DAHA’s Sunday afternoon Spring Musicale is a decade-long tradition featuring seasoned musicians alongside youthful talent in a curated program. This year Antonín Dvořák’s delightful Piano Quintet in A Major, Opus 81 will be heard alongside spirituals arranged by Harry T. Burleigh, African American composer and singer befriended by Dvořák, and by fellow composer Moses Hogan, plus Dvořák’s own beloved vocal work "Songs My Mother Taught Me."
Talented young students from Juilliard will perform a movement from Dvořák’s great "American" String Quartet, composed while summering in the Midwestern countryside. And Dvořák’s spirited piano Furiant in D Major, Opus 42 no. 1, which opens the program, provides yet another taste of the gems created by the Czech composer.
Program
Antonín Dvořák, Furiant in D Major, Opus 42 #1, B 85
Moshe Knoll, piano
Antonín Dvořák, String Quartet no.12 in F Major, Opus 96, the "American"
Allegro ma non troppo
Juilliard Pre-College Students Anne Takemoto, violin I, Kate Takemoto, violin II, Kathleen Lee, viola, Juilliard School Mentor Peter Weng, cello
Yolanda F. Johnson, soprano, Moshe Knoll, piano
Antonín Dvořák, "Songs My Mother Taught Me"
Harry T. Burleigh, "Ride On, King Jesus" (arrangement of traditional Spiritual)
"Her Eyes, Twin Pools" from the Passionale Song Cycle, text by James Weldon Johnson
Spirituals arranged by Moses Hogan (piano trio transcription by Moshe Knoll)
"Give Me Jesus" and "Down by the Riverside," Laura Jean Goldberg, violin; Peter Weng, cello
Intermission
Antonín Dvořák, Piano Quintet in A Major Opus 81
Allegro ma non tanto
Dumka, Andante con moto
Scherzo (Furiant) Molto vivace
Finale, Allegro
The Sullivan Quartet with Adam Kent, piano, Laura Jean Goldberg, violin I, Anat Malkin, violin II, Liuh-Wen Ting, viola, Robert La Rue, cello
The Dvořák Room will be open for viewing after the concert.
General admission: $30; seniors, students: $20. Tickets may be purchased online through Eventbrite (plus the processing fee), or at the door at the time of the event (cash only).
This event is organized by Laura Jean Goldberg, violinist and DAHA Music Advisor, with support of the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association.
About
The SULLIVAN STRING QUARTET brings together Laura Jean Goldberg, violin I, Anat Malkin, violin II, Liuh-Wen Ting, viola, and Robert La Rue, cello. Each member of the ensemble has a wide ranging and impressive career in the chamber music scene. The Sullivan Quartet has performed recitals at Bohemian National Hall, Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center, the Arion Chamber Music Series, Bargemusic in NYC, and at "Music at the Museum" in Bennington, VT. The quartet's inclusive multicultural approach gives a place of honor to repertoire by women composers, African American, Hispanic, and Asian composers, as well as the traditional string quartet repertoire. The Sullivan Quartet is named after trailblazing American architect Louis H. Sullivan, the founder of the "Chicago School" of architecture. Sullivan designed buildings with innovative steel frame construction that incorporated elements of Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts style ornamentation.
Violinist LAURA JEAN GOLDBERG is active as performer, teacher, and presenter for musicians and artists both in the US and abroad. As a solo violinist, she performed with the BSO at Boston's Symphony Hall and played recitals in Boston, New York, and in India. A member of the chamber music faculty at The Juilliard School Pre-college division, she previously taught at Columbia University, Yale, and Teachers College. She has performed at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Tanglewood, venues in India, Japan, London, Paris, and across the US. As founding member of the Cassatt Quartet, Goldberg earned top prizes at the Fischoff, Coleman, and Banff competitions and worked as assistant to the Juilliard and Tokyo Quartets. Goldberg is committed to celebrating the music of living composers including Julia Wolfe, Moshe Knoll, Eric Ewazen, Behzad Ranjbaran, and Gabriela Lena Frank, and she is a member of the Sullivan String Quartet, based in New York. Trained at The Juilliard School and the Charles Castleman Quartet Program, Goldberg is founder of ArtsAhimsa Music for Peace, presenting events that inspire and support inclusive communities, social justice, and the environment through the arts. Goldberg is director of the ArtsAhimsa Chamber Music Workshop for professional and amateur musicians that meets annually at Belvoir Terrace in Lenox, Ma. She teaches at Belvoir Terrace camp for girls and is a board member at DAHA.
A versatile artist, violinist and violist ANAT MALKIN has performed as soloist, recitalist and chamber musician around the world. She embarked on her first international tour at the age of 10, and made her Carnegie Hall debut under the baton of Alexander Schneider at age sixteen. Some of the orchestras with whom she has soloed internationally include the Camerata Universidad Andrés Bello (Chile), Drammen Byorkester (Norway), Israel Chamber Orchestra, New York String Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmonica de Bogotá (Colombia), Orquesta Sinfonica de Salta (Argentina) and the Westchester Philharmonic. Performance broadcasts, interviews and articles about her have appeared in Asian, European, North and South American programs and press. An avid chamber musician and frequent guest artist, Ms. Malkin is presently a member of the New York based Piazzolla Trio. She is also a founding member of the prizewinning Malkin Duo. A graduate of the Juilliard School and the Maastricht Conservatorium, cum laude, Ms. Malkin serves on the violin and viola faculties of the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division as well as several international summer music festivals.
A graduate of the Juilliard School with BA and MA degrees and currently a DMA candidate at Stony Brook University, violist LIUH-WEN TING enjoys a fulfilling career as both a performer and teacher. An avid chamber musician, Liuh-Wen was a member of the Meridian String Quartet and has collaborated with many notable artists and ensembles across diverse genres. A proponent of contemporary music, she made her solo debut at Merkin Hall in 2001 for the "Interpretation Series" with five commissioned compositions based on elements of the I Ching. Her performance of Morton Feldman's "Viola in My Life IV" with the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra was praised by Czech Music 2001 as “an extraordinary experience.” She has been featured in festivals such as the Prague Spring Music Festival, Ostrava Days, Warsaw Autumn Music Festival, and the Primavera en la Habana International Electro-Acoustic Music Festival in Cuba. She has premiered and recorded many chamber and solo works for labels including Naxos, Mode, Capstone, and Albany, among others. In New York, she performs regularly with the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the American Composers Orchestra, and the SEM Ensemble. She was on the Solfege faculty of the Juilliard Prep Division for many years and currently serves as a viola faculty member at the Mannes School Prep Division, as well as at Vassar College.
ROBERT LA RUE, cello, was First Prize Winner of the National Society of Arts and Letters Cello Competition, whose jury chairman was Mstislav Rostropovich. Formerly the cellist of the New England String Quartet, Robert is a current member of the Sullivan String Quartet, the Alcott Trio, and the cello ensemble VC3. He plays regularly with the Phoenix Chamber Players at Manhattan’s Center for Jewish History, and has also been a guest of the Locrian Chamber Players and the Alaria Ensemble. He has performed as soloist with the Banff Festival Orchestra, the American Symphony Orchestra and orchestras in Seattle, Phoenix and Denver. He has served as visiting faculty at Yale University’s Summer Music School and has taught cello at Rutgers University. He has recorded for Arsis Audio and North Branch Records, and is currently completing a disc of works for solo cello by members of the American Composers Alliance. A graduate of Curtis, New England Conservatory, and Juilliard, he also attended Indiana University. His teachers included include David Soyer, Bernard Greenhouse, Janos Starker and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi.
Pianist ADAM KENT has performed in recital, as soloist with orchestra, and in chamber music on four continents. A winner of the American Pianists Association Fellowship and Simone Belsky Music Awards, Dr. Kent also received top prizes in the Thomas Richner, the Juilliard Concerto, and the Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Competitions, and is a recipient of the Arthur Rubinstein Prize and the Harold Bauer Award. His solo and chamber music recordings are available on the Bridge Claves, and Albany Record labels, and a recently released recording of the Pulitzer-Prize winning Cuban-American composer Tania León’s piano music has garnered rave reviews in the The New York Times, Fanfare Magazine, and elsewhere. Dr. Kent received a D.M.A. from The Juilliard School where his dissertation, “The Use of Catalan Folk Materials in the Works of Federico Mompou and Joaquin Nin-Culmell” received the school’s Richard F. French Award. His playing was praised in The New York Times for its “wonderful sense of authority and technical flair.” Dr. Kent is a Professor of Music at SUNY Oneonta and serves on the piano faculty of Manhattan School of Music's Precollege Division.
YOLANDA F. JOHNSON (soprano) has had an outstanding career as a performing artist and philanthropy thought leader; as a composer, as an educator, and as a supporter of the arts and women’s equity. She completed her bachelor’s degree in voice from the University of Tulsa and graduate studies in voice, and an M.A. in Arts Management with a philanthropy focus from The University of Akron. Yolanda has performed nationally and internationally in many musical venues including opera, concert, oratorio, and sacred music. She is an active recitalist/lecturer on several musical subjects, specifically spirituals as related to the Underground Railroad and the works of women composers. Yolanda has recorded an album of Spirituals, Feel the Spirit! and co-created Music She Wrote, a celebration of women composers, with colleagues, Dr. Brooke Bryant, and Dr. Michael Eisenberg. She also actively composes new sacred musical works. Yolanda made her New York City debut as Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and has performed in many venues and with various presenters across the country. Among the roles she has portrayed are: Magda Sorel in The Consul, Anita Hill in Ben Yarmolinsky’s Clarence and Anita with Underworld Productions Opera Outreach, Noemie in Massenet’s Cendrillon with New York Lyric Opera and Millie in Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed that Line to Freedom by Nkeiru Okoye. Yolanda has more than a decade of experience as a worship leader and church music director, and she has been a featured presenter at Performing the World International Performing Arts Conference. She was also on the voice and music composition faculty at the Mozartina Music Conservatory and is the Resident Soprano Soloist for Westchester Chamber Soloists. In 2024 she was the soloist for the world premieres of the orchestral arrangement of Florence Price’s Night along with the orchestral setting of spirituals by Moses Hogan. In May 2025, she will perform the world premiere of one of the last works by the late American composer, James Cohn, created specifically for her voice. In addition to her life as an artist, Yolanda is also a current International Advisory Board member of and the former Representative for the Foundation for Post-Conflict Development to the United Nations; her role with FPCD is to explore the impact of arts and culture as a means of rebuilding and healing for nations following war. She is also a member of the board of trustees of the Hudson River Museum, Special Advisor to the American Composers Orchestra, board of directors of PowHer NY, board of directors of the Lehman College Art Gallery and was the first African American President in the more than 40-year history of Women In Development, New York. Yolanda is also the Founder and President of YFJ Consulting, LLC and Founder of Women of Color in Fundraising and Philanthropy (WOC)®. She is a founding member of the Women’s Philanthropy Alliance, an elite group of eight women hand-selected to continue the legacy of Women’s Philanthropy pioneer, Kathleen Loehr, and was appointed to the National Council of the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at Indiana University Lilly School of Philanthropy. Yolanda also uses her performance career to engage audiences around the world for keynote addresses on various topics, including philanthropy, music and the arts, leadership, and inclusion. With her successful performance background as the basis, Yolanda created All the World’s A Stage, a workshop that uses performance practice for confidence building, public speaking, and making the ask for yourself both personally and professionally.
Pianist-composer MOSHE S. KNOLL has enjoyed a varied and successful career. He earned B.M. and M. M. degrees from The Juilliard School where he studied Piano with Herbert Stessin, William Masselos and Beveridge Webster, and Composition with David Diamond and Michael White. He received mentoring in piano and composition from Anthony Newman and Richard Danielpour. Knoll has appeared as recitalist and soloist with orchestra in the USA, the UK, Venezuela and Israel. Critic Tim Page of the New York Times wrote: “His interpretations emphasized musical structure, coming to most vivid life in the complex passages of the music…..played with appropriate authority”. Dr. Knoll holds a DMA degree from the University of Arizona, Tucson, where he studied composition with Robert Muczynski and piano with Ozan Marsh, who himself was linked to Dvořák through Professor Rubin Goldmark. Dr. Knoll won the Artist of the Year award in 1987, bestowed by the Pianists Foundation of America, in Tucson, AZ.
In the Western hemisphere, Dr. Knoll’s music has been heard in the USA, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. Elsewhere, his compositions have been heard in the UK, Spain, Germany, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Dr. Knoll composed part of the orchestral soundtrack for the documentary “God knows where I am” (2017) produced and directed by Todd and Jedd Wider, which was recorded by maestro Gregory Singer with the Manhattan Symphonie. Knoll's Chamber Cantata “Simplicity” for Soprano, Cello and Piano, set to texts by Henry David Thoreau, was recorded for Navona Records by the Ark Trio, with Allison Charney-Epstein, Soprano, Kajsa William-Olson, Cello, and Reiko Uchida, Piano.
In 2023 he composed music for “…a ballet for the new world” set to choreography by noted ballet master Pedro Ruiz. More than 80 of Knoll's compositions are published by Hal Leonard/Sheet Music Plus, and he is represented professionally by Professor Avguste Antonov, President of Elegy Artists Management. Dr. Knoll is also active as a teacher and arranger. His chamber transcription of Smetana’s iconic "Vltava" received its world premiere at Bohemian National Hall in NYC in DAHA's 2024 Spring Musicale, performed by a select ensemble of accomplished Juilliard alumni and students, under his own baton.
This event is organized by Laura Jean Goldberg, violinist and DAHA Music Advisor, with support of the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association.