Program Notes
New Year’s Eve Musical Celebration

Premiere Watch Party
Thursday, December 31, 2020, 8pm (PST)

HOST

Nathalie Joachim

ARTISTS

Leif Ove Andsnes, piano
Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society
Julia Bullock, classical singer & Laura Poe, piano
Dover Quartet
David Finckel, cello & Wu Han, piano
Nathalie Joachim, flute and vocals
Tessa Lark, violin
Yo-Yo Ma, cello & Kathryn Stott, piano
Bria Skonberg, trumpet and vocals
Tetzlaff Quartet
Matthew Whitaker Quartet

PERFORMING WORKS BY

Darcy James Argue
Harold Arlen
Ludwig van Beethoven
Claude Debussy
Edvard Grieg
Lil Hardin
Nathalie Joachim
Jerome Kern
Kool & the Gang
Tessa Lark
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

LEIF OVE ANDSNES, piano

The New York Times calls Leif Ove Andsnes “a pianist of magisterial elegance, power, and insight,” and the Wall Street Journal names him “one of the most gifted musicians of his generation.” With his commanding technique and searching interpretations, the celebrated Norwegian pianist has won international acclaim, playing concertos and recitals in the world’s leading concert halls and with its foremost orchestras, while building an esteemed, extensive discography. He is the founding director of the Rosendal Chamber Music Festival, was the co-artistic director of the Risør Festival of Chamber Music for nearly two decades, and has served as music director of California’s Ojai Music Festival. A Gramophone Hall of Fame inductee, Andsnes holds honorary doctorates from Norway’s University of Bergen and New York’s Julliard School.

Andsnes recently partnered with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra for “Mozart Momentum 1785/86,” a major multi-season project exploring one of the most creative and seminal periods of the composer’s career. This marks the pianist’s second artistic partnership with the orchestra, following the success of their “Beethoven Journey.” An epic four-season focus on the composer’s music for piano and orchestra, this project saw Andsnes give more than 230 live performances in 108 cities across 27 countries, as chronicled in the documentary Concerto—A Beethoven Journey and captured on an award-winning Sony Classical series. Now recording exclusively for that label, the pianist recently received his eleventh Grammy nomination and has been recognized with no fewer than six Gramophone Awards. His other accolades include the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instru­men­talist Award, the Gilmore Artist Award, and Norway’s Peer Gynt Prize and Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav. Andsnes has been honored as the first Scandinavian to curate Carnegie Hall’s “Perspectives” series, served as a pianist-in-residence of the Berlin Philharmonic and artist-in-residence of the New York Philharmonic, and been the subject of a London Symphony Orchestra Artist Por­trait Series.

Leif Ove Andsnes was born in Karmøy, Nor­way in 1970, and studied at the Bergen Music Conservatory. He is currently an artistic adviser for the Prof. Jirí Hlinka Piano Academy in Ber­gen, where he lives with his partner and their three children.

DARCY JAMES ARGUE, composer and conductor

Darcy James Argue is the “hyper-literate composer who leads the Secret Society” (Nate Chinen, NPR), an 18-piece big band ensemble “now renowned in the jazz world” (Giovanni Russanello, The New York Times). Argue brings a seemingly anachronistic ensemble into the 21st century through his “ability to combine his love of jazz’s past with more contemporary sonics like indie-influenced electric guitar and bass, as well as arrangement tricks culled from his study of classical music” (Seth Colter Walls, Pitchfork). As a Vancouver-born, Brooklyn-based “visionary arranger” (Steve Futterman, The New Yorker), Argue has earned three Grammy nominations, a Guggen­heim Fellowship, a Doris Duke Artist Award, and countless commissions and fellowships. His most recent recording—2016’s prescient Real Enemies—was named a Top 20 jazz recording of the decade by Stereogum.

JULIA BULLOCK, classical singer

American classical singer Julia Bullock, “a musician who delights in making her own rules” (The New Yorker), combines versatile artistry with a probing intellect and commanding stage presence. Only in her early 30s, she has already headlined productions and concerts at some of the world’s preeminent arts institutions. An innovative programmer whose artistic curation is in high demand, Bullock’s curatorial positions include collaborative partner of Esa-Pekka Salo­nen in 2020–21, the conductor’s inaugural season as music director of the San Francisco Symphony; 2019–20 artist-in-residence of the same orchestra; artist-in-residence of London’s Guildhall School for the 2020–22 seasons; opera-programming host of the new broadcast channel All Arts; founding core member of the American Modern Opera Company (AMOC); and 2018–19 artist-in-residence of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Chosen as a 2021 “Artist of the Year” by Musical America, which hailed her as an “agent of change,” Bullock is also a prominent voice of social consciousness. As Vanity Fair notes, she is “young, highly successful, [and] politically engaged,” with the “ability to inject each note she sings with a sense of grace and urgency, lending her performances the feel of being both of the moment and incredibly timeless.”

