THE CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER

DAVID FINCKEL AND WU HAN, ARTISTIC DIRECTORS

PRESENTS

2009-2010 OPENING NIGHT

40TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON

A VIENNESE EVENING

SOPRANO DAWN UPSHAW

IN WORLD PREMIERE BY DAVID BRUCE

PLUS – BEETHOVEN, MAHLER, SCHUBERT, & JOHANN STRAUSS, JR.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 8PM

ALICE TULLY HALL

The Chamber Music Society opens its 2009-2010 season on

Wednesday, September 23, at 8pm in Alice Tully Hall. The
gala evening offers a heady mix of works by Beethoven,
Mahler, Schubert, and Johann Strauss, Jr., evoking the
musical hothouse of the seductive city of Vienna, and a
world premiere by British-American composer David Bruce
written for, and performed by, guest artist soprano Dawn
Upshaw. Upshaw will also be heard in Mahler’s Sehr
behaglich from Symphony No. 4 in G major, Chamber
version for Soprano and Ensemble (arr. Erwin Stein).
Photo: Dario Acosta.

Joining Upshaw on the program is a sensational line-up of world-renowned chamber

players including pianists Gilbert Kalish, Anne-Marie McDermott, and André-Michel
Schub; clarinetists Alexander Fiterstein, Todd Palmer, and David Shifrin; mandolin
player Avi Avital; violinists Todd Phillips and Arnaud Sussmann; violist Paul
Neubauer; cellists Andres Diaz and David Finckel; double bassist Kurt Muroki; flutist
Tara Helen O’Connor; oboist Stephen Taylor; harpist Bridget Kibbey; and
percussionist Ayano Kataoka.

In addition to David Bruce’s The North Wind Was a Woman for Soprano and Chamber
Ensemble (CMS Commission), and Mahler’s Sehr behaglich , the program includes
Beethoven’s Trio in B-flat major for Clarinet, Cello and Piano, Op. 11; Schubert’s
Allegro in A minor for Piano Four Hands, D. 947, Op. 144, “Lebensstürme;” two waltzes
by Strauss, in arrangements by Arnold Schoenberg: Kaiser-Walzer for Flute, Clarinet,
String Quartet, and Piano, Op. 437; and Anton Webern: Schatz-Walzer for String Quartet,
Piano, and Harmonium, Op. 418.

The original text for David Bruce’s The North Wind Was a Woman, features three poems
by Alasdair Middleton (the librettist for his opera A Bird in Your Ear), and two by the
composer himself. Middleton wrote the libretto for Bruce’s opera A Bird in Your Ear,
and along with Dawn Upshaw, several performers on this concert also enjoy a previous
association with Bruce. The composer supplied the following comment about his new
work, and his relationships with the artists:

It is my fantastic privilege to be writing this piece for Dawn Upshaw, whom I

have got to know over the past couple of years and who has been tremendously
supportive of my work as a composer. Dawn sang my Piosenki last year on a
number of occasions, and in those same concerts I was particularly taken with her
performances of some lyrical and melancholy songs by John Downland. It was
this side to her voice that I decided I wanted to bring out in these songs, which are
also inspired to some extent by Medieval French song, and more distantly, by
Strauss's elegiac Four Last Songs. Aside from Dawn herself, inspiration also
came from knowing the fantastic array of players who will be performing, several
of whom I am lucky enough to count among my friends. These include harpist
Bridget Kibbey, who premiered my solo harp piece Caja de Música at Carnegie
Hall in April; clarinetist Todd Palmer, who premiered my clarinet quintet,
Gumboots (also at Carnegie) last autumn; leading mandolin player Avi Avital
with whom I have worked on a number of projects; and violinist Arnaud Sussman
who premiered my piece Groanbox with Metropolis Ensemble earlier this year.

ARTIST BIOS

Soprano Dawn Upshaw has achieved worldwide celebrity as a singer of a wide rage of
opera and concert repertoire. Her ability to reach to the heart of music and text has
earned her both the devotion of an exceptionally diverse audience, and awards and
distinctions accorded to only the most distinguished of artists. In 2007, she was named a
Fellow of the MacArthur Foundation, the first vocal artist to be awarded the five-year
“genius” prize, and in 2008 she was named a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts &
Sciences. Upshaw is Artistic Director of the Vocal Arts Program at Bard College
Conservatory of Music.

In addition to her acclaimed performance in traditional repertoire, Dawn Upshaw has

championed many contemporary composers, often in works written especially for her,
among them John Harbison’s opera The Great Gatsby; Kaija Saariaho’s opera L’Amour
de Loin and oratorio La Passion de Simone; John Adams’s oratorio El Niño; and Osvaldo
Golijov’s chamber opera Ainadamar and song cycle Ayre.

In the past decade, Upshaw has premiered more than 25 works. This season, in addition
to the CMS season-opener by David Bruce, she sings world premieres by Alberto Iglesias
(with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra) and a song cycle by Osvaldo Golijov. At Carnegie
Hall, she will also reprise her role in John Adams’s El Niño and take part in a festival
celebrating Louis Andriessen.

David Bruce is developing an international reputation as a composer, particularly in the

field of opera and vocal music. His one-act opera A Bird in Your Ear (2008) was
commissioned by Bard College, where Dawn Upshaw is Artistic Director of the Vocal
Arts Program, and first performed by her graduate students there. After its successful
premiere, the work has had performances as a finalist in the National Opera Association's
Chamber Opera competition 2008; a student production at New York University; and as
part of the 2009 VOX festival by New York City Opera. Anthony Tommasini of The
New York Times hailed A Bird in Your Ear as “skillfully written and imaginative..."

Bruce was born in Connecticut to English and Welsh parents. He began his
undergraduate studies in music in 1988 at Nottingham University before moving on to
the Royal College of Music (1991-3) where he earned a Masters Degree in Composition,
studying with Tim Salter and George Benjamin; and a PhD in Composition at King's
College, London (1995-9) under the supervision of Sir Harrison Birtwistle.

This season, CMS is pleased to welcome harpist Bridget Kibbey to its artist roster,
where she will begin a three year residency in the CMS Two program for exceptional
young chamber players. Kibbey is a recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and
winner of the 2007 Concert Artists Guild International Competition. She recently joined
soprano Dawn Upshaw in recording Luciano Berio's Folk Songs and Osvaldo Golijov's
Ayre. Her solo album, “Love is Come Again,” was listed in the Time Out New York Top
Ten list for 2007. Kibbey recently joined the harp faculties of Bard Conservatory, Vassar
College, New York University, and The Juilliard School Pre-College program. She holds
both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School where she
completed studies with Nancy Allen.

Listing Information:
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at Alice Tully Hall
Wed., Sept. 23, 8pm, Opening Night Gala
Tickets: $150 (includes post-concert reception with the artists), $90, $45, $25
Student Rush $10 available day of concert at box office
Tickets: 212.875.5788; on-line www.ChamberMusicSociety.org
Alice Tully Hall box office (Broadway @ 65th St.)
For information on pre-concert reception and dinner call 212.875.5216.

A VIENNESE EVENING

Performers: Dawn Upshaw, soprano; Gilbert Kalish, Anne-Marie McDermott, pianos;

André-Michel Schub, harmonium/piano; Avi Avital, mandolin; Todd Phillips, Arnaud
Sussmann, TBD, violins; Paul Neubauer, viola; Andres Diaz, David Finckel, cellos; Kurt
Muroki, bass; Tara Helen O’Connor, flute; Stephen Taylor, oboe; Alexander Fiterstein,
Todd Palmer, David Shifrin, clarinets; Bridget Kibbey, harp; Ayano Kataoka, percussion.
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Trio in B-flat major for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano,
Op. 11 (1797)

FRANZ SCHUBERT Allegro in A minor for Piano, Four Hands, D. 947,

Op. 144, “Lebensstürme” (1828)

DAVID BRUCE The North Wind Was a Woman for Soprano and
Chamber Ensemble (CMS Commission, World
Premiere) (2009)

JOHANN STRAUSS, JR. Kaiser-Walzer for Flute, Clarinet, String Quartet,

and Piano, Op. 437 (arr. Schoenberg) (1889)

Schatz-Walzer for String Quartet, Piano, and

Harmonium, Op. 418 (arr. Webern) (1885)

GUSTAV MAHLER Sehr behaglich from Symphony No. 4 in G major,

Chamber version for Soprano and Ensemble (arr.
Erwin Stein) (1892, 1899-1900, rev. 1901-10, arr.
1921)