

Born in Messkirch to a respected Swabian burgher, Kreutzer (1780–1849) is considered a minor master of the Biedermeier epoch. He studied law in Freiburg before turning entirely to music after his father died in 1800. In 1804 he went to Vienna, where he met Haydn and probably studied with Albrechtsberger, one of Beethoven’s teachers. His active career included tours in Europe and several posts in Vienna, Stuttgart, Cologne, and other German cities, all the while composing numerous operas. Some of his music is not entirely forgotten—his settings for male chorus to Ludwig Uhland’s poems long remained popular with German and Austrian choirs; Das Nachtlager in Granada used to be revived occasionally in Germany; and his score for Der Verschwender continues to be performed in Austria.

Franz Anton HOFFMEISTER  Duo Concertante No. 1 in G Major ▪ [1790]
flute and viola

1st movement ~ Allegro
  ~ by Mozart’s friend and his principal publisher

MOZART  Piano Quartet No. 2 in Eb Major K. 493 ▪ 1786
  ~ a flawless masterpiece of utmost lightness and charm, with heavenly melodies

Mozart was under contract with the publisher Franz Anton Hoffmeister to write 3 piano quartets, a virtually new genre of his own invention. When the first (K. 478 in G minor) did not sell because of its difficulty for amateurs, Mozart was released from his obligation. Nine months later, which was two months after the completion of Le Nozze di Figaro, the second piano quartet (K. 493 in Eb Major) was published by Artaria. A little easier than the first, Alfred Einstein viewed it as “bright in color, but iridescent, with hints of darker shades.”

♦ ♦ ♦

Harry Munz audio engineer
Marc Basch videographer

For more about the musicians: guest artistsplayers
For further notes on the music: calendar

Jupiter featured on Our Net News

American program opener on March 18, with grateful thanks to Michael Shaffer of OurNetNews.com for recording the matinee concert, and making available the Horatio Parker Suite video for our viewing pleasure.

Horatio Parker Suite in A Major, Op. 35, composed in 1893
Prelude

Stephen Beus piano
Stefan Milenkovich violin
David Requiro cello

 

More video from this performance can be viewed on our media page

Jupiter on YouTube
featured in a short documentary on artist Michael McNamara

NEW YORK CANVAS : The Art of Michael McNamara is a video portrait of the artist who has painted iconic images of New York City for more than a decade, capturing the changing urban landscape of his adopted city. Our Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players provide the music from Brahms’s Piano Quartet in G Minor, underscoring the inspiration the artist has drawn from Jens Nygaard and the musicians. Michael was also our Jupiter volunteer from 2002 to 2010.

Here is a video of the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players performance of the Rondo alla Zingarese movement:

 

The producer-director, Martin Spinelli, also made the EMMY Award-winning “Life On Jupiter: The Story of Jens Nygaard, Musician.

For more information, visit our media page

Emmy Award-winning “LIFE ON JUPITER - The Story of Jens Nygaard, Musician” available on DVD with bonus music. More Info...

If you wish to purchase your own copy to remember Jens by or for more information visit www.lifeonjupiter.com

The New York Sun Review
by Adam Baer
--The Jupiters Play On--

“Some great musicians get a statue when they pass away. Some get their name imprinted on the roof of a well-known concert hall. But the late conductor Jens Nygaard has a living tribute: an entire ensemble of musicians and a concert series to go along with it...

It is one of the city’s cultural jewels...

In the end, if Mr. Nygaard was known for anything, it was unmitigated verve. That’s what the audience regularly returned for, and that’s what they got Monday afternoon. To have a grassroots community of musicians continue to celebrate Mr. Nygaard with indomitable performances like these week after week, even without the power of world-famous guest soloists, is proper tribute. And with more large orchestras and ensembles needing more corporate sponsorship year after year, I, for one, hope the Jupiter’s individual subscriber-base remains strong.

New York’s musical life needs the spirit of Jens Nygaard, and Mei Ying should be proud she’s keeping it alive.”

Read the complete article on our reviews page.

Please send any correspondence to

office address:
JUPITER SYMPHONY
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admin@jupitersymphony.com
For information or to order tickets, please call:
(212) 799-1259

MeiYing Manager
Michael Volpert Artistic Director

All performances, except where otherwise noted, are held at:
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church
152 West 66 Street (west of Broadway) New York, NY 10023
The Box Office at the Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church
will be open 20 minutes prior to each concert.

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