Making Music: Osvaldo Golijov

Performers

• Osvaldo Golijov, Composer
• St. Lawrence String Quartet
  ·· Geoff Nuttall, Violin
  ·· Scott St. John, Violin
  ·· Lesley Robertson, Viola
  ·· Christopher Costanza, Cello
• Jessica Rivera, Soprano
• Biella da Costa, Mezzo-Soprano
• Todd Palmer, Clarinet
• The Zankel Band
  ·· Alex Sopp, Flute and Alto Flute
  ·· Todd Palmer, Clarinet and Bass Clarinet
  ·· Eric Ruske, French Horn
  ·· Claudio Ragazzi, Guitar and Ronroco
  ·· Bridget Kibbey, Harp
  ·· Michael Ward-Bergeman, Accordion
  ·· Jeremy Flower, Sampler
  ·· Hsin-Yun Huang, Viola
  ·· Julia MacLaine, Cello
  ·· Kris Saebo, Bass
  ·· Jamey Haddad, Percussion
• Jeremy Geffen, Moderator

Program

ALL-OSVALDO GOLIJOV PROGRAM
• K’vakarat
• Qohelet (NY Premiere, commissioned by Carnegie Hall and Stanford Lively Arts)
• Ayre

Bios

• Osvaldo Golijov

  
  Osvaldo Golijov grew up in an Eastern European Jewish household in La Plata, Argentina, where he was surrounded by classical chamber music, Jewish liturgical and klezmer music, and the new tango of Astor Piazzolla. After studying with Mark Kopytman at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, he moved to the US in 1986 and earned his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied with George Crumb. He was also a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Festival, where he learned from Oliver Knussen.
  
  In the early 1990s, Golijov began to work closely with two string quartets, the St. Lawrence String Quartet and the Kronos Quartet. Both ensembles were the earliest to project Golijov's volatile and category-defying style in its true, full form. In 2002, EMI released Yiddishbbuk, a Grammy-nominated CD of Golijov's chamber music, celebrating 10 years of collaboration with the St. Lawrence String Quartet and featuring clarinetist Todd Palmer. The St. Lawrence String Quartet continues this partnership, having recently premiered the composer's Qohelet in 2011.
  
  Golijov also collaborates closely with conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya; vocalists Dawn Upshaw, Jessica Rivera, Luciana Souza, and Biella da Costa; cellists Yo-Yo Ma, Alisa Weilerstein, Maya Beiser, and Matt Haimovitz; kamancheh virtuoso Kayhan Kalhor; and percussionist Jamey Haddad; as well as with young, multitalented musicians who include Michael Ward-Bergeman, Gonzalo Grau, Ljova, Jeremy Flower, and Cristina Pato. He has worked with the Atlanta, Boston, and Chicago symphony orchestras; the Silk Road Ensemble; and eighth blackbird. He has also collaborated with the artist Gronk; playwright David Henry Hwang; and directors Francis Ford Coppola and Peter Sellars.
  
  Golijov is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and the Vilcek Prize. In 2007, he was named the first composer-in-residence at the Mostly Mozart Festival; and has held similar positions at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; LA Phil LIVE; and Spoleto USA, Marlboro Music, Ravinia, Ojai, Trondheim, and Holland festivals. Golijov is Loyola Professor of Music at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he has taught since 1991. He has also taught at Tanglewood and led workshops at Carnegie Hall with Dawn Upshaw. He continues to teach each summer at the Sundance Institute's Composers Lab.
  
  Golijov has scored the soundtracks for Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth, Tetro, and Twixt. Other recent works include Azul, a cello concerto for Yo-Yo Ma and the Boston Symphony Orchestra; Rose of the Winds, premiered by the Silk Road Ensemble and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; She Was Here, a work based on Schubert lieder premiered by Dawn Upshaw and The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; and Sidereus, a piece commissioned by a consortium of 35 American orchestras in honor of Henry Fogel. He is currently working on a commission for the Metropolitan Opera.
  
  His works are published by Boosey & Hawkes and recorded by Deutsche Grammophon. Additional albums have been released on the Nonesuch, Sony Classical, Hänssler Classic, Naxos, Koch, harmonia mundi, and EMI labels.

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• St. Lawrence String Quartet

  
  Established in 1989, the St. Lawrence String Quartet has developed an undisputed reputation as a truly world-class chamber ensemble. The quartet performs more than 120 concerts annually worldwide and calls Stanford University home, where the group is ensemble-in-residence.
  
  The St. Lawrence String Quartet continues to build its reputation for imaginative and spontaneous music-making through an energetic commitment to championing established quartet literature, as well as new works by such composers as John Adams, Osvaldo Golijov, Ezequiel Viñao, and Jonathan Berger.
  
  This season's highlights include performances in New York, Seoul, Toronto, Philadelphia, and London, as well as visits to less conventional audiences in college dormitories, laboratories, and schools across the continent. During the summer season, the St. Lawrence String Quartet is proud to continue its long association with Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina.
  
  Since 1998, the St. Lawrence String Quartet has held the position of ensemble-in-residence at Stanford University. This residency includes working with music students, as well as extensive collaborations with other faculty and departments; recent collaborations have involved the School of Medicine, School of Education, and the Law School. In addition to their appointment at Stanford, the members of the St. Lawrence String Quartet are visiting artists at the University of Toronto. The foursome's passion for opening musical arenas to players and listeners alike is evident in their annual summer chamber music seminar at Stanford and their many forays into the depths of musical meaning with preeminent music educator Robert Kapilow. 

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• Jessica Rivera

  
  Jessica Rivera has established a reputation as one of the most creatively inspired vocal artists today. The intelligence, dimension, and spirituality with which she infuses her performances on international concert and opera stages has garnered Ms. Rivera unique artistic collaborations with many of today's most celebrated composers, including John Adams, Gabriela Lena Frank, Osvaldo Golijov, Jonathan Leshnoff, and Nico Muhly. She has collaborated with such esteemed conductors and directors as Gustavo Dudamel, Bernard Haitink, Sir Simon Rattle, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Peter Sellars, Robert Spano, and Michael Tilson Thomas. Ms. Rivera has given the world premieres of Adams's A Flowering Tree, Golijov's Ainadamar, Muhly's The Adulteress, and Frank's Holy Sisters.
  
  Ms. Rivera's 2012-2013 season features the role of Pat Nixon in John Adams's Nixon in China as part of a multi-city European tour with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer. A frequent guest soloist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the soprano performs a program of Grieg, Sibelius, and Rachmaninoff under the baton of Music Director Robert Spano. She also reprises her acclaimed interpretation of Adams's El Niño with the Vancouver Bach Choir. Other concerts include performances of Gabriela Lena Frank's La centinela y la paloma with the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra and the world premiere of Holy Daughters, a newly commissioned oratorio by Ms. Frank and Pulitzer Prize-winning author and playwright Nilo Cruz, featuring the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra and the San Francisco Girls Chorus led by conductor Joana Carneiro.

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• Biella da Costa

  
  Biella da Costa is one of Venezuela's most acclaimed jazz vocalists. She was awarded La Casa del Artista of Venezuela's "Premio Nacional del Artista" Award for Best New Artist and Best Female Vocalist.
  
  Ms. da Costa studied with Francisco Kraus Trujillo at the Escuela Superior de Música José Ángel Lamas, Yoshiko Miki and Hilda Breer at the Centro Escuela de Opera de Caracas, and privately with Irene Ebersteins.
  
  During the 1990s, Ms. da Costa performed with various rock and Latin bands in Caracas until becoming lead vocalist for Casablanca, a popular rock band. After forming a jazz band, she later performed with internationally renowned artists such as Eric Clapton; Ray Charles; Blood, Sweat, and Tears; Caetano Veloso; David Sanborn; and Chuck Mangione.
  
  Ms. da Costa performs extensively in Latin America and has appeared in prestigious jazz festivals and venues throughout Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Holland, Spain, Russia, the US, and Canada. In Venezuela, she has performed with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra on several occasions.
  
  Her numerous recordings include El Sueño with Casablanca, Solo Jazz, Jazz & Blues, and Biella da Costa en Navidad. In 2009, she recorded Osvaldo Golijov's La Pasión según San Marcos. She was also featured on Monk in the Sun, a tribute album to Thelonious Monk.
  
  Ms. da Costa currently teaches at the Universidad Nacional Experimental de las Artes (UNEARTE) in Caracas.

