PROGRAM FOR SERENDIPITY

 PROGRAM:
Missy Mazzoli:  Magic with Everyday Objects  (flute, cello, piano)
Originally written for mixed quintet, this work uncovers beauty and possibility in unexpected places.

 Marc Mellits:  Discrete Structures  (flute + string quartet)
Commissioned by a consortium of 25 wind players, this work exemplifies the balance of structure and spontaneity.

Intermission 

 Gabriela Lena Frank:  Canto de Harawi: Amadeoso  (flute, clarinet, piano)
This tone poem captures a childhood dream, bridging imagination, history, and personal experience.

 JacobTV:  Serendipity2  (alto flute, string quartet, tabla)
This piece celebrates cross-cultural dialogue and reimagines the original improvised solo violin part for alto flute.

ABOUT THE MUSIC:

Magic With Everyday Objects  is a piece on the verge of a nervous breakdown, in which the “everyday” building blocks of music are turned upside-down. Chords slide relentlessly out of tune, repetitive melodies become hopelessly entangled, and a schmaltzy piano melody perseveres through a frenzy of sound. This is a piece about finding beauty and rapture in the midst of chaos, and about acknowledging the chaos that lies just beneath the surface of beauty.  Magic With Everyday Objects is dedicated to NOW Ensemble, a group that can make magic out of anything. It was premiered during the 2007 Bang On A Can Marathon. — Missy Mazzoli
Note: Laura commissioned the flute, cello, piano version which you will hear in this program.

Discrete Structures  is a set of connected miniatures, each sharing musical material and each movement completing each other.  Sometimes they complete a movement that has already happened, sometimes they complete it before it even begins.  However, they are all based on the same musical material, and as I was writing each movement that material became more and more clear, completely on its own.  I wanted to create a sound world that connected to itself almost serendipitously, creating connections throughout the work.  The music of each movement on their own are very structured, the building blocks of each are all manipulations of each other, keeping the entire piece connected.  Some structures depict events that happened to me during the summer of 2024, for example, III: Survival Structure, inspired by an encounter with a homeless girl reading philosophy in the center of Bucharest, Romania; stay strong, tomorrow is another day.  Other structures compare similar material however, from different perspectives: a wooden clock turns into gold then melts into a liquid.  Serendipity can sometimes be joyous or can sometimes give pause.  Events happen seemingly on their own but often have an impact, from moment to moment, measure to measure. — Marc Mellits 
Note: Laura led a consortium of 25 wind players to commission this new work for flute, oboe, clarinet, or soprano saxophone, with piano or string quartet.

As a child, I enjoyed an active dream life which I've sought in vain to reclaim as an adult. So frequent were my night excursions into fantasy that I grew accustomed to actually naming the ones that visited me on a recurring basis. "Amadeoso" was one of these. It grew out of the strong impression made upon me by the film "Amadeus" released in 1984, especially the story's many less-happy and humorous moments. Canto de Harawi: "Amadeoso" is a short tone poem that attempts to portray my childhood dream where I walk hand-in-hand with Mozart, passing through such unlikely scenes as my old backyard garden, a deserted playground, and an ominous cavern that frightened me during a family camping trip. The dream is peculiar in that there is coolness — even distance — intermingled with a sense of impending menace that I, with the naiveté that little children have, want to lead Mozart away from.
This short tone poem takes on the mood and two-part form of a song style native to my Peruvian heritage, that of the melancholy harawi, the quintessential music of the South American Andes. It is particularly distinctive for how the final part of the song sometimes finds its main melody stripped of most of its former accompaniment, starkly dissipating much as a dream might. — Gabriela Lena Frank
Canto de Harawi: "Amadeoso" was commissioned by Da Camera of Houston and premiered January 27th, 2006, Cullen Theater, Wortham Theater Center Houston, TX, United States of America.

Many years ago, I composed a kind of raga, which was then arranged by Marien van Staalen for string orchestra and performed several times in different combinations, featuring his daughter Lenneke with Heiko Dijker on tabla. Then followed by Raga No.2 ‘Serendipity’ for Indian violin, tabla and string quartet was composed in 2015 for Lenneke van Staalen, Heiko Dijker and the Matangi Quartet. It was performed many times and broadcasted by Dutch Radio 4. The premiere took place 26-12- 2015 at Maartenskerk, Doorn NL. The New Oxford Dictionary of English defines serendipity as the occurrence and development of events by chance in a satisfactory or beneficial way, understanding the chance as any event that takes place in the absence of any obvious project (randomly or accidentally), which is not relevant to any present need, or in which the cause is unknown. Innovations presented as examples of serendipity have an important characteristic: they were made by individuals able to "see bridges where others saw holes" and connect events creatively, based on the perception of a significant link. The chance is an event, serendipity a capacity.

Serendipity means a "fortunate happenstance" or "pleasant surprise". It was coined by Horace Walpole in 1754. In a letter he wrote to a friend Walpole explained an unexpected discovery he had made by reference to a Persian fairy tale, The Three Princes of Serendip. The princes, he told his correspondent, were “always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of”. The name stems from Serendip, an old name for Sri Lanka (Ceylon), from Tamil Ceralamdivu, Sanskrit Simhaladvipa and Arabic Sarandīp. Parts of Sri Lanka were under the rule of Tamil kings for extended periods of time in history. Kings of Kerala, India (Cheranadu), were called Ceran Kings and divu, tivu or dheep, which means island. The island belonging to the Chera King was called Cherandeep, hence Sarandib by Arab traders. Serendipity is not just a matter of a random event, nor can it be taken simply as a synonym for "a happy accident" (Ferguson, 1999; Khan, 1999), "finding out things without being searching for them" (Austin, 2003), or "a pleasant surprise" (Tolson, 2004).

I call Serendipity a raga, but it not a raga in the Indian sense of the word. I tried to make string quartet patterns on which both the Indian violin & tabla could thrive. By request of flutist Laura Lentz, for whom I had composed Pale Moon in a very Blue Sky and Loudly & Clearly, I arranged early 2024 Serendipity2 for the combination of alto flute, tabla and string quartet for her and Beo String Quartet. Now, the Indian violin had been replaced by the alto flute, and instead of improvisation, the solo part has now entirely been composed by me. The tabla part however is largely still an improv part. Its notation is just an orientation guide, except for the typical raga unison conclusion, which is in unison. The entire score was revised and shortened to around 17:00. It’s a work in progress that hopefully will come to fruition in the very near future! Special thanks to Laura, who inspired me to compose and arrange my music. — JacobTV

ABOUT THE COMPOSERS:

Recently deemed “one of the more consistently inventive, surprising composers now working in New York” (NY Times) and “Brooklyn’s post-millennial Mozart” (Time Out NY), Missy Mazzoli has had her music performed by the Kronos Quartet, LA Opera, eighth blackbird, the BBC Symphony, Scottish Opera and many others. In 2018 she became one of the first two women, along with Jeanine Tesori, to receive a main stage commission from the Metropolitan Opera, and was nominated for a Grammy award. She is Composer-in-Residence at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and from 2012-2015 was Composer-in-Residence with Opera Philadelphia. Upcoming commissions include works for Opera Philadelphia, the National Ballet of Canada, Chicago Lyric Opera and Norwegian National Opera. Her works are published by G. Schirmer.

Composer Marc Mellits is one of the leading American composers of his generation, enjoying hundreds of performances throughout the world every year, making him one of the most performed living composers in the United States.  From Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, to prestigious music festivals in Europe and the US, Mellits’ music is a constant mainstay on programs throughout the world.  His unique musical style is an eclectic combination of driving rhythms, soaring lyricism, and colorful orchestrations that all combine to communicate directly with the listener.  Mellits' music is often described as being visceral, making a deep connection with the audience.  “This was music as sensual as it was intelligent; I saw audience members swaying, nodding, making little motions with their hands” (New York Press).  He started composing very early, and was writing piano music long before he started formal piano lessons at age 6.  He went on to study at the Eastman School of Music, Yale School of Music, Cornell University, and Tanglewood.  Mellits often is a miniaturist, composing works that are comprised of short, contrasting movements or sections.  His music is eclectic, all-encompassing, colorful, and always has a sense of forward motion.

Currently serving as Composer-in-Residence with the storied Philadelphia Orchestra and included in the Washington Post's list of the most significant women composers in history (August, 2017), identity has always been at the center of composer/pianist Gabriela Lena Frank's music. Born in Berkeley, California (September, 1972), to a mother of mixed Peruvian/Chinese ancestry and a father of Lithuanian/Jewish descent, Gabriela explores her multicultural heritage through her compositions. Inspired by the works of Bela Bartók and Alberto Ginastera, Gabriela has traveled extensively throughout South America in creative exploration. Her music often reflects not only her own personal experience as a multi-racial Latina, but also refract her studies of Latin American cultures, incorporating poetry, mythology, and native musical styles into a western classical framework that is uniquely her own.

Dutch ‘avant pop’ composer JacobTV (Jacob ter Veldhuis, 1951) started as a rock musician and studied composition and electronic music with Luctor Ponse and Willem Frederik Bon at the Groningen Conservatoire. He received the Composition Prize of the Netherlands in 1980 and became a full time composer, who soon made a name for himself with melodious compositions, straight from the heart and with great effect.
The press called him the ‘Jeff Koons of new music’ and his ‘coming-out’ as a composer of ultra-tonal music reached a climax with the video Oratorio Paradiso based on Dante’s Divina Commedia. In the US they call him JacobTV. Sounds cool, just like his music, packed with slick sounds and  quirky news samples. "I pepper my music with sugar," he says. You can not accuse him of complex music, but some of his pieces are so intense, that people get freaked out by it. Or simply blown away.

ABOUT THE PERFORMERS, PRESENTERS, BEHIND THE SCENES ACTION:

Laura Lentz is a passionate interpreter of contemporary music, hailed for her “striking, meticulous flute playing.” Praised by audiences and composers for her “incredible, gorgeous tone,” Laura has a deep commitment to sharing the work of today’s most forward-thinking composers and is dedicated to both performance and mentorship through her work as a soloist, collaborator, and teacher. Laura's debut solo recording features music of JacobTV, with two works dedicated to her, and her recent release, Discrete Structures, is a new work by Marc Mellits. Laura’s performances and recordings have been broadcast on the radio programs Performance Today and New Sounds, among others. A dedicated teacher, her recent book Modal Flute Warmup is published with Conway Publications and is sold internationally. She leads arts leadership university courses (Nazareth University, Eastman School of Music). Laura is also the flutist/artistic director of award-winning fivebyfive, whose last album debuted #2 on Billboard.

With 65 world premieres to its credit and 150 concert works played throughout the United States, South America, and Europe, the iconoclastic Beo String Quartet does what it loves best: playing classical repertoire, contemporary, rock, and experimental music. From the Latin “to make happy,” Beo started out as a lark. Two Mexican-American brothers, Jason Neukom and Sean Neukom, decided to record a song entitled “Happy, Happy,” composed by Sean, but for that they would need two more players. And so in 2015 the Beo String Quartet was formed. Touring the world, composing, performing, recording, teaching, and having fun, Beo has since then founded Beo Publishing, built a recording studio, and started its own recording label, NeuKraft Records.

Thomas Nanni  holds a master’s degree in Percussion Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with Richard Weiner and Paul Yancich, the Principal Percussionist and Principal Timpanist, respectively of the Cleveland Orchestra. Mr. Nanni has performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic, as well as the Buffalo, Erie and Dayton Philharmonic Orchestras. Mr. Nanni’s tabla studies have been with a disciple of Pandit Yogesh Samsi, Mr. Jim Feist.

Pianist Jacob Ertl has performed extensively in the United States and throughout Europe, Asia, Central America, and the Middle East. Performance highlights include solo recital debuts at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and Merkin Concert Hall in New York City, and Chicago radio's "Live from WFMT" concert series. Other guest artist engagements include the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre at Symphony Space (NYC), Chihuahua International Music Festival (Mexico), Musicarte Festival (Panama) and the Oviedo and Gijon International Music Festivals (Spain). As a concerto soloist, he has been featured with the Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra, New York State Ballet Orchestra, Altoona Symphony Orchestra, and Keystone Winds, among others. Recently, Ertl released the world premiere recording of Fisher Tull’s Piano Concerto on Klavier Records, distributed worldwide by Naxos.

Svetlana Garitselova is a versatile cellist who especially enjoys performing chamber music. She is the principal cellist of Las Vegas Sinfonietta Chamber Orchestra and has performed with Andrea Bocelli, Adele, Paul Anka, David Foster, Daniel Emmet, Nevada Ballet, Las Vegas City Opera, and as a soloist throughout North America, Europe, Russia, and Japan. Svetlana has been a principal cellist of Galina Vishnevskaya Opera center orchestra, Chamber orchestra “Gnessinsky’s Virtuoso,” member of Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra in Moscow, Eastman Philharmonia Orchestra in Rochester NY, University of North Texas Symphony Orchestra, Odysseus Chamber Orchestra, Roberts Wesleyan College-Community Orchestra, and Oswego Opera Ensemble. She was a member of Symphoria, now The Syracuse Orchestra. Svetlana has been an Adjunct Professor at the Roberts Wesleyan College.  

Clarinetist Marcy D. Bacon teaches clarinet at Nazareth University, Rochester Institute of Technology, and the Eastman Community Music School, as well as maintaining a home private studio. An active performer, Bacon is the clarinetist for the Wilmot Wind Quintet, Fem Vindar [a woodwind quintet], and contemporary music quintet fivebyfive. She has played with the Rochester Chamber Orchestra, Rochester Oratorio Society Orchestra, Rochester Lyric Opera, ensemble.twenty.21 and the Western New York Chamber Orchestra. Bacon has presented sessions on wind quintet literature with her Wilmot Wind Quintet colleagues at the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) Winter Conference and the NAfME All-Eastern Conference. She has also presented sessions on the topic of audiation as it pertains to both early childhood and instrumental applications at the NYSSMA Winter and Summer conferences. Bacon holds a DMA in Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music, an MM from Michigan State University, and a BM from Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. Prior to joining the faculty at Nazareth, Dr. Bacon taught applied clarinet and clarinet methods at SUNY Fredonia for seven years. She has taught general music in the Jamestown City School District and for the Diocese of Rochester. Bacon can be heard on the Oregon Catholic Press label playing sacred music and compositions by Jacob Avshalomov.

Katie Fittipaldi  teaches Alexander Technique privately in Rochester, NY and has presented Alexander Technique workshops for musicians at the Eastman Community Music School, Eastman Summer Trombone Institute, New Directions Cello Festival, University of Buffalo, Nazareth College, Hochstein School of Music and Dance, Kanack School of Music, Canisius High School and the Rochester Bass Retreat. Katie’s interest in teaching Alexander Technique to musicians, children, young adults, and educators inspired her to complete the Developing Self Education Training Course with Sue Merry and Judith Kleinman. She is now certified to deliver the Alexander in Education Course for Primary School, Secondary School and Tertiary Levels. As a cellist, Katie received her Master’s degree in Classical String Performance from the Irish World Music Centre, University of Limerick, Ireland; and her Bachelor of Music degree in Performance from Ithaca College. In 2004, Katie graduated from the Alexander Alliance School in Philadelphia (now the Philadelphia School for Alexander Technique), a three-year intensive training program with Bruce Fertman and Martha Hansen Fertman. In November 2013, Katie completed training requirements to become a member of AmSAT (American Society for the Alexander Technique), studying with Kathy Miranda at ATS (Alexander Technique of Syracuse).
Katie is delighted to be teaching Alexander Technique in the University of Rochester Dance Department, the Eastman School of Music and the Summer@Eastman program.

Mona Seghatoleslami  is the Music Director, host and producer on WXXI Classical 91.5 FM weekdays from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. She also hosts the lunchtime concert series Live From Hochstein Wednesdays at 12:10 p.m., interviews musicians, produces special programs, and works on any project she can find that helps connect people and music in our community through WXXI.

Mona is originally from New Jersey; she ventured out to the Midwest for college, where she studied viola at Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. She got her start in radio at WFIU in Bloomington, Indiana while in grad school studying musicology and library science at Indiana University. She also spent a few years as a radio announcer and producer in West (by God) Virginia, where she also wrote for the Charleston Gazette and taught American music at West Virginia State University.

When she’s not on the radio, you can find Mona attending concerts and movies, playing viola in community orchestras, occasionally strumming the ukulele, riding her bike everywhere, and reading as much as she can – especially The New Yorker and sci-fi novels. She also books the bands for one of the coolest live music venues in Rochester – The Little Theatre Café.

Recording engineer, video artist, keyboardist, and composer Marc Webster is a classically-trained pianist with a performance and recording background in a variety of genres which enables him to create innovative productions of classical music in a fresh context of a modern recording studio. As a performer he has been featured as piano soloist with the Rogue Valley Symphony Orchestra, pianist for the 52nd Street Jazz Sextet, organist for blues artists Chris Beard and Johnny Rawls, and choir director for the Aenon Baptist Church. His video work has been featured by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the Lake George Music Festival. His compositions have been featured on Performance Today, his sound tracks have won awards at the Moondance Film Festival, and his commissions have included music for fivebyfive, Gibbs & Main String Quintet, and the Eastman Youth String Orchestra. Webster also owns and operates Blue on Blue Recording Studio which has a special focus working with classical musicians and composers to create albums, music videos, concert recordings, and all other kinds of audio and video artistry.

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Step inside, and you’ll find yourself surrounded by instruments that each tell their own story. Our collection of violins, violas, and cellos—handpicked for their tonal qualities and exceptional craftsmanship—is a testament to the rich heritage of stringed instruments. Every piece reflects a commitment to quality, designed to elevate both your playing and your passion. At the heart of Payton Violins is Sam Payton, our Master Luthier, whose expertise shapes every aspect of our shop. Sam’s knowledge isn’t just technical; it’s soulful. He approaches each instrument with the keen eye of a craftsman and the sensitivity of a musician, ensuring that every violin, viola, and cello is meticulously appraised and cared for. Whether you’re seeking an instrument that matches your ambitions or need guidance in restoring a cherished piece, his insights are invaluable.

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