WV Symphony Newsletter Volume 1, Number 2

Winter 2018

Volume 1, Number 2

WVSO Launches “Playing It Forward” Endowment Campaign

Symphonic Concerts Feature WorldRenowned Artists

Share the Joy of Music this Holiday Season

WV Talent, John Williams, Jurassic Park Cap Off Pops

CONTENTS 1 The Nutcracker & Holiday Schedule 2 Green Elf Boots 3 Handel’s Messiah & Labor Day Picnic 4 Endowment Campaign 6 Opening Night 8 ZMM POPs Series 9 Capitol Conference Center Symphonic Series Cover Photo: Perry Bennett Photography Design: Auge+Gray+Drake Collective Works Editor: P.J. Dickerscheid

Dear WVSO Family, I am so excited about our first season together with the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra! In addition to conducting half of the concerts in the Symphonic Series, I’m thrilled to be conducting Jurassic Park in the Pops Series and of course, Symphony Sunday.

I hope that you will join me in welcoming the many wonderful guest artists and guest conductors to our 2017-2018 season. Many of these guest conductors are like my family from every aspect of my musical life, and I’m so proud to introduce them to you through their passionate music-making. I’m also so proud of the creative vision of our WVSO musicians in programming such an interesting “Hand Picked” season.

I look forward to continuing to collaborate with them in future seasons.

We are in this together, and I look forward to continuing an exchange of ideas.

As the holidays approach, I reflect on how thankful I am to have a new family with the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra community! We have a gem of an orchestra with outstanding musicians, a hardworking staff and board, incredible volunteers and most importantly, we have you, our wonderful audience!

I also know that you understand how important our orchestra is to our state. Together, we’re doing our best to make sure that your children and mine can benefit from the impact our wonderful orchestra provides.

That’s why I urge you to contribute to our Playing It Forward Endowment Campaign. Your commitment is so important. When you invest in our orchestra today, you create a stable foundation for the WVSO in the future.

Thank you for making me feel so welcome, and I’ll see you at the concert hall!

Fun Facts AboutTchaikovsky’s

The Nutcracker

1. The twinkling instrument heard during “The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” is a celesta, which Composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky smuggled into Russia from Paris. A celesta is a percussion instrument that resembles a small piano.

2. The story for The Nutcracker ballet is based on E.T.A. Hoffman’s The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, which is much darker than the ballet and features a bloody battle between the Nutcracker and the Mouse King’s army.

December 8–9, Clay Center Co-presented by the WVSO and The Charleston Ballet, The Nutcracker performance has been an annual tradition for years.

3. When The Nutcracker was first performed in Russia in 1892, critics were not impressed. It wasn’t until choreographer George Balanchine’s 1954 production of the ballet that the show began to establish itself as the essential ballet of the holiday season.

4. Tchaikovsky thought his score for the ballet Sleeping Beauty was far superior to the score he wrote for The Nutcracker.

Photos courtesy of The Charleston Ballet

5. Tchaikovsky died less than a year after the original production of The Nutcracker, never knowing the impact his work would have on audiences across the globe for centuries to come.

6. In Germany, children often receive nutcrackers as gifts because folklore suggests they bring good luck and protect families.

ADD THE JOY OF MUSIC TO YOUR HOLIDAY CELEBRATIONS HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Sponsored by ZMM Architects & Engineers, City National Bank, TransCanada, Mon Health and The Underprivileged Children Foundation December 1- 7:30 p.m. Carnegie Hall, Lewisburg December 2- 7:30 p.m. The Clay Center, Charleston December 3- 3 p.m. Blennerhassett School, Parkersburg December 4- 7:30 p.m. WVU Creative Arts Center, Morgantown

HANDEL’S MESSIAH

Co-presented by the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra and the West Virginia Symphony Chorus December 17- 7:30 p.m. Christ Church United Methodist, Charleston

THE NUTCRACKER

Sponsored by Steptoe & Johnson LLP, Appalachian Power Co-presented by the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra and The Charleston Ballet December 8- 7:30 p.m. The Clay Center, Charleston December 9- 2 p.m. The Clay Center, Charleston

Call 304.561.3570 for tickets

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Join former WVSO Maestro Grant Cooper as he returns in December to lead the orchestra in its ever-popular Home For The Holidays concerts in Charleston, Lewisburg, Morgantown and Parkersburg.

By Grant Cooper Like many of our traditions, such as playing the 1812 Overture on the Fourth of July, the elf boots started modestly and without special expectation.

A large grocery chain was the naming sponsor of the Pops series for the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra and they, as one might expect from a huge, one-stop-shop, featured seasonal merchandise on their shelves, which changed, naturally enough, with the season.

Since my role as conductor of a Holiday Pops show is also to thank the sponsor, I purchased the elf boots early on in my tenure with Syracuse so that I could have a way of mentioning the sponsor without it sounding contrived. I thought that putting on the elf boots and casually mentioning where I had bought them would be a slightly more subtle way of bringing the sponsor into the flow of the performance.

At first, that was all it was. I am sure I did not make a show of putting them on while standing on one foot at first, nor any of the expanded narrative of wanting to convince Santa that I was a member of his elf -kingdom and thus making us deserving of his coming to “our” concert rather than the hundreds of concurrent performances going on around the country. All this, and the conducting of the audience in clapping along, in both the right and wrong places, to the orchestra’s performance of “Sleigh Ride,” developed over time.

Over the years, I have been astounded by the number of people, both in Syracuse and in West Virginia, who would see me around town, in all four seasons, and choose to comment on those elf boots. The orchestra would get into the act also, with percussionists improvising, (on the ratchet), sounds that suggested my back creaking as I bent

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down to put each boot on; or the concertmaster miming, (with ever more realism as I advanced in age), fear that I may fall over backwards and crush his or her violin.

I think the reason that such a shtick, which is silly to its core, is popular with a majority of the audience, however razor thin, is that it breaks down the proverbial “fourth wall” of any theater ­— that invisible but palpable line at the stage that separates audience from performers. Artists are constantly looking for ways to bring these two constituencies into the action and, of course, coming out into the audience during the clap-along is but a physical manifestation of this.

As for the boots themselves, I have owned two sets over the years. The first were autographed and sold as a fundraiser in Syracuse. The current West Virginia boots are custom made, but as replicas of the originals, by a seamstress friend so that I could continue the tradition. That was the only way they could pry the originals out of my hands!

December 17, Christ Church United Methodist Handel’s Father Wanted Him To Be A Lawyer George Frideric Handel is probably best known for his holiday classic, Messiah, but the Baroque composer whom Ludwig van Beethoven called the “greatest composer who ever lived,” might not have ever written the famous oratorio if his father had had his way. Surgeon Georg Händel wanted his son to become a lawyer. It was only after the Duke of Weissenfels heard the 11-yearold prodigy play the organ that Handel’s father was persuaded to encourage his son’s musical talents over his judicial skills.

Messiah’s 259-Page Score Includes A Quarter of a Million Notes Handel wrote Messiah, which was originally conceived as a work for Easter, in just under four weeks, working 10-hour days, in the fall of 1741. With roughly 250,000 notes over 259 pages, that means Handel wrote an average of 15 notes per minute.

Please Leave Your Hoop Skirts and Swords At Home When Messiah premiered in the spring of 1742 at Dublin’s Musick Hall, Handel was so popular that audience members were asked to leave their hoop skirts and swords at home for fear there wouldn’t be enough room for everyone. Most of the record 700 people who attended were drawn by Handel’s superstar status, but many came to see contralto Susannah Cibber, who was embroiled in a scandalous divorce.

Labor Day Picnic Featured Fun, Family and Food

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Music Director Lawrence Loh and the WVSO Family hosted a Labor Day Picnic at Coonskin Park in early September.

Nearly 125 people shared some good food, music, conversations and fun and games.

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1. WVSO President Joe Tackett welcomes guests. 2. Music Director Lawrence Loh and WVSO board member and sponsor of the Student Symphonic Fellowship, Andy Vaughan.

3. WVSO horn players Tom Beal, (left) Luke Zyla and Marsha Palmer play for the crowd.

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Growth of the WVSO’s endowment funds will keep the music playing as we strive to: • Build long-term investments to provide a secure source of revenue, thereby lessening the WVSO’s dependence on decreasing availability of state and federal funds • Maintain and grow artistic excellence by attracting the highest quality musicians • Offer cutting-edge educational programs to students of all ages in alignment with our mission to fuel lifelong learning • Strengthen relationships with our community partners, including colleges and universities, to provide the next generation of leaders with the experiential resources needed to drive West Virginia forward • Share the joy of music with friends throughout our state, removing geography and transportation as barriers to the performing arts through the WVSO’s commitment to our statewide touring program and our second homes throughout West Virginia • Continue to spread the good news of West Virginia by providing our citizens with a source of beauty, pride, and community through excellent orchestral performances

Join the movement to keep your symphony

WEST VIRGINIA SYMPHONY ENDOWMENT CAMPAIGN make your gift today to ensure For 78Please years, the West Virginia Symphony Our Goal Orchestra (WVSO) has that friends of all ages will experience the The WVSO is dedicated to State’s honoring our past, celebrating cultural the become indispensable part of the Mountain vibrant joy ofan music with their friends and present, and playing it forward. families for come.transformational community bygenerations sharingto the ofbymusic with The WVSO strives power to raise $3 million June 30, 2018.

These millions funds will be permanently restricted and housed in the WVSO of West Virginians. Now under the artistic leadership ofWVSO Lawrence Loh, Foundation, Inc. with distributions to the providing much needed operating support. The WVSO strives to our state’s orchestra is poised to strengthen the impact of its mission preserve our storied past, celebrate our rich cultural communities today, and protect the future of live orchestral so that our grandchildren’s grandchildren canforcelebrate the magic of music in West Virginia many years to come.

Growth of the WVSO’s endowment funds will keep the music music. To secure the future of WVSO performances and educational playing as we strive to accomplish the following: programs we need to raise $3 million endowed to source provide • Buildin long-term investments tofunds provide a secure of revenue, lessening the WVSO’s dependence on decreasing much needed operating support well into the 21st century.

These funds availability of state and federal funds • Maintain and grow artistic excellence by attracting the will be permanently restricted and housed in the WVSO Foundation, Inc. highest quality musicians • Offer cutting-edge educational programs to students of all

ages in alignment with our mission to fuel lifelong learning While overwhelming financial challenges in recent years silenced • Strengthen relationships with our community partners, other orchestras across the country,including the WVSO weathered the colleges and universities, to provide the next storm generation of leaders with the experiential resources needed by completing a successful $8 million endowment to take West Virginia forward and recapitalization • Share the joy of music with friends throughout our state, further campaign in 2008. Then in 2015, the WVSO’s leadership made removing geography and transportation as barriers to the performing arts through the WVSO’s commitment to our difficult decisions to right-size the orchestra by returning to single-night state-wide touring program and our second homes throughout West Virginia performances in Charleston and relocating the symphony offices to • Continue to spread the good news of West Virginia by Photos courtesyWest of Charleston’s Side. Every aspect of our organization was examined providing our citizens with a source of beauty, pride, and Perry Bennett community through excellent orchestral performances Photography to keep expenses in line with income, including staff structure, outreach programs, and education, but we’re not quite there yet.

The WVSO has been a fixture in our state for nearly 80 years. With your support, the world-class musicians of our WVSO will continue to inspire, elevate, and educate audiences and students all across West Virginia.

Make a gift in honor of your favorite musicians, or contact us about available naming opportunities.

Chair-Naming Opportunities CONDUCTOR The John L. and Sallie F. McClaugherty Conductor’s Podium

OBOE Principal: The Lawson W. Hamilton Chair 2nd: Available

VIOLIN I Concertmaster: The Mary Price Ratrie Chair Assistant concertmaster: The Emil Schoenbaum Chair

CLARINET Principal: The John V. Ray Chair 2nd: Available

VIOLIN II Principal: The Dorothy Taylor Hamilton Chair Assistant principal: The Elliot Family Foundation Chair, in honor of Sallie McClaugherty VIOLA Principal: The Blanchette H. Rockefeller Chair Assistant principal: Available CELLO Principal: The Katharine B. Tierney Chair Assistant principal: The West Virginia Symphony League Chair DOUBLE BASSES Principal: The Hubert S. “Rabbit” Jones Chair Assistant principal: The Laurance Jones, III Chair HARP Principal: Available

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FLUTE Principal: The Martha Gaines Wehrle Chair 2nd: The Ellen Beal Chair Piccolo: Available

BASSOON Principal: Available 2nd: Available HORN Principal: Available 2nd: Available TRUMPET Principal: The Betty & Harry Casto Chair Sub-principal: Available TROMBONE Principal: Available 2nd: Available TUBA Principal: Available TIMPANI Principal: The John and Fonda Elliot Chair PERCUSSION Principal: The American Electric Power Foundation Chair 2nd: Available

“We are fortunate to have a superb symphony orchestra in our small city. I am doing my part to ensure that my children and grandchildren have the same opportunities for cultural enrichment that my generation has had.”

–Dr. Dan Foster

“Music touches all of us. It affects us when we are sad, when we are happy. It can transport us toward something larger than ourselves.

I am passionate about making sure we will have our beloved WVSO in our future.”

–Marlies Charbonniez

Generous Donors Jumpstart Endowment Campaign

Thank you to the generous friends who have committed their support to sharing the joy of music with their friends and families for generations to come.

The Elliot Family Foundation Chair in honor of Sallie McClaugherty Assistant Principal Second Violin Chair The Laurance Jones, III Chair Assistant Principal Double Bass Chair The Ellen Beal Chair, from her friends Second Flute Chair James & Ruth Kessler String Educator Program Michael & Laura Lee Albert Patrick A. & Mary Kay Bond Dr. John Chambers Marlies Charbonniez, in memory of Jacques Charbonniez Andrew Counts, in memory of Cynthia Counts Charles & Christine Daugherty William Maxwell Davis Stephen & Tricia Dexter

The Honorable Jim Douglas & Phyllis Veith Robert & Nancy Douglas Dwight A. Foley, in memory of Helen Lodge Danny Forinash & Michelle Wittekind Dr. Daniel & Kathryn Foster Bert Fredeking & Yolanda Tam Joseph Freedman Priscilla Haden Robert & Ruth Hutton Jeff & Ruth Joseck Michael Klausing Adam & Sara Krason Frank & Tanya Law Jacquelyn C. Lilly Mr. & Mrs. Charles Love III Sallie McClaugherty Timothy & Cindy McGhee

Callen McJunkin Charles & Patricia Moyers Jean E. O’Connor Mary Ann Osborne Joan Phillips Tim & Cheryl Quinlan Missy & Art Rubin Patricia Schumann Millie Snyder Joan Steven Mrs. Charles E. Turner N. Andrew & Amy Vaughan Donald & Anne Wandling Jayne Whitlow Steven & Linda Winkel Roger & Gwyn Wolfe Acknowledgments as of 10/13/2017

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Bassoons

Mail your gift in the enclosed envelope or for more information, contact Pamela Murchison, Vice President of Development at pmurchison@wvsymphony.org or 304.957.9879.

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Red bows grace endowed orchestra chairs on the stage.

The West Virginia Symphony Orchestra kicked off its 2017-2018 season and “Playing It Forward” endowment campaign in September with a pre-concert dinner at the Clay Center.

After dinner, more than 1,500 people enjoyed a magnificent performance of the music of Leonard Bernstein, George Gershwin and Aaron Copland led by Conductor Lawrence Loh, who appeared on stage for his first time in his new role.

Nearly 300 people enjoy a pre-concert dinner in the Clay Center’s Grand Lobby.

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Jennifer Loh, Margie Cooper, retiring WVSO Maestro Grant Cooper and the WVSO’s 10th music director, Lawrence Loh, greet guests before dinner.

WVSO Music Director Lawrence Loh and his family: daughter Hilary, son Charlie, and wife Jennifer.

WVSO Board Member Tanya Law A quartet of students from the James & Ruth Kessler String Educator Program — Aya Hobeika, Karissa Tome, Shannon Joins and Virginia Groce — perform for guests.

created beautiful flower arrangements for every table.

WVSO President Joe Tackett welcomes guests.

Dinner guests include WVSO supporters Mary Kay and Pat Bond, a WVSO board member and co-chair of the endowment.

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WHAT’S UP NEXT? MUSIC OF JOHN WILLIAMS: MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU

Sponsored by United Bank and West Virginia Lottery Michael Krajewski, guest conductor February 17 7:30 pm The Clay Center, Charleston February 18 3 pm Blennerhassett School, Parkersburg February 19 7:30 pm Colebank Hall, Fairmont

JURASSIC PARK: MOVIE with LIVE ORCHESTRA Sponsored by KVC West Virginia Lawrence Loh, conductor March 17 1 pm and 7:30 pm The Clay Center, Charleston

LISTEN WHERE YOU LIVE

Sponsored by Bowles Rice and members of the Contractors Association of West Virginia Bob Thompson Unit, Qiet and Company Stores join the West Virginia Symphony Grant Cooper, guest conductor May 19 7:30 pm

Tickets start at $17 in Charleston CHARLESTON Tickets: wvsymphony.org 304.561.3570 8

FAIRMONT Tickets: Fairmont State University Box Office, 4th floor of Wallman Hall or 304.367.4240

LEWISBURG MORGANTOWN Tickets: carnegiehallwv.com Tickets: wvsymphony.org or 304.645.7917 or 304.293.SHOW

PARKERSBURG Tickets: wvsop.org or 304.485.4200

Concert Dates, Venues & Times

CHARLESTON THE CLAY CENTER Concert Time: 7:30 pm

PARKERSBURG BLENNERHASSETT MIDDLE SCHOOL Concert Time: 3 pm

Tickets start at $12 in Charleston A NIGHT OF “GREAT” MUSIC Sponsored by Jim and Keith Straw, Cecil I. Walker Charitable Trust Michelle Merrill, guest conductor

March 3 March 4 Mendelssohn: Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture Haydn: Concerto in D Major with Christine Lamprea, cello & Astral Artist Schubert: Symphony #9, “The Great”

Maestro Loh Conducting

MORGANTOWN WVU CREATIVE ARTS CENTER Concert Time: 7:30 pm

The Clay Center Performances

NORTHERN LIGHTS

Sponsored by Maier Foundation

April 13 April 14 Brahms: Academic Overture Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 2 with Erik Ralske, French horn Sibelius: Symphony No. 5

Parkersburg Performances

Morgantown Performances

OUT OF THIS WORLD May 5 May 6 Wiprud: Sinfonietta Liszt: Totentanz with Barbara Nissman, piano Holst: The Planets

GUEST CONDUCTOR MICHELLE MERRILL, who is among a small contingent of female conductors nationwide, brings tremendous energy, passion, and charisma to the stage.

This associate conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and former assistant conductor for the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic was named one of Hour Detroit Magazine’s 3 Cultural Organization Leaders to Watch.

METROPOLITAN OPERA ORCHESTRA PRINCIPAL HORN ERIK RALSKE will be the featured soloist in Morgantown and Charleston in April when the WVSO performs Strauss’ Horn Concerto No. 2.

Ralske is one of the country’s premiere horn players. In July 2010, he was offered the principal horn position with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He opted to stay in New York, where he had been a member of the New York Philharmonic for 17 seasons.

CELLIST CHRISTINE LAMPREA will join guest conductor Michelle Merrill and the WVSO on stage in March.

A graduate of The Juilliard School, Lamprea was honored as the national auditions winner in 2013 by Astral Artists, a nonprofit intensive mentoring program that specializes in developing the early careers of extraordinary classical musicians. She actively pursues opportunities to perform in settings where she can spread awareness of classical music to new audiences, including senior centers and hospitals in the New York area.

INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED PIANIST BARBARA NISSMAN and West Virginia resident will join the WVSO in performing Liszt’s Totentanz in Charleston and Parkersburg in May. Hailed as “one of the last pianists in the grand Romantic tradition of Liszt, Rachmaninoff, and Rubinstein,” Nissman made history in 1989 by becoming the first pianist to perform the complete piano sonatas of Sergei Prokofiev in a series of three recitals in New York and London.

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The Elliot Foundation

West Virginia Foundation

Jim & Keith Straw