First Monday at Jordan Hall: Saariaho, Poulenc, Messiaen

Kaija Saariaho | Cloud Trio (2009)

Calmo, meditato
Sempre dolce, ma energico, sempre a tempo
Sempre energico
Tranquillo ma sempre molto espressivo

Program note

A string trio is a fascinating ensemble. Even if its instruments come from the same family it magnifies the individual characters of each. When writing the trio, I was surprised how different it was to writing for a string quartet.
        In this piece, the three instruments all have different tasks and functions, they represent very different aspects of string playing. These tasks are sometimes very concrete: the violin tends to behave as an echo or reverberation, the viola creates new clouds next to the existing ones and the cello often has a function of a shadow to the upper instrumental lines.
        My ideas for this piece are about common textures; how to create one coherent texture – still complex and detailed – with individual lines.
        The four sections of the piece have their own colours and characters, and I leave it to the listener to imagine what kinds of clouds were their sources of inspiration.
Why Cloud Trio? When composing this piece in the French Alps (Les Arcs), watching the big sky above mountains I realized once again how rich a metaphor a natural element can be: its state or shape is so recognizable, and yet it is always varied and rich in detail.
        Cloud Trio is written for and dedicated to the Zebra Trio.
--Kaija Saariaho

Francis Poulenc | The Story of Babar, the little elephant, FP 129

INTERMISSION

Olivier Messiaen | Quartet for the End of Time (1941)

I. Liturgie de cristal (Crystal liturgy)
II. Vocalise, pour l’Ange qui annonce la fin du temps                  
        (Vocalise, for the Angel who announces the end of time)
III. Abîme des oiseaux (Abyss of birds)
IV.Intermède (Interlude)
V. Louange à l’Éternité de Jésus (Praise to the eternity of Jesus)
VI. Danse de la fureur, pour les sept trompettes
        (Dance of fury, for the seven trumpets)
VII. Fouillis d’arcs-en-ciel, pour l’Ange qui annonce la fin du temps
        (Tangle of rainbows, for the Angel who announces the end of time)
VIII. Louange à l’immortalité de Jésus (Praise to the immortality of Jesus)
 

Artist biographies

Cellist Lluís Claret was born in 1951 in Andorra la Vella to exiled Andorran parents, and began his musical studies at the age of nine. In 1964 he moved to Barcelona, Spain, where he won major distinctions at the Conservatory of the Liceu, and began working with Enric Casals, brother of Pablo Casals. He continued his studies in France, Italy, and in the United States, with masters such as Maurice Gendron and Radu Aldulescu. Claret has said that his personal meetings with György Sebök, Eva Janzer, and Bernard Greenhouse were also implemental in the development of his artistic personality. Claret’s professional career was launched into the international spotlight after he took first prizes at the Pablo Casals International Cello Competition in 1976 and the Rostropovich Cello Competition in 1977.
        Chamber music, pedagogy, and a great interest in contemporary music are all essential elements of Claret’s musical focus. His previous teaching posts include the "Victoria dels Angels" Music School at Sant Cugat in Barcelona, and the Toulouse Conservatory in France. He currently teaches at the Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu in Barcelona, and has presented masterclasses in France, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, the U.S., Japan, and Korea. Also, together with Bernard Greenhouse he conducted seminars at the Abbey of Fontfroide in Narbonne, France.
        A consummate performer, Claret has been on stage in the principal capitals of Europe, America, and Asia. Under the baton of Vaclav Neumann, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Pierre Boulez, Karl Münchinger, Dimitri Kitaienko, Sakari Oramo, George Malcolm, and many others, Claret has performed with orchestras such as the Washington National Symphony, Moscow Philharmonic, Hungarian Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, English Chamber Orchestra, and the French National Orchestra. He has also performed with notable orchestras in Tokyo, Seoul, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, Bamberg, Moscow, Madrid, and Barcelona. In 1980, he founded the Barcelona Trio, which performed for nearly 15 years. He regularly plays with pianists Josep-Maria Colom and Benedicte Palko and has collaborated often with prestigious musicians such as Henri Dutilleux, Witold Lutoslawski, Krzysztof Penderecki, Joan Guinjoan, Iannis Xenakis, and Pierre Boulez.
        A regularly invited jury member for international competitions, Claret has served on the juries of the Rostropovitch Competition in Paris, France, Paulo Cello Competition in Helsinki, Finland, the International Pablo Casals Competition in Kronberg, Germany, and the Adam Cello Competition in Auckland, New Zealand.  He joined the NEC faculty in 2016 and serves as co-chair of the Strings and Chamber Music Departments.

