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SOUTHWEST CHAMBER MUSIC celebrated its 25th anniversary in the 2011-2012 season and looks forward to the 20th anniversary of its Summer Festival at The Huntington in 2013. Highlights of the 25th anniversary season included the world premiere of Ten Freedom Summers by Wadada Leo Smith, a three-part cycle inspired by the main events and figures of the
Civil Rights Movement. The ensemble continued its nationally recognized Cage 2012 festival in March celebrating the centennial of Los Angeles-born composer John Cage. The season concluded in May with the inaugural LA International New
Music Festival.
Founded in 1987, Grammy® Award-winning
Southwest Chamber Music provides concert and educational programming in Los Angeles County that combines European classics, contemporary work by American composers, and new music from Latin America and Asia. Our highly-rated education programs— Project Muse in-school concerts and the Mentorship Program for student musicians—continue to serve more than 1400 students annually at schools throughout Los
Angeles County with in-depth programming that engages students through multiple visits by musicians and composers. They have been cited as model programs in the field by the California Arts
Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Southwest experienced a transformative season in 2009-2010 as international cultural ambassadors for the United States. The
U.S. State Department selected our ensemble from a highly competitive field to produce the Ascending Dragon Music Festival and Cultural Exchange from March to May 2010, the largest cultural exchange between Vietnam and the United States in the history of the two nations.
In December 2009, Southwest Chamber Music traveled to Mexico, representing the United States at the Guadalajara FIL Arts
Festival, a festival produced alongside the world’s largest Spanish book fair. In December 2006 the ensemble performed at
Cambodia’s Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, the 2006 World Culture Expo at the temples of Angkor Wat, and the Vietnam National Academy of Music in Hanoi. In March 2003 Southwest Chamber Music became the first American ensemble to perform at the Arnold Schoenberg Center in Vienna. The ensemble has also been presented by the Library of
Congress in Washington D.C., Cooper Union in New York City, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Getty Center, Orange
County Performing Arts Center, Ojai Festival, and Luckman Fine Arts Center. Guest conductors appearing with the ensemble have included Oliver Knussen, Stephen L. Mosko, and Charles Wuorinen.
As a two-time GRAMMY® Award-winner and seven-time nominee, Southwest Chamber Music has one of the most significant recorded discographies of any American chamber ensemble. The ensemble’s 25 recordings are available from Cambria Master
Recordings, with worldwide distribution by Naxos (Classics Online). Southwest Chamber Music is represented by Gail Boyd
Management in New York City. For more information on Southwest Chamber Music, visit www.swmusic.org
Cover: Frederick Carl Frieseke, Woman Seated in a Garden, 1914. Oil on canvas. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Gift of the Virginia Steele Scott Foundation.
1.800.726.7147 • WWW.SWMUSIC.ORG
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Alison Bjorkedal, harp
Jim Foschia, clarinet
Lorenz Gamma, violin
Suzanna Guzmán, soprano
Peter Jacobson, cello
Elissa Johnston, soprano
Larry Kaplan, flute
Jan Karlin, viola (on sabbatical)
Genevieve Lee, piano
Luke Maurer, viola
Tom Peters, double bass
Ming Tsu, piano
Lynn Vartan, percussion
Shalini Vijayan, violin
Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ, dan bau Jeff von der Schmidt
Conductor and artistic director
Elissa Johnston Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ Suzanna Guzmán
The Summer Festival at The Huntington is generously sponsored by E. Randol and Pamela Schoenberg, Wells Fargo Capital
Finance, and Carol and Warner Henry.
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Danse sacrée et danse profane
SOUTHWEST CHAMBER MUSIC
SUMMER FESTIVAL AT THE HUNTINGTON
July 14 and 15 , 2012
PROGRAM
Alison Bjorkedal, harp
Lorenz Gamma & Shalini Vijayan, violins
Luke Maurer, viola, Peter Jacobson, cello
Chant du Linos
Larry Kaplan, flute
Lorenz Gamma, violin , Luke Maurer, viola , Peter Jacobson, cello
Alison Bjorkedal, harp
Introduction & Allegro
Alison Bjorkedal, harp
Larry Kaplan, flute , Jim Foschia, clarinet
Lorenz Gamma & Shalini Vijayan, violins
Luke Maurer, viola , Peter Jacobson, cello
INTERMISSION
String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 10
Animé et très decide
Assez vif et bien rythmé
Andantino, doucement expressif
Très modéré - En animant peu à peu - Très mouvementé et avec passion
Lorenz Gamma & Shalini Vijayan, violins
Luke Maurer, viola , Peter Jacobson, cello
Claude Debussy
(1862-1916)
André Jolivet
(1905-1974)
Maurice Ravel
(1875-1937)
Claude Debussy
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by Claude Debussy
Claude Debussy was born on August
22, 1862, in St. Germain-en-Laye.
His parents came from a middle class background and he studied piano with
Mme. Maute, the mother-in-law of
Paul Verlaine. Debussy’s ability was easy to spot. At an early age he traveled throughout Europe in a piano trio with two Russian musicians and Mme. Natalie von Meek, the patron of Tchaikovsky. It is not surprising that one of his strongest influences would come from his study of Modest
Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov.
The Chant du Linos is one of the great display pieces for the flute. In Greek mythology, Linus was the son of Apollo and Psamathe of Argos. He was deserted by his mother on a hillside and devoured by dogs. When Psamathe’s father learned what his daughter had done, he had her killed. For this double outrage, Apollo cursed Argos with a plague for which there would be no release until Psamathe and Linus were propitiated with prayers and songs of lamentation. The
“Linus song,” a lament derived from this legend, was sung at harvest time as a dirge for the dying vegetation. Jolivet was often attracted to the flute for its ancient associations with the origins of music.
by Maurice Ravel
The Danse sacrée et danse profane were composed in 1904 at the specific request of the famous Paris piano manufacturing firm of Pleyel. The works were to help popularize the new chromatic harp—an instrument that abandoned the harp’s pedal mechanism in favor of a separate string for each semitone. The chromatic harp proved to be a failure, but
Debussy’s Danse sacrée et danse profane remains among the most popular pieces in the harp repertoire. These two dances, composed in the period after the completion of his opera Pelléas et Mélisande and during the composition of La
Mer , present sacred and secular aspects of Debussy’s creative personality. T he Danse sacrée returns to antiquity for its atmosphere, much as in his Le Martyre de Saint-Sébastian.
The Danse profane is an Impressionistic vision of a pagan world of mythical rite and revelry.
“In my own composition I judge a long period of gestation necessary. During this interval I come progressively, and with a growing precision, to see the form and the evolution that the final work will take in its totality. Thus I can be occupied for several years without writing a single note of the work, after which the composition goes relatively quickly. But one must spend time in eliminating all that could be regarded as superfluous in order to realize as completely as possible the definitive clarity so much desired.”
by Andre Jolivet
Jolivet was born August 8, 1905, in
Paris. His parents were quite talented, his father a painter, his mother a pianist. He developed in multiple worlds, composing, designing scenery and costumes for an early ballet, and allowing himself polar opposite influences in composition. He rigorously learned harmony, counterpoint and classical forms, as well as 15th and 16th century counterpoint. But his main teacher,
Paul Le Flem, was also a good friend of that arch modernist,
Edgar Varèse. Jolivet avoided any of the systems of the 20th century, but embraced the influence of world music into his compositions. This was especially evident in the piano composition Mana , which received a preface from a very enthusiastic Olivier Messiaen.
Born in the Basque town of Ciboure, France, near Biarritz in 1875, Ravel began his musical life as a pianist and later studied composition with Gabriel Fauré, although he was expelled from the Paris Conservatory for not making a first prize in either piano or composition! Today, Ravel is considered a paradigm of celebrated French clarity
(in this regard he far outshines the impressionism of his compatriot, Claude Debussy). His entire output is gemlike, from two glowing fairytale operas to Spanish exoticism,
Asian mysticism, American jazz, and African mystery.
Ravel, indeed, traveled an internal globe throughout his life. The Introduction & Allegro was composed in 1905, after the scandalous reception of his now famous String Quartet in 1903. A concert aria for the harp soloist, the work is luxuriously in D flat major, and features numerous harp cadenzas.
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by Claude Debussy
The String Quartet is a musical sibling to Debussy’s symbolist masterpiece, the opera Pelléas et Mélisande . The quartet was most surely finished during the early stages of the opera’s composition. The first movement represents a self-confident break from tradition, for the pure shape of the main theme will assert a greater importance than its initial harmonic structure. This gives Debussy the means to create a perpetual variation of idea, rather than invoking the intervallic development of music influenced by the likes of Bach and Beethoven. The second movement, with its moments in 15/8 meter, is another bold stroke of timbre for timbre’s sake. The ostinato and pizzicato variants present a maze of associations with the theme of the first movement. The third movement is a retreat into Debussy’s beloved Russian sound world. The melodies, especially for the solo viola, remind one of the famous Garden Scene in Pelléas et Mélisande, when Mélisande loosens her long hair to erotically envelope Pelléas . These melodies are in the same key as similar moments found in the opera. The introduction to the final movement provides a Proustian remembrance of things past before moving forward to a brilliant conclusion in the major key.
— Program Notes by Jeff von der Schmidt
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SOUTHWEST CHAMBER MUSIC
SUMMER FESTIVAL AT THE HUNTINGTON
July 28 and 29 , 2012
PROGRAM
Suite Bergamasque
Prélude
Menuet
Clair de lune
Passepied
Ming Tsu, piano
Chansons madécasses
I. Nahandove
II. Aoua
III. Il est doux
Elissa Johnston, soprano
Larry Kaplan, flute , Peter Jacobson, cello , Ming Tsu, piano
La création du monde, Op. 81b
Lorenz Gamma & Shalini Vijayan, violins
Luke Maurer, viola , Peter Jacobson, cello , Ming Tsu, piano
INTERMISSION
Quintet for Piano & Strings in D Major, Op. 45
Molto moderato quasi lento
Lento, con molto sentimento
Allegro non troppo, ma con fuoco
Lorenz Gamma & Shalini Vijayan, violins
Luke Maurer, viola , Peter Jacobson, cello
Ming Tsu, piano
Claude Debussy
(1862-1918)
Maurice Ravel
(1835-1937)
Darius Milhaud
(1892-1974)
César Franck
(1822-1890)
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by Claude Debussy
This suite for piano in four movements is nearly overshadowed by the popularity of its third movement, Clair de lune , surely one of the most played pieces in the piano literature, so much so that the suite is not often performed in concert. Suite Bergamasque was begun in 1890 when
Debussy was still a student and shows his earlier influences of the French clavecin , a harpsichord, and of the Symbolist poets, particularly Verlaine, in the titles. In 1905 Debussy was approached by his publisher Durand, who wanted to publish everything of Debussy’s to capitalize on the composer’s popularity. Debussy reworked the suite which he felt was an immature work and did not reflect his developed mastery of compositional style. However that may be, the
Suite Bergamasque is still much beloved like an old friend one hasn’t seen in a few years. Bright, cheerful, mysterious, danceable and romantic, it is as delightful as soft, perfumed air to the senses.
— Heidi Lesemann
by Maurice Ravel
“I am quite conscious of the fact that my Chansons madécasses are in no way Schoenbergian, but I do not know whether I should have been able to write them had
Schoenberg never written.” Maurice Ravel’s Chansons madécasses was commissioned by Elizabeth Sprague
Coolidge. The texts are drawn from an eighteenth century
Creole poet, Evariste-Désiré de Parny. The blend of overt sexual imagery and racial tensions in the poems brought out a work that its composer considered one of his most crucial.
by Darius Milhaud technology of the time would not control the sound of gas needed to inflate the balloons – the orchestra would have been drowned out. Milhaud’s music is a vibrant impression of le jazz hot he experienced from the Hotel Brunswick
Orchestra and the New Orleans-flavored jazz of Harlem.
Though not a jazz composer, the convergence of serious and popular music finds one of its most persuasive advocates in
Milhaud’s La création du monde.
by César Franck
Franck’s Quintet in F minor for Piano and Strings was written in 1878-79 during completion of his magnum opus,
Les beatitudes.
It was first performed on January 17, 1880 in a concert of the Société Nationale in Paris. There is an almost narcotic need for Franck to cyclically connect the different sections of the work. The more one studies it, the more the music reveals a network of implications, footnotes, and references, not unlike the layers of The Remembrance of Things Past by
Marcel Proust, or the emerging cubism of Paul Cezanne.
It is this preoccupation with creating an organic structure that makes Franck an augury of numerous tendencies in the 20th century music. A comparison of his music with that of Olivier Messiaen is in fact not an idle pursuit— both composers were to assign a mystical importance to the key of
F-sharp.
The motto theme for the Quintet is the second subject of the first movement, first presented by the violin above a syncopated piano accompaniment. In the second movement, the motto appears in the center, and in D-flat major. In the finale Franck gives still more time to this theme, with a combination of formal elements being extended into, or perhaps until, the coda.
Dance was the rage in Paris in the
1920s. The conventions of classical ballet changed and demanded a new and almost savage, barbaric music. La création du monde , Op. 81b by Darius
Milhaud was commissioned by the
Swedish Maecenas Rolf de Maré. Maré assembled a trio of Milhaud, Ferdinand
Léger and Blaise Cendrars (a one-armed poet-journalist) to compose and design a story combining jazz and African folklore. The intent was to be savage in the extreme. Léger had to give up on the idea of inflatable skins representing flowers, trees, and animals, which would be blown up and transformed into balloons at their moment of creation. The
“Pére” Franck, as he was known to numerous students such as Gabriel Fauré, Vincent d’Indy, and Paul Dukas, was beloved by most, but not all, of the musicians of his time. The first performance of the Quintet was by the Marsick Quartet and Camille Saint-Saëns. Franck had been so impressed that he dedicated the work to the composer thirteen years his junior. D’Indy reported that at the premiere Franck had hoped to present a manuscript of the work as a gift to the
Saint- Saëns. However Saint-Saëns stormed away after the performance, at odds with the older man’s music.
— Program Notes by Jeff von der Schmidt except where noted
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Text: Evariste-Désiré de Parny
(English translation by Winifred Radford)
I. Nahandove, ô belle Nahandove!
L’oiseau nocturne a commencé ses cris, la pleine lune brille sur ma tête, et la rosée naissante humecte mes cheveux.
Voici l’heure: qui peut t’arrêter,
Nahahndove, ô belle Nahandove?
Le lit de feuilles est préparé; je l’ai parsemé de fleurs et d’herbes odoriférantes; il est digne de tes charmes,
Nahandove, ô belle Nahandove!
Elle vient.
J’ai reconnu la respiration précipitée que donne une marche rapide; j’entends le froissement de la pagne qui l’envelopp: c’est elle, c’est
Nahandove, la belle Nahandove!
Oh, reprends haleine, ma jeune amie; repose-toi sur mes genoux.
Que ton regard est enchanteur, que le mouvement de ton sein est vif et délicieux sous la main qui le presse! Tu souris,
Nahandove, ô belle Nahandove!
Tes baisers pénètrent jusqu’à l’âme; tes caresses brûlent tous mes sens; arrête, ou je vais mourir.
Meurt-on de volupté,
Nahandove, ô belle Nahandove?
Le plaisir passe comme un éclair; ta douce haleine s’affaiblit, tes yeux humides se referment, ta tête se penche mollement, et tes transports s’éteignent dans la langueur, jamais tu ne fus si belle,
Nahandove, ô belle Nahandove!
Tu pars, et je vais languir dans les regrets et les desires; je languirai jusqu’au soir; tu reviendras ce soir.
Nahandove, ô belle Nahandove!
Nahandove, oh lovely Nahandove!
The nightbird has begun his call, the full moon shines over my head, and my hair is moist with falling dew.
The time is come: who could delay you
Nahandove, Oh lovely Nahandove?
The bed of leaves is ready;
I have strewn it with flowers and scented herbs; it is worthy of your charms,
Nahandove, Oh lovely Nahandove!
She is coming!
I have heard her breath excited by her hurrying step;
I hear the rustling of the garment that covers her: it is she, it is
Nahandove, Oh lovely Nahandove!
First catch your breath, sweetheart; rest on my lap!
What enchantment is kindled by your eyes, how delightful is the quivering of your breast under the gentle touch of my hand! Now you are smiling,
Nahandove, Oh lovely Nahandove!
Your kisses invade the soul, your caresses inflame my senses:
Stop, or I shall die!
Can one die of desire.
Nahandove, Oh lovely Nahandove?
