CONCERTS

77TH SEASON OF

national gallery of art | september 16, 2018
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PROGRAM

Frédéric Chopin (1810 – 1849)

Arr. Pauline Viardot (1821 – 1910)

From Douze Mazurkas

“Seize ans” (Mazurka no. 31, op. 50, no. 2)

“L’oiselet” (Mazurka no. 47, op. 68, no. 2)

“La fête” (Mazurka no. 4, op. 6, no. 4)

Intermission

Clara Schumann (1819 – 1896)

Three Romances for Violin and Piano, op. 22

Andante molto

Allegretto 

Leidenschaftlich schnell 

Viardot 

“Havanaise” 

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 – 1921)

Piano Trio no. 1 in F Major, op. 18

Allegro vivace

Andante

Scherzo: Presto

Allegro

Living Art Collective Ensemble ( LACE ) 

With Elisa Monte Dance

Carla Dirlikov Canales, mezzo-soprano

Michele Cober, soprano

Danielle DeSwert Hahn, piano

Rosalind Leavell, cello

Jacqueline Saed Wolborsky, violin

Tiffany Rea-Fisher, choreography

Ashley LaRosa, JoVonna Parks, Daniela Funicello, 

and Thomas Varvaro, dancers 

InterLACEd: Music in Corot’s World

Presented in celebration of Corot: Women

September 16, 2018 | 3:30

West Building, West Garden Court

Maria Malibran (1808 – 1836)

Rataplan

Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714 – 1787)

Arr. Hector Berlioz (1803 – 1869) 

“J’ai perdu mon Eurydice,” from Orphée et Eurydice

Gluck

Arr. Fritz Kreisler (1875 – 1962)

Mélodie 

Louise Farrenc (1804 – 1875)

Piano Trio no. 1, op. 33

Allegro

Adagio sostenuto

Minuetto; Allegro

Finale; Vivace
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Also in 2005, Cober decided to go to law school and graduated cum laude from Howard 

University School of Law, where she was the executive editor of the Howard Law Journal. 

Subsequently, she served as a law clerk to Judge Deborah K. Chasanow in the United 

States District Court for the District of Maryland. She currently practices law in Washington, DC, and has been one of Super Lawyers ’ “Rising Stars” in 2014 – 2018.

Danielle DeSwert Hahn is a Brussels-born pianist and heads the music programs at 

the National Gallery of Art. Formerly principal pianist of the Baltimore Opera Company 

and the Washington Concert Opera, she also has worked on the music staffs at the 

Ash Lawn Highland Opera Festival, the New York Opera Society, and the Chautauqua, 

Indianapolis, Kentucky, North Carolina, Portland, Sarasota, and Washington National 

Opera Companies. She performed on two Western Opera Theater tours, formerly part 

of the San Francisco Opera Center. In the fall of 2003, Hahn did the musical preparation for a world premiere opera by Thea Musgrave, presented by the New Orleans 

Opera Association. She has worked with world-renowned singers, including soprano 

Elizabeth Futral, baritone Rod Gilfry, and mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves. Hahn 

regularly performs in chamber music and voice recitals, partnering with members of 

the National Symphony Orchestra, the Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra, and the 

North Carolina Symphony. In the Washington Metro Area, she has performed at the 

Arts Club of Washington, the Belgian Ambassador’s Residence, the Jewish Community 

Center of Greater Washington, the Kennedy Center, the Mexican Institute of Culture, 

the National Gallery of Art, the Russian Embassy, and the White House. Recently, she 

has performed in concert and recorded with the contemporary ensemble New Music 

Raleigh and as a keyboard player with the North Carolina Symphony. In March 2013, 

Hahn was invited by the Rotary Club Paris Académies to be the accompanist for a 

concert commemorating the 50th anniversary of the death of Francis Poulenc. She 

performs regularly on the concert series at the National Gallery of Art.

Rosalind Leavell is a professional cellist living in Raleigh, North Carolina. She received 

her bachelor’s degree in music from the Cleveland Institute of Music and her master’s 

degree in music from the University of Minnesota. She is the principal cellist of the 

Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle and regularly performs with the North Carolina 

Opera Orchestra and the North Carolina Symphony. While living in Minnesota, Leavell 

was the principal cellist of the St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra and was featured on 

Classical Minnesota Public Radio. Additionally, she performed as a substitute cellist 

with the Minnesota Orchestra and as a soloist with the Bloomington Symphony 

Orchestra and the Kenwood Symphony Orchestra. A passionate teacher, Leavell is 

currently on the faculty of Triangle Area Suzuki Talent Education in Raleigh. She also 

maintains a private cello studio with students of all ages and levels.

The Living Art Collective Ensemble ( LACE ) is a versatile group of musicians, committed to contextualizing the human journey through vivid and engaging performances 

of classical music. Curated by Jacqueline Saed Wolborsky and Danielle DeSwert Hahn, 

each performance incorporates multiple facets of the arts and culture, including poetry, 

politics, fashion, and food, and tells the stories of individuals who broke through gender, 

social, and cultural barriers that continue to challenge us today. 

Carla Dirlikov Canales is a world-renowned opera singer, praised for a voice that 

“grabs the heartstrings with its dramatic force and musicality” (Opera Magazine). She 

is best known for her portrayals of Bizet’s character Carmen, which she has performed 

more than eighty times in a dozen countries. In 2014, Canales became the first singer 

to win the prestigious Sphinx Medal of Excellence, and in 2015, she was Foreign Policy’s 

first opera singer to be on its list of “100 Leading Global Thinkers” for her work using 

music to bridge cultural barriers. In 2017, she became the first opera singer to receive 

the Michigan Alliance for the Arts Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as the University 

of Michigan Bicentennial Alumni Award. Canales is also the first singer to be selected for 

the Hermitage Artist Residency, a two-year program through which artists develop 

creative ideas and projects. Most recently, Canales was named one of Musical America’s 

“30 Movers and Shapers of 2018.” She is a member of the President’s Committee on 

the Arts and Humanities Turnaround Arts Program and has performed as a soloist at 

the Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and top international venues 

in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. She is the founder and CEO of The Canales Project, 

which gives voice to issues of identity and culture through music and conversation.

Michele Cober earned her bachelor’s degree in vocal music performance and her 

master’s degree in opera performance from the University of Maryland, College 

Park. She was a regular performer with the Washington National Opera and made 

her company debut as a Handmaiden in Turandot. As a finalist in Placido Domingo’s 

international competition of Operalia, Cober was selected for an eighteen-month 

residency in the Washington National Opera’s Young Artist Program of the Americas. 

She performed the role of Frankie in Carmen Jones under the baton of Placido 

Domingo with the National Symphony Orchestra and appeared with Bryn Terfel on 

the nationally broadcast Kennedy Center Honors. In 2005, she appeared as Clara and 

Bess with New York Harlem Theater’s production of Porgy and Bess in Denmark, 

Germany, and Italy, having played the roles previously in Germany and the Netherlands. 

THE MUSICIANS
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THE DANCERS

Tiffany Rea-Fisher is artistic director of the internationally acclaimed Elisa Monte 

Dance. She joined the company in 2004 and was principal dancer until 2010. In 2007, 

she was named Dance Magazine’s “On the Rise” dancer for her 2006 performance at 

the Joyce Theater. As a choreographer, Rea-Fisher has created numerous pieces for 

the company, including work performed for the Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg. 

Recently, her work has been seen at the Joyce, the Apollo, Joe’s Pub, Aaron Davis Hall, 

and New York Live Arts. Her work extends beyond the stage to include film, fashion, 

theater, and the music industry. Rea-Fisher also co-founded Inception to Exhibition, 

which supplies space to artists of various disciplines, and serves as dance curator for 

the Bryant Park Dance Summer Series. She is vice president of the Stonewall Community Development Corporation, a member of Women of Color in the Arts, and an 

advisory board member of Dance/NYC. Recently, she completed the National Art 

Strategies: Chief Executive Program, as well as the Association of Performing Arts 

Professionals Leadership Fellows Program. This past spring, she received recognition 

from the City of New York for her cultural contributions.

