American baritone Sanford Sylvan’s radiantly pure, lyric tone, clarity of diction, and profound understanding of words and music speak directly and intimately to his audience. He and his long-time collaborator, pianist David Breitman, have performed extensively throughout the United States and Europe. Their recitals and recordings have earned exceptional praise as well as three Grammy nominations for Best Classical Vocal Performance.

The Glass Hammer, the secondary title of which is Scenes from childhood kept against forgetting from the poems by Andrew Hudgins, is a song cycle that composer Jorge Martin based upon 15 poems from Hudgins’ book of the same name. In his review of Sylvan and Breitman’s performance of the work at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C., Ronald Broun of The Washington Post wrote: "Sylvan exhausted himself and the audience in a sweeping performance that delivered every subtlety, every declamation, every sad, ironic twist of words and music. Pianist Breitman showered the hall with sonic shards of broken glass, with skittering, asymmetric rhythmic projectiles, with stabbing repeated notes laden with pain, with gospel and honky-tonk piano that did not so much suggest experience as embody it."

Complementing the program is Maurice Ravel’s song cycle, set to texts by Jules Renard.

Fifty years ago, on March 2, 1953, in Oberlin’s Finney Chapel, the legendary Dave Brubeck Quartet recorded, live and in concert, what would become a landmark album: Jazz at Oberlin. Gary Giddins wrote in The Village Voice that Jazz at Oberlin "would make many short lists of the decade’s outstanding albums. On that session, … Brubeck is wonderfully, stubbornly quirky, increasing the tension before springing the release…. his novel style engendered surprise." The distinctive harmonic approach that Brubeck employed with Paul Desmond on alto saxophone, Lloyd Davis on drums, and Ron Crotty on bass–and their daring improvised contrapuntal choruses–caused a stir in the jazz world, launching what later became known as "West Coast" or "cool" jazz. From that time forward, Brubeck and his quartet played in jazz clubs in major cities, toured with such artists as Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, and Gerry Mulligan, repeatedly won top honors in the Down Beat reader’s polls, and recorded prolifically. In recognition of his ongoing contribution to jazz, Brubeck received a Jazz Master’s Award from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1999. He has also received the National Medal of the Arts from the NEA in a White House ceremony. He has been honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for his musical contributions over the past half century, both as pianist and composer. The current quartet includes Bobby Militello on sax and flute, Randy Jones on drums, and Michael Moore on bass.

Works by Bach, Bartôk, Beethoven, Chausson, Corelli, and Wieniawski

One of the most venerated musicians of our time, Ida Haendel typifies the great tradition of violin playing, evolving from her early work with such celebrated pedagogues as Carl Flesch and Georges Enesco. Since her spectacular London debut at the age of 8 at a Proms concert under the direction of Sir Henry Wood, her career has been distinguished by a succession of triumphs in concert halls the world over. Critics unreservedly praise her masterful technique and searching musicality; Richard Dyer of The Boston Globe wrote: "Fresh, youthful inspiration still animates everything Haendel does . . . . She plays the notes with such simplicity, directness and emotional force that they tear your heart out." Haendel records primarily for the EMI, Decca, and Testament labels; her 2000 recording for the Decca label of works for violin and piano with Vladimir Askenazy was awarded France’s coveted Diapason d’or.

A regular guest of the Berlin Philharmonic Chamber Music Series and many European chamber music festivals, Walter Delahunt is in great demand as a chamber musician and has performed with some of the world’s leading artists. A native of Nova Scotia, his performing career has taken him across Canada, the United States, North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. He has taught at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, the Banff School of Fine Arts in Alberta, Canada, and the Vienna Academy of Music. His most recent recordings feature the piano music of Ravel, Debussey, and Martinu.

Works by Allegri, Philip de Monte, and Palestrina

The Tallis Scholars, founded in 1973 by their director, Peter Phillips, have established themselves as leading exponents of Renaissance sacred music; their exploration of the depth and variety of this repertoire has reached a worldwide audience. The ensemble creates, through good tuning and blend, the purity and clarity that best serves the Renaissance repertoire, allowing every detail of the musical lines to be heard, and resulting in a beauty of sound for which they have become renowned. The Chicago Tribune calls theirs "an almost perfect blend . . . a thrilling and otherworldly sound." They perform in sacred and secular venues; in 1994 they performed in the Sistine Chapel to mark the restoration of Michelangelo’s frescoes. In 1998 they performed in London’s National Gallery, premiering a commissioned John Tavener work with Sting as narrator; in 2000 they performed with Sir Paul McCartney. Much of their pioneering reputation comes from their association with Gimell Records, established specifically to record them. In 1994 Phillips and the ensemble performed on the 400^th anniversary of the death of Palestrina in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome, where Palestrina had trained as a choirboy and later worked as Maestro di Cappella. Gimell recorded the concerts, which are available on video and CD. Other recordings have attracted many awards, including Gramophone magazine’s Record of the Year award, the only early music recording ever to be so honored.

Works by Beethoven, Bernstein, and Piston

Long considered one of America’s great orchestras, The Cleveland Orchestra stands today among the world’s most-revered symphonic ensembles. Music Director Franz Welser-Möst rose to international fame as a conductor in 1986, when he made his debut with the London Philharmonic. He works regularly with the Vienna Philharmonic and served as music director of the Zurich Opera from 1995 to 2002. The 2003-04 season marks Welser-Möst’s second as music director of The Cleveland Orchestra; his appointment was announced in 1999 and he made his debut with the orchestra in 1993. "Welser-Möst walked out and ignited a happy riot in the audience," wrote The New Yorker magazine. "The orchestra was aglow and alive, sounding as fine as I have ever heard it."

Works by Beethoven, Christos Hatzis, and Mendelssohn

One of North America’s foremost piano trios ("[They] play with strength and unanimity," John Henken, The Los Angeles Times), the Gryphon Trio (violinist Annalee Patipatanakoon, cellist Roman Borys, and pianist James Parker) regularly tours throughout Canada and the United States and has also performed in Germany, France, Belgium, Russia, Poland, and Finland. The ensemble’s recent release of Mendelssohn’s C minor trio is destined, writes Le Devoir, "to become an indispensable reference." Ensemble—in-residence at the Music Toronto Chamber Music Series since 1998, the trio’s members also teach on the string faculty at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto (Patipatanakoon and Borys) and at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario (Parker). Violinist Patipatanakoon and cellist Borys currently perform on the 1717 Windsor-Weinstein Stradivarius violin and the 1824 McConnell-Gagliano cello, instruments on loan from the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank.

Works by Chopin, Haydn, Mozart/Liszt, Schubert, Schumann, and Tan Dun

Celebrated in all the music capitals of the world, Lang Lang–at age 21–has demonstrated an extraordinary ability to connect with audiences on a deeply personal level, establishing himself as one of the most exciting and moving pianists of our time. Since his astonishing and masterful last-minute substitution for an indisposed André Watts at the Ravinia Festival in 1999, Lang Lang has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras. The Chicago Tribune’s John von Rhein called him "a phenomenal talent." Lang Lang made his sold-out Carnegie Hall debut in April 2001 to great critical acclaim with the Baltimore Symphony and Yuri Temirkanov. His many international awards include the Tchaikovsky International Young Musicians Competition and the Leonard Bernstein Award, in honor of his distinguished musical talents. Lang Lang has made two recordings for Telarc Records.

Works by Gordon Fitzell, Stephen Mackey, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez,
D.J. Sparr, and Chen Yi

Hailed as ambassadors of new music, eighth blackbird is acclaimed for its astounding musical versatility as well as for its dedication to the works of today’s composers. Formed in 1996 at the Oberlin Conservatory, the ensemble has compiled numerous awards, including the prestigious Naumburg Chamber Music Award and both the 1998 and 2000 CMA/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming. Currently ensemble-in-residence at Northwestern University and the University of Chicago, eighth blackbird has released two CDs: Round Nut Tool in 1999 and, out this year, thirteen ways for Cedille Records. The San Francisco Chronicle calls the secret of the ensemble’s success "exhilaratingly simple: New music is fun. It’s exciting, provocative, stimulating, and refreshing–all the things we typically associate with the new, but too rarely with contemporary music."

ABQ editions of the Renaissance music of William Brade,
recently recorded Civil War brass music
from the library of the 26^th North Carolina Regimental Band,
and a major new commissioned work

The American Brass Quintet’s 1960 debut marked the beginning of an international concert career that includes performances on major concert series in all 50 states and tours throughout Europe, Central and South America, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. Newsweek magazine calls them "the high priests of brass." The ABQ’s more than 45 recordings represent the largest body of serious brass chamber music ever recorded by one ensemble.

All programs and artists are subject to change.