Tonight's gala concert most fittingly features the music
of George Enescu, who has dedicated his entire life to bringing to the whole
world the music and the song of our nation.
Carnegie Hall has indeed been many times a home for the greatest Romanian
musician who appeared on this stage as conductor of the New York Philharmonic,
as a soloist and as composer.
The American audiences and the critics alike have greatly praised his numerous
appearances, therefore it is most appropriate that once again his music
should fill Carnegie Hall with its beauty and deep intensity so specific
to our music, in celebration of Romania.
George Enescu has, as a true "poet" of our nation, captured better
than anyone else the character of its people, the depths of its soul with
its tragic and at the same time, heroic destiny.
The Third Sonata Op. 25 for violin and piano is, after the Rhapsodies, one
of his best known works. Himself a great violinist, Enescu has brought here
the art of the "Lãutar", specific to our nation, to the
level of universality in music.
The first movement is a ballad, a "Cîntec Bãtrînesc"
of heroic deeds and intense folk elements. The second movement, the centerpiece
of the sonata, starts with the "Toaca" accompanying the shepherd's
"fluier", followed by the most vivid sonorous painting of birds
as in "Concert în Luncã", culminating in a section
of great tragic dimensions. The Coda, is perhaps the most intimate portrait
of the soul of our nation of truly messianic echoes. The third movement
is a wild peasant dance with an apotheotic and victorious ending.
Sherban Lupu
Professor, University of Illinois
Aphorisms (1972, rev. 1992) by Dinu Ghezzo
Dinu Ghezzo received his education in theory, conducting, and in composition
at the Romanian Conservatory in Bucharest (1964 & 1966), and subsequently
earned a PhD. in composition at the University of California, Los Angeles
(UCLA) in 1973. He is a professor of music at New York University, and director
of the NYU Composition Studies. For more than twenty five years, Dr. Ghezzo
has been a dedicated promoter of Romanian culture in general, and of Romanian
music in particular, in festivals, concerts, and symposiums throughout the
US, Italy, Germany, France, Holland, Belgium, Canada, etc. He is vice-president
of the George Enescu Society of the United States. Mr. Ghezzo is much involved
in national and international music projects, as founder and director of
the INMC Inc. (International Music Consortium), and past director of ANMC
Inc., Todi International Music Days, Gubbio Festival, Molfetta Festival,
CIPAM Festival in Montevarchi (Italy), Constanta International Music Days,
The Week of Romanian American Music in Oradea, Romania, etc. He is a recipient
of many awards, prizes and commissions: ASCAP awards, CAPS, NYSCA and NEA
Awards, and two George Enescu Scholarships. He has appeared with many international
ensembles and soloists and is much sought for residencies as guest composer,
conductor and performer. His music is published by Editions Salabert of
Paris, by Musica Scritta, the AIM Press (Italy), Tirreno Gruppo Editoriale
(Milan, Rome) and by Seesaw Music Corporation, New York. Mr. Ghezzo has
collaborated with many important composers of our time in performances,
discussions, dialogues, in national and international festivals, and &
recordings: Milton Babbitt, Anatol Vieru, George Crumb, Miriam Marbé,
George Perle, Lucas Foss, Robert Craft, Toru Takemitsu, Franco Donatoni,
Mel Powell, Leo Kraft, Luciano Berio, etc. He serves on many national and
international music organizations, music competitions, and festivals. His
compositions are featured on several Orion Master Recording albums, on several
Capstone Records, as well as on TGE (Tirreno Gruppo Editoriale), WDR Cologne
and Grenadilla label. Mr. Ghezzo has just returned from a highly successful
tour of England and Germany. This coming fall, he will be a composer-in-residence
at the prestigious Pan Music Festival in Seoul - Korea, with subsequent
concert appearances in Japan, Holland, Germany, Italy and Monaco.
