February 4, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FORT WORTH, TEXAS, February 4, 2010 - Alann Bedford Sampson,
Chairman and Executive pro tem of the Van Cliburn Foundation,
announced the 2010-2011 season of Cliburn Concerts today. The
season will be comprised of six concerts at the acclaimed Nancy Lee
and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall, an organ concert at Broadway
Baptist Church, and three composer-based profile concerts at the
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.
The new season, "Bringing Home the Gold," will include an
exciting combination of Metroplex debuts and exclusive
performances, as well as the return of two winners of the Nancy Lee
and Perry R. Bass Gold Medal.
Cliburn at the Bass subscription packages will be available
later this month. To request a season brochure, please visit www.cliburn.org
and sign the guest book, or call 817.738.6536.
The Cliburn Concerts series, takes place at the Nancy Lee and
Perry R. Bass Performance Hall located at Calhoun and 4th Streets
in downtown Fort Worth. Concerts are held on Tuesday evenings at
7:30 PM. Dr. Carol Reynolds will continue her series of popular
pre-concert informances for ticket holders at 6:30 PM in the Green
Room.
Haochen Zhang, piano
Cliburn Concerts will open on Tuesday, September 14, 2010 at
7:30 PM with a recital given by Haochen Zhang, winner of the 2009
Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Gold Medal. Mr. Zhang returns to Fort
Worth after celebrated performances in New York, San Francisco,
Washington DC, among other prestigious venues nationwide.
International highlights have included a New Year's Eve performance
at the Beijing Music Festival and recitals in Germany and
Poland.
Writing of his appearance on the Steinway Society series in the
Bay Area, The Peninsula Review observed "...by any
standard this was a remarkable and strong performance, and even
more remarkable from one so young. Always we had the impression
that Zhang is a thinking and feeling musician, who never 'just
plays notes,' but one who has a first class mind delving into the
mysteries and intricacies of everything he plays."
Haochen Zhang's program will be announced later this spring.
The Juilliard String Quartet with guest artist, Carol
Wincenc, flute
The second concert, on Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 7:30 PM,
will feature The Juilliard String Quartet with guest artist,
flutist Carol Wincenc. This concert marks the first appearance by
the revered string quartet in Cliburn Concerts history and the
first Metroplex appearance of the quartet in its current iteration
with violinist Nick Eanet leading the ensemble. The Houston
Chronicle reported "Eanet was an assured, engaging leader
capable of meltingly lyrical playing… The three veterans [Ronald
Copes, Samuel Rhodes and Joel Krosnick] played as if their musical
lives are blooming anew."
The winner of the 1978 Naumburg Flute Competition, Carol Wincenc
remains one of the world's most celebrated flutists. The New York
Times describedCarol Wincenc as "an impeccable flute soloist."
In 2009-2010, Miss Wincenc commissioned and performed six new
works for the flute. One of these commissioned works, Joan Tower's
Rising* was composed for the joint forces of The Juilliard
String Quartet and Miss Wincenc and will be the centerpiece of the
program at Bass Performance Hall. The world premiere will take
place March 31, 2010 at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater in The
Juilliard School at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. The
Cliburn Concerts performance will be the first performance of this
work outside of New York City.
Vladimir Feltsman, piano
Vladimir Feltsman returns to Cliburn Concerts for his
unprecedented fourth appearance on Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at
7:30 PM. Mr. Feltsman will perform Mozart's Fantasia in D
minor, K. 397, Schubert's Four Impromptus, Op. 90, D
899, and Chopin's Four Ballades.
Chicago Classical Review previewed the pianist's interpretation
of Schubert's Impromptus, writing that they "fit the Russian's
sensibility especially well, with their singing lines and
hair-trigger emotional gear-shifts. In the first set of four
(D.899), Feltsman had the full measure of this mercurial music,
assaying the imposing technical demands nearly flawlessly and
showing himself in synch with the music's blend of bravura and
stark lyric intimacy."
Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano, with David Zobel,
piano
In a long-anticipated Metroplex debut, mezzo-soprano Joyce
DiDonato will appear in recital with her frequent collaborative
pianist, David Zobel, on Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 7:30 PM. In
demand worldwide for her sparkling coloratura and engaging stage
persona, Miss DiDonato appears at the Lyric Opera Chicago,
Metropolitan Opera, the Opéra national de Paris and La Scala this
season.
The San Francisco Chronicle has written that "Her voice
is plush and rich-hued, with a secure and forceful lower register,
yet it's agile enough to move with easy grace through the most
fleet-footed passagework. Her technical command is prodigious, with
superb dynamic control and effortless precision, and she has a
communicative gift that forges a winning bond with an
audience."
