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David Alan Miller, Heinrich Medicus Music Director
DAVID
ALAN MILLER
CLARICE ASSAD
Our activities include everything from musician support (housing, driving, ushering), staff support (office, work, concert going), and major fundraising events to delightful social gatherings.
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DAVID ALAN MILLER
Heinrich Medicus Music Director
Two-time Grammy Award–winning conductor David Alan Miller has established a reputation as one of the leading American conductors of his generation. As music director of the Albany Symphony since 1992, Mr. Miller has proven himself a creative and compelling orchestra builder. Through exploration of unusual repertoire, educational programming, community outreach, and recording initiatives, he has reaffirmed the Albany Symphony’s reputation as the nation’s leading champion of American symphonic music and one of its most innovative orchestras. He and the orchestra have twice appeared at "Spring For Music," an annual festival of America's most creative orchestras at New York City's Carnegie Hall, and at the SHIFT Festival at the Kennedy
Center in Washington, D.C. Other accolades include Columbia University’s 2003 Ditson Conductor’s Award, the oldest award honoring conductors for their commitment to American music, the 2001 ASCAP Morton Gould Award for Innovative Programming, and, in 1999, ASCAP’s first-ever Leonard Bernstein Award for Outstanding Educational Programming.
Frequently in demand as a guest conductor, Mr. Miller has worked with most of America’s major orchestras, including the orchestras of Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco, as well as the New World Symphony, the Boston Pops, and the New York City Ballet. In addition, he has appeared frequently throughout Europe, the UK, Australia, and the Far East as guest conductor. Since 2019, Mr. Miller has served as Artistic Advisor to the Little Orchestra Society in New York City, and, from 2006 to 2012, served as Artistic Director of “New Paths in Music,” a festival of new music from around the world, also in New York City.
Mr. Miller received his most recent Grammy Award in 2021 for his recording of Christopher Theofanidis’ Viola Concerto, with Richard O’Neill and the Albany Symphony, and his first Grammy in 2014 for his Naxos recording of John Corigliano's "Conjurer," with the Albany Symphony and Dame Evelyn Glennie. His extensive discography also includes recordings of the works of Todd Levin with the London Symphony Orchestra for Deutsche Grammophon, as well as music by Michael Daugherty, Kamran Ince, Michael Torke (London/Decca), Luis Tinoco, and Christopher
Rouse (Naxos). His recordings with the Albany Symphony include discs devoted to the music of John Harbison, Roy Harris, Morton Gould, Don Gillis, Aaron J. Kernis, Peter Mennin, and Vincent Persichetti on the Albany Records label. He has also conducted the National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic in three acclaimed recordings on Naxos.
A native of Los Angeles, David Alan Miller holds a bachelor’s degree from the
University of California, Berkeley and a master’s degree in orchestral conducting from The Juilliard School. Prior to his appointment in Albany, Mr. Miller was associate conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. From 1982 to 1988, he was music director of the New York Youth Symphony, earning considerable acclaim for his work with that ensemble. Mr. Miller lives in Slingerlands, New York, a rural suburb of Albany.
MISSION
STATEMENT:
The Albany Symphony Orchestra celebrates our living musical heritage. Through brilliant live performances, innovative educational programming, and engaging cultural events, the Albany Symphony enriches a broad and diverse regional community. By creating, recording, and disseminating the music of our time, the Albany Symphony is establishing an enduring artistic legacy that is reshaping the nation’s musical future.
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ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL
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DAVID ALAN MILLER
Heinrich Medicus Music Director
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The Albany Symphony's string sections use revolving seating. Players behind the stationary chairs change seats systematically and are listed alphabetically.
VIOLIN
VACANT CONCERTMASTER LIFETIME CHAIR, GOLDBERG
CHARITABLE TRUST
Eiko Kano + ASSISTANT CONCERTMASTER
Elizabeth Silver ^
Jamecyn Morey ^
Paula Oakes ^ Funda Cizmecioglu PRINCIPAL SECOND VIOLIN
Mitsuko Suzuki
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL SECOND VIOLIN
Barbara Lapidus ^ ENDOWED BY MARISA AND ALLAN EISEMANN
Gabriela Rengel ^
Brigitte Brodwin
Ouisa Fohrhaltz
Heather Frank-Olsen
Emily Frederick
Rowan Harvey
Margret E. Hickey
Christine Kim
Aleksandra Labinska
Myles Mocarski
Kae Nakano
Harriet Dearden Welther
VIOLA
Noriko Futagami PRINCIPAL ENDOWED IN PERPETUITY BY THE ESTATE OF ALLAN F. NICKERSON
Sharon Bielik
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL
Carla Bellosa
Daniel Brye ^
Ting-Ying Chang-Chien
Anna Griffis
Hannah Levinson
CELLO
Susan Ruzow Debronsky
PRINCIPAL SPONSORED BY AL DE SALVO & SUSAN THOMPSON
Erica Pickhardt ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL
Hikaru Tamaki ^
Kevin Bellosa
Marie-Therese Dugre
Catherine Hackert
Li Pang
BASS
Bradley Aikman PRINCIPAL
Philip R. Helm
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL
Michael Fittipaldi ^ Luke Baker
James Caiello
Joshua DePoint
FLUTE
Ji Weon Ryu + PRINCIPAL
Mathew Ross +
OBOE
Karen Hosmer PRINCIPAL
Grace Shryock
CLARINET
VACANT PRINCIPAL IN MEMORY OF F.S. DEBEER, JR. -ELSA DEBEER IN MEMORY OF JUSTINE R.B. PERRY -DAVID A. PERRY
Bixby Kennedy
BASSOON
VACANT PRINCIPAL ENDOWED IN PERPETUITY BY THE ESTATE OF RICHARD SALISBURY
HORN
William J. Hughes PRINCIPAL
Joseph Demko
Alan Parshley
Victor Sungarian
TRUMPET
Eric M. Berlin PRINCIPAL
Eric J. Latini
TROMBONE
Greg Spiridopoulos PRINCIPAL
Karna Millen +
BASS TROMBONE
Charles Morris
TUBA
Derek Fenstermacher PRINCIPAL
TIMPANI
Kuljit Rehncy + PRINCIPAL
PERCUSSION
VACANT PRINCIPAL
Mark Foster
HARP
Lynette Wardle PRINCIPAL
PERSONNEL MANAGER
J.J. Johnson
LIBRARIANS
Jessica Bowen
Myles Mocarski
UNION STEWARD
Greg Spiridopoulos
SYMBOL KEY ^ STATIONARY CHAIR + ON LEAVE
YEFIM BRONFMAN PLAYS BRAHMS
SATURDAY | DECEMBER 9, 2023 | 7:30 PM
SUNDAY | DECEMBER 10, 2023 | 3:00 PM
TROY SAVINGS BANK MUSIC HALL
DAVID ALAN MILLER, CONDUCTOR YEFIM BRONFMAN, PIANO
Loren Loiacono
Beanie’s Chapbook (world premiere)
I. Beanie and Mirror-Cat
II. A Lullaby for Puffies
III. Outside Friends with Very Long Ears
Robert Schumann Symphony No. 4 (1810-1856)
I. Ziemlich langsam - Lebhaft
II. Romanze: Ziemlich langsam
III. Scherzo: Lebhaft
IV. Langsam - Lebhaft
INTERMISSION
Johannes Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 (1833-1897)
I. Allegro non troppo
II. Allegro appassionato
III. Andante
IV. Allegretto grazioso
CONCERT SPONSOR
All programs and artists are subject to change. During the performance, please silence mobile devices. Recording and photographing any part of the performance is strictly prohibited.
