Music at The Lace Mill: Pauline Mancuso: flute with Peter Mancuso: piano

Music at Lace Mill

Saturday, June 8, 2024 2:00pm – 3:00 pm

Pauline Mancuso, flute

Peter J. Mancuso, piano

Tickets available at the door or on Eventbrite. Suggested donation $20

Program:

Sonata in Eb, K. 123 - Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)

Intermezzo in A, op. 76, no.6 - Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Capriccio in g, op. 116, no.3

Sweet Simplicity - Rhonda Larson

Etude in c#, op. 25, no. 7- Frederic Chopin (1809 – 1849)

Etude no. 1 in C (1915) - Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

Piece for solo flute (1936) - Jacques Ibert (1890-1962)

Fantasy for flute and piano (2017) - Debra Kaye

From Thirteen Anniversaries: Leonard Bernstein (1918 – 1990)

1. For Shirley Pearle (1981)

2. In Memoriam William Kapell (1989)

3. For Stephen Sondheim (1965)

4. For Craig Urquhart (1986)

5. For Leo Smit (1988)

8. In Memoriam Goddard Lieberson (1964)

11. For Felicia (1974)

7. In Memorial Helen Coates (1970)

Sonata for Flute and Piano (1970) - Francis Poulenc (1899 – 1963)

1. Allegretto malincolico

2. Cantilena : Assez lent

3. Presto giocoso

Program Notes

Domenico Scarlatti composed over 500 keyboard sonatas, beginning with works for a young

princess who would become the Queen of Spain. Most were written in his older years, and

display a constantly developing style, and brilliant technique.

Johannes Brahms composed many short piano pieces. His 30 Klavierstucke span the period

1879 –1893. The titles are Intermezzi, capriccios, rhapsodies, a ballade, and a romanze. All

are considered to be masterpieces.

Rhonda Larson is an active and creative flutist and composer, winner of the National Flute

Association solo competition when only 22, Grammy winner, and also known for her former

membership in the Paul winter Consort and its Solstice Concerts every year at the Cathedral of

St. John the Divine in NYC.

Frederic Chopin composed two sets of etudes, Op. 10 and Op. 25. They are a brilliant

treatment of 24 difference technical problems. The Etude in c# minor, from op.25 (1832 -

1836)is similar to a nocturne. It features a duet between a lefthand melody and a supporting

melody in the right hand. It is nicknamed “The Cello” etude by some.

Claude Debussy composed 12 Etudes late in his career. They feature varied technical and

musical problems. The Etude #1 in C is titled “Pour les cinq doits d’apres Monsieur Czerny”. A

5-finger exercise is transformed into a gigue. The piece is mainly played on the white keys.

Jacques Ibert had a successful career writing operas, ballets, and chamber music, as well as

orchestral works. During WW2, he was “dismissed” by the pro-Nazi supporters, and went into

exile for a time in Switzerland. His chamber works make frequent use of the flute. His most

famous – and challenging! – work is the Flute Concerto (1934).

Debra Kaye’s Suite “Call to the Dance” had its origin in the Fantasy for Flute and Piano (2017)

commissioned by the flutist Carl Gutowski. She later added two more movements. Fantasy

evolves as a series of variations at times, but are always linked to one another in harmonious

partnership.

Leonard Bernstein composed five sets of “Anniversaries” between 1942 and 1988. They were

dedicated to friends and family. They commemorate birthdays, and some memorials. The

memorials for Helen Coates was used as the basis of Bernstein’s Meditation 1 and 2 in the

Mass (1971).

Francis Poulenc was an accomplished pianist and a member of “Les Six”, a collective of young

composers of the 1920s and 1930s era. He composed for every genre of music. The Sonata

for Flute and Piano is one of three late sonatas for woodwinds and piano. According to the

opinions of Groves, they have become fixtures in their repertoire because of their expertise

and their profound beauty.

Artist Biographies

PAULINE MANCUSO, flute, holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Theory and a Bachelor

of Music Education degree, cum laude, from Hartt College of Music, University of Hartford, and

a Master of Music degree in Music Theory and Music Education from Boston University School

for the Arts. Her principal flute study was with Stanley Aronson, and studied piano with

Herbert Chatzky and Fredryk Wanger. Her teachers of Theory and Composition were Arnold

Franchetti, John Goodman, Edward Miller, and Edward Diemente. Mrs. Mancuso is a member

of Mu Phi Epsilon and Pi Kappa Lambda, the National Flute Association, the Ulster County

Music Educators Association, the New York State School Music Association (former

adjudicator), and the National Association for Music Education (NAfME). Co-founder and

Managing Director of the former Cambiata Chamber Players founded in 1984, she retired in

2008 from her position as teacher of music and a choral director at J. W. Bailey Middle School

in Kingston and is the honored recipient of the first Lifetime Achievement Award, given to her

by the Kingston City Schools Music Department. She teaches flute in her studio in Kingston.

PETER J. MANCUSO, piano, holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree, magna cum laude,

from Hartt College of Music, University of Hartford and a Master of Music degree in Piano

Performance from Boston University School for the Arts, where he was inducted into Pi Kappa

Lambda professional music fraternity. He has studied piano with Daniel Pollack, Raymond

Hanson, Fredryk Wanger, Edgar Roberts, and Vera Wills. Mr. Mancuso has been selected

twice as a soloist in master classes of the International Bach Society, Rosalyn Tureck, director,

held at Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts, Bruno Walter Auditorium. He has also

done extensive professional accompanying under world-famous choral conductors. A life-long

resident of Kingston, he is co-founder, with his flutist wife Pauline, of the former Cambiata

Chamber Players. A teacher of voice and choral music at Saugerties Junior-Senior High School

from 1972 to 2005, Mr. Mancuso has previously conducted the Junior High School All-County

Chorus in 1978, 1981 and 2004. He is also a former NYSSMA adjudicator of piano, and

currently teaches piano privately in Kingston.