Jeremy Beck by moonlight innova 051 726708605124 Tracks Concertino 2006 for two cellos and string orchestra I. Con brio 5:30 1 II. Interlude (Molto adagio) – Allegro 4:45 2 Dimitar Tenchev and Boris Radilov, cello soloists Sofia Session Orchestra Grigor Palikarov, conductor Dream and Echoes 1998 for SATB a cappella A Young Poet Dreams of His Beloved Who Lives Across the River 3:26 3 Echoes of a Young Poet’s Dream 3:05 4 The First Readings Project David Ostenso Moore, conductor Two Pieces for Guitar 1982; rev. 2007 Ashmere 2:43 5 Birnam Wood 2:26 6 Todd Seelye, guitar Prelude and Toccata 2011 2:30 7 4:44 8 Paul York, cello Three Songs 1986 The Garden of Love (Blake) 1:32 9 Jenny Kiss’d Me (Hunt) 0:50 10 Music, When Soft Voices Die (Shelley) 1:39 11 Jeffrey Brich, tenor; Korey Barrett, piano Adagio and Allegro 1981; rev. 2001 Adagio 4:45 12 Allegro 3:39 13 Derek Ratzenboeck, violin; Rebecca Barnes and Jennifer Shackleton, violas Of summers past, or passing 2014 Caprice 3:23 14 Dreams 7:06 15 The Morning Star 3:57 16 Kathleen Costello, clarinet; Robert Frankenberry, piano Third Delphic Hymn 1980 2:46 17 Deborah Lander, viola Three Pieces for Orchestra 2016 By Moonlight 3:42 18 Tempest 2:55 19 Serenade 5:13 20 Brno Philharmonic Orchestra Mikel Toms, conductor Total time: 70:39 Production Notes Concertino Recorded 1 May 2017 Sofia Session Studio (Bulgaria) Engineer: Plamen Penchev Producer: Georgi Elenkov, George Strezov (Four For Music, Ltd.) Additional editing: Riccardo Schulz Dream and Echoes Recorded 18 May 2016 Zion Lutheran Church (Anoka, MN) Engineer: John Scherf Producer: Douglas Knehans Originally released on New Choral Voices, Vol. 1 (Ablaze Records 2016) Two Pieces for Guitar Recorded 13 May 2007 University of Northern Iowa (Cedar Falls) Engineer: Thomas Barry Prelude and Toccata Recorded 12 January 2012 TNT Studios (Louisville, Kentucky) Engineer: Tim Haertel Originally released on Paul York – Soliloquy (Ablaze Records 2014) Three Songs Recorded 22 June 2010 University of Northern Iowa (Cedar Falls) Engineer: Thomas Barry Adagio and Allegro Recorded 17 November 2011 TNT Studios (Louisville, Kentucky) Engineer: Tim Haertel Of summers past, or passing Recorded 20 June 2016 Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh) Engineer: Riccardo Schulz Third Delphic Hymn Recorded 27 December 2013 TNT Studios (Louisville, Kentucky) Engineer: Tim Haertel Three Pieces for Orchestra By Moonlight Recorded 17 May 2018 Tempest Recorded 14 June 2017 Serenade Recorded 7 July 2016 Besední dum (Brno, Czech Republic) Engineer: Jaroslav Zouhar Mastering: Silas Brown Producer: Douglas Knehans Originally released as individual tracks on Orchestral Masters, Vols. 4-6 (Ablaze Records 2017-19) Final mastering of CD by Riccardo Schulz, Pittsburgh Digital Recording & Editing Company (Pittsburgh, PA) Photo credits: Meagan Jordan Photography (Jeremy Beck) CD Design: Philip Pascuzzo - www.pepcostudio.com Produced by Jeremy Beck All compositions published by Jeremy Beck Music (BMI) - www.BeckMusic.org innova Director: Philip Blackburn Operations Manager: Chris Campbell Publicist: Tim Igel innova is supported by an endowment from the McKnight Foundation. PROGRAM NOTES Concertino for two cellos and string orchestra opens with a type of brief fanfare in the solo cellos before the main theme is introduced in the strings. This lively, syncopated theme is developed and moves between the soloists and the ensemble before arriving at a calmer middle section. The initial rhythm of the motive here recalls the brief opening fanfare. This middle section closes with cadenza-like interplay between the soloists that brings a return to the opening material. The repetition of the opening is expanded to include another cadenza-like passage, before the movement ends with a rousing coda. The second movement presents a slow, lyrical Interlude, the melody of which is related in part to the first movement’s middle section. This Interlude acts as both a substitute slow movement and as an introduction to the animated and energetic music that follows. This is dance music that grows progressively faster, from Allegro to Vivo, to più Vivo and beyond, until it flies to a sparkling conclusion. Concertino was composed as a result of winning the Iowa Composers Forum 2006 Linn-Mar Double Concerto Commission Competition. The work was premiered by the Linn-Mar Chamber Orchestra (Iowa), Joshua Reznicow, conducting, with soloists Carey Bostian and his student Sarah Malerich. I slightly revised this composition for the present recording. This version was premiered 28 February 2019 in Mexico City by the Orquesta de Cámara de Bellas Artes, José Luis Castillo, artistic conductor, with soloists Luz del Carmen Águila and Irene Adriana Carrasco. Dream and Echoes consists of two choral songs: A Young Poet Dreams of his Beloved Who Lives Across the River followed by Echoes of a Young Poet’s Dream. The first text is by Sao Nan, and was published in translation in Chinese Lyrics from the Book of Jade (1918). The poet evokes images from nature – the moon, sky, wind, and water – in expressing the melancholy of longing and unrequited desire. The second text is mine and offers a commentary on the first text using the same imagery. The music reflects the difference in time between the two movements. The first choral song’s texture is often contrapuntal with certain imitation of motives between the voices. In contrast, the second song is more homophonic, with the voices moving together in harmony. Still, in spite of these textural differences, the tonal language is all of one piece; this commonality connects the two songs, as does the imagery of the overall text. A Young Poet Dreams of His Beloved Who Lives Across The River Sao Nan The moon floats to the bosom of the sky, and rests there like a lover; the evening wind passes over the lake, touches and passes, kissing the happy shivering waters. How serene the joy, when things that are made for each other meet and are joined; but ah, how rarely they meet and are joined; the things that are made for each other. Echoes of A Young Poet’s Dream Jeremy Beck Some nights the moon doesn’t float, won’t rise. Sleeping - it dreams of the sky. And sometimes evening winds miss a lake; in their hurry, securely in haste - they pass by. These lakes stay calm, untouched, not knowing kisses. Watching winds pass, without happy shivers; they dream of moons safely asleep. The wind - out of breath, out of time. The Two Pieces for Guitar were composed in New York City in 1981. They were slightly revised in 2007 in Louisville, Kentucky. The first piece, Ashmere, is the name of a peaceful lake nestled in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts. Birnam Wood is taken from Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The first performances of these two pieces (prior to their revision) took place at the Mannes College of Music in New York City, when the College was located on East 74th Street. Larry Del Casale performed Birnam Wood on 14 May 1981. He then presented Ashmere on 28 January 1982. The revised score is dedicated to Todd Seelye. Prelude and Toccata was composed for Paul York, who recorded it for his 2014 solo CD on the Ablaze label. This composition was first presented 14 October 2012 in a private preview performance by Michal Schmidt at composer Andrea Clearfield’s Salon in Philadelphia. It was given its official world premiere 25 October 2012 by Paul York at the University of Louisville (Kentucky). The Prelude opens with an arpeggiated figure in thirds. This arpeggiation becomes one of the two principal motives of this movement. A melodic neighbor gesture in measure five introduces the second of these principal motives. As the movement unfolds, these two ideas freely develop and combine. Beginning in a modality with an enharmonic-flat emphasis, the music later enters a more sharp-focused region before moving back to flats prior to closing on D major. The Toccata is the longer of the two movements and reveals itself to be in a type of traditional rondo form. Centered in an e-minor modality, the movement opens with an aggressive, syncopated figure. This initial figure acts as a kind of “engine” throughout the movement, leading into a succession of diverse musical ideas connected primarily through rhythm. The half-step introduced in the first measure also becomes a principal motivic idea. These Three Songs were composed in New York City in 1986, originally for baritone voice. They have since been arranged for soprano, mezzo, or tenor. The last song in the set, Music, When Soft Voices Die, was a Finalist in the 1995 G. Schirmer Song Competition. The judges for that competition included John Harbison and Dawn Upshaw. Three Songs was premiered 7 November 1987 by Peter McGlaughlin, baritone, and Deborah Jamini, piano, in a concert of my music I produced at Carnegie (Weill) Recital Hall in New York City. Jeffrey Brich and Korey Barrett premiered this version of the songs for tenor on 16 May 2010 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on a program produced by the Iowa Composers Forum. The Garden of Love William Blake I went to the Garden of Love, and saw what I never had seen: A Chapel was built in the midst, where I used to play on the green. And the gates of this Chapel were shut, and “Thou shalt not” writ over the door: so I turn’d to the Garden of Love that so many sweet flowers bore; and I saw it was filled with graves, and tombstones where flowers should be; and Priests in black gowns were walking their rounds, and binding with briars my joys and desires. Jenny Kiss’d Me Leigh Hunt Jenny kiss’d me when we met, jumping from the chair she sat in; Time, you thief, who love to get Sweets into your list, put that in! Say I’m weary, say I’m sad, Say that health and wealth have miss’d me, Say I’m growing old, but add: Jenny kiss’d me! Music, When Soft Voices Die Percy Bysshe Shelley Music, when soft voices die, Vibrates in the memory. Odours, when sweet vi’lets sicken, Live within