“The Goldberg Variations,” BWV 988, is a musical
composition for harpsichord by Johann Sebastian Bach,
consisting of an aria and a set of 30 variations.
First published in 1741, the work is one of the most
important examples of the variation form. It is named
after Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, who may also have been the
first performer of the work.
The work itself consists of 30 variations, starting with a single
‘Aria’. After transforming the music over the course of an hour,
using different time signatures, textures, and harmonies, the
beautiful first aria returns, with a completely different feel
from the first hearing. Once the listener has heard the tune
transformed in almost uncountable ways, the simplicity of the
original music is nothing short of arresting.
Kristopher King, bassoon
Michael Hernandez, saxophone
Jonathan Szin, clarinet
Keyed Kontraptions was founded in 2016 as a duo of contra-bass
wind instruments and continues to explore unique colors and
instrumental combinations of the wind family. The members of
Keyed Kontraptions advocate for contemporary music through
commissioning projects, working directly with composers to expand
their repertoire.
Saxophonist Michael Hernandez is a founding member of the
acclaimed Mana Quartet and has collaborated with many well known
Bay Area organizations including Empyrean Ensemble, Left Coast
Chamber Ensemble, New Century Chamber Orchestra, Santa Cruz
Symphony, and others.
Clarinetist Jon Szin is an active teacher, chamber
musician, and co- founder/co-director of the SF-based wind octet,
Nomad Session.
Bassoonist Kris King is a founding member of Keyed
Kontraptions, a member of the chamber groups Nomad Session and
Elevate Ensemble and regularly performs as a freelance musician
with several orchestras throughout California.
A multiyear commissioning project that is modeled after
Cher’s decades-long farewell tours, Kurt Rohde’s Farewell
Tour—Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6—commissions new works
by the most gifted composers who, Rohde feels, are
underrepresented and deserve a wider audience, while also
broadening the repertoire for viola. His project’s anticipated
year of completion is 2028, at which time he will retire from
playing in performance and donate his instrument to some
talented whippersnapper who wants to play viola.
At the boundary between any two ecosystems there exists an
abundance and variety of life. This holds true in art, where
the zone between two mediums contains great potential for
invention and expression.
Works for voice and piano, with music composed by UC Davis
graduate students in Music to texts written by
UC Davis graduate students in Creative Writing,
unless otherwise noted—
Trey Makler
Emily Sullivan Orkun Akyol Daniel Godsil
The concert program is coordinated by
UC Davis Professor of Music Kurt Rohde.
Christian Baldini, music director and
conductor
UC Davis Professor of Music
Aida Shirazi: Lament [has both
piano and harpsichord]
Sarah
Wald: ”Lavava y Suspirava:” Fantasy on a Sephardic
Romance [in this one the pianist plays both a piano and a
celesta, in addition to the harpsichordist]
György Ligeti: Chamber Concerto for 13
Instrumentalists
