OPENING NIGHT! BALLET AND BOLÉRO
September 28, 2024 • 8 PM | Robinson Fine Arts Center
Héctor Guzmán, Conductor
Adam W. McKinney, Artistic Director, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre
Elisabeth Adkins, violin
This concert sponsored by
Maestro Héctor Guzmán has celebrated 41 years at the helm of the Plano Symphony Orchestra, and is one of the most respected and admired conductors in this country and abroad.
His leadership of not only the Plano Symphony Orchestra, but that of the Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra, Irving Symphony, the San Angelo Symphony, and as Conductor Emeritus of the Jalisco Philharmonic in Mexico, have placed him among the most important musical figures on the podium today.
He has been a frequent guest conductor of an array of prestigious ensembles: Mexico: National Symphony, Mexico City Philharmonic, UNAM Philharmonic, Xalapa Symphony, Bellas Artes Chamber Orchestra, Vivaldi Orchestra of Mexico City, and State of Mexico Symphony. United States: Dallas Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Wheeling Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, and the Chicago Sinfonietta. Dominican Republic: National Symphony. Czech Republic: Collegium Orchestra of Prague. Poland: Rszezow Philharmonic. Japan: Japan Philharmonic. South Korea: Masan Philharmonic, and Gangsam Symphony. Italy: Amadeus Orchestra, Sinfonia Venetto, Milano Classica Orchestra, Bari Symphony, San Remo Symphony, and Pomeriggi Musicale Orchestra of Milan. Spain: Sinfónica de Murcia, Joven Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid, and Excelentia Orchestra. Panamá: National Symphony. Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh Opera & Ballet Orchestra and Germany : Herzer Orchestra among many others.
In addition to a spectacular career as a conductor, he continues to enjoy international success as a concert organist, performing in venues such as the Meyerson Symphony Hall in Dallas, the Spivey Hall Distinguished Artist Series in Atlanta, the Olivet Nazarene recital series in Illinois, the cathedrals of Morelia, Guadalajara (Mexico) and Chartres (France), and the International Music Festivals in Toledo, Spain and Zamora, Mexico. Maestro Guzman holds degrees from: The Conservatory of Music in Mexico City, the University of North Texas (BM), and Southern Methodist University (MM).
His teachers include his mentor Anshel Brusilow, former concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra and former music director of the Dallas Symphony, as well as internationally renowned conductors Helmuth Rilling (University of Oregon) and Carlo Maria Giulini (Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy). He was also a protégé of the late Maestro Eduardo Mata, music director of the Dallas Symphony. In his native Mexico, Héctor Guzmán achieved an impressive reputation as an organist, under Prof. Victor Urban, by taking first prize in the “Chamber Soloists” and the “Manuel M. Ponce” national organ competitions. In the United States, while a student of world-famous master teachers Dr. Robert Anderson and Alfred Mouledous, he earned further distinction by winning solo competitions at Southern Methodist University, the University of North Texas, and he was the first Latin-American ever chosen as a finalist in the “Grand Prix de Chartres,” the world’s most prestigious international organ competition celebrated in France.
He is also the recipient of the “Mozart Medal,” Mexico’s highest musical honor, presented by the embassy of Austria and the Mozart Academy in Mexico City, as well as the 2012 “Lifetime Achievement Award” of North Texas, and the 2014 Sigma Alpha Iota National Arts Associate award.
Thank you to our incredible season sponsors!
Héctor Guzmán, Conductor
Featuring: Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre
Elisabeth Adkins, violin
September 28, 2024 | Robinson Fine Arts Center | 8 PM
Tlaloc...Robert X. Rodriguez (World Premiere)
Concerto for violin and orchestra…Samuel Barber
Performed by Elisabeth Adkins
Allegro Brillante for piano and orchestra...Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Swan Lake Pas de Deux…Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Performed by Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and PSO (chor. after Petipa)
Boléro…Maurice Ravel
Performed by Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and PSO (chor: Susan Jaffe)
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre has been Pittsburgh’s premier professional ballet company since 1969. Today, PBT is a nationally recognized ballet company of 32 professional dancers, a training institution for over 1,200 students of all ages, and an incubator for education and accessibility programs in classrooms, libraries and community centers throughout the region. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Adam W. McKinney and Executive Director Nicholas Dragga, the company performs a wideranging repertoire of classical ballets, contemporary masterworks and new commissions in nearly 50 performances annually.