Aphorisms (1979, rev. 1992) is a piece which brought Dinu Ghezzo
an early recognition in the large New York community of musicians: "...extroverted,
at times witty, always commanding" (High Fidelity Magazine), "...
skillful, striking Aphorisms" (New York Times), and "the most
entertaining ... providing an effective series of atmospheric vignettes"
(New York Times). This composition consists of six short movements, each
in a contrasting mood, having as a common denominator certain sounds and
textures of Romanian music: the taragot type of sonorities of the modern
clarinet, the "tambal" sounds of the piano, rhythmic elements
of Romanian folk dances, and most importantly, the element of nostalgia,
"spatiul doinit". However, all are used to serve a rather abstract
perception of the folk element, trying to prove that ethnic sonorities are
a wonderful starting point for the extended techniques of the modern composer.
The first movement (Andante rustico) has the clarinet dominating the sound
spectrum, with echoes and reverberations of another time, while the second
movement (Grave) is a somber texture, of blocks of sounds in motion. The
third (Dialogues), represents the climactic movement, full of motion in
an intense dialogue of the two instruments, with the fourth as a virtuosic
clarinet cadenza, displaying the full spectrum of emotions this instrument
can offer. The final two movements (Parlando and Moderato) create two different
colorful dialogues in between the two players.
BIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION:
Sherban Lupu - Winner of numerous international competitions, Romanian-born
Sherban Lupu began playing the violin at age seven. While a student at the
Bucharest Conservatory, with George Manoliu he concertized throughout Eastern
Europe and performed on Romanian radio and television. Mr. Lupu left Romania
to study at the Guildhall School of Music where he took master classes under
legendary violinists Yehudi Menuhin, Henryk Szeryng, and Nathan Milstein.
Mr. Lupu has won prizes in numerous competitions: Vienna International,
Romanian National String Quartet, Jacques Thibaud in Paris, Carl Flesch
International in London, Royal Society of Arts, and the Park Lane Group
Contest. He has been a member of the English Chamber Orchestra, the London
Mozart Players, and the Mainz Chamber Orchestra. In 1976, Lupu came to the
United States to study violin with Dorothy Delay and Josef Gingold, and
receive chamber music coaching from Menahem Pressler.
Appearing as soloist in Europe and the United States, Lupu has performed
the complete cycle of Beethoven Sonatas for Violin and Piano with Menahem
Pressler and Ian Hobson. Mr. Lupu has also been associate concertmaster
of the San Francisco Opera and concertmaster and artistic advisor of the
Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. Mr. Lupu specializes in the music of his
native Romania and Eastern Europe as well as the virtuoso romantic repertoire.
A leading interpreter of George Enescu's music, he has recorded works of
Ysaye, Bartok, Enescu, Wieniawsky, Stravinsky, Ginastera, for the ASV, Arabesque,
for the British recording company Continuum, and for the BBC. He was also
the artistic director of the Gubbio Festival in Italy, and is currently
professor of violin at the University of Illinois. Mr. Lupu is also a member
of the "George Enescu" Chamber Players and the "Chicago Ensemble".
Recent appearances include: The Kennedy Center, Gstaad Festival, Aldeburgh
Festival, Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall, St. John's Smith Square, Queen
Elizabeth Hall, Carnegie Hall. He has also performed the Brahms and Tchaikovsky
Violin Concertos, on live broadcasts with the BBC Orchestra.
He is a frequent member of international juries and has given numerous master
classes and taught violin courses in England, Holland, Germany, Poland,
Czech Republic, etc.
Mr. Lupu is playing on an Italian violin made in 1751 by Niccolo Gagliano,
acquired for him by the Romanian politician and patron of the arts, Mr.
Ion Ratiu.
