The document provides information about a student showcase concert featuring performances by students at the University of Colorado Boulder College of Music. The concert will take place on November 7, 2016 at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and will include a variety of solo and chamber works for various instruments performed by graduate and undergraduate students. The program notes provide biographies of the student performers and background information on the musical works to be performed.

1. Student Showcase
8 p.m. Monday, November 7, 2016
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall
University of Colorado Boulder

2. Since its founding in 1920, the University of Colorado Boulder College of Music
has established itself as one of the top university music programs in the United
States. With its award-winning faculty of professional performers, composers and
scholars, the College of Music links tradition with innovation in its curricula.
The college’s distinctive combination of core educational programs with
professional experiences prepares students for success. Courses covering
virtually all areas of music are accessible through several undergraduate and
graduate degrees in more than 23 fields of study and elective certificates in music
technology and entrepreneurship.
Ensemble experiences include a full complement of concert and jazz bands,
choirs and symphonic orchestras as well as chamber groups, pioneering world
music ensembles and a state-of-the-art laptop orchestra. The College of Music
presents more than 400 musical events to the public each year, ranging from fully
staged operas to early and new music performances.
The rich resources of a leading research university, providing students access
to the liberal arts and numerous interdisciplinary opportunities, enhance this
intensive musical training. With 300 undergraduate and 250 graduate students,
the College of Music boasts a faculty-to-student ratio of approximately one
faculty member for every six students. This close interaction inspires and equips
students to develop their talents, refine their passions and ultimately succeed in
their professional endeavors.
For more information, please visit colorado.edu/music

3. Fanfare for Barcs Kerry Turner
(b. 1960)
Colorado Cor
Jason Friedman, Jordan Miller, Magdalene Rickard, Cort Roberts
Transcendental Étude No. 11 in D-flat “Harmonies du Soir” Franz Liszt
(1811-1886)
Grace Burns, piano
Fantasie Jörg Widmann
(b. 1973)
Kellan Toohey, clarinet
Grand Duo Concertant, Op. 48 Carl Maria von Weber
II. Andante con moto (1786-1826)
III. Rondo
Kellan Toohey, clarinet
Cecilia Lo-Chien Kao, piano
Auf dem Strom Franz Schubert
(1797-1828)
Michael Hoffman, tenor
Benjamin Anderson, horn
Emily Alley, piano
Intermission
through fog JP Merz
(b. 1992)
String Quartet in A minor, Op. 13 Felix Mendelssohn
II. Adagio non lento (1809-1847)
String Quartet No. 9 in E flat major, Op. 117 Dmitri Shostakovich
V. Allegro (1906-1975)
Altius Quartet
Joshua Ulrich, violin
Andrew Giordano, violin
Andrew Krimm, viola
Zachary Reaves, cello
Program

4. About the Performers
Emily Alley, born in Worcester, Massachusetts, is
a doctoral candidate in collaborative piano at the
University of Colorado Boulder, where she studies
with Margaret McDonald and Alexandra Nguyen. She
graduated with a master’s degree in collaborative
piano from Bowling Green State University in Ohio,
where she won first place in the 2014 Conrad Art
Song Competition and received the Virginia Marks
Collaborative Piano Award. As an undergraduate
in music education at Susquehanna University in
Pennsylvania, she was the recipient of the Herb-
Deibler Award, given to an outstanding pianist. She
has played with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s
Civic Youth Ensembles and performed chamber
music at Niigata University in Japan. In 2015, she
was a fellow at the Music Academy of the West in
Santa Barbara, California.
Altius Quartet is an ensemble determined to further
the art of chamber music through performance,
education and outreach. Deriving their name from the
Olympic motto Citius, Altius, Fortius (Latin for Faster,
Higher, Stronger), Altius strives to communicate their
vision of conveying art to a more diverse audience
and engaging directly with the community. Hailed
as “rich” and “captivating” by the renowned music
blog “I Care If You Listen,” the Altius Quartet is
garnering an international reputation and enrapturing
the hearts of audiences through their charisma
and dynamism. Altius has been awarded prizes
at many internationally respected competitions,
including the 2016 Alice and Eleonore Schoenfeld
International String Competition, the 2014 Fischoff
National Chamber Music Competition, the 2014
Coleman Chamber Music Competition and the 2013
Plowman Chamber Music Competition. Formed in
2011 at Southern Methodist University Meadows
School of the Arts, Altius currently holds the position
as Fellowship String Quartet in Residence at the
University of Colorado Boulder, where they are
mentored by the Takács Quartet.