Adam W. McKinney has a diverse and accomplished background in arts leadership across the globe, having served as an arts organization director, tenured professor, choreographer, dancer, educator and activist. McKinney was most recently an Associate Professor of Dance in Ballet with tenure in the School for Classical & Contemporary Dance at Texas Christian University. There he taught courses in classical ballet, modern dance and choreography. An ABT-certified teacher, McKinney served as an inaugural Schoof of American Ballet National Fellow in 2015-16. He was the CoDirector/Co-Founder of DNAWORKS, an arts and service organization. Previously, he was the inaugural Dance Department Chair at New Mexico School for the Arts in Santa Fe. He has danced with some of the world’s preeminent dance companies, including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Béjart Ballet Lausanne (Switzerland), Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet and Milwaukee Ballet Company. McKinney, a leader who is committed to making ballet and dance accessible to all, has led dance work with diverse populations across the world and served as a U.S. Embassy Culture Connect Envoy to South Africa through U.S. State Department. McKinney was named one of the most influential African Americans in Milwaukee by St. Vincent DePaul.
He holds a BFA in Dance Performance from Butler University and an MA in Dance Studies from the Gallatin School at New York University.
HANNAH CARTER of England joined PBT in 2013 after dancing as a corps de ballet member with Estonian National Ballet. She graduated from the Royal Ballet School with honors, and has been a principal artist with PBT since 2016. Her repertoire with PBT includes performances of Swan Lake, Don Quixote and The Nutcracker. Hannah has also performed leading roles in Le Corsaire, La Bayadère, Giselle and Romeo and Juliet, among others. Hometown: England | Year joined PBT Company: 2013
TOMMIE LIN KESTEN was chosen for Pointe Magazine‘s top 10 “Stars of the Corps” in 2019, as well as Dance Magazine’s “25 Dancers to Watch” in 2020. She has trained with Miami City Ballet School (MCB) and Ballet Academy of Pittsburgh and completed summer intensives at the School of American Ballet, Complexions Contemporary Ballet and PBT School. She performed in PBT and MCB productions of The Nutcracker and Giselle, and performed as the “Sugar Plum Fairy,” “Marie” and “Snow Queen” in Terrence S.Orr’s The Nutcracker. Her recent repertoire also includes the world premiere of Jae Man Joo’s When Time Stands Still, the lead role of “Florence Waren” in Jennifer Archibald’s Sounds of the Sun, principal role in George Balanchine’s Allegro Brilliante and “Cinderella” in the U.S. premiere of Jayne Smeulders’ Cinderella. She has also performed the female lead in George Balanchine’s Walpurgisnacht, female lead in Valse Fantaisie, lead female in Susan Jaffe’s Boléro and Gina Patterson’s Trinity
Bust: Sculptor. Clay. Muse and more. Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA | Year joined PBT Company: 2018 | Graduate of PBT School
LUCIUS KIRST A native of Los Angeles, Lucius Kirst joined Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre in 2014. Lucius previously performed with Ballet San Jose as a member of the corps de ballet and was a member of the studio company at American Ballet Theatre, where he danced on full scholarship. He also trained on full scholarship at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre in New York City, and received his early training at City Ballet School in San Francisco and Marin Ballet in California. He has participated in summer intensive programs at American Ballet Theatre and San Francisco Ballet School. Hometown: Los Angeles, CA | Year joined PBT Company: 2014
COREY BOURBONNIERE, a native of Woonsocket, RI, joined Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre in 2012. Before joining the company, Corey trained with Heritage Ballet and the State Ballet of Rhode Island, as well as the PBT School Graduate Program. They also attended summer programs at the American Academy of Dance and Texas Ballet Theater. Corey received the honor of being named one of Pointe Magazine’s “Standouts of 2018” for their portrayal of “Bernardo” in Jerome Robbins’s West Side Story Suite. They then went on to play the same role in Francesca Zambello’s full-length West Side Story at the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, NY. In 2022, Corey was one of 11 Black ballet dancers from around the world selected by Theresa Ruth Howard to create and perform in the world premiere of Donald Byrd’s From Other Suns, as part of The Kennedy Center’s Reframing the Narrative. Among their many PBT performances, Corey’s favorites include Jiří Kylián’s Petite Mort and Aszure Barton’s Bright Progressions, as well as featured roles as a “Stomper” in Twyla Tharp’s In The Upper Room, the “Third Sailor” in Jerome Robbins’s Fancy Free and “Drosselmeyer” in Terrence S. Orr’s The Nutcracker. Hometown: Woonsocket, RI | Year joined PBT Company: 2012 | Graduate of PBT School
