Catalyst Quartet Program

Catalyst QuartetMarch 19, 2015

Catalyst Quartet

Montgomery Strum

Tower In Memory

Glass String Quartet No. 3, Mishima

1957: Award Montage November 25: Ichigaya Grandmother and Kimitake 1962: Body Building Blood Oath Mishima/Closing

D'Rivera Wapango

Intermission

Ives String Quartet No. 1

Chorale: Andante con moto Prelude: Allegro Off ertory: Adagio cantabile Postlude: Allegro marziale Barber String Quartet Op. 11

Molto allegro e appassionato Adagio— Molto allegro (come prima)—Presto

206-543-4880uwworldseries.org

International Chamber Music Series

March 19, 2015

Thanks the following donors for their

support of this evening’s program

Nancy D. Alvord

Warren and Anne Anderson

Katharyn Alvord Gerlich

Lynn and Brian Grant Family

Dr. Martin L. Greene

Cecilia Paul and Harry Reinert

Eric and Margaret Rothchild

Dave and Marcie Stone

Lee and Judy Talner

Karla Donehew-Perez, violinJessie Montgomery, violin

Paul Laraia, violaKarlos Rodriguez, cello

Support for this event comes from

Mina B. Person

Peg & Rick Young Foundation

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

StrumJessie montgomery (1982–)

Born in New York, Jessie Montgomery wears three professional hats, violinist, composer and music educator. In all three interconnected areas she is an advocate for classical music—traditional and contemporary. Since 1999, she has been affiliated with The Sphinx Organization, which focuses on promoting the careers of young African-American and Latino string players.

Her compositions have been premiered by such pioneering ensembles as the Vinca Quartet, Providence String Quartet, JACK Quartet, Catalyst Quartet (in which she performs), and members of the International Contemporary Ensemble. She honed her compositional skills under the mentorship of Joan Tower, Derek Bermel and film composer Ira Newborn.

The composer has written:

“Strum is the culminating result of several versions of a string quintet I wrote in 2006. It was originally written for the Providence String Quartet and guests of Community MusicWorks Players, and then arranged for string quartet in 2008 with several small revisions. In 2012 the piece underwent its final revisions with a rewrite of both the introduction and the ending for the Catalyst Quartet in a performance celebrating the 15th annual Sphinx Competition. Originally conceived for the

formation of a cello quintet, the voicing is often spread wide over the ensemble, giving the music an expansive quality of sound. Within Strum I utilized texture motives, layers of rhythmic or harmonic ostinati that string together to form a bed of sound for melodies to weave in and out. The strumming pizzicato serves as a texture motive and the primary driving rhythmic underpinning of the piece. Drawing on American folk idioms and the spirit of dance and movement, the piece has a kind of narrative that begins with fleeting nostalgia and transforms into ecstatic celebration.”

The work begins with pizzicatos before the cello intones a rising 3-note theme supported by modal harmony followed by high harmonics from the first violin. The pizzicato element continues throughout, creating a pointillistic backdrop to the increasingly animated music. Harmonic changes are minimal; rhythmic élan is the guiding principle. Syncopation heightens the energy, and one episode even suggests a hoedown.

In Memory Joan tower (1938–)

One of our nation’s prominent composers, Joan Tower has written music that has maintained a virtually continuing presence in concert venues from Santa Cruz to Moscow and then some. She has served as composer-in-residence for orchestras and music festivals in Santa Cruz (CA), St. Louis, Winnipeg and elsewhere, as well as

professor at Bard College. She has also earned a reputation as a fine pianist, noting that she considers herself as a performer who composes, rather than the reverse.

She composed In Memory in 2002 as a deeply personal tribute to a close friend who had died the previous year; the tragic events of 9/11 added yet another layer of grief to the Tokyo String Quartet commission. With regard to that powerful stimulus she noted, “…the intensity of the piece got higher. It veers between pain, love and anger.”

