New Music for Orchestra, Yale Philharmonia, December 8, 2016

Robert Blocker, Dean

new music new haven and yale philharmonia

New Music for Orchestra David Yi, conducting fellow

works by Yale School of Music graduate-student composers

Hannah Lash, Artistic Director December 8, 2016 • Thursday at 7:30 pm Woolsey Hall

Yale School of Music

New Music for Orchestra December 8, 2016 • Woolsey Hall

Molly Joyce b. 1992

Over and Under (2016)

Hilary Purrington b. 1990

Likely Pictures in Haphazard Sky (2016)

Michael Gilbertson b. 1987

Luck (2016)

Ethan Braun b. 1987

Ascending (2015) Jin-Xiang Yu, soprano

Benjamin Wallace b. 1989

Waltz of the Quintessence (2016) The Philharmonia Orchestra of Yale David Yi, conductor

As a courtesy to the performers and audience, silence electronic devices.

Please do not leave the hall during selections. Photography or recording of any kind is prohibited.

Artist Profiles • Notes on the Program

biography The Philharmonia Orchestra of Yale

Mr. Yi holds a Master of Music degree in orchestral conducting from die Hochschule für Musik-Franz Liszt-Weimar, Germany, The Philharmonia Orchestra of Yale is one where he studied with Nicolas Pasquet and of America’s foremost music-school ensem- Markus Frank. He also received a Master bles. The largest performing group at the of Music degree from the New England Yale School of Music, the Philharmonia Conservatory, where he studied with Mr. offers superb training in orchestral playing Hugh Wolff. and repertoire.

Performances include an annual series of biography concerts in Woolsey Hall, as well as Yale Molly Joyce Opera productions in the Shubert Theater.

The Yale Philharmonia has also performed Molly Joyce’s music has been described as on numerous occasions in Carnegie Hall “impassioned” (The Washington Post) and and Alice Tully Hall in New York City written to “superb effect” (The Wire). Her and at the John F. Kennedy Center for works have been commissioned and perthe Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. formed by several distinguished ensembles The orchestra undertook its first tour of including the New World Symphony, New Asia in 2008, with acclaimed performances York Youth Symphony, Pittsburgh Symin the Seoul Arts Center, the Forbidden phony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony City Concert Hall and National Center Orchestra, the New Juilliard, Decoda, and for the Performing Arts (Beijing), and Contemporaneous ensembles. Additionally, the Shanghai Grand Theatre. her work has been performed at the Bang on a Can Marathon and VisionIntoArt’s Ferus Festival. biography David Yi, conducting fellow The 2016–17 season will see the first commercial releases of Molly’s music, both on David Yi has conducted such orchestras New Amsterdam Records. These releases as the Jenaer Philharmonie (Germany), include two violin and electronics singles, Philharmonie Baden-Baden (Germany), and a work on pianist Vicky Chow’s album Filharmonie Hradec Králové (Czech Rep.), of electroacoustic piano compositions.

Severočeská filharmonie Teplice (Czech Rep.), and Karlovarský symfonický orchestr As a performer, Molly often performs on (Czech Rep.). Recently, he was invited to her vintage Magnus toy organ and is addiparticipate in the Tokyo International Mu- tionally active as a DJ, spinning under the sic Competition for Conducting and the moniker “DJ MJ.” Bamberg Symphony Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition. He has participated As an active participant in other aspects in master classes with such conductors as of the music industry, Molly is currently Riccardo Muti and Myung-Whun Chung. the digital content manager for New Amsterdam Presents/Records and has

Artist Profiles • Notes on the Program

served as an assistant to Glenn Kotche, Missy Mazzoli, and Shara Nova, among others. Molly has studied at The Juilliard School, the Koninklijk Conservatorium, and the Yale School of Music.

In the summer of 2012, Purrington received funding through a Wagoner Foreign Study Grant to study music composition and German language at the Freie Universität Berlin, and in the summer of 2013 she participated as a fellow at the Yale Summer » www.mollyjoycemusic.com School of Music/Norfolk Chamber Music Festival’s New Music Workshop. Most program note recently, her music was featured on the 2016 Over and Under (2016) New York Philharmonic Biennial’s New Music New Haven concert. Purrington’s Scored for organ and orchestra, Over and music has been performed by many distinUnder explores the possible uniform and di- guished ensembles, including the American vergent relationship between such immense Modern Ensemble, Voices of Change, the instrumental bodies. This relationship Novus Trombone Quartet, the Peabody evolves so that by the end of the piece the Modern Orchestra, and the Musical Chairs organ and orchestra have ultimately switch- Chamber Ensemble. Recent projects include ed roles, and in order to reach this outcome commissions from the Chicago Harp Quarthe two instrumental bodies must begin tet, Washington Square Winds, and the in contrasting positions and gradually Melodia Women’s Choir of New York City. progress to replace each another.

