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THE MAGAZINE OF

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SELLING

SUMMER

What It Takes to Market a Music Festival

Minnesota Orchestra Lockout Ends Guitar Heroes: Orchestras Get Plugged In Shhh No More: Orchestras Invade Public Libraries Messing with the Concert Model—Onstage and Off

“Our audiences had an overwhelming experience. eir combination of high energy, raw talent, and showmanship is a consistent recipe for success. ey’re such a pleasure to work with, it’s extremely easy for any orchestra and conductor to be swept up in the fun.”

Jung-Ho Pak, Artistic Director and Conductor, Cape Cod Symphony”

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t the end of a concert in Florida with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in late February, conductor Leonard Slatkin did something outrageous: he asked the audience to turn their cell phones on and record the encore.

And then he invited them to post the videos and photos on social media. It happens all the time at pop and rock concerts, where sometimes you can’t see the band for the thickets of arms holding cameras overhead, waving like a bed of kelp. Traditionalists were shocked—shocked!—at Detroit’s breach of traditional concert decorum, and the news was reported as far away as Los Angeles.

Of course, the biggest news in the orchestra world was the conclusion of the Minnesota Orchestra’s 16-month lockout. It was a difficult, arduous situation for all parties, and though much work must be done to restore trust and rebuild the orchestra, the good side is that this estimable ensemble has come roaring back to life.

Meanwhile, as epitomized by Slatkin’s social-media invitation, orchestras of all sizes are experimenting with how they present—and how audiences engage with—classical music. Yoga with a chamber ensemble? Check. Electric guitars as concerto soloists?

Check. Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony with actors, text, and visuals? Czech. No one is saying that these innovations are the future, or the only road forward. Classical music has done just fine as a rapturous sit-and-listen experience for a couple of centuries now, and no one’s griping. Still, you can’t help wondering about the impact of such innovations.

Will texting at concerts become the new norm? Will people expect video accompaniment to the music all the time? Many questions remain. But a heady mix of experimentation and convention can both test and strengthen tradition.

THE MAGAZINE OF THE LEAGUE OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS

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SENIOR EDITOR Chester Lane

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symphony

SPRING 2014

symphony SP R IN G 2 0 1 4

THE MAGAZINE OF THE LEAGUE OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS

2 Prelude by Robert Sandla

36

4 The Score Orchestra news, moves, and events

32

14 At the League What’s on the slate for the League’s 2014 National Conference, which takes place from June 4 to 6 in Seattle.

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18

Messing with the Model From innovative seating arrangements to Haydn-themed yoga sessions, orchestras are changing the way we experience symphonic music. by Chester Lane

24

Quiet Revolution Orchestra-library partnerships are enriching communities throughout the U.S. by Jennifer Melick

32

Sonic Spectrum What did the Spring for Music festival at Carnegie Hall show us about creative programming? by Donald Rosenberg

36

Guitar Heroes More and more, the electric guitar is finding its way onto the orchestra stage. by Ian VanderMeulen

42

48

Summer Festivals 2014 The essential guide to what’s on this season 61 Advertiser Index

Greg Helgeson

Selling Summer The inside scoop on how a summer music festival gets marketed. by Leah Harrison

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62 League of American Orchestras Annual Fund Takehiko Tokiwa

64 Coda Jazz bassist Ron Carter on his life in classical and jazz. about the cover Throughout this issue, text marked like this indicates a link to websites and online resources that can be accessed by visiting SymphonyOnline l at symphony.org.

At the Aspen Music Festival and School in Colorado, a violin student practices surrounded by the splendor of the Elk Mountain Range. Photograph by Carlin Ma/Courtesy of Aspen Music Festival and School.

See related story, page 42.

SCORE News, moves, and events in the orchestra industry THE

Relief and euphoria from local audiences greeted the January 14 news that management and musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra agreed to a new three-year contract, thus ending a lockout that began in October 2012. It was the longest U.S. orchestra lockout in recent memory.

Under the new contract, musicians’ salaries and benefits are cut by 15 percent, with the average salary dropping from $135,000 to $118,000 in the first year, and small increases during the remaining years of the contract.

Musicians will also contribute more toward healthcare.

Gordon Sprenger was named new board chairman of the orchestra, replacing Jon Campbell, who stepped down as planned after contract negotiations ended. President and CEO Michael Henson will step down on August The Minnesota Orchestra’s first concert at Orchestra Hall after a 16-month hiatus, led by former music director Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, February 7, 2014.

31. On February 7, the orchestra performed at the newly renovated Orchestra Hall in a program of Beethoven, Bach, and Strauss, led by former music director Stanislaw Skrowaczewski. R. Douglas Wright, the orchestra’s principal trombonist, introduced the concert with the words, “Ladies and gentlemen, we’re back,” prompting the first of several standing ovations. In other news for the orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra and former Music Director Osmo Vänskä received a Grammy Award in January for their recording of Jean Sibelius’s First and Fourth Symphonies. At press time, the orchestra was without a music director. Vänskä had resigned in October after expressing concerns about the length of the lockout.

Jeff Fusco

League Board Names Pat Richards Chair-Elect

Blowing Their Own Horns The first Philadelphia Orchestra PlayIN of this season took place in the Kimmel Center’s Commonwealth Plaza on February 15, attracting wind musicians of all ages and playing abilities. Horn players (two of them pictured above, seated one row in front of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Daniel Williams) joined with flutists, oboists, clarinetists, and bassoonists to perform music by Haydn, Gounod, and Richard Strauss under guest conductor Vladimir Jurowski. PlayINs for harpists and brass players followed in March and April; double bassists will have their turn in early May.

4

Patricia A. Richards has been chosen as chairelect by the League of American Orchestras Board of Directors. She will assume the position of chair in June 2014, succeeding current Chair Lowell J. Noteboom, and will hold it for a one-year term, until June 2015.

League President and CEO Jesse Rosen said, “Pat has an extraordinary breadth of nonprofit leadership experience, and I’m grateful for her Patricia A. Richards stepping up to this new role at the League.”

Richards has been a member of the League Board since 2008, and was most recently vice chair; she also chairs the League Board’s Development Committee. Since 2005 Richards has served as chair of the Utah Symphony | Utah Opera Board of Trustees. She was named #1 of “Utah’s Top 25 Cultural Power Brokers” by The Salt Lake Tribune, and in 2013 received the National Opera Trustee Recognition Award from Opera America and the Governor’s Leadership in the Arts Award from the State of Utah.

Additional community service has included positions on several nonprofit boards. Richards was senior vice president and regional manager of Private Client Services for Wells Fargo Bank in Utah until her retirement in July 2009. symphony

SPRING 2014

Greg Helgeson

Minnesota Orchestra Contract Dispute Ends After 16 Months

americanorchestras.org

MUSICAL CHAIRS has stepped down as executive director of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra; a search committee to select his successor was formed in March under the direction of longtime TSO board member GEORGE STEELE .

ANDREW BIRGENSMITH

JANE CHU, president

and chief executive officer of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City, Mo., has been nominated by President Obama to succeed ROCCO LANDESMAN as chairman of the National Chu Endowment for the Arts. Landesman retired from the post in late 2013.

Chu’s nomination is subject to approval by the U.S. Senate.

The San Francisco Conservatory of Music has appointed ROBERT FITZPATRICK provost. has announced that he will step down as chief executive officer of the San Diego Symphony at the expiration of his contract in September 2014.

EDWARD B. “WARD” GILL

The North Carolina Symphony has appointed DAVID GLOVER associate conductor. has been named vice president of development at the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.

LOUISA HANSHEW

South Carolina’s Charleston Symphony Orchestra has announced the election of CINDY HARTLEY as president.

has been named development director of the Boise Philharmonic in Idaho.

AMY L. HOUSE

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra has appointed NICKI INMAN senior director of patron development and engagement. has been named music director of the Tacoma (Wash.)

Symphony to succeed HARVEY FELDER , who will step down from the post in June 2014 following a 20-year tenure.

SARAH IOANNIDES

Ohio’s Oberlin Conservatory of Music has named ANDREA KALYN dean.

Tom Concordia

This winter brought a mix of financial news from orchestras. In Florida, Artis-Naples (the parent organization of the Naples Philharmonic) announced a new three-year agreement with the musicians of the Naples Philharmonic. The agreement, ratified five months before the current agreement was due to expire, includes salary increases from 2 percent to 2.5 percent over the contract period, with base salary rising to $52,260 in year three of the contract. It is the first new contract in five years for the orchestra; the 2008 contract was extended with three years of wage freezes, followed by a modest increase in 2013. The Detroit Symphony Orchestra ratified a new three-year agreement in January, eight months before the current contract was due to expire. The contract will raise minimum salaries to nearly $88,000 in year three. The Detroit Free Press’s Mark Stryker wrote that both sides said the contract was negotiated in “an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust that has flowered” since a six-month strike in 2010-11. California’s Santa Barbara Symphony announced a three-year collective bargaining agreement through the 2015-16 season, which includes modest wage and travel increases and greater flexibility with regard to electronic media agreements.

The musicians and management of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic in Indiana have a new contract in which musicians’ guaranteed weeks of work are reduced from 40 to 33, resulting in a 17.5 percent pay cut. Administrative staff have taken similar cuts. The orchestra holds $2.3 million in debt, and the previous contract had expired in August. Orchestra president J.L. Nave reported that the new contract was possible following a four-year, $500,000 donation from the Madge Rothschild Foundation, made specifically to lessen the impact on musicians as the orchestra works to reduce its debt. In January the Memphis Symphony announced that $400,000 in cuts—via job, pay, and programs trims—were needed for the orchestra to complete its 2013-14 season through May. Currently the orchestra’s core of 36 musicians earn between $25,000 and $30,000 annually. To operate under the current model, the orchestra reports it would need donations from $20 to $25 million to replenish its endowment; the orchestra anticipates a complete restructuring for next season. In February, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra laid off seventeen staff members to help close a $1.475 million deficit.

Approximately $17 million in grants to the PSO are contingent on the orchestra balancing its budget. The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, which began an emergency fundraising campaign this fall to raise $5 million to reduce long-term debt, had raised $4.8 million as of February. The orchestra also reached an agreement with musicians to reduce the orchestra size through retirements and attrition from 79 to the middle or upper 60s for next season. President and Executive Director Mark Niehaus—the orchestra’s former principal trumpet—has led the cost-cutting during what he described as a “shared-pain” restructuring. In February, Rob Tannenbaum, the recently hired general director of the Sacramento Region Performing Arts Alliance, announced his resignation, effective April 6. The alliance, formed from the 2013 merger of the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera, has struggled financially, but did get some good news earlier in the winter, via a $500,000 gift from the Joyce and Jim Teel Family Foundation. The Metropolitan Opera is facing a $2.8 million deficit on a budget of $327 million last season. In February management proposed the first cuts in compensation for its musicians in its 134-year history. The current contract is due to expire in July at the Met, where musicians are represented by one of the company’s sixteen unions.

Musical Chairs

On the Financial Front

Ioannides

has been appointed chief marketing director at the San Francisco Symphony.

RUSSELL KELBAN

The Fort Worth Symphony has announced the selection of Ukrainian pianist VADYM KHOLODENKO as an artistic partner, in which capacity he will perform and record with the orchestra over the next three seasons.

Violinist PATRICIA KOPATCHINSKAJA and pianist JEREMY DENK have been named artistic partners at the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, effective with the 2014-15 season. They will share duties with artistic partners Roberto Abbado, Edo de Waart, Christian Zacharias, and Thomas Zehetmair.

MATTHEW B. LESTER has succeeded MICHAEL J. KEEGAN as chair of the Detroit Symphony Orches-

tra Board of Trustees.

The New York Philharmonic has announced the appointment of COURTNEY LEWIS as assistant conductor, effective in September 2014. He will succeed CASE SCAGLIONE , who has been promoted to associate conductor as of September. JOSHUA WEILERSTEIN , assistant conductor along with Scaglione since September 2011, will conclude his Philharmonic tenure at the end of the 2013-14 season.

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MUSICAL CHAIRS will retire as executive director of the Florence (S.C.) Symphony Orchestra at the end of this season.

ROGER MALFATTI

The Curtis Institute of Music Board of Trustees has elected NINA BARONESS VON MALTZAHN as chair, effective June 1, 2014. Curtis has also announced the appointment of KRISTEN B. LODEN as senior vice president of development. will step down as music director of British Columbia’s Victoria Symphony at the end of the 2016-17 season.

Muñoz

has been appointed concertmaster of the Kalamazoo (Mich.) Symphony Orchestra, effective in September 2014.

SUSIE PARK

One ironclad rule of concert etiquette—turn off your cellphone!—may not be so ironclad after all. At a Detroit Symphony Orchestra performance during its Florida tour this winter, Music Director Leonard Slatkin asked concertgoers to turn their phones on and record the DSO’s encore—an excerpt from William Walton’s score to the 1944 film Henry V. Audience members obliged, pulling out their phones to record photos and video for posting on social media. Apparently the experiment was a hit: in the lobby after the concert “everyone was talking about how great it was,” according to DSO spokeswoman Gabrielle Poshadlo.

Musical Chairs

Strings Music Festival (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) has announced the appointment of Cleveland Orchestra Principal Trumpet MICHAEL SACHS as music director, effective with the 2015 summer season.

has been appointed director of public relations at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

JACK FISHMAN has been named vice president of external affairs at the orchestra’s Music Center at Strathmore venue in North Bethesda, Md. LAURA SOLDATI

The Case of the Stolen Strad

The Minnesota Orchestra has announced that GORDON M. SPRENGER , a member of its Board of Directors since 2008, has been elected board chair; he succeeds JON CAMPBELL .

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has appointed LISA STELTENPOHL principal viola. has been named to the newly created post of senior vice president, marketing and business operations, at the Seattle Symphony.

CHARLIE WADE

The Bay-Atlantic Symphony in southern New Jersey has announced the election of ROBERT WATTERS as board president.

New York City’s Orchestra of St. Luke’s has appointed DAVID WEBBER director of finance and administration. CRYSTAL WEI has been promoted to director of development.

The Boulder (Colo.) Philharmonic Orchestra has named CHARLES WETHERBEE concertmaster.

clarinet in the New York Philharmonic since last September, will return to his post as principal clarinet in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra next season.

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra has announced the appointment of JOSEPH YOUNG as assistant conductor, effective June 1, 2014; he will also serve as music director of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra, succeeding JERE FLINT, who is retiring from that post following a 35-year tenure.

Jeff Roffman

STEPHEN WILLIAMSON , principal

Young

CORRECTION A Musical Chairs item in the Winter issue incorrectly specified WAYNE BROWN ’s tenure as director of music and opera at the NEA. He held that post from 1997 to 2014.

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Phoning In an Encore

Detroit Symphony audience members record a live performance to post on social media

In late January, the classical music world was shocked when the 300-year-old Stradivarius violin played by Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster Frank Almond was stolen during a nighttime armed robbery with a stun gun in a parking lot.

The theft of the violin—known as the Lipinski Stradivarius— followed Almond’s performance in his own Frankly Music chamber series at Milwaukee Lutheran College.

At the Milwaukee Symphony’s February 15 An intense concert, the Milwaukee Police Department was national and honored for their work on the case of the stolen international Strad. Above: Frank Almond (left) shakes the hand of Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn. search by Milwaukee Police and the FBI’s art crimes team, with the close cooperation of the MSO, resulted in the safe return of the violin, and the arrest of two suspects: Salah Salahadyn and Universal Knowledge Allah.

In 2013, Almond launched “A Violin’s Life,” a website and CD tracing the history of the Lipinski Stradivarius. symphony

SPRING 2014

Photos: Jon Riemann

The Nashville Symphony has named VINAY PARAMESWARAN assistant conductor.

Dario Acosta

The Phoenix Symphony has appointed TITO MUÑOZ music director, effective in the 2014-15 season.

Jen Scott

TANIA MILLER

he classical-music world lost one of its most widely admired figures on January 20, when Italian conductor Claudio Abbado died at his home in Bologna after a long illness. Abbado studied at the Milan Conservatory, and early in his career won the Serge Koussevitzky Competition for conductors at Tanglewood and the Dimitri Mitropoulos Prize, working for several months at the New York Philharmonic.

He made his La Scala debut in 1960 and served as music director there from 1968 to 1986. He held leadership posts at the Berlin Philharmonic, the Salzburg Festival, Vienna Philharmonic, the Vienna Staatsoper, and the London Symphony Orchestra.

From 1982 to 1986 he was principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

He also founded the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and the music festival Wien Modern. Abbado was renowned for his performances of Mahler, Beethoven, Rossini, Verdi, and Mozart, and was devoted to working with young musicians in the European Union Youth Orchestra and the Gustav Mahler Chamber Orchestra, both of which he founded. In addition to his immediate family, Abbado is survived by his nephew, the conductor Roberto Abbado.

Sony Classical has announced the summer 2014 release of “The Abbado Gold Edition,” a 37-CD set of his recordings with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the London Symphony Orchestra. americanorchestras.org

Advocating for America’s orchestras can certainly rack up the frequent-flyer miles. In January, League President and CEO Jesse Rosen headed to London for the Association of British Orchestras’ annual convention, where he introduced a panel titled New Directions for Orchestras: The USA—What’s Going On? The session included leaders from three orchestras, and Rosen gave an informative speech about the state of American orchestras. (Read the speech under Media at www.americanorchestras.org.) In February, Rosen took part in the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Take a Stand Symposium, which explored the effect of El Sistema-inspired programs on students. Rosen joined speakers including Los Angeles Philharmonic President and CEO Deborah Borda and Leon Botstein, president of Bard College and music director of the American Symphony Orchestra. Take a Stand—a partnership of the LA Philharmonic, the Longy School of Music of Bard College, and Bard College—supports social change through music.

In March, Rosen served as a panelist at the EarShot and Detroit Symphony Orchestra 2014 New Music Readings for African-American Composers. New works by Jonathan Bailey Holland, Above: In late January Jesse Rosen (at podium) led a panel discussion at the Erica Lindsay, Kevin annual conference of the Association of Scott, and Matthew Evan British Orchestras with, from left: Kathryn Taylor were read by the McDowell CBE, managing director, London Symphony Orchestra; Anne Parsons, Detroit Symphony and Music Director Leonard president and CEO, Detroit Symphony Orchestra; and Simon Woods, executive Slatkin; the composers director, Seattle Symphony. were also advised by men- Right: Wayne Brown and Jesse Rosen at tor composers. EarShot the National Endowment for the Arts event saluting Brown’s years as head of music is administered by the and opera at the NEA. American Composers Orchestra with partner organizations the American Composers Forum, the League of American Orchestras, and New Music USA. Earlier this winter, Rosen spoke at a celebration of Wayne S. Brown’s sixteen-plus years at the National Endowment for the Arts, where Brown served as director of music and opera. Brown’s new post is president and CEO of Michigan Opera Theater. Rosen and other arts leaders delivered heartfelt comments about Brown at the event, which took place at the NEA’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Have Organ, Will Travel

In trademark Mohawk, leather, and spangles, organist Cameron Carpenter unveiled his new International Touring Organ at two Alice Tully Hall concerts in New York in March. Carpenter bounded onstage, pulled a black cloth off the organ, and launched into a program of Bach, Bernstein, Tchaikovsky, Dupré, and Scriabin, plus a few of his own pieces.

The digital instrument can reportedly be assembled or taken apart in less than three hours and was made to order for the 32-year-old organist by Marshall & Ogletree. The resurgence of the organ in orchestra programs was covered in Thomas May’s Spring 2012 article in Symphony.

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Kathy Plowitz-Worden

T

Marco Caselli Nirmal

(1933-2014)

Donald Dietz

On the Road for Orchestras

Claudio Abbado

A Houston Century

Stephen Lawrence (left) and Christopher Mosley perform at the ASO’s TDP Alumni Legacy concert on January 4, 2014, in Atlanta Symphony Hall. Lawrence graduated from TDP in 2003 and attended Loyola University; Mosley graduated from TDP in 2003 and attended Georgia State University.

From its founding in 1913 to the modern era under Music Director-Designate Andrés Orozco-Estrada, the Houston Symphony chronicles its history in an exhaustively researched, lavishly illustrated 200-page tome published this winter.

Written by music journalist and longtime Houston Symphony program annotator Carl R. Cunningham, with assistance from volunteer archivists Terry Ann Brown and Ginny Garrett, Houston Symphony: Celebrating a Century is bursting with archival artwork. Pictured below is the newspaper ad placed by Houston Symphony founder Ima Hogg promoting the orchestra’s first concert and announcing that “seats from 25 cents to $1.00” are on sale at a variety of retail establishments.

Talent Development Program Turns 20

1OO C e l e b r at i n g a C e n t u ry

Jeff Roffman

This season represents a milestone for an important initiative promoting diversity in the arts: the 20th year of Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s Talent Development Program, established to help young African-American and Latino students pursue careers as professional musicians. TDP came about as a result of efforts by ASO board member Azira G. Hill, who questioned why her daughter was the only student of color in the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra. Many of the program’s alumni—now graduated from top conservatories and working as professional musicians—performed this winter at a sold-out concert in Atlanta Symphony Hall. At the alumni concert, Ann Hobson Left to right: Former WSB-TV news anchor Monica Kaufman (who Pilot, longtime former principal harp in the emceed the TDP Alumni Legacy Boston Symphony Orchestra, was presented Concert); TDP Founder Azira with a Lifetime Achievement Award. The G. Hill; TDP alumna and harpist anniversary celebrations continue with Angelica Hairston; and former recitals featuring current TDP students, on Boston Symphony Orchestra Principal Harpist Ann Hobson Pilot, May 3 and 4 in the Woodruff Arts Center.

Jeff Roffman

HOUSTON SYMPHONY

who was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Carnegie Hall

Vienna Comes to Carnegie Richard Strauss’s lucky horseshoe, Beethoven’s medicine spoon, measures from the “Unfinished” Symphony in Schubert’s own hand, an undated ticket to a concert organized

by Mozart in the 1780s (below), and a lady’s fan autographed by Mahler, Brahms, SaintSaëns, and other musicians active in fin-de-siècle Vienna (right) all came to Carnegie Hall this winter.

These and nearly two dozen other artifacts are on view for the first time in the U.S. The exhibit—a visual companion to Carnegie’s citywide “Vienna: City of Dreams” Festival, presented February 21-March 16 and comprising more than 90 musical and cultural events, including performances by the Vienna Philharmonic—continues at Carnegie’s Rose Museum through May 5.

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symphony

SPRING 2014

Where’s that Lost Elephant?

League Initiative Supports Women Composers

In February, the League of American Orchestras announced a new initiative to increase opportunities for women composers through orchestral readings, workshops, and commissions, made possible by the generous support of the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation Program for Commissioning Women in the Performing Arts. The readings are administered by American Composers Orchestra on behalf of EarShot, the National Orchestral Composition Discovery Network. Four orchestras give readings this season: Berkeley Symphony Orchestra in California, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and New York-based American Composers Orchestra. During the readings, composers are mentored by established composers and participate in career-development workshops. Two of the participating composers will receive commissions of $15,000 each. Jesse Rosen, League President and CEO, said: “Bringing new artistic voices to the fore is a key mission for the League, and this program offers the rare opportunity for composers to have their works read and to receive a commission.” The program is administered by American Composers Orchestra with partner organizations the American Composers Forum, League of American Orchestras, and New Music USA. For more information, visit americanorchestras.org.

Amazon Studios

Gael García Bernal plays Rodrigo in the web TV series Mozart in the Jungle. Bernadette Peters (left) plays Gloria, the board chairwoman of the fictional New York Symphony.

Mozart in the Jungle

An aspiring young oboist, a charismatic Latin conductor, an old-school, sharp-tongued former conductor, and post-concert parties where musicians play drinking games like a musical spin-the-bottle. This is all part of Mozart in the Jungle, an online TV show released this winter by Amazon Studios. The soapy fictional plot is based loosely on oboist Blair Tindall’s 2005 nonfiction book Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music, chronicling her years as a freelance oboist in New York City. The pilot episode includes a performance by Joshua Bell, and the cast includes Malcolm McDowell as the bitter former music director of the New York Symphony; Gael García Bernal as the orchestra’s new, Dudamel-ish music director; Bernadette Peters as the orchestra’s chairwoman; and Lola Kirke as the aspiring oboist. Musicians performing in the show include members of the New York-based Chelsea Symphony and the New Westchester Symphony Orchestra, based in White Plains. Amazon has given the green light for Mozart in the Jungle as a ten-episode series. americanorchestras.org

He’s been spotted in Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Singapore and Shanghai... but he keeps getting away.

Zookeeper Dan Kamin and narrator Susan Chapek are determined to track him down, even if it means visiting every orchestra in the world!

Last seen at www.dankamin.com

Dan Kamin

Comecdeyrtos Con (412)563-0468 dan2@dankamin.com 9

Crowdsourcing Lincoln

Martin Solarte

Copland’s A Lincoln Portrait, featuring music interwoven with excerpts from Lincoln’s speeches, frequently features public figures like politicians, actors, and athletes as narrator. The Fort Wayne Philharmonic took an unusual approach for its recent performance at Embassy Theatre by inviting employees of locally based Lincoln Financial Group to try out for the narrator role. About 20 people auditioned before a panel of judges that included Nancy Rogers, from the Lincoln Financial Foundation, and Fort Wayne Philharmonic Music Director Andrew Constantine, General Manager Jeff Hunsinger, and Principal Bassist Adrian Mann. The winner of the audition was Johnny Warren, a securities consultant for Lincoln Financial. The Philharmonic’s performance also featured photochoreography by Westwater Arts— hundreds of images projected on screens over the orchestra.

Above: Charles Ives studio at the American Academy of Arts and Letters in NYC. Right: Ives and his wife, Harmony, at their Connecticut home in the 1940s

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Johnny Warren won the Fort Wayne Philharmonic’s audition to guest-narrate Copland’s Lincoln Portrait, performed with photochoreography by Westwater Arts.

Eye on Ives

Leonard Bernstein’s family donated his main composing studio to Indiana University in 2009, and now the studio where Charles Ives worked the last 40 years of his life is open to the public in New York City. The studio—moved from Redding, Connecticut—opened to the public on March 6 at the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York City, after Ives’s grandson, Charles Ives Tyler, donated the contents of the studio to the Academy. The studio and its furnishings, photos, and keepsakes had been largely untouched since Ives’s death in 1954.

An accompanying exhibition explores Ives’s life and work in Redding. The studio is open during the Academy’s annual exhibitions from March to June, and by appointment. Among the works composed in the studio are Three Places in New England, the Fourth Symphony, the Fourth Violin Sonata, and about 40 songs. symphony

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Christopher Houlihan

concert organist

The Leonard Bernstein Letters edited by Nigel Simeone. Yale University Press, 606 pages, $38. Famously colorful as an artist and as a man, Lenny often wears his personality on his sleeve in these letters, whose recipients are both well known (Copland, Koussevitzky, Stravinsky) and obscure (his early piano teacher Helen Coates, conductor Solomon Braslavsky). Many other letters here are ones that he received, and taken together with those he authored they form a biographical portrait extending from his teenaged years in the early 1930s to his death in 1990. Simeone provides context for each of the chronologically arranged sections and identifies each correspondent.

Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven by John Eliot Gardiner. Alfred A. Knopf, 628 pages, $35. One of the world’s most respected interpreters of J.S. Bach’s music combines deep scholarship with his own intimate experience to illuminate the composer’s mind and spirituality. For this genius who revealed little of himself in words, Gardiner writes, music is “the anchor to which we can return again and again, and the principal means of validating or refuting any conclusion about its author.” Gardiner’s text should satisfy the most erudite student of Bach, and an eight-page glossary of terms is a boon to the lay reader. The book’s artwork is a feast for the eyes.

The Violin: A Social History of the World’s Most Versatile Instrument by David Schoenbaum. Norton & Company, 710 pages, $39.95. Schoenbaum, a journalist, historian, and amateur violinist, begins his saga with a citation from a 1529 German handbook describing “a fretless instrument, tuned in fifths, that shows up as one of a family of four, and can even be played with vibrato.” His survey of violins and violin-playing through the centuries is wideranging and prodigiously documented. A collection of color plates reflects an astounding variety of activities surrounding the violin, from a Vanity Fair illustration from 1905 depicting violinist Joseph Joachim (muse to Johannes Brahms) to the contemporary string quartet Bond, wielding electric instruments and dressed to kill in mini-skirts.

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“The entire program played from memory was as close to flawless as one might hear. It was energetic, joyful and accessible... One feels so reassured to hear such skillful, energetic, and graceful playing from a young performer.” www.examiner.com Independence, MO - November 2013

“A virtuoso performance by Christopher Houlihan... His formidable technique is never applied as an end in itself, but is always at the service of the music, which, for this recital, was of uniformly high quality.” www.artsnash.com Nashville, TN - March 2014

Research and Development • 646-822-4004 Symphony • 646-822-4068

www.concertartists.com 11

Kevin Mackintosh and Daryl McGregor

The New York Philharmonic Biennial might just be The Music Festival That Ate A City. Inspired by cutting-edge biennials in the visual arts, the Philharmonic’s inaugural extravaganza will sprawl all over town while showcasing a broad swath of today’s music, with performances everywhere from Lincoln Center to the Museum of Modern Art to SubCulture, the underground Greenwich Village club. Running May 28 to June 7, the festival features world premieres by Philharmonic Composer-in-Residence Christopher Rouse and a batch of young American composers; New York premieres by Peter Eötvös, Matthias Pintscher, Julia Wolfe, and Steven Mackey; and seldomheard modern and Kevin Mackintosh and Daryl contemporary works.

McGregor capture the spirit of The Philharmonic will the NY Phil Biennial in striking read scores-in-progress photographs of Philharmonic musicians, among them cellist as part of EarShot New Sumire Kudo, above, and Principal Music Readings, and Timpani Markus Rhoten, below. two EarShot works will be performed by the Philharmonic and Music Director Alan Gilbert. And it’s not just the NY Phil that will be making music: performers include the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, American Composers Orchestra, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Gotham Chamber Opera, students from Juilliard, and more.

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Suzanne Faulkner Stevens

Millennial Biennial

The Avery Fisher Artist Program marked its 40th anniversary March 18 with a double awards ceremony at Lincoln Center. The $75,000 Avery Fisher Prize went to pianist Jeremy Denk. Avery Fisher Career Grants, awarded annually to early-career musicians and carrying a stipend of $25,000, went to pianist Charlie Albright, violist Dimitri Murrath, and the Calder Quartet (Benjamin Jacobson and Andrew Bulbrook, violin; Jonathan Moerschel, viola; Eric Byers, cello). Many past Career Grant recipients have achieved distinction as concert artists. In addition to the 1986 winners pictured at right with the program’s patron Avery Fisher—violinist Joshua Bell, cellist Matt Haimovitz, and pianist Ken Noda— they have included violinists Augustin Hadelich, Hilary Hahn, and Gil Shaham; cellists Carter Brey and Alisa Weilerstein; pianists Jeffrey Kahane, Christopher O’Riley, and Yuja Wang; clarinetists Anthony McGill and David Shifrin; and flutist Demarre McGill.

The Phoenix Symphony Brass Quintet performs at the opening of the State Senate in January of this year.

Timon Harper

Kevin Mackintosh and Daryl McGregor

Four Decades & Four Awards

Capital Sounds

If you want politicians to appreciate your music, sometimes it helps to bring the music to the politicians. That’s what the Phoenix Symphony did on January 13, when the orchestra’s brass quintet performed in the Arizona State Senate Chamber immediately prior to the opening of the Senate’s legislative session. Phoenix Symphony musicians Chuck Berginc (trumpet), Benny Nguyen (trumpet), Nancy Dimond (horn), Chris Wolf (trombone), and Chuck Kerrigan (tuba) played pieces by Joplin, Gershwin, and Sousa, along with “The Star Spangled Banner.”

Certainly a way to get the legislators started in harmony.

symphony

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Katie Wyatt, executive director, Kidznotes

Invest in one, invest in many Through our leadership programs, the League invested in Katie, who now invests in nearly 300 kids annually from Title-1 schools in Durham and Raleigh, N.C. Supporting the League means investing in people, their communities, and the future of classical music. Donate now at americanorchestras.org.

LEAGUE

AT THE

The Long View What’s ahead at the League’s 2014 National Conference, “Critical Questions, Countless Solutions.”

By Robert Sandla

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Ben VanHouten

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iktionary, everyone’s favorite online source of all knowledge, defines “see the forest for the trees” as: “To discern an overall pattern from a mass of detail; to see the big picture, or the broader, more general situation.”

You don’t want to be “overwhelmed by detail to the point where it obscures the overall situation.” That’s a feeling we can all identify with as we forge our way through a work day: it’s hard to get the big picture when you’re smack dab in the middle of things. And that can be particularly tough right now, at a time of seismic change on the cultural landscape, when audiences expect to experience art in entirely new ways and orchestras are experimenting with concert formats, expanding repertoire, and engaging with their communities at an unprecedented pace. How to make sense of it all? The League of American Orchestras’ National Conference gives board members, conductors, musicians, staff, and volunteers fresh perspectives on how orchestras are adapting to shifting demographics, discovering what works— and what doesn’t—in emerging practices, and reflecting on the latest insights and research from provocative thought leaders and experts.

This year’s Conference theme is “Critical Questions, Countless Solutions”—a strikingly appropriate and relevant premise as orchestras confront a cultural scene in flux. The Conference runs June 4-6 in Seattle, Washington, and is hosted by the Seattle Symphony. Preceding it are a vari-

Seattle Symphony Music Director Ludovic Morlot and the city of Seattle, site of the League of American Orchestras’ 2014 National Conference.

ety of intensive, comprehensive seminars on June 2 and 3 that tackle such timely issues as capitalization planning, the impact of alternative concert formats, and how to help orchestra boards reach their full potential. “The Foundations of Collective Bargaining,” a three-day Pre-Conference seminar presented by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, gives musicians, staff, and board members the must-have knowledge they need for effective labor negotiations. The “Collective Bargaining” session at last year’s League Conference was completely sold out.

What was the thinking behind this year’s “Critical Questions, Countless Solutions” theme, and how does that relate to

where orchestras are today? “It would be hard to find an orchestra anywhere in the country that is not, in some way, exploring something new,” says Polly Kahn, the League’s vice president for learning and leadership development. “Whether via artistic initiatives, community and education investment, audience engagement strategies, or approaches to the financial model, orchestras are moving ahead—and fast. Our Conference will celebrate and embody that change, looking not only at multiple pathways to new work, but perhaps most significantly, at the ways that these areas intersect and interact with one another.

“Conference delegates can expect to be stimulated by new ideas, inspired by new voices, engaged by new musical choices, and challenged at every step of the way to make their own individual sense of it all,” Kahn continues. “We anticipate that our delegates will leave Conference energized to think of their orchestra’s potential for felicitous ‘entanglement’—the interweaving of countless possibilities in the context of ever-growing engagement with their communities.”

Claire Chase, founder of International Contemporary Ensemble and classical-music agent provocateur, will give the keynote address at the League’s 2014 National Conference.

The Conference’s Opening Session on June 4 promises to be stimulating with keynote speaker Claire Chase on the podium. She’s the MacArthur Award-winning flutist and founder of ICE, the International Contemporary Ensemble, which was named Musical America’s 2014 Ensemble of the Year.

Chase describes ICE as “a new model for a new century: a contemporary, innovative, modular, artist-driven organization.”

As League President Jesse Rosen asked symphony

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Rachel Ford, executive director, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra

Invest in one, invest in many Through our leadership programs, the League invested in Rachel, who now invests in the healing power of music – exactly when patients need it the most. Through live performances in healthcare facilities, the KSO’s awardwinning Music & Wellness Program helps the healing process of more than 4,500 patients every year.

Supporting the League means investing in people and their communities. Donate now at americanorchestras.org.

The Seattle Symphony and Music Director Ludovic Morlot in performance at Benaroya Hall.

in his Huffington Post column about novel visions for the future of the arts, “Are ICE and the dozens of other exciting artist-led groups filling a space orchestras are unwilling or unable to enter?” In her talk, Chase will imagine a 21st-century musical ecosystem with invention as its engine and change as its guide. Typical of this year’s Conference as a whole, the Opening Session doesn’t just talk the talk: musically, it walks the walk. Chase will launch her keynote by playing Edgard Varèse’s groundbreaking 1936 flute solo, Density 21.5. Also at the Opening Session, Stephen Rodgers Radcliffe will lead the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra in works by contemporary American composer Aaron Jay Kernis and selections from Wagner’s Götterdämmerung, followed by a performance of excerpts from Cello Multitracks, an electronica-influenced 2010 work by Gabriel Prokofiev that features the composer as DJ, along with hip young cellist Joshua Roman. Roman is artistic director of Seattle Town Hall’s TownMusic series, which seeks to expand the classical music audience. (Prokofiev wrote about his approach to music in the Winter 2014 issue of Symphony.)

As always, music will play a key role at the Conference, and the Seattle Symphony will perform particularly juicy repertoire this year. On June 5 at Benaroya Hall, Music Director Ludovic Morlot will lead Dutilleux’s Symphony No. 2, “Le double” (1959), which splits the orchestra in two, and Ravel’s complete Daphnis et Chloé, with the Seattle Symphony Chorale—a gorgeous showcase of orchestral textures and sonorities. And stick around post-Conference for the June 6 “Sonic Evolution” Concert, with world premieres from Luis Tinoco, Du Yun, and Gabriel Prokofiev.

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Seattle Symphony

Ben VanHouten

“We’re thrilled to be hosting the Conference,” says Seattle Symphony Executive Director Simon Woods. “Seattle is one of America’s most beautiful and vibrant urban areas—and its reputation for innovation has made it the thriving and fastgrowing city it is today. The Seattle Symphony, too, is blossoming as an organization, and we hope that delegates will come away refreshed and inspired by the fascinating program of the conference, as well as by the creative spirit that we so enjoy in the Pacific Northwest.”

A wide variety of compelling elective sessions on June 5 and 6 offer something

The Seattle Symphony and Native American musicians perform the Potlatch Symphony, co-created by Seattle Symphony’s Native Lands Composer-in-Residence Janice Giteck alongside Native artists and community members. Excerpts from the work will be performed by Paul “Che-oke-ten” Wagner, Native flutist, and Seattle Symphony musicians at the Conference’s Closing Session on June 6.

for everyone. It’s sort of like a big box of tempting chocolates—or, this being Seattle, something healthier, like a platter of ocean-fresh sushi. These highly relevant sessions offer the strategies and tactics, the tools and practices, the philosophies and values and research that can serve as models or inspiration in solving realworld challenges. “Acting Up: Urgent Civic Priorities” explores the ways musical organizations are using the power of

music to respond to public priorities like homelessness, hunger, and returning veterans. “Boards on Fire! Inspiring Trustees to Raise Money Joyfully” reveals the practical steps in removing the barriers that hinder board members from being active ambassadors and powerful fundraisers. “Taking Measure in the Age of Social Media” looks at next-generation strategies for using social media and community data to understand and adapt to their communities. “Learning from Our Colleagues Abroad” examines the state of international orchestras, for a broad understanding of how U.S. and foreign orchestras compare. At two different “Check This Out” sessions, representatives from orchestras around the country share their first-person experiences of innovative projects that have worked for them.

The Conference wraps up on June 6 with a Closing Session as stirring as the opener. Arts researcher Alan Brown will take stock of the most significant trends re-shaping demand for the arts—and the groundswell of creativity and experimentation leading the orchestra field into the future in his address, “If It Ain’t Broke, Break It: What 10 Years of Research and Experimentation Tells Us about Audiences, Creativity, and the Future of Orchestras.” That title is a mouthful, but Brown will hone in on some of orchestras’ most impressive gains over the past decade, and identify the challenges to engaging the next generation of audiences in the creative life of their communities. The closing session also includes music: an excerpt from the Potlatch Symphony, co-created by Seattle Symphony’s Native Lands Composer-in-Residence Janice Giteck alongside Native artists and community members. Paul “Che-oke-ten” Wagner, Native flutist, will perform selections from the works with Seattle Symphony musicians. Now here’s an orchestra that acts local, and thinks global.

League of American Orchestras 2014 Conference Hosted by the Seattle Symphony For more information, visit http://www.americanorchestras.org/conference2014/.

To register, go to http://www.americanorchestras.org/conference2014/registration/. symphony

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Mei-Ann Chen, music director, Chicago Sinfonietta

Invest in one, invest in many Through our leadership programs, the League invested in Mei-Ann, who now invests in connecting the diverse cultures of Chicago by expanding the boundaries of classical music.

Supporting the League means investing in people and their communities.

Donate now at americanorchestras.org.

by Chester Lane

Model Chester Lane

MESSING WITH THE

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When it comes to presenting repertoire in new and unusual ways, there’s a lot happening at orchestras these days, both onstage and off. How are they finding ways to provide audiences with experiences that provoke, surprise, and stimulate? symphony

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Bottom left: Paintings complementing the musical theme of a Día de los Muertos concert by the Chicago Sinfonietta last November.

Lindsey Evert

A Detroit Symphony Orchestra string quartet serenaded this January 2014 yoga class led

by DSO librarian and yoga instructor Ethan Allen at the Max M. Fisher Music Center.

A second “Om @ The Max” is scheduled for April 27, and the DSO plans a full series of such events for 2014-15.

hat’s breaking the mold these days as orchestras venture beyond the time-worn format of overture-concerto-symphony programs in traditional concert halls?

How about Mozart’s Requiem featuring a skeleton-costumed, choreographed chorus with oversized skull masks, performing in a Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) concert whose “darkness into light” theme is accentuated with theatrical lighting and three varieties of complimentary wine in the lobby? Or a concert of new music by an orchestra’s chamber ensemble, performed in an art gallery in collaboration with local writers and composers?

How about concerts inspired by the signature dishes of chefs at restaurants near the concert hall, who appear onstage with the conductor to talk about their culinary creations? Or an orchestral concert experienced up close from the perspective of a string, brass, or wind player and with a full view of the conductor’s face? Or a guided nature hike in the Rockies, in the company of a geologist-composer whose own symphony is being performed by the hometown orchestra as part of its season-long exploration of music inspired by nature? Or a string quartet serenading a gargantuan yoga session with rhythmically appropriate music by Haydn,

Dvořák, Mozart, and Puccini?

Many such innovative events are being presented these days. Here we consider some of the ways that orchestras, without compromising artistic integrity, are altering and enhancing the audience experience—both inside and outside their main concert halls, not just with the music itself, and usually in partnership with other community groups.

Human Connections

Kevin Shuck

Boulder Philharmonic patrons and composer-geologist Jeffrey Nytch (black cap, just right of center) enjoy a hike in the Rockies led by a City of Boulder naturalist just prior to the premiere of Nytch’s commissioned symphony “Formations.”

americanorchestras.org

A January concert marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. is a fixture at many U.S. orchestras. At the Chicago Sinfonietta, says Executive Director Jim Hirsch, honoring Dr. King is a tradition that dates almost to the orchestra’s founding in 1987 by the African-American conductor Paul Freeman. But this year, “America’s most diverse orchestra,” as the Sinfonietta calls itself, eschewed formulaic programming of AfricanAmerican composers in favor of a “destiny” theme. Verdi’s La Forza del Destino overture began the evening, and the concert’s centerpiece was the North American premiere of Mountaintop, a multimedia piece by the “avant pop” Dutch composer Jacob ter Veldhuis, aka Jacob TV. Scored for chorus, percussion, and electronics, it employs images of King’s face, and audiotape and the printed words from his 1968 “I’ve been to the mountaintop” speech—all manipulated by the composer.

“What Jacob TV has done,” says Hirsch, “is expose elements of King that we never really think about. He was a hero who changed the lives of millions, but he was also a man.

He was afraid, had moments of doubt, knew he was on a potential path to martyrdom. Here you can see these moments of fear, see the doubts flicker across his face.”

The Chicago Sinfonietta’s commitment to diversity, both on and off the stage, extends to the Hispanic as well as the African American population. Since 2010 it has presented a concert celebrating Día de los Muertos, the Mexican custom of honoring departed loved ones in October and November. This season, after several years of featuring Mexican and Latin American composers or guest artists, the Sinfonietta “explored the different ways that human beings look at and experience mortality and the loss of loved ones,” says Hirsch.

The concert, performed in suburban Naperville and at Symphony Center in downtown Chicago, opened with the “Preludia”

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Music Director Mei-Ann Chen leads Chicago Sinfonietta musicians and singers from the Apostolic Church of God Sanctuary Choir in the North American premiere of Jacob TV’s Mountaintop in January. Words from Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1968 “Mountaintop” speech, creatively manipulated by the composer, appeared onscreen along with images of his face.

Joslyn Art Museum/Gilbert C. Swanson Foundation

Chris Ocken Photography

and “Balada” from Osvaldo Golijov’s chamber opera Ainadamar (Fountain of Tears), followed by six movements from the Mozart Requiem. Both works employed choristers from Chicago’s DePaul University, and choreography for the Requiem was by Redmoon, a Chicago performance company. In presenting a mass for the dead performed by a chorus of human skeletons, Redmoon’s take on the Requiem astonishes, and at times borders on the burlesque. Choristers whip hand-held skull masks suddenly onto their faces to accentuate downbeats; they sway in unison to the music, most memorably in the dramatic D minor scale of the “Lacrimosa.” (Would the famously witty Mozart have appreciated this quirky, arguLawndale, ROCO assembles up to 40 playably sacrilegious, but wholly unforgettable ers for its main concert series at Houston’s interpretation of his masterpiece?) FollowChurch of St. John the Divine, and presing intermission, the “darkness into light” ents a chamber music series at the Houston theme continued with Astor Piazzolla’s art gallery Gremillion & Co. Artistic DiFour Seasons of Buenos Aires—featuring the rector Alecia Lawyer, who founded ROCO young African-American violin soloist Adé in 2005 and plays oboe in the group, says Williams—and finally, three movements that a central part of its mission is “to get from Manuel de Falla’s Three-Cornered Hat. to know the audience, and have them get In keeping with the themes of mournto know the musicians. We have the house ing and celebration, the Sinfonietta invited lights up for the entire concert, so we can audience members to tweet their thoughts see the audience members. We put name about lost loved ones or share them through tags on and go out at intermission to say the Sinfonietta’s Facebook page. Complihello. Individual musicians are sponsored mentary wines served in the lobby were by individual people or groups of people. matched with repertoire, and outside the It’s a way to foster a relationship where the concert hall in Naperville, Día de los Muermusicians, who fly in from all over to play tos-inspired paintings were on exhibit and with us, feel invested not just in the music available for purchase. but in our community.” ROCO reaches beA more intimate Día de los Muertos yond the concert hall in many ways, ranging celebration took place last fall at Lawndale from live video-streaming of its concerts at Art Center in Houston. Musicians from retirement homes and the MD Anderson that city’s River Oaks Chamber Orchestra Cancer Center to an annual Peter and the presented a free “Musical & Wolf performance at the Literary Ofrenda” program Houston Zoo, paired with with Inprint, a Houston a discussion about wolf writers’ association; Muconservation. siqa, a composers’ group dedicated to integrating Picture This music with other art forms; Museums and galleries and the Mexican Consuloften provide congenial ate. ROCO commissioned venues for small-ensemble short works for the occaconcerts. Some orchession from members of Mutras extend this synergy siqa and Inprint. Lining the by not only performing walls were retablos fashioned in these venues, but pairfrom materials that Lawning works on the program dale provided to local artists. Henri Matisse’s Head of a Woman with paintings on the galprovided visual context for the Aside from its numerous Omaha Symphony’s “Outside the lery walls. small-ensemble “Connec- Lines” program at the Joslyn Art The Omaha Symphony’s tions” events like the one at Museum in February. six-concert chamber or-

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chestra series, split between Music Director Thomas Wilkins and Resident Conductor Ernest Richardson, takes place at the Joslyn Art Museum’s Witherspoon Concert Hall.

Curators select a painting from the Joslyn’s collection appropriate to the repertoire, and on the day of the concert lead tours of the work that are open to all museum goers without charge. “Symphony patrons come early, have lunch at the museum, take the tour, visit the gift shop, then go to the concert,” says Wilkins. “It ends up being a great event-centered day.” For the February 2014 concert titled “Outside the Lines: Unexpected Delights from Major Composers,” Wilkins conducted pieces by Shostakovich (Incidental Music to Hamlet), Saint-Saëns (Carnival of the Animals), and Janáček (Suite for String Orchestra), along with Concerto in One Movement for Oboe by 20th-century conductor Eugene Goossens, and Leap, by 30-year-old American composer Benjamin Taylor. The painting chosen to match Wilkins’s “Outside the Lines” theme was Henri Matisse’s bold, assertive Head of a Woman.

In Hartford, Connecticut, a similar relationship exists between the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, site of the HSO’s Sunday Serenades Chamber Music Series led by Concertmaster Leonid Sigal. For Sigal’s “Picasso and Prokofiev” program this winter, Curator of European Art Oliver Tostmann warmed up the audience with an illustrated pre-concert talk about four Picasso paintings in the museum’s collection: The Painter, Still Life with Fish, The Artist, and The Women of Algiers. Repertoire consisted of Pour Picasso, a clarinet miniature

by Stravinsky; the Quintet in G minor by symphony

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Prokofiev; and chamber concertos by Erwin Schulhoff and Manuel de Falla.

The HSO’s partnership with Wadsworth Atheneum predates Carolyn Kuan’s tenure as music director, but collaborations have blossomed since she arrived in 2011. A program featuring Rite of Spring and selections from Swan Lake, performed in May and June of last year on the Masterworks Series, employed dancers from The Hartt School at the University of Hartford and

hours of music, this is something different.”

Kuan says that partnering with community institutions and “creating new and interesting experiences” are both important to her. “Orchestras are there to serve communities, and not just in terms of audience experiences but also, ‘what can we do in terms of collaborations and partnerships?’ ” It’s this kind of thinking that has led to the annual “Playing with Food” concert, which debuted on the Pops series last season. “I

“Orchestras are there to serve communities, not just in terms of audience experiences but for what we can do with partnerships,” says Hartford Symphony Orchestra Music Director Carolyn Kuan.

americanorchestras.org

decided we would partner with five downtown restaurants,” says Kuan. “I asked each of their chefs to tell me what their signature dish was, and I would then think of a piece of music inspired by that—one dessert chef, for example, listened to Fauré’s Pelléas et Mélisande and thought, ‘This needs light cream—and strawberries!’ In the concert we’d have the chefs onstage; we’d talk about what piece of music would go with the dish, and about how they were inspired by the music to create something.”

A Sense of Place

Michael Butterman, music director of the Boulder Philharmonic in Colorado, says that for several years the orchestra’s tag line has been “Spirit of Boulder,” a phrase meant

In January the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, choristers from Connecticut’s Joyful Noise ensemble, and two vocal soloists joined together to enhance this Hartford Stage production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the complete incidental music Mendelssohn wrote for the play.

Alan Grant

the Nutmeg Conservatory for the Arts in nearby Torrington. A highlight of this season’s Masterworks Series—even amidst the current boomlet of Shakespeare-themed programs at orchestras—was a four-performance run of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in January at Bushnell Center for Center for Performing Arts, the orchestra’s regular concert venue. This was a Hartford Stage production enhanced with the complete incidental music that Mendelssohn provided for an 1843 staging of the play in Berlin. Joining the HSO onstage were soprano Amanda Hall, mezzosoprano Jamilyn Manning-White, and 55 voices from the Torrington-based choral organization Joyful Noise. This was a happy occasion for celebrating two cultural milestones: the Hartford Symphony’s 70th anniversary and Hartford Stage’s 50th.

An orchestral subscription concert dedicated to accompanying a Shakespeare play is hardly standard fare. How was it received?

“In concerts featuring this music we usually just hear the scherzo, the intermezzo, and of course the famous wedding march,” says Kuan. “Hearing the complete score in context is something most audiences don’t get to enjoy. We got a fabulous response, the performances were sold out, people were thrilled. Several audience members wrote that when they walked into the hall there was a buzz about how the average age seemed to have dropped by 20 years. But I also got letters saying, ‘This isn’t what we expected. We enjoyed it, but we want you to be careful in the future.’ Mendelssohn wrote about 60 minutes of incidental music to Midsummer Night’s Dream, and there’s another 60 minutes that’s just the play. If an audience member is used to listening to two

to convey “the sense of adventure and exploration, and the physical beauty of the place.

But as for specifically tying in an entire season with geography and the environment, this is the first time we’ve done it.”

The Philharmonic’s 2013-14 season has been rife with nature-inspired works, both old and new: “Four Sea Interludes” from Britten’s Peter Grimes; Copland’s Appalachian Spring and Tender Land Suite; Mason Bates’s 2006 work Rusty Air in Carolina for orchestra and electronica; “Ghosts of the Grasslands” from Steve Heitzeg’s 2002 Symphony to the Prairie Farm; Mahler’s Blumine (Flowers); Debussy’s La Mer; and, yet to come, Smetana’s Die Moldau and Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Symphony. Nature also played a role in the Philharmonic’s “Night at the Oscars” program in February, which celebrated the tenth anniversary of the Boulder International Film Festival.

That concert included music by Josh Ralph from two award-winning documentaries produced in Boulder: Chasing Ice (about global warming) and The Cove (about dolphins imperiled by Japan’s fishing industry).

This season’s headliner was the world premiere, on September 7, of Jeffrey Nytch’s Symphony No. 1 (“Formations”), which audibly celebrates the geology, the natural history, and to some extent the human history of the Rocky Mountains. With support from ExxonMobil Foundation, the Philharmonic commissioned Nytch’s 26-min-

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River Oaks Chamber Orchestra

ably a little more than half say it was through the park district, and the remainder say they learned about it from the orchestra. A great win for both of us.”

Neither Butterman nor Shuck expects “nature and music” to be a recurring theme. While there may be no shortage of music inspired by nature, notes Butterman, “doing exactly Musicians performing in ROCO’s Día de los Muertos-inspired concert the same thing again at Lawndale Art Center last October included baritone Timothy Jones, robs it of freshness. violist Susanne LeFevre, cellist Julia Sengupta, and oboist Alecia We’ve talked about Lawyer. On the walls are retablos (altars) created by local artists. continuing to program ute, four-movement symphony to mark the composers, repertoire, artists, and collabora125th anniversary of the Geological Society tors who in some way connect to our comof America, headquartered in Boulder. munity. We believe Boulder is interested in Nytch, who is trained in both music finding things a little bit off the beaten path. and geology—he also directs the EntreAs long as I’m here we will be working with preneurship Center for Music at Colorado this notion of being ‘Boulder’s orchestra’ and University-Boulder—incorporates into his embracing the spirit of Boulder.” symphony such sounds as the hissing of steam vents in the formation of the RockUp Close and Personal ies and the rattling of miners’ pins as they Local connections, local collaborators, and pan for gold and silver. (For the latter effect, local spirit can enhance interest in live mupercussionists use baking sheets loaded with sic. But the “sense of place” that engages rocks.) Kevin Shuck, the Philharmonic’s audiences can also come from proximity to executive director, says “Formations” was the music-makers themselves—from one’s greeted with “whoops and hollers” from the physical place in the concert hall. It’s an idea audience. At a subsequent performance for that at least one symphonic organization in members of the GSA, he reports, “The gethe U.S. has been exploring this year. ologists were just over-the-top enthused by The Florida Orchestra presents concert it. People were coming up to me and saying, series in three venues: Mahaffey Theater in ‘I almost didn’t have to read the program St. Petersburg, Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearnotes—I could tell exactly what was hapwater, and Straz Center for the Performing pening from the music.’ ” Other orchestras Arts in Tampa. At the beginning of this have expressed interest in performing “Forseason it began offering subscribers seats— mations,” and the full work can be heard on at the premium price of $75—that were not the Boulder Philharmonic website. in the traditional seating areas but actually The “Spirit of Boulder” is alive and well onstage, a few feet behind the musicians. this season both inside the concert hall and Onstage seating, says President and CEO outdoors. Scheduled prior to each concert is Michael Pastreich, is an idea that grew out a guided hike led by a naturalist from the of an accessibility initiative launched in City of Boulder’s Open Space and Moun2010. That plan called for drastically lowtain Parks agency, marketed to Philharered ticket prices, simplified subscription monic subscribers and to the park district’s packaging, and diversified programming. publicity channels. Shuck had pitched the The results? “We grew weekday matinees,” idea of guided hikes to Open Space not says Pastreich. “Our coffee concert seknowing how it would be received, and says ries grew exponentially. We started Friday he had the entire staff onboard “within 48 morning Masterworks concerts and rock hours.” When the hikers are asked how concerts, started playing videogame music. I they learned about the opportunity, “Probwould say that onstage seating has been part

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of this accessibility initiative as well.”

Early on, says Pastreich, there was internal debate about how to price onstage seats.

“Some people, particularly musicians who were going to be sharing the stage with patrons, said—just kind of conceptually—that they should cost $300. Our stance was that the seats should be accessible to everybody.

The original plan had been to do it on ten of our fourteen Masterworks programs—everything that didn’t have a massive orchestra. As we looked at it to make sure the musicians and patrons had enough space, we changed that, and now have onstage seats at a little less than half of our concerts.

“Even for the first concert,” Pastreich says, “we had people who had never attended a Florida Orchestra concert before but had received a mailing and were coming because of the onstage seating. One person put his hands together, bowed to every musician he passed—and immediately bought tickets to the next one.

“Having patrons onstage has proven to be a lot of work,” Pastreich continues.

“Somebody who really knows the organization has to meet them in the lobby, brief them, bring them backstage and onto the stage, meet them at intermission, and take them offstage.”

How has onstage seating gone over with patrons in the regular seats, who now watch their fellow audience members as well as the musicians? “We’ve had a spectrum of comments,” says Pastreich. “Some people have been very excited at the prospect of sitting on the stage. Some have been distracted by a bright-colored jacket, or by seeing a woman swing her feet to the music. It may be that a year from now we’ll be saying, ‘Well, people swing their feet to the music. It happens.’ ” Whether onstage seating will become a permanent fixture at the Florida Orchestra has not yet been determined, he says. “The musicians’ jury is still out. The deal we made was that we would check in with them before we sold the next season. After we’ve had the last concert and have let a few more weeks go by, we’ll ask them what they thought of it.

“New ideas always have a different level of scrutiny than old ones. At this point I would call onstage seating an experiment.

I’m hoping that three years from now, we’ll be able to declare it a successful one.”

CHESTER LANE is senior editor of Symphony.

symphony

SPRING 2014

ElsaElsa Pizzoli (Respighi’s greatgreat niece) with with Pizzoli (Respighi’s niece) curator and Maestro MaestroDiDiVittorio Vittorio curatorPotito Potito Pedarra Pedarra and

Gruppo Editoriale

Panastudio

Edizioni Panastudio OTTORINO RESPIGHI PUBLICATIONS Edizioni Panastudio presents the rediscovered early works of Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936), in honor of the 100th anniversary of his landmark work Fountains of Rome in 2016.

First printed editions of Respighi’s early works dating before Fountains of Rome First Violin Concerto (in A Major), P. 49, 1903 [Completed by S. Di Vittorio] Tre Liriche, for mezzo-soprano & orchestra, P. 99a, 1913 [Orchestration Completed by S. Di Vittorio] Lamento d’Arianna, for mezzo-soprano & orchestra, P. 88, 1908 [Music by C. Monteverdi] Suite in G Major, for organ & strings, P. 58, 1905 Serenata for small orchestra, P. 54, 1904 Aria for strings, P. 32, 1901 Suite for strings, P. 41, 1902

Ottorino Respighi, 1914 Courtesy of the Respighi Family & Archive

Italian composer/conductor Salvatore Di Vittorio (“follows in the foosteps of Respighi”-Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna) has completed these critical editions as part of a commission from the Respighi family and archive (Elsa and Gloria Pizzoli, great nieces; Potito Pedarra, archive curator/cataloger). Manuscripts were provided to the archive by Respighi’s wife Elsa Respighi (1894-1996).

Di Vittorio conducts the works with orchestras such as Chamber Orchestra of New York and Palermo’s Philharmonic Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, in programs including major works of Respighi and/or premieres of his own neoclassical compositions. e world premiere of his Sinfonia No. 3 “ Templi di Sicilia” gar nered Di Vittor io cr itical acclaim in le ading It alian ne wspap ers, an inter vie w on RAI evening news, and the medal of Palermo from the city’s Mayor Leoluca Orlando.

Panastudio Editions are registered with S.I.A.E. in Italy and listed online in David Daniels’s Orchestral Music (5th Edition scheduled for 2015). Recordings are available on Naxos Records. For Respighi’s Fountains of Rome or other late works, contact publisher Casa Ricordi or its U.S. agent Boosey & Hawkes.

CONTACT For Panastudio Scores & Parts, or commissions/bookings with Maestro Di Vittorio: Francesco Panasci, Gruppo Editoriale Panastudio, Via La Mantia, 72, 90138 Palermo Italy 011-39-091-325284 panasci@panastudio.it Visit Edizioni Panastudio (under Gruppo Editoriale) at www.panastudio.it For more about Maestro Di Vittorio, visit: www.salvatoredivittorio.com For North & South America: Ottorino Respighi Publications c/o Chamber Orchestra of New York, 404 E. 76th Street, Suite 5E, New York, NY 10021 USA 646-397-1879 panastudio@chamberorchestraofnewyork.org For audio �les, visit Ottorino Respighi Publications at www.chamberorchestraofnewyork.org

Quiet

by Jennifer Melick

Revolution

Shhhh…. Don’t look now, but there’s an orchestra at a library near you.

A

Washington County Free Library in Hagerstown, Maryland, site of the Maryland Symphony Orchestra’s “Let’s Talk Music” discussion series

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t the first chamber concert presented as part of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s new “Symphony In Your Neighborhood” series in October, people showed up in droves to hear a string quartet from the orchestra play Mendelssohn, Frank Bridge, Boccherini, and the Beatles. A few even had to be turned away—the performance space, holding only about 120 people, was the Toco Hill branch of the DeKalb County Public Library, about seven miles northeast of the Woodruff Arts Center, the ASO’s main concert hall.

“The ‘Symphony in Your Neighborhood’ partnership has been a big success for both the Atlanta Symphony and DeKalb County Public Library, and shows what can happen when two great organizations work together,” says Janet Florence, a public information officer for the DeKalb County Public Library. “Each program thus far has been filled to capacity or attracted an overflow crowd.” Ahmad Mayes, the ASO’s manager of community programs, says when the ASO first announced the news about the program, “For about two weeks there wasn’t a day that I didn’t see something new about the library symphony

SPRING 2014

Arie Lipsky, music director of the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, with children at one of the orchestra’s Kinder Concerts, which are held at libraries

partnership popping up in the media, and people coming up to me unprompted, asking when there was going to be one in their neighborhood, and what’s the schedule?” Mayes says that he doesn’t like having to turn people away but feels that because the library concerts are informal and offer opportunities to interact closely with the musicians, they offer a “personal kind of touch” you just can’t get in a traditional concert hall.

Though new programs like the Atlanta Symphony’s library concerts may be getting high visibility at the moment, many ongoing orchestra-library partnerships—some old, and some new—take place unheralded, year after year, in communities big and small. Programs americanorchestras.org

run jointly between orchestras and libraries are so numerous they cannot all be named, but one common feature is filling gaps in arts instruction in public schools and reaching under-served members of the community. Programs range from music lectures (Maryland Symphony Orchestra) and instrument demonstrations (Spokane Symphony) to music and storytime programs for very young children (Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, Canton Symphony Orchestra), citywide reading festivals (Toronto Symphony Orchestra), and advice on finding a private music teacher (Princeton Symphony Orchestra). In South Carolina, the Greenville Symphony Orchestra’s Lollipops program of concerts for young children, held in libraries, celebrated its 50th year in 2013. And in Pennsylvania, the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra introduced a Family Symphony Pass that allows students and families to reserve—via interlibrary loan at any public library in Lancaster County—a free ticket for a concert by the orchestra at Fulton Opera House.

In her article “Who Says America’s Libraries Are Going Extinct?” published this February in the Pacific Standard, journalist Anna Clark wrote, “The best-kept secret about America’s libraries is that they are wildly, deeply, and incontrovertibly popular. They are as actively used as ever, if not more,” serving 96.4 percent of the population. Despite cutbacks in funding and reduced hours at some libraries, many libraries continue to increase their level of community services. (Most depend on a mix of public and private funding.)

My local library is the setting for free tax preparation for senior citizens, English as a Second Language sessions, and com-

puter access and training; a basement area doubles as an afterschool program for middle-schoolers. For five cents a page, you can use their printer. After Hurricane Sandy, because the library was located in the one-tenth of the town that had power, for most of a week virtually every resident spent part or most of the day there to get warm, charge phones and computers, and get up-to-date storm-related information and resources.

“Libraries are widely regarded as trusted public places of learning and are prized for being highly accessible,” says Heather Noonan, vice president of advocacy at the League of American Orchestras. “Orchestras have interactive, dynamic content to offer adult and young learners and are increasingly looking for new settings and partnerships that meet people where they are. In terms of public purpose and public service, it makes a great deal of sense to align the resources of orchestras with the accessibility of libraries.”

For public libraries, a primary benefit of partnering with orchestras is that they can present programs or services that allow them to better serve their communities, one of their main missions. For orchestras, there are many benefits of partnering with libraries, including potential new audiences, free or low-cost performance space, and shared administrative costs with the library. But perhaps the biggest benefit is lowering barriers to access, something that popped up during conversations with nearly every person interviewed for this article.

Music Talks and Storytimes

“As an orchestra it’s very easy to get into the schools; you go in and have an hour of

The Canton Symphony’s storytime program for preschool children takes place at Stark County District Libraries in Ohio.

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The Spokane Symphony’s Catherine Shipley (left) and Roberta Bottelli at a recent Symphony Ensembles for Education library event

the kids’ time for them to sit and listen to you,” says Megan DuBois, the Maryland Symphony Orchestra’s operations manager and education coordinator. “But you get out into the real world, working with adults, and it’s very hard to reach out to them. How do you continue the education mission into adulthood? A lot of people have said that not knowing anything about classical music is a barrier for them coming to the orchestra, so the ‘Let’s Talk Music’ discussion series at Washington County Free Library is one of our answers to that.” The Maryland Symphony Orchestra and the library are based in Hagerstown, roughly 60 miles northwest of Washington, D.C. February’s “Let’s Talk” event, themed to the orchestra’s upcoming concert of Tchaikovsky, SaintSaëns, and Strauss, was hosted by David Gonzol, an associate professor on the faculty of the music and theater departments at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. In November the orchestra’s chamber program of Handel, Bloch, and Dvořák was the jumping-off point for a lecture about sonata form by Joseph Marschner, chair of the English and humanities division at Hagerstown Community College. (The library talks are separate from preconcert talks by Music Director Elizabeth Schulze just before performances at the Maryland Theatre, where the orchestra performs.)

DuBois coordinates the series in close consultation with MSO Executive Director Michael Jonnes and board member Deb Bockrath, who chairs the board’s education and community engagement committee.

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about classical music, because if you’re not brought up in it, it’s a scary world to walk into. And having the lecture at the library definitely softens it some.”

About 275 miles northwest of Hagerstown, Maryland and 60 miles southeast of Cleveland, Ohio, the Canton Symphony Orchestra also offers preconcert talks at local library branches. One of the more unusual of these launched in September, when Brett Amacher, a local music critic, and his twelve-year-old son Callum—a devoted classical fan since age nine who maintains his own classical music blog.

“It’s a program that Deb is really Spokane callumndad.com/—previewed passionate about,” says DuBois. Symphony the Canton Symphony’s 2013“She has her lists of professors musicians 14 season at the Stark County who we’ve used in the past who perform and District Library. Canton Symhave been very successful. Our talk about their phony Education Director Lisa February speaker, Dr. Gonzol, Boyer says that the event “grew instruments at is one we’ve used for years and out of a think tank that one area libraries. years. Our November speaker, of our board members put toJoseph Marschner, was some- At a recent gether, trying to find new ways body that the executive director performance to reach out to the community and I thought of and reached in Deer Park, and let the community know out to, so it’s really a collabora- “People had what the orchestra is doing.” tive effort.” In DuBois’s opin- so many Boyer says even though attenion, since the talks are held in questions, dance was disappointingly low a library “people are comfort- and they were at the two September preview able asking questions, because so excited, talks, Amacher father and son it’s more of a learning environ- that the string “didn’t seem to be deterred.” ment.” She says the hope is trio ended up The orchestra is continuing to that “if we tie the lectures to an tweak the series, experimentplaying an upcoming concert people will ing with talks held at different extra fifteen turn to ticket sales, and people library branches. may go, ‘Oh, that’s really cool, minutes,” says A second Canton SymI really want to hear this piece Education phony program held at Stark now.’ ” The orchestra reports an Manager Janet County libraries is “Sundays average audience of about 30 for Napoles. at the Symphony,” an informal the “Let’s Talk Music” lectures, performance featuring a small a number that DuBois considensemble of musicians from ers good for a fairly small town. the orchestra. Performances are The Washington County Free often followed by a Q&A sesLibrary, for its part, says it is sion during which musicians “thrilled to be partnering with talk about the music and their the Maryland Symphony to careers. “We tend to get a wide bring exciting and educational age range,” says Boyer, “I’d say programs related to the arts to our comfrom middle-elementary age students with munity,” according to library spokeswoman parents or grandparents, and even some Patricia Wishard. With “Let’s Talk Music,” of the homeless, who tend to be in the liDuBois says the orchestra hopes “to gain braries in the afternoons. It’s a very diverse awareness, have people out there learning audience.” Boyer says she has noticed that symphony

SPRING 2014

sometimes people in the library “don’t want us to know that they’re listening, but they’ll be sitting at their computers, peeking over the top, or around the stacks, so you can tell they’ve stopped to listen.”

The largest Canton Symphony library program is “Listen at the Library,” a free 30-minute storytime in which librarians read to preschool children as musicians from the orchestra weave in a carefully constructed soundtrack—like a play with incidental live music. Boyer says books are chosen in collaboration with librarians. Recent choices include Giraffes Can’t Dance, which contains a lot of dance references; Interrupting Chicken; and Princess in Training, the latter with “lots of opportunities to make different kinds of sounds with the instruments,” says Boyer.

“We create a script using the book text, so the librarians know when they’re supposed to read, when they’re supposed to stop, when the musicians are going to be playing.” Then, following a rehearsal with musicians—usually a string-wind trio— Boyer reads the book, as musicians perform, for an audience of branch librarians. In February, March, and April the musicians perform at all ten Stark County library branches, as librarians from those branches read the stories. “It is one of the most gratifying things we do,” says Boyer of the “Listen at the Library” program, “because of the collaboration with the libraries and because of the people we

get to serve that we normally ies. So in addition to this don’t get to serve.” being presented as an A2SO For the last ten years, Michiprogram, the libraries also ingan’s Ann Arbor Symphony clude it as part of their proOrchestra (A2SO) has been gramming series.” One of the running a birth-to-age-five muthings Moore enjoys about sic program called Kinder Conthe series is that “With this certs at libraries. Held in Ann age group, everything is new.

Arbor’s main downtown library Even if the performers have branch as well as branches in done a Beethoven sonata Dexter and Ypsilanti, the conhundreds of times, this entire certs regularly sell out and inaudience is hearing it for the corporate the services of one first time, and they’re excited orchestra musician as well as a In South Carolina, the about it. They want to get up Greenville Symphony pianist and a children’s music- Orchestra has presented and dance with it, clap with and-movement specialist, says Lollipops concerts for it. We always have a lullaby Zac Moore, the orchestra’s gen- young children in libraries at the end. Getting them at eral manager and education di- for 50 years. Pictured: their level, and including the rector. “Our attendance for the Principal Horn Anneka kids in a way that’s natural to Zuehlke at a recent series is about 100 people per Lollipops concert them, really sets them up for event,” says Moore. “We get the establishing a love of music kids up, moving around, dancing. It serves and sets us up for a lifelong relationship as an introduction to classical music and the with these people in music. Libraries are orchestra in a way that accommodates them a really great community resource, and it’s and gets them excited about it. It’s definitely great for the symphony to be a part of that a great audience-building tool, trying to and really get our message across that we connect with children as young as just a few are a part of this community, outside of the months old.” concert hall.”

Sponsorship for the Kinder Concerts has been consistently strong, says Moore. “We Connecting With the have really established sponsors who conWider Community tinue to support these programs year after In Washington State, the Spokane Symyear. Some of the sponsors have a primary phony’s Symphony Ensembles for Educainterest in the orchestra, while others have tion have been active since the mid-1990s, an interest in programming at the librarand one piece of what they do takes place

Pianist Katherine Goodson with children at one of the Ann Arbor Symphony’s Kinder Concerts, which are held at libraries

americanorchestras.org

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Mapping Community Impact

L

ibraries are just one of many places orchestras are making an impact in their communities, but for an orchestra it can be a challenge to find a clear way to share this information with the public. In response, the League of American Orchestras offers mapping reports that provide a picture of the work orchestras are doing in their communities. A map created for the Toledo Symphony Orchestra (below) shows, via different symbols, the various educational, community, cultural, services, and corporate organizations— including libraries, represented by a brown diamond—that used the Toledo Symphony’s educational services from 2008 to 2012.

All League member orchestras may request a free PDF of the basic mapping report, which entails a one-hour call to discuss the data collection process, and one-hour call to discuss the finished map. The basic mapping process and PDF of the finished product are available from the League free of charge, on a firstcome, first-served basis. A larger, more customized mapping report is available for $300 for member orchestra ($500 for nonmembers), following a detailed consultation with League staff. For more information contact Najean Lee in the League’s DC office.—JM

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we get them back? We want to have more of these.’ The musicians enjoy doing this because it’s great to get to be that close to people, and to be able to be so interactive, so that they can ask questions, and even do requests.”

Napoles notes that the Spokane Symphony “serves a very wide area—pretty much all of eastern Washington, north Idaho, even Montana and Canada.” Like

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra musicians Jun-Ching Lin (violin), Anastasia Agapova (violin), Reid Harris (viola), and Christopher Rex (cello) perform a free concert at TuckerReid H. Cofer Library in Tucker, Ga., as part of the ASO’s partnership with the DeKalb County Public Library.

Ahmad Mayes

at libraries throughout the year. For those events, ensembles representing each of the families of the orchestra—strings, brass, woodwinds, and percussion—head out on weekday evenings and weekend afternoons to five outlying libraries “on the fringe of Spokane,” says Janet Napoles, the orchestra’s education manager.

Recently at a library in Deer Park, which is north of downtown Spokane, there were more than 30 people in attendance, says Napoles, ranging “from babies all the way up to senior citizens. The musicians share something about themselves, they talk about their instruments, they talk about the music, and they play. That recipe is just perfect. There’s something for everyone: you may have people who have never seen an instrument, you may have people who used to play. Everybody has their own perspective on what they’re getting out of this performance.” In Deer Park, she says, “This group of people had so many questions, and they were so excited that the trio—it was a string trio—ended up playing an extra fifteen minutes for them. I had a couple of people come up and ask me, ‘How can

many orchestra staff interviewed for this article, Napoles is quick to emphasize that the education programs held at libraries represent just a tiny fraction of their education offerings. In Spokane the orchestra partners with thirteen public schools, filling gaps as arts instruction has been cut from the curriculum.

“Our community is economically rather low,” says Napoles, “so they really need the benefit of anything we can do for them.”

And libraries? “They also want to serve their community—I don’t think it’s just about ‘come and get books.’ ” The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s chamber concerts at DeKalb County libraries come under the umbrella of the orchestra’s “Musicians and Communities” program, which consists of free performances of chamber music around Atlanta.

It is not the first time the ASO has performed at libraries—they’ve had successful one-off concerts, which partly prompted them to roll out a series of concerts at seven libraries this season. Also a factor, says ASO Manager of Community Programs Ahmad Mayes, is that in DeKalb County the ASO “wasn’t really making much of an impact with our community engagement.”

“We get a different audience for each library that we go to,” says Mayes. At October’s inaugural concert at the Avis G. Williams Library in Toco Hill, “We get a lot of the residents of that area, where there is a large Jewish population. And when we took it to the Wesley Chapel Branch in December, that audience was almost entirely African American.” The February concert in Chamblee was presented in Spanish—that part of DeKalb has a high concentration of

symphony

SPRING 2014

“The

Jeff Roffman

Mexican immigrants. The ASO musicians says Barb Macikas, executive also got some support from Span- choose the director of the Public Library ish-language broadcaster Univi- repertoire, and Association, a national nonsion to promote the Chamblee profit that provides resources they have a concert. “The musicians choose and training for public librargood grasp of the repertoire” for the concerts, ians. “Partnerships with comhow to cater says Mayes. “I give them very munity organizations (educaminimal guidance. I will tell them, to an audience tional, arts, literacy, cultural, ‘Here’s the audience we’re expect- but also make business, service and social) ing you to have.’ I don’t want a sure it truly have long been key to expand30-minute string quartet played is a classical ing the reach of the library, and from start to finish! But at some program,” enable the library to present of the locations that might be says Ahmad programs or services it might totally fine. The musicians have a Mayes, not be able to on its own. In the good grasp of how to cater to an the Atlanta case of community orchestras, audience but also kind of put our Symphony’s partners bring new resources twist on it—making sure it truly that complement and add to manager of is a classical program, but done in library offerings. And of course, community such a way that anyone can come these benefits may be flipped. programs. in off the street and really enjoy Library patrons may become the program.” advocates for local orchestras.

Mayes says all the ASO’s comSharing resources saves money munity programs, including the for each. Libraries may offer library concerts, are “intended to free space and new markets for provide access to classical music orchestras; orchestras provide for anyone who wants to access libraries with entertainment it, and also to serve the greater and education value. Both orgagood of our city through music. nizations can share marketing And everything that we do communityand administrative resources.” wise goes back to those two outcomes.”

Since their start, education and community programs have been central to the mission of public libraries, which in some Free Public Access ways makes them ideal partners for orchesIt seems fitting in a discussion of librarytras. Throughout the twentieth century the orchestra partnerships to recall that a major public image of orchestras became more early supporter of public libraries was none and more associated with the formal conother than Andrew Carnegie, after whom cert hall experience and less associated with this country’s best-known concert hall is the rest of the community—despite the named. His big push for libraries—in the fact that most orchestras do offer a rich valate 1800s and early 1900s he built some riety of community programs at low or no 1,689 of them in the U.S.—happened durcost. Today, the “concert hall only” image is ing an era when widespread free and pubchanging rapidly as many orchestras seek lic education was just becoming available.

Crucially, Carnegie libraries were financed not as outright gifts but as public-private partnerships; he donated money for building construction but required that local governments commit funds toward buying books and running and maintaining the library. At the time, libraries were seen as an essential cultural and social resource for communities, boosting literacy but also providing an alternative to saloons: a safe meeting place analogous to today’s corner cafés.

Today, both libraries and orchestras are serving their communities while adapting to “today’s rapidly changing environment,” americanorchestras.org

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9/4/05, 12:21 PM factor reported by some members of the community who have little to no experience of their local orchestra. Public libraries are in some ways the ultimate community venue; there are no barriers to entry. The whole point of their existence is free access.

Wouldn’t it be a delicious irony if the library—the place most people associate with “Shhhhh!” and enforced quiet—became widely thought of as a great place to hear Stravinsky, Beethoven, or Dvořák?

JENNIFER MELICK is managing editor of Symphony.

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2/28/14 12:16 PM

JUNE 4 – 6, 2014 SEATTLE

2014 Conference

Critical Questions, Countless Solutions Start the learning early by attending a Pre-Conference seminar.

June 2– 4: Foundations of Collective Bargaining June 4: Aligning Money and Organizational Strategy Capturing and Conveying Impact: Using Multi-Media Approaches in Program Evaluation and Communications Concert Formats, Revisited Getting More out of Individual Giving Reaching Your Board’s Full Potential Tapping Your Inner Futurist

You have questions.

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From Gabriel Prokofiev to Claire Chase, Joshua Roman to Alan Brown, we’re bringing the best minds and talent together to saturate you with new ideas, and help answer the questions we’re all pondering.

Until then, visit americanorchestras.org to get answers to some of your more basic questions, like— what can I expect at Conference? how do I register? which hotel?

And if you have questions about your time in Seattle, our host the Seattle Symphony offers their unique perspective at http://ow.ly/utYWA.

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For more information and to register visit americanorchestras.org/conference2014

New York Philharmonic

Chris Lee

Music Director Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic perform at Spring for Music on May 5.

by Donald Rosenberg

The Spring for Music Festival at Carnegie Hall has showcased a groundswell of creative ideas at orchestras across North America. What does such programming say about orchestras today?

Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra Cincinnati Symphony and May Festival Chorus

Phil Groshong

Spectrum

Sonic

Courtesy of Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra

Tayna Tagaq performs 13 Inuit Throat Song Games with the Winnipeg Symphony on May 8.

James Conlon leads the Cincinnati Symphony and May Festival Chorus at Spring for Music on May 9.

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here’s rarely been a time in the recent annals of orchestras when the transcendent likes of Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, and friends didn’t dominate concert programs. Long may these masters wave. Yet the desire to go beyond conservative and even routine mixes of works has prompted curious conductors and ensembles to let their imaginations soar.

Spring for Music, the festival of North American orchestras at Carnegie Hall that presents the finale of its four-year experiment this May 5-10, has succeeded in promoting the momentary liberation of musicians and listeners from the predictable—and from the need to fill every seat in the house. By the end of the fourth weeklong marathon, the festival will have presented—big breath—23 professional orchestras with their music directors or guest conductors in 25 varied, colorful, and compelling programs featuring a total of nearly 100 works by some 70 composers, many of whom couldn’t be termed household names.

Although a fair share of these composers

remain alive, Spring for Music hasn’t necessarily aimed to stress the new. “An interesting program is not code for contemporary music,” said Thomas W. Morris, the festival’s artistic director. “It’s really thinking about programming and being thoughtful about it.”

S4M is about putting a handful of beloved music alongside a torrent of unfamiliar works with the aim of making fresh connections between those pieces and with audiences. Being invited to Spring for Music has nothing to do with reputation or budget size, and it’s been no snap. The 23 invited orchestras—out of 65 applications— had to submit a statement of artistic philosophy and affirm that what they intended to perform at Carnegie reflected their strategy at home. As things have turned out, most of the music has hailed from the 20th century, followed generously by the young 21st.

Only four works (by Beethoven, Bruckner, and Rachmaninoff ) have come from the 19th century, and a mere trio of 18thcentury titans (Bach, Haydn, and Mozart) symphony

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Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra

Courtesy of Rochester Philharmonic

The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the Eastman-Rochester Chorus perform at Spring for Music on May 7.

Music Director Manfred Honeck leads the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in his reconsideration of Mozart’s Requiem at Carnegie Hall on May 10.

Seattle Symphony

Sussie Ahlburg

Todd Brunozzi

Music Director Ludovic Morlot leads the Seattle Symphony at Spring for Music on May 6.

has been represented. Nothing was chosen from the 17th century—this was, after all, before orchestras arrived at their modern identity—though two brass selections from Gabrieli’s 1597 Symphonie Sacrae resounded on the program that the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Kent Nagano presented in 2011, “The Evolution of the Symphony,” along with works by Webern, Stravinsky, and Beethoven.

Have things really changed in recent orchestra programming? In their mix of works, Spring for Music programs resemble more than a few programs from the first half of the 20th century. Although concerts of that period tended to reflect the same supremacy of “classics” over innovative fare that we know today, audacious conductors back then imposed their adventurous wills as often as possible. To wit: At the very last concert of his life, with the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall on February 21, 1911, Gustav Mahler presided over an Italian-themed program of music by three living composers and one recently deceased, americanorchestras.org

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

along with Mendelssohn’s Fourth Symphony (“Italian”). In March 1923, Leopold Stokowski led the Philadelphia Orchestra in now-obscure works by three Americans (two of them living) before turning to Sibelius’s Swan of Tuonela and Strauss’s Till Eulenspiegel—standard fare today, but newish works at the time.

In some ways, the programming at Spring for Music isn’t far removed from the visionary approach Serge Koussevitzky took during his long tenure with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, with which he premiered dozens of works, some now regular concert presences. One of his programs late in 1945 comprised three symphonies, in this order: Prokofiev’s “Classical” and Fifth (the latter in its American premiere; the composer had conducted the world premiere the previous January); and Sibelius’s Second, an “old” work, from 1902. These kinds of programs demonstrate an urge to embrace highly varied combinations of works, acknowledge the vibrancy of the music of the time and recent decades, and not rely on oft-played

masterpieces—just what Spring for Music has espoused. Whenever the bottom line allows, conductors and orchestra players today show the same eagerness to explore a panoply of music, though they know they must perform a balancing act to maintain audiences and build new ones.

The range of music during Spring for Music has been vast, placing diverse pieces in intriguing contexts and suggesting that orchestras might be far more daring if box office weren’t so crucial for survival. The festival has turned this risky business upside down by concentrating solely on creative programming—and by charging $25 per ticket. Raising $5 million for the four-year event made it possible for S4M to rent Carnegie, take care of production and marketing costs, and guarantee orchestras at least $50,000 against the box office. (The orchestras must pay the musicians and fund transportation and hotels.) Attendance has been modest, rising from 54 percent capacity in 2011 to 68 percent in 2013. Those figures are based on Carnegie’s capacity of

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Steve J. Sherman

Fans greeted the Albany Symphony Orchestra’s appearance at the 2013 Spring for Music at Carnegie Hall with celebratory banners held high.

Albany Symphony Orchestra 2,689 seats, though S4M only makes use of the balcony (837 seats) when there’s demand. Minus the balcony seats, which were rarely used for S4M, attendance comes in at 78 percent (2011), 85 percent (2012), and 98 percent (2013). Several S4M concerts have attracted big audiences: the Montreal Symphony filled 92 percent of the complete house. But marketing has always played second fiddle to content. “Which [concert] will sell better is never the issue,” said Christopher Stager, the festival’s marketing consultant. For Spring for Music as for the internet, content is king.

Politics, Spirituality, Hometown Support

Orchestras have responded to the festival’s call for visionary thinking by taking up myriad themes, from political and social issues to religion, nature, and national or local pride, or by honing in on specific musical ideas and prodigious feats. One of the latter in 2013 was a concert with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Leonard Slatkin performing the four Ives symphonies. The evening “was just a revelation,” Morris said. “It’s like hearing a complete history of music between 1890 and 1925.” Another blockbuster, which elicited high praise in 2011, was the Oregon Symphony’s “Music for a Time of War” program comprising Ives’s Unanswered Question, John Adams’s The Wound-Dresser, Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem, and Vaughan Williams’s Fourth Symphony, led by Music Director Carlos Kalmar.

That year, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Jaap van Zweden devoted their visit to a single work, Steven Stucky’s August 4, 1964, an oratorio evoking the pivotal day in American history when President Lyndon Baines Johnson escalated the conflict in Vietnam and the bodies of three slain civil rights workers were unearthed in Mississippi. The orchestra com-

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missioned the work, with a libretto by Gene Scheer, to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Johnson, the Texas-born politician who was thrust into the presidency upon the assassination of John F. Kennedy in November 1963. Taking the Dallas Symphony Chorus and vocal soloists to Carnegie for S4M spoke volumes for the Dallas Symphony’s commitment to issues relevant to its city and to the nation.

The 2011 festival included a striking program by the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra with soprano Dawn Upshaw that combined a new song cycle by Maria Schneider, Carlos Drummond de Andrade Stories, with Bartók’s Five Hungarian Folk Songs and pieces linking Classicism and Neo-Classicism: Haydn’s Symphony No. 104 and Stravinsky’s Concerto in D. Another burst of creative energy filled Carnegie that year when the Toledo Symphony and Stefan Sanderling—son of Kurt Sanderling, the GermanJewish conductor who fled his homeland for the Soviet Union in 1936—probed mass and individual oppression through Shostakovich’s Sixth Symphony (equal parts anguish and ironic joy) and André Previn and Tom Stoppard’s Every Good Boy Deserves Favor, a lacerating play with music about a dissident incarcerated in a mental hospital.

Shostakovich, the most political of composers, has the distinction of being the festival’s second-most-performed composer, after Ives, who holds the record of six works.

In 2012, the Houston Symphony and Hans Graf performed Shostakovich’s Eleventh Symphony (filled with revolutionary songs) and subversive Anti-Formalist Rayok, a satirical cantata. Last year, the National Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Christoph Eschenbach, saluting the orchestra’s late music director, Mstislav Rostropovich, followed works by Rodion Shchedrin and Alfred Schnittke with Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, a model of subtle (or not) defiance.

Spirituality has been the binding element in several festival concerts. In 2011, David Allan Miller led the Albany (N.Y.) Symphony Orchestra in “Spirituals Reimagined,” an American program of commissioned settings by eight composers alongside pieces by George Tsontakis and Aaron Copland. This year’s festival begins and ends with concerts of religious persuasion. The New York Philharmonic plays one such work, on opening night under Alan Gilbert: the New York premiere of Christopher Rouse’s Requiem, which Los Angeles Times critic Mark Swed called “the first great traditional American Requiem” after its world premiere in 2007. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Manfred Honeck close the festival with sacred-centered works: Bruckner’s motet Ave Maria; the final scene—complete with guillotine effects—from Poulenc’s opera Dialogues of the Carmelites; James MacMillan’s concerto for orchestra Woman of the Apocalypse (New York premiere); and Mozart’s Requiem (in the completion by Franz Xaver Süssmayr). The Requiem will be combined with other Mozart music and letters and scripture (read by F. Murray Abraham, Salieri in the film version of Amadeus) for what the orchestra terms “the memorial service that might have been.” Honeck has conducted his deeply personal take on the Mozart Requiem several times in Pittsburgh.

Voices Rediscovered and New

The New York and Pittsburgh programs include vocal soloists and choruses, as will the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s concert version of Howard Hanson’s neglected 1934 opera, Merry Mount, based on a Nathaniel Hawthorne short story and known mainly through the orchestral suite the composer devised. Led by Michael Christie and featuring singers from Eastman School of Music, the performance has required extra fund­raising at home to transport the singers. Similarly, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati May Festival Director James Conlon will bring along the May Festival Chorus to perform John Adams’s Harmonium and the New York premiere of R. Nathaniel Dett’s oratorio The Ordering of Moses. The orchestra gave the latter its world premiere at the 1937 May Festival, which New York Times music critic Olin Downes called “a conspicuous success” for Dett, a Canadian-born Africansymphony

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American admired for blending European Romanticism with American spirituals.

Pride in the creative voices of one’s country has been a motif throughout the festival.

Canadian composers have dominated the programs of the Edmonton and Winnipeg orchestras. American ensembles—including Albany, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Detroit, Nashville, and Rochester—have used their Carnegie appearances to advocate for native (or naturalized) sons and daughters. In 2011, the Nashville Symphony and Music Director Giancarlo Guerrero focused on mavericks Terry Riley (Palmian Chord Ryddle in its New York premiere); Percy Grainger (The Warrior, an extravaganza requiring three conductors); and Ives (Universe Symphony, completed by Larry Austin, with five conductors).

The same year, the conductorless Orpheus Chamber Orchestra commissioned five Americans (Stephen Hartke, Aaron Jay Kernis, Paul Moravec, Christopher Theofanidis, Melinda Wagner) and Britain’s Peter Maxell Davies to celebrate Bach with “The New Brandenburgs.” For a composer from the 18th century to inspire composers in the 21st century suggests that musicians are willing to learn from the past as they contribute to the present.

Given the freedom to display originality in the concert equivalent of a wish list, orchestras at S4M have chosen only a small number of works that are considered mainstream repertoire. Among these pieces, positioned to achieve bracing context, are

Spring for Music 2014 Monday, May 5, 2014 New York Philharmonic Alan Gilbert, music director Christopher Rouse: Requiem (N.Y. premiere)

Haydn’s “London” Symphony, Beethoven’s Fifth and Seventh symphonies, Copland’s Appalachian Spring, Ravel’s La Valse, and the score that will have garnered two festival performances, Debussy’s La Mer. Under Edo de Waart, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra played the suite in 2012 on a program devoted to teachers and students (Debussy ➝ Messiaen ➝ Qigang Chen, one

The range of music and styles during Spring for Music has been vast, placing diverse pieces in intriguing contexts. of Messiaen’s final students). A festival audience in 2012 heard the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Jacques Lacombe consider the teacher-student topic with Busoni’s wild, wondrous Piano Concerto, Varèse’s Nocturnal, and Kurt Weill’s Symphony No. 1 (“Berliner”).

The Seattle Symphony will end its program this year with La Mer after performing other aquatic and nature-inspired music: the New York premiere of John Luther Adams’s Become Ocean (acclaimed by The New Yorker’s Alex Ross when the Seattle Symphony premiered it last June) and Edgard Varèse’s Déserts, a 1950s work for winds, percussion, piano, and electronic tape.

Audience Response

Spring for Music has managed to foster creative urges while spurring almost fanatical audience enthusiasm. Many S4M concert-

Wednesday, May 7, 2014 Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra Michael Christie, conductor Howard Hanson: Merry Mount (complete concert performance) Richard Zeller, baritone

Jacques Imbrailo, baritone

Sara Jakubiak, soprano

Westminster Symphonic Choir

Charles Robert Austin, bassbaritone

Brooklyn Youth Chorus

Christopher Pfund,tenor

Tuesday, May 6, 2014 Seattle Symphony Ludovic Morlot, music director

Eastman-Rochester Chorus (William Weinert, director)

Bach Children’s Chorus in residence at Nazareth College (Karla Krogstad, John Luther Adams: Become director) Ocean (N.Y. premiere) Edgard Varèse: Déserts Claude Debussy: La Mer americanorchestras.org

Thursday, May 8, 2014 Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra Alexander Mickelthwate, music director R. Murray Schafer: Symphony No. 1

goers make the distant trek to 57th Street and Seventh Avenue to show support for their home teams, and orchestras that have played at Carnegie Hall during the festival reaped enormous goodwill back home. For participating ensembles, S4M has been a prime opportunity to show where they stand in the grand scheme of North American orchestras, whose standards have risen markedly in recent decades as conservatories have turned out superbly trained musicians.

Forget the old joke about this hallowed hall.

The orchestras in S4M get to Carnegie Hall by doing far more than practicing: They also prove their programming mettle.

At this point, it is too early to predict what impact Spring for Music will have on orchestra agendas. The festival was conceived as a four-year project, with the potential to continue if funders could be found.

That hasn’t happened, but Artistic Director Morris is buoyed by the fact that S4M created excitement and inspired participants to push their artistic envelopes. “We’ll declare victory,” he said. Maybe so. A festival of creativity that explored a spectrum of music and ends with a reinterpreted Requiem—

by Mozart, no less—can certainly brag of opening ears and minds.

Donald Rosenberg is former music critic of The Plain Dealer (Cleveland), author of The Cleveland Orchestra Story: Second to None, immediate past president of the Music Critics Association of North America, and a founding editor of Classical Voice North America (classicalvoiceamerica.org).

John Adams: Harmonium R. Nathaniel Dett: The Ordering of Moses (N.Y. premiere) May Festival Chorus Latonia Moore, soprano

Ronnita Nicole Miller, mezzoDerek Charke: 13 Inuit Throat soprano Song Games Rodrick Dixon, tenor Tanya Tagaq, throat singer Donnie Ray Albert, baritone Vincent Ho: The Shaman: Concerto for Percussion and Saturday, May 10, 2014 Orchestra Pittsburgh Dame Evelyn Glennie, Symphony Orchestra percussion Manfred Honeck, music director Friday, May 9, 2014 Anton Bruckner: Cincinnati Symphony and Motet Ave Maria May Festival Chorus Francis Poulenc: Final James Conlon, Cincinnati Scene from Dialogues of the May Festival Music Director Carmelites

James MacMillan: Woman of the Apocalypse (N.Y. Premiere) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Requiem and Death in Words and Music Manfred Honeck, conductor Sunhae Im, soprano Elizabeth Deshong, mezzo-soprano Benjamin Bruns, tenor Liang Li, bass F. Murray Abraham, speaker Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, (Betsy Burleigh, director) Schola Cantorum, St. Agnes Church

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Gui D.J. Sparr, composer in residence with the California Symphony, with the tools of his trade. Sparr has written and performed several works for electric guitar and orchestra.

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tar

by Ian VanderMeulen

The electric guitar is finding increased acceptance among orchestras and concert music composers— many of them guitarists themselves.

PJ Sykes

here’s an old rehearsal joke in music circles: “How do you get the electric guitarist to turn down the volume? Give him” (always him) “sheet music.” The joke encapsulates a stereotype many other musicians hold of electric guitarists: loud, spotlight-seeking, and so irreverent of tradition as to be unable to read a score. Though there’s a bit of truth to the joke, conservatory-trained guitarists like the present author can’t help but hear it with annoyance—or tell it with a sense of irony.

There has been plenty of crossover throughout the decades between electric guitar and the classical genre, some of it unraveling stereotypes and some of it reinforcing them. Metal guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen’s Paganinian pyrotechnics of the early 1980s, for example, probably struck classical aficionados as more a mockery than true homage.

These days it might be most common to see electric guitar on symphony stages as part of rock-band-with-orchestra pops programs, where the guitarist and orchestra musicians alike may feel limited in their respective roles.

Even the popularity of guitar-laden “Video Games Live” programs at orchestras leaves unanswered questions about the electric guitar’s seat at the subscription-series table.

But a recent spate of orchestral works has

Chris Hartlove

Heroes

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americanorchestras.org

Trey Anastasio performs his Time Turns Elastic with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in 2009, with Marin Alsop conducting.

Anastasio also performed the work with the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall.

begun to rehabilitate the electric guitar’s image. The trend is multi-generational and to a certain extent performer-driven. While Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio’s Time Turns Elastic, premiered with Orchestra Nashville in 2008 and by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in 2009, felt like a novelty, composer Steven Mackey has been writing for electric guitar and orchestra steadily since 1995’s Deal, composed for veteran jazz guitarist and composer Bill Frisell. Meanwhile, up-and-comer D. J. Sparr, a guitarist and composer-in-residence at the California Symphony (in Walnut Creek just outside Oakland), premiered his own electric guitar concerto Violet Bond with that orchestra in May 2013, having previously debuted as soloist in major works composed by non-guitarists Michael Daugherty and Derek Bermel. Deutsche Grammophon’s March 3 release—three recent orchestral works by The National guitarist Bryce Dessner and Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood’s suite from There Will Be Blood—is further proof that rock stars can be sensitive classical composers. At the Cincinnati Symphony’s two-day MusicNow festival in March, Dessner’s St. Carolyn by the Sea, for electric guitar and orchestra, and Murder Ballades shared a program with Scriabin’s Poem of Ecstasy and a world premiere by young American composer Nico Muhly. And stretching the definition of what an “orchestra” can be was Rhys Chatham’s A Secret Rose

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for 100 electric guitars, which enjoyed its West Coast premiere in November.

Composers, conductors, and orchestra artistic administrators liken the guitar to the saxophone and other instruments that have been slow to find their symphonic voices. But they also stress the electric guitar’s sonic and dynamic range—particularly given advances in effects processing. For Mackey, it’s all about “finding ways as both a composer and performer for the guitar to be more versatile, more multi-dimensional, to make it turn on a dime from being subordinate to being dominant, from being a facilitator to being a hero.”

Whether it’s due to the popularity of the Guitar Hero video game or other influences, the instrument is on an upswing. Meanwhile, recent generations of real-life guitar heroes are graduating from music schools having learned the classical canon, how to work with conductors, and—yes—read and write music. Not to mention many of them grew up playing in rock bands as well. All of this might suggest that the electric guitar will become a more common protagonist on symphonic stages.

Plugging In

Like many other thirtysomething composers, D. J. Sparr is omnivorous in his musical tastes, though they revolve around his primary instrument, electric guitar. After an introduction to the instrument through reruns of the TV show Hee-Haw and a “hair band” phase when spandex and fast guitar were in vogue, Sparr learned jazz guitar at the Baltimore School of the Arts and earned a degree in composition at East-

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Anne Mie Dreves/Deutsche Grammophon

But Daugherty also wasn’t afraid to play to the guitar’s more assertive strengths—distorted power chords, blues riffs, wailing solos—things composers may be tempted to stay away from “as though they might appear cliché, as opposed to what the instrument can do well,” Daugherty notes. “Gee’s Bend allows the guitarist to play rock, to use pedals, to improvise, to ham it up once in a while, but also be very expressive.”

“I got to know the piece as notes on a page, and when I got to Birmingham and started working with D. J., it opened up this whole other dimension of sound,” Gittleman recalls of the Birmingham premiere of Gee’s Bend. “In the second movement the sound is run through a processor so you don’t even hear the attack of the note. D. J. man School of Music. Composing for guiplucks a note on the string and then it starts tar wasn’t a natural phenomenon for him, to fade in. It’s an amazing sound and the however. “I think I was very aware growing notation on the page just doesn’t communiup that there were ‘guitar composers’—an cate what the sound’s going to be like, so it’s entire genre of classical guitar music that a really unique sense of discovery.” no one knows except guitar players,” Sparr The range of sounds provided by comsays. Not wanting to be pegged with that mon guitar effects like distortion, delay, label, Sparr applied himself to composition wah-wah, tremolo, and chorus (a doubling studies with Joseph Schwantner, Christoeffect) can be daunting to non-guitarists. pher Rouse, and Augusta Read Thomas, But by ceding some of the sonic decisionwriting almost nothing for guitar while at making to the soloist, Daugherty found Eastman. he could approach the electric guitar as Things began to change for Sparr when he would a concert organ. Not only is the he arrived at the University of Michigan to choice of which stops to pull for a parpursue a doctorate in composition. “One of ticular section left partially to the organthe things I talked about with professors,” ist, but, notes Sparr, the “flute” stop may he recalls, “was taking the gestures from the sound different from one organ to another. guitar and translating them “Same thing with elecinto other instruments so tric guitar—each guitarA recent spate of that they’re idiomatic.” By ist has their own pedals, orchestral works the time the Birminghamtheir own kind of sound,” has begun to change based Alabama Symphony Daugherty says. “So I just the electric guitar’s Orchestra commissioned put ‘à la Hendrix,’ or ‘à la image. The trend is Michael Daugherty for a Chet Atkins.’ Any guitarmulti-generational new piece for a rock-inist in the world will know flected program, engaging and to a certain extent what sound you want.”

Sparr as electric guitar soGee’s Bend provided an performer-driven. loist was a natural fit. The important point of deparresult, Gee’s Bend—nickname for the town ture for Sparr’s own concerto, Violet Bond, of Boykin, Alabama, whose residents are both in terms of what he knew would famous for their quilt-making—was prework and what he sought to do differently. miered by the ASO in 2009. Guest conThe three 30-minute reading sessions productor Neal Gittleman liked the piece so vided under Sparr’s residency with the much he took it to his home orchestra, the California Symphony helped facilitate and Dayton Philharmonic, which recorded it develop a seamless interaction between live. The electric guitar’s bombastic reputaguitar and orchestra. tion be damned, Daugherty aimed to show Violet Bond, named after Sparr’s grandthat it “can be a very delicate instrument, mother, who gave him a ukulele when he and a very lyrical, very subtle instrument.” was four and thus precipitated his guitar Bryce Dessner, composer and guitarist, rehearses his orchestral works with the Copenhagen Philharmonic for a 2014 recording from Deutsche Grammophon; the album also includes Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood’s suite from There Will Be Blood.

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra performed Dessner’s St. Carolyn by the Sea and Murder Ballades at its MusicNow festival this March, with Dessner in his CSO debut as performer.

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career, was premiered by the California Symphony in May 2013. “I particularly remember the wonderful dichotomy that was achieved between the sounds emanating from the orchestra and the sounds that D. J. was using for his guitar,” recalls California Symphony Music Director Donato Cabrera, who was privy to the reading sessions.

“D. J.’s direct interaction with the orchestra during these sessions not only helped shape the decisions of orchestration, it helped shape the temporal relationship between the guitar and orchestra. D. J. maintained the perfect balance between coming into these sessions with clear ideas of how he wanted his piece to sound, and an open mind, willing to experiment and play.”

Nothing to Fret About

Steven Mackey’s relationship with electric guitar and large classical ensemble has been decades in the making. Sparr recalls with a laugh how Mackey was one of his few role models when he was beginning to reincorporate the guitar into his palette: “Every time I came up with an idea for a piece I’d have to go to Steve Mackey’s website to make sure he hadn’t already written it.”

In an email exchange, Mackey reflected on the impact the guitar has had on his own musical DNA. Foremost may be the rock-music aesthetic that “music is something you do—you gather your friends in your parents’ garage and you make music happen,” he writes. This approach is epitomized by the genesis of Mackey’s Four

Iconoclastic Episodes, his double concerto for electric guitar and violin given its Canadian premiere by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 2013 at its New Creations Festival. Each of the four movements began as a song for Mackey’s genre-bending band Big Farm.

Equally palpable is a sense of tonality that is rooted in arguably the most guitardriven genre: the blues. For Mackey, “There are no wrong notes per se—any note can be made to work if it has convincing intention and affect. Instead of a dialectic between right notes and wrong notes, I think in terms of being inside or outside the harmony. In my language I’m always seeking blue notes that hurt good, or in the words of Thelonious Monk, ‘The right wrong notes.’ ” Mackey’s first major foray into the world of symphonically rooted electric guitar was Deal, written for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella series in 1995, and his muse was Grammy-winning guitar polymath Bill Frisell. Mackey began by writing in meticulous notation as he had for earlier chamber works featuring electric guitar. The irony, Mackey notes, “was that I was trying to capture Bill’s marvelous individual style in a notation that was keeping him from being himself.” So he scrapped what he had started. Instead, the orchestra would play to its strengths of reading a score with clarity and precision, and Frisell would be let loose as the consummate improviser he is. “His ‘part’ was essentially a reduction of the orchestra score with in-

Terrence McCarthy

The New World Symphony gave the world premiere of Steven Mackey’s Tuck and Roll at its home in Miami Beach on April 15, 2000. In photo: Michael Tilson Thomas leads the NWS in the work at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco on June 20, 2000, with Mackey on guitar.

americanorchestras.org

structions on when to play, when not to play, when to play ‘inside’ the harmony and when to find the ‘right wrong notes,’ ” Mackey says. “I sketched a few ‘licks’ to communicate, guitarist to guitarist, a more visceral sense of the tonality and modality of certain passages, but I never intended him to play what I wrote.

“After the first rehearsal, Bill was amazed that the LA Phil could just read down this complex 28-minute score, and the members of the orchestra expressed their amazement at how he could do what he did without one.”

Mackey returned to meticulously notated orchestral writing on the New World Symphony-commissioned Tuck and Roll, which he premiered with that orchestra under Michael Tilson Thomas in 2000.

But Mackey says it was the ambitious Dreamhouse for orchestra, amplified vocal ensemble, and four electric guitars—premiered in Amsterdam in 2003—that felt like a true arrival. “By that time I was quite familiar with the various alchemies that result from the combination of electric guitar and orchestra, and that gave me a degree of confidence to allow the guitars to play a variety of roles. They are at times restrained within the texture, coloring the orchestra like some weird muted brass instruments.

Other times they are equal partners in conversation with the strings, winds, brass, and other voices, and occasionally they roar to the foreground as only electric guitars can do.” (Dreamhouse has also been performed by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project under Music Director Gil Rose; its recording of the work was released in 2010 on the orchestra’s BMOP/sound label.)

The 45-minute work, whose multiple amplifications and overall complexity make it difficult to stage, will get two hearings in late May during the New York Philharmonic’s Biennial Festival. The Philharmonic is no stranger to the electric guitar, having performed Trey Anastasio’s Time Turns Elastic at Carnegie Hall in 2009. But Dreamhouse drew their attention for a number of reasons, notes Vice President of Artistic Planning Edward Yim. It would be a New York premiere—ideal for the Biennial Festival—and offered an opportunity to re-engage American conductor Jayce Ogren, a Mackey fan who recently made his Philharmonic debut on the Contact! series. The piece’s recom-

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The Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Music Director Neal Gittleman, performs composer Michael Daugherty’s Gee’s Bend with electric guitar soloist D.J. Sparr.

The piece was commissioned by the Alabama Symphony Orchestra.

Andy Snow

Gittleman; it was mixed through the theater’s sound system, ensuring that the instrument never got too loud for audience or orchestra. Where a sound engineer isn’t available, Sparr’s workaround is to place one amp next to him, and another facing the stage’s back wall, allowing the sound to spread throughout the auditorium. Since the Gee’s Bend premiere, Sparr has developed a tech rider for all orchestra performances that has helped push preparation times down to about the same as a piano concerto—a boon to orchestras concerned mendation from violinist Leila Josefowto Tuck and Roll. “When I first started playabout rehearsal overtime. Mackey’s ampliicz, a collaborator on Mackey’s Beautiful ing with chamber ensembles and orchestras fication arsenal includes a special spherical Passing, warranted a listen, and when Yim I played like a rock guitar player, on top of speaker, particularly useful when collaboand his colleagues heard the piece for the the texture, which is more rating with smaller chamWhile the first time, they “fell in love,” he says. “It’s a function of rhythm than ber groups because of electric guitar may theatrical and quirky and deep, and speaks volume,” he says. “There is the way it “resonates the to themes that are so poignant.” The ada big difference between seem like a natural solo guitar sound more like venturousness and personal connections laying down a soloistic instrument, its amplified an acoustic instrument. behind the Mackey fit well in the May 27part on top of a drumBy the time it reaches the sound makes for June 7 Biennial, which opens with a U.S. and-bass groove and really listener it has bounced off challenges premiere staging of Toshio Hosokawa’s taking the feel of quintuall the same surfaces as of balance and blend.

The Raven, includes major works by HK plets from the oboe and the violins,” he says.

Gruber and Christopher Rouse, and coltransforming them into triplets that I could The success of such experiments may laborations with other groups within the pass to the brass.” And while effects expand make the guitar a more attractive concert NY Phil’s musical orbit such as the Amerthe instrument’s sonic options and thus its hall collaborator, but the New York Philican Composers Orchestra, Orchestra of potential for blending with the orchestra, harmonic’s Edward Yim suggests that the St. Luke’s, and Bang on a Can All-Stars. unintended counter-effects require trialinstrument’s general popularity may be its and-error learning. “Digital delay gives the biggest selling point. And, Daugherty adds, Going to Eleven guitar a nice halo, but it can make the surthe increasing number of conservatory While the electric guitar may seem like a rounding acoustic instruments sound dry graduates who, like Sparr, are as comfortnatural solo instrument, its amplified sound and brittle,” Mackey notes. able reading scores and following a conmakes for challenges of balance and blend Daugherty says that, where pure balance ductor as wielding a six-string is helping on both compositional and performance issues are concerned, the guitar’s presence to expand the soloist pool. Many of those sides of the equation. on orchestra stages is aided by the fact that interviewed for this article liken the electric Some of the burden of blending the guiamplification equipment has been “minguitar to the saxophone as an instrument to tar with the orchestra may also rest on the iaturized”—made smaller without sacrigain late and limited acceptance as an orperformer’s sensitivity. Mackey notes the ficing the sound of larger vintage models. chestral solo instrument. In both cases, it impact that touring with the Kronos QuarFor Gee’s Bend, Sparr was able to place an takes someone who knows the instrument tet in the late 1990s had on his approach amp directly on stage next to himself and well to make it speak within the symphonic tapestry. “Until you’ve heard Glazunov or Ibert at least, you maybe don’t have an idea of what the saxophone can actually do,” Gittleman notes. “The fact that the electric guitar has such an incredible range of sounds that it can make when held by someone who knows what they’re doing, it’s BEAUTIFUL PASSING (2008) for violin and orchestra hard to imagine there won’t ultimately be a FOUR ICONOCLASTIC EPISODES (2009) lot of composers writing for it. It’s really a for violin, electric guitar, and string orchestra wonderful and varied instrument.”

ST EV E N MACKEY for Orchestra

STUMBLE TO GRACE (2011) for piano and orchestra TONIC (2011) for chamber orchestra TURN THE KEY (2006) for orchestra URBAN OCEAN (2013) for orchestra For more information, please visit www.boosey.com/mackey

40

IAN VANDERMEULEN, a guitarist and journalist, is a former assistant editor of Symphony.

He cranks his Les Paul Standard through a Vox AC30.

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SUMMER FESTIVALS

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SELL SUMMER

by Leah Harrison

Sarasota Music Festival musicians Caeli Smith, Jarita Ng, Joseph Betts, Ben Manis

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Aspen’s Benedict Music Tent

Alex Irvin

ING

Your music festival is great—wonderful scenery, top-notch musicians, holiday atmosphere. But you’ve got just three weeks to sell thousands of tickets. How to market a summer music festival?

F

or many professional orchestral musicians, the rhythm of the regular fall-winter-spring subscription season halts in the summer, when they pack their bags and head to summer music festivals around the country. Though the setting, atmosphere, and the repertoire may change, their jobs remain essentially the same: they prepare and perform music for audiences. But from the standpoint of those who operate and market those festivals, there are markedly different challenges from selling a September-May season. A universal obstacle is the challenging ratio of off-season months to in-season americanorchestras.org

days or weeks. Not only must each organization jump the common hurdles of marketing classical music, they must keep interest alive for at least ten off-season months.

In some cases, the season lasts only a few days. Other challenges include marketing festival programs that appeal to a national audience more than a local one; finding the balance with English and foreign-language ads for festivals with a significant international market; and reaching patrons who buy tickets based on programming, as well as those who care more about who is performing than what they’re playing.

Depending on location, a festival may draw from a national audience that attends as a destination vacation, like Colorado’s

Bravo! Vail festival and Aspen Music Festival and School. Other organizations, such as Florida’s Sarasota Music Festival and the Tanglewood festival in Massachusetts, maintain a close link with a particular ensemble and depend on that organization’s patrons.

At Spoleto Festival USA, a seventeenday May-June performing arts festival in Charleston, South Carolina, where (full disclosure) I work as institutional writer, program-driven marketing is central. This can be a challenge, since programming includes works that appeal more to the local audience—60 percent of Spoleto’s market—as well as those that more strongly resonate with national constituents—40

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percent. One bright spot this season was Spoleto’s new donor pre-sale, which provided a healthy bump in ticket sales across the board. Donors of $100 were given a week’s head start on ticket purchases, and more tickets were sold on the first 2014 sale day for donors than on the first 2013 sale day for all ticket-buyers. Preferred seating holds great allure for Spoleto’s market.

Each festival is different—no doubt a selling point used to market each of them— so each institution confronts its own challenges in selling tickets and other marketing areas. Here we delve into the nitty-gritty of how six U.S. summer music festivals handle issues ranging from social media and print/ radio advertising strategies to community engagement and partnerships with local organizations.

weeks a year,” says Laura Smith, Aspen’s director of marketing and public relations.

Smith’s marketing must be effective for several audiences: repeat ticket buyers, many of whom are intensely loyal; a local market with varying levels of participation; and tourists, who require a separate message and vehicle. These markets are reached through direct mail and digital communications as well as ads in program books of the Denver-based Colorado Symphony and Opera Colorado; local print media and radio, which surveys have shown are highly effective in small towns like Aspen; and promotion through hotels, visitors centers, airport displays, and in-flight magazines. Additionally, Aspen is in its fifth year of a partnership with NPR’s Performance Today; for one week the national radio program is in residence

ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL ASPEN, COLORADO Aspen and Vail, Colorado are ski towns that host prominent but very different summer music festivals. Though known chiefly for its slopes and snow, Aspen attracts some 630 classical music students each summer for its eight-week festival and school, during which students and faculty perform 300 concerts.

This year, the festival is held from June 26 to August 14.

The festival began in 1949 with a bicentennial celebration of Goethe, funded by Walter and Elizabeth Paepcke—a wealthy Chicago couple who chose Aspen because of fond memories of a ski trip. In that inaugural year, international intellectuals exchanged thoughts on how Goethe’s ideas might apply to problems faced in the aftermath of World War II. These forums were accompanied by musical performances, which the Paepckes liked so much that they funded music in Aspen again the next year, this time including a handful of students. In 1951, the Institute of Music and the Festival were made official, and in 1952, 200 students came to Aspen to learn from masters of their instruments.

Aspen’s metropolitan area consists of 50,000 people during the summer, including tourists. Denver is nearly four hours away by car, so the Aspen festival is marketed largely as a destination for music lovers; 41 percent of the Aspen audience stays for three weeks or less. “That’s not the same as having an audience you live with, with whom you can communicate for 45 or 50

Marketing surveys have shown that local print media and radio are highly effective in small towns like Aspen, site of the Aspen Music Festival and School.

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frequent attendance. But of course it’s within this short period of time. It would never be sustainable over a 42-week season.”

While marketing events that happen only during one-sixth of the year has its difficulties, the issue is not unique to festivals.

Snow-based industries are built on a similar framework. According to the Aspen Chamber Resort Association, summer and winter bring in the same amount of tourism. Aspen occupancy is at its highest—70 to 77 percent in the last two years—during July, the festival’s busiest month, and January and February, the peak ski season.

Alex Irvin

A clarinetist at the Aspen Music Festival and School in Colorado

at Aspen and broadcasts its two-hour show from Harris Concert Hall.

Officially, Aspen has 10,000 ticket buyers, and many festival-goers attend free events as well. One noteworthy fact: 48 percent of their audience attended 20 events or more in 2013. It helps that Aspen hosts up to eight events every day. “There are so many people who go to two or three things a day,” Smith says. “They’re just feasting on classical music. It’s the purpose of their visit here—they go to panels, they go to masterclasses—they drink deep of it, and it leads to incredibly

BRAVO! VAIL VAIL, COLORADO Located between Denver and Aspen, Vail hosts The Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and Dallas Symphony Orchestra each summer during the Bravo!

Vail festival. Each of the three orchestras performs symphonic concerts during its residency, and the festival also includes pops and jazz programs, as well as a chamber music series. In Vail’s 27th season this year—from June 27 to August 2—the Dallas Symphony and Music Director Jaap Van Zweden will take the first orchestra shift, playing six concerts and concluding with a patriotic evening on July 4.

None of the three resident orchestras handles marketing of Bravo! Vail tickets. But the DSO works hard to ensure its regular patrons stay connected during its Vail residency. Sean Kelly, the DSO’s vice president of marketing, says that he considers it his duty to let people know who the symphony is outside of Dallas. “We want our patrons in Dallas to know that we have relevance to the broader world,” Kelly says.

“We take measures to deepen our relationship so they understand that there’s more than what happens in the concert hall.”

This year, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra marketing department will equip one of its musicians with a video camera to document what happens in Colorado: rehearsals, meals with other musicians, and their commute, which they will post on their YouTube channel, as well as other social media.

The DSO wants to tell a behind-the-scenes story; Kelly says patrons love to hear about the lives of the musicians.

“We’ve definitely found that the more we humanize and personalize the orchestra,” Kelly says, “the more excited patrons get. symphony

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Zach Mahone Photography

This summer, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (above, at Bravo! Vail’s Ford Amphitheater) is equipping one of its musicians with a video camera to document rehearsals, meals, and other Vail activities.

It’s not just the music for them—they know all of the musicians on stage. Every one of them. It’s like baseball cards for them. The more we tell them what life is like as a percussionist in this ensemble, the more interested they become in the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.”

While they don’t sell tickets to Bravo!

Vail, the DSO does email information about the festival to its donors. Contributors at the $2,500 giving level and above are eligible for a trip to Vail during the festival and can enjoy special events with other DSO patrons while hearing their orchestra perform in Vail’s mountainous, most unDallas-like setting.

OJAI MUSIC FESTIVAL OJAI, CALIFORNIA At the Ojai Music Festival, one of the na-

tion’s shortest, there are several unconventional aspects to how they produce their four-day immersion. Under the artistic directorship of Thomas W. Morris, a guest music director is hired each year to curate and program the season; pianist and writer Jeremy Denk is Ojai’s music director for the 2014 festival, which will take place from June 12 to 15. Among the festival’s offerings this year is a comic opera based scholar-pianist Charles Rosen’s award-winning 1972 book The Classical Style, composed by Steven Stucky with Denk as librettist.

Part of Ojai’s marketing involves including the audience in the artistic process early on. Ojai announces guest music directors long in advance—and series passes go on sale as soon as the music director’s identity is announced. Likewise, Ojai releases bits of programming information as they put it

Timothy Norris

At the Ojai Music Festival, a guest music director is hired each year to curate the season. Marketing involves including the audience in the artistic process early on by releasing programming details as soon as they become available.

A 2012 concert at the Ojai Music Festival’s outdoor Libbey Bowl, with music director and pianist Leif Ove Andsnes (left) and pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin. americanorchestras.org

together, rather than withholding big events until the entire program is finalized.

“It’s been a very compelling story for us to tell our patrons because they’re sort of in it with us,” says Gina Gutierrez, Ojai’s director of marketing and communications.

“They get to see the festival through the lens of [the artistic director] because we share with them what used to be insider information. We try to be very transparent in our planning. This is part of how we market our festival, and that has made our patrons very loyal. Building the connection, engagement, and loyalty has become part of our strategy.

And I think it’s been working.” Over the past three years, an average of 60 percent of the festival’s subscribers return to Ojai, says Gutierrez.

With a population of just 8,000 in Ojai, the festival casts a wider net for patrons to attend its 42 events. The biggest crowd comes from Los Angeles and the surrounding area in southern California, followed by a smaller group from northern California as well as out-of-state visitors. Sales of series passes have been steadily increasing over the past few years.

When the 2012 music director, pianist Leif Ove Andsnes, was announced—prior to the release of any program information— Ojai sold 30 percent of the season’s series subscriptions. At the same point in 2013, when choreographer Mark Morris was music director, that number increased to 50 percent. So far, numbers for 2014, under Jeremy Denk, match those of 2013.

Ojai’s marketing strategies aim to reach an audience driven less by individual repertoire than the artistic experience provided by the music director that year.

FAIRBANKS SUMMER ARTS FESTIVAL FAIRBANKS, ALASKA By far the most remote festival under consideration here—2,150 miles from Seattle and 360 miles from Anchorage—the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival is held for two weeks in the latter half of July. Fairbanks’ overall philosophy is what makes it unique, so that’s what they sell: highly eclectic programming, a mix of professional and amateur performances, people coming for a community-driven and meaningful artistic experience.

Fairbanks is a study/performance festival for adults—though several programs accept

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teenagers—with classes and workshops that can last one hour, one day, or one week in everything from visual arts, dance, and healing arts to writing, theater, and culinary arts. Music offerings include opera and symphonic programs, steel drums, gospel, Celtic, American roots, cabaret, jazz, and music technology. Robert Franz, who is music director of the Boise Philharmonic in Idaho and Windsor Symphony Orchestra in Canada, also serves as music director for the festival’s opera and orchestra (the latter comprising festival musicians).

In 2013, 812 people registered to take classes from 117 guest artists and instructors. The vast majority of participants come from the Fairbanks region, but only 55 percent of the instructors are local. The rest come from seventeen other states.

Fairbanks’ surveys indicate that most of its 13,000 audience members hear about the festival through word of mouth. It’s oldfashioned, but it seems to work. “We’ve seen again and again in surveys (since 2010) that our greatest form of communication—why people came—was word of mouth,” says Terese Kaptur, the festival’s director. “That’s still the biggest network that works for us.”

“People will listen to their friend’s opinion of the festival more than they will an advertisement we place in the paper,” says Emilie Strom Wright, the festival’s communications and operations manager. “We must focus our marketing on the experience we offer.” Fairbanks uses personal testimo-

At Alaska’s Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, the festival orchestra performs at Denali National Park’s Eielson Visitor Center.

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Todd Paris

The Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival uses personal testimonials and sends messages out via Facebook and Twitter. It also courts summer tourists who have taken a cruise to Alaska.

nials and sends messages out via Facebook and Twitter, as well as emails using lists of their program coordinators and attendees.

Wright says Fairbanks is “blessed to have proud supporters of the festival walking around town in kilts with fliers, talking it up, and having Celtic sessions at breweries where we announce upcoming events.”

Fairbanks also courts summer tourists who have taken a cruise to Alaska and are looking to attend a performance during the evening when they’re on shore. Fairbanks targets them by putting flyers, rack cards, and catalogs at the guest-services desk at hotels where cruise guests stay. Fairbanks estimates that most of the 15 to 20 percent of ticket-buyers from outside Alaska come from cruises.

One unusual aspect of the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival is that it sends small groups of artists out into villages to demonstrate their craft—an event with a performance, lecture, and instrument demonstration geared for children, tied up with a buy-one-get-one-free coupon for festival tickets. People who attend these outreach concerts often become patrons. These engagement events are offered in surrounding communities as well as places like Kenny Lake/Copper Center—a six-hour drive away. Fairbanks also sends troupes to Bethal, Akiak, and Hooper Bay—all of which must be accessed via plane or boat and have majority Native American populations. The festival says it strives to achieve diversity in its art as well as its community engagement.

SARASOTA MUSIC FESTIVAL SARASOTA, FLORIDA The Sarasota Music Festival celebrates its 50th season this year from June 1 to 21.

Run by the Sarasota Orchestra, this is an educational festival in which students and renowned performers and teachers work together; the 60 accepted students and 40 guest artists and teachers prepare chamber works during the week for performances each Thursday through Sunday. Because the festival is in the same location as the orchestra’s regular season concerts, it has a built-in market of local music lovers.

“We have the tremendous advantage of being part of the Sarasota Orchestra institution—they provide a vehicle for us to market the festival during the rest of the season,” says Gordon Greenfield, vice president of marketing at the Sarasota Orchestra. “We

Because Florida is a frequent vacation destination for Europeans, the Sarasota Music Festival recently began investing in geo-targeted online advertising in foreign languages. Currently, they have ads in German, Spanish, and French that target keyword searches for Florida vacations.

Woodwind players David Dziardziel, Eun Hyung Kim, Ryan Finefrock, and Dillon Meacham at the Sarasota Music Festival in Florida

put the festival in the orchestra’s brochures, website, and in our various other communications. As people are visiting the orchestra throughout the year, we can include the additional message of ‘save the date’ for the Sarasota Music Festival in June.”

Over the three weeks, Sarasota sells 5,500 tickets. Tracking the local vs. national audience gets tricky in a place with many seasonal residents—many Sarasotans also maintain residences further north—so the festival depends heavily on digital communication.

Because Florida is a frequent vacation destination for Europeans, the festival has cultivated a sizable international audience.

Sarasota recently began investing in geotargeted online advertising in foreign languages; currently, they have ads in German, Spanish, and French that target keyword searches for Florida vacations and music festivals that originate in Europe, Canada, and Latin America. It’s too early to tell the results of this experiment, but the ads are definitely getting traffic, says Greenfield.

TANGLEWOOD LENOX, MASSACHUSETTS Tanglewood, located in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts, about two-anda-half hours from both Boston and New York City, is quite possibly the nation’s best-known classical music festival, having served as the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937. With its long history and BSO connection, Tansymphony

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glewood has a solid base of patrons from which to draw. The festival attracts an impressive 325,000 patrons each summer, a testament to the festival’s longevity and reputation as well as the robust interest in classical music from visitors driving from New York and New England. A roughly comparable festival in the Chicago area is the Ravinia festival, which has served as summertime home to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1936.

Tanglewood is within a day’s drive of two huge and expensive metropolitan markets, which adds challenges, says Sarah Manoog, the BSO’s director of marketing. “It’s so expensive to advertise in New York, so rather than spread the dollars into expensive media, we try to be strategic and form good relationships. We’ve had a good relationship with the public radio station there (WNYC) and organizations like the 92nd Street Y, where we’ve brought musicians to perform.”

In Boston, the BSO and all its publications are obvious marketing platforms—20 percent of BSO subscribers attend Tanglewood. Digital avenues have become very effective in their advanced geographic and demographic targeting, so Tanglewood tends to put more dollars into online promotion— with the exception of full-page color ads to announce the entire season in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and several Berkshire-region papers.

Especially well-known soloists predict-

ably produce a bump in ticket sales, but repertoire seems less of a sales factor than several other practical elements. “The decision-making process for audiences at Tanglewood involves such issues as day of the week, the weather forecast, availability of accommodations, and, since Tanglewood is a destination, the complexity of scheduling family and friends to make the trip with you,” says Manoog.

Tanglewood’s Sunday matinee concerts

get good attendance numbers—10 percent higher than Friday or Saturday evening— because people who have taken a trip to Tanglewood for the weekend attend, as well as those who take day trips on Sunday.

LEAH HARRISON is an arts writer and musicologist based in Charleston, S.C. She has written for Playbill, The Charlotte Observer, and The Chautauquan Daily and currently works as institutional writer for Spoleto Festival USA.

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Tanglewood tends to put more marketing dollars into online promotion, but it does take out full-page color ads in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and several Berkshire region papers.

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SUMMER FESTIVALS

Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival Fairbanks, AK July 13 to July 27 A unique and multi-disciplinary studyperformance festival offers workshops and performances with inspiring guest artists. Festival includes orchestra, string amateurs, chamber music, composer premieres, and full orchestra with chorus.

Artistic Direction: Terese Kaptur Festival Conductor: Robert Franz Festival Artists: Lisa Dowling, bass; George Rydlinski, bassoon; Charley Akert, Shara Long, Jeffery Solow, cello; Jun Watabe, clarinet; Stephen Lias, composer; Domenica Fossati, flute; Marcia Dickstein, harp; Sharman Piper, Candy Rydlinski, oboe; Owen Weaver, percussion; Ian Scarfe, piano; Jennifer Drake, Maureen Heflinger, Marcus Thompson, viola; Philip Levy, Andrew Sords, Andie Springer, violin Featured Groups: Concert Black, FSAF String Trio For Information: Terese Kaptur, director P.O. Box 82510 Fairbanks, AK 99708 907 474 8869 festival@alaska.net fsaf.org

AR KA NS A S

Artosphere Festival Fayetteville, AR May 1 to June 6

2014

A performing/visual arts festival that connects arts, nature, and sustainability, the Artosphere Festival Orchestra features musicians from around the world performing orchestral works by Brubeck, Copland, Grieg, Higdon, Mozart, and Sibelius, as well as chamber performances by The Dover Quartet.

Artistic Direction: Corrado Rovaris Festival Conductor: Corrado Rovaris Festival Artists: Marie Tachouet, flute; Allegra Lilly, harp Featured Groups: The Dover Quartet, Time For Three For Information: Jason Howell Smith, general manger P.O. Box 3547 Fayetteville, AR 72702 479 571 2731 plane@waltonartscenter.org artospherefestival.org

C A L IFOR N IA

Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music Santa Cruz, CA August 1 to August 10 Maestra Marin Alsop leads the award-winning Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, joined by renowned composers and guest artists from across the globe.

Artistic Direction: Marin Alsop Festival Conductor: Marin Alsop Festival Artists: Béla Fleck, banjo; Timothy McAllister, saxophone; Nadja SalernoSonnenberg, violin; and works by composers John Adams, Clarice Assad, TJ Cole, Michael

Daugherty, Brett Dean, Béla Fleck, Stacy Garrop, Detlev Glanert, Jennifer Higdon, Dylan Mattingly, Andrew Norman, Jonathan Sheffer, Gabriella Smith, and Mark-Anthony Turnage Featured Group: Time for Three For Information: Ellen M. Primack, executive director 147 South River Street, Suite 232 Santa Cruz, CA 95060 831 426 6966 831 426 6968 (fax) info@cabrillomusic.org cabrillomusic.org Festival Mozaic San Luis Obispo, CA July 17 to July 27 Festival Mozaic has been presenting beautiful music in spectacular venues on the central coast for 44 years. Festival Mozaic features world-class musicians performing chamber and orchestra pieces in historic missions, private homes, outdoor venues and state-of-the-art concert halls.

Festival Conductor: Scott Yoo Festival Artists: Tariq Masri, bassoon; Michelle Djokic, Lynn Kabat, Tina Soule, Brian Thornton, cello; Michael Fine, clarinet; Alice Dade, Katrina Walter, flute; Anne Marie Gabriele, Xiaodi Liu, oboe; Susan Grace, John Novacek, piano; Shannon Wood, timpani; Hari Bernstein, viola; Steven Copes, Serena McKinney, Emily Smith, Scott Yoo, violin Featured Group: Los Angeles Percussion Quartet For Information:

SUMMER FESTIVALS

2014 The Grant Park Music Festival, Chicago’s free outdoor classical music tradition since 1935, at the Pritzker Pavilion

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Bettina Swigger, executive director P.O. Box 311 San Luis Obispo, CA 93406 805 781 3009 805 781 3011 (fax) bettina@festivalmozaic.com festivalmozaic.com Hollywood Bowl Los Angeles, CA June 21 to September 28 One of the largest natural amphitheaters in the world, with a seating capacity of nearly 18,000, the Hollywood Bowl has been the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since its official opening in 1922.

Artistic Direction: Gustavo Dudamel Festival Conductors: Stéphane Denève, Gustavo Dudamel, Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla, Nicholas McGegan, Juanjo Mena, Vince Mendoza, Ludovic Morlot, David Newman, John Morris Russell, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Leonard Slatkin, Bramwell Tovey, Joshua Weilerstein, Thomas Wilkins Festival Artists: Steve Martin, banjo; Christian Mcbride, bass; Gautier Capuçon, Yo-Yo Ma, Robert deMaine, cello; Kari Kriikku, clarinet; Peter Erskine, drumset; Trey Anastasio, Miloš Karadaglić, Lee Ritenour, guitar; Inon Barnatan, Yefim Bronfman, Eliane Elias, Dave Grusin, Marc-André Hamelin, Herbie Hancock, JeanYves Thibaudet, Yuja Wang, piano; Alison Balsom, Chris Botti, trumpet; Joshua Bell, Renaud Capuçon, Martin Chalifour, Hilary Hahn, Simone Porter, Gil Shaham, Alexandra Soumm, violin; Patti Austin, Edie Brickell, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Megan Hilty, Chris Isaak, Gregory Porter, Boz Scaggs, vocalists Featured Groups: Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, Count Basie Orchestra, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Los Angeles Master Chorale, The Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Steep Canyon Rangers, US Air Force Band of the Golden West, USC Marching Band Orchestra Affiliation: Los Angeles Philharmonic For Information: Gail Samuel, chief operating officer 2301 North Highland Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90068 323 850 2000 info@laphil.org hollywoodbowl.com Mainly Mozart San Diego, CA May 9 to June 21 One of North America’s top music destinations, celebrated for its imaginative programming, San Diego’s Mainly Mozart Festival offers contemporary music and masterworks performed by today’s most exciting classical and jazz artists.

Festival Artists: Whitney Crockett, bassoon; Eric Kim, Ronald Thomas, Peter Wiley, cello; Todd Palmer, clarinet; Justin Brown, Michael Francis, Nicholas McGegan, Carlos Miguel Prieto, guest conductor; Phillip Bush, Mikael Darmanie, Jenny Lin, Anne-Marie McDermott, Jorge Federico Osorio, Stephen Prutsman, Shai Wosner, piano;

Ben Beilman, Martin Chalifour, James Ehnes, Ida Kavafian, Shari Mason, William Preucil, violin; Che-Yen Chen, Paul Neubauer, viola Featured Groups: Orion String Quartet, Pate de Fua, Squid Inc, Windscape Orchestra Affiliation: Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra For Information: Nancy Laturno, co-founder and executive director 444 West Beech Street, Suite 220 San Diego, CA 92101 619 466 8742 nlaturno@mainlymozart.org mainlymozart.org

Music Academy of the West Santa Barbara, CA June 16 to August 9 The Music Academy’s eight-week summer festival includes more than 200 public events, including performances by faculty, visiting artists, and fellows; masterclasses; orchestra and chamber music concerts; and fully staged opera.

Festival Conductors: Larry Rachleff, James Gaffigan Festival Artists: Joshua Roman, cello; Michelle Baker, horn; Eugene Izotov, oboe; Jeremy Denk, piano; Karen Dreyfus, Cynthia Phelps, viola; Martin Beaver, Martin Chalifour, Jorja Fleezanis, Elmar Oliveira, Sylvia Rosenberg, Alexander Treger, violin Featured Groups: eighth blackbird, Takács Quartet For Information: Tim Dougherty, communications manager 1070 Fairway Road Santa Barbara, CA 93108 805 969 4726 805 969 0686 (fax) festival@musicacademy.org musicacademy.org Music@Menlo Atherton, CA July 18 to August 9 Founded by David Finckel and Wu Han, Music@ Menlo is the San Francisco Bay Area’s premier chamber music festival. Now in its twelfth season, Music@Menlo is renowned for engaging, thematic programming performed by world-class artists.

Artistic Direction: David Finckel, Wu Han Festival Artists: Scott Pingel, bass; Peter Kolkay, bassoon; Dmitri Atapine, David Finckel, Narek Hakhnazaryan, Keith Robinson, cello; Anthony McGill, clarinet; Sooyun Kim, flute; Kevin Rivard, horn; Stephen Taylor, oboe; Florian Conzetti, Christopher Froh, Ayano Kataoka, Ian Rosenbaum, percussion; Gloria Chien, Gilbert Kalish, Anne-Marie McDermott, Hyeyeon Park, Juho Pohjonen, Dina Vainshtein, Gilles Vonsattel, Wu Han, piano; Sunmi Chang, Yura Lee, Paul Neubauer, viola; Benjamin Beilman, Sunmi Chang, Nicolas Dautricourt, Jorja Fleezanis, Erin Keefe, Kristin Lee, Sean Lee, Yura Lee, Arnaud Sussmann, Alexander Sitkovetsky, violin Featured Groups: Danish String Quartet, Escher String Quartet For Information:

Edward P. Sweeney, executive director 50 Valparaiso Avenue Atherton, CA 94027 650 330 2030 650 330 2016 (fax) info@musicatmenlo.org musicatmenlo.org Music in the Mountains SummerFest Nevada City, CA June 11 to July 3 Music in the Mountains presents its critically acclaimed SummerFest concert series from mid-June to July 3, in addition to its extensive education programs including the award-winning Young Composers Project.

Artistic Direction: Pete Nowlen Festival Conductors: Ryan Murray, Pete Nowlen Featured Groups: Music in the Mountains Chorus, Music in the Mountains Festival Orchestra For Information: Kay Drake, event manager 530 Searls Avenue Nevada City, CA 95959 530 265 6173 kay@musicinthemountains.org musicinthemountains.org Ojai Music Festival Ojai, CA June 12 to June 15 The 68th Festival presents a vibrant program of concerts, discussions, and events, inspired by the imagination of Music Director Jeremy Denk, and features the world premiere of a comic opera

by Denk, The Classical Style, based on Charles Rosen’s book with music by Steven Stucky.

Artistic Direction: Thomas W. Morris Festival Conductors: Kevin Fox, Eric Jacobsen, Robert Spano Festival Artists: Steven Stucky, composer; Jeremy Denk, Uri Caine, Timo Andres, piano; Jennifer Frautschi, violin; Storm Large, vocalist Featured Groups: Brooklyn Rider, Hudson Shad, The Knights, Uri Caine Ensemble Orchestra Affiliation: The Knights For Information: Janneke Straub, executive director P.O. Box 185 Ojai, CA 93024 805 646 2094 ggutierrez@ojaifestival.org ojaifestival.org

COLOR ADO

Aspen Music Festival and School Aspen, CO June 26 to August 17 America’s premier music festival, presenting more than 300 events during its summer season.

The institution draws the world’s top classical musicians for an unparalleled combination of performances and music education.

Artistic Direction: Robert Spano, music director Festival Conductors: Christian Arming, Federico Cortese, James Feddeck, Jane Glover, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Nicholas McGegan, Leonard Slatkin, Robert Spano, Hugh Wolff

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Festival Artists: David Finckel, Alisa Weilerstein, cello; Edgar Meyer, double bass; Sharon Isbin, guitar; Yefim Bronfman, Jeremy Denk, Vladimir Feltsman, Marc Andre Hamelin, Dejan Lazic, Joyce Yang, Wu Han, piano; Sarah Chang, Daniel Hope, Stefan Jackiw, Robert McDuffie, Gil Shaham, violin; Isabel Leonard, Eric Owens, vocalist Featured Groups: American Brass Quintet, American String Quartet, Emerson String Quartet, Takács Quartet For Information: Laura Smith, director of marketing and public relations 225 Music School Road Aspen, CO 81611 970 925 3254 970 925 3802 (fax) jszabo@aspenmusic.org aspenmusicfestival.com

Oregon’s Sunriver Music Festival takes place August 8 to 20.

Bravo! Vail Avon, CO June 27 to August 2 Bravo! Vail hosts three of the world’s finest orchestras—The Dallas Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic—in conjunction with a worldrenowned chamber music series.

Festival Conductors: Alan Gilbert, Cristian Măcelaru, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Donald Runnicles, Ted Sperling, Bramwell Tovey, Jeff Tyzik, Stephen Williamson, Ransom Wilson, Jaap van Zweden Festival Artists: Ransom Wilson, flute; John Pizzarelli, guitar; Bridget Kibbey, harp; Liang

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Wang, oboe; Yefim Bronfman, Hélène Grimaud, Stephen Hough, Anne-Marie McDermott, Bramwell Tovey, Gilles Vonsattel, Joyce Yang, piano; James Moore, resonator guitar; Mary Mackenzie, soprano; Joshua Bell, James Ehnes, Midori, violin Featured Groups: Calder Quartet, Dover Quartet, Le Train Bleu, Third Coast Percussion Orchestra Affiliation: The Dallas Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic For Information: Carly West, marketing manager 2271 North Frontage Road West, Suite C Avon, CO 81620 970 827 5700 cwest@bravovail.org bravovail.org Colorado College Summer Music Festival Colorado Springs, CO June 9 to June 29 Celebrating its 30th anniversary, the festival brings international faculty and advanced student musicians together to participate in small chamber ensembles, orchestra, master classes, concerto readings, and private lessons. Concert series includes four festival orchestra concerts and numerous small ensemble performances.

Artistic Direction: Susan Grace Festival Conductor: Scott Yoo Festival Artists: Michael Kroth, bassoon; Bion Tsang, David Ying, cello; Bil Jackson, clarinet; Susan Cahill, double bass; Elizabeth Mann, flute; Stewart Rose, Michael Thornton, horn; Robert Walters, oboe/english horn; Jon Nakamatsu, John Novacek, William Wolfram, piano; John Kinzie, timpani/percussion; John Rojak, trombone; Kevin Cobb, trumpet; Toby Appel, Phillip Ying, viola; Virginia Barron, viola/associate director; Steven Copes, Stefan Hersh, Erin Keefe, Steven Moeckel, Daniel Phillips, violin; Scott Yoo, violin/conductor For Information: Bonnie Clark, administrative assistant Colorado College 14 East Cache La Poudre Street Colorado Springs, CO 80903 719 389 6552 719 389 6955 (fax) festival@coloradocollege.edu coloradocollege.edu/musicfestival Colorado Music Festival Boulder, CO June 28 to August 8 Colorado Music Festival’s six-week summer festival presents orchestral concerts, chamber music, and our successful "Music Mash-Up" series, in historic Chautauqua Auditorium and Town Hall in Boulder. Features a resident worldclass orchestra and exciting guest conductors and artists.

Festival Conductors: multiple guests this summer, including: William Boughton, Michael Butterman, Joshua Gersen, Lawrence Golan,

Andrew Grams, Steven Hackman, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Larry Rachleff, Jean-Marie Zeitouni Festival Artists: Kristin Newborn, alto; Will Post, baritone; Brook Speltz, cello; Amy Jo Rhine, horn; Chris Taylor, William Wolfram, piano; Susan Lorette Dunn, soprano; Andrew Lipke, tenor; Jennifer Koh, Chad Hoopes, Joseph Meyer, violin Featured Groups: San Fermin For Information: Brandi Numedahl, marketing director Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road Boulder, CO 80302 303 440 7666 numedahl@comusic.org comusic.org Music in the Mountains Durango, CO July 13 to August 3 Music in the Mountains is southwest Colorado’s premier classical music festival. Enjoy 3 weeks of orchestra, chamber, and conservatory concerts/ events, featuring world-class musicians in beautiful mountain settings.

Artistic Direction: Gregory Hustis Festival Conductor: Guillermo Figueroa Festival Artists: Carol Wincenc, flute; Richard Kaufman, Carl Topilow, guest conductor; Alexandre Moutouzkine, Aviram Reichert, piano; Vadim Gluzman, Philippe Quint, violin Featured Groups: Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis, Durango Choral Society, Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul, Mana Quartet For Information: Angie Beach, executive director 1063 Main Avenue Durango, CO 81301 970 385 6820 info@musicinthemountains.com musicinthemountains.com National Repertory Orchestra Breckenridge, CO June 14 to August 1 The National Repertory Orchestra performs two full orchestra concerts each week in beautiful Breckenridge, CO. 88 talented young musicians from around the world come together for our summer music festival.

Artistic Direction: Carl Topilow Festival Conductors: William Eddins, Jeffrey Kahane, Andrew Litton, Michael Stern, Carl Topilow For Information: Douglas Adams, CEO/COO 111 South Main Street, Unit C7 Breckenridge, CO 80424 970 453 5825 970 453 5833 (fax) julie@nromusic.com nromuisc.com Strings Music Festival Steamboat Springs, CO June 21 to August 16 The 27-year-old Music Festival hosts over 65 performances of classical music, jazz, rock, country, bluegrass, world rhythms, and more every

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summer. Artists include Grammy award winners, major competition winners, and principal players from the most renowned orchestras.

Artistic Direction: Andrés Cárdenes Festival Conductor: Andrés Cárdenes Festival Artists: David Hardy, cello; Andrés Cárdenes, conductor/violin; Sean Chen, Jon Kimura Parker, Menahem Pressler, piano Featured Groups: Calder Quartet, Strings Festival Orchestra Orchestra Affiliation: Strings Music Festival Orchestra For Information: Kay Clagett, executive director 900 Strings Road Steamboat Springs, CO 80477 970 879 5056 970 879 7460 (fax) strings@stringsmusicfestival.com stringsmusicfestival.com

C ONNE C TIC U T

Talcott Mountain Music Festival Simsbury, CT June 27 to July 25 The summer home of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, the Talcott Mountain Music Festival features five outdoor concerts with the HSO and guest artists, in scenic Simsbury, CT. Artistic Direction: Carolyn Kuan Orchestra Affiliation: Hartford Symphony Orchestra For Information: Iron Horse Boulevard Simsbury, CT 06070 860 244 2999 info@hartfordsymphony.org hartfordsymphony.org See our ad this page.

F L OR ID A

Sarasota Music Festival Sarasota, FL June 1 to June 22 The Sarasota Music Festival is an intense 3-week experience of chamber music, master classes, and concerts, with coaching by distinguished faculty and performance of chamber music its focus.

Artistic Direction: Robert Levin Orchestra Affiliation: Sarasota Orchestra For Information: RoseAnne McCabe, administrative director 709 North Tamiami Trail Sarasota, FL 34236 941 487 4730 941 953 3059 (fax) smf@sarasotaorchestra.org sarasotamusicfestival.org Summerfest Fort Lauderdale, FL May 30 to August 16 Annual festival with renowned international chamber orchestra in residence joined by SOA musicians in concerts and recordings, beginning in Rome 2014 and continuing throughout South Florida and the Americas.

Artistic Direction: James Brooks-Bruzzese Festival Conductors: James Brooks-Bruzzese americanorchestras.org

SUMMER FESTIVALS

2014

Festival Artists: Lorenzo Turchi-Floris, composer/ conductor/piano; Marilyn Maingart, flute Featured Groups: Mission Chamber Orchestra of Rome Orchestra Affiliation: Symphony of the Americas For Information: Renee LaBonte, vice president/executive director 2425 East Commercial Boulevard, # 405 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308 954 335 7002 954 335 7008 (fax) im4arts@aol.com symphonyoftheamericas.org

IDAHO

Sun Valley Summer Symphony Sun Valley, ID July 27 to August 19 The 2014 season is the 30th anniversary of free-admission Sun Valley Summer Symphony orchestra and chamber ensemble concerts.

Performances are at the Sun Valley Pavilion.

Artistic Direction: Alasdair Neale Festival Conductors: Ankush Kumar Bahl, assistant conductor; Alasdair Neale, music director Festival Artists: Joshua Roman, cello; John Glenn, narrator; Alfredo Rodriguez, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano; Renée Fleming, soprano; Joshua Bell, violin Featured Groups: Pixar in Concert, Tiempo Libre, Time for Three For Information: Jennifer Teisinger, executive director P.O. Box 1914 Sun Valley, ID 83353 208 622 5607 208 622 9149 (fax) info@svsummersymphony.org svsummersymphony.org

Chorus, Artists from the Lyric Opera’s Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center, Mariachi Los Camperos, National Youth Orchestra, Portland Youth Philharmonic Orchestra Affiliation: Grant Park Orchestra For Information: Jill Hurwitz, director of marketing and media relations 205 East Randolph Street Chicago, IL 60601 312 742 7638 312 742 7662 (fax) info@gpmf.org gpmf.org Maud Powell Music Festival Peru, IL June 23 to August 20 The Maud Powell Music Festival brings top-quality performances and educational opportunities to the Midwest. Special events include a children’s musical and a four-state recital tour by festival staff.

Artistic Direction: Kevin McMahon Festival Conductors: Michael Alexander, David Leibowitz, Kevin McMahon, Chris Sheppard, Shawn Weber McMahon Festival Artists: Richard Beyers, bells; Michael Allen, Bennett Randman, cello; Kevin McMahon, composer/violin; Li Shan Hung, Mary Schallhorn, piano; Carol Shamory, soprano; William Farlow, stage director; Shawn Weber McMahon, stage director/soprano; Larry Glenn, stage director/

Carolyn Kuan, Music Director

ILLINOIS

Grant Park Music Festival Chicago, IL June 11 to August 16 Each summer, the Grant Park Music Festival presents ten weeks of free classical concerts at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. In 2014, the Festival celebrates its 80th season.

Artistic Direction: Carlos Kalmar Festival Conductors: Christopher Bell, Mei-Ann Chen, George Fenton, Andrew Grams, Giancarlo Guerrero, David Hattner, Carlos Kalmar, David Robertson, Leonard Slatkin, Jeff Tyzik, Hugh Wolff Festival Artists: Shenyang, Alfred Walker, bass; Gabriel Cabezas, cello; William Bolcom, composer-in-residence; Julie Boulianne, Jill Grove, mezzo-soprano; Damon Gupton, narrator; Michel Camilo, Jean-Philippe Collard, Stephen Hough, Natasha Paremski, piano; Tracy Cantin, Christine Goerke, soprano; Paul Appleby, Garrett Sorenson, tenor; Byron Stripling, trumpet; Stefan Jackiw, Gil Shaham, Christian Tetzlaff, violin; Marva Hicks, Storm Large, vocalist Featured Groups: Grant Park Orchestra and

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June 27 – July 25, 2014

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tenor; Allison Fleck, Katie Roy, viola; Robert McNally, violin Featured Groups: Marquette County Chamber Chorale, Marquette Male Chorus, Maud Powell Children’s Chorus, Maud Powell Quartet, Maud Powell Trio For Information: Kevin McMahon, artistic director P.O. Box 501 Peru, IL 61354 815 638 2495 mpmf@hughes.net powellfest.com Ravinia Highland Park, IL June 6 to September 15 Ravinia’s 2014 “Summer of Love; Season of Stars” presents over 120 events, including Salome, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, and the summer residency of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Artistic Direction: James Conlon, Welz Kauffman Festival Conductors: James Conlon, Russell Ger, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Eric Jacobsen, Paavo Järvi, Susanna Mälkki, Robert Moody, David Newman, Steven Reineke, Ted Sperling, Bramwell Tovey, Krzysztof Urbanski, Ludwig Wicki Festival Artists: David Bižić, Stéphane Degout, Matthias Goerne, Christopher Maltman, baritone; Paul Corona, John Relyea, Kristinn Sigmundsson, Egils Silins, Yohan Yi, bass-baritone; Yitzchak Meir Helfgot, cantor; Nicolas Altstaedt, Mike Block, Yo-Yo Ma, cello; Sir James Galway, Lady Jeanne Galway, flute; Miloš Karadaglić, guitar; Renée Rapier, mezzo-soprano; Jonathan Biss, Anthony de Mare, Anna Fedorova, Paul Ford, David Fung, José Gallaro, Julie Gunn, Denis Kozhukhin, Dejan Lazić, Alain Lefèvre, Simon Lepper, Denis Matsuev, Kevin Murphy, Pedja Muzijevic, Garrick Ohlsson, Javier Perianes, Juho Pohjonen, Alexander Schmalcz, Peter Serkin, Alexandra Silocea, Dan Tepfer, Chucho Valdés, Andrew von Oeyen, Orion Weiss, Alexey Zuev, Zhang Zuo, piano; Ashu, saxophone; Alexandra Deshorties, Soile Isokoski, Kiri Te Kanawa, Marie McLaughlin, Aga Mikolaj, Lisette Oropesa, Simone Osborne, Ailyn Pérez, Patricia Racette, Gabriele Schnaut, Dawn Upshaw, Tamara Wilson, soprano; Benjamin Bliss, Joseph Kaiser, Saimir Pirgu, Rodell Rosel, Wolfgang Schmidt, tenor; Joshua Bell, Miriam Fried, Midori, violin; Ben Crawford, Nathan Gunn, Aaron Lazar, Mandy Patinkin, Deborah Voigt, Betsy Wolfe, vocalist Featured Groups: Chanticleer, Chicago Children’s Choir, Chicago Chorale, Chicago Philharmonic, Chicago Pro Musica, Chicago Symphony Chorus, Concert Dance Inc., Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Emerson String Quartet, Juilliard String Quartet, Klezmer Conservatory Band Orchestra Affiliation: Chicago Symphony Orchestra For Information: Nick Pullia, director of communications 418 Sheridan Road Highland Park, IL 60035 847 266 5100 847 266 0641 (fax) tickets@ravinia.org ravinia.org

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Woodstock Mozart Festival Woodstock, IL July 24 to August 10 Chamber ensemble and orchestral concerts in the charming 1880’s Woodstock Opera House and opulent Place de la Musique. Tours of the Place’s spectacular Sanfilippo Antique Mechanical Instruments Museum also available.

Artistic Direction: Anita Whalen Festival Conductors: Igor Gruppman, Istvan Jaray Festival Artists: Alexander Fiterstein, clarinet; Igor Lipinski, piano; Vesna Gruppman, viola; Igor Gruppman, violin Orchestra Affiliation: Woodstock Mozart Fesival For Information: Anita Whalen, artistic and general director 121 Van Buren Street Woodstock, IL 60098 815 338 5300 815 334 2287 (fax) mozartfest@aol.com mozartfest.org

INDIANA

Marsh “Symphony on the Prairie” Fishers, IN June 20 to September 1 The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra presents its 33rd annual Marsh “Symphony on the Prairie” outdoor summer concert series, at the Conner Prairie Amphitheater. The series includes a mix of symphonic classical and pops programs, and special presentations.

Festival Conductors: Teddy Abrams, guest conductor; Jack Everly, ISO principal pops conductor; David Glover, ISO assistant conductor; Brent Havens, guest conductor; Al Savia, guest conductor Festival Artists: Mike Runyan, harmonica; Eric Zuber, piano Featured Groups: Classical Mystery Tour, Glenn Miller Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra,Time for Three,Tribute to John Denver Orchestra Affiliation: Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra For Information: Zack French, director of artistic planning 13400 Allisonville Road Fishers, IN 46038 317 639 4300 iso@indianapolissymphony.org indianapolissymphony.org South Shore Summer Music Festival Munster, IN July 19 to August 9 Join the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra for their 8th annual festival, offering free concerts in Cedar Lake, Griffith, Crown Point, Wolf Lake, Miller Beach, and Schererville. Family fun for everyone!

Artistic Direction: Kirk Muspratt Festival Conductor: Kirk Muspratt Orchestra Affiliation: Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra

For Information: Tammie Miller, marketing coordinator 1040 Ridge Road Munster, IN 46321 219 836 0525 info@nisorchestra.org nisorchestra.org

MAIN E

Bar Harbor Music Festival Bar Harbor, ME June 29 to July 27 Hailed as “Maine’s premier music festival,” now in its 48th season in a spectacular setting, highights will inlcude Puccini’s La Bohème and the 31st Annual “New Composers” Concert, “American Experimental Music” featuring Ensemble Pamplemousse.

Artistic Direction: Francis Fortier Festival Conductors: Francis Fortier, conductor, Bar Harbor Music Festival String Orchestra; Joseph Li, music director, Bar Harbor Music Festival Opera Theatre Festival Artists: Jimmy Mazzy, banjo; Chad Sloan, baritone; Jesse Marino, cello; John Clark, clarinet; Natacha Diels, Allison Kiger, flute; Katherine Lerner, mezzo-soprano; Gerard Reuter, oboe; Andrew Greenwald, percussion; David Broome, Christopher Johnson, Joseph Li, Antonio Galera López, piano; Janinah Burnett, April Martin, soprano; Fenlon Lamb, stage director; Jeffrey Ellenberger, Kiku Enomoto, Francis Fortier, violin Featured Groups: Ardelia Trio, Bar Harbor Festival String Orchestra, Bar Harbor Music Festival Opera Theatre, Brass Venture, Ensemble Pamplemousse, Wolverine Jazz Band Orchestra Affiliation: Bar Harbor Festival String Orchestra For Information: Deborah Swanger Fortier Before June 16th: 741 West End Avenue, Suite 4-B New York, NY 10025 212 222 1026 212 222 3269 (fax) After June 16th: The Rodick Building 59 Cottage Street Bar Harbor, ME 04609 207 288 5744 207 288 5886 (fax) info@barharbormusicfestival.org barharbormusicfestival.org

MASSACH U SETTS

Landmarks Concerts at the DCR’s Hatch Shell Boston, MA July 16 to August 27 Boston Landmarks Orchestra offers free concerts at the DCR’s Hatch Shell, beginning at 7 pm, in July and August. Concerts feature collaborations with other performing, educational, and social service organizations.

Festival Conductor: Christopher Wilkins, music director Featured Groups: Back Bay Chorale, Boston Lyric Opera, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Conservatory Lab Charter School, Horace

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Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción (IBA), Longwood Symphony Orchestra, New England Spiritual Ensemble Orchestra Affiliation: Boston Landmarks Orchestra For Information: 617 987 2000 617 987 0195 (fax) info@landmarksorchestra.org landmarksorchestra.org Tanglewood Lenox, MA June 27 to August 30 Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO), has offered a wide spectrum of concerts since 1937. This season features over 100 performances, including concerts by the BSO, Boston Pops, and Tanglewood Music Center (BSO’s summer academy); chamber music, recital, and opera; and popular artists.

Festival Conductors: David Angus, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Stéphane Denève, Charles Dutoit, Asher Fisch, Paavo Järvi, Marcelo Lehninger, Keith Lockhart, Nicholas McGegan, Andris Nelsons, John Oliver, David Robertson, Leonard Slatkin, Christoph von Dohnányi, John Williams Festival Artists: Jeffrey Fields, Thomas Hampson, Paul LaRosa, David McFerrin, Daniel Mobbs, Richard Suart, baritone; John Relyea, bassbaritone; Yo-Yo Ma, cello; Scott Robinson, clarinet; Robin Blaze, Drew Minter, countertenor; Jay Anderson, doublebass; Sarah Connolly, Heather Johnson, Kathryn Leemhuis, Isabel Leonard, Elena Manistina, Tamara Mumford, Frederica von Stade, mezzo-soprano; John Ferrillo, oboe; Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Jeremy Denk, Kirill Gerstein, Frank Kimbrough, Paul Lewis, Nikolai Lugansky, Gabriela Montero, Garrick Ohlsson, Wolfram Rieger, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Lars Vogt, piano; Sophie Bevan, Chelsea Basler, Nicole Cabells, Anna Christy, Angela Denoke, Renée Fleming, Amanda Forsythe, Amy Freston, Meredith Hansens, Dominique Labelle, Céline Ricci, Camilla Tilling, Dawn Upshaw, Caroline Worra, soprano; Beau Gibson, Omar Najmi, Nicholas Phan, Alex Richardson, Noah Stewart, tenor; Håkan Hardenberger, Thomas Rolfs, trumpet; Joshua Bell, Augustin Hadelich, Leonidas Kavakos, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Gil Shaham, violin; Jason Alexander, Josh Groban, James Taylor, vocalist Featured Groups: A Prairie Home Companion at Tanglewood with Garrison Keillor, Boston Pops Orchestra, Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Ensemble,Tanglewood Festival Chorus,Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra Orchestra Affiliation: Boston Symphony Orchestra For Information: Mark Volpe, managing director 297 West Street Lenox, MA 01240 888 266 1200 customerservice@bso.org tanglewood.org americanorchestras.org

SUMMER FESTIVALS

2014 M INNESOTA

Minnesota Beethoven Festival Winona, MN June 29 to July 20 The eighth annual Minnesota Beethoven Festival, held in the beautiful bluff country of Winona, includes nine concerts showcasing orchestral, choral, and chamber music, performed by some of the great artists of our time.

Artistic Direction: Ned Kirk Festival Conductor: Dale Warland Festival Artists: Thomas Hampson, baritone; Edgar Meyer, double bass; Sir James Galway, flute; Ned Kirk, André Laplante, Anne-Marie McDermott, piano; Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, violin Featured Groups: Attacca Quartet, Boston Brass, Minnesota Beethoven Festival Chorale, New York Chamber Soloists, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra For Information: Caroline Kirk, marketing and public relations director P.O. Box 1143 Winona, MN 55987 507 474 9055 info@mnbeethovenfestival.org mnbeethovenfestival.org

MISSOU R I

Hot Summer Nights Columbia, MO June 5 to June 13 A six-week, twenty-two concert festival featuring the Missouri Symphony and famed guest artists.

Five classical, four pops, three family, and three chamber concerts complement community concerts throughout mid-Missouri.

Artistic Direction: Kirk Trevor Festival Conductor: Kirk Trevor Festival Artists: Umi Garrett, piano; Erin Schreiber, violin; Jennifer Holliday, Alli Mauzy, Nicole Parker, vocalist Orchestra Affiliation: Missouri Symphony Orchestra For Information: Kirk Trevor, music director P.O. Box 841 Columbia, MO 65205 573 875 0600 chriscampbell@mosymphonysociety.org mosymphonysociety.org

MON TAN A

Festival Amadeus 2014 Kalispell, MT August 3 to August 10 A week featuring the sublime classical chamber and orchestra music of Mozart and more. Held in Whitefish, MT, near Glacier National Park. Free outdoor concert opening night.

Artistic Direction: John Zoltek

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Festival Conductor: John Zoltek Festival Artists: Tanya Gabrielian, Spencer Myer, piano; Kinga Augustyn, violin; Featured Groups: Festival Amadeus Orchestra, Fry Street Quartet Orchestra Affiliation: Glacier Symphony For Information: Alan Satterlee, executive director P.O. Box 2491 69 North Main Street Kalispell, MT 59901 406 407 7000 info@gscmusic.org gscmusic.org

N E W HA M PS H IRE

SUMMER FESTIVALS

2014

Festival Orchestra For Information: Deborah Leonard Kosits, executive director 85 Main Street, Suite 305 Plymouth, NH 03264 603 238 9007 888 797 1558 (fax) info@nhmf.org nhmf.org

NE W MEXICO

New Hampshire Music Festival Plymouth, NH July 8 to August 14 Six-week music festival honoring the tradition of classical music, while exploring new artistic paths. NHMF connects the Lakes Region with an engaging, immersive experience through world-class performances, collaborations with community partners, and educational programs.

Artistic Direction: Donato Cabrera, music director Festival Conductors: Donato Cabrera Festival Artists: Nicolasa Kuster, bassoon; chorus and soloists for Verdi’s Requiem; Elizandro Garcia Montoya, clarinet; Nathaniel Stookey, composer; Frances Renzi, piano; David Loucky, trombone Orchestra Affiliation: New Hampshire Music

Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival Santa Fe, NM July 20 to August 25 In its 42nd season, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, nestled in the breathtaking Sangre de Cristo Mountains, presents a summer season filled with world-renowned artists performing compelling programs of chamber masterworks.

Artistic Direction: Marc Neikrug Festival Artists: Leigh Mesh, bass; James Shields, bass clarinet; Christopher Millard, Theodore Soluri, bassoon; Mark Brandfonbrener, Timothy Eddy, Clive Greensmith, Joseph Johnson, Eric Kim, Mark Kosower, Camden Shaw, Wilhelmina Smith, Peter Stumpf, Ronald Thomas, cello; Todd Levy, David Shifrin, Stephen Williamson, clarinet; Bart Feller, Tara Helen O’Connor, flute; Lynn Gorman DeVelder,

harp; Kathleen McIntosh, harpsichord; Julie Landsman, Jennifer Montone, Philip Myers, Eric Ruske, horn; Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano; Robert Ingliss, Kyle Mustain, Liang Wang, oboe; David Tolen, percussion; Victor Santiago Asuncion, Inon Barnatan, Alessio Bax, Yefim Bronfman (2014 Artist-in-Residence), Ran Dank, Benjamin Hochman, Joseph Kalichstein, William Kinderman (piano/lecturer), Lowell Liebermann, Jon Nakamatsu, Pei-Yao Wang, piano; Tony Arnold, soprano; Caleb Hudson, trumpet; Choong-Jin Chang, Brett Dean, L.P. How, Hsin-Yun Huang, Ida Kavafian, Benny Kim, Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, Cynthia Phelps, Daniel Phillips, Steven Tenenbom, viola; Martin Beaver, Benjamin Beilman, Kathleen Brauer, Harvey de Souza, Jennifer Frautschi, Jennifer Gilbert, L.P. How, Ida Kavafian, Benny Kim, Bryan Lee, Jessica Lee, Joel Link, Daniel Phillips, Todd Phillips, William Preucil, violin Featured Groups: Dover Quartet, FLUX Quartet, Johannes String Quartet, O’Connor String Quartet, Orion String Quartet For Information: Steven Ovitsky, executive director P.O. Box 2227 Santa Fe, NM 87504 505 983 2075 sovitsky@sfcmf.org santafechambermusic.com

NEW YORK

Bard SummerScape and Bard Music Festival Annandale-on-Hudson, NY June 27 to August 17 The Bard Music Festival: Schubert and His World; Carl Maria von Weber’s opera Euryanthe; Proscenium Works: 1979–2011, with Trisha Brown Dance Company; and Love in the Wars by John Banville.

Artistic Direction: Leon Botstein Festival Conductors: Leon Botstein Festival Artists: Andrew Schroeder, baritone; Eric Halfvarson, bass; Kevin Newbury, Ken Rus Schmoll, director; Danny Driver, Piers Lane, Anna Polonsky, Orion Weiss, piano; Sara Jakubiak, soprano; Nicholas Phan, tenor Featured Groups: Dover Quartet, Trisha Brown Dance Company Orchestra Affiliation: American Symphony Orchestra For Information: P.O. Box 5000 Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12449 845 758 7900 fishercenter@bard.edu fishercenter.bard.edu Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival Bridgehampton, NY July 29 to August 4 Celebrating its 31st season, BCMF presents distinctive programs highlighting chamber music masterworks and exciting new repertoire, including commissions. BCMF created a recording label in 2012, and concerts take place in the intimate Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church.

Artistic Direction: Marya Martin

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Caramoor Center for Music & the Arts 2014 Summer Music Festival Katonah, NY June 21 to August 3 Caramoor, a performing arts center in Westchester County, NY, invites audiences to experience beautiful music in its intimate venues and gardens. Its mission includes mentoring young professional musicians and providing education programs for children.

Festival Conductors: Pablo Heras-Casado, Jeffrey Kahane Festival Artists: Alisa Weilerstein, Edward Arron, cello; Jason Vieaux, guitar; Jeffrey Kahane, piano; Angela Meade, soprano; Joshua Bell, violin; Patti LuPone, vocalist Featured Groups: Ariel Quartet, Dover Quartet, Juilliard String Quartet Orchestra Affiliation: Orchestra of St. Luke’s For Information: 149 Girdle Ridge Road Katonah, NY 10536 914 232 1252 boxoffice@caramoor.org caramoor.org Chautauqua Institution Chautauqua, NY June 21 to August 24 Founded in 1874 as a lifelong learning center for the arts, education, religion and recreation, Chautauqua Institution presents symphony, opera, dance, theater, chamber music, folk, rock, jazz, country, the visual arts, continuing education classes, and lectures.

Artistic Direction: Marty W. Merkley Festival Conductors: Daniel Boico, Stuart Chafetz, Grant Cooper, Bruce Hangen, Marcelo Lehninger, Christian Macelaru, Rossen Milanov, Roberto Minczuk, Timothy Muffitt, Christof Perick, Maximiano Valdes Festival Artists: Eli Eban, clarinet; Roger Kaza, French horn; Alexander Gavrylyuk, Stanislav Khristenko, Andreas Klein, Jon Nakamatsu, Di Wu, piano; Paul Neubauer, viola; Augustin americanorchestras.org

2014

Hadelich, violin Featured Groups: A Far Cry, Anderson and Roe, Canadian Brass, Chautauqua Chamber Winds, Chautauqua Dance, Chautauqua Opera, Chautauqua String Quartet, Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Chautauqua Theater Company, Cleveland ChamberFest, Dancing Wheels, Donald Sinta Saxophone Quartet, Garth New Orchestra Affiliation: Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra

Richard Goode, Steven Osborne, Lars Vogt, Yuja Wang, piano; Susanna Phillips, soprano; Dimitiri Pittas, tenor; Joshua Bell, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, violin; Lawrence Power, Antoine Tamestit, viola Featured Groups: Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Emerson String Quartet, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra Orchestra Affiliation: Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra For Information: 70 Lincoln Center Plaza New York, NY 10023 212 721 6500 mostlymozart.org

Chris Lee

Festival Artists: Donald Palma, bass; Peter Kolkay, bassoon; Edward Arron, Carter Brey, Clive Greensmith, Antonio Lysy, Michael Nicholas, Peter Stumpf, Peter Wiley, cello; Romie de Guise-Langlois, clarinet; Bridget Kibbey, harp; Stewart Rose, horn; Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo-soprano; Ian David Rosenbaum, percussion; Gilles Vonsattel, Orion Weiss, Shai Wosner, Joyce Yang, piano; Ettore Causa, Beth Guterman, Dmitri Murrath, Cynthia Phelps, viola; Jennifer Frautschi, Frank Huang, Stefan Jackiw, Ani Kavafian, Erin Keefe, Joseph Lin, Anthony Marwood, Amy Schwartz Moretti, Cindy Wu, violin Featured Groups: Brooklyn Rider For Information: Michael Lawrence, executive director 850 Seventh Avenue, Suite 700 New York, NY 10019 212 741 9073 212 741 9403 (fax) info@bcmf.org bcmf.org

SUMMER FESTIVALS

Music Director Alan Gilbert leads the New York Philharmonic in Central Park.

For Information: Marty W. Merkley, vice president and director of programming P.O. Box 28 One Ames Avenue Chautauqua, NY 14722 716 357 6217 716 357 9014 (fax) mmerkley@ciweb.org ciweb.org Mostly Mozart Festival New York, NY July 25 to August 23 Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival—now in its 48th season—features concerts by the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, chamber music, and late-night recitals with the world’s best artists.

Artistic Direction: Jane S. Moss, Ehrenkranz artistic director Festival Conductors: Paavo Järvi; Louis Langrée, Renée and Robert Belfer music director; Andrew Manze; Nicholas McGegan; Gianandrea Noseda; Osmo Vänskä; David Zinman Festival Artists: Morris Robinson, bass; Martin Frost, clarinet; Kelley O’Connor, mezzo-soprano;

New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks 2014 New York, NY July 9 to July 15 NY Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks returns for its 49th season with 5 free outdoor concerts conducted by Alan Gilbert: Prospect Park (July 9), Cunningham Park (July 10), Central Park (July 11 and 14), Van Cortlandt Park (July 15).

Festival Conductor: Alan Gilbert Festival Artists: Joshua Bell, violin Orchestra Affiliation: New York Philharmonic For Information: New York Philharmonic 10 Lincoln Center Plaza Avery Fisher Hall New York, NY 10023 212 875 5700 pr@nyphil.org nyphil.org The Philadelphia Orchestra Concert Series at Saratoga Performing Arts Center Saratoga Springs, NY August 6 to August 23

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The Philadelphia Orchestra performs three weeks of concerts in upstate New York, featuring renowned conductors and guest artists.

Festival Conductors: Stéphane Denève, Cristian Măcelaru, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Itzhak Perlman, Steven Reineke, Bramwell Tovey Festival Artists: Alison Balsom, Cirque de la Symphonie, Gautier Capuçon, Jeremy Denk, Elizabeth Hainen, Miloš Karadaglić, Denis Kozhukhin, Alain Lefèvre, Yo-Yo Ma, the New York City Ballet, Itzhak Perlman, Alisa Weilerstein Orchestra Affiliation: The Philadelphia Orchestra For Information: One South Broad Street Philadelphia, PA 19107 518 584 9330 518 584 0809 (fax) spac.org SummerMusic 2014 Bronx, NY July 1 to August 31 Free outdoor Friday evening concerts in Pelham Bay Park and Sunday afternoon concerts in Van Cortlandt Park and at Fordham University in the Bronx.

Artistic Direction: William Scribner Festival Artists: William Scribner, bassoon; Bruce Wang, cello; Mitchell Kriegler, clarinet; Theresa Norris, flute; Sharon Moe, horn; Marsha Heller, oboe; Veronica Salas, Sally Shumway, viola; Jorge Avila, Francisca Mendoza, violin Featured Groups: Bronx Arts Ensemble For Information: William Scribner, executive/artistic director 80 Van Cortlandt Park South, Suite 7D-1 Bronx, NY 10463 718 601 7399 718 549 4008 (fax) events@bronxartsensemble.org bronxartsensemble.org

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viola; Adele Anthony, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Kelly Hall-Tompkins, Paul Huang, Itzhak Perlman, violin For Information: Jason Posnock, director of artistic planning and educational programs 349 Andante Lane Brevard, NC 28712 828 862 2100 brevardmusic.org

Summertime Classics New York, NY July 2 to July 6 The NY Philharmonic presents its 11th season of Summertime Classics featuring an allRussian program with pianist Joyce Yang and an Americana Program including pieces by Gershwin and Copland.

Festival Conductor: Bramwell Tovey Festival Artists: Joyce Yang, piano Orchestra Affiliation: New York Philharmonic For Information: New York Philharmonic 10 Lincoln Center Plaza Avery Fisher Hall New York, NY 10023 212 875 5700 pr@nyphil.org nyphil.org

Summerfest at Cary’s Booth Amphitheatre Cary, NC May 24 to July 12 Join the North Carolina Symphony for outdoor summer concerts that feature celebrated guest artists and talent from close to home. Since its debut in 1984, this engaging series has been an annual tradition.

Artistic Direction: William Henry Curry Festival Conductors: William Henry Curry, David Glover, Grant Llewellyn Featured Groups: Beethoven’s 5th, Carmina Burana, Broadway Romance, The Music of John Williams Orchestra Affiliation: North Carolina Symphony For Information: Joe Newberry, director of communications 3700 Glenwood Avenue Raleigh, NC 27612 919 789 5484 jnewberry@ncsymphony.org ncsymphony.org

NO RTH CAR OLIN A

Brevard Music Center Brevard, NC June 21 to August 3 Brevard Music Center presents more than 80 performances over seven weeks. BMC students and faculty perform free and paid concerts featuring internationally-acclaimed conductors and soloists. Visit brevardmusic.org for more information.

Festival Conductors: Matthias Bamert, JoAnn Falletta, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Sarah Ioannides, Ken Lam, Keith Lockhart, Danail Rachev, Jerome Shannon Festival Artists: Lev Mamuya, Tavi Ungerleider, cello; Eric Ohlsson, oboe; Ingrid Fliter, Vadym Kholodenko, Norman Krieger, Garrick Ohlsson, Louis Schwizgebel, Conrad Tao, piano; Ilana Davidson, soprano; Juan Miguel Hernandez,

OHIO

Lancaster Festival Lancaster, OH July 16 to July 26 The 30th anniversary season marks the 27th year for the Lancaster Festival Orchestra and Maestro Gary Sheldon. Both indoor and outdoor venues are used in this beautiful central Ohio community.

Artistic Direction: Gary Sheldon Festival Conductor: Gary Sheldon Festival Artists: John Sant’Ambrogio, cello; Vadim Neselovskyi, Judith Lynn Stillman, piano; Dmitri Pogorelov, Stephanie Sant’Ambrogio, violin Featured Groups: Atlanta Ballet’s Wabi Sabi; Lancaster Festival Orchestra; Veronika String Quartet Orchestra Affiliation: Lancaster Festival Orchestra For Information: Lou Ross, executive director P.O. Box 1452 Lancaster, OH 43130 740 687 4808 740 687 1980 (fax) lanfest@lanfest.org lancasterfestival.org

Paul Purpura

At the Wintergreen Summer Music Festival and Academy in Virginia, Academy ensembles present a series known as Music in Unusual Places—sometimes very unusual.

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Cincinnati May Festival: America’s Premier Choral Festival Cincinnati, OH May 7 to May 18 The 2014 season showcases the May Festival Chorus, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and world-renowned guest artists in a variety of performances of the great choral repertoire. Choral works by John Adams, Beethoven, Copland, Dett, Hogan, Mahler, Tchaikovsky, and Thomson.

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Artistic Direction: James Conlon Festival Conductors: James Bagwell, director, May Festival Youth Chorus; James Conlon, music director; Kelly Corcoran, chorus director, Nashville Symphony Chorus; Robyn Lana, artistic director, Cincinnati Children’s Choir; Robert Porco, director of choruses, Cincinnati May Festival Festival Artists: Donnie Ray Albert, James Johnson, baritone; Kristinn Sigmundsson, bass; Ronnita Nicole Miller, Sara Murphy, mezzosoprano; Tracy Cox, Latonia Moore, Erin Wall, soprano; Rodrick Dixon, Brandon Jovanovich, tenor Featured Groups: Cincinnati Children’s Choir, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, May Festival Chorus, May Festival Youth Chorus, Nashville Symphony Chorus Orchestra Affiliation: Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra For Information: Lauren Hess, marketing and communications manager 1241 Elm Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 513 744 3250 513 744 3535 (fax) lhess@mayfestival.com mayfestival.com

OKLAHOMA

OK Mozart International Festival Bartlesville, OK June 7 to June 14 For 30 years, Oklahoma’s premier music festival has brought world-class musicians to Bartlesville for an internationally recognized event.You’ll hear classical and chamber music, plus performing arts, jazz, pops and Broadway tunes. Events for the entire family include performances, tours, historical talks, and children’s activities.

Artistic Direction: Constantine Kitsopoulos Festival Conductor: Constantine Kitsopoulos Festival Artists: Jon Kimura Parker, piano; Sarah Jarosz, singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Featured Groups: Miro Quartet, OKM All-State Youth Orchestra Orchestra Affiliation: Amici New York Orchestra For Information: Linda Keller, public relations/marketing director 415 South Dewey Avenue Bartlesville, OK 74003 918 336 9900 918 336 9525 (fax) lkeller@okmozart.com okmozart.com See our ad on page 54.

OREGON

Britt Festival Medford, OR July 29 to August 17 Maestro Teddy Abrams leads the Britt Festival Orchestra in his first season as music director. The Orchestra performs three weekends of concerts under the stars in Britt’s beautiful outdoor setting.

Artistic Direction: Teddy Abrams Festival Conductors: Teddy Abrams Festival Artists: Bela Fleck, banjo; Andrew

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von Oeyen, Julio Elizalde, piano; Storm Large, soprano; Augustin Hadelich, violin Featured Groups: Time for Three Orchestra Affiliation: Britt Festival Orchestra For Information: Angela Warren, director of performing arts 216 West Main Street P.O. Box 1124 Medford, OR 97501 541 779 0847 541 776 3712 (fax) angela.warren@brittfest.org brittfest.org Chamber Music Northwest Portland, OR June 23 to July 27 Now in its 44th season, the festival unites 78 world-renowned musicians, composers, and dancers to present five weeks of extraordinary chamber music, from Bach to Harbison and beyond.

Artistic Direction: David Shifrin Festival Artists: Andrés Díaz, Fred Sherry, cello; David Shifrin, clarinet; Edgar Meyer, double bass; Tara Helen O’Connor, flute; Mike Marshall, mandolin; Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano; Allan Vogel, oboe; André Watts, piano; Paul Neubauer, viola; Ben Beilman, Steven Copes, Leila Josefowicz, Ani Kavafian, Ida Kavafian, violin Featured Groups: BodyVox Dance, Dover Quartet, Emerson String Quartet For Information: Sarah Tiedemann, communications and marketing director 522 SW Fifth Avenue, Suite 920 Portland, OR 97204 503 223 3202 503 294 1690 (fax) info@cmnw.org cmnw.org Oregon Bach Festival Eugene, OR June 26 to July 13 The Oregon Bach Festival features performances by renowned artists from around the world. This year brings a new generation, with incoming artistic director Matthew Halls leading an exciting program of discovery.

Artistic Direction: Matthew Halls Festival Conductor: Matthew Halls Festival Artists: Dashon Burton, Tyler Duncan, Shenyang, Russell Thomas, bass; Jonathan Manson, cello; Pius Cheung, marimba; Jamie Bernstein, narrator; Julia Brown, Paul Jacobs, ElRay Stewart-Cook, organ; Gabriela Montero, piano; Jamie Barton, Yulia Van Doren, Tamara Wilson, Agnes Zsigovics, soprano; Reginald Mobley, Nicholas Phan, Lawrence Wiliford, tenor; Guy Few, trumpet; Monica Huggett, violin Featured Groups: Canadian Brass, Eugene Ballet, His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts, OBF Baroque Orchestra, OBF Berwick Chorus, OBF Organ Institute, OBF Symphony, Oregon

Brass Society, PICCFEST, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Stangeland Family Youth Choral Academy, UO Chamber Choir For Information: 1257 University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 800 457 1486 541 346 5669 (fax) bachfest@uoregon.edu oregonbachfestival.com Sunriver Music Festival Sunriver, OR August 8 to August 20 Sunriver Music Festival Orchestra performs in Sunriver and Bend. Concerts include classical, pops, and solo piano concerts. Sunriver concerts are at Historic Great Hall and at Tower Theatre in Bend.

Artistic Direction: George Hanson Festival Conductor: George Hanson Festival Artists: Sean Chen (2013 Van Cliburn winner), Hunter Noack, piano; Steven Moeckel, violin; Storm Large, vocalist For Information: Pamela Beezley, executive director P.O. Box 4308 Sunriver, OR 97707 541 593 9310 541 593 6959 (fax) tickets@sunrivermusic.org sunrivermusic.org

PEN N SYLVAN IA

Endless Mountain Music Festival Wellsboro, PA July 26 to August 10 Surrounded by magnificent scenery and smalltown charm, enjoy a 16-day lineup of renowned musicians and world-class performances in Northern Pennsylvania/Finger Lakes Region, NY. Experience orchestra performances on the weekends and chamber music during the week!

Artistic Direction: Stephen Gunzenhauser Festival Conductor: Stephen Gunzenhauser Festival Artists: José Franch-Ballester, clarinet; Asiya Korepanova, Bram Wijnands, piano; Robert Bokor, Asi Matathias, L. Subramaniam, violin Featured Groups: Festival Brass Quintet, Festival String Quintet, L. Subramaniam Ensemble,Terry Klinefelter Jazz Trio For Information: Cynthia B. Long, executive director 130 Main Street Wellsboro, PA 16901 570 724 6638 info@endlessmountain.net endlessmountain.net Mann Center for the Performing Arts Philadelphia, PA June 24 to July 19 The Philadelphia Orchestra and other visiting orchestra performances at the Mann will feature Beethoven’s 9th symphony and a newly commissioned work by Uri Caine on the life of civil rights pioneer Octavius Catto.

Artistic Direction: Nolan Williams, Jr. Festival Conductors: André Raphel, Nolan

americanorchestras.org

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2014

Williams, Jr. Festival Artists: Dr. Marvin Sapp, 300-voice gospel choir, Barbara Walker Orchestra Affiliation: The Philadelphia Orchestra For Information: Foster Cronin, associate producer/marketing manager 5201 Parkside Avenue Fairmount Park Philadelphia, PA 19131 215 546 7900 fcronin@manncenter.org manncenter.org

faculty Orchestra Affiliation: The Philadelphia Orchestra For Information: Sandy Marcucci, president Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr, PA 856 875 6816 info@pimf.org philadelphiamusicfestival.org

Philadelphia International Music Festival, featuring members of The Philadelphia Orchestra Bryn Mawr, PA June 21 to July 4 PIMF, featuring members of The Philadelphia Orchestra, with program options for musicians ages eight through college-years, includes private lessons, master classes, and recitals with members of The Philadelphia Orchestra, solo performance and competition opportunities, chamber music, private practice, and more!

Artistic Direction: Kimberly Fisher, principal second violin, The Philadelphia Orchestra Festival Conductor: Cristian Macelaru, associate conductor, The Philadelphia Orchestra Festival Artists: Over 40 members of The Philadelphia Orchestra. For a full faculty listing, please visit www.PhiladelphiaMusicFestival.org/

2014 ROUND TOP MUSIC FESTIVAL

James Dick, Founder & Artistic Director

June 1 - July 13 ORChESTRA, ChAMbER & SOLO PERFORMANCES • Distinguished Conductors and Faculty • World-Class Concert Hall

(979) 249-3129

www.festivalhill.org 58

TE X A S

Concerts In The Garden Fort Worth, TX June 6 to July 5 Cowtown comes alive for another summer of music, fireworks, and family picnics under the Texas stars when the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra presents its 24th annual Concerts In The Garden Summer Music Festival.

Artistic Direction: Andrés Franco Festival Conductor: Andrés Franco Featured Groups: Asleep at the Wheel, Broadway Today, Classical Mystery Tour, Green River Ordinance, Music of Journey, Music of the Eagles, Music of the Rollings Stones, Star Wars Spectacular Laser Light Show, Texas Tenors, and more Orchestra Affiliation: Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra For Information: Chris Munoz, vice president of operations Fort Worth Botanic Garden 3220 Botanic Garden Boulevard Fort Worth, TX 76107 817 665 6500 817 665 6600 (fax) cmunoz@fwsymphony.org fwsymphony.org Great Performances Festival: Brahms & Dvorák Fort Worth, TX August 22 to August 24 Join Music Director Miguel Harth-Bedoya and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra as we explore the works of two great composers and friendly colleagues: Johannes Brahms and Antonin Dvořák.

Artistic Direction: Jeffrey Mistri, vice president of artistic administration Festival Conductor: Miguel Harth-Bedoya Festival Artists: Zandra McMaster, mezzosoprano; Augustin Hadelich, violin Orchestra Affiliation: Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra For Information: Andrea Helm, vice president of marketing 330 East 4th Street, Suite 200 Fort Worth, TX 76102 817 665 6000 817 665 6600 (fax) ticks@fwsymphony.org fwsymphony.org

Immanuel and Helen Olshan Texas Music Festival Houston, TX June 3 to June 28 One of America’s premiere orchestral training programs, TMF celebrates its 25th annual season.

Repertoire features Mahler 2, Wagner/Maazel: Ring Without Words, Nielsen: Sym. 4, Bartók: Miraculous Mandarin, Britten: Sinfonia da Requiem, Brubeck: Travels in Time for Three; Shostakovich: Sym. 10 Artistic Direction: Alan Austin Festival Conductors: Mei Ann Chen, Daniel Hege, Franz Anton Krager, Carlos Spierer Festival Artists: Richard Beene, Elise Wagner, bassoon; Norman Fischer, Brinton Smith, cello; Randall Griffin, Michael Webster, clarinet; Paul Ellison, Eric Larson, Dennis Whittaker, double bass; Leone Buyse, Aralee Dorough, flute; Paula Page, harp; Robert Johnson, William VerMeulen, horn; Melanie Sonnenberg, mezzo-soprano; Robert Atherholt, Anne Leek, oboe; Ted Atkatz, Matthew Strauss, percussion; Cynthia Clayton, soprano; Mark Hughes, Jim Vassallo, trumpet; Allen Barnhill, trombone; David Kirk, tuba; Wayne Brooks, Helen Callus, Susan DuBois, viola; Emanuel Borok, Andrzej Grabiec, Frank Huang, Lucie Robert, Kirsten Yon, Jun Zuo, violin Featured Groups: Houston Symphony Chorus,Time for Three For Information: Melissa McCrimmon, associate director 120 School of Music Building University of Houston Moores School of Music Houston, TX 77204 713 743 3167 713 743 3166 (fax) tmf@uh.edu tmf.uh.edu Round Top Festival Institute Round Top, TX June 1 to July 13 A professional summer institute for orchestra, chamber music, and solo performance.

Artistic Direction: James Dick, founder and artistic director Festival Conductors: Christian Arming, Christoph Campestrini, Emilio Colon, Linus Lerner, Heiichiro Ohyama, Charles Olivieri-Munroe, Perry So, Pascal Verrot, Ransom Wilson, Kenneth Woods Festival Artists: Brett Shurtliffe, James VanDemark, bass; Benjamin Kamins, Kristin Wolfe Jensen, bassoon; Emilio Colon, Stephen Balderston, cello; Kenneth Grant, Hakan Rosengren, clarinet; Gretchen Pusch, Ransom Wilson, flute; Paula Page, harp; Michelle Baker, Karl Kramer-Johansen, Eric Reed, horn; Pedro Diaz, Erin Hannigan, Nathan Hughes, oboe; Tony Edwards, Thomas Burritt, percussion; Eteri Andjaparidze, James Dick, John Owings, piano; John Kitzman, Brent Phillips, Lee Rogers, trombone; Tom Booth, Raymond Riccomini, Marie Speziale, trumpet; Justin Benavidez, tuba; Nancy Buck, Brett Deubner, viola; Gregory Fulkerson, Erica Kiesewetter, Nicholas Kitchen, Espen Lilleslatten, Curtis Macomber, Stefan Milenkovich, Jonathan Swartz, violin

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Featured Groups: Texas Festival Orchestra For Information: Alain G Declert, program director 248 Jaster Road P.O. Box 89 Round Top, TX 78954 979 249 3129 979 249 5078 (fax) info@festivalhill.org festivalhill.org See our ad on page 58.

UTAH

Deer Valley Music Festival July 4 to August 9 The Deer Valley Music festival, summer home of the Utah Symphony and Utah Opera, continues with their eleventh season of pops, classical, and chamber music at Deer Valley Resort and other Park City venues.

Orchestra Affiliation: Utah Symphony | Utah Opera For Information: USUO Ticket Office, 801-533-6683 See our ad on page 53.

VERMONT

Marlboro Music Festival Marlboro, VT July 19 to August 17 Master musicians and exceptional young artists collaborate in five exciting weekends of concerts in beautiful southern Vermont.

Artistic Direction: Mitsuko Uchida For Information: Michael Herring, festival coordinator Box K Marlboro, VT 05344 802 254 2394 mherring@marlboromusic.org marlboromusic.org See our ad on page 60.

TD Bank Summer Festival Tour Burlington, VT June 26 to July 6 Vermont Symphony Orchestra presents "Let’s Dance!" Kick off your shoes and get in the mood for music from the world of dance—from waltzes to swing, polka, and salsa. The 1812 Overture, marches, and fireworks conclude each show.

Artistic Direction: Jaime Laredo Festival Conductor: Anthony Princiotti Orchestra Affiliation: Vermont Symphony Orchestra For Information: Amy Caldwell, marketing director 2 Church Street, Suite 3B Burlington, VT, 05401 802 864 5741 x16 amy@vso.org vso.org

VIRGINIA

Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival Harrisonburg, VA June 8 to June 15 Orchestral, choral, chamber music. Events include nine concerts, Leipzig Service, Baroque workshop, americanorchestras.org

SUMMER FESTIVALS

2014

and Road Scholar and youth programs. Works by JS Bach, Mendelssohn, Ravel, Handel, Telemann, Rameau, and more. Vocal and instrumental soloists.

Artistic Direction: Kenneth Nafziger Festival Conductors: Kenneth Nafziger Festival Artists: Daniel Lichti, bass; Emma Resmini, flute; Barbara Rearick, mezzo-soprano; Marvin Mills, organ; Anne Waltner, piano; Sharla Nafziger, soprano; Kenneth Gayle, tenor; Judith

Saxton, trumpet; Diane Phoenix-Neal, viola Featured Groups: SVBF Chamber Players, SVBF Chorus, SVBF Orchestra, Virginia Baroque Performance Academy Faculty Orchestra Affiliation: Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival For Information: Mary Kay Adams, executive director 1200 Park Road Harrisonburg, VA 22802 540 432 4367 540 432 4622 (fax) bach@emu.edu emu.edu/bach

M I CH A EL PA L M ER, A RT I ST I C D I R EC TO R and THE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA AND CHORUS

2014 SEASON • JULY 5 TH – 20 TH

JULY 5

Stefan Jackiw violin

JULY 8 & 10 Calidore String Quartet

JULY 12

Lisette Oropesa soprano

JULY 16

JULY 18 & 20

Richard Goode Pablo Sáinz Villegas piano guitar

SEASON INCLUDES Brahms Symphony No 4 Mozart Piano Concerto No 25 K 503 Prokofiev Violin Concerto No 2 Schumann Symphony No 3 “Rhenish” Elgar Introduction and Allegro for String Quartet and Orchestra Mozart Abduction from the Seraglio (concert version) Visit the Website for a Complete List of Artists, Programs, and Venues www.bellinghamfestival.org

(360) 201–6621 • facebook.com/bellingham.festival

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Wintergreen Summer Music Festival and Academy Wintergreen, VA July 7 to August 3 Located on the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Central Virginia, the Wintergreen Summer Music Festival and Academy includes more than 200 events and performances in 28 days!

Artistic Direction: Larry Alan Smith Festival Conductors: Mei-Ann Chen, Andrés Franco, Carl St.Clair, Christopher Zimmerman Festival Artists: Alcides Rodriguez, clarinet/ maracas; Ricardo Lorenz, Ken Steen, Michael White, composer; Berta Rojas, guitar; Luiz de Moura Castro, Mirian Conti, Paolo Steinberg, Fabio Witkowski, Gisele Witkowski, piano Orchestra Affiliation: Wintergreen Festival Orchestra For Information: Larry Alan Smith, artistic and executive director Wintergreen ent: MarlboroPerforming Music Arts P.O.Symphony Box 816 Magazine 2014 d: Wintergreen, 22958 ze: 2.25”w x VA 4.875”h 434the-m.com 325 8292 esign by: 675 8238 (fax) twork contact:888mingfang@the-m.com 347.853.8669 info@wintergreenperformingarts.org wintergreenperformingarts.org Wolf Trap Vienna, VA May 23 to September 13 Wolf Trap’s Filene Center is a 7,028-seat outdoor amphitheater that showcases a diverse array of artists, from May through September. It has been MITSUKO UCHIDA Artistic Director

MARLBORO MUSIC

“… a heady mix of adrenaline, youthful enthusiasm and world-class technique” — Washington Post Marlboro, Vermont – 64th Season

CHAMBER MUSIC July 19 – August 17, 2014

Master musicians and exceptional young artists collaborate in five exciting weekends of concerts in beautiful southern Vermont Tickets available at

215-569-4690 www.marlboromusic.org Steinway & Sons | Sony Classical | Bridge Records | Marlboro Recording Society | ArkivMusic

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the summer home of the National Symphony Orchestra since it opened in 1971.

Festival Conductors: Emil de Cou, Grant Gershon, Andrew Litton, Vince Mendoza, Bramwell Tovey, Thomas Wilkins Festival Artists: Ryan Speedo Green, bass-baritone; Yo-Yo Ma, cello; Pat Metheny, guitar; Virginie Verrez, mezzo-soprano; Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano; Boney James, saxophone; Tracy Cox, soprano; Vladimir Dmitruk, tenor; Wynton Marsalis, trumpet Featured Groups: Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra; National Symphony Orchestra; Oregon Ballet Theater; Pacific Northwest Ballet; The Philadelphia Orchestra; Pilobolus; Straight No Chaser; Trey McIntyre Project; Wolf Trap Opera Company Orchestra Affiliation: National Symphony Orchestra For Information: Arvind Manocha, president and CEO 1550 Trap Road Vienna, VA 22182 703 255 1900 wolftrap@wolftrap.org wolftrap.org

WASHINGTON

2014 Summer Festival Seattle, WA July 7 to August 2 Each year, Seattle Chamber Music Society (SCMS) presents a Summer Festival at the Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall featuring chamber music masterpieces by worldrenowned artists.

Artistic Direction: James Ehnes Festival Artists: Jordan Anderson, bass; Seth Krimsky, Stephane Levesque, bassoon; Julie Albers, Edward Arron, Ani Aznovoorian, Efe Baltacigil, William De Rosa, Amit Peled, Ronald Thomas, Bion Tsang, cello; Derek Bermel, Anthony McGill, Richardo Morales, clarinet; Lorna McGhee, flute; Valerie Muzzolini Gordon, harp; Jeffrey Fair, horn; Michael Werner, percussion; Inon Barnatan, Max Levinson, Adam Neiman, Jeewon Park, Jon Kimura Parker, Anna Polonsky, Orion Weiss, piano; Hyunah Yu, soprano; Nicholas Phan, tenor; Ko-Ichiro Yamamoto, trombone; David Gordon, Jens Lindemann, trumpet; Rebecca Albers, Roberto Diaz, David Harding, Michael Klotz, Richard O’Neill, Cynthia Phelps, Jonathan Vinocour, Geraldine Walther, viola; Martin Beaver, James Ehnes, Augustin Hadelich, Stefan Jackiw, Erin Keefe, Amy Schwartz Moretti, Stephen Rose, Emily Daggett Smith, Andrew Wan, violin For Information: Seneca Garber, director of marketing 10 Harrison Street, Suite 306 Seattle, WA 98109 206 283 8710 206 283 8826 (fax) seneca@seattlechambermusic.org seattlechambermusic.org

Bellingham Festival of Music Bellingham, WA July 5 to July 20 The Bellingham Festival of Music is one of America’s premier virtuoso orchestra festivals.

Orchestra members all hold artistically prestigious positions elsewhere, and many are principals in major North American symphony orchestras.

Artistic Direction: Michael Palmer Festival Conductors: Michael Palmer, Whitney Reader Festival Artists: Timo Riihonen, bass; Christina Smith, flute; Pablo Sáinz Villegas, guitar; Richard Goode, piano; Joanna Mongiardo, Lisette Oropesa, soprano; Simeon Esper, Wesley Rogers, tenor; Stefan Jackiw, violin Featured Groups: Calidore String Quartet For Information: Bob Lynch, chair, board of directors P.O. Box 818 Bellingham, WA 98227 360 201 6621 robertdlynch@aol.com bellinghamfestival.org See our ad on page 59.

Marrowstone Music Festival Bellingham, WA July 27 to August 10 Marrowstone is the premier orchestra training program of the Pacific Northwest, for students aged 14-25, featuring internationally acclaimed faculty from the world’s most distinguished orchestras, conservatories, and schools of music.

Artistic Direction: Stephen Radcliffe Festival Conductors: Dale Clevenger, Ryan Dudenbostel, Stephen Radcliffe, Gerard Schwarz Festival Artists: Faculty Include: Francine Peterson, bassoon; Eric Han, John Michel, cello; Kenneth Grant, clarinet; Diana Gannett, double bass; Dale Clevenger, french horn; Jill Felber, Jeff Zook, flute; Roger Cole, oboe; Roy Poper, trumpet; Joseph Rodriguez, trombone; Eric Kean, viola; Hal Grossman, Ron Patterson, Fritz Gearhart, violin Orchestra Affiliation: Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras For Information: Coltan Foster, Marrowstone Coordinator 516 High Street Bellingham, WA 98225 206 362 2300 marrowstone@syso.org marrowstone.org

WISCON SIN

Birch Creek Music Performance Center Egg Harbor, WI June 15 to June 28 Advanced teen musicians are mentored by day and perform evenings with esteemed faculty in 80-member Birch Creek Symphony Orchestra for six public concerts in a unique, inviting concert barn.

Artistic Direction: Ricardo Castañeda Festival Conductor: Brian Groner Festival Artists: Jodie DeSalvo, piano; RenéePaule Gauthier, violin For Information:

symphony SPECIAL ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO SYMPHONY

SPRING 2014

Alan Kopischke, executive director P.O. Box 230 3821 County E Egg Harbor, WI 54209 920 868 3763 920 868 1643 (fax) alan@birchcreek.org birchcreek.org Peninsula Music Festival Ephraim, WI August 5 to August 23 Nine different symphonic concerts are presented in three weeks on Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula.

Musicians from America’s finest orchestra come each year. Concerts are held in an air-conditioned indoor venue.

Artistic Direction: Victor Yampolsky, music director and conductor Festival Conductors: Chi-Hsuan Lin, Robert McConnell, Victor Yampolsky Festival Artists: Wendy Warner, cello; Susanna Self, flute; Gabriela Martinez, Winston Choi, piano; Vadim Gluzman, Elena Urioste, Igor Yuzefovich, violin Featured Groups: Seven singers will join the Festival Orchestra for highlights from Don Giovanni Act I. For Information: Sharon Grutzmacher, executive director P.O. Box 340 10347 North Water Street, Unit B Ephraim, WI 54211 920 854 4060 920 854 1950 (fax) musicfestival@musicfestival.com musicfestival.com

WYOMING

Grand Teton Music Festival Wilson, WY July 3 to August 16 This summer marks the Festival’s 53rd season for which musicians from top orchestras journey to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. With Music Director Donald Runnicles these acclaimed musicians create a world-class symphony.

Artistic Direction: Steve Freidlander Festival Conductor: Donald Runnicles Festival Artists: Richard Barber, Robert Barney, Patrick Bilanchone, Fred Bretschger, Christopher Brown, Susan Cahill, Charles DeRamus, Deborah Dunham, Wilbur Edwards, Paul Ellison, Erik Gronfor, Gordon Hill, Corbin Johnston, Sidney King, Jospeh Lescher, David Moore, William Ritchie, David Williamson, bass; Lee Livengood, bass clarinet; Sue Heineman, Sharon Kuster, Christoper Millard, Kristen Sonneborn, Charles Ullery, bassoon; Steve Norrell, Jared Rodin, bass trombone; Gregory Clinton, Krisanthy Desby, Kari Jane Docter, Karen Freer, Igor Gefter, Deborah Nitka Hicks, Charae Krueger, Daniel Laufer, Steven Laven, Amy Leung, Judith McIntyre, David Mollenauer, Thalia Moore, Marcia Peck, Adam Satinsky, David Schepps, Julia Sengupta, Barrett Sills, Janet Steinberg, Sofia Zappi, cello; Laura Ardan, Stephanie Key, Thomas LeGrand, Victoria Luperi, Shannon Orme Shannon, David Pharris, Gregory Raden, americanorchestras.org

SUMMER FESTIVALS

2014

Michael Rusinek, clarinet; Benjamin Atherholt, Steven Braunstein, Juan de Gomar, contrabassoon; Julia Bogorad-Kogan, Camille Churchfield, Angela Jones-Reus, Melissa Suhr, John Thorne, Allice Weinreb, flute; Carole Bean, Stephanie Mortimore, Caitlyn Valovick-Moore, flute, piccolo; Courtney Hershey Bress, Anne Preucil Lewellen, Paula Page, Rachel Van Voorhees, Louise Vickerman, harp; Michael Gast, Nancy Goodearl, Robert Lauver, Michael Lewellen, Josh Phillips, Karl Pituch, Jonathan Ring, Gabrielle Webster, Gail Williams, horn; Robert Atherholt, Barbara Bishop, Jaren Philleo, Elizabeth Koch Tiscione, oboe; Martin Schuring, oboe, horn; Richard Brown, Craig Hauschildt, John Kinzie, Brian Prechtl, Francis Riely, Tom Sherwood, Wiley Arnold Sykes, Richard Weiner, percussion; Jason Hardink, Scott Holshouser, Adelle Eslinger Runnicles, piano James Forger, saxophone; Daron Bradford, saxophone, bass clarinet; Michael Crusoe, Kenneth Every, Peter Kogan, timpani; Nicole Abissi, Jay Evans, Michael Mulcahy, Roger Oyster, Colin Williams, Larry Zalkind, trombone; Barbara Butler, Charles Daval, Charles Geyer, Mark Inouye, Adam Luftman, Jennifer Marotta, trumpet; JáTtik Clark, Craig Knox, tuba; Judith Ablon, Susan Gulkis Assadi, Frank Babbitt, Brant Bayless, Claudine Bigelow, Philippe C. Chao, Joan DerHovsepian, Chiara Kingsley Dieguez, Reid Harris, Valerie Heywood; Lucina Horner, Yang-Yoon Kim, Anna Kruger, Suzanne LeFevre, Kristen Linfante, Paul Murphy, George Ohlson, Charles Pikler, Joel Rosenberg, Abhijit Sengupta, Rachel Swerdlow, Ben Ullery, Roberta Zalkind, viola; Angela Fuller, Ralph Matson, Laura Albers, Lorien Benet Hart, Jessica Blackwell, Hasse Borup, Eva Cappelletti-Chao, Joan Christenson, Jay Christy, Julie Coleman, Mary Corbett, Judith Cox, Robert Davidovici, Michael W. Davis, Gina Davis, Tracy Dunlop, Bruno Eicher, Lois Finkel, Anna Genest, Amy Glidden, Linda Hurwitz, Tomoko Iguchi, Dorris Dai Janssen, Rebekah Johnson, Carolyn Kessler, Karen Kinzie, Heather Kurzbauer, Dimitry Lazarescu, Raymond Leung, Jennifer Gordon Levin, Chunyi Lu, Yuki MacQueen, Louise Morrison, Holly Mulcahy, Patrick Neal, Helen Nightengale, Dennis O’Boyle, Susanne Park, Dan Rizner, Jennifer Ross, Sarah Schwartz, Babara Scowcroft, Sha, Simon Shiao, Olga Shpitko, Sou-Chun Su, Ikuko Takahashi, AnneMarieTerranova, Jeff Thayer, Jennifer Thompson, Andrea Wagoner, Edward Wu, violin For Information: Susan Scarlata 4015 North Lake Creek Drive, #100 Wilson, WY 83014 307 732 9957 susan@gtmf.org gtmf.org

IN TER N ATION AL CAN ADA

National Arts Centre Orchestra Summer Music Institute Ottawa, Ontario June 5 to June 28 Enjoy public performances showcasing talented string, wind, piano and voice musicians participating in the Young Artists Program of Canada’s National Arts Centre’s internationally acclaimed Summer Music Institute.

Artistic Direction: Pinchas Zukerman Festival Artists: Hans Jorgen Jensen, cello; Yoheved Kaplinsky, piano; Pinchas Zukerman, Patty Kopec, violin and viola; Benita Valente, voice Orchestra Affiliation: National Arts Centre Orchestra For Information: Christy Harris, manager NAC SMI 53 Elgin Street P.O. Box 1534, Station B Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 5W1 613 947 7000 x 693 melynda.szabototh@nac-cna.ca nac-cna.ca/smi

INDEX

ADVERTISER

Bellingham Festival of Music................ 59 Boosey & Hawkes................................. 40 Chamber Orchestra of New York.......... 23 CHL Artists, Inc.................................. C4 Hartford Symphony Orchestra............. 51 JRA Fine Arts......................................... 1 Dan Kamin Comedy Concertos.............. 9 Ronnie Kole.......................................... 47 League of American Orchestras...... 13, 15, 17; 30-31 Listen Magazine.................................... 41 Marlboro Music.................................... 60 OK Mozart........................................... 54 Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists..... 11 Roosevelt University............................. C2 Round Top Festival Institute................. 58 Thea Dispeker Artists............................ 29 Utah Symphony | Utah Opera.............. 53 Word Pros, Inc. ..................................... 29 Yamaha Corporation of America......... C3

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LEAGUE OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS Annual support from individuals, corporations, and foundations helps to sustain the League of American Orchestras and its programs and services. The League of American Orchestras gratefully acknowledges the generosity of the following donors who contributed gifts of $600 and above as of February 10, 2014. To learn more about supporting the League, please visit us at americanorchestras.org, call 212 262 5161, or write us at Annual Fund, League of American Orchestras, 33 West 60th Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10023. $150,000 and above

Bruce and Martha Clinton, on behalf of The Clinton Family Fund, Chicago, IL Julie F. and Peter D. Cummings, Palm Beach Gardens, FL The Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation, Grand Rapids, MI Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, San Francisco, CA The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, New York, NY MetLife Foundation, New York, NY

$50,000 – $149,999

Patty and Malcolm Brown Fund, Winston-Salem, NC Mr. Richard W. Colburn, Northbrook, IL Fidelity Foundation, Merrimack, NH Marjorie S. Fisher Fund of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, Detroit, MI Shirley Bush Helzberg, Kansas City, MO National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, DC Mrs. Cynthia Sargent, Chicago, IL Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation, New York, NY

$25,000 – $49,000

American Express Foundation, New York, NY Richard and Kay Fredericks Cisek, North Oaks, MN The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, New York, NY Sakurako and William Fisher, San Francisco, CA Catherine and Peter Moye, Spokane, WA Connie Steensma and Rick Prins, New York, NY

$10,000 – $24,999

Mr. David C. Bohnett, Beverly Hills, CA Mrs. Trish Bryan, Cincinnati, OH Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation, Winter Park, FL Janet and John Canning, Westport, CT Ms. Melanie Clarke, Princeton, NJ Cornell Family Foundation, New York, NY The Fatta Foundation, Buffalo, NY John and Marcia Goldman Philanthropic Fund, Atherton, CA Mrs. Martha R. Ingram, Nashville, TN JPMorgan Chase Bank, Chicago, IL Mark Jung, San Francisco, CA Wendy and Asher Kelman, Beverly Hills, CA Camille and Dennis LaBarre, Cleveland Heights, OH Jan and Daniel R. Lewis, Coral Gables, FL Mr. James W. Mabie, Northfield, IL Mr. James S. Marcus, New York, NY Mrs. Shirley D. McCrary, Mooresville, AL New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York, NY Lowell and Sonja Noteboom, Minneapolis, MN Steve and Diane Parrish Foundation, Westport, CT Mary Carr Patton, Orange Park, FL Mr. Robert A. Peiser, Houston, TX Ms. Patricia A. Richards, Salt Lake City, UT Robert Wood Revocable Trust, Grover Beach, CA

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Mr. David Rockefeller in memory of Peggy Rockefeller, New York, NY Mr. Barry A. Sanders, Beverly Hills, CA Drs. Helen S. and John P. Schaefer, Tucson, AZ Ms. Helen P. Shaffer, Houston, TX Mr. Robert B. Tudor, III, Houston, TX The Simon Yates and Kevin Roon Foundation, New York, NY †

$5,000 – $9,999

Mr. Burton Z. Alter, Woodbridge, CT The Hal and Diane Brierley Foundation, Plano, TX Mr. and Mrs. William G. Brown, Hobe Sound, FL Mr. Charles Cagle, Franklin, TN Ms. Nicky B. Carpenter, Wayzata, MN Margarita and John Contreni, Lafayette, IN Mr. and Mrs. Kevin V. Duncan, Englewood, CO Mrs. Beverlynn Elliott, Pittsburgh, PA Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, New York, NY The CHG Charitable Trust as recommended by Carole Haas Gravagno, Philadelphia, PA Irving Harris Foundation, Chicago, IL Mr. Jim Hasler, Oakland, CA Mr. John Hayes, Highlands Ranch, CO The Hyde and Watson Foundation, Warren, NJ Mr. Stephen H. Judson, New York, NY Ms. Lori Julian, Chicago, IL Mr. Jerome H. Kern, Castle Rock, CO Dr. Hugh W. Long, New Orleans, LA Mrs. Heather Moore, Dallas, TX New York State Council on the Arts, New York, NY John and Farah Palmer, Tucson, AZ Mr. Peter Pastreich, Sausalito, CA Mr. Jesse Rosen, New York, NY Mr. Richard P. Simmons, Sewickley, PA Mr. A.J.C. Smith, New York, NY The J. Stephen Turner Foundation, Nashville, TN Penelope Van Horn, Chicago, IL Sally and Nick Webster, New York, NY Miller-Worley Foundation, Conshohocken, PA

$2,500 – $4,999

Brent and Jan Assink, San Francisco, CA Richard J. Bogomolny & Patricia M. Kozerefski, Gates Mills, OH The Brown Foundation, Inc., Houston, TX Ms. Mei-Ann Chen, Memphis, TN Ms. NancyBell Coe, Santa Barbara, CA Martha and Herman Copen Fund of the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, New Haven, CT Mr. D.M. Edwards, Tyler, TX Mrs. Anthony Evnin, Greenwich, CT Phillip William Fisher Fund, Southfield, MI Aaron A. Flagg and Cristina Stanescu Flagg, West Harford, CT Henry and Frances Fogel, River Forest, IL † James M. Franklin, Inverness, IL

Edward B. Gill, San Diego, CA Ms. Marian A. Godfrey, Richmond, MA Linda and Cannon Harvey, Denver, CO A.J. Huss, Jr., Saint Paul, MN Mr. Paul R. Judy, Naples, FL Ms. Polly Kahn, New York, NY Joseph H. Kluger, Gladwyne, PA Mr. Brian Knapp, Arlington, VA Catherine and John Koten, Hinsdale, IL Mr. and Mrs. Wilfred J. Larson, Naples, FL † Mr. Ned O. Lemkemeier, Saint Louis, MO Mr. and Mrs. Phillip N. Lyons, Newport Beach, CA The Alfred and Jane Ross Foundation, New York, NY Rae Wade Trimmier, Mountain Brook, AL Mr. Alan D. Valentine, Nashville, TN

$1,000 – $2,499

Douglas W. Adams, Breckenridge, CO Ms. Elaine Amacker Bridges, San Angelo, TX Tiffany Ammerman, Marshall, TX Dr. Alberta Arthurs, New York, NY Ms. Cathy Barbash, Ardmore, PA Mr. William P. Blair, III, Canton, OH Ms. Nancy Blaugrund, Albuquerque, NM Ms. Deborah Borda, Los Angeles, CA Fred and Liz Bronstein, Saint Louis, MO Michelle Miller Burns and Gary W. Burns, Chicago, IL • Dr. Roland M. Carter, Chattanooga, TN Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, Chicago, IL Leslie Jackson Chihuly, Seattle, WA Mrs. Judy Christl, Bonita Springs, FL Mr. Robert Conrad, Cleveland, OH Dallas Symphony Orchestra League, Dallas, TX Mr. Trayton Davis, Montclair, NJ Gloria dePasquale, Narbeth, PA Mr. Patrick Dirk, Costa Mesa, CA Emma E. Dunch and Elizabeth W. Scott, New York, NY • Mr. Aaron Dworkin, Detroit, MI Susan Feder and Todd Gordon, Irvington, NY Michele and John Forsyte, Long Beach, CA • David V. Foster, New York, NY Karen Gahl-Mills and Laurence Mills-Gahl, Cleveland Heights, OH Mr. John Gidwitz, New York, NY Gary Ginstling and Marta Lederer, Carmel, IN Joseph B. Glossberg and Madeline Condit, Chicago, IL Michael and Eleanor Gordon Fund, Laguna Beach, CA Ms. Nancy Greenbach, Atherton, CA Dietrich M. Gross, Wilmette, IL Mark and Christina Hanson, Houston, TX • Daniel and Barbara Hart, Amherst, NY • Ian Harwood, Tucson, AZ • Mr. Jay L. Henderson, Northfield, IL

symphony

SPRING 2014

Howard Herring, Miami Beach, FL Dr. and Mrs. Claire Fox Hillard, Albany, GA Lauri and Paul Hogle, Grosse Pointe Park, MI Mrs. Laura Hyde, Tyler, TX The Jurenko Foundation, Huntsville, AL Ms. Nancy F. Keithley, Shaker Heights, OH Mr. Michael Kerr, Irvine, CA Mrs. Theresa Khawly, New York, NY Mr. R. Lawrence Kirkegaard, Chicago, IL Peter T. Kjome, Grand Rapids, MI Mr. Robert Kohl and Mr. Clark Pellett, Chicago, IL Mrs. JoAnne A. Krause, Brookfield, WI Mr. Stephen Lisner, New York, NY Ms. Helen Lodge, Charleston, WV Dr. Gordon and Carole Mallett, Zionsville, IN Mrs. Lois Margolin, Denver, CO Stacy and Lee Margolis, Brooklyn, NY Mr. Jonathan Martin, Dallas, TX Steve & Lou Mason, Dayton, OH † Mattlin Foundation, Columbus, OH Mr. Alan McIntyre, Darien, CT Ms. Debbie McKinney, Nichols Hills, OK Mr. Paul Meecham, Baltimore, MD Zarin Mehta, Chicago, IL Mrs. LaDonna Meinders, Oklahoma City, OK David Alan Miller, Albany, NY Mr. Steven Monder, Honolulu, HI Michael Morgan, Oakland, CA Diane and Robert Moss, Key Biscayne, FL Mrs. Patricia Moye, Evans, GA Mrs. Judi Newman, Englewood, CO James B. Nicholson, Detroit, MI Dr. Aaron J. Nurick, Boston, MA Ms. Christina Parker, Fort Myers, FL Anne H. Parsons, Detroit, MI • Mr. Michael Pastreich, St. Petersburg, FL The Rice Family Fund, Rochester, NY Ms. Barbara S. Robinson, Cleveland, OH Susan L. Robinson, Sarasota, FL Barbara and Robert Rosoff, Queensbury, NY Don Roth, Davis, CA *† Ms. Deborah F. Rutter, Chicago, IL Roger Saydack and Elaine Bernat, Eugene, OR † Ms. Jo Ellen Saylor, Edina, MN Fred and Gloria Sewell, Minneapolis, MN Mr. Jay Shah, Chicago, IL Ms. Rita Shapiro, Kensington, MD Tom and Dee Stegman, Cincinnati, OH David Tierno in honor of Melanie Clarke, Princeton, NJ Mary Lou and John D. Turner, Kansas City, MO Matthew VanBesien and Rosie Jowitt, New York, NY • Allison Vullgamore, Philadelphia, PA • The Wallace Foundation, New York, NY Tina Ward, Saint Louis, MO • Ms. Pam Weaver, Greer, SC americanorchestras.org

Linda Weisbruch, Charlotte, NC Jane and Dobson West, Minneapolis, MN Paul R Wiggin, Chicago, IL Ms. Sonia Wilson Austin, TX Mrs. Doug Witte, Tyler, TX Simon Woods and Karin Brookes, Seattle, WA

$600 – $999

Ayden Adler, Miami Beach, FL Lois H. Allen, Columbus, OH Gene and Mary Arner, Boise, ID Sandra Sue Ashby, Jacksonville, FL Dr. Richard and Mrs. Janet Barb, Indianapolis, IN Ms. Jennifer B. Barlament, Cleveland, OH Mr. Robert A. Birman, Port Townsend, WA Mr. David Bornemann, Scottsdale, AZ Dr. Misook Yun and Mr. James William Boyd, New Orleans, LA Wayne S. Brown and Brenda E. Kee, Washington, DC Katherine Carleton, Toronto, ON, Canada Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra Board of Directors, Stevens Point, WI Mr. J. Scott Chotin, Lacombe, LA Ms. Katy Clark, New York, NY • Scott Faulkner and Andrea Lenz, Reno, NV Dawn Fazli, Indianapolis, IN Mr. David H. Filner, Danville, CA Firelands Symphony Orchestra Board of Directors, Sandusky, OH Mrs. Charles Fleischmann, Cincinnati, OH Mr. Ryan Fleur, Philadelphia, PA Mr. Kareem A. George, Franklin, MI • Mr. Gary L. Good, Santa Ana, CA Mr. André Gremillet, Melbourne, Victoria Carrie Hammond, Hartford, CT Ms. Iris Harvie, Hudson, OH Ms. Janice Hay, Philadelphia, PA Marilyn P. and Joseph W. Hirschhorn Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, Cincinnati, OH Mrs. Patricia Howard, Cazenovia, NY Helena Jackson, Duluth, MN Mr. Andrea Laguni, Los Angeles, CA Carolyn and Wayne Landsverk, Portland, OR David Loebel, Lebanon, NH Ken Meltzer, Decatur, GA Mr. Mike Minor, Kansas City, MO Evans Mirageas and Thomas Dreeze, Cincinnati, OH Mr. Parker E. Monroe, San Francisco, CA J.L. Nave III and Paul Cook, Fort Wayne, IN • Ms. Brenda S. Nienhouse, Spokane, WA Ms. Becky Odland, Edina, MN Henry Peyrebrune, Cleveland Heights, OH Brian A. Ritter, Houston, TX Dr. Stanley E. Romanstein, Atlanta, GA Jim and Grace Seitz, Naples, FL + Richard L. Sias, Oklahoma City, OK David Snead, New York, NY

HELEN M. THOMPSON HERITAGE SOCIETY The League of American Orchestras graciously recognizes those who have remembered the League in their estate plans as members of the Helen M. Thompson Heritage Society.

W. Curtis Livingston, co-chair, Nantucket, MA Nina C. Masek, co-chair, Sonoita, AZ Janet F. and Dr. Richard E. Barb Family Foundation, Indianapolis, IN Wayne S. Brown and Brenda E. Kee, Washington, DC John and Janet Canning, Westport, CT Richard and Kay Fredericks Cisek, North Oaks, MN Martha and Herman Copen Fund of the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, New Haven, CT Myra Janco Daniels, Naples, FL Samuel C. Dixon, Morrow, GA Henry and Frances Fogel, River Forest, IL Susan Harris, Ph.D., Ann Arbor, MI Steve and Lou Mason, Dayton, OH Lowell and Sonja Noteboom, Minnetonka, MN Charles and Barbara Olton, New York, NY Peter Pastreich, San Francisco, CA *† Rodger E. Pitcairn, Rockville, MD Robert and Barbara Rosoff, Glens Falls, NY Robert J. Wagner, Maplewood, NJ Tina Ward, Saint Louis, MO Mr. and Mrs. Albert K. Webster, New York, NY Robert Wood Revocable Trust, Grover Beach, CA Anonymous (1)

Melia Tourangeau, Salt Lake City, UT Mr. Jeff Y. Tsai, Geneva, IL Dr. Jane Van Dyk, Billings, MT Mr. Gus Vratsinas, Little Rock, AR Mr. Robert J. Wagner, Boonton, NJ Edward Walker, Oklahoma City, OK Melinda Whiting Burrows and John Burrows, Riverton, NJ Ms. Camille Williams, Little Rock, AR Mr. Paul R. Winberg, Chicago, IL Rebecca and David Worters, Raleigh, NC * Charter Member † Directors Council (former League Board) • Orchestra Management Fellowship Program Alumni + Includes Corporate Matching Gift ‡ In-Kind Donation

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CODA

Bass for Bach Legendary jazz bassist Ron Carter has worked with just about everyone in music, has a full lineup of gigs, teaches at Juilliard, and has played on more than 2,500 albums with a who’s who of collaborators. And he still makes time to explore Bach’s Brandenburgs in jazz clubs—in his own inimitable style. Here, he discusses what classically trained musicians can learn from jazz—and vice versa.

By Ron Carter

I

started out playing the classical cello, and moved on to bass later. I was exposed to the music of Bach early on, and I can’t imagine musicians not having a real love for Bach, no matter what kind of music they play—country or pop or rock. That’s the history of what we’re looking at, and for musicians not to know who he is or not be familiar with his work is amazing to me. Bach created original bass lines that gave the melody another character. He reharmonized several of his chorales with different chords to the melody, and as a bass player that always has interested me—how he was doing that so far back in the history of music.

One of the reasons that music is so monochromatic right now is that there’s not enough music education in the schools. When I came up, they had marching band, choirs, all kinds of things.

This is information that kids love to have when they are in school. Now, they have no chorus, no dance programs, no drama classes. If you get them by the third grade, it’s wonderful.

All the same, I’m not absolutely sure that young musicians need a grounding in classical music or playing a classical instrument. What they need is a good teacher, whatever they are involved with.

A good teacher is one who is willing to understand the personalities and needs of the students and to adjust their teach-

64

Ron Carter

ing to meet students’ needs. The world of music is wide open.

I am often asked if it’s hard to go from early training as a classical musician to play jazz, to go from something that is often quite codified to making music where it’s in the moment. That kind of question implies that the jazz musician doesn’t have the discipline and the rules and regulations at his command that classical musicians have. Classical musicians have their rules, and we have our rules. The moment that we ignore the tenets of the music, it doesn’t become successful. We are just as concerned about playing A440 all night as a cellist playing with an orchestra.

I think it’s a good thing for classical musicians to understand that there’s other music besides Brahms. Whenever the Berlin Philharmonic would come to town, or the London Phil, I would get a call from their bass players wanting to come by for a lesson. They were interested to know what the jazz player does to make his bass do whatever he does that is special. If classical players would spend a night at a jazz set, they’d be surprised at how much music we can make with four or five people. We play the same instruments they’re playing. I’d like to see more back and forth.

When I was coming up, there was no encouragement for an African-American musician. It was made known to me that, while I was very talented, orchestras were not hiring African-American musicians. That was told to me from high school through college. Since I was doing jazz gigs on the side to help pay for school, I knew that the jazz community would welcome a decent player. Things are changing some at orchestras, but it’s pretty far behind the times. There are organizations like Sphinx and programs at orchestras that provide a format so minorities see what it is like to play orchestral music—and maybe play at the top orchestras. Everyone hopes to move from the farm clubs, as good as they are, to the big leagues. And there are some fabulous players out there. I just hope that orchestras are willing to open their arms to this new talent. symphony

SPRING 2014

NEW Yamaha

Timpani

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The next generation of Yamaha timpani features upgrades to the frame, bowl and wheel designs, and the tuning gauge. Yamaha completely redesigned the frame to enable maximum sustain from the suspended bowl and ensure a long, reliable life. Simultaneously, the design of the bowl was altered to improve consistency and generate a deep, rich tone. Beyond the sound, Yamaha created a new wheel design and improved pedal mechanics to allow vast position options and smooth reliable pedal operation. In addition, the tuning gauge can now be moved to accommodate German and American setup options.

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