ARTISTS
PAMELA PRESTON KELLY, piano
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NANCY OLIVEROS, violin
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PROGRAM
"Saturday Night Waltz" & "Hoe-Down" (Two Pianos, 4 Hands) from Rodeo (1942) by A. Copland
Pamela Preston Kelly and Mary Ellen Haupert, pianists
NOTES: Aaron Copland (1900-1990) was an American composer and conductor, famously known for his other works such as Appalachian Spring. Rodeo is a ballet choreographed by Agnes de Mille and scored by Copland at her request, presenting the narrative of a tomboyish cowgirl’s attempts to win the attention of the Head Wrangler. Saturday Night Waltz accompanies the scene as the cowgirls and cowboys begin to pair off to dance - and the lead character is approached by the Champion Roper. Following a brief but grandiose introduction, the main ‘Texas Minuet’ theme is introduced. It gradually unfurls into a stately dance rhythm and motif, characterised by the steady, rhythmic bass line. This leads into the middle section, which takes on a more romantic, melancholic feel. The waltz concludes with the returning main theme, fading off quietly to end off the movement. A Hoe-Down is a type of American folk dance characterised by duple meter and a lively tempo. The energetic movement opens with dissonant chords and a frantic melodic line and gains in momentum with the main theme introduced as a simple two-part counterpoint melody. Like an energetic barn dance, Hoe-Down develops through several repetitions of the theme which eventually serve as the backdrop for the romantic climax of the ballet; shortly thereafter, the piece closes with a loud, energetic fanfare.
Road Movies (1995) by John Adams (b. 1947)
I. With a Slight Swing
II. Contemplative
III. 40% Swing
Nancy Oliveros, violin & Mary Ellen Haupert, piano
Composer's NOTES: “After years of studiously avoiding the chamber music format I have suddenly begun to compose for the medium in real earnest. The 1992 Chamber Symphony was followed by the string quartet, John's Book of Alleged Dances, written for Kronos in 1994, and now comes Road Movies. For years the chamber music scenario remained a not particularly fertile bed in which to grow my musical ideas. My music of the 1970s and 80s was principally about massed sonorities and the physical and emotional potency of big walls of triadic harmony. These musical gestures were not really germane to chamber music with its democratic parceling of roles, its transparency and timbral delicacy. Moreover, the challenge of writing melodically, something that chamber music demands above and beyond all else, was yet to be solved. Fortunately, a breakthrough in melodic writing came about during the writing of The Death of Klinghoffer, an opera whose subject and mood required a whole new appraisal of my musical language.
The title Road Movies is total whimsy, probably suggested by the "groove" in the piano part, all of which is required to be played in a "swing" mode (second and fourth of every group of four notes are played slightly late). Movement I is a relaxed drive down a not unfamiliar road. Material is recirculated in a sequence of recalls that suggest a rondo form. Movement II is a simple meditation of several small motives. A solitary figure in an empty desert landscape. Movement III is for four-wheel drives only, a big perpetual motion machine called "40% Swing." On modern MIDI sequencers the desired amount of swing can be adjusted with almost ridiculous accuracy. 40% provides a giddy, bouncy ride, somewhere between an Ives ragtime and a long ride out by the Goodman Orchestra, circa 1939. It is very difficult for violin and piano to maintain over the seven-minute stretch, especially in the tricky cross-hand style of the piano part. Relax, and leave the driving to us.” - Notes by John Adams, September 1995
INTERMISSION
The Planets by Gustav Holst (1874 – 1934)
(Arranged for Two Pianos by the Composer)
I. Mars, The Bringer of War
II. Venus, The Bringer of Peace
III. Mercury, The Winged Messenger
IV. Jupiter, The Bringer of Jollity
V. Saturn, The Bringer of Old Age
VI. Uranus, The Magician
VII. Neptune, The Mystic
Pamela Preston Kelly and Mary Ellen Haupert, pianists
NOTES by Imogen Holst (widow of Gustav Holst):
This is Holst’s own version of The Planets for two pianos, dating from the years 1914 to 1916. Unlike most keyboard versions of an orchestral work, it was not an arrangement of the full score. It existed before the orchestral score had been written out, although details of the instrumentation had already been clear in Holst’s mind from the moment when he began sketching the work. The reason that he needed a keyboard version on paper was that he suffered from neuritis in his right arm, and this often prevented him from playing over his sketches while he was composing. He was able to ask two of his colleagues on the music staff of St. Paul’s Girls’ School, Vally Lasker and Nora Day, to play his two-piano version to him on Saturday mornings in his sound-proof music room at the school. These two friends were his chief amanuenses. When the time came for them to help him to write out the full score, they were able to follow the details of instrumentation, which they had written from his dictation in the margins of the keyboard manuscripts they had been playing from. (The manuscripts, autograph and partly autograph, are in the British library Add. MS 57881; the Royal College of Music Parry Room Library MS 4556-61; and the Royal Academy of Music MS 303.) The seven movements of this two-piano version were first published separately in 1949-51, and most have been out of print for some time. They are now reissued complete in one volume, providing a welcome opportunity for pianists to discover the music for themselves in performance.
