Applause May/June

may/june 2013

puppets

TAKE STRATHMORE Summer festival explores puppetry as craft, art form and medium for sharing history

inside: Baltimore Symphony Orchestra West Side Story still entices

The National Philharmonic Everyone knows Wagner

Washington Performing Arts Society 2013-14 is a season for homecomings

S

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prelude

On The Cover Don Becker, puppeteer and owner of Don Becker Puppets. Photo by Jonathan Timmes

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Applause at Strathmore MAY/JUNE 2013

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program notes

features

May 2 28 / BSO: Time for Three

10 Not Your Papa’s Puppet Show

May 4, 5 33 / The National Philharmonic: The Melodies of Brahms May 10 38 / Strathmore: Béla Fleck and the Marcus Roberts Trio May 11 40 / BSO: Chaplin’s Masterpiece—Modern Times

June 1 50 / The National Philharmonic: Wagner 200th Anniversary Celebration June 6 55 / BSO: Marin Alsop conducts Carmina Burana June 8, 9 60 / The National Philharmonic: Carmina Burana

May 30 48 / BSO SuperPops: The Magic of Motown

Puppets Take Strathmore proves puppetry’s more than kid stuff

12 Playing it Hot and Cool The BSO stays loose, boy, in live performance of West Side Story

14 Song of Destiny Neighbor Denyce Graves helps the National Philharmonic celebrate Brahms

16 Meet Richard Wagner You know his music, but you may not realize it

18 Sing-ular Sensation A dream is realized with Strathmore Children’s Chorus

20 O Fortuna!

The BSO and the timeless power of Carmina Burana

June 10 66 / Strathmore Children’s Chorus: The Music of Jim Papoulis

May 18 43 / Strathmore: Underground Railroad—An June 13 Evening With Kathleen 70 / BSO: Battle West Side Story May 25 44 / BSO: Romeo and Juliet

24

June 29 74 / Strathmore: Reinventing Radio— An Evening With Ira Glass

2 applause at Strathmore • May/june 2013

22 Having a Hand in the Music BSO Principal Librarian Mary Plaine sees every sheet of music

24 Welcome Home WPAS favorites will return for the 2013-2014 season

departments

6 Musings of Strathmore CEO Eliot Pfanstiehl 6 A Note from BSO Music Director Marin Alsop 8 Calendar: Summer performances 88 Encore: Harriet Lesser, Strathmore curator

musician rosters

31 Baltimore Symphony Orchestra 35 National Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorale

Strathmore

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 • May/june 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 5 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 First, you knew Strathmore as a historic, art-filled Mansion on the hill. Then, you celebrated our beautiful state-of-the-art concert hall and arts education center. Now, Strathmore is moving “out and about” to serve a wider regional audience in anticipation of our 10th anniversary celebration of the Music Center at Strathmore in 2015.

Just up the street, Strathmore and Federal Realty are partnering to create a brand new entertainment venue, tentatively called Strathmore at the Rose Room, at the new Pike & Rose development at White Flint. This 250-seat, club-like setting is designed to appeal to patrons in search of casual nightlife fare. It will feature a performance venue showcasing rising young talent, intimate jazz, rock, folk and contemporary performances, as well as a parade of well established, trend-setting touring acts. In this relaxed social atmosphere, Strathmore-programmed entertainment will come complete with food and beverage service, all tailored to the tastes and pocketbooks of this generation. The opening of this new concert venue in Montgomery County is scheduled for early 2015 to coincide with Strathmore’s 10th anniversary year.

We also will expand our highly successful musical partnership with Asbury Methodist Village by presenting regular concerts in its Gaithersburg auditorium. These events will be open to members of the Strathmore Society at Asbury, but also be open to the up-county general public. Once again, this new model of planting satellite programs close to specific target populations is being made possible by the growing reputation and popularity of Strathmore, driving more invitations from existing businesses and venues to partner with us for the value we bring.

In short, our future will be based on expanding new collaborations such as these. My voicemail message suggests: “Go Where Your Next Best Self Lives.” Clearly, Strathmore is doing just that.

a note

Eliot Pfanstiehl CEO | Strathmore

from the BSO

This season’s focus on the intersection of music and film culminates with two classics: Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times in May and Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story in June. Both films were monumental in their own way. On page 12 of this issue, I describe my first reaction to West Side Story and my relationship with legendary composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein.

As we approach the end of the subscription season, don’t forget that the BSO offers plenty of great programming throughout the summer! Here at the Music Center at Strathmore, we are offering the Masters of Baroque program on July 11 and Gershwin’s Greatest Hits on July 25.

I hope you have already purchased your subscriptions for the 2013-2014 season; it promises to be inspiring! We explore music’s ability to heal and provide solace, performing deeply moving works that were composed in response to tragic events, such as Britten’s War Requiem and John Adams’ On the Transmigration of Souls. Next season also boasts a lineup of today’s greatest classical music stars, including Itzhak Perlman, André Watts, Yefim Bronfman, Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg.

There is a lot to celebrate at the BSO—all season and summer long!

Marin Alsop

Music Director | Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

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ELiot Pfanstiehl photo by michael ventura; Marin alsop photo by grant leighton

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calendar SUN., JUNE 30, 4 P.M. Strathmore presents Best of Serenade!

Exceptional choirs from around the world come as part of the third annual Serenade! Washington, D.C. Choral Festival. Performers will include a cappella quartet The Watch from Canada, Australia’s Australian Voices SIX and the Wroclaw Philharmonic Choir from Poland, among other performers.

THURS., JULY 11, 8 P.M. Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Masters of Baroque Jonathan Carney, leader and violin Jonathan Carney leads the BSO in “Winter” and “Summer” from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Bach’s festive Orchestral Suite No. 3 and Handel’s The Royal Fireworks Suite and Water Music.

THURS., JULY 25, 8 P.M. Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Gershwin’s Greatest Hits George Gershwin’s fascinating rhythms will fill the concert hall as all of your favorite tunes take their turns on the stage.

THURS., AUG. 1, 8 P.M. Strathmore presents Natalie Cole The nine-time Grammy winner wows audiences with unforgettable renditions of pop, R&B, jazz and standards from the American Songbook.

SAT., AUG. 3, 8 P.M. Strathmore presents Wayne Shorter Tribute Wallace Roney Orchestra Universe and composer-producer David Weiss honor the great jazz composer Wayne Shorter just weeks before he turns 80.

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STRATHMORE FREE OUTDOOR CONCERTS Wednesdays at 7 p.m. at the Gudelsky Concert Gazebo JUNE 26 Songs of Summer: 2012-2013 Artists in Residence Strathmore’s 2013 Artists in Residence wrap up a season of concerts, mentoring and discovery with a summer-themed celebration jam, featuring electric cellist Wytold, jazz drummer Isabelle De Leon, singer-songwriter Owen Danoff, jazz singer Integriti Reeves and progressive soul singer Deborah Bond, as well as alums from the past eight years of the program.

JULY 3 M.A.K.U. SOUND SYSTEM The band’s harmonic convergence of Colombian maracas, gaitas (large indigenous flute) and big drums with guitar, bass, synthesizer and horn section will make you dance all night.

JULY 10 Daryl Davis’ Roots Music Revue Daryl Davis is one of Strathmore’s most beloved performers, and his summertime show with the Daryl Davis Band is a wonderful way to connect to America’s music—and have a foot-stomping, soulshaking, rocking good time.

JULY 17 Alma Tropicália Alma Tropicalia features traditional Brazilian rhythms blended with samba, bossa nova, forró and a touch of rock ‘n’ roll.

JULY 24 Trouble Funk The Washington, D.C.-based Trouble Funk blends 1970s style funk and a 1960s style horn section into a night of jamming and non-stop partying.

JULY 31 Jonathan Scales Fourchestra Musician-composer Jonathan Scales reinvents jazz and jazz fusion with steel pans.

AUG. 7 Carlos Nuñez Carlos Nuñez plays the gaita, the Galician bagpipe.

His music showcases his native region of Galicia, in northwest Spain, and the Celtic traditions that thrive there.

[beyond the stage] Strathmore

Summer AIR This summer, the Mansion will celebrate the work of emerging, Washington, D.C. artists in Strathmore’s second Fine Artists in Residence exhibition, opening Saturday, Aug. 31. The exhibition will feature works by Strathmore Artists in Residence Adrienne Gaither, Drew Graham, Jessica Rose and Susan Stacks, as well as program mentors gallerist Adah Rose Bitterbaum, executive director of Pyramid Atlantic Arts Center Jose Dominguez and artist F. Lennox Campello. The exhibit will illustrate the artists’ growth through their experience in the Artist in Residence program and their contemporary perspectives as expressed through paint, digital graphic arts, organic sculpture, pointillist art, illustration and mixed media.

Adrienne Gaither

MUSIC CENTER AT STRATHMORE

[Summer]

Puppets Take Strathmore Performances in the Music Center at Strathmore, Studio 405

diaries were published in 1920 in the Atlantic. Best for ages 10 and older.

SUN., JUNE 30, 1 AND 3 P.M. Cashore Marionettes Simple Gifts This series of poignant scenes from everyday life is set to music by Vivaldi, Strauss, Beethoven and Copland. Stay after the show for a short presentation and Q&A with Cashore on how marionettes are brought to life. Best for ages 6 and older.

SUN., AUG. 4, 1 AND 4 P.M. Blair Thomas Puppet Company Hard Headed Heart In this trio of vignettes, Chicagobased puppet artist Blair Thomas is “a controlled maelstrom, at once sceneshifter, shape-shifter, storyteller and one-man band…” (ChicagoMag.com).

SAT., JULY 20, 1 AND 3 P.M. Blue Sky Puppet Theater Eleventh Finger Feathers, who sets off to solve an ancient riddle, is guided by the spirits of the earth, water, wind and fire, who each offer an additional clue for uncovering the secret. Best for ages 5-12.

SAT., JULY 27, 1 AND 3 P.M. Nana Projects The Opal Whiteley Project This new work is based on the mysterious little girl whose fantastical

Workshops and Events in the Mansion at Strathmore SAT., JUNE 22-FRI., AUG. 23 No Strings Attached Explore the unexpected connections and influences of puppetry on the visual arts, music and film in this Strathmore fine art exhibit. An opening reception will be 7-9 p.m. June 27.

Talk & Tours will be 10:15 a.m. (for kids) and 1 p.m. (for adults) June 29.

SAT., JULY 27, 10 A.M.-NOON Nana Projects Create A Shadow Puppet Show!

AUG. 14 Uke Fest The annual celebration of the ukulele brings the community together in song.

Join Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer, Gerald Ross, Lil’ Rev, Stuart Fuchs and the Hula Honeys for a concert filled with fun.

STRATHMORE BACKYARD THEATER FOR CHILDREN Thursdays at 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. on the Backyard Theater Stage JULY 11 Milkshake Shake up summertime with the kid-rock sounds of Milkshake. Indie rockers Lisa Matthews and Mikel Gehl write and perform songs for preschoolers—as featured on children’s

Create shadow puppets, making puppets with moving parts and exploring the shadows they create on the screen. Best for ages 8 and older.

FRI., AUG. 2, 7 AND 9 P.M. Puppet Slam Strathmore and the Glen Echo Puppet Company host showcases of shortform puppet theater, featuring newer, more irreverent puppetry intended for adults.

SAT., AUG. 3, 10 A.M.-NOON Blair Thomas Puppet Company The Puppet Tells the Story Create your very own puppet show, complete with handmade rod puppets and skit! Best for ages 8-12.

SAT., AUG. 3, 3-4:30 P.M. Panel Discussion: Puppetry in Contemporary American Theater Artists and educators will learn about exciting new transformations of theater through puppetry. Best for adults.

just the beginning. Urban Artistry combines culture, collaboration and creativity in a thrilling live performance.

Milkshake

TV networks Noggin and PBS Kids— without compromising songcraft, stagecraft or rock-and-roll authenticity.

JULY 18 Urban Artistry This energetic show is a super-fun way to encourage activity and movement in kids—and the amazing moves are

JULY 25 The Pop Ups Don’t miss the Brooklyn-based Pop Ups and its clever, creative songs that kids and grownups adore. The band will bring songs from its Grammynominated Radio Jungle to Strathmore’s backyard.

AUG. 1 Taikoza Ancestral Taiko drums, bamboo flutes and dancers in colorful traditional costumes make this concert feel like an exciting trip through time to ancient Japan. applause at Strathmore • May/june 2013 9

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strathmore

not your papa’s

Puppet Show

Puppets Take Strathmore examines the art form from the whimsical to the provocative— and everything in between

By Chris Slattery 10 applause at Strathmore • May/june 2013

Jonathan Timmes

l

ike the parable of the blind men and the elephant, puppetry is a lot of things to a lot of people.

A fine art, a craft, a teaching tool, a vessel for storytelling, a historical marker for the growth of civilizations, a method of entertainment and worship and expression of thought. Harriet Lesser sees it all.

“If you take a look at puppets,” says Lesser, Strathmore’s curator, “shadow puppets from Indonesia, the Vietnam water puppets, the Renaissance puppets from Prague and from Germany and Italy that are so sculpturally beautiful, one of the things that is so attractive is that they can do things: respond and present character.

“They go outside the rules, which is something that art does frequently.”

And something that Strathmore itself does frequently: pushing the envelope of what is considered art, and challenging the community to see artistry in new and different ways.

“We’re always wanting to move the conversation forward about culture in America,” says Lauren Campbell, Strathmore’s development and education manager. “Puppetry has been having a resurgence in the public view since The Lion King came out [on Broadway] in 1997.”

Even so, Campbell says, puppetry is a “somewhat neglected genre,” one she is hoping this summer’s festival will explore and elevate.

That’s the goal of Puppets Take Strathmore, the three-month celebration of the art, craft and theater of puppetry in America. An exploration of puppetry in its most provocative forms, the festival features everything from traditional kid-friendly puppet shows to an adultsonly puppet slam. Also included are educational workshops, the art exhibit No

Strings Attached and a Strathmore-commissioned musical-historical puppet play, The Opal Whiteley Project.

“The festival is going to be a summer-long multidisciplinary event all over campus,” Campbell explains. “We’ll have a dedicated art exhibit in the Mansion featuring actual puppets, puppetrelated sets and art that was inspired by puppets. We have a wonderful set of performances that bring together local, midAtlantic and national artists.”

Several people from the American puppetry renaissance will spend some time at Strathmore during the puppetry festival. Campbell points out that a panel discussion on Saturday, Aug. 3 in the music room of the Mansion will feature moderator Colette Searls from the University of Maryland-Baltimore County; Chicago-based puppet artist Blair Thomas; Paul Brohan, director of artistic initiatives at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland; and Molly Ross, founder of the Baltimorebased Nana Project, which helped to inspire Strathmore’s festival.

“I had seen [Nana Projects’] Alonzo’s Lullaby,” says Campbell. “I thought it was stunning, and on the scale that we could do here at Strathmore.

“We knew they could produce something of excellent quality,” she adds, “and their passion for live music was a perfect fit.”

As it turned out, that passion for music was something that already linked Strathmore and Nana Projects, through the work of Strathmore Artist in Residence ellen cherry.

It’s a collaboration especially suited to Strathmore: cherry composing the music while Ross creates a vision and storyboard, with the two feeding off each other’s ideas and art to create The Opal Whiteley Project. The theatrical piece is about the 20th century child prodigy

Artist Don Becker’s cheeky, grown-up and sometimes gritty puppets explore adult themes.

Opal Irene Whiteley, whose diary was published in The Atlantic as “The Story of Opal” and whose life took a series of dramatic twists and turns.

“The authorship of the diaries was questioned,” says Ross, “and a lot has been written about the diaries themselves. … ellen and I are both storytellers, and I think Strathmore was drawn to that.”

To that, yes, and to the puppetry as well.

“You know, puppetry often gets categorized as being for children,” Ross says.

“But it’s a much more fluid conversation than we allow it to be.

“Puppetry has been around for centuries and it will be around for many more centuries: It ebbs and flows, no matter how people represent it.” 

For a listing of Puppets Take Strathmore events, see page 9. applause at Strathmore • May/june 2013 11

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Baltimore Symphony ORchestra

Playing it hot and cool BSO to perform Bernstein’s electrifying score to West Side Story

By Kathleen Wheaton

i

n January 1949, composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein noted in his diary that he’d received a call from his friend Jerry (choreographer Jerome Robbins) who proposed “a noble idea”: to set Romeo and Juliet in contemporary New York City with rival Catholic and Jewish gangs representing the warring Montague and Capulet clans. “An out-and-out plea for racial tolerance,” Bernstein scrawled at the top of his own copy of 12 applause at Strathmore • May/june 2013

the Shakespeare play.

Even more revolutionary than the modern urban setting was Bernstein’s idea of composing a score that would “tell a tragic story in musical comedy form, using only musical comedy techniques, never falling into the ‘operatic’ trap.” But would theater audiences primed for sprightly song-and-dance and happy endings accept a musical that ends in tragedy and death? “If it can work—it’s a first,” Bernstein declared.

The music for the show that eventually became West Side Story is one of

the greatest musical scores ever written, says Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Music Director Marin Alsop, who was Bernstein’s student. Alsop, who will conduct a live performance of the score to accompany a screening of the film on June 13 at the Music Center at Strathmore, says that Bernstein “revolutionized music and music history” with West Side Story. “And the moral of the story still resonates with us today.”

Early cinema always had live music playing along with the screen visuals, says Alsop, who has conducted music

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra presents West Side Story

West Side Story © 1961 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc All Rights Reserved

Thursday, June 13, 8 P.M.

to accompany several Charlie Chaplin films. “[Chaplin] understood the potential of a film score, and wrote his own,” she says. “Music has always been critical to our emotional response to a film.”

Bernstein was enthusiastic about the potential of setting a Romeo and Juliettype story to music, and met with playwright Arthur Laurents, who quickly wrote a first draft of four scenes. But for six years, the project languished: Bernstein was constantly touring as a guest conductor and Laurents was determined to make it as a screenwriter.

Finally, in August 1955, the two met.

Although they were still excited about the concept—then known as East Side Story—the Jewish-Catholic conflict now felt stale. Street gangs were much in the news, and Bernstein and Laurents decided to recast the rivalry as a battle between Puerto Rican immigrants and self-styled “American” tough guys. Suddenly, the project sprang to life: “I hear rhythms and pulses, and— most of all—I can sort of feel the form,” Bernstein wrote.

Alsop says that now it is impossible to imagine the score without its “amazing” Latin influence. “The score is so strongly influenced by [Latin] percussion and rhythm,” she says.

As the project took shape, Bernstein was determined to find the fine

line between “realism and poetry, ballet and ‘just dancing,’ abstract and representational.” An unknown lyricist named Stephen Sondheim wrote and sang some songs for Bernstein. He was also pleased by the decision to cast young, inexperienced singers and dancers: “Forty kids singing five-part counterpoint who never sang before, and sounding like heaven! ... A perfect example of a disadvantage turned into a virtue.”

The premiere took place in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 19, 1957, with Vice President Richard Nixon in attendance. “I laughed and cried as though I’d never seen or heard it before,” Bernstein wrote. “And I guess that what made it come out right is that we all really collaborated; even the producers were after the same goals we had in mind. Not even a whisper about a happy ending has been heard.”

One of the most successful musicals ever produced, West Side Story launched Sondheim’s career, and the soundtrack

sold more copies than any soundtrack recording before it. The show has been staged in three Broadway productions as well as in countless regional and school performances. The 1961 film—starring Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Rita Moreno and George Chakiris—won 10 Academy Awards, including one for Best Picture.

Bernstein was reportedly not happy with the film’s orchestration, which doubled the size of the 30-piece pit orchestra of the stage version. The live score is much closer to what Bernstein originally intended and, Alsop says, it is now easier to re-create the music that the composer intended because technology exists that enables the instrumentals to be removed while retaining the original vocals.

One of the film’s first screenings with live orchestral accompaniment was in Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall— which was built just south of the vacant buildings used as the setting in West Side Story and razed after filming ended. 

applause at Strathmore • May/june 2013 13

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THE National Philharmonic

Song of Destiny

The National Philharmonic presents The Melodies of Brahms Saturday, May 4, 8 P.M. and Sunday, May 5, 3 p.m.

Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody needs a rich voice, and legendary mezzosoprano Denyce Graves happens to live right up the road

By M.J. McAteer

14 applause at Strathmore • May/june 2013

Schumann daughter and was distressed by her marriage. “It is long since I remember being so moved by a depth of pain in words and music,” Clara wrote in her diary. “This piece seems to me neither more nor less than the expression of his own heart’s anguish.”

Graves, who has sung the Rhapsody before, playfully describes it as best suited to “part-baritone, part mezzo-soprano.” Nonetheless, the biggest challenge won’t be its range, she says, but “finding the right colors to match the emotions.” But, then, as a performer who says she has “spent so many years spinning stories,” this local-girl-made-good should feel right at home with that. 

DEVON CASS

d

enyce Graves sometimes spends as much time on the road as Jack Kerouac. So far this year, she has traveled to Minnesota, South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida and Arizona, and next up on her itinerary are Missouri and California. But on the first weekend in May, the acclaimed mezzo-soprano will get a respite from the rigors of the road when she appears with the National Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorale in an all-Brahms program at the Music Center at Strathmore.

“I’m really looking forward to being at home,” says Graves, who grew up in the District and lived in Bethesda for years before relocating to Baltimore, where her husband is director of the Comprehensive Transplant Center and chief of the Division of Transplantation at Johns Hopkins Hospital. That the venue will be Strathmore just makes the opportunity to sing in her backyard all the sweeter. “It’s a gem,” she says of the hall.

“Glorious acoustics for the voice.”

And that voice, which a Washington Post critic once described as “elegant and idiomatic” is wonderfully suited to the Alto Rhapsody. The work—for contralto, male chorus and orchestra—will be the middle offering of the Philharmonic’s two Brahms concerts at Strathmore, one on May 4 at 8 p.m. and the other on May 5 at 3 p.m.The Alto Rhapsody will be bookended by the lushly romantic Schicksalslied, or “Song of Destiny,” for orchestra and chorus, and Symphony No. 4 in E minor, which is renowned for its majestic final movement featuring 34 variations on a single melody.

The seldom-heard Alto Rhapsody is not an easy piece for a singer. Philharmonic Music Director and Conductor Piotr Gajewski explains that “it requires a big voice” that can handle a lower register. Serendipitously, that describes Graves’ instrument. “The planets align when the world’s best lives in the neighborhood,” says Gajewski.

Brahms wrote Alto Rhapsody in 1869 as a wedding present for a daughter of Robert and Clara Schumann. It has been said that the German composer harbored romantic feelings for the

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applause at Strathmore • May/june 2013 15

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THE National Philharmonic

Meet Richard Wagner With its 200th anniversary celebration, the National Philharmonic introduces the German composer to those who know his work, but don’t realize it

By Roger Catlin

16 applause at Strathmore • May/june 2013

The National Philharmonic presents Wagner 200th Anniversary Celebration Saturday, June 1, 8 P.M. hengrin; the Prelude from Tannhäuser; the “Entry of the Gods into Valhalla” from Das Rheingold; and “Ride of the Valkyries” from Die Walküre. Also on the program are “Forest Murmurs” from Siegfried; Prelude from Die Meistersinger; “Siegfried’s Funeral Music” from Götterdämmerung; “Good Friday Spell” from Parsifal; and the Prelude

and “Liebestod” (“Love-Death”) from Tristan und Isolde.

“The interesting thing about Wagner’s contribution to opera is that he made the orchestra essentially a character in the opera, which enables an orchestra to do a full night of music without utilizing a single singer, and that is what we’re doing,” Gajewski says.

The goal of the concert is to attract new audiences to Wagner’s work. But, adds Gajewski, it won’t be entirely new to anyone. “I would venture to say everyone in the audience will recognize at least one of the excerpts,” he demonstrates by singing the melody to “Ride of the Valkyries.”

The 8 p.m. concert will be preceded by a free pre-concert lecture in the Concert Hall at 6:45 p.m. 

JAY MALLIN

o

n June 1, the National Philharmonic will mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of composer Richard Wagner with a performance of his works at the Music Center at Strathmore.

The bigger-than-life German composer, who produced many enduring works in the 19th century, will be the subject of a number of celebrations worldwide during his bicentenary.

“Wagner in the history of Western music is this sort of epic figure,” says National Philharmonic Music Director and Conductor Piotr Gajewski. “As fewer and fewer people really delve into the study of our music history, fewer people really know much about him and what his work was,” he says. “And yet, almost everyone can probably identify having heard some tune of his, because his music is used commercially so much.”

“Ride of the Valkyries,” from Die Walküre, has been used in the films Birth of the Nation and Apocalypse Now, as well as in Bugs Bunny cartoons.

“I thought it appropriate, being his 200th anniversary, to do a concert that was an introduction to Wagner’s music and maybe get people interested in exploring it more,” Gajewski says.

The 200th anniversary celebration will begin with the Prelude from The Flying Dutchman and continue with the Prelude to Act III from Lo-

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strathmore

Strathmore presents Strathmore Children’s Chorus Monday, June 10, 7:30 P.M.

Sing-ular Sensation New Strathmore Children’s Chorus nurtures love of music and makes it more accessible for diverse group of “singing ambassadors”

By Chris Slattery

o

K, there you go,” says Christopher G. Guerra to the dozens of children sitting before him in the pews of the First Baptist Church in Rockville.

“Now: Make it…even…better!”

The church serves as rehearsal space for the Strathmore Children’s Chorus, whose members are part of the first Strathmore-affiliated children’s chorus.

“We’ve always wanted to have a children’s chorus at Strathmore,” says Monica Jeffries Hazangeles, Strathmore’s president. “It was something we dreamed about. And then Chris Guerra walked through the door with the same dream—and the energy and passion to make it happen.”

The kids in the chorus will perform their first public concert on June 10 at the Music Center at Strathmore. “It’s a ‘goosebump moment’ for the kids, and we’re happy to create that moment,” says Hazangeles.

“It was really important that the group be diverse both in its membership and its repertoire,” she adds. “It’s part of our mission, too, that we ourselves and our programming reflect the community we serve.”

Also part of the Strathmore mission: accessibility. Hazangeles notes that students chosen for the chorus can participate regardless of their financial circumstances.

18 applause at Strathmore • May/june 2013

“I was familiar with Strathmore,” says Guerra, who leads the choral program at A. Mario Loiederman Middle School for the Creative and Performing Arts. “A. Mario Loiederman, our school’s founder, had been president of the board there, and just seeing the excellence of the organization was inspiring. I wanted to be a part of that brand.”

Guerra had a plan: a five-year strategy to create a troupe of what Strathmore CEO Eliot Pfanstiehl would later describe as “singing ambassadors.”

“My research had prepared me to expect the initial year of a children’s chorus to bring in 15 to 25 members.” Four hundred children came to that first audition. “We ended up with 130 members in three ensembles,” he explains.

Already the Children’s Chorus has performed smaller events for friends and family in the Lockheed Martin Lobby,

JONATHAN TIMMES

MATTHEW STIGLITZ

“

at Asbury Methodist Village and on the Music Center stage as part of Natalie MacMaster’s 2012 Christmas in Cape Breton concert.

Back at the rehearsal, Guerra is preparing the Treble Chorus for its public debut with Jim Papoulis’ “We Will,” a song inspired by Sept. 11 and created especially for children’s choruses.

“That was it!” he says happily, voices echoing around him. “One more time.” 

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Baltimore Symphony ORchestra

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra presents Carmina Burana Thursday, June 6, 8 P.M.

O Fortuna!

Carmina Burana takes listeners from highs to lows, and from the spiritual to the bawdy By Pamela Toutant

20 applause at Strathmore • May/june 2013

Robin Johannsen Morgan State University Choir

er and Baltimore native Christopher Rouse and one by 20th century Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas.

“Rouse’s work pairs well with Carmi-

Christopher Rouse

na Burana, which also has a primitive archetypal quality,” Alsop says. “Revueltas’ Sensemayá has the same kind of ritualistic perspective.” 

Johannsen PHOTO BY Felix Broede, Morgan State University Choir Photo CourTESY of Morgan State University

i

n a season dedicated to celebrating the connection between standard repertoire and film, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra presents composer Carl Orff’s dramatic, perennial favorite Carmina Burana for its season finale at the Music Center at Strathmore on June 6.

