Encore 1: 2017-2018

THE MAGAZINE OF THE JACKSONVILLE SYMPHONY

THE SEASON OF MAGIC

JAXSYMPHONY.ORG JAXSYMPHONY.ORG

Sep-Nov 2017

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Insight One hour prior to each Florida Blue Masterworks Series concert, join Music Director Courtney Lewis and other Masterworks guest conductors in Robert E. Jacoby Symphony Hall to hear their insight on the program. An open, low-key 15 to 25 minute presentation including question and answer time will provide the opportunity to learn more about the fantastic works performed by the Jacksonville Symphony.

Guest artists often join the conductor to give their vision of the works to be presented. Insight is a new angle on the concert experience. You’ll never listen to the music the same way after hearing Insight. So come early, grab a seat and hear what the experts have to say.

INSIGHT

is sponsored by

Tickets: 904.354.5547 Contributions: 904.354.1473 Administration: 904.354.5479 JaxSymphony.org Encore! Production

Publisher – Robert Massey Editor – Amy Rankin Graphic Designer – Kenneth Shade Advertising Sales – Caroline Jones Photography – Tiffany Manning, Renee Parenteau Fran Ruchalski Communications Coordinator – Sydney Schless To Advertise in Encore - Call Caroline Jones at 904.356.0426 or email cjones@jaxsymphony.org.

Dear Friends, Welcome to the Jacksonville Symphony’s 2017/2018 season. For 68 years, we’ve been stirring the soul of northeast Florida through main stage, community and educational performances and programs. This season, we are excited to offer more concerts, more composers, more diverse programming, more artists and simply put, more music than ever before as we expand our season from 35 to 38 weeks.

We begin with a new program – Fanfare! An Opening Night Celebration – the perfect way to christen this season of magic. In addition to your favorite Masterworks, Pops, Coffee, Symphony in 60, Family and Education concerts, we will present two additional Symphonic Night at the Movies: Home Alone and It’s A Wonderful Life. Handel’s Messiah and Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker round out our holiday programming. We will feature the Bryan Concert Organ in a winds, brass, percussion and organ concert in October. Next spring, we welcome some of the most promising young composers working today in EarShot! and for Earth Day, we present Become Ocean, where science and music intersect to provide a thought-provoking experience you won’t want to miss.

Outside of our home here at the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts, we will be in residency at UNF’s Lazzara Performance Hall, present concerts as far north as Sea Island’s The Cloister and as far south as West Palm Beach’s Kravis Center, continue offering free community concerts throughout our region and perhaps most exciting, launch the Daily’s Place Symphony Series – the first-ever partnership between a symphony orchestra and a NFL team that will bring you four Symphony concerts at one of the most exciting performance venues in the country.

You will be introduced to a number of individuals as we welcome new staff members and musicians to the Symphony, including Deanna Tham, our new Assistant Conductor and Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestras Principal Conductor. Deanna takes over a growing program that will perform four concerts in Jacoby Symphony Hall, including the Major/Minor concert with the professional musicians of the Jacksonville Symphony.

She will also lead the JSYO Philharmonic on their first tour ever as they perform at the world-renowned Walt Disney Concert Hall as one of only three student orchestras invited to participate in the 2018 Los Angeles International Music Festival.

As always, I am sincerely grateful for your patronage! It’s been a delight putting this season together and I know you’ll enjoy it.

© 2017 Jacksonville Symphony Association 300 Water Street, Suite 200 • Jacksonville, FL 32202

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@jaxsymphony

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Robert Massey President and CEO

is the official piano of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra.

4 JAXSYMPHONY.ORG – SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2017

EnCORE

THE MAGAZINE OF THE JACKSONVILLE SYMPHONY

2017 - 2018 SEASON

VOLUME 24 – ISSUE ONE

EVENTS 19

23

19

23

27

31

33

31

47

37

41

43 55

DEPARTMENTS 4

Welcome

7

Music Director Courtney Lewis

8

Symphony Association Board

11

About the Symphony

6, 9, 66-68

Thank You, Supporters

12-13

Jacksonville Symphony Musicians

69

The Cadenza Society

71

Sound Investment Program

75-76

Volunteer Activities and Events

78

Jacksonville Symphony Administration

47

55

59

FANFARE! AN OPENING NIGHT CELEBRATION SPECIAL PRESENTATION September 16 MAMBO KINGS FIDELITY NATIONAL FINANCIAL POPS SERIES September 22, 23, 24 BEETHOVEN AND THE BLIND BANISTER RAYMOND JAMES COFFEE SERIES FLORIDA BLUE MASTERWORKS SERIES September 29, 30 THE TEXAS TENORS FIDELITY NATIONAL FINANCIAL POPS SERIES October 6, 7 FALL CIVIC ORCHESTRA CONCERT CIVIC ORCHESTRA October 8 CZECHMATE REGENCY CENTERS SYMPHONY IN 60 SERIES RAYMOND JAMES COFFEE SERIES FLORIDA BLUE MASTERWORKS SERIES October 19, 20, 21 ORGAN, BRASS, WINDS AND PERCUSSION SPECIAL PRESENTATION October 29 LIFT OFF! AN AIR AND SPACE ADVENTURE FAMILY SERIES November 5 FABIO, FAURÉ AND FANTASTIQUE FLORIDA BLUE MASTERWORKS SERIES November 10, 11, 12 THE DOO WOP PROJECT RAYMOND JAMES COFFEE SERIES FIDELITY NATIONAL FINANCIAL POPS SERIES November 17, 18 JSYO FALL CONCERT YOUTH ORCHESTRAS SERIES November 19

ENCORE 5

The Jacksonville Symphony gratefully acknowledges some of our most important music makers.

J. Wayne & Delores Barr Weaver

Ruth Conley

Robert D. and Isabelle T. Davis Endowment Fund

The Roger L. and Rochelle S. Main Charitable Trust

State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.

The Jessie Ball duPont Fund

PGA TOUR, Inc.

The DuBow Family Foundation

Donald C. McGraw Foundation

Valdemar Joost Kroier Endowment Fund

Yvonne Charvot Barnett Young Artist Fund • Biscottis • G. Howard Bryan Fund • Brooks Rehabilitation • Cummer Family Foundation Downtown Investment Authority • Drummond Press • Jess & Brewster J. Durkee Foundation • Fleet Landing • David and Ann Hicks The Kirbo Charitable Trust • Martin Coffee Co • National Endowment for the Arts • Publix Super Markets Charities Rice Family Foundation • David and Linda Stein • Jay and Deanie Stein Foundation • Carl S. Swisher Foundation Edna Sproull Williams Foundation • St. Vincent’s HealthCare • Stein Mart • SunTrust • Vanguard Charitable-Kessler Fund Woodcock Foundation for the Appreciation of the Arts ACOSTA Sales & Marketing • Buffet Group USA • Burgman Winston Youth Orchestra Scholarship Fund • Tom Bush BMW • CenterState Bank Chartrand Foundation • Claude Nolan Cadillac • Dana’s Limousine and Transportation Services • Duval Motor Company Enterprise Holdings Foundation • Harbinger Sign • JAX Chamber • JAX Chamber - Downtown Council • Brady S. Johnson Charitable Trust The Main Street America Group • Mayse-Turner Fund • Parsley’s Piano • Rowe Charitable Foundation • Sabel Foundation Shacter Family Foundation • The Shultz Foundation • Harold K. Smith Foundation • Smoller Scholarship Fund • Stellar Foundation TigerLily Media • V Pizza • Wells Fargo • Westminster Woods on Julington Creek • Workscapes A-B Distributors, Inc. • The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida • Cornelia and Olin Watts Endowment Fund Charter Members of the Corporate Conductor’s Club: Admira Dentistry with Dr. Joe Barton • Arkest LLC • Assign Commercial Group LLC • Bank of America/Merrill Lynch Jacksonville Business Journal • Meinrod & Leeper Wealth Management • Dr. Christine Ng - ngderm.com • Saunders & Company Media Partners: WJCT Public Broadcasting • Florida Times-Union 6 JAXSYMPHONY.ORG – SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2017

MUSIC DIRECTOR Courtney Lewis Music Director, Haskell Endowed Chair With clear artistic vision, subtle musicality and innovative programming, Courtney Lewis has established himself as one of his generation’s most talented conductors. The 2017/18 season will mark his third season as music director of the Jacksonville Symphony.

Highlights of the past season included engagements with the Dallas Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.

Since his debut in November 2008 with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, he has appeared with the Atlanta Symphony, Washington National Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Houston Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra and Ulster Orchestra, among others.

As a young conductor, Courtney Lewis has served as assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic, associate conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra and Dudamel Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

RENEE PARENTEAU

From 2008 to 2014, Courtney Lewis was the music director of Boston’s acclaimed Discovery Ensemble, a chamber orchestra dedicated not only to giving concerts of contemporary and established repertoire at the highest level of musical and technical excellence, but also bringing live music into the least privileged parts of Boston with workshops in local schools.

Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Lewis read music at the University of Cambridge during which time he studied composition with Robin Holloway and clarinet with Dame Thea King. After completing a master’s degree with a focus on the late music of György Ligeti, he attended the Royal Northern College of Music, where his teachers included Sir Mark Elder and Clark Rundell.

ENCORE 7

SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS Officers

David M. Strickland, Chair Tim Cost, Vice Chair Michael Imbriani, Treasurer Elizabeth Lovett Colledge, Secretary Robert Massey, President and CEO

Executive Committee

Don Baldwin, Marketing Committee Chair Gilchrist Berg, Vision 2020 Campaign Co-Chair Carl Cannon, Vision 2020 Campaign Co-Chair R. Chris Doerr, At-Large Member Margaret Gomez, Foundation Board Chair Randolph R. Johnson, Development Committee Chair Matthew S. McAfee, Immediate Past Board Chair John Surface, At-Large Member Randall C. Tinnin, Programming Committee Chair Gwendolyn “Gwen” Yates, Governance Committee Chair

Board of Directors

Sandra Sue Ashby, ex officio Martha Barrett Karen Bower J.F. Bryan, IV Chung-Hae Casler Tyler Dann Barbara Darby Jack Dickison, ex officio Michael Drexler Anne H. Hopkins Wesley Jennison Susan Jones Charles S. Joseph Allison Keller Ross Krueger Anne Lufrano Elizabeth McAlhany Sheila McLenaghan Rick Moyer W. Ross Singletary III Douglas Worth

Foundation Board Margaret Gomez, Chair Gilchrist Berg R. Chris Doerr Peter Karpen

Multicultural Advisory Council African-American Council Mr. Mark Chapman Ms. Betty Collier Dr. Barbara Darby Dr. Helen Jackson Mrs. Pamela Prier Ms. Willetta Richie Mr. Henry L. Rivers Mrs. Patricia Sams Ms. Veronica Tutt Ms. Felicia Wilcox Reverend Barry Wright Hispanic-American Council Mrs. Alicia Burst Mr. Rafael Caldera Mr. Gil Colon Mr. Victor Cora Dr. Barbara Darby Mr. Wilfredo Gonzalez Mrs. Maribel Hernandez Mr. Ed Perez Ms. Betzy Santiago

Honorary Directors Ruth Conley David W. Foerster Preston H. Haskell Robert E. Jacoby Frances Bartlett Kinne Mary Carr Patton Robert T. Shircliff Mary Ellen Smith Jay Stein James Van Vleck James H. Winston

8 JAXSYMPHONY.ORG – SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2017

Past Board Chairs

Olin E. Watts, Founding President Wellington W. Cummer Hugh R. Dowling Giles J. Patterson Carl S. Swisher Gert H. W. Schmidt Robert R. Bowen Roger L. Main Charles L. Hoffman Hugh Abernethy Archie J. Freels Harold K. Smith Jacob F. Bryan, III Ira M. Koger J. Shepard Bryan, Jr. Randall C. Berg W. E. Grissett, Jr. B. Cecil West James C. Blanton David C. Hastings Alford C. Sinclair Constance S. Green Arthur W. Milam John H. McCallum Preston H. Haskell Sylvia F. “Tibby” Sinclair J. F. Bryan, IV David W. Foerster E. William Nash, Jr. James H. Winston Robert T. Shircliff Robert O. Purcifull Carl N. Cannon Phillip E. Wright Jay Stein Mary Ellen Smith R. Travis Storey John S. Peyton A. R. “Pete” Carpenter Steven T. Halverson Gerald J. Pollack James Van Vleck R. Chris Doerr Richard H. Pierpont Martin F. Connor, III Matthew S. McAfee

The Jacksonville Symphony Association gratefully acknowledges the generosity of the following individuals, businesses and foundations: Gifts to the Annual Fund between July 1, 2016 and August 9, 2017 ∆ Designates a gift in-kind * Designates deceased

PRESIDENT’S COUNCIL $100,000+ Berg Family Charitable Foundation BRASS Ruth Conley in memory of Paul Conley Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville Fidelity National Financial Mrs. Josephine Flaherty Florida Blue Florida State College of Jacksonville ∆ Monica and Bob Jacoby

$50,000 - $99,000 Anonymous gift in honor of the City Rescue Mission Staff bestbet Jacksonville Doolittle Family Foundation Florida Department of State Florida Times-Union Mayo Clinic Mrs. C. Herman Terry

$25,000 - $49,999 Mr. and Mrs. John D. Baker II Mr. and Mrs. J. F. Bryan, IV Tim and Stephanie Cost Stephen and Suzanne Day Deutsche Bank Chris and Stephanie Doerr Donald C. McGraw Foundation DuBow Family Foundation EverBank Haskell Weaver Family Foundation Fund Jessie Ball duPont Fund Anne and Robert Lufrano Mr. and Mrs. Matthew S. McAfee Omni Hotel and Resorts ∆ PGA Tour Regency Centers Robert D. and Isabelle T. Davis Endowment Fund Roger L. and Rochelle S. Main Charitable Trust Valdemar Joost Kroier Endowment Fund VyStar Credit Union Quentin and Louise* Wood

ENCORE 9

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10 JAXSYMPHONY.ORG – SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2017

ABOUT THE JACKSONVILLE SYMPHONY

As Music Director Courtney Lewis begins his third season at the conductor’s podium, the Jacksonville Symphony celebrates an expanded 2017/2018 season that promises more weeks of music reaching more people than ever before.

Last year’s record attendance of 255,000 individuals is sure to be broken this season. As the concert schedule expands to 38 weeks, there are new events along more artists that will make the season shine. The Daily’s Place Symphony Series which will debut with the film, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, performed with live orchestra soundtrack will be a first of its kind partnership between a symphony and a NFL team.

The Jacksonville Symphony is one of Northeast Florida’s most important cultural institutions. Founded in 1949, the Symphony is ranked among the nation’s top regional orchestras. The Symphony’s home, Robert E. Jacoby Hall, is considered to be an acoustic gem. Each year thousands enjoy the Symphony’s performances both at Jacoby Hall in the TimesUnion Center for the Performing Arts and at venues located throughout Northeast Florida.

The Symphony is also the community’s leader in music education for children, serving four county school districts. In addition to offering free tickets to children under the age of 18 for selected Masterworks

and other special youth pricing, there are several programs to foster music education. This year the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestras is under the direction of Assistant Conductor and JSYO Principal Conductor Deanna Tham. As part of the JSYO’s activities, they will be gearing up to play in Los Angeles’ famous Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall this coming June as one of just three student orchestras invited to perform in the Los Angeles International Music Festival.

Over the years the Jacksonville Symphony has hosted some of the most renowned artists of the music world including Isaac Stern, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Marilyn Horne, Luciano Pavarotti, Itzhak Perlman, Kathleen Battle, Mstislav Rostopovich, Audra McDonald, Joshua Bell and Lang Lang. This year the Symphony will host the incomparable Renée Fleming for the January 2018 Gala.

Our season would not be possible without the generosity of our donors, patrons and volunteers. We thank them and all our patrons for their support.

For more information about the Jacksonville Symphony, please visit www.Facebook.com/JaxSymphony, follow us on Twitter @JaxSymphony, and on Instagram at JaxSymphony.

ENCORE 11

THE ORCHESTRA

Anthony Anurca SECOND/CONTRA BASSOON

Katherine Caliendo SECOND HORN

Tristan Clarke

ASSOCIATE CONCERTMASTER

Melissa Barrett

BASS TROMBONE

Chris Bassett

Patrick Bilanchone

Aaron Brask

Andrew Bruck

Rhonda Cassano

Kevin Casseday

Laurie Casseday

Christopher Chappell

Chi-Yin Chen

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL SECOND VIOLIN

VIOLIN

Conrad Cornelison

Clinton Dewing

Aurelia Duca

Patrice Evans

Ileana Fernandez

Kayo Ishimaru Fleisher

Dr. Hugh A Carithers Endowed Chair

SECOND FLUTE

Kacy Clopton

PRINCIPAL TRUMPET

ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL CELLO

Kenneth Every

Betsy Federman

PRINCIPAL TIMPANI

Jiayi Huang VIOLA

CELLO

Max Huls VIOLIN

BASS

PRINCIPAL BASSOON

PRINCIPAL KEYBOARD

Vernon Humbert CELLO

12 JAXSYMPHONY.ORG – SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2017

BASS

CELLO

VIOLIN

PRINCIPAL HARP

James Jenkins PRINCIPAL TUBA

THIRD HORN

PRINCIPAL SECOND VIOLIN

Kevin Garry

VIOLIN

VIOLIN

Annie Hertler

SECTION PERCUSSION

The George V. Grune Endowed Chair

Ran Kampel

Cynthia Kempf

PRINCIPAL CLARINET

VIOLIN

VIOLA

THE ORCHESTRA

Colin Kiely VIOLA

Brian Magnus CELLO

Susan Pardue

Ilana Kimel

Mark Knowles

VIOLIN

FOURTH HORN

Steve Merrill

Ellen Caruso Olson

PRINCIPAL PERCUSSION

VIOLA

Jonathan Kuo VIOLIN

Eric Olson

PRINCIPAL OBOE

Jason Lindsay BASS

Brian Osborne THIRD/UTILITY TRUMPET

Todd Lockwood

ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL BASS

Joel Panian

SECTION PERCUSSION

VIOLA

PRINCIPAL TROMBONE

Jeffrey Peterson

Jorge A. Peña Portillo VIOLA

PRINCIPAL HORN

SECOND OBOE

PRINCIPAL FLUTE

Alexei Romanenko

Paul Strasshofer

Piotr Szewczyk

Carol Whitman

John Wieland

Yuping Zhou

PRINCIPAL CELLO

BASS

VIOLIN

Kevin Reid

VIOLIN

Daniel Rios

PRINCIPAL BASS

Les Roettges

VIOLIN

The Musicians of the Jacksonville Symphony are proudly represented by the American Federation of Musicians, Local 444.

Backstage Employees are proudly represented by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (I.A.T.S.E.) Local 115, Saul Lucio, Business Agent.

ENCORE 13

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14 JAXSYMPHONY.ORG – SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2017

EQUITY

MAKING MAGIC

by Richard A. Salkin “Ah, music. A magic beyond all we do here.” – J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone While you were enjoying your lazy, sultry Summer, a ton of changes have been taking shape at the Jacksonville Symphony. For the 2017/18 season, expect new and exciting variations on a few themes, punctuated from start to finish by moments of magic and wonder that’ll delight seasoned subscribers and newcomers: changes in the orchestra itself, the season and the programming.

The Symphony evolves “One of the first things you’ll notice are several new faces onstage,” said Symphony CEO Robert Massey. “Recent retirements, as well as musicians moving on to larger orchestras have made for a busy audition season this summer,” he explained.

Among the new arrivals are Principal Clarinet Ran Kampel, Principal Bassoon Conrad Cornelison and Associate Principal Cello Kacy Clopton.

“It’s exciting,” said Music Director Courtney Lewis, who is entering his third season. “Part of my responsibilities include crafting the Symphony’s signature sound. That shifts as our roster of talented musicians continue to evolve.”

“In this he has succeeded magnificently,” Massey said. “Courtney has had an incredible impact on the orchestra. It’s amazing to see the music come alive onstage.”

Choosing a concertmaster One of the most impactful personnel changes will be the Symphony’s concertmaster—a position held by Philip Pan until he retired earlier this year. Massey describes it as “the second most important artistic position in the Symphony.” As audience members, we know the concertmaster tunes the orchestra, leads the string section and performs solo violin passages. But there’s

far more to it than that. The concertmaster is a key representative of the Symphony to the public, conducts media interviews, participates in post-concert receptions and other special events.

A number of candidates will vie for the title, which will include a demanding process that tests each candidate’s mettle. “Each finalist will be here for a minimum of two weeks,” Massey explained. “They’ll have an internal audition, performing solo, chamber music and orchestral excerpts with the orchestra.

Candidates will also perform at least one Masterworks performance as well as an additional week of concerts.” At the end of the process, the audition committee, which includes a broad spectrum of musicians, senior leadership, board members and Music Director Courtney Lewis, will name a winner.

An evolutionary season The season itself develops some themes we’re already familiar with and some that are entirely new. “There’s an emphasis on music from composers and styles people know,” Lewis said, “yet there’ll be specific pieces Jacksonville audiences haven’t heard performed here before.” Thus we’ll be treated to longoverdue Jacksonville premieres of Carl Nielsen’s spectacular Fourth Symphony (written in 1916 and compellingly subtitled “The Inextinguishable”) and Sir Edward Elgar’s wholesome and aspirational First Symphony.

ENCORE 15

The modern and romantic periods are well represented again this season. In fact, the very first notes on opening night will belong to John Adams’ The Chairman Dances: Foxtrot for Orchestra, drawn from the composer’s 1987 opera Nixon in China. Imagine if you will: “the hilarious sight of Chairman Mao, who was said to be interested in ballroom dancing,” Lewis explained. That’s followed by the beloved Sibelius Violin Concerto, featuring renowned soloist Charlie Siem, and Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, one of the romantic period’s most enduring masterpieces.

Kazem Abdullah

Programming initiatives all season long Last year, the Symphony and the musicians’ union signed a fiveyear contract, which goes into effect this season. The agreement creates the stability needed to support long-term planning, while it lets musicians and management focus on doing what they do best. Massey said “It’s also great news for the concert-going public because it allows for several important programming initiatives—starting with opening night itself.”

Longer Season: “We’re expanding the season from 35 to 38 weeks,” he said. “As a direct result of the contract agreement, there will be five additional weekends of symphonic activity that the community will be able to enjoy.” For the second year in a row, the Masterworks series will include 12 programs.

Pops: Look for another strong Pops lineup—including the Mambo Kings, the Doo Wop Project, the Magic of the Movies, Crazy Arc of Love, Legends (featuring acclaimed vocalist N’Kenge soloing in songs by Diana Ross, Billie Holliday, Beyoncé and other stars), Windborne’s Music of David Bowie, an evening of songs

by Rodgers and Hammerstein and a patriotic Memorial Day concert. There’ll also be a movie performed with live Symphony accompaniment: Raiders of the Lost Ark, as well as our annual favorites: Holiday Pops, The Nutcracker and The Messiah.

Gala: The mid-season Symphony Gala, now in its third year,

If you love symphonies, you’re in luck. In addition to the Tchaikovsky, the cycle of Sibelius and Bruckner symphonies continues this season, along with more familiar works in the same form by Dvořák, Shostakovich, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Beethoven, Hanson and Prokofiev.

Prepare to be dazzled by world-class instrumental soloists throughout the season too. We’ll hear the Jacksonville Symphony perform with pianists Jonathan Biss, Zhang Zuo, Behzod Abduraimov and Sergey Neller; violinists Tai Murray and Anthony Marwood; and cellist Julian Schwartz. In addition to Lewis’ own performances at the podium, the new season features concerts led by Sergey Neller and Kazem Abdullah, along with Associate Conductor Nathan Aspinall and the return of Jacksonville Symphony alumnus Fabio Mechetti.

Lewis pointed out that the new season will also boast worldclass vocalists, reflecting “Jacksonville’s growing international reputation as well as my own love of opera and the voice.” We’ll hear Jennifer Johnston in Mahler’s Rückert Lieder; Jessica Pray and Bryan Murray in the Fauré Requiem; Metropolitan Opera stars Christine Brewer and Jay Hunter Morris in selections from Wagner’s epic music drama Götterdämmerung in the season finale (“Easily the biggest project we’ve attempted in my time,” Lewis added); and the radiant soprano Renée Fleming, singing one of her signature pieces, Richard Strauss’s lush and transcendent Four Last Songs, for the Symphony Gala.

16 JAXSYMPHONY.ORG – SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2017

will take place on January 20, 2018. “We’ve had tremendous success with these black-tie events,” Massey said. “Continuing the momentum, this year’s event includes a gourmet dinner and a concert that showcases internationally celebrated soprano Renée Fleming.”

Renée Fleming

Daily’s Place Symphony Series: The new season will

introduce a new series of historic significance: the first-ever collaboration between a NFL team and their city’s symphony orchestra. Partnering with the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Bold Events group, the Symphony will perform four concerts this season at Daily’s Place, the new 5,500-seat venue adjacent to EverBank Stadium. The series will kick-off on October 14 with the film, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, performed with live orchestral soundtrack.

Special Presentations: The Symphony will perform two more movies: Home Alone and It’s a Wonderful Life. Organ lovers will not want to miss a special recital featuring the Bryan Concert Organ along with the Symphony’s wind, brass and percussion sections. The Family Series will celebrate all things astronomical with Lift Off! An Air and Space Adventure on November 5 and Appalachian Spring on February 11. Concerts start at 3pm but come early so the little ones can participate in the Instrument Zoo. Other performances include a festival of new music, EarShot!, as well as a special Earth Day performance, Become Ocean.

Community: The Symphony remains committed to bringing

music to the people with performances outside of Jacoby Hall.

Appearances at the November 1st Art Walk, Bethel Baptist Institutional Church (Nov. 2nd), Jacksonville Beach’s SeaWalk Pavilion (Nov. 3rd) and Amelia Island (Nov. 4th) will be the start of the free-of-charge community series.

“No other orchestra is doing anything like this,” Massey said.

“We’re committed to taking the Symphony out into the community. These performances create an incredible opportunity to increase the accessibility, diversity and breadth of programming. We are proud to be the Symphony of Jacksonville.”

So strap yourself in and get ready for some symphonic magic.

ENCORE 17

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FO R 2017 AU D I T I O N I N FO R MAT ION: 18 JAXSYMPHONY.ORG – SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2017

(9 0 4 ) 3 4 6 -5 6 2 0 , E X T. 1 0 1 • DA -A RT S . ORG

SPECIAL PRESENTATION Saturday, September 16, 2017 l 8 pm

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)

Robert E. Jacoby Symphony Hall, Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts

Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47

FANFARE!

AN OPENING NIGHT CELEBRATION

A failed violin virtuoso is responsible for what has surely become the most popular violin concerto composed in the 20th century.

Though he knew he would never play it himself, Sibelius poured into the concerto all his love for the instrument and his understanding of its peculiar lyric qualities.

Courtney Lewis, conductor Haskell Endowed Chair

Charlie Siem, violin John ADAMS

The Chairman Dances (Foxtrot for Orchestra)

Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47 Jean SIBELIUS Allegro moderato

Adagio di molto

Allegro, ma non tanto

12:00

31:00

~ Intermission ~ 20:00 Piotr Ilyich Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64 TCHAIKOVSKY Andante – Allegro con anima

Andante cantabile con alcuna licenza

Valse: Allegro moderato

Finale: Andante maestoso – Allegro vivace

44:00

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Omni Jacksonville Hotel is the official hotel of the Jacksonville Symphony.

PROGRAM NOTES

By Steven Ledbetter

John Adams (1947-present) The Chairman Dances (Foxtrot for Orchestra) John Adams was trained in Massachusetts but moved to California where he began to write in a style then called minimalism (though his own music has long since passed far beyond that term). In 1987 he accomplished a remarkable feat by producing a successful opera, Nixon in China, based on a modern day topic and featuring real people, including a recent American president, as the characters.

Jointly conceived by Adams, librettist Alice

Goodman and director Peter Sellars, Nixon in China has been staged widely and filmed for television. While working on the opera, Adams created a particular kind of music for a scene in the closing act in Mao Tse-tung was dancing with his wife (a former movie star). He wrote a theme in the style of ‘30s movie music, thinking of it as an independent piece. Later he found that the same music worked in a slower, poignant mood, for a scene of Pat and Dick Nixon reminiscing about their early years.

The concert piece, played here, is bouncy and buoyant, offering a modern composer’s idea of a Hollywood foxtrot from, say, 70 years ago.

In September 1902, he wrote to his wife that he had just conceived “a marvelous opening idea” for a violin concerto, and if he was speaking of the way that the work begins in its finished form, “marvelous” is indeed the term to apply.

Against a hushed D-minor chord played by the strings of the orchestra, tremolo, the soloist enters delicately on a dissonant note, yearning as it leans into the chord. The magic begins already during the first few seconds of the piece.

But it takes more than a wonderful opening idea to generate a large-scale work. Sibelius struggled with it for years. He drank heavily and even virtually insulted the German violinist, Willy Burmester, who had encouraged him to write such a piece. In the 1890s, when Sibelius was beginning to make his mark as a composer, Burmester had spent some time as the concertmaster in Helsinki, and he had become a champion of the budding composer. Upon receiving the complete work, Burmester was enraptured “Wonderful! Masterly!” he wrote.

“Only once before have I spoken in such terms to a composer, and that was when Tchaikovsky showed me his concerto!”

The violinist proposed to premiere it in Berlin in March 1904, where his fame as a soloist would have guaranteed something of a splash. But Sibelius found himself in a fiscal emergency and he scheduled a concert of his works in Helsinki, with the new concerto as its centerpiece. But Burmester was unable to appear at that time. Instead, Sibelius made a choice that guaranteed failure, by offering the premiere to an undistinguished violin teacher named Viktor Novaček. Neither soloist nor orchestra were up to the demands of the piece, and one of the leading critics, Karl Flodin, a long-standing supporter of Sibelius, wrote that the concerto was “a mistake.”

SIBELIUS (continued on next page) ENCORE 19

Charlie Siem, violin Charlie Siem is one of today’s foremost young violinists. Born in London to a Norwegian father and British mother, he began to play the violin at the age of three after hearing a broadcast of Yehudi Menuhin playing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. Siem was educated at Eton College before reading Music as an undergraduate at Cambridge University. From 1998 to 2004 he studied with Itzhak Rashkovsky in London at the Royal College of Music, and from 2004 he has been mentored

by Shlomo Mintz.

Siem has appeared with many of the world’s finest orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He has worked with conductors such as Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Yuri Simonov, Sir Roger Norrington and Edward Gardner.

Recent and forthcoming performances include a Norwegian recital tour with Itamar Golan, and concerto appearances with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, and Camerata Salzburg. Siem has just made his Hong Kong debut with the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong.

Currently signed with Sony Classical, Siem has a varied discography. His recordings include performances with the London Symphony Orchestra (Warner Classics, 2011) and Münchner Rundfunkorchester (Sony Classical, 2014).

A great believer in giving to worthwhile causes, Siem is an ambassador of The Prince’s Trust.

He is also a Visiting Professor at Leeds College of Music and he gives masterclasses around the world – most recently at the Royal College of Music, London. In 2016, he became a Visiting Professor at Nanjing University of the Arts.

Siem is passionate about bringing classical music to new audiences around the world and has revived the age-old violinistic tradition of composing virtuosic variations of popular themes.

He has done this alongside artists including Bryan Adams, Jamie Cullum and The Who. In 2014, he wrote his first composition “Canopy” for solo violin and string orchestra. It was commissioned

by CBS Watch and recorded with the English Chamber Orchestra. Siem has also had numerous violin inspired collaborations with fashion brands including Dunhill, Armani, Boss and Dior working to bring classical music to a wider audience.

Charlie Siem plays the 1735 Guarneri del Gesù violin, known as the ‘D’Egville’.

SIBELIUS (continued from previous page)

Nonetheless, Burmester wrote to Sibelius, generously overlooked the slight to himself, and offered again to play the piece in October 1904, nobly promising, “All my 25 years’ stage experience, my artistry and insight will be placed to serve this work...I shall play the concerto in Helsingfors in such a way that the city will be at your feet!” But Sibelius was determined to revise the work before allowing another performance. He dawdled with the changes until 1905, when his publisher told him that he had gotten the concerto scheduled in a prestigious concert series directed by Richard Strauss. By this time, Burmester was unavailable and the solo part was given to Karl Halir. After the second slight, Burmester never played the piece that he had been the prime mover in bringing to creation.

The revisions to the Violin Concerto were far more drastic than simply touching up details of the scoring, such as composers usually undertake after a first round of rehearsals and

performances of a new piece. Referring to what he considered the flaws in the work as his “secret sorrow,” Sibelius insisted that the revision would not be ready for two years, though he managed to accomplish them in about a month. Taking Flodin’s critique of the first version very much to heart, Sibelius greatly reduced the amount of sheer virtuosic display in the solo part. The first movement had contained two solo cadenzas, the second of which was possibly inspired by Bach’s works for unaccompanied violin; it disappeared in the revision. He also shortened the finale. Only the slow movement, which was met with general favor at the premiere, remains substantially unchanged. The original version was more dramatic, more rugged, closer perhaps to the spirit of Beethoven, and certainly more virtuosic. The final version of the concerto, which has become established as one of the handful of most popular violin concertos of all time, has more of a lyric quality without denying itself a strong symphonic development in the opening movement, a heartfelt song

20 JAXSYMPHONY.ORG – SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2017

in the slow movement or the wonderful galumphing dance (“evidently a polonaise for polar bears,” as Donald Francis Tovey once wrote) in the rondo of the finale.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64 By 1888, when Tchaikovsky composed the Fifth Symphony, he was far from being the hypersensitive, virtually neurotic, artist of popular accounts. To be sure, he had gone through a major emotional crisis ten years earlier, brought on by his catastrophic marriage (undertaken partly in an attempt to “overcome” his homosexuality) and a series of artistic setbacks. The masterly achievement of the Fourth Symphony had marked the end of the real crisis. In the decade that followed, Tchaikovsky had composed the violin concerto, the three orchestral suites, Manfred, four

operas, his piano trio and much more – hardly a sign of inability to deal with life’s pressures!

Tchaikovsky completed the full score of the symphony on August 17, 1888 and the premiere, which took place in St. Petersburg that November, was a success. In March 1889, Tchaikovsky went to Hamburg for the German premiere. There he found Brahms staying in the same hotel and was gratified to learn that the German composer had remained an extra day just to hear the first rehearsal of his new work. The two composers had lunch after the rehearsal “and quite a few drinks,” Tchaikovsky wrote to his brother Modest. “Neither he nor the players liked the Finale, which I also think rather horrible.” Yet, a week later the composer wrote, “The players by degrees came to appreciate the symphony more and more, and at the last rehearsal they gave me an ovation.

The concert was also a success. Best of all – I have stopped disliking the symphony.”

Later he wrote even more positively, “I have started to love it again.”

Certainly audiences have loved the symphony for nearly a century for its warmth, its color, its rich fund of melody. Tchaikovsky always wrote music with “heart,” music with an underlying emotional significance, though he was wary of revealing that meaning publicly, preferring to let the listener seek it personally. Still, for his own use, before starting in on the composition, he planned a rough program for the first movement: Introduction. Complete resignation before Fate, or, which is the same, before the inscrutable predestination of Providence.

Allegro (I) Murmurs, doubts, plaints, reproaches against xxx. (II) Shall I throw myself in the embraces of faith???

The mysterious “xxx” probably refers to the same thing usually discussed in his diary as “Z” or “That” – namely his homosexuality (if revealed publicly, this could have been very embarrassing, or worse, for the composer).

The program for the first movement and the music of the symphony as a whole suggest a somewhat philosophical acceptance of his nature, coming by the finale to the realization of some peace of mind.

The first movement opens with a motto theme that might be identified with “Providence.”

The motto features a dotted rhythmic figure in the clarinet, supported by a plagal harmony suggesting resignation. It recurs in each of the symphony’s four movements. This yields to a syncopated tune in the clarinets and bassoons, answered by variants of the same material and sudden fortissimo outbursts. At a moment of

sudden quiet, a new theme rises expressively in the strings with a delicate answer in the woodwinds. Using Tchaikovsky’s preliminary plan as a guide, it might well be possible to identify the murmurs, the reproaches, and the embrace of faith in the various sections. The movement eventually dies away in a subdued march, still retaining a degree of tension as it fades away into silence.

The finale is the most problematic movement of the symphony. Having just heard a reminder of the motto theme, understated and threatening, at the end of the waltz movement, we suddenly encounter the motto at the opening of the finale firmly in E major, as if the earlier minor mode had simply been an accident. There is no hard-won battle of major over minor here, as in Beethoven’s

The second movement contains one of the most famous instrumental solos ever written, an ardent song for the horn, with an important pendant for oboe. The opening is marked by emotional intensity, calling for subtle adjustments to the tempo every few measures.

The contrasting middle section builds to a feverish climax dramatically interrupted by the motto theme blared out by the full orchestra.

The strings softly sing the horn’s melody with the oboe’s gentle countermelody. Gradually this theme builds to another climax and seems to be dying away when the motto theme bursts in again, allowing only a few broken phrases, devoid of energy, to bring the movement to a close. By this point, the motto suggests more precisely “Fate.”

Fifth Symphony (the evident model for this symphony). The victory seems too easily won.

Fortunately, the motto and its development soon give way to the main formal structure of the movement, with a vigorous E-minor chordal theme in the strings and a broader melody in the woodwinds. The motto leads off the development section, though the development thereafter continues working out the other themes.

Traditionally the third movement of a symphony is in some sort of dance meter, usually in triple time, but few composers have written a fullscale waltz at this point, and even fewer have managed one of such grace and breadth, so evocative of the ballet. A gossamer thread of staccato sixteenthnote figures runs through the middle section deftly supported by the remainder of the orchestra. The full waltz is heard again, only to be undercut at the end by a hushed reminder of the motto theme in clarinets and bassoons.

Following the recapitulation, the rhythm of the motto builds to a massive climax and grand pause. Now the motto appears in an apotheosis of marching chords and swirling woodwind figures with a rich counterpoint in the brass. The last strain of the coda is a statement, now ringing and heroic, of what had been a nervously syncopated little tune early in the first movement. The doubts and tensions of the earlier movements have been overcome by putting on a bold front, and there is no question that it has all been bravely done. But Brahms, at least, had his doubts, and Tchaikovsky, in certain moods, anyway, did not disagree. He knew at heart that he was whistling in the dark – but it is a brave whistle that provides the courage to go on. © Steven Ledbetter (www.stevenledbetter.com)

ENCORE 21

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235 Towerview Drive, St. Augustine, FL 32092

POPS SERIES Friday & Saturday, September 22 & 23, 2017 l 8 pm Sunday, September 24, 2017 l 3 pm

Mambo Kings

Robert E. Jacoby Symphony Hall, Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts

Afro-Cuban jazz is one of the earliest forms of Latin Jazz and combines clave-based, Afro-Cuban rhythms with jazz harmonies and improvisation. Although readily performed today, this genre’s origins can be traced back almost 200 years ago!

MAMBO KINGS Nathan Aspinall, conductor

The Mambo Kings, guest artists

Mambo Kings Act I

LECUONA/arr. Gould

30:00

Gitanerías

DELANEY Melodia BRUBEK/arr. Delaney

Blue Mambo A La Turk

DELANEY Nostalgia SHORTER/arr. Valentin

Footprints

HERNANDEZ/arr. Delaney

El Cumbanchero

~ Intermission ~ 20:00

Mambo Kings Act II 41:00

BIZET

Selections from Carmen Suite No. 2

LENNON-McCARTNEY/arr. Delaney

Day Tripper

PIAZZOLLA/arr. Delaney

Milonga Del Angel

DELANEY Marinera DELANEY Danzon CAMILO Caribe PUENTE/arr. Delaney

Oye Como Va Sponsored in part by

In the 1880s, the Spanish slave trade brought African slaves into Cuba. Because of this, there is little surprise that Cuban music is so deeply rooted in African ritual and rhythm. The sound of Cuban jazz can be traced back to nearly the same time as the beginning of jazz in the U.S. An exchange of music and recordings between musicians in Cuba and the US (particularly New Orleans) is what built the close relations between the musical histories.

A combination of the two, Afro-Cuban jazz, first emerged in the early 1940s. Its true birth is often credited to trumpeter-arranger Mario Bauza who headed a band in New York. When Bauza introduced fellow trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie to famed Cuban percussionist Chano Pozo, a match was made that would change the course of the musical genre. With the introduction of bongos and congas (both of which will be heard tonight) Afro-Cuban jazz hit the East Coast jazz scene in the US and the rest is history!

Tonight’s program features different types of Afro-Cuban jazz including the popular dance types of mambo, milonga, and danzón. Dust off your dancing shoes, jump out of your seat and let Mambo Kings carry you away with jamming rhythms and vibrant melodies!