OVERVIEW
John Birge, host of the radio program Composers Datebook, always reminds us that “All music was once new.”
It’s a good reminder as we listen to tonight’s program, for in 1853 Robert Schumann wrote in a magazine article about his new acquaintance, 20-year-old Johannes Brahms, “There must… suddenly appear one who should utter the highest ideal expression of his time, who should claim the Mastership by no gradual development, but burst upon us fully equipped, as Minerva sprang from the brain of Jupiter…And he has come.”
Over time, of course, Brahms and Schumann himself have become pleasurably familiar to us, and now Dr. Loren Loiacono is becoming so: This is her fourth appearance with the ASO, and she also utters the “highest ideal expression of her time.”
LOREN LOIACONO
The music of Dr. Loren Loiacono has been described as “plush...elusive” (New York Times), “vivid and colorful” (Albany Times Union), “dreamy, lilting” (Pioneer Press), and “quirky and fun” (Bad Entertainment, Twin Cities). An emerging orchestral voice, Loiacono has received commissions and performances from such nationally esteemed ensembles as the Detroit Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Sacramento Philharmonic, Lexington Philharmonic and the American Composers Orchestra. She frequently collaborates with the Albany Symphony, partnering with them to create new concerti for Sandbox Percussion (2022) and pianist Vicky Chow (2018). Loiacono also served as the Albany Symphony’s Mellon ComposerEducator-in-Residence for the 2017-18 season.
A native of Long Island, New York, she holds degrees from Cornell University (D.M.A.) and Yale University (M.M./B.A.). She has held teaching positions at Colgate University, SUNY Purchase, and the Kaufman Music Center, and currently serves as Assistant Teaching Professor at Syracuse University’s Setnor School of Music.
To learn more about Loren Loiacono, visit lorenloiacono.com
BEANIE’S CHAPBOOK
Beanie’s Chapbook is a collection of miniature tone-poems, inspired by the long tradition of self-published chapbooks. With a history dating back to the 16th century, chapbooks are short collections of poems, songs, nursery rhymes, religious tracts and other forms of folk and popular literature. While their origins are humble, the tradition persists today as a realm for poets and artists to collect, share and experiment with ideas. The “poems” in Beanie’s Chapbook are not meant to be the ones I might write, but those that I imagine would be written by my very small, very anxious, very loud cat, Beanie.
DR. LOREN LOIACONO
The first movement, “Beanie and Mirror Cat” depicts Beanie’s nightly romp with the mysterious cat who appears in the bedroom mirror. The second movement, “A Lullaby for Puffies” is Beanie’s song for her collection of small stuffed toys (her “puffies”), which she lovingly cradles and bathes as if they’re her own kittens. The final movement, “Outside Friends with Very Long Ears”, depicts Beanie’s daily staring contest with the rabbits outside our dining room window, and her constant struggle to decide if they’re food, foes, or friends.
JOHANNES BRAHMS
With the exception of opera, Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) wrote successfully in every musical genre. Over 40 years he composed 120 catalogued works, the vast majority of superb quality. (He was his own worst critic and tore up many pieces he considered lacking.) He achieved enormous fame during his lifetime, but he was modest. “The fact that people in general do not know how to value the best—for example, Mozart’s concertos—is what we others live and grow famous on. If only people realized that what they get in drops from us, they can drink to the full from others!”
A little tongue-in-cheek? I think so. He could not have gone on composing all that time if he had not had a modicum of confidence.
PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2
Piano music bookends and anchors Brahms’s career. Opus 1 is a piano sonata in C major; opus 119 is a set of four piano pieces. In between he wrote songs and chamber music with brilliant piano accompaniment. This concerto follows the first by 22 years. It was premiered in 1881 by the composer, a formidable pianist, and the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of Alexander Erkel.
What distinguishes this concerto from virtually all others in the repertoire is its four-movement form, as opposed to the three-movement arrangement. Critic Eduard Hanslick called
it a “symphony with piano obbligato.” But, of course, the soloist plays too central a role to be merely decorative. The piece clocks in at about 45 minutes. About its size Brahms puckishly wrote to Clara Schumann, “I have written a tiny little piano concerto, with a tiny little wisp of a scherzo.”
Composed after two sunny sojourns in Italy, this Lilliputian effort begins with the French horn, an instrument Brahms played as a child and used beautifully throughout his career. (If you don’t know the astonishing Trio for Piano, Violin, and Horn, look it up.)
The horn’s tune, which simply explores the B-flat major scale, and the brief woodwind melody that follows form the heart of the entire movement. Right off the bat the piano has a knuckle-busting cadenza, an announcement of the kind of spread-fingered playing expected from the soloist throughout. The movement is about 17 minutes long, and it is full of brilliant development of the themes, clanging trills and tremolos, sudden outbursts, glittering arpeggios, and Brahms’s signature use of three-against-two rhythms.
The second movement is the unusual addition to the conventional fast-slow-fast arrangements of most concertos up to that point in time. It’s a scherzo (literally, “joke”), pulsing with energy as the piano slashes its way through
JOHANNES BRAHMS
an opening motive that covers one-and-a-half octaves in three measures. It’s soon followed by a sweet melody in the strings. Partway through the movement, the mood changes, an approximation of the typical trio section. In D major, it’s declamatory and slower than what has come before. It’s brief, however, and soon the orchestra picks up that aggressive first theme again, thus giving the movement an ABA structure.