Pamela Preston Kelly and Mary Ellen Haupert, pianists
NOTES: Aaron Copland (1900-1990) was an American composer and conductor, famously known for his other works such as Appalachian Spring. Rodeo is a ballet choreographed by Agnes de Mille and scored by Copland at her request, presenting the narrative of a tomboyish cowgirl’s attempts to win the attention of the Head Wrangler. Saturday Night Waltz accompanies the scene as the cowgirls and cowboys begin to pair off to dance - and the lead character is approached by the Champion Roper. Following a brief but grandiose introduction, the main ‘Texas Minuet’ theme is introduced. It gradually unfurls into a stately dance rhythm and motif, characterised by the steady, rhythmic bass line. This leads into the middle section, which takes on a more romantic, melancholic feel. The waltz concludes with the returning main theme, fading off quietly to end off the movement. A Hoe-Down is a type of American folk dance characterised by duple meter and a lively tempo. The energetic movement opens with dissonant chords and a frantic melodic line and gains in momentum with the main theme introduced as a simple two-part counterpoint melody. Like an energetic barn dance, Hoe-Down develops through several repetitions of the theme which eventually serve as the backdrop for the romantic climax of the ballet; shortly thereafter, the piece closes with a loud, energetic fanfare.
Road Movies (1995) by John Adams (b. 1947)
I. With a Slight Swing
II. Contemplative
III. 40% Swing
Nancy Oliveros, violin & Mary Ellen Haupert, piano
Composer's NOTES: “After years of studiously avoiding the chamber music format I have suddenly begun to compose for the medium in real earnest. The 1992 Chamber Symphony was followed by the string quartet, John's Book of Alleged Dances, written for Kronos in 1994, and now comes Road Movies. For years the chamber music scenario remained a not particularly fertile bed in which to grow my musical ideas. My music of the 1970s and 80s was principally about massed sonorities and the physical and emotional potency of big walls of triadic harmony. These musical gestures were not really germane to chamber music with its democratic parceling of roles, its transparency and timbral delicacy. Moreover, the challenge of writing melodically, something that chamber music demands above and beyond all else, was yet to be solved. Fortunately, a breakthrough in melodic writing came about during the writing of The Death of Klinghoffer, an opera whose subject and mood required a whole new appraisal of my musical language.