Ovidiu Marinescu - A native of Romania, Ovidiu Marinescu has been
acclaimed on both sides of the Atlantic for his versatility and distinctive
musicianship. He has performed in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Cleveland,
Portland (Maine), Wilmington, Paris, Bruxelles, Nurenberg and Bucharest,
and was a soloist with numerous American and Romanian orchestras, such as
Cluj, Iasi and Brasov Philharmonics, Temple Chamber Orchestra and West Chester
Chamber Orchestra. In September he will make his debut with the New York
Chamber Symphony in the Triple Concerto by Beethoven, followed by performances
with the Plainfield and Delaware County Symphonies. Mr. Marinescu has performed
at festivals in Luzerne, Bayreuth, Chautaqua, Orlando (The Netherlands)
and Brasov, as well as the New Hampshire Music Festival. As a member of
the Adirondack Ensemble, Mr. Marinescu performs regularly in several concert
series in Saratoga, Glens Falls and the general Adirondack area, and was
the co-recipient of a grant awarded by Chamber Music America, funded by
Lila Wallace Reader's Digest. Ovidiu Marinescu is a dedicated promoter of
Romanian music, in his recitals featuring works by George Enescu, Vassal
Jean, Cypriot, C., Anatol Vieru and Live Marinescu.
Ovidiu Marinescu has won several competitions, including the first prize
and the Music Critics Award at George Dima Cello Competition in Romania.
His former teachers include Orlando Cole and Wolfgang Laufer. He has taught
at the Bucharest Conservatory, the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee and
Wilkes University, and is increasingly active as a conductor. In the summer
of 1997, Mr. Marinescu was appointed conductor at the Gopplesberg Festival
in Switzerland, and he has also been recently appointed as Music Director
of the Battleground Arts Center Symphony in New Jersey.
Mr. Marinescu's recent engagements included recitals in Paris, New York,
Philadelphia, Washington, DC, at Smith College and the University of Maryland,
chamber concerts in Bruxelles, and a tour of Romania featuring performances
with the Sinfonia Bucharest and several other orchestras. This season, Mr.
Marinescu will appear in recitals in New York and Philadelphia.
Lory Wallfisch - Professor of Music emerita at Smith College, Lory
Wallfisch was born and educated in Romania. She received her musical training
at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Bucharest, where she studied piano
with the renowned teacher Florica Muzicescu (teacher of Dinu Lipatti, Mindru
Katz, Radu Lupu, Julien Musafia and many other noted pianists).
In 1944 she married Ernst Wallfisch, and from then on, her career was linked
to that of her husband and artistic partner for the next 35 years. Yehudi
Menuhin heard them perform in Bucharest and helped them immigrate to the
United States. They became US. citizens in 1953. (Ernst Wallfisch died suddenly
of a heart attack in 1979).
As pianist and harpsichordist of the internationally acclaimed Wallfisch
Duo, Lory Wallfisch concertized throughout the United States, Canada, Europe,
North Africa and Israel, occasionally appearing also as soloist and in chamber
music with other artists. She participated in the international music festivals
of Edinburgh, York, Venice, Besancon, Menuhin Festival in Gstaad (Switzerland),
Casals Festival in Prades (France), etc.; make television appearances (also
on "Les Grands Interpretes" in Paris), as well as countless tapes
for radio stations.
She appeared on the following record labels: Odeon, Fonit, Vox-Turanbout,
Da Camera, Musical Heritage, Advance and Concert Hall Society.
Lory Wallfisch is a pedagogue with a vast and diverse experience, having
taught in Bucharest, in Switzerland, in Cleveland and in Detroit, before
joining the Smith College faculty in 1964 (she became the "lva Dee
Hiatt Chair" professor). Her teaching activity also includes master
classes in the United States and abroad. In this capacity she was invited
to Italy, Germany, England (one term residency at the Yehudi Menuhin School),
Ireland, Australia (Sydney Conservatory of Music), Argentina (Buenos Aires
Fundacion San Telmo), Switzerland (regular visiting professor at the International
Menuhin Academy), etc.
Her lecture-performances are often devoted to the music of George Enescu,
whom she had the privilege of knowing personally (as did her late husband).
