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 2022-2023 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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Dear Friends and Music Lovers,

   Welcome to our 21st season of chamber music, and the 3rd of our LIVE concerts during COVID-19.

   Our brilliant artistic director Michael Volpert has again created 20 interesting and varied programs that include worthy rarities for you to discover and enjoy. Our stellar musicians’ superb music making will thrill and uplift, enhanced by our venue’s ideal acoustics.

   Even with safety protocols in place, Jupiter is continually evaluating ways to keep our musicians and audiences safe. As the Covid case count in metropolitan New York is currently very low, mask wearing at Jupiter will be optional as of our March 20 concerts. We do, however, encourage mask wearing according to your personal choice. Jupiter’s masking policy will continue to be evaluated, and may be resumed at a later date. We are committed to the safety of our concertgoers, and we’ll keep you posted. Thanks so much for your support in many ways, not least of all, in continuing to enjoy Jupiter’s wonderful music making.

You’ll also have:

Spaced-apart seating
HEPA-filter air purifiers in operation
Ventilation—as much as possible

   Ticket reservations are strongly advised to avoid disappointment at the door.

Jupiter brings you the best music making at rock bottom ticket prices. Please give as much as you can to help keep Jupiter thriving. A gift of $100 or more makes you a “Friend.” Your financial support is always needed and appreciated.
   All gifts are tax deductible.
   Thank you so much,
Meiying

Jens Nygaard caricature by M.Fleischer
Caricature of Jens Nygaard in pen
and ink by M. Fleischer

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 Season Calendar

Click on the dates for 2022-2023 program details:

September 12 ~ Radiance from Vienna
September 19 ~ Helping Hands

October 3 ~ Great Russians
October 17 ~ Société Nationale de Musique
October 31 ~ Heaven Breaks Loose
November 14 ~ In “Grand” Style
November 21 ~ Schumann’s Fans
December 5 ~ Ties to Wagner
December 19 ~ Dvorák’s Sparks
January 9 ~ Hungarian Doyens

January 23 ~ Queue for Brits
February 6 ~ Go for Baroque
February 20 ~ Women Pioneers
March 6 ~ Uniquely French
March 20 ~ Freemasons I
April 3 ~ Freemasons II
April 10 ~ Mendelssohn’s Web
April 24 ~ Norse Force
May 1 ~ Soviet Victims
May 15 ~ A Family Affair

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...

Maxim Lando, piano
Xiao-Dong Wang, violin
Jacqueline Audas, violin
Natalie Loughran, viola
Tabitha Rhee, viola
Ani Aznavoorian, cello
Nina Bernat, double bass
Anthony Trionfo, flute
Roni Gal-Ed, oboe
Karl Kramer, horn

Monday, April 3 2 PM & 7:30 PM
Freemasons II
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)​​​

Maxim Lando piano
Winner of the 2021/22 Vendome Grand Prize, 2020 Gilmore Young Artist Award, winner in the 2018 Young Concert Artists Auditions, Gold Medal at the 2017 Berliner International Competition, Gold Medal at the 2015 International Television Contest for Young Musicians in Moscow, 2nd prize at the Kissinger Klavier Olymp in Germany, winner of the 2014 Juilliard Pre-College Concerto Competition ~ “He has an ever so clear approach to the keyboard, and the molding and shaping of phrases straight from the musical angels.” Berkshire Fine Arts ~ “Lando boasts technical skill” Anthony Tommasini ~ The New York Times ~ “He was simply brilliant” Cleveland Classical

Xiao-Dong Wang violin
Twice winner of the Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition, and winner of the First Prize and special Szymanovski Prize winner of the Wieniawski-Lipinski International Competition ~ featured in TimeOut Shanghai 21 November 2012

Jacqueline Audas violin
Founder and artistic director of Classical C.A.R.M.A. (Concerts Aiming to Raise Money and Awareness)

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

Tabitha Rhee viola
Winner of the Juilliard Concerto Competition, recipient of a Kovner Fellowship

Ani Aznavoorian cello
Winner of the Julius Stulberg and Paolo competitions ~ “shows great sensitivity and great virtuosity at all moments” Los Angeles Times ~ “stunning in her assured technical mastery” Kansas City Star

