Juilliard Presents “Vincent Persichetti: A Centennial Tribute”; Concert Features an all-Persichetti Program Pre-Concert Panel Discussion Moderated by Peter Schickele With Elena Ruehr, Larry Alan Smith, and Robert Taub, Tuesday, October 20, 2015, at 7pm in Paul Hall

Steve Laitz, chair of Juilliard’s Music Theory and Analysis Department and faculty member, and composer Michelle DiBucci organized the tribute.

Steve Laitz provides this note about the program: “The concert includes two Parables, scored for solo trumpet and organ, performed by Theodore Van Dyck and Ryan Kennedy, respectively. Similarly, Persichetti championed all types of musicians and genres, composing for both amateurs and professionals, and from song to symphony (nine, of course!). The challenging end of the spectrum is well represented: the Blue Hill String Quartet will perform his masterful Third String Quartet, and Milan Milisavljević and Jennifer Chu, his intimate and intricate duo, Infanta Marina for viola and piano. To round out the program, several of his Poems for piano will be performed by Mirian Conti.”

About Vincent Persichetti’s tenure at Juilliard and influence on the next generation, Mr. Laitz writes: “In 1947, then-president of The Juilliard School William Schuman hired Persichetti, and he taught at both Juilliard and Curtis until his death in 1987. He mentored many of today’s leading composers, including Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Leonardo Balada, Lowell Liebermann, and Peter Schickele, who leads our pre-concert panel. Persichetti’s teaching legacy extends to the numerous undergraduate and graduate students who flocked to his theory courses. He worked closely with his teaching assistants, including Larry Alan Smith, who is also on the panel. It was surely gratifying for Persichetti to watch his students develop their own musical voices and in turn become composers, performers, and teachers of the next generation. This, together with his distinctive body of work, is Vincent Persichetti’s legacy.”

Vincent Persichetti was born in Philadelphia on June 6, 2015. He began piano lessons at age five, studied theory at age eight, and produced his first two works at age 14. Among his teachers were the composer Roy Harris and the conductor Fritz Reiner, the latter at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. In 1942, he began teaching at the Philadelphia Conservatory, and from 1947, he taught at Juilliard. His tenure at Juilliard spanned 40 years. He joined the faculty in 1947, becoming chairman of the composition department in 1962, and chair of Juilliard’s literature and materials department in 1970. He also was music editor for the Elkan-Vogel Company in Philadelphia.

His many published works include several for band and various chamber combinations and the highly regarded Piano Quintet (1955). He also wrote nine symphonies and many piano concerti, as well as songs, solo sonatas (including one for harpsichord), ballet music, and a large group of serenades. Persichetti is the author of Twentieth-Century Harmony: Creative Aspects and Practice (1961).

Parable XIV for Trumpet, Op. 127 (1973)

        Theodore Van Dyck, trumpet

Infanta Marina, for viola and piano, Op. 83 (1960)

        Milan Milisavljević, viola

        Jennifer Chu, piano

Selections from Poems for piano (from Volumes 1, 2, and 3)

        Mirian Conti, piano

String Quartet No. 3, Op. 81 (1959)

        Blue Hill String Quartet

        Wyatt Underhill, violin

        Katherine Liccardo, violin

        Marta Lambert, viola

        Seth Biagini, cello

Organ Sonata, Op. 86 (1960)

        Ryan Kennedy, organ

Vincent Persichetti (photo by Peter Schaaf)