Program for SFIPF Final – September 1, 2024

Sunday, September 1, 2024 at 4 pm

download a copy of this program here.
download a copy of the sung texts and translations here.

San Francisco International Piano Festival
Festival Finale: Cycles of Life

Presented in collaboration with Lieder Alive!
dedicated to the memory of Thomas C. LaDeur (1956-1994)

Kindra Scharich, mezzo-soprano
Gwendolyn Mok, piano
Jeffrey LaDeur, piano

Program

Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683–1764) / Jeffrey LaDeur
Tristes apprêts from Castor et Pollux

Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924)
Nocturne No. 6 in D-flat major, Op. 63
                           Jeffrey LaDeur, piano

Gabriel Fauré
La bonne chanson, Op. 61
poetry by Paul Verlaine (1844–1896)
              Une Sainte en son aureole
              Puisque l’aube grandit
              La lune blanche luit dans les bois
              J’allais par des chemins perfides
              J’ai presque peur, en vérité
              Avant que tu ne t’en ailles
              Donc, ce sera par un clair jour d’été
              N’est-ce pas?
              L’Hiver a cessé
                           Kindra Scharich, mezzo-soprano
                           Jeffrey LaDeur, piano

Intermission

Claude Debussy (1862–1918)
Six épigraphes antiques
              Pour invoquer Pan, dieu de vent d’été
              Pour un tombeau son nom
              Pour que la nuit soit propice
              Pour la danseuse aux crotales
              Pour l’égyptienne
              Pour remercier la pluie au matin

Florent Schmitt (1870–1958)
Trois Rhapsodies, Op. 53
              Française
              Polonaise
              Viennoise
                           Gwendolyn Mok & Jeffrey LaDeur, pianos

The San Francisco International Piano Festival is supported, in part, by a grant from the Ross McKee Foundation.

The Festival wishes to thank Britt-Marie Ljung and Warren Miller for their generous sponsorship of this concert.

About the artists

Jeffrey LaDeur, piano, is known for his rare blend of insight, spontaneity, and approachable, communicative stage presence. Clic Musique Magazine (France) lauded “… an irreproachable legato, a beautiful palette of nuances, and an always well-balanced sound.” Having inherited a rich tradition of pianism and interpretation from Annie Sherter, student of Vlado Perlemuter and Alfred Cortot, LaDeur has established himself as a compelling exponent of classic and new repertoire. In March of 2018, LaDeur made his solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall on the centennial of Claude Debussy’s death. He appears regularly with orchestra and maintains a repertoire of over 40 concerti. LaDeur is the founder and artistic director of the San Francisco International Piano Festival and president of the American Liszt Society, San Francisco Bay Area Chapter.

LaDeur’s most recent solo recording features music of Liszt and was released by Music & Arts in April of 2022. Critic Henry Fogel wrote, “The beauty of his coloration, the rightness of his phrasing, and his sensitive dynamic shaping, all draw the listener into Liszt’s world.” A chamber musician of distinction, Jeffrey’s collaboration with mezzo soprano Kindra Scharich has produced To My Distant Beloved, an album exploring the connections between Beethoven and Schumann through cycles in song and solo piano works. LaDeur has collaborated with distinguished artists such as Robert Mann, Bonnie Hampton, Ian Swensen, Axel Strauss, Geoff Nuttall, and the Alexander String Quartet.

An active educator, Jeffrey offers masterclasses frequently as guest artist in universities throughout the United States and coaches gifted pre-college piano and string ensembles at Young Chamber Musicians in Burlingame, California. LaDeur holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and San Francisco Conservatory of Music in piano performance and chamber music, respectively. Jeffrey counts among his teachers Mark Edwards, Douglas Humpherys, Yoshikazu Nagai, and Robert McDonald.

For more information, please visit his websites at JeffreyLaDeur.com and SFPIANO.ORG

Mezzo-soprano Kindra Scharich has been praised by the San Francisco Chronicle for her “fearless technical precision,” “deep-rooted pathos” and “irrepressible musical splendor.” As a dedicated recitalist, she has performed more than 250 art songs in 15 languages, and enjoys the full complement of recital, concert and opera engagements alike. Ms. Scharich has sung more than 40 roles from Monteverdi to Philip Glass, and been engaged in a number of premières and new works, including: John Adam’s Antony & Cleopatra (San Francisco Opera),  Bright Sheng’s Dream of the Red Chamber (San Francisco Opera) Laura Kaminsky’s Today it Rains (Opera Parallèle) and Missy Mazzoli’s Breaking the Waves (West Edge Opera, west coast première) Scharich’s recordings include: In meinem Himmel: The Mahler Song Cycles, with the Alexander String Quartet (2018), To my Distant Beloved, with pianist Jeffrey LaDeur (2020) and Chosen Eyes, with pianist Ricardo Ballestero (2021).

Born in New York City, pianist Gwendolyn Mok has appeared in many of the world’s leading concert halls, including the Barbican, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Davies Symphony Hall, and the Hong Kong Performing Arts Center. She is frequently invited to play and record with major international orchestras, such as the London Symphony, the Philharmonia, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Beijing Philharmonic Orchestra and the Residency Orchestra of the Hague.

Ms. Mok is a recording artist for Nonesuch/Elektra, Musical Heritage Society, Musician Showcase Recordings, Cala Records, and EMI. Her highly acclaimed debut CD with the Philharmonia of Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major on the Cala label was nominated for an Alternative Edison award. A second Cala recording of Saint-Saëns’s Africa—Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra with the London Philharmonic has been equally applauded. Three solo CDs, Ravel Revealed (Ravel’s piano works) and Brahms: Late Piano Works, and Legacy, The Spirit of Beethoven were recorded on historic pianos for the Musicians Showcase Recording label. All three CDs received outstanding reviews and are broadcast frequently around the world. Recently two new CDs have been released: Poldowski Art Songs with soprano Angelique Zuluaga and pianist Gwendolyn Mok on the Delos label and EKTA Trilogy, featuring Mok as soloist on EKTA II, a concerto written for her by composer Brent Heisinger.

As a chamber musician, Ms. Mok appears regularly in the San Francisco Symphony Chamber Music Series, as well as in the San Jose Chamber Society and the Sacramento Chamber Society series. She collaborates often with members of the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra. A popular soloist with the Symphony Silicon Valley, Ms. Mok co-produced and appeared in four sold-out performances of The Gershwin Radio Hour. In 2016 Ms. Mok was named President’s Scholar by San Jose State University, the highest honor given to an outstanding faculty member for their scholarship and research. Mok was also presented with the Artistic Achievement Award by the College of Humanities & the Arts in 2008.

Ms. Mok began her studies at the Juilliard School of Music, completed her undergraduate work at Yale University, and earned her Masters and Doctorate at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She is currently Coordinator of Keyboard Studies at San Jose State University and maintains a busy performing and recording schedule.