Colors in Spring
Fire, Light, and Renewal
Sunday, March 15, 2026
James D’León – piano
Luke Hill – violin
Wesley Skinner – cello
Program notes ©2026 by J. Michael Allsen
This springtime concert is our annual chamber music program featuring pianist James D’León and members of the Arizona Philharmonic: here featuring violinist Luke Hill, our acting associate concertmaster and principal cellist Wesley Skinner. They open with the expressively colorful Piano Trio by American composer Jennifer Higdon. Then we have the romantic Sonata for Cello and Piano by Sergei Rachmaninoff, a work in which lush writing for the cello contrasts with more virtuosic music for piano. Mr. D’León and friends played the Mendelssohn Piano Trio No. 1 at these concerts in March 2022. After intermission tonight, they play his masterful Piano Trio No. 2.
Jennifer Higdon
Piano Trio
I. Pale Yellow
II. Fiery Red
Luke Hill, violin
Wesley Skinner, cello
James D’León, piano
Jennifer Higdon
Jennifer Higdon (b.1962) is among America’s most successful contemporary composers. Born in Brooklyn, she studied flute at Bowling Green State University and composition at both the University of Pennsylvania and at the Curtis Institute, where she taught until 2021. In 2010, she won the Pulitzer Prize for her Violin Concerto, one of many honors she has garnered in the past twenty years. In just the last few years, her first opera, Cold Mountain, won the prestigious International Opera Award for Best World Premiere in 2016—the first American opera to do so in the award’s history. Within the past few years, Higdon has had successful premieres of her Double Percussion Concerto with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Cold Mountain Suite with the Delaware Symphony, and The Absence, Remember, a choral work commissioned by several choruses. She is among America’s most frequently-programmed composers, and her ethereal blue cathedral is among the most often-played pieces of contemporary music, receiving well over 600 performances since its premiere in 2000.
Higdon posed the following questions in discussing her 2003 Piano Trio:
Can music reflect colors and colors be reflected in music? In my composing, I often picture colors, as if I were spreading them on a canvas, except I do so with melodies, harmonies, and through the instruments themselves. The colors that I have chosen in both of the movement titles, and in the music itself, reflected very different moods and energy levels, which I find fascinating, as it begs the question, can colors actually convey a mood?
This work was composed for the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, in Vail, Colorado.
Higdon seems to have answered all of her questions in her Piano Trio. In the opening movement, titled Pale Yellow, the music conveys a sense of calm reserve with its lyrical string lines above brittle piano harmonies. Near the middle, all three instruments join in passionate music that reaches an emotional climax before subsiding into a reprise of the opening mood. The effect is astonishingly similar to one of the canvases of American painter Mark Rothko (1903-1970), abstract, seemingly enigmatic blocks of color floating above one another. However, for those who don’t simply dismiss one of his works, but instead spends time with it, it becomes obvious that. Rothko (for whom color certainly did have strong emotional associations) builds up his areas of color with layer upon layer of paint, with threads and thin layers of slightly contrasting colors, combining to form an overall impression of a solid block. In the second movement, titled Fiery Red, it takes little imagination to conjure up images of flames from the fierce interplay of the three instruments. There is a contrasting section in the middle, when the flames seem to die down momentarily, as if the conflagration is momentarily starved of oxygen. However, the burning starts again in a fierce character that lasts until the end.
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor, Op. 19
I. Lento—Allegro moderato
II. Allegro scherzando
III. Andante
IV. Allegro mosso
Wesley Skinner, cello
James D’León, piano
Sergei Rachmaninoff, 1900
The Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor (1901) by Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) has the dual distinction of being the only work he ever composed for a solo instrument other than piano, and his very last chamber work: for the next 40 years, he concentrated exclusively on works for solo piano and orchestral music. It was written in late 1901, during a period of renewed self-confidence following the phenomenally successful premiere of his second piano concerto. (Rachmaninoff had spent three years prior to this in the grip of a deep depression.) It was written for his friend, cellist Anatoly Brandukov, and the two of them played its premiere in Moscow on December 15, 1901. The title of the work is telling: this is clearly a sonata for cello and piano, in which the two instruments are equal partners: in fact, most of the difficulty in performing this work lies in the virtuosic piano part.
It opens with an introduction (Lento), that features a moody cello line and a piano part that lays out ideas that will be developed throughout. The body of the opening movement (Allegro moderato) is set in a broad sonata form that works with two ideas, a lyrical melody introduced by the cello, above a stormy accompaniment, and simpler theme heard first in the piano. The intense development section culminates in a passionate cadenza for the piano. In a brief recapitulation, Rachmaninoff brings back his main themes in the opposite order, before closing with a terse coda. The scherzo movement (Allegro scherzando) is in a three-part form. The outer panels feature brief bursts of cello above a turbulent piano part, and a brief moment of lyrical contrast. In the middle, Rachmaninoff provides a lovely Major-key song for the cello. The Andante that follows is also in a three-part form, beginning and ending with a thoroughly romantic song introduced by the piano. For contrast there is a second, melancholy idea, once again introduced by the piano and expanded upon by the cello. This rises to a grand, emotional peak before subsiding into a return of the opening idea and a quiet conclusion. The fourth movement (Allegro mosso) is set in sonata form, beginning with an exuberant cello main theme above a forceful piano background. The contrasting second idea is a flowing songlike theme led by the cello. The development section is concerned almost entirely with the main theme, while the recapitulation treats mainly the second idea, leading to a brilliant conclusion.
Felix Mendelssohn
Piano Trio No. 2 in C minor, Op. 66
I. Allegro energico e fuoco
II. Andante espressivo
III. Scherzo: Molto allegro quasi presto
IV. Finale: Allegro appassionato
Luke Hill, violin
Wesley Skinner, cello
James D’León, piano
Felix Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) composed his Piano Trio No. 2 in 1845, six years after he completed Trio No. 1. This was a very busy period of his life. He spent a few, ultimately frustrating years in Berlin at the request of the newly-crowned King of Prussia, Wilhelm IV. (His mother, Lea and his sister Fanny both lived in Berlin as well.) He also made three wildly successful tours in England. By 1843, he had largely returned to his beloved Leipzig, where he founded a conservatory that still exists today, the Hochschule für Musik und Theatre “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.” He composed the Trio No. 2 in the spring of 1845, when he was enjoying a relatively quiet sojourn with his family in Frankfurt. Like the Trio No.1, the Trio No. 2 is the work of a mature master. Writing to his sister Fanny, Mendelsssohn noted that “The Trio is a bit nasty to play, but not really difficult.” Indeed, the piano part clearly dominates throughout, but without the almost heavy-handed virtuosity of the Rachmaninoff Sonata.
It opens with a movement in sonata form (Allegro energico e fuoco), whose main theme—a nervous idea presented above a turbulent background—is presented by the strings and the piano in turn. This leads into a second theme, much more lyrical though with its own darker shadings, and a rather aggressive closing idea. Angry figures from the piano signal the opening of the development, much of which is taken up by violin and cello, for the first time in the piece treated as an independent parts, as they work out the second theme. The recapitulation is rather abrupt and concentrated, coming to an end in a wild coda on the closing theme. The piano introduces the gentle, lilting main theme of the second movement (Andante espressivo). The cello begins a more pensive middle section, before a return of the opening mood. The scherzo (Molto allegro quasi presto) is also in a three-part form; its outer sections dominated by lively, flitting minor-key music that is clearly a close cousin to his dancing fairies in the early Overture to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” The brief major-key trio is scarcely less energetic. It comes to an end in a tongue-in-cheek passage for pizzicato strings.
The finale (Allegro appassionato) is rondo form, with a rollicking main idea heard at the beginning, and repeated throughout surrounding contrasting ideas. The first of these is a brief, upbeat episode. In the second, piano quietly introduces a solemn chorale tune. This was clearly a tribute to Mendelssohn’s “great master” J. S. Bach, and possibly to the composer’s own adopted Lutheran faith. The chorale is Vor deinen Thron tret’ ich hiermit (Before Thy Throne I Now Appear), a prelude on which (BWV 668) is often referred to as Bach’s “deathbed chorale”—his final completed work. After a stormy transition, this tune returns fortissimo in all three instruments, before a final development of the main theme.
