Welcome to the Oklahoma City Philharmonic! We are delighted to welcome our loyal season subscribers, our generous philanthropic partners, and our first-time attendees. The magic of tonight’s concert is made possible by year-round effort, dedicated volunteers, and numerous donors. Since ticket sales only cover a portion of our concert expenses, we extend our deepest gratitude to our donors and volunteers for their invaluable support of our mission.
This year marks the 36th season of the OKCPHIL, where we continue to inspire and bring joy to the community through the beauty of orchestral music. We take pride in our legacy and look forward to an exciting future. A crucial part of our vision is to enrich the cultural fabric of our community and to educate future generations about the profound value of music. In pursuit of this vision, the OKCPHIL is more committed than ever to creating programs and concert experiences that unite our entire community.
Thanks to the expertise and passion of our Music Director, Maestro Alexander Mickelthwate, and our dynamic and dedicated staff led by Executive Director, Brent Hart, this season promises something for everyone. Our Classics, Pops, and Discovery concerts are sure to delight audiences of all ages and tastes. We encourage you to invite someone new to join us at a future concert and help us cultivate the audiences of tomorrow. On behalf of the entire Oklahoma City Philharmonic family, thank you for being here. We invite you to say “hello” to someone you haven’t met before and look forward to seeing you again soon!
GEETIKA VERMA, President Oklahoma City Orchestra League
On behalf of the Oklahoma City Orchestra League, we are thrilled to welcome you to another inspiring year of music.
It is an honor to address you as the President of the Orchestra League. Our league is a testament to the power of music to inspire, unite, and elevate the human spirit. As we embark on this new season, we are committed to fostering a community that celebrates excellence, innovation, and passion in orchestral music. Where words fail, music begins. It touches us emotionally and spiritually, uniting us in shared feeling and experience.
We invite you to join the league and support our musicians, promote educational initiatives, and bring the joy of orchestral performances to audiences far and wide. Thank you for being a part of this vibrant community. Let’s create harmonious and unforgettable experiences in the year ahead.
JAMES HULSEY, President Associate Board
On behalf of the Associate Board, welcome to the OKC Philharmonic’s 2024-2025 Season! This season promises a rich tapestry of musical styles that celebrate diverse cultures and geographies, performed by world-class musicians. We are thrilled to present a lineup that ensures every concert is a journey through community and culture, leaving you with a smile each time!
At the OKCPHIL, the Associate Board is dedicated to fostering community, culture, and connectivity, especially among young professionals. We achieve this through the Overture Society, offering concert packages that includes 3-4 concerts paired with engaging social events. Stay connected with us on social media, explore our Overture web page, and join us for what promises to be an exhilarating season!
Thank you for joining us! Your presence and support at our concerts contribute significantly to the vibrant orchestral music scene in our thriving city. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show!
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Dear Friends of the OKCPHIL,
BRENT HART
On behalf of the entire OKCPHIL family, welcome to our 2024-25 Season! We are thrilled to present another year of incredible performances and programs as we continue to serve our mission of bringing joy and inspiration through orchestral music to our community.
This season’s Classics Series features an array of inspiring programs, showcasing some of the most beloved works in the classical repertoire. Our concerts will feature a diverse range of instruments, including the organ, bagpipes, and sitar, along with beautiful violin performances by the renowned Midori and Sarah Chang. These compositions draw inspiration from nature, various cultures, and the unique sounds of the instruments themselves. We are excited to welcome Misha Dichter at the piano and Cameron Carpenter at the organ, performing extraordinary concertos. To learn more about the Classics programs, join us in the Concert Hall at 7:00 p.m. before each concert.
A highlight of our season is the World Premiere of American Indian Symphony, a new work by Chickasaw composer Jerod Tate. This symphony introduces native stories from different cultural regions across the country. We hope this piece resonates deeply with you and audiences worldwide. Our Classics Series will culminate with Richard Strauss’ Alpine Symphony, promising a breathtaking musical journey for us all.
The Chickasaw Nation Pops Series offers something for everyone, featuring the iconic music of your favorite artists and blockbuster Broadway musicals. Our cherished holiday tradition, A Very Merry Pops, will feature Ashley Brown and Tony DeSare for a soulful celebration of the season. We are also delighted to welcome back the immensely popular Pink Martini, who last captivated us in 2020!
At the Civic Center Music Hall and throughout our region, OKCPHIL remains committed to making music accessible through our Education and Community Engagement programs. From free outdoor orchestral concerts at Scissortail Park to music education programs and Youth Concerts for elementary school students, our initiatives enrich the lives of thousands of Oklahomans of all ages. Our Society of Strings program supports adult amateur string players, and our Young Musician Competition nurtures the talents of budding musicians.
We are deeply grateful for your ongoing loyalty, support, and generosity, which make all of this possible. Your ticket purchases, season subscriptions, and donations of all sizes enable us to deepen our impact on the community in countless ways.
Thank you for listening to our music, believing in our mission, and supporting us. I look forward to seeing you at our concerts throughout the season!
ALEXANDER MICKELTHWATE MUSIC DIRECTOR
As he prepares for his seventh season leading the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Maestro Alexander Mickelthwate has become part of the community.
“It’s amazing, and also quite humbling,” Mickelthwate said. “My morning routine usually consists of studying at a local coffee shop. Quite often customers will approach me and say they saw me on television or on the side of a bus. To me, that signifies what we are doing at the OKCPHIL is resonating with the community, and making everyone feel welcome.”
The OKCPHIL has been a source of joy and inspiration for 36 years, enriching Oklahoma and its communities through orchestral music. When Mickelthwate came on board, he brought with him an eagerness to build on the successes of the past and pave the way for the future.
“Oklahoma City should be known as a breeding ground for fun and creativity,” he said. “That’s my thing. In our first season, we were always surprised how the audiences were really open to the contemporary. It’s crazy how embracing the audience is for adventurous, fun new things.”
Born and raised in Frankfurt, Germany, Mickelthwate grew up in a home filled with classical music. He received his degree from the Peabody Institute of Music, and has worked with orchestras in Atlanta, Winnipeg and Los Angeles. He is Music Director Emeritus of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in Canada, and in 2022, accepted the position of Music Director for the prestigious Bear Valley Music Festival in Bear Valley, California. In early 2023, Mickelthwate traveled to Hanoi where he was Guest Conductor at the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra.
Since he’s been in Oklahoma, Mickelthwate has received numerous awards and honors, including being named three time “The Face of Music” by 405 Magazine. Newspaper OKC Friday named him one of the “Top 50 Most Powerful,” and the Ladies Music Club of Oklahoma City lauded him “Musician of the Year.”
Accolades aside, one of Mickelthwate’s goals is to tell Oklahoma stories through music.
“When I first came to Oklahoma City, I read Sam Anderson’s book, ‘Boom Town,’ and from there I began studying Oklahoma’s colorful history,” he said. “We have so many great stories, and seeing them come to life through music is awe-inspiring. This season, we’ve programmed “World Premiere!” American Indian Symphony by Native American composer Jerod Tate. I want to continue bringing more of these stories to our audiences.”
When he’s not studying music or planning future OKCPHIL concerts, Mickelthwate is Artist in Residence at the University of Central Oklahoma where he enjoys working with the next generation of musicians, and conducting UCO’s symphony orchestra. After the music is over Mickelthwate loves spending time with his two sons, trying to beat them at ping pong, creating adventurous new recipes or improvising together on piano and guitar.
“My personal philosophy is that music has a way of reaching us in a way nothing else does,” Mickelthwate said. “It goes deep inside, creating and facilitating beauty in a harsh world. We want the Oklahoma City Philharmonic to be meaningful, to be fun and a place where we are all one. I have often said we feel the love, Oklahoma City. And we are giving it right back.
DR. SHANTI SIMON ASSOCIATE CONDUCTOR
Associate Conductor Dr. Shanti Simon joined the OKCPHIL team in September 2023, programming and conducting the Discovery Family Series concerts. Her engaging personality and lively programming resonate with children of all ages. She also conducts Youth Concerts for elementary school field trips at the Civic Center Music Hall, where thousands of students are captivated by hearing familiar songs performed by a live orchestra. Dr. Simon captures their full attention. This season, she will make her Pops debut conducting “Defying Gravity: Stephen Schwartz & Friends.”
“The OKCPHIL is a world-class orchestra and it is an honor to join this team of engaging professional musicians. We love sharing music with young people in a setting that resonates with their world view. Kids naturally move and engage with music in an uninhibited, inspiring way. They remind us professionals why we got into music in the first place – because music speaks to our souls deeply beyond the boundaries that words can reach. Music makes us want to move, to dance, and to sing. We are looking forward to an exciting season with you and the kids of all ages in your lives!,” said Simon.
In addition to her work with the OKCPHIL, Dr. Simon is the Director of Bands at the University of Oklahoma where she conducts the Wind Symphony and leads the graduate wind conducting program. Prior to joining the faculty at OU, Dr. Simon was the Flight Commander and Associate Conductor with The United States Air Force Academy Band in Colorado Springs. Before moving to Colorado, Simon served as Flight Commander and Associate Conductor with The United States Air Force Band in Washington, D.C., where she conducted performances in the national capital region and around the country including the 2011 National Tree Lighting Ceremony with the Airmen of Note, hosted by President Obama and the First Family. Dr. Simon was on the faculty of Shenandoah Conservatory as the Associate Director of Bands for the 20132014 academic year. In 2016, she deployed to the Middle East with the United States Air Force Central Command bands as the Officer-In-Charge, overseeing musical troop-support, community-outreach and partnership-building missions in seven countries.
Before joining the Air Force, Dr. Simon earned her MM and DMA degrees in conducting from the University of Minnesota where she studied with Craig Kirchhoff. She received her BME and BM degrees from Stetson University with Bobby Adams. Hailing from Florida, Simon served as the Associate Director of Bands at Vero Beach High School for four years, where her ensembles consistently earned top ratings in all areas of district and state assessment. Simon is active nationally and internationally as a guest conductor and clinician.
