Past Concert Seasons: 2009-2010

Inon Barnatan, Pianist

Sunday March 14, 2010 at 4 p.m.

Program:
Beethoven: Piano Sonate nr. 6 in F Major. op.10 nr.2
Schubert: Piano sonate nr. 19 in c minor D958
Chopin: Nocturne in c minor Op.48 no.1
Chopin: Ballade nr. 4, op. 52
Adès: Darknesse Visible
Ravel: La Valse

The final concert of the 2009-10 Candlelight Concert series features the brilliant young pianist, Inon Barnatan in a program of Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Ravel and the contemporary composer Thomas Adès. Mr. Barnatan has graciously stepped in for Joyce Yang, who is unable to perform for us this season. Mr. Barnatan, one of the undisputed new stars of the music world, is renowned for his communicative and high-minded performances. In April 2009, he was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant, one of the most prestigious prizes in classical music.

Mr. Barnatan has developed and curated a project of Schubert’s late solo piano and chamber music works that has been performed to great acclaim at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, at the Festival dé Mexico, and at the Library of Congress. He also champions new music, and has performed works by George Crumb, Kaija Saariaho, Judith Weir, Avner Dorman, Thomas Adès, and others. He comes to us having just completed a concert tour of Europe.

Born in Tel Aviv in 1979, Inon Barnatan started playing the piano at the age of four. He made his orchestral debut at eleven, and studied with Professor Victor Derevianko. In 1997, he moved to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music with Maria Curcio (a student of the legendary Arthur Schnabel) and Christopher Elton. He also has coached extensively with Leon Fleischer. Since 2006, Mr. Barnatan has resided in New York.

Mr. Barnatan has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Delft and Verbier Festivals, at the Royal Festival, Wigmore and Queen Elizabeth Halls in London, at the Musikverein in Vienna and the Salle Gaveau in Paris. He made his American concerto debut in 2007, with the Houston Symphony. Among his numerous appearances with other major symphony orchestras are engagements with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Orchestra de la Suisse Romande, the Shangahai Symphony Orchestra, and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Barnatan’s debut CD of Schubert piano works was released on Bridge Records. Gramophone praised its “sensitivity, poise, and focus,” and called him “a born Schubertian.”

The March 14th concert will take place at the Wilton Congregational Church, just north of Wilton center on Route 33. Tickets will be available at the door one-half hour before the concert and are $25 ($10 for students). For more information on this concert or on subscriptions to the Candlelight series, or to request a brochure, phone 203-762-3401 or 203-762-5019. Candlelight Concerts benefits the Wilton Library. Individual and corporate contributions are gratefully accepted.

Ani Kavafian, Violin, and Kenneth Cooper, Harpsichord

February 28, 2010 at 4 p.m.

Program:
J.S. Bach Violin Sonatas (TBA)
Antonio Vivaldi The Four Seasons

An all Baroque program is featured as the third concert of the 2009-2010 Candlelight season.The versatile American harpsichordist, pianist, conductor, musicologist and pedagogue Kenneth Cooper was trained at New York’s High School of Music and Art, the Mannes College of Music, and Columbia University. He made his debut as a harpsichordist at London’s Wigmore Hall in 1965. A US debut followed in 1973 at New York’s Alice Tully Hall. In subsequent years, he toured widely in the USA and abroad.

Mr. Cooper is one of the world’s leading specialists in the music of the 18th century, and one of America’s most exciting and versatile performers. Renowned for his improvisations and his expertise in ornamentation, he has revived countless musical works, lending them extraordinary authenticity and vitality. His comprehensive repertory embraces works from the early keyboard era to the avant-garde. Among the 20th century composers whose works he has premiered are George Flynn, Daniel Paget, Seymour Barab, Noel Lee, Ferruccio Busoni, Paul Ben-Haim, and Ernst Krenek.

As music director of the Berkshire Bach Ensemble, Mr. Cooper has made a tradition of the New Year’s performances of the Bach Brandenburg Concerti, and has instituted a series of “Concertofests” in the style of Bach’s Collegium concerts at Zimmermann’s Kaffeehaus. He has been co-director of the legendary Our Bach concerts and was featured on Live From Lincoln Center as soloist in Bach’s Brandenburg No. 5 with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He has also appeared as guest soloist with the American Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, the Mostly Mozart Festival, the Yale Norfolk Festival, and in many other venues.

Mr. Cooper has served on the faculties of Barnard College, the Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, the Mannes College of Music, the Manhattan School of Music and the Peabody Conservatory. He has made dozens of recordings and soundtracks for CBS, Vanguard, and EMI records.

Ani Kavafian has performed with virtually all of America’s leading orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, as well as the Philadelphia, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, St. Louis, Detroit, and San Francisco orchestras. Among the many premieres she has given are Henri Lazarof’s Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra, and Aaron Kernis’ Double Concerto for Violin and Guitar. Her numerous recital engagements include performances at New York’s Carnegie Hall, and Alice Tully as well as in venues across the country. A long time artist-member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, she collaborates with such distinguished musicians as André-Michel Schub and David Shifrin.

Born in Istanbul, Turkey, of Armenian decent, Ani Kavafian began her musical studies with piano lessons at the age of three. At age nine, shortly after her family came to the United States, she began the study of the violin with Ara Zerounian. At the age of sixteen, she won first prize in both the piano and violin competitions at the National Music Camp in Interlochen, Michigan. Two years later, she began violin studies at the Juilliard School with Ivan Galamian, eventually receiving a Master’s Degree with top honors. Ms. Kavafian resides in Northern Westchester, New York with her husband, artist Bernard Minich, and their son, Matthew. She plays a 1736 Muir McKenzie Stradavarius violin.

The February 28th concert takes place at 4:00 p.m. at the Wilton Congregational Church, just north of Wilton center on Route 33. Tickets may be obtained at the door for $25 dollars ($10 for students). For information on subscriptions to the entire four concert series, go to the ticket order page. Season tickets start at $90 ($75 for seniors); and patrons and benefactors of the series have the option of bringing two or four children under 16 (respectively) to the concerts free of cost. For more information on this concert or on the series, or to order a series brochure to be sent to you, call (203) 762-3401 or (203) 762-5019. Candlelight Concerts benefits the Wilton Library, and happily accepts individual and corporate tax deductible contributions.

Leonidas Kavakos, Violin, and Peter Nagy, Pianist

Sunday, October 25th 2009 at 4 pm

Program:

J.S. BACH Chaconne in E minor (from Partita No. 2, BWV 1004)
ROBERT SCHUMANN Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 121
GEORGES ENESCU Sonata No. 3 for Violin in a minor, Op. 25

Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos gives a benefit performance for the Candlelight Concert series on October 25th, 2009, accompanied by the distinguished Hungarian pianist, Péter Nagy. Mr. Kavakos has established himself as a violinist and artist of rare quality, known at the highest level for his virtuosity, superb musicianship and the integrity of his playing.

Mr. Kavakos began studying the violin with his father at the age of five. At 12, he was the youngest member of the European Union Youth Orchestra. At sixteen, in 1985, he won the Sibelius competition. Three years later, he won the Paganini competition, and following these successes, pursued an international career as a soloist. Mr. Kavakos now appears in concert throughout the world with the great orchestras and conductors. He regularly visits the major international festivals. He plays the “Falmouth” Stradivarius of 1692 and a Giovanni Battista Guadagnini of 1782 (Torino).

Mr. Kavakos is an established chamber musician and collaborates with many distinguished partners – Heinrich Schiff, Natalia Gutman, Emanuel Ax, Lars Vogt, and Elisabeth Leonskaya, among others. He regularly plays at the major European halls, and last season gave a series of chamber music recitals at the Verbier Festival and the Salzburg Festival. He was also resident at the Concertgebouw in a dedicated weekend of recital and chamber music and has served as artistic director of the Camerata Salzburg.

In addition to his most recent disc of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the Camerata Salzburg, and Mendelssohn piano trios with cellist Patrick Demenga and pianist Enrico Pace, Kavakos has a distinguished catalogue of recordings. In 1991, he won the Gramophone Award for the first recording ever of the original version of Sibelius’ Violin Concerto (1903/04) on BIS. Further recordings include the violin concerto by Hindemith with the BBC Philharmonic (Chandos), solo sonatas by Ysaÿe (BIS), works by Debussy, Kreisler, Paganini et al (Delos) as well as Sibelius’ Humoresques (Finlandia). On ECM, he has released a recording of sonatas by Enescu and Ravel together with pianist Péter Nagy, along with a recording of works by Bach and Stravinsky which received the following accolade, “…the exquisite tenderness of the playing gives the music a sense of timeless, poignant beauty…the performance here is exceptional for its unruffled poise and delicious details. Not to be missed”. [Gramophone May 2005].

The October 25th performance for Candlelight Concerts will take place at the Wilton Congregational Church, just north of Wilton center on Route 33. Tickets will be available at the door one-half hour before the concert and are $25 ($10 for students). For more information on this concert or on subscriptions to the Candlelight series or to request a brochure, phone 203-762-3401 or 203-762-5019. Candlelight Concerts benefits the Wilton Library. Individual and corporate contributions are gratefully accepted.

Takács String Quartet

October 18th, 2009 at 4 p.m.

