“BRIDGE TO BEETHOVEN”, Part II:

Jennifer Koh and Shai Wosner’s Season-Long
Four-Concert Residency Continues

Monday, December 7, 2015 at 8:30pm
92Y - Buttenwieser Hall 

Over 180 years after his death, Beethoven remains one of the most frequently performed composers in classical music concerts across the globe. It is no surprise that his music has continued to influence and inspire generations of composers and musicians, including the leading composers of today. Named Musical America’s 2016 Instrumentalist of the Year, violinist Jennifer Koh illustrates the composer’s lasting influence with her four-concert residency “Bridge to Beethoven,” in which she and pianist Shai Wosner perform all of Beethoven’s violin sonatas, along with new works by contemporary composers from a variety of cultural and stylistic backgrounds. Ms. Koh asked composers Vijay Iyer, Andrew Norman, and Anthony Cheung, all of whom she has worked with before, to write new pieces that would serve as companions to Beethoven’s existing violin sonatas.

For this program the composer is Jörg Widmann, whose “Summer Sonata” is in response to Beethoven’s “Spring” Sonata. Also a renowned clarinetist, Widmann is known for his playful and rebellious takes on the classical tradition.

“Bridge to Beethoven” is a part of 92Y’s new series Soundspace, which takes place in the intimate Buttenwieser Hall. This series brings artists and audiences closer together as 92Y re-imagines the classical music experience for the 21st century. Personally selected artists introduce adventurous repertoire in this friendly, informal environment where artists, composers and audience can discover new music and new interpretations of familiar repertoire on a more personal and immediate level.

Jennifer Koh, violin
Shai Wosner, piano

BEETHOVEN: Violin Sonata in A minor, Op. 23
BEETHOVEN: Violin Sonata in A major, Op. 12, No. 2
JÖRG WIDMANN: Sommersonate ("Summer Sonata")
BEETHOVEN: Violin Sonata in F major, Op. 24, "Spring"

Tickets: $15 (35 & under), $25, $30
Artist Websites: Jennifer Koh, Shai Wosner

Pacifica Quartet Gives 92Y Debut

20th Anniversary Program:
“Last Words” - Last Quartets by Carter, Janáček and Beethoven

Wednesday, December 9, 2015 at 7:30pm 
92Y – Kaufmann Concert Hall

Recognized for its virtuosity, exuberant performance style, and daring repertory choices, the Pacifica Quartet makes its long-awaited 92Y debut performing the last quartets of three major composers. The ensemble received the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance, and was named “Ensemble of the Year” by Musical America in the same year. Last Words is a concert program the ensemble created to contemplate and juxtapose the last string quartets of Beethoven, Janáček and Carter, whose lives spanned 200 years.

Celebrating their 20th anniversary this year, the Pacifica Quartet is an ardent advocate of contemporary music and has a particularly special connection with the music of Elliott Carter. They have recorded all five Carter quartets to great acclaim, and have performed the complete cycle in San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Houston and Asia.

Pacifica Quartet (92Y debut)

CARTER: Fragments for String Quartet
JANÁČEK: String Quartet No. 2, “Intimate Letters”
CARTER: String Quartet No. 5
BEETHOVEN: String Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Op. 135

Tickets: $25 (35 and under), $30, $35, $45
Artist Website: Pacifica Quartet

ART OF THE GUITAR:

Pepe Romero Performs Solo Recital of Classical
and Spanish Works

Saturday, December 12, 2015 at 8pm 
92Y – Kaufmann Concert Hall

For over 50 years, three generations of Romeros have become known as "The Royal Family of the Guitar." Pepe Romero, one of the instrument’s greatest performers, appears in a solo recital at 92Y playing selections from the classical and Spanish guitar repertoire. The first half of the program will focus on the music of a single composer -- Francisco Tárrega. Works by Ángel Barrios, Federico Moreno Torroba, Joaquín Turina and Celedonio Romero (founder of The Romeros) will be featured, in addition to Pepe Romero’s own transcription of Isaac Albéniz’s Selections from Suite española, Op. 47.

Pepe Romero, guitar

TÁRREGA: Marieta, Mazurka; Mazurca en sol, Mazurka; Maria, Gavotte; Las dos hermanitas, Two Waltzes; Rosita, Polka; Capricho árabe; Fantasía sobre motivos de La Traviata de Giuseppe Verdi; Gran jota
ÁNGEL BARRIOS: Arroyos de la Alhambra 
ALBÉNIZ: Selections from Suite española, Op. 47 (trans. Pepe Romero) 
TORROBA: Suite castellana for Guitar 
TURINA: Sevillana (Fantasía) for Guitar, Op. 29 
CELEDONIO ROMERO: Two dances from Suite Andaluza 

Join us for a free pre-concert talk one hour before the performance, led by Benjamin Verdery, Art of the Guitar artistic director and chair of the Guitar Department of the Yale School of Music.

Tickets: $25 (35 and under), $45, $55, $65
Artist Website: Pepe Romero

Tickets are available at www.92Y.org/Concerts or 212-415-5500.
Ticket prices subject to change.