PROVIDING INSPIRATION AND JOY THROUGH ORCHESTRAL MUSIC
THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
OFFICERS
Jerrod Shouse President
Jim Roth President Elect
Debbie McKinney Vice President
Louise Cleary Cannon Treasurer
Jennifer Schultz Kouandjio Secretary
Jane Jayroe Gamble Immediate Past President
ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF
John Allen General Manager
Jose Batty Music Librarian
Austin Bewley Data Analyst
Mason Board Graphic Design and Digital Marketing Coordinator
Blossom Crews
Development Director
Jared Davis Patron Services Lead
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Classical KUCO 90.1 Will Jarrell
PHOTOGRAPHERS:
LIFETIME DIRECTORS
Jane B. Harlow
Patrick Alexander
DIRECTORS
Tracey Budz
Robert Clements
Lawrence H. Davis
Kevin Dunnington
Kirk Hammons
Honorable Jerome A. Holmes
James Hulsey
Debra Kos
Kristian Kos Kate Furney Marketing Associate
Daniel Hardt Finance Director
Brent Hart Executive Director
Judy Hill Office Manager
Chase Kerby Education Manager
Joel Levine Archivist/Historian
Tom Lerum
Matt Paque
Craig Perry
Sam Rainbolt
Robert Ruiz
Kelly Sachs
Amalia Miranda Silverstein
Doug Stussi
Geetika Verma
Evan Walter
Travis Weedn
Wendi Wilson
Shannon Lockwood Education and Community Engagement Director
Cassie Pastor Events and Stewardship Associate
Jenni Shrum
Marketing and Public Relations Director
Hannah Stewart Development Manager
Valorie Tatge Orchestra Personnel Manager
Morningstar Properties Oklahoma City Police Association
Michael Anderson-Performing Arts Photography, Jesse Edgar Photography, Simon Hurst, and Shevaun
THE OKLAHOMA PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY, INC.
424 Colcord Drive, Ste. B • Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73102
The Oklahoma City Philharmonic Foundation was established to provide leadership and endowment expertise to help ensure a stable financial base for orchestral music and musical excellence in Oklahoma City for generations to come. Distributions from the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Foundation provide a meaningful and secure source of annual income for the Philharmonic’s operations, continually confirming the importance of endowment in an organization’s long-range planning and overall success.
Current officers and directors of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Foundation are:
OFFICERS
Douglas J. Stussi, President
Charles E. Wiggin, First Vice President
Jeff Starling, Second Vice President
Louise Cleary Cannon, Treasurer
Alice Pippin, Secretary
DIRECTORS
Steven C. Agee
Patrick B. Alexander
J. Edward Barth
L. Joe Bradley
Teresa L. Cooper
Paul Dudman
Jane Jayroe Gamble
Mischa Gorkuscha
Jane B. Harlow
Jean A. Hartsuck
Michael E. Joseph
Duke R. Ligon
Penny McCaleb
Erik Salazar
Patrick E. Randall, II
Richard Tanenbaum
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Geetika Verma President
Debra Kos
Immediate Past President
Rachael Geiger President-Elect
Orchestra League Office
424 Colcord Dr., Ste. B
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73102
Phone: (405) 232-7575
Fax: (405) 232-4353
e-mail: league@okcphil.org
OFFICERS
James Hulsey President
Desiree Singer
Immediate Past President
Mady Hendryx President-Elect
Daniel Karami
Secretary
Ashleigh Robinson
Social Chair
Members:
Piper Allred
Reagan Collins
Ragan Franklin
Mya Reid
Rebecca Ward
THE ORCHESTRA
THIRTY-SIXTH SEASON
ALEXANDER MICKELTHWATE, Music Director and Conductor
Chandler Fadero, Principal, McCasland Foundation Chair
Angélica Pereira, Assistant Principal
Sophia Ro
Sarah Sanford Brown
Corbin Mace
Catherine Reaves, Assistant Principal Emeritus
Audrey Lee
Yajing (Cindy) Zhang
Paulo Eskitch
VIOLA
Royce McLarry, Principal
Mark Neumann, Assistant Principal
Joseph Guevara
Kelli Ingels
Steve Waddell
Donna Cain
Brian Frew
CELLO
Jonathan Ruck, Principal, Orchestra League Chair
Kevin Flynn, Assistant Principal
Valorie Tatge
Emily Stoops
Jim Shelley
Angelika Machnik-Jones
Jean Statham
Samantha Kerns
BASS
Anthony Stoops, Principal
Larry Moore, Assistant Principal
Christine Craddock
Mark Osborn
Taylor Dawkins
DoYoun Kim
FLUTE
Valerie Watts, Principal
Parthena Owens
Nancy Stizza-Ortega
PICCOLO
Nancy Stizza-Ortega
OBOE
Lisa Harvey-Reed, Principal
Rachel Maczko
Katherine Casto
ENGLISH HORN
Rachel Maczko
CLARINET
Bradford Behn, Principal
Tara Heitz
James Meiller
BASS/E-FLAT CLARINET
James Meiller
BASSOON
Rod Ackmann, Principal
James Brewer
Tyler Van Zuiden
CONTRABASSOON
Tyler Van Zuiden
HORN
Kate Pritchett, Principal, G. Rainey Williams Chair
James Rester*
Mirella Gable*
Matt Reynolds
TRUMPET
Karl Sievers, Principal
Jay Wilkinson
Michael Anderson
TROMBONE
Philip Martinson, Principal
Hope Bellows
John Allen, Bass Trombone
TUBA
Ted Cox, Principal
TIMPANI
Jamie Whitmarsh, Principal
PERCUSSION
Patrick Womack, Principal
Stephanie Krichena
Roger Owens
HARP
Gaye LeBlanc, Principal
PIANO
Peggy Payne, Principal
*on leave for 2024-25 season
PRODUCTION STAFF
John Allen, General Manager
Valorie Tatge, Personnel Manager
Jose Batty, Librarian
Ken Dines, Stage Crew Leader
PLANNED GIVING
The Oklahoma Philharmonic Society, Inc. is honored to recognize its EncoreSociety members — visionary thinkers who have provided for the future of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic through their estate plans.
Anonymous (3)
Steven C. Agee, Ph.D.
Linda and Patrick Alexander
Gary and Jan Allison
Louise Cleary Cannon
Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Clements
Thomas and Rita Dearmon
Dr. and Mrs. James D. Dixson
Dr. Ralph and Lois Ganick
Hugh Gibson
Pam and Gary Glyckherr
Carey and Gayle Goad
Ms. Olivia Hanson
Jane B. Harlow
Dr. and Mrs. James Hartsuck
Mr. and Mrs. Michael E. Joseph
THANK YOU
Joel Levine and Don Clothier
John and Caroline Linehan
Mr. and Mrs. Marvin C, Lunde, Jr.
Mrs. Jackie Marron
Mr. and Mrs. John McCaleb
Mrs. Jean McLaughlin
W. Cheryl Moore
Carl Andrew Rath
Mrs. Cathy Reaves
Mrs. Lil Ross
Dr. Lois Salmeron
Mr. and Mrs. William F. Shdeed
Susie and Doug Stussi
Larry and Leah Westmoreland
Mr. John S. Williams
Mrs. Carolyn Zachritz
The Oklahoma Philharmonic Society, Inc. is grateful for the support of caring patrons who want to pass on a legacy of extraordinary music to future generations. You can join this special group of music enthusiasts by including a gift for the OKC Philharmonic’s future in your own will or estate plan. For more information on how to become an Encore Society member, contact the Philharmonic’s Development Office at (405) 232-7575.
MEET OUR FAMILY
Second Violin OKCPHIL Musician
Hi, my name is Audrey Lee, and I am a member of your OKC Philharmonic’s second violin section. I also perform with the Tulsa Symphony, the Dallas Chamber Symphony, and Kahlo Quartet, a Philadelphia-based string quartet. I have enjoyed the breadth of repertoire and musical storytelling I’m able to experience with these ensembles. Additionally, I am an aural skills instructor at Southeastern Oklahoma State University.
I grew up in Houston, Texas. I began violin lessons at age five, studying with Lucy Shaw in a Suzuki violin program where I learned to love music and live performance. I then received a scholarship to study with Kenneth Goldsmith in the Shepherd School preparatory program at Rice University. I double majored in violin performance and psychology at Vanderbilt University, where I studied with Cornelia Heard. Graduate studies took me back to Texas where I completed my MM with Miro Quartet member (and fiddle champion) William Fedkenheuer at the University of Texas at Austin. I currently reside in Calera, Oklahoma with my husband, Ian Gerg, and our dog Scout.
excitement for connecting people through cultural experiences.
Though my personal musical journey—playing the flute and piano—ended in high school, I’ve remained a lifelong lover of the arts and cultural institutions. Now, five months into my role as the Development Manager for the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, I’m excited to use my background to share the Philharmonic’s story and help bring the joy of orchestral music to the vibrant community that has become my second home.
In my free time, you can find me doing home projects, gardening, reading, practicing yoga, or traveling to visit family in upstate New York and Pennsylvania (Go Steelers!).
AUDREY LEE HANNAH STEWART
GIFTS TO THE PHIL
The Oklahoma City Philharmonic gratefully acknowledges the commitment and generosity of individuals, corporations, foundations, and government agencies that support our mission. To help us provide inspiration and joy to the community through live orchestral performances and a variety of education and community engagement programs, please contact the Philharmonic’s Development Office at (405) 232-7575.
This Annual Fund recognition reflects contributions made in the 2024-25 Season through March 5, 2025.
If your name has been misspelled or omitted, please accept our apologies and inform us of the error by calling the phone number listed above. Thank you for your generous support!
