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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Jupiter ~ Summer 2022
May 23 ♦ June 6 ♦ June 20
2 PM & 7:30 PM

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

Monday, May 23 ♦ 2 PM & 7:30 PM
Summer 2022 ~ Czechs at Home & Abroad
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church
152 West 66 Street (west of Broadway)
Limited Seating

William Wolfram piano
Winner of the William Kapell, Naumburg, and Tchaikovsky competitions ~ “Wolfram’s technique is flabbergasting; fiendishly difficult octave passages were as child’s play, and his strength is tempered by an easy poetry.” The New York Times ~ “Wolfram is a dazzling performer.” Kalamazoo Gazette

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

Njioma Grevious violin
Won a Keston-Max Fellowship to study and perform with the London Symphony Orchestra in April 2020, a Silver Medal with the Abeo Quartet at the 2019 Fischoff competition, and First Prizes for Performance and Interpretation at the 2018 Prix Ravel chamber music competition in France ~ described by the Boston Musical Intelligencer as a “thoroughly confident and mature violinist”

Maurycy Banaszek viola
Winner of numerous violin, viola & chamber music awards

Iona Batchelder cello
Founding member of the Unison Quartet, which won an Honorary Mention award at the 2021 Bartók World Competition in Budapest, Hungary

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

Venceslav WRATNY  Clarinet Quartet in F Major
   ~ in Classical style by the entirely forgotten Czech composer who made meaningful contributions to the development of music in Slovenia

Wratny (1748–1810) worked in Graz (Austria), Ljubljana (capital of Slovenia), and Gorizia (in western Slovenia at the foot of the Julian Alps, on the border with Italy), where he died. Research has shown that “The activities of predominantly well-educated Czech musicians were of utmost importance in the music culture of the first half of the 19th century in Slovenia. In this period, Czech musicians [including Wratny] significantly contributed to improve the music culture of Slovenia.... Through their tireless work…they maintained a more or less high level of music....”

Leopold KOZELUCH  String Quartet Op. 33 No. 1
   ~ an appealing Viennese quatuor concertant by Europe’s favorite composer in the 1790s— one of 6 string quartets that enhanced his popularity and was known throughout Europe

Much of Kozeluch’s success can be attributed to his ability to combine features of the popular musical style of Paris and of the more serious style of Vienna. Blending these elements together, the quartet typifies Kozeluch’s compositional style at the height of his career. In addition, these works represent, perhaps better than any other quartets at the time, a significant style that might well be termed the Viennese quatuor concertant.

Koželuch (1752–1818) was born in Velvary, Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) and died in Vienna. In the 1770s he became known as a composer of ballets and pantomimes in Prague. In 1778 he moved to Vienna, where he made a reputation as an excellent pianist, teacher, and composer. This led to an offer for the post of court organist at Salzburg, which he declined (it had been vacated by Mozart in 1781, and went to Michael Haydn instead). Nevertheless, he succeeded Mozart as court composer in Vienna in 1792. His influence was such that it substantially fostered the rapid displacement of the harpsichord by the piano in Vienna, even before Mozart settled there.

DVORÁK  Piano Quintet No. 2 in A Major Op. 81
   ~ a pinnacle of the chamber music repertory and a tour de force of sunny disposition by “The Idol of Prague”

The Quintet was written in just seven weeks at Dvořák’s country house on the edge of a forest park at Vysoká, a favorite place. The work of a fully mature composer, it is one of his most characteristic and idiomatic in its fusion of Czech nationalism and Austro-German traditions.

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

By now you know the danger of gathering indoors with people outside your bubble. If you come, it’s at your own risk. If you are in the least bit fearful of CoVid-19, please do not come. We’ll follow state-city guidelines, however, and we can offer:

♦ Required wearing of masks
♦ Limited seating spaced apart
♦ Hand sanitizer from dispensers
♦ Doors to open 30 minutes before the concert
♦ A short pause in place of an intermission
♦ No refreshments
♦ Request distancing when entering and exiting
♦ Suggest minimal, quiet talking
♦ Doors and windows open
♦ HEPA air purifiers in operation

If possible, please use the restrooms before or after the concert.
Thank you for accommodating the current format.

View Our Summer Calendar

Dear Friends and Music Lovers,    We thank all of you who helped make last season a success—our musicians who played splendidly for appreciative audiences, music lovers who provided the enthusiasm for Jupiter’s music making, and all our supporters from near and afar for their gifts. Our brilliant artistic director Michael Volpert has again created 20 varied and beautiful programs.    We hope you’re up for the musical journey, but if you come, it’s at your own risk during this pandemic. It continues to be dicey when gathering indoors, but we’ll follow state-city guidelines and we can offer: ♦ Spaced-apart seating ♦ Required wearing of masks by audience and staff ♦ HEPA-filter air purifiers in operation ♦ Hand sanitizers ♦ Doors to open 20 minutes before concert starts ♦ Request distancing when entering and exiting ♦ Suggest minimal, quiet talking     Since the pandemic is evolving over time, we’ll be vigilant and flexible. For updates regarding concerts and requirements, please visit the website.    This season there are no subscriptions. Tickets are by reservation only. Please visit our ticket page for details. And, as challenges remain, please consider of gift of $100 or more and become a “Friend,” or please give as much as you can to help keep Jupiter vibrant. Your financial support is truly needed.    All gifts are tax deductible.    Thank you so much,

Caricature of Jens Nygaard in pen and ink by Nicholas “Nicky” Zann ~ in fond memory

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

more details here...

View Our Printable Calendar (pdf)

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

Jupiter 2021 - 2022 Season
20 Mondays at 2:00 PM & 7:30 PM

View Our Season Calendar

To reserve Tickets ~ $25, $17, $10 
please call (212) 799-1259
or e-mail admin@jupitersymphony.com

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

“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 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...

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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
  ~ 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