2021-2022 Program Book

2021 - 2022 SEASON

All Together Now 2021-2022 Season Program 1: Beethoven’s Fifth & Rhapsody October 2 & October 3, 2021

Program 2: Pictures at an Exhibition November 6 & November 7, 2021

Program 3: Home for the Holidays December 17 & December 19, 2021

Program 4: Rachmaninov Rhapsody February 12 & February 13, 2022

Program 5: Barber & Brahms April 23 & April 24, 2022

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Welcome from the Executive Director/president .............................................................. 4 ASO Board of Trustees ....................................................................................................... 5 A letter from the Maestro ................................................................................................ 6-7 James Ross, Music Director ............................................................................................... 8 CONCERT 1: beethoven’s Fifth & Rhapsody (October 2 & 3, 2021) ........................................... 13-16 Michelle Cann, piano...........................................................................................................18-20 CONCERT 2: pictures at an exhibition (november 6 & 7, 2021) ............................................... 21-24 Alexandria Film Festival.................................................................................................... 25 Film Artists........................................................................................................................ 25-27 symphony orchestra league of alexandria (SOLA) ............................................................. 28-29 Concerto Foundation ........................................................................................................ 30 CONCERT 3: home for the holidays (december 17 & 19, 2021) ................................................ 31-33 BalletNOVA ....................................................................................................................... 34 Meredith Riley, education director ................................................................................... 35 Adopt A Chair Program ..................................................................................................... 36 CONCERT 4: rachmaninov rhapsody (february 12 & 13, 2022) ............................................... 37-40 Sara Daneshpour, piano .................................................................................................... 42-43 ASO Sympatico ................................................................................................................... 44 CONCERT 5: barber & Brahms (april 23 & 24, 2022) .............................................................. 45-48 Brian Prechtl, composer .................................................................................................. 49 Dylana Jenson, violin ....................................................................................................... 50-51 ASO Supporters 2021-2022 ................................................................................................. 52-57 Concert venues ................................................................................................................ 58 Volunteer with the ASO .................................................................................................... 59 ASO History ....................................................................................................................... 62

Concert programming and guest artists are subject to change.

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CONGRATULATIONS To The Alexandria Symphony Orchestra On Its 78th Spectacular Season

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Melynda wilcox, President, Board of Trustees George Hanson, Executive Director One of the most powerful lessons from our shared pandemic experience is how performing and listening to live music connects us and brings us closer together as a community. We’ve missed connecting with you and we are thrilled to be sharing the beauty and joy of the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra with you again.

The Board of Trustees and I are filled with gratitude for your support during these uncertain times and for your patience and understanding as we made plans, cancelled plans or fine-tuned plans in order to create the safest possible performance environment for our patrons, musicians, volunteers and staff.

Welcome back. It’s so good to be all together again…finally.

Great artists, and great artistic experiences, are transformational. This season Music Director Jim Ross has put together programs that go beyond inspiration, enabling change: George Walker opened doors to generations of African-American creative artists; Aaron Copland brought maturity to the American sound in classical music; George Gershwin bridged the gap between jazz and “legit;” Beethoven merged classical forms with a new depth of human expression and created the Romantic Era. As we come together again and emerge from pandemic isolation, music can be a catalyst for the transformational process we are all experiencing.

Great composers invite us into their world through their music, a world that is more vivid in feelings and colors than our own. If the composer is successful, the listener emerges from the experience with a different view of the world—new tools for facing challenges great and small. We are grateful you are joining us on this journey of transformation.

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2021-2022 Board of Trustees Melynda Wilcox, President Nancy Davenport, Co-Vice President • Susan Stalder, Co-Vice President Paul Kentes, Treasurer • Judy Grey, Secretary George Bostick Suzanne S. Brock Sally Guy Brown Miriam Browning Linda Bunce Ronal Butler Carolyn Fuller Avril James

Betty Quirk David Johnson Anne Best Rector Florence King Claire Schwab Lee Klousia Phyllis Sintay, SOLA Harriett G. McCune Johan van Zyl Genevieve Moorhouse, SOLA Ed Walters James V. Page, Jr. George White Arthur Peabody, Jr. Frank Purcell

Advisory Board Anne Reed, Chair Mollie Danforth Alex Deringer Ellis Duncan

Barbara H. Hayes Becky Siegel Elizabeth Siegel

Edward Stark Jeanne Warner Judy Williams Nancy Ziegler

Trustees Emeritus Dr. Joseph V. Braddock Mr. Waller T. Dudley Hon. William D. Euille Mr. Caswell O. Hobbs

CAPT W. Ward Lasley USN (Ret.) Mr. James B. Singerling Jeanne Warner Donnan C. Wintermute

Concerto Foundation Board of Trustees Frank J. Quirk, Chair Charles Ballou

Miriam Browning Mary Ann Best Millard Betty Quirk

Thomas Sargeant Forrest Williams

ASO Administration

George Hanson, Executive Director Ryan Jordan, Director of Operations Melinda Kernc, Director of Development and Marketing Meredith Riley, Education Director Kyle Tilman, Sympatico Program Director Susan Kelly, Personnel Manager Craig Teer, Stage Manager Cecilia Stroud, Volunteer Manager, Graphic Designer

Alexandria Symphony Orchestra 700 N Fairfax Street, Suite 501 • Alexandria, VA 22314 www.alexsym.org • (703) 548-0885

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A Letter from the

Maestro

Diversity strengthens…In the garden, in the workplace, in our immune systems, in our social circles, and in music. If planted together, squash, beans, and corn help each other grow - The Three Sisters. What diversity is growing at the ASO this season?

October: Alloys….The genius stroke of Beethoven’s 5th and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue are admittedly two pretty odd sisters to grow together in one opening concert. They represent the challenge of coming together. With Valerie Coleman’s gorgeous Umoja as the third sister though, I believe we may have found three pieces that feed and live off each other’s differences. Umoja is the Swahili word for unity, and Coleman’s vision calls us to overcome the differences and personal distances that plague our mangled world.

Gershwin’s Rhapsody first gave jazz a place in our classical concert halls.

Beethoven demonstrates hope bursting through a darkness and finding its way back home. How deep is our need for connection? How hardearned is our joy?

November: A patchwork quilt. What film or story might you create to a given soundtrack of American orchestral music? That is the challenge we threw to six local filmmakers as part of our Homegrown: American Stories In Film collaboration with the Alexandria Film Festival. The resulting newly-commissioned movies give visual life to six pieces whose narratives up until now were only auditory and imaginary. Copland’s Our Town captures the special spirit of Alexandria through the eyes of its inhabitants with crowd-sourced and historical footage. Those films are then woven into the fabric of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition like a visiting special exhibit dispersed discretely among the permanent collection.

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December: A tasty holiday mixer as prepared by the chefs of the ASO and BalletNova. How can the three sisters of baroque, Nutcracker, and jazz intertwine to create a multi-dimensional winter feast? Duke Ellington cunningly translates the sound of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker into the language of big band. Fairies and Cossacks and snowflakes courtesy of Northern Virginia’s finest young ballet troupe. Sometimes joy is coming back to things that you know and seeing them with new eyes.

February: A quartet sandwich. “But other hearts in other lands are beating, With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.” A late Beethoven string quartet and an early George Walker quartet movement both re-orchestrated for full strings provide the middle of this winter sandwich full of loss and rejuvenation. Sibelius unwittingly writes the Finnish national anthem to start things off. Rachmaninov’s music is full of nostalgia for a country “where other hearts are beating,” especially in the eighteen variation of his Paganini Rhapsody in which pianist Sara Daneshpour gets to turn the theme upside-down and single-handedly fend off the collecting demonic forces through the power of gentleness.

April: Overcome…The kids in ASO’s amazing Sympatico education program helped composer Brian Prechtl co-create his commissioned Tribute as the first full-scale concert collaboration between both wings of our ASO—a coming together as one. Violinist Dylana Jenson and Brahms both had to overcome mountainous challenges to be here today: Brahms as the bearer of the yoke of responsibility as Beethoven’s successor, and Dylana as a stunningly recognized child prodigy who was eventually forced to choose between marriage and her violin. She lost her voice but gained her soul and is back to share her story through the notes of Samuel Barber. We find our way from darkness toward the light of day and grow stronger through hearing that tale in variegated forms throughout the year.

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James Ross, Music Director

James Ross is a native of Boston, an improviser, a horn-blower, a dogged questioner of concert rituals, a man who likes to move, a phrase-shaper, and a firm believer in the humanizing impact of classical music on the lives of those it touches. Fueled by those various traits, he is starting his fourth season as Music Director of the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra.

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He has led the National Youth Orchestra USA as Orchestra Director since its founding in 2013 and taught conducting at the Juilliard School since 2011. He was Professor and Director of Orchestral Activities at the University of Maryland for 16 years and served as Music Director of the Orquesta Simfònica del Vallès in Barcelona, Spain. His principal conducting teachers were Kurt Masur, OttoWerner Mueller, Seiji Ozawa, and Leonard Bernstein. He was Artistic Director of the National Orchestral

Institute (NOI) at the University of Maryland from 2002-2012 where his leadership helped served as an impetus for change in the orchestral landscape of the United States.

Ross is internationally recognized for his work advancing the future of orchestras through cross-genre collaborations especially with choreographer MacArthur Fellow Liz Lerman, polymath designer-director Doug Fitch, and video artist Tim McLoraine. In 2019, he led inaugural courses of the Cuban American Youth Orchestra and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra’s RCO Young. He spent the pandemic playing soulful tunes with himself and others and imagining a creative re-boot for classical music. He loves art that is new, young, and multi-directional, and he loves helping conductors find their own singular voice.