UNDERWRITER
$25,000 - $49,999
E.L. and Thelma Gaylord Foundation
Dr. Margaret Freede-Owens and Daniel Owens
Express Employment Professionals
International Headquarters
Oklahoma City Community Foundation in partnership with the John E. Kirkpatrick Partners Fund
Oklahoma City Philharmonic Foundation
Dr. Amalia Silverstein
The Ann Lacy Foundation
GUARANTOR
$10,000 - $24,999
Ad Astra Foundation
SUSTAINERS
$2,500 - $4,999
Oklahoma Allergy & Asthma Clinic
Oklahoma Craft
Omni Hotels
Providing leadership support.
Linda and Patrick Alexander
American Fidelity Foundation
Lawrence H. & Ronna C. Davis
Devon Energy Corporation
Gerald Gamble and Jane Jayroe Gamble
Jane B. Harlow
Barbara and Edward Krei
Mr. Albert Lang
Joel Levine and Don Clothier
Larry and Polly Nichols
OGE Energy Corp.
Dr. Lois Salmeron
Susie and Doug Stussi
W&W | AFCO Steel
John Walker
BENEFACTOR
$5,000 - $9,999
Steven C. Agee, Ph.D.
Dr. and Mrs. Sterling S. Baker
Bank of Oklahoma
Margaret and John Biggs
Dr. and Mrs. L. Joe Bradley
Martha and Ronnie Bradshaw
Louise Cleary Cannon and Gerry Cannon
Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Clements
Clements Foods Foundation
Terri Cooper
Mr. David Daugherty
David and Janice DeLana
Frank Goforth and Nancy Halliday
Darleene Harris
Patrick and Sarah McKee
Mekusukey Oil Company, LLC
Ruth Mershon Fund
Donald Rowlett
Linda and Steve Slawson
Glenna and Dick Tanenbaum
CORPORATIONS, FOUNDATIONS & GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
ASSOCIATES
$1,500 - $2,499
AEIOU Foundation
Dr. Elliott Schwartz and Pam Shanklin
M.V. Williams Foundation Inc.
FRIENDS
$1,000 - $1,499
PARTNERS
$500 - $999
Cable Family Charitable Foundation
MEMBERS
$250 - $499
GIFTS TO THE PHIL
INDIVIDUALS
Providing essential support for the Annual Fund.
SUSTAINER
$2,500-$4,999
Albert and Virginia Aguilar
Dr. and Mrs. Dewayne Andrews
Dr. and Mrs. John C. Andrus
Dr. Mary Zoe Baker
Mrs. Betty D. Bellis-Mankin
Dr. and Mrs. Philip C. Bird
Robert and Karen Browne
Family Fund
Phil G. and Cathy Busey
Mari Cook Medley
Barbara Cooper
Mr. Sidney G. Dunagan
Druanne and David Durrett
Dr. Thurma J. Fiegel
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph M. Fleckinger
Karen and Fred Hall
Kirk Hammons
Dr. James Hartsuck
William Hoch
Colonel (ret.) Dean and Mrs. Jeanne Jackson
Tom and Cindy Janssen
Carlos and Pamela Johnson
Mrs. Margaret Keith
Kathy and Terry Kerr
Tom and Jane Lerum
Mr. Charles Oppenheim
Gayle and Richard Parry
Phil and Alice Pippin
Jerry and Jan Plant
Mr. Larry Reed
Mrs. Lil Ross
Ernesto and Lin Sanchez
Dr. and Mrs. Hal Scofield
Pam and Bill Shdeed
Jeff and Kim Short
John and Katherine Spaid
Mr. and Mrs. John E. Stonecipher
John Stuemky and James Brand
Billie Thrash
Janie Pryor Tubb
Ron and Janie Walker
Dr. James and Mrs. Elizabeth Wise
Ms. Jeanise Wynn
ASSOCIATE
$1,500 - $2,499
Fatima Abrantes-Pais
Nancy and Louis Almaraz
Ms. Beth M. Alonso
Ms. Zonia Armstrong
Mr. J. Edward Barth
Dr. and Mrs. William L. Beasley
Mr. William Beck
Dr. and Mrs. Jack Beller
Nick and Betsy Berry
Dr. and Mrs. Charles Bethea
Bart Binning
Dr. Robert and Kristin Blakeburn
Ms. Pamela Bloustine
Mike and Dawn Borelli
Mr. and Mrs. Del Boyles
Mrs. Phyllis L. Brawley
Mrs. Carole S. Broughton
Mr. and Mrs. Pete Brown
J. Christopher and Ruth Carey
Ms. Janice B. Carmack
Drs. Fong Chen and Helen Chiou
Mrs. Nancy Coleman
Cynthia Cortright
Patricia Czerwinski
Mr. Chuck B. Darr, III
William E. Davis and Margaret H. Davis - Charles and Libbi Davis Legacy Fund
Tony and Pam Dela Vega
Ms. Vickie Dennis
Gary and Fran Derrick
Mr. Joel Dixon
Dr. Matthew Draelos and Mrs. Jenie Draelos
Nancy Payne Ellis
Royice B. and Dian Everett
Paul and Debbie Fleming
Mr. and Mrs. Kelly George
Natalie Kurkjian and Christopher Geyer
Mrs. Ann Felton Gilliland
Mrs. Lyn Graham
Dr. Stephen Hamilton and Dr. Pamela Craven Hamilton
David and Sandra Haskett
Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence K. Hellman
Walt and Jean Hendrickson
Frank and Bette Jo Hill
Mr. and Mrs. Joe R. Homsey, Jr.
Mrs. Elizabeth Hrubik
John and Janet Hudson
Leslie and Cliff Hudson
David and Vicki Hunt
Ms. Ashley Hurley
Mary Lu Jarvis
Zach Johnson
Kim and Michael Joseph
Mike and Kay Kellogg
Drs. Daniel and Diana Kennedy
Aaron and Jennifer Ketter
Claren Kidd
David Kinnard
Debra Klinghoffer
Debra and Kristian Kos
Mike and Kay Lacey
Richard and Dr. Barbara Masters
William and Oxana Matthey
John and Penny McCaleb
Cindy and Johnny McCharen
Debbie McKinney
John and Anna McMillin
Mr. Herman Meinders
Robert and Kathy Mendez
Deann Merritt Parham
Sandra Meyers
Tom and Katherine Milam
Peggy and Tom Miller
Betsy Mitschke and Steven Helt
Dustin and Krystal Murer
Dr. Gene L. Muse
Steven Newell and Deborah Naylor
Edward Oliver and Harriet Lord
Kathleen Oliver
Sandra Peyton
Mrs. Pat Potts
Patrick and Amy Randall
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth R. Rees
Kathryn and Thomas Ryan
Patricia and Larry Sanford
John and Hattie Santore
Maria and Fred Schmitt
Mary and John Seward
Emma and John Shelton
Robert and Susan Shoemaker
Jamie and Jerrod Shouse
Rick and Amanda Smith
Donald J. Smock, M.A.
Susan Sutter
Mr. James Taylor
Michelle Tompkins
Robert and Sharon Varnum
Drs. Bobby and Geetika Verma
HOUSE NOTES
RESTROOMS are conveniently located on all levels of the theater. Please ask your usher for guidance.
LATECOMERS and those who exit the theater during the performance may be seated during the first convenient pause, as determined by the management.
ELECTRONIC DEVICES must be turned off and put away during the performance (no calling, texting, photo or video use please).
BEVERAGES: Bottled water is permitted in the theater at the Classics Series concerts. Beverages are permitted in the theater at the Pops Series concerts; however, bringing coffee into the theater is discouraged due to the aroma.
SMOKING in the Civic Center Music Hall is prohibited. The Oklahoma City Philharmonic promotes a fragrance-free environment for the convenience of our patrons.
FIRE EXITS are located on all levels and marked accordingly. Please note the nearest exit for use in case of an emergency.
ELEVATORS are located at the south end of the atrium lobby of the Civic Center Music Hall.
CHILDREN of all ages are welcome at the Philharmonic Discovery Family Series and Holiday Pops performances; however, in consideration of the patrons, musicians and artists, those under five years of age will not be admitted to evening Classics and Pops concerts unless otherwise noted. Booster seats for children are available in the Civic Center lobby. Please inquire at the Box Office.
STUDENT RUSH TICKETS are available with a high school or university I.D. and email address at the box office 1 hour prior to the start of each Philharmonic performance. Or may be purchased online the Wednesday prior to each concert for $11. Limit: 2 tickets per I.D. Tickets are offered based on availability only and seats may be located throughout the theatre.
VIDEO MONITORS are located in the lobby for your convenience.
WHEELCHAIR AVAILABLE SEATING – Persons using wheelchairs or with walking and climbing difficulties will be accommodated when possible. Those wishing to use the designated wheelchair sections may purchase the wheelchair space and a companion seat. Please inform the Philharmonic or Civic Center Box Office staff of your need when ordering tickets so that you may be served promptly and appropriately. Please request the assistance of hall ushers to access wheelchair seating.
HEARING LOOPS have been installed. Ask your audiologist to activate the telecoil in your hearing aid or cochlear implant. Due to the mechanics of the stage, the hearing loops do not reach the pit section but are available at the Box Office and the Thelma Gaylord Performing Arts Theatre. The copper wire in the floor and telecoil work together to connect the hearing device to the theater’s sound system using a magnetic field which dramatically improves sound clarity for patrons using hearing devices.
LOST & FOUND is located in the Civic Center office (405-594-8300) weekdays 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
PHILHARMONIC TICKET OFFICE may be contacted by calling 405-TIC-KETS (405-842-5387) or you can visit the Philharmonic Ticket Office located on the first floor of the Arts District Garage at 424 Colcord Drive in Suite B. The Philharmonic Ticket Office is open Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and by phone on concert Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
CIVIC CENTER BOX OFFICE hours are Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and two hours prior to each performance. (405-594-8300)
By attending this event, you consent to being photographed and/or recorded for marketing and promotional purposes by the Oklahoma City Philharmonic and grant the Oklahoma City Philharmonic permission to use your image or video recordings in promotional materials, including print, digital, editorial, television and social media.
ARTISTS, PROGRAMMING, AND DATES SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
THE MUSIC OF TINA TURNER
APRIL 11-12, 2025, 8:00 P.M.
DAVID ANDREWS ROGERS, GUEST CONDUCTOR
CONCERT IS GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY:
Lakisha Jones Nova Y. Payton Armando Imagines
THE MUSIC OF TINA TURNER
LaKisha Jones, vocalist • Nova Y. Payton, vocalist • Armando Imagines, vocalist
2:00 KERSEY / GREEN
Disco Inferno (Arr Matt Smith)
4:00 SYLVESTER STEWART
I Want to Take You Higher (Arr Daryl McKenzie) LaKisha Jones, Nova Y. Payton, and Armando Imagines
4:00 TINA TURNER
Nutbush City Limits (Arr Lucas Waldin) LaKisha Jones
4:00 BRITTEN / LYLE
What’s Love Got to Do With It (Arr Daryl McKenzie) Nova Y. Payton
4:00 MITCHELL / JACKSON / GREEN
Let’s Stay Together (Arr Sam Shoup) Armando Imagines background vocals by LaKisha Jones and Nova Y. Payton
4:30 BRITTEN / LYLE
We Don’t Need Another Hero (from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome) (Arr Roger Müller)
4:00 BONO / EVANS
Goldeneye (Arr Jan Angermüller) Lakisha Jones
4:00 LIONEL RICHIE
All Night Long (All Night) (Arr Matt Amy) Armando Imagines background vocals by LaKisha Jones and NovaY. Payton
4:30 MARK KNOPFLER
Private Dancer (Arr Daryl McKenzie) Nova Y. Payton
4:00 BARRY / GREENWICH / SPECTOR
River Deep - Mountain High (Arr Lucas Waldin)
LaKisha Jones and Nova Y. Payton
INTERMISSION
3.30 PETER TOWNSHEND
Tommy: Overture (Arr Lucas Waldin)
3:30 PETER TOWNSHEND
Tommy: Pinball Wizard (Arr Lucas Waldin) Armando Imagines, LaKisha Jones, and Nova Y. Payton
2:00 STEVENSON / MOY
It Takes Two (Arr Lucas Waldin) LaKisha Jones and Armando Imagines
2:00 IGGY POP / DAVID BOWIE Tonight (Arr Lucas Waldin) LaKisha Jones and Armando Imagines
2:00 VALANCE / ADAMS
It’s Only Love (Arr Lucas Waldin) LaKisha Jones and Armando Imagines
3:00 WILKINS / HURLEY
Son of a Preacher Man (Arr Lucas Waldin) Nova Y. Payton
Background vocals by Lakisha Jones and Armando Imagines
3:30 STEVIE WONDER
Living for the City (Arr Daryl McKenzie) Armando Imagines
4:00 CHAPMAN / KNIGHT
The Best (Simply the Best) (Arr Richard Maslove) Nova Y. Payton
6:30 LENON / McCARTNEY
Music of The Beatles (Arr Randall Craig Fleischer)
5:00 JOHN FOGERTY
Proud Mary (Arr Lucas Waldin) Armando Imagines, LaKisha Jones, and Nova Y. Payton
GUEST CONDUCTOR
THE MUSIC OF TINA TURNER
DAVID ANDREWS ROGERS
David Andrews Rogers (DAR) is always happy to return to Oklahoma City to guest conduct the extraordinary musicians of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic. He debuted with the orchestra in 2012 for the ABBA tribute Concert, Waterloo. He has returned to conduct the Midtown Men (2013), All That Jazz; A Symphonic Tribute to Kander and Ebb (2015), The Spy Who Loved Me starring Sheena Easton (2016), The Wonderful Music of Oz (2017), and most recently, Disney: Magical Music from the Movies (2022).
DAR made his Carnegie Hall debut conducting the NEW York Pops in 2003 with an All-Star Tribute to Kander and Ebb. He returned to Carnegie Hall annually for several years as a conductor, an orchestrator, or both, including Bravo to Broadway in 2008. His other guest conducting experience includes New York’s Lincoln Center, The Nebraska Jazz Orchestra, and Harlem’s legendary Apollo Theatre.
Oklahoma City audiences may also know DAR from his 50+ appearances as Music Director/Conductor for Lyric Theatre, his favorite Summer Music Theatre Home, and he has also appeared at regional theatres all over the US including Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC, among many others.
On the road, DAR has been Music Director and Conductor for the World Tour of The Phantom of the Opera, for the Lincoln Center/Broadway touring production of My Fair Lady, and as Assistant Music Supervisor for the first-ever Mandarinlanguage production of Phantom in Shanghai, China.
DAR has conducted for many Broadway stars and recording artists including 12 years as Music Director and Conductor for 80’s recording artist Debbie Gibson. As an orchestrator and arranger, DAR’s work has been played by orchestras all over the United States and Canada, and he was a contributing orchestrator for Debbie’s Holiday 2022 album, Winterlicious.
In New York City, DAR has been Music Director, Supervisor, and /or Arranger for numerous readings and workshops of new musicals, and he made his off-Broadway debut as Music Supervisor for The Vocal Lords at St. Clements Theatre.
As an educator, DAR has been on the faculty of New York’s American Musical and Dramatic Academy and Dallas’ Performing Artists’ Musical Theatre Conservatory, as well as in his private voice studio in New York.
Educated at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and Queen’s College, Oxford University in England, DAR is originally from Texas, lived in New York City for 27 years, and now makes his home in Palm Springs, California.
GUEST ARTIST
LAKISHA JONES
Best known to millions of TV viewers as a top four finalist during the 2007 season of American Idol, LaKisha Jones is ready to reclaim center stage in music, theatre and television.
Having worked with hit-making songwriters and producers including Tony Nicholas (Patti LaBelle, Luther Vandross), Ro & Sauce (Brandy, Ne-Yo) and Greg Curtis (Keyshia Cole, Yolanda Adams), Jones’ album, So Glad I’m Me featured a spirited mix of R&B and soul. A few noteworthy songs included the single “Same Song,” penned by award-winning songwriter Dianne Warren, Whitney Houston’s “You Give Good Love,” the gospel song “Just as I Am,” and Jones soaring ballad to her daughter, “Beautiful Girl.”
Her drive and motivation dates back to her childhood in Flint, Michigan. Raised by her mother and grandmother, Jones was exposed to music by legendary singers such as Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin and Patti LaBelle, with her grandmother urging the young girl to “let your voice shine” thereby prompting Jones to sing in church choirs and music programs. Joining various choral groups and a cappella choruses throughout high school, Jones entered and won the top prize at Flint’s local talent contest, The Super Show in 1997.
Jones then went to New York to audition for American Idol and segued from Idol to the Broadway stage for The Color Purple where she played “Sophia”, which she alternated with R&B icon Chaka Khan, who became her mentor. Jones participated in Khan’s 35th Anniversary Tour. Following her Broadway stint, Jones provided vocal coaching on MTV’s reality competition Legally Blonde: The Search for Elle Wood, a show designed to find and hone Broadway’s next star.
A frequent soloist with symphony around the world, Ms. Jones has performed as a guest soloist with the National Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Utah Symphony and Opera, Winnipeg Symphony, Evansville Philharmonic, Jacksonville Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, Windham Chamber Singers, Grand Rapids Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Calgary Symphony, Battle Creek Symphony, Reno Philharmonic, Oregon Symphony, Long Bay Symphony and the Festival Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic, among many others.
GUEST ARTIST
NOVA Y. PAYTON
Chances are that you’ve heard the amazing soprano voice of Nova Y. Payton in internationally staged musicals, on PBS in one of the specials with The American Pops Orchestra or 3 Mo’ Divas or in countless regional theatre productions across the country. Boasting a prolific catalog of artist collaborations, the former American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) student has shared the stage with Stevie Wonder, Roberta Flack, Levi Kreis, Bobby McFerrin, John Michael Higgins, Yolanda Adams, Betsy Wolfe, Michael Uris, Anthony Hamilton, and Michelle Williams. She has also opened for heavyweights like Ashford and Simpson, Will Downing, Stephanie Mills, Melba Moore, The Chi-Lites and the Dramatics. Nova has performed in over 150 major cities in the US, as well as Canada, Japan, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and Europe.
Nova has been recognized with nominations and awards for her talents. Nova starred in a soul-stirring rendition of Effie White in Dreamgirls, which earned her the 2006 Barrymore nomination for Outstanding Leading Actress in a Musical. The DVD/ CD for 3 Mo’ Divas received a 2010 NAACP nomination for Outstanding Duo, Group or Collaboration. In 2012, Nova was honored as the Helen Hayes Award Recipient as the Best Supporting Actress in a Resident Musical for her portrayal of MotorMouth Maybelle in Hairspray. For her performance as Effie White in Dreamgirls during the 2012-2013 season at Signature Theatre, Nova was nominated for the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Resident Musical. In 2015, Nova was nominated for Best Supporting Actress (Musical) for her role in Elmer Gantry. She was also nominated in 2018 for Lead Actress (Musical) in Caroline, Or Change and Supporting Actress (Musical) in Ragtime.
Other honors have come in the form of singing for President Biden and Vice President Harris and performing the National Anthem at the dedication of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial live as the world watched on C-SPAN. Nova has also appeared on the Jimmy Fallon late-night talk show accompanying artist Glen Hansard. Most recently in 2022 alone, Nova starred in Grace The Musical, The Color Purple, Into The Woods, and Fela!
GUEST ARTIST
THE MUSIC OF TINA
TURNER
ARMANDO IMAGINES
Bronx native, Armando Imagines is a dynamic force in music, television, and film, known for his versatile talents as a singer, actor, dancer, and writer. Armando has graced stages alongside music legends like Paul McCartney, Alicia Keys, Michael Bolton, Lionel Richie, Missy Elliott, Gwen Stefani, Jason Derulo, Luis Fonsi, and Prince Royce. His performances have captivated audiences in iconic venues such as Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall and at high-profile events like the MTV Music Awards, The Brit Awards, and The Latin Grammys. He has also made a striking orchestral debut, performing with Amie Doherty and Orchestra for the premiere of the hit TV series POWER.
