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Join Us For Our 2024-2025 Season! |
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Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players “This was music-making of a very high order” Fred Kirshnit, The New York Sun |
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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 Printable Calendar and Ticket Order Form (pdf) Take a look at our guest artists for this season. |
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Join us for our next concerts...
Monday, April 28 ♦ 2 PM & 7:30 PM Tickets: $25, $17, $10 ~ Reservations advised Fei Fei piano Stella Chen violin Isabelle Durrenberger violin Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt viola Ramón Carrero-Martinez viola Ani Aznavoorian cello Sara Scanlon cello Sooyun Kim flute Roni Gal-Ed oboe Vadim Lando clarinet Karl Kramer horn Gina Cuffari bassoon Note: Stella Chen replace Hao Zhou for this concert Wilhelm Maria PUCHTLER Notturno in F minor for Piano Quartet Op. 9 Puchtler was an “adherent of the New German School which was led by Liszt and Wagner, and whose followers were antagonistic towards the Conservatives like Brahms, Joachim, and Schumann [Michael Volpert].” Brahms thought his piano music “horrendously difficult to play” and that his other works were “just dreadful.” If you beg to differ, then phooey to Herr Brahms and succumb to the siren. Born in 1848 in the village of Remlingen (then in Bavaria), Puchtler put the priesthood before music so as to please his parents. However, after their deaths, he entered the Stuttgart Conservatory in 1868 and studied composition with its founder Immanuel Faisst. He also studied privately with Franz Liszt, with whom he became friends. After graduating, he obtained a position in Göttingen as a music teacher and choir director. He died in 1881 at age 33 from tuberculosis. Max BRAUER Sextett in G minor Brauer was born in 1855 in Mannheim, which then had the reputation of performing the largest repertoire of operas of any city in Germany. His first studies were with Vinzenz Lachner, the city’s court conductor from 1836 to 1873 (Lachner was so highly valued that his contract was renewed and extended whenever he received offers from other musical centers). Brauer then enrolled at the Cologne Conservatory, where he studied piano and composition with Ferdinand Hiller, Gustav Jensen, and Samuel de Lange. After graduating, he was appointed music director of Kaiserslautern, a Bavarian province in his day. After 2 decades, around 1905, Brauer moved to Karlsrühe, where he founded and became director of the Bach Choral Society, a position he held until his death in 1918. Brauer composed in most genres, including operas, orchestral music, chamber music, and sonatas. BRAHMS String Sextet No. 1 in Bb Major Op. 18 Written at age 27 during his first official appointment to the princely Court at Detmold, the string sextet was then a rare form. Upon finishing the piece—one of his earliest chamber works—Brahms sent it to his friend, the violinist Joseph Joachim. After playing through the piece with friends, Joachim was cautiously optimistic and arranged a premiere in Hanover on 20 October 1860. Brahms was present for the occasion, as was his dear friend Clara Schumann, who was quite taken with the piece and remarked, “It was even more beautiful than I had anticipated, and my expectations were already high.” |
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Monday, May 12 ♦ 2 PM & 7:30 PM Tickets: $25, $17, $10 ~ Reservations advised Maxim Lando piano Itamar Zorman violin Christine Lamprea cello Anthony Trionfo flute Vadim Lando clarinet Karl Kramer horn Joshua Butcher bassoon Nikolay RUBINSTEIN Valse morceau de salon Op. 16 Rubinstein (1835–1881) was born the year his father opened a small pencil factory in Moscow. He and his older brother Anton were taught piano, first by their mother (a task master when it came to practicing) and then by Aleksandr Villoing. From 1844 to 1846 both boys studied music theory in Berlin. After returning home, he studied medicine at Moscow University to avoid conscription, barely graduating in 1855 (abetted by the notoriously lax exams). By 1860, preferring music, he established the Moscow branch of the Russian Musical Society in his own house, where music was taught and concerts were presented. Its success and popularity led to expansion and larger quarters. Nikolay’s personality was also an asset. He was reputed to be a “gregarious, extrovert, generous, charming bon vivant [and] was welcome in all the fashionable aristocratic houses in Moscow, a city for which he had a special affection.” In 1866 Nikolay Rubinstein cofounded (with Prince Troubetzkoy) the Moscow Imperial Conservatory (successor to the Russian Musical Society). He served as its director and piano professor; and he engaged young Tchaikovsky as a teacher of harmony and encouraged him to perform his compositions. Although Nikolay “attacked Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto at its first, private performance, later he recanted and became a celebrated interpreter of the work.” He promoted Tchaikovsky’s music and, between 1866 and 1880, he conducted the premieres of almost every orchestral composition. Tchaikovsky was very grateful for Nikolay’s support, dedicating more of his works to him than to anyone else. He also supported the work of Rimsky-Korsakov and Mily Balakirev and gave “a brilliant first performance of Balakirev’s enormously difficult piano piece Islamey only two months after its completion, despite a heavy programme of teaching, conducting and administration and his very full social life”—a testament to Nikolay’s extraordinary prowess as a pianist. As pedagogues, “Both brothers were vigorous, uninhibited teachers and frequently screamed at their pupils, who nevertheless adored them. Nikolay’s best-known pupils were [Sergey] Taneyev, [Alexander] Ziloti, and Emil Sauer. He died of consumption in a Paris hotel on his way to Nice for health reasons. It was typical of him that he ate a dozen oysters on his deathbed [New Grove Dictionary].” Paul PABST Melodie Pabst—considered one of the greatest pianists of his day—was influential in the development of the late Romantic style of piano playing in Russia. He was admired by Liszt and Tchaikovsky, who called him “a pianist of divine elegance” and “a pianist from God.” The boy gave his first public recitals at the age of 11. Later, he and a young Rachmaninoff performed many concerts together; and he was also the pianist for the premiere of Anton Arensky’s Piano Concerto. Born in 1854 in Königsberg, the capital of East Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia), his father August Pabst was his first teacher. He