Mimi Stillman, Artistic Director

Dolce Suono Trio Dolce Suono Trio Dolce Suono Trio Dolce Suono Trio

Classics and CommissionsClassics and CommissionsClassics and CommissionsClassics and Commissions

Sunday, October 14, 2018 at 3:00pm

Trinity Center for Urban Life

22nd and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia

Dolce Suono Ensemble Presents

Dolce Suono Trio Classics and Commissions

Mimi Stillman, flute

Nathan Vickery, cello

Charles Abramovic, piano

Trio for Flute, Cello, and Piano Bohuslav Martinu (1890-1959)

Poco Allegretto

Adagio

Andante – Allegretto scherzando

Paean, Epitaph, and Dithyramb from Ode Jeremy Gill (1975)

Viaje for Flute, Cello, and Piano Zhou Tian (1981)

Stillman, Vickery, Abramovic

Intermission

Piano Trio #1 in D Minor, Op. 49 Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

Molto allegro agitato

Andante con moto tranquillo

Scherzo: Leggiero e vivace

Finale: Allegro assai appassionato

Overture to “Candide” * Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)

(arr. Abramovic)

Stillman, Vickery, Abramovic

* premiere of new arrangement

About the Program

Welcome to Dolce Suono Ensemble’s 2018-2019 season! We are delighted to open DSE Presents with our

flagship ensemble Dolce Suono Trio, whose latest album “American Canvas” is under consideration in two

Grammy categories this year. Our program “Dolce Suono Trio Classics and Commissions” spans standard

repertoire by Mendelssohn and Martinu, two of our marvelous commissions by Jeremy Gill and Zhou Tian

highlighting our enthusiasm for the creation of major new works through our commissioning program, and

a new arrangement by our pianist Charles Abramovic of the overture to Candide in celebration of the

centennial of Leonard Bernstein in 2018. Please join us throughout our season as we launch two exciting

major projects: “Fall for Chamber Music” supported by a grant from the William Penn Foundation and

“Rediscoveries: Festival of American Chamber Music,” for which we were awarded a grant from the

National Endowment for the Arts, and programs devoted to great wind quintets, our annual Baroque

concert “The Lure of Paris,” and more.

Bohuslav Martinu, Trio for Flute, Cello, and Piano (1944)

Bohuslav Martinu was a Czech composer who took refuge in the United States from the upheaval of World

War II. He was very prolific – 15 operas, 6 symphonies, 14 ballets, and numerous orchestral, chamber, and

solo works. Martinu settled in Paris in 1923, where he encountered modernist styles such as expressionism,

was influenced by jazz, and embraced aspects of Stravinsky’s neoclassicism. In 1941, he and his wife

emigrated to the United States where Martinu received major commissions and performances and taught

at Tanglewood, Mannes, and Princeton. Among his students were Alan Hovhaness, Chou Wen-chung, and

Burt Bacharach. Written in 1944, the Trio for Flute, Cello, and Piano is a major work in the repertoire for

this trio combination, substantial in scope and substance. The Poco allegretto opens in a lively way typical

of Martinu’s style. Brief motifs repeat and serve as units in more extended sequences, creating a brilliance

born of speed and rhythmic drive. The Adagio is lyrical and poignant, seemingly blossoming from a

mysterious beginning to a soaring climax and a tranquil close. The finale begins with an Andante for solo

flute which introduces the Allegretto scherzando, a sparkling, energetic movement in which a C Major

section surrounds a contrasting, waltz-like portion before the work comes to a festive close.

Felix Mendelssohn, Piano Trio #1 in D Minor, Op. 49 (1839)

Felix Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio #1 in D Minor is one of the most beloved works in the piano trio genre and

one of Mendelssohn’s most popular chamber works. This piece and Mendelssohn’s Octet for Strings, Op. 20

tied for 6th place in Dolce Suono Ensemble’s Chamber Music Top Twenty poll as part of our new “Fall for

Chamber Music” project launching this October. This grand work is a tour de force for the ensemble, with a

particularly demanding piano part. The first movement blends gravitas and tenderness; the second is a

particularly moving movement in a lyrical vein reminiscent of Mendelssohn’s songs without words; the

third has the vivacity and exquisite lightness characteristic of the composer’s scherzos, like the famous one

from the overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the vibrant finale in rondo form builds to a climactic

finish in D Major.

Why am I playing one of the world’s best-known piano trios on flute? For the first English publication of the

work in 1840, Mendelssohn was asked to prepare a flute version as an alternative to the violin part. In a

letter to the composer, Edward Buxton, owner of the publishing house J.J. Ewer & Co., explained that “a

separate flute arrangement is indispensable in this country.” The flute was extremely popular among

amateur musicians in England. Mendelssohn subsequently wrote his friend, the pianist and composer Ignaz

Moscheles, suggesting that the second and third movements be arranged for flute, asking Moscheles’s

advice on this and leaving the question up to him and Buxton. The first English edition included a flute part

for all four movements, but was subsequently lost and only rediscovered in the 1990s. There is no extant

autograph of the flute part, but copies of the first publication are held at the Bodleian Library at Oxford

University. I often make arrangements of works for my instrument but I never would have arranged this

piano trio without knowing that it had Mendelssohn’s imprimatur. I am overjoyed by this discovery.

—Mimi Stillman

Zhou Tian, Viaje (2015)

Viaje (Voyage) was commissioned by Dolce Suono Ensemble, with a grant from the National Endowment

for the Arts. My gratitude goes to Mimi Stillman, without whose awesome musicianship and commitment

the work would not have been possible. Experiencing Spain for the first time and learning about the

legendary Spanish nobleman and military leader El Cid (c. 1040-1099) inspired me to compose this 9-minute

thrill ride. I was particularly drawn to the relationship between El Cid and his two daughters as they went

through an innocent childhood, separation, distrust, and finally, reunion. I imagined the flute as the voice of

the daughters and the cello as the voice of their father. A musical dialogue between the two instruments

emerges in the middle of the piece, as if recalling a long-overdue conversation between father and

daughters. It wasn’t until the piece was finished that I realized that I had unconsciously married my musical

roots as a Chinese-American with my new found love of Spanish music.

"Viaje fused the composer's Chinese-American sensibility with the lore of ancient Spain so convincingly that

the exotic flute solos for Mimi Stillman sounded like the most natural thing in the world" (The Philadelphia

Inquirer).—Zhou Tian

Jeremy Gill, Paean, Epitaph, and Dithyramb (2008)

Paean, Epitaph, and Dithyramb is a set of three instrumental movements excerpted from Ode (2008). Ode

is an exploration of Greek lyric poetic forms, including two heard here: the dithyramb, honoring the wild

Dionysus; and the paean, honoring the healer, Apollo. Together with the ode and hymn (sung by mezzo-

soprano in the complete Ode), these constituted the principal lyric poetic forms of Ancient Greece.

An epitaph was, as now, an inscription or eulogy to one deceased. In this work, it is given by the flute

alone—an extended solo bordered by movements for the full ensemble of flute (doubling piccolo), cello,

and piano.

There are echoes of other musics throughout Paean, Epitaph, and Dithyramb: bits of Monteverdi (Orfeo),

Puccini (Tosca), Mahler (Rückert Lieder), and others. Each of these is fragmented, as if each were being

heard centuries from now, in part, without context, their meanings largely obscured and only sensed, not

known. – Jeremy Gill

Leonard Bernstein, Overture to “Candide” (1956), arranged by Charles Abramovic

Leonard Bernstein’s music to “Candide” straddles the worlds of opera, operetta, and musical theater. It is

an intellectual and musical delight based on the great satire of Voltaire, with an original libretto by Lillian

Hellman. The full work has had a mixed history of success, but is now considered one of Bernstein’s

masterpieces. The rollicking overture has been a staple of the orchestral repertoire since its first

performance in 1956. There are several musical ideas from the show that find their way into the overture,

the most prominent being the duet between Candide and Cunegonde, one of Bernstein’s best tunes. Full of

rhythmic and melodic invention, brilliant orchestration, and high spirits, this overture continues to be one

of Bernstein’s most popular works. – Charles Abramovic

The Artists

DOLCE SUONO TRIO, Dolce Suono Ensemble’s’ high-profile trio of flute, cello, and piano, evolved

organically from the longstanding collaboration of flutist Mimi Stillman and pianist Charles Abramovic

joined by cellist Nathan Vickery to explore and expand the repertoire of this captivating combination.