Students at the Symphony is supported in part by The DuBow Family Foundation Dana’s Limousine is the official transportation of the Jacksonville Symphony.

Omni Jacksonville Hotel is the official hotel of the Jacksonville Symphony.

ENCORE 23

Tony Padilla

Freddy Colón

MAMBO KINGS Richard DeLaney

Mambo Kings, together since 1995, are enjoying great success as Upstate New York’s foremost Latin jazz ensemble and have rapidly earned a national reputation for their explosive blend of Afro-Cuban rhythms and jazz improvisation.

Since their orchestral debut in 1997 with the Rochester Philharmonic, Mambo Kings have appeared at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival and in pops concerts with orchestras in Baltimore, Vancouver, Detroit, Dallas, Naples (FL) and Portland (OR), among many others, performing original compositions and arrangements by pianist Richard DeLaney.

As a quintet, Mambo Kings have appeared as featured soloists at the 2003 and 2008 Xerox Rochester International Jazz Fest, the Music in the Mountains Festival in Colorado and the Lewiston (NY) Jazz Fest.

Mambo Kings’ musical director and pianist Richard DeLaney, born and raised in Lima, Peru, has been an active jazz pianist, arranger and composer in Rochester since earning a Master’s Degree from the Eastman School of Music in 1978. He has written and performed music for film, television, the stage and the concert hall. He has performed with the Rochester Philharmonic and the Rochester Chamber Orchestra, as well as numerous bandleaders in Rochester. His original compositions and arrangements for orchestra have been performed throughout the US and Canada, by symphonies including Baltimore, Dallas and Vancouver. DeLaney produced three recordings for Mambo Kings – Marinera (2003), Live! (2005) and Nostalgia (2008) – on their own label, Mambokingdom Music. Richard joined the piano faculty of the Hochstein School of Music in 1985 and has directed the school’s Jazz Ensemble Program since 2001.

24 JAXSYMPHONY.ORG – SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2017

John Viavattine

Hector Diaz

Percussionist Freddy Colón (drums, timbales, bongos) has performed with Aretha Franklin, Tito Puente, Soneros Del Barrio, Johnny Rivera, El Cano and Paquito Acosta. He teaches percussion at the Eastman School of Music’s Community Education Division and is much in demand as a percussion clinician in the Rochester area.

Saxophonist John Viavattine has been an accomplished woodwind specialist in Rochester for many years. John has toured with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, including a memorable performance in Washington, D.C. at President Reagan’s 1980 Inaugural Ball. He has also performed with Chuck and Gap Mangione, Jeff Tyzik and the Rochester Philharmonic, The Temptations, Ray Charles, Patti Page, Connie Francis, Vic Damone and Lou Rawls.

Bassist Hector Diaz has been playing with bands in the western New York area since the age of 13. He has performed with Ismael Miranda, Hector Tricoche, “El Cano” Estremera, Paquito Acosta, Zafra Negra, Luisito Rosario, Wendell Rivera and Johnny Rivera. While in the Army, Hector toured with an All Soldiers show throughout Army bases in South Korea.

Percussionist Tony Padilla (congas) was born and raised in Rochester.

A self-taught percussionist, he began playing at age 12 and has been performing professionally since the age of 14. He has played with artists such as Paquito D’Rivera, Arturo Sandoval, Lou Gramm, The Maelstrom Percussion Ensemble and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Since 1983, Padilla has been conducting clinics and workshops throughout the United States, including The Eastman School of Music, The New York State Teachers Music Association, The Percussive Arts Society and a variety of colleges and high schools.

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CONCERT PRIVILEGES Early access to Listen Up Chamber Concert Tickets 10% off all single tickets Complimentary upgrades to a pair of concert tickets Exclusive right to reserve valet and concessions in advance Access to private lounge before Coffee Series concerts 2 one-time passes to Florence N. Davis Gallery intermission receptions Complimentary tickets to all Listen Up Chamber Concerts Access to private pre-concert Davis Gallery space Intermission receptions at all subscription concerts VIP Ticketing Concierge Complimentary Valet Parking SPECIAL EVENTS – TICKETS AND INVITATIONS TO EXCLUSIVE DONOR EVENTS Donor Appreciation Concert Sound Bites Open Rehearsals Premium Evening Open Rehearsals Donor Appreciation Season Announcement Breakfast Major/Minor concert tickets Candlelight Conversations pre-concert dinners Post-concert artist meet and greets On-stage Rehearsals EXTRA PERKS AND RECOGNITION Donor-exclusive CD recording Recognition in Encore program book Advance invitation to Annual Gala Recognition on Times-Union Pillar Invitation to travel with the Symphony Symphony Association voting member status Host a group of 25 or more at a private open rehearsal Complimentary lunch at all Sound Bites events Concert dedication evening for up to 8 guests Receive a CD signed by one guest artist of your choice Tailored recognition, access and privileges ENCORE 25

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11401 Old St. Augustine Rd. (at I-295), Jacksonville, FL 32258 / 904-260-1818 / www.rivergarden.org 26 JAXSYMPHONY.ORG – SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2017

COFFEE SERIES MASTERWORKS SERIES

Coffee Series: Friday, September 29, 2017 l 11 am Masterworks Series: Friday & Saturday, September 29 & 30, 2017 l 8 pm

PROGRAM NOTES

By Steven Ledbetter

“Insight” one hour prior to each Masterworks concert

Robert E. Jacoby Symphony Hall, Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts

BEETHOVEN AND THE BLIND BANISTER Courtney Lewis, conductor Haskell Endowed Chair

Jonathan Biss, piano

Raymond James Coffee Series Franz Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, D. 485 SCHUBERT Allegro Andante con moto Menuetto: Allegro molto Allegro vivace

27:00

Jean Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 82 SIBELIUS Tempo molto moderato: Allegro moderato-Presto Andante mosso, quasi allegretto Allegro molto: Misterioso

30:00

The Coffee Concert is hosted by the Jacksonville Symphony Guild.

Coffee and tea are provided by Martin Coffee Company, Inc.

Florida Blue Masterworks Series Franz Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, D. 485 SCHUBERT Allegro Andante con moto Menuetto: Allegro molto Allegro vivace

27:00

Timo The Blind Banister; Concerto for Piano ANDRES and Chamber Orchestra

23:00

~ Intermission ~ 20:00 Ludwig van Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 19 BEETHOVEN Allegro con brio Adagio Rondo: Molto allegro

28:00

Jean Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 82 SIBELIUS Tempo molto moderato: Allegro moderato-Presto Andante mosso, quasi allegretto Allegro molto: Misterioso

30:00

Masterworks Series concerts presented by

Students at the Symphony is supported in part by: Dana’s Limousine is the official transportation of the Jacksonville Symphony.

Omni Jacksonville Hotel is the official hotel of the Jacksonville Symphony.

Franz Schubert

(1797-1828)

Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, D.485 As a young choirboy in the Imperial Chapel of Vienna, Schubert enjoyed the opportunity of a first-rate musical education, not only in singing, but in piano and violin, as well as a strong basis in the fundamentals of composition. His teacher there was the eminent Antonio Salieri whose pupils also included Beethoven and Liszt. Salieri taught him, among other things, to date his manuscripts, for which historians are deeply grateful.

All of these experiences were formative, particularly the opportunity to learn from the inside, by way of performance, how a symphony worked as a musical genre. Soon after leaving the seminary, he composed his first symphony, three years before the work to be performed here. He had a chance to perform these works with his school friends and family and he continued to learn and grow in his understanding of the orchestra.

The next few years were incredibly busy, partly with his short-lived career as a teacher in his father’s school, but primarily with composing: three more symphonies, his first opera and dozens of songs. He was not yet twenty when he turned out the brilliantly achieved Symphony No. 5. It is the shortest of the six symphonies he wrote in his youth, and also the smallest in terms of its orchestral requirements (it does not use clarinets, trumpets, or drums).

Probably Schubert composed it for the specific make-up of the ensemble that gave the first performance at Hatwig’s.

There is a spaciousness and proportion to Schubert’s ideas that tells us from the ravishing opening gesture—a gentle slow breath in the woodwinds into which the strings introduce a scurrying figure—that we are in the hands of a master. There follows a cheerful theme whose opening figure dominates the discourse of the first movement, and the development turns to ingenious combinations of the buoyant figure and flowing idea from the opening.

SCHUBERT (continued on next page)

ENCORE 27

Jonathan Biss, piano Pianist Jonathan Biss shares his talent, passion and intellectual curiosity with classical music lovers in the concert hall and beyond. Over nearly two decades on the concert stage, he has forged relationships with the New York Philharmonic; the Philadelphia, Cleveland and Philharmonia orchestras, among many others.

This season Biss continues his latest Beethoven project, Beethoven/5, for which the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra has co-commissioned five composers to write new piano concertos, each inspired by one of Beethoven’s. The five-year plan began two seasons ago, with Biss premiering Timo Andres’s “The Blind Banister,” which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music, and which Biss plays with the Jacksonville Symphony this season. Last season he premiered Sally Beamish’s concerto, paired with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1, with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, before performing it with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow. In the next few years Biss will premiere concertos by Salvatore Sciarrino, Caroline Shaw, and Brett Dean.

Biss performs a diverse repertoire ranging from Mozart and Beethoven, through the Romantics, to Janáček and Schoenberg, as well as works by contemporary composer Gyorgy Kurtág and commissions from David Ludwig, Leon Kirchner, Lewis Spratlan and Bernard Rands. Biss has a noted recording career, including an album of Schubert sonatas and two short Kurtág pieces that NPR Music named as one of the best albums of the year. His recent albums for EMI won Diapason d’Or de l’année and Edison awards, and in 2017, he released the sixth volume of his nine-year, nine-disc recording cycle of Beethoven’s complete piano sonatas.

Biss studied at Indiana University and at the Curtis Institute of Music, where he joined the piano faculty in 2010. He led the first massive open online course (MOOC) offered by a classical music conservatory, Exploring Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas, which has reached more than 150,000 people in 185 countries, and he will continue to add lectures until he covers all the sonatas.

His bestselling eBook, Beethoven’s Shadow, published by RosettaBooks in 2011, was the first Kindle Single written by a classical musician.

SCHUBERT (continued from previous page)

The second movement, Andante con moto, presents an idyllic pastoral figure, developed and enriched with one of Schubert’s magical changes of harmony. Though he calls the third movement a “minuet,” its fiery qualities are those of a Beethovenian scherzo, to which the Trio offers a serene contrast. The finale recaptures the joyous spirits of the opening with a chipper little tune that Schubert puts through its paces with a brilliant sense of mastery.

Timo Andres (1985-present) The Blind Banister, Concerto for Piano and Chamber Orchestra For centuries composers have often found inspiration for a new piece in the work of an older master. They use these inspirations as springboards to move in a new direction from an older impetus, even a fragmentary one.

In this way the “modern” composers of the 19th century—like Berlioz, Tchaikovsky and Wagner—all found inspiration in the Beethoven symphonies for different reasons and in different ways.

In our modern concert life, and with regard to new music, we largely overlook the degree to which composers are part of an ongoing conversation of ideas generated in the art itself. Such is the case with Timo Andres’ The Blind Banister.

Though born in Palo Alto, California, Timo Andres grew up in rural Connecticut and took part in the pre-college program at the Juilliard School before attending Yale University for both undergraduate and graduate degrees. He made a splash when John Adams conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in his Nightjar, composed in 2008, when he was twenty-three.

His compositional activity since the Los Angeles performance has included an increasing number of larger scores as well as the busy continuing creation of chamber and piano works. The fact that The Blind Banister, composed in his 30th year, was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize has in no way slowed his career.

The title of this third piano concerto, created for Jonathan Biss, comes from a poem, Schubertiana, by the Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer (1931-2015): Like when the light goes out on the stairs and the hand follows—with confidence—the blind banister that finds its way in the darkness.

28 JAXSYMPHONY.ORG – SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2017

There is a suggestion here of all art being developed in a place where the artist cannot see the scope of a new work while it is in progress, but finds a thread—or a banister—to draw him through its creation via a connection with the whole realm of the art in question.

Andres’s own description of his procedure in this instant is especially informative: Beethoven gave his early second piano concerto a kind of renovation in the form of a new cadenza, 20 years down the line.

It’s wonderfully jarring in that he makes no concessions to his earlier style; for a couple of minutes, we’re plucked from a world of conventional gestures into a future-world of obsessive fugues and spiraling modulations.

Like any good cadenza, it’s made from those same simple gestures—an arpeggiated triad, a sequence of downward scales—but uses them as the basis for a miniature fantasia.

My third piano concerto, The Blind Banister, is a whole piece built over this fault line in Beethoven’s second, trying to peer into the gap. I tried as much as possible to start with those same extremely simple elements Beethoven uses; however, my piece is not a pastiche or an exercise in palimpsest. It doesn’t even directly quote Beethoven.

There are some surface similarities to his concerto (a three-movement structure, a B-flat tonal center) but these are mostly red herrings. The best way I can describe my approach to writing the piece is: I started writing my own cadenza to Beethoven’s concerto, and ended up devouring it from the inside out.

Solo piano introduces the main theme of the piece—one of those slowly descending scales. It’s actually two scales, one the melody and the other the accompaniment, creating little rubbing major-second suspensions against each other with every move. This “Sliding Scale” is presented over and over, forming the basis for movement of continuous variations, constantly revising themselves. Orchestral layers pile up around the scale, building dissonant towers out of those major seconds. One last, long downward scale gathers enough momentum to launch the second movement scherzo, “Ringing Weights.”

Here, the downward scale is transformed into a propulsive motor in solo strings, driving bright cascades of chromatic chords in the solo part. This movement is also made from varying modules, each increasingly elaborate—though this time, each successive module descends a step, the scale theme subverting the structure of the piece, trying to push it inexorably downwards.

The piano works hard to reverse this process in a trio section, trading a stumbling, step-wise melody with gentle orchestral echoes of the ringing chords from the scherzo. As the piano music lurches to its feet, it grows progressively more boisterous, and the steps move faster, whirling themselves into a return of the scherzo material, this time with full orchestra and pounding timpani.

Orchestra suddenly falls away, leaving the pianist to wrestle with the two basic elements of the piece—rising and falling.

Arpeggios leap up and over each other, unbound to any meter, vaulting through the harmonic atmosphere before plunging down to the lowest E. As the arpeggios begin to trace more regular patterns, the orchestra drifts back in with another long scale, descending step by step, introducing a richly-harmonized Coda, really a supercompressed recapitulation of the first movement, the piano finally rushing off into an ambiguous future. ~ Timo Andres

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Piano Concerto No. 2, in B-flat major, Op. 19 Although numbered second in the canon, the B-flat concerto is actually the earliest of Beethoven’s piano concertos to find its way normally to the concert hall. Beethoven had moved from Bonn to Vienna in 1792, a twentytwo year old pianist and composer eager to make his mark in a big way. He knew the music of Mozart and Haydn, both of whom influenced his work. The orchestra—which lacks clarinets— probably reflects the practice of Haydn, who came to employ the clarinet regularly only late in his life. And it may also recall Mozart’s last piano concerto, K.595, which is also in B-flat and omits trumpets and timpani.

Beethoven evidently finished the concerto just in the nick of time. It was scheduled for a benefit concert for the widows of members of the Musicians’ Society, but he had not written it all out. His friend Franz Wegeler recalled, “Not until the afternoon of the second day before the concert did he write the rondo, … In the anteroom sat four copyists to whom he handed sheet after sheet as soon as it was finished.”

Beethoven apparently played the concerto a few more times in Vienna during the following years. But when the opportunity arose for aperformance in Prague, he revised it considerably. It was this later version that was ultimately published.

We are likely to notice what is traditional: the Mozartean trick of combining a forceful and a lyrical idea together in the opening phrase, or the Haydnesque emphasis on rhythmic upbeat ideas. Thus we fail to notice that already Beethoven has an obsession for unexpected changes of harmony. The first of these is signaled in the simplest way—the full orchestra hammers out three repeated C’s fortissimo, followed by an echo, pianissimo, of D-flat.

The melody seems about to continue in D-flat, until Beethoven quickly engineers a phrase that brings it around to the “right” place. He may actually have learned this trick from Haydn, who used it quite frequently, but it became a central element of Beethoven’s musical armamentarium.

The slow movement may not yet show us a Beethoven capable of the most extraordinary profundities, but he is certainly already a master of the art of variation and decoration, which would ultimately lead beyond the facile to new worlds of expression.

The unusual rhythm of the main theme marks the rondo finale. The rondo plays all sorts of little harmonic and rhythmic tricks on its listeners, with the aim of leaving them smiling. This extended movement, carefully balanced and varied, full of wit and charm, was Beethoven’s finest accomplishment to this point.

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 82 Though Sibelius’ Fifth Symphony shares with the Second the distinction of being his most popular work in that genre, it underwent a long and painful progress from the first version, begun in 1914 and the publication of the third and final version in 1921. Sibelius’s musical language is deeply rooted in late nineteenthcentury romanticism, yet his mature music sounds strikingly modern.

This has a great deal to do with his treatment of the orchestra. He scoffed at Wagner’s habit of blending the instruments from different orchestral sections and greatly preferred to isolate the woodwinds, brass and strings.

This created various levels of activity which frequently seem to be operating to two different rhythms at once. Yet while doing so they are unfolding a fairly small number of thematic ideas that change character as they change their rhythmic pattern and orchestral coloration.

One recent musical analyst has declared that Sibelius is the truest descendant of Beethoven as a symphonic composer. And though Sibelius’ Fifth lacks a chorus, we find, upon reaching the celebratory final pages, that there are echoes in musical character of Beethoven’s Ninth: darkness and tension resolving into brilliant transfiguration; a central movement built largely out of a single rhythmic pattern repeated hypnotically, and finally a feeling of uplift and heroic conquest. In both composers, one can find a “profound logic” that may not be evident at first hearing on the surface of the music, but leaves the listener feeling fulfilled.

The complex opening movement grows out of a horn call figure that Brahms had loved and often used, but here with a slight rhythmic surprise. From this point on, one thing grows from another with seeming naturalness. The former second movement seems to appear as a kind of fast waltz in the middle of the movement, but this activity proves to be another view of the opening, and it builds to a sonorous conclusion.

ENCORE 29

NEW YEAR’S EVE ORCHESTRAL LUNACY!

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30 JAXSYMPHONY.ORG – SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2017

Fidelity National Financial Pops Series

DEC 31 Sun: 9pm Timothy Hankewich, conductor Tomáš Kubínek, performance artist

Internationally acclaimed performer Tomáš Kubinek brings hilarity and charm to the Symphony stage in a work of grand music, madcap brilliance and old world panache.

New Year’s Eve After-Party – dancing, champagne and fireworks.

Party tickets ARE NOT included with concert ticket and must be purchased separately.

Reserve your seats today!

904.354.5547 JaxSymphony.org

POPS SERIES Friday & Saturday, October 6 & 7, 2017 l 8 pm Robert E. Jacoby Symphony Hall, Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts

THE TEXAS TENORS Nathan Aspinall, conductor

The Texas Tenors, guest artists

Selections will be announced from the stage.

Dana’s Limousine is the official transportation of the Jacksonville Symphony.

Omni Jacksonville Hotel is the official hotel of the Jacksonville Symphony.

The Texas Tenors The Texas Tenors have accumulated a long list of awards, accolades and an enthusiastic fan base, including three Emmy Awards for the PBS special “You Should Dream.” They have performed more than 1,000 concerts around the world including a 24-city tour of the United Kingdom and China, and collaborations with some of the most prestigious symphonies in the United States including the Cleveland Pops, Atlanta Symphony, Houston Symphony and the Pittsburgh Symphony to name a few.

People are clearly enjoying their talent as they were recently named the #10 Classical Artist in the world according to Billboard magazine, and in 2018 will make their Canadian debut at the world-renowned Toronto Royal Conservatory of Music.

Just a few short months ago The Texas Tenors aired their brand new concert special Rise.

The show was filmed at The Grand 1984 Opera House in Galveston, Texas and was aired on PBS. The studio album tied to Rise was released last month on September 8.

The album features crowd favorites such as “Amazing Grace,” “Lovin’ Feelin’,” and “God Bless America.”

The Texas Tenors have also used their talent beyond concert halls. They have been featured entertainers on NBC’s The Today Show, Hallmark’s Home and Family and The 28th Annual Cinematheque Awards honoring Matthew McConaughey, to name a few. Other notable performances have included NBA

games, the PBR World Championships in Las Vegas, and a variety of charity events.