In television, Armando has brought such characters to life as Hector Prodigal Son alongside Michael Sheen and Tom Payne, or as . Most recently, he starred as Rufus, the health-food fanatic coach, , with appearances in hit series like NCIS: Hawaii and 911: Lonestar.
Armando’s passion for storytelling extends beyond acting. Between roles, he crafts his own creative projects, including , an original short film he wrote and will be starring in. Currently, he’s developing a TV series about a pop star finding fame at 40—a project that showcases his creative talents not just as a writer, but as an actor, singer, and musician. Armando’s work reflects his dedication to telling compelling stories through music and performance that
CONCEPTS FROM THE Maestro
This season, we’re celebrating our “classical” repertoire—music that is tried and true, resonating deeply with audiences over time and embodying a deeply romantic spirit, cherished by many. Join us as we explore these beloved classics!
WORLD PREMIERE!
This season, we are proud to continue our Oklahoma Stories with a historic first: an American Indian Symphony. The composer is Oklahoma’s own Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, a citizen of the unconquered and unconquerable Chickasaw Nation. His American Indian Symphony is structured in six sections, each representing one of the six regions of Native Americans in North America and sung in six different Native American languages.
The evening will begin with a brief musical prayer in honor of the Oklahoma City bombing, featuring Jonathan Leshnoff’s beautiful Elegy.
Additionally, we’ll present Stravinsky’s Firebird. When I asked Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate about his inspiration to become a composer, he mentioned his mother’s influence in teaching ballet, which sparked his love for the great ballet scores. It felt fitting to include one of the best.
Join us for this unique and meaningful evening celebrating a rich cultural heritage!
For a deeper understanding of concert programming, please, join Maestro Mickelthwate for his Preconcert Talk at 7pm in the auditorium. Open seating.
CLASSICS WORLD PREMIERE!
0:09 LESHNOFF
ALEXANDER
0:23 STRAVINSKY . (1919 version)
The Firebird and its Dance; Variation of the Firebird The Princesses’ Round-Dance (Khorovod)
Finale Intermission
0:40 TATE . .....................
American Indian Symphony (World Premiere)* Wichita Potawatomi Apache Chickasaw Modoc Cheyenne
Kirsten C. Kunkle, soprano
Mark Billy, baritone
Canterbury Voices under the direction of Julie Yu
World Premiere of Oklahoma City Philharmonic commission. Commissioned piece underwritten by Oklahoma City Community Foundation: Culture and Community
John Walker
Recording underwritten by Chickasaw Nation
Oklahoma City Community Foundation in partnership with John E. Kirkpatrick Partners Fund
This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts
*First Performance on this Series
THIS CONCERT IS GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY:
Spotlight
Listen to a broadcast of this performance on KUCO 90.1 FM on Saturday, May 17, at 9 am and Sunday, May 18, at 7 pm on “Performance Oklahoma”. Simultaneous internet streaming is also available during the broadcast.
OKCPHIL
School: Edmond North High School
GUEST ARTIST
KRISTEN C. KUNKLE
Lauded as the leading Native American soprano in today’s classical music world, Dr. Kirsten C. Kunkle is a voting citizen of the Mvskoke (Muscogee-Creek) Nation. She has been hailed as an outstanding singing actress with a voice that has been described as beautiful, ethereal, powerful, fiery, and bewitching. Kirsten commissioned and premiered sixteen original compositions, including one of her own, based upon the poetry of her ancestor and highly-acclaimed poet of the Native American Muscogee Nation, Alexander Posey. Her recordings are collected at the Library of Congress, the National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian Institution (NMAI), and the Merkel Area Museum in Merkel, Texas. Kirsten is included on the list of Classical Native American Artists and Musicians at the NMAI.
Among her favorite roles in the standard operatic repertoire are Agathe in Der Freischütz, the title role in Suor Angelica, Magda and the Foreign Woman in The Consul, Mimì in La bohème, Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus, Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro, Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Iolanta and Brigitta in Iolanta, Zemfira in Aleko, Lisa in Pique Dame, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Laetitia in The Old Maid and the Thief, the Witch in Hansel and Gretel, and Dido in Dido and Aeneas. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2014, and in the same year she was the Pennsylvania District National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Award winner. Kirsten won second place in the Roschel Vocal Competition in 2015.
Kirsten served as opera stage director for four years at Lincoln University, the nation’s first degree-granting HBCU. Prior to her time at Lincoln, she directed opera scenes at Shorter University, for which she commissioned the work “The Tribunal” by composer Bradley Harris. Favorite productions directed include Treemonisha, Hansel and Gretel, Man of La Mancha, The Telephone, The Medium, and Kismet.
Kirsten is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Wilmington Concert Opera, a women and minority led opera company in Wilmington, Delaware. She is a proud graduate of Bowling Green State University and University of Michigan. She is thrilled to make her Oklahoma City Philharmonic debut in April 2025 as the soprano soloist for “American Indian Symphony.”
GUEST ARTIST
MARK BILLY
Mark Billy is a Verdi baritone of Native (Choctaw) ancestry from Finley, Oklahoma. Mr. Billy enjoys a multi-faceted career in opera, recital, and concert work.
In November Mark made his Madison Opera debut singing the role of the Sacristan in Puccini’s Tosca and covering the role of Baron Scarpia. Last spring Mark jumped in as a last-minute replacement in University of Wisconsin Opera’s performances of La Traviata as Giorgio Germont.
Later this spring, Mark will make his debut singing the baritone solos in Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Duluth Superior Symphony and will return to the Iron Range to join the Mesabi Symphony Orchestra as a baritone soloist for two performances of the Brahms Requiem. 2024 included many important recital debuts, one in Seattle with the Music of Remembrance concert series; and one in New York City with National Sawdust.
Mr. Billy has performed twice in the Wheels of Harmony Tour sponsored by Intermountain Opera Bozeman. The Wheels of Harmony tour presents vocal works composed by Indigenous composers and a sampling of standard operatic repertoire to rural and Tribal schools across Montana. Mark has on two occasions joined the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, singing in Choctaw and playing the native flute. In the 2021-22 season, the baritone stepped in last minute to sing Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate’s work Standing Bear in the Ponca language at the 2022 Moab Music Festival in Utah.
Mark is the recipient of numerous awards and performance grants including the Music in Action Grant from the Wagner Society of the Upper Midwest, Opera Reading Project’s IDEA Fellowship, 1st prize in the St. Croix Valley Opera Competition and first prize in the Schubert Club Competition.
Mark has been a young artist with Hawaii Opera Theatre and a Gate City Bank Young Artist with Fargo Moorhead Opera. Mark was a national finalist in the Ryan Opera Center auditions at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. In the summer of 2023, the baritone made his debut with the Minnesota Orchestra. Mark’s major teachers have been George Smith, Richard Anderson, Carol Vaness, Marilyn Horne, and David Etheridge (clarinet).
audiences from throughout our great state to the place where music truly comes alive! Canterbury Voices was founded in May 1969 as Canterbury Choral Society and met at All Souls Episcopal Church with 60 singers. Today, the 150-member adult chorus is the largest of its kind in Oklahoma. All singers are auditioned, most with extensive musical and stage experience, and come from all over Oklahoma. Canterbury also leads a 200-voice youth music education program named Canterbury Youth Voices for children and youth grades 2-12. Canterbury Voices collaborates with other arts organizations including the OKC Philharmonic, Oklahoma City Ballet, and Oklahoma City Jazz Orchestra, as well as many talented singers and musicians from around the United States, including Kelli O’Hara, Sarah Coburn, Gabriel Preisser, Barry Manilow, and Ron Raines; and joined with the OKC Philharmonic in June, 2022, to perform with Andrea Bocelli.
Canterbury Voices also strives to grow the catalog of new music by commissioning new choral works by composers including Stephen Paulus, Edward Knight, Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, and Dominick Argento. In June, 2022, Canterbury Voices received the American Prize for Best Choral Performance, Community Division.
JULIE YU, Artistic Director
Award-winning choral conductor and educator Dr. Julie Yu is the artistic director of Canterbury Voices and director of choral activities at the Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University.
As artistic director, she conducts and guides the creative direction of Canterbury Voices’ award-winning 150-voice ensemble. At OCU, she oversees the artistic vision of OCU’s four major choirs, conducts the Chamber Choir and Ad Astra women’s chorus, and teaches courses in conducting and in the graduate choral curriculum.
She holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Conducting with specialized studies in Early Music from the University of North Texas, a Master’s degree in Choral Conducting from Oklahoma State University, and a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Central Oklahoma. Her choirs have performed in Carnegie Hall, at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., as well as in Austria, Czech Republic, and France. She was an ACDA International Conducting Exchange Fellow to Kenya in 2019 and has led All-State choruses from Florida to Utah to Maine.
Yu conducted the Oklahoma Arts Institute (OAI) chorus at Quartz Mountain in 2016 and 2020. She was featured conductor at Ireland’s 2019 International Dublin Choral Festival. Dr. Yu was a clinician and keynote speaker at the European Music Educators Association Conference in Naples, Italy, and also served in 2018-2020, as president of ACDA’s Southwestern Region.
PROGRAM NOTES
MusicWeb International,
Leshnoff how he would like to be remembered in posterity. “I would like to be remembered as a symphonist,” Leshnoff
music took people on a journey. Where that journey took them, what they choose to see or hear, whether they experienced something scary, or painful—that’s their choice, but it’s my job to open that door. However, if at the end of that journey their life is at a better place than it was at the start, then I have done my job – and that would make me very happy.”
