Program Notes: Music in Motion

FROM THE

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Photo Credit: Lauren Radack

DEAR FRIENDS, This season has been one of collaboration and partnership. Earlier this season our Chamber Music Series was enhanced by the innovative collective Art of Élan performing Judd Greenstein’s Change accompanied by a video created by Joshua Frankel. Local jazz treasure Gilbert Castellanos has worked closely with us to curate our highly successful new Jazz @ The Jacobs series and we were delighted to have the opportunity to partner with the San Diego Museum of Art for an “Art of Music” Jacobs Masterworks concert.

California Center for the Arts (Escondido), PowayOnstage and The Quartyard joined us as part of the recent Upright & Grand festival, as did La Jolla Music Society, The Old Globe, the San Diego Public Library and the downtown SDMCA as well as many community and educational organizations and venues that helped make Pianos in Public Spaces possible.

This month, we are bringing San Diego’s own Malashock Dance to our stage for a world premiere classical work by Gabriela Frank (choreographed by John Malashock), which we commissioned last year. This program, led by rising young conductor David Danzmayr, MARTHA GILMER, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER also includes Yolanda Kondonassis’ performance of Ginastera’s Harp Concerto in honor of the composer’s 100th birthday, and it concludes with Stravinsky’s The Firebird. Definitely a program bursting with rhythm and movement!

Throughout March we are also presenting a variety of performers from around the world, bringing to San Diego (as part of our International Passport series) dancers, singers, Carnival and comedy. These programs provide a wonderful opportunity for the whole family to experience live entertainment together in our home, the Jacobs Music Center.

March is also the time of year when we announce our upcoming Summer Pops season, and remind our current summer subscribers that it’s time to renew your subscription. (And for everyone else: buy a new subscription if you haven’t already!) As something different for this season, which we are calling Bayside Summer Nights, we are presenting a brand new Thursday Night Jazz series curated by Gilbert Castellanos who has guided us to tremendous success with Jazz @ The Jacobs.

As always, our summer season includes the San Diego Symphony Orchestra playing a variety of beloved favorites like Star Spangled Pops; movie scores like John William’s Raiders of the Lost Ark; our popular Broadway night, a Hooray for Hollywood movie salute, American Songbook classics from the brilliant Seth MacFarlane, a weekend of performances by Broadway legend Bernadette Peters plus a onenight only concert by the incomparable Diana Ross performing with her own musicians.

There is so much happening at the San Diego Symphony these days – plans for our new summer Bayside Performance Park are moving ahead; our winter season is continuing to attract new audiences; our summer season is expanding and introducing new artists and genres of music; guest conductors and guest artists are bringing new energy and excitement to San Diego – and none of this would be possible without your ongoing support and enthusiasm. Please continue to share your love of music with your friends and family and join us as the San Diego Symphony discovers new ways to bring music into the life of our community.

Sincerely,

Martha Gilmer Chief Executive Officer COVER PHOTO CREDIT: David Hartig SAN DI EGO SYMPH ONY O R C HES T R A W INT ER S EA S O N MA R C H 2 0 1 6

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ABOUT THE MUSIC DIRECTOR

JAHJA LING

CD of Lucas Richman’s Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant and Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals with soloists Jon Kimura Parker and Orli Shaham distributed by Naxos in 2013. Under his leadership, the San Diego Symphony Orchestra has been designated a Tier One major orchestra by the League of American Orchestras, based on a new level of unprecedented artistic excellence, its continuing increase in audience attendance as well as its solid financial stability.

JA HJA L I NG ‘s distinguished career as an internationally renowned conductor has earned him an exceptional reputation for musical integrity, intensity and expressivity. Born in Jakarta, Indonesia, and now a citizen of the United States, he is the first and only conductor of Chinese descent who holds a music director position with a major orchestra in the United States and has conducted all of the major symphony orchestras in North America including Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and San Francisco.

The 2015-16 season marks his 12th season as Music Director of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra. In October of 2013 Mr. Ling led the Orchestra for a sold out concert at Carnegie Hall with Lang Lang as soloist, followed by a tour to China where the Orchestra appeared in five concerts in Yantai (sister city of San Diego), Shanghai and Beijing (at the National Centre for the Performing Arts and at Tsinghua University) with soloists Joshua Bell and Augustin Hadelich. This two week tour was the first international tour and the first appearance of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall (received with great acclaim) in their 104 year history. The Orchestra’s performances conducted by Mr. Ling have also received the highest praise from public and critics alike, having been broadcast both locally and nationally. Mr. Ling and the Orchestra have recently released eight new live recordings (the Orchestra’s first in a decade). Together they have undertaken commissions as well as premieres of many new works and recorded new works of Bright Sheng for Telarc Records (released in summer of 2009) and a new P4 PERF ORMAN CES MAG A ZINE

In recent and upcoming seasons Mr. Ling returns as guest conductor with the Adelaide Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Hangzhou Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Jakarta Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Macao Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, Philharmonia Taiwan (National Symphony of Taiwan), Royal Philharmonic of London, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, West Australia Symphony as well as Yale Philharmonia and Curtis Symphony Orchestra. In June of 2012 he conducted the Schleswig Holstein Festival Orchestra in Berlin’s O2 World on the occasion of Lang Lang’s 30th birthday concert with Lang Lang, Herbie Hancock and 50 young pianists from around the world. The concert, attended by more than 10,000 people, was also telecast live by German and Spanish TV. Mr. Ling holds one of the longest continuous relationships with one of the world’s greatest orchestras, The Cleveland Orchestra. In 2014 he celebrated his 30th anniversary with that esteemed ensemble with performances at Severance Hall, the Blossom Music Festival and Palm Beach, Florida.