“There is a natural cinematic, visual quality to this work,” says BSO Music Director Marin Alsop. “In fact, it has been used many times for cinematic purposes.”

Written in 1936 by the German composer, Carmina Burana is Latin for Songs of Beuren, a manuscript of poems and dramatic texts written in the 11th to 13th centuries but not discovered until the early 19th century in the Benedictine monastery of Benediktbeuern, Bavaria. Orff’s composition is based on 24 of the poems, which are often described as bawdy, irreverent and satirical.

“The subtext of the lyrics, originally censored, is enticing and populist. It has a taboo quality,” says Alsop. “The text is on love and lust and fate. There is a timeless power to it.”

The opening and closing movement “O Fortuna” will be instantly recognizable to audiences and has been featured in films including The Hunt for Red October, the documentary Capitalism: A Love Story and TV shows such as Glee and The Simpsons.

Also on the program are two works

by Pulitzer Prize-winning compos-

O

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Baltimore Symphony ORchestra

Having a hand in the music Before the conductor’s baton is raised, BSO Principal Librarian Mary Plaine prepares every sheet of music for all 82 members of the orchestra

By Laura Farmer

22 applause at Strathmore • May/june 2013

Christian Colberg

o

ne of Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Principal Librarian Mary Plaine’s early memories is of punching the neighborhood bully.

“I was 4 years old, dressed in my favorite red cowboy hat and two-gun holster. I didn’t like how he was picking on my little friends, so I decided to do something about it.”

That caring heart, and a whole lot of patience, have aided Plaine’s success in the demanding role of principal librarian.

“The librarian’s job is to do what we can to help the players feel more comfortable. That might mean enlarging a part for a player if the print is too small, or producing a part with a different pagination to fix bad page turns. People see us go out on stage at the top of the concert to put the conductor’s music score out. But what they don’t see is the behind-thescenes work that involves preparing each individual page of music.”

In orchestra lingo, “preparing” a score refers to adding the dynamic, tempo and style markings that the conductor has requested, as well as the bowing markings to the string parts.

Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts to the tedious process of penciling markings by hand on 82 musicians’ music scores.

“The work is incredibly detailed and time consuming. And then, after the last performance, we have to ‘tear’ the folders down and file away or return to the publisher all that paper,” Plaine explains.

Making music, rather than marking it, was how Plaine began her career. She earned a music degree in bassoon from The Peabody Institute, but opted not to pursue that track.

“I wasn’t passionate about playing the bassoon. I realized that there were other things I wanted to do. I think that people who have never played in an orchestra can’t imagine the incredible stress each of the players on stage feels every time a conductor raises his or her baton. The librarian’s job is to do what we can to free the players to focus on the composer’s intention and conductor’s interpretation to create a truly inspiring concert.” 

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Washington Performing Arts Society

elcome Whome Artists with lasting ties to Washington Performing Arts Society— and an affinity for the Music Center— eagerly return for the 2013-2014 season

Yuri Temirkanov

By Roger Catlin

t

Murray Perahia

Yuja Wang

here’s a sense of homecoming in the newly announced 2013-2014 Washington Performing Arts Society schedule for the Music Center at Strathmore.

Pianists Yuja Wang and Murray Perahia, violinist Hilary Hahn and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic have all played Strathmore before. And “all of these artists have incredibly long ties with Washington Performing Arts Society, even though 24 applause at Strathmore • MAy/june 2013

Hilary Hahn

Hahn photo by Peter Miller, Perahia photo by Felix Broede

Yuja is still in her 20s,” says Samantha Pollack, the organization’s director of programming. “All of them made their D.C. debuts with WPAS.” Wang has performed in the Music Center with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, but this is her first time in recital there. Hahn played Strathmore in 2011, and the award-winning Perahia—who last performed in the Music Center in March 2012—“specifically requested to come back to Strathmore,” Pollack says.

But, she adds, “the one that sticks out the most is the St. Petersburg Philharmonic.” Russia’s oldest symphony orchestra played the Music Center in 2011, and conductor Yuri Temirkanov has close ties with the performance space and the BSO. “He was their music director from 2000 to 2006, so he was the one in charge when Strathmore opened and the Baltimore Symphony is, of course, a key partner of Strathmore’s,” Pollack says. “So it’s a wonderful homecoming.”

The Philharmonic is scheduled to play Rachmaninoff ’s Symphony No. 2 when it performs on Feb. 12, 2014.

Guest violinist Vilde Frang, who will be making her Strathmore debut, will join the St. Petersburg Philharmonic for Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2.

Wang’s history with WPAS goes back to when she was a teenager appearing in a master class performance of the renowned Leon Fleisher. The performance was scheduled at the last minute at the Kennedy Center in 2004 to replace a slated performer who took ill.

“He brought along some of the brightest young talent, including a 17-year-old Yuja Wang,” Pollack says.

“She was all I heard about the first season I was with WPAS.” Since then, the acclaimed young

Chinese pianist has been presented twice in recital, and has also performed with the BSO and the National Symphony.

“She’s really beloved by D.C. audiences,” Pollack says of Wang. “She’s easily one of the most sought after artists—not just among young artists.”

Pollack noted that Wang is often invited to perform solos and concerti, and in festivals.

“She has this style of playing that is really impassioned, but very articulate.

She has this incredible finger-bending technique, but as an audience member you don’t really notice because of the pure musicianship that comes through.

It’s utterly captivating playing.”

Now 26, Wang is scheduled to perform works by Albeniz, Granados and Liszt when she kicks off WPAS’ sched-

Of the half dozen or so venues where WPAS presents its 45 concerts annually, Strathmore is the only one outside of D.C. The society was formed in 1965 as the region’s first non-profit performance presenter, predating even the opening of the Kennedy Center, where many of its offerings are booked.

“We were thrilled when Strathmore opened in 2005,” Pollack says. “It was another opportunity to expand to a new region of Washington.

“There’s something about Strathmore,” she adds. “First of all, artists sound better at Strathmore than pretty much anywhere else, but especially orchestras. It’s really fantastic. Every artist we’ve had come to Strathmore was first overtaken by the visual beauty of the hall, and then they start playing …”

It’s never easy to put together any

“There’s something about Strathmore. … Every artist we’ve had come to Strathmore was first overtaken by the visual beauty of the hall, and then they start playing.”

Samantha Pollack ule at Strathmore on Oct. 25. The season will conclude with Perahia on March 4, 2014, and Hahn on April 23, 2014.

Grammy-winning violinist Hahn, 33, will have a kind of homecoming as well. The Lexington, Va., native made her orchestra debut with the BSO in 1991. “When we’ve presented her in the past, especially at Strathmore,” Pollack says, “there’s been a wonderful excitement about it, because Strathmore draws more of an audience from Baltimore than any of our venues in the District.”

schedule, Pollack says. “Because we don’t own our own hall, it’s always a combination of, first of all, deciding what artists you want to pursue for the season.” Then WPAS must find whether the artist can play on what is usually the only day the venue can do it.

“If you can’t get it, you can’t present the artist,” she says. Besides that, every artist has his or her own process on settling on a touring date.

But she adds, “All that work is worth it when you’re sitting in the audience— and especially worth it when you’re sitting in a place like Strathmore.” 

applause at Strathmore • May/june 2013 25

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WWW.HERITAGEMONTGOMERY.ORG • 301-515-0753 Get the Do&Go Fun Finder newsletter every week in your inbox for all your arts & culture. Sign up at www.DoandGo.org applause at Strathmore • May/june 2013 27

thursday, may 2, 2013, 8 P.M.

● Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Marin Alsop, Music Director

presents

Time For Three Marin Alsop, conductor Time For Three Zachary DePue, violin Nicolas Kendall, violin Ranaan Meyer, double bass

Shaker Loops

Part I. Shaking and Trembling Part II. Hymning Slews Part III. Loops and Verses Part IV. A Final Shaking

John Adams (1947-)

Concerto 4-3

The Shallows Little River

Roaring Smokies

Time For Three

Jennifer Higdon (1962-)

INTERMISSION Symphony No. 4 in C Major, Op. 112

Andante - Allegro eroico

Andante tranquillo

Moderato, quasi allegretto

Allegro risoluto

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)

Time for Three appears by arrangement with IMG Artists, 152 W. 57th St., N.Y., N.Y. 10019, www.imgartists.com.

The concert will end at approximately 9:50 p.m.

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 28 applause at Strathmore • MAy/june 2013

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 2007, she was honored with a European Women of Achievement Award.

In 2008, she was inducted as a fellow into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and in 2009 Musical America named her Conductor of the Year.

In November 2010, she was inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame. In February 2011, Alsop was named the music director of the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, or the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, effective for the 2012-2013 season. And in March 2011, Alsop was named to The Guardian’s Top 100 Women list. She was also named an artist-in-residence at the Southbank Centre in London in 2011.

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.

Alsop has led the BSO in several outreach initiatives. In 2008, she partnered with the BSO to launch OrchKids, a music education and life enrichment program for youth in West Baltimore. In 2010, she conducted the first “Rusty Musicians with the BSO,” an event that gives amateur musicians the chance to perform onstage with a professional symphony orchestra. In June 2010, Alsop conducted the inaugural BSO Academy, an immersive summer music program that gives more than 100 amateur adult musicians the opportunity to perform alongside a top professional orchestra.

Alsop attended Yale University and received her master’s degree from The Juilliard School. In 1989, her conducting career was launched when she won the Koussevitzky Conducting Prize at Tanglewood, where she studied with Leonard Bernstein.

DeaN Alexander

Thursday, May 2, 2013, 8 p.m.

Thursday, May 2, 2013, 8 p.m.

Time for Three

television and NPR, and was featured in a documentary film about Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square directed by Robert Downey Sr. Time for Three last appeared with the BSO in September 2009, performing Jennifer Higdon’s Concerto 4-3, with Marin Alsop conducting.

Program Notes Shaker Loops

John Adams

Vanessa Briceno-Scherzer

Born Feb. 15, 1947 in Worcester, Mass.; now living in Berkeley, Calif.

The world’s first “classically trained garage band,” Time for Three—Zachary DePue, violin; Nicolas Kendall, violin; and Ranaan Meyer, double bass—defies traditional classification.

Performing music from Bach and Brahms to their own arrangements of The Beatles, Katy Perry, Kanye West and Justin Timberlake, the members have performed everywhere from Carnegie Hall to jazz clubs, European festivals, NFL games and the Indy 500. The trio’s 2012-2013 season includes the release of its second album, a return to Carnegie Hall, its first tour of Asia and the world premiere of a new concerto

by William Bolcom, in addition to a continuing residency with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.

What started as a trio of musicians who played together for fun while students at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute for Music evolved into Time for Three—a charismatic ensemble with a reputation for limitless enthusiasm and no musical boundaries. DePue and Kendall first discovered their mutual love of fiddling in the country western and bluegrass styles. Meyer then introduced them to his deep roots in jazz and improvisation. After considerable experimentation, the three officially formed Time for Three.

Time for Three has been seen and heard numerous times on public

Although it is now one of John Adams’ most often performed works and considered to be one of the masterpieces of Minimalist music, the exhilarating, even mind-altering Shaker Loops had a most difficult birth. Its forebear was an experimental piece for string quartet, Wavemaker, which the Pulitzer Prizehonored composer wrote in 1977. It was not until 1983 that it grew into the piece for string orchestra we hear today.

Adams tells the story: “At the time I composed Wavemaker, like many a young composer, I was essentially unaware of the nature of those musical materials I had chosen for my tools. Having experienced a few of the seminal pieces of American Minimalism during the early 1970s, I thought their combination of stripped-down harmonic and rhythmic discourse might be just the ticket for my own unformed yearnings. I gradually developed a scheme for composing that was partly indebted to the repetitive procedures of Minimalism and partly an outgrowth of my interest in waveforms. The ‘waves’ of Wavemaker were to be long sequences of oscillating melodic cells that created a rippling, shimmering complex of patterns like the surface of a slightly agitated pond or lake. But my technique lagged behind my inspiration, and this rippling pond very quickly went dry. Wavemaker crashed and burned at its first performance. The need for a larger, thicker ensemble and for a more flexible, less theory-bound means of

composing became very apparent.”

Adams had the good fortune to be able to experiment with new possibilities for his ideas with his students at the San Francisco Conservatory. “I held onto the idea of oscillating patterns and made an overall structure that could embrace much more variety and emotional range. Most importantly, the quartet became a septet, thereby adding a sonic mass and the potential for more acoustical power. The ‘loops’ idea was a technique from the era of tape music where small lengths of pre-recorded tape attached end to end could repeat melodic or rhythmic figures ad infinitum. ... The Shakers got into the act partly as a pun on the musical term ‘to shake,’ meaning either to make a tremolo with the bow across the string or else to trill rapidly from one note to another.

“The flip side of the pun was suggested by my own childhood memories of growing up not far from a defunct Shaker colony near Canterbury, N.H. Although, as has since been pointed out to me, the term ‘Shaker’ itself is derogatory, it nevertheless summons up the visions of these otherwise pious and industrious souls caught up in the ecstatic frenzy of a dance that culminated in an epiphany of physical and spiritual transcendence. This dynamic, almost electrically charged element, so out of place in the orderly mechanistic universe of Minimalism, gave the music its raison d’être and ultimately led to the full realization of the piece.”

Comparing Shaker Loops with his later Violin Concerto, Adams noted that they have in common “their ... sense of untrussed virtuosity and physical energy. They are both pieces about the act of playing a string instrument and specifically about a non-string player’s fascination with that art.”

Here is Adams’ guide to the four movements, which flow together without pause.

“The four sections ... are really quite distinct, each being characterized by a particular style of string playing. The outside movements are devoted to ‘shaking’: the fast, tightly rhythmicized motion of the bow across the strings. applause at Strathmore • MAy/june 2013 29

Thursday, May 2, 2013, 8 p.m.

The ‘slews’ of Part II are slow, languid glissandi [slides] heard floating within an almost motionless pool of stationary sound. ... Part III is essentially melodic, with the cellos playing long, lyrical lines (which are nevertheless loops themselves) against a background of muted violins: an activity that gradually takes on speed and mass until it culminates in the wild push-pull section that is the emotional high point of the piece. The floating harmonics, a kind of disembodied ghost of the push-pull figures in Part III, signal the start of Part IV: a final dance of the bows across the strings that concludes with the four upper voices rocking away on the natural overtones of their strings while the cellos and bass provide a quiet pedal point beneath.”

Instrumentation: Strings Concerto 4-3

Jennifer Higdon Born Dec. 31, 1962, in Brooklyn, N.Y.; now living in Philadelphia

A prolific composer in constant demand for new works by major orchestras and ensembles all over America, Jennifer Higdon succeeds because she is a very original, personal and emotionally communicative composer whose music, though modern in its techniques, is immediately accessible and appealing. Also a virtuoso flute player and a conductor, she is a popular teacher of composition at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music (holding the Milton L. Rock Chair in Compositional Studies). Both Hilary Hahn, for whom she wrote a stunning Violin Concerto (co-commissioned by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra) that won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for music, and the musicians of Time for Three have been her students there.

Her roots at Curtis run deep, for she earned an artist’s diploma in composition there (studying with Ned Rorem), before moving on to the University of Pennsylvania for master’s and doctoral degrees in composition.

Growing up, Higdon recalls that her favorite musicians were The Beatles.

“Classical music was probably the least present music in our household ... my 30 applause at Strathmore • MAy/june 2013

dad worked at home—he was an artist, which meant there was a lot of music in the background all the time—but normally it was rock and roll or bluegrass or reggae.” Because the Higdon home was in Tennessee, bluegrass music was particularly favored. Since Time for Three is an unorthodox ensemble that likes to mingle bluegrass, rock and contemporary classical styles in its concerts, it perfectly matches Higdon’s own eclectic tastes.

Higdon has provided the following guide to Concerto 4-3: “Concerto 4-3 was written specifically for, and is dedicated to, Time for Three.

This work was commissioned by The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Wheeling Symphony. It is a work that uses the language of classical music, with dashes of bluegrass technique, to highlight the virtuosity and energy of this inspiring group. I have known Zach, Nick and Ranaan for quite some time—first as students at Curtis and now as professionals working in the music field. Being aware of all of the types of music they play (bluegrass, rock, Bach, Beatles) gave me a starting point of inspiration for creating a piece that would spotlight their joy in performing, soulful musicality and prodigious skill.

“The work is divided into three movements, with the option for the group to perform cadenzas between each movement. The movement titles refer to images from the Smoky Mountains (where I grew up in East Tennessee): ‘The Shallows,’ ‘Little River’ and ‘Roaring Smokies.’ I wanted to reference the Smokies because East Tennessee was the first place where I really experienced bluegrass (or as they call it there, mountain music).

“The first movement, ‘The Shallows,’ incorporates Time for Three’s unique string techniques, which include extended techniques mimicking everything from squeaking mice to electric guitars. They are able to shift quickly between these techniques and a straight bluegrass style without hesitation. Their ability to do this so smoothly reminded me of the parts of the mountain rivers

that move in shallow areas, where small rocks and pebbles make for a rapid ride that moves a rafter quickly from one side of the river to the other.

“The second movement, ‘Little River,’ is slow-moving and lyrical, very much in hymn style. This movement reflects the beauty of the Little River as it flows through Townsend and Walland, Tenn. At times, there is real serenity and a majestic look to the water, with no movement obvious on the surface—it resembles pure glass. I was sitting on the back porch of Little River Barbecue during a gentle rain when I thought of the design and ‘sound’ of this movement.

“The third movement, ‘Roaring Smokies,’ is a fire-like virtuosic movement that shifts and moves very much like a raging river (those wild mountain waters that pour out of the Smokies).

It is fun to swim in those cold waters, but your attention must always be alert, as danger lurks: the water goes where it wants and will take you with it.

“While Concerto 4-3 (referring to the Time for Three name) is written in the classical vein, certain bluegrass techniques have been incorporated into the fabric of the piece: emphasis on offbeats, open strings and slides. But the language is definitely tonal, 21st-century and American-sounding in style.”

Instrumentation: Two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion and strings.

Symphony No. 4 in C Major, Op. 112

Sergei Prokofiev Born April 23, 1891, in Sontsovka, Ukraine; died March 5, 1953, in Moscow

By the late 1920s, Sergei Prokofiev, now settled in the West, was so much in demand as a touring piano virtuoso that he had difficulty finding time to write major compositions. For his Third Symphony, he used the expedient of borrowing his material extensively from his opera The Fiery Angel. When conductor Serge Koussevitzky commissioned the Fourth Symphony to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1930, Prokofiev tried this

Thursday, May May 2, 2, 2013, 2013, 88 p.m. p.m.

Thursday,

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 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

tactic again, this time borrowing from his successful recent ballet The Prodigal Son, written for Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes and premiered in Monte Carlo in 1929.

Some of the symphony’s composing took place on trains carrying Prokofiev from one engagement to another during a hectic American tour in 1929. When he finally arrived back home in Paris to finish the work, he was harassed by an upstairs neighbor who played Ravel’s Boléro on his gramophone at all hours.

Finally, the symphony was completed and premiered by Koussevitzky and the Bostonians on Nov. 14, 1930. But it never caught on either with the critics or audiences.

Prokofiev, however, did not want to give up the Fourth, which he loved for its “wealth of material and absence of noise.” Nearly two decades later in 1947 and now back in Russia, he unearthed it and gave it a major overhaul that built on the approach taken in his highly successful Fifth and Sixth symphonies.

Sixteen minutes of music were added, and the orchestration was made bigger and more colorful. This new version, which we will hear, could no longer be described as having “an absence of noise”; it was now heroic and at times pulverizing in its power.

One of the revised Fourth’s new elements was the noble slow introduction in 3/4 time that opens the first movement. It contains a solemnly eloquent melody and makes striking use of the keening colors of the woodwind section.

(Indeed, Prokofiev makes superb use of the woodwinds individually and collectively throughout this symphony.) Then the music shifts to a very intense Allegro eroico in duple meter, based on a frantic theme describing the prodigal son’s riotous companions in the ballet and urged on by a driving rhythmic ostinato.

Volume and tempo ease momentarily for a gently undulating second theme led off by the flute. The exposition section then closes violently with savage explosions of brass.

The violence continues in the development section, which features a wild dance variant of the noble introductory applause at Strathmore • MAy/june 2013 31

Thursday, May 2, 2013, 8 p.m.

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music. And although Prokofiev returns to the lyrical music for flute and woodwinds in the recapitulation, the riotous companions and the pounding ostinato capture the movement’s conclusion.

Relief comes in the serene yet emotionally potent Andante tranquillo second movement, based on the ballet’s music for the prodigal son’s return to his family. The flute introduces the beautiful, consoling theme of the father’s love and forgiveness, which Prokofiev will recast in ever-changing scorings. This richly harmonized and wonderfully or8:45 AM chestrated movement—notice the artful use of piano and harp—is one of the symphony’s most accomplished sections.

The sinuously exotic music given to the ballet’s seductress who lures the prodigal son is developed into the third movement’s delicate, slightly impish scherzo. Here Prokofiev dips his brush into the bright and tangy colors of his orchestral palette and embellishes his orientalesque modal melody on its many returns with sparkling filigree from the wind instruments.

Marked Allegro risoluto, the finale opens with a pounding percussive theme, its hard edges emphasized by piano and timpani. The cellos add urgent rushing music, and a bit later, low woodwinds introduce an important theme, more lyrical and fighting to keep its place amid the violent music surrounding it; this melody comes from the beginning of the ballet as the prodigal leaves home. Still set to an emphatic if slightly slower beat, a central episode unfurls an energetic, undulating dance. The flute recapitulates the lyrical theme, now more prominent against its delicate new accompaniment. Announced by excitedly stuttering trumpets, the music of the first movement’s introduction returns at last to power a visceral, grandiose conclusion.

Instrumentation: Two flutes, piccolo, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, piccolo clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, piano and strings.

Notes by Janet E. Bedell copyright 2013

2010, 2011, 2012 & 2013

301-530-0500 www.maplewoodparkplace.com 9707 Old Georgetown Road, Bethesda, MD P r i c e s s ta r t i n g at $ 3 3 0 , 0 0 0 32 applause at Strathmore • MAy/june 2013

Saturday, May 4, 2013, 8 p.m. and Sunday, May 5, 2013, 3 p.m.

SATURDAY, MAy 4, 2013, 8 P.M. SUNDAY, MAY 5, 2013, 3 P.M.

● The National Philharmonic Piotr Gajewski, Music Director and Conductor

presents

The Melodies of Brahms Piotr Gajewski, conductor Denyce Graves, mezzo-soprano National Philharmonic Chorale Walt Whitman High School Men’s Chorus, Jeffrey Davidson, director

Schicksalslied (“Song of Destiny”) Johannes Brahms

(1833-1897)

Alto Rhapsody INTERMISSION

Symphony No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 98 Allegro non troppo Andante moderato Allegro giocoso Allegro energico e passionato

Supported in part by the Paul & Robin Perito Guest Vocal Artist Fund 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

Gajewski Photo by Michael Ventura, Graves PHOTO BY Devon Cass

The Music Center at Strathmore Marriott Concert Stage

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.

The Washington Post recognizes him as an “immensely talented and insightful conductor,” whose “standards, taste and sensitivity are impeccable.”

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 Orchestra 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. His teachers there included Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, André Previn, Gunther Schuller, Gustav Meier and Maurice Abravanel.

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.

Denyce Graves, mezzo-soprano

Recognized worldwide as one of today’s most exciting vocal stars, Denyce Graves continues to gather unparalleled popular and critical acclaim in performances on four continents. The combination of her expressive, rich vocalism, elegant stage presence and exciting theatrical abilities allows her to pursue a wide breadth of operatic portrayals and to delight audiences in concert and recital appearances.

Graves has become particularly well known to operatic audiences for her portrayals of the title roles in Carmen and Samson et Dalila and in 2012-13, she brings into her repertoire the roles of Mrs. Miller (Doubt), Herodias (Salome), Katisha (The Mikado) and Emelda (Champion).

Walt Whitman High School Men’s Chorus

The Walt Whitman High School Men’s Chorus is composed of 56 boys in grades 10 through 12. The group is one of five curricular choral ensembles and meets daily in the regular school schedule.

Many of the students in the group are among the highest achievers at applause at Strathmore • MaY/JUNE 2013 33

Saturday, May 4, 2013, 8 p.m. and Sunday, May 5, 2013, 3 p.m.

Whitman, and are involved in numerous other activities including, athletics, dramatics and student government.

In addition to regular seasonal performances at the school, the group often participates in special performances such as the Men’s Choral Invitational at the University of Maryland, the annual music department trip competitions and workshops.

Choral Director Jeff Davidson has taught music for 31 years in Montgomery County Public Schools. He teaches five choral ensembles daily: Freshman Chorus, Treble Chorale, Men’s Chorus, Women’s Chorus and Chamber Choir.

Under his direction, the Whitman choirs have consistently earned superior rankings in Maryland District 2 and state festivals, as well as high school competitions throughout the eastern United States and Canada.

Davidson has received an Outstanding Music Teacher Award from the Maryland Music Educators Association and was a nominee for the Washington Post Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher Award. He was also a member of the Maryland Choral Educators Association board of directors from 2000 to 2009.

Davidson holds a bachelor’s of music education degree in voice and piano from Wittenberg University and a master’s of music degree in choral conducting from Temple University. He is an

active member of the American Choral Directors Association and the National Association for Music Education.

Program Notes Schicksalslied (“Song of Destiny”)

Johannes Brahms Born May 7, 1833, in Hamburg, Germany; died April 3, 1897, in Vienna, Austria

While visiting some friends at Wilhelmshaven in 1868, Johannes Brahms read a poem, Hyperions Schicksalslied (“Song of Destiny”), from Hölderlin’s novel, Hyperion, and was very affected by it. He immediately began work on it during a walk along the beach, but the work was not to be completed for three years. The problem was that the two-part poem first depicts heavenly bliss and, then, earthly suffering, but Brahms wanted somehow to end the work positively or happily. An attempt to repeat the first part of the poem after the second had been sung would not satisfy him. In 1871, he found the solution and gave the work its final form: first an orchestral prelude, then a choral setting of the poem, and an orchestral postlude substantially the same as the prelude. Composed soon after the premiere of his German Requiem, Schicksalslied shares many musical

Walt Whitman High School Men’s Chorus Mr. Jeffrey Davidson, Director Oliver Ades Chris Aragon Charles Augustine Conner Barrett Tobin Bell Grant Beske Eduardo Cavalcanti Robert Christian Jake Dahreddine Henry Dervishi Sam Dodd Antonio Espinosa Alistair Faghani Noah Franklin Isaac Gamoran Jack Garraty Bob George

Matthew Goodman Harrison Guh Sam Hartz Chris Hodgman Harrison Holt Alex Hosker Noah Hughes Matt Jacobson Joe Jarvis Scott Kaplowitz Hunter Marder Jeff Marr Conrad Mascarenhas Alex Morris Yuta Nakagawa Mikal Nathani Christopher Nguyen-Mason Zach Page Jake Parsky

34 applause at Strathmore • MAY/JUNE 2013

Jorge Richardson Joseph Saliunas Ryan Savage Calvin Schalch Matt Schwichtenberg Nick Serrano Stephen Sharbaugh Matthew Snow Cyrus Sobhani Malachi Stoll David Sullivan Ben Talisman Sebastian VanBastelaer Lucas Weals Matt Weinstein Trevor White Jon Wiedemann Ben Zavaleta Aaron Zimmerberg

characteristics with that work and has become a beloved part of the choral repertory. It premiered in Karlsruhe on Oct. 18, 1871, with Brahms conducting.

The text Brahms used is a three-verse poem that divides roughly into two parts: The first evokes the gods’ gentle, peaceful nature, and the second contrasts that sentiment with one about mortal life’s vicissitudes. Brahms cast his work in ternary form with an orchestral return to the opening music after the second choral section. Critics have suggested that in structuring it thus, Brahms weakened Hölderlin’s intentions; it is not clear whether Brahms’ ending reflects musical values or poetic ones, but there is little doubt but that he clearly sought closure in his music.

