2020 is a year in which the future can seem as uncertain as ever. At the same time, music speaks to universal themes which have sustained humanity across all time: hope, faith, promise, and optimism. This program brings forth again some of today’s brightest composers in works that call forth those qualities. Nico Muhly’s Common Ground and Caroline Shaw’s Blueprint speak perhaps to a way forward for America’s future in their dynamic contemporary language. From the mid-20th century, Grażyna Bacewicz’s Quartet for Four Violins rounds out the first half with its infectious joy. We end the festival with Dvorak, evergreen standard-bearer of how chamber music brings people together into a sum that is always greater than its parts. His sunny String Quintet in G major, while traversing the range of human emotion, ultimately displays an unabashedly upward outlook for the future. 

Nico Muhly: Common Ground
Jasmine Lin, violin
Clancy Newman, cello
Juliana Han, piano

Caroline Shaw: Blueprint
Aizuri Quartet

Grazyna Bacewicz: Quartet for Four Violins
Emma Frucht, violin
Miho Saegusa, violin
Wayne Lee, violin
Jasmine Lin, violin

INTERMISSION

Antonín Dvořák: String Quintet in G major, Op. 77
Wayne Lee, violin
Emma Frucht, violin
Ayane Kozasa, viola
Clancy Newman, cello
Scott Pingel, bass

$32 general, $16 student, $82 season pass
General seating. Box office opens 1 hour before the concert; the house opens 30 minutes before the concert.

The works of youth are oft praised for the timing of their emergence, not for their mastery or profundity. This concert elevates two early works by composers who did indeed achieve true mastery in youth. Mozart’s Viola Quintet in B-flat major, written when the wunderkind was only 17, exhibits both the brightness and levity of youth with a sense of innovation, character, and cheek that only a sure-handed composer could pull off. Likewise, Schubert’s famous Trout Quintet was written when the composer was 22, which seems a tender age until we realize that Schubert had already at this point composed a substantial body of songs, of which the namesake Trout was one. In the quintet, Schubert combines a light outlook with compositional mastery to form one of the endearing masterpieces of the chamber music canon.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Viola Quintet in B-flat major, K. 174
Aizuri Quartet
Wayne Lee, viola

INTERMISSION

Franz Schubert: Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667 “Trout”
Jasmine Lin, violin
Wayne Lee, viola
Clancy Newman, cello
Scott Pingel, bass
Juliana Han, piano

$32 general, $16 student, $82 season pass
General seating. Box office opens 1 hour before the concert; the house opens 30 minutes before the concert.

Our festival opener challenges the idea that women’s influence on the arts is a recent phenomenon. The program opens with an arrangement of a Medieval sacred poem written by Hildegard von Bingen, an abbess, writer, composer and Renaissance woman before the Renaissance period itself was even upon the world. More than 800 years later, women are just starting to gain some measure of recognition for their equal talents. Vividly charismatic and tactile music by Gabriella Smith and Caroline Shaw round out the first half. The concert concludes with an all-female powerhouse cast in Ernest Chausson’s Concert, which features virtuosic writing for all involved in a deeply passionate idiom.

Hildegard von Bingen (arr. Alex Fortes): Columba Aspexit
Aizuri Quartet

Gabriella Smith: Carrot Revolution
Aizuri Quartet

Caroline Shaw: Limestone & Felt
Wayne Lee, viola
Clancy Newman, cello

INTERMISSION

Ernest Chausson: Concert for violin, piano, and string quartet
Jasmine Lin, violin
Juliana Han, piano
Aizuri Quartet

$32 general, $16 student, $82 season pass
General seating. Box office opens 1 hour before the concert; the house opens 30 minutes before the concert.

For PCMF 2019’s closing concert, the one-of-a-kind talents for which our guest artists are known are on full display, while our program cheekily explores the meanings of “pop” music. The concert begins with a string quartet from the “pop” of the genre, Joseph Haydn, who first elevated the instrumentation into the refined art form we now know and love. Hindemith’s emotionally soaring Viola Sonata is among the most popular works for viola and piano, and rightfully so. As a fitting conclusion, cellist Clancy Newman and violinist Zachary DePue present the unique ways they have found as individuals to combine their classical training and popular mainstream influences, and the festival ends with a bang as Paul Schoenfield’s Cafe Music throws every popular music tradition, including jazz and klezmer, into the kitchen sink — with rousing results.

