92nd Street Y Announces In-Person Spring Classical Concert Season

The 92nd Street Y, one of New York's leading cultural venues, announces its spring classical concert season. With 18 concerts, the spring season includes two appearances by world-renowned pianist Angela Hewitt; two performances by The Knights as 92Y's inaugural Ensemble in Residence; the eagerly anticipated New York City main stage debut of pianist Eric Lu; the Grammy Award-nominated Israeli mandolin wizard Avi Avital; two co-presentations with the New York Philharmonic; and the return of guitarist Pablo Sainz-Villegas. Concerts are for fully vaccinated audiences. For more information, including purchasing tickets and COVID-19 protocols for in-person performances, please visit 92Y.org/Concerts.

The season will feature one of the first NYC performances of the Gateways Music Festival, co-presented by 92Y, presenting works reflecting on the theme of enslavement; the New York premiere of 92Y co-commission, Dido Reimagined by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Melinda Wagner, performed by the Brentano String Quartet and soprano Dawn Upshaw; the world premieres of Cazon's Revenge by Gonzalo Grau and Arum der Fayer by Osvaldo Golijov, both for mandolin and string quartet, performed by Brooklyn Rider; the New York premiere of A Shattered Vessel by Richard Danielpour, performed by an ensemble from the Curtis Institute of Music; the New York premiere of Acabris! Acabras! Acabram! written and performed by Stewart Goodyear; and award-winning composer Joel Thompson's In Response to the Madness, performed by the New York Philharmonic String Quartet. 

The Tisch Spring 2022 Classical Concert Season:

THE KNIGHTS

ERIC JACOBSEN, conductor

AARON DIEHL, piano

Wednesday, January 19, 2021, 7:30 PM

Pianist Aaron Diehl joins The Knights for a pair of works probing the interconnectivity of jazz and classical music: Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and Mary Lou Williams' Zodiac Suite. The program also features The Knights' coupling of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 with selections from Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin. Stravinsky's Firebird Suite closes this program.

Eric Jacobsen, conductor

Aaron Diehl, piano

BACH: "Brandenburg" Concerto No. 3 in G Major, BWV 1048

RAVEL: Selections from Le Tombeau de Couperin 

GERSHWIN: Rhapsody in Blue (arr. Atkinson)

Mary Lou WILLIAMS: Selections from Zodiac Suite 

STRAVINSKY: Firebird Suite (arr. Atkinson)

STEVEN ISSERLIS, cello

CONNIE SHIH, piano

Thursday, January 27, 2022, 7:30 PM

World-renowned cellist Steven Isserlis and award-winning pianist Connie Shih perform a rich program of Russian jewels including two of the great works for cello – Shostakovich's D-minor Sonata, and the sonata by Rachmaninoff. Opening the concert is Kabalevsky's 1962 sonata, written for Mstislav Rostropovich.

KABALEVSKY: Cello Sonata in B-flat Major, Op. 71

SHOSTAKOVICH: Cello Sonata in D Minor, Op. 40

RACHMANINOFF: Cello Sonata in G Minor, Op. 19

CURTIS INSTITUTE AT 92Y

IDA KAVAFIAN, violin

LUN LI, violin

CARA POGOSSIAN, viola

PETER WILEY, cello

FRANCIS CARR, cello

Friday, February 18, 2022, 7:30 PM

In this first concert in a new alliance between 92Y and the world-renowned Curtis Institute of Music, an ensemble comprising esteemed faculty – including Ida Kavafian on violin and Peter Wiley on cello – and recent alumni of Curtis perform Schubert's C-Major Quintet. The quintet is followed by the New York premiere of a new work by another member of Curtis' faculty, with Grammy Award-winning composer Richard Danielpour's A Shattered Vessel. Written 190 years after the Schubert work for the same instrumentation of two violins, viola and two cellos, A Shattered Vessel contemplates crisis and struggle, loss and healing, renewal and gratitude. Curtis on Tour is the Nina von Maltzahn Global Touring Initiative of the Curtis Institute of Music.

RICHARD DANIELPOUR: A Shattered Vessel (NY Premiere)

SCHUBERT: String Quintet in C Major, D. 956

KIRILL GERSTEIN, piano

GARRICK OHLSSON, piano

Friday, February 25, 2022, 7:30 PM

World-renowned piano virtuosos Kirill Gerstein and Garrick Ohlsson combine forces for a two-piano concert featuring great showpieces of the duo-piano repertoire. Their program includes Busoni's transcription of the finale of Mozart's F-Major Piano Concerto, the two-piano version of Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances, Busoni's Fantasia Contrappuntistica – conjuring Bach with a 20th century sensibility – and Ravel's La Valse in its two-piano version.

THOMAS ADÈS: Powder Her Face Suite

RACHMANINOFF: Symphonic Dances

BUSONI: Fantasia Contrappuntistica 

RAVEL: La Valse

ANGELA HEWITT, piano

BACH ODYSSEY XI

Wednesday, March 2, 2022, 7:30 PM

World-renowned pianist Angela Hewitt returns to 92Y's stage for the final two concerts in her acclaimed – and pandemic-interrupted – four-year Bach Odyssey, performing all of the composer's keyboard works. For this penultimate concert, Hewitt performs two of Bach's best-known keyboard works, his monumental French Overture and the iconic Italian Concerto, homages to the musical style of each country, along with several of his small works, including the "little" preludes.

BACH: Four Duets, BWV 802-805 

Eighteen "Little" Preludes

Fantasia and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 944 

Italian Concerto in F Major, BWV 971 

French Overture in B Minor, BWV 831

ANGELA HEWITT, piano

BACH ODYSSEY XII

The Art of Fugue

Saturday, March 5, 2022, 8 PM

The long-awaited finale in the four-year Bach Odyssey that Angela Hewitt began in 2016 presents the composer's ultimate and final masterpiece, The Art of Fugue. Hewitt brings new revelations to Bach at his most complex in this culminating presentation in the odyssey of the Bach pianist of our time.

BACH: Art of Fugue, BWV 1080

MUSICIANS FROM THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC

GILLES VONSATTEL, piano

SHERYL STAPLES, violin

REBECCA YOUNG, viola

EILEEN MOON-MYERS, cello

Sunday, March 6, 2022, 3 PM

92Y continues its collaboration with the New York Philharmonic with an extension of the orchestra's new Schumann Connection series centered on the music of Robert Schumann and new works reflecting on the Robert-Clara relationship. This intimate chamber music concert, featuring musicians from the New York Philharmonic and award-winning pianist Gilles Vonsattel, explores the intimacy of the Clara Schumann/Brahms connection. Featuring a selection of Clara Schumann's solo piano works and her Three Romances, Op. 22, juxtaposed with Brahms' C-Minor Piano Quartet, which magnificently captures his unrequited love for Clara in music. Also on the program, an early Beethoven work, the composer's G-Major String Trio. 

C. SCHUMANN Notturno, Op. 6, No. 2

C. SCHUMANN Scherzo No. 2, Op. 14

BEETHOVEN: String Trio in G Major, Op. 9, No. 1 

C. SCHUMANN: Three Pieces for violin and piano, Op. 22 

BRAHMS: Piano Quartet No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 60 

BROOKLYN RIDER

AVI AVITAL, mandolin

Tuesday, March 15, 2022, 7:30 PM

Grammy-nominated Israeli mandolinist Avi Avital teams up with the string quartet Brooklyn Rider (two of its four members are also with The Knights) for a program that traverses late 18th century Spanish-inflected Boccherini, a powerful contemporary statement about the US-Mexico border crisis by Matan Roberts, selections by Bach, a world premiere by internationally renowned Argentine composer Osvaldo Golijov and more, concluding with a tarantella by Lev "Lyova" Zhurbin,

BOCCHERINI: La Musica Notturna Ritratta di Madrid 

SOLLIMA: Prelude for solo mandolin

MATANA ROBERTS: borderlands... 

COLIN JACOBSEN: Time and Again

BACH: selected Sinfonias and Inventions

GONZALO GRAU: Cazon's Revenge, world premiere for mandolin and string quartet 

OSVALDO GOLIJOV: Arum der Fayer, world premiere for mandolin and string quartet

LEV ZHURBIN: Love Potion, Expired

RAFAŁ BLECHACZ, piano

Tue, Mar 29, 2022, 7:30 pm

Young Polish pianist and International Chopin Competition winner Rafał Blechacz returns to the 92Y stage with a program of works moving from Bach to early and middle Beethoven, chronicling a musical evolution of works composed in C minor before an exploration of B-minor works, with Bach-inspired Franck building to one of Chopin's all-time great piano compositions, his Third Sonata.

