2017–2018 SHENSON CHAMBER MUSIC CONCERTS20TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON

Gilan Tocco Corn, Artistic Director

Concert pianist Gilan Tocco Corn is the co-founder and artistic director of the Shenson Chamber Music Concerts. She is also the chairman of the board for the Young Concert Artists of Washington. Born in Iran where she began studying piano at an early age, she continued her studies at the Vienna Academy of Music with Professor Grete Hinterhofer, graduating with honors in 1964. She subsequently received a French government scholarship to study in Paris with legendary pianist Magda Tagliaferro, under whose tutelage she remained while residing at the prestigious Cité des Arts. Tocco Corn has performed recitals and chamber music with orchestras in Europe, North and South America, and the Middle East.

She played command performances for Their Majesties, the Shah and Empress of Iran, and for other notables, such as the King and Queen of Thailand, King Hassan of Morocco, and President Ford at a White House state dinner. She also performed at a gala concert at Wolf Trap with other artists, including M. Rostropovich and Anna Moffo. In addition to her musical training, Tocco Corn has studied literature at the Paris Sorbonne University and has a degree from the University of Cambridge. She is fluent in five languages.

DEAR MUSIC LOVER I am so pleased to welcome you to the 20th Anniversary year of the Shenson Chamber Music Concert series at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Since 1998, we have presented more than sixty free performances featuring emerging and established women musicians who have delighted audiences and enhanced the Museum’s mission of recognizing and supporting women across all artistic disciplines.

The 20th Anniversary season begins with two dynamic young string players who will dazzle our audiences, cellist Sang-Eun Lee on October 18, and violinist Danbi Um in her Washington, D.C. debut on November 8.

We kick off a culminating celebration of “Music in May” with a special guest performance by world-renowned pianist Angela Hewitt.

Then we present the ModernMedieval Trio of Voices, comprised of Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek, Martha Cluver, and Eliza Bagg, who will offer a rich repertoire of vocal pieces including a World Premiere by Joel Phillip Friedman. And finally, we end the season with a performance by the exciting and prize winning Aizuri Quartet.

It has been a joy and an honor to curate this special season, and all nineteen before this. Thank you for your continued support and for taking this journey with us.

Gilan Tocco CornARTISTIC DIRECTOR

GILAN TOCCO CORNARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Cellist Sang-Eun Lee has been hailed for her expressive artistry and dazzling technique. Praised by the Washington Post as “a prodigiously talented young artist with powerful technique and musical poise,” Lee has won top prizes in various international competitions including the 2014 Young Concert Artists International Auditions and First Prize at the 2014 YCA Auditions in Seoul, Korea. At 15, she won First Prize at the 2009 Johansen International Competition in Washington, D.C., Second Prize at the 2009 International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians, and the Young Musician Prize of the Emanuel Feuermann Competition in Berlin. Her 2016–17 season included performances at the Morgan Library and Museum, Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and an appearance as soloist with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Alice Tully Hall. In 2015 Lee made her acclaimed Kennedy Center debut, co-presented with Washington Performing Arts and supported by the Korean Concert Society Prize, and her New York recital debut, sponsored by the Michaels Award, on the Young Concert Artists Series. She is a grant recipient of the Bagby Foundation for the Musical Arts and is currently studying for her Artist Diploma at Curtis Institute. This season, Lee performs with orchestras throughout the U.S. and will also participate in the PyeongChang Music Festival at the Kennedy Center and at Alice Tully Hall in celebration of the 2018 Winter Olympics.

A current member of Chamber Music Society Two of Lincoln Center, Danbi Um is a Winner of Astral Artists 2015 National Auditions. Um has appeared as soloist with the Israel Symphony, Auckland Philharmonic, Vermont Symphony, Herzliya Chamber Orchestra, and Dartmouth Symphony, among others, and has been awarded top prizes from the Yehudi Menuhin and the Michael Hill international violin competitions. She has performed for the Seattle Chamber Music Society and with the Jupiter Chamber Players and Omega Ensemble. She tours frequently with Musicians from Marlboro and has participated at the Music@Menlo, Ravinia, Caramoor, Moab, Prussia Cove, and North Shore Chamber Music festivals. Plans for next season include performances at Palm Beach Chamber Music with pianist Juho Pohjonen and tenor Karim Sulayman. At age ten, she was admitted to the Curtis Institute of Music. She holds an Artist Diploma from Indiana University.