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• Todd Palmer

  
  Clarinetist Todd Palmer has appeared as soloist, recitalist, chamber music collaborator, educator, arranger, and presenter in a variety of musical endeavors around the world. A three-time Grammy-nominated artist, he has appeared as soloist with the Atlanta, Houston, and BBC Scottish symphony orchestras; Cincinnati, Montreal, Metamorphosen, and The Saint Paul chamber orchestras, as well as many others. He's collaborated with the St. Lawrence, Brentano, Borromeo, Pacifica, and Daedalus string quartets; and has also shared the stage with sopranos Kathleen Battle, Renée Fleming, Elizabeth Futral, Heidi Grant Murphy, and Dawn Upshaw. Mr. Palmer has championed Osvaldo Golijov's The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind around the world and commissioned the theater work Orpheus and Euridice by Ricky Ian Gordon, which was presented at Lincoln Center in 2005. He was a winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions and has participated in numerous music festivals in the US and abroad, including 18 years at Spoleto Festival USA, five years at the Marlboro Music Festival, and the Tanglewood Institute, where he was awarded the Leonard Bernstein Fellowship. Mr. Palmer has also held principle clarinet positions in the Minnesota Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and Gotham Chamber Opera. In 2008, he premiered David Bruce's Gumboots, a Carnegie Hall commission that was written especially for him and the St. Lawrence String Quartet. This season, he will give the world premiere of choreographer Mark Morris's new dance work for clarinet, Grand Duo.

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• Alex Sopp

  
  Versatile flutist Alex Sopp is a member of The Knights, NOW Ensemble, and yMusic; and has appeared as a guest with the New York Philharmonic, Orchestra of St. Luke's, International Contemporary Ensemble, and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. She recently performed as a soloist on the New York Philharmonic's CONTACT!   series under the direction of David Robertson. Ms. Sopp regularly traverses musical borders and has recorded and collaborated with Sufjan Stevens, the National, Nico Muhly, My Brightest Diamond, the 30 Rock team, St. Vincent, Gabriel Kahane, Son Lux, DM Stith, Jónsi, and the Dirty Projectors. A composer and improviser in her own right, Ms. Sopp will make her solo recording debut with an album on New Amsterdam Records.

  
  Todd Palmer

  
  Clarinetist Todd Palmer has appeared as soloist, recitalist, chamber music collaborator, educator, arranger, and presenter in a variety of musical endeavors around the world. A three-time Grammy-nominated artist, he has appeared as soloist with the Atlanta, Houston, and BBC Scottish symphony orchestras; Cincinnati, Montreal, Metamorphosen, and The Saint Paul chamber orchestras, as well as many others. He's collaborated with the St. Lawrence, Brentano, Borromeo, Pacifica, and Daedalus string quartets; and has also shared the stage with sopranos Kathleen Battle, Renée Fleming, Elizabeth Futral, Heidi Grant Murphy, and Dawn Upshaw. Mr. Palmer has championed Osvaldo Golijov's The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind around the world and commissioned the theater work Orpheus and Euridice by Ricky Ian Gordon, which was presented at Lincoln Center in 2005. He was a winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions and has participated in numerous music festivals in the US and abroad, including 18 years at Spoleto Festival USA, five years at the Marlboro Music Festival, and the Tanglewood Institute, where he was awarded the Leonard Bernstein Fellowship. Mr. Palmer has also held principle clarinet positions in the Minnesota Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and Gotham Chamber Opera. In 2008, he premiered David Bruce's Gumboots, a Carnegie Hall commission that was written especially for him and the St. Lawrence String Quartet. This season, he will give the world premiere of choreographer Mark Morris's new dance work for clarinet, Grand Duo.

  
  Eric Ruske

  
  Eric Ruske was named associate principal horn of The Cleveland Orchestra at the age of 20. He toured and recorded extensively during his six-year tenure as French horn player of the Empire Brass Quintet. An active chamber musician, Mr. Ruske has appeared with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Evian Festival, Boston Chamber Music Society, and Festival Pablo Casals (in Puerto Rico and France). His numerous arrangements and transcriptions, including a complete edition of the Mozart concertos, are available from Cimarron Music Press. In 2012, Albany Records released The Horn of Eric Ruske, a box set that includes horn concertos; music for horn and piano; solo horn repertoire; and chamber music. Mr. Ruske is currently a professor at Boston University and directs the Horn Seminar at the Tanglewood Institute.