The Texas Tenors are always ready to give back and promote awareness for organizations near and dear to their hearts including The Child Fund International, Homes for our Troops and The Mission Project.

From Bruno Mars to Puccini, Marcus Collins, John Hagen and JC Fisher treat audiences to a unique blend of country, classical, Broadway and current pop music. The Texas Tenors put on a show perfect for audiences with a wide variety of musical tastes. They use breathtaking vocals, humor and a touch of cowboy charm to create an unforgettable live show. To keep the audience on their toes, The Texas Tenors announce their music line-up from the stage!

Will it be a selection from Les Misérables, a pop favorite, or maybe a good ole country song?

The Texas Tenors proudly remain self-produced and managed with a commitment to quality and family entertainment for all ages. Whether it be stage, television, recording or multi-media projects, these “three friends with a dream” never forget their roots.

“To quote our title song “Rise,” ‘Life Can Change in a Moment.’ There are no truer words and we’re so excited to share our new music with everyone!” – The Texas Tenors

ENCORE 31

John Hagen, guest artist John Hagen has been described as, “astonishing, a superb tenor of deep musicality.” He made his Lincoln Center debut in New York City in Teatro Grattacielo’s mounting of Mascagni’s Gulglielmo Ratcliff. He has performed a vast array of operatic roles ranging from those in La Traviata, to the title role of Otello for Cleveland Opera on tour. Hagen is highly regarded for his performances of the Verdi Requiem and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, having performed these works with more than a dozen symphonies across the United States.

Marcus Collins, guest artist Marcus Collins was born in a small town and began performing at the age of 4. He first learned to sing by emulating his favorite artists like Garth Brooks, George Michael and Freddie Mercury before training classically in college. Marcus has performed throughout the world on cruise ships and numerous stage productions including a performance in Times Square with the Broadway cast of Hairspray and Off-Broadway’s Altar Boyz as Matthew. Beyond music, he has worked extensively as an actor with appearances in more than 100 episodes of network television and 25 films including P.S. I Love You, 30 Rock, Sex and the City and recurring roles on One Life to Live.

JC Fisher, guest artist JC Fisher has entertained audiences around the world for the past 15 years. He discovered a deeper love for singing at Wichita State University where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Music. Fisher performed roles in various shows including La Boheme, The Magic Flute and Don Pasquale. He created a home base in Katy, TX before sailing the high seas aboard more than 75 cruise ships worldwide as a guest entertainer. This allowed Fisher to create a show featuring many different genres of music and world class arrangements, which eventually led to his idea of forming The Texas Tenors. After many years of traveling and concerts, his most memorable performance is still one from college where he found his future wife and mother of their three beautiful children.

32 JAXSYMPHONY.ORG – SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2017

JACKSONVILLE CIVIC ORCHESTRA Sunday, October 8, 2017 l 5 pm

Joining the Community through Music

Robert E. Jacoby Symphony Hall, Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts

FALL CIVIC ORCHESTRA Nathan Aspinall, conductor Dmitry SHOSTAKOVICH

Festive Overture, Op. 96

Selections from The Planets Gustav HOLST Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity Uranus, the Magician

7:00

Twice a year, individuals from all walks of life come together with the musicians of the Jacksonville Symphony to participate in an incredible representation of community – the Jacksonville Symphony Civic Orchestra.

Members do not need to be professional musicians; they only need to have an abiding love for symphonic music.

13:00

During the 2015/16 inaugural season the Jacksonville Symphony Civic Orchestra consisted of 61 community musicians who joined members of the Symphony to perform Georges L’Arlésienne Suite No. 2 18:00 for friends, family and the community once a BIZET year. Now in its third year, the Civic Orchestra is expanding its season to perform two ~ Intermission ~ 20:00 concerts: this October performance and again on March 11.

Edvard Selections from Peer Gynt, Op. 23 11:00 GRIEG Morgenstemming (Morning Mood) This year, the call went out in July (Spring

Bruderovet. Ingrids klage (The Abduction. applications open in December) for those who

Ingrid’s Lament) would be interested in participating. It just

I Dovregubbens hall (In the Hall of the takes an online registration, a $50 fee and the

Mountain King) dedication to rehearse with the Symphony in

the week leading up to the concerts.

Nikolai Capriccio espagnol, Op. 34 15:00 RIMSKY-KORSAKOV For tonight’s concert the group will be under Dana’s Limousine is the official transportation of the Jacksonville Symphony.

Omni Jacksonville Hotel is the official hotel of the Jacksonville Symphony.

the baton of the Symphony’s Associate Conductor Nathan Aspinall. The program opens with Shostakovich’s regal Festive Overture and continues to selections from Holst’s The Planets. The concert will come to a resounding finale with Rimsky-Korsakov’s lively Capriccio espagnol.

Although they come from different backgrounds, with different jobs and from different areas, it is the magic of music that brings these musicians together!

ENCORE 33

STUDENT PERKS

Which is best for you?

INSPIRING HOPE. EMPOWERING CHANGE.

PLANNING ON ATTENDING MORE THAN TWO EVENTS? THE SOUND CHECK CARD IS FOR YOU! • Students 25 years old and younger can access Masterworks or Coffee Series and other select performances throughout the entire season for the incredibly one-time low price of $25.

• Card holders may bring one accompanying guest for $10 the night of the performance.

ATTENDING WITH AN ADULT? UNDER 18 FREE

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• Purchase a single adult ticket to any Masterworks and most Pops concerts and receive one ticket for a child from the ages of 7 to 17 for FREE. • Excludes Symphonic Nights at the Movies, Family Series and Holiday Pops.

LAST-MINUTE DECISION? STUDENT RUSH TICKETS • Student rush tickets are available for $10 to Masterworks, Coffee and Matinee performances though the Ticket Office 90 minutes prior to the concert.

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• Tickets are subject to availability.

• Students must present a valid student ID. • One ticket per person.

EverBank® is a division of TIAA, FSB. © 2017 TIAA, FSB. 17SPS6095

34 JAXSYMPHONY.ORG – SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2017

904.354.5547 JaxSymphony.org

Nathan Aspinall, conductor Nathan Aspinall, joined the Jacksonville Symphony as assistant conductor in 2015 and was named associate conductor in 2016. Formerly, he held the position of young conductor with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra where he assisted Chief Conductor Johannes Fritzsch and visiting guest conductors and conducted concerts for the education series. He studied French Horn and Conducting at the University of Queensland and upon graduation was awarded the Hugh Brandon Prize. In 2012, he attended the Aspen Music Festival studying with Robert Spano and Hugh Wolff. He was awarded the Robert J. Harth Conducting Prize, inviting him to return to Aspen in 2013.

Aspinall has guest conducted the Sydney, Adelaide, Queensland and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, the Queensland Conservatorium Chamber Orchestra and has acted as assistant conductor for Opera Queensland. During the 2015/16 season he returned to the Queensland and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras, and had also been invited to attend the Conductor’s Workshop at the Tanglewood Music Centre. He studied Orchestral Conducting with Hugh Wolff at New England Conservatory.

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ENCORE 35

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SYMPHONY IN 60 SERIES COFFEE SERIES MASTERWORKS SERIES

Symphony in 60 Series: Thursday, October 19, 2017 l 6:30 pm Coffee Series: Friday, October 20, 2017 l 11 am Masterworks Series: Friday & Saturday, October 20 & 21, 2017 l 8 pm

PROGRAM NOTES

By Steven Ledbetter

Leoš Janáček (1854-1928)

“Insight” one hour prior to each Masterworks concert

Robert E. Jacoby Symphony Hall, Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts

Taras Bulba

CZECHMATE

Courtney Lewis, conductor Haskell Endowed Chair

Jennifer Johnston, mezzo-soprano

Regency Centers Symphony in 60 Series Raymond James Coffee Series Leoš JANÁČEK Taras Bulba 23:00 Death of Andril Death of Ostap Death and Prophesy of Taras Bulba Antonín DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 6 in D major, Op. 60 Allegro non tanto Adagio Scherzo (Furiant): Presto Finale: Allegro con spirit

41:00

The Coffee Concert is hosted by the Jacksonville Symphony Guild.

Coffee and tea are provided by Martin Coffee Company, Inc.

Florida Blue Masterworks Series Leoš JANÁČEK Taras Bulba 23:00

Death of Andril

Death of Ostap

Death and Prophesy of Taras Bulba Gustav MAHLER Rückert-Lieder 20:00

Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder

Ich atmet’ einen Linden Duft

Um Mitternacht

Liebst du um Schönheit?

Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen

~ Intermission ~ 20:00 Antonín DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 6 in D major, Op. 60

Allegro non tanto Adagio

Scherzo (Furiant): Presto

Finale: Allegro con spirit

41:00

Masterworks Series concerts sponsored in part by This concert is dedicated by The Vanguard Charitable-Kessler Fund in honor of the 15th annual Daniel Pearl World Music Days, a global initiative which uses the power of music to bridge cultural differences.

Dana’s Limousine is the official transportation of the Jacksonville Symphony.

Omni Jacksonville Hotel is the official hotel of the Jacksonville Symphony.

Not until he was 50 years old did Leoš Janáček have a more than local reputation. Born and raised in the Moravian region of what is now Czechia, Janáček studied for a time in Prague, and later in the musical centers of Leipzig and Vienna. He returned to Brno, the capital of Moravia, at the age of 27 to begin a career largely devoted to teaching. From this time on he carried out a fitfully active career as a composer. The genres to which he seemed most drawn were the male chorus and the opera. And it was as an opera composer that Janáček finally achieved world fame.

Having said this, however, it is necessary to admit that his late orchestral works are full of marvels that are almost operatic in character. The tone poem, Taras Bulba, is based on a somewhat gory novella by Gogol dealing with Cossack warriors in 15th-century Russia. The Cossacks in the story place no particular value on human life, including their own.

For purposes of understanding the references in the tone poem, it is sufficient to know that Taras Bulba has laid siege to the Polish city of Dubno. His younger son Andrei falls in love with a beautiful girl who, it turns out, is a Polish princess, and therefore the enemy. She is trapped inside Dubno, but Andrei finds a secret entrance to the city so that he can join her. During the battle the Taras Bulba’s Cossacks find Andrei riding at the head of the Polish cavalry. His father drags him from his horse and shoots him dead.

Later, however, the Poles gain the upper hand and capture Taras Bulba’s elder son Ostap. The father manages to enter Warsaw secretly and there helplessly observes the barbarous execution of his son. He undertakes a campaign of revenge, laying waste to villages and churches, killing civilians as well as soldiers. Eventually captured himself, he is tied to a tree and burned alive, defiantly cursing his enemies and prophesying an ultimate Russian victory.

JANÁČEK (continued on next page) ENCORE 37

Jennifer Johnston, mezzo-soprano Born in Liverpool, England, the dramatic mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston has been named by both BBC Music Magazine and the Observer as “a rising star,” in opera. Before pursuing music, Johnston graduated as a law student from Cambridge University and then went on to attend the Royal College of Music. She is a former BBC New Generation Artist and has appeared in many operatic roles at festivals including the Salzburg, Baltic Sea and Beijing festivals.

She has performed across with world with some of the greatest ensembles from the Cleveland Orchestra to the Berlin Philharmonic; and many in-between. In addition to being well-traveled, Johnston performs incredibly diverse repertoire spanning centuries of vocal compositions. She has starred in performances of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex, Thomas Adés’ Totentanz and many more. Highlights from Johnston’s 2016/17 season include appearances with the BBC Scottish Symphony in Birtwistle’s The Last Supper, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra in Schumann’s Faustszenen, and the Indianapolis Orchestra in Elgar’s Sea Pictures.

Johnston’s engagements in 2016/17 include Mrs. Grose in Britten’s Turn of the Screw in a new production at La Scala (Eschenbach/Holten), Hedwige in Rossini’s Guillaume Tell at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Wellgunde in Wagner’s Das Rheingold with Sir Mark Elder and the Hallé (to be released on disc) and Pasqualita in John Adams’ Dr. Atomic with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer.

JANÁČEK (continued from previous page) The first movement (“Andrei’s Death”) is the closest to a narrative account, because, in addition to the scenes of death that dominate the rest of the score, we clearly have a depiction of the beautiful Polish princess and a passionate love scene. After this, though, Andrei’s violent death at his father’s hands is the topic, with only the faintest dying recollection of his love.

The second movement is the shortest and most violent in depicting “Ostap’s death” by dismemberment. It begins with an assertive theme that may represent Ostap’s fighting spirit, and galloping rhythms certainly highlight the cavalry action of the story. The movement is a short one, with concentrated attention on the themes of Ostap’s heroism and his violent death.

The last movement is the longest and most elaborate, possibly depicting Taras Bulba’s furious devastation of the countryside, and a moment of serenity, but this is broken by a wild Polish dance (presumably celebrating their capture of their enemy). Here, in glorious sonorities with bells and eventually organ, Taras Bulba prophesies a great future for Russia. Still, the coda brings a glorious, heroic sound to close the story of violence, war, treason and heroism that has preceded it.

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) Rückert-Lieder Broadly speaking, Mahler’s career as a song composer falls into two parts, and the division is echoed in his career as a symphonist, because throughout his life song composition fed symphony composition. During the closing years of the 19th century, Mahler turned time and again to a collection of folk poems called Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Youth’s Magic Horn).

At the turn of the century, Mahler definitively turned away from that collection as a source of song texts or musical inspiration. For the next decade his favorite poet was Friedrich Rückert (1788-1866), a German poet, translator and professor who was fluent in 30 languages and who would translate Asian poets and imitate them in his own work. But Rückert also wrote highly personal lyrics of a more intimate sort, as in Liebesfrühling (Springtime of Love), published in 1822 and dedicated to his young wife.

The five Rückert songs, though, were not designed to be necessarily performed together.

Mahler himself changed the order of performance virtually every time he appeared in a performance.

In short, the five independent Rückert songs to be heard here are simply five small masterpieces of Mahler’s genius which may be heard together, or individually, in whatever order the performers choose.

Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder was composed at the same time as the foregoing song. The mood of the song is lightly capricious, and it is over in

38 JAXSYMPHONY.ORG – SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2017

a trice. Here, as in Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft, the poet makes a play on words (the homonym Lieder, “songs,” and Lider, “eyelids”), so that the listener who cannot see the text printed interpret the opening line as “Do not look into my eyes.”

The accompaniment offers a light suggestion of the constant buzzing of the bees that form the principal image of the second stanza.

Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft was composed at Mahler’s summer residence at Maiernigg in June and July 1901. It is music of extraordinary transparency, with an intimate orchestra from which even the lower strings have been banished.

The tranquil clarity of the music, the delicacy of which matches the delicacy of the fragrance from the sprig of linden tree that the singer has received. The entire poem is a pun on the word Linde or Lindenbaum, referring to a linden tree, and the adjective lind, “delicate” or “gentle.”

Um Mitternacht was also composed in the summer of 1901. It dispenses entirely with the strings and calls for an unusually large wind ensemble. For four of its five stanzas, the song expresses feelings of dark torment, doubt and despair, yet with an astonishingly spare use of the available instruments; then, in the final stanza, Mahler breaks forth into the major mode and a chorale style.

Mahler composed Liebst du um Schönheit sometime in the summer of 1902 and was discovered when his wife, Alma Mahler, opened a piano score and discovered the manuscript, which Mahler had copied out and left there for her to find. It was therefore the last of these five songs to be composed, and it came almost a year after the other four. That fact, combined with the

directness of its message to Alma, might explain why Mahler treated it differently than the others.

When he signed a contract with the publisher C.F. Kahnt for the publication of the songs, on April 15, 1905, the contract covered only four songs. Mahler did not send Liebst du um Schönheit until nine months later, and then only in the version with piano accompaniment. It was apparently after his death that an employee of the Kahnt firm, Max Puttmann, produced the orchestral version we know today.

The song is a delicate expression of love, quite possibly the simplest and most direct song Mahler ever wrote, to a poem that expresses the age-old sentiment, “Don’t love me for any particular reason, for that may change and with it your love; but love for love itself.”

Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen is regarded by common consent as Mahler’s greatest single song. We also know that it was composed later in 1901 than the other three Rückert songs of that year. Here the delicacy and chamber-music transparency of the orchestration, as well as the overall mood of tranquility, are striking. Mahler’s biographer Henry-Louis de La Grange reminds us that this was one of the first pieces he composed in the isolated Häuschen (“little house”) that he had built at Maiernigg specifically so that he could work far away from any chance noise made by family and friends. The song expresses a sense of contented self-sufficiency and— depending on the reader’s interpretation—it can express either “a happy artist isolated from the world in his art or a happy lover isolated in his love.” But this is an isolation that is all tranquility and contentment, an easy giving up of the world’s noise and brilliance for the peace that fills the song’s close.

Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) Symphony No. 6 in D major, Op. 60 Dvořák was a slow developer, though he eventually reached the heights of international fame. His beginnings could hardly have been more unpromising as the son of a village butcher and innkeeper in rural Bohemia. He heard music only from traveling musicians and village bands, inevitably of mediocre ability. He took lessons from the village schoolmaster and played violin locally. By the age of twelve he had already left school with the aim of apprenticing as a butcher.

Dvořák went to the nearby town of Zloniče to learn German where the teacher there doubled as the town organist and was able to offer the musical boy instruction in violin, viola, piano, organ and practical keyboard harmony.

Experience as a copyist preparing parts for the town orchestra gave him the opportunity to be around music from the inside.

By this time his musicality was so evident that an uncle offered to support his education.

He entered the Prague Organ School, where he aimed at becoming an organist and church musician. He played viola in the pick-up orchestras of several musical organizations in Prague. Among his most important experiences in that position was a concert in February 1863, in which Richard Wagner conducted his own music. From 1866, the conductor of the orchestra was the important Czech nationalist composer Bedřich Smetana, who opened Dvořák’s ears and mind to the possibility of celebrating his own culture in music.

For most of the next decade he lived abstemiously, working hard as a teacher and a violist, all the while composing constantly, though few of his pieces made it to performance. But the experience of active music-making placed him in very good stead when he was finally discovered.

By the middle of 1874 he had composed a large quantity of chamber music, four symphonies, several short orchestral works, two operas, a patriotic cantata and a large number of songs.

In July 1874, he submitted 15 of his compositions to be considered for a governmental stipend offered to “young, poor, and talented painters, sculptors, and musicians, in the Austrian half of the [Hapsburg] Empire.” This was a fateful act.

It brought Dvořák’s music to the attention of three important men who would play significant roles in his life: Johann Herbeck, conductor of the Vienna State Opera, the leading Viennese music critic Eduard Hanslick, and, most important of all, Johannes Brahms, who became a mentor and friend until the end of his days. Dvořák was a winner in 1874, 1876 and 1877.

The far-flung Austrian empire contained many different ethnic groups, and it was very popular to offer music in the style of one or another of the “nationalities” of the empire. Simrock accepted the Moravian Duets and commissioned a set of Slavonic Dances. Both were published in 1878, and Dvořák’s merely local reputation suddenly became international.

But Dvořák wanted to return to the symphony.

He had composed his Fifth in 1875. But he wanted to write a work for Vienna. He composed the Sixth symphony in 1880. When he played through it (at the piano) for conductor Hans Richter, he was so excited that he kissed the composer after each movement. The performance was to take place in Vienna on December 26, 1880, but the members of the Vienna Philharmonic refused to play a piece by a little-known Czech composer two seasons in a row! So the honor of the premiere went to Adolf Cech, who led a performance in Prague

on March 25, 1881. Nonetheless Dvořák retained the dedication to Richter, whose enthusiasm had helped spark the symphony’s creation.

Simrock published the D-major Symphony in 1882. Dvořák not only learned from his own previous experience in symphonic composition, he also studied closely the music of his mentor Brahms, who had composed a D-major symphony in 1877. As with the Brahms Second, Dvořák uses the sunny opening theme as a mine from which he extracts a large part of the material from which he builds a sizeable and glorious movement.

The richness of the exposition turns mysterious and tense during much of the development section, which carries us to a distant harmonic world, only to tumble headlong back home to the recapitulation. This is entirely regular, but then, rather than dying away, Dvořák takes us to a new level of sunlight to end the movement with a brilliant burst of energy.

The Adagio suggests in its opening gestures a reference to the slow movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony but Dvořák here consciously avoids Beethoven’s emphasis on two contrasting themes and makes the entire movement a remarkable cogitation on a single theme, with interludes that are further considerations of the main material. It flows easily past the listener, but the more often we hear it the more subtle it becomes.

The third movement is formally a Scherzo, but Dvořák notes that his material is in the Czech dance form of the Furiant, in which the triple meter is filled with constant shifts, which are easy enough to imagine if you think a series of beats as follows (moving evenly and rapidly), in which every beat “one” (in boldface) is strongly accented: 1 - 2 - 1 - 2 - 1 - 2 | 1 - 2 - 3 - 1 -2 - 3 It is a feature of much of Dvořák’s music, and it delivers a great rhythmic punch. The Trio is lighter, less rhythmically driven and almost devoid of the furiant rhythm, which comes back full-force for the return of the opening material.

Possibly in another bow to Brahms, Dvořák begins his finale pianissimo, but it soon grows to a glorious symphonic movement replete with a dance-like character, yet with the thematic material fully developed along the way. The grandiose coda begins with the entire orchestra dropping out to leave the violins madly cascading to a new presentation of the main theme, now fragmented in a Presto tempo. Gradually the full sonority of the orchestra carries the work to its sonorous close. © Steven Ledbetter (www.stevenledbetter.com)

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SPECIAL PRESENTATION Sunday, October 29, 2017 l 3 pm

The Bryan Concert Organ

Robert E. Jacoby Symphony Hall, Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts

Although The Bryan Concert Organ has called Jacoby Hall its home for the past 16 years, the organ has a rich history of how it came to inhabit the elegant concert hall.

ORGAN, BRASS, WINDS AND PERCUSSION Nathan Aspinall, conductor Peter Morin, organ

Marc-Antoine CHARPENTIER/ Prelude to Te Deum 2:00 Arr. Couturier

Aaron COPLAND Fanfare for the Common Man 3:00 Antonin DVOŘÁK Serenade in D minor, Op. 44

Moderato quasi Marcia

Menuetto – Trio: Presto

Andante con moto

Finale: Allegro molto Richard STRAUSS/ Feierlicher Einzug der Ritter des Arr. Reger Johanniter-Ordens

~ Intermission ~

24:00

7:00

20:00

Johann Sebastian BACH

Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565

Modest MUSSORGSKY/ Arr. Wöste

Pictures at an Exhibition 31:00

9:00

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Peter Morin, organist Peter Morin serves as Director of Music and Organist at St. Anastasia Catholic Church, St. Augustine. Morin graduated with a Master of Sacred Music from Emory University and also earned a Bachelor of Music, Pipe Organ Performance from Syracuse University. His principal organ teachers have included Timothy Albrecht, Peter Wright, Katharine Pardee and Barclay Wood. His primary conducting studies have been with Adrian Lucas.

He was awarded the Arthur Poister Prize, Emory University Research Grant, and a Mark and Pearle Clements Internship Award allowing his first four month summer of observation and performance based at Worcester Cathedral in England. While in England he assisted in BBC recordings, preformed within the Three Choirs Festival and participated in a choir tour of Ireland and many other recitals at cathedrals and festivals. Most recently, he has performed at the EMMA Concert Series, Memorial Presbyterian Organ Series, Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine, St. Anastasia Catholic Church, Emory University and led a EMMA concert-lecture with his wife Helen.

The organ is over 100 years old, weighs 20-tons and takes about the same space as a two-story house! Built in 1914 by the Casavant Freres Company in Quebec, Canada the organ’s “birth name” is Opus 553. Its first home was in the First Baptist Church in Syracuse, New York, a far cry from the Sunshine State. It was placed into storage in the 1980s when the church relocated and was not moved until 1996 when Quimby Pipe Organs Inc. took on the daunting task of restoring the massive instrument.

Restoration took two full years and in June of 2000 the organ began the long drive in seven semi-trucks to Jacksonville.

The organ made its debut in March 2001 and was officially given its present name, The Bryan Concert Organ, in dedication to the family of G. Howard Bryan who was an ardent supporter of the Jacksonville Symphony.

Originally, the organ had 63 stops and 70 ranks (a set of pipes producing the same timbre).

After restoration, the mighty instrument upgraded to 80 stops, 97 ranks and 6,215 pipes! Once a year, the organ is cleaned and tuned; a process that takes two full a days.

Tuning requires listening to every single pipe – some of which are as long as 32 feet!

ENCORE 41

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FAMILY SERIES Sunday, November 5, 2017 l 3 pm Pre-concert activities begin at 2 pm

First Flight: Floating!

Clair de Lune

Robert E. Jacoby Symphony Hall, Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts

Written by French composer Claude Debussy, this work is one to calm and sooth the musical soul. It is one of four movements from one of the most famous piano pieces written by the composer: Suite bergamasque. Clair de Lune, meaning “moonlight,” creates the beautiful image of a moon suspended high in the quiet night sky surrounded by bright stars on a calm summer night.

LIFT OFF!

AN AIR AND SPACE ADVENTURE Deanna Tham, conductor

Up, Up and Away!

Jerry GOLDSMITH/ Arr. Custer

Star Trek Through the Years 3:00

Our Flight Friends

Nikolai RIMSKY-KORSAKOV

Flight of the Bumblebee

Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walküre 3:00

First Flight: Floating!

Claude DEBUSSY/ arr. Caplet

Clair de Lune 5:00

Flight Forward: Motors and Engines

Richard WAGNER/Arr. Sheffer

Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walküre 5:00

Bob LOWDEN

Anchors Aweigh 3:00

Flight Forward: Motors and Engines “The Ride of the Valkyries” is actually a small part of a huge cycle of music written by German composer Richard Wagner! This wellknown work is the prelude to Act III of Die Walküre, one of a cycle of four operas. “Ride of the Valkyries” was first written in July of 1851, over 150 years ago! “The Ride” depicts warrior maidens raised by the god Wotan riding back from battle before they gather on a mountaintop.

Anchors Aweigh

Charles Zimmerman was an American composer of marches, much like John Phillip Sousa. After graduating from the Peabody Conservatory The Flintstones Meet the Jetsons 4:00 of Music, Zimmerman was appointed as the Blast Off! 9:00 bandmaster for the United States Academy.

Anchors Aweigh is his most famous march and was intended as a rousing tune for Sponsored in part by football games!

The Final Frontier

Robert WENDEL Daniel DORFF

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The Final Frontier

The Flintstones Meet the Jetsons

Lift Off! Up, Up and Away!

Star Trek Through the Years Sit back, enjoy the ride and Lift Off! as the Jacksonville Symphony takes you on an adventure to the final frontier. Explore new worlds and go where no one has gone before as the music takes you on a trip through time and space like that of the famed Enterprise!

Our Flight Friends

Flight of the Bumblebee Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov had a talent for using the instruments of an orchestra to paint pictures and create stories. In this well-known tune, he conjures up the image of a busy, buzzing, bumble bee! Flight of the Bumblebee is actually part of Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan where a magic sawn turns the Prince into a bumblebee so he may visit the Tsar without being seen. Can you hear the bumblebee Prince flitting and flying about?

American composer Robert Wendel has created a wide range of musical works from orchestral pieces to fun arrangements like this one. The theme comes from the popular movie where two beloved families meet for the first time: The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones. While the Flintstones live in a world where dinosaurs are kept as pets, the Jetsons come from a place of robotic inventions and holograms.

Enjoy this wacky rendition of a family-favorite!

Blast Off! Blast Off! depicts a trip through space and was written for astronaut Kenneth Reightler to narrate with the Haddonfield Symphony.

Following the premiere of the work, the score was actually launched into space on the NASA Space Shuttle STS 100! Put on your space suits and get ready to Blast Off! with the Jacksonville Symphony.

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Deanna Tham, Assistant Conductor and JSYO Principal Conductor Hailing from Saratoga, California, Tham has conducted and guest conducted all over the United States, most recently working with renowned conductors Marin Alsop and James Ross at the Cabrillo Contemporary Music Festival. Before joining the Jacksonville Symphony, Tham was the music director of the 350-piece Louisville Youth Orchestra and Assistant Conductor of the Chicago Sinfonietta. Tham has also served as the music director of the Boise Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and has conducted the Boise Philharmonic, Ballet Idaho and Opera Idaho. Tham worked as the assistant conductor for the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra where she received a Professional Studies Certificate from the Cleveland Institute of Music in Orchestral Conducting, studying with Maestro Carl Topilow. While in Cleveland, she produced, programmed and directed a revolutionary cross-sensual concert experience with the International Culinary Arts and Sciences Institute combining taste and sound.

Previously, Tham was the music director of the American Chamber Orchestra. Her work with the company includes a groundbreaking, semi-staged version of Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Mozart’s Don Giovanni, staged in English. During her time with the company she worked with many talented musicians, including those who sang with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. She made great strides making the company a strong presence in the Chicago area and has sold recordings of her work with the company on iTunes. Tham has been a conducting fellow at the C.W. Post Chamber Music Festival working with Dr. Susan Deaver, the musicians of the Pierrot Consort and the talented youth of the festival orchestra. There, she was the recipient of the festival conducting award.

In 2013, Tham made her debut with the National Music Festival. She was one of two assistant conductors who appeared with Maestro Richard Rosenberg, working with some of the top professional musicians and teachers from around the world. Her work with the festival has been featured on National Public Radio as well as American Public Media. In 2015, she was the recipient of the Wintergreen Summer Music Academy Conductor’s Guild Scholarship where she worked with Master Teacher Victor Yampolsky. Most recently, she was invited to compete in the Cadaques Orchestra International Conducting Competition.

Tham has served as the assistant conductor of the Carnegie Mellon All-University Orchestra.

While at Carnegie Mellon, she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in horn performance.

Tham went on to receive her Master of Music degree, with honors, from Northwestern University studying with Dr. Mallory Thompson. While at Northwestern, she worked with Dr. Robert Harris, Victor Yampolsky and Dr. Robert Hasty, making her equally at home in wind, orchestral and vocal settings. She also completed community outreach projects in the form of concerts in the PickStaiger Concert Hall Kid’s Fare series, participating in a movie music themed concert as well as conducting, managing and producing a multicultural themed interactive concert.

Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestras Internships Above all, the JSYO is committed to enriching the Jacksonville community through music education. Need-based scholarships are available for qualified young musicians in all six JSYO ensembles. In addition to scholarship opportunities, the JSYO is offering three new programs for advanced students that are aimed to not only help compensate for tour-related fees, but to provide educational and professional experience.

The programs include:

Arts Administration Assistantship

Students will explore the fundamentals of running an arts organization throughout the various administrative departments of the Symphony.

Honors Chamber Music Fellowship

Gives selected students a 10-month, career building opportunity to perform chamber music of the highest level throughout Northeast Florida while also providing entrepreneurial skills.

Orchestra Librarian Apprenticeship

Students will work alongside the Jacksonville Symphony’s principal librarian to prepare all music used in a symphony orchestra rehearsal and performance.

For more information visit JaxSymphony.org/jsyo.

ENCORE 45

MASTERWORKS SERIES

Friday and Saturday, November 10 & 11, 2017 l 8 pm Sunday, November 12, 2017 l 3 pm “Insight” one hour prior to each Masterworks concert

Robert E. Jacoby Symphony Hall, Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts

FABIO, FAURÉ AND FANTASTIQUE Fabio Mechetti, conductor Jessica Pray, soprano Bryan Murray, baritone Jacksonville Symphony Chorus Gabriel Requiem, Op. 48 FAURÉ Introit and Kyrie Offertorium Sanctus

Pie Jesu

Agnus Dei

Libera me

In paradisum

36:00

~ Intermission ~ 20:00 Hector Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14 BERLIOZ Rêveries, Passions

Un bal

Scène aux champs

Marche au supplice

Songe d’une nuit du sabbat

49:00

Presented by

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Omni Jacksonville Hotel is the official hotel of the Jacksonville Symphony.

PROGRAM NOTES

By Steven Ledbetter

Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) Requiem, Op. 48

Gabriel Fauré stands apart from almost all the significant composers of his age. His long life spans the period from Berlioz to Berg. The late romantic era and the rise of modernism was a time of noisy excess. Fauré’s music, though, is quiet, subdued, even tentative in effect. When other composers were writing gigantic symphonies or lengthy operas, he was turning out songs and chamber music.

Notoriously uninterested in the process of instrumentation once he had conceived the musical material, he often had his students finish the job of orchestrating most of his works for larger ensembles.

Although Fauré did not attract hordes of enthusiasts, the support that he did attract was at the most exalted level--on the part of his fellow composers and his pupils, including Maurice Ravel, Georges Enesco and Nadia Boulanger.

Born in the south of France, Fauré studied in Paris not at the hidebound Conservatoire but rather at the École Niedermeyer, where he received an unusually broad musical education that set him apart from the products of the “official” school: a thorough understanding of older music from the Renaissance and Baroque eras, familiarity with the German tradition, including Bach and Beethoven, and a more-than-nodding acquaintance with such dangerous moderns as Schumann, Liszt and Wagner.

French music in the late nineteenth century was divided into highly politicized camps – the Wagnerians, the Franckists, the followers of Massenet, and others. Fauré kept largely to himself, not joining any clique. Thus his music has always stood somewhat apart, sometimes overlooked and misunderstood. Singers have always delighted in his exquisite songs, and chamber music performers have reveled in the range and variety of his work for various small ensembles. The Requiem is one of his largest works to achieve general popularity, the composition of which, in one stage or another, covered most of the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

Fauré’s Requiem is absolutely typical of his work in its avoidance of melodrama or overblown effect.

His earliest conception was an intimate one, as far as possible from the heaven-storming theatrics of Berlioz’s Requiem, which he detested. He made a careful selection of passages from the liturgical text, omitting all of the melodramatic images of the Last Judgment that had been the dramatic high points for both Berlioz and Verdi. When the work was first performed in 1888, it consisted only of the following movements: Introit et Kyrie; Sanctus; Pie Jesu; Agnus Dei; In Paradisum It was scored for a small orchestra of low-pitched instruments for a somber sonority brightened only by an unmuted solo violin in the Sanctus soaring high above the ensemble like an angel of grace. The soprano solo in the Pie Jesu was intended for a boy soprano, while the choral soprano line was taken by the children’s choir that Fauré trained at the church.

Almost at once he expanded on this original plan.

By June 1889 he had completed the Offertoire, which now comes after the first movement. And he decided to make use, just before the end, of a Libera me for baritone and organ that he had composed as early as 1877. This version, complete in its number of movements and with an orchestra enlarged to include horns, trumpets and trombones, was performed at the Church of Saint-Gervais on January 28, 1892. The third and last version involved the addition of woodwind parts and the reduction of the prominence of the organ; it has become the standard version of the work.

Even in its largest version, Fauré’s Requiem is a singularly tranquil and subdued piece, a work almost of classical elegance—not in terms of musical style, but in its extraordinary serenity and restraint. The chorus, for much of its part, sings in a chantlike manner with only a few outbursts. One would be hard put to think of music more sweetly tranquil and serene than the Pie Jesu or more graceful than the FAURÉ (continued on page 49) ENCORE 47

Fabio Mechetti, conductor In 2008, Brazilian-born conductor Fabio Mechetti was appointed music director and principal conductor of the Orquestra Filarmônica de Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte. He was given the daunting task of practically creating a brand new, fully professional orchestra in Brazil’s third largest city. Since then, the orchestra has become a reference in symphonic activities in Brazil and Latin-America, garnering praises and prizes for its outstanding progress.

After concluding a 14-year tenure with the Jacksonville Symphony, Mechetti serves as principal conductor of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. Mechetti has also held the post of music director for the Spokane Symphony Orchestra and after 11 years, was named music director laureate.

He also led the Syracuse Symphony for ten seasons, eventually becoming the music director.

Mechetti is a well-traveled conductor, having performed with orchestras in New Zealand, Scotland, Finland, Italy and Japan. Fabio Mechetti holds Master’s degrees in conducting and composition from the Juilliard School of Music.

Jessica Pray, soprano Jessica Pray, soprano, recently performed at New York Public Radio’s Greene Space in NYC where, according to The New York Times, she “expressively conveyed” a selection of Charles Ives’ pieces as part of the NY Philharmonic Biennial 2016 music festival.

Pray’s recent opera credits include the roles of Despina in Cosí fan Tutte and Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Yale Opera, and Zerlina in Don Giovanni with Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre. Oratorio soloist credits include the Bach’s Mass in B Minor with Orchestra Iowa, Messiah with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and Gabriel in The Creation with the Yale Symphony Orchestra.

In March 2018, Pray will sing the role of Cunegonde in Candide at the Beethoven Easter Festival in Poland with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra.

Pray earned a Master of Music in Voice (Opera) from the Yale School of Music in May 2017, where she studied with Doris Yarick Cross, and holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Iowa. Jessica is the 2017 winner of the David L. Kasdon Memorial Prize.

Bryan Murray, baritone Bryan Murray is currently pursuing a Master of Musical Arts degree in Opera at Yale University’s School of Music under the tutelage of Richard Cross and Doris Yarick-Cross. Murray received an Artist Diploma and a Master of Music degree from the Purchase College Conservatory of Music where he studied with Bonnie Hamilton and Jacque Trussel and a Bachelor of the Arts degree from Stony Brook University where he studied with John Fiorito. Murray is also the grand prize winner of the 2016 Heida Hermann’s International Voice Competition.

During his studies, Murray appeared as Smirnov in William Walton’s The Bear with the Yale Opera, John Proctor in Robert Ward’s The Crucible, Count Almaviva in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Demetrius in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Father in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel with Purchase Opera and the Consul in Pier Francesco Cavalli’s Eliogabalo with Stony Brook Opera.

Following the production of the The Crucible, Murray recorded John Proctor in Albany Records’ new CD recording of The Crucible, released in January, 2017.

On the concert stage, Bryan was recently the bass soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the New Haven Symphony, the baritone soloist in Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Yale Symphony and the baritone soloist in the world premiere of Transfiguration by Robert Kyr with the Yale Camerata and orchestra. Bryan has also performed numerous degree recitals and a joint recital with John Horton Murray, Aprile Millo, John Tenaglia, Mary Lou Vetere and others.

48 JAXSYMPHONY.ORG – SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2017

FAURÉ (continued from page 47)

unison violins and violas introducing and underlying the Agnus Dei. Only once, and very briefly at that, are we reminded of the fear of death that was the central image of other Requiem settings as the somber D minor thread of the strings underlies the baritone’s Libera me and the horns provide a nervous rhythmic background to the choral “Dies illa, dies irae”—the only explicit evocation of the Last Judgment in the score, and which flows, almost without break, into the delicate tranquility of the In Paradisum, where the harps and organ add a touch of celestial brilliance to the quiet close.

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14 The Symphonie fantastique made and marked Berlioz’s reputation from the beginning. The work is most famous for its brilliantly imaginative orchestration and for Berlioz’s use of a single melody, which he called an idée fixe, in all five movements. Yet for all its renown as the great Romantic symphony, the Symphonie fantastique is really based on classical principals, organized in palindromic fashion around a slow movement at the center with two movements in characteristic dance meters surrounding it, and large-scale fast movements at the beginning and end. Moreover the whole is laid out in a logical harmonic plan, though the logic is not lacking in surprises.

The revised version was performed with its sequel, Lélio, or The Return to Life, on December 9, 1832; the symphony, at least, was a great success.

Still later Berlioz added the “religioso” coda of the first movement.

Berlioz’s idea for the program notes were: “A young musician of morbid sensibility poisons himself with opium in a fit of amorous despair. The dose, too weak to result in death, plunges him into a heavy sleep accompanied by the strangest visions, during which his sensations, and recollections are translated in his sick brain into musical thoughts and images. The beloved woman herself has become for him a melody, like a fixed idea [idée fixe] which he finds and hears everywhere.”

PART ONE: DAY DREAMS, PASSIONS He recalls that uneasiness of soul, those moments of causeless melancholy and joy, which he experienced before seeing her whom he loves; then the volcanic love with which she suddenly inspired him, his moments of delirious anguish, of jealous fury, his returns to loving tenderness, and his religious consolations.

PART TWO: A BALL He sees his beloved at a ball, in the midst of the tumult of a brilliant fête.

Probably no musical event of his life fired his energies more than his first exposure to music that was the very opposite of that description – the symphonies of Beethoven, which offered a vivid demonstration that instrumental music could have an expressive force far more profound than the vocal compositions he had heard up to that point.

Without Beethoven, there would be no Symphonie fantastique.

PART THREE: SCENE IN THE FIELDS One summer evening in the country, he hears two shepherds playing Ranz-des-vaches in alternate dialogue; this pastoral duet, the scene around him, the light rustling of the trees gently swayed by the breeze, some hopes he has recently conceived, all combine to restore an unwonted calm to his heart; she appears once more, his heart stops beating, he is agitated; if she were to betray him!... One of the shepherds resumes his artless melody, the other no longer answers him. The sun sets...the sound of distant thunder...solitude...silence....