Bullock has made key operatic debuts at San Francisco Opera in the world premiere of John Adams’ Girls of the Golden West; Santa Fe Opera in Adams’ Doctor Atomic; Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and Dutch National Opera in Stra­vinksy’s The Rake’s Progress; and the English National Opera, Spain’s Teatro Real, and Rus­sia’s Bolshoi Theatre in the title role in Purcell’s The Indian Queen. In concert, she has collaborated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel, the San Francisco Sym­phony and both Salonen and Michael Tilson Thomas, the New York Philharmonic and Alan Gilbert, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons, Japan’s NHK Symphony and Paavo Järvi, and both the Berlin Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestra with Sir Simon Rattle. Her recital highlights include appearances at Cal Per­formances, New York’s Carnegie Hall, the Phila­­delphia Chamber Music Society, Boston’s Celebrity Series, Wash­ington’s Kennedy Center, and the Mostly Mozart and Ojai Music festivals, where she joined Roomful of Teeth and the International Contemporary Ensemble for the world premiere of Josephine Baker: A Portrait (the original prototype for Perle Noire: Meditations for Joséphine, a work conceived by Bullock in collaboration with Peter Sellars, and written for her by Tyshawn Sorey and Claudia Rankine).

Bullock’s growing discography includes Doc­tor Atomic, recorded with the composer conducting the BBC Symphony Orches­tra, and West Side Story, captured live with Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Sym­phony, both of which were nominated for Grammy Awards.

Bullock was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music, Bard College’s Graduate Vocal Arts Program, and New York’s Juilliard School. She lives with her husband, conductor Christian Reif, in Munich.

DOVER QUARTET

Hailed as “the next Guarneri Quartet” (Chicago Tribune) and “the young American string quartet of the moment” (The New Yorker), the Dover Quartet catapulted to international stardom in 2013, following a remarkable sweep of all prizes at the Banff Competition; it has since become one of the most in-demand ensembles in the world. In addition to its faculty role as the inaugural Penelope P. Watkins Ensemble in Resi­dence at the Curtis Institute of Music, the Dover Quartet holds residencies with the Kennedy Cen­ter, Bienen School of Music at North­western University, Artosphere, the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, and Peoples’ Symphony Concerts in New York. Among the group’s honors are the Avery Fisher Career Grant, Chamber Music America’s Cleveland Quartet Award, and Lincoln Center’s Hunt Family Award. The Dover Quartet has also won top prizes at the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.

The Dover’s first volume of the complete Beethoven string quartet cycle, which focuses on the composer’s Op. 18 quartets, was released earlier this year by Cedille Records, which previously released the ensemble’s Voices of Defiance: 1943, 1944, 1945 in 2017 and an all-Mozart debut recording during the 2016–17 season, featuring the late Michael Tree, violist of the Guarneri Quartet. Voices of Defiance, which explores works written during World War II by Viktor Ullman, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Simon Laks, was lauded as “undoubtedly one of the most compelling discs released this year” (The Wall Street Journal).
The Dover Quartet draws from the lineage of the distinguished Guarneri, Cleveland, and Vermeer quartets. Its members studied at the Curtis Institute of Music and Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where they were mentored extensively by Shmuel Ashkenasi, James Dunham, Norman Fischer, Kenneth Gold­smith, Joseph Silverstein, Arnold Stein­hardt, Michael Tree, and Peter Wiley. It was at Curtis that the Dover Quartet formed; its name pays tribute to Dover Beach by fellow Curtis alumnus Samuel Barber.

The Dover Quartet proudly endorses Tho­mastik-Infeld strings.

DAVID FINCKEL, cello & WU HAN, piano

David Finckel and Wu Han are among the most esteemed and influential classical musicians in the world today. They are recipients of Musical America’s Musicians of the Year award, one of the highest honors granted by the music industry. The energy, imagination, and integrity they bring to their multifaceted endeavors as concert performers, artistic directors, recording artists, educators, and cultural entrepreneurs go unmatched.

David Finckel and Wu Han are currently in their third term as artistic directors of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Under their leadership, CMS is celebrating three global broadcasting initiatives that bring chamber music to new audiences around the world via partnerships with Medici TV, Radio Television Hong Kong, and the All Arts broadcast channel. David Finckel and Wu Han are the founders and artistic directors of Music@Menlo in Silicon Valley, and of Chamber Music Today, an annual festival held in Seoul, South Korea. Wolf Trap appointed Wu Han to serve as artistic advisor of its Chamber Music at the Barns series, and this season, she is in residence at Montclair State University.

Leaders of the classical music recording industry, the two created ArtistLed in 1997, the first musician-directed and internet-based classical recording company. David Finckel and Wu Han have also overseen the establishment of the CMS Studio Recordings label, the society’s partnership with Deutsche Grammophon, CMS’ live stream programming, and Music@Menlo LIVE, which has been praised as “the most ambitious recording project of any classical music festival in the world” (San Jose Mercury News).

David Finckel and Wu Han have received universal praise for their passionate commitment to nurturing the artistic growth of countless young artists through a wide array of educational initiatives. Under their leadership at CMS, the Bowers Program identifies and inducts the finest young chamber artists into the entire spectrum of CMS activities. Their Chamber Music Institute at Music@Menlo has provided hundreds of students with incomparable, immersive musical experiences over 17 summers. From 2009–18, David Finckel and Wu Han directed the LG Chamber Music School in South Korea, which served dozens of young musicians annually, and they also led an intensive chamber music studio at the Aspen Music Festival and School. David Finckel and Wu Han’s website recently launched a new initiative that addresses the challenges and opportunities facing today’s classical music performers and presenters.

