2021-2022 SEASON
40 YEARS of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra 10 YEARS of John Morris Russell as Music Director
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2021-2022
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HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
HHSO’S 40TH SEASON
WELCOME TO OUR 40TH SEASON!
CONCERTS
Table of Contents.......................................................... 5
Sibelius Violin Concerto.............................................42
From the Mayor............................................................ 7
Meet the Artist: Violinist William Hagen.......................44
Racial Equality Statement............................................. 8
About the Music............................................................45
From the Board Chair/President and CEO.................... 9
Michelle Cann Plays Florence Price............................48
From the Music Director and Conductor.................... 13
Meet the Artist: Pianist Michelle Cann..........................50
HHSO Board and Administrative Staff........................ 15
About the Music............................................................51
HHSO Legacy Society.................................................. 17
Holiday Pops.............................................................54
Mona Huff, Director HHIPC......................................... 18
Meet the Artist: Soprano Ashleigh Smith......................57
HHIPC Event Schedule................................................ 19
Meet the Artist: Cellist Brandon Leonard......................58
League Board/Musicales Schedule............................. 22
Meet the Artist: Michael Schwartzkopf.........................59
From the President of the HHSO League.................... 23
Meet the Artist: HH Symphony Orchestra Chorus.........60
Orchestra Personnel................................................... 25
Tchaikovsky’s Fifth.....................................................62
The Maestro Reminisces....................................... 26-29
Meet the Artist: Pianist Kevin Chen...............................64
SoundWaves............................................................... 31
About the Music............................................................65
HHSO Youth Concerto Competition............................ 34
Piazzolla, Ravel, and More.........................................68
HHSO Chamber Music Institute.................................. 35
Meet the Conductor: José-Luis Novo............................70
Donors Supporting the Music................................ 38-39
Meet the Artist: Bandoneonist Héctor Del Curto..........71
Businesses Supporting the Music............................... 40
About the Music............................................................72
John Morris Russell Profile......................................... 41
JMR’s Greatest Hits....................................................76
Looking Back & Forward—HHSO at 40.............. 103-111
Meet the Artist: Baritone Michael Preacely..................78
What the Musicians are Saying................................ 113
Brahms’ Third and Tessa Lark.....................................80
Symphony Under the Stars....................................... 115
Meet the Artist: Violinist Tessa Lark..............................82
HHSO League Golf Event.......................................... 119
About the Music............................................................83
League Fashion Show/Luncheon.............................. 121
World Premiere: Jessie Montgomery with Awadagin Pratt .................................................86
Art League of Hilton Head................................. 122-125 Usher Appreciation................................................... 133 Hosting a Musician................................................... 134 List of Advertisers..................................................... 135
Meet the Artist: Pianist Awadagin Pratt........................88 Meet the Composer: Jessie Montgomery.....................89 About the Music............................................................90
Chefs & Clefs............................................................. 136
Dance Party!..............................................................94
INTERESTED IN UPDATES?
Meet the Artist: Hilton Head Dance Theatre.................97
The Symphony periodically emails its concert-goers with updates and reminders of upcoming events. If you are not currently on our email list, and wish to recieve updates by email, pelase call our office at 843-842-2055 or go online to www.hhso.org and send us a message with your email address. All email addresses are for the sole use of the orchestra.
Meet the Artist: Dancer Maceo Harrison......................96 Meet the Artist: Hilton Head Ballroom Dance Studio...98 Meet the Artist: The Studio for Dance..........................99 Meet the Artist: Legacy Irish Dance Academy.............100 Meet the Artist: Abeni Cultural Arts Dance Studio......101
Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra / 7 Lagoon Road / Hilton Head Island, SC 29928 843-842-2055 / www.hhso.org 2021-2022
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HHSO’S 40TH SEASON
Dear Islanders and Visitors, I am excited to write this letter because it means we are moments away from reconnecting in the sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church to have our minds and souls synchronized by the purest of notes radiating from the Concertmaster’s bow. What a long, strange year it has been but we are all sitting here together, in part, because the arts eased our anxieties and helped us stay engaged with our world through the COVID-19 pandemic. This year is especially exciting as we celebrate the 40th Anniversary Season of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra (HHSO) and John Morris Russell’s 10th Anniversary Season as its Music Director. The unity, joy and inspiration that the HHSO has brought to our community over the last 40 years is almost immeasurable. We are blessed to live in such a naturally beautiful place filled with beautiful music. This season, the HHSO will thrill us by presenting a blend of classical and pops concerts, bringing Symphony Under the Stars back to Honey Horn, and presenting the renowned Hilton Head International Piano Competition. Year after year, the symphony makes us proud. Thank you for supporting this great organization, particularly during this milestone year. I personally look forward to seeing each of you at these concerts and many of the other incredible arts and cultural events on our Island. My Best,
JOHN MCCANN MAYOR HILTON HEAD ISLAND “The unity, joy and inspiration that the HHSO has brought to our community over the last 40 years is almost immeasurable.”
Mayor John McCann
The Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra thanks the Town of Hilton Head for its support of the arts in the Lowcountry. We are especially grateful for the support the orchestra receives through Accommodations Tax and thank the members of the committee for their appreciation of what our orchestra brings to the community.
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HHSO’S 40TH SEASON
HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (HHSO) RACIAL EQUALITY STATEMENT The HHSO affirms that all races are equal. We intentionally and systematically support HHSO policies and practices in our organization that promote opportunities for full advancement of African-Americans and other marginalized groups that have been denied equal access and opportunity. Our local situation provides a good historical example of the possibility for transformative change. That example is Mitchelville, one of our Lowcountry’s treasures. It was a bold and brave experiment of 1861, before the Emancipation Proclamation, in which formerly enslaved people were granted land and provisions to build homes and to establish a working town that was self-governing. The HHSO recognizes that self-governance and mastery depend on equal opportunity. So, we seize the current adverse racial situation as our opportunity to become a positive change agent that will actively pursue diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in all of our policies, programs, staff, committees, and Board. The HHSO recognizes that racial inequity is systemic throughout our society. The HHSO therefore will examine its operations to address any racial inequality in our organization. We will work to eradicate any such adverse influence and to ensure that racial equality is integral to our mission and to implementation of our administrative and programming activities. We commit to all processes that will help us achieve our racial equity goal. We are committed to a racially inclusive approach in all that we do because we respect and value diverse racial heritages and know that hearing diverse voices will enrich what we have to offer. Programs and Musicians: We shall schedule more performances of orchestral music by composers of color. We will be conscientious in recruitment, hiring, and advancement of musicians of color for all standard programs and competitions. Staff: We will be deliberate in our effort to attract racially diverse staff in our recruitment and hiring activities and commit to providing equitable advancement opportunities for them. Board of Directors: The HHSO Board pledges to seek increased representation of racially diverse directors and actively encourage opportunity for their Board leadership. We respect diverse life experiences and work to ensure that all voices are heard and valued, and commit to creating a more comprehensive action plan that addresses diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging for all marginalized groups. Adopted August 12, 2020
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HHSO’S 40TH SEASON
WELCOME TO THE HHSO’S 40TH SEASON! Forty years ago, a group of local music lovers created an ensemble that evolved to become the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra. We doubt many of those founders would have envisioned a $2.4 million organization in 2021, or that they would have considered that eighteen months of live performances would be cancelled by a microscopic virus. (Indeed, very few of us would have contemplated such a situation just three years ago!) But here we are, heading into the fall of 2021 with lingering uncertainties. Traditionally, the HHSO artistic planning team would have conceived a full season of great programs, announced them to the world in March or April prior to the season, and moved on fully expecting everything to take place as planned. Despite our ever-changing environment, the HHSO has moved forward in planning the season that our patrons have come to expect—and it is a very exciting season full of great music, amazing soloists, and new works to learn, share, and enjoy. We think there is much to Celebrate: the concurrent 40th Anniversary of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra and the 10th Anniversary of John Morris Russell’s tenure as Music Director—what a great partnership! We have only been able to plan ambitiously for 2021-2022 because you, our donors and patrons, have been so generous with your support throughout the past two years. Thank you so very much! We sincerely want you to enjoy the coming year of concerts, celebrating the return of live-in-person communal performances. Music has been a refuge for many of us during the past days and months of isolation and uncertainty, and music will be one of the joys that usher us back to a sense of normalcy. Welcome and celebrate with us!
Michael Harter Chair, Board of Directors
Alan Jordan President and CEO
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.
2021-2022
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HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
HHSO’S 40TH SEASON
WELCOME BACK TO THE 40TH SEASON OF YOUR HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, THE ORCHESTRA OF THE LOWCOUNTRY! We are back and thrilled to bring live orchestral music once again to the Lowcountry. This season’s core repertoire of beloved symphonic classics like the titanic Fifth Symphony of Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, the richly nuanced Third Symphony of Brahms, and the inspirational “Reformation” Symphony of Mendelssohn, will be complemented by brilliant works that we have not presented here before, including the much-talked-about Piano Concerto in One Movement by Florence Price, the quiet and powerful Fratres by Arvo Pärt, and the World Premiere of Jessie Montgomery’s first piano concerto. Our special guests include several artists who are familiar members of the HHSO family including violinist Will Hagen, baritone Michael Preacely, and HHIPC Winner Kevin Chen, as well as the HHSO debuts of violinist Tessa Lark, and pianists Michelle Cann and Awadagin Pratt. I’m particularly excited to introduce guest conductor José-Luis Novo to Hilton Head, whose program includes a concerto for bandoneon by tango composer Astor Piazzolla. There will be a lot of celebration this season between the orchestra’s 40th anniversary and my 10th with the HHSO, so we’ve put together three sensational and fun programs with everyone’s favorites: “Holiday Pops,” “JMR’s Greatest Hits” in February, and April’s wild “Dance Party,” with performances from ballet to ballroom, tango to tap as well as Irish stepdance and a hip-hop number thrown in for good measure. Let’s get the party started!
John Morris Russell Music Director and Conductor Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra
Photo: Kevin Kavanaugh
JOHN MORRIS RUSSELL MUSIC DIRECTOR AND CONDUCTOR “We are thrilled to bring live orchestral music back to the Lowcountry. The season’s core repertoire of beloved symphonic classics will be complemented by brilliant works never presented here.”
Always informative, never formal – invariably engaging and entertaining – the HHSO inspires.
The conductor will give a pre-concert talk prior to the six classical concerts. Talk times are 3:00 pm for Sunday concerts and 6:30 pm for Monday concerts. Please join us. 2021-2022
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2021 – 2022 BOARD OF DIRECTORS & STAFF BOARD OF DIRECTORS Michael Harter Chairman Jim Collett Vice-Chair, Strategic Planning Ralph Drayer Vice-Chair, Resource Development Sandra Benson Treasurer Eric Magnin Secretary Alan Jordan President and CEO Rabbi Brad Bloom Joan Dattelbaum Charles Frost Barbara Holmes Candice Hough Martin Lesch Michael Levine Mary Princing Alice Walton Blake White Ex Officio Mona Huff Mario Incorvaia
HHSO ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF WHO WE ARE OUR VISION To inspire, enrich and unite the Lowcountry through music
OUR MISSION INSPIRE
…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 BY …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 AND GROWTH
WWW.HHSO.ORG HHSO ADVISORY BOARD
PROGRAM DESIGN Nadia McDannels letnadiadesignit.com
Tim Ridge, Chair Darle Booher Leslie Richardson Charles Sampson James T. Willard Ex Officio Alan Jordan Michael Harter
Alan Jordan President and CEO Joseph Gimbel Director, HHSO Youth Concerto Competition Judy Gimbel Director, Hilton Head Chamber Music Institute Mona Huff Director, Hilton Head International Piano Competition Mario Incorvaia Chief Operating Officer Gayle Lang Project Editor HHSO Chorus Manager Susan Strange Finance Manager Jim Way Administrative Manager Julie Williams Special Projects Manager
PAST BOARD CHAIRS Frank Pape.......................... 1982 - 1984 Gordon Gillette................... 1984 - 1988 Willis Shay.......................... 1988 - 1993 Charles Taylor..................... 1993 - 1997 Ross Rutherford.................. 1997 - 1998 Charles Taylor..................... 1998 - 1999 Robert Rada........................ 1999 - 2002 Walt Graver........................ 2002 - 2003 Charles Taylor..................... 2003 - 2005 Fred Caswell....................... 2005 - 2008 Margaret Arrington............ 2008 - 2010 Edward Parrish................... 2010 - 2013 Darle Booher...................... 2013 - 2015 Jim Willard.......................... 2015 - 2017 Tim Ridge............................ 2017 - 2019 Bob Cherichella.................. 2019 - 2021 2021-2022
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HHSO’S 40TH SEASON
HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEGACY SOCIETY IS A LEGACY GIFT FOR YOU? What’s important to you? What are your values? How do you want your life to touch others? What would make you proud? If you had to do one thing to improve your world, what would your contribution be? How can you leave your mark on whatever you do? How do you want to be remembered? If the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra has played an important role in your life, consider becoming a member of the Legacy Society.
PLANNED GIVING: YOUR LEGACY FOR BEAUTIFUL MUSIC! Create Your Legacy. Discover the many ways you can help secure the future of the HHSO and keep the music playing for generations of music lovers to come. These donations will be placed in an endowment fund to meet the future needs of the HHSO. There are many ways you can maximize the impact of your gift to the orchestra: Outright Gifts: cash, securities, real estate, business and partnership interests or personal property. Life-Income Gifts: charitable gift annuities, charitable remainder trusts and charitable lead trusts. Gifts through Your Estate: Name the HHSO as a beneficiary in your will of specific assets, such as a 401K, IRA, or life insurance policy; or you can give a portion of your residual estate. Please consider strengthening the HHSO with your planned gift to keep classical music alive in the Lowcountry. By becoming a member of the HHSO Legacy Society, your name will forever be inscribed in the annals of the orchestra. Let us know if you have already included us in your estate plan so that we can thank you and welcome you as a member of the HHSO Legacy Society. For more information, call or email Alan Jordan at ajordan@hhso.org or at 843-842-2055.
CHARTER MEMBERS OF THE HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEGACY SOCIETY: Darle & Robert Booher
Cary & Peter Fleming
Mary Princing
Mary & Michael Briggs
Robert & Margaret Gallagher
Mary Ann & Tarrant Putnam
Sandy & Ralph Drayer
Bradley Jacobs
Judy & Bill Thorpe 2021-2022
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HHSO’S 40TH SEASON
MONA HUFF
Welcome to the 2021-22 music season! After a very challenging eighteen months, we are back to business as usual. Despite the many obstacles afforded by the pandemic, the Hilton Head International Piano Competition was able to present the BravoPiano! Festival in June. It was a joyous experience to finally sit with fellow music lovers and hear live music. This season we return to a competition for pianists ages 18 -30 which will be held from March 7 – 14, 2022. The Competition committee is busy preparing for the arrival of 20 talented pianists from around the world and ten jury members. Three jurors will meet in Hilton Head in November to review the submissions of a couple of hundred applicants and select the 20 pianists who will travel to Hilton Head in March. The seven remaining judges will be here in March to hear the live performances and select our winners. The piano is featured in many events planned throughout the season. On October 9th, Henry Kramer presented his program rescheduled from BravoPiano! Henry holds the L. Rexford Whiddon Distinguished Chair in Piano at the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia. His program of music of the Americas included the world premiere of a piece by American composer Hannah Lash.
MONA HUFF DIRECTOR HILTON HEAD INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION “After a challenging eighteen months, we are back to business as usual. In addition to the 2022 Competition in March, we have planned three exciting special events featuring past HHIPC winners to take place throughout the season.”
On November 1st, we will present the 2016 HHIPC First Prize winner, Changyong Shin, at a special recital at SoundWaves. He will be joining us following his solo recital at Zankel Hall (at Carnegie). After spending the past sixteen months in Korea due to the travel restrictions imposed by the pandemic, he is looking forward to returning to the US for some live music. His program will include works by Schumann, Chopin, and Rachmaninoff. We are thrilled to welcome him back to Hilton Head. Three of the HHSO’s masterworks concerts this season feature the piano. On November 14th and 15th, Michelle Cann will return to Hilton Head to perform the Florence Price Piano Concerto, a performance originally scheduled for the BravoPiano! Festival Finale. On January 9th and 10th, the 2020 HHIPC First Prize winner, Kevin Chen, will return to play the Saint Saëns Second Piano Concerto, also rescheduled from last season. Just two weeks after participating as a member of the 2022 HHIPC jury, Awadagin Pratt will return to Hilton Head to play the Jessie Montgomery piano concerto with the HHSO March 27th and 28th. The 2022 HHIPC will be held in March, as always. Rounds I and II, March 7th – 10th, will be at St. Luke’s Church. The Semifinals (Round III) will be at First Presbyterian Church on Saturday, March 12th. And, we are thrilled to have our very own John Morris Russell here to conduct the HHSO for the Competition Finals on March 14th, also at First Presbyterian Church. The HHIPC’s last special event of the year, scheduled for April 30th, will feature Chaeyoung Park, our First Prize winner in 2019, in recital at SoundWaves. This closes our season. Mark your calendars now so that you are sure to join us for a fun-filled year of piano! Mona Huff
Director, Hilton Head International Piano Competition 20
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HHIPC EVENTS LISTING The road to
CARNEGIE HALL
begins on Hilton Head Island
MARCH 7-14, 2022
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2021 - 7:30 PM Henry Kramer HHIPC competitor (2012), in recital Visions of the Americas from the Piano (rescheduled from BravoPiano! Festival) SoundWaves at Coligny, 7 Lagoon Road MONDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2021 - 7:30 PM Changyong Shin First Prize Winner of the 2016 HHIPC, in recital Works of Schumann, Chopin and Rachmaninoff SoundWaves at Coligny, 7 Lagoon Road NOVEMBER 14 – 15, 2021 Michelle Cann Florence Price Piano Concerto with the HHSO First Presbyterian Church
2O22
JANUARY 9 – 10, 2022 Kevin Chen First Prize Winner of the 2020 HHIPC Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 2 with the HHSO First Presbyterian Church
HILTON HEAD INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION
20 Pianists compete for $34,000 in cash prizes and
• A concert at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall • A return engagement with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra • A CD recording on the Steinway & Sons label
PRESENTED BY
March 7 – 10 Rounds I and II St. Luke’s Church – 50 Pope Avenue March 11 Master Classes and Lecture/Recital St. Luke’s Church – 50 Pope Avenue March 12 Round III: Semifinals First Presbyterian Church – 540 William Hilton Parkway March 14 Round IV: Finals First Presbyterian Church – 540 William Hilton Parkway
MARCH 27 – 28, 2022 Awadagin Pratt Jessie Montgomery Piano Concerto with the HHSO (World Premiere) First Presbyterian Church
Official Hotel of the HHSO and the HHIPC Alink-Argerich Foundation Member since 2005
MARCH 7 – 14, 2022 Hilton Head International Piano Competition
Official Competition Piano
THE HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 2022 – 7:30 PM Chaeyoung Park First Prize Winner of the 2019 HHIPC, in recital Program to be announced SoundWaves at Coligny, 7 Lagoon Road FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CALL THE COMPETITION OFFICE AT 843.842.5880 2021-2022
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THE LEAGUE OF THE HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 2021-2022 BOARD OF DIRECTORS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Candice Hough President Carol Gyllenhoff Administrative Vice President Judy Walsh Vice President Membership/Volunteers Terry Hicks Secretary Nancy Millette Treasurer
COMMITTEE CHAIRS
Linda Moloney Swing Fore the Symphony Golf Tournament and Silent Auction Lois Hoyt-Berry and Eileen Durkin Musicales Carol Gyllenhoff and Candice Hough Spring Luncheon, Fashion Show and Silent Auction Carol Gyllenhoff Future Planning/Board Development Judy Walsh and Terry Hicks Volunteer Record Keeping Candice Hough Newsletter Carol Gyllenhoff, Karin Haupstein, and Candice Hough Post-Concert Receptions Carol Gyllenhoff Spring Fling Lois Hoyt-Berry Symphony Under the Stars Bill and Kathy Zurilla HHIPC Liaison Stan Cooke Concours Liaison Carol Gyllenhoff and Mary Princing SOVA Liaison Linda DeLuca Past President and Nominating Chair
EX-OFFICIO
John Morris Russell Music Director/Conductor Mike Harter Board Chair Alan Jordan President and CEO Mario Incorvaia Chief Operating Officer 24
HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
PRESENTING
HHSO LEAGUE MUSICALES 2021-2022
MUSICALE #1 • HAPPENIN’ HOLIDAYS Sunday, December 12, 2021, 3 – 5 pm Stan Cooke (Port Royal) Port Royal Beach House SCAD Honeybees; Mike Evariste, director; Kim Steiner, accompanist Mixing a delightful arrangement of upbeat pop and holiday favorites, these swinging singers from the Savannah College of Art and Design’s musical theater program spread exuberant holiday joy for all!
MUSICALE #2 • MUSIC OF THE QUEEN Wednesday, January 12, 2022, 5 – 7 pm Mona and Joe Huff (Rose Hill in Bluffton) Tacy Edwards, flute; Kelly Odell, oboe; Rosalyn Floyd, piano Imagine yourself a guest in Buckingham Palace, properly attuned to British accords and conventions, and then the music starts… Malcom Arnold, Madeleine Dring, Gustav Holst, Max Richter, a nod to the American experiment with William Grant Still, and carry on does it. Chuffed, you’ll find yourself declaring this to be a jolly good show. Bully!
MUSICALE #3 • VINTAGE JAZZ! Wednesday, February 16, 2022, 5 – 7pm Candi and Tom Hough (Spanish Wells) Harper Krimm, Junior Jazz vocalist; accompanied by David Masteller, bass, and James Berry, piano Evocative, unconstrained, syncopated, and at times decadent, the music of the 20’s and 30’s symbolized a nation rejuvenated and resilient. With the aid of local jazz luminaries David Masteller and James Berry, the talented Ms. Krimm, a superstar of The Jazz Corner’s Junior Jazz Foundation, takes us back to the nostalgic Jazz Age of night clubs, variety radio shows, the arrival of talkies, and the double feature.
MUSICALE #4 • LET’S DANCE Sunday, March 6, 2022, 5 – 7 pm Rocky and Ginny Whitehead (Berkeley Hall in Bluffton) Nina Sandberg, violin; Chee-Hang See, piano Winners of the 2021 International Boosey & Hawkes Score Video Contest for their video performance of Stravinsky’s Suite Italienne, Nina Sandberg and our very own Youth Concerto Competition accompanist, Chee-Hang See, deliver a fanciful treasure of a dance-inspired program including Stravinsky’s melodic Suite, a bon-bon by violin master Fritz Kreisler, Souvenirs by American Paul Schoenfield, and Dances by Englishman Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.
MUSICALE # 5 • SPRING BLOSSOM Sunday, Apil 3, 2022, 5 – 7 pm Mary and Mike Briggs (Hilton Head Plantation) Lizhou Liu, violin/viola; Yvonne Johnson, viola HHSO Principal violist Lizhou Liu and his wife, Yvonne Johnson, give us a glimpse of the elegant string duet music you might hear in their house on any given day… music from the height of the baroque and classical periods: a Telemann canonic sonata and Stamitz duet, a lovely violin and viola duet by Ernst Eichner, all punctuated with the serene and meditative Chinese folk song “Spring Blossom.”
