Ode to Joy Concert Programme

Ode to Joy

MAY

12&13

FRIDAY & SATURDAY 7:30PM Sagebrush Theatre

kamloopssymphony.com 250.372.5000

The City of Kamloops is a proud sponsor and wishes the symphony all the best during its 2022–2023 season.

Kamloops.ca

Allen Douglas (from KSO files)

Proud Sponsor

Message from the Board President The 2022-2023 KSO concert season that draws to its close this weekend has been especially significant and singularly successful. The variety of the programming and quality of the performances, both orchestral and choral, have been remarkable in a year in which we continued to turn our backs on the pandemic and return to both physical and artistic well-being. We are happy to have welcomed so many new faces: through increase in attendance and through sponsorship, and through the exceptional generosity of our donors. Behind all of this has been, of course, the inspired work of our seemingly tireless KSO team, co-ordinating the details that have united into a season of consummate performances.

In what more emphatic way could we celebrate our feelings of gratitude for renewed health and for our joy in artistic achievement than with the music of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony? This powerful, sublime and magisterial work has a universal reputation, and it has a special meaning for me—the choral last movement accompanied by organ was sung at my wedding in Boston years ago, and it still remains my touchstone of musical accomplishment and a poetic and unrestrained affirmation of humanity’s fundamental unity.

I want to take the opportunity presented by this season’s closing concert to say a few words about an important member of our KSO team, Daniel Mills. As many of you may already know, Daniel is leaving the KSO after four years with us to pursue important work in promotion of the arts in Calgary. Certainly, Beethoven’s idea of “Joy” does not at first seem to fit well with Daniel’s departure. But I find nothing but joy in celebrating the achievement of his seasons with the KSO and have nothing but joy to wish him as he embarks on the next stage of his career in the arts.

Board President Kamloops Symphony

The Kamloops Symphony wishes to acknowledge that this concert is taking place on Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc territory within the traditional lands of the Secwépemc Nation.

BC Interior Community Foundation Kamloops Symphony Foundation Shuswap Community Foundation SOCAN Foundation

GOVERNMENT FOUNDATIONS GRANTS

John McDonald

Proud Supporters of the

KAMLOOPS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ®

®

®

Proud Sponsor of the Kamloops Symphony Ron & Rae Fawcett k e lsong roup.c om 2

Kamloops Symphony Society BOARD OF DIRECTORS

John McDonald, ICD.D | President Steve Powrie | Vice President Tyler Klymchuk | Treasurer Kait Methot | Secretary Kathy Collier Lisa Fuller Christy Gauley Lucille Gnanasihamany Gabriele Klein Daleen Millard Rod Michell Sydney Takahashi Simon Walter

HONOURARY LIFE MEMBERS Bonnie Jetsen Art Hooper

ADMINISTRATION Executive Director

Daniel Mills

Music Director

Dina Gilbert

Office Administrator

Sue Adams

Operations Coordinator

Sam Bregoliss

Marketing Coordinator

Ryan Noakes Librarian

Sally Arai

Orchestra Personnel Manager

Olivia Martin

Production Assistant

Adrien Fillion

Chorus Master

Tomas Bijok

Collaborative Pianist

Daniela O’Fee Proud Member of Orchestras Canada, the national association for Canadian orchestras

Chorus Administrator

Marnie Smith

Music Director Emeritus

Bruce Dunn

MUSIC DIRECTOR Music Director Dina Gilbert is a Canadian conductor passionate about educating audiences of all ages and broadening their appreciation of orchestral music through innovative collaborations. This commitment, as well as Dina Gilbert’s extensive repertoire—often highlighting Canadian and women composers—have shaped her career and the orchestras she has worked with over the years.

Regularly invited to conduct in Canada and overseas, Dina Gilbert attracts critical acclaim for her energy, precision and versatility.

In addition to conducting the Kamloops Symphony, highlights of the 2022-2023 season include debuts with the Orchestre national des Pays de la Loire and a tour with the Orchestre national de Metz in France and return invitations with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and the Orchestre symphonique de Québec. As the Principal Conductor of the Orchestre des Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, she will perform Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Prokofiev’s Cinderella.

Over the years, Dina has been invited by leading Canadian orchestras including the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, the Orchestre Métropolitain, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Hamilton Philharmonic and the Orchestre symphonique de Québec. She also conducted performances in Oregon and North-Carolina, in Colombia, Spain, France, and in Niigata and Tokyo.

