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BRAVO ORKIDSTRA: MONSTER MELODIES OCTOBER 26

ANDREAS DELFS, MUSIC DIRECTOR JEFF TYZIK, PRINCIPAL POPS CONDUCTOR CHRISTOPHER SEAMAN, CONDUCTOR LAUREATE

The Christopher Seaman Chair, Supported by Barbara and Patrick Fulford and The Conductor Laureate Society

IN THIS ISSUE: 2 25/26 Season Orchestra 3 Our Conductors 6 Board of Directors 7 Bravo to Our Season Sponsors 29 Bravo to Our Supporters 36 About Us

PLEASE NOTE:

Our Phils and Pops Series performances will feature a new start time of 7:30 PM unless otherwise noted.

The safety of patrons, musicians, and staff is of the utmost importance. Following the University of Rochester masking protocols and guidelines, masking is currently optional at Eastman Theatre.

BEETHOVEN FESTIVAL WEEK 1A: WITH JONATHAN BISS Thursday, October 23

BEETHOVEN FESTIVAL WEEK 1B: WITH RPO SOLOISTS Saturday, October 25

ORKIDSTRA: MONSTER MELODIES

BEETHOVEN FESTIVAL WEEK 2A: WITH BENJAMIN BEILMAN

Sunday, October 26

Thursday, October 30

25 BEETHOVEN FESTIVAL WEEK 2B: WITH JON NAKAMATSU Saturday, November 1

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VIOLIN 1

BASS

The Caroline W. Gannett & Clayla Ward Chair, funded in perpetuity

The Anne Hayden McQuay Chair, funded in perpetuity

Juliana Athayde+, Concertmaster

Michael Griffin,

Daniel Morehead Edward Castilano Fred Dole Jeff Campbell+ Eric Polenik

TROMBONE

FLUTE

BASS TROMBONE

The Orchestra 2025/26 SEASON

Shannon Nance,

Assistant Concertmaster

Jeongwon An Tigran Vardanyan James Zabawa-Martinez Thomas Rodgers Anna Leunis Molly McDonald Kurt Munstedt Chihiro Kakishima Perrin Yang Jeremy Hill An-Chi Lin

VIOLIN 2

Jeanelle Thompson, Principal The Dr. Ralph F. Jozefowicz Chair

Rebecca Gilbert, Principal The Charlotte Whitney Allen Chair, funded in perpetuity

Sean Marron Elise Kim

PICCOLO

The Dr. Jacques M. Lipson Chair, funded in perpetuity

ENGLISH HORN

Charles Ross+, Principal

PERCUSSION

Caleb Breidenbaugh, Principal The Barbara and Patrick Fulford Chair, funded in perpetuity

Brian Stotz

CLARINET

The Eileen Malone Chair. A Tribute to Mr. and Mrs. Harcourt M. Sylvester

Hector Noriega*, Principal

The Robert J. Strasenburgh Chair, funded in perpetuity

Kamalia Freyling^ Andrew Brown

BASS CLARINET

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The Rob W. Goodling Chair, funded in perpetuity

HARP

Marc Anderson,

Lars Kirvan, Assistant Principal Samuel Pierce-Ruhland Christopher Haritatos Garri Hovsepyan Benjamin Krug Jennifer Carpenter^ Ingrid Bock

W. Craig Sutherland, Principal

Anna Steltenpohl

E-FLAT CLARINET

The Clara and Edwin Strasenburgh Chair, funded in perpetuity

TUBA

The Harold and Joan Feinbloom Chair, funded in perpetuity

Joshua Newburger+, Principal

Ahrim Kim, Principal

Jeffrey Gray+

OBOE

Anna Steltenpohl Megan Kyle

CELLO

The Austin E. Hildebrandt Chair, funded in perpetuity

Lisa Albrecht Jeffrey Gray+

TIMPANI

Patricia Sunwoo John Sullivan Lara Sipols Sooyeon Kim Petros Karapetyan Liana Koteva Kirvan Margaret Leenhouts Heidi Brodwin Elin Schlichting Ellen Stokoe

Assistant Principal

David Bruestle, Principal

Sean Marron Elise Kim Erik Behr, Principal

The James E. Dumm Chair, funded in perpetuity

Rebecca Christainsen James Marshall Olita Povero Neil Miller Melissa Matson Ye In Son David Hult Grant Rieke