The delight passes like a sudden flash; your sweet breath grows fainter, your moist eyes close, your head sinks gently and rapture is extinquished by langour.
Never have you been so lovely as now,
Nahandove, Oh lovely Nahandove!
You go yet I languish in regret and longing,
I will languish till evening, when you will return,
Nahandove, Oh lovely Nahandove!
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II. Aoua! Aoua!
Méfiez-vous des blancs, habitants du rivage.
Du temps de nos pères, des blancs descendirent dans cette île; on leur dit: Voilà des terres, que vos femmes les cultivent.
Soyez justes, soyez bons, et devenez nos frères.
Les blancs promirent, et cependant ils faisaient des retranchements. Un fort menaçant s’éleva; le tonnerre fut renfermé dans des bouches d’airain; leurs prêtres voulurent nous donner un dieu que nous ne connaissons pas; ils parlèrent enfin d’obéissance et d’esclavage:
Plutôt la mort!
Le carnage fut long et terrible; mais, malgré la foudre qu’ils vormissaient,et qui écrasait des armées entières,ils furent tous exterminés.
Aoua! Aoua! Méfiez-vous des blancs!
Nous avons vu de nouveaux tyrans, plus forts et plus nombreaux, planter leur pavillon sur le rivage: le ciel a combattu pour nous; il a fait tomber sur eux les pluies, les tempêtes et les vents empoisonnés.
Ils ne sont plus, et nous vivons libres.
Aoua! Aoua! Méfiez-vous des blancs, habitants du rivage.
III. Il est doux de se coucher durant la chaleur sous un arbre touffu, et d’attendre que le vent du soir amème la fraîcheur.
Femmes, approchez.
Tandis que je me repose ici sous un arbre touffu, occupez mon oreille par vos accents prolongés; répétez la chanson de la jeune fille, lorsque ses doigts tressent la natte, ou lorsqu’assise auprès du riz, elle chasse les oiseaux avides.
Le chant plaît à mon âme; la danse est pour moi presqu’aussi douce qu’un baiser.
Que vos pas soient lents, qu’ils imitent les attitudes du plaisir et l’abandon de la volupté.
Le vent du soir se lève: la lune commence à briller au travers des arbres de la montagne.
Allez, et préparez le repas.
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Awa! Awa!
Do not trust the white men, dwellers of the coast.
In our fathers’ lifetime white men came to this island; we said to them: here is land; your womenfolk shall cultivate it.
Be just, be good, and let us be brothers.
The whites promised, and yet they built fortifications. A menacing fort was erected; they enclosed thunder in the mouths of brass; their priests wanted to give us an unknown god; finally they spoke of obedience and slavery.
Far better to die!
There followed a long and terrible carnage; but despite the lightening that they spat out, annihilating entire armies, they were all slain.
Awa! Awa! Do not trust the white men!
We have seen new tyrants, even stronger and more numerous, hoist their colors at the coast.
The sky fought for us; it sent down rain, storms and poisonous winds.
They are no more, and we live, and are free.
Awa! Awa! Do not trust the white men, dwellers of the coast.
How pleasant to lie under a shady tree in the heat of the day and wait for the coolness of the evening wind.
Women, come here.
As I rest here under a shady tree, fill my ear with your strains; sing again the song of the young girl as as she weaves a mat or chases away the greedy birds from the rice field.
Song gladdens my soul, and dance for me is as sweet as a kiss.
Step slowly, your movements imitating the postures of delight, the abandon of love’s ecstasy.
The wind of evening blows; the moon begins to shine through the trees on the mountain.
Go, prepare the meal.
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SOUTHWEST CHAMBER MUSIC
SUMMER FESTIVAL AT THE HUNTINGTON
August 11 and 12 , 2012
PROGRAM
Sonata for Flute, Viola & Harp
Pastorale
Interlude
Finale
Larry Kaplan, flute , Luke Maurer, viola , Alison Bjorkedal, harp
Claude Debussy
(1862-1918)
Vietnamese Folksongs Traditional
Vân Ánh Vanessa Võ, dan bau
Ascending Dragon Pham Minh Thành
(b. 1978)
Vân Ánh Vanessa Võ, dan bau
Lorenz Gamma & Shalini Vijayan, violins
Luke Maurer, viola , Peter Jacobson, cello
Tom Peters, double bass, Lynn Vartan, percussion
Jeff von der Schmidt, conductor
INTERMISSION
String Quartet in F major
Allegro moderato – Très doux
Assez vif –Très rythmé
Très lent
Vif et agité
Lorenz Gamma & Shalini Vijayan, violins
Luke Maurer, viola , Peter Jacobson, cello
Maurice Ravel
(1875-1937)
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by Claude Debussy
“The musical genius of France is something like a dream in the senses…” The words and music of Claude Debussy certainly cast a long shadow over the music of the twentieth century. The originality of Debussy’s sound world was virtually unprecedented, with only rare glimpses found in
Wagner ( Parsifal ) and Mussorgsky ( Boris Goudonov ). The
Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp was part of a projected cycle of six sonatas planned at the end of Debussy’s life.
Only three works were completed—the Sonata for Cello and
Piano , the present sonata, and Debussy’s last composition, the Sonata for Violin and Piano . Sketches exist for a fourth sonata for oboe, French horn and harpsichord, an amazing neo-classic combination of instruments. The Sonata for
Flute, Viola and Harp was composed in September and
October 1915 and premiered in April at the Société Musicale
Indépendante. Debussy was gravely ill with cancer during the composition of this work, the illness that ultimately led to his death on March 25, 1918. The Impressionistic canvases of compositions like La Mer and Pelléas et Melisande give way to a classical abstraction through normal objects, primarily melodies. The Sonata is the epitome of French clarity and refinement, emphasized by beguiling instrumental pastels.
One cannot help but conjecture whether the instrumental grouping for the Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp was suggested by Debussy’s exposure to the Japanese koto and shaguhachi during the famous Paris Exhibitions.
by Pham Minh Thành
Pham Minh Thành was born in
1978 in Hanoi. He studied piano and composition at the Vietnam National
Academy of Music under the tutelage of composer Do Hong Quan until
2000. From 2000-2006, Minh Thành studied composition at the Tchaikovsky
Conservatory with Professor Konstantin
Batashov. The composer writes:
“Ascending Dragon was commissioned by Southwest
Chamber Music for its Ascending Dragon Music Festival and
Cultural Exchange in celebration of the 1000th Anniversary of the city of Hanoi. This composition, inspired by Buddhism, is written for dan bau (monochord), pagoda bells and wood blocks, two violins, viola, cello, and double bass with a structure of slow/fast/slow. Though I don’t use any of the changes or verses from Buddhism, the usage of dan bau as the soloist will create the voice and the peaceful atmosphere that one can find in a pagoda in Vietnam.”
— Pham Minh Thánh
The dan bau, according to the Vietnamese treatise, Dai nam thuc tien bien , originated in 1770 and is of purely Vietnamese origin.  As with many Asian instruments, the goal of the tone is to reach a specific human emotion, and for the dan bau it is a direct pathway into the heart. There is an old saying that the dan bau is so powerful it is best to keep young people away from the emotional appeal of its numerous love songs.
by Maurice Ravel
The String Quartet in F major has an all-too-familiar history of being snubbed when new, only to become accepted later as one of the most loved pieces in the string quartet repertory. Written in 1903 while the composer was 28 years old, it is dedicated to his teacher, Gabriel Fauré, who could describe the last movement as “stunted, badly balanced, in fact a failure.” Needless to say, an extended aerobic workout in 5/8 meter was not the focus of the Paris Conservatory.
The quartet became Ravel’s final submission to the Prix de Rome competition, and was summarily rejected by the academic panel adjudicating the prize. But the adversity brought forward lifelong admiration from Claude Debussy, who implored Ravel not to change a note. For many decades the work has been appreciated as one of the pillars of French
Impressionist music, with its beautifully unfolding first movement balanced by a Picasso-like guitar pizzicato second movement, languid French eroticism in the third, and the energy of the final movement perplexing the old guard no end.