He first served as Associate Conductor in the 1984-85 season, and then as Resident Conductor for 17 years from 1985-2002 and as Blossom Music Festival Director for six seasons (2000-05). During his tenure with the Orchestra, he conducted over 450 concerts and 600 works, including many world premieres. Among his distinguished services as Resident Conductor, Mr. Ling led the Orchestra’s annual concert in downtown Cleveland, heard by more than 1.5 million people. His telecast of A Concert in Tribute and Remembrance with the Orchestra for 9/11/2011 received an Emmy® Award. The United States House of Representatives presented a Congressional Record of his outstanding achievements in the United States Capitol in September 2006.

Prior to his Cleveland appointment, Mr. Ling served as Assistant and Associate Conductor

of the San Francisco Symphony. Deeply committed to education, Mr. Ling served as founding Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (1986-93) and the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (1981-84).

Mr. Ling made his European debut with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in 1988 to great acclaim. His other engagements abroad have taken him to the Chamber Orchestra of Lausanne, Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, China Philharmonic in Beijing, Guangzhou Symphony, Malaysian Philharmonic, Macao Symphony, MDR Symphony Orchestra in Leipzig, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, NDR Radio Philharmonie in Hannover, NDR Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg, Orchestre Nationale du Capitole de Toulouse, Royal Philharmonic of London, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Shanghai Symphony, Singapore Symphony, Stockholm Philharmonic and Tokyo’s Yomiuri Nippon Symphony.

Mr. Ling began to play the piano at age four and studied at the Jakarta School of Music. At age 17 he won the Jakarta Piano Competition and one year later was awarded a Rockefeller grant to attend The Juilliard School, where he studied piano with Mieczysław Munz and conducting with John Nelson. After completing a master’s degree at Juilliard, he studied orchestral conducting at the Yale School of Music under Otto-Werner Mueller and received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 1985. He was also awarded an honorary doctorate by Wooster College in 1993. In the summer of 1980 Mr. Ling was granted the Leonard Bernstein Conducting Fellowship at Tanglewood, and two years later he was selected by Mr. Bernstein to be a Conducting Fellow at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute.

As a pianist Mr. Ling won a bronze medal at the 1977 Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Israel and was awarded a certificate of honor at the following year’s Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow. He made his Cleveland Orchestra debut as a pianist in 1987 and has appeared as both soloist and conductor with a number of orchestras in the United States and internationally.

Mr. Ling makes his home in San Diego with his wife, Jessie, and their young daughters Priscilla and Stephanie. n

S A N D I E G O SYM PH O NY O R C H E ST R A W I N T E R S E A S O N MAR C H 2016

SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

JAHJA LING, MUSIC DIRECTOR

MATTHEW GARBUTT

Principal Summer Pops Conductor

SAMEER PATEL Assistant Conductor

VIOLIN Jeff Thayer Concertmaster

D EBORAH PATE AND JOHN FORREST CHAIR

Wesley Precourt Associate Concertmaster Jisun Yang Assistant Concertmaster Alexander Palamidis Principal II TBD Associate Principal II Nick Grant Principal Associate Concertmaster Emeritus Randall Brinton Yumi Cho Hernan Constantino Alicia Engley Pat Francis Kathryn Hatmaker Angela Homnick Ai Nihira* Igor Pandurski Julia Pautz Susan Robboy Shigeko Sasaki Yeh Shen Anna Skálová Edmund Stein John Stubbs Pei-Chun Tsai Jing Yan Joan Zelickman VIOLA Chi-Yuan Chen Principal KAREN AND WARREN KESSLER CHAIR

Nancy Lochner Associate Principal Rebekah Campbell Wanda Law Qing Liang Caterina Longhi Thomas Morgan Ethan Pernela Dorothy Zeavin CELLO Yao Zhao Principal Chia-Ling Chien Associate Principal Marcia Bookstein Glen Campbell Andrew Hayhurst

Richard Levine Ronald Robboy Mary Oda Szanto Xian Zhuo

Douglas Hall

BASS

John MacFerran Wilds Ray Nowak

Jeremy Kurtz-Harris ˆ Principal S OPHIE AND ARTHUR BRODY FOUNDATION CHAIR

Susan Wulff Acting Principal Samuel Hager Acting Associate Principal W. Gregory Berton ˆ P. J. Cinque Jory Herman Margaret Johnston+ Daniel Smith* Michael Wais Sayuri Yamamoto* FLUTE Rose Lombardo Principal Sarah Tuck Erica Peel PICCOLO Erica Peel OBOE Sarah Skuster Principal

TRUMPET Micah Wilkinson Principal

TROMBONE Kyle R. Covington Principal Logan Chopyk Richard Gordon+ Michael Priddy BASS TROMBONE Michael Priddy TUBA Matthew Garbutt Principal HARP Julie Smith Phillips Principal TIMPANI Ryan J. DiLisi Principal Andrew Watkins Assistant Principal PERCUSSION Gregory Cohen Principal

