Presidential Chamber Music Series III- String Quartets

Mon, 01/24/2011 - 7:30pm
Free
Macey Center - Directions


Sponsored by

Violist Willy Sucre will be joined by violinists Krzysztof Zimowski, and Julanie Collier Lee with cellist James Holland, performing works by Bacewicz and Smetana.

The program should include:

 String Quartet No. 2 in C Major

by Grazyna Bacewicz

 I. Allegro ma non troppo

II. Andante

III. Allegro

 

Grazyna Bacewicz was born in Lodz, Poland on May 5, 1909 and died in Warsaw on Jan. 17,1969. She ranked as one of the worlds most eminent and prolific women composers. As Witold Lutoslawski once said, "the fact that Polish contemporary music has gained such a high rank, is due to Grazyna Bacewicz." Bacewicz was a child prodigy, the third of five children born in a musical family, where each was taught by their father on a different instrument. Before the age of twelve she played several violin concerti with local orchestras. She studied at the Warsaw Conservatory and at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris. A virtuoso of the violin, who prior to World War II gave concerts all over Europe, she applied her consummate knowledge of the technical secrets of string instruments when writing compositions. Because of this, she has been able to extract from these instruments all their expressive possibilities. In 1955, at the peak of her brilliant career as a violinist, she left the concert stage to devote herself to composition. Rich in all existing forms, her life's work is impressive in quantity and diversity: seven violin concerti, seven string quartets, piano concerti, two piano quintets, five sonatas for violin and piano, several sonatas and pieces for violin solo, four symphonies, three ballets, and opera. She received numerous national, as well as international awards for her achievements such as a Gold Medal of the Belgian Government in 1965. Bacewicz also had a great literary talent. She managed to write four novels, a TV play and several essays.

 

Notes adapted from information supplied by Krzysztof Zimowski.

 

 

I N T E R M I S S I O N

 

 String Quartet in E Minor

“From My Life”

by Bedřich Smetana

 I. Allegro vivo appassionato

II. Allegro moderato à la Polka

III. Largo sostenuto

IV. Vivace

 

Bedřich Smetana was born on March 2, 1824, in Litomyšl, Bohemia. As a young man, he composed music that captured the flavor of the region’s folk songs and dances and depicted its landscape, legends, and folk tales, thus contributing to the rising spirit of Bohemian nationalism. As the leading composer of Bohemia, Smetana followed a heavy schedule of composing, conducting, teaching, and performing and was involved, too, in promoting national Bohemian music. Then, at age fifty, tragedy struck with devastating suddenness; he became totally deaf. Even the biggest specialists could not help him; their primitive treatments were painful and ineffective. Nevertheless, it was while he was bereft of his hearing that he wrote his most celebrated chamber composition, the string quartet “From My Life.”

 

He began his E minor quartet in October 1876 and finished it on December 19. There was a private performance in Prague in 1878, with the young Dvořák playing viola. The official premiere, also in Prague, was on March 28, 1879, played by an ensemble made up of Ferdinand Lachner, Jan Pelikan, Josef Krehan, and Alois Neruda.

 

Like all well-written pieces of program music, the String Quartet in E minor can stand on its own as an “absolute” piece of music with no outside connections, but familiarity with the program the composer had in mind can definitely enhance the experience. Information about the meaning carried by this quartet comes from a letter Smetana sent to his close friend and confidante, Josef Srb-Debrnov, dated April 12, 1878: “As regards my Quartet I gladly leave others to judge its style, and I shall not be in the least angry if this style does not find favor or is considered contrary to what was hitherto regarded as ‘quartet style.’ I did not set out to write a quartet according to recipe or custom in the usual forms. . . . With me the form of every composition is dictated by the subject itself and thus the Quartet, too, shaped its own form. My intention was to paint a tone picture of my life.” Smetana died May 12, 1884, in Prague.

 

Notes  adapted from Melvin Berger's Guide to Chamber Music.

 

Time, date, and program subject to change.

 

BIOGRAPHIES

 

WILLY SUCRE, Viola, was born in La Paz, Bolivia, Willy Sucre studied at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música in La Paz, Colby College Chamber Music Institute in Waterville, Maine, Mannes School of Music in New York, and Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland. Sucre has been conductor and music director of the Albuquerque Philharmonic Orchestra, assistant conductor and principal violist of the Canada Symphony Orchestra in Montreal, assistant conductor and assistant principal violist of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, principal violist and guest conductor of the National Symphony of Bolivia, principal violist and guest conductor of the Albuquerque Chamber Orchestra, and principal violist and guest conductor of the Chamber Orchestra of La Paz. This past year Sucre performed with  the Albuquerque Chamber Orchestra as viola soloist.  In the summer of 2004 he performed as viola soloist in three concerts in Cochabamba and La Paz, Bolivia.

Currently, Sucre is a member of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra and is the driving force behind the "Willy Sucre & Friends" concerts.

During the summer, Sucre travels throughout South America to pursue his major interests, which are to find new works of chamber music by modern composers and to encourage composers both here and in South America to write new pieces, especially piano quartets. He enjoys playing with other musicians and ensembles of diverse instrumentation. As a chamber musician, Sucre was the founder of the Cuarteto Boliviano and guest violist with various chamber music ensembles, and for ten years the violist of the Helios String Quartet. His experience includes extensive chamber music concerts, lectures and school demonstrations, CD recordings, and television performances throughout South, Central, and North America.

 

Krzysztof Zimowski born in Wroclaw, Poland, began his musical studies at the age of six. As a member of the International Organization of Jeunesses Musicales, he participated in various music camps and schools. Zimowski performed as concertmaster of the Symphony Orchestra of Weikersheim and Bayreuth in Germany, with Franz Paul Decker, the music director of the Montreal Symphony. In 1975 he performed with the Orchestre Mondial Des Jeunesses Musicales (The World Youth Orchestra) in Brussels and Paris, under the direction of Jean Martinon, and the chamber music ensembles with Henryk Szeryng. 

In 1977 Zimowski received his Masters Degree with honors from the Academy of Music in Wroclaw. Then he continued his studies at the Morley College of Music in London, after participating in the 1978 Carl Flesch International Violin Competition. While performing as a soloist in Poland, Czechoslovakia, England, Germany, and Mexico, Zimowski was appointed Concertmaster of the State Opera Orchestra in his native city of Wroclaw, Poland.

In 1981 Zimowski joined the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra. After his solo performance with the Philharmonic in the concert dedicated to the Mexico City earthquake victims in 1985, he was appointed Concertmaster  of the orchestra, touring Europe, South America, and the US.

In the fall of 1986, Zimowski moved to New Mexico to help form the Helios String Quartet, the ensemble-in-residence of PAS from 1987 until 1997.  Currently he is Concertmaster and featured soloist of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra. He has performed Henryk Wieniawski's Violin Concerto No.2 in the 2004 Classics Series. He is also Concertmaster and featured soloist of the Chamber Orchestra of Albuquerque. Each summer he performs with the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra in Chicago's famous Lakefront Music Festival.

Zimowski lives in Albuquerque with his wife, Urszula, also a musician, and their son, Krystian.

He performed with Willy Sucre & Friends on September 20, 2009 and will do so again on January 23, 2011.

 

Violinist Julanie Collier Lee began playing the violin at the age of five in Lexington, Kentucky. She attended Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina where she studied with Jerri Lucktenberg and graduated with a B.A. in Music from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory studying with Kurt Sassmanshaus. 

She is a registered teacher with the Suzuki Association of the Americas and has maintained a studio of violin students throughout her career. Lee has taught and played in various orchestras and summer festivals among which have included the Boulder Philharmonic, Cheyenne Symphony, Richmond Symphony, Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra, Ft. Wayne Philharmonic, Aspen Music Festival,  Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina and Music at Penn's Woods in State College, Pennsylvania. She was a member of the Epcot Center All-American College Orchestra in Orlando, Florida and also spent three summers in the beautiful mountains of Summit County, Colorado as a member of the National Repertory Orchestra. It was this orchestra with whom she traveled to the Far East to perform at the 1988 Olympic Arts Festival in Seoul, Korea as well as perform concerts in Taiwan and Japan.

