2013|14Season

Outstanding Performances. Extraordinary Experiences.

Joaquin Valdepeñas David Hetherington

www.amiciensemble.com

Serouj Kradjian

“ The music was golden flashy and fun, something to treasure as a special keepsake.”

Amici Chamber Ensemble2013|14 Season

Outstanding performances. Extraordinary experiences.

Welcome to the 2013|14 season of music with Amici Chamber Ensemble! This season offers four concerts that embody the spirit of Amici and represent the very best of Canadian chamber music.

This season builds on twenty-five years of celebrating friendship through music, innovative and eclectic programming, and outstanding musicianship. These virtues are present in each of the four concerts offered this season – leading to a truly extraordinary experience for all who attend.

This year we are thrilled to welcome some of Canada’s finest musicians. The incomparable Lara St. John (violin), Toronto newcomer Heidi Van Hoesen Gorton (harp) and Toronto Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster Jonathan Crow (violin) are just some of the brilliant friends joining us on stage this year. By popular demand, our third concert, Music for 3, presents an intimate program of music for the trio at the heart of Amici.

We begin the next twenty-five years of Amici Chamber Ensemble in our new home: Mazzoleni Concert Hall, in the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning. The exceptional acoustics and intimate setting of the hall make it an ideal home for Amici, and we look forward to welcoming you there!

This, our 26th season, begins the next chapter in our musical life. We invite you to join us as we continue to celebrate performance, music and friendship!

Joaquin Valdepeñas David Hetherington Serouj Kradjian

TORONTO STAR 2013

Arnold Schönberg’s Transfigured Night highlights a program of music transformed and transcribed

from the original score.

Guest Artist: Yehonatan Berick, violin

Alban BergAdagio arr. for violin, clarinet and piano

Johannes BrahmsSonata No. 2 for violin and piano, Op. 100(for clarinet & piano arr. R. Woolfrey)

Béla BartókHungarian Folk Melodies (for violin and cello, arr. K. Kraeuter)

Arnold SchönbergVerklärte Nacht (for violin, cello and piano)op. 4 (arr. E. Steuermann)

Stellar soloists Lara St. John and Heidi Van Hoesen Gorton lead a journey of

inspired music for violin, harp and chamber ensemble with works from around the globe.

Guest Artists: Lara St. John, violin | Heidi Van Hoesen Gorton, harp

Teng Li, viola | Leslie Newman, flute

J.S BachSonata No. 3 in E major,BWV 1016

Toru Takemitsu And then I knew ‘twas wind

Serouj KradjianSari Siroon YarMelodies of Karabagh

Joaquin Turina Piano Quartet in A Major,Op. 67

Arturo Marquez Zarabandeo

Maurice RavelIntroduction & Allegro

An intimate performance of music fromOld and New France, by the musicians at the heart of

Amici Chamber Ensemble: David Hetherington,Serouj Kradjian and Joaquin Valdepeñas.

Jacques HétuTrio pour clarinettevioloncelle et piano Op. 73 (2004)

Louise FarrencTrio en mi bémol majeurop. 44 pour piano, clarinette et violoncelle

Henri DutilleuxTrois strophes sur le nom de Sacher (pour violoncello seul)Au gré des ondes (pour piano)

Claude DebussyLes sons et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soirLa terasse des audiences du clair de lunePetite pièce pour clarinette et pianoPremière Rhapsodie pour clarinette et piano

American Berserk celebrates the composers who changed the face of American music: the “American

Original” Charles Ives and Pulitzer Prize-winnersJohn Adams and John Corigliano.

John AdamsGnarly ButtonsJohn’s Book of Alleged Dances

John CoriglianoSoliloquy (for clarinet & string quartet)The Red Violin: Chaconne for Violin and Piano

Charles IvesTrio for violin, cello and piano

Canadian pianist and composer Serouj Kradjian has established himself as a versatile artist whose readiness to break boundaries and explore different styles has made him an exciting voice on the international music scene. The New York Times has described Juno award winning and Grammy-nominated Kradjian’s playing as a “persuasive balance between elegance and spirit”. The Globe and Mail called him “a keyboard acrobat” of “crystal virtuosity”, and the Frankfurter Allegemeine said he had a “fiery temperament and elegant sound” with “a technique to burn”.

