Tag Archive for: Yehuda Hanani

A Tale of Two Salons—Winnaretta Singer and Marcel Proust

Sewing machine heiress takes Paris by storm, befriends cultural luminaries, and inspires (and supports!) new works by Ravel, Debussy, De Falla, Milhaud, Boulanger, Chabrier, Reynaldo Hahn, and Stravinsky

The daughter of sewing machine industrialist Isaac Merritt Singer, Winnaretta Singer-Polignac was a force of nature, hosting everyone from Leon Bakst to Jean Cocteau and Jean Giraudoux to Prokofiev, Madame Jean Lanvin, Siegfried Wagner, Arthur Rubinstein, Arnold Schoenberg, and Edith Wharton in her Paris salon. More importantly, she was responsible for developing a new genre: “Great music for a small space by up-and-coming composers” in the words of Sylvia Kahan, her biographer, who will join for the four-hand piano “Bagatelle” by Winnaretta’s husband, Edmond de Polignac.  Works either commissioned by her, dedicated to her, or that were performed in her mansion on Rue Henri-Martin, will be featured in this on-stage “salon”: Ravel’s Pavane pour un enfant défunte, Stravinsky’s Piano Sonata 1924, the sizzling César Franck Piano Quintet and songs by Fauré, Poulenc and Reynaldo Hahn. Winnaretta also befriended Marcel Proust and his lover Hahn, who reciprocated with an evening at their Paris salon, inspiring a chapter in Swann’s Way.  The program is a rich tapestry in search of a certain time, place and fascinating personages.

A tantalizing Berkshire connection to the tale of the Princess is that her father Isaac Merritt Singer’s business partner was Edward Clark, a wealthy lawyer who took charge of the manufacturing end of the business, turning it into a major success. The rest is history as Clark’s grandson Robert Sterling Clark and his wife Francine founded the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown to house their personal art collection, much of it acquired on their trips to France.

Artists: Alexander Shtarkman, piano; Sylvia Kahan, piano; William Ferguson, tenor; Xiao-Dong Wang, violin; Grace Park, violin; Helena Baillie, viola; Yehuda Hanani, cello 

TICKET INFORMATION

Single Tickets, $55 (Orchestra and Mezzanine), $30 (Balcony) and $15 for students, are available through the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center or by calling 413-528-0100. 

“CEWM patrons have learned that sooner or later they’ll be blindsided by a performance so sublime it will defy explanation.”

—  The Berkshire Edge

HOW TO REACH US

Close Encounters With Music

Post Office Box 34

Great Barrington, MA 01230

Web: cewm.org

e-mail: [email protected]

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NEXT UP

L’Amour Toujours and A World Premiere 
Sunday, June 8, 2025 4 PM
Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center

It’s all about love: A new work for clarinet trio by composer Seth Grosshandler that celebrates young love, courtship and the serendipity of meeting one’s intended receives its inaugural performance.  Signature love arias from favorite operas and Broadway sung by Metropolitan Opera soprano Danielle Talamantes and Kerry Wilkerson.  Schubert’s Shepherd on the Rock (“My sweetheart dwells so far from me, I long hotly to be with her over there”) is a tour de force meshing clarinet and soprano.  Resolved to retire, in 1891 Brahms encountered the clarinet playing of Richard Mühlfeld and was inspired by a fresh muse to compose once again. A scholar and close friend of Brahms praised the Clarinet Trio, writing that “It is as though the instruments were in love with each other.” 

Artists: Max Levinson, piano; Alexander Fiterstein, clarinet; Danielle Talamantes, soprano; Kerry Wilkerson, baritone; Yehuda Hanani, cello

2024/2025 Current Season 

Sunday, October 20, 4 PM, The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
Drama and Melodrama – The Schumanns

Sunday, December 15, 4 PM, The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
Vivace Chamber Orchestra: Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Boccherini, Barber

Sunday, February 23, 4 PM, Saint James Place
6 Unaccompanied Bach Suites for Cello with Colin Carr & Yehuda Hanani

Sunday, March 23, 4 PM, Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
”Rite of Spring” – Rachmaninoff/Stravinsky 

Sunday, April 27, 4 PM, Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
Classical Roots, Latin Soul – The Dalí String Quartet

Sunday, May 4, 12 PM – Private Club, Lenox MA
Luncheon Musicale 

Sunday, May 18, 4 PM, Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
“A Tale of Two Salons” – Winaretta Singer and Marcel Proust

Sunday, June 8, 4PM, Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
L’Amour Toujours and a World Premiere

Something Borrowed, Something Blue — Cross-Cultural Synergy on April 14

Close Encounters with Music presents “Something Borrowed, Something Blue — Cross-Cultural Synergy” on Sunday, April 14 at 4pm at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Chertock and Zorman join internationally renowned cellist and artistic director Yehuda Hanani for an adventurous musical voyage. Join us for this intriguing chamber music performance!

Debussy and Ravel in Spanish attire; Haydn’s “Gypsy” Trio, Beethoven Turkish Marches, Synagogue Prayer in Gregorian Mode, Tango, and Other Exotica Enliven and Extend the Composers’ Palettes and Listeners’ Pleasures.  And Celebrating 100th Anniversary of Gershwin’s 1924 Rhapsody in Blue!

