The use of cameras or recording equipment during the 

performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell phone

pagers, and other electronic devices are turned off.

Please note that late entry or reentry ofthe 

West Building after 6:30 pm is not permitted.

For the convenience of concertgoers, 

the Garden Cafe remains open for light refreshments

until 6:00 pm on Sundays.

Music Department

National Gallery ofArt

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue nw

Washington, DC

www.nga.gov

The Seventieth Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

2,892nd Concert

National Gallery ofArt Resident Ensembles

May 6, 2012

Sunday, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
Program

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Piano Quartet in G Minor, K. 478 (1785)

Allegro

Andante

Rondo

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Sonata for Viola da Gamba and Keyboard in G Major, BWV 1027 (c. 1720)

Adagio

Allegro ma non tanto 

Andante

Allegro moderato 

Mozart

String Quartet in D Minor, K. 421 (1783)

Allegro moderato 

Andante

Menuetto and Trio

Allegretto ma non troppo

This concert is the fourth in a series of chamber music concerts 

made possible by support from The Gottesman Fund in memory

of Milton M. Gottesman.
The Musicians

NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART PIANO TRIO

The newest ofthe Gallery’s resident ensembles, the Piano Trio was formed

in 2008 and has since played on several ofthe Gallery's Sunday concerts.

In October 2009 the Trio performed a special program ofmusic by Belgian 

composers at the residence ofthe Belgian Ambassador. The following year 

it played a complete program ofmusic by early twentieth-century American

composers in honor ofthe exhibition American Modernism: The Shein Collection.

LUKE WEDGE

Luke Wedge received a bachelor ofmusic degree in English literature from

the University of Kansas, and a master ofmusic degree in violin performance

from Northwestern University. His principal instructors included David Perry,

Gerardo Ribeiro, and Ben Sayevich. A member ofthe Covington String Quartet

from 2003-2009, Wedge has appeared as soloist and chamber musician in

Chicago, Illinois; Lawrence, Kansas; and Washington, DC. A member ofthe

United States Air Force Strings, he has also been engaged by the National

Gallery ofArt Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, and the Ravinia

Festival Orchestra.

BENJAMIN R. WENSEL

As a founding member ofthe Tarab Cello Ensemble, Benjamin R. Wensel

has performed in the premieres ofmore than twenty new works written for 

the group by established and emerging American composers. A graduate of

the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Eastman School of Music, Wensel

has participated in seminars and master classes conducted by members

ofthe Cleveland, Guarneri, Juilliard, Miami, and Ying quartets. He studied

chamber music with Peter Salaff and members ofthe Audubon and Cavani 

Quartets, and participated in solo master classes with Clemens Michael 

Hagen, Steven Isserlis, and Michel Strauss. Wensel has performed with

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the National Symphony Orchestra, the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, the

Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra

as well as with many local ensembles. He maintains a private studio in

Fairfax, Virginia, and plays with the newly formed Messiaen Quartet.

DANIELLE DESWERT HAHN

Brussels-born pianist Danielle DeSwert Hahn is a freelance collaborative

pianist and coach and the music program specialist at the National Gallery 

ofArt. She has worked as a pianist and coach with the Ash Lawn Highland

Opera Festival, Chautauqua Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Kentucky Opera,

New Orleans Opera Association, Portland (Oregon) Opera, San Francisco

Opera Center, Sarasota Opera, and Washington National Opera. From

2004-2006 she was the principal repetiteur with the Baltimore Opera

Company and Washington Concert Opera.

Hahn performs regularly in chamber music and voice recitals, including

performances at the Arts Club ofWashington, the Jewish Community Center

of Greater Washington, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 

the Mexican Institute of Culture, the National Gallery, the Russian Embassy,

and the White House. A former apprentice coach under Placido Domingo

at the Washington Opera, she is currently principal pianist with the Inscape

Chamber Music Project. A graduate ofthe Music Academy ofthe West,

where she studied with Warren Jones and Anne Epperson, she earned a

master ofmusic degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where

she studied with Martin Katz, and a bachelor ofmusic degree from the

University ofCalifornia, Santa Barbara.

NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART STRING QUARTET

The National Gallery ofArt 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

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

at the Beach in Delaware and the Davies Concert Series in Camp Springs,

Maryland. In 2009 the quartet collaborated in concert with the renowned

chamber musician and pianist Menahem Pressler, playing music by Mozart

and Schumann, and in 2011 the ensemble appeared on the Millennium

Stage ofthe Kennedy Center.

CLAUDIA CHUDACOFF

In addition to serving as concertmaster ofthe Alexandria Symphony Orchestra,

the National Gallery ofArt Orchestra, and the United States Marine Band

White House Chamber Orchestra, violinist Claudia Chudacoff appears frequently as a soloist and chamber musician in the Washington and Baltimore

areas. A member of both the Sunrise Quartet and the National Gallery ofArt

String Quartet, she has also performed with the Contemporary Music Forum

and National Musical Arts as well as in the Embassy Series and at the United

States Holocaust Memorial Museum. She is featured on a recording of chamber music by Erich Korngold released by Albany Records, and has been

heard a number oftimes on American Public Media’s Performance Today.

TERILAZAR

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

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

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 Performance Today.

