$20 senior and student tickets are available. Call the box office at 212 501 3330. Ryota Kikuchi is an acclaimed Japanese pianist, composer, arranger, and popular YouTuber. His unique style, built on the solid technical foundation cultivated through classical music, combined with outstanding improvisational and arrangement skills, allows him to perform across various genres, earning him high praise as a one-of-a-kind pianist. Ryota Kikuchi, piano GEORGE GERSHWIN – Rhapsody in Blue RYUICHI SAKAMOTO – Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence AKIRA IFUKUBE – Bon Odori Movie Music Medley
“Poetics of Music” Two “melodramas” for reciter and piano Richard Strauss “The Castle By the Sea”, Franz Liszt “Lenore” Charles Ives from Sonata No. 2, “Concord, Mass., 1840-1860” * Before each movement David Rockefeller will read from Ives’s remarkable essays about the Concord writers* Movement 3: “The Alcotts” Mvt. 4 “Thoreau” with David Rockefeller, reciter; Kathryn Knight, voice; Joel Sachs, piano
Music and Words David Rockefeller, Jr., narrator Kathryn Knight, mezzo-soprano Joel Sachs, piano Richard Strauss (1864-1969) Melodrama: Das Schloss am Meere (The Castle by the Sea) (1899) Text: After a poem by Ludwig Uhland (1787-1862); new English rendering by Joel Sachs Franz Liszt (1811-1886 ) Lenore (158, rev. 1860) Ballade (1733), by Gottfried August Bürger (1747-1794) with melodramatic accompaniment by Franz Liszt. Translator unknown. Charles Ives (1974-1952) Autumn (1908); Text: Harmony T. Ives The Housatonic at Stockbridge (Text: Robert Underwood Johnson), 1921, after the orchestra piece of the same name) The New River (1921, after an instrumental piece, 1912); Text by Ives Tom Sails Away (1917 ); Text by Ives Nov. 2, 1920 (1921): Text by Ives Charles Ives: Two movements from Piano sonata No. 2, “Concord, Mass., 1840-1860” Revised edition ca. 1940-47 Preceded by excerpts from Ives’s “Essays before a Sonata” read by David Rockefeller Jr. III The Alcotts (1915) IV Thoreau (1915) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Today’s program, highlighting the interaction between music and the written word, originated in the desire of David and me, college friends, to work together, and gradually expanded to include our English friend Kathryn. Having David read from Ives’s own brilliant essays about his sonata honoring the literary stars of Concord, Massachusetts, seemed like an improvement on the traditional program note, and having him read the texts of a group of Ives’s songs seemed appropriate to Ives’s careful fusions of words and music. It remains to say a word about the centuries-old tradition of “melodrama,” a genre fusing the spoken word with music. The most enduring example is Schoenberg’s masterpiece for actress and ensemble, Pierrot Lunaire, but the idea of fusing spoken poetry with musical accompaniment had originated in the 18 th- century German-speaking world and probably stemmed from operatic recitative. (Actually, reciting the Greek dramas with musical accompaniment goes back at least 3000 years.) The idea of melodrama is unfortunately obscured by the related adjective “melodramatic,” with connotations of cheesy sentimentality. Since Franz Liszt and Richard Strauss were among the finest composers of the late period of melodrama, we chose one by each. They were not peripheral compositions: Strauss built his early reputation on extensive touring that featured his first melodrama, “Enoch Arden,” a huge piece whose text
Four Hands Piano Recital Selections from music of Brahms, Dvořak, Schubert, and more with Jonathan Feldman and Rita Sloan, piano Rita Sloan is acknowledged internationally as a leading teacher of piano, collaborative piano and chamber music. Ms. Sloan retired this past July from being a piano faculty member and director of the collaborative piano program at the University of Maryland, positions she has held since 1999. As an Artist Faculty Member at the Aspen Music Festival, Rita Sloan founded their Collaborative Artist Program from which she retired in 2022. She has performed as soloist with both the Aspen Festival Orchestra and Chamber Symphony as well as in chamber music with many of Aspen’s distinguished guest artists. Teaching residencies and master class presentations have included Tainan National University of the Arts and National Normal University in Taiwan, China Conservatory in Beijing, China, leading universities in Seoul, Korea, London’s Royal College of Music, American universities and conservatories including the Juilliard School in New York. RIta Sloan has performed with orchestra, in recital, and in chamber music throughout the U.S., Europe, South America and Japan. She has been a guest in many chamber music venues and has performed with members of the Emerson and Guarneri String Quartets. Born in Russia to Polish parents, Ms. Sloan graduated from the Juilliard School, where she studied with Martin Canin and Rosina Lhévinne. Further studies were with Leon Fleisher, Aube Tzerko, Herbert Stessin and Vladimir Ashkenazy. Recognized by colleagues and critics worldwide as a leading chamber musician and collaborative pianist, Jonathan Feldman has performed with some of the world’s most legendary musicians, including violinists Nathan Milstein, Itzhak Perlman, Gil Shaham, Kyung Wha Chung, Joshua Bell, Yehudi Menuhin, Augustin Hadelich, cellists Pierre Fournier, Zara Nelsova, Harvey Shapiro, and flutists James Galway and Emanuel Pahud.A graduate of The Juilliard School, Mr. Feldman joined its faculty in 1989 and became chairman of the school’s collaborative piano department from 1991 until 2015. He was invited to join the collaborative piano faculty of New England Conservatory in 2010 and completed his tenure there in 2024. He was asked to help out, and is currently teaching, at the USC Thornton School in Los Angeles for the 2024-25 year. He has given master classes throughout the United States and the Far East and has lectured at international fes