Assistant Principal

Daryl Perlo, Assistant Principal

The William L. Gamble Chair, funded in perpetuity

PHOTO: SMILLIEPHOTO.COM

Wesley Nance+ Herbert Smith Paul Shewan

The Fred M. And Lurita D. Wechsler Chair, funded in perpetuity

VIOLA

CONCERTMASTER

TRUMPET

Angelina Phillips,

Associate Concertmaster

JULIANA ATHAYDE,

Cory Palmer, Principal

Kamalia Freyling^ Andrew Brown

BASSOON

Grace Browning, Principal Rosanna Moore

KEYBOARD

Chiao-Wen Cheng+, Principal The Lois P. Lines Chair, funded in perpetuity

PERSONNEL MANAGER Fred Dole

PRINCIPAL LIBRARIAN

Matthew McDonald, Principal

Kimberly Hartquist

Karl Vilcins Martha Sholl

Danielle Suhr Cederick Martinez

The Ron and Donna Fielding Chair, funded in perpetuity

STAGE MANAGERS

CONTRA-BASSOON Karl Vilcins

HORN

YiCheng Gong, Associate Maura McCune Corvington+ Nathan Ukens Stephen Laifer+

+ Eastman faculty ^ Year leave of absence * 1-year appointment

Andreas Delfs has built a reputation over his 35-year career as one of the most dynamic and respected conductors on the international stage. Celebrated for his visionary leadership and deep musical insight, he is equally renowned as a masterful orchestra builder and an inspiring music director. Known for his emotionally charged and dramatically nuanced interpretations—particularly of the late Romantic repertoire—Delfs has earned critical acclaim across North America and Europe. His performances are marked by an ever-deepening artistic maturity, bringing a rare combination of passion, precision, and authenticity to every podium he graces. Educated at leading conservatories on both sides of the Atlantic and shaped by mentorships with legendary conductors, Delfs has cultivated a style forged through decades of experience. At the same time, his unwavering curiosity and enthusiasm for contemporary music have made him a champion of living composers. He has established lasting collaborations with many of today’s most compelling musical voices, conducting numerous world premieres and commissioning new works. Among his many artistic inspirations are Hans Werner Henze, György Ligeti, Philip Glass, and Roberto Sierra—composers whose diverse idioms have helped shape his unique interpretive voice. His artistry has also drawn world-class soloists to the stage, including André Watts, Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Hilary Hahn, Yo-Yo Ma, Lang Lang, and Renée Fleming. Delfs has held prominent leadership roles with orchestras on both continents. As Music Director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra from 1996 to 2009—and later as its Conductor Laureate—he played a pivotal role in elevating the ensemble to national acclaim. He also led the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra as Music Director (2001–2004) and Artistic Consultant (2004–2006). In Europe, he served as General Music Director of Hanover, Germany (1995–2000), overseeing both the city’s symphony orchestra and its distinguished opera company. Earlier appointments include Music Director of the Bern Opera, Resident Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony during Lorin Maazel’s tenure, and Music Director—at an impressively young age—of the Orchestre Suisse des Jeunes.

Our Conductors 2025/26 SEASON

ANDREAS DELFS Music Director

Throughout his career, Delfs has conducted many of the world’s premier orchestras. His international credits include the London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Danish National Symphony, Netherlands Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, Beijing Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan. Born in Flensburg, Germany, Delfs began studying piano and music theory at the age of five. He studied under Christoph von Dohnányi and Aldo Ceccato at the Hamburg Conservatory, where, at just 20 years old, he became the youngest Music Director of the Hamburg University Orchestra and served as Musical Assistant at the Hamburg State Opera. He later continued his training at The Juilliard School, studying with Jorge Mester, Sixten Ehrling, and Leonard Bernstein, and was honored with the prestigious Bruno Walter Memorial Scholarship. PHOTO: ALEX CASSETTI

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JEFF TYZIK Principal Pops Conductor

Our Conductors 2025/26 SEASON

25/26 marks Jeff Tyzik’s 32nd season as RPO Pops Conductor. But his musical journey began long before his permanent residency in Kodak Hall. Born in Hyde Park, New York, he started playing cornet at age nine—inspired by the buglers during an Independence Day parade in nearby Poughkeepsie. He switched to trumpet at age 11, and eventually went on to attend Rochester’s Eastman School of Music, ultimately earning Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees. Even before Tyzik’s schooling was completed, his star was on the rise. While at Eastman, Tyzik met Chuck Mangione, with whom he worked between 1973 and 1980 —both as lead trumpeter in Mangione’s band and as co-producer of four albums. During that time, Tyzik befriended Tonight Show band leader Doc Severinsen, who eventually invited Tyzik to London to record two albums. That relationship proved fruitful, with Tyzik producing the Grammy-winning The Tonight Show Band with Doc Severinsen, Vol. 1. Severinsen’s albums with Tyzik would go on to earn three additional Grammy nominations. Tyzik also recorded his own albums as a solo trumpeter between 1981 and 1990, when he and his big band frequently performed in Rochester. In 1993, Tyzik proposed a four-concert series featuring RPO members dubbed “All in the Family.” The first debuted Oct. 22 and highlighted Kenneth Grant (clarinet), Joseph Werner (piano), and percussionists William Cahn and Dave Mancini. Less than a month later, Tyzik was asked to become Principal Pops Conductor. Jeff quickly made his mark on the orchestra, in his second season performing the first in his endearing, enduring Gala Holiday Pops series. He also made RPO history conducting an all-Gershwin album featuring pianist Jon Nakamatsu. The recording topped the Billboard Classical chart and remained in the top 10 for three months. Over five decades, Tyzik has guest-conducted more than 100 orchestras, including the Boston Pops, Cincinnati Pops, and Milwaukee Symphony. In September 2023, he made his debut with the New York Philharmonic and returned later that season to conduct the Philadelphia Orchestra’s 2023–24 finale. He’s also shared the stage with a remarkable range of artists across genres—from Tony Bennett and Leslie Odom Jr. to Wynonna Judd, Art Garfunkel, Marilyn Horne, Arturo Sandoval, The Chieftains, Megan Hilty, Dawn Upshaw, and John Pizzarelli. In 2012, Tyzik and his daughter Jami co-founded the management and production company Greenberg Artists. Since 2016, in partnership with Schirmer Theatrical, they’ve developed dozens of orchestral Pops programs now performed by nearly 200 orchestras. In 2023, Tyzik launched TyzikMusic.com, a digital publishing platform featuring more than 150 of his arrangements, orchestrations, and compositions for symphony orchestra, chamber ensembles, and wind ensemble.

PHOTO: SMILLIEPHOTO.COM

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CHRISTOPHER SEAMAN Conductor Laureate

Christopher Seaman was music director of the RPO from 1998-2011, and was subsequently named conductor laureate. During his 13-year tenure, the longest in RPO history, he raised the Orchestra’s artistic level, broadened its audience base, and created a new concert series. This contribution was recognized with an award from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers. In May 2009, the University of Rochester made him an honorary doctor of music. Previous positions include music director of the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra (Florida) for 10 years, conductor-in-residence with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and artistic advisor of the San Antonio Symphony. He is recognized for his wealth of repertoire, which ranges from baroque to contemporary, and in particular the works of Bruckner, Brahms, and Sibelius Seaman also is highly regarded for his work with younger musicians, and he served as course director for the Symphony Services International Conductor Development Program (Australia) for many years. Recent conducting engagements include the Aspen Music Festival, Detroit, Houston, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, and Seattle symphony orchestras; the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Kristians Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of Opera North, and Orquestra Filarmônica de Minas Gerais in Brazil. He frequently visits Australia and Asia where he has conducted the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and the National Taiwan, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Singapore symphony orchestras, among others.

Our Conductors 2025/26 SEASON

The Christopher Seaman Chair, supported by Barbara and Patrick Fulford and The Conductor Laureate Society

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RPO Board of Directors 2025/26 SEASON

Maintaining and operating the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (Founded in 1923 —Incorporated in 1930) OFFICERS

Diana Clarkson, Esq., Chair of the Board

Katherine Lindahl, Chair-Elect of the Board Cindy Yancey,

EX-OFFICIO

Vice Chair of the Board Secretary

Kate Sheeran

Treasurer

Nathan Ukens

Karen Kessler, Richard Stein,

Ross P. Lanzafame, Esq., Immediate Past Chair

TERM EXPIRES JUNE 2026

Daisy R. Algarin Diana Clarkson, Esq. George Daddis Catherine Frangenberg Allyson Hiranandani Dr. Diane Lu Sujatha Ramanujan Elizabeth F. Rice Ronald E. Salluzzo Dr. Eva P. Sauer George J. Schwartz, M.D. Richard Stein Dr. James Watters

Brian Bennett Emerson Fullwood Kimberly Gangi Paulette Gissendanner Catherine Gueli Zuzanna Kwon Katherine Lindahl Jack McGowan Sidney Sobel, M.D. Cindy Yancey

CHAIR OF THE BOARD

Ron Dougherty Sreeram Dhurjaty James Fulmer Laurie A. Haelen Ralph F. Jozefowicz. M.D. Karen Kessler Deborah Onslow Keila Pena Sara Poe Joseph B. Rizzo, Esq. Curtis S. Long President & CEO Ross P. Lanzafame, Esq.,

TERM EXPIRES JUNE 2027

DIANA CLARKSON,

TERM EXPIRES JUNE 2028

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Immediate Past Chair

Dean, Eastman School of Music Orchestra Representative

Wesley Nance

Orchestra Representative

James Englert

Chairperson, Honorary Board

HONORARY BOARD James Englert,

Chairperson, Honorary Board

Stephen B. Ashley Nancy Beilfuss* James M. Boucher Paul W. Briggs* William L. Cahn Louise Epstein Joan Feinbloom Ilene Flaum Betsy Friedman Patrick Fulford Ronald A. Furman* Mary M. Gooley* Suzanne Gouvernet* David C. Heiligman A. Thomas Hildebrandt Harold A. Kurland, Esq. Dr. Dawn F. Lipson Jacques M. Lipson, MD* Cricket and Frank Luellen* Michael Millard Elizabeth F. Rice Nathan J. Robfogel, Esq. Jon L. Schumacher, Esq. Katherine T. Schumacher Ingrid Stanlis Betty Strasenburgh* Josephine S. Trubek Suzanne D. Welch Patricia Wilder* Deborah Wilson Robert Woodhouse

The RPO expresses its gratitude to all those who have served as Honorary Board members in the past.

