Park University ICM Presents: Valentine's Week Concert, 2024

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PARK UNIVERSITY INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR MUSIC PRESENTS

PARK ICM ORCHESTRA

Valentine’s Week Concert with Guest Conductor

Tim Hankewich

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A MESSAGE FROM PARK ICM’S FOUNDER Dear Esteemed Patrons and Devotees of Music, It’s not merely the notes that create a melody but the passion and dedication behind each one. As the Artistic Director of the International Center for Music, my journey in music has been deeply personal and profoundly enriching. The same fervor that drove me to delve into the depths of musical discipline drives our students, faculty, and guests artists. Their commitment to their craft is not only a source of endless inspiration but also what sets our program apart. Kansas City is truly privileged, as within its bounds lies an audience with an appetite for genuine talent and a heart that beats in rhythm with the finest melodies. Our concert series provides an invaluable opportunity to experience this prodigious talent in an accessible manner, making worldclass music available to all. Our mission at the International Center for Music at Park University has always been clear – to offer an environment reminiscent of the intensive training I was fortunate to undergo, a space free from distractions where the sole focus is on achieving musical excellence without the burden of financial pressures. In addition to our homegrown prodigies, the ICM Concert Series is also graced by legendary guest performers, individuals whose contributions to the world of music have been monumental. As we usher in another season of musical brilliance, I warmly invite you to be a part of our melodious journey. Come, immerse yourself in a world where past, present, and future converge in harmonious symphony. With profound gratitude,

Stanislav Ioudenitch Founder and Artistic Director International Center for Music at Park University

P.S. Each performance is a manifestation of our shared love for music. Your presence and applause amplify our drive to elevate the art form further.


Programme PARK ICM ORCHESTRA VALENTINE’S WEEK CONCERT WITH GUEST CONDUCTOR TIM HANKEWICH STEVEN MCDONALD, MUSIC DIRECTOR

“Air” from Suite in D Major, S.1068

........................................................ Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in C Major, K.467

....................................................... Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91) Allegro maestoso Andante Allegro vivace assai

MICHAEL DAVIDMAN

piano

INTERMISSION

String Quintet in E Major, op.11, no.5: Minuet and Trio

..................................................................... Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805)


Claire de Lune

..................................................................... Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

Arr. Matthew Naughtin

Serenade

....................................................................... Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

Arr. Cliff Colnot

Flower Duet from Lakme

............................................................................... Leo Delibes (1836-91)

Arr. Frank Halferty

“Spring” from The Four Seasons

...................................................................... Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) Allegro Largo Allegro Pastorale

ILKHOM MUKHIDINNOV

violin


ABOUT TONIGHT’S GUEST CONDUCTOR

TIM HANKEWICH The 2023-24 season marks Timothy Hankewich’s 18th year as Music Director of Orchestra Iowa. Hankewich, who is popular with audiences and critics alike, has earned an outstanding reputation as a maestro whose classical artistry is as inspiring as his personality is engaging. Recent guest appearances have included performances with the Jacksonville, Victoria, and Hamilton Symphonies as well as a tour throughout the Czech Republic and Slovakia with the Moravian Philharmonic and the Slovak State Orchestra. In September of 2014, Orchestra Iowa under Maestro Hankewich’s direction released its first ever commercial recording featuring composer Michael Daugherty’s American Gothic. While in Iowa, Maestro Hankewich led his organization through a catastrophic flood in 2008 and raised it to new heights of artistic accomplishment and financial security. He helped restore its damaged performance venue, aided in the reconstruction of its offices, and helped implement a new successful business model allowing the orchestra to grow. Because of these achievements, he has been asked to advise boards of directors of other orchestras on how to achieve meaningful artistic and financial health in the wake of a crisis. Prior to his position with Orchestra Iowa, Mr. Hankewich served as the Resident Conductor of the Kansas City Symphony for seven years. He has held additional staff conducting positions with the Oregon Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, and the Evansville Philharmonic. Winner of the prestigious Aspen Conducting Award in 1997, Hankewich has enjoyed appearing often as a guest conductor, leading such organizations as Orchestra London, the KitchenerWaterloo Symphony, as well as the Windsor, Santa Rosa, Indianapolis, Oregon and China Broadcasting Symphony Orchestras.


Timothy Hankewich is a native of Dawson Creek, British Columbia and is married to his wife Jill, a pharmacist. He graduated from the University of Alberta, earning his Bachelor of Music degree with honors in piano performance under Professor Alexandra Munn, and a Master’s degree in choral conducting under the direction of Dr. Leonard Ratzlaff. He received his doctorate in instrumental and opera conducting from Indiana University, where his primary teachers were Imre Palló and Thomas Baldner. His studies have also included summers in Vienna and Aspen where he worked under the tutelage of Maestros David Zinman, Bruno Weill, Yuri Temirkanov, Robert Spano, Michael Stern, Murray Sidlin, Julius Rudel, James DePreist, and James Conlon.

ABOUT TONIGHT’S MUSIC DIRECTOR

Steven McDonald Originally from Reading, Mass., Steven McDonald, director of orchestral activities, has served on the faculties of the University of Kansas, Boston University and Gordon College. While in Boston, he conducted a number of ensembles, including Musica Modus Vivendi, the student early music group at Harvard University. McDonald also directed ensembles at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, serving as founder and music director of the Summer Opera and Independent Activities Period Orchestra, and conductor of the MIT Chamber Orchestra and the Gilbert and Sullivan Players. At the University of Kansas, McDonald served as assistant conductor of the KU Symphony, and was the founder and music director of the Camerata Ensemble of non-music majors, and of the chamber orchestra “Sine Nomine,” a select ensemble of performance majors. Additionally, he has conducted performances of the KU Opera. He has also served as vocal coach at the Boston University Opera Institute and at Gordon College. McDonald served as music director of the Lawrence (Kan.) Chamber Orchestra from 2007-14, during which time the group transformed into a professional ensemble whose repertoire featured inventive theme


programs and multimedia performances. In 2009, he was selected to conduct the Missouri All-State High School Orchestra, and in 2011 was the first conductor selected as guest clinician at the Noel Pointer Foundation School of Music which serves inner-city students in Brooklyn, N.Y. An avid proponent of early music, McDonald has also taught Baroque performance practice at the Ottawa Suzuki Strings Institute summer music program, and regularly incorporates historically informed practice into his performances. McDonald is a graduate of the Boston University School for the Arts, the Sweelinck Conservatory of Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and the University of Kansas School of Fine Arts.

ABOUT TONIGHT’S GUEST ARTISTS

Michael Davidman Michael began his piano studies at the age of five at the Greenwich House Music School, continuing with Efrem Briskin at the Manhattan School of Music precollege division. Michael completed his Bachelor of Music degree under the guidance of Robert McDonald, also with mentor and teacher Ford Mylius Lallerstedt at the Curtis Institute of Music, his Master of Music degree at the Juilliard School with pianists Jerome Lowenthal and Stephen Hough. Presently, Michael is finishing an Artist Diploma studying with Stanislav Ioudenitch at the International Center for Music (ICM), Kansas City, MO. A dedicated and disciplined young musician, Michael has won numerous piano competitions, including the 2022 Long-Thibaud International Piano Competition, third place and Orchestra prize, 2021 American Pianists Association finalist award, winner 2019 Juilliard Gina Bachauer Competition, first prize 2018 New York International Piano Competition chamber ensemble, and first prizes in both soloist and concerto categories at the 33rd Ithaca College of Music Piano Competition. Michael has also received a four year scholarship from the Chopin Foundation of the United States.


As soloist, he has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestre Symponique de la Garde Republicaine, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Symphonicity, Monterey Symphony, Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra, Yonkers Philharmonic Orchestra, Ithaca College Orchestra, Manhattan School of Music Philharmonic Orchestra, Summit Music Festival Orchestra, Bronx Arts Ensemble Orchestra, New York Concerti Sinfonietta, NY Chamber Orchestra, and the West Point Band. He has performed at Salle Cortot, Théâtre du Châtelet, Alice Tully Hall, Weill Recital Hall, the Kimmel Center, Sandler Center, Symphony Space, and Merkin Concert Hall. The festivals he has attended include the Encuentro de Musica festival in Santander, Spain, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival (Yale), Music Academy of the West, Kneisel Hall, Summit Music Festival, Music@Menlo, and PianoFest in the Hamptons. Michael has also performed on WHYY “Curtis On Stage”, WQXR McGraw Hill Young Artist Showcase - “The Robert Sherman Show”, WSKG-FM radio Expressions Series, NPR’s radio program “From the Top”, and “Piano Evenings with David Dubal.” An exceptional presence on the concert stage, Michael has repeatedly earned glowing reviews in the press: “The American Michael Davidman, 25, sets the bar high with a program focused on the spectacular and the atmospheric, impressing the public…his chiseled and fiery playing tends to extremes, breathtaking and flamboyant, continues with Rachmaninov’s 2nd sonata, which gives pride of place to the explosive touch of the pianist to the delight of an audience enthusiastic”; 2022 Long-Thibaud Competition, semifinals, (Pianiste, by Melissa Khong); “2021 American Pianists Awards concerto round: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat Major, S.124…the excitement of the “Allegro Marziale animato” was introduced with masterly suspense, and the thrills of that finale seemed truly earned by the “intense sensitivity” the pianist had displayed previously…this was not adventitious excitement applied out of nowhere; it had been present, thanks to Davidman’s acuity and interpretive élan, from the start…all told, this was one of the best concerto performances I’ve heard in recent years, (Upstage - Indianapolis, IN - Jay Harvey, June 27, 2021). An opera enthusiast from a very young age, Michael does audio restoration and cleaning work on historical and rare opera recordings, uploaded to his YouTube channel called PucciniMD.