For more than two decades, omnivorous violist Nicholas Cords has been on the front line of a unique constellation of projects as performer, educator, and cultural advocate, with a signature passion for the cross-section between the long tradition of classical music and the wide range of music being created today.
        Nicholas served for twenty years as violist of the Silkroad Ensemble, a musical collective founded by Yo-Yo Ma in 2000 with the belief that cross-cultural collaboration leads to a more hopeful world. This mission was poignantly explored by the recent Oscar-nominated documentary by Morgan Neville, The Music Of Strangers, which makes a case for why culture matters. In addition, Nicholas served from 2017-2020 as a Co-Artistic Director for Silkroad, and previously as Silkroad’s Programming Chair. He appears on all of the Silkroad Ensemble’s albums including Sing Me Home (Sony Music), which received a 2017 Grammy Award for Best World Music Album.
        Another key aspect of Nicholas’ musical life is as founding member of Brooklyn Rider, an intrepid group which NPR credits with "recreating the 300-year-old form of the string quartet as a vital and creative 21st-century ensemble.” Highly committed to collaborative ventures, the group has worked with Irish fiddler Martin Hayes, jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman, ballerina Wendy Whelan, Persian kemancheh virtuoso Kayhan Kalhor, Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, Mexican singer Magos Herrera, and banjoist Béla Fleck, to name a few. Their most recent recording Healing Modes was lauded by the New York Times and received a 2021 Grammy Nomination.
        His acclaimed 2020 solo recording Touch Harmonious (In a Circle Records) is a reflection on the arc of tradition spanning from the baroque to today, featuring multiple premieres. A dedicated teacher, Nicholas currently serves on the viola and chamber music faculty of New England Conservatory.

Hailed as a "highly skilled improviser" by the New York Times and "prickly and explosive" by the Montreal Gazette, Tae Kim's rare blend of rigorous execution and whimsical styling creates an interpretation of the classical repertoire all his own. Inspired by his niece and nephew, Tae's recent work, I’m a Unicorn by Helen Yoon, is his second of the series of classical improvisation on children’s novels that also includes Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney. His unique talent for classical improvisation earned him "Prix d'interprétation André Chevillion–Yvonne Bonnaud" for the premiere of his work, Translate (2016) as well as "Prix–Mention Spéciale Edison Denisov" at the 12e Concours international de piano d'Orléans. Part of the Piano at South Station, Tae regularly played on Thursdays in the middle of a train station amidst the confused if not pleased onlookers and travelers. He has studied with Jonathan Bass, Bruce Brubaker, Janice Webber, and Patricia Zander.

Pianist Pei-Shan Lee has toured the world with concerts throughout much of Europe, Israel and Asia. Major venues in the United States include the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and Cleveland’s Severance Hall. Ms. Lee has also performed at the Mostly Mozart Festival, Caramoor Festival, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Rockport Chamber Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Heifetz Institute, Chautauqua Institute, and the Music Academy of the West. Summer festivals abroad have included Pro Quartet in France, Great Wall Academy in Beijing, Formosa Chamber Music Festival in Taiwan, and International Piano Festivals in Spain and Russia.
        Originally from Taiwan, Ms. Lee came to the U.S. after winning the Youth Division of Taiwan’s National Piano Competition. Since moving to Boston in 2002, she has worked with the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s guest conductors and soloists, and participated in the filming of The Portrait, on violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, and in Talent Has Hunger, on cellist Paul Katz and his NEC cello studio.
        A member of NEC’s Collaborative Piano Faculty, and a passionate advocate for advancing the art of piano-instrumental collaboration, Ms. Lee previously served on the faculty of California State University Northridge where she created a new MM in Collaborative Piano. Her doctoral thesis “The Collaborative Pianist: Balancing Roles in Partnership” has become an important resource for schools wishing to begin Collaborative Piano degree programs and has been translated into Chinese. Formerly on the faculty of the Perlman Music Program, she currently directs the Collaborative Piano Fellowship program at the Bowdoin International Music Festival in Maine.

Somin Lee is an active clarinetist in both the United States and South Korea. She received her Master of Music degree and Graduate Diploma from the New England Conservatory where she studied with Thomas Martin.
        As a passionate chamber player, she was recently chosen as one of the 2022 Series Artists of Ensemblian with her trio group, Ensemble Else, and presented a chamber recital in Seocho Chamber Festival with Ensemble Euphoria. In the U.S, Somin has performed in summer festivals and concert series such as the North Country Chamber Players, the Mistral Chamber Music concerts, the Conservatory Project in Kennedy Center, the Boston Symphony Orchestra Prelude Concert, and the Tanglewood Music Center.
        Somin is currently starting her new career as a clarinet professor at Sungkonghoe Institute of Music, and continues to perform.