The work begins yearningly with a serene and dreamlike orchestral introduction. The timpani softly contribute the fate motif, and then the altos enter with the beginning of the Hölderlin poem about the gods’ bliss. Other voices join with warm harmonies to evoke the joy of ideal spiritual existence. After the section closes peacefully, a soft, dissonant chord signals the turbulent middle section. The chorus, now singing of earthbound human fate, bitterly complains of mankind’s suffering with music that violently climaxes with a shrill fury before the chorus fades out, exhausted and despairing. The orchestra then contributes dirge-like music, before Brahms returns to the opening material. By using a different major tonality than he had at the beginning, Brahms ends without a real resolution; although, generally, the music concludes in a peaceful and even particularly beautiful way.

The score calls for a mixed chorus, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani and strings.

Alto Rhapsody

Johannes Brahms Goethe published his famous romance, The Sorrows of Young Werther in 1774.

The subject was a student driven to suicide by unrequited love, and in his treatment of it, the author elevated the sense

Saturday, May 4, 2013, 8 p.m. and Sunday, May 5, 2013, 3 p.m.

and emotions above reason. Werther’s text was an enormous success with the young people of Germany, who sought to identify themselves with its hero and his flight from the world of reality. In 1777, Goethe went to see a young recluse in the Harz Mountains who had written a particularly affecting letter about himself and Werther, which the poet immortalized in a work he called Harzreise im Winter (“Winter Journey in the Harz Mountains”).

Brahms wrote his Alto Rhapsody in 1869, using as his text three central stanzas from Goethe’s Harzreise. The first stanza describes the melancholy of the youth in the wilderness; the second offers some reflections on his sadness, and the third is a prayer for heavenly consolation. The first two stanzas are for contralto soloist with orchestra. In the third, the male chorus joins them.

When Brahms wrote the Rhapsody, he, too, had suffered a disappointment in love. He had already been thwarted by the unattainability of Clara Schumann, even after she was a widow.

Brahms later became infatuated with Julie Schumann, 20 years younger than the composer and the daughter of Robert and Clara Schumann, who chose to become engaged to a Count Marmorito.

Brahms sublimated his grief at this lost opportunity; he had never declared his love to young Julie. He confided that the Rhapsody had been written as a gift, “a bridal song for the Schumann Countess.” He told a friend that he was so attached to the score that he slept with it under his pillow at night, so as to have it always close to him. Shortly after he finished the work, Brahms showed it to Clara Schumann, who wrote in her diary, “A few days ago, Johannes showed me a wonderful work. … He called it his bridal song. It is long since I have received so profound an impression; it shook me by the deep-felt grief of its words and music.”

Jan Swafford, a biographer of Brahms, hypothesizes that the music of the Alto Rhapsody signified the composer’s realization that he was not meant to experience love or strong personal relationships: “Whatever succor and redemption

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 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 Willie 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 Marietta R. Balaan Kelli Bankard Mary Bentley* Jocelyn Bond Cheryl Branham Rosalind Breslow Dara Canzano Rebecca Carlson** Anne P. Claysmith Nancy A. Coleman** Victoria Corona Lauren Drinkwater Alejandra Durán-Böhme Lisa Edgley Amy Ellsworth Sarah B. Forman Caitlin A. Garry Carrie Henderson Debbie Henderson Julie Hudson Robyn Kleiner 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 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 Irene M. Kirkpatrick Mary-Hannah Klontz 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** Wendy J. Weinberg

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 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 Charles G. Edmonds 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 José Luis Sánchez 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

applause at Strathmore • MaY/JUNE 2013 35

Saturday, May 4, 2013, 8 p.m. and Sunday, May 5, 2013, 3 p.m.

from despair he might find in life, he would find henceforth in music.”

The declamatory opening of the Rhapsody aims to set the physical scene of a wanderer, who is alone and surrounded by menacing nature. The man is filled with contempt for his fellow men. This music is free and rhapsodic; the fragmented voice part never repeats an idea. The following section is more lyrical, faster and has a more agitated rhythm. Alternations in the rhythm increase the expression of self-doubt and uneasiness. With the gentle modulation to a major tonality and a broadening of the lengths of phrases, in the final part introduces the sense of a chance for peace and revival of the spirit of hope and consolation. Although they begin homophonically, the alto’s solo and the four choir parts eventually become somewhat independent; the overall effect is that of a duet for alto and choir.

The Alto Rhapsody was given a private performance at Karlsruhe in October 1869, just a month after it was completed. It premiered on March 3, 1870, at a concert in Jena with Pauline ViardotGarcia as the contralto soloist. The Alto Rhapsody was immediately successful and has remained one of Brahms’ most popular works; the sincerity of its sentiment and the universality of its hope for future contentment give it a quality that is timeless.

The work is scored for alto, male chorus of tenors and basses, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns and strings.

Symphony No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 98

Johannes Brahms Brahms spent a large part of his early years wandering from one city to another, meeting many of the important participants in Germany’s decentralized musical life and broadening his artistic horizons. When he was in his 20s, he held a post at the court of a minor principality. He settled in Vienna when he was in his 30s, and, like Beethoven before him and Mahler after him, he soon began to spend his summers in the country. In winter, Brahms polished his recent 36 applause at Strathmore • MAY/JUNE 2013

Schicksalslied “Hyperion’s Song of Fate”

Ihr wandelt droben im Licht Auf weichem Boden, selige Genien!

Glänzende Götterlüfte Rühren Euch leicht, Wie die Finger der Künstlerin Heilige Saiten.

Schicksallos, wie der schlafende Säugling, atmen die Himmlischen; Keusch bewahrt in bescheidener Knospe, Blühet ewig Ihnen der Geist, Und die seligen Augen Blicken in stiller Ewiger Klarheit.

Doch uns ist gegeben, Auf keiner Stätte zu ruhn; Es schwinden, es fallen Die leidenden Menschen Blindlings von einer Stunde zur andern, Wie Wasser von Klippe Zu Klippe geworfen, Jahrlang ins Ungewisse hinab.

You wander above in the light on soft ground, blessed genies!

Blazing, divine breezes brush by you as lightly as the fingers of the players on their holy strings.

Fateless, like sleeping infants, the divine beings breathe, chastely protected in modest buds, blooming eternally their spirits, and their blissful eyes gazing in mute, eternal clarity.

Yet there is granted us no place to rest; we vanish, we fall the suffering humans blind from one hour to another, like water thrown from cliff to cliff, for years into the unknown depths.

Alto Rhapsody, Text and Translation Aber abseits wer ist’s?

But who is that apart?

Im Gebüsch verliert sich sein Pfad; His path disappears in the bushes; hinter ihm schlagen die Sträuche zusammen, behind him the branches

spring together; das Gras steht wieder auf, the grass stands up again; die Öde verschlingt ihn. the wasteland engulfs him.

Ach, wer heilet die Schmerzen Ah, who heals the pains dess, dem Balsam zu Gift ward? of him for whom balsam turned to poison?

Der sich Menschenhaß Who drank hatred of man aus der Fülle der Liebe trank! from the abundance of love?

Erst verachtet, nun ein Verächter, First scorned, now a scorner, zehrt er heimlich auf he secretly feeds on seinen eigenen Wert his own merit, In ungenügender Selbstsucht. in unsatisfying egotism.

Ist auf deinem Psalter, Vater der Liebe, ein Ton seinem Ohre vernehmlich, so erquicke sein Herz! Öffne den umwölkten Blick über die tausend Quellen neben dem Durstenden in der Wüste!

If there is on your psaltery Father of love, one note his ear can hear then refresh his heart!

Open his clouded gaze to the thousand springs next to him who thirsts in the wilderness!

Saturday, May 4, 2013, 8 p.m. and Sunday, May 5, 2013, 3 p.m.

compositions and planned his next ones, but the serious business of invention and creation were summer activities for him.

Brahms wrote his Symphony No. 4, two movements each summer, during 1884 and 1885, in the Styrian Alps of Austria. Returning from a mountain walk one day, he discovered his lodgings on fire, but, fortunately, his friends had been able to carry most of his books and music out of the burning house. Fortuitously, the manuscript of this symphony was among the papers saved.

Hans von Bülow prepared the orchestra for the first performance of Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 at the court of the Duke of Meiningen; Brahms conducted the premiere on Oct. 25, 1885. A week later, von Bülow had his chance to conduct the new work; in November, Brahms and von Bülow set off on a concert tour of Germany and the Netherlands with the new symphony in their repertoire, but the work was slow to win public favor. Even in Brahms’ own Vienna, the symphony disappointed his friends and delighted his enemies. Twelve years later, there was an extraordinary performance of the symphony again in Vienna. Fatally ill with a disease of the liver, Brahms made his last public appearance at a concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra on March 7, 1897, at which the Symphony No. 4 was played.

The composer’s English pupil, Florence May, described the touching scene: The Fourth Symphony had never become a favorite work in Vienna, had not gained much more from the general public than the respect accorded there to any important work by Brahms.

Today, however, a storm of applause broke out at the end of the first movement, not to be quieted until the composer, coming to the front of the box in which he was seated, showed himself to the audience. The demonstration was renewed after the second and third movements, and an extraordinary scene followed the conclusion of the work. The applauding, shouting house, its gaze riveted on the figure standing in the balcony, seemed unable to let him go. Tears ran down his cheeks as he stood there, shrunken in form,

with lined countenance, strained expression, white hair hanging lank, and through the audience there was a feeling as of a stifled sob, for each knew that they were saying farewell. Another outburst of applause, and yet another; one more acknowledgment from the master, and Brahms and his Vienna had parted forever.

Considered by some as Brahms’ most stimulating symphonic work, the symphony is undoubtedly now one of the cornerstones of the symphonic repertoire. This austere symphony, which has been called an “elegiac” and a “character symphony,” reflects the earnestness and introspection of Brahms’ late years. The first movement, Allegro non troppo, which begins lyrically, becomes alternately contemplative and dramatic, and it builds to a very dramatic and tension-filled climax. The second movement, Andante moderato, with its air of nostalgia and serenity, is based principally on an austere theme in the old, ecclesiastical Phrygian mode. The contrasting robust third movement is the symphony’s scherzo, Allegro giocoso, although it is only distantly related in form to the classical scherzo of Beethoven. It is capricious and full of high spirits. The finale, Allegro energico e passionato, is a chaconne (some call it a passacaglia), a set of continuous variations on an eight-measure theme, based on the chaconne from Bach’s Cantata 150, Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich and unleashed by the trombones in triple meter. Of magnificent proportions, the movement is full of richly contrasting orchestral colors. After presenting the theme in the wind instruments, Brahms constructs a monumentally powerful series of 30 variations, carefully controlling the ebb and flow of the music, the continuity and the contrasts in the eight-measure phrases, until a brilliant coda brings the symphony to a close.

The score calls for piccolo and two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons and contrabassoon, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, triangle and strings.

Copyright Susan Halpern, 2013

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applause at Strathmore • MaY/JUNE 2013 37

Jill Schwartz for Bethesda Magazine May 2013.indd 1

3/27/13 5:01 PM

Friday, May 10, 2013, 8 p.m.

FRIDAY, MAY 10, 2013, 8 P.M.

● Strathmore Presents

Béla Fleck and the Marcus Roberts Trio Béla Fleck, banjo Marcus Roberts, piano Jason Marsalis, drums Rodney Jordan, bass The Music Center at Strathmore Marriott Concert Stage

Béla Fleck

Born and raised in New York City, Béla Fleck began his musical career playing the guitar, but the banjo became his fulltime passion after his grandfather bought him one

in September 1973.

That week, Fleck entered New York City’s High School of Music & Art. He began studies on the French horn but was soon demoted to the chorus. Since the banjo wasn’t an offered elective at Music & Art, Fleck sought lessons through outside sources. Fleck joined his first band, Wicker’s Creek, during this period.

Several months after high school, Fleck moved to Boston to play with Jack Tottle’s Tasty Licks. While in Boston, Fleck continued his jazz explorations, made two albums with Tasty Licks, and at age 19 made his first solo banjo album, Crossing the Tracks, on Rounder Records.

After the break-up of Tasty Licks, Fleck spent a summer on the streets of Boston playing with bass player 38 applause at Strathmore • MAY/JUNE 2013

Mark Schatz. Schatz and Fleck moved to Lexington, Ky., to form Spectrum, which included Jimmy Gaudreau, Glen Lawson and Jimmy Mattingly. While in Spectrum, he and Schatz traveled to California and Nashville to record Fleck’s second album, Natural Bridge, with David Grisman, Mark O’Connor, Ricky Skaggs, Darol Anger, Mike Marshall and other great players.

In 1981, Fleck was invited to join the progressive bluegrass band New Grass Revival.

Toward the end of the New Grass years, Fleck and Howard Levy crossed paths. Next came a phone call from a friend who wanted to introduce him to bass player Victor Lemonte Wooten.

And in 1988 Dick Van Kleek, artistic director for the PBS series Lonesome Pine, offered Fleck a solo show.

Levy and Wooten signed on for the concert, but the group still lacked a drummer. Wooten offered his brother, Roy Wooten, later to become known as FutureMan. Roy Wooten was developing the drumitar, a midi-trigger device that allowed Wooten to play the drums with his fingers triggering various sampled sounds.

Next came the self-titled CD, which Fleck financed himself. The

recording attracted the attention of Warner Brothers Records. The album was nominated for a Grammy, and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones’ second recording, Flight of the Cosmic Hippo, followed suit.

Béla Fleck and the Flecktones have shared the stage with Dave Mathews Band, Sting, Bonnie Raitt and the Grateful Dead, among many others.

The band also has appeared on The Tonight Show, The Arsenio Hall Show, Saturday Night Live and Late Show With David Letterman.

Fleck has been nominated for 30 Grammy Awards and has won 14, including Best Contemporary Jazz Album for The Hidden Land and Best Pop Instrumental Album for Jingle All The Way.

The Marcus Roberts Trio

The Marcus Roberts Trio—led by Roberts on piano, Jason Marsalis on drums and Rodney Jordan on bass—are keen torch-holders of the classic jazz tradition. With Béla Fleck, the trio remains deeply rooted in the form while also pulling from the extensive backgrounds of all the members.

Founded in 1995, the Marcus Roberts Trio is strongly rhythmic, melodic and filled with dynamic contrast. Although the piano is typically the focus of most jazz trios, in the Marcus Roberts Trio all musicians share equally in shaping the direction of the music through changing its tempo, mood, texture or form through a system of musical cues. As a result, each member’s individual talent is showcased along with the powerfully rhythmic group sound.

Roberts’ current focus is on expanding this trio format to larger ensembles, ranging from quartets to septets, octets and larger. In this way, all musicians on the stage will use their musical reflexes and imaginations to improvise freely as individuals and as a group while maintaining the same rhythmic group sound.

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Saturday, May 11, 2013, 8 p.m.

● Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Marin Alsop, Music Director

presents

Chaplin’s Masterpiece:

Modern Times Marin Alsop, conductor Written by Charlie Chaplin Directed by Charlie Chaplin Music by Charlie Chaplin Musical arrangements by David Raksin and Edward Powell Original musical direction by Alfred Newman Original scoring restored for live performance by Timothy Brock THERE WILL BE NO INTERMISSION AT THIS PERFORMANCE. *Modern Times © Roy Export S.A.S Music for Modern Times Copyright © Roy Export Company Establishment and Bourne Co. All rights reserved.

Presenting Sponsor: VOCUS The concert will end at approximately 9:40 p.m.

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., 40 applause at Strathmore • may/june 2013

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 2007, she was honored with a European Women of Achievement Award.

In 2008, she was inducted as a fellow into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and in 2009 Musical America named her Conductor of the Year.

In November 2010, she was inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame. In February 2011, Alsop was named the music director of the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São

Paulo, or the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, effective for the 2012-2013 season. And in March 2011, Alsop was named to The Guardian’s Top 100 Women list. She was also named an artist-in-residence at the Southbank Centre in London in 2011.

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.

Alsop has led the BSO in several outreach initiatives. In 2008, she partnered with the BSO to launch OrchKids, a music education and life enrichment program for youth in West Baltimore. In 2010, she conducted the first “Rusty Musicians with the BSO,” an event that gives amateur musicians the chance to perform onstage with a professional symphony orchestra. In June 2010, Alsop conducted the inaugural BSO Academy, an immersive summer music program that gives more than 100 amateur adult musicians the opportunity to perform alongside a top professional orchestra.

Alsop attended Yale University and received her master’s degree from The Juilliard School. In 1989, her conducting career was launched when she won the Koussevitzky Conducting Prize at Tanglewood, where she studied with Leonard Bernstein.

Program Notes Modern Times

Charles Spencer Chaplin Born April 16, 1889, in London; died Dec. 25, 1977 in Vevey, Switzerland

When Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. was born in a working-class South London neighborhood in 1889, his situation hardly suggested a glorious future. His father, Charles Sr., was a handsome, modestly successful singer/actor in the London music halls of the day, but he

DeaN Alexander

saturday, may 11, 2013, 8 P.M.

Saturday, May 11, 2013, 8 p.m.

was also an alcoholic who abandoned Charlie and his mother soon after the boy was born and died at 37. His mother, Hannah, was also a variety performer, but her singing voice gave out early and she was barely able to support Charlie and his older half-brother Sydney. The family spent several periods living in soul-destroying workhouses for the indigent, and the mentally unstable Hannah Chaplin was committed more than once to an asylum, leaving her two boys virtually parentless.

Young Charlie’s budding performing talent provided the way out of these miserable circumstances. At age 9 he became a singing member of The Eight Lancashire Lads, which appeared in London and on tours around England.

Soon he was in demand as a child actor, specializing in the cheeky role of Billy the Messenger in several Sherlock Holmes plays. Chaplin’s big break came early in 1908, when the 18-year-old became a featured performer with the very popular Fred Karno Co., soon becoming one of its stars. In 1910, the Karno Co. toured America, and Chaplin got his first glimpse of New York City and California.

After another Karno American tour, Chaplin decided to try his luck in the very young world of silent film. Late in 1913, he signed a contract with Mack Sennett’s Keystone Film Co. and moved to Hollywood. Renowned for their hyperkinetic Keystone Kops, Sennett’s films were hastily shot one-reelers sometimes lasting as little as five minutes; Chaplin appeared in 35 of them before moving on to the Essanay studios in 1915. Now directing his films as well as acting in them, he introduced the world to his signature character in The Tramp, released in 1915.

Chaplin recalled that his beloved gentleman tramp with the inimitable rolling walk, originally invented for Sennett in 1914, was a sudden inspiration, undoubtedly based on down-andout characters he had observed growing up on London’s meaner streets. “I had no idea of the character,” he wrote in My Autobiography, “but the moment I was dressed, the clothes and the makeup

made me feel the person he was. I began to know him, and by the time I walked onto the stage, he was fully born. When I confronted Sennett, I assumed the character and strutted about, swinging my cane and parading before him. Gags and comedy ideas went racing through my mind.”

Audiences loved the Little Tramp, and by 1917, Chaplin had signed an annual million-dollar contract with First National Exhibitors Circuit and was able to build his own Los Angeles studios, designed to look like a little English Cotwolds village. From now on, he would run his own show: writing his scenarios, casting his actors, directing and editing his films, as well as starring in them. A series of brilliant comedies featuring the Little Tramp followed: A Dog’s Life, The Idle Class, The Kid, The Circus, The Gold Rush and City Lights.

Modern Times By the mid-1930s, Chaplin was becoming more outspoken about how the Great Depression was crippling the lives of people in America and Europe: the widespread unemployment, the poverty, the social unrest. And he saw a new element intensifying the suffering: the massive rise in industrial mechanization that was throwing people out of work and brutally dehumanizing those who remained in such factories. In his autobiography, he remembered “an interview I had with a bright young reporter on the New York World. Hearing that I was visiting Detroit, he had told me of the factory-belt system there—a harrowing story of big industry luring healthy young men off the farms who, after four or five years at the belt system, became nervous wrecks.” And elsewhere he wrote, “Machinery should benefit mankind. It should not spell tragedy and throw it out of work.”

These concerns became the genesis for Chaplin’s 1936 film Modern Times, considered by many to be the greatest of his Little Tramp films. Once again, as he had done in Gold Rush, he turned tragedy into comedy, albeit comedy with a very serious message. The film’s opening title reads “The story of industry,

of individual enterprise—humanity crusading in the pursuit of happiness,” and it is not meant ironically. Nor is the next sequence really intended to be humorous: a shot of a herd of pigs racing through a crowded gate (presumably to their slaughter) that is immediately transformed into a swarm of men pouring out of a subway entrance.

The Little Tramp is here identified as “a factory worker.” In the film’s first segment, we meet him working on the assembly line, his job to tighten screws on some unidentified gadget as the conveyer belt moves faster and faster.

He is also forced to serve as a guinea pig for a new automated feeding machine devised to eliminate lunch hours; the physical comedy here is hilarious—but also rather appalling—as the machine goes berserk. Sucked into the assemblyline machine, the Little Tramp is caught up in a surreal fantasy of the machine’s belts and wheels, set to equally surreal music. Finally, driven crazy by the demands of the machine, the Little Tramp rampages through the factory in a brilliant ballet wrecking the works.

This entire 20-minute sequence is pure genius—perhaps the greatest in any Chaplin film.

The world outside the factory is equally harsh. Policemen had always been the bane of the Little Tramp’s existence, but here they haunt the streets, ready with their billy clubs to break up worker unrest and to arrest anyone who seems out of line. Like someone trapped in a revolving door, the Little Tramp lands in prison over and over. Ironically, he begins to find jail a safer world than outside and even begs the warden to keep him inside a little longer because “I’m so happy here.”

To lighten his burdens, Chaplin finally gives the Little Tramp a companion: the “Gamine,” an irrepressible girl who is just as impoverished as he. She is played by Chaplin’s third wife, Paulette Goddard, who was also to be featured in his first sound movie, The Great Dictator.

Chaplin described these two characters as “the only two live spirits in a world of automatons. We are children with no sense of responsibility, whereas the rest applause at Strathmore • May/june 2013 41

Saturday, May 11, 2013, 8 p.m.

of humanity is weighed down with duty.

We are spiritually free.” When the Little Tramp makes his trademark exit at the end of the film, he is no longer alone.

Chaplin knew this would be the Little Tramp’s last appearance on the screen. By 1936, it was clear that sound pictures were here to stay, and the pressure to finally make the conversion in his own career was immense. He originally wrote a dialogue script for Modern Times, but after a few rehearsals realized it wouldn’t work for the Tramp. Therefore, he restricted the few spoken words in the film to machines: the factory owner shouting instructions over his television screen, the sales pitch for the feeding machine given on a recording, the news of the day on a prison radio.

Nevertheless, we finally do hear the Little Tramp’s voice in a marvelous tease near the end of the film. The Gamine has gotten a job as a dancer in a cafe, and she arranges for the Tramp to be hired as a singing waiter. Since he can’t remember the words to his song, she

writes them on his shirt cuffs. But when the Tramp sashays onto the dance floor, his cuffs fly off and he can’t retrieve them. Thus he sings the music-hall song “Titine” (not by Chaplin, but by Leo Daniderff) to his own invented gibberish while miming its story to the audience. It is a priceless moment—and the perfect solution to Chaplin’s anxiety never to use English, lest he lose his international polyglot audience.

In the soundtrack, however, we do hear several times a song Chaplin did write: the beloved “Smile.” It’s that song—without its words—that accompanies the Little Tramp and the Gamine as they make their final exit.

The Music for Modern Times The arrival of sound gave Chaplin a delightful new possibility: he could now not only write, direct and act, but also create the music for his films. City Lights in 1931 was his first film score, and from then on, he composed the music for all his films. Composer David Raksin, who

worked with Chaplin on the score for Modern Times, remembered him as a musical magpie who pulled ideas from everything he’d heard, whether the music-hall songs of his youth or the classical music he preferred as an adult.

Chaplin relied heavily on arrangers to elaborate and orchestrate the themes he sang or played on the piano for them. Always the perfectionist, Chaplin devoted many weeks or even months creating his scores.

The score for Modern Times is generally considered Chaplin’s most inventive and accomplished. In the words of Timothy Brock, who made the version of the score we will hear, Chaplin worked his collaborators hard to achieve “the score’s elaborate timing, timing which Chaplin valued nearly as much as the music itself. [His] writing was so moment specific, so tightly synchronized, that one can nearly follow a Chaplin film by only hearing its score without the benefit of the image.”

Notes by Janet E. Bedell, copyright 2013

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Saturday, May 18, 2013, 8 p.m.

SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2013, 8 P.M.

● Strathmore Presents

Underground Railroad: An Evening With Kathleen Battle Kathleen Battle, soprano Cyrus Chestnut, piano Heritage Signature Chorale, Stanley Thurston, director The Music Center at Strathmore Marriott Concert Stage

Kathleen Battle

Soprano Kathleen Battle’s luminous voice has been called “…without qualification, one of the very few most beautiful in the world” (The Washington Post).

Yet beyond the glory of her singing, in a career filled with countless accolades, honors and major milestones, what has perhaps distinguished her most is her almost magical ability to create an unwavering emotional bond between herself, her music and her audience.

In her youth, this native of Portsmouth, Ohio, the youngest of seven children, sang in church and school, and envisioned a future as a music teacher. Instead, her soaring voice carried her to the heights of the classical music world. Battle’s repertoire includes Handel (Cleopatra in the Metropolitan Opera’s premiere staging of Giulio Cesare), Richard Strauss (Sophie, Zdenka, Zerbinetta), Mozart (Susanna, Despina, Pamina and Zerlina), Rossini (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) and Donizetti (L’Elisir d’Amore, Don Pasquale, La Fille du Regiment).

Battle’s gifts as a singer extend beyond the realm of classical music. Her work as an interpreter of spirituals is documented on a joint recital CD with Jessye Norman, Spirituals in Concert (DG). Battle also drew considerable attention with the world premiere of Honey and Rue, a song cycle with music

by Oscar- and Grammy-winning composer André Previn and lyrics by Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison, commissioned for Battle by Carnegie Hall for its 100th anniversary.

Since then, she has performed the work with leading orchestras and in recital throughout the world.

The recording of this cycle was released by DG, on a disc that also includes Barber’s “Knoxville: Summer of 1915” and arias from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. Battle also was joined by leading jazz musicians for her first crossover album, So Many Stars (Sony Classical), a collection of lullabies, spirituals and folksongs.

Some of Battle’s memorable live performances captured on CD include Mozart’s Coronation Mass from the Vatican and the 1987 New Year’s Concert, both with Herbert von Karajan conducting.

Her performance of the title role in the DG recording of Handel’s Semele earned Battle a fifth Grammy Award.

Battle earned both her bachelor’s

and master’s degrees from the College Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati. She has been awarded eight honorary doctoral degrees, and has been inducted into the NAACP Image Award Hall of Fame and the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame.

Cyrus Chestnut

Virtuosic and playful, pianist Cyrus Chestnut’s hard swinging, soulful sounds have become a staple in the jazz community.

Blending contemporary jazz, traditional jazz and gospel, plus the occasional seasonings of Latin and samba, Chestnut gives himself freedom to both explore different emotions and keep his music in recognizable form.

Chestnut discovered his love for the piano at age 3. By 6 he was playing in church, and at 9 he was studying classical music. He went on to receive countless awards for his exceptional performance standards at Berklee College of Music, where he earned a degree in jazz composition and arranging.

Chestnut has been featured in the Robert Altman film Kansas City, where he played a Count Basie-inspired character in the production that explored love, crime, race and politics in 1930s.

Chestnut has played with many leaders in the music scene including Wynton Marsalis, Freddie Hubbard, Branford Marsalis, Chick Corea, Dizzy Gillespie, Jon Hendricks and Betty Carter, recording and performing live around the world.

Chestnut also has also collaborated with Vanessa Williams, Brian McKnight, Kathleen Battle, Freddy Cole, Bette Midler, Jimmy Scott, Isaac Hayes and Kevin Mahogany. His leadership and prowess as a soloist has led him to be a first call for the piano chair in big bands including the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Dizzy Gillespie Big Band and Carnegie Hall Jazz Orchestra.

Chestnut’s latest highly acclaimed trio album, Journeys, follows his first solo album, Spirit. Both albums can be found on the Jazz Legacy Productions label. applause at Strathmore • MAY/JUNE 2013 43

Saturday, May 25, 2013, 8 p.m.

● Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Marin Alsop, Music Director

presents

Romeo and Juliet Carlos Kalmar, conductor Jean-Philippe Collard, piano

Phenomenon

Piano Concerto No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 29 Moderato assai Andante Allegro non troppo Jean-Philippe Collard

Narong Prangcharoen (1973-) Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)

INTERMISSION

Suite from Romeo and Juliet The Montagues and the Capulets The Young Girl Juliet Madrigal A Scene Folk Dance Arrival of the Guests (Minuet) Masks Romeo and Juliet Tybalt’s Death Romeo at Juliet’s Grave

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)

Presenting Sponsor: M&T Bank Media Sponsor: WETA 90.9 FM The concert will end at approximately 9:50 p.m.

The Music Center at Strathmore Marriott Concert Stage

Carlos Kalmar, conductor Carlos Kalmar is in his 10th season as music director of the Oregon Symphony.

He was appointed to the post in 2003, and his contract was extended until 2015. He is also chief conductor and artistic director of the Spanish Radio/ 44 applause at Strathmore • MAy/june 2013

Television Orchestra and Choir in Madrid and artistic director and principal conductor of the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago.

In May 2011, he made his New York debut at Carnegie Hall with the Oregon Symphony, as part of the inaugural Spring for Music festival. Both his imaginative program, Music for a Time of War, and the performance itself were hailed by critics in The New

York Times, New Yorker magazine and Musical America, and the recording of the program (Music for a Time of War, PentaTone Classics) was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 2012.

A regular guest conductor with major orchestras in America, Europe and Asia, Kalmar has conducted the symphony orchestras of Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston, Detroit, Milwaukee, Nashville, Seattle, Helsinki, Lahti and St. Louis; and also the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Minnesota Orchestra. He returns to Houston, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Detroit, Nashville, Seattle and Baltimore in 2012-2013 and 2013-2014.

Kalmar last appeared with the BSO in May 2011, conducting Mahler/Britten’s “What the Wildflowers Tell Me,” Sibelius’ Violin Concerto with Karen Gomyo and Walton’s Symphony No. 1.

Jean-Philippe Collard, piano

Jean-Philippe Collard’s repertoire knows no geographical boundaries.

He has appeared as soloist with the Cleveland, Philadelphia and Minnesota orchestras; the Orchestre de Paris; Orchestre National de Lyon; London’s Philharmonia Orchestra; the Orchestra of St. Luke’s; the New York, BBC, Royal, Los Angeles and Royal Liverpool philharmonic orchestras; and the BBC, San Francisco, London, Vienna, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Boston and Tokyo symphony orchestras.

He has collaborated with such renowned conductors as Semyon Bychkov, Marek Janowski, Eugen Jochum, Seiji Ozawa, André Previn, Simon Rattle and Charles Dutoit. He has also performed at the London Proms concert, and the Edinburgh, Aldeburgh, Bad Kissingen, Salzburg, Bath, Caramoor, Newport and Saratoga festivals.

Collard last appeared with the BSO in March 2003, performing Ravel’s

KALMAR PHOTO BY JAY MOREAU

saturday, may 25, 2013, 8 P.M.

Saturday, May 25, 2013, 8 p.m.

Piano Concerto in G, with Yan Pascal Tortelier conducting.

Program Notes Phenomenon

Narong Prangcharoen Born in 1973 in Uttaradit, Thailand; now living in Kansas City, Mo.

Unlike China, Japan and South Korea, Thailand has never been considered to be an Asian hotbed of Western classical music. But the young Thai composer Narong Prangcharoen is changing that with his vivid orchestral pieces performed by orchestras throughout America, Europe and Asia, as well as with the Thailand Composition Festival he founded in Bangkok five years ago.

Now based in the United States, Prangcharoen studied composition in Thailand before coming to America to study at Illinois State University. He earned a doctorate at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where his principal teacher was the distinguished Chinese-American composer Chen Yi. Prangcharoen still teaches there, in addition to his busy freelance composing career.

Premiered in Tokyo by the Tokyo Philharmonic in 2004, the mesmerizing Phenomenon, about an eerie natural phenomenon that takes place in Northern Thailand, is perhaps his most widely performed composition.

As Prangcharoen writes: “Phenomenon is one of my pieces inspired by the power of nature. It was inspired by such unexplainable natural phenomena as the Aurora Borealis, the Bolides [large, explosive meteorites] and, more especially, the Naga Fireballs of Northeast Thailand. The Naga Fireballs are an extraordinary phenomenon that occur annually at the end of Buddhist Lent in an area of the Mekong River stretching over 20 kilometers between the Pak-Ngeum and Phon Phisai districts in Nong Khai province. The piece starts with the chaos of people traveling to the Mekong River to observe the Naga Fireballs. After that, it describes the

fireballs appearing at the bottom of the river, rising above the water, floating into the sky and then, unlike normal fireballs, disappearing without falling back to the earth. The legend says that Nagas (sacred snakes) create the fireballs to celebrate the Lord Buddha’s return to earth from the second heaven, where he has traveled to give a sermon to his mother. This piece, full of energy, represents both the celebration and the strong faith of the Nagas and of the people who travel to observe the Naga Fireballs.”

Prangcharoen has these reassuring words for audience members: “If you are afraid that you will not be able to understand my music, there is nothing to understand anyway. Let your heart tell you what to feel, and you will, I hope, be gradually moved by my sounds.”

Instrumentation: Three flutes, piccolo, three oboes, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, piano and strings.

Piano Concerto No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op, 29

Camille Saint-Saëns Born Oct. 9, 1835, in Paris; died Dec. 16, 1921, in Algiers, Algeria

Camille Saint-Saëns was one of the most prodigiously gifted of all musicians.

He was among the finest piano virtuosos of his day, which, because of his long lifespan, ranged over eight decades. He also was a prolific composer who wrote in virtually every genre from opera (Samson et Dalila) to symphony (the “Organ” Symphony, which we heard a few months back).

Unlike many musicians who are fully absorbed by their field, Saint-Saëns’ knowledge and interests ranged far beyond music. He pursued studies in literature, mathematics, archaeology, geology and astronomy with more than amateur ability and wrote as energetically about them as he did about musical topics.

All this talent revealed itself at an early age. He began piano lessons at 2½ and played the piano part of a Beethoven violin sonata at a private

concert when 4½. His major professional debut came at 10, at Paris’ celebrated Salle Pleyel; after a concert including Mozart and Beethoven concertos, he offered as an encore the audience’s choice of any one of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas, played from memory (history doesn’t tell us if anyone demanded the Hammerklavier!).

Saint-Saëns’ sheer facility as both composer and pianist is demonstrated by his five piano concertos, of which we will hear the Piano Concerto No. 3. It was composed in 1868, hard on the heels of his Piano Concerto No. 2. Naturally, Saint-Saëns himself was the soloist at its first performance at the Leipzig Gewandhaus on Nov. 25, 1869. Though it is seldom performed today, it is a spectacular showpiece for the virtuosity of a pianist as gifted as its composer.

The spacious sonata-form first movement opens most unusually and beautifully with cascades of arpeggios in the piano—Saint-Saëns said they were inspired by the sound of waterfalls in the Alps—above which the horns and other instruments preview the beginning of the main theme. Finally, the tempo increases to Allegro maestoso, and the pianist proclaims that proud ascending melody at full length. A whirlwind transition closes on an arresting dissonant chord, and then a slower tempo ushers in a dreaming lyrical section built on the piano’s quiet arpeggio theme.

Now Saint-Saëns adds a bonus for the soloist: a lengthy cadenza that’s half meditative, half dramatic. This moves to the faster development section, led off by the principal theme, but also containing echoes of the dreaming second theme. And again Saint-Saëns is thinking of his own need to shine, for he introduces a second cadenza for the piano, launched on a long trill, before a solo flute enters to recapituate the main theme.

The slow movement in E major opens in an atmosphere of mystery, with strange harmonies moving over a sustained, stabilizing pedal note in the basses. Muted violins sing a lovely, slightly melancholic theme, rich in applause at Strathmore • MAy/june 2013 45

Saturday, May 25, 2013, 8 p.m.

Wagnerian chromaticism. A dark, stentorian second theme is played by the pianist using only his left hand. Eventually, the pianist reprises the violin theme, embroidering it with the lavish counterpoint Saint-Saëns was so expert at creating. This beautiful movement flows directly into the finale.

Low strings build excitement for the piano’s rambunctious rondo theme, which sets the tone for this lighthearted movement. This music is hardly subtle, but as a demonstration of brilliant pianism, it is everything that Saint-Saëns—the virtuoso pianist, as well as composer—could desire.

Instrumentation: Two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani and strings.

Selections from Romeo and Juliet

Sergei Prokofiev Born April 23, 1891, in Sontsovka, Ukraine; died March 5, 1953, in Moscow

Though now more than 400 years old, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet still reigns as the most compelling of all love stories. And it has held as much allure for composers as for theater and film directors.

As he returned to the Soviet Union in the mid-1930s, after years of exile in the West, Sergei Prokofiev chose Romeo and Juliet as a gift to his homeland, honoring the Russian tradition of full-length story ballets such as Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty. In Paris, he had already proven his skills in creating dance music with the ballets Pas d’Acier and The Prodigal Son for Diaghilev and his celebrated Ballets Russes. His keen dramatic sense had also been revealed in a series of highly effective operas, including The Gambler, The Love for Three Oranges and The Fiery Angel.

With a commission from Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet in hand and the love story driving his imagination, Prokofiev wrote most of the two-hour-plus score rapidly over the summer and early fall of 1935. But when he played the music for the Bolshoi staff on Oct. 4, they were dismayed: Prokofiev had given his ballet 46 applause at Strathmore • MAy/june 2013

a happy ending in which Juliet awakens in time to prevent Romeo’s suicide! In his autobiography, Prokofiev explained: “The reasons for this bit of barbarism were purely choreographic: living people can dance, the dead cannot.”

Convinced that the lovers’ deaths could indeed be staged effectively, he rewrote his ending to match Shakespeare’s.

But more trouble arose as the ballet went into rehearsal. Bewildered by Prokofiev’s frequently complicated rhythms, the dancers complained that the music was “undanceable,” and the Bolshoi eventually dropped the production. But Prokofiev believed deeply in his score— a magnificent blending of his melodic gifts, sophisticated wit and cinematic skill of painting pictures with music— and, in 1936, he created two concert suites to advertise his masterpiece.

Audiences fell in love with the music, and, ultimately, Leningrad’s Kirov Ballet mounted a triumphant production in January 1940 that established the work as one of the jewels of the classical ballet repertoire.

Maestro Kalmar has chosen 10 selections, comprising all of Prokofiev’s Suite No. 1 and three sequences from Suite No. 2.

“The Montagues and Capulets”: With two savagely dissonant, crescendoing chords, Prokofiev sets the tragic scene as in the play’s prologue, wherein the Prince of Verona forbids the two families to continue their feud. Then, in the swaggering macho dance of the Capulet men at Juliet’s ball, the composer incisively demonstrates why this command will be ignored. In a lyrical interlude, Romeo first spies Juliet dancing with Paris, the man her parents wish her to marry.

“The Young Girl Juliet”: Shakespeare tells us that Juliet is not yet 14, and Prokofiev charmingly shows her innocence and frisky girlishness before she meets Romeo. Two flutes sing her theme, revealing the passionate depths of her nature.

“Madrigal” represents Romeo’s first meeting with Juliet at the Capulet ball. This beautiful episode features the first hints of the great love theme that

will come to full flower in the Balcony Scene, “Romeo and Juliet.”

“A Scene” is the light-hearted music from the beginning of Act I depicting early morning on a street in Verona.

“Folk Dance”: Prokofiev invented a scene not found in Shakespeare to provide relief from the dramatic tension at the opening of Act II: a colorful street fair where the citizens of Verona dance this vivacious tarantella.

“Arrival of the Guests” (Minuet): a stately minuet for the full ensemble as they arrive at Juliet’s ball.

“Masks”: mischievous, rhythmically intricate music for the arrival of Romeo and his fellow Montagues, wearing masks to disguise their identities, at the Capulet ball.

“Romeo and Juliet”: Here is one of ballet’s greatest pas de deux: Prokofiev’s glorious setting of the famous balcony scene between the two lovers, featuring the composer’s trademark: ecstatic highregister violin writing.

“Tybalt’s Death”: This brutally virtuosic sequence describes the two contrasting duels that set the tragedy in motion. First, a playful scherzo-like fight in which Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt, accidentally kills Romeo’s prankster friend, Mercutio; then, Romeo’s frenzied duel of vengeance with Tybalt. Fifteen savage, short chords mark Tybalt’s death.

Brass cry out a desperate version of the love theme as the Capulets bear away his body.

“Romeo at Juliet’s Grave” opens with the heavy sorrow of Juliet’s funeral cortege—her family and the hidden Romeo unaware that she is still alive.

Romeo dances with Juliet’s lifeless body to reminiscence the love theme. As Juliet’s theme sounds high in the violins, Romeo drinks poison and dies. Prokofiev hammers home the tragedy with heartbreaking force.

Instrumentation: Two flutes, piccolo, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, piano, celeste, tenor saxophone and strings.

Notes by Janet E. Bedell copyright 2013

COMING TO

strathmore

Puppetry for Families CASHORE MARIONETTES SIMPLE GIFTS

SUNDAY, JUNE 30, 1 & 3PM Experience a riveting, compelling series of touching portrayals and poignant scenes from everyday life, set to music by Vivaldi, Strauss, Beethoven and Copland.

Best for ages 6 and up Cashore Marionettes

take

Strathmore JUNE–AUGUST, 2013 Explore the art of puppetry in performances, fine art, artist interactions and more!

Fine Art Exhibit NO STRINGS ATTACHED

JUNE 22–AUGUST 17 MANSION Don Becker, Smart Frog

Performance Art for Adults PUPPET SLAM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 7 & 9PM Discover D.C.’s masters of puppet mayhem in short-form puppet theater, featuring newer, more irreverent puppetry intended for adults.

BLAIR THOMAS & COMPANY HARD HEADED HEART

BLUE SKY PUPPET THEATER ELEVENTH FINGER SATURDAY, JULY 20, 1 & 3PM Follow the adventures of Feathers, an apprentice wood-carver who sets off on a quest to solve an ancient riddle.

Best for ages 5 to 12

Blue Sky Puppet Theater

SUNDAY, AUGUST 4, 1 & 3PM Puppetry and performance art collide in this trio of vignettes based on the words of Federico García Lorca, Wallace Stevens, and the blues classic “St. James Infirmary.”

Blair Thomas & Company

NANA PROJECTS THE OPAL WHITELEY PROJECT

Plus, hands-on education programs for kids, discussions and more!

Visit www.strathmore.org/puppets for the complete schedule.

www.strathmore.org | (301) 581-5100 Strathmore Ticket Office 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD Groups Save! (301) 581-5199

Strathmore-Commissioned New Work SATURDAY, JULY 27, 1 & 3PM The tale of the mysterious little girl whose fantastical diaries were published in 1920, and performed in the style of Victorian Magic Lantern slide shows. Strathmore Artist in Residence ellen cherry composed the original score.

Best for ages 10 and up

Thursday, May 30, 2013, 8 p.m.

● Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Marin Alsop, Music Director Jack Everly, Principal Pops Conductor

presents

The Magic of Motown Jack Everly, conductor Spectrum Darryl Grant, David Prescott, Pierre Jovan and Cushney Roberts

Radiance

Marque Munday, Vivian Ross, Wendy Edmead and Crystal Robinson The concert will end at approximately 10:10 p.m.

The Music Center at Strathmore Marriott Concert Stage

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 48 applause at Strathmore • MAY/JUNE 2013

Memorial Day Concert and A Capitol Fourth on PBS. He has been on stage with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl and The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, and appears regularly with The Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom Music Center. His frequent guest conducting engagements includes the orchestras of Pittsburgh, Fort Worth, Edmonton, Oklahoma City and Toronto.

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 has teamed with Marvin Hamlisch in Broadway shows that Hamlisch scored including, The Goodbye Girl, They’re Playing Our Song and A Chorus Line. He conducted Carol Channing hundreds of times in Hello, Dolly! in two separate Broadway productions.

Everly conducted the songs for

Disney’s animated film The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and led the Czech Philharmonic on the CDs In the Presence, featuring Daniel Rodriguez and Sandi Patty’s 2011 Broadway Stories. He also conducted the critically praised Everything’s Coming Up Roses: The Complete Overtures of Broadway’s Jule Styne, and was music director for numerous Broadway cast recordings.

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.

When not on the podium or arranging, Everly indulges in his love for films, Häagen-Dazs, and a pooch named Max.

Spectrum

Spectrum draws upon the talent of four distinct voices to form a first-class vocal quartet.

After spending six years re-creating the sound and style of The Four Tops in the Las Vegas productions American Superstars and Legends in Concert, the group has developed the versatility to cover the music of groups from The Platters to The Temptations to Boyz II Men. It is this versatility that has allowed them to headline their own shows.

Spectrum’s credits include European tours, headlining aboard Royal Carib-

Everly photo by Michael Tammaro

THURSDAY, MAY 30, 2013, 8 P.M.

Thursday, May 30, 2013, 8 p.m.

bean, Princess & Norwegian Cruise Line ships and a doo-wop to soul revue at the Hollywood Palladium, as well as performances with more than 40 symphony orchestras throughout North America. Spectrum’s performances, collectively and individually, include appearances on numerous television shows, featured appearances in motion pictures and singing the National Anthem at professional sporting events. Members of the group also have recorded with or opened for Tony Bennett, The Temptations, Little Richard, the late Marty Robbins, The Platters and Doc Severenson, among other artists.

Voted Best of Las Vegas in 2005 and 2006, the quartet’s show ran for four years in succession on the Las Vegas Strip. In 2009 the group was selected to receive the Vegas Entertainment Consumer’s Living Legends Award for Excellence in Entertainment. In April 2012 Spectrum received a star on Las Vegas’ Walk of Fame.

The members of Spectrum are

master recording artist Darryl Grant of Oakland, Calif.; Chicago-born musician and versatile entertainer Pierre Jovan; David Prescott, the silky smooth, soaring first tenor from Rochester, N.Y.; and singer, actor and group founder Cushney Roberts, from East Orange, N.J.

Radiance Radiance brings to life the music of The Supremes, Martha & the Vandellas, The Marvellettes and many more legendary female acts.

The group has performed with Spectrum and on its own in Las Vegas for the past several years. It was formed specifically to compliment Spectrum.

Some of the songs in their repertoire include, “Come See About Me,” “Dancin’ in the Streets,” “Stop in the Name of Love,” “Please Mr. Postman,” “You Keep Me Hanging On” and “When Will I See You Again.”

Members of Radiance bring their years of experience to the stage,

having performed with contemporary versions of the Supremes, Vandellas and Marvelettes. The ladies also have performed in various international Motown tribute tours.

The costuming, choreography, harmonies, energy and excitement make for a spectacular show that transports audience members back to a time that formed a major cornerstone in American music of the 1960s and ’70s.

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Saturday, June 1, 2013, 8 p.m.

SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 2013, 8 P.M.

● The National Philharmonic Piotr Gajewski, Music Director and Conductor

presents

Wagner 200th Anniversary Celebration Piotr Gajewski, conductor

Der Fliegende Holländer: Prelude Richard Wagner

(1813-1883) Lohengrin: Prelude to Act III

Tannhäuser: Prelude

Das Rheingold: “Entry of the Gods into Valhalla”

The National Philharmonic

Die Walküre: “Ride of the Valkyries”

Siegfried: “Forest Murmurs” INTERMISSION

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Prelude Götterdämmerung:

“Siegfried’s Funeral Music”

Parsifal: “Good Friday Spell”

Tristan und Isolde: Prelude and Liebestod

All Kids, All Free, All the Time is sponsored by The Gazette The Music Center at Strathmore Marriott Concert Stage

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. The Washington Post recognizes him as an “immensely talented and insightful conductor,” whose “standards, taste and sensitivity are impeccable.”

50 applause at Strathmore • MAY/JUNE 2013

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 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

Led by Music Director and Conductor Piotr Gajewski, the National Philharmonic is known for performances that are “powerful,” impeccable” and “thrilling” (The Washington Post). The Philharmonic boasts a long-standing tradition of reasonably priced tickets and free admission to all young people ages 7 through 17 under the All Kids, All Free, All the Time program, assuring its place as an accessible and enriching component in Montgomery County and the greater Washington, D.C. area.

As the Music Center at Strathmore’s ensemble-in-residence, the National Philharmonic showcases world-renowned guest artists in symphonic masterpieces conducted by Gajewski and choral masterworks under National Philharmonic Chorale Artistic Director Stan Engebretson.

The National Philharmonic also offers exceptional education programs.

Each year the Philharmonic, in partnership with Strathmore and Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), performs Strathmore Student Concerts— performances for every MCPS secondand fifth-grade student. The concerts, which are geared specifically to the age groups, take place over six days and make it possible for nearly 20,000 children to experience the thrill of hearing a live orchestra each year. In addition, annual winners of the high school Concerto Competition are given the

MICHAEL Ventura

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. His teachers there included Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, André Previn, Gunther Schuller, Gustav Meier and Maurice Abravanel.

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.

Saturday, June 1, 2013, 8 p.m.

opportunity to perform as guest soloists with the Philharmonic at the Strathmore Student Concerts for MCPS second-graders at Strathmore.

Throughout the year, the Philharmonic offers master classes in which talented young musicians perform for and are mentored by critically acclaimed guest artists who appear in concert with the orchestra. All National Philharmonic concerts at the Music Center at Strathmore are preceded by free pre-concert lectures at the Education Center.

Each summer, the National Philharmonic’s String Institutes offer talented and aspiring middle and high school musicians an intensive week of mentoring, chamber music coaching, individual lessons and ensemble rehearsals led by Gajewski, Associate Conductor Victoria Gau, members of the Philharmonic and other distinguished faculty. Another summer program invites talented high school singers for intensive vocal training, master classes and rehearsals led by Engebretson and Montgomery College Choral Director Molly Donnelly.

For more information, visit www.nationalphilharmonic.org.

Program Notes Der Fliegende Holländer: Prelude

Richard Wagner Born May 22, 1813, in Leipzig, Germany; died Feb. 13, 1883, in Venice, Italy

Wagner’s music captured Germany’s imagination in the 19th century. He was a composer who was, strikingly, both overwhelmingly important and controversial as an artistic figure. He composed 13 operas, nine of them still frequently performed today, and succeeded in raising the perception of opera to the heights the symphony had occupied since Beethoven.

In the folklore of the sea, The Flying Dutchman, the name Wagner gave to an early opera, is equated with the name of a ghost ship that is an omen of disaster when it is seen in stormy weather off the Cape of Good Hope. This

legend captured the Romantic imagination, and a version of it by the German poet, Heinrich Heine, became the basis of Wagner’s libretto for his opera.

The plot of the opera tells of an old Dutch sea captain who is battling his way around the Cape of Good Hope in a furious tempest. He swears that he will round the Cape if it takes an eternity to do it. For this blasphemous oath, the Devil condemns the captain and his crew to sail forever, unless he is able to gain the love of a virtuous woman who would be faithful to him until death. In order to search for such a woman, he is allowed to go ashore once every seven years. One of those seven-year respites is at hand, and the Dutchman puts into port on the coast of Norway, alongside the ship of the Norwegian captain, Daland. It is Daland’s daughter, Senta, who brings about the Dutchman’s salvation with her love.

In 1839, Wagner’s two-year contract as music director of the Riga Opera expired and he decided to make his way to Paris. At what was then the Prussian port of Königsberg, he boarded a small sailing vessel that was bound for London. “I shall never forget that voyage,” he wrote in his autobiography. “It lasted three and a half weeks and was weighted with disaster. Three times we nearly foundered in the storm. The story of the Flying Dutchman was told by the sailors.” When he arrived in Paris, Wagner set to work on the text of what would become the opera, The Flying Dutchman, and soon sold the scenario to the manager of the opera, who originally commissioned another, now forgotten composer to write the music.

Wagner’s opera was first performed in Dresden, in 1843. The Prelude is a musical summary of the whole work, the storm at sea, the doleful Dutchman and his curse, the love of the maiden Senta, the Dutchman’s redemption through love and the songs of the ship’s crew.

Lohengrin: Prelude to Act III

Lohengrin was the first of Wagner’s two operas about the Knights of the Holy Grail. He composed it over a protracted period in a disordered sequence starting

with Act III, completing the orchestration in 1848. On Aug. 28, 1850, Franz Liszt conducted the premiere at the Weimar Court Theater. Wagner based the libretto on two 13th century works, a poem by the knight Wolfram von Eschenbach, who is a character in Tannhäuser, and The Knight of the Swan

by Conrad von Würzburg. In the opera’s plot, Lohengrin, son of Parsifal and a Knight of the Holy Grail, defends Elsa, who has been falsely accused of murder.

She is absolved, and Lohengrin agrees to marry her on the condition that she does not ask about his name or his past.

The joyous Prelude to Act III conveys the joy and expectations that Elsa and Lohengrin feel on the eve of their wedding. The opening section of the music is very much like a giant fanfare and it begins with a triumphant theme in the low instruments. The quieter middle section, begun with a lyrical oboe solo, is reminiscent of a scene in the preceding act in which Elsa’s music is played.

The jubilant fanfare returns at the end.

Tannhäuser: Prelude

Wagner depicted love most vividly in his opera, Tannhäuser. Tannhäuser is the name of a German poet and singer of the 13th century whose life and imaginative works blended into a popular legend that survived for many centuries.

Wagner sketched his idea for an opera on Tannhäuser and the Song Contest on the Wartburg in 1842, completed the libretto in 1843 and finished the score in 1845. On Oct. 19, 1845, he conducted the first performance of this work at the Dresden Court Theater where he held the post of music director. The music puzzled the public, the critics and the performers alike. “I was numbed,” Wagner wrote of the resistance to Tannhäuser, but before long, the work made its way into every opera house in Germany, and then in the world.

Wagner’s poem tells of Tannhäuser’s escape from the enchanted palace of Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, and his search for Elisabeth, his true love in the real world. He goes to the Wartburg, a castle on the top of a mountain where a minstrels’ song contest applause at Strathmore • May/june 2013 51

Saturday, June 1, 2013, 8 p.m.

actually took place in 1207. There he enters the competition for which the prize is Elisabeth’s hand in marriage, but the gathering there becomes outraged when his song turns out to be a glorification of the carnal pleasures offered by the pagan goddess, Venus. In the final act, Elisabeth dies of sorrow as Tannhäuser returns from Rome, where he has gone on a pilgrimage to beg forgiveness from the Pope. The story has, of course, more complexity than seems apparent in this abbreviated synopsis, but elements of the whole tale appear in the music of the Prelude. The story symbolizes the conflict between the higher and lower natures of man, indicating the tremendous power of the senses and the supremacy of the soul.

The prelude opens with the stately pilgrims’ chorus and the themes associated in the drama with the ideas of pardon, contrition and salvation. These soon become engulfed in the wild, whirling bacchanalian music of the Venusberg, which represents fleshy sensuality. The third theme reflects Elisabeth’s prayers and the theme of piety.

Eventually, pardon thunders out triumphantly, while simultaneously a divine celestial sound can be heard. The bacchanale in the Venusberg section later extends, providing a frenzied orgy of ballet music. The bacchantes stirred up the dancers to their orgiastic excitement as the music expresses their emotion with a rich, voluptuous sound. During this revelry, the listener can hear the rising chromatic four-note phrase also used in Tristan und Isolde.

stolen from the Rhine River. Throughout, several mythic characters struggle for possession of the Ring, which is given great significance and impacts on the lives of two generations of gods and demigods. Wagner began working on his project in 1848, a year of political and revolution throughout Europe. By the time he had completed the cycle in the 1870s, it consisted of four large works for which he constructed a special theater in Bayreuth, the Festspielhaus, where the Ring premiered between Aug. 13 and 17, 1876.

Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold) is the opening drama of the Ring cycle. At its end, the gods prepare to enter their new home. Donner, the god of storms, ascends a mountain and strikes his hammer to summon thunder and lightning.