Nina Bernat double bass
Won First Prize at the 2019 International Society of Bassists Solo Competition; recipient of the 2019 Keston MAX Fellowship

Anthony Trionfo flute
A winner of the 2016 Young Concert Artists Auditions, won first prize at the 2013 Alexander & Buono competition, and a winner of the National YoungArts Foundation competition ~ “spellbinding” Santa Barbara Voice

Roni Gal-Ed oboe
First Prize winner of the Lauschmann Oboe Competition in Mannheim ~ “Outstanding” 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

Francesco GEMINIANI  Cello Sonata in D minor Op. 5 No. 2 • 1746
   ~ from a set of 6 sonatas for cello and continuo, by the Baroque Italian composer and violinist

The Sonatas, as discerned by liner notes for Linn Records, are “an intriguing and delicately balanced fusion of Italianate clarity and counterpoint and French lavishness of sonority and gesture.” They also “mark the beginning of the change from gamba to cello.”

Born in Lucca, Geminiani (1687–1762) was “one of the greatest violin virtuosos of his time, a composer of highly original and expressive music, and a teacher whose influence reached beyond his pupils to a wider public though his treatises [New Grove Dictionary].” He studied composition in Rome with Corelli and Scarlatti before traveling around Europe, spent 18 years in London beginning in 1714, and eventually settled in Ireland. His brilliant violin playing in London brought him immediate success. He received support from the aristocracy and leading figures at the Royal Court, and was invited to play the violin before George I, accompanied at the harpsichord by Handel himself. Among his aristocratic pupils was the Earl of Essex who, in 1728, tried to obtain for him the post of Master and Composer of the State Music of Ireland. The Earl also rescued him from prison for a debt arising from his addiction to art dealing and collecting. Geminiani then left London in 1733 for Dublin, where he rapidly gained a fine reputation as a teacher, performer, concert promoter, and musical theorist. That year, he opened a Concert Room in Spring Gardens, using the lower rooms for selling art. He shuttled between Dublin and London, but left England for good in 1759 and made Dublin his home.

Geminiani became a Freemason on 1 February 1725 in Lodge Philo-musicae et-architecturae societas Apollini (The Apollo Society for the Lovers of Music and Architecture) at the Queen’s Head Tavern in London. Soon after, he was active in setting up and running a lodge whose members shared a love for the performance of Italian instrumental music. Although the Lodge existed until only 1727, its minute book gives a glimpse into the world of middle class men’s amateur music making in early 18th-century London, their taste for the new, and their cultural aspirations. And as told by Andrew Pink, “No other English masonic lodge of the 18th century devoted so much of its resources to the performance of music for its own sake, and music that was contemporary, too. The minutes reveal a particular devotion to Italian music…. The…members and visitors…were all…eminently respectable and drawn from among city lawyers and merchants, government officials and the minor gentry. Their love of music was such that they were willing and able to patronize with confidence some of the best musicians in London, not least Francesco Geminiani….”

Johann Nepomuk HUMMEL  Septet No. 1 in D minor Op. 74 • 1816
   ~ a masterpiece by Mozart’s pupil and Beethoven’s friend and pallbearer

After a performance of Hummel’s Septet for piano, strings, and winds in 1892 at Steinway Hall in London, the Musical Times wrote that it was “at one time enormously popular, but now rarely heard. It is, however, quite worthy of occasional revival…. Mendelssohn performed the Septet in London on 21 May 1832, and it was also Mendelssohn’s piece of choice when he began teaching classes at the Leipzig Konservatorium.” By all accounts, the Septet was regarded by many in the 19th century as his greatest work. Dedicated to the Archduchess Marie Louise, the knockout was premiered by Hummel on 28 January 1816 at a home concert.

Hummel (1778–1837) was born in Pressburg, Hungary, then a part of the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy. A pupil of Mozart, with whom he lived from the ages of 8 to 10, he also studied with Haydn, Salieri, and Albrechtsberger. Among his friends was Beethoven (in varying degrees), at whose funeral he was a pall bearer and for whose memorial concert he played the variations on the Prisoners’ Chorus from Fidelio, at Beethoven’s request. And he knew Schubert, who dedicated his last three piano sonatas to him. Hummel became one of Europe’s greatest composers and perhaps the greatest piano virtuoso in Europe for more than 2 decades (his art of improvisation is said to have been even better than Beethoven’s). In 1804 he succeeded Haydn as Konzertmeister and later as Kapellmeister at the court of Esterházy in Eisenstadt. Hummel died a rich man after a long and successful career, then faded into obscurity with the arrival of Romanticism.

Hummel’s music and thinking were influenced by his teachers Haydn and Mozart, who were Freemasons; and Hummel himself finally became a Freemason in 1820 at the age of 41. He joined the influential Amalia Lodge in Weimar, where he was appointed Kapellmeister of the court orchestra in 1819, a position he held until his death. As a Freemason, Hummel (like his fellow Austrian Catholics, Haydn and Mozart) alternated between Mass and Lodge meetings without discomfort to his conscience. Hummel and his friend Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) were lodge brothers. The Freimaurer Museum reveals that their joint work, Drey Gesänge von Göthe (“Three Songs by Goethe”), was created to mark the 50th anniversary of the entry into government of Grand Duke Karl August, member and protector of the Amalia Lodge, during the Lodge celebration on 3 September 1825. Paul Carus, in his book published in 1906, discussed Goethe’s interest in the immortality of the soul, as evidenced in the poem “An Interlude,” and noted, “This poem, which belongs to Goethe’s masonic verses, has been set to music by J. N. Hummel, and was sung as a quartette in the Lodge Amalia, at Weimar, September 3, 1825.” Liner notes for Naxos further reveal that Goethe wrote with Hummel the song Zur Logenfeier (“For a Lodge Festival”) and Lasstfahren hin das Allzuflüchtige (“Let go the all too fleeting”). Hummel (as did Mozart) bequeathed a considerable portion of his famous garden behind his Weimar residence to his masonic lodge.

BEETHOVEN  String Quintet in Eb Major • published 1802
   ~ arranged by Franz Anton Hoffmeister (with Beethoven’s permission) from the Op. 20 Septet—his most popular work during his lifetime, originally written in 1799 for clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola, cello, and double bass

The Critical Reception of Beethoven’s Compositions by His German Contemporaries records a memorable episode: “When his Septet, arranged as a quintet by Hoffmeister, was played for him by a few dilettantes, he again took his place at the fortepiano and to the amazement of all present improvised on the theme of the first minuet almost for an entire hour. Only on the promise he left us, from a man who steadfastly keeps his word, will console us in our present loss of enjoyment. He departed with the respect of all who became closely acquainted with him.”

Later, when Beethoven heard of his Septet’s sensational reception in London in 1815, he snarled, “That damn work; I wish it could be burned!” For the poet Walt Whitman, however, it evoked thoughts of “Dainty abandon, sometimes as if Nature laughing on a hillside in the sunshine; serious and firm monotonies, as of winds; a horn sounding through the tangle of the forest, and the dying echoes; soothing floating of waves but presently rising in surges, angrily lashing, muttering, heavy; piercing peals of laughter, for interstices; now and then weird, as Nature herself is in certain moods—but mainly spontaneous, easy, careless…”

Hoffmeister, one of Beethoven’s music publishers, was a well-known Freemason and the recipient of Beethoven’s letters expressing dissident political views that are likely Masonic allusions.

Although there is no Lodge record for Beethoven, there is evidence that he was a Freemason. Many of his friends and colleagues were Masons and there are several references to Masonry in his voluminous correspondence, Tagebuch (diary), and compositions. In addition, his presence at concerts given with full masonic rites is documented; presumably, a requirement for attendance would have been a Brotherhood membership. Beethoven scholar Maynard Solomon asserts that “there are substantial indications that Beethoven was favorably disposed toward Freemasonry, was familiar with its language, shared some of its main intellectual interests, and, on occasion, seemed to have identified himself as a Masonic sympathizer. Certainly many of his closest friends, teachers, patrons, and associates were connected with the Masonic movement, and many had formerly been actual members of Masonic organizations and especially of the Order of Illuminati…. In addition…there are a variety of linguistic expressions in Beethoven’s letters or notations on leaves of sketches that may have Masonic overtones. Foremost among these are numerous references to ‘fraternity’ and its cognates…. Thus, it may be meaningful that Beethoven used the salutation ‘Dear Brother’ or some variant of it in letters to Franz Anton Hoffmeister…. Viennese censors were expert in spotting potentially subversive ideas, yet they chose to allow the expression of Masonic or quasi-Masonic viewpoints—such as those that may be found in The Creation, Fidelio, and the Ninth Symphony—and to permit countless performances of [Mozart’s] Die Zauberflote despite its frankly Masonic text, imagery, and social perspectives. What this may suggest is that…they were often tolerant of the expression of rationalist ideas and Masonic symbols, for these could serve as an escape valve for a discontented populace…. In all likelihood, then, Freemasonry was an important stimulus to Beethoven’s way of thinking about universal issues of being and morality; aspects of its doctrines and ritual procedures contributed to the mental framework within which, in his fifth decade, he strove to reformulate his understanding of the self, the deity, and the world.… Freemasonry offered a vocabulary for the formulations of ideas of service, purification, and transcendence…. Taken as a whole, the Tagebuch gives evidence of a sea change in Beethoven’s way of experiencing the world.”

Hoffmeister (1754–1812) was a prominent Viennese publisher and friend of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. His passion, however, was composing; he was madly prolific, writing 66 symphonies, 100 flute quartets, and numerous quintets and other pieces popular in his day. As a composer he was highly respected by his contemporaries, as documented by a tribute published in Gerber’s Neues Lexikon der Tonkünstler in the year of his death: “If you were to take a glance at his many and varied works, then you would have to admire the diligence and the cleverness of this composer.... He earned for himself a well-deserved and widespread reputation through the original content of his works, which are not only rich in emotional expression but also distinguished by the interesting and suitable use of instruments and through good practicability. For this last trait we have to thank his knowledge of instruments, which is so evident that you might think that he was a virtuoso on all of the instruments for which he wrote.” Hoffmeister’s publishing business, begun in 1784, was sold, in part, to Artaria in 1795. He then had a partnership with Ambrosius Kühnel of Leipzig under a new firm, the Bureau de Musique, which was later taken over by C. F. Peters, one of the oldest publishing houses still surviving today.

more details here...

Michael Brown, piano
Stefan Jackiw, violin
Paul Neubauer, cello

Monday, April 10 2 PM & 7:30 PM
Mendelssohn’s Web
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 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

Stefan Jackiw violin
Winner of the 2002 Avery Fisher Career Grant “Talent that’s Off the Scale” Washington Post  ~ “...a legend in the making. He has everything he needs to make an exceptional career for himself – flawless technique, precocious musical understanding, and a sweet, singing tone.” Chicago Tribune

Paul Neubauer viola
First violist to win an Avery Fisher Career Grant, first prize winner of the Whitaker, D’Angelo and Lionel Tertis competitions ~ “Neubauer’s seamless control of the bow, his intonation, his rich and varied tonal palette, mark him as a member of the elite.” The New York Times

BACH  Sonata No. 1 in B minor BWV 1014 • 1717-1723
   ~ the first in a set of 6 wondrous sonatas for violin and keyboard, in which Bach broke away from the traditional figured base chord markings for the accompanying harpsichordist to improvise, and wrote out the part in full—to be played by violin and piano

In writing exactly what he wanted to accompany the violin melody, with both instruments in dialog as equal partners, Bach paved the way for the classic duo sonata. The amazing sonatas were written in Anhalt-Cöthen, where he flourished as conductor of the court orchestra and produced numerous other works, including orchestral pieces, and concertos.

Bach’s influence on Mendelssohn is widely known—his father’s favorite composer was Bach and his own idols included Bach. His love of counterpoint came from Bach and is evident in his disposition towards thick, contrapuntal textures and his inclination to write fugues and canons. His cantatas also show the influence of Bach’s choral works. Not least, he was instrumental in reviving Bach’s music—on 11 March 1829, at the Singakademie in Berlin, Mendelssohn conducted the first performance since Bach’s death of the St Matthew Passion, thus inaugurating the Bach revival of the 19th century.

Carl Maria von WEBER  Piano Quartet in Bb Major J76 • 1809
   ~ unjustly neglected, the bravura showpiece, written the year Mendelssohn was born, will undoubtedly please, especially its original Adagio and dazzling piano part that Weber apparently intended for himself

The venerable critic Harold Schonberg called Weber “an authentic genius whose greatest tragedy was that he was born about thirty years ahead of his time.”

Weber made a deep impression on Mendelssohn. The boy had met Weber at an early age as the elder composer was a guest at the family home in Berlin. In 1821, when Mendelssohn (at age 12) attended the premiere of Weber’s supernatural opera Der Freischütz, he was swept away by the overnight sensation. Weber’s pupil Julius Benedict described their meeting in Berlin: “Weber…directed my attention to a boy…who, on perceiving the author of Freyschütz [sic], ran towards him, giving him a most hearty greeting. ‘Tis Felix Mendelssohn,’ said Weber, introducing me at once to the prodigious child, of whose marvelous talent and execution I had already heard so much at Dresden…. He would have it that we should go with him at once to his father’s house; but as Weber had to attend a rehearsal, he took me by the hand, and made me run a race till we reached his home.” In a second encounter, this one at the Mendelssohn home, Julius recalled, “…whilst I was lost in admiration and astonishment at beholding the work of a master written by the hand of a boy, all at once he sprang up from his seat, and, in his playful manner, ran to the pianoforte, performing note for note all the music from Freyschütz, which three or four days previously he had heard me play, and asking, ‘How do you like this chorus?’ ‘What do you think of this air?’ ‘Do you not admire this overture?’ and so on. Then forgetting quartets and Weber, down we went into the garden, he clearing high hedges with a leap, running, singing, or climbing trees like a squirrel, the very image of health.” In the 1820s, when Mendelssohn took a 7-year hiatus from composing concertos, he often performed Weber’s Konzertstück, which became part of his core repertoire. During his first London trip in 1829, he astounded the English by performing it from memory. When he returned to composing concertos in 1831, he was quite influenced by the Konzertstück. In 1829, as documented by George Marek in Gentle Genius, Mendelssohn found a full score of Weber’s grand opera Euryanthe while rummaging through a cabinet in the country house of his friend Sir Thomas Attwood in Surrey. “Attwood had obtained it in Germany years before and it had become quite a rarity. Felix was overjoyed to study the score; he wrote to Fanny, ‘It gives me a peculiar pleasure to examine Weber’s favorite work particularly here in England, where nobody knows this music.’”

Carl BAERMANN  Duo Concertant Op. 33 • published 1873
   ~ a concert-piece with spirited interplay for 2 clarinets and piano

Baermann (1810–1885) was the son of the famous clarinet virtuoso Heinrich Baermann, for whom Weber composed his clarinet works. As a child he was taught the clarinet and the basset horn by his father. He played occasionally in the Munich court orchestra when he was 14 years old, and was appointed its second clarinetist in 1832. When his father retired in 1834, Carl succeeded him as principal clarinetist, holding that position until he retired in 1880. During his tour in Europe with his father in 1833, they premiered their friend Mendelssohn’s Concert Pieces Opp. 113 and 114 to great acclaim. The Pieces were composed in exchange for a culinary treat of sweet dumplings and cheese strudel. Apart from their musical prowess, the Baermanns were renowned for their cooking. Even the royal house of Saxony craved their dumpling specialty made from flour, yeast, sugar, butter, and eggs and cooked in a wine sauce.

Carl Baermann shaped clarinet history through his pedagogical writings, editorial articles, compositions that were popular with clarinet virtuosos, and mechanical design of the clarinet—the Baermann-Ottensteiner key system, which he developed based on the widely-used Müller system in the late 19th century. Between 1864 and 1875 he wrote a clarinet manual on his concepts of tone production, technique, and clarinet equipment. He also “worked with publisher Robert Lienau to produce his versions of Weber’s clarinet works. He primarily employed his father’s performance notes of these works to produce the Baermann editions of the two Weber Concertos and Concertino. He sought to document his father’s performance practice by having all of his father’s additions such as articulations, flourishes, and cadenzas published in one edition [Kimberly Miller].”

MENDELSSOHN  String Quintet No. 2 in Bb Major Op. 87 • 1845
   ~ brilliantly written at age 36 during his recuperation at the Bad Soden resorts near Frankfurt, the glorious quintet draws its inspiration from early Beethoven quartets

more details here...

 

Jupiter 2022 - 2023 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

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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.”

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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
155 West 68th Street, Suite 319, New York, NY 10023
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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