Flutist Sarah Brady has been a Festival regular since her first visit in 2011. She is known for her commitment to pioneering modern music as a member of the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and she is a devoted teacher at the Boston Conservatory. You might also find her onstage with the Boston Symphony or at a music festival in Italy. It just depends on the week.

Sarah gave a Portrait of an Artist performance back in 2013, but we feel greedy for having staged that event at a venue with only about 75 seats. This time we’ll give Sarah room to stretch out a bit and welcome a capacity crowd to beautiful Pepper Bridge Winery. Her program includes music by Jacques Ibert, Claude Debussy, Judith Shatin, and Ned McGowan.

Artists: Sarah Brady, flute and Henry Kramer, piano.

Beethoven’s creative life is divided into three neat sections, Early, Middle and Late. The Early Period is defined by his tendency to shake up convention and thwart expectations with persistent and needling harmonic escapades and emphatic rhythmic accentuations where they don’t belong. In the Middle Period, Beethoven confronts form itself, testing the limits of Classical proportion. In the Late Period, Beethoven moves into a completely uncharted territory, looking ever inward. His shadow would loom large across the 19th century and beyond.

Here in the 21st century, we have the opportunity to visit with a remarkable violinist and WWCMF Lifer, Stephen Miahky. Steve played the first-ever June Portrait of an Artist recital back in 2013. He was in his Early Period back then. Life has thrown a lot his way in the last half-decade, and he has thrown a lot back. Welcome to his Middle Period!

Kick off the 2018 June Festival at Rasa Vineyards with Portrait of an Artist, Stephen Miahky 2.0. Back in 2013, we didn’t have the capacity to program works with piano at satellite locations like Rasa, but thanks to the inspired work of the Walla Walla Piano Group, we now benefit from a magnificent Steinway Grand in all of our locations. The program will include music of Mozart, Bach, Debussy/Heifetz, Mark O’Connor, and Ysaÿe.

Artists: Stephen Miahky, violin; with Kristin Vining, piano; and Christina McGann, violin

Tonight’s performance has been made possible by the generosity of Linda Tam.

Closing night of the 2015 Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival bids au revoir with a pair of virtuoso works for harp and strings.

The Debussy Danse Sacrée et Danse Profane for Harp and Strings has been the measure of many a harpist since its composition in 1904. Fellow Frenchman Camille Saint-Saëns composed his Fantaisie for Harp and Violin in 1907. Though close in age, these works inhabit very different sound worlds. Bringing everything to a close is the virtuosic Sextet for Piano and Strings by Felix Mendelssohn. Pound for pound, Mendelssohn delivered more show-stoppers than any other composer by the age of 18. The D Major Sextet is just that, composed when Mendelssohn was but 15 years old. It is a fitting way to usher in the 2016 Festival season over which Mendelssohn will preside as subject of the year’s poster.

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)

FANTAISIE FOR VIOLIN AND HARP

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

DANSE SACRÉ ET DANSE PROFANE FOR HARP AND STRINGS

Intermission

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

PIANO SEXTET IN D MAJOR, OP. 110

I. Allegro vivace
II. Adagio
III. Minuetto: Agitato
IV. Allegro vivace — Agitato — Allegro con fuoco

Artists: Winston Choi, piano; Timothy Christie, viola; Norbert Lewandowski, cello; Amy Ley, harp; Christina McGann, violin; Stephen Miahky, violin; Philip Payton, violin; Maria Sampen, violin; Stephen Schermer, bass; Sally Singer Tuttle, cello; and MingHuan Xu, violin.

Tonight’s performance has been made possible by the generosity of Mike and Sue Gillespie.

In an interesting coincidence the Festival returns to TERO Estates with music of Claude Debussy for a second year in a row. The ragtime shenanigans of Golliwog from our 2014 Season give way to a pair of dances for harp and strings: one sacred and one profane. Profane, of course, means "secular", and does not refer to any four-letter words uttered during performance. The so-called profane dance is a gentle waltz-like movement, while the sacred dance has a dignified processional quality. Debussy composed the work at the request of an instrument maker in Paris to show what the newly invented cross-strung chromatic harp could do. Like Betamax in the 1980’s, the cross-strung chromatic harp ultimately lost out to the VHS-like concert pedal harp. Happily, Debussy’s beautiful work remains, and is equally suited to the winning instrument heard tonight.

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

DANSE SACRÉ ET DANSE PROFANE FOR HARP AND STRINGS

Artists: Timothy Christie, viola; Norbert Lewandowski, cello; Amy Ley, harp; Stephen Miahky, violin; Philip Payton, violin; and Stephen Schermer, bass.

Tonight’s performance and the World Premiere of Last Chants by composer, James M. Stephenson, has been made possible by the generosity of John Jamison and Kathy Wildermuth.

Musicians are always asked to name their favorite piece of music. It is impossible to answer correctly or even truthfully. The musician is supposed to answer by naming whatever piece he or she is currently playing. Tonight, none of the performers will have to fib even a little. The Brahms G Major Sextet stands as a favorite world-wide among string players, and more so among audiences.

Joining this venerated work on the program is a piece that has not yet been played or heard by anyone. Each season, WWCMF commissions a composer to pen a new work to receive its premiere at the opening Festival Series performance. The 2015 Festival Series kicks off with the World Premiere of the Last Chants for Piano, Violin, Viola and Clarinet by composer James Stephenson. Will the Brahms be unseated? There is only one way to find out. Join the celebration as we open the 2015 Festival Series in style!