The one-movement work opens with a long-held violin note that unfolds into a long mournful tune. The other instruments enter as the dynamic level rises and the music becomes increasingly agitated. Most of the music lies in high register but continues to descend until the cello presents painfully dissonant chords. After two-plus minutes, the expressive focus becomes more internalized, less agitated but still sad and elegiac. Slashing chords introduce a feverish episode with increasing dissonance and fearsome intensity. Roughly half-way through the quartet, the music again turns inward; sadly weeping upper strings move over the cello’s searching melodic material. The quiet episodes evoke a chilling shudder of the soul. Urgent, insistent abrasive cello chords support continued feverish activity from the higher strings. Whether loud or soft, the relentless grief permeates the entire piece. The piece ends quietly on a high unison note that gradually swells before dying. In Memory is not a

A-20 UW WORLD SERIES

Catalyst Quartet

Montgomery Strum

Tower In Memory

Glass String Quartet No. 3, Mishima

1957: Award Montage November 25: Ichigaya Grandmother and Kimitake 1962: Body Building Blood Oath Mishima/Closing

D'Rivera Wapango

Intermission

Ives String Quartet No. 1

Chorale: Andante con moto Prelude: Allegro Off ertory: Adagio cantabile Postlude: Allegro marziale Barber String Quartet Op. 11

Molto allegro e appassionato Adagio— Molto allegro (come prima)—Presto

206-543-4880uwworldseries.org

International Chamber Music Series

March 19, 2015

Thanks the following donors for their

support of this evening’s program

Nancy D. Alvord

Warren and Anne Anderson

Katharyn Alvord Gerlich

Lynn and Brian Grant Family

Dr. Martin L. Greene

Cecilia Paul and Harry Reinert

Eric and Margaret Rothchild

Dave and Marcie Stone

Lee and Judy Talner

Karla Donehew-Perez, violinJessie Montgomery, violin

Paul Laraia, violaKarlos Rodriguez, cello

Support for this event comes from

Mina B. Person

Peg & Rick Young Foundation

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

StrumJessie montgomery (1982–)

Born in New York, Jessie Montgomery wears three professional hats, violinist, composer and music educator. In all three interconnected areas she is an advocate for classical music—traditional and contemporary. Since 1999, she has been affiliated with The Sphinx Organization, which focuses on promoting the careers of young African-American and Latino string players.

Her compositions have been premiered by such pioneering ensembles as the Vinca Quartet, Providence String Quartet, JACK Quartet, Catalyst Quartet (in which she performs), and members of the International Contemporary Ensemble. She honed her compositional skills under the mentorship of Joan Tower, Derek Bermel and film composer Ira Newborn.

The composer has written:

“Strum is the culminating result of several versions of a string quintet I wrote in 2006. It was originally written for the Providence String Quartet and guests of Community MusicWorks Players, and then arranged for string quartet in 2008 with several small revisions. In 2012 the piece underwent its final revisions with a rewrite of both the introduction and the ending for the Catalyst Quartet in a performance celebrating the 15th annual Sphinx Competition. Originally conceived for the

formation of a cello quintet, the voicing is often spread wide over the ensemble, giving the music an expansive quality of sound. Within Strum I utilized texture motives, layers of rhythmic or harmonic ostinati that string together to form a bed of sound for melodies to weave in and out. The strumming pizzicato serves as a texture motive and the primary driving rhythmic underpinning of the piece. Drawing on American folk idioms and the spirit of dance and movement, the piece has a kind of narrative that begins with fleeting nostalgia and transforms into ecstatic celebration.”

The work begins with pizzicatos before the cello intones a rising 3-note theme supported by modal harmony followed by high harmonics from the first violin. The pizzicato element continues throughout, creating a pointillistic backdrop to the increasingly animated music. Harmonic changes are minimal; rhythmic élan is the guiding principle. Syncopation heightens the energy, and one episode even suggests a hoedown.

In Memory Joan tower (1938–)

One of our nation’s prominent composers, Joan Tower has written music that has maintained a virtually continuing presence in concert venues from Santa Cruz to Moscow and then some. She has served as composer-in-residence for orchestras and music festivals in Santa Cruz (CA), St. Louis, Winnipeg and elsewhere, as well as

professor at Bard College. She has also earned a reputation as a fine pianist, noting that she considers herself as a performer who composes, rather than the reverse.