Purrington holds degrees from The Juilliard Special thanks to organist Weston Jennings, School and the Shepherd School of Music conductor David Yi, and the Yale Philhar- at Rice University. She is currently purmonia for realizing the work. It is truly a suing a Master of Musical Arts degree at dream of mine to write a piece for organ and the Yale School of Music. orchestra, specifically with the Newberry Organ, and I couldn’t be more grateful. » www.hilarypurrington.com biography Hilary Purrington

program note Likely Pictures in Haphazard Sky (2016)

Likely Pictures in Haphazard Sky contrasts Hilary Purrington is a New Englandmoments of delicate sparseness with pasbased composer of contemporary classical sages of rich textures and emphatic lyricism. music. Her work has received recognition Throughout the work, the fragments introfrom the American Society of Composers, duced in the sparse, faltering opening Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the Na- gradually coalesce into distinct melodic tional Federation of Music Clubs (NFMC), ideas. The title comes from a poem called the Massachusetts Music Educators’ Asso- Starlight by William Meredith. Meredith ciation (MMEA), Houston Grand Opera’s uses constellations to explore, among other Home and Place, and Voices of Change/ things, our natural fear of randomness Dallas Symphony Orchestra, among others.

Artist Profiles • Notes on the Program

and our instinctive desire to find or create meaningful patterns. biography Michael Gilbertson The works of Michael Gilbertson have been described as “elegant” and “particularly beautiful” by The New York Times, “vivid, tightly woven” and “delectably subtle” by The Baltimore Sun, and “genuinely moving” by The Washington Post. He studied composition at The Juilliard School and at the Yale School of Music. Gilbertson’s works have been programmed by such ensembles as the Minnesota Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Washington National Opera, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, and the Grand Rapids Symphony. In March, 2016, he was Musical America’s featured New Artist of the Month.

Since 2009 Michael has served as artistic director of ChamberFest Dubuque, an annual music festival he founded to bring classical artists to his hometown for concerts, educational outreach, and to raise money for community music education. program note Luck (2016) The resonant acoustics of Woolsey Hall inspired the contrasting material found in my orchestral work Luck. During the piece, sharp, punchy motives are juxtaposed with a meandering, jazzy chorale. The way these themes interact in the work suggested to me a degree of chance and, perhaps, luck.

biography Ethan Braun Ethan Braun’s music deals in the haze, noir, and sun of his native Southern California.

His works have been commissioned by the New York Youth Symphony, Albany Symphony, Brendan Faegre Edge Ensemble (The Netherlands), Slagwerk Den Haag (NL), Shanghai Symphony Orchestra (China), and Ensemble Synaestesis (Lithuania), among others. Braun is a doctoral student at the Yale School of Music, where he has studied with David Lang and Chris Theofanidis. program note Ascending (2015) I wrote Ascending for the Shanghai Conservatory’s “Listening to China” festival, for which I was to respond in some way to some form of traditional Chinese music.

I was sent a recording of a song from the Qinghai province whose title loosely translates as “Flowers,” which tells a story of someone struggling along a mountain plain in search of a peony. My music struggles against itself in search of the the urgency and immediacy of the (unknown) voice on this recording. biography Benjamin Wallace Described as “brilliant, humorous, and rhythmically complex,” (Tacoma Symphony Blog) Ben Wallace is a composer, percussionist, and keyboard player hailing from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Ben’s music spans a wide range of styles from chamber and orchestral, to disco and samba, and

Artist Profiles • Notes on the Program

occasionally into the video game remix world. He has worked with organizations such as Musical Theatre Southwest, The Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, Grand Band, and The Shanghai Philharmonic, hearing his works performed in New York, Tacoma, Utah, New Mexico, New Haven, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Albany, Liverpool, Switzerland, Shanghai, and Beijing. He is a founding member of DiscoCactus, a VGM remix band, and Invisible Anatomy, an ensemble of hybrid composer/performers. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati and his Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music. Ben is currently pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts at YSM, where he studies with Hannah Lash. program note Waltz of the Quintessence (2016) The full title of the work is Waltz of the Quintessence: Or ... a rather climactic and romantic encounter between Resistance Division Assassin Brins Caldwell and LordThane Alexander Reginald Quintenson Esq. at Regenwijk Kasteel at the 78th Bi-Annual Royal Gala In Honor of King Theydas’ recent conquest of the Neighboring Dutchy of Urnst.

For much of the past year, I’ve had a small, incessant little melody stuck in my head that has refused to come out. I think it may have come from my sporadic, almost-diligent use of DuoLingo to learn Dutch over the summer for a trip to the Netherlands.

The little jingle that plays after you complete a lesson then transformed into a demented waltz-like pattern, which became the seed for another piece written for my ensemble Invisible Anatomy about medieval alchemy

and the search for “The Quintessence,” an elixir of life of sorts that was probably extremely toxic. Coupled with playing a few too many video games in my spare time; this resulted in my roommate referring to the piece as my “Battle Waltz.” The work itself has no program, but I imagine it could serve as the score to an endearingly cheesy animation or film loosely based on the events of a particular ballroom scene from Dragon Age: Inquisition.

Philharmonia Orchestra of Yale Peter Oundjian, principal conductor violin i Manaka Matsumoto Marianne Di Tomaso Sarah Arnold Dhyani Heath Rachel Ostler Kevin Zheng Moon Joo Kim Gaga Won Jessey Je Young Kim Andy Peng Michael Tropepe Ji Soo Lee violin ii Laura Park David Loke Kai-Yuan Alyssa Marie Blackstone Hyunjae Bae Elliot Lee Mevlan Mecid Linda Lee Yuqi Li Jung Eun Kang Yu-Ting Chen viola Wei Peng Julia Clancy Alexandra Simpson Rebecca Danielle Wiebe Burke Florrie Marshall Emily Brandenburg Thomas Duboski cello Pall Quinn Kalmansson Justin Park Jenny Kwak Bitnalee Pong Mingyao Zhao Yiqiu Chen Nayeon Kim Samuel DeCaprio

bass Mariya-Andoniya Andonova Lee Starovich Kohei Yamaguchi Jordan Calixto flute Meera Gudipati Benjamin Morency oboe Lauren Williams Noah Kay clarinet Giovanni Bertoni Elisha Willinger bass clarinet Elisha Willinger bassoon Patrick Broder Dillon Meacham horn Reese Farnell Scott Leger Luke Baker Matthew Gray trumpet Nozomi Imamura Theo Van Dyck Ashley Hale trombone William Wortley Hillary Simms bass trombone Zachary Haas

tuba Jake Fewx Joseph Guimaraes percussion Kramer Milan Matthew Keown Georgi Videnov YoungKyoung Lee keyboard Maxwell Foster Nansong Huang Churen Li Eylam Keshet Benjamin Wallace organ Weston Jennings harp Margaret Davis Shin Young Yu

New Music New Haven Staff

Artistic Director Hannah Lash Manager Jeffrey M. Mistri Conducting Fellow David Yi Office Assistant Valerie Sly Library Emily Brandenburg Sophie Cash-Goldwasser Antonia Chandler Allan Hon Bora Kim Laura Park Lauren Williams Stage Crew Lydia Consilvio Margaret Davis Thomas Duboski Reese Farnell Ashley Hale Pall Quinn Kalmansson YoungKyoung Lee Hillary Simms Andrew Stadler Sam Um

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Upcoming Events Christian Gerhaher, baritone december 9

ISM Guest Artists The Yale Institute of Sacred Music and the Yale School of Music present baritone Christian Gerhaher in a program of lieder by Gustav Mahler Morse Recital Hall | Friday | 7:30 pm free admission

Bassoonarama december 12

Yale School of Music Ensembles Students from Frank Morelli’s bassoon studio present their annual Bassoonarama program Sudler Hall | Monday | 7:30 pm free admission

Miró Quartet & Martin Beaver december 13

Oneppo Chamber Music Series Violist Martin Beaver joins the Miró Quartet for a program of Haydn, Ginastera, and Mozart Morse Recital Hall | Tuesday | 7:30 pm Tickets start at $26 • Students $13

Lunchtime Chamber Music decemebr 14

Yale School of Music Ensembles Wendy Sharp, director Morse Recital Hall | Wednesday | 12:30 pm free admission

Prokofiev at 125 december 14

Horowitz Piano Series In observance of the 125th anniversary of Prokofiev’s birth, and hosted by faculty pianist Boris Berman, YSM student pianists perform transcriptions and arrangements of the composer’s ballets Morse Recital Hall | Wednesday | 7:30 pm Tickets start at $10 • Students $5

Guitar Chamber Music december 15

Yale School of Music Ensembles Students from YSM faculty guitarist Benjamin Verdery’s studio perform a program of chamber music Morse Recital Hall | Thursday | 7:30 pm free admission

London Haydn Quartet january 15

Collection of Musical Instruments The London Haydn Quartet performs music by Haydn, Beethoven, and Weber; with Eric Hoeprich, clarinet 15 Hillhouse Ave | Sunday | 3 pm Tickets $25 • Yale faculty and staff $20 Students $10

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