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Join Us For Our 2024-2025 Season! |
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, December 16 ♦ 2 PM & 7:30 PM Tickets: $25, $17, $10 ~ Reservations advised William Wolfram piano Vadim Gluzman violin Isabelle Durrenberger violin Mark Kosower cello Sara Scanlon cello Nina Bernat double bass Vadim Lando clarinet Eric Reed horn Gina Cuffari bassoon Robert KAHN Violin Sonata No. 2 in A minor Op. 26 The late-Romantic Sonata was dedicated to Carl Halir, second violinist in the Joachim Quartet and Kahn’s frequent partner in violin sonata recitals. Kahn was born in 1865, the son of one of the wealthiest Jewish families in Mannheim. After attending the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin directed by Joseph Joachim, Kahn studied with Joseph Rheinberger at the Musikhochschule in Munich, where he met Brahms in 1887. Brahms was so impressed with Kahn he offered to give him composition lessons. The young man, however, was too overawed to accept. As Kahn explained in 1947, “From my early youth I felt a deep love and veneration for Brahms the musician. To that was added, now that he welcomed me so warmly in Vienna, a deep, even rapturous love for Brahms the man. It filled my entire heart, but I kept it carefully hidden from him in shyness and restraint.” Kahn was also given support by Joachim, Clara Schumann, and the conductor Hans von Bülow (the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by von Bülow premiered Kahn’s one orchestral work). Kahn composed mostly Lieder, chamber, vocal, and choral music which were widely performed and published by major publishers. As a pianist he worked extensively with singers, and was much sought-after as a collaborative pianist with prominent artists, including Josef Szigeti and Adolf Busch. In 1897 Kahn was appointed full professor at the Prussian Academy of the Arts in Berlin, where he taught composition and piano for 36 years. Among his pupils were Arthur Rubinstein and Wilhelm Kempff. He was removed from his position at the Academy in 1934 by the Nazis, who vilified him and suppressed his work. In 1938 Kempff persuaded him to flee to England, where he lived in obscurity in Biddenden, Kent. His creativity unfettered, Kahn continued to write over 1100 piano pieces in his Tagebuch in Tönen (Diary in Sounds) until 1949. He died in 1951. From a distinguished family of bankers and merchants, his seven siblings included Otto Kahn, the financier and chairman of the board of the Metropolitan Opera; and Felix Kahn, a banker, director of Paramount Pictures, and noted violin collector. Max BRUCH Septet in Eb Major Bruch wrote his first composition, a song for his mother’s birthday, at age 9. From then on, music became his first love and he wrote many small works as well as an orchestral overture to a projected opera. The biographer Christopher Fifield commented that “the Septet has the early hallmarks of Bruch’s melodic writing, the freshness of his youth, and the charm of his Rhenish background. The scoring is remarkably assured, though he makes no distinctions in the three wind instruments, producing a horn part of some intricacy. In both the large-scale form and harmonic planning, the young Bruch was equally precocious.” His gift of melody was ingrained for life. Sir Donald Francis Tovey enthused, “it is not easy to write as beautifully as Max Bruch…it is really easy for Bruch to write beautifully, it is in fact instinctive for him.… Further, it is impossible to find in Max Bruch any lapses from the standard of beauty which he thus instinctively sets himself.” Born in Cologne in 1838, Bruch was awarded the prestigious Frankfurt Mozart Foundation Prize at the age of 14, and was well aware of Mozart’s importance. The Prize was recommended by the acclaimed composer and conductor Ferdinand Hiller, founder of the Cologne Conservatory. Hiller had heard a number of his works while visiting the Bruch home on occasion. The prize allowed Bruch to study composition with Hiller as well as piano with Carl Reinecke. At the age of 14, Bruch also wrote a symphony, and he later conducted orchestral and choral societies in Mannheim, Koblenz, Sondershausen, Berlin, Bonn, Liverpool, Breslau, and Wraclaw. His importance as a composer and to German musical life was finally acknowledged in 1890 when he was given a professorship and a master class in composition at the Hochschule für Musik (Berlin Academy), where he taught until his retirement in 1910. He died in Friedenau (now part of Berlin) in 1920. Bruch is best remembered for his Scottish Fantasy, Kol Nidrei, and 3 violin concerti. His music fell out of favor because he rebuffed the New German School, defending Romanticism instead, and carrying the banner for Mendelssohn and Schumann. BRAHMS Piano Trio No. 1 in B Major Op. 8 Originally composed at age 20, shortly after he met the Schumanns, Brahms began revising the Trio in the summer of 1889 while on holiday in Bad Ischl. The original version is the first piece of Brahms’s works that was performed in the United States—in New York on 17 November 1855, six weeks after its premiere in Danzig, Prussia. The revised version (the one now usually performed) premiered on 10 January 1890 in Budapest with Brahms at the piano, violinist Jenö Hubay, and cellist David Popper. His satisfaction is revealed in a letter to Clara Schumann, “I had already sent this piece to the grave and had no interest to play it anymore. Now I enjoy the fact that I did play it, and it was a very pleasurable day.” |
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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
Strad Magazine 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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The
New York Sun Review “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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office address: |
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MeiYing Manager All
performances, except where otherwise noted, are held at: Copyright © 1999-2024 Jupiter Symphony. All rights reserved. |