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:20260717T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260717T210000
DTSTAMP:20260816T035723
CREATED:20260130T025147Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260716T183813Z
UID:23989-1784316600-1784322000@www.bowdoinfestival.org
SUMMARY:Zlatomir Fung Plays Tchaikovsky
DESCRIPTION:Zlatomir Fung Plays Tchaikovsky \nWOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756–1791)\nString Quintet No. 4 in G Minor\, K. 516\nItamar Zorman\, Robin Scott\, violin • Maiya Papach\, Rebecca Albers\, viola • Ahrim Kim\, cello \nPYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840–1893)\nVariations on a Rococo Theme\, Op. 33\nZlatomir Fung\, cello • Peter Bay\, conductor • Festival Orchestra \n  \nProgram Notes \nWOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756–1791) \nString Quintet No. 4 in G Minor\, K. 516 (1787)                                      \nThe year 1787 was difficult for Mozart in several ways. Although he had arrived in Vienna in 1781\, Mozart still struggled to find the steady and fulfilling position he sought within the city’s musical world. He had a few years of lucrative success as a composer-performer\, premiering several piano concertos each season. However\, in 1786-1787\, he turned his attention to larger-scale operatic collaborations\, resulting in a sudden decline in steady income that could not adequately sustain his lavish lifestyle. Moreover\, in April of 1787\, Mozart learned that his father’s health had significantly worsened\, which caused particular anguish as the younger Mozart was unable to take the time to visit Leopold in Salzburg.  \nThese trying circumstances surrounded Mozart’s composition of two string quintets\, K. 515/516 — often considered the summit of his chamber music writing. Observing the sharp contrasts between the two quintets\, commentators frequently draw a comparison between these and Mozart’s Symphonies No. 40 and 41\, composed the following year — a comparison bolstered by the respective key signatures of each pair (C Major and G Minor). The dark tone of this quintet is enhanced by Mozart’s choice of ensemble\, a string quartet plus an additional viola. This dense instrumentation was nonstandard; and although\, by force of these quintets\, Mozart was the composer to popularize the genre\, he was not without predecessors. Mozart was likely inspired by Michael Haydn (younger brother of Joseph)\, an old acquaintance from Salzburg who had published his own viola quintets over the preceding decades. \nMozart’s father died twelve days after Mozart completed the String Quintet No. 4. Mozart managed\, despite his sorrow\, to complete Don Giovanni later the same year\, which received a spectacular premiere in Prague. And by the end of the year\, Mozart at last obtained part-time royal patronage as “chamber composer” to Emperor Joseph II. It was not as grand of a post as Mozart may have hoped for\, but it proved sufficient incentive for Mozart to remain in Vienna. \n  \n— Intermission —  \n  \nPYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840–1893) \nVariations on a Rococo Theme\, Op. 33  (1876-77)                                  \nTchaikovsky’s “Rococo” Variations are indissociable from their commissioner and dedicatee\, the cellist Wilhelm Fitzenhagen. Fitzenhagen was a talented German cellist who had\, at age 21\, already been hired as professor at the Moscow Conservatory. When Fitzenhagen asked Tchaikovsky for a piece in 1876\, the composer was rebounding from the negative reception to his recent opera\, Vakula the Smith\, and symphonic poem\, Francesca da Rimini. He was eager for a project which might turn the critical tides in his favor. \nTurning to musical models from the previous century\, Tchaikovsky\, a lover of Mozart\, took inspiration from the theme and variations form. He wrote a theme in the classical style\, and embellished it with “rococo\,” or late Baroque\, ornamentation and embellishment. The reduced\, classical orchestration — paired winds\, horns\, and strings — matches the stylistic basis of the composition. \nEager to please\, Tchaikovsky assented to Fitzenhagen’s request to make some alterations to the score; these alterations wound up constituting an overhaul of Tchaikovsky’s original solo part\, plus the restructuring of variation movements\, including one which Fitzenhagen omitted entirely. The cello part of the manuscript is largely written in Fitzenhagen’s hand\, not Tchaikovsky’s. Meanwhile\, Tchaikovsky’s publisher\, Jurgenson\, unaware that the composer had granted Fitzenhagen such liberty\, wrote to inform the composer of what “horrible Fitzenhagen” had done. But Tchaikovsky came to resign himself to the “revised” version\, particularly once Fitzenhagen exuberantly reported the success with which he met performing the variations across Europe\, and it is the Fitzenhagen version which continues to be popular to this day. \nProgram Notes by Peter Asimov \n— \nCellist Zlatomir Fung burst onto the scene as the first American in four decades (and youngest musician ever) to win First Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition Cello Division. He has since garnered accolades\, critical acclaim and standing ovations at performances around the world\, becoming recognized as one of the preeminent cellists of our time. Astounding audiences with his boundless virtuosity and exquisite sensitivity\, the 26-year-old has already proven himself a star among the next generation of world-class musicians. \nHighlights of the 2025-2026 season include a recital at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall in March and a return to the Aspen\, Ravinia and La Jolla Music Society Festivals. He appears with the Fort Worth Symphony under conductor Peter Oundjian and with the Nashville\, Albany\, Knoxville and Pacific Symphonies\, Sacramento and Reno Philharmonics and Sarasota Orchestra. Appearances outside the U.S. include the Pohang International Music Festival in Korea and Guiyang Symphony Orchestra in China; Belgrade Philharmonic in Serbia; Melbourne Symphony; and a recital at Wigmore Hall in London. \nIn April 2025\, Signum Records released Fung’s debut album\, Fantasies\, a collection of opera fantasies and transcriptions for cello and piano to enthusiastic reviews. \nFung served as artist in residence with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in the 2023-2024 season\, appearing in four London performances. Other recent debuts include the New York Philharmonic\, Cleveland Orchestra\, Orchestre National de Lille\, and BBC Philharmonic\, as well as the Baltimore\, Dallas\, Detroit\, Seattle\, Milwaukee\, Utah\, Rochester\, and Kansas City Symphonies.  He has performed at major festivals\, including Ravinia\, Blossom\, Aspen\, Bravo Vail and Grant Park in the U.S. and Verbier\, Dresden\, Leoš Janáček International and Tsinandali Festivals and the Cello Biennale Amsterdam in Europe. \nIn addition to demonstrating a mastery of the canon with his impeccable technique\, Fung brings exceptional insight into contemporary repertoire\, championing composers such as Unsuk Chin\, Katherine Balch\, and Anna Clyne. In 2023\, under the baton of Gemma New and with the Dallas Symphony\, Fung gave the world premiere of Katherine Balch’s whisper concerto to great acclaim as the dedicatee of the work; he gave its UK premiere in February 2024 with the BBC Philharmonic\, conducted by Joshua Weilerstein. \nFung has received many distinguished prizes and awards\, including the 2017 Young Concert Artists International Auditions and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship in 2022. As a participant in WXQR’s Artist Propulsion Lab\, he wrote The Elves and the Cello Maker\, a radio play in which he also performed. Fung has been featured on NPR’s Performance Today and appeared six times on NPR’s From the Top. Fung joined the faculty of his alma mater\, The Juilliard School\, in 2024 as one of the youngest members of the faculty. \nFung performs on a circa 1735 cello by Domenico Montagnana\, on loan from a generous benefactor\, and the 1696 “Lord Aylesford” Strad\, on loan from the Sasakawa Music Foundation (formerly the Nippon Music Foundation). \nOf Bulgarian and Chinese heritage\, Zlatomir Fung was born into a family of mathematicians and began playing cello at age three. Fung studied at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Richard Aaron and Timothy Eddy\, where he was a recipient of the Kovner Fellowship. Outside of music\, his interests include chess\, cinema\, and creative writing.
URL:https://www.bowdoinfestival.org/event/zlatomir-fung-plays-tchaikovsky/
LOCATION:Crooker Theater\, 116 Maquoit Rd\, Brunswick\, ME\, 04011
CATEGORIES:Concert,Ticketed Events,Fridays
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowdoinfestival.org/contents/media/2026/01/Zlatomir-Fung.png
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR