programs / programas

PROGRAM / PROGRAMA

L.V. BEETHOVEN (1770-1827): Sonata para Piano Nº18 en Mi♭ mayor, Op. 31, Nº 3: I. Allegro
E. GRANADOS (1867-1916): Allegro de Concierto, Op. 46

Intérprete: Miram Boukojaa Ruiz

M. RAVEL (1875-1937): Jeux d’eau, M. 30

Intérprete: Lucía Rubio 

C. DEBUSSY (1867-1918): L’isle joyeuse, L. 106

Intérprete: Sophia Lu

R. SCHUMANN (1810-1856): Fantasía para Piano en Do mayor, Op. 17: I. Durchaus fantastisch und leidenschaftlich vorzutragen
EDWARD KALENDAR (1941-2022): Rondo-Toccata

Intérprete: Sebastian Picht 

A. SCRIABIN (1872-1915): Sonata para Piano en Fa# mayor, Op. 30: I. Andante II. Prestissimo volando

Intérprete: Yu-Po Huang

F. CHOPIN (1810-1849):
Nocturno en F# menor, Op. 48, Nº2
Preludio Op. 28, Nº16 (“Hades”)

Intérprete: Hoi Man Emmanuel Chen

F. CHOPIN (1810-1849): Waltz Nº2 in C# minor, Op. 64

Intérprete: Valentina Neudel

W.A. MOZART (1756-1791): Fantasia Nº3 in D minor, K. 397 / 395g

Intérprete: Constanza Krecek Sánchez

A. COPLAND (1900-1990): Piano Variations

Intérprete: Sin-Yue Lin

F. CHOPIN (1810-1849): Vals Brillante Op. 34 Nº. 1 en la bemol mayor

Intérprete: Max Wu

F. CHOPIN (1810-1849): Nocturno Op. 15 Nº. 3
I. ALBENIZ: Suite española Op. 47: Sevilla

Intérprete: Diana Santiago

S. DE ALBERO: Sonata Nº 1
FANNY MENDELSSOHN: Melodía op 4 n°2 en Do # menor

Intérprete: Miguel Ferrer

M. RAVEL (1875-1937): Sonatina, M. 40
I. Modére    II. Mouvement de Menuet    III. Animé

Intérprete: Antonio Sánchez

I. BERKOVICH (1902-1972): Variations on a Theme by Paganini

Intérprete: Ching-Hsuan Cheng

M. MOZKOWSKI (1854-1925): Caprice espagnol, Op. 37

Intérprete: Pin-Jung Hsiao

G.BIZET – V. HOROWITZ: Carmen Variations

Intérprete: Tzu-Ciao Hung

L.V. BEETHOVEN: Sonata Para Piano Op. 14, No. 2: I. Allegro
F. LISZT: Liebestraume Nº 3

Intérprete: Hugo Santacruz

F.J. HAYDN: Sonata Hob. XVI/52: I.
F. CHOPIN: Etude Op. 10, Nº 12 “Revolutionary”

Intérprete: Guillermo Pons

M. RAVEL (1875-1937): Miroirs: III. Une barque sur l’océan, M.43

Intérprete: Anna Andreu Trawick

F. CHOPIN (1810-1849): Scherzo Nº4 en Mi mayor, Op. 54

Intérprete: Daniel Guo

A. COPLAND (1900-1990): Piano Variations

Intérprete: Sin-Yue Lin

Mel BONIS (1858-1937): Barcarolle, Op.71

Intérprete: Yutong Wang

P.I. TCHAIKOVSKY (Arr. LOVERIDGE): Suite de El Lago de Los Cisnes, Op.20a

Intérprete: Jinhan Liu

L.V. BEETHOVEN (1770-1827): Sonata para Piano No.31, Op.110
I. Moderato cantabile molto espressivo

Intérprete: Yan Su

M. RAVEL (1875-1937): Miroirs: IV. Alborada del Gracioso

Intérprete: Richard Nguyen

KEVIN KLENKE: Maniacal March

YUXIN DUAN: String Quartet Music

ARNO MELKLONYAN: String Quartet Nº2 (“Babylon”)

HEI LAM CHEUNG: tapadas

ETHAN ANTHONY CAVANAC: Mixed Signals ——

INTERMISSION

FANGRU TUNG: ocean waves

LUMI FOSTER: Indignance

Throughout my life, I’ve endured a fair amount of rejection, having always been viewed as ‘weird’ in some way. Through this work, I hope to express the full range of emotion that being ‘different’ has brought me. It has brought me loneliness, and a frustration at those around me.

