Ravinia 2024 Issue 5

BENNETT GORDON HALL 1:30 PM SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2024 DAVID KAPLAN, piano # Quasi una Fantasia LIGETI Musica ricercata No. 1 CERRONE Passagework * COUPERIN Unmeasured Prelude No. 13 in F major * CHEUNG Holding Patterns * BEETHOVEN Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, op. 27, no. 2 (“Moonlight”) Adagio sostenuto [ attacca ] Allegretto Presto agitato –Intermission– SAARIAHO Ballade * BRAHMS Intermezzo in F minor, op. 118, no. 4 CASARRUBIOS Sandglass * KAPLAN Improvised prelude SCHUMANN Warum? , op. 12, no. 3 BEETHOVEN Piano Sonata No. 13 in E-flat major, op. 27, no. 1 (Performed without breaks between movements) Andante Molto allegro e vivace Adagio con espressione Allegro vivace # Ravinia Steans Music Institute alum * First performance at Ravinia DAVID KAPLAN Pianist David Kaplan has appeared as a soloist at London’s Barbican Centre with the Britten Sinfonia and Berlin’s Philharmonie with the Deutche Symfonie-Orchester Berlin, and this season he makes debuts with the Symphony Or- chestras of Hawaii and San Antonio. Kaplan has consistently drawn critical acclaim for creative programs that interweave classical and contem- porary repertoire, often incorporating newly commissioned works. He has given recitals at Washington’s National Gallery, Strathmore, and New York’s Carnegie and Merkin Halls. Kaplan’s “New Dances of the League of David,” mixing Schumann’s Davidsbündlertanze with 16 new works, was cited among the Best Classical Music of 2015 by the New York Times . In the current season, he performs “Quasi una Fantasia,” which explores the grey area between composition and improvisation through works written for him by Anthony Cheung, Christopher Cerrone, and Andrea Casarrubios, together with music by Couperin, Beethoven, Schumann, Saaria- ho, Ligeti, and his own improvisations. Kaplan has collaborated with the Attacca, Ariel, Enso, Hausman, and Tesla String Quartets, and he is a core member of Decoda, the Affiliate Ensemble of Carnegie Hall. He has appeared at the Bard, Seattle Chamber Music, Mostly Mozart, and Chamber Music Northwest Festivals, and is an alumnus of Tanglewood and the Perlman Music Program. A Yamaha Artist, Kaplan has recorded for Naxos and Marquis Records, as well as for Nonesuch as part of his long-standing duo with pianist/composer Timo Andres. In 2023, Bright Shiny Things released Vent , Kaplan’s debut al- bum with his wife, flutist Catherine Gregory. Passionate about teaching, Kaplan is Assistant Professor and the inaugural Shapiro Family Chair in Piano Performance at UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music, where he has taught since 2016. Kaplan’s distinguished mentors over the years include the late Claude Frank, Walter Ponce, Miyoko Lotto, and Richard Goode. On a Fulbright Fellowship, he studied conducting at the Universität der Künste Berlin with Lutz Köhler, and received his DMA from Yale Uni- versity in 2014. David Kaplan was a Ravinia Steans Music Institute fellow in 2008 and 2009; he returned to Ravinia for a solo concert in 2015 and in his duo with Andres in 2018. Please see the program insert for notes on this afternoon’s performance. RAVINIA.ORG  • RAVINIAMAGAZINE 85 DARIOACOSTA