Evening Concert Series
Helen M. Hosmer Concert Hall
2023 – 2024 Season
Friday, March 1st at 7:30 PM
Crane Symphony Orchestra
Adrian Slywotzky, conductor
Ruth Dwan, piano
Overture to Taras Bulba (1891)
Piano Concerto (1868)
I.Allegro molto moderato
Ruth Dwan, piano
Ethiopia’s Shadow inAmerica (1932)
I.Adagio Allegretto
II.Andante
III.Allegro
Mykola Lysenko (1842 – 1912)
Edvard Grieg (1843 – 1907)
Florence Price (1887 – 1953)
Flute
Sabrina Clubine
Chris Connors
Emma Fusco
Julia Taylor
Oboe
Annelise Herschbein
Christopher Mavrogian
Molly Murphy
Clarinet
NickAlvarez
Nicholas Derderian
Brandon McLaughlin
Evan Mintz
Bassoon
Liam Hill
Jalen Johnson
Horn
Gianna Ingersoll
Tyler Kraft
Heather Murphy
David Nesbitt
Trumpet
Nick Bedell
Dillon Niles*
Virginia Bednarski
Trombone
Andrew Gorman
Victor Mainetti
Vivian Redmond
PERSONNEL
Tuba
Zach Barstow
Percussion
Hailey Gomez
Aidan Sherwood*
Elizabeth Skalski
Gracie Wahl
Bailey Yerdon
Harp
Ricky Chui
Violin 1
RJAhern-Stetson
Madison Ballou
Hannah Carlson
Vanessa Cruz
John DiSpaltro
Holland Goddard
Julia Ingemi*
Carlos Martinez
Maia Regan
Aidan Sperduti
Alyssa Spina
Michael Wong
Violin 2
Stephen Borgia
Kaitlyn Caragiulo
Gwendolyn Caro
Shannon Darby
Noelle Gottfried
Paolina Iori*
Jessica Jaworski
Olivia Minarich
Emma Oliveri
Natalie Pontikes
Morgan Stolz
Amanda Quintanilla
Viola
Ricky Chui
Lola Gehman*
Kenny Gonzalez
Victoria Lorenzi
Finn Sanders
Kiersten Wazny
Cello
Olivia Brigham
Emily Buliung
Olivia Charleston
Maggie Christie
Amy Frankovich*
Maggie King
Serenity Laird
Lauren Pacholec
Miranda Paulino
Mirabel Sasiela
Hannah Tufano
Maya-Rose Waletzky
Bass
Shawn Berman
Charlie Centeno
Melody Cheng*
Molly Martellotta
Ethan Schatz
PROGRAM NOTES
Overture to Taras Bulba (1891)
Mykola Lysenko
Mykola Lysenko was the preeminent Ukrainian composer of his time, and a key figure among contemporary European composers who were incorporating national histories, ideas, stories, and melodies into their concert music. Lysenko’s opera Taras Bulba is an exemplar of this effort: a story set in historical Ukraine, based on the novella of a Ukrainian author, with its libretto in Ukrainian. The rousing conclusion of the Taras Bulba Overture is in fact “Zasvystaly Kozachenky” (“The Cossacks Whistled”), a Ukrainian folk song that may date back to the 17th century and appeared in print as early as 1790. The song depicts a mother tearfully sending her son off to battle; it features prominently in Lysenko’s opera as the chorus that closesAct 3.
Piano Concerto (1868)
Edvard Grieg
Edvard Grieg was just 24 years old when he wrote his Piano Concerto. It would turn out to be his only concerto; and it would turn out to be an enormous success it remains one of the most popular piano concertos in the repertory. Like his contemporary Lysenko, Grieg was inspired by the music of his homeland. The heroic opening gesture of the Piano Concerto a falling minor second followed by a falling major third derives from a typical figure in Norwegian folk music. The same figure appears prominently in several of the Grieg’s works, including the third of his Symphonic Dances Op. 64, which CSO performed last year.
Ruth Dwan is a senior piano performance and music education major with a concentration in piano pedagogy from Brooklyn, NY. She is from the studio of Dr. Young-Ah Tak and Dr. Dan Sato. Ruth has performed with the Crane Symphony Orchestra and Crane Chamber Orchestra. During her time at Crane, she has won the Stephan String Chamber Competition and the Rose L. GreenblattAward. Postgraduation, she is looking forward to incorporating her pedagogical knowledge into teaching music in the public school system and pursuing a master’s degree in music education. Ruth would like to express gratitude to God, her family, friends, and the Crane community for their continuous support on her musical journey.
Ethiopia’s Shadow inAmerica (1932)
Florence Price
Florence Price was the first BlackAmerican woman to have her music played by a major orchestra. Like Lysenko and Grieg a generation earlier, Price was instrumental in fusing history and identity with concert music. Passages in the first and third movements of Ethiopia’s Shadow in America recall the Juba dance, an earlyAfrican-American dance style that Price also evoked in the third movement of each of her symphonies. The middle movement bears the unmistakable character of a spiritual. Ethiopia’s Shadow in America is one of the few instrumental works for which Price provided a programmatic description; these words from the first page of her manuscript score explain the narrative:
I – TheArrival of the Negro inAmerica when first brought here as a slave
II – His Resignation and Faith
III – HisAdaptation,Afusion of his native and acquired impulses