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SPONSORS

OF THE 2021-2022 ASO SEASON With gratitude, we acknowledge the following corporations and government entities for their sponsorship of our 2021-2022 season:

Marietta Jemison, Keller Williams Kimpton LORIEN HOTEL & SPA KSA Integration New Target, Inc. Simpson Properties, LLC The Virginia Florist 12

Beethoven’s Fifth &Rhapsody All Together Now OCTOBER 2, 2021 • 7:30 PM

Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center

OCTOBER 3, 2021 • 3:00 PM

Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center

James Ross, Conductor Michelle Cann, piano

PROGRAM AARON COPLAND GEORGE GERSHWIN

Fanfare for the Common Man Rhapsody in Blue Michelle Cann, piano

Michelle Cann appears by arrangement with the Curtis Institute of Music

VALERIE COLEMAN

Umoja: Anthem of Unity

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 I. Allegro con brio II. Andante con moto III. Scherzo: Allegro IV. Allegro

Concerts sponsored by

Fran and Gant Redmon 13

Concert 1 • october 2 & 3

Aaron Copland (1900-1990)

Program Notes by George Hanson

Fanfare for the Common Man Aaron Copland was the most influential American classical composer of the 20th century. Trained in Paris under Nadia Boulanger, in the 1920s Copland was writing often-dissonant and challenging works influenced

by European composers. As World War II approached, he chose very intentionally to create a classic American sound. Works like the ballets Appalachian Spring and Rodeo and film scores like The Red Pony employed simpler harmonies (representing the straightforwardness of Americans), broad leaping melodies (depicting the breadth of the American landscape) and American folk tunes to build a soundscape recognizable as iconically American.

A committed pacifist, in 1942 Copland struggled with his desire for peace and the necessity of defeating Nazi Germany. In response, he wrote two of the most patriotic wartime classical works ever composed: Fanfare for the Common Man and his Symphony No. 3, which integrates the fanfare in the symphony’s finale to thrilling effect. The fanfare’s opening melodic figure outlines the most fundamental harmonic musical relationship of the octave and open fifth, connecting the listener to what Copland considered to be universal human values.

Valerie Coleman (b. 1970)

Umoja: Anthem of Unity An accomplished flutist and founder of the woodwind quintet Imani Winds, Valerie Coleman is acknowledged as one of the most important American composers of her generation. Named one of the “Top 35 Women Composers” by the Washington Post and 2020’s Classical Woman of the Year by Performance Today, Ms. Coleman’s work has become widely known for its diversity of styles, combining jazz idioms with classical forms.

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Her 2002 work Umoja: Anthem of Unity was originally composed as a simple song for women’s chorus. Later Coleman arranged the work for

Concert 1 • october 2 & 3

wind quintet, and the work gained traction in the chamber music world as an expression of the Swahili word for unity.

Coleman writes, “it embodies a sense of ‘tribal unity’ through the feel of a drum circle, the sharing of history through traditional call-andresponse form and the repetition of memorable sing-song melody.”

In 2019 Coleman became the first African American woman to receive a commission by the Philadelphia Orchestra. The resulting full and expanded orchestral version of Umoja received its premiere in Philadelphia in September of that year.

Of the new version, Coleman wrote: “This version honors the simple melody that ever was, but is now a full exploration into the meaning of freedom and unity. Now more than ever, Umoja has to ring as a strong and beautiful anthem for the word we live in today.”

George Gershwin (1898-1937)

Rhapsody in Blue

Born to a Jewish immigrant family in Brooklyn in 1898, George Gershwin helped create a wave of American musical synthesis that transformed American music. That historic burst of creative energy, led by a generation of immigrants, embodied the “melting pot” ideals for which Americans strived at the turn of the century. His remarkable talent afforded him the unique ability to absorb differing styles from the rich musical tapestry of America, and from that diversity create new, unified forms that now seem self-evidently “American.”

His work Rhapsody in Blue was an attempt to merge jazz idioms with what then was referred to as “legit” classical music. He succeeded: American Heritage magazine once suggested that the opening clarinet glissando of the Rhapsody was “as instantly recognizable to concert audiences as Beethoven’s Fifth.”

That glissando, drawn straight from Gershwin’s own Jewish klezmer heritage, is one of at least a dozen musical moments that have blossomed and grown into permanent fixtures of American musical memory.

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Concert 1 • october 2 & 3

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 Ludwig van Beethoven stands among a small handful of creative artists who changed the course of the history of music and artistic expression.

When he arrived in Vienna in 1792, the young composer began work in the shadows of the classical world of Mozart and Haydn; when he died there 35 years later, he had led a transformation of his art and led the world into what we now call the Romantic era.

The opening four notes of his fifth symphony—the short-short-shortlong motive that becomes the obsession of the entire 35-minute work— announces Beethoven’s intention of taking his listeners on a journey to a world of profound emotional and psychological experience. It is hard to imagine today the impact it must have had on the first listeners.

The first movement alternates between angry outbursts and loving, longing expressions of beauty remembered but lost. The second movement provides some respite, a set of variations built on a lilting tune in ¾ time that Beethoven worked out in his composition notebook during walks in the woods.

The third movement begins in the darkest of places, a foreboding C minor arpeggio played in a whisper by the low strings. The angry opening fournote motive abruptly returns, and so begins an argument over where this psychological drama will end. The music seems to fade in exhaustion.

Then Beethoven, in a complete break from the classical form, leads the listener through the darkness, slowly building directly into the fortissimo finale: a glorious C major announcement that the best of our human nature will overcome the darkness. The listener is transformed, and the purpose of true artistic expression is revealed—the uplifting of the human spirit.

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Concert 1 • october 2 & 3

Fran Redmon: A Tribute Fran Redmon was introduced to the board of SOLA by the late Roger Machanic in the 1980s. When ASO was holding auditions during its Music Director search in 1988, she hosted the reception at the Redmon’s home following Kim Allen Kluge’s audition concert.

Over the years, Fran served on the Nominating Committee, the Corporate Ball Committee and chaired the Governor’s Reception Committee fundraiser following the ASO program at the Kennedy Center in 1991. She chaired the legendary 1996 SOLA Ball with its “Ode to Joy” theme, one of the most successful fundraisers in ASO history.

In 1998, Fran was appointed by Governor Jim Gilmore to the Virginia Commission for the Arts for a five-year term. There, she participated in awarding grants to arts organizations and individual artists, always considering the interests of ASO. The ASO appreciates Fran’s decades of service and honors her with tonight’s performance.

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Concert 1 • october 2 & 3

Michelle Cann, piano “A compelling, sparkling virtuoso” (Boston Music Intelligencer), pianist Michelle Cann made her orchestral debut at age fourteen and has since performed as a soloist with numerous ensembles including The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Florida Orchestra, the North Carolina Symphony, and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.

A champion of the music of Florence Price, Ms. Cann performed the New York City premiere of the composer’s Concerto in One Movement with The Dream Unfinished Orchestra in July 2016 and the Philadelphia premiere with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin in February 2021, which the Philadelphia Inquirer called “exquisite.” She has also performed Price’s works for solo piano and chamber ensemble for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Music Society of Detroit, and the New World Symphony, among other presenters.

Highlights of her summer 2021 activities include a repeat performance with The Philadelphia Orchestra at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts, a debut with The Cleveland Orchestra at the Blossom Music Festival, an appearance with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, and a role on the jury of the Cleveland International Piano Competition.

Ms. Cann regularly appears in recital and as a chamber musician throughout the U.S., China, and South Korea. Notable venues include 18

Concert 1 • october 2 & 3

the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the Barbican in London with members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Ms. Cann regularly performs duo recitals with her sister, pianist Kimberly Cann; together their “sheer verve and evident passion is something to behold” (Mountain Xpress).

Ms. Cann has appeared as cohost and collaborative pianist with NPR’s From The Top, collaborating with actor/conductor Damon Gupton, violinist Leila Josefowicz, and violinist and MacArthur Fellow Vijay Gupta. She has also been featured on WRTI-FM and WHYY-TV in Philadelphia. Her summer festival appearances have included the Taos Chamber Music Festival, Yellow Barn, Perlman Music Program, Music Academy of the West, Geneva Music Festival, and Pianofest in the Hamptons, where she serves as artist in residence.

Ms. Cann has won top prizes in state, national, and international competitions including the International Russian Music Piano Competition, the Blount Slawson Young Artists Competition, and the Wideman International Piano Competition. In 2019 she served as the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s MAC Music Innovator in recognition of her role as an African-American classical musician who embodies artistry, innovation, and a commitment to education and community engagement.

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Concert 1 • october 2 & 3

Ms. Cann manifests this commitment through her activities in Philadelphia and as part of touring engagements around the globe. She has served as the director of two children’s choruses in the El Sistemainspired program Play On Philly and was among the first class of ArtistYear fellows at the Curtis Institute of Music, where she worked with community partners City Year, Teach for America, and AmeriCorps to provide arts education and access to underserved communities in Philadelphia. In 2019 she served on the faculty of the Sphinx Performance Academy during its inaugural year at the Juilliard School.

Ms. Cann holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Paul Schenly and Dr. Daniel Shapiro, and an Artist’s Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Robert McDonald.

Ms. Cann served as a collaborative staff pianist at the Curtis Institute of Music for several years. She joined the faculty in 2020 as the inaugural Eleanor Sokoloff Chair in Piano Studies.

