The 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY), one of New York’s leading cultural venues, presents Musicians from the Curtis Institute of Music & John de Lancie, narrator, perform Stravinsky’s L’histoire du soldat and more, on March 19, 2023 at 3pm ET at the Kaufmann Concert Hall. The concert will also be available for viewing online for 72 hours from time of broadcast. Tickets for both the in-person and livestream options start at $25 and are available at 92ny.org/event/musicians-from-curtis-institute.

Musicians from the Curtis Institute of Music perform Stravinsky’s bold, jazzy, modern work for narrator and orchestra, with actor John de Lancie (Star Trek) taking on the role of narrator/soldier/devil.

De Lancie has a deep connection to Curtis – his father, John de Lancie, Sr. was the longtime principal oboist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and later director of the Curtis Institute. The program also includes selections featuring instrumentation employed in the Stravinsky work – clarinet and bassoon via Poulenc’s rarely performed Sonata, violin and double bass in a neoclassical Penderecki work, along with a new commission by Curtis Institute faculty member Nick DiBerardino. Opening the concert is young Vietnamese composer and Curtis alum Viet Cuong’s Well-Groomed, a solo piece for snare drum, credit card and comb, setting the stage for the pronounced percussion of the Stravinsky work.

John de Lancie, narrator

David Shifrin, clarinet

Soovin Kim, violin

Program:

Viet Cuong, Well-Groomed for solo snare drum

Poulenc, Sonata for Clarinet and Bassoon

Penderecki, Duo Concertante for Violin and Double Bass

Nicholas DiBerardino, Darmok & Jalad (NY Premiere)

Stravinsky, L’Histoire du Soldat

About the Artists

John de Lancie has had an eclectic career as an actor, director, producer, writer, educator, and comedian. In addition to the iconic role of Q on the Star Trek series The Next Generation, Voyager, Deep Space 9, and Picard, he has appeared in numerous television shows including Breaking Bad, CSI, The West Wing, Sports Night, Judging Amy, and Legend.

His film credits include The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, Taking Care of Business, Fearless, Multiplicity, Woman on Top, Good Advice, Pathology, and The Last Session. He has performed in many stage productions, and has been a member of the American Shakespeare Center, the Seattle Repertory Theatre, and the Old Globe.

The son of renowned Philadelphia Orchestra oboist John de Lancie, Mr. de Lancie grew up in a musical household. Over his career, Mr. de Lancie has performed as narrator with a number of major orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. His repertoire includes Peer Gynt, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, and Peter and the Wolf, among many others.

He has written and directed ten symphonic plays produced with the Milwaukee Symphony and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the LA Philharmonic, and Pasadena Symphony. Mr. de Lancie wrote, directed, and hosted “First Nights,” a concert series at Walt Disney Concert Hall with the LA Philharmonic that explored the lives and music of Stravinsky, Beethoven, Mahler, Schumann, and Prokofiev. Mr. de Lancie has also directed the operas Tosca and Cold Sassy Tree in Atlanta, Madame Butterfly in San Antonio, and Cinderella in Sacramento.

Mr. de Lancie is a graduate of Kent State University and The Juilliard School. When time permits, he is also an avid sailor.

Clarinetist David Shifrin graduated from the Interlochen Arts Adademy in 1967 and the Curtis Institute in 1971. He made his debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra having won the Orchestra’s Student Competition in 1969. He went on to receive numerous prizes and awards worldwide, including the Geneva and Munich International Competitions, the Concert Artists Guild auditions and both the Avery Fisher Career Grant (1987) and the Avery Fisher Prize (2000).

Shifrin received Yale University’s Cultural Leadership Citation in 2014 and is currently the Samuel S. Sanford Professor in the Practice of Clarinet at the Yale School of Music where he teaches a studio of graduate-level clarinetists and coaches chamber music ensembles. He is also the artistic director of Yale’s Oneppo Chamber Music Society and the Yale in New York concert series. Shifrin previously served on the faculties of the Juilliard School, the University of Southern California, the University of Michigan, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the University of Hawaii.

Shifrin served as artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center from 1992 to 2004 and Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, OR from 1981 to 2020. He has appeared as soloist with major orchestras in the United States and abroad and has served as principal clarinetist with the Cleveland Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra (under Stokowski), the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the Symphony Orchestras of New Haven, Honolulu, and Dallas. Shifrin also continues to broaden the clarinet repertoire by commissioning and championing more than 100 works of 20th and 21st century American composers. Shifrin’s recordings have consistently garnered praise and awards including three Grammy nominations and “Record of the Year” from Stereo Review.

Shifrin is represented by CM Artists in New York and performs on Backun cocobolo clarinets and Légère synthetic reeds.

2022/23 TISCH MUSIC SEASON

In this first season curated by 92NY’s new Vice President of Tisch Music Amy Lam, the season features 39 events, more than 20 92NY debuts, 31 premieres, and four 92NY commissions. The 22/23 season includes premieres of Joseph Schwantner‘s guitar quintet Song of a Dreaming Sparrow, a song cycle by Anthony Cheung, and works by Laurie Anderson, Timo Andres, Marcos Balter, Christopher Cerrone, Nicholas DiBerardino, Reena Esmail, inti figgis-vizueta, John Glover, Ted Hearne, Fred Hersch, Stephen Hough, Jimmy López, Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, Angélica Negrón, Mary Prescott, Caroline Shaw, Sarah Kirkland Snider, Darian Donovan Thomas, Scott Wollschleger, Pamela Z, and more.

Select Highlights:

• This season marks the first time 92NY is presenting a fully integrated concert season across genres, including performances by Kate Baldwin, Joshua Bell, Regina Carter, Angela Hewitt, Larisa Martinez, Branford Marsalis, Kelli O’Hara, Eric Owens, Pepe Romero, Caroline Shaw, Sir András Schiff, Daniil Trifonov, and Jessica Vosk.

• The World Premiere of a 92NY-commissioned piece from composer Jimmy López, performed by J’Nai Bridges and the Catalyst Quartet.

• The New York premiere of Difficult Grace by cellist Seth Parker Woods and dancer Roderick George, presented in collaboration with Harkness Dance Center.

• An in-depth two-day Julius Eastman retrospective featuring LA-based music collective Wild Up in three concerts, as well as exhibits, and panel discussions with Eastman friends and scholars examining the life of one of the 20th century’s most iconoclastic voices.

• The Bach Collegium Japan, conducted by Masaaki Suzuki with baritone Roderick Williams

• 92NY’s signature series exploring the American songbook, Lyrics and Lyricists, continues to explore the best of Broadway, while also highlighting significant contributions to American culture by singer-songwriters across a variety of musical genres such as Marvin Gaye, Joni Mitchell, Nina Simone, the Mamas and the Papas, and more.

• Two performances as part of an ongoing partnerships with The Curtis Institute of Music.

• Jazz, which has been a staple of 92NY’s Tisch season since Thelonius Monk and Charles Mingus took to the stage in 1955, will be performed by world-class musicians like Branford Marsalis, Fred Hersch, and Regina Carter not just within the renowned Jazz in July series, but throughout the year.

About The 92nd Street Y, New York: The 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) is a world-class center for the arts and innovation, a convener of ideas, and an incubator for creativity. 92NY offers extensive classes, courses and events online including live concerts, talks and master classes; fitness classes for all ages; 250+ art classes, and parenting workshops for new moms and dads. The 92nd Street Y, New York is transforming the way people share ideas and translate them into action all over the world. All of 92NY’s programming is built on a foundation of Jewish values, including the capacity of civil dialogue to change minds; the potential of education and the arts to change lives; and a commitment to welcoming and serving people of all ages, races, religions, and ethnicities. For more information, visit www.92NY.org.