Benjamin Anderson, horn, is currently in the
third year of his doctoral studies at the University
of Colorado Boulder and is a student of Michael
Thornton. Anderson is a member of the University
of Colorado Boulder Graduate Brass Quintet, a
teaching assistant for the CU Boulder horn studio,
an active teacher and freelancer in the Boulder/
Denver area and frequent performer with the Fort
Collins Symphony in Fort Collins, Colorado. During
the 2014-2015 academic year, he was the adjunct
horn instructor at both the Howard W. Blake School
of the Arts and Henry B. Plant High School in Tampa,
Florida. Anderson completed a master of music at
Northwestern University, where he studied with
Gail Williams and Jonathan Boen, and a bachelor
of music at the Colburn School, where he was a
student of David Jolley and David Krehbiel.
A musician with widely ranging interests, Grace
Burns is equally at comfort with standard piano
repertoire as she is with experimental music. Burns
is currently pursuing a master’s degree at the
University of Colorado Boulder, where she studies
with David Korevaar. Previously, she graduated
magna cum laude from Rice University with a degree
in piano performance, where she studied with Jeanne
Kierman Fischer. She has performed for a large variety
of master clinicians in both solo and chamber music,
including Richard Goode, John Perry, Paul Kantor
and Howard Karp. Recent performances include the
Pendulum New Music concert series, Jim Simmons’
rock-inspired fusion performance Deep unto Deep,
Midsummer Variations premiere in Houston and solo
recitals in Texas and her home state of Colorado.
Burns is also a member of the Meraki Trio, a piano-
flute-viola ensemble dedicated to expanding the
repertoire for their uncommon instrumentation. The
trio has commissioned and performed nine new
works thanks to a generous grant from the Friends of
Flutes Foundation. In recognition of this work, Rice
University granted Burns the graduation honor of
Distinction in Research and Creative Work.
Jason Friedman is a horn player from Boulder,
Colorado. He is a student of Michael Thornton and will
graduate with a degree in music performance in 2018.
Friedman has a passion for performing orchestral,
chamber and solo music. He has performed with
the Colorado Symphony and Colorado College
Festival Orchestra and received a Kaplan Fellowship
for woodwind quintet performance at the Bowdoin
International Music Festival. Friedman also recently

5. competed in the final round of the Jefferson
Symphony International Young Artist Competition.
Michael Hoffman, tenor, is currently in the third
year of the Master of Music in Vocal Performance
program at the University of Colorado Boulder.
He earned a Bachelor of Music Degree in Vocal
Performance at the University of Minnesota. Since
moving to Colorado, Hoffman has appeared in
numerous performances including Ferrando in the
Eklund Opera Program’s 2015 production of Mozart’s
Così fan tutte, Spoletta in the Colorado Symphony’s
production of Puccini’s Tosca, Jacey Squires in the
Colorado Symphony’s production of Wilson’s The
Music Man, Martin in Copland’s The Tender Land with
the Eklund Opera Program and Alfredo in the Eklund
Opera Program’s Die Fledermaus. After spending two
intensive summers at the Franz Schubert Institute in
Baden bei Wien, Austria, Hoffman found his greatest
passions to be in German Lieder repertoire.
Taiwanese pianist Cecilia Lo-Chien Kao enjoys
wide varieties of performance ranging from
chamber music, opera and orchestral ensembles
to choral music. She joined the collaborative staff
of the prestigious Meadowmount School of Music
in Westport, New York, in the summer of 2015.
She previously worked as a staff accompanist at
the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State
University and the Townsend School of Music at
Mercer University in Georgia, where she collaborated
with students of the Robert McDuffie Center for
Strings and earned an artist diploma in collaborative
piano. Kao is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical
Arts degree in Collaborative Piano at the University
of Colorado Boulder, where she was awarded a
teaching assistantship. She currently studies with
Margaret McDonald and Alexandra Nguyen. Kao is
an alumna of the Aspen Music Festival and School,
Music Academy of the West and Amelia Island
Chamber Music Festival in Florida. She is the first
pianist to earn a Master of Arts degree in Collaborative
Piano from National Taiwan Normal University in
Taipei, where she also earned a bachelor’s degree
in solo piano. Kao earned a second master’s degree
in collaborative piano at the University of Texas at
Austin, where she studied with Anne Epperson.
JP Merz is a composer and sound artist who works
with classical, jazz and rock musicians, as well as
improvisers, dancers, electrical engineers, internet
researchers, programming languages and robots.
His recent work explores intimate, emotion-driven
and kinesthetic experiences of sound. Merz’s
compositions have been performed by members
of the JACK Quartet, Altius Quartet, Playground
Ensemble, Iowa Center for New Music and Colorado
Music Festival Orchestra at places such as the
Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison
New Music Festival, San Francisco Fringe Festival,
the Artists’ Cooperative Residency and Exhibitions
(ACRE), the Abrons Arts Center, record stores
and living rooms. In addition to composing, Merz
performs on electric viola, guitar and electronics
with an eclectic variety of groups ranging from new
music/improvisational ensembles to folk-rock bands.
He recently moved from Colorado to Minnesota.
Jordan Miller, horn, is a graduate student at the
University of Colorado Boulder, where she studies
with Michael Thornton. She has performed with
ensembles across Colorado including the Colorado
Symphony Orchestra, Boulder Chamber Orchestra,
and Colorado Mahlerfest. Miller spent the summer
of 2016 at the Aspen Music Festival and School as
a recipient of the Lois & Harold Price Foundation
Scholarship. She has also attended music festivals
including the Colorado College Summer Music
Festival, Summer Music Institute at the Kennedy
Center, Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival and
Bar Harbor Brass Week. Miller earned a Bachelor
of Music degree in Horn Performance with highest
honors at the University of Michigan, where she
studied with Adam Unsworth.
Magdalene Rickard is a horn player from Golden,
Colorado. She is currently pursuing bachelor
degrees in horn performance and music education at
the University of Colorado Boulder. Rickard recently
returned from a one-year position as 2nd/4th horn
with the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra in Bosnia-
Herzegovina, where she performed a variety of
opera, ballet and symphonic repertoire. She has also
performed with the Eastern Music Festival Faculty
Orchestra, the Colorado Air Force Brass Quintet
and other ensembles throughout Colorado. Rickard
intends to combine her passion for performance,
teaching and travel to create a diverse, lifelong
career in music.

6. Cort Roberts will complete a Bachelor of Music
degree in Horn Performance at the University
of Colorado Boulder in spring 2017 under the
instruction of Michael Thornton. Roberts has enjoyed
performing in a number of groups including the
Colorado College Festival Orchestra, CU Symphony
Orchestra, several chamber ensembles and as a sub
with the Colorado Symphony. Most notably, he spent
time performing professionally as principal horn of La
Orquesta Filarmonica de Sonora in Mexico. Roberts
has completed minors in business and leadership
studies.
Clarinetist Kellan Toohey is an avid performer whose
varied career includes recitals and solo appearances,
chamber music, teaching and orchestral playing.
He recently completed a Doctoral of Musical Arts
degree in Clarinet Performance and Pedagogy at
the University of Colorado Boulder, studying with
Daniel Silver. Additional teachers have included Jon
Manasse, Burt Hara, Bil Jackson, Steve Cohen,
Karen Dusek, Shannon Scott and Bradford Behn. An
active orchestral player, Toohey holds the positions of
principal clarinetist in the Boulder Chamber Orchestra
and assistant principal clarinetist in the Wyoming
Symphony and Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra. His
festival credits include the Colorado College Summer
Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival and School,
Brevard Music Center,and Eastern Music Festival.
He has performed across the United States, Europe
and Asia. He also recently recorded a solo compact
disc titled Scenes from Home, featuring premiere
recordings of new music by Colorado composers.
Toohey has received numerous awards, including
2nd Prize in the International Clarinet Association’s
Young Artist Competition, 1st Prize and audience
choice award in the University of Colorado Ekstrand
Graduate Performance competition, 1st Prize in
the University of Northern Colorado Concerto
Competition and Angie Southard Performance
Competition, and the Colorado College Summer
Festival and Greeley Chamber Orchestra concerto
competitions.
Program Notes
Fanfare for Barcs
Kerry Turner is an American composer and horn player
known primarily by his works for horn and brass ensembles.
Turner wrote Fanfare for Barcs in 1989 to celebrate the
American Horn Quartet's prizewinning performance at the
Philip Jones International Brass Competition in Chamber
Music in Barcs, Hungary that year. The fanfare features a
syncopated motive that interlocks with countermelodies
and a rhythmically complex accompaniment as it passes
through each of the four voices.
–Cort Roberts
Transcendental Étude No. 11 in D-flat
"Harmonies du Soir"
Franz Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes have origins dating
back to two earlier versions, the first from 1826 that bears
the title Étude en douze exercizes, and the second much
more virtuosic set from 1838. The final version published
in 1852 is without doubt the finest of the three, and No. 11
“Harmonies du soir” is one of its most musically compelling
items. Between the second and third versions of the
etudes, Liszt revised the technical passages, choosing
instead to expand on the musical ideas. The eleventh etude
is an excellent example of this transition, with the end
result being a piece far beyond the typical technique-driven
etude. Instead, it could better be described as a beautiful
tone poem that happens to include technical difficulties. In
the outer sections, the work is quiet and intimate. Though
not specifically marked, Liszt’s descriptive title translates
to “Evening Harmonies” and the lush harmonies in the
opening section establish a nocturnal quality to the etude.
The melody is announced initially in the rich middle range
of the piano over drone fifths and is soon presented again in
brilliant harp-like arpeggios spanning both hands. A second
theme appears in the middle section. Though at first
subdued, it quickly grows through a thunderous chordal
section into a climactic statement of the melody in the tonic
key of D-flat major. The music then subsides quickly into
the peaceful sounds of the beginning, serenely and simply
drawing the etude to a close.
–Grace Burns
Fantasie
Jörg Widmann is an internationally acclaimed artist who
has distinguished himself as a composer, clarinetist and
conductor. He has performed with many of the major
European symphony orchestras, and his compositions
have been performed across the globe by conductors such
as Pierre Boulez, Christian Thielemann, Mariss Jansons,
Andris Nelsons and Simon Rattle, with orchestras such as
the Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, New York
Philharmonic and Orchestre de Paris. Considered one of the
most difficult pieces in the clarinet repertoire, Widmann’s
Fantasie is a tour de force that showcases nearly everything

7. the clarinet can do. Inspired by commedia dell’arte,
Widmann describes it as a “little imaginary scene uniting the
dialogues of different people in close proximity.” Starting
with a rich multiphonic sound, the work is characterized by
sudden shifts of character and incorporates elements of
folk music, jazz and even klezmer, all enveloped in an aura
of improvisation and caprice.
–Kellan Toohey
Grand Duo Concertant, Op. 48
Carl Maria von Weber’s Grand Duo Concertant was written
between 1815-1816. It is one of only three chamber music
works written by Weber and was dedicated to the Munich
Orchestra’s principal clarinetist, Heinrich Bärmann, for
whom he also wrote two concertos and a concertino. The
Andante con moto is a highly operatic work. The poignant
aria-style movement covers a wide spectrum of emotions
but the main melody sings the pain-filled effect of loss and
loneliness. Long phrases and extreme dynamic range
highlight the dramatic topography of this work. Capping
off the piece is a joyful and ebullient Rondo, in which the
virtuosity of both performers is put to the test. Alternately
playful, lyrical, impetuous and heroic, the sheer brilliance of
this movement brings the work to a triumphant conclusion.
–Kellan Toohey
through fog
A violist myself, this work for the Altius Quartet began as
an exploration of my favorite techniques for bowed string
instruments such as fluttering harmonics, resonant open
strings, glassy or scratchy tones and folk-style lyrical
embellishments. These sounds were shaped into melodies,
harmonies and rhythmic figures that emerge and fade from
a constantly evolving texture. I was struggling to settle on
a title for this work until I made an anxious, fog-filled drive
from Wisconsin to Colorado where the farms, cities, cars
and natural landscapes I drove past were blurry, nebulous
and faint. But occasionally, the fog would lift and a clear,
striking image would suddenly appear. This work not
only evokes the sensory experience of that drive but also
touches on the dedication it takes to endure through difficult
experiences. For me, through fog creates a space to reflect
on perseverance and the will to keep moving forward.
–JP Merz
String Quartet in A minor, Op. 13
Early 1827 played host to a tragic event that truly distressed
Felix Mendelssohn the passing of his idol and music giant,
Ludwig van Beethoven. However mournful the young
Mendelssohn may have been, his fortune quickly took a
turn for the better as two artistically inspiring events ensued
later that year: 18-year-old Mendelssohn found love and
the late string quartets of Beethoven were published. In
June of that year, Mendelssohn wrote the words and music
to a song titled “Frage” (“Question”). This song, arguably
dedicated to his love, asks the question, “Ist es wahr?” (“Is
it true?”). This can also be taken as a direct reference to
Beethoven, who in the manuscript of his Opus 135 string
quartet wrote the question, “Muss es sein?” (“Must it be?”).
After completing this song, Mendelssohn found inspiration
to compose a string quartet based on those melodic ideas.
Despite being published after Opus 12, his Opus 13 string
quartet is based on many of Beethoven’s later works and
shows a particular kinship to his Opus 95 “Serioso,” Opus
130 and Opus 132 string quartets. The Adagio non lento
opens with a cantabile section set in a hymn-like texture,
followed by a fugal section that employs motives from
“Frage,” concluding with a return to the cantabile section.
With its soaring melodic gestures, this work can be seen
as a forebear to Mendelssohn’s future collection “Songs
without Words.”
–Altius Quartet
String Quartet No. 9 in E flat Major, Op. 117
Dmitri Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 9 is the culmination
of a tryptic of quartets, beginning with No. 7, which takes
the audience through birth, death and revival. These three
quartets were the last of his personal string quartets,
the seventh quartet being dedicated to his first wife, the
eighth quartet arguably dedicated to himself, and the
ninth quartet dedicated to his third wife, Irina Antonovna.
The work was completed in only one month on May 28,
1864, after an initial attempt had been abandoned two
years earlier. The composition of the ninth quartet occurred
simultaneously with a revival of his opera, “Lady Macbeth
of the Mtsensk,”and the composition of his thirteenth
symphony. These events inspired Shostakovich to push
boundaries and create a new work that was revolutionary
in organization, scope and balance. The ninth quartet,
like No. 8, is to be performed without pause. Although
its proportions are slightly off-balance, considering that
the first four movements are barely as long as the final
movement alone, the work transports one through many
emotional states of being. Divided into five parts itself, the
final Allegro is a culmination of themes heard from earlier
movements, as the concentrated excitement concludes
triumphantly, confirming that good will prevail.
–Altius Quartet
Notes on Schubert’s Auf dem Strom on next page

8. colorado.edu/music
Auf dem Strom
Composed in the final year of Franz Schubert’s life, “Auf
dem Strom,” pays homage to the life and work of Bee-
thoven and his influence on Schubert’s musical journey.
It is fairly certain that Schubert began work on this piece
only once he had decided to hold a public concert, which
was the first and only event of this kind in his life, on the
first anniversary of Beethoven’s death. Rellstab’s poem
consists of five strophes, and each of these is separated
by an interlude for horn and piano. The opening vocal line
announces a melody, one of only two, which will be the
main motives tying the many sections of the work togeth-
er. In quintessential Schubertian fashion, the piano’s liquid
triplets establish variations and intensities of the river mov-
ing throughout the journey of the narrator downstream.
Schubert’s use of the horn in the work is most likely anoth-
er ode to Beethoven, who was known for his iconic horn
compositions. The sound of the instrument is symbolic of
strength of purpose and heroic death, which in the case
of the narrator’s journey downstream from where he once
saw his lover and knew comforts of home, represents the
slow and hard death of Beethoven and only eight months
after, the death of Schubert.
–Michael Hoffman
Auf dem Strom translation by Richard Stokes
Take these final farewell kisses
And the greetings I wave to you,
As you stand on the shore,
Before turning to leave!
The river’s swift current
Already bears the boat away,
But my tear-dimmed gaze
Is constantly drawn back by longing!
And so the waves bear me away
With unwelcome speed.
Ah, the field where I joyously,
Once found her, has disappeared!
Your days of bliss have gone forever!
My lament echoes forlornly
For that fair homeland,
Where I found her love.
See how the shore rushes past,
And how, with ineffable bonds,
I am drawn
To the land by that little house,
To linger in that arbour;
But the river rushes on
Without respite,
Bearing me off to the ocean!
Ah, how I shudder with horror,
At that dark wilderness,
Far from every friendly coast,
Where no island can be seen!
No song can bring me from the shore
Gentle tears of sadness;
Only the storm blows cold
Across the angry grey sea!
When my longing, roaming eyes,
Can no longer make out the shore,
I shall gaze up to the stars
In those remote and sacred regions!
Ah, it was beneath their soft light
That I first call her mine;
Maybe there, consoling fate!
There I’ll meet her gaze again.