San Diego’s new chamber music organization, Art of Élan, is pioneering unique events and bringing back the excitement of classical music. Led by musicians Kate Hatmaker and Demarre McGill, Art of Élan is breaking down the barriers that surround classical music through its innovative, one-hour programming. The 2008-2009 season, entitled “A New World,” is the result of a unique collaboration with the San Diego Museum of Art, consisting of four, colorful concerts that are inspired by North American artwork. Each program offers a distinctive look at classical music, as it exists today in the “New World,” and promises to provide an engaging experience for the listener. By drawing inspiration from the word élan, which represents momentum, vigor and spirit, and providing an opportunity to connect directly with concert-goers, Art of Élan hopes to engage and energize audiences in new ways.

Thank you for being a part of the Art of Élan experience!

PROGRAMTuesday, April 28th, 2009, 7PM

Hibben Gallery, San Diego Museum of Art

Bach to Blues John Clayton

Jeremy Kurtz, double bass

The Jet Whistle Heitor Villa-Lobos I. Allegro non troppo II. Adagio III. Vivo

Demarre McGill, fluteMargo Tatgenhorst Drakos, cello

Figment for 3 Violas and Cello Victor Steinhardt

Che-Yen Chen, Chi-Yuan Chen, Travis Maril, violasMargo Tatgenhorst Drakos, cello

Into Lite: 5 Vignettes for Flute and Bass Kurt Stallmanncommissioned by Art of Élan and Jeremy Kurtz, 2009

Demarre McGill, fluteJeremy Kurtz, double bass

Last Round Osvaldo Golijov I. Movido, urgente: macho, cool and dangerous II. Deaths of the Angel

Yumi Cho, Jing Yan, Jessica Guideri, Kate Hatmaker, violinsChi-Yuan Chen and Travis Maril, violas

Margo Tatgenhorst Drakos and Erin Breene, cellosJeremy Kurtz, bass

Second Waltz Dmitri Shostakovichfrom Suite for Variety Stage Orchestra (formerly known as Jazz Suite No. 2)

Yumi Cho, Jing Yan, Jessica Guideri, Kate Hatmaker, violinsChe-Yen Chen, Chi-Yuan Chen, Travis Maril, violas

Margo Tatgenhorst Drakos and Erin Breene, cellosJeremy Kurtz, bass

With love and gratitude this concert is dedicated to Mrs. Ira Carol McGill.

www.artofelan.org

As classical musicians we spend a good portion of our lives learning and perfecting the playing of our instruments. At times, the process can seem more craft-building than art-making, and true “improvisation” rarely plays a role. Ar t of Élan’s goal from the beginning was to program music that would inspire musicians to simply “play their hearts out.” Having artwork as inspiration allows us to recreate, through music, the colors and energy of a visual masterpiece. The spirit that comes from drawing inspiration from other ar t forms adds to the powerful and enigmatic energy that is great ar t. So, whether it’s classical, jazz or tango, we encourage you to simply “listen and feel your heart out!”

PROGRAM NOTES“ Bach to Blues”African-American composer John Clayton (b.1952) has met with great success, not only as a jazz bassist, but as a composer, arranger and educator as well. Having been a Grammy nominee six times, with a Grammy award in 2008, his musical experiences have literally taken him all over the world. He is currently the Jazz Studies professor of bass at the University of Southern California, as well as the co-leader of the Clayton-Hamilton jazz orchestra, but he has formerly been a member of the Count Basie Orchestra, with whom he gained much experience as an arranger and composer. Bach to Blues initially came about as an improvisation on a tune called “John the III,” so named because Clayton was the third bassist named John in the Count Basie Orchestra. This initial “seed” was revisited nearly twenty years later and turned it into the solo bass piece being presented tonight. It alternates between a jazz/blues and classical feel, and at times seems to present both melody and accompaniment lines simultaneously, reminiscent of the solo works of Bach.

