Pianist John Novacek in Concert

Founder/Director
LESSLIE HARLOW

Artistic Directors
RUSSELL HARLOW

Musicians
John Novacek
Russell Harlow, Clarinet
Leslie Harlow, Viola

PCI Artist Liaison
JENNY KNAAK

PCI Technical Director
HAYDEN CHIPLEY

Program

Park City, UT
February 6, 2022 at 3:00pm

Beethoven Piano Sonata Op. 110
John Novacek, Piano

Trio for Clarinet, Viola and Piano by Jean Francaix
John Novacek, Piano
Russell Harlow, Clarinet
Leslie Harlow, Viola

intermission

Beethoven Trio Op. 1 No. 1 for Clarinet, Viola and Piano
John Novacek, Piano
Russell Harlow, Clarinet
Leslie Harlow, Viola

Theater

The Eccles Center is the largest theater in Park City, Utah with 1,269 seats. It is home to Park City Institute's Main Stage Season from October through April each year, presenting a broad range of world-class performing arts from international dance companies to Broadway icons to beloved author/humorists to virtuosos in a host of musical styles from Chamber Music to rock'n'roll.

Health and Safety

The Park City Institute and the Park City School District have taken measures to assure the health and safety of our patrons, staff, and performers. We are constantly adjusting our COVID protocols based on the recommendations of the CDC, directives of local and state health departments. Permanent changes include, updated HVAC, touch-less restrooms faucets, electronic ticketing, electronic programs, enhanced cleaning, and all volunteers and staff to be fully vaccinated. Based on guidance, we adjust the capacity of the theater and reserve empty seats between ticketed groups.

Currently, we are limiting attendance to our main stage series to 50% of the house and ask that all patrons arrive at the theater wearing a mask and keep it on at all times while in the building. Once in the theater, patrons are free to move to the back of the house or the balcony where there is more space between groups. If you don’t feel well, have a cough or a fever we ask that you remain home.

Park City Institute

Presents

Pianist John Novacek in Concert with Beethoven Festival Artists in Residence

Since 1984, internationally acclaimed classical solo artists have been converging on picturesque Park City, Utah, working together to prepare unique, vibrant chamber music programs designed to delight intimate audiences that include everyone from first-time concertgoers to lifelong chamber music fans.

Chosen for their dynamic musical personalities, the Beethoven Festival roster artists breathe expression into every Festival performance, making each concert a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the listener.

These exceptional artists perform these programs throughout Utah and beyond, as well as including their work in outreach to lesser served communities, senior living facilities, and schools.

More information and a Full Concert Calendar can be found at:

https://www.pcmusicfestival.com/

Notes on the Program

Beethoven was first famous as a spectacular virtuoso pianist. Now the world's best-known classical composer, he gave humanity a massive treasury of piano solo works. A major part of those compositions is the 32 exquisitely intimate piano solo sonatas. Tonight's Sonata in A-Flat Major, Opus 110 is the 31st work (the second to last) of this spectacular set of masterpieces and a wonderful contrast to the first work on our program.

The Trio Op. 1 No. 1 for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano is a perfect arrangement of one of Ludwig van Beethoven's first published chamber music works, written when he was only 25 years old. He had written other works but this charming trio was one work in the set of trios that were his introduction to Viennese musical society.
It sounds very much like young Beethoven in its originality. At the same time, Beethoven used certain devices from Haydn, particularly humor and surprise, to please the Viennese public.

The dazzlingly virtuosic 1990 Trio for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano by Jean Francaix is brimming with charm and personality as movements alternate between serious and lighthearted fun.

The Players

John Nocacek

Pianist JOHN NOVACEK regularly tours the Americas, Europe, and Asia as a solo recitalist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist; in the latter capacity, he has presented over thirty concertos with dozens of orchestras.

John Novacek has recorded over 35 CDs of works by most major composers from Bach to Bartók and including his own original compositions. He records for the Philips, Nonesuch, Arabesque, Warner Classics, Sony/BMG, IBS Classical, Koch International, Universal Classics, Ambassador, Arkay, Azica, EMI Classics, Four Winds, Pony Canyon and Virtuoso labels.

