HOLIDAY POPS
Thursday, December 14, 2023 at 7:30 pm Friday, December 15, 2023 at 7:30 pm Saturday, December 16, 2023 at 2:30 pm Saturday, December 16, 2023 at 7:30 pm Sunday, December 17, 2023 at 2:30 pm Tuesday, December 19, 2023 at 7:30 pm ALLEN-BRADLEY HALL Byron Stripling, conductor, trumpet, and vocalist Mamie Parris, vocalist Bobby Floyd, piano Milwaukee Symphony Chorus Timothy Benson, assistant chorus director PAUL AND ROBERT O’NEILL AND KINKEL/arr. Bob Phillips Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24 WILLIAM CHATTERTON DIX/arr. Marty Robinson What Child is This? EMIL WALDTEUFEL/arr. Jeff Tyzik The Skater’s Overture J. FRED/HAVEN COOTS/GILLESPIE/arr. Cy Payne Santa Claus is Coming to Town LEROY ANDERSON Sleigh Ride JERRY HERMAN/arr. Robert Wendel We Need a Little Christmas Milwaukee Symphony Chorus JOHN RUTTER What Sweeter Music
Milwaukee Symphony Chorus
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Holiday Pops, continued from page 21
JOHN RUTTER Star Carol
Milwaukee Symphony Chorus
TRADITIONAL/arr. Mackrel Go Tell it on the Mountain Milwaukee Symphony Chorus INTERMISSION TRADITIONAL/arr. Jeff Tyzik O Come, All Ye Faithful Mamie Parris, vocalist Milwaukee Symphony Chorus TRADITIONAL/arr. Jeff Tyzik God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen Mamie Parris, vocalist Milwaukee Symphony Chorus ADOLPHE ADAM/arr. Bill Grimes O Holy Night Mamie Parris, vocalist Milwaukee Symphony Chorus IRVING BERLIN/arr. Cy Payne White Christmas Milwaukee Symphony Chorus VARIOUS/arr. Bill Grimes Holiday Medley Sing-Along We Wish You a Merry Christmas Silent Night Jingle Bells Mamie Parris, vocalist Milwaukee Symphony Chorus GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL “Hallelujah Chorus” from Messiah Milwaukee Symphony Chorus TRADITIONAL/arr. Larry Cook Joy to the World
Holiday Pops is presented by WE ENERGIES FOUNDATION. This weekend’s media sponsor is WISCONSIN PUBLIC RADIO. The length of this concert is approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes. All programs are subject to change. 22
MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Guest Artist Biographies BYRON STRIPLING
Columbus Jazz Orchestra.
With a contagious smile and captivating charm, conductor, trumpet virtuoso, singer, and actor Byron Stripling has ignited audiences across the globe. In 2020, Stripling was named principal pops conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and his baton has led countless orchestras throughout the United States and Canada. As a soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestra, Stripling has performed frequently under the baton of Keith Lockhart, as well as being the featured soloist on the PBS television special Evening at Pops with conductors John Williams and Mr. Lockhart. Currently, Stripling serves as artistic director and conductor of the highly acclaimed
Since his Carnegie Hall debut with Skitch Henderson and the New York Pops, Stripling has become a pops orchestra favorite throughout the country, soloing with over 100 orchestras around the world, including the Boston Pops, National Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Cincinnati Pops, Seattle Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Toronto Symphony, and orchestras throughout Europe and Asia. He has been a featured soloist at the Hollywood Bowl and performs at festivals around the world. An accomplished actor and singer, Stripling was chosen, following a worldwide search, to star in the lead role of the Broadway-bound musical Satchmo. Many will remember his featured cameo performance in the television movie The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and his critically acclaimed virtuoso trumpet and riotous comedic performance in the 42nd Street production of From Second Avenue to Broadway. Stripling earned his stripes as lead trumpeter and soloist with the Count Basie Orchestra under the direction of Thad Jones and Frank Foster. He has also played and recorded extensively with the bands of Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, Dave Brubeck, Lionel Hampton, Clark Terry, Louis Bellson, and Buck Clayton, in addition to the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, The Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, and The GRP All-Star Big Band. Stripling is devoted to giving back and supports several philanthropic organizations, including The United Way and the Community Shelter Board. He also enjoys sharing the power of music through seminars and master classes at colleges, universities, conservatories, and high schools. His informative talks, combined with his incomparable wit and charm, make him a favorite guest speaker for groups of all ages. Stripling was educated at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and the Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, Michigan. One of his greatest joys is to return to Eastman and Interlochen as a special guest lecturer. A resident of Ohio, Stripling lives in the country with his wife Alexis, a former dancer, writer, and poet, and their beautiful daughters.
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Guest Artist Biographies MAMIE PARRIS Mamie Parris has been studying strangers’ habits and creating imaginary worlds since she was a toddler. It was just a matter of time until she put those skills to use. As a result, she has developed a diverse and unique body of work throughout her extensive career. Best known for her one-of-a-kind rendition of the iconic “Memory,” she is no stranger to the work of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, having starred as Grizabella in the Broadway revival of Cats, as Rosalie (closing cast) and Patty (opening cast) in Broadway’s School of Rock, and — most recently — in the U.S. premiere of the Lloyd Webber retrospective Unmasked. Other Broadway appearances include the Tony-nominated revivals of Ragtime, 110 in the Shade, and On The Twentieth Century, as well as the Tony-winning musical The Drowsy Chaperone. Across the country, she appeared as Elphaba in the First National Tour of fan-favorite Wicked, as well as performing with the touring companies of Legally Blonde and Dolly Parton’s 9 To 5. Other credits include roles at Arena Stage, The Old Globe, The Goodspeed Opera House, Pittsburgh CLO, the St. Louis Muny, the Macau International Music Festival, and more. Film and TV credits include The Blacklist, State of Affairs, and A Standup Guy. She is a sought-after master class instructor and performs as a soloist with distinguished symphony orchestras across the country. A native of Fort Worth, Texas, Mamie attended the Paseo Academy of the Arts in Kansas City, Missouri, before graduating from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. She currently resides in the Pocono Mountains with her husband, Johnathan, and shih tsu mix, Cookie.
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MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Guest Artist Biographies TIMOTHY BENSON Timothy Benson has been the assistant director of the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus since 1994 and has served as director of music and organist at several churches since playing his first Mass at age 10. A Milwaukee native, he began playing the piano at the age of five before taking up pipe organ studies. His former teachers include S. Theophane Hytrek, Christopher Herrick, and Peter le Huray. Graduate studies in music took Benson to England, where he studied musical composition at Cambridge University. Teachers included Paul Patterson, Robin Holloway, and private studies in Wales with William Mathias. A summer session in Croydon at the Royal School of Church Music included further studies in organ with Peter Hurford and Stephen Cleobury and vocal pedagogy and choral conducting with Philip Ledger and George Guest. That summer saw Benson as the guest organist in a performance of J. S. Bach’s Magnificat for Her Majesty, the Queen Mother. Upon returning to the U.S., he joined the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus, then under the directorship of its founder, Margaret Hawkins, who asked him to pursue yet further graduate studies with her at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. While there, he studied choral conducting with Hawkins, orchestral conducting with Daniel Forlano, and vocal pedagogy with Signe Quale. Benson enjoys the life of working with the wonderful singers of the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus, bringing the soul-enriching beauty of music to the wider community, providing great organ music and choral direction to churches in the area, and maintaining a small but thriving number of both organ and voice students.
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CELLOS Susan Babini, Principal, Dorothea C. Mayer Cello Chair Nicholas Mariscal, Assistant Principal* Shinae Ra, Acting Assistant Principal (2nd chair) Scott Tisdel, Associate Principal Emeritus Madeleine Kabat Peter Szczepanek Peter J. Thomas Adrien Zitoun
CONTRABASSOON Beth W. Giacobassi
BASSES Jon McCullough-Benner, Principal, Donald B. Abert Bass Chair* Andrew Raciti, Associate Principal Nash Tomey, Assistant Principal (3rd chair) Brittany Conrad Teddy Gabrieledes** Peter Hatch* Paris Myers
TRUMPETS Matthew Ernst, Principal, Walter L. Robb Family Trumpet Chair David Cohen, Associate Principal, Martin J. Krebs Associate Principal Trumpet Chair Alan Campbell, Fred Fuller Trumpet Chair
TIMOTHY J. BENSON Assistant Chorus Director
HARP Julia Coronelli, Principal, Walter Schroeder Harp Chair
FIRST VIOLINS Jinwoo Lee, Concertmaster, Charles and Marie Caestecker Concertmaster Chair Ilana Setapen, First Associate Concertmaster Jeanyi Kim, Associate Concertmaster Alexander Ayers Yuka Kadota Elliot Lee** Ji-Yeon Lee Dylana Leung Allison Lovera Lijia Phang Yuanhui Fiona Zheng
FLUTES Sonora Slocum, Principal, Margaret and Roy Butter Flute Chair Heather Zinninger, Assistant Principal Jennifer Bouton Schaub
TROMBONES Megumi Kanda, Principal, Marjorie Tiefenthaler Trombone Chair Kirk Ferguson, Assistant Principal
2023.24 SEASON KEN-DAVID MASUR Music Director Polly and Bill Van Dyke Music Director Chair EDO DE WAART Music Director Laureate RYAN TANI Assistant Conductor CHERYL FRAZES HILL Chorus Director Margaret Hawkins Chorus Director Chair
SECOND VIOLINS Jennifer Startt, Principal, Andrea and Woodrow Leung Second Violin Chair Timothy Klabunde, Assistant Principal John Bian, Assistant Principal (3rd chair) Glenn Asch Lisa Johnson Fuller Paul Hauer Hyewon Kim Alejandra Switala** Mary Terranova VIOLAS Robert Levine, Principal, Richard O. and Judith A. Wagner Family Principal Viola Chair Georgi Dimitrov, Assistant Principal (2nd chair), Friends of Janet F. Ruggeri Viola Chair Samantha Rodriguez, Assistant Principal (3rd chair)* Alejandro Duque, Acting Assistant Principal (3rd chair) Elizabeth Breslin Nathan Hackett Erin H. Pipal Helen Reich
PICCOLO Jennifer Bouton Schaub OBOES Katherine Young Steele, Principal, Milwaukee Symphony League Oboe Chair Kevin Pearl, Assistant Principal Margaret Butler
HORNS Matthew Annin, Principal, Krause Family French Horn Chair Krystof Pipal, Associate Principal Dietrich Hemann, Andy Nunemaker French Horn Chair Darcy Hamlin Kelsey Williams**
BASS TROMBONE John Thevenet, Richard M. Kimball Bass Trombone Chair TUBA Robyn Black, Principal, John and Judith Simonitsch Tuba Chair TIMPANI Dean Borghesani, Principal Chris Riggs, Assistant Principal PERCUSSION Robert Klieger, Principal Chris Riggs
ENGLISH HORN Margaret Butler, Philip and Beatrice Blank English Horn Chair in memoriam to John Martin CLARINETS Todd Levy, Principal, Franklyn Esenberg Clarinet Chair Benjamin Adler, Assistant Principal, Donald and Ruth P. Taylor Assistant Principal Clarinet Chair* Taylor Eiffert* Madison Freed**
PIANO Melitta S. Pick Endowed Piano Chair
E-FLAT CLARINET Benjamin Adler*
PRODUCTION Tristan Wallace, Technical Manager & Live Audio Supervisor Paolo Scarabel, Stage Technician & Deck Supervisor
BASS CLARINET Taylor Eiffert* Madison Freed** BASSOONS Catherine Van Handel, Principal, Muriel C. and John D. Silbar Family Bassoon Chair Rudi Heinrich, Assistant Principal Beth W. Giacobassi
PERSONNEL MANAGER Françoise Moquin, Director of Orchestra Personnel LIBRARIANS Paul Beck, Principal Librarian, Anonymous Donor, Principal Librarian Chair Matthew Geise, Assistant Librarian & Media Archivist
* Leave of Absence 2023.24 Season ** Acting member of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra 2023.24 Season