The cello was another instrument Brahms learned as a child, and he wrote beautifully for it in the Double Concerto, in two sonatas, and many chamber music pieces. Here it introduces the third movement, marked andante (“walking”). Despite a foray into more dramatic music, with fistfuls of tremolos, the two clarinets and the reappearance of the cello solo give the movement a tender quality, one that is in contrast to everything else in the concerto. The finale was once characterized by Brahms’s biographer Alfred von Ehrmann “as gracious as a ballet, as witty as a comedy, sensitive as a pastoral play, as intoxicating as champagne.” It’s a movement made up of three tunes, in “a fusion of rondo form with sonata-allegro techniques,” according to Edward Downes. What this arrangement means to the listener is a frequent reappearance of the buoyant opening melody that links episodes, with interesting development of that tune. The pianist must skitter up and down the 88s, in octaves, trill like crazy, crank out arpeggios, punctuate rhythms, and steadily increase the speed. The concerto ends, all forces together, on a decisive B-flat major chord—the key of the piece and the place from which we started.
Concert notes by Paul Lamar
YEFIM BRONFMAN
Internationally recognized as one of today’s most acclaimed and admired pianists, Yefim Bronfman stands among a handful of artists regularly sought by festivals, orchestras, conductors and recital series. His commanding technique, power and exceptional lyrical gifts
are consistently acknowledged by the press and audiences alike. Born in Tashkent in the Soviet Union, Yefim Bronfman immigrated to Israel with his family in 1973, where he studied with pianist Arie Vardi, head of the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University. In the United States, he studied at The Juilliard School, Marlboro School of Music, and the Curtis Institute of Music, under Rudolf Firkusny, Leon Fleisher and Rudolf Serkin. A recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize, one of the highest honors given to American instrumentalists, in 2010 he was further honored as the recipient of the Jean Gimbel Lane prize in piano performance from Northwestern University and in 2015 with an honorary doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music.
To learn more about Yefim Bronfman, visit yefimbronfman.com
ROBERT SCHUMANN
Unlike Chopin, whose music he liked very much, Robert Schumann (1810-1856) was a polymath. He started out to be a pianist, but an injury put an end to a career as a virtuoso. However, he wrote brilliantly for the
YEFIM BRONFMAN
instrument—a piano concerto, song cycles whose accompaniment is nonpareil, and chamber music—not only because of his own gifts at the keyboard but because he was married to the concert pianist Clara Schumann. He founded and edited a music magazine, Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik, which gave him a platform to welcome new talent (like Chopin and Brahms) to the composing community. He was a conductor in Dusseldorf, though apparently not a particularly good one because his initial contract was not renewed. And he accomplished all of these activities while suffering throughout most of his life from some sort of nervous condition.
He died in an asylum two years after throwing himself into the Rhine in a suicide attempt, leaving, nevertheless a remarkable legacy of the aforementioned works plus four symphonies, overtures and even an opera.
SYMPHONY NO. 4
Schumann’s glorious Symphony No. 4, nominally his last, was actually the composer’s second symphonic utterance. It was composed and debuted in 1841, shortly after the completion of the Symphony No. 1. Schumann and his wife, Clara, also appeared on the program in a
Liszt show-stopper for two pianos, Hexameron; unfortunately, the audience was more impressed by this piece than the symphony. Dissatisfied with the work, Schumann tucked it away in a drawer and only returned to it 10 years later, in 1851. After major revisions the piece was ready for a new premiere, In March, 1853.
The work is in four distinct movements, but they are played without pause, an arrangement that bespeaks the symphony’s original title, Symphonic Fantasy. The opening is a deliberate and dramatic walking figure, which shortly gives way to, as Edward Downes calls it, a “swirling figure of sixteenth notes,” one which appears with frequency here and in the fourth movement. Listen for Schumann’s clever way of having one orchestral section begin a phrase and another complete it, or one section simply echo what another has just done. Listen, too, for the trombones forceful announcing of the conclusion of the movement.
The second movement (section), a beautiful romance, is in ABA form. The winds offer a plaintive melody in A, a solo violin spins out a sweet tune in B, and A returns.
The third movement is in ¾. The first part is characterized by a heavily accented melody, which contrasts with a delicate section. Each part is then repeated.
The fourth movement emerges from a dramatic bridge, with brass and tremolo strings suggesting that something momentous is about to happen. It does: D major is on the way! The tunes, many of which are made up of material familiar to us from before, are sunny; there is the hint of a fugue; and the tempo goes from lebhaft (lively) to presto, making for a slambang conclusion.
Schumann dedicated the final version of this symphony to the great violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim. The inscription reads, “When the first tones of this symphony were awakened, Mr. Joachim was still a little fellow (ten years old). Since then the symphony and still more the boy have grown bigger, wherefore I dedicate it to him.”
Vocal Selections from The Marriage of Figaro (1756-1791)
F.J. Haydn Symphony No. 80 (1732-1809)
I. Allegro spiritoso
II. Adagio
III. Menuetto
IV. Finale: presto
All programs and artists are subject to change. During the performance, please silence mobile devices. Recording and photographing any part of the performance is strictly prohibited.
HARRIET STEINKE
Harriet Steinke is an American composer from Detroit, Michigan. Her music has been described as “a sonorous space of tender moodiness and a patient disquiet” (pianist Lisa Moore) as well as “the antidote to those who say all new music is about struggle and strife, fearful of expression and especially of tenderness” (composer Piers Hellawell). She has received composition fellowships from the Norfolk and Tanglewood summer festivals and she earned undergraduate degrees in English and music at Butler University where her primary mentor was the composer Michael Schelle. She is currently in her third year of graduate studies at the Yale School of Music where her mentors are composers Chris Theofanidis, Aaron Jay Kernis, Martin Bresnick and David Lang.
To learn more about Harriet Steinke, visit harrietsteinke.com
THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote 18 operas, in various sizes, languages and styles. Idomeneo is an opera seria; Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro are examples of opera buffa; and The Magic Flute is considered a singspiel, that is, a musical entertainment with spoken dialogue and arias.
Lorenzo Da Ponte (1749-1838) used PierreAugustin Caron de Beaumarchais's stage play of the same name as a springboard for his libretto for tonight’s opera. As Jane Glover notes in her book Mozart’s Women, “Above all, Mozart and Da Ponte were both prepared to take risks, and were therefore profound innovators. Before they agreed to collaborate, Mozart had trawled disconsolately through more than 100 librettos, and found nothing to fire his imagination. What Da Ponte put before him was utterly different. No longer were they to concern themselves with the remote classical plots of opera seria; no longer would they bother with rescue operas set in exotic Eastern harems…The three librettos (on which they collaborated) were all effectively portraits of society in they both were living, of the people who inhabited it…” The opera received its premiere on May 1, 1786, in Vienna. The 4’ 15” overture, with its zip and sforzandi, promises merriment. The opera then begins with Figaro and Susanna discussing wedding plans and measuring the room they will inhabit after the ceremony. But it will be a rocky road they must travel before they can actually get the bed in there. Before the close of Act IV, Count and Countess Almaviva (for whom Figaro and Susanna work), Cherubino, Marcellina and Dr. Bartolo will, among other things, flirt, cross-dress, scheme and lament, all for the sake of lust—er, love. Figaro will even discover who his parents are! And, as with all comedies, these kerfuffles will give way to self-knowledge, repentance, forgiveness and a wedding, the ultimate guarantee that life will go on: comedy comes from the Greek word “comus,” which means fertility.
MOZART
PIANO CONCERTO NO. 19
If you tally up the number of the 27 piano concertos written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) that receive frequent performances, you arrive at, approximately, 13. Ludwig van Beethoven composed five; Brahms, two. Even the two master pianists/composers
HARRIET STEINKE
of the 19th century, Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt, produced but two each. Thus, Mozart’s cultivation of this genre is both unparalleled and extraordinary.
The orchestra opens the allegro vivace with a repeated F (the tonic—key—of the piece), jumps to a C (the dominant of F), and slides down the scale. In short it’s the simplest opening, but Mozart will make magic of it. The piano enters with the same little restrained figure. What to listen for? The charming flute color, the dialogue between piano and orchestra, the frequent reappearance of the opening motive, the dramatic harmonic turns in the development section, and the soloist’s bravura playing.
The second movement, in ¾, is conventional in its orchestral introduction and reply by the piano, and it’s built on three conventional ingredients: appoggiaturas, broken chords, and passagework. The mood darkens in the middle of the movement as the cheerful C major slips into C minor, but all is restored in C major at the end. The upbeat third movement begins in the piano, not the orchestra. The soloist lays down a perky tune in eighth notes, taken up with alacrity by the orchestra.
The pianist offers a second theme, but then the first bright melody comes back, repeatedly in a rondo-sonata form. Then a fugue, whose origins we heard briefly near the beginning of the movement but are now fully developed. Add a cadenza by Mozart himself, with the pianist purling up and down the keyboard with the right hand, outlining harmonies with a firm left hand, and producing sustained and masterful trills that must show no strain, and you have a 28-year-old master at his effervescent best.
YI-HENG YANG
As a soloist and collaborator, Dr. Yi-Heng Yang has appeared at festivals and series such as The Boston Early Music Festival, The New York Philharmonic Ensembles Series at Merkin Hall, The Serenata of Santa Fe Series, Sunday Chatter Albuquerque, The Dayton Early Music Series, The Frederick Collection, The
Finchcocks Collection, The Cobbe Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Apple Hill Chamber Music Festival, and the Utrecht Early Music Festival Fringe.
Yang holds a doctorate in piano from the Juilliard School, and studied there with Veda Kaplinksy, Robert McDonald and Julian Martin. She studied fortepiano with Stanley Hoogland at the Amsterdam Conservatory. Yang is on the faculty at The Juilliard School Preparatory and College Divisions, where she teaches piano, fortepiano, chamber music, keyboard skills and improvisation. She has also taught at The Mannes School of Music and Rutgers University. She is a director of The Academy for Fortepiano Performance in Hunter, NY, and the creator of their International Fortepiano Salon Series.
To learn more about Yi-Heng Yang, visit yihengyangpianist.com
FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN
SYMPHONY NO. 80
It’s the Symphony No. 94 by Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) that is known as “The Surprise,” but tonight’s symphony is packed with unexpected gestures! The first movement that runs a little more than five minutes has everything you could want by way of novelty, even if it is in the traditional sonata-allegro form:
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
two contrasting themes, a development section, a recapitulation, and a coda.
A fiery sturm-und-drang in D minor and ¾ time, with heavy accents, first commands our attention. Silences? Another surprise. The second tune is suddenly upon us, and it’s a quiet landler, an almost amusing answer to the first melody’s drama. Haydn also surprises us with dynamic shifts. The movement then switches to D major and concludes with two emphatic chords.
The second movement is an adagio in B-flat, though Haydn wanders through other keys in the development section. Rhythmically, we are reminded of the first movement in terms of dotted notes and grace notes, but there is real warmth— pathos even—here, achieved often through
lines descending by half steps. Listen for the conversation between the strings and the winds and note an extraordinary moment when the flute surprisingly holds onto a high C while the other forces chug along. Invention everywhere!
The 3’ 30” third movement is, characteristically, a heavy-footed menuetto/trio/menuetto. It’s in ¾ and D minor. The chief pleasure here is the graceful trio, featuring the winds and horn, each of which has a solo moment over accompanying strings.
The symphony concludes with a breathless fourand-a-half minute allegro in D major. Off-beats, flashy sixteenth-note runs, unusual silences, and sweet duetting in the oboes are the surprises Hayn has in store for us.
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Concert notes by Paul Lamar
DR. YI-HENG YANG FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN
SIMON + RHAPSODY IN BLUE @ 100
SATURDAY | FEBRUARY 10, 2024 | 7:30 PM
PROCTORS THEATRE
DAVID ALAN MILLER, CONDUCTOR
GREG SPIRIDOPOULOS, TROMBONE KEVIN COLE, PIANO
Carlos Simon AMEN!
George Gershwin Selections (1898-1937)
George Gershwin An American in Paris (1898-1937)
INTERMISSION
Jack Frerer Simon Says (Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra) (world premiere)
George Gershwin Selections (1898-1937)
George Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue (1898-1937)
CONCERT SPONSOR
All programs and artists are subject to change. During the performance, please silence mobile devices. Recording and photographing any part of the performance is strictly prohibited.
OVERVIEW
Tonight’s concert is Maestro Miller’s homage to a singular event in American musical history: the premiere 100 years ago of the jazz band version of Rhapsody in Blue. But, of course, as with virtually every ASO outing, the evening is about not only looking back but also looking forward; consequently, we’ll hear Carlos Simon’s thrilling AMEN!, commissioned by the University of Michigan Symphony Band, featuring the trombone; and Jack Frerer’s brand new concerto for that same instrument, premiered by Albany Symphony’s own principal Greg Spiridopoulos, two works by composers nearly as young as George Gershwin was when he penned this iconic piece.
CARLOS SIMON
Grammy-nominated Carlos Simon is a multigenre composer and performer who is a passionate advocate for diversity in music. As winner of the Sphinx Medal of Excellence 2021 and Composer-in-Residence at the Kennedy Center, Simon is a unique voice and sought-after cultural ambassador for new music globally as well as an important spokesperson for the Black community and new audiences. Simon is passionate about social outreach and his work addresses complex themes that include migration, belonging and community—especially illuminating the transatlantic slave trade, the Jim and Jane Crow era, and the injustice people of African ancestry face today. His unique upbringing and journey into music has resulted in his music possessing both classical textures and structures in a contemporary aesthetic alongside strong jazz, hip-hop and heavy gospel influences as well as branching out in to the world of film— Simon’s music transcends genre.