Ashley LaRosa is originally from Albany, California. She trained in dance at the City 

Ballet School of San Francisco, the San Francisco Ballet, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, and 

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. She has a bachelor’s degree in dance performance 

from the University of California, Irvine, and a Pilates certification from Studio du Corps 

under the mentorship of Diane Diefenderfer. LaRosa has worked for leading choreographers and directors, including Donald McKayle, Idan Cohen, and Raymond Naval.

JoVonna Parks is a Philadelphia native, performing with Elisa Monte Dance for a 

fifth season. She teaches ballet and modern techniques throughout New Jersey and 

New York. 

Jacqueline Saed Wolborsky is acting principal second violinist of the North Carolina 

Symphony and a lecturer of violin at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

Before coming to North Carolina, she was a member of the Charleston Symphony and 

an adjunct professor of violin at the College of Charleston. She has been a featured 

soloist with the North Carolina Symphony and the Brussels Chamber Orchestra. She 

received first prize and the Audience Choice Award at the South Carolina Philharmonic 

Competition and was honored with the Russell Award at the Coleman International 

Chamber Music Competition in Pasadena. With the NCS Trio, Wolborsky recently 

performed the complete Beethoven String Trios at the National Gallery of Art, where 

she also co-founded the Living Art Collective Ensemble. She has performed for the 

late Nobel Peace Prize–winner Elie Wiesel in Chicago, the late Itzhak Rabin’s family in 

Jaffa, Israel, and in 2001, for the Vice President of the United States in Washington, DC. 

She has spent past summers at numerous international festivals and was invited by the 

Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra on separate occasions to tour several European 

countries with Joshua Bell, James Levine, and the late Mstislav Rostropovich. She has 

worked with many renowned musicians and conductors, including Kurt Masur, Yuri 

Bashmet, Bill Preucil, Claude Frank, Miriam Fried, Joseph Silverstein, and members of 

the Tokyo, Vermeer, and Cleveland String Quartets.

Wolborsky received her bachelor’s degree in music from the Oberlin Conservatory, 

studying under Roland and Almita Vamos, and her master’s degree in music from the 

Cleveland Institute of Music, under the tutelage of Donald Weilerstein. She received 

her Suzuki teacher training at the Cleveland Institute of Music and has been a private 

teacher for more than twenty years.
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“Music is pre-eminently the art of the nineteenth century because it is in a supreme 

manner responsive to the emotional wants, the mixed aspirations and the passionate 

self-consciousness of the Age.” — Rev. H. R. Haweis, 1871

The above statement from England’s most prominent and popular preacher of his 

era succinctly describes the status of music as the most important art form in Europe 

in the second half of the nineteenth century. While in England this was a topic much 

discussed and written about, in France, it just happened organically. The impact of 

music on Parisian society was felt so strongly that in 1835, Paris was described as a 

perpetual concert. By the early 1860s, concert music was heard everywhere — in 

domestic and formal settings — and sheet music sales, music lessons, and concert 

tickets experienced an unprecedented surge. 

Camille Corot, a member of the cultural elite of this music-obsessed generation, 

was known to be more than casually interested in music. He sang, played the violin, 

and maintained subscriptions to all the important concert and opera series in Paris. 

As a great painter of pictorial music, his landscapes — and later, his portraits — reflect 

the world in which he lived, where music reigned supreme.

Against this cultural backdrop, today’s concert weaves a story of the interconnection 

between pivotal artists during this richly creative period. In particular, LACE introduces 

the works and lives of several women contemporary to Corot, whose opportunities 

and legacies reflect the status of their gender during that era. LACE has chosen Pauline 

Viardot as a muse and linchpin for today’s program, as her influence extended far beyond 

her performances in the Paris Opera. We also spotlight Louise Farrenc — a success in 

her lifetime as a composer, performer, and teacher, but virtually unknown today.

A Tapestry of Composers, Singers, and Artists 

Maria Malibran, whose Rataplan starts off today’s concert, was the first child of the 

Spanish tenor Manuel Garcia and dubbed by Chopin “the queen of Europe.” She 

was the original diva — overflowing with musical talent and composing and improvising 

on three instruments — whose popularity ended far too early in a fatal horsebackriding accident. We honor her role in inspiring Corot, who evokes her memory in his 

1864 painting The Shepherd’s Star with a song she herself composed, titled “Rataplan,” 

a rousing military chansonette.

Beginning in the 1830s, Ludwig van Beethoven and Christoph Willibald Gluck were 

among the most revered of composers in Paris. In 1859, Hector Berlioz adapted the 

1774 French version of Gluck’s opera Orfeo ed Euridice for the Paris Opera, rewriting 

the title role of Orpheus to be sung by a contralto. The singer selected for the role was 

PROGRAM NOTES Daniela Funicello began dancing at the age of three and attended the Academy of 

Performing Arts at Gloucester County Institute of Technology, in New Jersey. In 2012, 

she furthered her dance training at Marymount Manhattan College, where she was a 

member of the dance company and had the privilege of performing the works of Paul 

Taylor, Emery LeCrone, Aszure Barton, Alexandra Damiani, Pedro Ruiz, and Adam 

Baruch. In 2016, Funicello joined Elisa Monte Dance and has performed at the Apollo 

Theater, Joe’s Pub, New York City Center, the National Gallery of Art, the Red Bull 

Arena, and the music venue Baby’s Alright with singer Janelle Kroll. Most recently she 

performed as both dancer and singer in Antigone with the Classical Theatre of Harlem.

Thomas Varvaro, from Brooklyn, New York, trained at the Ailey School, the School 

of American Ballet, and the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and 

Performing Arts. Varvaro holds a bachelor’s degree in dance from the Ailey / Fordham 

Bachelor of Fine Arts program and was a member of Ailey 2. This is Varvaro’s sixth 

season with Elisa Monte Dance, where he also serves as director of education.
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much success as a pianist, she was appointed to a permanent and prestigious position 

as professor of piano at the Paris Conservatoire in 1842. Yet it wasn’t until she successfully premiered a large chamber work in 1852 that she was able to demand equal pay 

to her male colleagues. Farrenc was a contemporary of Corot, and likely they were 

part of the same circles, especially as the conservatory hosted one of the best-attended 

concert series in Paris. Only three years after her death in 1875, Farrenc had become 

all but forgotten. The noted music critic François-Joseph Fétis attributed this to the 

public’s lack of interest in lesser-known, but just as talented, composers. 

Born only two years apart and with similar early circumstances, Pauline Viardot 

and Clara Schumann’s lives took vastly different courses. The two quickly connected 

as young girls on a short tour in Europe in the 1840s. Later in life, Viardot basked in 

the glory of her performing career and her position as a great lady of music, roles 

that cultivated the next generation of composers and created a legacy of her own 

methods and compositions. Conversely, Clara Schumann, married to a brilliant yet 

needy composer, spent much of her life raising their eight children and assisting her 

husband in his artistic endeavors while also feeling guilty about her innate passion 

to compose. Despite the many obstacles and difficulties she faced, Clara Schumann 

left behind several works that deserve a home in the standard repertoire.

During the summer of 1853, Clara and Robert Schumann moved to a home in 

Düsseldorf, which was large enough for her to work without disturbing her husband’s 

delicate sensibilities. Among other works, the Three Romances for Violin and Piano 

emerged from this fruitful period. Dedicated to the famed violinist Joseph Joachim, 

who would perform the pieces for King George V of Hanover, these gems make one 

wonder what Clara Schumann might have produced had her talent not been limited 

by her husband’s career and her expected female role in their marriage. 

Viardot’s combination of talent, intellect, and art-world connections helped her 

become one of the most prominent and influential women in nineteenth-century 

Europe. Following her active stage career (1839 – 1863), she hosted biweekly music 

salons in her home, and is credited for helping to launch the careers of Camille 

Saint-Säens, Jules Massenet, Gabriel Fauré, and Charles Gounod. Much like Louise 

Farrenc, Camille Saint-Säens was among the mavericks of nineteenth-century Paris 

who preferred composing chamber music and other instrumental works to opera. 

While Viardot was a driving force in getting Saint-Säens’s opera Samson et Delilah

produced at the Paris Opera, it is likely many of his other pieces were played in her 

home. Her Sunday salon was the more casual one, where close friends — including 

Corot — would come for the afternoon to hear music and socialize. Today’s program 

concludes with Saint-Säens’s rarely performed but charming Piano Trio no. 1.