Yet the Fantastique also required another impulse for its creation. This came on September 11, 1827, when the young composer simultaneously encountered Shakespeare and Harriet Smithson at a performance of Hamlet in which Miss Smithson played Ophelia. Shakespeare remained a lifelong literary idol. The influence of Harriet Smithson was more immediate. Berlioz conceived a hopeless infatuation for her and spent months trying to bring himself to the lady’s attention.

PART FOUR: MARCH TO THE SCAFFOLD He dreams that he has killed his beloved, that he is condemned to death, and led to execution. The procession advances to the tones of a march which is now sombre and wild, now brilliant and solemn, in which the dull sound of the tread of heavy feet follows without transition upon the most resounding outbursts. At the end, the fixed idea reappears for an instant, like a last love-thought interrupted by the fatal stroke.

A planned performance in May 1830 fell through after a single rehearsal. Berlioz undertook revisions and the work finally performed on December 5 was not the Symphonie fantastique we know today; much of it was reworked in the following two years while he was in Italy, having finally won the Prix de Rome. In the Eternal City he reworked a considerable part of the first three movements.

PART FIVE: DREAM OF A WITCHES’ SABBATH He sees himself at the witches’ sabbath, in the midst of a frightful group of ghosts, magicians, and monsters of all sorts, who have come together for his obsequies. He hears strange noises, groans, ringing laughter, shrieks. The beloved melody again reappears; but it has become an ignoble, trivial, and grotesque dance-tune; it is she who comes to the

witches’ sabbath....Howlings of joy at her arrival.... she takes part in the diabolic orgy....Funeral knells, burlesque parody on the Dies irae. Witches’ dance.

The witches’ dance and the Dies irae together.

The first movement’s introduction is derived from a romance that Berlioz had composed under the influence of a youthful infatuation. He found the melody given to the violins at the very beginning “exactly right for expressing the overpowering sadness of a young heart caught in the toils of a hopeless love.” The idée fixe (the term was the composer’s own) appears as the principal theme of the Allegro in the first movement, but it is derived from Herminie, a cantata he had written in 1828.

The Ball is quite simply the traditional ternary dance movement—here a waltz—with the idée fixe appearing as the Trio. Two harps lend a wonderful splash of color to the ball, seconded by the bright woodwinds.

The Scene in the Country is a slow sonata form with the idée fixe appearing as the secondary theme.

The movement is framed by a miniature tone poem, a dialogue between an English horn (on stage) and an echoing oboe (off stage). When the movement draws to its close, the English horn attempts to resume the dialogue, but the only response is a tense silence and menacing soft chords in F minor played by four timpani while the English horn attempts to sing the end of its song in F major.

The last two movements are musically linked in their scoring for large orchestra with a full brass ensemble. Berlioz claimed to have composed the March to the Scaffold in a single night—not so bold a claim as might appear, since he cannibalized the march from his unperformed opera, Les Francsjuges, adding only the quotation of the idée fixe just before the fall of the guillotine.

The Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath concludes the symphony in tonally classical manner, returning to the C minor/C major of the opening movement.

But in its powerful sonority, in the evocative use of tolling funeral bells and the Dies irae melody of the Requiem Mass (first in earnest and later parodied), Berlioz brings layers of extramusical reference that had rarely been employed in a symphony before.

The mysterious tritones, the grotesque parody of the idée fixe, the clanging of the funeral bells bringing in the low bassoons and tubas all to be a kind of large introduction for the “sabbath rounddance,” which appears in a full-fledged fugal exposition. Both Dies irae and fugue subject return together for the recapitulation, following which Berlioz unleashes the full energy of his large orchestra in the hair-raising coda.

ENCORE 49

Donald McCullough,

Director, Jacksonville Symphony Chorus Tom Zimmerman Endowed Chair

Hailed by the Washington Post for his “dazzling expertise” on the podium, Donald McCullough is considered one of America’s pre-eminent choral conductors. He became the director of the Jacksonville Symphony Chorus in 2012. In November 2014, he led the Jacksonville Symphony Chorus in its first appearance at New York’s Lincoln Center.

Previously, he was the director of the Master Chorale of Washington in the John F. Kennedy Center Concert Hall for more than a decade, developing a reputation for creating choruses that sang “with an innate sense of lyricism and musical poise” and delivered concerts that were “sensitive, scrupulous and heartfelt” (Washington Post).

During his tenure with the Master Chorale, the 120-member symphonic chorus performed 16 world premieres, produced three nationally distributed CDs and toured twice throughout Central Europe. The Chorale earned The Margaret Hillis Achievement Award for Choral Excellence in North America.

McCullough is also a composer whose works have been critically acclaimed throughout North America and Europe. Routinely sought after for commissions, his works have been described as “powerful and heart-wrenching,” “mystically beautiful” and “remarkably inspirational.”

Previously, McCullough was the founder and music director of two Norfolk-based choruses: the all-professional vocal ensemble, the Virginia Chorale, and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra Chorus. A native of Jacksonville, FL, he moved to Atlantic Beach, FL, in 2009 to focus on his expanding composing career. He also holds the post of organist and choirmaster at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Riverside.

50 JAXSYMPHONY.ORG – SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2017

LIFETIME OPPORTUNITIES.

85% of Bolles students participate in over 100 performances and gallery shows within the Fine and Performing Arts Department annually.

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www.drummondpress.com 52 JAXSYMPHONY.ORG – SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2017

About the Jacksonville Symphony Chorus The Jacksonville Symphony Chorus, under the direction of Donald McCullough, is an allvolunteer group of individuals from all walks of life who have a love of singing choral music.

The 140 members must audition to participate.

Four members have been with the Chorus since the beginning: Carole Vanderhoef Banks, Deborrah Hoag, Libby Montgomery and Billy Ware.

This season the Chorus will participate in several performances including Fabio, Fauré and Fantastique, Holiday Pops and Twilight of the Gods. A choral concert is scheduled for February 18.

Choral singing is the most popular form of participation in the performing arts according to a recent study by Chorus America. More than 18% of American households report one or more adults participate in a chorus.

“The Symphony chorus is designed to sing over the Symphony,” said McCullough.

“I look for voices that have focus and ring to them and that are sizeable enough to add to the sound we are trying to achieve.”

Some of the voice factors that go into selecting a choral member including their ability to sing in tune, which must be impeccable; their flexibility; range, diction; and innate sense of musicality.

The Chorus is celebrating its 33rd season this year and was founded by past Music Director Roger Nierenberg. In 2014, the Chorus traveled to New York City to perform under McCullough’s direction in the Lincoln Center premiere of his cantata In The Shadow of the Holocaust.

Jacksonville Symphony Chorus Donald McCullough, Director, Tom Zimmerman Endowed Chair • Jill Weisblatt, Chorus Manager William Adams David Avery Deborah Baker Jerrye Baker Susan Baker Stan Ballenger Carole Banks Alla Bartosh Jessica Bergstol Taylor Boice Elizabeth Bricknell Louise Brooks Dorothy Jean Bush Rita Cannon Chuck Carroll Kenneth Chin Estelle Chisholm Dale Choate Sandy Clarke Susan Connors Bradley Corner Nancy Crookshank Julie Cross Katherine Crowell Jane Daugherty Julie Davis

Tracy Davis Alyce Decker Marissa Dickerson Stephanie Doerr Jeff Elledge Amy Fannin Kate Flint Brian Ganan Veronica Gibson Bonnie Goldsmith David Groth Michele Hale Robert Hall Carole Heckrotte Wayne Heckrotte Deborrah Hoag Mike Hodges Kathy Hunt Ryan Justice Kiki Karpen Matthew Kelly Michelle Kemp William Kolb Charla Kuhlmann Ken Kutch Lena Leon de Lahaye

Ginger Lindberg Leyse Lowry Melissa Lumsden Mark Macco Linda MacLeod Jim Maher Walter Mattingly Liz McAlhany Marianne McAlhany James McGuffin Kate Medill Ozzie Medina Pat Medlock Bill Meisel Barbara Miller Molly Miller Kenneth Mixon Libby Montgomery John Morrow Sevella Mostella Tom Nesbitt Christina Ng Ben Norman Sally Offen John Owen Jane Palmer

Hugh Patterson Rosina Paul Anne Petersen John Petersen David Pierson Deborah Pierson Laura Jane Pittman Kelsey Potratz Vickie Prince John Pugh Nancy Purcell Robert Quinby Amy Quinn Mark Reasoner Tim Redding Nancy Redfern Wynn Redmon Caitlin Regan Patti Robertson Karl Rogers Robert Roth Kim Rowland AJ Ruvane John Ruvane Jen Schlechte Jeffrey Schroer

Keith Schroyer Jennifer Serotta Kara Shidemantle Janet Snell Sharon Snow Laura Stephenson Richard Sykes Hugh Tobias Sheri Van Orden Eileen Ward Billy Ware Jerri Lea Ware Jill Weisblatt John Weitzel Terri Williams Cindy Wohl Peter Wynkoop Sam Young

ENCORE 53

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25

Sat: 7pm

Nathan Aspinall, conductor Jacksonville Symphony Chorus We’ve all loved the feats of little Kevin McCallister when he’s left behind from the family’s holiday vacation. There’s a reason Home Alone is the highest grossing Christmas movie of all time. Now experience it like never before as the Symphony plays John Williams’ score live with the film.

Reserve your seats today!

904.354.5547 JaxSymphony.org 54 JAXSYMPHONY.ORG – SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2017

COFFEE SERIES POPS SERIES

Coffee Series: Friday, November 17, 2017 l 11 am Pops Series: Friday & Saturday, November 17 & 18, 2017 l 8 pm

The Doo-Wop Project

Robert E. Jacoby Symphony Hall, Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts

THE DOO WOP PROJECT Michael Krajewski, conductor The Doo Wop Project, guest artists

Raymond James Coffee Series

The Doo Wop Project Act I

I Only Have Eyes for You

Remember Then

Morse Code of Love/Little Bitty Pretty One

That’s My Desire

Oh, Rosemarie

The Way You Make Me Feel

Ooh, Ooh Baby/Tracks of My Tears

Tears of a Clown

I’m Yours

Come and Go With Me

36:43

The Doo Wop Project Act II

Sherry/Big Girls Don’t Cry

I’ve Got You Under My Skin

Maroon 5 Medley

Impossible Dream

Gloria/Speedo

17:18

The Coffee Concert is hosted by the Jacksonville Symphony Guild.

Coffee and tea are provided by Martin Coffee Company, Inc.

Fidelity National Pops Series

The Doo Wop Project Act I

I Only Have Eyes for You

Remember Then

Morse Code of Love/Little Bitty Pretty One

That’s My Desire

Oh, Rosemarie

The Way You Make Me Feel

Ooh, Ooh Baby/Tracks of My Tears

Tears of a Clown

I’m Yours

Come and Go With Me

36:43

The Doo Wop Project Act II

Sherry/Big Girls Don’t Cry

Walk Like A Man

I Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You

I’ve Got You Under My Skin

The Angels Listened in/Pretty Little Angel Eyes

Maroon 5 Medley

Impossible Dream

Gloria/Speedo

27:15

~ Intermission ~ 20:00

Although doo-wop music, the popular mix of R&B and rock & roll, became popular in the 1950s and 60s, its origins started with hit African-American groups such as the Mills Brothers and the Ink Spots in the 30s and 40s.

The Ink Spots are credited with establishing both the bass and tenor voice as as member of the pop-vocal ensembles. In fact, one of Motown’s premiere groups of the 60s-70s looked to the Ink Spots vocal structure for inspiration; The Temptations! The Mills Brothers were one of the first groups to use vocal harmony to similar the sound of string or reed instruments using syllabic sounds that eventually dubbed the genre “Doo-Wop.” The doo-wop genre grew from young singers in urban-American communities such as New York City, Chicago and Baltimore. Young musicians in these areas did not have much access to musical instruments and doo-wop music could be effectively performed a cappella.

Their practice areas of choice? Not stuffy practice rooms like many musicians of today spend hours in, but hallways, high school bathrooms and underneath bridges where their tight-knit harmonies could be clearly heard. From there, the groups took to street corners and stoops for performances as seen in Jersey Boys!

These energy-fueled, soul-inspired groups hit the mainstream music scene in the 1950s as Italian-American doo-wop groups began to catch on. The members of these groups grew up in the same urban environments as their African-American predecessors and used the same street corners and stoops for performance spaces. The term “doo-wop” was first printed in 1961 by the Chicago Defender at the height of the genre’s popularity. Groups such as the Four Seasons and Dion and the Belmonts joined the doo-wop family to help create the upbeat and tight-knit sounds you’ll hear tonight!

Students at the Symphony is supported in part by The DuBow Family Foundation Dana’s Limousine is the official transportation of the Jacksonville Symphony.

Omni Jacksonville Hotel is the official hotel of the Jacksonville Symphony.

ENCORE 55

Michael Krajewski, Principal Pops Conductor, Calvin and Ellen Hudson Charitable Trust Endowed Chair Known for his entertaining programs and clever humor, Michael Krajewski is “as effective and entertaining a communicator in music as he is in words” according to the Houston Chronicle.

Besides his role as principal pops conductor for the Jacksonville Symphony, he is music director of The Philly Pops and principal pops conductor of the Houston and Atlanta Symphonies.

As a guest conductor, Krajewski has performed with the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, the Boston and Cincinnati Pops and numerous other orchestras in the United State. His international appearances include Canada, Dublin and Belfast with the Ulster Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and Spain’s Bilbao Symphony Orchestra.

Krajewski is the conductor of the video, Silver Screen Serenade, with violinist Jenny Oaks Baker which aired worldwide on BYU Broadcasting. His recordings include two holiday albums with the Houston Symphony and other collaborative programs with such artists as flutist James Galway, Jason Alexander, Art Garfunkel, Wynonna Judd, Kenny Loggins, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Pink Martini and Cirque de la Symphonie.

He has degrees from Wayne State University and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Further training includes the Pierre Monteux Domaine School for Conductors. Krajewski was a Dorati Fellowship Conductor with the Detroit Symphony and later served as that orchestra’s assistant conductor. He was resident conductor of the Florida Symphony and for 11 years served as music director of the Modesto Symphony Orchestra. When not conducting, he enjoys travel, photography and solving crossword puzzles.

Prelude Chamber Music Camp Prelude Chamber Music is THE PREMIER summer MUSIC camp and festival in northeast Florida with the most years of camp experience, the most outstanding teachers, and the best all-around musical experiences for students of all ages and abilities!

We offer chamber music coaching and performances throughout the year, as well as in the summer. We work with Duval County Public Schools, area colleges, and other music schools to supplement their school instruction. For our camp, we provide generous scholarships as needed, and all our concerts and special events during camp are free and open to the community.

Follow us on Facebook or go to our website PreludeChamberMusic.org for the latest news and details on our 17th camp season, which will be in early June 2018! Applications will be online in January, 2018.

Prelude Chamber Music, Inc. is a 501C3 non-profit organization.

We gratefully accept donations on our web site to help us provide camp scholarships and expand our offerings!

56 JAXSYMPHONY.ORG – SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2017

a performance of The Sound of Music at the State Theater in New Brunswick, New Jersey. From that day on he spent his summers enrolled in theater camps preparing for his dream of being on stage. On his 22nd birthday, with his five-foot-six height, tenor voice and falsetto range, this true Jersey boy landed the role of Joe Pesci in the Broadway Company production of Jersey Boys, marking his Broadway debut. While on the show, he also spent the next six years as an understudy for the role of Frankie Valli.

Fischer has starred in the second national tour of Big: The Musical as well as regional parts in Thoroughly Modern Milly, The Music Man and Children of Eden. Fischer has been featured in several Indie shorts including Waystation in the Stars and October Pain.

Dominic Scaglione, Jr. Dominic Nolfi

Dominic Nolfi was born and raised in San Francisco, California, where he studied youth acting at the American Conservatory Theater and performed annually in their production of A Christmas Carol. He went on to study voice at the San Francisco Conservatory. He attended the Boston Conservatory on scholarship and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater. Upon graduation, Nolfi joined the European production of Grease. It was there that he met his future wife Sonia Iannetti; they have a daughter Vivienne.

Nolfi is currently performing on Broadway in Chazz Palminteri’s A Bronx Tale-The Musical, directed by Robert DeNiro and Jerry Zaks. He has also performed in Broadway productions of Motown: The Musical and Jersey Boys. Nolfi is a founding member of The Doo Wop Project and is unbelievably proud of his association with the other men who helped create this group. In his off time, he studies Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at Brooklyn Martial Arts.

Charl Brown

Originally from sunny San Diego, California, Charl Brown attended the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts from 8-12th grade.

Here, he discovered his passion for theater and the drive to make a living as an actor. In San Diego, he began to professionally hone his craft at local SoCal theaters such as the Starlight Theater, Moonlight Amphitheater and San Diego Musical Theater. Brown went on to become a proud graduate of the University of Southern California, School Of Theater.

Since graduation Brown has performed in a variety of shows including Broadway productions of both Jersey Boys and Sister Act. He also starred as Hud in the European Tour of HAIR, where over the course of two years it was performed in eight countries in three different languages. Most recently, Brown starred on Broadway as Smokey Robinson in Motown: The Musical, for which he was nominated for a 2013 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in A Musical.

Russell Fischer

Born and raised in Port Reading, New Jersey, Russell Fischer began his acting career in his backyard by pretending the shed was an amphitheater. Fischer fell in love with acting early in his life after seeing

Dominic Scaglione Jr. was born 100 steps away from where the iconic Frankie Valli was born in Belleville, New Jersey. In an interview with Broadway.com Scaglione says, “There were always two Franks playing in our house: Sinatra and Valli.” No wonder he was most recently seen starring in the role of Frankie Valli in Broadway’s production of Jersey Boys.

Early on in his career, Dominic was a member of the Sony music group called Sygnature and toured with acts like Christina Aguilera, Destiny’s Child, Beyoncé, Robin Thicke and Boyz 2 Men. He is proud to be one of the creators of The Doo Wop Project and marvels at how far this little idea has come. Although dedicated to the stage, Scaglione always makes time for his fiancée Tara “Janie” and his loving family who have provided unwavering support.

Dwayne Cooper

Dwayne Cooper, the bass of the group, is from Florence, South Carolina, and is currently living in New York City. He began singing with a Christian acapella group called “The Cunningham Singers.” Often referred to as a modern day Sammy Davis Jr. meets Barry White, he is what the industry calls a “triple threat.” Cooper has performed in the Broadway casts of Motown: The Musical, Hairspray and several National tours including both Smokey Joe’s Café and Showboat.

As a songwriter and producer, Cooper has charted #7 on Billboard’s Top Ten (Dance) and as a sketch comedy writer, his personal YouTube videos have been seen by over 1,000,000 people. TV/Film credits include Law and Order, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Difficult People and RuPaul’s Drag Race. Much love and thanks to family, friends and fans for the support!

Sonny Paladino

Sonny Paladino is a New York City based pianist, composer, music director and conductor. He specializes in jazz, pop and Broadway music.

Paladino has served as the music supervisor for the new Broadway Musical, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 and will also be serving as the music director for the upcoming Broadway revival of Smokey Joe’s Café.

Paladino has Broadway credits that include Jesus Christ Superstar, Grease and Mamma Mia. He was the music supervisor for the Milan/Italy tour of Disney’s High School Music and has worked with artists such as Alicia Keys and Kesha. Paladino received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Jazz Piano from CUNY City College.

ENCORE 57

” s y a d li o H e h It’s not “T without Holiday Pops!

DEC. 7 7:30pm

DEC. 8 11:00am 8:00pm

DEC. 9 3:00pm 8:00pm

DEC. 10 3:00pm

All your favorite holiday music and Jacksonville’s only guaranteed snowfall.

Guest appearances by

Caitlin McKechney Mezzo-soprano

Melodica Men

Douglas Anderson School of the Arts Dancers

Don’t be disappointed. Tickets sell out quickly.

Visit Jaxsymphony.org or call 904.354.5547 today!

58 JAXSYMPHONY.ORG – SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2017

Bethel Baptist Institutional Church Choir

YOUTH ORCHESTRAS SERIES Sunday, November 19, 2017 l 5 pm Robert E. Jacoby Symphony Hall, Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts

JSYO FALL CONCERT Deanna Tham, conductor

Please see insert for program and musician rosters.

Presented by Dana’s Limousine is the official transportation of the Jacksonville Symphony.