Harrison Linsey Andrea Overturf

Erin Douglas Dowrey Andrew Watkins

ENGLISH HORN Andrea Overturf

PIANO/CELESTE Mary Barranger

DR. WILLIAM AND EVELYN LAMDEN ENGLISH HORN CHAIR

CLARINET Sheryl Renk Principal

ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL MANAGER Magdalena O’Neill ASSISTANT PERSONNEL MANAGER TBA

Theresa Tunnicliff Frank Renk

PRINCIPAL LIBRARIAN Courtney Secoy Cohen

BASS CLARINET Frank Renk

LIBRARIAN Rachel Fields

BASSOON Valentin Martchev Principal Ryan Simmons Leyla Zamora

* Long Term Substitute Musician + Staff Opera Musician ˆ On leave

CONTRABASSOON Leyla Zamora

All musicians are members of the American Federation of Musicians Local 325.

HORN Benjamin Jaber Principal Darby Hinshaw Assistant Principal & Utility Danielle Kuhlmann Tricia Skye

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Financial support is provided by the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture.

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MARCH 18, 19 & 20 MUSIC IN MOTION: DANCE AND THE FIREBIRD JACOBS MASTERWORKS

FRIDAY March 18, 2016 – 8:00pm SATURDAY March 19, 2016 – 8:00pm SUNDAY March 20, 2016 – 2:00pm conductor David Danzmayr harp Yolanda Kondonassis

Malashock Dance

Performances at the Jacobs Music Center's Copley Symphony Hall

PROGRAM NOTE GABRIELA LENA FRANK

ALBERTO GINASTERA

Five Scenes (world premiere commissioned by the San Diego Symphony Orchestra)

Malashock Dance Harp Concerto, Op. 25

Allegro giusto

Molto moderato (Tempo I)

Libramente capriccioso; Vivace

Yolanda Kondonassis, harp

INTERMISSION IGOR STRAVINSKY Suite from The Firebird (1945 version)

Introduction

Prelude, Dance of the Firebird, & Variations

Pantomime I

Pas de deux

Pantomime II

Scherzo (Dance of the Princesses)

Pantomime III

Rondo

Infernal Dance

Lullaby (Berceuse)

Final Hymn

The approximate running time for this concert, including intermission, is one hour and thirty minutes.

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S A N D I E G O SYM PH O NY O R C H E ST R A W I N T E R S E A S O N MAR C H 2016

ABOUT THE ARTISTS MUSIC IN MOTION: DANCE AND THE FIREBIRD – MARCH 18, 19 & 20 with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Sinfonieorchester Basel, Mozarteum Orchester, Haydn Orchester Bozen, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Salzburg Chamber Philharmonic, Bruckner Orchester Linz and Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna, to name a few. Last season he made his conducting debut both in the Musikverein in Vienna as well as in the Grosses Festspielhaus in Salzburg.

DAVID DANZMAYR, CONDUCTOR

D

escribed by Scotland‘s The Herald as “extremely good, concise, clear, incisive and expressive,” DAVID DANZMAYR is widely regarded as one of the most talented and exciting European conductors of the younger generation.

Mr. Danzmayr is in his second season as Music Director of the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra in Chicago, and has recently been appointed as Music Director of the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra. He will become Chief Conductor at the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra starting in the 2016-17 season.

He has served as assistant conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, which he has conducted in more than 70 concerts, performing in all the major Scottish concert halls and in the prestigious, Orkney based, St Magnus Festival. He has been reinvited regularly as a guest conductor since then.

A 2nd prize winner at the 2013 International Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition, Mr. Danzmayr has also been a prize winner at the International Malko Conducting Competition and the only European conductor to reach the final of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra‘s Sir Georg Solti competition.

For his extraordinary success he has been awarded the Bernhard Paumgartner Medal by the Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum.

Mr. Danzmayr is also a sought-after guest conductor for other internationally renowned orchestras, having worked

Mr. Danzmayr received his musical training at the University Mozarteum in Salzburg, where after initially studying piano he went on to conducting in the class of Dennis Russell Davies and completed his studies with the highest honours. He was strongly influenced by Pierre Boulez and Claudio Abbado in his time as conducting stipendiate of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, as well as by Leif Segerstam during his additional studies in the conducting class of the world renowned Sibelius Academy. Subsequently Mr. Danzmayr gained significant experience as assistant to Neeme Järvi, Stephane Deneve, Carlos Kalmar, Sir Andrew Davies and Pierre Boulez.

Besides his extensive classical repertoire David Danzmayr also devotes himself passionately to the performance of 21st century music. He is Music Director of the Ensemble Acrobat and a regular guest conductor with the Austrian Contemporary Music Ensemble. With both ensembles he has repeatedly been recorded by the Austrian National Radio (ORF) for broadcasting and CD. n

Y

OLANDA KONDONASSIS is celebrated as one of the world’s premier solo harpists and is widely regarded as today’s most recorded classical harpist. Hailed as “a brilliant and expressive player” (Dallas Morning News), she has performed around the globe as a concerto soloist and in recital, bringing her unique brand of musicianship and warm artistry to an ever-increasing audience. Also a published author, speaker, professor of harp and an environmental activist, she weaves her many passions into a vibrant and multifaceted career.

Since making her debut at age 18 with the

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New York Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta, Ms. Kondonassis has brought new audiences to the harp and has appeared as soloist with numerous major orchestras in the United States and abroad such as The New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra and the Hong Kong Philharmonic, to name a few. She has been featured on CNN and PBS as well as Sirius XM Radio’s Symphony Hall, NPR’s All Things Considered and Tiny Desk Concerts, St. Paul Sunday Morning and Performance Today.

YOLANDA KONDONASSIS, HARP

The first harpist to receive the Darius Milhaud Prize, Ms. Kondonassis is committed to the advancement of contemporary music for the instrument, with recent premieres including works by Bright Sheng, Keith Fitch and Gary Schocker. Ms. Kondonassis has also earned a reputation as a world-class chamber musician, collaborating with artists such as the Shanghai, JACK, Jupiter and Vermeer string quartets, pianist Jeremy Denk and guitarist Jason Vieaux, among others. The Kondonassis/Vieaux duo released their debut album, Together, in January 2015 on Azica Records.

With hundreds of thousands of albums sold worldwide, Ms. Kondonassis’ extensive discography, released on the Telarc, Azica, Oberlin, New World and Channel Classics labels, includes 19 titles. Her next album, celebrating Ginastera's Centennial, features the Ginastera Harp Concerto and will be

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ABOUT THE ARTISTS MUSIC IN MOTION: DANCE AND THE FIREBIRD – MARCH 18, 19 & 20 1988, after a distinguished performing career with Twyla Tharp’s company in New York, where he performed world-wide; appeared in the Academy Award-winning film Amadeus; was featured in numerous television specials; and performed in numerous concerts with Mikhail Baryshnikov.

released in October 2016 on Oberlin Music.

Her 2008 release of music by Takemitsu and Debussy, Air (Telarc), was nominated for a Grammy® Award. Her many albums have earned universal critical praise as she continues to be a pioneering force in the harp world, striving to make her instrument more accessible to audiences and to push the boundaries of what listeners expect of the harp.

As an author, composer, and arranger, Ms. Kondonassis has published three books to date: On Playing the Harp, The Yolanda Kondonassis Collection and The Yolanda Kondonassis Christmas Collection. Carl Fischer Music publishes all of her works.

Ms. Kondonassis carries her passionate artistic commitment to issues regarding the protection of natural resources, air quality and climate change. Royalties from several of her projects are donated to earth causes, and she is the founder and director of Earth at Heart, a non-profit organization devoted to earth literacy and inspiration through the arts. Her first children’s book, entitled Our House is Round: A Kid’s Book about Why Protecting Our Earth Matters, was published in 2012 by Skyhorse Publishing.

Born in Norman, Oklahoma, Yolanda Kondonassis attended high school at Interlochen Arts Academy. She continued her education at The Cleveland Institute of Music, where she received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees as a student of Alice Chalifoux. Ms. Kondonassis heads the harp departments at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and The Cleveland Institute of Music. She plays a Lyon & Healy Salzedo Model harp. n

I

dentity has always been at the center of GABRIELA LENA FRANK's music.

Born in Berkeley, California, to a mother of mixed Peruvian/Chinese ancestry and a father of Lithuanian/Jewish descent, Ms. Frank, composer of today’s Five Scenes world premiere, explores her multicultural heritage most ardently through her compositions. Inspired by the works of Béla Bartók and Alberto Ginastera, Ms. Frank

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GABRIELA LENA FRANK

is something of a musical anthropologist.

She has travelled extensively throughout South America and her pieces reflect and refract her studies of Latin-American folklore, incorporating poetry, mythology and native musical styles into a western classical framework that is uniquely her own. She writes challenging idiomatic parts for solo instrumentalists, vocalists, chamber ensembles and orchestras.

Ms. Frank attended Rice University in Houston, Texas, where she earned both a B.A. (1994) and M.A. (1996). She studied composition with Paul Cooper, Ellsworth Milburn and Sam Jones, and piano with Jeanne Kierman Fischer. Ms. Frank credits Fischer with introducing her to the music of Ginastera, Bartók and other composers who utilized folk elements in their work. At the University of Michigan, where she received a D.M.A. in composition in 2001, Frank studied with William Albright, William Bolcom, Leslie Bassett and Michael Daugherty, as well as piano with Logan Skelton.

Gabriela Lena Frank has served as composerin-residence to both the Houston Symphony and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Her music is published exclusively by G. Schirmer, Inc. n

J

OHN MALASHOCK brings 35 years of experience in dance, theater and film to his current role as Artistic Director of Malashock Dance. He has created more than 70 choreographic works, dance/ theater collaborations, theater and opera productions and award-winning dance films.

Mr. Malashock founded Malashock Dance in

Under Mr. Malashock’s leadership, Malashock Dance has become one of California’s premiere dance companies, and his work has been presented throughout the United States, Central America, Japan and Central Europe. Mr. Malashock has many notable collaborative credits to his name: he has choreographed productions at the La Jolla Playhouse and the Old Globe Theatre; his work has been commissioned by the San Diego Symphony, La Jolla Music Society and San Diego Opera; and he has garnered six Emmy Awards for his dance films, which have aired on over 30 affiliate PBS stations nationwide.

Mr. Malashock has served as guest faculty for the American Dance Festival, Cal State Long Beach, Dance Space New York, ADF/ Tokyo, Connecticut College and University of Utah, among many others. A leader within the local and national dance communities, Mr. Malashock has served on the Board of Trustees for Dance USA and is proud to have taken the leadership role in conceiving, developing and establishing Dance Place San Diego at historic Liberty Station, where he teaches classes and workshops throughout the year.

As an Artist in Residence at the La Jolla Playhouse, Mr. Malashock is currently developing a dance musical based on the life, work and relationships of artist Marc Chagall.

In 1988, building on his extensive career in dance and theater, John Malashock founded MALASHOCK DANCE to promote dance as a channel for personal expression through participation, education and artistic collaboration. Now based at Dance Place San Diego in Liberty Station, Malashock Dance provides access to quality dance performances, training and education outreach programming for all San Diegans.

Seen on regional, national and international

S A N D I E G O SYM PH O NY O R C H E ST R A W I N T E R S E A S O N MAR C H 2016

ABOUT THE MUSIC MUSIC IN MOTION: DANCE AND THE FIREBIRD – MARCH 18, 19 & 20 this point Phillips had given up performing professionally, and it was Zabaleta who gave the first performance on February 18, 1965, with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. The music was a success on that occasion, and it has gone on to become one of the most frequently performed and recorded of all harp concertos.

MALASHOCK DANCE

stages, Malashock Dance’s impressive accomplishments include the creation of over 75 original dance works, six Emmy-award winning dance films, annual performances & workshops, participation in arts festivals and numerous collaborative projects with the likes of KPBS-TV, San Diego Opera, San Diego Symphony, La Jolla Playhouse, La Jolla Music Society, Old Globe Theatre, San Diego Museum of Art and Art of Élan. n

Harp Concerto, Op. 25 A L B E RTO G I NASTE RA Born April 11, 1916, Buenos Aires Died June 25, 1983, Geneva Albert Ginastera composed his Harp Concerto over a number of years, and the story of its creation is complex. That story began in 1956 when Edna Phillips, for many years the harpist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, commissioned a concerto from the Argentinian composer. Phillips was an unusual musician: she was only 22 when Leopold Stokowski invited her to become the first female member of the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1930, and over the years she worked hard to enlarge the repertory of her instrument, commissioning works from many composers. Ginastera was intrigued by the thought of writing a harp concerto, but he had many other projects at hand, including the composition of his magnificent Second String Quartet (1958). Phillips would continue to inquire about his progress on her concerto, and Ginastera would send her sketches, but he never quite got around to composing it.

Finally the great Spanish harpist Nicanor Zabaleta saw these sketches and pressed the composer to finish the concerto. By

The stereotype of the harp is as a delicate instrument, but Ginastera re-imagined completely the idea of what a harp concerto might be. Ginastera was moving in these years toward serial music, but in the Harp Concerto he reverted to the powerful rhythmic style of such early works as his ballet Estancia, full of pulsing energy and color. The harp in this concerto is not the stereotypical instrument of silvery runs and graceful arpeggios, but a much more aggressive and athletic instrument with a sonority centered around percussive strikes of sound. While the orchestra is small, it features a large percussion section that will give the concerto much of its character.

We hear this from the first instant, when the concerto bursts to life on fierce cracks of sound from the orchestra. Ginastera’s fondness for asymmetric rhythms is much in evidence here, with the orchestra and harp dancing wildly (but always gracefully) along these rhythms. This drives to a pause, and the harp – now alone – responds with a haunting melodic line. Gradually the orchestra rejoins the soloist as this movement, sectional in construction, alternates its opening energy with this more reflective material before finally fading into aural mists.

The central movement is in ternary form.

Lower strings provide a dark introduction with their terraced entrances before the soloist takes up the musical line. The mood here is somber and unsettled, an atmosphere unrelieved by the middle section, which sets the harp above constantly trilling strings. A return of the opening material leads to an extended cadenza for the soloist, and this virtuoso passage will function as a bridge to the finale, where sudden strikes of sound plunge us back into the athletic, pointillistic manner of the opening movement. Once again we are in a world of dancing energy, percussive cracks of sound and virtuoso

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writing for the soloist. At the end, Ginastera presses this brilliant movement forward on a coda marked Vivace. n

Suite from The Firebird (1945 version) I G O R STR AV I N S KY Born June 17, 1882, Oranienbaum Died April 6, 1971, New York City In 1909, following a successful visit of the Ballets Russes to Paris, the Russian impresario Serge Diaghilev and his choreographer Michel Fokine made plans for a new ballet to be presented in Paris the following season, based on the old Russian legend of the Firebird. They at first asked Anatoly Lyadov to compose the music, but when it became clear that the notoriously lazy Lyadov would never get around to it, they decided to take a chance on a young composer who had orchestrated some pieces for the Ballets Russes the year before. His name was Igor Stravinsky, and he was virtually unknown. Recognizing that this was his big chance (and terrified that he would not be up to the challenge), Stravinsky set to work in November 1909 at a dacha owned by the Rimsky-Korsakov family (to which he had gone, as he said, “for a vacation in birch forests and snowfresh air).” He finished the piano score in St. Petersburg in March, and the orchestration was complete a month later. The first performance took place in Paris on June 25, 1910, eight days after the composer’s twentieth-eighth birthday, and was a huge success. Stravinsky would go on to write quite different music over the course of his long career, but the music from The Firebird remains his most popular creation.

The Firebird tells of a young prince, Ivan Tsarevich, who unknowingly pursues the magic Firebird – part woman, part bird – into the garden of the green-taloned Kastchei, most horrible of all ogres: Kastchei captures and imprisons maidens within the castle and turns all knights who come to rescue them to stone. Ivan captures the Firebird, but she begs to be released, and when he agrees she gives him a magic feather and vanishes. The prince sees a group of 13 princesses playing with golden apples, and when dawn breaks and they have to return to Kastchei’s castle,

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ABOUT THE MUSIC MUSIC IN MOTION: DANCE AND THE FIREBIRD – MARCH 18, 19 & 20 he follows them. Instantly he is confronted by the hideous fiends who inhabit the castle and is about to be turned to stone himself when he remembers the feather.

He waves it, and the Firebird returns, puts all the ogres – including Kastchei – to sleep and shows him where a magic egg is hidden in a casket. When Ivan smashes the egg, Kastchei and his fiends disappear, the petrified knights return to life, the maidens are freed, Kastchei’s castle is transformed into a cathedral, and Ivan marries the most beautiful of the 13 princesses.

Stravinsky drew three orchestral suites from his complete score to The Firebird. The first, in 1911, uses the original orchestration but eliminates the pantomimes that connect the scenes and (strangely) ends with the dance of Kastchei’s fiends as they try to resist the Firebird’s spell. For the second suite, made in 1919, Stravinsky greatly reduced and simplified the opulent orchestration of the original ballet, took out some of the earlier sections, and added the Berceuse and the Finale; this version has become by far the most popular of the suites. In 1945, at age 63, Stravinsky returned to this score one final time and prepared a third suite from The Firebird; this is the version heard at the present concerts.

For the 1945 version, Stravinsky began with the five-movement 1919 suite and made some very small changes in the orchestration. The major change, however, was that he re-introduced certain scenes and pantomimes from the original ballet, placing them between the first and second movements of the familiar 1919 suite.

Stravinsky’s motives were clear: he wanted to create an orchestral suite that would offer a more complete selection of music from The Firebird and at the same time would be scored for the smaller orchestra of the 1919 version. The 1945 version was premiered in New York City on October 24, 1945, under the direction of Jascha Horenstein.

A brief description of the action and music of the 1945 suite: the ominous Introduction, in the unusual key of A-flat minor, hints at the music that will be associated with the

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monsters. Near the end of this section comes one of Stravinsky’s most striking orchestral effects, a series of rippling string glissandos played entirely in harmonics. The music proceeds without pause into the shimmering, whirling Dance of the Firebird and The Firebird’s Variation, which were Stravinsky’s own favorite music from this score.

Now begin the interpolations of the 1945 version. The brief Pantomime I leads to the languorous Pas de Deux, danced by the Firebird and Ivan Tsarevich. Pantomime II, also brief, leads to the Scherzo, or The Dance of the Princesses, which bustles along energetically on its steady rhythmic pulse. Stravinsky himself was later critical of this movement, calling it too “Mendelssohnian-Tchaikovskyan,” but it is brilliant music, and it makes an effective scene in the ballet. This is followed by Pantomime III, with its striking horn solos, which in the ballet accompanies Ivan Tsarevich’s sudden appearance in the garden.

The music now proceeds into the familiar Rondo, or Round Dance, which is the second movement of the 1919 suite. One of the intentions of Diaghilev and Fokine had been to make The Firebird as “Russian” as possible, and in The Princesses’ Khorovod (Round Dance) Stravinsky uses the old Russian folktune “In the Garden.” Announced by solo oboe as the 13 captive princesses dance in the castle garden, the melody is then taken over by the violins and extended in the ballet’s most lyric section.

The Khorovod comes to a peaceful close, but this mood is shattered at the beginning of the Infernal Dance by one of the most violent orchestral attacks ever written.

Sharply syncopated rhythms and barbaric snorts from the low brass depict the fiends’ efforts to resist the Firebird’s spell; without the slightest relaxation or slowing of tempo this dance powers its way to a dazzling (and ear-splitting) close on a great rip of sound. In its aftermath, solo bassoon sings the gentle (almost lugubrious) Berceuse (or Lullaby), the music with which the Firebird lulls Kastchei and his followers to sleep, and this leads through a magical passage for tremolo strings into the Finale. Here solo French

horn sings the main theme, marked dolce and cantabile and based on another Russian folksong, “By the Gate.” Beginning quietly, this noble tune simply repeats, growing in strength as it recurs, and the ballet drives to a magnificent conclusion on music of general rejoicing.

