VIOLINIST STEFAN JACKIW AND PIANIST JEREMY DENK PRESENT THE COMPLETE VIOLIN SONATAS OF CHARLES IVES

VIOLINIST STEFAN JACKIW AND PIANIST JEREMY DENK PRESENT

THE COMPLETE VIOLIN SONATAS OF CHARLES IVES

On Thursday, November 7, 2019 at 8PM, Avery Fisher Career Grant-winning violinist Stefan Jackiw and MacArthur “Genius” Award-winning pianist Jeremy Denk present the complete violin sonatas of American composer Charles Ives. The artists will humanize and contextualize some of the most substantial, yet rarely heard, music in the violin repertory by an American composer. They will be joined by members of the Princeton University Glee Club, who will intersperse Ives’ sonatas with the popular Americana classics—hymns, songs, marches—that he imbued in these works. Tickets are $25–55/$10 students and available online at princetonuniversityconcerts.org, by phone at 609-258-9220, or in person two hours prior to the concert at the Richardson Auditorium Box Office.

Stefan Jackiw and Jeremy Denk will also participate in a Live Music Meditation in Princeton on Thursday, November 7, 2019 at 12:30PM in Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall. This free, non-ticketed event, co-presented with the Princeton University Office of Religious Life, offers a chance to listen to some astonishing chamber music while participating in a meditation guided by Associate Dean Matthew Weiner. This focused listening experience has been internationally recognized, most recently by American Public Media and The New York Times.

THE CONCERT PROGRAM

Working backward through the sonatas, from the jarring number four to the impressionistic number one, highlighting Ives’ unique modernism, Denk and Jackiw pair each sonata with a vocal performance of the hymn tunes and song foundations of Ives’ sonatas.

CHARLES IVES Violin Sonata No. 4
STITES / SWENEY  “Beulah Land”
LOWRY / HAWKS  “I Need Thee Every Hour”
CHARLES IVES  Violin Sonata No. 3
BARTHÉLEMON / ROBINSON  “Autumn”
CHARLES IVES  Violin Sonata No. 2
ROOT / NELSON “Shining Shore”
ROOT “Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! The Boys Are Marching”
KIALLMARK / WOODWORTH “The Old Oaken Bucket”
MASON / COGHILL “Work Song”
CHARLES IVES  Violin Sonata No. 1

ABOUT STEFAN JACKIW AND JEREMY DENK

Stefan Jackiw is a PUC favorite, having made his PUC debut several years ago filling in for violinist Christian Tetzlaff. In addition to his duo with pianist Jeremy Denk, Jackiw concertizes regularly with the worlds’ great orchestras and plays in a trio with pianist Conrad Tao and cellist Jay Campbell. One of America’s foremost pianists, Jeremy Denk is making his PUC debut. Winner of a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship and the Avery Fisher Prize, Denk was recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

When asked why this program, Denk has said, “Because Ives is one of the original American originals. Because he’s a Founding Father of American “classical music”—whatever that strange term means. But most importantly, I love to play Ives because he’s after things that most composers don’t dare to attempt, and so he gets to emotional places and states that other composers can’t find.” After playing this program together in New York City at the 92^nd Street Y, The New York Times wrote: “The tirelessly inquisitive pianist Jeremy Denk, an Ives champion, and the brilliant young violinist Stefan Jackiw gave arresting accounts of these four astonishing sonatas at the 92nd Street Y. The event was a model of how performers can both inform and entertain an audience with a challenging program…Mr. Denk’s playing exuded affinity for Ives and vivid imagination. Mr. Jackiw, deftly balancing fervor and elegance, beautiful tone and earthy colorings, proved a comparably inspired Ivesian on this exciting night.” The program is emblematic of PUC’s probing and unusual programming exposing audiences to unusual repertoire played by some of today’s most sought-after and compelling performers.