COLIN McCASLIN, of Vineland, New Jersey, joined Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre in 2018 from the PBT School Pre-Professional Division. Before joining PBT School, Colin trained with the Atlantic City Ballet School under Phyllis Papa and in Miami City Ballet School’s summer intensive. He has performed with PBT in The Nutcracker and West Side Story Suite and with Atlantic City Ballet in Carmen and Swan Lake. His repertoire also includes Giselle, La Sylphide, The Sleeping Beauty and Don Quixote. Hometown: Vineland, NJ | Year joined PBT Company: 2018 | Graduate of PBT School
GRACE ROOKSTOOL was born and raised on Whidbey Island, Washington. At age three, she began her classical ballet training and at age eight enrolled in Pacific Northwest Ballet School in Seattle. She spent the next eight years in the Student Division and another two years completing the Professional Division Program. She has had the opportunity to dance with the company in many productions, including The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. During her time in the PD Program, she was selected for an exchange program with Dresden Semperoper Ballett where she performed as a guest apprentice in La Bayadère. She was chosen as one of Dance Magazine’s “25 Dancers to Watch” in 2024. Hometown: Whidbey Island, WA | Year joined PBT Company: 2019
DIANA YOHE, of Willoughby, Ohio, began her ballet training at Cleveland City Dance. She furthered her training in Joffrey Ballet’s Trainee Program and PBT School’s Graduate Program. She joined Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre in 2013, and was promoted to soloist in 2017. She has performed lead roles, such as “Marie” and the “Sugar Plum Fairy” in Terrence S. Orr’s The Nutcracker, “Wendy” in Jorden Morris’ Peter Pan, “Beauty” in Lew Christensen’s Beauty and the Beast, “Myrtha” in Terrence S. Orr’s Giselle, “Alice” in Derek Deane’s Alice in Wonderland and “Lucy” in Michael Pink’s Dracula. She has also danced featured roles in Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room, George Balanchine’s Western Symphony, Michael Smuin’s Eternal Idol, Dwight Rhoden’s Ave Maria, James Kudelka’s The Man in Black, Sasha Janes’ Loss, Jiří Kylián’s Petite Mort and Sinfonietta, William Forsythe’s In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, Nacho Duato’s Duende, Gemma Bond’s Depuis le Jour, Jennifer Archibald’s Through the Window, Helen Pickett’s Petal and The Exiled and Jerome Robbins’ Fancy Free and In the Night. Hometown: Willoughby, OH | Year joined PBT Company: 2013 | Graduate of PBT School
Pittsburgh native JONATHAN BREIGHT joined Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre in 2018 from PBT Graduate Program. He also trained in PBT School’s full-time high school and Intensive Summer programs. With PBT, he has performed Swan Lake, Giselle, Alice in Wonderland, Beauty and the Beast, Napoli, Terrence Orr’s The Nutcracker, Jiří Kylián’s Sechs Tänze, Jerome Robbins’s West Side Story Suite, Susan Jaffe’s Carmina Terra and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Lacrimosa duet. He also instructs classes for PBT School in the Children’s and Student’s Divisions, as well as PBT’s Dance & Fitness Division. Graduate of PBT School
ERIN CASALE, of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, joined Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre in 2019 from the PBT School Graduate Program. She also trained with PBT School’s full-time high school and Intensive Summer Programs. She trained with Academy of Russian Ballet and Johnstown Concert Ballet prior to joining PBT School. She has performed in PBT productions of The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, Raymonda, Giselle, Paquita, Napoli and The Great Gatsby. Her repertoire also includes George Balanchine’s Rubies, Divertimento No.15, Western Symphony, Allegro Brillante, Nacho Duato’s Duende, and Susan Jaffe’s Carmina Terra. She was chosen as one of Dance Magazine’s “25 Dancers to Watch” in 2023. Graduate of PBT School
ARIANA CHERNYSHEV trained at PBT School for 15 years before joining the company as an apprentice for the 2022-2023 season. In the school, she had the honor of performing with the company in George Balanchine’s Rubies, Terrence S. Orr’s The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty and Susan Jaffe’s Swan Lake She attended summer intensive programs at Pacific Northwest Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, American Ballet Theatre NY, Cincinnati Ballet and The Washington School of Ballet. Ariana danced as a trainee for one year at The Washington School of Ballet, and has performed as a guest artist for Tulsa Ballet. Some of her favorite performances as a company member at PBT include Jorma Elo’s 1st Flash, Christopher Wheeldon’s Polyphonia, Jules Perrot’s La Esmeralda pas de deux, “Marie,” “Snow Queen” and “Elegance” in Terrence S. Orr’s The Nutcracker, George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante, Helen Pickett’s Petal, and most of all, the role of step-sister “Anastasia” in Jayne Smeulders’ Cinderella. Graduate of PBT School
