Performance Magazine - Winter Issue 2 - 2024–25 Season

2024–2025 SEASON

PROGRAM NOTES

VIBRANT VISION

Get to know Principal Pops Conductor Enrico Lopez-Yañez

RECORDING HISTORY

Marsalis’s Blues Symphony marks a milestone in DSO sound

LEARNING & ENGAGEMENT

A Holistic Educational Experience

Music You Feel

WINTER

ENRICO LOPEZ-YAÑEZ PRINCIPAL POPS CONDUCTOR

Your DSO Family REALTOR®

Brett’s a super professional REALTOR that helped me both buying and selling my house when it came time to relocate. He was always on time, responsive to questions or concerns as they inevitably came up, and avoided pushiness or pressure while in pursuit of the best possible outcome for my sale and purchase... I highly recommend him to help anyone looking for their next home.”

Review from DSO Musician

Enrico Lopez-Yañez

WELCOME

Dear Friends,

Welcome to today’s concert! Whether you are joining us at Orchestra Hall or one of our many neighborhood venues, thank you for choosing to spend your time with the DSO. As we look to the year ahead, there is much to be excited about.

On January 24, we will celebrate the highly anticipated release of Music Director Jader Bignamini’s debut recording with the DSO—Wynton Marsalis’s Blues Symphony recorded in Orchestra Hall in December 2023. Those of you who were here to witness those spectacular performances know what’s in store, and we invite you to experience it again and share it with all your friends. See page 14 to learn more about this milestone recording. Jader will return to the Orchestra Hall stage in February, leading the orchestra and an all-star cast of guest vocalists in concert performances of Bizet’s Carmen, celebrating the 150th anniversary of one of the greatest operas of all time.

We will continue the extraordinary legacy of the DSO’s annual Classical Roots performances in celebration of the contributions of African American musicians and community leaders. This season, we are proud to honor acclaimed composer, violinist, and educator Jessie Montgomery and businessman, Detroit civic pioneer, and longtime Classical Roots supporter Walter Edmond Douglas Sr. We will also celebrate Detroit educator, conductor, and Detroit Harmony managing director Damien Crutcher as this year’s recipient of the Marlowe Stoudamire Award for Innovation and Community Collaboration.

We look forward to programs this spring conducted by our newest artistic leaders. Principal Pops Conductor Enrico Lopez-Yañez leads a program celebrating the greatest hits of the ‘90s and ‘00s Latin pop explosion (March 14–16), an American musical adventure on our family series (March 15), and a program with Emmy-Award nominated singer-songwriter Ben Folds (May 23–24). Check out our feature story on page 10 to learn more about Enrico. New DSO Principal Guest Conductor Tabita Berglund rounds out her inaugural season with the DSO with a program of Mussorgsky’s monumental Pictures at an Exhibition (March 6–8).

Just as we value the esteemed leaders onstage, we are grateful for those behind the scenes. My sincere thanks to outgoing Board Chair David T. Provost following two exemplary years of service to our organization. I am pleased to share that at the DSO’s Annual Meeting in early December, the Board of Directors elected Faye A. Nelson to succeed David as Chair of the Board. Congratulations, Faye—I look forward to working closely with you in this new role.

Powered by exceptional leadership at all levels of our organization, we will continue to provide vibrant and diverse programming that enriches our city’s musical landscape.

Erik Rönmark, President and CEO

James B. and Ann V. Nicholson Chair

DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

ENRICO LOPEZ-YAÑEZ

Principal Pops Conductor

Devereaux Family Chair

FIRST VIOLIN

Robyn Bollinger

CONCERTMASTER

Katherine Tuck Chair

Kimberly Kaloyanides Kennedy

ASSOCIATE CONCERTMASTER

Schwartz and Shapero Family Chair

Hai-Xin Wu

ASSISTANT CONCERTMASTER

Walker L. Cisler/Detroit Edison Foundation Chair

Jennifer Wey Fang ASSISTANT CONCERTMASTER

Marguerite Deslippe*

Laurie Goldman*

Rachel Harding Klaus*

Eun Park Lee*

Adrienne Rönmark*

William and Story John Chair

Alexandros Sakarellos*^

Drs. Doris Tong and Teck Soo Chair

Laura Soto*

Greg Staples*

Jiamin Wang*

Mingzhao Zhou*

SECOND VIOLIN

Adam Stepniewski

ACTING PRINCIPAL

The Devereaux Family Chair

Will Haapaniemi*

David and Valerie McCammon Chairs

Hae Jeong Heidi Han*

David and Valerie McCammon Chairs

Sheryl Hwangbo Yu*

Sujin Lim*

Hong-Yi Mo *

Marian Tanau*

Alexander Volkov*

Jing Zhang*

VIOLA

Eric Nowlin

PRINCIPAL

Julie and Ed Levy, Jr. Chair

James VanValkenburg

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

Janet and Norm Ankers Chair

Caroline Coade

Henry and Patricia Nickol Chair

Glenn Mellow

Hang Su

Hart Hollman

Han Zheng

Mike Chen

Harper Randolph §

ORCHESTRA

JADER BIGNAMINI , Music Director

Music Directorship endowed by the Kresge Foundation

TERENCE BLANCHARD

Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair

CELLO

Wei Yu

PRINCIPAL

Abraham Feder ^

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

Dorothy and Herbert Graebner Chair

Robert Bergman*

Jeremy Crosmer*

Victor and Gale Girolami Chair

David LeDoux*

Peter McCaffrey*

Joanne Deanto and Arnold Weingarden Chair

Una O’Riordan*

Mary Ann and Robert Gorlin Chair

Cole Randolph*

Mary Lee Gwizdala Chair

BASS

Kevin Brown

PRINCIPAL

Van Dusen Family Chair

Stephen Molina

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

Renato and Elizabeth Jamett Chair

Christopher Hamlen*

Peter Hatch*

Vincent Luciano*

Brandon Mason*

HARP

Alyssa Katahara

PRINCIPAL

Winifred E. Polk Chair

FLUTE

Hannah Hammel Maser

PRINCIPAL

Alan J. and Sue Kaufman and Family Chair

Amanda Blaikie

Morton and Brigitte Harris Chair

Sharon Sparrow

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

Bernard and Eleanor Robertson Chair

Jeffery Zook

PICCOLO

Jeffery Zook

OBOE

Alexander Kinmonth

PRINCIPAL

Jack A. and Aviva Robinson Chair

Sarah Lewis

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

Monica Fosnaugh

ENGLISH HORN

Monica Fosnaugh

TABITA BERGLUND

Principal Guest Conductor

CLARINET

Ralph Skiano

PRINCIPAL

Robert B. Semple Chair

Jocelyn Langworthy

ACTING SECOND CLARINET

Jack Walters

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

PVS Chemicals Inc./

Jim and Ann Nicholson Chair

Shannon Orme

E-FLAT CLARINET

Jack Walters

BASS CLARINET

Shannon Orme

Barbara Frankel and Ronald Michalak Chair

BASSOON

Conrad Cornelison

PRINCIPAL

Byron and Dorothy Gerson Chair

Cornelia Sommer

Jaquain Sloan

ACTING UTILITY BASSOON

CONTRABASSOON

OPEN

HORN

Patrick Walle

ACTING PRINCIPAL HORN

David and Christine Provost Chair

Johanna Yarbrough ^

Scott Strong

Ric and Carola Huttenlocher Chair

Kristi Crago

ACTING HORN

Ben Wulfman

ACTING HORN

TRUMPET

Hunter Eberly

PRINCIPAL

Austin Williams

James Vaughen

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

William Lucas

TROMBONE

Open

PRINCIPAL

David Binder

Adam Rainey

Richard Sonenklar and Greg Haynes

Chair

BASS TROMBONE

Adam Rainey

TUBA

Dennis Nulty

PRINCIPAL

NA’ZIR MCFADDEN

Assistant Conductor, Phillip & Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador

TIMPANI

Jeremy Epp

PRINCIPAL

Richard and Mona Alonzo Chair

James Ritchie

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

PERCUSSION

Joseph Becker

PRINCIPAL

Ruth Roby and Alfred R. Glancy III Chair

Andrés Pichardo-Rosenthal

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

William Cody Knicely Chair

James Ritchie

Luciano Valdes§

LIBRARIANS

Robert Stiles

PRINCIPAL

Ethan Allen

LEGACY CHAIRS

Principal Flute

Women’s Association for the DSO

Principal Cello

James C. Gordon

PERSONNEL MANAGERS

Patrick Peterson

ORCHESTRA MANAGER

Benjamin Tisherman

MANAGER OF ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL

STAGE PERSONNEL

Dennis Rottell

STAGE MANAGER

Joe Corless

DEPARTMENT HEAD

William Dailing

DEPARTMENT HEAD

Zach Deater

DEPARTMENT HEAD

Issac Eide

DEPARTMENT HEAD

Kurt Henry

DEPARTMENT HEAD

Matthew Pons

SENIOR AUDIO DEPARTMENT HEAD

Jason Tschantre

DEPARTMENT HEAD

PAST MUSIC DIRECTORS

Leonard Slatkin

MUSIC DIRECTOR LAUREATE

Neeme Järvi

MUSIC DIRECTOR EMERITUS

LEGEND

* These members may voluntarily revolve seating within the section on a regular basis

^ Leave of Absence

§ African American Orchestra Fellow

BEHIND THE BATON

Jader Bignamini

MUSIC DIRECTORSHIP ENDOWED BY THE KRESGE FOUNDATION

Jader Bignamini was introduced as the 18th music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in January 2020, commencing with the 2020–2021 season. His infectious passion and artistic excellence set the tone for the seasons ahead, creating extraordinary music and establishing a close relationship with the orchestra. A jazz aficionado, he has immersed himself in Detroit’s rich jazz culture and the influences of American music.

A native of Crema, Italy, Bignamini studied at the Piacenza Music Conservatory and began his career as a musician (clarinet) with Orchestra Sinfonica La Verdi in Milan, later serving as the group’s resident conductor. Captivated by the music of legends like Mahler and Tchaikovsky, Bignamini explored their complexity and power, puzzling out the role that each instrument played in creating a larger-than-life sound. When he conducted his first professional concert at the age of 28, it didn’t feel like a departure, but an arrival.

In the years since, Bignamini has conducted some of the world’s most acclaimed orchestras and opera companies in venues across the globe including working with Riccardo Chailly on concerts of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony in 2013 and his concert debut at La Scala in 2015 for the opening season of La Verdi Orchestra. Recent highlights include debuts with Opera de Paris conducting La forza del destino and with Deutsche Opera Berlin conducting Simon Boccanegra; appearances with the Pittsburgh and Toronto symphonies; debuts with the Houston, Dallas, and Minnesota symphonies; Osaka Philharmonic and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo; with the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, and Dutch National Opera (Madama Butterfly ); Bayerische Staatsoper (La traviata); I puritani in Montpellier for the Festival of Radio France; La traviata in Tokyo directed by Sofia Coppola; return engagements with Oper Frankfurt (La forza del destino) and Santa Fe Opera (La bohème); Manon Lescaut at the Bolshoi; La traviata, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot at Arena of Verona; Il trovatore and Aida at Rome’s Teatro dell’Opera; Madama Butterfly, I puritani, and Manon Lescaut at Teatro Massimo in Palermo; Simon Boccanegra and La forza del destino at the Verdi Festival in Parma; Ciro in Babilonia at Rossini Opera Festival; and La bohème, Madama Butterfly, and Elisir d’amore at La Fenice in Venice.

When Bignamini leads an orchestra in symphonic repertoire, he conducts without a score, preferring to make direct eye contact with the musicians. He conducts from the heart, forging a profound connection with musicians that shines through both onstage and off. He both embodies and exudes the excellence and enthusiasm that has long distinguished the DSO’s artistry.

Enrico Lopez-Yañez

PRINCIPAL POPS CONDUCTOR AND DEVEREAUX FAMILY CHAIR

Enrico Lopez-Yañez is Principal Pops Conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He also serves in the same role with the Nashville and Pacific symphonies, and as Principal Conductor of the Dallas Symphony Presents. Lopez-Yañez has quickly established himself as one of the nation’s leading conductors of popular music and become known for his unique style of audience engagement. Also an active composer/arranger, he has been commissioned by prominent orchestras across the United States. Lopez-Yañez has conducted concerts with a broad spectrum of artists from Nas and Patti LaBelle to Itzhak Perlman, The Beach Boys, Kenny G, and more.

An advocate for Latin music, LopezYañez was the recipient of the 2023 “Mexicanos Distinguidos” Award by the Mexican government, an award granted to Mexican citizens living abroad for outstanding career accomplishments in their field.

As Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Symphonica Productions, LLC, LopezYañez curates and leads programs designed to cultivate new audiences. Symphonica’s show offerings range from pops shows to family and educational productions and have been performed by major orchestra across North America.

As a producer, composer, and arranger, Lopez-Yañez’s work can be heard on numerous albums including the UNESCO benefit album Action Moves People United and children’s music albums including The Spaceship that Fell in My Backyard and Kokowanda Bay

Follow Enrico online @enricolopezyanez

Terence Blanchard

FRED A. ERB JAZZ CREATIVE DIRECTOR CHAIR

Trumpeter, bandleader, composer, and educator

Terence Blanchard has served as the DSO’s Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair since 2012. He is recognized globally as one of jazz’s most esteemed trumpeters and a prolific composer for film, television, opera, Broadway, orchestras, and his own ensembles, including the E-Collective and Turtle Island Quartet. Blanchard’s second opera, Fire Shut Up in My Bones, opened The Metropolitan Opera’s 2021–22 season, making it the first opera by an African American composer to premiere at the Met, and earning a Grammy® for Best Opera Recording. With a libretto by Kasi Lemmons, the opera was commissioned by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where it premiered in 2019. Fire returned to the Met for a second run in April 2024. Blanchard’s first opera, Champion, premiered in 2013 and starred Denyce Graves with a libretto from Michael Cristofer. Its April 2023 premiere at the Met received a Grammy® for Best Opera Recording. Blanchard has released 20 solo albums, garnered 15 Grammy® nominations and eight wins, composed for more than 60 films including more than 20 projects with frequent collaborator Spike Lee, and received 10 major commissions. He is a 2024 NEA Jazz Master and member of the 2024 class of awardees for the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and currently serves as the Executive Artistic Director for SF Jazz.

Visit terenceblanchard.com for more.

DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, INC.

LIFETIME DIRECTORS

Samuel Frankel◊

Stanley Frankel

David Handleman, Sr.◊

Dr. Arthur L. Johnson ◊

Chacona W. Baugh

Penny B. Blumenstein

Richard A. Brodie

Marianne Endicott

Sidney Forbes

Faye A. Nelson Chair

Erik Rönmark President & CEO

Shirley Stancato

Vice Chair

James B. Nicholson

Barbara Van Dusen

Clyde Wu, M.D.◊

CHAIRS EMERITI

Peter D. Cummings

Mark A. Davidoff

Phillip Wm. Fisher

DIRECTORS EMERITI

Herman H. Frankel

Dr. Gloria Heppner

Ronald Horwitz

Harold Kulish

Bonnie Larson

Arthur C. Liebler

David McCammon

Marilyn Pincus

OFFICERS OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Laura Trudeau Treasurer

Renato Jamett Secretary

Ric Huttenlocher Officer at Large

Daniel J. Kaufman Officer at Large

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Stanley Frankel

Robert S. Miller

James B. Nicholson

Glenda Price

Marjorie S. Saulson

Jane Sherman

Arthur A. Weiss

David Nicholson Officer at Large

David Wu Officer at Large

Directors are responsible for maintaining a culture of accountability, resource development, and strategic thinking. As fiduciaries, Directors oversee the artistic and cultural health and strategic direction of the DSO.

Michael Bickers

Elena Centeio

Rodney Cole

Marcus Collins

Jeremy Epp, Orchestra Representative

Aaron Frankel

Ralph Gerson

Laura Granneman

Herman B. Gray, M.D.

Laura Hernandez-Romine

Rev. Nicholas Hood III

Richard Huttenlocher

Renato Jamett, Trustee Chair

Daniel J. Kaufman

H. Keith Mobley, Governing Members Chair

Xavier Mosquet

Faye A. Nelson, Board Chair

David Nicholson

Arthur T. O’Reilly

Bernard I. Robertson

Shirley Stancato

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Scott Strong, Orchestra Representative

Laura J. Trudeau

James G. Vella

David M. Wu, M.D.

Ellen Hill Zeringue

Trustees are a diverse group of community leaders who infuse creative thinking and innovation into how the DSO strives to achieve both artistic vitality and organizational sustainability.

