Program is subject to change.​​

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Program Notes

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Experience a truly groundbreaking musical journey with ArcoStrum, a multi-instrumental, genre-defying showcase that seamlessly intertwines the contemporary tango mastery of Piazzolla and the timeless classics of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. This innovative performance fuses the rich tapestry of Chinese traditional folk music, featuring the mesmerizing sounds of the dizi and erhu, with classical and electric guitar. Enter the realm of American instrumental rock by Polyphia, creating a harmonious blend of diverse musical landscapes. ArcoStrum transcends boundaries and celebrates the evolution of music across genres and eras. 

 

Astor Piazzolla was an Argentine tango composer, performer, and arranger. His works revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style, termed nuevo tango, incorporating elements from jazz and classical music.

              Primavera Porteña (Buenos Aires Spring) and Invierno Porteño (Buenos Aires Winter) (1969) are from Piazzolla’s set of four Estaciones Porteñas (Seasons of Buenos Aires). These tangos were originally conceived and treated as different works rather than one suite, although Piazzolla performed them together from time to time. The pieces were scored for his quintet of violin (or viola), piano, electric guitar, double bass and bandoneón (a concertina-like instrument, played by Piazzolla). 

              Nightclub 1960 from Histoire du Tango (The History of Tango) (1985) is one of Piazzolla’s most famous compositions. Originally scored for flute and guitar, it is often played with different combinations of instruments. Histoire du Tango attempts to convey the history and evolution of the tango in four movements: Bordel (house of ill repute) 1900; Café 1930; Nightclub 1960; and Concert d'aujourd'hui (today). Piazzolla provided program notes that expand on the individual movements. He wrote: “Nightclub, 1960: This is a time of rapidly expanding international exchange, and the tango evolves again as Brazil and Argentina come together in Buenos Aires. The bossa nova and the new tango are moving to the same beat. Audiences rush to the night clubs to listen earnestly to the new tango. This marks a revolution and a profound alteration in some of the original tango forms.”

 

Antonio Vivaldi was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist, impresario of Baroque music, and Roman Catholic priest. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread across Europe, giving origin to many imitators and admirers.

            The Four Seasons (1723) is the best known of Vivaldi's works. It was a revolution in musical conception: Vivaldi represented flowing creeks, singing birds (of different species, each specifically characterized), a shepherd and his barking dog, buzzing flies, storms, drunken dancers, hunting parties from both the hunters' and the prey's point of view, frozen landscapes, and warm winter fires. The Four Seasons can be classified as “program music,” instrumental music intended to evoke something extra-musical, and an art form which Vivaldi was determined to prove sophisticated enough to be taken seriously.

 

Zhihui Li is one of the most famous Chinese New Age musicians.

            Ink Orchid Pavilion (2011) is among Zhihui Li’s most performed works. The Ink Orchid floating without roots symbolizes imagination, loyalty, integrity, and Buddhist concepts of impermanence and spiritual enlightenment. Ink Painting of Lanting refers to artworks depicting the famous Lanting Gathering, a literary and artistic event held at the Orchid Pavilion in China during the 4th century CE. Many artists have been inspired by this event and its associated calligraphy, creating numerous ink paintings over the centuries.

 

Haihuai Huang was a Chinese erhu (two-string fiddle) performer and composer.

            Horse Racing (1959): The music says it all. The excitement is palpable.

 

Polyphia is a primarily instrumental progressive rock band based in Plano, Texas, formed in 2010. The group consists of guitarists Tim Henson and Scott LePage, bassist Clay Gober, and drummer Clay Aeschliman. Polyphia has grown to be one of the most influential and unique bands in the progressive and math rock genres, captivating audiences with their technical guitar work, genre-fluid music, and excellent production.

             Playing God (2022). There is a moment when music expands the mind … when it alters your thinking. Apparently, Polyphia lives in that moment. They call it progressive math rock. 

 

Radamés Gnattali was a Brazilian composer of classical and popular music, as well as a conductor, orchestrator, and arranger. His parents were both musicians who emigrated from Italy at the end of the 19th century. 

             Suite Retratos (Suite of Portraits) (1958) is a collection of four musical portraits dedicated to prominent figures in Brazilian popular music. The suite showcases the composer's ability to blend classical and popular styles while paying homage to influential people in Brazilian musical history.