CHRISTIAN GARCÍA CAMPOS, of Puebla, Mexico, joined the company from the PBT School Graduate Program, where she trained since 2014. Prior to PBT, García Campos trained with the Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists and with Estudio y Compania de Danza Antoinette in Puebla, Mexico. García Campos has performed in PBT productions of Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Dracula, Alice in Wonderland, Susan Jaffe’s Carmina Terra and George Balanchine’s Who Cares?. Her repertoire also includes Etudes, Giselle, Don Quixote, “Elegance” in The Nutcracker, The Great Gatsby, The Sleeping Beauty and George Balanchine’s Rubies and Divertimento No. 15. Graduate of PBT School
MADELINE GRADLE was promoted to PBT’s corps de ballet in 2023 after joining as an apprentice in 2021. Prior to PBT, Madeline danced four seasons with The Suzanne Farrell Ballet. Beginning ballet at age three, she trained at Arlington Center for Dance, The Washington School of Ballet and the PBT Graduate Program. Madeline’s repertoire includes Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake, George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante, Chaconne, Diamonds, Rubies, Serenade, Theme and Variations and Walpurgisnacht and Cinderella (Smeulders), Dracula (Pink), Petal (Picket) and Polyphonia (Wheeldon) among others. Graduate of PBT School
MATTHEW GRIFFIN began his ballet training in Sarasota, Florida at the International Ballet of Florida under the direction of Sergiy Mykhaylov and Darya Fedotova. Matthew graduated from Butler University (Indianapolis, IN) in 2017 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Dance Arts Administration. Prior to joining Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre in 2023, Griffin spent six seasons with Cincinnati Ballet. Griffin has performed featured roles in classical and contemporary ballets, including Petal and Balance by Helen Pickett, Kiss by Stephanie Martinez, Extremely Close by Alejandro Cerrudo, In The Middle, Somewhat Elevated by William Forsythe and works by Ohad Naharin, Barak Marshall, Twyla Tharp, Jayne Smeulders, Jiří Kylián, George Balanchine, Jennifer Archibald, Septime Webre, Amy Seiwert, Jae Man Joo, Victoria Morgan and others.
JOSIAH KAUFFMAN was born and raised in Bozman, Montana. He moved to Indiana to train at En Pointe Indiana Ballet under the direction of Robert Moore and Pollyanna Ribeiro. He was hired in 2019 after completing the PBT School Intensive Summer Program. His repertoire includes: Terrence Orr’s The Nutcracker, Giselle, Jordan Morris’ The Great Gatsby and Beauty and the Beast
Pittsburgh native CAITLYN MENDICINO received her early training with Nicolas Petrov (PBT’s founding artistic director), Mansur Kamelatdinov, Ballet Academy of Pittsburgh and North Carolina School of the Arts. After graduating from North Carolina School of the Arts, Caitlyn danced as an apprentice with Charlotte Ballet for two years before studying with PBT School’s Graduate Program. She joined the company in 2018. Graduate of PBT School
AMANDA MORGAN joined Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre from PBT School’s Graduate Program in 2016. She began her training with Martelly School of Ballet in her hometown of Marshall,Texas, and continued her studies with Longview Ballet Theatre under the direction of Pat George Mitchell. After high school, she attended UNCSA, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2016. In her time at PBT, Amanda has performed in countless classical and contemporary works. Some of her most memorable roles to date include Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, “Marie” and the “Sugar Plum Fairy” in Terrence S. Orr’s The Nutcracker, “Rosalia” in Jerome Robbins’ West Side Story Suite, Helen Pickett’s The Exiled, Nacho Duato’s Duende and Lacrimosa by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa. Graduate of PBT School
KURTIS SPROWLS, originally from Orrville, Ohio, began his dance training at StarmakerPAC, The Dance House and The Ohio Conservatory of Ballet, studying under the mentorship of Shannon Smith, Inna Strabrova and Dmitriy Tuboltsev. He further honed his craft in the PBT School Graduate Program, where he trained intensively for three years before joining the company. Sprowls’ repertoire is diverse and includes standout performances in Jiří Kylián’s Sinfonietta and Sechs Tänze, Jerome Robbins’ Fancy Free, Helen Pickett’s Petal and The Exiled, Nacho Duato’s Duende, Christopher Wheeldon’s Polyphonia and Barak Marshall’s Monger. His career has afforded him the opportunity to perform internationally in The Netherlands and Italy. In 2020, Sprowls expanded his creative horizons by co-choreographing Strange Timez and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, presented online and broadcasted on Pittsburgh’s CW television station. Graduate of PBT School
EMRY AMOKY trained at the Houston Ballet Academy, and was a member of Houston Ballet ll. He was the winner of Houston Ballet’s Chance to Dance Scholarship 2012. Some of the ballets he has performed in include Peter Pan, Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Raymonda, Paquita, Clear, Coyote Mother, La Bayadère, Play and Romeo and Juliet.