Ilkhom Mukhiddinov Uzbekistan-born violinist Ilkhom Mukhiddinov has won acclaim for his high professionalism. His extraordinary technical abilities transmit a fresh interpretation of standard and contemporary classical repertoire. Born in Tashkent in 2001 into a family of musicians, Ilkhom started his musical journey in the Uspensky Specialized Music Lyceum. Ilkhom made his debut with the Uspensky Symphony Orchestra at the age of 7. He also performed with groups including; the National Symphony Orchestra of Uzbekistan, the Soloists of Uzbekistan Chamber Orchestra, the Turkiston Chamber Orchestra and the Young Talents Chamber Orchestra. Additionally he has performed with Orchestras in the United States such as the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, ICM Chamber Orchestra and he is looking forward to the concert engagement with Springfield Symphony in February 2023. Since 2012, Ilkhom has has been named prize winner of over 10 competitions and festivals. Some of his recent awards include first prize at the Hellam Young Artist Competition, finalist and “Jury special mention” at the Leonid Kogan international Competition, and 1st Prize at the Naftzger competition. Ilkhom has worked with a number of internationally recognized concert artists and pedagogues such as Miriam Fried, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Gil Shaham, Nicholas Kitchen, Ani Kavafian, Mark Kaplan, Danny Phillips, Francesca dePasquale and Jaime Laredo. Currently Ilkhom is pursuing a Graduate Certificate in Music Performance at the International Center for Music at Park University, where he studies with Ben Sayevich.


ICM Orchestra

STEVEN MCDONALD, MUSIC DIRECTOR

Flute

Christina Webster

Oboe

Erin Huneke Fiona Slaughter

Bassoon Austin Way Erin Gehlbach

Horn Dwight Purvis

Justin Mohling

Trumpet Andrew Bishop Hyojoon Park

Percussion Mark Lowry

Violin I

Mumin Turgunov, concertmaster Soobeen Nam Ilkhom Mukhiddinov Aviv Daniel Matthew Bennett

Violin II

Alice Palese, principal Yin-Shiuan Ting Yuren Zhang Casey Gregory

Viola

Christian dos Santos, principal Victor Diaz Ali Golozar Andrew Bonci Shelley Armer Peter Chun

Cello

James Farquhar, principal Mardon Abdurakhmonov Diyorbek Nortojiyev Ainaz Jalilpour Jordan Proctor Otabek Guchkulov

Bass

Kassandra Ferrero Krista Koffer


PROGRAM NOTES

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068 II. Air Every now and then someone writes a melody so that is so beautiful — so natural of contour, so effortlessly expressive — that it feels as if it has always existed. Bach’s Air surely counts among these, and as unassuming as it seems nestled in the composer’s Third Orchestral Suite, it remains one of the composer’s most remarkable, and recognizable, tunes. And to think it might have had its first performance in a coffee shop! For thus was the atmosphere of Leipzig’s Collegium musicum, the informal ensemble of university students and others who would meet once or twice a week to perform new and existing music — often at favorite student haunts such as Gottfried Zimmermann’s Coffee House. Many of these young academics were so gifted musically that they would later take professional posts at courts or churches in the region. Leipzig’s Collegium was generations old, but Georg Philipp Telemann had revived it in 1701, and he and his successor, Georg Balthasar Schott, transformed it into such a prestigious enterprise that Bach was later able to use its musicians for large choral-orchestral works such as the Passions (which called upon larger forces than Bach normally had at his disposal). The group often included vocalists, too, and its concerts were known for great variety. Bach took charge of the Collegium in 1729 and immediately began programming performances of the two Violin Concertos and the Orchestral Suite No. 3. It was for these musicians, who could number as many as 40 or 50, that he evidently composed all but the first of his four Ouvertures (or Orchestral Suites, as they are called today). Do you suppose those audiences realized, when hearing the Air for the first time at Zimmermann’s café, that 300 years hence it would still be a worldwide “hit”?


