Cello Rhapsodies and Folk Songs

Mari Nagahara, cello and Motti Fang-Bentov, piano

  • Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979) - Trois Pieces (1914) (7’)
  • I. Modéré
  • II. Sans vitesse et a l’aise
  • III. Vite et nerveusement rythmé
  • Michiko Toyama (1913-2006) - Suite of Japanese Folk Songs arr. cello and piano (~1960) (8’)
  • I. Komori Uta
  • II. Oiwake
  • III. Momi-Hiki Uta
  • Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979) - Rhapsody, for cello and piano (1923) (25’)
  • I. Molto lento — Allegro
  • II. Adagio e molto calmato
  • III. Allegro ritmico
  • IV. Lento
  • We live parallel lives across the globe, sharing experiences, struggles, joys, and sorrows. Many of us wonder what might have happened had we taken a slightly different path, lingering over life's endlessly mystifying "what ifs.” Rebecca Clarke and Nadia Boulanger were born just one year apart and died in the same year, one in London and the other in Paris. Both stand as pillars of 20th-century music, even if neither achieved, during her lifetime, the international recognition afforded to many of her male contemporaries. Boulanger was also one of the century's most influential teachers and, for a time, counted the young Michiko Toyama among her students.
  • Rebecca Clarke's Rhapsody was composed over several years after being commissioned by the renowned pianist Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge for a performance at her celebrated hall in 1923. During the composition of the work, Clarke traveled extensively—to Italy, Peking, Japan, Nanjing, Hawaii, and finally the United States, where she completed the score. The resulting work is expansive, brooding, and constantly evolving, seemingly questioning itself at every turn. Its international influences are subtly woven into the music, as though memories of different places and moments are colliding. Clarke was initially pleased with the work, but her enthusiasm waned as the premiere approached. The musicians did not have sufficient rehearsal time, and she was forced to make further cuts to the score. In the end, she remained dissatisfied, and Rhapsody lay unpublished until 2020.
  • Nadia Boulanger was a formidable force in the European musical world. She composed her Trois Pièces in 1914, adapting material she had originally written for organ. The work unfolds in three contrasting movements: the first, originally titled Improvisation; the second, Prélude; and the third, Danse espagnole. It is music of serenity, elegance, and light—qualities made all the more striking given that the world stood on the brink of war.
  • I began trying to trace Michiko Toyama's work last year as part of a larger project on Japanese women composers of the 20th century. Very little information about her exists online, and even her Wikipedia page was riddled with errors (it has since been corrected). At one point, I found myself tracing family trees and searching census records, only to discover the descendants of another Michiko Toyama who, despite having almost identical birth and death dates, was an entirely different person.
  • The composer Michiko Toyama was born in Japan, taught herself French, and traveled to Paris to study piano and composition. After returning to Japan, where she started a family, she later went back to Paris to study with Darius Milhaud, Olivier Messiaen, and Pierre Schaeffer. She subsequently spent four years at Columbia University as the first woman to study at the Columbia–Princeton Electronic Music Center. Toyama's Suite of Japanese Folk Songs may not be a direct homage to her teacher, but it somehow echoes the spirit of Boulanger's Trois Pièces.
  • While Clarke and Boulanger may have never crossed paths directly, they lived, struggled, and made art in their own distinctive ways, and indeed found a way to leave their mark on the world. Toyama too, reminds us that people often live parallel lives across generations and continents, their paths intersecting in ways that only become visible in hindsight, or by accident. Their stories remind us that history is full of lives unfolding in parallel, connected by shared ambitions, challenges, and moments of quiet resilience. Program notes by Mari Nagahara

Japanese-American cellist Mari Nagahara has distinguished herself as a promising young talent. Trained and rooted in the Western classical music tradition, her work lives at the junction of collaboration, equity and innovation and seeks to provide a reflective and inclusive tapestry within the classical music landscape.

She has been invited to perform at some of the most prestigious chamber music festivals and programs in the United States and Europe, including the Ravinia Steans Music Institute, the Perlman Music Program Chamber Workshop, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival at Yale School of Music, the Taos School of Music, and Kneisel Hall, among others. She is a frequent solo artist at the PODIUM Festival Esslingen, a space known for innovative and interdisciplinary programming.

She was a member of l’Académie Studio de l’Orchestre de Paris during the 2022–23 season. As an academist with l’Orchestre de Paris, Mari performed under the batons of esteemed conductors such as Klaus Mäkelä, Herbert Blomstedt, Christoph Eschenbach, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Jaap van Zweden. During the academy, she took part in an extensive tour, performing across Europe’s most iconic concert halls— including the Musikverein in Vienna, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, among others. She is also recent member of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra Academy and has performed in the New York String Orchestra Seminar at Carnegie Hall.

Mari has studied with pedagogues Paul Katz, Gabriel Schwabe, Natasha Brofsky, Carol Ou, Nancy Hair, and is a graduate of the New England Conservatory in Boston, MA and the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne, Germany.

She is a member of the International Ensemble Modern Academy (IEMA) for the 25/26 season and resides in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Born in Beijing, China, and raised in Tel-Aviv, Israel, pianist Motti Fang-Bentov hails from a multicultural, east-west background. Described by Mitsuko Uchida as “a fine musician”, and applauded for his “depth of understanding of musical styles” by Jean-Yves Thibodeau, his past performances include appearances as a soloist with the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra; the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra; and the New England Conservatory Philharmonia, collaborating with conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Vakhtang Kakhidze and David Loebel. He has given solo performances in Heichal Hatarbut, Tel-Aviv; Jordan Hall, Boston; Sala dei Notari, Perugia; and the Rose Theatre at the Lincoln Center, New York. Motti is also the winner of numerous prizes and competitions: the NEC Concerto & Honors Competition (‘18); the Pnina Zaltsman Piano Competition (‘12, ‘15); and the Ashdod Piano Competition (‘12, ‘15).

In addition to solo work, Motti is a passionate chamber musician and collaborator, and is the pianist of the Boston-based Trio Rai, with whom he has won the bronze medal at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition (‘21). He also attended Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and the Perlman Chamber Music Workshop. Recent collaborations include performances with Itzhak Perlman, cellist Lawrence Lesser and violinists Tessa Lark and Maria Ioudenitch.

Motti completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at the New England Conservatory in Boston, under the guidance of Alexander Korsantia and Wha-Kyung Byun. In addition to music, Motti loves cooking and has previously worked as a line cook at Sarma, a James Beard nominated middle-eastern restaurant in Somerville. He now resides in Los Angeles with his partner Nadia, and their 4 pound teacup poodle, Boba.

About the Dame Myra Hess Concerts

The concerts are generously sponsored by the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council and by individual donors.

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