NOVA Chamber Music Series

Episode 23 - April 25, 2022

Jeff Counts discusses the music performed on Songs of Migration, NOVA’s May 1 concert

Music discussed includes:

Viktor Kosenko: Three Pieces, op. 9
Arlene Sierra: Butterflies Remember a Mountain
Kareem Roustom: Tesserae
Antonín Dvořák: String Quintet, op. 97

Songs of Migration will be presented on May 1, 2022 at 3pm in Salt Lake City’s Libby Gardner Concert Hall. For more information, visit https://www.novaslc.org.

Jeff Counts | host

produced by Chris Myers (argylearts.com)

Copyright © 2022 NOVA Chamber Music Series. All rights reserved.

Episode 22 - April 4, 2022

Jeff Counts discusses the music performed on Songs of the Americas, NOVA’s April 10 concert

Music discussed includes:

Gabriela Lena Frank: Four Folk Songs
Charles Ives: Selected Songs
Anthony R. Green: The Gettysburg Address
Jessie Montgomery: Loisaida, My Love
Clarice Assad: Canções da America (Songs of America)

Songs of the Americas will be presented on April 10, 2022 at 3pm in Salt Lake City’s Libby Gardner Concert Hall. For more information, visit https://www.novaslc.org.

Jeff Counts | host

produced by Chris Myers (argylearts.com)

Copyright © 2022 NOVA Chamber Music Series. All rights reserved.

Episode 21 - March 13, 2022

Jeff Counts discusses the music performed on Songs of Play, NOVA’s March 13 concert

Music discussed includes:

Sergei Prokofiev: Quintet
Stephanie Boyd: Pearl (world premiere)
Luke Dahn: Counterplay (world premiere)
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Quintet, op. 10

Songs of Play will be presented on March 13, 2022 at 3pm in Salt Lake City’s Libby Gardner Concert Hall. For more information, visit https://www.novaslc.org.

Jeff Counts | host

produced by Chris Myers (argylearts.com)

Copyright © 2022 NOVA Chamber Music Series. All rights reserved.

Episode 20 - January 10, 2022

Jeff Counts discusses the music performed on Songs of Perseverance, NOVA’s January 16 concert

Music discussed includes:

Gideon Klein: String Trio
Wang Lu: Rates of Extinction
Clara Schumann: Piano Trio in G minor, op. 17

Songs of Perseverance will be presented on January 16, 2022 at 3pm in Salt Lake City’s Libby Gardner Concert Hall. For more information, visit https://www.novaslc.org.

Jeff Counts | host

produced by Chris Myers (argylearts.com)

Copyright © 2022 NOVA Chamber Music Series. All rights reserved.

Episode 19 - November 8, 2021

Jeff Counts discusses the music performed on Songs of Life, NOVA’s November 14 concert

Music discussed includes:

Heitor Villa-Lobos: Assobio a Játo (Jet Whistle)
Gabriela Lena Frank: Milagros (Miracles)
Devin Maxwell: Git Along Little Dogies
Neil Thornock: Blur
Alfred Schnittke: Serenade
Maurice Ravel: Introduction and Allegro

Songs of Life will be presented on November 14, 2021 at 3pm in Salt Lake City’s Libby Gardner Concert Hall. For more information, visit https://www.novaslc.org.

Jeff Counts | host

produced by Chris Myers (argylearts.com)

Copyright © 2021 NOVA Chamber Music Series. All rights reserved.

Jeff Counts discusses the music performed on Songs of Gratitude, the first concert in NOVA’s 2021/22 Season.

Music discussed includes:
Ludwig van Beethoven: Heiliger Dankgesang (Holy Song of Thanksgiving), op. 132
Brittany J. Green: ...to experience life
Clarice Assad: Metamorfose
Johannes Brahms: String Sextet No. 2 in G major, op. 36

Songs of Gratitude will be presented on October 10, 2021 at 3pm in Salt Lake City’s Libby Gardner Concert Hall. For more information, visit https://www.novaslc.org.

Jeff Counts | host

produced by Chris Myers (https://www.argylearts.com)

Copyright © 2021 NOVA Chamber Music Series. All rights reserved.

The music of Nikolai Medtner is often forgotten in the shadow of his colleague and friend, Sergei Rachmaninoff. Pianist Cahill Smith joins us to talk about his love for the music of this early 20th-century composer.

You can hear Cahill Smith and other NOVA artists on our next concert, available beginning Friday, May 21, at https://www.novaslc.org/concerts/2021/5/21/spring21concert3.

Anne Francis Bayless | host
Cahill Smith | pianist

produced by Chris Myers (https://www.argylearts.com)

Copyright © 2021 NOVA Chamber Music Series. All rights reserved.

This concert is also available in a video version at https://youtu.be/BHby05dKf9k

Jeff Counts hosts a full-length concert of music by your favorite NOVA musicians. Jason Hardink and Caitlyn Valovick Moore perform works by three great American composers. Then six violists and cellists each take on a movement of Bach’s famous Third Suite for Solo Cello.

CONCERT PROGRAM
Welcome and Okpebholo Introduction (00:16)
Jeff Counts | host

SHAWN OKPEBHOLO: ψαλμοὶ καὶ ὕμνοι καὶ ᾠδαὶ πνευματικαί (psalmoi kai ymnoi kai odai pnevmatikai / psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs)
I. Ede Ede (Nigeria): an ostinato (01:00)
II. Bringing in the Sheaves (USA): a variation (05:35)
III. Jisasi Fukemino (Papua New Guinea): an impromptu (12:54)
Jason Hardink | piano

Loggins-Hull and Hailstork Introduction (19:11)

ALLISON LOGGINS-HULL: Homeland (19:50)
ADOLPHUS HAILSTORK: Flute Set (25:13)
I. Moderato con anima
II. Vivo
III. Lento e teneramente
IV. Allegretto
Caitlyn Valovick Moore | flute

Bach Introduction (30:17)

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH: Suite No. 3 in C Major for Solo Cello, BWV 1009
I. Prelude - Matt Johnson | cello (31:01)
II. Allemande - Bradley Ottesen | viola (34:31)
III. Courante - Pegsoon Whang | cello (37:57)
IV. Sarabande - Julie Edwards | viola (40:21)
V. Bourrée I / II - Anne Lee | cello (44:10)
VI. Gigue - Whittney Thomas | viola (48:21)

recorded by Michael Palmer and Wesley Morrison at Utah State University’s Caine Wanlass Performance Hall in Logan, Utah
recording mastered by Michael Carnes
produced by Chris Myers (https://www.argylearts.com)

NOVA Chamber Music Series would like to thank the Caine College of the Arts at Utah State University for their generosity in providing recording facilities and staff on the Logan campus.

Transcript available at https://www.novaslc.org/novapodcast/novapodcast014

Copyright © 2021 NOVA Chamber Music Series. All rights reserved.

When Jason Hardink discovered Shawn Okpebholo’s music on Facebook, he knew he had to perform something by this incredible composer. But as he began learning ψαλμοὶ καὶ ὕμνοι καὶ ᾠδαὶ πνευματικαί ("psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs"), he struggled with whether it was appropriate for him, as a white pianist, to be performing a piece rooted deeply in the musical and religious traditions of Nigeria, African American culture, and Papua New Guinea.

Jeff Counts speaks with Jason about the responsibility performers have to examine their own repertoire choices and present works from diverse voices in a way which respects their origins while bringing them to new audiences.

This episode is also available in a video version at https://youtu.be/X0FScqdCYBA.

Jason mentions the following articles, pieces, and performances in this conversation:

Anthony R. Green: “What the Optics of Music Say to Black Composers”, in NewMusic USA
https://nmbx.newmusicusa.org/what-the-optics-of-new-music-say-to-black-composers/

“O Freedom” (arr. Okpebholo) — Wayne Arthur Paul, baritone | Javier Arrebola, piano
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7zGZTeXikk

Two Black Churches — Will Liverman, baritone | Paul Sanchez, piano
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHehlg94NQc

Jeff Counts | host
Jason Hardink | pianist

recording mastered by Michael Carnes
produced by Chris Myers (https://www.argylearts.com)

Transcript available at https://www.novaslc.org/novapodcast/novapodcast013

Copyright © 2021 NOVA Chamber Music Series. All rights reserved.

Enjoy a full-length concert of chamber music performances by NOVA musicians. This concert features an early work by Iannis Xenakis, three works by living American composers, and one of Beethoven’s final piano sonatas. Jeff Counts is your host.

This concert is also available in a video version at https://youtu.be/JFMwqUivgq4

CONCERT PROGRAM

Welcome and Xenakis Introduction (00:16)
Jeff Counts | host

IANNIS XENAKIS: Διπλή Ζυγία (Dhipli zyia: Double Symmetry) (01:04)
Claude Halter | violin
Anne Lee | cello

Puts Introduction (05:16)

KEVIN PUTS: Arches (05:46)
Madeline Adkins | violin

Tower and Brouwer Introduction (18:14)

JOAN TOWER: Wings (18:50)
MARGARET BROUWER: No Rotary Phone (29:26)
Erin Svoboda | clarinet

Beethoven Introduction (34:03)

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata in E Major, op. 109
I. Vivace ma non troppo - Adagio espressivo (34:33)
II. Prestissimo (39:22)
III. Andante molto cantabile ed espressivo (42:10)

Frank Weinstock | piano

hosted by Jeff Counts
recorded by Michael Palmer and Wesley Morrison at Utah State University’s Caine Wanlass Performance Hall in Logan, Utah
recording mastered by Michael Carnes
produced by Chris Myers (https://www.argylearts.com)

NOVA Chamber Music Series would like to thank the Caine College of the Arts at Utah State University for their generosity in providing recording facilities and staff on the Logan campus.

Transcript available at https://www.novaslc.org/novapodcast/novapodcast012

Copyright © 2021 NOVA Chamber Music Series. All rights reserved.