Lee has free-lanced in Cincinnati and Denver and moved to Albuquerque, NM in 1989 to become a member of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Albuquerque.  She is a founding member of the New Life Symphony Orchestra Southwest and plays in various venues throughout the area.

With her husband, Jae, she serves as Co-Presidents of the Albuquerque Youth Symphony Parent Association and have three children.

Lee will be performing with Willy Sucre & Friends on January 23, 2011.

 

James Holland began his cello studies at the age of nine in his hometown of Pensacola, Florida. He earned a Bachelor of Music Degree in cello performance from the University of Alabama, where he studied with Carlton McCreery, and a Master of Music degree in the same discipline from the Eastman School of Music, where he served as a teaching assistant to Pamela Frame. His summer studies at the Brevard Music Center, the ENCORE School for Strings, the Quartet Program, and the Kent/Blossom Music Festival gave him the opportunity to learn from such cellists as Orlando Cole, Eleonore Schoenfeld, Timothy Eddy, and Stephen Geber. Additionally, Holland's education includes master class performances for Janos Starker, Joseph Silverstein, Lynn Harrell, Gary Hoffman, and Philip Setzer of the Emerson String Quartet, among others.

Upon completion of his Master's degree, Holland was invited to become a member of the Miami-based New World Symphony, where for two years he performed, toured, and recorded under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas. Afterward, he returned to Alabama for two years of doctoral study. In 1996, he successfully auditioned to become Principal Cellist of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and cellist of the Charleston Symphony String Quartet, a position he held until 2007. During his years in Charleston, Holland was a frequent soloist with the CSO, performing works for cello and orchestra by Bruch, Richard Strauss, Haydn, Elgar, Schumann, and Shostakovich.

He was also an active chamber musician - besides his activity with the CSO String Quartet he also was cellist for the Charleston Chamber Players, an oboe-flute-cello trio that performed numerous recitals and commissioned new works by South Carolina's finest composers. Holland was also a featured performer in the Spotlight Chamber Music Series of the Piccolo Spoleto Festival. His other significant performing credentials include a tour of Japan with the University of Alabama Piano Trio as well as principal cellist stints with the Spoleto Festival Orchestras of the US and Italy and the Music at Penn's Woods orchestra in State College, PA. In 2002, Holland was invited to perform with the Orchestra of the Californias, a chamber orchestra assembled by the Mainly Mozart Festival and comprising many of the country's top orchestral musicians, for a two-week tour of California and Mexico. He has held the position of Principal Cellist for the Breckenridge Music Festival, a summer chamber music and orchestra festival under the direction of Gerhardt Zimmermann, since 1998.

For many years Holland has been an active and enthusiastic cello teacher and chamber music coach. During his years in Charleston he maintained a small private teaching studio. His students have been leading musicians in the Charleston Symphony Youth Orchestra and have earned high seatings in the South Carolina All-State Orchestras. They have won state MTNA competitions, earned full scholarships to the Brevard Music Center through the SC Federation of Music Clubs competition, and performed in state-wide master classes for Steven Doane and David Ying. Holland has served as guest faculty for the Tennessee Valley Music Festival in Huntsville, AL, and the String Summitt workshop in Cullman, AL. In June 2006 he came full circle, serving as guest faculty at the Cannon Music Camp on the campus of Appalachian State University, which is also the first camp Holland ever attended as a student in 1984.

He recently relocated to the West side of Albuquerque, NM with his wife Megan Holland.  Click here to visit their studio website.

James Holland performed with Willy Sucre & Friends on September 20, 2009 and on January 31, 2010. On January 23, 2011 he will join the ensemble again.