            Chiquinha Gonzaga was a composer, pianist, and conductor, considered the first female composer in Brazil – a difficult enterprise for a woman in Rio de Janiero of the second half of the nineteenth century. Through her tenacity and talent, Gonzaga succeeded in entering, and gaining the respect of, the musical circles of the city. In 1885 she debuted as an orchestral conductor, and in the following years her popularity steadily increased as both a conductor and composer. Gonzaga, whose catalogue consists of almost 300 titles, personally led the battle for the recognition of copyright for Brazilian artists. Corta-jaca, a sort of peasant dance, was originally composed by Gonzaga in 1895. The reworking by Gnattali, who cites the original exactly in one section, restores to us a lively and authentically popular dance, characterized by continual repetitions of long sections with a syncopated rhythm.

 

Domenico Scarlatti was an Italian Baroque composer, although his music was influential in the development of the Classical style. Like his renowned father Alessandro Scarlatti, he composed in a variety of musical forms; today he is known mainly for his 555 keyboard sonatas. He spent much of his life in the service of the Portuguese and Spanish royal families.

             Keyboard Sonata, K. 141 (1739) was written for solo harpsichord. The work is characterized by fast repeated notes throughout. Because of its virtuosity, the piece has also been described as a toccata. The piece contains many idioms characteristic of Scarlatti, and shows a Spanish influence, especially of dance music with guitar and syncopated rhythms.

           

John Williams is an American composer and conductor. In a career that has spanned seven decades, he has composed some of the most popular and critically acclaimed cinema scores in history. After his studies at Juilliard and the Eastman School of Music, Williams went to Los Angeles where he began working as an orchestrator at film studios. He had been originally set on becoming a concert pianist, but after hearing contemporary pianists like John Browning and Van Cliburn perform, he switched his focus to composition. “It became clear,” he recalled, “that I could write better than I could play.” He has received numerous accolades, including 26 Grammy Awards, five Academy Awards, seven BAFTA Awards, three Emmy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards. Williams's work as a film composer includes Fiddler on the Roof (1971), Jaws (1975), Star Wars (1977), E.T. (1982) and Schindler's List (1993). Other memorable collaborations include Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), the Indiana Jones franchise (1981–2023), Jurassic Park (1993), and the first three Harry Potter films (2001–2004). Williams has also composed numerous classical concertos and other works for orchestral ensembles and solo instruments. He served as the Boston Pops’s principal conductor from 1980 to 1993. He was inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame in 2004.

             Theme from Schindler’s List (1993): When Steven Spielberg asked John Williams to write the score for Schindler’s List he showed him an early cut of the movie. Williams stood up and walked out of the screening room. He came back a few minutes later crying, and said: “You need someone better than me to write music for this.” Spielberg replied: “I know, but everyone better than you is dead.”

 

The Katona Twins are a Hungarian guitar duo of identical twins Péter and Zoltán Katona. From the age of ten they studied, both individually and as a guitar duo, at the Béla Bartók Conservatory of Music in Budapest, as well as in Germany at the Academy of Music in Kassel, and the School of Music, Theater and Dance in Frankfurt-am-Main. They also studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London. They have performed at prestigious venues and major music festivals around the world, including the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Germany, and the United States, where they made their Carnegie Hall debut in 1998.

The Katonas' repertoire includes classical music, tango and Spanish guitar. They have also adapted and arranged classical compositions for guitar duo. Their album releases have included works by Handel, Scarlatti, Albéniz and Piazzolla; they also perform works by de Falla and Castelnuovo-Tedesco, as well more modern composers such as Paco de Lucía. 

            Michael Jackson meets Scarlatti (2024). From ArcoStrum: “The original song is played by the guitar duo Katona Twins with orchestra. The music shuffles between classical music and pop – including Domenico Scarlatti excerpts; Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd; Bad and Black and White by Michael Jackson; and Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana. It was very challenging for us to condense the whole orchestration and their guitar duo into our arrangements on violin and guitar only. We managed to make it work in a way that preserved its exhilarating essence and infused it with ArcoStrum’s distinct character.”

 

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