JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013
John Waters and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra re-imagine the cult classic for its 25th anniversary
inside: Strathmore Drumline beats, but no bleachers The National Philharmonic Remembering Rostropovich Washington Performing Arts Society An evening with Mutter and Mozart
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On The Cover John Waters photo by Cory Donovan
37
prelude
Applause at Strathmore january/febuary 2013
58
program notes
18
features
Jan. 5, 6
Feb. 1
47 / Strathmore: China National Symphony Orchestra
10 You Can’t Stop the Beat Hairspray gets the BSO treatment for its 25th anniversary
Jan. 11
Feb. 2
12 Halftime at Strathmore Marching bands take center stage in the Concert Hall
Jan. 12
Feb. 7
14 Not Playing Second Fiddle The National Philharmonic showcases viola’s depth
Jan. 18
Feb. 9
15 A Most Important Pas de Deux Musician Gabrielle Finck’s love introduces her to ballet
24 / The National Philharmonic: Mozart and the Voice of the Viola 27 / Strathmore: A Fiddler’s Feast 29 / BSO: Alexander Nevsky 32 / BSO: Off the Cuff— Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto
50 / BSO: Pictures at an Exhibition 52 / BSO: Stephen Hough Plays Liszt 54 / The National Philharmonic: Philharmonic of Many Colors
22
16 Musicians on a Mission The BSO enhances music education for Montgomery County students
Jan. 19
Feb. 14
56 / Strathmore: Flamenco Vivo/Carlota Santana—La Pasión Flamenca
18 A Tribute to the Master The late cellist Mstislav Rostropovich is commemorated
Jan. 22
Feb. 16
20 The Body Eclectic Exhibit combines science, art and the human form
Feb. 21
22 A Musical Merger Anne-Sophie Mutter and longtime accompanist perform with passion
Feb. 23
departments
35 / The National Philharmonic: The Brian Ganz Chopin Project 37 / Strathmore: Sing the Truth—Angélique Kidjo, Dianne Reeves and Lizz Wright
Jan. 24
38 / BSO SuperPops: Hairspray In Concert
Jan. 25
41 / Strathmore: Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Jan. 26, 27
42 / The National Philharmonic: Lutosławski’s 100th Anniversary: Remembering Rostropovich
58 / BSO: Wagner’s Walküre 61 / BSO SuperPops: Ashley Brown’s Broadway 62 / Strathmore: LUMA
Feb. 24
64 / WPAS: Simone Dinnerstein
Feb. 28
66 / BSO: Mozart’s Requiem
Jan. 30
45 / WPAS: New Century Chamber Orchestra 2 applause at Strathmore • january/february 2013
6 Musings of Strathmore CEO Eliot Pfanstiehl 6 A Note from BSO Music Director Marin Alsop 8 Calendar: March and April performances 80 Encore: Washington Performing Arts Society membership
coordinator and Tessitura specialist Helen Aberger
musician rosters
31 Baltimore Symphony Orchestra 26 National Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorale
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partners ● Strathmore
Under the leadership of CEO Eliot Pfanstiehl and President Monica Jeffries Hazangeles, Strathmore welcomes thousands of artists and guests to the Music Center, Mansion and 11-acre campus. As well as presenting performing artists and fine art, Strathmore commissions and creates new works of art and music, including productions Free to Sing and Take Joy. Education plays a key role in Strathmore’s programming, with classes and workshops in music and visual arts for all ages throughout the year. From presenting world-class performances by major artists, to supporting local artists, Strathmore nurtures arts, artists and community through creative and diverse programming of the highest quality. Visit www.strathmore.org.
● Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
● The National Philharmonic
Led by Music Director and Conductor Piotr Gajewski, the National Philharmonic is known for performances that are “powerful” and “thrilling.” The organization showcases world-renowned guest artists in symphonic masterpieces conducted by Maestro Gajewski, and monumental choral masterworks under Chorale Artistic Director Stan Engebretson, who “uncovers depth...structural coherence and visionary scope” (The Washington Post). The Philharmonic’s long-standing tradition of reasonably priced tickets and free admission to all young people age 7-17 assures its place as an accessible and enriching part of life in Montgomery County and the greater Washington area. The National Philharmonic also offers exceptional education programs for people of all ages. For more information, visit www.nationalphilharmonic.org.
● Washington Performing Arts Society
For more than four decades, the Washington Performing Arts Society has created profound opportunities for connecting the community to artists through both education and performance. Through live events in venues across the D.C. metropolitan area, the careers of emerging artists are guided, and established artists who have close relationships with local audiences are invited to return. WPAS is one of the leading presenters in the nation. Set in the nation’s capital and reflecting a population that hails from around the globe, the company presents the highest caliber artists in classical music, jazz, gospel, contemporary dance and world music. For more information, visit www.WPAS.org.
● CityDance Ensemble
CityDance provides the highest quality arts education and performances throughout the metropolitan area including at CityDance Center at Strathmore, where our School, pre-professional Conservatory and Studio Theater are housed. The Resident & Guest Artist Program allows professional dancers and choreographers to create and perform works in a world-class theater. CityDance’s Community Programs provide free performances, after-school programs and camps to over 15,000 students a year in the region’s most under-resourced communities. Visit www.citydance.net.
● Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras
Great music, artistry, plus the passion and exuberance of youth come together in one exceptional program—MCYO, the resident youth orchestra at the Music Center. Established in 1946, MCYO is the region’s premier orchestral training program, seating over 400 students in grades 4-12 in one of five quality orchestras. Concerts, chamber music, master classes and more. Discover MCYO. Hear the difference. Visit www.mcyo.org.
● Levine School of Music
Levine School of Music, the Washington D.C. region’s preeminent community music school, provides a welcoming environment where children and adults find lifelong inspiration and joy through learning, performing and experiencing music. Our distinguished faculty serve more than 3,500 students of all stages and abilities at four campuses in Northwest and Southeast D.C., Strathmore Music Center and in Arlington, Va. Learn more at www.levineschool.org.
● interPLAY
interPLAY company provides adults with cognitive differences with year-round rehearsals and concert experiences performing with traditional musicians. This activity results in a new personal language for those who have no musical education, and enlightened perspectives in the community about who can play serious music. interPLAY is always open for new players, musicians and mentors. Please contact Artistic Director Paula Moore at 301-229-0829.
4 applause at Strathmore • january/february 2013
Applause at Strathmore Publisher CEO Eliot Pfanstiehl Music Center at Strathmore Founding Partners Strathmore Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Resident Artistic Partners The National Philharmonic Washington Performing Arts Society Levine School of Music Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras CityDance Ensemble interPLAY Published by
Editor and Publisher Steve Hull Associate Publisher Susan Hull Senior Editor Cindy Murphy-Tofig Design Director Maire McArdle Art Director Karen Sulmonetti Advertising Director Sherri Greeves Advertising Account Executives Paula Duggan, Penny Skarupa, LuAnne Spurrell 7768 Woodmont Ave. Suite 204 Bethesda, MD 20814 301-718-7787 Fax: 301-718-1875 Volume 9, Number 3 Applause is published five times a year by the Music Center at Strathmore and Kohanza Media Ventures, LLC, publisher of Bethesda Magazine. Copyright 2010 Kohanza Media Ventures. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without permission is prohibited.
strathmore photo by jim morris
The Grammy Award-winning Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is internationally recognized as having achieved a preeminent place among the world’s most important orchestras. Under the inspired leadership of Music Director Marin Alsop, some of the world’s most renowned musicians have performed with the BSO. Continuing the orchestra’s 96-year history of high-quality education programs for music-lovers of all ages, the BSO presents mid-week education concerts, free lecture series and master classes. Since 2006, the BSO has offered Montgomery County grade schools BSO on the Go, an outreach initiative that brings small groups of BSO musicians into local schools for interactive music education workshops. For more information, visit BSOmusic.org.
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musings from Strathmore Strathmore turns up the heat this winter with steamy shows ranging from the red hot cadence extravaganza of Drumline Live! to an unimaginable illumination of winter darkness with the all-light show from LUMA. Experience the fires of love in motion with Flamenco Vivo/Carlota Santana: La Pasión Flamenca. Savor three sizzling jazz divas celebrating great women of song in Sing the Truth, featuring the incomparable Angélique Kidjo, Dianne Reeves and Lizz Wright. Thrill to fiddles on fire in A Fiddler’s Feast with Alasdair Fraser, Natalie Haas, Jay Ungar, Molly Mason and Dirk Powell, one of the highlights in Storied Strings, Strathmore’s season-long exploration of the violin in America. Be warmed by the soulful singing of Grammy-nominated a cappella powerhouse—and Strathmore favorite—Ladysmith Black Mambazo. This issue of Applause kicks off a new year of concerts, exhibitions and programs that we’re thrilled for you to be a part of—and we’re already thinking ahead to what the Strathmore experience will be in seasons to come. For us, this time of year means finalizing the details for our 2013-2014 season, and we’re bringing fantastic musicians, performers and artists to the Music Center and Mansion for you to enjoy. What excites me most, though, is our exploration of how to bring you art for all seasons by creating a year-round experience with big concerts and dynamic campus-wide events that will keep Strathmore buzzing, bustling and busy year round. The gift giving continues into the new year. As we pass our eight-year anniversary in the Music Center at Strathmore on Feb. 5, 2013, we pause to give thanks for each and every audience member and patron who has lifted this impossible dream of a building into the highest levels of musical destinations, primarily on the basis of your good reports to friends and neighbors.
Eliot Pfanstiehl CEO | Strathmore
from the BSO
Dear Friends, Happy New Year! I hope you all had safe, happy and healthy New Year’s celebrations. As we begin 2013 here at the Music Center at Strathmore, we officially kick off the BSO’s 2012-2013 exciting season theme: the music of the movies! First up on Jan. 12 is the BSO’s presentation of Sergei Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky, set to the 1938 classic motion picture by Sergei Einstein. Following the prolific, heady performance, we move onto something a bit lighter, and with a Baltimore twist: Hairspray: In Concert! (Jan. 24). Led by Principal Pops Conductor Jack Everly with special guest and narrator John Waters, this concert is sure to get your feet moving. A full cast of characters will join the BSO and Mr. Waters onstage to bring the story of Tracy Turnblad, Link Larkin and Corny Collins to life. Another major theme of the 2012-13 season, of course, is the music of German-born composer Richard Wagner. On Feb. 16, the BSO and featured soloists will present a full program of Wagner works, including selections from Die Meistersinger, Tristan und Isolde and his iconic Die Walküre. Bass-baritone Eric Owens will join soprano Heidi Melton and tenor Brandon Jovanovich, who are making their BSO debuts in this tale of vengeance waged and love triumphantly won. This winter is full of fantastic programming here at the Music Center, and we are thrilled to share it all with you!
Marin Alsop
Music Director | Baltimore Symphony Orchestra 6 applause at Strathmore • january/february 2013
ELiot Pfanstiehl photo by michael ventura; Marin alsop photo by grant leighton
a note
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calendar MARCH
uFRI., MARCH 1, 8 P.M. Strathmore presents Drumline Live! Bold beats and history come together in a musical celebration of the black marching band tradition. uSAT., MARCH 2, 8 P.M. The National Philharmonic The American Virtuoso Violin Piotr Gajewski, conductor Elena Urioste, violin Peck: Signs of Life II Gerber: Two Lyric Pieces (world premiere) Makris: Violin Concerto Bernstein: Serenade Eminent violinist Elena Urioste brings her formidable talent to this concert featuring American works for violin. A free pre-concert lecture will be offered at 6:45 p.m. u THURS., MARCH 7, 8 P.M. Strathmore presents Cirque Ziva The troupe elegantly combines gravity defying acrobatics with sleek, colorful costumes and dazzling lighting for a night of fast-paced fun for the family.
u TUES., MARCH 12, 8 P.M. APRIL Washington Performing Arts Society u SAT., APRIL 6, 8 P.M. Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin The National Philharmonic Lambert Orkis, piano Bach: Sleepers Awake! Piotr Gajewski, conductor Lutoslawski: Partita Rosa Lamoreaux, soprano Schubert: Fantasie in C Major, D.934 Matthew Smith, tenor Mozart: Sonata No. 27 in G Major, Kevin Deas, bass K.379 Justine Lamb-Budge, violin Saint-Saëns: William Neil, harpsichord Sonata No. 3 David Whiteside, flute in D minor Mark Hill, oboe “Mutter is the Kathy Ceasar-Spall, oboe undisputed Fatma Daglar, oboe queen of violinMichael Hall, horn playing.” — Mark Wakefield, horn The Times The National Philharmonic Chorale (London) u FRI., MARCH 15, 8:15 P.M. Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Off the Cuff: Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony Marin Alsop, conductor
Kevin Deas
Saint- Saëns: Symphony No. 3, “Organ” More than a century after its premiere, Saint-Saëns’ awe-inspiring “Organ” Symphony remains unrivaled in its scope and majesty. u SAT., MARCH 23, 8 P.M. Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Trpčeski Plays Rachmaninoff Dima Slobodeniouk, conductor Simon Trpčeski, piano
Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 Cantata No. 140, Wachet Auf (“Sleepers Awake”) Bach’s six Brandenburg Concertos are considered masterpieces and among the biggest hits of classical music. A free pre-concert lecture will be offered at 6:45 p.m.
Rachmaninoff: The Rock Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 4 Shostakovich: Symphony No. 11 Playing Rachmaninoff’s Fourth Piano Concerto, Trpčeski, says The Times of London, “looks set to dominate the piano uTHURS., APRIL 11, 8 P.M. world for a long time to come.” Plus, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Shostakovich’s epic Symphony No. 11. BSO SuperPops: R. Strauss: Oboe Concerto Bond and Beyond—50 Years of 007 Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 u SUN., MARCH 24, 7 P.M. Michael Krajewski, conductor Rossini: Overture to Il Signor Strathmore presents Debbie Gravitte, vocalist Bruschino BSO Principal Oboist Katherine Needle- Neil Berg’s 101 Years of Broadway Experience moments from the greatest The legacy of 007 comes alive in a symman is the soloist in the Oboe Conmusicals of the century, including Broad- phonic tribute featuring music from five certo, one of Richard Strauss’ most way classics by Rodgers and Hammerdecades of Bond films, including Casino luminous final works. A free pre-constein, Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Royale, Goldfinger, From Russia with cert lecture will be offered at 7 p.m. To Lloyd Webber. Love and more. register call 202-686-8000, ext. 1547.
u SAT., MARCH 9, 8 P.M. Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Beethoven’s Seventh Christoph König, conductor Katherine Needleman, oboe
8 applause at Strathmore • january/february 2013
[March/April]
Feinstein photo by Zach Dobson; bond photo by jonathan timmes
u FRI., APRIL 12, 8 P.M. Strathmore presents Cameron Carpenter Cameron Carpenter’s “not your grandma’s organist” (The Wall Street Journal). From the complete works of J. S. Bach to his original compositions, Carpenter’s repertoire is among the largest and most diverse of any organist.
Chopin’s “most authoritative interpreters” (Chicago Tribune). u TUES., APRIL 16, 8 P.M. Washington Performing Arts Society Dresden Staatskapelle Christian Thielemann, music director Lisa Batiashvili, violin
Wagner: The Ring Cycle (excerpts) Lies, obsession and heartache riddle this story against the backdrop of the creation of Wagner’s thrilling Ring Cycle.
u SAT., APRIL 20, 9 P.M. Strathmore presents 2013 Spring Gala at Strathmore Michael Feinstein: The Gershwins and Me Brahms: Academic Festival Overture Violin Concerto Symphony No. 4 Michael Feinstein The orchestra demonstrates “gorgeous, glowing sounds of the string section and seamless phrasing of strings and winds” (The New York Times).
u SAT., APRIL 13, 8 P.M. Strathmore presents Under the Streetlamp Part harmony, part swagger and all doowop, the quartet performs the classics of Motown and revved-up takes on old u THURS., APRIL 18, 8 P.M. favorites. Strathmore presents VOCA People u SUN. APRIL 14, 4 P.M. Mixing flawlessly sung a cappella harStrathmore presents The two-time Emmy and five-time monies with beat-boxing, VOCA People Maurizio Pollini, piano Grammy Award nominee has coltransforms music from Beethoven’s lected a s’wonderful evening of music Fifth to Madonna, Queen and Dolly Chopin: Prelude in C-sharp minor celebrating the legacy of George and Parton. Ballade No. 2 in F Major Ira Gershwin. Ballade No. 3 in A-flat Major u FRI., APRIL 19, 8:15 P.M. Four Mazurkas Baltimore Symphony Orchestra u THURS., APRIL 25, 8 P.M. Scherzo No. 3 in C-sharp minor FRI., APRIL 26, 8 P.M. Off the Cuff: Wagner— Debussy: Preludes, Book I Strathmore presents A Composer Fit for a King Gladys Knight Marin Alsop, conductor Maurizio Pollini is considered one of The Empress of Soul Didi Balle, writer and director reigns supreme at Strathmore this spring. The eight[beyond the stage] time Grammy winStrathmore ner’s concert features a soul-stirring mix of her greatest and newest hits. Strathmore does more than present big names in the Music Center. It also shepherds emerging artists from the Washington, D.C. area with the Strathmore Artist in Residence u SAT., APRIL 27, 8 P.M. program. Each Strathmore AIR “owns” the Mansion for a Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Midori month, in which the artist is featured in two concerts and Gilbert Varga, conductor debuts a work commissioned by Strathmore. Midori, violin Kicking off the concerts is progressive soul chanteuse Deborah Bond Deborah Bond, who will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 16 and 30; Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 2 electric cellist Wytold will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 13 and 27. Rounding out the Brahms: Symphony No. 1 class are Afro Blue jazz singer Integriti Reeves, jazz drummer Isabelle De Leon, Gypsy Hear the astonishing Midori perform jazz violinist and singer-songwriter Daisy Castro and singer-songwriter Owen Danoff. Bartók’s blazing Violin Concerto No. 2.
Catch some AIR
applause at Strathmore • january/february 2013 9
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you can’t stop the beat The BSO and Baltimore icon John Waters reinvent Hairspray for its 25th anniversary least PG-13. But after some thought, he concluded, “The only way to really shock people was to make a PG John Waters movie, which, at that point, was unheard of.” On Jan. 24, Waters will take the stage at the Music Center at Strathmore for another first, as his iconic story about lacquered beehive hairdos—and so much more—gets the full treatment by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
10 applause at Strathmore • january/february 2013
The symphonic production, Hairspray: In Concert!, marks the 25th anniversary of the film and features narration written and presented by Waters. Since its 1988 debut, Hairspray has been adapted to a Broadway musical and a cheerful film version, both mainstream departures from the cult classic original. And Waters says that each iteration has worked: “I’ve loved all the Hairsprays. They’ve all been successful because each
Cory Donovan
b
ack in the 1980s, when John Waters learned that his new film Hairspray had received a PG rating from the Motion Picture Association of America, he feared his career was over. The mischievous maker of edgy films toyed with the idea of adding an expletive or two to sharpen the rating to at
By Martha Thomas
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra presents Hairspray In Concert Thursday, Jan. 24, 8 P.M. one is a reinvention.” The story—of plump high schooler Tracy Turnblad who leverages her moves on a 1960s televised teen dance party to fight against racial segregation—has remained intact, but the texture and tone have adapted to each new medium. The latest production, arranged by BSO Principal Pops Conductor Jack Everly, promises to be an extravaganza. The cast features veterans of both Broadway (Marissa Perry, reprising the Tracy she played on Broadway, and Nick Adams of Priscilla Queen of the Desert as Tracy’s heartthrob Link Larkin) and pop culture (the Monkees’ Micky Dolenz as Tracy’s father, Wilbur). The format, says Everly, is “a musical in concert” with costumes and staging. “We’ll have everything but scenery.” Waters’ narration will bridge some of the scenes between songs; he’ll also play one of the characters, though he’s not saying which one. Turning a Broadway score created for 16 instruments and synthesizers into a work for a full orchestra was a daunting job, says Everly. “It’s the oddest thing I’ve ever done. It was like working in reverse.” When a Broadway show takes to the road, Everly points out, it usually reduces the size of its musical ensemble, bolstering the instruments with a synthesizer. “But that can sound like a roller rink,” he says. “It wouldn’t work at the Baltimore Symphony.” Instead, Everly expanded what was one violin to a full string section, including cellos. The story itself also will be embellished. Waters’ narration weaves in his own memories, anchoring the tale in real-life experiences that hadn’t been part of the Hairspray story. “It’s all new—unless, of course, you knew me personally,” says the 66-year-
old Baltimore native. “If you grew up here, and are my age, you’ll remember how racially tense it was.” Waters himself was never a guest on The Buddy Deane Show, a Baltimore-based teen dance show that inspired the Corny Collins show in Hairspray. But he does remember winning a twist contest with a friend at a Buddy Deane record hop at the Valley Country Club; the prize was a Ray Charles album. He was asked to leave a party at a swimming club when he and a friend danced the Bodie Green, also known as the “dirty boogie.” The swim club, he recalls, “was a hotbed of racial tension, and very much influenced Hairspray.” Another influence was, well, hair. The depiction of hair in the movies and
musical, Waters says, “is almost a documentary. Those 14-year-old girls really looked that way—and it wasn’t a rebel look.” Mothers and daughters would emerge from the beauty parlor on a Saturday afternoon with hair piled and sprayed to “outrageous” heights, he says. And while Waters didn’t discover the Charm City cliché, he will take credit for helping to “turn hair into a huge icon.” Hairspray: In Concert! may be far from the edgy film that which featured Ricki Lake as Tracy and the late actor Divine as Tracy’s mother Edna. But Waters’ 25 years with Hairspray has been “wonderful from the very beginning.” Says Waters, “the irony of the whole thing is, I accidentally thought up a hit.”
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strathmore
Halftime at Stra
Marching bands leap from the football field to the Concert Hall stage in Drumline Live! By Chris Slattery
i
t’s a venue more accustomed to intermission than halftime, but the Music Center at Strathmore is presenting a musical experience that’s usually on the 50yard line. Drumline Live!—at 8 p.m. Friday, March 1—features the music and marching of a football game’s “fifth quarter” at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) spun into a rousing stage show. Reggie Brayon, Drumline Live!’s creative director, says the show draws from several genres. “Everything from Big Band to gospel, R&B, hip-hop, the latest song from the Korean sensation,” says Brayon, referring to global YouTube phe-
nomenon “Gangnam Style” by Psy. “The only genre we don’t have is country and western,” he says. “We have to be true to the art form.” The art form is one that, according to the Drumline Live! storyline, started with the first drum in Africa and ended up on the football fields of HBCUs. The institutes were born a quarter of a century before the end of slavery when Quaker philanthropist Richard Humphreys founded the Institute for Colored Youth (later Cheyney University) in Philadelphia in 1837 to train free blacks to become teachers. By the beginning of the 20th century there were 85 such schools of higher learning in the United States, and by the time the U.S. Supreme Court’s
12 applause at Strathmore • january/february 2013
Brown vs. the Board of Education decision called for the integration of American schools in 1954, the HBCUs were already steeped in history and tradition. “The marching band is a great asset to the university,” says John E. Newson, director of bands at Howard University in Washington, D.C. “We’re like goodwill ambassadors: not only do we perform at football games, we do community service, and we serve as a recruitment tool.” Newson says the modern day marching band, with its high stepping routines, swinging instruments, tightly coordinated choreography and “fifth quarter” battle-of-the-bands that take place after the ballgame ends, represents the earlier efforts of HBCU graduates who went out into the world and came back to campus to introduce new traditions. “The HBCU graduates went to get their masters and doctorates in the Midwest,” he explains. “And when they came back as professors they brought the traditions of the Big Ten schools. “Florida A&M was the first one to incorporate Big Ten style and ROTC marching drills into the routines they’d perform at halftime.” Once they did—using loosely strapped drums and angled instruments to allow for flashy dance routines—the popularity of the drumline and marching band grew, and an American musical
Strathmore presents Drumline Live! Friday, March 1, 8 P.M.
thmore sub-genre was born. The marching band got its pop culture close-up in 2002, when the movie Drumline was released. Nick Cannon starred as a high-stepping drummer in an HBCU marching band, and the film’s executive band consultant, Don Roberts, along with Brayon and some others, created Drumline Live! in 2009 to bring the big-screen experience to the stage. “After the success of the movie we knew: everybody wanted more band,” says Brayon. “But there were so many markets that didn’t have any band, and there was no way to put a real marching band on buses and go into football stadiums, so we turned the drumline experience into a stage show.” A stage show that Brayon says works on a number of levels, with its blend of gospel choir, conga line and New Orleans jazz parade. “We’ve gone overseas where we have no idea of how a different culture will receive us,” he says. “In Japan, where they really have no frame of reference—no football games or halftime shows— they loved it. We learned that the music is universal.” They also learned that the story of the marching band and its music is something audiences relate to, especially when it’s rendered with a streamlined cast of 38 telling a loose story through song, dance, spoken word and a bit of audience interaction. Drumline Live! re-
flects a reality its cast is quite familiar with, as 85 percent of the musicians, singers and dancers in the troupe are graduates of HBCUs. “The marching band is generally the largest student organization on campus,” says Howard’s Kelvin Washington, the associate director of university bands. “Sometimes we’re the unofficial ambassadors for the university, so we need to have a vast repertoire of patriotic music, from patriotic numbers to
the latest tune on the radio to old Motown songs. “It takes a lot to fit that into an eightand-a-half-minute halftime show.” And that’s the beauty of Drumline Live!: it expands the marching band repertoire and sets the marching band tradition on display. “It’s like a football game when the band is playing,” he says. “Full instrumentals, live not [on tape]—and you never know what will happen.”
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THE National Philharmonic
The National Philharmonic presents Mozart and the Voice of the Viola Saturday, Jan. 5, 8 P.M. and Sunday, Jan. 6, 3 p.m.
not playing second fiddle The viola’s expressive, rich voice will soar during National Philharmonic performances By M.J. McAteer
ber musician and teaches viola at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. The orchestra takes the leading role for the second offering of the program, the Mendelssohn String Symphony. It features an expanded viola section, which Gajewski describes as “a string choir.” Mendelssohn was only 14 when he wrote the piece, yet it is often regarded as surpassing in maturity the music that the prodigiously precocious Mozart created at a similar age. That would never be said, though, about Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante. The piece is considered one of the composer’s greatest works, and is also one of his most unusual compositions because it features two soloists. “The emotional heart is the second movement, which was the first thing
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that Mozart wrote after his mother died,” explains violinist Jackiw, (pronounced Jacque-iff), who will join Chiang and the Philharmonic in performing the piece. “It is tender and mournful,” he says— so much so that it was keyed to an emotionally wrought moment in the film Sophie’s Choice. Jackiw, although only 27, has a bustling career that has included appearances with symphony orchestras in Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto and Melbourne. Both Chiang and Jackiw are excited about their first collaboration. The Mozart piece “offers the opportunity for the soloists to interrupt each other and complete each other’s sentences,” says Jackiw. Chiang agrees. “It’s a wonderful dialogue,” she says.
Jackiw photo by Lisa-Marie Mazzucco
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he viola often plays second fiddle to its higher-strung sibling, the violin, but that won’t be the case when The National Philharmonic, joined by violist Victoria Chiang and violinist Stefan Jackiw, presents “Mozart and the Voice of the Viola” at 8 p.m. on Jan. 5 and at 3 p.m. on Jan. 6 at the Music Center at Strathmore. The motivation for the concert, says Philharmonic Music Director and Conductor Piotr Gajewski, “is to showcase the viola.” Through Telemann’s Concerto for Viola, Mendelssohn’s String Symphony No. 9 and Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, the often overlooked instrument will be able to voice all its complexities. The Vienna Symphonic Library describes the arc of the viola’s sound as ranging from dark and stately to eloquent and sensuous to lively, powerful and robust; the Telemann piece provides plenty of room for its mood to swing. Chiang considers the concerto both “beautiful and expressive, and a real treat” to both play and hear. Chiang was a violinist all through college, but she never felt suited to what she calls its dominating personality. “When I made the switch to viola,” she says, “everything fell into place.” Now, Chiang performs as a soloist and cham-
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Baltimore Symphony ORchestra
A most important pas de deux Musician Gabrielle Finck finds love—and a new hobby— with her best friend By Laura Farmer
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SO Associate Principal Horn Gabrielle Finck is full of surprises. Known to her friends as “Gabe,” the shock of pink hair she sported in her first season with the BSO four seasons ago was the first clue that there are many facets to this winsome 29-year-old. “I was never wild in my teenage years because I was too busy practicing. Changing my hair color is my way of rebelling, I guess. Last summer it was bright red!” Finck’s hair is back to its original brunette for a special reason: on Jan. 1, 2013 she’s set to marry her best friend, Noah Tyler, at Baltimore’s St. Mary’s Chapel. The pair met five years ago at a church in Washington, D.C. Among their mutually enjoyed activities is perhaps a surprising choice: ballet. “Noah danced when he was a kid. He thought ballet would be a fun activity to enjoy together,” Finck says. “We first went to a class four years ago. He was talented but I hated it! He tried to be encouraging, but it was just a big debacle week after week. After the session ended, I was like, thank goodness that’s over!” Or so Finck thought. Last fall, she heard about a class located near her horn studio in Towson. Because of the class’ convenience, she decided to give ballet another try. “After a few classes, it dawned on me that I started to enjoy it!” Finck says. “It’s been a cool thing because I know I’m making progress and overcoming those issues that everyone has about the way their body is.” Is ballet now something they can pursue together? “Noah has moves I’ll never have! But I’ve been practicing and he hasn’t, so at least that puts us on more equal footing,” she says.
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Baltimore Symphony ORchestra
musicians on a
mission
Through BSO on the Go and OrchLab, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra enhances music education in Montgomery County classrooms
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he Baltimore Symphony Orchestra can’t always bring Montgomery County students to the Music Center at Strathmore as much as it would like, so the musicians of the BSO come to them. Through BSO on the Go, musicians visit local schools to help enhance
music education. What began in 2007 as a few visits to elementary schools has grown to a more sophisticated program for older students at Wheaton High School and A. Mario Loiederman Middle School for the Creative and Performing Arts. BSO on the Go’s mission has remained constant through the years, says Dick Spero, community liaison for the BSO at Strathmore: “To give back to the Montgomery County community, which has been very supportive of us both publicly and privately, and to be involved interactively in the classroom rather than just a passive concert hall performance.” As part of the program, BSO musicians perform student-written variations of music in a composition workshop at the schools. Other student musicians will journey to Baltimore to the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall to sit on stage with their BSO counterparts in a closed rehearsal with Music Director Marin Alsop and work on rehearsal techniques at their schools with visiting BSO musicians. Well over 12,000 students have taken part in the various BSO on the Go activities to date, Spero says.
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New this year is OrchLab, a program focused on instrumental music education. In a partnership with Montgomery County Public Schools, the initial OrchLab pilot program will take place at 23 Montgomery County elementary, middle and high schools with the neediest students. BSO musicians will visit these schools, work with their orchestras by leading sectionals, hold master classes, assist with phrasing techniques—whatever the music educators find most useful, Spero says. “The idea is to upgrade the performance skills of students who have selected music as something they’re interested in,” he says. While the orchestra will subsidize those efforts, money will be raised from outside sources to enable students in nine middle and high schools to attend a BSO concert at the Music Center at Strathmore on a discounted basis. OrchLab also intends to conduct a daylong seminar in professional development for MCPS music educators. In these sessions, educators will observe onthe-spot critiques by BSO members of student ensemble performances. “If as a result of OrchLab, student orchestras and their instructors are eager and able to tackle more difficult pieces, we will have an immediate indication that we are moving in the right direction,” Spero says. That, he concludes, “will be the most gratifying outcome.”
TOP PHOTO BY MICHAEL HUNT, BOTTOM PHOTOS COURTESY BSO
By Roger Catlin
Awards Bethesda Urban Partnership and Bethesda Magazine will honor writers at the Bethesda Literary Festival, April 19-21, 2013.
Short Story & Essay Contest
First place: $500 and published in Bethesda Magazine Second place: $250 Third place: $150 Honorable Mention: $75 The first place winners will also receive a gift certificate to The Writer’s Center. All winners will be published on the Bethesda Magazine and Bethesda Urban Partnership websites and will be honored at a special event during the Bethesda Literary Festival.
Adults (ages 18+) and High School Students (grades 9-12) are eligible. High School winners receive: $250, first place; $100, second place; $50, third place. Bethesda Magazine will print the first place Essay & Short Story.
Deadline: Jan. 25, 2013 For eligibility and rules, please visit www.bethesdamagazine.com or www.bethesda.org.
For more information, call 301-215-6660, Ext. 142 or 301-718-7787, Ext. 207.
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THE National Philharmonic
a tribute
to the Master
The National Philharmonic presents Lutosławski’s 100th Anniversary: Remembering Rostropovich Saturday, Jan. 26, 8 P.M. and Sunday, Jan. 27, 3 P.M.
The National Philharmonic, BSO principal cellist salute late virtuoso Rostropovich By Kathleen Wheaton
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henever a piece by the late, great Russian cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich plays on the radio, “after a few seconds, you know it’s him,” says cellist Dariusz Skoraczewski. “Nobody plays the cello like Rostropovich—he was the greatest. Ever.” Skoraczewski, principal cellist for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, is teaming up with The National Philharmonic to pay tribute to the legendary Rostropovich with Jan. 26 and Jan. 27 performances featuring pieces by Witold Lutosławski and Tchaikovsky. Commemorating the master, whose recordings and videos Skoraczewski treasured as a music student, is not quite the same as, say, doing an Elvis impersonation: “We are not trying to imitate him, but to learn from him,” says Skoraczewski. “He’s my single biggest influence...[my goal] is to understand how he was able to express himself so clearly, and to continue developing my own voice.” Rostropovich, who died in 2007 at age 80, received his musical education under the Soviet system and his early accolades included the 1942 Stalin Prize. But he quit the Moscow Conservatory at age 21 in protest over the sidelining of his mentor, composer and pianist Dmitri Shostakovich. His sorrowful yet defiant interpretation of Dvořák at the 1968 London Proms, on the eve of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, sealed his renown as a musician who could speak volumes without words. Rostropovich fled the Soviet Union in 1974; he became an American citizen and from 1977 to 1994, was musical director and conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra. Polish-born Skoraczewski enrolled in a musical elementary school at age 6 and was assigned the cello 18 applause at Strathmore • january/february 2013
because he was tall (he is now 6 feet 5), but he soon grew to love the mellow beauty of its sound. It is the instrument closest in range to the human voice, he says, and “the repertoire is enormous.” That is due in large part to Rostropovich, whose career inspired 108 pieces of cello music written for or dedicated to him. Lutosławski’s Cello Concerto is among the most famous of those pieces, and Rostropovich premiered the work in 1970 in London. The Cello Concerto presents enormous technical challenges, including a four-minute introduction by the soloist and a complex score that slips notes between notes. As soon as he heard the piece would be performed, Skoraczewski says, “I began practicing. I am very excited to play it.”
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By David Mamet Directed by Mitchell Hébert February 6 – March 3, 2013 For a group of desperate real estate salesmen, closing a sale can mean a new Cadillac while losing one can mean losing it all. A searing Pulitzer Prize winner featuring a powerhouse cast with some of DC’s top actors.
How to Write a New Book for the Bible EAST COAST PREMIERE
By Bill Cain Directed by Ryan Rilette
Becky Shaw AREA PREMIERE
By Gina Gionfriddo Directed by Patricia McGregor May 29 – June 23, 2013 When Suzanna sets her friend Max up on a blind date with her husband’s co-worker, a series of cataclysmic events are set in motion that change all their lives. A Pulitzer Prize finalist and an Off-Broadway hit, Becky Shaw is an engrossing, ferociously funny comedy of romantic errors.
April 10 – May 5, 2013 In a beautiful new play from the author of Equivocation, a man moves in with his ailing but always funny mother when she’s unable to care for herself. Their reunion heals old wounds, opening a heartfelt, humorous new chapter in their relationship.
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strathmore
The Body Eclectic Pulse exhibit in the Mansion at Strathmore combines art, science and medicine
Swine Flu, by Luke Jerram
By Chris Slattery
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lown glass bacteria. X-rays scans of toys. Paper fiber sculptures of cellular structure. A 13-foot-long double helix. The art exhibit Pulse: Art and Medicine—at the Mansion at Strathmore Feb. 16 through April 13—examines the place where art, science and the human body intersect in a multimedia investigation of medicine as an inspiration for art, and the inherent artistry involved in the medical sciences. “It’s really the art first—art inspired by medicine,” says curator Harriet Lesser. “Medicine as the inspiration for art is not a typical point of view, and this show stretches the perception of the viewer.” Pulse showcases the work of artists and radiologists Kai-hung Fung and Satre Stuelke, and artists Jessica Beels, Laura Ferguson, Luke Jerram, Bruce Peebles, Virgil Wong and Renee Lachman. Also included are medical illustrations through a partnership with the Department of Art As Applied to Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. Some artists, like Ferguson and Wong, focus on the human form in nearly all their work; others, like Beels and Jerram, have incorporated cellular, biological and medical themes into a more diverse oeuvre. Pulse is an intense meditation on
anatomy and everything that affects it. Ferguson renders the human body in DaVinci mode; Peebles turns the double helix into fine art and Fung’s stereoscopic images are best viewed with 3-D glasses. Stuelke turns radiology into an art form, Beels reconstructs cellular structures and Jerram creates blown glass sculptures of bacteria and viruses from HIV to swine flu—even bubonic plague. In those sculptures, Lesser points out, the crystalline beauty of the art itself is juxtaposed against the intrinsic ugliness of the fatal disease being represented, adding to the depth and complexity of the exhibit. Indeed, Jerram himself— who, as a color-blind artist, makes a point of the fact that brightly colored microorganisms simply don’t exist in real life—says he first began making chemical models of viruses to elevate awareness. “Originally, I made a glass sculpture of HIV that people could hold in their hand and contemplate the global issues of what that virus is doing to the world,” he said. “We can photograph a virus with an electron microscope, but it’s sometimes difficult to see what’s going on inside it. … Exploring the edges of scientific understanding is really interesting for me.” At the core of Pulse, Lesser notes, is a challenge that asks viewers to look at themselves—literally—differently, and
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to see the artistic beauty in everything around them, from an x-rayed toy to a rendering of a virus molecule in acrylic. With the Mansion at Strathmore as a backdrop, she adds, Pulse is able to run the gamut from small sculptures to largescale installations. Lesser says curating a new exhibition “…is sort of like dropping a pebble in the water. “There’s a big plunk,” she explains, “then the ripples get bigger and bigger. It grows and develops, always expanding and going into unknown territory.”
Strathmore presents Pulse: Art and Medicine Feb. 16-April 13, 2013 The Mansion at Strathmore Exhibition hours are 10 a.m.4 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Wednesdays and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays. A free opening reception will be from 7-9 p.m. Feb. 19, and a free tour of the exhibit will be at 10:15 a.m. and 1 p.m. Feb. 23.
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Washington Performing Arts Society
merger a musical Anne-Sophie Mutter and longtime accompanist Lambert Orkis perform with passion By M.J. McAteer
22 applause at Strathmore • january/february 2013
Washington Performing Arts Society presents Anne-Sophie Mutter Tuesday, March 12, 8 P.M.
Harald Hoffman
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iolinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and her pianist, Lambert Orkis, have been making beautiful music together for 25 years, yet the passage of a quarter century has not dimmed their passion for perfection or for performing. Rather, it has deepened their commitment to bringing audiences the finest music that they can create, which is why he is accompanying her at the Music Center at Strathmore at 8 p.m. on March 12 as part of the Washington Performing Arts Society’s Celebrity Series. The series, says WPAS President and CEO Neale Perl, is dedicated to “bringing the best of the best” to the concert stage, and Mutter certainly embodies that criterion for excellence. The collaboration of Mutter and Orkis began by chance in the early ’80s, when the violin prodigy made her debut appearance with the National Symphony Orchestra. Orkis, then—and still— the NSO’s principal keyboardist, was tapped to accompany the precocious teen during Mstislav Rostropovich’s conductor’s rehearsal. “I looked to my left [at Orkis on stage], thinking, ‘What’s that?’” Mutter says. “He had the ability to know where I was going.” Then, in 1988, once again through Rostropovich, the pair reconnected for several concerts and “immediately clicked,” Mutter says. “It was like breathing together. That cannot be trained.” The partnership blossomed, with a busy schedule of performances all over the world and an impressive catalogue of recordings and accolades, including a 2000 Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance for a rendition of Beethoven’s violin sonatas. Mutter and Orkis are in such perfect tune that they don’t even speak much
during rehearsals. “We start to play and listen to one another,” Orkis says. “We are like two dancers.” The musical pas de deux that the pair will perform at Strathmore will include standouts of the classical repertoire from Mozart, Schubert and SaintSaëns, as well as a work by 20th century composer Witold Lutosławski. Mutter has played some of the pieces before, Perl says, and yet she continues to put “every knot of the tapestry in with care.” For example, Mutter has recorded all of Mozart’s violin sonatas— including No. 27 in G Major, which she will perform at Strathmore—for Deutsche Grammophon. Yet despite knowing the score inside out, every
is repeated throughout the young composer’s life, Mozart “becomes a good little boy again.” Orkis considers Schubert’s Fantasie in C Major one of the greatest pieces ever written for piano and violin but also one of the most difficult to play, with nearly a half hour without a stop. “It is almost a monologue more than a dialogue,” Mutter explains about the intense interplay of violin and piano. “It requires an extreme delicacy of listening to one another.” The Lutosławski partita that follows on the program was orchestrated specifically for Mutter by the Polish composer. It was one of three pieces he wrote in the 1980s that he dubbed Lancuch or
“He had the ability to know where I was going. … That cannot be trained.” Anne-Sophie Mutter phrase of the piece will be fresh when she plays it. That, Perl says, is a quality common to all great musicians. The inclusion of the less familiar Lutosławski provides another glimpse into Mutter’s musical personality. The German violinist is not content to play a program of only familiar pieces, says the WPAS president, but prefers to mix the beloved and well known with works that listeners may not know as well. The Strathmore evening kicks off with the Mozart sonata, which has an opening movement that crackles with outrage and energy. Orkis provides the back story for all that fire: After a clash with a controlling father who “never tired of telling him how much he owed him,” Mozart “got his blood up to a good boil,” Orkis says. By the second movement, though, in a pattern that
“chain,” in reference to their structure of linking musical strands. The partita takes the audience to “a totally different dimension of music,” Mutter says. “It was written by an inventive, honest and humble composer who doesn’t go for the big bang, just what is needed.” In contrast, the final offering of the evening, Saint-Saëns’ Sonata in D minor, unabashedly goes for the big bang, although not before providing some lyricism and wistful passages along the way. Mutter describes the piece as alternately “rhapsodic,” “fluid,” “bubbly” and “elegant,” while Orkis says the adagio makes him envision “being in a Parisian garden late at night smelling beautiful blooms.” And in the sonata’s rushing, rapturous finale, the pianist says he can almost hear all the bells of Paris at full throat.
applause at Strathmore • january/february 2013 23
Saturday, January 5, 2013, 8 p.m. and Sunday, January 6, 2013, 3 p.m.
● The National Philharmonic Piotr Gajewski, Music Director and Conductor
presents
Mozart and the Voice of the Viola Piotr Gajewski, conductor Stefan Jackiw, violin Victoria Chiang, viola
oncerto for Viola and Strings in G Major Georg Philipp Telemann C Largo (1681-1767)
Allegro
Andante
Presto
String Symphony No. 9 in C Major Allegro
Andante
Scherzo; Trio
Allegro vivace
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
INTERMISSION infonia Concertante in E Flat, K. 364 S Allegro maestoso
Andante
Rondo: Presto
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Weekend Concerts Program Sponsor: Ameriprise Financial Sunday Concert Presenting Sponsor: Ingleside at King Farm All Kids, All Free, All the Time is sponsored by The Gazette The Music Center at Strathmore Marriott Concert Stage
24 applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013
Piotr Gajewski, conductor
Piotr Gajewski is widely credited with building the National Philharmonic to its present status as one of the most respected ensembles of its kind in the region. In addition to his appearances with The National Philharmonic, Gajewski is much in demand as a guest conductor. In recent years, he has appeared with most of the major orchestras in his native Poland, as well as the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic in England, the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra in the Czech Republic, the Okanagan Symphony in Canada and numerous orchestras in the United States. Gajewski attended Carleton College and the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music, where he earned a bachelor’s of music and a master’s of music in orchestral conducting. Upon completing his formal education, he continued refining his conducting skills at the 1983 Tanglewood Music Festival in Massachusetts, where he was awarded a Leonard Bernstein Conducting Fellowship. Gajewski is also a winner of many prizes and awards, among them a prize at New York’s prestigious Leopold Stokowski Conducting Competition and, in 2006, Montgomery County’s Comcast Excellence in the Arts and Humanities Achievement Award.
Stefan Jackiw, violin
Stefan Jackiw is recognized as one of his generation’s most significant artists. In the 2012-13 season, Jackiw’s performances include appearances with the Detroit Symphony under James Gaffigan, Royal Philharmonic under Charles Dutoit, Netherlands Philharmonic under Louis Langree and Melbourne Symphony under Sir Andrew Davis. He will also appear with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and The
Gajewski photo by Michael Ventura, Jackiw photo by Lisa-Marie Mazzucco
SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013, 8 P.M. SUNDAY, JANUARY 6, 2013, 3 P.M.
Saturday, January 5, 2013, 8 p.m. and Sunday, January 6, 2013, 3 p.m.
Hague Philharmonic, and perform the South American premiere of a concerto by Osvaldo Golijov with the São Paulo Symphony and Marin Alsop.
Victoria Chiang, viola
Victoria Chiang is an artist-faculty member of the Peabody Conservatory of Music, where she serves as coordinator of the viola
department. Career highlights include appearances with the National Philharmonic Orchestra, Romanian State Philharmonics of Constantsa and Tirgu Muresh, Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, the Acadiana Symphony and the National Gallery Orchestra in Washington, D.C.
Program Notes Concerto for Viola and Strings in G Major, TWV 41:G9
Georg Philipp Telemann Born March 14, 1681 in Magdeburg, Germany; died June 25, 1767 in Hamburg, Germany
In the early 18th century, German musicians enthusiastically received the publication of concertos by Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi. Georg Philipp Telemann, one of Germany’s most popular and prolific composers of the time, followed the example of Vivaldi’s works, composing many more than a hundred concertos. The facility with which Telemann practiced his craft is almost incomprehensible in our time, when composers are willing to ponder a single phrase for weeks and willing to spend years writing an hour or two of music. Telemann’s output was so vast that musicologists have succeeded in identifying and cataloging but a small fraction of his works. Approximately 170 concertos of various kinds have been
attributed to him. One of the most popular among the few that have been reprinted in modern times is this G Major Viola Concerto. As little background about this work’s genesis exists, there has been some debate about its authenticity. What is known is that it was composed around 1740 in the sonata da chiesa (“church sonata”) form with four movements in an alternating slow-fast sequence, Largo and Allegro, Andante and Presto. These movements are said to represent the four humors of medieval physiology: phlegmatic, sanguine, melancholic and choleric. Symphony for Strings No. 9, in C Major
Felix Mendelssohn
Born Feb. 3, 1809 in Hamburg, Germany; died Nov. 4, 1847 in Leipzig, Germany
Felix Mendelssohn was an extraordinary child prodigy, a composer who had his first public performance at age 9. No important touring performer who visited Berlin ever missed musicales held on alternate Sundays in the Mendelssohns’ great house. There was always chamber music, sometimes an orchestra, occasionally even an opera. The guests frequently played, and almost every time, there was a work by the young composer. Between the ages of 12 and 14, Mendelssohn wrote 12 string symphonies and several concerti for such concerts. Mendelssohn had considered these works juvenile and never released them for publication, but, in this privileged workshop, he developed his skills and polished his craft. His initial foray into the field of pure orchestral music was made the following year in the form of the first six string “sinfonias,” or “symphonies” as they are now popularly known, originally composed as exercises for his teacher, Zelter. The complete set of 12 was completed two years later (1823); they were long thought to be lost until, in 1950, they were rediscovered in the State Library of East Berlin. On March 12, 1823, only a few weeks
after the composer’s 14th birthday, Mendelssohn completed this symphony; it was undoubtedly performed at the Mendelssohn home a few weeks later. It begins with a slow minor-key introduction, grave, with a very inventive section featuring bass pizzicati that leads into a bright and vigorous Allegro in the classical sonata form. The lyrical second subject has now become an independent musical idea, and the fugato treatment of the first subject, which opens the development section, is very mature writing. The second movement, Andante, is a simple, song-like three-part structure, already featuring the characteristic Mendelssohn sound. Its lyrical first part is scored for violins alone, divided into four parts with highly effective textural contrasts between this part and the middle section, in which the violins are silent and the low strings, divided violas, cellos and basses, weave a contrapuntal web. When the opening music returns, the lower instruments join the violins, one by one. A boisterous Scherzo with a rustic contrasting trio follows. It foreshadows the fairy music of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The rustic contrasting trio uses a Swiss folk song, intended as a nostalgic reflection of a recent summer vacation; the symphony ends with an animated but serious Allegro vivace finale that closes brightly in C major. Sinfonia Concertante, in E flat, K. 364
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Born Jan. 27, 1756 in Salzburg; died Dec. 5, 1791 in Vienna
Mozart probably wrote this work in Salzburg during the summer of 1779, some months after his return from Mannheim and Paris, where multiple concertos were very popular and were usually given the name Sinfonia Concertante, but very little about the specific origin of this outstanding composition has been uncovered. Sinfonia Concertante really belong, with few exceptions, to the realm of the concerto. They exist in two or three movements, the first in Classical ritornello form (an alternation of tutti and solo sections), the last usually in rondo form, where
applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 25
Saturday, January 5, 2013, 8 p.m. and Sunday, January 6, 2013, 3 p.m.
the theme recurs after episodes that alternate with it. The works are usually light and popular in style, rather than either heroic or grand. This particular Sinfonia Concertante is widely considered the masterwork of the genre. History does not record the occasion or the soloists for whom this work might have been composed, and its beautiful violin part makes one wish that Mozart had not given up writing violin concertos four years earlier. He also, more or less, gave up playing the violin at around this time, to the great distress of his father, who was a famous violin teacher. The viola came to be his preferred string instrument, although his playing of it has only been documented in chamber music. The viola part of the Sinfonia Concertante uses the then-common technique of scordatura, a practice in which the viola soloist’s part is played a half tone lower than it sounds to the ear by a deliberate manual mistuning, with the soloist tuning his instrument a half-tone higher than normal. This unusual practice was fostered in order for the violist to help match the tone and sonority of the solo violin better and to give the viola a brighter sound, helping to distinguish it from the orchestral violas. The refined Sinfonia Concertante, one of the finest of Mozart’s string concertos, composed in the summer of 1779, brings together elements of the Baroque concerto grosso and the concerto. The magnificent themes, the sensitive writing for the solo instruments, the interplay between the two and between the soloists and the orchestra, give all of it unusual distinction. The first movement, Allegro maestoso, features a marvelously subtle and elegant dialogue. The second movement, Andante, has a succession of glorious question-and answer phrases in which the soloists seem to seek to surpass each other in beauty and profundity of expression. The extended rondo finale, Presto, closes the work in exhilarating high spirits. The small accompanying orchestra consists of oboes, horns and strings. Copyright Susan Halpern, 2013
National Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorale First Violins Justine Lamb-Budge, Concertmaster Jody Gatwood, Concertmaster emeritus Brenda Anna Michael Barbour Eva Cappelletti-Chao Maureen ConlonDorosh Claudia Chudacoff Lisa Cridge Doug Dubé Lysiane Gravel-Lacombe Jennifer Kim Regino Madrid Kim Miller Jennifer Rickard Benjamin Scott Leslie Silverfine Chaerim Smith Olga Yanovich Second Violins Mayumi Pawel, Principal Katherine Budner Arminé Graham Justin Gopal June Huang Karin Kelleher Alexandra Mikhlin Laura Miller Joanna Owen Jean Provine Rachel Schenker Jennifer Shannon Ning Ma Shi Hilde Singer Cathy Stewart Rachael Stockton Violas Julius Wirth, Principal Judy Silverman, Associate Principal Phyllis Freeman Nicholas Hodges Leonora Karasina Stephanie Knutsen Mark Pfannschmidt Margaret Prechtl Jennifer Rende Sarah Scanlon Chris Shieh Tam Tran Cellos Lori Barnet, Principal April Chisholm Danielle Cho Ken Ding Andrew Hesse Philip von Maltzahn Todd Thiel Kerry Van Laanen Basses Robert Kurz, Principal Kelly Ali Shawn Alger Barbara Fitzgerald William Hones Ed Malaga Michael Rittling Mark Stephenson Flutes David Whiteside, Principal Nicolette Oppelt David LaVorgna Piccolo David LaVorgna Oboes Mark Hill, Principal
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Kathy Ceasar-Spall Fatma Daglar English Horn Ron Erler Clarinets Cheryl Hill, Principal Carolyn Alvarez-Agria Suzanne Gekker Bass Clarinet Carolyn Alvarez-Agria Bassoons Erich Hecksher, Principal Benjamin Greanya Sandra Sisk Ying-Ting Chiu Contrabassoon Nicholas Cohen French Horns Michael Hall, Principal Mark Wakefield Justin Drew Mark Hughes Ken Bell Trumpets Chris Gekker, Principal Robert Birch Carl Rowe John Abbraciamento Trombones David Sciannella, Principal Jim Armstrong Jeffrey Cortazzo Tuba William Clark Timpani & Percussion Tom Maloy, Principal Aubrey Adams Curt Duer Robert Jenkins Bill Richards Harp Rebecca Smith Elizabeth Blakeslee Keyboard William Neil Jeffery Watson Theodore Guerrant Sopranos Nancy Dryden Baker Marietta R. Balaan Kelli Bankard Ahdia Bavari Mary Bentley* Jocelyn Bond Cheryl Branham Rosalind Breslow Dara Canzano Rebecca Carlson** Anne P. Claysmith Nancy A. Coleman** Victoria Corona Eileen S. DeMarco Lauren Drinkwater Alejandra Durán-Böhme Lisa Edgley Amy Ellsworth Shirley J. Fan Sarah B. Forman Caitlin A. Garry Debbie Henderson Julie Hudson Robyn Kleiner Carrie Henderson Jessica Holden Kloda Stephanie Link Kaelyn Lowmaster Sharon Majchrzak-Hong
Anaelise Martinez Kathryn McKinley Sara W. Moses Katherine NelsonTracey* Mary Beth Nolan Gloria Nutzhorn Juliana S. O’Neill Lynette Posorske Maggie Rheinstein Carlotta Richard Lisa Romano Theresa Roys Aida L. Sánchez Katherine Schnorrenberg Shelly A. Schubert Michelle Strucke Carolyn J. Sullivan Chelsea Toledo Ellen van Valkenburgh Susanne Villemarette Louise M. Wager Amy Wenner Emily Wildrick Alison Williams Lynne Woods Altos Marsha Adler Helen R. Altman Sybil Amitay Lynne Stein Benzion Carol Bruno Erlinda C. Dancer Sandra L. Daughton Jenelle M. Dennis Corinne Erasmus Robin Fillmore Shannon Finnegan Elissa Frankle Francesca Frey-Kim Maria A. Friedman Julia C. Friend Elizabeth Bishop Gemoets Jeanette Ghatan Sarah Gilchrist Lois J. Goodstein Jacque Grenning Stacey A. Henning Jean Hochron Debbi Iwig Sara M. Josey* Marilyn Katz Casey Keeler Alexandra Kemp Irene M. Kirkpatrick Martha J. Krieger** Melissa J. Lieberman* Julie S. MacCartee Nansy Mathews Caitlin McLaughlin Susan E. Murray Daryl Newhouse Martha Newman Patricia Pillsbury Patricia Pitts Elizabeth Riggs Beryl M. Rothman Lisa Rovin Jan Schiavone Deborah F. Silberman Elizabeth Solem Lori J. Sommerfield Carol A. Stern Pattie Sullivan-Sten Bonnie S. Temple Renée Tietjen Susan Trainor Virginia Van Brunt Christine Vocke Sarah Jane Wagoner**
Tenors Kenneth Bailes Philip Bregstone J.I. Canizares Colin Church Spencer Clark Gregory Daniel Paul J. DeMarco Ruth W. Faison* Greg Gross Carlos A. Herrán Dominick Izzo Don Jansky Curt Jordan Tyler A. Loertscher Ryan Long Jane Lyle David Malloy Michael McClellan Chantal McHale Eleanor McIntire Wayne Meyer* Tom Milke Carl Morgan Tom Nessinger Steve Nguyen Anita O’Leary E.J. Pavy Joe Richter Drew Riggs Jason Saffell Robert T. Saffell Dennis Vander Tuig Basses Russell Bowers Albert Bradford Ronald Cappelletti Pete Chang Dale S. Collinson Stephen Cook Clark V. Cooper Bopper Deyton J. William Gadzuk Robert Gerard Mike Hilton Chun-Hsien Huang John Iobst William W. Josey** Allan Kirkpatrick Ian Kyle Jack Legler Larry Maloney Ian Matthews Alan E. Mayers Dugald McConnell David J. McGoff Kent Mikkelsen* John Milberg** Oliver Moles Mark Nelson Leif Neve Devin Osborne Tom Pappas Anthony Radich Harry Ransom, Jr. Edward Rejuney* Frank Roys Kevin Schellhase Harold Seifried Charles Serpan Carey W. Smith Charles Sturrock Alun Thomas Donald A. Trayer Wayne R. Williams Theodore Guerrant, Accompanist, Theodore M. Guerrant Chair * section leader ** asst. section leader
Friday, January 11, 2013, 8 p.m.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 11, 2013, 8 P.M.
● Strathmore Presents
A Fiddler’s Feast: Alasdair Fraser, Natalie Haas, Jay Ungar, Molly Mason and Dirk Powell The Music Center at Strathmore Marriott Concert Stage
haas and fraser photos by IRENE YOUNG
Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas
Master Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser is a consummate performer. His dynamic fiddling, engaging stage presence and deep understanding of Scotland’s music have created a constant and international demand for his solo appearances and concerts with a variety of ensembles. Fraser has been a major force behind the resurgence of traditional Scottish fiddling in his homeland and the U.S., inspiring legions of listeners and learners through his recordings, annual fiddle camps and concerts. Fraser’s repertoire spans several centuries of Scottish music and includes his own compositions, which blend a profound understanding of the Scottish tradition with cutting-edge musical explorations. He weaves through his performances a warm and witty narrative, drawing from a deep well of stories and lore surrounding Scotland’s musical heritage.
Fraser has made guest appearances with groups as diverse as Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Waterboys and the Chieftains, and has been a featured soloist along with Itzhak Perlman at New York’s Lincoln Center. His performances have been included on the soundtracks of several major films, including The Last of the Mohicans and Titanic. Fraser has released several critically acclaimed albums, including the Indie Award-winning Dawn Dance (Best Celtic Album of 1996). On his album Legacy of the Scottish Fiddle, Volume One, Fraser and longtime collaborator pianist Paul Machlis pay tribute to Scotland’s master fiddle composers of the past 250 years. Fraser and cellist Natalie Haas have performed as a duo for 12 years. They have three albums together: Fire & Grace, In the Moment and, most recently, Highlander’s Farewell. In addition to performing with Haas, Fraser also directs the 100-member San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers orchestra. Fraser lives with his wife and two sons in the Sierra Nevada foothills of northern California, operating his own Culburnie Records label and making frequent trips to Scotland and beyond for numerous engagements. Natalie Haas is one of the most sought after cellists playing traditional music today. She and Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser have toured as a duo for more than 12 years, wowing audiences
at festivals and concerts worldwide with their unique sound. Their first album together, Fire & Grace, was awarded Best Album of the Year in the Scots Trad Music Awards 2004. Haas has also toured with Mark O’Connor as a member of his Appalachia Waltz Trio. As a studio musician, Haas has been a guest artist on more than 50 albums, including those of Cape Breton fiddler Natalie MacMaster and Irish super-group Solas. A graduate of The Juilliard School, Haas discovered the cello at age 9. Her musical journey found purpose when she fell in love with Celtic music at the Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddling School at age 11. Inspired and encouraged by director Fraser, she began to investigate the cello’s potential for rhythmic accompaniment to fiddle tunes.
Jay Ungar and Molly Mason
He was a Bronx kid. She grew up in Washington State. He was raised on pop music of the 1940s and ’50s. She had a fondness for traditional fiddle music and ’30s and ’40s popular tunes. Since joining forces, Jay Ungar and Molly Mason have become one of the most celebrated duos on the American acoustic music scene. It started with a chance meeting in the late 1970s. Ungar and Mason were each performing at the Towne Crier, a rural New York club. They hit it off musically and played together from time to time until Mason headed off to Minnesota to work in the house band of a new radio show: Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion. Meanwhile, back in New York, Ungar put together a band with fellow fiddlers Evan Stover and Matt Glaser and guitarist Russ Barenberg. When Fiddle
applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 27
Friday, January 11, 2013, 8 p.m.
Fever, as the collaboration was called, needed a bassist, Mason signed on. In 1984, Fiddle Fever band members Matt Glaser and Russ Barenberg worked with a young filmmaker on a documentary called The Brooklyn Bridge. They gave Ken Burns a copy of Fiddle Fever’s second LP, Waltz of the Wind, which included Jay’s “Ashokan Farewell.” Burns was so taken with the evocative and haunting melody that he used it in his next film, Huey, about Louisiana Gov. Long. Burns also invited Ungar and Mason to provide music for many of his projects; Ungar earned an Emmy nomination for music from Burns’ documentary The Civil War. After signing with Angel Records in 1991, Ungar and Mason—in collaboration with baritone Thomas Hampson and pianist David Alpher—released American Dreamer, a collection of the songs of Stephen Foster. They followed with Waltzing with You, an elaboration on their score for the film Brother’s Keeper. Perhaps the duo’s best-known
composition is the title track of The Lovers’ Waltz, an album of romantic fiddle music from Appalachian, Scandinavian, Celtic, Klezmer and Swing traditions. With Relax Your Mind, Ungar, Mason and their band Swingology take a slightly different direction: American dance music with a focus on country blues and swing. Included are more of the beautiful waltzes that have become their signature pieces.
Dirk Powell
Dirk Powell has expanded on the deeply rooted sounds of his Appalachian heritage to become one of the pre-eminent traditional American musicians of his generation. He’s recorded and performed with artists such as Loretta Lynn, Sting, Jack White, Levon Helm, Jewel, T-Bone
Burnett, Ralph Stanley and Linda Ronstadt. In his early teens, Powell formed a musical bond with his grandfather, James Clarence Hay of Sandy Hook, Ky. Here Powell discovered a personal resonance with traditions that stretch back to Scots-Irish ancestors who came to the mountains in the middle of the 18th century, and, in continuation of this line, learned banjo and fiddle firsthand. He was featured as part of The Great High Mountain Tour, an outgrowth of the Academy Award-winning film Cold Mountain, for which he acted on screen, arranged traditional material and served as musical adviser and consultant. Other dramatic films featuring his performances include Ang Lee’s Ride With the Devil, Spike Lee’s Bamboozled and Edward Burns’ The Brothers McMullen. Powell has scored several documentaries, including the award-winning films Stranger With a Camera, The Unfinished Civil War and Thoughts in the Presence of Fear.
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Saturday, January 12, 2013, 8 p.m.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013, 8 P.M.
● Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Marin Alsop, conductor Irina Tchistjakova, mezzo-soprano Baltimore Choral Arts Society, Tom Hall, music director
presents
Alexander Nevsky Original Production Credits (1938) Director Sergei M. Eisenstein, D.I. Vasiliev Music Sergei Prokofiev Story Sergei M. Eisenstein, Pyotr A. Pavlenko Cinematography Edward Tisse
ALSOP PHOTO BY dean alexander, Tchistjakova PHOTO Courtesy of Askonas Holt Ltd
Concert Presentation Credits Producer John Goberman Music Adaptation William D. Brohn Subtitles Sonya Friedman Music Copying and Preparation Peggy Serra
Cast Prince Alexander Nevsky Vassily Buslai Gavrilo Olexich Ignat Pavsha Damash Amefla Timofeyevna Olga Vassilissa
Nikolai Cherkasov N.P. Okhlopkov A.L. Abrikosov D.N Orlov V.K. Novikov N.N. Arski V.O. Massalitinova V.S. Ivasheva A.S. Danilova
Alexander Nevsky is a production of PGM Productions, Inc. (New York) and appears by arrangement with IMG Artists. Supporting Sponsor: DLA Piper The concert will end at approximately 9:50 p.m. Please note there will be no intermission. The Music Center at Strathmore Marriott Concert Stage
Marin Alsop, conductor Hailed as one of the world’s leading conductors for her artistic vision and commitment to accessibility in classical music, Marin Alsop made history with her appointment as the 12th music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. With her inaugural concerts in September 2007, she became the first woman to head a major American orchestra. She also holds the title of conductor emeritus at the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in the U.K., where she served as the principal conductor from 2002 to 2008, and is music director of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in California. In 2005, Alsop was named a MacArthur Fellow, the first conductor to receive this prestigious award. In addition she was named the music director of the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, or the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, effective for the 2012-13 season. Alsop is a regular guest conductor with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic. In addition to her performance activities, she is also an active recording artist with award-winning cycles of Brahms, Barber and Dvořák.
Irina Tchistjakova, mezzo-soprano
Irina Tchistjakova’s career highlights include Tchaikovsky’s Moscow Cantanta with the Bern Symphonie Orchester and Rusalka with the Bayerischer Rundfunk. Recent engagements include Larina in Eugene Onegin with the Cincinnati Opera and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. Irina Tchistjakova last appeared with the BSO in June 2001, performing
applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 29
Saturday, January 12, 2013, 8 p.m.
Prokofiev’s Ivan the Terrible, with Yuri Temirkanov conducting.
The Baltimore Choral Arts Society
The Baltimore Choral Arts Society, now in its 46th season, is one of Maryland’s premier cultural institutions. For the past 15 years, WMAR-TV has featured the society in an hourlong special, Christmas with Choral Arts. Hall has prepared choruses for Leonard Bernstein, Robert Shaw and others, and he served for 10 years as the chorus master of the Baltimore Opera Company. The Baltimore Choral Arts Society last appeared with the BSO in December 2012, performing on the Holiday Pops program, with Robert Bernhardt conducting.
