AT HOME • Schubert & Fauré: Masters of Lyricism
Franz Schubert, the quintessential composer of art song, wrote more than 600 songs. The exquisite mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron and Artistic Director Gloria Chien will perform selections from Schubert’s epic final song cycle Schwanengesang (Swan Song) that expresses his desire and longing for lost love. Schubert’s Fantasy from the same final chapter of his life, is simultaneously one of the most virtuosic and sublime works for violin and piano. In his impassioned Piano Quartet, Gabriel Fauré incorporated his love of song into his dreamy instrumental melodies.
This AT-HOME concert is sponsored by: Leslie Hsu & Rick Lenon
This program is made possible in part by a grant from the E. Nakamichi Foundation.
Fleur Barron appears by arrangement with IMG Artists, 7 West 54th Street, New York, NY 10019. (212) 994-3500 www.imgartists.com
ACCESS DATES FOR THIS CONCERT: This concert will be professionally recorded with access July 14 @ 7pm through August 31 @ 11:59pm
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Program
Click on any piece of music below to learn more about it.
- SCHUBERT “Schwanengesang” (Swan Song), D. 957 (selected movements)
FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
Schwanengesang (Swan Song), D. 957 (22’)Selected movements:
II. Kriegers Ahnung (Warrior’s Foreboding)
IV. Ständchen (Serenade)
V. Aufenthalt (Resting Place)
X. Das Fischermädchen (The Fisher-Maiden)
XIII. Der Doppelgänger (The Double)
XIV. Die Taubenpost (The Pigeon Post)In 1828, Franz Schubert’s six-year battle with syphilis began its final lethal phase. Despite his failing health, Schubert worked tirelessly to produce much of his finest music, including the collection of songs known as Schwanengesang (Swan Song).
Schubert never thought of Schwanengesang’s 14 songs as a cycle, nor did he intend to publish them together. Nonetheless, after Schubert’s death, publisher Tobias Haslinger issued the songs in one grouping with an absurdly Romantic title, hoping to capitalize on the success of Schubert’s earlier works.
In the bleaker songs Kriegers Ahnung, and Aufenthalt, the piano’s weighty chords evoke anguish and despair. Ständchen, one of Schubert’s most popular songs, uses shifting minor-to-major harmonies to express the lover’s half-painful, half-pleasurable longing for his beloved.
Heine’s poems inspired Schubert’s greatest efforts in textural interpretation. The text of Das Fischermädchen suggests a pleasing love song, but its many key changes hint at the hopeful lover’s unresolved inner turmoil. In Der Doppelgänger, a wraith torments a lover standing outside a house in which many years earlier his beloved had lived. The lover’s tortured memories are conveyed by the stark stillness of the melody. After such anguish, Schubert ends with a delightful image of the carrier pigeon carrying messages of love in Die Taubenpost.
—© Elizabeth Schwartz
- SCHUBERT Fantasy in C Major for Violin & Piano, D. 934
FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
Fantasy in C Major for Violin & Piano, D. 934 (26’)In December 1827, Franz Schubert composed his final work for violin and piano, the Fantasy in C major, D. 934. The descriptor “fantasy” can be understood as “flight of fancy,” and it allowed Schubert freer rein to provide both violinist and pianist multiple opportunities to take listeners on extraordinarily elaborate virtuosic excursions.
Structurally, D. 934 can be heard as a sonata containing four movements in contrasting tempos. In the third section, Schubert features a theme-and-variations on his 1821 song Sei mir gegrüsst (I greet you), set to a poem by Friedrich Rückert. The slowly ascending melody of the opening Andante molto also derives from the song’s primary theme, and as D. 934 progresses, we realize the melody of Sei mir gegrüsst anchors the entire work.
Both piano and violin share equally in the technical demands of the music. At times one accompanies the other; in other instances, the two instruments enter into elaborate conversations with animated dialogues. The fantastical elements of the music lie primarily in Schubert’s signature treatment of harmony as a series of fleeting excursions into distant tonalities.