Joseph Haydn: String Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 76 No. 6
Formosa Quartet

Paul Hindemith: Viola Sonata, Op. 11 No. 4
Nicholas Cords, viola
Juliana Han, piano

INTERMISSION

Pop-Unpopped and other selections
Clancy Newman, cello
Zachary DePue, violin*

Paul Schoenfield: Cafe Music
Zachary DePue, violin*
Clancy Newman, cello
Juliana Han, piano

*Zachary DePue will be replacing Charles Yang on this afternoon’s program.

What we think of today as “classical music” is a tradition that originated in Western Europe, but later practitioners drew inspiration from outside of that cultural sphere. This concert highlights some of those influences, whether they are the flash of Mongolian horse hooves in Lei Liang’s Gobi Gloria, or the distinctly Andalusian sounds of Joaquín Turina’s lush Piano Quartet. The second half of the program presents gems in the Western tradition from outside the Classical period. Orlando Gibbons’s beautiful madrigals are exemplars of Renaissance polyphony, and 250 years later, we meet Brahms in the Romantic period, where he is labeled a conservative for holding fast to classical principles while his contemporaries sought to break down traditions in form and harmony.

Lei Liang: Gobi Gloria
Formosa Quartet

Joaquin Turina: Piano Quartet in A minor, Op. 67
Zachary DePue, violin*
Nicholas Cords, viola
Clancy Newman, cello
Juliana Han, piano

INTERMISSION

Orlando Gibbons: Madrigals
Formosa Quartet
Nicholas Cords, viola

Johannes Brahms: String Quintet in G major, Op. 111
Formosa Quartet
Nicholas Cords, viola

*Zachary DePue will be replacing Charles Yang on this evening’s program.

We think of Mozart as “Mister Classical,” the composer who embodies the balance, poise, and grace of the Classical period. But we also know about his impish, irreverent side, which provided the magic for his works. On PCMF 2019’s opening concert, we couple Mozart’s radiant Grande Sestetto Concertante with Francis Poulenc’s neo-classical Violin Sonata, as well as Behzad Ranjbaran’s poetic Shiraz, a piece inspired by classical Persian culture, for a classical journey that will expand and challenge what you know about classical music.

Francis Poulenc: Violin Sonata
Charles Yang, violin
Juliana Han, piano

Behzad Ranjbaran: Shiraz
Charles Yang, violin
Clancy Newman, cello
Juliana Han, piano

INTERMISSION

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Grande Sestetto Concertante in E-flat major, K. 364, arranged for string sextet
Formosa Quartet
Nicholas Cords, viola
Clancy Newman, cello

Dana Wilson: Hungarian Folk Songs
   Formosa Quartet

Wei-Chieh Lin: Pasibutbut
   Formosa Quartet

INTERMISSION

Dvorak: Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-flat major, Op. 87
   Jesse Mills, violin
   Ayane Kozasa, viola
   Paul Wiancko, cello
   Juliana Han, piano

 

Both life and art abound in dualities, whether as joys and sorrows or music and words. Dana Wilson’s Hungarian Folk Songs weaves gripping tales through feverish dance and quiet song. Wei-Chieh Lin’s Pasibutbut is the astonishing ritual song of an aboriginal Taiwanese tribe, sung to rally their annual millet harvest. Dvorak's E-Flat major Piano Quartet evokes rustic Czech bands and exotic lands, tranquil scenes and the exuberance that Dvorak felt as he was composing this masterpiece: "Melodies are coming to me in droves. Thanks be to God!"

$30 general, $15 student ($80 season pass for all PCMF 2018 events)
General seating. Box office opens 1 hour before the concert; the house opens 30 minutes before the concert.

Korngold: Much Ado About Nothing Suite
   Jesse Mills, violin
   Juliana Han, piano

Paul Wiancko: American Haiku
   Ayane Kozasa, viola
   Paul Wiancko, cello

Dana Wilson: The Night of H's
   Formosa Quartet

INTERMISSION

Beethoven: String Quartet in C major, Op. 59 No. 3
   Formosa Quartet

PCMF celebrates the written word, starting with Korngold’s charming suite of incidental music to Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. American Haiku takes inspiration from the Japanese poetic form, throws in some Appalachian fiddling, and ends up with a musical language that’s all Paul Wiancko. Dana Wilson’s The Night of H’s sets Jasmine Lin’s whimsical poem for four actors doing double duty as a string quartet. Beethoven inscribed his Third Razumovsky Quartet with a statement refusing to cede to his growing deafness – and the music bears out his determination.

