Saturday, February 22, 2025 (8 PM)
The Michigan Theater
Stefan Jackiw violin Earl Lee conductor
February 2025 MainStage
Saturday, February 22, 2025 at 8 PM | Michigan Theater (Ann Arbor)
Stefan Jackiw violin
Earl Lee conductor and music director
Jessie Montgomery Overture (2022)
Generously sponsored by Jane Wilkinson & Howard Ando
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35
Allegro moderato Canzonetta: Andante Finale: Allegro vivacissimo I.
Stefan Jackiw, violin
Intermission
Dmitri Shostakovich
Symphony No. 10 in E minor, Op. 93
Moderato
Allegro
Allegretto – Largo – Più mosso Andante – Allegro – L'istesso tempo I. II. III. IV.
Generously sponsored by Stan & Rusty Towers
Tonight's concert is made possible with support from the Michigan Arts & Culture Council and the National Endowment for the Arts
Photography and audio/video recording are prohibited
Tonight’s performers
Violin I
Aaron Berofsky, Concertmaster
Aaron Berofsky Concertmaster Chair
Kathryn Votapek, Associate Concertmaster
Froehlich Family
Violin Chair
Mallory Tabb, Assistant Concertmaster
Ruth Merigian & Albert A. Adams Chair
Matthew Adams
Larry Henkel
Memorial Violin Chair
Alena Carter
Minkyung Lee
Debra Terry
Nathaniel Cornell
Jennifer Berg
Stuart Carlson
Karen Donato
Priscilla Johnson
Violin II
Barbara SturgisEverett *
Gates & Rudisill
Endowed Principal
Second Violin Chair
Tianyu Liu
Sarah & Jack Adelson Violin Chair
Emily Hauer
Doubleday Family
Second Violin
Section Chair
Linda Etter
Linda Etter Violin Chair
Katie Rowan
Brian Etter & Betty
Nolting Memorial
Violin Chair
Cyril Zilka
Olivia Taylor
Carolyn Lukancic
Judith Teasdle
Denice Turck
Viola
Joshua Muzzi *
Alan & Sandra
Kortesoja
Endowed Principal
Viola Chair
Janine Bradbury
Veronika Vassileva
Hannah Breyer
Jasper Zientek
Connie Markwick
Dan Plonka
Barbara Zmich-McClellan
Cello
Sabrina Lackey * Sundelson
Endowed Principal
Cello Chair
Sarina Zhang
Sarah Winans Newman
Endowed
Section Cello Chair
Dooeun Lee
David Peshlakai
Nancy Chaklos
Michelle Kulwicki
Tung-An Chien
David Caplan
Bass
Gregg Emerson Powell *
Lesa & Mike Huget
Principal Bass Chair
Jon Luebke
A2SO Board Emerita Chair
Joy Rowland
Jonathan Hammonds
Stephen Castiglione
Frederick Dapprich
Flute
Alaina Bercilla *
A Michael & Remedios
Montalbo Young Principal Flute Chair
* Principal
Trey Bradshaw
Marie Mountain
Clark Flute Chair
(A2SO Principal Flute, 1962-1971)
Alexandra McGuire
Serras Family Flute Chair
Oboe
Timothy Michling *
Gilbert Omenn
Endowed Principal
Oboe Chair
Kristin Reynolds
Bill & Jan Maxbauer
Oboe Chair
Stephanie Shapiro
Xiaodi Liu
Clarinet
Roi Karni *
Jim & Millie Irwin
Endowed Principal Clarinet Chair
Elliott Ross
Michelle Ho
Bassoon
Christian Green *
E. Daniel Long
Principal Bassoon Chair
Natalie Law
Susan Nelson
Horn
Adam Unsworth *
Jon Beebe & Rich
Wong Principal
French Horn Chair
David Denniston
Bradford Bates
Memorial Chair
Kurt Civilette
Tamara Kosinski
Trumpet
Natalia Vela *
A Michael &
Remedios Montalbo
Young Principal
Trumpet Chair
Eriko Fujita
Lisa Marie Tubbs
Trumpet Chair
Becky Bloomer
Barnes-Gorman
Family Trumpet Chair
Trombone
Donald Babcock *
Greg Lanzi
Stanley Szymko
Trombone Chair
Tuba
David Zerkel
Stan & Rusty Towers Tuba Chair
Percussion
John Dorsey *
Alex Chao
Jason Ihnat
Chuck Ricotta
We rely on the generous support of individuals, foundations, and local businesses to bring our music to life for over 70,000 Michiganders annually. The Annual Fund provides critical operating support to present our season of thrilling concerts and provide innovative learning and community programs. Ticket prices cover only 40% of the cost of a concert. Please support the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra with a gift to the Annual Fund today your contributions make a difference!
If you would like to learn more about the ways you can make an impact (and save on taxes), please contact Jennie Balch, Director of Development & Donor Services: jebalch@a2so.org
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$1,800
Sponsor a Section Musician Chair for the season
Program notes
Yekwon Sunwoo p
Overture
Jessie Montgomery
Born: December 8, 1981, New York Cit
DURATION: About 5 minutes
PREMIERED: Fort Worth, Texas (2022)
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Ask your usher for a copy.
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INSTRUMENTATION: Two flutes and piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, two trombones, timpani, and strings
“I have always been purposely non-deliberate about where my influences [come from, and] how things are gelling together I studied classical music, I grew up around a lot of different styles of music – particularly free jazz and jam band stuff because that was what my dad was into … and I feel like it’s an equal pie for everything.”
Jessie Montgomery
OVERTURE: An introduction to a large dramatic work, such as a ballet or opera, that demands listeners’ ears and sets the tone of the evening Alternatively, these can be standalone concert works written on a subject or theme.
American composer Jessie Montgomery’s Overture opens with a strident, dramatic melody in the upper strings Soon, the texture fills out with lower strings adding harmonies and countermelodies all is in rhythmic unison at first, with dozens of players changing notes at precisely the same time.
Winds and brass enter for the work’s middle section, an abrupt shift in key and texture, oboes and flutes adding a thickness to the sound while brass add punch and verve. Now, multiple rhythms interlock and create a surging sensation, with decorative trills sprinkled liberally throughout. Finally, to close, a return to the slower music of the opening, with some of the elements of that middle chapter still present.
In bygone eras, overtures often preceded larger-scale works like operas or ballets. They have become standalone concert works over the centuries, however, and are commonly heard at the start of orchestral concerts today A majority of new orchestral commissions from living composers are for 5-15 minute concert openers meant to snare listeners’ ears and signal the start of a program.
Montgomery a violinist, improvisor and composer is a musical polyglot. Born to artistic parents in New York City, she explored multiple genres of music during her adolescence and education and today fuses various influences and idioms into each of her compositions She has become immensely popular in recent years, with orchestras programming and commissioning her dozens and hundreds of times a season. She is one of the most famous American composers working today
She describes her Overture as follows: “Overture is a one-movement orchestral tutti steeped in harmonic textures inspired by a fusion between jazz and American classical harmonies, Baroque rhythmic gestures, and polyphonic tension.”
FURTHER LISTENING
Montgomery:
Hymn for Everyone (2021)
Passage for orchestra and dancers (2022)
Rounds (2022)
Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Born: May 7, 1840, Votkinsk, Russian Empire
Died: November 6, 1893 (aged 53), Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
DURATION: About 35 minutes
COMPOSED: Vienna, 1881
INSTRUMENTATION: Two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four French horns, two trumpets, timpani, strings, and solo violin
“Coming from such an authority, [this rejection] had the effect of casting this unfortunate child of my imagination into the limbo of the hopelessly forgotten.”
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
CONCERTO: A composition that features one or more “solo” instruments with orchestral accompaniment The form of the concerto has developed and evolved over the course of music history.
CADENZA: A virtuoso passage in a concerto movement or aria, typically near the end and often played without strict adherence to meter or time. Sometimes a soloist writes his/her own cadenza; sometimes they are provided by the composer.
When Tchaikovsky completed his first and only violin concerto with the help of a former student possibly a lover he proudly presented the work to its dedicatee, the virtuoso Leopold Auer, in hopes of a dazzling premiere. Instead, he received a gut punch: Auer refused to play it Thirty years later, Auer wrote an explanation: “Warmly as I had championed the symphonic works of the young composer (who was at that time not universally recognized), I could not feel the same enthusiasm for the Violin Concerto, with the exception of the first movement; still less could I place it on the same level as his purely orchestral compositions I am still of the same opinion.”
Another violinist, a capable player but one who lacked Auer’s star power, gave the premiere, which turned out to be a disaster. After that concert in Vienna, influential critic Eduard Hanslick wrote: “The Russian composer Tchaikovsky is surely no ordinary talent, but rather, an inflated one, obsessed with posturing as a man of genius, lacking discrimination and taste Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, for the first time, confronts us with the hideous idea that there may be compositions whose stink one can hear ”
Ouch.
Nevertheless. A few years after its premiere, the concerto caught the ear of another soloist, Czech violinist Karel Halíř, who championed the work in concert halls.
Program notes
Yekwon Sunwoo piano
It came to find great public enthusiasm, and today, the Violin Concerto is one of the mostplayed concertos in the repertoire.
Hearing it now, it’s difficult to imagine how it could have been so maligned initially After a sparse opening tune in the strings, a thrumming accompaniment propels the music to an explosion of color in the orchestra. It settles quickly, and the soloist enters with a luxurious mini cadenza before playing the work’s tender main tune Throughout the movement, Tchaikovsky recasts this tune in a variety of contrasting guises, ranging from a gentle string melody to a grand proclamation by the entire orchestra. The composer himself also wrote the demanding cadenza, which explores some of the highest notes in the stratosphere of the violin’s range It ends on a trill, and the flute joins to play the theme once more, ushering in the final section.
Tchaikovsky cast aside his original second movement after the concerto’s first run-through, realizing that it didn’t fit the rest of the work. (It can still be heard as the first movement of his Souvenir d’un lieu cher for violin and piano.) Instead, he wrote a Canzonetta, or “little song.” For all its beauty, this movement achieves a mild sense of unease, a cloud over an otherwise sunny memory.
Strings introduce the racing finale without pause, mirroring the first movement and building up to the soloist’s first entrance. After a mini-cadenza, pregnant with tension, it’s off to the races, with the violin zipping maniacally in a thrilling demonstration of virtuosity and enthusiasm. Auer never recanted his early dismissal of the concerto, but even he grudgingly nodded to the work’s success later in life: “The concerto has made its way in the world, and after all, that is the most important thing. It is impossible to please everybody.”
FURTHER LISTENING
Tchaikovsky:
Piano Concerto in B-flat Minor
Symphony No. 4 in F Minor
Souvenir d’un lieu cher
Symphony No. 10 in E minor, Op. 93
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich
Born: September 25, 1906, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Died: August 9, 1975 (aged 68), Moscow, Soviet Union
DURATION: About 53 minutes
COMPOSED: Saint Petersburg, 1953
INSTRUMENTATION: Two flutes and piccolo, two oboes and English horn, two clarinets and Eflat clarinet, two bassoons and contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones and tuba, timpani, triangle, tambourine, snare drum, cymbals, bass drum, tam-tam, xylophone, and strings
We invite you to join us in April for our annual Symphony gala! This year, our glitzy gala theme pays tribute to Truman Capote’s famous 1966 Black & White Ball infused with a little Ann Arbor flair!
Proceeds from this year’s gala benefit the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra’s Learning & Community programs, serving thousands of kids, students, and seniors across Southeast Michigan.