Dolce Suono Trio is renowned for its contributions to the repertoire through its arrangements and

commissions, the latter including works by Pulitzer Prize-winning composers Jennifer Higdon and Shulamit

Ran and Grammy-winning composer Richard Danielpour. Its most recent album “American Canvas”

features four premieres by Higdon, Ran, Zhou Tian, and Andrea Clearfield, with acclaimed soprano Lucy

Shelton. “The three were flawlessly in sync – even their trills!” (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

“Dazzling performances of brilliant new works” (The New York Sun)

The trio’s innovative program Música en tus Manos (Music in Your Hands) combines its engagement

initiative with the Latino community of Philadelphia with programming that includes chamber and popular

music from Spain and the Americas.

Dolce Suono Trio has enthralled audiences at venues including the Smithsonian American Art Museum,

Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Southern Exposure New Music Series (SC), Princeton and Cornell

Universities, Bard, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, and Franklin and Marshall Colleges, Great Hall Series (MA),

Symphony Space (NY), and Brooklyn’s Roulette. The trio was invited to perform a gala concert featuring

Jennifer Higdon's “American Canvas” at the Brandywine River Museum for the Andrew Wyeth: In

Retrospect centennial exhibit. Dolce Suono Trio's residencies have included Kingston Chamber Music

Festival, Lake George Music Festival, Friends of Chamber Music of Reading, and the Dolce Suono Ensemble

Steven Stucky Young Composers Competition.

Mimi Stillman, flute

“A consummate and charismatic performer” (The New York Times); Founding Artistic Director, Dolce Suono

Ensemble; Yamaha Performing Artist, author on music and history, recording artist; Soloist with The

Philadelphia Orchestra, Bach Collegium Stuttgart, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Chamber Orchestra

of Indianapolis, Orquesta Sinfónica de Yucatán, and at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, La Jolla Chamber

Music Festival, Verbier Festival. BM, Curtis Institute of Music, MA in history, University of Pennsylvania;

Faculty, Temple University, Curtis Summerfest, Music for All National Festival. www.mimistillman.com

Nathan Vickery, cello

Member of the New York Philharmonic; performs on the Philharmonic’s Ensembles chamber series and

CONTACT! new music series; Soloist with Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, recitals and chamber music at

festivals including the Marlboro Chamber Music Festival, Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, and the Chamber

Music Workshop at the Perlman Music Festival, as well as throughout Europe with Curtis on Tour; appeared

on NPR’s From the Top and won Second International David Popper Cello Competition (Hungary); BM,

Curtis Institute of Music.

Charles Abramovic, piano

“Sensitive orchestra-invoking powers on piano” (The Philadelphia Inquirer); Solo, chamber, and recording

artist, composer; Performances with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, and at international

festivals in Berlin, Salzburg, Bermuda, Dubrovnik, Aspen and Vancouver; Recordings of the works of Babbitt,

Schuller, and Schwantner; BM, Curtis Institute of Music, MA, Peabody Conservatory, DMA, Temple

University; Professor of Keyboard Studies, Temple University.

DOLCE SUONO ENSEMBLE has been thrilling audiences and invigorating the music world since its founding

by flutist and Artistic Director Mimi Stillman in 2005. Hailed as “an adventurous ensemble” (The New York

Times) and “One of the most dynamic groups in the US!” (The Huffington Post), the ensemble presents

critically acclaimed chamber music concerts on its home series in Philadelphia, performs on tour,

commissions important new works, makes recordings, and engages in community engagement

partnerships.

