World-Class Pianist Joyce Yang Performs With Milwaukee Musaik

Joyce Yang. Photo from the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

Milwaukee Musaik offers a gala concert on Tuesday, January 23 featuring guest pianist Joyce Yang. Yang has been well known to Milwaukee after completing a five-year Rachmaninoff concerto cycle with Edo de Waart and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Appearing frequently with de Waart since shortly after her silver metal finish in the 2005 Van Cliburn competition, she continues to return to Milwaukee as an audience favorite.

A celebrated guest artist with some of the world’s top symphony orchestras, Yang also has a distinguished chamber music career, appearing with the Takkács Quartet, the Emerson Quartet, and at numerous summer festivals. Her discography includes well-received recordings, from concertos to quartets, from Mozart to Michael Torke.

The Milwaukee Musaik ensemble primarily draws upon Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra players, assembling a string quartet and wind quintet to work with Yang in three major works for chamber piano by Antonín Dvořák, W. A. Mozart, and Francis Poulenc. The performers joining Yang include Jeanyi Kim and Alex Ayers, violins, Alejandro Duque, viola; Lynn Kabat, cello; Heather Zinninger, flute; Margaret Butler, oboe; William Helmers, clarinet; Rudi Heinrich, bassoon; and Darcy Hamlin, French horn.

Kim reflects on the excitement the ensemble feels to work with Yang. “Besides her obvious virtuosity, her jaw-dropping technical ability as a pianist, she’s just extremely likable. She is such a sensitive collaborator. Every time we perform with her on stage, I always feel like there’s a genuine interaction with her. I love to play chamber music with people who share that same sense of musical curiosity and exploration.”

The concert opens with Umoja (2001), described as a short fanfare for wind quintet by Valerie Coleman. Umoja was written for chorus, adapted for wind quintet, and expanded into a full composition for orchestra premiered in 2019 by the Philadelphia Orchestra. Umoja means unity in Swahili. Inspired by the celebration of Kwanzaa, the original composition calls for unity through the tradition of call and response. As it was added to the wind quintet repertoire of Imani Winds, a woodwind quintet created and founded by Coleman, it soon became a signature piece of the ensemble. Hear the Imani Winds on YouTube.

Dvořák‘s Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major, Op. 81, B. 155 (1888) has been acknowledged among the greatest of the genre. Attractive melodies and energetic dance rhythms inspired by Czech folk traditions have become universal to music lovers attracted to the Dvořák imagination. His use of Czech dance brings fresh energy to the quartet. A central movement features a Dumka, a traditional form that alternates lyrical slow morose passages with devil-may-care exuberant dance breaks — reflecting an outlook on life as much as a musical format. Driven by the piano, the quintet reaches a dramatic, high-spirited conclusion —merging fugal structures with rustic dance.

Critic Kai Christiansen observes that “Dvořák’s direct and poignant lyricism begins with the very first measures for piano and cello and it continues to bubble up in fresh new springs of melody: in pools, fountains and waterfalls across all four movements.” An exquisite YouTube video of the quintet features Menahem Pressler.

When Mozart wrote his Piano Quartet in G minor, K.478 (1785), most keyboard chamber works were written for amateurs with strings serving as an accompaniment to the keyboard. For this quartet, Brian Robins writes that “the writing for piano skillfully juxtaposes passages of concerto-like virtuosity with others in which the instrument fades and blends into the texture of the strings. Its dark, romantic sonorities are enhanced by a true chamber music equality of part-writing that emphasizes the lower strings.”

Yang has recorded both of Mozart’s piano quartets. Jerry Dubins of Fanfare Magazine wrote that the renditions were “by far, hands down and feet up, the most amazing performances of Mozart’s two piano quartets that have ever graced these ears.” The quartet may be previewed on YouTube or in an audio version featuring Yang.

Poulenc’s Sextet for Piano and Winds, Op.100 (1932-39) opens with a joyful romp and fully exploits the color range of a wind quintet. The piano adds energy and contributes to the explosive noise of the busiest passages. Commentator Orrin Howard observes that “The wind instruments, with their ability to be rakish, jesting, caustic, cynical, insinuating, brash, strident, etc., were natural foils for the kind of musical hijinks so often engaged in by Poulenc.” Circus performances, jazz concerts, and a rebellious streak encouraged by colleagues known collectively in Paris as Les Six infuse the work.

Flautist Zinninger notes, “In a lot of woodwind quintets, the horn player always feels like they just need to be softer all the time, like an outsider in a woodwind group. But in this piece they get to be a brass player.” Bassoon and oboe each play soulful melancholy episodes when the ensemble catches its breath.

The entire effect is joyful, exploiting the unique timbres of the instruments, combining instruments for colorful chords that would not sound the same with any other ensemble. Preview the first, second, and third movements on YouTube.

The evening promises to be a showcase for the core of the Milwaukee Musaik ensemble with selections ensured to offer an extraordinary glimpse of the pianistic skills of the honored guest, Joyce Yang.

The concert is scheduled for Tuesday evening, Jan. 23 at 7:00 p.m. at Wisconsin Lutheran College’s Schwann Concert Hall – located at 8800 W. Blue Mound Rd. Tickets may be purchased online or at the door. Part fundraiser, options include a “Full Gala Golden Access” ticket to a post-concert reception for an opportunity to meet Yang and other performers. Advanced ticket prices are discounted. Student tickets are available on the night of the concert.

On April 14, Milwaukee Musaik marks the 50th anniversary of the Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra, the original organization founded in 1973 by then Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Principal Oboist Stephen Colburn. A premiere of music by Christian Ellenwood and works by Ottorino Respighi and Richard Strauss will be featured. Colburn, his successor, Richard Hynson, and Alexander Mandl, current board president of the Milwaukee Musaik artist consortium, will each conduct a work.