PSC Fun Stories #5 - Play Ball or Play Violin?

Hi PSC Family,

We hope that you've been enjoying the fascinating PSC stories that we've been sharing as we prepare for our historic 125th season! So far we've highlighted the generational legacy of the violinists, quartets and pianists that have played for us over the years. Today we have an unusual familial connection between the worlds of classical music and sports!

Frank personally tells us about an early PSC performer, Albert Spalding; a world class violinist of the day, who also served in both World Wars and was a wartime aide to then Congressman, Fiorello La Guardia! His uncle was a Hall of Fame pitcher, who started the famed Spalding Sporting Goods Company with Albert's Dad, but the violin not the family business was his passion.

Spalding played two D Major concertos at Carnegie Hall for PSC - Mozart’s Violin Concerto #4, K. 218 and Beethoven’s Violin Concerto Op. 61. After the First World War, PSC moved downtown to Washington Irving High School and began focusing on presenting chamber music and recitals over symphony concerts.

As well as playing the great classical concertos, Spalding also gave the premiere of Barber’s Violin Concerto in 1941.

The Barber concerto is a favorite of one of today’s virtuoso violinists, Augustin Hadelich. He returns to PSC in 24-25 to perform Bach Partitas, Ysaye, David Lang, and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson. There will be more dazzling violin playing from Danbi Um, Soovin Kim, longtime PSC artist Jaime Laredo and the members of the Juilliard, Takács, Dover, Elias and Calder Quartets.

To see more of the many accomplished violinists who have performed for PSC over the years, check out the list here!

PSC Fun Stories #4 - The Best Pianists of their day played for PSC

Hi PSC Family,
 
Our delving into the history of Peoples' Symphony Concerts, as we are about to celebrate our 125th season, has yielded memorable stories and generational connections about the legendary artists who have played for us in the past. Today we look at the instrument that is many peoples' favorite - the piano.

Among the pianists who played for us in the early years was the Polish pianist Mieczyslaw Munz, a student of Ferruccio Busoni.  A sought-after soloist into the 1940s, he appeared with the “Big Five” regularly, under such conductors as Koussevitsky, Walter, Reiner, until a hand injury ended his performing career. 

His career and influence continued as a teacher. Some 50 years after Munz played with PSC, his student Emanuel Ax made his own PSC debut. And the legacy continued 40 years later still, when in 2019 Ax’s student Shai Wosner became our invaluable Resident Artist.

Since 2019, Wosner has performed captivating concerts at PSC, including two remarkable commissioning projects. He returns to the Salomon Series in the 24-25 season, in recital with the great lieder singer Benjamin Appl, in a program of Schubert and a new work by David Lang to celebrate the centenary of the iconic Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.

Many of the best pianists of their day played for PSC and you can check out a list of them here!

PSC Fun Stories #3 - And This Is My Beloved

Did you know that in the early 1900s, string quartets would play only the most accessible movements of Beethoven, Mozart and other great composers?  American audiences were still in the early years of experiencing classical music. 

It was an ensemble that played for PSC in 1915-1916 - the Kneisel Quartet - that was among the first to play programs with complete works.  The Kneisel also holds the distinction of giving the first U.S. performances of the Brahms Second, Dvořák "American," and Ravel and Debussy Quartets,  which have all become among the most popular works in the literature.

Another important ensemble, that first played for PSC in 1917-1918, was the Flonzaley Quartet, one of the very first string quartets to make recordings.  The Flonzaley was so highly regarded that they played over 100 concerts in the U.S. per season, in each of the twenty-seven years that they were together. 

While, understandably, the sound is not what we are used to these days, we thought that you would enjoy the Quartet playing the Nocturne from Borodin's String Quartet No. 2.  The melody became the hit song And This Is My Beloved in the Broadway show Kismet and a chart-topper for beloved tenor Mario Lanza. 

The Kneisel, the Flonzaley, and the many quartets that came after them helped to establish the high standard and popularity of string quartet concerts at PSC that continues to this day. The 125th season includes the Takacs, Juilliard, Dover, Elias and Calder Quartets, with the latter two making their first appearances on the series.

For a list of the many distinctive artists that have played for us over the years, click here!

PSC Fun Stories #2-Gershwin's Tribute to PSC Violinists

As PSC is about to celebrate its’ 125th season of providing the best music at affordable prices to music-lovers on a limited budget, we continue to find all sorts of fascinating stories in our history, that we’ll share with you as part of our PSC Storytelling series.

Today we have our second installment, uncovering a through link tying generations of PSC quartets and violinists all the way to celebrated American composer, George Gershwin.

Arnold Steinhardt, first violinist of the Guarneri Quartet, was taught by Toscha Seidel, who played for PSC in the 1934-1935 season. Other performers that season were the Budapest String Quartet, who continued to play for PSC annually for over 40 years. Seidel presented many solo recitals with PSC, and was immortalized alongside another PSC performer, Sascha Jacobsen of the Musical Arts Quartet, and two other great Russian virtuosos, Mischa Elman and Jascha Heifeitz, in a song by none other than George Gershwin!!

In 1934, Toscha Seidel performed at PSC, both solo and with the Budapest Quartet. Sasha Jacobsen also performed that year, with the Musical Art Quartet.

The connection from 1933 to today continues with The Dover Quartet, PSC’s first Resident Artist, "One of the greatest quartets of the last 100 years" (BBC), they were mentored by the Guarneri quartet, who in turn had been mentored by the Budapest Quartet,

The Dover Quartet returns in the 24-25 season, along with the Takacs, Juilliard, Elias and Calder Quartets, with the latter two making their first appearances on the series.

Throughout our 125 year history, chamber music has been at the heart of PSC and we are proud of our legacy of intergenerational music making. For a list of the many string quartets who have performed for us over the years, click here!

Photo Credit: Advertising image for the Budapest String Quartet's recordings on the Columbia Masterworks Records label, printed in ''Life'' (volume 16, number 25), page 45

PSC Fun Stories #1 - America’s First Internationally Recognized Violinist.

We recently realized that Peoples’ Symphony Concerts has been bringing the joy of great music to folks of modest means for more than half the life of this country!

As PSC is about to celebrate its’ 125th season of providing the best music at affordable prices to music-lovers on a limited budget, we continue to find all sorts of fascinating stories in our history, that we’ll share with you as part of our PSC Storytelling series
 
110 years ago, one of our early stars was the first American violinist to receive international acclaim and be hailed as one of the greatest artists at the turn of the century- a young woman from Peru, Illinois, named Maud Powell. 

A truly remarkable woman, she was an advocate for women, contemporary music and composers of color, commissioning a concerto from Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.  She gave the U.S. premieres of the Tchaikovsky and Sibelius Concertos, which remain among the most popular violin concertos to this day!

Maud Powell is just one of many in PSC’s 125 year legacy of presenting many of the world’s greatest artists that continues to this day! See the a list of some of those great artists here!