Symposium 90 - May 17, 2009

Helicon's 24th Season Explores Great Musical Cities

Symposium 90 — PARIS
May 17, 2009
“THE CELEBRATED SALON of ERNEST CHAUSSON”

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Jennifer Frautschi, violin
Pedja Muzijevic, piano
Harumi Rhodes, violin
John Marcus, violin
Hsin-Yun Huang, viola
Matthew Herren, ’cello

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César Franck Sonata for Violin and Piano
Ernest Chausson Concerto for Violin, Piano & Strings

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We complete our tour of great musical cities in 19th-century Paris, where composer Ernest Chausson (1855-1899) hosted his famous salon at 22 Boulevard de Courcelles. There he welcomed France’s leading artists, poets, musicians, and intellectuals to exchange ideas and introduce new work. The two pieces on this program were dedicated to a member of this circle, the prodigious violin virtuoso Eugène Ysaÿe (1858-1931), whose playing inspired many composers to write works for him. In Helicon’s 21st-century salon, we are fortunate to regularly hear the inspiring collaborations of Jennifer Frautschi and Pedja Muzijevic, who will be joined by an ensemble of new and familiar faces for these opulent works from the height of French Romanticism.

Jennifer Frautschi and Pedja Muzijevic

Jennifer Frautschi, violinHarumi Rhodes, violin

John Marcus, violin

Hsin-Yun Huang, viola

Matthew Herren, cello

THE HELICON FOUNDAITON
James Roe, Artistic Director
William A. Simon, President
Albert Fuller, Founder

Helicon Foundation Board of Directors

William A. Simon, President
Lisa Welch, Vice-President
Franklin Heller, Treasurer
Pamela Drexel, Secretary
Philippine Dodd
Joan K. Easton
Karen McLaughlin
David S. Moyer
Sherman Pazner, M.D.
Susan Zolla-Pazner, Ph.D.

Directors In Memoriam
Albert Fuller†, Founder
Craig Logan Jackson†
Zoltan Ovary, M.D.†
Gregory B. Smith†
Miss Alice Tully†

Helicon Foundation Advisory Committee

Leslie Armstrong, AIA
Abbe Aronson
Bart Feller
Jennifer Frautschi
Matthew Herren
Joe Hsu
Bejun Mehta
Pedja Muzijevic
Jody Ripplinger
Thomas Sokolowski
Jason Starr
Mark Steinberg
Barry Wacksman

The posts below outlined the programs for Helicon's 23rd Season, 2007-2008. The following is a short introduction to our organization.

In 1985, harpsichordist, scholar, educator, conductor, and raconteur, Albert Fuller, in the company of Alice Tully and Gregory B. Smith, brought together a group of musicians and music lovers to create The Helicon Foundation.

Taking its name from the Greek mountain revered as the home of Memory and her daughters, the nine Muses, the organization's goal was to address a need in the New York music community. Large concert halls and the manner of playing necessary to fill them had pulled music away from what composers knew and intended. Helicon bridges that gap with style and élan, presenting chamber music in an intimate setting and using the instruments and performance techniques of the period.

In 2006, James Roe succeeded Albert Fuller as Artistic Director, to continue Helicon’s goals into its third decade.

• CHAMBER MUSIC IN AN INTIMATE SPACE — Helicon returns chamber music to an intimate space where the audience can follow a performer’s every nuance and experience proximity to music’s expressive power.

• PROGRAMMING — By focusing on a single composer or specific cultural question, Helicon Symposiums deepen our experience through immersion and focused inquiry.

• MUSICIANS — Helicon chooses its musicians for their virtuosity, openness, and musical creativity, and provides the opportunity to know them as artists and people.

• PERIOD INSTRUMENTS & PERFORMANCE PRACTICE — Our musicians seek out the sounds composers knew by using the instruments and performance techniques of the time.

• COMMUNITY — Helicon’s unique Membership structure connects music lovers and musicians who share the enjoyment of musical exploration.

Helicon has produced over 80 Symposiums covering a broad range of musical genres, from the 14th through the 21st centuries. From these Symposiums have arisen recordings, public concerts, educational programs, and most importantly, a body of performers and music lovers with a deepened experience of music in their lives.

THE HELICON FOUNDATION, INC.
James R. Roe, Artistic Director
Albert Fuller, Founder
William A. Simon, President

2067 Broadway, Studio 50
New York, NY 10023
(212) 874-6438
HeliconFoundation@gmail.com

Symposium 83 - 14 October 2007

Symposium LXXXIII
14 October 2007
“The Pinnacle of Classicism”
Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven

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Mark Steinberg, violin
Myron Lutzke, ’cello
Pedja Muzijevic, fortepiano

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Haydn Piano Trio in C
Mozart Violin Sonata, K. 454
Beethoven Piano Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 1, No. 1

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Though Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven stand at the center of the Classical music canon, it is still rare to hear their music on the kind of instruments they knew.

The fortepiano, one of Europe’s great pre-electronic technological achievements, rapidly evolved from the late 1700s through the 19th Century. Composers were protagonists this process, writing music that fully marshaled the capacities of each new model. For this concert, Pedja Muzijevic will play a fortepiano based on those of the 1790s, ideally suited to this music.

Pedja Muzijevic, piano

Written within a decade of each other, the three works on this program reveal the shared musical influences of the greatest Classical composers.

Mark Steinberg, violin

When I contacted Myron Lutzke about this concert, he remarked that “these pieces are all old friends.”

Myron Lutzke, 'cello

Could there be better company in which to open our 23rd Season?

The Helicon Foundation
James Roe, Artistic Director
William A. Simon, President
Albert Fuller, Founder

Symposium 84 - 9 December 2007

Symposium LXXXIV
9 December 2007
“PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION”
Romantic Russian Music

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Lauren Skuce, soprano
Jennifer Frautschi, violin
Pedja Muzijevic, piano

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Prokofiev Violin Sonata No. 1, in F Minor
Rachmaninov Art Songs
Mussorgsky “Pictures at an Exhibition”

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In June of 1994, Albert Fuller and I attended England’s Aldeburgh Festival to hear Pedja Muzijevic play “Pictures at an Exhibition.”

Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" autograph score

Helicon’s first Symposium exploring the deeply expressive Russian repertoire features Pedja’s interpretation of Mussorgsky’s masterpiece with works by his countrymen, Prokofiev and Rachmaninov.

Pedja Muzijevic, piano

Prokofiev returned to the USSR in 1936 and shortly thereafter began work on a violin sonata that would take him eight years to complete. It was premiered by David Oistrakh with whom Prokofiev collaborated to ensure the virtuosic demands of the solo part suited the violin.

Jennifer Frautschi, violin

To perform Rachmaninov’s lush art songs, Helicon welcomes the award-winning soprano, Lauren Skuce, whose singing was recently praised in The New York Times as “bright and agile, becoming brilliantly liquid and sexy in the high register.”

Lauren Skuce, soprano

THE HELICON FOUNDATION
James Roe, Artistic Director
William A. Simon, President
Albert Fuller, Founder

Sympoisum 85 - 10 February 2008

Symposium LXXXV
10 February 2008
“The Mysterious World of Heinrich Biber”
Baroque Virtuoso Violin Music

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Colin Jacobsen, violin
Robert Wolinsky, harpsichord & organ
Myron Lutzke, 'cello
Daniel Swenberg, theorbo

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Heinrich Biber (1644-1704) was one of the great violin virtuosos of his day and a composer with a deeply personal language. The works on this program inhabit both the virtuosic and numinous worlds of his music. Listening to Biber, I am reminded of the marvelous Duccio “Madonna and Child” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The front edge of its frame is charred in two places by candles, because this work of great artistic sophistication was used to enhance personal devotion. Likewise, Biber’s music places extraordinary demands on performers, yet seems aimed not at public display, but rather, the intensely personal work of faith and spiritual understanding. We are pleased to welcome virtuoso violinist, Colin Jacobsen, back to Helicon to perform this remarkable music with the formidable continuo team of Myron Lutzke and Robert Wolinsky.

THE HELICON FOUNDATION
James Roe, Artistic Director
William A. Simon, President
Albert Fuller, Founder