then studied at the Dresden Academy of Music, with Anton Door at the Academy of Music and Lyric Arts in Vienna, and with Liszt in Weimar. From 1875 he taught piano in Riga, and in 1878 was invited by Nikolay Rubinstein to teach piano at the Moscow Conservatory. After Rubinstein’s death he became professor of piano in 1881, and taught there the rest of his life. As a composer, Pabst wrote virtuosic piano transcriptions that were admired by the most outstanding pianists of the time, including Tchaikovsky, who was especially impressed by his Paraphrase on themes from his opera Eugène Onegin. Tchaikovsky also sought Pabst’s advice while writing his First Piano Concerto, and in 1884 he appointed Pabst to edit his piano works for publication. Pabst also wrote a Piano Concerto (once thought to be lost), a Piano Trio dedicated to Anton Rubinstein, and many smaller works, almost exclusively for piano (such as the Melodie). When he unexpectedly died from a heart attack in 1897 at age 43, the funeral wreath from the Russian Musical Society bore the epitaph, “To Honored Artist, Indefatigable Professor, Hardly Simply a Man.” Nikolay RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Quintet in Bb Major Unlike his String Sextet, which won an honorable mention at the chamber music competition sponsored by the Russian Musical Society, the Quintet for piano, flute, clarinet, horn, and bassoon was passed over by the jury, but was subsequently performed by the St. Petersburg Chamber Music Society. Rimsky-Korsakov described the Quintet in his autobiography, Chronicle of My Musical Life, published in 1909: “The First Movement, Allegro con brio, is in the classical style of Beethoven. The Second Movement, Andante, contained a good fugato for the wind instruments with a very free accompaniment in the piano. In the finale, Allegretto vivace, I wrote in rondo form. Of interest is the middle section where I wrote cadenzas for the flute, the clarinet and the horn to be played in turns. Each was in the character of the instrument and each was interrupted by the bassoon entering by octave leaps.” As a member of the Mighty Five, Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908) played a significant role in shaping the Russian classical music landscape by developing a nationalistic style of classical music. He drew from Russian folk song and lore and utilized orientalism—exotic harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic elements—instead of traditional Western compositional methods. Some of his works were performed at the Russian Musical Society. For example, Serbian Fantasy was premiered in December 1867 at the third symphony concert of the RMS in Moscow, conducted by Nikolay Rubinstein. His Symphony No. 2 “Antar” was composed in 1868 and the first version was premiered in March 1869 at the RMS. When the first revised version was played at the RMS in 1876, Rimsky-Korsakov was the conductor. His Symphony No. 3 in C Major (completed on 18 February 1874) was featured at the fifth symphony concert of the RMS on 1 January 1875, with Nikolay conducting. Even though Tchaikovsky’s reviews of the Serbian Fantasy and 3rd Symphony were pretty harsh, he concluded, “Let us not forget that Mr Rimsky-Korsakov is still very young, that his whole future lies before him, and there is no doubt that this remarkably gifted musician is destined to become one of the finest exponents of our art.” Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Trio in A minor Op. 50 Tchaikovsky was deeply upset to learn of Nikolay’s sudden and unexpected death from tuberculosis in Paris on 23 March 1881, at the age of 45, and he wrote an account of his passing for the Russian newspapers. Some months later, he composed the Piano Trio in remembrance of his mentor and close friend, Nikolay Rubinstein (younger brother of Anton), and dedicated it “to the memory of a great artist.” The massive trio was first performed at the Moscow Conservatory in March 1882, with Sergey Taneyev at the piano. In a letter to his patroness Nadejda von Meck on 20 January 1882, Tchaikovsky confessed, “I fear I may have arranged music of a symphonic character as a trio.” The variations were based on undisclosed events in Rubinstein’s life. At the age of 22, Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) “found out that the Russian Musical Society offered classes in music theory…I went immediately to those classes” and in September 1862, he was among the first students of the newly-opened St Petersburg Conservatory, where the director was Anton Rubinstein. Anton also taught, and his classes in orchestration and composition were central to Tchaikovsky’s studies. Several weeks before his graduation in 1866, he was invited by Nikolay to teach at the newly-founded Moscow Conservatory. Tchaikovsky very quickly became a member of the musical family. He also began work on his first symphony, “Winter Daydreams,” composing through depression and insomnia. When he showed the unfinished score to his former teachers, Anton Rubinstein and Nikolay Zaremba, both men disliked it, but Nikolay Rubinstein liked it and presented the scherzo movement at a concert of the Russian Musical Society. The entire symphony, performed in February 1868, was a resounding success. Henceforth Nikolay continued to champion the music of Tchaikovsky. |
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Jupiter 2024 - 2025 Season Tickets: $25, $17, $10 ~ Reservations advised Please visit our Media Page to hear Audio Recordings from the Jens Nygaard and Jupiter Symphony Archive Concert Venue:
Office Address:
Like our Facebook page to see photos, videos, Jupiter in the News ConcertoNet
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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 We thank the University of Illinois (Champaign) for a copy of the Divertissement music. Mackenzie Melemed piano
Sir Hamilton HARTY Piano Quintet in F Major Op. 12 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 I Allegro 0:00 | ||||||
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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 Stephen Beus piano
More video from this performance can be viewed on our media page |
Jupiter on YouTube 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
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“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. |
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Please send any correspondence to |
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office address: |
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MeiYing Manager All
performances, except where otherwise noted, are held at: Copyright © 1999-2025 Jupiter Symphony. All rights reserved.
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