Program notes by Danielle DeSwert Hahn, Head of Music Programs at the 

National Gallery of Art

Pauline Viardot, younger sister of Maria Maliban and another member of Manuel 

Garcia’s family of opera superstars. She was admired in particular for her captivating 

interpretations of the roles she sang. After seeing Viardot in the role, Corot was so 

moved that he modeled his painting Orpheus Leading Eurydice from the Underworld

after her.

Viardot’s fascinating life began in Paris in 1821. Her father, who Viardot believed all 

her life to have been of gypsy origin — was a famed operatic tenor, voice teacher, and 

impresario. Pauline’s sister Maria, thirteen years older, had become one of the most 

renowned opera singers of her generation before her tragic death. Pauline’s mother 

and older brother were also opera singers, and Pauline grew up traveling the world 

with her family. While the young Pauline excelled at the piano and had dreams of 

becoming a concert pianist, her family, particularly her mother, intended for her to 

become a singer.

In her late teens, Viardot developed a close relationship with the feminist author 

George Sand, who had a long relationship with Chopin. Viardot spent much time 

with the couple, exchanging musical ideas and often playing with the composer. With 

her brilliant mind for music, Viardot arranged twelve of Chopin’s mazurkas for voice 

and piano. When Sand and Chopin ended their relationship, Viardot maintained her 

friendship with both and sang her arrangements of Chopin’s pieces, accompanied by 

the composer on the piano. In 1849, she was one of the few from the couple’s former 

circle to attend and sing at Chopin’s funeral. 

It took Viardot several years of proving herself in the opera houses of London 

and St. Petersburg before she was given a lead role at the Paris Opera in 1849. Ten 

years later as an established prima donna, she drew audiences as large as the opera’s 

composers and dancers. 

Today’s concert features the first aria Viardot would have sung in Berlioz’s 1859 

version of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Eurydice, the woeful “J’ai perdu mon Eurydice.” Gluck’s 

Mélodie, within the context of the opera, is the “Dance of the Blessed Spirits.” Of note, 

the Parisian appetite for dance caused Gluck to continually expand the ballet portions 

of the opera, including this now well-known melody, which exudes the sadness and 

overwhelming ache that Orpheus must have felt in the Elysian Fields, knowing that his 

beloved Eurydice was among the departed.

While Louise Farrenc wrote several large symphonic works, she favored chamber 

music as a medium, and in a bold choice for a Parisian composer at the time did not 

attempt to write an opera. Her first piano trio, from the early 1840s, has a virtuosic 

piano part and bears a resemblance to works by her favorite composers, Beethoven 

and Carl Maria von Weber. 

Farrenc showed early promise as a piano prodigy and was given the opportunity to 

study with some of the best teachers of her day. Her parents also recognized her gifts 

as a composer and encouraged her to take lessons in composition as well. Garnering 
Upcoming Events of the SeventySeventh Season of The William Nelson 

Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin Concerts

Unless otherwise noted, concerts 

are held in the West Building, West 

Garden Court

Emilio Solla Tango-Jazz Trio

September 23, 3:30

New York Opera Society

Sound Sketches

September 28, 12:10

Piffaro: The Renaissance Band

Celebrating Water, Wind, and Waves: 

Marine Paintings from the Dutch 

Golden Age

Water, Wind, and Waves: The Wind 

Band at Sea

September 30, 3:30

Julie Fowlis, vocalist

Music of the Scottish Isles

October 7, 3:30

Curtis on Tour: Jason Vieaux, guitar, 

and Nigel Armstrong, violin

Music of Piazzolla, Giuliani, Jobim, 

and de Falla

October 14, 3:30

Vox Luminis

Funeral Music for a Prince and a Queen

October 21, 3:30

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.

—

The department of music produced 

these program notes. Copyright © 2018 

Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, 

Washington

Cover Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, 

The Artist’s Studio (detail), c. 1868, 

National Gallery of Art, Washington, 

Widener Collection

NGA.GOV/MUSIC