PAST RPO CHAIRPERSONS

1930–32: Edward G. Miner* 1932–34: Simon N. Stein* 1934–38: George E. Norton* 1938–41: Leroy E. Snyder* 1941–42: Frank W. Lovejoy* 1942–43: Bernard E. Finucane* 1943–46: L. Dudley Field* 1946–48: Edward S. Farrow, Jr. * 1948–51: Joseph J. Myler* 1951–52: Joseph F. Taylor* 1952–55: Raymond W. Albright* 1955–57: Arthur I. Stern* 1957–59: Thomas H. Hawks* 1959–61: Walter C. Strakosh* 1962–63: Ernest J. Howe* 1963–65: O. Cedric Rowntree* 1965–67: Frank E. Holley * 1967–69: Thomas C. Taylor* 1969–71: Thomas H. Miller* 1971–72: Mrs. Frederick J. Wilkens* 1972–73: Edward C. McIrvine 1973–74: Robert J. Strasenburgh* 1974–75: John A. Santuccio 1975–76: Robert J. Strasenburgh* 1976–78: Dr. Louis Lasagna* 1978–80: Edward C. McIrvine 1980–82: Peter L. Faber 1982–84: Paul F. Pagerey* 1984–85: Peter L. Waasdorp* 1986–89: Robert H. Hurlbut* 1989–91: Paul W. Briggs 1991–93: Karen Noble Hanson* 1993–95: Ronald E. Salluzzo 1995–98: A. Thomas Hildebrandt 1998–00: Harold A. Kurland, Esq. 2000–04: David C. Heiligman 2004–06: Ingrid A. Stanlis 2006–09: James M. Boucher 2009–11: Suzanne D. Welch 2011–13: Elizabeth F. Rice 2013–15: Dr. Dawn F. Lipson 2015-17: Jules L. Smith, Esq. 2017-19: Ingrid A. Stanlis 2019-2024: Ross P. Lanzafame, Esq.

* Deceased

DATA: 25/06/2020

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LENORE P. LESSER

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CONCERT SPONSORS: THE OCTOBER 25 BEETHOVEN FESTIVAL PERFORMANCE IS SUPPORTED BY:

JON AND KATHY SCHUMACHER

THE OCTOBER 25 BEETHOVEN FESTIVAL CHAMPAGNE TOAST SPONSOR:

Bravo to our Sponsors 2025/26 SEASON

SEASON & SERIES SPONSORS:

THE OCTOBER 30 BEETHOVEN FESTIVAL PERFORMANCE IS SUPPORTED BY:

KAREN DUGUID AND WALLY JOHNSON OFFICIAL HOSPITALITY PARTNER OFFICIAL HOTEL PARTNER

ROCHESTER

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT:

ADAM BELLO COUNTY EXECUTIVE

PHOTO: SMILLIEPHOTO.COM

RPO PERFORMANCES ARE MADE POSSIBLE BY THE NEW YORK STATE COUNCIL ON THE ARTS WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR AND THE NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATURE.

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THU

7:30 PM KODAK HALL AT EASTMAN THEATRE

Andreas Delfs, conductor

For Andreas Delfs’ biography, please see page 5.

Jonathan Biss, piano

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

Egmont Overture, op. 84

9:00

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, op. 19

28:00

I. Allegro con brio II. Adagio III. Rondo: Molto allegro

Jonathan Biss, piano

INTERMISSION LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat major, op. 55, “Eroica”

47:00

I. Allegro con brio II. Marcia funebre: Adagio assai III. Scherzo: Vivace IV. Finale: Allegro molto

We kindly ask you to please silence all cellphones and electronic devices. Also, please note that photography and video recordings are prohibited during the performance.

BEETHOVEN FESTIVAL WEEK 1A: WITH JONATHAN BISS

OCT 23

CONNECT WITH US: PHOTO: BENJAMIN EALOVEGA 2023

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JONATHAN BISS, piano

Praised as “a superb pianist and also an eloquent and insightful music writer” (The Boston Globe) with “impeccable taste and a formidable technique” (The New Yorker), Jonathan Biss is a world-renowned educator and critically acclaimed author, and has appeared internationally as a JONATHAN BISS soloist with the Los Angeles and New York Philharmonics, the Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco Symphonies, and the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras as well as the London Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw, the Philharmonia, and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, among many other ensembles. Biss is also Co-Artistic Director alongside Mitsuko Uchida at the Marlboro Music Festival, where he has spent fifteen summers. In the 2023-24 season, Biss returned to perform with the Saint Louis Symphony and Stéphane Dénève, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Ramón Tebar, and the Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin at Carnegie Hall. Throughout the season, Biss presented a new project pairing solo piano works by Schubert with new compositions by Alvin Singleton, Tyson Gholston Davis, and Tyshawn Sorey at San Francisco Performances, Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and other venues. Biss continued his collaboration with Mitsuko Uchida featuring Schubert’s music for piano 4-hands at Carnegie Hall and beyond. He also appeared with the Brentano Quartet at Chamber Music Detroit, the Royal Conservatory of Toronto, and more. European engagements that season included performances with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Karina Canellakis and the BBC National Orchestra under Ryan Bancroft. Biss reunited with the Elias String Quartet at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Cockermouth Music Society, and Wigmore Hall. In the new year, he performed works by György Kurtág and Schubert at Sala Verdi in Milan. He concluded his European season with the Orchestre de chambre de Paris and conductor Pekka Kuusisto and Timo Andres’s The Blind Banister, part of his ongoing Beethoven/5 commissioning project.

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BENJAMIN EALOVEGA 2023

ARTISTS

PROGRAM NOTES

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Egmont Overture, Op. 84

B. BONN, GERMANY December 17, 1770

D. VIENNA, AUSTRIA

March 26, 1827 A beloved nobleman and military general in the Netherlands, the Count of Egmont, confronts the ruling Spanish nobility over religious freedom in sixteenth-century Europe, leading to his beheading. This is the plot of Egmont, a play completed in 1788 by the influential German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. When the play was scheduled for a Viennese premiere in 1810, Beethoven was commissioned to compose incidental music—an overture, now firmly part of the standard orchestral repertory, and nine pieces—to enhance the play’s drama. Egmont falls within Beethoven’s middle period of composition, which is marked by a more ambitious style, with many works considered “heroic” in tone, perhaps an allegory for his battle against deafness. The commission for Egmont, a historical story about a martyr, came at an unusually relevant time for Beethoven: Napoleon Bonaparte, whom Beethoven once admired for his freedom-fighting role in the French Revolution, had crowned himself Emperor of France and, in a campaign to take over Europe, bombed Vienna in 1809. Beethoven hid in his brother’s basement, covering his ears with pillows to prevent further hearing loss. Against this backdrop, Beethoven composed his incidental music to Egmont, viewing the Count of Egmont as a figure of the oppressed whose demise inspired resistance, drawing easy parallels to feelings evoked by Napoleon’s reign. In sonata form, the overture begins with ominous chords in a deep F minor. As the winds join the orchestra, the overture develops in a hopeful but careful mood, an optimistic Egmont diplomatically working to broker peace between his people and the nobility he serves. But he is unsuccessful: Military horns and a somber wind chorale mark Egmont’s fate. In the play, Egmont gives a rousing speech about freedom before resigning to his death; Egmont’s bravery allows Beethoven to end his overture not with defeat but with a grand display for the orchestra.

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 19

B. BONN, GERMANY December 17, 1770 D. VIENNA, AUSTRIA

March 26, 1827 Before Beethoven gained a reputation as a composer, he was a highly regarded concertizing pianist. He gave his first public performance at the age of seven and became a local legend at 11 when he could play all of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. His compositional skills, however, came in handy: In his early twenties, he wrote cadenzas to Mozart’s Piano Concerto in D minor, K. 466, that are still frequently performed today. As a pianist, his first four concertos were written for himself (before his hearing loss made playing with an orchestra impossible), and so he didn’t worry about creating definitive versions of them out of the gate. He would continue to rework them over several years, only later publishing them. The second piano concerto was actually the first one he wrote—published second, in order of his preference—taking initial shape around 1790. The first movement remains closely related to the original, while the other movements underwent more significant revisions, particularly the final rondo. Beethoven did not settle on the concerto’s final version until 1801. Due to its earlier genesis, the concerto adheres most closely to the more restrained classical conventions of Mozart. But Beethoven’s footprint is undeniable, especially in some of the key relationships he explores. The middle Adagio is elegant, drawing on the eighteenth century’s galant style of regal simplicity and clarity. The final rondo movement is especially playful and features double trills at the end, a specialty of Beethoven as a pianist.

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PROGRAM NOTES

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

Symphony No. 3 in E-flat, Op. 55 “Eroica”

