07/01/2021

Selections for Harp, Cello and Clarinets

Vaughan Williams: Selections from the Six Studies in English Folk Song for Cello and Harp
Saint-Saëns: The Swan
Robert Walker: Bird Variation for Clarinet Quartet
Mozart: Magic Flute Suite arr. for Clarinet Quartet
Bernstein: Candide Overture arr. for Clarinet Quartet

About the Program

Ralph Vaughan Williams was an English composer who lived from 1872 until 1958. His composition career was prolific and varied. His works included operas, ballets, chamber music, vocal pieces, and orchestral works. He composed his last symphony at the age of 85, only months before he died. It was important to Vaughan Williams to make music more accessible to his fellow citizens. He felt that music was meant to be enjoyed by everyone, so he often composed simpler works that could be played and performed by students and amateur musicians.

Vaughan Williams loved finding ways to incorporate English folk tunes into his compositions. The Six Studies in English Folk Song for Cello and Piano (arranged for cello and harp) do just that. The folk melodies are introduced by the cello and then continually passed between the cello and harp, each changing roles to lead or accompany. Vaughan Williams reportedly said that his songs were meant to be “treated with love”.
The full title of each movement is as follows:
1.Adagio ('Lovely on the Water') in E modal minor
2.Andante sostenuto ('Spurn Point') in Eb
3.Larghetto ('Van Diemen's Land') in D modal minor
4.Lento ('She Borrowed Some of Her Mother’s Gold') in D
5.Andante tranquillo ('The Lady and the Dragon’) in G

-Ann Fink

Camille Saint Saëns (b.1835 - d.1921) was a French composer, pianist, organist, and conductor. His career was long and successful. It began with a concert debut at the age of ten which helped to secure his reputation as a musical prodigy. He went on to study at the Paris Conservatory and afterwards established a career as a church organist. Later in life he focused on performances both as a freelance pianist and composer. The Swan or Le Cygne is the penultimate movement of Saint Saëns’ The Carnival of the Animals, one of his most famous compositions. It was originally written for solo cello accompanied by two pianos, but has been arranged and transcribed for many instruments. Saint Saëns’ Le Cygne is a musical interpretation of a Greek and Roman legend about a swan. The legend claims the bird to be special among all animals even though it remains mute until the final moments of its life. As it’s passing into the afterlife, it sings the most beautiful of all birdsongs.

-Ann Fink

Bird Variation, written in the eerie silence of the pandemic shutdown, is inspired by the sounds emerging from nature during this period. At the opening, a quiet and foreboding hum sets the scene out of which the theme of the bird is introduced. Throughout this variation, a single bird call morphs and multiplies until all the voices flock together in one final swoop to the highest registers of the clarinet. The original bird call, catalogued by a friend of mine living overseas, was sent to me in a voice message, as a composition challenge. We each wrote a variation, and in the spirit of friendly competition, I was crowned the winner of the challenge. There was no prize, but I am so pleased that I have been asked to program this piece for Ariel. I'm honored and indebted to them for their graciousness and generosity.

-Robert Walker

Mozart’s The Magic Flute premiered in Vienna, Austria on September 30th, 1791. The opera is in the form of a Singspiel which means that both singing and spoken dialogue are used to tell the story. From opening night the opera had immense success, and by 1792 it had been performed 100 times! The Magic Flute would be the last opera that Mozart composed. He died in December of 1791, only three months after its premiere.
The story of The Magic Flute follows Prince Tamino and his sidekick Papageno on their journey to rescue Princess Pamina. Hilarity ensues, love prevails and philosophical ideas abound.

The incredible clarinet quartet performing on this program will play arrangements of four of the most famous arias of the opera. The first aria Der Vogelfanger bin ich ja (The birdcatcher am I) is originally sung by Papageno in scene 1. The second aria, Alles fuhlt der Liebe Freuden (All feel the joys and love) is sung by Monostatos in scene 3. Ein Madchen oder Weibchen (A girl or woman) is also sung by Papageno but in scene 5. The fourth aria, Wie stark ist nicht dein Zauberton (How strong is thy magic tone) is sung by Tamino in the finale of Act 1.

-Ann Fink

Leonard Bernstein is a legendary American composer and one of the most important conductors of the 20th century. He was born in 1918 and died in 1990 at the age of 72. His most famous works include West Side Story, the film score for On the Waterfront, Chichester Psalms, musical theatre compositions On the Town and Candide, and his Mass which was commissioned by Jacqueline Kennedy.

Bernstein composed the music for the operetta Candide, based on Voltaire’s novella from 1759, also titled Candide. Candide is the illegitimate nephew of a German Baron, and he ends up falling in love with the Baron’s daughter. After many trials, tribulations, and adventures which take Candide all over the world, he ends up marrying the Baron’s daughter. However, nothing turns out quite as expected.

The operetta premiered on January 26th, 1957 in Carnegie Hall. Although the operetta wasn’t successful at its premiere, The Overture to Candide has become one of the most commonly played overtures of the orchestral repertoire. Normally written for full orchestra, the overture will be performed on this program by four clarinets, maintaining all of the fanfare and virtuosity of the original.

-Ann Fink

CONCERT ARTISTS

Allegra Lilly/Harp
Allegra Lilly joined the St. Louis Symphony 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, 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 St. Louis Symphony, 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.

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 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.

Bjorn Ranheim/Cello
Cellist Bjorn Ranheim was appointed to the St. Louis Symphony in 2005 and is a member of the Sun Valley Summer Symphony in Idaho. He served as principal cellist with the Colorado Music Festival from 2006 – 2015 and has performed and toured with the orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, Cleveland and Detroit.

Actively performing in chamber music, Ranheim has toured extensively in the United States, Europe and Central America, with performances at Carnegie Hall, Boston’s Gardner Museum, Teatro Nacional de Costa Rica, and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. He has participated in the Isaac Stern Chamber Music Seminar, Costa Rica International Chamber Music Festival and Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival. Ranheim is highly visible throughout the St. Louis region, presenting recitals, educational programs and chamber music performances. He is a core member of the Chamber Music Society of St. Louis and was the cellist with Washington University’s Eliot Piano Trio with St. Louis Symphony concertmaster, David Halen, and the late pianist, Seth Carlin. Mr. Ranheim’s recording of J.S. Bach Suite No. 3 for Unaccompanied Cello was released on AAM Recordings in 2013.

Seeking out new directions and partners in music making, Ranheim has collaborated with internationally known jazz musicians, sharing the stage and recording studio with Branford Marsalis, Christian McBride, Peter Martin, Jeremy Davenport & Brian Owens. In the spring of 2011, Mr. Ranheim appeared on the nationally renowned radio program, A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor, performing alongside jazz vocalist, Erin Bode, and her trio. Ranheim is a founding member of The 442s, an acoustic string ensemble that pursues innovative, genre-defying music making and collaborations.
A committed advocate of contemporary solo and chamber music, Ranheim has given world-premier performances of works by the late Stephen Paulus, Paul Schoenfield, Steven Heitzig, Peter Martin, Stefan Freund and William Beckstrand.

As a mentor and coach, Ranheim has been invited to work with the New World Symphony, Indiana University Summer Music Festival and the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra. Ranheim has been a featured contributor to MUSAIC – the online video lesson library curated by the New World Symphony as well as the Online Music Academy produced by the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Ranheim studied at The Cleveland Institute of Music under the tutelage of Stephen Geber, former principal cellist of the Cleveland Orchestra.

Robert Walker/Clarinet
Originally from Queens, NY, Robert Walker is currently the 2nd Clarinetist of the Louisville Orchestra in Kentucky. Before moving to Louisville, Robert was a member of the Grant Park Orchestra in Chicago, the Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra in Columbus, OH, and the Sarasota Opera Orchestra in Florida. He has also performed as a substitute with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. Robert is a graduate of the University of Southern California, where he received his Master's Degree in Clarinet Performance, studying with Yehuda Gilad, and a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music in New York City, where he completed his Bachelor's Degree, studying with Alan R. Kay and Charles Neidich. When not playing Clarinet, Robert spends most of his time reading and writing music.

Rachel Siegel/Clarinet
Rachel Siegel is a clarinetist and baroque recorderist, as well as a Master of Social Work candidate, based in St. Louis, MO. She has performed on clarinet with several orchestras, including the National Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony, the Washington National Opera Orchestra, and the Richmond Symphony. Her recorders have brought her to the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony, the NSO, and more, performing film soundtracks by John Williams. The Philadelphia Inquirer has described her recorder playing as “beautiful…and charmingly folksy.”

Rachel previously held the position of clarinetist with the “President’s Own” United States Marine Band, the premiere military band in the U.S. While in the Marine Band, she performed Vivaldi’s Recorder Concerto in C Minor with the “President’s Own” Chamber Orchestra. She received her BM from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities and her MM from the University of Southern California, and a second MM from Rice University. Her teachers include Burt Hara, Yehuda Gilad, and Tina Ward.

Benjamin Adler/Clarinet
Benjamin Adler joined the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra as Assistant Principal/ E-flat/ Second Clarinet in 2015. He also held a one-year position with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in the 2018- 19 season. In addition, Adler has held a position with the Las Vegas Philharmonic and has performed regularly with The Cleveland Orchestra and gone on tour with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Adler is a member of the clarinet faculty at the Brevard Music Center. Prior to Brevard, Adler has spent his summers performing as a guest in The Breckenridge Music Festival, Artosphere Festival and the Sierra Summer Festival. He holds the Second Clarinet position at the Britt Festival Orchestra and is an alumnus of the Aspen Music Festival, National Repertory Orchestra, and the Brevard Music Festival.

Adler has performed as soloist with the National Repertory Orchestra and was a grand-prize winner in the Francis Walton LMC competition in 2014. Benjamin competed in the Carl Nielsen International Clarinet Competition, where he was a semi-finalist.
As a chamber musician, Adler has performed throughout the Milwaukee area, including performances with the Prometheus Trio, Present Music, Milwaukee Musaik and the PianoArts Competition judges concert. He also has performed with the Chamber Music Society of St. Louis, Los Angeles Philharmonic Green Umbrella concert series, and the Hear Now Music Festival with members of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Along with being a performer, Adler is an active educator within his surrounding communities. He is currently on faculty with the Wisconsin Lutheran College and has been on faculty with the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. Adler has given masterclasses at Indiana University, UNC Greensboro School of Music and UNLV School of Music. Adler is the Artistic Director of the Clarinet Maestro Festival, a festival he founded in 2020.

Adler grew up in Brooklyn, New York where he first started studying clarinet with his mother Laurie Friedman-Adler. He earned a Bachelor's degree at Northwestern University under the tutelage of Steve Cohen.He received his Masters degree and Artist Diploma from the University of Southern California and the Colburn School respectively, where he studied with Yehuda Gilad.

Tzuying Huang/Bass 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.

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. 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.