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 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

The Sixty-third Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery of Art

2,540th Concert

National Gallery Chamber Players String Quartet

Teri Lazar and Claudia Chudacoff, violin

Osman Kivrak, viola

Diana Fish, cello

June 19, 2005

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
Program

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Quartet no. 1, K. 80 (1770)

Adagio

Allegro

Menuetto

Rondo

Osman Kivrak (b. 1954)

Koroglufor String Quartet (1996)

Introduction: Allegro

Vivace

Adagio

Allegro agitato

INTERMISSION

Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904)

Quartet no. 6 in F Major, op. 96 (“American”) (1893)

Allegro ma non troppo 

Lento

Molto vivace

Finale

Featured Musicians

The National Gallery Chamber Players String Quartet appears as a regular

feature of each season of concerts at the Gallery and has acquired a splendid

ensemble reputation since its debut performance in 1995. In addition to

presenting the standard quartet repertoire, the group performs rarely heard

masterpieces of chamber music. The four 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 residencies at both 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 ofthe quartet are able to change places,

a practice that is rare among such ensembles.

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 with Currents, a chamber music series also based in Richmond,

Virginia. She earned a doctor of music degree from the Catholic University

of America and teaches violin at American University, where she is a musician in residence. Lazar has recorded chamber music for the Klavier, Albany,

North/South Consonance, and Centaur labels and has been heard on

National Public Radio’s Performance Today.

Violinist Claudia Chudacoffis the concertmaster ofthe National Gallery

Orchestra, concertmaster ofthe Alexandria Symphony, and assistant concertmaster ofthe White House Chamber Orchestra of the Marine Band. An

active chamber musician, she is a member ofthe Washington Chamber

Players and has performed frequently at the Holocaust Memorial Museum

chamber music series. Her experience as orchestral soloist includes concerto

performances with the Concert Artists of Baltimore as well as the Toledo,

Ann Arbor, and National Gallery orchestras. A recipient of a master of music

degree from the Eastman School of Music, Chudacoff has recorded chamber

music for Albany Records.

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Violist Osman Kivrak was 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 with Currents and teaches at

American University, where he is a musician in residence. A graduate of

the Catholic University of America, where he earned a doctor of music

degree, Kivrak is a composer as well as a performer. His compositions were

recently recognized by awards from the Maryland State Arts Council and

the Maryland National Parks and Planning Commission.

Cellist Diana Fish came to the Washington, DC, area in 1994 to join 

the White House Chamber Orchestra ofthe Marine Band. She graduated

from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she studied with

Orlando Cole. She continued her studies at the graduate level at Indiana

University under Janos Starker. Before coming to Washington, she performed throughout the United States as a member ofthe Whitney Piano

Trio. Diana Fish is the principal cellist of Concert Artists of Baltimore and 

the Alexandria Symphony.

4

Program Notes

Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) initiated the genre ofthe string quartet with his

String Quartet no. 1, op. 1, which he composed in 1757. Mozart brought the

genre to its classical maturity in his twenty-seven quartets. The six quartets

he wrote between 1782 and 1784 and dedicated to Haydn are considered

the high point of his production, but even his first effort, with which this

program begins, is a remarkable work. Mozart wrote it in 1770 at the age of

fourteen, and it can be said that the young composer had not yet mastered

the practice of “democracy” among the four instruments (the interesting

material is assigned mostly to the first violin), but he was already the 

master of perfectly balanced forms, lilting melodies, and harmonic variety.

The quartet carries the nickname “Lodi” in honor ofthe Italian city where 

Mozart was staying when he wrote it.

Koroglufor String Quartet was written by violist/composer Osman 

Kivrak in 1996 and has been performed in the United States and Turkey.

The title refers to a legendary character in medieval Anatolian history who

fought for justice from tyrannical overlords and is the subject of many

Turkish folk songs. The quartet uses as a theme one of the most famous

songs about Koroglu. Although the theme is most prominent in the last 

movement, hints ofit can be heard in the opening ofthe first movement.

The quartet is bound together by the motif A-F-E, which first appears as

the viola enters in the fifth bar ofthe first movement. The motif recurs

throughout the quartet, either in its original form or in retrograde, inversion, diminution, or augmentation.

Antonin Dvorak came to the United States in 1893 at the invitation 

of Jeannette Thurber (1850-1946), who has been called America’s first

patron of classical music. In 1891 she founded a conservatory of music in

New York City (the National Conservatory of Music) and invited the worldfamous composer Dvorak to direct it. While he was in New York, Dvorak

made it a point to acquaint himself with American music. Among the first

5
Americans to demonstrate their art for him was the black singer and composer Harry T. Burleigh, who was one of the first students at the National

Conservatory. Dvorak completed the string quartet on this program shortly

thereafter, while visiting a Czech-American community in Iowa, and

dubbed it the “American” Quartet, but it does not actually contain spiritual 

melodies or any other tunes of American origin. It does, however, carry

the strong flavor of Bohemian folk idioms, which were always in Dvorak’s

ear, even when he was far from home.

The first movement of Dvorak’s quartet (Allegro ma non troppo) has three

themes: the first ofthem, presented by the viola, combines syncopation and 

a two-step march; the second is in a minor key; and the third is introduced 

in a pianissimo passage. The movement proceeds to a colorful scoring of all

three themes. The second movement (Lento) features the most extended and 

expressive melody in the quartet, shared by the first violin and the cello. The

third movement (Molto vivace) is a scherzo based on a motifthat bounces 

from instrument to instrument. Before he finishes with this theme, Dvorak

presents it in minor key, in augmentation, and with varied rhythmic accompaniment. The last movement is the only one in this work that could be said

to reflect the influence ofAmerican music, as it has the flavor of a boisterous 

country dance. Such dances were not exclusive to the United States in

the nineteenth century, however, and some music critics have identified this

movement as a BohemianJuriant danced on American soil.

6

The Sixty-third Season of

Concerts at the National Gallery of Art

Under the direction of Stephen Ackert

Sundays at 6:30 pm, West Building, West Garden Court

Admission free

JUNE

26 National Gallery Vocal Arts Ensemble

Music for chamber choir and

instruments by Brahms, John Gardner, 

and other composers

There will be no Sunday concerts in July,

August, and September. On Friday evenings

from Memorial Day through Labor Day,

visitors to the Sculpture Garden can enjoy

live jazz performed by an eclectic mix of

top Washington-area artists. Please check

the Gallery’s bimonthly Calendar of Events

for details.

Sunday concerts will resume on October

2, 2005, at 6:30 pm, with a concert by

the National Gallery Orchestra, Christopher

Kendall, guest conductor. The program

will feature music by Elgar, Wagner, Stravinsky, and Schoenfield, with solo violinist

Nicolas Kendall.

Programs subject to change

Detailed information at www.nga.gov or (202) 842-6941
Corrected Program 

June 19, 2005

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Quartet No. 1, K. 80 (1770)

Adagio

Allegro

Menuetto

Rondo

Osman Kivrak (b.1954)

Koroglu for String Quartet (1996)

Introduction: Allegro 

Vivace 

Adagio

Allegro agitato

Ms. Lazar, Ms. Chudacoff, Mr. Kivrak, Ms. Fish

INTERMISSION

Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904)

Quartet No. 3 in E Flat Major, Opus 51

Allegro ma non troppo 

Dumka, Elegy 

Romanze 

Finale

Ms. Chudacoff, Ms. Lazar, Mr. Kivrak, Ms. Fish