BPO 2020-2021 Season: Program Book 6 by Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra

B U F F

20th Century Titans

A L

Tue Apr 13, 7pm

O P H I L H A R M N I C

Tue Apr 20, 7pm

Brand New Day – Back to Broadway

O R C H E S T R A

Superb Shostakovich

•

Tue Apr 27, 7pm

A P R I L 1 3 A

Tue May 4, 7pm

Nothing But The Blues

Y 4

TABLE OF CONTENTS | APRIL 13 – MAY 4 BPO Board of Trustees/BPO Foundation Board Directors

BPO Musician Roster

20th Century Titans

BPO Classics Series April 13

Brand New Day – Back to Broadway

BPO Pops Series April 20

Superb Shostakovich

BPO Classics Series April 27

Nothing But The Blues

BPO Pops Series May 4

Sponsor a Musician

Annual Fund

CONTACT Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra 786 Delaware Ave. Buffalo, NY 14209 bpo.org Kleinhans Music Hall 3 Symphony Circle, Buffalo, NY 14201 kleinhansbuffalo.org

BPO Administrative Offices Box Office Box Office Fax Line Kleinhans Music Hall

(716) 885-0331 (716) 885-5000 (716) 885-5064 (716) 883-3560

MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD CHAIR The news we’ve been anxiously awaiting was finally delivered on March 3 when New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that event, arts, and entertainment venues could start to reopen as of April 2. While it’s more than simply switching the lights on, we are overjoyed at the prospect of having audiences return to Kleinhans Music Hall, as we hope you are to experience live performances once again. Right now, there is a flurry of activity reviewing the many layers of protocols we had created several months ago as a precursor to your return; enhanced cleaning and sanitation schedules, socially distanced seating, traffic pattern directionals, wellness monitoring for staff and musicians, and touchless ticket scanning, to name just a few. And while we are anxious to implement our plan, you can be confident we will only do so with the upmost caution for the health and safety of everyone concerned. This exciting development actually coincided with our own announcement of the virtual BPOnDemand series continuing through the end of the season. And rest assured, it still will. The popular Tuesday evening broadcasts will be available through June 8, in conjunction with the addition of live performances with patrons in attendance. The current state mandate spells out specific parameters for the numbers we may allow into the hall, so you may continue to enjoy video-streamed BPO events when you want and where you want, while we establish processes for ensuring that those wishing to return in person can be accommodated with ease. In the next few weeks, we will be sharing detailed information on the who, what, when, where, and how of welcoming limited audiences back after being shuttered since March 12, 2020. And while there is still much to be done, JoAnn, John, Jaman, and the musicians are waiting in anticipation for that day to arrive. Until then, the music plays on!

Sincerely,

John R. Yurtchuk Chair, Board of Trustees Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Society, Inc.

BUFFALO PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA BOARD OF TRUSTEES OFFICERS John R. Yurtchuk, Chair Scott Stenclik, Vice Chair — Chair-Elect

Angelo Fatta, Treasurer Peter Eliopoulos, Secretary

BOARD OF TRUSTEES Cindy Abbott Letro Douglas Bean Jonathan Borden † Janz Castelo † Anne Conable Stephen B. Edge, MD* JoAnn Falletta* Otis N. Glover Amy Habib Rittling Daniel Hart* Jim Hettich

Mark Hodges † Kate Holzemer † James Iglewski William Keefer Ronald Luczak Alex Montante Allan C. Ripley* Casimiro D. Rodriguez, Sr. Rev. Melody I. Rutherford Diana Sachs † Robin G. Schulze, Ph.D

Joseph Sedita Brett Shurtliffe † Karen Sperrazza Christine Standish Stephen T. Swift John Zak*

*ex-officio † musician representatives

LIFE MEMBERS Anthony Cassetta Randall Odza Edwin Polokoff

John N. Walsh, III Robert G. Weber

BUFFALO PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA FOUNDATION

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

John J. Zak, Chair Holly Hejmowski, Treasurer Alexs Spellman, Secretary Michael Munschauer, Special Advisor

Karen Arrison Michael Wurst John Yurtchuk

JOANN FALLETTA MUSIC DIRECTOR Angelo and Carol Fatta Endowed Chair Grammy-winning conductor JoAnn Falletta serves as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Connie and Marc Jacobson Music Director Laureate of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Brevard Music Center and Artistic Adviser to the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra and the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra. She is hailed for her work as a conductor, recording artist, audience builder, and champion of American composers. Her recent and upcoming North American guest conducting includes the National Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, and Milwaukee Symphony; and further north, the Toronto Symphony and Orchestre metropolitain. Internationally, she has conducted many of the most prominent orchestras in Europe, Asia, and South America. As Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic, Falletta became the first woman to lead a major American ensemble. Celebrating her 20th anniversary with the Buffalo Philharmonic this past season, she is credited with bringing the orchestra to a new level of national and international prominence. With a discography of almost 120 titles, Falletta is a leading recording artist for Naxos. At the 63rd Annual Grammy® Awards in March 2021, Falletta won her fourth Grammy® as conductor of Richard Danielpour’s The Passion of Yeshua in the category of Best Choral Performance. In 2019, she won her first individual Grammy Award as conductor of the London Symphony in the Best Classical Compendium category for Spiritualist, her fifth world premiere recording of the music of Kenneth Fuchs. Her Naxos recording of John Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra received two Grammys in 2008. Falletta is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, has served by presidential appointment as a Member of the National Council on the Arts during the Bush and Obama administrations, and is the recipient of many of the most prestigious conducting awards. She has introduced over 500 works by American composers, including well over 100 world premieres. In March 2019, JoAnn was named Performance Today’s Classical Woman of the Year. She received her undergraduate degree from the Mannes School of Music, and her master’s and doctorate degrees from The Juilliard School. When not on the podium, JoAnn enjoys playing classical guitar, writing, cycling, yoga, and is an avid reader.

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JOHN MORRIS RUSSELL PRINCIPAL POPS CONDUCTOR A master of American musical style, John Morris Russell has devoted himself to redefining the American orchestral experience. Now in his fourth year as Principal Pops Conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, he follows in the footsteps of Marvin Hamlisch and Doc Severinsen. The wide-range and diversity of his work as a conductor, collaborator and educator continues to reinvigorate the musical scene throughout Buffalo and across the continent. Maestro Russell also serves as conductor of the Cincinnati Pops, one of the world’s most iconic and beloved pops orchestras, with which he has toured both domestically and internationally. His six recordings with The Pops include “American Originals: 1918” which earned a 2020 GRAMMY® Award nomination for Best Classical Compendium. As Music Director of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina, he leads the classical subscription series as well as the prestigious Hilton Head International Piano Competition. As a guest conductor, Mr. Russell has worked with many of the most distinguished orchestras in North America, including The Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic as well as the Toronto and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras.

JAMAN E. DUNN

ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR

Jaman E. Dunn is an African American orchestral conductor of classical and film music. He currently holds the positions of Assistant Conductor with the Buffalo Philharmonic, and Interim Music Director of the Buffalo Master Chorale. A native of Chicago, IL, he attended The Ohio State University for his undergraduate studies, earning a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance under the study of Dr. C. Andrew Blosser. During his time at Ohio State, Mr. Dunn founded and conducted the Buckeye Philharmonic Orchestra, which is the university’s only completely student run orchestra. Mr. Dunn also earned his Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting, under the instruction of Maestro Bruce Hangen at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee. While at the Boston Conservatory, he led the Conductor’s Orchestra, assisted the Boston Conservatory Orchestra, and conducted the Boston Conservatory Orchestra in Copland’s Billy the Kid. Other conducting activities included forming an ad-hoc orchestra and performing three concerts, premiering pieces on student composer recitals, and conducting the Berklee Boston Conservatory Recording Orchestra. Vocally, Mr. Dunn has performed throughout the Midwest and Northeast in both oratorio and operatic repertoire, including works of Handel, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Verdi, and Orff, among others. In a professional capacity, he hopes to raise awareness for African-American performers in classical music at all levels and in all mediums.

HISTORY OF THE BUFFALO PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA As Buffalo’s cultural ambassador, the Grammy Award-winning Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra under Music Director JoAnn Falletta presents more than 120 Classics, Pops, Rock, Family and Youth concerts each year. After the rise and fall of several forerunners, the BPO was founded in 1935, performing most often at the Elmwood Music Hall, which was located at Elmwood Ave. and Virginia St., and demolished in 1938 as its permanent home, Kleinhans Music Hall, was constructed. During the Great Depression, the orchestra was initially supported by funds from the Works Progress Administration and the Emergency Relief Bureau. Over the decades, the orchestra has matured in stature under outstanding conductors including William Steinberg, Josef Krips, Lukas Foss, Michael Tilson Thomas, Maximiano Valdes, Semyon Bychkov and Julius Rudel. The orchestra has welcomed many distinguished guest performers, such as Isaac Stern, Aaron Copland, Van Cliburn, Igor Stravinsky, Renee Fleming and Yo-Yo Ma. During the tenure of JoAnn Falletta, who has served as music director since 1998, the BPO has rekindled its history of radio broadcasts and recordings, including the release of 51 new CDs. The BPO’s Naxos recording of composer John Corigliano’s “Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan,” won two Grammys. Our recordings are heard on classical radio worldwide.

HISTORY OF KLEINHANS MUSIC HALL Since 1940, the orchestra’s home has been Kleinhans Music Hall, which enjoys an international reputation as one of the finest concert halls in the world due to its superb acoustics. Kleinhans Music Hall was built thanks to the generosity and vision of Edward and Mary Seaton Kleinhans and the stewardship of their charitable dreams by the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, and the support of the federal government. The Community Foundation was bequeathed the estates of Mr. and Mrs. Kleinhans, who made their fortune from the clothing store that bore their name, and who died within three months of each other in 1934. The Public Works Administration, an agency of the New Deal, provided crucial funding that made it possible to complete the hall. The Kleinhans, who were music lovers, specified their money was to be used “to erect a suitable music hall…for the use, enjoyment and benefit of the people of the City of Buffalo.” The BPO performed at Kleinhans Music Hall’s official opening on Oct. 12, 1940, under the baton of Franco Autori. Kleinhans Music Hall was designed by the Finnish father-and-son team of Eliel and Eero Saarinen, along with architects F.J. and W.A. Kidd. Kleinhans is known for its combination of graceful structural beauty and extraordinary acoustics. Eliel Saarinen’s aim was to create “an architectural atmosphere…so as to tune the performers and the public alike into a proper mood of performance and receptiveness, respectively.” In 1989, the hall was designated a National Historic Landmark, the highest designation of significance a site or structure can receive. Kleinhans is owned by the City of Buffalo but operated by a separate 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. Its Board of Directors is Jeremy Oczek, chair; Stephanie Simeon, secretary and treasurer; Karen Arrison; Cindy Abbott Letro; Peter Eliopoulos ; Tania Werbizky; and city officials including Byron Brown, Mayor of the City of Buffalo, and David Rivera, Niagara District Councilmember.

BUFFALO PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA DIVERSITY COUNCIL The BPO formed the Diversity Council in May 2016, formalizing its longstanding commitment to present diverse programming, to support artists of color, and to engage with every part of the Western New York community in a meaningful way. Comprised of community leaders, BPO staff, and musicians, the Council is helping the BPO to take its place at the vanguard of a national movement to foster greater diversity in the classical music world. As an inaugural step, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra was the first cultural organization to sign Mayor Byron Brown’s Opportunity Pledge in July 2016, affirming our commitment to foster, cultivate, and preserve a culture of diversity, inclusion, fairness, and equality. Since then, the Council has been involved in numerous projects aimed at increasing authentic community connection and access to the BPO for all of Buffalo. This is accomplished through partnerships including the African-American Cultural Center, the Hispanic Heritage Council of WNY, the International Institute, the Buffalo Public Schools, and many others. The BPO is also a proud partner to the nationally-acclaimed Sphinx Organization, founded in 1997 to address the under-representation of people of color in classical music.

JOANN FALLETTA, MUSIC DIRECTOR

Angelo and Carol Fatta Endowed Chair

JOHN MORRIS RUSSELL, PRINCIPAL POPS CONDUCTOR JAMAN E. DUNN, ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR

FIRST VIOLIN

BASS

Nikki Chooi concertmaster Amy Glidden assoc. concertmaster Louis P. Ciminelli Family Foundation Endowed Chair Ansgarius Aylward asst. concertmaster Clement Luu* 2nd asst. concertmaster Douglas Cone Deborah Greitzer Diana Sachs Alan Ross Melanie Haas Andrea Blanchard-Cone Loren Silvertrust Hee Sagong

Daniel Pendley principal Garman Family Foundation Endowed Chair Brett Shurtliffe assoc. principal Michael Nigrin Edmond Gnekow Jonathan Borden Nicholas Jones Gary Matz

SECOND VIOLIN

Natalie Debikey Scanio

Antoine Lefebvre principal Jacqueline Galluzzo assoc. principal Richard Kay Robert Prokes Frances Morgante Amy Licata Dmitry Gerikh Shieh-Jian Tsai Xiaofan Liu

VIOLA

Caroline Gilbert principal Anna Shemetyeva assoc. principal Matthew Phillips Kate Holzemer Natalie Piskorsky Janz Castelo

CELLO

Roman Mekinulov principal Jane D. Baird Endowed Chair Feng Hew assoc. principal Nancy Anderson Robert Hausmann David Schmude Amelie Fradette

FLUTE

Christine Lynn Bailey principal Linda Greene Natalie Debikey Scanio

PICCOLO OBOE

Henry Ward principal Joshua Lauretig Anna Mattix

ENGLISH HORN

Anna Mattix

CLARINET

William Amsel principal Patti DiLutis Salvatore Andolina

E-FLAT CLARINET

Patti DiLutis

BASS CLARINET AND SAXOPHONE

Salvatore Andolina

BASSOON

Glenn Einschlag principal Martha Malkiewicz

CONTRABASSOON

Martha Malkiewicz

FRENCH HORN

Jacek Muzyk principal Kay Koessler Endowed Chair Daniel Kerdelewicz assoc. principal

Sheryl Hadeka Jay Matthews Daniel Sweeley

TRUMPET

Alex Jokipii principal Geoffrey Hardcastle Philip Christner

TROMBONE

Jonathan Lombardo1 principal Timothy Smith

BASS TROMBONE

Filipe Pereira

TUBA

(vacant)

TIMPANI

Matthew Bassett principal Dinesh Joseph assistant principal

PERCUSSION

Mark Hodges principal Dinesh Joseph

HARP

Madeline Olson principal

MUSIC LIBRARY

Patricia Kimball (L) principal librarian Travis Hendra acting principal librarian

STAGE MANAGERS

Richard George Master Property Person IATSE Local 10 Charles Gill Assistant Property Person IATSE Local 10 Chair dedicated to the memory of Scott Parkinson

* Temporary Appointment

(L) Leave of Absence

WITH OUR MUSICAL HERITAGE SOCIETY Since 1935, the generosity of patrons and donors like you has helped the BPO continue educating young audiences and enriching lives through unforgettable musical events season after season. Create your BPO legacy. It’s easier than you think. You don’t need to be incredibly wealthy to help, you just need what you already have: a passion to see the BPO continue for generations to come. METHOD: GIFTS OF RETIREMENT PLANS Contact your financial institution and leave a gift after your lifetime from a retirement account to the BPO. Advantage – this is a gift from the most highly-taxed portion of your estate.* Plan now, and let your love for the BPO live on through the education, entertainment, and inspiration of thousands of adults and children for years to come. For more information on making your legacy part of the BPO through a planned gift, contact Guy Tomassi in the BPO Development Office (716) 242-7821 *The BPO does not offer tax advice. You should speak with your tax advisor or financial planner to see if this is right for you.

Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at 7:00 PM

BPO Classics Series

20TH CENTURY TITANS JoAnn Falletta, conductor Blake Pouliot, violin

BARLOW

The Winter’s Past for Oboe and String Orchestra

BERNSTEIN Serenade, after Plato’s Symposium I. Phaedras - Pausanias: Lento - Allegro II. Aristophanes: Allegretto III. Eryximachus: Presto IV. Agathon: Adagio V. Socrates - Alcibiades: Molto tenuto Allegro molto vivace Blake Pouliot, violin

RESPIGHI Trittico Botticelliano (Botticelli Triptych) I. La Primavera II. L’Adorazione dei Magi III. La Nascita si Venere

This concert is graciously sponsored by Paul and Sharon Steinwachs You can learn more about this program from JoAnn Falletta’s introduction at bpo.org/musically-speaking Program and performers subject to change.

BLAKE POULIOT, VIOLIN Violinist Blake Pouliot has joined the upper echelons of brilliant soloists, establishing himself as a consummate 21st century artist with the rigor and passion to shine for a lifetime. At only 25-yearsold the tenacious violinist has been praised by the Toronto Star as, «one of those special talents that comes along once in a lifetime.» Highlights of the 2019-20 season include Pouliot’s debuts with the Atlanta, Asheville, Sarasota and Madison symphonies and a collaborative experience as the featured soloist for the first ever tour of the European Union Youth Orchestra and National Youth Orchestra of Canada. The tremendously successful 2018-19 season included his debuts with the Detroit, Dallas, Milwaukee, San Francisco, and Seattle symphonies, dazzling audiences by “[surging] onstage in rock star pants…[presenting] Brahms as a composer of great passion. It was compellingly – indeed, irresistibly – done.” (The Dallas Morning News) In September, Pouliot’s debut album featuring the works of Ravel and Debussy was released (Analekta Records), earning a five-star rating from BBC Music Magazine and a 2019 Juno Award nomination for Best Classical Album. Adding to his accolades, Pouliot won both the Career Development Award from the Women’s Club of Toronto and the Virginia Parker Prize from the Canada Arts Council. Pouliot has twice been featured on CBC’s “30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians under 30”. He’s also hosted CBC’s This is my Music, was featured on Rob Kapilow’s What Makes it Great? series, and was NPR’s Performance Today Artist-in-Residence during the 2017-18 season in Minnesota. As Grand Prize winner of the 2016 Orchestre symphonique de Montréal Manulife Competition, Pouliot toured across South America during the summer of 2017 as soloist with the YOA Orchestra of the Americas performing Astor Piazzolla’s Four Seasons with conductors Carlos Miguel Prieto and Paolo Bortolameolli. He later returned to Montreal where he was featured in recital at the Montreal Symphony’s La Virée Classique. A prolific recitalist and chamber musician, Pouliot has performed in Chicago, Los Angeles, Montreal, and Toronto, and performs at Pepperdine University, the Isabel Bader Center in Kingston, and the Ottawa Chamber Music series in the 2019-20 season. Since his orchestral debut at age 11, Pouliot has regularly performed with the orchestras of Aspen, Calgary, Edmonton, Pacific, Toronto, Vancouver, and the National Arts Centre. Internationally, Pouliot has performed as soloist with the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra in Bulgaria, and Orchestras of the Americas on their South American tour. He has collaborated with musical luminaries such as conductors Sir Neville Marriner, David Afkham, Pablo Heras Casado, David Danzmyer, Nicolas McGegan, Brett Mitchell, Vasily Petrenko, Alexander Shelley, and Hugh Wolff. Pouliot studied violin in Canada with Marie Berard and Erika Raum, and completed his training as an associate of The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. He graduated from the Colburn School Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Robert Lipsett, the Jascha Heifetz Distinguished Violin Chair. Pouliot performs on the 1729 Guarneri del Gesù, on generous loan from the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank as First Laureate of both their 2018 and 2015 Competition

PROGRAM OVERVIEW Two American composers headline our concert tonight - Leonard Bernstein and Wayne Barlow. We open with Barlow's beautiful piece The Winter's Passed, which seems a perfect metaphor for the challenging time we are leaving behind us as we hopefully look forward to a world of health and community. Leonard Bernstein found a unique form for his violin concerto, basing it on Plato's Symposium, in which Socrates asks each of his students to define the meaning of love. Virtuoso Blake Pouliot makes his debut with the Buffalo Philharmonic in this unforgettable work. We end the program with three beautiful poems of Ottorino Respighi, as he recreates paintings of Sandro Botticelli in gorgeous orchestral sound.

PROGRAM NOTES Wayne Barlow

(American; 1912-1996)

The Winter’s Past for oboe and string orchestra (1940) Ohio-born composer Wayne Barlow spent most of his life in Rochester, New York, where he earned three degrees in music composition at the Eastman School of Music, notably becoming the first American to receive a doctorate in the field in 1937. He also excelled as an organist and choir director, and served as a music professor at Eastman from 1937 until his retirement in 1978. He spent his final decade at the school leading the Electronic Music Studio, but his later interest in the subject of electronic music is barely evident in his early works. His most-often performed work is his 1940 The Winter’s Past for oboe and string orchestra. Barlow, barely out of his student days, describes the passing of a barren New York winter landscape, into a warming, flowering spring. Using the modalities of southern folk melodies, this purely Americana work is a calming meditation on the beauty of nature,

inspired by the Songs of Solomon: “See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come…” Leonard Bernstein

(American; 1918-1990)

Serenade, after Plato’s Symposium (1954) I. Phaedrus – Pausanias: Lento – Allegro II. Aristophanes: Allegretto III. Eryximachus: Presto IV. Agathon: Adagio V. Socrates – Alcibiades: Molto tenuto – Allegro molto vivace Bernstein’s first conducting education came at Tanglewood in the summer of 1940 under the formidable conductor and contemporary music champion, Serge Koussevitzky, and the two remained close after Bernstein’s career blossomed. Bernstein was like many of the prominent conductors

whose footsteps he followed: deeply interested in composing music of his own, but constantly in demand for his work as a conductor. A decade after their meeting, Koussevitzky approached Bernstein in 1951 to commission him for an orchestral work featuring a violin soloist, but that same year Koussevitzky passed away. The 1950s were busy for Bernstein the composer as he produced some of his most significant works, mostly for the stage, such as Trouble in Tahiti (1952) and Wonderful Town (1953). In 1954, before he set on to Candide (1956) and West Side Story (1957), and three years after the Koussevitzky commission, he fulfilled his obligation, completing a new work for strings, harp, and percussion, with a very difficult violin solo. Prior to Bernstein’s immersion at Tanglewood, he studied music at Harvard from 1935-1940. Surrounded by intellectuals in wide-ranging fields, he flourished as a deeply curious polyglot, and perhaps here he was exposed to the classics such as Plato’s Symposium. The work is a set of essays recounting a fictional banquet in which Athens’ elite gathered to engage in friendly, but passionate debate on the nature of love. Each of the seven guests gives a toast in praise of Eros, the god of love—both of an erotic kind, and the kind that inspires one to courage—and expounds on their views of love, with their perspective on the topic representing the individual’s persona and career. By creating this setting, and drawing on known personalities, Plato created a multifaceted examination on the topic of love. Bernstein, never resigned to create a simple concerto, instead connected much of his music to literature, and Plato’s explorations are infused with that spirit in his Serenade.

