Schubert Club advocates contemporary recital music and commissions composers to create pieces for specific artists and occasions. Composers commissioned by Schubert Club include Dominick Argento, Cary John Franklin, Libby Larsen, Stephen Paulus, Paul Schoenfield, and David Evan Thomas. Two of these commissioned works have won Pulitzer Prizes: Dominick Argento’s From the Diary of Virginia Woolf in 1975 and Aaron Jay Kernis’s String Quartet #2 (musica instrumentalis) in 1998.
Dominick Argento
From the Diary of Virginia Woolf , 1975
Commissioned by Schubert Club for mezzo-soprano Dame Janet Baker
Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1975
Premiered by Ms. Baker and Martin Isepp, piano in Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis, Jan 1975
Recorded on D’note Classics DND-1019
Published by Boosey & Hawkes
The Andrée Expedition, 1982
A Schubert Club Centennial Commission
Premiered by Håkan Hagegård, baritone and Thomas Schuback, piano
Recorded by Benngt Nordfors, tenor and Bengt Forsberg, piano on Nosag CD-021
Published by Boosey & Hawkes
A Few Words About Chekhov, 1996
Premiered by Frederica Von Stade, mezzo-soprano; Håkan Hagegård, baritone; and Martin Katz, piano, at Ordway Music Theatre in 1996
Published by Boosey & Hawkes
Abbie Betinis
website
Nattsanger (Nightsongs), 2008
Commissioned by Schubert Club
Awards: Honorable Mention, ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, 2009
McKnight Artist Fellowship, 2009 (Primary Work Sample)
Premiered by: Jennifer Swanson, soprano; Philip Everingham, piano; Chris Raddatz, clarinet (Ultan Recital Hall, Minneapolis, MN)
Recorded: Fleur de Son Classics (https://www.classicalarchives.com/newca/#!/Album/73177)
Publisher: Abbie Betinis Music Co.
Randall Davidson
website
Kittyhawk for violin and piano, 1987
Premiered February 1987 by Liba Shacht, violin and Gary Hammond, piano
Cary John Franklin
website
Falls Flyer, 1999
Premiered in 1999 by Merilee Klemp, oboe and Chris Kachian, guitar
Recorded on Schubert Club’s 10,000 Lakes label: Falls Flyer SC115
An Emily Dickinson Cycle, 1987
Premiered in 1987 by Janice Meyerson, mezzo-soprano and Dennis Helmrich, piano
Juliana Hall
Night Dances, 1987
Commissioned by Schubert Club for soprano Dawn Upshaw
Premiered in December 1987 by Dawn Upshaw and Margo Garrett, piano
Edie Hill
Bow Echo, 1997
Premiered in October 1997 by Thomas Rutishauser, cello
David Kechley
website
Voices from the Garden for guitar quartet, 1994
Premiered January 1994 by the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet
Recorded by Albany Records
Aaron Jay Kernis
website
String Quartet #2 (musica instrumentalis), 1997
Awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music in 1998
Premiered in New York’s Merkin Hall in Jan 1998 by the Lark Quartet
Recorded on Arabesque Z6727 by the Lark Quartet
Published by Associated Music Publishers, Inc.
Libby Larsen
website
Fire and Brimstone for MIDI grand piano, 1996
Premiered in 1996 by Alex Braginsky
Raspberry Island Dreaming for soprano and orchestra, 2002
Commissioned for the dedication of the Raspberry Island Bandstand, Text by Patricia Hampl and Joyce Sutphen
Premiered September 2002 by Kimberly Barber, soprano and The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra conducted by Andreas Delfs
Bruce MacCombie
website
Nightshade Rounds for guitar solo, 1977
Co-commissioned by Schubert Club for guitarist Sharon Isbin
Premiered in New York’s Alice Tully Hall in May 1983 by Sharon Isbin
Recorded on EMI/Virgin Classics #45024
Published by Helicon Music Corporation
Arthur Maud
In te Domine speravi (Psalm 31) for a cappella SATB, 2001
Text translation by Christopher Brunelle and Joyce Sutphen
Premiered December 2001 by The Rose Ensemble
Jeffrey Mumford
website
A landscape of interior resonances for solo piano, 2000
Premiered March 2003 by John Jensen
Stephen Paulus
website
Artsongs for tenor and piano, 1982
A Schubert Club Centennial Commission
Poems by Rilke, W.C. Williams, Wilbur Sadoff, O’Hara, Logan
Premiered May 1983 by Paul Sperry, tenor and Irma Vallecillo, piano
Recorded on Albany TROY036
Published by European-American Music
Ned Rorem
website
Nine Episodes for Four Players for clarinet, violin, cello and piano, 2001
Premiered in May 2002 on the Music in the Park Series by Burt Hara, Stephen Copes, Anthony Ross and Pedja Muzijezic
Paul Schoenfield website
Peccadilloes for piano solo, 1995
Commissioned for pianist Christopher O’Riley
Premiered December 1996 at the Ordway Music Theatre by Christopher O’Riley
Three Intermezzi for Piano Solo, 2003
Commissioned for pianist Anne-Marie McDermott
Premiered March 2004 at Ordway Center for the Performing Arts by Anne-Maire McDermott
Tatyana Sergeyeva
Two Movements for Two Pianos, 1996
Commissioned for pianists Irina and Julia Elkina
Premiered in December 1996 at the Ordway Music Theatre by the Elkina Sisters
David Evan Thomas
website
Sonata for Oboe and Guitar, 1999
Premiered April 1999 by Merilee Klemp, oboe and Chris Kachian, guitar
Recorded 2002 on Schubert Club’s 10,000 Lakes label:Falls Flyer, SC115
Greetings and a Farewell for violin and piano, 1997
Commissioned in celebration of Schubert Bicentennial
Premiered April 1997 by Michael Sutton, violin and John Jensen, piano
The Healing Fountain for violin, cello and piano, 2001
Premiered September 2002 at the Raspberry Island Bandstand by Kyu Young Kim, Sarah Lewis and Layton James
Joan Tower
website
Snow Dreams for flute and guitar, 1982
A Schubert Club Centennial Commission
Premiered April 1983 by Sharon Isbin & Carol Wincenc
Recorded on New World 80470-2
Published by Associated Music Publishers, Inc.
Zhang Ying
Spring Water (stone xylophone solo), 2000
Premiered February 2000 by Philip Blackburn on a Schubert Club Courtroom Concert