Music 2023–24 Season

American pianist Simone Dinnerstein has a distinctive musical voice. The Washington Post has called her “an artist of strikingly original ideas and irrefutable integrity.” She first came to wider public attention in 2007 through her recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, reflecting an aesthetic that was both deeply rooted in the score and profoundly idiosyncratic. She is, wrote The New York Times, “a unique voice in the forest of Bach interpretation.” The Washington Post writes that “ultimately, it is Dinnerstein’s unreserved identification with every note she plays that makes her performance so spellbinding.” In a world where music is everywhere, Simone hopes that it can still be transformative.

Program

François Couperin: Les Barricades Mystérieuses
Robert Schumann: Arabesque, Op. 18
Philip Glass: Mad Rush
François Couperin: Tic Toc Choc
Philip Glass: Étude No. 2
Franz Schubert: Sonata in B♭ Major, D 960

Inspiring performances, luminous sound and exceptional musicianship are the hallmarks of the Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet. Renowned for its dynamic interpretations and polished, expansive colors, the group has rapidly distinguished itself as one of the preeminent ensembles of its generation, dedicated purely to the sound and depth of their music. The Quartet has appeared at the world’s most important venues since its founding in 2002.

The Parker Quartet is now in its eighth year as the Blodgett Artists-in-Residence at Harvard University, serving as faculty members in the Department of Music. Recent seasons have included performances and residencies around the United States and Europe, including at the 92nd Street Y, Lincoln Center, the University of Chicago, Wigmore Hall, the University of South Carolina, the Schubert Club and Skidmore College

Program

Franz Joseph Haydn: Quartet in D major, Op. 33, No. 6
Valentin Silvestrov: Quartet No. 3
Donnacha Dennehy: Wig
Ludwig van Beethoven: Quartet No. 16 in F major, Op. 135

Raehann Bryce-Davis has been hailed by The New York Times as a “striking mezzo-soprano” and by the San Francisco Chronicle for her “electrifying sense of fearlessness.” In the 2021–2022 season, Ms. Bryce-Davis made notable house debuts at the Metropolitan Opera in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress; at La Monnaie de Munt, Brussels, as La Zia Principessa in Suor Angelica; and at the Glimmerglass Festival singing Azucena in Il Trovatore. Additionally, she returned to both Los Angeles Opera and the Staatstheater Nürnberg as Azucena in Il Trovatore, and to Opera Ballet Vlaanderen as Der Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos. On the concert stage, she joined Chineke! for a BBC Proms performance of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony conducted by Kevin John Edusei, and she sings solo recitals at the Tuesday Musical Club in San Antonio with pianist Heeyoung Choi, and for the Merola Opera Program with pianist Jeanne-Minette Cilliers.

Program

Richard Wagner: Wesendonck Lieder
Melissa Dunphy: Come, My Tan-Faced Children
Margaret Bonds: Birth
Florence Price: The Crescent Moon
Maria Thompson Corley: The Beauty in My Blackness
Maria Thompson Corley: I Am Not an Angry Black Woman
Peter Ashbourne: Fi Mi Love Have Lion Heart

Galvanized by seismic changes in the ever-evolving social and political landscape, Terri Lyne Carrington and Social Science confront a wide spectrum of social justice issues. The band’s stunning double-disc debut, Waiting Game, immediately takes its place in the stirring lineage of politically conscious and activist music, expressing an unflinching, inclusive and compassionate view of humanity’s breaks and bonds through an expansive program melding jazz, R&B, indie rock, contemporary improvisation and hip-hop.

Ray Chen is a violinist who redefines what it is to be a classical musician in the 21st century. With a media presence that enhances and inspires the classical audience and reaches out to millions through his unprecedented online following, his remarkable musicianship transmits to a global audience. This is reflected in his engagements with the foremost orchestras and concert halls around the world

Program

Program:
Sonata in G minor “Devil’s Trill” (arr. Kreisler) -Giuseppe Tartini (1692–1770)
Violin Sonata No. 7 in C minor, Op. 30 No. 2- Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Partita No. 3 in E major for Solo Violin, BWV 1006- Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
La Ronde des Lutins, Op. 25- Antonio Bazzini (1818-1897)
Slavonic Dance No. 2 in E minor, Op. 72 (arr. Kreisler)- Antonin Dvorak (1841–1904)
Spain (arr. Elizalde & Chen)- Chick Corea (1941–2021)

Samora Pinderhughes is a composer, pianist/vocalist, interdisciplinary artist and surrealist whose work delves into all the things our society tries to hide—about its history, about its structures, and about the individual and daily things we all experience but don’t know how to talk about. His primary body of work, The Healing Project, is an extension of the political commitments that Samora has held throughout his life and work: abolitionist, anti-capitalist, anti-colonialist, internationalist, pro-Black power, intersectional, revolutionary. Pinderhughes has been known in the music world for a while now as somebody who is fiercely committed to the fight for liberation, and as somebody who goes past just making songs about issues and is actively involved in the struggle—it’s an everyday, lifelong commitment for him, not just a moment.