For this first Printempo recital, Elias Rodriguez wanted to create a program that was visually and aurally engaging from beginning to end.
“So that each time that I returned to the stage, the audience had no idea what they were about to experience next. Each piece of music is so different from the last, in compositional style, genre, feeling, texture, and sound. From 20th century New York City jazz to a French prelude, Spanish and Brazilian songs, German avant garde, Jewish/Klezmer folk music, and German Romantic. From works for clarinet and piano, to works with guitar, string quartet, and even bass clarinet and accordion. The musical journey is geographical, historical, and also a personal one. I am sharing the stage with all of my friends that I have made in Paris, after I had moved from New York. So I’m opening the recital with a New York City staple followed by a Parisian one: Gershwin’s Three Preludes and Debussy’s Girl with the Flaxen Hair. The evening will close with a performance of one of the most beautiful, profound, and emotional pieces ever written, Johannes Brahm’s Quintet in B minor for clarinet and strings.” –Elias Rodriguez
Free admission by reservation:
The Program
New York City, United States of America, 1926
George Gershwin (1898-1937)
Three Preludes adapted by James Cohn for clarinet and piano
I. Allegro ben ritmato e deciso
II. Andante con moot e poco rubato
III. Allegro ben ritmato e deciso
Elias Rodriguez, clarinet & Clement Huber, piano
Paris, France, 1909/10
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Girl with the Flaxen Hair
Elias Rodriguez, clarinet & Clement Huber, piano
Berlin, Germany, 1993
Jörg Widmann (b. 1973)
Fantaisie for clarinet solo
Elias Rodriguez, clarinet
Brazil, 1938/45
Heitor Villa Lobos (1887-1959)
Bachianas Brasilerias, No. 5
Elias Rodriguez, clarinet & Sergio Herrera, guitar
Spain, 1912
Manuel De Falla (1876-1946)
“Nana” from Siete Canciones Populares Españolas
Elias Rodriguez, bass clarinet & Luis Gerardo Per-Meg, accordion
Hungary/Israel, 2004
Béla Kovács (b. 1937)
Sholem-alekhem, rov Feidman!
Elias Rodriguez, clarinet & Clement Huber, piano
Germany, 1891
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Quintet for clarinet & cords in B mineur, opus 115
I. Allegro
II. Adagio
III. Andantino, Presto non assai, ma con sentimento
IV. Con moto
Elias Rodriguez, clarinet, Dhyani Heath, violin, Claudine Rippe, violin, Jossalyn Jensen, viola & Andrew Briggs, cello
The Musicians
Mexican-American clarinetist, Elias Rodriguez made his national solo debut at the age of 16, after performing on a live broadcast of NPR’s « From the Top. » He is an alumnus of The Orchestra Now, a distinguished pre-professional orchestra comprised of graduate musicians from around the world as well as a recipient of a three year full-tuition scholarship to Bard College, where he completed a Master’s Degree in Curatorial, Critical and Performance Studies. Elias has been invited to teach and perform in international music festivals throughout the Americas and Europe. Recent engagements include concert performances at the Grafenegg Festival in Austria, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center in New York City, teaching masterclasses in Cali, Colombia, and performing Weber’s 1st Clarinet Concerto on WMHT Radio New York. Elias has been praised for his « smooth acrobatic tone, fierce finesse » and « virtuosic dynamics. » (Millbrook Independent) and can be heard on the Hyperion Records label, and in the documentary film, « Forte, » scheduled to release January 2019. Recent awards include semi-finalist in the 2017 Matthew Ruggiero International Clarinet Competition, Honorable Mention in the 2018 USA Harold Wright National Clarinet Competition, and finalist in the 2016 Phoenix Symphony clarinet audition. Elias has a Master of Music degree in Clarinet Performance from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Music Education from Baylor University. He is a recipient of the 2018-2019 Harriet Hale Woolley Scholarship and was awarded an artist residency at the Fondation des États-Unis in Paris, France. He is a candidate of the Cycle D’Execution Professionel Superieur at L’Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris. Elias is a fluent English, Spanish, and French speaker.
Originally from Colorado, Andrew Briggs completed a master’s degree in cello performance at the prestigious Juilliard School. Open to all genres, he performs Baroque to contemporary style, and has had the opportunity to practice his talents internationally. Andrew has been a featured soloist at the Aspen Music Festival, the Amsterdam Cello Biennale, and the Holland Music Sessions; an Artist in Residence at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh; a member of Axiom Contemporary Ensemble, the Madison Bach Musicians, and the Colorado Symphony; and a guest artist at music series in Chicago, New York, and Paris. Andrew is a recipient of the 2018-2019 Harriet Hale Woolley Scholarship.
American violinist Dhyani Heath was born in 1994. At age three, she started her musical education on the piano. Inspired by the singing quality of the violin sound, she started playing the violin at age seven. She is equally passionate about solo, chamber, and orchestral music. At a young age, she was concertmaster of several youth orchestras, and has won first prizes in solo and chamber music competitions at various music festivals. Most recently she has performed as a soloist with the Orquestra de Cámara Galega at the Festival Groba 2016, and in several recitals in collaboration with pianist Pinchas Antal in Canada and USA. She has also performed in Austria and Germany. Dhyani Heath has studied with Pavel Feldman in Montreal, Canada, and with Prof. Igor Ozim and Wonji Kim-Ozim at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, Austria, where she has completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in June 2016. She has received her masters in music from the Yale School of Music under the tutelage of Prof. Hyo Kang in 2018, and is now continuing her studies at the CNSMDP with Prof. Michael Hentz.
Clément Huber obtained a unanimous prize from the jury in his conservatory in 2014 and continues his studies of music under Michel Gaechter. He received his Bachelor’s degree with honors in piano performance and was admitted to a master’s degree program in the class of Jean-Baptiste Fonlupt. He is the winner of the 2015 American Scholarship, awarded a live concert on Radio Accent 4, and is pursuing international projects in chamber music, improvisation and with great repertory. In 2018, Clement entered the École Normale de Musique de Paris in the class of Philippe Bianconi.
Jossalyn Jensen, American violist, began playing music at the age of four. Her solo debut with orchestra was at the age of 9 and she has since appeared in concert across the United States and in Europe. She completed her studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music and The Juilliard School where she was a recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Artist Award. Ms. Jensen continues post-graduate work in Paris, France at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique and as a Fellow at the Fondation des États Unis. She was honored to spend her summer this year in the academies of the Verbier Festival and the Lucerne Festival. She is a laureate of the 2016-2017 Fulbright Grant.
After studying at the Conservatoire Hector Berlioz in Paris, Claudine Rippe continued her studies at the Hochschule fur Musik Saar in the class of David Grimal and Joshua Epstein. She has performed in various orchestras such as the Orchester des Laureates of the Conservatoire, the Orchester Régional de Tours, the Mannheimer Philharmoniker, among others. Passionate about chamber music, she regularly performs in various ensembles ranging from duet with piano to the chamber orchestra