Members of the University of Minnesota Symphony Orchestra Kirsten Whitson, cello | Matthew Williams, viola |Sergey Bogza, conductor PERFORMANCES Friday April 4, 2014 |7:00pm
Sunday April 6, 2014 | 2:30pm
Wednesday April 9, 2014 | 8:00pm
University Luthern Church of Hope
All Saints Catholic Church
U of M School of Music
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PROGRAM
Richard Strauss: Don Quixote, Op.35 Fantastic Variations on a Theme of Knightly Character arr. for chamber orchestra by Sergey Bogza
Lecture – demonstration intermission Performance
sergeybogza.com | sbogza@gmail.com
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Introduction: Mäßiges Zeitmaß. Thema mäßig. Don Quixote loses his sanity after reading novels about knights, and decides to become a knight-errant Theme: Mäßig. Don Quixote, Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance Maggiore: Sancho Panza Variation I: Gemächlich. Adventure of the windmills Variation II: Kriegerisch. The victorious struggle against the army of the great emperor Alifanfaron Variation III: Mäßiges Zeitmaß. Dialogue between Knight and Squire Variation IV: Etwas breiter. Unhappy adventure with a procession of penitents Variation V: Sehr langsam. Don Quixote’s vigil Variation VI: Schnell. The Meeting with Dulcinea Variation VII: Ein wenig ruhiger als vorher. The ride through the air Variation VIII: Gemächlich. Adventure of the enchanted boat Variation IX: Schnell und stürmisch. Battle with the magicians Variation X: Viel breiter. Duel with the Knight of the White Moon. Defeated Don Quixote’s journey Finale: Sehr ruhig. Coming to his senses again – Death of Don Quixote Original instrumentation: piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 6 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, tenor tuba, harp, timpani, auxiliary percussion, 16 first violins, 16 second violins, 12 violas, 10 celli, 8 basses Chamber orchestra instrumentation: piccolo/flute, oboe/English horn, clarinet/bass clarinet, bassoon/ contrabassoon, horn, trumpet, euphonium/trombone, harp, piano, timpani, auxiliary percussion, 2 violins, viola, cello, solo cello, bass This recital is presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting. Sergey Bogza is a student of Mark Russell Smith and is a Sample Fellow.
“Too much sanity may be madness. And maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be.”
Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote
sergeybogza.com | sbogza@gmail.com
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PROGRAM NOTES It is hard to think of another work of art that received such a thorough treatment as Miguel de Cervantes’ boundless and eternal novel, Don Quixote. Through the ages, it has been illustrated, choreographed, set to film, and served as inspiration to other literary works. But it is the musicians who produced the most extensive examination of the novel. Both Purcell and Telemann wrote suites, while Paisiello, Salieri, Donizetti, and Mendelssohn produced operas. In the 20th century, Julies Massanet wrote an opera, Manuel de Falla composed a one-act puppet-opera, and Mitch Leigh wrote music for a 1965 musical, Man of La Mancha that ran for 2,328 performances and won five Tony Awards; each of these efforts proves, if anything, the enduring and inspiring nature of Cervantes’ work. But there can be little question that it is Richard Strauss’s “Fantastic Variations on a Theme of Knightly Character,” as his orchestral treatment of the tale is subtitled, is the most elaborate and richly detailed attempt to musically portray the adventures of Miguel de Cervantes’ hero Don Quixote and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza.
“In short, our gentleman became so caught up in reading that he spent his nights reading from dusk till dawn and his days reading from sunrise to sunset, and so with too little sleep and too much reading his brains dried up, causing him to lose his mind.”
Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote about the author… b: 29 September 1547, Alcalá de Henares, Spain d: 22 April 1616, Madrid, Spain Miguel de Cervantes was the son of a barber-surgeon and one of seven children. Though not much is known about his educational background, it is supposed that his early studies were under the tutelage of the schoolmaster Juan Lopez de Hoyos of a municipal school in Madrid; unlike most writers, Cervantes did not attend a university. In 1570, he left Spain for Italy, a career-furthering strategy adopted by many Spaniards of his time. He joined the Spanish infantry in Naples and remained a soldier for five years. Returning to Spain in 1575, Cervantes’ ship was captured by pirates and was he was taken as a slave to Algeria. It is believed that his life as a slave from 1575 to 1580 became the source of inspiration for some episodes in Don Quixote. In 1580, his family, with the help of the friars of a Trinitarian monastery, raised the ransom money necessary to free Cervantes. Back in Spain, Cervantes pursued a career as a writer. It was not until 1605 with the publication of First Part of sergeybogza.com | sbogza@gmail.com
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Don Quixote that Cervantes achieved lasting success. It was immediately translated into English, French, and Italian. In 1615, a year before his death, the Second Part was published and achieved equal success.
“All I know is that while I’m asleep, I’m never afraid, and I have no hopes, no struggles, no glories — and bless the man who invented sleep … there’s only one bad thing about sleep, as far as I’ve ever heard, and that is that it resembles death, since there’s very little difference between a sleeping man and a corpse.”
Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote about the composer… b: 11 June 1864, Munich, Germany d: 8 September, 1949, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany As mentioned, Richard Strauss is not the only composer to be inspired by the comic story of Don Quixote. Strauss wrote Don Quixote in 1897, which places it in the same period as his other famous tone poems: and Ein Heldenleben. However, Don Quixote is formally unlike any of the aforementioned works. Its considerable length, variety of themes and their development point to a symphonic conception, but the composition is structured not as a symphony, but as a set of variations with each variation depicting one of the many Don Quixote’s adventures. The solo cello is charged with two roles: as a soloist, representing Don Quixote’s psyche and physical state, and in non-solo passages, serving as an integral part of the tutti orchestral texture. Don Quixote’s squire Sancho Panza, on the other hand, is portrayed by bass clarinet, euphonium, and viola. Like the solo cello, the three instruments associated with Sancho Panza serve a double role. Throughout the introduction, the ten variations and the finale, the motifs associated with each character and the characters which Don Quixote’s imagination produces, are transformed and manipulated to fit the action and the psychological state of the characters.
“Do you see over yonder, friend Sancho, thirty or forty hulking giants? I intend to do battle with them and slay them.”
Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote
sergeybogza.com | sbogza@gmail.com DQ Program.indd 5
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BIOGRAPHIES Cellist Kirsten Whitson performs extensively as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician. She has played and toured with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony, the Florida Orchestra and Norway’s Bergen Philharmonic. She has performed throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. Kirsten also plays as a guest artist with Zeitgeist New Music and the Grand Teton Music Festival. Kirsten won her first orchestral job as a senior in high school, when her family moved from her native Chicago to Sarasota, Florida. Following three years of employment, Kirsten earned Bachelor of Music and Artist Diploma degrees from Indiana University. While there, she was an assistant instructor for her teacher, Fritz Magg and was awarded a coveted Performer’s Certificate. Kirsten has performed solo cello concerts at many venues throughout the Twin Cities and has been featured on programs broadcast by KFAI and Minnesota Public Radio. She has a passion for the extensive repertoire available for solo cello and has premiered several commissioned pieces. Composers Timothy C. Takach, David Evan Thomas, Carl Witt and Jocelyn Hagen have written music for her. A current project with Jocelyn Hagen involves live digital looping. Kirsten has received grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board and the National Endowment for the Arts. Matthew Williams was born in Las Vegas, Nevada and is an alumni of the North Carolina School of the Arts, The Juilliard School, The Berne University of the Arts, and is a Doctoral candidate at the University of Minnesota. He began his viola studies with Susan Barton, and later teachers include Ulrich Eichenauer, Misha Amory and Korey Konkol. He has participated in master classes with such renowned musicians as Nobuko Imai, Heidi Castleman, John Graham, James Dunham, and Michael Tree. He has also attended the Killington Festival, Kneisel Hall, and Spoleto Festivals. Matthew has studied chamber music with members of the Mendelssohn, Brentano, Juilliard, and Fine Arts Quartets. He has played with several orchestras and chamber orchestras including the New Juilliard Ensemble, the Berne Symphony, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra. In addition to performing, Matthew is also passionate about teaching and has maintained private studios in Berne, London, and Minneapolis. Matthew lives in Minneapolis with his wife Anna and newborn daughter and his hobbies include vegetable gardening, biking, and restoring vintage furniture. sergeybogza.com | sbogza@gmail.com
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Russian-American conductor Sergey Bogza is a dynamic and sensitive sought-after conductor, equally at home in symphonic and operatic repertoire. He is a James Sample Conducting Fellow at the University of Minnesota where he conducts Campus Orchestras, Campus String Orchestra, and serves as an Assistant Conductor for Opera Theater. Most recently, Mr. Bogza has been appointed as the new Music Director and Conductor of Heartland Symphony Orchestra and is also one of the finalists for both Mesabi Symphony Orchestra and Willmar Area Symphonic Orchestra. Previously, Mr. Bogza was the Artistic Director and founder of the First Slavic Youth Orchestra (Portland, OR), assistant conductor and graduate instructor at Central Washington University, and guest masterclass teacher for Music in World Cultures. Mr. Bogza has been invited to conduct The Berlin Sinfonietta at the International Masterclasses Berlin, the II International Conductors Master class “El Escorial”, The International Conductors’ Festival (Ukraine) and has been chosen to conduct public performances at the Oregon Bach Festival. In addition to Mr. Bogza’s work on the podium, he is also an internationally performed composer. With over 40 compositions and arrangements for orchestra and chamber ensembles, his works most recently have been featured at the 21st International New Music Festival “ ” in Kazan, Russia.
ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL WINDS Flute/Piccolo Yung-Han Li
Euphonium/ Trombone Ken Ross
STRINGS Violin I Melissa Deal
Oboe/English Horn Emily Olson
Trumpet Graham Steeds
Violin II Volkan Canbolat
Clarinet in Eb, Bb/ Bass Clarinet James Hodges
PERCUSSION Timpani Dallas Tucker
Viola Matthew Williams
Bassoon/ Contrabassoon Aaron Goler
Auxiliary Percussion Kathryn Yuill Jeremy Johnston
BRASS Horn Caroline Lemen
KEYBOARD Yunyue Liu
Cello Solo Kirsten Whitson Cello Charles Asch Bass Matt Miller
HARP Melia Willoughby sergeybogza.com | sbogza@gmail.com DQ Program.indd 7
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Thank You I would like to thank my immediate and extended family for their multifaceted support during my journey in becoming a conductor. I’m especially grateful for my parents who supported me emotionally and financially, and have taught me some of life’s most important values: sincerity, compassion, and forgiveness. I’m also grateful for Irina, Natalia and Yelena for their lightheartedness and making fun of me when I’d take myself too seriously; Tim for writing a check when I’d be too embarrassed to ask for an additional one from parents; Roman for his companionship; Igor for his humor and wild adventures I had to unwillingly supervise; Vladimir and Alina for their hugs, jokes, and kisses.
The Bogza family in 1995, a day before immigrating to the USA.
Natalia Bogza (3 years old) and Sergey Bogza (5 years old).
Sincerely,
I also want to thank Dr. Marshall Tuttle who encouraged and guided me throughout the process of arranging Don Quixote. Without his insights on instrumentation and composition, this process would be impossible to complete on my own. For more information about my conducting, composition, and arranging projects, visit sergeybogza.com or email at sbogza@gmail.com
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