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Pictures at an Exhibition moving pictures

Homegrown: American Stories in Music and Film – a partnership with the Alexandria Film Festival

NOVEMBER 6, 2021 • 6:00 PM

Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center

NOVEMBER 7, 2021 • 3:00 PM

george washington masonic memorial

James Ross, Conductor

PROGRAM AARON COPLAND

Our Town

Film by Andrea Kalin and Spark Media

CHARLES GRIFFES

“Clouds” from Roman Sketches

Film by Alexi Scheiber

WILLIAM GRANT STILL

The American Scene

III. Manhattan Skyline

Film by Jane Pittman

AARON COPLAND

John Henry

Film by Shannon Washington

CHARLES IVES

Three Places in New England III. Housatonic at Stockbridge

Film by Tim McLoraine

JENNIFER HIGDON

Blue Cathedral

Film by Michael Fallavollita

MODEST MUSSORGSKY (Arr. Ravel)

Pictures at an Exhibition 21

Concert 2 • November 6 & 7

Jennifer Higdon (b. 1962)

Blue Cathedral

Program Notes by George Hanson

American composer Jennifer Higdon ranks among the most important composers of her generation. Recipient of many awards, she continues a close association with The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, which commissioned this piece commemorating its 75th anniversary.

Excerpts of her thoughts while composing Blue Cathedral: “I found myself imagining a journey through a glass cathedral in the sky.

Because the walls would be transparent, I saw the image of clouds and blueness permeating from the outside of this church. In my mind’s eye the listener would enter from the back of the sanctuary, floating along the corridor amongst giant crystal pillars, moving in a contemplative stance. Curtis is a house of knowledge—a place to reach towards that beautiful expression of the soul which comes through music. The recent loss of my younger brother, Andrew Blue, made me reflect on the amazing journeys that we all make in our lives. In tribute to my brother, I feature solos for the clarinet (the instrument he played) and the flute (the instrument I play). At the end of the work, the two instruments continue their dialogue, but it is the flute that drops out and the clarinet that continues on in the upward progressing journey. - Jennifer Higdon Aaron Copland (1900-1990)

John Henry and Our Town Considered the dean of American Composers, Aaron Copland is arguably our country’s most influential figure in creating a true 20th century American sound for classical music. His influence on younger musicians like Leonard Bernstein and his efforts to break away from European influences helped form a sonic aesthetic that is instantly recognizable in works.

His 1940 work John Henry was originally written for radio broadcast on CBS’s series School of the Air. He later arranged it for orchestra with the intent of making it playable by younger musicians. It depicts the folk legend of a heroic 19th century Black man named John Henry and his dramatic contest with a railroad pile-driver—man versus machine—the sounds of a train mixed with the ringing clangs of John Henry’s hammer.

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Concert 2 • November 6 & 7

Americans in 1940 faced the looming prospect of world war igniting.

Thornton Wilder’s play Our Town, with its depiction of small-town rural America, became enormously popular with Americans longing for simpler times. Copland accepted the invitation to compose the score for the film version. In 1944 Copland arranged a suite from the film score and dedicated it to his friend Leonard Bernstein.

William Grant Still (1895-1978)

“Manhattan Skyline” from The American Scene The extraordinarily prolific African American composer William Grant Still had a remarkable impact on early 20th Century American music.

His Afro-American Symphony, composed in 1930, was for 20 years the most often performed orchestral work by any American. He was the first African American to conduct a major orchestra, and he was the first American of any race to have an opera produced at the New York City Opera. He collaborated with many literary figures and is known as a member of the Harlem Renaissance. Manhattan Skyline is a jaunty, jazzy, bouncy depiction of the New York scene, with a tip of the hat to George Gershwin.

Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1884-1920)

“Clouds” from Roman Sketches, Op. 7 American composer Charles Griffes was a leading figure in creating a new twentieth century sound for American classical music. Trained as a pianist, he traveled to Berlin as a young man and fell under the influence of his German romanticist teacher Englebert Humperdinck (Hänsel and Gretel) but became fascinated by French impressionists and the innovative Russian Alexander Scriabin.

Best known for the strikingly original orchestrations in works like the exotic tone poem The Pleasure Dome of the Kubla Khan, Griffes wrote his Roman Sketches originally for piano. His oft performed “The White Peacock” in orchestrated form is the first of the four Roman Sketches; “Clouds” is the fourth. Griffes uses impressionistic musical gestures to depict a changing sky with wisps of clouds, gusts of wind and sunshine.

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Concert 2 • November 6 & 7

Charles Ives (1874-1954)

“Housatonic at Stockbridge” from Three Places in New England Charles Ives remains an enigma today. An insurance salesman by trade, much of his music wasn’t performed until after his death. He brought a modernist approach to his compositions that can be mesmerizing, dizzying, disorienting, and beautifully atmospheric. He invented many of the musical techniques used by later 20th century American composers.

His work for small orchestra titled Three Places in New England is an appealing, accessible set that encapsulates his unique musical vision. It describes a simple, rural, iconic America, with hints of American folk tunes. The third piece, “The Housatonic at Stockbridge,” was inspired by a walk along the Housatonic River in western Massachusetts while on his honeymoon with his wife Harmony.

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1891) Pictures at an Exhibition Arr. Maurice Ravel Modest Mussorgsky sought to create a truly Russian sound through harmonies and tunes drawn from the people and places of his birth.

Pictures at an Exhibition provides a deep glimpse into the composer’s ability to create a story through music. Each of the ten paintings depicted in the suite draws the listener in to experience a brief but intense vignette that leaves one startled, bemused, anxious, calm or inspired. The work was inspired by the paintings of Viktor Hartmann. The composer opens the work with a stately promenade which reappears after each of the paintings is visited.

Originally composed for piano, it was arranged for orchestra by a number of composers, the most popular version by Maurice Ravel. The closing passages of the gallery tour’s final painting, the Great Gate at Kiev, are some of the most inspiring music ever composed.

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Concert 2 • November 6 & 7

About the Alexandria Film Festival For 15 years, the Alexandria Film Festival has brought high-quality short and feature-length films of all genres, filmmaker panels, and arts presentations to the historic port city of Alexandria, Virginia.

Our principal annual event (this year taking place November 11-14) highlights the talents of local, national, and international filmmakers within eyesight of the nation’s capital. We relish the opportunity to offer our audiences a feast of new ideas, breathtaking cinematography, cultural exploration, and myriad chances to better understand one of the most engaging, intimate, and powerful art forms of our day, while personally interacting with its makers—directors, actors, producers, and subjects.

For more information, schedule, and tickets visit AlexFilmFest.com. We are honored to partner with the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra in this historic collaboration and look forward to more cooperative adventures in creating magic for your eyes and ears.

About the Filmmakers Alexi Scheiber is an independent animator based in Charlottesville, VA. Her clients include the University of Virginia and INSERIES Opera house. She is passionate about traditional mediums (such as watercolors and charcoal), stop motion and ecofeminism. She always tries to bring these elements into her work, which has been featured in over 20 film festivals in six countries. Alexi studied Animation at Maryland Institute College of Art, where she began to focus on stop motion animation.

Coming to college was Alexi’s first time living in her birth country, as her father served in the US Navy. As a child, she lived in Europe and Japan. As an adult, she is infinitely grateful for the unique perspective it gave her.

Tim McLoraine is an artist and musician who creates video art for collaborative performance and installations. His work has been shown in concert halls, opera stages, and galleries. Notable collaborations include Salome Dances for Peace (Terry Riley) with the Ruysdael Quartet, Miraculous Mandarin (Bartók) with the Columbus Symphony, Cunning Little Vixen (Janáček) with the New York Philharmonic, Orphic Moments 25

Concert 2 • November 6 & 7

at National Sawdust in Brooklyn, Abduction from the Seraglio (Mozart) performed at the Teatro del Lago in Chile, and Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (Weill) at the Tanglewood Music Center. His solo exhibition Hindsight: stories and loops debuted at the Dupont Underground in Washington, D.C. Writer/director Michael Fallavollita started out in the motion picture industry as an assistant film editor for Steven Spielberg. Some of his early credits include Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Casper, and Hook. Oscar Winner Michael Lantieri gave Michael his feature editing opportunity on his film, Komodo. Next, Michael edited for Oscar-nominated Back to the Future writer/producer Bob Gale on his original film Interstate 60.

Michael has also edited for Christopher Nolan, Alfonso Cuaron, Frank Darabont, Roko Belic, Kevin Smith, Guillermo del Toro and Zach Snyder on various documentaries, television shows and motion pictures. In addition to editing, Michael has also written and directed several awardwinning short films including his latest, Tale of the Kite which was filmed over the course of 13 years with the same actors growing up in front of the camera. To date the film has been awarded 25 film festival accolades, including the Jury Award of the Alexandria Film Festival.

Jane Pittman is an award-winning director, cinematographer and editor based in Washington D.C. Her extensive repertoire of short films, feature documentaries and educational/training videos, has appeared on PBS and film festivals throughout the world. (Coming Back to the Hoop, This is How Time Passes, Prophets Rising, In Your Hands, The Makeover). Coming Back to the Hoop is in distribution with Random Media and was an official selection in over 30 film festivals world-wide.

It won the Audience Award at the 2016 Alexandria Film Festival. The Makeover also won the Audience Award at the 2018 Alexandria Film Festival. Films Media Group, a distributor of social interest educational programming, also distributes Jane’s films nationally. Jane is currently working on a new video series, The Spiritual Wisdom of Trees: Insights from Our Elders and recently finished, Not an Exit, a short dance film in collaboration with the Local Motion Project. With a master’s degree in music, Jane’s work follows a distinct rhythm, lending her films a unique artistic touch.

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Concert 2 • November 6 & 7

Annette Brieger has worked as a producer in public broadcast for over 30 years. She began her career at the Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) in Berlin, Germany before moving to the United States to work for various German and American networks in both news and long format. She has covered presidential elections, Olympic games, the Oscars, hurricanes, and Burning Man. Her work has taken her from the halls of power at the U.S. Capitol and to the most remote corners of the vast North American continent. And while broadcast news is a daily staple, independent film is a passion she has pursued whenever possible.

Annette is currently working on a documentary on the relationship between the United States and China. With an international background in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the United States, she brings a unique perspective to the people and places that shape her work.

Shannon “DOAH” Washington lives in Prince George’s County, Maryland, but grew up in the city of Boston, where she was entrenched in various progressive art programs from grammar school thru college.

Always encouraged to explore her creative appetite, her artistry evolved from archiving precious family memories to short films and series. Her storytelling is impassioned by her love for Black culture and exploring the diversity of the Black experience. Her films and series are often a melodic blend of intellect, wit, and emotion, driven by artistic expression.

Her philosophy of being constantly curious and perpetually evolving is a staple of her work. As an indie filmmaker and creative, her content is often built from her resourcefulness, but she feels this pushes her more to enrich creativity with the motto: Quality storytelling over big budget.

Andrea Kalin is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, immersive artist and the founder of Spark Media, a company dedicated to producing programs with a social conscience. She has worked in 25 countries, from disaster zones to remote tropical rain forests, crafting gripping human stories for the screen that forge a genuine emotional connection with audiences. Andrea’s storytelling gifts have earned her more than 100 industry awards and honors, including a Prime Time Emmy, two Gracie Allen Awards, and Golden Globe and WGA nominations.

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Symphony Orchestra League of Alexandria On behalf of the many dedicated volunteers of the Symphony Orchestra League of Alexandria (SOLA), we look forward to resuming a somewhat more normal year of activities! As a fundraising organization, SOLA is reaching within the local arts community to build awareness for the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra and many other projects that are meaningful to our members. With that in mind, this year SOLA will be initiating some new and exciting activities for our members and our future friends.

We begin with a fall event for members and future members in September.

At this event we will focus on SOLA activities and fundraisers for the year. We plan to resume our popular SOLA Uncorked, a pre-Christmas evening of classy wine, cheeses and chocolate pairings! Come for the wine, come for the chocolate, come for the cheese. Just come and have a great time!

In this post-COVID season, SOLA is working with other organizations in Alexandria to raise funds and build support for musical arts and culture in our local community. SOLA is planning to host the annual Mary Graham Lasley Scholarship Competition for college-level music students. This competition has awarded thousands of dollars to amazing music students to help them further their musical studies. SOLA members regularly attend the competition, and we would love to see people from our shared community attend. This competition is normally scheduled for March, so please watch for the date.

SOLA looks forward to welcoming you as a member and a participant of all the good works we endeavor to do! For more information about joining SOLA and our events, please contact us.

Respectfully, Genevieve Moorhouse SOLA Co-President gmoorhouse@mcenearney.com

Phyllis Sintay SOLA Co-President psintay@mcenearney.com

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Symphony Orchestra League of Alexandria (SOLA)

2021-2022 Membership

Barbara Bankert Mason and Clark Bavin Suzanne Brock Miriam and Ben Browning Jim and Marcia Buchanan Jan Campbell William and Teddye Clayton Ann Corson Donna Cramer Mollie Danforth Rebecca Davies Michele Farrell Nicholas and Sandra Fleischmann Yolande Frommer Janet Hawkins and David Wormser Margaret Hodges Jenny Indelicato Barbara Jonas Ann Kavaljian Jacque and Ed Knight

Cassandra McLaughlin Ann Mason Montague Genevieve Moorhouse and Joshua Compton Richard and Michele Moorhouse James and Suzanne Morrison Margaret J. O’Grady Kristie Owens Annmarie Pittman Fran and Gant Redmon Jane Ring Patti Schmid Janet Shipko Phyllis Sintay Ken and Sharon Walker Melynda Wilcox Trudie Williams Margaret Wohler Margherita Woods Susan Yonts-Shepard

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ENSURING THE LONG-TERM STABILITY OF THE ASO

The Alexandria Symphony Concerto Foundation was established in 2005 to create an endowment fund providing long-term financial support to the ASO. The Foundation’s goal is to build a significant capital fund, with the income from that fund providing annual income to the Symphony. The Foundation is a “supporting organization” under section 509(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and gifts made to the Foundation are tax deductible as charitable donations.

As of June 2021, the Foundation had assets of $295,892 and has cumulatively donated $422,000 in support of the ASO. The following individuals contributed gifts of $5,000 or more to meet the $100,000 Challenge sponsored by Frank and Betty Quirk, which was completed in May 2007:

Anonymous C. Maxine Baustian Suzanne S. Brock Miriam and David Browning Penny and Tim Bryan Linda and Elliott Bunce Agnes and Jack Dover Gerhard and Diana Dreo Loti and Stewart Dunn Julie and Edward Dyson Anne and Caswell Hobbs

Ruth Kotler Eva and Frank Manning Mary Ann and David Millard Reae and Thomas Sargeant Molly and Jim Singerling Ann and Roy Snyder Symphony Orchestra League of Alexandria (SOLA) Judy and Forrest Williams Stuart and Robert Wineland Susan and Allan Winn

A donation or bequest to the Alexandria Symphony Concerto Foundation will go toward ensuring long-term support of the ASO. Gifts can be a specific dollar amount, a specific piece of property, a percentage of an estate, or all or part of the residue of an estate. You can also name the Foundation as a contingent beneficiary if someone named in your will is no longer living.

For more information on the Concerto Foundation or making a bequest, please contact the Alexandria Symphony at 703-548-0885.

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Home for the Holidays holiday mixer

DECEMBER 17, 2021 • 7:30 PM

Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center

DECEMBER 19, 2021 • 3:00 PM

george washington masonic memorial

James Ross, Conductor Featuring BalletNova

PROGRAM LEROY ANDERSON G.F. HANDEL DUKE ELLINGTON PYOTR TCHAIKOVSKY

Christmas Festival “Overture” from Royal Fireworks “Overture” from The Nutcracker Suite Selections from The Nutcracker: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy Trepak

DUKE ELLINGTON G.F. HANDEL J.S. BACH DUKE ELLINGTON PYOTR TCHAIKOVSKY

“Toot toot tootie Toot” from The Nutcracker Suite “Pastoral” from Messiah Gavotte, Bourre, and Gigue from Orchestral Suite no. 3 “Dance of the Floreadors” from The Nutcracker Suite

Selections from The Nutcracker: Forest of Fir Trees in Winter Waltz of the Snowflakes

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Concert 3 • december 17 & 19

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

Excerpts from The Nutcracker

Today it seems hard to believe that Tchaikovsky’s famous ballet The Nutcracker was poorly received when it was first introduced in 1892 in St. Petersburg.

There were many complaints: the story wasn’t true to the original book; one of the lead dancers was in less-than-athletic shape; the stage was crowded and confused.

Tchaikovsky’s first success with the now-cherished work came through the concert suite he himself extracted. Comprised of the most compelling solo and ensemble numbers, the suite became an instant hit. It was not until the mid-20th century that the work received the accolades it now garners. Today it is an annual staple on stages around the world.

From the delicate “Prelude” to the vigorous “Russian Dance” to the flowing “Waltz of the Flowers,” Tchaikovsky’s gifts of melody and imaginative orchestration bring the story to life.

Duke Ellington (1899-1974)

The Nutcracker Suite

Washington, D.C. born and bred, Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington became one of the most important musical forces in all of 20th century American music.

Wishing to remain uncategorized, Ellington resisted calling his music “jazz,” preferring instead the expression “beyond category.” To this end, he frequently dabbled in combining musical genres; his Nutcracker Suite is one of several classical works Ellington explored by translating it into his own inimitable style.

Perhaps most fascinating about performing and hearing the original and Ellington versions back-to-back is to sense the difference in the feel of the music between the two renditions. In the Overture, Tchaikovsky is 32

Concert 3 • december 17 & 19

light on his feet, barely touching the ground; Ellington is laid back and cool. Tchaikovsky’s “Waltz of the Flowers” is a lilting flow of triplets; Ellington’s is a hard-driving duple rhythm that makes the listener want to move in ways having nothing to do with a waltz. And Tchaikovsky’s “Sugar Plum Fairy,” portrayed by the heavenly celesta, appears in Ellington’s version as an earthy drunken gaggle of saxophones called “Sugar Rum Cherry.”

George Frederick Handel (1685-1759)

Excerpts from Messiah

Messiah is an oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled from the Bible. Having composed the work in just 24 days, Handel inscribed the manuscript with “To God alone the glory.”

After an initially modest public reception, the oratorio gained in popularity, eventually becoming one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in Western music.

The original score was meant for modest vocals and orchestral accompaniment with some optional settings. After his death, the work was expanded for massive scale choirs and orchestras, including one amplified version by Mozart. In modern performance, his work is often presented with his original modest scale, like the excerpt you will hear today.

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Concert 3 • december 17 & 19

BalletNova Center for Dance opened in the Fall of 1981 as

Arlington Center for Dance, founded by Ken and Kathy Fredgren. The studio has grown in size and stature and has long been recognized as one of the premier dance training centers in the Metropolitan Washington D.C. area. Known for its pre-professional ballet program, the Center also has one of the most extensive adult dance programs available, with classes in ballet, jazz, hip hop, tap, modern, and body conditioning.

In 2002, The Fredgrens turned the management over to long-time faculty member and choreographer Nancie Woods. The board acquired the school and merged it into one non-profit organization, with Ms. Woods as Artistic Director, becoming The Center Dance Company. In 2008, BalletNova moved to its current space in Fairfax County: a 20,800 square foot facility on Carlin Springs Road with six beautiful state-ofthe-art equipped dance studios with spring floors and high ceilings.

The current space is only a block from Arlington, a short half mile from Alexandria and the City of Falls Church. Our studios are available for rehearsals, events, and more!

