March 13, 2011, 4 pm

Program

Beethoven: Piano Quartet in E-Flat Major, Op. 16
Lowell Lieberman: TBA
— Intermission —
Dvořák: Piano Quartet in E-Flat, Op. 87

OPUS ONE brings together four of the leading musicians of our time, Pianist Anne-Marie McDermott, Violinist Ida Kavafian, Violist Steven Tenenbom, and Cellist Peter Wiley. Veterans as well as present members of the world’s most prestigious chamber groups including the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Tashi, the Beaux Arts Trio and the Orion and Guarneri String Quartets-  OPUS ONE is the result of a mutual love of music making between four extraordinary instrumentalists and friends. As soloists as well as chamber musicians, they are each familiar figures in concert halls throughout the world and have joined together to form one of the most exciting groups performing anywhere. Their dedication to the works of contemporary American composers is reflected in their programming, and the sheer, obvious joy they have in performing together communicates directly to their audiences.

1998-99 marked the inaugural season of OPUS ONE, with a debut at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC to a packed, enthusiastic house. Subsequent seasons have included recital debuts and return engagements in New York (at Lincoln Center as well as on the series “Free for All” at Town Hall), Detroit, Los Angeles, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, San Diego, Philadelphia and Portland, Oregon, all to great acclaim. University series performances have included VCU in Richmond, VA, Caltech in Pasadena and Duke University. Their orchestral debut was with the Chattanooga Symphony, performing Beethoven’s “Triple Concerto” and a work written by Douglas Lowry for the entire group with orchestra.

OPUS ONE has presented several other world premieres as well. Along with the Pittsburgh and Cleveland Chamber Music Societies, OPUS ONE commissioned the outstanding composer, Stephen Hartke to write a new quartet, “Beyond Words,” which was premiered in December, 2001. The piece, an emotional musical tribute to 9/11, was enthusiastically received. More recently, the group gave the world premiere performance of a work they co-commissioned (along with the festival, Music from Angel Fire) by George Tsontakis.

An extraordinary experience for the group came in May, 2006, when OPUS ONE performed at Marine Barracks, Washington, DC by special invitation from the Commandant of the Marines and his wife, General and Mrs. Michael Hagee. The summer of 2007 brought another world premiere of a piece called “Green Torso,” by the celebrated composer, pianist and conductor, Marc Neikrug. In the summer of 2009, OPUS ONE premiered two additional movements of Mr. Neikrug’s work, commissioned for them by the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival. The composer Lowell Lieberman is currently writing a new quartet for the group, slated for premiere in August, 2010.

Recent Opus One appearances have included a feature performance on the popular NPR program, “St. Paul Sunday” and festival performances at Caramoor, Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, Oregon, the June Music Festival in Albuquerque, the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival in Detroit, Music from Angel Fire in NM, and Mainly Mozart in San Diego. In the studio, they recorded the two piano quartets of Dvořák, due for release some time in 2009. They also recorded works by Aaron Kernis and Stephen Hartke as part of the “Americans in Rome” project on Bridge Records.

The March 13th 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.

December 5, 2010, 4 pm

Program

The Christmas Story: A Medieval Style Christmas Pageant

THE WAVERLY CONSORT is one of America’s premiere ensembles and a pioneer in early-music revival. Founded in 1964 by Michael and Kay Jaffee to explore the fascinating sounds and styles of early musical repertories, the ensemble has created a worldwide audience for its music through international concerts, recordings, and radio and television appearances. In addition to annual tours of North America, the ensemble has appeared throughout South America, Great Britain, Portugal, the Far East, and at international festivals including the Casals Festival, the Hong Kong Festival, the Madeira Bach Festival, and the Caramoor Festival. In its home city of New York, the group has performed 100 concerts at Lincoln Center, in addition to concert series at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and The Cloisters, as well as at cultural centers throughout the country.

Featured on many national radio and television broadcasts, the ensemble has appeared on “CBS Sunday Morning” and National Public Radio’s “Performance Today.”  The Waverly’s numerous recordings include the best-selling A Renaissance Christmas Celebration with the Waverly Consort (CBS Masterworks), and 1492: Music from the Age of Discovery (Angel-EMI), created to commemorate the Columbian Quincentenary.  The latter recording was listed on Billboard’s classical chart of bestsellers for seventeen weeks. In 1999 The Waverly Consort launched its own record label, WAVE RECORDS, with The Christmas Story (WAV 13099), featuring selections from its most popular medieval program. Its most recent release is ¡IBERIA! Spanish and Portuguese Music of the Golden Age (WAV 14002).