She composed In Memory in 2002 as a deeply personal tribute to a close friend who had died the previous year; the tragic events of 9/11 added yet another layer of grief to the Tokyo String Quartet commission. With regard to that powerful stimulus she noted, “…the intensity of the piece got higher. It veers between pain, love and anger.”

The one-movement work opens with a long-held violin note that unfolds into a long mournful tune. The other instruments enter as the dynamic level rises and the music becomes increasingly agitated. Most of the music lies in high register but continues to descend until the cello presents painfully dissonant chords. After two-plus minutes, the expressive focus becomes more internalized, less agitated but still sad and elegiac. Slashing chords introduce a feverish episode with increasing dissonance and fearsome intensity. Roughly half-way through the quartet, the music again turns inward; sadly weeping upper strings move over the cello’s searching melodic material. The quiet episodes evoke a chilling shudder of the soul. Urgent, insistent abrasive cello chords support continued feverish activity from the higher strings. Whether loud or soft, the relentless grief permeates the entire piece. The piece ends quietly on a high unison note that gradually swells before dying. In Memory is not a

encoreartsseattle.com A-21

comforting piece but one that mirrors the horror and unspeakable grief of our shared reaction to 9/11.

String Quartet No. 3, MishimaphiLip gLass (1937–)

As with a number of his compositions Philip Glass’ String Quartet No. 3 grew from a film score, in this instance Paul Schrader’s Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, dating from 1985. The music for the film utilized a full orchestra including, for certain sections, a string quartet. The title, Mishima, refers to the Japanese writer and self-proclaimed latter-day Samurai warrior Yukio Mishima, an arch-conservative who decried Western materialism and argued for the re-instatement of the emperor in Japan; though admired as a writer, his plea was ignored and/or ridiculed. The film and his actual life ended on November 25, 1970, when he took his own life. Within the movie Glass employed the string quartet to express the most personal and intimate aspects of the eponymous subject’s life. The composer has indicated that he conceived the quartet episodes as a virtually independent work.

Up and down arpeggios open the first movement. Within the repeated figurations of this backdrop a flowing melody weaves through Glass’ familiar textural writing. Brief chord changes and surging energy prevail. The second movement recalls the arpeggios from the opening movement but this time it houses a deeper and more touching theme in the minor mode. An elegiac mood permeates this brief and touching essay.

Harsh chords launch the quietly agitated third movement. Repeated chords urge the music onward with a slashing motion; dynamics and melodic fragments rise and fall dramatically in this contest between the upper and lower instruments.

The brief fourth movement begins as if ready to settle into another elegy but is soon swept into higher gear with insistent urgings before ending abruptly on an expectant unresolved chord. Another rhythmically chugging movement ensues with shifting textures and shifts into alternating harmonic centers. The sixth and concluding movement begins quietly while sharing the all but patented see-saw motion that has been a Glass trademark throughout his career. Tinges of deep sadness infuse the music, which gradually quietens before drawing to a close. Wapangopaquito d'rivera (1948–)

Havana-born Paquito D’Rivera was a child prodigy whose career began as a performer on clarinet and saxophone, playing with the Cuban National Symphony Orchestra. In the late 1980s be helped found Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nations Orchestra, an ensemble dedicated a fusion of Latin and Caribbean influences with American jazz. For many years D’Rivera has served as a cross-cultural ambassador, creating and promoting a multicultural style. With more than 30 solo albums to his credit he has garnered more than a dozen Grammy Awards.

His 1975 String Quartet, Wapango, drew its inspiration from the long-popular Mexican dance, spelled commonly as “Huapango.” Wapango begins with an energetic chordal introduction led by a surging cello theme. The overall “sound” is positively orchestral in its rich sonority. The music skips up and down through the string ensemble’s entire range. A substantial dynamic continuum adds to sense of symphonic heft. Frequent brief pauses dot the sonic landscape. Naturally, the music evokes an irresistible Latin feel.

