First Monday at Jordan Hall
This year, we bring Jordan Hall to you, with streaming editions of First Mondays at Jordan Hall—as brilliant with music as ever, performed by some of the world’s best chamber musicians.
Now in its 36th season, First Mondays are fresh and full of imaginative pairings of well-loved classics and new work, performed in one of the finest places on the planet to hear music of this caliber: NEC’s own Jordan Hall.
Tonight's program is a sampler of the diverse performances from a remarkable year: 2020-2021.
WATCH CONCERT STREAM:
Giovanni Gabrieli (arr. T. Higgins) | Sonata Pian e Forte
Brass Personnel
Choir A
Trumpet
Charles Jones
French horn
Tess Reagan
Helen Wargelin
Bass Trombone
Luke Sieve
Choir B
French horn
Jenna Stokes
Trombone
Matthew Vezey
Elias Canales
Tuba
James Curto
Artists- James Markey, conductor
Spiritual (arr. Stephen L. Hayes) | Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray
Text
Couldn’t Hear Nobody Pray
Couldn’t hear nobody pray, Lord, I couldn’t hear nobody pray,
O well I was way down yonder by myself and I couldn’t hear nobody pray,
O Lord, I couldn’t hear nobody pray.
Dark was the night and cold the ground on which my Lord was laid.
Great drops of blood like sweat rolled down, in agony he prayed.
O Lord, I couldn’t hear nobody pray…
Father remove this bitter cup, if such thy sacred will.
If not content to drink it up, thy pleasure I fulfill.
O Lord, I couldn’t hear nobody pray…Ensembles- NEC Chamber Singers
Artists- Erica J. Washburn, conductor
- Maxwell Herman, tenor
Jaakko Mäntyjärvi | El Hambo
From the composer:
El Hambo is the second installment in a rather loosely defined series that I have decided to call Justly Forgotten Peoples. (The first installment was, of course, Pseudo-Yoik.) The hambo is a Swedish folk dance in 3/4 time. This augmented hambo in 5/4 time is something of a tribute to those folk musicians whose enthusiasm much exceeds their sense of rhythm, and the increasingly desperate punctuations should be interpreted as an attempt to keep the performance in some sort of metrical shape. The somewhat arrogant title is intended to suggest (rather like la Valse) an apotheosis of the genre, The Mother of All Hambos if you like, or perhaps even The Hambo to End All Hambos. It also embraces the pan-European ideal; for those who find themselves distressed by the fact that the piece does not in fact contain anything remotely identifiable as Spanish, it may be of some interest to note that elhambo means ‘electric hambo’ in Swedish and could also be an alternate transliteration of the Welsh y llam bodd (‘the jump of joy’). Further cognates are welcome.
Sources of inspiration for this piece include, surprisingly, genuine Norwegian choral folk song arrangements and of course the Swedish Chef in The Muppets Show. The text is, or is supposed to be, completely meaningless, as those who are familiar with Pseudo-Yoik will already have suspected. The first three chords of the piece are violin tunings actually used in Norwegian folk music.- Jaakko Mäntyjärvi
NEC Chamber Singers
Tyler Bouque
Ashley Chen
Edward Ferran
Molly Flynn
Samantha Fox
Killian Grider
Maxwell Herman
Jonathan Lawlor
Corinne Luebke-Brown
Colin Miller
Joseph Nizich
Nicholas Ottersberg
Cassandra Pinataro
Daniel Rosenberg
Jennie Segal
Anneke Stern
Chloe Thum
Madeleine Wiegers
Kerui Yang
The NEC Chamber Singers is an auditioned ensemble open to all majors at NEC, composed of 17-19 choristers for the 2020-21 performance season. The ensemble performs works from all style periods, with a particular emphasis on 19th–21st century a cappella repertoire. Chamber Singers rehearse three times a week and strive to create highly artistic choral music-making in an intimate setting, typically in the round. Each Chamber Singer is a musician seeking to understand the principles and nuance of superior choral artistry, that they may be prepared for professional opportunities and expectations outside of the Conservatory. A Chamber Singer is expected to diligently prepare their music outside of scheduled rehearsals which makes the brief time spent together musically invaluable. The ensemble typically performs eight to ten times each academic year: on campus in the Conservatory’s famed Jordan Hall, at off campus venues in and around greater Boston, as well as on tour and in schools for community outreach programs.
Ensembles- NEC Chamber Singers
Artists- Erica J. Washburn, conductor
Vernon Duke/E.Y. "Yip" Harburg (arr. Jimmy Carroll | April in Paris
Ensembles- NEC Jazz Orchestra
Artists- Ken Schaphorst, director
Jaki Byard | “X” Stream (Mrs. Parker of K. C.)
NEC Jazz Orchestra
Woodwinds
Aaron Kaufman-Levine, alto saxophone, clarinet
Ben Mizach, alto saxophone, clarinet
Ian Buss, alto and tenor saxophone, clarinet
Chris Ferrari, alto and tenor saxophone, clarinet
Joey Rosin, alto and baritone saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinetTrumpets
Miles Keingstein
Michael Brehm
Zoe Murphy
Simone TrovatoTrombones
Joseph Dies
Dylan Rogan
Luke Sieve
Rhythm
George Behrakis, piano
Pritesh Walia, guitar
Chris Worden, double bass
James Nadien, drums
Guests
Kip Zimmerman, oboe, English horn
Helen Wargelin, French horn
Leonard Fu, Caroline Jesalva, Lucy Little, Hannah Price, violin
Julian Seney, viola
Giulia Haible, cello
Hannah Cope Johnson, harpEnsembles- NEC Jazz Orchestra
Artists- Ken Schaphorst, director
Robert Schumann | Piano Quartet in E-flat major, op. 47
Sostenuto assai - Allegro ma non troppo
Scherzo: Molto vivace - Trio I - Trio II
Andante cantabile
Finale: VivaceARTISTS
Pei-Shan Lee, piano
Donald Weilerstein, violin
Roger Tapping, viola
Natasha Brofsky, cello