Each holiday season the Waverly Consort’s thirteen-member ensemble of singers and players tours The Christmas Story, a program combining solemn and festive music, processions and simple gestures to dramatize the Biblical narrative as conveyed by music manuscripts and illuminated miniatures of the Middle Ages. Since its premiere at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1980, this seasonal offering has become a favorite of audiences throughout North America. At other times during the year, the ensemble performs programs of wide breadth and variety, covering repertories from Europe and both American hemispheres.

The Waverly Consort and Michael and Kay Jaffee, in recognition of their role in furthering the development of early music and chamber music, have been awarded honors by the National Music Council, the Music Educators National Conference, Chamber Music America, Early Music America, and New York University.

The December 5th 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.

November 7, 2010, 4 pm

Program

Mozart – Quartet in D “Hoffmeister” KV499
Janáček – Quartet No. 2 “Intimate Letters”
— Intermission —
Dvořák – Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 51

The Johannes Quartet consists of four outstanding musicians who take time away from their busy careers to pursue their love of the string quartet literature. This quartet brings together the principal cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the principal violist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, the first American to win the Paganini Violin Competition in 24 years, and a Concert Artist Guild International Competition winner.  The Johannes has been praised by listeners and critics alike for its special combination of passion, warmth, elegance and poetry. Each member has spent numerous summers at the celebrated Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont, birthplace of many of the world’s renowned ensembles. New York appearances include their recent Carnegie Hall debut as well as frequent performances on the Schneider Series at the New School and the Peoples’ Symphony Concerts at Town Hall.

Since the Johannes made its acclaimed debut there in 1998, the Chamber Music Society of Philadelphia has played a major role in launching the Quartet, presenting them regularly each season, including in a two-concert series of the complete Beethoven opus 18 quartets. Their debut was described by the Philadelphia Inquirer as having “accurate intonation, vigorous interaction and careful regard for the details in the score…the passion and attack that characterize the best of quartet playing.”

The 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons included the group’s collaboration with the legendary Guarneri String Quartet in a program featuring Octet: Double Quartet, written specifically for the two ensembles by award-winning composer William Bolcom, and commissioned by the Music Accord consortium of presenters. The two groups also joined together for performances of Mendelssohn’s glorious Octet. In addition to these works, the Johannes also premiered a new string quartet, Homunculus, written for them by Esa-Pekka Salonen. For the performance of the groundbreaking Bolcom and Salonen works, they received audience acclaim at the Krannert Center (Urbana, IL), University Musical Society (Ann Arbor, MI), Penn State University, and Boston’s Celebrity Series, the Orange County Performing Arts Society, San Francisco Performances, Phoenix Chamber Music Society, UCLA Live, Kansas City Friends of Chamber Music, Hayes University (KS), and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York City.

The Johannes Quartet has held residencies at Middlebury College, the Islip Arts Council and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society.  They started off their 2009-10 season with a triumphant return to the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, where they appear bi-annually in multiple concerts. Spring 2010 tours took the Johannes to Alabama, California, Minnesota, New York and Pennsylvania. Forthcoming collaborations include plans for tours and a new quintet with renowned clarinetist Richard Stoltzman.The Johannes has also been heard around the country through broadcasts on NPR’s Performance Today and St. Paul Sunday programs.

The November 7th 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.

October 24, 2010 4 pm

Program

Felix Mendelssohn: Four Songs Without Words
Jaegerlied (Hunter’s Song),Opus 19 no. 3
Presto Agitato,Opus 19 no. 5
Duetto, Opus 38 no. 6
Spinnerlied (Spinning Song), Opus 67 no. 4
Robert Schumann: “Faschingsschwank aus Wien” (Carnival Jest from Vienna)
— Intermission —
Frédéric Chopin:
Polonaise in C sharp minor, Op. 26 no. 1
Grande Valse Brillante in A flat Major, Op.34 no.1
Waltz in C sharp minor,  Op.64 no. 2
Nocturne in B Major, Op.62 no. 1
Prelude in F sharp minor, Op.28 no. 8
Preludes in A flat Major, Op.28 #17
Scherzo No.1 in B minor, Opus 20

Beloved the world over for her exquisite pianism, Janina Fialkowska has enchanted audiences for over thirty years with her glorious lyrical sound, her sterling musicianship, and her profound sense of musical integrity.  Blending her vast experience with a refreshingly natural approach, Fialkowska has become an artist of rare distinction as well as retaining all the virtuosity of her youth” (La Presse, Montreal, February 13, 2009).