— Program Notes by Jeff von der Schmidt except where noted
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SOUTHWEST CHAMBER MUSIC
SUMMER FESTIVAL AT THE HUNTINGTON
August 25 and 26 , 2012
PROGRAM
Ma Mère L’Oye
Pavane de la Belle au bois dormant. Lent
Petit Poucet. Très modéré
Laideronnette, Impératrice des pagodas. Mouvement de marche
Les entretiens de la Belle et de la Bête
Le jardin féerique. Lent et grave
Petite Suite
En bateau
Cortège
Minuet
Ballet
Genevieve Lee & Ming Tsu, piano
Siete canciones populares españolas
El Paño Moruno
Seguidilla Murciana
Asturiana
Jota
Nana
Canción
Polo
Suzanna Guzmán, soprano , Ming Tsu, piano
INTERMISSION
Le boeuf sûr le toit
Genevieve Lee & Ming Tsu, piano
La vie en rose: Songs of Edith Piaf
Suzanna Guzmán, soprano , Ming Tsu, piano
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Maurice Ravel
(1875-1937)
Claude Debussy
(1862-1918)
Manuel de Falla
(1876-1946)
Darius Milhaud
(1892-1974)
Arr. various
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by Maurice Ravel
The original version of Ma Mère L’Oye (“Mother Goose”) is for piano four-hands and was written in 1908. It was inspired by the fairy tales of Charles Perrauly (1628-1703), Mme d’Aulnoy (1650-1705) and Mme Leprince de Beaumont
(18th century). The five movements are Pavane de la belle au bois dormant (“Pavane for a Sleeping Beauty”), a sad and melancholy dance; Petit Pouce (“Tom Thumb”), the tale of a boy who lays bread crumbs to find his way home but finds them eaten by birds; Laideronnette, impératrice des pagodas
(“Laideronnette, Empress of the Pagodas”), the story of a daughter of a king who is cursed with ugliness, whose beauty is restored by the love of a prince; Les Entretiens de la belle et de la bête (“The conversations of Beauty and the Beast”), a waltz alternating between elegant charm and macabre shadows; and Le jardin férique (“The Fairy Garden”), where
Ravel says “Good-bye” to the innocence of childhood with a simple chorale. Later, Ravel remarked “My intention of awaking the poetry of childhood in these pieces naturally led me to simplify my style and think out my writing. I made a ballet of this work, which was performed at the Théâtre des
Arts. I wrote the work for my young friends Mimie and Jean
Godebski.”
by Claude Debussy
The first movements of Debussy’s  Petite Suite  of 1889 are drawn from two poems of Verlaine’s 1869 volume  Fêtes galantes.
The poems evoke the era of 18th-century aristocrats on country outings, the world depicted in the fanciful paintings of Fragonard and Watteau. Partiers assume the archetypal  Commedia dell’Arte  roles—there are countesses and rogues, priests and knights, all engaged in an atmosphere of merry-making. In its original form for piano,  Petite
Suite  was first performed on February 2, 1889 by Debussy in collaboration with the pianist-publisher Jacques Durand. The work has a simple lyricism that contrasts with much of the composer’s music from the late 1880’s, which was marked by trend-setting harmonies and colors that drew the wrath of contemporary critics for being “too modernistic.” It may in fact originally have been written for the skilled amateur musicians who commanded a great deal of attention at this period, and who demanded chamber music that they could master.  The Suite is made of four individual movements, each one constructed in such a way as to give more or less equal opportunities to both pianists. In the first movement,
“En bateau” (Sailing), a sublime melody is floated above a broken chordal accompaniment. The next movement,
“Cortège,” is a brilliantly evocative processional, suggesting a marching band on a festival day, while the penultimate movement, “Menuet,” is generally regarded as the high point of the work. “Ballet,” the final movement, is an energetic, festive dance.
— Heidi Lesemann
by Manuel de Falla
Manuel de Falla is representative of a group of Spanish composers, including
Enrique Granados, Isaac Albéniz and
Joaquín Turina, who won international recognition. He was born in 1876 in
Cádiz, where he first studied, moving later to Madrid and then to Paris, but returning to Madrid when war broke out in 1914. Strongly influenced by the traditional
Andalusian  cante jondo , he settled in Granada for a time, then exiled himself to Argentina after his friend Frederico
Garcia Lorca was murdered by Franco during the Spanish
Civil War. Falla was no musical revolutionary, though what he created was entirely new. His powerful originality depended not on matters of technique - even if in this he made astonishing innovations - but on substance, this came first. His work has proved durable, and the attractive surface of his music has perhaps done much to maintain his popular esteem. La vida breve, El amor brujo (with the Ritual Fire
Dance ), The Three-Cornered Hat , and Master Peter’s Puppet
Show are some of his most beloved works.
The Siete canciones for high soprano and piano were composed in 1914 and are dedicated to Madame Ida
Godebska. This set of popular Spanish songs is one of the most loved of Falla’s works, and one of the most important song cycles in the Spanish repertoire. The vocal line leads the piano part in an integrated whole, a true partnership.
— Heidi Lesemann
by Darius Milhaud
Le boeuf sur le toit , Op. 58 (The Cow on the Roof, or The
Nothing Doing Bar) is a surrealist ballet made on a score composed by Darius Milhaud which was in turn strongly influenced by Brazilian popular music. The title is that of an old Brazilian tango, one of close to 30 Brazilian tunes
(choros) quoted in the composition. The piece was originally to have been the score of a silent Charlie Chaplin film.
Its transformation into a ballet ( Pantomime Farce ) was the making of the piece, with a scenario by Jean Cocteau, stage designs by Raoul Dufy, and costumes by Guy-Pierre
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Fauconnet. There is no real story to speak of, but a sequence of surrealistic bar scenes based on music inspired by Brazil, a country in which the composer spent two years during
World War I. One by one a bizarre assortment of decadents enters the stage joining the Barman and the Boxer: a woman in a Low Cut Dress, a Woman in Red (with paper hair), a
Gentleman, and a Bookmaker (with gold teeth). A policeman enters the scene with a police whistle, fights ensue and the curtain falls on what proves to be anything but a dull evening at the local establishment.
The version for chamber orchestra was followed by another for piano duet, which we hear this evening, subtitled Cinema
Symphony on South American Airs.
The ballet gave its name to a celebrated Parisian cabaret-bar, Le Boeuf sur le Toit , which opened in 1921 and became a meeting-place for
Cocteau and his associates.
Called “The Little Sparrow” because she stood just 4’8,” Edith
Piaf (née Édith Giovanna Gassion) became one of the world’s most beloved entertainers during and after WWII, extending until her death October 10, 1963 at age 47 in France. Born in Paris in the Hospital Tenon on December 19, 1915
(though legend has her born on the streets), she struggled for her existence as the daughter of street performers. She was discovered in 1935, so the legend goes, in Pigalle by a nightclub owner who taught her stage deportment and insisted she wear a black dress which she adopted as her trademark. But her voice captivated the French capital, and eventually the world, as she sang of her life on the streets, her loves, and her pain. She is buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in one of the most visited gravesites.
— Heidi Lesemann
Program Notes by Jeff von der Schmidt except where noted
Manuel de Falla
Text: Gregorio Martinez Sierra
(Translation: Andrew Huth)
1. El Paño Moruno
Al paño fino, en la tienda, una mancha le cayó; por menos precio se vende, porque perdió su valor.
¡Ay!
That fine cloth in the shop has a stain on it; it will sell for less, because it has lost its value —
Ay!
2. Seguidilla Murciana (Folksong)
Cualquiera que el tejado
Tenga de vidrio, no debe tirar piedras al del vecino.
Arrieros emos; puede que en el camino
Nos encontremos!
Por tu mucha inconstancia yo te comparo con peseta que corre de mano en mano; que al fin se borra, y créyendola falsa nadie la toma!
Anyone whose roof is made of glass shouldn’t throw stones at his neighbor’s.
We are muleteers; perhaps along the road we shall meet one another!
You are so inconstant that I would compare you to a coin that passes from hand to hand; in the end it gets rubbed so smooth that people think it is false and no one takes it!
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27895_SWCM-Summer Program.indd 16
3. Asturiana (Folksong)
Por ver si me consolaba, arriméme a un pino verde por ver si me consolaba.
Por verme llorar, lloraba.
Y el pino, como era verde, por verme llorar, lloraba!
4. Jota (Folksong)
Dicen que no nos queremos porque no nos ven hablar; a tu corazón y al mio se lo pueden preguntar.
Dicen que no nos queremos porque no nos ven hablar.
Ya me despido de tí, de tu casa y tu ventana, y aunque no quiera tu madre, adiós, niña, hasta mañana.
Ya me despido de ti...
aunque no quiera tu madre...
5. Nana (Folksong)
Duérmete, niño, duerme, duerme, mi alma, duérmete, lucerito de la mañana.
Naninta, nana,
Naninta, nana.
duérmete, lucerito de la mañana.
6. Canción (Folksong)
Por traidores, tus ojos, voy a enterrarlos;
No sabes lo que cuesta, “Del aire” niña, el mirarlos.
“Madre a la orilla”
Dicen que no me quieres, ya me has querido...
Váyase lo ganado, “del aire”
Por lo perdido.
“Madre a la orilla” por lo perido.
“Madre.”
7.
Polo (Folksong)
¡Ay!
Guardo una
¡Ay!
guardo una pena en mi pecho, guardo una pena en mi pecho,
¡Ay!
que a nadie se la diré.
Malhaya el amor, malhaya,
¡Ay!
y quien me lo dió a entender.
¡Ay!
To see if it would console me
I came to a green pine-tree to see if it would console me.
Seeing me weep, it wept too.
And the pine so green, seeing me weep, wept too.
They say we don’t love one another because they don’t see us speaking; but why don’t they ask your heart and mine?
They say we don’t love one another because they don’t see us speaking.
Now I must part from you, from your house and your window; and even if your mogher disapproves, farewell, my love, until tomorrow!
I must part from you… even if your mother disapproves…
Sleep, my child, sleep, sleep, my darling, sleep, my little star, of the morning.
Lullay, lullay, lullay, lullay sleep, my little star of the morning
They are treacherous, your eyes, and I shall bury them; you cannot know what it costs child, to look into them, o mother…
They say that you don’t love me, but you did love me once…
What I had once is worth more than what I am losing. o mother… than what I am losing, o mother…
14
Ah!
I have…
Ah!
…I have a sorrow in my breast,
I have a sorrow in my breast…
Ah!
…which I cannot tell to anyone!
A curse on love, and a curse…
Ah!
…on he who made me understand it!
Ah!
6/28/12 10:28 AM

2012-2013 26th Season
2013 LOS ANGELES
INTERNATIONAL NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL presented by Southwest Chamber Music
Save the Dates!
Saturdays at 8 pm
January 26, February 2,
February 23, and March 2, 2013
The Colburn School
Watch our website for updates!
n
PROJECT MUSE IN-SCHOOL CONCERTS
Project Muse in-school concerts are an opportunity for students 12-18 to gain an appreciation for music. Aligned with the California State Standards, the programs feature music from all historical periods and styles. Programs also draw connections between music and other subjects, such as history, math, English, poetry, drama and science.
The musical ensembles range from 1-6 players, drawn from
Grammy-winning Southwest Chamber Music’s roster. Every program features a lively question and answer period, which gives students the chance to interact with the players. Each participating school may engage the ensembles for repeat visits, allowing the students to build their listening and deportment skills while increasing their musical knowledge. n
MENTORSHIP PROGRAM
The Mentorship Program provides in-school orchestra and chamber music coaching for students 12-18. Students develop their instrumental skills through work with professional musician mentors from Grammy-winning Southwest Chamber
Music. Mentors work with small groups of students from each orchestra section, focusing on orchestra music while helping students develop their individual skills.
Additional chamber music sessions for selected students focus on teaching ensemble skills, culminating in special school and community performances. The Mentors, who may provide advice and recommendations for college music scholarships, can also offer private lessons when requested.
Southwest Chamber Music has presented programs with the Los Angeles Unified School District, the Alhambra Unified
School District, the Glendale Unified School District, and the Pasadena Unified School District.
If you are interested in having a Project Muse Concert or Mentorship Program at your school, please contact the office at
626.685.4455 or mail@swmusic.org.
www.swmusic.org • 626.685.4455
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Friends of Southwest Chamber Music
Thank you to all of our donors who have given so generously in the past twelve months as of June 26, 2012.
Platinum Composers Circle ($25,000+)
Susan Bienkowski and Wang Chung Lee
Dept.of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles
James Irvine Foundation
Los Angeles County Arts Commission
The MAP Fund
National Endowment for the Arts
The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation
E. Randol and Pamela Schoenberg
Gold Composers Circle ($15,000+)
Ahmanson Foundation
Composers Circle ($10,000+)
Asian Cultural Council
Capital Group Companies Charitable
Foundation
Frieda C. Fox Family Foundation
Green Foundation
Henry Family Fund
Wells Fargo Capital Finance
Quintet Circle ($1,000+)
Mr. and Mrs. Louis P. Abel
Amoeba Music
Jay Belloli
Ken Blaydow
Dr. and Mrs. George Byrne
D’Addario Music Foundation
Michael Huynh
Sally K. Kaled and Bill Trimble
Keyboard Concepts
Martin Karlin
Peter and Greta Mandell
Dr. and Mrs. G. Arnold Mulder
Wendy Munger and Leonard Gumport
Dr. and Mrs. Eugene Roberts
Jonathan Rosen
Carol and Carl Selkin
Betsey and Sid Tyler
Nonet Circle ($5,000+)
Aaron Copland Fund for Music
California Arts Council
City of Pasadena Cultural Affairs Division
Pasadena Showcase House
Homayoun Homampour
Cary Huang
Ellen and Harvey Knell
The Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation
Natalie Poole and Gary Hackney
Cory Takahashi
Quartet Circle ($500+)
Mayor and Mrs. Bill Bogaard
Carol Copp
Mary and Craig Deutsche
Oscar Gerardo
Ronald R. Gustafson
Dr. Ralph Miles, Jr.
Ann C. Patterson
Dr. and Mrs. Carl J. Rice
Mary Schander
Clare and Chris Tayback
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Techentin
Octet Circle ($2,500+)
Amphion Foundation
Fritzie and Fred Culick
Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation
The Flourish Foundation
Mineko and John Grimmer
Vijaya Kumari
Stephen Lesser
Metropolitan Associates,
Alice Coulombe, President
Jay Nouri and Family
Trio Circle ($250+)
Sara Campbell and George Abdo
Kate Akos and Harry L. Jacobs
Carol B. Bierhorst
Cathy and Barry Brisk
Elizabeth Brooks
Thomas Ferrell
Kathy Henkel
Mr. and Mrs. David Hensley
Celia and Samuel Hunt
Joan Kemper
Barbara and John Madden
Ramanan Ramadoss
Darrel Ramsey-Musolf
John D. Roberts and Olive McCloskey
Dr. Alvin Rosenfeld and
Dr. Dorothy A. Levine
David Spiro and Richard Ramos
Steven Takahashi
Don Louis Wetzel, Ph.D.
Duo Circle ($100+)
Alejandro Alcántara
Robert C. Anderson
Mr. and Mrs. James Atkinson
Elaine and Marvin Bass
Mr. and Mrs. George Bosworth
Mr. and Mrs. Ken Brown
Elliott Carter
Wilkie and Becky Cheong
Cecilia Cloughly and Frank Stott
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Derby
Patricia Dobiesz
Patricia L. Fogarty and David Svoboda
William Kraft and Joan Huang
Mr. and Mrs. Larry Johnson
Mary J. Kaled
Christel Krause
Iris Malakoff
Linda and Dan Mandell
Sona Markarian
Steven G. Martin
Isa-Kae Meksin
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Mercer
Thea Musgrave
Bob and Arlene Oltman
Priscilla and Michael Pawlicki
Nancy Perloff and Robert Lempert
Dr. and Mrs. Robert C. Ritchie
Judith Rosen
Barbara Simpson
Ruth Snyder
Dorothy Scully
Catherine Thomas
Linda Tigner
Donna Vaccarino
Jeri Voge
Mr. and Mrs. Carl White
Ms. Barbara Widdess
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You can help support Southwest Chamber Music’s exciting concerts and educational activities by becoming a
Friend of Southwest Chamber Music.
UNDER $100 SOLOIST
Help keep ticket prices low, and support Southwest Chamber
Music’s Project Muse , Mentorship Program and Music
Unwrapped educational and community programs throughout Los Angeles County
$100 DUO CIRCLE
Benefits above, Program Book Listing, and underwrite free student tickets to the concerts
$250 TRIO CIRCLE
Benefits above, and receive an invitation to attend a Project
Muse in-school performance by Southwest Chamber Music
$500 QUARTET CIRCLE
Benefits above, and receive an invitation to meet Southwest
Chamber Music’s Grammy Award-winning musicians at a behind-the scenes rehearsal
$1,000 QUINTET CIRCLE
Benefits above, and attend an invitation-only house concert by Southwest Chamber Music
$2,500 OCTET CIRCLE
Benefits above, and enjoy a special event to meet featured commissioned composers, and hear a rehearsal of their new compositions
Project Muse in-school programs
Corporate sponsorships are also available with custom benefits designed to meet your marketing and VIP client needs.
Contact Executive Director Jan Karlin for more details at
626-685-4455.
And, don’t forget your company’s matching gift!
Support Southwest Chamber Music concerts, educational programs, recordings, and international tours—make a taxdeductible donation to Southwest Chamber Music today!
$5,000 NONET CIRCLE
Benefits above, and underwrite a specific instrument in the ensemble with the opportunity to meet the musician at a special event
$10,000 COMPOSERS CIRCLE
Benefits above, and sponsor a concert performance with credit on the program page, or a CD recording with printed credit, and become eligible to travel with the ensemble for international tours
$25,000 PLUS PLATINUM COMPOSERS CIRCLE
Benefits above, and receive the opportunity for a named commission of a new composition with title page credit, and the opportunity to get to know the directors, musicians and composers at exclusive events at private homes
Check our website www.swmusic.org
to join our email list, receive special offers, and watch for news about our upcoming season, to be announced in August!
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27895_SWCM-Summer Program.indd 20
SOUTHWEST CHAMBER MUSIC
Jay Belloli, President
Betsey Tyler, Vice President
Natalie Poole, Secretary
Peter Mandell, C.P.A., Treasurer
Kenneth Blaydow, M.D., President 2007-2009
Ellen Knell, Ph.D., President 2004-2007
Louis Abel
Homayoun Homampour
Cary Huang
Michael Huynh
Sally Kaled
E. Randol Schoenberg, Esq.
Carl Selkin, Ph.D.
Cory Takahashi
Susan Bienkowski, President 2001-2004
Anna Bresnahan, Secretary 1999-2003
Fritzie Culick, President 1986-1998
Mary Schander, President 1990-2001
Joan Boyett
Elliott Carter
Alice Coulombe
Charles Dillingham
Oliver Knussen
Steven Lavine
Kent Nagano
Martin Perlich
Rick Wartzman
Jeff von der Schmidt, Artistic Director
Jan Karlin, Executive Director
Heidi Lesemann, General Manager
Linnet Richardson, Ticket Manager
Joan Quinto, Production Manager
David Spiro, Development Manager
Alejandro Rubalcava, Webmaster
Si Tang, Computer Technician
Val Echavarria, Program Design
Danielle Solomon, LA County Arts Commission Intern
18
6/28/12 10:28 AM

PLAYERS
Alison Bjorkedal, harp, received her
Doctorate of Musical Arts at the USC
Thornton School of Music. She also earned her Master’s degree from the
Thornton School, where she studied with JoAnn Turovsky and was a teaching assistant for the beginning harp class.
Alison received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Oregon (magna cum laude) where she studied harp with Sally Maxwell and Laura Zaerr. She performed the world premiere of William Kraft’s Encounters
XII and has recorded that work for Southwest Chamber
Music. She performed on the ensemble’s Complete Chamber
Music of Carlos Chávez, Volume 4 , which was nominated as Best Classical Album in 2007 by Latin Grammy. Alison performed two major harp concertos on tour with Southwest
Chamber Music in Hanoi, Vietnam: Les jardins d’autre monde by Ton That Tiêt and Au dessus du vent by Nguyen
Thien Dao. In addition, she gave the U.S. premieres of both concertos in Los Angeles for the ensemble’s Ascending Dragon
Music Festival.
Jim Foschia, clarinet, studied with
Charles Russo at the Hartt School of
Music and the Manhattan School of
Music. He performed on world tours of  Evita, 42nd St.
and recording artist
Yanni. Currently he performs regularly with the Santa Barbara Chamber
Orchestra and has also performed with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Master
Chorale, Opera Pacific, California Philharmonic, Pasadena
Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony and the Mozart
Camerata. Jim is on the Faculty of Hamilton High School
Academy of Music and Director of Jazz Studies, teaching instrumental music, instrumental jazz and musical theater.
He received the National Youth Theater Award for Best
Musical Direction in 2006 for Hamilton’s production of
Chicago and in 2010 for Cabaret. He has received various awards for music education from the Mayor of Pasadena,
Altadena Links and the U.S. House of Representatives. Mr.
Foschia first performed with Southwest Chamber Music in 1999, and has recorded works with the group by Elliott
Carter, John Cage, Mel Powell, Richard Felciano, Chinary
Ung and Carlos Chávez on Cambria Master Recordings. Mr.
Foschia performed on Southwest Chamber Music’s  Complete
Chamber Works of Carlos Chávez, Volumes 1 and 2 , which received consecutive 2003 and 2004 GRAMMY Awards.
Lorenz Gamma, violin, is internationally active as performer and teacher. He has given master classes in the United
States, Europe and Asia and has taught at UCLA and Indiana University in
Bloomington before joining the faculties at California State University Long Beach and California Institute of the Arts, where he currently teaches violin, viola and chamber music.
His students have won numerous prizes and continued their studies at such institutions as the Manhattan and Eastman
Schools of Music, University of Southern California, Indiana
University in Bloomington and many others. As former co-leader of Switzerland’s Amar Quartet Mr. Gamma has performed in many of Europe’s most important chamber music venues, including the major concert halls in Zurich,
Geneva, Basel, Munich, the Cologne Philharmonic, as well as in such cities as London, Paris, New York etc. Prior to his full-time activity with the quartet he served as principal in the Zurich Opera Orchestra and as concertmaster of the
Northwest Sinfonietta in Seattle. As a soloist Mr. Gamma has performed over twenty different violin concertos by
Bach, Beethoven, Berg, Bruch, Lutoslawski, Mendelssohn,
Mozart, Piazzolla, Rubinstein, Wieniawski, Schumann,
Spohr, Tartini and Vivaldi, and holds an extensive record of radio appearances as recitalist and chamber musician, both in Europe and in the United States. He has recorded chamber music for Cambria Records, Centaur Records, EAR
Records, ECM Records, Innova Recordings, Suisa Records and Tilia Records and has performed virtually most of the standard chamber music repertoire of over eighty composers, including a string quartet repertoire of over fifty composers.
Mr. Gamma was born in Switzerland, where he received his initial training as a violinist. His further studies took place in the United States, with Franco Gulli, Steven Staryk and Mark
Kaplan. Other important teachers include the members of the Alban Berg Quartet, Walter Levin of the LaSalle Quartet,
Rostislav Dubinsky of the Borodin Quartet, Peter Rybar and
Isaac Stern.
Suzanna Guzmán, mezzo-soprano and native of East Los Angeles, is one of the original Associate Artists of Los Angeles
Opera and current host of the weekly
KCET arts showcase OPEN CALL. She has appeared as a principal soloist with symphonies and opera houses around the world including the Metropolitan
Opera, Washington National Opera, Dallas Opera, Opera di
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Geneva, San Diego Opera, among others. Career highlights include the 4000th performance of The King and I with Yul
Brynner, the world premiere and recording of Goya with
Plácido Domingo and the Washington National Opera, the
Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors directed by Giancarlo
Menotti (Helen Hayes Award Nominee for Outstanding Lead
Actress), Cornelia in Giulio Cesare with Los Angeles Opera; she created the role of Paula in the world premiere, tour and recording of Mexican composer Daniel Catan’s Florencia en el Amazonas . Best known for her portrayal of the title role in Bizet’s Carmen, TIME Magazine called her a “fire eating singing actress.” She is the principal soloist on the Southwest
Chamber Music’s Grammy-nominated CD, Carlos Chávez:
Volume III also featuring Mexico’s percussion ensemble,
Tambuco.  On the artist roster of the Music Center Education division, she continues to perform her one-woman show,
Don’t be Afraid: It’s Just Opera , created in 1985 to introduce inner-city students to the world of opera. Honored by People
Magazine en Español as an outstanding Latino in Music; she was the first recipient of the Plácido Domingo Award; the
Mexican American Opportunity Foundation 2011 Woman of the Year; a 2011 Bank of America Local Hero for service to arts and the community; and the 2012 Hispanic Scholarship
Foundation’s Mentor of the Year. She serves on the USC
Thornton Board of Councilors, UCLA’s Design for Sharing
Board, Los Angeles Children’s Chorus Honorary Board, and works as the Director of Community Engagement for the Los
Angeles County High School for the Arts.
Peter Jacobson, cello, started on the cello at age nine and went on to graduate from the University of Southern
California studying under the late
Eleonore Schoenfeld. He also studied at CalArts and at the San Francisco
Conservatory of Music. Peter has studied
North Indian classical music with the late sitar master Rahul Sariputra and at the Ali Akbar College of Music. He won the Jennings
Butterfield Young Artist competition, the San Diego Musical
Merit competition and numerous local scholarships and competitions. Peter has performed as a soloist and premiered concertos by Jeffery Holmes and Roger Prytzytulsky. He has played locally and internationally with a list of fine classical ensembles, orchestras, rock bands, fusion projects, hip-hop producers and jazz artists with the intention of celebrating the wonderful effects of music. Currently, he plays regularly with Southwest Chamber Music, Quartetto Fantastico, and the Arohi Ensemble.
Elissa Johnston, soprano, has been hailed by  Musical America  for “her voice pure and ethereal, her expression embracing and heartfelt,” Elissa Johnston has appeared in a wide range of repertory. Her orchestral engagements include appearances with the Atlanta
Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra,
Los Angeles Philharmonic, Colorado Symphony, Fort
Worth Symphony, Oregon Bach Festival, San Francisco
Contemporary Players and Musica Angelica. Elissa’s performances in the 2011/12 season included Bach arias with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Bach’s St. John
Passion with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Unsuk Chin’s
Akrostichon Wortspiel with Southwest Chamber Music, and assorted American songs accompanied by Jeffrey Kahane at the Broad Stage.
Elissa’s work includes such varied solo performances as
Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Handel’s Messiah with the
Los Angeles Master Chorale, the American premiere of
Him Sophy’s The Fall of Angkor with Southwest Chamber
Music, Schumann songs with pianist Robert Thies at the
Broad Stage, Messiaen’s Harawi with pianist Vicki Ray at
Jacaranda Music and Pianospheres and the quartet version of
David Lang’s Little Match Girl Passion with Jacaranda Music.
Previously, Elissa appeared in the acclaimed world premiere of SPIRAL XII by Chinary Ung with the Los Angeles Master
Chorale at Walt Disney Concert Hall, and sang the world premiere of Aura by Mr. Ung with Grammy® Award-winning
Southwest Chamber Music. She subsequently recorded Aura with SWCM and toured with the ensemble in Vietnam and
Cambodia.  She has worked with conductors Tan Dun, David
Zinman, Thomas Adès, Daniel Harding and Steven Stucky; performed numerous times with the L.A. Philharmonic’s
New Music Group, both in Los Angeles and at the Ojai
Festival. Her recital appearances include programs at the
Aldeburgh Festival in England and at the Aspen Festival’s
Winter Music Series. Elissa can also be heard on dozens of film soundtracks. She is the featured vocal soloist in Serenata
Schizophrana by Danny Elfman which was released on the
Sony Classical label and featured on the IMAX release Deep
Sea 3D.
Larry Kaplan, flute, is one of Southern
California’s most sought after and versatile flutists, and he has appeared at virtually every major venue in the area. For five seasons he played piccolo with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and has played Principal Flute for the
Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, American
Ballet Theater, Long Beach Symphony, and many other local
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ensembles. Mr. Kaplan has recorded for dozens of feature film soundtracks and is an avid jazz enthusiast and past recipient of the Outstanding Jazz Soloist at the Chaffee Jazz Festival.
He attended California State University at Northridge and continued his studies in France with Jean-Pierre Rampal. He first performed with Southwest Chamber Music in January
2003, and performed on Southwest Chamber Music’s  Complete
Chamber Music of Carlos Chávez, Volume 2 , which received a
2004 Grammy Award.
Jan Karlin, viola (on sabbatical this summer) and Founding Executive
Director of Southwest Chamber Music, is a recipient of a James Irvine Foundation
“Fund for Leadership Advancement”
Award to outstanding Executive
Directors in California. Ms. Karlin won a 2004 Grammy Award as producer for Southwest Chamber Music’s recording of the
Chamber Music of Carlos Chavez, Volume II
Complete
. She also serves on the Grammy Museum Education Advisory Committee.
Ms. Karlin has performed throughout the U. S. and Europe, including the Arnold Schoenberg Center in Vienna, Cooper
Union in New York City, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival,
Tanglewood, Schleswig-Holstein, Flanders, Brighton and the
Vienna Festivals. Ms. Karlin received her Bachelor’s Degree from Tufts University in Drama and Music, and her Master’s
Degree from Boston University as a student of Walter
Trampler. She studied chamber music under such notable musicians as Eugene Lehner, Joseph Silverstein and Louis
Krasner. A credentialed secondary education teacher, she was
Instructor of Viola at the Claremont Colleges for 12 years.
Ms. Karlin also performed with the Boston Pops, Opera
Company of Boston, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra in Boston, the Pacific and Long Beach Symphonies in California and the
Wiener Akademie in Vienna. Her recordings are available on
Cambria Master Recordings, ORFEO, (Munich) and Novalis, and she performed on Southwest Chamber Music’s  Complete
Chamber Works of Carlos Chávez, Volumes 1 and 2 , which received consecutive 2003 and 2004 Grammy Awards.
New York. Her first solo performance with orchestra was at the age of twelve. A champion of new music, Ms. Lee has premiered and commissioned numerous works. She recently recorded a work by Kurt Rohde for speaking pianist, to be released on Innova Records in Fall 2012. Her solo piano
CD Elements, on Albany Records, features the premiere recording of works by Tom Flaherty and Philippe Bodin, and she is heard with mezzo-soprano D’Anna Fortunato on another Albany Records CD, An American Collage. She has been a guest performer with XTET, one of Los Angeles’s leading new music groups. She is a founding member of the
Mojave Trio, which plays regularly on the “Sundays Live” concerts from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She has also been a member of the Garth Newel Piano Quartet and has appeared regularly in chamber music festivals at the Garth Newel Music Center, Virginia and Incontri di
Canna, Italy. Ms. Lee received her degrees from the Peabody
Conservatory of Music, École Normale de Musique de Paris, and the Yale School of Music, where she studied with Boris
Berman. Ms. Lee has taught at Yale, Bucknell University, and
The Crane School of Music at SUNY-Potsdam. She joined the
Pomona College faculty in 1994 and is the first recipient of the Everett S. Olive Professorship, endowed by Yuk Mei Shim.
Luke Maurer, viola, is a native of
Santa Barbara, California and began his musical studies on the violin with his father. He received his B.M. and
M.M. degrees in viola performance from the University of Southern
California, studying with Donald
McInnes and Ralph Fielding. Mr. Maurer participated in master classes with the
Juilliard, Ysaÿe and Takacs Quartets, and attended summer festivals at the Music Academy of the West and the Banff
Centre for the Arts. Mr. Maurer is a member of the Pacific
Symphony and performs regularly with the Los Angeles
Philharmonic. He has also served as guest principal violist with Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa in Japan. As a member of the Lyris Quartet, Mr. Maurer performs extensively throughout Southern California, appearing in performances for Jacaranda, the South Bay Chamber Music Society, and
LACMA’s Sundays Live, among others.
Genevieve Lee, piano, is a versatile performer of music spanning five centuries. She has given solo piano recitals at Merkin Concert Hall in New
York and the Salle Gaveau in Paris. Her performances in Changsha, China, were broadcast by Hunan State Television.
She has performed in Amsterdam on a live radio broadcast (AVRO) from the Spiegelzaal at the Concertgebouw. She has been a soloist with the São
Paulo State Symphony Orchestra in Brazil, the Vrazta State
Philharmonic in Bulgaria, and The Orchestra of Northern
Tom Peters, double bass, is known for his interpretations of contemporary music, with a special interest in music for double bass and electronics. He has commissioned solo works for the bass by composers such as Mary Lou Newmark,
Dennis Bathory-Kitsz, Eric Schwartz,
Alex Shapiro, Richard Derby, and
Robin Cox. In 2008 Tom released a recording of John Cage’s
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seminal work 26’1.1499” for a String Player , with KPFK’s
John Schneider performing Cage’s  45’ for a Speaker  on the
Tiger Barb Records label. Tom has performed with Southwest
Chamber Music since 1998, and is also a member of the
Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, and Ensemble Green. He is featured in a series of solo concerts at Pasadena’s Boston
Court Performing Arts Complex, and was featured in a live broadcast over Nordwest Radio in Germany in 2004. Tom teaches double bass at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at
California State University, Long Beach, and is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music.
