NSO Sinfonia 1: Echoes of Passion

Message from the Premier

Congratulations to the esteemed Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra (NSO) on the launch of their 2024-2025 season. The NSO remains a cornerstone of Newfoundland and Labrador’s cultural arts scene, captivating with diverse programming that embraces pop culture, broadening appeal across generations. In 2023-24, the NSO engaged communities by offering in-school and virtual programs for students and free online concerts for seniors, enriching lives through music. As they begin this new season, the NSO honours maestro Marc David for his remarkable 30-year career, shaping the orchestra’s legacy and leaving a lasting impact on Newfoundland and Labrador’s cultural landscape. The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador proudly supports the NSO, recognizing its pivotal role in enriching our province’s arts and culture sector.

Message from the Mayor

On behalf of the City of St. John’s, I extend warm greetings to the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra as you embark on your 2024/2025 season with the inspiring theme of “Resonance.” This season holds special significance as you celebrate the remarkable 30-year career of Maestro Marc David. His dedication, passion, and leadership have left a lasting mark on the NSO, resonating deeply with audiences in our city and beyond. The arts play a crucial role in enriching our lives, fostering creativity, and bringing people together. The NSO’s commitment to delivering exceptional musical experiences reflects the vibrant cultural landscape we’re fortunate to have in St. John’s. Your performances not only entertain but also inspire and uplift, creating lasting moments. As we celebrate this milestone season, my sincere gratitude goes to the musicians, staff, volunteers, and supporters of the NSO. Your tireless efforts ensure the symphony thrives and resonates with audiences of all ages. I’m confident that this season will be filled with memorable performances that leave a lasting impact. Congratulations to Maestro Marc David on his illustrious career, and best wishes to the NSO for a successful and resonant 2024/2025 season.

Joan Marie J. Aylward, O.N.L., B.N., R.N. Lieutenant Governor of NL

Message from the Lieutenant Governor

As Honorary Patron, it is my pleasure to extend best wishes to the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra for the 2024/2025 season. Once again, the NSO will delight audiences with a season full of performances for many different musical tastes. This year’s theme is “Resonance”. Indeed, the NSO resonates throughout our province and contributes much to our rich artistic culture. Now with 84 members, the NSO has come a long way since its inception as a fledgling ensemble in 1962. This season also marks the final one for Principal Conductor Maestro Marc David. For 30 years the Orchestra has been guided by his steady hand. We join with you in celebrating his contributions, and his leadership with the NSO. Thank you Maestro Marc David for all the joy you have brought for audiences over your years with the NSO. I hope you will enjoy each performance this year. To the musicians, staff, crew, and all who play a part within the NSO, I wish you the best for your season, which I am confident will resonate with pride for audiences throughout the province. We are so proud of you, and we celebrate your continued success as you begin your new season in the Year of the Arts. Bravo!

Hon. Dr. Andrew Furey Premier

Danny Breen Mayor of St. John’s

SINFONIA 1: ECHOES OF PASSION

Saturday, October 5, 2024 • D.F. Cook Recital Hall, MUN School of Music

Andrei Feher, conductor

PROGRAMME

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. A.

GUEST CONDUCTOR

Andrei Feher

Canadian-Romanian conductor Andrei Feher has earned a reputation for his musical maturity and integrity, natural authority on the podium, and an imaginative and intelligent approach to programming. He is hailed for his “ability to connect with his players, using their skills as if they were the piano and he the pianist” (The Record). Feher regularly appears with top Canadian and European orchestras. His noteworthy 2019 debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra was recorded and airs on BBC Radio 3. Subscription appearances include Symphony Nova Scotia, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta sinfónica RTVE Madrid, and Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne. Additional highlights include appearances as guest conductor with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Orchestre National d’Ile de France, Romanian Radio National Orchestra, and more.

In 2018, at age 26, Feher was appointed Music Director of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, making him one of the youngest to lead a major Canadian orchestra. During his five-year tenure, Feher is credited with seeing the Orchestra through pandemic closures with 12 full-orchestra online programs and transforming the symphony’s relationship with French speakers in the region and beyond. Performance highlights under his direction include Carmen, La Traviata, and Mahler’s Second Symphony, with numerous sold-out shows held at the Raffi Armenian Theatre, a concert hall seating over 2,000.

Born in Romania into a family of musicians, he began his musical education as a violinist in his hometown Satu-Mare with Nagy Margareta before continuing his studies in Montréal at age 13 when his family immigrated to Canada. He studied at Joseph-François-Perrault and at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal with Johanne Arel and Raffi Armenian. Feher is based in Montréal with his wife and two young sons.

MUSICIANS

VIOLIN 1

Heather Kao

Dominic Greene

Andy Kao

Lauren Smee

Whit Fitzgerald

VIOLIN 2

Nancy Case-Oates

Carole Bestvater

Elena Vigna

Ilyas Duissen

VIOLA

Kate Read

Ema Shiroma-Chao

Rosaura Aguilar

Emily Pynn

CELLO

Nathan Cook

Nulibeth Ortiz

Amy Collyer-Holmes

Laura Wakeman

BASS

Frank Fusari

HARPSICHORD

Jenny Griffioen

PROGRAM NOTES

Tonight’s Sinfonia concert, led by guest conductor Andrei Fehrer, explores the musical expression of devotion, be it to a place, a person, a musical theme, or an era.

Nearly twenty years ago, comedian Rob Paravonian uploaded a YouTube video entitled “Pachebel Rant.” Sharing his distaste for the piece as a young cellist—the cello line consists entirely of an eight-note baseline repeated ad nauseum— Parvonian humorously demonstrates how many contemporary songs, ranging from The Beatles to Avril Lavigne to Green Day, use the same chords as Pachebel’s most famous piece. La Folia (1700) is similarly based on a repeating harmonic pattern, known historically as “La Folia.” Evolving from a traditional European tune, many composers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries tried their hand at writing variations on the pattern. Tonight’s version was originally written as a sonata for violin and harpsichord by Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713); it was later orchestrated by his pupil Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762) in 1729, which is the version we will hear tonight. Listen to the first 16 measures of the piece carefully, as they outline the harmonic pattern of the rest of the piece.

Linda Caitlin Smith’s (b. 1957) Sinfonia (2016) celebrates the music of the Baroque era. Written for Early Music Vancouver, the piece features only string instruments, an ensemble that would have been common during the seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries before wind, brass, or percussion instruments were commonly included in the orchestra. Over lush, sometimes crunchy chords in the lower strings, the solo violins trace winding chromatic melodies, the themes reappearing in new harmonic and rhythmic contexts as though we are wandering through a garden and seeing the same flowers from different angles and at different times of day.

Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) began work on Souvenir de Florence (1890) when he was visiting the eponymous Italian city, sketching out the music for the second movement. Despite the name, the work—originally a sextet—is not overly influenced by the sounds of Italy. The first movement begins with a fiery theme in a minor key, followed by a more legato theme to balance the passionate opening, the two themes oscillating throughout the movement. While the slow second movement reflects the romantic Italian music that Tchaikovsky may have heard while visiting Florence, the third and fourth movements speak to the composer’s own Russian heritage. We hear not only references to Russian folk music, but also Tchaikovsky’s own ballets.

Giacomo Puccini’s (1858-1924) Crisantemi (1890) was, in its very composition, an act of devotion. The work was written as an elegy for Puccini’s friend the Duke of Aosta, the former King of Spain. Puccini was so moved on learning of his friend’s death that he wrote the entire piece in a single night. Named after the chrysanthemum flower—a traditional flower of mourning in Italy—the piece introduces themes that Puccini would later use in his opera Manon Lescaut.

Program Notes provided by Dr. Annalise Smith