Among the places where she has presented the "oeuvre" of the great
Romanian composer are: The University of Maryland Piano Festival (where
she also served as a jury-member for the William Kapell International Piano
Competition); the American-Romanian Academy Congress, held at the Sorbonne
in Paris; the European Piano Teachers Association; the Juilliard Music School
in New York, etc.
Lory Wallfisch is one of the founding members and executive secretary of
the "George Enescu Society of the United States, Inc." (Patron
Sir Yehudi Menuhin), which was formed in observance of the great master's
centennial celebration in 1981.
Eugene Alcalay - Originally from Bucharest, Romania, Eugene Alcalay
began playing the piano at the age of two, and composing at age eight. When
Mr. Alcalay was fourteen and a student at the George Enescu Arts High School
in Bucharest, he was featured in a televised piano recital as a result of
winning Romania's National Music Competition "Cintarea Romaniei"
(The Song of Romania). In 1980, Mr. Alcalay's compositions were brought
to the attention of Leonard Bernstein, who subsequently requested a personal
meeting and audition in Tel Aviv, Israel, during his 1982 tour. After this
meeting, Maestro Bernstein decided personally to supervise and sponsor Mr.
Alcalay's musical education, the first comprehensive scholarship ever awarded
by the late conductor. Under this sponsorship, Mr. Alcalay studied piano
and composition in Tel Aviv for one and a half year and was the recipient
of several awards, including the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Sharet
Scholarship. In 1984 Maestro Bernstein invited Mr. Alcalay to the United
States to continue his studies at the Indiana University School of Music
in Bloomington, under a scholarship known as "The Leonard Bernstein
Award". While a student at Indiana University, Mr. Alcalay won a "performer's
Certificate in Recognition of Outstanding Performance in Piano"--the
school's highest performance award--and was inducted into the Mortar Board,
Blue Key, Golden Key and Pi Kappa Lambda National Honor Fraternities.
Following graduation with a double Bachelor's Degree "With High Distinction"
in Piano and Composition from Indiana University, between 1988-1990 Mr.
Alcalay attended The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he
earned a Diploma in Composition under Ned Rorem. In 1993, aided by The Richard
Rodgers Scholarship, The Isabel Mason Scholarship, The Eubie Blake Trust
Fund, The mortar Board National Foundation Award and The Samuel Lemberg
Scholarship Loan Fund, Mr. Alcalay graduated from The Juilliard School with
a double Master's Degree in Piano and Composition under Seymour Lipkin and
Milton Babbitt. Mr. Alcalay, 31, has been featured in the "Classical
Piano" series at Alice Tully Halland has spent summers at the Aspen
Music Festival, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, Tanglewood Music Center--where
he received the Felicia Montealegre Bernstein Fellowship in piano--as well
as the Taos Chamber Music Festival, The Stearns Institute for Young Artists
of the Ravinia Festival, and the George Sebok Piano Masterclasses/Chamber
Music Programs at the Banff Center for the Arts in Banff, Canada. In addition,
Mr. Alcalay has performed in Masterclasses led by Leon Fleicher, Joseph
Kalichstein, James Tocco and Russell Sherman. Mr. Alcalay shared the award
of May 1997 Pro-Piano Recital Series Competition in New York, and was awarded
a piano teaching fellowship at Juilliard for 1997-98. On May 22, 1998, Mr.
Alcalay earned a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Piano from The Juilliard
School under Seymour Lipkin.
Michael C. Caputo - received a BA. from Ithaca College and a Masters
form Hunter College. He holds a PhD in Chamber Music Performance from New
York University with a concentration in Twentieth Century Korean Clarinet
Music. He studied clarinet with Anthony Gigliotti of the Philadelphia Orchestra
and Elsa Ludwig-Verdehr of Michigan State University. At NYU, Mr. Caputo
studied clarinet with Esther Lamneck and Jack Kreiselman. Michael has toured
and concertized as a soloist and orchestral player in the United States,
Asia, and in Europe, where he has conducted clarinet Master Classes with
Prof. Guy Deplus at the Paris Conservatory. He is clarinetist with the Viento
Trio, the North Shore Woodwind Quintet, the Manhattan Trio, and principal
clarinetist of the Eglevsky Ballet Orchestra and the Concert Pops of L.
I. Recently, Dr. Caputo served as principal clarinetist with the Moscow
Festival Ballet Orchestra in New York Performances. Currently, he is Professor
of Music at the County College of Morris.
Vox Renaissance Consort this season celebrates the tenth anniversary
of its founding by Valentin Radu in 1987. In those ten years, its lively,
costumed performances of Renaissance vocal music and court dance have delighted
audiences in nine countries. Its varied programs range from inspirational
motets to sprightly madrigals, and have included fully staged Renaissance
opera (Monteverdi's 1607 L'Orfeo at the Annenberg Center).Vox has performed
at Saint Mark's Basilica in Venice, Italy, at Saint Stephen's Cathedral
in Vienna, Austria and at the Salzburg, Austria Cathedral. Other important
concert venues which have hosted Vox include Vienna's famous Votivkirche
and St. Anne's Church, Strasbourg's Orangerie Palace, and the Prince's Hall
of Marburg castle, in Marburg, Germany. In the US. Vox has appeared at Carnegie
Recital Hall in New York, the National City Christian Church in Washington,
DC., at Philadelphia's historic Old Saint Joseph's Church and the Philadelphia
Museum of Art, in the State Museum at Harrisburg and in many other fine
concert venues. Each Advent for the past eleven seasons Vox has performed
programs of Europe's finest Renaissance Christmas music, under the title
of A Renaissance Noel. Vox has recorded two CD's, more recently, A Renaissance
Noel on the PolyGram label.
VALENTIN RADU - Romanian-born conductor Valentin Radu has led numerous
orchestras and vocal ensembles in Europe and the US., including the Bucharest
Philharmonic, Hungarian National Philharmonic, Tirgu Mures and Oradea Philharmonics
(Romania) and Budapest's Erkel Chamber Orchestra. He is the founder and
conductor of two American ensembles: Vox Renaissance Consort and the Ama
Deus Ensemble. He has conducted Vox in programs ranging from motets and
madrigals to authentically staged Renaissance opera. He regularly conducts
the Ama Deus Ensemble chorus, orchestra of authentic period instruments
and soloists in concert and in recordings. He has eleven major-label CDs
in current release, including Handel's Messiah and Handel's opera Acis and
Galatea both on ESX/Vox Entertainment's Vox Classics label and in Glad Tidings,
on both Warner and the Sony Classical labels. Maestro Radu led Vox in A
Renaissance Noel on PolyGram. More recently, he conducted Ama Deus in its
CD recording of the Bach B Minor Mass and of Bach's Magnificat, both for
ESX/Vox Classics, and A European Christmas, on the Helicon label. He led
Ama Deus in its recent all- instrumental release, Royal Fireworks, also
for Helicon, and in its Christmas 1997 release, A Baroque Christmas for
ESX/Vox Classics. Maestro Radu holds Doctoral and Masters degrees from the
Juilliard School and a Bachelors degree from the Bucharest Academy of Music.
Last May he conducted Handel's opera Acis and Galatea with the Romanian
National Radio Orchestra and he conducted Vox ensemble in four performances
of A Renaissance Noel throughout the Philadelphia area in December and in
Songs for the Lenten Season at Daylesford Abbey in March. This Good Friday,
he led the Ama Deus Ensemble in its sixth annual performance of Bach's crowning
work, the B Minor Mass. In June and July he will tour Holland, Germany and
Italy performing organ recitals and in fall 1998 will conduct the George
Enescu Philharmonic of Bucharest in a Gershwin Centennial program.