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W EDNE SDAY, O C T OBER 1 8, 2017, 7:3 0 PM

NOVEMBER 2017 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

W EDNE SDAY, NOV EMBER 8, 2017, 7:3 0 PM

P H O T O : M AT T D I N E

PHOTO: VANES SA BRICEÑO PHOTOGR APH Y

SANG-EUN LEE, CELLO

DANBI UM, VIOLINWASHINGTON, D.C. DEBUT

SPECIAL GUEST PERFORMANCE

ANGELA HEWITT, PIANOOne of the world’s leading pianists, Angela Hewitt appears in recital and with major orchestras across the globe. Her interpretations of Bach have established her as one of the composer’s foremost interpreters of our time. The artist recently embarked on a major project entitled “The Bach Odyssey,” which comprises all of Bach’s keyboard works in twelve recitals over the next four years. Hewitt will present these performances in major cities and venues around the world including London’s Wigmore Hall, New York’s 92nd Street Y, and Ottawa’s National Arts Centre, as well as in Tokyo and Florence. Other recent highlights have included concerts with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Ottawa, and the Orchestre symphonique de Montreal; as well as recitals at Vienna Konzerthaus, Rotterdam’s De Doelen, Sociedad Filarmonica de Bilbao, and a tour of Australia with Musica Viva. In December 2016 Hewitt also directed Festival Strings Lucerne from the keyboard at Munich’s Gasteig, and in spring 2017 toured the UK with Vienna’s Tonkünstler Orchestra. Hewitt’s most recent recordings include her sixth volume of Beethoven’s sonatas, a new recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, and Messiaen’s Turangalîla Symphony with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Hannu Lintu. A first album of Scarlatti Sonatas was released in spring 2016.

MODERNMEDIEVAL TRIO OF VOICES WASHINGTON, D.C. DEBUT & WORLD PREMIERE BY JOEL PHILLIP FRIEDMAN

Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek, formerly of the acclaimed vocal quartet Anonymous 4, is joined by Martha Cluver and Eliza Bagg from the celebrated ensemble Roomful of Teeth to present programs that combine medieval chant and polyphony with new commissions and music from later eras. Trio of Voices takes the vocal techniques developed by Anonymous 4 for singing this repertoire and combines them with a fresh approach to programming that will introduce this wonderful music to new audiences. The Living Word features four of Hildegard of Bingen’s most ecstatic chants, including O Jerusalem and O Ecclesia, interwoven with new works by acclaimed composers Caroline Shaw, Caleb Burhans, Daniel Thomas Davis, and a world premiere by Joel Phillip Friedman. In addition, Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek, artistic and music director of ModernMedieval Trio of Voices, makes her debut as a composer, using her years of experience studying and singing this music to provide a unique and personal vision. The new works are based on, or influenced by, Hildegard’s philosophic writings and her visions.

MAY 2018

W EDNE SDAY, M AY 2 , 201 8, 7:3 0 PM

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MAY 2018

W EDNE SDAY, M AY 9, 201 8, 7:3 0 PM

“I know of no musician whose Bach playing on any instrument is of greater subtlety, beauty of tone, persuasiveness of judgment or instrumental command than Hewitt’s...” (BBC Music Magazine)

P H O T O : B E R N D E B E R L E

P H O T O : M A R K K W I AT E K

A Celebration of Music in May for Shenson’s 20th Anniversary

DIRECTIONSNational Museum of Women in the Arts1250 New York Avenue, NWWashington, DC 20005(two blocks north of Metro Center)

For more information visit:nmwa.org/visit/visitor-information

MAY 2018

W EDNE SDAY, M AY 23, 201 8, 7:3 0 PM ALL FREE!ALL SHENSON CHAMBER MUSIC CONCERTS ARE FREE.

AIZURI QUARTETPraised by the Washington Post for “captivating” performances that draw from its notable “meld of intellect, technique and emotions,” the Aizuri Quartet was awarded First Prize at the 2017 Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in Japan, and Third Prize at the 2015 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition in London. Through its engaging and thought-provoking programs, the Quartet has garnered critical acclaim for bringing “technical bravado and emotional power” to bold new commissions, and for its “flawless” (San Diego Union-Tribune) performances of the great masterpieces of the past in which “every note is lovingly crafted and savored” (Washington Post). Based in New York City, the Aizuri Quartet is the 2017–18 String Quartet-in-Residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, presenting five unique programs throughout the season. Previously the Quartet was the 2015–16 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, and from 2014–16, the String Quartet-in-Residence at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. The Quartet has performed extensively throughout the United States, Japan, Mexico, Chile, Costa Rica, Paris, Dresden, Bremen, Salzburg, and Abu Dhabi, and has commissioned and premiered new works by Pulitzer Prize-winner Caroline Shaw, Lembit Beecher, Paul Wiancko, Yevgeniy Sharlat, Gabriella Smith, Rene Orth, and Alyssa Weinberg. Formed in 2012, the Aizuri Quartet draws its name from “aizuri-e,” a style of predominantly blue Japanese woodblock printing noted for its vibrancy and incredible detail.

NMWA

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Registration is required. Visit nmwa.org/shenson to register.

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PARKING NMWA has partnered with Parking Panda, the nationwide leader in online parking reservations, to allow visitors to purchase guaranteed parking at nearby garages.

A Celebration of Music in May for Shenson’s 20th Anniversary

PREVIOUS PERFORMERS

The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) is the world’s only major museum solely dedicated to celebrating the creative contributions of women. The museum champions women through the arts by collecting, exhibiting, researching, and creating programs that advocate for equity and shine a light on excellence. NMWA highlights remarkable women artists of the past while also promoting the best women artists working today. The museum’s collection includes over 4,700 works by more than 1,000 women artists from the 16th century to the present, including Mary Cassatt, Frida Kahlo, Alma Thomas, Lee Krasner, Louise Bourgeois, Chakaia Booker, and Nan Golden.

Lily Afshar, Ahn Trio, Julie Albers, Elena Bashkirova, Christine Brewer, Lydia Brown with Stars of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Sara Davis Buechner, Wendy Chen, Claremont Trio, Sarah Coburn, Judy Collins, Concertante, Sasha Cooke, Sara Daneshpour, Jeanine De Bique, Rhoya Tocco Didden and James Tocco, Simone Dinnerstein, Denise Djokic, Rina Dokshitsky, Eroica Trio, Ingrid Fliter, Miriam Fried and Jonathan Biss, Elizabeth Futral, Jeanne Galway, Caroline Goulding, Sofja Gülbadamova, Linda Hohenfeld, Bella Hristova, Sharon Isbin, Ran Jia, Kim Kashkashian, Olga Kern, Yolanda Kondonassis, Nina Kotova, Jessica Krash and the National Gallery of Art String Quartet, Christine Lamprea, Lori Laitman, Lisa-Beth Lambert, Lark Quartet, Yura Lee, Valentina Lisitsa, Catherine Manoukian, Tift Merritt, Anne Akiko Meyers, Midori, Mary Millben, Monarch Brass Quintet, Joan Morris and William Bolcom, National Symphony Orchestra Wind Ensemble, Olga Orlovskaya, Navah Perlman, Cynthia Phelps, Marina Piccinini, Rachel Barton Pine, Inbal Segev, Nadine Sierra, Juana Zayas, Arianna Zukerman, Eugenia Zukerman and Anthony Newman.

The Shenson Chamber Music Concert Series is made possible by support from Fred M. Levin and Nancy Livingston and The Shenson Foundation in memory of Drs. Ben and A. Jess Shenson.

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