Park University ICM Presents: Orchestra Season Finale Concert With Barbara Yahr, 2024

GRAHAM TYLER MEMORIAL CHAPEL APRIL 19, 2024

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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 world-class 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 BARBARA YAHR

Andante Festivo

............................................................. Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)

Concerto in D Major for Viola and Orchestra, op.1

............................................................... Carl Stamitz (1745-1801)

Allegro

Andante moderato

Rondeaux

Christian dos Santos viola

INTERMISSION

Symphony No.3 in A Minor, op.56, “Scottish”

......................................................... Felix Mendelssohn (1809-47)

Andante con moto; Allegro un poco agitato

Scherzo: vivace non troppo

Adagio cantabile

Allegro vivacissimo; Allegro maestoso assai

ABOUT TONIGHT’S GUEST CONDUCTOR

Barbara Yahr

Now in her twentieth season with the Greenwich Village Orchestra, Music Director Barbara Yahr continues to lead the orchestra to new levels of distinction.

A native of New York, Ms.Yahr’s career has spanned from the United States to Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Her previous posts include Principal Guest Conductor of the Munich Radio Orchestra, Resident Staff Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony under Maestro Lorin Maazel, and conductor of the Pittsburgh Youth Orchestra.

She has appeared as a guest conductor with such orchestras as the Bayerische Rundfunk, Dusseldorf Symphoniker, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Frankfurt Radio, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, Janacek Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony, and the National Symphony in Washington D.C. She has also conducted orchestras in Anchorage, Calgary, Chattanooga, Columbus, Detroit, Flint, Louisiana, New Mexico, Lubbock, and Richmond, as well as the Ohio Chamber Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber, Rochester Philharmonic, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, New World Symphony, and the Chautauqua Festival Symphony Orchestra. She has appeared in Israel conducting at music festivals in Jerusalem and Elat. As an opera conductor, she has led new productions in Frankfurt, Giessen, Tulsa, Cincinnati, Minnesota and at The Mannes School of Music in NYC. In recent years, she coached the actors on the set of the Amazon Series, Mozart in the Jungle, conducted the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra, the Chappaqua Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra musicians in a concert to benefit the Musicians of Steel fund.

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 ARTIST

Christian dos Santos

Christian Santos started his journey playing the Viola in 2012 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, at the age of 13. He studied at the Sao Paulo State Music School with violists Mariana Costa Gomes and Silvio Catto before becoming a student of Peter Chun at the International Center for Music at Park University. Christian has performed with several orchestras such as the Brazilian National Symphony Orchestra, Bauru Symphony Orchestra, Lins Youth Symphony Orchestra, and the exceptional Sao Paulo State Youth Orchestra, with which he recorded CDs with masterpieces such as Mahler’s 5th Symphony, Bartok’s Miraculous Mandarin, Kodaly’s Dances of Galanta, Claudio Santoro’s 9th Symphony, to name a few. In these orchestras he performed with prestigious conductors such as Giancarlo Guerrero, Marin Alsop, Michael Tilson Thomas, Neil Thompson, Claudio Cruz, Marcelo Leningher, Michal Klauza, Bruno Mantovani, and others.

When it comes to chamber music, Christian had amazing experiences in the Pianosofia (directed by the pianist Cristian Budu), Martinez Quartet, and Sao Paulo State Youth Orchestra String Quartet. He has had opportunities to work with other musicians such as Christoph Hartmann (Berlin Phil), Jon Thorne (London Phil), Shmuel Ashkenasi (Curtis), Ben Sayevich (Park University), Daniel Veis (Park University), the Modigliani Quartet members, etc. Currently, Christian is the violist of the Park Quartet at the International Center for Music and Viola Principle of the ICM Chamber Orchestra.

In music festivals, solo masterclasses, and international activities, Christian worked with artists such as Hsin Yun-Huang (Juilliard), Ruth Killius, Tim Deighton (Penn State), Hong Mei-Xiao (University of Arizona), Rafael Altino (Carl Nielsen Academy) Antal Zalai, Asbjørn Nørgaard (Danish Quartet), Agata Szymczewska (13th Wieniawski Winner), Antonio Meneses, to name a few. He also worked as guest and side-by-side performer for the New World Symphony, Youth Orchestra of Americas, and Boston Youth Symphony.