Dolce Suono Ensemble presents dynamic and innovative programs of Baroque to new repertoire

with historian Mimi Stillman’s curatorial vision setting the music in its broadest cultural context. Some of its

artistically and intellectually powerful projects include the celebrated Mahler 100 / Schoenberg 60, Debussy

in Our Midst: A Celebration of the 150th Anniversary of Claude Debussy, A Place and a Name: Remembering

the Holocaust, Dolce Suono Ensemble Goes to the Opera, Women Pioneers of American Music, and Música

en tus Manos (Music in Your Hands), our engagement initiative with the Latino Community. “All programs

should have this much to say and say it so well.” (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

Dolce Suono Ensemble has performed at venues including Merkin Hall, Smithsonian American Art

Museum, Southern Exposure New Music Series (SC), Brooklyn’s Roulette, University of Pennsylvania,

Brandywine River Museum, University of Virginia, Symphony Space, Great Hall Series (MA), Philadelphia

Chamber Music Society, University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill, Bard College, Eastman School of Music,

Virginia Tech, Kingston Chamber Music Festival, Princeton University, Brandeis University, and Cornell

University. The ensemble enjoys a partnership with the Washington National Opera Domingo-Cafritz Young

Artist Program at the invitation of Plácido Domingo.

Dolce Suono Ensemble has contributed major new works to the chamber music repertoire through

commissioning, giving 53 world premieres in 13 seasons. Some of today’s most eminent composers have

written for the ensemble including Jennifer Higdon, Steven Stucky, Shulamit Ran, Richard Danielpour,

Steven Mackey, David Ludwig, and Zhou Tian. The ensemble’s recordings Freedom, music for flute, piano,

and the human spirit, Odyssey: 11 American Premieres, both featuring Mimi Stillman, flute and Charles

Abramovic, piano, and American Canvas featuring Dolce Suono Trio (Innova Recordings), have been

critically acclaimed. Dolce Suono Ensemble concerts and recordings are broadcast internationally.

The ensemble has won grant awards including from the National Endowment for the Arts, William

Penn Foundation, Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia, The Presser Foundation, Pew Center for Arts &

Heritage, Koussevitzky Music Foundation, Fromm Music Foundation, and the Knight Foundation.

www.dolcesuono.com

Check out American Canvas, Dolce Suono

Trio’s latest recording for Innova!

Featuring Dolce Suono Trio, soprano Lucy

Shelton, and four premieres by celebrated

composers Jennifer Higdon, Shulamit Ran,

Andrea Clearfield, and Zhou Tian. Available

at Innova Recordings, Amazon, iTunes,

AppleMusic, Spotify, etc.

Fall for Chamber Music Launch Concert

Wednesday, October 24, 2018 at 7:00pm

Free Library of Philadelphia Central Branch,

1901 Vine Street, Philadelphia

At this free concert, DSE artists will perform selections

from the winning works in our Chamber Music Top

Twenty poll!

Mimi Stillman, flute - Ricardo Morales, clarinet - Amy

Oshiro-Morales, violin - Brandon Garbot, violin - Che-

Hung Chen, viola - Arlen Hlusko, cello - Mary Javian, bass

- Charles Abramovic, piano

"Fall for Chamber Music" is our new 3-year project supported by the William Penn

Foundation with the goal of engaging new audiences in chamber music.

Performances and coachings will take place at Philadelphia's civic venues - the

Free Library Central Branch and Christ Church Neighborhood House.

Dolce Suono Ensemble’s Sponsor an Artist Program

With gratitude to our generous Artist Sponsors:

James and Carolyn Barnshaw and Robert Wallner – Mimi Stillman, flute; Vincent and Lila Russo – Nathan

Vickery, cello; Alton Sutnick and Society Hill Neighbors – Charles Abramovic, piano; Terri and Mark

Steinberg – Ricardo Morales, clarinet; William A. Loeb – Sarah Shafer, soprano; Barbara and Matt Cohen –

Kerri Ryan, viola; Kenneth Hutchins – William Polk, violin; Joel and Bobbie Porter – Doris Hall-Gulati,

clarinet; Jonathan Tobin – William Short, bassoon

Contact us for information about sponsoring an artist! info@dolcesuono.com / 267-252-1803

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Acknowledgments Steinway piano selected from Jacobs Music Company, our Season Sponsor. With gratitude to the Dolce Suono

Ensemble Board of Directors, and especially Chairman Ronni L. Gordon, for their steadfast support and vision. Thank you

to Terry Sikora at Jacobs Music; Ron and Raquel Lane, publicity support; David Osenberg, Host and Music Director, and

Ross Amico, Host, WWFM The Classical Network, for broadcasting DSE Presents concerts; Michael Rathke and Susan

Lewus at WRTI Radio for hosting Dolce Suono Ensemble in live broadcast previews for DSE Presents concerts.