To learn more about Carlos Simon, visit carlossimonmusic.com
AMEN!
AMEN! (2017) was commissioned by the University of Michigan Symphony Band and is a homage to my family’s four generational affiliation with the Pentecostal church. My intent is to re-create the musical experience of an African American Pentecostal church service that I enjoyed being apart of while growing up in this denomination. Pentecostal denominations, such as: Church of God in Christ (C.O.G.IC.), Pentecostal Assemblies of God, Apostolic and Holiness Church, among many others, are known for their exuberant outward expressions of worship. The worship services in these churches will often have joyous dancing, spontaneous shouting, and soulful singing. The music in these worship services is a vital vehicle in fostering a genuine spiritual experience for the congregation. The three movements in AMEN!! are performed without break to depict how the different parts of a worship services flows into the next. In the first movement, I’ve imagined the sound of an exuberant choir and congregation singing harmoniously together in a call and response fashion. The soulful second movement quotes a gospel song, “I’ll Take Jesus For Mine” that I frequently heard in many services. The title, AMEN!, refers to the plagal cadence or “Amen” cadence (IV-I), which is the focal point of the climax in the final movement. Along with heavily syncopated rhythms and interjecting contrapuntal lines, this cadence modulates up by half step until we reach a frenzied state, emulating a spiritually heightened state of worship.
CARLOS SIMON
JACK FRERER
Described as “exciting…combining boomcrash orchestration with woozy portamenti and jazz elegance” by The New York Times, and “a theatrical spectacle” by Vogue, the music of Australian composer Jack Frerer (b. 1995) has been commissioned and performed by New York City Ballet, the Albany, Nashville, Sarasota and New Jersey symphony orchestras, the Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra, the Australian and Metropolitan youth orchestras, the Tanglewood Music Center, and the wind ensembles of UT Austin, UNT, Michigan and Cornell, among others. Frerer is the recipient of a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Morton Gould Composers Award from ASCAP, the Suzanne and Lee Ettelson Composers Award, and the Brian Israel Prize from the Society for New Music. He holds degrees from The Juilliard School and Yale School of Music, where he studied with John Corigliano, Chris Theofanidis, David Lang, Aaron Jay Kernis and Martin Bresnick, and currently teaches at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami.
To learn more about Jack Frerer, visit jackfrerer.com.
SIMON SAYS
(Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra)
“Those who can’t do, teach”—this maxim couldn’t be further from the truth in the world of classical music, where many at the top of the field serve as teachers. Greg Spiridopoulos, for whom this concerto was written, teaches. Marin Alsop and Itzhak Perlman teach. Haydn taught Beethoven, who taught Carl Czerny, who taught Liszt. “Doing” and teaching are inseparable in this career path, which leads to an interesting dynamic in music conservatories: students strive to work their way out of school, only to find that they’ve worked their way back in. This piece is about the pressures, challenges and joys of teaching, and invites you to imagine the trombonist as a teacher instructing an orchestra of students. Classroom teaching can be deeply frustrating and exhausting for all
involved, but is made worthwhile by the small victories: finding the perfect words to convey a complex idea, or seeing a struggling student grasp a challenging concept. It’s an endless cycle of exasperation and pride, one that I’m lucky to be part of.
GREG SPIRIDOPOULOS
Described by The Boston Globe as an “exemplary” musician, trombonist Greg Spiridopoulos is one of the most sought-after trombonists in New England. He holds Principal Trombone positions with the Albany Symphony Orchestra, Glimmerglass Opera Festival, Rhode Island Philharmonic, and Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as membership in the Portland Symphony Orchestra and the Empire Brass Quintet. Spiridopoulos has appeared as soloist with the Albany Symphony, Harvard Summer Pops, The Valley Winds, and other New England ensembles. Before joining the faculty at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2010, Spiridopoulos led a distinguished freelance career, with regular appearances with the Boston Symphony and
JACK FRERER
GREG SPIRIDOPOULOS
Boston Pops Orchestras, Boston Ballet Orchestra, Boston Lyric Opera, and the Handel and Haydn Society. As an educator, Spiridopoulos has presented numerous solo recitals and master classes, including Yale University, Eastman School of Music, McGill University, University of North Texas, Michigan State University, New Hampshire University, Ithaca College and Boston University.
Utilizing his position as Professor of Trombone at UMass, Spiridopoulos commissioned and recorded four new works for solo trombone and wind ensemble with the UMass Wind Ensemble and Symphony Band, which was released on the MSR Classics record label in October 2022. Fanfare magazine described the CD, entitled Synchronous: New Works for Trombone and Wind Ensemble, as “a superbly entertaining disc performed to the very highest standard. Spiridopoulos is a true virtuoso.” Spiridopoulos also recorded the solo album Along the Continuum: Music for Trumpet, Trombone and Piano, with ASO Principal Trumpet Eric Berlin, which was released in 2020.
A native of Vienna, Virginia, Spiridopoulos attended Michigan State University and received his Master of Music degree from Boston University. He is a Stephens Brass Instruments Performing Artist.
GEORGE GERSHWIN
In his famous song from 1971, “American Pie,” Don McLean referred to “the day the music died,” meaning February 3, 1959, when Buddy Holly, Ritchie and The Big Bopper perished in a plane crash.
For music lovers of a previous generation, the day the music died might have been July 11, 1937, the day George Gershwin died of a brain tumor. Indeed, the writer John O’Hara said, “George Gershwin died on July 11, 1937, but I don’t have to believe it if I don’t want to.” That’s how important Gershwin was to the American musical scene. He was a boy wonder who, according to George Gershwin, by Howard Pollack, “made his known debut as a composer and pianist…playing (a) somewhat raggy tango on March 21, 1914, as part of an evening’s entertainment at the Christ-
odora House…on the Lower East Side” (220). Five years later his music was on Broadway, and though he never abandoned musicals, he became increasingly interested in more than popular entertainments. The Concerto in F (1925) premiered about a year after Rhapsody in Blue because he wanted to write something serious, not jazz-related. And when, according to Gershwin biographer Edward Jablonski, 52-year-old French composer Maurice Ravel arrived in New York City in 1928 and asked to meet Gershwin and see a show by the 29-year-old music sensation, Gershwin turned around and petitioned Ravel for composition lessons; but the great man said no because Gershwin would only compromise his unique gifts and end up writing “’bad’ Ravel.” When, later, with a recommendation from Ravel in hand, Gershwin arrived in Paris, teacher Nadia Boulanger rebuffed Gershwin for the same reason. Indeed, the two French artists clearly recognized the power of Gershwin to contribute to, as Ravel put it, “a noble heritage in music.”
