DUO Stephanie & Saar
Stephanie Ho & Saar Ahuvia, piano
“Exceptional Women and Outrageous Puppets” Program:
Fanny Hensel Mendelssohn (1805-1847)
Three Pieces for Piano four-hands
Allegretto
Allegro molto
Allegretto grazioso
Haruna Miyake (b. 1942)
Bird Shadows (1984)
Clara Schumann (1819-1896)
Romance in E-Flat Minor, Op. 9, No.1
March in E-Flat Major
Juri Seo (b. 1981)
Lux, Lumen, Splendor (2024)
*New York Premiere*
Commissioned by the I&I Foundation, Zürich
—Intermission—
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
Petrouchka
Burlesque in Four Scenes
Four-hand transcription of the complete ballet by the composer
First Scene: The Shrovetide Fair
Second Scene: Petrouchka’s Room
Third Scene: The Blackamoor
Fourth Scene: The Shrovetide Fair (Evening)
Pianists Stephanie Ho and Saar Ahuvia collaborate as DUO Stephanie and Saar in dazzling performances filled with visceral excitement, elegance and artistic vision. “Stephanie and Saar’s last night’s performance once again recalled all the epithets of elegant and innovative, that have been following them throughout their career.” ~ Radio Sarajevo DUO Stephanie & Saar’s 2022-23 season highlights included the Gijón International Piano Festival (Spain), Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts, the complete two-piano music of Meredith Monk for the Dranoff 2 Piano Foundation (Miami), Brahms two-piano sonata at Lewis & Clark College and the Kozeluch four-hand concerto with the Regensdorf Chamber Orchestra (Switzerland). The duo’s return appearance at the La Grua Center in Stonington, CT featured the two Ravel concertos and Mother Goose Suite. As probing recording artists, the duo explores repertoire with concomitant classical and contemporary sensibilities. Their recording of György Kurtág’s four hand transcription of Bach’s Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit (God’s Time is the Very Best of Times) was featured on the soundtrack of the documentary film Red Trees and the French feature film La Vénus d’argent. Anthony Tommasini of The New York Times praised their “beautifully understated performances” of Kurtág’s delicate and soulful Bach transcriptions at NYC’s (le) poisson rouge. The duo is currently embarking on a multi-year project to perform the entire Beethoven String Quartets in four hands setting. Cavatine, released in 2021, features String Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 130 with Beethoven’s own four-hand arrangement of Grosse Fuge. Gramophone Magazine praises it as “majestic.. a highly distinctive disc.” Beethoven Dialogues, their 2014 album featuring Beethoven Quartets Op. 18 Nos. 1, 4 and 6 in rarely heard four hand transcriptions by Hugo Ulrich and Robert Wittman was chosen as Album of the Week on New York Public Radio WQXR. The duo’s 2017 recording of Johann Sebastian Bach’s The Art of Fugue has garnered tremendous praise; Stephanie and Saar toured The Art of Fugue extensively with stops in Portland, Sacramento, Phoenix, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York, among others. “Their vision is of an Art of Fugue that is a work of performance art, not an academic piece to be listened to reverently... This is creative music-making of an extraordinarily high level.” ~ The Art Music Lounge Other notable performances include Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring at Lincoln Center and the Israel Conservatory in Tel Aviv. The duo collaborated with Michael Linville and the New World Symphony Percussion Consort in Linville’s own arrangement of Igor Stravinsky’s Petrouchka and André Boucourechliev’s aleatoric fantasy piece Archipel I. The duo takes special pride in a performance at the residence of the United States Ambassador in Berlin, Germany, featuring works by Henry Martin (US), Avner Dorman (Israel) and Felix Mendelssohn (Germany). DUO Stephanie and Saar are the artistic directors of Makrokosmos Project, an annual music festival in Portland, Oregon dedicated to contemporary American music and performances by Oregon- based performers and composers. The 2015 inaugural festival featured standing-room performances of George Crumb’s Makrokosmos I & II and music by Kenji Bunch and David Crumb. Oregon Arts Watch frankly states “It was one of 2015’s peak Oregon musical moments.” Makrokosmos Project 7: Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman featured 19 women composers, a celebration of the 19th amendment. On Thursday, June 27th Makrokosmos Project will celebrate its 10th anniversary by presenting the complete Makrokosmos, Books I-IV by George Crumb and a brand new commission by Juri Seo. While pursuing graduate studies at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, Stephanie and Saar were inspired by Leon Fleisher to explore the Beethoven string quartets in a duo piano setting. Saar, a native of Israel, studied at Israel's Tel Aviv Academy and Switzerland's Schaufhausen Conservatory before coming to the United States to pursue a Graduate Performance Diploma with Leon Fleisher at Peabody Institute. Stephanie, of Taiwanese descent, grew up in Portland, Oregon before obtaining degrees from Oberlin College and Northwestern University. She received a Graduate Performance Diploma from Peabody Institute, under the direction of Julian Martin. Stephanie and Saar, who are married to each other, reside in New York City. Outdoor enthusiasts, they completed the 95 mile Wonderland Trail around Mount Rainier and the Jungfrau trail in the Bernese Alps. Visit them at www.stephsaarduo.com