String Quartet No. 1 CharLes ives (1874–1954)

As a student at Yale, Charles Ives studied with German-trained Horatio Parker. The differences between teacher and pupil manifested a stylistic chasm with only a hint of a bridge between then. The conservative Parker bristled at Ives’ “out-of-the box” thinking, yet he provided his ward with a sound grounding in composition, enabling Ives to combine traditional European form with American innovation.

In 1896, while a student at Yale, Ives produced his First Symphony, a massive work redolent of Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and Dvořák. Simultaneously, Ives composed his String Quartet No. 1, which he later subtitled with irony steeped in truth, “From the Salvation Army.” Given his experience gained under his father’s guiding hand, the quartet integrates gospel hymns the youngster heard in camp meetings within the formal structures of 19th-century German

Romanticism. Parker was not pleased by Ives’ use of hymns, stating that they “have no place” in music, forgetting perhaps that composers throughout the ages have always availed themselves of musical ideas outside the range of “serious” music.

As with other works in Ives’ canon, the opening movement of the Quartet began life as an organ fugue which used themes derived from beloved hymns. So too the following movements drew from the rich legacy of American hymn tunes, familiar to most people at the time but increasingly unknown to listeners of today.

The cello introduces the initial flowing theme, soon joined by the remaining strings contrapuntally. Harmonies remain firmly tonal throughout, at far remove from the polytonality of much of his later music. Well into the movement the cello sustains a long-held pedal point, betraying its origins as an organ work. Shortly before closing the tempo slows significantly and ends nobly.

Sounding like a cross between a religious camp meeting and a hoedown, the ensuing sectional Prelude is an effusively positive essay with subtle harmonic and rhythmic twists that hint at the composer’s evolving style. As in the opening movement, the Prelude ends as a slower tempo, and rather abruptly to boot.

Listed as “Offertory,” the third movement opens with a serenity somewhat undone by unexpected harmonic shifts that bespeak inner

anxiety alternating with sweet lyricism. Above cello pizzicatos, an ensuing episode veers between quietude and jaunty extroversion before the movement calms to a pacific close.

The finale marked Postlude: Allegro marziale, finds the young composer is an energetic state of mind. Strong dotted rhythm moves things along with confident energy. Intervening episodes provide lyrical contrast and reduced dynamic levels. A brief and ardent contrapuntal section—also marked by dotted rhythm—returns to urge the music forward. The movement ends on a sequence of passionate tremolos. A perhaps coincidental connection to the quartet as a whole: the rustic inflections briefly recall the hoedown-like inflections of Dvořák’s String Quartet, Op. 96 and Quintet, Op. 97, both of which carry the apt nickname “American.”

String Quartet, Op. 11 samueL BarBer (1910–1981)

Not a child prodigy in the mold of Mozart or Mendelssohn, Barber nonetheless began composing in his youth. His abundant musicality received nurture from his aunt, the famous contralto Louise Homer, who taught the boy to sing at a tender age. In 1936, still a young man, Barber composed his String Quartet, Op. 11. Though he could always use dissonance when it served his purposes he more typically employed a neo-Romantic tonal vocabulary.

The Quartet’s opening movement, Molto allegro e appassionato, asserts

itself with a vibrant main theme that is eventually pitted against a quiet chorale-like counter theme. A third legato theme emerges before Barber weaves the three elements together.

The ensuing Adagio—most familiar in its string orchestra arrangement for Arturo Toscanini—is laid out in arch form. The basic flowing and elegiac main theme slowly moves through the different string instruments, beginning with the violins before a downward shift into the viola’s realm. The work’s expansive central section entrusts the theme to the cellos, then builds to a powerful fortissimo climax in the high regions of the string ensemble’s range, followed immediately by dead silence—which greatly intensifies the dramatic impact of the climax. A series of wrenchingly sad chords provides a transition to the final section where the opening theme is heard. The affecting conclusion uses the first five notes of the melody, holding the final note over a moment of silence followed by an accompanying figure that ebbs away to nothingness.