“The Jet Whistle”Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) is probably the most widely-recognized Latin American composer, although he had very little formal education in music. Exposed to music at an early age through the frequent musical soirees that were held at the family’s house in Rio, Villa-Lobos developed a fascination for the folk music of Brazil. Having learned to play the cello, guitar and clarinet, Villa-Lobos came into contact with a variety of musical colleagues, ranging from street bands to the Rio opera company. He also became curious about the indigenous culture of

the country, which included Portugese, African and American Indian roots. He traveled extensively through the countryside, collecting these various folk idioms, creating quite a varied color palette for his later career as a composer. While his earliest compositions were improvisations on the guitar, he became quite serious about composing, and, like many of his contemporaries, he ventured to Paris during the 1920s. There he was exposed to the music of Debussy, Stravinsky and Milhaud, whose jazz-inspired works influenced the unconventional composer. Written in 1950, The Jet Whistle demonstrates the variety of colors and sounds that can be created when combining two very different instruments, the flute and the cello. A work of great contrasts, both in instrument register and timbre, the “jet whistle” itself appears only at the very end of the piece, where the flutist creates an effect that is intended to resemble the “whistle” of a jet plane flying overhead.

“Figment for 3 Violas and Cello”American composer and pianist Victor Steinhardt (b.1943) created this short and restless piece for the members of the Oregon String Quartet. Although a classically trained pianist (and currently Professor Emeritus of piano at the University of Oregon), Steinhardt’s compositional style is anything but traditional. Like the Villa-Lobos, this piece is full of contrasts, although there is a warmth to the overall sound due to the rich combination of viola and cello sonorities. According to Steinhardt, the violinists of the Oregon String Quartet were always looking for opportunities to test out their viola skills, so he decided to compose an alternative string “quartet,” in order for them to do just that!

INTO LITEFive Vignettes for Flute and Bass (notes by the composer):Last year, with support from the Fidelity Investment FutureStage Program and the Houston Symphony Education and Outreach Division, I was appointed composer-in-residence at an urban public school in Houston called Sharpstown High School. For our weekly meetings, I designed a beginning level composition course that includes ear training and transcription drills alongside analysis and composition exercises. This year, we have been focusing on simple diatonic pitch exercises using scales and intervals, and students have written small pieces for solo instruments and duets. Recently, I asked myself: what types of pieces can these students actually compose if they limit themselves to the materials that I am presenting? I realized that I don’t usually limit myself in this way, yet I feel there is value for beginning composers to do so. INTO LITE is a response to this question in that all of the materials are well-trodden sequences and progressions of tones from a diatonic framework using simple folk-like melodies and forms as sources.

A second source of inspiration is the Jazz/Improvisation theme of tonight’s concert. I wanted to write a piece of music for this specific occasion that sounds as if it were improvised in the moment with some influence from the jazz tradition. In fact, there are a couple of places in the work that I’ve

left ‘open’ for the performers to insert their own materials into the piece. To be able to compose a work for outstanding vir tuosos like Demarre McGill and Jeremy Kurtz is always a great honor. I thank them for this opportunity.

Kurt Stallmann devotes his energy towards synthesizing many of the mediums available to composers today. His works include pieces for acoustic ensembles, acoustic/electronic groupings with interactive elements, environmental sounds, and purely synthetic sounds. As a composer, he enjoys frequent collaboration with ar tists from other disciplines. His work was recently recognized by the American Academy of Arts and Letters with a 2009 Goddard Lieberson Award, and a 2008 Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship. Recent premieres include Breaking Earth, a commission from Meet The Composer Commissioning Music/USA for a twenty-five minute multi-disciplinary installation with filmmaker Alfred Guzzetti; and Dear Ms. Lia, a text piece that explores this question: Why has his daughter been receiving credit card applications since the age of three? Current projects include a Fromm Music Foundation commission, and an interactive electronic work for saxophonist, Stephen Duke. Stallmann serves on the composition faculty at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music where he directs the computer music facility.

“Last Round”Grammy-award winning Argentinean composer Osvaldo Golijov (b.1960) is quickly becoming one of the world’s most exciting composers. Inspired by the life and music of the late Argentinean nuevo tango composer Astor Piazzolla, Golijov wrote “Last Round” in 1996, and describes in the score his inspiration for the work:

“Astor Piazzolla, the last great Tango composer, was at the peak of his creativity when a stroke killed him in 1992. He left us, in the words of the old tango, ‘without saying goodbye,’ and on that day the musical face of Buenos Aires was abruptly frozen. The creation of that face had started a hundred years ago from the unlikely combination of African rhythms underlying gauchos’ couplets, sung in the style of Sicilian canzonettas over an accompanying Andalucian guitar. As the years passed, all converged towards the bandoneon: a small accordion-like instrument without keyboard…the essential instrument for any Tango ensemble…I composed ‘Last Round’ (the title is borrowed from a short story on boxing…) as an imaginary chance for Piazzolla’s spirit to fight one more time. The piece is conceived as an idealized bandoneon. There are two movements: the first represents the act of a violent compression of the instrument and the second a final, seemingly endless opening sigh…But ‘Last Round’ is also a sublimated tango dance. Two quartets confront each other, separated by the focal bass, with violins and violas standing up as in the traditional tango orchestras. The bows fly in the air as inverted legs in crisscrossed choreography, always attracting and repelling each other, always in danger of clashing, always avoiding it with the immutability that can only be acquired by transforming hot passion into pure pattern.”

“Second Waltz”Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) was one of the most powerful, and at times controversial, composers of the 20th Century. Due to a difficult relationship with Joseph Stalin, Shostakovich experienced both censorship and an official ban on his music, but he was able to compose a large variety of music nonetheless, including several works for the stage. The “Second Waltz” was thought, until recently, to belong to the Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 2, which was lost during World War II, and reconstructed from a discovered piano score in 1999. Having been recorded and mistakenly listed as a movement from this Jazz Suite for many years, as well as made famous by its use in Stanley Kubrik’s “Eyes Wide Shut,” this “waltz” is rarely listed in its correct form, which is as a movement of Shostakovich’s “Suite for Variety Stage Orchestra,” a collection of previously-composed works.

MUSICIANSErin BreeneErin Breene, cello, is in great demand as both a chamber and orchestral musician throughout the United States. Ms Breene currently holds the position of Principal Cellist of the San Diego Chamber Orchestra. She has also been Associate Principal Cellist with the Opera Pacific Orchestra and performs frequently with the San Diego Symphony and Pacific Symphony. Ms Breene performed to acclaim in New York City’s Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, and on Brooklyn’s Bargemusic. Since moving to the area, Ms Breene has been a member of the California Quartet, a group that toured the US and Europe, but also performed extensively throughout southern California. She is also the new cellist of the LA-based Strada Piano Trio. Breene received her BM degree from Rice University as a student of Paul Katz. She then received her MM degree at the Juilliard School as a student of Timothy Eddy.

Che-Yen ChenDescribed by the “The Strad” as a musician whose “tonal distinction and essential musicality produced an auspicious impression”, Taiwanese violist Che-yen Chen (also known as “Brian Chen”) has established himself as a prominent recitalist, chamber, and orchestral musician. He is the first-prize winner of the 2003 William Primrose Viola Competition, the “President prize” of the 2003 Lionel Tertis Viola Competition, and recently distinguished himself by qualifying for the principal viola positions of both the Los Angeles Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony. He has performed throughout the US and abroad in venues such as Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Jordon Hall, Library of Congress in D.C., Kimmel Center, Taiwan National Concert Hall, Wigmore Hall, and Snape Malting Concert Hall, among numerous others. He is a founding member of the Formosa Quartet, the first-prize winner of the Tenth London International String Quartet Competition, was a member of the Lincoln Center CMS2, and has toured with Musicians from Marlboro. A four-time winner of Taiwan National Viola Competition, he came to the US and studied at The Curtis Institute and Juilliard School. His principal teachers were Ben

Lin, Michael Tree, Joseph dePasquale, and Paul Neubauer. Che-yen is a visiting professor at McGill University, and teaches at San Diego State University and UC San Diego. He serves as the principal violist of San Diego Symphony.

Chi-Yuan ChenBorn in Taipei, Taiwan, violist Chi-Yuan Chen is recognized as one of the leading violists from his country. In 1999, Mr. Chen became the first violist ever to win the New England Conservatory Concerto Competition. He has won top prizes in both the International Paris Viola Competition as well as the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. Recent concert engagements include Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Germany, France and North America. Chen has performed as guest ar tist with the Boston Chamber Music Society, Metamorphosen and the Gardner Museum Chamber Ensemble in Boston. He has collaborated with ar tists such as Colin Carr, Elliot Carter, John Corigliano, Ani and Ida Kavafian, Yo-Yo Ma, Kurt Masur, Seiji Ozawa, George Perle, and Paula Robison. A graduate of New England Conservatory with the highest distinction in performance in both Bachelor and Master degrees, Mr. Chen also holds a Doctoral of Musical Ar ts degree from Stony Brook University. His principal teachers are Peng Pan, Ben Lin, James Dunham, Martha Katz, Katherine Murdock and Nobuko Imai.

Yumi ChoA native of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Yumi Cho is a graduate of the prestigious dual degree program between Barnard College/Columbia University and The Juilliard School. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in Economics and Environmental Science and her Master of Music degree under the tutelage of Ronald Copes and Naoko Tanaka. She briefly studied with Pamela Frank as a full-scholarship Graduate Performance Diploma candidate at the Peabody Institute before joining the San Diego Symphony. Previous notable teachers include Dorothy DeLay, Tom Johnson and John Hong-Youl Kim. Over the years, Yumi has participated in the Verbier, La Jolla Summerfest, Cascade, Music Academy of the West, International Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove, Aldeburgh, Pacific, New York String Seminar, Carnegie Hall Professional Workshop and Aspen music festivals. Aside from playing the violin, Yumi really enjoys baking.

Margo Tatgenhorst DrakosMargo Tatgenhorst Drakos is Chief Operating Officer of InstantEncore.com, a digital media and social networking community for live classical music based in San Diego. Margo was the cellist of the American String Quartet for four seasons, touring throughout the US, Europe and Asia. Ms. Drakos has served as principal cellist of San Diego, Seattle, and Oregon Symphonies and Associate Principal of Pittsburgh Symphony. Margo has served on the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music, Aspen Music Festival and Eastern Music Festival. Margo has toured with “Musicians from Marlboro”, premiered David Ludwig’s Cello Concerto with Jaime Laredo conducting

and recorded for Arabesque Records. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, she also holds a Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University. Her publications appear in the Cornell Law Journal and the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

Jessica GuideriJessica Guideri spent the past two years as the Associate Principal Second Violin in the Phoenix Symphony. In January of 2008 she was offered a position in the Seattle Symphony, but opted to join the Pacific Symphony as the Associate Principal Second Violin. Jessica made her Carnegie Hall solo debut with the New York Youth Symphony, and has performed as soloist throughout the country. As the first violinist of the Fry Street Quartet, Jessica toured nationally and internationally, and was a prizewinner at the Banff International Quartet Competition. Jessica performed as concertmaster for orchestras such as the Phoenix Symphony and the Juilliard Orchestra, and spends her summers on the faculty of the Eastern Music Festival as Associate Concertmaster, under the baton of Gerard Schwarz. Jessica received Bachelor and Master degrees in violin performance from the Juilliard School, where her teachers included Dorothy Delay, Masao Kawasaki, and Joel Smirnoff.

Kate HatmakerKate Hatmaker is currently a violinist with the San Diego Symphony, in addition to being the co-founder and Artistic Director of Art of Élan. Ms. Hatmaker has played with a wide variety of American orchestras, including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the New World Symphony, and the Pittsburgh “Live Chamber Orchestra,” which she helped promote in an effor t to draw younger audiences to classical music. In addition to teaching in the San Diego area, Ms. Hatmaker is a frequent chamber music recitalist and has been a featured soloist with the San Diego Symphony and the Breckenridge Music Festival orchestras. She completed her Master of Music degree at Carnegie Mellon University, in the studio of Andres Cardenes, and her undergraduate training at both the University of Iowa and the Sorbonne University in Paris, France, graduating Phi Beta Kappa with high honors and degrees in both Political Science and French.

Jeremy KurtzSan Diego Symphony principal bassist Jeremy Kurtz has a diverse musical background that includes solo, chamber and orchestral performance. He is the winner of numerous competitions, including the 1997 International Society of Bassists solo competition, and was the only bassist to be featured in Strad Magazine’s January 2000 “New Century, New Talent” issue. His recital experience is extensive, including solo appearances in Houston, Memphis, Philadelphia, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, and Toronto. He performed Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Harbison’s bass concerto with the San Diego Symphony in March 2007, and has also appeared as soloist with New Jersey’s Riverside Symphonia and the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. His new CD, “Sonatas and Meditations,” will be released on October 15.

