HHSO Program Book 2022-2023

Shops at Sea Pines Center

Lighthouse Road | Hilton Head Island 843.671.7070

FORSYTHEHHI.COM

Dvořák

Micah

Artist: Clarinetist Oran Etkin

Artists: Oran Etkin Quartet

the Artist: Cellist Ewan Manalo

the Artist: Soprano Jennifer Cherest

the Artist: HH Symphony Orchestra Chorus

the Director: Michael Schwartzkopf

and Sibelius

Meet the Artist: Pianist Jaeden Izik-Dzurko

the Music

Mendelssohn’s

Meet the Artist: Soprano Victoria Okafor

the Artist: Alto Maria Miller

the Artist: Tenor Bernard Holcomb

the Artist: Baritone Michael Preacely

the Artists: Southern Chorale/HHSOC

Meet the Director: Shannon Jeffreys

About the Music

WeTown: Gullah Traditions in the Holy City

Meet the Conductor: Kellen Gray

The Symphony

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58

59

61

62

Meet the Artist: Trumpeter Charlton Singleton.......... 63

Meet the Artist: Pianist Tuffus Zimbabwe 63

About the Music

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64 Gershwin and Ravel

65

Meet the Artist: Violinist Bella Hristova 66

About the Music 67 Mozart and Beethoven

69

Meet the Conductor: Michelle Merrill 70

Meet the Artist: Pianist Ray Ushikubo 70

the Music

Season Finale: The Planets

Meet the Artist: Bassist Joseph Conyers

the Music

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

R. Michael Harter Chair

Eric Magnin Vice-Chair, Strategic Planning

Barbara Holmes Vice-Chair, Resource Development

Carolyn Hack Secretary Donald Flora Treasurer

Alan Jordan President and CEO Rabbi Brad Bloom

Joan Dattelbaum

Jay Elliot Charles Frost Bret Jacobowitz Martin Lesch

James Neumeister Mary Princing Connie Rathman Charles Sampson Barbara Harris Sorkin

Alice Walton

Blake White Ex Officio Carol Gyllenhoff Mario Incorvaia Steven Shaiman

DESIGN

Nadia McDannels letnadiadesignit.com

WHO WE ARE OUR VISION

To inspire, enrich, and unite the Lowcountry through music

MISSION

…audiences through outstanding orchestral music

…young musicians through opportunities to perform and be recognized

ENRICH THE COMMUNITY THROUGH …youth programs

…community performances UNITE THE LOWCOUNTRY THROUGH …collaborating with other cultural organizations …celebrating our unique cultural heritage …promoting the Lowcountry as an arts and cultural destination

STRENGTHEN OUR RESOURCES TO SUPPORT FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY

GROWTH

WWW.HHSO.ORG

HHSO ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF

Alan Jordan President and CEO

Judy Gimbel Director, Hilton Head Chamber Music Institute

Susan Hartmann Development Associate

Mario Incorvaia Chief Operating Officer

Gayle Lang

HHSO Chorus Manager Project Editor

Steven Shaiman Director, International Piano Competition, and Education and Community Development (EdCE)

Susan Strange Finance Manager

Jim Way Administrative Manager Julie Williams Special Projects Manager

PAST BOARD CHAIRS

HHSO ADVISORY BOARD

Bob Cherichella, Chair Darle Booher Leslie Richardson Tim Ridge James T. Willard Ex Officio Alan Jordan Michael Harter

1982 - 1984 Gordon Gillette

Frank Pape

1984 - 1988 Willis Shay

1988 - 1993 Charles Taylor 1993 - 1997 Ross Rutherford 1997 - 1998

Charles Taylor 1998 - 1999 Robert Rada

1999 - 2002 Walt Graver

Charles Taylor

2002 - 2003

2003 - 2005

2005 - 2008 Margaret Arrington 2008 - 2010 Edward Parrish 2010 - 2013 Darle Booher 2013 - 2015 James Willard

Fred Caswell

2015 - 2017 Tim Ridge

2017 - 2019 Bob Cherichella 2019 - 2021

TO THE HHSO’S 41ST SEASON

Welcome to the 2022-2023 season of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra. And welcome back to those whose attendance has been constrained over the past couple of seasons. We are glad to see you again!

For many of us, the thought of returning to “normal” is greatly desired; however, because of the pandemic, economic uncertainty, and recent social and political reckonings, it is hard to know what “normalcy” is or will be in the future. Like all of us, the HHSO has adapted to these challenges. We took advantage of the forced “pause” in operations to review our activities, priorities, and commitments to our Lowcountry community. The results include many positive steps:

• expanded free performances for residents, visitors, and tourists to create greater public awareness and appreciation of the HHSO;

• a broader range of repertoire and genres to better represent the musical traditions of—and greater appeal to—the diverse communities in which we perform; and,

•a renewed and increased commitment to education and community engagement with learners of all ages throughout Beaufort County. None of these efforts are meant to supplant the cherished traditions that the HHSO has stewarded for four decades now—performing great orchestral masterworks as well as producing the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, Youth Concerto Competition, and Hilton Head Chamber Music Institute, among others. Our desire is to launch new traditions that enhance the cultural experiences for all of our patrons.

The Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra was fortunate to survive the past couple of years due in great part to the ongoing generosity of our donors, as well as some critical pandemic-related public support. It is now the HHSO’s turn to “pay it forward,” with musical gifts for all members of our community. We look forward to sharing a season filled with Harmony.

Alan Jordan President and CEO Michael Harter Chair, Board of Directors

The real winners of the RBC Heritage are the thousands of people the tournament helps each year through The Heritage Classic Foundation. Since it was founded in 1987, the Foundation has distributed to a wide variety of charitable organizations. As one of the recipients of the Foundation’s charity, the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra offers a heartfelt “Thank You”!

The Symphony wishes to thank the South Carolina Arts Commission for their continued financial aid. The Symphony supports the mission of the Arts Commission in their effort “to build a thriving arts environment for the benefit of all South Carolinians”. For over 40 years the agency has worked to make it possible for every citizen in the state to enjoy and benefit from the arts.

ALAN JORDAN

CHAIR, BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESIDENT AND CEO

Photo: thefrenchguyphotography

This season I am pulled to the idea of HARMONY as the core of the orchestral experience. Musical harmony, of course, as we perform beloved symphonic classics by Dvořák, Rachmaninoff, Sibelius, Mozart, Beethoven, Ravel, and Holst, and in equal measure, the extended harmony that comes from composers like ColeridgeTaylor, Still, Ludwig, Shaw, and Tan Dun. But then there’s the harmony on stage between our extraordinary musicians who gather together from all parts of the Southeast, and brilliant instrumental and vocal soloists from across the country—all of whom are members of our cherished HHSO family or soon to become ones. At the pinnacle of this experience is you, and the harmony that washes over all of us in our musical home, The First Presbyterian Church, revealing the truth and beauty of our shared human experience; and further, as it radiates from within us as we go about our lives.

There is so much to be excited about this season: concertmaster, Micah Gangwer, stretching his wings with a lovely concerto commissioned by the greatest American violinist of her day, Maud Powell; the world premiere of Oran Etkin’s homage to Benny Goodman, “Sing Out”; the ravishing voice of Jennifer Cherest; the triumphant return of 2022 HHIPC Winner Jaeden Izik-Dzurko; Kellen Gray’s love letter to the music of Charleston; the NEW edition of Gershwin’s American in Paris, and violinist Bella Hristova’s concerto written for her by husband, David Ludwig; conductor Michelle Merrill’s debut with us along with debonair pianist Ray Ushikubo; my very good friend and force of nature, Joseph Conyers, with a thrilling concerto for bass; and most of all, our long-awaited Elijah with a brilliant cast of singers and our own HHSO Chorus and Georgia Southern University’s Southern Chorale.

Make sure to keep up on ALL our concerts and repertoire by reading “About the Music,” the informative, incisive and entertaining program notes written exclusively for us by musicologist and HHSO violinist Jonathan Aceto.

In harmony,

John Morris Russell

Music Director

Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra

The conductor will give a pre-concert talk prior to all concerts except Holiday Pops. Talk times are 3:00 pm for Sunday concerts and 6:30 pm for Monday concerts. Please join us!

HHSO’S

JOHN MORRIS RUSSELL

“Thank you for joining us, and for sharing your love of music and your orchestra with those around you. Music can change the world because music changes people.”

The wonderment that happens when many different voices come together as one MUSIC DIRECTOR

John Mastroianni provided by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

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DIRECTOR, HILTON HEAD INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION

“Our currently scheduled piano-centric events are listed on the opposite page. We hope you will plan to be with us to enjoy live musicmaking at its finest. I look forward to welcoming you personally and to sharing these unforgettable experiences together!”

Greetings and welcome to the 2022-23 season! As ‘the new kid on the block,’ let me start by sincerely thanking the HHSO / HHIPC family for the incredibly warm reception I have received. I already feel at home here and I am delighted to be a member of the Lowcountry performing arts community.

Before we focus on upcoming highlights—especially the 2023 competition (March 13-18)—I think it’s appropriate to look back at our successful 2022 competition and to salute my beloved predecessor, Mona Huff, and her impactful tenure as HHIPC Director! I was fortunate to attend the finals last March when the sensational Canadian pianist Jaeden Izik-Dzurko was selected as First Prize winner. Little did we know that Jaeden’s triumph here would be the first of four consecutive competition victories within six months, including his Gold Medal at Spain’s Paloma O’Shea Santander International Piano Competition in August. Bravo, Jaeden!

Jaeden is featured prominently in the 2022-2023 season, since we kick off 2023 by welcoming him back to Hilton Head in early January for a ‘victory lap,’ when he will perform Rachmaninoff’s gloriously melodic Piano Concerto No. 2 with the HHSO and Maestro Russell.

Another piano highlight with the HHSO is the late March return of 2017 HHIPC Winner, Ray Ushikubo, to perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1. Some may recall that Ray is a virtuoso performer on piano AND violin, and he recently graduated from Philadelphia’s prestigious Curtis Institute with performance degrees on both instruments!

We are finalizing the HHIPC’s 2022-23 Piano Recital Series, and for my first season, we will showcase pianists who share a history with both the HHIPC and with me!

I am thrilled to announce that we will begin in late October with Steven Lin and then finish in early May with Fei-Fei—both of whom excelled in the 2012 HHIPC, and both of whom are musicians I managed in my previous position at Concert Artists Guild!

I know these engaging artists have become audience favorites over the last ten years, and we can’t wait to welcome them back to play for us at SoundWaves!

And last — but definitely not least — we’re busy preparing for the March 2023 HHIPC, during which our committee is eager to welcome 20 young pianists (ages 13 - 17) to Hilton Head! We’ve assembled a stellar international jury of eight piano professionals. The competitors will be announced in early December. I invite you to join us for that invigorating week of performances, so please be sure to mark your calendars now (March 13-18).

Speaking of calendars, all our currently scheduled piano-centric events are listed on the opposite page. We hope you will plan to be with us to enjoy live musicmaking at its finest. I look forward to welcoming you personally and to sharing these unforgettable experiences together!

Steve Shaiman Director, Hilton Head International Piano Competition

HHIPC CALENDAR OF EVENTS

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2022 – 7:30 PM

Steven Lin in Recital

HHIPC Finalist (2012, 3rd Prize) and performer at BravoPiano!’s opening night gala (2018), Steven offers a program featuring iconic works by Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy and Liszt.

SoundWaves at Coligny, 7 Lagoon Road

JANUARY 8 – 9, 2023

Jaeden Izik-Dzurko

First Prize Winner of the 2022 HHIPC plays Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 with the HHSO

First Presbyterian Church—540 William Hilton Parkway

MARCH 13 – 18, 2023

Hilton Head International Piano Competition March 13 – 14

Round I

St. Luke’s Church—50 Pope Avenue

March 15 – 16

Round II

St. Luke’s Church—50 Pope Avenue

March 17

Master Classes and Lecture/Recital St. Luke’s Church—50 Pope Avenue March 18

Round III: Finals with the HHSO

First Presbyterian Church—540 William Hilton Parkway

MARCH 26 – 27, 2023

Ray Ushikubo

First Prize Winner of the 2017 HHIPC plays Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1 with the HHSO

First Presbyterian Church—540 William Hilton Parkway

THURSDAY, MAY 11, 2023

Fei-Fei in Recital

HHIPC Medalist (2012) and featured performer at BravoPiano! (2018), Fei-Fei will showcase her

personality in

SoundWaves at Coligny, 7 Lagoon Road

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THE LEAGUE OF THE HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

OF DIRECTORS

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Carol Gyllenhoff President

Terry Hicks Administrative Vice President

Linda Moloney Fundraising Vice President

Judy Walsh

Membership/Volunteers Vice President

Jeffrie Natale Secretary

Nancy Millette Treasurer

COMMITTEE CHAIRS

Swing Fore the Symphony Golf Tournament & Silent Auction

Linda Moloney, Mike Harter

Musicales

Lois Hoyt-Berry, Eileen Durkin, Terry Hicks

Spring Luncheon, Fashion Show & Silent Auction

Louise Wyhopen, Carol Gyllenhoff

Membership and Volunteer Recordkeeping

Judy Walsh

Past President and Nominating Chair

Hough

Newsletter

Dahlia Handman

Receptions

Joann McElravy, Kathy Zurilla

Fling

Prange

Symphony Under the Stars

Mike Caporal, Bill Zurilla

Kathy Zurilla

Stan Cooke

Mary

EX

John Morris

Mike Harter

HHSO

Alan

Mario

and

PRESENTING HHSO LEAGUE MUSICALES

2022-2023

MUSICALE #1 * THE ROARING TWENTIES

Thursday, October 13, 2022, 5:30 – 7:30 pm

Stan Cooke (Port Royal)

Port Royal Beach House

Folderol Trio: Candice Rae, voice; David Masteller, bass; and James Berry, keyboard

Recreating the sounds of the roaring 1920s, Folderol conveys the fun and frivolity of the prohibition era with hits from Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Fats Waller and many more! Folderol is a highly sought after Lowcountry trio that will be sure to bring a smile to your face.

MUSICALE #2 * FESTIVE FLAMENCO

Sunday, December 4, 2022, 5:00 – 7:00 pm Mary and Mike Briggs (Hilton Head Plantation) Jennifer Johnson, classical flamenco guitar, accompanied by James Berry, piano

Classical and flamenco guitarist Jennifer Johnson and pianist James Berry combine forces for a series of solos and duos highlighting both the familiar tunes of the season and creative arrangements of new melodies from around the world. With musical influences extending from Andalusia to jazz improvisation, take delight in this highly original program capturing the joy of the holidays.

MUSICALE #3 * “3 IN ‘23” - A SHEPHERD IN THE FIELD Wednesday, January 11, 2023, 5:00 – 7:00 pm Eileen and Jerry Durkin (Palmetto Dunes) Russell Floyd, clarinet; Laura Sutton Floyd, soprano; Gerald Anderson, piano

Enjoy this special program of songs featuring composers who are all known for skillfully setting verse to music: John Rutter, George Gershwin, Franz Schubert, Arnold Cooke, Gordon Jacob, and Ralph Vaughan Williams. “3 in ‘23” represents the optimistic view of song leading us to discover all the joys of the New Year.

MUSICALE #4 * JOURNEY THROUGH JAZZ Wednesday, February 15, 2023, 5:00 – 7:00 pm Vickie and Mike McClelland (Port Royal)

Martin Lesch Trio

Journey with Hilton Head favorite and HHSO board member, pianist Martin Lesch, as he transports you through the vast world of contemporary popular music with his easy listening jazz interpretations of classic melodies and ballads from the most admired jazz, pop, rock, and blues artists of the 20th century.

MUSICALE #5 * CONTEMPLATION: HARP SERENADE Sunday, March 5, 2023, 5:00 – 7:00 pm Sarah Meyer (Moss Creek)

Abigail Kent, harp

Be swept away by the alluringly atmospheric sounds of Henriette Renié, Joseph Jongen, Lili Boulanger, Marcel Lucien Tournier, and the hypnotic music of other great European women and men whose enchanting compositions leave you feeling mesmerized and bewitched.