We do not meet Leshnoff as a symphonist in this concert, although one can understand why he views symphonies as a central part of his oeuvre. “With a symphony,” he says, “the composer can say what they have to say in the purest, unfiltered form. Whenever I compose a symphony, I view it as a sacred act in the sense that I know that I am able to say something in such a way that nobody is going to bother me in a direct way.” He has written four so far, this in an era when rather few composers are tackling this longrevered genre, and some even dismiss it as hopelessly oldfashioned. But Leshnoff finds that it is still possible to pour new wine into old bottles, and he embraces genres like the
symphony or the concerto. In fact, concertos make up a large chapter in his voluminous catalogue of compositions. He has composed 14 at last count—for cello, violin (two full scale ones plus a shorter “chamber concerto”), two violins, violin and viola, guitar, clarinet, clarinet and bassoon, flute, trombone, piano, a pair of percussionists, and a group of five percussionists (plus band). Alexander Mickelthwate and the Oklahoma City Philharmonic recorded his Violin Concerto No. 2 with soloist Noah Bendix-Balgley, released on the Naxos label in 2023, a compilation CD that also included two other works: his Elegy (played in this concert) and his Of Thee I Sing, for chorus and orchestra (with OKC’s Canterbury Voices joining the OKC Philharmonic). The Orchestra commissioned Of Thee I Sing to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. It was, Leshnoff said, “the most serious commission I have ever received.” In extending the commission, Maestro Mickelthwate expressed what he hoped the work might be: “[A piece] that transcends the atrocity and focuses on all the good that came out of it in the last 25 years. A city growing together. But also transcending death. To the point where in this bizarre world music actually unifies and makes the listener step out of the crazy into a spiritual sphere. Where the spiritual becomes reality and the other just a dream.”
Those hopes have not diminished in the five years since, and we may bear them in mind as the Orchestra revisits the third piece on that CD, Leshnoff’s Elegy. It is performed in this concert in memory of the bombing, which took place 30 years ago to the day. The Elegy stands in a tradition of pieces that were not written as specific memorials but that have been widely adopted for that purpose, such as Mahler’s Adagietto (from his Fifth Symphony) or Barber’s Adagio for Strings.
Unlike those, Leshnoff’s Elegy was written within a general context of remembrance. It was co-commissioned by the Bellingham (Washington) Symphony Orchestra and the Tennessee Holocaust Commission as part of that orchestra’s Harmony from Discord initiative, which celebrates music that transcends oppression. Although this 10-minute piece is not programmatic in a specific sense, the composer has reflected its topic in both its musical structure (see sidebar) and its sound. “Elegy,” he explains, “is scored for the unusual combination of horns, harp, timpani, and strings. These instruments were selected for their darker color, a natural fit for this composition, which is introspective and somber. Elegy is written in memory of the thousands of nameless people who suffered under oppression.”
PROGRAM NOTES
From the Composer
Jonathan Leshnoff has provided this comment about his Elegy:
Writing a new composition for the Harmony from Discord series, I chose to musically depict these two contrasting moods with two contrasting ideas: a somber, dark theme that dominates the beginning of the work and a hopeful, brighter theme that is heard in the middle. Elegy starts with this lonely and contemplative theme first played by the violins and then slowly spreading throughout the string section, with the harp offering a haunting echo. After a brooding cadence, the hopeful theme is introduced in the horns. Full of moving lines and sweeping harmonies, the music builds to a resounding climax, accompanied by the timpani grounding the ensemble in successive strikes. After a cascading cadence, the dark opening theme again returns, but this time, the hopeful theme intertwines itself with the darker theme, symbolic of the hope that has emerged through the dark, discordant eras of history. The piece notably ends on a major chord. —JMK
(1919 version)
Igor Stravinsky
First Performance: 1/25/1940
Conductor: Victor Alessandro
Last Performance: 9/12/2015
Conductor: Joel Levine
Born: June 5 (old style)/17 (new style), 1882, in Oranienbaum, now Lomonosov, near St. Petersburg, Russia
Died: April 6, 1971, in New York City
Work composed: November 1909 to May 18, 1910; the concert suite heard here was made in 1919
Work premiered: The original ballet was unveiled June 25, 1910, in a staged production of the Ballets Russes at the Paris Opéra, with Gabriel Pierné conducting; the 1919 concert suite was premiered on April 12, 1919, in Geneva, Switzerland, with Ernest Ansermet conducting.
April 19, 1995
We remember and honor the 168 men, women, and children who were killed, those who survived, and those whose lives were forever changed.
Instrumentation: Two flutes (one doubling piccolo), two oboes and English horn, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, tambourine, xylophone, harp, piano (doubling celesta), and strings
Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes made a specialty of dancing pieces that were inspired by Russian folklore, and The Firebird was perfectly suited to its designs. The tale involves the dashing Prince Ivan (otherwise put, Ivan Tsarevich), who finds himself one night wandering through the garden of King Kashchei, an evil monarch whose power resides in a magic egg that he guards in an elegant box. In Kashchei’s garden, the Prince captures the Firebird, which pleads for its life; the Prince agrees to spare it if it gives him one of its magic tail-feathers, which it consents to do. Thus armed, the Prince continues through his evening and happens upon 13 enchanted princesses. The most beautiful of them catches his eye, and (acting under Kashchei’s spell) lures him to a spot where Kashchei’s demonic guards can ensnare him. But before he can be put under a spell himself, the Prince uses the magic tail-feather to summon
PROGRAM NOTES
the Firebird, which reveals to him the secret of the magic egg from which Kashchei derives his power. The Prince locates and smashes the egg, breaking the web of evil enchantment, and he goes off to marry the newly liberated beautiful Princess, with whom, of course, he will live happily ever after.
The Firebird would be the first of Stravinsky’s truly original Diaghilev scores, but the opportunity came to him rather by accident. One of Diaghilev’s set designers, Alexandre Benois, pushed to have Nikolai Tcherepnin write the score. Diaghilev favored his own one-time harmony professor Anatoly Lyadov and, even though he was well aware of Lyadov’s reputation for procrastination and debilitating selfcriticism, invited him to accept the commission for the new ballet. Lyadov strung Diaghilev along for months without managing to fish or cut bait. Eventually Diaghilev, who had exhausted his patience and was running out of time, turned instead to the aspiring young Stravinsky. Eager to capitalize on this break, Stravinsky immediately dropped what he was working on, installed himself in a dacha belonging to the family of his late teacher Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and turned out his sparkling score in short order, between November 1909 and March 1910, with final orchestration and retouching continuing until May.
A French critic reported his experience of hearing Stravinsky play through his work-in-progress that winter in St. Petersburg: “The composer, young, slim, and uncommunicative, with vague meditative eyes, and lips set firm in an energetic looking face, was at the piano. But the moment he began to play, the modest and dimly lit dwelling glowed with a dazzling radiance. By the end of the first scene, I was conquered; by the last, I was lost in admiration. The manuscript on the music-desk, scored over with fine penciling, revealed a masterpiece.”
The ballet was well established by the time Stravinsky assembled several of its movements into a symphonic suite in 1919. (He would later expand this in 1945, but the 1919 version remains more popular.) This is one of music’s great showpieces of orchestration, a remarkable tour-de-force for a 28-year-old composer, even one who had issued from the studio of Rimsky-Korsakov, himself acknowledged as a wizard of instrumentation. Even in the reduced orchestration of the 1919 version the music of The Firebird is filled with astonishing instrumental effects. Some of the sounds are frankly startling, such as when, in the Introduction, the strings play eerie glissandos over their instruments’ fingerboards to evoke the mystery of the garden at night. When the Firebird dances, it does so to a set of variations on a Russian song, and the overlay of wind orchestration makes us believe that its feathers must indeed sparkle with
magic. More folk tunes inform The Princesses’ Round-Dance, which is thrown into disarray when Kashchei’s diabolical guards swarm onto the scene with their Infernal Dance. A solo violin comes to the fore in the tender Lullaby; and, with the evils spells broken, the Finale depicts a beautiful wedding processional for the Prince and his chosen Princess.
American Indian Symphony (World Premiere) Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate
First Performance on This Series
Born: July 25, 1968, in Norman, Oklahoma Residing: Oklahoma City Work composed: 2025
A citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, Oklahoma-born Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate is a leading force of concert music in Native American communities and beyond. He was born into a family professionally involved in the arts. His father, Charles Tate, a tribal judge, was classically trained as a singer and pianist; his mother, Patricia (of Manx Irish descent) was a choreographer and a professor of dance. He received his bachelor’s degree in piano performance from Northwestern University and his Master’s in piano and composition from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where his teachers included Elizabeth Pastor and Donald Erb. In 2022, the Cleveland Institute of Music honored him with its Distinguished Alumni Award. Also in 2022, he was inducted into the Chickasaw Hall of Fame, and in 2021 he was appointed a Cultural Ambassador for the U. S. Department of State.
Tate embarked on composition at the instigation of his mother, who commissioned him to write a ballet score. In the resulting piece, Winter Moons, he explored traditions
PROGRAM NOTES
of the tribes from the Northern Plains and Rocky Mountain regions and found a way to amalgamate those ideas with the language of classical composition. The piece, premiered at the University of Wyoming in 1992, was later revived in two separate seasons by the Colorado Ballet. “I didn’t mix my identities of being a classically trained musician and being an American Indian,” Tate observed in a 2009 interview for National Public Radio’s All Thing Considered. “I never saw that there was even a possible relationship between those two until I started composing.”
His works have been performed by notable musical organizations around the country, including the New York Philharmonic, American Composers Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony and Chorus, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, and South Dakota Symphony Orchestra (where he served three years as composer-in-residence), in addition to the Oklahoma City Philharmonic. Last fall, OKC’s Canterbury Voices, along with the OKC Philharmonic, performed the semi-staged premiere of his opera Loksi’ Shaali’ (Shell Shaker); the first opera composed entirely in an American Indian language (in this case, Chickasaw), it narrates the journey of the Chickasaw-Choctaw migration.
In 2008, Tate was appointed Creativity Ambassador for the State of Oklahoma, and in 2011 he received a regional Emmy Award for his work on the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority documentary The Science of Composing. He has been central to numerous incentives promoting creativity and artistic outlets in Native American communities. “I have worked with many tribes, including Navajo, Ojibway, Lakota, Sac and Fox, Ponca, Cherokee, Hopi, Creek, Tohono O’odham, Choctaw, Apache, Lakota, and Chickasaw,” he said when interviewed by Brandy McDonnell of The Oklahoman. “There is a benefit to be gained by tribes coming together and saying ‘We are truly Indian Country. We work together for positive growth and the common good for all our people.’”
His American Indian Symphony, commissioned by the OKC Philharmonic, is cast in six movements. “Each movement is dedicated to a different cultural region of Indian Country,” he says. “It features full orchestra, full chorus, and two American Indian opera soloists singing in Apache, Chickasaw, Cheyenne, Modoc, Potawotomi, and Wichita. Native Americans have changed history through their contributions in the arts and this work will allow Native people to be heard, vocally and symphonically, on the world concert stage.”
From the Composer
Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate has provided these thoughts about his American Indian Symphony:
After many years of collaborating with me on my existing works, Maestro Mickelthwate approached me about a new and original work for the Oklahoma City Philharmonic. Maestro and I share a unified vision to develop the presence of American Indian symphonic composition and the idea of our new work came effortlessly. We have 39 federally recognized tribes in the state of Oklahoma and I was given a beautiful opportunity to pay homage to our major cultural groups. In addition, my work has allowed me to pay tribute to my Native cousins with the presence of our traditional languages. Thus, the American Indian Symphony was conceived for the following six movements:
Wichita: This movement recognizes the Wichita Nation, which was aboriginal to Oklahoma, welcoming native cousins who are about to settle with them.
Potawatomi: This movement acknowledges the relationship the Potawatomi Nation has to rattle sounds and water.
Apache: This movement honors the crown dancers of the Apache Nation and the gifts the crowns bring to the people.
Chickasaw: This movement represents the Chickasaw Nation’s songs to the legendary Thunder Beings.
Modoc: This movement honors the Annual Spiritual Run through the Ancestral Modoc Territory.
Cheyenne: This movement celebrates the buffalo, considered a sacred animal by the Cheyenne Nation, and—as a source of food, clothing, and shelter—was responsible for their survival.
I composed the poetry in English and the text has been translated by Gary McAdams (Wichita), Robert Collins (Potawatomi), Darrin Cisco (Apache), Lokosh Hinson (Chickasaw), Joseph Dupris (Modoc), and Wayne Leman (Cheyenne).
—JMK
JAMES M. KELLER
Now in his 25th season as Program Annotator of the San Francisco Symphony, James M. Keller is the former Program Annotator of the New York Philharmonic and the author of Chamber Music: A Listener’s Guide (Oxford University Press).
CONCEPTS FROM THE
Maestro
This season, we’re celebrating our “classical” repertoire—music that is tried and true, resonating deeply with audiences over time and embodying a deeply romantic spirit, cherished by many. Join us as we explore these beloved classics!
AN ALPINE SYMPHONY
Our final Classics concert of the season will feature Richard Strauss’ iconic An Alpine Symphony. Strauss is renowned for his operas and tone poems, and this work requires a vast romantic orchestra to depict a day in the Alps—from sunrise to sunset, capturing the ascent through forests and meadows, all the way to the glacier and summit. I fondly recall several hikes to beautiful mountain huts in Austria and Switzerland, breathing in the crisp mountain air and marveling at the massive rock formations. Strauss masterfully creates a wealth of tonal colors and musical shapes that evoke the grandeur of the Alps.
Night Sunrise Ascent Entering the Forest Strolling by the Stream By the Waterfall Apparition In Flowery Meadows In Pastures Through Thickets and Briars on a Mistaken Route
On the Glacier Dangerous Moments On the Summit Vision Mists Rise Up
The Sun Gradually Grows Dark Elegy
Calm before the Storm Thunder and Tempest—Descent Sunset Fading Tones Night
(The sections are performed without pause.)
We’ll begin the program with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4, setting the stage for an unforgettable evening. Join us for this celebration of breathtaking music!
For a deeper understanding of concert programming, please, join Maestro Mickelthwate for his Preconcert Talk at 7 pm in the auditorium. Open Seating.
*First Performance on this Series
THIS CONCERT IS GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY:
AMALIA MIRANDA SILVERSTEIN, M.D.
In Memory of Paul Silverstein
SPOTLIGHT SCHOOL: Carl Albert High School
Listen to a broadcast of this performance on KUCO 90.1 FM on Saturday, June 14, at 9 am and Sunday, June 15, at 7 pm on “Performance Oklahoma”. Simultaneous internet streaming is also available during the broadcast.
OKCPHIL
GUEST ARTIST
CLAYTON STEPHENSON
American pianist Clayton Stephenson’s love for music is immediately apparent in his joyous charisma onstage, expressive power, and natural ease at the instrument. Hailed for “extraordinary narrative and poetic gifts” and interpretations that are “fresh, incisive and characterfully alive” (Gramophone), he is committed to making an impact on the world through his music-making.
Growing up in New York City, Clayton started piano lessons at age 7 and was accepted into the Juilliard Outreach Music Advancement Program for underprivileged children the next year, where he attended numerous student recitals and fell in love with music. At the age of 10 he advanced to Juilliard’s elite Pre-College program with the help of his teacher, Beth Nam. At Juilliard he studied with Matti Raekallio, Hung-Kuang Chen and Ernest Barretta. Clayton practiced on a synthesizer at home until he found an old upright piano on the street that an elementary school had thrown away; that would become his practice piano for the next six years, until the Lang Lang Foundation donated a new piano to him when he was 17.
He credits the generous support of community programs with providing him musical inspiration and resources along the way. As he describes it, the “3rd Street Music School jump-started my music education; the Young People’s Choir taught me phrasing and voicing; the Juilliard Outreach Music Advancement Program introduced me to formal and rigorous piano training, which enabled me to get into Juilliard Pre-College; the Morningside Music Bridge validated my talent and elevated my self-confidence; the Boy’s Club of New York exposed me to jazz; and the Lang Lang Foundation brought me to stages worldwide and transformed me from a piano student to a young artist.”
Recent and upcoming highlights of Clayton’s burgeoning career include appearances with the Calgary Philharmonic, Chicago Sinfonietta, and the Fort Worth, Louisville, Lansing and North Carolina Symphony Orchestras; as well as recitals at the Phillips Collection Concert Series in Washington, DC, Foundation Louis Vuitton Auditorium in Paris, Bad Kissinger Sommer Festival and BeethovenFest in Germany, Colour of Music Festival, Ravinia Festival and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. He has been featured on NPR, WUOL, and WQXR, and appeared in the “GRAMMY® Salute to Classical Music” Concert at Carnegie’s Stern Auditorium.
He now studies in the Harvard-NEC Dual Degree Program, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in economics at Harvard and a master’s degree in piano performance at the New England Conservatory under Wha Kyung Byun. And his accolades along the way have been numerous - in addition to being the first Black finalist at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2022, he was named a 2022 Gilmore Young Artist, as well as a 2017 U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts and a Young Scholar of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation. He also received a jury discretionary award at the 2015 Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and Festival.
PROGRAM NOTES
BEETHOVEN
Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 Ludwig van Beethoven
First Performance: 2/4/1945
Piano: Rudolf Serkin
Last Performance: 10/18/2008
Piano: Andre Watts
Born: December 16, 1770 (probably, since he was baptized on the 17th), in Bonn, Germany
Died: March 26, 1827, in Vienna, Austria Work composed: Early 1806, perhaps earlier; probably completed March 27, 1806
Work premiered: In a private performance in March 1807 in the palace of Beethoven’s patron Prince Lobkowitz; the public premiere was December 22, 1808, at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna Instrumentation: Flute, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings.
Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 fades into existence with unexpected gentleness. In 1807, when this music was first heard, any reasonably informed member of a Viennese audience would have known that a concerto should begin with a long introduction during which the orchestra presents some of the first movement’s principal themes. In the case of a piano concerto, the soloist might play along, adding an underpinning to the orchestral texture; but the featured instrument would not move into the spotlight until the introduction had come to a resolute conclusion. Beethoven had at least respected that aspect of the Classical mold in his first three piano concertos (not to mention his early “non-canonical” E-flat-major Piano Concerto of 1784) and his Violin Concerto.
Imagine, then, the astonishment with which listeners conditioned in this way must have heard his Fourth Piano Concerto when it was new. Rather than the authoritarian sounds of a full orchestra, the first notes were played softly on the piano, the gentle murmuring of a theme based on
repeated notes and simple harmonies. And then—just as surprising—following its five-measure presentation of the thematic germ of this movement, the piano simply withdraws, not to be heard from again for another 69 measures, during which suspense mounts as to what is fueling its behavior. You might say that the silent piano is unusually “present” during the 69 measures of that orchestral introduction, precisely because it made its mark so indelibly at the outset.
The second movement, too, is extraordinary, even apart from its uncharacteristic brevity (lasting as it does only about five minutes). The music theorist Adolf Bernhard Marx, in his 1859 biography of Beethoven, suggested that this Andante con moto bore some relationship to Gluck’s opera Orfeo ed Euridice—specifically, to how Orpheus used music to tame wild beasts. At some point music historians began misattributing this observation to Franz Liszt, who probably would have been very happy to assign a programmatic explanation to this expressive, conversational movement, but apparently didn’t. (You will still read Liszt’s “quotation” in many discussions of this concerto, even though historical research squashed it a few decades ago.) In 1985 the musicologist Owen Jander pointed out that Beethoven’s music—indeed, in the whole concerto, not just the slow movement—seems to follow point by point a popular version of the Orpheus legend that was presented in the Vienna of Beethoven’s day. Such a literal interpretation of text into tones would have been an extraordinary method for Beethoven to follow, and opinions are divided about whether there is much likelihood that this took place; yet Jander put forth a strong argument, and the idea does capture the imagination.
Beethoven unveiled his Fourth Piano Concerto at a private concert in the mansion of his patron Prince Franz Josef von Lobkowitz in March 1807. Then he put it away for nearly two years and performed it only one more time, in a concert at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien on December 22, 1808. This all-Beethoven marathon has gone into the annals as one of the most extraordinary events in all of music history. In addition to this concerto, the performance included the world premieres of Beethoven’s Symphonies No. 5 and No. 6, as well as the Choral Fantasy (for piano, choir, and orchestra); the Vienna premieres of the concert scena Ah Perfido! and three movements from the C-major Mass; and a solo keyboard improvisation by the composer. To encounter all of these revolutionary pieces at one sitting must have been overwhelming, and to some attendees the Fourth Piano Concerto must have sounded like just more of the same madness—and who knows what the all-but-deaf Beethoven actually accomplished at the piano.
PROGRAM NOTES
His pupil Carl Czerny termed Beethoven’s performance on that occasion as “playful,” an odd enough descriptor that you might wonder if it should be read as a euphemism. It was Beethoven’s last public appearance as a concerto soloist, although he would continue to perform in chamber music and as an accompanist.
Beethoven Playing his Fourth Piano Concerto
In his Autobiography, published in 1865, the composer Louis Spohr recounted an anecdote told to him by Ignaz Xaver Seyfried, music director of the Theater and der Wien from 1797 to 1825, about Beethoven’s performance at the premiere of the Fourth Piano Concerto: Beethoven was playing a new Pianoforte-Concerto of his, but forgot at the first tutti, that he was a solo player, and springing up, began to direct in his usual way. At the first sforzando he threw out his arms so wide asunder, that he knocked both the lights off the piano upon the ground. The audience laughed, and Beethoven was so incensed at this disturbance, that he made the orchestra cease playing, and begin anew. Seyfried, fearing that a repetition of the accident would occur at the same passage, bade two boys of the chorus place themselves on either side of Beethoven, and hold the lights in their hands. One of the boys innocently approached nearer, and was reading also the notes of the piano-part. When therefore the fatal sforzando came, he received from Beethoven’s outthrown right hand so smart a blow on the mouth, that the poor boy let fall the light from terror. The other boy, more cautious, had followed with anxious eyes every motion of Beethoven, and by stooping suddenly at the eventful moment he avoided the slap on the mouth. If the public were unable to restrain their laughter before, they could now much less, and broke out into a regular bacchanalian roar. Beethoven got into such a rage that at the first chords of the solo, half a dozen strings broke. Every endeavor of the real lovers of music to restore calm and attention were for the moment fruitless. The first allegro of the Concerto was therefore lost to the public.
Born: June 11, 1864, in Munich, Bavaria
STRAUSS
Died: September 8, 1949, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
Work composed: 1911-1915, though related sketches extend as far back as 1902
Work premiered: October 28, 1915, at the Berlin Philharmonie, with the composer conducting the Dresden Hofkapelle
Instrumentation: Two flutes and two piccolos (both doubling flute), two oboes plus English horn (doubling oboe) and bass oboe, four clarinets (one in E-flat, two in B-flat, one in C, with the last doubling bass clarinet), three bassoons and contrabassoon (doubling bassoon), four horns and four “tenor tubas” (a.k.a. Wagner tubas, with all four doubling horns), four trumpets, four trombones, two bass tubas, two harps, organ, celesta, timpani (two players), wind machine, thunder machine, glockenspiel, cymbals, bass drum, snare drum, triangle, cowbells, tamtam, and strings (18 first violins, 16 second violins, 12 violas, 10 cellos, and 8 double basses)
The idea of the symphonic poem was codified in the 1840s and ’50s by Franz Liszt through a dozen single-movement orchestral pieces that drew inspiration from, or were otherwise linked to, literary sources. The repertoire quickly grew thanks to notable contributions by such composers as Smetana, Dvořák, Musorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saëns, Franck, and—most impressively of all—Richard Strauss. In his memoirs Strauss recalled being drawn to the idea that “new ideas must search for new forms; this basic principle of Liszt’s symphonic works, in which the poetic idea was really the formative element, became henceforward the guiding principle for my own symphonic work.”
In 1886, Strauss produced what might be considered his first symphonic poem, Aus Italien (it is more precisely a sort of descriptive symphony), and he continued with
PROGRAM NOTES
AN ALPINE SYMPHONY
hardly a break through the series of tone poems that many feel represent the genre at its height: Macbeth (1886-8), Don Juan (1888-89), Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration, also 1888-89), Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, 1894-95), Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spake Zarathustra, 1895-96), Don Quixote (1896-97), Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life, 1897-98), and Symphonia domestica (1902-03). Eine Alpensinfonie (An Alpine Symphony, 1911-15) would become a late pendant to Strauss’ catalogue of symphonic poems.
In his earlier symphonic poems Strauss had engaged topics with distinguished literary or philosophical pedigrees. By the time he reached Ein Heldenleben and Symphonia domestica he got around to the subject of himself and expanded the programmatic possibilities to embrace autobiography. For Eine Alpensinfonie, Strauss adopted a narrative that was neither drawn specifically from a pre-existing literary source nor from autobiography, but rather one that embraced both in a general way. It is autobiographical to the extent that it represents man’s ardent celebration of nature—indeed, of nature at its most spectacular, as epitomized by a day of mountain climbing in the Alps. This landscape was ultra-familiar to Strauss, who was born in mountainous Bavaria and, buoyed with the earnings of his opera Salome, constructed a villa in the gorgeous high-altitude landscape of Garmisch (which in 1936 would merge with its sister-town Partenkirchen to host the Olympic Winter Games). He moved into his new villa at the beginning of 1908, and he lived there to the end of his days, composing in a room that afforded a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains.
But Eine Alpensinfonie also draws, if indirectly, on the philosophical writings of Friedrich Nietzsche, another of whose texts had inspired the composer’s Also sprach Zarathustra some years earlier. This time it was Nietzsche’s 1888 essay Der Antichrist that had Strauss’ attention. Engrossed in soul-searching following the death of his friend Gustav Mahler, Strauss wrote in his diary in 1911: “It is clear to me that the German nation will achieve new creative energy only by liberating itself from Christianity. ... I shall call my alpine symphony: Der Antichrist, since it represents: moral purification through one’s own strength, liberation through work, worship of eternal, magnificent nature.”
The Antichrist scenario soon fell by the wayside, left to hover in the background as a shadow of inspiration. Instead Eine Alpensinfonie unrolled as a detailed piece of landscape tone-painting that the listener can enjoy thoroughly without getting wrapped up in philosophical implications. The action unrolls in the space of 24 hours, from the pre-dawn of a new-born day through the late-night of the next, and
in the course of 22 discrete episodes (one is bipartite, so we may identify 23 events) the listener goes up the mountain and down again, encountering along the way a catalogue of natural features one might expect to find on such a journey—forests, streams, meadows, and so on—as well as a hunting party (in the “Sunrise”), some close calls (a slippery “dangerous moment” and a violent storm), a spectacular view from the summit, and a post-sunset return home where our mountaineer(s) must surely sit back and contemplate what has been a most excellent excursion.
JAMES M. KELLER
Now in his 25th season as Program Annotator of the San Francisco Symphony, James M. Keller is the former Program Annotator of the New York Philharmonic and the author of Chamber Music: A Listener’s Guide (Oxford University Press).
CODY
CODY FRY LIVE WITH THE OKCPHIL
SHANTI SIMON, ASSOCIATE CONDUCTOR
Program to be announced from the stage
MAY 23-24, 2025, 8:00 P.M. THIS CONCERT IS GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY:
GUEST ARTIST
CODY FRY
Cody Fry, the son of orchestral composer Gary Fry, is a Nashville-based singer, songwriter, and musician. He moved to Nashville to study voice at Belmont University after graduating from New Trier High School in 2008, where he actively participated in various ensembles such as the symphony orchestra, choir opera, swing choir, and chorus.
In 2015, Cody gained national recognition as one of the 48 final contestants on the 14th season of American Idol, leaving a lasting impression with his remarkable vocal abilities.
In 2021, his song “I Hear a Symphony” became a hit on TikTok, achieving massive success and climbing the Spotify Global Viral Charts, charting in 38 countries. This achievement solidified his reputation as an artist with global appeal and a unique musical style. Furthermore, Cody’s talent as an arranger was acknowledged in 2021 when his cover of The Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby received a GRAMMY® nomination in the GRAMMY® Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals category. He received his second GRAMMY® nomination in the same category in 2025 for his cover of Paul Simon’s The Sound of Silence.
Fry’s musical career has afforded him the opportunity to perform at prestigious venues worldwide and collaborate with various artists in the industry. In 2020, he performed with the Metropole Orkest for the live show Live in Amsterdam, featuring Cory Wong and the Metropole Orkest. In 2023, Fry performed his songs “Underground” and “Photograph” at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with Ben Rector and the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Steven Reineke. Ben Rector and Cody Fry continued their partnership and toured their orchestra show around the country appearing with orchestras including the Nashville Symphony, Pacific Symphony, and Dallas Symphony (conducted by Enrico Lopez-Yañez), as well as the Minnesota Orchestra (conducted by Sarah Hicks), and the Cincinnati Pops among others.
This spring, Cody will be performing at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and with the Boston Pops, in addition to his Oklahoma City debut.
GIFTS TO THE PHIL
INDIVIDUALS
Continued from page 21
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THE MAESTRO’S BALL
The OKCPHIL would like to thank the following people who believe in our mission by providing support through the 2024-25 Maestro’s Ball as we honor our beloved Maestro’s Circle inductees Robert and Sody Clements.
EVENT CO-CHAIRS
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THE MAESTRO’S BALL
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SPECIAL GIFTS
Honor loved ones, celebrate occasions, recognize achievements, and support the Philharmonic’s mission.
In honor of Betty Zoe and W.W. Baker
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THANK YOU!
The OKCPHIL gratefully acknowledges the generosity of individuals who have chosen to return concert tickets as a donation. This recognition reflects contributions made for the 24-25 season and are listed through March 5, 2025.
