Gershwin Concerto in F

Featured Program

Jeffrey Kahane, conductor and piano

0:07 S. OKPEBHOLO – ZOOM! for Strings and Percussion

0:14 A. HAILSTORK – Survive, (Symphony No. 4) i Still Holding On: Moderato

0:20 BARBER – Symphony No. 1 Opus 9

0:29 GERSHWIN – Piano Concerto in F i Allegro ii Adagio—Andante con moto iii Allegro agitato

Friday, September 30 Saturday, October 1 Sunday, October 2

Jones Hall

8:00 p.m. Jones Hall & Livestream 8:00 p.m. Jones Hall 2:30 p.m.

Award-winning conductor and pianist Jeffrey Kahane returns to Jones Hall for an exciting program of groundbreaking works by American composers. The concerts open with ZOOM!, composed by Shawn Okpebholo in 2020 during the height of the COVID pandemic. Taking its name from the ubiquitous video conference software, this vibrant and playful score explores what it means to be together even when apart. An homage to the pioneering African American composer William Grant Still, Augustus Hailstork’s Still Holding On was premiered by the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2019. In 1937, Samuel Barber’s gripping First Symphony became the first symphonic work by an American composer to be performed at the prestigious Salzburg Festival. The program concludes when Kahane conducts from the keyboard in Gershwin’s jazzy Piano Concerto in F, a sequel to Rhapsody in Blue that proved “there was plenty more where that had come from.”

ZOOM! for Strings and Percussion Born in Lexington, Kentucky, to a Nigerian father and African American mother, Shawn Okpebholo first discovered music when his family began attending a Salvation Army Church when he was 7 years old. From the beginning, he was drawn to composition; around the same time, he composed his first song. As he grew older, he began more formal studies with musicians in the congregation, setting him on the path to a doctoral degree from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. He has since become a prominent voice in the classical music world; his works have been featured nationally on public television and radio and performed at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, and the National Cathedral. Musically, he draws inspiration from his African and African American heritage, the classical canon, and his faith; he notes the music of American composer Charles Ives as a particular influence. Okpebholo shed some further light on his creative process in a 2019 interview: “As a composer, I often strive to create interesting harmonies and

ZOOM! for Strings and Percussion

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Livestream of Houston Symphony concerts is made possible by Barbara J. Burger

The Classical Season is endowed by The Wortham Foundation, Inc., in memory of Gus S. and Lyndall F. Wortham

Still Holding On compelling counterpoint, and as a listener, I appreciate that as well. [...] My compositions are not mere abstract constructions—music for music’s sake, if you will (not that that is a bad thing). But rather, my works are about something: inspired by, a response to, a study of, rooted in, etc.” In addition to fulfilling many commissions, he currently serves as professor of music composition and theory at Wheaton College-Conservatory of Music; he and his family make their home outside Chicago. Commissioned by the United States Air Force Band for its elite string ensemble, ZOOM! dates from 2020 and is part of a body of works composed in response to a unique historical moment: the global COVID-19 pandemic. With his characteristic optimism, Okpebolo produced a composition that is “energetic, moves quickly, and radiates joy,” noting that “[...] even during this era, there is hope a universal anticipation of a return to normalcy an idea I wanted to artistically evoke in ZOOM!” Regarding the title, he sought “a word, phrase, or idea” that would fit the times. “‘Zoom’ quickly rose to the top of the list,” reflecting both “the rapid development of vaccines” and “the video conferencing platform of the same name.” Structurally, the piece has a three part, A-B-A structure. After an introduction featuring castanets (perhaps a playful reference to the sound of keystrokes on a laptop), the strings enter with dancing, rhythmically inventive music. According to the composer, the slower central section, marked “Contemplative” in the score, “evokes the dichotomy of being together while apart: unsatisfying in one aspect, yet, cherished.” The castanets signal the return of the energetic opening music, and the piece ends with what must be the musical equivalent of a wink.

SURVIVE was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic as part of its 100th anniversary celebration. The premiere, on February 17, 2019 was to be at a concert announced as a salute to William Grant Still (1895 – 1978), the “dean” of African American composers. I decided to reference some of the motives found in Still’s famous and pioneering Symphony No. 1, the “Afro-American.” This composition is the first movement of my (in-process) Fourth Symphony. The remaining movements to follow are “Still Working,” and “Still Crossing That Bridge.” This first movement opens with a quiet, short, introduction followed by a duet for oboe and cello (two instruments Still played). A suspenseful transition section leads to the conclusion which features the African American spiritual HOLD ON. —Adolphus Hailstork

Symphony No. 1, Opus 9 During the summer of 1935, Samuel Barber was in the midst of a meteoric rise to fame; he had recently received a prestigious Rome Prize, which required him to relocate to an American artists’ colony in the Italian capital for at least five months. Before leaving, Barber and his friend, lover, and fellow composer Gian Carlo Menotti made a visit to the Poconos in a Ford they nicknamed “Frescobaldi,” gifted to Barber by his patroness, philanthropist Mary Curtis Bok. “It is grand to be in the woods again; I am composing and reading a great deal,” he wrote to her. He had begun his First Symphony, and work proceeded apace; by October, he wrote to Menotti from Rome: “My symphony [...] is just about finished. But I am surveying the last hundred yards with a canny eye before taking the final spurt. It is not easy to end things.” Indeed, Barber would not complete the symphony until February. Soon performed throughout Europe and the United States, the symphony was warmly embraced by audiences, critics, and musicians. Bruno Walter, who began his conducting career as Gustav Mahler’s protégé, called it “astonishing [...] no-one is composing today who handles form that way.” Indeed, one can scarcely believe a work of such depth passes in less than 20 minutes. Inspired by Sibelius’s Seventh Symphony, Barber fused the traditional four movements of a symphony into one. The work begins with a trenchant, motto-like idea high in the violins. This “motto” permeates the symphony and sets its dark, brooding mood. Soon after, the music becomes quieter as the English horn and violas sing a long melody above harmonies that shift from light to shadow. The ensuing development builds to a powerful climax before dying away. The violins then play a fleet, scherzando passage based on a sped-up version of the motto. In a normal four-movement symphony, this would be the “second movement.” In 1942, Barber completely rewrote this section, giving us the version performed today, full of rhythmic games that keep listeners guessing what comes next. After climaxing with a return of the motto, a cheeky bassoon continues pattering away as if unaware the time for such music has passed. The long, singing melody introduced in the “first movement” then reappears in the oboe as the main theme of a poignant “slow movement.” Listen for the trio of solo cellos that begins the gradual crescendo to the first three notes of the motto in the trombones. Immediately, the “fourth movement” starts with a variation of the motto theme low in the cellos and basses. In a nod to the finale of Brahm’s Fourth Symphony, this becomes the basis for a passacaglia, a kind of theme and variations based on a repeated bass line. As more instruments enter, the passacaglia builds to the symphony’s arresting conclusion.

Piano Concerto in F Amid a busy schedule of composing hit Broadway and West End musicals, George Gershwin found time to fulfill a commission for a new Piano Concerto in 1925. He had made a name for himself in the concert hall the year before with his epochal fusion of jazz and classical music, Rhapsody in Blue. Regarding his new concerto, Gershwin said, “Many persons had thought that the Rhapsody was only a happy accident. Well, I went out, for one thing, to show them that there was plenty more where that had come from.” The 27-year-old Gershwin performed the solo part himself at the world premiere with the New York Symphony. The World reported, “The truth is that George Gershwin is a genius […] He alone actually expresses us. He is the present, with all its audacity, impertinence, its feverish delight in its motion, its lapses into rhythmically exotic melancholy.” After a percussive opening gesture, the concerto begins with the longshort rhythms of the Charleston, which Gershwin meant to evoke “the young, enthusiastic spirit of American life.” The pianist then enters with a more introspective, lyrical theme. These two main ideas are developed throughout a movement marked by sudden, mercurial changes of mood and tempo. The pianist’s initial theme makes a soaring return in the strings near the end. The second movement approaches the intimate world of chamber music, featuring solos for trumpet, oboe, flute, and violin in addition to those for the piano. Described by Gershwin as “almost Mozartian in its simplicity” and possessed of “a poetic, nocturnal tone,” the main theme takes the form of a bluesy solo for muted trumpet accompanied by a trio of clarinets. This main theme alternates with two contrasting episodes: the first is a faster, more playful one that begins when the piano enters; the second introduces a singing “big tune” in the strings. For the finale, Gershwin created what he called “an orgy of rhythms,” a showcase for the pianist’s virtuoso technique. The driving repeated notes of the toccata-like main theme alternate with reminiscences of themes from the first and second movements, culminating in a grand return of the lyrical theme the soloist first played at the beginning of the concerto.

Equally at home at the piano or on the podium, Jeffrey Kahane is recognized around the world for his mastery of a diverse repertoire ranging from Bach and Mozart to the music of our time.

Jeffrey has appeared as soloist and conductor with most major U.S. orchestras and is a popular artist at all the foremost U.S. summer festivals. Since making his Carnegie Hall debut in 1983, he has given recitals in many of the nation’s music centers. A highly respected chamber musician, he collaborates with today’s most important chamber ensembles.

In 2017, Jeffrey completed his 20th and final season as music director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and is now the orchestra’s conductor laureate. He served as music director of the Colorado Symphony 2005-06 through 2009-10 and for 10 seasons was music director of the Santa Rosa Symphony. In 2016, he was appointed music director of the Sarasota Music Festival; he served as the orchestra’s artistic advisor for two seasons.

In addition to these concerts, recent and upcoming engagements include a fifth play/conduct with the New York Philharmonic, and he performs/conducts with the Indianapolis, Vancouver, Milwaukee, Colorado, and San Diego symphonies; concerto appearances with the Toronto, Cincinnati, New World, New Jersey, Oregon, and Utah symphonies; and appearances at the Aspen, Mostly Mozart, Oregon Bach, and Ravinia festivals.

Jeffrey recently conducted two Kurt Weill operas—a rare fully staged production of Weill’s last Broadway opera, Lost in the Stars, during his final LACO season; and a concert version of The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny with the Hamburg Symphony.

A Los Angeles native and graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Jeffrey was first prize winner at the 1983 Rubinstein Competition, a finalist at the 1981 Van Cliburn Competition, and the recipient of a 1983 Avery Fisher Career Grant. An avid linguist who fluently reads a number of ancient and modern languages, he received a master’s degree in classics from the University of Colorado in 2011. He is currently a professor of keyboard studies at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music. 