Saratoga Springs, NY
Shostakovich and DohnányiSunday, August 17, 2025
Spa Little Theatre, Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Two hours with intermission
This program explores emotional depth and contrasts in chamber music, balancing drama with lyrical beauty. It opens with Kodály’s Serenade for Two Violins and Viola, Op. 12, a delicate work that showcases the warmth of string trio textures by the Hungarian composer known for blending folk influences with classical traditions. Next is Shostakovich’s Trio No. 2 in E minor for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Op. 67, a powerful piece that moves from somber to fiercely energetic. Shostakovich’s Elegy and Polka for String Quartet follows, blending haunting lyricism with gripping rhythms, characteristic of his emotionally charged style. The program concludes with Dohnányi’s Quintet No. 1 in C minor for Piano, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello, Op. 1, a dramatic work by the Hungarian composer, whose passionate intensity and lyrical moments reflect both late-Romanticism and early 20th-century innovation.
Program
Zoltán Kodály
(1882–1967)Serenade for Two Violins and Viola, Op. 12
(1919–20)Dmitri Shostakovich
(1906–1975)Trio No. 2 in E minor for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Op. 67
(1944)Dmitri Shostakovich
(1906–1975)Two Pieces for String Quartet
Ernő Dohnányi
(1877–1960)Quintet No. 1 in C minor for Piano, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello, Op. 1
(1895)Quick Note
Dohnányi's Quintet No. 1 serves as the composer's debut opus, written during his studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest.
Pay attention to the thematic development throughout the piece, as Dohnányi navigates through various emotions and moods, from dramatic intensity in the first movement to lyrical tenderness or introspection in the second movement.
Anna Geniushene
Sean Lee
Danbi Um
Paul Neubauer
David Finckel
Anna Geniushene’s fresh, layered, and powerful interpretations defined her participation at the 2022 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition—and won her the coveted silver medal and the adoration of fans around the globe. Critics praised her “powerhouse sound, forceful musical personality, and sheer virtuosity” (Musical America) and likened her performance to “Cliburn at his best” (Gramophone). Born in Moscow on New Year’s Day in 1991, Anna made her recital debut just seven years later in the small hall of the Berlin Philharmonic. She has since developed a versatile career, with performances in major world venues such as the Town Hall in Leeds, National Concert Hall in Dublin, Museum of Arts in Tel Aviv, Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova, Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, and Sala Greppi in Bergamo. A dedicated chamber musician, she has performed piano duo repertoire with her husband, Lukas Geniušas, and has collaborated with the Quartetto di Cremona. The 2024 season features her debut in Washington, DC, and multiple engagement across the United States; an Asian tour including solo recitals in Singapore, China, and Taiwan; the season opening in Florence with Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto under Gabor Takacs-Nagy; her debut at the Vienna Konzerthaus; and the beginning of her tenure in CMS’s Bowers Program.
Violinist Sean Lee has captured the attention of audiences around the world with his lively performances of the classics. A recipient of a 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant, he is one of few violinists who dares to perform Niccolò Paganini’s 24 Caprices in concert, and his YouTube series, Paganini POV, continues to draw praise for its use of technology in sharing unique perspectives and insight into violin playing. He has performed as a soloist with orchestras including the San Francisco Symphony, Israel Camerata Jerusalem, and Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice, and his recital appearances have taken him to Vienna's Konzerthaus, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. As a season artist at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and an alum of CMS’s Bowers Program, he continues to perform regularly at Lincoln Center and on tour. Originally from Los Angeles, Lee studied with Robert Lipsett of the Colburn Conservatory and legendary violinist Ruggiero Ricci before moving at the age of 17 to study at the Juilliard School with his longtime mentor, violinist Itzhak Perlman. Lee performs on violins made by Samuel Zygmuntowicz in 1995 and David Bague in 1999, with bows made circa 1890 by Joseph Arthur Vigneron and circa 1910 by W. E. Hill & Sons.