However, there is also peace in having accepted this fact.

HANGZHONG LIAN: String Quartet Nº1 (Montage)

WEIYANG DING: Five Mini Dramas of Human Observation

IV. Hostility
V. Dancing with the Inner Devil

Human interactions are mesmerizing. Why do people act the way they do? And why do they often repeat the same behaviors? This piece explores patterns in human behavior by treating the players as actors on a stage, allowing them a degree of freedom to express themselves. The five dramatic scenes, indicated by subtitles, represent the relationships between the players/ characters.

SIU TUNG KONG: Party Fantasy
for piano and percussion

People dance at the party, get drunk, and then dance like crazy again…

GABRIEL ANDRÉS GALLEGOS: Cosmópolis
for clarinet and percussion

As a highly coveted global mecca, New York City is home to residents hailing from a multitude of countries and cultural backgrounds… it is a true cosmopolis. When I arrived in the city many years ago, I found myself amongst a chaotic, overgrown, grime-covered Gotham desperately clinging to the deteriorating remnants of its art deco golden years. Although far from the stylized iconography reflected in television and film, I remained steadfast to be a part of it.

I grew to appreciate the city most after dark when I would unexpectedly find myself as the solitary subject in a real-life Edward Hopper painting. In those brief moments when there’s not another soul in sight, you welcome the loneliness and begin to appreciate the sultry cityscape: the desolate, jet black streets spotted with puddles reflecting the moonlight and streetlamps; subway trains clanking and screeching over the bridges; the hum of the city penetrating the brisk sea air; the refurbished piers suppressing a devious sexuality reminiscent of a bygone era. As you gaze at the illuminated skyline from afar, a serenity overcomes you. For those of us unable to partake in the decadent luxuries the city has to offer, these genuine moments of reflection and tranquility validate our everyday struggle to survive the city.

People around the world may think of Sinatra, Copland, Gershwin, Bernstein, and classic Broadway musicals as embodying the definitive New York sound. But to those who currently live and work here, the sounds literally and figuratively exuded from the city vary drastically from this polished soundtrack of yesteryear. Cosmópolis is a contemporary portrayal of New York City through my eyes and ears, as a transplant who grew up idolizing the romanticized versions of the city found in art, music, television, and film. Tinged with influences of Cab Calloway, Miles Davis, and Duke Ellington, this duet for clarinet and percussion evokes the provocative mise-enscène of New York City after dark while paying homage to the musical styles that define its iconic identity.

COLE NAGODA: Night Music for Zhang San
for clarinet, percussion, and electronics

WILLIAM MARTIN: Orpheus Puts Down Harp
for cello solo

ALEX GLASS: Quiet, Please 
for clarinet, cello, and percussion

TALIA BERENBAUM: Bang!
for clarinet, cello, and piano

JORGE VILLAVICENCIO GROSSMAN: Ludi Mutatio
I.   II.    VIII.
for piano and electronics

Ludi Mutatio (“Game Change”), for piano and pre-recorded electronic sounds, is dedicated to the pianists Luciane Cardassi and Anna D’Errico.  It was written between 2013 and 2015 for a Harvard University Fromm Music Foundation Commission. The work consists of nine short movements that can be played in sets of three, six or nine pieces in several different orderings according to a specified set of rules listed in the score. Mr. Vassilakis will perform movements I, II and VIII.

