157. Derek Wang

Sunday, March 23rd, 2025 @2 PM | What Happens to Tears: Rainer Maria Rilke at 150

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157.

Salon Concerts at Klavierhaus
Jed Distler, artistic director

presents

What Happens to Tears: Rainer Maria Rilke at 150

Derek Wang, pianist and curator

with guest artsts Lauren Randolph, mezzo-soprano; Minki Hong, baritone; Phoebe Rawn, flute; Christian Whitacre, bassoon

Sunday, March 23rd, 2025 @2 PM

Live at Klavierhaus
790 11th Avenue
New York, NY 10019

$20 suggested donation

Donate to Salon Concerts   In-person reservation   Livestream

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Morton Feldman (1926–1987)
Only (1947)

Lauren Randolph, mezzo-soprano

Alma Mahler (1879–1964)
Bei dir ist es traut (1910)

Franz Schreker (1878–1934)
Und wie mag die Liebe (1919)

Alban Berg (1885–1935)
Traumgekrönt from Seven Early Songs (1907)

Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990)
Two Love Songs (1949)
1. Extinguish my eyes
2. When my soul touches yours

Lauren Randolph, mezzo-soprano
Derek Wang, piano

Samuel Barber (1910–1981)
Mélodies passagères, op. 27 (1952)
1. Puisque tout passe
2. Un cygne
3. Tombeau dans un parc
4. Le clocher chante
5. Départ

Minki Hong, baritone
Derek Wang, piano

Stephen Hough (b. 1961)
Was mit den Tränen geschieht (2009)
I. Lento giusto
II. Allegro brillante
III. Andante

Phoebe Rawn, piccolo
Christian Whitacre, contrabassoon
Derek Wang, piano

Philip Glass (b. 1937)
Suite from Orphée (1991, arr. 2000 Paul Barnes)
1. The Café
2. Orphée’s Bedroom
3. Journey to the Underworld
4. Orphée and the Princess
5. Interlude
6. Orphée’s Return
7. Orphée’s Bedroom (Final Scene)

Derek Wang, piano

Peter Lieberson (1946–2011)
from Rilke Songs (2001)
1. O ihr Zärtlichen
5. Stiller Freund

Lauren Randolph, mezzo-soprano
Derek Wang, piano

Viktor Ullmann (1898–1944)
The Lay of the Love and Death of Cornet Christoph Rilke (1944)

Part I
I. “On the 24th of November…”
II. “Riding, riding, riding…”
III. “Someone is talking about his mother…”
IV. “A day through the baggage train…”
V. “Von Langenau is writing a letter…”

Part II
I. “Rest! To be a guest for once…”
II. “It began as a meal…”
III. “Someone, who is wearing white silk…”
IV. “The tower room is dark…”
V. “Is it morning already?...”
VI. “But where can the flag be?...”
VII. “Through the blazing halls…”
VIII. Finale. “The next spring…”

Derek Wang, piano and narration

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With virtuosity and “enviable idiomatic rigor” (The Wall Street Journal) at the service of “pure poetry” (Seen and Heard International), pianist Derek Wang is drawing increasing acclaim in the roles of soloist, collaborator, curator, and communicator.

A proponent of the music of Franz Liszt, Derek was awarded second prize at the 12th International Liszt Competition (Liszt Utrecht) in the Netherlands in 2022, which followed on the heels of first prize at the inaugural New York Liszt Competition in 2021. Deeply experienced in contemporary music, he held a three-summer-long fellowship position as pianist of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble at the Aspen Music Festival under conductors Donald Crockett and Timothy Weiss, performing a total of over fifty works of the 20th and 21st centuries. This season, Derek takes on a role as Creative Enterprise Fellow at Juilliard, curating a range of programs including sesquicentennial celebrations of composer Charles Ives and poet Rainer Maria Rilke, as well as an all-Philip Glass marathon concert on the composer’s 88th birthday.

Derek holds degrees from Juilliard and from the Yale School of Music. His principal teachers have included Stephen Hough, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Matti Raekallio, and Boris Slutsky. He continues his studies at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien in Hannover, Germany in the studio of Arie Vardi. For more information and the latest concert schedule, please visit www.derek-wang.com.