Travis MarilWith performances hailed as both “vivacious” and “highly polished and finely tuned,” violist Travis Maril is quickly gaining nationwide recognition as a chamber musician. With the Hyperion String Quartet he won a top prize at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, had performances broadcast on NPR’s Performance Today and collaborated with chamber music luminaries including the Miró String Quartet and members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Additional chamber music collaborators have included pianists Melvin Chen and Gustavo Romero, violinists Tai Murray and Timothy Fain and principal players of the Cincinnati and San Diego Symphonies. Mr. Maril plays frequently with the San Diego Symphony and Chamber Orchestra, and is currently on faculty at San Diego State University. Mr. Maril earned his bachelor’s degree magna cum laude from the University of Southern California, where he was a Trustee Scholar and selected as an Outstanding Graduate, and his masters degree from Rice University.

Demarre McGillWinner of a 2003 Avery Fisher Career Grant, flutist Demarre McGill has performed concerti with the Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, The Florida Orchestra, Winston-Salem Symphony, Toledo Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Baltimore Symphony and Harrisburg Symphony. Currently principal flutist of the San Diego Symphony, Mr. McGill has held the same position with The Florida Orchestra and the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra. Mr. McGill received his Bachelors Degree in Flute Performance from The Curtis Institute of Music where he studied with Julius Baker and Jeffrey Khaner. He continued his studies with Mr. Baker at the Juilliard School, where he received a Masters of Music degree.

Jing YanA Chinese native, violinist Jing Yan’s musical talent has brought her throughout China, Europe and the United States. Encouraged by her parents (whose own music careers were interrupted by the “Culture Revolution”), Ms.Yan began playing violin at age seven. She later on entered Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music and continued her studies with a full scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Ms. Yan also holds a Performance Diploma from Indiana University. As a chamber and orchestra musician, Ms. Yan has performed in the Royal Albert, the Queen Elizabeth, Chicago Symphony and Beijing Concert Halls and played with orchestras including Beijing Symphony, London Philharmonic, New World Symphony and Chicago Civic Orchestra. She is the winner of 1st Neimeng Violin Competition, Winifred solo competition and the “Royal Academy Soloist” award in 1999 and 2001. Ms.Yan won a position with the San Diego Symphony in 2006 and also performs in both the San Diego Chamber Orchestra and California Chamber Orchestra.

Art of Élan is proud to present a special concert in the Hibben Gallery of SDMA featuring the début of the Myriad Trio.

The Myriad TrioDemarre McGill, fluteChe-Yen Chen, viola

Julie Ann Smith, harp

The concert, inspired by Robert Delaunay’s “Female Nude Reading” painting, will include Claude Debussy’s haunting Sonata for flute, viola and harp, as well as a wide range of colorful works written for this wonderfully unique combination of instruments.

If you have enjoyed our other art-inspired concerts this season, you are sure to enjoy “Art of Élan presents the Myriad Trio!”

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 at 7PM*Reception immediately following the performance in the Rotunda

UPCOMING EVENTPlease join us next season for our Fantasia series—a year-long exploration of fantasy in both music and visual ar t. The four concer ts at SDMA will feature ar twork by Rene Magritte, Frantisek Kupka, Salvador Dali and Tetsuo Ochikubo, and will present works by a variety of composers, including Saint-Saens and Benjamin Britten. We will also be collaborating with the Colette Harding Contemporary Dance Company for a special production called “Alice,” a ballet work that explores the tales of “Alice in Wonderland,” written by Philadelphia composer Joseph Hallman. This specially commissioned work will be presented in April 2010 at the Sherwood Theater in La Jolla’s Museum of Contemporary Ar t. While a musical “fantasia” originally derived from the ar t of improvisation, true fantasy knows no bounds, and so we invite you to embark with us on what will be a uniquely creative and “fantastic” journey.

If you enjoyed this concer t tonight, please join our family of suppor ters. Contributions of any kind are much appreciated, as even $25 can help us continue to provide exciting concer ts. We believe that with our energy, innovative programming ideas, and genuine desire to share classical music with a wider audience, we can change the cultural climate of San Diego. We don’t need a million dollars to do it, but we do need your help and suppor t. Please visit our website to learn more about how to “get involved,” and we hope to see you at a future concer t!

Ar t of Élan is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and, as such, all contributions are fully tax-deductible. Tax ID: 20-8136710

Art of Élan • First Ave. #1 • San Diego, CA 92103