EMMANUEL BERRIDO: concentration & reset
for piano

Those who have performed my music or are close to me personally know that I am not, by any means, a “scientific” composer – there are better, smarter composers out there who can do this! That said, my interest was piqued when I read about the idea that emotions, as overwhelmingly and strongly as we feel them, last only 90 seconds: this means that when triggers occur, our brains release chemicals that go through our physiology, and these surges die out on their own after a minute and thirty seconds. Any emotion longer than that is perpetuated by our own (overthinking?) minds! Crazy! Credit to Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, who discussed this idea in her book, “My Stroke of Genious: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey.”

When I started to write this work, it occurred to me that I could shape the form of the piece as such: musical “sections” of this piece are not exactly 90 seconds, but in the vicinity. Each “reset” is expressed by the performer playing a few notes inside the piano, and this is when the listener knows that the “emotion” is over. Melodic/harmonic ideas were inspired by the opening of Chopin’s Ballade no. 4 in F minor, one of my very favorite piano pieces — I suspect this happened because I wanted to relate this work to the tradition and the aesthetic elements I appreciate in works written for the piano.

WEI-SHIANG CHANG: Of Murmurs in Light and Shadow
for clarinet, cello, percussion, and piano

WYLIE FERGUSON: Melon
for clarinet, cello, percussion, and piano

HARPER HAOYI ZHANG: Unwind

AADHIVAN RAMKUMAR: Collissions

JACKSON GEARING: Thaw

CHRISTOPHE ALEXANDRE MIRKES: Unruhe im Bienenstock

Unrest in a beehive is a short contemporary work in one movement for string quartet. The duration is about 5 minutes. As the title reveals, the four string instruments are representing the buzzing and humming of restless bees in their hive. Correspondingly, this quartet is a work marked with the fast-paced tempo indication presto precipitato ma deciso – a pressing but determined presto.

All instruments play con sord. – with a mute – and partially place the bow on the fingerboard. Moreover, the buzzing tremolo is meant to be dense by using little bow and a little bit of pressure. Especially the sul tasto passages should be played at the very tip of the bow.

The ricochet elements are an extending effect to the buzzing sound. That technique should also be played with very little bow and with little bounce. 

There is one more general note to the execution of this work: in order to guarantee a general buzzing effect, all four instrumentalists are required to play more or less with equal dynamics. Changes in loudness and energy are generally shaped by the entity of the quartet.

INTERMISSION

MANUEL VALENZUELA HERNÁNDEZ: I don’t care about cookies

TONGYU LU: Flower, Lied, Echo

BENJAMIN FRASER: Chalkboards

There was before.

We were eager to start work as a foster family. We felt we had the means to be a safe space for kids who needed it. It was loudly terrifying and quietly hopeful. We were ready.

There was during.

Three beautiful kids joined our family and suddenly I was the eldest of eight. There was no end to the chaos; no one knew if they drained our energy faster then we fell in love with them. Oddly the so
called support systems that were supposedly set in place refused to help us care for them. We corroded. Faster than they arrived they were taken from us. The social workers told us the kids were
going on a visit. And only after they left informed us they were not coming back. They were stolen from their safe space, again.

There was after.

Standing in the aftermath of losing our three youngest; standing in the shadows of being betrayed by the so called “supports”; standing in their empty rooms with their orphaned belongings; We broke.

We took a chalkboard and wrote out our experiences and feelings of becoming a foster family. We took turns going through Before, During and After. This piece is a musical representation of that Chalkboard. The piece has three sections for each part of fostering. Before. During. After.

WAJDI ABOU DIAB: String Quartet Nº3 (“NABD”)

“Nadb” for string quartet is a five-movement work that delves into the rich tradition of funerary laments sung by Druze women in Mount
Lebanon. This piece is a deeply personal elegy, written in memory of my father, “Abou Samra”, who passed away earlier this year. The musical foundation of “Nadb” stems directly from my own field recordings of these powerful vocalizations. The Druze nadb is more
than a song; it’s a vital expression of grief, remembrance, and community solidarity. Through these recordings, I aimed to capture
the raw emotion, unique melodic contours, and subtle rhythmic nuances that define this ancient practice. Each movement of “Nadb” explores different facets of this tradition, translating the expressive qualities of the human voice into the distinct sonorities of the string quartet. You’ll hear reflections of collective wailing, individual cries of sorrow, and the underlying sense of shared loss and resilience.

The quartet, with its intimate and resonant voicing, strives to convey the profound depth of feeling inherent in these laments, honoring both the cultural significance of the nadb and the personal weight of my own grief. This piece is a tribute to a cherished tradition, to the enduring power of music in times of sorrow, and, most importantly, to the memory of my father.

L.V. BEETHOVEN (1770-1827): Sonata para Piano Nº21 en Do mayor, Op.53 (“Waldstein”): I. Allegro con brio

Intérprete: Haodi Yang

F. CHOPIN (1810-1849): Nocturno en Sol menor, Op. 15, Nº3

Intérprete: Diana Santiago Pariente

M. RAVEL (1875-1937): Jeux d’eau, M. 30

Intérprete: Ramiro Galigniana

F.J. HAYDN (1732-1809): Sonata en Mi bemol Mayor, Hob XVI 52: I. Allegro
C. CHAMINADE (1857-1944): Valse d’Automne Op. 169

Intérprete: Guillermo Pons

F. LISZT (1811-1836): Liebestraum Nº3 en La♭mayor, S. 541

Intérprete: Hugo Santacruz

F. CHOPIN (1810-1849): Scherzo Nº2 en Si bemol menor, Op. 31

Intérprete: Antonio Sánchez Sánchez

F. CHOPIN (1810-1849):
Nocturno en F# menor, Op. 48, Nº2
Preludio Op. 28, Nº16 (“Hades”)
Estudio Op. 10 Nº4

Intérprete: Hoi Man Emmanuel Chen

R. SCHUMANN (1810-1856): ABEGG Variations, Op. 1

Intérprete: Vivien Walser

B. BARTOK (1881-1945): Sonatina: I. Bagpipes   II. Bear Dance   III. Finale

Intérprete: Valentina Neudel

JS BACH: Prelude and Fugue Nº6, in D minor (WTC II)

Intérprete: Guillermo Pons

C. DEBUSSY (1862-1918): Préludes, Book I V. “Les Collines d’Anacapri”

Intérprete: Tzu-Ciao Hung

X. MONSALVATGE (1912-2002): Sonatine pour Yvette: III. Allegretto
D. SCARLATTI (1685-1757): Sonata K 27, L 449 in B minor

Intérprete: Ching-Hsuan Cheng

F. MENDELSSOHN (1809–1847): Songs Without Words, Op. 67, No. 2

Intérprete: Pin-Jung Hsiao

L.V. BEETHOVEN (1770-1827): Piano Sonata Nº21 in C major, Op. 53 (“Waldstein”): III. Rondo

Intérprete: See May Choong

F. CHOPIN (1810-1849): Scherzo Nº1, Op. 20

Intérprete: Hugo Santacruz

F. MENDELSSOHN (1809–1847): Rondo capriccioso, Op. 14

Intérprete: Miriam Boukojaa

F. CHOPIN (1810-1849): Scherzo Nº4, Op. 54

Intérprete: Daniel Guo

L.V. BEETHOVEN (1770-1827): Piano Sonata No. 26 in E♭ major, Op. 81a (Les Adieux – The Farewell): II. Adagio – III. Allegro

Intérprete: Serena Chen

A. SCRIABIN (1872-1915): Sonata No. 9 “Black Mass”, Op. 68
M. RAVEL (1875-1937): Gaspard de la Nuit: I. Ondine

Intérprete: María Inés Bórquez Báez

E. GRANADOS (1867-1916): Goyesca Nº4: “Quejas o La Maja y el Ruiseñor”

Intérprete: Brian Bethea

F. CHOPIN (1810-1849): Preludes Op. 28, Nºs 13, 14, 15, 16

Intérprete: Hoi Man Emmanuel Chen

S. PROKOFIEV (1891-1953): Piano Sonata Op. 14 No. 2 in D minor: I. Allegro

Intérprete: Yu-Shan Chen

L.V. BEETHOVEN (1770-1827): Piano Sonata No. 26 in E♭ major, Op. 81a (Les Adieux – The Farewell): II. Adagio – III. Allegro

Intérprete: Serena Chen

E. GRANADOS (1867-1916): Goyesca Nº4: “Quejas o La Maja y el Ruiseñor”

Intérprete: Brian Bethea

S. PROKOFIEV (1891-1953): Piano Sonata Op. 14 No. 2 in D minor: I. Allegro

Intérprete: Yu-Shan Chen

 I. BERKOVICH (1902-1972): Variations on a Theme by Paganini

Intérprete: Ching-Hsuang Chen
Ganadora del concurso de piano en la categoría C // Winner of the VIPA piano competition in category C

L.V. BEETHOVEN (1770-1827): Sonata para Piano No. 17 en re menor, Op. 31 No. 2 (“La Tempestad”): III. Allegretto
C. DEBUSSY (1862-1918): Prelude Book II No. 4, “Les fées sont d’exquises danseuses“
F. CHOPIN (1810-1849): Vals en La♭ Mayor, Op. 42

Intérprete: Chingfei Lin
Ganadora del concurso de piano en la categoría B // Winner of the VIPA piano competition in category B

M. RAVEL (1875-1937):
Miroirs: III. Une barque sur l’océan; IV. Alborada del Gracioso

Intérprete: Vivien Walser
Ganadora del concurso de piano en la categoría A, 2023 // Winner of the VIPA piano competition in category A, 2023

S. PROKOFIEV (1891-1953): Sonata Nº 6, Op. 82: I. Allegro moderato; IV. Vivace

Intérprete: Sebastian Picht
Ganadora del concurso de piano en la categoría A, 2025 // Winner of the VIPA piano competition in category A, 2025

BIANCA QUIGLEY: the motions, the little delays
for clarinet, cello, percussion, and piano

YIXUAN LING: Shattered Mirror, Whispering Cracks
for clarinet, cello, and piano

This piece explores various “fragile” sounds produced by the bass clarinet, cello, and piano. Together, these sounds create an unstable texture that shifts between solidity and ephemerality. Sharp contrasts emerge as if a shattered mirror could speak and streak—its voice whispering through the cracks.

XUANMING LIU: Pastoral
for clarinet, cello, and percussion

MIGUEL ÁNGEL BERBIS: Eixe Sentiment… Quan Plou 
for cello and electronics

ALEJANDRO LOBO: The Ninth Wave
for piano and percussion

The Ninth Wave is a nautical concept derived from European folklore of a succession of open ocean waves growing in size and strength that grow to culminate in a wave of seismic proportion. “The Ninth Wave” is a piece inspired by Russian painter Ivan Aivazovsky’s 1850 oil painting realization of this concept. It highlights the perseverance of mankind against the terrifying raw power of nature. Throughout the piece, jolting harmonies and choppy rhythms create a sense of uneasiness as the first waves begin to crash against the boat. Dissonance, chromaticism, and unpitched percussive elements represent the dangerous, developing ocean waves that slowly sew themselves into the musical phrases,
until “the ninth wave” arrives, capsizing the boat and unleashing percussive chaos. Toward the end of the piece, as the sea settles, the beautiful post catastrophe scene set by Ivan Aivazovsky’s painting reveals itself. As some of the beautiful harmonies that represent human perseverance pierce through like the sun, highlighting the desperate survivors that cling to the mast of the sinking ship.

JORGE VILLAVICENCIO GROSSMANN: Miniature Minotaur
for clarinet

Miniature Minotaur draws on material from my orchestral work Pasiphaë (2000), though it does not attempt to depict any specific episode from the myth. Rather than narrating, the piece evokes a fragmented and abstract sound-world inspired by the emotional weight and surreal nature of the myth.

This version for B-flat clarinet is based on—but not solely an arrangement of—an earlier bass clarinet piece of the same title. While both versions share their musical ideas and overarching form, the transformation of material and change in instrumentation allow each to stand independently with its own distinct character.

AMY WILLIAMS: Give Way — Stop/Yield
for piano and cello

with Amy Williams, piano

Stop/Yield was written as a 60th birthday gift for fellow composer and dear friend, Amnon Wolman. Amnon’s experimental approach—his willingness to take chances and challenge the status quo—was always on my mind when writing this short piece for cello and piano. I attempted to shed some of my controlling ways, allowing for more flexible performer interaction and involvement. Improvisational materials are juxtaposed with those that are strictly composed. Give Way is a companion piece to Stop/Yield—more continuous in structure and fully determinate, focusing on blended sonorities that diverge and coalesce.

TARIK INMAN: Shame (I can see birds)
for clarinet and cello

“Shame (I can see birds)” is a piece for clarinet and cello examining the relational dynamic between institutional modernist intellectualism and the persistence of earnest, pedestrian forms that have long been deemed reactionary or obsolete in new music thought. The piece begins in a  withholding, unstable space, ideologically avoidant of coherence and gratification. After this period of anti-development, where the piece’s central motive is distorted and foreshadowed before being firmly established, the four-note motive in its truest form cuts through the noise—
consonant, unencumbered, unashamed.

It is a commitment to a truth, an answer to a social question we may rather ignore, a declaration of self. Atonality, arhythm, and dissonance are challenged by pantonality, consonance, and close, vertical harmonies. It is a permission of earnestness, beauty, and authenticity in a period where irony and formalistic detachment have become intellectual currency.

This “truth” faces suppression, punishment, and even appropriation by the institution, while being progressively forced out of the piece. Dissonance comes back in fuller force, denser, muddier, even less predictable, all the while imitating and further distorting the motive. The piece finishes with a reassertion of the initial intellectual status quo, capped by a call-and-response of brief, weak phrases that hint at the persistence and memory of the motive. It may be quieter, but it is no less true, no less relevant, and no less inevitable.

SYLVIA WOOD: Diversions in Water Droplets
for clarinet and cello

“Under heaven nothing is more soft and yielding than water.
Y et for attacking the solid and strong, nothing is better;
It has no equal.
The weak can overcome the strong;
The supple can overcome the stiff”
–Tao Te Ching, Chapter 78

While writing this piece, I found myself overwhelmed by a bleak and chaotic political environment in America, unsure how to respond to the onslaught of news each day. Goals I had worked toward for years began to seem futile as they were pushed further and further out of reach.
At the same time, however, I was inspired by the people who continuously found new ways to adapt and push forward. This malleability—much like cascading water maneuvering around every obstacle it came upon—was the element that allowed them to persist. I started to see that true hopefulness is not always found in continuing relentlessly down the same path, but in learning to read a changing map and redirecting efforts where they are needed most. The music that arose from this time is similarly filled with detours and interruptions, but nevertheless continues forward with the tenacity of a stream carving away at the rocks it navigates through.

ALEJANDRO DE SANTANA ALBORNOZ: Lampecia y Febe
for clarinet, cello, percussion, and piano

This piece is inspired by Lampecia y Febe, a painting by Antonio Muñoz Degrain. In it, the Spanish impressionist portrays the mythological transformation of two sisters into poplar trees, a punishment from the gods. The first movement conjures the river Eridanos, where their fate begins to unfold. A carefree melody drifts above a restless piano current, suggesting a sunlit surface disturbed by occasional shadows that hint at the tragedy ahead. The second movement marks the beginning of the metamorphosis. The music grows increasingly unstable, driving toward a violent, agonizing climax. The final movement opens with fragile, flickering textures that gradually intensify and culminate in a final eruption, a cry of anguish as the transformation is completed.

SICHENG HUANG: Ac!i!d
for clarinet, cello, percussion, and piano

🤘🏽