Student Recital: Beethoven, Prokofiev, Higdon, Cooley

A student recital featuring:

Beethoven: Sonata in F major, Op. 17
Dana Cullen, horn; Amy J. Yang, piano

Beethoven premiered the Sonata for horn and piano in F major, Op.17 in 1800 with Giovanni Punto a master French horn player. Beethoven inspiration for this piece came from the fact that he simply wanted to write a piece for himself and his favor horn player. The movements are marked: Allegro moderato; Poco adagio, quasi andante; Rondo: Allegro moderato.

Prokofiev: Sonata in D major, Op. 94bis
Timmy Chooi, violin; Chang-Yong Shin, piano

Sergey Prokofiev was a Russian Composer. The Sonata in D major, Op. 94bis was arranged for violin in 1943 after he wrote the Flute Sonata in D, Op. 94 in 1942, because of his good friend David Oistrakh, a renowned Soviet violinist. The work was well received in its violin version. The movements are: Moderato; Scherzo: Presto; Andante; and Allegro con brio.

Jennifer Higdon: Nocturne from String Poetic and Echo Dash
Gergana Haralampieva, violin; George Xiaoyuan Fu, piano

Curtis alumnus Jennifer Higdon (‘88) is the Milton L. Rock Chair in Composition Studies at Curtis. She taught herself to play the flute at 15 and only began musical training at the age of 18 then started studying composition at 21. Higdon is considered the most esteemed contemporary classical music composers living today. The Nocturne from String Poetic is 5 short movements base on poetry. Echo Dash is “fast and brisk” describes Gergana Haralampieva, violinist, the opposite of Nocturne. In Echo Dash you can hear the echo effect as the violin and piano keep exchanging the motif.

Emily Cooley: unlock, unfold
William Welter, oboe; Anna Filochowska, violin; Hyeri Shin, viola; and Zachary Mowitz, cello

Emily Cooley from Milwaukee, WI is a composition student at Curtis studying with Jennifer Higdon, Milton R. Rock Chair in Composition Studies. She said this piece is trying to explore a few simple musical ideas from different angles and putting different emotional spins on the same ideas.