Robert Xavier Rodríguez (b. 1946) is “one of the major American composers of his generation” (Texas Monthly). His music has been described as “Romantically dramatic” (Washington Post), “richly lyrical” (Musical America) and “glowing with a physical animation and delicate balance of moods that combine seductively with his all-encompassing sense of humor” (Los Angeles Times). “Its originality lies in the telling personality it reveals. His music always speaks and speaks in the composer’s personal language.” (American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters).
Rodríguez’s music has been performed by conductors such as Sir Neville Marriner, Sir Raymond Leppard, Antal Dorati, Eduardo Mata, Keith Lockhart and Leonard Slatkin and by such organizations as the New York City Opera, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Detroit Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Atlanta Opera, Portland Opera, Vienna Schauspielhaus, Mexico City Philharmonic, Orchestra at St. Luke’s, Cleveland Orchestra and the Seattle, Houston, Dallas, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Baltimore, St. Louis, National, Boston and Chicago Symphonies.
He has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Goddard Lieberson Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Prix Lili Boulanger and the Prix de Composition Prince Pierre de Monaco. Rodríguez has served as Composer-in-Residence with the San Antonio Symphony and the Dallas Symphony. CDs of 46 of his compositions have been released (1999 Grammy nomination), and his 151 works are published exclusively by G. Schirmer. He holds an Endowed Chair and is Director of Musica Nova at the University of Texas at Dallas.
After 31 years as Associate Concertmaster of the National Symphony in Washington, D.C., Elisabeth Adkins was invited to join the faculty of Texas Christian University in the fall of 2014. She serves as Professor of Violin at TCU and continues her orchestral career as the Concertmaster of the Plano Symphony Orchestra and the Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra with Maestro Hector Guzman, as well as the Richardson Symphony Orchestra. She has appeared as concerto soloist for the Baltimore Symphony, the Dallas Symphony, the Maryland Symphony and the Seattle Symphony, as well as numerous appearances with the National Symphony.
Since arriving in Fort Worth, she has performed concertos with the Corpus Christi Symphony, the Richardson Symphony, and the Sherman Symphony as well as the TCU Symphony and the Fort Worth Youth Orchestra. She performs frequently in recital with her husband, pianist Edward Newman; the duo has presented concerts at the Kennedy Center and the National Gallery and was featured as the inaugural program of public radio’s Front Row Washington. The Adkins/Newman Duo are in residence at the Wintergreen Summer Festival and Academy. A noted teacher and chamber music coach, Dr. Adkins gives master classes and clinics and is in demand for her expertise in preparing musicians for professional orchestra auditions.
Violin I
Szemi Jobbagy, Concertmaster
Mevlan Mecid
Claudia Holm
Fedor Malykhin
Marina Dichenko
Allie Miller
Jessica Jo-Tzu Yang
Andres Bravo
Christine Binzel
Leihlani Garcia Tamez
Violin II
Hubert Pralitz*
Saejin Seo
Bethany Wildes
Claudia Jones
Diego Campos
Alfiia Mansurova
Klaudia Cop
Crissanti Garcia Tamez
Seowon Lee
Karina Sim
Viola
April Kondrat*
Monika Nierychlo-Fryklund
Bo Landefeld
Monika Idasiak
Iris Messinger
Jenny Sweetman
Steven Juarez
Iva Raykova
Cello
John Landefeld*
Alexander Paradis
Dan Totan
Shengni Rubiano
Vilma Peguero
Creed Miller
Noemie Golubovic
Ya-Chen “Jessy” Lee
Bass
Jack Unzicker*
Scott Sheffler
Graham Eubanks
John Hunter
Flute
Lisa Nickl*
Janelle Olson
Jennifer Wheeler (Piccolo)
Oboe
Elise Belk*
Ashley Howe Flores
Susanna Hilliard (English Horn)
Clarinet
Deborah Fabian*
Michael Manning
Mary Druhan (E-Flat Clarinet)
Donald Fabian (Bass Clarinet)
Bassoon
Leslie Massenburg*
John Searcy
Kyle Larson (Contra-Bassoon)
Horns
Susan Frazier*
Ben Carroll
Justin Beyer
Heather Test
Trumpet
Glen Hummel*
Adam Miller
Donald Burks
Christopher Stubblefield
Trombone
Simon Willats*
Timothy Wight
Jordan Davenport
Tuba
Nathan Frazier*
Timpani
Jeffrey Keene*
Percussion
Steve Kimple*
Jay Majernik
Derron Bell
Brandon Kelly
Harp
Juliette Buchanan
Piano/Celeste
Chloe Grein
Saxophone
Donald Fabian, Soprano
Chris Beaty, Tenor
Conductor’s podium co-sponsored by Sandy Nachman and Wanda and Cliff Parker
Concertmaster chair sponsored by Wanda and Cliff Parker
Viola chair sponsored by Nancy Freeman
Cello chair sponsored by Erin and Ben Stewart
Cello section sponsored in Memory of Marie A. Moore
Clarinet chair sponsored by Marcela and Ralph Muse
Horns chair sponsored by Jan and Craig Barber
Trumpet chair sponsored by
Dianne and Marion Brockette
© Robert Xavier Rodríguez
Tonight’s Plano Symphony Orchestra’s concert is a double opening: of the orchestra’s 42nd season and of its new home, the Robinson Fine Arts Center. In keeping with the season’s theme, “New Beginnings,” the first sounds will be the world premiere of a new work from the 21st century. Next, will be classics from the 19th and 20th centuries by Barber, Tchaikovsky and Ravel. The PSO will continue to build its legacy for the future with two more world premieres of today’s music later in the season.
My Tlaloc (2024) is a seven-minute orchestral overture which the PSO commissioned for tonight’s performance. The work celebrates the ancient Aztec god of rain, hail, lightning, thunder and fertility. The Aztecs and Mayans created some of their most impressive temples in Tlaloc’s honor to ensure plenty of rain for the next year’s crops. Visual artists delighted in portraying his fearsome countenance, with huge, round eyes, a curved lip, sharp jaguar-like fangs and a helmet of horns.
The score includes multiple percussion instruments and dramatic echoes of pre-Hispanic Mexico. The music opens with a mighty invocation of Tlaloc featuring a contrapuntal brass fanfare. A rain dance follows, with the timpani announcing the main theme. The dance begins quietly, with a solemn, ritual quality. When the ritual reaches its fierce climax, there is a quiet moment of anticipation; then, percussion, celesta, harp and strings announce the rain. At first, the rain is gentle, even lyrical, and it comes as a blessing. Then, Tlaloc shows off his power by creating a wild storm, with thunder, lightning and howling winds abetted by multiple layers
of antiphonal brass and massive percussion. At the peak of the excitement, all the themes appear together in a grand, celebratory musical layer cake as the work roars to a close.
My musical language creates a post-modern synthesis of ancient modes, traditional tonality, the lyricism of the Second Viennese School and the octatonic scale of alternating half steps and whole steps that Stravinsky favored in The Rite of Spring. Here, I have added Aztec motives, driving Latin rhythms, playful references to storm music by Rossini and Beethoven and, as a surprise in the coda, a jubilant, poly-rhythmic burst of mariachi.
The music of Samuel Barber (1910-1981) is characterized by lyricism, craftsmanship and seriousness of purpose. His early works were in an unabashedly Romantic 19th-century style, although throughout his career, he gradually incorporated more and more modernist techniques into his scores. Barber was unusual among composers in that he was a trained singer, and he actually performed professionally as a baritone. Nearly twothirds of his large output is vocal, and one can hear a “singing voice” even in his instrumental music, especially in the famous Adagio for Strings (1936). Other well-known vocal works include the opera Vanessa (1957) and Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (1947). He won the Pulitzer Prize for music twice, and, along with George Gershwin (1898-1937), Aaron Copland (1900-1990), Eliott Carter (1908-2012) and Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), he is considered one of the most significant American composers born near the turn of the 20th century.
Barber’s Violin Concerto, Op. 19 (1939) is the result of a commission from a leading soap manufacturer of the day. The violinist for whom it was originally intended dismissed the work as “inconsequential” and “unplayable” and refused to perform it. Other players quickly took it up, however, and it has entered the standard repertoire along with the Berg, Bartók, Prokofiev and Stravinsky concertos as one of the most often-performed violin concertos of the 20th century.
