Sounds of Sonnets, Strings and Winds:
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco's Chamber Music Between Two Worlds
Made possible by the Lynn Gunzberg Fund
In memory of Lynn Gunzberg (1944-2002)
Thursday, September 27th, 2012, 8pm - Grant Recital Hall,
1 Young Orchard St., Prov., RI 02912.
- Due Sonetti del Petrarca: op.74/1 (1933)
- Zefiro torna, e 'l bel tempo rimena
- Benedetto sia 'l giorno, e 'l mese e l'anno - Ballata (on a poem by Messer Angelo Ambrogini, detto il Poliziano): op. 27 (1923)
- L'Infinito (on a poem by Giacomo Leopardi): op. 22 (1921)
- Trois poèmes de la Pléïade: op. 79 (1934):
- Aux Zéphirs
- La vie champêtre
- Aux Grâces
Gigi Mitchell-Velasco, Mezzo Soprano; Judith Lynn Stillman, Piano
- Tre corali su melodie ebraiche: per pianoforte: op. 43 (1926)
I. Grave e meditativo
II. Con ritmo rude e ostinato di danza
III. Vivo e scalpitante
Assaf Shelleg, Piano
Intermission
- Variazioni (attraverso i secoli...): op. 71 (1932)
- Chaconne
- Preludio (dolce e triste)
- Walzer I e II
- Fox-trot
Giuseppe Ficara, Guitar
- Ballata dall'Esilio (on a poem by Guido Cavalcanti): (1956)
- La Ermita de San Simon: op.75/2 (1934, transcribed by the Composer for voice and guitar in 1962)
- From Romances Viejos, II: op.75/3 (1935, tr.1962)
- Romance del Conde Arnaldos - From Shakespeare Songs
- Arise! from "Cymbeline", (1923, tr. 1962)
- Seals of Love from "Measure for Measure" (1922, tr. 1962) - From The Divan of Moses-Ibn-Ezra, A Cycle of Songs for Voice and Guitar: op.207 (1966)
- Of Wine, and of the Delights of the sons of Men: “Drink deep, my friend...”
- Songs of Friendship: “O brook...”, “Sorrow shatters my heart...”
- Songs of Wandering: “Wrung with anguish...”
Gigi Mitchell-Velasco; Giuseppe Ficara, Guitar
- Sonatina: op. 205 (1965)
I. Allegretto grazioso
II. Tempo di siciliana
III. Scherzo-rondò
Susan Greenberg, Flute; Giuseppe Ficara, Guitar
This concert is dedicated to the memory of Lynn Gunzberg (1944-2002), on the tenth anniversary of her passing. During her more than two decades at Brown, Lynn was a member of the Italian Studies Department and an associate dean of the college, where she coordinated external fellowships and was responsible for granting advanced-placement credit and advanced standing to first-year and international students.
Lynn was a dedicated researcher, and communicated her deep-rooted passion for Italian literature to her students with every course she taught. Given her administrative responsibilities as a dean, and her long struggle with illness, this commitment to Italian scholarship and teaching was truly remarkable.
Lynn Gunzberg's book, “Strangers at Home: Jews in the Italian Literary Imagination,” was published by the University of California Press, perhaps the most prestigious publisher in this field in the US. “A seminal work,” as one reviewer put it, the book was the result of many years of research supported both by a Fulbright grant and a grant from the American Philosophical Society. In “Strangers at Home,” Lynn eschewed the traditional approach of examining highbrow literature, focusing on popular Italian literature as a way of exploring pervasive attitudes about Jews in Italy, from the early 19th century to 1938, when the Italian racial laws were introduced.
Lynn was also actively engaged with her community, beyond the boundaries of the Brown campus: she served as the secretary of the board of Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island, and sat on the boards of Temple Beth-El, the Rhode Island Chamber Music Concerts, and the Providence Singers.
We would like to thank Anthony Molho for his generous gift in memory of Lynn, which made this concert possible.
Program notes
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco was born in 1895 to a middle-class Florentine Jewish family. His love for European languages and literatures developed hand in hand with his passion for music, the latter stimulated also by the musical training on the maternal side of his family. Beginning with his studies at the Florence Conservatory with Gino Modena, Castelnuovo-Tedesco became especially interested in the new expressive musical language of the French School and of Debussy in particular. He studied with Ildebrando Pizzetti and in the great Italian school of musical composition, dedicating himself to the study of counterpoint and to the art of the fugue.
Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s first compositions were for the piano, but he soon focused on the Lieder genre, on poetry in music. After his meeting with Andres Segovia in 1932, the guitar became a constant in his musical output. While not a guitarist himself, he composed about 50 of his 210 published pieces for the instrument, thereby linking his compositions for guitar with his dedication to the Lieder repertoire. In a letter to Albert Goldberg, dated August 28, 1958, Castelnuovo-Tedesco wrote that he had already transcribed more than 300 poems in six languages into music: “Of the 300 and more songs which I have written and published – he writes – the Italian texts are by Dante, Petrarca, Leopardi, St. Francis of Assisi, Poliziano, Savonarola, Lorenzo dei Medici, etc., the French by Alfred de Musset, Proust, Gide, Valéry etc.; the German by Heine; the Spanish by Federico García Lorca; the Latin by Virgil and Horace; the Greek by Aeschylus; and finally the English by Shakespeare […], Milton, Shelley, Keats, Byron, Walter Scott, Wordsworth, Longfellow, Christina Rossetti, Whitman etc. Besides the Bible, which is, of course, the greatest poetry of all!...” It appears that the “Refined Tuscan Humanist” , as the Italian musicologist Massimo Mila called him, loved poetry as much as he loved the guitar, finding in both a sphere of intimacy and sense of consolation that remained important to him, particularly after his exile from Italy as a result of Mussolini’s 1938 racial laws. The theme of exile appears repeatedly in this program (in the poetry of Petrarch and of Moses Ibn-Ezra, for example). A nostalgic melancholy pervades even the bucolic second movement of the Sonatina for Flute and Guitar, the Sicilian Movement (Andantino Grazioso e Malinconico), in which Castelnuovo-Tedesco seems to be evoking sweet memories of the countryside of Usigliano. Leopardi’s famous hedge from his poem, The Infinite, inspired the young composer’s meditation upon the countryside in harmonies that recall Debussy. His Jewish heritage, instead, surfaces in his Corali on Hebrew themes, also included in the program.
To conclude, here is a passage from Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s essay, Music and Poetry: Problems of a song-writer, [published in: Musical Quarterly (1944) XXX(1)]in which the maestro reflects on his relationship with poetry: «I have written a great many songs in my life; [...] a profound urge within me— has always been to unite my music to poetic texts that arouse my interest and emotion, to interpret them and at the same time to set them forth in lyric expression, […]
In short, it is the "need for song" that has spurred me on, a need quite natural and altogether familiar to Italians. But […] my preferred territory has been the more intimate [...] vocal chamber music, and my aim [is] that of approaching the purest and highest poetic expressions, not only in Italian, but in foreign languages as well.»
Giuseppe Ficara, a classical guitarist from the school of Andrés Segovia, graduated from the National Conservatory of Bari (directed by Nino Rota), and obtained the “Premier Prix” at the Brussels Royal Conservatory. A first-prize-winner in the Fernando Sor International Contest in Rome, he is Professor of Guitar at the National Conservatory “Gioacchino Rossini” in Pesaro. He has performed and given master classes and lectures at various institutions and universities in Europe, U.S.A., South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and India. French composer Pierre Jansen dedicated his “Concerto for guitar and strings,” to Ficara, who premièred it in Perugia, Italy in 2005. Throughout his career, Ficara has focused on a vast original Italian repertoire and, since 1980, has rediscovered, premièred and recorded many works by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. While in the US as a visiting scholar at Brown University in 2011, he helped introduce the Brown community to Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s music, which eventually led to the realization of this conference. For more information about the artist’s activities, visit http://www.giuseppeficara.com
Flautist Susan Greenberg enjoys a versatile career as soloist, chamber musician, symphony player, and recording artist. The Los Angeles Times has described her playing as “brilliant,” “elegant” and “sublime,” and has lauded her “panache” and “musical projection.” As a member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra for 36 years, she was a frequent soloist on both flute and piccolo, premiering a concerto for piccolo by Bruce Broughton and performing a concerto for flute, alto flute and piccolo written for her by Gernot Wolfgang (more at: http://www.laco.org/artists/2/ ). Ms. Greenberg has also appeared as guest soloist with the San Francisco and Oakland Symphonies, the Santa Monica Symphony, the Napa Valley Symphony, and at the Hollywood Bowl. She has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, L.A. Opera, New York City Opera, American Ballet Theater, Joffrey Ballet, as well as at the Casals, Ojai and Martha’s Vineyard Music Festivals. Ms. Greenberg was the principal flutist for the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra’s tour of Japan, and has received the “Most Valuable Player” award on the flute from the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences. She was a fellowship recipient to Tanglewood and to the Music Academy of the West. She received both her B.A., cum laude, and her M.A. from UCLA. Ms. Greenberg is presently an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University and has also taught at California Institute of the Arts and Occidental College. She is the Co-Artistic Director of Chamber Music Palisades, now celebrating its sixteenth season (www.cmpalisades.org). She often performs at LACMA and at the South Bay Chamber Music Series. Ms. Greenberg has recorded for over 500 motion pictures and is the flutist for The Simpsons television show.
Proclaimed “world-class in every aspect, ”Gigi Mitchell-Velasco is among international artists of the world’s opera and concert stages. Of this protégée of Christa Ludwig, New York Times wrote: "She sang with a dark-hued sound and elegance,” and Wall Street Journal called her “the most finished artist, sensitive to every nuance of the text. ”Extensive engagements include collaborations with such conductors as Tilson Thomas, Frühbeck de Burgos, Helmut Rilling, Jaap van Zweden, Hans Graf and Sarah Caldwell. Concerts include many Mahler works (Symphonies and Lieder), and vocal orchestral music that extends from Bach to Wolfgang Rihm. Operatic repertory has been equally versatile: she portrayed such roles as Strauss’ Octavian and Composer, Bizet’s Carmen, Mozart’s Dorabella, Ward's Elizabeth Proctor and Wagner’s Fricka and Brangäne. She has performed at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and the Kennedy Center, and internationally in Vienna, Prague, Braunschweig, Ekaterinburg and Québec. CDs include Korngold’s Einfachelieder and Abschiedslieder on ASV and Foss’s The Prairieon BMOP. As an artist living in Rhode Island, Ms. Mitchell-Velasco has been a frequent guest artist with Aurea Ensemble, Chorus of Westerly and Providence Singers. www.bravadiva.com
Assaf Shelleg is the Schusterman Visiting Assistant Professor of Musicology and Jewish Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia. He was the Efroymson Visiting Assistant Professor in Jewish, Islamic and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at Washington University in St. Louis from 2009 to 2011. Both a musicologist and performing pianist, Professor Shelleg earned his PhD at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2008, with a thesis on the mapping of modern Jewish art music in central and western Europe. He has published his work in some of the leading journals of both musicology and Israel Studies on topics ranging from the historiography of modern European Jewish art music to postmodern Israeli opera, and he contributes on a regular basis to Israel’s leading newspaperHa’aretz. His forthcoming book, tentatively entitled Jewish Contiguities and the Soundtrack of Israeli History, engages the dynamism of twentieth century Jewish art music from its emergence in Europe during the early years of the 20th century to post-1967 Israeli art music.
Judith Lynn Stillman is currently the Artist-in-Residence and a Professor of Music at Rhode Island College, and was a member of the applied piano and chamber music faculties at New England Conservatory and at Brown University. She was named both the Maixner Professor for Outstanding Teaching and the Thorp Professor for Distinguished Scholarly and Creative Activity. Renowned for her "sweeping, energy-packed temperament and never-failing vivaciousness," she has established herself as a pianist, composer, choral conductor and music director. Stilllman began playing piano by ear at the age of three, entered the Juilliard School on scholarship at age ten and went on to receive Bachelor's, Masters and Doctoral degrees from Juilliard. She was the youngest person ever admitted to Juilliard's doctoral program, and upon graduation was awarded the Dethier Prize for Outstanding Pianist. Stillman has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras, including in a premiere at Avery Fisher Hall, the Juilliard Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic, Lancaster Festival Orchestra, Grand Teton Festival Orchestra, Tanglewood Festival Orchestra and L'Orchestre de Cote Basque and the Toulouse Symphony in France. She was featured at the Grammy's celebration in honor of Rostropovich and at the Oscar's "Academy Awards Uniting Nations" in Hollywood, CA. Artist’s web site: http://www.judithlynnstillman.com/
Romance, Devotion, and Drama:
The Music of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Friday, September 28, Sayles Hall, Main Green Brown University, 8.00pm
(entrance through Faunce Arch on Waterman Street)
Made possible by the generous support of the Office of the Dean of the College and the Jeffrey Tabak Fund for Italian Studies
- Lecha Dodi, op. 90a (1936/1943)
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
- Selections from Romancero op.152 (1951)
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Aaron Larget-Caplan, guitar
Schola Cantorum
Fred Jodry, conductor and organist
Intermission
- Overture toThe Tragedy of Coriolanus, op. 135 (1947)
(US premiere)
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
- Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra, op.72 (1947)
(RI premiere)
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
I. Sostenuto e appassionato
II. Allegretto gentile
III. Vivo ed impetuoso
Daniel Harp, violoncello
Brown University Orchestra
Paul Phillips, conductor
Program Notes
Lecha Dodi Acrostic poem by Schelomo Halevi Alkabetz. Op. 90a (1936/1943)
The first of my Synagogue compositions - the Amsterdam Lecha Dodi - was written in 1936. It is called the “Amsterdam Lecha Dodi” because it was written at the request of the Synagogue of Amsterdam. I had various musical challenges. The text, although from a distant age, is so very beautiful. It describes, allegorically, the Sabbath (the day of rest dedicated to God) in nuptial terms - somewhat like the mystical bride of the Song of Songs.
My mother transcribed the words with the proper accentuation for me. It was the first time that I set a Hebrew text to music, and I was slightly unsure of it. She also made a literal translation for me (I still preserve these pages written with her clear and harmonious handwriting). The piece, naturally, is dedicated to her.
The Amsterdam Lecha Dodi had a strange adventure. I made only two manuscript copies; one I sent to Amsterdam (where it was performed). When I arrived in America, I realized that I did not have my copy of the Lecha Dodi. In the meantime, the Nazis had enslaved Austria and invaded Holland, burning and destroying everything that bespoke “Jewishness”.
I assumed that the piece was irretrievably lost. I was sorry, for I thought this was the best of my Synagogue compositions. Then, in 1942, I received an unexpected letter from a certain Mr. Dimitrovsky, who after many adventures, had also arrived in America. This good and charitable soul had carried my manuscript with him in order to return it to me. Thus the Amsterdam Lecha Dodi was unexpectedly rediscovered. At the invitation of Cantor David Putterman, it was soon performed at the Park Avenue Synagogue in New York, but this time in a new version [Op. 90a] because the Park Avenue Synagogue wanted the piece for a mixed choir and organ accompaniment.
Some years later the University of Jerusalem requested a manuscript of mine for its collection of autographs. I sent them my original manuscript (the one which was lost, and found again) hoping that there, in the “Holy Land” it might find peace at last.
-Una vita di musica
Romancero gitano. Poetry by Federico Garcia Lorca. Op. 152 (1951)
After composing for Guitar and String Quartet, I wanted to try the combination of Guitar with a "Quartet of Voices”. This lead me to Romancero Gitano (one of the most beautiful of my guitar works). “Romancero Gitano” is the title of a collection of poems by Federico Garcia Lorca. I found the poems fascinating: fresh, free, imaginative. I was transported back to the Spain of 1913 which I had seen and so loved. My memories of Spain permeate the music, and I consider Romancero one of my most “authentic” works.
I chose seven poems, of varied character, for a quartet of voices (or a small choir, for I do not want to overpower the guitar). The guitar accompanies the singers in a very simple way with each song having a short prelude and postlude, linking them together forming a cycle.
Visual memories emerge at every step:
- in "Baladilla de los tres rios", the two twin rivers of Granada, the Dauro and Genil.
- the "Baile", the shadow of Carmen dancing through the narrow streets of Seville
- in the "Procesión" (which reunited three consecutive poems: "Procesión", "Paso" and "Sasta") the memory of those strange religious processions, simultaneously macabre and joyous.
Everywhere you hear the “earthiness" of Spain: the parched Castile, the pale olive trees, the scent of orange groves in Andalusia, and along the coast, the shattered shore vibrating like a guitar.
-Una vita di musica
Overture to “The Tragedy of Coriolanus” for orchestra, op. 135 (1947)
While still in Italy, I wrote the Overture to Giulio Cesare and later, Anthony and Cleopatra. By 1947, I wanted to finish my triptych of Roman tragedies (perhaps more out of nostalgia for Italy, than from inner conviction). The final composition in the trilogy I titled The Tragedy of Coriolanus. I used the exact title of Shakespeare’s play instead of simply “Coriolanus”, not wanting to be accused of imitating Beethoven! I was criticized anyway! The piece was premiered in 1948 at the Venice International Film Festival under the direction of Fernando Previtali (it was received enthusiastically by the audience, and pessimistically by the critics!).
There are two themes heralded immediately at the beginning - the proud and stubborn character of the protagonist is followed by the conflict between love of country and wounded vanity (a duel between the desire of Coriolanus and his even more imperious mother Volumnia).
I dedicated my Coriolanus to Alfredo Casella. Only a few years earlier a cloud obscured our friendship. In 1939, when I was preparing to leave Italy, amidst the raging "racist campaign", Casella (who, whenever in Florence, had always been our house guest) informed me he would prefer to meet in a more neutral, a more "Aryan" home. It pained me deeply. But I have not held a grudge against him. I have far too many reasons for gratitude towards him; and after his death, in memoriam, I dedicated my Overture to "Coriolanus" to him because I knew one of his most cherished (and unrealized) dreams had always been to write an opera based on this Shakespearean tragedy.
-Una vita di musica
Concerto in G minor for violoncello and orchestra. Op. 72 (1932-33)
The cello is an instrument for which I have always had a particular love. I have known, and accompanied, many of the great cellists of my time. But with no one have I so immediately established such a spontaneous current of empathy as with Gregor Piatigorsky.
In 1932, the very first time I met him, he rushed up to me and proclaimed.
“Castelnuovo! many cellists could play your music better than I, but no one has ever played it so lovingly: please, write me a Concerto!”
His request was so sincere and presented with such grace that I said yes immediately! I set to work at once, and I can say that with few artists I have had as much joy as with him. Because Piatigorsky desired a large scale work with full orchestra, I realized that the heavy instrumentation ran the risk of overpowering his instrument. Following the advice of Toscanini and Molinari, I lightened the weight at various points.
The first movement (regular in form) takes on the character of a large, imaginative "monologue", almost Biblical in tone. The second movement (which you would expect to be a singing “Adagio”) is instead an "Allegretto gentile" - a term I think I might have been the first to invent. The music is exceptional in its grace and gentleness, even in the orchestration with its agile counterpoint. The final movement is impetuous and brilliant, typically romantic, yet unique. Breaking all customs, it begins with a long cadenza for the cello, which recapitulates the entire thematic material.
Piatigorsky premiered the work with Toscanini and the New York Philharmonic in 1935. I was not present, nor had I the opportunity to talk with Toscanini but “Grisha” [Piatigorsky] recounted later for me the first rehearsal.
It seems, that having just arrived in New York after a disastrous crossing, the Maestro immediately called him for a private rehearsal with piano. When he arrived, the gasping Piatigorsky was terrified to see that the Maestro had went so far as to pencil in fingerings for the Cello! ("What now?" Piatigorsky thought "what will he say if I use different fingerings?")
Piatigorsky said nothing but began to hum the first theme of the Concerto and then sang.
“Ach lieber Master! Ach lieber Arturo!
Ach, Sie haben Gnade für den armen Piatigorsky!”
Toscanini, laughed with amusement claiming he only had wanted to try the fingering "out of curiosity" because "he also was once a cellist."
-Una vita di musica
Paul Phillips, Director of Orchestras and Chamber Music at Brown University since 1989, and Music Director and Conductor of the Pioneer Valley Symphony and Chorus since 1994, is a distinguished conductor, composer, and author whose honors include two international conducting prizes, ten ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming (seven with the Brown University Orchestra), and composition awards from the American Music Center, ASCAP, New England String Ensemble, and Rhode Island State Council on the Arts. He has conducted more than sixty orchestras, opera companies, and ballet troupes worldwide, including the San Francisco Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra and Choir, and Iceland Symphony Orchestra, and will guest conduct the Manchester Symphony Orchestra in Connecticut this season. After studies at Eastman, Columbia, and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, he began his professional career as an opera coach and conductor at the Frankfurt Opera and Stadttheater Lüneburg in Germany before returning to the US, where he has held positions with the Greensboro Symphony, Savannah Symphony, Maryland Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic, Opera Providence, and other orchestras and opera companies. Critics have praised his book A Clockwork Counterpoint: The Music and Literature of Anthony Burgess as "prodigiously researched, elegantly written" and "seamlessly fascinating". Phillips's latest compositions are Battle-Pieces, a setting of six Civil War poems by Herman Melville for baritone and orchestra, and Jack and the Beanstalk for singer-narrator and orchestra; Battle-Pieces premiered in 2011 in Massachusetts by baritone Andrew Garland with the Pioneer Valley Symphony, while Jack and the Beanstalk premiered in 2012 in Pennsylvania by Bill Harley with the Allentown Symphony. Other recent career highlights include the Glyndebourne production of his reduced orchestration of Stravinsky’s Mavra, published by Boosey & Hawkes; conducting, in France, the first staged production of Burgess's Shakespeare ballet Mr W.S.; and the Naxos recording Music for Great Films of the Silent Era, featuring music by William Perry performed by the RTE National Symphony of Ireland under Phillips's direction. For further information, visit www.paulsphillips.com.
The Brown University Orchestra, founded in 1918, is recognized as one of the finest university orchestras in the United States. Led by Paul Phillips since 1989, its membership consists of approximately 100 student musicians from Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design. Joseph Kalichstein, Christopher O’Riley, Itzhak Perlman, Navah Perlman ’92, Mstislav Rostropovich, Isaac Stern, Eugenia Zukerman, Pinchas Zukerman, and Dave Brubeck are among the many renowned musicians who have performed as soloists with the orchestra. Daniel Barenboim conducted the Brown Orchestra during his 2006 residency with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, and past composers-in-residence include Samuel Adler, Peter Boyer, Lukas Foss, Steve Reich, Joseph Schwantner, Steven Stucky, and Michael Torke. The orchestra has performed in Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and Boston's Faneuil Hall, and toured China during the 2007 New Year holiday. Notable performances include Beethoven's Ninth at the Vets; Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde and Symphonies Nos. 1, 4, 5, and 6; and Stravinsky’s Firebird, Petrushka, and Le Sacre du Printemps. The orchestra's annual Concerto Competition provides talented Brown and RISD musicians with the opportunity to perform each year as soloists. The Brown Orchestra, which has won seven ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming since 1994, has performed William Bolcom’s Violin Concerto in D with Sergiu Luca, Christopher Rouse’s Flute Concerto with Carol Wincenc, William Perry's The Silent Years with pianist Michael Chertock, and other concertos with the soloists for whom they were written. Its alumni include current and former members of the New World Symphony, YouTube Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. For further information, visit www.brown.edu/orchestra.
Daniel Harp, cellist, has taught cello and chamber music in the Brown University Music Department since 1986. He has studied privately and in classes with some of the great concert cellists of our time, including Lynn Harrell, Zara Nelsova, Janos Starker, Bernard Greenhouse and Raya Garbousova. Chamber music studies were with the LaSalle String Quartet and Juilliard String Quartet and the Beaux Arts Trio. His professional career began with his concerto debut with the Charleston (S.C.) Symphony Orchestra where he played Bloch’s Schelomo and was called a “master of the cello” by the Charleston Evening Post. He has subsequently performed numerous concertos with orchestras and solo recitals throughout the United States, being reviewed for his “dramatic precision, excellent intonation and a breathless legato line” (The Cincinnati Inquirer) and “rich sonorities and perfect dynamic control” (The Maryland Enterprise.) He has performed a series of solo recitals titled "The Art of Cello" throughout R.I. under the auspices of the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts. He recently debuted at the Newport Chamber Music Festival and subsequently performed a four-concert chamber music series in Newport with the Newport Festival Trio. He was the founding cellist of the Charleston String Quartet which performed nationally and internationally from 1983 to 2000. Recently, he was asked by the Governor of Rhode Island to perform as cello soloist for a September 11 Memorial Ceremony at the Rhode Island State House. Mr. Harp has performed with the Cincinnati Symphony and was principal cellist of the Cincinnati Ballet Orchestra, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and the Charleston (WV) Symphony Orchestra; cellist and co-music director of the Cincinnati Twentieth Century Chamber Players and cellist and conductor at the Haydnfest in Eisenstadt and Vienna, Austria.He now performs regularly with the Rhode Island Philharmonic, the Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra and many other organizations in the New England area.
The Schola Cantorum of Boston is an ensemble which specializes in the sacred works of the high Renaissance. Founded by FrederickJodryin 1985, this twelve-voice ensemble has performed throughout New England, delighting audiences with the lively and engaging concerts of Sacred Music. Schola recorded six CDs with the Boston Camerata, with whom they performed at Tanglewood, and MErkin Hall NYC. They have also sung at the Boston Early Music Festivals, and performed for the annual conference of the American Renaissance Society.
Since 1991, Frederick Jodry has directed the Brown University Chorus, and is Senior Lecturer in Music. He holds degrees in organ performance and early music from the New England Conservatory in Boston. Mr.Jodryis also Music Director at the First Unitarian Church in Providence.
Aaron Larget-Caplanis a graduate of the New England Conservatory (NEC) and studied extensively with Russian master pedagogue Dmitry Goryachev, as well as David Leisner, Eliot Fisk, Peter Clemente and flamenco with Jonthan "Juanito" Pascual. Larget-Caplan is the founder of theNew Lullaby Projectand the Spanish classical music and flamenco dance ensemble¡Con Fuego!He has premiered more than 40 solo and chamber works by such composers as Daniel Pinkham, David Leisner, Scott Wheeler, Francine Trester, John McDonald, Kevin Siegfried and many more.His most recent recordings,Vientos(Albany Records) andNew Lullaby(Six String Sound), received accolades fromFanfare, AudiophileandTheAmerican Record Guide. His premiere recording with the New England String Quartet of Thomas L. Read’sCapricciwill be out in December on the PARMA Label. Larget-Caplanis currently on the guitar faculty at The Boston Conservatory, UMass Boston, and he has an active private studio in Boston where he lives with his wife, healer and music, Catherine. More information can be found at www.AaronLC.com