Hindemith: Hérodiade Inscape & Richard Scerbo

• 1 Herodiade (version without words) 20:30
• Total Runtime 20:30

Info for Hindemith: Hérodiade

Bridging the gap between their GRAMMY® nominated release Sprung Rhythm (DSL-92170) and their upcoming album American Aggregate (DSL-92179), Inscape, under the direction of Richard Scerbo, takes us to an evening at the ballet with Paul Hindemidth’s Hérodiade.

Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge was an influential benefactor and patron of music, especially chamber music, during the first half of the twentieth century. In the early 1940s, Coolidge commissioned ballet scores from Aaron Copland and Mexican composer, Carlos Chávez, to be choreographed by Martha Graham. Due to disagreements and delays with Chávez in finishing in his score, Coolidge and Graham decided to commission another piece to take its place. They selected the composer Paul Hindemith who had immigrated to the United States from Germany and was currently teaching at Yale University. After rejecting Graham’s first idea for a script, the trio of Coolidge, Graham, and Hindemith opted on an exploration of the “Scene” from Stéphane Mallarmé’s enigmatic poem Hérodiade.

Hérodiade was premiered on October 30, 1945 at the Coolidge Auditorium at the Library of Congress under Graham’s dance title Mirror Before Me, with Graham dancing the lead role of Hérodiade. Also premiered on the same program were Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring, and Darius Milhaud’s Jeux de Printemps.

Inscape
Richard Scerbo, director

Inscape
Founded in 2004, Inscape performs concerts that aim to engage audiences and provide a compelling way to explore both standard and non-standard works. With its flexible roster of musicians, Inscape programs explore a variety of styles. Praised by The Washington Post for their “guts and musical sensitivity,” Inscape’s energetic concerts are well-established in the Washington DC region and continue to garner praise from audiences and critics alike.

Inscape has worked joyously and often with emerging American composers and has a commitment to presenting concerts featuring the music of our time. Since its inception, Inscape has commissioned over twenty works.

Inscape members regularly perform with the National, Philadelphia, Virginia, Richmond, and Delaware symphonies, the Washington Opera Orchestra, and are members of the premiere Washington service bands. Former Inscape performers are currently members of orchestras across the United States and abroad.

Inscape regularly performs as the Ensemble-in-Residence at the The Episcopal Church of the Redeemer in Bethesda, Maryland with additional performances at the National Gallery of Art, Strathmore Music Center, and other local and national venues. Inscape records exclusively for Sono Luminus.

Richard Scerbo
In 2004, Artistic Director Richard Scerbo founded Inscape with the intent of introducing audiences to diverse chamber and ensemble repertoire. This unique brand of programming has made Inscape one of the most exciting ensembles in the Washington Metropolitan area. Under Mr. Scerbo’s leadership, Inscape has commissioned and premiered numerous new works. In 2012, Mr. Scerbo conducted members of Inscape in a performance of Dominick Argento’s opera A Water Bird Talk for the composer as part of a month-long festival celebrating his music at the University of Maryland. In 2013, he leads Inscape in multiple performances at the National Gallery of Art, including a program highlighting the music of the Ballets Russes featuring Igor Stravinsky’s Renard and Manual de Falla’s El corregidor y la molinera.

Mr. Scerbo co-founded his first orchestra, The Philharmonia Ensemble, in 2000 with violinist Dale Barltrop while studying at the University of Maryland. As Music Director, he led the orchestra in a series of diverse and exciting programs that included collaborations with artists such as pianist Rita Sloan, soprano Carmen Balthrop, and the Prism Brass Quintet. In 2003, he made his operatic debut conducting Dominick Argento’s A Water Bird Talk with The Philharmonia Ensemble and G.F. Handel’s Xerxes with the Maryland Opera Studio. That same year he conducted Igor Stravinsky’s L'Histoire du soldat in a fully staged production at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. Mr. Scerbo helped launch the Londontowne Symphony Orchestra (Maryland) in 2003 when he was invited to conduct their inaugural concert, and returned again in 2004 to conduct their season opening concert.

Mr. Scerbo is a graduate of the University of Maryland where he studied conducting with James Ross and bassoon with Daniel Matsukawa, Sue Heineman, and Linda Harwell. He has attended conducting programs in Austria and the Czech Republic working both with the International Festival Orchestra, Kromeriz, and the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic. He has also been guided in his studies by classes with Leonard Slatkin, Heinz Fricke, Gustav Meier, and with Johannes Schlaefli at the Musikhochschule Zurich.

In addition to his work with Inscape, Mr. Scerbo is the Associate Artistic Director and General Manager of the National Orchestral Institute, a training program for orchestra musicians on the threshold of their professional careers. He serves concurrently as Assistant Director for Artistic Planning and Operations at the University of Maryland School of Music.

Booklet for Hindemith: Hérodiade