Honorary chairs: Patricia Garcia & Dennis Dahlmann
BLACK WHITE
• Drinks and signature cocktails
• Decadent plated dinner
• Special guest speakers
• Paddle raise & raffle
BEETHOVEN & Ball 2025 Announcing
• Live music and entertainment, starring DJ Myint
Saturday, April 26 at 6 PM Ann Arbor City Club 1830 Washtenaw Avenue
rsvp@a2so.org (734) 994-4801
a2so.org/black-and-white-ball
Chopin
Kate Liu piano
Andrew Grams conductor
Louise Farrenc Overture No. 2
Fryderyk Chopin Piano Concerto No. 2
Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 3
Saturday, April 5, 2025
8 PM, Michigan Theater
More info & tickets
a2so.org/24-25-april-mainstage (734) 994-4801
“The majority of my symphonies are tombstones Too many of our people died and were buried in places unknown to anyone, not even their relatives. It happened to many of my friends. Where do you put the tombstones for Meyerhold or Tukhachevsky? Only music can do that for them Looking back, I see nothing but ruins, only mountains of corpses I’m not exaggerating, I mean mountains... I’m sad, I’m grieving all the time.”
Dmitri Shostakovich
SYMPHONY: An elaborate orchestral composition typically broken into contrasting movements, at least one of which is in sonata form
Composers often have identifiable personal ticks in their music. The Russian composer Shostakovich has two consistent idiosyncrasies that make identifying his works by ear a snap
The first is a rhythmic cell, an eighth note followed by two sixteenth notes (or a short note followed by two notes half the length of the first note the famous William Tell galloping tune features this rhythm, for example). Shostakovich built many of his faster movements on that little figure, as it’s particularly effective in conveying momentum and energy The second tick is his own musical monogram, which he spelled out with the notes DSCH, or the notes D, E-flat, C, and B. (In German notation, E-flat is es, and B is H.) Many of his works, including the Violin Concerto, some of the string quartets, and some of the symphonies all contain this signature figure
It’s significant that the 10th symphony includes that bit of individuality For much of his life, Shostakovich fell in and out of favor with Stalin and his regime In Russia in the 20th century, failing to adhere to the state’s ideals of good music could mean exile or death, and Shostakovich’s work saw both triumph and censorship over the years His first opera, a satire about a St. Petersburg official’s nose, was condemned. His first piano concerto redeemed him. And so on.
The party had denounced the ninth symphony in 1945 as insufficiently triumphant in its reflection of the Russians’ victory over the Nazis, with censors citing “formalist perversions and antidemocratic tendencies in the music, alien to the Soviet people and its artistic tastes ” His next symphony wouldn’t come for another eight years, and by then, the political landscape had changed significantly. The key change: Stalin died in 1953.
As the state scrambled during this cold war era, scrutiny of artists diminished as priorities shifted. A degree of freedom of expression began to return. In public, Shostakovich was coy about the subject of his tenth symphony One of his biographers, Solomon Volkov, wrote that the composer had said “I did depict Stalin in... the Tenth. I wrote it right after Stalin’s death, and no one has yet guessed what the symphony is about. It’s about Stalin and the Stalin years. The second part, the scherzo, is a musical portrait of Stalin, roughly speaking Of course, there are many other things in it, but that’s the basis... . ”
The authenticity of Volkov’s work has been contested, and certainly some of the material in the symphony dates to sketches years earlier. But it’s easy to imagine Shostakovich’s preoccupation with his artistic nemesis as he completed this tenth symphony.
The music itself is dark and brooding, beginning with an ominous, winding melody in the low strings. Later, a clarinet joins, wandering in a wilderness. This lost, desolate sound carries much of the first movement The second movement, a biting scherzo, supposedly the Stalin portrait, is all empty charisma and bombast (here, Shostakovich’s rhythmic cell appears in spades). The third movement is a more casual scherzo with “ticking” violins and the D-S-C-H tune. Finally, the last movement begins slowly, pensively, but builds to a fiery, pyrotechnic close
FURTHER LISTENING
Shostakovich:
Four Monologues on Verses by Pushkin for bass and piano, Op. 91 Festive Overture in A major, Op 96 Symphony No 11 in G minor, Op 103
Program notes author Jeremy Reynolds is the editor of Opera America Magazine and the classical music critic at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette To find out more about Jeremy and his work with the A2SO, visit a2so.org/jeremy-reynolds-interview.