—© Elizabeth Schwartz
- GABRIEL FAURÉ Piano Quartet No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 45
GABRIEL FAURÉ (1845-1924)
Piano Quartet No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 45 (36’)I. Allegro molto moderato
II. Allegro molto
III. Adagio non troppo
IV. Allegro moltoBefore the year 1870, chamber music was rarely heard in public performances in France. Instead, it was performed privately for the aristocracy or, after the revolution, for the bourgeois class. For the best French composers, much more exposure and profit came from working in the world of opera.
Things changed when Camille Saint-Saëns founded the “Société nationale de musique” in 1871. This concert series promoted the works of young composers, taking advantage of the low cost associated with chamber music to share opportunities with new musical voices. As one such composer, Gabriel Fauré, later recalled, “before 1870 I would never have dreamed of composing a sonata or a quartet.”
Many of Fauré’s most significant chamber works date to the period of 1877–87 and premiered at the Société nationale, including his highly successful First Violin Sonata and both of his piano quartets. The Piano Quartet No. 2 in G Minor premiered on January 22, 1887, with Fauré himself at the piano. Very little is known about the circumstances of its composition, but Fauré must have taken the quartet seriously, since it occupied him as his primary project from 1885–1886.
This quartet displays a broad, symphonic approach, inspired by composers like César Franck, who had premiered his Piano Quintet at the Société nationale to an enthusiastic reception in 1880. Most prominently, Fauré employs Franck’s trademark “cyclic” form, in which melodies introduced early in the piece recur in later movements.
Fauré typically avoided writing program music, or music that references ideas or stories outside of the music itself. A poignant exception occurs in the second movement of this quartet. Fauré later remembered how, when writing the movement, “without really meaning to, I recalled a peal of bells we used to hear of an evening…whenever the wind blew from the West. Their sound gives rise to a vague reverie, which, like all vague reveries, is not translatable into words. It often happens, doesn’t it, that something plunges us into thoughts that are so imprecise…Perhaps it’s a desire for something beyond what actually exists; and there music is very much at home.”
—© Ethan Allred
Artists
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Gloria Chien
Piano & Artistic Director
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Taiwanese-born pianist Gloria Chien has one of the most diverse musical lives as a noted performer, concert presenter, and educator. She made her orchestral debut at the age of sixteen with the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Thomas Dausgaard, and she performed again with the BSO with Keith Lockhart. She was subsequently selected by The Boston Globe as one of its Superior Pianists of the year, “who appears to excel in everything.” In recent seasons, she has performed as a recitalist and chamber musician at Alice Tully Hall, the Library of Congress, the Dresden Chamber Music Festival, and the National Concert Hall in Taiwan. She performs frequently with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. In 2009, she launched String Theory, a chamber music series in Chattanooga, Tennessee that has become one of the region’s premier classical music presenters. The following year she was appointed director of the Chamber Music Institute at Music@Menlo, a position she held for the next decade.
In 2017, she joined her husband, violinist Soovin Kim, as artistic director of the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival in Burlington, Vermont. The duo became artistic directors at Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, Oregon in 2020. They were named recipients of Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Award for Extraordinary Service in 2021 for their efforts during the pandemic.
Most recently, Gloria was named Advisor of the newly launched Institute for Concert Artists at the New England Conservatory of Music. Gloria released two albums—her Gloria Chien LIVE from the Music@Menlo LIVE label and Here With You with acclaimed clarinetist Anthony McGill on Cedille Records.
Gloria received her bachelor, master’s, and doctoral degrees at the New England Conservatory of Music with Wha Kyung Byun and Russell Sherman. She is Artist-in-Residence at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee, and she is a Steinway Artist.
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Fleur Barron
Mezzo-soprano
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Hailed as “a knockout performer” by The Times, Singaporean-British mezzo Fleur Barron is a 2025 Grammy Award winner for Best Opera Recording, in which she sang the title role in Kaija Saariaho’s Adriana Mater with the San Francisco Symphony under Esa-Pekka Salonen. A passionate interpreter of opera, symphonic works, and chamber music ranging from the Baroque to the contemporary, Fleur is mentored by Barbara Hannigan.