David Finckel and Wu Han reside in New York. For more information, please visit their website at www.davidfinckelandwuhan.com.

Nathalie Joachim, flute and vocals

Nathalie Joachim is a Grammy-nominated flutist, composer, and vocalist. The Brooklyn born Haitian-American artist is hailed for being “a fresh and invigorating cross-cultural voice” (The Nation). She is co-founder of the critically acclaimed urban art pop duo Flutronix and comfortably navigates all kinds of music, from classical to indie-rock, all while advocating for social change and cultural awareness. A 2020  United States Artist Fellow and 2019–20 Kauf­man Music Center Artist-in-Residence, Joachim has performed and recorded with an impressive range of today’s most exciting artists and ensembles—including Bryce Dessner, Bon­nie “Prince” Billy, Richard Reed Parry, Miguel Zenón, and the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE)—and is the former flutist of the contemporary chamber ensemble Eighth Blackbird. As a composer, Joachim is regularly commissioned to write for instrumental and vocal artists, dance, and interdisciplinary theater, each highlighting her unique electroacoustic style. Her Fanm d’Ayiti is an evening-length work for flute, voice, string quartet, and electronics that celebrates some of Haiti’s most iconic yet under recognized female artists, and explores Joachim’s personal Haitian heritage. The work, released in 2019 on New Amsterdam Records as Joachim’s first featured solo album, received a Grammy Award nomination for Best World Music Album.

TESSA LARK, violin

Violinist Tessa Lark is one of the most captivating artistic voices of our time. A 2020 Grammy nominee in the Best Classical Instrumental Solo category, recipient of a 2018 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and a 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Silver Medalist in the Interna­tional Violin Competition of Indianapolis, and winner of the 2012 Naumburg International Violin Competi­tion, Lark has won widespread praise from critics and audiences for her astounding versatility, technical agility, and musical elegance. A budding superstar in the classi­cal realm, she is also a highly acclaimed fiddler in the musical traditions of her native Kentucky.

Lark has been a featured soloist at numerous US orchestras, recital venues, and festivals since making her concerto debut with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra at age 16. Her 2019–20 season included debuts with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Philadelphia Cham­ber Music Society, Rochester Phil­har­monic Or­ches­tra, and the Pasadena, Tucson, and West Virginia symphony orchestras. Lark is delighted to take part in the inaugural season of Cal Per­formances at Home.

Three recordings featuring Lark were released in 2019: Fantasy, which includes fantasias by Schubert, Telemann, and Fritz Kreisler, Ravel’s Tzigane, and Lark’s own Appalachian Fantasy; SKY, a Grammy-nominated Albany Symphony Orchestra release whose title selection is a bluegrass-inspired violin concerto written for Lark by Michael Torke; and Invention, the debut album of the violin-bass duo Tessa Lark & Michael Thurber comprising arrangements of Two-Part Inventions by J.S. Bach along with non-classical original compositions.

Scheduled for 2021 is Lark’s fourth album, The Stradgrass Sessions, which will include collaborations with composer-performers Jon Batiste, Edgar Meyer, Michael Cleve­land, and Sierra Hull; works by Bartók and Ysaÿe; and the premiere recording of John Corigliano’s solo violin composition Stomp.

Tessa Lark is a graduate of the New England Con­ser­vatory and earned her artist diploma at the Juilliard School.

YO-YO MA, cello

Yo-Yo Ma’s multifaceted career is testament to his enduring belief in culture’s power to generate trust and understanding. Whether performing new or familiar works from the cello repertoire, collaborating with communities and institutions to explore culture’s role in society, or engaging unexpected musical forms, Ma strives to foster connections that stimulate the imagination and reinforce our humanity.

With partners from around the world and across disciplines, he creates programs that stretch the boundaries of genre and tradition to explore music-making as a means not only to share and express meaning, but also as a model for the cultural collaboration he considers essential to a strong society. It was this belief that inspired Ma to establish Silkroad, a collective of artists from around the world who create music that engages their many traditions.

In August 2018, Ma began a new journey, setting out to perform Johann Sebastian Bach’s six suites for solo cello in one sitting in 36 locations around the world, iconic venues that encompass our cultural heritage, our current creativity, and the challenges of peace and understanding that will shape our future. Each concert is an example of culture’s power to create moments of shared understanding, as well as an invitation to a larger conversation about culture, society, and the themes that connect us all.

Yo-Yo Ma was born in 1955 to Chinese parents living in Paris. He began to study the cello with his father at age four and three years later moved with his family to New York City, where he continued his cello studies with Leonard Rose at the Juilliard School. After his conservatory training, he sought out a liberal arts education, graduating from Harvard University with a degree in anthropology in 1976. Ma has performed for eight American presidents, most recently at the invitation of President Obama on the occasion of the 56th Inaugural Cere­mony. He plays three instruments, a 2003 instrument made by Moes & Moes, a 1733 Montagnana cello from Venice, and the 1712 Davidoff Stradivarius.

LAURA POE, piano

Korean American pianist Laura Poe is a highly sought-after artist and collaborator who enjoys a career as a pianist, opera coach, and educator. Based in Düsseldorf, Germany, Poe is a member of the music staff at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. Since the 2015–16 season, she has also been a member of the music staff at San Fran­cisco Opera.

Poe has also worked as a répétiteur and vocal coach at De Nationale Opera in Amsterdam, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Semperoper Dres­den, where she made her professional conducting debut with 19 performances of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. The production was later invited to the Lucerne Music Festival for an additional two performances. Poe was also an associate vocal coach at the Juilliard School, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Aspen Music Festival and School, AIMS in Graz, CoOperative, and Si parla, si canta in Urbania, Italy.

A graduate of the Metropolitan Opera Lin­de­mann Young Artist Development Pro­gram, Poe has trained under the tutelage of world-class musicians, conductors, and directors including Sir Thomas Allen, Marco Armiliato, Reri Grist, Thomas Hampson, James Levine, Malcolm Martineau, Ken Noda, Felicity Palmer, Renata Scotto, Diane Soviero, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Benita Valente, José van Dam, and Stephen Wadsworth.

Poe has collaborated with some of today’s greatest singers, including sopranos Lisette Oropesa and Deborah Voigt, the latter with whom Poe performed a live broadcast on New York’s classical radio station WQXR. Poe was also featured in the BBC2 documentary What Makes a Great Soprano with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. In 2009, she was a third prize winner at the Wigmore Hall International Song Com­pe­tition in London.

As an experienced violinist, flutist, and horn player, Poe is a frequent performer with instrumentalists and singers. She is an official accompanist to several instrumental and vocal com­pe­titions, and is also an experienced soloist and chamber musician.

Poe has been heard in concert at numerous festivals throughout the United States, including the Music Academy of the West, Ravinia’s Steans Institute, Bard Summerscape, Glimmer­glass Opera, in New York’s Alice Tully Hall and the Museum of Modern Art, as well as in Europe and Trinidad and Tobago.

Poe’s academic accomplishments include a graduate diploma in collaborative piano from the Juilliard School in New York City and a masters degree in accompanying and chamber music from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where in 2015 she received the first-ever Distinguished Alumni Award in Per­formance. A dedicated teacher, Poe holds a bachelor’s degree in instrumental music education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

BRIA SKONBERG, trumpet and vocals

New York-based and Canadian-born singer, trumpeter, and songwriter Bria Skonberg has been described as one of the “most versatile and imposing musicians of her generation” (The Wall Street Journal). Skonberg has stormed onto the jazz scene with her smoky vocals, blistering trumpet, and compelling compositions and arrangements. The Juno Award winner has sung the music of Aretha Franklin alongside Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child, played with U2 at the iconic Apollo Theater, sat in with the Dave Matthews Band, was a featured guest with Jon Batiste, performed as part of the Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour, and sang the National Anthem at Madison Square Garden for a New York Rangers game.

Skonberg’s fall 2019 album, Nothing Never Happens, offers striking originals and creative covers of Queen, the Beatles, Duke Ellington, and more. Produced by Grammy Award winner Eli Wolf, Nothing Never Happens invites listeners to join Skonberg in diverting attention from the overload of social media, breaking news, political bickering, and negative energy, with a stunning album that at times channels the ubiquitous anger and hopelessness that confronts us all in the modern media landscape, but at others manages to drown out that white noise and shine a light on the serene and the celebratory. Described by Skonberg as being “grittier, bluesy-er, and funkier,” than her previous albums, its sounds are inspired by Tom Waits, Duke Ellington, and Memphis Soul.

KATHRYN STOTT, piano

At the age of five, I made friends with the upright piano in our living room and by the age of eight, I found myself at a boarding school for young musicians, the Yehudi Menuhin School. During my studies there I was heavily influenced by two occasional visitors to the school; Nadia Boulanger and Vlado Perlmuter. From them, my great passion for French music was ignited and Fauré in particular has remained the musical love of my life.

Further studies at the Royal College of Music in London then led me very abruptly into the life of a professional musician via the Leeds International Piano Competition. When, quite by chance, I met Yo-Yo Ma in 1978, it turned out to be one of the most fortuitous moments of my life. Since 1985, we have enjoyed a collaboration which has taken us to so many fascinating parts of the world and led to musical adventures with musicians who shared so much from their own traditions.

Presently, I enjoy the challenge of creativity in a different way by bringing many musicians together once a year in my role as the artistic director of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. There are too many highlights in my career to mention. Yes, it was a thrill to perform at the Last Night of the Proms to millions around the world, but equally a massive thrill to have lit up 20 small faces in an inner city school while they jumped up and down to energetic piano music! Working with young musicians is something I feel passionate about and I presently teach at the Academy of Music in Oslo. I’ve also had some truly exciting music written for me and enjoyed a particularly close collaboration with composer Graham Fitkin.

—Kathryn Stott

TETZLAFF QUARTET

Founded in 1994 by Christian Tetzlaff, Elisa­beth Kufferath, Hanna Wein­meister, and Tanja Tetzlaff, and praised by the New York Times for its “dramatic, energetic playing of clean intensity,” the Tetzlaff Quartet is one of the world’s leading string quartets. All four artists take time off from their successful individual careers to tour several times each season, performing concerts that regularly receive impressive critical acclaim.

They are frequent guests at international festivals such as the Berliner Festwochen, Schles­wig-Holstein, and Musikfest Bremen and regu­larly perform in prestigious European chamber music halls such as London’s Wig­more Hall, Berlin’s Pierre Boulez Hall, the Cité de la Musique in Paris, and the Cologne Phil­harmonie. The quartet has also appeared at the Musikverein in Vienna, Amsterdam’s Con­cert­gebouw, Leipzig’s Gewandhaus, and Munich’s Herkulessaal.

The Tetzlaff Quartet has made four highly acclaimed tours to North America, each including an appearance at Carnegie Hall and with additional stops in Berkeley, San Fran­cisco, Atlanta, Washington (DC), Cleveland, Cincin­nati, Balti­more, Vancouver, Ann Arbor, Orange County, and Portland.

The group’s first recording—music by Schoen­­berg and Sibelius—was released by CAvi Music in 2010, while its second recording (Berg and Mendelssohn) received the prestigious Diapa­son d’Or award in 2015. In 2017, Ondine released a CD of quartets by Haydn and Schu­bert, followed in 2020 by a CD with two late Bee­thoven string quartets—Opp. 130/133.

Matthew Whitaker, piano and Ham­mond B3 organ

Matthew Whitaker was born in 2001 in Hackensack, NJ, and grew up surrounded by music. His love for performing first became apparent at the tender age of three, after Matthew’s grandfather gave him a small Yamaha keyboard.

At age nine, Whitaker began teaching himself how to play the Hammond B3 organ. Four years later, he became the youngest artist to be endorsed by Hammond in its more than 80-year history. He was also named a Yamaha Artist at age 15, becoming the youngest musician to join that stellar group of jazz pianists.

Whitaker has had years of music instruction, studying classical piano and drums at the Filo­men M. D’Agostino Greenberg Music School in New York City—the only community music school for the blind and visually impaired in the United States.

He has previously studied at the Harlem School of the Arts and was a member of both the Jazz House Big Band and the Organ Mes­sengers at Jazz House Kids in Montclair, NJ. Whitaker also attended the Manhattan School of Music’s Precollege Jazz Program. He is currently enrolled in the jazz studies program at Juilliard in New York City.

Whitaker has received the Outstanding Solo­ist Award from Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Charles Mingus High School Competition & Festival and the Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival. He was also recognized by the Harlem International Film Festival, which named him “Most Remarkable Young Person on Screen.”

He has already toured both here in the United States and abroad, performing before the Youth Assembly at the United Nations head­quarters in New York City and on other world-renowned stages including Lincoln Cen­ter for the Performing Arts, the Apollo Theater, Carnegie Hall, and Jazz at Lincoln Center in NYC; SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco; the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC; the Raymond F. Kravis Cen­ter for the Performing Arts (FL); the Monterey and Newport jazz festivals; and at international venues in the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Switzer­land, Mor­occo, Indo­nesia, Japan, South Korea, and Australia.

Whitaker has performed with an array of outstanding musicians, including Ray Chew, Christian McBride, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Rhoda Scott, Ca­mer­on Carpenter, Regina Carter, Jason Moran, Jon Batiste, Cory Henry, Marc Cary, Arturo O’Farrill, James Carter, Roy Ayers, D.D. Jack­son, the New York Pops Orchestra, the EFG London Jazz Orchestra, and Hamiet Blui­ett and his Bio-Electric Ensemble.

In 2010, Whitaker was a winning participant in the “Child Stars of Tomorrow” competition, as part of Amateur Night at the Apollo. A year later and just 10 years old, he was invited to perform at Stevie Wonder’s induction into the Apollo Theater’s Hall of Fame. He returned to the venue for Fox television’s revival of Show­­time at the Apollo in 2016, where he thrilled the audience with his rendition of Stevie Wonder’s classic “I Wish.” Whitaker’s television appearances also include NBC’s Today show, where he was one of three young men featured in the program’s “Boys Changing the World” series; Harry Connick Jr.’s Harry; Ellen DeGeneres’ Ellen; and CBS’ 60 Minutes.

Having composed several original compositions, Whitaker considers a list of stellar musicians and composers/arrangers as his artistic influences, including organists Dr. Lonnie Smith, Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff, and Rhoda Scott; pianists Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum, Ahmad Jamal, The­lonious Monk, Bud Powell, Chick Corea, Jon Batiste, Cory Henry, Marc Cary, Jason Moran, and D.D. Jackson; Chopin and Bach; and drum­mers Roy Haynes, T.S. Monk, Herlin Riley, Otis Brown III, Otis Brown Jr., and John­athan Blake.

In 2017, Whitaker was named one of 17 “People to Watch” in New Jersey’s The Record, one of the state’s largest newspapers. He was also cited as an outstanding performer in Crain’s New York Business’ “20 under 20” list.

In 2018, the online magazine The Root added Whitaker to its list of “Young Futurist Leaders.” Also that year, he received the Harlem Stage Emerging Artist Award and was singled-out as a rising star by USA Today and 201 Magazine.

In 2019 and 2020, Whitaker received the Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composers Award for his original compositions “Emotions” and “Under­ground.”

CREDITS

Julia Bullock, classical singer
Laura Poe, piano

Kurt Weill/Frederic Ogden Nash/“Speak Low” from One Touch of Venus

Filmed exclusively for Cal Performances at the Konzerthaus Blaibach, Blaibach, Germany, on December 10, 2020.

Bernhard Fleischer, producer and director
Oliver Becker, line producer for OTB Medien
Thomas Frischhut, camera
Marcus Jäger, camera
Nao A. Loo, camera
Jupp Wegner, sound
Bruno Hartl, lighting
Wolfgang Herein, lighting
Andreas Plötz, lighting
Aloisia Aschenbrenner, location
Michael Hartl, editing
Michaela Noa and Michaela Knopf, production office

A BFMI Production for Cal Performances

• • •

David Finckel, cello
Wu Han, piano

Claude Debussy (arr. Leon Roques)/The Girl with the Flaxen Hair

Filmed exclusively for Cal Performances at ArtistLed Studio, Ardsley, NY, on September 30, 2020.

David Finckel and Wu Han appear by arrangement with David Rowe Artists (www.davidroweartists.com).

Public relations and press representative: Milina Barry PR (www.milinabarrypr.com)

Recordings by David Finckel and Wu Han are available exclusively through ArtistLed (www.artistled.com).

Wu Han performs on the Steinway Piano.

Da-Hong Seetoo, recording engineer 
Libby Seidner, video editor

www.davidfinckelandwuhan.com

For Ibis Productions, Inc.
Jeremy Robins, Post-Production Video Engineer
Zach Herchen, Post-Production Audio Engineer

• • •

Yo-Yo Ma, cello
Kathryn Stott, piano

Harold Arlen/“Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz

Jerome Kern/“Ol’ Man River” from Show Boat

Filmed at the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying) Concert Hall, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on November 14, 2020.

In collaboration with:
Opus 3 Artists
348 West 57th Street, Suite 282
New York, NY 10019
www.opus3artists.com

For Ibis Productions, Inc.
Jeremy Robins, post-production video engineer

• • •

Nathalie Joachim, flute and vocals

Nathalie Joachim/“Transformation”

Filmed exclusively for Cal Performances at Black Ensemble Theater, Chicago on September 15, 2020.

For Bitter Jester Studios
Daniel Kullman, director of photography, line-producer
Neil Adamson, gaffer
Sebastien Audinelle, camera operator
Ashley Battle, camera operator
Jason Kraynek, camera operator
Amanuel Iyassu, production assistant
Recorded and mixed by Dan Nichols and Mark Alletag, Aphorism Studios, Inc.

For Black Ensemble Theater
Special thanks to Jackie Taylor and Daryl D. Brooks
www.blackensembletheater.org

For Ibis Productions, Inc.
Jeremy Robins, supervisor
Colin Gee, editor
Zach Herchen, post-production audio engineer

• • •

Leif Ove Andsnes, piano

Edvard Grieg/Gangar (Norwegian march) from Lyric Pieces, Op. 54, No. 2

Filmed exclusively for Cal Performances at Håkon’s Hall, Bergen, Norway, on September 23, 2020.

Leif Ove Andsnes records exclusively for Sony Classical and is managed by Enticott Music Management in association with IMG Artists.

www.andsnes.com
www.facebook.com/LeifOveAndsnes
twitter.com/LeifOveAndsnes

In Norway
Yngve Moberg*, technical director
Marius Marthinussen Søreide**, creative director
Eirik Svensen**, video director
Sinde Bowitz Larsen, assistant director
Atle Sekkingstad*, audio producer
Per Marius Larsen*, lighting designer
Ivar Skjørestad*, lighting assistant
Marius Børsheim*, lighting assistant
Marius Veum*, lighting assistant
Marius Marthinussen Søreide, camera crane operator
Synnøve Roppestad, camera operator
Kristian Vaage, camera operator
Martin Jørgenvåg*, project manager

* for Bright Norway
** for KolibriMedia

For Ibis Productions, Inc.
Jeremy Robins, video director
Zach Herchen, audio engineer

• • •

Dover Quartet
Joel Link, violin
Bryan Lee, violin
Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola
Camden Shaw, cello

Ludwig van Beethoven/Allegro molto, quasi presto from String Quartet No. 2 in G major, Op. 18, No. 2

Filmed exclusively for Cal Performances at Gould Rehearsal Hall, Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, on October 15–16, 2020.

The Dover Quartet is represented by the Curtis Institute of Music, where it serves as the Penelope P. Watkins Ensemble in Residence.

www.curtis.edu
www.doverquartet.com

Recordings: Cedille Records, Azica Records

The Dover Quartet proudly endorses Tho­mastik-Infeld strings.

For the Curtis Institute of Music
Andrew Lane, managing director of Curtis on Tour
Bret Noël, manager of touring operations
Drew Schlegel, director of audio engineering
Mickey Welde, interim director of video production

The Curtis Institute of Music is committed to ensuring the health and safety of the entire community. Musicians and crew adhered to Curtis’s health and safety guidelines throughout the filming of this performance, including completing a health screening, wearing face coverings, and practicing proper social distancing whenever possible, and thoroughly sanitizing rooms and equipment.

For Get-Kinetic
Rachel Ofori, camera operator
Weston Fahey, camera operator
Brian Atkins, camera operator

For Ibis Productions, Inc.
Jeremy Robins, video director
Zach Herchen, audio engineer

• • •

Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society

Darcy James Argue/“Dark Alliance” from Real Enemies

This film version of Real Enemies was created exclusively for Cal Performances by Darcy James Argue, Isaac Butler, and Peter Nigrini, and produced by Beth Morrison Projects.

Darcy James Argue, composer
Isaac Butler, director and writer
Peter Nigrini, media designer

Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society
Darcy James Argue, conductor
Dave Pietro, piccolo, flute, alto flute, soprano and alto saxophones
Rob Wilkerson, flute, clarinet, soprano and alto saxophones
Sam Sadigursky, E-flat clarinet, B-flat clarinet, A clarinet, tenor saxophone
John Ellis, B-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone
Carl Maraghi, B-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, baritone saxophone
Seneca Black, trumpet, flugelhorn
Jonathan Powell, trumpet, flugelhorn
Matt Holman, trumpet, flugelhorn
Adam O’Farrill, trumpet, flugelhorn
Ingrid Jensen, trumpet, flugelhorn
Nadje Noordhuis, trumpet, flugelhorn
Mike Fahie, trombone
Ryan Keberle, trombone
Jacob Garchik, trombone
Jennifer Wharton, bass trombone, tuba
Sebastian Noelle, acoustic and electric guitar
Adam Birnbaum, acoustic and electric piano, synthesizer
Matt Clohesy, contrabass and electric bass, electronic effects
Jon Wikan, drum set, cajón

Special appearance by James Urbaniak

Production Staff
Daniel Vatsky, film editor
Vernil Rogers, recording engineer
Brian Montgomery, recording and mixing engineer
Paul Suarez, assistant recording engineer
Bradley Buehring, photography consultant
Andreas Roalsvig, camera operator
Melanie St. Claire, assistant camera operator
Sam Campbell, assistant camera operator
Ryan Gohsman, assistant stage manager
Tim Love, assistant stage manager
Chris Clark, gaffer

Real Enemies was co-commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Fromm Music Foundation, and Beth Morrison Projects

Real Enemies is supported by the MAP Fund, a program of Creative Capital, primarily supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Founda­tion. Additional funds come from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

“Dark Alliance” contains musical elements paraphrased from “Un Son Para Mi Pueblo,” music and lyrics by Luis Enrique Mejía Godoy, © 1981 Ocarina-ENIGRAC. Used with permission.

Beth Morrison Projects
Beth Morrison, President and Creative Producer
Jecca Barry, executive director

Kim Whitener, consulting producer
Brian Freeland, director of production
Robert Phillip Smith, associate producer
Ashley Peters, finance manager
Melanie Milton, PROTOTYPE Festival producer
Victoria Preis, marketing manager
Catherine Hancock, social media manager

For Ibis Productions, Inc.
Jeremy Robins, supervisor
Colin Gee, editor
Zach Herchen, post-production audio engineer

• • •

Tessa Lark, violin

Tessa Lark/Appalachian Fantasy

Filmed exclusively for Cal Performances on location at Merkin Hall, Kaufman Music Center, New York City, on August 17, 2020.

Tessa Lark plays a ca.1600 G.P. Maggini violin on loan from an anonymous donor through the Stradivari Society of Chicago.

Tessa Lark is represented worldwide by Manhattan-based Sciolino Artist Management (www.samnyc.us).

For Kaufman Music Center
Kenneth Feldman, recording engineer
Ben Young, editing and mixing
Maytte Martinez, head stage manager
Emily Ballou, assistant stage manager
Patrick Liang, assistant stage manager

Special thanks to David Bridges

KaufmanMusicCenter.org

For Ibis Productions, Inc.
Jeremy Robins, video director
Zach Herchen, audio engineer
Francis Adjei, camera operator
Kharon Benson, camera operator
Hugo Faraco, camera operator
Nara Garber, camera operator

• • •

Tetzlaff Quartet
Christian Tetzlaff, violin
Elisabeth Kufferath, violin
Hanna Weinmeister, viola
Tanja Tetzlaff, cello

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart/Menuetto & Trio from String Quartet No. 16 in E-flat major, K. 428

Filmed exclusively for Cal Performances at b-sharp studio, Berlin, Germany, on September 19–20, 2020.

The Tetzlaff Quartet appears by arrangement with CM Artists.

Recordings by the Tetzlaff Quartet are available on the Ondine and CAvi Music labels.

For b-sharp studio, Berlin, Germany
Philipp Nedel, project supervisor
Martin Kistner, recording producer
Matthias Erb, recording engineer

Boris Fromageot, artistic director & film production

Georg Kleinegees, film director and vision mixer
Jan Scholz, score assistant
Stephan Zwickirsch, camera operator
Michael Boomers, camera operator
Jan Lehmann, camera operator
Andreas Bremer, technical supervisor/film

Lighting design by Mario Klapper/Lichtforum Berlin

Special Thanks: C. Bechstein Company, for providing the piano benches; Silke Musfeldt
www.b-sharp.biz

For Ibis Productions, Inc.
Jeremy Robins, post-production video engineer
Zach Herchen, post-production audio engineer

• • •

Bria Skonberg
Bria Skonberg, trumpet, vocals
Patrick Bartley, clarinet, alto saxophone, background vocals
Darrian Douglas, drums
Endea Owens, bass
Mathis Picard, piano
Doug Wamble, guitar, background vocals

Lil Hardin/“Hotter than That”

Filmed exclusively for Cal Performances at the Louis Armstrong House Museum Garden, Queens, New York City, on August 21, 2020.

www.briaskonberg.com
@briaskonberg

Management: Randy Henner, Metamorphic Concerts & Management
Production: Christine Vaindirlis, Ubuntu World Music

louisarmstronghouse.org

For Ibis Productions, Inc.
Jeremy Robins: director and editor
Zach Herchen, audio engineer
Ian Dudley, camera operator
Nara Garber, camera operator
Kharon Benson, camera operator
Francis Adjei, camera operator
Josue Flores, production assistant
Edwin Huet, audio assistant

• • •

Matthew Whitaker Quartet
Matthew Whitaker, piano and Hammond B3 organ
Marcos Robinson, guitar
Karim Hutton, electric bass
Isaiah Johnson, drums

Kool & the Gang/“Celebrate”

Filmed exclusively for Cal Performances at the Bowery Ballroom, New York City, on September 26, 2020.

Matthew Whitaker is a Yamaha Artist.

Yamaha S3X grand piano provided by Yamaha Artist Services, New York.

Matthew Whitaker is endorsed by Hammond Organ, USA.

Special Thanks
Bonnie Barrett and Makia Matsumura, Yamaha Artist Services, New York
Myles and Lorraine Weinstein and Rory Trainor, Unlimited Myles, Inc.
Michelle Taylor, Passion Music Group
Moses and May Whitaker, Matthew Whitaker, LLC

For Ibis Productions, Inc.
Jeremy Robins, video director
Zach Herchen, audio engineer
Chris Scarafile, camera operator
Hugo Faraco, camera operator
Francis Adjei, camera operator
Kharon Benson, camera operator

For Cal Performances at Home
Tiffani Snow, Producer
Jeremy Little, Technical Director

For Ibis Productions, Inc.
Jeremy Robins, Video Director
Zach Herchen, Audio Engineer

For Future Tense Media
Jesse Yang, Creative Director

For Cal Performances
EXECUTIVE OFFICE
Jeremy Geffen, Executive and Artistic Director
Kelly Brown, Executive Assistant to the Director

ADMINISTRATION
Andy Kraus, Director of Strategy and Administration
Calvin Eng, Chief Financial Officer
Rafael Soto, Finance Specialist
Marilyn Stanley, Finance Specialist
Gawain Lavers, Applications Programmer
Ingrid Williams, IT Support Analyst
Sean Nittner, Systems Administrator

ARTISTIC PLANNING
Katy Tucker, Director of Artistic Planning
Robin Pomerance, Artistic Administrator

DEVELOPMENT
Taun Miller Wright, Chief Development Officer
Elizabeth Meyer, Director of Institutional Giving
Jennifer Sime, Associate Director of Development, Individual Giving
Jamie McClave, Individual Giving and Special Events Officer
Alex Higgins, Director of Annual Fund
Jocelyn Aptowitz, Major Gifts Associate

EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMS
Rica Anderson, Interim Director, Artistic Literacy

HUMAN RESOURCES
Judy Hatch, Human Resources Director
Shan Whitney, Human Resources Generalist

MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS
Jenny Reik, Director of Marketing and Communications
Ron Foster-Smith, Associate Director of Marketing
Mark Van Oss, Communications Editor
Louisa Spier, Public Relations Manager
Cheryl Games, Digital Platform Program Manager
Jeanette Peach, Public Relations Senior Associate
Elise Chen, Email Production Associate
Lynn Zummo, New Technology Coordinator
Terri Washington, Social Media and Digital Content Specialist

OPERATIONS
Jeremy Little, Production Manager
Alan Herro, Production Admin Manager
Kevin Riggall, Head Carpenter
Matt Norman, Head Electrician
Tom Craft, Audio/Video Department Head
Jo Parks, Video Engineer
Tiffani Snow, Event Manager
Ginarose Perino, Rental Business Manager
Rob Bean, Event Operations Manager

STAGE CREW
Charles Clear, Senior Scene Technician
David Ambrose, Senior Scene Technician
Jacob Heule, Senior Scene Technician
Jorg Peter “Winter” Sichelschmidt, Senior Scene Technician
Joseph Swails, Senior Scene Technician
Mark Mensch, Senior Scene Technician
Mathison Ott, Senior Scene Technician
Mike Bragg , Senior Scene Technician
Ricky Artis, Senior Scene Technician
Robert Haycock, Senior Scene Technician

STUDENT MUSICAL ACTIVITIES
Mark Sumner, Director, UC Choral Ensembles
Bill Ganz, Associate Director, UC Choral Ensembles
Matthew Sadowski, Director, Cal Marching Band
Ted Moore, Director, UC Jazz Ensembles
Brittney Nguyen, SMA Coordinator

TICKET OFFICE
Liz Baqir, Ticket Services Manager
Gordon Young, Assistant Ticket Office Manager
Sherice Jones, Assistant Ticket Office Manager
Jeffrey Mason, Patron Services Associate

Opening fanfare used by permission from Jordi Savall from his 2015 recording of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo on Alia Vox.

Major support for the Cal Performances Digital Classroom is provided by Wells Fargo.
Major support for Beyond the Stage is provided by Bank of America.

calperformances.org

© 2020 Regents of the University of California