In September of 2015, BalletNova launched its new Fredgren Studio Theater, dedicated to the co-founders Ken and Kathy Fredgren. The Fredgren Studio Theater is a black box-style theater designed for dance, the only one-of-its-kind available to the public in Northern Virginia.

It offers sprung wood flooring with marley overlay, 150-seat audience area, fully equipped sound and lighting, and free parking. BalletNova anticipates that the Fredgren will become an important community resource and encourage small dance, theater and music groups to increase their performance activities and grow the impact of the arts presence in Northern Virginia.

The organization, now with over 1,300 students, is based on elements from the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) and American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum syllabus (nationally and internationally recognized systems that provide a certification program in classical ballet). BNCD operates on a semester basis for adult and enrichment divisions and school year basis for pre-professional training program.

The Center accepts children and adults at the beginning, intermediate and advanced levels.

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Welcoming new

Director of Education,

Meredith Riley

As evidence of ASO’s commitment to expanding Sympatico’s footprint in our city, Meredith Riley joins ASO as Director of Education this fall. While serving as Assistant Principal Second Violin in the Richmond Symphony, Meredith performed throughout the United States as part of Sphinx Virtuosi and will join the ensemble as Principal Second Violin for their national tour in 2021-2022. She completed graduate studies with Andres Cardenes at Carnegie Mellon University and received her Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance at the University of Texas. An experienced chamber musician and teacher, Meredith most recently appeared with the Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia, Wintergreen Music Festival, Collectif 9, and the Smithsonian Chamber Players. Meredith is an adjunct violin faculty member at Virginia Commonwealth University.

In her words: “As Director of Education, I want to highlight and strengthen ASO’s Sympatico program, which was inspired by the El Sistema program— offering musical instruction to children at little to no cost. After all the screen time and the complete absence of social engagement and live performance, our community needs live music now! I will be actively seeking performance and collaboration opportunities to highlight this important and unique program that is so deserving of community recognition and support. My 15 years of experience with the Sphinx Organization has only strengthened my commitment and passion to diversifying the artistic canvas and making music accessible to all. I look forward to working toward that in my home community of Alexandria!”

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ADOPT A CHAIR SPONSORSHIP ASO proudly recognizes the 21-22 Adopt a Chair sponsors: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Podium: Sponsored by Suzanne S. Brock Concertmaster: Sponsored by Whit and Angela Ayres Violin II, Principal: Sponsored by David and Miriam Browning Principal Viola: Sponsored by Richard and Sandra Toye Principal Cello: Sponsored by Judy Grey Principal Bass: Sponsored by H. Arthur Sauer Principal Bassoon: Sponsored by Suzanne S. Brock Assistant Principal Clarinet: Sponsored in Honor of Akiko Lloyd Section player, Woodwinds: Sponsored by SOLA Principal Horn: Sponsored by Gerry and Diana Dreo Principal Trumpet: Sponsored by Harriett G. McCune Principal Timpani: Sponsored by Harriett G. McCune Principal Trombone: Sponsored by John and Lee Klousia Principal Percussion: Sponsored by Marty and Temple Moore Principal Keyboard: David W. and Melynda Dovel Wilcox

“Adopt a Chair” is a signature giving program designed to provide funding for each musician’s salary and long-term sustainable funding for our orchestra. ASO is a community supported orchestra, requiring the ongoing support of people willing to invest in the future of live music performance. As a part of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region, ASO concert-goers demand and expect the highest quality music offered by world-class musicians. Through this program, contributors endorse and ensure that quality through multi-year sponsorships.

Sponsors have an opportunity to choose a specific instrument, receive special program recognition, and receive invitations to special events where they can meet and get to know the musicians holding the chair they have sponsored. This program provides an opportunity to learn about the orchestra from the inside out and to draw a closer relationship between the players and the audience.

New chair sponsorships are accepted at any time during the season!

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To “Adopt a Chair” and for more information, call (703) 548-0885 or visit www.alexsym.org.

Rachmaninov Rhapsdoy DARK GLOW FEBRUARY 12, 2022 • 7:30 PM

Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center

FEBRUARY 13, 2022 • 3:00 PM

George Washington Masonic Memorial

James Ross, Conductor Sara Daneshpour, piano

PROGRAM JEAN SIBELIUS Finlandia LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Quartet for Strings in C-sharp minor, Op. 131 I. Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo II. Allegro molto vivace III. Allegro moderato – Adagio IV. Andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile V. Presto VI. Adagio quasi un poco andante VII. Allegro

- INTERMISSION -

GEORGE WALKER Lyric for Strings SERGEI RACHMANINOV Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Sara Daneshpour, piano

This concert is underwritten by the Brock Family in memory of Harry L. Brock.

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Concert 4 • february 12 & 13

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)

Finlandia, Op. 26

Program Notes by George Hanson

As a young man studying law in Helsinki, Jean Sibelius found himself drawn to the musical and mythological traditions of his Finnish heritage and homeland. Much to his parents’ chagrin, he left law school to pursue musical studies, first in Helsinki and later in Berlin and Vienna.

After returning to his homeland Sibelius set aside the musical influences of his European teachers and drew on his deep Finnish roots, composing works that expressed a deep devotion and sense of pride in his country and people. His musical style is uniquely recognizable as his own, bridging the romantic and the modern styles emerging at the turn of the 20th century.

Finlandia was written as a covert revolutionary protest. In 1899 under Russian rule there was very little tolerance for anything patriotic from the Finns. The unabashedly prideful Finlandia had to be performed under various other names to avoid being censored. The music depicts the Finns’ struggles for independence; today the original hymn which triumphantly closes the work, with words later set to the music, is regarded as the unofficial national anthem of Finland: This is my song, O God of all the nations, A song of peace for lands afar and mine.

This is my home, the country where my heart is, Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Quartet for Strings in C-sharp minor, Op. 131 (arranged for string orchestra)

The late string quartets of Beethoven are a culmination of the work of one of history’s greatest creative geniuses. Composing in a state of total and permanent deafness, the composer seems to leave the bounds of earthly concern, stretching the limits of the performers with passages that soar to the stratosphere and plumb the depths of human emotion.

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Concert 4 • february 12 & 13

His opus 131 quartet, composed less than a year before the composer’s death, moved Franz Schubert to remark upon hearing: “What is there left for us to write?” Schubert reportedly asked to hear it one last time on his deathbed. Beethoven himself called it, of all his quartets, the dearest to his heart.

Composed at a time of social isolation, failing health and personal tragedy—Beethoven had just learned of the suicide attempt of his nephew Karl—the work reveals a glimpse into the thoughts of a man facing death, reflecting on his feelings as he considers a life full of joyous triumph and heartbreaking adversity.

George Walker (1922-2018)

Lyric for Strings

To call George Walker a “trailblazer” would be an understatement. He was the first African-American to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music, the first to perform as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the first to graduate from The Curtis Institute of Music (where ASO Music Director James Ross is an alum), and the first to perform a recital at New York’s Town Hall. He studied piano at Curtis with Rudolph Serkin and composition with Rosario Scalero, Samuel Barber’s teacher.

Walker was trained in the modern classical tradition but created his own style by incorporating elements of his life experience. Mark Clague, in his entry on Walker for the International Dictionary of Black Composers, wrote how Walker “frequently draws on Black musical idioms, such as spirituals, blues patterns and jazz tropes” in finding his voice.

Lyric for Strings was originally composed in 1946 as the second movement of his first string quartet. Originally titled Lament, it was inspired by and dedicated to his grandmother, a former slave whom Walker came to know in her advanced age. He arranged it for orchestra in 1990.

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Concert 4 • february 12 & 13

Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943) Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43 Everything about composer Sergei Rachmaninov was larger than life. He stood six feet six inches tall; his hands at the piano could span the interval of a thirteenth—a fact that still haunts pianists who attempt to play his music today. (Imagine your right thumb on middle C and your pinky on high A!) In the long line of great Russian melodists he is rivaled only by Tchaikovsky.

His Rhapsody, a set of 24 variations on a Paganini caprice for violin, has a local history: it was premiered in 1934 in Baltimore, where the Philadelphia Orchestra under conductor Leopold Stokowski accompanied the composer himself at the piano.

Although considered to be one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century, Rachmaninov expressed to a friend great anxiety about his ability to play the incredibly virtuosic final variation. The friend suggested he have a glass of créme de menthe on hand to steady his nerves at the performance. The usually teetotalling Rachmaninov snuck a glass onstage for the concert and set it under the piano; he was so pleased with the result that he often thereafter referred to the rhapsody’s finale as the “créme de menthe variation.”

For all its thrilling virtuosity, the work musicians call “Rach Pag” is best known for the ravishingly beautiful melody of the eighteenth variation, a moment that has captivated romantic hearts since its first performance.

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MURPHY & ASSOCIATES CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS CONGRATULATES

THE ALEXANDRIA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ON 78

INSPIRING SEASONS 3319 DUKE STREET 703-370-9100

Please patronize businesses that support the ASO!

A Tradition of Service CELEBRATING 125 YEARS IN ALEXANDRIA

Fuel Oil n Boilers n Furnaces Air Conditioning n Heat Pumps Water Heaters n Gas, Oil, & AC Service 1200 DUKE STREET, ALEXANDRIA, VA 703-549-5700

www.tjfannonandsons.com In memory of Susan Dau Fannon, a proud supporter of the Symphony.

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Concert 4 • february 12 & 13

Sara Daneshpour is the 3rd prizewinner of the 2017 Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition, along with the 2014 prizewinner at the Seoul International Music Competition in Seoul, Korea and 2013 Laureate of the ProLiance Energy Classical Fellowship Awards of the American Pianists Association.

She is the First Prize winner of the XII Concours International de Musique du Maroc (Morocco, 2012), 2nd prize of the 2007 William Kapell International Piano Competition, and 1st prize and Gold Medal winner of the 2007 International Russian Music Piano Competition.

She has studied under the direction of Leon Fleisher at the Curtis Institute of Music, Dr. Yoheved Kaplinsky at the Juilliard School, and Dr. Oleg Volkov. Her studies have continued under Sergei Babayan at the Cleveland Institute of Music since 2015.

Ms. Daneshpour has performed not only in her native city of Washington, D.C., but also throughout the U.S., Russia, Canada, Germany, Finland, Estonia, Norway, Denmark, France, Sweden, Spain, and Japan. She has performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Carnegie Hall in New York and at the Great Hall of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. In addition, she has been featured nationwide on 160 public radio stations, including the venerable WGBH in Boston.

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Ms. Daneshpour’s performances have earned high accolades of audiences and critics alike. The Washington Post wrote of her performance with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra “...she created transfixing poetry. And she found delightful details in passagework and incidents that other pianists treat as routine.” The Baltimore Sun stated that Sara “delivered a powerhouse account of Tchaikovsky’s

Concert 4 • february 12 & 13

Concerto No.1 producing enough tone for two pianists in the process,” while The Mercury News called her performance “...sensational. Strength, finesse, passion; it was all there.”

In addition, she has been featured as a soloist on prestigious music series including the Werner Richard Saal concert series in Munich, the Cleveland Museum of Art, Strathmore Hall in Washington, D.C., Ventura Festival, The Frederic Chopin Society in St.Paul, Minnesota, The Gnessin School of Music in Moscow, and the International Keyboard Institute and Festival in New York.

New York Concert Review wrote, “she lavished color on oft-neglected line, illuminated subtle beauties, and raged through the storms, always with stunning polish…she exhibits all the requisites for a high voltage career and more: blazing technique, power, expressivity, imagination, and a lovely stage presence.” Sara Daneshpour has recently joined the Astral Artists roster as a winner of its 2010 National Auditions.

Highlights of past seasons included performances with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Gerard Schwarz in Chopin’s Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor, Saint-Saens Piano Concerto No.2 with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Maestro George Hanson, and with Maestro Peter Bay at the Britt Festival in Jacksonville, Oregon. Performances of Mozart’s Piano Concerto, No. 20 at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center in Maryland, and with Maestro Stephen Simon and the Sinfonietta both in Cape Cod and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1 with the Buck’s County Symphony with Maestro Gary Fagin. Ms. Daneshpour recently also gave solo recitals at the Musee d’Orsay and returned to Paris for a recital at the Salle Cortot. Other engagements included recitals in Normandy, France, the Vancouver Chopin Society, the Steinway Series at Texas A&M International University, the Chopin Foundation of the United States, and in Cape Cod. Ms. Daneshpour has debuted on Astral’s series in the Philadelphia Brahms Festival and has also been featured as concerto soloist on its Rising Stars concerts.

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Sympatico is sponsored by the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra

Enriching Children’s Lives through Music ASO Sympatico is a music education program underwritten by the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra in Alexandria City Public Schools. The inspiration for Sympatico was born out of the ASO’s commitment to education, the youth of Alexandria, and social change. After considering numerous models for music education programs, the ASO chose an El Sistemainspired program to best serve its mission.

El Sistema originated more than 40 years ago as a music education initiative in Venezuela, in which students receive highquality free music instruction with the goal of social change. Today, there are El Sistema programs in 55 countries and more than 100 El Sistema programs active in the U.S. Each of the programs, including Sympatico, are guided by similar core principles: equitable access to students regardless of income; intense and high-quality music instruction; the use of an ensemble as the main learning environment; community and family engagement; and social change.

Since Sympatico’s official launch in 2014, the program has grown to include six unique ensembles at John Adams Elementary with more than 130 students in grades K-5. In September 2019, the program expanded into Patrick Henry K-8, and this year it will offer a mixed instrument ensemble.

Students meet Monday through Friday throughout the school year.

Sympatico provides students with opportunities to experience success in themselves and with others in their ensembles, their school, and their community. Each year Sympatico participates in more than 20 performances.

Past performances include appearances at the George Washington Masonic Memorial, the Torpedo Factory Art Center, the Alexandria City Council Inauguration, and the National Teachers of the Year celebrations.

Sympatico ensembles have performed alongside the Alexandria Choral Society, Virginia Bronze, National Symphony Orchestra violinist Marissa Regni, and Washington Performing Arts soprano Karin Paludan.

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Barber & Brahms RESILIENCE APRIL 23, 2022 • 7:30 PM

Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center

APRIL 24, 2022 • 3:00 PM

George Washington Masonic Memorial

James Ross, Conductor Dylana Jenson, violin

PROGRAM BRIAN PRECHTL

Tribute*

(World Premiere) Featuring performers from ASO Sympatico

SAMUEL BARBER Violin Concerto, Op. 14 I. Allegro II. Andante III. Presto in moto perpetuo

Dylana Jenson, violin

- INTERMISSION -

JOHANNES BRAHMS Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68 I. Un poco sostenuto — Allegro II. Andante sostenuto III. Un poco allegretto e grazioso IV. Adagio — Più andante — Allegro non troppo, ma con brio – Più allegro

*Tribute was commissioned by Classical Movement’s Eric Daniel Helms New Music Program for the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra and ASO Sympatico

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Concert 5 • april 23 & 24

Brian Prechtl (b. 1962)

Tribute (world premiere)

Program Notes by George Hanson

Notes from the composer: Tribute is a world premiere inspired by the 250th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven and is commissioned by Classical Movement’s Eric Daniel Helms New Music Program, for the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra and ASO Sympatico. In this work I have sewn references from Beethoven’s writing into this original piece of music that celebrates the dynamic and dramatic voice that Beethoven brought to the symphony orchestra. I have endeavored to capture the musical landscape of today as an evolution from Beethoven’s seminal orchestral language. We hear emotional motives in Beethoven’s music that evoke fate, bucolic beauty, triumph, and the brother-(and sister)-hood of all people, and I have endeavored to weave these into the fabric of this work as well.

In writing a piece specially designed for the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra and ASO Sympatico, I have made it a special focus to include opportunities for our young musicians to join in this special celebration in the same spirit of community that Beethoven brought to his music, and Brahms brought forward in the thrilling finale of his First Symphony.

I look forward to a beautiful celebration on stage for the entire ASO family.

Samuel Barber (1910-1981)

Concerto for Violin, Op. 14 The ASO’s current 2021-2022 season is sprinkled with connections to the renowned Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia: Music Director James Ross and composers George Walker and Samuel Barber are all alums, and pianist Michelle Cann is on the faculty of this prestigious school—a meeting ground for great musicians who influenced and shared with each other.

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Samuel Barber wrote his concerto for one of his Curtis classmates, violinist Iso Briselli, both members of the graduating class of 1934. Today

Concert 5 • april 23 & 24

considered an important work in the repertoire, the work’s genesis in 1939 is a complex tale of fits and starts, interruptions and conflicting egos.

Barber presented the first two movements without a finale to Briselli, who found them to be beautiful and expressive. However, Briselli’s violin coach from New York convinced him the work was not substantial enough and needed to be reworked to be more virtuosic. Barber refused to change the first two movements but wrote a finale that is among the most difficult in the repertoire. Briselli chose not to perform it, but when Philadelphia Music Director Eugene Ormandy saw the work, he fell in love with it and scheduled it for a premiere which he conducted in February of 1940 with violinist Albert Spalding.

The first movement (Allegro) is romantically laced with American idioms, clear and open harmonies and memorable recurring tunes, mostly in a moderate tempo with sparks of excitement, settling back into reflective repose. The second (Andante) begins with a beautiful statement of a luxurious tune by the oboe, answered by cellos and then the clarinet.

The violin enters in a whispering, gently climbing bridge connecting to a moment of conflict and anxiety; the orchestra returns to calm the solo violin, who takes over the original tune, bringing it to a fortissimo statement of expressive beauty. The finale is a thrilling perpetual motion test of any violinist’s virtuosic skills, leaving listeners wondering whether the soloist’s instrument might burst into flame before their eyes.

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68 “I shall NEVER write a symphony! You can’t imagine what it’s like always to hear such a giant marching behind you. . .”

So said Johannes Brahms, one of the most gifted composers of the 19th century—and of course he was speaking of Ludwig van Beethoven.

Brahms published no fewer than 67 works before finally daring to attach the title “symphony” to one of his pieces.

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Concert 5 • april 23 & 24

Brahms’ first attempt to overcome his fear of comparison to the symphonies of Beethoven, particularly the Ninth, came at the youthful age of 25. He decided to take the work he’d done and mold it into his first piano concerto. His first symphony waited nearly two decades to see the light of day. Although living and working in Vienna, Brahms arranged to have it premiered in Karlsruhe—the 19th century equivalent of a New York Broadway show doing previews in Peoria.

When Brahms brought the work for performance in Vienna, his fears came true: critics compared it unfavorably to the giant’s work, noting the similarity of Brahms’ tune in his finale to that of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” melody, and mockingly referring to it as “Beethoven’s Tenth.” Today Brahms’ work stands as a monument to the classic form in a romantic era, one of the greatest symphonies ever written.

The first movement (Allegro) opens with dramatic hammer strikes in the timpani, moving to a powerfully dramatic exposition full of angst with brief respites of reflection. The second movement (Andante sostenuto) starts with a prayer-like moment in the strings but rises to tumult before returning to a place of peaceful solitude. The third movement (un poco allegretto grazioso) shows the composer at his tuneful best, revealing the sentiment of a man who felt deeply but remained externally reserved.