Her innate curiosity towards nonclassical musical genres and her willingness to democratize classical music have brought her to conduct the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Orchestre national de Lyon in several Hip Hop Symphonic

programs featuring renowned Hip hop artists I AM, MC Solaar, Youssoupha and Bigflo & Oli. Dina is also renowned for her expertise in conducting multidisciplinary projects such as cineconcerts performances (The Red Violin, The Artist, E.T. the Extraterrestrial) as well as Video Game soundtracks (The Montreal Video Game Symphony, Outlast, The Amazing Spiderman 2).

As the Music Director of the Orchestre symphonique de l’Estuaire (20172022), Dina expanded the symphonic repertoire and has reached thousands of children with her interactive and participative Conducting 101 workshops.

As the founder and artistic director of the Ensemble Arkea, a Montreal-based chamber orchestra, she premiered over thirty works from emerging Canadian composers. From 2013 to 2016, Dina Gilbert was the assistant conductor of the Orchestre symphonique de Montreal and Maestro Kent Nagano, also assisting guest conductors including Zubin Mehta, Sir Roger Norrington and Lawrence Foster.

Dina Gilbert earned her doctorate from the Université de Montréal and she polished her skills in masterclasses with Kenneth Kiesler, Pinchas Zukerman, Neeme Järvi and the musicians from the Kritische Orchester in Berlin. Awarded the Opus Prize of “Découverte de l’année” in 2017, Dina Gilbert was also named as one of the “50 personnalités créant l’extraordinaire au Québec” in 2018 by the Urbania Magazine. She has also received support from the Canada Arts Council, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and from the PèreLindsay Foundation.

Dina Gilbert

Orchestra

FIRST VIOLIN Cvetozar Vutev —concertmaster * Elyse Jacobson — assistant concertmaster * Llowyn Ball Meredith Bates Evelyn Creaser-Rumley Emma Donnelly** Carol Hur Molly MacKinnon Sandra Wilmot SECOND VIOLIN Boris Ulanowicz* Erin Adams Francisco Barradas Jiten Beairsto Annette Dominik Lori Douglas Narumi Higuchi Samantha Kung Haley Leach Eilidh Nicol** Irene Whitfield

CELLO Martin Kratky Doug Gorkoff Jake Klinkenborg Shin-Jung Nam Michael Powell BASS Maggie Hasspacher* Michael Vaughan Yefeng Yin Tracy Clarke FLUTE Heather Beaty* Jeff Pelletier PICCOLO Mailynn Jenkins

*

Principal

**

KSO Student Mentorship Participant

+

Acting Principal

++

Substitute Principal

Chair Sponsors

VIOLA Carline Olsen++ Jennifer Ho Tony Kastelic John Kastelic Calvin Yang

OBOE Marea Chernoff* Renz Adame CLARINET Sally Arai*

Julie Begg BASSOON Olivia Martin* Katrina Russell CONTRABASSOON Rebecca Norman HORN Sam McNally* Dawn Haylett Duane Kirkpatrick Heather Walker TRUMPET Mark D’Angelo* Jeremy Vint TROMBONE Jim Hopson* Cindy Hogeveen Rod Simmons TIMPANI Caroline Bucher* PERCUSSION Martin Fisk++ Brian Nesselroad HARP Naomi Cloutier*

Geoff & Judith Benson | concertmaster Rod Michell | assistant concertmaster Gabriele Klein | principal second violin June McClure | principal viola Anonymous | principal cello Eleanor Nicoll | principal flute John & Joyce Henderson | principal clarinet Kelvin Barlow | principal bassoon Hugh & Marilyn Fallis | principal trumpet

PERFORNMANCE SPONSORS

SEASON SPONSORS

SERIES SPONSORS

Sponsors

ODE TO JOY P R O G R A M M E

Dina Gilbert, Conductor

KSO Chorus, Tomas Bijok Chorusmaster

Suzanne Taffot, Soprano

Stephanie Tritchew, Mezzo Soprano

Dillon Parmer, Tenor

Alan Corbishley, Baritone

Violet Archer

Poem for Orchestra

INTERMISSION

Ludwig van Beethoven

Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 I.

Allegro ma no troppo, un poco maestoso

II. Scherzo: Molto vivace III. Adagio molto e cantabile IV. Presto; Allegro molto assai (Alla marcia); Andante maestoso; Allegro energico, sempre ben marcato.

PERFORMANCE SPONSOR

We are pleased to support the KSO J. Milton Limited Milton’s Moving & Storage Serving Kamloops since 1897

#LOCALMATTERS

KSO Chorus

Tomas Bijok, Chorusmaster | Daniela O’Fee, Collaborative Pianist Marnie Smith, Chorus Administrator The KSO Chorus provides local singers with the opportunity to perform masterworks for choir and orchestra in concert with the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra. The Chorus has joined the Orchestra for a wide variety of Pops and Masterworks performances.

Nichole Annis Guram Asatiani Cem Bicer Rita Bittante Janet Brunsgaard Alan Buchanan Lynn Eberts Tom Eccleston Calder Fadden Kristine Faulds Ethan Gelinas Heather Gnoato Heather Gnoato Marcia Gofsky Cam Grant Shannon Gruen Adrianne Hajdasz

Mary Hunter George Johnson Elaine Karas Chris Kempling Lyndon Kinley Eric Kitt Michelle Marginet Sylvia Markowsky Heather Martin Diane McArthur Peter Nieuwold Linda Oliver Charene Perog Marlene Peters Elizabeth Reichenback Jason Richard Janice Rutherford

Mia Sage Marnie Smith Samantha(Sam) Snucins Patricia Spencer Maatje Stamp-Vincent Jill Timko Gordon Tisher Evelyn VipondSchmidt Robert Walter Natasha Winston Cynthia Yaunish Alana Yeung Michelle Zwolak

GUEST ARTIST

Suzanne Taffot Soprano

Described by critics as “a voice to watch”, soprano Suzanne Taffot is distinguished by her rich and colorful tone, her ease on stage and her moving interpretations.

After making her debut with the Orchestre Métropolitain in Fauré’s Requiem, Suzanne took part in the recording of the melodies and arias of the famous composer GERSHWIN, with the Orchestre La Sinfonia de Lanaudière under the direction of its conductor Stéphane Laforest.

She has also been a soloist at the Opéra de Québec, the Opéra de Limoges, the Shenzhen Opera in China, the Košice Symphony House in Slovakia, and at the Gärtenerplatz Theatre in Munich where she was a great success as Mimì in La bohème (Puccini).

Last summer, Suzanne was a soloist in Brahms’ Requiem with the Orchestre Métropolitain under the direction of Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin (a concert that was nominated in the Romantic Music category of the Prix Opus awarded by the CQM – Conseil québécois de la musique) and she brilliantly interpreted the role of the Cantatrice in the world premiere of the opera Yourcenar-une île de passions, composed by Eric Champagne and co-produced by the Opéra de Montréal and the Opéra de Québec.

Future engagements include the role of Dzifa in the world premiere of the opera Of the Sea by composer Ian Cusson in co-production with Tapestry Opera and Obsidian Theater in Toronto and as a soloist in Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and Salve Regina in A minor with the Galileo Orchestra conducted by Daniel Constantineau.

In May, Suzanne will participate in a concert tour with the Opera of Rouen, Opera de Montpellier, and the Opera of Tours in France.

Suzanne holds a Master’s degree in Opera from the University of Montreal and studies under the direction of Adrienne Savoie.

GUEST ARTIST

Stephanie Trichtew Mezzo Soprano

Canadian mezzo soprano Stephanie Tritchew is a steadily rising young singer, at home in the realms of both contemporary and standard repertoire. She has been named “one of six Canadian women making the future bright for the art form” by The Globe and Mail. Stephanie’s recent work includes diverse repertoire with companies including Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Vancouver Opera, Calgary Opera, Edmonton Opera, as well as a host of independent companies and projects.

In a year devastated by COVID-19, Stephanie debuted in Vancouver Opera’s digital season in Amahl and the Night Visitors and was complimented on “capturing the angst of a late teenager” in her role debut as Cherubino in Edmonton Opera’s Le nozze di Figaro.

Stephanie’s grounded practice complements her vocal facility, and has earned her a burgeoning reputation for dynamic, captivating performance on stage. As Stéphano for Calgary Opera’s Roméo et Juliette she was hailed as “fun, and even coquettish”, and she was “scintillating” as Rosina in Opera 5’s Il barbiere di Siviglia.

Her deep commitment to the vibrant future of opera is evident in the many times she has been an integral part in the creation of new works. She created the role of Union Organizer in Sweat with The Bicycle Opera Project, wherein she was hailed for a performance embodying her character’s “quality of desperation” within an entirely a capella score.

Stephanie’s entrancing stage presence also translates to her concert work. She has sung the Alto Soloist in Handel’s Messiah with both Chorus Niagara and the Vancouver Bach Choir, Alto Soloist in Honegger’s Le Roi David with Chorus Niagara and in Agócs’ Vessel with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Bramwell Tovey.

Stephanie was awarded a 2021 Lobstick Foundation Bursary. She was a member of Vancouver Opera’s Yulanda M. Faris Young Artist Program, Calgary Opera’s Emerging Artist Program, and had tenure as Gerdine Young Artist with the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in both the 2016 and 2017 seasons. Stephanie holds a BMus and MMus from Western University and an Opera Diploma from the University of Toronto.

GUEST ARTIST

Dillon Parmer Tenor

Born in Pune (India), Dillon immigrated to Toronto Canada where he was brought up in the rich musical traditions of the Anglican Church. He received a thorough grounding in diction and musicianship and was introduced to a vast repertoire extending from Palestrina to Britten.

This foundation undoubtedly accounts for his exceptional versatility in various musical styles and his careful command of language and declamation. He received his formal education at the University of Western Ontario and the Eastman School of Music (Rochester, New York). There he grew into a sensitive interpreter of early music and a keen interpreter of the avant garde willing to support contemporary composers in their efforts to bring new music to fruition.

In oratorio, his repertoire spans over forty major concert roles. Whether in Bach’s Mass in B Minor or Britten’s Saint Nicolas, Handel’s Messiah or Haydn’s Die Jahreszeiten, Mozart’s Requiem or Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony or Rossini’s Stabat Mater, his style of declamation is especially engaging. His dramatic training was undertaken primarily in the Young Artist Program of Opera Lyra Ottawa. With Jeanette Aster directing, he understudied the roles of Goro and Faust in main stage productions of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and Gounod’s Faust at the National Arts Centre (Ottawa, Canada). This stage work was consolidated in the same program under the direction of Janet Irwin in the roles of Tamino in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and Prince Olaf in Weisenseln’s Gisela in the Bathtub. Mr. Parmer continued to refine his dramatic and comedic skills across thirty operatic roles ranging from Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Don Giovanni, and Die Zauberflöte, through Donizetti’s Betly and Rita, Offenbach’s La Périchole and Barbe-bleue, to Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites and Moore’s Gallantry.

Recent engagements include Bach’s Saint John Passion, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, Laërtes in Thomas’ Hamlet, Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and Malcolm in Verdi’s Macbeth. It was after this last role that Mr. Parmer came to the attention of Bill Schuman, noted teacher of many internationally successful singers.

Under his direction, Mr. Parmer has reworked his voice and moved into fuller lyricospinto roles.

GUEST ARTIST

Alan Corbishley Baritone

Alan is known as a baritone having sung throughout North America and Europe, and is now more focused on producing and stage direction.

As a producer, Alan is the founding Artistic Director of Sound the Alarm: Music/Theatre and is also the current Director of Concerts with City Opera Vancouver. As a stage director, his productions have been called “Poetry on Stage”, and have been named in Vancouver’s Annual Best Music Events by vanclassicalmusic.com, including “Best Opera Production in 2017” for Handel’s Acis & Galatea through Sound the Alarm, and “Vancouver’s Best Experiment of 2018” for City Opera Vancouver’s production of Nigredo Hotel in 2018. He has found a home with City Opera Vancouver having also directed their production of The Lost Operas of Mozart, and more recently, co-created and directed their production Berlin: The Last Cabaret, presented at the 2020 PuSh Festival to sold out crowds. In 2016, his original cinematic concert Dragging Piaf was featured at Vancouver’s Queer Arts Festival to rave reviews and in 2014, Alan wrote and directed his “silent play”, based on the life of Charlie Chaplin entitled Silent Chap, for Western Canada Theatre’s mainstage season. He is the Creative Director for Theatre for the Ears, a series of audio-dramas for Sound the Alarm, as well as a co-director and coproducer for the Canadian opera premiere of Angel’s Bone. For more information, please visit www.alancorbishley.com

STAGE ONE

THEATRE CLASSES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

S P M A C R JULY. E N I T M R A M S ST

SFORUAGES 4-18. CLASSE

mer the sum to have ance Class, s e n o g oun form save! r your y ses, Per hance fo clude Intro Clas gister early and c a s is Don’t m me. Classes in een Week. Re T of a lifeti al Theatre, and Learn More at the hub Music

wctlive.ca/thehub

Book Direct FOR THE BEST RATES GUARANTEED! 5 0 + H OT ELS AC ROSS C A NA DA S A NDM A NH OT E LS .CO M

PROGRAMME NOTES

Violet Archer (1913–2000) Violet Archer, who was born in Montreal in 1913 and died in Ottawa in 2000, was a Canadian composer and music educator. Grounded in western classical music traditions she produced an extensive body of work that includes many different vocal and instrumental forms: these include a comic opera, film scores, cantatas, song cycles and settings of individual poems by poets as varied as American Walt Whitman and Canadian Dorothy Livesay. Poetry, however, was only one of many influences on her music which she admits also contains reflections of the Canadian landscape, as well as rhythmic and melodic elements from Canadian Inuit and West Coast aboriginal music. Her lifelong interest in folk-music was also stimulated by her studies with Hungarian composer Bela Bartok in New York in 1942 who encouraged her to explore folk modalities and rhythmic patterns. Later, when completing a music degree at Yale, she had the opportunity to study with well-known German composer Paul Hindemith whose influence shows, to a degree, in some of her later works.

By training, then, Archer was an eclectic composer interested in exploring many of the musical trends

of her time. These included the 12tone techniques of Arnold Schoenberg (which she herself never really adopted) as well as developments in electronic music. Her commitment to music education and her recognition of the importance of nurturing musicians and audiences that could appreciate the qualities of 20th century harmony, led her to write many pieces for elementary and intermediate performers.

Her best-known work is probably her Piano Concerto of 1956 with its brilliant solo part and clarity of orchestral writing. However, her Poem for Orchestra which begins tonight’s programme is an earlier piece (1939–40) that displays a more lyrical side to her work, and which draws on a wide range of orchestral colour and dynamics. It opens in a steady and peaceful mood balancing woodwinds with string accompaniment. This leads into a subdued and thoughtful interlude, building gradually to a climax, rich and fully felt, then withdrawing once more into a contemplative mood, before descending to a quiet and profound close.

PROGRAMME NOTES

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) If you had been living in Vienna in 1824 you would have been thrilled to hear the news that a great event was to take place in the month of May: Beethoven had just announced that May 7 would be the date of the premiere of his new symphony in an all-Beethoven concert. Along with the rest of the Viennese musical community you would await this occasion with enormous expectations. In fact, you would already have been waiting—for twelve years—Beethoven’s first eight symphonies were written within a relatively short span between 1800 and 1812, and although he did consider embarking on a D minor symphony immediately after completing his Eighth Symphony, other possibilities presented themselves, and he did

not make a start on number Nine until five years later, in 1817, when the Philharmonic Society of London commissioned not one but two new symphonies from him.

Beethoven accepted the commission and even made some sketches for a first movement but… not so fast!… these then lay dormant for quite some time while his attention was devoted to the work on other major compositions such as the Diabelli Variations and the Missa Solemnis. As a result, the Philharmonic Society never did receive their two symphonies, and in 1822 they agreed to offer him 50 pounds for a single new symphony, and Beethoven began work in earnest on that work in the summer of 1822.

Turn a few pages for the text and translations

A “Choral” Symphony As the legacy of Haydn and Mozart illustrates, and as Beethoven’s own first eight symphonies confirm, four-movement symphonies at this time were purely instrumental compositions—the idea of introducing voices into the final movement of the commonly accepted symphonic structure was unprecedented. But Beethoven was already a symphonic groundbreaker. In 1808 he had composed a Choral Fantasia which, though not a symphony, is a kind of piano concerto with voices, and his sketch books reveal that he had already contemplated the introduction of

voices into a symphony as early as 1818 but had set the idea aside.

Now, at the end of 1822, with the first three movements of the Ninth completed, he reconsidered the choral possibilities as he began work on the fourth movement. Yet it seems even then he continued to think of giving the symphony an instrumental finale, so attached was he to the exclusively instrumental principle of the symphony.

In the end, the decision itself to include voices was easy the easy part— the difficulty lay in shaping the vocal

PROGRAMME NOTES

movement so that it was integrally linked with the three previous movements rather than sounding like an independent choral appendage to a three-movement instrumental work.

Thus, Beethoven carefully places hints of the main choral theme, “Freude,” in each of the first three movements so that in the listener’s aural memory the full theme does not arrive as a complete surprise. Moreover, while the first movement is clearly instrumental in style, and also the opening of the second movement, from the central

Trio section of the second movement onwards the music develops a more song-like character, and the calm, intimate third movement with its two contrasted lyrical melodies is marked “Adagio Molto e cantabile”—very slow and song-like. The final movement itself opens in instrumental “recitative style,” a form that just naturally cries out for words. And then the words come—four soloists and a chorus— and music that runs from the simple to the sublime, plaintive to the triumphant, tender to the heroic.

