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Program IV: Grand Finale

Saturday, August 19, 2023 | 7:30 PM

Hannaford Hall, USM | Portland 

This poetically lyrical program, infused with unforced virtuosity and memorable melodies, is the perfect way to spend a summer evening. The witty sophistication of Germaine Tailleferre, the only woman in the early 20th century group of French composers known as Les Six, sets up a fascinating contrast with a passionately dramatic quintet rooted in Armenian folk music. PCMF’s 30th summer season concludes with Schubert’s sunny Octet, with its bountiful array of strings and winds, hummable tunes, and genial Viennese charm.

Germaine Tailleferre Image for Piano Four-Hands (1918)

Diane Walsh and Andrew Armstrong, piano

Arno Babadjanian Piano Trio in F-sharp Minor (1952)

I. Largo - Allegro espressivo

II. Andante

III. Allegro vivace

Kristin Lee, violin; Raman Ramakrishnan, cello; Andrew Armstrong, piano

~Pause~

Franz Schubert Octet in F major, D. 803 (1824)

I. Adagio – Allegro – Più allegro

II. Adagio

III. Allegro vivace – Trio – Allegro vivace

IV. Andante – variations. Un poco più mosso – Più lento

V. Menuetto. Allegretto – Trio – Menuetto – Coda

VI. Andante molto – Allegro – Andante molto – Allegro molto


Anthony Marwood and Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu, violins; Melissa Reardon, viola; Raman Ramakrishnan, cello; Anthony Manzo, bass; Alexander Fiterstein, clarinet; Gina Cuffari, bassoon; Zohar Schondorf, horn
 

Concert run time is approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes, including a brief pause. The concert will be live streamed for free on our YouTube channel, with te archived stream available to view for 24 hours.

Meet The Artists

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Andrew Armstrong
piano

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Gina Cuffari
bassoon

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Alexander Fiterstein
clarinet

Ayano Ninomiya (Kate Lemmon) unauth.jpeg

Kristin Lee
violin

Melissa Reardon (Lauren Desberg).jpeg

Anthony Manzo
bass

Anthony Marwood.jpg

Anthony Marwood
violin

Raman Ramakrishnan.jpeg

Raman Ramakrishnan
cello

Melissa Reardon (Lauren Desberg).jpeg

Melissa Reardon
violin

Zohar Schondorf.jpeg

Zohar Schondorf
horn

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Diane Walsh
piano

Cindy Wu.jpeg

Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu
violin

Meet The Composers

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Arno Babadjanian
1921-1983

Eleanor Alberga is a highly-regarded British composer with commissions from the BBC Proms and The Royal Opera, Covent Garden. With a substantial output ranging from solo instrumental works to full-scale symphonic works and operas, her music is performed all over the world.

Born 1949 in Kingston, Jamaica, Alberga decided at the age of five to be a concert pianist, and five years later was composing works for the piano. She was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2021 for services to British Music.

 

Shortly after Alberga's mother died, the composer had a commission to write a short work for string quartet, and decided to dedicate it to her mother. The piece, Remember, is based on a Jamaican folk song called "Come Back Liza."

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Franz Schubert
1797-1828

Franz Schubert was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, he left behind a vast catalog, including more than 600 secular vocal works (mainly lieder), seven complete symphonies, sacred music, operas, incidental music, and a large body of piano and chamber music.

By the time he graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music, Barber had developed into a fine baritone and was in some demand as a recitalist. It was the composer himself who made the first recording of his setting of English Victorian poet Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach" for voice and string quartet.

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Germaine Tailleferre
1892-1983

Germaine Tailleferre was a prolific French composer of symphonic, chamber, film, and radio music who is most commonly remembered as the sole female member of composer group Les Six, but her association with that group was relatively brief in the broader context of her career. Displaying early brilliance as a student at the Paris Conservatoire, Tailleferre won all the major prizes in her disciplines—Premier Prix in Harmony, Counterpoint, and Accompaniment—but never had the opportunity to compete for the Premier Prix in composition due to the suspension of the competition during the First World War. 

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