Patrons are requested to silence cell phones and other electronic devices during performances.

The taking of photographs and the use of recording equipment are not allowed in this venue.

This performance is an external rental presented in coordination with the Kennedy Center Campus Rentals Office and is not produced by the Kennedy Center.

Program

R. Schumann

Kinderszenen, Opus 15
Von fremden Ländern und Menschen (From Foreign Lands and Peoples)
Curiose Geschichte (Curious Story)
Hasche-Mann (Blind Man’s Bluff)
Bittendes Kind (Pleading Child)
Glückes genug (Happiness)
Wichtige Begenbenheit (An Important Event)
Träumerei (Dreaming)
Am Camin (At the Fireside)
Ritter vom Steckenpferd (Knight of the Hobbyhorse)
Fast zu ernst (Almost Too Serious)
Fürchtenmachen (Frightening)
Kind im Einschlummern (Child Falling Asleep)
Der Dichter spricht (The Poet Speaks)

R. Schumann

Arabeske, Opus 18

C. Schumann

Piano Sonata in G Minor
I. Allegro
II. Adagio
III. Scherzo
IV. Rondo

C. Schumann

Soirées Musicales, Opus 6
No. 2 Notturno
No. 3 Mazurka
No. 5 Mazurka

R. Schumann

Davidsbündlertänze, Opus 6
Lebhaft
Innig
Mit Humor
Ungeduldig
Einfach
Sehr rasch
Nicht schnell
Frisch
Lebhaft
Balladenmässig. Sehr rasch
Einfach
Mit Humor
Wild und lustig
Zart und singend
Frisch
Mit gutem Humor
Wie aus der Ferne
Nicht schnell

Program Notes

From the Artist:

What does it mean to play classical music in the 21^st century? What does it mean to be a classical musician today?

Existential questions started running in my mind, as the world stood still in fear, concerts canceled. Sirens sounded the only consistent music last year.

In times of turmoil, I turn to German Romantic literature, philosophy, and music to inspire me outside the box of reality. So naturally, I began rediscovering and deepening my love for Robert Schumann’s music in the past year and began dreaming of a hypothetical program that I could one day present, one that represents who I am today as a musician. Little did I know then that the day would be on the Washington Performing Arts season at the Kennedy Center one year later…what an honor.

To reflect on one’s existence and purpose, one often looks back at past times and forward to the future. The program is therefore a journey through time, from reflecting on the age of innocence through Kinderszenen (1838) to dancing beyond the present reality in the imaginative, ambitious Davidsbündlertänze. Through my journey of studying Schumann, I grew to understand how important Clara was to Robert from his own words, how integral she was as his muse not only in their letters, but in their music. Robert even admitted that Kinderszenen might have been inspired by Clara’s remark to him—that he seemed to her like a child. Therefore, I decided to interweave Clara’s works with Robert Schumann’s.

The program is also a journey through the relationship between Robert and Clara Schumann, though chronologically re-arranged to illustrate the influence of Clara on Robert and to have a more open, optimistic, philosophical ending. Beginning with pieces that Robert wrote while they were forcibly separated by Clara’s father Friedrich Wieck, unable to marry each other during the melancholy meandering of Arabeske, Clara Schumann’s Sonata invites you to ponder on the musical personality that Robert had been yearning for. After intermission, we once again begin with looking back through a selection of her teenage pieces from Soirées Musicales, the fifth of which directly inspired the opening of Robert’s Davidsbündlertänze, a set of dances dedicated to her, while he was dreaming in 1837 of their eventual wedding in 1840… “If ever I was happy at the piano it was when I was composing these…”

I have been fascinated by Schumann’s dual personalities in his music—Eusebius and Florestan—ever since I first encountered them ten years ago. I could see myself as both being the introspective, emotional, idealistic Eusebius and the extroverted, impatient, lively Florestan—and I love exploring both through Schumann’s music. During the pandemic, I wanted to learn something new and stumbled upon the duo again in Davidsbündlertänze. What has been even more fascinating as I dive deeper into Schumann’s world is discovering Eusebius and Florestan’s philosophy on music in the Davidsbund—an imaginary music society Schumann founded in 1833, in a coffeehouse in Leipzig with his artist friends including Clara Wieck and Mendelssohn. The Davidsbund wrote critical reviews on compositions, concerts, and up-and-coming young composers, published under pseudonyms in Schumann’s music journal Neue Zeitschrift für Musik—with an aim to fight against philistinism and provoke a thoughtful dialectic on music.

In an age permeated with sensationalism in all walks of life, it has been refreshing to contemplate Robert and Clara Schumann’s values as composers and music critics. Exploring their music has challenged me to rethink not only how I play the piano, but also what my responsibilities are as an artist—to communicate classical music to an audience today while paying respects to the classical composers and their tradition.

Robert Schumann’s imaginative music has always soothed and opened my mind, while spurring on my creativity, which I hope, together with Clara Schumann’s music, will do the same for you today in your return to the concert hall.

—Tiffany Poon

Please note: Work-by-work program notes by writer Eric Bromberger, links to Tiffany Poon videos, and more are available on the Washington Performing Arts website. 

Terms and Conditions

All events and artists subject to change without prior notice.

Thank You Supporters

This performance is made possible through the generous support of Susan S. Angell and of Betty Bullock and John Silton. Washington Performing Arts is grateful to the Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office for their patronage of this engagement.

This performance is one of eleven performances in our 2021/22 season included in Washington Performing Arts’s World in Our City initiative, which promotes cross-cultural understanding and cultural diplomacy via international performances, globally inspired Mars Arts D.C. programming, and the award-winning Embassy Adoption Program, a partnership with D.C. Public Schools.

Thank you to the following lead supporters of Washington Performing Arts’s mission-driven work in 2021/22: Jacqueline Badger Mars and Mars, Incorporated; Dr. Gary Mather and Ms. Christina Co Mather; the National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs Program and the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts; D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities; Tom Gallagher; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; and the Dallas Morse Coors Foundation for the Performing Arts.

Washington Performing Arts Board of Directors

Washington Performing Arts Junior Board

Washington Performing Arts Women’s Committee