James M. Stephenson (1969-)

LAST CHANTS FOR PIANO, VIOLIN, VIOLA AND CLARINET (2015)

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

SONATA FOR CELLO AND PIANO (1915)

I. Prologue: Lent, sostenuto e molto risoluto
II. Sérénade: Modérément animé
III. Final: Animé, léger et nerveux

Intermission

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

STRING SEXTET IN G MAJOR, OP. 36

I. Allegro non troppo 
II. Scherzo. Allegro non troppo 
III. Poco Adagio 
IV. Poco Allegro

Artists: Timothy Christie, viola; Norbert Lewandowski, cello; Stephen Miahky, violin; Laura Renz, viola; David Requiro, cello; Maria Sampen, violin; Kevin Schempf, clarinet; Meta Weiss, cello; and Wei-Han Wu, piano.

À Bientôt, Mes Amies: The final concert of the 2014 Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival begins with a wonderful reimagining of the suite for solo piano, Children’s Corner, by Claude Debussy. Composer David Schiff has arranged the work for clarinet quintet, and gives us the opportunity to bring what is traditionally a lonely pursuit, the individual practice of scales and arpeggios (as in the first movement of the suite, Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum), into the full light and camaraderie of the chamber ensemble. Think of it as engendering a spirit of togetherness. The work will also serve as a gentle adieu to our 2014 poster’s decidedly French theme. Pietro Bottesini is best known as the father of a composer that most of you don’t know, but with whom any classical double bassist spends much time in that lonely pursuit I mentioned earlier. Giovanni Bottesini (the son) is the most prolific composer of virtuoso music for the double bass. He is the Paganini of the low end. Here we perform the charming Andante, Theme and Variations for flute, clarinet, and string quartet by dad, Pietro. Interestingly, there is no bass to be found. Clearly, Giovanni saw a need and filled it. Finally, we end the Festival with the American masterpiece Appalachian Spring, Suite for 13 Instruments, by Aaron Copland. Its themes of community and simplicity will bring the 2014 Season to a gentle and inspired conclusion. By the way, Copland studied primarily in France. À bientôt, mes amies!

Claude Debussy (1862-1918), Arranged by David Schiff (b. 1945)

Five Pieces and a Ghost from Children’s Corner

I. Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum

II. Jimbo’s Lullaby

III. Serenade for the doll

IV. The snow is dancing

V. The little shepherd

VI. Golliwogg’s Ghost

Pietro Bottesini (1792-1874)

Andante and Variations for flute, clarinet and string quartet

Aaron Copland (1900-1990)

Appalachian Spring, Suite for 13 Instruments (1944)

Artists: Sarah Brady, Timothy Christie, Julia Gish-Salerno, Norbert Lewandowski, Christina McGann, Stephen Miahky, Philip Payton, Paul Rafanelli, Maria Sampen, Kevin Schempf, Steve Schermer, and Wei-Han Wu.

Claude Debussy composed his suite, Children’s Corner, for his daughter Claude-Emma. It is, of course, a celebrated work for solo piano. Here, thanks to composer David Schiff, we are able reimagine this famous work as a quintet for clarinet and strings. Debussy clearly was in touch with his inner child. In addition to playful quotations of the Wagner opera Tristan und Isolde, we hear evocations of American ragtime music, a new sensation that was sweeping Europe. We try to remain in touch with our inner child, too, and there could be no better playground than the rolling Windrow Vineyard at TERO Estates. Come out and play!

Claude Debussy (1862-1918), Arranged by David Schiff (b. 1945)

Five Pieces and a Ghost from Children’s Corner

I. Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum

II. Jimbo’s Lullaby

III. Serenade for the doll

IV. The snow is dancing

V. The little shepherd

VI. Golliwogg’s Ghost

Artists: Timothy Christie, Norbert Lewandowski, Christina McGann, Philip Payton, and Kevin Schempf.

Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time plus music by Debussy and Prokofiev

Festival Series II knits together music of Russia and France, spans two World Wars, and brings the complex dynamics of the first half of the 20th century to life more vividly than any written history. Debussy’s Sonata for flute, harp and viola is suffused with light and transparency, Prokofiev’s with steely melodic angles. In his epic Quartet for the End of Time, Olivier Messiaen transcends both with a completely new musical language. The work, born out of the most difficult circumstances imaginable, provides one of the most legendary stories in music history. Captured and interned in a German prisoner of war camp, Messiaen discovered musical colleagues among his fellow prisoners: a violinist, a clarinetist and a cellist. Himself a pianist, Messiaen created his quartet for this diverse combination, and it was given its world premiere on January 15, 1941, at Stalag VIIIA prisoner-of-war camp, in Görlitz, Germany, for an audience of inmates and guards alike. Despite the circumstances of its infancy, the Quartet for the End of Time stands as a work of exceeding beauty and deep humanity.

Artists: Sarah Brady, Winston Choi, Timothy Christie, Amy Ley, Christina McGann, Stephen Miahky, David Requiro, Kevin Schempf and MingHuan Xu

Debussy Sonata for flute, harp and viola

Tasting Music II invites you to Garrison Creek Cellars to enjoy some of the best views in the Walla Walla Valley, and to encounter a work of sublime beauty. The Sonata for flute, harp and viola was one of Debussy’s final works. Its opening Pastorale movement will find no better home than the idyllic paradise of Les Collines Vineyard. Suffused with light and transparency, the work brings an unlikely combination of instruments together to create a totally unique sound world.

Artists: Sarah Brady, Timothy Christie and Amy Ley

Mozart: String Quartet in G Major K. 387

Debussy: Sonata for Violin and Piano

Schumann: Piano Quintet in E Flat Op. 44