  
  Hsin-Yun Huang

  
  At age 17, Hsin-Yun Huang was the youngest-ever gold-medal winner of the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition. In 1993, she took the top prize at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich and Japan's prestigious Bunkamura Orchard Hall Award. Ms. Huang has since appeared as a soloist with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, Russian State Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Zagreb Soloists, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, International Contemporary Ensemble, Evergreen Symphony Orchestra, and National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra. Recent highlights include concerto appearances in New York's Central Park and Alice Tully Hall; collaborations with the Guarneri, Juilliard, Brentano, and St. Lawrence string quartets; special projects of new chamber concertos for viola; and her 2012 solo album Viola Viola released by Bridge Records. As a chamber musician, Ms. Huang has made appearances at the Marlboro, Spoleto, Stavanger, Moritzburg, and Cartagena festivals, in addition to the Rome and Vancouver chamber music festivals. She was also the violist in the world-renowned Borromeo Quartet for six years. Ms. Huang is a dedicated teacher and currently a faculty member at the Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School.

  
  Julia MacLaine

  
  Canadian cellist Julia MacLaine performs as a soloist and chamber musician in music that ranges from classical and contemporary genres to world music and her own compositions. Ms. MacLaine is a member of The Declassified, The Knights, and Orchestra of St. Luke's. She has performed as a guest with many other New York-based ensembles, including Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble, Mark Morris Dance Group, The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and International Contemporary Ensemble. In 2012, Ms. MacLaine's Central Park performance of the Schumann Cello Concerto with The Knights was broadcast live on WQXR; in 2007, she was the soloist in Tan Dun's Elegy: Snow In June at Zankel Hall with Ensemble ACJW. She studied at McGill University, Mannes College The New School for Music, and The Juilliard School. Ms. MacLaine also dances Argentine tango at the many milongas throughout New York City, and also, earlier this year, in Buenos Aires.

  
  Kris Saebo 

  
  Bass guitarist Kris Saebo is a soloist, chamber musician, and teaching artist. He is an active member of The Declassified, New York Classical Players, SONYC, Solisti Ensemble, and Chris Norman Ensemble; he also performs regularly with A Far Cry, Ensemble ACJW, Wordless Music Orchestra, Cygnus Ensemble, and Argento Chamber Ensemble. Mr. Saebo has participated in artistic educational residencies in São Paulo, Brazil, through Juilliard Global Initiatives and Santa Marcelina Cultura; in Mexico City through Carnegie Hall's The Academy, US Department of State, and Conaculta; in South Carolina with The Declassified and Claire Bryant and Friends; and throughout the New York City area with Carnegie Hall's Musical Connections program. Mr. Saebo is also an alum of The Academy. He teaches bass privately in Manhattan and at the Bloomingdale School of Music. Mr. Saebo received his bachelor's and master's degrees from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Orin O'Brien and Homer Mensch.

  
  Bridget Kibbey 

  
  Lauded for her artistry and ability to captivate audiences, harpist Bridget Kibbey is a recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, in addition to winning the Concert Artist Guild International Competition and Astral Artists Auditions. Her debut album, Love Is Come Again,   was named one of the top 10 releases of 2007 by Time Out New York. This season marks the release of her newest album, Music Box, a collection of works for solo harp that celebrates the rich cultural fabric of the US and features Dawn Upshaw as a special guest. Ms. Kibbey's solo performances have been broadcast on NPR's Performance Today, New York's WQXR, WNYC's Soundcheck, WETA's Front Row Washington,   WRTI's Crossover,   and A&E's Breakfast with the Arts. 

  
  Michael Ward-Bergeman

  
  Michael Ward-Bergeman returns to Carnegie Hall following his self-curated GIG 365 project in 2011, during which he performed at least one gig each day of the year. Performances took place at a diverse range of venues in more than 35 states and nine countries. Highlights included performances at Gainesville Correctional Institution, Harvard Business School with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital with Linda Ann Warren, St. Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace, Occupy Wall Street, Henry Miller Memorial Library, Edinburgh Festival Fringe with Daniel Cainer, Nebraska State Capitol, Oregon Country Fair, Naples Botanical Garden, Square and Compass Pub with Groanbox, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Danish Radio Concert Hall with Alisa Weilerstein, and on the streets of New Orleans.

  
  Claudio Ragazzi

  
  Composer and guitarist Claudio Ragazzi has written award-winning music for film and television, scored hundreds of projects, and performed with some of today's most respected musicians around in the world. Mr. Ragazzi graduated magna cum laude from Berklee College of Music, and was a winner of the prestigious Duke Ellington Master's Award and the Boston Music Awards. He currently teaches film scoring at Berklee. Mr. Ragazzi has composed music for Brad Anderson's hit film Next Stop Wonderland, The Blue Diner, Casa de los babys, and Something's Gotta Give. He recently collaborated with Osvaldo Golijov on Francis Ford Coppola's Tetro. Additionally, he has scored hundreds of television productions for the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, National Geographic, Telemundo, Univision, and PBS. Mr. Ragazzi has performed at the Hollywood Bowl, Blue Note Jazz Club, and Lincoln Center with world-renowned artists such as Gary Burton, Yo-Yo Ma, Randy Brecker, Danilo Pérez, Joe Lovano, Branford Marsalis, Kenny Garrett, and Paquito D'Rivera.

  
  Jamey Haddad 

  
  Born in Cleveland, Ohio, percussionist and drummer Jamey Haddad's musical voice transcends styles and trends. The universal quality of his playing has attracted many international collaborations. Regarded as one of the foremost world music and jazz percussionists, Mr. Haddad is a professor at the Oberlin College Conservatory and the Cleveland Institute of Music, and was previously at the Berklee College of Music for 18 years. Mr. Haddad was voted the top world percussionist in DRUM! Magazine last year and one of the top four world percussionists by Modern Drummer in 2007. He regularly collaborates with Osvaldo Golijov, Yo-Yo Ma, Dawn Upshaw, Esperanza Spalding, Danilo Pérez, Joe Lovano, Elliot Goldenthal, Brazil's Assad Brothers, Simon Shaheen, Paul Winter Consort, Nancy Wilson, Dave Liebman, Maya Beiser, Betty Buckley, Steve Shehan, Leo Blanco, and Nguyen Lee. Mr. Haddad has been a member of Paul Simon's band for 12 years. He is the recipient of a Fulbright grant to South India, Cleveland Arts Prize, and numerous grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.

  
  Jeremy Flower

  
  Jeremy Flower is a multi-instrumentalist and composer of acoustic and electronic music. His work with electronics has landed him onstage as a guest artist with the Atlanta and Chicago symphony orchestras, Santa Fe Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Curtis Institute of Music, Orchestra of St. Luke's, and American Composers Orchestra, as well as with world-renowned electronic producers in experimental, ambient, and minimal techno genres. He has worked extensively with Osvaldo Golijov on concert and film works, and plays in David Krakauer's Madness Orchestra. Mr. Flower's music has been commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for its MusicNOW series and by Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute. Currently, he is in the midst of recording a cycle of 14 songs with Carla Kihlstedt, Matthias Bossi, Jon Evans, and a small chamber orchestra.

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• Jeremy Geffen

  
  Jeremy Geffen has served as director of artistic planning at Carnegie Hall since March 2007. In this position, his responsibilities include program planning and development, as well as the creation of a wide range of audience education programs. Prior to his appointment at Carnegie Hall, Jeremy served as vice president of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra (2005-2007) and artistic administrator of the New York Philharmonic (2000-2005). In addition, he worked for the Aspen Music Festival and School as associate artistic administrator from 1998 to 2000. During that time, he also taught courses in music at Colorado Mountain College, hosted a weekly classical music radio show on KAJX, and became the Aspen Institute's youngest-ever moderator, creating and leading the seminar The Marriage of Music and Ideas with Dr. Alberta Arthurs in February and March 2000.
  
  Jeremy currently serves on the advisory entities for both the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's CMS Two and the Avery Fisher Career Grant. He has also served as an adjudicator for numerous auditions and competitions, including the jury of the 2011 Wigmore Hall / Kohn Foundation International Song Competition, the nominating jury for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in Music, and Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
  
  A native of Cape Town, South Africa, Jeremy was raised in Newport Beach, California. While pursuing a bachelor of music degree in viola performance at the University of Southern California, Jeremy developed problems with his right hand that led him away from performance and into artistic programming, which combines his curiosity for and love of the breadth of the classical repertoire, as well as the artists who bring that repertoire to life.

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