Program:
Robert Schumann Quartet, Op. 41 No. 1
Dmitri Shostakovich Quartet, No. 11
Ludwig van Beethoven Quartet, Op. 59 No. 1

The Takács String Quartet opens the 2009-10 Candlelight concert season. Recognized as one of the world’s great ensembles, the Takács Quartet plays with a unique blend of drama, warmth, and humor, combining four distinct musical personalities to bring fresh insights to the string quartet repertoire. Commenting on their latest Schubert recording for Hyperion, Gramophone magazine noted; “The Takács have the ability to make you believe that there’s no other possible way the music should go, and the strength to overturn preconceptions that comes only with the greatest performers.”

Based in Boulder at the University of Colorado, the Takács Quartet performs ninety concerts a year worldwide, throughout Europe as well as in Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea. The 2009-2010 season includes cycles of the complete Beethoven Quartets in London, where the members of the Quartet are Associate Artists at the South Bank Centre, and in Madrid. The quartet will play a series of two Beethoven concerts in Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and give their first concert in St.Petersburg. At Carnegie’s Zankel Hall a series of three concerts will feature the Schumann Quartets and works that were composed last year for the Takács by Wolfgang Rihm, James Macmillan and John Psathas. The quartet will perform over 40 concerts in North America and open the season of the San Diego Symphony with performances of Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro and Handel-Schoenberg’s Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra.

The Quartet’s award-winning recordings include the complete Beethoven Cycle on the Decca label. In 2005, the Late Beethoven Quartets won Disc of the Year and Chamber Award from BBC Music Magazine, a Gramophone Award and a Japanese Record Academy Award. Their recordings of the early and middle Beethoven quartets collected a Grammy, another Gramophone Award, a Chamber Music of America Award and two further awards from the Japanese Recording Academy. Of their performances and recordings of the Late Quartets, the Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote, “The Takács might play this repertoire better than any [string] quartet of the past or present.”

In 2006 the Takács Quartet made their first recording for Hyperion Records of Schubert’s D804 and D810. A disc featuring Brahms’ Piano Quintet with Stephen Hough was released to great acclaim in November 2007 and was subsequently nominated for a Grammy. Brahms’ Quartets Op. 51 and Op. 67 was released in the Fall of 2008 and a disc featuring the Schumann Piano Quintet with Marc-Andre Hamelin will be released in late 2009. The complete Haydn “Apponyi” Quartets, Op. 71 and 74, will be released in early 2011.

The Takács has also made sixteen recordings for the Decca label since 1988 of works by Beethoven, Bartok, Borodin, Brahms, Chausson, Dvorak, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Smetana, and Bartok. The latter recording of the Bartok String Quartets received the 1998 Gramophone Award for chamber music and, in 1999, was nominated for a Grammy. They Takacs has collaborated with such artists as Joshua Bell, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, András Schiff, and Gyorgy Pauk.

The quartet is known for innovative programming. In 2007 it performed, with Academy Award–winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Everyman” in Carnegie Hall, inspired by the Philip Roth novel. The group collaborates regularly with the Hungarian folk ensemble Muzsikas, performing a program that explores the folk sources of Bartok’s music. The Takács also performed a music and poetry program on a fourteen city US tour with the poet Robert Pinsky.

At the University of Colorado, the Takács Quartet has helped to develop a string program with a special emphasis on chamber music, where students work in a nurturing environment designed to help them develop their artistry. The Quartet’s commitment to teaching is enhanced by summer residencies at the Aspen Festival and at the Music Academy of the West, Santa Barbara. The Takács is also a Visiting Quartet at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London.

The Takács Quartet was formed in 1975 at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest by Gabor Takács-Nagy, Károly Schranz, Gabor Ormai and András Fejér, while all four were students. It first received international attention in 1977, winning First Prize and the Critics’ Prize at the International String Quartet Competition in Evian, France. The Quartet also won the Gold Medal at the 1978 Portsmouth and Bordeaux Competitions and First Prizes at the Budapest International String Quartet Competition in 1978 and the Bratislava Competition in 1981. The Quartet made its North American debut tour in 1982. Violinist Edward Dusinberre joined the Quartet in 1993 and violist Roger Tapping in 1995. Violist Geraldine Walther replaced Mr. Tapping in 2005. Of the original ensemble, Károly Schranz and András Fejér remain. In 2001, the Takács Quartet was awarded the Order of Merit of the Knight’s Cross of the Republic of Hungary.

The October 18th concert takes place at 4:00 p.m. at the Wilton Congregational Church, just north of Wilton center on Route 33. Tickets may be obtained at the door for $25 dollars ($10 for students). For information on subscriptions to the entire four concert series, go to the ticket order page. Season tickets start at $90 ($75 for seniors); and patrons and benefactors of the series have the option of bringing two or four children under 16 (respectively) to the concerts free of cost. For more information on this concert or on the series or to order a series brochure to be sent to you, call (203) 762-3401 or (203) 762-5019. Candlelight Concerts benefits the Wilton Library, and happily accepts individual and corporate tax deductible contributions.