Gershwin’s lone opera, Porgy and Bess, premiered in 1935, and though it was built on blues and African American folk elements, it was an opera nonetheless. Had Gershwin not died at the age of 38, no doubt he would have continued branching out into serious music.
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS
Saint-Saens left France for Egypt and wrote his Piano Concerto No. 5 (the Egyptian). Antonín Dvořák left Czechoslovakia for the U.S. and wrote his Symphony No. 9 (From the New World). Edward Elgar left England for Italy and wrote In the South. And George Gershwin went to France in 1928 and composed this tone poem, the far-from-home
GEORGE GERSHWIN
impressions of a young man, who, in this case was always a young man, so brief was his life. What do you hear/see?
A jaunty stroll through the streets of Paris on a spring day. Car horns. A reference to the Spanish song “La Sorella,” which some of us know as the tune about a nickel, a pickle, and some chewing gum. A meditative section with violin solo, flute and celesta. A big tune introduced by the trumpet—some suggest that it depicts Gershwin’s homesickness. Whatever the prompt, it’s a sweeping melody that comes back a couple of other times, as piquantly as the familiar passage in Rhapsody in Blue. There’s jazz. There’s syncopation. There’s joie de vivre!
RHAPSODY IN BLUE
There were 22 players in Paul Whiteman’s (18901967) jazz band on February 12, 1924, to play the new Gershwin piece whose orchestration (by Ferde Grofe) had been completed just eight days before and whose piano part was not even fully written out: That was to be improvised by the young composer himself. The composition had come about rather unusually, when Whiteman announced in the newspaper in January of that year that Gershwin was going to premiere a new jazz concerto at a February concert of modern music. Gershwin had already declined Whiteman’s request for such a work because he and brother Ira were working on a new musical, but as Gershwin biographer Walter Rimler notes, Whiteman “did not want to be beaten to the punch by Vincent Lopez, another band leader who wanted to be the first to present jazz in a highbrow setting.” Whiteman prevailed. What was Gershwin’s intent with this composition? He said, “I heard it as a sort of musical kaleidoscope of America—of our vast melting pot, of our unduplicated national pep, of our blues, our metropolitan madness.” Did he succeed?
Check out the bluesy glissando of the clarinet at the beginning; the propulsive rhythms of—where else?—New York City; the gorgeous saxophone theme that makes your heart ache; the sudden, jazzy variation of a straight-forward phrase in the piano; and the bright color of every instrument,
sometimes muted just for sass. It’s a one-movement, 16-minute work of remarkable vitality. Or “pep”!
Gershwin concert notes by Paul Lamar
KEVIN COLE
Kevin Cole is an award-winning musical director, arranger, composer, vocalist and archivist who garnered the praises of Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen, E.Y. Harburg, Hugh Martin, Burton Lane, Stephen Sondheim, Marvin Hamlisch and members of the Jerome Kern and Gershwin families. Engagements for Cole include: sold-out performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl; BBC Concert Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall; National Symphony at the Kennedy Center; San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra (London); Hong Kong Philharmonic; Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra; New Zealand Symphony, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (Australia) Ravinia Festival, Wolf Trap, Savannah Music Festival, Castleton Festival, Chautauqua Institute, Carnegie Hall with Albany Symphony and many others. Cole was featured soloist for the PBS special "Gershwin at One Symphony Place" with the Nashville Symphony. He has shared the concert stage with William Warfield, Sylvia McNair, Lorin Maazel, Audra McDonald, Barbara Cook, and friend and mentor Marvin Hamlisch. In addition to his busy touring and performing schedule, Cole is currently Artist in Residence in Musical Theatre and Voice at Saginaw State University.
To learn more about Kevin Cole, visit kevincolemusic.com
KEVIN COLE
ALBANY SYMPHONY
BOARD & STAFF
BOARD
OFFICERS
Faith A. Takes, Chair
Marisa Eisemann, MD, Vice Chair
John Regan, Vice Chair
Daniel Kredentser, MD, Vice Chair
Dush Pathmanandam, Treasurer
Nicholas Faso, Secretary
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Kaweeda Adams
Melody Bruce, MD
Christopher Canada
Dr. Benjamin E. Chi
Marcia Cockrell
Ellen Cole, Ph. D.
Becky Daniels
Nicholas Faso
Maureen Geis (Ex Officio)
Alan Goldberg
Jerel Golub
Joseph T. Gravini
Catherine Hackert (Ex Officio)
Anthony P. Hazapis
Jahkeen Hoke
Edward M. Jennings
Judith Kahn
Mark P. Lasch
Steve Lobel
Cory Martin
Daniel P. McCoy (Ex Officio)
Anne Older
Henry Pohl
Barry Richman
David Rubin
Hon. Kathy M. Sheehan (Ex Officio)
Rabbi Scott Shpeen
Louis Solano
Christopher R. Stager
Deshanna Wiggins
DIRECTORS’ COUNCIL
Rhea Clark
Denise Gonick
Sherley Hannay
Judith B. McIlduff
John J. Nigro
STAFF
EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP
Anna Kuwabara, Executive Director
FINANCE
Scott Allen, Finance Director
DEVELOPMENT & MARKETING
Alayna Frey
Patron Services Manager
Keynola Russell Development Coordinator
EDUCATION & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Jae Gayle, Director of Education & Community Engagement
ARTISTIC OPERATIONS
Derek Smith
Director of Operations & Programming
JJ Johnson, Personnel Manager
Daniel Brye, Housing Coordinator
Jessica Bowen, Librarian
Myles Mocarski, Librarian
CORPORATE SPONSORS
The Albany Symphony acknowledges the support of our corporate sponsors whose contributions recognize the importance of the Albany Symphony in building civic pride, educating our youth, and contributing to the cultural life of all people in the Capital Region. Updated October 30, 2023.
This concert season has also been made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, the City of Albany, grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, the Capital District Economic Development Council, Vanguard-Albany Symphony, and the support of our donors, subscribers, and patrons.
MEDIA PARTNERS HOSPITALITY PARTNER
FOUNDATIONS, CORPORATIONS, & GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
The Albany Symphony is deeply grateful to the foundations, corporations, and government agencies whose ongoing support ensures the vitality of our orchestra. Updated September 8, 2023.
$100,000+
Empire State Development
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$25,000+
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$10,000+
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$5,000+
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Discover Albany
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$2,500+
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Charles R. Wood Foundation
Hudson River Bank & Trust
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NYS Canal Corporation and the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor
The Business for Good Foundation
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Fenimore Asset Management, Inc.The Troy Savings Bank
Charitable Foundation
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$1,500+
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$1,000+
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Philanthropic Fund Firestone Family Foundation
Hippo’s
Pearl Grant Richmans
Repeat Business Systems Inc.
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INDIVIDUAL GIVING
The Albany Symphony is grateful to the following individuals for their vital ongoing support. Updated October 30, 2023
*in memoriam
ALBANY SYMPHONY
AMBASSADORS
$25,000+
Charlotte Buchanan
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Opalka Family Donor Advised Fund of the Community Foundation for the Greater Capital Region
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Wayne and Monica Raveret Richter
Kenneth & Susan Ritzenberg
George & Ingrid Robinson
Eric S. Roccario MD
Ramon & Mary Rodriguez
H. Daniel Rogers
Mr. & Mrs. Harlan & Catherine B. Root
Mrs. Rosenfeld
Ms. Karen Elsa Roth
Andy Roy
Martha Rozett
Gretchen A. Rubenstein
Daniel and Meris Ruzow
Mr. John Paul Ryan
Ms. Margaret M. Ryan
Mr. William D. Salluzzo
Mary Kay Sawyer
William Schanck & Gail Haulenbeek
Joanne Scheibly
Dr. Harvey & Happy Scherer
Mr. Lawrence Schell
Lois & Barry Scherer
Kendra Schieber
Ralph & Dorothy Schultz
Mr. John Schwarz
Dodie & Pete Seagle
Ms. Pamela Selover
Wayne A. Senitta & Dan Washington
Ann Shapiro & Barry Pendergrass
Mrs. Dolores A. Shaw
Mr. John Sheppard
Susan V. Shipherd
Mr. Kenneth Singer
Mr. Norman Solomon
Ms. Nancy Spiegel
Mr. Ian R. St. George
John & Lois Staugaitis
Mr. Rudy Stegemoeller
Dr. & Mrs. Yaron & Katie Sternbach
David H. Steward
Hon. & Mrs. Larry G Storch
Ms. Katherine Storms
Nadine Stram
Norman and Adele Strominger
Sheila Sullivan
Andrew Swartz
Prof. Ben G. Szaro
Edwin and Pamela Taft
Ms. Jacqueline Tenney
Ms. Martha Teumim
Joseph Thatcher
Mr. Michael Tobin
Doris Tomer
Ms. Monica Trabold
Terry and Daniel Tyson
Michele Vennard and Gordon Lattey
Mr. James Vielkind-Neun
Maria Vincent
Janet Vine
Marc Violette and Margaret Lanoue
Martha von Schilgen
Dr. Dick Vosko
Rex W & Marion R Smith
Stephanie H. Wacholder & Ira Mendleson III
Mr. James Fleming & Lawrence Tyler Waite
Mr. Wolfgang Wehmann
Jerry & Betsy Weiss
Mr. Eric Dean Weiss
Sharon Wesley
Ms. Elizabeth F. Williams
Mr. David Wood
Ms. Susan Wood
Barbara Youngberg
Barbara Zavisky
IN HONOR, CELEBRATION & MEMORY
In Memory of Virginia Adams
Linda Dirga
In Memory of Sharon Bamberger
Joe Bamberger
In Memory of Jeanne Bourque
Chris Edwards
In Memory of Charles Buchanan
Anne & Thomas Older
In Memory of Neil C. Brown, Jr.
Thomas Cheles
John Davis
Dominick DeCecco
Robert & Pauline Grose
Gary Jones
Elinor & Michael Kelliher
Kersten Lorcher & Sylvia Brown
Deborah Mazzone
Dr. & Mrs. Thomas Older
Joseph & Patricia Potvin
Robert Joseph & Rosemarie Rizzo
Stuart Rubinstein
Mary Kay Sawyer
Patricia & Roger Swanson
Lisa Trubitt & Spiro Socaris
Maryalice & Bruce Svare
Jody & John Van Voris
Sharon A. Wesley
Mr. Meyer J. Wolin
Anne & Art Young
In Honor of David Ray & Mimi Bruce
Dorothy Seagle
In Memory of Charles Buchanan
Tom McGuire & Barbara Bradley
Dr. & Mrs. Thomas Older
In Memory of Jim Cark
Rhea Clark
In Honor of Elaine Conway
Elaine Verstandig
In Loving Memory of Adella Cooper
Miss Eileen C. Jones
In Memory of Elsa deBeer
Jenny deBeer Charno
Jo Ann & Buzzy Hofheimer
Susan Thompson*
Updated October 30, 2023. *In Memoriam
Peter & Rose-Marie Ten Eyck
Sarah & Patrick Carroll
Charlotte & Charles* Buchanan
John J. Nigro
New York Council of Nonprofits
David Scott Allen
Greta Berkson
Mary & Tom Harowski
Mary James
Sally & Edward Jennings
Leigh & Louis Lazaron
Susan Limeri
Ann Silverstein
Anna Taglieri
Enid Watsky
In Memory of Edna deBeer
Thomas & Ann Connolly
In Loving Memory of Frederick
S. deBeer, Jr.
David Scott Allen
Elsa G. deBeer
Adelaide Muhlfelder
In Honor of Craig Edwards and Anna Kuwabara
Karen & Chet Opalka
In Honor of Dr. Gustave Eisemann
Alan Goldberg
In Honor of Marisa Eisemann
Dr. Heinrich Medicus
In Loving Memory of Mary Rita Flanagan
Michael A. Byrne
In Memory of Dr. Alvin K. Fossner
Carl & Cathy Hackert
In Memory of Allan D. Foster
Mrs. Lois V. Foster
In Memory of Rachel Galperin
Margaret & Robert Schalit
In Memory of Shirley Gardam
Maryann Jablonowski
Reg Foster
Mary McCarthy
David Gardam
Doris Tomer
Stephanie Wacholder
In Memory of Jane Golub
Albany Symphony Orchestra Committee
In Honor of Jerry Golub
Sara & Barry Lee Larner
Mr. & Mrs. Gary & Deborah Goldstein
In Loving Memory of Roger Hannay
Alan Goldberg
In Memory of Jeffrey Herchenroder
Linda Anderson
Robert Akland
Ann-Marie Barker-Schwartz
Paula Brinkman
Elizabeth Bunday
Joseph Demko
Gary & Sandy Gnirrep
Guilderland Central Teachers Assoc.
Guilderland Music Parents and Friends Assoc.
Leif & Claudia Hartmark
Kelly Hill
Geneva Kraus
Lynwood Elementary
Marybeth Maikels
Sharen M. Michalec
Timothy & Kathleen M. Owens
Jocelyn Salada
Jacqueline West Farbman
In Loving Memory of Beatrice & Robert Herman
Arthur Herman
Dr. & Mrs. Neil Lempert
Lawrence Marwill
Louise & Larry Marwill
In Memory of Petia Kassarova
Julie & William Shapiro
Larry Waterman
In Memory of Audrey Kaufmann
Judith & Herbert Katz
In Memory of Louise Marshall
Kimberly Arnold
Gloria MacNeil
Jennifer Marshall
Susan Marshall
Ricki Pappo & Caleb Rogers
Ann & Mark Rogan
Beth Rosenzweig
In Memory of Susan Martula
Alex Wirth-Cauchon
Elena Duggan
Megumi Hemann
Edward Kish
Paul Lamar & Mark Eamer
David & Tanyss Martula
Thomas McGuire
Marsha Lawson
Anne & Thomas Older
Rider, Weiner & Frankel, P.C.
Margaret Schalit
Richard & Anne Martula
William & Julie Shapiro
Robert Sweet
Dawn Weinraub
In Memory of Frances McDonald
Ms. Barbara LaMarche
Mrs. Marcia F Serafin
Cynthia Serbent
In Loving Memory of Dr. Heinrich Medicus
Carol & Ronald Bailey
Paul & Bonnie Bruno
Elsa deBeer
Alan Goldberg
Dr. & Mrs Thomas Older
Harry G. Taylor
In Honor of David Alan Miller
Phyllis Cooney
Bonnie & Steven Cramer
Arthur Herman
Celine & Daniel Kredentser
Lois & Barry Scherer
Susan St. Amour
In Honor of Miranda, Elias, and Ari Miller
Bonnie Friedman & Gerald Miller
In Honor of Candida R. Moss
Marcia & Robert Moss
In Memory of Marcia Nickerson
Philip & Penny Bradshaw
Irene Wynnyczuk
In Honor of Connie and Ned O'Brien, long time Capitol Region music lovers
Ms. Diane O'Brien
In Loving Memory of Don B. O’Connor
Helen J. O’Connor
In Honor of Anne Older
Shannon Older-Amodeo & Matthew Amodeo
In Memory of Clyde Oser
Janice Oser
In Memory of Paul Pagerey
Peter & Ruth Pagerey
In Loving Memory of Jim Panton
Bonnie & Paul Bruno
Marcia & Findlay Cockrell
Nancy Goody
Mary Anne & Robert Lanni
Drs. Marisa & Allan Eisemann
David Alan Miller
In Memory of David Perry
Steven Fischer
William Hughes
Frederick Luddy
Richard & Anne Martula
James McGroarty & The NYCPGA
Robin Seletsky
Amy & Robert Sweet
Dawn Weinraub
In Memory of Justine R. B. Perry
Dr. David A. Perry
In Memory of Sally & Henry Peyrebrune
Mr. Steven Ainspan
Anonymous
Thomas & Ann Connolly
Jane Hargraft
Claire Malone
Mr. Jim and Mrs. Janie Schwab
In Loving Memory of Vera Propp
Dr. Richard Propp
In Loving Memory of Anne Posner
Dr. David Posner
In Honor of Carole Rasmussen
Elizabeth Williams
In Honor of Nancy & Barry Richman
Jan & Lois Dorman
In Honor of Jill Rifkin
James Bilik
Mary Brown
Matthew Collins
Mikaila Espera
Ellen Kelly
Deborah Liebman
Natalie Mantley
Roberta Sandler
Brad Smith
Katherine Wentworth-Ping
In Memory of John Leon Riley
Anne & Thomas Older
Chet & Karen Opalka
Jane Wait
In Memory of Lewis Rubenstein
Mark Aronowitz
August Costanza
Gina Costanza
Marcia Dunn
Susan & Stewart Frank
Arthur & Maxine Mattiske
Barbara Poole
Kathleen Pritty
In Memory of Pearl Sanders
Larry & Clara Sanders
In Honor of Ronnye Shamam
Samuel Berg
Ms. Barbara L Nelson
Mrs. Ruth L Pierpont
In Honor of Alice M. Trost
Don Edmans & Debra Pigliavento
In Memory of Gael Casey Vecchio
Aimee Allaud
Margaret Skinner
In Memory of Gerry Weber
Janet Angelis
Theresa Mayhew
In Memory of Dr. Manuel Vargas
Lois Foster
In Honor of Barbara and Steve Wiley
Paul Lamar
In Honor of Barbara Wiley
Elaine Walter
In Memory of George William "Bill" Zautner
John King
ENCORE SOCIETY ENCORE SOCIETY ENCORE SOCIETY
To keep orchestral music in our community and ensure future generations experience its joys, please consider joining the Albany Symphony Encore Society.
Gifts of all sizes make it possible for the Albany Symphony to maintain our tradition of artistic excellence, innovation and community engagement for generations to come.
There are many options to make a planned gift that enable anyone to leave a legacy of music:
Charitable bequests
IRA or 401(k) beneficiary designation
Gifts of life insurance or appreciated stocks
A bequest in a will or living trust
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE ENCORE SOCIETY, PLEASE CONTACT: Keynola Russell | (518) 465-4755 x145 | KeynolaR@AlbanySymphony.com
JOIN THE MEMBERS OF THE ENCORE SOCIETY IN CREATING YOUR OWN LEGACY
* in memoriam
Kaweeda G Adams
Anonymous
Melody Bruce, MD
Charlotte & Charles* Buchanan
Susan Bush
Susan Thompson* & Al De Salvo
Marisa Eisemann, MD
David Emanatian
Alan P. Goldberg
Jerel Golub
Robert & Monica Gordon
Edward M. Jennings
Judith Gaies Kahn
William Harris & Holly Katz
Steve Lobel
Harry Rutledge
Gretchen A & Lewis* C Rubenstein
Rachel & Dwight* Smith
Paul Wing
The Albany Symphony is grateful to the following Encore Society Legacy Members who live on in our hearts
Matthew Bender IV | Charles B Buchanan | Charles Liddle III
Adella S Cooper | Dr Heinrich Medicus | Marcia Nickerson
John L. Riley | Lewis C. Rubenstein | Ruth Ann Sandstedt
Dwight Smith | Harriet & Edward Thomas | Susan Thompson
At M&T Bank, we understand how important art is to a vibrant community. That’s why we offer our time, energy and resources to support artists of all kinds, and encourage others to do the same. Learn more at mtb.com.