Incidentally, the Air’s celebrated nickname grew not from Bach’s original but from a version for violin and piano that August Wilhelmj published in 1871, in which the tune is transcribed so that it can be played on the violin’s lowest string.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91): Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467 (“Elvira Madigan”) When the 25-year-old Mozart first moved to Vienna in 1781, audiences of the imperial capital were mostly interested in his pianism. The Salzburg Sensation, still known throughout Europe as a keyboard wunderkind, was happy to oblige the public with a series of works that presented both his virtuosity and his growing compositional skills. The genre of the piano concerto with its solo heroics allowed him to highlight both. The 12 concertos he produced between 1782 and 1786 constitute some of his most significant music. Mozart was not kidding when he said he could “write out” a work in his head before putting a single note to paper. From 1784 to early 1785 he composed, with dazzling speed, no fewer than eight concertos, Nos. 14 through 21. As proof of his boast, he would often go onstage to perform these concertos with the solo part only partially notated. The rest he would “fill in” on the spot. In February and March of 1785, Mozart instigated a series of subscription concerts in Vienna’s Mehlgrube (“grain cellar”), attended by some 150 of the city’s most influential arts patrons. The C-major Concerto, K. 467, however, received its premiere at the Royal Burgtheater, a considerably more lavish affair. (Mozart’s father writes that the concert took in 559 gulden, quite a nice sum.) The score suggests that the work was begun in mid-February, and we know from Mozart’s catalogue of his own works that it was completed on March 9, 1785. Thus one of the composer’s most perfectly polished masterworks was written in three weeks — and was “completed” the day before the first performance! Sunny and ebullient, the K. 467 Concerto serves as a diametrical foil to its brooding companion, K. 466 in D minor, completed just weeks before. The Allegro maestoso contains no fewer than five marvelously crafted subjects, the first a march-like motif that creates a sense of hushed excitement. After a resplendent orchestral exposition, the piano enters in “mid-statement,” with a grand flourish that announces its presence in no uncertain terms. A long trill leads to the piano’s initial theme, derived from the orchestra’s second subject.


The Andante, popularized during the 1970s by its use in the Swedish film Elvira Madigan (and later pilfered for use on television, commercials, and popular songs), features lush, muted strings and a sumptuous cantabile melody that reminds us of Mozart’s affinity for opera. The spell of this “aria” is broken by the Allegro vivace assai, a dashing buffo movement of high humor and uncomplicated charm.

Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805): String Quintet in E major, Op. 11, No. 5 IIl. Minuet Where Haydn is the serenity of architecture, Boccherini is a sun-splashed Mediterranean garden; where Mozart is drama and indulgence, his Italian contemporary is confident restraint. In Boccherini’s singular works we hear a more overtly sensuous side of the Classical style that was found in the music of our familiar 18th-century masters. Born into a musical family in Lucca, Boccherini distinguished himself on the cello as a youth, and by his twenties he was touring the royal courts of Europe — Vienna, Rome, Milan, Paris. In 1769 he accepted a post at Madrid, in the service of the Infante Don Luis (brother of the Spanish King Charles III) — the experience, perhaps, that most profoundly affected his musical temperament. Later he spent time in Berlin, where he befriended the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm II, a music-lover and fellow cellist. Among Boccherini’s prodigious output are some 150 string quintets — scored not with two violas, as in Mozart’s quintets, but with two cellos. (Schubert would later assume this practice for his late C-major Quintet.) This was to some extent designed to give Friedrich Wilhelm a chance to play along, often perhaps with Boccherini himself on the other cello. The six quintets of Op. 11, which are sometimes performed by string orchestra, were written probably in 1771 and published in 1775. Even listeners who know little of Boccherini know his Minuet from the Fifth Quintet of this set: which has been used in commercials, video games, and films ranging from The Magnificent Andersons to This is Spinal Tap.


Claude Debussy (1862-1918), arr. Matthew Naughtin: Claire de lune The impact of Debussy’s music on the world can hardly be overestimated. With works such as the opera Pelléas et Mélisande; the orchestral Nocturnes, La Mer, and Ibéria; and piano works such as the Images and the Préludes, he established himself as one of the great innovators of the 20th century. So ubiquitous and natural is the dream-like, coloristic style he created that even today many composers end up writing “Debussian” music without even realizing it. This maverick forged a whole new approach to music, one that sought to balance form and feeling, architecture and color. “The primary aim of French music should be to bring pleasure,” Debussy said in 1904, in a comment that might contribute to our understanding of why the hedonistic modern world has embraced his sonic-harmonic aesthetic so profoundly. “Clair de lune” (Moonlight) was originally the third movement of a group of piano pieces called Suite bergamasque. Composed in 1890 and revised in 1905, this four-movement set is Chopinesque in texture and pastoral in outlook — yet deep within the nocturnal stillness of Clair de lune lurks a vague melancholy. It has become one of the most familiar of all piano pieces, and has also been arranged for a wide range of instruments and ensembles. Bergamasque refers not to the rustic dance style from Bergamo, but to a phrase in Paul Verlaine’s 1869 poem Clair de lune, whose ecstatic tone finds apt expression here: Your soul is an anointed landscape, where masques and bergamasques charmingly tread, playing the lute and dancing, and almost sad beneath their fantastical disguises. Singing all the while in minor mode, of all-conquering love and privileged lives; it’s as if they do not believe in their good fortune, as their song mingles with the moonlight. In the calm moonlight, sad and lovely, which makes birds dream in the trees,


and sob ecstatic fountains of tears, great tendrils of water among the marble carvings.

Franz Schubert (1797-1828), arr. Cliff Colnot: Ständchen (Serenade) During the last year of his brief life, Schubert penned some of the sunniest, most complex and yet formally ingenious works ever written. As his own life was coming to a tragic close, the 31-year-old infused Viennese Classicism with a new beginning — a blend of Classic balance with Romantic depth and drama. Think of it: Had he died just one year earlier, the world would be without the C-major Symphony (the “Great”), the Sixth Mass, Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, the last three piano sonatas, the String Quintet in C major, and the song cycle Schwanengesang. Though their interconnectedness is undeniable, the 14 songs of Schwanengesang were compiled after the composer’s death by the publisher Tobias Haslinger, and thus became a “cycle” only posthumously. Unlike Schubert’s Die Winterreise and Die schöne Müllerin, the set uses poetry of three different authors: Seven are by Ludwig Rellstab, six by Heinrich Heine, and one by Johann Gabriel Seidl (thought to be the last song that Schubert wrote). The notion that the composer might have been working on two separate sets is supported by his having offered the Heine songs to a publisher shortly before his death; the inclusion of the Seidl song was Haslinger’s afterthought, though hardly an idle one. The themes of these final songs are not far from those of Schubert’s earlier cycles: lost love, melancholy, heartbreak, even a yearning for death. Unlike the composer’s earlier Ständchen from 1826 (a “morning-serenade” set to Shakespeare’s cheery “Hark, Hark, the Lark” from Cymbeline), this later version is a night-serenade, imbued with pain and longing. Tonight’s arrangement by Cliff Colnot is from a set of excellent orchestrations of four songs from Schubert’s cycles. Rellstab’s text will help establish the mood: Softly my songs plead to you through the night, reaching down into the silent grove: Beloved, come to me!


Slender treetops rustle, whispering in the moonlight; do not fear, my darling, that the hostile betrayer will overhear us. Do you hear the nightingales trilling? Ah, they are imploring you, with their sweet, plaintive songs, imploring you on my behalf. They understand the heart’s yearning, they know the pain of love; with their silvery tones they touch every tender heart. Let your heart, too, be moved: Hear me, my beloved! Trembling, I wait for you! Come and make me happy!

Léo Delibes (1836-91), arr. Frank Halferty: Flower Duet from Lakmé Composers from Monteverdi to Mozart, Handel to Humperdinck, Strauss ( “Presentation of the Rose”) to Sondheim (“Every Day a Little Death”) have basked in the sonority of a soprano and a mezzo-soprano singing together, often in close harmony. These duets can reflect friendship, innocence, love — or the shared agony of impending doom. Two of the most famous occur in operas with remarkably similar story lines. In Delibes’ Lakmé (1883), set in colonial India, a British officer falls in love with Lakmé (Lakshmi), and when her father (a Brahmin priest) stabs him, the priestess nurses him back to health. But the officer decides that his military oath trumps all, and abandons Lakmé. In Puccini’s Madama Butterfly (1904), pretty much the same thing happens, except that we’re in Japan and the officer is American.