In its string orchestra version the Adagio has served to commemorate tragic occasions ever since, including the funerals of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Prince Rainier of Monaco, as well as the ceremony at the site of the World Trade Center following the catastrophic events of September 11, 2001.

Though the Adagio seems to come to a full close, the term attacca precedes the Molto allegro (come prima)—Presto finale that emerges Phoenix-like out of the silence, i.e., without pause. A very


brief and fairly quiet figure almost immediately launches an energetic and anxious episode before the music grows temporarily quiet before bringing the quartet to an energetic, forceful and anxious close.

© 2015 Steven Lowe

ABOUT THE CATALYST QUARTET

Hailed by The New York Times at their Carnegie Hall debut as “invariably energetic and finely burnished… playing with earthy vigor” the Catalyst Quartet, prize winners of the Gianni Bergamo Classical Music Award 2012 (Switzerland) is comprised of top Laureates and alumni of the internationally acclaimed Sphinx Competition. Known for “rhythmic energy, polyphonic clarity and tight ensemble-playing” (New York Concert Review). The quartet has toured domestically and abroad including sold out performances at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Chicago’s Harris Theater, the Frank Gehry designed New World Center in Miami, and Carnegie Hall (Stern Auditorium), to name a few. They have also appeared on multiple radio and television broadcasts such as American Public Media’s Performance Today, Chicago (WFMT), Houston (KUHF), Seattle (KING FM), Vermont Public Radio, Detroit Public Television; and have contributed to online and print media including The Strad and Strings magazine.

The Catalyst Quartet has held residencies and given master classes

at institutions such as the University of Washington, University of Michigan, Rice University, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, In Harmony Project (UK), Pennsylvania State University, and the University of South Africa. They also serve as principal faculty at the Sphinx Performance Academy at Oberlin College and Roosevelt University. The Quartet has been guest artists at Festival del Sole, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Sitka Music Festival, Juneau Jazz and Classics, the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme, Juilliard String Quartet Seminar, Strings Music Festival, and the Grand Canyon Music Festival.

The Catalyst Quartet’s debut album, The Bach/Gould Project, featuring their own arrangement of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations and Glenn Gould’s String Quartet can be found on the Azica Records label. They are also featured on the album STRUM, the string works of quartet violinist Jessie Montgomery (available fall 2015).

KARLA DONEHEW-PEREZ, (violin), born in Puerto Rico, began playing the violin at age three. By age nine she had performed as a soloist with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, and shortly after that was featured on a national television show about young gifted Latin American children. She was the youngest member of Festival Orchestra Juvenil de Las Americas during the Casals Festival. At age twelve, Karla moved to California and entered The Crowden School, a middle school with a focus on string chamber music. She continued her studies with Anne

Crowden, Director and founder of The Crowden School.

Karla completed her Bachelors and Masters degrees at the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying performance with the heralded violin teachers Paul Kantor, David Cerone, and William Preucil. As a student at CIM, Karla participated in numerous Master Classes with distinguished artists, and served as the CIM Orchestra’s concertmaster. As a member of the WO-MEN String Quartet, she was awarded 1st place at the Ohio String Teachers Association Competition, and Honorable Mention at the Plowman Chamber Music Competition. The quartet was also chosen to represent CIM for the Conservatory Project at the Kennedy Center for the Arts and was selected to play a recital for the Cleveland Chamber Music Society. In her junior year, Karla was a recipient of the prestigious Dr. Jerome Gross Award in violin. Karla was also awarded second place at the Sphinx Competition. Karla was featured on the Young Artist Series for the Festival del Sole, in Napa Valley, California, and was guest concertmaster of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. Recently, Karla was a fellow at the New World Symphony, where she often sat concertmaster or principal second violin and performed as a soloist.

Karla performs on a fine violin by Charles and Samuel Thompson, London 1774, on generous loan from Patricia Press Nissen in memory of Alvera and Dudley Warner- Press, and a fine violin bow by Victor Fetique, from the Rachel Elizabeth Barton Foundation.

JESSIE MONTGOMERY (violin), a New York native, is a composer and performer of film, theater and concert music, performing regularly among New York’s classical and new music scenes.

An avid chamber musician and collaborator, Jessie was a founding member of PUBLIQuartet, an ensemble made up of composers and arrangers, featuring their own music as well as that of other New York based composers. She was also a core member of the Providence String Quartet from 2004 – 2009, quartet in residence of Community MusicWorks. Ensemble experiences have lead to collaborations with The Orion String Quartet, The Miro String Quartet, and The Knights. Jessie has also collaborated with several avante-garde greats such as clarinetist Don Byron, Butch Morris.

Jessie holds a Bachelor’s degree from The Juilliard School in violin performance and a Master’s Degree in Composition and Film Scoring from New York University. Primary violin teachers have been Sally Thomas and Ann Setzer; composition teachers and mentors include Hollywood film composer Ira Newborn, Joan Tower and Derek Bermel. www.jessiemontgomery.com

PAUL LARAIA (viola), born in Sewell New Jersey, began viola with Brynina Socolofsky, the disciple of viola pedagogue Leonard Mogill. He continued his studies with Choon-jin Chang, and Che-hung Chen of the Philadelphia Orchestra under scholarship through Temple University’s Center for Talented

Youth and the Settlement Music School in South Philadelphia. In 2007, he entered the New England Conservatory of Music under Kim Kashkashian with full scholarship and in 2008 he became the recipient of the Clara May Friedlaender Scholarship.

In addition Paul has performed at the Sarasota Music Festival, National Orchestral Institute, Banff Center for Music, and Yellow Barn Festival. He has been awarded top chamber music prizes at the Fischoff Competition, the New England Conservatory Honors Ensemble Competition, and the Glenn Gould School Chamber Music Competition. He has been privileged to have collaborated with such artists as Donald Weilerstien, Daniel Phillips, William Vermeulen, Roger Tapping, Anthony Marwood, Michael Kannen, Maria Lambros, Natasha Brofsky, and Mark Hill.

Paul regularly performs with his two younger siblings Steven and Tiffany who also play viola. Steven studies with Kim Kashkashian at the New England Conservatory, and Tiffany studies at The Juilliard School of Music under Toby Appel.

Paul performs on a large 17 ¼ viola in the style of Gaspar da Salo, made by Douglas Cox in 2002.

KARLOS RODRIGUEZ (cello) made his orchestral debut at the age of thirteen to great audience and critical acclaim. He has since been an avid soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician appearing at many of our important musical venues including Carnegie

Hall, Merkin concert hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, New World Center, Philadelphia’s Kimmel center, and Radio City Music Hall, to name a few. Mr. Rodriguez has also had the honor of working with distinguished artists such as the Beaux Arts Trio, American, Cavani, Cleveland, Emerson, Guarneri, Juilliard, Miami, Orion, Tokyo, and Vermeer String Quartets; Janos Starker, Lynn Harrell, Zuill Bailey, Pieter Wispelway, Rachel Barton-Pine, Awadagin Pratt, Joshua Bell, and Steven Isserlis.

His teachers have included Richard Aaron, Peter Wiley, and David Soyer. A love of modern dance paired with live music has led to collaborations with the Thomas/Ortiz Dance Company, Freefall, Mark Morris Dance Group, and Chita Rivera. Karlos has attended and been a guest artist at the ENCORE School for Strings, Sarasota, Aspen, Great Lakes and Kneisel Hall chamber music festivals, Grand Canyon Music Festival, Cleveland Chamber Music Society, Philadelphia Orchestra Chamber Music Society, and Napa’s Festival de Sole. As an educator he is on the faculty of Summertrios, the Dean of Artistic Affairs at the Sphinx Performance Academy and has given master classes domestically and abroad.

Mr. Rodriguez has worked on various films, Pop albums, Broadway musicals, and is a member of the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra. In addition to these musical activities he is former Principal Cellist of the Florida Grand Opera Orchestra in Miami and cellist of the Catalyst Quartet.


Catalyst Quartet Program

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