Following Plato’s narrative, the work begins with a lyrical violin solo, representing the aristocrat Phaedrus’ passionate introductory monologue praising Eros the god of love, followed by a flirtatiously dancing Allegro mirroring the legal expert Pausanias’ oration on the duality of lovers. With a wink, Bernstein uses the strict guidelines of the classical sonata-allegro form to represent Pausanias’ legal interpretations. The Allegretto second movement is named for the comic playwright Aristophanes, who here tells a creation myth about love, which Bernstein treats as a nocturnal bedtime story. The lightning-fast middle movement is a mysteriously humorous scherzo, representing Eryximachus’ scientifically universal understanding of love. The fourth movement, a dramatically singing Adagio, pays homage to the poetic musing by Agathon on the divine nature of love. The work’s finale mirrors the conclusion of Plato’s work. Socrates argues with Agathon, represented here by a thorough and serious development of themes presented in Agathon’s movement, but the tone is interrupted by Alcibiades and his drunk revelers, who break up the Symposium with a jazzy raucousness mixed with inebriated monologues. The Koussevitzky Foundation, created by the conductor in honor of his wife, Natalie, who passed away in 1942, was responsible for the work’s commission. Bernstein’s Serenade is as much about classical literature as it is about love and the various forms it takes, and so its composer dedicated it to Serge and Natalie. The work premiered in Venice under Bernstein’s baton with violinist Isaac Stern and the Israel Philharmonic.

Ottorino Respighi

(Italian; 1879-1936)

Trittico Botticelliano (“Botticelli Triptych”) (1927) I. La Primavera II. L’Adorazione dei Magi III. La Nascita si Venere Ottorino Respighi began his musical life as a performer, developing skills not only at the keyboard but also on violin and viola, and he became principal violist with the Russian Imperial Theatre in 1900 at the young age of 20. He continued to perform in a string quartet for some time after returning to Italy, but a few short months of composition and orchestration study while in Saint Petersburg with composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov profoundly changed the course of his musical life. Following his formal education, he acquired a composition professorship in Rome that he would hold until his early death in 1936. Europe’s artistic movements following the First World War steered toward the modern and abstract, but Respighi remained fixated on the music—and art—of the past. Relying on the tonalities of Romanticism, his interests extended to Italy’s rich artistic past dating back to the Renaissance. It was with this Neoclassical approach that he composed nine operas and several suites, including his 1927 Trittico Botticelliano (“Botticelli Triptych”). Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) was an early contributor to Renaissance painting, or the “Quattrocento” century of artistic transition away from the flat Gothic art of the Middle Ages. Botticelli’s mythological and sacred

subject matter featured vibrant, detailed scenes with an intimate and novel life-like approach to the human form. Verdant parallels can be drawn between his famous portrayals of the Virgin Mary and Venus, which Respighi captures in scenic orchestral beauty. The three movements of the Botticelli Triptych bring to musical life three of the artist’s masterworks: Primavera (Spring), Adoration of the Magi, and Birth of Venus. Trilling birdsong reminiscent of Vivaldi’s Spring concerto begins the work as hunting horns call forth an exuberant and jaunty melody. The trills, used throughout for their luminous texture, become the basis for the movement’s many melodies. The outer movements rely on Botticelli’s paintings based on Greek mythology, while the central Adoration of the Magi is a reverent depiction of the birth of Christ. Here, Respighi unfolds a brilliantly colorful set of variations on the liturgical antiphon Veni, veni Emmanuel. Botticelli’s Birth of Venus is inexorably linked to Primavera through their presentations of Venus. Respighi recycles the trilling music of the first movement, but with an austere deliberateness held over from the Adoration. Channeling middle the naturalistic music of Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, he abandons the buoyant melodies of Primavera in favor of fluid woodwinds and a wondering horn, building to a climactic apex. Chaz Stuart, 2021

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Tuesday, April 20, 2021 at 7:00 PM

BPO Pops Series

BRAND NEW DAY – BACK TO BROADWAY John Morris Russell, conductor Jessica Hendy, vocalist Blaine Alden Krauss, vocalist STYNE / arr. Bennett Gypsy: Selections for Orchestra KANDER & EBB / Cabaret from Cabaret arr. Ryan Shirar

RODGERS / arr. Scott Ryan STYNE / arr. Scott Ryan

I Have Dreamed from The King and I

GERSHWIN

Lullaby for String Orchestra

GERSHWIN / arr. Riddle

But Not For Me from Girl Crazy

GERSHWIN / arr. Riddle

Embraceable You from Girl Crazy

BERNSTEIN / adapted Peress

Overture to West Side Story

LEIGH / arr. Ryan Shirar

The Impossible Dream from Man of La Mancha

Climb Ev’ry Mountain from The Sound of Music Don’t Rain on My Parade from Funny Girl

SMALLS / arr. Ryan Shirar Be A Lion from The Wiz STEPHEN SCHWARTZ / arr. Scott Ryan

Defying Gravity from Wicked

VANDROSS / arr. Ryan Shirar

Brand New Day from The Wiz

This concert is proudly sponsored by Program and performers subject to change.

JESSICA HENDY, VOCALS Jessica is widely recognized as one of Broadway’s best belters. Her Broadway credits include starring roles in Cats (Grizabella), Elton John’s Aida (Amneris) and Amour. She has toured the US and Canada in both Cats (Grizabella) and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Narrator). She is the only person in Broadway history to appear in the original Broadway production of “Cats,” the national tour of “Cats,” and the show’s one and only Broadway revival. Her performance of “Memory” was a showstopper in each production. Her one-woman musical “With Beckett” has a score by Richard Oberacker and Rob Taylor (Bandstand) and is currently in a pre-Broadway workshop. In New York, she garnered rave reviews for her one-woman cabaret, A Life to Call Your Own, and received a Bistro Award for her cabaret debut in the musical comedy revue Get Your Tickets Now. She played Diana Goodman in the regional premier of the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical, Next To Normal at The Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati. Her performance as Jeanne in The Great American Trailer Park Musical at ETC earned her an ACCLAIM Award for Best Actress. Jessica has had the pleasure of working at many theaters around the country including Pittsburgh CLO and North Shore Music Theatre where she starred in Miss Saigon (Ellen), and the Helen Hayes Performing Arts Center in Songs for a New World with the Tony-winning Jason Robert Brown at the piano. Jessica regularly performs with leading symphony orchestras around the world in a variety of concerts and musical celebrations and travels the country as featured vocalist in several concert events including Broadway Today! and Music of the Knights. Jessica is a proud graduate of the University of Cincinnati, Conservatory of Music and on the faculty of the Spot-On Arts Academy (www.spot-onartsacademy.com).

BLAINE ALDEN KRAUSS, VOCALS Blaine Alden Krauss is currently appearing in the National Tour of Hamilton as the standby for both Hamilton and Burr. He was thrilled to be part of the second season of Pose which he filmed while appearing in The Cher Show on Broadway. He starred as ‘Lola’ in Kinky Boots shortly after making his Broadway debut in the smash hit Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812. Blaine traveled the world as ‘Simba’ in The Lion King and starred in the Radio City Summer Spectacular. Blaine regularly performs with symphonies around the globe and is a regular performer at Feinstein’s/54 Below. His talents led him in 2011 to be a feature performer for the largest Commemoration of 9/11 outside of the U.S at the Trocadero in Paris, France. In 2010 he was selected to be 1 of 20 Presidential Scholars in the Arts by the White House and Presidential Scholar Commission. This venture led to having met President Obama and concluded with a performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. He was selected to be the Feature Vocalist at the 2010 July 4th Celebration at the US National Archives; was a selected participant at the International Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. His theatrical credits include Godspell and Spelling Bee at the West Virginia Public Theatre, Evita, Into the Woods, Civil War, Make Me A Song, Chess, and Jean Valjean in CCM’s Les Miserables. Blaine is a mentor on the faculty of Spot-On Arts Academy (www.spot-onartsacademy) and a proud graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

Tuesday, April 27, 2021 at 7:00 PM

BPO Classics Series

SUPERB SHOSTAKOVICH Guillermo Figueroa, conductor and violin Adam Golka, piano Alex Jokipii, trumpet

ERNESTO Ínsula Tropical Concerto for violin and CORDERO string orchestra I. Yerba Bruja II. Jájome III. Fantasía Salsera IV. El colibrí dorado

Guillermo Figueroa, violin

SHOSTAKOVICH Concerto No. 1 in C minor for Piano, Trumpet and String Orchestra, Op. 35 I. Allegro moderato II. Lento III. Moderato IV. Allegro brio Adam Golka, piano Alex Jokipii, trumpet SUK

Serenade, Op. 6 I. Andante con moto II. Allegro ma non troppo e grazioso III. Adagio IV. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo presto

You can learn more about this program from JoAnn Falletta’s introduction at bpo.org/musically-speaking Program and performers subject to change.