In Butterfly, the title character and her maid sing their Duet as they fill the house with petals in preparation for her officer’s arrival. Alas, he has arrived solely to claim custody of their son. She commits ritual “hara-kiri.” Fortunately, the Lakmé Flower Duet, here arranged for strings, is a more joyous affair. A familiar presence in films, television, and commercials, it occurs near the beginning of the opera, as our heroine and her servant happily gather flowers at the river. The music is filled with a joyful innocence that belies the fact that poor Lakmé, too, will soon take her own life

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741): The Four Seasons Spring The idea of depicting the seasons through music did not originate with Vivaldi. The sensuous languor of spring and the icy chill of winter have been favorite topics of composers at least since the Middle Ages. Still, the idea of characterizing all four seasons in a single setting reached its most eloquent expression in the four concertos that Antonio Vivaldi called Le quattro stagioni, published in Amsterdam in 1725. Dozens of subsequent composers have followed suit: Haydn in his oratorio, Glazunov in his ballet, Piazzolla and Max Richter in their “recompositions” of the Vivaldi. Vivaldi’s concertos were initially published as part of a larger set: Op. 8 includes 12 concertos that were published as The Contest of Harmony and Invention. Dedicated to Count Vaclav Morzin of Bohemia, a frequent visitor to Vivaldi’s Venice, this compilation contains some of the most dazzling instrumental music of the entire Baroque. Vivaldi has appended a sonnet to each of the published concertos of The Four Seasons. Though unsigned, many have assumed they are from Vivaldi’s own pen, partly because of the meticulous detail with which their programmatic elements follow the musical events of the concertos. Vivaldi’s conveyance of the mood of each season is more complex than it at first appears: The orchestral tuttis are generally used to depict the overall mood of the season, while the soloistic passages evoke more specific elements — such as the birdsongs heard at the opening of Spring. The poems are witty, informal, and fun. The text for Spring runs thus:


Allegro

Spring has come, and the birds joyfully welcome it with cheerful song, and the murmuring springs are softly caressed by sweet breezes. Now a black cloak covers the sky, as thunder and lightning announce themselves; later, the little birds that had remained silent return to their sweet song. Largo There on the pleasant flowery meadow, to the gentle rustle of leafy branches the goatherd sleeps, with his faithful dog beside him. Allegro Led by the rustic bagpipe’s festive sound, nymphs and shepherds dance gently beneath the brilliant canopy of spring.

-Paul Horsley


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PAT R O N S S O C I E T Y M E M B E R S The Park University International Center for Music’s Patrons Society was founded to help students achieve their dreams of having distinguished professional careers on the concert stage. Just as our faculty’s coaching is so fundamental to our students’ success, our Patrons’ backing provides direct support for our exceptionally talented students, concert season, outreach programs and our ability to impact the communities we serve through extraordinary musical performances. We are continually grateful for each and every one of our Patrons Society members. For additional information, please visit ICM.PARK.EDU under “Support Us.” We gratefully acknowledge these donors as of January 3, 2024.

SCHOLARSHIP

Brad and Marilyn Brewster * Steven Karbank * Benny and Edith Lee * Ronald and Phyllis Nolan * John and Debbie Starr * Steven and Evelina Swartzman * Jerry White and Cyprienne Simchowitz *

SUPERLATIVE

Richard J. Stern Foundation for the Arts – Commerce Bank, Trustee *

SUPREME

Jeffrey Anthony * Brad and Theresa Freilich * Shirley and Barnett C. Helzberg Jr. * Lockton Companies Inc. Muriel McBrien Kauffman Family Foundation Holly Nielsen * Mark Ptashne and Lucy Gordon Steinway Piano Gallery of Kansas City * Gary and Lynette Wages *


EXTRAORDINAIRE

Tom and Mary Bet Brown Vince and Julie Clark * The DeBruce Foundation Stanley Fisher and Rita Zhorov * Edward and Sandra Fried Mark One Electric Co. Susan Morgenthaler * Perspective Architecture & Design, LLC / Matt and Rhonda Masilionis William and Susie Popplewell Rex and Lori Sharp