Program Notes Alexander Nevsky
Film by Sergei Eisenstein (1898–1948)
Music by Sergei Prokofiev Born April 23, 1891 in Sontsovska, Russia; died March 5, 1953 in Moscow
Sergei Prokofiev’s score for Eisenstein’s classic 1938 film Alexander Nevsky is one of the greatest ever written for the screen: vividly pictorial music inspired by the instrumental colors and melodic contours of Russian folk music. However, it also was intended to fulfill an ulterior motive: to enhance an epic film about the 13th century Russian hero Alexander Nevsky that would please the exacting political standards of Josef Stalin and thus keep the composer safe from the Stalinist purges. What could have been a distasteful gun-to-the-head assignment was
transformed by the collaboration with Prokofiev’s partner: the brilliant Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein. He, too, was under pressure to come up with a Stalinist hit when in May 1938 he approached Prokofiev for a film he proposed to direct about Alexander Nevsky (1220–1263) and his legendary defeat of an army of Teutonic invaders in medieval Russia. Just back from what turned out to be the last trip of his life to the West, Prokofiev was particularly eager to accept Eisenstein’s offer because, while abroad, he had visited Hollywood and become fascinated with studio sound techniques. The composer already had one successful film score to his credit, Lieutenant Kijé. The six-month partnership between May and November 1938 was as congenial as both men had hoped. Eisenstein proved to be a highly musical man who saw the film’s score as an integral part of his total creation. Working closely and flexibly with his composer, Eisenstein chose sometimes to shoot scenes based on Prokofiev’s already completed music, at other times to show the rough cut to Prokofiev, who then produced the musical accompaniment within hours. Eisenstein was astounded by Prokofiev’s facility and clockwork precision, which he described in an article on the film: “ ‘At twelve noon you’ll have the music.’ We are coming out of the small projection room. And although it is now midnight, I’m completely calm. At exactly 11:55 a.m., a small dark-blue car will drive through the studio gates. Sergei Prokofiev will get out of it. In his hands will be the next music number ...” Eisenstein also described how Prokofiev would tap out the rhythms with his fingers as he watched the rushes. The composer seemed instantly to pick up the pulse of the dialogue or the camera work and create music that subtly reinforced it. At the outset of the project, he had determined he would not try to reproduce the sounds of medieval Russia. He explained: “Original musical material from the 13th century has become so alien to us in an emotional sense that it cannot supply sufficient food for the spectator’s imagination.” Instead, the
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composer used his own 20th century musical language to evoke the feeling of an earlier time. Likewise, although the choruses sound like actual Russian folk music, they are all his own music, drawing on the characteristic melodic patterns and rhythms of Slavic folk tunes. At its premiere in Moscow on Dec. 1, 1938, the film was an instant artistic and popular success. As he often did with his ballets and operas, Prokofiev then immediately decided to recast the score into a concert work—in this case a cantata for orchestra, chorus and mezzo-soprano soloist; premiered in Moscow on March 17, 1939, this cantata has now outstripped the fame of the film. In the cantata, the movie’s opening music is called “Russia under the Mongolian Yoke.” The C-minor introductory chords are saturated with oppression and tragedy. Prokofiev exploits the woodwinds in various solo and duo combinations against string tremolos; the instruments are widely spaced between highest and lowest pitches, yielding an uncanny atmosphere of an ancient, more primitive time. The male chorus, augmented by altos, sings “The Song of Alexander Nevsky,” about the prince’s earlier defeat of the Swedes. Here, as throughout the film, strings are the instruments associated with the Russians. By contrast, brass—loud, brazen, brutal and underscored by heavy thuds of the bass drum—represents the Teutonic invaders. For the soundtrack, Prokofiev instructed the trombones to play directly into the microphones, producing an extremely harsh buzzing sound; he felt the effect viscerally conveyed the terror the German knights would have struck in the hearts of the Russians. Portraying the invaders, the male chorus sings a nightmare version of a Catholic liturgical chant in Latin. Eventually, the savagery is tempered by a soulful string preview of the lament the mezzo will later sing over those fallen in battle. Brass and percussion alarums introduce the full chorus’ call to battle, “Arise Ye Russian People.” Midway through, listen for a noble descending melody, first sung by the altos, then the
Saturday, January 12, 2013, 8 p.m.
basses. This theme will return later in different guises during “The Battle on the Ice” and grandly triumphant at the film’s close. Forming the film’s centerpiece is “The Battle on the Ice,” a virtual tone poem of clashing armies. Even in grainy black and white, this scene is one of the great epic sequences in cinematic history, and Prokofiev produced music of extraordinary graphic power to accompany it. Listen to the hooves of the approaching German cavalry pounding in the strings. By contrast, Prokofiev gives the more agile Russian troupes music of almost jaunty confidence, including episodes of his signature scherzo music to illustrate their light-footed rout of the heavily armored Teutons. Forced out onto the ice-covered lake, the overburdened Germans soon sink to their deaths through the crushed surface, portrayed by string and harp glissandos. The battle subsides into an eerie quiet, with the violins singing in their highest register the noble descending theme from the previous section as the waters close over the last of the German invaders. In “The Field of the Dead,” the mezzo’s lament accompanies a sequence showing a lovely blonde Russian maiden wandering through the battlefield among the bodies of the fallen Russians. This beautiful C-minor song seems to embody the essence of Russian soul. Mourning turns to triumph in the final sequence, “Alexander’s Entry into Pskov.” The full chorus sings an ebullient version of “Alexander’s Song” from earlier in the film, punctuated by orchestral interludes glittering with brilliant percussion effects. Then the noble descending theme returns one more time, richly harmonized and accompanied by the full orchestral panoply. Lurching from B major to B-flat major, it swells to a blazing, all-stops-out climax. Instrumentation: Two flutes, piccolo, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, organ and strings. Notes by Janet E. Bedell copyright 2013
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Marin Alsop, Music Director, Harvey M. and Lyn P. Meyerhoff Chair Jack Everly, Principal Pops Conductor Yuri Temirkanov, Music Director Emeritus Alexandra Arrieche, BSO-Peabody Conducting Fellow
First Violins Jonathan Carney Concertmaster, Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Chair Madeline Adkins Associate Concertmaster, Wilhelmina Hahn Waidner Chair Igor Yuzefovich* Assistant Concertmaster Rui Du Acting Assistant Concertmaster James Boehm Kenneth Goldstein Wonju Kim Gregory Kuperstein Mari Matsumoto John Merrill Gregory Mulligan Rebecca Nichols E. Craig Richmond Ellen Pendleton Troyer Andrew Wasyluszko Second Violins Qing Li Principal, E. Kirkbride and Ann H. Miller Chair Ivan Stefanovic Associate Principal Angela Lee Assistant Principal Leonid Berkovich Leonid Briskin Julie Parcells Christina Scroggins Wayne C. Taylor James Umber Charles Underwood Melissa Zaraya Violas Richard Field Principal, Peggy Meyerhoff Pearlstone Chair Noah Chaves Associate Principal
Karin Brown Acting Assistant Principal Peter Minkler Sharon Pineo Myer Delmar Stewart Jeffrey Stewart Mary Woehr Cellos Dariusz Skoraczewski Principal Chang Woo Lee Associate Principal Bo Li Acting Assistant Principal Seth Low Susan Evans Esther Mellon Kristin Ostling Paula Skolnick-Childress Basses Robert Barney Principal, Willard and Lillian Hackerman Chair Hampton Childress Associate Principal Owen Cummings Arnold Gregorian Mark Huang Jonathan Jensen David Sheets Eric Stahl Flutes Emily Skala Principal, Dr. Clyde Alvin Clapp Chair Marcia Kämper Piccolo Laurie Sokoloff Oboes Katherine Needleman Principal, Robert H. and Ryda H. Levi Chair Michael Lisicky
English Horn Jane Marvine Kenneth S. Battye and Legg Mason Chair Clarinets Steven Barta Principal, Anne Adalman Goodwin Chair Christopher Wolfe Assistant Principal William Jenken Bass Clarinet Edward Palanker E-flat Clarinet Christopher Wolfe Bassoons Fei Xie Principal Julie Green Gregorian Assistant Principal Ellen Connors** Contrabassoon David P. Coombs Horns Philip Munds Principal, USF&G Foundation Chair Gabrielle Finck Associate Principal Mary C. Bisson Bruce Moore Trumpets Andrew Balio Principal, Harvey M. and Lyn P. Meyerhoff Chair Rene Hernandez Assistant Principal Thomas Bithell** Trombones Christopher Dudley* Principal, Alex. Brown & Sons Chair Joseph Rodriguez** Acting Principal James Olin Co-Principal John Vance
Bass Trombone Randall S. Campora Tuba David T. Fedderly Principal Timpani Christopher Williams Assistant Principal Percussion Christopher Williams Principal, Lucille Schwilck Chair John Locke Brian Prechtl Harp Sarah Fuller** Piano Lura Johnson** Sidney M. and Miriam Friedberg Chair Director of Orchestra Personnel Marilyn Rife Assistant Personnel Manager Christopher Monte Librarians Mary Carroll Plaine Principal, Constance A. and Ramon F. Getzov Chair Raymond Kreuger Associate Stage Personnel Ennis Seibert Stage Manager Todd Price Assistant Stage Manager Charles Lamar Sound *on leave ** Guest musician
applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 31
FRIDAY, JANUARY 18, 2013, 8:15 P.M.
● Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Marin Alsop, Music Director
presents
Off the Cuff: Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto Marin Alsop, conductor Garrick Ohlsson, piano iano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30 Sergei Rachmaninoff P Allegro ma non tanto (1873-1943)
Intermezzo
Finale
Garrick Ohlsson The concert will end at approximately 9:35 p.m. The Music Center at Strathmore Marriott Concert Stage
Marin Alsop, conductor
For Marin Alsop’s biography, see page 29.
Garrick Ohlsson, piano
Garrick Ohlsson has established himself worldwide as a musician of magisterial interpretive and technical prowess. The 2012-13 season features performances of Busoni’s rarely performed piano concerto with the European Union Youth Orchestra and conductor Gianandrea Noseda, and performances at the Edinburgh International Festival. A return to the U.K. later in the season includes two concerts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra followed by a month-long tour in Australia and a live recording of both Brahms concerti. In addition, Ohlsson returns to New York in the spring as soloist with
the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall conducted by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos. A prolific recording artist, his 10disc set of the complete Beethoven sonatas has garnered considerable critical praise, including a Grammy for Vol. 3. His recording of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and conductor Robert Spano was released in fall 2011. Garrick Ohlsson last appeared with the BSO in January 2012, performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3, with Günther Herbig conducting.
Program Notes Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30
Sergei Rachmaninoff Born April 1, 1873 in Novgorod, Russia; died March 28, 1943 in Beverly Hills, California
32 applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013
In 1909, Sergei Rachmaninoff signed a contract to undertake his first American tour. Eight years before the Russian Revolution, he could not have guessed that he would one day be a U.S. resident, but he did know he wanted to make a strong impression in the lucrative American market. And he decided that a new concerto was required. His Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor was composed the summer before the tour at his country estate, Ivanovka. On the boat to America, he practiced the new concerto on a dummy keyboard. Rachmaninoff claimed it was “more comfortable” to play than his Second Concerto, but then he possessed unique physical characteristics and digital facility: at 6-feet-5, he had extraordinarily long-fingered hands that could span an octave and a fifth at the keyboard. Although the Third Concerto scored a success at its premiere on Nov. 28, 1909 with the New York Symphony (now the New York Philharmonic), it was slow to win the mystique it possesses today. It was Vladimir Horowitz who began to build the Third’s legend as the ultimate virtuoso vehicle, and Van Cliburn who cemented it in the years after his gold medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1958. Is this really the most difficult of all piano concertos to play? The movie Shine wove quite a fable, suggesting that the Third’s ferocious demands drove poor David Helfgott into madness. But, in fact, plenty of pianists play the work today and keep all their wits. Yes, it is highly demanding technically; it requires the utmost facility in executing very fast and/ or intricately written passages and in encompassing extremely brawny chords. However, Prokofiev’s Second Piano Concerto might well exceed it in this respect. It also demands stamina, for during its nearly 40-minute length, the pianist receives little rest. But “Rach 3,” as it’s known in the business, is a complete test for the pianist not for these reasons alone. It also requires a broad expressive range, from imposing drama to quicksilver wit to songful lyricism. If the pianist cannot meet these interpretative tests, then a brilliant technique will not save him. Rachmaninoff prized his gifts
OHLSSON PHOTO BY PAUL BODY
Friday, January 18, 2013, 8:15 p.m.
Friday, January 18, 2013, 8:15 p.m.
as a composer above his talent as a pianist, and he wished far more to impress Americans with his creative ability. First Movement: For a concerto with such a virtuosic reputation, the Third opens with surprising simplicity and tranquility. Over a rocking accompanimental figure (which will recur throughout the concerto), the pianist launches an expressive song, played in bare octaves between the two hands. Its stepwise motion, pivoting around the tonic note of D, and its narrow range suggest Russian Orthodox chant. This lengthy melody is eventually given to violas and horns, while the piano embroiders a free fantasia above. The movement’s second theme appears first as a choppy, rhythmic idea passed between orchestra and piano before the soloist smoothes it into a lovely flowing melody over rippling arpeggios. A return of the opening music launches the development section, built around the chant theme and giving the pianist plentiful opportunities to display his virtuoso skills. It ranges from high drama to eerie nocturnal passages before slipping into a big cadenza for the soloist. Rachmaninoff wrote two—the first longer and more showy, which most pianists play today; and the second shorter and slightly more understated, which Rachmaninoff himself preferred. Then the lyrical version of the second theme and the opening music are briefly reprised. Ghostly wind fanfares usher the movement to a soft, moody close. In the second movement Intermezzo, though the mode shifts from minor to major, the tone actually darkens as the orchestral introduction droops in sorrow. The piano sings a romantically melancholy song, which ebbs and flows in intensity and passion. Midway through this movement comes a faster, feathery dance led by the piano; listen to the woodwind solos that accompany it for they are singing a cleverly altered version of movement one’s chant theme. The pianist abruptly dismisses the dark mood, and with a burst of virtuosity sails directly into the finale. Rachmaninoff loved the sound of Russian church bells, and we hear their
tintinnabulation ringing in the piano as the finale opens. As in movement one, the second theme is first presented rhythmically, in thick, aggressively syncopated piano chords. Then it is transformed into the big soaring tune we wait for in every Rachmaninoff work. A series of variations on the bell theme, featuring coruscating pianism of extreme difficulty, takes the place of a development section. The concerto’s final drive begins with a roaring march for the
piano, spurred on by low strings. Rachmaninoff piles excitement upon excitement—accelerating tempos, bonecrunching virtuosity for the soloist, and a refulgent apotheosis on his big tune— to captivate his first American audience and all those to follow. Instrumentation: Two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, and strings. Notes by Janet E. Bedell, copyright 2013
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Saturday, January 19, 2013, 8 p.m.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 19, 2013, 8 P.M.
● The National Philharmonic Piotr Gajewski, Music Director and Conductor
presents
The Brian Ganz Chopin Project Brian Ganz, piano
Twenty-Four Preludes, Op. 28
No. 1 in C Major, Agitato
No. 2 in A minor, Lento
No. 3 in G Major, Vivace
No. 4 in E minor, Largo
No. 5 in D Major, Allegro molto
3 Écossaises, Op. 72, No. 3
No. 6 in B minor, Lento assai
No. 1 in D Major
No. 7 in A Major, Andantino
No. 2 in G Major
No. 8 in F-sharp minor, Molto agitato
No. 3 in D-flat Major
No. 9 in E Major, Largo
Five Mazurkas, Op. 7 No. 1 in B-flat Major
No. 2 in A minor
No. 3 in F minor
No. 4 in A-flat Major
No. 5 in C Major
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
No. 10 in C-sharp minor, Allegro molto Lento con gran espressione (Nocturne in C-sharp minor, Op. Posth.)
Presto con leggerezza (Prelude in A-flat Major)
Ballade No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 23
No. 11 in B Major, Vivace
No. 12 in G-sharp minor, Presto
No. 13 in F-sharp Major, Lento
No. 14 in E-flat minor, Allegro
No. 15 in D-flat Major, Sostenuto No. 16 in B-flat minor, Presto con fuoco
Ballade No. 3 in A-Flat Major, Op. 47
No. 17 in A-flat Major, Allegretto
No. 18 in F minor, Allegro molto
No. 19 in E-flat Major, Vivace
No. 20 in C minor, Largo
No. 21 in B-flat Major, Cantabile
No. 22 in G minor, Molto agitato
No. 23 in F Major, Moderato
INTERMISSION
No. 24 in D minor, Allegro appassionato
All Kids, All Free, All the Time is sponsored by The Gazette The Music Center at Strathmore Marriott Concert Stage
34 applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013
Saturday, January 19, 2013, 8 p.m.
Brian Ganz, piano
Brian Ganz has appeared as soloist with such orchestras as the St. Louis Symphony, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Philharmonic, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony and the City of London Sinfonia, and has performed with such conductors as Leonard Slatkin, Piotr Gajewski, Marin Alsop and Mstislav Rostropovich. Tonight’s recital is the third in his multiyear project with The National Philharmonic in which he will perform the complete works of Chopin.
Program Notes Five Mazurkas, Op. 7
Frédéric Chopin
michael ventura
Born ca. March l, 1810, in Zelazowa Wola, Poland; died Oct. 17, 1849, in Paris
The mazurka is a folk dance that takes its name from the Mazury region, the ancient province of Mazovia in northeast Poland, where Chopin was born. The folk dance seems to have originated there as early as the 16th century, and in the 18th, Poland’s Saxon rulers introduced it to Germany. Chopin was the first composer to adapt the style of the mazurka to art music, and between 1825 and the end of his life, he wrote more than 50 of them. Chopin composed the Five Mazurkas, Op. 7, in 1831; they were published in Leipzig in 1832, not long after the composer had settled in Paris. The first mazurka, in B-flat major, Vivace, is probably the best known of the five; it is a graceful, high-spirited piece with much elegant expression in the first half. The main theme of the second mazurka, in A minor—Chopin’s longest mazurka up until then— has a sad, contemplative quality brought about by its chromatic tension. The middle section begins dolce but has a bold air, notable
in its powerful triplets and its forceful octaves; it ends very beautifully in a scherzando. The opening section completely returns, yielding finally to the original reflective theme. The third mazurka, in F minor, begins with an ominous rhythmic figure as an introduction in the left hand’s low register, with an open fifth drone. The harmonically bold trio section is twice as long as the introduction and main theme combined; it is followed by a quiet and very dramatic transition back to the main theme and a fragmented return of the introduction. The fourth mazurka, in A-flat major, feels playful, good-natured and even rather mischievous, except in its contrasting more- muted, pensive central section, which seems dreamy, but is short-lived; its trio has been singled out because of its characteristic Polish repetition of a single phrase and, then, its sudden change to the major tonality. The final mazurka in the set is in C major, Vivo; it is even shorter than the preceding mazurka, and also evokes humor or, perhaps, mischievousness. Spirited and happy, the theme repeats often with little variation before the mazurka concludes. 3 Écossaises, Op. 72, No. 3
Chopin wrote three Écossaises for piano during his period as a student at the Warsaw Conservatory in 1829. The écossaise is a French dance with roots, some contend, in Scotland. Beethoven and Schubert had also composed this stylized dance. It became popular in French ballrooms in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in a form based on the French ballroom conception of what a Scottish dance would be like, with echoes of the pipes. Each of these pieces is shorter in performance than a minute; each is full of charm and vivid coloration. The third écossaise is particularly energetic and playful with a distinct sense of the dance. Its main theme is mostly in the upper range of the piano; there is another subject, which is really made up of a figure from the second part of the theme. The structure is quite simple:
Each thematic subject is presented twice, and then it is completely repeated. Lento con gran espressione (Nocturne in C-sharp minor, Op. Posth.)
In the 18th century, the notturno (night piece) was a serenade, intended for a small ensemble, often of wind instruments. Notturni were generally performed outdoors and normally had three to five movements; Chopin, though, adapted the form to his own greater expressive purpose. Over time, he wrote about 20 nocturnes, ennobling the form with greater breadth, passion and grandeur than it had had. Chopin never called this piece, which he composed in 1830, a nocturne. It was marked simply Lento con gran espressione; musicologists attest that its content justifies it being called a nocturne, and, thus, it is one of the first works in this form that Chopin popularized. The piece, in a ternary structure, begins softly and sadly, with a chordal passage, twice repeated, projecting a sense of despair. After the short introductory section, a haunting pathètique legato melody with a steady broken chord accompaniment is introduced. At the end of the first part, a descending line in the bass introduces a modulation to the key of A major, but soon Chopin returns to the minor mode. The central section contrasts with its increased energy; finally, the first section returns, somewhat modified. Presto con leggerezza (Prelude in A-flat Major)
The Presto con leggerezza (Prelude in Aflat Major) has no opus number; as with the Lento con gran espressione, Chopin gave it no title, but it is often called a prelude because of its similarity to some of the Op. 28 preludes (see below). Composed in 1834, before any of the works Chopin entitled “prelude,” it is very brief, good-natured and buoyant, and characterized both by its speedy theme—one full of energy—and by its harmonic subtlety. Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23
Chopin was the first composer to use the title “ballade” for a strictly instrumental piece. During a period of about 10 years, he composed four large piano works, to
applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 35
Saturday, January 19, 2013, 8 p.m.
which he gave the name Ballade, but the four have little in common that could be used to define the ballade as a distinct musical structure. All of Chopin’s ballades, however, can be described as innovative, sizable and difficult character works. Each employs one theme throughout in a varied form, and each includes commanding virtuosic elements. The first of the four Ballades, always among the most popular works for audience and performer, presents what Schumann referred to as “the most spirited, most daring” of Chopin’s early compositions. Early advertisements for Ballade No. 1 included the two words, ohne Worte (“without words”), which silently acknowledge its relationship to the ballade of vocal music and its novelty as a purely instrumental work. The Ballade’s compelling, pensive, slow introduction, Largo, in parallel octaves includes an ascending passage that transforms into to one of Chopin’s most beautiful, yet austere, themes. It undergoes innovative transformations and becomes entwined with passionate outbursts of glittering virtuosic passagework that do not detract from Chopin’s exposition of ideas and emotions. In contrast, the second theme expresses nocturnal sweetness, although it eventually takes on surprising muscularity and thrust. Because it is so difficult to delineate this ballade’s structure, it may be sufficient to say it has its own ingenious form. The two themes return three times; the second metamorphoses from an intimate to a triumphant melody. The first subject returns for the last time when it leads to the brilliant and demonic technically demanding, energetic coda, presto con fuoco, which introduces new material. Two dramatic scales lead to the crashing climax of cascading octaves. Ballade No. 3, in A-flat Major, Op. 47
Ballade No. 3 is written in a free continuously developing form, somewhat like a long poetic narrative, and almost all of it expands the two tiny musical ideas Chopin introduces in the first two measures. The most exuberant overall of the four ballades, it opens with a long introductory conversation that presents the main
theme. After a gentle cadence in the home key of A-flat major, an elegant and charming second theme appears, bringing with it an expression of joy, but one with a hint of some seriousness. In this ballade, Chopin gives the main theme differing characteristics: It first takes a lyrical cast, and then it becomes heroic later. The second subject goes through expressive modulations and trills, leading to a contrasting, turbulent section of great emotional power. After the climax of this section, in a stroke of ingenious craftsmanship, Chopin subtly unites the first and second themes. A series of rising octaves and flamboyantly rich chords lead to the ballade’s joyous climax in a restatement of the main theme. A shortened version of the second subject concludes the work gracefully, maintaining a triumphant elegance. Twenty-Four Preludes, Op. 28
Chopin’s Preludes, Op. 28 include 24 short piano pieces, one in each of the keys of the tonal system, arranged in related major-minor pairs and then set in a sequence, ascending a fifth after each pair, making a kind of full circle of the keys. Chopin’s Preludes have two sources: Some may have been intended as love letters, but some are imbued with his sentiments about his native Poland. Prelude No. 1 in C Major, Agitato, though brief, is full of chromaticism, a pulsating, passionate and agitated work. Some have found No. 2 in A minor, Lento, exasperating and bizarre, even discordant. No. 3 in G Major, Vivace, makes a strong contrast with the preceding prelude. It is fresh, delicate and even buoyant. No. 4 in E minor, Largo, was played at Chopin’s funeral. It is languid, pensive and sad, but at the same time noble and proud. No. 5 in D Major, Allegro molto, is not performed as frequently alone as many of the other preludes, perhaps because it is both intricate and very difficult. No. 6 in B minor, Lento assai, is the prelude most frequently performed by itself. This work is both beautiful and pessimistic. No. 7 in A Major, Andantino,
36 applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013
is a little mazurka with much charm. No. 8 in F-sharp minor, Allegro molto, projects an agitated anxiety, but concludes with calmer emotion. No. 9 in E Major, Largo, is only four lines long, but nevertheless has the feeling of a very large and broad work. Critics have compared it variously to works of Schumann, Brahms and Beethoven. It has been remarked that No. 10 in C-sharp minor, Allegro molto, must have been the prelude that caused Schumann to compare Chopin’s grouping to eagles’ feathers, on each of which he said was written in pearls, “This is by Frederic Chopin.” No. 11 in B Major, Vivace, is very concentrated and compressed but full of grace and beauty. No. 12 in Gsharp minor, Presto, brings in storm clouds to contrast with the sunny nature of the preceding prelude. The exquisite No. 13 in F-sharp Major, Lento, with calm beauty, feels almost prayerful. No. 14 in E-flat minor, Allegro, slightly resembles the finale of Chopin’s B-flat Sonata, but is sinister and full of anger. No. 15 in D-flat Major, Sostenuto, is often called the most beautiful of the grouping. It has a very dramatic center section. The impulsive and bold No. 16 in B-flat minor, Presto con fuoco, is often played with bravura. No. 17 in A-flat Major, Allegretto, is another of the favorite preludes; it is often played alone. The highly dramatic No. 18 in F minor, Allegro molto, is sonorous and resembles Schumann’s Aufschwung (“Soaring”). No. 19 in E-flat Major, Vivace, expresses contentment, perhaps even supreme happiness No. 20 in C minor, Largo, It begins loudly but ends softly, and the second half is repeated very softly. No. 21 in B-flat Major, Cantabile, has often been called one of the finest of the series; it has a melody of unparalleled calm beauty. No. 22 in G minor, Molto agitato, contrasts with the preceding prelude. Here, one is aware of a short but successful struggle. No. 23 in F Major, Moderato, is delicate, happy and charming, yet ends with an elusiveness that is almost suspenseful. The final prelude, No. 24, in D minor, Allegro appassionato, reflects the protest and struggle of the Polish nation against oppression. It has a passionate melody and ends in eloquent beauty. Copyright Susan Halpern, 2012
Tuesday, January 22, 2013, 8 p.m.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013, 8 P.M.
Lizz Wright
Lizz Wright has been the recipient of nonstop critical acclaim and ever-increasing audiences ever since her debut album, Salt, in 2003. Dreaming Wide Awake was released in June 2005 and reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Contemporary Jazz chart in 2005 and 2006. Wright continues her genredefying journey with Fellowship, a nod to her roots in gospel on the one hand and her gospel of eclecticism on the other.
● Strathmore Presents
Sing the Truth: Angélique Kidjo, Dianne Reeves and Lizz Wright Angélique Kidjo, lead vocals Dianne Reeves, lead vocals Lizz Wright, lead vocals Geri Allen, piano and keyboards Terri Lyne Carrington, drums/music director James Genus, bass Munyungo Jackson, percussion Romero Lubambo, guitars
Program Notes Sing the Truth
Free pre-concert lecture: Legendary Black Women in the Music Industry: Then and Now, by Howard University’s Dr. Tony Rudolph. Strathmore would like to thank media sponsor WAMU 88.5 American University Radio. The Music Center at Strathmore Marriott Concert Stage
Kidjo PHOTO BY Nabil Elderkin, Reeves PHOTO BY Christian Lantry
Angélique Kidjo
Grammywinning singer Angélique Kidjo is one of the greatest artists in international music today and has 11 albums to her name. Time magazine has called her “Africa’s premier diva.” The BBC has included her in its list of the continent’s 50 most iconic figures, and in 2011 the Guardian listed her as one of the Top 100 Most Inspiring Women in the World. Forbes magazine has recently named Kidjo as the first woman in its list of the Most Powerful Celebrities in Africa. Her 2007 album, Djin Djin, featured collaborations with Peter Gabriel, Carlos Santana and Josh Groban. Kidjo’s most recent release, 2010’s Oyo, features John Legend, Bono and Dianne Reeves.
Dianne Reeves
Dianne Reeves is the pre-eminent jazz vocalist in the world today. Reeves has received the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance for three consecutive recordings—a Grammy first in any vocal category. Reeves has recorded and performed extensively with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. She has also recorded with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim and was a featured soloist with Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic. In 2007 Reeves was featured in an award-winning documentary on the life of the late composer and pianist Billy Strayhorn. Her first solo album in several years, When You Know, was released in 2008.
Sing the Truth captures the spirit of our three stars, and the music of the legends honored, in this ongoing international special production. The original Sing the Truth was a JVC Jazz Festival concert at Carnegie Hall in 2004 celebrating the music of Nina Simone. In 2008 and 2009, Sing the Truth sold out renowned venues and festivals such as the Barbican Centre in London, Jazz à Vienne in France, the National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta, the Hong Kong Arts Festival and the Sydney Opera House. In 2011, Angélique Kidjo, Dianne Reeves and Lizz Wright expanded the repertoire to include music of many great women and assembled a new band. The show now focuses on the legacies of departed legends Miriam Makeba, Abbey Lincoln and Odetta, along with Kidjo, Reeves and Wright performing selections of their own original songs. Kidjo, Reeves and Wright have become close friends and collaborators while traveling and performing together in the Sing the Truth tours. Tonight’s performance follows three headline shows this month at the Sydney Festival in Australia.
applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 37
Thursday, January 24, 2013, 8 p.m.
● Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Marin Alsop, Music Director Jack Everly, Principal Pops Conductor
presents
Hairspray In Concert Music Director and Conductor Jack Everly Hosted by Baltimore’s Own John Waters, Narrator and Writer Special Guest Stars: Micky Dolenz as Wilbur Turnblad Beth Leveal as Velma von Tussle Paul Vogt as Edna Turnblad Featuring: Marissa Perry as Tracy Turnblad
Julie Kavanagh as Penny Pingleton
Nick Adams as Link Larkin
Rhiannon Hansen as Amber von Tussle
NaTasha Yvette Williams as Motormouth Maybelle
Marcus Terell as Seaweed J. Stubbs
Bret Shuford as Corny Collins
Alix Korey as Female Authority Figure
Markia Washington as Little Inez
Chris Briante as Male Authority Figure
Also with: The Divas of Song (Natalie Renee, Nikki Stephenson and Melissa Van Pelt) as The Dynamites Ensemble/Chorus roles filled by students from the Baltimore School for the Arts Co-Production of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra Music Director: Jack Everly Director: David Levy Choreographer: Jennifer Ladner Costume Designer: Clare Henkel Lighting Designer: Donald Thomas Sound Consultant: Randy Hansen Production Stage Manager: Chad Zodrow Producers: Ty Johnson and Matthew Spivey Wigs provided by Wigboys Select costumes provided by Costume World HAIRSPRAY Music by Marc Shaiman Lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman Book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan Based on the 1988 John Waters film Hairspray Original Production Directed by Jack O’Brien Choreographed by Jerry Mitchell Produced for the Broadway Stage by Margo Lion HAIRSPRAY is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are supplied by MTI. 421 W. 54th St., New York, N.Y. 10019; Phone: 212-541-4684 Fax: 212-397-4684; http://www.mtishows.com/. The videotaping or other video or audio recording of this production is strictly prohibited
Presenting Sponsor: Total Wine & More The Music Center at Strathmore • Marriott Concert Stage 38 applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013
Jack Everly, conductor
Jack Everly is the principal pops conductor of the Baltimore and Indianapolis symphony orchestras, Naples Philharmonic Orchestra and National Arts Centre Orchestra (Ottawa), and the music director of the National Memorial Day Concert and A Capitol Fourth on PBS. Originally appointed by Mikhail Baryshnikov, Everly was conductor of the American Ballet Theatre for 14 years, where he served as music director. In addition to his ABT tenure, he had teamed with the late Marvin Hamlisch in Broadway shows that Hamlisch scored including, The Goodbye Girl, They’re Playing Our Song and A Chorus Line. In 1998, Everly created the Symphonic Pops Consortium and serves as music director. The consortium, based in Indianapolis, produces new theatrical pops programs, and in the past 12 years more than 235 performances of SPC programs have taken place across the U.S. and Canada.
John Waters, narrator and writer
John Waters has written and directed 16 movies including, Pink Flamingos, Polyester, Hairspray, Cry Baby, Serial Mom and A Dirty Shame. Waters is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and is on the Wexner Center International Arts Advisory Council.
Micky Dolenz, Wilbur Turnblad
Micky Dolenz first established himself as a performer at age 10 when, under the stage name Micky Braddock he starred in the TV series
Michael Tammaro
THURSDAY, January 24, 2013, 8 P.M.
Thursday, January 24, 2013, 8 p.m.
Circus Boy from 1956 to 1958. In the 1960s he and actors Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork became stars of The Monkees, a TV show about a rock band. The Monkees’ debut single, “Last Train to Clarksville,” hit the charts a few days before the TV show debuted. In 1977, Dolenz flew to London to star in Harry Nilsson’s West End Musical, The Point! He planned to stay three months but remained for 12 years writing, producing and directing films, TV and theater. He also starred in Elton John and Tim Rice’s Broadway musical Aida as Zoser.
Beth Leveal, Velma von Tussle
Beth Leavel has received Tony, Drama Desk, N.Y. Outer Critics Circle and L.A. Drama Critics awards for her performance as the title character in The Drowsy Chaperone. She recently performed the roles of Sally Adams in Call Me Madame at Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, M’Lynn in Steel Magnolias at the North Carolina Theatre and Berthe in BoeingBoeing at the Paper Mill Playhouse.
Paul Vogt, Edna Turnblad Paul Vogt made his Broadway debut as Edna in Hairspray and replaced Harvey Fierstein in the Las Vegas production. Theater credits include Laurel and Hardy (Falcon Theater, West Coast premiere), Idaho (Forestburgh Playhouse, world premiere), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Paper Mill Playhouse) and Hairspray (North Shore Music Theatre, Sacramento Music Circus and Pittsburgh CLO).
Marissa Perry, Tracy Turnblad
Best known for playing Tracy Turnblad in Hairspray on Broadway, Marissa Perry was most recently seen as
the shortest nun on Broadway as part of the cast of Sister Act. Other credits include Kit in David Zipple’s Princesses (World Premiere and preBroadway), Maria in My Big, Gay, Italian Wedding (Off-Broadway) and Suzy in The Marvelous Wonderettes.
Nick Adams, Link Larkin
Nick Adams has appeared with the international tour of Chicago the Musical and the Broadway company of Chicago. Adams moved on to become part of the original Broadway cast of The Pirate Queen. In 2007, Adams starred as Larry in the Broadway revival of A Chorus Line.
NaTasha Yvette Williams, Motormouth Maybelle
NaTasha Yvette Williams has been a featured singer with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Naples Philharmonic and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Her Broadway credits include Porgy and Bess and The Color Purple.
Bret Shuford, Corny Collins
Bret Shuford made his Broadway debut in Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang, and has performed for Disney on Broadway in Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid.
Julie Kavanagh, Penny Pingleton
Julie Kavanagh’s theater credits include national tours of La Cage Aux Folles, and productions of Avenue Q (Theatre
Aspen), 42nd Street (Merry Go Round Playhouse), Chicago (Northern Stage), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Maltz Jupiter Theatre).
Rhiannon Hansen, Amber von Tussle
Rhiannon Hansen has been seen most recently as Elle in Legally Blonde the Musical at Missouri Street Theatre. Some of Hansen’s favorite roles include Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors, Amber in Hairspray and Winnafred in Once Upon a Mattress. Other theater credits include Bye Bye Birdie, Finding the Fickle Fortune and Hello, Dolly!
Marcus Terell, Seaweed J. Stubbs
Marcus Terell’s television credits include being a top 40 semifinalist on America’s Got Talent, a top 55 finalist in the third season of American Idol and as a New York finalist in Making the Band 4. Regional theater credits include: Hairspray, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Cabaret, Welcome to Broadway, and Totally New York.
Alix Korey, Female Authority Figure
Alix Korey made her Broadway debut as Minnie Fay in the 1978 revival of Hello, Dolly! starring Carol Channing. She later appeared in The Pirates of Penzance, Show Boat, All Shook Up and 45 Seconds From Broadway. Her Off-Broadway performances include Listen to My Heart and The Wild Party, for which she received two Drama Desk nominations.
Chris Briante, Male Authority Figure
Chris Briante’s career highlights in-
applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 39
Thursday, January 24, 2013, 8 p.m.
clude performances at the White House, the Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center. He has been part of the Broadway touring companies of Neil Simon’s Biloxi Blues and Broadway Bound. New York theater credits include Guns Like Candy (The Public Theater), Liars (Quaigh Theater) and A Perfect Match (Theater at St. Clements).
Markia Washington, Little Inez
Markia Washington is a 10th-grade student at the Baltimore School for the Arts. She recently performed with other students from the Baltimore School for the Arts at the Baltimore Convention Center for the Jewish general assembly. She also has participated in
productions of Suessical: The Musical, Annie Jr., The Wizard of Oz and Hansel and Gretel.
Divas of Song, The Dynamites
Natalie Renee has been seen in Aida, Ragtime, The Wedding Singer, Hair and Big River. Nikki Stephenson has played OffBroadway in Black Nativity, which received a Drama Desk nomination. Melissa Van Pelt made her Broadway debut as Inez in the Tony award-winning musical Hairspray.
Baltimore School for the Arts
The Baltimore School for the Arts, founded in 1979, is a nationally renowned public arts high school that provides pre-professional training in the visual arts, music, theater, stage production and dance combined with a challenging college preparatory academic curriculum to 375 students. Located in Baltimore City’s cultural district, the school also serves 700 students with a free after-school and Saturday arts instruction program, as well as thousands of Baltimore’s families with free and low-cost performances and other community outreach programs. The school has forged alliances with many of Baltimore’s cultural institutions and attracts artists for residencies and master classes. The school’s graduates are on Broadway and television, in film, in major dance companies, orchestras and design firms all over the world.
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DC’s Only Independent Nonprofit Film Center Visit us at
www.TheAvalon.org 5612 Connecticut Avenue Northwest Washington
Friday, January 25, 2013, 8 p.m.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 2013, 8 P.M.
● Strathmore Presents
Ladysmith Black Mambazo Joseph Shabalala, founder and leader Albert Mazibuko, member since 1969 Russel Mthembu, member since 1974 Abednego Mazibuko, member since 1974 Thulani Shabalala, member since 1993 Sibongiseni Shabalala, member since 1993 Thamsanqa Shabalala, member since 1993 Msizi Shabalala, member since 1999 Mfanafuthi Dlamini, member since 2007 The Music Center at Strathmore Marriott Concert Stage
Luis Leal
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
In 2013, Ladysmith Black Mambazo— led by founder and leader Joseph Shabalala—celebrates more than 50 years of music that marries the intricate rhythms and harmonies of their native South Africa to the sounds and sentiments of Christian gospel music. In those years, the a cappella group has created a musical and spiritual alchemy that has touched a worldwide audience representing every corner of the religious, cultural and ethnic landscape. The ensemble’s musical efforts over the past five decades have garnered praise and accolades within
the recording industry, but also solidified their identity as a cultural force. Assembled in the early 1960s in South Africa by Shabalala, the group took the name Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Broken down, Ladysmith is the name of Shabalala’s rural hometown; Black is a reference to oxen, the strongest of all farm animals; and Mambazo is the Zulu word for axe. A radio broadcast in 1970 opened the door to the group’s first record contract—the beginning of a discography that includes more than 50 recordings. The group borrows heavily from a traditional music called isicathamiya
(is-cot-a-ME-ya), which developed in the mines of South Africa, where black workers were taken by rail to work far away from their homes and their families. Poorly housed and paid worse, the mine workers would entertain themselves after a six-day week by singing songs into the wee hours on Sunday morning. When the miners returned to the homelands, this musical tradition returned with them. In the mid-1980s, Paul Simon visited South Africa and incorporated Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s rich harmonies into his Graceland album, a landmark 1986 recording that was considered seminal in introducing world music to mainstream audiences. A year later, Simon produced Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s first U.S. release, Shaka Zulu, which won a Grammy Award in 1988. The group has been awarded a total of three Grammy Awards and has been nominated 15 times. In addition to working with Paul Simon, Ladysmith Black Mambazo has recorded with Stevie Wonder, Dolly Parton, Sarah McLachlan and Josh Groban.The ensemble’s film work includes a featured appearance in Michael Jackson’s film Moonwalker and Spike Lee’s Do It A Cappella. The group has provided soundtrack material for Disney’s The Lion King, Part II as well as for the films Coming To America, A Dry White Season, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Cry, The Beloved Country and Invictus. A film documentary titled On Tiptoe: Gentle Steps to Freedom, the story of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, was nominated for an Academy Award. The group’s most recent CD, Songs From A Zulu Farm, is a collection of traditional tunes from the members’ youth in South Africa. Ladysmith Black Mambazo also is scheduled to release a children’s CD in late 2013, called Stories and Songs From A Zulu Farm, in which the group has created a story to join with the songs so that children can better understand life on a Zulu farm. Ladysmith Black Mambazo is also scheduled to release a traditional Zulu CD in 2014 and all-English American gospel recording.
applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 41
Saturday, January 26, 2013, 8 p.m. and Sunday, January 27, 2013, 3 p.m.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2013, 8 P.M. SUNDAY, JANUARY 27, 2013, 3 P.M.
● The National Philharmonic Piotr Gajewski, Music Director and Conductor
presents
Lutosławski’s 100th Anniversary: Remembering Rostropovich Mirosław Jacek Błaszczyk, conductor Dariusz Skoraczewski, cello Variations on a Rococo Theme, for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 33
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Theme: Moderato assai quasi Andante – Thema: Moderato semplice
Variation I: Tempo della Thema
Variation II: Tempo della Thema
Variation III: Andante sostenuto
Variation IV: Andante grazioso
Variation V: Allegro moderato
Variation VI: Andante
Variation VII e coda: Allegro vivo
Cello Concerto Witold Lutosławski Introduction (1913-1994) Four Episodes Finale INTERMISSION
Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
ndante sostenuto; Moderato con anima A (in movimento di Valse) Andantino in modo di canzona. Piu mosso. Tempo 1.
Scherzo, Pizzicato ostinato: Allegro
Finale: Allegro con fuoco
Artistic Director of Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra, Mirosław Jacek Błaszczyk studied in Kątowice, where his conducting teachers included Karol Stryja. He was a prize-winner at the fourth Grzegorz Fitelberg International Competition for Conductors in 1991 and, two years later, was awarded a scholarship from the American Society for Polish Music, with a period spent in Los Angeles. His career has brought engagements throughout Poland and internationally, with a series of acclaimed premieres and recordings. He received the Mayor of Kątowice Cultural Award for promoting Polish music, with special emphasis on contemporary music, and for the achievements with the Silesian Philharmonic in 2001. In 2009, he was appointed a Knight of the Silver Medal “Gloria Artis.”
Dariusz Skoraczewski, cello
Cantilena
conductor
Weekend Concerts Program Sponsor: Ameriprise Financial Saturday Concert Presenting Sponsor: Ingleside at King Farm All Kids, All Free, All the Time is sponsored by The Gazette The Music Center at Strathmore Marriott Concert Stage
42 applause at Strathmore •JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s principal cellist Dariusz Skoraczewski has performed with numerous orchestras in the U.S., including the Montgomery Symphony, Alexandria Symphony, Arlington Philharmonic, Lancaster Symphony and the Baltimore Symphony orchestras. As a chamber musician, Skoraczewski appeared in many chamber music concert series, including the Candlelight Series, Music in the Great Hall in Baltimore and the Bargemusic festival in New York City. In November 2005, he gave his Carnegie Hall debut, which was sponsored by the La Gesse Foundation. The cellist is also a member of the critically acclaimed Monument Piano Trio.
Skoraczewski PHOTO BY Christian Colberg
Mirosław Jacek Błaszczyk,
Saturday, January 26, 2013, 8 p.m. and Sunday, January 27, 2013, 3 p.m.
Program Notes Variations on a Rococo Theme, for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 33
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Born May 7, 1840 in Votkinsk, Russia; died Nov. 6, 1893 in St. Petersburg
Among Tchaikovsky’s colleagues on the faculty of the Moscow Conservatory was the German-born cellist Wilhelm Fitzenhagen (1848-1890), for whom, in December 1876, Tchaikovsky wrote the Variations on a Rococo Theme. It was first performed Nov. 30, 1877. With its graceful main theme and resourceful invention, it remains one of Tchaikovsky’s most popular pieces. Tchaikovsky probably did not intend the adjective “rococo” to signify specifically the mid-18th century style of art, architecture and music. In his time, this term was often loosely applied to almost anything ornately decorated and old-fashioned. In fact, these variations are Tchaikovsky’s homage to the spirit of Mozart, his favorite composer of the past, and the “rococo theme” is an example of how Tchaikovsky saw or heard the past filtered through his Russian and Romantic sensibilities. The work contains contrasting sections, heard without pause between them. First comes a gentle Moderato assai quasi Andante, an orchestral introduction, the only place in the work where an extended passage without the cello, the solo instrument, exists; it is followed by the Thema – Moderato semplice. The first variation, Tempo della Thema, gives the soloist some busy Rococo-style figurations, and, while this variation seems far from the theme, the second Tempo della Thema more closely matches the original. Variation III, Andante sostenuto, the longest variation, is a waltz. Variation IV begins Andante grazioso, and includes much quick solo passagework. In Variation V, Allegro moderato, the flute joins the cello both in the first half and then again, near the
conclusion. A cello cadenza follows this variation, and then Variation VI, a minor-key lament, Andante, with a melodic cello theme against pizzicato strings with clarinet and flute interjections, follows. With the last variation, VII, Allegro vivo, Tchaikovsky builds momentum for the coda. The score calls for flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons and horns in pairs, and strings. Cello Concerto
Witold Lutosławski Born Jan. 25, 1913 in Warsaw, Poland; died Feb. 7, 1994 in Warsaw
Witold Lutosławski, one of the leading figures among Poland’s 20th century composers, was born into a family of scholars. At 13, he began violin lessons and when he was 15, he entered the Warsaw Conservatory and, shortly after that, began to study composition with Witold Maliszewski, a RimskyKorsakov student. Most of his early work, which was traditional in character, was destroyed during World War II. After the war, Lutosławski again had a difficult time at home in Poland, this time musically. In the late 1940s, Lutosławski started to write in a new style, using Polish folk material in a manner modeled after Bartók’s use of Hungarian folk music. The Polish government, following cultural strictures established in the Soviet Union, condemned his Symphony No. 1 as being too formal, but really meaning that it was too Western, and he was officially dropped from favor. Lutosławski wrote the Cello Concerto between 1966 and 1970 and dedicated it to the famous 20th century cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, for whom he composed it. Rostropovich premiered the concerto, with the Bournemouth Symphony and conductor Edward Downes, on Oct. 14, 1970. Rostropovich’s dissident status within the Soviet Union was already well-known at that time. Lutosławski and members of his family had also suffered under the Soviets. Critics
feel that these events must have influenced Lutosławski, despite his denial of that theory. It is felt that the dialectic of the concerto— in which the cellist plays the traditional but innovatively modified role of individual hero in conflict with the orchestra— represents the state or society against which Rostropovich and Lutosławski both struggled. This dialectic transformed the very essence of what a concerto is usually about. This concerto, in four linked movements, is performed without a break. It begins with an Introduction, a soliloquy for the cello, rather than a traditional introduction of the orchestra; the cello plays repeated tones at a similar tempo to a heartbeat or a clock ticking that can be understood as symbolic of time and continuity. The cello is not forced to sacrifice its freedom, as it can inflect slight nuances of attack or timing on each note, humanizing the line. The cello begins to interrupt itself, more and more aggressively, carrying on a dialogue with itself. The orchestra finally enters, but it does not repeat the theme, but there is a loud trumpet blast while the cello continues on with its repeated note; finally the trumpets triumph. Four more such sound explosions occur in the second movement, a movement aptly titled Four Episodes, during most of which the cello carries on a dialogue with orchestra members. The slow Cantilena third movement features a lyrical cello solo over a somewhat ominous accompaniment. The intensity builds to near chaos, and in the Finale, the cello shares aggressive statements with the orchestra. In the coda, the cello again takes control and leads the group to the climactic and yet resolute, even transcendent, conclusion. The Cello Concerto is scored for a symphony orchestra with three flutes and piccolo, three oboes, three clarinets and bass clarinet, three bassoons and contrabassoon, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, piano, celesta, harp and strings.
applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 43
Saturday, January 26, 2013, 8 p.m. and Sunday, January 27, 2013, 3 p.m.
Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Born May 7, 1840 in Votkinsk, Russia; died Nov. 6, 1893 in St. Petersburg
Early in December 1876, Tchaikovsky received his first commission from the wealthy widow, Nadezhda von Meck. This commission initiated an extraordinary 14-year intimacy between the two, who, strangely enough, never met faceto-face, but carried on a voluminous correspondence. In January 1877 as Swan Lake began rehearsals, Tchaikovsky started sketching Symphony No. 4. Tchaikovsky was married in July while he was finishing the symphony. In early fall, the composer failed in a suicide attempt, and his brother took him to Lake Geneva, where, supported by a new grant from von Meck, he returned to composing and completed the second, third and fourth movements of the symphony there. On Jan. 7, 1878, he completed the symphony, and on Feb. 22, in
Moscow, it premiered with Nicolai Rubenstein conducting. Neither critics nor the public liked it, and Tchaikovsky did not again attempt symphonic form for 11 years after that. In London, in 1893, the symphony triumphed at last. In the first movement’s opening, trumpets and horns announce the Fate motive, which is thought to be the force that keeps us from gaining ultimate happiness. This motive maintains its identity from movement to movement; the Fate motive is that from which everything else grows. The first movement is meant to suggest life as a balance between short-lived happiness and omnipresent difficulties. Its main theme is a stormy waltz, punctuated by the appearance of the Fate theme at the end of the exposition, both in the development and again at the climax at the end. The clarinet announces the second theme, which is taken up by the strings. A coda attempts to bring together the conflicting ideas.
The second movement is taken up with suffering, longing, isolation and memories and is written in the minor mode, with a central section in the major. The third movement, a scherzo, has themes for the different instrument groupings: strings play pizzicato; woodwinds carry contrasting melodies; and the brass yield to martial figures. The woodwind theme in the trio is said to be the street song of a drunken peasant. The final movement is a speedy, virtuoso finale for the whole orchestra. Tchaikovsky used an actual Russian folksong as the second theme. The Fate motive returns for a final time just before the final coda. The interesting description of the symphony is one Tchaikovsky wrote. Symphony No. 4 is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle and strings. Copyright Susan Halpern, 2012
“American Dance Institute is fast becoming one of the area’s leading presenters of choice experimental dance.” Sarah Kaufman, The Washington Post
AMERICAN DANCE INSTITUTE | Spring 2013 Performance Series JODI MELNICK DAVID NEUMANN
JOE GOODE PERFORMANCE GROUP
BIG DANCE THEATER
February 2 & 3
March 2 & 3
April 13 & 14
“Goode’s artistry is amazing.”
“Deeply brilliant ...people need to see this amazing company.”
“The simplicity, the originality, the giving of physical form to something as ephemeral as trust between a couple -- it’s what dance does best.” Debra Levine
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The New York Times
FOR TICKETS: WWW.AMERICANDANCE.ORG or 866.811.4111 44 applause at Strathmore •JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013
Wednesday, January 30, 2013, 8 p.m.
New Century commissions new works and performs both rarely heard jewels of the past and world premieres.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2013, 8 P.M.
●
Program Notes
Washington Performing Arts Society Celebrity Series
String Symphony No. 10 in B minor
Felix Mendelssohn
presents
New Century Chamber Orchestra Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, violinist & music director
String Symphony No. 10 in B minor Felix Mendelssohn Adagio; Allegro; Più Allegro (1809-1847)
Violin Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041 Johann Sebastian Bach Allegro (1685-1750)
Andante
Allegro assai
Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 Heitor Villa-Lobos (arr. Clarice Assad) Aria (1887-1959)
INTERMISSION
Metamorphosen, Richard Strauss A Study for 23 Solo Strings (1864-1949)
The Music Center at Strathmore Marriott Concert Stage
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Live From Lincoln Center program for
Christian Steiner
violin
Nadja SalernoSonnenberg is renowned for her work on the concert stage, in the recording studio, and in her role as music director of the San Franciscobased New Century Chamber Orchestra, which she joined in January 2008. Salerno-Sonnenberg’s artistry and personality served her well in numerous environments, such as hosting a
PBS, appearing in the PBS/BBC series The Mind and talking to Big Bird on Sesame Street.
New Century Chamber Orchestra
The New Century Chamber Orchestra, one of only a handful of conductorless ensembles in the world, was founded in 1992 by cellist Miriam Perkoff and violist Wieslaw Pogorzelski. Musical decisions are made collaboratively by the 19-member string ensemble. In addition to performing classic pieces of chamber orchestra repertoire,
Born Feb. 3, 1809 in Hamburg, Germany; died Nov. 4, 1847 in Leipzig, Germany
Mendelssohn began to compose at age 10, and many of these early works have survived. Under the direction of his teacher Carl Zelter, the boy wrote 13 symphonies for string orchestra between the years 1821 and 1823, when he was 12 to 14. Because they were written for a teacher and Mendelssohn did not publish them, they have been referred to as apprentice works, but they certainly show an accomplished apprentice. The String Symphony No. 10 in B minor was completed on May 18, 1823, three months after Mendelssohn’s 14th birthday. Its three interconnected movements have a curious structure: the young composer chooses to open with an Adagio, followed by a fast movement, which is in turn followed by an even faster movement. The Allegro contrasts two sharply-defined themes: one abrupt and dotted, the other appealing in its easy lyricism. The development of these ideas is full of typically Mendelssohnian bustle, and the even more energetic Più Allegro is rounded off with a blistering coda. Violin Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041
Johann Sebastian Bach Born March 21, 1685 in Eisenach, Germany; died July 28, 1750 in Leipzig, Germany
Bach spent the years 1717 to 1723 as kapellmeister in the service of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen. The Cöthen court was strictly Calvinist and would not tolerate in its church services the organ music and cantatas Bach had written for the more liberal Weimar. But Prince Leopold himself was extremely
applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 45
Wednesday, January 30, 2013, 8 p.m.
enthusiastic about music—he played clavier, violin and viola da gamba—and he was delighted to have Bach in his employment. The Violin Concerto in A minor, one of Bach’s three surviving violin concertos, was probably composed about 1720. The opening movement is animated; the upward leap of a fourth at the beginning recurs throughout, giving the movement its rhythmic energy and forward impulse. Against vigorous orchestral accompaniment, the solo violin enters in a more lyric voice on material derived directly from the orchestral exposition, and throughout the movement soloist and orchestra exchange and mutually extend this material. The Andante second movement belongs almost entirely to the solo violin. The violin’s arching cantilena is ornate, unfolding in long, lyric lines high above the orchestra. In the solo violin comes sailing into the orchestral texture. Bach’s evolution of the opening material is remarkable: as the orchestra hurtles brusquely along far below it, the violin seems to fly high, before rejoining the orchestra as the concerto drives to its vigorous close. Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5
Heitor Villa-Lobos Born March 5, 1887 in Rio de Janeiro; died Nov. 17, 1959 in Rio de Janeiro
Throughout his prolific career, Heitor Villa-Lobos was pulled between two powerful musical forces. The first was the native music of Brazil. The other force was the great tradition of European classical music, among his 2,000 compositions are 12 symphonies, 17 string quartets and numerous concertos and other formal works. Villa-Lobos was able to fuse these passions in his series of Bachianas Brasileiras, nine quite different pieces written for various instrumental and vocal combinations between 1930 and 1945. Each piece shows the two influences on VillaLobos, combining Bach-like music with movements based on Brazilian folksongs and dances. Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5’s Aria
New Century Chamber Orchestra First Violins Nadja SalernoSonnenberg Music Director and Concertmaster Dawn Harms, Associate Concertmaster Karen Sor Liza Zurlinden Evan Price Second Violins Candace Guirao, Principal Michael Yokas Robin Mayforth
Hrabba Atladottir Jennifer Cho
Isaac Melamed Kathleen Balfe
Violas Anna Kruger, Principal Cassandra Lynne Richburg Jenny Douglass Elisabeth Prior Emily Onderdonk
Basses Karl Doty, Acting Principal Kristin Zoernig Mark Wallace
Cellos Susan Babini, Principal Robin Bonnell Michelle Djokic
For Opus 3 Artists David V. Foster, President & CEO Patrica Winter, Senior Vice President; Manager, Artists & Attractions
Leonard Stein, Senior Vice President; Director, Touring Division John C. Gilliland III, Associate, Touring Division Clayton Oklay, Associate Kay McCavic, Tour Manager
by the annihilation of an entire way of life—who returned to his sketches of mourning and began to plan a new work for string orchestra. The impetus had come in a commission in July 1944 from conductor Paul Sacher. Metamorphosen is a remarkable work, scored for an unusual string orchestra of 23 solo players: 10 violins, five violas, five cellos and three double basses. What makes Metamorphosen all the more remarkable is that some of its Metamorphosen, A Study for 23 Solo thematic material seems to grow out of Strings the heritage of German music. Richard Strauss A dark slow introduction for lower Born June 11, 1864 in Munich; died strings leads to the violas’ quiet stateSept. 8, 1949 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, ment of what will be the main subject: Germany the four pulses and inflected descending line of this theme incorporate the Few composers have been more apoliti- theme Strauss had sketched in October cal than Richard Strauss. Strauss might 1943 for Trauer um München. Graduhave made it through his very long life ally the music grows more intense as without any real connection to the ex- Strauss introduces a number of suborditernal events of his era had it not been nate theme-shapes. for World War II. Strauss reins back the tempo for the In the stunned aftermath of an Occlimax. On the final page, in the deep tober 1943 air raid, Strauss made a cellos and basses, Strauss quotes the 24-measure sketch of music he tenmain theme of the funeral march from tatively titled Trauer um München Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony. Only (“Mourning for Munich”). Five months now do we recognize the close thelater, the firebombing of Dresden levmatic similarity between Strauss’ main eled a city he particularly loved, incin- theme and Beethoven’s funeral music, erating 80,000 people and the city’s cul- and Strauss himself confessed that he tural treasures. had come to see the connection only And it was this composer—80 years in the course of composing this music. Program notes by Eric Bromberger old, in declining health and tormented
opens with pizzicato cellos, and over this strumming sound the soprano enters with her high, flowing melody, this melody is soon picked up and repeated by a solo cello. But now comes a complete surprise: the soprano next sings a song in Portuguese about the beauties of the twilight. The movement is rounded off by a return of the opening wordless melody, but now the soprano hums it rather than singing.
46 applause at Strathmore •JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013
Friday, February 1, 2013, 8 p.m.
FRIDAY, february 1, 2013, 8 P.M.
League in Nashville under the baton of Leonard Slatkin, with whom he established a strong friendship and mentor relationship.
●
China National Symphony Orchestra
Strathmore Presents
China National Symphony Orchestra En Shao, conductor Peng-Peng Gong, piano Earth Requiem, first movement
Guan Xia (1957-)
Yellow River Piano Concerto
Chengzong Yin and Zhuang Liu (1941-) (1932-)
Symphony No. 7 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Pre-Concert Lecture: Western Music in a Changing China by Nicholas Platt, president emeritus, Asia Society, United States Ambassador (Ret.) Strathmore thanks AGIS Center for Arts and Humanities and Traditional Chinese Culture Institute International LLC (www.tccii.com) for their promotional support of this performance. The Music Center at Strathmore • Marriott Concert Stage
En Shao, conductor En Shao is the music director and principal conductor of the Taipei Chinese Orchestra and principal guest conductor of the China National Symphony Orchestra. Shao started to play the piano and violin at an early age. After graduating from the Central Conservatory of Music, he became the second principal conductor of the Chinese Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra, a post he held for five years. He came to England in 1988 and in the same year received the first Edward Van Beinum Foundation Scholarship. Recent and future engagements include the Helsinki, Warsaw, Royal Stockholm and Czech philharmonic orchestras, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra as well as more than 30 orchestras throughout Europe and Asia. En Shao was awarded a Lord Rhodes
Fellowship by the Royal Northern College of Music.
Peng-Peng Gong, piano
From Nanjing, China, Peng-Peng Gong was born in 1992 with an intense sensitivity and strong talent for music. He began studying piano performance at age 5 with instructor Hui-fang Ye. Accepted by the Shanghai Music Conservatory Primary School at age 9, he followed the instruction of pianists Jiang-zhong Wang and Zhijue Chao. He was accepted by The Juilliard School’s pre-college division, and is enrolled as an undergraduate student. His current instructors include pianist Yoheved Kaplinsky, composer Samuel Adler and conductor Adam Glaser. He has appeared as guest soloist at the American Symphony Orchestra
The China National Symphony Orchestra is one of the most outstanding professional symphony orchestras in China. Originally founded as the Central Philharmonic Orchestra of China in 1956, the orchestra was restructured and renamed in 1996. Leading the orchestra into the future are Director Guan Xia (composer), Laureate Conductor Muhai Tang, Principal Resident Conductor Li Xincao and Principal Guest Conductor En Shao. The orchestra is made up of an outstanding team of instrumentalists, many of whom have won prizes in national and international competitions. For almost half a century, the China National Symphony Orchestra has introduced Chinese audiences to a vast repertoire of classical, Romantic, modern and contemporary orchestral works by both Western and Asian composers. It continues to foster a tradition of the People’s Republic of China’s first performances and world premieres.
Program Notes Requiem for the Earth
Guan Xia (Born in 1957 in Kaifeng, Henan Province, China)
In May 2008, composer Guan Xia and lyricists Lin Liu and Xiaoming Song traveled to Wenchuan in Sichuan
applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 47
Friday, February 1, 2013, 8 p.m.
Province to experience the suffering caused by an earthquake. There, the composer was inspired to create this requiem. Guan Xia’s Requiem for the Earth expresses an objective treatment of nature’s holy power, and, while hinting at the prevalence of human selfishness and greed, seeks to promote the need for a greater love in the world. Requiem for the Earth is performed by the organ player and the orchestra, and also employs the ancient Qiang flute and musical elements of the Qiang nationality and Southwestern Chinese folk music. The music is divided into four movements. The first movement begins with the introduction by the string section and the harp. Following the introduction is the melodic and emotional string music describing people gazing at the stars, seeking for an answer to life’s questions in polyphony. The theme is performed by the English horn again after strings and two French horns, and the sound of the music becomes louder, as a sad violin solo begins to play. The orchestra represents the theme again in a polyphonic way, with the timpani shaking people to their core. As the music reaches its climax, the rising tone of the first violin, chimes and vibra-harp sounds like spreading starlight. The music reaches a climax again, while the whole movement ends in sounds of tubular bells and the melodious sound of chimes, which are accompanied by flute and celesta. Yellow River Piano Concerto
Chengzong Yin (Born in 1941 in Xiamen, Fujian Province, China)
Zhuang Liu (Born Oct. 24, 1932 in Shanghai)
The Yellow River Piano Concerto was arranged by a collaboration of musicians including Chengzong Yin, Zhuang Liu and Chu Wanghua from Central Philharmonic Society (now China National Symphony Orchestra) and is based on the Yellow River Cantata by composer Xian Xinghai. Since its premiere in 1969, the concerto has been popular in
China National Symphony Orchestra Xincao Li, Principal Resident Conductor En Shao, Principal Guest Conductor Xi Chen, Violin Soloist Chuanyun Li, Violin Soloist Peng-Peng Gong, Piano Soloist Muye Wu, Piano Soloist Xia Guan, Executive Director First Violins Yunzhi Liu Concert Master Kunyu Zhao Associate Concert Master Zhiyong Liu Principal Yawei Cheng Damao Wang Yun Sun Ying Yang Wanyi Wang Ke Li Ruibiao Zhu Yang Liu Weihan Fan Ning Zhang Yi Tian Second Violins Kailin Zheng Principal Zhimin Dong Hong Yan Baihua Zhao Chuan Deng Jian Qin Weiguang Fang Xiaoqian Yang Changmo Nie Qin Jian Liang Yao Xi Li Bo Lou Peng Wang Violas Wei Fu Associate Principal Weibin Fan Jing Li Sihua Zhang
Dan Zhu Jinsong Ma Dan Zhao Yanchun Ma Cellos Hequn Shen Principal Yuilan Xu Associate Yingying Zhang Associate Lin Wang Xueqian Zhou Ze Li Yuanjie Zhou Yan Guo Bo Zhang Bin Zhao Yan Liu Cheng Li Basses Xuejie Zhang Principal Jianlin Wu Xiaoguang Shi Ran Duan Shuang Wang Deliang Wang Jie Liu Bizhou Ren Hang Zhai Flutes Guoliang Han Guest Principal Zhijie Ni Associate Bo Ren Jia Wang
Clarinets Bo Yin Principal Jing Wang Dan Wu Bassoons Xiaoke Wang Principal Yang Liu Kezhen Li Shuo Wang Horns PKunqiang Zhu Principal Hong Zhou Associate Yijun Liu Associate Xin Zhang Qiang Shao Xing Gang Ruixiao Li Jindi Wang Xinzhu Chen Trumpets Guang Chen Principal Xun Wang Xiaohui Yin Ran Dang Xizheng Cheng Quang Tran Khanh
Trombones Kun Qiao Principle Huo Guo Xiao Yang Qiulai Ren Dongxiao Xu Tuba Haiyu Wang Timpani Qiping Liu Principal Percussion Jingjing Li Kexin Zhu Jia Pu Ou Lv Qingya Meng Nan Zhang Piano Dan Feng Harp Yi Su Zhuyan Liu Columbia Artists Management LLC. 1790 Broadway, 16th Floor New York, NY 10019 Andrew S. Grossman Senior Vice President & Senior Producer W. Seton Ijams Vice President
Oboes Shenghu Li
China and with Chinese living overseas. Xian Xinghai wrote the Yellow River Cantata in Yan’an in 1939, allegedly in just six days while in a cave during World War II. It is an eight-movement piece in which he used traditional folkmelodies and evoked the image of the Yellow River as a symbol of Chinese
48 applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013
Principal Shaoming Tian Associate Weidong Wei Guest Associate Huricha Bao
defiance against the Japanese invaders. During his stay in Russia, he edited and re-orchestrated the work, which was later modified by Li Huanzhi, Qu Wei and Yan Liangkun. This edition aimed at furthering the energy and momentum of the music, and in this light, the rearrangement of the Yellow River Piano
Friday, February 1, 2013, 8 p.m.
Concerto 30 years later is a continuation of that same practice. The concerto is made up of four movements. The Yellow River Piano Concerto has been recorded by the Philadelphia Orchestra and stands alone with its historical, political and economical significance in 20th century Chinese music history. Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92
Ludwig Van Beethoven (Born Dec. 16, 1770 in Bonn, Germany; died March 26, 1827 in Vienna, Austria)
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92 was premiered in Vienna in 1813 at a benefit concert for disabled Austrian and Bavarian soldiers who tried to cut off Napoleon’s retreat but were defeated at Hanau. Beethoven himself conducted the performance. The first performance was a resounding success. Nevertheless, the critics of the time remained baffled by this “incomprehensible” symphony. Incompre-
hensible perhaps might be the best word to describe the perceptions of the music critics of that day, as the work is now recognized as one of Beethoven’s finest achievements in the symphonic realm. Marked Poco sostenuto, the introduction to the first movement is of striking beauty, yet based simply on the major scale, setting the stage for a movement of tremendous force and energy. The main body of the movement is marked Vivace and is built upon a sonata form. The main theme is ushered in on the pitch of E, exchanged from one instrument to another 61 times before finally opening up to its full development. The movement concludes with an elaborate coda in which fragments of the main theme are heard with its characteristic rhythm, steadily growing from a pianissimo to a powerful fortissimo at the close. The march-like Allegretto, again with a steady rhythm, provides a major contrast. Originally Beethoven had intended this second movement for the third “Rasumovsky” String Quartet, but
rightly expanded it for this symphony. Following the development of several counter-melodies, the clarinet announces a new melody that dispels the somber mood preceding it. The opening theme returns as the movement concludes. The third movement, a scherzo marked Presto, is a charming example of lightness and grace. The main theme is full of humor and receives buoyant development. In the Trio (Assai meno presto) the violins hold a high pitch against a pleasant melody said to be an old pilgrim chant of southern Austria. The first part of the scherzo is repeated, as is the hymn, leading to the coda and joyful conclusion of the movement. In the finale the symphony reaches its peak with an unceasing pulse and sense of ecstatic joy. Both the first and second themes are truly frenzied and contagious, forcefully driving to a remarkable coda of inimitable invention. It is an exuberant climax to a work of great power, beauty and charm. Copyright Columbia Artists Management Inc.
New—Teen Art Camp!
Art Camp 2013
July 29–August 2, 9:30am–12:30pm Ages 12–14 $225 (Stars Price $202.50)
August 5–August 9, 9:30am–12:30pm Ages 6–11 $225 (Stars Price $202.50)
Teens expand their creativity and work in-depth on improving their techniques and learning new artistic methods and media. Inspiration for part of their work will come from the Puppets Take Strathmore summer festival which focuses on the artistry of contemporary American puppetry. Campers will also study master artists in a wide variety of media and learn their techniques.
August 12–August 16, 9:00am–3pm Ages 6–11 $375 (Stars Price $337.50)
Questions about Camp? Please contact Sam Younes at (301) 581-5125 or exhibits@strathmore.org for further information.
A Strathmore favorite—Art Camp returns with a half day and a full day option. Children engage in a variety of new hands-on art activities, learning techniques, expanding their artistic vocabulary and developing their creative process. This year, in addition to studying master artists, campers will learn the ins and outs of puppeteering with many exciting puppet-themed projects inspired by the Puppets Take Strathmore summer festival.
REGISTER! ONLINE www.strathmore.org • Look Under “Education” | PHONE (301) 581-5100 applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 49
Saturday,February 2, 2013, 8 p.m.
sATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2013, 8 P.M.
● Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Marin Alsop, Music Director
presents
Pictures at an Exhibition Yan Pascal Tortelier, conductor Orion Weiss, piano
Concert Music for Brass Paul Hindemith and Strings, Op. 50 (1895-1963)
Part I: Massig schnell, mit Kraft Sehr breit, aber stets fleissend Part II: Lebhaft - Langsam Im ersten Zeitmass (Lebhaft)
Piano Concerto No. 27 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in B-flat Major, K. 595 (1756-1791) Allegro
Yan Pascal Tortelier, conductor
Yan Pascal Tortelier’s highlights of the 201213 season include visits to San Francisco, Saint Louis, Baltimore, Cincinnati and Melbourne symphony orchestras. Yan Pascal Tortelier last appeared with the BSO in October 2011, conducting Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5, Elgar’s In the South and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 19 with soloist Horacio Gutierrez.
Orion Weiss, piano
Orion Weiss’ 2012-13 season will feature repeat engagements with the Baltimore, New World, Tucson and Richmond symphony orchestras. Orion Weiss last appeared with the BSO in March 2011, performing Grieg’s Piano Concerto, with Yan Pascal Tortelier conducting.
Larghetto Allegro INTERMISSION
Pictures at an Exhibition Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881) Promenade orchestrated by Maurice Ravel Gnomus
Promenade
Il vecchio castello (“The Old Castle”)
Tuileries
Bydlo (“Polish Cart”)
Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks
Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle
Limoges: The Market Catacombae (“Catacombs”) Con mortuis in lingua mortua (“With the Dead in a Dead Language”)
Baba-Yaga: The Hut on Hen’s Legs
The Great Gate of Kiev The concert will end at approximately 10 p.m. The Music Center at Strathmore Marriott Concert Stage
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Program Notes Concert Music for Strings and Brass, Op. 50
Paul Hindemith Born Nov. 16, 1895 in Hanau, Germany; died Dec. 28, 1963 in Frankfurt, Germany
The renowned Russian-born conductor and music director of the Boston Symphony Serge Koussevitzky was always an active commissioner of new works by the leading composers of the day, but for Boston’s 50th-anniversary season in 193031, he pulled out all the stops. Among the works that joined the permanent repertoire then was Paul Hindemith’s bold Concert Music for Strings and Brass. The work is divided into two large Parts or movements. In an A-A-B form, Part I opens with a huge striding, angular theme, proclaimed massively by the brass. A livelier brass theme follows, and this grows through powerful repetitions. The second A section is led by strings and features a sweeping theme for unison cellos and basses. The brass increasingly try
weiss photo by Scott Meivogel
Saturday, February 2, 2013, 8 p.m.
to take over this section with aggressive interjections. The tempo now slows dramatically for the B section: a rather forceful lament for the strings playing in unison in their lower range. In ABA-form, Part II begins with a fast fugato—or miniature fugue—on a lively perpetual-motion subject introduced by the violins. Abruptly, the tempo slackens to Langsam (slow), and we hear the B section: a poignant lament led by the strings. Eventually, the fast A section returns, but now it sounds less carefree. Hindemith, nevertheless, forces through an upbeat ending with some bluesy American gestures saluting his Boston commissioners. Instrumentation: Four horns, four trumpets, three trombones, tuba and strings. Piano Concerto No. 27 in B-flat Major, K. 595
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Born Jan. 17, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria; died Dec. 5, 1791 in Vienna, Austria
As 1791—the last year of Mozart’s life—began, the composer found himself still mired in the most difficult period of his career. With an ailing wife and a mountain of debts, Mozart grew noticeably depressed during this period. Ironically, in the final months before his death on Dec. 5, Mozart’s fortunes rapidly took a turn for the better. That fall, his opera The Magic Flute was a spectacular popular success, and, soon after, he received an appointment at Vienna’s St. Stefan’s Cathedral that would have considerably eased his financial problems. The sonata-form first movement is rich in wonderful singing melodies. Over a rustling accompaniment, the violins gently sing the tender rising-andfalling principal theme. In this orchestral exposition, the second major theme, again in the violins, contains a long, gracefully descending scale punctuated with teasing repeated notes; its repetition becomes more poignant as it slides into the minor mode. The pianist finally makes his entrance with the rising-andfalling theme.
The Larghetto second movement in E-flat major is a continuous flow of melody of extraordinary simplicity and candor. Mozart frequently closed his concertos with a rondo finale in the bounding 6/8 meter that, in the 18th century, was associated with hunting music. This finale follows that model, but is a little darker and more complex. Instrumentation: One flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns and strings. Pictures at an Exhibition
Modest Mussorgsky, arr: Maurice Ravel Born March 21, 1839 in Karevo, Ukraine; died March 28, 1881 in St. Petersburg, Russia
When one of his closest friends, the artist and architect Victor Hartman, died of an aneurysm at age 39 in 1873, a devastated Modest Mussorgsky helped organize an exhibition of Hartman’s paintings early the next year. He then decided to “draw in music” (his words) 10 of them in a work for solo piano that he composed during June 1874. It remained little-known outside of Russia until 1922, when conductor Serge Koussevitzky commissioned Maurice Ravel, to score Pictures for his Paris ensemble. The following movement descriptions draw on the words of Russian art critic Vladimir Stassov, friend to both Hartman and Mussorgsky: Promenade: Mussorgsky depicts “himself … as he strolled through the exhibition, joyfully or sadly recalling the talented deceased artist… he does not hurry, but observes attentively.” Gnomus: “A fantastic lame figure on crooked little legs. … This gnome is a child’s toy, fashioned, after Hartman’s design, in wood for the Christmas tree… in the style of the nutcracker.” Il vecchio castello (“The Old Castle”): This is a sketch of a medieval Italian castle; a troubadour is singing in the foreground. Above the strumming of the guitar, the alto saxophone with a bassoon partner sings the troubadour’s song in dark sepia tones. Tuileries: Stassov wrote that this
high-spirited episode is based on a picture of children playing with their nurse in Paris’ Tuileries Gardens. Bydlo (“Polish Cart”): This melancholy piece, featuring solo tuba, portrays a heavy Polish ox-drawn wagon. Low strings and bassoons depict the groaning of its wheels. Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks: Hartman designed the costumes… for the ballet Trilbi, and some of the boys and girls were dressed up as eggs. Hartman’s sketches in which the children’s arms and legs protrude from the eggshells inspired this chirping piece of high woodwinds and celesta. Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle: “Victor Hartman gave Mussorgsky two of his sketches from real life, those of the rich and the poor Jew” from Sandimir, Poland. Mussorgsky named the two and richly characterized the haughty rich man (in low unison strings and winds) Goldenberg dismissing the whining pleas (muted trumpet solo) of the poor Schmuyle. Limoges—The Market: “Old women quarreling at the market in Limoges.” Catacombae and “Con mortuis in lingua mortua” (Catacombs and “With the Dead in a Dead Language”): Hartman’s picture shows the artist, a friend and a guide examining the Paris catacombs by lamplight. The Hut on Hen’s Legs (Baba-Yaga): This piece is based on Hartman’s design for a clock in the form of Baba-Yaga’s hut on hen’s legs. (Baba-Yaga is a Russian fairytale witch who lures children into the woods, eats them, then crushes their bones in a giant mortar in which she rides through the woods.) The Great Gate of Kiev: The grand finale, depicts Hartman’s competition design for a ceremonial arch in Kiev to commemorate Tsar Alexander II’s escape from an assassination attempt. Instrumentation: Three flutes, two piccolos, three oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tenor tuba, tuba, timpani, percussion, one [or two?] harps, celesta and strings. Notes by Janet E. Bedell copyright 2013
applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 51
Thursday, February 7, 2013, 8 p.m.
● Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Marin Alsop, Music Director
presents
Stephen Hough Plays Liszt Hannu Lintu, conductor Stephen Hough, piano
Francesca da Rimini, Op. 32 Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) iano Concerto No. 2 in A Major, S. 125 Franz Liszt P (1811-1886)
Stephen Hough INTERMISSION
Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43 Jean Sibelius Allegretto (1865-1957)
Andante, ma rubato
Vivacissimo
Finale: Allegro moderato
The concert will end at approximately 10 p.m. The Music Center at Strathmore Marriott Concert Stage
Hannu Lintu, conductor Currently artistic director and chief conductor of the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, Hannu Lintu was appointed chief conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2010. His tenure begins with the start of the 2013-14 season. Highlights of Lintu’s 2012-13 season include appearances with the London Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
orchestras, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, plus debuts with the Minnesota and Baltimore symphony orchestras. Lintu last appeared with the BSO in April 2010, conducting Sibelius’ Finlandia, Rautavaara’s “Incantations” and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7.
Stephen Hough, piano
Stephen Hough’s recent engagements include recitals in London, Paris, Hong Kong, Sydney, Chicago and San Francisco and performances with the New
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York, London, Los Angeles and Czech philharmonics. Highlights of his 2012-13 season include re-engagements with the Boston, San Francisco, Houston and Baltimore symphonies. Stephen Hough last performed with the BSO in January 2009, performing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, with Vasily Petrenko conducting. .
Program Notes Francesca da Rimini: “Fantasy after Dante”
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Born May 7, 1840 in Votkinsk, Russia; died Nov. 6, 1893 in St. Petersburg, Russia
If Tchaikovsky had not attended the world premiere of Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelungen in Bayreuth in the summer of 1876, his orchestral tone poem Francesca da Rimini might well have become an opera. Knowing he was looking for a suitable opera libretto, his brother Modest had urged him on his way to Bayreuth to read the Fifth Canto of Dante’s The Inferno, in which Francesca’s heartbreaking story is told. But at Bayreuth, Tchaikovsky was thoroughly disenchanted by Wagner’s magnum opus. Learning that his would-be librettist for Francesca was planning to create a work in the Wagnerian style, he wanted no part of it. The story, instead, became one of his most powerful orchestral fantasies—a worthy successor to his earlier Romeo and Juliet. Francesca da Polenta of Ravenna, Italy, was given in marriage to the ugly Gianciotta Malatesta the Lame of Rimini. When she meets his handsome younger brother, Paolo, the two gradually fall in love. Gianciotto catches Francesca and Paolo together and stabs them to death. Dante places the two lovers in the second circle of Hell, where illicit lovers are locked in eternal embrace and tossed endlessly on a violent whirlwind.
Lintu photo by Heikki Tuuli; Hough photo by Andrew Crowley
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2013, 8 P.M.
Thursday, February 7, 2013, 8 p.m.
Tchaikovsky tells Francesca’s story in 24 minutes of exceptionally dramatic and passionate music. With downward scales, the opening Andante lugubre section depicts Dante’s descent into the infernal regions. The tempo accelerates to Allegro, and we encounter the infernal winds on which Francesca and Paolo endlessly whirl. Temporarily freed from the whirlwind, Francesca—at first represented by a mournful solo clarinet—tells her unhappy tale. Her story finished, Francesca and Paolo are again swept out of sight on the infernal winds. Instrumentation: Three flutes, piccolo, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, four trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp and strings.
Woodwind and violin solos add to the fragile beauty of this “slow movement.” Ultimately, the theme is changed into a very grand and very loud march. But soon the piano transforms this into a passionate rhapsody, beautifully accompanied by the orchestra: one of the work’s loveliest moments. A fast coda—with the pianist executing bravura glissandos up and down the keyboard, and the trumpets hurling out the theme one final time—brings this most original concerto to its spectacular conclusion. Instrumentation: Three flutes, piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion and strings.
Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major
Born Dec. 8, 1865 in Hämeenlinna, Finland; died Sept. 20, 1957 in Järvenpää, Finland
Franz Liszt
Born Oct. 22, 1811 in Raiding, Hungary; died July 31, 1886 in Bayreuth, Germany
With his jaw-dropping virtuosity and personal charisma, Franz Liszt excited the audiences of his time as only a handful of rock stars do today. But he was a highly complex personality, and, alongside the dazzling, extroverted performer lived a very serious, introspective composer. The long gestation period of his Piano Concerto No. 2 showed just how painstaking a composer Liszt could be. By 1849, he had completed its first version, but he did not feel it was ready for public performance until Jan. 7, 1857. And, even then, he continued to tinker with the work, waiting until 1863 to publish it. Although this concerto is in one continuous movement, it breaks down into six contrasting sections, linked by brief piano cadenzas. As the music becomes faster and bolder, listen for a remarkable passage in which the piano’s growling bass figures are taken over with stunning effectiveness by the low strings. The core theme continues through a variety of transformations, both dramatic and lyrical. Especially wonderful is the section in which the solo cello warmly sings the theme, while the piano responds with rhapsodic delight.
Symphony No. 2 in D Major
Jean Sibelius
As the 20th century was born, Finland found herself in a desperate battle for survival. Throughout the 19th century, she had been an autonomous grand duchy of Russia, with the Russian rulers generally respecting her independence. But under the last of the tsars, Nicholas II, the weight of Russian suzerainty pressed heavily on the Finns, crushing their rights. In response, a new spirit of Finnish nationalism blazed up. Although he was born to a family of Swedish extraction, Sibelius was a passionate Finn patriot, and his music introduced a new voice to Europe, as stern, majestic and uncompromising as the Finnish landscape itself. In 1900, he gave his people a virtual national anthem with Finlandia, but even his more abstract works and his personality became a rallying point for his countrymen. Perhaps because of its Italian birth, Symphony No. 2 wears, with the exception of its slow movement, a happier, brighter garb than his No. 1. In the opening movement Sibelius first presents small, seemingly unrelated chunks of melodic ideas—fragments of his mosaic. Only as they are gradually
assembled do we begin to see a picture. Even the strings’ hesitant opening chords are an important piece of the puzzle: their three notes rising stepwise establish a pattern for many of the themes to come. The woodwinds respond with a mirror image: a pert, folkish dance tune built from three descending notes. A moment later, the theme that will contribute so much to the movement’s drama is introduced loudly by the woodwinds: an expression of vehement resolve with a memorable fist-shaking gesture. The solo oboe sings a plaintive version of this theme to open the development section, in which Sibelius reveals the close relationship between his terse themes as he juxtaposes and combines them. This grows to an imposing climax of brass chords that, in a Sibelian trademark, swell, fade, then swell again. Movement two moves away from the D major home key to darker D minor. At first the music is imprisoned in the orchestral cellar: over a drum roll and a spooky pizzicato tune for basses and cellos, the bassoons croon a mournful theme. This is followed by the blackest of brass fanfares, with the voice of death in the horns’ harsh, baleful cry. The strings gently offer a tender, grief-laden theme. Movement three is a fast, fierce scherzo. Juxtaposed against the frenzy of the strings is a slower trio section featuring a bittersweet repeated-note melody for oboe. Both scherzo and trio return, but the trio’s second appearance is artfully transformed into a bridge to the finale, preparing us for the expansive melody— using the three-note ascending pattern that opened the symphony—that is this work’s most famous. The finale’s other important theme is a sad, minor-mode woodwind march above agitated strings, which Sibelius’ wife revealed as her husband’s musical response to her sister’s suicide. These two themes, along with several subsidiary ones, carry the symphony to a heart-pounding musical apotheosis. Instrumentation: Two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani and strings. Notes by Janet E. Bedell copyright 2013
applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 53
Saturday, February 9, 2013, 8 p.m.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2013, 8 P.M.
● The National Philharmonic Piotr Gajewski, Music Director and Conductor
presents
Philharmonic of Many Colors Piotr Gajewski, conductor Danielle Talamantes, soprano National Philharmonic Chorale
Piotr Gajewski, conductor
For Piotr Gajewski’s biography, see page 24.
Danielle Talamantes, soprano
Having returned to her native Washington, D.C., area, Danielle Talamantes has quickly become one of the region’s most sought after soloists. Recent concert performances featured Talamantes as soprano soloist with the Nashville Symphony, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Choralis and the Oratorio Society of Virginia.
Bolero Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Program Notes
Gloria for Soprano, Chorus and Orchestra
Bolero
I. Chorus. Gloria in Excelsis Deo
Born March 7, 1875, in Ciboure, France; died Dec. 28, 1937, in Paris
II. Chorus. Laudamus te
III. Soprano and Chorus. Domine Deus, Rex caelestis
IV. Chorus. Domine fili unigenite
V. Soprano and Chorus. Domine Deus, Agnus Dei
VI. Soprano and Chorus. Qui sedes INTERMISSION
cheherazade, Symphonic Suite from S The Thousand and One Nights, Op. 35
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908)
Largo maestoso (“The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship”) Lento (“The Story of the Kalendar Prince”)
Maurice Ravel
Andantino quasi Allegretto (“The Young Prince and the Young Princess”)
Allegro molto (Festival at Baghdad; The Sea; The Ship Goes to Pieces against a Rock Surmounted by a Bronze Warrior; Conclusion) All Kids, All Free, All the Time is sponsored by The Gazette The Music Center at Strathmore Marriott Concert Stage
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When Ravel returned from an American tour in the spring of 1928, one of his first obligations was to prepare a score for a dance pantomime with a Spanish setting that he had promised his dancer friend, Ida Rubinstein. She originally wanted him to orchestrate six piano pieces from Iberia by Isaac Albéniz, but since the rights had already been granted to someone else, Ravel thought that he would orchestrate some piano works of his own. In the end, he decided to write an entirely new piece, the Bolero. It was first performed in an orchestral concert on Jan. 11, 1930, with the composer conducting the Lamoureux Orchestra. Six large cycles of the two-part melody begin with a flute’s sultry solo over the repeated bolero figure in the drum and grow to the large full orchestral conclusion. As the melody is repeated, more instruments are added. At the climactic moment, there is a startling wrench as Ravel makes the single harmonic change in the piece and shifts the music from C major to E major. The enormous effectiveness of the Bolero springs from Ravel’s great mastery of the orchestra, which is almost the sole source of variety in this score.
danielle radcliffe
Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)
Saturday, February 9, 2013, 8 p.m.
The large orchestra consists of piccolo and two flutes, two oboes, oboe d’amore (a mezzo soprano oboe pitched between the oboe and English horn), English horn, two clarinets, small clarinet in E flat and bass clarinet, two bassoons and contrabassoon, four horns, four trumpets, three trombones and tuba, three saxophones, timpani, snare drum, cymbals, gong, celesta, harp and strings. Gloria for Soprano, Chorus and Orchestra
Francis Poulenc Born Jan. 7, 1899, in Paris; died Jan. 30, 1963 in Paris
Francis Poulenc, the youngest of Les Six (“The Six”) a radical group of French composers, became pivotal in turning French music away from formality and pomp in the early 1920s. Poulenc composed songs, chamber music, concertos and short pieces in which he combined buffoonery and banality to greatly amusing effect. The Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress commissioned the Gloria, which was dedicated to the memory of Serge and Natalie Koussevitzky. Adele Addison and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Charles Munch, Koussevitzky’s successor, performed it for the first time on Jan. 20, 1961. The opening Gloria has a vivacious four-note motive, and the Laudamus te and Domine Fili Unigenite share the same sprightly mood. Tender lyricism dominates the Domine Deus and Agnus Dei. The short first movement motive returns again in the last movement, and then the chorus joins in before the jubilant finale. Poulenc’s Gloria is orchestrated for piccolo, two flutes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, harp and strings. The text comes from the second section of the Roman Catholic Mass, the hymn of the angels on the night of the Nativity. A soprano soloist joins the chorus in three of its six parts. I. Chorus. Maestoso. Gloria in
Excelsis Deo et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis. (Glory to God in the highest, an earth peace to people of good will.) II. Chorus. Très vif et joyeux. Laudamus te, benedicimus te, adoramus te, glorificamus te, gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloria tuam. (We praise you, we bless you, we adore you, we glorify you, we give you thanks for your great glory.) III. Soprano and Chorus. Très lent et calme. Domine Deus, Rex caelestis, Deus pater omnipotens. (Lord God, heavenly king, O God, almighty Father. ) IV. Chorus. Très vif et joyeux. Domine Fili Unigenite, Jesu Christe. Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis; qui tollis peccata mundi, suscipe deprecationem nostram. (Lord Jesus Christ, Only Begotten Son, Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us; you take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer.) V. Soprano and Chorus. Très lent — Plus allant. Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris, miserere nobis. (You are seated at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us.) VI. Soprano and Chorus. Maestoso. Quoniam tu solus Sanctus, tu solus Dominus, tu solus Altissimus, Jesu Christe, cum Sancto Spiritu: in gloria Dei Patris. Amen. (For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.) Scheherazade, Symphonic Suite from The Thousand and One Nights, Op. 35
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Born March 18, 1844, in Tikhvin, Russia; died June 21, 1908, in St. Petersburg
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was born into a music-loving family of the Russian upper classes. At 6, he began to play the piano and, at 9, to compose, but music was not considered a proper profession for the well-born, and, when he was 12, he was enrolled as a cadet at the Naval College.
On his return to St. Petersburg, he joined in an informal alliance with four other gifted young composers, most of whom had professions other than music. Early in 1888, Rimsky first considered writing an orchestral work based on incidents selected from the book that is known in English-speaking countries as The Arabian Nights and elsewhere as The Thousand and One Nights. As Rimsky described the book’s framework, the Sultan Schahriar, convinced of the falseness and unfaithfulness of women, vows to put each one of his many wives to death after their first night together. The Sultana Scheherazade saves her life by arousing so much interest in the story she tells him at night that, in anticipation of another, he postpones her execution again and again. This continues from night to night until 1,001 nights have passed, at which time the Sultan finally abandons his murderous plan. In the first movement, “The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship,” we hear the music to which a ship at sea rocks on the billowing waves, as Sinbad the Sailor tells of the wonders that he has seen on his great voyages to distant lands. Next the voice of Scheherazade introduces the second movement, “The Story of the Kalender Prince.” A kalender was an itinerant beggar priest or monk, and at least three of the 1,001 tales tell of princes disguised as kalenders. In the third movement, the orchestra sings the lovely songs of “The Young Prince and the Young Princess.” The finale’s musical images begins with “Festival at Baghdad” and continues with “The Sea.” Then, in a great tempest, “The Ship Goes to Pieces against a Rock that is Surmounted by a Bronze Warrior” and in the “Conclusion,” we hear the voice of Sultana Scheherazade fade into the distance for the last time. Scheherazade is orchestrated for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes and English horn, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, and tuba, timpani, snare drum, bass, drum, and cymbals, tam-tam, tambourine, triangle, harp and strings. Copyright Susan Halpern, 2012
applause at Strathmore • JANUary/FEBRUARY 2013 55
Thursday, February 14, 2013, 8 p.m.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2013, 8 P.M.
Flamenco Vivo/Carlota Santana
● Strathmore Presents
Flamenco Vivo/Carlota Santana: La Pasión Flamenca La Pasión Latina
Bailes De Ida Y Vuelta
Colombianas Milonga
Vidalita – Farruca
Guajiras Rumba/Salsa INTERMISSION
La Pasión Flamenca A Solas
Choreography by Angel Munoz
Flamenco Vivo/Carlota Santana has encouraged the creativity and innovation of artists from both Spain and the U.S. while keeping the company faithful to the traditions of flamenco. The company was founded in 1983 by Roberto Lorca and Carlota Santana. Since Lorca’s death in 1987, the company has continued to grow and flourish under Santana’s direction, performing at such venues as Lincoln Center, the Joyce Theater, the New Victory Theater and Summerdance Santa Barbara.
Martinete
Carlota Santana
Tientos Duet
founder and artistic director
Alegrias o solea por Bulerias
Fin De Fiesta/Bulerías Program subject to change Carlota Santana, artistic director Antonio Hidalgo, associate artistic director Dancers Antonio Hidalgo Leslie Roybal Laura Peralta Leilah Broukheim Isaac Tovar Musicians Gaspar Rodriguez, guitar Ricardo Anglada, guitar Francisco Orozco “yiyi,” singer Roberto Lorente, singer The Music Center at Strathmore Marriott Concert Stage
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Under Carlota Santana’s direction, the company has expanded its repertory by presenting new music, dramatic works and a mixture of various dance vocabularies, as well as by integrating Hispanic-American influences. Santana created the company’s arts-in-education program, integrating Spanish dance and culture with the school curriculum, and has traveled widely implementing this program.
Antonio Hidalgo associate artistic director, dancer and choreographer
Antonio Hidalgo has worked with various dance companies throughout his career. These include the companies of Jose Antonio, Paco Romero, Jose Greco and Antonio Gades, where he danced the principal role of Escamillo. Most recently Hidalgo has been working as rehearsal director and performer with the Fundación Antonio Gades, which preserves the legacy of the famous Spanish choreographer.
LOIS GREENFIELD
Thursday, February 14, 2013, 8 p.m.
Program Notes La Pasión Latina
With the rising popularity of norteño from Mexico, salsa from Cuba and Puerto Rico, cumbia from Colombia and crossover pop music such as reggaeton, Bailes de Ida y Vuelta continues the metamorphosis of traditional flamenco music and dance with newer Latin influences. Bailes de Ida y Vuelta was made possible by grants from the ArtWorks program of the National Endowment for the Arts. Colombianas First performed in the mid-1930s by famed singer Pepe Marchena, the Colombianas are a true Spanish form of cante infused with the festive “inspiración” of Latin America. Milonga The Milonga is flamenco form brought to Spain by farmers, artists, bullfighters and soldiers in the 19th century returning from the Americas. Vidalita - Farruca Similar to its Argentinean counterpart, vidalita is akin to the Milonga whose verses have an amorous and soulful quality. This is paired with the farruca, a dance from Asturias in northern Spain that was altered and became part of the flamenco repertoire. Guajiras Spanish immigrants in Cuba were often referred to as “guajiras.” A flamenco version of a Cuban rhythm of the same name was brought back to Spain in the 16th century. At the same time sensuous and sweet, this form evokes the air of this tropic island. Rumba/Salsa Influenced by Afro-Cuban rhythms, rumba is fast, lively and percussive. Often seen as the finale, rumba exemplifies the bridging of cultures between the Cuban salsa and flamenco modalities.
La Pasión Flamenca
La Pasión Flamenca is a journey back to the cultural crossroads of Andalusia,
the southern region of Spain and the birthplace of flamenco. Vibrant influences from Africa, the Americas and the Middle East can be seen and heard. A Solas (solea por bulerias) Martinete This flamenco solo reflects the way the woman uses the art form to express herself. Tientos Duet This 4/4 rhythm dance is majestic and sensual. The sometimes slow, wiry movements let the dancers express emotions easily. Alegrias O Solea por Bulerias The word Alegrías means joy or happiness, and the songs are light and carefree in spirit. They can express great intensity of feeling yet the mood is optimistic and high-spirited. Fin De Fiesta/Bulerías The name Bulerías comes from “burlar,” or to make fun. The flamenco party ends “por Bulerías,” a “jam session” in which everyone takes their turn to show their stuff. The baile por Bulerías is one of the most vivacious and difficult dances, and requires grace and rhythm.
Education, The Phillips Club, Martha and Herbert Siegel, Target Stores, Tourist Office of Spain, Urban Telecommunications, WNYC New York Public Radio and our many Friends of Flamenco.
Flamenco Vivo/Carlota Santana has received support from: American Express Bank, The American Music Center, Anonymous, Therese Berkowitz, Casa Abril—Wines of Spain, The Dana Foundation, The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, Durham Arts Council, The Fund for the City of New York/Open Society Foundation, Bobbie Fletcher Fund of Triangle Community Foundation, Friar’s Foundation, Harkness Foundation for Dance, Merrill G. and Emita E. Hastings Foundation, Allen E. Kaye, P.C., Garrett Kirk, The Lila Acheson Wallace Theater Fund, Office of the Manhattan Borough President, The Metlife Foundation, The J. P. Morgan Chase Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, North Carolina Arts Council, New York State Council on the Arts, Partners for Arts
Board of Directors of Flamenco Vivo/Carlota Santana John Chichester Barbara Mariconda Carlota Santana Jonathan Sirota Mark J. Smith, Chair Donna Torres
Staff of Flamenco Vivo/Carlota Sonata Artistic Director: Carlota Santana, Associate Artistic Director/Tours: Antonio Hildago, Development Consultant: Kate Taylor, Director of Arts in Education: Jessica Wilt, Production Manager: Monica Moore, Company Manager: Hanaah Frechette Special Services for Flamenco Vivo/ Carlota Santana Legal: Law Offices of Allen E. Kaye, P.C., Travel: Atlas Travel of Daytona Beach, Newsletter Editor: Patricia Westphal, Graphic Design: Bob Kamp, Computer Assistance: Michael Spadero, Insurance: Acordia Accounting-Barry Landy, CPA, P.C., Banking: Signature Bank, Castanets: Galiano, Castañuelas del Sur, Shoes: Gallardo, Don Flamenco, Costumes: Inmaculada Ortega, Enrique Arteaga
North Carolina Advisory Board Yvonne Bryant Rafael Lopez-Barrantes Patricia Westphal Alicia Vila 4 W. 43rd St., Suite 608 New York, NY 10036 Tel: (212) 736-4499 Web: www.flamenco-vivo.org Email: santana@flamenco-vivo.org Flamenco Vivo/Carlota Santana is represented by Baylin Artists Management, www.baylinartists.com.
applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 57
Saturday, February 16, 2013, 8 p.m.
● Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Marin Alsop, Music Director
presents
Wagner’s Walküre Marin Alsop, conductor Heidi Melton, soprano Brandon Jovanovich, tenor Eric Owens, bass-baritone
Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde
Heidi Melton
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
INTERMISSION
Act I from Die Walküre
Heidi Melton
Brandon Jovanovich
Eric Owens The Wagner tubas used in this concert are a gift from Beth Green Pierce in memory of her father, Elwood I. Green. Brandon Jovanovich’s appearance is made possible in part by generous support from Stephen and Maria Lans. Presenting Sponsor: M&T Bank The concert will end at approximately 10 p.m. The Music Center at Strathmore Marriott Concert Stage
Marin Alsop, conductor
For Marin Alsop’s biography, see page 29.
Heidi Melton, soprano
Heidi Melton returns to Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe for productions of Tannhäuser (Venus/ Elisabeth), Peter
Grimes (Ellen Orford), Les Troyens (Didon) and Der Ring des Nibelungen (Sieglinde) during the 2012-2013 season. She also returns to the Deutsche Oper Berlin in Love for Three Oranges (Fata Morgana) and Un ballo in maschera (Amelia), as well as the Metropolitan Opera in complete cycles of Der Ring des Nibelungen (Third Norn). Heidi Melton is making her BSO debut.
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Brandon Jovanovich, tenor
During the 201213 season Brandon Jovanovich returns to San Francisco Opera in the title role of Lohengrin. His season continues at L.A. Opera with his acclaimed Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. He finishes the season as Sergei in Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mzensk with Opernhaus Zürich. Brandon Jovanovich is making his BSO debut.
Eric Owens, bass-baritone
Eric Owens has received critical acclaim for portraying the title role in the world premiere of Grendel with the Los Angeles Opera and again at the Lincoln Center Festival. Owens also created the role of General Leslie Groves in the world premiere of Doctor Atomic. Eric Owens last performed with the BSO in July 2006, performing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, with Edward Gardner conducting.
Program Notes Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürenberg
Richard Wagner Born May 22, 1813 in Leipzig, Germany; died Feb. 13, 1882 in Venice, Italy
With his 16-hour Ring tetralogy, his quasi-religious rite Parsifal and his ponderous writings on the Gesamtkunstwerk (“total art work”), Richard Wagner’s name has become synonymous with all that was high-minded, dead serious and pretentious in 19th century music. But he also wrote one of the greatest operatic comedies, Die Meistersinger von Nürenberg (“The Master singers of Nurenberg”), based on real people living in 16th century Nuremberg.
Melton Photo by Kristin Hoebermann, Jovanovich Photo by Peter Dressel; Owens photo by Dario Acosta
saturday, february 16, 2013, 8 P.M.
Saturday, February 16, 2013, 8 p.m.
Die Meistersinger was composed immediately after Tristan und Isolde and midway through Wagner’s multi-decade creation of the four-opera Ring Cycle. Its premiere on June 21, 1868, at the Munich Opera House was the first unqualified success of Wagner’s embattled career. Die Meistersinger is a salute to the master singer guilds that flourished in Nuremberg, Bavaria, from the 14th to 17th centuries. Wagner took the most famous of the historical master singers, the poet-cobbler Hans Sachs (1494-1576), and made him the opera’s protagonist. Festive in tone, showcasing all sections of the orchestra and glorying in the bright key of C major, the Prelude to Act I presents many of the themes of importance in the opera. First the proud theme of the master singers themselves, then the motive of Walter’s wooing of Eva (woodwinds), the guild banner (brass fanfare), the pride of the city of Nuremberg (soaring string melody). Later the violins offer part of the tenor hero Walter’s “Prize Song.” Wagner parades his contrapuntal skills throughout, but most excitingly midway through, when the themes of the master singers, guild-banner fanfare and Prize Song are triumphantly combined. Instrumentation: Two flutes, piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp and strings. Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde
Richard Wagner Richard Wagner had been at work for the better part of a decade on his monumental Ring cycle, and had already completed the operas Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, and two acts of Siegfried when the romantic legend of Tristan and Isolde began obsessing him. It tells of the noble Cornish knight Tristan who, to prove his loyalty to his uncle King Mark and bring peace between Ireland and Cornwall, woos the proud Irish princess Isolde to be Mark’s bride. But
Tristan and Isolde fall passionately in love. Though Tristan brings her back to Mark, the two carry on a long clandestine love affair, which is ultimately resolved by their deaths. At the time this legend seized his imagination, Wagner was in the midst of a clandestine affair of his own with Matilde Wesendonk, wife of his thenpatron, the German-Swiss businessman Otto Wesendonk. However, the theme and musical expression of Tristan und Isolde suggest this affair was never consummated. For instead of being a conventional love story, Tristan sings of the inability of love to find satisfaction on this earth. Only when the lovers are united in death can their love achieve fulfillment and the music find rest in consonance. Wagner wrote the opera’s libretto during the summer of 1857 on the Wesendonk estate outside Zürich. He then launched into the musical score, beginning with the famous Prelude, that October. When things became too hot in the Wagner/Wesendonk ménage, he moved on to Venice and later Lucerne, where he completed the opera in August 1859. Wagner creates the mood in the Prelude through harmonies riddled with dissonance, only briefly reaching consonance before being destabilized again. As the Prelude subsides into the depths of cellos and basses, we suddenly skip more than four hours to the end of the opera, and Isolde’s beyond-this-life rapture over her lover’s body (Liebestod). This symphonic aria features one of the most powerful of all moments of musical/emotional tension as Wagner traps the orchestra in a prolonged rising sequence, struggling upward by half steps. Finally, this explodes into the Liebestod’s climax: a fortissimo release on the violins’ highest C-sharp. And in the music’s final moment—with Isolde’s death— comes complete harmonic resolution at last in a radiant B-major chord. Instrumentation: Three flutes, piccolo, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, three bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, harp and strings.
Act I of Die Walküre (The Valkyrie)
Richard Wagner Entering the world of the Ring Cycle— or to give it its full name, Der Ring des Nibelungen—means wrestling with four operas totaling 16 hours and telling a complicated story involving Teutonic gods, dwarves, giants, Rhinemaidens and a dragon—all obsessing over a golden horde found at the bottom of the Rhine River and the invincible Ring forged from it. But in the Cycle’s second opera, Die Walküre, we meet human characters caught up in a sympathetic story of love, jealousy and the breaking of a string of bad luck. It took Wagner from 1848 to 1874 to write both the librettos and the music for The Ring. The composer began writing the librettos in backwards order, beginning with the fourth opera Götterdämmerung. Then he wrote the music for the operas in their correct order. The opera’s first performance was on June 26, 1870, when Wagner’s patron King Ludwig II of Bavaria had it mounted in Munich. Wagner disowned this premiere. For him, all four operas needed to be premiered at the same time and in a theater designed expressively for them. When the Cycle was finally finished and his new Festspielhaus at Bayreuth was ready, the full Ring Cycle was presented in August 1876. Listening to the Drama Chugging and swirling strings conjure a terrible storm through which Siegmund, the drama’s hero, is struggling to find shelter. Siegmund staggers into Hunding’s home and collapses by the hearth. Hunding’s wife, Sieglinde, swiftly enters and tries to help the unknown man. She gives him water and then a cup of refreshing mead; Siegmund revives. In a beautiful melody, the solo cello expresses the growing sympathy between the two. Throughout, the orchestra’s lyrical melodies reveal more of their feelings than these two reticent, guarded people dare say. Siegmund confesses that he is cursed, he brings misfortune everywhere he goes, and he must leave; Sieglinde cries out that he cannot bring more
applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 59
Saturday, February 16, 2013, 8 p.m.
misfortune than she has already. A baleful, virile fanfare motif in the Wagner tubas announces the arrival of Sieglinde’s brutal husband, Hunding, who offers guest sanctuary to his visitor. Hunding notices a resemblance between the two. Continuing to hide his real name, Siegmund tells of his father, “Wolfe,” and his twin sister as well as the violent death of his mother and presumably the sister. When he tells of his father’s disappearance, the brass intone the majestic Valhalla theme, revealing he is actually Wotan, the chief god. Siegmund tells of his hapless defense of a woman forced to marry against her will, of her death and his flight preceding his arrival at Hunding’s. But the men he slew in this fight were in fact Hunding’s kinsmen, and now Hunding is his enemy, sworn to avenge them. The full theme of the tragic fate of Siegmund’s family, the Volsungs, now pours out darkly in the orchestra. Hunding will continue to grant him the sacrosanct guest-rights for the
night, but in the morning he must fight Hunding to the death. Next comes one of the act’s greatest musical/ poetic sequences. In a brooding interlude, Siegmund alone contemplates his predicament. In heroic, longheld notes, he cries out to his father “Wälse” for the weapon he had promised him. The trumpet calls out the ascending motive of the Sword: a glimmer from the hearth fire has illuminated the sword driven into the ash tree in the middle of the room. Sieglinde returns. She has drugged her husband with a strong sleeping potion. Now she tells Siegmund her own story. She was forced to marry Hunding against her will. She shows Siegmund the sword and tells him that an old man brought it there on her wedding night and thrust it into the tree. The brass again proclaims the Valhalla motif, revealing that this too was Wotan. Though many have tried, no one has succeeded in pulling the sword free. It will go only to the strongest hero, and
Orchestrated
in ecstasy, she sings that he who draws it out will be her savior. The door of the house flies open to reveal a glorious spring night. In twin arias, the two proclaim their love for each other. The two now discover they are both Volsungs, the children of Wälse, and that Sieglinde is the long-lost twin sister. This does not dampen their ardor in the least. Sieglinde finally gives Siegmund his true name. With mighty cries of “Nothung” (“Needful”), he names the sword and wrenches it free. He claims Sieglinde as his rightful bride. As the music accelerates wildly, they embrace and leave Hunding’s house with Siegmund singing, “So may the race of Volsungs flourish!” Instrumentation: Three flutes, piccolo, three oboes, English horn, three clarinets, bass clarinet, three bassoons, four horns, four Wagner tuben, three trumpets, bass trumpet, four trombones, tuba, two timpanists, two harps and strings. Notes by Janet E. Bedell copyright 2013
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Thursday, February 21, 2013, 8 p.m.
thursday, february 21, 2013, 8 P.M.
Jack Everly, conductor
For Jack Everly’s biography see page 38.
●
Ashley Brown, vocalist
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Marin Alsop, Music Director Jack Everly, Principal Pops Conductor
presents
Ashley Brown’s Broadway Jack Everly, conductor Ashley Brown, vocalist
Prelude/Opener
“Smile”/”Make Someone Happy”
Arr. Everly and Barton Arr. Gershovsky and Livesay
Chicago Suite John Kander, arr. Gibson (1927-)
“Le Jazz Hot” from Victor/Victoria Henry Mancini, arr. Everly and Stephenson (1924-1994) “This Is the Moment” Frank Wildhorn, arr: Scharnberg from Jekyll and Hyde (1958) “Feed the Birds” from Mary Poppins Robert Sherman and (1925-2012) Richard Sherman, (1928-) arr. Haak and Moore
The Disney Medley
Arr. Barton
INTERMISSION
Entr’acte/”Ring Them Bells”
Arr. Everly, Barton and Rothman
“So in Love” from Kiss Me, Kate Cole Porter (1891-1964)
Love Duets Arr. Barker
“Defying Gravity” from Wicked Stephen Schwartz, arr. Barton (1948-)
The Music Center at Strathmore Marriott Concert Stage
Ashley Brown recently finished her run in Los Angeles in the title role in Disney’s national tour of Mary Poppins, where she garnered a 2010 Garland Award for Best Performance in a Musical. Brown originated the title role of Mary Poppins on Broadway for which she received Outer Critics, Drama League and Drama Desk nomination. Brown’s other Broadway credits include Belle in The Beauty and The Beast, and she has starred in the national tour of Disney’s On The Record. Brown has performed with the Boston Pops, the New York Philharmonic, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra at Disney Hall, the Pittsburgh Symphony opposite Shirley Jones, the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, the Cincinnati Pops, the Indianapolis and the BBC orchestra opposite Josh Groban. Future projects include concerts at the Kennedy Center and with the N.Y. Pops, Detroit, Fort Worth, Indianapolis, Oklahoma City, Memphis and Houston orchestras. Brown’s debut album of American Songbook standards was recently released on Ghostlight/Sony. Co-Produced along with Symphonic Pops Consortium The Symphonic Pops Consortium mission is to conceive, create and produce high quality, innovative, symphonic Pops concerts by uniting a group of symphony orchestras and combining their resources. The Symphonic Pops Consortium is comprised of the Indianapolis (managing partner), Detroit, Milwaukee, National and Seattle symphony orchestras. Music Director: Jack Everly Producer: Ty A. Johnson Stage Direction: Jennifer Ladner Production Management: Brandy Rodgers Costume Designer: Clare M. Henkel Special Material/ Production Consultant: David Levy
applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 61
Saturday, February 23, 2013 , 8 p.m.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2013, 8 P.M.
LUMA
● Strathmore Presents
LUMA Spark of an Idea The Lumen Being Lightening Bug Love Multiple Moons Water Dream (See Food) Rainbow Bridge OOOOOOOOOOOO Fan-Slam Midnight Carnival Light Rain Tetra-Tinker Torn Between Lovers Soft Fireworks Spin-Jam What We Don’t See INTERMISSION The Light in Your Pocket (All Call) Speed Wings Stick to the Beat Pocketful of Stars Cross Walk Mathematical Manipulative Circus of Circuits ’Bots Aurora Dervish Whirling Heart Line Bat-Bounce-Bop Marlin, founder and artistic director Cynthia Verschuur, administration manager Georg Schanz, stage/production manager Michael Rapp, musical score Georg Schanz, light performer Alan Howard, light performer Nicole Stokes, light performer Shaun Curtin, light performer Ditter Flores, light performer Becky Castells, light performer The Music Center at Strathmore Marriott Concert Stage 62 applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013
Marlin
Marlin has been developing his work with light since 1986. At 18 he ran away with the circus to be a clown, tended a herd of elephants instead, and then became a professional juggler before the age of 20. After 15 years in the business he dropped out of society and lived in a jungle tree house with no electricity for five years. His screenplay, Nobody is Immune, a sci-fi eco-thriller set in Hawaii, is slated for production sometime in 2013.
Georg Schanz
Born in California, Georg Schanz began his career at 15, performing on television. At 16, he started working for Disneyland in California. Through Disney he was able to travel and work in its Tokyo theme park. He has been lucky to see the world through dancing for various companies such as Universal, Holland America Cruise Lines, Norwegian Cruise Lines and Disney International.
Alan Howard
Alan Howard has performed his comedy-juggling act in casino revues, concert halls, colleges, cruise ships and comedy clubs. His show business career began much longer ago than he would like to admit, when he appeared on Romper Room, playing games and snacking on graham crackers on live television. Since then, he has traveled all over the world performing on land as well as on more than 50 different cruise ships. He has won several honors from the International Jugglers Association. Howard
Saturday, February 23, 2013, 8 p.m.
lives Las Vegas and is the publisher and editor of JUGGLE magazine.
Nicole Stokes
Nicole Stokes has been performing in the dark with LUMA for six years. She was born in raised in California and started performing professionally at age 16. She has been able to work as both a performer and choreographer for more than 20 years. Some of her performing credits are Aladdin the Musical Spectacular at Disney’s California Adventure, The King and I for Musical Theater West in Long Beach, Calif., The Los Angeles Clipper’s Spirit and Ocean Dome Theme Park in Miyazaki, Japan.
Shaun Curtin
Shaun Curtin has been with LUMA for about six years. A Boston native, Curtin trained with the Boston Ballet and the Joffrey Ballet. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst with a BFA in
dance. Shaun has danced with several ballet companies and also performed in the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular for two years. Curtin has danced on several TV shows, including MAD T.V., and lives in Los Angeles.
degree, she moved to Los Angeles to further pursue her career in dance and acting. Castells is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and has performed professionally as a dancer in many different genres.
Ditter Flores
Program Notes
Ditter Flores is happy to be performing with LUMA and has been a member of the troupe since 2008. Flores is originally from Mexico, where he started his performing career. He moved to the U.S. in 2000 to continue his pursuit of theater arts. Credits include the Hello, Dolly! national tour (Mexico). He also was the featured dancer in Aida at the L.A. Opera and Chicago Festival Ballet.
Becky Castells
Originally from the East Coast, Becky Castells majored in dance at Point Park University in Pittsburgh, graduating cum laude. After receiving her
“The dark is my canvas and light is my brush” is how Marlin, LUMA’s artistic director and creator, sums up this new genre of performance art. A fascination with astronomy, physics and everincreasing light pollution inspired him to create the work. LUMA explores a human’s relationship to the dark and how our fear of it has chased away the night by creating a “false day.” In the process this has eliminated our view of stars and heavens above. Using various physical disciplines, LUMA renders depictions of the many sources of light that are experienced by humans.
The Bach Choir of Bethlehem & Bach Festival Orchestra Greg Funfgeld, Artistic Director & Conductor
MENDELSSOHN’S
Elijah
Wednesday, March 13, 2013 at 8pm Music Center at Strathmore …they sing with a fervor and a level of musicianship that carries one away. – Wall Street Journal Distinguished soloists for Mendelssohn’s fiery oratorio are Dashon Burton, baritone, as Elijah; Rosa Lamoreaux, soprano; Marietta Simpson, mezzo-soprano; and Mark Boyle, tenor. Joining The Bach Choir is the Millersville Keystone Singers (collegiate ensemble). Don’t miss this choral masterpiece!
Tickets: (301) 581-5100 or Strathmore.org
applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 63
Sunday, February 24, 2013, 7 p.m.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2013 7 P.M.
● Washington Performing Arts Society Celebrity Series presents
Simone Dinnerstein, piano
Aria with Thirty Variations, (Goldberg Variations)
Aria
Variation 1
Variation 2
Variation 3 Canone all’ Unisono
Variation 4
Variation 5
Variation 6 Canone alla Seconda
Variation 7 al tempo di Giga
Variation 8
Variation 9 Canone alla Terza
Variation 10 Fughetta
Variation 11
Variation 12 Canone alla Quarta
Variation 13
Variation 14
Variation 15 Canone alla Qunita
Variation 16 Ouverture
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Variation 17
Variation 18 Canone alla Sesta
Variation 19
Variation 20
Variation 21 Canone alla Settima
Variation 22
Variation 23
Variation 24 Canone all’ Ottava
Variation 25
Variation 26
Variation 27 Canone alla Nona
Variation 28
Variation 29
Variation 30 Quodlibet
Aria
No. 23 in F Major, Moderato No. 24 in D minor, Allegro appassionato
Simone Dinnerstein, piano
American pianist Simone Dinnerstein gained an international following because of the remarkable success of her recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, which she raised the funds to record. Released in 2007 on Telarc, it ranked No. 1 on the US Billboard Classical Chart in its first week of sales and was named to many “Best of 2007” lists including those of The New York Times,
64 applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013
The Los Angeles Times and The New Yorker. Her follow-up album, The Berlin Concert, also gained the No. 1 spot on the chart. Dinnerstein has since signed an exclusive agreement with Sony Classical, and her first album for that label—Bach: A Strange Beauty—was released in January 2011, immediately earning the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Classical Chart.
Lisa-Marie Mazzucco
The Music Center at Strathmore Marriott Concert Stage
Sunday, February 24, 2013, 7 p.m.
Dinnerstein’s performance schedule has taken her around the world since her triumphant New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in 2005, performing Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Recent and upcoming performances include her recital debuts at the Kennedy Center, the Vienna Konzerthaus and London’s Wigmore Hall, the Lincoln Center Mostly Mozart Festival, and the Aspen and Ravinia festivals. In addition, Dinnerstein has founded Neighborhood Classics, a concert series open to the public and hosted by New York City public schools. The concerts, which feature musicians Dinnerstein has admired and collaborated with during her career, raise funds for the schools’ Parent Teacher Associations. Neighborhood Classics began at P.S. 321, the Brooklyn public elementary school that her son attends and where her husband teaches fifth grade, and expanded in 2010 to P.S. 142 on New York’s Lower East Side. Dinnerstein is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where she was a student of Peter Serkin. She was a winner of the Astral Artist National Auditions, and has twice received the Classical Recording Foundation Award. She also studied with Solomon Mikowsky at the Manhattan School of Music and in London with Maria Curcio. Dinnerstein lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. with her husband and son.
Program Notes Aria with Thirty Variations, BWV 988 (Goldberg Variations)
Johann Sebastian Bach BornMarch 21, 1685 in Eisenach, Germany; died July 28, 1750, Leipzig, Germany
In November 1741 Bach, then 56 years old, made the 100-mile trip east from Leipzig to Dresden to visit an old friend, Count Hermann Keyserlingk, the Russian ambassador to the Saxon court. Keyserlingk’s court harpsichordist was the 14-year-old Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, who at age 10 had been a
student of Bach. There are several stories as to what happened next, all impossible to confirm. One is that Keyserlingk commissioned a work for his young harpsichordist and gave Bach a goblet full of gold coins in payment. Another is that Keyserlingk was an insomniac who specified that he wanted a piece that Goldberg could play to him as he went to sleep. What is certain is that the following year Bach published (as the fourth part of his edition of keyboard works, the ClavierÜbung) a work he called simply Aria with Thirty Variations, composed for two-manual harpsichord. The score bore no dedication, nor any mention at all of Keyserlingk or Goldberg. But Bach did give the count a copy of this music, and the conclusion is that this is the piece that had been requested in Dresden. By a process of (perhaps random) association, one of the greatest works ever written immortalizes a 14-year-old harpsichord player, and we know this music today simply as the Goldberg Variations. For his theme—which he calls Aria—Bach uses a sarabande melody that he had written as part of Anna Magdalena Bach’s Notebook. It is 32 measures long and already ornately embellished on its first appearance, though it is not this melody that will furnish the basis for the variations that follow but the bassline beneath it. This lengthy harmonic progression will become the backbone of the Goldberg Variations, functioning much like the ground bass of a passacaglia. The 30 variations that follow are grouped in 10 units of three, of which the third is always a canon, and each successive canon is built on an interval one larger than the previous. Such a description makes the Goldberg Variations sound like one of the more densely-argued works of the Second Viennese School, but in fact this is some of Bach’s most moving and exhilarating music, and it is a measure of his genius that such expressive music can grow out of such rigorous compositional procedures. In fact, listeners today do not really
need to understand the complexity of Bach’s techniques to feel the greatness of this music. One is certainly aware of the original bassline as a structuring element, but beyond that each successive variation can be taken as an individual pleasure. Some incidental observations: the keyboard writing here is unusually brilliant—this is virtuoso music, and that virtuosity appears not just in the dazzling runs across the range of the keyboard but in the complexity of the contrapuntal writing, where the pianist must keep multiple strands clear. Bach changes meter at virtually every variation, with the music leaping from its original 3/4 meter through such permutations as 4/4, 3/8, 2/4 and on to 12/16 and 18/16. The 10th variation is written as a Fughetta, and of special importance to the work are the three minorkey variations (Nos. 15, 21 and 25): all of these are slow, all begin in G minor (but can go far afield harmonically), and all are darkly expressive. In particular, No. 25—which lasts well over six minutes by itself—forms the emotional climax of the work before the spirited conclusion. That close is unusual all by itself. The 30th and final variation is marked Quodlibet, which means simply a gathering of tunes. Here Bach incorporates into the harmonic frame of his variations some of the popular tunes that he had heard sung around him on the streets of Leipzig. Donald Francis Tovey has identified two of these, and their first lines translate, “It is so long since I have been at your house” and “Cabbage and turnips have driven me away. If my mother’d cooked some meat, I might have stopped longer.” To a listener of Bach’s day, the joke would have been obvious, though it has to be explained to us—we feel only that the work is approaching its close in an unusually relaxed and tuneful manner. And then, a masterstroke: rather than rounding off the Goldberg Variations with a rousing display of contrapuntal brilliance, Bach instead concludes with a simple repetition of the opening Aria. Program notes by Eric Bromberger
applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 65
Thursday, February 28, 2013, 8 p.m.
● Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Marin Alsop, Music Director
presents
Mozart’s Requiem Ignat Solzhenitsyn, conductor Madeline Adkins, violin Qing Li, violin Susanna Phillips, soprano Marietta Simpson, mezzo-soprano Norman Reinhardt, tenor Robert Gleadow, bass Baltimore Choral Arts Society Tom Hall, Music Director
Tabula Rasa Arvo Pärt Ludus (1935-)
Silentium
Madeline Adkins Qing Li INTERMISSION
Requiem in D minor, K. 626 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Introitus (1756-1791) Kyrie
Sequenz: Dies irae - Tuba mirum Rex tremendae - Recordare Confutatis - Lacrimosa
Offertorium: Domine Jesu - Hostias
Sanctus
Benedictus
Agnus Dei
Communio
Susanna Phillips
Marietta Simpson
Norman Reinhardt
Robert Gleadow
Baltimore Choral Arts Society Media Sponsor: WETA 90.9 The concert will end at approximately 9:50 p.m. The Music Center at Strathmore Marriott Concert Stage
66 applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013
Ignat Solzhenitsyn, conductor
Ignat Solzhenitsyn was music director of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia for six seasons and is now its conductor laureate. In 2011-12, Solzhenitsyn made his debut with the Mariinsky Opera in its revival of Lady Macbeth. Ignat Solzhenitsyn last appeared with the BSO in October 2008, conducting Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 11 and Schubert’s Symphony No. 4.
Madeline Adkins, violin
Madeline Adkins has served as guest concertmaster of the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Oregon Symphony and the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra in Chicago, where she was featured in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis. Madeline Adkins last performed as a soloist with the BSO in October 2012, leading and performing Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Violins & Cello, and Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5.
Qing Li, violin
Qing Li began violin studies at age 4 with her father, Zhen-Kun Li. At age 12, Li was accepted to the Central Conservatory. There, she was discovered at a master class by Berl Senofsky, who brought her to the Peabody Conservatory on scholarship. Li performs on a Nicolo Gagliano violin, crafted in 1736 in Naples. Qing Li last appeared as a soloist with the BSO in February 2012, performing Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 1, with Nicholas McGegan conducting.
Adkins photo by Christian Colberg
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013, 8 P.M.
Thursday, February 28, 2013, 8 p.m.
Susanna Phillips, soprano
During the 2012-13 season Susanna Phillips will take the stage of the Met for her fifth consecutive season, this time to perform Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Her opera season in New York City continues as Stella in Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire. Susanna Phillips last performed with the BSO in November 2009, performing Mozart’s Three Concert Arias and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, with Marin Alsop conducting.
Marietta Simpson, mezzosoprano
Phillips photo by Ken Howard ; Gleadow photo by Keith Penner
Marietta Simpson’s 2011-12 season included singing as soloist in Messiah with the U.S. Naval Academy, and in Te Deum and A Child of Our Time, both with Collegiate Chorale. Her 2010-11 season featured her performances as soloist in Messiah at Washington National Cathedral and Bethel’s First AME Church. Marietta Simpson last appeared with the BSO in December 2006, performing Handel’s Messiah, with Edward Polochick conducting.
Norman Reinhardt, tenor
Norman Reinhardt’s previous seasons have included engagements at the Teatro Real in Madrid as Brighella in Ariadne auf Naxos, Opera Colorado as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Opéra National de Lille as Alfredo in La Traviata and Israeli Opera as Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte. Norman Reinhardt is making his BSO debut.
Robert Gleadow, bass
Robert Gleadow opened the 2011-12 season as Figaro in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro with the Opéra de Montréal. Further engagements included the role of the Sprecher in Die Zauberflöte at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and Talbot in Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda with the Houston Grand Opera. Robert Gleadow is making his BSO debut.
Tom Hall and the Baltimore Choral Arts Society The Baltimore Choral Arts Society, now in its 46th season, is one of Maryland’s premier cultural institutions. For the past 15 years, WMAR-TV has featured the society in an hourlong special, Christmas with Choral Arts. Hall has prepared choruses for Leonard Bernstein, Robert Shaw and others. The Baltimore Choral Arts Society last performed with the BSO in January 2013, performing Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky, with Marin Alsop conducting.
Program Notes Tabula Rasa
Arvo Pärt Born Sept. 11, 1935 in Paide, Estonia; now living in Berlin, Germany
Arvo Pärt’s distinctive musical voice has been shaped by the fact that he is an Estonian who spent his first 45 years living and creating music under the Soviet system. After angering Soviet cultural authorities with avant-garde serial works early in his career, in the 1970s Pärt found a more personal style that was just as defiant, but in a quieter way. A deeply religious man, he turned to the study of traditional Russian orthodox chant as well as Western European vocal music of the 14th through 16th centuries. In chant and early polyphony, he discovered a cleansing simplicity and spiri-
tuality still relevant for the 20th and 21st centuries. He called his new style “tintinnabuli” (“little bells”). Written in 1977, Tabula Rasa (“Blank Slate”) is the longest of Pärt’s tintinnabuli pieces. In the key of A minor and following a fairly rapid beat marked “with motion,” the first movement is called “Ludus” or “Game.” It opens with a piercing A played by the two solo violins in the highest and lowest extremes of the instrument’s range; this represents the slate being wiped clean. Then comes the first silence. This is followed by a series of eight variations for the two soloists playing swirling figures over a steadily pulsing accompaniment; each variation is followed by another silence. As the music progresses, the variations grow slightly longer while the silences are correspondingly shorter. This climaxes in a big crescendo and an agitated cadenza for the soloists, accompanied forcefully by the orchestra and the loud tolling of the piano. Ultimately, the two violins return to the very high and very low As heard at the beginning, and the movement closes with a long-held chord of A minor. The piano opens the quiet, entranced second movement called “Silentium” (“Silence”) with a rippling arpeggio on the chord of D minor, the movement’s key. The first violin intones a very slow melody over the high pulsing of the second violin; periodically this is punctuated by the piano’s tolling arpeggios. The violins’ melodic arcs gradually become wider, but the overall impression is one of timeless, contemplative stasis. Eventually, the two soloists fade, and the music descends until only a solo cello and solo double bass are playing. Before they can reach the final pitch of D, the music disappears into silence. Requiem, K. 626
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Born Jan. 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria; died Dec. 5, 1791 in Vienna, Austria
Listening to Mozart’s unfinished Requiem, one feels with special poignancy the tragedy of Mozart’s death at age 35. For with this work we are confronted
applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 67
Thursday, February 28, 2013, 8 p.m.
not only with the question of what might have been in his future creative output, but, specifically, with what might have happened in this work had he survived to complete it. The Requiem was anonymously commissioned by the patron Count Franz Walsegg-Stuppach as a memorial to his late wife. Although still in good health during the summer of 1791, Mozart seems to have reacted to this commission as a harbinger of his own death; while working on it, he was often depressed and told his wife, Constanze, that he felt that he was writing his own requiem. He also found plenty of excuses to set the work aside: first to fulfill a commission from Prague for the opera La Clemenza di Tito, then to write the great Clarinet Concerto for his friend Anton Stadler, next to put the finishing touches on his comic opera Die Zauberflöte, and finally, to write and premiere the Kleine Freymaurer Kantate, K. 623. Mozart/Haydn scholar H. C.
Robbins Landon estimates that Mozart worked intermittently on the Requiem from Oct. 8 to Nov. 20, when he took to his bed with his fatal illness. As he lay dying, Mozart worked closely with his two students Joseph Eybler and Franz Xaver Süssmayr. Mozart managed to finish composing all the vocal parts, the figured bass that controlled the harmony, most of the first violin parts and the trombone solo for Tuba Mirum, up to the Sanctus. Under his direction, the full scoring for the opening Introitus and Kyrie was done. After the composer’s death Constanze Mozart turned the score over to Süssmayr, who finished the Lacrimosa and the orchestration for the other sections and composed from scratch the Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei movements. Süssmayr’s additions aside, Mozart himself finished enough of the Requiem to make it a worthy valedictory to his genius. The opening Introitus has a halting, ominous quality with its slow,
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aspirated figures for the strings and the prominence given the low winds. A mood of resignation and acceptance comes with the soprano’s gentle “Te decet hymnus,” accompanied by a strings melody of radiant sweetness. Mozart follows with a dazzling double fugue for the Kyrie that counteracts the gravity of the Introitus. Constanze Mozart claimed that her husband had instructed Süssmayr to bring back the Introitus and Kyrie music for the Requiem’s final movement, the Communio. Süssmayr, for his part, said that had been his own idea. Though bringing the opening music back at the end gives a nice symmetry and was a common practice in Mozart’s day, one wonders if Mozart would have chosen to use the same music for the very different words of the Communio. Instrumentation: Two basset horns, two bassoons, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, organ and strings. Notes by Janet E. Bedell copyright 2013 SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
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applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 69
Strathmore Hall Foundation, Inc. Board of Directors Nancy E. Hardwick Chair William G. Robertson Vice Chair Dale S. Rosenthal Treasurer Robert G. Brewer, Jr., Esq. Secretary
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Joseph F. Beach Dickie S. Carter David M.W. Denton Hope B. Eastman, Esq. Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg William R. Ford Hon. Nancy Floreen
Barbara Goldberg Goldman Sol Graham Thomas H. Graham Paul L. Hatchett Delia K. Lang Carolyn P. Leonard Hon. Laurence Levitan J. Alberto Martinez, MD Caroline Huang McLaughlin Thomas A. Natelli Kenneth O’Brien DeRionne P. Pollard Donna Rattley Washington Graciela Rivera-Oven Wendy J. Susswein Carol A. Trawick Regina Brady Vasan James S. Whang
Donors Strathmore thanks the individuals and organizations who have made contributions between July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012. Their support of at least $500 and continued commitment enables us to offer the affordable, accessible, quality programming that has become our hallmark.
$250,000+ Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County Maryland State Arts Council Post-Newsweek Media, Inc. (includes in-kind) Carol Trawick $100,000+ Booz Allen Hamilton $50,000+ Delia and Marvin Lang Lockheed Martin Corporation $25,000+ Alban Inspections, Inc. Asbury Methodist Village GEICO Jordan Kitt’s Music Carolyn and Jeffrey Leonard The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation National Endowment for the Arts PEPCO Emily Wei Rales and Mitchell Rales Symphony Park LLC $15,000+ Capital One, N.A. Jonita and Richard S. Carter Kiplinger Foundation MARPAT Foundation Natelli Communities LP Restaurant Associates
$10,000+ Adventist Health Care Paul M. Angell Family Foundation Clark Construction Group, LLC Clark-Winchcole Foundation Comcast Elizabeth W. Culp The Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation, Inc. EagleBank Starr and Fred Ezra Federal Realty Investment Trust Suzanne and Douglas Firstenberg Glenstone Foundation Giant Food LLC Dorothy and Sol Graham Nancy and Raymond Hardwick Joel and Liz Helke Effie and John Macklin Montgomery County Department of Economic Development Janine and Phillip O’Brien Leon and Deborah Snead Hailin and James Whang Lien and S. Bing Yao $5,000+ Rona and Jeffrey Abramson Pennie and Gary Abramson Mary and Greg Bruch Dallas Morse Coors Foundation for the Performing Arts Ellen and Michael Gold Julie and John Hamre Vicki Hawkins-Jones and Michael Jones
70 Applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013
Princess Yasmine Pahlavi of Iran, Israeli pop star Rita and former Strathmore Board member and philanthropist Annie Totah. The Iranian-born singer—who performed at the Music Center at Strathmore Nov. 13—moved to Israel as a teenager and has advocated for peaceful relations between the two nations.
Yanqiu He and Kenneth O’Brien Bridget and Joseph Judge Dianne Kay Lerch, Early & Brewer, Chartered Sharon and David Lockwood Constance Lohse and Robert Brewer J. Alberto Martinez Katherine and William Parsons Susan and Brian Penfield Della and William Robertson Carol Salzman and Michael Mann Theresa and George Schu John Sherman, in memory of Deane Sherman Ann and Jim Simpson Jane and Richard Stoker UBS Financial Services, Inc. Meredith Weiser and Michael Rosenbaum Ellen and Bernard Young Paul and Peggy Young, NOVA Research Co. Washington Post. Co. $2,500+ Anonymous Louise Appell Artsite, Inc. BB&T Bank Barbara Benson Vicki Britt and Robert Selzer Frances and Leonard Burka Peter Yale Chen Jane Cohen Alison Cole and Jan Peterson Margaret and James Conley Carin and Bruce Cooper CORT Carolyn Degroot Hope Eastman Vivan Escobar-Stack and Robert Stack Michelle Feagin Carolyn Goldman and Sydney Polakoff Lana Halpern Laura Henderson Cheryl and Richard Hoffman A. Eileen Horan Igersheim Family Foundation Alexine and Aaron (deceased) Jackson Johnson’s Landscaping Service, Inc. (in-kind) Peter S. Kimmel, in memory of Martin S. Kimmel Teri Hanna Knowles and John M. Knowles Judie and Harry Linowes Jill and Jim Lipton Loiederman Soltesz Associates, Inc. M&T Bank Janet L. Mahaney Delores Maloney Marsh USA Inc.
Caroline and John Patrick McLaughlin Patricia and Roscoe Moore Susan Nordeen Paley, Rothman, Goldstein, Rosenberg, Eig & Cooper Chtd Carole and Jerry Perone Charlotte and Charles Perret Mindy and Charles Postal PRM Consulting, Inc. Restaurant Associates at Strathmore Tasneem Robin-Bhatti Lorraine and Barry Rogstad Dale S. Rosenthal Elaine and Stuart Rothenberg Janet and Michael Rowan Barbara and Ted Rothstein Phyllis and Ken Schwartz Tanya and Stephen Spano Wendy and Don Susswein Paulette and Larry Walker Ward & Klein, Chartered Susan Wellman Ronald West Anne Witkowsky and John Barker $1,000+ Anonymous Swati Agrawal Susan and Brian Bayly Carole and Maurice Berk Deborah Berkowitz and Geoff Garin Gary Block Harriet and Jerome Breslow Carol and Scott Brewer Dian and Richard Brown Ellen Byington Linda and James Cafritz Eileen Cahill Lucie and Guy Campbell Eleanor and Oscar Caroglanian Allen Clark April and John Delaney Carrie Dixon E. Bryce and Harriet Alpern Foundation Eaglestone Wealth Advisors Fidelity Investments Eileen and Michael Fitzgerald Marlies and Karl Flicker Theresa and William Ford Senator Jennie Forehand and William E. Forehand, Jr. Sally and John Freeman Noreen and Michael Friedman Suzanne and Mark Friis Nancy Frohman and James LaTorre Carol Fromboluti Pamela Gates and Robert Schultz Loreen and Thomas Gehl Susan and Allen Greenberg Greene-Milstein Family Foundation Judy and Sheldon Grosberg Marla Grossman and Eric Steinmiller
Jim Saah
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Left phto by Jim Saah. center and right phtotos by Margot Schulman
At left:Strathmore founder and CEO Eliot Pfanstiehl with Rita. Center: Strathmore Circles members Arthur and Tina Lazerow of Alban Inspections Inc. at Strathmore Cabaret. Right: Strathmore President Monica Jeffries Hazangeles with Strathmore Circles Co-Chairs Tom and Denise Murphy at Strathmore Cabaret.
Linda and John Hanson Monica Jeffries Hazangeles and John Hazangeles Linda and I. Robert Horowitz Randy Hostetler Living Room Fund Linda and Van Hubbard Patricia and Christopher Jones Joan and Howard Katz Renee Korda and Mark Olson Carole and Robert Kurman Leadership Montgomery Barbara and Laurence Levitan Nancy and Dan Longo Sandra and Charles Lyons Jacqueline and J. Thomas Manger Pamela and Douglas Marks Paul Mason Mathis Harper Group Janice McCall Virginia and Robert McCloskey Ann G. Miller (in memory of Jesse I. Miller) Denise and Thomas Murphy Lissa Muscatine and Bradley Graham New England Foundation for the Arts Karen O’Connell and Tim Martins Gloria Paul and Robert Atlas Cynthia and Eliot Pfanstiehl Charla and David Phillips Gregory Proctor Jane and Paul Rice Karen Rosenthal and M. Alexander Stiffman LeaAnn and Tom Sanders Charlotte and Hank Schlosberg Richard Silbert James Smith Spectrum Printing (in-kind) Mary Talarico and Michael Sundermeyer Marilyn and Mark Tenenbaum Myra Turoff and Kenneth Weiner Rebecca Underhill Judith Welch Judy Whalley and Henry Otto Karen and Roger Winston Jean and Ken Wirsching Susan and Jack Yanovski $500+ Mary Kay and Dave Almy Judy and Joseph Antonucci Jeff Aslen Laura Baptiste and Brian Kildee Mary Bell Ben & Jerry’s Bethesda Travel Center LLC Michelle and Lester Borodinsky Trish and Timothy Carrico Kathy and C. Bennett Chamberlin Dorothy Fitzgerald Winifred and Anthony Fitzpatrick Gail Fleder John Fluke
Joanne Fort Michael Frankhuizen Victor Frattali Juan Gaddis Nancy and Peter Gallo Sandra and Steven Gichner Mr. and Mrs. Alan Gourley Gerri Hall and David Nickels Diana and Paul Hatchett Fred Hiatt Hilary and Robert Hoopes Carol and Larry Horn Bootsie and David Humenansky Barbara and David Humpton Beth Jessup Cheryl Jukes Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Kamerick Zorina and John Keiser Barbara and Jack Kay Henrietta and Christopher Keller Deloise and Lewis Kellert Iris and Louis Korman Susan and Gary Labovich Julia and James Langley Catherine and Isiah Leggett The Leon Foundation Lerner Enterprises Dorothy Linowes Susan and Eric Luse Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras Lynne Mayo Nancy McGinness and Thomas Tarabrella John and James Meiburger Cynthia and Toufic Melhi Vijaya and Daniel Melnick William Oakcrum Grace Rivera Oven and Mark Oven Margie Pearson and Richard Lampl Phyllis Peres and Rajat Sen Rose Porras Dr. and Mrs. William Powell Stephanie Renzi Marylouise and Harold Roach Christine Schreve and Thomas Bowersox Henry Schalizki Estelle Schwalb Betty Scott and Jim McMullen Roberta and Lawrence Shulman Diane and Jay Silhanek Donald Simonds Cora and Murray Simpson Tina Small Valerye and Adam Strochak Chris Syllaba Reginald Taylor Marion and Dennis Torchia Peter Vance Treibley Anne and James Tyson Linda and Irving Weinberg J. Lynn Westergaard Irene and Steven White
Penelope Williams Jean and Robert Wirth Con Brio Society Securing the future of Strathmore through a planned gift. Louise Appell John Cahill Jonita and Richard S. Carter Irene Cooperman Trudie Cushing and Neil Beskin Julie and John Hamre Yanqiu He and Kenneth O’Brien A. Eileen Horan Vivian and Peter Hsueh
STRATHMORE STAFF Eliot Pfanstiehl Chief Executive Officer Monica Jeffries Hazangeles President Carol Maryman Executive Assistant to the President & CEO Mary Kay Almy Executive Board Assistant
DEVELOPMENT Bianca Beckham Director of Institutional Giving Bill Carey Director of Donor and Community Relations Lauren Campbell Development & Education Manager Julie Hamre Development Associate
PROGRAMMING Shelley Brown VP/Artistic Director Georgina Javor Director of Programming Harriet Lesser Visual Arts Curator Sam Younes Visual Arts Assistant Sarah Jenny Hospitality Coordinator
EDUCATION Betty Scott Education Coordinator
OPERATIONS Mark J. Grabowski Executive VP of Operations Miriam Teitel Director of Operations Allen V. McCallum, Jr. Director of Patron Services Jasper Cox Director of Finance Ira Daniel Staff Accountant Marco Vasquez Operations Manager
Tina and Art Lazerow Melody and Chui Lin Diana Locke and Robert Toense Janet L. Mahaney Carol and Alan Mowbray Barbara and David Ronis Henry Schalizki Phyllis and Ken Schwartz Annie Simonian Totah and Sami Totah Maryellen Trautman and Darrell Lemke Carol Trawick Peter Vance Treibley Myra Turoff and Kenneth Weiner Julie Zignego
Phoebe Anderson Dana Operations Assistant Allen C. Clark Manager of Information Services Kristin Lobiondo Rentals Manager Christopher S. Inman Manager of Security Chadwick Sands Ticket Office Manager Will Johnson Assistant Ticket Office Manager Christian Simmelink Ticket Services Coordinator Christopher A. Dunn IT Technician Johnathon Fuentes Operations Specialist Brandon Gowan Operations Specialist Jon Foster Production Stage Manager William Kassman Lead Stage Technician Lyle Jaeger Lead Lighting Technician Caldwell Gray Lead Audio Technician
THE SHOPS AT STRATHMORE Charlene McClelland Director of Retail Merchandising Lorie Wickert Director of Retail Operations and Online Sales
MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS Jennifer A. Buzzell VP, Marketing and Communications Jerry Hasard Director of Marketing Jenn German Marketing Manager Julia Allal Group Sales and Outreach Manager Michael Fila Manager of Media Relations
STRATHMORE TEA ROOM Mary Mendoza Godbout Tea Room Manager
Applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 71
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Board of directors OFFICERS
Kenneth W. DeFontes, Jr.*, Chairman Kathleen A. Chagnon, Esq.*, Secretary Lainy LeBow-Sachs*, Vice Chair Paul Meecham*, President & CEO The Honorable Steven R. Schuh*, Treasurer
BOARD MEMBERS
Jimmy Berg A.G.W. Biddle, III Barbara M. Bozzuto * Constance R. Caplan Robert B. Coutts George A. Drastal Alan S. Edelman* Susan G. Esserman* Michael G. Hansen* Beth J. Kaplan Murray M. Kappelman, M.D. Stephen M. Lans Sandra Levi Gerstung Ava Lias-Booker, Esq. Susan M. Liss, Esq.* Howard Majev, Esq. Liddy Manson Hilary B. Miller David Oros Marge Penhallegon^, President, Baltimore Symphony Associates Michael P. Pinto Cynthia Renn^, Governing Members Chair Scott Rifkin, M.D. Ann L. Rosenberg Bruce E. Rosenblum* Stephen D. Shawe, Esq. The Honorable James T. Smith, Jr.
Solomon H. Snyder, M.D. * Andrew A. Stern William R. Wagner Jeffrey Zoller^, BSYO Chair
LIFE DIRECTORS
Peter G. Angelos, Esq. Willard Hackerman H. Thomas Howell, Esq. Yo-Yo Ma Harvey M. Meyerhoff Decatur H. Miller, Esq. Linda Hambleton Panitz
DIRECTORS EMERITI Barry D. Berman, Esq. Richard Hug M. Sigmund Shapiro
CHAIRMAN LAUREATE Michael G. Bronfein Calman J. Zamoiski, Jr.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ENDOWMENT TRUST
Benjamin H. Griswold, IV, Chairman Terry Meyerhoff Rubenstein, Secretary Michael G. Bronfein Kenneth W. DeFontes, Jr. Mark R. Fetting Paul Meecham The Honorable Steven R. Schuh Calman J. Zamoiski, Jr. *Board Executive Committee ^ ex-officio
SUPPORTERS OF THE BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is deeply grateful to the individual, corporate, foundation and government donors whose annual giving plays a vital role in sustaining the Orchestra’s tradition of musical excellence. The following donors have given between September 1, 2011 and October 24, 2012.
LEADERSHIP CIRCLE
Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation The Maryland State Arts Council National Endowment for the Arts
CHAIRMAN’S CIRCLE PARTNERS ($25,000 and above) M&T Bank PNC Lori Laitman and Bruce Rosenblum
MAESTRA’S CIRCLE
($10,000 - $24,999) Anonymous Mr. and Mrs. A. G. W. Biddle III The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation George and Katherine Drastal Ms. Susan Esserman and Mr. Andrew Marks Michael G. Hansen and Nancy E. Randa Mrs. Mary H. Lambert
Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Lans Susan Liss and Family In Memory of James Galvin Manson Hilary B. Miller and Dr. Katherine N. Bent Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Polinger Clark Winchcole Foundation Total Wine & More
Governing Members Gold
($5,000-$9,999) Anonymous The Charles Delmar Foundation Homewood at Crumland Farms Retirement Community Susan Fisher Joel and Liz Helke Dr. David Leckrone and Marlene Berlin Mr. and Mrs. William Rogers Mike and Janet Rowan Daniel and Sybil Silver Ms. Deborah Wise/Edith and Herbert Lehman Foundation, Inc.
72 Applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013
GOVERNING MEMBERS SILVER
($2,500-$4,999) Anonymous Mr. Gilbert Bloom Mr. and Mrs. David S. Cohen Jane C. Corrigan Kari Peterson and Benito R. and Ben De Leon Mr. Joseph Fainberg Sherry and Bruce Feldman Georgetown Paper Stock of Rockville, Inc Drs. Ronald and Barbara Gots Madeleine and Joseph Jacobs Dr. Robert Lee Justice and Marie Fujimura-Justice Marc E. Lackritz & Mary B. DeOreo Burt & Karen Leete Mr. & Mrs. Howard Lehrer S. Kann Sons Company Foundation Amelie and Bernei Burgunder Mrs. June Linowitz & Dr. Howard Eisner Dr. James & Jill Lipton Dr. Diana Locke & Mr. Robert E. Toense Linda & Howard Martin Marie McCormack Mr. & Mrs. Humayun Mirza David Nickels & Gerri Hall Jan S. Peterson & Alison E. Cole Mr. Martin Poretsky and Ms. Henriette Warfield Ms. Nancy Rice Mr. and Mrs. John Rounsaville Patricia Smith and Dr. Frances Lussier Mr. Alan Strasser & Ms. Patricia Hartge Ms. Mary K. Sturtevant The Washington Post Company John & Susan Warshawsky Dr. Edward Whitman Paul A. & Peggy L. Young, NOVA Research Company
SYMPHONY SOCIETY
($1,000-$2,499) Anonymous (3) Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Abell Mr. William J. Baer and Ms. Nancy H. Hendry Phebe W. Bauer Ms. Elaine Belman David and Sherry Berz Mr. Lawrence Blank Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Block Hon. & Mrs. Anthony Borwick Dr. Nancy Bridges Gordon F. Brown Frank and Karen Campbell Dr. Mark Cinnamon & Ms. Doreen Kelly Mr. Harvey A. Cohen and Mr. Michael R. Tardif Mr. Herbert Cohen Mr. and Mrs. Arthur C. Cox Joan de Pontet Delaplaine Foundation Jackson and Jean H. Diehl Marcia Diehl and Julie Kurland Dimick Foundation Ms. Marietta Ethier Sharon and Jerry Farber Mr. and Mrs. Charles Fax Kenneth and Diane Feinberg Dr. Edward Finn Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Fitzpatrick Catoctin Breeze Vineyard Mr. and Mrs. Arthur P. Floor Mr. and Mrs. Roberto B. Friedman Carol & William Fuentevilla Mary and Bill Gibb Peter Gil Dr. and Mrs. Sanford Glazer Alan and Joanne Goldberg Drs. Joseph Gootenberg & Susan Leibenhaut Dr. and Mrs. Sheldon Gottlieb Mark & Lynne Groban Mr. & Mrs. Norman M. Gurevich Ms. Lana Halpern Ms. Gloria Shaw Hamilton Mr. & Mrs. John Hanson Sara and James A. Harris, Jr. Mr. Fred Hart and Ms. Elizabeth Knight Esther and Gene Herman Ellen & Herb Herscowitz David A. & Barbara L. Heywood Fran and Bill Holmes Betty W. Jensen
Dr. Henry Kahwaty Dr. Phyllis R. Kaplan Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kelber Virginia and Dale Kiesewetter Dr. and Mrs. Peter C. Luchsinger Michael & Judy Mael Ms. Janet L. Mahaney Mr. Winton Matthews Bebe McMeekin Mr. and Mrs. Anne Menotti Dr. & Mrs. Stanley R. Milstein Ms. Zareen T. Mirza Edwin H. Moot Delmon Curtis Morrison Teresa and Don Mullikin Douglas and Barbara Norland Jerry and Marie Perlet Mr. and Mrs. Peter Philipps Herb and Rita Posner Dr. and Mrs. Gerald Rogell Mr. and Mrs. William Rooker Dr. and Mrs. Arthur Sagoskin Estelle D. Schwalb Mr. and Mrs. Roger Schwarz Ms. Phyllis Seidelson Mr. Donald M. Simonds Marshall and Deborah Sluyter Don Spero & Nancy Chasen Mr. and Mrs. Richard D. Spero Jennifer Kosh Stern and William H. Turner Margot & Phil Sunshine Mr. and Mrs. Richard Swerdlow David Wellman & Marjorie Coombs Wellman Ms. Susan Wellman Mr. and Mrs. Richard Westin Ms. Ann Willis Sylvia and Peter Winik Mr. and Mrs. David K. Wise Marc and Amy Wish Eileen and Lee Woods H. Alan Young & Sharon Bob Young, Ph.D. Robert & Antonette Zeiss
BRITTEN LEVEL MEMBERS
($500-$999) Anonymous Dr. and Mrs. Marshall Ackerman Ms. Barbara K. Atrostic Thomas and Mary Aylward Donald Baker Leonard and Gabriela Bebchick Mr. Donald Berlin Ms. Cynthia L. Bowman-Gholston Ms. Judith A. Braham Mr. Kurt Thomas Brintzenhofe Mr. Richard H. Broun & Ms. Karen E. Daly Mr. & Mrs. Leonard Burka Ms. Lynn Butler Cecil Chen & Betsy Haanes Bradley Christmas and Tara Flynn Barbara & John Clary Mr. & Mrs. Jim Cooper Mr. Harvey Gold Ms. Alisa Goldstein Frank & Susan Grefsheim Ms. Haesoon Hahn Keith and Linda Hartman Dr. Liana Harvath Mr. Jeff D. Harvell & Mr. Ken Montgomery Mr. Lloyd Haugh Mrs. Patricia Hoefler Ms. Daryl Kaufman Dr. Birgit Kovacs Ms. Delia Lang Ms. Pat Larrabee and Ms. Lauren Markley Mr. Darrell H. Lemke & Ms. Maryellen Trautman Mr. Richard Ley Harry and Carolyn Lincoln Drs. David and Sharon Lockwood W. David Mann David and Kay McGoff Merle and Thelma Meyer Ms. Ellen Miles Ms. Marlene C. Mitchell Mr. William Morgan Eugene and Dorothy Mulligan Mr. and Mrs. Philip Padgett Mrs. Jane Papish Mr. and Ms. Donald Regnell Mr. Richard D. Reichard Mr. James Risser Ms. Trini Rodriquez and Mr. Eric Toumayan Mr. & Mrs. Barry Rogstad
Diane Rogell chats with BSO violist Peter Minkler after his October Musical Monday performance.
Harold Rosen Ms. Ellen Rye Dr. & Mrs. Jerome Sandler Mr. and Mrs. William Schaefer Mr. Allen Shaw Ms. Terry Shuch and Mr. Neal Meiselman Ms. Sonja Soleng Mr. and Mrs. Charles Steinecke III Mr. Peter Thomson Ms. Ann Tognetti John A. and Julia W. Tossell Mr. & Mrs. Richard Tullos Dr. and Ms. George Urban Linda and Irving Weinberg Robert and Jean Wirth
BRAHMS LEVEL MEMBERS
($250-$499) Anonymous (4) Ms. Kathryn Abell Ms. Judith Agard Rhoda and Herman Alderman Sharon Allender and John Trezise Mr. and Mrs. Charles C. Alston Mr. Bill Apter Pearl and Maurice Axelrad Mr. and Mrs. James Bailey Drs. Richard and Patricia Baker Mr. Robert Barash Mr. and Mrs. John W. Barrett Mr. & Mrs. John W. Beckwith Melvin Bell Alan H. Bergstein and Carol A. Joffe Mr. Neal Bien Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Binckes Nancy and Don Bliss Mr. & Mrs. John Blodgett Mr. Edward Bou Ms. Carol Bray Mr. & Mrs. Ronald Brotman Mr. and Mrs. Serefino Cambareri Ms. Miranda Chiu Mr. Steven Coe Ms. June Colilla Ms. Marion Connell Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Cooper Ms. Louise Crane Ms. Margaret Cusack Dr. & Mrs. James R. David Mr. David S. Davidson William Dietrich Mr. John C. Driscoll Mr. Ahmed El-Hoshy Lionel and Sandra Epstein Mr. and Mrs. Robert Fauver Ms. Claudia Feldman Mr. Michael Finkelstein Dr. & Mrs. David Firestone Mr. & Mrs. Marvin Freedenberg Mr. & Mrs. Michael Scott Friedman Lucian & Lynn M. Furrow Dr. Joel and Rhoda Ganz Roberta Geier Irwin Gerduk Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Giddings Drs. Marlene and Bill Haffner
BSO Board members Bruce Rosenblum and Hilary Miller and Dr. Katherine Bent attend a backstage event.
Rev. Therisia Hall Brian and Mary Ann Harris Mrs. Jean N. Hayes Joel and Linda Hertz Mr. & Mrs. William L. Hickman Mr. Roland Hirsch Mr. Myron L. Hoffmann Mr. Frank Hopkins Mr. John Howes Mr. & Mrs. Paul Hyman Ms. Susan Irwin Dr. Richard H. Israel Dr. and Mrs. Herbert Joseph Mr. Peter Kaplan Dr. & Mrs. Robert W. Karp Dr. Evelyn Karson & Mr. Donald Kaplan Lawrence & Jean Katz Mr. & Mrs. Christopher Keller Mr. & Mrs. James Kempf Mr. & Mrs. Anthony Kern Dr. Richard D. Guerin and Dr. Linda Kohn Mr. William and Ms. Ellen D. Kominers Ms. Nancy Kopp Dr. Arlin J. Krueger Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Lambert Mr. and Mrs. Francis Leahy Ms. Marie Lerch and Mr. Jeff Kolb Mr. Harry LeVine Mr. and Mrs. Craig Levy Alan and Judith Lewis Lois and Walter Liggett Ms. Julie E. Limric LTC David Lindauer, U.S. Army (Ret’d) Dr. Richard E. and Susan Papp Lippman Mr. Gene Lodge Lucinda Low and Daniel Magraw Mr. and Mrs. William MacBain Mr. James Magno Mr. David Marcos Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Matterson Mr. Mark Mattucci Ms. Susan McGee Ms. Anna McGowan Mr. and Mrs. Michael Merchlinsky Mr. Steve Metalitz Mrs. Rita Meyers Mr. & Mrs. Walter Miller Ms. Caren Novick Mr. & Mrs. Robert Obenreder Ms. Marian O’Donnell Amanda & Robert Ogren Mrs. Judy Oliver Mrs. Patricia Olson Mr. Jerome Ostrov Mr. Kevin Parker Ms. Frances L. Pflieger Thomas Plotz and Catherine Klion Marie Pogozelski and Richard Belle Ms. Carol Poland Andrew and Melissa Polott Mr. and Mrs. Edward Portner Mr. and Ms. Richard Pratt Dr. Israel and Carol Preston Ms. Laura Ramirez-Ramos Dr. and Mrs. Bernard Reich Mr. Thomas Reichmann
BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP WITH THE BSO Make a donation today and become a Member of the BSO! There is a gift level that is right for everyone, and with that comes an insider’s perspective of your world-class orchestra. For a complete list of benefits, please call our Membership Office at 301.581.5215 or contact via e-mail at membership@BSOmusic.org. You may also visit our Web site at BSOmusic.org/benefits.
Michael and Janet Rowan listen intently as BSO musicians Dariusz Skoraczewski and Jonathan Carney discuss their Oct. 27 performance of Brahms’ Double Concerto at a backstage event.
Dr. Joan Rittenhouse & Mr. Jack Rittenhouse Mr. Elliot Rosen Lois and David Sacks Mr. & Mrs. Robert Sandler Ms. Beatrice Schiff David and Louise Schmeltzer Mr. J. Kenneth Schwartz Mr. and Mrs. David Scott Mr. Paul Seidman Anatole Senkevitch, Jr. Ms. Debra Shapiro Donna and Steven Shriver Mr. & Mrs. Larry Shulman Mr. and Mrs. Micheal D. Slack Ms. Deborah Smith Richard Sniffin Gloria and David Solomon Ms. Rochelle Stanfield and Mr. Edward Grossman
Timothy Stranges and Rosanna Coffey Mr. and Mrs. Duane Straub Mr. Alan Thomas Mr. John Townsley Ms. Jane Trinite Ms. Marie Van Wyk Dr. and Mrs. Jack Weil Mr. and Mrs. Robert Wein Ms. Roslyn Weinstein Ms. Elizabeth Welles and Mr. Charles Cromwell Alan White Mr. David M. Wilson Ms. Carol Wolfe Dr. Charlotte Word Dr. & Mrs. Richard N. Wright Ms. MaryAnn Zamula Mr. Warren Zwicky
Baltimore symphony Orchestra STAFF Paul Meecham, President & CEO Leilani Uttenreither, Executive Assistant Beth Buck, Vice President and CFO Eileen Andrews, Vice President of Marketing and Communications Carol Bogash, Vice President of Education and Community Engagement Deborah Broder, Vice President of BSO at Strathmore Dale Hedding, Vice President of Development Matthew Spivey, Vice President of Artistic Operations ARTISTIC OPERATIONS Toby Blumenthal, Manager of Facility Sales Tiffany Bryan, Manager of Front of House Anna Harris, Operations Assistant Lisa Philip, Artistic Coordinator Chris Monte, Assistant Personnel Manager Marilyn Rife, Director of Orchestra Personnel and Human Resources Meg Sippey, Artistic Planning Manager & Assistant to the Music Director eDUCATION Nicholas Cohen, Director of Community Engagement Annemarie Guzy, Director of Education Hana Morford, Education Associate Nick Skinner, OrchKids Site Manager Larry Townsend, Education Assistant Dan Trahey, OrchKids Director of Artistic Program Development DEVELOPMENT Jennifer Barton, Individual Giving Manager Adrienne Bitting, Development Assistant Margaret Blake, Development Office Manager Allison Burr-Livingstone, Director of Institutional Giving Kate Caldwell, Director of Philanthropic Services Stephanie Johnson, Donor Relations Manager, BSO at Strathmore Becky McMillen, Donor Stewardship Coordinator Rebecca Potter, Institutional Giving Specialist
Joanne M. Rosenthal, Director of Major Gifts, Planned Giving and Government Relations Valerie Saba, Institutional Giving Coordinator Rebecca Sach, Director of the Annual Fund Richard Spero, Community Liaison for BSO at Strathmore FACILITIES OPERATIONS Shirley Caudle, Housekeeper Bertha Jones, Senior Housekeeper Curtis Jones, Building Services Manager Ivory Miller, Maintenance Facilities FINANCE AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Tom Allan, Controller Sophia Jacobs, Senior Accountant Janice Johnson, Senior Accountant Evinz Leigh, Administration Associate Chris Vallette, Database and Web Administrator Jeff Wright, Director of Information Technology MARKETING AND PUBLIC RELATIONS Rika Dixon, Director of Marketing and Sales Laura Farmer, Public Relations Manager Derek A. Johnson, Manager of Single Tickets Theresa Kopasek, Marketing and PR Associate Bryan Joseph Lee, Direct Marketing Coordinator Alyssa Porambo, PR and Publications Coordinator Michael Smith, Digital Marketing and E-Commerce Coordinator Adeline Sutter, Group Sales Manager Elisa Watson, Graphic Designer TICKET SERVICES J. Morgan Gullard, Ticket Services Agent Timothy Lidard, Manager of VIP Ticketing Kathy Marciano, Director of Ticket Services Juliana Marin, Senior Ticket Agent for Strathmore Peter Murphy, Ticket Services Manager Michael Suit, Ticket Services Agent Thomas Treasure, Ticket Services Agent BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ASSOCIATES Larry Albrecht, Symphony Store Volunteer Manager Louise Reiner, Office Manager
Applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 73
INDIVIDUALS GIFTS OF $25,000+ Ann & Todd Eskelsen for the Chorale Music Fund Tanya & Albert Lampert for the Guest Artist Fund GIFTS OF $15,000+ Patricia Haywood Moore and Roscoe M. Moore, Jr. for the Guest Artist Fund Paul & Robin Perito for the Vocal Guest Artist Fund
National Philharmonic Board of directors Board of Directors
Board Officers
*Ruth Berman Rabbi Leonard Cahan Carol Evans *Ruth Faison Dr. Bill Gadzuk Ken Hurwitz *Dieneke Johnson William Lascelle Greg Lawson Joan Levenson Dr. Wayne Meyer *Kent Mikkelsen Dr. Roscoe M. Moore, Jr. Dr. Kenneth Moritsugu Robin C. Perito JaLynn Prince *Peter Ryan Dr. Charles Toner
*Todd R. Eskelsen, Chair *Albert Lampert, First Vice Chair *Mark Williams, Treasurer *Paul Dudek, Secretary * Joel Alper, Chair Emeritus
Board of Advisors Joel Alper William D. English Joseph A. Hunt Albert Lampert Chuck Lyons Roger Titus Jerry D. Weast As of December 2012 *Executive Committee
As of December 1, 2012
SUPPORTERS OF THE NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC The National Philharmonic takes this opportunity to gratefully acknowledge the following businesses, foundations and individuals which have made the Philharmonic’s ambitious plans possible through their generous contributions.
Maestro Circle Concertmaster Circle Principal Circle Philharmonic Circle Benefactor Circle Sustainer Circle Patron Contributor Member
$10,000+ $7,500 to $9,999 $5,000 to $7,499 $3,500 to $4,999 $2,500 to $3,499 $1,000 to $2,499 $500 to $999 $250 to $499 $125 to $249
ORGANIZATIONS
Maestro Circle Ameriprise Financial Paul M. Angell Family Foundation Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation Philip L. Graham Fund Ingleside at King Farm Maryland State Arts Council Montgomery County, MD Montgomery County Public Schools Musician Performance Trust Fund National Endowment for the Arts NOVA Research Company Schiff Hardin, LLP The State of Maryland Concertmaster Circle Clark-Winchcole Foundation The Gazette Principal Circle Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation Harris Family Foundation Johnson & Johnson Jim and Carol Trawick Foundation, Inc.
Philharmonic Circle National Philharmonic/ MCYO Educational Partnership The Washington Post Company Benefactor Circle Corina Higginson Trust Henry B. & Jessie W. Keiser Foundation, Inc. Rockville Christian Church, for donation of space TD Charitable Foundation Sustainer Circle American Federation of Musicians, DC Local 161-170 Bettina Baruch Foundation Cardinal Bank Dimick Foundation Embassy of Poland Executive Ball for the Arts KPMG Foundation Lucas-Spindletop Foundation Patron American String Teachers’ Association DC/MD Chapter Boeing Gailes Violin Shop, Inc. GE Foundation IBM Lashof Violins The Potter Violin Company The Stempler Family Foundation Violin House of Weaver Washington Music Center Contributor Bank of America The Italian Cultural Society, Inc.
74 Applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013
Maestro Circle Ms. Anne Claysmith for the Chorale Chair-Soprano II Fund Mrs. Margaret Makris Dr. Kenneth P. Moritsugu, Emily Moritsugu & Ms. Lisa R. Kory, includes match by Johnson & Johnson Paul A. & Peggy L. Young Concertmaster Circle Mr. and Mrs. Paul Dudek Principal Circle Mr. & Mrs. Joel Alper Dr. Ryszard Gajewski Dr. & Mrs. Val G. Hemming Ms. Dieneke Johnson includes match by Washington Post Philharmonic Circle Mrs. Nancy Dryden Baker, in memory of Lt. Cmdr. William F. Baker, Jr. Mr. Robert Beizer Mr. Steven C. Decker & Ms. Deborah W. Davis Dr. & Mrs. John V. Evans J. William & Anita Gadzuk * Dr. Robert Gerard & Ms. Carol Goldberg * Mr. Ken Hurwitz Mr. William A. Lascelle & Ms. Blanche Johnson Mr. & Mrs. Peter Ryan Drs. Charles and Cecile Toner Mr. & Mrs. Mark Williams, includes match by Ameriprise Financial Benefactor Circle Mrs. Ruth Berman Mr. Edward Brinker & Ms. Jane Liu Mr. Dale Collinson * Dr. Lawrence Deyton & Dr. Jeffrey Levi * Mr. & Mrs. John L. Donaldson Mr. & Mrs. Joseph A. Hunt Mr. Greg Lawson, includes match by Bank of America Mr. Larry Maloney * Mr. & Mrs. Kent Mikkelsen * Nancy and J. Parker Michael & Janet Rowan Sustainer Circle Anonymous (3) Mrs. Rachel Abraham Mrs. Helen Altman * Ms. Sybil Amitay * Ms. Nurit Bar-Josef Mr. & Mrs. Darren & Elizabeth Gemoets * Dr. Ronald Cappelletti * Dr. Mark Cinnamon & Ms. Doreen Kelly Ms. Nancy Coleman * Drs. Eileen & Paul DeMarco* Dr. Stan Engebretson * Mr. William E. Fogle & Ms. Marilyn Wun-Fogle Dr. Maria A. Friedman * Ms. Sarah Gilchrist * Mr. Barry Goldberg Dr. Joseph Gootenberg & Dr. Susan Leibenhaut Mr. and Mrs. David Henderson * Dr. Stacey Henning * Mrs. Joan M. Levenson Mr. & Mrs. Leslie Levine Mr. & Mrs. Charles A. Lyons Mr. Winton Matthews Mrs. Eleanor D. McIntire * Mr. & Mrs. Richard McMillan, Jr. Dr. Wayne Meyer *
Mr. Robert Misbin Susan & Jim Murray * Mr. & Mrs. Charles Naftalin Mr. Thomas Nessinger* Ms. Martha Newman * Dr. & Mrs. Goetz Oertel Mr. & Mrs. Jerome Pinson, includes match by GE Foundation Ms. Aida Sanchez * Mrs. Jan Schiavone * Ms. Kathryn Senn, in honor of Dieneke Johnson Ms. Carol A. Stern * Sternbach Family Fund Dr. & Mrs. Robert Temple * Mr. & Mrs. Scott Ullery Ms. Ellen van Valkenburgh * Mr. & Mrs. Robert Vocke * Mr. & Mrs. Royce Watson Mr. & Mrs. Bernard J. Young Patron Mary Bentley & David Kleiner * Mr. & Mrs. Leonard Cahan Ms. Linda Edwards Mr. John Eklund Ms. Kimberly Elliott Mr. Joseph Fainberg Ms. Ruth Faison * Mr. & Mrs. William Hickman Mr. David Hofstad William W. & Sara M. Josey* Mr. Robert Justice & Mrs. Marie Fujimura-Justice Ms. May Lesar Ms. Jane Lyle * Dr. & Mrs. Oliver Moles Jr. * Mr. & Mrs. Raymond Mountain David Nickels & Gerri Hall Mr. Larz Pearson & Mr. Rick Trevino Ms. Kari Wallace & Dr. Michael Sapko Mr. & Mrs. Steven Seelig Dr. John Sherman Ms. Lori J. Sommerfield * Mr. Gerald Stempler Mr. John I. Stewart & Ms. Sharon S. Stoliaroff Mr. Robert Stewart Mr. & Mrs. John F. Wing Mr. & Mrs. Jack Yanovski Contributor Anonymous (2) Ms. Ann Albertson Mr. Robert B. Anderson Mike & Cecilia Ballentine Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Bechert Ms. Michelle Benecke Mr. & Mrs. Gilbert Bloom Ms. Patricia Bulhack Mr. John Choi Mrs. Patsy Clark Ms. Irene Cooperman Mr. Dean Culler Mr.& Mrs. J. Steed Edwards Mr. & Mrs. William English Mr. & Mrs. Elliott Fein, includes match by IBM Mr. Eliot Feldman Mr. & Mrs. Joe Ferfolia Dr. & Mrs. John H. Ferguson David & Berdie Firestone Mr. & Mrs. Mayo Friedlis Mr. & Mrs. Piotr Gajewski Mr. Dean Gatwood Mr. Steven Gerber Mr. Carolyn Guthrie Mr. & Mrs. William Gibb Dr. Karl Habermeier Dr. William Hatcher Frances Hanckel Mrs. Rue Helsel Dr. Roger Herdman Mr. & Mrs. James Hochron * Dr. Elke Jordan Ms. Anne Kanter Dr. & Mrs. Charles Kelber Ms. Martha Jacoby Krieger * Ms. Cherie Krug Ms. Joanna Lam Mr. & Mrs. John R. Larue
Patrick Stingley with National Philharmonic Board member Kent Mikkelsen and Board Chair Todd Eskelsen at the 2012-13 season opening reception.
Mr. & Mrs. Paul Legendre Mr. & Mrs. Herbert J. Lerner Mr. & Mrs. Eliot Lieberman * Mr. Frederick Lorimer Mr. Kevin MacKenzie Mr. Jerald Maddox Mr. Tom Maloy Mr. David E. Malloy & Mr. John P. Crockett * Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Mannes Mr. David McGoff * Jim & Marge McMann Ms. Cecilia Muñoz and Mr. Amit Pandya Mr. Stamatios Mylonakis Ms. Katherine Nelson-Tracey * Dr. Ruth S. Newhouse Mrs. Jeanne Noel Ms. Anita O’Leary * Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth A. Oldham, Jr. Dr. & Mrs. Joe Parr III Mr. & Mrs. Alan Peterkofsky Ms. Cindy Pikul Dr. & Mrs. Manuel Porres Mrs. Dorothy Prats Mr. & Mrs. Clark Rheinstein * Mr. Jacques Rosenberg Ms. Lisa Rovin * Ms. Joyce Sauvager Ms. Sandi Saville Mr. Charles Serpan Dr. & Mrs. Kevin Shannon Mr. & Mrs. Greg Wager Tom & Bobbie Wolf Dr. & Mrs. Richard Wright Mr. & Mrs. Philip Yaffee Member Anonymous Mr. & Mrs. Donald Abbott Mrs. Fran Abrams Mr. & Mrs. Nabil Azzam Ms. Marietta Balaan * Mr. Mikhail Balachov Mr. Robert Barash Ms. Michelle Benecke Mr. & Mrs. Richard Bender Mrs. Barbara Botsford Mr. & Mrs. Jerome Breslow Mr. & Mrs. Frederick Brown Mrs. Dolores J. Bryan Mr. & Mrs. Stan Bryla Mr. John Buckley Mr. J. Michael Rowe & Ms. Nancy Chesser Dr. F. Lawrence Clare Mr. and Mrs. Johnny Clark Dr. & Mrs. Gordon M. Cragg Mr. Alan T. Crane Ms. Louise Crane Ms. Margaret Cusack Dr. & Mrs. James B. D’Albora Mr. Carl DeVore Mr. Jian Ding Mr. Paul Dragoumis Mr. & Mrs. Tom Dunlap Mr. Charles Eisenhauer
Mr. Philip Fleming Mr. Harold Freeman Ms. Phyllis Freeman Mr. Brian Ganz Ms. Rebecca Gatwood Mr. Bernard Gelb Ms. Frances Gipson Mr. Tom Gira Ms. Jacqueline Havener Ms. Lisa Helms Ms. Nina Helmsen Mr. Robert Henry Dr. & Mrs. Donald Henson Mr. J. Terrell Hoffeld Mr. Robert Hoffman Mr. & Mrs. Nelson Hsing Mrs. Deborah Iwig * Mr. & Mrs. Donald Jansky * Ms. Katharine Cox Jones Dr. Elke Jordan Ms. Elizabeth King Mrs. Rosalie King Mr. & Mrs. Allan Kirkpatrick Mr. Mark A. Knepper Ms. Marge Koblinsky Ms. Cherie Krug Mr. Dale Krumviede Ms. S. Victoria Krusiewski Ms. Andrea Leahy-Fucheck Ms. Michelle Lee Dr. David Lockwood Ms. Sharon F. Majchrzak* Mr. & Mrs. Forbes Maner Mr. and Mrs. James Mason Mrs. Nancy C. May Mr. Alan Mayers * Mr. Steven Mazer Mr. Michael McClellan Mr. & Mrs. Robert McGuire Mr. Michael Merchlinsky Mr. & Mrs. David Miller Mr. Edward Mills Ms. Stephanie Murphy National Philharmonic Chorale, in honor of Kenneth Oldham, Jr. Mrs. Gillian Nave Mr. Leif Neve*, includes match by Aquilent Dr. Ruth S. Newhouse Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth Oldham Mr. Thomas Pappas Dr. & Mrs. David Pawel Dolly Perkins & Larry Novak Evelyn & Peter Philipps Mr. Charles A. O’Connor & Ms. Susan F. Plaeger Mr. & Mrs. Paul Plotz Dr. Morris Pulliam Drs. Dena & Jerome Puskin Ms. Phyllis Rattey Mr. Drew Riggs Mr. Sydney Schneider Ms. Katherine Schnorrenberg * Mr. and Mrs. John Schnorrenberg
Guest artist and pianist Orli Shaham with Benjamin Scott, violinist of The National Philharmonic, at the 2012-13 season opening reception.
Ms. Bessie Shay Dr. Alan Sheff Mr. Charles Short Dr. & Mrs. Paul Silverman Ms. Rita Sloan Mr. Carey Smith* Mr. Charles Sturrock* Dr. & Mrs. Szymon Suckewer Ms. Sarah Thomas Ms. Renee Tietjen*
Chorale Sustainers Circle Mr. & Mrs. Fred Altman Ms. Sybil Amitay Mrs. Nancy Dryden Baker, in memory of Lt. Cmdr. William F. Baker, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Darren & Elizabeth Gemoets * Dr. Ronald Cappelletti Ms. Anne Claysmith for the Chorale ChairSoprano II Fund Ms. Nancy Coleman Mr. Dale Collinson Drs. Eileen and Paul DeMarco Dr. Lawrence Deyton & Dr. Jeffrey Levi Dr. Maria A. Friedman Dr. & Mrs. Bill Gadzuk Dr. Robert Gerard & Ms. Carol Goldberg
Ms. Virginia W. Van Brunt * Mr. Sid Verner Mr. Gerald Vogel Ms. Anastasia Walsh Mr. David B. Ward Mr. Raymond Watts Ms. Joan Wikstrom Mr. Robert E. Williams Dr. Nicholas Zill * Chorale members
Ms. Sarah Gilchrist Mr. & Mrs. David Hendersen Dr. Stacey Henning Mr. Larry Maloney Mr. & Mrs. Carl McIntire Dr. Wayne Meyer Mr. & Mrs. Kent Mikkelsen Mr. & Mrs. James E. Murray Mr. Thomas Nessinger Ms. Martha Newman Ms. Aida Sanchez Mrs. Jan Schiavone Ms. Carol A. Stern Dr. & Mrs. Robert Temple Ms. Ellen van Valkenburgh Mr. & Mrs. Robert Vock
Heritage Society The Heritage Society at the National Philharmonic gratefully recognizes those dedicated individuals who strive to perpetuate the National Philharmonic through the provision of a bequest in their wills or through other estate gifts. For more information about the National Philharmonic’s Heritage Society, please call Ken Oldham at 301-493-9283, ext. 112. Mr. David Abraham* Mrs. Rachel Abraham Mr. Joel Alper Ms. Ruth Berman Ms. Anne Claysmith for the Chorale ChairSoprano II Fund
Mr. Todd Eskelsen Mrs. Wendy Hoffman, in honor of Leslie Silverfine
National Philharmonic Staff Piotr Gajewski, Music Director & Conductor Stan Engebretson, Artistic Director, National Philharmonic Chorale Victoria Gau, Associate Conductor & Director of Education Kenneth A. Oldham, Jr., President Filbert Hong, Director of Artistic Operations Deborah Birnbaum, Director of Marketing & PR Leanne Ferfolia, Director of Development
Ms. Dieneke Johnson Mr. & Mrs. Albert Lampert Mrs. Margaret Makris Mr. Robert Misbin Mr. Kenneth A. Oldham, Jr. Mr. W. Larz Pearson Ms. Carol A. Stern Mr. Mark Williams *Deceased
Dan Abbott, Manager of Development Operations Amy Salsbury, Graphic Designer Lauren Aycock, Graphic Designer William E. Doar Jr. Public Charter School for the Performing Arts Staff Kimberly Teachout, Music Program Director Jacob Harkins, General Music Instructor Scarlett Zirkle, Suzuki Violin Instructor Natalie Grimes, Piano Instructor
Applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 75
Board of directors Reginald Van Lee, Chairman* (c) James J. Sandman, Vice Chair* (c) Christina Co Mather, Secretary* (c) Steven Kaplan, Esq. Treasurer* (c) Burton J. Fishman, Esq., General Counsel* + Neale Perl, President and CEO* Douglas H. Wheeler, President Emeritus Patrick Hayes, Founder † Gina F. Adams* Katherine M. Anderson Alison Arnold-Simmons Arturo E. Brillembourg* Hans Bruland (c) Rima Calderon Charlotte Cameron* Karen I. Campbell* Yolanda Caraway Lee Christopher Eric D. Collins Josephine S. Cooper Debbie Dingell Pamela Farr Robert Feinberg* Norma Lee Funger Bruce Gates* Olivier Goudet Felecia Love Greer, Esq. Jay M. Hammer* (c) Maria J. Hankerson Brian Hardie Grace Hobelman (c) Jake Jones David Kamenetzky* Jerome B. Libin, Esq. (c) Rachel Tinsley Pearson* (c) Joseph M. Rigby
Irene Roth Yvonne Sabine Charlotte Schlosberg Samuel A. Schreiber John Sedmak Irene F. Simpkins Ruth Sorenson* (c) Wendy Thompson-Marquez Mary Jo Veverka* Gladys Watkins* Carol W. Wilner
Honorary Directors Nancy G. Barnum Roselyn Payne Epps, M.D. Michelle Cross Fenty Sophie P. Fleming Eric R. Fox Peter Ladd Gilsey † Barbara W. Gordon France K. Graage James M. Harkless, Esq. ViCurtis G. Hinton † Sherman E. Katz Marvin C. Korengold, M.D. Peter L. Kreeger Robert G. Liberatore Dennis G. Lyons Gilbert D. Mead † Gerson Nordlinger † John F. Olson, Esq. (c) Susan Porter Frank H. Rich Albert H. Small Shirley Small The Honorable James W. Symington Stefan F. Tucker, Esq. (c) Paul Martin Wolff
PAST CHAIRS
Todd Duncan †, Past Chairman Laureate William N. Cafritz Aldus H. Chapin † Kenneth M. Crosby † Jean Head Sisco †
Kent T. Cushenberry † Harry M. Linowes Edward A. Fox Hugh H. Smith Alexine Clement Jackson Lydia Micheaux Marshall Stephen W. Porter, Esq. Elliott S. Hall Lena Ingegerd Scott (c) James F. Lafond Bruce E. Rosenblum Daniel L. Korengold Susan B. Hepner Jay M. Hammer
WOMEN’S COMMITTEE OFFICERS
Gladys Manigault Watkins, President Annette A. Morchower, First Vice President Lorraine P. Adams, Second Vice President Cynthea M. Warman, Recording Secretary Ruth R. Hodges, Assistant Recording Secretary Ernestine Arnold, Corresponding Secretary Anna Faith Jones, Treasurer Glendonia McKinney, Assistant Treasurer Charlotte Cameron, Immediate Past President Barbara Mackenzie Gordon, Founder
LAWYERS’ COMMITTEE CO-CHAIRS
Jerome B. Libin, Esq. James J. Sandman, Esq.
* Executive Committee + Ex Officio † Deceased (c) Committee Chair As of Oct. 1, 2012
WPAS Annual Fund WPAS gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the following individuals, corporations, foundations and government sources whose generosity supports our artistic and education programming throughout the National Capital area. Friends who contribute $500 or more annually are listed below with our thanks. (As of Dec. 18, 2012)
$100,000+ Altria Group, Inc. Booz Allen Hamilton Ms. Christina Co Mather and Dr. Gary Mather Betsy and Robert Feinberg Mars, Incorporated Ms. Jacqueline Badger Mars The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation National Arts and Cultural Affairs Program/The Commission of Fine Arts Mr. Reginald Van Lee
$50,000-$99,999 Abramson Family Foundation Daimler Dallas Morse Coors Foundation for the Performing Arts
FedEx Corporation Mr. and Mrs. Joseph F. Horning The Horning Family Fund MVM, Inc. Park Foundation, Inc. Dr. Paul G. Stern Wells Fargo Bank
$35,000-$49,999 Anonymous DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Ms. Marcia MacArthur Mr. Bruce Rosenblum and Ms. Lori Laitman
$25,000-$34,999 Anonymous Bank of America BB&T Private Financial Services
76 Applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013
Billy Rose Foundation Mrs. Ryna Cohen Mark and Terry McLeod National Endowment for the Arts PEPCO PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP The Rocksprings Foundation NoraLee and Jon Sedmak Ruth and Arne Sorenson Mr. and Mrs. Stefan F. Tucker (L)
$15,000-$24,999 Anonymous Ambassador and Mrs. Tom Anderson Arcana Foundation Ms. Adrienne Arsht Diane and Norman Bernstein Mr. and Mrs. Arturo E. Brillembourg
Dimick Foundation Ms. Pamela Farr Mr. and Mrs. Morton Funger Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Gates Mr. and Mrs. Jay M. Hammer The Hay-Adams Hotel Carl D. † and Grace P. Hobelman Mr. and Mrs. Terry Jones David and Anna-Lena Kamenetzky Mr. and Mrs. Steven Kaplan Mrs. Elizabeth Keffer Kiplinger Foundation Inc. KPMG LLP Judith A. Lee, Esq. (L) June and Jerry Libin (L) Mr. and Mrs. John Marshall Dan Cameron Family Foundation, Inc. Nancy Peery Marriott Foundation, Inc. Mr. James J. Sandman and Ms. Elizabeth D. Mullin (L) Roger and Vicki Sant Mr. and Mrs. Hubert M. Schlosberg (L) (W) Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Simpkins Verizon Washington, DC Ms. Mary Jo Veverka Washington Gas Light Company Wells Fargo Bank
$10,000-$14,999 Avid Partners, LLC BET Networks DCI Group Ernst and Young Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth R. Feinberg George Wasserman Family Foundation, Inc. Ms. Carolyn Guthrie Dr. Maria J. Hankerson, Systems Assessment & Research Mr. Jake Jones and Ms. Veronica Nyhan-Jones Robert P. and Arlene R. Kogod Family Foundation Macy’s The Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation, Inc. The Honorable Bonnie McElveenHunter Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Milstein John F. Olson, Esq. (L) Prince Charitable Trusts QinetiQ North America, Inc. Sid Stolz and David Hatfield Ms. Wendy Thompson-Marquez Mr. Marvin F. Weissberg and Ms. Judith Morris Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Young
$7,500-$9,999 AT&T Foundation Geico The Meredith Foundation The Hon. Mary V. Mochary and Dr. Philip E. Wine Ourisman Automotive of VA Ms. Aileen Richards and Mr. Russell Jones Dr. Irene Roth Sutherland Asbill & Brennan
$5,000-$7,499 Dr. and Mrs. Clement C. Alpert Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Brodecki Capitol Tax Partners Mrs. Dolly Chapin Bob and Jennifer Feinstein Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Giles Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Graham Mr. and Mrs. Carlos Gutierrez Mr. and Mrs. Brian J. Hardie Ms. Sandy Lerner Mr. and Mrs. David O. Maxwell
Dr. Robert Misbin Mr. and Mrs. Glenn A. Mitchell Ms. Rachel Tinsley Pearson Ms. Diane Tachmindji Mr. and Mrs. John V. Thomas Venable Foundation The Washington Post Company
$2,500-$4,999 Anonymous (3) Mr. and Mrs. Ricardo Andrade Mr. and Mrs. Barry Barbash Mr. Joseph Brandt Mr. and Mrs. Boris Brevnov Ms. Beverly J. Burke Mr. and Mrs. William N. Cafritz The Charles Delmar Foundation Dr. and Mrs. Abe Cherrick Ms. Nadine Cohodas Mr. and Mrs. J. Bradley Davis Mr. and Mrs. James Davis Dr. Morgan Delaney and Mr. Osborne P. Mackie Mr. and Mrs. Guy O. Dove III Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Eagle (L) Linda R. Fannin, Esq. (L) Mr. and Mrs. Burton J. Fishman Mr. Gregory I. Flowers Mr. and Mrs. David Frederick Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Gibbens Dr. and Mrs. Michael S. Gold James R. Golden Mr. and Mrs. Rolf Graage Ms. Dena Henry and Mr. John Ahrem Mr. and Mrs. Allen Izadpanah Alexine and Aaron † Jackson (W) Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Jacobs Mr. and Mrs. Merritt Jones Ms. Danielle Kazmier and Mr. Ronald M. Bradley Mr. and Mrs. David T. Kenney Arleen and Edward Kessler (W) Mr. Daniel L. Korengold and Ms. Martha Dippell Mrs. Stephen K. Kwass Mr. and Mrs. Steve Lans Mr. and Mrs. Harry M. Linowes James M. Loots, Esq. and Barbara Dougherty, Esq. (L) Mr. and Mrs. Christoph E. Mahle (W) The Honorable and Mrs. Rafat Mahmood Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Manaker Marshall B. Coyne Foundation Mrs. Joan McAvoy Mr. Robert Meyerhoff and Ms. Rheda Becker Mr. Larry L. Mitchell Mr. and Mrs. Robert Monk Dr. William Mullins and Dr. Patricia Petrick Ms. Catherine Nelson Mrs. Muriel Miller Pear † Jerry and Carol Perone Ms. Nicky Perry and Mr. Andrew Stifler The Honorable and Mrs. Stephen Porter Mr. Trevor Potter and Mr. Dana Westring Adam Clayton Powell III Mr. and Mrs. Robert Ramsay Dr. and Mrs. Douglas Rathbun Mrs. Lynn Rhomberg Mr. and Mrs. Peter Rich Mr. and Mrs. David Roux Ms. Christine C. Ryan and Mr. Tom Graham Mr. Claude Schoch Mr. and Mrs. Samuel A. Schreiber Lena Ingegerd Scott and Lennart Lundh Mr. and Mrs. Albert H. Small Mr. Eric Steiner
Ms. Mary Sturtevant Mr. and Mrs. George R. Thompson Jr. Mr. and Mrs. R. Moses Thompson Mr. Richard M. Tuckerman Dr. and Mrs. Herbert D. Weintraub Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Weiss Dr. Sidney Werkman and Ms. Nancy Folger Mr. and Mrs. James J. Wilson Dr. and Mrs. William B. Wolf Mr. Bruce Wolff and Ms. Linda Miller Mr. and Mrs. Paul A. Young, NOVA Research Company
$1,500-$2,499 Anonymous (4) Ms. Lisa Abeel Mrs. Rachel Abraham Mrs. Arthur Arundel Dr. and Mrs. James Baugh Robert and Arlene Bein Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Bennett Jane C. Bergner, Esq. (L) Mr. and Mrs. Josiah Bunting Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Burka Mr. Peter Buscemi and Ms. Judith Miller Dr. C. Wayne Callaway and Ms. Jackie Chalkley Ms. Karen I. Campbell Dr. and Mrs. Purnell W. Choppin Drs. Judith and Thomas Chused Dr. Mark Cinnamon and Ms. Doreen Kelly Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Cook Mr. Paul D. Cronin Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Dickstein Ms. Lisa Egbuonu-Davis Ms. Lynda Ellis Mrs. Sophie P. Fleming Friday Morning Music Club, Inc. Ms. Wendy Frieman and Dr. David E. Johnson Mrs. Paula Seigle Goldman (W) Mrs. Barbara Goldmuntz Mrs. Barbara W. Gordon (W) James McConnell Harkless, Esq. Dr. and Mrs. Joseph E. Harris (W) Ms. Leslie Hazel Ms. Gertraud Hechl Mr. and Mrs. Carl F. Hicks, Jr. Mrs. Enid T. Johnson (W) Dr. and Mrs. Elliott Kagan Mr. E. Scott Kasprowicz Mr. and Mrs. Sherman E. Katz (L) Stephen and Mary Kitchen (L) Ms. Betsy Scott Kleeblatt Mr. and Mrs. Steven Lamb Mr. and Mrs. Richard F. Larkin Dr. and Mrs. Lee V. Leak (W) Mr. James Lynch Mr. and Mrs. Michael Marshall Howard T. and Linda R. Martin Mr. Scott Martin Mrs. Gail Matheson Ms. Katherine G. McLeod Ms. Kristine Morris Lt. Gen. and Mrs. Michael A. Nelson Ms. Michelle Newberry The Nora Roberts Foundation Dr. Michael Olding Mr. and Mrs. Jack H. Olender Mr. and Mrs. Gerald W. Padwe Dr. and Mrs. Ron Paul Ms. Jean Perin Mr. Sydney M. Polakoff Mr. James Rich Mr. and Mrs. Martin Ritter Mrs. Norman W. Scharpf Ms. Mary B. Schwab Dr. Deborah J. Sherrill Mrs. Nadia Stanfield Cita and Irwin Stelzer
Mr. Richard Strother Ms. Loki van Roijen Ms. Viviane Warren A. Duncan Whitaker, Esq. (L) CDR and Mrs. Otto A. Zipf
$1,000-$1,499 Anonymous Ruth and Henry Aaron Mr. John B. Adams Mr. and Mrs. James B. Adler Mr. and Mrs. Dave Aldrich Ms. Carolyn S. Alper Hon. and Mrs. John W. Barnum Ms. Carol A. Bogash Mr. A. Scott Bolden Ms. Ossie Borosh S. Kann Sons Company Fdn. Inc. Amelie and Bernei Burgunder, Directors Mr. and Mrs. Calvin Cafritz Mr. Arthur Cirulnick Mr. Jules Cohen Ms. Josephine S. Cooper Dr. Ronald M. Costell and Ms. Marsha E. Swiss Mr. David D’Alessio Dr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Danks Mr. and Mrs. Gregory Davis Mr. William De Baets Edison W. Dick, Esq. (L) Mr. Anthony E. DiResta (L) Ms. Nancy Ruyle Dodge Daniel J. DuBray and Kayleen M. Jones DyalCompass Mr. Stanley Ebner and Ms. Toni Sidley Mrs. John G. Esswein Marietta Ethier, Esq. (L) Dr. Irene Farkas-Conn James A. Feldman and Natalie Wexler Fierce, Isakowitz & Blalock, LLC Mr. Gregory I. Flowers Ms. Gloria Garcia Mr. Donald and Mrs. Irene Gavin The Hon. Ruth Bader Ginsburg Mr. and Mrs. William L. Goldman (W) Mr. Michael Hager Ms. Gail Harmon Mr. and Mrs. James Harris, Jr. Mr. Charles E. Hoyt and Ms. Deborah Weinberger (L) Drs. Frederick Jacobsen and Lillian Comas-Diaz Mr. Michael Johnson Ms. Anna F. Jones (W) Mr. and Mrs. John E. Kilcarr Ms. Elizabeth L. Klee Dr. Marvin C. Korengold Simeon M. Kriesberg and Martha L. Kahn Sandra and James Lafond Mr. and Mrs. Eugene I. Lambert (L) Mr. and Mrs. Gene Lange (L) Mr. Lance Mangum The Manny & Ruthy Cohen Foundation, Inc. Miss Shirley Marcus Allen Ms. Patricia Marvil Master Print, Inc. John C. McCoy, Esq. (L) Carol and Douglas Melamed Dr. Jeanne-Marie A. Miller Mr. and Mrs. Adrian L. Morchower (W) Mr. Richard Moxley Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Mulcahy Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Muscarella Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence C. Nussdorf Mr. and Mrs. John Oberdorfer Mrs. Elsie O’Grady (W) Tom and Thea Papoian with Mr. Smoochy Mrs. Linda Parisi and
Mr. J.J. Finkelstein Mr. and Mrs. Neale Perl Dr. Gerald Perman Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Polinger Reznick Group Mr. and Mrs. Robert Rosenfeld Mr. Lincoln Ross and Changamire (W) Mr. and Mrs. Michael Rowan Steven and Gretchen Seiler Mr. and Mrs. Arman Simone Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Strong Mr. Chris Syllaba Mr. and Mrs. Tom Tinsley Mr. and Mrs. Aaron Tomares Mr. J. Rock Tonkel, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Sami Totah G. Duane Vieth, Esq. (L) Mr. John Warren McGarry (L) Drs. Anthony and Gladys Watkins (W) Drs. Irene and John White Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Winter Christopher Wolf, Esq. (L) Mr. and Mrs. Dennis R. Wraase
$500-$999 Anonymous (4) Mr. Andrew Adair Ms. and Mrs. Edward Adams (W) Mr. Donald R. Allen Mr. Jerome Andersen and June Hajjar Argy, Wiltse & Robinson, P.C. Ms. Amy Ballard Miss Lucile E. Beaver Dr. and Mrs. Devaughn Belton (W) Mrs. Joan S. Benesch Ms. Patricia N. Bonds (W) Mr. and Mrs. Charles Both Mrs. Elsie Bryant (W) Mr. Robert Busler Mrs. Gloria Butland (W) Mr. and Mrs. Jordan Casteel Ms. Claire Cherry Ms. Deborah Clements and Mr. Jon Moore Dr. Warren Coats, Jr. Compass Point Research and Trading, LLC Mr. John W. Cook Mr. and Mrs. Doug Cowart (W) Mr. John Dassoulas Dr. and Mrs. Chester W. De Long Mr. and Mrs. James B. Deerin (W) Mr. and Mrs. Carlos Del Toro Mrs. Rita Donaldson Mr. and Mrs. Marc Duber Ms. Sayre E. Dykes Mrs. Yoko Eguchi Mr. and Mrs. Harold Finger Dr. and Mrs. Robert Gagosian (W) Dr. Melvin Gaskins Jack E. Hairston Jr. Dr. and Mrs. Harry Handelsman (W) Mrs. Robert A. Harper Mr. Lloyd Haugh Mr. and Mrs. Louis Hering Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Hodges (W) Mr. and Mrs. Laszlo Hogye Mr. and Mrs. James K. Holman Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Drew Jarvis Ralph N. Johanson, Jr., Esq. (L) Mr. and Mrs. Charles Jones Mrs. Carol Kaplan Ms. Janet Kaufman (W) Mr. Daniel Kazzaz and Mrs. Audrey Corson Dr. Rebecca Klemm, Ph.D. Mr. and Mrs. John Koskinen Mr. and Mrs. Nick Kotz Ms. Debra Ladwig Ms. Albertina D. Lane (W) Mr. William Lascelle and Blanche Johnson Dr. J. Martin Lebowitz Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Lerner
Jack L. Lipson, Esq. (L) The Honorable and Mrs. Jan Lodal Mr. and Mrs. David Maginnes (W) Shaila Manyam Rear Adm. and Mrs. Daniel P. March Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Marshall Ms. Hope McGowan Mr. and Mrs. Rufus W. McKinney (W) Ms. Cheryl C. McQueen (W) Dr. and Mrs. Larry Medsker Mrs. G. William Miller Mr. and Mrs. Bruce D. Moreton Ms. Dee Dodson Morris Mr. Charles Naftalin Mr. and Mrs. David Neal Mr. John Osborne Ms. Christine Pieper Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Posner Ms. Susan Rao and Mr. Firoze Rao (W) Ms. Nicola Renison Mr. and Mrs. Dave Riggs Ms. Elaine Rose Mr. Burton Rothleder Dr. and Mrs. Jerome Sandler Mr. and Mrs. Michael Schultz, in memory of Mr. H. Marc Moyens Mrs. Zelda Segal (W) Peter and Jennifer Seka Dr. Deborah Sewell (W) Daniel and Sybil Silver Dr. and Mrs. Michael H. Silver Mr. and Mrs. Robert Silverman Mr. and Mrs. John Slaybaugh Virginia Sloss (W) Mr. and Mrs. L. Bradley Stanford Dana B. Stebbins Dr. and Mrs. Moises N. Steren
Mr. and Mrs. David Stern Sternbach Family Fund Mr. Daniel Tarullo Ms. Julie Vass (W) Mr. Craig Williams and Ms. Kimberly Schenck Mr. and Mrs. James D. Wilson (W) Ms. Christina Witsberger Ms. Bette Davis Wooden (W) Dr. Saul Yanovich Mr. James Yap Paul Yarowsky and Kathryn Grumbach
IN-KIND DONORS Booz Allen Hamilton Ms. Ossie Borosh Mr. and Mrs. Charles Both Boxwood Winery Embassy of Mexico Embassy of Spain Honest Tea, Inc. The Hay-Adams Hotel Dr. and Mrs. Marc E. Leland Lord & Taylor Mars, Incorporated Mr. Neale Perl Dr. Irene Roth Mr. Claude Schoch St. Gregory Luxury Hotels & Suites Reginald Van Lee Kathe and Edwin D. Williamson Elizabeth and Bill Wolf Key: (W) Women’s Committee (L) Lawyers’ Committee † Deceased
Washington Performing Arts Society Staff Neale Perl President Douglas H. Wheeler President Emeritus Development Murray Horwitz Director of Development Meiyu Tsung Assistant Director of Development/Director of Major Gifts Daren Thomas Director of Leadership and Institutional Gifts Michael Syphax Director of Foundation and Government Relations Rebecca Talisman Donor Records and Database Coordinator Helen Aberger Membership Coordinator and Tessitura Applications Specialist Education Michelle Hoffmann Director of Education Katheryn R. Brewington Assistant Director of Education/ Director of Gospel Programs Megan Merchant Education Program Coordinator Koto Maesaka Education Associate Chase Maggiano Education and Development Associate
Finance and Administration Allen Lassinger Director of Finance Lorna Mulvaney Accounting Associate Robert Ferguson Database Administrator Marketing and Communications Jonathan Kerr Director of Marketing and Communications Hannah Grove-DeJarnett Associate Director of Marketing and Communications Scott Thureen Creative Media and Analytics Manager Corinne Baker Audience Engagement Manager Celia Anderson Graphic Designer Brenda Kean Tabor Publicist Programming Samantha Pollack Director of Programming Torrey Butler Production Manager Wynsor Taylor Programming Manager Stanley J. Thurston Artistic Director, WPAS Gospel Choirs Ticket Services Office Folashade Oyegbola Ticket Services Manager Cara Clark Ticket Services Coordinator Edward Kerrick Group Sales Coordinator
Applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 77
Audra McDonald with WPAS board member Beverly Burke and guests
WPAS Legacy Society Legacy Society members appreciate the vital role the performing arts play in the community, as well as in their own lives. By remembering WPAS in their will or estate plans, members enhance our endowment fund and help make it possible for the next generations to enjoy the same quality and diversity of presentations both on stages and in our schools. Mrs. Shirley and Mr. Albert H. Small, Honorary Chairs Mr. Stefan F. Tucker, Chair Anonymous (6) Mr. David G.† and Mrs. Rachel Abraham Dr. and Mrs. Clement C. Alpert Mr. and Mrs. George A. Avery Mr. James H. Berkson † Ms. Lorna Bridenstine † Ms. Christina Co Mather Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Cook Mr. and Mrs. F. Robert Cook Ms. Josephine Cooper Mr. and Mrs. James Deerin Mrs. Luna E. Diamond † Mr. Edison W. Dick and Mrs. Sally N. Dick Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Dickstein Ms. Carol M. Dreher Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Eagle
Ms. Eve Epstein † Mr. and Mrs. Burton Fishman Mrs. Charlotte G. Frank † Mr. Ezra Glaser † Dr. and Mrs. Michael L. Gold Ms. Paula Goldman Mrs. Barbara Gordon Mr. James Harkless Ms. Susan B. Hepner Mr. Carl Hobelman † and Mrs. Grace Hobelman Mr. Craig M. Hosmer and Ms. Daryl Reinke Charles E. Hoyt Josephine Huang, Ph.D. Dr. † and Mrs. Aaron Jackson Mrs. Enid Tucker Johnson Mr. and Mrs. Charles Jones Mr. Sherman E. Katz Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Kimble
S’WONDERFUL S’MARVELOUS
strathmore 2013 SPRING GALA AT
Mr. Daniel L. Korengold Dr. Marvin C. Korengold Mr. and Mrs. James Lafond Ms. Evelyn Lear † and Mr. Thomas Stewart† Mrs. Marion Lewis † Mr. Herbert Lindow † Mr. and Mrs. Harry Linowes Mr. and Mrs. David Maginnes Ms. Doris McClory † Mrs. Carol Melamed Robert I. Misbin Mr. Glenn A. Mitchell Ms. Viola Musher Mr. Jeffrey T. Neal The Alessandro Niccoli Scholarship Award The Pola Nirenska Memorial Award Mr. Gerson Nordlinger † Mrs. Linda Parisi and Mr. J.J. Finkelstein Mr. and Mrs. Neale Perl Dr. W. Stephen and Mrs. Diane Piper Mrs. Mildred Poretsky † The Hon. and Mrs. Stephen Porter Mrs. Betryce Prosterman † Miriam Rose † Mr. James J. Sandman and
Ms. Elizabeth D. Mullin Mrs. Ann Schein Mr. and Mrs. Hubert (Hank) Schlosberg Ms. Lena Ingegerd Scott Mrs. Zelda Segal Mr. Sidney Seidenman Ms. Jean Head Sisco † Mr. and Mrs. Sanford L. Slavin Mr. and Mrs. Albert H. Small Mr. Robert Smith and Mrs. Natalie Moffett Smith Mrs. Isaac Stern Mr. Leonard Topper Mr. Hector Torres Mr. and Mrs. Stefan Tucker Mr. Ulric † and Mrs. Frederica Weil Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Wheeler Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Winter Ms. Margaret S. Wu In memory of Y. H. and T. F. Wu For more information, please contact Douglas H. Wheeler at (202) 533-1874, or e-mail dwheeler@wpas.org.
MICHAEL FEINSTEIN:
THE GERSHWINS AND ME SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2013, 9PM
“Strike Up the Band” because the incomparable Michael Feinstein is coming to Strathmore! Dubbed “Ambassador of the Great American Songbook,” the two time Emmy and five time Grammy Award nominee has collected a “S’Wonderful” evening of music celebrating the legacy of George and Ira Gershwin. Feinstein doesn’t stop there, sharing personal stories from his recent book The Gershwins and Me about his six-year collaboration with Ira that shaped his early career. To purchase Gala Packages, which include the Gala reception, dinner, premium concert seating and After Party, contact Sorelle Group at (202) 248-1930 or strathmore@sorellegroup.com.
Gilles Toucas
Single tickets to the concert include access to our After Party. Order at www.strathmore.org or (301) 581-5100 By sponsoring or attending the 2013 Spring Gala at Strathmore, you give children, rising artists, and our community transcendent arts experiences through Strathmore’s education and artistic programming, master classes, in-school outreach, Title I programs, Artist in Residence program, free community events and festivals.
78 Applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013
Music Center at
Strathmore
important information
please contact the Ticket Office for replacements.
patrons. Both main entrances have power- assisted doors.
CHILDREN
GIFT CERTIFICATES Gift certificates may be purchased at the Ticket Office.
GROUP SALES, FUNDRAISERS
For ticketed events, all patrons are required to have a ticket regardless of age. Patrons are urged to use their best judgment when bringing children to a concert that is intended for adults. There are some performances that are more appropriate for children than others. Some presenters do not allow children under the age of six years to non-family concerts. As always, if any person makes a disruption during a concert, it is appropriate that they step outside to accommodate the comfort and convenience of other concert attendees. Contact the Ticket Office at (301) 581-5100 for additional information.
For information, call (301) 581-5199 or email groups@strathmore.org.
PARKING FACILITIES
5301 Tuckerman Lane North Bethesda, MD 20852-3385 www.strathmore.org Email: tickets@strathmore.org Ticket Office Phone: (301) 581-5100 Ticket Office Fax: (301) 581-5101 Via Maryland Relay Services for MD residents at 711 or out of state at 1(800) 735-2258
TICKET OFFICE HOURS Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Wednesday 10 a.m. – 9 p.m. Saturday 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Sixty minutes prior to each performance in the Music Center through intermission.
All tickets are prepaid and non-refundable.
Concert parking is located in the Grosvenor-Strathmore Metro garage off Tuckerman Lane. At the end of each ticketed event in the Music Center at Strathmore, the exit gates to the garage will be open for 30 minutes to exit the garage. If you leave before, or up to 90 minutes after this 30-minute period, you must show your ticket stub to the Metro attendant to exit at no cost. For all non-ticketed events, Monday – Friday, parking in the garage is $4.75 and may be paid using a Metro SmarTrip card or major credit card. Limited short-term parking also is available at specially marked meters along Tuckerman Lane. To access the Music Center from the GrosvenorStrathmore Metro garage, walk across the glass-enclosed sky bridge located on the 4th level.
WILL CALL
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
Patrons must present the credit card used to purchase tickets or a valid ID to obtain will call tickets.
Strathmore is located immediately adjacent to the Grosvenor-Strathmore Metro station on the Red Line and is served by several Metro and Ride-On bus routes. See www.strathmore. org, or the Guide to the Music Center at Strathmore for detailed directions.
TICKET POLICIES Unlike many venues, Strathmore allows tickets to be exchanged. Tickets may only be exchanged for shows presented by Strathmore or its resident partner organizations at the Music Center. Exchanges must be for the same presenter within the same season. Ticket exchanges are NOT available for independently produced shows. Please contact the Ticket Office at (301) 581-5100 for details on how to exchange tickets. If a performance is cancelled or postponed a full refund of the ticket price will be available through the Ticket Office for 30 days after the original scheduled performance date.
TICKET DONATION If you are unable to use your tickets, they may be returned for a tax-deductible donation prior to the performance. Donations can be made by mail, fax or in person by 5 p.m. the day of the performance.
MISPLACED TICKETS If you have misplaced your tickets to any performance at Strathmore,
DROP-OFF There is a patron drop-off circle off Tuckerman Lane that brings patrons to the Discovery Channel Grand Foyer via elevator. No parking is allowed in the circle, cars must be moved to the Metro garage after dropping off
COAT CHECK Located in the Promenade across from the Ticket Office. As weather requires, the coat check will be available as a complimentary service to our patrons. If you would like to keep your coat or other belongings with you, please place them under your seat. Coats may not be placed over seats or railings.
THE PRELUDE CAFÉ The Prelude Café in the Promenade of the Music Center at Strathmore, operated by Restaurant Associates, features a wide variety of snacks, sandwiches, entrees, beverages and desserts. It is open for lunch and dinner and seats up to 134 patrons.
CONCESSIONS The Interlude intermission bars offer beverages and snacks on all levels before the show and during intermission. There are permanent bars on the Orchestra, Promenade and Grand Tier levels.
LOST AND FOUND During a show, please see an usher. All other times, please call (301) 581-5100.
LOUNGES AND RESTROOMS Located on all seating levels, except in the Upper Tier.
PUBLIC TELEPHONES Courtesy telephones for local calls are located around the corner from the Ticket Office, in the Plaza Level Lobby, and at the Promenade Right Boxes.
ACCESSIBLE SEATING Accessible seating is available on all levels. Elevators, ramps, specially designed and designated seating, designated parking and many other features make the Music Center at Strathmore accessible to patrons with disabilities. For further information or for special seating requests in the Concert Hall, please call the Ticket Office at (301) 581-5100.
ASSISTIVE LISTENING
The Music Center at Strathmore is equipped with a Radio Frequency Assistive Listening System for patrons who are hard of hearing. Patrons can pick up assistive listening devices at no charge on a first-come, firstserved basis prior to the performance at the coatroom when open, or at the ticket taking location as you enter the Concert Hall with a driver’s license or other acceptable photo ID. For other accessibility requests, please call (301) 581-5100.
ELEVATOR SERVICE There is elevator service for all levels of the Music Center at Strathmore.
EMERGENCY CALLS If there is an urgent need to contact a patron attending a Music Center concert, please call (301) 581-5112 and give the patron’s name and exact seating location, and telephone number for a return call. The patron will be contacted by the ushering staff and the message relayed left with Head Usher.
LATECOMER POLICY Latecomers will be seated at the first appropriate break in the performance as not to disturb the performers or audience members. The decision as to when patrons will be seated is set by the presenting organization for that night.
FIRE NOTICE The exit sign nearest to your seat is the shortest route to the street. In the event of fire or other emergency, please WALK to that exit. Do not run. In the case of fire, use the stairs, not the elevators.
WARNINGS The use of any recording device, either audio or video, and the taking of photographs, either with or without flash, is strictly prohibited by law. Violators are subject to removal from the Music Center without a refund, and must surrender the recording media. Smoking is prohibited in the building. Please set to silent, or turn off your cell phones, pagers, PDAs, and beeping watches prior to the beginning of the performance.
Applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 79
encore by Sandy Fleishman
Q. Talk a bit about what the membership coordinator’s job entails. My job is to acquire, steward and cultivate members [who donate] under $2,500 and to ensure that the entire donor base has its benefits fulfilled. We have a small but strong member base of 1,800. Q. What kind of benefits do members get? Sometimes there will be a salon during intermission where we have free drinks and M&Ms or something similar for donors. If there’s a reception with the artists afterwards, we make sure the donors get to meet them. Q. What’s the toughest part of your job? It’s always challenging fielding member complaints. Oftentimes it’s something I have no control over, but it helps to be a listening ear. Those complaints aren’t necessarily a bad thing either—it shows the member cares enough to give feedback and is an opportunity to turn the situation around!
Helen Aberger
W
hat, you’ve never heard of Tessitura? “It’s a giant database that combines ticketing and donation information into a unique member account,” explains Helen Aberger. It helps streamline member services, and can even locate patrons’ seats so WPAS staff can leave appreciation gifts to thank them for being donors. Still, the University of Miami music major and recent newlywed sees herself as a people person. “I really enjoy meeting members at concerts. Putting a face to a name that I’ve been writing and e-mailing is awesome.” 80 applause at Strathmore • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013
Q. What experiences prepared you for your job here? [After graduating in 2009,] I applied for an entry-level development position at Florida Grand Opera and started my arts administration career there. That’s also where I learned Tessitura. … I also have to mention waiting tables, which I did during and after college. Working at a restaurant prepares you for life in general, but it’s especially applicable in the fundraising customer service business. ... You learn to not take things personally, to deal with all kinds of people, and the importance of a good meal.
MICHAEL VENTURA
Washington Performing Arts Society membership coordinator and Tessitura specialist
Q. Do you get to see any WPAS performance you want? I do. And I often get to meet the artists, which is a huge job perk. I love to bring my husband, Ben, to concerts—he’s a jazz trumpet player and totally geeks out when we go to see the big jazz names.
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