Masterworks 3: Slavic Virtuosity

MESSAGE FROM THE MAYOR

On behalf of the City of St. John’s, I am pleased to extend warm greetings to the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra as you launch your 2025/2026 season, Obsessed, Onstage, Onfire.

This year’s theme reflects the passion, dedication, and energy the NSO brings to our community year after year. Through inspiring performances, meaningful education programmes, and steadfast community engagement, the NSO continues to ignite a love of music that enriches the cultural fabric of our city.

My sincere thanks go to the musicians, staff, volunteers, patrons, and sponsors who make each season possible. Your commitment ensures that the symphony not only thrives, but also continues to inspire audiences of all ages.

On behalf of Council, I congratulate the NSO on another exciting season and wish you every success as you share your extraordinary talent with our community.

Warm regards, Danny Breen Mayor of St. John’s

Message from the Lieutenant Governor

As Honorary Patron of the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, it is my great pleasure to extend greetings and very best wishes for the 2025-2026 season.

The NSO is a wonderful orchestra, which has served to cultivate and profile many of the exceptional artists we have in our province. The gift of the NSO’s rich orchestral music has become an integral part of the cultural fabric of Newfoundland and Labrador. Again this year, a variety of performances are planned, sure to delight audiences and inspire us all.

This season is the first under the artistic leadership of Music Director Simon Rivard. Congratulations on your new role, and welcome!

I hope you will enjoy the performances the NSO has in store this year. To everyone involved: the musicians, staff, crew, and all who have a hand in producing this season, I thank you and wish you the best.

Joan Marie J. Aylward, O.N.L Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador

We acknowledge the province of Newfoundland and Labrador as the traditional territory of diverse Indigenous groups, and we acknowledge with respect the diverse histories and cultures of the Beothuk, Mi’kmaq, Innu, and Inuit of this province. We strive for respectful relationships with all the peoples of this province as we search for collective healing and true reconciliation and honour this beautiful land together.

MASTERWORKS 3

SLAVIC VIRTUOSITY

Friday, February 6th, 2026 • St. John’s Arts & Culture Centre

Presented by Delta Hotel

Thomas Le Duc-Moreau, conductor

Stéphane Tétreault, cello CALOS Youth Orchestras

Valentyn Silvestrov Silent Music

I. Waltz of the Moment

II. Evening Serenade

III. Moments of the Serenade

Sergei Prokofiev Symphonie-Concertante

I. Andante

II. Allegro giusto

III. Andante con moto - Allegretto - Allegro marcato

INTERMISSION

Modest Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition

Promenade

I. Gnomus (The Gnome)

Promenade

II. Il vecchio castello (The Old Castle) Promenade

III. Tuileries (Dispute d’enfants après jeux) (Children’s Quarrel After Games)

IV. Bydło (Cattle) Promenade

V. Balet nevylupivshikhsya ptentsov (Ballet of Unhatched Chicks)

VI. Samuel Goldenberg und “Schmuÿle” Promenade

VII. Limoges. Le marché (La grande nouvelle) (The Market, The Great News)

VIII. Catacombae (Sepulcrum romanum) (Catacombs, Roman Tomb)

Cum mortuis in lingua mortua (With the Dead in a Dead Language)

IX. Izbushka na kuryikh nozhkakh (Baba Yaga) (The Hut on Hen’s Legs, Baba Yaga)

X. Bogatyrskiye vorota (V stolnom gorode vo Kiyeve) (The Bogatyr Gates, In the Capital of Kiev), also known as The Great Gates of Kiev

CONDUCTOR THOMAS LE DUC-MOREAU

With a contagious enthusiasm, the young conductor Thomas Le Duc-Moreau leads with great precision and an artistic sensitivity that creates an effective and human symbiosis appreciated by both musicians and audiences. Beginning with the 2025–2026 season, he will serve as Associate Conductor of the Choir of St. Andrew and St. Paul Church, as well as Guest Professor at Université Laval. Upon graduating from the Conservatoire, Thomas held assistant conductor positions with the Orchestre symphonique de Québec and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. The beginning of his career was marked by notable collaborations. Initially assistant to Music Director Kent Nagano, he also worked with guest conductors Bernard Labadie, Hannu Lintu, Cristian Măcelaru, Susanna Mälkki, Rafael Payare, and François-Xavier Roth. Since the start of his career, Thomas has conducted more than fifty concerts with the OSM.

In opera, he has already collaborated on numerous productions. He notably conducted two premieres in 2022 and 2023: Messe solennelle pour une pleine lune d’été by Christian Thomas, based on the play by Québec writer Michel Tremblay, and Yourcenar – Une île de passions by Éric Champagne, both coproductions of the Festival d’opéra de Québec, Opéra de Montréal, and Les Violons du Roy. In the summer of 2024, he conducted La Vie parisienne at the Festival d’opéra de Québec. He also participated as assistant conductor in productions of Verdi’s Il Trovatore and Puccini’s Madame Butterfly at Opéra de Montréal, Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman at the Festival d’opéra de Québec, and Bizet’s Carmen at the Bonn Theater in Germany.

In symphonic concerts, Thomas has conducted major Québec and Canadian orchestras as well as the National Theatre Orchestra of Prague in the Czech Republic. In popular concerts, he conducted Alexandra Stréliski’s very first symphonic concert with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal as part of the Montreal Jazz Festival, broadcast on Radio-Canada television.

Thomas is a graduate of the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, where he studied cello with Carole Sirois and orchestral conducting with Jacques Lacombe. In 2022, he received the very first JosephRouleau Prize, awarded by the Fondation du Conservatoire de musique et d’art dramatique du Québec, in recognition of the promising beginnings of his career.

GUESTARTIST

STÉPHANE TÉTREAULT, cello

Recipient of the 2019 Virginia Parker Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts, cellist Stéphane Tétreault was also named “Performer of the Year” at the 2022 Prix Opus by the Conseil québécois de la musique. His debut album with the Quebec Symphony and Fabien Gabel was selected as Editor’s Choice by Gramophone (March 2013), while his second, with pianist MarieÈve Scarfone, earned Critic’s Choice in 2016 and was named one of the year’s best. Stéphane performs on the 1707 “Countess of Stainlein, Ex-Paganini” Stradivarius cello, on generous loan from Mrs. Sophie Desmarais.

VIOLIN 1

Heather Kao (concertmaster)

Dominic Greene (asst. concertmaster)

Andy Kao

Anastasia Kiseleva

Whit Fitzgerald

Lauren Smee

Claire Boudreau

Amanda Yee (OCP)

Rachael Hammond (OCP)

Julia Bassler *

Timothy Bassler *

Jasmine Kecheroud *

Maia McKeown *

Guinevere Moffett *

Joseph Ye *

Anna Zhao *

VIOLIN 2

Nancy Case-Oates (principal)

Carole Bestvater

Elena Vigna

Ilyas Duissen

Jacquelyn Redmond

Sofiia Terzioglu (OCP)

Maria Cherwick

Cathy Anstey

Stewart Gillies

Charlotte Aubrey-Bassler *

Timofey Chabanenko *

Mark Cherwick *

Eve McEvoy *

Norah Lundrigan *

Thomas Saunders *

Sophia Williams *

VIOLA

Kate Read (principal)

Ema Shiroma-Chao

Chantelle Jubenville

Rosaura Aguilar

Mahina Graham-Laidlaw

Norma Noseworthy

Jonathan Stevenson

Olive Fortune *

Emily Pynn *

Jayce Manuyama Stoker *

CELLO

Nathan Cook (principal)

Amy Collyer-Holmes

Sandra Pope

Sydney Chislet

Nancy Bannister

Katherine Shipley

Patrick Jünemann *

BASS

Frank Fusari (principal)

Denise Lear

Nick Howlett

Matthew Hardy

Jim Vivian

Ethan Gough *

Jonathan Schneider *

FLUTE

Michelle Cheramy (principal)

Sarah Comerford

Donna Spurvey

Mya Rogers *

Wesley Ings *

Jada Lu *

Tai Sullivan *

Lauren Woodland *

OBOE / ENGLISH HORN

Annie Corrigan (principal)

Grace Noseworthy

Valerie Holden

Lily Broderick *

CLARINET

Glenn Rice (principal)

Brenda Gatherall

Harry Zheng

Eliana Ralph *

Moss Smith *

BASSOON

Grant Etchegary (principal)

Nicole Hand

Chris Williams

Joey Weatherall *

HORN

Emily Dunsmore (principal)

Doug Vaughan

Michelle Stevenson

David Natsheh

MUSICIANS

TRUMPET

Katie Sullivan (principal)

Jill Dawe

Christian Berglander

Sophia Brown *

Clare Chen *

Matthew Gabbidon *

Lawrence Graves *

TROMBONE

Darren McDonald (principal)

Erin Sullivan

Daniel Dumeresque Correa *

Theodore Trifonov *

BASS TROMBONE

Andrew Cooper (principal)

Erin Manuel *

TUBA

Catherine Tansley (principal)

Andersen McGrath *

Patrick Ring *

PERCUSSION

Rob Power (principal)

David Kerr

Jenna Grant (OCP)

Amy Parsons (OCP)

J Benson (OCP)

Noah Mercer (OCP)

Harry Drover *

Tayo Merdsoy *

Nigel Morano *

Kyle Noseworthy *

HARP

Sarah Veber (principal)

CELESTE

Jenny Griffioen (principal)

PIANO (Harp 2)

Jocelyn Meruvia-Peña *

* CALOS Youth Orchestras member

PROGRAM NOTES

MASTERWORKS 3: Slavic Virtuosity Program Notes provided by: Dr. Annalise Smith

How can music be silent? This is a question Valentyn Silvestrov (b.1937) asks us to consider in Silent Music (2002). The three movements of this piece—”Waltz of the moment,” “Evening Serenade” and “Moments of the Serenade”—are all orchestrations of bagatelles Silvestrov originally wrote for solo piano or chamber performance. As a genre, the bagatelle has been associated with pieces of a lighter, even insignificant character; a musical trifle. For Silvestrov, then, the silence evoked in these melodious pieces is not literal, but rather the absence of defined meaning.

Like many composers active in the USSR during the mid-twentieth century, Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev (1891–1953) faced condemnation from the Soviet government for the reportedly Western style of his music. Following official censure in 1948, Prokofiev’s music largely disappeared from concert programs. Despite having no guarantee of future performance, Prokofiev continued to compose and was especially inspired by the young cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. After writing his cello sonata for Rostropovich, Prokofiev re-worked his first cello concerto for the performer. Originally presented as Prokofiev’s second cello concerto, the composer would revise and retitle the work as SymphonieConcertante (1952). Prokofiev, however, would die before the final version of the work could be performed. The three-movement work is notoriously difficult, even requiring the cellist to play off the fingerboard. Rostropovich actually suggested that Prokofiev write alternate solo parts to make the work accessible to less virtuosic performers.

Many composers in the nineteenth century participated in what we might term musical nationalism, the desire to create a unique national style distinct from the cosmopolitan music characteristic of Western European cities like Vienna. In Russia, a group of composers known as “The Five” championed this quest for a unique national sound, relying heavily on scales, harmonies, and melodic idioms characteristic of Russian folk music. Despite never making his living as a composer, Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1891) remains one of the most popular members of the group, in no small part due to his bold, idiosyncratic style. This style emerged in part due to Mussorgsky’s lack of formal training—other than some rudimentary

lessons from fellow composer Mily Balakirev, the composer was self-taught. Pictures at an Exhibition (1874) was written as a piano suite to accompany an exhibition of works by Mussorgsky’s friend Viktor Hartmann. The ten movements—each based on a different picture by Hartmann—are interspersed with a repeating promenade theme meant to depict the experience of walking through the halls and encountering different works. While today one of Mussorgsky’s best-known works, the composer’s contemporaries reportedly found it too experimental and bizarre, resulting in Mussorgsky shelving his initial plans to have the work published. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov published a highly edited version of the work shortly after Mussorgsky’s death, but an accurate representation of the composer’s original composition was not made public until the 1930s. “Pictures at an Exhibition” has been orchestrated several times, with Ravel’s version of the work from 1922, performed tonight, the most popular.

UPCOMING CONCERTS

OVATION A STANDING FOR OUR SUPPORTERS

NSO Staff

Simon Rivard, Music Director

Martin MacDonald, Principal Pops Conductor

Hugh Donnan, CEO

Lynn Ann Pye, Patron Relations

Jennifer Brennan, Education & Outreach Coordinator

Maria Penney, Marketing & Development Manager

Dominic Greene, Personnel Manager

Steve Power, Production Manager/Video Production/Editing

Jenny Griffioen, Librarian

Kyle McDavid, Graphic Designer

NSO Board

Jessica Chapman (Chair)

Michelle Davis (Vice-Chair)

Tom Hickey (Past Chair)

Douglas Wright (Treasurer)

Robert Thompson (Corporate Secretary)

Philip Harrington

Eleanor Swanson

Heather McKinnon

Andrea Rose

Duncan Fitzpatrick

Glenn Colton

Alana

Aimee

Robert

Jennifer Massey

Jing

Karen

Chris Williams

Amanda Hann

Charlie Byrne

Andrii Shyshkin

Beth Porter