the sense they quicken. Rose leaves, when the rose is dead, Are heap’d for the beloved’s bed; And so thy thoughts, when thou art gone, Love itself shall slumber on. Adagio and Allegro was originally composed in New York City in 1981 and consisted of three movements. The last movement (Allegro preciso) was composed first and given a preview performance 14 May 1981 at the Mannes College of Music by Carole Harris (violin) and Claire Norman and David Cerutti (violas). Once I had completed the other two movements, the full work was premiered 28 January 1982 by these same players on a recital of my music at Mannes. In 2001, as a result of winning the California Music Teachers Association composition award, I revised this work into two movements and arranged it for two violins and viola. The revision chiefly consisted of jettisoning the first movement (now destroyed) and reworking certain smaller details of the remaining two movements. The premiere of the revised composition took place 16 February 2002 in San Diego at the annual convention of the CMTA. I later re-arranged this revised version for the original instrumentation of violin and two violas, the version recorded here (which is the version I prefer). Of summers past, or passing was composed in early 2014 in Louisville, Kentucky. The first movement, Caprice, was commissioned by retired Memphis Symphony Orchestra principal clarinetist James Gholson. The music for Caprice is often playful and carefree, with lively syncopated interplay between the instruments. Following the premiere of Caprice later that same year in Memphis by Gholson and my mother, pianist Katrine Aho, I was inspired to compose two additional movements. The second movement, Dreams, unfolds as a series of related episodes, much as one might experience while sleeping. It opens with lyrical, contemplative music in the solo clarinet. This music then expands and develops over a piano accompaniment derived from the clarinet’s opening motive. A transitional period brings the music to three sections of faster music. The first of these, marked Allegro giocoso, recalls the kind of jazz-like interplay found in Caprice. The section which follows reveals ostinato and percussion-like figures in the piano which support the clarinet’s recollection of the lyrical, opening motive. The third of these sections (più mosso) is carried along by rhythms found in popular music as the clarinet sails and freely sings above the piano, finally returning to the opening, lyrical music to bring Dreams to an intimate close. The title of the last movement, The Morning Star, is the title in translation of a poem by the Romanian poet Mihai Eminescu (1850-1889). This poem tells of the impossible, unrequited love between the morning star and a princess. The morning star falls in love with the princess and she returns the star’s desire. The princess implores the star to join her on Earth and the star wishes to leave the cold and lonely dark of space, but before the star leaves the heavens, the princess falls in love with a mortal suitor. In the end, the morning star remains immortal in space, consigned to watch the lovers on the Earth below. The world premiere of the complete version of this composition was given by Kathleen Costello and Robert Frankenberry in Bellefield Hall Auditorium at the University of Pittsburgh on 20 March 2016. Originally composed for solo viola in 1980, I have also arranged Third Delphic Hymn for cello (1996) and for violin (2003). I composed this piece during my first semester of undergraduate study with David Loeb at the Mannes College of Music. I had never written anything for an unaccompanied solo instrument, so my challenge at the time was to take a simple motive (the opening half-step), and then develop that into something more expansive. I chose to write for the viola because it was the string instrument with which I had the least familiarity, and to gain experience with thinking in alto clef. Third Delphic Hymn was premiered by violist Mary Hammann at Mannes on 12 March 1981. The version for solo violin has been recorded by Laura Motchalov and appears on my 2011 CD IonSound Project (innova 727). Prior to her recording the work the year before she died, Deborah Lander performed Third Delphic Hymn at the 2010 International Viola Congress at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Three Pieces for Orchestra By Moonlight is marked “graceful, flowing” and opens with a lyrical melody in the oboe that is quietly accompanied in the strings. This melody then moves through the various wind instruments before it is developed within the entire ensemble. A contrasting section follows, featuring neighbor figures. This music finds its way back to the opening material, again highlighted by the oboe. By Moonlight closes with a varied contrasting section and a short coda. The music of Tempest comes from the Prelude to one of my operas, The Biddle Boys and Mrs. Soffel (2000). Based on a tragic love story from the early twentieth