30th Anniversary Chorus Gala | Program Notes

MASTERWORKS • 2014/15 COLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS 30TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT COLORADO SYMPHONY COLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS DUAIN WOLFE, conductor MARY LOUISE BURKE, associate director JULIET PETRUS, soprano NATHAN BERG, baritone COLORADO CHILDREN’S CHORALE DEBORAH DESANTIS, ĂƌƟƐƟĐ ĚŝƌĞĐƚŽƌ TONIGHT’S CONCERT IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED TO FRANK PARCE

Saturday, October 18, 2014 at 7:30 pm • Boettcher Concert Hall VERDI

Messa da Requiem Sanctus

MENDELSSOHN

Elijah Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of Abraham Lift Thine eyes He, watching over Israel

VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

Dona nobis pacem Nation shall not lift up a sword against nation

MORTEN LAURIDSEN

O Magnum Mysterium

MOZART

Requiem, K. 626 Sanctus Domine Jesu, Christe

MUSSORGSKY

Boris Godunov Coronation Scene

LANCASTER

Wondrous Love

ORFF

Carmina burana O fortuna Fortune plango vulnera Ecce gratum Tanz Floret silva Were diu werlt alle min In taberna quando sumus

Veni, veni, venias In trutina Tempus est iocundum Dulcissime Ave formosissima O fortuna (reprise)

Custom Allen Digital Computer Organ provided by MervineMusic, LLC

WELCOME TO THE COLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS 30TH ANNIVERSARY GALA

F

or the eighty full-time musicians of the Colorado Symphony, every program is different.

All season long, an exciting variety of conductors and guest artists bring their distinctive stamp to timeless works by the greatest composers of all time, both classic and contemporary. We don’t always know what to expect when we show up for that first readthrough. Truly, one of the exciting things about our jobs is constantly discovering new and creative interpretations of even the most traditional music.

When it’s time to perform with the Colorado Symphony Chorus, as we will 25 times this season alone, we know to expect some constants: excellence, power, and passion. Led by world-renowned choral director Duain Wolfe, the choir is composed of 200 volunteers who exemplify the beauty of choral music in every performance. Our singers are bound by a shared dedication to the music. Every week, they travel from across the Front Range to rehearsals and performances in Denver and beyond, totaling about eighty a year.

Since its founding in 1984, the Colorado Symphony Chorus has performed at concerts and festivals across Colorado, including the Aspen Music Festival, where it’s been featured every summer for the past two decades. In 2009, Wolfe and the Chorus celebrated 25 years with a two-week concert tour of Europe, showing audiences around the world what Colorado has to offer the world of classical music.

This year, the Colorado Symphony honors the Chorus all season long, with a series of concerts that celebrate its immeasurable contribution to the orchestra. The highlight is tonight’s 30th Anniversary Gala conducted by Wolfe. We look forward to again sharing the stage with these talented singers, who amplify the experience for the musicians on stage as well as the audience in the hall.

Thank you, Mr. Wolfe and the Colorado Symphony Chorus, for thirty incredible years! Here’s to thirty more.

Brava!

The Musicians of the Colorado Symphony

PROGRAM 4 SOUNDINGS 2014/15 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG

MASTERWORKS BIOGRAPHIES DUAIN WOLFE, conductor and director, Colorado Symphony Chorus Recently awarded two Grammys® for Best Choral Performance and Best Classical Recording, Duain Wolfe is founder and director of the Colorado Symphony Chorus and music director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus. This year marks Wolfe’s 30th season with the Colorado Symphony Chorus. The Chorus has been featured at the Aspen Music Festival for over two decades. Wolfe, who is in his 21st season with the Chicago Symphony Chorus has collaborated with Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Muti, and the late Sir George Solti on numerous recordings including Wagner’s Die Meistersinger, which won the 1998 Grammy® for Best Opera Recording. Wolfe’s extensive musical accomplishments have resulted in numerous awards, including an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the University of Denver, the Bonfils Stanton Award in the Arts and Humanities, the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, the Mayor’s Award for Excellence in an Artistic Discipline and the Michael Korn Award for the Development of the Professional Choral Art. Wolfe is also founder of the Colorado Children’s Chorale, from which he retired in 1999 after 25 years; the Chorale is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. For 20 years, Wolfe also worked with the Central City Opera Festival as chorus director and conductor, founding and directing the company’s young artist residence program, as well as its education and outreach programs. Wolfe’s additional accomplishments include directing and preparing choruses for Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, the Bravo!Vail Festival, the Berkshire Choral Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Grand Teton Music Festival. He has worked with Pinchas Zuckerman as Chorus Director for the Canadian National Arts Centre Orchestra for the past 13 years.

MARY LOUISE BURKE, associate director and conductor Mary Louise Burke is in her 21st season as Associate Chorus Director of the Colorado Symphony Chorus. In addition to assisting Duain Wolfe, she also prepares the chorus for the annual performances of Too Hot Too Handel and various Colorado Symphony pops concerts and special chorus projects. She is also Associate Director of the Colorado Children’s Chorale, conducting the Concert Choir and acting as vocal coach for the Chorale. With an expertise in vocal technique, Ms. Burke frequently does seminars in vocal and choral techniques for area church and community choirs. She is the Assistant Music Minister at Montview Presbyterian Church and has taught classes in “Find Your Authentic Voice” at the University of Denver. A mezzo-soprano, Ms. Burke has done solo and recital work in the metro area and performed for many seasons with Central City Opera’s outreach program. She has a Doctorate in Voice Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Colorado.

