Sonatas,Suites and Meditation

Jacques Ibert: Cinq Pieces en Trio
I.Allegro vivo
II.Andantino
III.Allegro assai
IV.Andante
V.Allegro quasi marziale

Darius Mihauld: Suite d'apres Corrette Op.161
I.Entrée et Rondeau
II.Tambourin
III.Musette
IV.Sérénade
V.Fanfare
VI.Rondeau
VII.Menuet
VIII.Le Coucou

Žilvinas Smalys: Lyric Suite for woodwind trio
I. Valse
II. Pastorale 
III. Tarantella  
IV. Lamento
V. Toccata

Jules Massenet: Meditation from Thais for Violin and Harp

Claude Debussy: Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp
I. Pastorale. Lento, dolce rubato
II. Interlude. Tempo di minuetto 
III. Final. Allegro moderato ma risoluto

About the Program

Jacques Ibert: Cinq Pièces en Trio
Cinq Pieces en Trio or Five Pieces for Trio was written in 1935 by French composer Jacques
Ibert. Ibert studied violin and piano from a young age and began composition studies at the
Paris Conservatory in 1910. After serving as a naval officer in World War 1, Ibert resumed his
musical studies and won the Prix de Rome, Paris Conservatory’s top prize. Ibert’s composition
career blossomed. He wrote pieces in a variety of genres including operas, ballets, piano, film
scores, orchestral and choral works, and chamber music. His career was interrupted again
during World War Two. The French government banned Ibert’s music, so he temporarily
relocated to Switzerland. After the war he was invited back by General de Gaulle and was
promoted to director of the Paris Opera.
Ibert disliked having his works defined by any one musical style, although elements of
Impressionism and Classicism had the most obvious influence on his compositional choices.
The Five Pieces for Trio, written for oboe, clarinet, and bassoon, is very classical in style and
remains true to the character of much of Ibert’s music with a set of very short, playful, lighthearted movements.


Darius Mihauld: Suite d'apres Corrette Op.161
Darius Milhaud was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He studied composition at the
Paris Conservatory in the early 20th century. Milhaud was greatly influenced by Brazilian music,
American jazz, and other European composers of his time such as Schoenberg, Honneger, and
Tailleferre. During the Nazi invasion of France, Milhaud and his family fled to the United States.
He began a career as a professor of composition at Mills College in Oakland, California. The
Juilliard, Paganini, and Budapest Quartets performed his works in Oakland as well as the Aspen
Music Festival. He continued to teach at Mills, Aspen, and the Paris Conservatory (which he
later returned to) until late in life. He died in 1974 at the age of 81.
Milhaud was a member of Les Six, a group of contemporary composers whose music was
considered a reaction against the musical style of Impressionists such as Debussy and Ravel
and that of Richard Wagner. During the mid-1930’s Milhaud composed incidental music for the
theater. One of the plays, Romeo and Juliet, was written for the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. The music Milhaud composed for the play was for oboe, clarinet, and
bassoon. This prompted Milhaud to write Suite d’apres Corrette, also for oboe, clarinet, and
bassoon. Themes of the Suite are loosely based on melodies of French Baroque composer
Michel Corrette.


Žilvinas Smalys: Lyric Suite for woodwind trio
Smalys was born in Lithuania in 1980. His first music lessons were for choral singing and
recorder. He started to take bassoon lessons at the age of 13. By the time he was 18 he was an
accomplished performer and was a laureate of two national and one international woodwind
competitions. He continued bassoon studies in the Netherlands, London, and Zurich. Currently
he is a professor of bassoon at the Uniersidad Mayor de Santiago. He is also an avid composer
for bassoon and woodwinds, and states “ ...the temptation to write something myself was even
stronger so I started to compose music for bassoon.” Smalys’ composition Lyric Suite is one
result of this sentiment. You can read more about Smalys at https://smalys.musicaneo.com/about.html and https://thesingingbassoon.wixsite.com/smalys.


Jules Massenet: Meditation from Thais for Violin and Harp
Jules Massenet was a French composer of the Romantic era who lived from 1842 until 1912.
Massenet studied at the Paris Conservatory and won the Prix de Rome (the same honor
awarded to Ibert) in 1863. He is best known for his operas, of which he composed 30 during his
lifetime. Massenet’s works were neglected for many years, but by the mid 20th century his
music saw a revival. His two most performed operas are Manon and Werther. Another of his
famous operas, Thais, is the source of the well known Meditation, one of the most performed
and loved violin works of all time. Originally written for violin and orchestra, the Meditation
occurs as a symphonic intermezzo between the two scenes of the second act of Thais. In the
second act, a monk tries to convince Thais to give up her hedonistic ways and find God. The
Meditation is a time of reflection for Thais who eventually decides to leave her life behind and
follow the Monk into the desert.


Claude Debussy: Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp
Claude Debussy was a French composer who lived from 1962-1918. He was one of the first
composers of the Impressionist era. As one of the most influential composers of all time he
inspired composers such as Bela Bartok, Oliver Messian, George Benjamin, and even jazz musician Bill Evans. Debussy, like Ibert, Milhaud, and Massenet, also began musical studies at
a young age at The Paris Conservatory. He won the Prix de Rome in 1884. Debussy was
greatly influenced by poetry, especially poems of the Symbolist movement of the late 19th
century. Debussy wrote Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, a symphonic poem, based on
poetry by Stephane Mallarme. His opera Pelleas et Melisande, based on Maurice Maeterlinck’s
symbolist play, was completed in 1902 when Debussy was 40 years old. This opera was the
turning point in his career at which he would finally reach international acclaim. Near the end of his life, Debussy planned to write six sonatas. He was sick with terminal cancer. Sadly, he died in 1918 after completing only three. The Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp was the second of the sonatas. This Sonata seems like a musical premonition of the end of Debussy’s life. Each instrument very clearly has its own voice, but altogether they create otherworldly harmonies and atmosphere.


-Ann Fink

CONCERT ARTISTS

Cally Banham

Cally Banham/Oboe
Cally Banham has been a proud member of the St. Louis Symphony since 2006, when she was appointed to the Solo English horn position by Music Director David Robertson. Before joining the St. Louis Symphony, she held many posts, including English horn with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Principal Oboe with the Memphis Symphony, Fellow with the New World Symphony, and English horn with Orquesta Sinfonica del Estado de Mexico, in Toluca, Mexico. She has been featured as a soloist numerous times with the St. Louis Symphony, most recently in the fall of 2014 with Sibelius's Swan of Tuonela. She has performed nationally and abroad at various festivals, among them Tanglewood, UBS Verbier Festival in Switzerland, Spoleto USA, Pacific Music Festival in Japan, Sun Valley Summer Symphony, and the Bellingham Music Festival. 

Banham is the Oboe and English horn Teacher of Music at Washington University Saint Louis. She has held a private teaching studio for 20 years and has given more than 100 educational demonstration concerts in St. Louis elementary schools. She also teaches in the master class setting and coaches the oboe students of the Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra.

Hailed by the New York Times for “supremely beautiful playing and graceful virtuosity,” and by the Boston Globe for playing “outstanding in quality of tone and eloquence of phrase,” Banham has performed as a guest in the principal English horn chairs of the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony, and Cleveland Orchestra.

In 2013 Banham transformed her hobby of dancing Argentine Tango into a musical pursuit. She founded Cortango, a Tango dance band with a symphonic twist, featuring colleagues from the St. Louis Symphony and St. Louis jazz musician Adam Maness. Cortango performed live more than 20 times in its first two years, and released its debut album, Tandas, in May of 2015. As the founder and leader of Cortango, and Executive Producer of Tandas, Banham appeared as a guest on the PBS national program Arts America.

In 2018 Cally released her debut solo album, Cor Christmas, which was awarded the KDFC San Francisco and KUSC Los Angeles "Album of the Week" during Christmas week 2018, and was the WKNO Memphis "Album of the Month" for December 2018. The album captured radio play on over 100 classical stations internationally, and Cally was interviewed for on air segments by many radio hosts across the US.

A native of Philadelphia, Cally Banham attended Temple University and studied with the late renowned Philadelphia Orchestra English hornist Louis Rosenblatt. She later moved to New York and received a Masters from the Manhattan School of Music, as a scholarship student of Joseph Robinson, New York Philharmonic Principal Oboist emeritus.

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Tzuying Huang

Tzuying Huang/Clarinet
Tzuying Huang was appointed the Bass Clarinetist of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in February, 2015 under music director David Robertson, and since 2019, has also held the position of Clarinet/Bass Clarinet with the Britt Music Festivalin Jacksonville, Oregon. Ms. Huang is also the Artist Director of the Ariel Concert Series. Prior to joining the St. Louis Symphony, she played  Clarinet/Bass Clarinet with the Kansas City Symphony. Additionally, Ms. Huang has also performed with the Cleveland Orchestra and the Colorado Music Festival. As a chamber musician, Ms. Huang performs throughout the year with the Chamber Music Society of St. Louis, Chamber Projects St. Louis, and Missouri Chamber Music Festival. Outside of North America, she has performed in Taiwan, Shanghai, Beijing, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, and Singapore. 

Ms. Huang is also an educator with seventeen years of teaching experience, having given master classes in Taiwan and North America. She also works with the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra, and the St. Louis Symphony Education and Community Program, where she teaches in public schools in and around the St. Louis area. 

Ms. Huang’s awards and honors include a First Prize in the 2011 National Couer d’Alene Symphony Young Artist competition; an Honorable Mention from the 2011 National Midland-Odessa Symphony Young Artist Competition; First Prize in the 2012 National Music Teacher Association Music Competition state competition;  and First Prize at the 2012 Mid Texas Young Artist Competition, after which she was subsequently invited to perform, as soloist, Carl Nielsen's Clarinet Concerto with both the Couer d’Alene Symphony and Mid-Texas Symphony.
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Ms. Huang has spent several summer as a Fellow at the Aspen Music Festival, one summer at the Tanglewood Music Festival, the Banff Music Festival, and the Young Artist Program of the National Arts Center in Ottawa, Canada. Holding a Masters of Music Degree as well as a Performance Diploma from The Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University-Bloomington, her former teachers include James Campbell, Joaquin Valdepeñas, Burt Hara, Nathan Williams, Wei-Ling Chen and Pei-Lin Lee.
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Tzuying is also a Buffet Crampon performing artist, and D’Addario Woodwinds Artist. She plays exclusively on D'Addario Reserve Bass Clarinet reeds and Buffet Crampon clarinets and bass clarinets.

Andrew Gott

Andrew Gott/ Bassoon
Prior to taking the position of Assistant Principal Bassoon of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in 2006, Andrew Gott was Principal Bassoon of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra under the baton of JoAnn Falletta. He has also played Principal Bassoon with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Woodlands Symphony Orchestra. He has attended numerous music festivals both here and abroad including Tanglewood, National Repertory Orchestra, Jerusalem International Symphony Orchestra, Aspen, Sarasota, Domain Forget, Kent Blossom, and the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. An active chamber musician, Gott has also played in the Innsbrook Institute Music Festival, Norfolk Chamber Consort, and the Virginia Arts Festival. He has served on the faculty at the Governor’s School for the Arts, Old Dominion University, Christopher Newport University, and Ball State Bassoon Camp. Gott received his Bachelor of Music from Ball State University and his Master of Music from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, where he studied with Ben Kamins. Andrew Gott was born and raised in Bolivar, Missouri.

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Erin Schreiber 

Erin Schreiber/Violin
Erin Schreiber joined the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra as Assistant Concertmaster in September 2008, at the age of 20. She has appeared in recital throughout the U.S., as well as in London, Sweden, Italy, and Germany, and has toured with jazz legend Chris Botti all over the U.S. as well as to Shanghai, Mexico City, Canada, and Eastern Europe. She has also performed for Colin Powell and former President Jimmy Carter.

Schreiber made her SLSO solo debut with a performance of Berio's Corale (on Sequenza VIII) in 2011, and played Vaughan Williams's The Lark Ascending for the Opening Weekend concerts of the 2014/2015 season, both programs conducted by former Music Director David Robertson. Schreiber attended the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia from 2005 to 2008, studying with Joseph Silverstein, Pamela Frank, and Jaime Laredo. Past teachers have included Roland Vamos and Almita Vamos, Elisa Barston, and Robert Lipsett.

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Mark Sparks

Mark Sparks/Flute
Mark Sparks is an American flutist, teacher, and writer. He is the former Principal Flutist of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and has appeared as soloist and orchestral artist throughout the world.  An enthusiastic teacher, many of his students occupy chairs in American orchestras.  He is a faculty member of Chicago’s DePaul University, and the Aspen Music Festival and School. Mr. Sparks has recorded several solo albums, published arrangements for flute and piano, and writes about flute playing as a Contributing Editor of Flute Talk magazine. He is currently writing several books about orchestral excerpts and flute tone development.

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Beth Guterman Chu

Beth Guterman Chu/Viola
Beth Guterman Chu is one of the most sought after young violists of her generation. Before joining the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in 2013 as principal, she was a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and enjoyed a varied career as a chamber musician and recitalist. Chu is still an avid chamber musician, and collaborates with many artists including Gil Shaham, Itzhak Perlman, Joseph Kalichstein, Menahem Pressler, Jaime Laredo, James Ehnes, and members of the Guarneri, Emerson, and Orion quartets. As a recording artist, she has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Tzadik, Naxos, and the CMS Studio Recordings.

During the summer Chu performs and works with young musicians at the Aspen Music Festival and School, National Youth Orchestra-USA, and at the Marlboro Music Festival. In recent years, she has also performed at festivals in Seattle; Lake Champlain, Vermont; Portland, Maine; as well as Luzerne, Bridgehampton, and Skaneateles, New York. Chu has also performed as soloist with many distinguished conductors including Hannu Lintu, Bramwell Tovey, David Robertson, and James DePreist. 
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Chu received her Artist Diploma at the New England Conservatory studying with Kim Kashkashian, and her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School studying with Masao Kawasaki and Misha Amory. She lives in St. Louis with her husband Jonathan, another violist, and their three children.

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Allegra Lilly

Allegra Lilly/Harp
Allegra Lilly joined the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra as Principal Harp in 2013. She has appeared as Guest Principal Harp with the Chicago, Houston, Toronto, and Charlotte symphonies, Boston Pops, and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and has also performed with the New York Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, and All-Star Orchestra. A frequent substitute with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, she acted as Guest Principal Harp for the BSO’s 2015 Tanglewood season and European tour, and she has earned the unique distinction of appearing as Principal Harp on back-to-back albums that won the Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance: the SLSO’s City Noir in 2015 and the BSO’s Shostakovich: Under Stalin’s Shadow in 2016.

Since making her solo debut at the age of twelve with the Detroit Symphony, Lilly has appeared as soloist with the SLSO, Juilliard Orchestra, National Repertory Orchestra, and numerous ensembles in New York and in her home state of Michigan. She has also taken prizes at the Concours International de Harpe in Nice, the American Harp Society’s Anne Adams Awards, and the American String Teachers Association National Solo Competition. Lilly’s summer festival appearances have included Brevard Music Center, Spoleto Festival USA, Festival dei Due Mundi (Spoleto, Italy), National Repertory Orchestra, Artosphere Festival, and Castleton Festival. She is also an active chamber musician and has been a featured guest artist with the Missouri Chamber Music Festival, Chamber Music Festival of Lexington, Innsbrook Institute Music Festival, Missouri River Festival of the Arts, Argento New Music Project, and Carnegie Hall’s EnsembleConnect.
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In addition to holding the harp faculty position at Brevard Music Center since 2017, Lilly has given masterclasses at Northwestern University, Tanglewood Music Center, Boston University, and the University of Ottawa. She has also coached orchestral and chamber music for New World Symphony and the preparatory divisions of The Juilliard School and New England Conservatory. Born in Detroit, Lilly began her own study of the harp with Ruth Myers at age seven. She was also a competitive pianist as a child, winning numerous state and local awards before electing to focus exclusively on the harp in college. She went on to join the studio of New York Philharmonic Principal Harpist Nancy Allen at The Juilliard School, where she earned Bachelor and Master of Music degrees.