Stephen Hough, piano
Pianist Stephen Hough will give a recital on Tuesday, March 1,
2011 at 7:30 PM in his exclusive Metroplex appearance in the
2010-2011 season. Characterized as a true Renaissance man, in 2001
Mr. Hough was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in
recognition of his contribution to contemporary culture. The
Denver Post wrote, "In a word, Hough's artistic talent is a
gift that can't be created - it just is. And an evening in his
presence at the piano is nothing short of magic."
Mr. Hough's program includes: Beethoven's Sonata in C sharp
minor, Op. 27, No. 2 "Moonlight," Janáček's Sonata
1.x.1905, Scriabin's Sonata No. 4 and No. 5, and Liszt's
Sonata in B minor.
Olga Kern, piano
Cliburn Concerts will culminate with a recital by pianist Olga
Kern on Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 7:30 PM. Miss Kern will return
to the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall to commemorate
the tenth anniversary of her winning the Gold Medal in the Eleventh
Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.
Her all-Russian program will include Shostakovich's Three
Preludes and Fugues, Balakirev's Islamey,
Rachmaninoff's Six Etude Tableaux and Five Preludes, and
Scriabin Sonata No. , Op. 68 "Black Mass" which was
captured on the harmonia mundi recording of her gold medal
performance.
The Washington Post has observed that "Kern's
musicality radiates off the stage and saturates the hall, and it is
joyously alive, immediately communicative, fragrantly sensual, and
almost visual in its intensity. Whatever it is - call it star
quality - music likes Kern the way the camera liked Garbo."
The Cliburn at the Modern series, curated by pianist
Collins-Shields Bray, Artistic Director of Special Projects for the
Van Cliburn Foundation, focuses on composer-based profiles. In the
2010-2011 season, concerts will illuminate the works of composers:
John Musto, William Bolcom, and Joan Tower. Cliburn at the Modern
chamber music performances take place on Saturday afternoons at
2:00 PM at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.
John Musto, composer and piano, with Amy Burton,
soprano
John Musto's composition was brought to the attention of Fort
Worth audiences through Nobuyuki Tsujii's performance of
Improvisation & Fugue which earned the young Japanese
pianist the Beverley Taylor Smith Award for Best Performance of a
New Work at the Thirteenth Van Cliburn International Piano
Competition. Mr. Musto's musical style is wide-ranging, spanning
from his theatrical comic operas to art songs and piano rag. John
Musto, an accomplished pianist, will perform his piano rag, as well
as his art songs with New York City Opera soprano Amy Burton.
Instrumental chamber works will round-out the program on Saturday,
October 30, 2010 at 2:00 PM. Musical America has written
"Musto's many songs are treasures of the American repertory…"
Fanfare has said "...Amy Burton (Musto's muse and life partner)
projects these songs ideally, with stunningly clear diction and
intonation." Instrumentalists to be announced.
William Bolcom, composer and piano, with Joyce Castle,
mezzo-soprano
William Bolcom is one of America's most lauded composers as the
recipient of the National Medal of Arts, Pulitzer Prize and
multiple Grammy Awards, among other distinctions. In 1997 Mr.
Bolcom was commissioned to write Nine Bagatelles by the
Van Cliburn Foundation and received its premiere at the Tenth Van
Cliburn International Piano Competition.
Mr. Bolcom studied composition with French composer Darius
Milhaud. This program will explore the influence of French
composition on this most American of composers.
His vocal chamber work, The Hawthorn Tree* will be
premiered in fall 2010 in New York at the Morgan Library, and will
receive its Midwest premiere at Cliburn at the Modern. The
Hawthorn Tree, which was given its title by a Willa Cather
poem, was commissioned for Joyce Castle in celebration of her ruby
anniversary as a performer. Miss Castle, a native of Beaumont,
Texas, was an American in Paris for six years and has performed
French operatic repertoire extensively in her career. Recently New
York theater audiences enjoyed Belle Epoque in which she
portrayedthe chanteuse, Yvette Gilbert, who inspired the painter
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. International Opera wrote
"Joyce Castle has what it takes: the inflections, the voice color,
the stage presence, and her talent as an actress."
The program on Saturday, January 29, 2011 at 2:00 PM will
include: Bolcom The Hawthorn Tree, Octet: Double Quartet,
and Cabaret Songs, Milhaud: Double Quartet, and
Chansons de Joseph Kosma Sur des Poems de Jacques Prévert.
Instrumentalists to be announced.
Joan Tower with Eugenia Zukerman, flute
Joan Tower's music, which is influenced by the rhythms of her
childhood in South America and her own training as a pianist, is
accessible to both performers and audiences alike. The universal
appeal of her compositions was recognized when she was the first
composer chosen for a Ford "Made in America" consortium commission.
Its top-selling recording won three 2008 Grammy awards, including
Best Classical Contemporary Composition.
Celebrated flutist Eugenia Zukerman will join this Cliburn at
the Modern program exploring the range of Joan Tower's chamber
compositions. The concert on Saturday, April 2, 2011 at 2:00 PM
will build on the audience experience with her work Rising
performed as part of the Juilliard String Quartet performance with
Carol Wincenc at Bass Hall earlier in the season. Additional
instrumentalists to be announced.
*Joan Tower's Rising and William Bolcom's The
Hawthorn Tree were commissioned by Backshore Artists Projects,
Inc. and funded by a generous grant from Linda and Stuart
Nelson.
Dong-Ill Shin, organ
A special keyboard performance will feature Dong-Ill Shin,
performing on the The Rildia Bee O'Bryan Cliburn Organ at Broadway
Baptist Church on Sunday, January 23, 2011 at 4:00 PM. The winner
of the 20th Grand Prix de Chartres International Organ Competition
in 2006, organist Dong-Ill Shin's accomplishments are recognized
worldwide. He is also a prize winner of the Musashino-Tokyo
International Organ Competition, Ciurlionis International Piano and
Organ Competition, Lithuania and the 51st Prague Spring
International Music Festival and Competition, and the 21st St.
Albans International Organ Competition in Great Britain. Dong-Ill
Shin is currently the Organist and Artist-in-Residence at First
United Methodist Church of Hurst, Texas and adjunct professor of
organ at Texas Wesleyan University.
Mr. Shin studied at the Conservatoire Nationale Superieur de
Musique de Paris in the prestigious Cycle de Perfectionnement
program and has an affinity for the French repertoire. His program
will include organ works by Jehan Alain, César Franck,
Charles-Marie Widor, and William Bolcom who will attend the
performance. The organ recital will be followed by a Question &
Answer Session with Mr. Shin and Mr. Bolcom.
Dong-Ill Shin has been commended for his "exquisite lyricism and
flawless technique," by Havre Libre, France.
PERFORMANCES IN SUMMARY:
Cliburn Concerts at Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass
Performance Hall
Tuesday, September 14, 2010 at 7:30 PM
Haochen Zhang, piano
Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 7:30 PM
The Juilliard String Quartet with Guest Artist Carol Wincenc,
flute
Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at 7:30 PM
Vladimir Feltsman, piano
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 7:30 PM
Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano with David Zobel, piano Tuesday,
March 1, 2011 at 7:30 PM Stephen Hough, piano
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 7:30 PM
Olga Kern, piano
Cliburn at the Modern Art Museum of Fort
Worth:
Collins-Shields Bray, Artistic Director of Special Projects, Van
Cliburn Foundation
Saturday, October 30, 2010 at 2:00 PM
John Musto composer and piano with Amy Burton, soprano
Saturday, January 29, 2011 at 2:00 PM
William Bolcom composer and piano with Joyce Castle,
mezzo-soprano
Saturday, April 2, 2011 at 2:00 PM
Joan Tower, composer with Eugenia Zukerman, flute
Special Keyboard Concert at Broadway Baptist
Church:
Sunday, January 23, 2011 at 4:00 PM
Dong-Ill Shin, organ
Widely regarded as the foremost performance series in the
region, Cliburn Concerts features the world's leading recitalists,
ensembles, and rising stars. Cliburn Concerts is presented at Bass
Performance Hall and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.
The Van Cliburn Foundation acknowledges with deep appreciation
those who have made the magnanimous decision to sustain the Cliburn
Concerts series in perpetuity with a contribution to the Van
Cliburn Endowment Trust.
Cliburn Concerts Sustainers
Nancy Lee Bass and Perry R. Bass**
The Meadows Foundation
Rosalyn G. Rosenthal
**Deceased
ExxonMobil is the Principal Corporate Sponsor of the Van Cliburn
Foundation. American Airlines; "Crystelle Waggoner Charitable
Trust" Bank of America, Trustee; City of Fort Worth/Arts Council of
Fort Worth & Tarrant County; J.P.Morgan; Star-Telegram;
Steinway & Sons; and XTO Energy Inc. are Official Corporate
Sponsors.
Contact: Janice L. Mayer 817.738.6536
