Four members of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra — violinists Tereza Stanislav and Sarah Thornblade, violist Rob Brophy and cellist Trevor Handy — will perform Johann Sebastian Bach’s masterpiece, Art of Fugue, BWV 1080, in Bridges Hall of Music (150 E. Fourth St., Claremont) at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015. The recital is free with open seating.
This performance gives these musicians their first opportunity to work together as a quartet, something they have longed to do. When asked why they chose Bach’s Art of Fugue, Thornblade replied, “This is a project that has been on all of our bucket lists, as none of us has had the opportunity to take this amazing journey. And then to have the opportunity to perform this work — which already feels like being inside perfect sonic structures — in Little Bridges is incredibly inspiring. We can already anticipate these gorgeous sonorities in that fantastic acoustic space.” She continues, “For me, I have admired and poured over Bach’s three fugues for solo violin, but his seemingly limitless creativity with a single fugue theme through this work is awe-inspiring.”
The Art of the Fugue was one of Bach’s last works and remained unfinished at his death. It is one of three monothematic large-scale instrumental pieces from his late period of compositions; the others are the Goldberg Variations and a Musical Offering. There are different theories as to why Art of the Fugue was left incomplete: some say it was because he died before finishing it (but just after introducing a fugue theme which uses pitches spelling his name); and others think he left it unfinished to inspire future composers to take up his exploration of the form of the fugue. Its intended instrumentation is unknown, and is most often played on the keyboard. The score is primarily laid out as a four-voice score — a very natural conversion to string quartet – has a long and rich tradition of performances by string quartets.
Stanislav, assistant concertmaster of the LACO, divides her time among chamber, solo, orchestral and recording projects. Hailed for “ her sweet tone, brilliant phrasing, uncannily pointed rhythm and pure intonation” (Huffington Post) and for her “musical intelligence” (Calgary Herald), she was the featured soloist with the LACO in the world premiere of Benjamin Wallfisch’s Violin Concerto. An active and highly sought after chamber musician, she has appeared in venues including the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall and at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. She has performed in concert with artists including Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Jon Kimura Parker. An advocate for new music, Tereza has worked with composers including Steve Reich, Gunther Schuller, Joan Tower, Toshio Hosokawa and Louis Andriessen. She is featured on a new recording of Wolfgang’s Rolling Hills and Jagged Ridges on Albany Records, Reich’s Daniel Variations on Nonesuch, a self-released solo CD with Hung-Kuan Chen and the complete Pleyel string quartets with the Ensō Quartet on Nonesuch.
Thornblade, associate principal second violin of the LACO, first joined the ensemble in 1999. The Los Angeles Times describes her playing as “rapturously winning” and the Santa Barbara News writes that she is a “marvelously versatile violinist.” She is a member of the Eclipse Quartet, an ensemble dedicated to performing 20th century and contemporary music, and with them has premiered works by Peter Garland, Chico Mello, Stephen Cohn and Zeena Parkins, and has received an Aaron Copland Fund recording grant. She has also performed with Camerata Pacifica, Jacaranda Music and Auros Group for New Music (Boston), as well as performed throughout the country and abroad at festivals including the Tanglewood, Spoleto, Oregon Bach and Banff music festivals. She has collaborated with artists such as Gilbert Kalish, Jeffery Kahane, Andres Cardenes, Randall Hodgkinson and Warren Jones. Thornblade is on the faculty of Pomona College and is also an active recording musician for film and television.
Brophy, in addition to being a violist with the LACO since 2011, can be seen and heard playing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, LA Opera and many West Coast chamber music series. He is featured with Nigel Kennedy in a quartet for Kennedy’s new release Greatest Hits on the EMI label and has performed alongside Martha Argerich, Mischa Maisky, Michel Dalberto and Dmitri Sitkovetsky. An advocate for new music and former member of the Ensō Quartet, Brophy has worked with many leading composers of the 20th and 21st centuries, including Joan Tower, William Bolcom, Tan Dun and Bernard Rands. During his tenure with Ensō, the quartet earned its place in the ensemble world with multiple honors at the 2004 Banff International String Quartet Competition, including best performance of the pièce de concert, for the quartet’s riveting performance of Stewart Grant’s String Quartet No. 2. It also won awards at the 2003 Concert Artists Guild International, the Fischoff National Chamber Music and the Chamber Music Yellow Springs competitions. In Los Angeles, he is a member of the New Hollywood String Quartet, which recently became quartet-in-residence at South Pasadena Library’s Restoration Concert Series.
Handy, LACO cellist since 2002, enjoys an active career as a freelance musician in Los Angeles. He is also principal cellist of the Santa Barbara Symphony and performs with ensembles such as the LA Philharmonic, LA Opera, in various chamber music series, at festivals and as a studio musician. He has presented recitals and chamber music concerts, and been a member of orchestras across the country, including the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and the Honolulu and Jacksonville symphonies. A former member of the New York-based Griffon String Quartet, he won the grand prize at the 1991 Fischoff National Chamber Music. A native of Boston, Handy made his solo debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and at The Juilliard School studied and played Baroque cello. He spent summers at Aspen and Tanglewood, as well as in Switzerland at Yehudi Menuhin’s Summer Academy. He teaches at Westmont College.
The concert is sponsored by the Music Department at Pomona College, and is a special Centennial Celebration concert in honor of Bridges Hall of Music’s 100th anniversary.