Violist/composer Melia Watras, violinists Tekla Cunningham, Rachel Lee Priday and Michael Jinsoo Lim, photographer Michelle Smith-Lewis and narrator Tigran Arakelyan present the world premiere of Watras’s new work, The almond tree duos. The title references the symbol of hope and new beginnings in Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost. Written largely during the recent quarantine, each of the 18 duos for violin and viola is paired with a photograph by Smith-Lewis and a poem by Lim.
Masks are required in all indoor spaces on the UW campus. Patrons must show proof of vaccination or recent negative provider-administered COVID-19 PCR test for entry to live events at Meany Hall. Individuals unable to be fully vaccinated, including children under age five and people with a medical or religious exemption, must have proof of a negative provider-administered COVID-19 PCR test (taken within 72 hours of the performance). UW staff will check for proof of vaccination and negative COVID PCR tests at the doors as a condition of entry. Proof of negative test result must come from a test provider, a laboratory or a health care provider. Home or self-administered tests will not be accepted. Details of these policies and procedures are at: https://artsevents.washington.edu/covid-protocols
Program
Melia Watras: The almond tree duos
Tigran Arakelyan, narrator
Tekla Cunningham, violin
Rachel Lee Priday, violin
Michael Jinsoo Lim, violin
Michelle Smith-Lewis, photography
Melia Watras, composer and viola
The almond tree duos………………………………………………Melia Watras (b. 1969)
Dear Nightingale (2020)1
The almond tree (2020)2
Prism (2020)3
Dahlia (2019)2
2.5° south (and a little west) (2021)1
The almond tree 2 (2020)3
Metro gnome (2021)2
Nothing to prove (2020)2
Vex (2020)3
Perlucere (2020)1
The almond tree 3 (2020)3
An orca, a nuthatch and a cat walk into a bar… (2019)2
Ancient memory (2020)1
The cloud that touched the ground (2021)3
Cirque à cordes (2019)2
The almond tree 4 (2020)1
Reflection (2021)2
Amaranth (2019)2
1 Tekla Cunningham, violin; Melia Watras, viola
2 Michael Jinsoo Lim, violin; Melia Watras, viola
3 Rachel Lee Priday, violin; Melia Watras, viola
poems by Michael Jinsoo Lim
photographs by Michelle Smith-Lewis
Program Notes
The almond tree duos is a collection of 18 works for violin and viola, 15 of which have versions for two violas. The title references the symbol of hope and new beginnings in Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost.
Each piece is connected to a photograph by Michelle Smith-Lewis. Sometimes I composed based on her art, and other times, she took photos inspired by my music. I then asked Michael Jinsoo Lim to write a short poem for each duo.
The collection houses two cycles: one a trio of songs with the pitch center of Eb (Nothing to prove, Vex, Perlucere), the other a quartet that examines the same material from different perspectives (The almond tree, The almond tree 2-4).
The almond tree duos may be performed as stand alone pieces, or programmed in different combinations with other works from the collection, or as a complete set.
My deepest thanks to Tigran Arakelyan, Tekla Cunningham, Rachel Lee Priday, Michael Jinsoo Lim, Michelle Smith-Lewis, the UW Meany Center crew, and the UW School of Music.
Remembering JoAnn Taricani, Director of the School of Music.
—Melia Watras
Artist Bios
Violinist Michael Jinsoo Lim has been praised for playing with “delicious abandon” by Gramophone and described as “bewitching” and “masterful” by the Seattle Times. Hailed by the Los Angeles Times as a “conspicuously accomplished champion of contemporary music,” Lim has worked with composers such as Milton Babbitt, John Corigliano, George Crumb, Shulamit Ran and Joan Tower. Known for his versatility with a wide range of styles, he enjoys a dynamic career as a soloist, chamber musician, concertmaster and recording artist. Lim is concertmaster and solo violinist of the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra (“surely the best ballet band in America”—New York Times), serves as artistic director and violinist of the Seattle-based ensemble Frequency (“a dream string trio”—King FM-Seattle’s Second Inversion) and is director and co-founder of Planet M Records. His discography can be found on Naxos, Planet M, Sono Luminus, DreamWorks, Albany, Bridge, CRI, Bayer Records, RIAX and New Focus.
Solo appearances with Pacific Northwest Ballet include multiple performances of the Stravinsky Violin Concerto (in New York City and Seattle), Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1 (Paris and Seattle), and Richard Einhorn’s rock and roll inspired piece for electric violin, Maxwell’s Demon (Paris and Seattle). Lim has recorded numerous world premieres, including Andrew Waggoner’s Violin Concerto (written for Lim) for Bridge Records, and solo violin works by Melia Watras for Sono Luminus and Planet M Records.
For twenty years, Lim toured and recorded with the Corigliano Quartet, a group he co-founded. With the quartet, he won the Grand Prize at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and the ASCAP/CMA Award for Adventurous Programming, and performed in the nation’s leading music centers, including Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall, and the Kennedy Center. The quartet’s Naxos label CD was honored as one of The New Yorker’s Ten Best Classical Recordings of the Year.
As a theater artist, Lim appeared in director Nick Schwartz-Hall’s Tempo of Recollection, a show about composer Erwin Schulhoff, and served as music consultant for Seattle Repertory Theatre’s production of Opus, directed by Braden Abraham. Lim has performed onstage with Pacific Northwest Ballet in George Balanchine’s Duo Concertante, Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain and Alexander Eckman’s Cacti.
Offstage endeavors include producing three critically acclaimed albums by violist/composer Melia Watras (as well as being co-producer on a fourth), his work as lyricist for a number of compositions by Watras, and an appearance alongside Jinkx Monsoon in a promotional video for the city of Seattle. Lim is the inspiration for a character in Erica Miner’s operatic mystery novel, Death by Opera.
Lim was among the final pupils of legendary violinist and pedagogue Josef Gingold at Indiana University. He later studied chamber music at the Juilliard School, where he also taught as an assistant to the Juilliard String Quartet. He currently serves on the faculty of Cornish College of the Arts. Lim has given violin and chamber music classes throughout the US and in France, Korea and Mexico. He has served on the faculty of Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and taught at Indiana University as a guest professor.