B. BONN, GERMANY December 17, 1770

D. VIENNA, AUSTRIA

Discontent with political leaders is not only a marker of the present moment. March 26, 1827 Political discontent was also brewing in the early nineteenth century, when Napoleon Bonaparte, then the First Consul of France, began his campaign for widespread power over Europe. First a general, Napoleon had risen through the ranks as a leader poised to restore order and peace for the French people and Europe more broadly during the French Revolution. Through Beethoven’s student Ferdinand Ries, we learn that Beethoven initially held Napoleon in high regard, believing him to be a man of high moral character. However, on December 2, 1804, at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon grasped the imperial crown from the hands of the pope and placed it on his head. Refusing to be crowned by the church and effectively claiming the title of emperor was a bold gesture, antithetical to a proletarian leader. Beethoven, who had planned to dedicate his newly finished Third Symphony to Napoleon, responded to Napoleon’s seizing of the crown by using a knife to furiously scratch out the name “Bonaparte” on the dedication page. Instead, the symphony was printed with the inscription, “Sinfonia Eroica composta per festiggiare il Souvenire di un grand’uomo,” or “Heroic Symphony composed to celebrate the remembrance of a great man.” But in initially dedicating the symphony to the benevolent version of Napoleon, Beethoven was also conceiving of a symphony modeled on “the larger image of a hero who has the vision and capacity to create a new order, a just and harmonious society,” according to Beethoven biographer Jan Swafford. The Third Symphony is programmatic in that it is the story of Beethoven’s ideal hero. Following two attention-grabbing chords, the first movement’s opening theme presents the hero in a simple fanfare-like outlining of an E-flat major triad. But rather than set it militaristically in a duple march meter, he radically sets it in a swinging, freer three. The stability of the triad quickly veers off course, introducing dissonance and setting the hero on an uncertain road ahead. As this is a hero never before seen, so are the elements of the movement: Beethoven multiplies thematic ideas and disrupts expectation in the sonata narrative, shifts harmonic centers to distant areas, and prolongs the drama (and length) throughout the first movement. However, it is the second movement that reveals just how much Beethoven conceives of his symphonies as psychological manifestations: it is a funeral march in the relative C minor, a lamentation for a fallen hero led most mournfully by the oboe, with some intersecting reminiscing of the hero’s deeds before it is back to mourning with a dark fugue and stammering laments. This heavy emotional shift in the second movement would have been heard as confounding to audiences at the premiere in Vienna in 1805. The third movement introduces necessary levity in a redeeming frolic, with a heroic horn fanfare trio in the distance, a sign that there’s more of the hero’s story to tell. This is evidenced in the epic fourth movement, a magnificent set of variations that metamorphoses into fugues, hymns, and a grand finale fit for a hero. Program notes © 2025 Anna Reguero, PhD, a Rochester-based scholar and arts writer.

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SAT

Andreas Delfs, conductor

7:30 PM KODAK HALL AT EASTMAN THEATRE

Juliana Athayde, violin

For Andreas Delfs’ biography, please see page 5. Concertmaster, The Caroline W. Gannett & Clayla Ward Chair

Ahrim Kim, cello

Principal, The Clara and Edwin Strasenburgh Chair

Chiao-Wen Cheng, piano The Lois P. Lines Chair

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

Leonore Overture No. 3, Opus 72A

13:00

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

Concerto in C major for Piano, Violin, Cello, and Orchestra, Opus 56, “Triple Concerto”

34:00

I. Allegro II. Largo III. Rondo alla polacca

Juliana Athayde, violin Ahrim Kim, cello Chiao-Wen Cheng, piano

INTERMISSION LUDWIG Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Opus 67 VAN BEETHOVEN I. Allegro con Brio

BEETHOVEN FESTIVAL WEEK 1B: WITH RPO SOLOISTS

OCT 25

36:00

II. Andante con moto III. Allegro IV. Allegro

CONCERT SPONSOR: JON & KATHY SCHUMACHER

CHAMPAGNE TOAST SPONSOR:

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ARTISTS JULIANA ATHAYDE, violin

Concertmaster, The Caroline W. Gannett & Clayla Ward Chair

Appointed concertmaster of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in 2005 at the age of 24, Juliana Athayde became the youngest person and first female to hold the position since the orchestra’s founding in 1922. She has JULIANA ATHAYDE appeared as guest concertmaster with the Houston, San Diego, Kansas City, and Santa Barbara symphonies, as well as the National Arts Center Orchestra in Ottawa, Ontario. She has also performed with The Cleveland Orchestra in the United States and Europe. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Ms. Athayde made her solo debut at the age of 16 performing with the San Francisco Symphony and has been praised by critics for her “power and precision,” “melting lyricism,” and “larger than life” performances. A passionate advocate for contemporary music, Athayde’s numerous solo appearances with the RPO have covered a wide range of composers and include multiple world premieres: Allen Shawn’s violin concerto (2010), Jeff Tyzik’s Jazz Concerto for Violin (2016), and Roberto Sierra’s violin concerto (2022), all commissioned by the RPO and written specifically for her. Athayde has also performed as a soloist with orchestras throughout the United States and is in demand as a chamber musician. Notable collaborations include Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Vadim Gluzman, Michael Tilson Thomas, Paul Neubauer, Anton Nel, Orion Weiss, Shai Wosner, Joseph Silverstein, Orli Shaham, Jon Nakamatsu, William Preucil, Jon Kimura Parker, and Anthony McGill. Together with her husband, RPO principal oboist Erik Behr, Ms. Athayde demonstrates her commitment to fostering a thriving classical music scene in the community and serves as Co-Artistic Director of the Society for Chamber Music in Rochester. A dynamic teacher, Ms. Athayde is Associate Professor of Violin at the Eastman School of Music and serves on the faculty at music festivals throughout the United States, including Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra and the National Orchestral Institute + Festival with Music Director Marin Alsop. She has held visiting faculty positions at both the Cleveland Institute of Music and Cornell University, and has guest taught at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. Ms. Athayde holds a B.M. from the University of Michigan where she studied with Paul Kantor, and both M.M. and A.D. degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying with former Cleveland Orchestra Concertmaster, William Preucil, where she was the first graduate of CIM’s Concertmaster Academy. A fellow at the Aspen Music Festival and School for six years, Ms. Athayde was awarded the prestigious Dorothy DeLay fellowship in 2005 and was invited to deliver the festival’s convocation speech in 2010. Summer festival residencies include San Diego’s Mainly Mozart Festival and the Sun Valley Music Festival in Idaho where Ms. Athayde is a frequently featured soloist and chamber musician. She can be heard on multiple RPO recordings for the Harmonia Mundi label and is also featured on a recording of Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat with the Eastman Virtuosi. Ms. Athayde performs on a J.B. Vuillaume violin and a Jean Dominique Adam bow.