ICM Orchestra

STEVEN MCDONALD, MUSIC DIRECTOR

Violin I

Ilkhom Mukhiddinov, concertmaster

Aviv Daniel

Soobeen Nam

Eva Dove

Sun-Young Shin

Vincent Cart-Sanders

David Horak

Galo Alboreda

Violin II

Alice Palese, principal

Mumin Turgunov

Yuren Zhang

Isaac Villaroya

Matthew Bennett

Yin-Shiuan Ting

Casey Gregory

Joanna Metsker

Viola

Christian dos Santos, principal

Victor Diaz

Ali Golozar

Peter Chun

Andrew Bonci

Shelley Armer

Cello

James Farquhar, principal

Mardon Abdurakhmonov

Diyorbek Nortojiyev

Ainaz Jalilpour

Jordan Proctor

Otabek Guchkulov

Bass

Kassandra Ferrero

Minjoo Hwangbo

Flute

Christina Webster

Gina Hart-Kemper

Oboe

Erin Huneke

Fiona Slaughter

Clarinet

Justin Harbaugh

Leah Bernstein

Bassoon

Austin Way

Erin Gehlbach

Horn

Dwight Purvis

Justin Mohling

Brooklynne McGonagle

Jeremy Ulm

Trumpet

Hyojoon Park

Heaven Bataille

Timpani

Mark Lowry

PROGRAM NOTES

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957): Andante festivo

One would love to have seen Sibelius’ reaction when the Finnish physician and parliamentarian Walter Parviainen asked him to compose a cantata to commemorate the 25th anniversary of his family’s sawmill.

It’s true that Sibelius had written celebratory works before, for everything from coronations to university graduations. And there is a long history of music written to honor significant structures: from Guillaume du Fay’s Nuper rosarum flores (for the consecration of the Florence Cathedral in 1436) to Edgard Varèse’s Poème électronique (for Le Corbusier’s Philips Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair) and Britten’s War Requiem (for the 1962 reopening of Coventry Cathedral). But a sawmill?

On the other hand, we must keep in mind that the Säynätsalo mill (located on an island near the city of Jyväskylä) had more than just personal significance for Parviainen: The business his father founded had, in the early 20th century, helped develop this central Finnish region both economically and culturally. Thus it was not idly that the younger Parviainen solicited Sibelius, who instead of a cantata wrote a beautiful, austere miniature: a stately hymn for string quartet that would eventually accrue its own fame. If the Andante festivo is humbler than most commemorative works, it lives on in the repertory partly because Sibelius has used it to create a snapshot (some have said) of the placid forests and lakes of the region: a stunningly gorgeous landscape to which both composer and commissioner apparently felt a deep connection. In 1939 the composer, who had been out of public life for nearly 30 years, broke his silence when asked by New York Times critic Olin Downes — one of the most vigorous advocates for Sibelius’ music during the composer’s lifetime — to present a work of his choice on the radio as “Finland’s greeting to the world to celebrate the New York World’s Fair.”

Photo by DanielNyblin

Sibelius adapted the Andante festivo for string orchestra and timpani to mark the occasion, and he conducted it on New Year’s Day, 1939, with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. The recording of the broadcast, which occurred as war brewed in Europe, marks the only recorded example of Sibelius conducting his own work.

Carl Stamitz (1745-1801): Viola Concerto in D major, Op. 1

The Classical style in music has traditionally been defined so narrowly that you almost begin to wonder if it’s even a “thing.” The Renaissance and Baroque eras embrace dozens of significant composers whose music is performed with great frequency. And ask a dozen music fans who their favorite Romantic-period composer is and you’re likely to get a dozen different answers. Even a list of Neoclassical composers is long!

Yet for most of us, the “Classical style” consists of the music of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven up to the summer of 1803 — barely 30 years of music. Why so narrow? Could it be that the concerns of the Romantic period skewed our concept of what constituted good music?

Because if we widen our view of this period, which basically spans the entire Enlightenment and is thus not to be trifled with, we might begin to view Haydn’s Creation or Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik as bizarre aberrations.

Glorious ones, perhaps, but still slightly loopy compared to nearly everything else being composed during the period. Because the fact is that when you begin to stray outside of this little Viennese musical paroxysm you find marvelous things: from the piano concertos of Johann Christian Bach to the operas of Grétry, from the symphonies of Josef Mysliveček to the chamber music of the Benda family.