After the storm ends and the clouds disappear, a new castle can be seen in the valley. Froh creates a rainbow bridge that stretches to the gate of the castle. The opera reaches its climax when Wotan leads them across the bridge to the castle, which he names Valhalla, the palace where they will live as heroes forever now that it is finally ready for habitation. Fricka asks Wotan about the name, and he replies mysteriously that its meaning will become clear when his plans blossom. The music, “Entry of the Gods into Valhalla,” which includes the rainbow motive, is glowing and majestic. Wagner uses six harps, winds and strings to accompany a long cello melody. Horns play the Valhalla motif, which grows in intensity until it finally reveals the scene’s full splendor.

Das Rheingold: “Entry of the Gods into

Die Walküre: “Ride of the Valkyries”

Valhalla”

At the end of the second opera of the Ring cycle, Die Walküre (“The Valkyries”), the god Wotan must punish his daughter, Brünnhilde, the leader of the warrior-maidens called Valkyries, for disobeying his orders. The Valkyries are the nine daughters of Wotan and the earth-goddess Erda. These daughters are demi-goddesses who have the mission of carrying the bodies of heroes slain in war up to Valhalla, their heavenly retreat, where the men are restored to life and go to join the battles of Wotan, the

Wagner uses the subjects that had not been traditional for serious opera, choosing instead to use Norse mythology and the Germanic epics of the Middle Ages.

His famous series, Der Ring des Nibelungen, explored what he determined were the roots of German culture, basing his work on the Middle High German Nibelungenlied and several Norse sources.

The plot revolves around a magic ring that grants the power to rule the world, forged by a Nibelung dwarf from gold 52 applause at Strathmore • MAY/JUNE 2013

chief god, against his enemies. Wotan condemns Brünnhilde to become a mortal. As a result, as an ordinary human, she must sleep on a mountain rock until the first passing stranger claims her, but Wotan surrounds her with a wall of magic fire that only a man who is deemed to be a true hero will be able to penetrate.

Ride of the Valkyries is a concert version of the introduction to Act III of the opera. In the stirring scene depicted by this music, the Valkyries, in shining armor, ride over a rocky mountain with the heroes’ bodies slung across their saddles. The music depicts the beating rhythm of their magic horses, the musical motif of the Valkyries, and their fierce battle-cry, “Ho-yo-to-ho!” which they made as they galloped wildly through a fierce storm to the warriors’ paradise.

Siegfried: “Forest Murmurs”

Siegfried, the third part of the Der Ring des Nibelungen, introduces the hero who will save Brünnhilde. During the “Forest Murmurs” music, Siegfried rests under a linden tree near Fafner’s cave. There he exclaims that he is happy because Mime is not his father. The music of the orchestra, gradually rising from what sounds like a faint whisper, is music descriptive of the rustling sounds of the forest, the “forest murmurs.” Siegfried meditates as the murmuring of the forest grows stronger around him. Because he can suddenly understand bird songs, a forest bird is able to tell him about a beautiful woman who is sleeping on top of a mountain. The fearless Siegfried vows he will save her, which is what he accomplishes in the last scene.

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Prelude

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (“The Mastersingers of Nuremburg”) is Wagner’s only comic opera. Wagner had used the basic subject material, a song contest with the hand of a beautiful woman as the prize, in his romantic opera, Tannhäuser, in 1845. The idea for this new lighter version, as a parody or satyr play, based on the same material, originated at about the same time. The

Saturday, June 1, 2013, 8 p.m.

opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is based on a story of the 16th century guild of mastersingers headed by the beloved cobbler-poet Hans Sachs. It demonstrates the superiority of natural and spontaneous art over that of the pedantic and conventional. The hero of the opera, Walter von Stolzing, was intended to be a portrayal of Wagner himself.

Beckmesser, his unsuccessful rival for the hand of the beautiful Eva, is a caricature of Wagner’s severest critic, Eduard Hanslick.

Unlike many earlier operas where the overture was often the last item a composer wrote, Wagner began his Meistersinger by composing the overture, or Prelude as he later called it. He described the actual experience, the moment of his inspiration, in his autobiography: “The Prelude to my Meistersinger suddenly sprang up clearly in my mind as I had once before beheld it in a troubled mood, as if it had been a distant mirage, and I proceeded to draft the Prelude precisely as it appears today in the score, that is, setting forth very definitely the main motives of the whole drama. Then I went on at once to work at the text, composing scenes in due sequence.”

The Prelude to Die Meistersinger, completed in June 1862, had its first performance on Nov. 1, in Leipzig, with the composer conducting. The audience was tiny but so enthusiastic that the music of the Prelude was repeated.

One of Wagner’s famous works and one of the most stirring curtain-raisers ever written, it is performed on orchestral programs so frequently that many who have never seen the opera, nevertheless, know this overture well.

It begins with the lively Procession of the Mastersingers. The tender melody that follows represents the growing love of Eve and Walther. A second marchlike theme is the Guild-theme, symbolic of the importance of the Mastersingers.

Next comes a lyrical suggestion of the famous “Prize Song,” and then a scherzo in which the playful Apprentices parody the first Mastersinger theme follows.

Combined with this are the countermelodies associated with the lovers and with Beckmesser. The climax is reached

when the two Mastersinger themes and the “Prize Song” are joined.

Götterdämmerung: “Siegfried’s Funeral Music”

Götterdämmerung, the final opera of Wagner’s Ring cycle, tells of Siegfried’s demise and the power of the ring.

“Siegfried’s Funeral Music” is from Act III, which is when Siegfried is killed in an act of betrayal. When Brünnhilde finds that her beloved is dead, she orders a funeral pyre to be constructed by the Rhine. The vassals put Siegfried’s body on his shield and carry it, as the mists rise from the Rhine. While the stage is prepared for the second scene, the Funeral Music is heard. It is grand, yet harsh sounding and emotionally moving with overwhelming power and grandeur. It attains a height of tragic expression with ominous, relentless pulsating rhythm set against the themes associated with Siegfried’s parents. The subjects are melodies of great simplicity yet touching pathos. The heroism fades, as the music becomes laden with grief; the motive of Brünnhilde sounds sorrowfully while the rhythm of death continues, and the curse sounds darkly. The music concludes with the deepest gloom.

Parsifal: “Good Friday Spell”

In 1876, the first Wagner Festival— three complete performances of his four-opera Ring cycle—was held in Bayreuth. But the festival was a very expensive failure, and there were no more Bayreuth festivals until 1882, when Wagner reopened the theater for the first performance of his last opera, Parsifal, which he called a “dedicatory festival theater piece.” Wagner wished that Parsifal would only be performed there, but even before the expiration of its copyright, the opera was produced both in New York and Amsterdam.

Wagner called Parsifal a “stage-consecrating festival drama.” It does not focus on redemption through love, but rather on redemption through suffering, atonement and compassion in the context of a religious drama. The story of Parsifal is a complex tale of the Knights of the Holy Grail and the

holy relics in their care, specifically the spear that pierced the side of Jesus on the cross. An evil magician named Klingsor, who has stolen the holy spear, bedevils Amfortas, the ruler of the Knights. Parsifal, a guileless fool made wise through piety, eventually recovers the spear. The literary source of Wagner’s libretto is a poetic trilogy written in the 13th century by Wolfram von Eschenbach, on which the composer had also drawn for Tannhauser and Lohengrin. As Wagner explains in his autobiography, “The garden was breaking into leaf, the birds were singing, and at last, on the roof of my little house, I could rejoice in the fruitful quiet I had so long thirsted for. I was filled with it, when suddenly it came to me that this was Good Friday, and I remembered the great message it had once brought me as I was reading Wolfram’s Parzifal ... out of my thoughts about Good Friday I swiftly conceived an entire drama in three acts, of which I put a hasty sketch on paper.” Wagner completed his Parsifal text in 1877. He began to work on the music before the libretto was finished, and in the spring of 1879, the entire score was sketched out. The orchestration was completed about two and a half years later.

“Good Friday Spell” is Wagner’s concert version of the music he wrote for the last part of Act III, Scene 1. It is the emotional and spiritual center of the drama, and it evokes some of Wagner’s most sublime music. After years of wandering, Parsifal, returning to the forest of the Holy Grail, comes upon the old knight Gurnemanz in a hermit’s hut.

The old man, failing to recognize Parsifal, tells him that it is Good Friday, a day that has a special regenerative significance. It is also the funeral day of the Grail King, and since Parisfal is on hallowed ground, he should therefore remove his armor. When Parsifal does so, Gurnemanz remembers him and the “Good Friday Spell” music soon begins, telling of the sad events commemorated that day, of the woods and fields whose beauties are watered by the tears of repentant sinners.

“Good Friday Spell” weaves together applause at Strathmore • May/june 2013 53

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many of Wagner’s Grundthemen, musical themes associated with specific characters, places or ideas, which he also called by the now more familiar term leitmotiven, to convey his awe at the sight of the beautiful meadow, his memory of Amfortas’ agony, and his purpose.

The music begins with Parsifal’s motive or leitmotiv, a regal brass fanfare, and then builds to a climax when the whole orchestra quotes the Dresden Amen, composed by J.G. Naumann in the 18th century for use in Dresden churches, which Wagner here uses to symbolize the Holy Grail.

After a benediction in the strings, the woodwinds peacefully play the “faith” leitmotif after which the strings play the chorale and transform it into anguished music that brings back Amfortas’ agony. Then, rising from this low point, a lovely melody for solo oboe and clarinet evokes the beautiful meadow and becomes intertwined with memories of the spear, Amfortas’ pain and the Grail’s power. In this music, agony and salvation struggle together powerfully with Wagner’s rich chromaticism and harmonies, and his incomparable orchestration, yet the austere music ends softly and tenderly.

Tristan und Isolde: Prelude and Liebestod

For many years, the famous opening and closing excerpt from Wagner’s great music-drama about the immortal lovers, Tristan und Isolde, has been called Prelude and Liebestod (“LoveDeath”), but when Wagner conducted this piece at a concert in Vienna in 1863, the year in which he completed the opera, he considered the Prelude to describe the “Love-Death” and the Finale to be a “Transfiguration.”

Wagner wrote the following note on the program: “Prelude: Tristan, as a bridal envoy, is bringing back Isolde to his uncle, the king. They love each other. From the first stifled moan of speechless longing, from the faintest tremor to the avowal of hopeless love, the heart goes through each 54 applause at Strathmore • MAY/JUNE 2013

phase of futile battle with inner fever, until it swoons and is extinguished, as in death. Finale (Transfiguration): Yet, what Fate, separated from this life, is revived, transfigured and united in death! At the body of the dying Tristan, Isolde sees transcendent consummation of their passionate desire, eternal union in infinite realms; no bond, no barrier, indivisible!”

Franz Liszt, the composer’s fatherin-law, was responsible for transferring the name Liebestod from the Prelude to the Finale. When he made a piano transcription of the Finale, he used as an introduction a brief passage from the Love Duet in the second act, in which the word Liebestod appears. He called his transcription of the Finale Liebestod, and the misnomer has stuck.

The music of the Prelude, assembled from the principal themes in the music-drama, but especially emphasizing the theme of the Holy Grail, soars to great heights of ecstasy, then ends up on a somber note that foretells the tragic but beautiful story that is to unfold on the stage. It begins with a falling chromatic phrase that has been given such names as “Tristan’s suffering” or “Tristan’s grief.” The music inversion, an ascending fournote phrase, appears throughout the opera and is a powerful signifier of the work’s intense yearning. A chord occurs at the conjunction of the falling and rising; it has been labeled the “Tristan chord.” It appears at many points of significant meaning in the drama. In the finale, Isolde arrives too late to save the dying Tristan.

He calls her name and falls lifeless at her feet. Oblivious to all around her, Isolde bends tenderly over her dead lover and sings of the eternal rapture that will be theirs as she joins him in death: “Friends, look! Don’t you know and see his beauty, his courage?

I hear only a gentle, wondrous song that cries my sadness and that tells all.

It sounds and surrounds me. Shall I breathe this air, these scented breezes?

To drown in the waves, to sink with the shells, unaware—the greatest joy!”

Copyright Susan Halpern, 2013

Thursday, June 6, 2013, 8 p.m.

thursday, June 6, 2013, 8 P.M.

● Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Marin Alsop, Music Director

presents

Carmina Burana Marin Alsop, conductor Robin Johannsen, soprano John Tessier, tenor Brian Mulligan, baritone Morgan State University Choir Eric Conway, director Peabody Children’s Chorus Doreen Falby, director

Ku-Ka-Ilimoku

Christopher Rouse (1949-)

Ogoun Badagris

Christopher Rouse (1949-)

Sensemayá

Silvestre Revueltas (1899-1940)

INTERMISSION

Carmina Burana Carl Orff Robin Johannsen (1895-1982) John Tessier Brian Mulligan Morgan State University Choir Peadbody Children’s Chorus Support for this program is generously provided by the Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts.

The concert will end at approximately 9:55 p.m.

The Music Center at Strathmore Marriott Concert Stage

dean alexander

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 2007, she was honored with a European Women of Achievement Award.

In 2008, she was inducted as a fellow into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and in 2009 Musical America named her Conductor of the Year.

In November 2010, she was inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame. In February 2011, Alsop was named the music director of the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, or the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, effective for the 2012-2013 season. And in March 2011, Alsop was named to The Guardian’s Top 100 Women list. She was also named an artist-in-residence at the Southbank Centre in London in 2011.

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.

Alsop has led the BSO in several outreach initiatives. In 2008, she partnered with the BSO to launch OrchKids, a music education and life enrichment program for youth in West Baltimore.

In 2010, she conducted the first “Rusty Musicians with the BSO,” an event that gives amateur musicians the chance to perform onstage with a professional symphony orchestra. In June 2010, Alsop conducted the inaugural BSO Academy, an immersive summer music program that gives more than 100 amateur adult musicians the opportunity to perform alongside a top professional orchestra.

Alsop attended Yale University and received her master’s degree from The Juilliard School. In 1989, her conducting career was launched when she won the Koussevitzky Conducting Prize at Tanglewood, where she studied with Leonard Bernstein. applause at Strathmore • MAy/june 2013 55

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American soprano Robin Johannsen made her European debut as a young artist with the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 2002.

One year later, she was invited to become a soloist in the ensemble. Her roles there included Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Norina in Don Pasquale, Aljeja in Aus einem Totenhaus, Oscar in Un ballo in maschera and Soeur Constance in Les dialogues des Carmélites. In the summer of 2003, she made her debut as the Young Shepherd in Tannhäuser at the Bayreuth Festival, where she continued to appear as the Shepherd and the Forest Bird in Siegfried for the next five seasons. In 2008, Johannsen began her freelance career, with a special affinity for the baroque and classical repertoire.

Engagements for 2012-2013 include a return to the Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp and Ghent as Pamina in a new production of Die Zauberflöte; Konstanze in a new production of Entführung aus dem Serail at the Konzert Theater Bern; concerts of Ravel’s Shéhérazade with the Berlin Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt under Howard Griffiths; Handel’s Aminta e Fillide with the Belgian Baroque Orchestra, B’Rock in Antwerp and Ghent; and Handel’s Saul under Helmuth Rilling with the Internationale Bachakademie in Stuttgart.

In the U.S., she has also recently performed with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Oregon Bach Festival, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and Musica Angelica with Martin Haselböck and John Malkovich. Johannsen received degrees in vocal performance from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

Johannsen is making her BSO debut.

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John Tessier, tenor

John Tessier has garnered praise for his refined style, creative versatility and youthful presence in the lyric tenor repertoire. The Juno Awardwinning artist has worked with many notable conductors, including Lorin Maazel, Leonard Slatkin, Plácido Domingo, John Nelson, Franz Welser-Möst, Emmanuelle Haïm, Charles Dutoit, Donald Runnicles, Robert Spano, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Bernard Labadie.

The 2012-2013 season sees Tessier performing Tonio in La fille du Régiment for his debut at the Vienna State Opera; Jason in Cherubini’s Médée at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées; Tamino in The Magic Flute with Vancouver Opera; Gomez in Saint-Saëns’ Henry VIII with the Bard Music Festival; and Jacquino in Fidelio with Seattle Opera under Asher Fisch. Symphonic engagements include The Evangelist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, with Iván Fischer and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall, a concert version of Der fliegende Holländer with David Robertson and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra; and Handel’s Messiah with Paul Goodwin and The Philadelphia Orchestra.

Recent symphonic performances include John Corigliano’s A Dylan Thomas Trilogy, with Leonard Slatkin and the Nashville Symphony (recorded and commercially available on Naxos); Stephen Paulus’ To Be Certain of the Dawn, with Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra (recorded and commercially available on BIS Records); Mozart’s Requiem, with Donald Runnicles and the Orchestra of Saint Luke’s at Carnegie Hall; Mozart’s Mass in C, with Lorin Maazel and the New York Philharmonic; Berlioz’s Te Deum, under Charles Dutoit at The Philadelphia Orchestra; and Schumann’s Scenes from Goethe’s Faust with Franz Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra.

Tessier last performed with the BSO

in February 2001, performing Bach’s Magnificat, with Bobby McFerrin conducting.

Brian Mulligan, baritone

Brian Mulligan is the 2006 winner of the International Hans Gabor Belvedere Vocal Competition, only the third American in the competition’s history to win this coveted prize.

In the 2012-2013 season, Mulligan will return to San Francisco Opera as the King’s Herald in Lohengrin, conducted by Nicola Luisotti; Lyric Opera of Chicago as the Father in Hansel and Gretel; a debut with the Canadian Opera Company as Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, conducted by Stephen Lord; the title role in Hamlet with Minnesota Opera; and with the Aspen Music Festival as Balstrode in Peter Grimes, conducted by Robert Spano.

Symphonic highlights include a debut with the Los Angeles Master Chorale in Brahms’ Requiem; the West Coast premiere of Lieberson’s The World in Flower, conducted by Grant Gershon; and Handel’s Messiah with the Houston Symphony.

Mulligan’s operatic highlights include performances as Valentin in San Francisco Opera’s Faust; Ragueneau in Cyrano de Bergerac; Sharpless in Madama Butterfly; and a return to English National Opera as Enrico in the David Alden production, following his debut there as Sharpless in Anthony Minghella’s production of Madama Butterfly.

Other highlights included a return to Los Angeles Opera as Prometheus in a new production of Walter Braunfels’ Die Vögel, as well as Melot in that company’s Tristan und Isolde, both conducted by Maestro Conlon.

A graduate of The Juilliard School, Mulligan has also been awarded a Richard Tucker Career Grant, a Sara Tucker Study Grant and the George London Prize.

Mulligan is making his BSO debut.

JOHANNSEN PHOTO BY FELIX BROEDE; TESSIER PHOTO BY ROZARIL LYNCH; MULLIGAN PHOTO BY PETER ROSS

Robin Johannsen, soprano

Thursday, June 6, 2013, 8 p.m.

MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY CHOIR PHOTO COURTESY MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

Morgan State University Choir

The Morgan State University Choir has performed around the world to critical acclaim. Named Best College Choir in 2004 by Reader’s Digest magazine, the choir has performed with several major symphony orchestras, including The Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and the National Symphony Orchestra.

For more than 30 years Nathan Carter was the conductor of this ensemble. Eric Conway is currently the director of the choir and chairperson of the fine arts department. During his tenure, Conway has led the choir to many acclaimed performances, including a special performance at the service honoring Rosa Parks, the first woman to lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda. In July 2006, the choir traveled to Prague and performed two concerts conducted by Paul Freeman with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. In 2008, the choir performed at Carnegie Hall on two separate occasions, under the

baton of Bobby McFerrin with the St. Luke’s Orchestra and under the baton of Marin Alsop with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Since 2008, the choir has performed all over the world, including Russia, South Africa, Colombia, China, Brazil, Jamaica and Italy. The choir will sing in Australia and Montenegro during the summer of 2013.

The Morgan State University Choir last appeared with the BSO in November 2011, performing Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher, with Marin Alsop conducting.

The Peabody Children’s Chorus

The Peabody Children’s Chorus, founded in 1989, is dedicated to providing age-appropriate vocal training for young people. The chorus brings children together to rehearse and perform art and folk music of multiple cultures, languages, historical periods and styles. In six ensembles rehearsing at two campuses, young people gain invaluable experience making music in ensemble settings and studying eartraining and music-reading.

More than 375 children between the ages of 6 and 18 participate each year in three levels of training, rehearsing high-quality treble music of advancing challenge and sophistication, and performing in public concert at least twice a year.

The Peabody Children’s Chorus has performed with the Baltimore Cham-

ber Orchestra, the Baltimore Choral Arts Society, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Concert Artists of Baltimore, Lyric Opera Baltimore, the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, the Morgan State University Choir, Peabody Conservatory’s Opera Theater and the Peabody Symphony Orchestra.

During the 2009-2010 season, the chorus performed in the Somerset International Youth Choral Festival in England and celebrated the release of the Naxos American Classics Grammy-nominated recording of Bernstein’s Mass, upon which it collaborated with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Marin Alsop. In July 2011, the chorus performed at the Vatican, Rome, and in St. Mark’s Cathedral, Venice. In November 2011, 20 members of the chorus performed in Carnegie Hall with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. In the summer of 2013, 80 students from the chorus will tour France, performing at the American Cemetery in Normandy on July 4 and singing mass in Notre Dame Cathedral. The chorus also will be featured in the Dimanches Musicaux de La Madeleine concert series in Paris.

The Peabody Children’s Chorus last appeared with the BSO in November 2011, performing Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher, with Marin Alsop conducting.

Program Notes Ku-Ka-Ilimoku Ogoun Badagris

Christopher Rouse Born Feb. 15, 1949, in Baltimore; now living in Baltimore

Throughout his career, Christopher Rouse has shown a special affinity for writing for percussion instruments. His supercharged Bonham for eight rock percussionists enlivened the BSO’s Dance Mix concerts and popular CD, and, this past April, we heard his highly dramatic concerto Der gerettete Alberich, inspired by a pivotal character in Wagner’s Ring applause at Strathmore • MAy/june 2013 57

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cycle. At this concert we’ll discover two exhilarating works for percussion ensemble he wrote back in the 1970s: Ku-Ka-Ilimoku and Ogoun Badagris.

The first of these pays tribute to traditional Hawaiian music. In the composer’s words: “In Hawaiian mythology, Ku is perhaps the most fundamental and important of gods, occupying a place similar to that of Zeus in Greek mythology, or Odin in Norse legend. Ku is manifested in several forms: as Ku-Ka-Ilimoku he represents the god of war. Thus, this work for percussion ensemble is best viewed as a savage, propulsive war dance.”

The piece was completed in 1978 for the Syracuse Symphony Percussion Ensemble and uses Western percussion instruments to evoke the sounds of native Hawaiian instruments. Rouse continues: “Hawaiian chants are often based on as few as two pitches, and Hawaiian percussion emphasizes short, repetitive patterns. Underlying this surface simplicity is a wealth of subtle rhythmic inflections and variation. ...

The dynamic power of the Western instruments adds an intense level of ferocity to the proceedings.”

Written in 1976 for the Ithaca College Percussion Ensemble, Ogoun Badagris takes us to the world of Haitian voodoo. Rouse: “Ogoun Badagris derives its inspiration from Haitian drumming patterns, particularly those of the Juba dance. Hence, it seemed logical to tie in the work with various aspects of voodoo ritual. Ogoun Badagris is one of the most terrible and violent of all voodoo loas (deities), and he can be appeased only by human sacrifice. This work may thus be interpreted as a dance of appeasement. The four conga drums often act as the focal point in the work and can be compared with the role of the four most basic drums in the voodoo religion: the be-be, the seconde, the maman and the asator. The metal plates and sleigh bells are, to a certain extent, exact parallels of the Haitian organ. The work begins with a brief action de grace: a ceremonial call-to58 applause at Strathmore • MAy/june 2013

action in which the high priest shakes a giant rattle known as the asson, here replaced by cabasa. Then the principal dance begins, a grouil: This is a highly erotic and even brutally sexual ceremonial dance, which, in turn, is succeeded by the Danse Vaudou, during which demonic possession occurs.

The word reler, which the performers must shriek at the conclusion of the work, is the voodoo equivalent of the Judeo-Christian amen.”

Born and raised in Baltimore, Christopher Rouse has now returned to live there again. He is a graduate of the Gilman School and Oberlin College, and holds a doctorate from Cornell University. His numerous awards and honors have included the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Music, the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Composition and being named as Musical America’s Composer of the Year in 2009. In addition to his extraordinarily busy composing career, he is currently a professor at New York City’s The Juilliard School and, this season, begins a two-year appointment as composer-in-residence with the New York Philharmonic.

Instrumentation: Percussion ensemble Sensemayá

Silvestre Revueltas Born Dec. 31, 1899, in Santiago Papasquiaro, Mexico; died Oct. 5, 1940, in Mexico City

One of the bright young composers in the circle of Carlos Chávez, the father of Mexican nationalist music, was the tragically short-lived Silvestre Revueltas. A gifted violinist, he toured as part of a violin-piano duo with Chávez. In 1929, Chávez asked Revueltas to return from the U.S. to be his deputy conductor at the Orquesta Sinfónica. Although he trained primarily in America, Revueltas became equally committed to the cause of Mexican nationalism. He was an extremely successful film composer, and the dramatic pacing and vivid colors of his short tone poem Sensemayá (1938) will show you why. Sadly,

he was an alcoholic, and that disease, combined with poverty, brought about his death at the premature age of 40.

Originally a vocal-orchestral work, Sensemayá was inspired by a poem by Cuban poet Nicolás Guillén about a Negro-Cuban ritual in which a snake is killed. There is a strong influence of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring in Revueltas’ savage use of rhythm, with conflicting rhythmic patterns piled on top of each other. Over a constantly pulsing rhythmic ostinato, the piece grows inexorably in two long crescendos. Three percussionists playing a large battery, including native instruments from Cuba and Mexico, dominate the orchestra. But, in fact, everyone—string and wind players alike—is a percussionist in this violently expressive music.

Instrumentation: Two flutes, two piccolos, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, piccolo clarinet, three bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, four trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, piano, celeste and strings.

Carmina Burana

Carl Orff Born July 10, 1895, in Munich, Germany; died March 29, 1982, in Munich, Germany

Is there any music that grabs us from the very first chord with the sheer visceral force of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana? Issuing fortissimo from the depths of the orchestra and rooted in a blow-to-the-gut thud of timpani, this chord is followed by a blazing dissonance from the chorus, and we are off on a wild musical adventure that will hold us in its grip for the next hour.

Flush with the work’s success at its premiere—a staged production at the Frankfurt Opera on June 8, 1937—Orff wrote to his publisher: “Everything I have written to date, and which you have, unfortunately, printed, can be destroyed. With Carmina Burana, my collected works begin.” For Orff, this was the beginning of a new musical path. Instead of the rich harmonies of the 19th century

Thursday, June 6, 2013, 8 p.m.

and the elaborate systems replacing tonality of the 20th, he had opted for music in its purest and most elemental form—rhythm, melody and vocal-instrumental color—that is, music that bypasses the brain and goes straight to the emotions. But though he followed this path for the rest of his long career, Carmina Burana is his only work still embraced by audiences everywhere.

Orff was a man of the theater and the classroom: a born musical communicator and proselytizer. Believing that every child was innately musical, he developed teaching methods and an array of simple instruments that helped children connect music to speech, dance and folk traditions. His method was eventually enshrined in the Orff Institute and is still influential today. As a composer, he initially wrote in a late-Romantic idiom and was also intrigued by the 12-tone system of Arnold Schoenberg. But all this changed when, in 1935, he came across Johann Schmeller’s 1847 edition of medieval poems, the Carmina Burana or “Songs from Beuren” (“Beuren” being a variant of the German word for Bavaria). For Orff, their pungent earthiness demanded a radical change of course.

The Carmina Burana had been drawn from a collection of poems found in a Benedictine monastery in the Bavarian Alps near Munich and later transferred to the Bavarian Court Library. They were created by the wandering university students and minor clergy who flourished during the 11th, 12th and early-13th centuries in France, England and Germany and were known as the goliards, for their supposed master, the mythical Bishop Gollas, a medieval stand-in for Satan. In a religious era that stressed denial of the flesh in preparation for the world to come, the goliards formed a robust counterculture that uninhibitedly celebrated the earthly pleasures of wine, women, food and laughter.