The title Road Movies is total whimsy, probably suggested by the "groove" in the piano part, all of which is required to be played in a "swing" mode (second and fourth of every group of four notes are played slightly late). Movement I is a relaxed drive down a not unfamiliar road. Material is recirculated in a sequence of recalls that suggest a rondo form. Movement II is a simple meditation of several small motives. A solitary figure in an empty desert landscape. Movement III is for four-wheel drives only, a big perpetual motion machine called "40% Swing." On modern MIDI sequencers the desired amount of swing can be adjusted with almost ridiculous accuracy. 40% provides a giddy, bouncy ride, somewhere between an Ives ragtime and a long ride out by the Goodman Orchestra, circa 1939. It is very difficult for violin and piano to maintain over the seven-minute stretch, especially in the tricky cross-hand style of the piano part. Relax, and leave the driving to us.” - Notes by John Adams, September 1995
INTERMISSION
The Planets by Gustav Holst (1874 – 1934)
(Arranged for Two Pianos by the Composer)
I. Mars, The Bringer of War
II. Venus, The Bringer of Peace
III. Mercury, The Winged Messenger
IV. Jupiter, The Bringer of Jollity
V. Saturn, The Bringer of Old Age
VI. Uranus, The Magician
VII. Neptune, The Mystic
Pamela Preston Kelly and Mary Ellen Haupert, pianists
NOTES by Imogen Holst (widow of Gustav Holst):
This is Holst’s own version of The Planets for two pianos, dating from the years 1914 to 1916. Unlike most keyboard versions of an orchestral work, it was not an arrangement of the full score. It existed before the orchestral score had been written out, although details of the instrumentation had already been clear in Holst’s mind from the moment when he began sketching the work. The reason that he needed a keyboard version on paper was that he suffered from neuritis in his right arm, and this often prevented him from playing over his sketches while he was composing. He was able to ask two of his colleagues on the music staff of St. Paul’s Girls’ School, Vally Lasker and Nora Day, to play his two-piano version to him on Saturday mornings in his sound-proof music room at the school. These two friends were his chief amanuenses. When the time came for them to help him to write out the full score, they were able to follow the details of instrumentation, which they had written from his dictation in the margins of the keyboard manuscripts they had been playing from. (The manuscripts, autograph and partly autograph, are in the British library Add. MS 57881; the Royal College of Music Parry Room Library MS 4556-61; and the Royal Academy of Music MS 303.) The seven movements of this two-piano version were first published separately in 1949-51, and most have been out of print for some time. They are now reissued complete in one volume, providing a welcome opportunity for pianists to discover the music for themselves in performance.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
DR. PAMELA PRESTON KELLY began piano lessons with her father, professional musician John E. Preston, then studied eight years with Naumburg-winner Helen McGraw Chambers. Undergraduate work took place at the Eastman School of Music in the studios of Barry Snyder and David Burge, where Ms. Kelly won the Easley-Hardenburgh Award for the Outstanding Senior Pianist. She acquired her masters degree from the University of Louisville under the tutelage of Lee Luvisi. Ms. Kelly received her doctorate from the University of Maryland as a student of Thomas Schumacher. As a soloist and chamber musician, Ms. Kelly has performed extensively on the east coast, throughout the midwest, and in Texas with family members in the Houston Symphony. She has received notable honors and awards, and spent several summers as resident artist at both the Meadowmount School of Music and the Silver Bay Conference Center with the Colden String Quartet. Ms. Kelly trained and performed in Baden, Austria as a scholarship participant in the Franz-Schubert-lnstitut. At the Operafestival di Roma in Rome, Italy, she filled the role of Maestra di Collaboratore where she coached and performed.
Ms. Kelly has taught and performed at Frederick Community College, Viterbo University, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Winona State University, and the Ars Musica Institute in Minneapolis. Currently she collaborates with university faculty and students, professional musicians, and ensembles in the upper-midwest region, including visiting artists, the La Crosse Symphony, and the La Crosse Chamber Chorale; she was formerly pianist for the La Crosse Choral Union. She has appeared as soloist with the La Crosse Symphony, the Winona Symphony, and the Seven Rivers Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Kelly is primary pianist at Christ Covenant Church and music instructor at Crucifixion Elementary School. Within her private studio are pupils who have distinguished themselves in competition and performance venues. Recent endeavors include creative work, concert productions, and classical arts workshops that are part of her emerging arts initiative business. Both as a performer and as a member of the Board and the Performing Arts Committee at the Old Main Historical and Community Arts Center in Galesville, Ms. Kelly has contributed to the developing arts programs and Gale Star Series at Old Main, which serve artists and community members in the region and beyond.
