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 ofArt

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue nw

Washington, DC

Mailing address

200ob South Club Drive

Landover, md 20785

www.nga.gov

The Sixty-fifth Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

2,620th Concert

National Gallery Chamber Players String Quartet

Claudia Chudacoff and Teri Lazar, violin

Osman Kivralc, viola

Diana Fish, cello

with

Miceal O’Rourke, pianist

May 13, 2007

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfixe
Program

John Field (1782-1837)

Piano Sonata in E-flat Major, op. 1, no. 1 (1801)

Allegro moderate

Rondo allegretto

Field

Piano Quintet in Aflat Major (1816)

INTERMISSION

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Quintet in F Minorfor Piano and Strings, op. 34 (1861-1864)

Allegro, non troppo 

Andante, un poco adagio

Scherzo: Allegro

Finale: Poco sostenuto—Allegro non troppo—Presto, non troppo

The Musicians

NATIONAL GALLERY CHAMBER PLAYERS STRING QUARTET

The National Gallery Chamber Players String Quartet has performed regularly at the Gallery since its debut in 1995. In addition to standard quartet

repertoire, the group presents rarely heard masterpieces of chamber music.

The musicians also perform under the name Sunrise Quartet, and in that

capacity they have been recognized with a Chamber Music America residency 

at the Duke Ellington School ofthe Arts as well as with residencies at the

Concerts at the Beach in Delaware and the Davies Concert Series in Camp 

Springs, Maryland. With perfectly matched skills, the first and second violinists are able to change places, a practice that is rare among string quartets.

Violinist Claudia Chudacoffis the concertmaster ofthe National Gallery Orchestra and the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra and the assistant

concertmaster ofthe Marine Chamber Orchestra of “The President's Own”

United States Marine Band. An active chamber musician, she is a member

ofthe Chamber Players ofWashington and has performed frequently in the 

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s chamber music series. Her

experience as an orchestral soloist includes concerto performances with the 

Concert Artists of Baltimore, the National Gallery Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras ofAnn Arbor, Michigan, and Toledo, Ohio. The recipient

of a master of music degree from the Eastman School of Music, Chudacoff

has recorded chamber music for Albany Records.

Violinist Teri Lazar has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in

the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. She is the concertmaster of

the Virginia Chamber Orchestra and performs with the Richmond Chamber

Players and in Currents, a chamber music series also based in Richmond. 

She earned a doctor ofmusic degree from The Catholic University ofAmerica and teaches violin at American University, where she is a musician in 

residence. Lazar has recorded chamber music for the Albany, Centaur, Klavier, and North/South Consonance labels and has been heard on National 

Public Radio’s Performance Today.

3
Violist Osman Kivrak is a winner ofthe National Scholarship Competition in Turkey and the Baltimore Chamber Music Awards. He has performed at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina, and has toured

Italy and other parts of Europe as a chamber musician. He performs with

the Richmond Chamber Players and in Currents, and teaches at American

University as a musician in residence. A graduate ofThe Catholic University

ofAmerica, where he earned a doctor ofmusic degree, Kivrak is a composer

as well as a performer. His compositions were recently recognized with

awards from the Maryland State Arts Council and the Maryland-National

Capital Parks and Planning Commission.

Cellist Diana Fish came to Washington, DC, in 1994 to become a member ofthe Marine Chamber Orchestra of “The President’s Own” United

States Marine Band, in which she currently serves as assistant principal

cellist. She graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied

with Orlando Cole, and continued her work at the graduate level at Indiana

University, where she studied with Janos Starker. Fish has been the principal

cellist ofthe Concert Artists of Baltimore, with whom she performed as a

soloist in Beethoven’s Triple Concerto for piano, violin, and cello. She has also

appeared as soloist with the Marine Chamber Orchestra in Victor Herberfs

Cello Concerto in E Minor. A charter member ofthe Sunrise Quartet and the

National Gallery Chamber Players String Quartet, Fish has been performing

with both ensembles for the past twelve years.

MICEAL O’ROURKE

Regarded as an artist of exceptional poetic and musical insight, the distinguished Irish pianist Miceal O’Rourke has widespread experience as both a

guest soloist with major orchestras and a solo recitalist. Besides performing

the standard repertoire for piano and orchestra, he has played rarely heard

concerti by Benjamin Britten, Witold Lutoslawski, Ottorino Respighi, Fyodorovich Stravinsky, and Karol Szymanowski. Recognized as a proponent ofJohn

Field’s piano concerti, he has performed them with orchestras in France,

Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, The Netherlands, Poland, Russia, and the

United States.

4

O’Rourke has appeared at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Great

Hall ofthe Moscow P. I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory, the Kennedy Center, the

National Concert Hall in Dublin, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Royal Festival

Hall in London, the Saint Petersburg Philharmonia Great Hall, Salle Pleyel

in Paris, Symphony Hall in Boston, and many other major venues. He has

had several highly successful concert tours of Poland, playing works by

Chopin. In 1994 the Frederick Chopin Society in Warsaw awarded him

the Frederick Chopin Medal. O’Rourke’s series of eight best-selling CDs

featuring the music ofJohn Field has won a number of honors and awards,

among them the Classic CD Award (Great Britain), a spot on Le Monde de

la musique magazine’s list ofthe best “Disques de l’annee” (France), and

Penguin Awards (United States and Great Britain). His other CD recordings

on the Chandos label include solo recitals ofworks by Chopin, Claude

Debussy, George Frederick Pinto, and Robert Schumann. O’Rourke’s recording ofworks by Pinto was the Gramophone magazine Critics’ Choice for the

year 2000.

5
Program Notes

Born into a musical family, John Field was a child prodigy. He began piano

lessons with his grandfather, who was a professional organist, and performed with his father, a professional violinist. In 1793, when Field was

eleven years old, the family moved to London, where he was apprenticed

to the famous composer and teacher Muzio Clementi (1752-1832). This association secured the young musician’s future as a virtuoso performer, teacher,

composer, and prominent figure in the arts scene in London as well as in

Europe at large. Field was among a group of composer-pianists who led

advances in both the actual mechanics ofthe piano and the writing for it.

His characteristic style includes melismatic melodies in the right hand and 

lush, sonorous harmonies in the left hand accompaniment. He is credited 

with inventing the nocturne, which was later popularized and perfected 

by Frederic Chopin (1810-1849). Field’s Piano Quintet in A-jlat Major consists of a single movement, marked Andante. Reflecting the contemporary

practice ofrehearsing piano concerti with string quartets (and occasionally

performing them this way), the writing gives the dominant role to the piano,

while the strings serve primarily as accompaniment.

Although Johannes Brahms composed only twenty-four pieces of

chamber music, he is considered a major contributor to the genre due to

their importance. The Quintet in F Minorfor Piano and Strings, op. 34, had 

several different incarnations before Brahms finally decided on this instrumentation. Originally, it was conceived as a string quintet, with two violins,

viola, and two cellos. Brahms then reset it as a sonata for two pianos, destroying the original setting. Another version ofthe string quintet, with two violas, appeared in a British publication, but the composer eventually chose the 

version performed this evening for publication in Germany.

Program notes by Danielle DeSwert

6

Next Week at the National Gallery ofArt

Marta Felcman, pianist

Music by Chopin, Debussy, Guastavino, and Scarlatti

Presented in honor ofthe centenary of Paul Mellon's birth, 

performed on the Ailsa Mellon Bruce Steinway,

and made possible by a generous grant from the Billy Rose Foundation

May 16, 2007

Wednesday Afternoon, 12:10 pm

East Building Auditorium

Inscape Chamber Music Project

Sarah D'Angelo, violin

Evan Solomon, clarinet

Kacy Clopton, cello

Danielle DeSwert, piano

Music by Beethoven, Hindemith, and Khachaturian

May 20, 2007

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court