Dolce Suono Ensemble is grateful to its corporate, foundation, and private sponsors:

National Endowment for the Arts, William Penn Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and Greater Philadelphia

Cultural Alliance, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, The Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia, The Presser Foundation, Yamaha

Corporation of America, MKM Foundation, Christian Humann Foundation

Anonymous—Alison Anderson—Charles Abramovic and Heidi Jacob—Jacqueline Axilbund—Sheila S. Bassman—Sarah

and Roger Blood—Melissa and David Bonenberger—Peter and Miriam Burwasser—Lisa and Charles Carmalt—Fang

Man—Robert Gordon—Penina Gould—Bonny Hohenberger and Nathan Farbman—Mary and Keith Johnson—Nancy

and Richard Kauffman—Jeff and Holly Kofsky—Carol Kujawa—Monica Kulaski—Matthew Levy—Solomon Moses

Hope Punnett—Richard Reicherter—Martin Rosenberg and Ellen Fennick—Lionel Ruberg—Robert and Sally Salon

Rheta Smith—Shirley Smith—Roland Smith and Lu Qingqing—June Zaccone—Benjamin Zuckerman

Project Leaders Circle

Anthony Brown—Jan Krzywicki—Doris Dabrowski—Deborah Somers Eichman and John Eichman—Janice Gordon

Keith Hansen— Olive Mosier—Paul Merluzzi—Larry Pethick— Tom Purdom—Dianne Stillman and Robert Greene

Alton Sutnick—Carol and George Weinbaum—Thomas Whitman

Ambassadors Circle

Ruth Baker—Barbara and Matt Cohen— John and Eugenie Esser—Marilyn Fishman and James Macelderry—Nancy W.

Hess—The Humann Family—Kenneth Hutchins—Reinhard and Sue D. Kruse—Raquel Benabe-Lane and Ron Lane

Sherman Leis—William Morris—Ann Moskow—Barbara Moskow—Marie O’Donnell and Bruce Satalof—Joel and

Roberta Porter—Vince and Lila Russo—Terri and Mark Steinberg—David M. Stillman—David Tamaccio—Jonathan S.

Tobin—Anne O’Donnell Vogelmann—Robert Wallner—Carol Westfall

Mimi Stillman, Artistic Director

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Ronni L. Gordon, Chairman

James Barnshaw

Stuart Fleming

William A. Loeb

Robert McShea

Ralph Rosen

Ann Saul

Alexander T. Stillman

Mimi Stillman

William Ward

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* Visit our website www.dolcesuono.com and follow links to our blog, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter for

recordings, videos, and news. Our CDs and other merchandise are available online.

* Sign up for our e-mail list to receive concert announcements and news by emailing us at info@dolcesuono.com.

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Please donate online through PayPal by following the “Support DSE” link at www.dolcesuono.com or

send your tax-deductible contributions to:

Mimi Stillman, Artistic Director

Dolce Suono Ensemble

135 N. 22nd St.

Philadelphia, PA 19103

Dolce Suono Ensemble, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization

The official registration and financial information of Dolce Suono Ensemble, Inc.

may be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling toll-free, within Pennsylvania, 1-800-732-0999.

Registration does not imply endorsement

BOARD OF ADVISORS

George Crumb

Richard Danielpour

David Devan

Plácido Domingo

Gary Graffman

Jennifer Higdon

Jeffrey Khaner

Jaime Laredo

Philip Maneval

Nello McDaniel

Shulamit Ran

Sharon Robinson

Steven Stucky *

Michael Tree *

Susan Wadsworth

Elizabeth Warshawer

John Wittmann

* in memoriam

135 N. 22nd St.

Philadelphia, PA 19103

267-252-1803 www.dolcesuono.com