PROGRAM NOTES BY ERIC BROMBERGER

PERFORMANCE HISTORY

by Melvin G. Goldzband, Symphony Archivist The new commission featuring dance along with the orchestra on stage is being premiered on this program. The San Diego Symphony has not played music by Gabriela Frank before. The Ginastera Harp Concerto, however, was played here once before, during the season of 1988-89, when Kees Bakels conducted the performance with Heidi Lehwalder as soloist. As a sidelight, it is interesting that the music of Alberto Ginastera, not often heard here, is being featured on two programs this season: His Estancia dances were played last November.

The very popular music from the Stravinsky ballet, The Firebird, was introduced to San Diego Symphony audiences when Robert Shaw conducted this 1945 version in the 1955 season. This version has been presented four times since then, most recently when Jahja Ling conducted it during the 2010-11 season. Interestingly, Stravinsky's original version, from 1919, featuring a larger orchestra but a little less music, has been programmed ten times at these concerts, first in the 1959-60 season, when Arthur Bennett Lipkin conducted, and most recently when Yoav Talmi led the performance in the 1990-91 season. n

S A N D I E G O SYM PH O NY O R C H E ST R A W I N T E R S E A S O N MAR C H 2016

NEED PHOTO OF KYLE

Meet Principal Trombonist Kyle Covington

by Dr. Melvin Goldzband, San Diego Symphony Archivist Please watch out for Kyle Covington, who bikes regularly to work at the Jacobs Music Center from his East San Diego home. I know of at least one accident that befell him although, gratefully, that was some time ago and, even more gratefully, he recovered fully. This is the San Diego Symphony's really fine first trombonist I'm referring to here, and we can't afford any more mishaps. He is too valuable to us, seated comfortably against the rear wall of the orchestra shell to the left of the other trombones as we see him from our seats, adjacent to his friends, the trumpets. The slender redhead who looks like a sprinter obviously has sufficient breath capacity and control to come to work after pedaling, and to play his seemingly unwieldy instrument so that it can sound at times like a lyric baritone singing Verdi. e came to us about six years ago H from Buffalo, where he played second

trombone in the Philharmonic there for two complete seasons. Winning his current position in this orchestra by audition, he no longer worries about biking in deep snow. Instead, he has assumed other challenges, as he describes it: building and continuing the dependable virtuosity of his section. In that, he has been successful. The pitch of the trombones has demonstrably improved in its accuracy over the last few years. As the section principal, he has worked hard but collegially with his colleagues to create that sense of pitch accuracy as well as to maintain the togetherness of the section's attacks.

Kyle phrased his role in this way: “...To set an example of consistent, accurate pitch and rhythm, so that we can all execute the music faithfully...” Sometimes, he pointed out, it has been necessary to drill and repeat certain passages until the required accuracy of uniform pitch, tone and attack becomes dependably automatic.

No one argues against the collective, current opinion that the trombone section sounds markedly improved from some seasons back. I know that our music director thinks so. yle Covington's background has served K him well in achieving his current position.

He was born and raised in Santa Rosa, a

SAN DI EGO SYMPH ONY O R C HES T R A W INT ER S EA S O N MA R C H 2 0 1 6

fifth generation Californian. His family was not particularly musical and, in fact, his own ambition was to be a military pilot. “I had one flying lesson, but by then I gotten too good in music…” His musical education began as a trumpeter, but in school he was needed as a euphonium player. When I questioned that, he explained to me that the embouchure – the set and position of the player's lips – is the same, regardless of which brass instrument is to be played.

It is the instrument itself that makes the sound differences. For example, last season, when the orchestra played music from Wagner's Ring operas, our first trombonist was sitting with the trumpets, playing the bass trumpet – a rarely used instrument but one called for by Wagner.

He described it as “fun.” lthough pleased by his euphonium A playing, Kyle's teacher, a good trombonist, urged him to study the trombone, which he started in 9th grade. With the trombone, he began playing jazz and pop music, while he continued through high school. As he told me, “I got up at 5am every school morning to get there in time to rehearse with the jazz band before classes started – and after that I never played jazz again!”

Graduating from Juilliard after four years there on a Presidential Scholarship, he entered an MFA in performance at the San Francisco Conservatory. He has played trombone as needed in the San Francisco Symphony, the LA Philharmonic and the New York Philharmonic. He has a busy schedule in San Diego, not only working hard with his section and the orchestra, but maintaining teaching positions in several schools from this city to Long Beach (to which he does not bike!) as well as maintaining a roster of private students.

I n closing, I asked him about the orchestra and what he thought of it now and for the future. He provided an eloquent answer. “The orchestra gets better every year, especially in the areas of pitch and ensemble. It has proven better year after year. A culture of proven accountability has grown here, and we ought to be able to reach the higher levels we have always been striving for.” n

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SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

PATRON INFORMATION

TICKET OFFICE HOURS Jacobs Music Center Ticket Office (750 B Street) Monday through Friday, 10 am to 6 pm Concert Tuesdays through Fridays: 10 am through intermission Concert Weekends: 12 noon through intermission

be allowed into the concert hall.

They must be held by an adult and may not occupy a seat, unless they have a ticket.

SUBSCRIPTIONS San Diego Symphony Orchestra offers an attractive array of subscription options.

Subscribers receive the best available seats and (for Traditional subscribers) free ticket exchanges (up to 48 hours in advance for another performance within your series). Other subscriber-only benefits include priority notice of special events and (for certain packages) free parking.

For more information, call the Ticket Office at 619.235.0804.

UNUSED TICKETS Please turn in unused subscription tickets for resale to the Ticket Office or by mailing them to 1245 7th Ave., San Diego, CA 92101 (Attn: Ticket Office). Tickets must be turned in anytime up to 24 hours in advance of your concert. A receipt will be mailed acknowledging your tax-deductible contribution.

TICKET EXCHANGE POLICY • Aficionado subscribers may exchange into most Winter series concerts for free! All exchanges are based on ticket availability.

• Traditional subscribers receive the best available seats and may exchange to another performance within their series for free. Build Your Own subscribers and Non-subscribers can do the same, with a $5 exchange fee per ticket.

• Exchanged tickets must be returned to the Ticket Office 24 hours prior to the concert by one of the following ways: In person, by mail (1245 Seventh Ave., San Diego, CA 92101, Attn: Ticket Office) or by fax (619.231.3848).

LOST TICKETS San Diego Symphony concert tickets can be reprinted at the Ticket Office with proper ID. GROUP SALES Discount tickets for groups are available for both subscription and non-subscription concerts (excluding outside events). For further information, please call 619.615.3941.

YOUNGER AUDIENCES POLICY Jacobs Masterworks, Classical Specials, and Chamber Music: No children under five years of age will be allowed into the concert hall.

Children five and older must have a ticket and be able to sit in an unaccompanied seat.

City Lights, Jazz @ The Jacobs, International Passport, Fox Theatre Film Series: No children under the age of two years will be allowed into the concert hall. Children two and older must have a ticket and be able to sit in a seat.

Family Festival Concerts: Children three years and older must have a ticket and be able to sit in a seat. Babies and children two years old and younger who are accompanied by a parent will

P3 2 PER FORMAN CES MAGA ZINE

GIFT CERTIFICATES Gift certificates may be purchased in any amount at the Jacobs Music Center Ticket Office in person, online, by phone, or by mail.

They never expire!

Large-Print Programs: Large-print program notes are available for patrons at all Jacobs Masterworks concerts. Copies may be obtained from an usher.

PUBLIC RESTROOMS AND TELEPHONES Restrooms are located on the north and south ends of the upper lobby, and the north end of the lower lobby. An ADA compliant restroom is located on each floor. Please ask an usher for assistance at any time. Patrons may contact the nearest usher to facilitate any emergency telephone calls.

COUGH DROPS Complimentary cough suppressants are available to symphony patrons. Please ask our house staff for assistance.

QUIET ZONE Please turn all cellular and paging devices to the vibrate or off position upon entry into Symphony Hall. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated by fellow concertgoers and performers.

LOST & FOUND Report all lost and/or found items to your nearest usher. If you have discovered that you misplaced something after your departure from Jacobs Music Center, call the Facilities Department at 619.615.3909.

RECORDING DEVICES No unauthorized cameras or recording devices of any other kind are allowed inside the concert hall. Cell phone photography is not permitted.

PRE-CONCERT TALKS Patrons holding tickets to our Jacobs Masterworks Series concerts are invited to come early for “What’s The Score?” preperformance conversations beginning 45 minutes prior to all Jacobs Masterworks programs (Fridays and Saturdays, 7:15 pm; Sundays, 1:15 pm).

SMOKING POLICY Smoking is not permitted in Jacobs Music Center, its lobbies or the adjoining Symphony Towers lobby. Ashtrays can be found outside the building on both 7th Avenue and B Street.

ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES AND REFRESHMENTS Alcoholic beverages are available for sale in Jacobs Music Center lobbies before the concert and during intermission. Please have valid identification available and please drink responsibly. Refreshment bars offering snacks and beverages are located on both upper and lower lobbies for most events. Food and beverages are not allowed in performance chamber for concerts.

LATE SEATING Latecomers will be seated at an appropriate interval in the concert as determined by the house manager. We ask that you remain in your ticketed seat until the concert has concluded.

Should special circumstances exist or arise, please contact the nearest usher for assistance.

SPECIAL ACCOMMODATIONS Seating: ADA seating for both transfer and non-transfer wheelchairs, as well as restrooms, are available at each performance. Please notify the Ticket Office in advance at 619.235.0804, so that an usher may assist you.

Assistive Listening Devices: A limited number of hearing enhancement devices are available at no cost. Please ask an usher for assistance.

HALL TOURS Free tours of the Jacobs Music Center are given each month of the winter season. Check the “Jacobs Music Center” section of the website, or call 619.615.3955 for more details.

No reservations are necessary.

JACOBS MUSIC CENTER TICKET OFFICE 750 B Street (NE Corner of 7th and B, Downtown San Diego) San Diego, CA 92101 Phone: 619.235.0804 Fax: 619.231.3848 SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ADMINISTRATION OFFICE 1245 7th Avenue San Diego, CA 92101 Phone: 619.235.0800 Fax: 619.235.0005

Our Website: SanDiegoSymphony.com

Contact us to receive mailed or e-mailed updates about Orchestra events.

All artists, programs and dates are subject to change.

S A N D I E G O SYM PH O NY O R C H E ST R A W I N T E R S E A S O N MAR C H 2016