Mr. Kradjian has appeared with the Vancouver and Edmonton Symphonies, Madrid Symphony, Göttingen Symphony, Russian National Orchestra, the Armenian Philharmonic and the Thailand Philharmonic under the baton of such eminent conductors as Bramwell Tovey, Stéphane Denève, Anne Manson, Gudni Emilsson and Raffi Armenian.

Solo and chamber music recitals have taken Mr. Kradjian to many prestigious venues around the world, including Roy Thomson Hall, Koerner Hall (Toronto), Carnegie Hall (New York City), Orpheum Theatre (Vancouver), Spivey Hall (Atlanta), Herbst Theatre (San Francisco), Jordan Hall (Boston), Cultural Center (Chicago), Wigmore Hall (London, UK) Salle Gaveau (Paris, FR). He has been invited to esteemed festivals, amongst them, the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, the Montreal Chamber Music Festival, Bergen Festival, Savannah Music Festival, Colmar Festival and the Festival Del Sole- Tuscan Sun Festival in Cortona, Italy.

As a busy collaborative artist he has appeared in concert with sopranos Dawn Upshaw, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Hasmik Papian, baritone Russell Braun, tenor Michael Schade, violinists Lara St. John, Jonathan Crow and Ara Malikian, the Pacifica Quartet, and the Arthur LeBlanc Quartet.

Serouj Kradjian’s discography includes the highly acclaimed Transcendental Etudes and Piano Concerti by Franz Liszt on the Warner Music Spain label, “Miniatures”, an anthology of music written by Armenian composers, and Robert Schumann’s three Sonatas for Violin and Piano (with Ara Malikian) are both Hänssler Classic releases. With Isabel Bayrakdarian he recorded songs by Pauline Viardot-Garcia, which brought the two artists international accolades and a 2006 Juno Award for Classical Album of the Year. He was nominated for a 2011 Juno award for “Armenian Chamber Music”, an ATMA Classique recording Kradjian did with his critically acclaimed chamber group the Amici Chamber Ensemble for which he is a co-artistic director.

His concerts have been broadcast by the CBC, Radio de la Suisse Romande, Radio and TV España, the BBC, the Süddeutsche Rundfunk and NHK Japan. Works composed or arranged by Serouj Kradjian have been performed by I Musici Montreal, the Vancouver Symphony and the Elmer Iseler Singers. He has especially enjoyed exploring and performing tango music, which led to the critically acclaimed disc “Tango Notturno” on CBC Records. His orchestral arrangements of folk songs by Gomidas – Armenia’s national composer were released in 2008 on the Nonesuch label earning him a Grammy award nomination. “Trobairitz Ysabella”, a song cycle for soprano and orchestra, inspired by medieval women troubadours, was a commission by the CBC and was premiered in 2011.

Serouj Kradjian

Joaquin Valdepeñas makes international appearances as a soloist, chamber musician, and conductor and is considered one of the most distinguished clarinetists of his generation. He has received two Grammy nominations as a member of the ARC ensemble and has won a Juno award for his recording of the Jacques Hétu clarinet concerto. Mr. Valdepeñas has made over three dozen recordings, most recently a June 2013 release on the Chandos label featuring the Clarinet Quintet of Paul Ben-Haim. In addition, he has recorded the Mozart clarinet concerto with the English Chamber Orchestra.

Joaquin Valdepeñas

He has performed with many distinguished artists such as Leif Ove Andsnes, Kathleen Battle, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Barbara Bonney, Joshua Bell, Vladimir Feltsman, Steven Isserlis, Cho Liang Lin, Yo Yo Ma, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, John O’Connor and Pinchas Zuckerman as well as collaborating with some of the world’s finest string quartets such as the American, Calder, Emerson, Muir, Orion, Takacs, St. Lawrence, Ying and Zemlinsky, as well he has collaborated with the Kalichstein, Laredo Robinson Trio at the Y in New York City, The international Sejong Soloists in Korea and The Chamber Society of Lincoln Center.

Commissioning many works by Canadian composers, Mr. Valdepeñas gave the American première of Arias for Clarinet and Orchestra by Michael Colgrass with the Buffalo Philharmonic. His European début, a performance with the BBC Welsh Symphony, was broadcast on BBC Television conducted by Sir Andrew Davis.