Fleur opens her 2025-26 season with a debut at the Salzburg Festival, teaming up once again with Esa-Pekka Salonen and Peter Sellars for One Morning Turns into an Eternity, a staged creation in which Fleur performs Mahler’s “Abschied” from Das Lied von der Erde. Fleur continues her collaboration with Peter Sellars in a return to the title role in Kaija Saariho’s Adriana Mater for her debut at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. She also makes a house and role debut as Cornelia in Handel’s Giulio Cesare at Maggio Musicale in Florence; performs a staged version of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde directed by Lemi Ponifasio at The Barbican; George Benjamin’s Into the Little Hill, conducted by the composer, at the Tongyeong Festival in Korea; Piacere in Handel’s Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno with La Nuova Musica under David Bates at Wigmore Hall; and workshops for Bryce Dessner’s Night Sky with Exit Wounds, a monodrama being conceived for Fleur, directed by Kaneza Schaal.
Fleur’s 2025-2026 symphonic calendar reflects her artistic versatility across a broad range of repertoire. She debuts with the New York Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel in the world premiere of David Lang’s oratorio The Wealth of Nations; debuts with the Berlin Philharmonic under Kirill Petrenko in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, which also tours to the Salzburg Easter Festival; returns to both the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Atlanta Symphony at the invitation of Nathalie Stutzmann for Mozart’s Requiem and Bach’s B Minor Mass. Fleur also solidifies her reputation as a Mahler interpreter, singing the Kindertotenlieder with both the Czech Philharmonic under Semyon Bychkov and the RAI National Symphony Orchestra, Torino; Das Lied von der Erde with the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra under Ludovic Morlot and with the Britten Sinfonia; and Symphony No. 3 at both the Palau de la Musica Valencia and the Colorado Music Festival. Other symphonic performances include Alma Mahler’s Fünf Lieder with RAI National Symphony Orchestra, Respighi’s Il Tramonto with CBSO under Carlo Rizzi and Mason Bates’s Passage with Nashville Symphony under Giancarlo Guerrero.
Highlights of the 2025-26 recital platform include a French song program with Kirill Gerstein at Festival Ravel; a U.S. tour with Trio Afiori, a voice-clarinet-piano trio she has newly formed with Anthony McGill and Gloria Chien. The trio has a residency and concert at Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center before heading to Reno, Portland, and Eugene. With long-time duo partner Julius Drake, she gives concerts in Genoa, South Korea, Paris, London, Leeds, and Germany. Fleur joins the Australian String Quartet at the Helsinki Festival and the Parker Quartet at National Sawdust in Brooklyn. Fleur also undertakes a residency with LIFE Victoria Barcelona, for which she performs two recitals with Kunal Lahiry and coaches the young artists.
Fleur is committed to exploring the many ways music can facilitate cross-cultural dialogue and healing. She is passionate about curating inclusive chamber music programming that amplifies the voices of diverse communities. An active mentor and educator, Fleur has led vocal masterclasses and seminars at Manhattan School of Music, Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, Royal Academy of Music, Royal Northern College of Music, the Malaysian Philharmonic, Temple University, and King’s College London, and has also mentored young musicians privately. Born to a British father and Singaporean mother in Northern Ireland, Fleur grew up in the Far East and has also spent considerable time in New York and the U.K. She is currently based in London.
Fleur holds a B.A. in Comparative Literature with highest honours from Columbia University and a Masters in Vocal Performance from Manhattan School of Music.
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Benjamin Beilman
Violin
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Benjamin Beilman is one of the leading violinists of his generation. He has won international praise for his passionate performances and deep, rich tone which The New York Times described as “muscular with a glint of violence”, and The Strad described as “pure poetry.“ Le Monde has described him as “a prodigious artist, who combines the gift of utmost sound perfection and a deep, delicate, intense, simmering sensitivity”.