Omni Jacksonville Hotel is the official hotel of the Jacksonville Symphony.

JSYO rehearses at FSCJ South Campus, Wehner School of the Arts in Clay County and in three Duval County Public Schools through a Communities in Schools Partnership.

JSYO members are afforded unique musical experiences, in addition to the exposure to and performance of orchestral masterworks. For example, JSYO ensembles perform in the Symphony’s Jacoby Symphony Hall during the season as well as the annual Major/Minor concert which this year will be conducted by Jacksonville Symphony Music Director Courtney Lewis. At this concert, finalists in the annual Young Artists Concerto Competition showcase their exceptional talents by performing with their orchestra’s accompaniment. The Jacksonville Symphony and the JSYO also perform free community engagement concerts, both in Jacoby Symphony Hall and at various First Coast locations. This season, the JSYO Philharmonic will participate in their first-ever tour to the Los Angeles International Music Festival where they will perform at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

The JSYO ensembles are as follows: Jump Start Strings Beginner string students Foundation Strings Advancing beginner string students Encore Strings Intermediate string students Premier Strings Advancing intermediate string students Repertory Orchestra Intermediate to advancing full orchestra Philharmonic Advanced/pre-conservatory full orchestra

About the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestras The Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestras (JSYO) are Northeast Florida’s premiere developmental orchestral ensembles. Last season, the JSYO served more than 400 young musicians ages 7-21, who were admitted through competitive auditions. Through the in-depth study of classical repertoire, each orchestra improves its musical skills and understanding at both the individual student level and the ensemble level. In all, there are six ensembles which rehearse and perform under the direction of JSYO Principal Conductor and Symphony Assistant Conductor, Deanna Tham and her team of music educators. These professional conductors, along with Jacksonville Symphony musicians, nationally recognized soloists, and other professional educators in the community, enable the JSYO to serve the needs of each young musician with individualized, abilitylevel specific instruction.

ENCORE 59

CORPORATE CONDUCTOR’S CLUB ENGAGE

I

ENTERTAIN

|

CONNECT

EXPAND your brand and CREATE exposure for your business, while fostering a reputation for corporate citizenship.

CONNECT to potential clients, high-impact businesses and individuals ENGAGE in unique opportunities to entertain clients and employees CONCERT EXPERIENCES INTERMISSION RECEPTIONS COMPLIMENTARY VALET PARKING YEAR-LONG RECOGNITION ADVERTISING DISCOUNTS SPECIAL EVENTS EARLY ACCESS TO THE ANNUAL GALA

$3,000 – SILVER 16 Flexible concert tickets

$5,000 – GOLD 32 Flexible concert tickets

Complimentary Intermission

Reception Vouchers

Complimentary Intermission Reception Vouchers

12-month recognition as “Corporate Silver” in Encore

12-month recognition as “Corporate Gold” in Encore and listing in Symphony Season Guide

Not Available

Up to 8 complimentary parking passes

Discount on season advertisement in Encore

Discount on season advertisement in Encore

Invitations to exclusive member events

Invitations to exclusive member events

Exclusive discount on Gala table purchase Ability to reserve a table before tickets go on sale

JACKSONVILLE SYMPHONY 2018 GALA

RENÉE FLEMING

Presented by

Saturday, January 20, 2018

Connect your company to the Symphony by joining today.

904.354.7779 - Corporate@JaxSymphony.org – JaxSymphony.org/Corporate

ENCORE 61

Who’s been behind the Jacksonville Symphony brand transformation?

THE MAGIC STARTED HERE

ONIDEAS.COM

JSYO ASSISTANT CONDUCTORS John Wieland, Conductor, Woodland Acres Jump Start Strings and Foundation Strings John Wieland, principal bass for the Jacksonville Symphony, will assume additional duties as assistant conductor for the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestras in charge of Jump Start Strings and Foundation Strings at Woodland Acres Elementary School.

Prior to joining the Jacksonville Symphony, Wieland was principal bass of the Virginia and Oklahoma Symphonies, as well as the Orquesta Sinfonica de Mineria in Mexico City and the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder Colorado. His bachelor’s degree is from the New School of Music in Philadelphia (now part of Temple University) and included studies with Michael Shahan (Associate Principal Bass/Philadelphia Orchestra and (the late) William Smith (Assistant Conductor/ Keyboard/Philadelphia Orchestra. Additional teachers include Eugene Levinson/Principal/New York Philharmonic and (the late) H.Stevens Brewster/Principal of the National Symphony.

An avid educator, he has taught students from age three up to the university level. He has held faculty positions at the University of Central Oklahoma, Langston University, Bethune-Cookman University and Stetson University. His many former students teach all over North and Central America and many play professionally around the world.

Naira Cola, Conductor, Clay County Jump Start Strings and Foundation Strings Violinist Naira Cola has been playing with the Jacksonville Symphony since 2012. Cola was born and raised in Pensacola, Florida, and her upbringing was filled with jazz, gospel and soul music. She studied at the Mannes College of Music under the tutelage of Sally Thomas and Dr. Ann Setzer before attending New York University and the Julliard School for her graduate and post graduate studies.

Over the course of her career, Cola has received numerous accolades for her unique artistry, including winning the Doris Kahn Concerto Competition, being a semi-finalist in the National Sphinx Competition and being awarded the Artist Award from the New York Foundation for the Arts. As a soloist, she has been featured on NPR radio, WUWF Classic radio and WEAR TV. She has also toured with Ensemble Du Monde chamber orchestra.

Cola has served as an artist in residence for the Sphinx Performance Academy, Queens Borough Community College and the Noel Pointer School of Music, where she became the artistic director.

She works each summer as the artistic director of the Four Strings Academy in Lexington, MA. As a pedagogue and advocate for arts education, she has instructed hundreds of students in Brooklyn and throughout the New York Metropolitan area.

Rose Francis, Conductor, FSCJ Foundation Strings Rose Francis was born in Los Angeles, California and raised in Brevard County, Florida where she began her violin studies from a young age. She holds an undergraduate degree in Music Education where she studied violin under Dr. Simon Shiao and a Master of Music Performance in Conducting under the direction of Dr. Gordon Brock from the University of North Florida. Francis participated in master classes with the Ying String Quartet (violin), UNF Conducting Symposium participant with Eugene Corporon and was recently a conducting fellow with the Saratoga Orchestra for the Pacific North West Conducting Institute workshop with Diane Wittry and Dr. Anna Edwards. She has served as string orchestra director at Pine Forest Magnet School of the Arts since 2012, where she developed and cultivated a full-time string program for the entire school population with instruction including violin, viola, cello and bass.

Francis teaches upper strings techniques and pedagogy as an adjunct professor at University of North Florida since 2016. She has served as the assistant conductor of the Civic Orchestra of Jacksonville from the beginning of its inaugural season in the fall of 2016. She develops educational outreach materials for multiple organizations throughout Jacksonville. Francis is an advocate for string education and an emerging leader in the field.

ENCORE 63

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64 JAXSYMPHONY.ORG – SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2017

JSYO ASSISTANT CONDUCTORS Helen Morin, Conductor, Encore Strings and Premier Strings Helen Morin earned a Master of Music in Violin Performance with Lucia Lin at Boston University and holds a Bachelor of Music in Violin from Trinity College of Music, London, where she studied with John Crawford. Prior to her studies in the United States, she performed in Europe with the Britten Peers Orchestra, the Fine Arts Sinfonia of London, and as Concertmaster of the Trinity Sinfonia. Morin has been a guest artist at the Dartington International Music Festival, performed at the Brevard Music Festival, and toured Europe with the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra.

She has performed at the London Festival Hall, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Queens House Greenwich, Old Royal Naval College Chapel and St. Johns Square. She is a recipient of the Cavatina Trust Award and the Licentiate Trinity College London Teaching Diploma (qualifying her to teach at university level in the United Kingdom.)

While in Massachusetts, she led the Civic Symphony Orchestra, MetroWest Orchestra and spent five seasons as a first violinist with the Plymouth Philharmonic Orchestra. She was a featured artist in the Rimscha Concert Series and director of the Hopkinton String Program.

Since moving to St. Augustine in September 2010, Morin has substituted on several occasions for the Jacksonville Symphony, freelances with local chamber orchestras in St. Augustine as well as in the Jacksonville area and has a private violin studio. She is a member of the Georgia Coastal Symphony and has performed as part of the St. Augustine Music Festival Orchestra. She currently teaches music at R.B. Hunt Elementary School in St. Augustine, where she has established an after school strings program, now in its fifth year, in the St. Johns County School District.

David Song, Conductor, FSCJ Jump Start Strings A native of Jeon-Ju, South Korea, violinist David Hwan-Min Song began studying the violin at the age of 10. He received his training at the Jeonju Fine Arts Middle School under Seung-Gu Baek before immigrating to the United States in 2002. Since then, he has performed extensively as an orchestral, chamber and solo violinist.

In 2003, Song made his solo debut with the Southwest Florida Youth Orchestra and has also appeared as a soloist with the Southwest Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, Song was featured as a soloist on NPR’s program From the Top, performing with pianist Christopher O’Riley. In 2005, he was selected to perform with the London Symphony during the Florida International Festival in Daytona Beach, Florida.

In April 2011, Song was a featured guest soloist performing Pablo de Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy as First Prize Winner of the Southwest Florida Symphony Young Artist Competition.

Song was a full scholarship student of the internationally renowned Routa Kroumovitch-Gomez at Stetson University, where he received a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance. He was also a scholarship student of Dr. Bruce Berg at Baylor University where he pursued a Masters of Music in Violin Performance.

Song currently serves as an assistant principal violin in the Savannah Philharmonic and the 2017/2018 season will be his first as an assistant conductor for the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestras. He also performs with the Jacksonville Symphony, the Coastal Symphony of Georgia, the Orlando Philharmonic and the Southwest Florida Symphony.

ENCORE 65

The Jacksonville Symphony Association gratefully acknowledges the generosity of the following individuals, businesses and foundations: Gifts to the Annual Fund between July 1, 2016 and August 9, 2017 ∆ Designates a gift in-kind * Designates deceased CONDUCTOR’S CLUB PLATINUM $10,000 - $24,999

Arts Consulting Group ∆ Sandra Sue Ashby Drs. Julie R. and James D. Baker III Bank of America Biscottis ∆ Riverplace Capital Management, Inc Brooks Rehabilitation Sandra and Phillip Burnaman Carl S. Swisher Foundation Mr. and Mrs. A. R. “Pete” Carpenter Luther and Blanche Coggin Elizabeth Lovett Colledge John and Kristen Surface Charitable Fund CSX Transportation, Inc. Cummer Family Foundation Sally and Tyler Dann Jane and Jack Dickison Edward and Susan Doherty Downtown Investment Authority Drummond Press Jon A. Ebacher and Jill T. Wannemacher Edna Sproull Williams Foundation Andrew Farkas Fidelity Charitable Wolchok Charitable Fund of Fidelity Charitable Fleet Landing G. Howard Bryan Endowment Fund Friend of the Symphony Margaret Gomez Paul and Nina Goodwin Scott and Camille Gregg Harbinger Sign Hicks Charitable Foundations Jacksonville Symphony Association Endowment Fund Jacksonville Symphony Guild Jess & Brewster J. Durkee Foundation Rebecca and Randolph Johnson Charlie and Anne Joseph Michel and Heidja Kruse Mrs. Edward W. Lane, Jr. National Endowment for the Arts Mr. and Mrs. Russell B. Newton Jr Nutter Family Foundation Publix Super Markets Charities Raymond James & Associates, Inc. Mr. Ronald Rettner Mr. and Mrs. Robert T. Shircliff Samuel Shorstein Mr. and Mrs. Ross Singletary Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP ∆ Dr. Suzanne Spanier

St. Vincent’s HealthCare Stein Mart, Inc. David and Linda Stein David and Elaine Strickland SunTrust Bank, North Florida Erlane D. and John E. Tait The Thomas M. Kirbo and Irene B. Kirbo Charitable Trust Chip and Phyllis Tousey Jim and Joan Van Vleck Vanguard Charitable - Kessler Fund Tom Vickery and Sarah McAlhany George and Ellen Williams Winston Family Foundation Woodcock Foundation for the Appreciation of the Arts Mr. and Mrs. Douglas C. Worth

CONDUCTOR’S CLUB GOLD $5,000 - $9,999

ACOSTA Sales and Marketing Teri and Jim Babcock Sally and Jim Baldwin Baptist Health John and Cherie Billings Robert and Helen Bohnstengel Annette and Bill Boling Ginny and Bob Bon Durant Paul and Kathy Bosland Nancy and Ted Burfeind Carl and Rita Cannon Dr. and Mrs. John D. Casler CenterState Bank Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce, Inc. Claude Nolan Cadillac, Inc. Linda L and Patrick W Clyne Sharon and Martin Connor Cornehl Family Foundation Fund Tom and Jesse Dattilo Susan P. Davis Alice and O’Neal Douglas Dr. Christine Ng - ngderm.com Mr. and Mrs. Walter H. Drew Remmer & Ryzewic Family Fund of Fidelity Charitable Mr. and Mrs. George W. Gibbs, III William G. Gingrich Mr. and Mrs. John Godfrey Claudia B. Gordon Cynthia and Walter Graham, Jr. Betty Lu Grune Bill and Nancy Hetzel Dr. Anne H. Hopkins, Emeritus Professor Calvin and Ellen Hudson

66 JAXSYMPHONY.ORG – SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2017

Mr. and Mrs. Victor A. Hughes Michael and Maryann Imbriani Ira and Eva Jackler Magnolia Foundation Lillian and Bunky Johnson Mr. and Mrs. J. Malcolm Jones Dr. Lawrence and Kathy Kanter Peter and Kiki Karpen Bob and Cindy Kastner Dr. Frances B. Kinne Patty and Jim Kleck Mr. and Mrs. Eugene J. Kovarik Dr. and Mrs. Ross T. Krueger Mrs. Anne Kufeldt Dave and Mary Pat Kulik Kustura Technology ∆ Bill and Barbara Maletz Martin Coffee ∆ Frances W McCurry Julie and Michael McKenny Margaret Leu Means Dorothea E. Neinstedt Janet and Joseph Nicosia Robert and Flo Anne O’Brien Mary Carr Patton Deborah and David Pierson Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Pippin Mr. and Mrs. Raymond A. Ross Jr Mr. Paul J. Saunders Duval Motor Company Ed and Whitney Selover Mr. and Mrs. Richard L. Sisisky Helen Morse and Fritz Skeen Richard G. and Ann F. Skinner Advised Fund Kent and Marie Smith Dr. Mark A. Spatola and Dr. Mihaela Ionescu Mr. and Mrs. Edward L. Spetnagel III Joseph and Anna Spiak Jay and Deanie Stein Brooke and Hap Stein The Thomas Family Foundation Mrs. Barbara Thornton Tom Bush BMW Jacksonville V Pizza ∆ Cindy and Chris Ware Dr. and Mrs. H. Warner Webb Ms. Barbara W. Webster Westminster Woods on Julington Creek Dr. and Mrs. Scott Wiedenmann Norma and Jack Williams Dr. Eugene and Brenda Wolchok Martie Yohe Carleton and Barbara Zacheis

CONDUCTOR’S CLUB SILVER $2,500 - $4,999

Admira Dentistry with Dr. Joe Barton Mr. and Mrs. Conrad F. Ahrens Mark and Rita Allen Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation Arkest LLC Assign Commercial Group LLC Stephen E. and Phyllis C. Bachand Mr. and Mrs. Don Baldwin Bank of America Foundation Claudette and Richard Barker Byron and Cynthia Bergren Julie Bessent Joyce R. Blackburn Mr. and Mrs. James C. Blanton Borkowski Family Foundation Sandy and Jack Borntraeger Mr. and Mrs. Raymond W. Boushie John and Cletia Bowron Mr. and Mrs. David B. Boyer Col. and Mrs. E. M. Brisach Rod and Pat Brock Mark and Beth Brockelman Karen and Mark Brown Jim and Carol Bryce Mrs. William S. Burns and Mrs. David L. Dalton Shelia McLenaghan and Duke Butler Mr. Stanley W. Cairns Mrs. Diane Cannon Chartrand Foundation Sandra and Andrew Clarke Patricia Clegg in Memory of George F. Clegg Meade and Alvin Coplan Caroline Covin in memory of Robert Covin Mr. John Cranston Peter and Lois Dalmares Mr. and Mrs. David Dalton Mr. and Mrs. Thomas P. Davis Douglas Anderson School of the Arts In Memory of Shirley Collupy Dr. and Mrs. James W. Dyer Enterprise Holdings Foundation Greg and Helen Euston Randy and Lynn Evans Mr. and Mrs. David Foerster Clark and Lauretta Gaylord Pat and Fred Gieg Lawrence and Phyllis Goldberg Rabbi Robert and Marilyn Goodman Mel and Debbie Gottlieb Wayne Greenberg and Elizabeth Shahan O. C. and Mae Jean Gregg Jim and Pat Griffiths Becky and Tommy Grimes Harold K. Smith Charitable Fund Friend of the Symphony Mrs. Egbert Heilman Mrs. Joan F. Heller Herb and Ann Rowe Charitable Foundation Joe and Renate Hixon Holland & Knight John Ievalts and Lise Everly Ms. JoLynne Jensen Mike and Naomi Coffey Andrew and Gurmeet Keaveny Mr. and Mrs. Charles Keller Dr. and Mrs. John R. Kelley David and Sally Ketcham Dr. Annette Laubscher Meinrod & Leeper Wealth Management Janine Leland and Tom Larson Harriet LeMaster Mr. Courtney Lewis

Gene H. Lewis Carolyn Marsh Lindsay Mrs. Richard C. Lonsdale Mrs. John R. Mackroth Mr. and Mrs. John Malone Robert Massey and Lisa Ponton Susan and Ron Masucci Ann and Bob Maxwell Mayse-Turner Fund for Public Performance of Classical Music Davis and Sandra McCarty Donald McCurry and Suzanne Keith Marcia Mederos Newman Family Foundation John and Dorothy Nutant Capt. John and Mrs. Carol O’Neil Jr (USN Ret.) Marie and Joel Pangborn Mr. and Mrs. John Peyton Pfizer Foundation Alison McCallum Rachel T. Maddox Memorial Fund of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation Donald Albert James Robinson Bruce Rosborough and Judy Ham Sheila and Louis Russo Peter Ryan in memory of Sandra J. Ryan Ms. Betty Saunders Dr. and Mrs. Ralph A. Sawyer Scheidel Foundation Schwab Charitable - Stein Mr. and Mrs. Joseph E. Sherin Mr. Benjamin Shorstein and Ms. Nicole Nissim Mr. and Mrs. Mark J. Shorstein Steve and Judy Silverman Hal and Ana Skinner Dr. Edward and Mary Ellen Smith Rev. and Mrs. J. Perry Smith Dr. Mandell and Rita Diamond Stearman Marianne and Ben Stein Mrs. C. G. Strum Mr. and Mrs. John Tancredi Thomas T. Phillips Jr. Foundation, Inc. Mireille and Robert Threlkel Maureen and Ronald Townsend Wilmington Trust N.A. Mrs. Georgia Wahl Dr. and Mrs. Lowell B. Weiner Ph. D. Wells Fargo Barbara C. West Arlene and Phil Wiesner Stephen Williams Dr. and Mrs. Charles N. Winton Mr. and Mrs. A. Daniel Wolff III Jacob and Karen Worner Hon. Gwen Yates and Lt. Col. Alton Yates, Ret.

CONCERTMASTER’S CIRCLE $1,000 - $2,499

Friend of the Symphony Lewis and Sybil Ansbacher Family Foundation, Inc. Dr. and Mrs. George F. Armstrong Jr David and Beth Arnold Dr. and Mrs. Dwight S. Bayley Mr. and Mrs. Charles Berman The Brady S. Johnston Perpetual Charitable Trust John and Hilary Breen Mary Ann and Shepard Bryan Burgman Winston Youth Orchestra Scholarship Fund Jim and Mary B. Burt Mrs. Lynn Cabrera Gary and Barbara Christensen Alice Mach Coughlin Harriett L. Dame Mr. John A. Darby and Dr. Barbara Darby

Mr. and Mrs. Bruce R. Darnall Mr. and Mrs. Donald M. Davis Mr. and Mrs. Henry D’Hulst Friend of the Symphony Dr. and Mrs. A. R. Eckels EJC Family Fund of Bank of America Charitable Mark R. Evans Mr. and Mrs. Thomas A. Fernley III Friend of the Symphony Jim and Elaine Funk Dr. John Gallo Jeff and Jolee Gardner Dr. Mary Alice Westrick and Dr. Thomas Gonwa Dr. Dan Hadwin and Dr. Alice Rietman-Hadwin Gisela Haemmerle Suna Hall Bill and Kent Hamb Jack and Grace Hand A. Sherburne Hart Barbara Johnson Rita H. Joost Luke and Sandy Karlovec William Kastelz, Jr. in memory of Sandra Mr. and Mrs. Charles Keller Richard and Nancy Kennedy Don and Donna Kinlin Ted M. Klein and Barbara LeVoy The E. J. Kovarik Philanthropic Fund Mr. David Lakari James and Karen Larsen Norman and Mary Ellen Ledwin Alison R. Leonard Eleanor L. Lotz Hal and Frances Lynch William and Mary Lou MacLeod Mr. and Mrs. Donald Maley Judith and Ray Mantle Mr. and Mrs. Philip S. May Jr Patrick and Helen Mayhew Mr. P. L. McWhorter Lee and Bobbie Mercier Brett and Susan Merrill Mr. and Mrs. Gordon B. Middleton ExxonMobil Foundation Dr. Lesley Morgan Linda Crank Moseley Tom and Harriet Nesbitt Mr. and Mrs. Ken New Robert Nuss and Ann Harwood-Nuss David and Kathryn Olson Patricia D. Page The Parker Foundation Dr. and Mrs. Matthew C. Patterson Ted and Jane Preston Mr. and Mrs. Robert Quinby Mike and Julia Suddath-Ranne Claudia and Steve Russey Dr. and Mrs. Wilbur C. Rust Anne and John Ruvane Sabel Foundation Inc. Tom and Jane Schmidt Faith Schonfeld Becky Schumann Ms. Ruth Schwarzmann Mr. and Mrs. Chris Seubert Shacter Family Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Mark J. Shorstein Crew of Tievoli The Stellar Foundation Elsie Thompson Mr. and Mrs. Michael Tierney Gwynne and Bob Tonsfeldt Mr. and Mrs. Rolf Towe Susan and James Towler Mr. and Mrs. Richard Tufaro ENCORE 67

Gabriele Van Zon Voya Foundation Carol and Manuel Wallace Mary V. and Frank C. Watson Advised Fund Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Whittemore Linda F. Wilkinson Mary Ann and Woody Witczak Dr. and Mrs. Daniel Wohl Mary Jean Zimmerman

$500 - $999

Mr. Thomas Argyris Barbara H. Arnold The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations Anonymous Dr. William and Linda Ann Bainbridge Janean C. Baker David and Gloria Beeman Mr. and Mrs. Joseph P. Bender, Jr. Mr. Francesco Borghese Mr. and Mrs. William Braddock Anonymous Jane and Bob Brown Caren and Dennis Buchman Dr. and Mrs. William Bullock Kevin and Pat Burke Dr Nancy J. Cable Dr. and Mrs. William H. Caldwell David and Lynne Campbell Dorothy Cernik Ian M. Charlton Jeff and Lee Ann Clements Elizabeth Schell Colyer Mrs. Lucille Conrad Tom and Pat Conway Mr. and Mrs. Arch Copeland

LT Amy Crisp and Mr. Phillip Jenkins Mary Crumpton Mims Cushing Ms. Annabel Custer Noel and Mildred Dana Pritam Das and Denise Harnois Mr. and Mrs. Julius Dean George and Sachi Deriso Marian Dickson in memory of Steve Dickson Paul and Doris Dorfman Margie and George Dorsey Kevin and Cathy Driscoll Mr. and Mrs. James F. Duffy Charles and Virginia Dunn Julia M. Edgerton Virginia M. Elliott Mr. and Mrs. Richard Ezequelle Bill and Judy Franson Mr. and Mrs. Michael S. French Mr. Stephen M. Gahan Yves Genre Mr. and Mrs. Roland and Sara-Ann Gomez Mr. and Mrs. Edmund Greenslet Robert and Susan Gregg Richard Habres Mr. Howard Haims Malcolm and Joyce Hanson Drs. Alfred D. and Katherine A. Harding Karen Harris Mr. and Mrs. Coleman Hawk Hugh and Patricia Hayden Mrs. Seldon Henry Dr. Hazem Herbly Howard and Janet Hogshead Mr. and Mrs. H.C. Holderfield Mrs. William G. Holyfield

68 JAXSYMPHONY.ORG – SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2017

Paula and Kenneth Horn Jay and Jeanne Huebner Robert C. Hughes Michael and Dawn Huskey Ms. Jo Carol S. Hutchins Pam and Mike Jackson Friend of the Symphony Mr and Mrs. Terrence D. Jones Mr. and Mrs. Peter E. Kaplan Ruth and Richard Klein Janet and Ron Kolar Sunny and Harold Krivan Mark and Mary Lemmenes Jim and Robin Love Mr. and Mrs. David Lovett Leyse Lowry Dr. Mike and Marilyn Mass Mr. and Mrs. Joseph E. McCauley William and Brenda McNeiland Douglass and Jane Miller Mrs. Mary Ann Moore Monica and Robert Mylod John and Kathie Nevin Earl and Susan Oehler Mr. Thomas C. Orr Audrey B. Patterson Sue Patton Suzanne C. Perritt Mr. and Mrs. Rickie Petersen John and Sally Pettegrew Richard G. Pohlig Mr. and Mrs. Conrad Poniatowski Nancy and Ted Powell in recognition of Dori and Bill Walton Mr. Jack and Dr. Miriam Price Judy and Jere Ratcliffe Wynn Redmon Friend of the Symphony Mrs. Karen Ritchie Dr. Daniel S. Yip and Teresa Rodriguez-Yip Mr. Neil Rose and Dr. Jeannie Rose Mr. and Mrs. John Ryder Colleen Sanchez AdLib Luxury Tours and Transportation, Inc Friend of the Symphony The Schultz Foundation, Inc. Schwab Charitable Fund Mrs. Lorraine Scruby Robin Smathers Dr. Carolyn H. Smith Ms. Linda L. Smith Dewey Sparks Dr. David A. Spring Anonymous Kimber E. Strawbridge Esq Mr. James Stronski Rod Sullivan Ivy Suter Linda and Jim Sylvester Dorcas G. Tanner Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Torres Mrs. Alice Trainer Mr. Rudolf E. Urban Mr. Carl Utter Sheri Van Orden Billy J. and Nettie T. Walker Marvel S. Wallace Dr. and Mrs. Robert S. Walton Shirley Watts Bing Cornelia and Olin Watts Endowment Fund Mr. and Mrs. Neil J. Wickersty Sylvia G. Cotner and Mary Wysong

CADENZA

An invitation to play your part in the future of our Orchestra

SOCIETY

Cadenza Society members are a group of dedicated supporters who have made a future financial commitment to ensure that the orchestra you love will be able to keep making vibrant music for generations to come.

Membership is easy. No immediate donation is necessary. You simply need to name Jacksonville Symphony as a beneficiary in your will, trust, insurance policy, donor advised fund, or foundation.

Cadenza Society Members receive recognition in Encore as well as invitations to: • An exclusive Cadenza Society gathering with Music Director Courtney Lewis • Onstage Open Rehearsals

• Annual Donor Appreciation Night

CADENZA SOCIETY Kaye Glover • 904.354.9136

J a x S y m p h o n y. o r g / l e g a c y

There are many ways to support the Jacksonville Symphony in its endeavor to “enrich the human spirit through symphonic music.” Attending a concert, as you are tonight, is one of those ways; including the Symphony in your will, trust, insurance policy donor advised fund or foundation, is another. Lory Doolittle, and her husband Pete, have set up a Planned Giving Fund in order to support the Symphony they so love and here is her reason why: “Pete and I are delighted to support the Jacksonville Symphony.

The Symphony is one of the reasons we like to call Jacksonville home.

The fact that the community supports this cultural institution is a testimony to the residents and the quality of the Symphony. Thank you Courtney Lewis for providing great music to all ages and for creating ways for everyone to participate and enjoy.” ~Lory Doolittle

The Jacksonville Symphony gratefully acknowledges these members for including the Symphony in their estate planning.

Mark and Rita Allen Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Anderson Sandra Sue Ashby Rick E. Bendel Jacob F. Bryan IV Elizabeth I. Byrne, Ed.D. Carl and Rita Cannon Clarissa and Warren Chandler Estelle and Terry Chisholm Col. and Mrs. Robert B. Clarke Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Clyne Luther and Blanche Coggin Elizabeth Schell Colyer Ruth P. Conley Caroline S. Covin Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Cowden Dr. Amy Crowder in memory of Carole V. Ewart Sara Alice Bradley Darby* Stephen and Suzanne Day Chris and Stephanie Doerr Mr. and Ms. Pete Doolittle Jeff Driggers* Friend of the Symphony (5) Brock Fazzini Josephine Flaherty Mr. and Mrs. George D. Gabel, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Allan Geiger John L. Georgas* Linda Barton Gillis Rabbi Robert and Marilyn Goodman

Sue Gover Mary T. Grant* Camille Clement Gregg Charitable Remainder Trust in memory of Ruthwood Craven Samek Dr. Dan W. Hadwin and Dr. Alice RietmanHadwin Suna Hall Preston H. Haskell Richard Hickok and Andrea Ashley Bev and Bill Hiller Calvin and Ellen Hudson Charitable Trust Wes and Beth Jennison Rita H. Joost Mike and Naomi Coffey Elizabeth Kerr Frances Bartlett Kinne, Ph.D. Norman and Dolores Kramer Dr. and Mrs. Ross T. Krueger E. Michael and Heidja Kruse Edward W. Lane, Jr. Mary Ann Lindsey Dr. and Mr. D’Anne Lombardo Leyse Lowry Jean Lumpkin* Ambassador Marilyn McAfee Doug and Laura Mathewson* Alison McCallum Frances Watts McCurry Lee and Bobbie Mercier Roxie Merrill

Robert A. and Fay Mills Sherry Murray* Mr. and Mrs. E. William Nash, Jr. Janet and Joseph Nicosia Lloyd Hamilton Oakes in memory of Ruthwood C. Samek Val Palmer Mr. and Mrs. Joe Peters Ruth (Rusty) Pierce Richard and Leslie Pierpont J. William Ross Ruthwood C. Samek Carol and Bob Shircliff Sally Simpson Ann H. Sims* Al Sinclair Helen Morse and Fritz Skeen Ana and Hal Skinner Mary Love Strum Gwynne* and Bob Tonsfeldt Chip and Phyllis Tousey Rev. W. Glenn Turner Mary Jane and Jack Uible Stephen R. Wickersham Stephen Williams Renee Winkler Quentin Wood Thomas C. Zimmerman* *Designates deceased ENCORE 69

NOV

17 Fri

JAN

2017-2018 SEASON Single Tickets and Season Subscriptions On Sale Now! TH

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Moscow state symphony orchestra DMITRY MASLEEV, PIANO 2015 Tchaikovsky Award Winner

Royal philharmonic orchestra Pinchas Zukerman, CONDUCTOR & VIOLIN

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Public Sponsors and Support

Jacksonville Symphony Association is funded in part by the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville and the City of Jacksonville and the Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Council of Arts and Culture and the State of Florida.

70 JAXSYMPHONY.ORG – SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2017

EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT SOUND INVESTMENT PROGRAM Music in the Schools (Elementary School)

Musicians from the Jacksonville Symphony visit schools throughout Northeast Florida introduce smaller ensembles (quartets/quintets) and integrate music with a variety of grade-appropriate curricula.

Music in the Schools (Middle and High School)

The new Jacksonville Symphony Chamber Orchestra provides students with a unique program for a smaller orchestra which is not traditionally seen in concert halls. Visiting middle and high schools throughout the region, this ensemble uses music to create cross-curricular connections.

Family Concerts (Infants-Age 10)

Musical classics and creative storytelling are sure to engage and enthrall children of all ages. Add to this concert experience by attending FREE pre-concert activities designed specifically for the theme of each concert. Activities include crafts, games and the Instrument Zoo presented by the Jacksonville Symphony Guild. Family concerts are used to establish a foundation for learning, reading and/or storytelling.

This is essential in creating successful students, and ultimately, successful adults and an educated work force. Designed for children ages 4-10, these concerts now include age-appropriate activities, privacy areas and a relaxed environment to welcome infants and toddlers to create a fun experience for the entire family to learn and listen together.

Mayo Clinic Community Concerts (All Ages)

With a promise of making musical accessible to all, the Jacksonville Symphony provides free concerts throughout the community.

JACKSONVILLE SYMPHONY’S SOUND INVESTMENT PROGRAM

SPONSORED BY THE J. WAYNE AND DELORES BARR WEAVER MUSIC EDUCATION ENDOWMENT

FIELD TRIPS Youth Concerts (Elementary School)

Each fall (Preludes), winter (Nutcracker) and spring (Young People’s Concerts), elementary school students attend a 45-minute concert featuring the full Jacksonville Symphony at Jacoby Symphony Hall. Educator classroom guides and supporting material maximize the impact of the experience for the child.

Students at the Symphony (Middle and High School)

Students at the Symphony is a concert-going experience that provides FREE tickets to students and their families for select Jacksonville Symphony Masterworks and Pops concerts via school partnerships. Pre-concert workshops and activities with Symphony Teaching Artists teach students about the orchestra and connect content of each performance to general elements of musical knowledge and allow students to make cross-curricular connections.

ENCORE 71

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Twin Headliners Chick Corea

Gil Shaham, violin virtuoso February 15 Garrick Ohlsson, piano great March 4 Dover Quartet, our Quartet-in-Residence March 18, April 8 Grascals, Grammy-nominated bluegrass band April 15, 16, 17

Legendary jazz pianist

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September 1: for headliners: donors of $500 and above September 15: for headliners: donors at $100-$499 October 1: All concerts to general public

www.aicmf.com or 904-261-1779 for complete information about our 2018 season

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GET INVOLVED - VOLUNTEER WITH THE SYMPHONY The Jacksonville Symphony loves its volunteers. There are many ways to support the Symphony – you can give a gift, join an auxiliary group, serve as an usher or sing in the chorus. Read about the many opportunities to support our mission.

ARIAS Continues Its Support of Nassau County Music Education ARIAS, Amelia Residents in Action for the Symphony, has as its primary mission the music education of Nassau County primary school students. This is divided into three parts. Instrument Zoo, our program for fourth graders, kicked off in November with the announcement of our schedule for this year. Our volunteers are given the opportunity to sign up for one or many dates to help guide the children through their introduction to the various symphonic instruments.

If you live in Nassau County and enjoy seeing a student smile when they hear their efforts produce a sound on a clarinet, trumpet or violin, please consider giving our Zoo some time. Call Susan Kosciulek at 904.548.0227 for more information.

Our second initiative is bringing symphony ensembles to the various fifth graders.

The feedback from the kids, displaying their enthusiasm for the program, is heartwarming. Now in its second year and including first and second graders, is our support for a Suzuki violin program. Instructor Shelby Trevor leads these classes and last year’s results were very encouraging.

If you are interested in joining ARIAS, please call Jack Dickison, President, at 904.277.0572.

BRASS

Beaches Residents Actively Supporting the Symphony BRASS kicks off the 2017/2018 season with a brand-new event, the BRASS Bash.

Happening Sunday, October 1, at the Oak Bridge Club in Sawgrass, BRASS Bash promises to be a fun event for the entire family with a barbecue and performances by the 2017 BRASS/Jacksonville Symphony Music Scholar Leila Warren, members of the Jacksonville Youth Symphony Orchestra and more! Other BRASS events include Wines for Music, Sunday, February 25, 2018 and the Annual Gala, Sunday, April 23, 2018. BRASS also sponsors Masterworks and Pops concerts throughout the year – see brassonline.org for a complete calendar of events.

Before the concert in Jacoby Hall Saturday, May 20, Michael Imbriani presented a $100,000 check to Robert Massey, President and CEO of the Jacksonville Symphony Association.

Thanks to all BRASS members and event sponsors for making this gift possible!

Last season, BRASS raised $100,000 for the Jacksonville Symphony in addition to sponsoring a music appreciation class for adults at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) UNF and a student music competition, the BRASS Ring. Leila Warren, a talented 8-year-old violinist, earned the title of 2017 BRASS/Jacksonville Symphony Music Scholar and a $500 prize. Grace Remmer won the 2017 BRASS Karen B. Boling Memorial Scholarship for the Viola, Briana Lang was first runner up. The scholarship allowed each violist to attend a summer music camp.

To join BRASS, visit brassonline.org or write to info@brassonline.org for more information.

ENCORE 75

THE GUILD Welcome to the 2017/2018 season of the Jacksonville Symphony. The Guild of the Jacksonville Symphony is in its 68th year and we’re very proud of what we do. We are a volunteer organization and, as our mission statement says, our goal is to further awareness of music and music education and to help create strong community support of the Jacksonville Symphony.

Proud Supporter of the Jacksonville Symphony.

We have an exciting year planned starting out with the Nutcracker Boutique and then our annual Holiday Luncheon. In the spring we will have our Friends of the Guild luncheon and in May the Symphony will perform at the Queens Harbour Pops Concert.

Besides our fundraising events we have a very active Education program that takes our Instrument Zoo into the schools, assists with tuition for the JSYO members, presents scholarships to JSYO students and gives Harmony Grants to teachers in the schools.

If you like to work at concerts you might enjoy helping with the Nutcracker Boutique, greeting our Coffee Concert attendees on Friday mornings or helping at the Will Call desk at concerts. If you like working directly with the Symphony staff you might like helping with mailings or answering the phone at the reception desk. There is something for everyone and everyone is a valuable asset to the Guild and to the Jacksonville Symphony.

If you’re interested in joining us we would love to welcome you as a Guild member. For more information please call me at 904-880-0759.

Sue Ashby President, Guild of the Jacksonville Symphony

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ENCORE 77

JACKSONVILLE SYMPHONY ADMINISTRATION EXECUTIVE OFFICE Robert Massey, President and Chief Executive Officer Sally Pettegrew, Vice President of Administration Jennifer Barton, Chief Strategy Officer Cayte Connell, Executive Assistant ARTISTIC OPERATIONS Tony Nickle, Director of Artistic Administration Nidhi Gangan Every, Production Manager Ray Klaase, Stage Manager Bart Dunn, Principal Librarian Luke Witchger, Orchestra Personnel Manager Shamus McConney, Technical Director James Pitts, Stage Associate Kenneth Every, Assistant Orchestra Personnel Manager Deborah Heller, Assistant Librarian Annie Hertler, Bowing Assistant Linda Holmes, Ballet Coordinator Jill Weisblatt, Jacksonville Symphony Chorus Manager DEVELOPMENT JoLynne Jensen, Vice President and Chief Development Officer Kaye Glover, Major and Planned Gifts Officer Jill Harrington, Director of Institutional Giving Sabrina Kelbert, Director of Development Services Kelly Novak, Annual Fund Director Jessica Mallow, Assistant Director of Corporate Relations Kyle Enriquez, Senior Manager of Memberships and Events Ann Marie Ball, Development Operations Manager

78 JAXSYMPHONY.ORG – SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2017

EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT Kathryn Rudolph, Director of Education and Community Engagement Brian Ganan, Education and Community Engagement Manager Deanna Tham, JSYO Music Director Naira Cola, JSYO Assistant Conductor Rose Francis, JSYO Assistant Conductor Helen Morin, JSYO Assistant Conductor David Song, JSYO Assistant Conductor John Wieland, JSYO Assistant Conductor Peggy Toussant, JSYO Site Coordinator Kyle Wehner, JSYO Site Coordinator FINANCE Debbie Forsberg, Chief Financial Officer Mark Crosier, Controller Sydna Breazeale, Staff Accountant MARKETING Peter Gladstone, Vice President of Marketing Amy Rankin, Director of Public Relations Scott Hawkins, Patron Services Manager Christie Helton, Marketing Manager Caroline Jones, Sales Manager Anna McGee, Digital Marketing Manager Ken Shade, Graphic Designer Sydney Schless, Communications Coordinator Pam Ferretti, Assistant Patron Services Manager Betty Byrne, Patron Services Associate Tara Paige, Patron Services Associate Cori Roberts, House Manager

helping seniors stay safely at home

HONORS

Can design elevate performance? we make it certain.

Design is a means to a greater end. The best designs solve problems and create opportunities while meeting human needs. Our philosophy of mindful design embraces our client’s objectives as our own.

Just as an intricately designed musical instrument elevates performance, our designers lift even the smallest details into creative environments where exceptional events unfold.

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