In addition to his duties as principal clarinet of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and a former conductor of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, he has conducted the TSO on many occasions. He has participated in international music festivals including Banff, Canada; the Casals, Puerto Rico; Evian, France; New York’s Mostly Mozart, United States; Nagano, Japan; Curitiba, Brazil, and most recently the Great Mountain Music Festival in Korea.

Mr. Valdepeñas has been a member of the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival and School for over twenty-five years and is currently on the faculty of the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music. Today many of his former students hold positions in orchestras around the world including the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

As an exclusive Yamaha artist he was instrumental in the design of the new CSG Yamaha clarinet combining the French and German traditions into a unique voice.

“Joaquin is one of the very finest clarinetists in the world today and a musician of profound sensitivity and charisma.” - Peter Oundjian

A native of St. Catharines Ontario, David Hetherington is currently the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s Assistant Principal Cellist. He received his musical training at the Royal Conservatory of Music and the Uni-versity of Toronto, and furthered his cello studies in New York, Italy and Germany with Claus Adam, André Navarra and Paul Tortelier.

A member of the TSO since 1970, Mr. Hetherington also teaches at the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory. He coaches the cello sections of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, and is Music Director of the Inter-Provin-cial Music Camp near Parry Sound, Ontario.

David Hetherington

As soloist, Mr. Hetherington has performed with the Toronto Sympho-ny Orchestra, the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, the Niagara Sym-phony, the Symphony Orchestra of Canada, New Music Concerts and Soundstreams Canada as well as recitals at the University of Toronto and the Royal Conservatory of Music.

As chamber musician, he has toured Canada, the United States, Mexico and Europe, appeared at the Ottawa, Elora, Sweetwater and Kincardine Music Festivals and performed with many internationally renowned artists such as Shmuel Ashkenasi, Emmanuel Ax, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Measha Brueggergosman, James Ehnes, Heinz Holliger and Arnold Steinhardt.

In addition to Amici Chamber Ensemble, Mr. Hetherington is also a founding member of the string quartet Accordes, which performs regularly for New Music Concerts and other contemporary music organizations. In 2001, the Canadian Music Centre, through Centre-discs, released Accordes’ recording of Harry Somers’ String Quartets, for which it received a Juno Award nomination. Accordes has also recorded works by several other Canadian composers such as Norma Beecroft, David Eagle, Harry Freedman, Hope Lee, Alexina Louie and Jean Papineau-Couture.

Mr. Hetherington has appeared on several recordings for the CBC and for Centrediscs with whom he made the Canadian première recording of Talivaldis Kenins’ prize-winning cello sonata. He has been active in performing and recording much contemporary music and has recorded solo cello pieces by Alice Ho, Chan Ka Nin (CBC Records) and Elliot Carter (Naxos). In addition, he has collaborated personally with many other composers such as Brian Cherney, Henri Dutilleux, Heinz Hol-liger, Helmut Lachenmann, Magnus Lindberg and Alexina Louie for performances of their works for solo cello. All of these performances were recorded for broadcast by the CBC.

Mr. Hetherington plays a cello made in 1695 by Giovanni Battista Grancino.

Through your support, Amici Chamber Ensemble is able to reach new creative heights in its innovative programming, engaging part-nerships and educational outreach programs. We thank you for your continued support!

FRIEND

$25 – $99Recognition in ProgramRecognition on Website

PATRON

$100 – $249FRIEND Benefits

AMORE

$250 – $499PATRON Benefits+ Invitation to one open rehersal+ Meet the musicians

PROSPER

$500 – $999AMORE Benefits+ 2 Complimentary tickets to the concert of your choice

HEIGHTS

$1000 +PROSPER Benefits+ 2 Complimentary season subscriptions

Amici Chamber Ensemble gratefully acknowledges the support of:

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Outstanding performances. Extraordinary experiences.

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Amici Chamber EnsembleBoard of Directors & Staff

Adom KnadjianPresident

Allan IrelandTreasurer

Davida AronovitchSecretary

Patricia MorganDirector

Sandy WisemanDirector

Staff

David HetheringtonSerouj KradjianJoaquin ValdepeñasArtistic Directors

Robin McLeanExecutive Director

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robin@amiciensemble.comTelephone: 519-267-0636 Toll Free: 1-855-821-0636www.amiciensemble.com

Amici Chamber Ensemble2013|14 Season

TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning

Mazzoleni Concert Hallin historic Ihnatowycz Hall

Outstanding Performances.Extraordinary Experiences.

www.amiciensemble.com