A Mother's Day Concert | Sebastian Huydts Piano Quintet

PROGRAM

Robert Schumann, Quintet Op.44 (1842)

Schumann composed the quintet in 1842 and its first public performance took place the following year. Noted for its "extroverted, exuberant" character, the quintet is considered one of his finest compositions and a major work of nineteenth-century chamber music. Composed for piano and string quartet, the work revolutionized the instrumentation and musical character of the piano quintet and established it as a quintessentially Romantic genre. Schumann had begun his career primarily as a composer for the keyboard; after his detour into writing for string quartet, the "reunion with the piano" which the piano quintet provoked gave "his creative imagination ... a new lease on life" according to Joan Chisell, who made a special study of the life and works of Schumann. The composer dedicated the piano quintet to his wife Clara. Although she was due to perform the piano part in the first private performance of the quintet on the 6th December 1842 at the home of Henriette Voigt and her husband Carl, she fell ill and Felix Mendelssohn stepped in, sight-reading the "fiendish" piano part. Mendelssohn's suggestions to Schumann after this performance led to revisions to the inner movements, including the addition to the third movement of a second trio.

I. Allegro brillante: This movement opens with a powerful and joyous main theme, followed by a more lyrical second theme in a dialogue between the cello and viola.

II. In modo d'una marcia, un poco largamente: This movement has a somber and melancholic atmosphere, with a funeral march theme introduced by the first violin. The movement includes a contrasting, more agitated section, and then returns to the funeral march theme.

III. Scherzo, molto vivace: This movement is lively and energetic, featuring a rushing scale that moves around a G minor scale. It includes two trios, the first with lyrical references to the first movement's main theme, and the second a more robust and dance-like section.

IV. Finale: Allegro ma non troppo: The finale is a contrapuntal movement that returns to a marching mode with rondo episodes. It includes a stunning fugal coda that brings back both the opening theme of the first movement combined with the main theme of the finale.

Sebastian Huydts, Quintet Op.60 (2024)

The piano quintet op.60 was written in late summer of 2024. While this work is my fourth piano quintet, it is the first for strings and piano, the others always including at least one woodwind instrument. Like in the previous quintets, the listener is taken on a musical journey in which styles evocative of the past are fused with a more contemporary approach that serves as a pensive, introspective, and at times flamboyant musical reflection on present times. I am grateful to Hannah Bingham and Kenichi Kiyama for suggesting I write this work. It is therefore lovingly dedicated to them.

I: "Tonada Oscura" opens with an extended melody that forms the principal idea for the piece. Accompaniments and contrasting voices alternate between affirmation and response, pushing the music to several points of climax. Periods of sonorous intensity, consonance vs. dissonance, accompanied by ambiguous, and often somber harmonic motion, elusively search for peace over restless rhythm and instrumental flourishes.

II: "Desenfrenado" tries to chase away the dark mood from the previous movement through incessant chatter and machine-like repetition. A few attempts at slowing down its nervous energy lead to little more than fleeting moments of false elegance, after which the dizzying chatter quickly returns. When the movement finally crashes to a halt, a sole surviving pitch leads the music without pause into the next movement.

III: "Epicedio" laments the loss of innocence, as if it were a dear friend. It softly bemoans increased awareness of the merciless progress of time. In search of consolation, the music recalls memorable moments heard in the previous movements. But the context has changed, and icy flurries sneak in, promising a different direction only to retreat from whence they came. The opening melody then returns over slowly tolling bells, stressing the inevitable linearity of time. Just before the end accompanying chords appear, hushed but strident, as if to ask: "what's next?"

IV: The final movement, "Exaltación", recalls the melodic ideas of the opening movement, but now in an upbeat, decidedly Iberian context. The darker, earlier atmosphere is left behind. By mixing song and dance, always with great rhythmic vitality, a forward momentum is suggested that leads to a brilliant, jubilant conclusion, expressing hope and resolve.

BIOGRAPHIES

Pianist–Composer Sebastian Huydts (b.1966) studied piano at the Amsterdam Conservatory in The Netherlands with Edith Lateiner Grosz. He continued his graduate studies at the University of Chicago where he studied composition with Shulamit Ran, Marta Ptaszynska, Howard Sandroff, Cliff Colnot, and John Eaton. He concertizes in solo and chamber music, and conducts various ensembles that promote contemporary music. He has been commissioned by renowned artists who have adopted his work in their repertoire. At present, Mr. Huydts is Professor in the School of Audio and Music at Columbia College in Chicago, where he teaches courses in music appreciation, musicianship skills, composition, and where he directs the New Music Ensemble. His works are published by Jeanné of Minneapolis, As a pianist and conductor, Sebastian Huydts regularly performs both contemporary and older classical works for solo piano, chamber ensemble, and chamber orchestra. His most popular recordings are those of his 27 fairy tales in Spanish style, “Delicias de Blancanieves”, available online.

​Hanna Bingham is currently an actively performing violinist in the greater Chicago area. Raised in Dekalb, Illinois, Hanna holds a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from Northern Illinois University, where she studied under Blaise Magniere as well as with soloist Yang Liu. Hanna also received her Masters Degree in String Performance from Northwestern University Bienen School of Music where she studied with Blair Milton and Desiree Ruhstrat. Hanna also studied with Ann Monztka Smelser, Okumura Kazuo, and Drew Lecher. She has soloed with a number of orchestras including the NIU sinfonia, Rockford Symphony Youth Orchestra, the Oistrakh Symphony of Chicago, NIU Philharmonic, and Northwestern Univeristy’s Baroque Music Ensemble. She has been featured on the WFMT broadcast "From the Top." Her chamber music experience is diverse, and features an array of ensembles including a string quartet that competed in the St. Paul String Quartet Competition and were named semi-finalists in the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition in South Bend, Indiana. Hanna was named recipient of the Richard and Helen Thomas Endowed Fellowship, twice, and is a recipient of the School of Music Eckstein Fund at Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music.

Hanna is also a member of Apollo’s Fire Baroque Orchestra and is currently their Young Artist Fellow.

Kenichi Kiyama is a versatile California-born violinist with a passion for performing and teaching. As an orchestral musician, has served every principal and non principal seats in various orchestras in the CA and Midwest area, including the Elmhurst Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Elgin Symphony, Rockford, Madison Chamber, San Luis Obispo Symphony, and more. Kenichi has acted as soloist and chamber musician for numerous concert series and competitions. He recently was a finalist in the Chicago International Violin Competition. He recently commissioned a violin sonata by Sebastian Huydts in April 2024.

Additionally, Kenichi is the owner/sole practitioner of Kiyama Bodyworks LLC, specializing in Sotai-Ho, a non-invasive bodywork modality that helps clients, particularly musicians and athletes, move freely and without pain.

Violist August DuBeau is a first year member with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. He received a master’s degree from Stony Brook University in May 2024 where he studied under Lawrence Dutton and Matthew Lipman. As violist of the Harlo Quartet, he participated in the university’s Emerson String Quartet Institute, coached by and playing alongside Philip Setzer, Eugene Drucker, Lawrence Dutton, Paul Watkins, and David Finckel. Previously, he received his bachelor’s of music degree with a double major in viola performance and music theory at the Cleveland Institute of Music studying with Cleveland Orchestra violist Mark Jackobs. There, he began his specialized study of string quartet repertoire within the Institute’s Advanced String Quartet program as violist of the Ilo Quartet. Coached by Si-Yan Li, Philip Setzer, Todd Phillips, and Ilya Kaler, the Ilo Quartet were prize-winners in the 2021 Coltman Chamber Music Competition and the 8th Stockholm International Music Competition.

Cellist David Caplan began his musical studies at the age of ten. He has studied with Amir Eldan, Daniel McDonough, Dmitry Kouzov, Jonathan Pegis, Benjamin Whitcomb, and Adelaide Hagari.

As an orchestral musician, David has served as a principal cellist of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and has performed frequently as substitute with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Grant Park Orchestra. He has performed under the baton of conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Manfred Honeck, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Hannu Lintu, Ludovic Morlot, Christoph Eschenbach, Daniel Harding, Robert Spano, Giancarlo Guerrero, David Danzmayr, Petr Popelka, and James Gaffigan. David has performed with a wide range of artists, including: Seong-Jin Cho, Gil Shaham, Stefan Jackiw, Xavier Foley, Zlatomir Fung, Awadagin Pratt, Natalie Merchant, Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and the American Ballet Theater.

As an avid chamber musician, David, along with Quartet Bellezza, won first prize at the 2017 Discover Chamber Music Competition, first prize and audience prize in the junior division of WDAV's Young Musician's Chamber Competition, and the junior division gold medal at the 2017 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Recent chamber music engagements include concerts with the St. Petersburg String Quartet, Yaron Kohlberg, Fabiola Kim, Yizhak Schotten, Amir Eldan, and Nicholas Walker. David has also appeared in recital on the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series at the Seventeenth Church of Christ Scientist in Chicago and live on WFMT Chicago.

David has a Master's Degree in Cello Performance from the University of Michigan, where he studied under the tutelage of Amir Eldan. David also performed in the U-M Baroque Chamber Orchestra and studied baroque cello with Eva Lymenstull. Prior to his time in Michigan, David received his Bachelor's Degree in Cello Performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he studied with Daniel McDonough, of the Jupiter String Quartet.

David has a burning passion for teaching others and showcasing the power of music, and is a frequent clinician at Midwest Young Artists’ Conservatory, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, The Musical Offering, and ArtsAhimsa Chamber Music Festival. David has also enjoyed being a part of the Civic Mentors program, which provides coachings to music students at various Chicago high schools.

David has made appearances at the Chautauqua, Aspen, and Taos summer music festivals, and was a fellow with the Grant Park Orchestra in 2023. 2025 will take David to the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, Colorado, where he will be a featured soloist in the Brahms Double Concerto.