www umkelloggeye org | (734) 763-1415
Stefan Jackiw violin
Stefan Jackiw is one of America’s foremost violinists, captivating audiences with playing that combines poetry and purity with impeccable technique. Hailed for playing of “uncommon musical substance” that is “striking for its intelligence and sensitivity” (Boston Globe), Jackiw has appeared as a soloist with the Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco symphony orchestras, among others
In the 2024-25 season, Stefan Jackiw's schedule is studded with performances in the United States, Europe, and Asia. In the winter of 2024, he joined the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland under Hans Graf's baton and debuted with the Suwon Philharmonic, playing Tchaikovsky's violin concerto. Upon his return to the US in the Fall 2024, Jackiw performed Sibelius' Violin Concerto with the Erie Philharmonic and Jacksonville Symphony In the Spring, The Junction Trio will return to the 92NY stage to showcase a program featuring the world premiere of a New Work by John Zorn, followed by Jackiw's residence at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in the Winter of 2025, where he will lead performances and masterclasses Jackiw will then join the Pasadena Symphony for Mozart's Violin Concerto, along with a Junction Trio performance at Rockefeller University and a performance of Korngold's Violin Concerto with The Florida Orchestra in the Spring
Jackiw opened his 2023-24 season returning to the New York Philharmonic to perform the Barber Concerto with Jaap van Zweden His season also included a quadruple World Premiere of new works at Roulette, performances with the Taiwan Philharmonic, China National Symphony, and the Junction Trio's highly praised debut at Carnegie Hall.
Jackiw recently performed a new violin concerto, written for him by Conrad Tao and premiered by the Atlanta Symphony and Baltimore Symphony. He has also premiered David Fulmer’s concerto Jauchzende Bögen with Matthias Pintscher and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen at the Heidelberger Frühling.
Jackiw tours frequently with his musical partners, pianist Conrad Tao and cellist Jay Campbell, as part of the Junction Trio. He also enjoys collaborating with pianist Jeremy Denk with whom he has toured the complete Ives Violin Sonatas, which the pair recorded for future release on Nonesuch Records In 2019, he recorded Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with Inon Barnatan, Alisa Weilerstein, Alan Gilbert and Academy St. Martin in the Fields.
Jackiw has performed in numerous major festivals and concert halls around the world, including the Aspen Music Festival, Ravinia Festival, Caramoor International Music Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival, the Philharmonie de Paris, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, the Celebrity Series of Boston, and the Washington Performing Arts Society
Born to physicist parents of Korean and Ukrainian descent, Stefan Jackiw began playing the violin at the age of four His teachers have included Zinaida Gilels, Michèle Auclair, and Donald Weilerstein He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University, as well as an Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory, and is the recipient of a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant Jackiw plays a violin made in 1705 by Vincenzo Ruggieri He lives in New York City
Introducing the
CENTENNIAL COMMISSIONING CLUB
Play a role of deep significance in helping the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra commission brand-new works leading up to our 100th Anniversary celebration in 2028! As a member of the Centennial Commissioning Club, your support enables us to engage with the leading compositional voices of today and contract and support the artist through every step of the creative process.
For more information and to explore membership, contact Jennie Balch at jebalch@a2so.org
Exclusive event for Centennial Commissioning Club members—join now!
An evening with
Johnny GandELsman
Grammy-winning violinist, producer, and 2024 MacArthur fellow Johnny Gandelsman integrates a wide range of creative sensibilities into a style unique amongst today’s violinists. A founding member of Brooklyn Rider and a former member of the Silkroad Ensemble, Gandelsman joins the A2SO for a special one-night-only solo performance to celebrate the launch of the orchestra’s Centennial Commissioning Club
Wednesday, April 30, 2025
For more information on the event and to become a Centennial Commissioning Club member, visit a2so.org/commissioningclub, email jebalch@a2so.org, or call (734) 994-4801