Renato Jamett, Trustee Chair

Ismael Ahmed

Richard Alonzo

Hadas Bernard

Janice Bernick

Elizabeth Boone

Gwen Bowlby

Dr. Betty Chu

Karen Cullen

Joanne Danto

Stephen D’Arcy

Maureen T. D’Avanzo

Jasmin DeForrest

Cara Dietz

Afa Sadykhly Dworkin

Emily Elmer

James C. Farber

Amanda Fisher

Linda Forte

Carolynn Frankel

Christa Funk

Robert Gillette

Jody Glancy

Malik Goodwin

Mary Ann Gorlin

Darby Hadley

Donald Hiruo

Michelle Hodges

Julie Hollinshead

Laurel Kalkanis

Jay Kapadia

David Karp

Joel D. Kellman

John Kim

Jennette Smith Kotila

Leonard LaRocca

William Lentine

Linda Dresner Levy

Gene LoVasco

Anthony McCree

Kristen McLennan

Tito Melega

Lydia Michael

H. Keith Mobley,

Governing Members Chair

Sandy Morrison

Frederick J. Morsches

Jennifer Muse

Geoffrey S. Nathan

Sean M. Neall

Eric Nemeth

Maury Okun

Jackie Paige

Priscilla Perkins

Vivian Pickard

Denise Fair Razo

Gerrit Reepmeyer

James Rose, Jr.

Laurie Rosen

Carlo Serraiocco

Lois L. Shaevsky

Elliot Shafer

Shiv Shivaraman

Dean Simmer

Richard Sonenklar

Dhivya Srinivasan

Rob Tanner

Yoni Torgow

Nate Wallace

Gwen Weiner

Donnell White

Jennifer Whitteaker

R. Jamison Williams

VIBRANT VISION

“Pops means endless possibilities. We can take any genre or artist and use the orchestra to transform and elevate the music, bringing it to audiences in a way that is unique and innovative. I look forward to working with the DSO to create unsurpassed musical experiences that our audiences will love and that will bring together diverse communities.”

—ENRICO LOPEZ-YAÑEZ

GET TO KNOW PRINCIPAL POPS CONDUCTOR ENRICO LOPEZ-YAÑEZ

As Principal Pops Conductor, Enrico Lopez-Yañez brings vibrancy, charisma, and creativity to the Orchestra Hall stage and Detroit community.

Enrico Lopez-Yañez always knew he wanted to perform and be around music. His musical upbringing was infused with Latin genres, and he grew up playing the trumpet and traveling with his father, Jorge Lopez-Yañez—renowned operatic tenor and part of the Three Mexican Tenors—on tour around the world. The artistry Enrico experienced through his father and the musicians he encountered shaped his musical stylings, and he proudly brings forth Latin culture and history into the symphonic world, including through collaborations with leading Mexican artists like Aida Cuevas and Lila Downs. In September 2023, he was awarded the “Mexicanos Distinguidos” (“Distinguished Mexicans”) Award, which recognizes citizens abroad for their extraordinary professional trajectory, social responsibility, peer recognition, and commitment to promote the image of Mexico.

Lopez-Yañez has an extraordinary professional trajectory indeed. In additon to his role with the DSO, he is Principal Pops Conductor of the Nashville and Pacific symphonies, as well as the Principal Conductor of the Dallas Symphony Presents and Principal Guest Conductor of Pops at the Indianapolis Symphony. He has conducted concerts with a broad spectrum of artists including Nas, Gladys Knight, Ledisi, Itzhak Perlman, Stewart Copeland (including with the DSO in October 2023), Kenny Loggins, Toby Keith, Mickey Guyton, Kelsea Ballerini, Leslie Odom Jr., Hanson, The Beach Boys, and Kenny G. An active producer, composer, and arranger, Lopez-Yañez has been commissioned to write pieces for leading orchestras including the Cincinnati Pops

Orchestra and Houston Symphony. He is also Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Symphonica Productions, LLC, where he curates and leads programs designed to cultivate new audiences, including a wide breadth of pops, family, and educational programming.

Lopez-Yañez was first introduced to Detroit audiences in 2019, conducting a program in May on the Educational Concert Series (ECS). He returned later that year to lead another ECS performance and has since conducted the DSO in more than twenty performances, including 2021’s Summer Soirée with Renée Elise Goldsberry and numerous educational, family, pops, and special programs. In February 2022, he conducted a musical experience at St. Hedwig Catholic Church in partnership with the Southwest Detroit community as part of the DSO’s Detroit Neighborhood Initiative, a commitment to the growth and well-being of the City of Detroit. In response to the enormous success of the initial performance, Lopez-Yañez returned to St. Hedwig in May 2023, and again in May 2024, for additional programs featuring works by Latin American composers, sacred and popular favorites, and performances by Ballet Folklorico Moyocoyani Izel.

I love being in untraditional spaces with an orchestra because it artistically pushes the organization and the musicians to be flexible, be adaptive, and truly partner and connect with the audience in a different way than when we’re in our regular comfort zone. It affects everything from how the orchestra sets up to how we listen, not only to each other on stage, but also to the community.”

“The DSO’s partnership with St. Hedwig is a very special opportunity to deepen connections with the Southwest Detroit community. Those programs are so fun and eclectic because they feature such a wide range of music in such a short period of time, which really highlights the musicians in a unique way and shows how talented they are at performing a diverse range of genres and repertoire.”

Passionate about engaging audiences of all ages and backgrounds, LopezYañez brings high energy, creativity, and innovation, and is known for his unique and oftentimes theatrical style of audience engagement, which he continues in his new role as he succeeds Jeff Tyzik, who served as the DSO’s Principal Pops Conductor since 2013. Tyzik’s versatile artistry and engaging podium style made him a favorite among Detroit audiences, and he has grown the orchestra’s pops program into some of the DSO’s most beloved concerts.

“Jeff has been a huge influence on my life and career,” said Lopez-Yañez. “He is not only an incredible, legendary conductor, but also a composer, arranger, and trumpet player: all things that I try and emulate and that he has mastered and done throughout his career at the highest

level. He is truly one of the kindest people in our industry and I’m very honored to be following in his footsteps.”

With vibrancy, charisma, and creativity, Lopez-Yañez builds on Tyzik’s legacy, drawing new and familiar audiences to the Orchestra Hall stage and community venues.

“I’m blown away by the kind of engagement that the DSO has with its community and how mission driven they are to really be an orchestra for the City of Detroit,” said Lopez-Yañez. “The DSO really puts their time, effort, and money where their mouth is and serves as an inclusive and culturally relevant leader in our industry. I can’t wait to see all that we will accomplish together.”

SEE

ENRICO CONDUCT AT ORCHESTRA HALL

PNC POPS SERIES LA VIDA LOCA

MARCH 14–16, 2025

YOUNG PEOPLE’S FAMILY CONCERT SERIES GOLD RUSH: AN AMERICAN MUSICAL ADVENTURE

MARCH 15, 2025

PNC POPS SERIES BEN FOLDS

MAY 23–24, 2025

TICKETS AT DSO.ORG

Lopez-Yañez engages with audience members on the Orchestra Hall stage during The Music of Star Wars on the PNC Pops Series in October 2024.

Experience top-notch treatments from our expert team, led by a double board-certified vascular and general surgeon, and begin your path to a healthier and more vibrant life with us today.

Professional services, optimal results!

• Botox® Treatments

• Dermaplaning & Dermal Fillers

– Juvederm® and Restylane®

• Laser Hair Removal, Lumecca IPL, and Morpheus8

• Medical-Grade Chemical Peels, Facials and Microneedling

• Platelet-Rich-Plasma (PRP) Therapy for Skin and Hair Rejuvenation

• Wellness & Weight Loss

(248) 268-1655

928 E 10 Mile Rd Suite 300 Ferndale, MI 48220

PRINCIPAL GIVING

Principal Giving illustrates the depths of your support for changing, connecting, and enriching lives through music performance and education at the DSO. Your investment is a commitment to sustaining the future of this organization for generations to come.

Mr. & Mrs.◊ Richard L. Alonzo

Penny & Harold Blumenstein

The William M. Davidson Foundation

Ms. Leslie C. Devereaux◊

Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation

Mr. & Mrs. Stanley Frankel

Mary Ann & Robert Gorlin

Leslie Devereaux: Devotion to the DSO

Mr. & Mrs. James B. Nicholson

The Polk Family

Mr. & Mrs. David Provost

Mr. Richard A. Sonenklar

& Mr. Gregory Haynes

Drs. David & Bernadine Wu

Childhood experiences can truly make a lasting impact. For Leslie Devereaux, each time she experienced a DSO Young People’s Family Concert with her parents was magical. She was captivated by the music and the joy she felt inside of Orchestra Hall, leading to a lifelong commitment of support and contribution to the DSO and the Detroit arts community. Leslie’s extraordinary heart for giving spread across the DSO in a range of areas from investing in the organization’s music education programs to sponsoring the chair of Principal Pops Conductor Enrico Lopez-Yañez. Though she is no longer with us, Leslie’s legacy of profound support for the arts lives on, and we are proud to acknowledge her transformative impact on the DSO community.

AD MATERIAL DUE: FEBRUARY 27, 2025

EchoDetroit.com tom@EchoDetroit.com

RECORDING HISTORY

Marsalis’s Blues Symphony marks a milestone in DSO sound

In January 2025, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra will proudly present a landmark in our storied recording history: Wynton Marsails’s Blues Symphony, conducted by Music Director Jader Bignamini. Recorded live in Orchestra Hall in December 2023, the recording will be released on the Pentatone label and marks Bignamini’s first commercial recording with the orchestra.

Marsalis’s Blues Symphony  triumphant ode to the power of the blues and the scope of America’s musical heritage. Spanning seven movements, the work expands the raw emotive power of the blues to a symphonic scope, exploring influences from ragtime to habanera.

The DSO’s interpretation highlights the ensemble’s dynamic artistry, blending virtuosic solo parts with rich ensemble textures. Recorded in the pristine acoustics of Orchestra Hall, the album offers listeners the opportunity to savor each nuanced sound on a sonic journey through America’s revolutionary era, the early beginnings of jazz in New Orleans, and a big city soundscape that serves as a nod to the Great Migration.

Orchestra Hall itself is a symbol of Detroit’s rich musical past. From 1941 to 1951, the venue transformed into the Paradise Theatre, hosting jazz legends like Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Cab Calloway, and many more. The theatre got its name from Paradise Valley, the area just across Woodward Avenue that was home to a large percentage of Detroit’s African American community and the city’s principal Black entertainment district. With the Blues Symphony recording , the DSO pays homage to this era and continues Detroit’s legacy as a hub for blues, jazz, and African American music.

For Bignamini, this project is especially meaningful.

“Recording Blues Symphony was an unforgettable dream come true,” he reflects. “This dynamic and challenging work captures the breadth of American music and can be appreciated from both the orchestral and jazz worlds. I believe it brings together the two souls of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and speaks to the musical legacy of the city of Detroit and our home, Orchestra Hall.”

The DSO’s dedication to recording American music, particularly by Black composers, is deeply rooted in our history. From the Black Composers Series discs in the 1970s, to ‘90s recordings of music by Anthony Davis, Alvin Singleton, Olly Wilson, Jonathan Bailey Holland, William Grant Still, Duke Ellington, and William Dawson, the orchestra has championed works that reflect the magnitude of America’s cultural identity.

Marsalis’s connection to the DSO is equally significant. As the organization’s former Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair, he helped deepen its rich and vibrant jazz history. The DSO remains one of few American orchestras to present regular jazz programming on its main stage.

The DSO’s nearly century-long recording history includes groundbreaking projects that have elevated the orchestra’s international reputation. From becoming the first orchestra in the world to present a radio broadcast in 1922, to dozens of acclaimed albums, more than 13 years of Live from Orchestra Hall webcasts, and a robust digital performance archive, the DSO consistently embraces innovative ways to share music with the world.

As we look to the future, the recording of Blues Symphony underscores the enduring power of collaboration and the transformative role of music in telling America’s story. January’s release is more than an album—it is a testament to, and celebration of, a DSO sound rooted firmly in tradition, while extending ever forward to new heights of unparalleled artistry.

LEARNING & ENGAGEMENT

A Holistic Educational Experience

By LaToya Cross and Hannah Engwall Elbialy

Educational programming at the DSO is strongly rooted in listening, collaborating, and creating environments where everyone feels heard, supported, and appreciated. There is active belief in a model that puts students in the driver’s seat of their developmental pursuits—musically and personally. It is a holistic, integrated approach that shifts from exclusively focusing on musical training to supporting the cognitive, social, emotional, and overall well-being of youth—with music as the foundation.

“Our purpose is to walk alongside students as they discover their own path and identity through music,” said Debora Kang, Director of Education. “The whole child approach really respects the students as human first, and if they’re interested in pursuing music or anything else, we’ll support them along their journey.”

This shift bridges the accessibility, acceptance, and opportunity gap formed by past industry-wide practices that felt exclusive, rigid, and out of reach for many; and the DSO’s partnership with Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) ensures students in Detroit receive the same opportunities as those in Metro Detroit and Southeastern Michigan.

The educational evolution at the DSO is also strengthened thanks to dedicated support from the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation, providing weekly bus transportation for students in Southwest Detroit and Detroit’s Eastside to participate in the DSO’s Civic Youth Ensembles (CYE). Students also have access to a student support coach to help with mental and emotional wellbeing.

It is through the support of partnerships like these, and the intentional framework set by passionate DSO staff members, that educational programming at the DSO continues to thrive and expand. From 2023 to 2024, the number of bus rides increased by 60%, creating positive impact for more students.

Data collected by the Learning & Engagement team also indicates that enrollment in CYE is up 69% since 2021, and 75% of CYE students reported feeling connected to peers in the program. This sense of connection is strengthened by small gestures of belonging: student pictures line the walls of the Jacob Bernard Pincus Music Education Center, a newly formed student committee designs activities for CYE Fun Day, and staff, musicians, directors, and instructors are better equipped through focused training in student intervention, youth-driven spaces, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

As the DSO celebrates this important growth, the organization looks ahead to what’s possible. In 2025, a dedicated steering committee chaired by David Wu from the DSO Board of Directors will undertake a visioning process with input from students, families, and other constituent groups to reflect and dream up what’s next. No matter what the future holds, one thing is for certain: the DSO will continue to create a musical home where all students feel connected and empowered.

VISIT DSO.ORG TO LEARN MORE

Civic Youth Ensembles students backstage at Orchestra Hall

ENRICO LOPEZ-YAÑEZ

Principal Pops Conductor

Devereaux Family Chair

DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

JADER BIGNAMINI , Music Director Music Directorship endowed by the Kresge Foundation

TERENCE BLANCHARD

Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair

TABITA BERGLUND Principal Guest Conductor

NA’ZIR MCFADDEN Assistant Conductor, Phillip & Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador

TITLE SPONSOR:

BROADWAY LOVE SONGS

Friday, February 14, 2025 at 10:45 a.m. & 8 p.m.

Saturday, February 15, 2025 at 8 p.m.

Sunday, February 16, 2025 at 3 p.m. in Orchestra Hall

NATHAN ASPINALL, conductor CAROLE J. BUFFORD, vocals

STEPHANIE JAE PARK, vocals

CHRIS BLEM, vocals

ZINA GOLDRICH, vocals

Program to be announced from the stage, artists subject to change

PROGRAM AT-A-GLANCE | BROADWAY LOVE SONGS

Roses are red… ...violets are blue, you love the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and the DSO loves you! As one of the most common themes expressed in art, love is an emotion everyone can relate to. Whether it is romantic, familial, reciprocated, or unrequited, this complex emotion permeates all genres of music. This year, fall in love all over again as the DSO and an all-star cast of vocalists perform Broadway’s most cherished love songs. Relive the romance of timeless classics from musicals like The King and I, Cinderella, South Pacific, and West Side Story, and explore the meaning of love with contemporary hits from Wicked, Hamilton, Cabaret, and more.

Flash photography, extended video recording, tripods, and cameras with detachable lenses are strictly prohibited.

dso.org

PROFILES

NATHAN ASPINALL

Australian conductor Nathan Aspinall is Resident Conductor of the Nashville Symphony. He has conducted the orchestras of Minnesota, St. Louis, Atlanta, and Sydney, as well as the Mendelssohn-Orchesterakademie of the Gewandhausorchester in Leipzig. A former conducting fellow at Tanglewood, he has worked with leading conductors including Stéphane Denève and Nathalie Stutzmann. Passionate about outreach, he spearheads community initiatives and music education programs. Aspinall studied at the University of Queensland and the New England Conservatory and is a recipient of the Robert J. Harth Conducting Prize at the Aspen Music Festival.

CAROLE J. BUFFORD

Carole J. Bufford is one of the most soughtafter performers in American jazz and cabaret. She recently completed a 10-month solo run at New York’s Birdland Jazz Club and a residency at Feinstein’s/54 Below. Her shows speak easy., Come Together, and You Don’t Own Me earned acclaim from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. She has appeared in Michael Feinstein’s American Songbook series at Jazz at Lincoln Center and performed with major pops orchestras nationwide. Bufford is a recipient of Nightlife, Bistro, and BroadwayWorld Awards for Outstanding Vocalist. Her debut album, All By Myself, is now available.

STEPHANIE JAE PARK

Best

known for her portrayal of Eliza in Hamilton on Broadway, Stephanie Jae Park has also originated roles in two other Broadway productions. Her distinctive vocal style blends

classical technique with jazz, pop, R&B, and musical theater, earning her recognition for her effortless high soprano and intricate riffing. She has performed at Carnegie Hall and philharmonic halls across the country. Park also coaches vocalists of all levels and is a member of the group Saffron Lips, which released its debut album in 2021.

CHRIS BLEM

Chris Blem has performed worldwide with prestigious symphony orchestras, including the Tokyo Philharmonic, Buffalo Philharmonic, and Ocean City Pops. He has been featured in multiple Disney on Classic recordings and appeared in a live broadcast on Disney Channel Japan with the Tokyo Philharmonic. His theatrical credits include A Dog Story (off-Broadway) and regional productions of Matilda, Beauty and the Beast, and Into the Woods. Blem serves as head of voice at the Pocono Mountain Music Festival Summer Intensive and is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

ZINA GOLDRICH

Zina

Goldrich is an award-winning composer and performer whose music has been performed by Broadway stars including Audra McDonald and Kristin Chenoweth. She won the Fred Ebb Award for songwriting with Marcy Heisler, with whom she wrote Ever After, Dear Edwina, and Junie B. Jones. A former staff songwriter for Walt Disney Feature Animation, she has composed for The Middle, Wonderpets, and Peg + Cat. Goldrich has appeared at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and international festivals. She studied at USC’s Scoring for Motion Picture and Television program and has taught master classes at top universities.

ENRICO LOPEZ-YAÑEZ

Principal Pops Conductor

Devereaux Family Chair

DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

JADER BIGNAMINI , Music Director Music Directorship endowed by the Kresge Foundation

TERENCE BLANCHARD

TABITA BERGLUND

Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair NA’ZIR MCFADDEN

Principal Guest Conductor

PVS CLASSICAL SERIES

Title Sponsor:

Assistant Conductor, Phillip & Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador

BIZET’S CARMEN

Friday, February 21, 2025 at 8 p.m. Sunday, February 23, 2025 at 3 p.m. in Orchestra Hall

JADER BIGNAMINI, conductor

J’NAI BRIDGES, mezzo-soprano (Carmen)

RUSSELL THOMAS, tenor (Don José)

AILYN PÉREZ, soprano (Micaëla)

PAULO SZOT, baritone (Escamillo)

MEGHAN PICERNO, soprano (Frasquita)

LEONARDO NEIVA, baritone (Moralès & Dancairo)

SAVERIO FIORE, tenor (Remendado)

BRIANA HUNTER, mezzo-soprano (Mercédès)

SERGIO MARTINEZ, bass (Zuniga)

AUDIVI, chorus • NOAH HORN, Artistic Director

ANN ARBOR YOUTH CHORALE, chorus • BONNIE KIDD, conductor

Georges Bizet Carmen (1838 - 1875)

Act I

Act II Intermission

Act III Act IV

Special support for Bizet’s Carmen is provided by Penny and Harold Blumenstein

Sunday’s performance will be webcast via our exclusive Live from Orchestra Hall series, presented by Ford Philanthropy. Technology support comes from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Flash photography, extended video recording, tripods, and cameras with detachable lenses are strictly prohibited.

PROGRAM AT-A-GLANCE | BIZET’S CARMEN

Carmen at 150 years: from scandal to sensation

Though Carmen is now regarded as one of the most popular operas, its 1875 premiere at the Opéra-Comique in Paris was met with harsh criticism and disdain. Composer Georges Bizet passed away months after the premiere only hearing these devastating reviews, still under the impression that his work was a failure. Early audiences were shocked and appalled by the character of Carmen, branding her as a woman of dubious morals. Carmen has since become an iconic femme fatale in the operatic roster. Bizet’s fusion of musical styles was also not well received at the premiere. Little did the initial reviewers know, the “Toreador Song” and “Habanera” would later become two of the most recognizable operatic melodies. Bizet took a risk with Carmen, pushing the limits of the genre and innovating beyond expectations. Today in Orchestra Hall, we celebrate Bizet’s legacy and the 150th anniverary of Carmen under the baton of Music Director Jader Bignamini.

PROGRAM NOTES

Carmen (in concert)

Composed 1875 | Premiered 1875

GEORGES BIZET

B. October 25, 1838, Paris, France D. June 3, 1875, Bougival, France

Scored for vocal soloists, chorus, 2 flutes (one doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, percussion, harp, and strings. (Approx. 3 hours)

Though it has never been absent from the stage since its 1875 premiere, Carmen has provoked as much musicological digging and commentary as any work in the repertoire. Never mind that, at heart, it is a work of pure entertainment. In the 1980s, attention focused on the various versions of the score. First, the recitatives composed after Bizet’s death by Ernest Guiraud were stripped away, and hardly any opera company today dares to perform them. In live performances, singers struggle with the French dialogue as best as they can; on some recordings, French-speaking actors take the dialogue while an international cast of singers handles the music.

The next step toward a recovery of the genuine Carmen came with the publication of a scholarly score, edited by Fritz Oeser. The cuts Bizet made under pressure

during rehearsals were re-opened, and some music that had not been heard in a century reappeared. Some of the gains were trivial, but Oeser unearthed some treasures that even practically minded conductors have adopted.

Within the past several decades, there have been attempts to come to grips with the character of Carmen herself. For Peter Brook’s stripped-down Tragedy of Carmen, the director went back to the original novella by Prosper Mérimée, in search of a stronger and more complex protagonist than the one conventionalized in operatic tradition. Director Jean-Luc Godard turned the heroine into a virtual phantom, the object of a lover’s obsession in his film Prénom: Carmen

Most of this is irrelevant, however, in concert performance, where the music tells its own tale. In the First Suite, two themes taken from the instrumental introduction to the opera frame the action: first, the ominous theme that portrays the hand of fate; then, at the end, the march of the bullfighters into the arena, the scene of a final confrontation between Carmen and her jilted lover, Don José. In between come the exquisite interludes that separate the acts of the opera, and a single vocal number, the alluring Séguedille, in which Carmen promises José an evening of delight if he will desert his regiment and run away with her. — Michael Fleming

The DSO most recently performed Bizet’s Carmen in August 1971 as a part of

the DSO’s Summer Music Theatre on the Rackham Building steps, conducted by Paul Freeman. The DSO first performed the work in May 1926 as a part of the Spartanburg Music Festival in Spartanburg, South Carolina, conducted by Victor Kolar.

Synopsis:

Act I

In a square in Seville, soldiers watch people come and go. Micaëla, a young woman, searches for Don José, her childhood love. When Carmen, a seductive and mercurial woman, enters, she sings the famous Habanera about love’s fickleness, captivating everyone, including Don José. Later, Carmen gets into a fight at the cigarette factory where she works. Don José is ordered to arrest her but is seduced by her charms and lets her escape.

Act II

At a tavern, Carmen and her friends celebrate. The bullfighter Escamillo arrives, boasting about his fame in the

PROFILES

For Jader Bignamini’s biography, see page 6.

J’NAI BRIDGES

Two-time GRAMMY® Award-winning American mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, known for her “plushvoiced mezzo-soprano” (The New York Times), and “calmly commanding stage presence” (The New Yorker ) has been “marked out at an early stage as a singer headed for top flight” (Financial Times), gracing the world’s leading operatic and concert stages “with a voice both voluptuous and statuesque” (The New York Times). In the 2024–25 season, Bridges makes her role debut as Maddalena in Verdi’s Rigoletto at The Metropolitan Opera. She returns to

Toreador Song. Carmen flirts with him but remains fixated on Don José. When José arrives, Carmen dances for him, but a distant bugle calls him back to his regiment. Furious, Carmen mocks his loyalty. José proves his love by deserting the army to join Carmen and her smuggler friends.

Act III

In the smugglers’ mountain hideout, tensions rise between Carmen and Don José. Carmen predicts her death in the cards. Micaëla arrives, begging Don José to return home to his dying mother. Before leaving, José sees Carmen and Escamillo together and becomes enraged.

Act IV

Outside the bullring, a festive crowd gathers for a bullfight. Carmen and Escamillo arrive together, but Don José intercepts her. Desperate and consumed by jealousy, he begs Carmen to return to him. She refuses, declaring she will always be free. In a fit of rage, Don José stabs Carmen to death as the crowd cheers Escamillo’s victory inside the arena.

Seattle Opera in her role debut as Didon in Les Troyens and sings the title role in Carmen in her debut at the Wiener Staatsoper. Her concert engagements include Erika in Vanessa with the National Symphony Orchestra and engagements with Symphony Tacoma, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. She gives a solo recital as an artist in residence at the Kaufman Music Center and joins the Dessoff Choirs in Verdi’s Requiem at Trinity Church. Bridges recently made her Lincoln Center debut performing Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs and sang the role of Mary in John Adams’s El Niño at The Metropolitan Opera to critical acclaim.

RUSSELL THOMAS

American tenor

Russell Thomas is now one of the most sought-after tenors of his generation, having established his reputation in key lyric roles such as Don Carlo, Manrico (Il trovatore), Don Alvaro (La forza del destino), and Pollione (Norma). As an alumnus of The Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Program, Thomas most recently returned to the company for a European tour with the Met Orchestra, under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and previously performed as Don Carlo, Rodolfo (La bohème) and Ismaele (Nabucco). In 2021, Thomas became the first Artist in Residence at LA Opera. This new role took him to the heart of the company not only as a performer but as a curator of the new After Hours recital series and as a mentor to the Russell Thomas Young Artists, alongside recent performances of Turandot (Calaf), Aida (Radames), and Otello, under James Conlon. Highlights of the 2024–25 season include Thomas’s return to Lyric Opera Chicago for Matthew Ozawa’s production of Fidelio (Florestan), The Metropolitan Opera for Die Frau ohne Schatten (Kaiser) under Yannick NézetSéguin, and Houston Grand Opera as Tannhauser, under Erik Nielsen.

AILYN PÉREZ

Hailed by The New York Times as “a beautiful woman who commands the stage” and “a major soprano,” Ailyn Pérez is in demand at the world’s leading opera houses and cultural capitals. Internationally celebrated for her signature artistry, as the winner of the 2012 Richard Tucker Award she became the first Hispanic recipient in the award’s history. Pérez’s current season is highlighted by her

eagerly awaited debut as Leonora in a new production of Verdi’s Il trovatore at Houston Grand Opera. She returns to The Metropolitan Opera to reprise her signature role of Mimì in Puccini’s La bohème, a performance she will also offer in a new production by Melanie Bacaling at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Additional operatic engagements include Cio-CioSan in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the title role in Puccini’s Tosca at Staatsoper Berlin, and Nedda in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci at the Bayerische Staatsoper. On the concert stage, she performs Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection” with the Jacksonville Symphony.

PAULO SZOT

Baritone Paulo Szot is one of the most acclaimed and versatile baritones in the world, having garnered international acclaim as an opera singer, an award-winning musical theatre star, a consummate concert performer, and an actor. Szot studied at the Jagiellonian University in Poland, the country from which his parents had emigrated during World War II. He began singing professionally in 1989 with the Polish National Song and Dance Company Slask, and in 1997 he made his operatic debut as Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia in a production of the Theatro Municipal de São Paulo, directed by Enzo Dara and conducted by Luiz Fernando Malheiro. He has gone on to appear with major opera companies throughout Europe, the United States, Australia, and Brazil. After starring in the Broadway revival of South Pacific at Lincoln Center Theatre, Szot won the Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critic’s Circle, and Theater World Awards for his portrayal of Emile De Beque in 2008, becoming the first Brazilian actor to receive such honors.

MEGHAN PICERNO

As one of the most exciting and versatile singers of today, crossover soprano Meghan Picerno is making waves at the world’s finest opera houses and concert halls, and delighting musical theater audiences, both on Broadway and internationally. This season, Picerno made her debut with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, performing a selection of Bernstein songs in a series of concerts with conductor Jader Bignamini. Picerno has enjoyed particular success with the role of Cunegonde in Leonard Bernstein’s Candide. Having debuted it in Hal Prince’s new and final production at New York City Opera, she recently reprised the role at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, and in concerts with the San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas, the Cincinnati Symphony at the highly celebrated May Festival, and the Princeton Symphony. She has also made acclaimed solo debuts in prestigious venues such as New York City’s David Geffen Hall and Alice Tully Hall, The Kennedy Center, The National Center of Performing Arts in Beijing, and Theatro Municipal de São Paulo.

LEONARDO NEIVA

LeonardoNeiva is a member of the Vienna State Opera ensemble, one of the world’s leading opera houses. Known for his stage presence and vocal versatility, he has performed at major theaters throughout Latin America and received acclaim from both audiences and critics. In 2013, he participated in the Brazilian premiere of Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, creating the role of Bottom with great success. He recently made his debut in France in Wagner’s Rienzi at the Théâtre

du Capitole in Toulouse, directed by Jorge Lavelli. He has also recorded VillaLobos’s Symphony No. 10, “Ameríndia,” with OSESP under the baton of Isaac Karabtchevsky. Additional highlights include Falstaff (Ford) with OSESP; Les Pêcheurs de Perles (Zurga), I Pagliacci (Silvio), and Thaïs (Athanael) at the Municipal Theater of Santiago, Chile; Il barbiere di Siviglia (Figaro) at the debut of the Brazilian Opera Company; and the title role in Don Giovanni for the Municipal Theater of São Paulo.

SAVERIO FIORE

Born in Bari, Italy, Saverio Fiore

graduated in singing with magna cum laude from the Istituto Musicale “Giovanni Paisiello” in Taranto and gave his stage debut in 1998 with Donizetti’s Il fortunato inganno at the Festival della Valle D’Itria. He has performed principal roles in productions across Italy including L’elisir d’amore, La bohème, Don Pasquale, La traviata, Lucia di Lammermoor, Don Carlos, Rigoletto, and Werther. Recent highlights include Madama Butterfly with Dutch National Opera Amsterdam and Opera Royal de Wallonie in Liège, I vespri siciliani and Tosca at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Falstaff at Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, and Lucia di Lammermoor and Le nozze di Figaro at Teatro San Carlo in Naples.

BRIANA HUNTER

Briana

Hunter has been hailed by Opera News as “a mesmerizing mezzo-soprano with a fiery theatrical presence and dynamic vocalism.” In the 2024–25 season, Hunter returns to The Metropolitan Opera as Inez in Il trovatore. She will also join the New World Symphony to perform as the soloist

in Julia Perry’s Stabat Mater, perform as the mezzo-soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Phoenix Symphony, and join Opera Theatre of St. Louis to perform the role of Zoe in the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s This House.

In 2023–24, she returned to The Metropolitan Opera and performed roles including Mercédès in Carrie Cracknell’s new production of Carmen, Sister Lilianne in Dead Man Walking, and Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, and reprised her role as Ruby/Woman Sinner in Fire Shut Up in My Bones. She is also an Artist Propulsion Lab Fellow with WQXR producing multiple projects for the radio station.

SERGIO MARTINEZ

Sergio Martinez is a bass from Colombia, praised nationally and internationally for his “sonorous” and “warm” bass voice as well as his stage charisma.

In 2014, Martinez was selected for the main role of El Loco for the international premiere of Muerte Accidental de un Anarquista, a new opera by Colombian composer Jorge Pinzón. Martinez’s most recent performances include roles like Frère Laurent in Romeo et Juliette, Enrico in Anna Bolena, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia, Colline in La bohème, Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Ogre in El Gato con Botas by Xavier Montsalvatge, and Meneses in the Cuban zarzuela Cecilia Valdés. Martinez recently completed his master’s degree at Yale University, where he was awarded the prestigious Phyllis Curtin Award. An avid composer, Martinez premiered his Songs of Grief cycle for mezzo-soprano and piano in 2024.

UPCOMING CONCERTS

Opera with Many Faces

Friday, February 28, 2025, 7 p.m.

ST. CLARE OF MONTEFALCO CHURCH

1401 Whittier Rd. (at Mack), Grosse Pointe Park, MI 48230

A Musical Blessing and Business Meeting

Tuesday, March 11, 2025, 7 p.m.

STEINWAY PIANO GALLERY

2700 E. West Maple Rd., Commerce Twp., MI 48390

Blossoms of Spring

Tuesday, April 8, 2025, 10:30 a.m.

BIRMINGHAM UNITARIAN CHURCH

38651 Woodward Ave. (at Lone Pine Rd.), Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304

Student League Prize Winners and Afterglow

Tuesday, April 15, 2025, 7 p.m.

Grosse Pointe Unitarian Church 17150 Maumee Ave., Grosse Pointe, MI 48230

ENRICO LOPEZ-YAÑEZ

Principal Pops Conductor

DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

JADER BIGNAMINI , Music Director Music Directorship endowed by the Kresge Foundation

TERENCE BLANCHARD

Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair

TABITA BERGLUND Principal Guest Conductor

PARADISE JAZZ SERIES

NA’ZIR MCFADDEN Assistant Conductor, Phillip & Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador

SFJAZZ COLLECTIVE: 20TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

Saturday, February 22, 2025 at 8 p.m. in Orchestra Hall

CHRIS POTTER , music director, tenor saxophone, winds

DAVID SÁNCHEZ , tenor saxophone

MIKE RODRIGUEZ , trumpet

WARREN WOLF, vibraphone

EDWARD SIMON , piano

MATT BREWER , bass

KENDRICK SCOTT, drums

Program to be announced from the stage, artists subject to change

MADE POSSIBLE WITH SUPPORT FROM DownBeat magazine

PROGRAM AT-A-GLANCE | SFJAZZ COLLECTIVE: 20TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

The all-star lineup

Celebrating two decades as a working ensemble, the SFJAZZ Collective presents a program that honors its history while looking to the future. The Collective is comprised of some of the most prolific jazz performers and composers of our time, striving to perform new works commissioned by each member of the ensemble and other current composers. For their anniversary, they reprise original compositions by past members of the Collective along with the music of icons including Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Miles Davis, and more, plus a special 20th Anniversary Suite.

Flash photography, extended video recording, tripods, and cameras with detachable lenses are strictly prohibited.

SFJAZZ COLLECTIVE

Chicago native and visionary jazz artist, Chris Potter has collaborated with legends like Herbie Hancock and Pat Metheny, recorded over 150 albums, and leads ensembles including the SFJAZZ Collective as Music Director.

Puerto Rican tenor saxophonist David Sánchez , a Latin Grammy winner and five-time GRAMMY® nominee, is celebrated for his virtuosic playing and collaborations with jazz greats like Charlie Haden and Eddie Palmieri.

GRAMMY®-winning trumpeter Mike Rodriguez , hailing from Queens, New York, has performed with Quincy Jones and Wynton Marsalis, and worked extensively with Charlie Haden, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, and Chick Corea.

Baltimore-born multi-instrumentalist Warren Wolf, a Berklee alum and former

instructor, has released five albums and performed with artists like Christian McBride and Bobby Watson, leading his own Wolfpack band.

Venezuelan pianist Edward Simon , a New York jazz fixture since 1989, has released 15 acclaimed albums, earning accolades like an NAACP Image Award for Latin American Songbook and praise for his retrospective 25 Years

Oklahoma-born bassist Matt Brewer studied at Juilliard and has toured globally with artists like Vijay Iyer and Mark Turner, serving as an educator at the New School and Banff Center.

Houston-born drummer Kendrick Scott has toured and recorded with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, with compositions featured on GRAMMY®-winning albums and support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Unrivaled Experiences for People Who Love Music

Sunday, February 2

Detroit Opera

Resident Artists

Grosse Pointe War Memorial 2 p.m.

Sunday, March 23

Pianist Charlie Albright Grosse Pointe War Memorial 2 p.m.

Sunday, June 8

Classical Guitarist Adam Levin and Mandolinist Yaki Reuven

Most Holy Trinity Church, Corktown 3 p.m.

promusicadetroit.com

Detroit Opera Resident Artists

Pianist Charlie Albright

Classical Guitarist Adam Levin and Mandolinist Yaki Reuven

ENRICO LOPEZ-YAÑEZ

Principal Pops Conductor

Devereaux Family Chair

DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

JADER BIGNAMINI , Music Director Music Directorship endowed by the Kresge Foundation

TERENCE BLANCHARD

Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair

TABITA BERGLUND Principal Guest Conductor

PVS CLASSICAL SERIES

Title Sponsor:

CLASSICAL ROOTS

Friday, February 28, 2025 at 10:45 a.m.

Saturday, March 1, 2025 at 8 p.m. in Orchestra Hall

NA’ZIR MCFADDEN, c onductor

NA’ZIR MCFADDEN Assistant Conductor, Phillip & Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador

KRIS JOHNSON, trumpet • AWADAGIN PRATT, piano

BRAZEAL DENNARD CHORALE • ALICE MCALLISTER TILLMAN, Artistic Director

John Rosamond Johnson Lift Every Voice and Sing (1873 - 1954) Brazeal Dennard Chorale

Lyrics by James Weldon Johnson Alice McAllister Tillman, conductor arr. Roland Carter

Traditional Spiritual I Want Jesus to Walk With Me arr. Dr. Norah Duncan IV Brazeal Dennard Chorale

Michele Cotton Stanfield, conductor

Theodore Jones, baritone

Dr. Stanley Waldon, piano

Traditional Spiritual My Soul’s Been Anchored in De Lord arr. Glenn L. Jones Brazeal Dennard Chorale

Michele Cotton Stanfield, conductor

Alice McAllister Tillman, soprano

Kris Johnson Marlowe’s Wings: Detroit’s Champion of Change (b. 1983) (World Premiere)

Kris Johnson, trumpet

Florence Price The Oak (1887 - 1953)

Intermission

Jessie Montgomery Rounds (b. 1981) Awadagin Pratt, piano Snapshots (DSO Co-Commission)

Thank you to the musicians of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, who are playing the March 1 concert as a donated service. We appreciate their continued support and generosity.

Saturday’s performance will be webcast via our exclusive Live from Orchestra Hall series, presented by Ford Philanthropy. Technology support comes from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Flash photography, extended video recording, tripods, and cameras with detachable lenses are strictly prohibited.

PROGRAM AT-A-GLANCE | CLASSICAL ROOTS

Celebrating Classical Roots

The Classical Roots mission seeks to increase awareness of the significant contributions that African American composers and musicians have made to classical music. In addition to a performance by Classical Roots staple the Brazeal Dennard Chorale, this year’s program includes two works by acclaimed composer Jessie Montgomery: the DSO co-commissioned Snapshots, featuring vignettes based on an imagined, scene, mood, or effect; and the GRAMMY® Award-winning Rounds, played by virtuoso Awadagin Pratt, which evokes imagery and themes from T. S. Eliot’s Four Quartets. Also on the program is The Oak by classical pioneer Florence Price and a world premiere by award-winning Detroit trumpeter, composer, and educator Kris Johnson entitled Marlowe’s Wings: Detroit’s Champion of Change, which honors the memory of late community leader Marlowe Stoudamire.

PROGRAM NOTES

Lift Every Voice and Sing

JOHN ROSAMOND JOHNSON

JAMES WELDON JOHNSON ARR. ROLAND CARTER

Scored for 2 flutes, oboe, 2 clarinets, bassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, strings, and choir. (Approx. 7 minutes)

LiftEvery Voice and Sing was first performed, in poetry form, in commemoration of President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday on February 12, 1900, by a choir of 500 schoolchildren from the segregated Stanton School in Jacksonville, Florida—hometown of sibling creators John Rosamond and James Weldon Johnson. The poem was set to music five years later.

Voicing the cry for liberation and affirmation for African American people, the song was declared “The Negro National Anthem” by the NAACP in 1919. It gained new popularity as a protest song during the Civil Rights Movement and was entered into the Congressional Record in the 1990s as the official African American National Hymn.

In his second autobiography Along This Way, James Weldon Johnson describes the emotion in writing Lift Every Voice and Sing : “I could not keep back the tears, and made no effort to do so.” He later reported that creating the song’s lyrics was the

greatest satisfaction of his life. Lift Every Voice and Sing has been sung at the beginning of every Classical Roots concert since the event’s inauguration in 1978. Please see the included lyrics and join the Brazeal Dennard Chorale in singing this historic work.

LYRICS:

Lift ev’ry voice and sing, ‘Til earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of Liberty; Let our rejoicing rise, High as the listening skies, Let it resound loud as the rolling sea. Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us, Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us; Facing the rising sun of our new day begun, Let us march on ‘til victory is won.

Stony the road we trod, Bitter the chastening rod, Felt in the days when hope unborn had died; Yet with a steady beat, Have not our weary feet, Come to the place for which our fathers sighed? We have come over a way that with tears has been watered, We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered, Out from the gloomy past, ‘Til now we stand at last, Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, Thou who has brought us thus far on the way; Thou who has by Thy might, Led us into the light, Keep us forever in the path, we pray. Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee, Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee; Shadowed beneath Thy hand, May we

forever stand, True to our God, True to our native land.

Marlowe’s Wings: Detroit’s Champion of Change

(World Premiere)

Composed 2024 | Premiered 2025

KRIS JOHNSON

B. 1983

Scored for solo trumpet, 3 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, and strings. (Approx. 10 minutes)

OfMarlowe’s Wings: Detroit’s Champion of Change, Kris Johnson writes the following:

“When I was first approached to compose this piece in memory of Marlowe Stoudamire—community leader, business visionary, and dedicated supporter of the DSO—I sought to immerse myself in his vision for Detroit by watching as many of his interviews as possible. His passion and leadership, especially through his transformative ‘Butterfly Effect Detroit’ project, were major catalysts for this composition.

One of my most profound inspirations came from the crimson butterfly atop the DSO award I received in Marlowe’s honor in 2023, engraved with these words: ‘Like the flap of a butterfly’s wings, your work has made a residual impact. What you do matters and will live on.’

This theme of lasting impact through small, deliberate actions shapes the heart of ‘Marlowe’s Wings.’ Drawing from Marlowe’s role in the Detroit 67 project, I crafted the opening motif using the notes D, Bb, and C, representing scale degrees 1, 6, and 7 in D minor.

These notes, symbolizing reflection, reconciliation, and progress, anchor the piece in the spirit of Detroit’s historic uprising and its call for collective growth

and understanding.

The composition develops this theme by repeating and transposing it in minor thirds, creating a twelve-tone row that symbolizes four key pillars of Marlowe’s vision: Economic Inclusion and Opportunity; Race Relations; Youth Development and Leadership; and Neighborhood Advancement.

Fluttering textures and flourishes throughout the orchestra evoke the delicate, powerful resonance of a butterfly’s wings. ‘Marlowe’s Wings’ honors his enduring legacy as a Champion of Change, whose influence continues to create ripples that shape Detroit’s future.”

This performance marks the world premiere of Kris Johnson’s Marlowe’s Wings: Detroit’s Champion of Change.

The Oak Composed 1943 FLORENCE PRICE

B. April 9, 1887, Little Rock, Arkansas D. June 3, 1953, Chicago, Illinois

Scored for 3 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, and strings. (Approx. 15 minutes)

Florence

Beatrice (Smith) Price was the most widely known African American female composer from the 1930s until her death in 1953. She was also the first Black female composer to have a symphony performed by a major American orchestra: her Symphony No. 1 in E minor, premiered by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on June 15, 1933. The premiere brought instant recognition and accolades to Price, yet much of her music eventually fell into neglect due to “a dangerous mélange of segregation, Jim Crow laws, entrenched racism, and sexism.” (Women’s Voices for Change, 2013). Price’s compositions reflect a romantic nationalist style, while incorpo-

rating African American musical forms.

Composed in 1943, The Oak stands out among Price’s orchestral works for its dark, somber tone and introspective character. Departing from her usual compositional language, the piece unfolds gradually over 15 minutes, with its climactic moment arriving mere minutes before the end. The tone poem contrasts low, ominous string and brass chords with soaring woodwind melodies and flashes of percussion, highlighting the struggle between dark and light through Price’s masterful orchestration. Overlooked during her lifetime, the work’s rediscovery reaffirms Price’s vital place in American music history.

This performance marks the DSO premiere of Florence Price’s The Oak Rounds

JESSIE MONTGOMERY

B. 1981, New York, New York

Scored for solo piano and strings. (Approx. 15 minutes)

JessieMontgomery, Musical America’s 2023

Composer of the Year, is a GRAMMY® Awardnominated composer, violinist, and educator whose music interweaves classical music with elements of vernacular music, improvisation, poetry, and social consciousness, making her an acute interpreter of 21st century American sound and experience. Her growing body of work includes solo, chamber, vocal, and orchestral works, as well as collaborations with distinguished choreographers and dance companies.

Of Rounds, Jessie Montgomery writes the following:

“Rounds for solo piano and string orchestra is inspired by the imagery and themes from T.S. Eliot’s epic poem Four Quartets. Early in the first poem, ‘Burnt Norton,’ we find these evocative lines: At the still point of the turning world.

Neither flesh nor fleshless;

Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,

But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,

Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards, Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point, There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.

(Text © T.S. Eliot. Reproduced by courtesy of Faber and Faber Ltd.)

In addition to this inspiration while working on the piece, I became fascinated by fractals (infinite patterns found in nature that are self-similar across different scales) and delved into the work of contemporary biologist and philosopher Andreas Weber who writes about the interdependency of all beings. Weber explores how every living organism has a rhythm that interacts and impacts all the living things around it and results in a multitude of outcomes.

Like Eliot in Four Quartets, beginning to understand this interconnectedness requires that we slow down, listen, and observe both the effect and the opposite effect caused by every single action and moment. I’ve found this is an exercise that lends itself very naturally towards musical and gestural possibilities that I explore in the work–action and reaction, dark and light, stagnant and swift.

Structurally, with these concepts in mind, I set the form of the work as a rondo, within a rondo, within a rondo. The five major sections are a rondo; section ‘A’ is also a rondo in itself; and the cadenza— which is partially improvised by the soloist—breaks the pattern, yet contains within it, the overall form of the work.

To help share some of this with the performers, I’ve included the following poetic performance note at the start of the score:

Inspired by the constancy, the rhythms, and duality of life, in order of relevance to form:

Rondine – AKA Swifts (like a sparrow) flying in circles patterns

Playing with opposites – dark/light; stagnant/swift

Fractals – infinite design

I am grateful to my friend Awadagin Pratt for his collaborative spirit and ingenuity in helping to usher my first work for solo piano into the world.”

This performance marks the DSO premiere of Jessie Montgomery’s Rounds.

Snapshots (Co-Commission)

Composed 2024 | Premiered 2024

JESSIE MONTGOMERY

B. 1981, New York, New York

Scored for 3 flutes (one doubling piccolo), 3 oboes (one doubling English horn), 3 clarinets (one doubling E-flat clarinet, one doubling bass clarinet), 3 bassoons (one doubling contrabassoon), 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, keyboard, and strings. (Approx. 20 minutes)

PROFILES

NA’ZIR MCFADDEN

American conductor

Na’Zir McFadden is the Assistant Conductor and Phillip & Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. McFadden also serves as Music Director of the Detroit Symphony Youth Orchestra. Establishing his presence on the classical music scene, the 2024–25 season includes debuts with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Nashville Symphony, and The No Name Pops (formerly the Philly Pops) at Marian Anderson Hall in Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center. He will also return to the New Mexico Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Ballet,

OfSnapshots, Montgomery writes the following: “Snapshots is part of a series of pieces I have been writing recently that are comprised of short ‘vignettes,’ each movement distinct in character and based on an imagined scene, mood, or effect. After a boisterous introductory movement, typical of my works that are inspired by dance music, the subsequent movements II and III are whimsical and playful, like peering into a diorama, precisely staged and complete, evocative of a town square where children may play boisterously, followed by a passing storm that never quite breaks. The final movement is a call to my earlier influences of film music and Ravel and Debussy string quartets.”

The DSO previously performed Jessie Montgomery’s Snapshots in June 2024, conducted by Jader Bignamini.

in addition to several engagements with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

In summer 2024, McFadden was invited by the Boston Symphony Orchestra as one of two Tanglewood Music Center Conducting Fellows. As a fellow, he conducted the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in numerous performances, and participated in masterclasses led by Andris Nelsons, Alan Gilbert, Thomas Wilkins, and Dima Slobodeniouk.

In the 2022–23 season, he made his subscription debut with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, alongside bass-baritone Davóne Tines and clarinetist Anthony McGill. In March of 2024, he conducted the DSO’s Classical Roots program, premiering new works by composers Billy Childs and Shelley Washington.

Other career highlights have included debuts with the North Carolina Symphony, Utah Symphony Orchestra, Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, and Philadelphia Ballet. Additionally, McFadden led a recording project with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago—featuring Hilary Hahn as co-collaborator and soloist.

In 2020, McFadden was named the inaugural Apprentice Conductor of the Philadelphia Ballet; a position he held until 2022. He also served as the Robert L. Poster Conducting Apprentice of the New York Youth Symphony from 2020 to 2021.

At the age of 16, McFadden conducted his hometown orchestra—The Philadelphia Orchestra—in their “Pop-Up” series, meeting their Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who has been a mentor ever since. The Philadelphia Inquirer praised his “great stick [baton] technique and energetic presence on the podium” in their concert review.

KRIS JOHNSON

KrisJohnson is an empathetic, intelligent, and efficient trumpeter, composer, arranger, film composer, and educator based in Detroit. He has composed several musicals including Jim Crow’s Tears and Hastings Street: The Musical; scored films such as the Emmynominated web series King Ester ; produced successful personal projects including The Kris Johnson Group and #looptherapy; and served as the founder and director of the Paradise Theatre Big Band through the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

With contributions to six GRAMMY®nominated albums as a trumpeter and arranger, including the 2024 GRAMMY®winning Basie Swings the Blues by the Count Basie Orchestra, Johnson is a recognized force in the industry. His career highlights include touring globally as a member of Endea Owens and the Cookout

since 2023, and with the esteemed Count Basie Orchestra from 2008 to 2019 as a soloist and arranger. His collaborations extend to musicians like Wynton Marsalis, Tony Bennett, Leslie Odom Jr., and Wycliffe Gordon.

Johnson currently serves as Assistant Professor of Jazz Trumpet at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance. His journey as an educator began with his own education at Michigan State University, where he received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in jazz studies. He has gone on to serve in the role of Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Utah; a Project Director for Pontiac School District, leading a U.S. Department of Education Arts in Education – Model Development and Dissemination Grant; as the Education and Digital Programming Manager for the Motown Museum; and as the Executive Director of the MSU Community Music School-Detroit. Additionally, he has served on the teaching faculty at The Ohio State University, Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Civic Youth Ensembles, and as an Artistic Liaison for JazzEd Detroit through a partnership with ArtOps and the Fred and Barbara Erb Family Foundation.

AWADAGIN PRATT

Among his generation of concert artists, pianist Awadagin Pratt is acclaimed for his musical insight and intensely involving performances in recital and with symphony orchestras.

Born in Pittsburgh, Pratt began studying piano and violin at an early age. At 16, he entered the University of Illinois, where he studied piano, violin, and conducting. He subsequently enrolled at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, where he became the first student in the school’s history to receive diplomas in three performance areas—piano, violin, and conducting.

In 1992, Pratt won the Naumburg International Piano Competition and two years later was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant. Since then, he has played numerous recitals throughout the US including performances at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. His many orchestral performances include appearances with the New York Philharmonic, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Atlanta, St. Louis, National, and Detroit symphony orchestras, among many others. Summer festival engagements include appearances at Ravinia, Blossom, Wolftrap, Caramoor, Aspen, and the Hollywood Bowl.

Also an experienced conductor, Pratt began his tenure as Music Director of the Miami Valley Symphony Orchestra (Ohio) in 2023. An avid participant in residency and outreach activities, he created a program called Black in America, which melds personal narratives with live music and panel discussion on the state of race in the United States.

Pratt’s recordings for Angel/EMI include A Long Way From Normal, an all-Beethoven Sonata CD, Live From South Africa, Transformations, and an allBach disc with the St. Lawrence String Quartet. His most recent recordings are the Brahms Sonatas for Cello and Piano with Zuill Bailey for Telarc and a recording of the music of Judith Lang Zaimont with the Harlem String Quartet.

Pratt is also the founder and Artistic Director of the Art of the Piano and produces a festival every spring featuring performances and conversations with well-known pianists and piano faculty members. This spring, he also organized the first Nina Simone Piano Competition for Black Pianists in collaboration with the Cincinnati Symphony, the University of Cincinnati

College-Conservatory of Music, and the Art of the Piano Festival. The competition was made possible by a generous grant from the Sphinx Organization.

In July 2023, Pratt joined the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as a Professor of Piano. He was previously a Professor of Piano and Artist in Residence at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati for 19 years.

In recognition of his achievements in the field of classical music, he received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Johns Hopkins University as well as honorary doctorates from the Berklee College of Music and Illinois Wesleyan. Pratt is a Yamaha artist.

BRAZEAL DENNARD CHORALE

TheBrazeal Dennard Chorale, founded in 1972 by Dr. Brazeal W. Dennard, is one of the longest standing organized choral groups in the country. For more than five decades, the Chorale has wooed Detroit audiences with its vocal excellence in the performance of choral music of all genres, while it continues to pursue the mission of its founder: to remember, discover, and preserve the spiritual music of the African American experience and culture. A generation later, the need for that mission is greater than ever as others, particularly young people, remain unaware of the historical and cultural significance of the Negro Spiritual.

Music professionals throughout the United States and Canada recognize the mission and commitment of the Chorale, whose yearly schedule includes a variety of concerts, from a holiday concert, to a spring pops dinner show, which highlights music from jazz to Broadway, and beyond. Through its many performances and CDs, the Brazeal Dennard Chorale, now under the direction of Alice McAllister Tillman, continues to educate and inspire.

ENRICO LOPEZ-YAÑEZ

Principal Pops Conductor

Devereaux Family Chair

DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

JADER BIGNAMINI , Music Director Music Directorship endowed by the Kresge Foundation

TERENCE BLANCHARD

TABITA BERGLUND Principal Guest Conductor

Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair NA’ZIR MCFADDEN Assistant Conductor, Phillip & Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador

PVS CLASSICAL SERIES

Title Sponsor:

PICTURES

AT AN EXHIBITION

Thursday, March 6, 2025 at 7:30 p.m.

Friday, March 7, 2025 at 8 p.m.

Saturday, March 8, 2025 at 8 p.m. in Orchestra Hall

TABITA BERGLUND, conductor CÉDRIC TIBERGHIEN, piano

Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73, (1770 - 1827) “Emperor”

I. Allegro

II. Adagio un poco mosso

III. Rondo: Allegro

Cédric Tiberghien, piano

Intermission

Modest Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition (1839 - 1881) Introduction: Promenade Orchestrated, Maurice Ravel I. Gnomus

II. Il vecchio castello

III. Tulleries

IV. Bydlo

V. Ballet of Little Chicks in their Shells

VI. Two Polish Jews

VII. Limoges

VIII. Catacombae - Cum mortuis in lingua mortua

IX. Baba-Yaga - The Hut on Hen’s Legs

X. The Great Gate of Kiev

Saturday’s performance will be webcast via our exclusive Live from Orchestra Hall series, presented by Ford Philanthropy. Technology support comes from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Flash photography, extended video recording, tripods, and cameras with detachable lenses are strictly prohibited.

PROGRAM AT-A-GLANCE | PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION

Showpieces fit for a museum

Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto was written when Beethoven was grappling with his advancing deafness and political turbulence. In this work, he infused themes of heroism, triumph, and resilience. He did so by pushing the boundaries of the Classical era concerto, opening with a written-out cadenza before the main theme is presented. Beethoven’s orchestration techniques allow this music to evoke deeper emotions, paving the way for Romantic era composers like Modest Mussorgsky.

Originally a piano suite, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition sonically depicts the artwork of his late friend, Viktor Hartmann. The work takes us on a promenade through a vivid exhibit of Hartmann’s pieces, challenging listeners to experience this art with their ears. The work gained significant popularity when Ravel arranged it for orchestra, setting it apart from other orchestral works with the regal opening trumpet solo and the use of solo alto saxophone.

PROGRAM NOTES

Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 73, “Emperor”

Composed 1809 | Premiered 1811

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

B. Bonn, Germany, December 15/16, 1770

D. Vienna, Austria, March 26, 1827

Scored for solo piano, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings. (Approx. 38 minutes)

Thetitle “Emperor,” by which Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto has been known since the early 19th century, apparently stems from one of the many apocryphal anecdotes that have come to us concerning the composer. According to this story, a French army officer stationed in Vienna attended the first performance of the work in the Austrian capital and was so moved by the grandeur of Beethoven’s music that he cried out: “C’est l’Empereur !” (“It is the Emperor!”)

Even if his story were true, and even if Beethoven was able to hear the exclamation—he was, by this time, quite hard of hearing—the comparison with Napoleon would hardly have flattered the composer. Once an ardent admirer of Bonaparte, Beethoven had become bitterly disenchanted as the French ruler’s ambition revealed itself.

Beethoven establishes the lordly

character of the “Emperor” Concerto in its opening moments, as three sonorous orchestral chords each give way to cadenza - like flourishes from the piano. But although the solo instrument is heard from the start, Beethoven does not abandon the convention of the orchestral exposition. Instead, the movement’s impressive opening gesture serves as a prelude to the expected orchestral paragraph, one of the grandest and longest in any concerto. We have not heard the last of the magisterial flourishes that opened the concerto, however. They will return late in the movement at a key juncture: the return to the tonic key of E-flat major after much harmonic peregrination, and the start of Beethoven’s reprise of the movement’s themes after an inventive and at times turbulent “development” of the proud main subject.

When the piano rejoins the orchestra, it is as a member of a thoughtfully integrated ensemble rather than merely an exalted soloist. The prominence, virtually unparalleled in the concerto literature, that the orchestra enjoys throughout the first movement, as well as the unusual absence of a cadenza (more than absent, the composer expressly forbids it), indicate this more coherent concerto ideal and resultant concern for an equitable balance between soloist and ensemble.

The Adagio second movement is a serene and deeply devout meditation, one of Beethoven’s most beautiful and tender creations. It is connected to the third

movement by way of a final musing by the piano that evolves magically into the principal theme of the ensuing Rondo. The music that follows fits the description of the eminent English conductor and commentator Donald Francis Tovey, who extolled “this most spacious and triumphant of concerto rondos.”

The DSO most recently performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major in June 2023, conducted by Francesco Lecce-Chong and featuring pianist Shai Wosner. The DSO first performed the piece in March 1917, conducted by Weston Gales and featuring Ossip Gabrilowitsch on piano.

Pictures at an Exhibition

Composed 1874 | Premiered 1891 MODEST

MUSSORGSKY

B. March 23, 1839, Karevo, Pskov, Russia

D. March 28, 1881, St. Petersburg, Russia ORCHESTRATION BY MAURICE

RAVEL

Scored for 3 flutes (two doubling piccolo), 3 oboes (one doubling English horn), 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, euphonium, timpani, percussion, 2 harps, celeste, and strings. (Approx. 28 minutes)

The

Mussorgsky-Ravel descriptive suite, Pictures at an Exhibition, is a tale of one artist enhancing the accomplishments of another. If Modest Mussorgsky had not been inspired to write his now-famed piano suite after visiting a posthumous exhibition of works by his friend, Victor Hartmann, the designer-architect’s name might well be forgotten by the world at large. If Maurice Ravel had not made a celebrated orchestration of the Mussorgsky piano suite, neither the music nor Hartmann’s name would be as well-known as they are.

Victor Hartmann, an architect and painter, was one of Mussorgsky’s closest

companions. Mussorgsky was devastated by Hartmann’s untimely death in at age 39 (1873). Mussorgsky’s anguish was increased by guilt, because he had been walking with Hartmann a few weeks earlier when the artist was forced to stop and rest against a wall, and Mussorgsky had pretended nothing was wrong for fear of frightening his friend.

The following year, an exhibition was organized in honor of Hartmann, and Mussorgsky’s visit to that show became the most famous gallery stroll of all time, Pictures at an Exhibition. This masterful piano suite illustrates ten of Hartmann’s images, with a recurring “Promenade’’ theme to illustrate the viewer’s progress from painting to painting. The wealthy expatriate Russian conductor Serge Koussevitsky was the catalyst for Ravel’s orchestral version of the score, commissioning the composer in 1920 to make the transcription for an orchestral concert series he was conducting in Paris at the time.

The Promenade, which precedes and separates several of the movements, is set in constantly shifting meters, and is considered by several commentators as a wry self-portrait of the bulky, disheveled-looking Mussorgsky shambling between the ten Hartmann artworks that he depicted in music. Changes in tonality, tempo, and orchestration at several repetitions reflect the composer’s changing moods as he viewed different pictures. The final statement of the Promenade, a ghostly whispered statement for woodwinds and tremolo strings, follows the eighth movement describing the ancient Roman catacombs in Paris. This Promenade bears the separate title, “Cum mortuis in lingua mortua” (“with the dead in a dead language”).

The DSO most recently performed Ravel’s orchestration of Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition in January 2022, conducted by Jader Bignamini. The DSO first performed the piece in December 1927, conducted by Victor Kolar.

PROFILES

TABITA BERGLUND

DSO PRINCIPAL GUEST CONDUCTOR

Tabita

Berglund is one of today’s most exciting, talented, and in-demand young conductors who has gained a reputation for her alert, charismatic, and inspiring style. This season, Berglund begins her four-year tenure as Principal Guest Conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and from 2025–26 she holds the same title with Dresdner Philharmonie.

Symphonic highlights of 2024–25 include debuts with Houston Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, Orchestre de chambre de Paris, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, and Lahti Symphony Orchestra. Other notable season highlights include Berglund’s Asian debut with Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, her Salzburg Easter Festival debut together with Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, a European tour with Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, and returns to Dresdner Philharmonie, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre national de Lyon, TonkünstlerOrchester Niederösterreich, and Trondheim Symphony Orchestra.

Berglund studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music, first as a cellist with Truls Mørk and later orchestral conducting with Ole Kristian Ruud. Her debut CD, with Oslo Philharmonic and violinist Sonoko Miriam Welde, was released in 2021 (LAWO) and nominated for a Norwegian Grammy (Spellemann) in the 2022 Classical Music category.

HarrisonParrott represents Tabita Berglund for worldwide general management.

CÉDRIC TIBERGHIEN

Cédric

Tiberghien’s concerto appearances in the 2024–25 season include the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, RundfunkSinfonieorchester Berlin, the Hallé, and Orchestre National de France, and working with Simone Young, Matthias Pintscher, and Karina Canellakis, among others. Tiberghien has a long association with the Wigmore Hall in London, where he will conclude his three-season Beethoven cycle with the Diabelli Variations. Tiberghien also returns to Australia with his John Cage “sound sculpture” project, and gives recital tours in the United States, United Kingdom, and Japan with violinist Alina Ibragimova.

Highlights of the previous two seasons include Tiberghien’s performance of Messiaen’s Turangalila Symphony with both the Berliner Philharmoniker (Simone Young) and Orchestre National de France (Cristian Măcelaru).

Tiberghien’s most recent recording is volume two of a complete Beethoven variation cycle. Also released with Harmonia Mundi are the Ravel Concertos with Les Siècles/Roth, which has attracted superlative critical acclaim, including the accolade of Editor’s Choice in Gramophone magazine. He has been awarded five Diapason d’Or, for his solo and duo recordings on Hyperion.

As a dedicated chamber musician, Tiberghien’s regular partners include violinist Alina Ibragimova, violist Antoine Tamestit, and baritone Stéphane Degout, with all of whom he has made several recordings and performed in concert. Tiberghien is a member of the Académie Musicale Philippe Jaroussky, where he teaches regularly.

ENRICO LOPEZ-YAÑEZ

Principal Pops Conductor

Devereaux Family Chair

DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

JADER BIGNAMINI , Music Director Music Directorship endowed by the Kresge Foundation

TERENCE BLANCHARD

TABITA BERGLUND Principal Guest Conductor

Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair NA’ZIR MCFADDEN Assistant Conductor, Phillip & Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador

CELTIC JOURNEY

Sunday, March 9, 2025 at 3 p.m. in Orchestra Hall

ERNEST RICHARDSON, conductor/co-creator

TOMÁSEEN FOLEY, Irish storyteller

SUSANNA PERRY GILMORE, fiddle/co-creator

WILLIAM COULTER , guitar/leader/co-creator

BRIAN BIGLEY, Irish pipes and whistles

SAMANTHA HARVEY, accordion/dancer

ROSS HAUCK , singer

GARRETT COLEMAN, dancer

CAITLIN GOLDING COLEMAN, dancer

Program to be announced from the stage, artists subject to change

PROGRAM AT-A-GLANCE | CELTIC JOURNEY

Voyage over the Emerald Isle

We’re feeling lucky! Guest conductor Ernest Richardson leads the DSO on a Celtic Journey just in time for St. Patrick’s Day. Today’s performance is reminiscent of a traditional Irish céilí, a social gathering involving music, dance, and companionship. Historically, céilís were opportunities to strengthen connections between members of the community centered on engaging in music making and movement. The music and dance at these céilís brought Celtic traditions and stories to life, colored by the sounds of the tin whistle, harp, and fiddle, and by the sights of Celtic dance costumes and choreography. Experience the vibrant Irish culture in Orchestra Hall, with tunes including “Danny Boy,” “Marie’s Wedding,” and “O’Neill’s March.”

Flash photography, extended video recording, tripods, and cameras with detachable lenses are strictly prohibited. TITLE SPONSOR:

ENRICO LOPEZ-YAÑEZ

Principal Pops Conductor

Devereaux Family Chair

DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

JADER BIGNAMINI , Music Director

Music Directorship endowed by the Kresge Foundation

TERENCE BLANCHARD

Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair

TABITA BERGLUND Principal Guest Conductor

LA VIDA LOCA

NA’ZIR MCFADDEN Assistant Conductor, Phillip & Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador

TITLE SPONSOR:

Friday, March 14, 2025 at 10:45 a.m.

Saturday, March 15, 2025 at 8 p.m.

Sunday, March 16, 2025 at 3 p.m. in Orchestra Hall

ENRICO LOPEZ-YAÑEZ, conductor

JACKIE MENDEZ, vocalist

ENDER THOMAS, vocalist

JOSÉ SIBAJA, trumpet

LUISITO QUINTERO, percussion

Gloria Estefan – Get on Your Feet

Jennifer Lopez – Let’s Get Loud

Enrique Iglesias – Bailamos

Enrique Iglesias – Hero

Julio Iglesias – El Día Que Me Quieras

Celia Cruz – Celia Cruz Medley: Guantanamera, Quimbara & La Vida es Un Carnaval

Marc Anthony – I Need to Vevir (Marc Anthony Medley): I Need to Know & Vivir Mi Vida

Los del Río & Gente de Zona – Más Macarena Shakira – Whenever, Wherever Santana – Santana Sinfónico

Selena – Como la Flor

The Champs – Tequila

Luis Fonsi – Despacito

Ricky Martin – La Copa de la Vida, She Bangs & Livin’ La Vida Loca

Program and artists subject to change

PROGRAM AT-A-GLANCE | LA VIDA LOCA

Let’s get loud

Get on your feet with the greatest hits of the ‘90s and ‘00s Latin pop explosion! La Vida Loca celebrates artists including Enrique Iglesias, Gloria Estefan, Santana, Ricky Martin, and more. Principal Pops Conductor Enrico Lopez-Yañez, worldrenowned vocalists Ender Thomas and Jackie Mendez, and multi-GRAMMY® Award winners José Sibaja on trumpet and Luisito Quintero on percussion join the DSO for a high-octane program featuring all-new symphonic arrangements by Lopez-Yañez and Sibaja.

Flash photography, extended video recording, tripods, and cameras with detachable lenses are strictly prohibited.

dso.org

PROFILES

For Enrico Lopez-Yañez’s biography, see page 7.

JACKIE MENDEZ

Jackie Mendez began writing with the music industry’s top artists and songwriters and has performed on several World Tours throughout the years with artists like Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, Alejandro Sanz, Juanes, Camila Cabello, and more recently, Ricardo Montaner. As an accredited artist with the Latin Grammy Recording Association, you can find her on five Latin Grammy-winning albums singing along with Franco de Vita, Ricky Martin, David Bisbal, and Alejandro Sanz. Mendez’s voice is a layered sound full of texture, rasp, and soul, capturing the essence of genres from funk to pop.

ENDER THOMAS

Born in Venezuela, Ender Thomas’s career as a singer hit international stardom when in 2009, he was invited to be a featured singer as part of the Yanni Voices tour by Yanni himself. Since then, Thomas has shared the stage, as well as produced and co-written songs, with some of Latin America’s leading artists including Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, Farruko, Pedro Capó, and many others.

JOSÉ SIBAJA

José Sibaja is one of the most highly acclaimed Costa Rican trumpet players of his generation, with worldwide audiences and broadcast media in the

classical, Latin, jazz, and pop musical genres. His career ranges from international appearances as an orchestral soloist with ensembles including the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfonica Venezuela, and Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Costa Rica, to worldwide tours with Ricky Martin for the Vuelve and Livin’ la Vida Loca tours. Currently, Sibaja plays lead trumpet with the world renowned Boston Brass. Having recorded with such artists as Ricky Martin, Alejandro Sanz, Luis Enrique, Rey Ruiz, Tito Nieves, Celia Cruz, and Gloria Estefan, among others, Sibaja redefines the idea of a concert artist with a rich mix of stylistic genres, surpassing the very stereotype of today’s classical musician.

LUISITO QUINTERO

Amaster percussionist, Luisito Quintero is not afraid to push the boundaries of his musical expressions and style, incorporating a wide variety of percussion instruments including timbales, congas, bongos, drum sets, the West African djembe, and dundun. He has participated in over 700 musical productions spanning a variety of musical genres. Between GRAMMY®s and Latin Grammys, Quintero has over 60 Grammy Awards to his credit, the most recent in 2019 with Chick Corea & The Spanish Heart Band for the Best Latin Jazz Album and in 2018 with Spanish Harlem Orchestra for the Best Tropical Latin Album.

THE ANNUAL FUND

Gifts received between September 1, 2023 and August 31, 2024.

The DSO is proudly a community-supported orchestra and over 500,000 people engage with music through the DSO each year. Your gift is an investment in providing this community with music we can feel and the future of arts in Detroit, whether a first-time patron or lifelong subscriber.

From our leadership donors of the Gabrilowitsch Society, to our vital Governing Members, to the thousands of Friends who support the DSO each year, all donations are essential in ensuring that memorable music experiences thrive in our community for years to come. We extend special recognition to the following donors who contributed $1,500 or more to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Annual Fund between September 1, 2023, and August 31, 2024. If you have questions about this roster, or would like to make a donation, please contact 313.576.5114 or go visit dso.org/donate.

GIVING OF $250,000 & MORE

Penny & Harold Blumenstein

Julie & Peter Cummings

Ms. Leslie C. Devereaux ◊

Linda Dresner & Ed Levy, Jr.

Mr. & Mrs. Stanley Frankel

GIVING OF $100,000 & MORE

Mr. & Mrs.◊ Richard L. Alonzo

James & Patricia Anderson

Mr. & Mrs. Raymond M. Cracchiolo

Joanne Danto & Arnold Weingarden

Mr. & Mrs. Phillip Wm. Fisher

GIVING OF $50,000 & MORE

Ms. Karol Foss

Mr. & Mrs. Aaron Frankel

Mr. & Mrs. Ralph J. Gerson

Mary Ann & Robert Gorlin

Ric & Carola Huttenlocher

Mrs. Bonnie Larson

GIVING OF $25,000 & MORE

Ms. Sharon Backstrom

Mrs. Cecilia Benner

Mr. & Mrs. Stephen Brownell

Mrs. Marjory Epstein

Mr. Michael J. Fisher

Madeline & Sidney Forbes

Mr. & Mrs. Edsel B. Ford II/Henry Ford II Fund

Mrs. Martha Ford

Dale & Bruce Frankel

Mr. & Mrs. James Grosfeld

Ronald M. & Carol+ Horwitz

Mr.+ & Mrs. Norman D. Katz

Mr. Alan J. & Mrs. Sue Kaufman

Morgan & Danny Kaufman

Mary Lee Gwizdala

Mr. & Mrs. Peter Karmanos, Jr.

Mr. & Mrs. James B. Nicholson

Mr. & Mrs. David Provost

Barbara C. Van Dusen

The Polk Family

Bernard & Eleanor Robertson

Drs. David & Bernadine Wu

Paul & Terese Zlotoff

Nicole & Matt Lester

David & Valerie McCammon

Mr. & Mrs. Eugene A. Miller

Patricia & Henry Nickol◊

Mr. & Mrs. Arn Tellem

Xavier & Maeva Mosquet

Mr. David Nicholson

Ms. Ruth Rattner

Martie & Bob Sachs

Laura & Jimmy Sherman

Mr. & Mrs. Larry Sherman

Richard Sonenklar & Gregory Haynes Philanthropic Fund

Dr. Doris Tong & Dr. Teck M. Soo

Mr. & Mrs. Gary Torgow

Peter & Carol Walters

S. Evan & Gwen Weiner

Wolverine Packing Company

And one who wishes to remain anonymous

GABRILOWITSCH

Mr. & Mrs. Robert A. Allesee ◊

Diane Allmen

Dr. Lourdes V. Andaya

Janet & Norman Ankers

Pamela Applebaum

Drs. Brian & Elizabeth Bachynski

Drs. John ◊ & Janice Bernick

Gwen & Richard Bowlby

Michael & Geraldine Buckles

Ms. Elena Centeio

Thomas W. Cook & Marie L. Masters

Mr. Kevin S. Dennis & Mr. Jeremy J. Zeltzer

Adel & Walter Dissett

Mr. Charles L. Dunlap & Mr. Lee V. Hart

Margie Dunn & Mark Davidoff

Dr. & Mrs. A. Bradley Eisenbrey

Margo & Jim Farber

Sally & Michael Feder

Amanda Fisher

Dr. Saul & Mrs. Helen Forman

Barbara Frankel◊ & Ronald Michalak

Herman & Sharon Frankel

Lynn & Bharat Gandhi

Girolami Family Charitable Trust ◊

Dr. Robert T. Goldman

Mr.◊ & Mrs. James A. Green

GIVING

OF $5,000 & MORE

Mrs. Denise Abrash

Mrs. Jennifer Adderley

Richard & Jiehan Alonzo

Dr. & Mrs. Joel Appel

Drs. Kwabena & Jacqueline Appiah

Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Aronoff

Mr. David Assemany & Mr. Jeffery Zook*

Ms. Ruth Baidas

Dr. David S. Balle

James A. Bannan

Mr. Joseph Bartush

W. Harold & Chacona W. Baugh

Mr. Mark G. Bartnik & Ms. Sandra J. Collins

Mr. & Mrs. Martin S. Baum

Mr. & Mrs. Richard Beaubien

Ms. Therese Bellaimey

Mr. William Beluzo

Hadas & Dennis Bernard

Mr. & Mrs. Jeffrey A. Berner

Mr. Michael G. Bickers

Dr. George & Joyce Blum

Timothy J. Bogan

Ms. Debra Bonde

Ms. Nadia Boreiko

The Honorable Susan D. Borman & Mr.

Stuart Michaelson

Mr. Anthony F. Brinkman

Mr. & Mrs. Robert Hage

Judy ◊ & Kenneth Hale

Michael E. Hinsky & Tyrus N. Curtis

Mr.◊ & Mrs. Norman H. Hofley

Ms. Nicole Holmes

Ms. Carole Ilitch

Renato & Elizabeth Jamett

Mr. & Mrs. Richard J. Jessup

William & Story John

Lenard & Connie Johnston

Paul & Marietta Joliat

Betsy & Joel Kellman

Dr. David & Mrs. Elizabeth Kessel

Mr. & Mrs. Kosch

LeFevre Family

Bud & Nancy Liebler

Mr. & Mrs.◊ Joseph Lile

Dana Locniskar & Christine Beck

Dr. Stephen & Paulette Mancuso

Ms. Deborah Miesel

Dr. Robert & Dr. Mary Mobley

Cyril Moscow

Geoffrey S. Nathan & Margaret E. Winters ◊

David Robert ◊ & Sylvia Jean Nelson

Eric & Paula Nemeth

Jim & Mary Beth Nicholson

Sandra & Paul Butler

Dr. & Mrs. Roger C. Byrd

Richard Caldarazzo & Eileen Weiser

Mr. & Mrs. Brian C. Campbell

Philip & Carol Campbell

Mrs. Carolyn Carr

Mr.◊ & Mrs. François Castaing

Dr. Carol S. Chadwick & Mr. H. Taylor Burleson

Dr. Betty Chu

Mr. Fred J. Chynchuk

Dr. & Mrs. Charles G. Colombo

Dr. & Mrs. Bryan & Phyllis Cornwall

Ms. Elizabeth Correa

Mr.◊ & Mrs. Gary L. Cowger

Mr. & Mrs. Matthew P. Cullen

Dr. Edward & Mrs. Jamie Dabrowski

Deborah & Stephen D’Arcy Fund

Maureen T. D’Avanzo

Lillian & Walter Dean

Mr. & Mrs. Richard L. DeVore

Dr. Anibal & Vilma Drelichman

Elaine C. Driker

Ms. Ruby Duffield

Randall & Jill* Elder

Mr. Lawrence Ellenbogen

Ms. Laurie Ellias & Mr. James Murphy

Gloria & Stanley Nycek

George & Jo Elyn Nyman

Debra & Richard Partrich

Kathryn & Roger Penske

Dr. Glenda D. Price

Dr. Heather Richter

Dr. Erik Rönmark* & Mrs. Adrienne

Rönmark*

Mr. Ronald Ross & Ms. Alice Brody

Peggy & Dr. Mark B. Saffer

Elaine & Michael Serling

Lois & Mark Shaevsky

Mrs. Sharon Shumaker

Mr. Norman Silk & Mr. Dale Morgan

Mr. Steven Smith

Charlie & John Solecki

Mr. & Mrs. John Stroh III

Emily & Paul Tobias

Ms. Marie Vanerian

Mr. James G. Vella

Mr.◊ & Mrs. Jonathan T. Walton

Mr. & Mrs. R. Jamison Williams

Ms. Mary Wilson

And three who wish to remain anonymous

Mr. & Mrs. John M. Erb Fieldman Family Foundation

John & Karen Fischer

Dorothy A. & Larry L. Fobes

Dr. & Mrs. Franchi

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Frick

Kit & Dan Frohardt-Lane

Mr.◊ & Mrs. Richard M. Gabrys

Myndi & Alan Gallatin

Mrs. Janet M. Garrett

Mr. Max Gates

Ambassador Yousif B. Ghafari & Mrs. Mara Kalnins-Ghafari

Mr. & Mrs. James Gietzen

Keith & Eileen Gifford

Dr. & Mrs. Theodore Golden

Ms. Jacqueline Graham

Dr. Herman & Mrs. Shirley Mann Gray

Ms. Chris Gropp

Leslie Groves & Joseph Kochanek

Robert & Elizabeth Hamel

Mr. Sanford Hansell & Dr. Raina Ernstoff

Mr. Eric J. Hespenheide & Ms. Judith V. Hicks

Mr. Donald & Marcia Hiruo

Mr. Matthew Howell & Mrs. Julie Wagner

Mrs. Jane Iacobelli

Mr. & Mrs. Kent Jidov

Mr. George G. Johnson

Paul & Karen Johnson

Carol & Rick Johnston

Connie & Bill Jordan

Mr. & Mrs. Steven Kalkanis

Judy & David Karp

Mike & Katy Keegan

Mrs. Frances King

Dr. & Mrs. Edward L. Klarman

Dr. Sandy Koltonow & Dr. Mary Schlaff

Ms. Susan Deutch Konop

James Kors & Victoria King

Mr. David Lalain & Ms. Deniella OrtizLalain

Deborah Lamm

Dr. Raymond Landes & Dr. Melissa McBrien-Landes

Drs. Lisa & Scott Langenburg

Bill & Kathleen Langhorst

Mr. Leonard LaRocca

Dr. Lawrence O. Larson

Max Lepler & Rex L. Dotson

Mr. & Mrs. Robert K. Leverenz

Drs. Donald & Diane Levine

Mr. & Mrs. Richard Lewnau

Mr. John Lovegren & Mr. Daniel Isenschmid

Bob & Terri Lutz

Daniel & Linda* Lutz

Mrs. Sandra MacLeod

Mr. & Mrs. Winom J. Mahoney

Cis Maisel

Maurice Marshall

GIVING OF $2,500 & MORE

Mr. & Mrs. Joel Adelman

William Aerni & Janet Frazis

Mr. & Mrs. Robert L. Anthony

Dr. & Mrs. Ali-Reza R. Armin

Pauline Averbach & Charles Peacock

Mr. Joseph Aviv & Mrs. Linda Wasserman

Mrs. Jean Azar

Ms. Elizabeth Baergen

Ellie & Mitch Barnett

Nancy & Lawrence Bluth

The Achim & Mary Bonawitz Family

Rud ◊ & Mary Ellen Boucher

Don & Marilyn Bowerman

Mr. & Mrs. Mark R. Buchanan

Dr. Robert Burgoyne & Tova Shaban

Mr. & Mrs. Richard Burstein

Mr.◊ & Mrs. Robert J. Cencek

Ronald ◊ & Lynda Charfoos

Mr. William Cole & Mrs. Carol Litka Cole

Mr. & Mrs. Brian G. Connors

Patricia & William ◊ Cosgrove, Sr.

Ms. Joy Crawford* & Mr. Richard Aude

Mrs. Barbara Cunningham

DeLuca Violin Emporium

Ms. Jane Deng

Brian & Becky McCabe

Patricia A.◊ & Patrick G. McKeever

Mr. Anthony Roy McCree

Dr. Susan & Mr. Stephen* Molina

Mr. & Mrs. Daniel E. Moore

Ms. Jennifer Muse

Joy & Allan Nachman

Mr. & Mrs. Albert T. Nelson, Jr.

Ms. Jacqueline Paige & Mr. David Fischer

Mr. & Mrs. Randy G. Paquette

Benjamin B. Phillips

Mr. David Phipps & Ms. Mary Buzard

William H. & Wendy W. Powers

Charlene & Michael Prysak

Mrs. Anna M. Ptasznik

Drs. Yaddanapudi Ravindranath & Kanta Bhambhani

Drs. Stuart & Hilary Ratner

Mr. & Mrs. Dave Redfield

Mr. & Mrs. Gerrit Reepmeyer

Mr. & Mrs. Jon Rigoni

Dr. & Mrs. John Roberts

Ms. Linda Rodney

Ms. Patricia Rodzik

Seth & Laura Romine

Michael & Susan Rontal

Mr. & Mrs. Robert B. Rosowski

Mr. Ronald Ross & Ms. Alice Brody

Mr. Chris Sachs

Linda & Leonard Sahn

Mr. David Salisbury & Mrs. Terese Ireland

Salisbury

Marjorie Shuman Saulson

Michelle Devine & Brian Mahany

Dr. Mark & Karen Diem

Dr. & Mrs. Thomas Ditkoff

Diana & Mark Domin

Ms. Felicia Donadoni

Ms. Marla Donovan

Paul◊ & Peggy Dufault

Hon. Sharon Tevis Finch

Ms. Joanne Fisher

Amy & Robert Folberg

Ms. Linda Forte & Mr. Tyrone Davenport

Mr. George Georges

Stephanie Germack

Thomas M. Gervasi

Dr. Kenneth ◊ & Roslyne Gitlin

Mr. Lawrence Glowczewski

Judie Goodman & Kurt Vilders

Dr. William & Mrs. Antoinette Govier

Ms. Ann Green

Diane & Saul Green

Anne & Eugene Greenstein

Sharon Lopo Hadden

Mr. & Mrs. Darby Hadley

Dr.◊ & Mrs. David Haines

Thomas & Kathleen Harmon

Ms. Joyce E. Scafe

Mr. & Mrs. Donald and Janet Schenk

Sandy Schreier

Robert & Patricia Shaw

Shiv Shivaraman

Dean P. & D. Giles Simmer

Mr. & Mrs. Matthew Simoncini

William & Cherie Sirois

Michael E. Smerza & Nancy Keppelman

Peter & Patricia Steffes

Dr. Gregory Stephens

Mrs. Kathleen Straus & Mr. Walter Shapero

David Szymborski & Marilyn Sicklesteel

Joel & Shelley Tauber

Dr. & Mrs. Howard Terebelo

Dr. Barry Tigay

Yoni & Rachel Torgow

Charles ◊ & Sally Van Dusen

Mrs. Eva von Voss

Mr. Michael A. Walch & Ms. Joyce Keller

Gary L. Wasserman & Charles A. Kashner

Beverly & Barry Williams

Dr. & Mrs. Ned Winkelman

Ms. June Wu

Ms. Andrea L. Wulf

Dr. Sandra & Mr. D. Johnny Yee

Mr. & Mrs. Wesley Yee

Ms. Ellen Hill Zeringue

And one who wishes to remain anonymous

Cheryl A. Harvey

Ms. Barbara Heller

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Holcomb

Mr. & Mrs. Peter Hollinshead

The Honorable Denise Page Hood & Reverend Nicholas Hood III

James Hoogstra & Clark Heath

Dr. Karen Hrapkiewicz

Larry & Connie Hutchinson

Sally Ingold

Ms. Elizabeth Ingraham

Carolyn & Howard Iwrey

Dr. Raymond E. Jackson & Dr. Kathleen Murphy

Mr. John S. Johns

Diane & John Kaplan

Lucy & Alexander* Kapordelis

Bernard & Nina Kent Philanthropic Fund

John Kim & Sabrina Hiedemann

Aileen & Harvey Kleiman

Thomas ◊ & Linda Klein

Tom ◊ & Beverly Klimko

Mr. & Mrs. Ludvik F. Koci

Mr. & Mrs. Robert Koffron

Douglas Korney & Marieta Bautista

GIVING OF $2,500 & MORE, CONTINUED

Mr. Michael Kuhne

Mrs. Maria E. Kuznia

Mr. & Mrs. Robert LaBelle

Dr. & Mrs. Gerald Laker

Ms. Sandra Lapadot

Ms. Anne T. Larin

Dr. Jonathan Lazar

Marguerite & David Lentz

Arlene & John Lewis

Mr. Dane Lighthart & Ms. Robyn Bollinger*

David & Clare Loebl

Mr. & Mrs. Eugene LoVasco

Mr. Sean Maloney & Mrs. Laura PepplerMaloney

Mr. & Mrs. Charles W. Manke, Jr.

Barbara J. Martin

Dr. & Mrs. Peter M. McCann, M.D.

Mr. Edward McClew

Ms. Mary McGough

Ms. Kristen McLennan

Dr. & Mrs. David Mendelson

Lynn & Randall Miller

Mr. & Mrs. Robert S. Miller

H. Keith Mobley

Dr. Van C. Momon, Jr. & Dr. Pamela Berry

Eugene & Sheila Mondry Foundation

Ms. Sandra Morrison

Megan Norris & Howard Matthew

GIVING OF $1,500 & MORE

Nina Dodge Abrams

Jacqueline D. Adams

Mrs. Lynn E. Adams

Dr. & Mrs. Gary S. Assarian

Mr. & Mrs. Russell Ayers

Mr. & Mrs. William C. Babbage

Drs. Richard & Helena Balon

Dr. & Mrs. William L. Beauregard

Mr. & Mrs. David W. Berry

Mr. and Mrs. John Bishop

John ◊ & Marlene Boll

Mr. & Mrs. Byron Canvasser

Steve & Geri Carlson

Mr. & Mrs. Robert J. Colombo

Catherine Compton

Mr. & Mrs. David Conrad

Mr. & Mrs. Alfred J. Darold

Gordon & Elaine Didier

Mrs. Connie Dugger

Mr. Howard O. Emorey

Mr. & Mrs. Francis A. Engelhardt

Burke & Carol Fossee

Lisa & Michael O’Brien

Mr. & Mrs. Robert Obringer

Mr. & Mrs. Arthur T. O’Reilly

Mr. Tony Osentoski & Mr. David Ogloza

Cara Parsons Dietz

Mark Pasik & Julie Sosnowski

Priscilla & Huel Perkins

Peter & Carrie Perlman

Ms. Alice Pfahlert

Mr. Steven Read

Mr. & Mrs. William A. Reed

Dr. Claude & Mrs. Sandra Reitelman

Denise Reske

Mr. & Mrs. John Rieckhoff

The Steven Della Rocca Memorial Fund/ Courtenay A. Hardy

Mr. James Rose

Ms. Martha A. Scharchburg

& Mr. Bruce Beyer

Shirley Anne & Alan Schlang

Joe & Ashley Schotthoefer

Catherine & Dennis B. Schultz

Dr. & Mrs. Richard S. Schwartz

Sandy ◊ & Alan Schwartz

Mrs. Rosalind B. Sell

Mr. Jeffrey S. Serman

Carlo & Nicole Serraiocco

Shapero Foundation

Mr. Joseph & Mrs. Lois Gilmore

Allan D. Gilmour & Eric C. Jirgens

Mr. & Mrs. Matthew Goodman

Dr. Susan Harold

Jean Hudson

Mr. & Ms. Charles Jacobowitz

Carole Keller

Mr. & Mrs. Gerd H. Keuffel

Mr. & Mrs.+ Gregory Knas

Mr. Robert Kosinski

Mr. & Mrs. Charles Laurencelle

Mr. Steven L. Lipton

Dr. & Mrs. Richard Miller

Steve & Judy Miller

Carolyn & J. Michael Moore

Muramatsu America Flutes

Mr. James Murawski

Dr. William W. O’Neill

Ken & Geralyn Papa

Anne Parsons ◊ & Donald Dietz

Mr. & Mrs. Mark H. Peterson

Mr. & Mrs. Richard Rapson

Bill* & Chris Shell

Dr. Les Siegel & Ellen Lesser Siegel

Ralph & Peggy Skiano

Mr. Michael J. Smith & Mrs. Mary C. Williams

Ms. Susan Smith

Shirley R. Stancato

Mrs. Andreas H. Steglich

Nancy C. Stocking

Dr. & Mrs. Gerald Stollman

Mr. Jt Stout

Mr. & Mrs.◊ John Streit

Dr. & Mrs. Sugawa

Dr. Neil Talon

Mr. Rob Tanner

Barbara & Stuart Trager

Tom & Laura Trudeau

Gerald & Teresa Varani

Mr. William Waak

Dr.◊ & Mrs. Ronald W. Wadle

Richard P. & Carol A. Walter

Mr. Patrick Webster

Elizabeth & Michael Willoughby

Rissa & Sheldon Winkelman

Ms. Eileen Wunderlich

Ms. Gail Zabowski

And six who wish to remain anonymous

Mr. & Mrs. Rodney Rask

Dr. Natalie Rizk

Ms. Carole Robb

Ms. Elana Rugh

Brian & Toni Sanchez-Murphy

Mr. & Mrs. Kingsley G. Sears

Elliot Shafer

Ms. Sandra Shetler

Donna & Robert Slatkin

Dr. & Mrs. Martin Tessler

David & Lila Tirsell

Dennis & Jennifer Varian

Mr. Barry Webster

Ms. Janet Weir

Ms. Joan Whittingham

Mr. & Mrs.◊ Richard Wigginton

Mr. Francis Wilson

Ms. Gail Zabowski

And three who wish to remain anonymous

TRIBUTE GIFTS

Gifts received – September 1, 2024 to October 31, 2024

Tribute gifts to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra are made to honor accomplishments, celebrate occasions, and pay respect in memory or reflection. These gifts support current season projects, partnerships and performances such as DSO concerts, education programs, free community concerts, & family programming. For information about making a tribute gift, please call 313.576.5114 or visit dso.org/donate.

In Honor

Mrs. Linda Lutz

Dr. and Mrs. Sheldon

N. Kaftan

Bill Sikora

Ms. Sara Repen

Kate King and Xuyan Guo

Dr. Qiang Nai

In Memory

Andrea Lighthall

Marlene Bihlmeyer

Patricia Nickol

Mr. and Mrs. Eugene

A. Miller

Dr. and Mrs. Edward E. Hagenlocker

Michael Sweeney

Armando Delicato

Mr. and Mrs. Robert B. Clement

Herbert Couf

Ms. Karen Couf-Cohen

Bob Sabourin

Mr. and Mrs. Jim

Barry

Wickham Allen

Beth Buzzelli Carlson

Raymond Benner

Ms. Amy Willetts

Martin, Brigid, Martin II, & Craig Parker

Ms. Stacie Parker

William D. Hodgman

Brian Hodgman

Tom Grubba

Linda, Jay, Jen, Neil, Maggie, Zoe, Lauren and Sam Grubber

CORPORATE,

AND GOVERNMENT GIVING

Giving of $500,000 & more

SAMUEL & JEAN FRANKEL FOUNDATION

Giving of $200,000 & more

STATE OF MICHIGAN

EMORY M. FORD JR. ENDOWMENT FUND

Giving of $100,000 & more

PAUL M. ANGELL FAMILY FOUNDATION

MARVIN & BETTY DANTO FAMILY FOUNDATION

Giving of $50,000 & more

William Randolph Hearst Foundation

The Kresge Foundation

Masco Corporation

Milner Hotels Foundation

National Endowment for the Arts

Donald R. Simon & Esther Simon Foundation

Myron P. Leven Foundation

Giving of $20,000 & more

MGM Grand Detroit

Eleanor & Edsel Ford Fund

Richard & Jane Manoogian Foundation

Stone Foundation of Michigan

Matilda R. Wilson Fund

Wolverine Packing

Mandell & Madeleine Berman Foundation

Giving of $10,000 & more

Honigman LLP

Applebaum Family Philanthropy

The Cassie Family Foundation

Geoinge Foundation

Huntington

Oliver Dewey Marcks Foundation

Penske Foundation, Inc.

Karen & Drew Peslar Foundation

Young Woman’s Home Association

Burton A. Zipser & Sandra D. Zipser Foundation

Giving of $5,000 & more

Sun Communities Inc.

Fisher Funeral Home & Cremation Services

Benson & Edith Ford Fund

James & Lynelle Holden Fund

Hylant Group

Marjorie & Maxwell Jospey Foundation

KPMG LLP

Lithia Motors, Inc.

Mary Thompson Foundation

Sigmund and Sophie Rohlik Foundation

Taft

Warner Norcross + Judd

HUB International

Giving of $1,000 & more

Coffee Express Roasting Company

Jack, Evelyn, & Richard Cole Family Foundation

Enterprise Holdings Foundation

EY

Frank & Gertrude Dunlap Foundation

Japan Business Society of Detroit Foundation

Ludwig Foundation Fund

Michigan First Credit Union

Plante Moran

Renaissance (MI) Chapter of the Links

Samuel L. Westerman Foundation

Louis & Nellie Sieg Foundation

Anonymous

CELEBRATING YOUR LEGACY SUPPORT

BARBARA VAN DUSEN, Honorary Chair

The 1887 Society honors individuals who have made a special legacy commitment to support the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Members of the 1887 Society ensure that future music lovers will continue to enjoy unsurpassed musical experiences by including the DSO in their estate plans.

Ms. Doris L. Adler

Dr. & Mrs. William C. Albert

Mr. & Mrs. Robert A. Allesee ◊

Dr. Lourdes V. Andaya

Mr. & Mrs. Eugene Applebaum ◊

Dr. Augustin & Nancy ◊ Arbulu

Mr. David Assemany & Mr. Jeffery Zook

Ms. Sharon Backstrom

Sally & Donald Baker

Mr. & Mrs. Lee Barthel

Mr. Mark G. Bartnik & Ms. Sandra J. Collins

Stanley A. Beattie

Mr. Melvyn Berent & Ms. Barbara Spreitzer-Berent

Mr. & Mrs. Mandell L. Berman ◊

Virginia B. Bertram ◊

Mrs. Betty Blair◊

Ms. Rosalee Bleecker

Mr. Joseph Boner

Gwen & Richard Bowlby

Mr. Harry G. Bowles ◊

Mr. Charles Broh ◊

Mrs. Ellen Brownfain

William & Julia Bugera

CM Carnes

Dr. & Mrs. ◊ Thomas E. Carson

Cynthia Cassell, Ph. D.

Eleanor A. Christie

Ms. Mary F. Christner

Mr. Gary Ciampa

Robert & Lucinda Clement

Lois & Avern Cohn ◊

Drs. William ◊ & Janet Cohn

Mrs. RoseAnn Comstock ◊

Mr. Scott Cook, Jr.

Mr. & Ms. Thomas Cook

Dorothy M. Craig ◊

Mr. & Mrs. John Cruikshank

Julie & Peter Cummings

Joanne Danto & Arnold Weingarden

Mr. Kevin S. Dennis &

Mr. Jeremy J. Zeltzer

Ms. Leslie C. Devereaux◊

Mr. John Diebel ◊

Mr. Stuart Dow ◊

Mr. Roger Dye &

Ms. Jeanne A. Bakale

Mr. & Mrs. Robert G. Eidson ◊

Marianne T. Endicott

Ms. Dorothy Fisher◊

Mrs. Marjorie S. Fisher◊

Mr. & Mrs. Phillip Wm. Fisher

Dorothy A. & Larry L. Fobes

Samuel & Laura Fogleman

Mr. Emory Ford, Jr. ◊ Endowment

Dr. Saul & Mrs. Helen Forman

Barbara Frankel ◊ & Ron Michalak

Herman & Sharon Frankel

Mrs. Rema Frankel ◊

Jane French ◊

Mark & Donna Frentrup

Alan M. Gallatin

Janet M. Garrett

Dr. Byron P. ◊ & Marilyn Georgeson

Jim & Nancy Gietzen

Mr. Joseph & Mrs. Lois Gilmore

Victor & Gale Girolami ◊

Ruth & Al ◊ Glancy

David & Paulette Groen

Mr. Gerald Grum ◊

Rosemary Gugino

Mr. & Mrs. William Harriss

Donna & Eugene ◊ Hartwig

Gerhardt A. Hein ◊ &

Rebecca P. Hein

Ms. Nancy B. Henk ◊

Joseph L. Hickey ◊

Mr. ◊ & Mrs. Thomas N. Hitchman

Ronald M. & Carol ◊ Horwitz

Andy Howell

Carol Howell ◊

Paul M. Huxley & Cynthia Pasky

David & Sheri Jaffa

Mr. & Mrs. Thomas H. Jeffs II

Mr. & Mrs. Richard J. Jessup

Mr. George G. Johnson

Ms. Carol Johnston

Lenard & Connie Johnston

Carol M. Jonson

Drs. Anthony & Joyce Kales

Faye & Austin ◊ Kanter

Norb ◊ & Carole Keller

Dr. Mark & Mrs. Gail Kelley

June K. Kendall ◊

Dimitri ◊ & Suzanne Kosacheff

Douglas Koschik

Mr. & Mrs. Arthur J. Krolikowski ◊

Mary Clippert LaMont ◊

Ms. Sandra Lapadot

Mrs. Bonnie Larson

Ann C. Lawson ◊

Leslie Jean Lazzerin

Allan S. Leonard

Max Lepler & Rex L. Dotson

Dr. Melvin A. Lester◊

Mr. & Mrs. ◊ Joseph Lile

Eugene & Jeanne LoVasco Family

Eric & Ginny Lundquist

Harold Lundquist ◊ & Elizabeth Brockhaus Lundquist

Roberta Maki

Eileen ◊ & Ralph Mandarino

Judy Howe Masserang

Mr. Glenn Maxwell

Ms. Elizabeth Maysa ◊

Mary Joy McMachen, Ph.D.

Judith Mich ◊

Rhoda A. Milgrim ◊

Mr. & Mrs. Eugene A. Miller

John & Marcia Miller

Jerald A. & Marilyn H. Mitchell

Mr. ◊ & Mrs. L. William Moll

Shari & Craig Morgan

Ms. I. Surayyah R. Muwwakkil ◊

Joy & Allan Nachman

Geoffrey S. Nathan & Margaret E. Winters ◊

Beverley Anne Pack

David & Andrea Page ◊

Mr. Dale J. Pangonis

Ms. Mary Webber Parker◊

Mr. David Patria & Ms. Barbara Underwood ◊

Mrs. Sophie Pearlstein ◊

Helen & Wesley Pelling ◊

Dr. William F. Pickard ◊

Mrs. Bernard E. Pincus

Ms. Christina Pitts

Mrs. Robert Plummer◊

Mr. & Mrs. P. T. Ponta

Mrs. Mary Carol Prokop ◊

Ms. Linda Rankin & Mr. Daniel Graschuck

Mr. & Mrs. Douglas J. Rasmussen

Ms. Elizabeth Reiha ◊

Deborah J. Remer

Mr. & Mrs. Lloyd E. Reuss ◊

Barbara Gage Rex◊

Ms. Marianne Reye ◊

Lori-Ann Rickard

Katherine D. Rines

Bernard & Eleanor Robertson

Ms. Barbara Robins ◊

Jack & Aviva Robinson ◊

John & Barbara Rohrbeck

Mr. & Mrs. Gerald F. Ross ◊

Mr. & Mrs. ◊ George Roumell

Marjorie Shuman Saulson

Ruth Saur Trust

Mr. & Mrs. Donald and Janet Schenk

Ms. Yvonne Schilla

David W. Schmidt ◊

Mr. & Mrs. Fred Secrest ◊

Mr. & Mrs. Robert L. Shaffer◊

Patricia Finnegan Sharf

Ms. Marla K. Shelton

Edna J. Shin

Ms. June Siebert

Mr. & Mrs. Donald R. Simon ◊

Dr. Melissa J. Smiley & Dr. Patricia A. Wren

David & Sandra Smith

Ms. Marilyn Snodgrass ◊

Mrs. Margot Sterren ◊

Mr. ◊ & Mrs. Walter Stuecken

Mr. ◊ & Mrs. Alexander C. Suczek

David Szymborski & Marilyn Sicklesteel

Alice ◊ & Paul Tomboulian

Roger & Tina Valade

Charles ◊ & Sally Van Dusen

Barbara C. Van Dusen

Mr. & Mrs. Melvin VanderBrug

Mr. & Mrs. George C. Vincent ◊

Mr. Sanford Waxer◊

Christine & Keith C. Weber

Mr. Herman Weinreich ◊

John ◊ & Joanne Werner

Mr. ◊ & Mrs. Arthur Wilhelm

Mr. Robert E. Wilkins ◊

Mrs. Michel H. Williams

Ms. Nancy S. Williams ◊

Mr. Robert S. Williams & Ms. Treva Womble

Ms. Barbara Wojtas

Elizabeth B. Work ◊

Dr. & Mrs. Clyde Wu ◊

Ms. Andrea L. Wulf

Mrs. Judith G. Yaker

Milton & Lois Zussman ◊

And six who wish to remain anonymous

The DSO’s Planned Giving Council recognizes the region’s leading financial and estate professionals whose current and future clients may involve them in their decision to make a planned gift to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Members play a critical role in shaping the future of the DSO through ongoing feedback, working with their clients, supporting philanthropy and attending briefings twice per year.

Mrs. Katana H. Abbott*

Mr. Joseph Aviv

Mr. Christopher Ballard*

Ms. Jessica B. Blake, Esq.

Ms. Rebecca J. Braun

Mr. Timothy Compton

Ms. Wendy Zimmer Cox*

Mr. Robin D. Ferriby*

Mrs. Jill Governale*

Mr. Henry Grix*

Mrs. Julie Hollinshead, CFA

Mr. Mark W. Jannott, CTFA

Ms. Jennifer Jennings*

Ms. Dawn Jinsky*

Mrs. Shirley Kaigler*

Mr. Robert E. Kass*

Mr. Christopher L. Kelly

Mr. Bernard S. Kent

Ms. Yuh Suhn Kim

Mrs. Marguerite Munson Lentz*

Mr. J. Thomas MacFarlane

Mr. Christopher M. Mann*

Mr. Curtis J. Mann

Mrs. Mary K. Mansfield

Mr. Mark E. Neithercut*

Mr. Steve Pierce

Ms. Deborah J. Renshaw, CFP

Mr. James P. Spica

Mr. David M. Thoms*

Mr. John N. Thomson, Esq.

Mr. Jason Tinsley*

Mr. William Vanover

Mr. William Winkler

*Executive Committee Member

Share the music of the DSO with future generations

INCLUDE THE DSO AS A BENEFICIARY IN YOUR WILL

Remembering the DSO in your estate plans will support the sustainability and longevity of our orchestra, so that tomorrow’s audience will continue to be inspired through unsurpassed musical experiences. If you value the role of the DSO—in your life and in our community—

please consider making a gift through your will, trust, life insurance, or other deferred gift.

To learn more please call Alexander Kapordelis at 313.576.5198 or email akapordelis@dso.org.

DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

YOUR EXPERIENCE AT THE MAX

Our Home on Woodward Avenue

The Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center is one of Detroit’s most notable cultural campuses. The Max includes three main performance spaces: historic Orchestra Hall, the Peter D. and Julie F. Cummings Cube (The Cube), and Robert A. and Maggie Allesee Hall, plus our outdoor green space, Sosnick Courtyard. All are accessible from the centrally located William Davidson Atrium. The Jacob Bernard Pincus Music Education Center is home to the DSO’s Wu Family Academy and other music education offerings. The DSO is also proud to offer The Max as a performance and administrative space for several local partners.

Parking

The DSO Parking Deck is located at 81 Parsons Street. Self-parking in the garage costs $12 for most concerts (credit card payment only). Accessible parking is available on the first and second floors of the garage. Note that accessible parking spaces go quickly, so please arrive early!

Valet parking is also available for all patrons (credit card payment only), and a golf cart-style DSO Courtesy Shuttle is available for all patrons who need assistance entering The Max.

What Should I Wear?

You do you! We don’t have a dress code, and you’ll see a variety of outfit styles. Business casual attire is common, but sneakers and jeans are just as welcome as suits and ties. Please reference page 51 for our bag policy.

Food and Drink

Concessions are available for purchase on the first floor of the William Davidson Atrium at most concerts, and light bites are available in the Paradise Lounge on the second floor. Bars are located on the first and third floors of the William Davidson Atrium and offer canned sodas (pop, if you prefer), beer, wine, and specialty cocktail mixes.

Patrons are welcome to

take drinks to their seats at all performances except Friday morning Coffee Concerts; food is not allowed in Orchestra Hall. Please note that outside food and beverages are prohibited.

Accessibility

Accessibility matters. Whether you need ramp access for your wheelchair or are looking for sensory-friendly concert options, we are thinking of you.

• The Max has elevators, barrierfree restrooms, and accessible seating on each level. Security staff are available at all entrances to help patrons requiring extra assistance in and out of vehicles.

• The DSO’s Sennheiser MobileConnect hearing assistance system is available for all performances in Orchestra Hall. You can use your own mobile device and headphones by downloading the Sennheiser MobileConnect app, or borrow a device by visiting the Box Office.

• Available at the Box Office during all events at The Max, William Davidson Neighborhood Concert Series venues, and chamber recitals, the DSO offers sensory toolkits to use free of charge, courtesy of the Mid-Michigan Autism Association. The kits contain items that can help calm or stimulate a

THE MAX M. & MARJORIE S. FISHER MUSIC CENTER

3711 Woodward Avenue Detroit, MI 48201

Visit the DSO online at dso.org

For general inquiries, please email info@dso.org

person with a sensory processing difference, including noise-reducing headphones and fidget toys. The DSO also has a quiet room, available for patrons to use at every performance at The Max.

• A golf cart-style DSO Courtesy Shuttle is available for all patrons who need assistance entering The Max.

• Check out the Accessibility tab on dso.org/yourexperience to learn more

WiFi

Complimentary WiFi is available throughout The Max. Look for the DSOGuest network on your device. And be sure to tag your posts with #IAMDSO!

Shop DSO Merchandise

Visit shopdso.org to purchase DSO and Civic Youth Ensembles merchandise anywhere, anytime!

The Herman and Sharon Frankel Donor Lounge

Governing Members can enjoy complimentary beverages, appetizers, and desserts in the Donor Lounge, open 90 minutes prior to each concert through the end of intermission. For more information on becoming a Governing Member, contact Cassidy Schmid at cschmid@dso.org.

Gift Certificates

Gift certificates are available in any denomination and may be used towards tickets to any DSO performance. Please contact the Box Office for more information.

Rent The Max

Elegant and versatile, The Max is an ideal setting for a variety of events and performances: weddings, corporate gatherings, meetings, concerts, and more. Visit dso.org/rentals or call 313.576.5131 for more information.

POLICIES

BAG POLICY

For the safety of our patrons, musicians, staff, volunteers and vendors, we have implemented the following policies:

• All bags entering DSO facilities are subject to inspection.

• No backpacks, large/duffel bags, large purses, and suitcases are permitted. Purses, medical bags, diaper bags, and medical devices smaller than 14” x 14” x 6” are allowed.

• There is no storage available for bags that do not adhere to the above standards.

• No weapons or disruptive materials are allowed on DSO property.

SEATING

Please note that all patrons (of any age) must have a ticket to attend concerts. If the music has already started, an usher will ask you to wait until a break before seating you. The same applies if you leave Orchestra Hall and re-enter. Most performances are broadcast (with sound) on a TV in the William Davidson Atrium.

TICKETS, EXCHANGES, AND CONCERT CANCELLATIONS

n All sales are final and non-refundable.

n Even though we’ll miss you, we understand that plans can change unexpectedly, so the DSO offers flexible exchange and ticket donation options.

n Please contact the Box Office to exchange tickets and for all ticketing questions or concerns.

n The DSO is a show-must-go-on orchestra. In the rare event a concert is cancelled, our website and social media feeds will announce the cancellation, and patrons will be notified of exchange options.

PHONES

Your neighbors and the musicians appreciate your cooperation in turning your phone to silent and your brightness down while you’re keeping an eye on texts from the babysitter or looking up where a composer was born!

PHOTOGRAPHY & RECORDING

We love a good selfie for social media (please share your experiences using @ DetroitSymphony and #IAMDSO) but remember that having your device out can be distracting to musicians and audience members. Please be cautious and respectful if you wish to take photos or videos. Flash photography, extended video recording, tripods, and cameras with detachable lenses are strictly prohibited.

NOTE: By entering event premises, you consent to having your likeness featured in photography, audio, and video captured by the DSO, and release the DSO from any liability connected with these materials. Visit dso.org for more.

SMOKING

Smoking and vaping are not allowed anywhere in The Max.

To report an emergency during a concert, immediately notify an usher or DSO staff member. If an usher or DSO staff member is not available, please contact DSO Security at

ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF

EXECUTIVE OFFICE

Erik Rönmark

President and CEO

James B. and Ann V. Nicholson Chair

Jill Elder

Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer

Linda Lutz

Vice President and Chief Financial & Administrative Officer

Martin Sher

Vice President and Chief Artistic & Operating Officer

Joy Crawford

Executive Assistant to the President and CEO

Serena Donadoni

Executive Assistant to the Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer

Anne Parsons ◊ President Emeritus

ARTISTIC OPERATIONS

ARTISTIC PLANNING

Jessica Ruiz

Senior Director of Artistic Planning

Jessica Slais

Creative Director of Popular & Special Programming

Stephen Grady Jr. Program Manager, Popular & Special Programming

Lindzy Volk Artistic Manager

LIVE FROM ORCHESTRA HALL

Marc Geelhoed

Executive Producer of Live from Orchestra Hall

ORCHESTRA OPERATIONS

Kathryn Ginsburg General Manager

Patrick Peterson Orchestra Manager

Dennis Rotell Stage Manager

Bronwyn Hagerty Orchestra and Training Programs Librarian

Benjamin Tisherman Manager of Orchestra Personnel

ADVANCEMENT

Alex Kapordelis Senior Director of Advancement

Ali Huber Director of Donor Engagement

Cassidy Schmid Director of Individual Giving

Zach Suchanek Associate Director of Annual Giving

Alex Anderson Manager of Advancement Events

Bryana Hall Data & Research Specialist

Jane Koelsch Major Gift Officer

Francesca Leo Manager of Governance & Donor Engagement

Elizabeth McConnell Specialist, Donor Communications

Juanda Pack Advancement Benefits Concierge

Susan Queen Gift Officer, Corporate Giving

Bethany Simmerlein Grant Writer

Samantha Taylor Manager of Foundation Relations

Amanda Tew Major Gift Officer

Shay Vaughn Major Gift Officer

BUILDING OPERATIONS

Ken Waddington Senior Director of Facilities & Engineering

Teresa Beachem Chief Engineer

Demetris Fisher Manager of Environmental Services (EVS)

William Guilbault EVS Technician

Robert Hobson Chief Maintenance Technician

Aaron Kirkwood EVS Lead

Anthony Lindsey EVS Technician

Daniel Speights EVS Technician

EVENT AND PATRON EXPERIENCE

Christina Williams Director of Event & Patron Experience

Neva Kirksey Manager of Events & Rentals

Alison Reed, CVA Manager of Volunteer & Patron Experience

Andre Williams Beverage Program Manager

COMMUNICATIONS

Matt Carlson Senior Director of Communications & Media Relations

Sarah Smarch Director of Content & Storytelling

Natalie Berger Manager of Multimedia Brand Content

LaToya Cross Communications & Advancement Content Specialist

Hannah Engwall Elbialy Public Relations Manager

Marisa Jacques Coordinator of Public Relations

LEARNING & ENGAGEMENT

Karisa Antonio Senior Director of Social Innovation & Learning

Damien Crutcher Managing Director of Detroit Harmony

Debora Kang Director of Education

Clare Valenti Director of Community Engagement

Kiersten Alcorn Manager of Community Engagement

Chris DeLouis Manager of Learning, Student & Program Deveopment

Erin Faryniarz Detroit Harmony Partnerships & Services Coordinator

Samuel Hsieh Coordinator of Learning Operations

Kendra Sachs Manager of Learning, Enrollment & Communications

FINANCE

Agnes Postma Senior Director of Accounting & Finance

Adela Löw Director of Accounting & Financial Reporting

Tanisha Hester Accountant

Sophie Lall Accounting Clerk Assistant

Sandra Mazza Senior Accountant of Business Operations

Claudia Scalzetti Staff Accountant

HUMAN RESOURCES

Hannah Lozon Senior Director of Talent & Culture

Angela Stough Director of Human Resources

Sharon Tse Director of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Shuntia Perry Recruitment & Employee Experience Specialist

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

William Shell Director of Information Technology

Pat Harris Systems Administrator

Michelle Koning Web Manager

Aaron Tockstein Database Administrator

MARKETING & AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT

Connor Mehren Director of Growth Marketing

Juliana Nahas Director of Loyalty Marketing

Sharon Gardner Carr Tessitura Event Operations Manager

Jay Holladay Brand Graphic Designer

LaHeidra Marshall Direct Marketing Manager

Thomas Monks Loyalty Marketing Manager

Declan O’Neal Marketing & Promotions Coordinator

Kristin Pagels-Quinlan Digital Advertising Manager

Grace Venner Manager of Growth Marketing

PATRON SALES & SERVICE

Michelle Marshall Director of Patron Sales & Service

Valerie Jackson Group Sales Representative

James Sabatella Group & Tourism Sales Manager

Chantel Woodard Manager of Patron Sales & Service

SAFETY & SECURITY

George Krappmann Director of Safety & Security

Johnnie Scott

Safety & Security Manager

Willie Coleman

Security Officer

Joyce Dorsey

Security Officer

Tony Morris

Security Officer

Eric Thomas

Security Officer & Maintenance Technician

PERFORMANCE

Winter 2025 • 2024-25 Season

Hannah Engwall Elbialy, editor hengwall@dso.org

• ECHO PUBLICATIONS, INC. Tom Putters, publisher echopublications.com

• Cover design by Jay Holladay

•

To advertise in Performance: visit echodetroit.com, call 248.582.9690 or email tom@echodetroit.com

Read Performance anytime! dso.org/performance

UPCOMING CONCERTS & EVENTS

FEB 21 & 23 BIZET’S CARMEN

FEBRUARY

PVS CLASSICAL SERIES PRICE & PROKOFIEV

JAN 31–FEB 2

PNC POPS SERIES BROADWAY LOVE SONGS

FEB 14–16

PARADISE JAZZ SERIES SF JAZZ COLLECTIVE: 20TH ANNIVERSARY

FEB 22

PVS CLASSICAL SERIES BIZET’S CARMEN

FEB 21&23

MAR 6–8

PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION

MAR 9 CELTIC JOURNEY

MARCH

PVS CLASSICAL SERIES CLASSICAL ROOTS

FEB 28 – MAR 1

PVS CLASSICAL SERIES PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION

MAR 6–8

PNC POPS SERIES CELTIC JOURNEY

MAR 9

FAMILY GOLD RUSH: AN AMERICAN MUSICAL ADVENTURE

MAR 15

PNC POPS SERIES LA VIDA LOCA

MAR 14–16

PVS CLASSICAL SERIES BEETHOVEN & BRAHMS

MAR 21–23

PVS CLASSICAL SERIES BRAHMS’S THIRD SYMPHONY

MAR 27–29

APRIL

CLASSICAL BEETHOVEN & SCHUMANN

APR 4–6

PARDISE JAZZ SERIES RON CARTER

APR 4