GUILLERMO FIGUEROA, CONDUCTOR, VIOLIN Guillermo Figueroa is the Principal Conductor of the Santa Fe Symphony. He is also Music Director of the Music in the Mountains Festival in Colorado and the Lynn Philharmonia in Florida. He was the former Music Director of both the New Mexico Symphony and the Puerto Rico Symphony. With this last orchestra, he performed to critical acclaim at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and Spain. His international appearances include the Toronto Symphony, Iceland Symphony, the Baltic Philharmonic in Poland, Orquesta del Teatro Argentino in La Plata, Xalápa (Mexico), the Orquesta de Córdoba in Spain and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Chile. In the US, he has appeared as guest conductor with the symphony orchestras of Detroit, New Jersey, Memphis, Phoenix, Colorado, Tucson, Toledo, Juilliard Orchestra and the New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center. Mr. Figueroa has collaborated with many of the leading artists of our time, including Itzhak Perlman, YoYo Ma, Hilary Hahn, Placido Domingo, Joshua Bell, Olga Kern, Janos Starker, James Galway, Midori, Horacio Gutierrez, the Emerson and Fine Arts String Quartets, Ben Hepner, Rachel Barton Pine, Pepe and Angel Romero, Elmar Oliveira, Vadim Gluzman and Philippe Quint. As a violinist, Figueroa’s recording of Ernesto Cordero’s violin concertos for the Naxos label received a Latin Grammy nomination in 2012. He was Concertmaster of the New York City Ballet, and a Founding Member and Concertmaster of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Figueroa has given the world premieres of four violin concertos written for him: Concertino by Mario Davidovsky, at Carnegie Hall with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra; Double Concerto by Harold Farberman, with the American Symphony at Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center; Violin Concerto by Miguel del Aguila, with the NMSO and Ínsula, Suite Concertante, by Ernesto Cordero with Solisti di Zagreb in Zagreb. Mr. Figueroa studied with his father and uncle at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico. At the Juilliard School his teachers were Oscar Shumsky and Felix Galimir. His conducting studies were with Harold Farberman in New York.

ADAM GOLKA, PIANO Polish-American pianist Adam Golka has been regularly on the concert stage since the age of sixteen, when he won first prize at the 2nd China Shanghai International Piano Competition. He has also received the Gilmore Young Artist Award and the Max I. Allen Classical Fellowship Award from the American Pianists Association, and was presented by Sir András Schiff in recitals at the KlavierFestival Ruhr in Germany, Tonhalle Zürich, and in Berlin and New York.

Recent highlights include the Mozart Concerto No. 24, K. 491 with the NFM Leopoldinum Chamber Orchestra in Wroclaw,Poland; Mozart No. 21, K. 467 with JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic; Grieg’s Concerto with Symphony in C in New Jersey, and the Stravinsky Concerto for Two Pianos with pianist Roman Rabinovich in Tel-Aviv. Adam was presented on the Virtuosos Series by the Cliburn Foundation in Dallas, where he continues annual performances of his special education program: “Van Cliburn: An American Hero.” He made his San Francisco Symphony debut last summer in Beethoven Piano Cto. No. 4, when he also returned to the Krzyzowa Festival in Poland, a favorite destination of his, where he premiered his own two-piano arrangement of Debussy’s La Mer, and narrated – in Polish, English, and German – Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals with his own poetry written especially for the opening concert of the Festival. In concertos ranging from Mozart and Beethoven to Tchaikovsky, Ravel, and Rachmaninov, Golka has appeared as soloist with the BBC Scottish, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Indianapolis, New Jersey, Milwaukee, Phoenix, San Diego, Fort Worth, Vancouver, Seattle, and Jacksonville Symphonies, Grand Teton Festival Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra of Ottawa, the Sinfonia Varsovia, the Shanghai Philharmonic, the Warsaw Philharmonic, and the Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra of Venezuela. In 2011 he performed a cycle of all five Beethoven concerti with the Lubbock Symphony, under the baton of his brother, Tomasz Golka. An avid chamber musician, Adam has participated in the Marlboro and Prussia Cove Music Festivals, Music @Menlo, Caramoor, with the Orpheus Chamber Players, and in regular appearances at Frankly Music in Milwaukee, as well as touring with the Manhattan Chamber Players. In recital, Adam Golka has appeared at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in New York; in the Mostly Mozart Festival in David Geffen Hall; Concertgebouw’s Kleine Zaal, and Musashino Civic Cultural Hall in Tokyo; and at the Gilmore Keyboard Festival, the Ravinia Festival, the New York City International Keyboard Festival at Mannes, the Newport Music Festival and the Duszniki Chopin festival. He has premiered solo works written for him by Richard Danielpour, Michael Brown and Jarosław Gołembiowski. Golka’s début disc, featuring the first sonata of Brahms and the Hammerklavier Sonata of Beethoven, was released in 2014 by First Hand Records. In celebration of Beethoven’s 250th birthday in 2020, Adam is playing all 32 of Beethoven’s Sonatas in performance, in tandem with his next recordings for First Hand Records, which will release Adam’s complete Beethoven Sonatas. Adam studied with the late José Feghali, and spent four years at the Peabody Conservatory studying with Leon Fleisher. Since finishing his official studies, he has continued his work with great musicians such as András Schiff, Alfred Brendel, Richard Goode, Murray Perahia, Ferenc Rados, and Rita Wagner. Adam Golka acts as Artist-in-Residence at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he teaches piano, chamber music, and conducts the Holy Cross Chamber Orchestra.

ALEX JOKIPII, BPO PRINCIPAL TRUMPET Alex Jokipii has held the position of Principal Trumpet with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra since 1998. A native of Escanaba, Michigan, Jokipii’s earliest training in music began at the age of 11 when he took his first lessons on the B-flat trumpet his mother had kept from her days in the high school band. Alex began his advanced musical studies at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan, majoring in trumpet and music education. As part of his undergraduate curriculum Alex enrolled at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland, where he studied for a year with Timofei Dokschitzer, the celebrated Principal Trumpet of the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra. After returning from his European study and travel, Mr. Jokipii completed his studies at WMU with a bachelor’s degree in music education. Jokipii was awarded a Master of Music degree in trumpet performance from the Juilliard School of Music and began to pursue his Doctor of Musical Arts degree. Prior to being awarded his DMA, he won the position of Principal Trumpet with the Charleston (South Carolina) Symphony Orchestra. During that time, he also performed with the Spoleto Festival Brass Quintet and the Charleston Brass Quintet and served on the performance faculty of Charleston Southern University as adjunct professor of trumpet. Mr. Jokipii has appeared as a soloist and the 1992 and 1994 International Trumpet Guild Conferences. He also has appeared on numerous occasions as a soloist with the Buffalo Philharmonic performing Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, Arutunian’s Concerto, Haydn’s Concerto, the Concerto for Trumpet, Piano, and Strings by Shostakovich, and Copland’s Quiet City. Away from the BPO, Alex has appeared as a soloist with the Ars Nova Chamber Musicians, the Amherst Symphony, and the SUNY Fredonia Wind Ensemble. Mr. Jokipii recorded the Jerzy Sapieyevski Mercury Concerto for Trumpet and Wind Orchestra with the SUNY Fredonia Wind Ensemble and this recording is available on Albany records. In November 2017 Mr. Jokipii performed the world premiere of Finnish composer Jaakko Kuusisto’s Trumpet Concerto. The new addition to the solo trumpet repertoire was commissioned by John and Pauline Kiltinen and written for Mr. Jokipii. The concerto was performed and recorded by the Buffalo Philharmonic in May of 2018. Internationally, Mr. Jokipii has appeared in master classes and recitals in Krakow, Bydgoszcz, and Walbrzych, Poland with fellow BPO brass principals Jacek Muzyk and Jonathan Lombardo. Alex was also the featured soloist with the West Bend (Wisconsin) Orchestra on their tour of Scotland in the spring of 2009. Additionally, Jokipii has performed as a guest Principal Trumpet with the Dallas Symphony, the Florida Orchestra, and the Aspen Festival Orchestra. He has also performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Savannah Symphony, and the Rochester Philharmonic. After a nation-wide search in 1998, Jokipii was awarded the position of Principal Trumpet with the Buffalo Philharmonic. In addition to playing with the BPO and teaching privately, Jokipii is also on the performance faculty at the State University of New York at Fredonia. In his spare time Alex enjoys playing golf, attending Buffalo Sabres hockey games, and traveling with his wife, Shari.

PROGRAM OVERVIEW The Buffalo Philharmonic welcomes Guillermo Figueroa to the podium in his debut with our orchestra. Maestro Figueroa is a brilliant violinist, an inspiring conductor, and a dedicated teacher as well. He brings a work from his native Puerto Rico by composer Ernesto Cordero, which will give our audience an opportunity to hear the maestro as violin soloist! Pianist Adam Golka makes a welcome return to perform a rare double concerto for piano and trumpet with our own BPO star, Alex Jokipii. The gorgeous serenade by Joseph Suk brings this exciting program to a beautiful close.

PROGRAM NOTES

Ernesto Cordero

(Puerto Rican; 1946 – )

Ínsula Tropical Concerto for violin and string orchestra (2009) I. Yerba Bruja II. Jájome III. Fantasía Salsera IV. El colibrí dorado

Ínsula Tropical is a ‘hybrid’ concerto, made up of movements from two different concertos by composer Ernesto Cordero, Concertino Tropical (1998) and Ínsula: Suite Concertante (2007). At the suggestion of Guillermo Figueroa, to whom the original Ínsula is dedicated, the composer approved the new mix, titled Ínsula Tropical, which combines the first and last movements of Concertino Tropical with the two central movements of Ínsula: Suite Concertante, as well as a mix of the two titles. Ínsula: Suite Concertante was premiered by Figueroa and Il Solisti di Zagreb in Zagreb, Croatia in 2009. The hybrid Ínsula Tropical was also premiered by Figueroa, at the Music from

Angel Fire summer festival in 2009. The recording of both Concertino Tropical and Ínsula: Suite Concertante by Figueroa, and Il Solisti di Zagreb, for the Naxos label, received a nomination for the Latin Grammys in 2012. The following is a description of the movements, by composer Cordero: “This concerto is inspired by various cultural and natural aspects of Puerto Rico. Landscapes, bird, and the vast cultural fusion that exists between Hispanic, Native, and African influences on this land.” YERBA BRUJA (Witches Herb) The dominant element in this movement is found in the rhythmic cell 3-3-2, a quite common syncopated rhythm in traditional Afro-Caribbean music. This rhythm exerts great influence in the melodic and harmonic structure, which is very modal. The movement concludes with a virtuosic and emotional cadenza, followed by a classic recapitulation. JÁJOME (Meditation) This is the name of a mountainous region in the center of the island. The peace and serenity of this area makes it an ideal place for meditation. I imag-

ined an afternoon in this place, Guillermo and I listening to Erik Satie play his Gymnopédies on the piano. This thought influences the entire movement. FANTASÍA SALSERA (Salsa Fantasy) This movement is based on the AfroCaribbean aspect of our musical culture. Syncopated rhythms and characteristic Caribbean harmonic sequences are employed. In the central section there is a change of atmosphere. The creative element is the use of the violin open strings, G-D-A-E. A recapitulation picks up the original material. EL COLIBRÍ DORADO (The Golden Hummingbird) This movement is a moto perpetuo. Barely a minute long, it is the most virtuosic section of the concerto. The violin evokes the flight of the golden Puerto Rican hummingbird. Program notes by Guillermo Figueroa Dmitri Shostakovich (Russian; 1906-1975)

Concerto No. 1 in C minor for Piano, Trumpet & Strings, Op. 35 (1933) I. Allegro moderato II. Lento III. Moderato IV. Allegro con brio Dmitri Shostakovich began his remarkable career as a student at the

Petrograd Conservatory, where he excelled as a pianist and composer. Upon graduation in 1927, he embarked on a dual career following both of these tracks, finding early success in at the First International Chopin Piano Competition, and receiving a premiere of his First Symphony under the prestigious baton of Bruno Walter. In the decades that followed, his career and personal life would be marred by the politically-motivated intimidation and artistic suppression that so many artists suffered under the brutal Soviet government, but in his early professional years, he approached his work with a care-free—if not careless—zeal. In 1933, he was hard at work on his forthcoming opera, Lady MacBeth of the Mtsensk District, which would draw praise from the public but a dangerous scorn from Stalin. Prior to the launch of his new opera and the challenging period to come, he performed as soloist for the premiere of his First Piano Concerto. The work is brimming with his youthful verve, but is filled with many characteristic traits he would carry with him throughout his turbulent career. First conceived of as a trumpet concerto, the piano’s contribution took prominence, resulting in a curious Piano Concerto with the trumpet playing a major contributing role, sometimes causing it to be considered a double concerto. The work is filled with tonally wandering melodic material, characteristically sourced from a number of other works of his own and by others, such as Beethoven, Haydn, and an Austrian folk song, innovatively adding parodical wit, sarcasm, and bombast. Shostakovich frames these quotations with a heavy hand, utilizing distinctively brittle orchestration propelled by militant rhythm.