PATRON

Kay Barnes and Thomas Van Dyke * Lisa Browar * Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner Wm. Robert Bucker Cluen Family Fund Mark and Gaye Cohen * Paul and Bunni Copaken Suzanne Crandall * Scott and Claudia Davis Beverly Lynn Evans Paul Fingersh and Brenda Althouse Jack and Pella Fingersh J. Scott Francis and Susan Gordon Donald Hall Colleen and Ihab Hassan * Lisa Merrill Hickok * JE Dunn Construction Company William and Regina Kort * Dean, ‘53 and Charlotte Larrick Brian McCallister / McCallister Law Firm Mira Mdivani / Mdivani Corporate Immigration Law Firm Jackie and John Middelkamp * Louise Morden Susan and Charles Porter Kevin and Jeanette Prenger, ’09 / ECCO Select * Steve and Karen Rothstein Stanley and Kathleen Shaffer * Shane and Angela Smeed Straub Construction John and Angela Walker * Nicole and Myron Wang * WSKF Architects * 2023-2024 Member


PARK ICM FOUNDATION BOARD The Park University International Center for Music Foundation exists to secure philanthropic resources that will provide direct and substantial support to the educational and promotional initiatives of the International Center for Music at Park University. With unwavering commitment, the Foundation endeavors to enhance awareness and broaden audiences across local, national, and international spheres.

Vince Clark, Chair Steve Karbank, Secretary Benny Lee, Treasurer Marilyn Brewster Lisa Browar Stan Fisher Brad Freilich Holly Nielsen Ron Nolan Shane Smeed John Starr Steve Swartzman Guy Townsend Angela Walker

PICTURED L-R: Julie Clark, Benny Lee, Shane Smeed, Park University President, Edith Lee, and Vince Clark.


To Kick Off Our Season: P A R K U N I V E R S I T Y INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR MUSIC

The thrilling combination of husband-and-wife duo Violinist Ben Sayevich has established himself as one of the most distinguished violinists and teachers of his generation. His wife, Lolita, a reputed concert pianist in her own right, earned first prizes at the Chopin International Piano Competition and the Nikolai Rubinstein International Piano Competition. The highlight of the evening will be the famed Sonata in A Major for Violin and Piano by César Franck and other works. BEN SAYEVICH, VIOLIN, LOLITA LISOVSKAYASAYEVICH, PIANO, FEBRUARY 29, 2024, 7:30 P.M. 1900 BUILDING MISSION WOODS, KAN.

GENERAL ADMISSION $30. STUDENTS $10 WITH I.D.

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NOVEMBER /DECEMBER 2022 VOLUME X IV, IS SUE 6 COVE R IN G K ANSA S CIT Y ’ S PE R F OR MIN G , VISUAL , CINE MATIC AND LITE R ARY AR T S

Nov/Dec 2022

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P A R K U N I V E R S I T Y INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR MUSIC

ICM will Present its Annual Spring Concert The Orchestra of the International Center for Music at Park University will present its annual spring concert under the direction of guest conductor Laura Jackson, Music Director and Conductor of the Reno Philharmonic Association. Maestra Jackson is making her return engagement with the ICM Orchestra, and has selected a program of works for string orchestra featuring music of Sir Edward Elgar, Patrick Harlin and Franz Schubert.

PARK ICM ORCHESTRA WITH LAURA JACKSON CONDUCTING March 15, 2024, 7:30 p.m. Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel CONCERT IS FREE WITH RESERVATION. SCAN THE CODE TO RSVP.

ICM.PARK.EDU.



Today’s Steinway:

WE STILL MAKE THEM LIKE WE USED TO...

. . . O N LY B E T T E R ! L e ar n m o re at steinway.com/today

s t e i n way p i a n o g a l l e ry 9512 marshall drive lenexa, ks 662 15 TEL: 913.815.1000 STEINWAYKC.COM

KANSAS CITY


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“For me, it’s not just... ‘I’m the doctor and you’re the patient.’ We’re partners.”

- Raed Al-Rajabi, MD Physician Medicine Clinical Oncology

I don’t know any other way to treat my cancer patients than to become their partner. To be available to them whenever they need me. And that’s not just when they’re sitting across from me at an appointment. Cancer is a unique journey. And for me and all of my team, the only way to undertake it is together. To schedule an appointment, call 913-588-1227 or visit KUCancerCenter.org to learn more.


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