Praised by The Strad as an “utterly dazzling” artist, violinist Danbi Um captivates audiences with her virtuosity, individual sound, and interpretive sensitivity. She is a Menuhin International Violin Competition Silver Medalist, a winner of the prestigious 2018 Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant, and a top prizewinner of the Naumburg International Violin Competition. Recent and upcoming engagements include appearances with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and her Washington, DC, recital debut at the Phillips Collection. This season will also see Ms. Um's return to People's Symphony, Saratoga Performing Arts (SPAC), Santa Fe, North Shore Music Festivals, as well as La Musica Festival (Sarasota). Her debut album, Much Ado: Romantic Violin Masterworks, was released in fall 2023. Past concerto engagements include appearances with the Israel Symphony, Auckland Philharmonic, Vermont Symphony, and Dartmouth Symphony. Born in Seoul, South Korea, Ms. Um moved to the United States to study at the Curtis Institute of Music, where she earned a bachelor’s degree. She also holds an Artist Diploma from Indiana University. Her teachers have included Shmuel Ashkenasi, Joseph Silverstein, Jaime Laredo, and Hagai Shaham. She is an alum of CMS’s Bowers Program and plays a 1683 “ex-Petschek” Nicolo Amati violin, on loan from a private collection.
Violist Paul Neubauer has been called a “master musician” by the New York Times. He recently made his Chicago Symphony subscription debut with conductor Riccardo Muti. He also gave the US premiere of the newly discovered Impromptu for viola and piano by Shostakovich with pianist Wu Han. In addition, his recording of the Aaron Kernis Viola Concerto with the Royal Northern Sinfonia was released on Signum Records, and his recording of the complete viola/piano music by Ernest Bloch with pianist Margo Garrett was released on Delos. Appointed principal violist of the New York Philharmonic at age 21, he has appeared as soloist with over 100 orchestras including the New York, Los Angeles, and Helsinki philharmonics; National, St. Louis, Detroit, Dallas, San Francisco, and Bournemouth symphonies; and Santa Cecilia, English Chamber, and Beethovenhalle orchestras. He has premiered viola concertos by Bartók (revised version of the Viola Concerto), Friedman, Glière, Jacob, Kernis, Lazarof, Müller-Siemens, Ott, Penderecki, Picker, Suter, and Tower, and has been featured on CBS's Sunday Morning and A Prairie Home Companion as well as in Strad, Strings, and People magazines. A two-time Grammy nominee, he has recorded on numerous labels including Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, RCA Red Seal, and Sony Classical, and is a member of SPA, a trio with soprano Susanna Phillips and pianist Anne-Marie McDermott. Neubauer is the artistic director of the Mostly Music series in New Jersey and is on the faculty of the Juilliard School and Mannes College.
Co-Artistic Director of CMS since 2004, cellist David Finckel’s dynamic musical career has included performances on the world’s stages in the roles of recitalist, chamber artist, and orchestral soloist. The first American student of Mstislav Rostropovich, he joined the Emerson String Quartet in 1979, and during 34 seasons garnered nine Grammy Awards and the Avery Fisher Prize. His quartet performances and recordings include quartet cycles of Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Dvorák, Brahms, Bartók, and Shostakovich, as well as collaborative masterpieces and commissioned works. In 1997, he and pianist Wu Han founded ArtistLed, the first internet-based, artist-controlled classical recording label. ArtistLed’s catalog of more than 20 releases includes the standard literature for cello and piano, plus works composed for the duo by George Tsontakis, Gabriela Lena Frank, Bruce Adolphe, Lera Auerbach, Edwin Finckel, Augusta Read Thomas, and Pierre Jalbert. In 2022, Music@Menlo, an innovative summer chamber music festival in Silicon Valley founded and directed by David and Wu Han, celebrated its 20th season. As a young student, David was winner of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s junior and senior divisions, resulting in two performances with the orchestra. Having taught extensively with the late Isaac Stern in America, Israel, and Japan, he is currently a professor at both the Juilliard School and Stony Brook University, and oversees both CMS’s Bowers Program and Music@Menlo’s Chamber Music Institute. David’s 100 online Cello Talks, lessons on cello technique, are viewed by an international audience of musicians. Along with Wu Han, he was the recipient of Musical America’s 2012 Musicians of the Year Award.