Ming Tsu, piano, has concertized in
Europe, Asia, Mexico, Canada and the
United States, and her performances have been broadcast on German National
Radio as well as on stations throughout the United States. In 2003, she joined
Southwest Chamber Music and since then has recorded with the ensemble the complete chamber works for piano and strings by Carlos
Chávez as well as chamber music works by Chinary Ung and William Kraft. She has collaborated closely with other composers such as György Kurtág, Morton Subotnick, Henri
Lazarof, Joan Huang, Eric Flesher, Lei Liang, Patricio Da
Silva and Rob Paterson. Ms. Tsu has served on the piano faculty at Pacific Lutheran University in Seattle and the
Pomona College in Claremont and currently teaches at the
Herb Alpert School of Music at the California Institute of the Arts. She has given master classes in the U.S. and abroad and also performs and teaches regularly at various festivals, most recently adding the Montecito Summer Music Festival to her schedule, where she is joining the piano faculty this year. Ms. Tsu also serves as the Los Angeles Director of
Junior Chamber Music, one the largest pre-college chamber music programs in the United States. Ms. Tsu has received her degrees in piano performance from the New England
Conservatory of Music, Indiana University and University of
Washington (Doctor of Musical Arts).
Lynn Vartan, percussion, is an international performer and educator who is an advocate for diversity in music. In addition to her position at
SUU, Dr Vartan is the percussionist for
Southwest Chamber Music, the violin/ percussion duo 61/4 which she founded with Shalini Vijayan, and the Exacta duo she formed with Tambuco’s Miguel Gonzalez. As a new music percussionist Lynn has worked with Michael Colgrass,
Vinny Golia, Arthur Jarvinen, Ursula Oppens, Joan Tower,
Glen Velez, Xtet, James Newton, Chinary Ung, the Hilliard
Ensemble and the Tambuco Percussion Ensemble, and is known for her dynamic athleticism and exciting energy on stage. As a soloist, Lynn has been featured on the Los Angeles
Philharmonic Green Umbrella Series, the Different Trains
Series, at Montana State University, the Hanoi Conservatory,
Cornell University, with the Sierra Wind Symphony, the
Helena Symphony and at the World Trade Expo in Seim
Reap, Cambodia. She is regularly presented on the Music at the Court series in Pasadena, California, where she produces her own solo percussion concerts. As a recording artist, Lynn has appeared on the ECM New Series, New World Records,
Bridge Records, Albany Records, and was twice Grammy® nominated on the Cambria label with Southwest Chamber
Music. Lynn is endorsed by the Paiste Corporation, Remo
Inc., and Marimba One, whom she travels for as artist and performer.
Shalini Vijayan, violin, deemed “a vibrant violinist” by Mark Swed of the
Los Angeles Times, is an established performer and collaborator on both coasts. A native of California, Shalini studied in New York as a scholarship student at the Manhattan School of
Music where she received her B.M. and
M.M. degrees under the tutelage of Ariana Bronne and Lucie
Robert. Always an advocate for modern music, Shalini was a founding member and is Principal Second Violin of Kristjan
Jarvi’s Absolute Ensemble, having recorded several albums with them including 2001 Grammy nominee,  recording of Steven Mackey’s  can be heard on their
Tuck and Roll
Absolution
As a part of Absolute, she has performed throughout the
United States and Europe. A member of the New World
Adams, Reinbert de Leeuw and Oliver Knussen. She was in 2000. In Los Angeles, Shalini is featured regularly with
Grammy Award winning Southwest Chamber Music and
Complete Chamber Works of Carlos
.
Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida from 1998-2001, Shalini served as concertmaster for Michael Tilson Thomas, John also concertmaster for the world premiere performances and for RCA records
Chávez, Vol. 3  and the  Encounters  of William Kraft. She is one half of the duo 61/4, with percussionist Lynn Vartan, with performances throughout California and in Mexico.
She has appeared on over a hundred film scores including
The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Star Trek, Up  and  Avatar  as well as on every season of the television show Lost . Shalini has been on the faculty of the Sequoia Chamber Music Workshop in Arcata, California since 2003.
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Vân Ánh Vanessa Võ, dan bau, dan tranh, devotes her life-long passion and mastery of the dan tranh zither to the creation of distinctive music for this unique Vietnamese instrument.
Among her accomplishments are the
2009 Emmy® Award-winning soundtrack for the documentary “Bolinao 52”, which she co-composed and recorded, and the soundtrack for the Sundance best documentary and 2003 Academy
Awards® nominee “Daughter from Danang”. Vân Ánh also co-composed and recorded for the recent documentary
“A Village Called Versailles”, winner of the New Orleans
Film Festival Audience Award. Vân Ánh graduated with distinction from and taught at the Vietnam Academy of
Music. In 1995, she won the Vietnam National Dan Tranh
Competition. She has since performed in 14 countries and recorded in many broadcast programs inside and outside of Vietnam. Vân Ánh also performs as soloist on the monochord (bau), the 36-string hammered dulcimer
(dan tam thap luc), the bamboo xylophone (dan t’rung), the k’longput, traditional drums (trong), and Chinese guzheng.
She lives and teaches Vietnamese traditional instruments in
Fremont, California.
Award-winning composer Chinary Ung. His successful 2003 performance at the Library of Congress, with soprano Phyllis
Bryn-Julson in Richard Felciano’s An American Decameron , was greeted with a standing ovation. He has led cycles of the Los Angeles works of Arnold Schoenberg at Cooper
Union in New York City and at the Arnold Schoenberg
Center in Vienna, where Southwest Chamber Music was the first American ensemble to perform at the Center since its relocation from the University of Southern California. Mr. von der Schmidt received the Henri M. Kohn Award as the outstanding student at the Tanglewood Music Festival in
1980 from Gunther Schuller and Seiji Ozawa, and studied
French horn with Roland Berger of the Vienna Philharmonic, holding a certificate in German from the University of
Vienna. He has lectured on music at the Getty Center, Los
Angeles Philharmonic Green Umbrella Series, Arizona State
University, University of Colorado, Ohio State University,
Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the
Vietnam National Academy of Music, and the Hochschule für Musik in Lübeck, Germany.
Jeff von der Schmidt, conductor, is
Founding Artistic Director of Southwest
Chamber Music. A two-time Grammy
Award-winning conductor, he has led numerous performances of standard
20th century composers as well as world and local premieres of new work. Mr. von der Schmidt has received seven
Grammy nominations, including consecutive 2003 and 2004
Grammy Awards as conductor for the  Complete Chamber
Music of Carlos Chávez Volumes 1 and 2.
His performance was nominated for Best Classical Album in 2005 for the
Complete Chamber Music of Carlos Chávez, Volume 3  by both Grammy and Latin Grammy. Recent projects include leading the six-week 2010 Ascending Dragon Music Festival  in
Hanoi, Saigon, Pasadena and Los Angeles for the U.S. State
Department.  Ascending Dragon  was the largest cultural exchange in the history of Vietnam and the United States. In
2009 he led Southwest Chamber Music at the Guadalajara  FIL
Festival  alongside the largest Spanish language book festival in the world. Past international exchanges include a complete cycle of the chamber music of Carlos Chávez with Southwest
Chamber Music and the Tambuco Percussion Ensemble at the UNAM Center in Mexico City in May 2007. In
2006, Mr. von der Schmidt conducted at the Hanoi Opera
House, 2006 World Culture Expo at Angkor Wat, and the
Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, with Aura, a major new composition by Grawemeyer
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®
— Jim Svejda, KUSC, review of “Kraft Encounters”
_____________
— Chamber Music Magazine
Recordings on Cambria Master Recordings
1.800.726.7147
www.swmusic.org
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Presentation Gallery
153 E. Holly St. • Pasadena, CA 91103
626.396.7125 • www.MonteCedro.org
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Application for a RCFE license is pending, and a permit to accept deposits has been issued by, the California Department of Social Services.
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