The piano and trumpet combine to open the work with an initial flourish, followed by a sparsely textured melody that takes off when the strings join. The movement’s billowing energy is punctuated by satirical hunting calls. For Shostakovich, such a raucous opening movement can be closed by a poignant, humorless closing, presented by the combined soloists. The second movement is a tragic Lento that begins with the strings alone. The piano joins and presents a simple, intimate melody, which builds toward a harrowing climax. The trumpet, now muted, joins for a lonely film noir-tinted melody. The piano and strings join for a grimly sparse conclusion to the movement. The third movement, Moderato, acts as a relatively brief transition, with meandering piano lines accompanying a lush, moody melody in the strings. The movement abruptly ascends to the final movement, a bombastic, almost silly jaunt that accelerates with forward movement. Ecstatic rhythms undergird sporadic harmonic diversions, with gleeful interruptive fanfares from the trumpet. Both soloists enjoy indulgent melodies and cadenzas. The Concerto closes with a memorable ragtime presto with unruly accents and an over-the-top trumpet fanfare. Even with an early work such as this, Shostakovich demonstrates his capacity to exploit exposed melodies and bare orchestral textures to juxtapose the ridiculous and the tragic. Josef Suk

(Bohemian; 1874-1935)

Serenade for Strings in E-flat major, Op. 6 (1892) I. Andante con moto

II. Allegro ma non troppo e grazioso III. Adagio IV. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo presto Josef Suk was a gifted multiinstrumentalist and studious composer in the Bohemian musical lineage that passed from Bedřich Smetana to his mentor Antonín Dvořák. He inherited the Romantic-era Czech Nationalism of his teacher, who himself was the most important contributor to Bohemian music of the period, and perhaps of all time. Suk was Dvořák’s favorite pupil, and their relationship extended beyond a student/mentor relationship, as Suk would marry Dvořák’s daughter, Otýlie, in 1898. The generally grim nature of Suk’s musical style only intensified when, in 1905, he tragically lost both his wife and mentor in the span of a year. However, his earlier years were happy and productive, as he focused on performance as a violinist with the Czech Quartet (a position he would hold for decades until his retirement), which further influenced his chamber and orchestral works. The most notable work from this early period was his 1892 Serenade for Strings in E-flat major. The Serenade is a snapshot of Suk in his pondering youth, accepting Dvořák’s Bohemian character, but perhaps deriving influence from Brahms’ autumnal ruminating voice. The work opens as such, not with an assertive Allegro, but a warm Andante. The comforting, Brahmsian opening melodies flow conversationally, with a sunny staccato accompaniment. Developed to a moving climax, the movement closes with lush harmonies

that descend to silence. The second movement maintains the bucolic environment with a light country dance. Spritely melodies flit light-heartedly over contrastingly languid alto lines, but the dance temporarily evolves into a lush, pondering orchestral essay before returning to the dance that fades as if into the distance. The poignant central movement is an emotive and introspective Adagio. Although positioned as the slow movement, it is the largest, richest, and most thoroughly developed portion of the work. Suk presents an opening melody, utilizing the dramatic variety of string registers, such as the serenity of the low violins, or the pleading

high cello. Creativity in harmony and accompaniment textures helps recast the melodic materials in a variety of moods, ranging from passionate to introspective, agitated to ethereal. The final movement is a rustling Allegro that delights with restraint. Crisp violin runs layer luxurious melodies, but moments of tranquility reinforce Suk’s fascination with contemplative distractions. The movement, and the work as a whole, demonstrates the composer’s young maturity, and never gives into bombast, but instead develops rich crests of joyous exhalations. Chaz Stuart, 2021

Tuesday, May 4, 2021 at 7:00 PM

BPO Pops Series

NOTHING BUT THE BLUES Jeff Tyzik, conductor Shayna Steele, vocals Eric Metzgar, drums

arr. Jeff Tyzik

Bugle Call

Jelly Roll Jive

Down Hearted Blues

T’aint Nobody’s Bizzness If I Do

St. James Infirmary

Blues Train

St. Louis Blues

Backwater Blues

Bad Luck Blues

Downtown Shuffle

Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out

Wear Me Down

Program and performers subject to change.

JEFF TYZIK, CONDUCTOR GRAMMY Award winner Jeff Tyzik is one of America’s most innovative and sought after pops conductors, recognized for his brilliant arrangements, original programming, and engaging rapport with audiences of all ages. Tyzik holds the Principal Pops Conductor’s podium at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and serves as Principal Pops Conductor of the Detroit Symphony, the Oregon Symphony, and The Florida Orchestra. This season, Tyzik celebrates his 23rd season as Principal Pops Conductor of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Frequently invited as a guest conductor, Tyzik has appeared with over fifty orchestras including the Boston Pops, Cincinnati Pops, Milwaukee Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. As an accomplished composer and arranger, Tyzik has had his compositions recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra, Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony, and Doc Severinsen with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London. He has also produced and composed theme music for many of the major television networks, and released six of his own albums on Capitol, Polygram and Amherst Records. He produced a GRAMMY Award winning album, The Tonight Show Band with Doc Severinsen, Vol. 1. Tyzik’s subsequent recordings with Severinsen garnered three more GRAMMY nominations. In his twenty-two years with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Tyzik has written over 200 arrangements, orchestrations, and compositions for orchestra. He has also been commissioned to compose original works for orchestra, including a Trombone Concerto, funded by a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts and subsequently performed at Carnegie Hall. Tyzik conducted the world premiere of his original work New York Cityscapes with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in 2010. Tyzik composed a Timpani Concerto, commissioned by the RPO, and also led the RPO in the premiere of his new orchestral suite, “Images: Musical Impressions of an Art Gallery” to rave reviews. In the 2015/16 season, Tyzik premiered his new work “Jazz Concerto for Violin and Orchestra” with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. A native of Hyde Park, New York, Tyzik began his life in music when he first picked up a cornet at age nine, and went on to earn both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Eastman School of Music. While there, he studied composition/arranging with Radio City Music Hall’s Ray Wright and jazz studies with Chuck Mangione. Tyzik subsequently toured with Mangione as lead trumpet and worked on five Mangione recordings as a producer and performer. Committed to performing music of all genres, Tyzik has collaborated with such diverse artists as Megan Hilty, Chris Botti, Matthew Morrison, Wynonna Judd, Tony Bennett, Art Garfunkel, Dawn Upshaw, Marilyn Horne, Arturo Sandoval, The Chieftains, Mark O’Connor, Doc Severinsen, and John Pizzarelli. Tyzik has created numerous original programs that include the greatest music from jazz, classical, Motown, Broadway, film, dance, Latin, and swing. For more information about Jeff Tyzik, please visit www.jefftyzik.com

SHAYNA STEELE, VOCALS There’s no need to sugar coat it, since her impressive credits speak for themselves. Her colleagues praise her ability, her dedication, and drive to perfecting her craft as a professional singer and knockout performer. On stage and in the studio, New York City based vocalist and songwriter Shayna Steele proves she is a vocal force to be reckoned with. After appearing on Broadway in Rent, Jesus Christ Superstar and the original cast of Hairspray, Steele started writing music with partner David Cook in 2002. The two quickly developed a creative synergy, collaborating on Steele’s eponymous debut EP in 2004. Though self-released, the album’s breakout soul-funk single “High Yella” achieved the attention she needed to raise her solo profile. She and/or her band have since shared the stage with luminaries Ledisi, opening for George Clinton and the Sugar Hill Gang, a featured singer with Bjorkestra and Grammy-winning conductor/composer/trumpeter Dave Douglas, featured with 2 x Grammy winner Snarky Puppy in 2014 at the Nice Jazz Festival, the Estival Jazz Festival and the North Sea Jazz Festival, Java Jazz Festival, and the Singapore Jazz Festival. Shayna is a vocalist with the Grammynominated Broadway Inspirational Voices and has worked as a sideman with Lizz Wright, Bette Midler, Natasha Bedingfield, John Legend, Matthew Morrison, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Queen Latifah, Dolly Parton, Rihanna, and Kelly Clarkson. “Disco Lies,” the first single off Moby’s 2008 release Last Night, reached #1 on the US Billboard Dance charts and went on to be featured in J.J. Abram’s summer blockbuster, Cloverfield, and the movie The Backup Plan, starring Jennifer Lopez. Her voice has remained high in demand with vocals on the Hairspray (movie soundtrack), 2012’s The Bourne Legacy, Sex and the City 2, NBC’s Smash, 2008 Summer Olympic highlights on BBC, The Shanghai Restoration Project and HBO’s “The Sopranos.” In December, Shayna reprised her role with the “Dynamites” in NBC’s Hairspray Live. Shayna’s sophomore album, RISE (Ropeadope Records) has received rave reviews from both critics and fans alike and reached #4 on the U.S. iTunes jazz charts and #2 on the Italian iTunes Jazz Charts. Shayna recently finished studio work on her 3rd solo album with producer David Cook. Please visit www.shaynasteele.com for more information.

SPOTLIGHT ON SPONSORS

The BPO is proud of our longtime partnership with Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western New York over the past 24 years. Since 1936, they have been committed to helping millions of their members lead healthier lives. As a community-based, not-for-profit health plan, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western New York focuses on the total health experience by providing a wide variety of healthy initiatives throughout the year. In 2020, they invested more than $5 million to strengthen and enrich the health and quality of life in our community. They’re pleased to be a sponsor of this concert series. Thank you, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western New York, for your continued commitment to the BPO!

The Buffalo Philharmonic is proud to have a long-time partnership with the Consulate General of Canada in NY, and we have long recognized the value their support brings to the advancement of our mission to enrich the quality of life in Western NY through live symphonic music, which also extends to our Canadian audiences as well. The Consulate General of Canada in NY has demonstrated their commitment to the BPO in many ways over the years, including supporting its performance at Carnegie Hall as well as its successful show at Canalside playing the music of the Tragically Hip. Thank you to our friends at the Consulate General of Canada in NY for their continued support of the BPO!

A heartfelt message to M&T Bank from the BPO.

For more than 160 years M&T has taken an active role in our community, built long-lasting relationships with customers, shown employees they are valued, and supported the community financially and through its community volunteers.

M&T Bank understands that when our communities succeed, we all succeed.

The M&T Charitable Foundation supports a diverse range of civic, cultural, health and human service organizations with financial grants, employee volunteerism, and in-kind services. Since 2005, the bank has donated more than $182 million to a wide range of community-based organizations, and its employees spend thousands of hours in volunteer service.

M&T Bank generously supports Western New York’s arts and cultural community. M&T is front and center with its unparalleled support of our region’s arts and cultural organizations, serving diverse constituencies throughout WNY and beyond.

M&T Bank is a true BPO champion.

The Classics concert series. Poland tour. Spring for Music concert at Carnegie Hall. East Side Festival at the Central Terminal. enLIGHTen at the Richardson Campus. The endowment campaign. For decades, M&T has been a partner and funder of the BPO.

M&T Bank, thank you.

M&T, the BPO values our partnership, is so appreciative of your generous support, and grateful for your unwavering commitment to Western New York.

You’re in good company Join these businesses that support the BPO as of Feb 1, 2021. Contact Wendy Diina (716) 242-7826

$150,000 +

$50,000 - $99,999

$20,000 - $49,999

$10,000 - $19,999 AT TO R N E Y S

LLP

$5,000 - $9,999

$1,000 - $4,999 Alesco Advisors Anthony Baldi & Associates Berardi Immigration Law Buffalo Lodging Chiampou Travis Besaw & Kershner LLP Curbell Medical D.V. Brown & Associates

Evans Bank Ferguson Electric Fox Run Orchard Park Goldman Titanium Gurney, Becker and Bourne HighTower LakeWater Keller Technologies Lawley Insurance

Mark Cerrone, Inc. McGard Murak & Associates Reid Group The Buffalo Club The Travel Team Woods Oviatt Gilman LLP

SPONSOR A MUSICIAN Nikki Chooi, concertmaster Sponsored by Clement and Karen Arrison

Ansgarius Aylward, assistant concertmaster

Sponsored by Vanda and Paul Albera

Dinesh Joseph, percussion

Sponsored by Lynne Marie Finn, on behalf of Broadleaf Results

Madeline Olson, principal harp

Sponsored by Dr. and Mrs. Curtis F. Holmes

Salvatore Andolina, clarinet/saxophone

To learn more about the Sponsor a Musician program, please contact Guy Tomassi at (716) 242-7821 or gtomassi@bpo.org.

* deceased

ANNUAL FUND

The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra gratefully acknowledges contributions received from the following individuals and foundations who gave $500 and above through August 31, 2020. While the thousands upon thousands of donors whose gifts ranged from $1 to $499 are too numerous to list here, we gratefully acknowledge those additional individuals, groups, companies and foundations who give to us so generously.

MILLONZI SOCIETY $150,000+ The Cameron and Jane Baird Foundation Carol and Angelo Fatta The John R. Oishei Foundation John & Carolyn Yurtchuk

$50,000-$149,999

Anonymous (1) Mr. Brent Baird Brian and Barbara Baird Mark Chason & Mariana Botero Chason Louis P. Ciminelli Family Foundation Mr.* and Mrs. George F. Phillips, Jr. Cullen Foundation The Walter Schmid Family Foundation Charitable Trust

$25,000-$49,999

Cindy Abbott Letro & Francis Letro Clement & Karen Arrison Mr. Bruce C. Baird & Mrs. Susan O’Connor-Baird The Robert and Patricia Colby Foundation First Niagara Bank Foundation Montgomery Family Foundation Svetla and Doug Moreland Mulroy Family Foundation Christine Standish & Chris Wilk Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Legacy Funds at CFGB Roy and Ruth Seibel Family Foundation

Maestro’s Circle $10,000-$24,999

Concertmaster’s Circle $5,000-$9,999

Anonymous (2) Sue Fay Allen & Carl Klingenschmitt Joan and Peter Andrews Family Foundation The Baird Foundation Mr. Charles Balbach The Better Buffalo Fund at the CFGB Anthony & Barbara Cassetta Carmela M. Colucci Arthur W. & Elaine I. Cryer Donald MacDavid Charitable Trust Bob & Doris Drago Ms. JoAnn Falletta & Mr. Robert Alemany Robert J. & Martha B. Fierle Foundation Patricia & William Frederick George and Bodil Gellman Grigg Lewis Foundation Mrs. Amy Habib-Rittling and Mr. Mark Rittling Carlos and Elizabeth Heath Foundation Mr. and Mrs. George G. Herbert Dr. and Mrs. Curtis F. Holmes Hooper Family Foundation Bonnie and Nick Hopkins Mr. Philip H. Hubbell, in memory of Jayne T. Hubbell Bruce and Gail Johnstone Mrs. Ellen T. Koessler Dr. Bradford Lewis, Ph.D. Mr. and Mrs. Carl J. Montante, Sr. Mr.* and Mrs. Reginald B. Newman II J. Warren Perry & Charles Donald Perry Memorial Fund Adam Rome and Robin Schulze Joseph & Carole Sedita Scott R. and Rachel C. Stenclik Steve and Nicole Swift The Vincent and Harriet Palisano Foundation Jim and Michal Wadsworth Jack Walsh, in memory of Connie Walsh The Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation

Anonymous (5) Mrs. Vanda Albera James and Linda Beardi James M. Beardsley & Ellen M. Gibson Mr. Joseph F. Casey Donald F. & Barbara L. Newman Family Foundation Jennifer Dowdell, in memory of Charles and Nancy Dowdell Sally and Don Dussing Peter & Maria Eliopoulos Lynne Marie Finn Judith Fisher Edward N Giannino, Jr. Joe & Lynne Giroux Ms. Sarah C. Goodyear Ms. Constance A. Greco Dr. Elisabeth Zausmer and Dr. Angel A. Gutierrez Daniel & Barbara Hart David and Eva Herer David and Lucinda Hohn John J. and Maureen O. Hurley Drs. Clement and Margot Ip Linda Johnson Michael & Marilee Keller Mr. and Mrs.* Philip Kadet The Linton Foundation Mr. Warren Lippa Lorinda McAndrew Voelkle Foundation Charles & Judith Manzella Sandra and Dennis McCarthy Frances L. Morrison Mrs. Sheila M. Nancollas Mr. and Mrs. James D. Newman Patricia Notarius/ Premier Group Marie and Jay Novello, in memory of Don and Eileen Brutvan Douglas & Laurette* Oak Oliver G. & Sarah Sloan Bauman Fund for the Arts OSC Charitable Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Polokoff Mr. Dennis P. Quinn Robert and Nancy Warner Memorial Fund at the FJP

Maureen W. & Dr. Richard J. Saab Lowell and Ellen Shaw Stephen and Monica Spaulding Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Sperrazza Gary and Katharina Szakmary The Frank G. Raichle Foundation Martha and John Welte Robert and Judith Wetter

Encore Circle $2,500-$4,999 Anonymous (7) Dr. George N. Abraham Dr. and Mrs. Fred and Bonnie Albrecht Monica Angle & Samuel D. Magavern III Douglas Bean and Elisa Kreiner Joanne Castellani & Michael Andriaccio The Reverend* and Mrs. Peter Bridgford Ms. Elizabeth G. Clark Ms. Anne E. Conable Conable Family Foundation at the CFGB Michael D’Ambrosio Alan Dozoretz Ms. Ruth Irene Dwigans Cynthia Swain and Stephen Edge Marion S. Fay Mrs. Marta Fernandez Frederick S. & Phyllis W. Pierce Family Fund Dr. Samuel Goodloe, Jr. Drs. James Grunebaum & Penelope Prentice Dave & Katie Hayes Dr. Barbara W. Henderson Philip M. and Marion Henderson Martha & Tom Hyde Mr. James and Mrs. Diana Iglewski Robert and Hana Jacobi Joseph & Anna Gartner Foundation Edwin M. Johnston, Jr. Joy Family Foundation Mr. William P. Keefer Dwight King & Leslie Duggleby Susan B. Lee Steve & Sandy Levinthal Mr. Ron Luczak and Michael Boland Sr. Beatrice Manzella William and Jane Mathias Mr.* and Mrs. Sheldon E. Merritt Denise and Ron* Rezabek Michael and Lorrie Munschauer Mr. and Mrs. Sanford M. Nobel Dr. Thomas Nochajski

Dr. Sebastian and Mrs. Marilyn Ciancio Nan & Will* Clarkson Dr. and Mrs. Michael E. Cohen Elizabeth B. Conant* and Camille Cox Mr. and Mrs. David Croen Peter S. and Elizabeth H. Curtis Jane M D’Agostino Beverly Davies Adrian F. Dedecker III and Clotilde Perez-Bode Dedecker James & Mary Frances Derby Tony & Kathy Diina Wendy Diina Duane and Nancy DiPirro Joan M. Doerr Richard and Cornelia Dopkins Ellen & Victor* Doyno Patricia K Duffner Edward G Eberl Elsie P. & Lucius B. McCowan Private Charitable Foundation Ms. Mary A. Ferguson Mr. and Mrs. Kim A. Ferullo Joyce E. Fink Dr. Mildred J. Fischle Mr. and Mrs. Michael Flaherty Jr. Thomas & Grace Flanagan Ilene and Peter Fleischmann Bravo Circle Mrs. Beth Fleming $1,000-$2,499 Robert and Ruth Fleming Anonymous (5) Ms. Margaret A. Frainier Morton & Natalie Abramson Eileen & Laurence Franz Kenneth & Maura Africano Mr. and Mrs. David Fried JoAnne Alderfer Sue Gardner Benjamin and Helene Smith Garrison Wealth Management Endowment Fund Gerald and Jody Lippes Burtram W. & Ellen Anderson Ms. Dolores S. Gernatt Liz & John Angelbeck Mr. and Ms. James G. Hanley Ann Holland Cohn Endowment Fund Golden and Goldman at the FJP Philanthropic Fund Arts Services Initiative of Western Ms. Carol A. Golder New York Inc. Dr. Susan Graham and Dr. Jon C. Kucera Rita Argen Auerbach Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Greene Reverend James M. Augustyn Mr. and Mrs. William A. Greenman Mary L. and Ronald E* Banks Adrienne Tworek-Gryta and Matt Gryta Mr. Steve Earnhart and Mrs. Jennifer Joan Hetzelt Hanifin Memorial Fund Barbee at CFGB Drs. Kevin and Elizabeth Barlog Mr. and Mrs. Van N. Harwood, Jr. Patricia S. Beagle Michele O. Heffernan & John J. Cordes Thomas R Beecher Jr Carla J. Hengerer Ann N. Bonte Richard and Lynn Hirsch Gary & Willow Brost Monte Hoffman and Niscah Koessler John & Diane Burkholder Mr. Paul A. Hojnacki Dr. and Mrs. John L. Butsch John and Janice Horn Cheryl I. Christie Mr. and Mrs. John K. Howell Ms. Rosemary Christoff Dolan in Mr. Bernhard Huber, Jr. memory of Gerald Christoff, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Hunt Mrs. Alice Jacobs composer and pianist Mrs. Michelle Parrish Mary Jane and Walter Pawlowski Mr. Paul J. Polokoff Mrs. Susan A. Potter Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Priselac, Jr. Ms. Georgeann W. Redman Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Renner David & Joan Rogers Dr. Annie Schapiro Ken Schmieder and Nancy Julian* Ronald Frank & Anne Schneider Dr. Gilbert Schulenberg Ms. Betty J. Schultz Dr. Maxine Seller Simple Gifts Fund Dr. Joyce E. Siriann Diane & Sonny Sonnenstein Ronald L Struzik Dr. Joseph R. Takats, III Garin Tomaszewski Nicholas & Nicole Tzetzo Barry & Donna Winnick Gregory and Donna Yungbluth John and Deanna Zak

Mrs. Pamela R. Jacobs Thomas and Deborah Jasinski Craig & Deborah Johnston Karen Jarvis Benoy and Suzanne Joseph Mr. Charles J. Kaars Dr. and Mrs. Kenneth R. Kahn Ms. Jennifer Kartychak Dr. Kathleen Keenan-Takagi Joseph M. Kelly Ms. Shirley Keppel Mr. and Mrs. Douglas G. Kirkpatrick Rosalind & Michael Kochmanski Carol & John* Kociela Mr. and Mrs. Jean Pierre A. Koenig Ken & Paula Koessler Bob & Liz Kolken Kenneth A. and Gretchen P. Krackow Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Kresse Risé & Kevin* Kulick Dr.* and Mrs. C. Frederick Kurtz Mr. Donald Latt Dr. John Leddy and Dr. Carmen Alvarez Catherine & Matt Lincoln Mr. Warren Lippa James* and Linda Mabry Judy Marine Ms. Linda Marsh Randy and Diana Martinusek Ms. Elaine Mackensen May Mr. George L. Mayers Stephen McCabe and Gretchen Wylegala McLain Foundation Mr. and Mrs. John R. McClester Ms. Barbara Mellerski-Farkas David and Gail Miller Ms. Pennie C. Hoage Mitchell Family Philanthropic Fund at the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo Michael and Alex Montante Robert Moskowitz and Mary McGorray Anne Moot Ms. Susan Morgenstern Ms. Sharon F. Mortin Murak & Associates, LLC Dr. Michael F. Noe Mr. and Mrs. Randall M. Odza Judith Parkinson Lois & Tom Pause Dr. & Mrs. Philip Penepent, Jr. Richard & Karen Penfold Erin Peradotto Mr. Mark J. Peszko & Mr. David Schopp Gregory Photiadis and Sandy Chelnov Mr. and Mrs. Robert W. Plyler

Henry & Patty Porter Katherine Powell and Ann K. Wittowsky Dr. Igor and Dr. Martina Puzanov Ted and Mary Ann Pyrak Peter & Nancy Rabinowitz Ms. Elaine Ragusa Corinne & Victor Rice Foundation Al & Cindy Ripley Mary Anne Rokitka Thomas J. Rolle and Deborah A. Henning Rose H. and Leonard H. Frank Community Endowment Fund Mr. Philip Rumore William and Elizabeth Savino Susan and Jeffrey Schwartz Mr. Michael B. Sexton and Dr. Sandra Sexton Mr. and Mrs. Robert Shappee Dr. Mary Ellen Shaughnessy Mr. and Mrs. John W. Sherman Charles E. and Penelope R. Shuman Philanthropic Fund Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Sperrazza Mr. Gerould R. Stange Ruth & Ted Steegmann Alma and Malcolm Strachan Mr. and Mrs. David G. Strachan Dr. Donald G. Symer, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas W. Symons Susan & John Thomas Mr. Jeffrey J. Thompson Mr. and Ms John C. Thompson Ann M. Bisantz and Albert H. Titus Hon. and Mrs. Paul A. Tokasz Lyle & Phil Toohey Mark Travers Dr. & Mrs. Raymond C. Vaughan Janet D. Vine Ms. Therese M. Vita Ms. Suzanne J. Voltz Dr. and Mrs. P.K. Wallace Nellie B. Warner Endowment Fund Mr. William Weiss Dr. and Mrs. Richard A. Wiesen William & Ida Christie Fund for Music Wayne* and Janet Wisbaum Paul M. Wos Arden and Julie Wrisley The Yadzinski Family Cynthia Zane & Stephen Mazurak Mr. Paul Zarembka Ms. Barbara M. Ziegler Dr. Gregory Castiglia & Dr. Valerie Zingapan Drs. Bill Ziter & Cathy Gogan C. Richard and Joyce T. Zobel

Crescendo $500-$999 Anonymous (1) Ms. Gail Adema Eileen M. & Erik S. Anderson Mr. and Mrs. Teo Balbach Bradford Banks Karen A. Barbee Mr. Richard C. Batt Mark & Debbie Bauer Henry E. and Susan W. Beamer Endowment Fund at CFGB Mr. Donald M. Behr Benjamin and Lila Obletz Endowment Fund Ms. Elizabeth S. Bennett and Ms. Marietta T. Lorenzo Ms. Linda M. Betzer Peg Beyer Alice F. Bird Derek & Laura Brann Mr. James A. Brophy, Jr. Jo Anne Brocklehurst Bruce and Jill Brown Mr. & Mrs. William Brucker Ms. Bette J. Brunish R. R. Bujnicki Mr. & Mrs. David Bullions Dr. Barbara B. Bunker Tim and MaryLou Butler Joseph and Susan Cardamone John & Connor Cardot-Schloop Janet M. Casagrande Jerry* & Barbara Castiglia William Catto Miss Victoria A. Christopher Emmy Lou Churchill Mr. Michael Charles Cimasi Ruth C. Cisek Collins Charitable Foundation Bob and Susan Conklin John and Patricia Connolly Mrs. Donanne S. Coovert Andrea and Don Copley Dr. and Mrs. Harold G. Corwin, Jr. Thomas and Elizabeth Cowley Dr. and Mrs. John Coyne Croucher - Fletcher Charitable Fund Ms. Ellen J. Daly Ian Danic Mr. and Mrs. Walter Dannhauser Roger and Roberta Dayer Dr.* and Mrs. David C. Dean Dr. Juan F. de Rosas Jonathan Dewald Julie Klotzbach and Gary Diamond Mrs. Carol Donley Miriam & Peter Dow

Mr. David T. Duff Robert G Dunford Mr. Edward Eardley Amy P. Early M.D. Dr. Marla Eglowstein Dr. Sanford H. Eisen Mr. and Mrs. Warren E. Emblidge, Jr. Joan Michael Eschner Mr. Francis E. Evans Mr. and Mrs. James S. Fanning Denise Ferkey and Jeffrey Swaluk Mrs. Judith Ferrentino Michael R. Fiels & Mary T. Ricotta Edward J. Fine Dawn & John Fischer Dr. Peter Fletcher The Honorable Leslie G. Foschio Howard and Laurie Foster Patricia B. Frey, Ed.D Rick Friend John Fudyma Rev. David M. Gallivan Theodore & Joan* Geier Jeffrey & Norma Gentner Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth T. Glaser Mr. Otis Glover George and Cecelia Grasser Mark and Lora Grinder Marjorie K Hamilton Martha Haseley David Hays Dr. and Mrs. Reid R. Heffner, Jr. Ms. Sharon M. Heim and Mr. David Wahl Dr. Theodore Herman and Ms. Judith Ann Cohen Ms. Olive Marie Hewett Nancy Higgins Richard and Laura Hill Dr. & Mrs. Ralph W. Hinds, III James & Eileen Hoffman Mr. Raymond and Mrs. Virginia Hohl Duncan C. Hollinger Michael Huber Scott and Alyssa Hunt Yasushi Innami Mr. and Mrs. Charles P. Jacobs Dr. Thomas A. Jambro William & Genevieve James Mrs. Cathleen Jeffers Mr. and Mrs. Carl E. Jennings JFF Labs David & Joan Kernan Mr. and Mrs. William Johnson Drs. Richard and Barbara Jurasek Dr. Faye Justicia-Linde Theresa Kazmierczak Kathie A. Keller

Milton Kicklighter Verna & Richard Kieffer Mr. and Mrs. Scott King Juliet E. Kline Robert and Barbara Klocke Mr. and Mrs. Paul C. Koppmann Deborah Raiken & Charles Korn Daniel Kosman Nicholas and Lusyd Kourides Leslie and Jim Kramer Joan Kuhn Drs. Jeffery Lackner and Ann Marie Carosella Dr. and Mrs. Kevin W. Lanighan Mr. and Dr. John M. Laping Paul and Jane Lehman Fern & Joel Levin Dr. and Mrs. Harold J. Levy Dorothy M. Lien Drs. David B. and Madeline A. Lillie Howard and Lorna Lippes Joel & Andree Lippes Dr. Thomas & Donna Lombardo Mr. and Mrs. Donald C. Lubick Ms. Donna J. Ludwig Ms. Maria Malaniak Robert Martino Jean McGarry and James F. Cunning Claire Miller McGowan Louise McGrath Michael and Lucille Melton Dr. and Mrs. Franklin H. Meyer Dr. and Mrs. Donald E. Miller Mr. John E. Milner Dr. and Mrs. Herman S. Mogavero, Jr. Robert and Nancy Morey Sandra G. Morrison Gary and Carolyn Mucci Russell A. Newbert Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Nice Philip Nicolai and Mary Louis Hill Christa* and Jim Nolan Howard & Karen Noonan Susan D. Nusbaum Tim O’Brien Fund at the FJC Bernard & Linda O’Donnell Ann C. Pappalardo Eleanor & Tony Paterson Laurence & Sylvia Paul Mr. Robert S. Petersen Rodney P. Pierce Karen L. Podd Keith & Beth Podgorny James and Nancy Poole Dr. and Mrs. Kevin Pranikoff John & Betty Preble Joseph and Pamela Priest

Charles and Joanne Privitera Ms. Carol Dean Privitera Scott Propeack and Heidi Freedman Patrick J. Rankin Mr. Alex J. Ratkowski Martha J. Reddout Randolph & Cathy Ritz Mrs. Susan C. Robinson Revs. Melody and Rodney Rutherford Mr. and Mrs. W. Scott Schaefer Dr William Scheider Mr. and Mrs. Roger L. Schintzius Mr. and Mrs. John H. Schlegel Paul & Peggy Schulz Eleanor Scott Miss Louise E. Seereiter Mary Anne Seifert Henry & Tricia Semmelhack Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence D. Seymour Alexander Shrader Peter Siedlecki & Lynnette Mende Mr. and Mrs. Roger T. Sieracki Edward & Elizabeth Simmons Mr. Jeremy Smith Lynne G. Smith Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Sodaro Mr. Brad Stahlka Dr. Rabie N. Stephan and Dr. Eugena B. Stephan James and Karen Stephenson Stephen Still Mr. Edwin F. Stohrer, Jr. Marilyn & Irving Sultz Jan Svec Mr and Mrs. Dennis Szymkowiak Mr. Ronald G. and Mrs. Margaret N. Talboys Dr. & Mrs. Thomas B. Tomasi Mr. Guido A. Tomassi Sheila Trossman Dr. and Mrs. Stephen J. Turkovich John H. Twist, D.D.S. Mary K. Twist Chris and Kathy Tzetzo Charitable Fund Susan & Ron Uba Mr. and Mrs. Thomas H. Van Nortwick Mr. William Vosteen Norman and Carole Weingarten Mr. and Mrs. K. Wiedenhaupt Ms. Marlene A. Werner Bud and Sandy Whistler Pierre Williot MD Quinn & Jewell Wright Ms. Kelly Ann Wright The Yadzinski Family Mr.* and Mrs. James C. Yuhnke Mr. Bryan Zielenieski

TRIBUTE REGISTRY

You can celebrate a significant occasion, remember a loved one, or recognize someone special with an honor or memorial gift to the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. These gifts were received between February 1, 2021 and April 1, 2021.

In Honor of

Carmella McMeekin Robert and Diana Volkman Dennis Quinn Catholic Health Systems friends and colleagues in honor of his retirement

In Memory of Robert Barrett Ms. Robin Beers

Dr. Corstiaan Brass Mrs. Mary Brass Mrs. Jean Dean Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Evans Candi and Keith Kittle Mrs. Joanne Wojtkeiwicz Carlene DeRoo Edward Eisenlord

Richard L. Haynes Nicole K Intschert

Evie McDonald Ms. Mary Lou Cappellini

Barbara Holender Fran Kurtz

Martin E. Plaut, M.D. Amigone Funeral Home, Inc.

Stephen T. Joyce, M.D. The NW Lions Girls Soccer Family

Jessica Stewart Mr. and Mrs. Benoy Joseph

Joan Limburg Ms. Nancy F. Oakes

Norman Tederous Charles and Joanne Privitera

April N.M. Baskin, Chair Lisa Chimera John J. Gilmour Kevin R. Hardwick Howard J. Johnson, Jr. Joseph C. Lorigo Timothy Meyers John J. MIlls Edward A. Rath, III Frank J. Todaro Jeanne M. Vinal

GOVERNMENT

Council Member Joel Feroleto; Mitch Nowakowski; Christopher Scanlon; David Rivera; Crystal Peoples-Stokes; and Ulysees Wingo, Sr.

The New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature

Check out YOUR Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra online!

Advertise with us todaywe have your platform!

(716) 972-2250 buffalospree.com

PLANNED GIVING

Musical Heritage Society

We are pleased to list the current members herein because they have realized the importance of “the gift that keeps giving.” Each of these individuals or couples have made provisions for a contribution to the BPO in their estate plans and while there are many different methods, the most common is by adding the BPO as a beneficiary in one’s will. Rev. Russell A. Newbert Sarah & Donald Dussing Anonymous (4) Drs. Howard & Karen Noonan Jeanne C. Eaton* Charlotte C. Acer Robert & Marion North Fund Angelo & Carol Fatta Elizabeth & John Angelbeck George F. Phillips, Jr.* Marion Fay Rita Argen Auerbach Mrs. Frederick S. Pierce Dr. Mildred J. Fischle* Charles Balbach Edwin Polokoff Judith & John* Fisher Jennifer Barbee Susan Potter Donald M. Behr & Samuel E. Lolinger* Marjorie* and William Gardner Dennis Quinn Richard E. Garman* The Reverend and Virginia Ann Quinn Edward N. Giannino, Jr. Mrs. Peter W. Bridgford* Evelyn Joyce Ramsdell Mr. George Eagan Ginther James A. Brophy & Fraser B. Drew* Sally Rohrdanz* Mr. & Mrs. Byron R. Goldman Daniel R. Burch Sylvia L. Rosen Ms. Constance A. Greco Anthony J. Cassetta John and Susan Rowles Susan J. Grelick The Joanne Castellani and Nancy E. Ryther* Michael Andriaccio Charitable Trust Gordon & Gretchen Gross Paul and Gerda Sanio Peter Hall & M.E. O'Leary Barbara & Jerry* Castiglia Kenneth Schmieder, Marion Hanson* Gerard and Rachel Catalano In memory of Nancy L. Julian Margaret W. Henry Cheryl I. Christie Glibert Schulenberg Mr. & Mrs. George G. Herbert Ida Christie* Betty J. Schultz Monte & Cheryl* Hoffman Victoria A. Christopher Catherine F. Schweitzer Mrs. L. Nelson Hopkins, Jr.* In honor of JoAnn Falletta and Joseph and Carole Sedita Philip H. Hubbell Donald McCrorey Roger & Joan Simon Dr. Sebastian and Mrs. Marilyn Ciancio in memory of Jayne T. Hubbell Mr. & Mrs. Robert B. Skerker Paul A. Imbert Louis & Ann Louise Ciminelli Dennis M. Smolarek Bruce and Gail Johnstone Ms. Elizabeth G. Clark Jane Snowden* Theresa Kazmierczak Mr.* & Mrs.* William M. Clarkson Monica and Steve Spaulding Dr. & Mrs. Kenneth R. Kahn Mary E. Clemesha* Harriet Stewart* Kathleen Keenan-Takagi Ruth Cohan* David D. Stout & The Herbert & Ella Knight Mrs. George Cohn Janet E. Popp Stout Family Charitable Fund Anne Conable Gerald R. Strauss Rosalind and Michael Kochmanski Dr. Elizabeth Conant Dr. Merrily Kuhn and Mr. James Kulwicki Sue W. Strauss Ellen Todd Cooper Cecelia Tachok* Norma Jean Lamb* Rev. Raymond G. Corbin Nancy B. Thomas Eric E. & Ruth F. Lansing Marilyn R. Cornelius Therese M. Vita Mr. * & Mrs. * Wilfred J. Larson Dr. Sharon F. Cramer and Jim and Michal Wadsworth, Kalista S. Lehrer* Mr. Leslie R. Morris* as trustees of the Mulroy, Steve & Sandy Levinthal in honor of the BPO Viola Section Heath and Colby Foundations Bradford Lewis, PhD Sandra B. Cumming Dr. Bernard D. Wakefield* Gerald & Barbara Lipa Beverly Davies Mrs. Robert Warner* Francie D. & Joel N. Lippman Clarence Davis, Jr.* Marjorie W. Watson Marie Marshall* Mrs. Roberta Dayer Dorothy Westhafer* Mr.* & Mrs. J. A. Mattern Tim DiCarlo Wayne* & Janet Wisbaum Sandra and Dennis McCarthy Mr. and Mrs. Anthony N. Diina Elizabeth Ann Withrow Michael and Lorrie Munschauer Charles* & Nancy* Dowdell Mr.* and Mrs.* J. Milton Zeckhauser Donna & Leo Nalbach Ellen & Victor* Doyno *deceased

Trusts

Anonymous AJL Fund Lawrence M. Appleby Fund at the CFGB Cameron Baird Fund Benderson BPO Endowment Fund Virgil A. and Margaret L. Black Memorial Fund Philip & Joyce Celniker Fund Irwin H. Cheskin Fund at the CFGB Mildred Bork Conners & Joseph E. Conners Fund Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Society Inc. Endowment Fund Grace Neff Daniels Memorial Anne Catt Filer Fund at the CFGB

Howard F. Gondree Fund Joan Hetzelt Hanifin Memorial Fund D. Bruce and Gail Johnstone Fund at the CFGB The Herbert & Ella Knight Family Charitable Fund John and Carol Kociela Fund at the CFGB Janet K. Larkin & John D. Larkin III Fund Albert H. Laub Bequest Donald I. MacDavid Charitable Trust Marie A. Marshall Fund MPZ Endowment Fund Benjamin and Lila Obletz Endowment Fund Mary Louise Olmsted Fund

Susan Harvey Prentis Fund Margaret Frank Rofot Charitable Lead Trust Natalie Kubera Roth Fund Martin and Barbara Schechtman Charitable Remainder Unitrust William Kenneth Schmitt Fund Dr. & Mrs. Roy E. Seibel Philanthropic Fund Joseph and Loretta Swart Fund Nellie B. Warner Endowment Fund Charlotte Potter Whitcher Trust

To ensure your wishes are carried on for the BPO for generations to come, you may call Guy Tomassi (716) 242-7821 for more information. The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra endorses the LEAVE A LEGACY® WESTERN NEW YORK program, an initiative of the WNY Planned Giving Consortium and a public awareness campaign of the National Committee on Planned Giving.

BPO ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF Administration

Marketing

President & Executive Director

Diana Martinusek

Vice President, Marketing & Communications

Development

Kelcie Hanaka

Associate Executive Director & Vice President, Development

Cary Michael Trout

Daniel Hart

Executive Assistant

Jennifer Barbee Wendy Diina

Vice President, Corporate Relations & Special Projects

Katie Bates Johnson Annual Fund Manager

Holly Johnson

Grant and Corporate Relations Coordinator

Guy Tomassi

Major and Planned Gifts Officer

Education and Community Engagement Robin Parkinson,

Vice President, Education & Community Engagement

Finance

Kevin James

Vice President, Finance & Administration

Patron Services Representatives

Patrick O’Herron

Jess Berner Anne Boucher Bethany Erhardt Scott Kurchak Amanda Paruta

AndréeRenée Simpson Marketing Manager

Digital Marketing Manager

Kleinhans Music Hall Staff

Graphic Designer/Consultant

Operations

Nicole Murray

Building Services Assistant

Alison Bolton

Michael Cassidy

Vice President, Artistic & Orchestra Operations

Chief Engineer

Brian Seibel

Dennis Nawojski

Connor Schloop

Alister Bouvart

Concessions Manager

Event Manager

Parking & Set Up Supervisor

Associate Manager of Artistic and Orchestra Operations

Al Rabin

Audience Services Manager

Sales and Patron Services Adam Cady

Senior Manager of Patron Services

Rachael Pudlewski

Box Office Assistant Manager/ Education Coordinator

Nicole M. Bodemer

Associate Director of Finance

Jacqueline Henry

Finance/Accounts Payable Associate

Susan Hill

Payroll and HR/ Benefits Administrator

PROGRAM BOOK PRODUCED BY

Sharon Levite Barbara E. Macks ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Elizabeth Licata VP/ADMINISTRATIVE & FINANCE Michele Ferguson CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jean-Pierre Thimot PRESIDENT & CEO

PUBLISHER/CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER

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