Barber describes the first movement (Allegro) as “more in the character of a sonata than a concerto.” The music begins simply and quietly with no introduction, as if one were continuing a conversation already in progress. The solo violin offers a tender, song-like melody over a smoothly flowing accompaniment. Long, expressive lines gradually bloom into gentle ripples, like interpolated ornaments from a coloratura soprano. There are lyrical exchanges with solo woodwinds alternating with short, urgent flashes of rhythmic intensity. The movement builds to two ardent climaxes before gently subsiding.
The moving Andante sostenuto has been called the heart of the concerto. Barber channels the slow movement of Brahms’ celebrated Violin Concerto by starting with a long and expressive oboe solo. In Barber’s words, “The violin enters with a contrasting and rhapsodic theme, after which it repeats the oboe melody of the beginning.” The two themes interact, always with plenty of solo exposure for the violin over a simple orchestral background. There is an impressive development as the tension gradually builds to an impassioned climax. The ending is enigmatic, with the music fading away as if it were still asking a question.
Barber calls his finale (Presto) “a perpetuum mobile which exploits the more brilliant and virtuosic character of the violin.” The timpanist flips the switch, and we are off on the proverbial “short ride in a fast machine.” Barber creates a dazzling musical roller coaster, as the music rises at top speed to a peak, then makes a hairpin turn as we plunge precipitously back down, spinning through loop after harrowing loop. The violin solo plays constantly, with hardly time to say “Samuel Barber” during its few beats of rest, as the concerto races triumphantly to its brilliant conclusion.
Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky (1804-1893) was the leading Russian composer of his time, and, with Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), he was one of Russia’s two greatest composers of any time. Russians pronounce his name “Chee-KOV-ski.” Tchaikovsky first brought his music to the United States when he was commissioned to compose and conduct a Festival Coronation March for the opening of Carnegie Hall in 1891. The concert also included the famous 1812 Overture. Stravinsky wrote that, as a child, he was thrilled to have caught a glimpse of Tchaikovsky at a concert. Stravinsky also said he was “impatient with music that does not sing or dance.” Tchaikovsky’s music always does both. Few composers have achieved equal success with both symphonies and operas. His chamber works, concertos, overtures and particularly his ballets such as Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker are known and loved throughout the musical world. Even in his instrumental works, at every stirring climax, one can easily imagine soaring dancers and
a full corps de ballet.
Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake (1876) had its premiere at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. Critics objected that the music was so commanding (and “Wagnerian”) that it no longer served as background accompaniment for the dancers. Of course, it is precisely because of the powerful music that Swan Lake is the most popular of all ballets. The story centers around the princess Odette, who is cursed and turned into a swan. She falls in love with a prince (Siegfried), but the two are not destined to live happily ever after. Instead, the lovers’ spirits are united only in death.
Tonight, we hear and see the pas de deux for the meeting of Odette and Siegfried. He sees her and is in awe of her beauty. At first, she is afraid and tries to fly away, but he calms her fears, and they tenderly express their love. The harp sets the night scene by the lake, and there is a duet between the violin, representing the beautiful princes, and the cello, representing the handsome prince, rapturously intertwining.
Most concert goers know Tchaikovsky’s celebrated First Piano Concerto; a few know his Second Piano Concerto; but hardly anyone knows his Third. Allegro Brillante for piano and orchestra (1893) is the first movement of that third concerto, which Tchaikovsky began at the end of his life but never finished. At first, he intended to write a seventh symphony, and it was only later that he decided, instead, to do a concerto.
The themes show Tchaikovsky’s signature melodic genius, but the composer found himself struggling with the material. He was depressed and wracked with doubts about the quality of his post-Pathétique work and, while he was composing, he wrote in one of his final letters that he was still finding the piano part to be “ungrateful.” There are numerous passages for the orchestra alone, and the piano has an impressive extended cadenza, but there is little of the thrilling back-and-forth conflict between the soloist and the orchestra that he employed so grandly in his First Concerto. Still, it is fascinating to hear Tchaikovsky’s thoughts-inprogress and to imagine what he might have created if he had lived to polish and to complete the work.
V.
Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) was one of France’s greatest composers. He studied with Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) at the Paris Conservatory, where he was a classmate of Claude Debussy (1862-1918) and Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979). His output was relatively small, but his few pieces are performed so often that the royalties from his compositions continue to be greater than
those of any other French composer. His works include chamber music, orchestral works, ballets, works for solo piano, two piano concertos and the operas L’enfant et les sortilèges and L’heure espagnole
His musical style shows influences of Fauré, Debussy, Stravinsky and, sometimes, Gershwin, fused into a unique and powerful voice. Ravel’s music has formal and stylistic elegance with a sensuous sound, executed with meticulous craftsmanship. Ravel steeped himself in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Russian methods of orchestration, and his masterly scoring is a supreme example of how to create opulent and powerful colors with maximum clarity.
Boléro (1928) is Ravel’s hit tune. Ravel wrote it on commission from Russian dancer Ida Rubenstein for a performance at the Paris Opera with choreography by Bronislava Nijinska and designs by Alexandre Benois. Ravel’s original scenario involved a factory, reflecting the insistent, motoric nature of the underlying rhythm. Nijinska and Benois’s scenario, however, involved a smoky tavern with dancing girls and sexual intrigue. Today, Boléro is rarely danced, although it remains a staple of the concert hall, along with appearances in the movies and in flash-mob videos.
The French pronounce it Boléro (Boh-lay-ROH), although Ravel preferred the Spanish Bolero (Boh-LEH-roh). Formally, it is simplicity itself. It begins with a solo snare drum in triple meter quietly announcing the characteristic two-bar Spanish dance rhythm which continues throughout the work. Over that rhythm, Ravel floats a haunting flute melody which creates the atmosphere of a middle eastern belly dance. There are two strains to the melody: one in C major and the other in an exotic hybrid of Phrygian and Arabic scales. Each strain lasts eighteen bars, and the two melodies alternate through nine repetitions, always accompanied by diatonic harmonies, plus a short coda with a brief modulation to E major before returning to C.
The wonder of the piece lies in the virtuosic orchestration, through which Ravel makes every repeated strain more powerful as he adds instruments to build his crescendo to its blinding climax. He uses not only octave doublings but also subtle multi-tonal voicings, so that the instruments play sometimes a fourth or fifth above the original C and sometimes in three simultaneous keys (in C, E and G) to emphasize 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th overtones of the melody.
Boléro always rouses audiences to a frenzy, but performances of the work have varied tremendously. Clearly, Ravel was out to perform a musical stunt. To achieve his “over-the-top” effect, he knew that he was pushing the limits of what an audience could
handle. Ravel’s friend and classmate Nadia Boulanger once told Ravel that she thought the piece was a bit too long. He replied, “But, my dear Nadia, that is the point. It MUST be too long!”
The printed score sets the tempo at 76 to the quarter note, but Ravel’s own recording is at the languorous tempo of 66 to the quarter, and it takes over sixteen minutes. Some conductors, such as Dudamel (almost seventeen minutes) and de FreitasBranco (eighteen and a half minutes) have tried to out-Ravel Ravel by taking it even slower. Other maestros, including the famous Toscanini (under thirteen minutes) and Stokowski (twelve minutes) have violated the composer’s intentions by going considerably faster. We know, however, that Ravel liked it slow and sexy because, after Toscanini’s hyper rendition, the composer was so incensed that he refused to stand up for a bow.
The work is difficult to perform because there are two polarities to keep in balance. On one hand, there is the challenge of keeping a metronomically constant tempo to create the assembly-line regularity which Ravel said was inspired by the factory that his father owned, hence the original scenario. On the other hand, there is the seductive and passionate melody, which soars over the drumbeat in a complex arabesque with surging sixteenth notes alternating with sensuously filled-out long tones. With so many repetitions, the tune demands exquisite variety and sensitivity to sound like a fresh “new beginning” every time through, with lavish dynamic shading to ease elegantly in and out of each phrase as the music builds to its ecstatic climax. When a performance manages to embody both rigorous precision and sensuous passion, as we are certain to have tonight, the result is magic.
Robert Xavier Rodríguez has served as Composer-in-Residence with the Dallas Symphony and the San Antonio Symphony. His music is published exclusively by G. Schirmer (Wise Music). He holds the Endowed Chair of Art and Aesthetic Studies and is director of the Musica Nova ensemble at the University of Texas at Dallas.
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OCT 6, 2024 • 3 PM | Robinson Fine Arts Center
OCT 13, 2024 • 3 PM & 4:30 PM | Frisco Discovery Center Theatre
Come dressed in costume with wands ready to enjoy the magic of Plano Symphony Orchestra’s brass quintet and percussion! Music from magical movies such as “Harry Potter,” “Lord of the Rings,” and “How to Train your Dragon” will engage families in this 45-minute interactive concert. Arrive early to earn a Plano Symphony fun patch and try out instruments at the Instrument Petting Zoo in the lobby one hour prior to the concert.
