Violist Samuel Rhodes celebrates his 40th anniversary as a member of the Juilliard String Quartet and Juilliard faculty with a recital on Thursday, October 23 at 8 PM in Paul Hall

Free Daniel Saidenberg Faculty Recital features works composed for Mr. Rhodes and classics of the viola repertoire

Violist Samuel Rhodes celebrates his 40th year as a member of both the Juilliard String Quartet and the faculty of The Juilliard School, where he is chair of the viola department, with a recital featuring works that were written for him and some classics of the repertoire with which he has been long associated. The recital on Thursday, October 23 at 8 PM in Paul Hall is part of the Daniel Saidenberg Faculty Recital Series at Juilliard. Joining Mr. Rhodes will be pianist and Juilliard faculty member Robert McDonald. The program features Donald Martino’s Three Sad Songs for viola and piano (1993); Stravinsky’s Elégie for viola solo (1944); Milton Babbitt’s Play It Again, Sam for viola solo (1989); Elliott Carter’s Figment IV for solo viola (2008); Hindemith’s Sonata for Viola Alone, Op. 25, No. 1 (1922); and Hall Overton’s Sonata for Viola and Piano (1959). 
      
Tickets are required for this FREE recital and are available beginning October 10 at the Juilliard Box Office, located in the newly-renovated lobby of Juilliard at 155 West 65th Street. Box Office hours are Monday through Friday, from 11 AM to 6 PM. For further information, call (212) 769-7406 or visit the Web site at www.juilliard.edu.
       
Donald Martino’s work, Three Sad Songs, was commissioned by the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation at the Library of Congress in Washington in 1993 and had its premiere there with pianist Thomas Sauer in 1997. The Juilliard String Quartet has been quartet-in-residence at the Library of Congress for over 40 years, premiering many new works by American composers on their free public concerts. The Babbitt and Carter works represent two of the most incredible gifts Mr. Rhodes has ever received. He gave the premiere of Play It Again, Sam at Juilliard in 1990, and took the title literally, by playing the piece twice. Elliott Carter’s Figment IV was presented to Mr. Rhodes in the summer of 2007. It is fourth in a series of works for solo lower string instruments. The work had its premiere in Paris at the Cité de la Musique in January 2008. Stravinsky’s Elégie was composed in 1944 as a memorial for Alphonse Onnou, the first violinist of the Pro Arte Quartet, at the request of the quartet’s violist, Germain Prevost. The piece is a demanding, but favored work of the viola repertoire. Hindemith’s Sonata has become one of the most widely studied and performed works in the viola repertoire. The final work on the program - Hall Overton’s Sonata for viola and piano - was commissioned, performed, and recorded by Mr. Rhodes’ teacher, Walter Trampler. Mr. Overton, who was a member of Juilliard’s faculty until his death in 1972, was a distinguished classical pianist, composer, and teacher, and was even more renowned for his contributions to the world of jazz. He worked and played with many of the great jazz musicians of his time, including Thelonious Monk, whose piano works he arranged for full orchestra.

Samuel Rhodes, a native New Yorker, appears in recitals and as orchestral soloist in addition to his activities as a composer and teacher. Celebrating his 40th year as violist of the Juilliard String Quartet, and faculty member of Juilliard, where he also is chair, also is associated with the Marlboro Music Festival and Tanglewood. Mr. Rhodes’ solo appearances have included recitals at the Library of Congress, Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Juilliard, and Columbia University’s Miller Theatre. He earned his bachelor of arts degree from Queens College and an MFA from Princeton University, where he studied composition with Roger Sessions and Earl Kim. He also studied viola with Sydney Beck and Walter Trampler.

FOR LISTINGS:
Thursday, October 23, 8 PM, Juilliard’s Paul Hall, 155 West 65th Street, 1st Floor
Samuel Rhodes, viola
Robert McDonald, piano
Donald Martino – Three Sad Songs for viola and piano (1993)
Igor Stravinsky – Elégie for viola solo (1944)
Milton Babbitt – Play It Again, Sam for viola solo (1989)
Paul Hindemith Sonata for Viola Solo, Op. 25, No. 1
Hall Overton – Sonata for Viola and Piano (1959)
FREE tickets available beginning October 10 at the Juilliard Box Office

REMINDER: The American Brass Quintet opens the Daniel Saidenberg Faculty Recital Series on Tuesday, October 7 at 8 PM in Juilliard’s Paul Hall. Call the Juilliard Box Office for FREE tickets at (212) 769-7406 or go to www.juilliard.edu.

2008-09 DANIEL SAIDENBERG FACULTY RECITAL SERIES
Tuesday, April 7, 8 PM, Alice Tully Hall, 65th Street and Broadway
Juilliard String Quartet
Felix Mendelssohn – Quartet No. 1 in E-flat Major, Op. 12
Richard Wernick, String Quartet No. 7 (New York premiere)
Maurice Ravel – Quartet
FREE tickets available March 24 at the Juilliard Box Office

Wednesday, April 15, 8 PM, Alice Tully Hall, 65th Street and Broadway
Juilliard String Quartet Plays Haydn
Works by Franz Joseph Haydn:
Quartet in D Major, Op. 20, No. 4
Quartet in G Minor, Op. 20, No. 3
Quartet in F Minor, Op. 20, No. 5
Quartet in C Major, Op. 20, No. 2
FREE tickets available beginning March 24 at the Juilliard Box Office

Wednesday, April 29, 8 PM, The Peter Jay Sharp Theater, 155 West 65th Street
Judith LeClair, bassoon/Robert Langevin, flute/Jonathan Feldman, piano
Program to be announced
FREE tickets available beginning April 15 at the Juilliard Box Office
For further information, call the Juilliard Box Office at (212) 769-7406 or go to www.juilliard.edu.