Scott Weiss, conductor
Hassan Anderson, oboe
Nicholas Susi, piano
September 28, 2023 | 7:30 p.m. Koger Center for the Arts
USC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Thursday, September 28, 2023 at 7:30 p.m. Koger Center for the Arts, Columbia
Scott Weiss, conductor
Hassan Anderson, oboe
Nicholas Susi, piano
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92 (1812)
Poco sostenuto - Vivace
Allegretto Presto
Allegro con brio
Adolphus Hailstork (b. 1941)
Songs of the Magi (1987)
The Call
The Journey
The Wonder
The Joy
Hassan Anderson, oboe
George Gershwin (1898-1937)
Orch. Ferde Grofé
Rhapsody in Blue (1924)
Nicholas Susi, piano
Scott Weiss is the Music Director and Conductor of the Aiken Symphony and the Director of Orchestras at the University of South Carolina School of Music. In demand internationally as a guest conductor, Scott has conducted recent performances with the orchestras of Shenzhen, Tianjin, Hunan, Inner Mongolia, Shandong and Nanchang and at major international venues including the Taipei National Theatre and Concert Hall, the National Centre for the Performing Arts Concert Hall in Beijing and the Hangzhou Grand Theatre Concert Hall. Soloists he has recently shared the stage with include Elena Urioste, Angelo Xiang Yu, Zuill Bailey, Awadagin Pratt, John O’Conor, Marina Lomazov and Paul Jacobs.
Scott has several critically-acclaimed recordings on the Naxos Records and Summit Records labels. His latest offering is the world premiere recording of Nico Muhly’s Reliable Sources, released on the Cantaloupe Music label in October 2021. The piece is one of dozens of new works that Scott has commissioned from many of today’s leading composers, including Samuel Adler, Jennifer Higdon, Zhou Long, Cindy McTee and Joseph Schwanter. At the University of South Carolina, Dr. Weiss is the Sarah Bolick Smith Distinguished Professor of Music. In addition to conducting the USC Symphony Orchestra, Professor Weiss leads the master’s and doctoral programs in orchestral conducting at USC, and his studio is a destination for talented young conductors from around the world. He is frequently invited to conduct performances and teach masterclasses at leading conservatoires and music schools, including the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, the Central Conservatory of Music (Beijing), the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and the University of Western Australia. Each summer, he teaches at the Los Angeles Conducting Workshop and Competition.
Born in Monterey, California in 1967, Scott holds degrees from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and the University of Illinois, where he studied conducting with Donald Schleicher. Before joining the faculty at the University of South Carolina in 2010, he held conducting posts at the University of Kansas and the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
Scott and his wife Teah are intrepid travelers and enjoy hiking, surfing and fine wines. They are the proud parents of John, a PhD student in chemistry at Northwestern University.
Named the Yale School of Music 2019 Distinguished Teaching Artist of the Year, American oboist Hassan Anderson is a soloist, chamber musician, conductor and teacher.
Noted for his clarity of tone, range of colors and energetic stage presence, Mr. Anderson was the oboist of the acclaimed, innovative New Yorkbased chamber music ensemble SHUFFLE Concert (Ensemble Mélange), a position he held from 2011-2018. With the ensemble, Mr. Anderson toured Israel three times and performed on series throughout the US and Canada.
Mr. Anderson has recorded an album of works by various artists, including Schumann, Gershwin, Avner Dorman (world premiere) and Jonathan Keren (world premiere) with SHUFFLE Concert (in-house label, Oct. 2013). He is also featured on Unremembered, a song cycle by Sarah Kirkland Snider (New Amsterdam Records, Sept. 2015). In March 2020, Mr. Anderson released (New Focus Recordings) a world-premiere recording with the East Coast Contemporary Ensemble of John Alyward’s Angelus. Mr. Anderson’s latest release is the 2023 Broadway Cast Recording of Lerner and Lowe’s Camelot.
A popular collaborator, amongst his numerous guest appearances with distinguished ensembles, are performances with the New York Philharmonic, American Ballet Theater, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, East Coast Contemporary Ensemble (ecce) and The Harlem Chamber Players.
Equally adept in the classical and jazz genres and dedicated to the next generation of musicians, Mr. Anderson regularly schedules teaching opportunities around his performances. He has been a teaching artist for Carnegie Hall (Weill Music Institute), The Little Orchestra Society in New York City, and Jazz House Kids, the only community arts organization in New Jersey exclusively dedicated to educating children through jazz. Mr. Anderson has also served on the faculties of The Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music and the Harlem School of the Arts.
Mr. Anderson is the Co-Artistic Director of The East Coast Contemporary Ensemble (ECCE), and Assistant Professor of Oboe, and Coordinator of Teaching Artistry at the University of South Carolina.
Currently, Mr. Anderson serves as Principal Oboe for Lincoln Center Theater’s production of Camelot on Broadway.
Described in The WholeNote as “an innovative musician and aggressive thinker with a gift for keyboard brilliance,” Dr. Nicholas Susi enjoys a multifaceted career living out his deep love of music. He recognizes that classical music has been a transformative force in his life, and seeks to share its power with others through his teaching and performing.
Dr. Susi has appeared as soloist in the concerti of Liszt with the Omaha Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia of Greater Kansas City, Taneycomo Festival Orchestra and Webster Symphony Orchestra, and he celebrated the composer’s bicentennial in 2011 with a series of performances of the complete Douze études d’exécution transcendante. In 2014, Susi advanced to the semifinals of the International Franz Liszt Piano Competition as one of two Americans selected worldwide to participate in this prestigious competition. Most recently, he made his debut as a published author in the 2020 edition of The Journal of the American Liszt Society
Dr. Susi’s research has been awarded grants from such organizations as the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD), Mu Phi Epsilon Foundation and Legacy Foundation for the Arts. These and other grants enabled him to travel, study and perform music across Europe; the experiences of researching Beethoven in Bonn, Debussy in Paris and Mozart in Vienna have been central to his development as a musician and to his cosmopolitan understanding of musical styles.
Stateside, Dr. Susi’s career took off upon winning the 2015 National Federation of Music Clubs (NFMC) Young Artist Competition, which resulted in performances, masterclasses and lectures across the country. At the same time, Susi recorded and released his debut album, Scarlatti Now, to critical acclaim; in addition to international radio airplay, the disc was featured on the prestigious Critics’ Choice list (2017) of American Record Guide and was chosen as a 1st place winner of The American Prize in 2018.
Dr. Susi is Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of South Carolina. He previously taught piano and music theory at The College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, MN. He completed his doctorate at the University of Michigan, with previous studies at the University of Kansas and at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln as a two-time DAAD grantee. Primary teachers include Zena Ilyashov, Jack Winerock, Nina Tichman and Arthur Greene.
Violin I
Holly Workman concertmaster
Miguel Calleja associate concertmaster
Aidan Billings
Julia Jacobsen
Henry Baker
Margie Moore
Maclean Tollefsen
Sally Cathcart
Dante Ciriello
Ziyi Deng
Hope Zinkann
Caitlyn McDonald
Ekemini Umanah
Violin II
Christina Brown principal
Elizabeth Sutherland assistant principal
William Edwards
Philip Howe
Naomi Wright
Giovanni Cusatis
Katie Rojas
Steven Humphries
Sarah-Iyuna Spencer
McKenzie Sightler
Daphne Franklin
Nicole Bedoya
Savannah Elgin
Viola
Nicholas England principal
Douglas Temples principal
Amanda Harrell
assistant principal
Nicky Moore
Emily Tardiff-Rodriguez
Amelia Bailey
Nya Gerald
Ian Hall
Derek George
Anthony Joyce
Gabriel Boyd
Elijah Skinner
Nathan Collot
Tiaryca Green
Cello
Jordan Bartow co-principal
Zach Ward co-principal
Tristan Groscost
Decker Elam
Miranda Ramirez
Preston Bowen
Rachel Gibbons
Brooke Teacher
John Kuntz
Bass
Joe Gaskins principal
Joshua Groscost
assistant principal
Ian Hamrick
Avea Diamond
Sadie Wood
Luke Hagg
Flute
Olivia Norton principal
Deepti Vadhiyar
assistant principal
Shelby Miller piccolo
Angelina Lanza
Jana Radabaugh
Oboe
Katie Eaton principal
Jaden Bowers
assistant principal
Sydney Fulcher
Amir Rahmati
Clarinet
Andrew Kevic principal
Eric Gardner assistant principal
Alejandra Vega
Quiara McBride
Justin Schwartz
Reece Weslock bass
Bassoon
Aaron Nealy principal
Christina French
assistant principal
Edward Senn
Hampton Stroble
Alto Saxophone
Andrew Moore principal
Joseph Lyons
Tenor Saxophone
Coleman Wright principal
Horn
Hunter Poe principal
Charlie Van Atter assistant principal
WenYu Hsu
Timothy Smith
Sadie Becht
Abby Walker
Charlie Winston
Trumpet
Francisco Ballestas principal
Connor Bruce
assistant principal
James Rochester
George Bernard
Daniel Louden
Trombone
Nick Dewyer principal
Ian Schwalbe
Wills Kane
Bass Trombone
Connor Reich principal
Tuba
Mathew Tuk principal
Percussion
Yuesen Yang principal
Julia Ross principal
Marshall Robinson
Jacob Rowell
Assistant Conductors
Jordan Brooks
Austin Davis
Marketing
Marlena Crovatt-Bagwell
Brad Martin
Julia Jacobsen
Social Media
Julia Jacobsen
The USC Symphony Orchestra thanks the following donors for their generous support. You provide much-needed funding for scholarships, fellowships, worldrenowned guest artists, music rentals and many other items that support our program. This list reflects gifts made between 1/1/2023 – 9/20/2023
Principal Sponsors
($2,500)
Schmoyer and Company
Lourie Life and Health
Sustaining Sponsors
($2,000-$9,999)
Patricia and James Weiss
Sponsors
($1,000-$1,999)
Mike and Myra Nelson
Jeffry Caswell and Jose Cotto
Ortiz
Ben and Jerry Dell Gimarc
Patrons
($500-$999)
Christine and Tayloe
Harding
Contributors
($250-$499)
Andy and Pamela Gowan
John and Linda Ropp
Scott and Teah Weiss
Partners
($100-$249)
Craig Butterfield
Verotta Kennedy
David Ross
Audra and Johann Vaz
Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, but if your name is missing, please contact the School of Music Development Office at 803-576-5763.
Please support the USC Symphony Orchestra today. Your gift makes an immediate impact by providing critically needed funding and empowering us to meet emerging needs and opportunities, such as scholarships for deserving students, faculty recruitment and innovative new programming that enhances the overall Carolina experience. You can make a gift directly to the USC Symphony Orchestra Fund by using the QR code below.
For more information, contact Brad Martin, Assistant Director of Development at brad.martin@sc.edu
Thank you for helping us keep the music playing!
Saturday, February 10 6:30 p.m. Koger
Stroll through the Koger Center for the Arts and experience musical performances by University of South Carolina School of Music students while enjoying delicious food and drinks.
From the main stage to the lobby, enjoy food and drink as varied as the locations and the musical performances. Move among percussion, opera, jazz, strings and vocal musicians performing as you meet new friends and catch-up with old ones. Proceeds fund Friends of the School of Music student scholarships.
$125 per person
$75 young professionals (ages 21-40 with ID) Call 803-777-9732 for tickets.
RHAPSODY IN BLUE
Thursday, September 28, 2023
MUSIC OF THE AMERICAS
Thursday, November 2, 2023
SOUL BASS
Tuesday, December 5, 2023
THE LARK ASCENDING
Tuesday, February 6, 2024
RISING STARS
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
BRAHMS REQUIEM
Thursday, April 18, 2024
All performances will be held at 7:30 p.m. at the Koger Center for the Arts in Columbia, SC.