BACH: Partita No. 2 in C Minor, BWV 826

BEETHOVEN: Sonata in C Minor, Op. 10, No. 1

BEETHOVEN: 32 Variations on an original theme in C Minor, WoO.80

FRANCK: Prelude, Fugue and Variations in B Minor, Op. 18 (trans. Bauer)

CHOPIN: Sonata No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 58

PABLO SAINZ-VILLEGAS, guitar

Saturday, April 2, 2022, 8 PM

Pablo Sainz-Villegas returns to the stage that launched his US career. Performing selections by Granados, Rodrigo, Tárrega, Albéniz and more, this program showcases the brilliant technique, deep musicality and passionate intensity that define the Spanish guitar artform.

ALBÉNIZ: Sevilla

GRANADOS: Danza Española No. 10, "Danza Melancólica"

      Danza Española No. 5, "Andaluza"

RODRIGO: Invocación y Danza

   Homage to Manuel de Falla –

TÁRREGA: Capricho Árabe

     Lágrima

   Adelita 

ALBÉNIZ: Torre Bermeja - Piezas Características

   Mallorca, "Barcarola"

   Asturias, "Leyenda"

   Suite Española 

GIMENEZ: La boda de Luis Alonso

BRENTANO STRING QUARTET

DAWN UPSHAW, soprano

DIDO REIMAGINED 

Sunday, April 3, 2022, 3 PM

Dido – the proud, heroic mythological figure brought down by love – is the inspiration behind this musical exploration of her story and character by the Brentano Quartet and soprano Dawn Upshaw. The program begins with songs by Purcell and his Baroque contemporaries, including "Dido's Lament," interspersed with string quartet iterations of early English works for consort of viols. The program then leaps forward nearly 350 years to the New York premiere of a new work by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Melinda Wagner. Dido Reimagined is Wagner's new consideration of Dido, looking anew at her psyche, her vulnerability, her strength, and her choices. The concert continues the Brentano Quartet's artistic collaboration with Dawn Upshaw and the unusual pairing of soprano and string quartet.

PURCELL: Oh let me weep

PURCELL: Fantasia No. 5

LOCKE: Suite No. 2 for four viols: Fantazie

DOWLAND: Come again, sweet love doth now invite

LOCKE: Suite No. 2: Courante

DOWLAND: Can she excuse my wrongs

LOCKE: Suite No. 2: Ayre

DOWLAND: Weep you no more, sad fountains

LOCKE: Suite No. 2: Saraband

TOMKINS: Aleman 

BYRD: Though Amaryllis dance in green

JOHNSON: The Witty Wanton

PURCELL: Fantasia No. 7

PURCELL: Dido's Lament

MELINDA WAGNER: Dido Reimagined (NY Premiere; 92Y co-commission)

STEWART GOODYEAR, piano

Saturday, April 9, 2022, 8 PM

Canadian pianist Stewart Goodyear returns to the 92Y stage to perform the New York premiere of his own composition, Acabris! Acabras! Acabram!, modeled on a French-Canadian folktale; Beethoven's Diabelli Variations; Bach's French Suite in G Major; and Joseph Bologne's Adagio in F minor.

STEWART GOODYEAR: Acabris! Acabras! Acabram! (NY Premiere)

BOLOGNE: Adagio in F minor

BACH: French Suite No. 5 in G Major, BWV 816

BEETHOVEN: 33 Variations on a waltz by Anton Diabelli, Op. 120

TAKÁCS QUARTET

JULIEN LABRO, bandoneon 

Wednesday, April 20, 2022, 7:30 PM

Bandoneon player Julien Labro joins the Takács Quartet for a program blending new works with a Ravel masterpiece. Labro joins the quartet for new works by contemporary composers Bryce Dessner and Clarice Assad, and performs a short solo set displaying the heartbeat of tango. The Takács is featured in Ravel's String Quartet.

BRYCE DESSNER: Circles for bandoneon and string quartet (NY Premiere)

JULIEN LABRO: Meditation #1 for bandoneon and string quartet (NY Premiere)

SELECTED SOLO WORKS for bandoneon and accordina

RAVEL: String Quartet in F Major

CLARICE ASSAD: Clash for bandoneon and string quartet (NY Premiere)

THE MARIAN ANDERSON STRING QUARTET

Co-presented with the GATEWAYS MUSIC FESTIVAL 

Friday, April 22, 2022, 7:30 PM

In collaboration with the renowned Eastman School of Music's Gateways Music Festival's "Around the Town" Series, the award-winning Marian Anderson String Quartet presents a concert in the intimate Buttenwieser Hall. The critically-acclaimed all-female ensemble has performed at presidential inaugurations, the Library of Congress and more, making history in 1991 when they won the International Cleveland Quartet Competition – the first African American ensemble to win a classical music competition.

"On Being Enslaved"

RHIANNON GIDDENS: At the Purchaser's Option with Variations (arr. J. Garchik)     

JONATHAN MCNAIR: Follow the Drinking Gourd                                     

SAMUEL ADLER: In Memoriam: Marian Anderson    

DAVID WALLACE: In Honor of Marian Anderson                                                        

ANTONIN DVOŘÁK: String Quartet No. 12 in F Major, Op. 96 "American"    

JOHN ROSAMON JOHNSON: Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing (arr. J.W. Johnson)

THE KNIGHTS

ERIC JACOBSEN, conductor

EDGAR MEYER, double bass 

Saturday, April 30, 2022, 8 PM

Double bassist and composer Edgar Meyer earned a MacArthur "Genius" Award for his work fusing classical and bluegrass forms and styles into his own uniquely American music. He joins The Knights for the New York premiere of his second concerto. The concert opens with a performance of Jamaican-born British composer Eleanor Alberga's Shining Gates of Morpheus. Closing it and continuing the American character of Meyer's work is Copland's Appalachian Spring.

Eric Jacobsen, conductor

Edgar Meyer, bass

David Byrd-Marrow, French horn

ELEANOR ALBERGA: Shining Gates of Morpheus

EDGAR MEYER: Concerto No. 3 in E Major for Double Bass and Orchestra 

COPLAND: Appalachian Spring

DOVER STRING QUARTET (Curtis)

Friday, May 6, 2022, 7:30 PM

Works of Mozart, Tania León, and more.

ERIC LU, piano

Friday, May 20, 2022, 7:30 PM

Twenty-four-year-old Leeds Competition first prize winner and Chopin Competition prizewinning pianist Eric Lu makes his eagerly anticipated New York City main stage debut with this recital. The centerpiece of his program is Schubert's A-Major Sonata.

CHOPIN: Nocturne in C Minor, Op. 48, No. 1

SCHUMANN: Waldszenen, Op. 82

BRAHMS: Theme with Variations in D Minor, Op. 18b

SCHUBERT: Piano Sonata No. 20 in A Major, D. 959

THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC STRING QUARTET

BEATRICE RANA, piano

Tuesday, June 7, 2022, 7:30 PM

92Y's second co-presentation with the New York Philharmonic this season features the New York Philharmonic String Quartet joined by Beatrice Rana. Their program spans nearly 250 years and focuses on music written in response to dark times and ideas. The concert opens with award-winning contemporary composer Joel Thompson's In Response to the Madness, his quartet capturing the angst of our early 21st century universe. Mozart's "Dissonance" Quartet follows. The program's final work features Rana in her first appearance on the 92Y stage, following her pre-pandemic Carnegie Hall debut.

JOEL THOMPSON: In Response to the Madness 

MOZART: String Quartet in C Major, K. 465 "Dissonance" 

SHOSTAKOVICH: Piano Quintet in G Minor, Op. 57 

About 92nd Street Y:  The 92nd Street Y (92Y) is a world-class center for the arts and innovation, a convener of ideas, and an incubator for creativity. 92Y offers extensive classes, courses and events online including live concerts, talks and master classes; fitness classes for all ages; 250+ art classes, and parenting workshops for new moms and dads. The 92nd Street Y is transforming the way people share ideas and translate them into action all over the world. All of 92Y's programming is built on a foundation of Jewish values, including the capacity of civil dialogue to change minds; the potential of education and the arts to change lives; and a commitment to welcoming and serving people of all ages, races, religions, and ethnicities. For more information, visit http://www.92Y.org.