Tickets Here

Press Release

Close Encounters With Music’s Winter / Spring 2024 concerts continue on Sunday, April 14 with an afternoon of jazz, tango, liturgy, waltz, Habanera and Gershwin’s wildly popular Rhapsody in Blue, known for its integration of jazz and classical music – and written on the train between New York and Boston!  Composers include Haydn (Gypsy tunes), Max Bruch (German composer retrofits synagogue “Kol Nidrei” prayer), Ravel and Debussy (Spanish and North African heritage), César Cui (Russian composer writes “Orientale”), and Astor Piazzolla (tango goes to Paris!).     

Michael Chertock, piano; Itamar Zorman, violin; Yehuda Hanani, cello.

Pianist Michael Chertock has been a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, the symphony orchestras of Toronto, Baltimore, Detroit, Utah and Oregon, and made his Carnegie Hall debut with the Cincinnati Pops.  Since his emergence winning top prize at the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, violinist Itamar Zorman has wowed audiences all over the world with his breathtaking style, causing one critic to declare him a “young badass who’s not afraid of anything.”  Also winner of the 2013 Avery Fisher Career Grant, he has performed as soloist with such orchestras as the Israel Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, German Radio Philharmonic, and RTE National Symphony Orchestra (Dublin), working with Zubin Mehta, Michael Tilson-Thomas, David Robertson, Valery Gergiev, Karina Canellakis and Yuri Bashmet.  Chertock and Zorman join internationally renowned cellist and Artistic Director Yehuda Hanani in “Something Borrowed, Something Blue—Cross-Cultural Synergy” for an adventurous musical voyage.

Read artist bios here.

CEWM has resumed its hors d’oeuvres and wine Afterglow receptions on stage following the concerts. Audience members are invited to meet the artists and enjoy beverages and bites by Authentic Eats by Oleg. Join us!

TICKET INFORMATION 

Tickets, $52 (Orchestra and Mezzanine) and $28 (Balcony), can be purchased at www. cewm.org or by calling 413-528-0100. We also offer a virtual option—tickets are $28 for individual programs, delivered to your email address!

Tickets Here

Tag Archive for: Yehuda Hanani

L’Amour Toujours and A World Premiere

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It’s all about love: A new work for clarinet trio by composer Seth Grosshandler that celebrates young love, courtship and serendipity of meeting one’s intended receives its inaugural performance. Signature love arias from favorite operas and Broadway sung by Metropolitan Opera soprano Danielle Talamantes and Kerry Wilkerson. Schubert’s Shepherd on the Rock (“My sweetheart dwells so far from me, I long hotly to be with her over there) is a tour de force meshing clarinet and soprano. Resolved to retire, in 1891 Brahms encountered the clarinet playing of Richard Mühlfeld and was inspired by a fresh muse to compose once again. A scholar and close friend of Brahms praised the Clarinet Trio, writing.that “It is as though the instruments were in love with each other.” An all-star ensemble that shares the stage with artistic director, Yehuda Hanani, includes clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein (“…treats his instrument as his personal voice, dazzling in its spectrum of colors, agility and range” –Washington Post) returning to CEWM after several seasons. So concludes Season 33 of Close Encounters With Music – bookended by the immortal Brahms, by inspiration and friendship.

Max Levinson, piano; Alexander Fiterstein, clarinet; Danielle Talamantes, soprano; Kerry Wilkerson, baritone; Yehuda Hanani, cello

Tickets

L’Amour Toujours and A World Premiere + Gala Dinner

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Concert Tickets + Gala Dinner Reservation

Sunday, June 8
Concert: 4pm – 6pm
Dinner: 6:30pm – 8:30pm

You are invited to our grand season finale, which includes premium concert seating and a reserved seat at the Gala Dinner for $250.00.

It’s all about love: A new work for clarinet trio by composer Seth Grosshandler that celebrates young love, courtship and the serendipity of meeting one’s intended receives its inaugural performance. Signature love arias from favorite operas and Broadway sung by Metropolitan Opera soprano Danielle Talamantes and Kerry Wilkerson. Schubert’s Shepherd on the Rock (“My sweetheart dwells so far from me, I long hotly to be with her over there”) is a tour de force meshing clarinet and soprano. Resolved to retire, in 1891 Brahms encountered the clarinet playing of Richard Mühlfeld and was inspired by a fresh muse to compose once again. A scholar and close friend of Brahms praised the Clarinet Trio, writing that “It is as though the instruments were in love with each other.” An all-star ensemble that shares the stage with artistic director Yehuda Hanani includes clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein (“…treats his instrument as his personal voice, dazzling in its spectrum of colors, agility and range” –Washington Post) returning to CEWM after several seasons. So concludes Season 33 of Close Encounters With Music – bookended by the immortal Brahms, by inspiration and friendship.

Max Levinson, piano; Alexander Fiterstein, clarinet; Danielle Talamantes, soprano; Kerry Wilkerson, baritone; Yehuda Hanani, cello

Immediately following the concert, our Gala dinner at the Stockbridge Club, 6 Main Street, Stockbridge, Massachusetts, celebrates another successful season of our adventures in chamber music.

Click the button below to pay via Paypal or email [email protected] for information.



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