Program
Higdon: Piano Trio
Jennifer Higdon 🇺🇸
Pale Yellow
Fiery Red
Luke Hill, violin
Wesley Skinner, cello
James D’León, piano
Rachmaninoff: Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor, Op. 19
Sergei Rachmaninoff 🇷🇺
Lento—Allegro moderato
Allegro scherzando
Andante
Allegro mosso
Wesley Skinner, cello
James D’León, piano
INTERMISSION
Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 2 in C minor, Op. 66
Felix Mendelssohn 🇩🇪
Allegro energico e fuoco
Andante espressivo
Scherzo: Molto allegro quasi presto
Finale: Allegro appassionato
Luke Hill, violin
Wesley Skinner, cello
James D’León, piano
BIOGRAPHIES
James D’León, piano
James D’León
James D’León was born in South Korea into a musical family and began studying piano at the age of four, performing his first recital at five. After early training with his mother, he was awarded a full scholarship to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as a pre-college student. By age 12, he had won both the San Francisco Symphony and Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra competitions, performing the Grieg Piano Concerto and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23, respectively. He later relocated to Pennsylvania to further refine his technique and performance skills. At 14, he made his debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Academy of Music, performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2.
He continued his piano studies in Philadelphia with the late George Sementovsky, graduating summa cum laude from Temple University. These formative years shaped his pianistic style and deepened his philosophy of performance, particularly regarding expressive physical movement. He later earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music in New York.
D’León went on to receive recognition in numerous international competitions, including the Bachauer, Kapell, Leeds, and Van Cliburn. He was selected as a top-five finalist from a field of 250 pianists in the Naumburg International Piano Competition and received top honors at the New York Artist International Competition, leading to his New York debut at Carnegie Hall. He also earned the Gold Medal at the New Orleans International Piano Competition, helping to launch his international career. In 2009, he was named an official Steinway Artist, with inclusion on both the New York and Hamburg rosters. Since then, he has performed in England, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Canada, and in over 40 states across the U.S.
His performances have drawn critical acclaim, with the Philadelphia Inquirer noting his “exciting pianism filled with powerful emotion,” and The Salt Lake Tribune describing him as “a musical sorcerer who mesmerized the audience with every note.” International Piano Magazine, following his appearance at the Reading Festival in England, wrote, “D’León is one of the latest U.S. pianists to watch, and his recital was a sheer and dazzling delight!” He has been a featured performer at festivals including Banff (Canada), Boyle (Ireland), Schlern (Italy), and Mendocino (California).
As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with distinguished ensembles such as the Muir and Shanghai String Quartets. His performance of the Brahms Piano Quintet with the Shanghai Quartet drew a ten-minute standing ovation from a full house. He is also in high demand as a master class presenter and adjudicator, having taught at more than 75 universities worldwide and judged international piano competitions across age groups.
As a recording artist, his performances have been praised by American Record Guide, which called his playing “a revelation and a real treasure,” and by eMusic Magazine, which described his Schubert and Liszt interpretations as “amenable and remarkable.” Upcoming recording projects include the first complete set of Ástor Piazzolla’s tangos transcribed for piano quintet.
A champion of contemporary music, D’León premiered Currents, a piano concerto by American composer Henry Flurry inspired by Hurricane Katrina, with Arizona Philharmonic in 2018. Known for his versatility, he is equally at home performing as a concerto soloist, recitalist, or chamber musician. He continues to captivate audiences with his commanding technique, expressive movement, and interpretive depth.
Luke Hill, violin
Luke Hill
Luke Hill is a graduate with his Master’s degree in violin performance from Arizona State University having studied with Dr. Katherine McLin. Before ASU, Mr. Hill received his Bachelor of Music from the University of Colorado at Boulder, having studied with Charles Wetherbee. As Concertmaster of the West Valley Symphony since 2018, Mr. Hill has had the opportunity to perform as soloist on Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1. In addition, Mr. Hill serves as Assistant Concertmaster for Arizona Philharmonic. Mr. Hill has performed all over the United States and Europe primarily while attending summer music festivals such as Brevard Music Festival, Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, and Saarburg Music Festival in Saarburg, Germany, as well as study abroad in Florence, Italy. Mr. Hill performs on a 1912 W.E. Hill & Sons violin.
Wesley Skinner, cello
Wesley Skinner
Wesley Skinner is the principal cellist of Arizona Philharmonic with degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and Arizona State University. Wesley explores innovative programming through cross-disciplinary collaboration with female and Latin American composers, as well as commissioning new works for the cello repertoire. He has won awards internationally as a soloist and chamber musician in addition to his music composition for theater here in Arizona. Wesley works with hundreds of cellists yearly between his private studio, summer teaching, and community outreach.
Musicians
James D’León – Piano
Luke Hill – Violin
Wesley Skinner – Cello