BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Bowdoin Music Festival - ECPv5.10.1//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-WR-CALNAME:Bowdoin Music Festival
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://www.bowdoinfestival.org
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Bowdoin Music Festival
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/New_York
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20260308T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20261101T060000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260807T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260807T210000
DTSTAMP:20260811T124355
CREATED:20260130T033334Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260807T165636Z
UID:24016-1786131000-1786136400@www.bowdoinfestival.org
SUMMARY:Jon Nakamatsu Plays Rachmaninoff
DESCRIPTION:SOLD OUT — JOin the waitlist \n\n\n\n                \n                        First Name*Last Name*Phone*Email*\n                            \n                        Number of Tickets*1234Mobility Considerations*\n			\n				\n				No Mobility Considerations\n			\n			\n				\n				Space for a Wheel Chair\n			\n			\n				\n				Unable to Use Stairs\n			Seat Availability Preference*\n			\n				\n				Seat us separately\n			\n			\n				\n				Seat us together\n			Please indicate whether you would prefer to wait until the necessary number of seats become available together. Notes for Box Office\n          \n            \n            \n            \n            \n            \n            \n            \n            \n            \n            \n            \n            \n            \n        \n                        \n                        \n\n\n\n  \n  \nJON nakamatsu Plays Rachmaninoff \nJon Nakamatsu’s Festival residency is generously sponsored by Elliot Rosen and Sharon Cohen. \nLUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827)\nPiano Trio No. 6 in E-flat Major\, Op. 70\, No. 2\nIan Swensen\, violin • David Ying\, cello • Pei-Shan Lee\, piano\n \nSERGEI RACHMANINOFF (1873–1943)\nPiano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor\, Op. 30\nJon Nakamatsu\, piano • Peter Bay\, conductor • Festival Orchestra \n  \nPROGRAM NOTES \nLUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN\nPiano Trio No. 6 in E-flat Major\, Op. 70\, No. 2 (1808) \nBeethoven undertook work on this Op. 70 Piano Trio during the summer of 1808\, on retreat in the Viennese suburban village of Heiligenstadt. He had just completed his Symphony No. 6\, (the “Pastorale”)\, and proposed to send his publisher a bundle of works\, including the Fifth and Sixth symphonies\, the Mass in C Major\, a Cello Sonata\, and two piano trios — justifying the inclusion of the latter since\, in Beethoven’s words\, “There is a lack of them.” It had been twelve years since Beethoven’s previous trios\, the set of three which had been his first published works in 1795. \nIf the first Trio of the set\, the famed “Ghost” Trio\, exemplifies with its stormy contrasts and quivering slow movement Beethoven’s dramatic style — sharing certain emotive impulses with the Fifth Symphony — the Trio on today’s program\, with its convivial cheer and the gentle grace of its twinned Allegretti\, recalls the Beethoven of the Sixth Symphony. \nAlthough 1808 saw the composition of several of Beethoven’s most beloved symphonic and chamber works\, it was also a difficult year. Beethoven was struggling to secure stable patronage\, his living situation was precarious\, and he was considering leaving Vienna. The Countess Marie von Erdődy\, who hosted Beethoven at her residence while he completed the Op. 70 Trios\, endeavored to prevent his departure by arranging for Prince Lobkowitz\, Prince Kinsky\, and the Archduke Rudolph to jointly assure Beethoven a yearly stipend — upon the contractual condition that he permanently remain in Vienna. As a gesture of thanks for this successful negotiation\, Beethoven dedicated the pair of trios to the Countess Erdődy\, and it was at her palace that the trios were premiered.  \nProgram Note by Peter Asimov \n  \nSERGEI RACHMANINOFF\nPiano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor\, Op. 30 (1909) \nSergei Rachmaninoff wrote his Third Piano Concerto in 1909 for his first tour of the United States\, which took place that fall and winter. He did not much enjoy this trip. In December of that year\, he complained to his cousin\, Zoya Pribitkova\, that though the people he encountered were friendly\, they were uniformly focused on business\, “Clutching you from all sides and driving you on. I feel my character has been quite spoiled here. Sometimes I grow angry as the devil.” His spirits improved slightly in January\, when he got to play the new Concerto with Gustav Mahler and the New York Philharmonic. Rachmaninoff was pleasantly surprised at the attention Mahler gave to the piece\, noting that “He devoted himself to the concerto until the accompaniment\, which is rather complicated\, had been practiced to the point of perfection.” The tour\, and the Third Concerto\, got mixed reviews from American critics\, but the work was better received when the composer returned to Russia. There\, the critic Grigori Prokofiev complimented its “Sharp and laconic form\, as well as simple and brilliant orchestration that will secure both outer success and enduring love by musicians and public alike.” \nProkofiev’s review proved prescient; this Concerto remains one of Rachmaninoff’s most performed works. But it is understandable that the piece was initially better understood in Russia than in the United States. The massive opening movement builds to a euphoric\, dramatic climax in the middle of a torrentially difficult cadenza. But the quiet\, plaintive main theme alludes to the structure of Russian orthodox chant and lacks the bombastic brilliance we find at the start of Russian concertos that would have been more familiar to American audiences\, like those of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The slow movement is a churning lament full of melodic fragments\, in which Rachmaninoff makes space for a disarming scherzo and a sparkling toccata. The Finale is brilliantly fast and full of activity. This is one of the only pieces that is regularly cited for its number of notes per second (15\, according to legend; in truth\, more like 11 or 12) and a lot of them happen in this last movement. The Concerto ends with a transcendent presentation of one of Rachmaninoff’s swoon tunes — his instantly appealing\, romantic melodies that soothe all wounds and have been ripe fodder for inspiration and outright filching by popular song composers for well over a century. \nProgram Note by Nicky Swett \n— \nNow in his third decade of touring worldwide\, American pianist Jon Nakamatsu continues to draw critical and public acclaim for his intensity\, elegance and electrifying solo\, concerto and chamber music performances. Catapulted to international attention in 1997 as the Gold Medalist of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition—the only American to achieve this distinction since 1981—Mr. Nakamatsu subsequently developed a multi-faceted career that encompasses recording\, education\, arts administration and public speaking in addition to his vast concert schedule. \nMr. Nakamatsu has been guest soloist with over 150 orchestras worldwide\, including those of Baltimore\, Berlin\, Boston\, Cincinnati\, Dallas\, Detroit\, Florence\, Los Angeles\, Milan\, San Francisco\, Seattle\, Tokyo and Vancouver. He has worked with such esteemed conductors as Marin Alsop\, Sergiu Comissiona\, James Conlon\, Philippe Entremont\, Hans Graf\, Marek Janowski\, Raymond Leppard\, Gerard Schwarz\, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski\, Michael Tilson Thomas and Osmo Vänskä. \nAs a recitalist\, Mr. Nakamatsu has appeared in New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center\, Washington DC’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts\, the Musée d’Orsay and the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and in major centers such as Boston\, Chicago\, Houston\, London\, Milan\, Munich\, Prague\, Singapore\, Tokyo\, Warsaw and Zurich. In Beijing he has been heard at the Theater of the Forbidden City\, the Great Hall of the People\, China Conservatory\, and the National Centre for the Performing Arts. His numerous summer engagements included appearances at the Aspen\, Tanglewood\, Ravinia\, Caramoor\, Vail\, Wolftrap\, Colorado\, Brevard\, Britt\, Colorado College\, Evian\, Interlochen\, Klavierfestival Ruhr\, Santa Fe and Sun Valley festivals\, and annual extended residency at the Bowdoin Festival in Maine. \nWith clarinetist Jon Manasse\, Mr. Nakamatsu tours as a member of the Manasse/Nakamatsu Duo. Following its Boston debut in 2004\, the Duo released its first CD for harmonia mundi usa (Brahms Sonatas for Clarinet and Piano) which received the highest praise from The New York Times Classical Music Editor James Oestreich\, who named it among the “Best of the Year” for 2008.  A frequent chamber musician\, Mr. Nakamatsu has collaborated repeatedly with ensembles such as the Emerson\, Escher\, Jupiter\, Miró\, Modigliani\, Prazak\, St. Lawrence\, Tokyo and Ying string quartets\, the Imani Winds and the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet with whom he made multiple tours beginning in 2000. \nMr. Nakamatsu’s 13 CDs recorded for harmonia mundi usa have garnered extraordinary critical praise. An all-Gershwin recording with Jeff Tyzik and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra featuring Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Concerto in F remained in the top echelons of Billboard’s classical charts for over six months. Other acclaimed discs include the recording premiere of Lukas Foss’ first Piano Concerto with Carl St. Clair and the Pacific Symphony\, the Brahms Piano Quintet with the Tokyo String Quartet in the quartet’s final recording as an ensemble\, and a solo recording including Robert Schumann’s Second Piano Sonata whose YouTube posting has garnered over 600K hits. \nMr. Nakamatsu has been profiled extensively in print\, radio\, television and online. He has appeared on CBS Sunday Morning\, in Readers Digest magazine and recently on Live from Here! with Chris Thile. In 1999\, Mr. Nakamatsu performed at the White House at the special invitation of President and Mrs. Clinton. He has also performed for the United States Mayor’s Convention in San Francisco and in 2001 was the featured guest artist during the opening and dedication of the Japanese American Memorial to Patriotism During World War II in Washington DC. \nA former high school teacher of German with no formal conservatory training\, Mr. Nakamatsu studied privately with Marina Derryberry for over 20 years beginning at the age of six; worked with Karl Ulrich Schnabel since the age of 9; and trained for 10 years in composition\, theory and orchestration with Dr. Leonard Stein of the University of Southern California’s Schoenberg Institute. Mr. Nakamatsu holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Stanford University in German Studies and secondary education. In 2015\, he joined the piano faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and in 2023 the Department of Music at Stanford University. He lives in the Bay Area with his wife Kathy and young son Gavin.
URL:https://www.bowdoinfestival.org/event/jon-nakamatsu-plays-rachmaninoff/
LOCATION:Crooker Theater\, 116 Maquoit Rd\, Brunswick\, ME\, 04011
CATEGORIES:Concert,Ticketed Events,Fridays
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.bowdoinfestival.org/contents/media/2024/05/Jon-Masterclass.jpg
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR