prélude

WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY CONCERT MAGAZINE SS CC OO TT TT SS PP EE CC KK || M M UU SS II CC DD II RR EE CC TT OO RR

VOLUME 2//SEPTEMBER 2012 – JUNE 2013

2012/2013 CONCERT SEASON STARS OF THE JOFFREY BALLET Saturday :: NOVEMBER 10 :: 7:30 PM Sunday :: NOVEMBER 11 :: 3:00 PM Tickets start at $18 :: Student tickets*: $10 A CHRISTMAS CAROL DECEMBER 7 – 8 :: 7:30 PM Friday and Saturday Tickets start at $15 :: Student tickets*: $10

Have a girls night out

*Two words, Fabrice Calmels. Look him up.

Hunt for ninjas

*Okay, there are no ninjas.

Or are there?

They are ninjas after all.

Cross something off your bucket list

*Yes our symphony is worthy of being on a bucket list.

Impress the in-laws/soon-to-be in-laws *It will make up for the holiday debacle.

Don’t kid yourself, there’s bound to be one.

Apologize

*You know what you did.

Get him out of the house, because he never takes you anywhere *Might as well make it easy for him.

Create a romantic date night

*You could have 8 pre-planned date nights a year, think of the points you’ll score.

Take grandma out

*She misses you. You don’t visit enough.

Take the grandkids out

*They need more culture anyway.

Support your community

*The arts are a critical part of any community.

Take her out, because you never take her anywhere *At least that’s what she tells you, and of course she’s right.

MOZART AND FRIENDS FEBRUARY 9 :: 7:30 PM Saturday ONLY Featuring nine soloists from the WMS Tickets start at $15 :: Student tickets*: $5 BEETHOVEN AND BLUE JEANS MARCH 15 – 16 :: 7:30 PM Friday and Saturday Awadagin Pratt, piano Tickets start at $15 :: Student tickets*: $5 WOMEN AS MUSES APRIL 19 – 20 :: 7:30 PM Friday and Saturday Teresa Cheung, guest conductor Elena Urioste, violin Tickets start at $15 :: Student tickets*: $5 THE 3 BROADWAY DIVAS MAY 10 – 11 :: 7:30 PM Friday and Saturday Jan Horvath, Debbie Gravitte and Christiane Noll Tickets start at $18 :: Student tickets*: $10 SEASON FINALE MAY 31 – JUNE 1 :: 7:30 PM Friday and Saturday Alessio Bax, piano Tickets start at $15 :: Student tickets*: $10 For tickets and more information: westmichigansymphony.org or 231.726.3231 x 23 All concerts performed at Frauenthal Theater, Muskegon, MI *Student Tickets not available online

What’s Inside MUSIC DIRECTOR Scott Speck ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF Carla Hill President/CEO Rhonda Bogner Director of Finance David Dressel Stage Manager Amanda Dykhouse Orchestra Librarian Perry Newson Director of Operations Keely Payne Graphic Designer/Marketing Coordinator Gabe Slimko VP of Operations /Orchestra Personnel Manager Rita Smith Patron Services Manager/Tickets Karen Vander Zanden Director of Education and Outreach

Daniel M. Meyers WMYS Music Director/Conductor Annette Henry Debut Strings Conductor Gabe Slimko WMYS Operations Manager

3 Message from the Music Director 5 About Scott Speck 6 Board of Directors 7 Orchestra Personnel 8 About the Orchestra 10 Contributors 14 P.1 :: I Heart the 80s 16 M.1 :: Stars of the Joffrey Ballet 22 P.2 :: A Christmas Carol 24 M.2 :: Mozart and Friends 30 M.3 :: Beethoven and Blue Jeans 36 M.4 :: Women as Muses 42 P.3 :: The 3 Broadway Divas 46 M.5 :: Season Finale 50 Periodic Table of Composers 52 Advertisers

The West Michigan Symphony is an Equal Opportunity Employer and provides programs and services without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex or handicap. Programs are funded in part by a grant from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs with the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts.

THEATER RULES/ETIQUETTE :: Latecomers will be seated by the ushers at a suitable pause in the program. :: Cameras and recording equipment are strictly prohibited.

TICKET OFFICE // 231.726.3231 x23 In person at 425 W. Western Avenue, Suite 409 (4th floor of the Frauenthal Center for the Performing Arts) Muskegon, MI 49440 Monday – Friday, 9 am – 5 pm Concert night 5:30 pm till after concert in the Lobby Online at westmichigansymphony.org FIND US ONLINE! Website: westmichigansymphony.org Facebook: West Michigan Symphony Twitter: twitter.com/westmisymphony

West Michigan Symphony 425 W. Western Avenue, Suite 409 Muskegon, MI 49440 p: 231.726.3231 f: 231.722.6913 e: info@westmichigansymphony.org

:: No food or drink allowed in the hall during the performance. :: Wireless headsets are available in the lobby for hearing impaired patrons. :: Quiet, please! We respectfully request that all signal watches, cell phones, paging devices and such be turned off before entering the hall. Patrons wearing hearing aids should be aware that such devices are sensitive to pitch and may transmit a shrill tone. The wearer often is not conscious of this and nearby patrons may wish to alert them discreetly if this happens. We appreciate your cooperation in helping to make our concerts as enjoyable as possible for everyone.

Thank you to tonight’s ushers—volunteers courtesy of Friends of the Frauenthal.

PROGRAM NOTES All program notes by: Joseph & Elizabeth Kahn www.wordprosmusic.com

Music+Community+Warner A BETTER PARTNERSHIP®

performances.

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2 :: West Michigan Symphony Concert Program

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A Message from Scott DEAR FRIENDS, At the West Michigan Symphony, we are constantly trying to reinvent the symphony orchestra experience. While honoring the long tradition of orchestral music, we are also keenly interested in making sure that our exquisite art form remains relevant to our own community today.

For us, this concert is an experiment, and it involves you. You may have noticed that our programming has become more wideranging over the last two seasons. Circus performers and ballet dancers onstage with the orchestra? A caravan of actors and players from Nebraska? Tributes to the music of the 1960s and the 1980s?

Yes, yes and yes. The West Michigan Symphony is comfortable with all styles of performance, from the earliest classics to the latest hits.

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Of course, our season wouldn’t be complete without the great masterpieces of the orchestral repertoire. Throughout the season you can hear Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto, Strauss’s Don Juan, Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto no. 2, Mozart’s Sinfonia concertante, Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, Brahms’ Piano Concerto no. 2, Schumann’s Second Symphony, Sibelius’s Third, and the great ballet scores to Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and Romeo and Juliet.

But through eclectic program choices, we hope to present these masterpieces to you in new ways, cloaked in innovative concepts.

And we have brought in some of today’s most forward-thinking performers—including Naumberg Award-winning pianist Awadagin Pratt, Sphinx Award-winning violinist Elena Urioste, three brilliant Broadway Divas, and the stars of the world-renowned Joffrey Ballet—to help bring these works to glorious new life.

The Leaders Along the Lakeshore . . .

General Surgery Vascular Surgery Plastic Surgery

Joining us for every concert are the incomparable musicians of the West Michigan Symphony, who lend their own imagination, passion and love of music to everything they play.

Vein Care Center

And most important of all, you are here to participate in this experiment with us. Please take a moment to let us know how you like tonight’s program. Your opinions will help shape our presentations for years to come, making the West Michigan Symphony an ever more vibrant community resource. We’re here for you.

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Volume 2//September 2012 – June 2013 :: 3

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4 :: West Michigan Symphony Concert Program

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Scott Speck, Music Director

Photo by JD Hage, Green Frog Photo

Scott Speck has inspired international acclaim as a conductor of passion, intelligence and winning personality. He is now in his tenth year as Music Director of the West Michigan Symphony and is also the Music Director of the Mobile Symphony. He was recently named Principal Conductor of the Joffrey Ballet; and he was invited to the White House as Music Director of the Washington Ballet.

In recent seasons Scott Speck has conducted at London’s Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, the Paris Opera, Washington’s Kennedy Center, San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House, and the Los Angeles Music Center. He has led numerous performances with the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Houston, Chicago (Sinfonietta), Paris, Moscow, Shanghai, Beijing, Vancouver, Romania, Slovakia, Buffalo, Columbus (OH), Honolulu, Louisville, New Orleans, Oregon, Rochester, Florida, and Virginia, among many others.

Previously he held positions as Conductor of the San Francisco Ballet (1998 to 2002); Music Advisor and Conductor of the Honolulu Symphony; and Associate Conductor of the Los Angeles Opera.

During a recent tour of Asia he was named Principal Guest Conductor of the China Film Philharmonic in Beijing.

In addition, Scott Speck is the co-author of two of the world’s bestselling books on classical music for a popular audience, Classical Music for Dummies and Opera for Dummies. These books have received stellar reviews in both the national and international press

and have garnered enthusiastic endorsements from major American orchestras. They have been translated into twenty languages and are available around the world. His third book in the series, Ballet for Dummies, was released in September 2003.

Scott Speck has been a regular commentator on National Public Radio, the BBC, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and Voice of Russia, broadcast throughout the world. His writing has been featured in numerous magazines and journals.

Scott Speck is a great communicator of classical music. He exudes his passion for music in every gesture and every word.

—David Styers, American Symphony Orchestra League

Born in Boston, Scott Speck graduated summa cum laude from Yale University. There he founded and directed the Berkeley Chamber Orchestra, which continues to perform to this day. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Berlin, where he founded Concerto Grosso Berlin, an orchestra dedicated to the performances of Baroque and Classical music in a historically informed style. He received his Master’s Degree with highest honors from the University of Southern California, served as a Conducting Fellow at the Aspen School of Music, and studied at the Tanglewood Music Center. He is fluent in English, German and French, has a diploma in Italian, speaks Spanish and has a reading knowledge of Russian.

Volume 2//September 2012 – June 2013 :: 5

2012–2013 Board of Directors The Board of Directors of the West Michigan Symphony is an active and involved group that takes its fiduciary and oversight responsibilities very seriously. The Board is made up of business and community leaders and volunteers from throughout the communities served by the WMS. Board members actively participate in committees that are involved in all aspects of the organization.

David F. Gerdes Chair

Mary McLaughlin Eyke

Kay Olthoff

Tom Ladd Treasurer

Ken Hoopes

Alan Steinman

Susan Bissell Secretary

Bari S. Johnson

Teresa Stevens

Paul R. Jackson Past-Chair

Thomas S. Jones

Zinnie Stille

Pat Donahue

Melissa Jo Myers

Nancy Summers-Meeusen

A Letter from the Board Chair DEAR FRIENDS, It is always a pleasure to welcome back the West Michigan Symphony audience at the start of a new concert season. We extend a special welcome to those in the audience who are new to these concerts many of whom have purchased a single performance ticket to “test drive” so to speak this musical experience. Several hundred more in our audience have for the first time taken the plunge with a Pops Series, Masterworks Series or full season ticket purchase. We thank you for your interest and commitment to the West Michigan Symphony as expressed by your attendance here and we are confident that you will enjoy an exciting and memorable musical event this evening.

Saying thank you is also an essential expression that all of us must extend to the Symphony’s financial supporters as well. It starts with our season ticket holders who understand that the price of the ticket itself covers less than 40% of our annual budget. Recognizing that fact, most of you make additional contributions to our annual fund when renewing your subscriptions. Next, we recognize our concert and guest artist sponsors for the large financial contributions they make annually. We are so proud of the spirit of commitment of the West Michigan individuals, businesses, foundations and funds that make this happen for all of us and with only the expectation of a heartfelt “thank you” after these performances. Similarly, our program magazine advertisers deserve our patronage and our gratitude for the investment they make in the Symphony. Without all of this extra effort—without all of you—none of this is possible.

Now please enjoy!

David F. Gerdes Board Chair

6 :: West Michigan Symphony Concert Program

2012–2013 West Michigan Symphony Personnel FIRST VIOLIN Jennifer Walvoord Concertmaster Gene Hahn Assc. Concertmaster Jacie Robinson Asst. Concertmaster Adam Liebert Asst. Principal Oleg Bezuglov Ruth Carlson Mi Ryoung Kim Jennifer Kotchenruther Oxana Sourine Carla Joy Strand Delia Turner SECOND VIOLIN Amanda Dykhouse Principal Mark Portolese Assc. Principal Vitezslav Cernoch Alyona Dzerbina Francine Harris Sarah Hedlund Karen-Jane Henry Natalie Hockamier Britta Bujak Portenga Carol Wildgen VIOLA Leanne King MacDonald Co-Principal Leonid Sourine Co-Principal Mikhail Bugaev Lauren Garza Evgeny Gorbstov Antione Hackney Jon McNurlen Sara Rogers

CELLO Alicia Gregorian Sawyers Principal Igor Cetkovic Assc. Principal Dessislava Nenova Asst. Principal Lee Copenhaver Tina Horrigan Daniel Tressel BASS Michael Crawford Principal Michael Hovnanian Assc. Prinicpal Robert Johnson Spencer Phillips FLUTE Jill Marie Brown Principal Jodi Dyer Leslie Graham Piccolo OBOE Gabriel Renteria Principal Oboe 2 – Open Phil Popham English horn

HORN Erin Lano Principal Greg Bassett Lisa Honeycutt Assc. Principal Leah Brockman TRUMPET Pamela Smitter Baker Principal Bill Baxtresser Kevin Vos TROMBONE Michael Robinson Interim Principal Dan Spencer Principal (Leave of Absence) Joe Radtke Bryan Pokorney Bass trombone TUBA Clinton McCanless Principal TIMPANI Andrew Spencer Principal

CLARINET Jonathan Holden Principal Stephanie Hovnanian Lisa Raschiatore Bass clarinet

PERCUSSION Matthew Beck Principal Percussion 2 – Open Eric Jones

BASSOON Vincent Karamanov Principal Matthew Lano

HARP Sylvia Norris Principal PIANO/CELESTE Kelly Karamanov Principal

Proudly Supporting the West Michigan Symphony Bringing the community together...one note at a time Volume 2//September 2012 – June 2013 :: 7

About the West Michigan Symphony

Photo by Andrew Le Images April 16 – 17, 2010: “Water Music: Experience the Lake Effect” The West Michigan Symphony at the Frauenthal Center for the Performing Arts in Muskegon, MI

Music Director Scott Speck

EVERY ORCHESTRA TELLS ITS OWN STORY The West Michigan Symphony (WMS) is a widely recognized professional orchestra and proud to be a leader in West Michigan’s cultural community for the past 73 years.

Mr. A. M. Courtright, a Muskegon Heights teacher, and Mr. Palmer Quackenbush are credited with early pioneering efforts to provide Muskegon with a symphony orchestra.

In November 1938 a musical group of 40 members presented its first concert with Mr. Quackenbush conducting and Mr. Courtright assisting. The group incorporated the following year and elected its first Board of Directors.

Performances were initially held in area schools, eventually moving into downtown Muskegon’s historic Frauenthal Theater. Conductors have included Tauno Hannikainen, Hugo Kolberg, Wayne Dunlap, Lyman Starr, John Wheeler, Philip Greenberg, Murray Gross, and current Music Director Scott Speck.

Today the West Michigan Symphony presents eight pairs of subscription concerts (five classical and three pops) in the historic Frauenthal Theater. The WMS is made up of musicians of the highest caliber playing extremely challenging repertoire and we present some of the world’s most talented guest artists.

Built in 1929, the 1724 seat theater has undergone a $7.5 million renovation that restored it to its original Spanish Renaissance splendor while also creating a spacious modern lobby linking the Frauenthal with the adjacent 180 seat Beardsley Theatre.

With its extraordinary beauty, excellent acoustics and sight lines, the Frauenthal Theater is praised by artists and audiences alike. With the prime location of its performance hall in the Frauenthal Center for the Performing Arts at the intersection of downtown Muskegon’s Western Avenue and Third Street, the West Michigan Symphony is proud to be a key player in this period of renaissance that will bring a renewed vitality and life to the center of the city.

8 :: West Michigan Symphony Concert Program

OUR MUSICIANS At the heart of the West Michigan Symphony are our musicians and for the majority of them, music is their livelihood. When they aren’t practicing, rehearsing or performing a classical or pops concert with the WMS, many of them are practicing, rehearsing and performing with orchestras throughout West Michigan including those in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Midland, Battle Creek, Holland and Traverse City. With advanced degrees in performance and a commitment to symphonic

music, you will find many of our musicians on the music faculties of major Michigan universities, teaching privately, giving recitals, and playing with fellow musicians in small ensembles.

OUR EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMS With the belief that arts education is a key ingredient for development of life skills and is essential toward creating a vibrant community, the West Michigan Symphony is committed to offering a wide array of education programs for school children, as well as a variety of activities and concert presentations for children and their families.

In 2013 the West Michigan Symphony will participate in their ninth year in Link Up, an exciting education collaboration with New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Weill Music Institute. The Link Up curriculum teaches basic musical concepts and listening skills that support elementary curricula while exposing students to quality classical music performances. This year’s program, “The Orchestra Rocks,” includes three back-to-back performances by the West Michigan Symphony in the Frauenthal involving over 4,000 fourth-grade students from 54 schools in a five-county region. This year’s concert is May 7, 2013. Carnegie continues to provide music workbooks and teaching training aids with the cost for the recorders coming from the participating schools. The remaining artistic and production costs are covered by important gifts from within the communities served. These generous and forwardlooking individuals, corporations and foundations understand that we are filling a void left by the funding cuts to arts in our schools.

Under the direction of Daniel M. Meyers, the West Michigan Youth Symphony is comprised of young musicians from throughout West Michigan. Representing fifteen schools and several home schooled students, the Youth Symphony brings together the most talented young musicians in the region for weekly rehearsals, two annual concerts, and other community events. The WMYS provides young musicians with challenging orchestral performance experiences that complement school music programs. The WMYS is committed to nurturing the talents of their members while offering them a unique opportunity to grow in their musicianship. The WMYS became part the WMS family in 2009. Music Director Scott Speck and WMS musicians frequently assist the WMYS in sectional rehearsals and clinics. <<

Students reacting as confetti falls from the air to end the Link Up program at the Frauenthal Center for the Performing Arts 2012 Instrument Petting Zoo at WMS summer concert, Veterans Memorial Park, Fremont, MI 2012

Other education programs include the very successful Instrument Petting Zoo that provides a hands-on experience at creating sounds on musical instruments. This program is offered throughout the region at elementary schools, community events, and as an occasional pre-concert activity for youth and families attending a WMS concert. The WMS education department has worked collaboratively with the Muskegon Museum of Art’s Super Saturday programs and a new one-day program in 2011 called “Follow Your Art Day.” This one-day event for middle school students provided a variety of art experience with each student participating in three of the 10 artist workshops offered and included a tour of the MMA and a performance by the West Michigan Youth Symphony.

Volume 2//September 2012 – June 2013 :: 9

Contributors Contributors listed here made gifts from September 1, 2011, through September 1, 2012. We have given careful attention to ensure a complete and accurate list. If your name has been misspelled or omitted, please accept our apologies and inform us of the error by calling 231.726.3231, x23.

Annual Fund

The generosity of numerous individuals, corporations, and foundations of the Annual Fund has been instrumental in advancing the artistry and musical excellence of the West Michigan Symphony. We extend our deepest appreciation to you for helping to make the West Michigan Symphony a cultural touchstone in our community.

The Olthoff Challenge Match announced May 21, 2011, will match new and increased gifts/pledges to the West Michigan Symphony on a dollar-for-dollar basis up to the first $50,000 each year for the next three years. Crescendo Club members have pledged an increase or new gift of at least $1,000 each year for three years. +Denotes Crescendo Club Members of the Olthoff Challenge Match ++Denotes Olthoff Challenge Match *Denotes a fund of the Community Foundation for Muskegon County **Denotes a fund of the Grand Haven Area Community Foundation

DONORS Golden Baton: $10,000 & up Jon & Jane Blyth+ Pat & Julie Donahue+ Fairfield Fund*++ Larry & Lari Hines+ Charles Johnson Il++ Mike & Kay Olthoff Virtuoso: $8,000-$14,999 Ronald & Shirley Gossett*+ Bari Johnson+ Concertmaster Circle: $4,000-$7,999 Jan & Christine Deur+ Paul & Karen Jackson+ Robert & Wendy Kersman Clara Lang+ Richard & Nancy Morgenstern+ Alan & Annoesjka Steinman+ Peter M. Turner+ Thomas & Elizabeth Tuttle+ Judy Wilcox+ Orchestra Circle: $1,500-$3,999 Roger A. & Marilyn V. Andersen*+ William & Susan Bissell+ Dr. Harold E. Bowman++ Mrs. Elizabeth Busard Marti Driscoll++ Cathleen & Robert A. Dubault++ William & Mary Lou Eyke David Gerdes & Carolyn Smith-Gerdes+ Martha Giacobassi Carla Hill++ Dr. Tom & Heidi Hill 10 :: West Michigan Symphony Concert Program

Douglas & Janet Hoch+ Kenneth & Maria Hoopes+ Tom & Diane Jones++ Dr. & Mrs. Thomas Kelso+ Paul & Barbara Kidd+ Cathy & Bruce Martin+ John & Jessie Martin+ Gary Neal & Chris McGuigan+ Barbara J. Murphy+ Steve & Kathy Ongert+ Kenneth & Sheila Reinecke+ William L. “Bill” Rogers++ John Saling matched in part by Emerson Michael & Corina Soimar Mort & Gayle Speck+ in honor of Scott Speck and in honor of Mike & Kay Olthoff Dan & Ann Tabor+ Dr. Jane L. Toot Benefactor: $700-$1,499 Charles & Gloria Alstrom++ Michael Cerminaro, DDS & Connie Verhagen, DDS Curtis Chambers Dr. Paul & Nancy Christie Jean Enright Bill & Barbara Harris John B. Hills Barbara & Hugh Hornstein Warren E. Hutchins Wilda James Amy Klop++ Thomas & Jennifer Ladd++ Katherine Maitner Dr. & Mrs. Richard W. Peters

Sally Peterson David & Nancy Sietsema Gabe & Beth Slimko++ Jack & Becky Slimko Rita Smith++ Scott Speck Leon & Dzintra Stille++ Susan & Stephen Struck Nancy Summers-Meeusen++ George & Patricia Van Epps Nancy & Bruce Walborn Dan & Nancy Weller John & Peggy Whitlock Patron: $400-$699 Anonymous Herb & Anne Bevelhymer Jim & Jane Bradbury Gordon & Mary Buitendorp Donald & Jocelyn Bussies matched in part by Steelcase Foundation Manuel & Barbara Butzow Norman & Maureen Campbell Jane Connell & Steven Rosen++ Mr. & Mrs. Bernard J. Craigie Dr. Donald & Nancy Crandall Betty Donovan Marcia D’Oyly Joel & Linda Engel Eugene & Karen Fethke Robert & Clara Harrell Bill Hendrick Thomas & Rita Higgins John L. & Linda P. Hilt Advised Fund* Charles & Janet Hook Pat & Tom Johnson

Ruth & Bob Keessen Kent & Charlotte Krive Dr. Steven & Sherry Lessens Leonel L. & Mary Loder Fund* Charles Matthews John & Linda McKendry Mark & Bonnie Meengs Jeanne S. Moffett Hester P. Newton Fred & Linda Nicles++ Steve & Debbie Olsen Pat & Dick Parsons matched by Illinois Tool Works Dr. Patricia Roy & Paul Roy Helen & Jay Smith Dr. F. Remington & Ginny Sprague Robert & Ruth Stoppert Mary Towner++ Kenneth & Marguerite Winter Sponsor: $200-$399 Chris Adams Mike Cramer & Courtney Albers Jim & Shirley Meeks Larry & Julie Ayers Dale & Pauline Barker Debbie Barkett George Barnes++ David & Barbara Bloomfield Mary & Bob Boyer Dr. & Mrs. Frederick Brown Tom & Marilyn Case David & Ruth Clark Lee & Darlene Collet Mary & Gust Danigelis Janet B. Day Terry DeGroot Dr. & Mrs. David Deitrick Hon. & Mrs. Graydon Dimkoff Bruce & Esther Drukker Robert & Jackie Engel Jerry Engle Charles & Patricia Fisher Fran F. Fisher Robert & Sue Fles Carol Folkert Tom & Janet Fortenbacher Julia Fugate Barbara Gauthier Donald & Betty Goodman Marjorie Gorajec Marjorie K. Harrison Judith Hayner William E. Hendon William & Nancy Hohmeyer Micaela Iovine++ Robert Johnston++ Louis Jorissen Edward & Mary Kaminski Dr. Mort & Maxine Kantor

Justin & Kathleen Kleaveland Dr. Ray & Betsy Komray Robert & Jo Ann Landman Joan Leder Thomas & Angela Maloy++ Joe & Lila Manhart Paul & Winnie McNergney Robert & Susan Mixer++ Rick Murak Greg & Rhonda Myers Ed & Ginevra Naill Barbara Brandt Novak Dr. & Mrs. Mario Orsini Peter & Carol Payne Roy & Britta Bujak Portenga Hack & Joan Ramseyer Donna Little & Faye Redmond Gary & Pennie Robertson Grace Romzick Sarah Ruddy & Michael Miller++ Rick & Ruth Saukas Michael & Debby Schubert Sue Schuiteman Robert N. & Merle N. Scolnik Advised Fund* Jay & Joanne Sikkenga Robert Slager & Hazel Whittaker George & Dottie Strabel Robert Strey & Marilee Wexstaff-Strey Robert & Stephanie Sundholm Frank & RenĂŠ Sundquist Robert S. Swan Dr. & Mrs. John L.Tevebaugh Carol Parker Thompson John & Judy Tierney++ Janet Van Deusen Michael Wade Bill & Shirley Walther Jolee Wennersten Sue Wierengo Paul & Sherry Wilson Russell Winsemius Jane Wright Morris & Marjorie Younts Sustaining Member: $75-$199 Jean & Wes Anderson Anonymous Ralph Askam Bruce & Paula Baker Bruce & Christine Baker Beth & Ed Baldwin Sandy & Allen Beck Carroll & Dorothy Bennink Jo & Jim Bidle Ron & Sally Bielema Glada Blanchette Orel A. Borgeson Randy & Cheri Borns Ron & Ann Marie Brown Sterling & Greta Bushnell

Carl & Emma Butenas Tom & Suzanne Carl Joyce Carpenter Bob & Charlotte Chessman Rudy & Pat Chmelar Julie & Ron Cornetet Bill & Carol Cross Russ & Sandra Cross David & Marie Culver Betsy Culter Mr. & Mrs. Max Daniels in memory of Robert Schuiteman Ed DeJong & Diane VanWesep Agnes Derks Lila DeYoung Norma DeYoung Karen & Herb Driver Dennis & Barbara Dryer Doris Ducey Amanda & Gregory Dykhouse Robert & Ann Erler Jane and Wallace K. Ewing Beroz & Siegi Ferrell A.J. Flogge Performing Arts Fund* Dale & Bridget Fox Jean Freye Elizabeth Garber Bruning in memory of Marilyn Garber Martha Garber in memory of Marilyn Garber Keith & Deb Gardner Jerry & Evelyn Geile Robert & Martha Glade Michael & Bonnie Gluhanich Dr. Josephine H. Grieve Bob & Eileen Grunstra Bill & Marge Gustafson Rev. Gerald & Susan Hagans Carol Hall Helga E. Hamm Richard & Diane Harder Gary & Anita Hasper Patricia Hesling Dona Hettle Joan Hilarides John & Terry Hoekstra Joan & Sam Hollar Connie Holley Don & Barbara Hopper Mary Ann Howe Dr. & Mrs. Huntley Wolf & Carol Hussong Don & Penny Johnson Erick & Holly Johnson Marti VanWyck Johnson Ted & Nancy Johnson William & Jeanne Karis David & Loretta Kasprzyk Kevin & Bonnie Kellogg Robert & Norann Kelly Volume 2//September 2012 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; June 2013 :: 11

Contributors Annual Fund Randy & Debra Knapp++ Bruce & Mary Krueger Pete & Mimi Kunz Tricia E. Lamiman Carol Larsen Bob & Pam Lascko Phyllis Laurin Gene & Laura Logan Mary Lombard Ruth Long Dr. Beth Dunning Lower Mike & Cindy Maguire Bill & Mary Lou Maher Dennis & Marla Major Clarke Manning Dr. Deborah Margules Cindy Mazurek Garry Mc Keen David & Carol McLeod Ruth Mehall Paul & Alice Michaud Patrick & Sheila Miller William & Mary Ellen Miller Judith Minty John S. & Carol J. Moran Richard & Doris Morgan Norman & Diane Muncie David Nancarrow Kathy Neff Kathryn L. Neumann Eric & Karen Nisja Garry & Charlotte Olson Thomas Pascoe & Jean Stein John & Virginia Pastoor Sean Patterson Scott & Jane Payne Gay C. Petersen Dale & Jane Ann Peterson David & Beth Pickard Irene Pierson Russell & Margaret Price Bruce & Shirley Privacky Jim & Joanne Query Jane & Keith Redner Susan Rehrer Gary Reynolds Phyllis M. Risk Ellen Rockwood in memory of Marilyn Garber Merry Rosenberg Karl & Barbara Rowe Family Arthur G. Rudd, CPA Timothy & Marilyn Ryan

Marjorie Salata Jill Sanders Gwynne & Steve Schoff Paul & Nancy Seites Jocelyn Shaw Glenn Sheathelm Harrison & Charlynne Sikkenga Linda Slade Dar Smith Hayden Smith Joan Hilles Smith Michele Smith Vivian Sorden Bill Papo & Julie Stewart Clifford & Lucia Storr Robert & Wanda Suits Howard & Marilyn Swanson David & Linda Taylor James & MaryAnn Thelen Marge & Richard Tourre Tom & Pat Trombly Roger & Rebecca Tuuk Nina & Bruce Van Dop James & Lynn Van Sickle Virginia Gay Van Vleck John & Judith Waanders Charles & Kathleen Wagner John & Kathryn Walson Edd & Lynn Whalen Brewster & Mary Ellen Willcox Joe & Cindy Wolff George & Doris Worden John & Carol Workman Louise Yonkers Robert & Joanne Zayko

Corporate, Art Council & Foundation Donors $50,000+ Nichols $25,000-$49,999 Hines Corporation $15,000-$24,999 Harbor Steel, Inc. Muskegon Chronicle $7,500-$14,999 Arts Council of Greater Grand Rapids Grand Haven Area Community Foundation

+Denotes Crescendo Club Members of the Olthoff Challenge Match ++Denotes Olthoff Challenge Match *Denotes a fund of the Community Foundation for Muskegon County **Denotes a fund of the Grand Haven Area Community Foundation 12 :: West Michigan Symphony Concert Program

Howmet Community Fund* L-3 Combat Propulsion Systems Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs Newaygo County Council for the Arts Rehmann Marion A. & Ruth K. Sherwood Family Fund** $5,000-$7,499 JSJ Foundation Meijer, Inc. Revel Warner Norcross & Judd, LLP $1,000-$4,999 American Grease Stick Fifth Third Bank Muskegon Community College Up to $999 Blue Lake Public Radio Clock Funeral Home of White Lake, Inc. CWC Textron, Inc. Lakeshore Animal Hospital, PC Sun Chemical Samuel L. Westerman Foundation Matching Companies Emerson Gerber Foundation Illinois Tool Works Foundation JP Morgan Chase Steelcase Foundation

Endowment Fund Thank you to the following individuals who made gifts to our endowment fund. Gifts to the fund, managed by the Community Foundation for Muskegon County, can be made by gifts of cash, securities or property, will or trust, or a gift of life insurance.

Sandy & Allen Beck Mr. & Mrs. Michael Buboltz Dr. & Mrs. John Cress Dale & Susan Ertzinger William & Helen Graessley Thomas & Rita Higgins Hester P. Newton

West Michigan Youth Symphony

Link Up Sponsors

$1,000+ Richard & Nancy Morgenstern

$10,000+ Ronald McDonald House Charities of Outstate Michigan

$500-$999 Billie Klont Greinke Memorial Fund* $300-$499 Martha Giacobassi Carla Hill Jack & Becky Slimko $200-$299 Mary Fisher Cronenwett Mike & Kay Olthoff Nancy K. Poppen Fine Arts Program Tom & Liz Trzaska Peter M. Turner $100-$199 Kenneth & Maria Hoopes Kevin & Bonnie Kellogg Barbara J. Murphy Richard Oman & Jennie Neffie Gabe & Beth Slimko Up to $99 Jane Connell & Steven Rosen Robert Slager & Hazel Whittaker Louise Yonkers

Sound Shield Donors Thanks to the following donors for purchasing individual sound shields for members of our Woodwind section: Perry & Deb Newson for Jonathan Holden, Principal Clarinet Fred & Joanna Norris for Stephanie Hovnanian, Clarinet Randy & Debbie Price for Lisa Raschiatore, Bass clarinet Tom & Liz Trzaska for Vincent Karamanov, Principal Bassoon William & Susan Bissell for Matthew Lano, Bassoon Bari Johnson for Substitute Woodwind

$5,000-$9,999 DTE Energy Foundation Alyce R. Erickson Foundation** J. Christopher & Mary Eyke Fremont Area Community Foundation Meijer, Inc. Mary Ann Sherwood Fund** Women’s Division Chamber of Commerce $1,000-$4,999 Comerica Bank Mike & Kay Olthoff Mary Payne In memory of David A. West Samuel L. Westerman Foundation Up to $999 Bill & Carol Cross Dr. & Mrs. David Deitrick Pat & Julie Donahue Jean Enright Alexandria Fricano Jerry & Evelyn Geile Martha Giacobassi Paul A. Johnson Foundation matched in part by Rotary Club of Grand Haven and Rotary Club of Spring Lake Randy & Debra Knapp Olga MacDowell Muskegon Record Players Ron & Bonnie Nyenhuis Garry & Charlotte Olson Mike & Kay Olthoff in memory of Ruth Ann Matthews Pratt & Whitney Component Solutions, Inc. Rotary Club of Grand Haven Rotary Club of Spring Lake Susan & Stephen Struck Thomas & Elizabeth Tuttle John & Peggy Whitlock Marilyn Wikman Judy Wilcox Kenneth & Marguerite Winter Jane Wright

PLAN YOUR LEGACY WITH YOUR WILL OR TRUST You have worked hard to accumulate assets throughout your life, but without a valid will or trust at your death, those assets will be distributed according to state law.

Wouldn’t you rather determine that yourself?

Including a bequest in your will or trust to a charitable organization such as the West Michigan Symphony may be the best way to make a meaningful gift in the future.

For more information on the ways to make a charitable bequest in your will or trust, simply call Carla Hill, President/CEO, at 231.726.3231 x22 or visit with your estate planning attorney today.

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Artist Bios

1

Pops

I

the 80s

September 21 – 22, 2012 // 7:30 pm Friday and Saturday Scott Speck, conductor Jenn Gambatese and Michael Seelbach, guest artists

Video Killed the Radio Star Buggles 1999 – Jenn and Michael Prince Holiday – Jenn Madonna Every Breath You Take – Michael The Police 80s Medley – Jenn and Michael Whip It Devo Call Me Blondie White Wedding Billy Idol What I Like About You The Romantics Sailing Christopher Cross Let’s Dance – Michael David Bowie The Rose – Jenn Bette Midler Footloose – Jenn and Michael Kenny Loggins

INTERMISSION Michael Jackson Medley Rock With You Billie Jean Thriller It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me – Jenn and Michael Time After Time – Jenn Faith – Michael (I’ve Had the) Time of My Life – Jenn and Michael Band Medley Waiting for a Girl Like You Maneater Babe Born in the USA – Jenn and Michael

Michael Jackson

Billy Joel Cyndi Lauper George Michael Medley and Warnes

Foreigner Hall and Oates Styx Bruce Springsteen

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14 :: West Michigan Symphony Concert Program

JENN GAMBATESE Jenn has starred on Broadway as Jane in Tarzan: The Musical and as Natalie in All Shook Up (Outer Critic’s Circle nomination).

She recorded the original cast albums of both these shows, as well as Hairspray— where she created the role of Brenda, and then played Penny Singleton. Other Broadway shows Jenn has appeared in are Is He Dead?, A Year With Frog and Toad, and Footloose. Jenn’s favorite Off-Broadway and Regional credits include The School for Lies (CSC), We Have Always Lived in the Castle (Yale Rep) and Annie Get Your Gun (Goodspeed Musicals).

Jenn is proud to be part of Broadway Pops International, an NYU alum, Curtis Cregan’s wife, and Josephine’s mother... and grateful for Life’s “blessons”!

MICHAEL SEELBACH Michael Seelbach began his performing career in his hometown of Cleveland, OH, where he was a vocalist in the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Young Artist Program for pre-college students. Immediately upon graduating from high school, he toured the country in the leading role of The Who’s Tommy for a year before landing in New York City. Over the past 15 years Mr. Seelbach has appeared in numerous Broadway and Off-Broadway productions including Wicked, Jesus Christ Superstar, Footloose, Hair (for City Center Encores!), Floyd Collins, and Reefer Madness. He has also performed in numerous national tours and regional productions. Mr. Seelbach sings regularly with the Broadway Inspirational Voices gospel ensemble.

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The Joffrey Ballet

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Masterworks

Stars of the Joffrey Ballet November 10, 2012 // 7:30 pm November 11, 2012 // 3:00 pm Saturday and Sunday Scott Speck, conductor Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Swan Lake Suite, Op. 20a 1. Scéne 2. Danse des cygnes 3. Valse

Age of Innocence (Pas de deux) Choreography by Edwaard Liang // Music by Phillip Glass, Secret Agent and Secret Agent Ending // Costumes by Maria Pinto Aria Choreography by Val Caniparoli // Music by Frideric Händel, Overture and Lascia ch’io pianga from Rinaldo // Mask Construction by Richard Battle and Annie Hallatt // Sandra Magtan, Soprano Sergei Prokofiev

Romeo and Juliet, Suite no.2, Op. 64 The Montagues and Capulets

After the Rain (Pas de deux) After the Rain® by Christopher Wheeldon // Music by Arvo Pärt, Spiegel im Spiegel // Costumes designed by Holly Hynes // Staged by Jason Fowler // Jennifer Walvoord, violin // Kelly Karamanov, piano

INTERMISSION Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

The Sleeping Beauty Suite, Op. 66a I. Introduction: La Fèe des lilas V. Valse

Othello (Final Duet) Choreography by Lar Lubovitch // Music by Elliot B. Goldenthal // Costumes

by Ann Hould-Ward // Assistant Choreographer: Ginger Thatcher Sergei Prokofiev

Romeo and Juliet, Suite no.2, Op. 64 Romeo and Juliet before Parting Romeo and Juliet’s Grave

No Other Choreography by Val Caniparoli // Music by Richard Rodgers, “Beneath the Southern Cross” from Victory at Sea Concert Sponsor:

Guest Artist Sponsor:

Past

presidents 16 :: West Michigan Symphony Concert Program

Ashley C. Wheater, Artistic Director Christopher Clinton Conway, Executive Director Robert Joffrey, Gerald Arpino, Founders Scott Speck, Music Director Katherine Selig, Principal Stage Manager Jack Mehler, Lighting Director COMPANY HISTORY The Joffrey Ballet has been hailed as “America’s company of firsts.” The Joffrey Ballet’s long list of “firsts” includes being the first dance company to perform at the White House at Jacqueline Kennedy’s invitation, the first to appear on television, the first American company to visit Russia, the first classical dance company to go multi-media, the first to commission a rock ‘n’ roll ballet, the first and only dance company to appear on the cover of Time magazine, and the first company to have had a major motion picture based on it, Robert Altman’s The Company.

The Joffrey lives permanently in a brilliant new facility, Joffrey Tower, in the heart of America, Chicago, IL. Classically trained to the highest standards, Joffrey expresses a unique perspective on dance, reflecting the diversity of America with its company, audiences, and repertoire which includes major story ballets, reconstructions of masterpieces and contemporary works. Founded by visionary teacher Robert Joffrey in 1956, guided by celebrated choreographer Gerald Arpino from 1988 until 2007, the Joffrey Ballet continues to thrive under internationally renowned Artistic director Ashley C. Wheater. The Joffrey Ballet has become one of the world’s most revered and recognizable arts organizations in America.

AGE OF INNOCENCE (Pas de deux) This ballet, inspired by the novels of Jane Austen, tells the story of females of the Victorian era—a story of societal repression and of the strength of the human spirit.

Age of Innocence was created with funds from the Prince Prize for commissioning original work, which was awarded to Edwaard Liang and the Joffrey Ballet in 2008.

NO OTHER No Other takes its name from the Rodgers and Hammerstein song “No Other Love,” from the 1953 musical Me and Juliet. But the music’s first incarnation, in the score for the 1952 television series (and subsequent film) Victory at Sea, was the lyric-less “Beneath the Southern Cross.” An unusual twist on a tango, the music sweeps along in smooth, swelling waves, and Caniparoli’s choreography for No Other follows suit.

ARIA Val Caniparoli’s contemporary choreography is for a male soloist. The soloist uses a white mask throughout this emotionally charged piece. Val Caniparoli’s versatility has made him one of the most sought after American choreographers in the United States and abroad. Caniparoli has created a body of work that is rooted in classicism but influenced by all forms of movement. His extensive knowledge and appreciation of music is reflected in the range of composers that have inspired his choreography.

AFTER THE RAIN (Pas de deux) Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain is a ballet of bold movements and heartfelt emotion. In this pas de deux danced to Spiegel im Spiegel, the ballerina is dressed in pink and her partner is bare chested. In a series of unfolding partnering moves, the dancers explore the shifting emotions of their relationship. At times they are close and tender with one another, while at other times they inhabit the same space but are separated and searching for one another.

Repertory notes courtesy of and adapted from New York City Ballet Online Repertory Index.

OTHELLO (Final Duet) Othello—A Dance in Three Acts has been adapted from three sources. The Moor originated as a story by Geraldo Cintio in The Hundred Tales and was published in Venice in 1566. The characters and the basic plot of the Cintio tale were used by William Shakespeare for his play Othello, The Moor of Venice, written around 1602 and later restructured and adapted for Guiseppe Verdi’s opera Othello in 1887.

—Lar Lubovitch Costumes Courtesy of American Ballet Theatre and San Francisco Ballet

<<

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Ashley C. Wheater ASHLEY C. WHEATER Artistic Director of The Joffrey Ballet Ashley C. Wheater, Artistic Director of the Joffrey Ballet, has dedicated his life to dance.

He was born in Scotland and trained at The Royal Ballet School in England. While at the school he worked with Frederick Ashton in Benjamin Britten’s Death in Venice, and performed at Covent Garden in numerous productions such as Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle and The Dream. Having graduated to the upper school of The Royal Ballet, Mr. Wheater danced in many of the full-length productions and performed with Rudolph Nureyev in Nureyev and Friends at the London Coliseum. After leaving The Royal Ballet, Mr. Wheater joined the London Festival Ballet where he continued to work with Nureyev in his Romeo and Juliet and Sleeping Beauty and Glen Tetley in Sphinx and Greening along with a huge repertoire of classics and new creations. Under the artistic direction of John Field he was promoted to principal dancer at the age of 20. In 1982 he joined the Australian Ballet where he continued dancing principal roles in both classical and contemporary work, especially in the John Cranko fulllengths. At the invitation of Gerald Arpino in 1985, Mr. Wheater joined the Joffrey Ballet. For the next four years he performed various works by American choreographers including William Forsythe, Gerald Arpino, Mark Morris, Paul Taylor, and Laura Dean, as well as repertoire by Ashton and Cranko.

Joining the San Francisco Ballet in 1989 he

Program Notes continued to cultivate his creative career while working with Helgi Tomasson, James Kudelka, David Bintley and many more.

In 1997 he retired from dancing and was appointed Ballet Master at the San Francisco Ballet and later named Assistant to the Artistic Director. Since his appointment in 2007 as Artistic Director of the Joffrey Ballet, his passion and commitment to the Joffrey have been evident in the quality that he has brought to the dancing and the repertoire.

Under his direction he has brought worldclass choreographers to create new work for the company. He has introduced work

by Val Caniparoli, William Forsythe, James Kudelka, Edwaard Liang, Wayne McGregor, Yuri Possokhov and Christopher Wheeldon to the Joffrey repertoire. Mr. Wheater has added new full length works, including Lar Lubovitch’s groundbreaking Othello, Ronald Hynd’s The Merry Widow and Yuri Possokhov’s world premiere Don Quixote. In 2008 Mr. Wheater was the recipient of the Boeing Game-Changer Award in recognition of his commitment to promoting diversity in Chicago communities through the art of dance. In 2010, Mr. Wheater, representing the Joffrey Ballet, was named Lincoln Academy laureate, the highest honor presented by the state of Illinois. <<

PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893) Selections from Swan Lake Suite, Op. 20a In the summer of 1871 Tchaikovsky spent some time at his sister’s family home. For the entertainment of the children, he composed and staged a scena called Swan Lake, with a cast consisting of two children, his brother Modest and wooden toy swans.

Nothing is known about the music, nor whether five years later any of it made its way into a commission from the Imperial Theaters to compose a ballet.

Short of money and still struggling for recognition in his own country—although rapidly gaining a reputation abroad— Tchaikovsky settled on the story of Swan Lake which he had admired for years and in whose somber ending he saw a reflection of his own dark moods.

It tells of Prince Siegfried, whose mother arranges a ball during which he is to choose a bride. Lured away from a hunt by a flock of swans, the prince discovers that they are actually the princess Odette and her maidens, enchanted by the evil sorcerer Von Rotbart so they can take their human form only at night. Siegfried falls in love with Odette, who tells him that only constant and selfless love can break her spell. In an attempt to thwart the lovers, the sorcerer sends his daughter Odile to the ball. Odile, dressed entirely in black, is literally and figuratively a carbon copy of Odette, and

Changing Lives

www.goodwillwm.org 18 :: West Michigan Symphony Concert Program

through the Power of Work

Siegfried, of course, mistakes her for his beloved. He declares his love for the impostor, thereby losing his love forever and condemning Odette to the bonds of her enchantment. The original version of the ballet ends with the death of both Odette and Siegfried, engulfed in the lake.

Tchaikovsky started work on the project in the spring of 1875, finishing it in April of the following year. Its premiere in March 1877 was an unmitigated disaster, partly the result of Bolshoi political infighting, and partly the inadequacy of the choreographer, conductor, dancers and orchestra. Its revival in 1895, two years after the composer’s death, was a resounding success, with lavish staging and new choreography by Marius Petipa.

Tchaikovsky himself intended to arrange an orchestral suite from the ballet but apparently never got around to it. After his death, anonymous arrangers extracted suites from the long ballet using many combinations and permutations of the dances, some following the gist of the story line, others arranged on musical criteria alone.

The first one, consisting of six dances and of unknown parentage, was published in 1900 and became known as Op. 20a.

AGE OF INNOCENCE (Pas de deux) Music by Philip Glass (b. 1937) Music from Secret Agent Philip Glass is one of the most frequently performed living composers whose innovative and once controversial style has even produced crossover success on the pop charts. Glass composes in two different media: for his Philip Glass Ensemble, made up of electronically amplified instruments, and the Mabou Mines Theater Company; and for conventional classical instruments and genres, including to date nearly a dozen operas, over eight symphonies, five string quartets and concertos for various instruments and instrument combinations.

In addition, Glass has produced over 20 film scores, ballets and music for TV and theater. Glass’ unique approach to film can be seen in his “musical mirrors” for the Glass Ensemble, which integrates electronic instruments and live singers into such classic films as Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast (1946) and the original Dracula (1931) with Bela Lugosi.

Many people associate Glass with Minimalism, the repetition and gradual change of short musical cells, but the composer also has a more lyrical side to his musical persona. In 1996 Glass composed the score for the film The Secret Agent, based on Joseph Conrad’s novel, which explores the confused motives that lie at the heart of political terrorism. “Age of Innocence” uses the opening and closing segments of the score, “Secret Agent” and Secret “Agent Ending” but has no relationship to the plot of the film.

The music is a duet for cello and English horn, using a repetitive pattern of arpeggios in the cello and a melody in the English horn.

ARIA George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) Music from Rinaldo:

Lascia ch’io pianga mia cruda sorte (Let Me Weep Over My Cruel Fate) Composer of over 40 operas and masques, George Frideric Handel inherited an Italian operatic convention that pervaded both the sacred and secular vocal music of the eighteenth century, the da capo aria. The aria consists three parts: an opening section (A) followed by a section of new music (B) and a repeat from the beginning (da capo) of the A section, usually embellished with turns, trills and other ornamentation improvised by the singer— often to the chagrin of the composer.

Handel employed the da capo aria form throughout his career, in both his operas and later in the oratorios. The overwhelming majority of the arias in Bach’s cantatas are also of this type. Nor did this tried and true convention die out with the stylistic developments of the late eighteenth century. Mozart’s operas are chock full of them.

While generally avoided by vocal composers of the nineteenth century, the convention still isn’t worn out, appearing frequently in Broadway musicals and soft rock.

Handel composed Rinaldo in 1711 to one of many librettos based on Torquato Tasso’s La Gerusalemme liberata. The aria Lascia ch’io pianga mia cruda sorte is from Act II. Handel had used the music twice before, once for an ode and once in an earlier opera.

SERGEI PROKOFIEV (1891-1953) Selections from Romeo and Juliet, Suite no. 2, Op. 64 The idea of composing a ballet based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, a relatively “safe” lyrical subject, came to Sergei Prokofiev in the spring of 1935. A ballet on the same topic, written in 1925 by the English composer Constant Lambert for impresario Sergey Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, may have given him the idea.

After returning to the Soviet Union, Prokofiev received a commission for the ballet from the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad; when Kirov backed out, the Moscow Bolshoi Theater took it over. Prokofiev tried to adhere as closely as possible to Shakespeare’s play, using both dance and mime to convey the story. When his innovative and complex score frightened the Bolshoi and the cast declared the music “undanceable,” Prokofiev revised the score. Their insistence, however, that the ballet have a happy ending turned out to be more than he could stomach. Romeo and Juliet was dead in the water.

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Program Notes In the end, a hugely successful premiere took place in Brno, Czechoslovakia, in December 1938. Embarrassed, the Kirov took it on once again and after much wrangling, the ballet was finally premiered in Leningrad in January 1940. Galina Ulanova, the ballerina who danced Juliet, expressed the difficulties surrounding the production in a humorous parody of Shakespeare’s epilogue to the play:

“There never was a story of more woe Than Prokofiev’s music for Romeo”

Romeo and Juliet is a long ballet with 52 numbers, but the rapid switches between dramatic and lyrical sections assure that the tension is maintained. One of the reasons for the ballet’s immediate acceptance was the fact that by the time of the premiere, the music was already well-known. In view of the production delays, and never one to let good music go to waste, Prokofiev arranged two orchestral suites from the ballet score, which premiered in 1936 and 1937.

During the same period he also made a piano arrangement of ten excerpts and performed them in Moscow. He assembled the Third Suite from the ballet in 1946.

Today’s selections are: 1. The Montagues and Capulets combines parts of from Act I, where the Duke forbids the two families, on the pain of death, to continue their feud, with the heavy-footed dance scene from the ballroom scene of Act II. 2. Romeo and Juliet before Parting is the lover’s farewell after their only night as married couple.

3. Romeo at Juliet’s Grave is from the concluding scenes of the ballet, including Juliet’s funeral procession.

AFTER THE RAIN® (Pas de deux) Arvo Pärt (b. 1935) Music from Spiegel im Spiegel (Mirrors in the Mirror) Arvo Pärt possesses one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary classical music, the product of eclectic influences from the “official” Soviet aesthetic to Renaissance polyphony. Born near Tallinn, Estonia’s capital, Pärt began his formal musical education in 1954 at the Tallinn Music Secondary School, suspending it a year later to fulfill his National Service obligation as an oboist and sidedrummer in an army band. He entered the Tallinn Conservatory in 1957 while working as a recording engineer with Estonian Radio.

Although still a student, he composed music for the stage and film.

By the time he graduated in 1963, he was already considered a professional composer.

After a lengthy period of silence during which he attempted to develop his personal voice, Pärt emerged in 1976 with a technique he called tintinnabuli (little bells), to which he has mostly adhered to this day. He describes the technique as follows: “I have discovered that it is enough when a single note is beautifully played. This one 20 :: West Michigan Symphony Concert Program

note, or a silent beat, or a moment of silence, comforts me. I work with very few elements—with one voice, two voices. I build with primitive materials—with the triad, with one specific tonality. The three notes of a triad are like bells and that is why I call it tintinnabulation.” The guiding principle behind the technique involves composing two simultaneous voices as one line—one voice moving stepwise to and from a central pitch, first up then down, and the other sounding the notes of the triad (chord) containing that pitch. The first products of Pärt’s new voice were the popular Fratres, Tabula Rasa, and the moving Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten.

The forced isolation behind the Iron Curtain and the endless struggle against Soviet bureaucracy forced Pärt to leave Estonia in 1980, settling in West Berlin. Since then, the majority of his compositions have been settings of religious texts. Around 2000 he returned to Estonia, and is now living in Tallinn.

Pärt composed Spiegel im Spiegel in 1978, the last work before he left the Soviet Union. It is a good example of his tintinnabuli technique.

The violin moves stepwise as the piano plays arpeggios around it.

Reminiscent in its simplicity of Philip Glass’ minimalism, Pärt’s style lacks Glass’ driving beat and the speed. Instead, the melodic line in the violin is packed with emotional moments, both gentle and intense. The two dancers mimic the two instrumentalists, translating their song into a wordless duet.

PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893) Selections from The Sleeping Beauty Suite, Op. 66a Tchaikovsky’s first ballet, Swan Lake (1877) was a revolutionary work.

Its intensely dramatic score was so demanding for choreographer, dancers and orchestra that from its premiere, music from other composers was increasingly substituted for Tchaikovsky’s original score. The ballet itself was dropped from the repertoire after 1883 and was only revived in 1895, two years after the composer’s death, and even then in modified form.

By 1888, with his reputation firmly established, such shabby treatment would have been unthinkable. The Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg commissioned The Sleeping Beauty, promising the composer a lavish staging paid for through the personal patronage of Tsar Alexander III. The story, based on a French seventeenth-century tale, was the work of the director of the Imperial Theaters. The details of the individual numbers were precisely specified as to tempo, meter and length by the famous choreographer and ballet master Marius Petipa Through Tchaikovsky’s imaginative orchestration and Petipa’s spectacular staging and choreography The Sleeping Beauty became the model for the display of the Russian imperial style. The story became secondary or, as Tchaikovsky commented: “Going to the

Ballet for the plot is like going to the opera for the recitatives.” It was premiered at the Mariinsky Theater in January, 1890. The Tsar, who was at the premiere, was less than enthusiastic: “Very nice” was his tepid comment. The rest of the audience—and the rest of the world—thought otherwise.

As in many suites derived from ballets, the sequence of scenes used in this suite does not follow the sequence in the ballet.

Today’s selections include: 1. Introduction: La Fée des lilas foreshadows the curse of the evil fairy Carabosse, immediately followed by the mitigating blessing of the Lilac Fairy.

5. The celebrated Sleeping Beauty Waltz is from the middle of Act I, as courtiers celebrate Princess Aurora’s sixteenth birthday.

NO OTHER Music by Richard Rodgers (1902-1979) Music of “Beneath the Southern Cross” from Victory at Sea

Richard Rodgers is remembered today primarily for a string of spectacularly successful works for the musical stage. From 1919 to 1943 in collaboration with Lorenz Hart, he wrote songs and shows modeled on Tin Pan Alley but with more up-to-date and often cynical lyrics. His final collaboration with Hart was Pal Joey in 1940, which shocked audiences. After Hart’s death, Rodgers teamed up with Oscar Hammerstein II in 1943 to create Oklahoma!, considered by some as the first American vernacular opera. There followed a stream of Broadway hits, ending with the premiere of The Sound of Music in 1959, shortly before Hammerstein’s death. For the remaining 20 years of his life, Rodgers never managed to light the spark he had had with his major collaborators.

Having made a name for himself in the often sentimental, sometimes cynical and always entertaining music for the musical stage, Rodgers was surprised when he was approached in 1951 by producer Henry Salomon to write the music for a massive TV project about the role of the Allied naval forces in World War II. Salomon, a veteran of six years in the U.S. Navy during the War, helped historian Samuel Eliot Morison write the Navy’s official history of its combat operations. In that capacity, he learned of the vast stock of film footage amassed by the Allies. He left military service in 1948 convinced that the material could be organized into a comprehensive historical account of the conflict, eventually selling the idea for a full television documentary series drawn entirely from extant film footage to NBC’s new Film Division.

battle-centered segment of history, win or lose, that focused on the human drama and dealt with a strategic or tactical aspect of World War II naval warfare.

“Beneath the Southern Cross” was the main theme of the tenth episode in the series, which described the battle of the South Atlantic, including the sinking by the British navy of the German pocket battleship Graf Spee. With the mere addition of some love lyrics, Rodger transformed it a few years later into the song “No Other Love Have I” for the show Me and Juliet.

FROM THE BALLET OTHELLO (Final Duet) Elliot Goldenthal (b.1954) A native of Brooklyn, Elliot Goldenthal grew up loving music and the theater. At age 14 he staged his first ballet at his high school, going on to earn an MA in composition from the Manhattan School of Music, studying with John Corigliano and privately with Aaron Copland. He has composed music in most genres, from opera and theater to film music. He won an Oscar for his score for the film Frida, the story of painters Frida Kahlo and her husband Diego Rivera. His style is eclectic, and he is always ready to try new and different techniques.

Goldenthal composed the ballet Othello in 1995 and it premiered in 1998. The Pas de deux between Othello and Desdemona near the end of Act III precedes her murder. The music is slow and dark, using contrabassoon and, later, English horn pedals to effectively conjure the mood. << AUDIO WEB NOTES For a deeper understanding of the music you heard or will be hearing, visit www.westmichigansymphony.org and go to the masterworks program of your choice. There you’ll find an expanded version of the printed notes including musical examples you can hear by clicking on the icon. There are also brief clickable definitions of musical terms as they appear in the text.

Program notes by: Joseph & Elizabeth Kahn

The film crew eventually assembled some 60 million feet of film, (roughly 11,000 miles) which was edited down to about 61,000 feet to create 26 half-hour programs. Each half-hour installment was a

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Pops

A Christmas Carol December 7 – 8, 2012 // 7:30 pm Friday and Saturday A Touring Production from Nebraska Theater Omaha, NE

This fully staged musical version of Charles Dickens’ classic tale has become a Yuletide tradition. NTC has been touring this adaptation of A Christmas Carol since 1979. It is one of the most widely viewed productions of the Dickens tale in the nation, annually performing for over 100,000 people in over 60 cities across the country.

A Christmas Carol features a spirited ensemble of 28 performers who bring Dickens’ fable of redemption to life on a magical set created by noted designer James Othuse. A full array of timeless carols such as “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” “Away In a Manager” and “Here We Come A-Wassailing” are interwoven within the classic story of a tight-fisted, middleclass merchant Ebenezer Scrooge and all the beloved characters from Dickens’ 1843 novel.

The heartwarming tale depicts Scrooge, whose values are focused exclusively on profit, and his conflicts with the struggling Cratchit family, whose tragic problems typified the working class during the Industrial Revolution in Victorian England. The touching climax is based on Dickens’ belief that the ills of a greedy world can be healed by brotherhood and unselfishness.

The colorful scenery and elaborate costumes faithfully recreate the Victorian period. Exceptional voices, lively dancing and dazzling special effects like the mysterious spinning bed combine to create a spectacular holiday treat for the entire family.

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22 :: West Michigan Symphony Concert Program

The Production This celebrated adaptation by Charles Jones of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is rich with thrilling ensemble music, alive with color and movement and is created to tell this great and enduring tale in a manner that people of all ages will enjoy.

Featuring a cast of 24, live musicians, and Broadway-style scenery and costumes, audiences cherish this sumptious annual holiday classic.

Here is Charles Jones’ introduction to the piece: “I think of this adaptation and the production of A Christmas Carol as a masque. It is not a musical comedy. The songs do not move the story forward; they stand apart, completely separate from the text. Each song or carol was chosen for the dramatic atmosphere it contributes to the total experience. The songs are traditional but John Bennett’s scoring is contemporary and exquisitely beautiful.

The language and the story of the text are faithful to Dickens. I have taken one major liberty. The original novella was published in 1843. I have moved the time forward forty years to 1886. By this time the secular English Christmas customs were fairly well established as we know them today. By 1886 the German Christmas Tree had become an English form. We also found that the costume silhouettes from the 1880’s were more attractive and created more readily a ‘Dickens Christmas look,’ not unlike those found in the paintings of Currier and Ives.

True to masque form, the entire production is presentational.

It unashamedly takes advantage of live theatre. The characters are larger than life could ever be. The sets and costumes were faithfully drawn from reality, and then, fancifully carried past reality. I think Inigo Jones would have been delighted.

The NTC production has been complimented repeatedly by those saying that the show looks, ‘like Christmas Cards,’ ‘like Christmas should be,’‘like Christmas in your mind when you were a child.’ The credit for this wizardry must go to my colleague, James Othuse, whose talent as a designer can frequently make dreams come true.”

In Mr. Jones’ adaptation for the stage, one actor plays Ebenezer Scrooge. Each of the 24 member ensemble supports both the story and the music with exceptional ensemble singing and dancing, while each taking on a significant character as the story unfolds.

The current directors and designers of this production do not attempt to stray from Charles Jones’ original conceit. As stewards of the production they strive to convey to each company of players the integrity and the magic that are intrinsic to the piece. <<

WHAT TIME DOES THE SHOW START? MLive Entertainment at mlive.com/entertainment

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Program Notes

2

Masterworks

Mozart and Friends February 9, 2013 // 7:30 pm Saturday Scott Speck, conductor Matthew Beck, Jill Brown, Jodi Dyer, Alicia Gregorian Sawyers, Jonathan Holden, Vincent Karamanov, Erin Lano, Gabriel Renteria and Jennifer Walvoord, guest artists

JOHANN SEBASTICAN BACH (1685-1750) Brandenburg Concerto no. 4, BWV 1049, in G Major Original instrumentation: solos: violin, 2 flauti d’echo*; ripieno: 2 violins, viola, continuo

Johann Sebastian Bach Jill Brown and Jodi Dyer, flute Jennifer Walvoord, violin

Brandenburg Concerto no.4, BWV 1049, in G Major 1. Allegro 2. Andante 3. Presto

Osvaldo Golijov Alicia Gregorian Sawyers, cello Matthew Beck, percussion

Mariel

The six Brandenburg Concerti stand at the crossroads in musical history, where chamber music and orchestral music went their separate ways. These Concerts á plusieurs instruments (Concerti for various instruments) as Bach named them, were dedicated to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg, who employed a modest orchestra that was in all probability too small and inexpert to play all the Concertos. The Dedication Score, including an obsequious cover letter by Bach, has been preserved and is now in the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek in Berlin.

The mint condition of the manuscript indicates that in all probability the Margrave’s orchestra seldom, if ever, performed them.

Béla Bartók

Romanian Folk Dances, Sz. 68 1. Jocul cu bâta 2. Brâul 3. Pe loc 4. Buciumeana 5. Poarga româneasca 6. Maruntel

However, the Concerti were probably common fare at the court of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen, Bach’s employer. We know from letters and records that the personnel in the Cöthen orchestra corresponded closely to the instrumental requirements of the Concerti. Three of the Concertos, nos. 2, 4 and 5, are true concerti grossi, requiring a solo instrument or group of instruments, and these requirements correspond closely to better players in the prince’s orchestra.

INTERMISSION Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Gabriel Renteria, oboe Jonathan Holden, clarinet Vincent Karamanov, bassoon Erin Lano, horn

Sinfonia concertante, K. 297b, in E-flat Major 1. Allegro 2. Adagio 3. Andantino con variazioni

The Concerti were composed between 1718 and 1721, although parts may have been written as early as 1708.

They were not composed as an independent group, but rather assembled from various orchestral works Bach had already composed over the years; they may be described as courtly entertainment music on the highest level.

The Fourth Concerto is a concerto grosso in style. The first movement ritornello involves the three soloists, who exchange roles upon the repeat. But the rapid passagework for the violin, a distinctly Vivaldi-like touch, has led some to refer to the concerto as a “disguised” violin concerto. Noteworthy is that the two flutes always play as a pair with no solos of their own in this movement.

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24 :: West Michigan Symphony Concert Program

Bach permits an occasional breakout of the individual flutes in the second, Andante movement. Here, the soloists’ parts are written out, something that was not always the case; slow movements of the Baroque period often only included a skeleton notation, leaving the improvised elaboration of the upper lines to the soloist.

A brief solo flute cadenza leads into the fugal third movement. A bravura episode, which could have come right off the pen of Vivaldi, puts the violin through its paces, leaving the flutes in the dust.

Some twenty years later, Bach converted an earlier version of this Concerto into a Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings in F Major (BWV 1057), retaining the two solo flutes. *Two differently voiced wooden transverse flutes joined together at the head and foot joints by flanges, so that two different parts can be played at once, today usually played by two flutes.

OSWALDO GOLIJOV (b. 1960) Mariel Born into an Eastern European Jewish household in officially Catholic Argentina, Oswaldo Golijov has forged a musical style based on Western Classical music, the traditional Jewish and Christian liturgies, folk traditions of several countries, and Latin-American influences with particular attention to the tango as developed by Astor Piazzolla. Golijov transforms these materials into entirely new forms and sounds. Klezmer music has been an important source for many of his compositions, the best known being The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind, for string quartet and clarinet.

In 1983 Golijov moved to Israel where he studied with the Ukrainian-born musicologist and composer Mark Kopytman. In 1986 he came to the United States and earned his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania.

Golijov’s position as Loyola Professor of Music at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA adds yet another layer to the composer’s multicultural persona.

Golijov composed Mariel in 1999. “I wrote the original version of Mariel, for cello and marimba, when I learned of the death in an accident of my friend Mariel Stubrin,” Golijov explains. “I attempted to capture that short instant before grief, in which one learns of the sudden death of a friend who was full of life: a single moment frozen forever in one’s memory, and which reverberates through the piece, in the waves and echoes of the Brazilian music that Mariel loved.” He made the orchestral version in 2007.

Each of us experiences the shock of bad news differently; the pulsing of the cello in its low range resonating with the buzz of disorientation and the cramping of the stomach, Golijov uses seven minutes to reflect what takes place in a few seconds.

BÉLA BARTÓK (1881-1945) Romanian Folk Dances, Sz. 68 By the end of the nineteenth century, classical music based on ersatz Hungarian folk music had come to a dead end. The extreme nationalism that had swept Hungary, beginning with the failed revolution of 1848, revived interest in the authentic folk culture and inspired the search for authenticity in clothing, food, language, literature and music.

Born in the midst of this revival, Béla Bartók began his musical career in the classical vein, his early compositions emulating Brahms,

Richard Strauss and Liszt. But he was swept up in the nationalist movement and, together with his friend Zoltán Kodály, became one of the first modern ethnomusicologists. In 1906 the two began collecting the peasant folk songs of Hungary and Romania, using that newfangled invention, the Edison wax cylinder. Bartók was tireless in his pursuit of authentic melodies and dances, often traveling to the farthest backwaters to record local variants. His research contributed to the understanding of how long poems, such as the Homeric epics, are retained in collective memory over the centuries as part of an oral tradition through the use of verbal and melodic formulae. In later years he extended his collecting to other Eastern European and North African countries, making his final trip to Anatolia in 1936.

The folk music Bartók collected strongly influenced his musical output. He edited and published many of the melodies he had recorded, while others he incorporated into his own compositions. In his original works, such as his concerti or string quartets, he retained the modes, rhythms and style of the folk music, but composed his own themes.

In the seven Romanian Folk Dances, composed in 1915 as piano pieces and orchestrated in 1917, Bartók directly used folk material from the over 1,100 tunes he had collected from that region alone. He made simple settings of peasant flute and fiddler tunes, letting the unfamiliar modalities and snappy rhythms speak for themselves.

Listeners familiar with the composer’s later transformations of indigenous folk music

Volume 2//September 2012 – June 2013 :: 25

Program Notes will note that these Dances are more tuneful, in our Western European sense, than the later ones. The difference is largely due to Bartók’s development as a composer; his own personal idiom and musical language affected the way in which he incorporated his own melodies into the folk idiom.

The Dances are short, each characterized by its own instrumentation and characteristic rhythm. The incipits of each define the essence of the entire dance. The last three dances flow into each other without pause.

The final Dance serves as a rousing coda WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) Sinfonia concertante in E-flat major, K. 297b

In 1777 Mozart set out with his mother on a grand tour of Germany and France, ending up in Paris where his mother suddenly died.

The trip turned into a financial disaster as well: no court appointments, few substantive commissions and, because of his long absence, dismissal from his post with the Salzburg court orchestra. As for the Parisians, they mostly ignored him, while he repaid them in kind. As his letters home show, he despised them and their musical taste.

One of the few commissions he obtained in Paris was from Jean Legros, director of the Concerts spirituels, who requested him to write a work for four famous wind players who were visiting the city at the same time. Mozart composed a Sinfonia concertante for flute, oboe, bassoon and horn, which, because of political intrigues, was not performed during his stay in Paris. Mozart tried to recover the

manuscript from Legros, but the director never returned it, having apparently lost it. Furious, Mozart wrote to his father that upon his return to Salzburg he intended to recompose the work from memory.

He probably never did. The Sinfonia concertante that we know today, for oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn, did not surface till 1867 in a manuscript of questionable credentials, dating from the early nineteenth century. Arguments about its authenticity have raged ever since, especially since this manuscript itself has also disappeared.

Current research suggests that the piece is not the one Mozart composed for Legros, but possibly another composer’s reconstruction of some parts of the original, probably the solo parts. Based on that premise, the work has been “reconstructed” several times; pianist and musicologist Robert Levin wrote a hefty book on the work, Who Wrote the Mozart Wind Concertante?, along with a scholarly edition. The piece has some charming and convincing Mozartean qualities, but their development tends to become routine and shows little of Mozart’s inventiveness.

As is the case with the Requiem, Mozart’s final unfinished work whose multiple authorship is documented, listeners may wonder which parts of the Sinfonia concertante bear the musical signature of the young Mozart and which of a knowledgeable imitator. A master of melody, Mozart frequently strung together his musical ideas into composite themes such as we have for the beginning of this work. Even the second theme, although more modest in scope, probably was

composed by the same mind. The elegantly rounded exposition, whose penultimate cadence matches the opening one, is another Mozart fingerprint. On other hand, Mozart frequently varied the music of the soloist(s) in order to avoid an exact double exposition. Instead, the entry of the four soloists launches into a section, in which the composer concentrates on equitably divvying up the solo licks. A written out cadenza also puts the four soloists through their paces.

The second movement, a classic ABA structure, also begins with one of Mozart’s composite themes, and the middle section displays some elegant ensemble writing.

The final movement is a theme with ten variations and a substantial coda. The variations are replete with feats of musical derring-do and are perhaps not by Mozart, since he still belonged to a period when sets of variations were vehicles for the showmanship of the performer, rather than the subtlety of the composer. << AUDIO WEB NOTES For a deeper understanding of the music you heard or will be hearing, visit westmichigansymphony.org and go to the masterworks program of your choice. There you’ll find an expanded version of the printed notes including musical examples you can hear by clicking on the icon. There are also brief clickable definitions of musical terms as they appear in the text.

Program notes by: Joseph & Elizabeth Kahn

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Artist Bios MATTHEW BECK Principal Percussion Matthew Beck currently serves as Principal Percussionist with the West Michigan Symphony and the Canton Symphony Orchestra in Ohio. He teaches percussion at Calvin College in Grand Rapids. Mr. Beck received his BM from the Cleveland Institute of Music as a student of Richard Weiner and Paul Yancich of the Cleveland Orchestra, and he graduated with a Master of Music from DePaul University as a student of Ted Atkatz from the Chicago Symphony. He has spent his summers performing at many of the world’s great music festivals including the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, Pacific Music Festival (Japan), and the Spoleto USA Festival.

JILL MARIE BROWN Principal Flute Jill Marie Brown has played principal flute in West Michigan Symphony since 1982. Over the years she has participated in many of the orchestra’s chamber music programs, given pre-concert lectures, been part of the outreach to elementary schools, and had the opportunity to be featured on several concerts.

Jill holds a BA in Music from Calvin College and a Master of Music from University of Michigan and presently teaches flute as an adjunct faculty member at Calvin College. She has also taught K-8 general music, band and choir, and was flute instructor at Hope College for several years. Originally from Marne, MI, Jill started playing flute in 6th grade, studying with Ruth Bylsma of GRSO. During college she studied with Darlene Dugan and Judith Bentley and also learned from other prominent teachers through participation in master classes and workshops in U.S. and Canada. Besides playing in WMS, Jill is a substitute with GRSO and plays on a regular basis in the pit orchestra at Grand Rapids Civic Theatre.

She lives with her husband and children on an apple farm north of Grand Rapids.

JODI DYER Flute Jodi Dyer is a West Michigan based flutist performing as second flutist with the West Michigan Symphony and piccoloist with the Traverse Symphony Orchestra since 2008. She holds degree in music performance from Carnegie Mellon University (2008) and Western Michigan University (2006) and has studied with such virtuosos as Alberto Almarza, Jeanne Baxtresser, Christine M. Smith, Darlene Dugan, and Rhonda Larson. An avid performer and teacher, Jodi has extensive experience in orchestral, solo and chamber music. As an orchestral musician, Jodi has performed in such venues as the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Severance Hall in Cleveland, and Pittsburgh’s Heinz Hall. Jodi teaches flute at Interlochen’s Adult Band Camp program and has taught at Western Michigan University’s Seminar program as well as master classes at Oakland University and with the West Michigan Flute Association.

Volume 2//September 2012 – June 2013 :: 27

Artist Bios JONATHAN HOLDEN Principal Clarinet Jonathan is Principal Clarinetist of the West Michigan Symphony, a frequent guest of the Grand Rapids, Sarasota, and Mississippi Symphony Orchestras, and a former tenured member of the Kalamazoo and Traverse Symphony Orchestras. He has performed with numerous other ensembles including the Lansing Symphony Orchestra, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, and the Mobile Symphony.

Jonathan has won first prize in several competitions including the Clarinet and Saxophone Society of Great Britain Competition and the Michigan State University Honors Competition, and was a semi-finalist in the prestigious Carl Nielsen Third International Clarinet Competition. He has performed by invitation of organizations such as the British Clarinet Congress, the Paris Conservatoire, the College Music Society, The University of Rio de Janeiro, Festival South, Chamber Music Wilmington, and The American Music Festival. Jonathan is a member of Category 5—the resident wind quintet at the University of Southern Mississippi, who has in recent years embarked on tours of Brazil and the southwestern United States.

Currently Assistant Professor of Clarinet at the University of Southern Mississippi, he received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Michigan State University where he studied with Dr. Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr. He received his BM and MM performance degrees from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama where he studied with Joy Farrall and Dame Thea King.

VINCENT KARAMANOV Principal Bassoon In 2009, Vincent Karamanov was appointed to the position of Principal Bassoon with the West Michigan Symphony by Music Director Scott Speck. That same year, he was also appointed to the 3rd Bassoon/ Contrabassoon position with the Grand Rapids Symphony by Music Director David Lockington. Since moving to Michigan, he has performed with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra under maestro Edo de Waart and the Kalamazoo, Lansing and Traverse City Symphony Orchestras. He studied under Professor Michael Kroth at Michigan State University where he earned his Master of Music degree in bassoon performance. Previously, he studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Ball State University.

His teachers have included John Clouser of the Cleveland Orchestra, Dr. Keith Sweger, and Kenneth Pasmanick of the National Symphony Orchestra (retired). During the summer of 2011, he was a guest faculty artist at the Ball State Summer Bassoon Camp. Currently, he is the Bassoon Instructor at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, MI. Vincent lives in the Westside neighborhood of Grand Rapids with his wife Kelly, who is Principal Piano/Celeste with the West Michigan Symphony. He also enjoys micro-brews and collecting LP records.

ERIN LANO Principal Horn West Michigan Symphony Principal Hornist Erin Lano freelances actively in the Chicago area and all around the Midwest. She has performed with the Chicago, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Columbus, and Richmond Symphony Orchestras and she can frequently be heard in the wings at the Lyric Opera of Chicago playing with the stage band. She has performed in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Boston Symphony Hall, Orchestra Hall in Chicago and the Ravinia Festival, and she has toured with orchestras in Venezuela, Cuba and Great Britain. During the summer Ms. Lano performs with the Britt Festival Orchestra. Other summer engagements have included the Sun Valley Summer Symphony, Strings in the Mountains and Spoleto USA. Erin earned her Bachelor’s degree from New England Conservatory under the tutelage of James Sommerville and Richard Sebring, and her Master’s degree at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music where she studied with William VerMeulen.

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GABRIEL RENTERIA Principal Oboe Gabriel Renteria received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory where he studied with James Caldwell. He went on to do graduate work at the University of Washington and the Colburn Conservatory where he was a student of Nathan Hughes and Alan Vogel.

Gabriel has played with the Seattle Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Chicago Symphony. He is currently the Principal Oboe and Artist-in-Residence with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra.

ALICIA GREGORIAN SAWYERS Principal Cello A native of East Lansing, MI cellist Alicia Gregorian Sawyers received her Masters Degree from New England Conservatory in 2008, studying with Natasha Brofsky. She received her BM in 2006 from Michigan State University, where she studied with Suren Bagratuni. A diverse musician, Mrs. Sawyers has performed with famous artists ranging from Itzhak Perlman to Kanye West. She has appeared in concert at Jordan Hall, Sanders Theater, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall for the Mostly Mozart Festival. Mrs. Sawyers has spent her summers at various music festivals including the Bowdoin International Music Festival, The Meadowmount School of Music and The Perlman Music Program. As an orchestral musician, she has had the pleasure to work with many great conductors, including Joseph Silverstein and Hugh Wolf. A passionate chamber musician, she has had the opportunity to work with renowned musicians such as Paul Katz, Roger Tapping and members of the Borromeo and Juilliard String Quartets. Living in Grand Rapids, MI, Mrs. Sawyers performs with several orchestras throughout the area and around the state. She is the Principal Cellist for the West Michigan Symphony. A dedicated teacher, Mrs. Sawyers currently has over 30 private students.

JENNIFER WALVOORD Concertmaster Jennifer Walvoord of Holland, MI graduated with her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She has Masters degrees in both violin performance and chamber music from the University of Michigan, and a Bachelors degree in violin performance from Hope College in Holland, MI. In addition to her position as West Michigan Symphony concertmaster, Jennifer is a member of the Grand Rapids Symphony. Jennifer has performed as soloist with the West Michigan Symphony and the Holland Symphony Orchestra. While at the University of Michigan, Jennifer served as concertmaster and performed electric violin on the Grammy Award-winning recording of William Bolcom’s Songs of Innocence and Experience conducted by Leonard Slatkin.

Jennifer is an active chamber musician. She performs recitals regularly with her husband, pianist Dr. Andrew Le. Jennifer and Andrew are the Artistic Directors of the Chamber Music Festival of Saugatuck. Jennifer collaborated with her sister, Martha, on a recording called “American Perspectives” which was recently released on the Centaur Records Label. Jennifer and Andrew live in Holland, MI with their son, Matthew.

Volume 2//September 2012 – June 2013 :: 29

M

Program Notes

3

Masterworks

Beethoven and Blue Jeans March 15 – 16, 2013 // 7:30 pm Friday and Saturday Scott Speck, conductor Awadagin Pratt, piano

Randall Woolf

Shakedown

Jean Sibelius

Symphony no.3, Op. 52, in C Major 1. Allegro moderato 2. Andantino con moto; quasiallegretto 3. Moderato—Allegro; ma non tanto

INTERMISSION Ludwig van Beethoven

Piano Concerto no.5, Op. 73, in E-flat Major, “Emperor” Awardagin Pratt, piano 1. Allegro 2. Adagio un poco mosso 3. Rondo: Allegro

RANDALL WOOLF (b. 1959) Shakedown Born in Detroit, Randall Woolf studied composition privately with David Del Tredici and Joseph Maneri and earned his Ph.D. at Harvard University. His works have been performed at Tanglewood and Bang on a Can, Basso Bongo, Twisted Tutu and by the Kronos Quartet, among others. He is a member of the Common Sense Composers Collective.

Woolf likes to mix classical and popular idioms. In 1997, he composed a ballet, Where the Wild Things Are, in collaboration with the late Maurice Sendak.

Shakedown was composed in 1990 for the ALEA III ensemble in residence at Boston University. Woolf writes: “Shakedown is very rhythmically charged with no relief from the rhythmic action, getting you into almost a techno-like groove.”

Scored for chamber orchestra, Shakedown lives up to its name as it puts the first chair players through their paces. Woolf borrows a trick or two from the Minimalists, dividing up the piece into a perpetual motion of discreet loops with jazzy rhythms, harmonies and tricky crossrhythms. The changes, however, come more suddenly than the gradual evolutions of Philip Glass, for example.

Woolf also allows his soloists to speak in their own emotive—even Romantic—language.

JEAN SIBELIUS (1865-1957) Symphony no. 3 in C major, Op. 52

When Sweden relinquished Finland to the Russian Empire in 1809, it became an autonomous duchy with significant control over its own affairs. Beginning in 1870, however, the Tsar gradually whittled away at the Finns’ privileges and autonomy. While Swedish had continued to be the language of the educated and of the middle class, Russian repression aroused strong nationalist feelings and initiated a revival of the Finnish language. Jean Sibelius was born into this nationalistic environment and in 1876 enrolled in the first grammar school to teach in Finnish.

Sibelius was by no means a child prodigy. He began playing piano at age nine and starting to compose at 10. After abandoning the piano, he took up the violin at 14 with the ambition of becoming a concert violinist.

Unfortunately he did not have the manual dexterity—­ nor the personal drive—to become a virtuoso. More important, from early in his life, Sibelius suffered from

30 :: West Michigan Symphony Concert Program

depression coupled with bouts of alcoholism that soon produced a tremor in his right hand. In 1891 he abandoned performing altogether, but for the rest of his long life he regretted not having followed his dream. He frequently went on the wagon, only to backslide repeatedly when black moods struck.

Sibelius’s first success as a composer came in 1892 with Kullervo, Op. 7, a nationalistic symphonic poem/cantata that premiered to great acclaim but which was never again performed in his lifetime because of the difficulty in amassing the enormous resources the piece required. For the next six years he composed numerous nationalistic pageants, symphonic poems and vocal works, mostly based on the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala. In 1897, in order to enable him to compose undisturbed, the Finnish government gave him a pension for life. For 29 years he composed the symphonies and other orchestral works that made him world-famous. But in 1926, at the age of 61, he essentially quit composing for reasons he never made clear, remaining silent until his death 31 years later.

One of the most frequently quoted interchanges about the formal qualities of a symphony occurred in Helsinki in October 1907 between Gustav Mahler and Sibelius. As the latter recalled: “I said that I admired its style and form and the profound logic that created an inner connection between all the motives... Mahler’s opinion was just the opposite: ‘No! he said, the symphony must be like the world. It must be all-embracing.’” Nothing could demonstrate this difference of approach better than Mahler’s massive Symphony no. 8 and Sibelius’s no. 3, both completed that year.

The Symphony is in three movements, of which the third is a combination of scherzo and finale. One of the most characteristic features of nearly all of Sibelius’s orchestral music is the dark orchestration that has all instruments frequently playing at the bottom of their range. The Third Symphony is no exception; it begins with what sounds like a nervous, almost stuttering theme in the cellos and basses, which later takes on more of a dancing character.

The more lyric second theme sounds as if it could have been a folksong, but all the themes in this Symphony are original.

The second movement sports another folk-like melody, taken up by successive pairs of winds over pianissimo low brass and pizzicato basses. No Finn would be pleased to admit that this movement— in theme, development and orchestration­­ —has a distinctly Tchaikovskian caste.

The Scherzo/Finale again pits upper winds against low strings and brass, creating a hollow, almost desolate, sound. It takes on the nervousness of the opening movement, with more chromatic and fragmented use of melody. The orchestration becomes heavier until the Scherzo blends seamlessly into the Finale proper, a hymnlike melody that builds unbroken harmonic tension until the final cadence some five minutes later.

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Program Notes

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LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827) Piano Concerto no. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73, Emperor Two of the signature aspects of Western thought are the importance of progress and individuality.

Nowhere are these concepts more apparent than in the history of music, where we give special attention to innovation in form and harmony.

While not always appreciated at first hearing— witness the audience riot over Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring—innovators eventually receive their due—in hindsight.

In his greatest works, Beethoven was both an innovator and an individualist who attempted to put his personal stamp on everything from harmony and musical structure to advances in piano construction. While retaining the threemovement form of the concerto, he expanded the internal structure of the individual movements, especially in the Fourth and Fifth Piano Concertos.

The dramatic use of the piano in the opening phrases of these concertos was tried only once before—by Mozart in his Piano Concerto in E-flat major, K. 271—and did not occur again in any major piano concerto until the B-flat major Concerto of Brahms. The thunderous opening of the Fifth Concerto was without precedent, as was Beethoven’s refusal to allow the performer to improvise a cadenza.

Beethoven composed the Concerto in Vienna during the summer of 1809, under conditions hardly conducive to creativity. Following a day of heavy bombardment, Vienna surrendered to the French army under Napoleon, and those citizens who could afford to flee did so, including Beethoven’s patron and friend the Archduke Rudolph. Prices and taxes skyrocketed, food was scarce, parks were closed to the public and Beethoven remained in the city, alone and lonely. In spite of the hardships during those trying months, he managed to compose some of his greatest works: the Piano Sonata Op. 81a (“Les adieux”), the Quartet in E-flat, Op. 74 (the “Harp”) and the “Emperor” Concerto (the title bestowed on it by one of the publishers, without Beethoven’s approval).

The Fifth Piano Concerto was premiered in Leipzig in 1811 to an enthusiastic reception. It was the only one of Beethoven’s piano concertos

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without the composer himself at the keyboard, since by that time his hearing had deteriorated too far for him to perform in public, especially with an orchestra. Two months later, however, the first performance in Vienna was a total failure, primarily because the Concerto was on the program of a Charity Society performance featuring three living tableaux on Biblical subjects—hardly a suitable milieu.

The Concerto opens with a powerful orchestral chord, followed by a sweeping cadenza-like flourish by the piano solo. Only after two more orchestral chords interrupted by the piano outbursts, does the orchestra introduce the principal theme. The movement is stormy and driving with some of the same harmonic ambiguity as in the first movement of the Fourth Concerto. At the point where traditionally one would have expected a cadenza, the pianist’s score bore Beethoven’s directive: “Do not play a cadenza!” The music that follows, however, has all the characteristics of a cadenza as if the composer wanted to be sure that his ideas, not the performer’s, would prevail.

The hymn-like lyrical second movement opens with the muted violins introducing the theme, followed by a pianissimo aria by the piano. There follow two variations, the first by the piano, the second by the orchestra. Then follows one of Beethoven’s most mysterious musical moments, the hushed transition leading without pause into the exuberant Rondo. Beethoven builds up immense tension by subtle changes in key and tempo with hints of the rondo refrain to come, until the Finale bursts out in its jubilant mood. << AUDIO WEB NOTES For a deeper understanding of the music you heard or will be hearing, visit westmichigansymphony.org and go to the masterworks program of your choice. There you’ll find an expanded version of the printed notes including musical examples you can hear by clicking on the icon. There are also brief clickable definitions of musical terms as they appear in the text.

Program notes by: Joseph & Elizabeth Kahn

Awadagin Pratt Among his generation of concert artists, pianist Awadagin Pratt is acclaimed for his musical insight and intensely involving performances in recital and with symphony orchestras.

Born in Pittsburgh, Awadagin Pratt began studying piano at the age of six. Three years later, having moved to Normal, IL with his family, he also began studying violin. At the age of 16 he entered the University of Illinois where he studied piano, violin, and conducting. He subsequently enrolled at the Peabody Conservatory of Music where he became the first student in the school’s history to receive diplomas in three performance areas—piano, violin and conducting. In recognition of this achievement and for his work in the field of classical music, Mr. Pratt recently received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Johns Hopkins.

Pratt plays with a full-bodied intensity that can be at turns intimate and grandly heart-wrenching. He has a story to tell, and you can hear him agonizing over every twist... Pratt commands your unfailing attention—without ever getting ostentatious.

—Newsweek, Yahlin Chang

In 1992 Mr. Pratt won the Naumburg International Piano Competition and two years later was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant. Since then, he has played numerous recitals throughout the US including performances at Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles and Chicago’s Orchestra Hall. His many orchestral performances include appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra and the Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Baltimore, St. Louis, National, Detroit and New Jersey Symphonies among many others. Summer festival engagements include Ravinia, Blossom, Wolftrap, Caramoor and Aspen, the Hollywood Bowl and the Mostly Mozart Festival in Tokyo. Mr. Pratt was also the Artistic Director of the Next Generation Festival, a chamber music festival in Lancaster, PA and appears with cellist Zuill Bailey in duo recitals throughout the US. Recent and upcoming appearances include recital engagements at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark and in Baltimore, La Jolla, Los Angeles and at Duke University, as well as appearances with the orchestras of Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Seattle, Colorado, Portland (ME), Utah, Richmond, Grand Rapids, Winston-Salem, Volume 2//September 2012 – June 2013 :: 33

Awadagin Pratt Springfield (IL) and Mobile. He played a recital in Carnegie Hall for the Naumburg Foundation in November 2010 and appears at the 2012 Ravinia Festival in a duo recital with Zuill Bailey.

As a conductor, Mr. Pratt has participated in the American Symphony Orchestra League and Conductor’s Guild workshops and the National Conducting Institute, where he worked closely with Leonard Slatkin and conducted the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center. He has also conducted the Toledo, New Mexico, Winston-Salem, Santa Fe and Prince George County Symphonies, the Concertante di Chicago and several orchestras in Japan.

A great favorite on college and university performing arts series and a strong advocate of music education, Awadagin Pratt participates in numerous residency and outreach activities wherever he appears; these activities may include master classes, children’s recitals, play/talk demonstrations and question/answer sessions for students of all ages.

Internationally, Mr. Pratt has toured Japan four times and performed in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Israel and South Africa.

12/13

CONCERT

November 18, 2012 Dogwood Center, Fremont, MI

DATES March 17, 2013 3:00 PM Frauenthal Center, Muskegon, MI

Daniel M. Meyers, music director

Awadagin Pratt has been the subject of numerous articles in the national press, including Newsweek, People magazine and New York Newsday. He was named one of the 50 Leaders of Tomorrow in Ebony magazine’s special 50th anniversary issue and has been featured on National Public Radio’s Performance Today, St. Paul Sunday Morning and Weekend Edition. On television, Mr. Pratt has performed on the Today Show, Good Morning America and Sesame Street, been profiled on CBS Sunday Morning and was one of the featured soloists on PBS’s “Live from the Kennedy Center - A Salute to Slava.” In November 2009, Mr. Pratt was one of four artists selected to perform at a White House classical music event that included student workshops hosted by the First Lady, Michelle Obama, and performing in concert for guests including President Obama. He has performed two other times at the White House, both at the invitation of President and Mrs. Clinton.

Mr. Pratt’s recordings for Angel/EMI include A Long Way From Normal, an all Beethoven Sonata CD, Live From South Africa, Transformations and an all Bach disc with the St. Lawrence String Quartet. His most recent recordings are the Brahms Sonatas for Cello and Piano with Zuill Bailey for Telarc and a recording of the music of Judith Lang Zaimont with the Harlem Quartet for Navona Records.

Mr. Pratt is currently an Associate Professor of Piano and Artist in Residence at the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati.

For further information please visit www.awadagin.com <<

34 :: West Michigan Symphony Concert Program

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Volume 2//September 2012 – June 2013 :: 35

M

Program Notes

4

Masterworks

Women as Muses April 19 – 20, 2013 // 7:30 pm Friday and Saturday Teresa Cheung, guest conductor Elena Urioste, violin

George Tsontakis

Clair de Lune

Felix Mendelssohn

Violin Concerto, Op. 64, in E minor Elena Urioste, violin 1. Allegro molto appassionato 2. Andante 3. Allegretto non troppo—Allegro molto vivace

INTERMISSION Robert Schumann

Symphony no.2, Op. 61, in C Major 1. Sostenuto assai—Allegro ma non troppo 2. Scherzo: Allegro vivace 3. Adagio expressivo 4. Allegro molto vivace

GEORGE TSONTAKIS (b. 1951) Clair de lune Born in Astoria, NY, of Greek heritage, composer and conductor George Tsontakis studied at Juilliard with Hugo Weisgall and Roger Sessions, and subsequently at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome. A faculty member of the Aspen Music School since 1976, he was the founding director of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble from 1991 until 1998. From 1999 to 2003 he was the Oxford Philomusica’s first composer-in-residence. He is currently Distinguished Composer-in-Residence at Bard College. In 2005 he was named recipient of the University of Louisville’s Grawemeyer prize for his Violin Concerto no.2, one of the highest honors awarded to composers who already enjoy broad recognition. His works have been commissioned and performed by leading orchestras, chamber groups and soloists in prestigious venues all over the world. He has recently completed the Charles Ives Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a three-year stipend to support him as he took a sabbatical from his salaried employment.

Tsontakis composed the two-movement Clair de lune in 2006 for the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, dedicating it to “my devoted and wonderful mother.”

The work pays homage to Debussy, whose works— not only his Clair de lune—are hinted at throughout.

The composer writes:

Unlike Debussy, who was said to often give his works imaginative titles of natural or mythical imagery after composing the work, I decided to name this work well in advance of composing it.

Simply put, I’ve always loved the title (I like Debussy’s piece, too) and thought to “find” another way of expressing it. I did not know Paul Verlaine’s poem, although I did know that it was considered to be the impetus for Debussy’s title. In short, I have composed my Clair with all the color, texture, etherealness, irony and wonderment tossed to me through Debussy’s title, touching Verlaine—somehow once or twice removed. A cousin, perhaps, related by a simple, and mysterious universal image. I’ve tried very hard to make this Clair my own.

While Debussy’s title for his endearing piano piece might have been an inspiration, as to texture and weight, his Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun might have been more of a compositional 36 :: West Michigan Symphony Concert Program

influence. Scored for a similar sized chamber orchestra, it’s richness, without the sometimes “bloatedness” of a full orchestra, serves to draw the listener closer; where swells and high points may be more poignant and moving than those of larger instrumental palettes.

Listeners searching for direct and exact quotes from Debussy will not find them.

Rather, Tsontakis has adapted the Debussy sound world into a work that builds on very brief motives that it combines both melodically and contrapuntally. The first part, titled “Moonlit,” begins with two atmospheric motives that imbue the piece with a cool, but not chilly, opening, perhaps even imitative of birds settling down for the night. The piece is particularly reminiscent of Debussy in the use of modes beyond the typical major and minor; including the octatonic scale (alternating whole steps and half steps) so frequently employed by Debussy and Stravinsky. The middle section

increases the tempo, a kind of “dancing moonbeams” effect, after which the piece returns to the more atmospheric mood of the opening.

The second part of Clair de lune adopts another Debussy-like title, “Jeux” (Games), but the energetic motives seem to owe less to the Master than “Moonlit.” The spiky melody and bouncy rhythm have bounded over several decades. By way of tying things together, Tsontakis brings back a variant of the principal melody of the first part.

FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847) Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 If ever there was a composer born with a silver spoon in his mouth, it was Felix Mendelssohn.

He was raised in affluence and comfort, his precocious musical talent recognized and nurtured by his culturally sophisticated and highly supportive family. His home was a Mecca for the artistic and intellectual elite of

Germany who also encouraged the prodigy and his talented sister Fanny. One of his admirers was the formidable grand old man of German literature, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Fortunately for the development of Felix’s rare abilities, his carefully selected teachers were demanding. His strict training, especially in fugue composition, familiarized him with the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, who at the time was dismissed as a mere pedagogue. In 1829, Mendelssohn was central to a Bach revival with an historic performance of the Saint Matthew Passion in Berlin, virtually rescuing the great composer’s music from the counterpoint classroom.

Unlike Mozart, Mendelssohn was extremely self-critical, constantly requesting feedback and carefully perfecting his compositions.

The Concerto in E minor had a long gestation period. Mendelssohn started the concerto in 1838 but did not finish it until six years later. He wrote it for his friend, the famed violinist Ferdinand David (1810-

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Program Notes 1873), concertmaster of the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig where Mendelssohn served as conductor from 1835 to 1843. The composer sought—and took—David’s advice on technical aspects throughout its composition. David finally premiered it in Leipzig in 1845, but Mendelssohn was ill and unable to attend. Now one of the staples of violin repertory, the Concerto was considered daring and innovative at the time of its composition.

From the first bar, the Allegro molto appassionato opening broke new ground. Instead of the usual orchestral exposition of the main themes, the violin enters at once to present the principal theme on which the movement is built. For the second theme, the roles are reversed, with the winds introducing the theme. The cadenza, largely the creation of David, is placed unconventionally before the recapitulation. Relocating the cadenza away from its traditional place at the end of the movement stresses the continuity with the second movement, which follows without pause.

The Andante emerges out of a single quiet bassoon tone, emanating from the last chord of the opening movement. It is joined by other instruments for a short transitional passage, after which the solo violin introduces the simple, almost religious theme.

Another transition, based on the opening theme of the Concerto, leads into the Allegro molto vivace. Mendelssohn saved the demonstration of the violin’s virtuoso possibilities for this sparkling Finale. After an orchestral fanfare for the winds, the soloist enters with a flourish followed by a delicate, dancing theme that dominates the movement and recalls the atmosphere of the teenaged composer’s first great hit, the Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810-1856) Symphony no.2 in C major, Op. 61 In the summer of 1844, after returning from an arduous concert tour to Russia, Robert Schumann suffered a nervous breakdown that left him barely able to work. By the end of the following year, he managed to finish the Piano Concerto and in a sudden rush of inspiration sketched out his Symphony no. 2 in a few days in December. Nevertheless, it took him ten more months to flesh out the sketch and orchestrate it. He finished it on October 19, just in time for the premiere in Leipzig on November 5 under the baton of Felix Mendelssohn. In a letter to a colleague Schumann wrote: “I wrote my symphony in December 1845, while still in a semi-invalid state; it appears to me that one can hear this from the music. I began to feel more like myself when I wrote the last movement, and was certainly much better when I finished the whole work. All the same it reminds me of dark times.”

The unusually long, slow introduction to the Symphony combines and interweaves two themes: a slow horn fanfare combined with a dark theme in the strings. There follows a brief duet for the oboes in a motive that will recur throughout the movement and even 38 :: West Michigan Symphony Concert Program

later in the Symphony. One of the most interesting features of this symphony is the way in which Schumann incorporates the motivic material from the Introduction into the Allegro. The tempo and tension increase until the aggressive main Allegro theme erupts, immediately incorporating the oboe duet from the introduction.

The movement ends with a coda that incorporates all the themes, including a triumphant statement of the opening horn theme— now blasting out on a trumpet.

The following Scherzo continues the battle of the contrasting moods.

The theme is extremely agitated—perhaps reflecting the composer’s mania. He then repeats his innovation from his “Spring” Symphony (no. 1), in having two contrasting trios: the first lively and staccato, the second dreamy and legato. Those who doubt a psychological interpretation of the musical material need only venture into Schumann’s writings and his early piano music, especially Carnaval, where Schumann devotes two of the movements to the manic and contemplative aspects of his own personality, actually giving them names, Florestan and Eusebius, respectively.

The third movement is one of Schumann’s most moving utterances.

Marked Adagio espressivo, it is based on a single passionate melody introduced on the violins and immediately picked up by a solo oboe. But it is the motive created by the opening four notes, with their intense unresolved pathos that the composer dwells on, continually returning to it in the course of the movement, often using different pitches but retaining the same languorous sighing shape. Orchestrating this movement sapped Schumann’s emotional energy and he had to put the symphony aside for an extended rest.

As he wrote to a friend in a letter accompanying the manuscript, “it will tell you of many joys and sorrows.” Schumann spent much of his convalescent time in 1845 intensively studying the music of Bach, and, some scholars have remarked on the similarity between Schumann’s Adagio theme and the first movement of the Trio Sonata from Bach’s A Musical Offering.

After the heart-felt Adagio, the Finale bursts forth with a joyous voice, corresponding to Schumann’s statement that he was feeling himself again. It is extremely unusual for its time, in that it does not correspond to any of the classical structures for symphonic movements. In sharp contrast to the monothematic Adagio, the Finale consists of a series of themes, including a transformation of the Adagio melody. Schumann ties the Symphony together by restating the opening horn call and theme from the introduction. << AUDIO WEB NOTES Visit www.westmichigansymphony.org and go to the masterworks program of your choice. There you’ll find an expanded version of the printed notes including musical examples you can hear by clicking on the icon. There are also brief clickable definitions of musical terms as they appear in the text.

Program notes by: Joseph & Elizabeth Kahn

Teresa Cheung Equally at home with both orchestral and vocal genres, Teresa Cheung is in frequent demand for symphonic, choral, and operatic productions in the U.S. and Canada. Guest conducting appearances have led her to the American Symphony Orchestra, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, the Mobile Symphony, the Nashville Symphony, the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra, the Phoenix Symphony, and the Stamford Symphony. Aside from maintaining an active schedule with professional orchestras, Cheung often appears as conductor for All State/County Orchestra Festivals, and has been a clinician for Lincoln Center’s “Meet The Artist” program since 2007.

The 2012-2013 season marks Cheung’s fifth season as the Music Director and Conductor of the Altoona Symphony Orchestra in Pennsylvania, as well as the Resident Conductor for the American Symphony Orchestra in New York City. Since 2004 she has been the Assistant Conductor for the Bard Music Festival and SummerScape, serving as Rehearsal Conductor for their opera and concert productions. Some of the most outstanding examples of her work include the 2010’s highly acclaimed U.S. premiere of Franz Schreker’s Der ferne Klang, the first U.S. fully-staged production of Robert Schumann’s Genoveva in 2006, and the 2004 production of Mark Blitzstein’s Regina. Cheung was recently appointed conductor for the Bard College Orchestra in New York.

Cheung is a strong advocate of music education for all ages. Her passion for community outreach is evident with her lectures, collaborative projects, and creative concert programming. Since the beginning of her tenure with the Altoona Symphony, Cheung has created numerous programs that engaged area children and high school musicians and choristers. In April 2010, the Altoona Symphony Orchestra performed its first Side-by-Side concert in its 82 year history with Gustav Holst’s The Planets, partnering with the Juniata College Orchestra.

Cheung began her career as Resident Conductor for the Evansville (IN) Philharmonic Orchestra, where she was also conductor of the Evansville Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and Evansville Philharmonic Chorus. Amongst her many initiatives, she led the Evansville Philharmonic Youth Orchestra on its first international concert tour to Japan in 2002. A native of Hong Kong, Cheung earned her Master of Music in Conducting from the Eastman School of Music.

She is a recipient of the JoAnn Falletta Conducting Award for the most promising female conductors. <<

Volume 2//September 2012 – June 2013 :: 39

Elena Urioste ...hypnotic delicacy...

Mitsuko Uchida, Christopher O’Riley, and Ignat Solzhenitsyn; cellists Zuill Bailey, Carter Brey, and Colin Carr; and violinists Joseph Silverstein, Shlomo Mintz, and Cho-Liang Lin. An avid chamber musician as well as soloist, Elena frequently performs in recital with her piano partner, Michael Brown, and has been a featured artist in the Marlboro, Ravinia, La Jolla, and Sarasota Chamber Music Festivals, as well as Switzerland’s Sion Valais International Music Festival.

Elena is the recipient of the inaugural Sphinx Medal of Excellence, London Music Masters Award, a Salon de Virtuosi career grant, and a first-prize winner of the Sion International Violin Competition, which also awarded her its audience prize and the prize for best performance of the competition’s newly commissioned work.

Elena has been selected as a BBC New Generation Artist. Ms. Urioste joins an acclaimed roster of artists that includes Janine Jansen, Lisa Batiashvili, Jonathan Biss, Alison Balsom and Ingrid Fliter. This prestigious two-year program includes commerical and studio recordings, recitals and solo engagements with the BBC Orchestras and at UK festivals.

Photo by Jonathan D. Nimerfroh, JDN Photography

Elena Urioste, featured on the cover of Symphony magazine as an emerging artist to watch, has been hailed by critics and audiences alike for her lush tone, the nuanced lyricism of her playing, and her commanding stage presence. Elena’s debut performances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2010 were praised by three separate critics for their “hypnotic delicacy,” “expressive poise,” and “lyrical sensitivity.” Since first appearing with the Philadelphia Orchestra at age thirteen, she has made acclaimed debuts with major orchestras throughout the United States, including the Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, the Boston Pops, the Buffalo Philharmonic, and the Atlanta, Baltimore, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Richmond, San Antonio, and Sarasota Symphonies. In Europe, Elena has appeared with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Wurzburg Philharmonic, and Hungary’s Orchestra Dohnányi Budafok.

As first-place laureate in both the Junior and Senior divisions of the Sphinx Competition, she debuted at Carnegie Hall in 2004 and has returned annually as soloist. She has collaborated with acclaimed conductors Sir Mark Elder, Keith Lockhart, Robert Spano, Carlos Miguel Prieto, and Alondra de la Parra; pianists 40 :: West Michigan Symphony Concert Program

Her media credits include the popular radio programs From the Top and Performance Today; appearances on Telemundo and NBC’s Today Show; and a McGraw Young Artists Showcase performance for a live studio audience at WQXR’s Greene Space in New York City. She is featured in the Emmy award-winning documentary Breaking the Sound Barrier, and in numerous magazines including Symphony, Strings, Philadelphia Music Makers, and Careers and Colleges.

She was recently featured in the 15th anniversary issue of Latina magazine as one of its “Future Fifteen.”

Her first CD was released on the White Pine label.

Elena is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Joseph Silverstein, Pamela Frank, and Ida Kavafian. She completed graduate studies with Joel Smirnoff at The Juilliard School. Other notable teachers include David Cerone, Choong-Jin Chang, Soovin Kim, and the late Rafael Druian.

The outstanding instruments now being used by Elena are an Alessandro Gagliano violin, Naples c.

1706, and a Pierre Simon bow, both on generous extended loan from the private collection of Dr. Charles E. King through the Stradivari Society of Chicago. <<

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P

Artist Bios

3

Pops

The 3 Broadway Divas May 10 – 11, 2013 // 7:30 pm Friday and Saturday Scott Speck, conductor Jan Horvath, Debbie Gravitte and Christiane Noll, guest artists

Overture to Gypsy Le Me Entertain You – Jan, Christiane and Debbie Don’t Rain On My Parade – Debbie Till There Was You – Christiane Brass Band/If My Friends Could See Me Now – Jan At the Ballet – Jan, Christiane and Debbie Glitter and Be Gay – Christiane If He Walked Into My Life – Debbie Sing For Your Supper – Jan, Christiane and Debbie

Magnificent on their own, together they are purely triumphant

Jule Styne (Gypsy) Jule Styne (Gypsy) Jule Styne (Funny Girl) Meredith Willson (Music Man) Cy Coleman (Sweet Charity) Marvin Hamlisch (A Chorus Line) Leonard Bernstein (Candide) Jerry Herman (Mame) Richard Rodgers (The Boys From Syracuse)

INTERMISSION Big Spender – Jan, Christiane and Debbie I Could Have Danced All Night – Christiane Bosom Buddies – Debbie and Jan Mamma Mia – Jan, Christiane and Debbie In His Eyes – Christiane and Debbie

Overture to West Side Story

Defying Gravity – Debbie Don’t Cry For Me Argentina – Jan

Cy Coleman (Sweet Charity) Frederick Lerner & Alan Loewe (My Fair Lady) Jerry Herman (Mame) Benny Andersson/ Björn Ulvaeus (Mamma Mia) Frank Wildhorn (Jekyll and Hyde) Leonard Bernstein (West Side Story) Stephen Schwartz (Wicked) Andrew Lloyd Webber (Evita)

Concert Sponsor:

JAN HORVATH Jan Horvath is a veteran of five Broadway shows including the original Broadway company of The Phantom of the Opera, with whom she performed the roles of both Christine and Carlotta. Other Broadway credits include The Threepenny Opera starring Sting, Sweet Charity directed by Bob Fosse, and the revival of Oliver! In addition to her Broadway credits, Ms. Horvath sang the leading role of Grizabella in the National Touring Company of Cats.

Off-Broadway credits include the Mother in Yoko Ono’s New York Rock (original cast recording on Capital Records), Svetlana in Tim Rice’s revised version of Chess, and Jacques Brel Is... Internationally, she starred as Queen Isabella in the world premiere of Encounter 500 at La Sistina in Rome, Italy,

42 :: West Michigan Symphony Concert Program

The Rochester Philharmonic. Jan has also been featured on many other CDs, including BRAVO Broadway, BRAVO Broadway II, The Three Broadway Divas, The Musicality of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Chicago and All That Jazz and Simply Musicals.

Ms. Horvath teaches voice at NYU for the CAP21 musical theater students and also runs a private voice studio in New York City. She is a proud graduate of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and shares her life with Italian-born painter/ artist/poet, Rino Li Causi.

CHRISTIANE NOLL This New York born, New Jersey raised actress was nominated for both a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award and won a Helen Hayes Award for her portrayal of Mother on Broadway in the Kennedy Center Revival of Ragtime. She made her Broadway debut starring in Jekyll & Hyde, creating the role of Emma. Ms. Noll received an Ovation Award for her comedic turn as Hope Cladwell in the National Tour of Urinetown, wowed audiences again as Vanna Vane in the new musical The Mambo Kings and soared as Jane Smart in the American premiere of The Witches of Eastwick. and was featured in The Bernstein Mass at the Vatican as part of the Jubilee Celebration. She made her Carnegie Hall debut singing in Bernstein’s Mass in 2002 and also appeared there with The New York Pops in The 3 Broadway Divas concert. Regionally, Ms. Horvath has performed a variety of roles including Eva Peron in Evita, Aldonza in Man of La Mancha, Nellie Forbush in South Pacific, and Cathy in The Last Five Years. She also sang on the soundtrack for the animated film Anastasia. For the past sixteen years, Ms. Horvath has been a soprano soloist with BRAVO Broadway! and has worked with such legendary talents as Keith Lockhart, Marvin Hamlisch, Doc Severinsen, Erich Kunzel, Richard Hayman, Skitch Henderson and Marin Alsop. She has appeared as a guest soloist with over 130 orchestras including the Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic (Tel Aviv), National Symphony Orchestra, The NY Pops, The Boston Pops, Minnesota Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Syracuse Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Utah Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic, Shanghai Radio Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, International Music Festival in Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic and Philharmonica Orchestra Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Italy.

She has been a member of the national tours of Grease! as Sandy, Miss Saigon as Ellen, and City of Angels as Mallory/Avril as well as a tour of Australia and Thailand as Nellie in South Pacific. Ms. Noll made her opera debut with Plácido Domingo and the Washington National Opera in The Merry Widow as Valencienne at The Kennedy Center, her Hollywood Bowl debut with Julie Andrews—The Gift of Music, and her Carnegie Hall debut as one of the 3 Broadway Divas with The New York Pops and Skitch Henderson in his last pops performance.

Ms Noll has been living up to her reputation as being “one of the most versatile actresses in the American Musical Theatre” with a varied repertoire in Broadway, Opera, Operetta and Jazz. She is a frequent guest soloist with symphony orchestras around the world, including National Symphony and Marvin Hamlisch, Cincinnati Pops and Eric Kunzel, Jerusalem Symphony and Don Pippin, Philadelphia Pops and Peter Nero, Boston Pops and Keith

In February 2008 Jan released her first solo CD as a singer/ songwriter entitled Never Too Late. The critically acclaimed CD is an eclectic mix of musical styles and sentiments.

Her song “Barren Field” was featured in the play The Orphan Train, and she had the privilege of premiering her song “Immigrant’s Anthem” with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra in 2005. She has gone on to sing her compositions with several other orchestras including Volume 2//September 2012 – June 2013 :: 43

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Lockhart, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra with Jeff Tyzik, as well as international appearances with Sinfonica Brasileira in Rio, China Philharmonic with concert pianist Lang Lang, and orchestras in Hong Kong, Czech Republic and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

She has released four solo CDs, Christiane Noll—A Broadway Love Story and The Ira Gershwin Album, both on Fynsworth Alley, Live at the Westbank Cafe on 2Die4 Records, and My Personal Property on Jay Records.

She supplied the singing voice of Anna in the Warner Borthers animated feature The King and I, and starred on Broadway in It Ain’t Nothin’ but the Blues.

Ms. Noll was critically acclaimed for her operetta performances as Marianne in City Center Encores! The New Moon, Kathie in The Student Prince and Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance. Other favorite roles include Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors, The Baker’s Wife in Into the Woods, Mabel in Mack & Mabel, working with Jerry Herman and winning a Connecticut Critics Circle Award, Lizzie in Lizzie Borden, Genevieve in The Baker’s Wife, and Carrie in Carousel. She starred in the premieres of Frankenstein (37 Arts), Ace (SignatureHelen Hayes Nom.), Kept (Krieger/Russell), Take Flight (Maltby/Shire), Call the Children Home (Primary Stages), A Fine and Private Place (York) and Little by Little (York Theater).

Christiane has performed her solo show in cabaret at The Plush Room, The Duplex, The Nevermore, Arci’s Place, The China Club, Peaches, B.Smith’s and The West Bank Café as well as appearing in Town Hall’s Broadway by the Year and the Lincoln Center American Songbook Series. She is a Founding Member of Midtown Direct Rep. Theater Company.

Debbie has performed her nightclub act worldwide, from New York’s Rainbow and Stars, 54 Below, to London’s Pizza on the Park, and back home again to Atlantic City, where she’s had the honor of performing with Jay Leno, Harry Anderson, and the legendary George Burns. A favorite with Symphony audiences, she has sung with over 100 Orchestras around the world. She has toured with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops, appeared with Lang Lang and the Chinese Philharmonic in Beijing, along with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops, National Symphony (with the late Marvin Hamlisch), The NY Pops with the legendary Skitch Henerson, Atlanta Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, the Pittsburgh, Utah, St. Louis, Houston, Dallas and San Diego Symphonies.

Overseas, Debbie has sung with the London, Aalborg and Birmingham Symphony Orchestras, Stockholm Philharmonic, the Gotesborg and Jerusalem Symphonies, Munich Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orchestra Massimo Del Palerma and Symphonica of Brazil.

On television, Debbie co-starred on the CBS series Trial and Error, was seen on NBC’S Pursuit of Happiness, and has starred in several specials for PBS, including Live From the Kennedy Center, The Boston Pops Celebrate Bernstein, Rodgers and Hart for Great Performances, and Ira Gershwin’s 100th Birthday Celebration.

Debbie has 3 solo CD’s to her credit: Defying Gravity, The MGM Album, and Part of Your World, The Music of Alan Menken. She is currently working on her latest project: Big Band Broadway.

Debbie has sung with the New York City Ballet in Peter Martins’ Thou Swell at Lincoln Center, appeared with Bette Midler in the Universal Feature, Isn’t She Great?, and can be heard as one of the voices in Disney’s The Little Mermaid.

Debbie is the proud mother of three beautiful children.<<

Christiane is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University.

DEBBIE GRAVITTE One of Broadway’s biggest personalities, Debbie Gravitte has found herself in demand from the Broadway Stage to the concert stage and beyond.

She won the prestigious Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance in Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, along with a Drama Desk Award Nomination and New York Showstopper Award. After making her Broadway debut in the original cast of They’re Playing Our Song, she went on to appear in Perfectly Frank (Drama Desk Award Nomination), Blues in the Night, Ain’t Broadway Grand, Zorba, Chicago, and Les Miserables. Debbie has appeared in the Encore’s series productions of The Boys From Syracuse, Tenderloin, and Carnival at New York’s City Center.

Volume 2//September 2012 – June 2013 :: 45

M

Program Notes

5

Masterworks

Season Finale May 31 – June 1, 2013 // 7:30 pm Friday and Saturday Scott Speck, conductor Alessio Bax, Piano

Dmitri Shostakovich

Festive Overture, Op. 96

Richard Strauss

Don Juan, Op. 20

INTERMISSION Johannes Brahms

Piano Concerto no.2, Op. 83, in B-flat Major Alessio Bax, piano 1. Allegro non troppo 2. Allegro appassionato 3. Andante 4. Allegretto grazioso

DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH (1906-1975) Festive Overture, Op. 96 In late October 1954, Vasily Nebol’sin, one of the conductors of the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra was in a terrible bind: For some reason, he did not have a new composition to open the festivities for the 37th anniversary of the October Revolution. Although at the time Dmitry Shostakovich was somewhat out of favor in doctrinaire Soviet circles, Nebol’sin approached him in desperation.

Shostakovich agreed, and with his customary lightning speed when working on light-hearted material, had the outline of the overture ready within an hour or so. There followed a scene reminiscent of the stories told about Rossini, who never finished a score before the last possible moment: The couriers from the Bolshoi came to the composer’s apartment to retrieve the pages one by one before the ink dried.

The dress rehearsal took place two days later.

RICHARD STRAUSS (1864-1949) Don Juan, Op. 20 Tone Poem After Nikolaus Lenau Richard Strauss came from an extremely conservative family. His father, Franz Joseph, the principal horn player in the Munich Court Orchestra, considered Brahms a radical and Wagner’s music beyond the pale, forbidding his son to listen to it. Richard assimilated the music of the early and middle nineteenth century in his early works, composing as a committed classicist. But he soon discovered that the musical language taught by his father was too confining for his own fertile mind.

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Strauss quickly found his voice through his own unique development of the tone poem, or symphonic poem, a purely instrumental rendition of a text, usually poetic or narrative in nature. The term “symphonic poem” had been coined by Liszt in 1854 for compositions accompanied by a program that the audience was supposed to read before listening to the music.

Although nineteenth-century Romantics did not all use Liszt’s term, the genre had become a standard medium for Berlioz, Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky, reaching its apex with Strauss.

Strauss’ musical rendering of specific texts is far more detailed than Liszt’s, although it is often difficult to follow without a “road map.” The anecdotes about his attempts at narrative music are many: “I want to be able

46 :: West Michigan Symphony Concert Program

to describe a teaspoon musically,” he is said to have commented. In the decade between 1888 and 1898, he produced a string of tone poems, beginning with Aus Italien and Macbeth. Don Juan, completed in 1889, was the first to be publicly performed, and catapulted him to international recognition.

Don Juan represents Strauss’ liberation from the confines of his father’s restrictive world.

He completed the score in Bayreuth where he was a coach at the Festspielhaus, the venue Wagner had built to showcase his music dramas. At the time, the 24-year-old Strauss was involved in a scandalous love affair with a married woman. He expressed his youthful exuberance, using three extracts from Don Juan, an incomplete verse play

by Nikolaus Lenau (1802-1850), which he copied as a preface in the score.

Lenau’s play is just one of the many incarnations of the Don Juan legend. The Don first appeared on the literary scene in the seventeenth-century Spanish play El burlador de Sevilla (The Trickster of Seville)

by Tirso de Molina, and was immortalized musically in Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni and in English literature in Byron’s Don Juan.

Lenau’s version follows Don Juan through five debauched conquests that leave a wake of misery and death. In response to his brother’s attempt to dissuade him from his dissolute lifestyle, Don Juan expounds on his desire to experience all the diverse and novel joys of sexual gratification and to die of a kiss from the ideal woman.

In Lenau’s play, Don Juan’s paramour/victims are: Maria, who follows him to escape from a forced marriage and is abandoned; Clara, who actually rejects him before he can reject her; Isabella, whom Don Juan seduces, disguised as her fiancé; Anna, who never actually appears but whom Don Juan apostrophizes from afar; and finally, an unnamed woman who dies of a broken heart. Don Juan receives the news of her death at a masked ball. Unlike Tirso’s Don Juan and Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Lenau’s hero is not felled by a stone dinner guest meting out divine retribution. Rather, he

intentionally lowers his guard during a duel with the son of one of his victims, whose father had become collateral damage during one of the Don’s exploits, because victory, and even life itself, has lost its appeal. All this, Strauss condenses and transforms into a single symphonic movement in sonata allegro form.

In the tone poem Strauss does not follow the specific details of Lenau’s play. Instead he develops an opening theme expressing the wild sexual striving of his hero, followed by subsidiary themes representing the Don’s various conquests. Although it is difficult to identify any of the specific paramours of the source play, Strauss creates a different musical character for each of the secondary themes that reflect their diverse personalities and qualities of love. One theme is introduced by a soaring solo violin melody; a second accompanied by a gasping flute motive and the third a Spanish oboe melody. Strauss develops them all alongside the restless motives of the Don. The second half of the tone poem— the development section of the sonata structure—begins with the so-called the “Carnival Scene,” which corresponds to Lenau’s masked ball. It marks the beginning of the Don’s decline, including pricks of conscience as his former lovers haunt of his thoughts. Their themes are intertwined with his new heroic theme and ultimately undermine his personality. He wanders despondently through a churchyard where he comes upon the statue of a nobleman whom he has killed, and in a final act of bravado invites him to supper. But it is the nobleman’s son, Pedro, who arrives, seeking revenge. Observed by the ghosts of all his lovers and illegitimate children, Don Juan begins by putting up a valiant fight, during which all the themes reappear and the music becomes increasingly frantic. Suddenly the music halts and a minor chord precedes a trumpet call as Don Juan dies of a fatal wound. In contrast to Don Giovanni’s fiery defiance, pianissimo timpani and pizzicato basses conclude the piece.

JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897) Piano Concerto no.2 in B-flat major, Op. 83

When Johannes Brahms premiered his Piano Concerto no.1 in the 1859, he was a young, rising composer still unsure of himself, especially in the art of orchestration. By the time he premiered his second concerto in 1881, however, he was a revered master, considered—as the University of Breslau so stuffily put it (in Latin) “the foremost exponent of musical art in the more strict style”—and confident in his powers. The irony of his self-depreciation is evident in his letter to his close friend Elisabet von Herzogenberg: “...I have written a tiny, tiny piano concerto with a tiny, tiny wisp of a scherzo.” This about one of the most gigantic piano concertos ever written with an “extra” fourth movement to boot; Brahms is said to have referred to it jokingly as “The long terror.”

Sketches of the concerto date back to 1878 when Brahms was at work on his Violin Concerto. A discarded scherzo movement for that concerto became the basis for the second movement Scherzo of the Second Piano Concerto, one of the few in the entire concerto repertory. Brahms premiered the work in Budapest on November 9, 1881.

It was to be the last of his works that he prepared to perform in public.

In contrast to the stormy First Concerto in D minor, the B-flat Concerto is comparatively optimistic and gentle in mood, except for the passionate outburst of the Scherzo, perhaps a counterweight to the calm dignity of the movements that flank it.

In all his concerti, Brahms selected solo instruments from the orchestra who were to have a special intimate relationship with the principal soloist. The most notable are the oboe in the Violin Concerto, and the horn and cello in the Second Piano Concerto.

The first movement opens with a gentle call on a solo French horn, picked up by the piano, which continues with a grand arch of arpeggios over five and a half octaves Volume 2//September 2012 – June 2013 :: 47

Program Notes

Alessio Bax

and then launches into a cadenza, recalling Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto. But it is the lyrical mood of the horn theme that dominates the huge movement as it continually appears in a variety of guises, even suddenly emerging from one of the wealth of subsidiary themes.

Brahms called the second movement a scherzo, the Italian word for game or joke. But this game is deadly serious. In the key of D minor in contrast to the B flat major of the other three movements, it is passionate, even angry, beginning with a motive on the upbeat charging right into a syncopated theme that creates a driving momentum and becomes a motto for the movement. A quieter second theme introduced by the violins and taken up by the piano calms the restlessness, but only temporarily. The Trio returns to the major mode with a fanfare-like theme, temporarily triumphing over the storm of emotions, only to be cut short by the return of the Scherzo.

The Andante movement opens with a poignant solo cello melody that is the dream of every orchestral cellist. It is one of those melodies that create exquisite suspense by delaying resolution at all the expected places. The piano never takes this theme up in its entirety, but rather embellishes it with delicate filigree. In the middle of the movement, two clarinets, accompanied by the piano, hold a pianissimo gentle conversation.

The solo cello returns to close the movement but not before Brahms has spun out his gentle suspense through a handful of unexpected key changes and deceptive cadences.

The Allegretto grazioso Finale is a high-spirited, playful rondo, laced with occasional gypsy flavor recalling the Hungarian Dances. << AUDIO WEB NOTES Visit www.westmichigansymphony.org and go to the masterworks program of your choice.

There you’ll find an expanded version of the printed notes including musical examples you can hear by clicking on the icon. There are also brief clickable definitions of musical terms as they appear in the text.

Program notes by: Joseph & Elizabeth Kahn

48 :: West Michigan Symphony Concert Program

His playing quivers with an almost hypnotic intensity —Gramaphone

Pianist Alessio Bax is praised for creating “a ravishing listening experience” with his lyrical playing, insightful interpretations and dazzling facility. “His playing quivers with an almost hypnotic intensity,” says Gramophone magazine, leading to “an out-of-body experience” (Dallas Morning News). First prize winner at the Leeds and Hamamatsu international piano competitions and a 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, he has appeared as soloist with over 90 orchestras, including the London and Royal Philharmonic orchestras, Dallas and Houston Symphonies, NHK Symphony in Japan, St. Petersburg Philharmonic with Yuri Temirkanov, and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with Sir Simon Rattle.

This season, Bax returns as soloist with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic under Temirkanov for the opening concert of the St. Petersburg Winter Festival, and collaborates with Finnish conductor Pietari Inkinen in Denmark. He performs solo recitals in New York City at Rockefeller University, at Boston Conservatory’s Piano Masters Series, at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C., at the Chopin Society in Saint Paul, and at Spivey Hall in Atlanta, as well as in Venezuela, South Korea and Japan. Bax makes his Carnegie Hall debut at Weill Recital Hall with cellist Sol Gabetta, with whom he appeared last season at the Kennedy Center. He also returns to the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and tours with violinist Chee-Yun as well as his frequent duo partner, pianist Lucille Chung. October marks the release of “Alessio Bax Plays Brahms” on the Signum Records label, featuring the four Ballades, Op. 10, Klavierstücke, Op. 76 and both books of the Paganini Variations, Op. 35.

Highlights of Bax’s recent seasons include appearances with the Dallas Symphony under Jaap van Zweden and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in the UK, debuts at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and the 92nd Street Y, and performances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, where he recently completed three seasons as a member of CMS Two. This past summer, Bax participated in nine different festivals in the U.S. and Spain, including first appearances at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival and Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, and a return to the Bard Music Festival. He performed and recorded Mozart’s Piano Concertos K. 491 and K. 595 with the Southbank Sinfonia in London for release by Signum Records in 2013.

Bax’s most recent disc in his acclaimed discography, “Rachmaninov: Preludes and Melodies” (Signum Records), received critical praise across the board. Classics

Today hailed it as “impassioned, world-class Rachmaninov,” and American Record Guide designated it as a “Critics’ Choice 2011.”

Bax’s 2009 CD, “Bach Transcribed”, also received rave reviews from Gramophone magazine (“awesome”) and Fanfare (“this disc is a must”). “Baroque Reflections”, his 2004 recording for Warner Classics, was selected as a Gramophone “Editor’s Choice” and American Record Guide “Critics’ Choice” (“a disc to treasure”). In 2005, Bax and pianist Lucille Chung recorded Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals with conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. They have also recorded the complete works for two pianos and piano four hands of György Ligeti on Dynamic Records. In addition, Bax has chronicled the complete works for piano and organ of Marcel Dupré for Naxos, and Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 live with the New Japan Philharmonic, for Fontec.

Also on Fontec, Bax released a live recording of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Hamamatsu Symphony Orchestra.

Bax’s extensive concerto repertoire has led to performances with such esteemed conductors as Marin Alsop, Sergiu Commissiona, Alexander Dimitriev, Vernon Handley, Jacques Lacombe, Jonathan Nott, Vasily Petrenko, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Sir Simon Rattle, Dimitry Sitkovetsky, Yuri Temirkanov, Christopher WarrenGreene, and Jaap van Zweden. His festival appearances include London’s International Piano Series (Queen Elizabeth Hall), the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, England’s Aldeburgh and Bath festivals, and the Ruhr Klavierfestival, BeethovenFest and Schloss Elmau in Germany. Bax has given recitals at major music halls in Rome, Milan, Madrid, Mexico City, Paris, London, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, New York, and Washington, D.C. An active chamber musician, he has collaborated with Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Andrés Diaz, Pamela Frank, Steven Isserlis and Anne-Marie McDermott, among others.

In 2005, Alessio Bax was selected to play the Fugue of Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” Sonata for Maestro Daniel Barenboim in Barenboim on Beethoven. The documentary was produced by Channel 13/PBS in conjunction with Bel Air Media, BBC, and NHK Japan. It was broadcast worldwide and released as a DVD box set in 2006 on the EMI label. His performances have been broadcast live on the BBC, CBC (Canada), RAI (Italy), RTVE (Spain), NHK (Japan), WDR, NDR and Bayerische Rundfunk (Germany), Hungarian Radio Television, Serbian RTE, WQXR (New York) and American Public Media’s “Performance Today,” among others.

Alessio Bax graduated with top honors at the record age of 14 from the conservatory of his hometown in Bari, Italy. He studied in France with François-Joël Thiollier and attended the Chigiana Academy in Siena under Joaquín Achúcarro. He moved to Dallas in 1994 to continue his studies with Achúcarro at SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts, and he is now on the teaching faculty there. He and his wife, pianist Lucille Chung, reside in New York City. Alessio Bax is a Steinway artist. <<

Volume 2//September 2012 – June 2013 :: 49

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50 :: West Michigan Symphony Concert Program

AMERICAN

CANADIAN

FRENCH

JAPANESE

Adrienne Albert

Colin McPhee

Cécile Chaminade

Toshiro Mayuzumi

Amy Beach

Gilles Bellemare

Claude Debussy

Toru Takemitsu

Aaron Copland

Henry Brant

Georges Bizet

Charles Ives

Camille Saint-Saëns

MEXICAN

Duke Ellington

CHINESE

Hector Berlioz

Carlos Chávez

Elliot Goldenthal

Chen Yi

Jacques Offenbach

Daniel Catán

Edward MacDowell

Tan Dun

Lili Boulanger

Ellen Taaffe Zwilich

Maurice Ravel

NORWEGIAN

Florence Price

CZECH

Nadia Boulanger

Christian Sinding Edvard Grieg

George Gershwin

Antonín Dvořák

Pierre Boulez

George Tsontakis

Bedřich Smetana

Pascal Dusapin

Johan Halvorsen

Henry Cowell

Leoš Janáček GERMAN

POLISH

ENGLISH

Johann Saebastian Bach

Frédéric Chopin

Brian Ferneyhough

Engelbert Humperdinck

Grażyna Bacewicz

Elizabeth Maconchy

Felix Mendelssohn

Maria Szymanowska

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

George Frideric Handel

Edward Elgar

Johannes Brahms

Malcolm Arnold

Karl Friedrich Abel

William Byrd

Ludwig van Beethoven

John Adams John Cage John Philip Sousa John Williams Leonard Bernstein Michael Daugherty Philip Glass Richard Rodgers Roger Sessions Samuel Barber Vivian Fine Virgil Thomson ARGENTINIAN Alberto Ginastera Osvaldo Golijov AUSTRIAN

Richard Strauss ESTONIAN Arvo Pärt FINNISH Aulis Sallinen Esa-Pekka Salonen Jean Sibelius Magnus Lindberg

RUSSIAN Alexander Borodin César Cui Dmitri Shostakovich

Robert Schumann

Igor Stravinsky

Richard Wagner Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Mily Balakirev Mikhail Glinka Modest Mussorgsky

HUNGARIAN

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Béla Bartók

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Ernő Dohnányi

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Franz Liszt Tibor Serly

Arnold Schoenberg Anton Webern

ITALIAN

Franz Joseph Haydn

Antonio Vivaldi

Gustav Mahler

Domenico Scarlatti

Franz Schubert

Franco Donatoni

Johann Strauss

Francesco Landini Giacomo Puccini Gioachino Rossini Giuseppe Verdi Ottorino Respighi Volume 2//September 2012 – June 2013 :: 51

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