CD titles include Road Movies (2004 GRAMMY nomination as “Best Chamber Music Performance”), Great Mozart Piano Works, Spanish Rhapsody, Novarags (original ragtime compositions), Classic Romance, Hungarian Sketches, Intersection, Romances et Meditations, and, with Leila Josefowicz, Americana (GRAMOPHONE: “Editor’s Choice”), For the End of Time, Shostakovich and Recital (BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE: 5 stars/June 2005's chamber choice). 2020 saw the IBS Classical releases of Chausson’s Concert in D for Violin, Piano & String Quartet and an album of viola sonatas by Glinka, Hindemith, and Schubert with violist Randolph Kelly.

John Novacek has performed at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ Avery Fisher and Alice Tully Halls, the 92nd Street Y, Columbia University’s Miller Theater, Merkin Concert Hall, The Metropolitan Museum and Symphony Space, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Boston’s Symphony Hall, Chicago’s Symphony Center and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Hollywood Bowl and Royce Hall. International venues include Paris’ Theatre des Champs-Elysées, Salle Gaveau and Musée du Louvre, London’s Wigmore Hall and Barbican Centre, as well as the major concert halls of Japan. His frequent guest artist appearances at festivals include NYC’s Mostly Mozart Festival, California’s Festival Mozaic and those of Aspen, Cape Cod, Caramoor, Chautauqua, Colorado College, Great Lakes, Mendocino, Mimir, Ravinia, Seattle, SummerFest La Jolla, Beethoven Festival Park City, Wolf Trap, BBC Proms (England), Braunschweig (Germany), Lucerne, Menuhin, and Verbier (Switzerland), Majorca (Spain), Sorrento (Italy), Stavanger (Norway), Toulouse (France) and Sapporo (Japan). He has also made his debut with the Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México.

Often heard on radio broadcasts worldwide, Mr. Novacek has appeared on NPR’s "Performance Today", "St. Paul Sunday" and, as both featured guest composer/performer, on "A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor". He was also seen and heard on television, including "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson", "Entertainment Tonight" and "CNN International".

John Novacek has performed with Joshua Bell, Matt Haimovitz, Leila Josefowicz, Cho-Liang Lin, Yo-Yo Ma, Truls Mork, Elmar Oliveira and Emmanuel Pahud, and with the Afiara, Colorado, Harrington, Jupiter, New Hollywood, St. Lawrence, SuperNova and Ying String Quartets. He also tours widely as a member of Intersection, a piano trio with violinist Kaura Frautschi and cellist Kristina Reiko Cooper.

Mr. Novacek has also given numerous world premieres and worked closely with composers John Adams, John Harbison, Jennifer Higdon, George Rochberg, John Williams, and John Zorn.

John Novacek took top prizes at both the Leschetizky and Joanna Hodges international piano competitions, among many others. He studied piano with Polish virtuoso Jakob Gimpel at California State University, Northridge, where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree, summa cum laude. Subsequently, he earned a Master of Music degree from New York City’s Mannes College of Music, where his instructors were Peter Serkin in piano and Felix Galimer in chamber music. Mr. Novacek’s coaches in composition included Frederick Werle, Aurelio de la Vega, and Daniel Kessner.

John Novacek’s original compositions have been widely performed and frequently recorded by major international soloists and ensembles. Commissioning entities include NY Philharmonic, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, Chautauqua Symphony, Fresno Ballet, Accordo/Schubert Club (film score), Fuji TV, Seattle Commissioning Club, Scotia Festival, Eastman School of Music, McGill University, West Texas A&M University, "The 5 Browns", Concertante, Ensemble Liaison, Millennium, Manasse/Nakamatsu Duo, Harrington String Quartet, Ying Quartet, and Quattro Mani. He has also prepared special arrangements for The Three Tenors, Boosey & Hawkes, EMI, Atlantic Records, John Williams, Lalo Schifrin, Kiri Te Kanawa, and pop diva Diana Ross.

John Novacek is a Steinway Artist.

Russell Harlow

Clarinetist and Beethoven Festival Artist in Residence Russell Harlow is one of the nation's premiere solo and chamber clarinetists. Mr. Harlow performed the New York Premiere of the Ramiro Cortes Trio (written for him), along with the Brahms Quintet, at Carnegie's Weill Hall in New York. The Sonolumina Ensemble ISOMIKE Label High Definition recording featuring Mr. Harlow entitled "Chamber Music for Clarinets and Strings" has received critical acclaim in both the U.S. and Europe. His most recent recordings for the ISOMIKE Label are "Mozart and Romantic Encores" and "Beethoven by Special Arrangement". These two recordings are featured on the High Definition recording site NativeDSD.com. The Mozart recording was nominated for Chamber Music Recording of the Year on this audiophile site and the Beethoven recording has been labeled as one of the site’s "Best-Selling" albums.

Russell Harlow co-directs the Beethoven Festival Park City and has performed and lectured for International Clarinet Association events throughout the world. His website ClarinetCentral.com is regularly visited by clarinetists worldwide. In addition to performances in Utah with the Beethoven Festival, the Contemporary Music Consortium and Sonolumina Orchestra, Mr. Harlow has performed with the Affetti Festival, Sitka and Anchorage Fall Classics Festivals (Alaska), the Amsterdam Chamber Players, the Puerto Rico Clarinet Festival, the Ars Nova, Lyrica and Piatigorsky Foundation concerts in New Jersey and with the Leonore Trio and Bargemusic in NYC.

Russell Harlow's mentors include Gary Foster, Mitchell Lurie, Harold Wright and violinist Charles Libove, and he was coached in chamber music and attended the masterclasses by cellist Gregor Piatigorsky. Harlow is featured on recordings with flutist Laurel Ann Maurer, the Mirecourt Trio, the Beethoven Festival and the Utah Symphony abd has recorded numerous solos for major film scores. He founded and directed Utah's Nova Series until he joined the Beethoven Festival as Co-Director in 1986. He attended both UCLA and USC before joining the Utah Symphony at the age of 21.

LESLIE HARLOW

Festival Artist in Residence, Violist Leslie Harlow, is the Founder and Co-Director of the Park City Beethoven Festival. She has performed in chamber concerts with a host of the finest artists of this era. A graduate of the Juilliard School, Leslie Harlow performed in masterclasses for William Primrose, Paul Doktor, Donald McGinnis, Heidi Castleman, and Nabuko Imai and her primary teachers were Marna Street, Susan Schoenfeld, Paul Doktor, and violinist Harry Shub with additional lessons with Heidi Castleman, Donald Wright, and Francis Tursi. Ms. Harlow studied chamber music with coaches including Felix Galimer, Samuel Rhodes, David Soyer, Paul Doktor, Charles Castleman, Robert Sylvester, and Julius Baker.

Following graduation from Juilliard, Ms. Harlow moved to Utah with the plan to found a chamber music festival modeled after festivals she had been performing with over the years. She founded the Deer Valley (Utah) Chamber Music Festival in 1984 which has since been renamed the Beethoven Festival. The Festival continues to this day as Utah's oldest classical music festival, as of 2021,

presenting over 800 festival chamber concerts featuring many of the finest classical soloists of this era.

An active recording artist, both in chamber music and in commercial studio work, Ms. Harlow's viola solos have been featured on a number of film and television soundtracks including "Murder in the First”, "Surviving Picasso” and, most recently “Alpha”. She also founded and for many years directed the Park City Film Music Festival, the first U.S. film festival dedicated to the impact of music in film.

Active in teaching, Leslie Harlow is the coordinator and coach for the chamber music program Utah Valley University Department of Music in Orem, Utah. In 2015 Ms. Harlow was invited to present the collegiate level viola master class at the National ASTA Convention and to serve as a judge for the collegiate solo competition.

Representing the Festival, Leslie and clarinetist Russell Harlow perform concerts together with their colleagues throughout the year. They particularly enjoy performing for senior residents in retirement homes and for aspiring young artists at their schools.

Outside of the Festival, Harlows are busy professional performing artists, invited to perform in Utah and beyond, including for the Bargemusic Series in New York. Leslie Harlow’s recording credits also include the critically-acclaimed SACD recording for the ISOMIKE label: Chamber Music for Clarinets and Strings which features works by Karel Husa, Bohuslav Martinu, and Ingolf Dahl.


Chamber Music at the Eccles Center is made possible with the generous support from Bob Shallenberg, the Utah Division of Arts & Museums, and Summit County Cultural RAP Tax.