century, Ed and John Biddle were condemned prisoners who escaped from the Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh with help from the warden’s wife, Kate Soffel, who fled with them. The Boys were tracked down by a posse and killed in a shootout. Mrs. Soffel was arrested at the scene and convicted for assisting them in their escape. Commissioned and premiered by the Tuesday Music Club of Pittsburgh, this opera was named by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as one of the Top Ten Cultural Events in Pittsburgh for the year 2001. Serenade was composed in 2011 in Louisville. It is a re-imagining of the second movement of my fifth string quartet. The music begins with a brief introduction, providing glimpses of the work’s main theme. This lyrical theme fully unfolds in the first violins as a flowing melody supported by a rising figure in the cellos. Over the course of the piece this theme develops, expands, becomes more aggressive, and then partially returns to its original flowing spirit. A brief exultation in a solo violin points towards the close of the piece, which winds down with fragments of the theme, reflecting its origin. Serenade was premiered by the Northwest Symphony Orchestra in Arlington Heights, Illinois on 31 January 2016, with Kim Diehnelt conducting. © 2020 by Jeremy Beck Biographies Beck “knows the importance of embracing the past while also going his own way. … [In] Beck’s forceful and expressive sound world … the writing is concise in structure and generous in tonal language, savouring both the dramatic and the poetic.” - Donald Rosenberg, Gramophone Based in Louisville, Kentucky, Jeremy Beck’s music has been presented by New York City Opera, American Composers Orchestra, the Louisville Orchestra, the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra, Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra (Ukraine), Orquesta de Cámara de Bellas Artes (Mexico City), Orchestra Iowa, the Albuquerque Symphony Orchestra, Portland (Maine) Symphony Orchestra, Center for Contemporary Opera, Peabody Opera, Yale Opera, IonSound Project, Pacific Serenades, and the Nevsky String Quartet, among others. Mr. Beck has received honors and awards from the Utah Arts Festival, Boston Chamber Orchestra, Dallas Festival of Modern Music, National Opera Association, Musica per Archi International Composition Competition, and the arts councils of Iowa, California, and Kentucky. Recordings of his compositions are available on the Innova and Ablaze labels. A graduate of the Mannes College of Music, Duke University, and the Yale School of Music, he formerly served as a tenured associate professor of composition and music theory at both the University of Northern Iowa and California State University-Fullerton. Mr. Beck is the author of a memoir, Memory Embraced, and practices entertainment, copyright, and trademark law in Louisville, where he lives with his wife and son. Rebecca Barnes has been a member of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra viola section since 2012. Prior to joining the CSO, Ms. Barnes was Assistant Principal Viola in the Louisville Orchestra from 2008 to 2011. Before beginning her professional career, she was a recipient of the Fellowship Award at the Aspen Music Festival and School from 2002 to 2007. Receiving both a Bachelor of Music and an Artist Diploma from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Ms. Barnes served as Graduate Assistant of the Viola Studio. Korey Barrett is Associate Professor and Vocal Coach at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) where he serves as music director for UNI Opera. Dr. Barrett is also the co-founder and music director of OperaNEO, an intensive summer opera festival in San Diego. Dr. Barrett has served as coach and pianist with Des Moines Metro Opera and as Resident Artist coach and accompanist for Minnesota Opera. He received his Doctoral degree in piano accompanying and chamber music from the Eastman School of Music, and his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Music degrees in voice from UNI, where he studied with Jean McDonald. Jeffrey Brich, tenor, has distinguished himself in a broad spectrum of repertoire, performing with versatility and ease in orchestral, opera, and recital venues. His frequent performances include appearances as a featured soloist in works such as Handel’s Messiah, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and Mozart’s Requiem, as well as singing with orchestras in Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Peoria (Illinois), and Cedar Rapids (Iowa). Mr. Brich holds degrees from the University of Iowa (B.M.) and the University of Northern Iowa (M.M.). He is currently an instructor of voice at UNI. Kathleen Costello has served as Principal Clarinet with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra since 2006. Prior to her tenure with the ASO, Ms. Costello held positions with the Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater Orchestra, and