Winner of numerous prizes including the Walter Naumburg International Competition, Tibor Varga International Competition, Astral Artists National Auditions, Young Performers Career Advancement, and Lili Boulanger awards, Ayano Ninomiya has performed with orchestras across the U.S., Switzerland, Bulgaria, and most recently in Carnegie Hall.  Praised for her "deeply communicative and engrossing" (The New York Times) performances, recent and upcoming teaching and performance festivals include Yellow Barn's Young Artist Program, Ravinia's Steans Institute, Portland Chamber Music Festival, Skaneateles Music Festival, Colorado College Music Festival, Kingston Chamber Music Festival, and the Bowdoin International Music Festival. She has been featured on Musicians from Marlboro tours in the U.S. and France, and has given a TEDx talk at the University of Tokyo.  She was first violinist of the Ying Quartet and was Associate Professor at the Eastman School of Music until 2015 when she joined the violin faculty of New England Conservatory.  As a recipient of the Beebe Fellowship, Ayano studied in Budapest, Hungary, at the Liszt Academy after graduating from Harvard University and The Juilliard School.

Paula Robison comes from a family with a strong theater tradition; her mother was an actor, her father and uncle playwrights. She worked with Jeff Corey in his historic Los Angeles acting and improvisation workshops for young people, and during the same years studied dance with Bella Lewitsky. Her world-traveling, ground-breaking career as a flute soloist began when she won First Prize at the Geneva International Competition and gave her New York Debut under the Auspices of Young Concert Artists. But through the years her love of theater never left her, especially Commedia dell’Arte and specifically Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire. In 2007 Paula Robison made a new English performance version of the Pierrot texts, using both the original AlbertGiraud poems and Otto Erich Hartleben’s translations, and took the speaking part for two performances at the Barge in New York City. In March of 2011 she worked with Argento New Music in a performance of Pierrot Lunaire at Cornell University. In the 2011-2012 season she performed Pierrot with special lighting and projections at The New World Symphony, and helped to celebrate the inauguration of the new Calderwood Concert Hall at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum with a critically acclaimed performance now available for viewing on Youtube. She also leapt into her first Ode to Napoleon of Schoenberg with the vibrant New York new music group counter)induction, and celebrated the 100th birthday of Pierrot Lunaire with Argento New Music, Michel Galante conducting, in seven performances at the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York City. Ms Robison has had the pleasure of narrating Poulenc’s L’Histoire de Babar with pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, including performances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, at BAM, and at the Spoleto Festivals in the USA and Italy, and appearing as speaker in Sofia Gubaidulina’s Garten von Freuden und Traurigkeiten, also with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. In April 2019 she joined a superb group of artists at CUNY’s Graduate Center for a concert including Claude Debussy’s original incidental music for Pierre Loüys’ Les Chansons de Bilitis and L’Histoire de Babar with Tae Kim, piano.

Kristopher Tong joined the Borromeo String Quartet, New England Conservatory's quartet-in-residence, as second violinist in March 2006. A member of the chamber music and violin faculties, he also serves as Co-Chair of Strings.
        Tong has been hailed as a performer of "exceptional insight and creative flair" (Boston Globe). As second violinist of the Borromeo String Quartet, he has performed in hundreds of concerts across the United States and around the world to critical
acclaim. Recent engagements include appearances at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, including premieres of works by Aaron Jay Kernis and Sebastian Currier.
        In addition to his concertizing with the Borromeos, Tong is an active recitalist, chamber musician, and teacher. He has taught and performed at numerous festivals, including the Taos School of Music, Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival,  Music@Menlo, and at the Heifetz Institute. Tong has performed on such radio programs as NPR’s Performance Today, WGBH’s Classical Performance, and was featured on WGBH’s Classical Connections in a series entitled "Why Mass.?"
       From 2002-2004, Tong was Principal Second Violin with the Verbier Festival Orchestra, with whom he toured throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas. He has played under the baton of some of the world's premier conductors, including James Levine, Christopher von Dohnanyi, Kurt Masur, Mstislav Rostropovich, Wolfgang Sawallisch, and Charles Dutoit. He has also performed with Mizayaki Festival Orchestra in Japan, the New York String Orchestra, and as a guest soloist with the Verbier Chamber Orchestra under Dmitri Sitkovetsky and Yuri Bashmet. Tong was a
member of the original cast of Classical Savion at the Joyce Theater in New York City, a collaborative project with tap dancer Savion Glover.
        Kristopher Tong began his violin studies in a public elementary school program in Binghamton, N.Y. His family later moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, where he became a student of Leonard Braus. He received his bachelor's degree at Indiana University in Bloomington, where he studied with Franco Gulli, Yuval Yaron, and Miriam Fried. In 2005 he completed his master's degree under Fried at New England Conservatory. He is a 2:53 marathoner.