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OSMAN KIVRAK

With numerous concert tours of Europe to his credit, including performances at the Spoleto Festivals in the United States and Italy, violist Osman

Kivrak brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the National Gallery of

Art String Quartet. He also performs with the Sunrise Quartet, the Richmond

Chamber Players, and Currents and serves as artistic director of Concerts

at the Beach in Delaware and the Davies Concert Series in Camp Springs,

Maryland. A viola instructor in the applied music program at American

University, Kivrak received master ofmusic and doctor ofmusic degrees from

the Catholic University ofAmerica. Before coming to the United States, 

he studied at Gazi University in Turkey and the Guildhall School of Music

in London. He has recorded chamber music for the Amerimusic, Arizona

University Recordings, Klavier, and Living Music labels. His compositions

for viola and other instruments have been heard at the Corcoran Gallery 

ofArt, the Kennedy Center, and the Library of Congress.

DIANA FISH

A resident ofWashington, DC, since 1994 when she became a member of

the Marine Chamber Orchestra of “The President’s Own” United States 

Marine Band, cellist Diana Fish currently serves as assistant principal cellist

ofthat ensemble. A graduate ofthe Curtis Institute of Music, where she

studied with Orlando Cole, Fish continued her work at the graduate level at

Indiana University, where her teacher was Janos Starker. Fish has been the

principal cellist ofConcert Artists of Baltimore, with whom she performed

as soloist in Beethoven’s Triple Concerto for piano, violin, and cello. A founding member of both the Sunrise Quartet and the National Gallery ofArt

String Quartet, she has also appeared as soloist with the Marine Chamber

Orchestra in Victor Herbert’s Cello Concerto in E Minor.

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STEPHEN ACKERT

Now in his eighth year as head ofthe music department at the National

Gallery ofArt, Stephen Ackert studied the organ at Oberlin College; Northwestern University; the Hochschule fur Musik in Frankfurt am Main,

Germany; and the University ofWisconsin in Madison, where he completed 

his doctoral studies in 1974. A resident ofthe Washington area since 1979,

he has performed at the Kennedy Center, the National Cathedral, and the 

National Shrine ofthe Immaculate Conception. In 2008 he undertook his 

ninth recital tour of historic concert halls and churches in Germany, and

in 2010 he played for the national convention ofthe American Liszt Society.

In addition to his administrative duties at the Gallery, Ackert presents

lectures and preconcert talks on the interrelationships between music and 

art. His lectures and recitals on organ, piano, and harpsichord have also

been heard at the Amalfi Coast Music and Art Festival in Italy; the Austrian, 

German, and Italian embassies in Washington; the Kennedy Center; and 

the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.

Program Notes

In 1785 Mozart was commissioned by his publisher and friend Franz Anton 

Hoffmeister (1754-1812) to write three quartets for piano and strings. In 

itselfthe form was unusual, the piano trio being the preferred chamber

music idiom in Vienna at the time. Also without precedent was Mozart’s

treatment ofthe piano as an equal partner in the music—contemporary

works with similar instrumentation generally assigned an accompanying 

role to the keyboard player. Mozart’s first response to the commission, the 

Piano Quartet in G Minor, K. 478, did not sell well. Amateur musicians—

the principal clientele for published scores—found it entirely too difficult,

due in equal measure to its revolutionary style and the challenging nature

ofthe piano part. Hoffmeister, sensing a losing proposition, released Mozart

from the obligation to compose any more piano quartets. Fortunately for

posterity, the composer proceeded to write another one anyway. He submitted

his Quartet in E-flat Major, K. 493, to Artaria, a Viennese publisher who was

already famous as the source for works by Joseph Haydn.

Two ofthe members ofthe viol family (viola in Italian) are named for

the manner in which they are held by the player. The tenor ofthe family, the 

viola da gamba, is held between the legs, while the alto, the viola da braccia,

is supported by the arm. With its frets, six strings, and restrained tone, the 

viol was seen to be too limited to match the expressive demands oflate classical and romantic music, and was replaced in the course ofthe mid- to late

eighteenth century by the more flexible violoncello. The date of composition

of Bach’s sonatas for the viola da gamba is uncertain, but some scholars date

them around 1720, when he was the Kapellmeister to the Prince of AnhaltCothen, who played the instrument.

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Completed in 1783, Mozart’s String Quartet in D Minor, K. 421, is the

second in the series ofsix quartets that Mozart eventually dedicated to Haydn. 

Arguably the greatest string quartets by any composer up to that time, all

six are noteworthy for their breadth of expression and diversity oftechnical

means. The only mature Mozart string quartet in a minor key, K. 421 stands

out even among this extraordinary group as one of Mozart’s most intense

works. It served as a model for quartet composers throughout the nineteenth century.

Program notes by Danielle DeSwert Hahn

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Upcoming concerts at the National Gallery ofArt

Charlotte de Rothschild, soprano

Danielle Perret, harpist

Music by Montsalvatge, Poulenc, Satie,

and other composers

Presented in honor of

Joan Miro: The Ladder ofEscape

May 13, 2012

Sunday, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Cine-concert:

A Suitcase Full ofChocolate

Music by Chopin and Rachmaninoff

performed by Lincoln Mayorga, pianist

May 16, 2012

Wednesday, 12:10 pm

East Building, Auditorium