$30 general, $15 student ($80 season pass for all PCMF 2018 events)
General seating. Box office opens 1 hour before the concert; the house opens 30 minutes before the concert.

Richard Strauss: String Sextet from Capriccio
   Wayne Lee and Jesse Mills, violins
   Ayane Kozasa and Che-Yen Chen, violas
   Paul Wiancko and Deborah Pae, cellos

Gideon Klein: String Trio
   Jesse Mills, violin
   Ayane Kozasa, viola
   Paul Wiancko, cello

INTERMISSION

Franck: Piano Quintet in F minor
   Formosa Quartet   
   Juliana Han, piano

In Richard Strauss’s 1942 opera Capriccio, a countess is torn between a poet and a musician who are both vying for her love, personifying an intriguing question: which is the greater art, poetry or music? The sumptuous string sextet that opens Capriccio makes a convincing case for the latter, as do the other pieces on the program: Gideon Klein’s String Trio, written two weeks before he died in a concentration camp during the Second World War, and César Franck’s supremely passionate Piano Quintet in F minor.

$30 general, $15 student ($80 season pass for all PCMF 2018 events)
General seating. Box office opens 1 hour before the concert; the house opens 30 minutes before the concert.

Our children's concert is back! Come enjoy a fun afternoon of chamber music, designed just for PCMF fans ages 12 and under. Learn about our musicians, the instruments they play, and the collaborative process of making music with friends. PCMF musicians will perform and talk about selections from this week's programs.

This program is approximately 50 minutes long.

$10 general, $5 ages 12 and under
($80 season pass for all PCMF 2018 events)

Join PCMF directors Juliana Han and Wayne Lee for a two-concert survey of the six sonatas for violin and keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach! Composed around 1719 when Bach was employed by Prince Leopold of Cöthen, these are among his most melodic and inventive pieces: the fast movements will dazzle you with their brilliance, and the soulful slow movements will touch your heart.

Bach: Sonata No. 4 in C minor, BWV 1017
Bach: Sonata No. 5 in F minor, BWV 1018
Bach: Sonata No. 6 in G major, BWV 1019

This concert is approximately 65 minutes long.

$25 general, $15 student. $40 for tickets to both concerts.
Tickets become available on November 1, 2017 through this website.
General seating. Box office opens 1 hour before the concert; the house opens 30 minutes before the concert.

Proceeds to benefit the 2018 Piedmont Chamber Music Festival.

Join PCMF directors Juliana Han and Wayne Lee for a two-concert survey of the six sonatas for violin and keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach! Composed around 1719 when Bach was employed by Prince Leopold of Cöthen, these are among his most melodic and inventive pieces: the fast movements will dazzle you with their brilliance, and the soulful slow movements will touch your heart.

Bach: Sonata No. 1 in B minor, BWV 1014
Bach: Sonata No. 2 in A major, BWV 1015
Bach: Sonata No. 3 in E major, BWV 1016

This concert is approximately 65 minutes long.

$25 general, $15 student. $40 for tickets to both concerts.
Tickets become available on November 1, 2017 through this website.
General seating. Box office opens 1 hour before the concert; the house opens 30 minutes before the concert.

Proceeds to benefit the 2018 Piedmont Chamber Music Festival.

Our closing concert spans over two hundred years and traverses the globe. We begin in Vienna in 1816 with one of Schubert's most irrepressibly buoyant works. Almost a century later, Ravel's ethereal and kaleidoscopic Introduction and Allegro showcases what was then the newly invented double-action pedal harp. A new piece from Wei-Chieh Lin (PCMF co-director Wayne Lee's Juilliard roommate and one of today's foremost Taiwanese-American composers) is inspired by Taiwanese folk songs. To cap off our season, let your hair down for Thierry Pélicant's seductive, Argentinean-inspired Milonga, featuring seven of our eight musicians. It's guaranteed to raise the roof!

Schubert: Rondo in B minor, D. 895
     Wayne Lee, violin
     Juliana Han, piano

Ravel: Introduction and Allegro
     Julie Smith Phillips, harp
     Joshua Smith, flute
     Alexander Fiterstein, clarinet
     Formosa Quartet

INTERMISSION

Wei-Chieh Lin: Five Taiwanese Folk Songs (commissioned by the Formosa Quartet) *Bay Area premiere
   Spring Breeze 望春風
   Hengchun Folksong 恒春民謠
   Seaport Goodbye 港邊惜別
   Dark Sky 天黑黑
   Rain Night Flower 雨夜花
     Formosa Quartet

Thierry Pélicant: Milonga
     Joshua Smith, flute
     Alexander Fiterstein, clarinet
     Formosa Quartet
     Juliana Han, piano

This concert was generously underwritten by The Piedmont Post.

$25 general, $15 student
General seating. Box office opens 1 hour before the concert; the house opens 30 minutes before the concert.

The first half of this program features two trios of very different styles and instrumentation — and there's not a violinist to be found! To close, the Formosa Quartet and PCMF co-director Juliana Han team up for the first time for Dvorak's famous Piano Quintet, one of the best-loved pieces of Romantic chamber music.

Beethoven: Trio in B-flat major, Op. 11
     Alexander Fiterstein, clarinet
     Deborah Pae, cello
     Juliana Han, piano

Debussy: Sonata for flute, viola, and harp
     Joshua Smith, flute
     Che-Yen Chen, viola
     Julie Smith Phillips, harp

INTERMISSION

Dvorak: Piano Quintet in A major, Op. 81
     Formosa Quartet
     Juliana Han, piano

This concert was generously underwritten by McCutcheon Construction.

$25 general, $15 student

The opening concert of our 2017 season begins with Mozart's effervescent and joyful Flute and Harp Concerto — music for a celebration as only Mozart could have written. The Brahms Clarinet Sonata in E-flat turns inward to plumb emotional depths, from turbulent passion to soaring romanticism. The program ends with one of the Formosa Quartet's best-loved pieces, arranged by none other than first violinist Jasmine Lin. Her take on well-loved Grappelli jazz tunes brings quartet playing to an entirely raucous, riotous, and rousing level.

Mozart: Flute and Harp Concerto in C major, K. 299
     Joshua Smith, flute
     Julie Smith Phillips, harp
     Formosa Quartet

Brahms: Clarinet Sonata in E-flat major, Op. 120 No. 2
     Alexander Fiterstein, clarinet
     Juliana Han, piano

INTERMISSION

Four Grappelli Jazz Tunes arranged by Jasmine Lin
     Formosa Quartet

This concert was generously underwritten by John Chalik and Susan Chamberlain.

$25 general, $15 student

Our children's concert is back! Come enjoy a fun afternoon of chamber music, designed just for PCMF fans ages 12 and under. Learn about our musicians, the instruments they play, and the collaborative process of making music with friends. PCMF musicians will perform and talk about selections from this week's programs.

This program is approximately 50 minutes long.

$10 adults, $5 kids

The first half of this program features French composers from three different generations, and notably Pauline Viardot, a mezzo-soprano who was (for a while) Chopin's lover, and who is now known for a small but treasured output of songs. Our season ends with one of the masterpieces of the chamber music repertoire: Brahms's autumnal Clarinet Quintet.

Claude Debussy: Première rhapsodie for clarinet and piano
Ernest Chausson: Chanson Perpétuelle for soprano, piano, and string quartet
Pauline Viardot: Songs
intermission
Johannes Brahms: Clarinet Quintet

We're pretty excited about this program, which features living composers with Bay Area ties! It begins with a sonata written for Wayne by his childhood friend Anthony Cheung — now one of the most celebrated composers of his generation — and ends with John Adams's exhilarating collection of rhythmic vignettes for string quartet. In between, Bolcom's hip-hop inspired Second Piano Quartet and Heggie's lyrical song cycle (set to poems by Emily Dickinson) will keep you on the edge of your seats.

Anthony Cheung: Violin Sonata (2002)
William Bolcom: Second Piano Quartet (2003)
intermission
Jake Heggie: Newer Every Day for soprano and piano (2014)
John Adams: John's Book of Alleged Dances for string quartet and recorded prepared piano (1994)

JOIN US as we kick off PCMF's inaugural season! And we're going to start with a bang — with a new arrangement of Bartók's Romanian Folk Dances, featuring the PCMF band!

Béla Bartók (arranged by PCMF musicians): Romanian Folk Dances
Robert Schumann: Fantasy Pieces for clarinet and piano, Op. 73
Antonín Dvořák: Gypsy Songs
intermission
Felix Mendelssohn: String Quartet in D major, Op. 44 No. 1

COME ENJOY a fun afternoon of chamber music, designed just for PCMF fans ages 12 and under! Learn about the musicians of the 2016 festival, the instruments they play, and the collaborative process of making music with friends. PCMF musicians will perform and talk about selections from this weekend's programs, including pieces by Schumann and Bartok.

This program is approximately 50 minutes long.

$10 adults
$5 ages 12 and under