04/05/2022

Mozart, Beethoven & Herzogenberg

Ludwig van Beethoven: String Trio in G Major, Op.9 No.1
I. Adagio - Allegro con brio

Heinrich Herzogenberg: Trio for piano, ob and hr Op.61
I. Allegretto
II. Presto
III. Andante con moto
IV. Allegro

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Oboe Quartet in F Major K,370/368b
I. Allegro
II. Adagio
III. Rondeau.Allegro

About the Program

Ludwig van Beethoven: String Trio in G Major, Op.9 No.1 I. Adagio - Allegro con brio
Ludwig Van Beethoven was born in December of 1770 in Bonn, Germany. Whether one realizes or not, there is rarely someone who hasn’t heard the famous theme of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. Beethoven’s music has been performed countless times by musicians around the world for more than two centuries! Most recently his music has been used in numerous movie soundtracks and referenced in pop music.

Beethoven was only 27 years old when he began to compose his string trios from Op. 9. Between the years of 1797 and 1798 he completed three trios, consisting of four movements each, for violin, viola, and cello. On this program, the first movement of his very first string trio will be performed. It is interesting to know that during this time Beethoven still had the use of his hearing. It wasn’t until 1802 that he began struggling with early symptoms of deafness.

Heinrich Herzogenberg: Trio for Piano, Oboe, and Horn Op.61
Heinrich Herzogenberg was born in June of 1843 in Graz, Austria. As a young man he studied law, philosophy, and political science during his university years in Vienna. By 1864, however, he had taken an interest in music and was studying composition and attending classes of Felix Otto Dessoff. He had a keen interest in and respect for the music of J.S. Bach and Johannes Brahms, who was his contemporary. Herzogenberg even married one of Brahms’ piano students, Elisabeth von Stockhausen!
In 1874, while living in Leipzig, Herzogenberg founded the Leipzig Bach-Verein, an association dedicated to reviving Bach’s cantatas. Near the end of his life, which came far too soon at the age of 57, Herzogenberg moved to Berlin and was the Professor of Composition at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin.

It is rumored that because of Brahms’ jealousy over Herzogenberg’s relationship with Elsibet, he was reluctant to give Herzogenberg credit as a composer. It wasn’t until the end of Brahms’ life that he supposedly claimed that Herzogenberg was able to do more than other composers of their time.

Herzogenberg’s Trio for Piano, Oboe, and Horn Op.61 is written for quite a rare instrumentation and is a wonderful example of Herzogenberg unique compositional style. Although Herzogenberg is often overlooked as a composer and overshadowed by Brahms, he wrote a large and varied collection of works that deserve to be performed!

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Oboe Quartet in F Major K,370/368b
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg in January of 1756. Although he lived a short life of only 35 years he composed a huge library of over 800 works! He rivals Beethoven as one of the most famous and important composers of all time. In 1780, Mozart traveled to Munich at the invitation of government official Karl Theodore who had commissioned Mozart’s opera Idomeneo. While in Munich working on his opera, Mozart renewed his friendship with Friedrich Ramm, principal oboist of the orchestra in Munich. Ramm was an accomplished, well respected oboist and inspired Mozart to compose the oboe Quartet in F major k.370 in early 1781. Not only does the quartet show off the virtuosity of the oboist, demanding higher pitches than was normally played by oboists of the period, but it also stands as an example of Mozart’s amazing ability to write fluidly and idiomatically for a variety of instruments.

CONCERT ARTISTS

Xiomara Mass/Oboe
Oboist Xiomara Mass was appointed to the position of Second Oboe of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in 2020 by Music Director Stéphane Denève. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, she began her musical training at the age of four and made her solo debut with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra when she was 13. Two years later she was accepted into the “Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico” where she studied with David Bourns, former Principal Oboe of the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, and Pedro Díaz, solo English Horn of the Metropolitan Opera. She has also worked with such renowned oboists as Elaine Douvas, Hansjörg Schellenberger, and Scott Hostetler.
Mass has been invited to participate in many prestigious music festivals, including the John Mack Oboe Camp, “Tercer Festival de Dobles Cañas” in Panama, The Youth Orchestra of the Americas, Domaine Forget, St. Barth's Music Festival, The Sunflower Music Festival, ChamberFest Cleveland and The New Hampshire Music Festival. She was selected to participate in the 2011 YouTube Symphony Orchestra during its residency at the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia, which included a live Internet simulcast to over 30 million viewers worldwide.

In 2014, Mass won The Jerome and Elaine Nerenberg Foundation Scholarship award at the Musicians Club of Women Competition in Chicago. She is also the first prizewinner of the Tuesday Musical State Scholarship Competition in Akron, Ohio, and the first Chamber Music Competition at the “Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico” as a member of her woodwind quintet.

Mass is a former member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and was a featured soloist with the Civic Orchestra in J.S. Bach’s Concerto for Oboe and Violin. During her years in Chicago she was an active freelancer in the area and often performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Winds as a substitute oboist as well as with many orchestras in the area, among them Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra and Illinois Symphony Orchestra. She also played as a substitute with the San Francisco Symphony and has performed with them as assistant principal.

In addition to working as a performer, Mass taught as an adjunct professor at the DePaul University School of Music. Currently, she teaches at Washington University in St. Louis along with maintaining a small private studio.

She holds a BM in Oboe Performance and an Artist Diploma from Oberlin Conservatory, where she graduated with highest honors under the tutelage of Alex Klein and Robert Walters. After relocating to Chicago, she studied privately with Eugene Izotov, principal oboe of the San Francisco Symphony.

In addition to music making and teaching, she enjoys the outdoors, mountain biking and Mario Kart.

Victoria Knudtson/Horn
Minnesota-born horn player Victoria Knudtson joined the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra as assistant/utility horn during the 2019/2020 season. Born to a pianist mother and singer father, Knudtson found her artistic voice on the horn when she was 16 years old after a coincidental meeting with her first teacher, Wayne Lu.

In 2014, Knudtson began studying with Jeffery Nelsen at Indiana University. Thanks to the horn department at the Jacobs School of Music, she also benefited from the orchestral pedagogy of Dale Clevenger and studied early music performance on the natural horn with Richard Seraphinoff. Knudtson also spent six months in Vienna, Austria, studying with Wolfgang Vladar of the Vienna Philharmonic. While pursuing her undergraduate degree, she served as principal horn of the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic. She successfully completed her studies in December 2017.

In March 2018, Knudtson joined the St. Louis Brass (a quintet started in 1964 by then-members of the SLSO) with whom she occasionally tours the country giving performances and teaching masterclasses. Knudtson began an artist diploma at the Curtis Institute of Music under Jennifer Montone and Jeffery Lang before winning the position with the SLSO in September 2019. While in Philadelphia, Knudtson held a core horn position with the ensemble Symphony in C, and performed frequently throughout the city with various chamber groups. As a soloist, she performed with the Indiana University Symphony Orchestra and the Yale New Music Ensemble, and frequently appeared in recitals on the Curtis stage. She ardently enjoys collaborating with composers and performing new music, especially with friends.

Knudtson was a horn fellow of the Boston Symphony's Tanglewood Music Center in 2019, and at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan with music director Valery Gergiev in 2018. Knudtson plays a leader/teacher roll as a staff member at Kendall Betts Horn Camp.

When not on stage or in the practice room, Knudtson enjoys spending time outside, gardening, writing, and painting.

Nina Ferrigno/Piano
Described by the St. Louis Post Dispatch as "a magnificent pianist," her playing is said to be, “...always precise with superb accentuation and warmth of feeling...”. Nina is a founding member of the Boston-based Calyx Piano Trio which has excited audiences throughout the United States with expressive ensemble playing and brilliant virtuosity. She has appeared in major concert venues throughout North America. She has performed with such ensembles as the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), with whom she was a core member since its inception until 2007. Her festival appearances include those at Tanglewood, Banff, Norfolk, and the Skaneateles Festival. She has also appeared at the Carolina Chamber Music Festival and Missouri Chamber Music Festival where the Calyx Piano Trio holds residencies. Ms. Ferrigno is a graduate of New England Conservatory of Music, where she received degrees with distinction. Her principal teachers were Wha Kyung Byun and Randall Hodgkinson. As a long-time member of the AUROS Group for New Music and member of the Calyx Piano Trio, Ms. Ferrigno is committed to bringing classical music to new audiences and expanding the repertoire by working with organizations including the Barlow Foundation to commission and perform new works in a variety of settings. The New Music Connoisseur has said of her, “pianist Nina Ferrigno [brings] out the inherent horizontal logic...all the while imparting sonic beauty from end to end.” Her chamber music recording of Lansing McLoskey’s “Tinted” was released by Albany Records in 2008 and her 2010 recording of Elliott Schwartz’s Chamber Concerto III: Another View for the BMOP Sound label was described as “wonderfully musical” by Fanfare magazine. Along with clarinetist and husband Scott Andrews, Nina is Director of the Missouri Chamber Music Festival in St. Louis, and appears regularly with Chamber Project St. Louis.

Nicolae Bica/Violin
Born into a family of musicians, Romanian violinist Nicolae Lucian Bica started his violin studies in his native town, Brasov, at the age of six with Ilarion I. Galati. In 1988 he continued his studies at the George Enescu Music High School in Bucharest with Carmen Runceanu and Stefan Gheorgiu.

Bica won first prize in several major youth competitions in Romania. In 1990, he won Fourth Prize at the Kloster Schontal International Violin Competition (Germany), with a special award for performing a virtuoso piece. In 1992, he won the First Prize at the Romania International Violin Competition. He was also awarded a scholarship at the summer music festival in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

During the 1991-92 season, Bica performed extensively as soloist with major orchestras and in solo recitals in Romania. During the 1992-93 academic year he was awarded a scholarship to study with Joseph Fuchs at the Juilliard School of Music.

Bica has been a top prize winner at the 1996 National Society of Arts and Letters Violin Competition, the Boca Symphonic Pops scholarship awards and semifinalist in the 1996 Tunbridge Wells International Young Concert Artist Competition (England). He appeared twice as soloist with the Harid Philarmonia as winner of the Harid Concerto Competition.
During the summers of 1995 and 1996, Bica performed with national orchestras in Romania and Austria, including appearances as soloist with the Romanian National Radio Orchestra, the George Dima Philharmonic in Brasov, and a solo recital organized and hosted by the President of Romania, Ion Iliescu.

After receiving his Bachelor of Music degree and the Professional Studies diploma from the Harid Conservatory, Bica was awarded a scholarship from the Budder Foundation to continue his studies at Webster University under the watchful eyes of the Concertmaster and the Principal Second Violin of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, David Halen and Alison Harney, respectively.

Since the 2001 season, Nicolae Bica has been a full-time member of the SLSO.

Chris Tantillo/Viola
Chris Tantillo, a native of Long Island, New York, began playing the violin at the age of seven. He switched to viola while attending the Interlochen Arts Academy, where he completed his high school degree. Tantillo received both his Bachelor's of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2002, where he studied with Stanley Konopka, and his Master’s of Music degree while studying with Robert Vernon, Principal Viola of the Cleveland Orchestra. Tantillo has previously performed with the San Diego Symphony and the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida.

Davin Rubicz/Cello
Cellist and educator Davin Rubicz began his studies in early childhood with the Suzuki method. After attending intensive summer music training programs like the Indiana String Academy, ENCORE School for Strings, and Music Academy of the West, he went to the Cleveland Institute of Music and Rice University, studying with Richard Aaron and Norman Fischer and completing a BM and MM in cello performance. During college, he spent his summers at the Spoleto Music Festival (Italy), Taos School of Music, and Aspen Music Festival.

As a performer, Davin held section cello positions with the Kansas City Symphony, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and has also played with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He has been featured on concert series such as LaJolla SummerFest, Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, Missouri Chamber Music Festival, Chamber Music Society of Saint Louis, and the Pulitzer Arts Foundation series.

As an educator, Rubicz maintains a private studio in St. Louis and has held teaching positions in the preparatory departments at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Rice University. He was on faculty at the Mercer School of Music, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Suzuki program, and has also been invited to teach Richard Aaron's studio at the University of Michigan. In 2020, Davin became artistic director of the Community Music School Preparatory Program at Webster University.

Outside of music, Davin enjoys practicing yoga, growing vegetables, and riding his electric unicycle.