JULIET PETRUS, soprano Juliet Petrus is recognized for her effortless coloratura and is steadily making her mark as a versatile soprano for both operatic and symphonic repertoire. In 2014, she made her successful debut with the St. Louis Symphony singing the soprano solos in Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, returned to China for more concerts of I Sing Beijing, a project of the Hanyu Academy of Vocal Arts and sang Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra. In the previous season, Petrus made her Lincoln Center debut in Alice Tully Hall with the U.S. premiere of I Sing Beijing, and she completed a tour throughout the U.S., also singing Chinese repertoire. In addition, she was heard in concerts with Music of the Baroque and International Chamber Artists in Chicago. The 2011-12 season featured her Austin Lyric SOUNDINGS 2014/15 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG PROGRAM 5

MASTERWORKS BIOGRAPHIES Opera debut as Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute, as well as her first appearance with Union Avenue Opera, singing the role of Galatea in Handel’s Acis and Galatea and covering the soprano solos in Carmina Burana with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Other notable performances in previous seasons were with Michigan Opera Theatre, Glimmerglass Opera, OperaModa and the Chicago Folks Operetta. She has also been seen as the Queen of the Night in the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s “Opera in the Neighborhood” production of The Magic Flute, and performed the role of Niña in Golijov’s Ainadamar with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia Festival.

NATHAN BERG, baritone Nathan Berg’s career to date has encompassed a vast range of styles and repertoire and he is currently in demand with some of the world’s most distinguished conductors including Kurt Masur, Esa-Pekka Salonen, William Christie, Roger Norrington, Hans Graf, Philippe Herreweghe, Vasily Petrenko, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Michael Tilson Thomas. During his early career Nathan made his name as an outstanding interpreter of the baroque and pre-classical repertoire in both concert and opera performances around the world. He later added leading Mozart roles to his repertoire, including the title roles in Don Giovanni and Le nozze di Figaro in New York, London, Paris and Vancouver. Last season featured a move towards the dramatic repertoire including the title role in Der fliegende Holländer in his Bolshoi Theatre debut. He continues this move in the current season, singing the roles of Alberich (Das Rheingold) with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra under Myung-Whun Chung and Doktor (Wozzeck) with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Further highlights this season include Leone (Tamerlano) with La Monnaie and De Nederlandse Opera, Handel’s Apollo e Dafne with the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor) with Edmonton Opera. In concert Nathan joins the Atlanta and Colorado Symphony orchestras for performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No.9.

Performances in Europe include Die Schöpfung with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and a selection of Kurt Weill songs with the Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien at the Wiener Konzerthaus.

ERIC ISRAELSON, chorus manager, Colorado Symphony Chorus In 1994, following a rewarding 30-year career teaching public school music (primarily in Adams County #12), a tenure as Assistant Director of the Evergreen Chorale and 15 years as the Music Director and Conductor of the Northland Chorale, Eric joined the Colorado Symphony Chorus. Soon after, director Duain Wolfe appointed him to the position of Chorus Manager. During almost 20 years in this position, Eric has maintained perfect attendance at all rehearsals and performances (soon to total 1,600). A native of Connecticut, he developed an early interest in music and later earned both B.A. and M.A. degrees in Music Education. Following an Army tour in Vietnam, Israelson settled in Colorado in 1970 to then sing with and/or direct many Denver area choruses and choirs.

PROGRAM 6 SOUNDINGS 2014/15 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG

COLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS

The 2014-2015 Colorado Symphony concert season marks the 31st season for the Colorado Symphony Chorus. Founded in 1984 by Duain Wolfe at the request of Gaetano Delogu, the Music Director of the Denver Symphony, the chorus has grown over the past three decades into a nationally respected ensemble. This outstanding chorus of volunteers joins the Colorado Symphony for numerous performances (more than 25 this year alone), radio and television broadcasts.

The repertoire of the Chorus has been wide and diverse. Performing with all past/present Music Directors as well as countless guest conductors, highlights include Bernstein’s Mass with Marin Alsop, Kanchelli’s Styx with Jeffrey Kahane, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with Duain Wolfe, and Vaughan Williams’ Dona nobis pacem and Hough’s Missa Mirabilis with Andrew Litton.

In addition, the Chorus has performed at noted music festivals in the Rocky Mountain region, including the Colorado Music Festival, the Grand Teton Music Festival and the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, where it performed with the New York, Philadelphia and Dallas Orchestras. For over two decades, the Chorus has been featured at the Aspen Music Festival, performing such diverse repertoire as Mahler’s monumental Eighth Symphony, Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher, Britten’s Peter Grimes, Berlioz’ Requiem, and Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder, with conductors Lawrence Foster, James Levine, Murray Sidlin, Leonard Slatkin, David Zinman and Robert Spano.

The Colorado Symphony Chorus has appeared at select public and special events, and has collaborated with many renowned Colorado arts ensembles, including the Colorado Children’s Chorale, Central City Opera, Opera Colorado and the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble.

The chorus sang at the 1991 opening gala for the Temple Hoyne Buell Theatre; provided choral support for international opera stars José Carreras and Andrea Bocelli; participated in the 1993 visit to Denver of Pope John Paul II. The chorus has performed the works of a number of Colorado composers, including Samuel Lancaster and John Kuzma, and has had works written especially for it by CSO composers-inresidence Jon Deak and Libby Larsen. The CSO Chorus is featured on an upcoming Hyperion release of Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem and Stephen Hough’s Missa Mirabilis, conducted

by Andrew Litton.

In July 2009, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the chorus, Duain Wolfe led the chorus on a concert tour of Europe, presenting Verdi’s Requiem in Budapest, Vienna, Litomysl and Prague.

Chorus members come from all over the Denver metro area. The Colorado Symphony continues to be grateful for the excellence and dedication of this remarkable ensemble.