A case in point is the amiable, highly appealing D-major Viola Concerto of Carl

Stamitz, a string virtuoso who grew up in the rich musical cauldron of the Mannheim court, where his family had built a hyper-charged orchestral culture that was the envy of all Europe.

The musical establishment fostered by the Elector Palatine Karl Theodor consisted of top musicians from disbanded ensembles in Innsbruck and Düsseldorf, who found a home in an orchestra that began to rival those in Berlin and Vienna. Its central figure, Bohemian composer-violinist Johann Stamitz, is recognized as a pioneer in the genre of the symphony. His sons, Carl and Anton, grew into virtuosos probably thinking this is the way all orchestral playing was supposed to sound.

Johann died when Carl was just 12, after which the boy was trained by some of Germany’s best performers and composers, among them Christian Cannabich, Ignaz Holzbauer, and Franz Xaver Richter. He joined the Mannheim orchestra at age 17 and by his early twenties he was ready to travel. He and his younger brother, Anton, a violinist who also excelled on the viola, set out for Paris in 1772 and in subsequent years performed frequently on that city’s renowned Concert Spirituel.

Carl continued to travel: London, Berlin, Hamburg, Leipzig, Dresden, Strasbourg, Amsterdam, The Hague, Prague, and even St. Petersburg –performing in orchestras and sometimes appearing as soloist, often playing his own works. Along the way he composed prodigiously, completing some 50 symphonies, dozens of chamber works, 40 symphonies concertantes, and more than 100 concertos for violin, viola, viola d’amore, cello, clarinet, flute, bassoon, and other instruments.

The D-major Concerto’s Allegro (non troppo) displays piquant melodic material, skillful orchestration — with clarinets, common at Mannheim, adding warmth to the tone, and orchestral violas playing divisi — and elegant working-out of themes.

The opening movement is structured in the “double exposition” procedure common to Classical concertos: The orchestra presents the material first and is then joined by the soloist for a somewhat altered reiteration. There is perhaps a bit too much time spent on tonic here, but the writing for viola is highly dynamic and explores a range of colors, techniques, and registers.

The Andante moderato is like a mildly sorrowful opera aria, reminding us of the importance of vocal music in 18th-century musical training. (In addition to his 200 symphonies, Carl’s Viennese-born teacher Holzbauer wrote a number of successful operas; at one point he even earned Mozart’s admiration.) The Rondo (Allegretto) again follows structural conventions, with a minor-mode central section and more cheerful outer sections that provide ample solo display.

Mendelssohn’s grand tour of Europe in his early twenties had a profound impact on his music and on his world view. Breaking out of the idiosyncratic Berlin of his youth to see the world, he absorbed the wide range of experiences with great enthusiasm.

Unlike tiny Mozart, who was so young during his travels through France, Italy, and England that he was still soaking in the diverse musical styles he encountered, Mendelssohn arrived in the European capitals with his musical personality fully formed.

What he did absorb in London, Rome, Paris, and Vienna was more along the lines of atmosphere and variety: a deepening and enrichment that fed his natural talent his already mature compositional technique.

He was, in fact, at the top of his game. Several of his best-known compositions — the Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage and Hebrides overtures and the “Italian” and “Scottish” symphonies — had their direct conceptual origins during this five-year sojourn.

England and Scotland were among his first stops, and he found the latter un-expectedly engaging. Anyone who has visited Scotland knows of its breathtaking castles and ruins, its verdant landscapes, and its warm and witty people. The widely-read composer was also intrigued by the region’s historical dark side. “This evening in the twilight we went to the palace where Queen Mary lived and loved,” the composer wrote to his sister, Fanny, in July 1829.

He had come upon the castle known as Holyrood, and its stories fascinated him: such as that of David Rizzio, stabbed to death by assassins sent by Mary’s husband, who believed he was having an affair with his wife.

“A little room is shown there with a winding staircase leading up to the door,”

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847): Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56 (“Scottish”)

Photo by EduardMagnus

the composer wrote. “Up this way they came and found Rizzio in the little room, pulled him out, and three rooms off there is the dark corner where they murdered him. The chapel close to it is roofless now: Grass and ivy grow there and the altar at which Mary was crowned Queen of Scotland is broken. Everything is broken and moldering, the bright sky shines in. I believe I found today, in that chapel, the beginning of my ‘Scottish’ Symphony.”