The triumphant finale is indeed reminiscent of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy melody, certainly intentional, as if Brahms were telling his critics “So there!”

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Concert 5 • april 23 & 24

Brian Prechtl, Composer Percussionist Brian Prechtl has been a member of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra since 2003.

Before joining the BSO, he was a member of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic in Fort Wayne, Indiana for 14 seasons. Previous to that appointment, he held Principal Percussion positions in both the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and the Toledo Symphony Orchestra.

He graduated with high distinction from the University of Michigan in 1984 with a Bachelor of Music degree and went on to earn his Master’s of Music degree from Temple University in 1986. There he studied with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra and performed as a substitute player in Philadelphia.

Mr. Prechtl spends his summers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming as a performer in the Grand Teton Music Festival where he has been a member of the percussion section since 1992.

An active composer, Mr. Prechtl has had world premiere performances at the Grand Teton Music Festival, at the Eastman School of Music and in Baltimore. He has won composition prizes from the Percussive Arts Society and the College Music Society. He has also served as the composer-in-residence for the Community Concerts at Second Chamber Music Series in Baltimore since 2011.

Mr. Prechtl’s music is characterized by rhythmic drive as well a rich harmonic and melodic palette. He has written extensively for chamber percussion and percussion with other instruments. He recently completed a set of pieces, which are settings of the poetry of Walt Whitman from Leaves of Grass. Mr. Prechtl is also accomplished as an orchestral composer and arranger having had world premiere performances with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the BSO OrchKids Program and the Minnesota Orchestra. Tribute is his newest work for orchestra and El Sistema-inspired ensembles.

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Concert 5 • april 23 & 24

Dylana Jenson has performed with most major orchestras in the United States and traveled to Europe, Australia, Japan and Latin America for concerts, recitals and recordings.

After her triumphant success at the Tchaikovsky Competition, where she became the youngest and first American woman to win the Silver Medal, she made her Carnegie Hall debut playing the Sibelius Concerto with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Following her most recent Carnegie Hall performance, Jenson again electrified both audience and critics in her performance of Karl Goldmark’s violin concerto. According to Strad Magazine, “In Jenson’s hands, even lyrical passages had an intense, tremulous quality... a sizzling performance.” Harris Goldsmith of the New York Concert Review said, “I can give no higher praise than to say that her excellent performance brought to mind, and was a loving tribute to, the great Nathan Milstein... who was one of Jenson’s mentors.”

“In Jenson’s hands, even lyrical passages had an intense, tremulous quality... a sizzling performance.”

-- Strad Magazine

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Concert 5 • april 23 & 24

Ms. Jenson was made an Honorary Citizen of Costa Rica for her artistic contribution to her mother’s homeland. Dylana Jenson comes from a family with a strong tradition in the arts. Her sister, Vicky Jenson, directed the films Shrek and Shark Tale. Her brother Ivan is a painter and poet. Her daughter, Mariama Lockington, is a Hopwood award-winning poet.

In tandem with her solo career Jenson has been busy giving Masterclasses and teaching at summer music festivals. In her teaching she uses the Russian technique taught by Leopold Auer and championed by great artists such as Nathan Milstein, David Oistrakh, Isaac Stern and Jasha Heifetz. This method develops a natural physical relationship to the instrument.

Dylana Jenson started the violin at the age of two and a half with her mother. She then studied with Manual Compinsky, Nathan Milstein and Josef Gingold.

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ASO Supporters 2020-2021 Includes contributions made to the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra League of Alexandria from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021.

Foundations, Government, and Corporate Support Aarondale Community ACT for Alexandria Alexandria Arts Alliance Alexandria Choral Society Alexandria Commission for the Arts Amazon Smile Argent Bridge Advisors Burke and Herbert Bank Cardinal Waypoint, LLC Carl M. Trevisan Catherine Foltz (Long and Foster Realtors) Caudron Megary Blackburn Chadwicks Charles Delmar Foundation Concerto Foundation The Crest of Alexandria D’Addario Foundation Donnan C. Wintermute (Coldwell Banker) Dr. Kathleen Mullaney, DDS Fairlington Community Association Fidelis Property Group Fred Upton Foundation Goodwin House - Alexandria Harry Braswell, Inc. Henry A. Davis IBM Corporation John D. Kling II, DDS

John Marshall Bank KBR Foundation Kositzka, Wicks & Company KSA Integration Lois Herr Family Fund The Maple Tree Fund Mary Graham Lasley Trust Mason & Greens MJK Homes (Keller Williams) N.E.T (Networking & Engineering Technologies, Inc.) National Endowment for the Arts New Target Paul M. Angell Foundation Payroll Protection Program Renner & Company CPA, PC Rosemont Landscaping & Lawncare Rotary Club of Alexandria Simpson Commercial Real Estate Symphony Orchestra League of Alexandria Solar Energy World Sunrise of Old Town Theodore H. Barth Foundation Unalane Foundation United Bank Vectrus Virginia Commission for the Arts

Gifts were given in Memory or in Honor of the following:

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In Honor of ASO Sympatico In Memory of Dennis Barnhart In Honor of George and Becky Bostick In Honor of Linda Bunce In Memory of T. Sills Bunn In Honor of Matthew Joseph Farkas In Honor of Dr. Stephen Fuchs

In Honor of George Hanson In Honor David Johnson In Honor of Melinda Kernc In Memory of Ruth Kupperschlag In Honor of James Ross In Honor of Carolin Vorona In Honor of the Wilcox Family

Conductor’s Baton Circle (over $20,000)

Suzanne S. Brock Harriett Glover McCune Conductor’s Circle ($10,000-$19,999)

Carolyn Fuller Mrs. Robert Wineland Platinum Circle ($5,000-$9,999)

Whit and Angela Ayres Sally Guy and Thomas Brown Miriam and David Browning Linda Bunce Ronal Butler and Martha Lloyd Nancy Davenport Judy Grey Mr. and Mrs. Caswell O. Hobbs Dr. and Mrs. John Klousia Temple and Marty Moore Lucy Thomson and Arthur E. Peabody, Jr. H. Arthur Sauer Susan and Keith Stalder David W. and Melynda Dovel Wilcox Golden Circle ($2,500-$4,999) Carl and Susan Behnke Becky and George Bostick Gerry and Diana Dreo David Johnson and Scarlett Swan Mr. and Mrs. Edward Knight Dr. and Mrs. William O’Grady Anne Rector and Timothy Allen

Claire Schwab Col. and Mrs. Richard G. Toye Dorothy and James Taft Patricia and George White Dennis A. and Julia M. Watkins Nancy Ziegler 53

Patron’s Circle ($1,000-$2,499) Anonymous (2) Arthur and Jeanne Hoenicke Bailey Amoret Bell Bunn Hugh L. and Jan Campbell Kendra Carey Gincy and Nick Carosi Louise Dovel CAPT Fred S. Dunning, Jr. USN (Ret.) Yolande Frommer Wesley and Benita Griffin Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Hayes Margaret Hodges Charles Scott and Avril James Scott and Marietta Jemison Laura and Thomas Lawler Rita and Dennis Meyer Louise Meng Craig Miller and Lisa Brock Peter Pennington Louise and Richard Priest Christine and Frank Purcell Mr. and Mrs. Frank Quirk Mr. and Mrs. Gant Redmon Anne and Steve Reed Helen A. Reid Mr. and Mrs. Carlyle C. Ring Charlotte Rubicam Jeannette Segel Elizabeth and John Siegel Eugene Steuerle and Marge Scheflen CDR, USN (Ret.) Kenneth and Sharon Walker Mary J. Wall Jeanne Warner Donnan C. Wintermute

Donors ($500-$999) Eugenia Ballering and Anna Wolz George Blankenship Evalyn Carter Beth and Mike Coulson Rebecca Davies Elizabeth DiGregorio Nell and A. L. Gibson Lawrence and Pam Hall

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Donors ($500-$999)

Raymond and Irene Husson Freeman and Heather Jelks Sarah Kolo Patricia Macgowan and T. Whittier Warthin Barbara Mantegani Virginia Martin Howard and Betty Jo Middleton Ted and Carolyn Miller Nancy Rettig James Ross Frank M. Ryan, M.D. Karen and William Schuiling Carol Shea Becky and Jerry Siegel Tom and Pat Vernon Michael and Priscilla Wiener John T. and Pat Wilson Walter and Gail Woolwine

Sustainers ($100-$499) Amy and Larry Alberson Patrick and Kim Anderson Kate Armstrong Leonard Bachman Charles W. and Suzanne S. Ballou Diana Banat David Beck Dr. Susan Bienert Paul Brinkman and Lisa Jacobs Catie Brownback Linda Burke Paul and Sandra Byrne Donald R. and Tricia Calloway Jr. Pamela DeCandio Jane Hughes Carlson James Carty William and Teddye Clayton Kathy and James Conrad Ruth and Cleve Corlett Brian and Paula Coupe Dorothy and David Crabb Donna J. Cramer Anne Crowther Robert and Teri Culbertson Judith Curtis and Jim Bradley

Sustainers ($100-$499)