Hailing from many lands, they sang their poems in the universal language of Latin or occasionally in the vernacular. They traveled from town to town,

scandalizing and delighting the common folk with their learned spoofs of church texts, sensuous love poems and obscene verses that opened the door to a forbidden world. For men living 800 or more years ago, their orientation seems startlingly contemporary.

In setting 24 of the Beuren songs, Orff consciously returned to the primitive roots of music. Elaborate forms and complex harmonies went out the window. Instead, he emphasized powerful rhythms and evocative folkish melodies that work their magic through repetition in simple strophic settings. Orff’s contemporary touch was his dazzling exploitation of the colors of the large modern orchestra.

To emphasize his driving, heavily accented rhythms, he wrote for a big battery of percussion instruments (played by five percussionists), ranging from the delicate sparkle of glockenspiel to the crude force of the bass drum. He also pushed his chorus and especially his three soloists—soprano, baritone and tenor—to the extreme limits of their ranges to intensify the emotional impact.

The songs are arranged in three broad groups: “Spring”/”On the Green,” “In the Tavern” and “The Court of Love.” Framing the whole is the choral invocation to “Fortune, Empress of the World,” which depicts humankind as helpless riders on the wheel of fortune—now swinging upward to happiness and riches, later plummeting down to ruin and despair.

The various songs illustrate the stages of the wheel.

The opening chorus, “O Fortuna,” epitomizes Orff’s techniques. After that electric opening, the chorus delivers the text forcefully in unison.

As in most of the songs, a constant rhythmic ostinato pattern in the orchestra propels the music forward.

Later, harsh blows from the bass drum and the gong accelerate the drive.

The section celebrating the coming of “Spring” provides strong contrast with delicate, luminous vocal and instrumental timbres. In “The Merry Face of Spring,” the tremor of high

woodwind birds introduces a simple unison melody for the chorus over the heavy swinging of two chords. Its archaic-sounding melody, built on a pentatonic (five-note) scale, suggests the music the medieval poets might have actually used. An orchestral round dance for the scene on the green plays rhythmic games with constantly changing meters—four beats, three beats, two beats—à la Stravinsky, who was an important influence on Orff. “Floret silva nobilis” is an infectious, folksong-inspired chorus; listen here for the musical depiction of the lover riding away in the tenors and timpani.

Only men are allowed “In the Tavern.” This raucous, ribald section features the male chorus and the baritone soloist as an inebriated, blasphemous priest. The most striking song here is “Olim lacus colueram,” the “Lament of the Roasted Swan.” Singing in a squealing high register (known as “falsetto”), the tenor is the hapless swan, “now black and roasting fiercely.”

The voices of women and children dominate “The Court of Love,” in which courtly odes grow quite explicit. Here, the radiant tones of the soprano soloist are introduced.

Her warm lower range is exploited in the exquisite “In trutina,” Carmina’s loveliest song, while at the very top of her range she abandons herself totally to passion (“Dulcissime”).

The “Court of Love” ends in a grandly sonorous choral hymn to the “glorious virgin”—but, here, she is not the Virgin Mary, but rather Venus, the goddess of physical love. Its drumbeats propel us back to the opening “O Fortuna” chorus. Fortune’s wheel has made a complete revolution, and our medieval adventure ends where it began, with a lusty thud of timpani.

Instrumentation: Three flutes, two piccolos, three oboes, English horn, three clarinets, bass clarinet, piccolo clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, two pianos, celeste and strings.

Notes by Janet E. Bedell copyright 2013 applause at Strathmore • MAy/june 2013 59

Saturday, June 8, 2013, 8 p.m. and Sunday, June 9, 2013, 3 p.m.

● The National Philharmonic Piotr Gajewski, Music Director and Conductor Stan Engebretson, National Philharmonic Chorale Artistic Director

presents

Carmina Burana Stan Engebretson, conductor Victoria Gau, conductor Audrey Luna, soprano Robert Baker, tenor Leon Williams, baritone National Philharmonic Chorale Choralis Youth Choir, Cantus Primo Gretchen Kuhrmann, director

Three Poems by Henri Michaux Witold Lutosławski Pensées (1913-1994) Le Grand Combat

Repos dans le Malheur INTERMISSION armina Burana: Cantiones Profanae, C for Solo Voices, Chorus and Orchestra

Carl Orff (1895-1982)

Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi (Fortune, Empress of the World) 1. O Fortuna 14. In taberna quando sumus 2. Fortune plango vulnera III. Cour d’amours (The Court of Love) I. Primo vere (In Springtime) 15. Amor volat undique 3. Veris leta facies 16. Dies, nox et omnia 4. Omnia sol temperat 17. Stetit puella 5. Ecce gratum 18. Circa mea pectora Uf dem anger (In the Meadow) 19. Si puer cum puellula 6. Tanz 20. Veni, veni, venias 7. Floret silva nobilis 21. In trutina 8. Chramer, gip die varwe mir 22. Tempus est iocundum 9. Reie 23. Dulcissime 10. Were diu werlt alle min Blanziflor et Helena II. In Taberna (In the Tavern) 24. Ave formosissima 11. Estuans interius Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi 12. Olim lacus colueram (Fortune, Empress of the World) 13. Ego sum abbas 25. O Fortuna 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

60 applause at Strathmore • MAY/JUNE 2013

Stan Engebretson, conductor

In demand throughout the United States and Europe, Stan Engebretson has led choirs in Venice’s Cathedral of St. Mark and taught in Cologne, Trier, St. Moritz and Barcelona.

He has studied with the great masters of choral music, including Robert Shaw, Gregg Smith, Richard Westenburg, Roger Wagner and Eric Ericson.

After attending the University of North Dakota and earning his doctorate from Stanford University, Engebretson taught at The University of Texas of the Permian Basin and the University of Minnesota. He also was the artistic director of the Midland-Odessa Symphony & Chorale and the associate conductor of the Minnesota Chorale.

In Washington since 1990, Engebretson is professor of music and director of choral studies at George Mason University and is the director of music at the historic New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. From 1993 to 2003, he was the artistic director of the predecessor to the National Philharmonic Chorale, the Masterworks Chorus and the semi-professional National Chamber Singers.

Victoria Gau, The National Philharmonic associate conductor Lauded by critics for her “strong sense of style and drama” and her “enthusiastic and perceptive conducting,” National Philharmonic Associate Conductor Victoria Gau is artistic director and conductor of the Capital City Symphony and former conductor and music director of the Richmond Philharmonic Orchestra.

She is in demand as a conductor and string educator at youth orchestra

Engebretson PHOTO BY Jerry Fernandez, Gau PHOTO BY Christopher Moscatiello

SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 2013, 8 P.M. SUNDAY, JUNE 9, 2013, 3 P.M.

Saturday, June 8, 2013, 8 p.m. and Sunday, June 9, 2013, 3 p.m.

festivals and workshops and has been conductor of the Young Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra of the DC Youth Orchestra Program, the Akron Youth Symphony and assistant conductor of the Northern Ohio Youth Orchestra.

Gau has served on the opera faculty at George Mason University and worked as a pianist for the Cleveland, Baltimore, Annapolis and Washington opera companies. She holds degrees in viola performance and conducting from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she won the Phi Kappa Lambda Prize for Musicianship.

Audrey Luna, soprano

Audrey Luna’s 2012-13 season engagements include Ariel in The Tempest with the Metropolitan Opera, Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos with Fort Worth Opera, and Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte with Utah Opera. Recent season highlights include Queen of the Night with Lyric Opera of Chicago; Madame Mao in Nixon in China with Lyric Opera of Kansas City; Ariel with Festival Opéra de Québec and also with Orchestra Dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, directed by the composer; and Najade in Ariadne auf Naxos with the Metropolitan Opera.

Season 2013-14 engagements will include her debut with Virginia Opera as Zerbinetta and a return to the Metropolitan Opera as The Fiakermilli in Strauss’ Arabella.

Robert Baker, tenor

Robert Baker has been featured by the Washington Concert Opera in numerous roles, totaling more than 250 performances.

He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in Prokofiev’s War and Peace, which he also recorded during the Spoleto Festival USA’s production in 1999, released on the Chandos label. He is the coordinator of vocal activities at The George Washington University. Baker and his wife live in Arlington, Va., with their daughter, Madeline, a member of the Children’s Chorus of Washington.

Leon Williams, baritone

Leon Williams’ performances have included Mendelssohn’s Elijah (Honolulu Symphony Orchestra and Florida Orchestra); Orff’s Carmina Burana (Florida Orchestra; the Colorado Symphony; the Grand Rapids Symphony; the Baltimore, Reading, Alabama, West Chester, Jacksonville and Hartford symphony orchestras; the National Philharmonic; and at the Berkshire Choral Festival); Britten’s War Requiem, the Mozart and Fauré Requiems and Haydn’s Creation with the Colorado Symphony.

Opera credits include Anthony in Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd (Toledo Opera), Papageno in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (Hawaii Opera Theatre) and Jake in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Dallas Opera.

The Choralis Youth Choir

The Choralis Foundation, founded by Artistic Director Gretchen Kuhrmann in 2000, is dedicated to nurturing a passion for choral music in the greater Washington metropolitan area.

The Choralis Youth Choirs (Cantus Choirs)—Cantus Liberi (grades 3-5), Cantus Medius (grades 6-8) and Cantus Primus (grades 5-9)—are the most recent fulfillment of Choralis’ mission to instill a love of choral music through excellence in choral

performance and educational outreach to youth.

The Choralis Foundation also includes a 90-person adult mixed voice choir and a select chamber ensemble.

Program Notes Three Poems by Henri Michaux

Witold Lutosławski Born Jan. 25, 1913, in Warsaw, Poland; died there on Feb. 7, 1994

A whole generation of gifted Polish composers and their works were destroyed during World War II, and, of those who survived, Witold Lutosławski is one of the figures of greatest distinction. Born into a highly cultured family of scholars, he entered the Warsaw Conservatory at the age of 15 to study keyboard and composition. Early on, he wrote a substantial number of effective compositions in the neoclassical style, many of which were lost. He supported himself as a pianist in Warsaw cafes during the harsh years of World War II, when he was in constant fear of deportation.

When he completed Symphony No. 1 in 1947, it was condemned by the cultural authorities, who judged it to be formalist at its premiere, because it did not conform to the government strictures of the Soviet Union, which specifically dictated that official propaganda had to be introduced into art, including music, in what was called socialist realism. As a result, in the late 1940s, Lutosławski turned toward the use of folk material in a manner modeled after that of Bela Bartók, in which he derived melodic and harmonic inspiration from folk songs and dances. Later in his career, Lutosławski used the 12 tone method of composition and various chance procedures along with traditional processes. The fact that he was able to maintain his individual style throughout the onslaught of intense political pressures and shifting musical trends is most remarkable.

In 1963, Lutosławski completed one of the most innovative of his works, applause at Strathmore • May/june 2013 61

Saturday, June 8, 2013, 8 p.m. and Sunday, June 9, 2013, 3 p.m.

Carmina Burana Text and Translation INTRODUCTION: FORTUNE, EMPRESS OF THE WORLD 1. O Fortuna (Chorus): O Fortune, changing like the moon, always waxing or waning.

2. Fortune plango vulnera (Chorus): Weeping, I lament fortune’s blows.

PART I IN SPRINGTIME 3. Veris leta facies (Small Chorus): Spring’s bright face greets the world.

4. Omnia sol temperat (Baritone): The pure, bright sun governs everything.

5. Ecce gratum (Chorus): See how the welcome sun brightens everything.

ON THE LAWN 6. Tanz (Orchestra) 7. Floret silva nobilis (Large and Small Chorus): The forest is in flower and leaf. Where is my old friend? Who will love me?

8. Chramer, gip die varwe mir (Sopranos and Chorus): Shop¬keeper, give me the red color for my cheeks that the young man loves.

9. Reie (Orchestra) and Songs (Chorus): The girls want no man all summer. Come, come my dear friend. Sweet rose-like mouth, heal me.

10. Were diu werlt alle min (Chorus): If the world were all mine, I’d give it all up to hold the Queen of England in my arms.

PART II IN THE TAVERN 11. Estuans interius (Baritone): I talk to myself with rage and bitterness. My soul is dead. I manage to save my skin.

12. Olim lacus colueram (“Song of the Roast Swan,” Tenor and Male Chorus): Once I lived on a lake, now I am well done, roasted black, and served on a platter.

13. Ego sum abbas (Baritone and Male Chorus): I am the Abbot of Cucany. Whoever joins me at dice after vespers loses his shirt.

14. In taberna quando sumus (Male 62 applause at Strathmore • MAY/JUNE 2013

Chorus): When we are in the tavern, we gamble and drink. First, play for the wine; then drink to the prisoners; then to the living; fourth to the Christians; fifth, the departed faithful; sixth, vain women; seventh, rural soldiers; eighth, fallen brothers; ninth, dispersed monks; tenth, sailors; eleventh, quarrelers; twelfth, the penitents; thirteenth, travelers. Men, women, soldiers, clerks, servants are drinking. The quick, the lazy, the white, the black, the steady, the wanderers are drinking. Men and women by the thousands are drinking.

PART III THE COURT OF LOVE 15. Amor volat undique (Soprano and Chorus of Boys): Cupid flies everywhere.

16. Dies, nox et omnia (Baritone): Day and night, everything is going badly.

17. Stetit puella (Soprano): There stood a girl in a red tunic, like a rose.

18. Circa mea pectora (Baritone and Chorus): Many are the sighs from my heart for your beauty. l9. Si puer cum puellula (Sextet): When a boy and a girl are alone in a room, what happy intimacy.

20. Veni, veni, venias (Double Chorus): Come, come, don’t make me die.

21. In trutina (Soprano): Weighing love against chastity.

22. Tempus est iocundum (Soprano, Baritone and Chorus): It is time for rejoicing, girls and boys, winter or spring.

23. Dulcissime (Soprano): Sweetest boy, I give my all to you.

BLANZIFLOR AND HELEN 24. Ave formosissima (Chorus): Hail to the most beautiful girl, precious gem, noble beauty.

FORTUNE, EMPRESS OF THE WORLD 25. O Fortuna (Chorus): O Fortune, changing like the moon, always waxing or waning.

Three Poems

by Henri Michaux Pensées (Thoughts)

To think, to live, indistinct sea; I – it – trembles, In just a moment infinity that quivers.

Shadows of tiny worlds, Shadows of shadows, Wings of ashes.

Thoughts of the marvelous swimming, That slithers in us, between us, far from us, To light far from us, to penetrate far from nothing; Strangers in our houses, Always to peddle, Dust to distract us and to scatter us life.

Le Grand Combat (The Great Fight)

(words in italics invented by the poet in the original French) He emparouilles him and endosques him against the earth.

He ragues him and roupètes him until his drâle; Il pratèles him and libucques him and barufles his ouillais to him; He tocardes him and marmines him, The manage rape à ri et ripe à ra.

Finally he écorcobalisses him.

The other hesitates, espudrines himself, défaisses himself, torses himself, and ruines himself.

It will soon be the end of him; He reprises himself and emmargines himself…but in vain.

The hoop falls that has run so much.

Abrah! Abrah! Abrah!

The foot has fallen!

The arm has broken!

The blood has flowed!

Search! Search! Search!

In the cooking pot of his belly is a great secret You gathered shrews who cry into your handkerchiefs; We wonder, wonder, wonder And we look at you We also search, we others, for the Great Secret.

Repos dans le Malheur

(Repose in Misfortune) Misfortune, my great plowman Misfortune, sit down Rest.

Let’s rest a little, you and me.

Rest.

You find me, you feel me, you prove it to me.

I am your ruin.

My grand theatre, my haven, my hearth My cellar of gold My future, my true mother, my horizon, In your light, in your magnitude, in your horror, I abandon myself.

Saturday, June 8, 2013, 8 p.m. and Sunday, June 9, 2013, 3 p.m.

the Trois poemes d’Henri Michaux, the only choral work of his mature style.

Commissioned by Slavko Zlatić, director of the Zagreb Radio Choir, it was premiered at the Music Biennale Zagreb contemporary music festival on May 9, 1963, with two conductors: Slavko Zlatić, who conducted the choir, and Lutosławski, who conducted the orchestra.

He said he composed it because he found much contemporary choral writing unsatisfactory, and resulted, he thought, in a “doubtful” sound. For his composition, he decided to use French poetry because he foresaw that there would be significant problems in translating any Polish text he might use.

After a protracted search, he settled on three poems of the Belgian Henri Michaux (1899-1984), whose work he had first discovered in 1958, translated into Polish in the Polish monthly review Tworczosc. Using these poems, Lutosławski felt that each individual voice part would be natural for the vocalists, even though they were called upon to not only sing, but also to speak, whisper and even shout. He also included aleatoric passages, in which the individual parts are not necessarily related to each other in time, but rather depend somewhat on chance. Of his choice of poets, he said, “Michaux has features in common with the surrealists, it is clear… But there is still something else, of great importance for the work of a Composer: It is the form of his poems, written for the most part in a mixture of verse and prose, and the verse itself is irregular. The sameness of rhythms in traditional poetry and even in contemporary poetry ... is an insurmountable obstacle for a Composer of our time ...

With Henri Michaux, on the contrary, it is possible to remain absolutely natural as a musician, while following the form of his poetry, because of its formal and rhythmic variety.”

Lutosławski commented that the general outline of the music came to him initially, and only afterward did he find and choose three poems. The opening song, Pensées (“Thoughts”), from the volume Plume (1938), is a delicate,

philosophical reflection on human thinking, a skeptical reflection on the subject of human thoughts. Quiet polyphony, punctuated by brass sforzandi, frames the beginning and end of Pensées. The movement climaxes as woodwind figures alternate with an ensemble of vibraphone, céleste, harp and pianos.

Le Grand Combat (“The Large Fight”), presenting a bloody fight of two people, is violent. Le Grand Combat with its onomatopoeic invented words, comes from the collection Qui je Jus (“Who I Was”), published in Paris in 1928. The chorus comments and associates itself with the combat. Here, Lutosławski, who was searching for the most apt interpretation of a poetic text, applied uncharacteristic ways of using the human voice, where often the choral part produces sounds of an undefined pitch in different ways. In particular, he uses words as sound material that not only conveys content, but also reflects the emotional atmosphere of the poetic content. Repos dans le Malheur (“Rest Amid Unhappiness”), also from Plume, is rigorously organized harmonically, with chords mysteriously merging with each other and emerging from prior chords. Both the abstract poetic work and the music are resigned and bring catharsis.

Lutosławski explained his feelings about the text and its role in his composition on a BBC program in 1965: “The performers are allowed a lot of freedom in treating the rhythmic values of their parts. The point is to produce some highly complex rhythm and sound textures with the least technical difficulty for singers and musicians. The mind of each performer is therefore a factor which I strive to include in the set of means of composing. This attitude opposes a mechanical, abstract approach to sound. My attitude aims to restore the pleasure which the performer felt when reproducing a work of music. I try to make use of every performer’s individual strengths and capabilities, and sometimes demand that they play or sing in a large group with such ease, as if they were playing or singing on their own.”

Lutosławski scored the work for 20

voices and an ensemble of 23 instruments: flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, trumpets, horns and trombones, harp, two pianos and a percussion section of four. He created one score for the voices, and another one for the instruments, making them only loosely coordinated, and he specified that each have its own conductor.

Carmina Burana: Cantiones Profanae, for Solo Voices, Chorus and Orchestra

Carl Orff

Born July 10, 1895, in Munich; died there March 29, 1982

During the 12th and 13th centuries, a tremendous body of Latin and vernacular poetry was created by poets collectively known as “goliards.” To group them together under a single name is misleading, however, for the goliards were drawn from every rank of society. The poets include prominent churchmen—such as Walter of Châtillon (1135-1176) and Philip, Chancellor of the University of Paris (d.1236)—as well as now-nameless students, vagabonds and jongleurs.

The poetry is similarly variable: there are moralistic and fervidly religious poems, as well as secular lyrics that range from love songs (heterosexual and otherwise) to humorous and obscene stories. The most famous collection of goliard poetry is the Carmina Burana (literally “Songs of Beuren”), a 13th-century collection of over 200 poems that was compiled at the Benedictine monastery in Benediktbeuern, south of Orff’s hometown of Munich. This richly illuminated manuscript was probably gathered together for a wealthy abbot of the monastery. Most of its poems are written in Church Latin, but there are several poems in a Bavarian dialect of medieval German and a few poems that are partially in French (for example, No.16 in Orff’s setting).

Carl Orff’s “secular cantata” on texts from the Carmina Burana is certainly his best-known work. Orff is a familiar name to many music educators: He was the creator of a applause at Strathmore • May/june 2013 63

Saturday, June 8, 2013, 8 p.m. and Sunday, June 9, 2013, 3 p.m.

systematic method of music education for children and the composer of an important body of Schulwerke, or educational music. However, much of his concert and stage music remains unknown to American audiences.

Carmina Burana, composed in 193536, is the earliest of Orff’s works; in 1937, he withdrew from publication everything else he had composed up to that time. The success of Carmina Burana prompted the composition of two related works: Catulli Carmina and Il Trionfo di Afrodite, both of which he based upon medieval models. All three settings were conceived as stage works, and in Carmina Burana and its sequels, Orff suggested that costumes, staging and props would add to the effect of the work. Carmina Burana did not become well-known until after the end of the World War II. Primarily now performed as a concert piece, it sometimes has been produced with costumed mimes and dancers onstage, and chorus and solo voices in the orches¬tra pit.

The musical style of Carmina Burana and much of Orff’s later work owes a great deal to the neoclassical music of Stravinsky and echoes of Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms and Les Noces are clear. Orff’s style is harmonically simple, with ostinato rhythmic figures repeated over long static harmonies. The entire choral prologue, for example, is set above an unchanging D in the bass. The orchestration is simple, yet colorful: Orff shows a CHORALIS YOUTH CHOIR CANTUS PRIMO Gretchen Kuhrmann, director Olivia Levin Olivia Beeman Nina Manser Lauren Charles Luke McClorey Erin Claeys Cooper McGuire Evelyn Duross Ellie McGuire McKinley Dyer Ruthie Miller Bridget Early Rylee Neumann Maya Ewart Anna Nowalk Marcus Garretson Margot Spencer Abby Hendricks Kristen Waagner Brett Hungar

64 applause at Strathmore • MAY/JUNE 2013

preference for percussive effects that highlight the accents of the text and his own rhythmic figures. Melodic figures are short and frequently repeated with very little development. There are also moments of pure Romanticism, however, particularly in the baritone’s solo lines. Orff did not use any of the relatively few extant melodies preserved with goliard poetry for his material. The end result of his compositional procedures is striking.

His settings of these 700-year-old lyrics are imbued with both freshness and mystery.

In speaking about his aesthetic philosophy, Orff remarked that: “I am often asked why I nearly always select old material, fairy tales and legends for my stage works. I do not see this material as old, but rather as valid. The time element disappears, and only the spiritual element remains. My entire interest is in the expression of these spiritual realities. I write for the theater to convey a spiritual attitude.”

Orff’s ordering of the secular poems he chose reflects a deep understanding of the medieval spirit.

The 24 texts are arranged into three large sections: I. “Spring,” II. “In the Tavern,” and III. “The Court of Love.”

Each of these sections is further subdivided. The first two texts, serving as a prelude to Section I, deal with the most potent symbol of medieval life: the Wheel of Fortune. In countless manuscript illuminations—including a prominent page in the original Carmina Burana manuscript—this wheel is depicted being manipulated by a capricious Lady Fortune. Fortune’s Wheel alternately raises and lowers the kings, churchmen and peasants who cling to it and represents the quick and uncontrollable turns of fate in humans’ lives. Section I, “Spring,” reflects an idealized and mythological view of nature and springtime. Spring was an important medieval metaphor, both for resurrection and for youth, but, here, the enjoyment of the season is purely sensuous. In a subsection titled “On the Green” (nos.6-10),

the outdoor spirit is directed towards thoughts of love and dancing. This subsection contains the only purely orchestral music in Carmina Burana: an instrumental Tanz (dance) that opens the section, and a Reie (rounddance) inserted before the chorus Swaz hie gat umbe.

The four numbers set in the tavern give four different perspectives of medieval merrymaking: drunken musings, feasting (sung from the perspective of the “feastee,” a roasted swan!), a satire of a drunken clergyman (who invokes the spurious St. Decius, patron saint of gamblers), and finally the drunken and entirely democratic freefor-all of In taberna quando sumus.

The third and longest section, “Court of Love,” reflects the two-fold conception of love common in medieval thought. We hear both the elevated ideal of courtly love: chaste longing for an unattainable lady heard in Dies, nox et omnia and the frankly erotic view of love in Si puer cum puellula. In most of the texts, these two threads are cunningly woven together. This section ends with Blanchefleur and Helen (No. 24), a single poem praising Venus in the same terms often reserved for addresses to the Virgin Mary. A repeat of the opening chorus, O Fortuna, serves as a postlude. In returning, Orff neatly encircles Carmina Burana within Fortune’s Wheel.

The mixture of languages that scholars call “macaronic” begins in the “On the Lawn” section, No. 6, where late and Italianate Latin join with medieval Bavarian German dialect, as well as some old French. In No. 24, Blanziflor and Helena are, perhaps, a pair of lovers, Whiteflower and Helen.

The instruments required by the score are piccolo and three flutes, three oboes and English horn, three clarinets, small clarinet in E flat and bass clarinet, three bassoons and contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones and tuba, timpani, percussion, celesta, two pianos and strings.

Copyright Susan Halpern, 2013

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Monday, June 10, 2013, 7:30 p.m.

MONDAY, JUNE 10, 2013, 7:30 P.M.

● Strathmore Presents

Strathmore Children’s Chorus Spring Concert: The Music of Jim Papoulis “Imbakwa” (“Sing for the Heart”) Combined Choruses, Benjamin Jin, soloist

Jim Papoulis

“If You Could Hear My Voice” Strathmore Children’s Chorus: Concert Chorus

“We Will” Strathmore Children’s Chorus: Treble Chorus

“Amani” (“A Song for Peace”) trathmore Children’s Chorus: Concert Chorus S

“When I Close My Eyes” Strathmore Children’s Chorus: Treble Chorus

“We All Have a Right” Strathmore Children’s Chorus: Young Men’s Chorus

“Kusimama” (“Stand Tall”) A. Mario Loiederman Middle School Chamber Choir and Alumni

“Stand Together” Combined Strathmore Children’s Choruses

“To Dream of Tomorrow” (World Premiere) A. Mario Loiederman Middle School Chamber Choir and Alumni “Whispers” (World Premiere) Maryland Classic Youth Orchestra: Symphonic Orchestra “La Vida” (“The Life”) Holton-Arms Upper School Chorus

Jim Papoulis

Jim Papoulis and Jacques Sebisaho Jim Papoulis

“The Dawn of a Journey” (World Premiere Strathmore commission) Combined Strathmore Children’s Choruses “Give Us Hope” Combined Choruses “Oye” (“Listen”) Combined Choruses “Can You Hear” Jim Papoulis Combined Choruses (arr. Francisco J. Nunez)

“Sihr Halac” (“Lawful Magic”) Holton-Arms Upper School Chorus

Strathmore Children’s Chorus Christopher G. Guerra, artistic director Hei Jung Kim, accompanist Kari Luizzi, choral manager Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras Kris Sanz, conductor

A. Mario Loiederman Middle School for the Creative and Performing Arts Christopher G. Guerra, choral director

Holton-Arms Upper School Chorus Mary Jane Pagenstecher, director Barbara Wilkinson, accompanist and assistant choral director The Music Center at Strathmore Marriott Concert Stage

Strathmore Children’s Chorus

The Strathmore Children’s Chorus was founded in the fall of 2012 with 90 members. Currently, the chorus has more than 125 members and is comprised of three ensembles: the Treble Chorus, the Concert Chorus and the 66 applause at Strathmore • MAY/JUNE 2013

Young Men’s Chorus. The ensembles provide a pre-professional children’s chorus experience in Montgomery County to students ages 8 through 17 from all backgrounds. Under the direction of Christopher G. Guerra, the ensembles promote self-expression in singers, celebrate the diverse musi-

cal traditions of Montgomery County residents, engage talented youth in joy-filled and uplifting music-making and allow Strathmore to provide a living, breathing, singing presence in our community.