Celebrated for her interpretations of the classical and romantic repertoire, she is particularly distinguished as one of the great interpreters of the piano works of Chopin and Mozart. She has also won acclaim as a champion of the music of twentieth-century Polish composers, both in concert and on disc.

Born to a Canadian mother and a Polish father in Montreal, Janina Fialkowska started to study the piano with her mother at the age of five. Eventually she entered the Ecole de Musique Vincent d’Indy, studying under the tutelage of Mlle. Yvonne Hubert. The University of Montreal awarded her both advanced degrees of “Baccalaureat” and “Maitrise” by the time she was seventeen.

In 1969, her career was greatly advanced by two events: winning the first prize in the Radio Canada National Talent Festival and travelling to Paris to study with Yvonne Lefebure. One year later, she entered the Juilliard School of Music in New York, where she first studied with Sascha Gorodnitzki. She later became his assistant for five years. In 1974 her career was launched by Arthur Rubinstein after her prize-winning performance at his inaugural Master Piano Competition in Israel.

She has performed with the foremost North American orchestras, among them the Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Houston Symphony and the Pittsburgh Symphony, as well as with all of the principal Canadian orchestras, including the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Ottawa, the Calgary Philharmonic and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. In touring Europe each year, Ms Fialkowska has appeared as guest artist with such prestigious orchestras as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, the Halle Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, the BBC Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic, the Scottish National Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic and the French and Belgium National Radio Orchestras. She has also performed with the Israel Philharmonic, the Osaka Philharmonic and the Hong Kong Philharmonic and has worked with such renowned conductors as Sir Andrew Davis, Charles Dutoit, Hans Graf, Bernard Haitink, Kyril Kondrashin, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Sir Roger Norrington, Sir Georg Solti, Leonard Slatkin, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski and Klaus Tennstedt.

She has won special recognition for a series of important premieres, most notably the world premiere performance of a newly discovered Piano Concerto by Franz Liszt with the Chicago Symphony in 1990. She has also given the world premiere of a Piano Concerto by Libby Larsen with the Minnesota Orchestra (October 1991) and the North American premiere of the Piano Concerto by Sir Andrzej Panufnik with the Colorado Symphony (February 1992).

Janina Fialkowska was the Founding Director of the hugely successful “Piano Six” project and its successor “Piano Plus”. This latest project brings together some of Canada’s greatest classical pianists, instrumentalists and vocalists with Canadians who, for either geographical or financial reasons, would otherwise be unable to hear this calibre of “live” classical performance. In 2000 “Piano Six” won one of Canada’s top Arts’ awards, the Chalmers Award.

In January, 2002 at the onset of a major European tour encompassing eight different countries, Ms. Fialkowska’s career was brought to a dramatic halt by the discovery of a tumour in her left arm. After successful surgery to remove the cancer, Ms Fialkowska underwent further surgery in January 2003: a rare muscle-transfer procedure. After 18 months of performing the Ravel and Prokofiev “concertos for the left hand,” which she transcribed for her right hand, she resumed her two-handed career beginning with a tremendously successful and highly emotional recital held in Germany in January 2004.

Ms Fialkowska’s discography includes discs featuring the 24 Chopin Etudes, Op. 10 & Op. 25, the Sonatas Nos. 2 & 3 and the Impromptus, a solo album of Liszt piano works and her astonishing version of the 12 Transcendental Etudes by Franz Liszt. She has also recorded a solo Szymanowski album and the highly praised CD, “La jongleuse – Salon pieces and encores.” She has also recorded her immensely popular CD of the Paderewski piano concerto with the Polish National Radio Orchestra, the rarely heard piano concerto by Moritz Moszkowski and a tremendously successful CD of the three Liszt piano concertos with Hans Graf conducting.

Ms Fialkowska’s recent recordings include performances of piano concertos by Chopin and Mozart in authentic versions consisting of piano solo and string quintet accompaniment. Both were released to highest critical acclaim. Just released for the 2010 Chopin bicentennial: a Chopin Recital, her third collaboration with the successful Canadian ATMA Classique label.

The October 24th 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.