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ARTISTS AHRIM KIM, cello

Principal, The Clara and Edwin Strasenburgh Chair

Ahrim Kim is an accomplished soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral leader who joined the RPO as principal cellist in the fall of 2015. She AHRIM KIM CHIAO-WEN CHENG was awarded the Cassado Prize at the Gaspar Cassado International Cello Competition in Japan and top prizes in numerous other competitions, including the Houston Symphony’s Ima Hogg Young Artists Competition, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic String Competition, the Five Towns Music Competition, and the Corpus Christi International Competition. She has performed solo and chamber repertoire at Boston’s Symphony Hall, The Juilliard School, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, the Sarasota Music Festival, Jordan Hall at the New England Conservatory, the Kennedy Center, and the Salzburg Mozarteum. As a soloist, she has appeared with the Boston Pops, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Hudson Valley Philharmonic Orchestra, and others. She was a member of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra for the 2014-15 season as acting principal cellist, and she has also played in the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. In 2016, she taught and played at the Bowdoin International Music Festival. Born in Seoul, South Korea, Kim began her cello studies at the age of six. She moved to the U.S. in 2002 and studied cello through Juilliard’s Pre-College Division for young musicians. She holds a master’s degree in cello performance from the New England Conservatory of Music, where she also earned her bachelor’s degree under the tutelage of Laurence Lesser and Natasha Brofsky. Kim was awarded the Arthur Foote Award from the Harvard Musical Association as the cellist of the Klimt Trio. As a chamber musician, she has participated in festivals such as Yellow Barn, Chesapeake Chamber Music, and Marlboro.

CHIAO-WEN CHENG, piano The Lois P. Lines Chair

A versatile musician and educator, Taiwanese pianist Chiao-Wen Cheng has performed as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician in major venues throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Cheng has become a sought-after collaborative partner through her sensitive playing, vibrant sound colors, and detailed voicing. Cheng has performed with violinist Juliana Athayde, and Robin Scott, cellist Steve Doane, Guy Johnston, and Astrid Schween, and members of many major orchestras. She has also performed at the Aspen Music Festival, the Atlantic Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Festival Mozaic, the International Bass Convention, International Trombone Festival, International Viola Congress, society for Chamber Music in Rochester, Seattle Symphony Chamber Music Series, and the Southeast Trombone Symposium. Since 2019, Cheng has been an Artist-Faculty Piano Collaborator at the Perlman Music Program. Cheng’s solo engagements include concerto performances with Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony, Greece Symphony, and other major orchestras, as well as solo recitals in major venues in Shanghai, Taipei, San Francisco, New York, and more. Cheng has won numerous piano competitions and awards, including the Clara Ascherfeld Award in Excellence in Accompanying (2009); the Excellence in Accompanying Award at Eastman School of Music (2010); and first prizes in the the Piano Texas International Academy and Festival Concerto Competition (2010) and the Schubert Club Competition (2012). Cheng began piano lessons with her aunt at the age of four. She completed her bachelor’s degree at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music as a student of Frank Weinstock, and her master’s degree at Peabody Institute, Johns Hopkins University as a student of Benjamin Pasternack. Cheng holds a doctoral degree from the Eastman School of Music. Cheng is currently an Assistant Professor of Collaborative Piano and Chamber Music at the Eastman School of Music. She joined the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra as a Principal Keyboard in 2022. Chiao-Wen Cheng is a Steinway Artist.

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PROGRAM NOTES

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Leonore Overture

B. BONN, GERMANY December 17, 1770

D. VIENNA, AUSTRIA

March 26, 1827 A woman named Leonore disguises herself as a man called Fidelio to rescue her husband from deadly imprisonment: this is the backdrop of Beethoven’s first and only opera, Fidelio. Beethoven drew influence from the French ‘rescue’ opera, a popular subgenre of opera of the time in which a main character is saved from oppression or danger. Because the story’s protagonist is the heroine Leonore, Beethoven originally titled the opera Leonore but later renamed it Fidelio for the opera’s 1805 premiere at the theater’s behest. Beethoven began writing the opera in 1803 and revised it two more times after its premiere, settling on a final version only in 1826. As much as he wrangled with the opera, he also struggled with its overture, a short orchestral opener to familiarize audiences with the tunes and whet their appetite for the adventure ahead. He wrote three “Leonore” overtures, scrapping them all. The overture version that was finally attached to the opera is the Fidelio Overture, Beethoven’s fourth overture attempt, which contains none of the themes from the opera.