Schiller (1759–1805) The text Beethoven chose for this symphonic leap forward was Schiller’s Ode “An Die Freude,” “Ode to Joy.” Even though he likely did not know that Schiller originally considered dedicating his Ode to “Freiheit (“freedom”), Beethoven clearly got the political messages it contained— “all men will be brothers where your gentle wings beat” —the poem as a whole expresses much that constitutes the guiding principles of Beethoven’s view of life. It is not surprising, then, that this poem seems to have travelled with him for much of his life—the first sketches for a musical setting of the “Ode” go back to about 1792, years when he was still working in his birthplace, Bonn. Schiller first published the ode “An die Freude” in 1785. Later, he made a few revisions,

and the revised version was published posthumously in 1808. Strangely perhaps, in later life “Schiller himself was ambivalent about the Ode’s worth, even feeling it was a “failure” that was “detached from reality,” significant to himself and his friends, but of little value to the world in general or to poetry. Clearly, the words and ideas of the “Ode” resonated deeply with Beethoven; however, he too must have thought the poem was uneven as he selected only the most inspirational passages, those that celebrate Joy as a quality able to embrace all of humanity regardless of race or class, and the idea of the existence of a loving Father who dwells above the stars: “Uber Sternen muss er wohnen.” References to drinking and general human conviviality Beethoven omitted.

PROGRAMME NOTES

The Symphony Even though it had been twelve years since Beethoven’s previous symphony, and the then “liberator” Napoleon had become an imperial tyrant plunging all of Europe into war, Beethoven reaches back to the heroic mode of his earlier symphonies and brings that elevated style to its culmination here in Symphony No. 9 in D minor.

The three magnificent instrumental movements become a worthy prelude to the message that will be proclaimed by the choral Finale.

The first movement begins with a remote, almost eerie, sound—a bare fifth (A-E) sustained by the winds and pulsating quietly on the strings.

Mysterious, but full of potential energy, tiny fragments of motifs emerge and build to a massive unison theme for the full orchestra. Some have called it a musical analogy to the act of creation itself. Whether that is divine, natural or human creativity each of us must decide—without question we are left feeling that something “cosmic” is occurring, and that we have just experienced the first stage of some much larger human drama, the momentum of which is unavoidable.

This momentum is carried forward into the second movement which many music lovers think of as a “scherzo.”

Significantly, Beethoven himself does not use that term; “scherzo” in Italian means “joke” and he likely wished to avoid any associations of levity.

Nonetheless, many later composers of scherzos have been inspired (maybe intimidated too) by this symphonic movement. Particularly striking is the use of the timpani tuned to an

octave (F-F) to emphasize an almost obsessive dotted rhythm. In the contrasting major-key trio section we hear the three trombones for the first time as they play hymn-like melodies.

The slow third movement is an Adagio, prayerful in feeling, at times sensuous but full of comfort, built around variations on two main themes. As if to anticipate the choral developments to come the movement is marked Adagio molto e cantabile, although there are still some steps to take before human voices are united with the instruments. Towards the movement’s end the serene mood is interrupted by repeated martial fanfares, another indicator of things to come, although they die away, and serenity prevails.

The Finale begins very differently. A fiercely dissonant wind and timpani fanfare is challenged by recitative-style passages for the cellos and basses, as if the orchestra is straining towards some other mode of expression—towards voice and words. Aural “ghosts” of the three earlier movements are heard but are rejected by the cellos and basses.

Then those instruments present an alternative theme in D major (known now as “Ode to Joy,” and adopted, with different words, as the anthem of the European Union). The theme is developed and intensified in a series of variations, until the dissonant finale opening explodes once more.

This time it is not the orchestra that replies but the baritone soloist singing words Beethoven himself wrote to make the link to the choral finale: “O friends. Not these sounds!/ But let us

PROGRAMME NOTES

strike up pleasanter,/ and more joyful music.” The “Ode to Joy” theme begins again but this time with voices and with Schiller’s words. Now no one can mistake Beethoven’s message. There is some striking word-idea painting in the movement that embeds the meaning of the words memorably in the music; for example the wind band

march of the “brothers” (Bruder) along with percussion, and the radiance of wind and string dissonance around the words “Surely He dwells beyond the stars” (Über Sternen muß er wohnen). It is with this image of the divine source of joy in humanity that Beethoven concludes his uplifting spiritual and artistic masterpiece.

Success The first performance of the Ninth Symphony took place on May 7, 1824, in the Kärntnertor Theatre in Vienna.

The programme consisted of an overture, three movements from the Missa Solemnis and the symphony, all by Beethoven. Leading performers of the day took part. The Theatre was packed and when Beethoven appeared he was received enthusiastically with five rounds of applause (etiquette demanded only three rounds on the entry of Imperial family members).

As composer, Beethoven was on stage and “directed” the performances personally, but as he was now almost completely deaf the orchestra was conducted by Michael Umlauff. The musicians understood they should completely ignore Beethoven.

Although rehearsals had proved difficult and too few, and some of the musicians and singers were rather overwhelmed by the demands of the music, the occasion was a great triumph for Beethoven. There was thunderous applause such as had seldom been heard in that theatre, but unfortunately the man whom it was intended to honour was still facing the orchestra and could not see or hear it.

Twenty-year-old Karoline Unger, the contralto soloist, led the composer to the front of the stage and gently turned him around to see the hats and handkerchiefs being enthusiastically waved in the audience. Beethoven showed his gratitude by bowing. This became the signal for another outburst of seemingly endless applause.

Proud to support

Music & the Arts

Todd Stone, MLA

Peter Milobar, MLA

Kamloops | South Thompson

Kamloops | North Thompson

446 Victoria Street • 250.374.2880

618B Tranquille Road • 250.554.5413

Todd.Stone.MLA@leg.bc.ca

Peter.Milobar.MLA@leg.bc.ca

ToddGStone @toddstonebc

PeterMilobarKNT @petermilobar

T E X T & T R A N S L AT I O N

Freude, Schöner Götterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium, Wir betreten feuer-trunken, Himmlische, dein Heiligtum!

Deine Zauber binden wieder, Was die Mode streng geteilt; Alle Menschen werden Brüder, Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.

Joy! A spark of fire from heaven, Daughter from Elysium, Drunk with fire we dare to enter, Holy One, inside your shrine.

Your magic power binds together, What we by custom wrench apart, All men will emerge as brothers, Where you rest your gentle wings.

Wem der grosse Wurf gelungen, Eines Freundes Freund zu sein, Wer ein holdes Weib errungen, Mische seinen Jubel ein!

Ja, wer auch nur eine Seele Sein nennt auf dem Erdenrund!

Und wer’s nie gekonnt, der stehle Weinend sich aus diesem Bund!

If you’ve mastered that great challenge: Giving friendship to a friend, If you’ve earned a steadfast woman, Celebrate your joy with us!

Join if in the whole wide world there’s Just one soul to call your own!

He who’s failed must steal away, shedding tears as he departs.

Freude trinken alle Wesen An den Brüsten der Natur; Alle Guten, alle Bösen Folgen ihrer Rosenspur.

Küsse gab sie uns und Reben, Einen Freund, geprüft im Tod; Wollust ward dem Wurm gegeben, Und der Cherub steht vor Gott.

All creation drinks with pleasure, Drinks at Mother Nature’s breast; All the just, and all the evil, Follow down her rosy path.

Kisses she bestowed, and grape wine, Friendship true, proved e’en in death; Every worm knows nature’s pleasure, Every cherub meets his God.

Froh, wie seine Sonnen fliegen Durch des Himmels Prächt’gen Plan, Laufet, Brüder, eure Bahn, Freudig, wie ein Held zum Siegen.

Gladly, like the planets flying True to heaven’s mighty plan, Brothers, run your course now, Happy as a knight in victory.

Seid umschlungen, Millionen!

Diesen Kuss der ganzen Welt!

Brüder über’m Sternenzelt Muss ein lieber Vater wohnen.

Ihr stürzt nieder, Millionen?

Ahnest du den Schöpfer, Welt?

Such’ ihn über’m Sternenzelt! Über Sternen muss er wohnen.

Be embracéd, all you millions, Share this kiss with all the world!

Way above the stars, brothers, There must live a loving father.

Do you kneel down low, you millions?

Do you see your maker, world?

Search for Him above the stars, Above the stars he must be living.

T HA NK

YOU

The KSO Directors, Staff and Musicians would like to recognize the valuable contribution the many volunteer musicians have made over the years since the founding of the KSO. This contribution has allowed the KSO to transition into a professional orchestra.

To you, our “KSO Community Builders”, we extend our deep appreciation and a heartfelt thank you.

Volunteers

Thank you to our wonderful team of volunteers Nicholas Adams Kathleen Alcock Wendy Allen Kathy Aban Joe Alcock Mary Aulin Al & Faith Bailey Pierrette Beaton Joan Bernard Pam Bradley Faye Burles Jo Chipperfield Kathy Collier Geoff Collier John Corbishley Philippa Coxon Jean Crowe Annette Dominik Kathrine Dominik Denise Douglas Sandy Eastwood Jill Field Mel Formanski Lisa Fuller

Christy Gauley Lucille Gnanasihamany Dina Hague Judy Hatch Roy Haugan Marylyne House Carol Howie Kathy Humphreys Patricia Kaatz Margaret Kerr June Kitamura Gabriele Klein Tyler Klymchuk Gail Lawson Mary Lester Maureen Light Joan McDonald John McDonald Elspeth McDougall Deb McKeown Alison McKinnon David McKinnon Wendy McLean Linda McMillan

Kait Methot Rod Michell Vic Mowbray Davina Neve Helen Newmarch Rae Nixon Bess and Kaytee Ovington Carol Paulsen Margret Peemoeller Steve Powrie Bonnie Pryce Cherryl Rice Wilma Scheer Sharlene Sharpe Tom Stone Ann Sutherland Sydney Takahashi Annette Toop Lynn Totten Simon Walter Mary Ann Whiting Dave Whiting Judy Wiebe

2023 Spring Raffle Entertaining Excursions

Buy a raffle ticket and help support our Symphony!

