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FORBIDDEN FRUIT: Cello and Piano Concert from Faneuil Hall
February 28, 2021 @ 6:00 pm - March 10, 2021 @ 11:55 pm
BRAI and the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company present a virtual concert by cellist Mickey Katz and pianist Jane Hua. Streaming Now!
About this Event
Forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest is an adage that refers in part to love and in part to the attractions of things that are proscribed. This program explores both aspects. It features one composition inspired by a vibrant and doomed love affair, and another that was a wedding present, while also including numerous works explicitly banned or more subtly buried by Soviet authorities for many decades.
BSO cellist Mickey Katz and pianist Jane Hua perform music by FRANCK, RACHMANINOFF, LIGETI, WEINBERG and SHOSTAKOVICH. Their performance, recorded live earlier this month, will premiere on February 28 at 6pm, followed at 7 by a virtual Q&A with the musicians on Zoom, where you can ask questions and converse with them as well as other listeners. After the premiere, you can still register to watch the concert on-demand through March 10th.
Recorded in the fourth floor Armory of Faneuil Hall, FORBIDDEN FRUIT is part of the In Honorable Company series of virtual concerts presented by Ballets Russes Arts Initiative in collaboration with the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts (est. 1638).
César FRANCK (1822 – 1890) 1st movement of Sonata for Violin and Piano (1886)
György Sándor LIGETI (1923-2006) Sonata for Solo Cello (1948-1953)
Mieczyslaw WEINBERG (1919-1996) Selections from 24 Preludes for Solo Cello, op. 100 (1968)
Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH (1906-1975) Cello Sonata in D minor, Op. 40 (1934)
Sergey RACHMANINOFF (1873-1943) Vocalise (1915), from 14 Romances, op. 34 no.14, Transcribed for cello and piano
The cello sonata by Shostakovich encapsulates both the romantic and prohibited aspects of the program. It was written in August 1934, while the composer was having an affair that led to a short-lived divorce (he remarried his first wife Nina in 1935 after it turned out she was pregnant with their daughter), and conveys the emotional turmoil he was experiencing. Just over a year later, in early 1936, Pravda published two article denouncing Shostakovich’s recent operas and ballets after Stalin was displeased with them, which effectively buried the composers early works from performance and forced him to shift his musical style in order to avoid arrest. György Ligeti’s solo cello sonata, by contrast, was banned without being premiered or published. It was completed in 1953, when Hungary had entered the Eastern Bloc, and all music had to be scrutinized by the Communist-controlled Composers’ Union. It would not be performed publicly until 1979, gradually gaining recognition throughout the 80s and 90s. Meanwhile, Weinberg’s 24 Preludes, though not actively prohibited, lay dormant for almost 30 years between their composition in 1967 (for Mstislav Rostropovich) and premiere in 1995 (by Yosif Feigelson).
Your ticket purchases and donations are shared by BRAI and the artists. Free registration ends on the 28th, but a donation of any amount can allow you to watch the concert after that.
MICKEY KATZ has been a cellist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 2004. A native of Israel, he has distinguished himself as a solo performer, chamber musician, and contemporary music specialist. He received the Presser Music Award in Boston, the Karl Zeise Prize as a Tanglewood Music Center Fellow, and won first prizes at the Hudson Valley Philharmonic Competition and the Rubin Academy Competition in Tel Aviv. A graduate of the New England Conservatory in Boston, Mickey is now a faculty member there, as well at the Tanglewood Music Center and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute.
As soloist, he has performed with several Israeli orchestras and locally with the Civic Symphony of Boston, Symphony Pro Musica, and the Hudson Valley Philharmonic. As a chamber musician, Mickey has appeared in such venues as Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York, Jordan Hall in Boston, the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice, Italy, and Salle Gaveau in Paris, as well as all the major venues of Israel. He participated in the Marlboro Festival and was invited to take part in the Musicians from Marlboro tour. He has collaborated with distinguished players such as violinists Pinkhas Zukerman and Gil Shaham, violists Tabea Zimmermann and Kim Kashkashian, members of the Juilliard and Guarneri string quartets, and pianist Gilbert Kalish. Mickey is a passionate interpreter of new music, making several American and Boston premieres of Elliott Carter’s music, and also working with composers György Kurtág, John Corigliano, Leon Kirchner, and John Harbison in performing their music.
HUA YE (JANE) is a pianist born and raised in Urumqi, China. After earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism at Hong Kong Baptist University, she moved to the U. S. to pursue her dream of classical music. Studying on full scholarship, Jane earned two M.M. degrees in Piano Performance and Collaborative Piano at Kansas State University and the UMass Amherst, respectively. She now performs as a solo and chamber musician in the Boston area while working as a piano teacher at several schools. Recent appearances in the Greater Boston audience include the Boston Public Library, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Longwood Cricket Club, 2Life Communities Brighton Campus, Belmont-Watertown United Methodist Church, Carriage House Violins Masterclass Series, and Groupmuse salon concerts. She teaches at the Brookline Chinese School, Note-Worthy Experience Music Studio, and the Cambridge Center for Adult Education and is Marketing and Fundraising Associate at the Cambridge Chamber Ensemble.
BALLETS RUSSES ARTS INITIATIVE is a Boston-based non-profit cultural organization that fosters international creative exchange in the visual and performing arts and film, and connects communities in the US and Eurasia. BRAI carries out public programs throughout Massachusetts, the East Coast and internationally, and BR360 Member programs in the Boston area. www.ballets-russes.com
THE ANCIENT AND HONORABLE ARTILLERY COMPANY is a service organization preserving historic and civic traditions of Boston, Massachusetts, and the United States. The oldest chartered military organization in the western hemisphere, the Ancients have had their headquarters and Museum on the fourth floor of historic Faneuil Hall since 1742. Historically, members of this Company have served in every Massachusetts colonial war and national conflict since the company’s founding in 1638. Today they participate in national holiday celebrations, add a measure of pomp and pageantry to the great events of our city and the Commonwealth and turn out for special commemorations. www.ahac.us.com