The Strathmore Children’s Chorus is a Strathmore education program and

Monday, June 10, 2013, 7:30p.m.

the U.S. and abroad. He attended the Chicago Music College and earned his bachelor’s degree in music education from Ball State University, with graduate studies at the University of Maryland, Towson University and George Mason University.

Kari Liuzzi

fulfills Strathmore’s mission to produce exemplary performing arts programs for diverse audiences, create dynamic arts education experiences that convene students and educators and foster informed appreciation for and involvement in the arts. This is the combined choirs’ premiere performance at the Music Center at Strathmore.

STRATHMORE CHILDREN’S CHORUS PHOTO BY MATTHEW STIGLITZ

Christopher G. Guerra

Christopher G. Guerra is the founding conductor and artistic director of the Strathmore Children’s Chorus and a founding member of the A. Mario Loiederman Middle School for the Creative and Performing Arts in Silver Spring, where he directs all choral activities and teaches courses in digital music.

Guerra is the recipient of the 2012 Maryland Music Educators Association’s Outstanding Teacher Award. His chamber choir recently performed for the American Choral Directors Association’s National Middle School Choral Conference in Dallas, Texas, as well as Maryland Music Educators Association conferences and several performances at the Music Center at Strathmore.

Guerra has directed and managed honors choruses for Montgomery County Public Schools. Guerra was the featured vocalist with the 566th Air Force Band and has conducted numerous choral and production workshops in

Choral Manager Kari Liuzzi has taught choral music at both middle school and high school levels in Montgomery County since 2001. Liuzzi also has served as the choral manager for the MCPS Middle School Honors Chorus.

She is the choral music teacher at John T. Baker Middle School in Damascus, where her choral ensembles have received superior ratings at both county and state festivals.

She has directed numerous musicals and has served as an adjudicator and clinician for Classic festivals and Rhythm International festivals. Liuzzi earned her bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of Delaware, her master’s degree in music education from Towson University and received her certification in administration and supervision from Hood College.

Hei Jung Kim

Strathmore Children’s Chorus Principal Accompanist Hei Jung Kim is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Music. While at the University of Maryland, Kim studied piano with Santiago Rodriguez and Bradford Gowen.

Kim is a music teacher for Montgomery County Public Schools, teaching general music and chorus for the past 10 years at Dr. Sally K. Ride Elementary School in Germantown.

Kim serves as the accompanist for the Montgomery County Youth Chorus and the Montgomery County Elementary Honors Chorus.

Holton-Arms Upper School Chorus

The Holton-Arms Upper School Chorus is a non-auditioned ensemble for singers in grades 9-12. They prepare diverse repertoire for two major con-

certs each year and the annual Independent Schools Choral Festival held at the Washington National Cathedral.

The chorus has also appeared at the ACDA Eastern Division Conference, National Association of Independent Schools Conference, Maryland Music Educators Conference, the Kennedy Center, Sydney Opera House and Auckland’s Holy Trinity Cathedral, as well as historic venues in Prague, Budapest and Vienna.

The ensemble is led by choral director Mary Jane Pagenstecher, who has been a choral director, choreographer and arts educator for more than 30 years. Pagenstecher directs four choral ensembles at the Holton-Arms School and is director of fine and performing arts. She is the American Choral Directors Association Eastern Division Chair of Women’s Choir Repertoire and Standards.

A. Mario Loiederman Middle School Chamber Choir

Established in 2005, the A. Mario Loiederman Middle School is the only performing arts magnet middle school in Montgomery County Public Schools.

The A. Mario Loiederman Middle School Chamber Choir has received superior ratings at county, state and interstate adjudications, numerous first place and best chorus awards. In its sixth year the Chamber Choir was chosen to perform at the American Chorus Directors Association’s National Middle School Choral Conference in Dallas, Texas. The Loiederman choral program has placed more students in honors chorus two of the past four years. Chamber Choir performs four major concerts a year and has 15-20 engagements throughout the school year.

Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras

The Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras program creates a seamless connection between the artistic and the educational experience. MCYO enjoys its first permanent home in the Music Center at Strathmore. MCYO is highly regarded regionally and nationally as one of the applause at Strathmore • MAY/JUNE 2013 67

Monday, June 10, 2013, 7:30 p.m.

country’s most outstanding youth orchestra programs. Founded in 1946 as the Montgomery County Youth Orchestra, MCYO is the oldest and most established youth orchestra program in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

Since 2005, MCYO has been a resident partner in the Music Center at Strathmore.

Kristofer Sanz is conductor of the Philharmonic for the Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras at Strathmore. He is also the music director/conductor of instrumental music at Winston Churchill High School in Potomac.

Program Notes “Imbakwa” (“Sing for the Heart”)

“Imbakwa” originated as part of a film score about TunaHAKI, an organization benefitting orphans in Tanzania.

The film was to be a montage about the journey of 12 street children. This piece is a sort of hymn or emotional plea as the initial cry is made. Later the gentler response is given until reaching a swell with all voices. The emotional range from the softer voices to the united call from humanity bridges the music. The selection ends with the gentler voices and the final call to all who will listen and hear.

Christopher Guerra “We Will”

On Sept. 16, 2001, a group of U.S.-based musicians was due to depart with Jim Papoulis for a tour of China to perform Sounds of a Better World concerts benefiting children’s charities. The world was reeling from 9/11 and the tour was postponed. Papoulis was asked to write a song with a multicultural choir in Miami who wanted to meet the world of violence and despair with music. “We Will” was composed as part of that songwriting workshop. While the children helped him write the song by sharing thoughts, words and phrases, they also wanted to include nonsensical phrases sounding like “si mama wototo” which the song was eventually woven around.

Christopher Guerra 68 applause at Strathmore • MAY/JUNE 2013

“When I Close My Eyes”

“Whispers”

It seems children are struggling with an increasing amount of negative influences and are bombarded with information that can erode their sense of self. Listening to students in their songs and silence they often share their desire to be strong and to believe in themselves. From this idea come the song and words, “When I close my eyes then I can see, and I am not afraid.”

Christopher Guerra

“Whispers” was written for Kris Sanz and the MCYO Symphonic Orchestra and is a piece about listening to the subtle whispers of all of us. Many of the melodies are passed from one instrument to the other, often in a gentle way, first on their own and then with each other, as a metaphor for how humans need to interact. When we listen to the whispers of all of us, only then can we learn to flourish as a group and find the humanity in each of us. The balance of volume and texture is important in order to hear all of the entrances, just as the thoughts of all of us are important to the listening process.

Christopher Guerra

“Kusimama” (“Stand Tall”)

I first heard “Kusimana” at the 2012 American Choral Directors Association’s Voices United Conference at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

As Papoulis led the honors chorus it was exciting to see how engaged the singers were as they performed his music. I had this same reaction with my students when we performed Papoulis selections: pure joy and delight. Having met Jim Papoulis at Voices United for the first time, we exchanged ideas about a program featuring his music. Those conversations led to this evening’s event.

Christopher Guerra Translation: Swahili - stand tall, I stand tall, with love with hope, children are closer to the earth.

“To Dream of Tomorrow”

“To Dream of Tomorrow” was commissioned by the A. Mario Loiederman Middle School Choral Department to commemorate its performance at the 2012 American Choral Directors Association’s National Middle School Choral Conference performance in Dallas, Texas. Chamber Choir alumni join us today, as they paved the road for that wonderful experience. Jim Papoulis performed a composition workshop with the chorus on Nov. 20, 2012. In order to dream of tomorrow, we must live with our hearts. If there is darkness in life… we must all learn to find the light that is inside all of us without the fear of being judged. When we all live with our hearts, we will have freedom, and we can dream of tomorrow.

Christopher Guerra

“La Vida” (“The Life”)

“La Vida” was written as a commission for Kingswood Oxford School in West Hartford, Conn. They asked me to write a piece to the younger generation, reminding them that life is what you make it.

Enthusiasm, love, hope, discipline ... It is all self made. We all have opportunities, but for the most part of life is what you decide it to be, and work for. (“La Vida” is a new and unpublished composition).

Jim Papoulis Translation: Hey life, how’s it going, Hey life, tell me now, Rhythm of your heart, hurray!

Your world is created within your heart, all your dreams are born within you Tell me my life, can I get there, everything awaits me, follow me Life, is what you make of it, Life, lives within your heart Life, is what you make of it, Oh what rhythm your life Everything that I need is within me, Dreams can get lost, follow them I am the strength within my heart, Everything awaits me, follow me Life, is what you make of it, Life, lives within your heart Life, is what you make of it, Oh what rhythm your life. Live in your heart!

“Sihr Halac” (“Lawful Magic”)

“Sihr Halac” was written with the idea to explore the world of Arabic rhythm,

Monday, June 10, 2013, 7:30p.m.

textures and style in the interest of global fusion. The harmonies are not traditional, especially with the flat second in the scale, which is often prevalent in music from Arab countries. The text is about Sihr Halac, which is a type of magic that exists in art. The kind of magic that transforms and grows and permeates the soul, which is a power that is felt but difficult to explain, so it has been labeled as magic. (“Sihr Halac” is a new and unpublished composition).

Jim Papoulis

for the right to be who you are. Sung with pride, the song calls for the right to be free and to stand up with confidence, to be heard and to work together for a better world. With real freedom comes responsibility and perhaps a new sense of life purpose. This was written especially for the young male changed voice, with a high tenor to lower bass range performed in a gospel style.

Jim Papoulis “Stand Together”

Translation - music inspires me, lawful magic is rhythm, lawful magic is music, rhythm, music, inspiration, give me music “If You Could Hear My Voice”

“If You Could Hear My Voice” explores the idea of listening to our inner voice and how it can lead us to a fuller and more engaged life. The young voice is often not heard today, however, confidence in being heard can be a large part of growing up. This song celebrates the self-discovery that leads to a fuller life.

Christopher Guerra “Amani” (“A Song for Peace”)

Amani translates into “peace” in Swahili. “Swahili is spoken in the Congo, Africa, where my mother was born and raised,” says Papoulis. The stories his mother told him, the sounds, rhythms and language all impacted his song writing. From the Congo, Jacques Sebisaho shared his challenges of living in the Congo and the universal struggle all have for peace. “Amani” is sung with spirit and strength. The ending word “libertate” coincides with the three body movements of left fist up, right fist up, fingers extended and reaching up. This is a universal sign of solidarity.

Christopher Guerra Translation French – Sing strongly for peace, sing for peace throughout the world Swahili – with one voice, we all sing together

This piece was composed at the Choral Music Experience at Ithaca College.

Inspired after spending time with Celtic singer Noirin ni Riain, syllables were placed to humming by Noirin. She helped Papoulis explore the various syllables in this piece. It begins with gentle soothing sounds, gradually building to the refrain, “if we stand together.”

Sounds are made to reflect rain falling down.

Jim Papoulis “The Dawn of a Journey”

“The Dawn of a Journey” was commissioned by the Strathmore Children’s Chorus to commemorate its premiere season. Papoulis performed a composition workshop with the chorus on Nov. 20, 2012. The song is about the hope of a journey, of a new world, of being on the edge of time in life that is new, fresh and full of hope and promise. The journey can be molded and turned into what is in the heart of the youth. It is, in fact, the dawn of a new journey.

Christopher Guerra “Give Us Hope”

Written in 1999, “Give Us Hope” was the first Papoulis piece I had ever performed. Many schools close out their concerts with a Papoulis selection such as this one. “Give Us Hope” is from the project Sounds of a Better World = small voices calling, a series of songs focusing on children, their world and how small steps can be made to improve it.

Christopher Guerra

“We All Have a Right”

“We All Have a Right” is a cry out

“I was very disturbed to learn of vari-

ous incidents around the world where children were subjected to adverse conditions. As I read more and explored our attitudes as a society toward children, I began to feel that we (as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said) ‘...must ask ourselves how responsible we are for the well-being of others…’”

Jim Papoulis “Oye” (“Listen”)

Having an opportunity to work with young children from economically challenged areas, Papoulis performed a songwriting workshop in Acapulco where the children spoke little English but were easily reached with the music.

When asked if they had a message to convey to the world in song, their answer was simple: to listen. The translation of “listen” or “listen up” is “Oye.” Christopher Guerra Translation: All alone, in the darkness, they are crying out for your help, They are hoping, they are dreaming, they are asking, for a chance to be heard, Are you listening, can you hear their cries?

They are watching, they are listening, they are searching to find their way “Can You Hear”

“Can You Hear” is from the project Sounds of a Better World = small voices calling. We close with this song as it is the constant inner plea of young children. As a middle school teacher, children’s chorus director and parent of two, I can attest to this cry of young people. May we be ever listening when the question is asked, “Can you hear my cries … I am calling out to you.”

Sounds of a Better World = small voices calling is a project of The Foundation for Small Voices. The foundation is dedicated to using music to cross cultural, generational and ideological boundaries to raise awareness and funds for national and international music and mentoring programs for children.

Christopher Guerra applause at Strathmore • MAY/JUNE 2013 69

Thursday, June 13, 2013, 8 p.m.

THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 2013, 8 P.M.

● Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Marin Alsop, Music Director

presents

West Side Story Film with Live Orchestra Marin Alsop, conductor West Side Story® AssociatesSM presents West Side Story Mirisch Pictures presents West Side Story A Robert Wise Production Starring NATALIE WOOD RICHARD BEYMER RITA MORENO

RUSS TAMBLYN

GEORGE CHAKIRIS

Directed by ROBERT WISE & JEROME ROBBINS Screenplay by ERNEST LEHMAN Associate Producer SAUL CHAPLIN Choreography by JEROME ROBBINS Music by LEONARD BERNSTEIN Lyrics by STEPHEN SONDHEIM Based upon the Stage Play Produced by ROBERT E. GRIFFITH and HAROLD S. PRINCE Book by ARTHUR LAURENTS Play Conceived, Directed and Choreographed by JEROME ROBBINS Film Production Designed by BORIS LEVEN Music Conducted by JOHNNY GREEN Presented by MIRISCH PICTURES, INC. In Association with SEVEN ARTS PRODUCTIONS INC. Filmed in PANAVISION® TECHNICOLOR® Film screening of West Side Story courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. WEST SIDE STORY© 1961 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.

West Side Story 50th Anniversary Blu-ray and Limited Edition Blu-ray Box Set available now.

Tonight’s program is a presentation of the complete film West Side Story with live performance of the film’s entire score. The program runs 2 hours and 34 minutes, plus an intermission. It also includes the underscoring played by the orchestra during the Saul Bass-designed End Credits. We ask that, out of respect for the music, for the musicians playing it and for your fellow audience members, you remain in your seats until the End Credits are completed.

Presenting Sponsor: VOCUS The Music Center at Strathmore Marriott Concert Stage

70 applause at Strathmore • MAY/JUNE 2013

Thursday, June 13, 2013, 8 p.m.

Alsop photo by DeaN Alexander

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 2007, she was honored with a European Women of Achievement Award. In 2008, she was inducted as a fellow into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and in 2009 Musical America named her Conductor of the Year. In November 2010, she was inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame.

In February 2011, Alsop 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. And in March 2011, Alsop was named to The Guardian’s Top 100 Women list. She was also named an artist-in-residence at the Southbank Centre in London in 2011.

Alsop has led the BSO in several outreach initiatives. In 2008, she partnered with the BSO to launch OrchKids, a music education and life enrichment program for youth in West Baltimore.

In 2010, she conducted the first “Rusty Musicians with the BSO,” which gives amateur musicians the chance to perform with a professional symphony orchestra.

Alsop attended Yale University and received her master’s degree from The Juilliard School. In 1989, her conducting career was launched when she won

the Koussevitzky Conducting Prize at Tanglewood, where she studied with Leonard Bernstein.

Program Notes West Side Story (Film Version: 1961) Composed by Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990) Directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins Choreography by Jerome Robbins

In 1989, the year before he died, Leonard Bernstein complained to a musician in the Israel Philharmonic: “I don’t feel happy that people will remember me because of West Side Story, even though I love the piece. I would rather people remembered me for my serious compositions.”

These are strange words from a composer who earlier in his career had proselytized for the breaking down of artificial barriers between popular music and “serious” art music. In West Side Story, he had triumphantly proven that the two can be fused together successfully.

And with his extraordinary creative team of Jerome Robbins (director and choreographer), Arthur Laurents (book) and the young Stephen Sondheim (lyrics), Bernstein had defied the rules for a Broadway musical by tackling a grim story with a tragic ending set in the mean streets of 20th-century New York City. Years later, Robbins defined what they had set out to achieve: “The aim in the mid-’50s was to see if all of us—Lenny who wrote ‘long-hair’ music, Arthur who wrote serious plays, myself who did serious ballets, Oliver Smith [the set designer] who was a serious painter—could bring our acts together and do a work on the popular stage.”

West Side Story opened at the Winter Garden Theater on Sept. 26, 1957, but its genesis went back to 1949. It began with Jerome Robbins, who had the idea of creating a contemporary treatment of Shakespeare’s immortal tragedy Romeo and Juliet and approached Bernstein and Laurents to see if they

were interested in collaborating. The original concept was called “East Side Story” and revolved around the forbidden love between the daughter of a Jewish immigrant family who had survived the Holocaust and the son of an Irish-American Catholic family set during the period of Easter/Passover.

Both men were interested, but problems developing the story and their respective other involvements finally put a halt to the collaboration.

Six years later in 1955, the project was revived, the idea now seeming especially relevant because the newspapers were full of stories about teenage gang violence on New York’s West Side as well as in other American cities.

Laurents and Bernstein were interested in developing a musical with a Latino beat, and the Catholic vs. Jewish theme was dropped in favor of conflict between newly arrived Puerto Rican immigrants and American-born gangs.

Robbins signed on as director, and since he was one of America’s leading choreographers, the group decided that dance would be the show’s primary means of expression. Bernstein wanted to write the lyrics as well as the music, but the team brought in the young Stephen Sondheim to cover that job.

With his uncompromising perfectionism, Robbins created a state of extreme nervous tension among his young performers. He also deliberately kept the members of the American Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks apart so no friendships could develop between them and conspired to make them feel antagonistic toward each other.

Concurrently with West Side Story, Bernstein was also writing the music for his satirical operetta Candide. Some music originally intended for Candide was transferred to West Side Story, notably the songs “One Hand, One Heart” and the comic “Gee, Officer Krupke.”

Because he was so busy, Bernstein delegated the score’s orchestration to Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal.

The creative team constantly urged Bernstein to avoid making his music too operatic and pushing it beyond the technical abilities of the young applause at Strathmore • MAY/JUNE 2013 71

Thursday, June 13, 2013, 8 p.m.

dancers. This problem came to a head at the show’s climax: Maria’s final words after the death of Tony. “It cries out for music,” Bernstein said.

“I tried to set it very bitterly, understated, swift. I tried giving all the material to the orchestra and having her sing an obbligato [higher countermelody] throughout. I tried a version that sounded just like a Puccini aria, which we really did not need. ... Everything sounded wrong.” Finally, the decision was made to have Maria simply speak her words, without any music at all: an approach that made the moment all the more powerful for its starkness.

West Side Story ran for nearly two years on Broadway, was presented for another year on a national tour, then returned to Broadway for most of the following year. Then it reached out to its widest audience of all.

The Film Inevitably, Hollywood became interested in putting this musical everyone was talking about on the screen.

Robert Wise, experienced in shooting urban dramas on the New York streets, was signed on as director with Robbins as co-director responsible for the choreography. The movie was filmed on location in the West Sixties of New York, an area of decaying tenements soon to be demolished, ironically, for the construction of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. In the opening sequence and throughout the film, Wise used stunning aerial and crane shots to show both the city’s iconic skyscrapers and the crowded streets and bleak playgrounds of the depressed world of the Jets and Sharks.

The original show had cast performers mostly in their early 20s to play the parts of teenagers, but by the time of the film, Larry Kert (Tony) and Carol Lawrence (Maria) were pushing 30 and deemed too old for the screen close ups. The directors actually asked Elvis Presley to play Tony, but on the advice of his manager, he turned it down. Wise next wanted Warren Beatty for Tony. For his audition, Beatty brought along his then-girlfriend 72 applause at Strathmore • MAY/JUNE 2013

Natalie Wood to read with him; the upshot was that Wise chose Wood to be Maria and bypassed Beatty for Richard Beymer, a former child actor.

Though Wood and Beymer wanted to do their own singing, their voices were ultimately dubbed by Marni Nixon and Jimmy Bryant.

Ernest Lehman adapted Laurents’ original book for the screen. Though there were some adjustments to the order of events and the sequence of songs, the film screenplay stayed very close to the original. West Side Story opened in New York on Oct.18, 1961 and became that year’s second-highest-grossing film.

Strangely, the stage version of West Side Story had been largely bypassed—in favor of the more conventional The Music Man—by the 1958 Tony Awards. Only Jerome Robbins had won as Best Director and Oliver Smith for Best Set Design. However, the Academy Awards were much more generous to the film, giving it 10 Oscars. Among them were Best Film, Best Director to Wise and Robbins, a special Choreography Oscar to Robbins, Best Supporting Actress to Moreno, and Best Supporting Actor to George Chakiris as Bernardo. Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal received the Oscar for Best Score even though Bernstein was ineligible because his music was not original for the screen.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the film, in 2011 the Leonard Bernstein Office embarked on a project to create a new version of the film score suitable for live performance, overseen by Garth Edwin Sunderland.

The studio orchestra used for the film was enormous, at one point including five xylophones doubled by five pianos, as well as eight trumpets and six saxophones. This new performing version maintains the overall feel of the film orchestration while rendering it practical for live performance. It is this version we’ll hear at these performances of one of the great classics of American film and American music.

Notes by Janet E. Bedell copyright 2013

PRODUCTION CREDITS Producer: Paul H. Epstein for The Leonard Bernstein Office, Inc. Associate Producer: Eleonor M. Sandresky for The Leonard Bernstein Office, Inc. Production Supervisor: Steven A. Linder Technical Director: Mike Runice Sound Engineer: Matt Yelton Music Supervision: Garth Edwin Sunderland Original Orchestrations: Leonard Bernstein, Sid Ramin, Irwin Kostal Additional orchestrations: Garth Edwin Sunderland & Peter West Music Preparation: Peter West Original manuscript reconstruction: Eleonor M. Sandresky Technical Consultant: Laura Gibson Soundtrack Adaptation – Chace Audio by Deluxe: Robert Heiber, Chris Reynolds, Andrew Starbin, Alice Taylor Sound Separation Technology provided by Audionamix Click Tracks and Streamers created by: Kristopher Carter and Mako Sujishi With special thanks to: Arthur Laurents and his Estate, Stephen Sondheim, The Robbins Rights Trust, The Johnny Green Collection at Harvard University, The Sid Collection at Columbia University, The Robert Wise Collection at the University of Southern California, Lawrence A. Mirisch, David Newman, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., MGM HD, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment LLC, Ken Hahn and Sync Sound West Side Story is a registered trademark of The Leonard Bernstein Office, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries.

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New—Teen Art Camp!

Ages 12–15

Teens expand their creativity and work indepth 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.

July 29–August 2, 9:30AM–12:30PM Tuition: $225 (Stars Price $202.50)

Kids Camp

Ages 6 –11

A Strathmore favorite! Art Camp returns with a half day and a full day option. Children engage in a variety of hands-on art activities, learning techniques, expanding their artistic vocabulary and developing their creative process. Campers will also learn creative puppetry skills inspired by the Puppets Take Strathmore festival.

Half-Day Camp: August 5–August 9, 9:30AM–12:30PM Tuition; $225 (Stars Price $202.50) Full-Day Camp: August 12–August 16, 9:00AM–3PM Tuition: $375 (Stars Price $337.50)

REGISTER! ONLINE www.strathmore.org • Look Under “Education” | PHONE (301) 581-5100

SATURDAY, JUNE 29, 2013, 8 P.M.

● Strathmore Presents

Reinventing Radio: An Evening with Ira Glass Official Media Sponsor: WAMU 88.5 FM American University Radio The Music Center at Strathmore Marriott Concert Stage

Ira Glass

Ira Glass is the host and creator of the public radio program This American Life.

The show premiered on

Chicago’s public radio station WBEZ in 1995 and is now heard on more than 500 public radio stations each week by more than 1.7 million listeners. Most weeks, the podcast of the program is the most popular podcast in America. The show also airs each week on the CBC in Canada and on the Australian Broadcasting Corp.’s radio network.

Glass began his career as an intern at National Public Radio’s network headquarters in Washington, D.C. in 1978, when he was 19 years old. Over the years, he has been a tape cutter, newscast writer, desk assistant, editor and producer. He also filled in as host of Talk of the Nation and Weekend All Things Considered.

Under Glass’ editorial direction, This American Life has won several Peabody and DuPont-Columbia awards.

A television adaptation of This American Life ran on the Showtime network for two seasons and won three Emmy awards, including one for Outstanding Nonfiction Series.

The show has put out its own comic book, three greatest hits compilations, DVDs of live shows and other events, a “radio decoder” toy, temporary tattoos and a paint-by-numbers set. Half a dozen stories are in development to become feature films.

Glass is married and owns a disturbingly allergic dog.

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74 applause at Strathmore • MAY/JUNE 2013

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What are you doing differently today for facial rejuvenation?

The Quicklift allows us to erase years in just a few hours in a safe, predictable manner. It tightens the deep layers, smooths the neck and gently lifts the facial skin resulting in a refreshed, non-surgical look. We use Jan Marini skin care products before and after to improve results. All of the procedures, and fillers too, can be performed safely and discreetly in our office.

COURTESY PHOTO

How do you get such natural looking breast augmentation results with less post operative pain?

We have pioneered (and published) the use of minimal incision breast augmentation utilizing similar tumescent infiltration techniques that we use for liposuction to give our patients markedly less post operative pain (see our website for the published paper). Also, through the use of meticulous dissection we have virtually no bleeding. This helps in faster

recovery and insures a soft, pliable, natural result. In addition, we use the Keller funnel for implant insertion that lets us make a smaller incision and place the implant in an atraumatic “no touch” technique.

Do you use Lasers in your practice?

Absolutely. We are excited to offer SmartLipo, Cellulaze, and SmartXide DOT technologies. SmartLipo laser liposuction allows us to break up unwanted fat cells and seal micro bleeding points through very small punctures. Cellulaze is the only FDA approved treatment for cellulite shown to provide lasting longterm results. SmartXide Dot is a fractional resurfacing technology that smooths fine lines, eliminates skin discoloration and stimulates skin thickness. It can be done in multiple low energy treatments or one more intense treatment that has dramatic effects. All of these are done in the office under sedation and local anesthesia obviating the need to be put to sleep.

ApplAuse at Strathmore • May/june 2013 75

ask the Beauty Experts profiles | Beauty Experts

Special advertiSing Section

Cheryl Callahan , DDS & Joyce Thomas, DMD 15225 shady Grove road, suite 301, rockville, MD 20850 301-948-1212 | www.cherylcallahandds.com

It is normal for adults to experience crowding of their teeth as they mature and there is a great treatment option. Invisalign is a series of custom made clear aligners that fit snugly over your teeth to gradually straighten them while you maintain a professional appearance. The aligners are easily removed to eat and to clean your teeth, allowing for good oral hygiene. Any conditions such as cavities or gum disease would need to be treated prior to beginning Invisalign.

The average length of treatment is 12 to 18 months. Interested patients will require an exam to evaluate their overall oral health and to discuss their chief concerns. Invisalign is a wonderful way for mature adults to achieve or reclaim a confident, youthful smile.

Hilary scHwab

I notice that my teeth are crowding as I’ve entered my 40s and 50s. Is this normal and can I straighten them without affecting my professional image?

Duane J. Taylor, MD le Visage ENT & Facial Plastic surgery llc 6410 rockledge Drive, suite 650, bethesda, MD, 20817 301-897-5858 | levisage@onebox.com www.levisageface.com

First, make sure you feel informed and knowledgeable about the procedures you’re having and the expected outcomes. This includes a clear understanding of pre- and post-operative instructions. Make sure you compile a list on your iPad or in your head of all your questions for your doctor and/or their staff and that you feel comfortable asking them. Second, if you have a lot of sun damage, acne or darkened (hyperpigmented) areas, work with your doctor to manage these before surgery. A healthy glow to your skin after a skin care regimen, microdermabrasion series or light peel, coupled with a healthy diet, will enhance that wonderful new nose or stunning facelift you’re investing in. Finally, prepare yourself to rest and heal as recommended by your doctor and prepare your family or a friend to help you.