Suzanne and Randolph Dingwell Jim and Joyce Draper Craig and Patricia Dyson Marybeth and Chris Dyson Julie and Edward Dyson Helene Dyson William Elwood Joan Ferrell Virginia Fike Dedre and Stephen Fiske Emily Freeland Stephen Fuchs Josh and Nara Gallin Dale Gibb Susan Amber Gordon Marilyn Gould Ted Gustin Phyllis Haney David Wormser and Janet Hawkins Ross and Carolyn Heasley Claire Heffernan William S. and Mary Page Hickey Kathy Hoekstra Lisa Horowitz and Richard Wexell William B. and Julie Howard Richard and Nancy Hunt Christiane G. Hyland Arthur Impastato Deborah Johnston Richard Jones and Christine Cheevers Emily and Robert Jones Janet and Roberts Jones William and Linda Jordan Tamara Jovovic Vickie Kaplan Kathleen and Edward Kelly Mike and Louise Kenny Nancy Kincaid Beth Knickerbocker and Dale Carson Robert Larke Anne Ledyard Karen Leider Edward and Anna Lenz Paula Lettice Maura and Chris Lindsay S. William and Elizabeth A. Livingston

Sustainers ($100-$499)

Jackie and Tim Locke Jessi Macleod Rosita Kerr Mang Marion Mangus Maureen Markham Mary Carol Mason Claride W. Mayo Patrick and Maureen McCarty Michael McCormick Lynn McCreedy James C. and Ann McCrery Susan McGrath Harry Meyers Alexandra Miller Bowman and Pamela Miller Hazel A. Miller Robert and Vivian Miller Rose Miller Marilyn Murphy and W. Allan Cagnoli Susan Merritt Nelsen Robert Nichols and Laura Lawson Linda O’Connor Ann O’Hanlon Nancy Olson Robert and Susan Orttung Julianne Owens Barton Pakull Ellen Parkhurst Jane Perkinson Tim and Harry Peterson Annmarie Pittman Geraldine Prefontaine Mark and Laura Priest Mary Ann Rehnke Bruce Reynolds Nicholas and Elizabeth Reynolds Lucy Rhame William and Frances Rice Donna and Willliam Richards Beth and Jim Roberts Cindy Roscoe Ann Ross Jacqueline Roundtree Jeffrey and Lisa Ryan Mark Schraf Mary and David Shilton

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Sustainers ($100-$499)

Friends ($1-$99)

Chaya Silver Richard and Anne Simpson Alex and Ivy Sinaiko Irwin and Joan Singer Gregory Stieber Maureen Sullivan Yiming Sophia Swee Beth Tuttle and Bob Carragher Alison Valtin John Verghese Esther and Jack Vorona Patricia Washington Sandra Welch Bonnie Williams and Robert A. Skelly Nancy and Marcus Williams Forrest and Judy Williams Rance Willis Justin Wilson Scott Wortman Madeleine Wyss Amy Yamashiro Barbara J. Yentzer and John Shuster

Kathryn Franklin Gillian Garcia Jeffrey Gathers Helen Morris and Michael Gaw Oscar Gonzalez Paula Danko and Paul Grabowski Diane de Guzman Melinda Hatton Laurie MacNamara and Bill Hendrickson Elizabeth and Christopher Hickey Roger Hillas Roberto JC Gonzalez Homs Erwin Jacobs Cheryl S. Juneau Marieluise Kailing Susan A. Kelly Virginia Kress Loyd and Eve LaMois Mary Lawson Barbara Lesser David Levy Mari Lou Livingood Grace Lynch Jane Malik John and Rosemary Maloney William and Joan McCulla Barbara Moffet Robert Montague, III Judith Morrisey Amanda Neet Teresa Neidorf Steve and Pam Nelson Patti North Robert S. and Gay L. Pasley Greg and Diane Beyer Perett Ruthann Pippenger Ethel Pomerantz Cathy Pregmon Carmen Rives Mary Kate Roberts Laura Rodin Nancy and James Ross Jan and Clifford Routh Christopher Rupp David Sand

Friends ($1-$99) Anonymous (2) Lisa Abbey Canek Aguirre Elisa Joseph and Steven Anders Millicent Aycock Jocelyn and Thomas Ballantine Brittany Baron Catherine Barrett Christine Bellino Jonathan Bemis Christine Carroll Victoria Chavez Helen and Warren Cluff Jacqueline Collier George and Pat Day Barbara Ann Eversman Debra Fairweather Kathleen Fitzgerald Carol Flint Donald and Cora Fosdick

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Friends ($1-$99) John Schalow Kay Sidahmed Barbara Silverman Linda G. Silversmith Barbara Stachowiak Nina Tisara Jennifer Topping Judith and Carl Uehlein Alexandra vanBever-Green Charles and Ellen Walker Eric and Shelia Weiss Guy and Kerry Whitlock Laura Wilcox Gregory Williams Brett and Margaret Wohler Margherita Woods Joan M. Bondereff and Herb Zucker

Thank You! The ASO graciously thanks its amazing donors, past and present, for your timeless support as we strive to continue our mission to provide quality, affordable and accessible music in the Alexandria, Virginia regional area.

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ASO Concert Venues Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center • Complimentary concert parking is provided by the ASO in the Beauregard Street garage, located across East Campus Drive from the Schlesinger Center. We highly encourage all our patrons to park in this location, as parking is restricted on campus.

• Our Will Call pickup and On-Site Box Office sales begin 60 minutes prior to the start of each performance in the lobby of the Schlesinger Center.

• Restrooms and drinking fountains are available to the right of the lobby on the first floor, and to the right of the Seminar Room on the second floor.

• An elevator is available for your convenience and is located around the corner from the restrooms.

• Currently concessions will not be sold during the 2021-2022 Season due to COVID-19 health concerns. Please visit the URL: https://alexsym.org/tickets/covid-19-safety-protocols/ for all updated health and safety protocols.

George Washington Masonic Memorial • Complimentary concert parking is provided by the ASO in the north parking lot with an entrance directly to the concert hall.

• All patrons should enter the Memorial on the parking lot side of the building, where the handicap ramp can be found as well. This entrance is the closest one to the concert hall and can be accessed without stairs.

• Our Will Call pickup and On-Site Box Office sales begin 60 minutes prior to the start of each performance.

• An elevator is available for your convenience.

Please note that the elevator runs slowly and is operated by GWMM personnel, we encourage you to arrive early if you intend to use it.

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• Currently concessions will not be sold during the 2021-2022 Season due to COVID-19 health concerns. Please visit the URL: https://alexsym. org/tickets/covid-19-safety-protocols/ for all updated health and safety protocols.

Must be fully-vaccinated for COVID-19

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For availability and pricing, please visit www.nvcc.edu/schlesingercenter/rentals or call 703-845-6229.

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History of the

ALEXANDRIA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA The Alexandria Symphony Orchestra was founded during World War II. President Roosevelt asked all Americans for sacrifices to free more of the nation’s capacity and resources to help the war efforts. In spite of the war and necessary sacrifices, Alexandria came together as a community. During this time, in 1943, a young music teacher, Miss Lucie Neale Landen, recruited 40 amateur musicians to play orchestral music together. A few years after founding the “Alexandria Civic Orchestra,” Landen moved to California, where she spent more than 40 years as a high school orchestra teacher.

The Alexandria Symphony Orchestra was officially incorporated in 1954 with an annual budget of $1,200. Dr. Wendell Margrave, Director of the Washington Musical Institute, took over the baton in 1948 and led the orchestra until the mid 1960s. In 1966, as demand for a more formal programming schedule arose, the orchestra hired George Washington University professor Dr. George Steiner as Music Director. Under Steiner’s influence, the ASO introduced its first subscription series, performed at Albohm Auditorium on the campus of T.C. Williams High School. He also started the “Lollipop” children’s educational concerts.

In 1976, the ASO strengthened its dedication to education with the introduction of the Mary Graham Lasley 62

Scholarship Competition. Now in its 44th year and co-sponsored with the Symphony Orchestra League of Alexandria (SOLA) since its founding in 1981, the annual event promotes the ASO’s commitment to nurturing young talent and creativity by encouraging college-level musicians to pursue careers in classical music. Besides co-sponsoring the competition, SOLA is dedicated to fundraising and volunteer support for the ASO. In 1988, Kim Allen Kluge was chosen to succeed Dr. Steiner. Under Kluge’s direction during the 1990s, the ASO became a professional orchestra. In partnership with the City of Alexandria, the ASO significantly expanded its programs and concerts in the schools and began performing in the Alexandria Birthday Celebration concert on the waterfront each July.

In 2001, the ASO gave the inaugural concert at the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center, now its primary venue. In the Schlesinger era, the ASO emerged as a leader of the Washington, D.C. inter-arts movement forging artistic partnerships with many of the region’s leading cultural institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, the National Gallery of Art, the Washington Ballet, the Choral Arts Society of Washington, and the Shakespeare Theatre.

The ASO has performed with many of the world’s leading musicians including Midori Gotō, Peter Serkin, Nadja Solerno-Sonnenberg, Richard Stoltzman, Garrick Ohlsson, Yefim Bronfman, Lynn Harrell, Sarah Chang, Elizabeth Pitcairn and Branford Marsalis.

In 2012, the ASO took its education program in an exciting new direction, led by the vision and support of Linda Bunce and the late Elliott Bunce. Sympatico, a program based on the El Sistema model of social change through music education, was launched at John Adams Elementary School. This fall, in partnership with the Alexandria City Public Schools, Sympatico expanded to Patrick Henry K-8 School serving 180+ students in both schools.

In 2018, the ASO welcomed James Ross as its fifth Music Director.

Maestro Ross has introduced new concert experiences, audience engagement and nontraditional venues and formats to the community, attracting new attendees and growing the ASO family.

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2021 - 2022 SEASON

All Together Now 2021-2022 Season Program 1: Beethoven’s Fifth & Rhapsody October 2 & October 3, 2021

Program 2: Pictures at an Exhibition November 6 & November 7, 2021

Program 3: Home for the Holidays December 17 & December 19, 2021

Program 4: Rachmaninov Rhapsody February 12 & February 13, 2022

Program 5: Barber & Brahms April 23 & April 24, 2022

(703) 548-0885 www.alexsym.org