Musicales are members-only events. If you are interested in learning more about or joining the League, please contact walshjudy72@gmail.com
HHSO’S 40TH SEASON
CANDICE HOUGH
“FOR THE LOVE OF MUSIC” Why do you love music? I learned to love music from my band director, Tom Bishop, at Lake Wales High School in Florida. He was a wonderful, but demanding, band leader/conductor for seven years of my life, starting with the flutophone in sixth grade. Our high school band won 25 straight superiors in Marching and Symphonic Band through 1971! Not bad for a small-town high school band in central Florida! The past year has been one of many challenges, not only for the orchestra but also for the League. COVID-19 has impacted the entire HHSO family for more than a year, but we are coming back strong in the 40th Season of the orchestra and the 10th year of John Morris Russell as Music Director and Conductor! The League was founded in 1998 by Ellen Taylor who was its first president. From a small group of dedicated friends, the League has grown to over 350 committed volunteers who support a variety of fund-raising events and services. For more than 20 years, the League has upheld Ellen’s vision as a fundraising and friend-raising organization whose purpose is to strengthen and support the Orchestra and its youth programs. This season’s fundraising events include: • Swing Fore the Symphony Golf Tournament at the beautiful Wexford Golf Club on Monday, November 15, 2021 beginning at 9 a.m. • Five Sunday evening Musicales in five lovely Lowcountry venues, December - April. • The Spring Luncheon, Fashion Show and Silent Auction, held in the Magnolia Room of the Country Club of Hilton Head, Tuesday, March 22, 2022 beginning at 11 a.m. Special League services include:
CANDICE HOUGH PRESIDENT THE LEAGUE OF THE HHSO “The League was founded in 1998 by Ellen Taylor who served as the first president. For more than 20 years, the League has upheld Ellen’s vision as a fundraising and friend-raising organization whose purpose is to strengthen and support the Orchestra and its youth programs.”
• Monday evening post-concert receptions, organized by League volunteers. • Support for events such as Symphony Under the Stars (April), the Concours D’Elegance (November), the International Piano Competition (March) and the Youth Concerto Competition (February). • The Spring Fling, a celebration to recognize and thank League volunteers, caps off the season’s activities on May 13, 2022. We invite you to join with us and support our outstanding HHSO. We are a dynamic group of men and women who can achieve anything we set our sights on. The benefits are many - fun, friendship and new opportunities as we work together for a successful 40th Season! Candice Hough President The League of the HHSO
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92 Main St. Suite B Hilton Head Island, SC 29926 www.hiltonheaddentalteam.com
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HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
2021-2022 HHSO ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL MUSIC DIRECTOR AND CONDUCTOR John Morris Russell The Estate of Robert & Margaret Gallagher
VIOLIN I Micah Gangwer, Concertmaster Charleston, SC Aldine W. Schroeder Memorial Chair
VIOLIN II Frances Hsieh, 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 Mario Incorvaia Savannah, GA Tomas Jakubek Charleston, SC David Katz Hilton Head Island, SC Catherine Klimoff Hilton Head Island, SC Angela Lozides Charleston, SC *Kerri Sellman Savannah, GA Essena Setaro Asheville, NC C. Gerome Stewart Charleston, SC Marina Volynets Savannah, GA Jonathan Wright Atlanta, GA
VIOLA
OBOE
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
Reid Messich, Principal Athens, GA Patty and David Ekedahl Chair Lauren Stuligross, Co-Principal Hilton Head Island, SC Kelly Odell Augusta, GA
CELLO Vacant, Principal Ellen and Charles Taylor Chair Barbara Altman Macon, GA Charmaine LeClair Charleston, SC Lee Richey Winston-Salem, NC Cynthia Sulko Atlanta, GA Mary Ann Watson Columbia, SC
BASS Vacant, Principal 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
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 Brad Behr Savannah, SC
HORN Stephanie Mason, Principal Statesboro, GA Liz and Walt Schymik Chair in memory of Catherine B. Kaufmann Ann Holmi Charleston, SC Brandon Nichols Charleston, SC Debra Sherill-Ward Charleston, SC
TRUMPET Paul Wesley Lott, Principal Savannah, GA John and Nancy Diamond Chair
Philip Ehrmann Atlanta, GA Todd Jenkins North Augusta, GA
TROMBONE Carl K. Polk, Principal Savannah, GA Lin and Robert Rada Chair *Mark Sellman Savannah, GA
TUBA Christopher Bluemel, Principal Charleston, SC Dr. William P. and Judy F. Thorpe Chair in honor of Richard B. Heyman, MD
TIMPANI Ray McClain, Principal Savannah, GA Marianne and George Krall Chair
PERCUSSION Steve Primatic Savannah, GA Sandy and Fred Caswell Chair Matthew Fallin Statesboro, GA Ryan Leveille Charleston, SC
HARP Vacant, Principal League of Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Chair
KEYBOARD Vacant, Principal Mary Ellen and Jack McConnell Chair *Leave of absence for the 2021-2022 season
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THE MAESTRO REMINISCES Almost as challenging as capturing the HHSO’s first 40 years in print was preparing for an article about John Morris Russell’s ten years with the HHSO. The problem wasn’t getting JMR to open up. It was more the difficulty in putting together a manageable list of topics because there is so much to talk about. Here’s how the conversation with the HHSO’s gregarious, upbeat Maestro went.
The Wayback Machine Growing up in Cleveland, Ohio with four siblings, the Russell kids were expected to take music lessons and play in a band. JMR ended up with older brother Charley’s cornet. In high school he played trumpet in a garage band named Sea Breeze. They covered tunes of the popular funk horn bands of the 1970’s like Chicago and Blood Sweat and Tears. (Sadly, no Google references, pictures or YouTube videos were found.)
“To be clear, this was not meant to encourage music as a career.” In fact, he got a decidedly skeptical response from his mother when she learned he intended to do just that. He chose not to go the conservatory route because he was “interested in lots of things.” Williams College, an outstanding liberal arts college in Massachusetts, fit the bill. Although small, the music department was “very, very good,” boasting not only JMR as a graduate but also Stephen Sondheim. He is steadfast in his belief that a liberal arts education has served him well personally and professionally. A physical issue removed a career in trumpet performance from the mix. Russell became interested in conducting during a year at King’s College in London and has never looked back. George Szell, conductor of the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, was an early inspiration. He vividly recalls being in the audience at age 8 and hearing the 28
HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
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trumpet fanfare in the 4th movement of Dvorak No. 8. It is not a coincidence that this symphony was on the program for the Maestro’s first concert as HHSO’s Music Director and Conductor.
A Second Homecoming So how did this Midwesterner who grew up in the glow of one of the great American orchestras end up in Hilton Head? In 1993 Russell accepted a position as the Associate Conductor of the Savannah Symphony. “Two things changed my life forever—I fell in love with the Lowcountry and with Thea Tjepkema.” At the time, Ms. Tjepkema was working in Savannah as the assistant curator at the Owens-Thomas House. In 2010, Russell was finishing his 10-year stint as Conductor of the Windsor Symphony Orchestra (Ontario) and was just named Conductor of the Cincinnati Pops. Within days of the announcement, he got a call from Mary Briggs, President of the HHSO. Here was an opportunity to continue conducting primarily classical repertoire and to return to the Lowcountry with Thea and the family. It did not take long to decide.
Artistic Growth When asked about the HHSO’s artistic growth over the past decade, Russell began by saying that he stepped to the podium with confidence in the Orchestra’s potential. From his time in Savannah, he knew many of the musicians with whom he would be working, and he was familiar with the depth of freelance talent throughout the Southeast. There was what he called “an instant comfort factor in coming back to work with old friends—friends like Terry Moore who provided exceptional leadership as concertmaster.” He acknowledged the inherent challenges in dealing with
a “per-service” orchestra. No one is a full-time employee; people come together every few weeks, some traveling a long distance, and have only 72 hours before they perform.
“Challenges aside, the HHSO has blossomed and it isn’t due to just one thing.” Russell describes his role as “creating the kind of environment where we all can return to the same mutual head-space, comfortable with each other and with our ability to create something special each time we perform together, albeit only once or twice a month. To do this, we embrace the highest standards of excellence to which we all aspire, and a commitment to music-making that is personal, sincere and deeply emotional.” Beyond this, Russell credits other factors and people for the Orchestra’s growth. An important factor is the HHSO’s reputation. Success breeds success and top-drawer artists have a desire to be a part of it. “Mario Incorvaia gathers really motivated musicians for every, single concert— always the best the region has to offer.” Russell says he loves to watch the interactions that take place when there is a newbie in the group: “It isn’t long before they realize they are joining a very special musical family.” Supporters have played an important role as well.
“Our musicians feel valued and loved by patrons and by the community.” The special relationships that develop when musicians are hosted in private homes are priceless. Russell describes the experience as being “treated like kings and queens,” something he experienced himself in the early days. Russell also credits the Board of Directors which he admiringly calls “a working Board which gives everything to the organization they need to make great music.” The right people seem to have been in the right places at the right times; Ed Parrish, for instance, who “had a passion for the Orchestra, a desire to take it to the next level and worked tirelessly to make that happen.” Russell is also complimentary of the two Presidents/ CEOs he has worked with. Clearly, his 10-year working relationship with Mary Briggs is dear to him. In the context of growth, he cited Mary’s abiding faith in the HHSO’s potential, her vision for its place in the community, and the power of educational outreach. He praised Alan Jordan for his cool head and the planning skills on display during two difficult years.
The League earns praise for their extraordinary volunteerism and impressive fundraising. “The cookies at post-concert receptions don’t hurt, either.” These things have coalesced to make the Orchestra what it is today artistically.
“I have always loved the term ‘philharmonic’—literally ‘lovers of harmony.’ For the HHSO that’s not just the musicians on stage, but the harmony between the people on stage and those in the audience throughout a given performance; and one step further, the harmony of our shared musical experience that we ALL bring to the world long after the concert is over. To me it’s a deeply spiritual experience.” A Different Kind of Growth Timing is everything and Russell noted that SoundWaves had arrived at the right time. “It has taken the idea of the HHSO and expanded it in a whole new way.” It makes the Orchestra more flexible—who would have EVER imagined a season of livestreamed chamber orchestra concerts? It has engaged the broader community in multiple ways including a weekly series of cabaret concerts, jazz on the patio/in the park and outdoor performances in the summer. It has become the home of a Chamber Music Institute.
What’s In a Program? Patrons experience what they have come to expect from the HHSO—the world’s great music beautifully performed—through programming. This is one of a Music Director’s many roles and it’s a role which Russell clearly relishes. First and foremost, he considers the “frame”— the HHSO’s performance venue; First Presbyterian Church is the “instrument upon which we all perform together.” It is a wonderful space for our moderate sized-orchestra— but for those longing for Mahler he says, “We’ll need to find another 300,000 or so cubic feet.” Within any program, each piece should “resonate” with the other works being performed. A concert program might be built around a single artistic idea, while the entire season’s programming aspires “to express a story over a larger arc.” Russell is also cognizant of offering concertgoers works they are familiar with as well as works they may not have considered. For example, he did not want the 40th anniversary season to be one of only looking back. “We will be celebrating highlights of past 2021-2022
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seasons, but we will also be playing works from amazing composers whose brilliant works have been waiting too long to be fully appreciated and a world premiere of one of today’s most important composers—it’s a HUGE event!” Speaking of programming, when asked to weigh in on the Classical vs. Pops debate, Russell quoted Huddie William Ledbetter, better known as Lead Belly: “All music is folk music. Folks play it.” He pointed out that 100 years ago selections by composers like Tchaikovsky and Strauss Jr. were the basis of “pops” concerts. He thinks as Americans we sell ourselves short in terms of expressing pride in our multitude of musical styles. “We should celebrate who we are!”
“I wish that the world of music was not so siloed. Music is about making people connect with their emotions; to me Brahms, Gershwin or James Brown are all groovy.” Music Education Matters Russell had a lot to say about why music education via a local orchestra is important. It’s clearly high on his list of priorities. “First of all, it’s about relevance—making sure that new generations see orchestral music which has been around for hundreds of years as something real and lasting, not just a snippet in a movie. Next, it’s about representation—everyone should have the opportunity to engage in music-making and putting an instrument in a kid’s hands is by far the most effective way to do that.” He admits that his early efforts with kids involved “costumes and other showbiz schtick.” A chance encounter with Dr. Herbert Zipper, a renowned educator in southern California, opened his eyes. Dr. Zipper believed that a JMR’S MUSICAL FAVORITES Composer HHSO concert Symphony Under the Stars I never get tired of conducting Quote JMR OFF THE PODIUM Favorite thing to do w/the family Favorite place traveled Where you want to go next Favorite food What you’re listening to now What you do to relax 30
music educator should “give kids the good stuff and never dumb it down to a level that adults think will make them come to it.” Russell approached the design of future outreach programs with this idea in mind. He has been thrilled with Beaufort County students’ response to HHSO’s Young Peoples’ Concerts. “The teachers do a great job with preparation and the kids arrive excited to hear the concert.” And yes, there is always FUN.
What Surprises You After 10 Years on the Job? Russell approached the question by first sharing what has delighted him. On top of the list are 1) exploring the extraordinary Gullah-Geechee culture and the opportunity to incorporate Gullah musical traditions into HHSO programming, and 2) the relationships the HHSO has formed with other performing arts organizations and artists in the region—the Hilton Head Dance Theatre, Lean Ensemble Theater, the Claflin University and Georgia Southern Choruses, American Traditions Competition vocalists, Lavon Stevens, Ranky Tanky, Deas Guyz, the Jazz Corner and more. The conversation ended with Russell pausing to think about what has surprised him about his decade with the HHSO. “I’d have to say the ability of our Orchestra and our orchestral family to continually reinvent themselves. It would be easy to be content as a ‘resort island boutique orchestra’ to mail it in concert after concert. But the HHSO has always committed itself to reexamining its mission, expressing veracity in all our music-making and finding new ways to bring music and beauty to EVERYONE in our community.”
“I continue to see nothing but extraordinary potential ahead.”
Impossible to answer! Death and Transfiguration, Pines of Rome, New World Symphony, Enigma Variations Deas Guyz The HHSO "Music can change the world because it changes people." [Bono/U2] Hang out on the beach in HHI Suzhou, China where I recently conducted Tahiti because that's where Thea wants to go! Fresh local shrimp when I'm in HHI Bluegrass Gardening: "You're helping things grow, creating beauty. You never know exactly what you're going to get because so much is out of your control. And the begonias don't talk back!"
HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Courtesy of the Cincinnati Pops
Courtesy of CH2 Magazine
Photos not otherwise credited by the FrenchGuy Photography 2021-2022
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HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
HHSO’S 40TH SEASON
As SoundWaves entered its third year, the HHSO found it necessary to replace the traditional cabaret seating format for live events by transforming into the Island’s premier streaming location. SoundWaves saw its free SoundWaves Streaming Live! series lead the way through the summer and fall reaching tens of thousands of viewers with more than 50 Monday presentations. The series included nostalgic monthly International Piano Competition archival performances and always an IPC audio gem for those who remained online during the streaming credits following the concert. As the pandemic began to subside, rental events returned with streamed fundraisers for local not-for-profit partners including the Historic Mitchelville Foundation and Memory Matters. The Rotary Club of Hilton Head Island resumed in-person meetings with a weekly hybrid format. Continuing as one of Hilton Head’s most highly sought-after performing events spaces, SoundWaves has carved its niche in the fabric of evening entertainment options, presenting dynamic performances in a variety of musical and dramatic art forms, as well as delivering some of the hottest popular music around. From cabaret to chamber music, singer/songwriter duos to the full range of jazz, SoundWaves delivers the best music in many genres in its engagingly intimate setting. Seating is casual and comfortable at small cabaret-style tables, and you can enjoy a glass of wine or beer, if you choose. SoundWaves embraces its role as the venue that brings the Hilton Head community together through exceptional live music and performing arts experiences. Visit us this year and we expect that you will be back again and again. Look for email announcements of upcoming programs and check hhso.org to stay up to date with our evolving schedule. Please contact Mario Incorvaia to inquire about bringing your organization to SoundWaves for meetings and conferences (843.842.2055). We would love to host your event.
Sullivan Forter–HHIPC special event
The World Affairs Council of Hilton Head
John Cranford 2021-2022
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HHSO’S 40TH SEASON
HHSO YOUTH CONCERTO COMPETITION The HHSO Youth Concerto Competition will be held at SoundWaves on Saturday, January 29, 2022. We are proud to present this concerto competition with the hope of inspiring a younger generation to pursue their goals in the world of classical music. Joseph Gimbel has served as the Director of the Competition for 12 years, expanding the event to one of the largest regional competitions of its type in the Southeastern United States. Joe has assisted many competitors by giving them references for summer programs and recommendations for teachers and conservatories. Here is one of the many success stories of YCC winners.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT Shannon Fitzhenry first auditioned for the 2010 HHSO Youth Concerto Competition as a 14-year-old violinist from Charleston and was selected as a finalist. She received 3rd prize in the 2011 Competition and won the Competition in 2012. Joe Gimbel remained in contact with her throughout her development, providing recommendations for summer festivals and conservatories. In high school Shannon won several competitions, including the Pacifica International Competition, which awarded her a 2-week internship with the Moscow Symphony. She also received two summer fellowships to the Aspen Music Festival and returned to Hilton Head as the inaugural soloist for Young Artist Performances. Ms. Fitzhenry was accepted at several conservatories, choosing to attend Peabody Conservatory (Baltimore, MD) on a full fellowship, studying with department chair, Herbert Greenberg. Her studies concentrated on orchestral repertoire. She was rewarded when she was chosen for three years as a Fellow at the Tanglewood Institute. In 2018, Shannon was invited to perform with the Boston Symphony Orchestra violin section in the Bernstein Centennial Gala Concert. Ms. Fitzhenry has held numerous Concertmaster positions, including Concertmaster of the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, the Spoleto Festival Orchestra, and the Peabody Symphony Orchestra. Upon completing her studies at Peabody, Shannon was hired as the Concertmaster of the El Paso Symphony, as well as the Principal second violinist of the Symphony in C Orchestra (Collingswood, NJ). She resides in Baltimore, playing frequently as a substitute in the Baltimore and Charleston Symphony Orchestras. Shannon Fitzhenry
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HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
HILTON HEAD CHAMBER MUSIC INSTITUTE Founded and led by Judy Gimbel, the third annual Hilton Head Chamber Music Institute was held July 29th - August 8th at SoundWaves. It was staffed with an outstanding faculty: Connie Heard, Violin Professor at Vanderbilt University, Maria Sampen, Violin Professor at the University of Puget Sound, and Caroline Coade, Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the University of Michigan. Felix Wang, Cello Professor at Vanderbilt University, served as Artistic Director. Sixteen terrific high school string musicians were selected via an audition process. They came from seven states: Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Virginia, Ohio, Colorado, and Arizona. In keeping with our reputation for southern hospitality, students were hosted in private homes. All their needs were met on-site by a wonderful committee who arrived at SoundWaves at 8 am and did not depart until the day’s activities were complete, usually well into the evening. Committee members were Susan Britansky, Sue Harter, Beth Corry, Geri Stringle and Lois Wilison, with able assistance from CEO Alan Jordan. Every square foot of space in SoundWaves was used. The intensive program included lots of practice time,
private lessons (4 per student), daily quartet rehearsals and three master classes. Students had ample opportunity to perform via several outreach concerts at the Sandbox Children’s Museum in Celebration Park, TidePointe, and the Cypress. The week concluded with two concerts at Soundwaves featuring the four student quartets, capped by a performance from The Chamber Music Orchestra composed of all 16 students and the four faculty members. Beethoven’s Quartet in G major, Op. 18, No. 2 never sounded better! Rest assured that the ten days were not all work and no play. There were lots of fun activities planned and plenty of social time. The CMI has booked an annual slot on the HHSO’s summer calendar. Hope to see you here next year!
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Enjoy the concert, HH IP Enjoy the concert, then head home for the encoreC Spo then head home for the encore
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SUPPORTING THE MUSIC PLATINUM BATON CIRCLE $20,000+ Bob and Heather Cherichella Connie Rathman
GOLD BATON CIRLCE $15,000+ Michael and Mary Briggs Dan and Betsy Brown Frederick and Carolyn Hack Kevin and Vicki Halloran Michael and Susan Harter Diane and John Myers Charles Strauch
SILVER BATON CIRCLE $10,000+ Ed and Aletta Bond Ralph and Sandy Drayer Tom and Candice Hough Paul Stillman Carol Tucker Jim Way James and Florence Willard
CHAIRMAN’S CIRCLE $7,500+ Robert and Darle Booher Liz and Todd Clist Charles and Joan Dattelbaum John and Nancy Diamond Dave and Patty Ekedahl R. Vito Farsetti and Sharon Webster Ryan Huff and Mila Sheeline Bret and Laura Jacobowitz Paul and Louise Lang Sharon Miller Ed and Susan Parrish Mary Princing and Bill Clark Mary Ann and Tarrant Putnam Ray and Doris Stickel Lorene Thornbury Jerry and Connie Voight
CONDUCTOR’S CIRCLE $5,000+ Jim and Mary Anne Baehr Dennis and Carol Draeger Jay and Trish Elliot Pete and Cary Fleming Helen Heberton Dorothy Holmes, Ph.D. George and Marianne Krall Sarah Meyer Terry and Kathy Orr Diana Riggle Janet Rivers Spence and Barbie Stouffer William and Judy Thorpe
CONCERTMASTER’S CIRCLE $2,500+ Peggy Ashworth Winifred Baker and Constance Curnow
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Herwig and Vicki Baumann Stewart and Judy Brown Fred Burt James and Marcia Collett Mary Laub Cowan Theodore and Clair Craver Kathy Grote Barbara Holmes Joe and Mona Huff John and Marie James Tom and Carol Jones Robert and Joan Koenig Jake and Margie Kriney Jim and Dot Loughlin Brian and Darlene Marlowe Robert and Eloise Mason David McClintock and Mary Milligan Nancy Minor Ray and Linda Moloney Ian and Mary Murray James and Martha Neumeister Roy and Lois Plekenpol Timothy and Mona Ridge Barbara Sorkin Hans and Festi Weitekamper Richard Welcome
ARTIST’S CIRCLE $1,000+ Neal and Barbara Aaron Christine and Terry Baehr Karl and Barbara Becker Dede Bethke Dom and Estie Bonanno Louis Bonasso Nancy and David Borghesi Michael Braz Jason Breeden Alice and Juergen Brockmann Richard and Bonnie Burnette John and Patricia Canzano Michael and Ginger Caporal Diane Clark Roger and Mary Coe John and Barbara Collins Bill and Linda DeArment Eileen and Jerry Durkin Buck and Karen Edwards Wayne Effron and Gail Kaess Linda Ellis Sally Evans Hudson and Barbara Fesche Peter Forbes Charles Frost Joseph and Pauline Gareau Debbie Graves Pat and Jill Graybeal Michael Harris Charles and Ann Harrison Karin and George Haupstein Ford and Patricia Hutchinson Mario and Jennifer Incorvaia Alan and Karen Jordan Ken and Kryl Kerr Don and Kitty Krahnke Juan and Christine Lacerda
Alice and Andy Lattal Donald Lattimer Myla Kramer and Larry Lerner Rosalyn Lester Michael and Susan Levine John McLaughlin and Judy McCracken Richard and Carol McCusker Joann McElravy Paul and Mary McEvoy 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 Trish and Joe Olshefski John A. Patterson Willis and Suzanne Post Gene and Margaret Rainville Sylvia Richards George Sakakini Robert and Pamela Savage Anne Senf Jon and Iris Shaver Charles and Patricia Sinatra Hendrik and Mieke Smit Richard and Sally Steedman Judith Tauscher Judy Walker Bill and Jolynn Wayne Georgia and Henry West Richard and Barbara Wiles Julie Williams Lois Wilson Lee and Ruth Wilwerding Barbara Wolf Paul and Phyllis Zaffaroni William and Kathleen Zurilla
PRINCIPAL $500+ Anonymous Christian and Mary Catherine Albright David and Nancy Ames Frank and Linda Babel Sherman and Carol Barker Aaron Breeden James and Thor Burns Beverly Chell David Coquillette Alexander Cruden Linda DeLuca Charles and Linda Eberly Marc and Paula Feinberg Tom and Susan Finn Dennis and Patricia Foley Chuck and Maggie Ford John and Lesley Gilbert Mary Ann and John Goodrich George and Cynthia Gorski-Popiel
Deborah Graves Larry and Ann Gunn Lynn Gustafson Kenneth and Louise Hagstrom James Hales and Sally Tarley George and Sara Hall Ted Haslam Lawrence Hazzard Anne and Peter Holmi Henry and Angela Horne Howard and Patricia Hornstra Billy and Stacey Howe Nancy Hudak Sandy and Tom Jernigan Hart and Jane Joseph Betty Ann Keane Miyoko Lotto Ingrid Low James and Clare Mackie Eric and Janice Magnin Jeanne and Joseph Maguire Henry Martin Lloyd and Carolyn Martin Judy Matchett Evelyn McNair Charlie and Carol Moore William and Jane Murray Glen and Linda Neff Thomas Noble Alan and Hannah Obstler Wilson and Emily Oelkers John and Sue Parsons Dale and Judy Peters Nina and Stewart Rodman Frances and Charles Sampson Susan Suhr Willis and Doris Shay Russell and Lois Southwick Bill and Sheila Standen Gerald and Dorothy Swimmer Jim and Gail Titus John and Elizabeth Vinton Blake and Peggy Trecker White Marti Willits and Doug Nabholz Buzz and Rhetta Yount
SUPPORTER $250+ James Edward Alexander Karen Attaway Richard Avrit and Jeanne Guy Trudy Backus Fredercik and Kathleen Barrett Bruce and Cherry Baumgartner William Bender Malcolm and Jillian Binks Colette Burrus Paul Capron and Joan Deery Susanne Clark Howard Coonley and Carol Clapp Beth and Jeffrey Corry Patrick and Suzanne Crippen Joan Dallos Marty and Richard Davis Bill and Nancy Dix Pamela Dyer Jacqueline Fesq
List as of Sept. 30, 2021. Occasionally mistakes and omissions occur. Please let us know if there is an error in your listing.
HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Jay and Bonnie Finch Barbara and Joe Fudjack Michael and Leslie Gilroy Mary and David Harder Jack Hittle David and LeighAnn Howitt Kae Jacobs Jacquelyn James John and Carol Lang Lee Lopez Joe and Nancy LoPresti Blaine and Lynne Lotz Diana Mcleod Robert and Marcia Metzger Marguerite Miletic Carl and Patricia Miller John Miller Barry and Susan Moore Harry Morales and Tami Bream David and Dorothy Murphy Jeffrie and Louis Natale Nancy and Jim Nissley Jo Nuce Lynn Oberg Joseph and Linda Palmiero James and Kathleen Panepinto J. P. and Mary Parekh Florence Portoghese William and Andi Purple Phillip Py Douglas Reid Blake and Marjorie Robinson Louise Rose Susan Ross Richard and Nancy Schulman Regina Silletti Neil and Barbara Snow Susan Sundvall William and Grace Tiernay Don and Janie Weeks Coleman Jon and Sally Ann Wormley
FRIEND > $250 Bob and Shirley Alberti Nancy Allen David and Kathryn Alven Enid Anderson Lisa Anderson Joel Aronson Peggy and Vic Arrington Michelle Audet Jim and Sheila Baden Christel Badey Helen Baker Bruce Beasley Bradley Behr Jordan Berliner and Maria Velez Debbie and Jens Berling Robert and Sally Berman James and Pamela Bernard Alan Bise Kent and Ellen Blocker Stanton and Judy Bluestone Donald Bogard Harry Bowie III James and Dukene Brady Dick and Gerry Brooks Henry and Nancy Brown Barbara Butler Gilbert Campbell
Carl Canzanelli William and Christine Carr Danilo and Virginia Castro Thomas Cavanaugh Joe and Linda Cervone Suzanne Chang Jerry Chappell Robert Chodkowski Fred Compton Stan Cooke Pam and Peter Cooper Lynn Cordy Kathy and Wayne Corley Jean-Marie Cote Roger Cowdery Patti Crist John Cunningham Ron and Natalie Daise Connie Davidson Martha Lou Davis John and Brenda Denton J. Edward Diamond Laurette Doscher Anna Doyle Melvin Drayton Morris and Lou Drucker Francis and Margaret Dunne Kenneth Eickhoff Wendie Elovich Janet England-Bender Ruth Fenster Yale Ferguson Mike and Ann Ferguson Maureen Fowler Tom and Bobbi Fox Robert and Diane Friedman Preston Gada John Geisler Francois and Claudette Genest Anna Gillespie Janet Godfrey Pamela Gray Maria and Theodore Gregg Kent and Pennie Grimes Charlotte Gulden Patricia Gwynne Carol Gyllenhoff Lavonne Hales Brian and Terri Haley Aubrey Hall John Hall Kurt and Linda Hanaway Sam Handley Sharry Harrison David Hawkey Jeanne Hawkey Colin and Maureen Hawkins James Hawn Ann Herrick Terry and Mary Jo Herron Jon Hill Michael and Lisa Hills Mary Kay Hoffman Joanne Hom Andra Hooper Aaron Horton Kelli Horton Dorothy Horvath Lois Hoyt-Berry Jan and Randy Hudson Ann and Bill Huff
Jean and Bob Huff Gregory Hunt Terrina jackson Diane Jadown James and Nancy Johns Donald Jost Roger and Pam Kahn Deborah Quarry Kasten Jane Kendall Patricia Kenworthy Lorienne Kolkebeck Gary and Rosemary Kratz Charles and Janet Kreitler Robert Kruppa John Kuchinow Joseph Kyle Gary Lambert Gayle and Jim Lang Linda Lanza-Kaduce Peter Leff Guilles Lessard Carol Liff Eleanor Lightsey Joseph and Doris Lindner John and Elizabeth Loda Ed Logue Barbara Loots William and Joanna Lynn Donna Mack Eric Mack Myriam and Kevin Mackey William MacLeod Nicholas and Allison Macropoulos Dot and Joe Maggi Virginia Mairs Ray Makalous Laura Marks Gail McGavack Terri McGee Doris McGinnis Robert McKelvey Joyce McNeill Edwin and Valerie Melendez Laureen Merrill Brittany Miller Shauna Miller Ed and Nancy Millette Richard Mitchell Linda Mitchell-Powell Christa and Dan Mondoro Paul Moore Arthur Morrow George and Stella Moyser Lucia and Christian Mueller Diana Nadanyi Michael and Cathy Nairne Linda Neidl Shannon Nowak Gale Odom Patricia O’Dwyer Beverly Parschauer Carolyn Patterson Sarah Patton Rona Payne George and Shirley Pearse Betsy Pehrson Barbara and Emil Peterson Lucia Pirisi-Creek Neal and Shirlene Post Kathy Quirk Alan Rains
Bill and Jan Raisch Hank Ramsey Connie Randall Pat and Richard Rapp Edward and Lorainne Regenye Tina Reich Larry Ricciardelli James Richardson John Richardson Craig and Pat Rider Gloria Rohr Bob and Betsy Roll Mary Rollier Richard Rothbard David Ruckno Michael and Karen Rudy Leslie Samuel David and Loni Saunders Jill Schiffman Laura and David Schreiber Alice Schulte Van and Lauren Schwiebert Bob and Jeanne Shamo Kate and Kip Sheeline John and Linda Sheppard Ann and Jim Sidford Alexandra Skevington Patricia Smith Dennis Smith Sophie Solomon Jeff and Bev South Rich and Marcy Spencer Danielle St. John Donald Staffa Christopher Steele Paul Stemzynski and Pamela Stiles Polly Sten Nancy Stermer Michael and Elaine Stout Lauren and Dennis Stuligross Carol Sussman William Sutton Barbara Swift Karen Tabor Peter Takacs Ruth Tebrake Lisa Marie Temple William Thorsen Murray Turka Robert and Lorraine Valenti Donna Varner Rick and Carol Vivona Cynthia Walker Alice Walton Larry and Peg Weber Denise Wells Betty Welt Debbie Wenner-Waterman Ann West Karen West Katrinka Wilder Harry Williams James Williams Nancy Williams Bob and Jane Wintz Art and Rebecca Wirth Jerry Witowski Randi Wolfe Perry Wood Karola Wright Jane Zinda 2021-2022
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HHSO’S 40TH SEASON
SUPPORTING THE MUSIC We thank the following businesses, foundations, and public organizations that supported the HHSO during the 2020-2021 season (a year in which a program was not printed) and/or have committed support during the Orchestra’s 2021-2022 season.
OFFICIAL HOTEL
HHIPC SPONSORS
Sonesta Resort Hilton Head Island
Correll Insurance Custom Audio Video, LLC The Great Frame Up Herrin Piano Hilton Head Lexus Rice Music House Savannah Hilton Head International Airport Steinway & Sons
SERIES SPONSORS Coastal Home Coligny Plaza
PERFORMANCE WEEKEND SPONSORS Boys, Arnold Wealth Management Charter One Realty The Cypress of Hilton Head Forsythe Jewelers Group 3 and Pyramids Hilton Head BMW SERG Group
The Bargain Box Courtyard by Marriott Hilton Head Island thefrenchguyphotography HHI Motoring Festival and Concours d’Elegance
PERFORMANCE SPONSORS
FOUNDATIONS
Anonymous Hilton Head Dental Team McGriff Insurance Services/PURE Insurance Rockfish Seafood and Steaks at Bomboras T-Mobile TidePointe, A Vi Community
Breedlove Foundation Coastal States Bank Community Commitment Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelly Foundation Heritage Classic Foundation Community Foundation of the Lowcountry
SPECIAL EVENT SPONSORS Beach Properties Dividend Assets Capital, LLC Engel and Völkers LOCALLife Royal Restrooms
SOUNDWAVES EVENT SPONSORS Curry Printing HHI, Inc. Island Funeral Home and Crematory
PARTICIPATING SUPPORTERS Carey and Company The Greenery Mercedes-Benz of Hilton Head South State Bank
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HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
OTHER BUSINESS SUPPORT
PUBLIC SUPPORT Hilton Head Island Office of Cultural Affairs Town of Bluffton Town of Hilton Head South Carolina Arts Commission
This list is compiled as of September 30, 2021. Additional support committed after the printing of this program book will be recognized elsewhere. Occasionally, mistakes and omissions occur. Please let us know if there is an error in your listing.
MEET THE CONDUCTOR
A master of American musical style, John Morris Russell has devoted himself to redefining the American orchestral experience. In his tenth 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.
JOHN MORRIS RUSSELL
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. 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, Sutton Foster, George Takei, Megan Hilty, Steve Martin, Edie Brickell, Over the Rhine, Brian Wilson, Leslie Odom, Jr., and Paul Shaffer. Widely considered one of North America’s leaders in orchestral educational programming, Mr. Russell helped develop and conducted the LinkUP! 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. 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. The Sound Discoveries series Mr. Russell developed with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in 1997 remains a leading model for educational concerts across the country. In Windsor, Ontario he created the Peanut Butter n’ Jam series for young children, Family Jamboree and the One Community-One Symphony project that engaged a dozen high school performing ensembles. 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 MUSIC DIRECTOR AND CONDUCTOR
“Mr. Russell is in his tenth
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.”
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. 2021-2022
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Sibelius Violin Concerto SIBELIUS VIOLIN CONCERTO
SPONSOR
OCTOBER 24 & 25, 2021
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Sunday, October 24, 2021 Monday, October 25, 2021
SEASON SPONSOR
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HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
John Morris Russell, Music Director and Conductor Robert and Margaret Gallagher Memorial Chair
SIBELIUS VIOLIN CONCERTO
2021-2022 | 40TH SEASON Sunday, October 24, 2021 • 4:00 pm Monday, October 25, 2021 • 7:30 pm John Morris Russell, Conductor William Hagen, Violin
PROGRAM LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21 Adagio molto – Allegro con brio Andante cantabile con moto Menuetto: Allegro molto e vivace Finale: Adagio – Allegro molto e vivace INTERMISSION
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Leonore Overture No. 3 in C major, Op. 72b
OCTOBER 24 & 25, 2021
Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47 Allegro moderato Adagio di molto Allegro, ma non tanto William Hagen, Violin
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JEAN SIBELIUS
2021-2022
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MEET THE ARTIST
Already a seasoned international performer who has won friends around the world, William has been hailed as a “brilliant virtuoso…a standout” (The Dallas Morning News) with “an intellectual command of line and score, and just the right amount of power” (violinist.com). In 2021, he makes his debuts with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe at the Rheingau Music Festival, and appears at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.
Photo: Matt Clayton
WILLIAM HAGEN VIOLIN
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Sibelius Violin Concerto October 24 & 25, 2021
OCTOBER 24 & 25, 2021
SIBELIUS VIOLIN CONCERTO
WILLIAM HAGEN
The riveting 28-year-old American violinist, William Hagen, was the third-prize winner of the 2015 Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition, one of the highest-ranking Americans ever in the prestigious competition.
“William also released his debut album, “Danse Russe,” with his good friend and frequent collaborator, pianist Albert Cano Smit.”
William’s 2019-20 season featured performances with the Sacramento and Savannah Philharmonics, the North Carolina and Omaha Symphonies, and Symphoria, with recitals for the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, and the Colburn School. William also released his debut album, “Danse Russe,” with his good friend and frequent collaborator, pianist Albert Cano Smit. In 2018-19 he performed under Carlos Kalmar, Peter Bay, Brett Mitchell, and Alexander Prior with the San Francisco Symphony. His 201718 season featured debuts with the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra conducted by Christoph Eschenbach and the Seattle Symphony directed by Pablo Rus Broseta, and return engagements with the Utah Symphony under the direction of Matthias Pintscher and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra led by Andrew Gourlay. William has performed with conductor Nicolas McGegan both at the Aspen Music Festival and with the Pasadena Symphony; made his debut with the Oregon Symphony under Carlos Kalmar; and performed with the Brussels Chamber Orchestra in Beijing and at the Aspen Music Festival with conductor Ludovic Morlot. He also played recitals in Paris, Brussels, and at the Ravinia Festival. Collaborations include those with Steven Isserlis at the Wigmore Hall, with Tabea Zimmermann at the Beethovenhaus in Bonn, with Gidon Kremer, Steven Isserlis, and Christian Tetzlaff in Germany, and in New York City with the Jupiter Chamber Players. Since his debut with the Utah Symphony at age nine, William has performed with conductors such as Marin Alsop, Christian Arming, Placido Domingo, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Michel Tabachnik and Hugh Wolff. A native of Salt Lake City, William first heard the violin when he was 3 and began taking lessons at age 4 with Natalie Reed, followed by Deborah Moench. At age 10, he began studying with Robert Lipsett at the Colburn School in Los Angeles, where he studied until the age of 17. After studying at The Juilliard School for two years with Itzhak Perlman, William returned to Los Angeles to continue studying with Robert Lipsett at the Colburn Conservatory. He is currently enrolled at the Kronberg Academy in Germany, where he is a student of Christian Tetzlaff. William is an alumnus of the Verbier Academy in Switzerland, the Perlman Music Program, and the Aspen Music Festival. He performs on the 1732 ‘Arkwright Lady Rebecca Sylvan’ Stradivarius, on generous loan from the Rachel Barton Pine Foundation.
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PROGRAM NOTES
ABOUT THE MUSIC by Jonathan Aceto
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Beethoven launched into composing his first symphony sometime in the late 1790s, as evidenced by sketches found within counterpoint exercises he wrote for his teacher Johann Albrechtsberger. The symphony was premiered on April 2, 1800, at the K.K. Theater an der Burg (the Austrian National Theater) on a concert which was Beethoven’s Vienna debut.
The opening to the Finale is just as remarkable as the first movement’s opening. After a jarring sforzando “G” from the whole orchestra, the first violins slowly and quietly play three notes of a scale. They start again and play up to the fourth note. Then again, and again, always adding a note and always changing the rhythm. It is one of the oddest and most suspenseful moments in all of orchestral repertoire. Finally, after the violins reach the seventh note, they explode forth with the entire scale and the Allegro molto is underway. It is a playful movement that explores all the fun a composer can have with a simple scale.
Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47 Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
OCTOBER 24 & 25, 2021
Of course, Beethoven did not stop there. The first movement progresses along a standard sonataallegro form, with Beethoven splendidly using the color of each woodwind. The Andante cantabile opens with a delicate, swaying melody that is imitated throughout the orchestra and once again Beethoven uses the full color palate available to him. The Menuetto features Beethoven’s love of dynamic contrasts as it constantly shifts from pianissimo to fortissimo and back. Also on display are drastic key changes, a melody based
on an upward scale, and an overall character that foreshadows his unique concept of the Scherzo.
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Being such an early work, one can hear the influence of Haydn and Mozart; nevertheless, Beethoven’s genius and inventiveness shine through. The opening series of chords is an excellent example. Three times a dissonant harmony resolves into a consonant one, but each time it is the “wrong” harmony, leaving the listener rather confused. It is only after the third resolution that we finally get both a melody from the 1st violins and a firm sense of the actual key of the piece. Furthermore, all these chords have been sustained by the woodwinds, with strings merely adding a pizzicato sting to each chord. Altogether, this 12-measure adagio opening would have been something new and bizarre to the audience of turnof-the-century Vienna.
SIBELIUS VIOLIN CONCERTO
Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21
Jean Sibelius is arguably the most famous composer of Finland and indeed his music was used to create a national identity when the Finnish people separated from the Russian Empire in 1917. Sibelius started playing the violin in 1875 at age 10 and soon began playing chamber music with his siblings and neighbors. Eventually, he attended the Helsinki Music Institute (currently named the Sibelius Academy) and later studied composition with Ferruccio Busoni, Robert Fuchs 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. In 1904, Sibelius wrote a violin concerto which was to be performed in Berlin by German violinist Willy Burmester. Sibelius, however, changed his mind and decided to premier the concerto in Helsinki, for which Burmester could not be present. The solo honor went to Victor Nováček, an illustrious teacher 2021-2022
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SIBELIUS VIOLIN CONCERTO
at the Helsinki Institute of Music. Unfortunately, the combination of Sibelius only completing the work just before the concert and Nováček not really being a soloist resulted in the premier being a flop. Subsequently, Sibelius made several revisions to the work and brought out the new version in 1905. Willy Burmester was again asked to perform, but again he could not make the concert and so the orchestra concertmaster became the soloist. By this time, Burmester was fed up with the whole process and refused to ever play the concerto. Thus, Sibelius ended up dedicating it to the Hungarian prodigy Ferenc von Vecsey.
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Interestingly, the original version, a technically farmore difficult work, remained hidden to violinists until 1991, when the heirs of Sibelius allowed the Greek virtuoso, Leonidas Kavakos, access to the original manuscripts. Out of this came the sole recording of the original concerto on the BIS label with Osmo Vänskä conducting the Lahti Symphony Orchestra. To this writer’s ears, the revisions turned a good but typical-sounding concerto into a brilliant, evocative masterpiece.
cadenza, which Sibelius inserts at the beginning of the development section. The movement ends with an extraordinary display of octaves as the solo violin and orchestra have one last argument. The two reconcile in the second movement and we get a glorious, expansive solo melody that is lovingly supported by the orchestra. The last movement features a string technique that is endearingly known as “shoe-shine” bowing. The melody is a jaunty dotted rhythm in which every beat has one fast note. That note is played by snapping the bow away from the body in a downward motion, like an old-fashioned shoeshine. It is an easy and satisfying technique to execute. Meanwhile, the orchestra supplies an actual heartbeat, helping to propel the music into a marvelous climax in the middle of the piece. The “shoeshine” music returns and the solo
OCTOBER 24 & 25, 2021
Speaking of evocative, the opening is one of the most unique, mesmerizing moments in concerto literature. The upper strings play a quiet D minor ostinato that is both alive and incredibly still, like mist over a frozen lake. The solo violin appears like a ship in the distance, playing a melody that seems devoid of rhythm or meter. Indeed, often throughout the first movement the violin and orchestra are seemingly at odds with each other, equal partners in a dynamic conversation. The soloist decides to interrupt the conversation with the 48
First Strings | Lynn Schramm HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
violin is swept up again into the stormy orchestra. Surprisingly, after such dramatic music, the ending is simply the solo violin climbing up to the final note with the orchestra supplying a couple of chords.
Leonore Overture No. 3 in C major, Op. 72b Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
SIBELIUS VIOLIN CONCERTO
Leonore | Ann K. Walsh
• OCTOBER 24 & 25, 2021
Believe it or not, there are 4 Leonore overtures! Beethoven began writing an opera in 1804, initially called Leonore and it premiered a year later in Vienna a week after Napoleon invaded the city. The first overture he composed (what we now call Leonore No. 2) was more symphonic than the one you will hear tonight, yet both pieces feature powerful, dramatic music that ultimately would have been too much heard right before the subdued opening scene of the opera. Beethoven realized this and wrote a third overture that better introduces the opera, a work subsequently renamed Fidelio at the request of the theater. At one point, however, there was going to be a production of Leonore in Prague in 1807 for which Beethoven worked out yet one more version of the overture. That score was only found after Beethoven’s death and scholars of the mid-nineteenth century thought it was the earliest version, so it was labeled Leonore No. 1. As if this was not confusing enough, there began in the mid-1800s a tradition of inserting the entire Leonore No. 3 right before the final scene in productions of Fidelio. No less a conductor than Toscanini favored this idea, although by the 1950s it had fallen out of favor. Musically, this overture has all the characteristics of a great Beethoven work: surprising key changes; sudden dynamic changes; long, suspenseful buildups; passages in off-beats; and, of course, stirring tunes. Listen for the off-stage trumpet, heralding that Florestan, the main character, has received a commuted sentence and will be freed from prison. Later in the piece, the flute, oboe and first violins seemingly run out of steam as they get softer and almost fade into nothingness. Suddenly, the violins explode with a cascade of rising scales that soar upward, change direction, then begin repeating as the other string sections join in, one at a time. It is another exhilarating moment of Beethoven’s genius!
2021-2022
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MICHELLE CANN PLAYS FLORENCE PRICE
Michelle Cann Plays Florence Price SPONSOR
NOVEMBER 14 & 15, 2021
•
Sunday, November 14, 2021 Monday, November 15, 2021
SEASON SPONSOR
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HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
MICHELLE CANN PLAYS FLORENCE PRICE
John Morris Russell, Music Director and Conductor Robert and Margaret Gallagher Memorial Chair
2021-2022 | 40TH SEASON Sunday, November 14, 2021 • 4:00 pm Monday, November 15, 2021 • 7:30 pm John Morris Russell, Conductor Michelle Cann, Piano
PROGRAM
FLORENCE PRICE
Piano Concerto in One Movement Michelle Cann, Piano
INTERMISSION
FELIX MENDELSSOHN
Symphony No. 5 in D major, Op. 107, “Reformation” Andante – Allegro con fuoco Allegro vivace Andante Chorale: Andante con moto – Allegro vivace
NOVEMBER 14 & 15, 2021
On the Town: Three Dance Episodes The Great Lover Lonely Town (Pas de deux) Times Square: 1944
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LEONARD BERNSTEIN
2021-2022
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MEET THE ARTIST
NOVEMBER 14 & 15, 2021
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MICHELLE CANN PLAYS FLORENCE PRICE
MICHELLE CANN
Concert pianist Michelle Cann is a young artist committed to performing and teaching a wide range of repertoire. She made her orchestral debut at age fourteen and has since performed with various ensembles including the Florida Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra. She has appeared as guest soloist with the Knoxville Symphony and The Dream Unfinished Orchestra and performed with The Philadelphia Orchestra in its debut of Florence Price’s Concerto in One Movement in February, 2021. She regularly appears in recital and as a chamber musician throughout the U.S., China, and South Korea. Notable venues include the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and the Bermuda Festival. Recently, she performed with members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in its Green Umbrella series at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and again at the Barbican in London.
Photo: Steven Mareazi Willis
MICHELLE CANN PIANO
Michelle Cann Plays Florence Price
November 14 & 15, 2021
“Ms. Cann has appeared as co-host and collaborative pianist with NPR’s “From The Top” and has been featured on WRTI and WHYY-TV in Philadelphia.”
Ms. Cann has won top prizes in state, national, and international competitions including the International Russian Music Piano Competition, the Blount Slawson Young Artists Competition, and the Wideman International Piano Competition. In 2019 she served as the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s MAC Music Innovator in recognition of her role as an African-American classical musician who embodies artistry, innovation, and a commitment to education and community engagement. Ms. Cann has appeared as co-host and collaborative pianist with NPR’s “From The Top” and has been featured on WRTI and WHYY-TV in Philadelphia. Her summer festival appearances include the Taos Chamber Music Festival, Yellow Barn, Perlman Music Program, and Pianofest in the Hamptons, where she served as artist-in-residence. She has served as the director of two children’s choruses in the El Sistemainspired program “Play On Philly” and was among the first class of Community Artist fellows at the Curtis Institute of Music. Ms. Cann holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Paul Schenly and Daniel Shapiro, and an Artist’s Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Robert McDonald. Ms. Cann served on the faculty of the Sphinx Performance Academy during their inaugural year at The Juilliard School and performed in the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra during its 23rd competition. She joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2020, holding the Eleanor Sokoloff Chair in Piano Studies.
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HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
PROGRAM NOTES
MICHELLE CANN PLAYS FLORENCE PRICE
ABOUT THE MUSIC by Jonathan Aceto
Three Dance Episodes from On the Town Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)
Piano Concerto in One Movement Florence Price (1887-1953)
In the world of early African-American composers, Florence Price ranks among the stars, more so because she is a she! Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, her father was the only black dentist in the city and her mother was a music teacher. Price majored in piano and organ at the New England Conservatory, and also studied composition with George Chadwick and Frederick Converse. After a short time living back in Arkansas, she moved to Chicago where she continued to study music with several teachers, playing organ for silent films to help pay the bills.
NOVEMBER 14 & 15, 2021
In 1945, Bernstein decided to create a suite from the show for orchestras to play in concert. It was premiered in 1946 by the San Francisco Symphony with Bernstein conducting. The first episode, “The Great Lover” describes one of the lead sailors traveling on the subway. He falls asleep and has a dream about sweeping “Miss Turnstiles” off her feet. The music opens with the hustle and bustle of the subway charging down the tracks and is replete with accents and metric displacement. The second episode deals with a high school girl, walking through Central Park, who is wooed and then dumped by another sailor. This Pas de Deux features the song “Lonely Town” and is a great aural representation of the sadness and hopelessness that can come from New York. This section is also the most reminiscent of Aaron Copland’s style and
The final movement is “Times Square: 1944” in which the sailors hang out at that famous intersection. This episode really personifies New York, with jazzy syncopation, frantic scurrying by various instruments, and driving rhythmic complexity. There are two songs from the show interwoven into the musical fabric. “New York, New York” is heard, both in its original form played by the trumpet and in a slower, bluesy form by the saxophone. There is also a brief, raunchy version of the song “Come Up to My Place” played by the trumpet.
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This is a great example of how one work of art can grow out of another. Jerome Robbins, the legendary dancer, choreographer and director, created the ballet Fancy Free in 1944 which featured music by Leonard Bernstein. It was a big hit for the American Ballet Theater and was the work that launched both artist’s careers. Shortly after, Robbins and Bernstein were convinced to work the story and music into a musical and began developing it with lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Later that same year, On the Town opened on Broadway to strong reviews. One of the backers of the production was MGM Studios, which released a film version of the musical in 1949 starring Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra, but which also replaced many of the songs with new ones by Roger Edens. The story details the adventures of three sailors on 24-hour leave who experience New York City for the first time.
one can easily hear the influence of Bernstein’s mentor.
It was at this point Price became friends with Margaret Bonds, another important black pianist and composer, who subsequently introduced her to Langston Hughes and Marian Anderson. Price began receiving national attention for her music and performances, most notably winning first prize in the Wanamaker Foundation Awards in 1932 for her Symphony in E minor. That prize led Maude George, president of the National Association of Negro 2021-2022
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Musicians, to pay to have the symphony performed by the Chicago Symphony in 1933 as part of the Century of Progress World’s Fair. Price went on to compose hundreds of works for orchestra, chamber ensembles, voice and piano, and solo piano, often using melodies and rhythms characteristic of traditional African-American music, especially that of spirituals. Although the changing tastes of the latter half of the 20th century caused much of Florence Price’s music to be considered passé, it has surged in popularity in the last couple of decades. One reason for this surely was the surprise discovery in 2009 of dozens of unknown works in an abandoned house in St. Anne, Illinois. Included in the treasure trove of scores was a fourth symphony, two violin concertos, and three different settings of Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight. Currently, all her music is available from G. Schirmer, the prominent international publisher.
Symphony No. 5 in D major, Op. 107, “Reformation” Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
This symphony, named by Felix’s sister Fanny, is actually his second but it was the last to be
NOVEMBER 14 & 15, 2021
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Popularly known as the Piano Concerto in One Movement, this work was premiered in 1934 in Chicago with Florence Price performing. The original manuscript of the score was lost for many
years, but composer Trevor Weston reconstructed a score based on a two-piano manuscript version coupled with some individual orchestra parts. In 2019, however, an original score was discovered at an auction, enabling two Cornell University music professors and the Philadelphia Orchestra to create a definitive edition with the correct orchestration. This version, which was premiered by Michelle Cann, you will hear tonight. Although the concerto is one continuous piece, it is set up like a typical concerto with three distinct sections. The first, in a minor key, is stormy and dramatic. The second displays Price’s great affinity for spirituals and features a beautiful dialogue between piano and oboe. The third has the jaunty syncopations of the “Juba,” an African-based dance developed by plantation slaves.
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Intrusion | Earline Allen HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Beethoven and Mendelssohn’s own overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The third movement, an Andante, features the 1st violins in a beautiful aria-like melody.
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The last movement begins with a single flutist playing Martin Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress is our God,” leading into the Allegro vivace which is both serious and joyously triumphant. The chorale tune makes appearances at various times and with various instruments, culminating in a slow and grand statement by the entire orchestra at the end.
NOVEMBER 14 & 15, 2021
Mendelssohn, a great admirer of both Bach and Beethoven, wanted to create something that would celebrate Protestantism but not in a traditional manner with a choir. From Beethoven, he took the new idea that a symphony can end not simply with a happy rondo but majestically and with power. He also was taken with “program” music, the idea that there can be a narrative or story behind the music as he had recently incorporated in the Hebrides Overture. Mendelssohn decided to create a work showing the triumph of Protestantism over Catholicism.
MICHELLE CANN PLAYS FLORENCE PRICE
published, hence the common designation of fifth. It was written in 1830 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the presentation of the Augsburg Confession to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. The Augsburg Confession, also known as the Augustan Confession, is the official declaration of faith within the Lutheran Church and a vital document of the Protestant Reformation. Mendelssohn did not finish the work in time for officials to choose it for the celebration on June 25th, although some scholars speculate that the decision was also based on the length and breadth of the work. It was not until 1832 that the symphony was finally performed in Berlin, but by then he had grown to regard the work as too “juvenile”, even going so far as to say he wished he could destroy it.
The symphony opens slowly and reverentially, with strong calls to action in the brass as the strings play the “Dresden Amen,” a six-note upward sequence that was popular in churches and which would represent the old Catholicism. The main part of the movement, an Allegro con fuoco, explodes forth with the brass battle-call played by the whole orchestra, the strings providing stormy conflict with 16th-note passages. The second movement is a charming Scherzo and Trio with shades of 2021-2022
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Holiday Pops
HOLIDAY POPS
SPONSOR
Monday, November 29, 2021
NOVEMBER 28 & 29, 2021
•
Sunday, November 28, 2021
SEASON SPONSOR
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HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
John Morris Russell, Music Director and Conductor Robert and Margaret Gallagher Memorial Chair
2021-2022 40th Season Sunday, November 28, 2021 • 4:00 pm Monday, November 29, 2021 • 7:30 pm
DON SEBESKY
A Christmas Scherzo
ARR. MATT CATINGUB
Rise Up Shepherd and Follow Ashleigh Smith, Soprano
ARR. HERSHY KAY
Deck the Halls Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Chorus
JEFF TYZIK
Behold the Lights Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Chorus
LEROY ANDERSON
Sleigh Ride
SERGEI PROKOFIEV
Troika from Lieutenant Kijé
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
Violoncello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major, Op. 107 Allegretto Brandon Leonard, Cello
ARR. GRACE PRICE/ ROBERT BLACK
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear Ashleigh Smith, Soprano
ARR. JIM GRAY
I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm Ashleigh Smith, Soprano
JOHN RUTTER
Star Carol Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Chorus
ARR. MICHAEL BRAZ
A Suite of Carols Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Chorus Joy to the World I Heard the Bells Here We Come a’ Caroling Oh Come all Ye Faithful We Wish You a Merry Christmas
NOVEMBER 28 & 29, 2021
PROGRAM
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HOLIDAY POPS
John Morris Russell, Conductor Ashleigh Smith, Soprano Brandon Leonard, Cello, 2021 HHSO Youth Concerto Competition Winner Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Chorus, Michael Schwartzkopf, Director
2021-2022
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John Morris Russell, Music Director and Conductor Robert and Margaret Gallagher Memorial Chair
2021-2022 40th Season Sunday, November 28, 2021 • 4:00 pm Monday, November 29, 2021 • 7:30 pm
HOLIDAY POPS
John Morris Russell, Conductor Ashleigh Smith, Soprano Brandon Leonard, Cello, 2021 HHSO Youth Concerto Competition Winner Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Chorus, Michael Schwartzkopf, Director
NOVEMBER 28 & 29, 2021
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INTERMISSION
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ARR. ROB MOUNSEY
The First Noel
ARR. TIM BERENS
Joy
ARR. MATT CATINGUB
Patapan
ARR. ROB MOUNSEY
We Three Kings Ashleigh Smith, Soprano
JOHN RUTTER
Candlelight Carol Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Chorus
ARR. ROB MOUNSEY
Hark!
TIMOTHY OLT
Bells of St. Michael
HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
MEET THE ARTIST
Raised in a nurturing, musically-enriched household with her two sisters in LaGrange, Georgia, Ashleigh Smith seemed destined to become a musician. Her mother sang constantly even though she’s a physical therapist by trade, while her father is a pianist and former school band director. Ashleigh’s grandfather played jazz saxophone, her grandmother played classical piano and sang, and an uncle played jazz trumpet. At the age of four, she began singing along with records her father played. “I would just imitate everything. When I heard Ella Fitzgerald’s ‘How High the Moon,’ that was it for me,” she recalls.
ASHLEIGH SMITH
As a background vocalist for Grammy-winning R&B artist Chrisette Michelle, Ashleigh knows how to work the stage whether she’s with an ensemble or singing solo. She has sung with the world-renowned group The Manhattan Transfer and jazz singer and lyricist Jon Hendricks, performing across the U.S. and Northern Ireland.
ASHLEIGH SMITH
NOVEMBER 28 & 29, 2021
Before she won the 2014 Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Competition, Ashleigh studied classical music at Columbus State University in Georgia on a full-ride scholarship. After attending a jazz camp at the prestigious University of North Texas, she transferred there and transformed her music focus in the rigorous jazz studies program. She won three DownBeat awards, one as a soloist and two as a member of the UNT Jazz Singers. Ashleigh graduated from UNT with a Bachelor’s in Jazz Studies.
Photo: Kauwuane Burton
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Those covers are juxtaposed with enticing originals, many of which she cowrote with bassist Nigel Rivers and guitarist Joel Cross. As a songwriter, Ashleigh explores themes of romantic heartache (“Best Friends,” “Into the Blue,” and “Brokenhearted Girl”), self-empowerment (“Sunkissed”), and universal love (“The World Is Calling”).
HOLIDAY POPS
Ashleigh also absorbed the sounds of Stevie Wonder, Prince, Bill Withers, and Sting during her early years. Those touchstones, and several others, echo on her 2016 Concord debut album, Sunkissed, produced by Chris Dunn and Nigel Rivers. In choosing the covers to include on the album, she was mindful of exploring fresh terrain. That explains her winning renditions of Hall & Oates’ classic, “Sara Smile” and Chrisette Michele’s soul ballad, “Love Is You.” Other tracks include an R&B-inflected makeover of the Beatles’ gem, “Blackbird,” and a mesmerizing a capella version of “Pure Imagination,” which features Ashleigh harmonizing with herself via various overdubs.
SOPRANO
Holiday Pops
November 28 & 29, 2021 “As a background vocalist for Grammy-winning R&B artist Chrisette Michelle, Ashleigh knows how to work the stage whether she’s with an ensemble or singing solo.”
In May 2020, Ashleigh released a single, “In the Rain,” featuring Chantae Cann. It reached No. 1 on the “Indie Soul Charts” for two weeks. With the ability, style and grace to move from jazz, R&B, neo-soul, and funk, Ashleigh’s charisma, sincerity, and energy make her a starlet worth watching.
2021-2022
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MEET THE ARTIST
BRANDON LEONARD
Brandon Leonard began playing the cello in the fourth grade at Kittredge Magnet School in Atlanta, Georgia. He chose to play the cello because he thought “the tone was warm and beautiful.” During fifth grade, Brandon was selected to participate in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Talent Development Program (TDP), studying with Karen Freer. He was introduced to the Talent Development Program by Stacey Thompson, his first orchestra director in elementary school.
NOVEMBER 28 & 29, 2021
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HOLIDAY POPS
Brandon has attended summer music camps at the Atlanta Chamber Music Festival, the Tanglewood Junior Strings Intensive program and the Center Stage Strings program at the University of Michigan. He was a participant in the 2017-2020 Georgia Music Educators (GMEA) All State Middle School Orchestra. He also served as principal cellist in 2017 and 2019 for the GMEA All State Middle School Orchestra and was selected as principal in 2020 for the High School Orchestra. Brandon was also selected as the 2018-2019 principal cellist for the Metropolitan Youth Symphony Orchestra (MYSO) in Atlanta, Georgia, and was a recipient of the 2017, 2018 and 2019 MYSO Scholarship Awards. Currently, he is a member of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra (ASYO) .
BRANDON LEONARD CELLO
Holiday Pops
November 28 & 29, 2021
“Brandon was also selected
as the 2018-2019 principal cellist for the Metropolitan Youth Symphony Orchestra (MYSO) in Atlanta, Georgia, and was a recipient of the 2017, 2018 and 2019 MYSO Scholarship Awards.”
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In 2020, Brandon won 2nd prize in the National Sphinx Competition and the Center Stage Strings Young Artist Solo Competition. Recently, he won the Samuel Fordis Concerto Competition and will be soloing with the Georgia Philharmonic Orchestra. Brandon also enjoys the piano, which he has been playing for about eight years. He is an honor student and participates on his school’s academic bowl team. In church, he participates in the youth ministry and serves as a youth usher. In his spare time, Brandon enjoys playing board games, trivia, watching TV shows from the 70s/80s and listening to music.
HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
MEET THE ARTIST
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.
MICHAEL
SCHWARTZKOPF
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.
MICHAEL SCHWARTZKOPF
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DIRECTOR, HHSO CHORUS
Holiday Pops
November 28 & 29, 2021 “During his 17 years at IU, he was the conductor of the Grammy-nominated Singing Hoosiers, recording 2 CD’s with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra under the late Erich Kunzel.”
2021-2022
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NOVEMBER 28 & 29, 2021
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.
HOLIDAY POPS
During his 17 years at IU, he was the conductor of the Grammy-nominated Singing Hoosiers, recording 2 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.
NOVEMBER 28 & 29, 2021
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HOLIDAY POPS
MEET THE ARTIST
HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CHORUS Holiday Pops
November 28 & 29, 2021
“The chorus is skilled
in a diverse range of repertoire from the opera and Broadway stages to classical works of the great masters and are highly praised for their rich and expressive sound.”
The Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Chorus is an auditioned chorus of professional and professionally-trained 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 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 performed Vivaldi’s Gloria, selections from Handel’s Messiah, Poulenc’s Gloria, Silvestri’s The Polar Express, and an all-Gilbert and Sullivan evening featuring selections from The Mikado, Pirates of Penzance, H.M.S. Pinafore and a semistaged version of 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.
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HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
HOLIDAY POPS
• NOVEMBER 28 & 29, 2021
Cheer | Ann K. Walsh
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2021-2022
Tchaikovsky’s Fifth TCHAIKOVSKY’S FIFTH
SPONSOR
Monday, January 10, 2022
JANUARY 9 & 10, 2022
•
Sunday, January 9, 2022
SEASON SPONSOR
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HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
John Morris Russell, Music Director and Conductor Robert and Margaret Gallagher Memorial Chair
2021-2022 40th Season Sunday, January 9, 2022 • 4:00 pm Monday, January 10, 2022 • 7:30 pm
MARY WATKINS
Soul of Remembrance from Five Movements in Color
CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS
Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22 Andante sostenuto Allegro scherzando Presto Kevin Chen, Piano
INTERMISSION
PIOTR I. TCHAIKOVSKY
Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64 Andante - Allegro con anima Andante cantabile con alcuna licenza Valse: Allegro moderato Finale: Andante maestoso - Allegro vivace
JANUARY 9 & 10, 2022
PROGRAM
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TCHAIKOVSKY’S FIFTH
John Morris Russell, Conductor Kevin Chen, Piano, 2020 Hilton Head International Piano Competition Winner
MEET THE ARTIST
TCHAIKOVSKY’S FIFTH
Tchaikovsky’s Fifth
JANUARY 9 & 10, 2022
KEVIN CHEN
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KEVIN CHEN
PIANO
January 9 & 10, 2022
“Kevin is also an avid
composer of over 100 works including four full symphonies for orchestra and a piano concerto.”
From his earliest years in the musical world, as both pianist and composer, Kevin Chen has received national recognition. At the age of eight, he received first place in the Canadian Music Competition. That same year, he was awarded First Class Honours with Distinction in his ARCT Performer’s Royal Conservatory of Music examination, the youngest ever in Canada to achieve this award. Also in 2013, Kevin was listed in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s “Top 30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians Under 30.” In 2016, he was featured in Maclean’s magazine, in the issue dedicated to the achievements of “100 Remarkable Canadians.” Kevin continues to achieve recognition internationally as well, winning multiple international competitions worldwide. In May 2019, he was a Laureate in the Astana Piano Passion Competition in Kazakhstan. In July 2019, Kevin won first place in the International Piano-e-Competition (Minneapolis, Minnesota) as well as two additional prizes for the best performance of a Schubert and a Russian work. In March 2020, Kevin was awarded first place in the Hilton Head International Piano Competition. In August 2020, he won first place in the Mozart International Piano Competition (Lugano, Switzerland) with the highest mark in both junior and senior categories. In September 2021, Kevin was awarded first prize in the prestigious Liszt International Piano Competition. At age 16, he is the youngest winner in history to receive this prize. Kevin is also an avid composer of over 100 works including four full symphonies for orchestra and a piano concerto. Many were commissioned and performed in concerts and five of his works have been published. Since his orchestral debut with the Abbotsford Youth Orchestra (British Columbia) at the age of seven, Kevin has performed concerts with many symphonies in various parts of Canada, including the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vancouver Island Symphony Orchestra, and the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra. Many of these performances featured Kevin’s own orchestral works. He also performed with the Astana Opera Symphony Orchestra (Kazakhstan), the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Hilton Head (South Carolina) Symphony Orchestra. He has participated in numerous master classes with acclaimed pianists including Emanuel Ax, Alessio Bax, Katherine Chi, John Perry, Minsoo Sohn, and Roman Rabinovich. Kevin is currently studying with Professor Marilyn Engle. In his spare time, he enjoys playing violin with his siblings, computer programming, and solving Rubik’s cubes.
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HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
PROGRAM NOTES
ABOUT THE MUSIC by Jonathan Aceto
Mary D. Watkins (b. 1939)
• JANUARY 9 & 10, 2022
Composer, arranger, producer and pianist, Mary Watkins has immersed herself in just about every aspect of the music world. Raised in Denver, she took piano lessons and won second prize in a local competition, which earned her a season ticket to the Pueblo Civic Symphony. All those concerts convinced Watkins that she wanted to be a composer and subsequently, she received her Bachelor of Music degree from Howard University in 1972. Later, she moved to Los Angeles and began working for the Olivia Records Collective, a business completely owned and operated by women. Her extensive background in jazz piano led her to adapt Tchaikovsky into The Nutcracker Sweetie for the San Francisco-based Dance Brigade. Watkins has even delved into opera, composing Queen Clara, about the founder of the American Red Cross; Dark River, about Fanny Lou Hamer, a civil rights leader who was one of the first African-Americans to register to vote in Mississippi, and most recently, Emmett Till: the Opera.
her own words, “a statement about the AfricanAmerican experience.” Speaking specifically about “Soul of Remembrance,” she said “I saw my own people in their long march to fully express themselves as fully human. It’s bittersweet and nostalgic, a song of sorrow and a song of hope.” It is a magnificent mix of a New Orleans funeral march and a soaring spiritual-like melody, moving inexorably to an unresolved ending.
TCHAIKOVSKY’S FIFTH
“Soul of Remembrance” from Five Movements in Color
Mary Watkins composed Five Movements in Color for the Camellia Orchestra in Sacramento in 1993. The work, written for Black History Month, is, in I Love My Piano | Marianne Stillwagon 2021-2022
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Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22 Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
TCHAIKOVSKY’S FIFTH
Camille Saint-Saëns was a significant French composer, organist and pianist during the romantic era, extending into the early twentieth century. A gifted musical prodigy equal to Mozart, he was admitted to the Paris Conservatoire as an organist at the tender age of 13 and his early career was as an organist to a couple of prominent Parisian churches. Saint-Saëns later spent five years as a piano teacher in the École de Musique Classique et Religieuse where, among many students, he taught Gabriel Fauré. In 1865 he left the school and devoted his career to composing and touring as a pianist. In 1904 he had a fascinating opportunity to record several of his piano pieces, including bits of his Second Piano Concerto, for the Gramophone Company of London.
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As a composer, Saint-Saëns is a bit of a contradiction in that he admired the most modern of composers at the time, Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt, yet wrote music decidedly from an 18th century classical approach. Still, his music has all the lyricism and grand beauty that one would expect from a romantic composer.
JANUARY 9 & 10, 2022
Camille Saint-Saëns wrote his second piano concerto in 1868 and dedicated it to Madame de Villers. However, it was inspired by a series of concerts given in Paris by the great Russian pianist Anton Rubenstein. Saint-Saëns had been conducting the orchestra for Rubenstein and, near the end of the series, Rubenstein decided he wanted a try at the podium. Saint-Saëns immediately began work on a concerto and 17 days later he had a piece on which he would be the soloist and Rubenstein the conductor. True to his classical leanings, the orchestra is scored with the traditional woodwind and brass instruments found in most symphonies by Mozart and Haydn. Saint-Saëns shows his admiration of Bach in the introductory fantasia, which eventually gives way into the restless first theme, also played by solo piano. As the middle section gains momentum, the first theme dramatically returns, setting the stage for the cadenza. To finish off the movement, the music comes full circle by bringing back the Bach-like fantasia. Now Saint-Saëns departs from traditional classical forms and has a light-hearted scherzo for a second movement. 68
HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Musically, it is very reminiscent of many of the sections in his Carnival of the Animals! The concerto ends with a wild saltarella, a popular folk dance in central Italy which was also famously used by Mendelssohn in the last movement of his Italian Symphony.
Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64 Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
In 1888, Benjamin Harrison was elected President of the United States, Maurice Chevalier and Irving Berlin were born, George Eastman perfected the Kodak camera, and the London Financial Times was founded. More importantly, however, was the premier in St. Petersburg of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, composed at a time when he was plagued by self-doubts and the feeling that he was at the end of his creative endeavors. Indeed, he wrote to a friend:
“Formerly, I used to give myself up to the labor of composing just as simply and by virtue of the same natural circumstances as causes a fish to swim in the water or a bird to fly in the air. But not now. Now I am like a man who bears a heavy burden, albeit one which he values, and must carry it right to the end, come what may.” Although Tchaikovsky denied that the symphony had any sort of program to it, he did write in his sketch-book for the symphony: “Total submission to Fate – or, what is the same thing, the inscrutable design of Providence.” To be sure, there are many aspects about the symphony that would lend credibility in thinking it represents life’s struggles leading inexorably to the end. The very first melody we hear, used throughout the symphony in all movements, does sound like “fate,” with its somber quality and the slow, downward scale at the end of it. This same tragic “fate” motif is transformed into a triumphant, victorious one in the last movement’s finale as E minor becomes E major. The themes of fate and struggle leading to victory were especially relevant during World War II, when the symphony had possibly its greatest popularity. Most notably, it was performed on the night of the Siege of Leningrad. The Leningrad Radio Orchestra
most famous and beloved themes played by solo horn, the melody continuing the triplet feel of the first movement but in an andante tempo. There is also a second melody, sweeping in nature but also featuring strong duple notes which struggle against the triplet accompaniment. The middle B section, very unstable and restless, is in 4/4 and is heralded by the clarinet. This section is interrupted by the “fate” motif, which then returns to the first section by way of pizzicato chords in the strings.
TCHAIKOVSKY’S FIFTH
The third movement, the traditional symphonic dance movement, features three waltz melodies, the third being unique by a long section in off beats. The middle trio section is identified by scurrying sixteenth notes in the strings, very similar to the scurrying kids in the middle of the “March of the Toy Soldiers” from the The Nutcracker. The last movement begins like the first with a noble playing of the “fate” theme. A new, aggressive theme in E minor is introduced in the strings, soon followed by a variant that is more lyrical and in a major key. A secondary theme, long soaring notes with occasional flourishes, is heard in the flute. These various melodies skirmish on the musical battlefield until, once again, they are interrupted by the “fate” theme which sends the orchestra off on a prestissimo rush to the ending, complete with a dramatic tympani roll. But wait! There is one final statement of the “fate” theme, this time firmly in major as the orchestra majestically heads to the final finale!
• JANUARY 9 & 10, 2022
had been encouraged to continue its concert schedule during the war to help with morale, including that night of October 20, 1941. As they started playing the second movement, bombs could be heard falling elsewhere in the city. The orchestra kept playing right to the end, a performance made even more profound as it was being broadcast throughout Europe, including London. In addition to the reoccurring “fate” theme, each movement has its various melodies and ideas. After the solemn opening featuring the “fate” theme, the first movement launches into an animated 6/8 melody which presses forward in E minor. The second theme provides a bit of respite as the character literally “takes a breather” in the rise and fall of the melody. Two more themes, one entirely off the beat and the other a call to action in a major key, round out the first movement. The second movement opens with one of Tchaikovsky’s 2021-2022
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Piazzolla, Ravel, and More PIAZZOLLA, RAVEL, AND MORE
SPONSOR
Monday, January 24, 2022
JANUARY 23 & 24, 2022
•
Sunday, January 23, 2022
SEASON SPONSOR
70
HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
John Morris Russell, Music Director and Conductor Robert and Margaret Gallagher Memorial Chair
José-Luis Novo, Conductor Héctor Del Curto, Bandoneon
MANUEL DE FALLA
The Three-Cornered Hat, Suite No. 1 Introduction - Afternoon Dance of the Miller’s Wife The Corregidor The Grapes
ASTOR PIAZZOLLA
Concerto for Bandoneón, “Aconcagua” Allegro marcato Moderato Presto Héctor Del Curto, Bandoneon
INTERMISSION
JUAN CRISÓSTOMO ARRIAGA Los esclavos felices: Overture MAURICE RAVEL
Mother Goose Prelude Spinning Wheel Dance and Scene Sleeping Beauty pavane Dialogues of the Beauty and the Beast Hop-o’-My-Thumb Empress of the Pagodas Fairy Garden
JANUARY 23 & 24, 2022
PROGRAM
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PIAZZOLLA, RAVEL, AND MORE
2021-2022 40th Season Sunday, January 23, 2022 • 4:00 pm Monday, January 24, 2022 • 7:30 pm
MEET THE CONDUCTOR
JANUARY 23 & 24, 2022
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PIAZZOLLA, RAVEL, AND MORE
JOSÉ-LUIS NOVO
Since his appointment as Music Director and Conductor of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra (ASO) in Maryland in 2005, Spanish born José-Luis Novo has instilled a new and vibrant artistic vision. Some of the ASO’s highlights during Novo’s tenure include numerous appearances at the Music Center at Strathmore with violinists James Ehnes, Vadim Repin, Anne Akiko Meyers, Leticia Moreno and Chee-Yun, pianist Olga Kern, late cellist Lynn Harrell, guitarist Manuel Barrueco, pipa virtuoso Wu Man and the Naval Academy Glee Club, a 2012 return appearance at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center with mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves, national broadcasts on NPR’s “Performance Today” and the launching of the ASO’s first commercial CD commemorating the 300th anniversary of the signing of Annapolis’ Royal Charter. Maestro Novo’s continuous drive for artistic excellence, innovative thematic programming, and collaborations with some of today’s most respected guest artists, have resulted in unprecedented artistic growth, praising audiences, and enthusiastic reviews from publications such as The Washington Post and The Baltimore Sun.
Photo: Tony J. Lewis
JOSÉ-LUIS NOVO CONDUCTOR
Piazzolla, Ravel, and More
January 23 & 24, 2022
“Maestro Novo was
featured in the League of American Orchestra’s Symphony magazine in “Podium Powers,” an article about emerging Hispanic conductors in the United States of America.”
In addition to his directorship of the ASO, in 2016 Maestro Novo concluded an impressive thirteen-year tenure as Music Director and Conductor of the Binghamton Philharmonic in New York state. Prior to this, he served as Assistant Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under both late Music Director Emeritus Jesús López-Cobos and former Music Director Paavo Järvi, and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra under the late Erich Kunzel. Recent and upcoming guest conducting engagements include debut appearances with the Rochester Philharmonic, the Hilton Head, Palm Beach, Alexandria and South Bend Symphony Orchestras, and return appearances with the Baltimore Symphony, the Fresno Philharmonic, Symphoria, and a Kimmel Center debut in Philadelphia conducting the Curtis Institute Orchestra. After a successful debut with the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra (TPO) for the Thailand International Composition Festival in 2015, Maestro Novo has been invited back regularly to guest conduct the TPO. Other guest conducting engagements have included appearances with the Symphony Silicon Valley, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Syracuse, Modesto, Windsor, Stamford, Tulsa, and Tallahassee symphonies and most of the major Spanish orchestras. José-Luis Novo has also developed a reputation as a keen educator of young musicians. He has held conducting positions with the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra, University of Maryland Symphony Orchestra, Miami University Symphony Orchestra and National Repertory Orchestra, and has been on the conducting faculty at the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina since 1999. Maestro Novo was featured in the League of American Orchestra’s Symphony magazine in “Podium Powers,” an article about emerging Hispanic conductors in the United States of America. He holds music degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, Yale University and the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels, and is the recipient of a 2010 Annie Award in Performing Arts from the Arts Council of Anne Arundel County, a 2008 American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers Adventurous Programming Award, and a 2005 Broome County Arts Council Heart of the Arts Award.
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HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Praised by The New York Times as a “splendid player,” Argentinian bandoneonist Héctor Del Curto’s career, spanning for more than twenty-five years, has encompassed the traditional Tango, New Tango, Jazz, Classical and World music. As one of the most sought-after bandoneonists, he has performed with luminaries across many musical genres including the Tango legends, Astor Piazzolla and Osvaldo Pugliese, latin jazz giant Paquito D’Rivera, jazz violinst Regina Carter, saxophonist Joe Lovano, violinist Cho–Liang Lin and appeared with prestigious orchestras such as the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Mobile Symphony and Buenos Aires Symphony Orchestra.
He appears in numerous recordings with artists such as Osvaldo Pugliese and Astor Piazzolla on Finally Together (Lucho), Pablo Ziegler on the albums Asphalto, Quintet for the New Tango (BMG), and Tango & All That Jazz, Paquito D’Rivera on Funk Tango, Jazz-Clazz and Panamericana Suite, Tito Puente and Eddie Palmieri on Masterpiece, Plácido Domingo’s Encanto del Mar (Sony Classical), Erwin Schrott on Rojotango (Sony Classical), Denyce Graves’ The Lost Days (BMG), Absolute Ensemble on Bach Reinvented (Sony Classical), Fernando Otero on Plan, Vital and Pagina de Buenos Aires, Ricardo Arjona’s Quién Dijo Ayer and Santo Pecado (Sony International), and Shakira’s Laundry Service.
HÉCTOR DEL CURTO BANDONEON
Piazzolla, Ravel, and More
January 23 & 24, 2022
JANUARY 23 & 24, 2022
Mr. Del Curto recently produced and released his second album Eternal Piazzolla featuring his quintet with a sold out CD release concert at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City. He was featured along with his first CD Eternal Tango on BBC News which was televised nationally and internationally and on Public Radio International’s “The World.”
Photo: Sergio R. Reyes
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A musician who is dedicated to the education, outreach and preservation of tango music, Mr. Del Curto founded the Stowe Tango Music Festival, the premier tango music festival in the United States, noted both for its unique series of performances and its high level of musical training. As the festival’s Artistic Director, he directs the Stowe Tango Music Festival Orchestra, a 20plus piece tango orchestra comprised of an extraordinary group of selected students from all over the globe and world-class artists including guest tango legends from Argentina.
HÉCTOR DEL CURTO
PIAZZOLLA, RAVEL, AND MORE
Born into a family of bandoneon players, Mr. Del Curto was introduced to the world of Tango and bandoneon by his grandfather, Héctor Cristobal. By the age of 17, he had won the title “Best Bandoneon Player Under 25” in Argentina, and was invited to join the orchestra of the legendary Osvaldo Pugliese, the “Last Giant of Tango.” In 1999, he received the Golden Note Award from the Italian–American Network in recognition of his artistic achievements. As a music director, he directed the spectacular show Forever Tango on Broadway and founded the Eternal Tango Orchestra, a ten-piece ensemble. Since their Lincoln Center debut in 2003, the Eternal Tango Orchestra (now the Héctor Del Curto Tango Orchestra) returned to Lincoln Center for three more engagements and performed at other various venues including the Skirball Center for Performing Arts.
MEET THE ARTIST
“A musician who is dedicated to the education, outreach and preservation of tango music, Mr. Del Curto founded the Stowe Tango Music Festival the premier tango music festival in the United States, noted both for its unique series of performances and its high level of musical training.”
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PROGRAM NOTES
ABOUT THE MUSIC PIAZZOLLA, RAVEL, AND MORE
by Jonathan Aceto
Suite No. 1 from The Three-Cornered Hat (El sombrero de tres picos) Manuel de Falla (1876-1946)
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Manuel de Falla was born in Cádiz in Andalusia, Spain. He started piano lessons at a young age and later attended the Royal Conservatory in Madrid where he studied composition with Felipe Pedrell. It was from Pedrell’s encouragement that Falla became interested in Andalusian music, especially flamenco and cante jondo, the local folksong. After winning a few awards, he moved to Paris in 1907 and began to absorb the avant-garde music being composed by Debussy, Ravel, and Stravinsky.
JANUARY 23 & 24, 2022
It was through Stravinsky that Sergei Diaghilev, the impresario of the Ballets Russes, met Falla in 1916. Diaghilev later commissioned music from Falla to go with a ballet based on the novel The Governor and the Miller’s Wife by Pedro de Alarcón. This was to be a unique production in that the choreography would be rooted in Spanish dance rather than classical ballet. Diaghilev and the choreographer Leonide Massine, the successor of Nijinsky, traveled all around Spain, learning everything they could about regional dances. Eventually, El sombrero de tres picos (The Three-Cornered Hat) premiered in London in 1919 with costumes and sets designed by Pablo Picasso and the orchestra conducted by Ernest Ansermet, Falla needing to be home in Granada for his dying mother. Suite No. 1 contains five scenes from the ballet. The Introduction is a true introduction, simply setting the mood for the ballet or, in this case, the suite. The first proper scene is the Afternoon, which shows us the home of the miller and his wife. They are trying to train a blackbird, heard in the piccolo, in addition to doing their chores. The local Governor 74
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has made advances on the miller’s wife and she decides to tease him by dancing a fandango (Dance of the Miller’s Wife). The Governor, or Corregidor, is represented by the bassoon and he approaches the wife. She greets him graciously with an elegant melody in the strings and later tempts him with grapes. Although he tries to grab her as well as the grapes, she always avoids his hands. The piece ends with the miller and his wife dancing the fandango together in triumph over the Governor.
Concerto for Bandoneón, “Aconcagua” Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992)
The son of Italian immigrants, Astor Piazzolla was born in Mar del Plata along the coast of Argentina. Shortly after, the family moved to New York City where Piazzolla began playing the bandoneon at age 8. He also was exposed to a wide range of music, from his father’s recordings of traditional tango, to his music teacher’s lessons in Bach, to the cutting edge of New York jazz. Piazzolla returned to Argentina in 1936 and began playing in several tango orchestras including those of Elvino Vardaro and Anibal Troilo. In 1941, at the encouragement of pianist Arthur Rubinstein who was then living in Buenos Aires, Piazzolla began studying with Alberto Ginastera and learning about the music of Stravinsky, Bartók and Ravel. His focus on composing paid off when one of his works won a French grant to study with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. Being ashamed of his tango background, he played only his classical pieces for Boulanger. She was unimpressed. Finally, he played for her his recent tango “Triunfal” and then she really took notice, telling him that the tango was where his real inspiration lay. For the rest of his career, Piazzolla championed
JANUARY 23 & 24, 2022
The second movement is more introspective with the bandoneon starting alone, then later is joined by the harp and one violinist playing high harmonics. The last movement is based on a tango Piazzolla wrote for the film Con alma y vida. Halfway through, the bandoneon takes over with a new tango theme, charming and tuneful as if Piazzolla meant to say, “Yeah, I can compose this way if I want to.” Finally, the piece dissolves into a four-note descending bass line that keeps repeating, building and building to the last chord.
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The Concerto for Bandoneón was written in 1979 for string orchestra, harp, piano, and percussion. Piazzolla’s publisher, Aldo Pagani, gave it the title “Aconcagua” because he believed the piece, like the highest mountain in South America, represented the peak of Piazzolla’s work. The first movement opens with an intensity that is almost chaotic yet remains firmly in control with the help of sustained chords from the strings. There is a contrasting lyrical middle section and two short cadenzas to listen for.
PIAZZOLLA, RAVEL, AND MORE
his nuevo tango throughout the world with several different groups. This new style, using elements of jazz, classical counterpoint, unique harmonies and chromaticism, has not always been embraced in his homeland of Argentina but has won accolades everywhere else. He was also quite prolific; scholars estimate Piazzolla wrote as many as 3,000 pieces.
Overture to Los esclavos felices Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga (1806-1826)
Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga was a gifted Basque composer born in Bilbao, Spain. He is often referred to as the “Spanish Mozart” and for good reason; they were both extremely talented, both died at a young age, and, unfortunately, both were buried in an unmarked grave. Arriaga entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1821 and studied violin with Pierre Baillot, counterpoint with Luigi Cherubini, and harmony with François-Joseph Fétis. It was not long before Arriaga was made an assistant to Fétis, largely from earning the praise of both faculty and students. 2021-2022
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Although Arriaga did not compose many works before his death, those that exist clearly show not simply musical talent but also originality. He allowed his Basque and Spanish heritage to emerge in his music, especially in stylistic rhythms. Arriaga’s three string quartets are regarded as the pinnacle of his music and were the only works published during his lifetime.
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Ma mère l’Oye first started out as five piano duets Ravel wrote for the children of an artist friend, Cipa Godebski. The pieces were heard by Ravel’s publisher, Jacques Durand, and by patron and theater manager Jacques Rouché, both of whom felt the music should be made into a full orchestral ballet. Ravel did so in 1911, adding a prelude, four interludes and an extra scene – the Spinning Wheel Dance. Ravel, thinking practically about a theater pit, scored the ballet for a chamber orchestra, albeit a unique one. He asks for most of the second players in the woodwinds to double (piccolo, English horn and contrabassoon) plus asks for a wide range of percussion instruments including tam-tam and glockenspiel. Add to that harp and celeste and Ravel gives the music a veritable rainbow of colors. Speaking of color, that is the primary purpose of the prelude: inviting the audience into a magical, colorful world.
JANUARY 23 & 24, 2022
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PIAZZOLLA, RAVEL, AND MORE
The opera Los esclavos felices, or The Happy Slaves, was written in 1820 when Arriaga was only 14 years old. It is unfortunate that only the overture remains today; indeed, scholars are not sure even what the story was. The overture begins with a pastoral Andante and an elegant, artfully balanced melody. In this opening, one can hear shades of Beethoven in the complex countermelody heard in the lower strings. After two held chords, an Allegro assai breaks forth with a tune that is essentially a variation of the first. Before long, a new and operatic melody appears, reminiscent of those by Rossini even down to the “chug-chug-chug-chug” of the accompaniment. The entire work is filled with the joy of classical elegance and the singing lyricism of early romantic opera.
Mother Goose (Ma mère l’Oye)
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The Director | Yajaira Surrett HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
PIAZZOLLA, RAVEL, AND MORE
The first scene is the Spinning Wheel Dance, where the Princess Florine dances in her garden as her nurse works at the spinning wheel. The Princess pricks herself on the spindle and falls into a deep sleep. A fairy appears to watch over the Princess and we hear the Pavane for Sleeping Beauty, introduced by the flute in a haunting melody.
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The listener now experiences Florine’s dreams, starting with a conversation between Beauty, represented by clarinet, and the Beast, represented by contrabassoon. During this waltz, the Beast is transformed, with a harp flourish, into a Prince as a noble cello takes over the melody. The next dream is of Tom Thumb, the oboe and English horn, walking through the woods with chirping birds eating his breadcrumbs, as illustrated with violin whistle-harmonics and flute flutter-tonguing. Finally, after an interlude featuring celeste and harp, Ravel gives us the last dream, one of a princess who has been cursed into ugliness by a witch. We see her travel to the Land of Pagodas, Chinese figurines made of porcelain and crystal which are evoked by pentatonic scales.
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The last scene takes us back to Florine’s Fairy Garden. Prince Charming wakes the sleeping Princess, the two fall in love and the Fairy, represented with a high violin solo, blesses their betrothal. Thus ensues a glittering, happy ending!
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JMR ’s Greatest Hits JMR’S GREATEST HITS
SPONSOR
FEBRUARY 6 & 7, 2022
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Sunday, February 6, 2022 Monday, February 7, 2022
SEASON SPONSOR
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HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
John Morris Russell, Music Director and Conductor Robert and Margaret Gallagher Memorial Chair
2021-2022 40th Season Sunday, February 6, 2022 • 4:00 pm Monday, February 7, 2022 • 7:30 pm
PROGRAM
JOHANN STRAUSS, JR.
Die Fledermaus: Overture
GIOACHINO ROSSINI
The Barber of Seville: Largo al factotum Michael Preacely, Baritone
CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS
Samson and Delilah: Bachannale
FELIX MENDELSSOHN
Elijah: It Is Enough Michael Preacely, Baritone
PETER BOYER
Rolling River (Sketches on “Shenandoah”)
PETE ANTHONY
The Launch
GEORGE GERSHWIN/ Porgy And Bess: A Symphonic Picture ROBERT RUSSELL BENNETT RICHARD RODGERS/ DON WALKER
Carousel: The Carousel Waltz
RICHARD RODGERS/ OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN
Carousel: Soliloquy Michael Preacely, Baritone
GEORGE M. COHAN/ ROB MOUNSEY
Over There
ENNIO MORRICONE/ ROBERT LONGFIELD
The Mission: Gabriel’s Oboe
JOHN WILLIAMS
ET: Adventures on Earth
FEBRUARY 6 & 7, 2022
INTERMISSION
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JMR’S GREATEST HITS
John Morris Russell, Conductor Michael Preacely, Baritone
MEET THE ARTIST
FEBRUARY 6 & 7, 2022
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JMR’S GREATEST HITS
MICHAEL PREACELY
American baritone Michael Preacely is a rising star on the operatic stage and is known for a versatile singing ability and style that allows him to cross between genres from classical repertoire to pop, contemporary and Broadway. He has also received critical acclaim for many of his performances, including the Phantom in Phantom of the Opera, Scarpia in Tosca, Ford in Falstaff, Marcello in La Bohème, the High Priest in Samson and Delilah, and Porgy and Jake in Porgy and Bess. Dr. Preacely has performed with many major and regional opera houses and orchestras in the United States and abroad. He completed a European tour of Porgy and Bess where he garnered great reviews for his performances of both Porgy and Jake. He also toured Russia in a concert series with New York-based Opera Noire, debuted with Opera Memphis in the role of Marullo, with a Rigoletto cover, and Opéra de Montréal in the role of Jake. In addition, he made his debut with the Butler University Symphony Orchestra opposite world-famous soprano Angela Brown in a beloved performance of the Porgy and Bess Suite.
Photo: Matthew Baker
MICHAEL PREACELY BARITONE
JMR’s Greatest Hits
February 6 & 7, 2022
“In addition, he made
his debut with the Butler University Symphony Orchestra opposite worldfamous soprano Angela Brown in a beloved performance of the Porgy and Bess Suite.”
Dr. Preacely has also performed with some of the leading opera houses including Cincinnati Opera, Opera Company Philadelphia, Opera Memphis, Kentucky Opera, Cleveland Opera, Lyric Opera Cleveland, and Bohème Opera of New Jersey, along with some of the nation’s leading orchestras, including the Oakland East Bay Symphony, the Memphis Symphony, the Hamilton-Fairfield Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Cleveland Pops, the Cincinnati Pops, the Greater Trenton Choral Society, and the American Spiritual Ensemble. Previously, he was invited under scholarship to participate in the International Vocal Arts Institute with Joan Dornemann and the VOICExperience with Sherrill Milnes and Friends. He was the First Place Graduate Winner in the Alltech Vocal Scholarship Competition at the University of Kentucky and the recipient of awards in various other competitions such as the National Opera Association Vocal Competition Artist Division, the Fritz and Jensen Vocal Competition, and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Dr. Preacely received 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, serves as Music Director for the “i was here” project and enjoys a full schedule of performing around the world. He resides in Lexington, KY with his wife LeTicia and three sons, Joshua, Benjamin and Jayce Bryson.
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JMR’S GREATEST HITS
Muhly Grass | Joan Ackerman
• FEBRUARY 6 & 7, 2022
Music is Art | Celeste Figueroa
Low Country Joy | Donna Belber
Waltz | Juliana Kim 2021-2022
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Brahms’ Third and Tessa Lark BRAHMS’ THIRD AND TESSA LARK
SPONSOR
FEBRUARY 20 & 21, 2022
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Sunday, February 20, 2022 Monday, February 21, 2022
SEASON SPONSOR
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HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
John Morris Russell, Music Director and Conductor Robert and Margaret Gallagher Memorial Chair
BRAHMS’ THIRD AND TESSA LARK
2021-2022 40th Season Sunday, February 20, 2022 • 4;00 pm Monday, February 21, 2022 • 7:30 pm John Morris Russell, Conductor Tessa Lark, Violin
PROGRAM
WOLFGANG A. MOZART
The Marriage of Figaro, K.492: Overture
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK
Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53 Allegro; ma non troppo Adagio; ma non troppo Finale: Allegro giocoso; ma non troppo Tessa Lark, Violin INTERMISSION Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90 Allegro con brio Andante Poco allegretto Allegro
• FEBRUARY 20 & 21, 2022
JOHANNES BRAHMS
2021-2022
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MEET THE ARTIST
FEBRUARY 20 & 21, 2022
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BRAHMS’ THIRD AND TESSA LARK
TESSA LARK
Violinist Tessa Lark is one of the most captivating artistic voices of our time, consistently praised by critics and audiences for her astounding range of sounds, technical agility, and musical elegance. In 2020 she was nominated for a GRAMMY in the Best Classical Instrumental Solo category and received one of Lincoln Center’s prestigious Emerging Artist Awards, the special Hunt Family Award. Additional honors include a 2018 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and a 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant, a Silver Medal in the 9th Quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, and top prize in the 2012 Naumburg International Violin Competition. A budding superstar in the classical realm, she is also a highly acclaimed fiddler in the tradition of her native Kentucky, delighting audiences with programming that includes Appalachian and bluegrass music and inspiring composers to write for her.
Photo: Lauren Desberg
TESSA LARK VIOLIN
Brahms’ Third and Tessa Lark
February 20 & 21, 2022
“Tessa’s debut commercial
recording SKY, a bluegrassinspired violin concerto written for her by Michael Torke and performed with the Albany Symphony Orchestra, earned a 2020 GRAMMY nomination.”
Tessa has been a featured soloist at scores of orchestras, recital venues, and festivals since making her concerto debut with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra at age sixteen. Highlights of her 2021-22 season include debuts at London’s Wigmore Hall and Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall; return appearances at recital series such as Cal Performances in Berkeley and Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum; and numerous concerto engagements, including the world premiere of Michael Schachter’s violin concerto Cycles of Life with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra in April 2022. Tessa’s debut commercial recording SKY, a bluegrass-inspired violin concerto written for her by Michael Torke and performed with the Albany Symphony Orchestra, earned a 2020 GRAMMY nomination, and Tessa’s discography has been expanding ever since. Recordings include Fantasy, an album on the First Hand Records label that includes Tessa’s own Appalachian Fantasy along with Ravel’s Tzigane and fantasias by Schubert, Telemann, and Fritz Kreisler; Invention, a debut album of the violin-bass duo Lark and Thurber that comprises arrangements of Two-Part Inventions by J.S. Bach and non-classical original compositions by Tessa and her fiancé, Michael Thurber; and a live recording of Astor Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, released in 2021 by the Buffalo Philharmonic in honor of Piazzolla’s 100-year anniversary. Her newest recording, The Stradgrass Sessions, is scheduled for release in 2022 and includes collaborations with composer-performers Jon Batiste, Edgar Meyer, Michael Cleveland, and Sierra Hull; original works by Tessa; and the premier recording of John Corigliano’s solo violin composition STOMP. Tessa’s belief in music’s power to foster global connection and community across boundaries manifests in her genre-defying collaborations. Along with the Lark and Thurber duo, new projects include a string trio with composerbassist Edgar Meyer and cellist Joshua Roman and a duo partnership with jazz guitarist Frank Vignola. She is a graduate of the New England Conservatory and completed her Artist Diploma at The Juilliard School, where she studied with Sylvia Rosenberg, Ida Kavafian, and Daniel Phillips. Tessa plays a ca. 1600 G.P. Maggini violin on loan from an anonymous donor through the Stradivari Society of Chicago.
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PROGRAM NOTES
ABOUT THE MUSIC Overture to The Marriage of Figaro, K. 492 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
The Marriage of Figaro, or Le Nozze di Figaro, is considered one of the greatest and most beloved operas ever written. Mozart knew of the original French play by Pierre Beaumarchais and asked Lorenzo da Ponte to turn it into a libretto. It would be their first of three collaborations, the other two being Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte. Emperor Joseph II had banned the play from Austrian theaters because of its very unflattering portrayal of nobility, but da Ponte took out all the politics and secured approval for his libretto.
of the opera, asked the director of the Burgtheater, Count Orsini-Rosenberg, to create posters stating, “No piece for more than a single voice is to be repeated.” Unlike many overtures, this one does not use any melody from the opera but rather creates a mood. The opening scurry of pianissimo sixteenth notes, reminiscent of gossiping busybodies, soon bursts forth with a triumphant melody that exudes joy in all its forms. Near the end of the piece, listen for one of the longest and most thrilling buildups Mozart ever composed which begins in the violins and spreads to the whole orchestra. This overture has even cropped up in popular culture, most gloriously in the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory where Wonka uses the opening passage as a musical lock on a door. After hearing it, one of the mothers smugly exclaims “Rachmaninoff!”
2021-2022
FEBRUARY 20 & 21, 2022
Violin Pine Needle Basket | Karen McCarthy
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Mozart completed the music in 1786, conducting the premier on May 1st in the Burgtheater in Vienna. Mozart received 450 florins for the opera, roughly 3 times his yearly salary as a court musician in Salzburg! Although this initial production was performed only nine times, it was considered a success. Many critics found the work to be a masterpiece and one full of joy. Even Brahms weighed in: “In my opinion, each number in Figaro is a miracle; it is totally beyond me how anyone could create anything so perfect.” The opening night applause resulted in five encores and the next night garnered seven. The emperor, becoming concerned about the overall length
BRAHMS’ THIRD AND TESSA LARK
by Jonathan Aceto
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Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53 Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
BRAHMS’ THIRD AND TESSA LARK
Fritz Simrock, the prominent German publisher, was encouraged by no less a composer than Brahms to take a chance in publishing Dvořák’s music. Eventually, especially after the huge success of the Slavonic Dances for orchestra, Simrock became Dvořák’s primary publisher. In 1879 Dvořák sent him several pieces including the Romance for violin and orchestra. Knowing that there were violinists who admired Dvořák’s music, Simrock suggested to him that he also write a proper concerto.
FEBRUARY 20 & 21, 2022
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Although Dvořák was an experienced violist, playing in an orchestra conducted by Bedřich Smetana, he nonetheless decided to consult with the great German virtuoso Joseph Joachim about the concerto. It may not have been the best idea! Joachim was a traditionalist and expected a full statement of the first movement themes by the orchestra before the soloist enters. Instead, Dvořák has the orchestra play a few dramatic measures and then the soloist comes right in with a powerful Slavic melody. This truncated form is similar to that found in the big concertos by Mendelssohn and Bruch. Dvořák also cuts short the standard re-statement of the themes and has the first movement seamlessly connect into the second movement. Although Joachim never specifically complained to Dvořák about this novel approach to the concerto form, neither did he ever publicly perform the concerto. In all fairness, however, the suggestions that Joachim made concerning the solo violin writing were gratefully incorporated by the composer. The concerto was written and completed in the summer of 1879 when Dvořák was 37 years old. After significant revisions, it was sent to Joachim for his review. The two actually ended up playing it together at Joachim’s home in Berlin, which resulted in a few final tweaks. Although it was warmly dedicated to Joachim, Dvořák asked František Ondříček, a prominent Czech violinist and composer, to give the premier in Prague in October of 1883. As stated, the first movement dramatically opens with the solo violin playing the main melody. Soon there is a pensive contrasting melody in C major, but it never really gets established as one would expect. The themes are repeated a few times, until finally the main theme is played one last time, a 86
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fading echo, as the first movement dissolves into the second. The adagio is calm and expansive with wonderful orchestral colors throughout. The third movement is labeled “allegro giocoso” and it is indeed a playful, jocular piece. It is in the style of a furiant, a popular Bohemian dance that features cross-rhythms, making it seem as if it is constantly changing meter. Dvořák had used the same dance style in his popular 8th Slavonic Dance. The movement finishes with the solo violinist playing a wild flurry of octaves and arpeggios, capping off this significant example of a Czech concerto.
Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90 Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
“I shall never write a symphony! You can’t have any idea what it is like to hear such a giant marching behind you.” Thus did Brahms write in a letter to a conductor friend in 1872, referring, of course, to Ludwig van Beethoven. In fact, Beethoven was such a towering figure for most composers in the 19th century that it took great effort and willpower to say anything musically new. Yet Brahms eventually did attempt to compose a symphony and finished his first in 1876 and his second a year later. He had finally hit his stride, most likely buoyed by the praise from fellow composers like Hans von Bülow and Richard Strauss. Over the next few years Brahms wrote his second piano concerto, the Academic Festival Overture and the Tragic Overture. In 1883 he completed the third symphony which was premiered by the Vienna Philharmonic on December 2nd. There is a motive which occurs throughout the symphony, either melodically or in the bass line – F A F – and it has a rather humorous story behind it. In 1853, Joachim had adopted the motto “Frei aber einsam” (“free but lonely”) in reference to being a bachelor. Three of his friends, specifically Brahms, Robert Schumann and Albert Dietrich, used the first letters of that motto – F A E – to create a violin sonata in honor of Joachim. By the time Brahms started writing his 3rd symphony, he declared himself “Frei aber froh” (“free but happy” – a very proud bachelor!) and thus we get F A F. The first movement opens with two grand chords, the first F and A, then the actual melody pours in from the violins, supplying the third F an octave
Undercurrent and the Ingrid Bergman film Goodbye Again, where it is heard in a nightclub song (“Say No More, It’s Goodbye”) sung by Diahann Carroll. The melody has also been used in several other songs, most notably “Take My Love,” popularized by Frank Sinatra, and “Love of My Life” by Carlos Santana, where the tune is clearly heard in the opening guitar solo but with a slightly different rhythm.
BRAHMS’ THIRD AND TESSA LARK
For once, Brahms keeps the dark character as he begins the fourth movement with a wandering, uneasy theme in minor. This breaks off into a subdued chorale, then breaks off again into fistpumping anger. There is a brief ray of sunshine as the cellos enter with a noble theme in a major key. These various themes and characters compete for the audience’s attention, but finally we hear the FAF motive and the piece settles into F major. The chorale-like tune takes us out as the symphony fades into serenity.
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higher. This first melody cascades and rolls along like a river, which is not surprising considering Brahms composed this symphony while living in Wiesbaden on the banks of the Rhine. In fact, he borrowed this motive from Schumann’s third symphony, the Rhenish. The melody, and indeed the entire first movement, keeps shifting from F major to F minor and back, but the conflict adds color rather than confusion to the work. There is another musical quote, this time from the Siren’s Chorus in Tannhäuser. Wagner had just passed away and Brahms alludes to the music right before the second theme appears in the clarinet.
FEBRUARY 20 & 21, 2022
The second movement leaves the drama of the river and goes into a forest glade, once again the clarinet taking center stage with a folk-like melody. This soon transitions into a second, more melancholy theme which then gives way to some oddly dissonant chords. Fortunately it is just a passing cloud and the opening theme returns with the clarinet extending it over some Wagnerian harmonies. Brahms again switches character with the third movement, this time featuring a rather dark waltz twinged with sadness. This melody has had an interesting impact on popular culture. The tune has been used in the Katherine Hepburn film 2021-2022
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WORLD PREMIERE: JESSIE MONTGOMERY WITH AWADAGIN PRATT
World Premiere: Jessie Montgomery with Awadagin Pratt SPONSOR
MARCH 27 & 28, 2022
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Sunday, March 27, 2022 Monday, March 28, 2022
SEASON SPONSOR
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HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Robert and Margaret Gallagher Memorial Chair
2021-2022 40th Season Sunday, March 27, 2022 • 4:00 pm Monday, March 28, 2022 • 7:30 pm John Morris Russell, Conductor Awadagin Pratt, Piano PROGRAM ARVO PÄRT
Fratres
JESSIE MONTGOMERY
Piano Concerto (World Premiere) Awadagin Pratt, Piano INTERMISSION
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV
Scheherazade, Op. 35 The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship The Tale of Prince Kalendar The Young Prince and the Princess The Festival at Baghdad; The Sea; The Ship Goes to Pieces on a Rock
Piano Concerto Composed by Jessie Montgomery Commissioned by Art of the Piano Foundation for pianist Awadagin Pratt
MARCH 27 & 28, 2022
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Co-commissioned by Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, IRIS Orchestra, Kansas City Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, St. Louis Symphony
WORLD PREMIERE: JESSIE MONTGOMERY WITH AWADAGIN PRATT
John Morris Russell, Music Director and Conductor
MARCH 27 & 28, 2022
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WORLD PREMIERE: JESSIE MONTGOMERY WITH AWADAGIN PRATT
MEET THE ARTIST
AWADAGIN PRATT
Among his generation of concert artists, pianist Awadagin Pratt is acclaimed for his musical insight and intensely involving performances in recital and with symphony orchestras. Born in Pittsburgh, Awadagin Pratt began studying piano at the age of six. Three years later, having moved to Normal, Illinois with his family, he also began studying violin. At the age of sixteen he entered the University of Illinois where he studied piano, violin, and conducting. He subsequently enrolled at the Peabody Conservatory of Music where he became the first student in the school’s history to receive diplomas in three performance areas – piano, violin and conducting. In recognition of this achievement and for his work in the field of classical music, Mr. Pratt received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Johns Hopkins as well as an honorary doctorate from Illinois Wesleyan University.
Photo: Rob Davidson
AWADAGIN PRATT PIANO
World Premiere: Jessie Montgomery with Awadagin Pratt March 27 & 28, 2022
“A great favorite on
college and university performing arts series and a strong advocate of music education, Awadagin Pratt participates in numerous residency and outreach activities wherever he appears.”
In 1992, Mr. Pratt won the Naumburg International Piano Competition and two years later was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant. Since then, he has played numerous recitals throughout the US including performances at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, Chicago’s Orchestra Hall and the NJ Performing Arts Center. His many orchestral performances include appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra and the Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Baltimore, St. Louis, National, Detroit and New Jersey symphonies among many others. Summer festival engagements include appearances at Ravinia, Blossom, Wolftrap, Caramoor, Aspen and the Hollywood Bowl. Internationally, Mr. Pratt has toured Japan four times and performed in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Israel, Columbia and South Africa. A great favorite on college and university performing arts series and a strong advocate of music education, Awadagin Pratt participates in numerous residency and outreach activities wherever he appears; these activities may include master classes, children’s recitals, play/talk demonstrations and question/answer sessions for students of all ages. He is also frequently invited to participate on international competition juries, such as the Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Israel, the Cleveland International Piano Competition, Minnesota e-Competition and the Unisa International Piano Competition for Young Pianists in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz in the Ukraine. *We are thrilled to announce that Mr. Pratt will be serving on the Hilton Head International Piano Competition’s seven-juror panel in March, 2022. Mr. Pratt’s recordings for Angel/EMI include A Long Way From Normal, an all Beethoven Sonata CD, Live From South Africa, Transformations and an all Bach disc with the St. Lawrence String Quartet. His most recent recordings are the Brahms Sonatas for Cello and Piano with Zuill Bailey for Telarc and a recording of the music of Judith Lang Zaimont witth the Harlem Quartet for Navona Records. Mr. Pratt is currently a Professor of Piano at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. He also served as the Artistic Director of the World Piano Competition in Cincinnati and is currently the Artistic Director of the Art of the Piano Festival at CCM. Awadagin Pratt is a Yamaha artist.
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MEET THE COMPOSER
JESSIE
WORLD PREMIERE: JESSIE MONTGOMERY WITH AWADAGIN PRATT
Jessie Montgomery is an acclaimed composer, violinist, and educator. She is the recipient of the Leonard Bernstein Award from the ASCAP Foundation, the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, and her works are performed frequently around the world by leading musicians and ensembles. Her music interweaves classical music with elements of vernacular music, improvisation, poetry, and social consciousness, making her an acute interpreter of 21st century American sound and experience. Her profoundly felt works have been described as “turbulent, wildly colorful and exploding with life” (The Washington Post).
MONTGOMERY
Her growing body of work includes solo, chamber, vocal, and orchestral works. Some recent highlights include Shift, Change, Turn (2019) commissioned by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Coincident Dances (2018) for the Chicago Sinfonietta, and Banner (2014)written to mark the 200th anniversary of “The Star-Spangled Banner”- for The Sphinx Organization and the Joyce Foundation, which was presented in its UK premiere at the BBC Proms in London, England on 7 August 2021. Summer 2021 brought a varied slate of premiere performances, including Five Freedom Songs, a song cycle conceived with and written for Soprano Julia Bullock, for Sun Valley and Grand Teton Music Festivals, San Francisco and Kansas City symphonies, Boston and New Haven Symphony Orchestras, and the Virginia Arts Festival (7 August); a site-specific collaboration with Bard SummerScape Festival and Pam Tanowitz Dance, I was waiting for the echo of a better day (8 July); and Passacaglia, a flute quartet for The National Flute Association’s 49th annual convention (13 August). Since 1999, Jessie has been affiliated with The Sphinx Organization, which supports young African American and Latinx string players and has served as composer-in-residence for the Sphinx Virtuosi, the Organization’s flagship professional touring ensemble. A founding member of PUBLIQuartet and a former member of the Catalyst Quartet, Jessie holds degrees from The Juilliard School and New York University and is currently a PhD Candidate at Princeton University. She is Professor of violin and composition at The New School.
JESSIE MONTGOMERY COMPOSER
World Premiere: Jessie Montgomery with Awadagin Pratt March 27 & 28, 2022
“Her music interweaves classical music with elements of vernacular music, improvisation, poetry, and social consciousness, making her an acute interpreter of 21st century American sound and experience.”
MARCH 27 & 28, 2022
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In May 2021, she began her three-year appointment as the Mead Composer-inResidence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Photo: Jiyang Chen
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WORLD PREMIERE: JESSIE MONTGOMERY WITH AWADAGIN PRATT
PROGRAM NOTES
ABOUT THE MUSIC by Jonathan Aceto
Fratres Arvo Pärt b. 1935
Arvo Pärt, one of the most often-performed living classical composers since 2011, is a major figure in the realm of mystical or spiritual minimalism. Born in Estonia in 1935, Pärt began his musical training at seven and graduated from the Tallinn Conservatory in 1963. He started out his career composing in the German 12-tone manner, which drew criticism from Soviet officials who felt he was “susceptible to foreign influences.” Pärt had a significant reawakening in the late 1960s, both musically and spiritually, and began studying European religious music from the Medieval and Renaissance eras. From this study of early Western polyphony came tintinnabulation (ringing bells), his unique style of composing in which he artfully combines simple movement up or down a scale with triads and a drone. Although Pärt was allowed by the Soviets to emigrate to Austria in 1980, he eventually returned to Estonia and currently lives in Laulasmaa.
the lower strings while claves quietly mark time. The rest of the strings enter playing chords in harmonics, that special technique where the left hand lightly touches the string in order to create a pitch significantly higher. The truly important aspect of these chords, however, is how they are arranged. There is a center harmony around which the other chords are heard; the center chord is played, then goes down a pitch, then one pitch above, then back to the center. It is repeated, adding one chord going down and one going up, then repeated again with yet another added set of chords. That entire pattern is repeated several times throughout the piece, all the while the original drone fifth is heard lurking in the background. The overall effect is surprisingly organic, with the chords acting almost like a giant
MARCH 27 & 28, 2022
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In light of Pärt’s spiritual style, it is not surprising that many of his most beloved pieces are sacred choral works, including the Magnificat, Te Deum, Miserere and the Berliner Mass. Some of his instrumental works are also popular, including Tabula Rasa and this evening’s piece Fratres (Brotherhood). Fratres is rather unique among his output in that he has made several versions of it since its original form of a string quintet in 1977. Among the varieties of instrumentation are ones for wind octet and percussion; cello ensemble; four percussionists; and three recorders, cello and percussion. The one you will hear tonight is for string orchestra and percussion. Fratres is a haunting meditation on a harmonic progression. It starts off with a drone of a fifth in 92
Imprisoned | Ann K. Walsh HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
set of lungs, breathing along with the listener.
WORLD PREMIERE: JESSIE MONTGOMERY WITH AWADAGIN PRATT
Piano Concerto
Jessie Montgomery b. 1980
Piano Concerto Composed by Jessie Montgomery
MARCH 27 & 28, 2022
Montgomery is a composer who thinks in musical gestures, phrases that bubble forth, repeat, and constantly evolve in tiny ways. These gestures, however, give an overall sense of tonality so the piece never dissolves into chaos but rather stays afloat in the key. Montgomery’s compositions also have an intense rhythmic vitality, regardless of the actual tempo. In the words of The Washington Post, her works are “turbulent, wildly colorful and exploding with life.”
*Ms. Montgomery’s notes specific to this composition will be provided at the concerts.
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Growing up in the Lower East Side of Manhattan during the 1980s was an exciting time for Jessie Montgomery, especially with the unique combination of experimentation and activism that flourished in that area. As a violinist, she was a founding member of the PUBLIQuartet and currently performs with the Catalyst Quartet. Montgomery has been an active member of the Sphinx Organization and is the composer-in-residence for its top professional group, the Sphinx Virtuosi. Among her recent works is Banner, written to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Star-Spangled Banner, and future works include a nonet inspired by the Great Migration as experienced by her own great-grandfather. Montgomery has also been selected as one of the female composers for the New York Philharmonic’s Project 19, a multi-season commissioning project commemorating the 1920 ratification of the 19th Amendment securing the right to vote for women.
Commissioned by Art of the Piano Foundation for pianist Awadagin Pratt Co-commissioned by Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, IRIS Orchestra, Kansas City Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, St. Louis Symphony
2021-2022
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Scheherazade, Op. 35
WORLD PREMIERE: JESSIE MONTGOMERY WITH AWADAGIN PRATT
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) Rimsky-Korsakov was a major 19th century composer who strongly advocated for developing a Russian style of classical music, focusing on folk songs and legends, exotic harmonies and melodies, and adopting non-Western forms. At the same time, he also admired the work of Franz Liszt, Hector Berlioz and Richard Wagner and literally wrote the book on orchestration (a textbook used to this day in most conservatories). Quite a feat, considering Rimsky-Korsakov was mostly a self-taught composer and pursued a career in the Imperial Navy like many in his family.
MARCH 27 & 28, 2022
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Championing Russian nationalism was by no means a solitary endeavor. Mily Balakirev, a young but prominent composer, met Rimsky-Korsakov and brought him into a group of amateur composers who would eventually become known as the Mighty Five or the Mighty Handful. This group, which began meeting in the 1860s, sought to create a uniquely
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Russian music that would be purer than the Western conservatory-trained composers of the day (including, from their perspective, Tchaikovsky!). The group also included Modest Mussorgsky and César Cui, officers in the Imperial Army, and Alexander Borodin, a chemist. They believed that being amateur composers born and raised in the countryside, and thus closer to “real” Russians, made their music that much more authentic. In 1887, Rimsky-Korsakov began work on an orchestral piece based on the grand folktale One Thousand and One Nights. He completed the work the following summer, a suite in four movements in which the listener, in his words, “should carry away the impression that it is beyond a doubt an Oriental narrative of some numerous and varied fairy-tale wonders.” It was premiered in Saint Petersburg in October of 1888 with Rimsky-Korsakov conducting. Briefly, the story begins with the Sultan Shahryar believing all women are faithless and vows to kill each of his wives after their first night together. One of the wives, Scheherazade, conceives a way out of her predicament by entertaining her husband with a fascinating story every night for a thousand and one nights, a story that she conveniently leaves
unfinished so that her husband will keep her alive one more day.
WORLD PREMIERE: JESSIE MONTGOMERY WITH AWADAGIN PRATT
The work starts off with a thunderous theme in unison representing the Sultan, a theme which outlines a descending line of a tritone – the devil’s interval! Shortly after, we hear Scheherazade’s theme, sinuous and exotic, played by the concertmaster. These two themes crop up at various times in all four movements. The first narrative concerns the sea and Sinbad, with rolling waves depicted by the cellos. Next, we have the Kalandar, a wandering, begging mystic represented by a theme in a triple meter but with duple rhythms, one which goes through a handful of variations. The third narrative features a lilting melody reminiscent of a sea-chanty which also changes in tempo and character. Finally, we get the rip-roaring Festival of Baghdad with its tarantella-like theme. As it whirls through the city, we hear bits from the previous two movements until the whole thing comes crashing into the opening sea music and the resulting shipwreck. As the waves subside, we are left with Scheherazade’s exotic theme rising into magical heights.
Dancing Droplets | Juliana Kim
• MARCH 27 & 28, 2022
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Dance Party! SPONSOR
APRIL 24 & 25, 2022
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DANCE PARTY!
Sunday, April 24, 2022 Monday, April 25, 2022
SEASON SPONSOR
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John Morris Russell, Music Director and Conductor Robert and Margaret Gallagher Memorial Chair
2021-2022 40th Season Sunday, April 24, 2022 • 4:00 pm Monday, April 25, 2022 • 7:30 pm John Morris Russell, Conductor Maceo Harrison Hilton Head Dance Theatre Hilton Head Ballroom Dance Studio The Studio for Dance Legacy Irish Dance Academy Abeni Cultural Arts Performing Dance Studio
SAMUEL AKPABOT
Nigerian Dance No. 3 Abeni Cultural Arts Performing Dance Studio
STEPHEN FOSTER/ TIM BERENS
Foster’s Folly Legacy Irish Dance Academy
FRANZ LEHÁR
Gold and Silver Waltz
ARR. JOHN WILLIAMS
Por Una Cabeza Hilton Head Ballroom Dance Studio
ARR. RICHARD HAYMAN
Pops Hoedown The Studio for Dance
REINHOLD GLIÈRE
The Red Poppy: Russian Sailors’ Dance
APRIL 24 & 25, 2022
Carmen: Danse Bohème
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GEORGES BIZET
DANCE PARTY!
PROGRAM
INTERMISSION JOHANNES BRAHMS
Hungarian Dances: No. 5
LÉO DELIBES
Coppélia; Four selections Czárdâs La Prière Le Travail (La Fileuse) Galop Final Hilton Head Dance Theatre
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV
The Snow Maiden: Dance of the Tumblers Maceo Harrison
ERNESTO LECUONA/ MORTON GOULD
La Comparsa Hilton Head Ballroom Dance Studio
JACQUES OFFENBACH/ ANTAL DORATI
La Vie Parisienne The Studio for Dance
ZEQUINHA DE ABREU/ CARMEN DRAGON
Tico Tico Hilton Head Ballroom Dance Studio
ARR. REBECCA PELLETT
Simple Gifts; A Celtic Dance Legacy Irish Dance Academy
2021-2022
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MEET THE ARTIST
MACEO HARRISON
In 2016, Maceo received a full scholarship to the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City for their hip-hop program and was featured dancing for Sharaya in her music video, “Snatch Your Wig.”
DANCE PARTY!
• APRIL 24 & 25, 2022
Maceo “Mace” Harrison is a hip-hop dancer and choreographer born in Maryland. At the age of 7, after settling from a move to Georgia, Maceo started pursuing hip-hop dance. Self taught in waving, popping, locking, tutting, krumping, housing, breaking and tumbling at the young age of 10, he started attending hip-hop battles and performing at talent shows at age 15, even auditioning for “America’s Got Talent.” He joined his first dance studio at 17, where he learned ballet, jazz, contemporary, modern, and tap. Spending four years on a dance competition team, he won multiple scholarships and overall awards for his hip-hop solos. He also made it to the third round of auditions during season 11 of “So You Think You Can Dance.”
Dancing saved Maceo’s life on numerous occasions, so he expresses his passion with his explosive tricks, musicality, and showmanship personality.
MACEO HARRISON DANCER
Dance Party!
April 24 & 25, 2022 “In 2016, Maceo received a full scholarship to the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City for their hip-hop program and was featured dancing for Sharaya in her music video, “Snatch Your Wig.”
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MEET THE ARTIST
DANCE PARTY!
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In addition, Hilton Head Dance Theatre’s repertoire has grown to include all of the great full-length ballets such as Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Coppélia and Don Quixote. And every year, the youngest students are featured in productions of their own such as Peter Rabbit, Eloise, The Magic Toy Shoppe, and Ella Bella Ballerina. Students in the middle grades perform annually in a production called Terpsichore, Too dancing excerpts from Swan Lake or The Sleeping Beauty as well as contemporary and jazz pieces.
APRIL 24 & 25, 2022
Hilton Head Dance School, the official school of the non-profit Hilton Head Dance Theatre, opened its doors in 1985. At the helm of both the school and the theatre are Karena Brock-Carlyle, a former Principal Dancer with the American Ballet Theatre, and her husband John Carlyle. The theatre’s annual production of The Nutcracker is a much-loved event that has delighted tens of thousands of residents and visitors alike, as it is the official kick-off to the holiday season.
HILTON HEAD DANCE THEATRE Dance Party!
April 24 & 25, 2022 “The theatre’s annual production of The Nutcracker is a much-loved event that has delighted tens of thousands of residents and visitors alike, as it is the official kick-off to the holiday season.”
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APRIL 24 & 25, 2022
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DANCE PARTY!
MEET THE ARTIST
HILTON HEAD BALLROOM DANCE STUDIO
Hilton Head Ballroom Dance Studio has been helping Bluffton and Hilton Head stay stylish on the dance floor since opening their doors in 2003. Their highlytrained and certified instructors have a wealth of experience in teaching and performing various styles and disciplines, and have a passion for the art of dance and for helping others discover their inner dancer. Hilton Head Ballroom offers private lessons, group classes, social parties, private/custom group classes, and a whole lot more. They specialize in all types of Ballroom and Latin Dances in both American and International styles, but also offer wedding dance instruction, and all styles of partner dancing.
Dance Party!
SANDRO VIRAG
April 24 & 25, 2022
“They specialize in all types of Ballroom and Latin Dances in both American and International styles, but also offer wedding dance instruction, and all styles of partner dancing.”
Sandro Virag, originally from Budapest, Hungary, started dancing at age 5 and was already teaching group classes by age 14. At age 18 he became a Hungarian National Champion and was choreographing and performing in musical theater. In 2001 he had the opportunity to come to the United States to teach as a professional and compete under the US flag. Shortly after, he became a US citizen. In 2003 he opened the Fred Astaire Dance Studio on Hilton Head Island which has transitioned to the Hilton Head Ballroom Dance Studio in Bluffton. Sandro has over 25 years of teaching experience. He competes at the professional and pro-am level, is experienced in musical theater productions and has also produced and choreographed numerous productions. He teaches all levels of students including special needs, and has won numerous top teacher awards. Not only does Sandro have a passion for ballroom dancing, but also for traveling, which inspired him to become a flight attendant for Delta Airlines.
MEGHAN GREEN Meghan Green has danced with Hilton Head Ballroom for the past four years. Prior to discovering the glamorous world of ballroom, she trained classically in ballet en pointe, tap and jazz in Western North Carolina at WNC Dance Academy. Before moving to the Lowcountry, she lived in Charleston, SC. and taught youth ballet in the West Ashley area. Meghan has performed as a soloist in The Nutcracker as the Snow Queen, Chinese Tea, Dew Drop Fairy and Spanish Coffee, as well as a supporting ensemble dancer for 10 years. She also performed in former Broadway dancers, Kim Luzzi and Heidi Spoon’s Edge, in Highlands, NC. Meghan currently calls Hilton Head Ballroom Dance Studio home and enjoys being part of an Ensemble. She also enjoys sharing the gift of dance with her son who is part of the Youth Ballroom Dance Club. 100
HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
MEET THE ARTIST
THE STUDIO FOR DANCE
• APRIL 24 & 25, 2022
The Studio for Dance has had the privilege of performing with The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, both with Erich Kunzel and John Morris Russell, for the past 30 years. During these 30 years, The Studio Cloggers have appeared with the Pops in two televised productions for PBS. They have also performed with the May Festival Chorus, Blue Ash/Hamilton Symphony, Lima Symphony, Windsor Symphony in Windsor, Ontario, Canada and the Kitchener/Waterloo Symphony in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. They are thrilled to be making their debut with the HHSO.
DANCE PARTY!
The Studio Cloggers study ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, and clogging at The Studio for Dance in Cincinnati, Ohio. Under the direction of Shari Poff and choreographed by Della Lehane, these enthusiastic young people continue to win local and national dance competitions and are frequently named “Most Entertaining Performers.” Their precision and energy have won the hearts of audiences everywhere they perform. The Studio Cloggers appear regularly with the Cincinnati Pops at Music Hall and at Riverbend Music Center, and have enjoyed the honor of performing with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in New York. While visiting New York City, The Studio Cloggers also enjoyed the exciting opportunity to dance on “The Today Show.”
Dance Party!
April 24 & 25, 2022
“The Studio Cloggers
appear regularly with the Cincinnati Pops at Music Hall and at Riverbend Music Center, and have enjoyed the honor of performing with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in New York.”
2021-2022
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APRIL 24 & 25, 2022
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DANCE PARTY!
MEET THE ARTIST
LEGACY IRISH DANCE ACADEMY
Legacy Irish Dance Academy is the premier dance academy of the U.S. Southern Region. Legacy is owned and directed by Abbey Pride Wood, TCRG; Brent Wood, TCRG; and Patty Darrah, TCRG/ADCRG. Legacy is the elite training ground of numerous Irish dance world, national, and regional championship competitors and medal winners.
Dance Party!
With more than 70 years of combined teaching and performance experience, Legacy Irish Dance Academy is home to serious competitors as well as dancers who just want to have some fun!
April 24 & 25, 2022
“Legacy Irish Dance
Academy instructors have had the opportunity to teach alongside dancers from Riverdance, Lord of the Dance, and other internationally known Irish dance superstars.”
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Legacy Irish Dance Academy instructors have had the opportunity to teach alongside dancers from Riverdance, Lord of the Dance, and other internationally known Irish dance superstars. Legacy instructors and dancers have also been invited to perform on stage with Gaelic Storm, Santana, “America’s Got Talent”, Raglan Road, the NFL and CFL, and on numerous other TV shows.
HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
MEET THE ARTIST
April 24 & 25, 2022
“At Abeni, students
learn mostly through choreography which allows them to learn more within a year than a traditional instructional school.”
2021-2022
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APRIL 24 & 25, 2022
Dance Party!
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Abeni is dedicated to encouraging artists to reach their fullest potential in their chosen field. Dance is the primary focus and inspiration, however, Abeni’s mission is to encourage artists of various genres to nurture and challenge their passion for their art by fostering the creation of engaging, meaningful and culturally significant programs. Drama, visual arts, music, and voice are also integrated into its makeup. Collaborations with fellow artists and other special projects are implemented in an effort to bring similar organizations together in order to accomplish one goal: to embrace the fact that we are different, yet the same.
ABENI CULTURAL ARTS PERFORMING DANCE STUDIO
DANCE PARTY!
Abeni Cultural Arts was founded on April 1, 2006, by Artistic Director, Muriel Miller. Abeni Cultural Arts is comprised of three dance groups: Little Miracles of Abeni, Ijaba Youth Dance Ensemble, and Kokumo Collective Dance Company. At Abeni, students learn mostly through choreography which allows them to learn more within a year than a traditional instructional school. Abeni dancers also perform several times every month for different events around Savannah, GA and beyond. Dance styles include modern, jazz, ballet, African, contemporary, hip-hop, tap, gospel, and tumbling.
DANCE PARTY! APRIL 24 & 25, 2022
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Percussion-Drum Circle | Pete Schramm
Slavonic Dance | Juliana Kim
Can Can | Juliana Kim
Gullah Dancers | Juliana Kim
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LOOKING BACK AND FORWARD… A GLIMPSE INTO THE HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AT 40 Hilton Head Island was a different place 40 years ago. The population was 12,500, less than a third of what it is now. The bridge we use today was brand-spanking new, sparing locals and tourists the adventure of using the unreliable swing bridge that had been in place since 1956. The town was not yet officially a town—it was unincorporated. There was no Arts Center and no WalMart. Some might argue it was a better place and in some ways it may have been. But the people who lived here in the 70’s and 80’s, many of them transplants from up north, longed for more. They were pining for the performing arts and the arts would soon arrive—with an orchestra leading the way.
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“The Orchestra marked a turning point in Hilton Head’s cultural development.” —Margaret Greer, author, Making Music: The First 25 Years of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra
How does one properly capture the 40-year lifespan of a performing arts organization? The Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra is more than the names of the talented, dedicated people tasked with shepherding it over four decades; more than an enumeration of the individuals, organizations, and businesses which support it financially; more than the accomplishments of the volunteers who have donated tens of thousands of hours doing what was needed whenever they were called. And more, even, than its 60+ corps of professional musicians and its dynamic Music Director.
At its essence, the HHSO is a testament to what ordinary people can accomplish when they unite around a common passion. It’s worth taking a moment to think about this—to consider what it feels like and what it means. We asked and here’s what you told us—
• It’s the sheer joy you feel when hearing the opening notes of your favorite symphony for the umpteenth time; you know it—that indescribable feeling in your chest. • It’s the exhilarating sound of hands clapping and the anticipation of jumping to your feet to shout “Bravo! Encore!” • It’s the community we enjoy being present together, sharing the experience of live music with people we know and with people we do not know, but who are strangers no longer. • It’s the pride we feel supporting young artists, helping to nudge their careers forward and so help to keep the music alive. • It’s the wonder we see on children’s faces when they attend an orchestral concert for the first time. How much do you know about the HHSO’s history? As you take a stroll through the 80’s and 90’s into the new millennium all the way to the present, we hope that you gain an appreciation for how the orchestra has grown through the years; how its connections with audiences have broadened and deepened; how integrated it has become with other arts organizations and with the Beaufort County schools. The HHSO’s mission is “To inspire, enrich and unite the Lowcountry through music.” In many organizations a mission statement quickly devolves into just words. It is agonized over and then relegated to a desk drawer. Those of us who are lucky enough to have been along for the journey have had the privilege of watching the HHSO live its mission every day. For this it has earned not just the affection of classical music aficionados, but also the warm embrace of the entire Lowcountry. So let’s raise a glass to toast OUR Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra! Here’s to the next 40! Disclaimer: These pages attempt to document a rich, multi-layered story which has unfolded over four decades through the contributions of the seminal people and events which make the HHSO what it is today. Apologies if we have left anyone or anything out.
Attribution: Quotes, unless otherwise attributed, are from Margaret Greer’s book Making Music: The First 25 Years of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra. It was an invaluable resource in compiling this abridged version of our history. Thanks also to Kin-Yee (“Ken”) Mak and Jean-Marie Coté, photographers extraordinaire, who were present to record history in the many places it happened.
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THE EARLY YEARS (1982 – 1989) “The [Northeasterners and Midwesterners] who moved to ‘paradise’ realized they had it all except the most important thing: Art in all its forms. They were very, very hungry.” —Margaret Greer
1982—The Story Begins Pat Rose (sister-in-law of flutist Penny Rose who was a founding member of the Orchestra and stayed for 23 years) got the ball for classical music rolling on Hilton Head in 1982. She posted handwritten notices around the island titled “Chamber Music Anyone?” inviting ‘anyone who could play anything’ to a meeting designed to gauge interest in forming what would, in short order, become the Hilton Head Chamber Orchestra. About 20 people attended. “There were many non-orchestral instruments involved. We even had a guy who played the spoons. We got together Tuesday nights with our music arranged for a junior high level.” Penny Rose’s description of the first audition Wasting no time, this group of new friends gave their first concert in April at Christ Lutheran Church, the performers outnumbering the audience. A month later there was a second concert with a more ambitious program—Bach (both J.S. and C.P.E.), Handel, and Brahms with an organ solo thrown in for good measure. Dick Camp had moved to the island a few years earlier with golf on his mind. He had experience directing bands, orchestras, and choruses ‘up north,’ and was named conductor, serving in the role for eight years. When he took the podium there were 22 musicians; the number growing to over 50 by the end of the decade. Two early additions were Dorothy and Miles Mauney. The Mauney’s, both conservatory-trained and exceptional musicians, provided inspiration and teaching skills over the next two decades. It’s difficult to imagine the orchestra getting off the ground as quickly as it did without them. Articles of incorporation for a non-profit arts organization called the Hilton Head Community Orchestra were filed in 1983, and a Board of Directors was formed. A few years later, the Board was formalized and made permanent under the leadership of Willis Shay, who served as Chairman from 1988 to 1993. Shay is credited with “shaping the structure, style and presence” of the Orchestra, and later, for bringing the Piano Competition to international prominence.
All photos: Ken Mak
Funding was a challenge from the beginning. The orchestra held its first organized fundraiser, Keyboard Classics, in 1984. In 1988 it was the first arts organization to apply for Accommodations Tax funds (“ATAX”) from the Town; the grant was a whopping $15,000.
Original orchestra members with Dick Camp
Willis Shay
‘Chamber Music Anyone?’ notice
Miles and Dorothy Mauney 2021-2022
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Mary Woodmansee Green
Silver Anniversary Program
Gloria Daly
Photo Credit—all in this section: Ken Mak
Aplication Form 1st International Piano Competition
Maestra Green & HHSO
Photo by TheFrenchGuy Photography
John Gosling
Sarah Schenkman and Terry Moore
Mary Briggs
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Charles and Ellen Taylor
Bob Alberti & Lyn Roberts, Big Band Bash
THE 90s— GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS
THE 2000s— MARY WOODMANSEE GREEN YEARS
“Since the new [permanent] Board of Directors took office, the orchestra has emerged from its cocoon and has become an established and respected island institution. Its cultural, educational and economic impact is undeniable.”
“Maestra Green has done what is always talked about and hoped for, but seldom done. Over the years, she has created a regional orchestra of the highest quality which performs with gusto, attention to detail and always in impeccable taste.”
—Gordon Gillett, Board of Directors
—David Amran, American Composer From the program book of the HHSO’s 28th season
A decade marked by new places, new faces and several consequential firsts… First Presbyterian Church with seating for 1,000 became the Orchestra’s new home in 1990. New Conductor—John Gosling, a Juilliard graduate, who had held principal conducting posts with several American orchestras took the podium when Dick Camp retired (1990 – 1997). Gloria Daly joined the staff in 1991; Gloria was the face of the orchestra for 25 years and an icon in the local arts scene. New musicians—the orchestra grew from a modest number of local musicians to upwards of 25 locals and 40 from outside the area; Terry Moore and Sarah Schenkman joined the ranks in 1992, anchoring the string section for more than 20 years. New Board leadership—Charles Taylor succeeded Wilis Shay in 1993; he served as Board chair for a dozen years. 1994—The Orchestra League was founded by Ellen Taylor. 1995—The first Symphony Under the Stars was held under a tent in Harbour Town. Two debuts in 1996—the first International Piano Competition took place, and the Hilton Head Youth Orchestra was established by Dorothy Mauney. New Music Director—chosen in a national search from 220 applicants, Mary Woodmansee Green took the podium in 1998; Maestra Green led the HHSO for 12 seasons.
Under the leadership of Maestra Green, the Orchestra used the first decade of the new millennium productively, building on strengths and exploring new territory. Maestra Green immediately got down to work, demonstrating her skills in four important areas: conducting, programming, education, and community relations. Memorable highlights of the Green era include New Year’s Day in Old Vienna, staging popular operettas by Gilbert and Sullivan and Menotti, and the formation of a 40-voice chorus to broaden the Orchestra’s sound. 2000—First Youth Concerto Competition held; it has grown to one of the largest regional competitions of its type in the Southeast. 2004—First Big Band Bash with Bob Alberti as Special Pops Conductor. 2006—League membership swelled to 450. 2006-2007 marked the HHSO’s 25th Anniversary season—At Your Request. What fun it was with a Black-Tie Gala and a luxury cruise with Green and HHSO musicians on board! The season’s programming was populated with audience favorites. 2008—Mary Briggs was named Executive Director, then became President and CEO in 2011. Bringing her extensive music education background to the job, Briggs guided the Orchestra for 11 years.
A $275,000 donation from Aldine Schroeder provided the HHSO financial stability and set it up for remarkable growth in the next decade. 2021-2022
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THE 2010s—JOHN MORRIS RUSSELL ARRIVES AND SOUNDWAVES OPENS “As we unveil SoundWaves, we’re celebrating our unique coastal heritage and promoting the Lowcountry as a significant arts and cultural destination.” —Mary Briggs, President and CEO
The Orchestra embarked on a search for its fourth Music Director
In 2011 John Morris Russell was named Principal Guest Conductor and the Lowcountry took heed. Russell’s inaugural season as Music Director/Conductor was 2012-2013. HHSO patrons embraced the charismatic new Maestro as he brought guest artists of increasing stature to the stage. The orchestra grew artistically as he got to know and worked with the musicians. He put young artists center-stage, collaborating with organizations such as Sphinx Virtuosi, while making room on stage with the orchestra for the winners of the Hilton Head International Piano and Youth Concerto Competitions. In no time, he became just “JMR.”
Educational outreach flourishes
The orchestra set its sights on the development of an integrated set of programs uniting its outreach efforts in the schools. The Mary Briggs Education Fund was established in 2015: its mission is to encourage and support charitable giving directed to music education. Impact was immediate, enabling a 25% increase in services to schools. A new educational program—Music Bridges—made its debut in 2015. JMR was right in the middle of it all, working with and performing for several thousand Beaufort County public and private school children.
Exciting new programs take shape
In 2011, the International Piano Competition began a competition for young artists ages 13 to 17. In 2018 it moved to a three-year rotation with the addition of a piano festival, BravoPiano! In 2019 the first Chamber Music Institute took place, uniting young string musicians from around the country with world-class instructors for ten days at SoundWaves.
Subscriptions soar
In the 2015-2016 season subscription and pre-season ticket sales reached an all-time high. All nine masterworks concerts were doubled for a total of 18. The 2017-2018 season, themed American Mosaic, was one for the ages. A pre-season Gala Opening Concert featured Emanual Ax. Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess was staged. Symphony Under the Stars took itself off-island for a fall event.
SoundWaves opens in 2018
The decade ended with the opening of SoundWaves, a 7,300 square foot facility at Coligny with a performance area and staff offices. Mario Incorvaia, a member of the HHSO string section, had joined the staff full-time as Vice President of Operations in 2015, taking responsibility for SoundWaves in 2018. The first season saw the orchestra experiment with the new space, holding a concert and rehearsals there, as well as presenting a variety of musical performances by local artists and a summer music camp for youth. In addition to HHSO utilizing the space, it also rents to other nonprofits. Stay tuned—the Soundwaves story is just beginning to be told.
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LOOKING FORWARD—THE 2020s AND BEYOND Recent events have forced the Orchestra and its patrons to become more flexible and adaptable. This new way of business offers us the freedom to re-imagine how the HHSO can better serve the entire Lowcountry community in the coming years.” —Alan Jordan, President and CEO
The 2019-2020 season’s theme was Unforgettable which seems prescient, given what happened to the world. Although not what it had planned, the Orchestra did impressive things in 2021. Monday’s SoundWaves Streaming Live! series presented more than 50 performances, reaching tens of thousands of viewers. The 2021 masterworks subscription series was reimagined and we somehow managed to livestream nine chamber orchestra programs to hungry patrons. We are beyond grateful that so many of you stayed with us—attending our virtual offerings, technical glitches and all. You stood with us financially. That essential support coupled with available sources of funding through government and private grants enable us to start our 40th season in a strong and stable financial position. There is much to celebrate and to be thankful for as we look forward. And so it has gone—an inspiring story of the right people in the right places at the right time.
Driven by a passion for orchestral music, a small, optimistic band of musicians got the ball rolling in 1982 in an island community of only 12,500 souls. The Lowcountry would not be what it is today without their precious gift. ‘Chamber music anyone?’
Photo by TheFrenchGuy Photography 2021-2022
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All photos by thefrenchguyphotography | Jean-Marie Cotė | Hilton Head Island SC
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All photos by thefrenchguyphotography | Jean-Marie Cotė | Hilton Head Island SC 2021-2022
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MARCH 24–APRIL 9, 2022 Tickets & Information: savannahmusicfestival.org
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“One of the continent’s most innovative cultural enterprises.” TORONTO STAR
WHAT THE MUSICANS ARE SAYING
“The bar keeps rising, the music keeps on playing, and Hilton Head is the best supportive arts community around!” We reached out to our musicians, particularly those with a long view of the HHSO. Who would know better than they do how the Orchestra has changed and grown through the years? How nice to learn that our musicians appreciate us as much as we appreciate them! In their own words….. “The HHSO is the artistic crown jewel of the Lowcountry. Our world-class musicians are drawn from near and far to perform incredible music for a great community of loyal supporters and patrons.” “In the years I have played with the HHSO, the orchestra has gone from a community orchestra to a very fine regional orchestra.” “Our audiences have expanded both in size and in enthusiasm.” “The HHSO has the most knowledgeable and devoted audience I’ve ever experienced with an orchestra that is not located in an urban center.” “The story of the HHSO has had many great chapters. When I first started, under John Gosling, the orchestra felt like a decent community orchestra with excellent “ringers” brought in for performances. The Mary Woodmansee Green years brought a new cohesiveness, a much higher musical standard as well as wonderful and varied repertoire. Mary’s verbal program notes and stories both educated and excited the audience; the community became proud of HHSO.”
“I am so blessed to be a part of the HHSO!”
“A favorite memory is when the Orchestra played for the opening of the Arts Center [in 1996]. John Gosling was our conductor, and the evening was called ‘A Night to Remember.’ Roberta Peters was the guest artist! The Orchestra has come a long way since that night and, with John Morris Russell’s guidance, it will continue to reach new horizons.” “Our concerts feature a wide variety of new and traditional orchestral styles and literature as well as showcasing amazing guest artists and soloists. The Pops concerts have been a gas!“ “It has been a joy to see the HHSO’s expanded involvement in community schools (music education outreach) and the continuing collaboration with the International Piano Competition.” “Thanks to the leadership and vision of its past director, Mary Green, and its present music director and conductor, John Morris Russell, the HHSO’s reputation for musical excellence has grown exponentially.” “To say that the HHSO is fortunate to have John Morris Russell as its conductor is a vast understatement. Under his leadership and guidance, the HHSO has made incredible strides. He makes ‘making music’ a real joy, inspiring each and every musician to give their very best.” “John Morris Russell has been a whirlwind of energy and ideas (how can it be 10 years??), and he is so much fun to work with!” 2021-2022
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A PERFECT DUET.
HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PRESENTS
2021 LEXUS LC 500
COASTAL DISCOVERY MUSEUM AT HONEY HORN HILTON HEAD ISLAND
TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2022 • 6PM WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 2022 • 6PM 2021 LEXUS LS 500
John Morris Russell, Conductor The HHSO and The Fabulous Equinox Orchestra In a large festive tent under the baton of John Morris Russell, patrons can enjoy the music and dinner with friends. A swinging evening of chart toppers from the pen of Lowcountry’s own Johnny Mercer in some fantastic new arrangements performed by JMR and your HHSO and featuring Savannah’s big band, The Fabulous Equinox Orchestra.
540 NEW RIVER PARKWAY HILTON HEAD • (843) 705-3987
HiltonHeadLexus.com
You may provide your own refreshments, but wine, beer, soft drinks and water are available for sale by the League of the Hilton Head symphony Orchestra. Tickets for table seating are $85 and $75. Additional seating options are priced at $50 for concert seating and the popular outside lawn seating is $25. For tickets call 843-842-2055 or go online at hhso.org 2021-2022
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L
ean Ensemble Theater is celebrating our return to the live stage with stories that spark and inspire your conversation. The last eighteen months have asked all of us to look at the world in a different way. It’s a view that has exposed all of our humanity, warts and all. So, this season we offer up plays that portray both our light and darkness, our kindness and fear, and our joy and laughter as well as our pain. We’re honoring the entirety of the human experience, one story at a time. We open in October with the regional premiere of Larissa FastHorse’s THE THANKSGIVING PLAY, a biting satire that’s not afraid to stare “wokeness” smack dab in the face as politically correct characters attempt to produce an enlightened holiday origin story. In December comes Yasmina Reza’s Tony Award winner ART, a comedy about friendship, sophistication, and a controversial purchase of an all-white painting with a hefty price tag. We kick off 2022 with OTHER DESERT CITIES by Jon Robin Baitz. This Tony-nominated drama revolves around a Christmas homecoming and the jolting announcement that one of the children is about to publish a memoir exposing a tragic family secret. Spring brings the long-awaited world premiere of MITCHELVILLE live on stage. Playwright Aurin Squire bridges the past and present from Hilton Head’s Civil War era to today’s heirs’ property issues. We close with the regional premiere of Second City’s DEATH OF A STREETCAR NAMED VIRGINIA WOOLF: A PARODY, a comic mash-up of famous characters by Tim Sniffen. We promise you that this collision of egos, neurosis and wackiness will be worth the wait! So join us at Lean Ensemble in celebrating the return of music, theater, arts and culture right here on Hilton Head Island. Blake White Founding Artistic & Executive Director
2021-2022
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r l ia so c e on Sp Sp nt e Ev Luxury Home & Villa Vacation Rentals
Beach Properties of Hilton Head is proud to support the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra. We applaud all they do for the arts and bringing the gift of music to our community!
64 Arrow Road Hilton Head Island, SC 29928
www.beach-property.com 1-800-671-5155
THE LEAGUE OF THE HILTON HEAD ORCHESTRA is excited to announce its new fall fundraiser
SWING FORE THE SYMPHONY
Please join us Monday, November 15, 2021, at the Wexford Golf Club for this fun event. Teams of four will play in a step-aside scramble followed by heavy hors d’oeuvres in Wexford’s gorgeous clubhouse. Form your own 4-person team or register as a single and you will be placed with others. As with all League events, the proceeds are used to support the Orchestra’s Youth Programs. This is a rare chance to play one of the area’s finest golf courses and to help the HHSO at the same time. WHERE
Wexford Golf Club
DATE
Monday, November 15, 2021
SCHEDULE 9 am Registration (coffee/Danish provided) 10 am Driving range opens 11 am Shot Gun start 4 pm Return to Clubhouse for reception ENTRY FEE $300.00 per person Includes green fees, cart, continental breakfast, box lunch, reception, heavy hors d’oeuvres with open bar & a silent auction FORMAT CORPORATE SPONSOR
Step-aside scramble with 4-person teams
PATRON SPONSOR
CALL LINDA MOLONEY AT 843.384.4810 OR EMAIL LAM@127FW.COM
with questions or to receive an entry form. Do not wait—we expect this event to sell out! If you are unable to participate, please consider a donation (cash, silent auction, sponsorship of a hole). We look forward to seeing you at beautiful Wexford Golf Club Swinging Fore the Symphony! The HHSO is a 501c3 charitable organization—Tax ID# 57-0761297
November 5, 2021 John Tierney Executive Director at Council for a Livable World Title: Questions that Congress is Failing to Ask
January 7, 2022 Farah Pandith Senior fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government Title: How We Win: Countering Extremism Together Here & Abroad
World Affairs Council of Hilton Head
2021-2022 FRIDAY SPEAKER SERIES A year of turmoil! A pandemic, a contested presidential election and massive cyber-attacks raised challenges around the globe. Our strong roster of speakers will provide broad coverage of these topics as well as China’s treatment of the Uyghurs, Brexit, Iran under sanctions, the endless conflict in the Gulf Arab States and America’s own challenges.
They will help us understand this broad range of issues facing the world including the efforts to undermine our democracy by powerful national and international groups. February 4, 2022 Daniel Ziblatt American political scientist and a professor at Harvard University Title: How Democracies Die
For a complete listing of speakers and their biographies, visit www.wachh.org/FridayMeetings21-22
MEMBERSHIP HAS ITS PRIVILEGES! • 14 Friday Speaker Meetings • Discussion Groups • Newsletters • Book Club • Student Outreach Programs
March 4, 2022 Joby Warrick national security reporter for the Washington Post & Pulitzer Prize winning author Title: Red Line: The Unraveling of Syria
& so much more! March 18, 2022 GLOBAL SPEAKERS PROGRAM Sergei Medvedev Russian scholar & professor at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow Title: What has Happened to Russia?
April 22, 2022 Kevin Scheid CEO / General Manager at NATO Communications & Information Agency Title: Cyber Security Threats & Challenges
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JOIN NOW
Membership is $125. World Affairs Council of Hilton Head P.O. Box 22523, Hilton Head Island, SC 29925 843.384.6758 www.wachh.org
Celebrating 40 Years of bringing the world to Hilton Head Island.
TENTH 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 10th annual Spring Luncheon, Fashion Show and Silent Auction. This signature event will be held on Tuesday, March 22, 2022, in the Magnolia room at the Country Club of Hilton Head, located inside Hilton Head Plantation. Presenting sponsor Evelyn & Arthur promises to delight us with beautiful apparel and fashions. Located in the Wexford shopping area, they are known for stylish, contemporary clothing, in addition to a wide selection of accessories and gifts for fashionable women.
THE LEAGUE OF THE HHSO PRESENTS
THE 10TH ANNUAL
FASHION SHOW & SILENT AUCTION
A BENEFIT FOR THE HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND ITS YOUTH PROGRAMS
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.
TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2022 The Country Club of Hilton Head PRESENTING SPONSOR EVELYN & ARTHUR
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. 2021-2022
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ART LEAGUE OF HILTON HEAD Art League of Hilton Head celebrates its 11th year of collaboration with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra. Art League’s exhibiting artists have created the works of art featured in this 2021-22 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
Solo Violin | Marianne Stillwagon
Joan Ackerman Earline Allen Donna Belber Luz Celeste Figueroa Juliana Kim Norman Levy Karen McCarthy Pam Saunders Lynn Schramm Pete Schramm Marianne Stillwagon Yajaira Surrett Ann K. Walsh Two Violins | Marianne Stillwagon
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ART LEAGUE EXHIBITION SCHEDULE Monthly Featured Shows are listed below. Receptions are open and free to the public from 5-7 pm
2021 AUG 31-SEPT 25 “A THREAD RUNS THROUGH IT” Reception 9/8 “GOT ART?” PREVIEW 9/28-9/30 Event 10/1 5-7 pm OCT 5-30 JULIE JONES Reception 10/6 NOV 2-27 SHERI FARBSTEIN Reception 11/10 Raven | Juliana Kim
DEC 7-31 GALLERY OF GIFTS Reception 12/8
2022 JAN 4-29 “ANYTHING GOES!” Member Show Reception 1/5 FEB 1-27 NIBCAA “ARTS OB WE PEOPLE” Reception 2/9 “GOT ART?” PREVIEW 2/28-3/5 Event 3/4 5-7 pm MAR 15-APR 16 ADDISON PALMER Reception 3/16 APR 19-MAY 21 PETER DALLOS Reception 4/20 MAY 24-JUNE 25 DENNIS LAKE Reception 5/25 JUNE 27-JULY 2 FABULOUS FAKES TBD LowCountry Color Field | Juliana Kim 2021-2022
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Bad Hair Day | Juliana Kim
The Shape of Hope | Norman Levy
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Lowcountry Marshland | Pamela Saunders
Dragonfly | Juliana Kim
Beach I Love | Joan Ackerman 2021-2022
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Bravo to the HHSO Musicians!
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843.802.2180 | Marriott.com/HHHCY
CO U R T YA R D H I LTO N H E A D I S L A N D
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.
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Congratulations on 40 Years! Proudly supporting the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra
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2021-2022
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2021-2022
SEASON
SAVE THE DATES CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS THE SOUNDS OF CHRISTMAS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2021
CELEBRATE 45 SEASONS & TWENTY WITH TIM FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2022
CELEBRATE MEMORIAL DAY AMERICA SINGS! Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Brass Quintet
SUNDAY, MAY 29, 2022 All Concerts will be at 7:00 PM FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 540 William Hilton Parkway, Hilton Head Island
For more information call 843-341-3818 or go to
HILTONHEADCHORALSOCIETY.ORG 2021-2022
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For your Real Estate Needs for the Past 36 Years
Congratulations
to the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra on 40 years of great music for the Lowcountry www.CharlesSampson.com www.BridgeToHiltonHeadHomes.com and to John Morris Russell on 10 exciting years as the HHSO Music Director! www.facebook.com/HiltonHeadIslandSouthCarolina
Island Resident Since 1972 843.384.7300 800.267.3285 4215 70ext. Main Street, Suite 100
(843) 681-4430
Charles@CharlesSampson.com
Hilton Head Proud Member of the Symphony Board 2008 - 2014Island,
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The Harbour Town Lighthouse is a trademark of the Sea Pines Resort.
Enhancing People’s Lives
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Supporting the Arts
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RESIDENTIAL & COMMERCIAL
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HILTON HEAD • BLUFFTON • BEAUFORT • CHARLESTON • SAVANNAH
2019– 2020
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HHSO’S 40TH SEASON
USHER LIST - HHSO THANKS YOU! Our dedicated ushers play a major role in creating a welcoming environment at our concerts, making sure every person feels comfortably at home. We value their commitment to the HHSO and want to say “Thank You!” to all who donate their time to serve the orchestra and our community.
SUNDAY MATINEES Julie Bamford Peggy Basile Alan Biggs Laurie Biggs Nancy Calhoun-Sullivan Jan Cunningham Margaret Dillon John Dillon Sally Farrar Sonia Fuentes Susan Johnson Joe Lepis MaryLou Lepis
Peggi Moon Ellen Newfield Eadie Parody Phyllis Patterson Cassandra Piovoso Lori Pittard Joel Spiegel Sally Stein Lynne Tanis Norma VanAmberg Noreen Whaler Heather Witherspoon John Witherspoon
MONDAY NIGHTS Judy Baker Jan Bender Ruth Brown Sandy Dickson Andy Grant Martha Grant Ruth Hook Rita Jones Susan Johnson Baline Lotz Lynne Lotz Toney Mathews Al Nathewitch
Mary Nathewitch Kay Sartorious Linda Schneider Cindy Troyer Heather Witherspoon John Witherspoon
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ENHANCE YOUR ORCHESTRA EXPERIENCE BY HOSTING A MUSICIAN The Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra has the advantage of drawing excellent musicians from geographic areas well beyond Hilton Head including Savannah, Charleston, Greenville, Macon, Augusta, Statesboro, Columbia, and from as far away as Atlanta, Georgia; Jacksonville, Florida; and Charlotte and Winston-Salem, North Carolina. With Sunday and Monday concerts plus the preceding rehearsals, musicians are in Hilton Head from Thursday or Friday to Tuesday. For several years we have offered them the choice of staying in hotels or in private homes. Increasingly, musicians are choosing the private home experience. Hosting responsibilities are minimal – a private bedroom and bath, a light breakfast, and perhaps a glass of wine or snack after a late-night rehearsal or concert. Musicians provide their own transportation and are given a per diem stipend to cover meals and expenses. Sometimes hosts invite their guests to join them for a meal or going out to dinner, but that is up to each family and the relationship they have developed. The benefits far outweigh the responsibilities: • Those who regularly host the same musician(s) find that great friendships result; the musicians become “family.” • Getting to know the musicians personally provides a sincere appreciation for their talent and how hard they work to provide the professional performances we all enjoy. • A practicing musician brings the “sound of music” to your home and provides a preview of the concert to come. • During the concert, hosts find that they have a vested interest in their musician’s performance and the good feeling of having supported, in a small way, that performance. • Hosting a musician provides an additional way, beyond financial support, of helping the orchestra. • Musicians report that they give priority to the HHSO when building their schedules because of the hospitality they receive here. This helps keep the most talented pool of musicians available to us. Bravo to all our HHSO host families! Your gift is priceless! If you are interested in hosting a musician for the season or for specific concerts, please call the HHSO office at 843.842.2055.
A special thank you to all the host families! Catherine Adams Marilyn and Buzz Althans Kathy and David Alven Peggy Ashworth Helen Baker Laurette and Lou Benfante Mary and Mike Briggs Ginger and Mike Caporal Heather and Bob Cherichella Stan Cooke Joan and Charlie Dattelbaum Scottie Davis Linda DeLuca Pat Dowey Linda Ellis Paula and Marc Feinberg Gigi and Brian Goode Mary Jo Happley Ann and Charlie Harrison Sue and Michael Harter 136
HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Sharon and Gordon Hassing Barbara Holmes Nancy Huber Nancy Hudak Mona and Joe Huff Juliana and Sam Kim Rosemary and Gary Kratz Doris Lindner Clare and Jim Mackie Suzy and Ray Makalous Alison and Graham May Toy Mergler Nancy Minor Carolyn Moore Mary and Ian Murray Linda and Glenn Neff Mary Noonan Emily and Wil Oelkers Susan and Ed Parrish John and Kathie Patten
Phyllis Patterson Judy and Dale Peters Jane Phillips Sandy and David Pollock Mary Ann and Terry Putnam Jo Qualiana Connie Randall Susan and Dean Roberts Betsy and Bob Roll Pam and Dave Schofield Barbara and Robert Singer Barbara and Roger Soens Myra and Bill Stinnett Lorene and Tom Thornbury Judy and Bill Thorpe Jennifer and John Tupper Betsy and John Vinton Connie and Jerry Voight
LIST OF ADVERTISERS We appreciate your commitment and generosity.
Beach Properties................................................ 118
LOCALLife............................................................ 116
Blue Cross/Blue Shield of SC . ............................ 128
McGriff/PURE Insurance....................................... 21
Boys Arnold Wealth Management......................... 1
Palmetto Electric Compnay................................ 129
Carey and Company........................................... 132
Rice Music House................................................. 14
Charles Sampson Realty Group ......................... 127
Rockfish Seafood and Steaks................................ 16
Charter One Realty................................................. 6
Rollers Wine & Spirits......................................... 136
Coastal Home....................................................... 30
Royal Restrooms................................................... 32
Coligny Plaza......................................................... 10
Savannah Music Festival..................................... 112
Correll Insurance................................................ 127
Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport.......20
Courtyard by Marriott Hilton Head....................128
Sea Grass Grille................................................... 136
Custom Audio Video............................................. 37
SERG Group............................................................ 4
Dividend Assets Capital...................................... 114
Sonesta Oceanfront Resort..........inside front cover
Engel & Völkers..................................................... 36
South State Bank................................................ 130
Forsythe Jewelers................................................. 11
The Cypress of Hilton Head.................................... 2
Group 3/Pyramids.................................................. 3
The Frenchguy Photography.............................. 129
Hilton Head BMW................................................ 12
The Frosty Frog Café........................................... 136
Hilton Head Choral Society................................. 131
The Great Frame Up........................................... 126
Hilton Head Dance Theatre................................ 131
The Greenery...................................................... 132
Hilton Head Dental Team...................................... 24
The Island Fudge Shoppe................................... 136
Hilton Head Exterminators................................. 130
The Junior Jazz Foundation................................ 136
Hilton Head Lexus............................................... 115
The SandBar Beach Eats..................................... 136
Hinoki Japanese Cuisine & Sushi Bar..................136
TidePointe, a Vi Community................................. 33
Kenneth Kowalyk, DMD...................................... 133
World Affairs Council of Hilton Head..................120
Lean Ensemble Theater...................................... 117 2021-2022
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HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
PERFORMANCE AND SPECIAL EVENTS SPONSORS We appreciate your commitment and generosity.
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HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
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HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA