For the convenience of concertgoers 

the Garden Cafe remains open until 6:oo pm.

The use of cameras or recording equipment during the 

performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell phones,

pagers, and other electronic devices are turned off.

Please note that late entry or reentry of

the West Building after 6:30 pm is not permitted.

Music Department

National Gallery of Art

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue nw

Washington, DC

Mailing address

2000B South Club Drive

Landover, md 20785

www.nga.gov o o

cover: Orazio Gcntiieschi, The Lute Player (detail), c. 1612/1620. 

National Caller)' ofArt, Washington, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

The Sixty-fifth Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery of Art

2,607th Concert

National Gallery Orchestra

Dalia Atlas, guest conductor

Ingrid Fliter, pianist

Presented in conjunction with the

National Museum of Women in the Arts and

in honor of Women’s History Month

March n, 2007

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admission free
Program

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805-1847) 

Overture in C Major (1830)

Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921)

Piano Concerto no. 2 in G Minor (1869)

Andante sostenuto

Allegro scherzando

Presto

INTERMISSION

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

Symphony no. 5 in B-Jlat Major, D. 485 (1816)

Allegro

Andante con moto 

Menuetto—Allegro molto 

Allegro vivace

The Musicians

NATIONAL GALLERY ORCHESTRA

The National Gallery Orchestra was founded in 1943 and initially consisted 

of approximately twenty-five players drawn from the National Symphony

Orchestra. Gradually growing in number, the Gallery orchestra eventually

reached the size and status of a large chamber orchestra. The ensemble has

undertaken the full range of chamber and symphonic repertoire and has

frequently presented first performances ofworks by American composers, 

most notably the 1953 premiere of Charles Ives’s Symphony no. 1 under

the direction of Richard Bales and the 1990 premiere of Daniel Pinkham’s

Symphony no. 4 under George Manos.

DALIA ATLAS

Dalia Atlas has always been ahead ofher time. Prizewinner ofthe Dimitri

Mitropoulos International Music Competition in New York and numerous

other international conducting competitions, she is a trailblazer as a female

conductor. Born in Haifa, Israel, she graduated from the Jerusalem Academy

of Music and Dance and subsequently studied conducting with distinguished

maestros in Europe and America. Since then, she has conducted major 

orchestras in twenty-nine countries, among them the Berliner Symphoniker,

the Czech Radio Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel

Philharmonic Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra of London, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. She is frequently

the first woman to conduct the orchestras she visits, which is true in the case

ofthe National Gallery Orchestra.

In addition to the standard classics, Atlas’s rich repertoire includes

music that she rediscovered as well as her own arrangements. Fler research

has led to documentary recordings of previously unknown works by Ernest 

Bloch (1880-1959) and composers who perished in World War 11. In her

native Israel, she has founded or directed many musical and cultural organizations, orchestras, and choirs.

3
INGRID FLITER

Argentinean pianist Ingrid Fliter enjoyed the singular distinction ofreceiving the 2006 Gilmore Artist Award. As defined by the Irving S. Gilmore

Foundation’s board of directors, the award is “presented to an international

pianist of any age and nationality who is deemed worthy of a global career.”

Fliter is the first woman to receive the award, which has so far been granted 

to only five pianists. Born in Buenos Aires in 1973, she began her piano 

studies in Argentina with Elizabeth Westerkamp. At the suggestion offellow

Argentinean pianist Martha Argerich, Fliter continued her studies in Europe,

with Carlo Bruno in Rome; Vitalij Margulis in Freiburg, Germany; and Boris

Petrushansky and Franco Scala in Imola, Italy.

Fliter began playing public recitals at the age of eleven and made her

professional orchestral debut at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires at the 

age ofsixteen. After winning several Argentinean competitions, she went

on to win first prize at the Citta di Cantu International Competition and

the International Ferruccio Busoni Piano Competition in Italy. In 2000 she 

was awarded the silver medal at the International Frederick Chopin Piano

Competition in Warsaw. She has appeared as a soloist with orchestras in

Germany, Flungary, Italy, The Netherlands, and Russia, as well as with the

National Symphony and National Philharmonic orchestras of Argentina. 

Fliter’s recital on March 7 at the National Museum ofWomen in the Arts,

presented in conjunction with this concert, was only one ofmany she 

has scheduled in 2006-2007. She will also appear at the Caramoor and

Chautauqua music festivals, Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, London’s

Wigmore Hall, and elsewhere.

4

Women’s History Month

This concert is a joint undertaking ofthe National Gallery and the National

Museum ofWomen in the Arts, intended to celebrate Women’s History

Month. Begun in 1978 by congressional resolution, this observance was created to increase consciousness and knowledge ofwomen’s history and 

to commemorate the contributions of notable and ordinary women.

As part ofits ongoing mission to honor and promote female artists in all

disciplines, the National Museum ofWomen in the Arts presents the Shenson Chamber Music Concerts series, which highlights both established and

emerging female musicians. Currently in its ninth season, the series was

named in honor of Drs. Ben and A. Jess Shenson, who were longtime supporters ofthe museum and lovers ofmusic. Since its inception, the series has 

delighted Washington, DC, audiences with such musical talents as the Ahn

Trio, Judy Collins, Sharon Isbin, and Midori. The Shenson concerts are presented free of charge, but reservations are required. Further information 

is available at www.nmwa.org.

Although the National Gallery Orchestra welcomes its first female guest

conductor on this occasion, women have been members ofthe orchestra 

since 1951. In fact, since the late 1980s, the majority ofmusicians in the 

orchestra have been women. The Gallery’s American Music Festival has

also been highlighting the contributions offemale composers since T948,

when works by Mabel Daniels and Mary Howe were premiered. Subsequent

seasons have included first performances ofworks by a significant number

offemale composers, among them Esther Ballou, Elene Maria de Hellenbranth, Shulamit Ran, and Ruth Crawford Seeger. The Gallery’s concert 

series has been the scene of multiple performances ofworks by Amy Marcy

Cheney Beach, Cecile Chaminade, Mary Howe, and Maria Theresia von

Paradis, among others.

5
Program Notes

Although Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel was unable to enter the world of

professional musicians, her passions and extraordinary talent did not go

unnoticed or unappreciated by her family, close friends, and even some 

outside her inner circle. Fanny and her brother, Felix, were born into a

prosperous and exceptionally gifted family (their grandfather was the Jewish

philosopher Abraham Mendelssohn). Fanny and Felix were close musical 

confidants and supported and nurtured each other. Although Felix always

acknowledged Fanny’s compositions when they were heard by others, he

and the rest ofthe family discouraged her from publishing her works. They

believed that Fanny should assume the traditional female role—that of a

housewife. In her twenties, Fanny became the center of an intimate group 

of artists and musicians who called themselves “The Order ofthe Wheel.’’

After her marriage to Wilhelm Flensel, she founded a salon that met every

Sunday morning in their home and was attended by well known musicians

and intelligentsia. The majority of Fanny’s output consists ofsongs, solo

piano music, and a few chamber works. Her Overture in C Major, written 

in the classical style, is the only orchestral composition she is known to

have written.

Another composer whose musical talents were evident from a very young

age is Camille Saint-Saens. He started piano lessons before he was three years

old, wrote his first composition shortly after his third birthday, and made his

public debut playing piano concertos by Mozart and Beethoven when he was

ten. A loyal nationalist, he cofounded the Societe Nationale de Musique for

the purpose ofpromoting French music. His popularity, however, was greater

in America and England, where he was considered to be the greatest French

composer long after his reputation had waned in France. It took Saint-Saens

only seventeen days to write Piano Concerto no. 2 in G Minor; but it turned out

to be one of his most popular works. The concerto is a brilliant combination of

styles, ranging from the baroque-sounding opening piano solo to the romantic 

scherzo. The third movement culminates the work with a dramatic tarantella.

6

In his tragically short life, Franz Schubert produced nearly a thousand

compositions. However, without noble patronage, Schubert would only have

seen them performed casually by friends gathered in a salon to sight-read 

his songs and chamber music, at what became known as “Schubertiades.”

One such work is the Symphony no. 5 in B-Jlat Major, number 485 in the

catalogue of Schubert’s works compiled by Otto E. Deutsch when he was

nineteen years old. At the time when Beethoven was already stretching

the boundaries ofstyle (his Symphony no. 8 preceded Schubert’s Symphony

no. 5 by four years), Schubert was paying homage to his predecessors Mozart

and Haydn in a strictly classical work. Beautiful melodies abound, but they

are often accompanied by harmonies infused with melancholy, one ofthe 

composer’s trademarks.

Program notes by Danielle DeSwert

Next Week at the National Gallery of Art

Davidson Fine Arts Chorale

James Dunaway, conductor

Paul Hennessy, pianist

Music by Barber, Brahms, Mozart, Whitacre, and other composers

March 18, 2007

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm 

West Building, West Garden Court