Homage: Melody S. Quah, piano
Join the Chatham University Music Program for our next Friday Afternoon Musicale on November 18th at 4 pm, in the Founder’s Room at James Laughlin Music Hall. Melody Quah will be playing a series of pieces: Homage: Contemporary works by Jimmy López, Tania León, Parisa Sabet, and “Kriesleriana” Op. 16 by Schumann. We hope to see you there!
Pianist Melody Quah presents a recital of homages, featuring music by Ferruccio Busoni, Adeline Wong, Tania León and Robert Schumann. Busoni’s arrangement of Bach’s D-minor Chaconne for violin frames a Baroque masterpiece within the Italian composer’s Romantic lens, while Malaysian composer Adeline Wong takes inspiration from the humor and playfulness found in Bach’s Goldberg Variations. In Homenatge, Tania León pays tribute to her Cuban roots and the composer Xavier Montsalvatge. The recital concludes with Schumann’s timeless Kreisleriana, Op. 16, a piece inspired by E.T.A. Hoffman’s literary character, the eccentric and wild Johannes Kreisler.
Described as a “poet with titanium fingers” by the Vancouver Sun, Dr. Melody Quah has performed extensively on the stages of her native Malaysia as well as across Asia, Europe and North America. Quah’s music career encompasses a wide range of activities — soloist, collaborative pianist, chamber musician, educator, adjudicator, masterclass clinician, and music director.
Ukrainian Composer Valentin Silvestrov: Complete Piano Sonatas
Join the Chatham University Music Program next Friday, October 21st at 4pm for a Friday Afternoon Musicale performed by pianist James Iman.
One of the greatest composers of our time, Valentin Silvestrov withdrew from public attention in the 1970s, and rejected his earlier modernist style. The three sonatas presented here exemplify his period of transition. Each presents elements of modernism (atonality, extended techniques, etc.) and a renewed interest in tonality/modality, as well as classical structures. Silvestrov has remained creatively independent and in recent decades has shed avant-garde devices and discovered a style which he calls “metamusic” (a truncation of “metaphorical music.” His work, Der Bote (The Messenger), has become his most well-known of his later style.
Watch James Iman’s introduction video here: https://youtu.be/TpilDcbbOeU
Friday Afternoon Musicale: Valentin Silvestrov
One of the greatest composers of our time, Valentin Silvestrov withdrew from public attention in the 1970s, and rejected his earlier modernist style. The three sonatas presented here exemplify his period of transition. Each presents elements of modernism (atonality, extended techniques, etc.) and a renewed interest in tonality/modality, as well as classical structures. Silvestrov has remained creatively independent and in recent decades has shed avant-garde devices and discovered a style which he calls “metamusic” (a truncation of “metaphorical music.” His work, Der Bote (The Messenger), has become his most well-known of his later style. James Iman created an introduction for this program that you can watch here.
You can watch his performance from October 21, 2022 at this link.
Upcoming Events
Chatham University’s music program has several upcoming events:
October 21
Ukrainian composer Valentine Silvestrov: Piano Sonatas
James Iman, piano
November 18
Homage: Contemporary works by Jimmy López, Tania León, and Parisa Sabet, as well as Schumann’s timeless masterpiece, Kriesleriana Op. 16.
Melody S. Quah, piano
More details will be posted closer to each event. We hope to see you there!
Stand with Ukraine: Chamber Music Concert
The Stand with Ukraine Concert featured well-known musicians playing chamber music as a fundraiser for Ukraine. If you missed this performance on April 21, 2022, you can watch it at this link.
The program features:
National Anthem of Ukraine “Shche ne vmerla Ukrainy”: Mykhailo Verbytsky; Pavlo Chubynsky – Victory Brinker and The Pittsburgh Cello Quartet: Bronwyn Banerdt, Will Chow, Michael Lipman, Charlie Powers
Johann Sebastian Bach: Sarabande from Cello Suite No.3 in C major, BWV 1009 – Bronwyn Banerdt, cello
Samuel Barber: Adagio from String Quartet – Jeremy Black, violin; Dennis O’Boyle, violin; Marylène Gingras-Roy, viola; Charlie Powers, cello
Igor Stravinsky: Elegy for Solo Viola – Tatjana Mead Chamis, viola
Stanyslav Lyudkevych: Lament – Marta Krechkovsky, violin; Pauline Rovkah, piano
Johann Sebastian Bach: Adagio from Toccata BWV 564 – Lorna McGhee, flute; Pauline Rovkah, piano
Christoph Willibald Gluck: Dance of the Blessed Spirits – Lorna McGhee, flute; Pauline Rovkah, piano
Arvo Pärt: Mozart-Adagio for violin, cello and piano – Jennifer Orchard, violin; Mikhail Istomin, cello; Pauline Rovkah, piano
Sergei Rachmaninov: Moment Musicaux, No. 3 in B minor, op. 16 – Pauline Rovkah, piano
Paul Crath: from Songs of Ukraine – Sue Finegold
Jules Massenet: Meditation from Thais – Mark Huggins, violin; Pauline Rovkah, piano
Johann Sebastian Bach: Siciliano for Oboe and Harp – Gretchen Van Hoesen, harp; Max Blair, oboe
Claude Debussy: Clair de Lune – Gretchen Van Hoesen, harp; Lorna McGhee, flute; Max Blair, oboe
Edward Elgar: Salut D’Amour – Anne Williams, cello; Gretchen Van Hoesen, harp
Gabriel Fauré: Apres un reve – Anne Williams, cello; Gretchen Van Hoesen, harp
Anton Bruckner: Locus Iste – The Pittsburgh Cello Quartet: Bronwyn Banerdt, Will Chow, Michael Lipman, Charlie Powers
Paul Crath: from Songs of Ukraine – Jim Cunningham
Viktor Kosenko: Bandura – Guenko Guechev, bass-baritone; Pauline Rovkah, piano
Myroslav Skoryk: Melody (Melodiya) – Marta Krechkovsky, Pauline Rovkah, piano
Mykola Lysenko (arr. Grant Johnson) Prayer for Ukraine – Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra musicians
Stand with Ukraine: The People United Will Never Be Defeated
Pianist Amy Simpson performs “The People United Will Never Be Defeated”: variations on Sergio Ortega’s “¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!” by Frederic Rzewski (1938-2021) and Variations, Opus 41 by Nikolai Kapustin (1937-2020). Her introduction to the program can be watched here. The Chilean tune, ¡El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido!”, was written as an anthem of solidarity for the Chilean people by composer Sergio Ortega in 1973. In 1975, Frederic Rzewski, a close friend of Ortega, composed a stunning set of 36 variations on the song. Using a myriad of styles, you will hear everything from counterpoint to pointillism to jazzy elements, including brief singing and an outward cry. In this performance of 24 selected variations, you will notice elements of persistence, militance, desperation, questioning, and glimmers of hope. As the variations continue, thematic material is revisited, sometimes in seemingly erratic ways, until the final variation incorporates elements from the entire work. “Two songs,” Rzewski wrote, “aside from the theme itself, appear at various points: the Italian revolutionary song ‘Bandiera Rossa,’ in reference to the Italian people who in the ’70s opened their doors to so many refugees from Chilean fascism, and Hanns Eisler’s antifascist tune ‘Solidaritätslied’.
“Nikolai Kapustin, born in eastern Ukraine, has given the world a wealth of written music in the jazz idiom that he loved most. May his Opus 41 Variations, along with Rzewski’s set, stand today as a testament to unifying forces for good, and to the bravery and strength of the people of Ukraine.
If you missed this performance, you can watch it at this link.
This recital is part of the ‘Stand with Ukraine’ series. All donations will go to Brother’s Brother Foundation – 100% of the donations go to help Ukraine & BBF doesn’t keep anything. On the BBF website Donation page, please specify “UKRAINE CONCERT FUND” in the drop box. https://brothersbrother.org/
Friday Afternoon Musicale: Stand with Ukraine
The Friday Afternoon Musicale on March 18, 2022 featured works by Schubert, Scriabin, and Liszt played by Gerald Lee on the piano. You can watch his performance here.
The program includes:
Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828) – Sonata in C minor, D. 958
I. Allegro
II. Adagio
III. Menuetto: Allegro — Trio
IV. Allegro
Alexander Scriabin (1872 – 1915) – Deux Poèmes, Op. 32
I. Andante cantabile
II. Allegro con eleganza, con fiducia
Franz Liszt (1811 – 1886) – From Années de pèlerinage Première année: Suisse
II. Au lac de Wallenstadt
VI. Vallée d’Obermann
Romantic Piano: Concert Etudes
On February 25, 2022, pianist, conductor and Chatham University Music faculty Walter Morales performed Concert Etudes by Moszkowski, Blumenfeld, Chopin, and Liszt. Watch the performance here.
The program includes:
Franz Liszt
Trascendental Etude No 1: Prelude
Trascendental Etude No 3: Paysage
Frédéric Chopin
Etude in C major, Op 10 No 1
Etude in F minor, Op 10 No 9
Etude in E flat minor, Op 10 No 6
Etude in A flat major, Op 25 No 1
Etude in D flat major, Op 25 no 8
Moritz Moszkowski
Etude in C major, Op 72 No 4
Etude in C minor, Op 72 No 14
Etude in A flat major, Op 72 No 11
Etude in A flat minor, Op 72 No 13
Etude in D flat major, Op 72 No 12
Felix Blumenfeld
Etude in A flat major for the left hand alone, Op 36
Alexander Scriabin
Etude in D sharp minor, Op 8 No 12 “Patetico”
Romantic Songs of Liszt and Rachmaninov
Kelly Lynch, Soprano, Robert Frankenberry, Tenor and Walter Morales, Piano
Watch the performance from January 2 & 3 at this link!
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Tre sonetti di Petrarca
Pace non trovo
Benedetto sia’l giorno
I’vidi in terra angelici
Mignons Lied
Die Loreley
Die drei Zigeuner
Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943)
In the Silence of the Mysterious Night, op 4 no 3
Do Not Sing, My Beauty, to Me, op 4 no 4
A Dream, op 8 no 5
Lilacs, op 21 no 5
How Fair this Spot, op 21 no 7
Spring Waters, op 14 no 11
Six Romances, op 38
In My Garden at Night
To Her
Daisies
Pied Piper
A Drea
A-oo!
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Duet from Romeo and Juliet (arranged by Sergei Taneyev)
Candlelight 2021
The annual tradition of readings and songs, celebrating Candlelight and the holiday season. Featuring special guests from the university and the alumni community. Watch the performance from December 3, 2021 here.