The most performed version of the Leonore Overture is the third. It is the opera—with all its characters and drama—in miniature form. So suggestive and comprehensive was this overture that Beethoven felt it would give the opera away before it even began. We hear the dark imprisonment of Leonore’s husband, Florestan, in the overture’s opening, feel the resolve of Leonore’s plan as she forges ahead disguised as Fidelio, and hear Florestan’s woeful state in material derived from his famous second act aria. An off-stage trumpet announces Florestan’s liberation, and even the timpani joins in with exciting rolls for a celebratory ending where Florestan realizes it was Leonore who saved him. The instrumental writing in the overture is so exemplary that several parts are assigned in orchestral auditions.

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Piano, Op. 56

B. BONN, GERMANY December 17, 1770 D. VIENNA, AUSTRIA

Imagine being a wealthy pupil of Beethoven’s, able to commission a work that March 26, 1827 features you, an amateur, alongside professionals. According to Beethoven’s assistant, that’s precisely what Beethoven’s high-profile student, Archduke Rudolph of Austria, did. The commission was for a triple concerto—a concerto that spotlighted not only one but three soloists, namely a violin, cello, and piano. To ensure the Archduke could keep up, it is thought Beethoven constructed the piano part with easy flash, saving the true technical chops for the violin and cello. But accounts by Anton Schindler, the assistant, tend to be unreliable, and there’s no record of a performance by the Archduke, which would’ve been with his private orchestra. And Beethoven dedicated it not to the Archduke, but to a more recent patron, Prince Lebkowitz. The first recorded premiere took place in 1808 in Leipzig, featuring three entirely professional players. The reception was iffy, though, and the work is still one of Beethoven’s least performed. As Beethoven biographer Jan Swafford puts it, the triple concerto is “gorgeous but peculiar, expensive and impractical to perform.” As a triple concerto, it harkens to the Baroque concerto grosso and short-lived Classicalera sinfonia concertante, both types of concertos for two or more instruments. But none before combined the same instruments that Beethoven used. It’s also the only concerto by Beethoven for cello, and the part is the most virtuosic of all.

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PROGRAM NOTES

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67

B. BONN, GERMANY December 17, 1770

D. VIENNA, AUSTRIA

March 26, 1827 Few works in the Western music canon trigger imposter syndrome in composers as much as Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. (If any do, it’s Beethoven’s Ninth.) The main character of the symphony is a simple yet iconic motif— short-short-short-long—where the short notes repeat a pitch and the long note is a third down. From that motif and the four-pitch formula that emerges when it is repeated a step downward in the opening statement, Beethoven engineers an entire four-movement symphony that traverses from a turbulent C minor to a triumphant C major, a sonic evocation of overcoming struggle. It is a symphony of relentless motivic unity. The symphony is commonly thought to have a thematic program of “fate knocking at one’s door,” due to a secondhand account from Beethoven’s assistant. Whether or not the account is true, fate seems appropriate, both for the unfolding of the symphony and the work’s future resonances. Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Mahler, and composers up to the present day have—and still feel—the weight of the opening motif and its unfolding on their shoulders when attempting to write a symphony.

For a work of such influence, it is ironic that the work’s premiere was part of an under-rehearsed, DIY concert. After years of begging Vienna venues to allow him to present a public concert of his works, Beethoven was finally granted the Theater an der Wien after agreeing to conduct a charity concert there in 1808. He was given only about a month to whip a concert together. Instead of playing it safe, he mounted a four-hour event that included no less than four premieres, including the Fourth Piano Concerto and the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies. According to biographer Jan Swafford, not only was the concert long and the works strenuous for the unprepared performers and unassuming listeners, but the theater was unheated and frigid. Did audiences have any sense of how the Fifth would continue to reverberate across the Western world—inspiring even a disco hit in the 1970s? Given the circumstances of the premiere, it was probably impossible for listeners to fully assess what they heard. But a year later, music critic E. T. A. Hoffman would name it one of the most important works of the time. The simplicity of the first-movement sonata form design—a two-theme exposition, a development section, and return of the opening themes—helps listeners hear the fate motif’s grip over the work as it is woven in and passed around. Unusually, though, the oboe is granted a mini cadenza in the recapitulation, a quick moment to breathe before Beethoven notches up the movement’s fury one last time through a prolonged coda. The second movement, Andante con moto (slow with movement), neutralizes the first movement’s wrath with lilting beauty, now in A-flat major, using two themes in variation with brief rhythmic echoes of the fate motif. The third movement is a scherzo, returning to C minor, with the brass wielding the ‘fate’ motif’s rhythms determinedly. This determination continues into the ‘trio’ section, now in C major, with a spirited fugue. It leads into one of the most celebratory final movements of all time, its jubilance accentuated by an instrument new to symphonic audiences at the time: the trombone. Program notes © 2025 Anna Reguero, PhD, a Rochester-based scholar and arts writer.

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OCT 26 2 PM

HOCHSTEIN PERFORMANCE HALL

Yonatan Dvir, conductor Mathew Atalla, clarinet Daniella Miller, clarinet Michael Shi, clarinet Jemma Wallis, clarinet

JOHN POWELL

How to Train Your Dragon