76 ApplAuse at Strathmore • May/june 2013

Hilary scHwab

What can I do to prepare myself for my facial cosmetic procedure?

Special advertiSing Section

ask the BeautyExperts Experts profiles | Beauty

Stan Sokolowski Kindle & Boom 180 Halpine Road, Rockville, MD 20852 301-770-0404 | www.kindleandboom.com

How can I achieve a current hair color, and is it right for me?

Although the popularity of strong Ombré effects are now waning, it is a modern classic hair color technique, and it has morphed into a more tonal face-framing effect. Forever more, it won’t be blasphemous to have a shadowy root! Having said that, I think we’ll be seeing more solid hair colors with very subtle tonal dimension. A great technique is a rick-rack base color application where two different but similar colors are used in alternating tandem to touch up a re-growth application. It’s subtle and beautiful and it works with all colors!

sHawn HeifeRt

We’ll be seeing more reds in the near future... Warm reds, cool reds, you name it. The great thing about red is it works for all levels and dimensions. It makes blondes blusher, it makes medium brown a beautiful auburn and it makes dark brown a rich cherry chocolate. And for added dimension, sun-kiss the ends a beautiful russet.

As with all colors this season, blondes are sporting less level dimension and more tonal dimension. Think of buttery blond with honey lowlights. You girls with dark hair rejoice! Nothing is sexier than a sable base area that slowly evolves to super rich amber lengths. This is one of my favorite looks that is somehow simultaneously subtle and bold!

The great thing about modern hair color?

There is something for everyone. All ages, seasons and skin tones can work with their colorist to find their perfect hues!

ApplAuse at Strathmore • May/june 2013 77

Strathmore Hall Foundation, Inc. Board of Directors EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 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 Yanqiu He and Kenneth O’Brien

78 Applause at Strathmore • May/june 2013

Students from Broad Acres Elementary School in Silver Spring pose after the final bow during a performance they created for family and friends at Spring Break @ Strathmore, a camp for Title 1 students funded by Strathmore donors, members and friends.

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 Vivian 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 Linda and John Hanson Monica Jeffries Hazangeles and John Hazangeles

Every year—as part of a year-long partnership with Broad Acres Elementary School in Silver Spring—30 fourth- and fifth-graders spend spring break at the Music Center at Strathmore. The students learn hip-hop moves, compose songs, write an original script, design a set and stage an original production. The week culminates in a performance for family members. Spring Break @ Strathmore is funded by a generous gift from Strathmore board members Carolyn and Jeffrey Leonard and by Strathmore members and friends.

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.

Anonymous (2) 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 Tina and Art Lazerow

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

Melody and Chui Lin Diana Locke and Robert Toense Janet L. Mahaney Carol and Alan Mowbray Barbara and David (deceased) Ronis Henry Schalizki and Robert Davis (deceased) 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 Marketing Director 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 • May/june 2013 79

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

A.G.W. Biddle, III Barbara M. Bozzuto * Constance R. Caplan Robert B. Coutts Alan S. Edelman* Susan G. Esserman* Michael G. Hansen* 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 Member 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 January 1, 2012 and February 28, 2013.

LEADERSHIP CIRCLE

Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation The Maryland State Arts Council National Endowment for the Arts

Susan Liss and Family In memory of James Gavin Manson Hilary B. Miller & Dr. Katherine N. Bent Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Polinger Clark Winchcole Foundation Total Wine & More

CHAIRMAN’S CIRCLE PARTNERS

Governing Members Gold

($25,000 and above) The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation M&T Bank PNC Lori Laitman and Bruce Rosenblum VOCUS

MAESTRA’S CIRCLE

($10,000 and above) Mr. and Mrs. A. G. W. Biddle, III George and Katherine Drastal Ms. Susan Esserman and Mr. Andrew Marks Michael G. Hansen & Nancy E. Randa Mr. and Mrs. Stephen M. Lans

($5,000-$9,999) Anonymous The Charles Delmar Foundation Susan Fisher Joel and Liz Helke Dr. David Leckrone & Marlene Berlin Mr. and Mrs. William Rogers Mike & Janet Rowan Daniel and Sybil Silver Ms. Deborah Wise / Edith and Herbert Lehman Foundation, Inc.

GOVERNING MEMBERS SILVER ($2,500-$4,999) Anonymous Mr. Gilbert Bloom

80 Applause at Strathmore • May/june 2013

Mr. and Mrs. David S. Cohen Jane C. Corrigan Kari Peterson and Benito R. & Ben De Leon Mr. Joseph Fainberg Sherry and Bruce Feldman Georgetown Paper Stock of Rockville, Inc. Drs. Ronald and Barbara Gots John and Meg Hauge Madeleine and Joseph Jacobs Dr. Robert 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 and Jill Lipton Dr. Diana Locke & Mr. Robert E. Toense Linda & Howard Martin Marie McCormack Mr. & Mrs. Humayun Mirza David Nickels & Gerri Hall Ms. Diane Perin 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 Ms. Dorothy R. Bloomfield Hon. & Mrs. Anthony Borwick Dr. Nancy Bridges Gordon F. Brown Frank and Karen Campbell Dr. Mark Cinnamon & Ms. Doreen Kelly Mr. Harvey A. Cohen & Mr. Michael R. Tardif 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 Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth R. 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 Mr. David Grizzle 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 David and Kay McGoff 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 Mr. and Mrs. Peter Philipps Richard and Melba Reichard Dr. and Mrs. Gerald Rogell Mr. and Mrs. William Rooker Estelle D. Schwalb Mr. and Mrs. Roger Schwarz Ms. Phyllis Seidelson Mr. Donald M. Simonds Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Singer 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 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 Mr. Kurt Thomas Brintzenhofe Mr. Richard H. Broun & Ms. Karen E. Daly Frances and Leonard Burka Ms. Lynn Butler Cecil Chen & Betsy Haanes Bradley Christmas and Tara Flynn Barbara & John Clary Mr. Herbert Cohen Mr. & Mrs. Jim Cooper Mr. John C. Driscoll Mr. and Mrs. Robert Fauver Mr. Harvey Gold Mr. Kenneth J. Goldsmith Ms. Alisa Goldstein Frank & Susan Grefsheim Ms. Haesoon Hahn Keith and Linda Hartman Dr. Liana Harvath Mr. Jeff D. Harvell & Mr. Ken Montgomery Ms. Daryl Kaufman Mr. & Mrs. Christopher Keller Dr. Birgit Kovacs Ms. Delia Lang Ms. Pat Larrabee and Ms. Lauren Markley Mr. Darrell H. Lemke & Ms. Maryellen Trautman Ms. Mary Lesar Mr. Richard Ley Harry and Carolyn Lincoln Drs. David and Sharon Lockwood W. David Mann Mr. and Mrs. Martin McLean Merle and Thelma Meyer Ms. Ellen Miles Mr. & Mrs. Walter Miller Ms. Marlene C. Mitchell Mr. William Morgan Eugene and Dorothy Mulligan Mrs. Jane Papish Thomas Plotz and Catherine Klion Mr. and Ms. Donald Regnell Mr. James Risser Ms. Trini Rodriquez & Mr. Eric Toumayan Mr. & Mrs. Barry Rogstad Harold Rosen Ms. Ellen Rye Dr. & Mrs. Jerome Sandler

Jim Holman, chairman of the Wagner Society of Washington, D.C., with wife Diana at a reception following the “All Wagner” concert.

Mr. Allen Shaw Ms. Terry Shuch and Mr. Neal Meiselman Ms. Sonja Soleng Gloria and David Solomon Mr. and Mrs. Charles Steinecke III Mr. and Mrs. Duane Straub Mr. Peter Thomson 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 Mr. Paul Balabanis Mr. Robert Barash Mr. and Mrs. John W. Barrett Mr. & Mrs. John W. Beckwith Melvin Bell Mr. and Mrs. Robert Benna Alan H. Bergstein and Carol A. Joffe Mr. Neal Bien Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Binckes Ms. Ruth Bird Nancy and Don Bliss Mr. & Mrs. John Blodgett Mr. Edward Bou Ms. Judith A. Braham 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. Margaret Cusack Dr. & Mrs. James R. David Mr. David S. Davidson William Dietrich Ms. Brenda K. Edwards Mr. Ahmed El-Hoshy Lionel and Sandra Epstein Ms. Claudia Feldman Mr. Michael Finkelstein Dr. & Mrs. David Firestone Estelle Diane Franklin Mr. & Mrs. Marvin Freedenberg Mr. & Mrs. Michael Scott Friedman Lucian & Lynn M. Furrow Dr. Joel and Rhoda Ganz Roberta Geier Mr. Bernard A. Gelb Irwin Gerduk Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Giddings Drs. Marlene and Bill Haffner Rev. Therisia Hall Brian and Mary Ann Harris

Nancy Hendry, BSO Board Member Susan Liss, Peter Kimmel, piano soloist Orion Weiss, Patricia Hartge, Bill Baer and Ellen and Bill Leibenluft at a backstage toast.

Mr. Lloyd Haugh Mrs. Jean N. Hayes Mr. John C. Hendricks Mr. Pat Hernandez Joel and Linda Hertz Mr. & Mrs. William L. Hickman Mr. Roland Hirsch Mr. Frank Hopkins Dr. and Mrs. Robert Horowitz Mr. John Howes Mr. & Mrs. Paul Hyman Ms. Susan Irwin Dr. Richard H. Israel Dr. and Mrs. Herbert Joseph Mr. and Mrs. Norman Kamerow Mr. Peter Kaplan Dr. & Mrs. Robert W. Karp Lawrence & Jean Katz Mr. & Mrs. James Kempf Mr. & Mrs. Anthony Kern Mr. and Ms. George Kinal Ms. Kristine Kingery 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. Sandra Lebowitz Ms. Marie Lerch and Mr. Jeff Kolb 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 Thomas and Elizabeth Maestri Mr. James Magno Mr. David Marcos Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Matterson Mr. Mark Mattucci Ms. Susan McGee Anna Therese McGowan Mr. and Mrs. Michael Merchlinsky Mr. Steve Metalitz Mrs. Rita Meyers Mr. Koji Mukai Ms. Caren Novick Mr. & Mrs. Robert Obenreder Ms. Marian O’Donnell Amanda & Robert Ogren Mr. Joseph O’Hare Mrs. Patricia Olson Mr. Jerome Ostrov Mr. and Mrs. Philip Padgett Mr. Kevin Parker Ms. Frances L. Pflieger Ms. Johanna Pleijsier 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

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.

Burt and Karen Leete with mezzo-soprano Marietta Simpson at a cast party.t

Ms. Laura Ramirez-Ramos Mr. Samuel G. Reel Jr. Dr. and Mrs. Bernard Reich Mr. Thomas Reichmann Dr. Joan Rittenhouse & Mr. Jack Rittenhouse Ms. Leeann Rock & Mr. Brian Anderson Mr. Elliot Rosen Lois and David Sacks Mr. & Mrs. Robert Sandler Ms. Beatrice Schiff David and Louise Schmeltzer Norman and Virginia Schultz Mr. J. Kenneth Schwartz 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 Ms. Rochelle Stanfield and Mr. Edward Grossman Dr. Andrew Tangborn Mr. Alan Thomas Ms. Jane Trinite Mr. David Wallace Dr. and Mrs. Jack Weil Mr. and Mrs. Robert Wein Ms. Roslyn Weinstein 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 John Verdon, Vice President and CFO Leilani Uttenreither, Executive Assistant 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 Chris Monte, Assistant Personnel Manager Tabitha Pfleger, Director of Operations and Facilities Lisa Philip, Artistic Coordinator Marilyn Rife, Director of Orchestra Personnel and Human Resources Meg Sippey, Artistic Planning Manager and 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 Artistic Director DEVELOPMENT Jennifer Barton, Individual Giving Manager Megan Beck, Donor Stewardship Coordinator 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 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 Sarah Beckwith, Director of Accounting 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 Amy Bruce, Director of Ticket Services Timothy Lidard, Manager of VIP Ticketing 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 • May/june 2013 81

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 Guest Artist Vocal Fund

National Philharmonic Board of directors Board of Directors Ruth Berman Rabbi Leonard Cahan *Carol Evans Ruth Faison Dr. Bill Gadzuk Ken Hurwitz *Dieneke Johnson William Lascelle Greg Lawson Joan Levenson Dr. Jeff Levi Dr. Wayne Meyer *Kent Mikkelsen Dr. Roscoe M. Moore, Jr. Dr. Kenneth Moritsugu Robin C. Perito JaLynn Prince *Peter Ryan

Dr. Charles Toner Elzbieta Vande Sande

Concertmaster Circle Mr. and Mrs. Paul Dudek

Board Officers

Principal Circle Mr. & Mrs. Joel Alper Dr. Ryszard Gajewski Dr. & Mrs. Val G. Hemming Ms. Dieneke Johnson, includes match by Washington Post

*Todd R. Eskelsen, Chair *Albert Lampert, First Vice Chair *Mark Williams, Treasurer *Paul Dudek, Secretary * Joel Alper, Chair Emeritus

Board of Advisors Joel Alper Albert Lampert Chuck Lyons Roger Titus Jerry D. Weast

As of April 2013 *Executive Committee

As of April 1, 2013

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

Maestro Circle Mrs. Margaret Makris Dr. Kenneth P. Moritsugu, Emily Moritsugu & Ms. Lisa R. Kory, includes match by Johnson & Johnson Paul A. & Peggy L. Young

Partnership The Washington Post Company BENEFACTOR CIRCLE Corina Higginson Trust Henry B. & Jessie W. Keiser Foundation, Inc. Rockville Christian Church, for donation of space 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.

INDIVIDUALS

GIFTS OF $25,000+ Ms. Anne Claysmith for the Chorale Chair-Soprano II Fund

82 Applause at Strathmore • May/june 2013

Philharmonic Circle Mrs. Nancy Dryden Baker, in memory of Lt. Cmdr. William F. Baker, Jr. 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 Ms. Elzbieta Vande Sande, in memory of George Vande Sande, Esq. 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. Greg Lawson, includes match by Bank of America Mr. Larry Maloney * Mr. & Mrs. Kent Mikkelsen * Mr. Robert Misbin Michael & Janet Rowan SUSTAINER CIRCLE Anonymous (3) Mrs. Rachel Abraham Fred & Helen Altman * Ms. Sybil Amitay * Ms. Nurit Bar-Josef Mr. Robert Beizer Dr. Ronald Cappelletti * Dr. Mark Cinnamon & Ms. Doreen Kelly Ms. Nancy Coleman * Drs. Eileen & Paul DeMarco * Mr. & Mrs. Robert Dollison Dr. Stan Engebretson * Mr. William E. Fogle & Ms. Marilyn Wun-Fogle Dr. Maria A. Friedman * Mr. & Mrs. Darren & Elizabeth Gemoets * Ms. Sarah Gilchrist * Mr. Barry Goldberg Dr. Joseph Gootenberg & Dr. Susan Leibenhaut Mr. and Mrs. David Henderson * Dr. Stacey Henning * Mr. & Mrs. Joseph A. Hunt Mr. & Mrs. John R. Larue, includes match by IBM 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 * Susan & Jim Murray * Mr. & Mrs. Charles Naftalin Mr. Thomas Nessinger * Ms. Martha Newman * David Nickels & Gerri Hall Dr. & Mrs. Goetz Oertel Mr. & Mrs. William Pairo Mr. & Mrs. Jerome Pinson, includes match

by GE Foundation Ms. Phyllis Rattey 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. Jack Yanovski Mr. & Mrs. Bernard J. Young PATRON Mary Bentley & David Kleiner * Rabbi & Mrs. Leonard Cahan Ms. Linda Edwards Mr. John Eklund Mr. Joseph Fainberg Ms. Ruth Faison * David & Berdie Firestone 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 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. & Mrs. John F. Wing CONTRIBUTOR Anonymous (2) Mr. Robert B. Anderson Mike & Cecilia Ballentine Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Bechert Mr. & Mrs. Gilbert Bloom Ms. Patricia Bulhack Mr. John Choi Mrs. Patsy Clark Ms. Irene Cooperman Mr. Dean Culler Mr. & Mrs. Tom Dunlap Mr.& Mrs. J. Steed Edwards Mr. & Mrs. William English Mr. & Mrs. Elliott Fein, includes match

by IBM Mr. Eliot Feldman Dr. & Mrs. John H. Ferguson Ms. Shannon Finnegan * Mr. & Mrs. Mayo Friedlis Mr. & Mrs. Piotr Gajewski Mr. Dean Gatwood Mr. Steven Gerber Mr. & Mrs. William Gibb Dr. Karl Habermeier Dr. William Hatcher Frances Hanckel Mrs. Rue Helsel Mr. Robert Henry Dr. Roger Herdman Ms. Anne Kanter Dr. & Mrs. Charles Kelber Ms. Cherie Krug Ms. Joanna Lam Mr. & Mrs. Paul Legendre Ms. Rachel Leiton

Chorale member Leif Neve with National Philharmonic President Kenneth A. Oldham Jr. and National Philharmonic Chorale Artistic Director Stan Engebretson

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. Dan Abbott Mr. & Mrs. Donald Abbott Mrs. Fran Abrams Ms. Ann Albertson Mr. & Mrs. Nabil Azzam Ms. Marietta Balaan * Mr. Mikhail Balachov Mr. Robert Barash 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 Dr. John Caldwell Mr. J. Michael Rowe & Ms. Nancy Chesser Dr. F. Lawrence Clare 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. Charles Eisenhauer Mr. Philip Fleming Mr. Harold Freeman Ms. Phyllis Freeman Mr. Brian Ganz Mr. Bernard Gelb Mr. Tom Gira Ms. Jacqueline Havener Ms. Lisa Helms Ms. Nina Helmsen Dr. & Mrs. Donald Henson Mr. & Mrs. James Hochron * 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 Mr. Gerald Kaiz Ms. Elizabeth King Mrs. Rosalie King Mr. & Mrs. Allan Kirkpatrick Mr. Mark A. Knepper Ms. Marge Koblinsky Ms. Martha Jacoby Krieger Mr. Dale Krumviede Ms. S. Victoria Krusiewski Ms. Andrea Leahy-Fucheck Ms. Sandra Lebowitz Ms. Michelle Lee Dr. Marcia D. Litwack Dr. & Mrs. 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. Edward Mills Mr. & Mrs. Thaddeus Mirecki 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. Anton Pierce Mr. Charles A. O’Connor & Ms. Susan F. Plaeger Mr. & Mrs. Paul Plotz Dr. Morris Pulliam Drs. Dena & Jerome Puskin Mr. Drew Riggs

Board and chorale member Bill Gadzuk with chorale accompanist Ted Guerrant at a reception for the Theodore M. Guerrant Fund.

Mr. Sydney Schneider Ms. Katherine Schnorrenberg Mr. and Mrs. John Schnorrenberg Ms. Bessie Shay Dr. Alan Sheff Mr. Charles Short Dr. & Mrs. Paul Silverman Ms. Rita Sloan Mr. Carey Smith * Mr. Victor Steiger Mr. & Mrs. Milton Stevens Mr. Charles Sturrock * Dr. & Mrs. Szymon Suckewer

Chorale Sustainers Circle Fred and Helen Altman Ms. Sybil Amitay Mrs. William F. Baker, Jr. Dr. Ronald Cappelletti Ms. Anne Claysmith 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 Elizabeth Bishop & Darrin Gemoets Dr. Robert Gerard & Ms. Carol Goldberg Ms. Sarah Gilchrist

Ms. Sarah Thomas Ms. Renee Tietjen * 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

Mr. & Mrs. David Henderson 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 Vocke

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 Mr. Todd Eskelsen Mrs. Wendy Hoffman, in honor of Leslie Silverfine Ms. Dieneke Johnson

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

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 Scarlett Zirkle, Suzuki Violin Instructor Natalie Grimes, Piano Instructor

Applause at Strathmore • May/june 2013 83

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* + Jenny Bilfield, President and CEO Douglas H. Wheeler, President Emeritus Neale Perl, 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 Roberta Sims Ruth Sorenson* (c) Dr. Paul G. Stern 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 Feb. 1, 2013

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 Feb. 1, 2013)

$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 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 Bank of America BB&T Private Financial Services Billy Rose Foundation

84 Applause at Strathmore • May/june 2013

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

$15,000-$24,999 Anonymous Ambassador and Mrs. Tom Anderson Arcana Foundation Ms. Adrienne Arsht AT&T Services 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 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. The Meredith Foundation 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 Versar Ms. Mary Jo Veverka Washington Gas Light Company

$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 Foundation 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. Ms. Aileen Richards and Mr. Russell Jones Ms. Wendy Thompson-Marquez Mr. and Mrs. Stefan F. Tucker (L) Mrs. Judith Weintraub Mr. Marvin F. Weissberg and Ms. Judith Morris Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Young

$7,500-$9,999 Anonymous Geico Ourisman Automotive of VA 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 (2) Mr. and Mrs. Ricardo Andrade Mr. and Mrs. Barry Barbash Mr. Joseph Brandt Mr. and Mrs. Boris Brevnov Ms. Beverly J. Burke Mr. Peter Buscemi and Ms. Judith Miller Mr. and Mrs. William N. Cafritz The Charles Delmar Foundation Dr. and Mrs. Abe Cherrick Ms. Nadine Cohodas Mr. and Mrs. J. Bradley Davis Dr. Morgan Delaney and Mr. Osborne P. Mackie Mr. and Mrs. Guy O. Dove III DyalCompass Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Eagle (L) Linda R. Fannin, Esq. (L) Mr. and Mrs. Burton J. Fishman Mr. and Mrs. David Frederick Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Gibbens Dr. and Mrs. Michael S. Gold James R. Golden Mr. and Mrs. Rolf Graage James McConnell Harkless, Esq. Ms. Dena Henry and Mr. John Ahrem 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 † 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

Ms. Mary Sturtevant and Mr. Alan Asay Mr. and Mrs. George R. Thompson Jr. Mr. and Mrs. R. Moses Thompson Mr. and Mrs. Brian Tommer Mr. Richard M. Tuckerman Drs. Anthony and Gladys Watkins (W) 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 (3) Mrs. Rachel Abraham Mrs. Arthur Arundel Lisa and James Baugh Robert and Arlene Bein Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Bennett Jane C. Bergner, Esq. (L) Ms. Bunny Bialek (W) Ms. Carol A. Bogash Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Burka Ms. Karen I. Campbell Dr. and Mrs. Purnell W. Choppin Drs. Judith and Thomas Chused Dr. Mark Cinnamon and Ms. Doreen Kelly Mr. Wes Combs and Mr. Greg Albright Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Cook Ms. Josephine S. Cooper Mr. Paul D. Cronin Dr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Danks 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) Dr. and Mrs. Joseph E. Harris (W) Ms. Leslie Hazel Ms. Gertraud Hechl Mr. and Mrs. Carl F. Hicks, Jr. Dr. Charlene Drew Jarvis Mrs. Enid T. Johnson (W) Dr. and Mrs. Elliott Kagan Mr. E. Scott Kasprowicz 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) Ms. Jacqueline Rosenberg London and Mr. Paul London 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 Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Muscarella 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 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 Mr. David D’Alessio 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 Mr. Stanley Ebner and Ms. Toni Sidley Mrs. John G. Esswein Marietta Ethier, Esq. (L) Dr. Irene Farkas-Conn 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) Mrs. Carol Kaplan Mr. and Mrs. Sherman E. Katz (L) Mr. and Mrs. John E. Kilcarr 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) The Manny & Ruthy Cohen Foundation, Inc. Ms. Patricia Marvil Master Print, Inc. 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. Patrick Nettles 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. Lincoln Ross and Changamire (W) Mr. and Mrs. Michael Rowan Steven and Gretchen Seiler Mr. and Mrs. Arman Simone Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Strong Chris Syllaba Mr. and Mrs. Tom Tinsley Mr. and Mrs. Aaron Tomares Mr. J. Rock Tonkel, Jr. G. Duane Vieth, Esq. (L) Mr. John Warren McGarry (L) 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. John Driscoll 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 Ms. Tatjana Hendry Mr. and Mrs. Louis Hering Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Hodges (W) Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Drew Jarvis Ralph N. Johanson, Jr., Esq. (L) Mr. and Mrs. Charles Jones 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 Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Lerner 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 Mr. Winton E. Matthews, Jr. John C. McCoy, Esq. (L) Ms. Hope McGowan Mr. and Mrs. Rufus W. McKinney (W) Dr. and Mrs. Larry Medsker 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 Anne & Henry Reich Family Foundation Lee G. Rubenstein, Co-President 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) Mr. Peter Shields 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 Dr. and Mrs. Moises N. Steren Sternbach Family Fund

Mr. Daniel Tarullo Ms. Julie Vass (W) Maria Voultsides and Thomas Chisnell, II 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 Embassy of Spain JamalFelder Music Productions LLC The Hay-Adams Hotel Mr. Daniel L. Korengold and Ms. Martha Dippell Dr. and Mrs. Marc E. Leland The Honorable and Mrs. Jan Lodal Lord & Taylor Mars, Incorporated Mr. Neale Perl Mr. Claude Schoch St. Gregory Luxury Hotels & Suites Mr. Anthony Williams Kathe and Edwin D. Williamson Elizabeth and Bill Wolf Key: (W) Women’s Committee (L) Lawyers’ Committee † Deceased

Washington Performing Arts Society Staff Jenny Bilfield President & CEO Douglas H. Wheeler President Emeritus Neale Perl 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 Kathleen McCoy Development Intern 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 Leah Manning Education Intern

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 Sara Amidon Marketing Intern 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 • May/june 2013 85

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

AMERICAN DANCE INSTITUTE

Mr. Sherman E. Katz Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Kimble 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 WPAS Women’s Committee 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.

PERFORMANCE | CLASSES

“ADI has become the region’s

leading edge of edge.”

-The Washington Post

VISIT: WWW.AMERICANDANCE.ORG | 1570 EAST JEFFERSON ST, ROCKVILLE, MD 20852 86 Applause at Strathmore • May/june 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 stanchion video camera at the exit gate to exit at no cost. For all non-ticketed events, Monday-Friday, parking in the garage is $5 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 fourth 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 • May/june 2013 87

encore

by Sandy Fleishman Q. What led you to this career?

I started out as a poet. Eventually the images behind words and phrases became more important than the words themselves and became my primary focus. … While I was teaching art at the Fillmore Arts Center, I helped organize the annual artist/ teacher exhibitions at the Charles Sumner School Museum in Washington, D.C. That led to more work with the curator and eventually to my becoming the director of exhibitions at Sumner.

Q. How did you come to have artworks in embassies in places like Brussels, New Delhi and Ouagadougou?

My first husband was a Foreign Service officer, so I pursued my career wherever we were.

Curator, Strathmore

Q. How many shows do you have a year?

We have eight to 10 exhibits a year in the Mansion, including some organized with other arts organizations.

H

Q. What would you like to see as a result of the fine arts programming at Strathmore?

More intrigued varied audiences, collectors and artists who become “regulars” to our exhibitions. We’re doing high quality work in the Mansion, now we just need to tell people about it.

Harriet Lesser arriet Lesser has been instrumental in moving Strathmore’s fine art presence in a more contemporary direction, with shows conceived of and curated in-house that explore subjects that sometimes raise eyebrows. “Putting together an exhibit is like making a painting,” she says. “You have to put together a composition: You need a theme, you need an interior narrative and you need to find the best people you can find to display their work.”

88 applause at Strathmore • May/june 2013

MICHAEL VENTURA

Q. The Mansion had a show about art related to dogs last year; for the opening reception “yappy hour” visitors could bring their dogs. This year’s exhibits are also conversation-starters. Can you talk about them a little?

This February, Pulse: Art and Medicine, provided an investigation of medicine as an inspiration for fine art. In June, No Strings Attached, part of the Puppets Take Strathmore festival, will introduce puppets as an art form, with gorgeous representations from countries famous for puppets, and modern interpretations of this narrative form. In late August we’ll also have the Fine Artists in Residence Exhibition.

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