Ms. Kelly has taught and performed at Frederick Community College, Viterbo University, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Winona State University, and the Ars Musica Institute in Minneapolis. Currently she collaborates with university faculty and students, professional musicians, and ensembles in the upper-midwest region, including visiting artists, the La Crosse Symphony, and the La Crosse Chamber Chorale; she was formerly pianist for the La Crosse Choral Union. She has appeared as soloist with the La Crosse Symphony, the Winona Symphony, and the Seven Rivers Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Kelly is primary pianist at Christ Covenant Church and music instructor at Crucifixion Elementary School. Within her private studio are pupils who have distinguished themselves in competition and performance venues. Recent endeavors include creative work, concert productions, and classical arts workshops that are part of her emerging arts initiative business. Both as a performer and as a member of the Board and the Performing Arts Committee at the Old Main Historical and Community Arts Center in Galesville, Ms. Kelly has contributed to the developing arts programs and Gale Star Series at Old Main, which serve artists and community members in the region and beyond.
NANCY OLIVEROS
A founding member of the critically acclaimed Artaria String Quartet and a 2004 McKnight Fellow, violinist NANCY OLIVEROS has performed at renowned venues in New York, Boston, Atlanta, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Chicago, and throughout the United States and Europe. She is a multi-year recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, and the Minnesota State Arts Board for performance and educational outreach projects. She has performed with members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Juilliard, Guarneri and Cleveland Quartets, and since moving to Minnesota, with members of the Minnesota Orchestra and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.
Co-founder of the Stringwood Summer Chamber Music Festival in Lanesboro, MN and the Artaria Chamber Music School in St. Paul, she was Artist/Teacher in Residence at the world-renowned Tanglewood Institute under the mentorship of Norman Fischer. With the ASQ, she has competed at the finals of the Banff International String Quartet Competition, and was a protege of Walter Levine at ProQuartet and the L'Epau Festival in France. She was a fellowship student at Aspen, Kneisel Hall, and the Florida Festival and was a graduate teaching assistant at The Florida State University and Boston University studying violin and chamber music with Roman Totenberg, Eugene Lehner, Raphael Hillyer, and the Muir Quartet. Further studies in Chamber Music were mentored by members of the Budapest, Emerson, and Cleveland Quartets. Nancy's principal violin teachers were Roman Totenberg, Gerardo Ribeiro, and Karen Clarke. Her students are national prizewinners and can be found in professional posts around the world. She is delighted to own and perform on a rare 1781 Neapolitan violin by Tomaso Eberle.
A founding member of the critically acclaimed Artaria String Quartet and a 2004 McKnight Fellow, violinist NANCY OLIVEROS has performed at renowned venues in New York, Boston, Atlanta, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Chicago, and throughout the United States and Europe. She is a multi-year recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, and the Minnesota State Arts Board for performance and educational outreach projects. She has performed with members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Juilliard, Guarneri and Cleveland Quartets, and since moving to Minnesota, with members of the Minnesota Orchestra and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.
Co-founder of the Stringwood Summer Chamber Music Festival in Lanesboro, MN and the Artaria Chamber Music School in St. Paul, she was Artist/Teacher in Residence at the world-renowned Tanglewood Institute under the mentorship of Norman Fischer. With the ASQ, she has competed at the finals of the Banff International String Quartet Competition, and was a protege of Walter Levine at ProQuartet and the L'Epau Festival in France. She was a fellowship student at Aspen, Kneisel Hall, and the Florida Festival and was a graduate teaching assistant at The Florida State University and Boston University studying violin and chamber music with Roman Totenberg, Eugene Lehner, Raphael Hillyer, and the Muir Quartet. Further studies in Chamber Music were mentored by members of the Budapest, Emerson, and Cleveland Quartets. Nancy's principal violin teachers were Roman Totenberg, Gerardo Ribeiro, and Karen Clarke. Her students are national prizewinners and can be found in professional posts around the world. She is delighted to own and perform on a rare 1781 Neapolitan violin by Tomaso Eberle.
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SoundCloud recording of Pam Kelly & Mary Ellen Haupert performing THE PLANETS at the final One-of-a-Kind Chamber Music Series concert on April 21, 2018 (Viterbo University, La Crosse, WI).
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