Benjamin’s 2024/25 season includes his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic and Kirill Petrenko on tour in the US, and returns to the Chicago, Cincinnati, and Antwerp symphonies. He also makes his debut with the Belgian National Orchestra the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony. He will also tour with pianist Steven Osborne across the US.
In recent seasons, Beilman’s commitment to and passion for contemporary music has led to new works written for him by Frederic Rzewski, Gabriella Smith, and a concerto by Chris Rogerson. He has also given multiple performances of Jennifer Higdon’s violin concerto, and recorded Thomas Larcher’s concerto with Hannu Lintu and the Tonkünstler Orchester.
He has received many prestigious accolades including a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and a London Music Masters Award. He has also recorded works by Stravinsky, Janáček, and Schubert for Warner Classics. In 2022, he became one of the youngest artists to be appointed to the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music.
He performs with the ex-Balaković F. X. Tourte bow (c. 1820), and plays the “Ysaÿe” Guarneri del Gesù from 1740, generously on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation.
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Paul Neubauer
Viola
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Violist Paul Neubauer’s exceptional musicality and effortless playing led The New York Times to call him “a master musician.” In 2025 he will release two albums for First Hand Records that feature the final works of two great composers: an all-Bartók album including the revised version of the viola concerto, and a Shostakovich recording including the monumental viola sonata.
At age 21, Mr. Neubauer was appointed principal violist of the New York Philharmonic, and he held that position for six years. He has appeared as soloist with over 100 orchestras including the New York, Los Angeles, and Helsinki philharmonics; Chicago, National, St. Louis, Detroit, Dallas, San Francisco, and Bournemouth symphonies; and Mariinsky, Santa Cecilia, English Chamber, and Beethovenhalle orchestras.
He has also premiered viola concertos by Béla Bartók (revised version of the Viola Concerto), Reinhold Glière, Gordon Jacob, Henri Lazarof, Robert Suter, Joel Phillip Friedman, Aaron Jay Kernis, Detlev Müller-Siemens, David Ott, Krzysztof Penderecki, Tobias Picker, and Joan Tower. He performs with SPA, a trio with soprano Susanna Phillips and pianist Anne-Marie McDermott, with a wide range of repertoire including salon style songs.
He has been featured on CBS’s Sunday Morning, A Prairie Home Companion, and in Strad, Strings, and People magazines. A two-time Grammy nominee, he has recorded on numerous labels including Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, RCA Red Seal, and Sony Classical.
Mr. Neubauer appears with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and is the artistic director of the Mostly Music series in New Jersey. He is on the faculty of The Juilliard School and Mannes College
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Zlatomir Fung
Cello
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Cellist Zlatomir Fung burst onto the scene as the first American in four decades (and youngest musician ever) to win First Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition Cello Division. Subsequent accolades, critical acclaim, and standing ovations at performances around the world have established him as one of the preeminent cellists of our time. Astounding audiences with his boundless virtuosity and exquisite sensitivity, the 25-year-old has already proven himself a star among the next generation of world-class musicians.
In the 2024–2025 season, Fung gives recitals in New York City, Boston, and St. Louis, and performs the complete Bach Cello Suites at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts and in Arcata, California, following summer appearances at the Aspen and Ravinia Festivals. He joins orchestras in Rochester, San Antonio, and Billings, among others. Internationally, he performs in Europe and Asia with the London Philharmonic, Barcelona Symphony, and others, and offers a recital tour of Italy. In January 2025, Signum Records released Fung’s debut album, a collection of opera fantasies and transcriptions for cello and piano.
Fung served as Artist-in-Residence with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for the 2023–2024 season; recent debut appearances include the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lille, and BBC Philharmonic, as well as Baltimore, Dallas, Detroit, Seattle, and Kansas City Symphonies.
Fung made his recital debut at Carnegie Hall in 2021 and was described by Bachtrack as “one of those rare musicians with a Midas touch: he quickly envelopes every score he plays in an almost palpable golden aura.” Fung was a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship Winner in 2022.
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