Despite this auspicious if gory initial inspiration, which produced 16 measures of musical sketches, Mendelssohn was not to take up his “Scottish” Symphony until many years later. Immediately after the above visit, in fact, he traveled to Italy and, dazzled by sun and warmth, wrote: “Who can blame me if I am unable to put myself back into the foggy mood of Scotland?” With the magical Scottish moment dis-pelled, the composer took up the “Italian” and “Reformation” symphonies instead, not returning to finish the “Scottish” until 1842.

The latter (“No. 3”) was thus the last of Mendelssohn’s works in this genre to be finished, the final numbering thus reflecting the order of conception, rather than of completion. The “Scottish” received its belated premiere in March 1842 in Leipzig, with the composer leading the Gewandhaus Orchestra. Three months later he conducted the work in London, dedicating it to Queen Victoria. Mendelssohn himself did not actually title the piece “Scottish,” though he referred to it thus in his correspondence, and it does indeed retain a palpable flavor of the sadness of Scotland’s ancient hills.

The movements of this structurally unique work “must follow each other directly,” as the composer has written into the manuscript score, “and are not to be separated by the otherwise customary long pauses.”

A brooding introduction (Andante con moto) leads into a bristling main section (Allegro un poco agitato). A vibrant scherzo follows (Vivace non troppo), though the sense of melancholy returns in the Adagio. The finale builds anew toward a cli-max of majesty and joy — while never fully abandoning the weighty tristesse that is the symphony’s pervasive mood.

—Paul Horsley

MARCH 1 , 2025

KAUFFMAN CENTER

PRESENTED BY P ARK UNIVERSIT Y

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

Front row, from left – Stanley Fisher, Marilyn Brewster, Benny Lee, Ronald Nolan, Lisa Browar. Back row, from left: John Starr, Steve Swartzman, Vince Clark, Shane Smeed, Bradley Freilich, Guy Townsend, Steve Karbank. Holly Nielsen and Angela Walker out of camera range.

PICTURED L-R:

Gustavo Fernandez Agreda, ICM Coordinator

Daniel Veis, Cello Studio

Lisa Hickok, Executive Director

Ben Sayevich, Violin Studio

Lolita Lisovskaya-Sayevich, Director of Collaborative Piano

Steven McDonald, Director of Orchestra

Stanislav Ioudenitch, Founder & Artistic Director, Piano Studio

Peter Chun, Viola Studio

Not pictured: Behzod Abduraimov, Artist-in-Residence

Photo: Damian Gonzalez

PARK INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR MUSIC PATRONS SOCIETY

SUPPORT THE ICM, ENJOY BEAUTIFUL MUSIC AND SPECIAL EVENTS JUST FOR MEMBERS

BELOW ARE JUST A FEW OF OUR PATRONS ENJOYING GROUP EVENTS INCLUDING MEETING THE TALENTED ICM ARTISTS

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON HOW TO JOIN OUR PATRONS SOCIETY:

Lolita Lisovskaya-Sayevich, Evelina Swartzman and Ihab and Colleen Hassan

John and Karen Yungmeyer

Brad and Theresa Freilich, Evelina Swartzman, Shane Smeed and Steve Swartzman

Stanislav Ioudenitch, Angela Walker and Edith and Benny Lee

Ronald and Phyllis Nolan and Vince and Julie Clark

PARK

CENTER FOR MUSIC

PATRONS SOCIETY MEMBERS

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 February 20, 2024. * 2023-2024 Member

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

Doris Hamilton and Myron Sildon *

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

Kathleen Oldham *

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

Guy Townsend *

John and Angela Walker *

Nicole and Myron Wang *

WSKF Architects

When Stanislav loudenitch first started the Park International Center for Music, he began with a simple concept. Find exceptional music teachers, and give them the time, tools, focus, and dedication needed to transform exceptional students into masters themselves. An internationally-recognized Van Cliburn gold medalist, Ioudenitch assembled a team that shared his world-class skills and his passion for teaching. Other outstanding programs have great master instructors. But no other American conservatory lets those masters devote the time to their students like they do at Park ICM. Not even storied programs like Juilliard, Curtis, or Eastman.

Come experience the birth of our international stars. Visit ICM.PARK.EDU for our concert schedule today.

“These featured soloists from Park University’s International Center for Music represent not only the quality of performance in Kansas City, but the future of it, too.”

– THE KANSAS CITY STAR

Scan QR to view Park University’s Impact Report, The Ripple Effect, including stories about Park ICM students’ wellness training!

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