Four exciting prizes available to win.

Tickets: 1 for $10 | 5 for $30 | 10 for $50 | 20 for $80

On sale from: Monday, March 1 to Wednesday, May 31, 2023 • 12:00pm Draw Date: Wednesday, May 31, 2023 • 2:00pm Prizes:

• A WestJet flight for two to anywhere they fly

• A getaway to Calgary with a hotel stay, tickets to the Calgary Philharmonic, and passes to the National Music Centre

• Two Prestige subscription packages to the KSO • 2x $250 Fisherman’s Market Gift Certificates

kamloopssymphony.com/spring-raffle.htm

Donors Donors $2000+

CO NDUCTOR’ S CI RCLE Archie & Jane Dempster Dina Gilbert Gabriele Klein June McClure Tacey Ruffner

$1000+

BENEFACTORS Kelvin Barlow Geoff & Judith Benson Pauline & Jack Braaksma Holly Campbell Geoff & Kathy Collier Alan & Gwen Kerr

$500+

Sheila Stewart Maureen Stewart TELUS John Watson

OVATION

John & Joan McDonald Elspeth McDougall Rod Michell Eleanor Nicoll Colene Palmer Terry Simpson

Anonymous (5)

Helen & Bruce Newmarch

Sharlene Anderson

Susie Safford & Carlos Tallent

Francis & Helen Barnett Jean Chacko

Jerry Stack

Tom Dickinson & Nancy Flood

M. Colleen Stainton David & Rosemarie Stoltze

Roy & Helen Haugen

Stan Szpakowicz

Marjorie King

Susie Safford & Carlos Tallent

Cindy Malinowski & Charles MacLennan

Jolana Tamajka

Maureen McCurdy

Gibraltar Law Group

David & Alison McKinnon

Don & Margaret Waldon

Daniel Mills

Robert Walter & Jill Calder

DONORS $250+

ENCORE

Sue Adams

Wilma de Jong

Fred & Nancy Leake

Peter & Debra Allik-Petersenn

Dan & Denise Douglas

Elizabeth McLeman

John Corbishley

Greg & Susan Hall

George & Gloria Moore

Lois K. Hollstedt

Ray & Sue Sewell

Bob & Jo-Mary Hunter

Chris & Laurie Stabler

Murray & Ann Crawford Fred Cunningham & Helen Birdsall

$100+

Christina & Reimar Kroecher Fund

BRAVO

Anonymous (2)

Rick & Carol Howie

Margaret Patten

Luisa Ahlstrom

Claire Johnson

Penny & Carl Pentilchuk

Darryl & Jeryl Auten

Pat & Fred Kaatz

Tracey Pointer

Wendy Bainbridge

Joan Keay

Thomas Preston

William & Pierrette Beaton

Lyle LeClaire

Nicole & Steven Remesz

Percy & Bernice Brackett

Catherine Lee

Cherryl & Rick Rice

Mary Lester

Jason Richard

D’Arcy & Mariko Lintott

Terry & Susanne Rogers

Ruth Majak

Kathy Sinclair

Richard Mann

Carol & Wolfgang Sinnemann

Pamela Bradley Margaret Brown Kim Buker Wendy Charlebois Margaret Chrumka Jean Dahl Roxanne Dauncey Joanne Dennstedt Philip Durell Brett & Norma Fairbairn Ruth & Michael Fane Donna Geefs Sheila Gorkoff Peter & Judy Gray Susan Hammond William & Yvonne Heese

Keith & Shirley Martin Ellen & John McCurrach Marilyn McLean Gudrun Meyer Katy Michell Dianne Miller Christy Morris Kathleen Nadler W. Russell Nakonesby Charo Neville Angi & Russ Noakes Gillian Oliver Marian Owens

Donald & Sandra Staff Ed Takahashi David Todd Judith Treherne Robert Ulevog Lynne Van Hamme Evelyn Vipond-Schmidt Dave & Maryanne Whiting Eric & Mary Wiebe Lois & David Williams Michael Wisla

The above represents the individuals and corporations who have donated to the Kamloops Symphony Society in the last twelve months. For any errors or omissions, please do let us know at 250.372.5000 or info@kamloopssymphony.com.

The Kamloops Symphony wishes to thank

DANIEL MILLS

for his performance as Executive Director and wish him every success in the next chapter of his career.