MUSICALE #6 * CLASSICAL VIBES

Sunday, April 2, 2023, 5:00 – 7:00 pm

Christine DeVallee and Robert Anderson (Hilton Head Plantation) Mary Reed, bass, and Dan Morris, vibraphone

This heartwarming tribute to women in classical music celebrates works by and for women but with a twist: arranged for the sublime timbre and tranquil tones of a double-bass and vibraphone duo. Relax to music ranging from Anna Magdalena Bach to Hector Berlioz, Louise Ferrenc, and others.

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Musicales are member-only events. If you are interested in learning more about the League, please contact walshjudy72 @gmail.com.

CAROL GYLLENHOFF

It is an honor to serve as President of the Hilton Head Symphony League this year, along with a talented and dedicated Board of Directors. Music has always been an important part of my life, starting with a little record player in our dining room on which my brother and I played everything from Arthur Godfrey to nursery rhymes and folk tunes before we started kindergarten. I was privileged to attend symphony concerts during my school years and began nine years of piano in the fourth grade. Classical music was a constant in our home and has continued to enrich my life throughout the years. I imagine many of my fellow symphony attendees have similar stories.

Since 1996, the Hilton Head Symphony League has been committed to supporting the Orchestra through fundraising and a myriad of other services. Several hundred members each year give their time and treasure, while gaining new friends in the process. We are pleased to provide six elegant Musicale evenings, post-concert receptions, a successful fall golf tournament, a popular spring luncheon and fashion show in its 11th year, and the Spring Fling—a thank-you party for members. In addition, we support youth education through a summer chamber music program for teens as well as a youth concerto competition in January.

We welcome new members. Additional information about the League and membership applications are available on the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra website (hhso.org) under the League tab. Won’t you join us?

CAROL GYLLENHOFF

PRESIDENT THE LEAGUE OF THE HHSO

Carol Gyllenhoff President League of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra

POST-CONCERT RECEPTIONS—MEET THE GUEST ARTISTS AND CHAT WITH THE MAESTRO

The League is sponsoring four post-concert receptions in the Gathering Space. Come join us!

Opening Night — Monday, October 24, 2022

Holiday Pops — Monday, November 28, 2022

HHIPC Finals — Saturday, March 18, 2023

Season Finale — Monday, April 24, 2023

The League’s second annual fall fundraiser, Swing Fore the Symphony, will take place at the Wexford Golf Club on October 31, 2022. Last year’s event was a huge success with fun had by all. Thanks to Beach Properties and the many other local businesses and individuals which provided financial support.

MUSIC DIRECTOR

John Morris Russell

The Estate of Robert and Margaret Gallagher

VIOLIN I

Micah Gangwer, Concertmaster Charleston, SC Aldine W. Schroeder Memorial Chair

VIOLIN II

Frances Hsieh, Principal* Charleston, SC Nina Sandberg, Acting Principal Charleston, SC

SECTION VIOLIN

Jean S. Wolff Chair in memory of Alfred W. Wolff

Jonathan Aceto Statesboro, GA

Barbara Borg Charleston, SC Ann Cafferty Savannah, GA

Jason Economides Macon, GA

Rafe Goldman Charleston, SC

Catherine Hardy Hilton Head Island, SC

Mario Incorvaia Savannah, GA

Tomas Jakubek Charleston, SC

David Katz Crossville, TN

Angela Loizides Charleston, SC

Essena Setaro Buffalo, NY

C. Gerome Stewart Charleston, SC Marina Volynets Savannah, GA

Jonathan Wright Atlanta, GA

VIOLA

Lizhou Liu, Principal Savannah, GA Mary and Mike Briggs Chair

Scott Garrett Fort Mill, SC Vasily Gorkovoy Charlotte, NC Yuri Kholodov Savannah, GA Taliaferro Nash Savannah, GA Matthew Peebles Charleston, SC Jeffrey Watson Columbia, SC

CELLO

Daniel Mumm, Principal Charleston, SC Ellen and Charles Taylor Chair Barbara Altman Macon, GA Lee Richey* Winston-Salem, NC Cynthia Sulko Atlanta, GA Mary Ann Watson Columbia, SC

BASS

Mary Reed, Principal Charleston, SC Ann and Michael Waters Chair in memory of Ruth A. and Robert C. Waters Thomas Bresnick Charleston, SC Joseph Farley Winston-Salem, NC Vadim Volynets Savannah, GA

FLUTE

Lorraine Jones, Principal Savannah, GA Erna B. Graver Memorial Chair Tacy Edwards Charleston, SC

OBOE

Reid Messich, Principal Athens, GA Patty and Dave Ekedahl Chair Lauren Stuligross, Co-Principal

Hilton Head Island, SC Kelly Odell Augusta, GA

CLARINET

Charles Messersmith, Principal Charleston, SC Marge and Paul Coble Chair in memory of Don E. Coble

Russell Floyd, Co-Principal Hilton Head Island, SC Gretchen Roper Charleston, SC BASSOON Katherine St. John, Principal Charleston, SC Doris and Willis Shay Chair

HORN Stephanie Mason, Principal Statesboro, GA Liz and Walt Schymik Chair in memory of Catherine B. Kaufmann Brandon Nichols Charleston, SC Debra Sherill-Ward Charleston, SC Ann Holmi Charleston, SC

TRUMPET

Paul Wesley Lott, Principal Savannah, GA Nancy and John Diamond Chair Philip Ehrmann* Atlanta, GA Todd Jenkins North Augusta, GA

TROMBONE

Carl K. Polk, Principal Savannah, GA Lin and Robert Rada Chair

Mark Spradley Savannah, GA

TUBA

Chris Bluemel, Principal Charleston, SC Dr. William P. and Judy F. Thorpe in honor of Richard B. Heyman, MD

TIMPANI

Ray McClain, Principal Savannah, GA Marianne and George Krall Chair

PERCUSSION

Stephen Primatic, Principal Savannah, GA Sandy and Fred Caswell Chair

Mathew Fallin Statesboro, GA Ryan Leveille Charleston, SC

KEYBOARD

Charles Ancheta, Principal Savannah, GA Mary Ellen and Jack McConnell Chair

HARP

Abigail Kent, Principal Charleston, SC League of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Chair *Leave of absence for the 2022-2023 season

Young people have always been at the heart of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra’s

On April 26 the HHSO delivered on the promise by hosting more than 800 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders for a Young People’s Concert in the First Presbyterian Church. Five schools participated: Hilton Head Elementary, Hilton Head Creative Arts, Hilton Head Preparatory, Red Cedar (Bluffton), and Joseph Shanklin (Beaufort). Add a couple of dozen pre-schoolers from First Presbyterian Day School to the mix and the place was hopping.

Supported by:

Carlton Pitts, Narrator

John Morris Russell, Conductor Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra

Vocal soloists: Tegan Miller, Michelle Meece, Matthew Meece

“It was my big dream to go to an orchestra.”

Mary Briggs Youth Foundation Eleanor and Bernard Breedlove Foundation

Picture of a recorder.

What the Critics Are Saying

We received handwritten notes from dozens of Shanklin 4th grade students thanking the HHSO for the amazing day. What did these young critics have to say? In charming, straightforward prose—perhaps with fewer adjectives than the average music critic—the kids conveyed their feelings.

Did They Engage?

In multiple ways and on multiple levels! And they can’t wait to come back.

“

Being able to participate throughout the 60-minute program was the frosting on the cake. The kids told us that the “best part” was “their part.”

HHSO’s Youth Outreach

The HHSO takes its commitment to young people seriously. Over the years, individual donors, corporate sponsors, the League, and the Mary Briggs Youth Foundation have helped fund many worthwhile activities. As things return to normal and visitors are welcomed back in the schools, the HHSO will re-start Music Bridges. The goal of Music Bridges is to awaken musical excitement in the 10,000+ students in the Beaufort school system through LIVE musical experiences by providing opportunities to meet professional musicians, learn about musical instruments, and hear our orchestra in person.

*All quotations/drawings from 4th grade students, Joseph Shanklin Elementary School

“The people with the instruments were so focused.

was surprised how well they played.

“I liked the way everyone looked.

The best consert [sic] I have gone to in my invited life.

was so excited to come see the band perform.”

“I had so much fun.”

It was a wonderful experience.”

When we sang Oye I was happy. I love that song.”

The best field trip ever.”

Our part was the best part singing and playing the recorder.”

Previous Young People’s Concerts have utilized music the HHSO performed throughout the season. New last year was HHSO’s adoption of Carnegie Hall’s Link Up program. In operation for decades, Link Up introduces 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students to the orchestra by way of an interactive curriculum. They learn to sing and play an instrument in their own classrooms before performing with a professional orchestra from their seats during an end-of-year concert. They are not just spectators, but become participants.

Maestro John Morris Russell has a long history with the program:

“Early in my career, while Associate Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, I also worked for the Education Department at Carnegie Hall. Between 1997-2009 I was part of an extraordinary team that developed content and programming for educational concerts that I conducted annually at Carnegie and across the five boroughs. We wanted to create dynamic programs that were relatable for our young listeners, without pandering to the kinds of gimmickry that pervaded so many orchestral educational programs at the time. We called it Link Up. The “links” in Link Up brought classroom teachers, teaching artists, in-school concerts and presentations, lessons on recorder, violins and voice, and the final concert experience together in one chain of annual events. The programs that transformed concert experiences for young people in New York City 25 years ago are now performed around the world reaching half a million students and teachers. Conducting “The Orchestra Sings” with the HHSO and our partner schools from across Beaufort County last April,

I was thrilled to see the tradition we began a quarter century ago spark such joy in students in the Lowcountry today, as we nurture the next generation of music lovers.”

This season’s theme was The Orchestra Sings which explores how composers create great melodies. It covered the subject matter utilizing both classical repertoire and contemporary music. The kids sang the wildly popular song, “Oye, Can You Hear Me?” in both Spanish and English while dancing in the aisles to the sound of their own joyous voices.

The entire HHSO cast, including the Maestro, got involved in acting out a scene from The Firebird. Narrator Carlton Pitts deftly kept the train on the tracks, ad libbing as necessary, and he could not have been more engaging. The 200-person recorder accompaniment to Beethoven’s Ode to Joy defies description, with HHSO musicians standing to applaud their “new members” at the end.

Link Up consists of four separate programs, so Beaufort County students have three more to experience:

• The Orchestra Moves

• The Orchestra Rocks

• The Orchestra Swings

So hang onto your sheet music kids, and we’ll see you next year!

Is it possible that there is another JMR out there in the audience?

A trip to hear the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra when in elementary school inspired the Maestro and the rest, as they say, is history.

The HHSO Youth Concerto Competition will be held at SoundWaves on Saturday, January 28, 2023. Conceived with the goal of inspiring a younger generation to pursue their goals in the world of classical music, Joseph Gimbel has served as the Director of the YCC since its inception 13 years ago. Under his stewardship, the event expanded to one of the largest regional competitions of its type in the Southeastern United States. Over the years, Joe has personally assisted many competitors by giving them references for summer programs and recommendations for teachers and conservatories. The 2022 Competition was Joe’s last as Director. Heartfelt thanks to Joe for giving life to and shepherding this amazing event!

HILTON HEAD CHAMBER MUSIC INSTITUTE

Founded and led by Judy Gimbel, the fourth annual Hilton Head Chamber Music Institute was held June 8th –June 19th at SoundWaves. It was staffed with an outstanding faculty: Shannon Thomas, violin, Florida State University, and Caroline Coade, viola, Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the University of Michigan. Serving as CoArtistic Directors were Carolyn Huebl, violin, Vanderbilt University, and Felix Wang, Professor of Cello at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music. Sixteen terrific high school string musicians were selected via an audition process. They came from seven states: Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, Florida, Missouri, and Tennessee. Students were hosted in private homes. All their needs were met on-site in SoundWaves by wonderful volunteers who arrived at 8 am and did not depart until the day’s activities were complete, usually well into the evening. Committee members were Susan Britansky, Susan Harter, Beth Corry, Linda Fiore, Geri Strigle and Lois Wilson. The intensive program included lots of practice time, private lessons, daily quartet rehearsals, and several master classes.

Students had ample opportunity to perform via several outreach concerts both on the Island and in Bluffton. The week concluded with two concerts featuring four student quartets, capped by a performance from The Chamber Music Orchestra composed of all 16 students and the faculty. Dvořák’s String Quartet, Op. 96 never sounded better! The CMI has booked an annual slot on the HHSO’s summer calendar. Hope to see you here next year!

Joe Gimbel with 2022 First Prize winner Ewan Manalo and Medalists

Exciting times continue at SoundWaves as we enter the second season of our deliciously popular Coastal Home Supper Club. These live monthly events feature dinner provided by a local eatery and a wide-ranging musical selection of fun cabaret performances. Last year’s Inaugural season was a sellout with shows which included themes from Broadway, Hollywood, Motown, the Great American Songbook, country western, rock-and-roll, and smooth mid-century jazz.

Look for even more exciting musical programs this season including performances by Orchestra Series guest artists demonstrating their impressive versatility, as did last season’s Tessa Lark who followed her Dvořák violin concerto with the HHSO at First Presbyterian Church with a foot-stomping solo bluegrass show at SoundWaves.

Other SoundWaves’ highlights in 2022-2023 will include Lean Ensemble Theater’s education and outreach performances, Rotary Club activities, Sea Turtle Patrol meetings, and hosting the annual roundtable of the Southeastern Orchestra Volunteer Association (SOVA), which is returning to Hilton Head Island for the first time in more than a decade.

Continuing as one of Hilton Head Island’s most sought-after performing events spaces, SoundWaves has carved its niche into the fabric of evening entertainment options by presenting dynamic performances in a variety of musical and dramatic art forms, as well as some of the hottest popular music around. From cabaret to chamber music, singer/songwriter to the full range of jazz, SoundWaves shares the best music in many genres, all in its engagingly intimate setting.

SoundWaves embraces its role as the venue that brings the Hilton Head community together through exceptional live music and performing arts experiences. Visit SoundWaves this year, and you will be sure to be back again.

Call to inquire about bringing your organization to hold meetings and conferences.

Incorvaia

Tessa Lark, February 2022

Zhenni Li-Cohen, April 2022

“Where else can you enjoy a sit-down dinner including a complimentary beverage, catered by a local restaurant, with first-class musical entertainment, close friends and loving patrons of the HHSO in a wonderful night club setting — all for a very reasonable price? The answer we suspect is nowhere...except SOUNDWAVES! Experience a splendid evening for yourselves at Coastal Home’s Supper Club like we have!”

Charlie & Joan Dattelbaum

“SoundWaves is an ideal place to experience a piano recital. The space is comfortable with good acoustics, and the audience is only feet away from the performer. The intimate setting allowed former HHIPC competitor, Zhenni Li-Cohen, to share details about her repertoire in a relaxed, conversational manner—it was fascinating and added greatly to the performance. Throw in a glass of wine and the ability to talk one-on-one with the artist and these are perfect evenings.”

Julie Williams

“Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park decided to host a virtual fundraiser in March 2021. We wanted to still have the great entertainment that is a part of a live event, but we needed a venue to record the bands and our presentation. We connected with the HHSO to use Soundwaves to implement the program elements. The space set the perfect tone for our event and the incredible staff gave us a first-rate experience! Our fundraiser was a rousing success due to their professionalism and eagerness to make sure we created a quality product.”

Ahmad Ward, Executive Director Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park

Rotary Club of Hilton Head Island

Legacy: Justin Reynolds, Gretchen Kristine Stelzer, Tracy Byrd, vocals

Ron Helman, Delbert Felix, Aaron Lehrian, Aaron Jennings

Wietecha,

SUPPORTING THE MUSIC

Thank you to the following individual donors who have made commitments to our Annual Fund in the past year.

DIAMOND BATON CIRCLE

$25,000+

Kevin and Vicki Halloran

PLATINUM BATON CIRCLE

$20,000+

Michael and Mary Briggs Bob and Heather Cherichella Michael and Susan Harter Connie Rathman

GOLD BATON CIRCLE $15,000+

Dan and Betsy Brown Ralph and Sandy Drayer Frederick and Carolyn Hack Diane and John Myers Charles Strauch

Carol Tucker James and Florence Willard

SILVER BATON CIRCLE

$10,000+

Dave and Patty Ekedahl Tom and Candice Hough Mary Princing and Bill Clark Bret and Laura Jacobowitz Mary Ann and Tarrant Putnam Paul Stillman

Jim Way

CHAIRMAN’S CIRCLE $7,500+

Robert and Darle Booher Liz and Todd Clist Charles and Joan Dattelbaum John and Nancy Diamond Helen Heberton Ryan Huff and Mila Sheeline Paul and Louise Lang

Sarah Meyer Marshall and Sharon Miller Ray and Doris Stickel Lorene Thornbury Jerry and Connie Voight

CONDUCTOR’S CIRCLE

$5,000+

Robert and Debra Cook Jay and Trish Elliot Pete and Cary Fleming Ray and Linda Moloney Susan Parrish

Diana Riggle Spence and Barbie Stouffer William and Judy Thorpe

CONCERTMASTER’S CIRCLE $2,500+

Stephen and Karen Ball Ed and Aletta Bond

Sally Brown Stewart and Judy Brown Fred and Vivian Burt Theodore and Clair Craver Bill and Linda DeArment Robert Doran and Phyllis Factorman Dennis and Carol Draeger Donald Flora and Janet Stallmeyer

Barbara Holmes Joe and Mona Huff John and Marie James Tom and Carol Jones Nefeli and Rick Keebaugh Robert and Joan Koenig Jim and Dot Loughlin Brian and Darlene Marlowe Robert and Eloise Mason David McClintock and Mary Milligan

Nancy Minor James and Martha Neumeister Roy Plekenpol

Sylvia Richards Timothy and Mona Ridge Constance Silvester Barbara Harris Sorkin, in memory of Michael Sorkin Susan Suhr Luis and Karin Tosado Julie Williams

ARTIST’S CIRCLE $1,000+

Anonymous Neal and Barbara Aaron David and Nancy Ames Peggy Ashworth Sally Ayotte

Christine and Terry Baehr Jim and Mary Anne Baehr Malcolm and Jillian Binks Winifred Baker and Constance Curnow

Barbara and Ralph Bean Karl and Barbara Becker Harvey Beeferman and Eileen McHenry Dede Bethke

Judy Bluestone Nancy and David Borghesi James and Thor Burns John and Patricia Canzano William and Christine Carr Roger Coe James and Marcia Collett John and Barbara Collins Stan Cooke Fay Dixon Eileen and Jerry Durkin Wayne Effron and Gail Kaess

Sally Evans

R. Vito Farsetti and Sharon Webster Hudson and Barbara Fesche Charles Frost

Joseph and Pauline Gareau Mary Ann and John Goodrich Kathy Grote

Dr. Dahlia D. and Arthur Handman Charles and Ann Harrison Ted Haslam

Dorothy Holmes, Ph.D. Mario and Jennifer Incorvaia Joan Israel Robert Jacobs Alan and Karen Jordan Hart and Jane Joseph Betty Ann Keane Don and Kitty Krahnke Jake and Margie Kriney Juan and Christine Lacerda Rosalyn Lester Laura Marks John McLaughlin and Judy McCracken

Joann McElravy John and Eleanor McLauchlin Charles and Andrea McMakin Sansing McPherson

Nancy Mead Gordon Miller Margaret Moon David and Janine Nelson Harwood and Barbara Nichols Mary Noonan John Norlander Dale and Judy Peters Janet Rivers George Sakakini Frances and Charles Sampson Robert and Pamela Savage Charles and Patricia Sinatra Hendrik and Mieke Smit Russell and Lois Southwick Lauren and Dennis Stuligross Peter Takacs Judith Tauscher Douglas and Gail Tozour Judy Walker Bill and Jolynn Wayne Georgia and Henry West Richard and Barbara Wiles Lois Wilson Lee and Ruth Wilwerding Barbara Wolf Paul and Phyllis Zaffaroni William and Kathleen Zurilla

PRINCIPAL $500+

Christian and Mary Catherine Albright John Austin and Susan Hartmann Austin Frank and Linda Babel

Frederick and Kathleen Barrett Anne Marie Bedford

Rabbi Brad and Linda Bloom Dom and Estie Bonanno

Aaron Breeden

Jason Breeden

Alice and Juergen Brockmann Michael and Ginger Caporal Beverly Chell Howard Coonley and Carol Clapp Wade Close

Dr. Nancy Contel

David Coquillette Alexander Cruden Linda Dreisbach Charles and Linda Eberly Buck and Karen Edwards

Linda Ellis

Jay and Bonnie Finch Arnold and Barbara Fleisher Chuck and Maggie Ford John and Lesley Gilbert George and Cynthia Gorski-Popiel Deborah Graves

Pat and Jill Graybeal Kenneth and Louise Hagstrom James Hales and Sally Tarley Karin and George Haupstein

Cynthia Heil Clint Henderson Anne and Peter Holmi Howard and Patricia Hornstra

Nancy Hudak

Ford and Patricia Hutchinson Sandy and Tom Jernigan H. Ezzat and Shadia Khalifa Ken and Kryl Kerr Sam and Juliana Kim Myla Kramer and Larry Lerner Alice and Andy Lattal Mike Levine

Jerry and Judy Long Miyoko Lotto James and Clare Mackie Eric and Janice Magnin Bruce and Mary Jo Maguire

Henry Martin

Lloyd and Carolyn Martin David and Betsy McCoy Evelyn McNair William and Anne Millhaem John Miller

Ian and Mary Murray William and Jane Murray Jeffrie and Louis Natale Glen and Linda Neff

Jo Nuce

Alan and Hannah Obstler Wilson and Emily Oelkers Willis and Suzanne Post

Andrea Purple

Gleves Rhodes

Tim and Mona Ridge

Nina and Stewart Rodman

Van and Lauren Schwiebert Craig and Carla Seebald

Clare Seliger

Anne Senf Regina Silletti Willis and Doris Shay Jim Titus

John Tolford Hans and Festi Weitekamper Blake and Peggy Trecker White

Jerry Witowski

Marti Willits and Doug Nabholz Gerald and Nancy Witowski Vivian Wu and Arthur Granatstein Buzz and Rhetta Yount

SUPPORTER $250+

Ken and Barbara Adams Marsha and Steve Adair Richard and Audrey Anderson

Trudy Backus

Jim and Sheila Baden Sherman and Carol Barker James and Nancy Bell

William Bender James and Dukene Brady John and Elizabeth Brink Colette Burrus Dr. and Mrs. Andrew Buzzelli Paul Capron and Joan Deery Patrick and Suzanne Crippen

Joan Dallos

Bill and Nancy Dix Pamela Dyer Barbara and Joe Fudjack Laurie and Donald Gazzale

John Geisler

George and Sara Hall Mary and David Harder Jack Hittle

Kae Jacobs

Jacquelyn James Rick and Laurel Johnson Mary Ella Jones John and Carol Lang Guilles Lessard

John Lindsay

Joe and Nancy LoPresti

Ingrid Low William and Sue MacLeod Judy Matchett

Robert and Marcia Metzger

Marguerite Miletic Carl and Patricia Miller Charlie and Carol Moore Jacqueline and Christopher Mutascio

Nancy and Jim Nissley Laura Nuce

Lynn Oberg

Joseph and Linda Palmiero James and Kathleen Panepinto John and Sue Parsons

Florence Portoghese

Phillip Py

Blake and Marjorie Robinson Bob and Betsy Roll Louise Rose Susan Ross Michael and Karen Rudy Robert Savarese Barbara and Paul Schulz Marie Smith Bill and Sheila Standen Polly Sten Bill and Kathy Taylor Thomas VanLandingham Paul and Jane Wexler Coleman Jon and Sally Ann Wormley

FRIEND UP TO $249

Bob and Shirley Alberti Lisa Anderson Lynn Bagylos Thomas Barten Bruce and Cherry Baumgartner Robert and Elizabeth Bellion Jill Bemis

Janet England-Bender Robert and Sally Berman Kent and Ellen Blocker Donald Bogard

Marjorie Borenstein

Barbara Borg Mary Lou Bowles

Dick and Gerry Brooks Henry and Nancy Brown John Burling Gilbert Campbell Danilo and Virginia Castro Ilse Coger

Pam and Peter Cooper Beth and Jeffrey Corry Marty and Richard Davis J. Edward Diamond Wendie Elovich Loring and Marilyn Ensign Harry and Dodi Eschenbach Frank Fekete Linda Fiore Linda Fischer Rowland and Kate Fleming Ruth Fowler Preston Gada Susan Giattino Michael and Leslie Gilroy Janet Godfrey Emily Gray Maria and Ted Gregg Carol Gyllenhoff Brian and Beverly Haley Susan Hawkins Claudia and James Hawn George and Susan Heberton Ann and Denny Hoag Barbara Hughey Joanne and Charles Knauss Rosemary and Gary Kratz Gary Lambert Judy Lemon Joseph and Doris Lindner John and Elizabeth Loda Klaus and Elizabeth Loehr Lee Lopez Venessa Lott Max Loxley Virginia Mairs Mary Jo McGoldrick Ed and Nancy Millette

Nancy Minor

Eileen Moran and Robert Ruchinskas

Arthur Morrow George and Stella Moyser

Barbara Nowell

George and Shirley Pearse

Jerry Pecoraro

Betsy Pehrson

Tim and Brenda Pollard Neal and Shirlene Post

Daniel and Linda Powell Prudence and Burton Preston Connie Randall Edward and Lorainne Regenye Tina and Leonard Reich

Ann Marie Reinke

Therese Renaud Craig and Pat Rider Frank and Sally Roach Davanna and Peter Saari Betsy and Gerry Schroeter John and Linda Sheppard Edward and Elizabeth Simmons Neil and Barbara Snow Richard and Kathleen Sonberg Rich and Marcy Spencer

Peter Spreadbury

Sally Steedman

Christopher Steele Geri Strigle

Judy and Neil Sullivan Barbara Swift

Gerald and Dorothy Swimmer Karen Tabor Drs. Terri Thomas and Alex Kent William and Julia Causey Thorsen Felicia Vairo

Corinne Vitolo Alice Walton Sam Watkins Denise Wells Doug and Ann West Karen West Jill Woisnet Sadie York

Peggy and Vic Arrington Peggy Ashworth Karen and Stephen Ball

Dede Bethke Estie and Dom Bonanno Michael and Mary Briggs Bob and Heather Cherichella Liz and Todd Clist Joan and Charlie Dattelbaum Ralph and Sandy Drayer Eileen and Jerry Durkin Pete and Cary Fleming Bobbi Fox

Joe and Judy Gimbel Mary Ann and John Goodrich Carol and Frederick Hack Michael and Susan Harter Barbara Holmes Candice Hough Ryan Huff and Mila Sheeline Joe and Mona Huff Laura and Bret Jacobowitz Alan and Karen Jordan Joan and Bob Koenig

The League of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra

Joseph and Jeanne Maguire Laura Marks The Moloneys Peggi Moon Marty and Jim Neumeister Mary Noonan HHIPC 2022 Jury in honor of Mona Huff

Mary Princing and Bill Clark Mary Ann and Terry Putnam Bill and Jan Raisch Diana Riggle Stu and Nina Rodman

Doris and Willis Shay Constance Silvester Hendrik and Meike Smit

Barbara Harris Sorkin Lorene Coquillette Thornbury Judy and Bill Thorpe

Connie and Jerry Voigt

Jim Way

James T. and Florence M. Willard Julie Williams

Lois Wilson

BUSINESSES, FOUNDATIONS, AND PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS SUPPORTING THE MUSIC

We thank the following businesses, foundations, and public support organizations that have committed support during the Orchestra’s 2022-2023 Season.

OFFICIAL HOTEL

Sonesta Resort Hilton Head Island SERIES SPONSORS

Coastal Home SERIES CO-SPONSORS

Coligny Plaza Courtyard by Marriott

PERFORMANCE WEEKEND SPONSORS

Boys, Arnold Wealth Management Charter One Realty

The Cypress of Hilton Head Forsythe Jewelers Group 3 and Pyramids Hilton Head BMW

PERFORMANCE SPONSORS

Lowcountry Clean Care McGriff Insurance Services/PURE Insurance TidePointe, A Vi Community

SPECIAL EVENT SPONSORS

Beach Properties

Coastal States Bank Dividend Assets Capital, LLC

Hilton Head Dental Team LOCALLife Rockfish Seafood and Steaks at Bomboras Royal Restrooms

SOUNDWAVES EVENT SPONSORS

Curry Printing HHI, Inc. Lindsay Bunting/Sea Pines Realty Nunzio Restaurant and Bar

PARTICIPATING SUPPORTERS

Carey and Company

The Greenery South State Bank

HHIPC SPONSORS

Correll Insurance Custom Audio Video The Great Frame Up Gulfstream Hargray Communications Herrin Piano

Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce Rice Music House Savannah Hilton Head International Airport Steinway & Sons

OTHER BUSINESS SUPPORT

The Bargain Box Collins Group Realty thefrenchguyphotography

Hilton Head Island Motoring Festival and Concours d’Elegance

FOUNDATIONS

Breedlove Foundation Community Foundation of the Lowcountry Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelly Foundation Howard Gilman Foundation Heritage Classic Foundation R. J. Samulski Innovation Foundation

PUBLIC SUPPORT

Beaufort County Town of Bluffton Town of Hilton Head Hilton Head Island Office of Cultural Affairs South Carolina Arts Commission

The HHSO is also funded in part by the South Carolina Arts Commission which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts as part of the American Rescue Plan.

This list is compiled as of September 15, 2022. Additional support committed after the printing of this book will be recognized elsewhere. Occasionally, omissions and mistakes occur. Please let us know if there is an error in your listing.

ON THE ISLAND. BEYOND EXPECTATIONS.

Welcome to senior living that’s a community in every sense of the word. TidePointe, a Vi Community, offers peaceful surroundings, priceless friendships and celebrated cuisine. Beyond our gates, hospitality is waiting. Contact our sales counselors today.

TidePointe Way, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928 888.986.8876

TidePointe.ViLiving.com

JOHN MORRIS RUSSELL

A master of American musical style, John Morris Russell has devoted himself to redefining the American orchestral experience. In his eleventh season as Music Director of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, he continues to invigorate the musical life of the Lowcountry as conductor, collaborator, and educator, and leads the orchestra’s classical subscription series as well as the prestigious Hilton Head International Piano Competition. Mr. Russell concurrently serves as Conductor of the world-renowned Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, with which he earned a GRAMMY Nomination in 2019, as well as Principal Pops Conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, following in the footsteps of Marvin Hamlisch and Doc Severinsen.

The Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra has enjoyed unprecedented artistic growth under Maestro Russell’s leadership; concert attendance has blossomed, the orchestra has doubled its number of concerts, and performs regularly off-island, throughout the region. Under his guidance the HHSO has sparked collaborations with regional ensembles and performers that continue to widen the reach of the orchestra, including the Hilton Head Dance Theatre, Charleston Southern University, the Savannah Children’s Choir, Georgia Southern University, and Claflin University.

MUSIC DIRECTOR

“Mr. Russell is in his eleventh year as Music Director of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra. The HHSO has enjoyed unprecedented artistic growth under Maestro Russell’s leadership; concert attendance has blossomed, the orchestra has doubled its number of concerts, and performs regularly off-island, throughout the region.”

Mr. Russell’s collaborations around the world have included Aretha Franklin, Emanuel Ax, Amy Grant and Vince Gill, Garrick Ohlsson, Rhiannon Giddens, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Jon Kimura Parker, Ann Hampton Callaway, Michael McDonald, Cynthia Erivo, Sutton Foster, George Takei, Megan Hilty, Steve Martin, Edie Brickell, Over the Rhine, Brian Wilson, Leslie Odom, Jr., Ranky Tanky, and Paul Shaffer.

Widely considered one of North America’s leaders in orchestral educational programming, Mr. Russell helped develop and conducted the Link Up educational concert series at Carnegie Hall between 1997-2009 — the oldest and most celebrated series of its kind, originally created by Walter Damrosch in 1891 and made famous by Leonard Bernstein. Link Up made its debut in Beaufort County last season. Culminating with an orchestra concert in the First Presbyterian Church in April, it was attended by more than 800 elementary age students singing and playing recorders along with the HHSO. In Hilton Head, Mr. Russell began the HHSO Music Bridges program in 2015, engaging thousands of school children from Bluffton to Hilton Head Island in ensemble visits and full orchestra concerts, while integrating the musical culture of Gullah and Lowcountry traditions into presentations and programming.

As a guest conductor, Mr. Russell has worked with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, the Boston Pops, New York Pops, and the National Symphony of Washington, D.C. He frequently conducts Canadian orchestras including Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver, and has led the orchestras of Pittsburgh, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Dallas, and Milwaukee as well as the New York City Ballet.

John Morris Russell earned degrees from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles and Williams College in Massachusetts, and has studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, and the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors in Hancock, Maine.

John Mastroianni provided by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

- Taylor and

ák

John Morris Russell, Music Director Robert and Margaret Gallagher Memorial Chair

2022-2023 41st Season Sunday, October 23, 2022 • 4:00 pm Monday, October 24, 2022 • 7:30 pm

John Morris Russell, Conductor Micah Gangwer, Violin

MICHAEL ABELS Outburst

SAMUEL COLERIDGE-TAYLOR Violin Concerto in G minor, Op. 80 Allegro maestoso Andante semplice - Andantino Allegro molto - Moderato Micah Gangwer, Violin

INTERMISSION

ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88 Allegro con brio Adagio Allegretto grazioso Allegro ma non troppo

MICAH GANGWER, VIOLIN

Micah Gangwer has been a violinist with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra since 2011 and was appointed Concertmaster of the HHSO in 2020. He has been an active orchestral, chamber, and solo musician throughout the southeast since he moved to South Carolina in 2006. His playing has been described as “clean, clear, and virtuosic” and “absolutely ravishing” by the Columbia Free Times, and that “he has full command of the violin and can do whatever he wants with it” by Charleston Today

Micah made his solo debut performing with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra when he was 11 years old and won a number of regional and national violin competitions throughout his childhood and college. He has performed as soloist with various professional and collegiate orchestras across America and has been showcased on public radio and television. As a chamber musician, he has played in concerts across America and Europe including performances for ambassadors, royalty, and heads of state.

Micah was a finalist in the internationally renowned Coleman Chamber Music Competition as a member of the Lennox Trio, and has collaborated with Frank Huang, Elmar Oliveira, Alexander Kerr, and members of the Shanghai, Amernet, Miami, Debussy, and Ying quartets, among others. He has performed at many festivals including performing, touring, and recording for three summers as a member of the Echternach Festival Orchestra of Luxembourg, and served for several seasons as the concertmaster of the Piccolo Spoleto Festival Orchestra in Charleston, South Carolina.

Micah lives in Charleston with his wife and violist Rachel, where he is Assistant Concertmaster of the Charleston Symphony. Before moving to the Lowcountry, he held the positions of Principal Second Violin of the South Carolina Philharmonic and Associate/Acting Concertmaster of the Augusta Symphony.

Micah attended Miami University for his undergraduate studies, and the University of Oklahoma and University of South Carolina for graduate school.

McGreevey

About the Music

by Jonathan Aceto

Outburst

Michael Abels (b. 1962)

One of the African-American composers engaging audiences today is Michael Abels who is especially adept at all things orchestral and often fuses classical traditions with contemporary idioms like hip-hop. For many people, his greatest success has come with film music, composing the soundtracks to Get Out and Us, which won him the Jerry Goldsmith Award among other accolades. Abels has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the prestigious Sphinx Organization and his traditional concert pieces have been performed by major orchestras such as the Chicago and Atlanta Symphonies. One of his most celebrated pieces is Global Warming, a work that reflects both a specific event — the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1991 — and the general commonalities in folk music from all cultures, which Abels believes can be a powerful tool in bringing nations together.

Outburst is essentially a set of variations on a four-note theme, showcasing a dazzling variety of orchestral tonal colors, in particular the brass. The theme features the interval of a fourth and is reminiscent of melodies conceived by John Williams. The energizing background accompaniment sparkles with interlocking rhythmic figures.

Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 80

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875–1912)

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, named after the famous British poet, was the son of a doctor from Sierra Leone and a woman from Croydon, south of London. His first instrument was the violin but later, at the Royal College of Music, he began focusing on composition. It was an auspicious change, for Coleridge-Taylor went on to a prominent career as a composer and soon became known as the “African Mahler.” His most famous works are the trilogy of cantatas based on the Song of Hiawatha, the epic poem by William Wadsworth Longfellow.

Coleridge-Taylor died from pneumonia at the age of 37, yet in his short lifetime he achieved considerable respect and fame, both in Britain and the United States. The Song of Hiawatha was hugely popular with choral groups in England, rivaled only by Handel’s Messiah and Mendelssohn’s Elijah. Even after his death, British musicians were concerned that the cantatas were not earning his widow any royalties and thus formed what would become the Performing Rights Society, an organization dedicated to securing royalties for musicians. In the United States, a 200-voice African-American chorus known as the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Society was founded in Washington D.C. in 1901. The Society later brought the composer himself over for three successful tours of America in the early 1900s and he was received by Theodore Roosevelt at the White House.

Another important moment for Coleridge-Taylor came in 1910 when he was invited to conduct the New York Philharmonic in the Song of Hiawatha at the Norfolk Festival in Connecticut. It was there that he started composing his violin concerto for Maud Powell, a prominent American

violinist who had championed his pieces in London and the United States. Indeed, Powell was the first white, classically trained musician to perform spirituals in a concert hall and it was Coleridge-Taylor’s 24 Negro Melodies for piano that she transcribed and performed. Powell premiered the concerto on June 4th, 1912, although it almost did not happen because the original score and parts sank on the ship carrying them across the Atlantic and so they had to be rewritten!

In many of his compositions, Coleridge-Taylor consciously tried to incorporate African music into the current Western classical traditions, much like Brahms did with Hungarian music and Dvořák with Czechoslovakian music. While the violin concerto may feature the sound and conventions of late-Romantic European music, one can hear the endless variety of microvariations and of complex rhythms that are often characteristics of African folk music.

Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op. 88 Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)

In 1889, Dvořák was admitted into the Bohemian Academy of Science, Literature and Arts and he wanted to thank them properly by dedicating a new symphony to the organization. He sequestered himself in his summer home that fall to write not simply a new symphony but one that would be distinctly different from all his others, “with individual thoughts worked out in a new way.” In this case, Dvořák meant drawing upon Czech folk tunes, eschewing the complex Germanic style of motivic development, and often using major keys to keep the piece jovial.

The symphony was premiered, with Dvořák conducting, at the National Theater in Prague on February 2nd, 1890.

The first movement opens with a lush melody in the cellos in G minor. We soon hear the second theme, a cheerful, bird-like tune played by the flute in the major which brings a bucolic atmosphere to the proceedings. There is a third melody which is introduced in the clarinets and is accompanied by turbulent triplets in the violas. Although this movement is in sonata form, it has a rhapsodic feel as one interesting idea flows into the next and each idea goes through several personality changes.

The second movement, an Adagio, continues the pattern of personality changes as it seemingly takes inspiration from a wide variety of sources. One moment it sounds like Beethoven’s funeral march from the Eroica and the next a Romantic Italian aria, complete with cascading scales. The third movement is much more settled, and we are presented with a lovely, if rather languid, waltz for the “Minuet” and a charming Czech folk song for the “Trio.”

We arrive at the last Allegro which starts with “a call to action” in the trumpets, only to be answered with a warm yet reserved melody in the cellos. A third, rather stern melody is introduced, and all three themes are treated to a series of variations that once again propel the listener through a wide variety of emotions. The symphony finishes with a rollicking flurry of laughter, indicative of Dvořák’s “new way” of composing.

Harmony in Nature | Joyce Kreis

Ja zz : America’s Voice

John Morris Russell, Music Director Robert and Margaret Gallagher Memorial Chair 2022-2023 41st Season Sunday, November 6, 2022 • 4:00 pm Monday, November 7, 2022 • 7:30 pm

John Morris Russell, Conductor Oran Etkin, Clarinet Oran Etkin Quartet

PROGRAM

AARON COPLAND Clarinet Concerto Oran Etkin, Clarinet

ORAN ETKIN/ Sing On: Reimagining Benny Goodman orch. NOAM WEISENBERG Oran Etkin, Clarinet Oran Etkin Quartet

INTERMISSION

WILLIAM GRANT STILL Symphony No. 1 (Afro-American Symphony)

Longing: Moderarato assai Sorrow: Adagio Humor: Animato Aspiration: lento; con risoluzione

SEASON SPONSOR

The League of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra

Photo: John Abbott

ORAN ETKIN, CLARINET

Oran Etkin has been described as “Ebullient” by the New York Times, “a composer of eminent individuality” by Yusef Lateef and voted #1 rising star clarinetist in DownBeat Magazine’s Critic’s Poll. His music can be heard on concert stages worldwide and numerous recordings, including a Grammy Award-winning album. French newspaper Libération chose his Paris concert as one of the top six musical events of the year, calling it “A concert of weightlessness, class, spark, inspiration and sharing. Magic uninterrupted… for such is the music of Etkin: sensitive to the exchange with the audience.”

Etkin’s unique sound emanates from an openness to deep musical connections that often transcend cultural and generational boundaries. With Open Arms Project, Etkin took time off during his tours to live with mbira masters in Zimbabwe, create new music with Roma musicians in the Czech Republic, and collaborate with legendary songwriters in Rio de Janeiro and innovative composers in Paris and São Paulo. The upcoming album features these on-location recordings alongside reimagined versions by his international touring band enhanced with electronics derived from loops of samples from the original recordings.

Etkin is on the faculty of The New School and has been a guest lecturer at Harvard. He is the creator of Timbalooloo, an innovative method for infancy through early elementary education in which instruments come to life and talk through their music so that children conceive of playing music as a dialogue amongst instruments. Timbalooloo has reached thousands of children worldwide, including a new project for Ukrainian Refugees.

QUARTET MEMBERS

Matt Wilson, drummer, has released thirteen albums as a leader, appeared on more than 400 others as a sideman and has played with an impressive array of some of the most legendary names in jazz, including Wynton Marsalis, Lee Konitz, Joe Lovano, Pat Metheny, Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden, John Scofield, Joanne Brackeen and Herbie Hancock, just to name a few. Wilson was named 2018 Musician of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association and his album, “Honey And Salt (Music Inspired by the Poetry of Carl Sandburg)”, won the JJA’s Album of the Year Award.

Cuban-American pianist/composer Fabian Almazan has toured his music extensively as well as accompanied artists such as Linda May Han Oh, Terence Blanchard, Gretchen Parlato, John Hollenbeck, Mark Guiliana, Dave Douglass, Avishai Cohen, and Ambrose Akinmusire and can be heard in such films as Harriet, Chi-Raq, Red Tails and Miracle at St Anna. He received two Grammy nominations, the SWR New Jazz Meeting commission, the Copland Fund, the Jerome Fund for Emerging Composers Award, the Jazz Gallery Residency, Rockerfeller Brothers Residency, Cintas Foundation Award in Composition, and the Sundance Composers’ Lab.

For over 40 years, Steve Nelson has been the vibraphonist of choice among jazz luminaries and innovators including Kenny Barron, Bobby Watson, Mulgrew Miller, David Fathead Newman, Johnny Griffin, and Jackie McLean. He developed a personal harmonically open sound, influenced by the innovations of Bobby Hutcherson, that led him to a spot in Dave Holland’s award-winning bands.

About the Music

by Jonathan Aceto

Clarinet Concerto Aaron Copland (1900-1990)

The great Swing Band leader Benny Goodman commissioned Aaron Copland to write a clarinet concerto in 1947. Goodman gave Copland free rein in composing it, his only stipulation being that he get to play it exclusively for the first two years. Copland was concertizing in Rio de Janeiro at the time and finished the concerto by the end of 1948. Oddly, Goodman kept postponing the premier performance and, perhaps as a way of forcing Goodman to set a date, Copland scheduled a concert with clarinetist Ralph McLane and the Philadelphia Orchestra for November 28, 1950. Goodman finally did schedule a performance with the NBC Symphony and Fritz Reiner on an NBC radio broadcast on November 6, 1950.

The concerto is scored only for strings, harp, and piano, giving the clarinet plenty of room to shine. There are essentially two movements with a cadenza linking them. Initially, Goodman found some passages in the second half of the piece ‘out of his comfort zone’ and thus he and Copland worked out alterations to the solo part.

PROGRAM NOTES

Those changes have become standard practice and the audience will hear Mr. Etkin play them tonight. The piece starts off in a slow, expressive manner that many have described as “bittersweet lyricism.” Latin elements, no doubt an influence from living in Brazil, kick in during the cadenza and continue into the second movement, a loose rondo that brings together the popular music of both continents.

Sing On: Reimagining Benny Goodman

Oran Etkin (b. 1979)

Orch. by Noam Weisenberg

In the 1930s, one of the most ground-breaking bands in America was the Benny Goodman Quartet, which included Lionel Hampton on vibraphone, Teddy Wilson on piano and Gene Krupa on drums. It was ground-breaking both musically and socially, being one of the first integrated bands in the popular music scene. Goodman’s big band was also making history with influential performances at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles in 1935 and Carnegie Hall in 1938. Goodman’s firm stance in hiring and featuring black musicians along with his musical integrity really resonated with Mr. Etkin and inspired him to compose a tribute piece.

The suite begins with a prelude that introduces variations on fragments of phrases from Benny Goodman’s recording of “Sing, Sing, Sing.” It segues into a longer section titled “Be Good Lady” built from Goodman’s introduction to “Lady Be Good,” a 5-note phrase in a minor key that possibly harkens back to his Jewish roots. The next movement, “When Every Voice Shall Sing,” alludes to the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing” which is

Late

Glen

largely considered the Black National Anthem. This section, inspired by gospel music, is an homage to the fantastic work Goodman did to break racial barriers and to all the current efforts to do the same.

The final movement expands on the “Sing, Sing, Sing” variations heard in the prelude, building in intensity as the drums explode with the rhythmic vitality so identified with Gene Krupa. This section honors the entire musical and social movement we call the Swing Era in its positive, joyous response to the economic and social strife of the Great Depression.

Symphony No. 1

(Afro-American Symphony)

William Grant Still (1895-1978)

Born in Mississippi, William Grant Still Jr. grew up hearing a wide variety of music, from spirituals sung by his grandmother to operettas he attended with his stepfather. He took violin lessons as a teenager and taught himself how to play several other instruments including saxophone and double bass. Still began developing his compositional and arranging skills playing in bands while at his first college, Wilberforce University. His growing talent earned him several special scholarships to study with composition teachers at Oberlin and New England Conservatories, including George Chadwick and Edgard Varèse. Still became an important arranger for band leaders such as W.C. Handy and Artie Shaw, and soon expanded into NBC radio in the 1930s with Willard Robison’s Deep River Hour and Paul Whiteman’s Old Gold Show.

Working for W.C. Handy brought Still to Harlem, where he became involved with Langston Hughes and other people in the Harlem Renaissance. Eventually, Still met Howard Hanson, the prominent composer, conductor, and director of the Eastman School of Music.

That friendship led to many important performances of Still’s pieces, including his first symphony. Written in 1930, the work was premiered by Hanson and the Rochester Philharmonic in 1931. Although the symphony is largely constructed in the standard European manner, it features heavy use of syncopation, the blues scale and harmonies, and even a banjo in the 3rd movement. Indeed, Still wanted an earthy feel to the music, saying: “I seek in the ‘AfroAmerican Symphony’ to portray not the higher type of colored American, but the sons of the soil, who still retain so many of the traits peculiar to their African forebears [and] who have not responded completely to the transforming effect of progress.” Furthermore, he felt much of the concert music by Black composers relied too much on spirituals and their prevalent use of the pentatonic scale, which was embarrassing to Still, and was not the best way to show one’s African-American heritage.

To further drive home the connection to Black farmers and workers, Still included excerpts from poems by Paul Dunbar, an important AfricanAmerican writer from the late 19th century who often used, in his poems, the “Negro Dialect” he heard growing up. Still also assigned titles to each movement, which are shown in quotations.

I. Moderato assai – “Longing”

All de night long twell de moon goes down, Lovin’ I set at huh feet, Den fu’ de long jou’ney back f’om de town, Ha’d, but de dreams mek it sweet.

All my life long twell de night has pas’ Let de wo’k come ez it will, So dat I fin’ you, my honey, at last, Somewhaih des ovah de hill.

II. Adagio – “Sorrow”

It’s moughty tiahsome layin’ ‘roun’ Dis sorer-laden erfly groun’, An’ oftentimes I thinks, thinks I, ‘T would be a sweet t’ing des to die, An go ‘long home.

III. Animato – “Humor”

An’ we’ll shout ouag halleluyahs, On dat mighty reck’nin’ day.

IV. Lento con risoluzione – “Aspiration”

Be proud, my Race, in mind and soul, Thy name is writ on Glory’s scroll In characters of fire.

High ‘mid the clouds of Fame’s bright sky, Thy banner’s blazoned folds now fly, And truth shall lift them higher.

Holiday Pops

John Morris Russell, Music Director Robert and Margaret Gallagher Memorial Chair

2022-2023 41st Season

Sunday, November 27, 2022 • 4:00 pm Monday, November 28, 2022 • 7:30 pm

John Morris Russell and Michael Schwartzkopf, Conductors Ewan Manalo, Cello 2022 HHSO Youth Concerto Competition Winner Jennifer Cherest, Soprano Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Chorus Michael Schwartzkopf, Director

PROGRAM

LEROY ANDERSON A Christmas Festival Overture

GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL Rejoice greatly from Messiah Jennifer Cherest, Soprano

ROBERT SHAW/ The Many Moods of Christmas, Suite 3 arr. ROBERT R. BENNETT Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Chorus

FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN Violoncello Concerto No. 2 in D major, Hob. VIIb:2 Allegro Moderato Ewan Manalo, Cello

GEORGES BIZET Farandole

INTERMISSION

arr. ARTHUR HARRIS We Three Kings

CHARLES GOUNOD Ave Maria Jennifer Cherest, Soprano

MARVIN HAMLISCH Chanukah Lights Jennifer Cherest, Soprano Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Chorus

RICHARD HAYMAN Carol of the Bells

arr. JIM GRAY Mary Did You Know Jennifer Cherest, Soprano Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Chorus

JOHN FINNEGAN Sing Along

HUGH MARTIN, RALPH BLANE/ Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas arr. MICHAEL BRAZ Jennifer Cherest, Soprano

SEASON SPONSOR

The League of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra

PERFORMANCE SPONSORS

The Cypress of Hilton Head Forsythe Jewelers Hilton Head BMW

EWAN MANALO, CELLO

Ewan Manalo began cello studies at the age of four with Wendy Bissinger. At age seven, he made his debut as the featured soloist at the Chicago Suzuki Institute. In 2016, at age ten, he moved with his family to Chattanooga, TN, and continued his studies with Annie Camp.

Ewan joined the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera Youth Orchestra (CSOYO) as the youngest member of the Symphonic Orchestra. Since 2017, he has served as their principal cellist. In 2019, he was awarded a Myra Jackson Blair scholarship and began studying cello with Felix Wang of the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University.

In 2017, Ewan became the youngest winner of the CSOYO Concerto Competition, performing Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera. Other awards include Second Prize at the 2019 ASTA Junior Division Competition, First Prize in the junior division of the 2019 Tennessee Cello Workshop, First Prize at the concerto competition of the 2019 Carolina Chamber Music Intensive, and First Prize in the 2019-2020 Southern Adventist University Concerto Competition. In January of 2022, Ewan added First Prize at the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra’s Youth Concerto Competition to his growing list of awards.

Ewan also loves chamber music and enjoyed competing in the 2022 Fischoff Competition with his Musa Quartet. Aside from cello, Ewan enjoys playing piano and learning about, and experimenting with, many other genres of music, from jazz to electronic.

JENNIFER CHEREST, SOPRANO

Soprano Jennifer Cherest has been praised as “beautifully expressive and technically polished” by the San Francisco Chronicle in the title role of Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera with the Merola Opera Program, and has begun to quickly make her mark in the opera world.

Since finishing her prestigious Adler fellowship with the San Francisco Opera in 2013, Ms. Cherest has debuted with such companies as the Washington National Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Opera Delaware, The Aspen Music Festival and most recently returned to Cincinnati Opera to sing the role of High Priestess in Aida. Additionally, she is very honored to have sung on the Metropolitan Opera stage in the national semifinals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council (MONC) Auditions.

After a well received debut as Zerlina with North Carolina Opera which praised her “warm and focused tone,” Ms. Cherest was invited back to sing Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, a role she first debuted in Italy. She has won top honors in the Licia Albanese International Vocal Competition, the Boulder International Competition, the Partners for the Arts Competition, as well as placing third in the regionals of the MONC competition in 2013 and first the following year, sending her to the Met Semi-Finals!

HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CHORUS

The Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Chorus is an auditioned chorus of professional and professionallytrained vocalists from around the Lowcountry who are dedicated to performing classical, opera, and contemporary choral literature with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra. These singers have a wealth of experience, having performed extensively as soloists in opera and oratorio and as singers with major symphony orchestra choruses and choral societies all across the United States and abroad. The chorus is skilled in a diverse range of repertoire from the opera and Broadway stages to classical works of the great masters and they are highly praised for their rich and expressive sound.

Formed in 2006 by the HHSO and Mary Woodmansee Green, the HHSOC debuted with Mahler’s Second Symphony with performances in Hilton Head and at the Lucas Theatre in Savannah. Since then, the HHSOC has performed a wide variety of works including Orff’s Carmina Burana; Brahms’ A German Requiem; Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture; Mozart’s Grand Mass in G minor; Holst’s The Planets; opera and operetta selections from Aida, Die Fledermaus, A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Falstaff, Macbeth, The Mikado, Pirates of Penzance, H.M.S. Pinafore, as well other renowned works by Bach, Berlioz, Verdi, Copland, Handel, and Mendelssohn.

Under the baton of Maestro John Morris Russell since 2012, the HHSOC has also performed Vivaldi’s Gloria, selections from Handel’s Messiah, Poulenc’s Gloria, Silvestri’s The Polar Express, Porgy and Bess In Concert, and an all-Gilbert and Sullivan evening featuring selections from The Mikado, Pirates of Penzance, and Trial by Jury, all to rave reviews.

This highly acclaimed ensemble continues to expand their repertoire and their love of music, while striving to set the highest standard for performance and professionalism.

MICHAEL SCHWARTZKOPF, DIRECTOR

Dr. Michael Schwartzkopf is Professor Emeritus of Choral Music and Music Education at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. While at IU, he was a member of the Alliance of Distinguished Rank and Titled Professors and held the Pam and Jack Burks Professorship Chair in Music. Before his retirement in 2012, he became the tenth recipient of the Distinguished Service Medal of Indiana University bestowed by President Michael McRobbie.

During his 17 years at IU, Dr. Schwartzkopf was the conductor of the Grammy-nominated Singing Hoosiers, recording two CD’s with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra under the late Erich Kunzel. He also served as Chair of the Music Education Department and Interim Chair of the Choral Conducting Department. Throughout his collegiate teaching at Indiana, Mercer and Illinois State Universities, his choirs have presented concerts throughout Europe, Greece and China.

As a singer and performer, his repertoire spans the entire spectrum of classical and popular music, opera, and musical theater. He has sung in theaters, on concert stages, and in cathedrals of Europe and the United States with various orchestras and choral ensembles in a wide variety of styles. During the Vietnam era, he was a principal soloist with the United States Army Band, the United States Army Chorus and Army Blues Jazz Band in Washington, as well as a soloist on numerous occasions in the White House. He continues to be active as an adjudicator, conductor and lecturer and has conducted numerous state, regional, and all-state choirs throughout the United States, Canada, and Singapore.

Celebration | Norma Deal

Merry Merry | Donna Belber

Anticipation | Margi Smith

On With the Show| Georgina Kimbell

Rachmaninoff and Sibelius

John Morris Russell, Music Director Robert and Margaret Gallagher Memorial Chair 2022-2023 41st Season Sunday, January 8, 2023 • 4:00 pm Monday, January 9, 2023 • 7:30 pm

John Morris Russell, Conductor Jaeden Izik-Dzurko, Piano

2022 Hilton Head International Piano Competition Winner

PROGRAM

SERGEI RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18 Moderato Adagio sostenuto Allegro scherzando Jaeden Izik-Dzurko, Piano

INTERMISSION

JEAN SIBELIUS Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43 Allegretto Andante; ma rubato Vivacissimo Finale: Allegro moderato

SPONSOR

League of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra

PERFORMANCE SPONSOR

Tidepointe, A Vi Community

JAEDEN IZIK-DZURKO, PIANO

Celebrated by the Canadian Broadcasting Company in 2021 as one of “30 hot Canadian classical musicians under 30,” pianist Jaeden Izik-Dzurko is quickly earning a reputation as a substantial young artist. Recognized by audiences, conductors, composers, and critics alike for the exceptional communicative power and thoughtfulness of his interpretation, “…he projects a distinctive musical personality that imbues even the most routine passagework with character and individuality” (Calgary Herald).

Born in Salmon Arm, British Columbia, Jaeden has achieved extraordinary success at numerous competitions worldwide, including four consecutive First Prizes in six months. That remarkable run began by winning First Prize at the 2022 Hilton Head International Piano Competition, followed by Barcelona’s 2022 Maria Canals International Piano Competition in March.

In May, Jaeden returned to his native Canada, earning First Prize at The Shean Piano Competition in Edmonton, Alberta. Then, in August 2022, Jaeden was awarded First Prize and the Gold Medal at the 20th Paloma O’Shea Santander International Piano Competition in Spain, where he also garnered a special Chamber Music Award and the Canon Audience Award.

Jaeden has been a featured soloist with the Calgary Philharmonic and numerous other Canadian orchestras. Upcoming concerto engagements include the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra; Edmonton Symphony Orchestra; Okanagan Symphony Orchestra; Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid; Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla; Orquesta Sinfónica de Bilbao; Orquesta Sinfónica de Radio Televisión Española, and the Sinfónica de Tenerife.

A gifted recitalist, Jaeden was chosen by the Vancouver Recital Society to videotape a solo program for the premiere episode of “Virtually VRS” in fall 2020. Upcoming recital highlights include Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall; Wigmore Hall in London; Salle Cortot in Paris; the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona; the Gasteig de Munich, and prominent venues in Rome, Mallorca, Comprodon, and Olot.

Jaeden earned his Bachelor of Music at The Juilliard School under Dr. Yoheved Kaplinsky, and he currently studies with Dr. Corey Hamm at the University of British Columbia. A passionate advocate for Canadian contemporary music, Jaeden has been recognized for his exciting and insightful interpretations, including a noteworthy 2017 recital in honor of Canada’s sesquicentennial showcasing works all written by Canadian composers.

Golden Portal

Earline Allen

About the Music

by Jonathan Aceto

Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18 Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)

Although Rachmaninoff has always been considered one of the greatest pianists in history, his abilities as a composer were long thought to be minimal and rather old-fashioned. Even as late as 1960, music scholars and critics alike dismissed him as a composer and expected his popularity to quickly wane. Clearly, they were wrong!

Still, even Rachmaninoff himself had his doubts. In 1897, his first symphony was premiered with Alexander Glazunov conducting. Glazunov, a known alcoholic, did a poor job of rehearsing the orchestra and César Cui, one of the famous Russian Five, brutally criticized the symphony, saying it sounded like one of the Seven Plagues of Egypt. As a result, Rachmaninoff fell into a deep depression, during which he did very little composing. This lasted until early 1900, when he received several therapy sessions, including hypnosis, from Dr. Nikolai Dahl, a family friend.

The therapy worked wonders, for Rachmaninoff’s creativity began to flow and the first resulting composition was a new piano concerto, rightfully dedicated to Dr. Dahl. This new concerto was finished in April of 1901 and premiered later in November by the composer with his cousin Alexander Siloti conducting. It was an immediate success and has remained one of the most popular piano concertos. Even Cui was exuberant over the piece.

The concerto’s popularity has extended beyond the classical stage, with various melodies from it being used in songs and films. Fritz Kreisler transcribed the second movement in 1940 for violin and piano, naming it Preghiera (Prayer). Jack Elliott and Don Marcotte worked the first movement into their song “I Think of You,” notably recorded by Frank Sinatra. The lush second theme of the third movement found its way into “Full Moon and Empty Arms” by Buddy Kaye and Ted Mossman and was also made famous by Sinatra. The whole concerto has been used significantly in several films from the 1940s and 1950s, including: Brief Encounter, I’ve Always Loved You, September Affair, and Rhapsody, where it was the performance piece for the character of a budding concert pianist.

Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43 Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)

Few composers have been able to reflect the cold Nordic realm as well as Jean Sibelius, the most famous composer of Finland. He attended the Helsinki Music Institute (currently named the Sibelius Academy) and later studied composition with Ferruccio Busoni and Karl Goldmark. His career encompassed all of Europe, but Sibelius was a Scandinavian at heart and embraced much of the culture and literary works of his native Finland. His big break-out piece was Finlandia, written for a fund-raising pageant, which is a magnificent display of dramatic, patriotic music.

Shortly after writing Finlandia, Sibelius launched into his second symphony with much of the same patriotism, but in a more relaxed and sunny manner, no doubt inspired by his recent visit to Italy. Indeed, it was his friend, the Baron Axel Carpelan, who would pay for Sibelius’ vacation in Rapallo, writing:

“Mr. Sibelius, it is high time for you to travel. You will spend the late autumn and the winter in Italy, a country where one learns cantabile, balance and harmony, plasticity and symmetry of lines, a country where everything is beautiful – even the ugly. You remember what Italy meant for Tchaikovsky’s development.”

Many people have suggested that the symphony, written during a time of Russian sanctions against

Finnish language and culture, is an ode to the struggle for independence, but there is no evidence that Sibelius was striving for such an effect. It was completed in the same year as the Rachmaninoff piano concerto, one of the reasons why they were paired together on tonight’s concert.

The opening movement leads with gently repeated notes, forming a rising three-pitch motive that Sibelius uses throughout the symphony. This Allegretto movement alternates between warm, pastoral passages and a much more rhapsodic, craggy, almost frigid style of music. Near the end, however, rays of sunshine warm up the proceedings as the movement ends with the opening repeated-note motive.

Although Sibelius firmly stated this symphony has no programmatic inclinations, the second movement has perhaps the strongest suggestion of such. In early 1901, he wrote on a piece of paper: “Don Juan. Sitting in the twilight in my castle, a guest enters. I make an effort to entertain him. He remains mute. Eventually he starts singing. At this time, Don Juan notices who he is – Death.”

On the other side of the paper is the primary sketch of the opening bassoon melody. Later, he composed a theme in a major key with “Christus” written above it, which became the second melody of this movement. Are these themes suggesting a conflict between death and defeat, and life and resurrection? No one knows.

The Scherzo movement begins with a wild flurry of notes, filled with nervous energy but with no real menace. Then, they suddenly dissipate into a gorgeous oboe melody which once again brings sunshine to the orchestra. That beautiful trio section is brought back again and, much like Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, masterfully segues into the last movement, where we hear an expansive melody based on the original three-note motive. As the Finale progresses, we get a poignant second theme presented with turbulent, yet dynamically subdued runs in the low strings. This repeats several times, creating one of the greatest buildups in orchestral music. The ending is a glorious flood of sunshine, sending the audience off to blissful peace.

Italian Coast | Carol Inglesias

Mendelssohn’s Elijah

John Morris Russell, Music Director Robert and Margaret Gallagher Memorial Chair 2022-2023 41st Season Sunday, January 22, 2023 • 4:00 pm Monday, January 23, 2023 • 7:30 pm

John Morris Russell, Conductor Victoria Okafor, Soprano Maria Miller, Alto Bernard Holcomb, Tenor Michael Preacely, Baritone Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Chorus Michael Schwartzkopf, Director Georgia Southern University’s Southern Chorale Shannon Jeffreys, Director

PROGRAM

PERFORMANCE SPONSOR

The League of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Boys Arnold & Company SEASON SPONSOR

FELIX MENDELSSOHN Elijah, Op. 70

VICTORIA OKAFOR, SOPRANO

Praised for her “silver-voiced” soprano…, Victoria Okafor has sung with companies such as the Cincinnati Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, Opera Columbus, and Opera Birmingham.

A native to the Maryland/DC area, Miss Okafor received her B.M. in vocal performance at Shenandoah Conservatory and went on to receive her M.M. in vocal performance as well as her artistic diploma in opera performance at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Roles for Miss Okafor include Pamina; Die Zauberflöte, Miss Wordsworth; Albert Herring, Servilia; La clemenza di Tito, Barbarina; Le nozze di Figaro, and Miss Lightfoot; Fellow Travelers.

As a lover of new music, she has originated roles in numerous operatic workshops such as Alesha in Blind Injustice, Wilhelmina in Gregory Spears’s Castor and Patience, and Laura in Kevin Puts’s The Hours

The Hours will premiere at The Metropolitan Opera with stars Renee Fleming, Joyce DiDonato, and Kelli O’Hara. Miss Okafor premiered the role of Alesha in Cincinnati Opera’s season in 2019, and also premiered the role of Wilhelmina in Gregory Spears’s Castor and Patience this summer. In addition, Miss Okafor was an Encouragement Award recipient for the 2021 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and a second prize winner of the 2021 Lotte Lenya Competition.

MARIA MILLER, ALTO

Maria Miller is known for her “warm lyric voice” (Opera News) and “big upper range that leaps off the stage” (Herald Tribune).

In 2021-2022, she made her debut with Sarasota Opera as Lucilla in La scala di seta, covered Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd at Des Moines Metro Opera, and was a member of the Mascarade Opera Studio. In 2020-2021, she covered The Sorceress in Dido and Aeneas at Sarasota Opera, and was to cover the Turnspit in Rusalka at Santa Fe Opera (Covid19). She participated in many Cincinnati Opera Fusion Workshops, including as Rumer in FIERCE, Celeste in Castor and Patience, and Nancy Smith in Blind Injustice, in which she made her house debut, showing a “vulnerable and desperate portrayal” (Opera News).

In concert, she was a soloist for Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s B Minor Mass with Collegium Cincinnati, Bernstein’s Mass with the May Festival, and Vivaldi’s Gloria with the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, as well as Opera on the James and Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra.

In 2021, she won an award in the Saisons de la Voix competition for her interpretation of French and American song. She also received Encouragement Awards at the 2019 and 2020 MONC Southeast Regional Auditions, and the Treigle Award in the Corbett Competition.

Maria holds a Master of Music and a Bachelor of Music in Voice from the University of Cincinnati CollegeConservatory of Music (CCM).

BERNARD HOLCOMB, TENOR

Tenor Bernard Holcomb has “already made a name for himself in the world of opera” with his “delicate and flexible” voice (Opera Wire) and the “appealing sweetness and clarity [of] his tone” (New York Times). Katy Walsh of Chicago Theater Beat said it best: “Although everyone [at Lyric Opera of Chicago] can sing, Holcomb reminds us why we come to the Lyric.”

Most recently, Holcomb returned to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra as a soloist in Lush Life: Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, after making his debut there in 2019 with Dancing in the Street: The Music of Motown. He also appeared in On Site Opera’s Diary of the One Who Vanished and What Lies Beneath, Elmwood Concert Singers’ virtual Messiah, and appeared in workshops for Beth Morrison Projects and the Washington National Opera.

This season, Mr. Holcomb makes his house debut at Opera Omaha in X, the Life and Times of Malcolm X, and will take part in the workshop of a new piece with Santa Fe Opera. In concert, he performs Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, as well as a holiday concert with the Cincinnati Pops under the baton of Maestro John Morris Russell.

In January 2023, Holcomb returns to Damien Geter’s An African American Requiem with Fort Worth Opera after its world premiere in the 2021-2022 season.

MICHAEL PREACELY, BARITONE

Michael Preacely, an American baritone currently based out of Lexington, Kentucky, has proven himself a rising star on the operatic stage. Over the course of his burgeoning career, Michael has worked with numerous major and regional opera houses and orchestras in the United States and abroad and has consistently garnered critical acclaim. He previously completed a European tour of Porgy and Bess where he garnered great reviews for his performances of both Porgy and Jake and debuted with the Butler University Symphony Orchestra opposite world-famous soprano Angela Brown in a beloved performance of the Porgy and Bess Suite.

Dr. Preacely’s international career has spanned the globe, having featured performances in Europe, Asia, Russia, and Canada. Domestically, the Cincinnati Opera, Opera Company Philadelphia, Opera Memphis, Kentucky Opera, and Cleveland Opera rank among the multitude of reputable opera companies with whom he has been featured as a performer.

He has also performed alongside many of the nation’s leading orchestras including the Cincinnati Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Hilton Head Symphony, Asheville Symphony, Oakland East Bay Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Hamilton-Fairfield Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Cleveland Pops, the Cincinnati Pops, the American Spiritual Ensemble, and, most recently, the American Pops Orchestra.

Alongside his noteworthy stage credits and history of critical acclaim, Dr. Preacely has also received a great many accolades, including awards in the Fritz and Jensen Vocal Competition and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

Dr. Preacely earned his Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin College, and his Master of Music and Doctoral of Arts degrees from the University of Kentucky College of Fine Arts.

Currently, he is on the voice faculty at the University of Kentucky, as a Lecturer in Voice and serves as Music Producer/Director for the “i was here” project.

Photo: James Alexander

Photo: Matthew Baker

SOUTHERN CHORALE

Southern Chorale is the premiere choral ensemble of Georgia Southern University and is directed by Dr. Shannon Jeffreys, Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities. Southern Chorale’s membership draws from the most talented vocal students to provide a professional foundation for performance and choral music education majors and a meaningful musical experience for those University students who wish to continue to sing in an elite ensemble. This primarily undergraduate ensemble performs literature from all styles and periods with an emphasis on a cappella repertoire and masterworks with orchestra.

In addition to numerous campus and community performances, Southern Chorale has appeared at conferences of the National Collegiate Choral Organization, American Choral Directors Association, and National Association for Music Education. The choir won significant prizes in the Anton Bruckner International Choral Competition in Linz, Austria in 2013 and months later earned the highest score given in Sing ‘N’ Joy International Competition and Festival, winning the Spiritual Category. During the summer of 2016, Chorale won the Grand Prize in the mixed category and the spirituals category at the Laurea Mundi, Budapest. Most recently, they earned a gold diploma in the Ave Verum ICC in Baden, Austria and Level I Certificate in the International Chamber Choir Competition in Marktoberdorf, Germany. This summer Chorale won the Sing Berlin! International Choral Competition. Southern Chorale has the pleasure of collaborating with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra.

SHANNON JEFFREYS, DIRECTOR

Dr. Shannon Jeffreys is Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia. Her focus is the Southern Chorale, teaching in the undergraduate and graduate conducting and music education curriculums, along with directing Southern Gentry. Dr. Jeffreys has led these choirs in six international choral competitions and two national competitions where the choirs won significant awards. Most recently, Southern Chorale won both of their categories in the Sing Berlin! International Choral Competition. In 2019, she received the Conductor’s Award from the Ave Verum International Choral Competition in Baden, Austria. Choirs under her direction have also been featured at multiple state and national conferences, most recently performing at the National Collegiate Choral Organization’s National Conference.

Dr. Jeffreys maintains an active schedule as a presenter, adjudicator, lecturer, and guest conductor from secondary to collegiate institutions throughout the United States and serves as an international choral adjudicator with Meeting Music. She serves on the Artistic Committee for Music for All National Choral Festival and was recently published in ACDA’s ChorTeach.

SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CHORUS

About the Music

by Jonathan Aceto

Elijah, Op. 70 Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

Two towering Baroque figures heavily influenced Felix Mendelssohn when he decided in the late 1830s that he would write an oratorio on the story of the prophet Elijah. The first, J.S. Bach, had been largely forgotten and his music unheard after his death in 1750. True, many young composers would learn some of Bach’s fugues, but that was simply to study their marvelous construction. It took an equal genius such as Mendelssohn to appreciate the beauty of Bach’s music and to champion it in the concert hall. Thus, Mendelssohn organized the first real performance of a Bach piece, in this case the St. Matthew Passion, for the first time in 79 years after Bach’s death, helping to bring Bach to his current status as one of the greatest composers in Western music. Handel, on the other hand, had firmly stayed in the public’s favor and his music was often heard, especially his oratorios. Yet here, too, Mendelssohn played an important role by editing Handel’s oratorios for an important London publisher.

With the choral works of Bach and Handel firmly in his mind, Mendelssohn set about writing his own oratorio in 1845. He chose Julius Schubring, a theologian, to write the libretto using the Book of Kings as the primary source, along with various psalms and other snippets from the Old Testament. At about the same time, the Triennial Music Festival in Birmingham, England, commissioned Mendelssohn to write an oratorio, which provided him the final impetus to finish the work in 1846. It is interesting to note that Mendelssohn wrote the music to fit both the original German words and the English translation by William Bartholomew, simultaneously altering certain phrases to fit the natural stresses in each language.

Mendelssohn was not simply impressed with the music of Bach and Handel; he felt they represented the best morally resolute and structured music of the past rather than the wild, extravagant works being produced by contemporary virtuosos like Lizst and composers like Berlioz and Wagner. Combined with his natural conservativism and the Old Testament subject matter (which spoke to his Jewish roots), the older style of fugues and motivic development bursts forth in delivering the powerful religious message of having faith in the one true God.

Elijah was premiered in Birmingham on August 26, 1846, with Mendelssohn conducting. It was an immediate success, with the London Times stating, “Never was there a more complete triumph – never a more thorough and speedy recognition of a great work of art.” To the Victorian audience, it was just what the morally bereft era needed: a good dose of Christian values from a well-known virtuous composer. Still, Mendelssohn thought it could be even better and made revisions before several big

performances in London the following year, one of which had the honor of Queen Victoria’s presence. The German version was premiered in Leipzig a few months after Mendelssohn’s death.

One final interesting bit of trivia – Mendelssohn wrote the soprano part for Jenny Lind, the “Swedish Nightingale,” who unfortunately was not available for the premier. She did sing it the next year following Mendelssohn’s death, raising a good deal of money which she put into a scholarship fund in his name. The Royal Academy of Music first awarded the scholarship to Arthur Sullivan (of the famed operetta duo Gilbert and Sullivan), then only 14 years old.

Saint in the Garden | Alexandra Sharma

Untitled | Ellen DiFazio

WeTown: Gullah Traditions In The

John Morris Russell, Music Director Robert and Margaret Gallagher Memorial Chair

2022-2023 41st Season

Sunday, February 5, 2023 • 4:00 pm Monday, February 6, 2023 • 7:30 pm

Kellen Gray, Conductor Charlton Singleton, Trumpet Tuffus Zimbabwe, Piano

EDMUND THORNTON JENKINS/ Rhapsodic Overture arr. TUFFUS ZIMBABWE

TRADITIONAL/ Kum Bah Yah arr. ANNE McGINTY

FLORENCE PRICE/ Dances in the Canebrakes arr. WILLIAM GRANT STILL Nimble Feet

EDMUND THORNTON JENKINS/ Charlestonia — A Folk Rhapsody arr. TUFFUS ZIMBABWE

INTERMISSION

SCOTT JOPLIN/ Treemonisha Overture arr. T.J. ANDERSON DUKE ELLINGTON/ Black and Tan Fantasy arr. DICK GOODWIN COUNT BASIE/ Until I Met You (Corner Pocket) arr. CHARLES ANCHETA

DIZZY GILLESPIE/ A Night in Tunisia arr. KYLE LANE JAMES P. JOHNSON Drums — A Symphonic

KELLEN GRAY, CONDUCTOR

Kellen Gray has earned a reputation as a versatile and imaginative conductor through his diverse array of traditional and multimedia integrative programming. Presently, he serves as Assistant Conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (UK) and Associate Conductor of the Charleston Symphony. Prior to his current appointments, Kellen served separate tenures as Assistant Conductor of Chicago Sinfonietta and the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra. Chicago’s Picture This Post, described Kellen’s conducting as having “a laser-like focus that allows the entire orchestra to become one.” Referencing his debut Nutcracker performance, the Classical Voice of North Carolina described, “…gestures so smooth and polished they’re almost choreography…”

Kellen is a native of Rock Hill, South Carolina. He credits the many folk music styles of the southeastern United States as his earliest and most impactful influences on his music-making. Through extensive research of the roots of early AfricanAmerican music and dance, Kellen specializes in presenting the many classical works that utilize those folk idioms. This has served him well with various recording projects — most recently his debut album, African American Voices with Linn Records, and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, featuring George Walker’s Lyric for Strings, William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 1 (Afro-American Symphony), and William Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony.

Kellen’s recent and upcoming conducting endeavors include the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, English National Opera (UK), Chineke! Orchestra (UK), Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, Oregon Mozart Players, Spoleto Festival USA, Chicago Sinfonietta, Chicago Philharmonic, Rock Hill Symphony Orchestra, and Northwest Florida Symphony.

Lowcountry

CHARLTON SINGLETON, TRUMPET

A native of Awendaw, SC, Charlton Singleton began his musical studies at the age of three on the piano. He would go on to study multiple instruments throughout elementary, middle, and high school. In 1994, he received a Bachelor of Arts in Music Performance from South Carolina State University. Since then, he has taught music in grades K-12, as well as being in demand as a speaker and clinician. In November of 2016, he was named the inaugural Artist in Residence at the Gaillard Center in Charleston, SC. He remained in this position until July 2019; at that point he was named Artist in Residence Emeritus.

As a performer, Charlton leads his own ensembles that vary in size and style. He is a founding member of an ensemble called Ranky Tanky. In 2017, the group reached the top of the Billboard, iTunes, and Amazon Contemporary Jazz charts with their self-titled debut recording. In 2019, they accomplished the same feat with the release of their sophomore effort, “Good Time,” which won the 2019 Grammy Award for “Best Regional Roots Album.”

In 2021 he was the recipient of the SC Governor’s Award, which honors arts organizations, patrons, artists, members of the business community, and government entities who maximize their roles as innovators, supporters, and advocates for the arts. It is the highest honor for the Arts in the state of South Carolina.

Outside entertainment, he, and his wife, MaryJo, are the proud parents of Shalamar and D’Marcus and new grandparents to Sophia Rose.

TUFFUS ZIMBABWE, PIANO

Tuffus Zimbabwe is a pianist, composer and educator from the Boston area. He studied music at Berklee College of Music and New York University. Mr. Zimbabwe is a keyboardist for the Saturday Night Live Band on NBC. He’s also a pianist for the Trilogy Opera Company.

Tuffus has roots in Charleston through his grandmother Mildred Jenkins, who was a professional vocalist in the Operatic and Spiritual styles and studied at the New England Conservatory and the Sorbonne in Paris. Mildred Jenkins and her older brother Edmund Thornton Jenkins were children of Rev. Daniel Joseph Jenkins and Lena James who founded the Jenkins Orphanage and internationally renowned Jenkins Orphanage Band.

Edmund Thornton Jenkins got his start taking private lessons at an early age, playing in the Jenkins Orphanage Band and his father’s church. Edmund completed his studies at Avery Institute in Charleston, Morehouse College in Atlanta, and the Royal Academy of Music in London. Edmund won awards for compositions and on numerous instruments. He performed at a high level on several instruments including piano, violin, and principled on clarinet and saxophone.

He is honored to continue this musical legacy and to return to South Carolina where it all started.

Photo: JB-McCabe

About the Music

by Kellen Gray

This concert highlights the symphonic reflection and celebration of the Lowcountry’s contribution to the world’s most recognizable musical genres through an overview of the Gullah-Geechee arts

and culture, the Jenkins’ Orphanage Band, and early African-American Lowcountry music and dance traditions.

The first half is bookended with works by Charleston’s own Edmund Thornton Jenkins. Jenkins spent most of his career in London and Paris, winning several composition prizes. Referred to as “the best musician in the colored race” and “the very best instrumentalist in any race,” by Will Marion Cook, Jenkins was on the precipice of global stardom before his tragic and untimely death. We are delighted that his works live on through his grand-nephew, Tuffus Zimbabwe, pianist of the Saturday Night Live band.

Anne McGinty’s tranquil orchestral setting of the Gullah original folk song Kum bah yah and

Florence Price’s Dances in the Canebrakes begin our conversation as examples of original music and dance created on the plantations of the Lowcountry. The second half of the program highlights the secular and popular musical progression stemming from Gullah culture, including rag, swing, blues, jazz, and classical music based from those genres. The orchestra is joined by Grammy Award-winning and Charleston native Charlton Singleton.

Gershwin and Ravel

John Morris Russell, Music Director Robert and Margaret Gallagher Memorial Chair 2022-2023 41st Season Sunday, February 19, 2023 • 4:00 pm Monday, February 20, 2023• 7:30 pm

John Morris Russell, Conductor Bella Hristova, Violin

PROGRAM

SAMUEL BARBER The School for Scandal Overture, Op. 5

DAVID SERKIN LUDWIG Concerto for Violin and Orchestra Dances Ceremony Festival Bella Hristova, Violin

INTERMISSION

GEORGE GERSHWIN/ An American in Paris ed. MARK CLAGUE

MAURICE RAVEL Boléro

SEASON SPONSOR

The League of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra

BELLA HRISTOVA, VIOLIN

Bulgarian-American violinist Bella Hristova has won international acclaim for her “expressive nuance and rich tone” (New York Times) and “impressive power and control” (Washington Post). She has distinguished herself on the world stage as a performing artist with a remarkably diverse repertoire and bold approach to programming. A recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, she has won numerous awards including First Prize in the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, First Prize in the Michael Hill International Violin Competition, and is a Laureate of the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis.

Hristova has performed extensively as a soloist with orchestras around the country and in Asia, Europe, Latin America, and New Zealand. She also performs frequently with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and has held residencies at top conservatory and summer music festival programs. She has performed recitals at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Boston’s Isabella Gardner Museum.

A champion of music by living composers, Hristova has commissioned works by Japanese-Zimbabwean composer Nokuthula Ngwenyama and the iconic American composer Joan Tower. In 2015, Hristova was the featured soloist for a consortium of eight major orchestras for a new concerto commission written for her by her husband, acclaimed composer David Serkin Ludwig.

As a recording artist, Hristova has released a variety of albums reflecting her broad musical interests. Recordings include “Bella Unaccompanied” (A.W. Tonegold Records), “Solo Violin Music of Charles Auguste de Bėriot,” and the complete Beethoven Violin Sonatas with pianist Michael Houston, named “Best classical album of 2019” (Rattle Records). The duo will release the complete Brahms sonatas next year.

Hristova began violin studies at the age of six in her native Bulgaria. Following master classes in Salzburg with Ruggiero Ricci, she studied with Ida Kavafian at the Curtis Institute of Music, and received her Artist Diploma with Jaime Laredo at Indiana University.

Hristova plays a 1655 Nicolò Amati violin, once owned by the violinist Louis Krasner.

Photo: Lisa-Marie Mazzucco

Symphony of Color | Patricia McGreevey

About the Music

by Jonathan Aceto

Overture to The School for Scandal, Op. 5

Samuel Barber (1910-1981)

This concert overture is Barber’s first piece for full orchestra, written in 1931 while he was still a student at the Curtis Institute of Music. The music reflects the wild spirits of the original play written by Richard Sheridan in 1777. The overture was premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1933 and won a major composition prize at Columbia University. That prize money allowed Barber to study in Italy that summer (his roommate was Gian Carlo Menotti!) and as a result he did not get to attend the premier. The piece bubbles over with whispering intrigue and blatant scheming, reinforced by numerous abrupt tempo changes.

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (2015)

David Serkin Ludwig (b. 1974)

From the composer:

“I started working on my violin concerto right around the time I got married with Bella Hristova, who (without coincidence) is the violinist I wrote the piece for. My concerto comes with musical references to partnership, empathy, and

communion, as it imagines the before, during, and after a traditional wedding ceremony.

Even though the violin concerto doesn’t tell a specific story, I couldn’t help but write something personal. Both of our backgrounds are Eastern European, and the piece is full of dance music from that part of the world, including several dances native to her native Bulgaria. And like me, Bella comes from a musical family, including her father, Yuri Chichkov, whom she never got a chance to meet before he passed away. Chichkov was a wonderful and well-known Russian composer, who himself wrote a violin concerto. After a year of hunting, I tracked down that concerto and quoted from his second movement at a place in my own second movement — as a way to include him in our marriage.

The first movement “Dances” begins with a loud crash — a jarring but transformative start to something new that transitions into a waltz-like music soon after. All told, there are four dances in the first movement, connected by a cadenza and concluded by a Rachenitsa in its traditional irregular meter. The second movement “Ceremony” follows the progression of the wedding ritual. A slow unraveling processional is woven throughout the fabric of this movement, ending in musical

Harmony of Hearts | Lynn Schramm

rings created by the rise and fall of the violin against solo instruments in the orchestra. The third movement “The Festival” is my version of a Krivo Horo or ‘Crooked Dance’ that captures the way people attempt to walk home after a great party. The music is celebratory to the end, reflecting the coming together of a community inspired by two people promised to preserve each other’s wellbeing for the rest of their lives.”

An American in Paris

George Gershwin

(1898-1937)

Gershwin had just written Rhapsody in Blue and the Piano Concerto in F, two important works that blurred the distinction between Classical and Jazz, when he decided to take a trip to Paris in 1926, ostensibly to study with Maurice Ravel. After Gershwin’s audition, Ravel responded that he couldn’t teach Gershwin anything more, saying “why be a second-rate Ravel when you could be a first-rate Gershwin!”

Still, the trip did fill his head with lots of ideas about a new orchestra piece, including the opening “walking” motive which he wrote down and labeled “Very Parisienne.” After a second trip in 1928, the piece really came together for its premiere on December 13 with Walter Damrosch and the New York Philharmonic. Featured in that performance were four actual taxi horns that he bought in Paris, most likely playing the notes A, Ab, Bb, and D. In addition to requiring car horns, the score calls for four saxophones, celesta, and a wide variety of percussion. In Gershwin’s words, “My purpose here is to portray the impressions of an American visitor in Paris as he strolls about the city, listens to the various street noises, and absorbs the French atmosphere. This is the most modern music I’ve yet attempted.” The symphony will be playing from a new critical edition prepared by Mark Clague with the University of Michigan, the Library of Congress and the Gershwin family.

The piece is in a loose ABA form, with the “walking” or “strolling” theme used extensively in the A section to show our traveler exploring the streets of Paris. The B section reflects the traveler becoming “homesick,” first using the blues scale played by the trumpet and then in a faster bit using the standard 12-bar blues harmonies. This faster

section also features syncopation and swinging eighth notes (perhaps our tourist has slipped into a cabaret?). The traveler gets shaken out of his thoughts of home by going back out onto the street with the return of the “walking” theme as the piece roars to a conclusion.

Boléro Maurice Ravel

(1875-1937)

Speaking of Ravel, we finish tonight’s program with his Boléro, one of the most famous ostinatos in Western music. Those opening two measures are repeated 169 times during the piece, always played by at least one snare drum. Over it, a melody slinks along, the first half being decidedly diatonic and rhythmically predictable, the second having certain pitches lowered and featuring more syncopation. Each successive statement of the theme allows a new instrument to solo, making this piece an ideal showcase for the orchestra. Another unique aspect is the occasional doubling on the melody, including once when the celeste is 2 octaves above the French horn and another time when piccolos play a fifth and a third above the melody.

Ravel was commissioned by the Russian dancer Ida Rubinstein to compose a new work based on dances by Albéniz. After Ravel discovered that a Spanish conductor had already made orchestrations of those dances, he decided to create his own dance setting. Boléro was premiered in 1928 by the Paris Opera, with choreography by Bronislava Nijinska. The American premiere was conducted by Toscanini the following year, but Ravel felt his tempo was much too fast, resulting in a much-publicized spat that only increased the work’s popularity!

Mo z art and Beethoven

John Morris Russell, Music Director Robert and Margaret Gallagher Memorial Chair 2022-2023 41st Season Sunday, March 26, 2023 • 4:00 pm Monday, March 27, 2023 • 7:30 pm Michelle Merrill, Conductor Ray Ushikubo, Piano

PROGRAM

CAROLINE SHAW Entr’acte

WOLFGANG A. MOZART Symphony No. 29 in A major, K. 201 Allegro moderato Andante Menuetto Allegro con spirito

INTERMISSION

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op. 15 Allegro con brio Largo Rondo: Allegro Ray Ushikubo, Piano

SEASON SPONSOR

The League of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra

MICHELLE MERRILL, CONDUCTOR

Michelle Merrill has been inspiring audiences throughout the country with her sharply detailed and vibrant performances. A passionate and dynamic artist, she served four years as the Associate Conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. In addition to her growing guest conducting schedule, Ms. Merrill also serves as Music Director of the Coastal Symphony of Georgia, where she has ignited the growth and expansion of the orchestra’s offerings both on and off the stage.

Ms. Merrill’s most recent and upcoming engagements include the National Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Opera, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra (Canada), and Cincinnati Pops. In past seasons, she has conducted concerts with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, and the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera.

Ms. Merrill is a proud recipient of a 2016 Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award as well as the prestigious 2013 Ansbacher Conducting Fellowship, awarded by members of the Vienna Philharmonic and the American Austrian Foundation, which enabled her to be in residence at the world-renowned Salzburg Festival.

Born in Dallas, Texas, Ms. Merrill studied conducting with Dr. Paul C. Phillips at Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School of the Arts, where she holds a Master of Music Degree in conducting and a Bachelor of Music in performance.

RAY USHIKUBO, PIANO

Ray Ushikubo, a twenty-year-old Japanese-American pianist and violinist, has performed on the stages of Carnegie Hall and Walt Disney’s Concert Hall, and appeared on NBC’s “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno.

Since his solo orchestral debut at age ten with the Young Musicians Foundation Orchestra in Los Angeles’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Ray has soloed with the Fort Collins, Hilton Head, Modesto, Pasadena, and San Diego Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Buffalo, Los Angeles, Reno, and Westchester Philharmonic Orchestras.

A recipient of the prestigious Davidson Fellow Laureate Award in 2014, he was named a Young Steinway Artist and won the 2017 Hilton Head International Piano Competition and the 2016 Piano Concerto Competition at the Aspen Music Festival and School. He also won First Prize at the 2015 Steinway Concerto Competition, the Young Artists Piano Prize at the 2013 Mondavi Young Artists Competition, and the 2012 Steinway Prize for the best performance of a Beethoven Sonata. Ray has also collaborated with pianist Lang Lang in Orange County’s Segerstrom Concert Hall and with pianist JeanYves Thibaudet on the international radio broadcast Radio France.

During the 2020-2021 season, Ray recorded Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra led by Maestro Rafael Payare, as well as Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto with the Buffalo Philharmonic and Maestro JoAnn Falletta.

Ray currently studies at the Colburn School for his master’s degrees in both piano and violin. He received his bachelor’s degrees in piano and violin at the Curtis Institute of Music.

About the Music

by Jonathan Aceto

Entr’acte

Caroline Shaw (b. 1982)

Keen on performing works by living composers who defy conventions, Maestro Russell found a wonderful example in Caroline Shaw. She is a musician who moves among roles, genres, and mediums, trying to imagine a world of sound

that has never been heard before but has always existed. Shaw is a dedicated violinist, starting out at age 2 and completing a bachelor’s in performance from Rice University and a master’s in performance from Yale. Shaw maintains an active career on violin and voice, performing in diverse groups such as the American Contemporary Music Ensemble, Alarm Will Sound, the Oracle Hysterical, Yale Baroque Ensemble, Roomful of Teeth, and Trinity Church Wall Street Choir.

In 2013, Shaw became the youngest recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in Music for Partita for 8 Voices, a work inspired by Baroque dances and which features a wide variety of vocal sounds and techniques. Kanye West, the famous rapper and producer, attended a performance of Partita in 2015 and went backstage to talk with Shaw. This led to several collaborations with Kanye, singing, arranging, and composing on songs such as “Say You Will,” “Wolves,” and “Father Stretch My Hands.” Most recently, Shaw has released her own album (The Evergreen) with the Attacca String

PROGRAM NOTES

Quartet, composed the score to the film The Sky Is Everywhere, and has toured with Sō Percussion. Her favorite color is yellow and her favorite smell is rosemary.

Entr’acte was first written for string quartet in 2011. Shaw had heard the Brentano Quartet perform Haydn’s second quartet from his Op. 77 set. Specifically, she was fascinated by the minuet and how it drops into a foreign key in the trio. “I love the way some music suddenly takes you to the other side of Alice’s looking glass, in a kind of absurd, technicolor transition.” Shaw decided to make a string orchestra version in 2014, which was premiered by the chamber orchestra A Far Cry. Entr’acte keeps the Minuet and Trio form but focuses more on the palette of sounds to contrast each section rather than unique melodies. And what a palette – you will hear pizzicato, snap pizzicato, harmonics, glissandos, and a nervous breathy sound caused by sliding the bow on top of the string. Also, listen for moments when it seems as if the music breaks down and the orchestra is no longer playing together. I promise we are!

Symphony No. 29 in A Major, K. 201 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

In the early 1770s, Mozart became employed by the Prince Archbishop Colloredo in Salzburg. It was not a good post to have because the Archbishop significantly reduced the amount of work his court musicians performed. Still, Mozart was able to compose some truly inspired music, including

Big Sky | Donna Belber

PROGRAM NOTES

tonight’s symphony which was completed in April of 1774. It is typical of his earlier symphonies in that it only uses oboes and horns, leaving out clarinets, bassoons, trumpets, and timpani.

The opening Allegro begins with a quiet octave drop and then a series of half-step eighth notes. The whole motive is repeated, rising in pitch and giving the first theme a delicate but inexorable push forward. The first movement continues with the charming elegance and confidence of a young genius becoming more mature and refined. That refinement spills over into the second movement, which features the strings using mutes. The Menuetto is perhaps the most “teenager-like” movement, with its snappy dotted rhythms in the first section and a somewhat sullen, “OK I’ll behave” trio. The Allegro con spirito alternates between explosive scales in 16th notes and a gently rocking second theme, indicative of the usual choice of sonata form for the last movement.

Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 15 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Beethoven moved from Bonn to Vienna in 1792, partly because of growing rumors of war with France. He chose to focus on performing, getting financial support from people like Prince Lobkowitz and Baron van Swieten, and performance opportunities through Count Waldstein and Joseph Haydn. Freed from the necessity of composing, Beethoven began studying composition with Haydn and Antonio Salieri.

The C Major concerto was actually his second attempt at a piano concerto, as Beethoven had

composed his Bb Major concerto during the 1780s. However, the C Major concerto was published first, in 1801, and thus given the designation of concerto No. 1. Beethoven made his first big public performance in Vienna on March 29, 1795, and, having just finished the C Major concerto, probably included it on that concert. Both early concertos clearly show the influence of Haydn and even Mozart on the general style, but there are also clear hints at Beethoven’s unique style, especially with bold harmonic changes.

The first movement follows a traditional sonata form, but Beethoven, ever the innovator, has three themes and they all go through more daring key changes than a lesser composer would have them do. Also unusual is the fact that Beethoven composed three cadenzas which a performer may choose from; at this time period, cadenzas were most often improvised by whomever is performing. The second movement, a beautiful, expansive Largo, continues Beethoven’s penchant for bold, harmonic choices by being in the unrelated key of Ab major. This movement also greatly features the clarinet and does not use flute or oboe. The last movement is a marvelous rondo in which the main theme has three phrases, the first being 6 measures long, the next 4 measures, and the last an unusual 5 measures. Beethoven continues in a mischievous vein for the entire movement, with syncopations, unexpected key changes, accents on off-beats, Turkish-sounding grace notes, and a repeat of the main theme in the decidedly unexpected key of B major. One cannot help but think of Haydn’s musical pranks!

Series Finale: The Planets

John Morris Russell, Music Director Robert and Margaret Gallagher Memorial Chair

2022-2023 41st Season Sunday, April 23, 2023 • 4:00 pm Monday, April 24, 2023 • 7:30 pm

John Morris Russell, Conductor Joseph Conyers, Double Bass Women of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Chorus Michael Schwartkopf, Director

PROGRAM

FREDERICK DELIUS On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring

TAN DUN Contrabass Concerto: Wolf Totem Largo melancolia - Allegro Andante molto Allegro vivace Joseph Conyers, Double Bass

INTERMISSION

GUSTAV HOLST

The Planets, Op. 32 Mars, the Bringer of War Venus, the Bringer of Peace Mercury, the Winged Messenger Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age Uranus, the Magician Neptune, the Mystic Women of the HHSO Chorus

PERFORMANCE SPONSOR

The League of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Charter One Realty SEASON SPONSOR

JOSEPH CONYERS, BASS

Educator, entrepreneur, and youth advocate, Joseph H. Conyers — Assistant Principal Double Bass of The Philadelphia Orchestra — has spent the whole of his career as a multi-faceted 21st-century artist whose innovative work in music education and access has been recognized internationally.

Awards for his celebrated initiatives include the Sphinx Organization’s Medal of Excellence (2019) — the organization’s most prestigious recognition, the C. Hartman Kuhn award (2018) — the highest honor bestowed upon a musician of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Musical America’s 30 Top Professionals Innovators, Independent Thinkers, and Entrepreneurs (2018). In 2015, Joseph was the inaugural recipient of the 2015 Young Alumni Award from his alma mater, the Curtis Institute of Music where he studied with Hal Robinson and Edgar Meyer.

During the summer of 2021, Joseph was profiled on PBS in an Articulate feature that highlights his work as Founder and Vision Advisor of Project 440 — an organization that helps young people use their interest in music to forge new pathways for themselves and ignite change in their communities. Partners of this project have included Carnegie Hall, The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Curtis Institute of Music, the New York State Summer School of the Arts, and the Settlement Music School (PA).

Joseph is an artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center as well as the Music Director of Philadelphia’s All-City Orchestra which showcases the top high school musicians of the School District of Philadelphia. He was named the Director of the Young Artists Orchestra for the prestigious Boston University Tanglewood Institute in 2020.

A frequent guest clinician and speaker presenting from coast to coast, Joseph serves on the double bass faculty of The Juilliard School and Temple University, and he sits on the board of directors of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance.

About the Music

by Jonathan Aceto

On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring

Frederick Delius (1862-1934)

Frederick Delius was born into a prosperous family of merchants who were so keen on him becoming a businessman that they sent him to Florida to run an orange plantation. Although there for less than two years, Delius was exposed to spirituals and

work songs which he found fascinating. He was also drawn to the music of Grieg and Chopin and had violin lessons during his childhood. Eventually, his father finally accepted his son’s love of music and allowed him to pursue a career by enrolling in the Leipzig Conservatory. While there, Delius met Grieg, who became a strong supporter of Delius’ music.

On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring is one of two orchestral tone poems that Delius completed in 1912, the other being Summer Night on the River. They were premiered in Leipzig in 1913 with Arthur Nikisch conducting the Gewandhaus Orchestra. The scores are dedicated to Henry Balfour Gardiner, a prominent British composer and teacher. The piece flows along in a pastoral 6/8 with the oboe getting the first cuckoo call. Soon, the first violins enter with a Norwegian folksong called “In Ola Valley,” a tune which Percy Grainger introduced to Delius.

PROGRAM NOTES

Contrabass Concerto: Wolf Totem

Tan Dun (b. 1957)

Currently living in New York City, Tan Dun has been a significant contemporary composer for many years, brilliantly crossing and combining the worlds of Western classical and Chinese traditional music. He has received music degrees from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and Columbia University in New York and has been influenced by composers as diverse as John Cage, George Crumb, and Philip Glass. One unique aspect of Tan Dun’s compositions is his fascination with the natural world and what he calls “organic music,” instruments made from paper, stone, and even water.

Tan Dun had just finished reading Wolf Totem, a novel by Chinese author Jiang Rong, when he was commissioned to compose a concerto for Double Bass. The book depicts the dying Mongolian culture and the parallel extinction of the Mongolian wolf, one of their sacred animals. Already fascinated with the history and the customs of people along the ancient Silk Road, Tan Dun found this story of a wolf and its life in the grasslands to be a mirror to the human spirit and our relationship to the natural world.

According to Tan Dun, the wolf is the mirror of man and represents the ancient voice of humans, while the orchestra is the future man. The composer

PROGRAM NOTES

asks of the bassist to combine the most advanced Western bass technique with playing techniques found all over the world, including China, Mongolia, and even Romani gypsy. During the course of the piece, the audience will thrill to the sound of galloping horses and sympathize with the lone wolf, forlorn in his grief at missing his mother and the Mongolian grasslands.

The Planets, Op.

Gustav Holst (1874-1934)

It is difficult to imagine the world of orchestral music not including The Planets. Yet, before 1918, when it received its first performance in private, no one had ever heard anything quite like it. Even its subject matter — outer space, pagan mythology, astrology — is unique and exotic. Holst became interested in such matters early in his career when, as a student, he learned about Hindu literature and philosophy. Several of his song cycles use Sanskrit texts which he translated himself. His brother later introduced Holst to astrology, which he studied deeply while composing The Planets from 1914 –1916. Indeed, Holst emphasized from the start that he strove to express the astrological character of each planet, not physical aspects.

Holst regarded The Planets as a “series of mood pictures” acting as “foils to one another.” ‘Mars,

the Bringer of War’ was completed before World War I started, yet Holst managed brilliantly to represent the impending horror of war in this movement written in the unsettling meter of 5 beats. Next comes ‘Venus, the Bringer of Peace,’ seemingly inspired by Holst’s love of Wagner. ‘Mercury, the Winged Messenger’ is a spritely Scherzo that explores Impressionism and bitonality as Mercury delivers a message.

We come to arguably the most famous and oftenheard movement, ‘Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity.’ The opening section is replete with exuberance and joy, but it is the astrological characteristic of nobility that Holst evokes in the middle section to which audiences are drawn. Indeed, it is the patriotic hymn “I Vow to Thee, My Country” based on that expansive melody that brings fame to this movement. ‘Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age’ was Holst’s favorite movement, depicting a profoundly slow processional heading to one of the great climaxes in the orchestral repertoire. Shortly after the climax, listen for an extraordinary pedal tone from the organ that heralds the final magical ending.

As the orchestra proceeds to ‘Uranus, the Magician,’ one will hear a wild, maniacal dance that seems like a cross between The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and Danse Macabre. Holst finishes the suite with ‘Neptune, the Mystic’ since Pluto had not yet been discovered. He returns to Impressionism for the sound aesthetic, even including an off-stage female choir like Debussy did in Nocturnes. As the movement concludes, the orchestra drops out and the choir wordlessly alternates between a C minor chord and an E Major chord. Holst specifies that as they sing softer and softer, someone should close the door to the backstage, thus effectively imitating an electronic fade-out so often heard in recordings.

View from James Webb Telescope| Sharon Baker

HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEGACY SOCIETY

In the past year, the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra has been the beneficiary of two estate gifts totaling more than $250,000. These funds have been restricted by the Board of Directors and placed in the HHSO’s investments where they will provide more than $10,000 of reliable annual operating support in perpetuity. This exemplifies the value of planned gifts to the grantee.

Members of the HHSO’s Legacy Society have informed the HHSO that their estate planning includes a commitment to the Orchestra. We are so grateful for that generous promise and the HHSO, in return, pledges to be a good steward of these gifts.

If you would like to make a commitment or have established the HHSO as part of your estate plan, please let us know. Contact us to have your name added to our Legacy Society roster by reaching out to Susan Hartmann at shartmann@hhso.org or at (843) 842-2055.

MEMBERS OF THE HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEGACY SOCIETY

Darle and Robert Booher Mary and Michael Briggs Sandy and Ralph Drayer Cary and Peter Fleming

Robert and Margaret Gallagher Bradley Jacobs

Beverly J. Lasher Mary Princing

Mary Ann and Tarrant Putnam Ellen Taylor

Judy and Bill Thorpe

Photo: Roger Mastroianni

There are so many questions that must be considered when we plan a season at Lean Ensemble Theater, but here are a few that are constant:

• What should our community experience?

• What does our community want to experience?

• Is there balance, diversity, a through line? And are there laughs?

The 2022/23 season, Crossing Generations, speaks to these questions with aplomb.

In October, just in time for the election, we have The Taming by Lauren Gunderson, a hilarious, farcical take on politics, history and beauty queens (yes, beauty queens) by one of America’s most prolific playwrights.

December brings Willy Russell’s Educating Rita, a contemporary Pygmalion of sorts, where the mentor/mentee relationship is turned on its ear over many drinks, several literary debates, and maybe even an epiphany or two.

The new year has The Lifespan of a Fact by Jeremy Kareken, David Murrell & Gordon Farrell, a gripping tale about a battle between old-school journalism and new age media as it evolves to a battle between fact vs. truth.

March is the long awaited world premiere of Mitchelville by Aurin Squire. When a young man tries to save his Gullah family home, he dives into the history of his family lineage, the Civil War, and the first town of Black freedmen in America.

Closing the season is Ripcord by David Lindsay-Abaire. Lindsay-Abaire has somehow managed to combine wit and sensitivity in this comedy. Set in a nursing home, Ripcord has characters funny enough to make the “Golden Girls” jealous.

We look forward to sharing these stories with you. Thank you for being the community that makes great theater and great music possible.

ELEVENTH ANNUAL LEAGUE LUNCHEON/FASHION SHOW TO BENEFIT THE YOUTH PROGRAMS OF THE HHSO

The League of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra invites you to attend the 11th annual Spring Luncheon, Fashion Show and Silent Auction. This signature event will be held on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, in the Magnolia room at the Country Club of Hilton Head, located inside Hilton Head Plantation.

Presenting sponsor S.M. Bradford Co. promises to delight us with beautiful apparel and fashions. With four fabulous stores in the Wexfod shopping area and in Harbour Town, they are known for stylish, contemporary clothing, in addition to a wide selection of accessories and gifts for fashionable women.

Prior to a delicious luncheon, you will enjoy a social hour with friends and can browse dozens of unique silent auction items. You’ll find jewelry, spa services, restaurant certificates, get-away packages and more. Local businesses generously donate these items, and we offer them to you “below retail.” It’s fun to bid! Don’t forget to buy a ticket to the popular 50/50 raffle—the winner will go home with a tidy sum in cash!

Put together a table of 10 or come with a friend and we’ll seat you with new friends. So, get your best spring outfit ready and wear a hat if you have one—we can’t wait to see you! This wonderful event benefits the Youth Programs of the HHSO.

For reservations, please contact Judy Walsh: 216.375.6374, walshjudy72@gmail.com.

THE LEAGUE OF THE HHSO PRESENTS

THE 11TH ANNUAL FASHION SHOW & SILENT AUCTION A BENEFIT FOR THE HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND ITS YOUTH PROGRAMS

TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2023

The Country Club of Hilton Head

PRESENTING SPONSOR S.M. BRADFORD CO.

A SILENT AUCTION AND SOCIAL HOUR BEGIN AT 11AM

This event typically sells out so make your reservations early to guarantee seating. Email Judy Walsh at walshjudy72@gmail.com for more information.

RISING TO THE CHALLENGE

Since 1946, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina has helped South Carolinians navigate many challenges. Our security, strength and stability have allowed us to stand tall in the face of adversity. And that’s not going to change. Whatever challenges arise, we’ll face them together.

BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.

Alan Biggs

Laurie Biggs

Jan Cunningham

Jacqueline Fulton

Bertha Gadson

Gloria Gadson

James Gilliard Lucille Kannick Jo Ann

Constance Martin-Witter

HHSO USHER CORPS

Allyne Mitchell Peggi

Ellen Newfield Phyllis Patterson

Lori Pittard Sally Stein Lynn Tanis Norma Van Amberg Noreen Whalen John Witherspoon

Art League of Hilton Head

Art League is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year!

You are cordially invited to its Gala at the Sonesta Resort on Saturday, October 29 at 6:30pm for an evening of dinner and dancing with Deas-Guyz. For more details and ticket information, call (843) 681-5060.

In its 12th year of collaboration with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, Art League’s exhibiting artists have created the works of art featured in this 2022-23 program book. Art League of Hilton Head, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, offers year-round visual arts programming from two island locations with a mission of inspiring visual arts for our community and its visitors through exhibitions, education, and partnerships.

Art League Gallery, located mid-island inside the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina, has monthly exhibitions and happenings. Hours are Monday through Saturday from 10am-4pm, Sunday 12-4pm, and 90 minutes before theater performances. Art League Academy, located south-island, offers art classes and workshops in all media for all ages and skill levels.

Visit www.ArtLeagueHHI.org or call (843) 681-5060 for more information.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS

Joan Ackerman Earline Allen Sharon Baker Donna Belber

Deal

DiFazio

Glen

Karen McCarthy

Sharma

Shin

McGreevey

Nature’s Improvisation | Ellen DiFazio

The Boatman | Carol Iglesias

ART LEAGUE EXHIBITION SCHEDULE

Monthly Featured Shows are listed below. Receptions are open and free to the public from 5-7 pm

2022

OCT 4-NOV 12

CRAFTHILTONHEAD Reception 10/5

NOV 15-DEC 31

GALLERY OF GIFTS Reception 11/16 2023

JAN 3-28

ANYTHING GOES! Reception 1/5

JAN 31-MAR 4

NIBCAA “ARTS OB WE PEOPLE” Reception 2/8

MAR 7-APRIL 8

ART QUILTERS OF THE LOWCOUNTRY Reception 3/8

APRIL 11-MAY 13

JOHN CRUM Reception 4/12

MAY 16-JUNE 17

BIENNALE 2023 Reception 5/19

JUNE 20-JULY 22

DENISE LIOTTA DEMARZO Reception 6/21

JULY 25-AUG 26

ANDREA SMITH Reception 7/26

AUG 29-SEPT 30

JUDY BLAHUT Reception 8/30

OCT 3-NOV 4

PATRICIA MCGREEVEY Reception 10/11

NOV 7-DEC 31

GALLERY OF GIFTS Reception 11/25

The Bassist | Alvin Glen

Beethoven Piano Basket | Karen McCarthy

Lindsay Bunting,

Lowcountry

McGriff Insurance Services/PURE

Mercedes-Benz of

Nunzio

Palmetto Electric

Music

Rockfish

Savannah/Hilton

Shelter Cove Harbour &

17 Harborside Ln (building 1)

Head Island, SC 29928 (843) 715-3349

South

1018 William Hilton

Hilton Head SC 29928 (843) 715-2598

BUSINESSES AND PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS SUPPORTING THE MUSIC

We appreciate your commitment and generosity.