75TH SEASON

OF CONCERTS

MARCH 19, 2017 • NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART
MARCH 19

3:30 • West Building, East Garden Court

Kruger Brothers

Jens Kruger, banjo

Uwe Kruger, guitar

Joel Landsberg, bass

Kontras Quartet

Dmitri Pogorelov, violin

Francois Henkins, violin

Ben Weber, viola

Jean Hatmaker, cello

The program will be announced from the stage and will include the following works

composed by Jens Kruger, as well as other songs from the Kruger Brothers' repertoire.

Roan Mountain Suite

Lucid Dreamer (commissioned by the Kontras Quartet)

Appalachian Concerto

Presented in honor of East of the Mississippi: Nineteenth-Century American

Landscape Photography

2 • National Gallery of Art

The Musicians

Kruger Brothers

Originally from Switzerland, brothers Uwe and Jens Kruger began playing North American

folk music at an early age and were particularly inspired by recordings of Doc Watson,

Flatt and Scruggs, Bill Monroe, and other progenitors of country, bluegrass, and folk music.

Their first public performances were as a duo, busking on the streets of cities throughout

Eastern and Western Europe. After gaining a recording contract and a radio show on SRG

SSR, the Swiss public broadcaster, the brothers teamed up with bass player Joel Landsberg,

inaugurating a trio that has been playing professionally together since 1995. Landsberg is an

American citizen from New York City. The first recording project to include Landsberg was

Behind the Barn, Volume 2, released in 1997. The Kruger Brothers moved to the United States

in 2002 and are based in Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

The group is highly regarded within the world of acoustic music in North America

and has also gained the attention of such musicians as Bill Monroe, Doc Watson, Tut Taylor,

and Bobby Hicks, who once served as models. Watson has said, "The Kruger Brothers are

just about as fine a band as I’ve ever played with... I love to play music with them."

In 2013, Jens Kruger was named the fourth recipient of the Steve Martin Prize for

Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass Music. The prize, created and endowed by Martin,

recognizes "outstanding accomplishments in the field of five-string banjo." Jens was

selected by a committee that included Martin, Pete Wernick, Bela Fleck, Alison Brown,

J. D. Crowe, Tony Trischka, and others.

Jens Kruger has been inducted into the Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame and in

2014 was nominated for Banjo Instrumentalist of the Year by the International Bluegrass

Musician Association (IBMA). He has received commissions for his ensemble compositions,

including from the National Endowment for the Arts and Chamber Music America.

Kontras Quartet

Admired for their "superlative artistry" (CVNC Arts Journal), the Kontras Quartet has established an international following for its vibrant and nuanced performances. The "superb 

Chicago-based ensemble" (Gramophone Magazine) has been described as "a tightly crafted 

and beautiful instrument" (CVNC Arts Journal) and has been lauded for its "crisp precision" 

(Palm Beach Daily News) and "enjoyable musical personality" (Fanfare Magazine). Kontras

means contrasts in the Afrikaans language — fitting for a string ensemble whose colorful

repertoire spans centuries, genres, and continents.

The Kontras Quartet records for MSR Classics and recently released two critically

acclaimed albums. The first, Origins, features new and lesser-known works from the quartet's

home countries, including the world premiere recording of Dan Visconti's Ramshackle Songs.

Gramophone Magazine commended the quartet's "scrupulous shading and control" on the 

recording. The second release, Lucid Dreamer, features a septet that Kontras commissioned

in 2013 with a generous grant awarded by Chamber Music America. The work treads the line

between classical music and American folk and invigorates Kontras' ongoing collaboration

with the esteemed Kruger Brothers trio.

75th Season • 3
The Kontras Quartet's recent and upcoming performances include multiple broadcasts on classical radio stations nationwide, including Performance Today and Concierto

on NPR; concerts at Chicago's Symphony Center, the Farnsworth House, and the Juilliard 

School; television appearances on NBC and PBS; regular appearances on concert series

throughout the Midwest and Southeast; and sold-out performances at the Telluride, 

International Bluegrass Music Association, and MerleFest festivals.

Kontras enjoys educational work of all kinds, and has been the Professional Quartet

in Residence at Western Michigan University for two years. In addition to the ensemble's

concert schedule, it holds teaching residencies at Elmhurst College and Appalachian State

University. The musicians will also continue their work in the Chicago Public Schools with

the support of a grant from the Boeing Company. Outside of the Chicago area, Kontras has

made a significant educational impact in North Carolina, bringing over 200 innovative and

interactive outreach programs to 40,000 students.

Formed while the group's members were string principals in the Civic Orchestra of 

Chicago, the quartet began pursuing a professional career in 2009. Kontras enjoyed

immediate recognition, holding their own against seasoned string quartets from around 

the country to win a four-year chamber music residency with the Western Piedmont 

Symphony in North Carolina — a full-time position established through Chamber Music

America's Residency Partnership Program. The quartet has received continued training

with the Vermeer Quartet and Juilliard String Quartet.

4 • National Gallery of Art

Program Notes

Roan Mountain Suite

The Kruger Brothers are joined by the Kontras Quartet for a very special original work,

commissioned to honor the region, history, and legacy of Tennessee's Roan Mountain.

The Roan Mountain Suite honors the 50th anniversary of the inaugural meeting to

conserve the Roan, an effort initiated by the late Stanley A. Murray, husband of patron

Judy Murray of Kingsport, Tennessee. Dedicated to the memory of Stanley A. Murray

(1923-1990), the Roan Mountain Suite is a musical experience honoring the treasured

landscape of the region.

Stan Murray was chairman of the Appalachian Trail Conference for fourteen years

and a visionary and champion of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail and Highlands of

Roan. He founded the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy. The Roan Mountain

Suite is a new example of the Kruger Brothers' brilliant ability to enlist the illustrative power

of music to tell a story in eloquent detail.

"Roan Mountain resonates in a deep and personal way with all those who visit it,

and by the same token, the Kruger Brothers' music reaches into the hearts and souls of its 

listeners in profound and stirring ways.” — Judy Murray

Lucid Dreamer

Lucid Dreamer is a musical interpretation of experiencing a waking state of reverie. The

music is a delicate idea that gathers strength and takes flight, releasing the listener from

the surly bonds of earth as it soars, dips, and glides like a flock of birds. "I think the new

concerto is more musically complex, than anything I've ever written,'' said Jens Kruger 

about the piece that took more than a year to write. "I don't think it's less accessible, but

it has a lot more complex parts.”

In the relativity of life, Jens said, "My dreams were just as important in my memory

as actual events.... [In dreams] I see endless beauty overshadowing the immediate. All my

dreams have been filled with sounds and music.... It seems to me that all life is unfolding

like a dream, swirling like dance in flight. For all things that have a beginning, I assume

they must also have an end. I have a strong sense that dreams don't need a beginning.”

Lucid Dreamer was composed for banjo, guitar, and bass with string quartet, resulting in

a thirty-three-minute work with seven movements.

Appalachian Concerto

Composed in 2010, the Appalachian Concerto is a work for banjo, bass, guitar, and string

quartet. It was composed in the form of a classical concerto and written to reflect the

cultural history of the Appalachian region. The concerto is a very different kind of work

for the Kruger Brothers and is without any true precedent within their catalogue to date.

Having made a name for themselves as primarily a roots trio, this offering is nevertheless

exactly what the title suggests: a concerto in which the classical concerto format is applied

faithfully. Still, if there are any real surprises here, perhaps the greatest is how entirely

natural and obvious it was to pair the Kruger Brothers with a string quartet. The Kruger 

Brothers' sound, after all, is principally an ensemble sound, with each of the players refining

75th Season • 5
and contributing to a single cause. In that sense, it's as far from a traditional bluegrass 

arrangement — with instruments alternating between accompaniment and soloing —as you

can get. Likewise, a classical string quartet, with its close harmonies, counterpoint, and the

lack of a true "soloist" in a jazz or bluegrass sense, is an accurate analogue for the kind of

ensemble playing that Jens, Joel, and Uwe have been doing for years.

6 • National Gallery of Art

Upcoming Events of the SeventyFifth Season of The William

Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot

Belin Concerts

Music of Amy Beach

Three by Three

"Washingtonians on Wednesdays"

March 22,12:10

West Building, East Garden Court

Parker Quartet

Music by Mendelssohn, Shostakovich, 

and Augusta Read Thomas

March 26, 3:30

West Building, East Garden Court

Arianna Zukerman, soprano

Joy Schreier, piano 

"Washingtonians on Wednesdays"

March 29,12:10

West Building, East Garden Court

Apollo's Fire

Sugarloaf Mountain: An Appalachian

Gathering

Presented in honor of East of the

Mississippi: Nineteenth-Century American

Landscape Photography

April 2, 4:00

West Building, East Garden Court

Ben Williams Trio 

"Washingtonians on Wednesdays"

April 5,12:10

West Building, East Garden Court

Alliage Quintett

Dancing Paris

April 9, 3:30

West Building, East Garden Court

General Information

Admission to the National Gallery of Art

and all of its programs is free of charge,

except as noted.

The use of cameras or recording equipment

during the performance is not allowed.

Please be sure that all portable electronic

devices are turned off.

Concerts are made possible in part

through the generosity of donors to the

National Gallery of Art through The Circle. 

Reserved seating is available in recognition

of their support. Please contact the

development office at (202) 842-6450 or

circle@nga.gov for more information.

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The department of music produced these

program notes. Copyright © 2ory Board of

Trustees, National Gallery ofArt, Washington

Cover Isaac H. Bonsall, Chattanooga, Tennessee,

from Lookout Mountain (detail), 1863 - ''865,

National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection

of Paul Sack

Back cover West Building, Constitution

Avenue entrance, viewed from Sixth Street nw,

1941, National Gallery of Art, Washington,

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