the Youngstown Symphony. Committed to both new music and innovation in the arts, Ms. Costello also performs as a founding member of the Pittsburgh ensemble IonSound Project. She holds a Master of Music degree from Duquesne University where she studied with Ron Samuels, and a Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University where she was a student of Russell Dagon. Four For Music is an audio recording company based in Sofia, Bulgaria, providing services in recording, editing, mixing and mastering, in addition to other musical services. Established in 2014 by a group of producers, composers, conductors, and performing classical musicians, Four For Music’s production work has been featured in projects released by Disney, Warner Brothers, Netflix, Sony, EMI, and the BBC, among others. Robert Frankenberry leads a multi?faceted career as a vocalist, pianist, educator, actor, and conductor. As Music Director for Pittsburgh Festival Opera, he garnered critical praise for his collaborations with Jonathan Eaton. On stage, he has performed a wide range of roles, including the title roles in Don Carlo, The Tales of Hoffmann, and Faust. At the piano, Mr. Frankenberry performs both traditional and contemporary chamber music, and is a member of IonSound Project, Chrysalis, Trio AnimeBOP, and entelechron. He holds a B.M. in Piano Performance from Mercyhurst College and an M.M. in Voice Performance from Carnegie Mellon University. Mr. Frankenberry has been a Visiting Opera Coach at the University of North Texas College of Music and has taught at the University of Pittsburgh. Deborah Lander (1965-2015), a native of Sydney, Australia, enjoyed a career as chamber musician, soloist, and pedagogue that took her to the world’s major concert halls and universities. At the start of her career she joined the world-renowned chamber orchestra the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and resided in London, where she performed for six years. She then returned to Australia and earned a Ph.D. in contemporary viola performance from the University of Newcastle. Dr. Lander served on the string faculties of the Sydney Conservatorium, the Australian Institute of Music, and later held the tenured viola position at the University of Newcastle for eleven years. In 2008, seeking to strengthen the school’s string program, the University of Kentucky hired Dr. Lander as its first tenured professor of viola. She quickly set out on a mission to raise the profile of the instrument, but a life-threatening emergency in 2012 put her on a different track. Dr. Lander was on her way to a University of Kentucky Opera performance when she collapsed on the sidewalk from cardiac arrest. Passersby stopped and administered CPR until paramedics arrived. Doctors later said the quick administration of CPR saved her life. Dr. Lander retired from the university after the 2013-14 school year and moved back to London. In the brief time before her death, she lived on a boat, played viola professionally again, and enjoyed spending time with musician friends and family. David Ostenso Moore is a composer, arranger, conductor, teacher, singer, and Southerner who has lived in the Upper Midwest for most of his life. His music has been called “endlessly inventive,” “glorious…haunting… breathtaking,” and “joyous…wild and elemental.” He publishes through his company Fresh Ayre Music and is the founder and conductor of The First Readings Project, a chamber choir that acts as a resource for composers in the development and promotion of new work. He has written music for worship, dance, and the stage, including the outdoor spectacle Solstice River, performed on the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis every summer since 1997. The First Readings Project was founded in 2012 in Minneapolis by David Ostenso Moore, growing from a deep love of choral singing and a desire to encourage innovation and experimentation in the repertoire. Mr. Moore envisioned a choir of professional singers that could act as collaborators and mentors for composers developing new work. As conceived, the group is available for private recordings or privately produced workshops, drawing from repertoire submitted to the reading sessions earlier in the year. http://firstreadingsproject.org/ Derek Ratzenboeck has been a violinist with the New York City Ballet Orchestra since 2011. He previously held the position of Principal Second Violin of the Louisville Orchestra and Concertmaster of the Louisville Bach Society. Mr. Ratzenboeck actively performs as a recitalist and has had performances broadcast by WUOL Louisville Classics, Radio Nederland, North German Radio (NDR), and the Bavarian Radio. He holds a B.M. in Violin Performance from Indiana University Jacob’s School of Music, pursued post-graduate training in Vienna and at the Amsterdam Conservatory, and earned a master’s degree from the University for Music and Theater in Munich, Germany. Riccardo Schulz is a Teaching Professor in the School of Music at Carnegie Mellon University, where he teaches Sound Recording and runs the recording operations. His special interest is in recording, editing, and mastering classical music. For three years he was head of the Edgar Stanton Audio Recording Institute (ESARI) for the summer program of the Aspen Music Festival and School. Mr. Schulz has recorded and/or produced more than a hundred compact discs on a variety of record labels, including Élan, New Albion, Mode Records, Ocean Records, Norvard, and New World Records. Groups and individuals he has collaborated with include Cuarteto Latinoamericano, Keith Lockhart and the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Eduardo Alonso-Crespo and the Tucumán Chamber Orchestra, Rachael Worby and the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra, Robert Page and the Mendelssohn Choir, and Andrés Cárdenes and the Pittsburgh Symphony Chamber Orchestra. Todd Seelye has performed internationally on programs highlighting the music of our time. He has been a soloist with the New York New Music Consort, June in Buffalo Players, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, and Ensemble 21, which presented him in a solo recital in New York’s Merkin Hall. Dr. Seelye has premiered solo works by John Luther Adams, Milton Babbitt, and Charles Wuorinen, among many others. His recordings for Bridge, Music and Arts, Capstone, and Ravello have received glowing international acclaim and feature many first recordings. Dr. Seelye holds a D.M.A. from the University of Arizona and also studied with Oscar Ghiglia at the Banff Centre for the Arts. He has been a member of the faculties of Grinnell College, Brevard College, and the University of Arizona. Jennifer Shackleton has been a member of the Louisville Orchestra viola section since 1997. She is a graduate of Oberlin College where she earned her B.M. degree as a double major in Viola Performance and Music Education. For several summers she studied at the renowned music festivals of Aspen, Tanglewood, and Waterloo. Ms. Shackleton has enjoyed a varied career as a violist and has collaborated with the Kentucky Chamber Players, Ceruti Chamber Players, Bach Society, and Louisville Master Chorale. She has held teaching positions at the Oberlin College Preparatory Music Department, Louisville Academy of Music, and as an interim viola instructor at the University of Louisville. British conductor Mikel Toms has worked with many orchestras and ensembles including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Chamber Orchestra, Oslo Sinfonietta, Ensemble Modern, Brno Philharmonic Orchestra, Janá?ek Philharmonic Orchestra, and the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. He has recorded over twenty-five CDs for many labels including Sony BMG, Decca, Métier, Quartz, and Ablaze. Mr. Toms has conducted for BBC Radio 3’s Hear and Now programme, has broadcast on Italian, German, Spanish and Irish radio, and has appeared at numerous international festivals. He has recorded over eighty new works with the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra and has collaborated with major composers including Iannis Xenakis, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Harrison Birtwistle. Mr. Toms read Music at Oxford University and, from 1997 to 2000, he was Director of British Youth Opera, the UK’s opera training company. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts. The roots of the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra (Filharmonie Brno) go back to the 1870s, when the young Leoš Janá?ek endeavoured to establish a Czech symphony orchestra in Brno. The present orchestra was created in 1956 by merging the Brno-based Radio and Regional orchestras, and since then has been among the leading Czech orchestras in terms of both size and importance. On its tours abroad, it has performed widely throughout Europe, the United States, Latin America, and in both the Middle and Far East. The orchestra regularly records for Czech Radio, Czech Television and a number of music labels, including Supraphon, Sony Music, IMG Records, BMG, and Channel 4. Cellist Paul York is an accomplished soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. His solo appearances include performances of Karel Husa’s Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Aaron Jay Kernis’s Colored Field with the Louisville Orchestra, and Vivaldi’s Double Concerto in G Minor with internationally acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Of his performance at Carnegie Hall, New York Concert Review said, “The fiendishly difficult solo part was brilliantly played by cellist Paul York; one had to be in awe of his playing.” Currently on the string faculty at the University of Louisville, Mr. York received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California and his Master of Music degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara. His recordings are available on the Centaur, Arizona University Press, and Ablaze labels.