SOUNDINGS 2014/15 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG PROGRAM 7

COLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS Duain Wolfe, Founder and Chorus Director; Mary Louise Burke, Associate Chorus Director Travis Branam, Assistant Chorus Director; Taylor Martin, Intern Conductor Eric Israelson, Chorus Manager; Barbara Porter, Assistant Chorus Manager; Laurie Kahler, Principal Accompanist SOPRANO I Brown, Jamie Campbell, Lindsay R.* Causey, Denelda Choi, LeEtta H. Colbert, Gretchen Daniels, Kaylin E. Dirksen, Sarah Dukeshier, Laura Emerich, Kate A. Gile, Jenifer D. Gill, Lori C. Graber, Susan Harpel, Jennifer Hedrick, Elizabeth Hendee, Lauren Hinkley, Lynnae C. Hupp, Angela M. Jensen, Erika Joy, Shelley E. Kirschner, Mary E. Kushnir, Marina Look, Cathy Maupin, Anne Moraskie, Wendy L. Porter, Barbara A.* Ropa, Lori A. Ross, Kelly G. Saddler, Nancy C. Sladovnik, Roberta A. Solich, Stephanie A. Sowell, Kelly Stegink, Nicole J. Tate, Judy Travis, Stacey L. Wood, Linda K. SOPRANO II Benson, Claire E.* Blum, Jude Bowen, Alex S. Brauchli, Margot L. Christus, Athanasia Coberly, Ruth A.* Cote, Kerry H. Dakkouri, Claudia Eberl, Lacey Gross, Esther J. Harrold, Rebecca Hilgefort, Connie Kraft, Lisa D. Nova, Ilene L.

Nyholm, Christine M. O’Nan, Jeannette R. Rae, Donneve S. Rattray, Rebecca Rider, Shirley J. Snyer, Lynne M. Von Roedern, Susan K. Walker, Marcia L. Weinstein, Sherry L. Wells. Kirsten Woodrow, Sandy Young, Cara ALTO I Adams, Priscilla P.* Berlin, Myrna G. Boothe, Kay A. Brady, Lois F. Branam, Emily M. Brown, Kimberly Buesing, Amy Conrad, Jayne M. Costain, Jane A. Daniel, Sheri L. Dunkin, Aubri K. Earhart, Jamie L. Franz, Kirsten D. Gayley, Sharon R. Groom, Gabriella D. Guittar, Pat Holst, Melissa J. Hoopes, Kaia M. Horle, Carol E.* Kolstad, Annie Kraft, Deanna McWaters, Susan Meromy, Leah Murray, Cassandra M. Passoth, Ginny Tannenbaum, Clair Thayer, Mary B. Virtue, Pat Wise, Sara Wood, Heather ALTO II Cheatham, Cami Cox, Martha E. Deck, Barbara R.* Dominguez, Joyce Eslick, Carol A. Golden, Daniela

Hoskins, Hansi Isaac, Olivia Jackson, Brandy H. Janasko, Ellen D.* London, Carole A. Maltzahn, Joanna Marchbank, Barbara Mendicello, Beverly D. Mieger, Marge A.* Millar, Kelly T. Nittoli, Leslie M. Norris, Deborah R. Rust, Carol L.* Scooros, Pamela R. Trierweiler, Ginny TENOR I Dougan, Dustin Gewecke, Joel C. Gordon, Jr., Frank Guittar, Jr., Forrest Hassell, Christopher Hodel, David K. Moraskie, Richard A. Muesing, Garvis J. Nicholas, Timothy W. Reiley, William G. Snook, David Stewart, Matthew Van Milligan, John P. Waller, Ryan Zimmerman, Kenneth A.* TENOR II Babcock, Gary E. Bradley, Mac Davies, Dusty R. Dixon, Stephen C. Fuehrer, Roger A. Gale, John H. Kolm, Kenneth E. Martin, Taylor S. Mason, Brandt J. Milligan, Tom A. Ruth, Ronald L.* Sims, Jerry E. Struthers, David R. Wolf, Jeffrey P. Wyatt, Daniel L.

PROGRAM 8 SOUNDINGS 2014/15 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG

BASS I Adams, John G. Branam, Travis D. Carlton, Grant H. Cowen, George* Drickey, Robert E. Eickhoff, Benjamin Gray, Matthew Hesse, Douglas D. Hume, Donald Jirak, Thomas J. Mehta, Nalin J. Moore, Philippe Parce, Frank Y. Quarles, Kenneth Rutkowski, Trevor B. Smith, Benjamin A. Thofson, Chad Viatkin, Alek Williams, Benjamin M. Wood, Brian W.* BASS II Bell, Perry W. Boe, Jeffrey E. Fletcher, Jonathan S. Friedlander, Bob Gallagher, John A. Gibbons, Dan Israelson, Eric W. Jackson, Terry L. Kent, Roy A.* Kraft, Mike A. Millar, Jr., Robert F. Moncrieff, Kenneth Morrison, Greg A. Nelson, Chuck Nuccio, Eugene J. Phillips, John R. Skillings, Russell R. Swanson, Wil W. Virtue, Tom G. Williams, Miles D. *Charter member. We honor our charter members for their thirty years of remarkable commitment and musicianship.

COLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS Repertoire of Major Works 1984-2015 Adams Bach, J.S. Bach, J.S. Bach, J.S Beethoven Beethoven Beethoven Beethoven Berlioz Berlioz Bernstein Bernstein Bernstein Bloch Borodin Brahms Brahms Brahms Brahms Britten Britten Britten Debussy Denler Dvorák Einhorn Fauré Gershwin Gilbert & Sullivan Gilbert & Sullivan Gilbert & Sullivan Gilbert & Sullivan Gilbert & Sullivan Gilbert & Sullivan Handel Handel/ Christianson Harris Haydn Haydn Haydn Hill Holst Honegger

On the Transmigration of Souls Motet No. 1: Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 225 Motet No. 6: Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden, BWV 230 Magnificat in D Major, BWV 243 Choral Fantasia in C Major Mass in C Major Missa Solemnis in D Symphony No. 9 in D minor “Choral” Requiem (Grand Messe des Morts) Te Deum Symphony No. 3 (Kaddish) Chichester Psalms MASS: A Theater Piece for Singers, Players and Dancers Sacred Service Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor Vier Gesänge, Ein deutsches Requiem Alto Rhapsody Schicksalslied Peter Grimes Choral Dances from Gloriana War Requiem Nocturnes An American Symphony Stabat Mater Voices of Light Requiem Porgy and Bess H. M. S. Pinafore The Pirates of Penzance Iolanthe The Mikado The Yeomen of the Guard The Gondoliers Messiah Too Hot To Handel Symphony No. 4 “Folksong” (Recorded for NAXOS) Mass No. 11 in D minor “Lord Nelson” Te Deum “Maria Therese” The Creation The Raven (2015) The Planets Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher

SOUNDINGS 2014/15 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG PROGRAM 9

COLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS Hough Humperdinck Kanchelli Kodály Mahler Mahler Mahler Mendelssohn Mendelssohn Mendelssohn Mozart Mozart Mozart Mozart Mozart Mussorgsky Orff Pinkham Poulenc Prokofiev Puccini Rachmaninoff Rachmaninoff Ravel Rossini Schoenberg Schoenberg Shore Shostakovich Stravinsky Stravinsky Tchaikovsky Vaughan Williams Vaughan Williams Vaughan Williams Vaughan Williams Vaughan Williams Vaughan Williams Verdi Verdi Verdi Verdi Vivaldi Wagner Walton

Missa Mirabilis (Recorded for HYPERION) Hänsel und Gretel Styx Psalmus Hungaricus Symphony No. 2 in C minor “Resurrection” Symphony No. 3 in D minor Symphony No. 8 in Eb Major “Symphony of a Thousand” Die erste Walpurgisnacht A Midsummer Night’s Dream Elijah Mass in C Major, K. 317 “Coronation” Vesperae Solennes de Confessore, K. 339 Mass in C minor, K. 427 “The Great” Die Zauberflöte Requiem Coronation Scene from Boris Godunov Carmina burana Christmas Cantata Gloria in G Major Alexander Nevsky Tosca The Bells Three Russian Songs, op. 41 Daphnis et Chloé, Suites 1 & 2 Stabat Mater Gurre-Lieder A Survivor From Warsaw Lord of the Rings Symphony Symphony No. 13 “Babi Yar” Oedipus Rex Symphony of Psalms 1812 Festival Overture Symphony No. 1 “A Sea Symphony” Te Deum in G Dona Nobis Pacem (Recorded for HYPERION) Festival Te Deum in F Serenade to Music Hodie: A Christmas Cantata Aïda Messa da Requiem Otello Quattro pezzi sacri Gloria in D Major Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg Belshazzar ’s Feast

Plus many programs of music for A Colorado Christmas, July 4th, opera choruses, special programs for all occasions and pops concerts.

PROGRAM 10 SOUNDINGS 2014/15 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG

COLORADO CHILDREN’S CHORALE The Colorado Children’s Chorale wishes to congratulate Duain Wolfe and the Colorado Symphony Chorus on 30 musical years!

For more than forty years the Colorado Children’s Chorale has brought its artistry and charm to audiences throughout the world. With a diverse repertoire ranging from fully staged opera and musical theater to standard choral compositions in classical, folk and popular traditions, the Chorale performs with an innovative stage presentation and a unique theatrical spirit. In recognition of its artistic excellence, the Chorale was awarded the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, the Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts and the prestigious El Pomar Award for Excellence in Arts and Humanities. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Deborah DeSantis and Executive Director Diane Newcom, the Colorado Children’s Chorale annually trains 500 members between the ages of 7 and 14 from all ethnicities and socio-economic backgrounds representing more than 180 schools in the Denver metro area and beyond. Since its founding in 1974, the Chorale has sung countless performances with some of the world’s finest performing arts organizations, performed for numerous dignitaries, and appeared in several television and radio broadcasts. The Performance Program includes a series of self-produced concerts, numerous performances with other Colorado arts organizations and touring around the world. The Chorale presents annual performances of Christmas with the Children’s Chorale and Spring with the Children’s Chorale at Boettcher Concert Hall in the Denver Performing Arts Complex, A Classical Afternoon at Montview Presbyterian Church and Performing Small Miracles at Colorado Heights Theater. Spring Fling Sing! is presented in venues across the metro area. This season also includes Magic Flute with Opera Colorado, A Colorado Christmas, Colorado Symphony Chorus Gala and Tosca with The Colorado Symphony, and Midsummer Night’s Dream with Colorado Ballet. For the 2014-15 season, Tour Choir will spend two weeks in the Vail Valley singing the National Anthem from the country of the gold medal winner each evening during World Cup Ski Championships and in April they will present a series of concerts across northern Europe.

TOUR CHOIR Austin Aanerud Joshua Bachicha Josef Bardossas Jack Barton Lillian Berets Grant Bradow Caitlin Bridge Karina Brusletto Kris Burger Cooper Causey Kendall Clark James Cobb Emma Day Andrew Dupper Conrad Eck Blake Erickson Tallulah Fuhs Jackson Fuller

Hannah Garcia Kyle Green Audrey Hampton Rachel Harris Mary Hertel Elizabeth Hetzel Katy Hollis Noah Hutabarat Iain Ireland Allie Jacobsen Rhys Jansen Martin Jernigan Parker Jewell Alexandra Kaleugher Emily Keely Sarah Kinnison Britta Kraakevik Zack Kramer

Ajaya Macon Lukas Makikalli Blake Mann Brett Mason Makenna Maupin Allyson May Abbie McAdams Trey McKeever Trevor Metz Dwayne Montoya Paige Mowery Livi Myers Adrian Nagle Ava Nelson Emma Newson Isabel Oppelt Grace Pouliot Michael Redmond

Rachel Regalado Emily Reschl Genevieve ReylandSlawson Abigail Sheehan Clara Sjoberg Brennan Skeffington Harrison Sodia Tanner Spreeuw Carter Strunk Marina Stylianou Margot Swetich Chris Tempel Abe Timme Charley Trask Marinda Vacanti William Warren Toby Yarrington

SOUNDINGS 2014/15 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG PROGRAM 11

COLORADO CHILDREN’S CHORALE DEBORAH DESANTIS, artistic director and conductor Deborah DeSantis has been instrumental in the growth and success of the Colorado Children’s Chorale since 1983. She regularly conducts performances throughout metropolitan Denver and has led numerous tours, nationally and internationally. Her passion for artistic excellence and music education has been a driving force in the development of the Chorale’s School Partnership program, which she established in 1994. In addition to designing and directing community performance residencies for the Chorale, she frequently serves as guest clinician and conductor for school and community children’s choral programs throughout the nation. DeSantis has conducted seminars and workshops for Chorus America, the American Choral Director’s Association, Colorado Music Educators Association, the Choristers’ Guild and the Suzuki Institute. She has served as co-chair of Chorus America’s Children/Youth Choir Constituency.

LEARN AND SHARE THE PLAN. Visit coloradosymphony.org to view drawings and an Executive Summary of the plan. Share the plan with friends, family, and colleagues.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS. Your feedback, suggestions, questions, and reflections are vital. Leave comments at coloradosymphony.org or in suggestion boxes in the lobby.

BE COUNTED. Sign the petition in support of a Better Boettcher in the lobby or online at coloradosymphony.org.

#BETTERBOETTCHER visit coloradosymphony.org for more info.

PROGRAM 12 SOUNDINGS 2014/15 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG

MASTERWORKS PROGRAM NOTES GIUSEPPE VERDI (1813-1901) “Sanctus” from Requiem (1873-1874) Alessandro Manzoni was one of the dominant figures of 19th-century Italy. His poems, plays and novels spoke directly to the Italian soul as it quested for freedom and national identity. His most famous work was the novel I promessi sposi (“The Betrothed”), the greatest Italian prose piece of the time, which accomplished for Italy what Luther’s translation of the Bible had done three centuries before for Germany — brought a standardized language to a country factionalized by innumerable dialects. Verdi venerated Manzoni, and he was inspired to commemorate the death of a great Italian with a memorial Mass. He sent his proposal to compose a Requiem in honor of Manzoni to the mayor of Milan, and it was eagerly accepted.

When the mayor expressed his appreciation, Verdi replied, “You owe me no thanks for my offer to write a Requiem for the anniversary of Manzoni’s death. It is an impulse, a need of my heart which impels me to honor, as far as I can, this Great Man whom I so respected as a writer, and have revered as a man, a model of virtue and of patriotism.” Verdi scheduled the Requiem’s premiere for the first anniversary of Manzoni’s death and began the score immediately. As the work proceeded, he arranged for performers, printing and publicity, and even made acoustical tests to determine the most suitable of Milan’s churches for the premiere. The work was finished on April 10, 1874, and the first performance six weeks later in San Marco Cathedral was a triumph, a success that has not diminished one iota since.

The Sanctus (“Holy, Holy, Holy”) begins with a joyous shout. The movement then launches into a bracing fugue on two subjects for divided chorus, which is followed by an antiphonal setting (i.e., choruses in alternation) of the Hosanna.

Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth!

Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua.

Hosanna in excelsis!

Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini!

Hosanna in excelsis!

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts!

Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory.

Glory to God in the highest!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Glory to God in the highest!

o FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809 -1847) Selections from Elijah, Op. 70 (1846) Elijah was a Hebrew prophet several centuries before Christ whose calling was to destroy the pagan cults of Baal introduced into Israel by Jezebel, the wife of the errant Israelite king Ahab.

Elijah was the hero of many stories, some of which look forward to aspects of Christ’s life. Elijah departed from the earth in a chariot of fire, leaving his sacred mantle and the continuation of his work to his disciple, Elisha. The prophet also figures prominently in the Koran, the sacred book of Islam.

Mendelssohn’s oratorio based on the Old Testament prophet, premiered with spectacular success at the Birmingham (England) Festival on August 26, 1846, was long considered his masterpiece, the greatest work of its kind created during the 19th century. It was the music of first choice for performance at memorial concerts following his death — London heard it just two weeks after he died — and was the principal means by which funds were raised in England to establish a Mendelssohn Scholarship Fund to send promising students to the Leipzig Conservatory; Arthur Sullivan, a dedicated composer who later made his name and fortune SOUNDINGS 2014/15 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG PROGRAM 13

MASTERWORKS PROGRAM NOTES with W.S. Gilbert in one of the less serious forms of musical expression, was the first recipient of the award. Elijah reinvigorated the British school of oratorio composition and was the direct inspiration for works by Charles Hubert Parry, Alexander Mackenzie, Charles Villiers Stanford, John Stainer and, at the turn of the new century, Edward Elgar. It has been performed more often in England than any other work of its type except Messiah. Elijah is one of the monuments of the vocal literature, a work that transcends theology and denomination. “In its best numbers,” wrote Eric Werner in his study of Mendelssohn, “it rises to realms of awe that are no longer accessible to rational language. In this respect, it stands on a lonely height, near to the creations of Bach and Handel.”

Holy, holy, holy, is God the Lord — the Lord Sabaoth! Now His glory hath filled all the earth.

(Isaiah VI 3) Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel! this day let it be known that Thou art God; and I am Thy servant! O show to all this people that I have done these things according to Thy word! O hear me Lord, and answer me; and show this people that Thou art Lord God; and let their hearts again be turned!

(I Kings XVIII 30, 36, 37) Lift thine eyes to the mountains, whence cometh help. Thy help cometh from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He hath said, thy foot shall not be moved: thy Keeper will never slumber.

(Psalm CXXI 1-3) He, watching over Israel, slumbers not, nor sleeps. Shouldst thou, walking in grief, languish, He will quicken thee.

(Psalms CXXI 4, CXXXVIII 7)

o RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (1872-1958) Movement VI from Dona nobis pacem (1934-1936) In 1911, Vaughan Williams sketched a choral setting of Walt Whitman’s Dirge for Two Veterans but then declined to have it performed or published and put it away for over two decades.

It was not until 1934, the year after Hitler had begun his threat to European political stability by bullying his way to power in Germany, that Vaughan Williams returned to the Dirge and to the words of Whitman. Though the composer’s output of the 1930s — the riotous Five Tudor Portraits, the comic opera The Poisoned Kiss, the colorful and ornate works for the coronation of George VI, the luminous Serenade to Music and the earliest sketches for the halcyon Fifth Symphony — remained largely in the pastoral nationalistic idiom principally associated with his music, the portentous Fourth Symphony of 1934 displayed a bristling modernity that many thought was influenced by the unsettling time of its creation. Though the composer asserted that there was nothing specifically programmatic about the Symphony (“I wrote it,” he said, “not as the picture of anything external — e.g., the state of Europe — but simply because it occurred to me like this — I can’t explain why”), that his mind was drawn in the mid-1930s to foreboding thoughts of imminent war was confirmed by his revival of the Dirge for Two Veterans and the war-referencing text of the larger choral piece of 1934-1936, Dona Nobis Pacem, of which it became part. To create the text for his Dona Nobis Pacem, Vaughan Williams surrounded PROGRAM 14 SOUNDINGS 2014/15 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG

MASTERWORKS PROGRAM NOTES his revised setting of the Dirge with a collection of quotations matched to his own war-wary sentiments: a line from the Roman Catholic Mass (Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi: dona nobis pacem — “Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world: grant us peace”); additional stanzas from Whitman; a brief excerpt from John Bright’s famous “Angel of Death” speech delivered to the House of Commons in 1855 during a debate on the Crimean War; and a number of Biblical verses.

The Angel of Death has been abroad throughout the land, you may almost hear the beating of his wings. There is no one as of old ... to sprinkle with blood the lintel and the two side-posts of our doors, that he may spare and pass on.

— John Bright Dona nobis pacem.

O man greatly beloved, fear not, peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong.

— Daniel X: 19 The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former ... and in this place will I give peace.

— Haggai II: 9 Nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

And none shall make them afraid, neither shall the sword go through their land.

Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven.

Open to me the gates of righteousness, I will go into them, Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled; and let them hear, and say, it is the truth.

And it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues.

And they shall come and see my glory. And I will set a sign among them, and they shall declare my glory among the nations.

For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, so shall your seed and your name remain for ever.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men.

(Adapted from Micah IV: 3, Leviticus XXVI: 6, Psalms LXXXV: 10 and CXVIII: 19, Isaiah XLIII: 9 and LXVI: 18-22, and Luke II: 14.)

o MORTEN LAURIDSEN (born in 1943) O magnum mysterium (1994) Morten Lauridsen, born in Colfax, Washington in 1943 and raised in Portland, Oregon, attended Whitman College in Walla Walla and the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where his principal composition teachers were Ingolf Dahl, Halsey Stevens and Robert Linn. Lauridsen has taught since 1967 at USC, where he was Chair of the Composition SOUNDINGS 2014/15 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG PROGRAM 15

MASTERWORKS PROGRAM NOTES Department from 1990 to 2002; among his significant accomplishments at the school is the foundation of the advanced studies program in scoring for motion pictures and television. He has been recognized by the university with the Phi Kappa Phi Creative Writing Prize, Thornton School of Music Outstanding Alumnus Award, Ramo Award and Alpha Lambda Delta Citation for Teaching Excellence. In November 2007, he was presented with the National Medal of Arts at a ceremony at the White House. Lauridsen is most noted for his many art songs and choral works, including the vocal cycles Les Chansons des Roses, A Winter Come, Madrigali, Cuatro Canciones, Lux Aeterna, Mid-Winter Songs and Nocturnes, which have been performed throughout the world. His works have been recorded on more than 200 CDs, five of which have received Grammy nominations.

Lauridsen wrote, “For centuries, composers have been inspired by the beautiful O Magnum Mysterium text depicting the birth of the new-born King amongst the lowly animals and shepherds. This affirmation of God’s grace to the meek and the adoration of the Blessed Virgin are celebrated in my setting through a quiet song of profound inner joy.”

O magnum mysterium, ut animalia viderent Dominum natum,

O great mystery, that animals should see the newborn Lord, lying in their manger!

Blessed is the Virgin whose womb was worthy to bear the Lord Jesus Christ. Alleluia!

jacentum in praesepio!

Beata Virgo, cujus viscera meruerunt portare Dominum Christum. Alleluia!

o WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) Sanctus and Domine Jesu from Requiem Mass in D minor, K. 626 (1791) In early July 1791, Mozart accepted a commission to compose a Requiem Mass from “an unknown, grey stranger.” Despite the somewhat foreboding mystery surrounding this venture, Mozart was in serious financial straits just then and the money offered was generous, so he accepted the commission and promised to begin as soon as possible. The Magic Flute, however, was pressing and he also received at the same time another commission, one too important to ignore, for an opera to celebrate the September coronation in Prague of Emperor Leopold as King of Bohemia — La Clemenza di Tito, based on one of Metastasio’s old librettos — that demanded immediate attention.

Mozart worked on the Requiem as time allowed, but his health had deteriorated alarmingly

by October — he complained of swelling limbs, feverishness, pains in his joints and severe headaches that were diagnosed as “miliary fever” (perhaps rheumatic fever or uraemia, though the evidence is inconclusive). He managed to finish only the Requiem and Kyrie sections of the work, but sketched the voice parts and the bass and gave indications for scoring for the Dies irae through the Hostias. On December 4th, he scrawled a few measures of the Lacrymosa, and then asked three friends who had come to be with him to sing what he had written. He tried to carry the alto part, but broke into tears as soon as they had begun and collapsed. A priest was called to administer extreme unction; at midnight Mozart bid his family farewell and turned toward the wall; at five minutes to one on the morning of December 5, 1791, he died. He never knew for whom he had written the Requiem. The person who commissioned the work was Count Franz von Walsegg, a nobleman of musical aspirations who had the odious habit of anonymously PROGRAM 16 SOUNDINGS 2014/15 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG

MASTERWORKS PROGRAM NOTES ordering music from established composers and then passing it off as his own.

It is difficult, and perhaps not even advisable, to dissociate Mozart’s Requiem from the circumstances of its composition — the work bears the ineradicable stamp of otherworldliness.

In its sublimities and its sulfur, it appealed mightily to the Romantic sensibility of the 19th century, and continues to have a hold on the imagination of listeners matched by that of few other musical compositions.

Sanctus Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth!

Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua.

Hosanna in excelsis!

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts!

Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory.

Glory to God in the highest!

Domine Jesu Christe

Domine Jesu Christe, rex gloriae, Libera animas omnium fidelium defunctorum de poenis inferni et de profundo lacu.

Libera eas de ore leonis, ne absorbeat eas tartarus, ne cadant in obscurum; sed signifer sanctus Michael representet eas in lucem sanctam, quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini ejus.

Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory, deliver the souls of the faithful departed from the pains of hell and the bottomless pit.

Deliver them from the jaws of the lion, lest hell engulf them, lest they be plunged into darkness; but let the holy standard-bearer Michael lead them into the holy light, as Thou didst promise Abraham and his seed.

o MODESTE MUSSORGSKY (1839-1881) “Coronation Scene” from Boris Godunov (1868-1869) Boris Godunov is Mussorgsky’s sweeping chronicle of Russia and its Tsar at the end of the 16th century. In 1584, Ivan IV (“the Terrible”) was succeeded on the throne by his son Fyodor.

A brother of Fyodor’s wife, Boris Godunov, born around 1551, established himself as a power behind the weak ruler. In 1591, Dmitri, another of Ivan’s sons and a potential successor to the throne, died under mysterious circumstances. In 1598, Boris was crowned Tsar. Suspicion ran high that Boris’ agents had murdered the boy Dmitri to clear his path to the throne, but the story was never proved. For his opera, Mussorgsky assumed it to be true. The first of the Prologue’s two scenes is set in 1598 outside the Novodievichy Monastery, near Moscow, where Boris has withdrawn, a ruse to make it appear he is unwilling to occupy the throne of Russia. Boris is eager to legitimize his reign by having it acclaimed by the people, and his agents exhort the crowd outside the Monastery to implore him to become their Tsar, which they do, though with much grumbling, in the opera’s Coronation Scene.

SOUNDINGS 2014/15 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG PROGRAM 17

MASTERWORKS PROGRAM NOTES Šujskij Da zdravstvuet car’ Boris Feodorovi

Shuisky Long life to our Tsar Boris Feodorovich!

The Crowd Zivi I zdravstvuj, Car’ naš batjuška!

The Crowd Long live our sovereign, Tsar of Russia!

Šujskij Slav’te!

Shuisky Hail him!

The Crowd Uz kak na nebe solncu krasnomu slava, Slava!

Už i kak na Rusi Carju Borisu slava, Slava! Živi i zdravstvuj!

Car’ naš batjuška!

Radujsja, ljud!

Radujsja, veselisja, ljud!

Pravoslavnyj ljud!

Veliaj Carja Borisa i slav’!

The Crowd Like the sun in the skies supreme in its glory, Over Russsia our Tsar Boris now reigns in glory!

Long live our sovereign!

Tsar, our guardian!

Voice your joy, people!

Now exalt and rejoice, people! Faithful Christian people!

Let all hail our Tsar Boris, and rejoice!

Boyars Da zdravstvuet Car’ Boris Feodorovi!

Boyars All hail to thee, Tsar Boris Feodorovich!

The Crowd Da zdravstvuet!

Už kak na Rusi Carju Borisu slava!

Slava! Slava!

The Crowd All hail to thee!

Over Russia Boris now reigns in glory!

Glory! Glory!

Boris Skorbit duša.

Kakojto strah nevol’nyj Zlovešim preduvstviem skoval mne serdce.

O pravednik, o moj otec deržavnyz!

Vozzri s nebes na slözy vernyh slug

Boris My soul is sad!

A secret terror haunts me; with evil presentiments my heart is stifled.

O Lord above, O Thou Almighty Father!

From Heaven’s throne behold our contrite tears, and with your blessing grant me holiness and strength, that they may guide me.

O make me just and merciful as Thou; in glory let me rule my land.

i nispošli ty mne svjašennoe na vlast’ blagosloven’e!

Da budu blag i praveden, kak ty; da v slave pravljusvoj narod.

PROGRAM 18 SOUNDINGS 2014/15 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG

MASTERWORKS PROGRAM NOTES Teper’ poklonomsja poijušim Vlastiteljam Rossii.

A tam szyvat’ narod na pir, Vseh, ot bojar do nišago slepca; Vsem vol’nyj vhod, vsegosti dorogie

Now let us kneel and pay homage at the tombs of Russia’s monarchs.

And then our people all shall feast, yea, ev’ry man, from boyar down to serf; All shall we greet, all gladly shall we Welcome!

The Crowd Slava! Slava! Slava! Živi i zdravstvuj! Car’ naš batjuška!

Mnogaja leta Carju Borisu!

Už kak na nebe solnyšku slava, Už kak na Rusi Carju Borisu slava, Slava i mnogaja leta!

Slava! Slava! Slava!

The Crowd Glory, glory, glory!

Long live our sovereign, Tsar of Russia!

Honor and glory to you our father!

As the sun shines supreme in its glory, over Russia Boris now reigns in glory, and long may he prosper!

Glory, glory, glory!

o Wondrous Love Arranged by Samuel Lancaster (1944-2013) Wondrous Love, one of the treasures of American hymnody, may have its source in a song about William Kidd, the Scottish ship captain executed for piracy in London in 1701. The anonymous lyrics first appeared in A General Selection of the Newest and Most Admired Hymns and Spiritual Songs Now in Use, a camp meeting songbook published in Virginia in 1811, where they were printed without music, a then-common practice. The words could be adapted to any tune that fit their metric structure, including one of the variants of The Ballad of Captain Kidd, a favorite melody of the many British immigrants who settled in Appalachia during the 18th and 19th centuries. (“New Light zealots snatched literally hundreds of good tunes from the devil and put them to the Lord’s use, and Captain Kidd was one of their luckiest snatchings,” wrote George P. Jackson in Southern Folklore Quarterly.) The familiar music and lyrics of What Wondrous Love Is This first appeared together in the original 1835 edition of The Southern Harmony, the compilation of more than 300 sacred songs that William (“Singing Billy”) Walker collected in the hills of Appalachia to use in the many singing schools he established in Tennessee and the Carolinas. Samuel Lancaster wrote this arrangement for the Colorado Symphony and Chorus and the Colorado Children’s Chorale. He was a notable Colorado composer who also served as pianist for the Colorado Symphony. Grateful for his extraordinary contribution to our vocalorchestral repertoire, we commemorate his life and work with this performance of his Wondrous Love.

o

SOUNDINGS 2014/15 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG PROGRAM 19

MASTERWORKS PROGRAM NOTES CARL ORFF (1895-1982) Excerpts from Carmina burana (1935-1936) Thirty miles south of Munich, in the foothills of the Bavarian Alps, is the abbey of Benediktbeuren. In 1803, a 13th-century codex was discovered among its holdings that contains some 200 secular poems which give a vivid, earthy portrait of Medieval life. Many of these poems, attacking the defects of the Church, satirizing contemporary manners and morals, criticizing the omnipotence of money, and praising the sensual joys of food, drink and physical love, were written by an amorphous band known as “Goliards.” These wandering scholars and ecclesiastics, who were often esteemed teachers and recipients of courtly patronage, filled their worldly verses with images of self-indulgence that were probably as much literary convention as biographical fact. The language they used was a heady mixture of Latin, old German and old French. Some paleographic musical notation appended to a few of the poems indicates that they were sung, but it is today so obscure as to be indecipherable. This manuscript was published in 1847 by Johann Andreas Schmeller under the title Carmina burana (“Songs of Beuren”), “carmina” being the plural of the Latin word for song, “carmen.”

Carl Orff encountered these lusty lyrics for the first time in the 1930s, and he was immediately struck by their theatrical potential. He chose 24 poems from the Carmina burana to include in a new work. Since the 13th-century music for them was unknown, all of their settings are original with him. Orff’s Carmina burana is disposed in three large sections with prologue and epilogue.

Its movements sing the libidinous songs of youth, joy and love. However, the prologue and epilogue (using the same verses and music) that frame these pleasurable accounts warn against unbridled enjoyment. “The wheel of fortune turns; dishonored I fall from grace and another is raised on high,” caution the words of Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi (“Fortune, Empress of the World”), the chorus that stands like pillars of eternal verity at the entrance and exit of this Medieval world. They are the ancient poet’s reminder that mortality is the human lot, that the turning of the same Wheel of Fortune that brings sensual pleasure may also grind that joy to dust. It is this bald juxtaposition of antitheses — the most rustic human pleasures with the sternest of cosmic admonitions — coupled with Orff’s elemental musical idiom that gives Carmina burana its dynamic theatricality. ©2014 Dr. Richard E. Rodda

MOZART’S REQUIEM WITH PINCHAS ZUKERMAN NOV 7-9 FRI-SAT 7:30

Q

SUN 1:00

Pinchas Zukerman, conductor/ violin Elizabeth Futral, soprano Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano Isaiah Bell, tenor Kyle Ketelsen, baritone Colorado Symphony Chorus; Duain Wolfe, director Mozart Adagio for Violin and Orchestra, K. 261 Mozart Rondo for Violin and Orchestra, K. 373 Mozart Exultate, jubilate, K. 165 Mozart Requiem, K. 626 PROGRAM 20 SOUNDINGS 2014/15 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG