CSO POPS Fanfare Cincinnati - November/December 2022

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CONTENTS

Advisors

5

Welcome from the President & CEO

6 Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra “We Believe”

8 Upcoming Concerts

10 Feature: Debuts Bring Musical Treasures

15 Spotlight: May Festival Celebrates 150th Anniversary

17 Feature: Pops: Celebrating Judy Garland, the Holidays and Billie Holiday

20 Photo: New Faces of the Orchestra—On Stage and Behind the Scenes

22 Spotlight: Meet Our New Orchestra Musicians, Part I

25 Spotlight: Cincinnati Symphony Brass Institute

27 Orchestra Roster

28 Artistic Leadership: Louis Langrée, John Morris Russell, Matthias Pintscher and Damon Gupton

31 Concerts, CSO Program Notes, and Guest Artists: Nov. 11–13: Get Happy: Judy Garland Centennial | Nov. 18–19: Sibelius & Bartók Concertos | Nov. 19: Lollipops Family Concert: Postcards Across America | Nov. 26–27: Rachmaninoff Third Concerto & Enigma Variations | Dec. 2–3: Gershwin & The Planets | Dec. 4 & 11: Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestras | Dec. 9–11: Holiday Pops

73 Financial Support

80 Administration

ALSO look for items “Of Note” found in blue boxes throughout this issue of Fanfare Magazine.

ON THE COVER: New faces of the CSO. From left, row 1: Christina Eaton, Felicity James, Isabel Kwon, Joseph Bricker, Daniel Wiley, Dan Wang. Row 2: Stephen Jones, Gabriel Napoli, Daniel Kaler, Emilio Carlo. Row 3: Samuel Lee, Rebecca Tutunick, Luis Arturo Celis Avila. Credit: Roger Mastroianni.

All contents © 2022–23. Contents cannot be reproduced in any manner, whole or in part, without written permission from the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops.

10

In November a pair of welltraveled maestras, Dalia Stasevska and Elim Chan, make their CSO debuts, each bringing a musical treasure from her adopted country. Each considered conducting as a viable career only after seeing a promient female figure on the podium. Read more on pp. 10–13.

15

The May Festival celebrates its 150th anniversary this season, and highlights of the Chorus’s stellar history are resounding again in the city—not just in Music Hall, and not only in May, as noted on pp. 15–16.

17

The Pops have a lot to celebrate in November–December, pp. 17–19. First up, Michael Feinstein pays tribute to Judy Garland on her 100th birthday. The annual Holiday Pops concerts, featuring the Annie Moses Band, and our New Year’s Eve concert, an homage to Billie Holiday, round out the Pops’ 2022 offerings.

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CINCINNATI SYMPHONY

ORCHESTRA & CINCINNATI POPS

Music Hall, 1241 Elm Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202 Box Office: 513.381.3300 hello@cincinnatisymphony.org Group Sales: 513.864.0196 groupsales@cincinnatisymphony.org

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FANFARE MAGAZINE STAFF: Managing Editor Tyler Secor Senior Editor/Layout Teri McKibben Graphic Design Stephanie Lazorchak

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Officers

Dianne Rosenberg, Chair Robert W. McDonald, Immediate Past Chair Sue McPartlin, Treasurer and Vice-Chair of Finance Usha C. Vance, Secretary Timothy Giglio and Gerron L. McKnight, Esq., Vice-Chairs of Volunteerism Anne E. Mulder, Vice-Chair of Community Engagement Charla B. Weiss, Vice-Chair of Institutional Advancement Melanie Healey, Vice-Chair of Leadership Development

Directors

Dorie Akers

Heather Apple Michael P. Bergan Kate C. Brown

Ralph P. Brown, DVM Trish Bryan* Otto M. Budig, Jr.* Melanie M. Chavez Michael L. Cioffi

Andrea Costa Adrian Cunningham Gabe Davis Kelly M. Dehan Alberto J. Espay, M.D. Dr. Maria Espinola Mrs. Charles Fleischmann III* Lawrence Hamby Delores Hargrove-Young Francie S. Hiltz*

Joseph W. Hirschhorn* Brad Hunkler Lisa Diane Kelly Edna Keown Patrick G. Kirk, M.D. Florence Koetters Jonathan Kregor Peter E. Landgren John Lanni Shannon Lawson Spencer Liles* Edyth B. Lindner* Will Lindner Timothy Maloney Holly Mazzocca James P. Minutolo

Laura Mitchell

John A. Moore

Jennifer J. Morales

Theodore Nelson

Lisa Lennon Norman Bradford E. Phillips, III

Aik Khai Pung

James B. Reynolds*

Jack Rouse

Lisa M. Sampson

Digi France Schueler

Valarie Sheppard

Stephanie A. Smith

Albert Smitherman

Robert Sullivan

Kari Ullman

David R. Valz

Randolph L. Wadsworth, Jr.*

Daniel Wachter

*Director Emeritus

BOARD OF DIRECTORS DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION (DE&I) COMMITTEE and COMMUNITY ADVISORY COUNCIL

In May 2020 the realities of systemic inequity, injustice and racism in America were once again laid bare by the murder of George Floyd. That summer, the CSO created a 10-point DEI Action Plan to prioritize the Orchestra’s work to better represent and serve the entirety of the Cincinnati community. Action items included the continued amplification of BIPOC artists on stage and in education programs; a review of hiring and compensation practices; organization-wide implicit bias training; increased mentorship opportunities; and the creation of a standing CSO Community Advisory Council (CAC) to strengthen ties to the community. We thank our many partners on the CAC and on our standing DE&I committee who are helping us with this important work.

CSO Board of Directors

DE&I Committee

Charla B. Weiss, Lead Heather Apple Ralph Brown Adrian Cunningham Maria Espinola

Delores Hargrove-Young Lisa Kelly David Kirk*

Gerron McKnight

Lisa Lennon Norman Jack Rouse

Lisa Sampson

Stephanie Smith

*Community Volunteer

You are welcome to take this copy of Fanfare Magazine home with you as a souvenir of your concert experience. Alternatively, please share it with a friend or leave it with an usher for recycling. Thank you!

Primary Staff Liaison: Harold Brown

Other Staff Members: Tiffany Cooper, Kyle Wynk-Sivashankar

Community Advisory Council

Desire Bennett, Design Impact

Daniel Betts, Cincinnati Recreation Commission

Jackie Taggart Boyd, Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau/CincyUSA

Alexis Kidd, Seven Hills Neighborhood Houses

Christopher Miller, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center

Joele Newman, Peaslee Neighborhood Center

Candra Reeves, Urban League of Greater Southwestern Ohio

Leslie Rich, Ioby

John P. Scott, Community Engagement Partners

Billy Thomas, Cincy Nice

Staff: Tiffany Cooper, Harold Brown

Multicultural Awareness Council

Susan Carlson Andria Carter

Piper Davis Dara Fairman

Kori Hill

Alverna Jenkins

Beverley Lamb

Carlos Garcia Leon

Aurelia “Candie” Simmons

Jaime Sharpe

Quiera Levy Smith

Daphney Thomas

Alford West

Staff: Tiffany Cooper, Harold Brown

It’s simply breathtaking to review all that has transpired in the last few years.

Dear Friends,

Time flies when we’re in the midst of our concert season, and for this season in particular, the first full season since the onset of the pandemic, that is certainly no different. Already, the 11 new musicians of the Orchestra, two new assistant conductors, new May Festival Chorus members, and new faces in our administrative staff have hit the ground running. We are firing on all cylinders, and the energy is palpable.

In this issue of Fanfare Magazine, we simultaneously look back to the past, the present, and ahead to the future with great anticipation. In Ken Smith’s story, we hear from conductors Elim Chan and Dalia Stasevska about their lives and inspiration behind their CSO programs. And Smith talks with Executive Director of the Cincinnati Observatory Anna Hehman about the intersection between art and space as the CSO prepares for Gustav Holst’s The Planets. In Erica Reid’s story, we hear from Cincinnati Pops Conductor John Morris Russell, Annie Dupre of the Annie Moses Band, pianist and vocalist Michael Feinstein, and jazz singer Quiana Lynell about the final Pops concerts of 2022. DiDi Turley takes us behind the scenes of the inaugural Cincinnati Symphony Brass Institute—a partnership with Miami University that provides a week of intensive brass study to high school students and budding professionals. In Anne Arenstein’s story (found in the magazine’s insert), you’ll find that the recent events which have catalyzed our digital innovation and diversity, equity and inclusion progress stem from pivotal events that took place in the aftermath of the Great Recession. It’s simply breathtaking to review all that has transpired in the last few years.

In 2023, the Cincinnati May Festival will celebrate a triumphant milestone, its 150th anniversary season. A look back at the legacy of this longest enduring choral festival in the Western Hemisphere reinforces the elements that have always defined the May Festival. The May Festival Chorus, the centerpiece of the annual May Festival, is currently the largest it has been in recent years thanks to the extraordinary volunteer singers who come together to share the love of choral music. The May Festival continues to cultivate the next generation of music makers through its enriching youth ensembles and programs. And, in honor of its commissioning legacy, the May Festival continues to further the choral music tradition through the composition and performance of new music. It’s an organization that is 150 years strong, and we look forward to the exciting programs that will undoubtedly propel us into the next 150 years.

Finally, as 2022 comes to an end and we usher in a new year, on behalf of everyone here at the CSO, Pops and May Festival, I wish to express gratitude for people like you who attend our performances and support our efforts to share music with the world. Thank you for being with us. We wish you happiness, health and more music in the coming year.

With gratitude, Jonathan Martin

©Roger Mastroianni

WE BELIEVE

COMING UP AT MUSIC

JAN 2023

SIBELIUS SYMPHONY NO. 2

JAN 6–7 FRI 11 am; SAT 7:30 pm

Thomas Søndergård conductor Augustin Hadelich violin

E. SMYTH On the Cliffs of Cornwall

B. BRITTEN Violin Concerto J. SIBELIUS Symphony No. 2

GRIEG: PEER GYNT IN CONCERT

JAN 13–14 FRI & SAT 7:30 pm

Louis Langrée conductor

Pekka Kuusisto violin

Camilla Tilling soprano (Solveig)

May Festival Chorus, Robert Porco director

Concert Theatre Works, Bill Barclay director

Daníel BJARNASON Violin Concerto

E. GRIEG Peer Gynt [concert-staged production]

TCHAIKOVSKY & PROKOFIEV

JAN 21–22 SAT 7:30 pm; SUN 2 pm*

Sunday, JAN 22 performance is available livestream

Louis Langrée conductor Randall Goosby violin

J. PERRY Homunculus C.F.

P. I. TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto S. PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 3

CSO PROOF: THE RIGHT TO BE FORGOTTEN JAN 25 WED 8 pm

Gabriel Kahane composer and voice Nathalie Joachim & Alex Sopp flute and voice Holcombe Waller guitar and synth

TCHAIKOVSKY SPECTACULAR: 1812 OVERTURE

JAN 27-29 FRI & SAT 7:30 pm*; SUN 2 pm

Saturday, JAN 28 performance is available livestream Damon Gupton conductor FEB 2023

THIBAUDET PLAYS LISZT

FEB 3 & 4 FRI 11 am; SAT 7:30 pm

Louis Langrée conductor

Jean-Yves Thibaudet piano

Qigang CHEN  The Five Elements

F. LISZT  Piano Concerto No. 2

ZHOU Tian The Palace of Nine Perfections

M. RAVEL  Rapsodie espagnole

MAR 2023

DEATH & TRANSFIGURATION

MAR 4 & 5 SAT 7:30 pm; SUN 2 pm* Sunday, MAR 5 performance is available livestream Louis Langrée conductor Elizabeth Freimuth horn

R. STRAUSS Horn Concerto No. 1 Samuel ADAMS Variations [World Premiere, CSO Co-Commission]

R. STRAUSS Death and Transfiguration

MARVEL’S BLACK PANTHER Film In Concert

MAR 10–12 FRI & SAT 7:30 pm; SUN 2 pm

THE MERMAID

MAR 17–18 FRI & SAT 7:30 pm Kevin John Edusei conductor Simone Lamsma violin

F. MENDELSSOHN Die schöne Melusine (“The Fair Melusine”)

E. KORNGOLD Violin Concerto

A. ZEMLINSKY Die Seejungfrau (“The Mermaid”)

BEETHOVEN’S FIFTH

MAR 24–26 FRI 11 am; SAT 7:30 pm; SUN 2 pm Anna Rakitina conductor Sterling Elliott cello

A. DVOŘÁK Cello Concerto Richard AYRES No. 52, I.Saying Goodbye L.v. BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 5 LOLLIPOPS

MAR 25 SAT 10:30 am

CSO PROOF: SURREALIST EL TROPICAL

MAR 29 & 30 WED & THU 8 pm Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre Rosie Herrera choreographer Clyde Scott video and production designer Luke Kritzeck lighting and production designer

FOR A FULL LIST OF UPCOMING EVENTS AND ADDITIONAL INFO VISIT CINCINNATISYMPHONY.ORG Louis Langrée Music Director

John Morris Russell Cincinnati Pops Conductor *

THESE ARE YOUR MOMENTS

live Music Hall

visit cincinnatisymphony.org

Cincinnati, OH

45202

Debuts Bring Musical Treasures

by KEN SMITH

Not so long ago it was rare to see a woman leading a major orchestra, let alone two women appearing on the same podium a week apart, but in November a pair of well-traveled maestras make their Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra debuts, each bringing a musical treasure from her adopted country.

…both come from families of visual artists, and each considered conducting as a viable career only after seeing a prominent female figure on the podium.

The Ukrainian-born Finnish conductor Dalia Stasevska, who conducts the Sibelius Violin Concerto on November 18 and 19, has much in common with Hong Kong-born Elim Chan, who leads the CSO in Elgar’s Enigma Variations on November 26 and 27. Both have launched successful careers in London in recent years, both come from families of visual artists, and each considered conducting as a viable career only after seeing a prominent female figure on the podium. Beyond that, though, their paths have followed rather different directions.

Stasevska came to Finland by way of Tallinn. Even at age 5 she could tell the difference. “Estonia was still the Soviet Union,” she recalls. “The community was warm, but there were shortages of everything. Finland had social security, a great education, bananas!” Then at age 8 she suddenly found herself enrolled in the local conservatory as a violinist. “Music came out of the blue, to be honest,” she says. “Our parents didn’t want us to be painters, so they decided that we—my two brothers and I—would become musicians. We were poor, but in Finland we had the same access to good education as anyone else.”

By age 12, Stasevska had discovered opera, attracted largely by the orchestra’s emotional power. She joined her student orchestra and

From left: Conductors Dalia Stasevska and Elim Chan make their CSO debuts in November.

actively listened to symphonic music, but also began collecting orchestral scores and reading through all the parts. “It was my hobby, with no thought of actually conducting,” she admits. Then she saw Eva Ollikainen (now chief conductor of the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra) and found a role model.

After studying with Jorma Panula at the Royal Swedish Academy of Music and Leif Segerstam at the Sibelius Academy, Stasevska became Paavo Järvi’s assistant at the Orchestre de Paris. At that point, her own career started taking off, notably with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra (where she is now Chief Conductor) and the BBC Symphony Orchestra (where she is currently the orchestra’s first female Principal Guest Conductor).

Along with the rest of the music world, Stasevska had something of a career reset during the Covid pandemic. One highlight— becoming the second female conductor to lead a Last Night of the Proms in September—was dampened a bit by performing without an audience. “The most difficult part has been the uncertainty,” she says. “Covid brought time for reflection and made some of us really appreciate our jobs. Now I’m less concerned with how I look, or what people think of me, and much more relaxed as a musician. But the saddest thing is that we were like paintings hanging in an empty museum for three years.

Getting back to playing and sharing music with people was truly a joy.”

Elim Chan’s journey to the podium began in Kowloon and the New Territories (Hong Kong’s equivalent of New York’s outer boroughs), where she started piano lessons at age 6 and soon joined the internationally renowned Yip Children’s Choir. “Every summer we’d sing in big choral festivals around the world,” she recalls. “When I was 13, I walked around Red Square and the feeling was unforgettable. I know it sounds cheesy, but experiences like that give a kid a wide scope of what music can do. Even at that age I wanted to connect with others.”

During the holiday season, when the choir performed Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker with the Hong Kong Ballet and the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Chan encountered conductor Yip Wing-sie, eldest daughter of the musical patriarch and a one-time Seiji Ozawa protégée. “I’d arrive early just to see her rehearse the orchestra,” Chan recalls. “There was never an issue of her being a woman.”

But when Chan later left to attend Smith College in Massachusetts, music was not on the agenda. “In Hong Kong, music is never anyone’s first choice,” Chan says. “It’s either medicine, law or business. My dad was a painter and a graphic design professor, so he understood the difficulties of an artistic

career. You’re either the top-top-top or you don’t do it at all.”

Her first year at Smith was “science all the way,” predominantly biology and psychology. But Smith also had an active choral tradition, and Chan not only auditioned for the choir but was tapped to be the conductor’s assistant. By the end of her first term, she was invited to conduct a piece and suddenly the career debate resumed.

“At Smith you could really have these difficult discussions,” Chan says. “When the music department saw I was taking this seriously, my advisors said maybe I should conduct choirs, because there are more women in the choral world. But I thought, no, that’s too easy. Then they said, conducting is a very lonely career. The phrase I loved was, ‘The higher you get, the thinner the air.’ But they empowered and prepared me to decide for myself.”

Chan pursued graduate studies at the University of Michigan with Ken Kiesler, whom she met at a conducting workshop at Smith. “At that point, I had no technique, no idea what I was doing,” she says. But by the time she received her doctorate in 2015, she’d served as music director both of the Michigan Campus Symphony Orchestra and the Michigan Pops. She’d also won the London Symphony Orchestra’s Donatella Flick Conducting Competition—the first woman to do so—and was named LSO assistant conductor in 2015.

“Those two years at the LSO were quite formative—the first time I was able to put everything I’d learned into action,” says Chan, who now serves as chief conductor of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, again the first woman to hold the position.

“I can’t speak for others, but in my case, I think being a woman has some advantages,” Chan says. “Many people have low expectations—and even looking at myself, I’m small, I’m Asian, I’m not a Barbie type. But

because of that, the music is the only thing I need to focus on. By the end of the week, people often come up to me and say they only noticed I was a woman after the fact.”

“It used to be much more difficult for women,” Stasevska observes. “Younger men were seen as a talent you need to grab, while with women it was always, ‘Is she good enough? Let’s wait and see.’ But #MeToo has changed the whole business. People of diverse ages and backgrounds now have a voice, and I think it’s something to celebrate.”

Given her background, Stasevska claims a special relationship with Sibelius. “Growing up as a musician in Finland, it was impossible not to know him,” she says. “Before we switched to euros, his face was on the money. He was always there, and you know his musical language from a very early age.” But beyond that, Stasevska is now married to Lauri Porra, Sibelius’s greatgrandson and a composer in his own right (as well as the bassist for the Finnish metal band Stratovarius).

Chan, having been born in a former British territory, came to Elgar from a different direction. “It’s often difficult to talk about Elgar,” she says. “The Enigma Variations is very English music, highly detailed and subtle, with a dreamlike quality that needs to unfold without being forced.” Considering Cincinnati’s history with Elgar—the composer conducted his Dream of Gerontius at the 1906 May Festival—she looks forward to hearing a different perspective.

“In England, people already know this music so well they often don’t rehearse it,” says Chan, who has conducted the piece with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Philharmonia, among others. “It’s like walking into a religious space where they say, ‘We’ll only touch it in the moment.’ I took this piece to the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and was really happy when the players said, ‘Let’s really work through this. We want to know how it should sound.’”

From top: Eva Ollikainen (©Nikolaj Lund) and Yip Wing-sie (©Hong Kong Sinfonietta), two conductors who inspired Stasevska and Chan to pursue conducting careers.

by KEN SMITH

Whatever resources Gustav Holst had at his disposal when he began composing The Planets in 1914, they didn’t include computerized telescopes or astrophotography. If his imagination was sparked by telescopes at all, they were probably more like those of the Cincinnati Observatory, whose 11-inch Merz and Mahler refractor from 1845 is the oldest working telescope in this hemisphere.

On December 2 and 3, when conductor Giancarlo Guerrero leads the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in a program pairing The Planets with Caroline Shaw’s The Observatory (a CSO co-commission)—with pianist Michelle Cann playing Gershwin’s Second Rhapsody in between— Music Hall audiences will be able to see Jupiter and Saturn for themselves thanks to telescope demonstrations offered by the Cincinnati Observatory, reprising their partnership from the last time The Planets came around in 2015.

“We obviously come in from the scientific side,” says the Observatory’s Executive Director Anna Hehman. “We talk about mass, gravitation. We think of the planets as very static. But here’s this music that gives them personalities. Jupiter is sort of jolly, Uranus is something of a magician. No matter where you come from, you can always think of the planets in a different way.”

Community engagement, whether in public programs at their own historic building or off-site partnerships with

organizations like the CSO, has been part of the Observatory’s mission right from the start, when funding for its initial telescope came by collecting $25 donations door-to-door.

“Everyone was told right from the beginning, ‘This is not for royalty, or academics. It’s going to be for the people,’” Hehman adds. “It was democracy through astronomy, which is something we’ve always been proud of.”

Cross-disciplinary collaborations have taken on new urgency as institutions try to lure back in-person audiences, but for Hehman the goal is less about expanding separate audience bases as it is about building a larger community. The Cincinnati Symphony wasn’t even the Observatory’s least obvious partner, Hehman admits. That distinction possibly goes to the Red Door Project, a pop-up gallery run by the Art Academy of Cincinnati. “We kind of got the raised eyebrow, ‘You’re doing an art show?’” she says.

“But the theme was celestial objects inspired by space, which looked at the romantic side of the skies. The turnout was fantastic, and once people learned about us and were able to see the stars and planets for themselves, it all made sense.”

Students are another target audience. “We have rocket launches, where kids get to design and decorate their own bottle rockets,” Hehman says. “They get to exercise their

creativity, which they love. But then we teach them how propulsion works, how weight affects things going through the air. ‘Those fuzzy pom-poms on your rocket are really cute, but do you think they’re really aerodynamic?’ It’s a little sneaky, like hiding vegetables in a smoothie, but it also makes them excited about problem-solving.”

Far from being frivolous play, Hehman adds, the arts have been reentering a dialogue with science in current educational policies. “It used to be all about STEM—science, technology, engineering, math,” she says. “But in the last several years, it evolved into STEAM, putting the arts in there. And lately we have STREAM, to focus on reading and how we absorb information. It’s not just about adding concepts, but changing the way different people connect and learn.”

The “Merz and Mahler” telescope at the Cincinnati Observatory, named after the makers.

SIDEBAR

Shaw’s Observatory, Holst’s The Planets and a CSO partnership with the Cincinnati Observatory

State

the

Arts

May Festival Celebrates 150th Anniversary

by KEN SMITH

When he was first invited to become Principal Conductor of the Cincinnati May Festival, Juanjo Mena began studying its past programming extensively. “I asked to see a full list of the Festival’s repertory—not just the past 10 or 15 years they initially sent, but everything the Festival has done since 1873,” he recalls. “Did you know the May Festival did the U.S. premiere of Bach’s Magnificat? Or Handel’s Dettingen Te Deum?”

As the May Festival looks ahead to its 150th anniversary this season, highlights of the Chorus’s stellar history are resounding again in the city….

If we didn’t remember before, we certainly do now. As the May Festival looks ahead to its 150th anniversary this season, highlights of the Chorus’s stellar history are resounding again in the city—not just in Music Hall, and not only in May. Mena opens the Festival on May 19, 2023 with the Magnificat capping a program featuring the world premieres of James MacMillan’s Timotheus, Bacchus and Cecilia and James Lee III’s Breaths of Universal Language, both May Festival commissions. Robert Porco, the Festival’s Director of Choruses, will lead the Dettingen Te Deum on April 1 at Hyde Park Community United Methodist Church in a program including the world premiere of a new work commissioned from Olivia Bennett performed by the May Festival Youth Chorus.

That mix of choral standards with music still hot from the proverbial press has long been a source of the Festival’s allure, Mena asserts. “This is not just performing music, it’s helping to create the music, with the composers playing an active part,” he says. On May 20, Marin Alsop makes her May Festival debut conducting Robert Nathaniel Dett’s oratorio The Ordering of Moses, which the May Festival Chorus premiered in 1937 and brought to Carnegie Hall in 2014. The Festival’s Director Laureate James Conlon opens the second week on May 25 pairing Mozart’s Requiem with the world premiere of a new commission by Julia Adolphe. On May 27, the Festival draws to a dramatic close with Mena leading Mahler’s mighty Eighth Symphony— the so-called Symphony of a Thousand—with the May Festival Chorus

Principal Conductor Juanjo Mena conducted Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 to end May Festival 2022.

Credit: JP Leong

and Youth Chorus joined by the Cincinnati Boychoir, Cincinnati Youth Choir, and the entire Cleveland Orchestra Chorus.

This season’s celebration is all the more poignant, given that just a few years ago choral singing had topped music’s “high risk” activities. After the 2020 May Festival was canceled entirely due to Covid-19, Mena pushed to reopen in 2021, even in a reduced format. “This is not a time for us to stop making music,” insists Mena, who led a programming switch to smaller ensembles and orchestral works with soloist. “It’s a time to send a message to audiences that we need to continue.”

“I suppose you could say we already made our public statement by opening the 2022–23 season with Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony,” adds Porco. “But really, when we opened the 2022 May Festival with John Adams conducting his El Niño and closed with the Beethoven Ninth, that’s when we said, ‘We’re back!’”

For nearly two seasons, Porco kept the Chorus together largely as a social unit through emails and Zoom gatherings. “We lost a few members, but we also had an influx of new people,” he says. The 2022 Festival was nearly back to its pre-pandemic state, with big choral works and a full rehearsal schedule, except that mask-wearing continued. “It’s no fun singing a three-hour rehearsal in a mask,” Porco says, “but we’ve been highly conscious of people’s health.”

For Mena, who ends his six-year tenure as Principal Conductor this season, his first U.S.

posting in Cincinnati was partly a return to his musical roots. Having grown up in Spain’s Basque region, he began singing in choirs at age 7 and was first invited to conduct a choir at 16. Two years later, he formed his first ensemble, a 100-member girls’ choir. His transition to the orchestral world followed a similar path. After studying conducting in VitoriaGasteiz and Madrid, Mena was invited by the Basque government to create the region’s first youth orchestra.

Two years later, he was tapped to become Music Director of the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, launching his professional career. By the time he was appointed the May Festival’s Principal Conductor in 2016, he was six years into his contract as Chief Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic.

“I’d been aware of the May Festival tradition,” he says. “I knew the importance not only of preserving its values but adding to them as well.” Some Basque populism he brought to Cincinnati included presenting free community choral concerts in Music Hall and creating a special May Festival Community Chorus of more than 300 singers (many of them singing in a chorus for the first time) for a special presentation of Handel’s Messiah. He also invited Basque vocal ensembles to perform in Cincinnati.

“In my youth, singing was done for the people,” Mena says. “This is also important in Cincinnati, because the community is the core of the Festival. It’s always important to discover different ways of singing, and these were some ideas I brought to the May Festival to bring people together and look to the future.”

He pauses for a moment. “You know, I was already in shock seeing all the pieces that the May Festival had performed, when I discovered the name Jesús Guridi,” he exclaims. “He was a composer from my city in Spain! In Cincinnati, people were performing the same music here that I was singing in my choir at home. How is this possible? And then I thought, why not?”

May Festival Chorus kicked off their 150th anniversary season by performing Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra led by Louis Langrée in September 2022. Credit: Roger Mastroianni

Pops: Celebrating Judy Garland, the Holidays and Billie Holiday

by ERICA REID

Get Happy is “educational, it’s inspirational— for me it’s perspirational!— but it is a great evening of entertainment, and I think people will be uplifted and deeply moved by [Judy Garland’s] legacy.” Feinstein

One thing that makes Cincinnati Pops concerts unique is the Orchestra’s ability to take well-loved and time-honored music and render it entirely new. Three upcoming Pops programs—Get Happy: Judy Garland Centennial, Holiday Pops featuring the Annie Moses Band, and New Year’s Eve: Billie Holiday Songbook—offer up beloved and cross-generational music made new through the magic of the Pops and incomparable guest artists.

This November, Get Happy with the Cincinnati Pops and acclaimed pianist, vocalist and musical historian Michael Feinstein, celebrates Judy Garland’s Centennial. “It’s no small feat to put together a tribute to a performer as immortal as Judy Garland,” Feinstein notes, “and in putting this one together I conceived of a program that would focus on her music, her art, and the special magic that has made her timeless.”

From the earliest days of her life, beginning with vaudeville performances at age three, Judy Garland’s life was consistently being documented. Feinstein carefully hand-selected materials for his multimedia concert, which includes, in his words, “music of hers that has never been heard, films and home movie footage which is shown with permission of her family, and photographs—many of which have never been seen before—that all help to tell the story of her amazing career.”

This multimedia approach extends beyond a simple slide show. One of the highlights of the program concerns a private recording of a song called “I’ll Be Seeing You,” which Feinstein discovered “through a series of very mysterious circumstances.” “I was visiting a home she had previously occupied and touched a fake wall that opened up to reveal these home recordings that had been there since the 1940s,” explains Feinstein. “This one recording has her singing ‘I’ll Be Seeing

Above: Judy Garland; at right: Michael Feinstein with JMR and the Pops at Riverbend, July 2012.

You’ a cappella, and it made it possible for me to accompany her singing it while I play piano. It’s a song that she is not documented as ever having sung or performed anywhere, and yet there it is.” Alongside this touching duet, audiences will also recognize Garland standards such as “Over the Rainbow,” “You

LOLLIPOPS: “Postcards Across America,” Daniel Wiley conducting

by ERICA REID

Tour the United States through music in Lollipops: Postcards Across America! This “road trip” includes visits to the Shenandoah Valley, the Rocky Mountains and the California coast—and, of course, a trip back home to the mighty Ohio. Along the way, you’ll see the country’s most magnificent landscapes through drone footage shown on screen.

We asked Lollipops conductor Daniel Wiley a few questions:

What inspired you to create Lollipops: Postcards Across America?

I have seen a lot of this country. I know how beautiful this country is, how diverse this country is. This is a great opportunity to share that.

Can you name one place in the U.S. that you have not yet visited?

Hm… I want to go to the coast of Maine.

What is one thing you love about your new home in Cincinnati?

What I love about Cincinnati is that, for me, it’s all right here. It’s an arts magnet and there’s a lively culture here. It’s a crossroads of America.

Made Me Love You,” “The Trolley Song,” and “Zing Went the Strings of My Heart.”

In Feinstein’s eyes, Get Happy is first and foremost a show about entertainment. “It’s educational, it’s inspirational—for me it’s perspirational!—but it is a great evening of entertainment, and I think people will be equally uplifted and deeply moved by her legacy.”

Another great evening of entertainment is the annual tradition of Holiday Pops. Pops conductor, and Mr. Christmas himself, John Morris Russell loves the way that the annual Holiday Pops extravaganza brings together Pops fans of all ages.

“I love that lyric from ‘The Christmas Song’ by Mel Tormé, ‘for kids from one to 92,’” Russell says. “There could not be a more perfect lyric that describes what Holiday Pops is about.” Russell, who has conducted Pops holiday programming spanning back to “Home for the Holidays” in the mid-1990s, always looks forward to feeling the warm energy from the audience. “You see the little kids, and their parents, and then their parents, the grandparents,” he says. “This is the time that we all come together closer within our families we know and love, but also in the greater sense of the larger family.”

This year’s Holiday Pops program welcomes the Annie Moses Band, which also impressed Pops audiences during the 2021 Red, White and BOOM! July 4 concert. Family is a core value of the band, which comprises six siblings as well as their parents. “We’ve been making music together as a family since I was a little girl,” says bandleader Annie Dupre. “When you make music together as a family, music becomes like a love language that you experience together, and when people come

With Music Hall festooned for the holidays, John Morris Russell conducts the Cincinnati Pops, December 2021. Credit: JP Leong

SIDEBAR

to a concert they get to see that, witness it on stage, and it spills over to them.”

The message of Christmas is important to the band as well. Dupre calls Christmas the “signature season” of the Annie Moses Band. “We became known through our Christmas music, in large part, and I think there’s a special grace that exists around the season,” she shares. Dupre anticipates the joy of sharing music about what Christmas celebrates: “peace on earth, goodwill to men, these beautiful thoughts that unify all people at Christmas.” Making the entire experience more special for the band is the fact that they also celebrate their 20th anniversary in 2022. “We have a lot of mountaintop experiences,” Dupre says of the events planned for their milestone anniversary year, “and being with the Cincinnati Pops at Christmas is going to be part of that, and really exhilarating.”

Russell always seeks to find a balance between the new and the traditional for his Holiday Pops programs. This year, outside of “O Holy Night” and other moving selections by the Annie Moses Band—whom Russell calls “the type of people we like to bring to the Pops: the people with big hearts, the people who are in it for the music”— Pops audiences will also experience the magic of tenor Bernard Holcomb, a regular on stages such as the Santa Fe Opera’s, in swinging numbers like “The Man with the Bag.”

A central moment for the holiday celebration is the Cincinnati-themed “12 Daze of Christmas,” which features three exemplary high school choruses as well as a massive ensemble from Shari Poff and the Studio for Dance. Leave your expectations of partridges, French hens, and lords a-leapin’ at home—these festive days are full of nods to the Queen City, such as two scoops of Graeter’s ice cream, 10 flying pigs, and 12 darling Zoo Babies.

Russell loves the stage mayhem that accompanies the “12 Daze of Christmas.” “When we do the 12 Zoo Babies, we have all these toddlers, like two years old, and they’re in these little animal costumes,” he laughs. Russell says the dads of those tiny dancers also take the stage as Cincinnati Bengals, and the moms have a starring role as well. “Shari Poff has the entire company—parents, kids, siblings—everyone is on stage,” Russell says.

“That’s a Cincinnati Pops thing—we bring everyone onto the stage.”

That communal, inclusive feeling is important to the Pops conductor. “We are the music of the people. We represent music for everyone. That’s what it’s about. And Holiday Pops, in particular, really drives that home.”

On New Year’s Eve, the Pops pays tribute to “Lady Day” herself, Billie Holiday, with powerhouse performer Quiana Lynell. This can’t-miss concert will offer up familiar songs such as “I Cover the Waterfront,” “Lady Sings the Blues” and “In My Solitude,” but also includes music that the iconic Holiday influenced. “I’m doing a couple of original songs of mine,” says Lynell. “She definitely has an influence on my writing style, and my ‘lamentation for love,’ I will say.” Lynell continues, “I’m a hopeful romantic, so I love singing about love and the journey of love— and it isn’t always pretty. That’s my job as an artist, to tell the whole story.”

For Lynell, singing music that Holiday made famous is important for several reasons, including for its rich history. “Without this music, there would be no American music that we know today,” she says. “As a Black woman, it is imperative to me to continue telling the story of the things that people had to go through to be able to express themselves freely in this country.”

Though Lynell is primarily known as a jazz musician— or what she calls “jazzical soul funk,” blending four genres together into something truly unique— jazz is not where she began her musical journey. “I’m a classically trained soprano, and it’s not often that I get to be in spaces that are made for my voice,” she says. “So when I hear my voice reverberate off those walls—baby, we are in a time for the night.” Lynell continues, “I’m going to sing some pieces that are going to give you Kathleen Battle, I’m going to sing some pieces that are going to give you Diana Washington, and I’m going to sing some Billie, in true Billie form. I’m like a chameleon. When the song fits the bed of the mood we’re going to have—and I very carefully create the mood that we have through our journey—it’s going to be a time that you will never forget.”

Billie Holiday, New York, ca. February 1947. Credit: William Gottlieb

New Faces of the Orchestra— On Stage and Behind the Scenes

From left: Luis Arturo Celis Avila, Daniel Wiley, Dan Wang, Gabriel Napoli, Daniel Kaler, Joseph Bricker and Christina Eaton

Emilio Carlo, Samuel Lee, Isabel Kwon, Rebecca Tutunick, Felicity James and Stephen Jones

Photo: Roger Mastroianni

Meet Our New Orchestra Musicians, Part I

by MEGHAN ISAACS

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra welcomes several new faces to the stage this season. Over the next few issues of Fanfare Magazine, we’ll learn more about each of these talented new members of the Orchestra. While each musician of course pursues his or her own hobbies and interests, it’s clear they are all highly passionate about every facet of their lives—from the music they make with their colleagues to community engagement and their relationships with the people around them. All have remarked on how welcoming Cincinnati has been, and they are thrilled to be performing some big orchestral standards on the program this season, particularly Mahler’s Second Symphony, Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra, and Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra.

Felicity James, Associate Concertmaster

Having grown up watching her father perform in the Seattle Symphony, playing the violin was a natural progression for Felicity James. “I couldn’t imagine life without it,” she says. Felicity earned her bachelor’s degree from the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles and has enjoyed a busy career since then. She has performed as concertmaster, guest musician and soloist around the country, and she most recently was Associate Concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra.

While her dad is the first source of inspiration in her musical career, Felicity is also grateful to her teacher Robert Lipsett and many other colleagues she’s encountered along the way. “I’m able to learn something from everyone. It’s one of the beautiful things about being in this business,” she says.

While still settling into life in Cincinnati, Felicity has started to discover what the city offers, including the zoo, the art museum and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. “It seems like there are a lot of amazing places to discover,” she says. “One place I’ve really wanted to go to is the American Sign Museum. It seems really quirky and fun.”

When not rehearsing and performing, Felicity loves to travel every chance she gets. Next on her bucket list is New Zealand. “I’m a dual citizen of Australia, so I’ve been there several times, but never to New Zealand. So I’m dying to go!” She also enjoys reading, watching a good documentary, and learning languages. Felicity particularly enjoys listening to vocal music, and one of her favorite ensembles is Voces8. “I’m always on the lookout for the next thing they’re up to.”

Joseph Bricker, Associate Principal Timpani/Section Percussion

Hailing from Evanston, IL, Joseph Bricker wanted to play saxophone in the band in fourth grade. The band director gave him a mouthpiece, and when Joe couldn’t figure out how to make a sound,

From top: Felicity James and Joseph Bricker

he handed Joe drumsticks instead. His high school band director, Dr. David Fodor, mentored and challenged Joe, opening his mind to what orchestral playing could be. Joe’s master’s degree teacher, Cynthia Yeh, later told him that, “As percussionists, we don’t get enough notes for any of them to not matter”—a mantra that sums up what has always kept Joe fascinated with percussion. After earning his bachelor’s degree from Juilliard, Joe returned to Chicago and eventually took a fellowship with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago before winning the audition in Cincinnati.

Joe focuses most of his spare energy on community engagement initiatives. “In modern life we can all be so detached from each other, but that one note of the triangle could be the thing to forge a connection with a complete stranger,” he said. Although Joe has taken part in such initiatives since high school, one passion project in particular stands out: Chicago, From Scratch, which he launched with violinist Hannah Christiansen. The project gives creative license to students, providing them with a “contemporary musical starter pack” that includes composition workshops and an invitation for the students to write anything they want for any combination of violin and percussion. Joe and Hannah then learn the compositions under the students’ guidance. Next comes a performance event at which professional musicians premiere the students’ music, as well as recording sessions engineered by the students themselves. “We just try to empower these students. The most satisfying thing for me musically is to see someone else’s brain light up,” said Joe.

While Chicago, From Scratch takes up most of Joe’s free time, he makes time for his cats, Jacie and Fitzgerald, as well as cooking, pottery and running.

Stephen Jones, Assistant Principal Bass

Born and raised in Myrtle Beach, SC, Stephen Jones first started playing the bass at age 13, mostly as a result of his older sister’s cajoling. In high school, his interest in playing bass grew, eventually leading him to Eastman School of Music, where he studied bass with James VanDemark. He then continued his studies at Bard College with Leigh Mesh, and spent his first summer at Chautauqua Institute, where he met CSO Principal Bass Owen Lee. The two hit it off, and Stephen eventually auditioned for the University of Cincinnati CollegeConservatory of Music (CCM) to study with Owen. During his CCM program, he took advantage of opportunities to substitute with the CSO. “I would think, ‘this is it. This is all I can imagine,’” said Stephen, reflecting on the joys of biking to Music Hall and making music with a high level ensemble.

Stephen’s and Owen’s shared interests go far beyond classical music. “One of the first things we bonded over was metal,” said Stephen. “I was in a metal band in middle school. I love going to see Electric Citizen [the local metal rock band of which Owen is a member].”

Another major influence in Stephen’s life has been composer Joan Tower, with whom he lived for a time. He reflected on that short but potent time, in which she imparted not just musical wisdom. “One day I was kind of complaining about everything I had to do, and she stopped me and said, ‘Where’s your room for love?’ Those reality checks, those guides show you that you can have both things—a successful career and a balanced life—and they aren’t mutually exclusive.”

Coffee is Stephen’s other great passion, and he’s found a hospitable coffee scene in Cincinnati. He spends as much of his free time outside

Stephen Jones

as possible, particularly biking and climbing. Aside from the music he’s performing on stage or listening to around town, Stephen also enjoys Ensemble intercontemporain, Ensemble Modern, and similar experimental music. “I love whatever is weird,” said Stephen.

Rebecca Tutunick, piccolo

From the beginning, Rebecca Tutunick’s parents instilled the arts as a big part of her life. Her mother played classical music for her while she was still in the womb. While she was in grade school, her grandmother bought her a book about the instruments of the orchestra, and she fell in love with the piccolo. “I love that, despite its tiny size, it can almost always be heard.” She started playing the flute at age ten and knew by middle school that music would be her profession. At the University of Miami, Rebecca double-majored in music therapy and flute performance. Her flute professor Trudy Kane, formerly of The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, helped her believe in herself, which allowed her to see that flute performance could be her career. Rebecca then pursued her master’s degree in flute performance at Indiana University, where she studied with Thomas Robertello. Afterward, she was a fellow with The Orchestra Now in New York prior to winning the audition here in Cincinnati.

Rebecca holds a special passion for community engagement. When she was in high school, her grandfather suffered a stroke and developed dementia, eventually losing his sense of self; but when her grandmother would play familiar music and dance with him, Rebecca felt like she saw “him” again. This experience inspired her interest in music therapy. During her undergraduate studies, she did clinical rotations in hospitals, hospice centers and schools, discovering different scenarios where music was especially impactful. “Music can break through walls and accomplish goals that would be nearly impossible otherwise,” she said. Since then, Rebecca has vowed to make service a big part of her life and career, participating in school programs, sensory-friendly concerts, and other volunteer and educational opportunities.

Rebecca finds inspiration in her fiancé, family and close friends, as well as her colleagues and mentors. “When I make music, I try to outwardly express what’s already inside. These people, and the experiences I’ve had, have influenced who I am—and who I am influences how I play.”

Rebecca’s other interests include crafts and DIY projects—a hobby that’s coming in handy as she prepares for her upcoming wedding. She enjoys baking, reading, traveling and hiking. “I’ll try just about anything once. Except skydiving—that’s never going to happen!”

Rebecca Tutunick

Spotlight: Cincinnati Symphony Brass Institute

by DiDi TURLEY

In June of 2022, what would typically be a sleepy summer week on Miami University’s campus in Oxford, OH was shaken to life by a new sound ringing out from the Center of Performing Arts. That sound— the brilliant voices of 25 high school and young professional brass players—marked the inaugural season of a partnership between Miami University and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO). The Cincinnati Symphony Brass Institute, founded by CSO Associate Principal Trumpet Doug Lindsay and composed of a High School Program and an Orchestral Training Fellowship, is an auditioned, one-week brass-intensive program provided at no cost to students. According to Lindsay, this program focuses on launching the next generation of professional brass musicians into the orchestral world armed with every tool needed to find success.

The Cincinnati Symphony Brass Institute (CSBI), having completed its inaugural season this past summer, is gearing up for its next round of auditions. Programs like the CSBI are a rare gem in the crown of professional musicmaking. The program has two components: one focuses on outreach to high school students in the Cincinnati/Dayton area; the other serves young professionals stepping into the early stages of their orchestral careers. Students in both categories are invited to this one-week program to engage in private lessons, masterclasses and chamber music rehearsals—all taught by the world-renowned

musicians of the CSO. Moreover, this exceptional experience is free of charge to all students selected for the program.

According to Lindsay, in a world full of payto-play training opportunities, the financial accessibility of CSBI is a key component of this program’s mission: “You hear a lot these days about how people with money have access to the best instruction. That leaves behind many talented students whose opportunities to study with musicians in major orchestras are limited because of the expense. With CSBI, Miami University and the CSO are committed to removing financial barriers of advanced musical study and making the arts for everyone, not just those with means. All the students need to do is make their way to Oxford.”

By eliminating the costs of application fees, tuition and housing, CSBI provides musicians with access to crucial industry connections, mentorship and experience—with acceptance to the program based on merit.

High School Program

At the high school level, the CSBI focuses on preparing students for college auditions while sharpening their fundamental playing skills. These students also get a rare glimpse into what the life of a professional brass musician entails. According to student Matthew Lyons, alumnus of the 2022 High School Program, one of the highlights of his experience was getting to work directly with musicians from

CSO Associate Principal Trumpet Douglas Lindsay works with the High School Scholars, June 2022. Credit: Charlie Balcom

the CSO: “Probably the best experience that I had at the CSBI was the private lesson I had with Chris Olka [Principal Tubist for the CSO].... He worked through some orchestral excerpts and taught us about what it’s like to be an orchestral tuba player…. [He] also talked about the best way to go about an audition process— especially at the higher level.”

Orchestral Training Fellowship

For the young professionals selected for the Orchestral Training Fellowship, the program prepares them to win jobs in professional orchestras. The week is spent sharpening their skills through daily coaching with expert brass players, masterclasses, and intensive audition preparation, all while building their professional network and connections to their future colleagues.

“a ‘confluence of events.’”

Mind you, programs like the CSBI don’t appear out of thin air. Lindsay recalls that the program came out of a “confluence of events.” According to Chris Olka the roots of this program took hold in a casual conversation between friends a few years ago:

“Doug [Lindsay] was brainstorming and said, ‘Well, I think that before I retire, I’d like to do something to make [Cincinnati] a destination for young brass players, because there are so many young brass players who aren’t aware of what Cincinnati has contributed.’

“In my recollection, that was the moment where Doug got that idea of a summer brass institute and, true to his word, he started

putting his thoughts on paper and got it from a nascent idea to this full-fledged, big, big thing that it has turned into.”

With a vision outlined—a program that provides the next generation of brass players with a launchpad to a successful career—Lindsay began making plans and set them into action. With the help of Carol Dary Dunevant, CSO Director of Learning, and an organic relationship with Miami University, where Lindsay and several other CSO musicians teach, the CSBI began to come to life.

According to Lindsay, the CSBI seeks to shine a light on Cincinnati’s history of remarkable brass musicians, in addition to bolstering the careers of young brass players: “There’s really a rich history of brass playing in this city, because of its German roots. The guys that were here back in the early 20th century were animals. The Cincinnati brassplaying history inspired me. As someone from Cincinnati, I want people to know this is what it’s like.”

CSBI 2023 Auditions

Applications for the CSBI 2023 Season are due on February 15, 2023. Audition dates for the Orchestral Training Fellowship and High School Program can be found on the application, which is available at cincinnatisymphony.org/ brass-institute

The audition experience has been tailored to each program’s goals. In contrast to the typical audition format, the High School Program auditions have a workshop format. According to Lindsay, this “very relaxed audition” allows the adjudicators to foster a growth mindset in the room. Some advice from Lindsay for prospective High School Program students, “Prepare. Don’t come in and sight read. Take the music to your teacher. If you don’t have a teacher, take it to your band teacher.”

As for the Orchestral Training Fellowship, musicians should expect an experience of the same caliber as that of a professional orchestra audition. The adjudicators expect clean recordings and spotless takes of the audition excerpts, paired with a high level of musicianship. Lindsay offered the following advice, typically reserved for his students, to prospective Orchestral Training Fellows: “Start now, and do a hundred takes.”

The 2023 Cincinnati Symphony Brass Institute will take place in June 2023 at Miami University. To learn more and to apply, please visit cincinnatisymphony.org/brass-institute.

—Douglas Lindsay

High School Scholars and Orchestral Training Fellows pose with Associate Principal Trumpet Douglas Lindsay after a performance, June 2022.

Credit: Josh Stenger

LOUIS LANGRÉE, Music Director

Louise Dieterle Nippert & Louis Nippert Chair

JOHN MORRIS RUSSELL, Cincinnati Pops Conductor

Louise Dieterle Nippert & Louis Nippert Chair

Matthias Pintscher, CSO Creative Partner

Damon Gupton, Pops Principal Guest Conductor

Samuel Lee, Assistant Conductor Ashley and Barbara Ford Chair

Daniel Wiley, Assistant Conductor Ashley and Barbara Ford Chair

FIRST VIOLINS

Stefani Matsuo

Concertmaster Anna Sinton Taft Chair

Felicity James Associate Concertmaster Tom & Dee Stegman Chair

Philip Marten

First Assistant Concertmaster James M. Ewell Chair++ Eric Bates

Second Assistant Concertmaster Serge Shababian Chair

Kathryn Woolley

Nicholas Tsimaras–Peter G. Courlas Chair++

Anna Reider Dianne & J. David Rosenberg Chair

Mauricio Aguiar§ Anne G. & Robert W. Dorsey Chair

Minyoung Baik

James Braid Marc Bohlke Chair given by Katrin & Manfred Bohlke

Michelle Edgar Dugan Donald & Margaret Robinson Chair

Rebecca Kruger Fryxell Clifford J. Goosmann & Andrea M. Wilson Chair

Gerald Itzkoff Jean Ten Have Chair

Sylvia Mitchell Jo Ann & Paul Ward Chair

Charles Morey†

Luo-Jia Wu

SECOND VIOLINS

Gabriel Pegis

Principal Al Levinson Chair

Yang Liu* Harold B. & Betty Justice Chair

Scott Mozlin** Henry Meyer Chair

Kun Dong Cheryl Benedict

Evin Blomberg§

Rachel Charbel Ida Ringling North Chair

Chika Kinderman

Hyesun Park

Paul Patterson Charles Gausmann Chair++

Stacey Woolley Brenda & Ralph Taylor Chair++

VIOLAS

Christian Colberg

Principal Louise D. & Louis Nippert Chair

Christopher Fischer

Acting Associate Principal Grace M. Allen Chair

Julian Wilkison** Rebecca Barnes§

Emilio Carlo†

Stephen Fryxell Melinda & Irwin Simon Chair

Caterina Longhi

Gabriel Napoli

Denisse Rodriguez-Rivera

Dan Wang

Joanne Wojtowicz

CELLOS

Ilya Finkelshteyn

Principal

Irene & John J. Emery Chair

Daniel Culnan*

Ona Hixson Dater Chair

Norman Johns**

Karl & Roberta Schlachter

Family Chair

Daniel Kaler§ Marvin Kolodzik & Linda S. Gallaher Chair for Cello

Isabel Kwon†

Hiro Matsuo

Laura Kimble McLellan Chair++

Theodore Nelson

Peter G. Courlas–Nicholas Tsimaras Chair++

Alan Rafferty Ruth F. Rosevear Chair

BASSES

Owen Lee

Principal Mary Alice Heekin Burke Chair++ James Lambert* Thomas Vanden Eynden Chair Stephen Jones** Trish & Rick Bryan Chair Boris Astafiev§ Luis Arturo Celis Avila Gerald Torres Rick Vizachero

HARP

Gillian Benet Sella

Principal Cynthia & Frank Stewart Chair

FLUTES

Randolph Bowman Principal Charles Frederic Goss Chair Henrik Heide*† Haley Bangs Jane & David Ellis Chair

PICCOLO

Rebecca Tutunick Patricia Gross Linnemann Chair

OBOES

Dwight Parry

Principal Josephine I. & David J. Joseph, Jr. Chair

Lon Bussell* Stephen P. McKean Chair Emily Beare

ENGLISH HORN

Christopher Philpotts

Principal Alberta & Dr. Maurice Marsh Chair++

CLARINETS

Christopher Pell

Principal Emma Margaret & Irving D. Goldman Chair

Joseph Morris*

Associate Principal and E-flat Clarinet Robert E. & Fay Boeh Chair++ Ixi Chen Vicky & Rick Reynolds Chair in Honor of William A. Friedlander

BASS CLARINET

Ronald Aufmann

BASSOONS Christopher Sales

Principal Emalee Schavel Chair++ Martin Garcia* Hugh Michie

CONTRABASSOON Jennifer Monroe

FRENCH HORNS

Elizabeth Freimuth

Principal Mary M. & Charles F. Yeiser Chair [OPEN]* Ellen A. & Richard C. Berghamer Chair

Molly Norcross**

Acting Associate Principal Sweeney Family Chair in memory of Donald C. Sweeney Lisa Conway Susanne & Philip O. Geier, Jr. Chair

Duane Dugger Mary & Joseph S. Stern, Jr. Chair

Charles Bell

TRUMPETS

Robert Sullivan

Principal Rawson Chair Douglas Lindsay* Jackie & Roy Sweeney Family Chair Steven Pride Otto M. Budig Family Foundation Chair++ Christopher Kiradjieff

TROMBONES

Cristian Ganicenco

Principal Dorothy & John Hermanies Chair

Joseph Rodriguez** Second/Assistant Principal Trombone

BASS TROMBONE Peter Norton

TUBA Christopher Olka Principal Ashley & Barbara Ford Chair

TIMPANI Patrick Schleker

Principal Matthew & Peg Woodside Chair Joseph Bricker* Morleen & Jack Rouse Chair

PERCUSSION

David Fishlock

Principal Susan S. & William A. Friedlander Chair Michael Culligan*

Joseph Bricker * Morleen & Jack Rouse Chair Marc Wolfley+

KEYBOARDS

Michael Chertock James P. Thornton Chair Julie Spangler+ James P. Thornton Chair

CSO/CCM DIVERSITY

FELLOWS

Tyler McKisson, viola Luis Parra, cello Samantha Powell, cello

LIBRARIANS

Christina Eaton

Principal Librarian Lois Klein Jolson Chair

Elizabeth Dunning

Acting Associate Principal Librarian Cara Benner

Interim Assistant Librarian

STAGE MANAGERS

Brian P. Schott

Phillip T. Sheridan

Daniel Schultz Andrew Sheridan

§ Begins the alphabetical listing of players who participate in a system of rotated seating within the string section.

* Associate Principal ** Assistant Principal † One-year appointment

+ Cincinnati Pops rhythm section

++ CSO endowment only ~ Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

LOUIS LANGRÉE, Music Director

Louise Dieterle Nippert & Louis Nippert Chair

Louis Langrée has been Music Director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra since 2013, Music Director of the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center since 2003, and was recently appointed Director of Théâtre national de l’Opéra Comique in Paris. Two of his Cincinnati recordings were Grammy nominated for Best Orchestral Performance: Transatlantic, with works by Varèse, Gershwin and Stravinsky; and Concertos for Orchestra, featuring world premieres by Sebastian Currier, Thierry Escaich and Zhou Tian. On stage, his Pelléas et Mélisande trilogy contrasted settings by Fauré, Debussy and Schoenberg. A multi-season Beethoven [R]evolution cycle has paired the symphonies with world premieres, as well as recreation of the legendary 1808 Akademie. During the Covid pandemic, Langrée was a catalyst for the Orchestra’s return to the stage in the fall of 2020 with a series of digitally streamed concerts.

Between the start of his tenure and the conclusion of the CSO’s 2022–23 season, Langrée and the CSO will have commissioned or co-commissioned 42 new orchestral works and he will have conducted 32 premieres from a wide range of composers, including Julia Adolphe, Daníel Bjarnason, Jennifer Higdon, Jonathan Bailey Holland, Kinds of Kings, David Lang, Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, André Previn, Caroline Shaw and Julia Wolfe, and the world premiere of Christopher Rouse’s Symphony No. 6, Rouse’s final opus.

He has guest conducted the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, LA Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra, NHK Symphony, Orchestre National de France and Leipzig Gewandhaus, as well as Orchestre des Champs-Elysées and Freiburg Baroque. He frequently conducts at the leading opera houses, including Vienna Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Bavarian Staatsoper, and at festivals including Glyndebourne, Aix-en-Provence, BBC Proms, Edinburgh International and Hong Kong Arts.

A native of Alsace, France, he is an Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur and Officier des Arts et des Lettres, and he is an Honorary Member of the Confrérie Saint-Étienne d’Alsace, an Alsatian wine-makers’ brotherhood dating to the 14th century.

JOHN MORRIS RUSSELL

Cincinnati Pops Conductor

Louise Dieterle Nippert & Louis Nippert Chair

A master of American musical style, Grammynominated conductor John Morris Russell, a.k.a. “JMR,” has devoted himself to redefining the American orchestral experience. In his 11th year as conductor of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Russell continues to reinvigorate the musical scene throughout Cincinnati and across the continent with the wide range and diversity of his work as a conductor, collaborator and educator. As Music Director of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina Russell leads the prestigious Hilton Head International Piano Competition, and as Principal Pops Conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra he follows in the footsteps of Marvin Hamlisch and Doc Severinsen. Guest conducting engagements have included many of the most distinguished orchestras in North America: the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Boston Pops, National Symphony, and the orchestras of Toronto, Vancouver, Dallas, Detroit and Pittsburgh.

With the Cincinnati Pops, Russell leads sold-out performances at Music Hall, concerts throughout the region, and domestic and international tours—including Florida in 2014 and China/Taiwan in 2017. His visionary leadership at the Pops created the “American Originals Project,” which has garnered both critical and popular acclaim in two landmark recordings: American Originals (the music of Stephen Foster) as well as American Originals: 1918. In 2020 the American Originals Project: The Cincinnati Sound, featuring Late Night with David Letterman musical director Paul Shaffer, celebrated the beginnings of bluegrass, country, rockabilly, soul and funk immortalized in recordings produced in the Queen City. Russell’s other recordings with The Pops include Home for the Holidays, Superheroes, Carnival of the Animals and Voyage. Recent collaborations with artists around the world include Aretha Franklin, Emanuel Ax, Amy Grant and Vince Gill, Common, Garrick Ohlsson, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Jon Kimura Parker, Ann Hampton Callaway, Michael McDonald, Cho-Liang Lin, Sutton Foster, George Takei, Megan Hilty, Ranky Tanky, Steve Martin, Katharine McPhee, Brian Wilson, Cynthia Erivo and Leslie Odom, Jr.

©Chris

MATTHIAS PINTSCHER

CSO Creative Partner

The 2022–23 season is Matthias Pintscher’s final season as Music Director of the Ensemble intercontemporain (EIC), the world’s foremost contemporary music ensemble, founded in 1980 by Pierre Boulez.

In his decade-long artistic leadership of the EIC, Pintscher continued and expanded the cultivation of new work by emerging composers of the 21st century, alongside performances of iconic works by the pillars of the avant-garde of the 20th century.

As a conductor, Pintscher enjoys and maintains relationships with several of the world’s most distinguished orchestras, among them the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. He is also Creative Partner for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. As guest conductor in Europe, he makes debut appearances this season with the Wiener Symphoniker and Gürzenich Orchester of Cologne, and he returns to the Royal Concertgebouw, BRSO, BBC Scottish SO, Barcelona Symphony, and Berlin’s Boulez Ensemble. In North America, he makes prominent debuts with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Kansas City Symphony, in addition to regular visits to the Cincinnati Symphony and repeat guest engagements with the Detroit Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic and New World Symphony. Pintscher has also conducted several opera productions for the Berliner Staatsoper, Wiener Staatsoper, and the Théatre du Châtelet in Paris. He returns to the Berliner Staatsoper in 2023 for Der fliegende Holländer

Pintscher is well known as a composer, and his works appear frequently on the programs of major symphony orchestras throughout the world. In August 2021, he was the focus of the Suntory Hall Summer Festival—a weeklong celebration of his works with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, as well as a residency by the EIC with symphonic and chamber music performances. His newest work, Assonanza, a violin concerto written for Leila Josefowicz, was premiered in January 2022 with the Cincinnati Symphony. Another 2021–22 world premiere was neharot (“rivers”), a co-commission of Suntory Hall, Staatskapelle Dresden, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and Los Angeles Philharmonic. matthiaspintscher.com

DAMON GUPTON

Pops Principal Guest Conductor

Damon Gupton is the first-ever Principal Guest Conductor of the Cincinnati Pops. A native of Detroit, he served as American Conducting Fellow of the Houston Symphony and held the post of assistant conductor of the Kansas City Symphony. His conducting appearances include the Boston Pops, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Detroit Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Toledo Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, Florida Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Princeton Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, NHK Orchestra of Tokyo, Orquesta Filarmonica de UNAM, Charlottesville Symphony, Brass Band of Battle Creek, New York University Steinhardt Orchestra, Kinhaven Music School Orchestra, Vermont Music Festival Orchestra, Michigan Youth Arts Festival Honors Orchestra, Brevard Sinfonia, and Sphinx Symphony as part of the 12th annual Sphinx Competition. He led the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra on two national tours with performances at Carnegie Hall and conducted the finals of the Seventh Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition and the 2021 Classic FM Live at Royal Albert Hall with Chineke!.

Gupton received his Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Michigan, where he delivered the commencement address to the School of Music, Theatre and Dance in 2015. He studied conducting with David Zinman and Murry Sidlin at the Aspen Music Festival and with Leonard Slatkin at the National Conducting Institute in Washington, D.C. Awards include the Robert J. Harth Conducting Prize and The Aspen Conducting Prize. He is the inaugural recipient of the Emerging Artist Award from the University of Michigan School of Music and Alumni Society and a winner of the Third International Eduardo Mata Conducting Competition.

An accomplished actor and graduate of the Drama Division of the Juilliard School, Gupton has had roles in television, film and on stage, most recently in series regular roles on the upcoming Big Door Prize for Apple TV, as well as The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey starring Samuel L. Jackson. damongupton.com

For full-length biographies, visit cincinnatisymphony.org/about/artistic-leadership

©Franck Ferville ©Damu Malik

Celebrating the arts and the joy they bring to life every

PNC is proud to be the Pops Se Sponsor and to support the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops. Thank you for helping to make the Greater Cincinnati region a beautiful place to call home.

FRI NOV 11, 7:30 pm

SAT NOV 12, 7:30 pm

SUN NOV 13, 2 pm Music Hall

GET HAPPY: JUDY GARLAND CENTENNIAL

JMR, the Pops and audience favorite Michael Feinstein lead a tour through the life and songs of Judy Garland in honor of the 100th anniversary of her birth. Enjoy big screen film clips, neverbefore-seen photos, rare audio recordings, good humor and, of course, great music. We’ll explore Judy’s early career through her trip over the rainbow, her time on TV, and the unforgettable concert years—with songs you know and love like “Get Happy,” “Over the Rainbow,” and more.

Selections will be announced from the stage.

The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra is grateful to Pops Season Sponsor PNC The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is grateful for the support of the Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation and for the thousands of people who give generously to the ArtsWave Community Campaign. This project was supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts

WVXU is the Media Partner for these concerts.

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in-orchestra Steinway piano is made possible in part by the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trust Steinway Pianos, courtesy of Willis Music, is the official piano of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops.

JOHN MORRIS RUSSELL, conductor MICHAEL FEINSTEIN, vocalist and pianist

MICHAEL FEINSTEIN, vocalist and pianist Michael Feinstein has built a dazzling career over the last three decades, bringing the music of the Great American Songbook to the world. From recordings that have earned him five Grammy Award nominations to his Emmy-nominated PBS-TV specials, his acclaimed NPR series, and concerts spanning the globe—in addition to his appearances at iconic venues such as The White House, Buckingham Palace, Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall and Sydney Opera House—his work as an educator and archivist defines Feinstein as one of the most important musical forces of our time.

In 2007, he founded the Great American Songbook Foundation, dedicated to celebrating the art form and preserving it through educational programs, masterclasses, and the annual High School Songbook Academy. Feinstein serves on the Library of Congress’ National Recording Preservation Board, an organization dedicated to ensuring the survival, conservation and increased public availability of America’s sound recording heritage.

The latest CD in Feinstein’s catalog is Gershwin Country, in which he reimagines the classic songs of George and Ira Gershwin through the contemporary lens of country music. Executive-produced by his longtime friend and collaborator Liza Minnelli, the album pairs Feinstein with some of the biggest names in country music, including Dolly Parton, Alison Krauss, Brad Paisley and Rosanne Cash.

Named Principal Pops Conductor for the Pasadena Symphony in 2012, Feinstein made his conducting debut in June 2013 to critical acclaim.

His book The Gershwins and Me (Simon & Schuster) features a new CD of Gershwin standards performed with Cyrus Chestnut at the piano.

Feinstein serves as Artistic Director of the Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts, in Carmel, Indiana, which is home to diverse live programming and a museum for his rare memorabilia and manuscripts. Since 1999, he has served as Artistic Director for Carnegie Hall’s “Standard Time with Michael Feinstein,” and in 2010 he became the director of the Jazz and Popular Song Series at New York’s Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Feinstein was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, where he started playing piano by ear as a five-year-old. The widow of legendary concert pianist-actor Oscar Levant introduced him to Ira Gershwin in July 1977. Feinstein became Gershwin’s assistant for six years, which earned him access to numerous unpublished Gershwin songs, many of which he has since performed and recorded. michaelfeinstein.com

Check out our NEW DIGITAL PROGRAM! For even more enriching content including full-length biographies, digital content and more, text PROGRAM to 513.845.3024*, visit cincinnatisymphony.org/digital-program, or point your phone’s camera at the QR code.

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FORT WASHINGTON INVESTMENT ADVISORS

IS A PROUD PARTNER OF THE CINCINNATI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Fort Washington Investment Advisors, Inc., a member of Western & Southern Financial Group, is honored to help advance the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s mission to seek and share inspiration. Learn how we can work together. contactus@fortwashington.com / fortwashington.com

FRI NOV 18, 11 am

SAT NOV 19, 7:30 pm Music Hall

DALIA STASEVSKA, conductor ESTHER YOO, violin

Missy MAZZOLI Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) (b. 1980)

Jean SIBELIUS Concerto in D Minor for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 47 (1865–1957) Allegro moderato Adagio di molto Allegro ma non tanto

INTERMISSION

Béla BARTÓK Concerto for Orchestra (1881–1945)

Introduzione: Andante non troppo—Allegro vivace Giuoco delle coppie: Allegretto scherzando Elegia: Andante non troppo Intermezzo interrotto: Allegretto Finale: Pesante—Presto

These performances are approximately 120 minutes long, including intermission.

The CSO is grateful to CSO Season Sponsor Western & Southern Financial Group and Presenting Sponsor The Ladislas and Vilma Segoe Family Foundation Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) is made possible by the Frank and Mary Bergstein Fund for Musical Excellence & Connie Bergstein Dow and Buzz Dow

The Ladislas and Vilma Segoe Family Foundation

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is grateful for the support of the Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation and for the thousands of people who give generously to the ArtsWave Community Campaign. This project was supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts

Pre-Concert Talks are made possible by an endowed gift from Melody Sawyer Richardson

WGUC is the Media Partner for these concerts.

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in-orchestra Steinway piano is made possible in part by the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trust Steinway Pianos, courtesy of Willis Music, is the official piano of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops.

Listen to this program on 90.9 WGUC February 12, 2023 at 8 pm, followed by 30 days of streaming at cincinnatisymphony.org/replay.

Missy Mazzoli

Composed: Original chamber version, 2014, commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic; orchestral version, 2016, for a Music Alive Composer Residency with the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra

Premiere: Chamber version, April 8, 2014, Gustavo Dudamel conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic; orchestra version, February 12, 2016, by the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra

Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons (incl. harmonicas), 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, tuba, harmonicas, boombox sound effect, glockenspiel, lion’s roar, marimba, melodica, opera gong, snare drum, spring coil, suspended cymbals, vibraphone, piano, strings CSO notable performances: These performances are the work’s CSO premiere.

Duration: approx. 12 minutes

MISSY MAZZOLI

Born: October 27, 1980, Lansdale, Pennsylvania

Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres)

Nominated for a 2019 Grammy for the recording of her Vespers for Violin, Missy Mazzoli has been deemed “one of the more consistently inventive, surprising composers now working in New York” (NY Times) and “Brooklyn’s post-millennial Mozart” (Time Out NY), and has been praised for her “apocalyptic imagination” (Alex Ross, The New Yorker). Mazzoli has had her music performed by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (which co-commissioned her Violin Concerto (Procession) and performed the work with violinist Jennifer Koh—for whom the concerto was written—in March 2022), Kronos Quartet, Eighth Blackbird, pianist Emanuel Ax, Opera Philadelphia, Scottish Opera, LA Opera, Cincinnati Opera, New York City Opera, Chicago Fringe Opera, the Detroit Symphony, the LA Philharmonic, the Minnesota Orchestra, the American Composers Orchestra, JACK Quartet, cellist Maya Beiser, violinist Jennifer Koh, pianist Kathleen Supové, Dublin’s Crash Ensemble, the Sydney Symphony and many others. In 2018 she became one of the first two women, along with Jeanine Tesori, to receive a main stage commission from The Metropolitan Opera. She was Mead Composer-in-Residence at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 2018 to 2021 and Composer-in-Residence with Opera Philadelphia from 2012 to 2015. Recent commissions include works for Opera Philadelphia, the National Ballet of Canada, Chicago Lyric Opera and Norwegian National Opera.

Mazzoli attended the Yale School of Music, the Royal Conservatory of the Hague and Boston University. Her works are published by G. Schirmer.

Of her Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres), Mazzoli writes:

Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) is music in the shape of a solar system, a collection of rococo loops that twist around each other within a larger orbit. The word “sinfonia” refers to baroque works for chamber orchestra but also to the old Italian term for a hurdy-gurdy, a medieval stringed instrument with constant, wheezing drones that are cranked out under melodies played on an attached keyboard.

It’s a piece that churns and roils, that inches close to the listener only to leap away at breakneck speed, in the process transforming the ensemble turns into a makeshift hurdy-gurdy, flung recklessly into space. Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and later expanded for a concert with the Boulder Philharmonic.

—Compiled by Teri McKibben

JEAN SIBELIUS

Born: December 8, 1865, Hämeenlinna, Finland

Died: September 20, 1957, Ainola Järvenpää, Finland

Concerto in D Minor for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 47

“I’ve got some lovely themes for a violin concerto,” Sibelius wrote to his wife, Aino, in September 1902. The Finnish composer, at 37 already a national figure and the recipient of an annual pension from the Finnish government, had been asked by the celebrated German violinist Willy Burmester to write a violin concerto. Despite the “lovely themes” Sibelius had devised, however, the concerto wasn’t coming along as expected. The difficulties had to do with the composer’s

alcoholism that around this time began to alarm his family and which seemed to stem from a deep sense of inner insecurity. It was a year before Sibelius sent the piano score to Burmester, who responded enthusiastically:

I can only say one thing: wonderful! Masterly! Only once before have I spoken in such terms of a composer, and that was when Tchaikovsky showed me his concerto.

What happened after this is rather hard to explain. Burmester was expecting to play the world premiere of the new work in the spring of 1904, but Sibelius, for financial reasons, pushed for an earlier date even though Burmester wasn’t available sooner and the orchestration of the concerto wasn’t finished. Sibelius completed the concerto sometime before the end of 1903 and gave it to a local violin teacher, Viktor Nováček. Accounts agree that Nováček was hardly more than a mediocre player. Leading Sibelius biographer Erik Tawaststjerna writes that at the Helsinki premiere, in February 1904, “a red-faced and perspiring Nováček fought a losing battle with a solo part that bristled with even greater difficulties in this first version than it does in the definitive score.”

Sibelius had been trying to pacify Burmester by saying that “Helsinki doesn’t mean a thing,” and still promised him performances in Berlin and elsewhere. But after the Helsinki premiere, he was dissatisfied with the work and decided to revise it entirely. After the definitive version was completed, he sent it off to his German publisher who suggested Karl Halíř as the soloist. Sibelius acquiesced, passing Burmester over for the second time. Greatly offended, Burmester never played the work whose composition he had initiated.

Halíř, the concertmaster of the Berlin Court Opera and a professor at the Conservatory, was a fine violinist but not a virtuoso of the highest caliber. It fell to an exceptionally gifted 17-year-old Hungarian named Ferenc (Franz von) Vecsey to become the work’s first international champion; it is to him that the printed score is dedicated.

Ultimately, as Tawaststjerna noted, Sibelius wrote his concerto for neither Burmester nor anyone else but himself. As a young man, Sibelius had hoped to become a concert violinist, and gave up his dreams of a virtuoso career only with great reluctance. At any rate, his primary instrument was the violin; unlike Brahms who consulted Joseph Joachim when he was writing his violin concerto, Sibelius did not need to ask others for advice on technical matters. Tawaststjerna writes, “Naturally in his imagination he identifies himself with the soloist in the Violin Concerto and this may well explain something of its nostalgia and romantic intensity.”

“Nostalgia and romantic intensity”—these are indeed key words if one wishes to describe the Sibelius Violin Concerto. Written in the first years of the 20th century, it looks back to the great Romantic concertos of the 19th. The beginning, with the D-minor tremolos of the muted first and second violins over which the soloist plays a wistful melody, is unabashedly old-fashioned. The only unconventional features are the repeated augmented fourth leaps (from D to G-sharp or G to C-sharp), which create harsher sonorities, and the irregular phrase structure of the theme, which makes it impossible to predict how the melody is going to evolve.

Simple and song-like at first, the violin part gradually becomes more and more agitated, erupting in a first virtuoso cadenza. As the meter changes from 4/4 to 6/4 time, the orchestra introduces a second idea, which the violin soon takes over; when that happens, however, the

Composed: 1904–1905

Premiere: Original version: February 8, 1904, Helsinki, Sibelius conducting and Viktor Nováček, violinist. Revised version: October 19, 1905, Richard Strauss conducting the Berlin Court Orchestra, Karel Halíř, violinist.

Instrumentation: solo violin, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, strings CSO notable performances: First Performance: February 1907, Frank Van der Stucken conducting and Maud Powell, violin. Most Recent Performance: September 2018, Louis Langrée conducting and Joshua Bell, violin. Other: The CSO performed this work twice at New York’s Carnegie Hall, in February 1998 with Jésus López Cobos conducting and violinist Nadja SalernoSonnenberg, and in March 2003 with Paavo Järvi conducting and violinist Vadim Repin.

Duration: approx. 31 minutes

Jean Sibelius

…Sibelius wrote his concerto for neither Burmester nor anyone else but himself. As a young man, Sibelius had hoped to become a concert violinist, and gave up his dreams of a virtuoso career only with great reluctance.

tempo suddenly slows down and the character of the theme changes from dramatic to lyrical. This is followed by a third, purely orchestral section, in a fast 2/2 time; lively and energetic, it ends in pianissimo with the cellos and basses repeating a single note (B-flat). The three sections roughly outline the exposition of a sonata form, although the meter changes and the succession of characters is unusual; also, the key of B-flat minor, which is eventually reached, is a highly unusual tonal direction for a concerto movement in D minor. Its many flats contribute to a certain dark, “Nordic” flavor in the concerto, reinforced by the frequent use of the violin’s low register. The brass parts also abound in “glacial” low notes, harmonized with austere-sounding chordal passages.

There is no real development section; its place is taken by the solo cadenza, which occurs in the middle of the movement rather than at the end as usual. The cadenza is followed by a free recapitulation in which the first melody returns, almost literally. The second theme (especially in its orchestral rendition) is substantially modified. The melody of the third section is now given to the violas while the soloist adds virtuoso passages, turning the ending of the movement into a kind of grandiose Gypsy* fantasy.

The second movement adagio di molto is based on the combination of two themes, one played by the two clarinets at the beginning, the other by the solo violin a few measures later. The violin melody is, according to the composer’s own written instruction, “sonorous and expressive”; the clarinet theme later grows into an impassioned middle section whose dynamism carries over into the recapitulation of the violin melody (part of it is now given to the woodwinds). Only at the very end does the melody rediscover its initial peace and tranquility.

Speaking about the Finale, it is impossible to resist quoting Donald Francis Tovey’s characterization of its main theme as a “polonaise for polar bears.” Tovey’s words capture the singular combination of dance rhythms and a certain heavy-footedness felt at least at the beginning of this movement. Again, there are two themes, one in a polonaise [a march-like dance in triple meter] rhythm and one based on the alternation of 6/8 and 3/4 time (the first is subdivided into 3 + 3 eighth notes, the second into 2 + 2 + 2). “With this,” Tovey concluded his analysis, “we can safely leave the finale to dance the listener into Finland, or whatever Fairyland Sibelius will have us attain.”

—Peter Laki

*The more modern term is Romani

BÉLA BARTÓK

Born: March 25, 1881, Nagyszentmiklós, Hungary (now Sânnicolau Mare, Romania)

Died: September 26, 1945, New York City

Concerto for Orchestra

Bartók was 59 years old when he immigrated to the United States with his second wife and former pupil, Ditta Pásztory-Bartók. His adjustment to the new environment was made difficult, even traumatic, by several factors. Bartók, who had been the foremost musical celebrity in his native Hungary, became an émigré composer who, although not entirely unknown in the Western Hemisphere, was far from being a household name and had to struggle to relaunch his career here.

Bartók was ill-equipped for such a struggle. He was not prepared to make any compromises. He was not interested in university

positions because he did not believe in teaching composition. He did concertize a little as a pianist, mainly in a two-piano duo with his wife and, a few times, as soloist in his Second Piano Concerto, yet his main ambition throughout this period was to continue his research in ethnomusicology. Having learned about Milman Parry’s collection of recordings from Yugoslavia, preserved at Columbia University, he devoted many hours to transcribing these recordings. He received a grant to do this work, but the grant ran out before Bartók could finish the project. It was also at this time—late in 1942—that Bartók’s health first began to deteriorate, with fevers, pain and weakness, but with no immediate diagnosis (the first signs of the leukemia that would claim his life in 1945).

The situation was grave indeed when one day Bartók, lying in a New York hospital, received an unexpected visit from Serge Koussevitzky, the conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Koussevitzky commissioned a new orchestral work in memory of his wife and left a check for half the amount of the commission on the composer’s bedside table. (He and everybody else took great pains to conceal from Bartók that the idea of the commission had come from two of the composer’s friends, violinist Joseph Szigeti and conductor Fritz Reiner; had Bartók known this, the commission would have seemed to him a form of charity that he might even have turned down.)

The commission quite literally gave Bartók, who had composed virtually nothing for the previous two years, a new lease on life. Work on the score proceeded rapidly, thanks in part to the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), which arranged for Bartók to spend the summer months of 1943 at a private sanatorium in Lake Saranac, New York. Bartók’s health improved, he gained some weight, and the full score of the Concerto for Orchestra was completed by October 8.

In opting for a five-movement form with a central slow movement and two quasi-scherzos in second and fourth place, respectively, Bartók returned to a compositional design he had first discovered 40 years earlier in his Suite No. 1 for Orchestra and used again in his String Quartet No. 4 (1928). It was one of several symmetrical structures he favored in his large-scale works, one that afforded a great deal of diversity in character organized around a single governing principle.

The first movement opens with a slow introduction whose chains of ascending fourths, played by cellos and basses, create the impression of a world being born out of primeval chaos. The first “concertante” solo, for flute, still has something indecisive to it, but the second, for three trumpets, is a fully formed idea that borrows its formal structure (though not its actual melody) from Hungarian folksong. The tempo gradually increases and reaches Allegro vivace; the fast section is dominated by two themes, both of which, like the theme of the introduction, are built on ascending fourths. This energetic music is only temporarily interrupted by a lyrical interlude in which the oboe and the harp seem to carry on an intimate conversation.

The second movement, Giuoco delle Coppie (“Game of Pairs”), opens and closes with a brief snare drum solo. Five pairs of wind instruments play their themes in parallel intervals; we hear, in turn, two bassoons in sixths, two oboes in thirds, two clarinets in sevenths, two flutes in fifths, and finally, two muted trumpets in major seconds. A short brass chorale functions as a middle section before a full (varied) recapitulation.

The third-movement Elegy opens with some ascending fourths that clearly allude to the first movement’s slow introduction. The

Composed: 1943

Premiere: December 1, 1944, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Serge Koussevitzky conducting Instrumentation: 3 flutes (incl. piccolo), 3 oboes (incl. English horn), 3 clarinets (incl. bass clarinet), 3 bassoons (incl. contrabassoon), 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, crash cymbals, snare drum, suspended cymbals, tam-tam, triangle, 2 harps, strings

CSO notable performances: First Performance: November 1950, Thor Johnson conducting. Most Recent Performance: January 2018, Louis Langrée conducting. Other: The CSO recorded the Concerto for Orchestra in 2006 (Lutosławski/ Bartók: Concertos for Orchestra), Paavo Järvi conducting.

Duration: approx. 40 minutes

Béla Bartók

glissandos on the harp and the soft woodwind figuration recall a moment in Bartók’s opera Bluebeard’s Castle, when the opera’s heroine, Judith, sees the Lake of Tears behind the sixth door of the castle. The middle section of the Elegy is based on the same quasifolksong we heard in the introduction to the first movement. Played this time by the full orchestra, it sounds much more tragic than before. The movement ends with a haunting piccolo solo, after which the boisterous string unisons of the fourth movement come as quite a jolt.

Bartók told his pupil György Sándor (pictured) a little story he had associated with the fourth movement Intermezzo interrotto (“Interrupted Intermezzo”). A young man serenades his sweetheart but is attacked by a gang of drunkards. Despite the pain he feels, he continues his serenade. (This story was evidently influenced by Debussy’s piano prelude, La sérénade interrompue.)

There are some clues in the movement that reveal a meaning deeper than the story would suggest, however. Many people think that the beautiful cantabile melody played by the violas is a rhythmically modified version of a melody from Zsigmond Vincze’s The Bride of Hamburg,a Hungarian operetta from the ‘20s, “Hungary, you are beautiful...”—and it is obvious that the real subject of the movement is Bartók’s nostalgia for his native land. And since the time was 1943, it is equally obvious what caused the disruption of the idyll. This disruption has caused a great deal of commentary because Bartók appeared to be parodying a prominent passage from Shostakovich’s Seventh (“Leningrad”) Symphony, which had recently created a major sensation in the United States. In his 2002

György Sándor, pupil of Bartók

book My Father, Bartók’s younger son Peter tells the story of how Bartók listened to the radio broadcast of Shostakovich’s Seventh and objected to what seemed endless repetitions of the same theme. (The similarity to the song Da geh ich zu Maxim from Lehár’s operetta The Merry Widow does not seem to have been intended by either Bartók or Shostakovich.)

It should be noted that the Shostakovich melody, variously referred to as the theme of war or fascism, had its own sarcastic overtones that Bartók either missed or ignored. Moreover, its function in the symphony was to “interrupt” peaceful life, just as its Bartókian parody interrupted a peaceful serenade.

After the crude interruption by the trivial melody—greeted by an unmistakable “musical laughter” in the orchestra—the nostalgic evocation of beautiful, splendid Hungary returns, much softer than the first time, as if through a veil, a memory of a memory. Then the innocent little intermezzo tune ends the movement, as if dismissing the whole drama with a shrug of the shoulders.

The finale belongs to the type of last movements inspired by the spirit of folk-dance Bartók used at the end of many of his major works. After the opening horn fanfare, the violins start a perpetual motion in rapid sixteenth-notes that runs through almost the entire movement. In the central section, a large-scale fugato (a section based on imitative counterpoint) unfolds. After a recapitulation that includes a brief lyrical episode in a slower tempo, the final crescendo begins, leading to a powerful climax at the end of the composition.

—Peter Laki

Check out our NEW DIGITAL PROGRAM! For even more enriching content including full-length biographies, digital content and more, text PROGRAM to 513.845.3024*, visit cincinnatisymphony. org/digital-program, or point your phone’s camera at the QR code.

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DALIA STASEVSKA, conductor

Chief Conductor of Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Director to the International Sibelius Festival, Dalia Stasevska also is Principal Guest Conductor to the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

She has made several appearances at the BBC Proms and conducted the Last Night of the Proms in 2022. She led the BBC Symphony Orchestra for the opening of the 2021 Edinburgh International Festival.

In the 2022–23 season, Stasevska conducts the Chicago, Cincinnati, San Francisco and Toronto symphony orchestras, and The Philadelphia Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, D.C., among others. She returns to the New York Philharmonic, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, and to the Los Angeles Philharmonic following her successful Hollywood Bowl debut in 2022. She also appears with Netherlands Radio Philharmonic at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg.

Performing works of living composers is a core part of Stasevska’s programming, and performances with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra have included works by Missy Mazzoli, Andrew Norman, Thomas Adès, Helen Grime, Kaija Saariaho, Outi Tarkiainen, and others.

A passionate opera conductor, Stasevska debuts at the Glyndebourne Opera Festival this season with Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Previous engagements have included returns to the Finnish National Opera and Ballet and Norske Opera, as well as appearances with Kungliga Operan Stockholm, Opéra de Toulon, Finnish National Opera, and the 2018 Baltic Sea Festival in Stockholm.

Stasevska studied as a violinist and composer at the Tampere Conservatoire and violin, viola and conducting at the Sibelius Academy. She received the Order of Princess Olga of the III Degree by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in 2020 for her contributions to the development of international cooperation, strengthening the prestige of Ukraine internationally, and popularization of its historical and cultural heritage. In 2018, she conducted the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic at the Nobel Prize Ceremony. Stasevska was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Conductor Award in 2020. daliastasevska.com

©Veikko

ESTHER YOO, violin

Esther Yoo began playing the violin when she was four and made her concerto debut at age eight. At 16, she became the youngest prize-winner of the International Sibelius Violin Competition and, two years later, one of the youngest ever prize-winners of the Queen Elisabeth Competition. In 2014 she was selected as a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist and, in 2018, was selected as one of Classic FM’s Top 30 Artists under 30. In 2020 she was named one of 20 notable musicians to watch by WQXR.

She performs with leading conductors— including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Gustavo Dudamel, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Myung-Whun Chung, Thierry Fischer, Karina Canellakis and Andrew Davis—and orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonia, BBC Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. She has performed at a range of prominent festivals, including BBC Proms and Aspen Music Festival,

and has appeared in recital at Lincoln Center and Wigmore Hall. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra appointed her as its inaugural Artistin-Residence in 2018.

Yoo recorded the Sibelius, Glazunov and Tchaikovsky concertos for Deutsche Grammophon, which will soon release her recordings of Bruch and Barber. She featured prominently on the soundtrack and accompanying disc of the feature film On Chesil Beach and is a guest artist on pianist Chad Lawson’s double album breathe, both released by Decca Records and recorded at Abbey Road Studios.

Deutsche Grammophon also released two recordings by Z.E.N. Trio, which she founded with fellow former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists Zhang Zuo and Narek Hakhnazaryan, with whom she tours widely in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Yoo curated a two-hour special program for BBC Radio 3 and is a frequent contributor to BBC Music Magazine, Gramophone, The Arts Desk and The Strad. She hosts a video series on YouTube, Artist Confidential, and created a three-part video series, Journey Through Violin with Esther Yoo, in collaboration with Kyobo Nobiliaire Arts & Culture, available in Korean on its YouTube channel. estheryooviolin.com

©Je Won Kim

CHERRY CORDIAL

SAT NOV 19, 10:30 am Music Hall

Daniel Wiley, conductor Amy Brokamp, Tap Dancer

John Williams

Rolling River (Sketches on “Shenandoah”) Traditional

The Charleston James P. Johnson “Festa Criolla” from Symphony No. 1, A Night in the Tropics

Louis Moreau Gottschalk “Hoe-Down” from Rodeo Aaron Copland “Backbone of the World” from Rocky Mountain Suite

Jonathan Peters Short Ride in a Fast Machine John Adams Ohio Riverboat Henry Mancini

The Cincinnati Pops is grateful to Series Sponsor United Dairy Farmers & Homemade Brand Ice Cream

Lollipops Family Concerts are supported in part through the Vicki & Rick Reynolds Endowment Fund and through the George & Anne Heldman Endowment Fund

GUEST ARTISTS: Nov 19, 2022

DANIEL WILEY, conductor

Beginning with the 2022–23 season, Daniel Wiley joined the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Pops as an Assistant Conductor, where he is responsible for conducting and covering a wide variety of concerts, as well as working with the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestras.

Prior to his tenure in Cincinnati, Wiley held numerous conducting posts with symphony orchestras and youth orchestras and ensembles in Jacksonville, Florida; Windsor (Ontario); London (Ontario); Denton, Texas; and Meridian, Mississippi. His guest conducting engagements have taken him across North America.

In 2019, Wiley was the second prize recipient of both the Smoky Mountain International Conducting Institute and Competition and the Los Angeles International Conducting Competition. He also has led new music ensembles, including for the Musicbed Music and Film Corporation in Fort Worth, Texas and

the Composing in the Wilderness program in Fairbanks, Alaska.

As a former public school music teacher, Wiley has a unique passion for music education, and he frequently donates his time as a guest clinician to support students and teachers in music programs across North America.

AMY BROKAMP, tap dancer

Amy Brokamp is a dancer, vocalist and choreographer located in Cincinnati. She attended high school at Ursuline Academy, where she was heavily involved in the performing arts program. She then earned a B.S. in Dance and Arts Management from Oklahoma City University under Jo Rowan. Since then, she has been teaching and choreographing competitive tap dance at The Studio for Dance and performing at Kings Island as a dancer and vocalist. Her credits there include Monster Rock, Mistletones, Phantom Theater Encore! and Terror Rising

Liberty Fanfare

SAT NOV 26, 7:30 pm

SUN NOV 27, 2 pm Music Hall

ELIM CHAN, conductor KHATIA BUNIATISHVILI, piano

Sergei RACHMANINOFF Concerto No. 3 in D Minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 30 (1873–1943) Allegro ma non tanto Intermezzo

Finale

INTERMISSION

Edward ELGAR Enigma Variations, Op. 36, Variations on an Original Theme (1857–1934)

Enigma: Andante Variations:

I. “C.A.E.” L’istesso tempo

II. “H.D.S.-P.” Allegro

III. “R.B.T.” Allegretto

IV. “W.M.B.” Allegro di molto

V. “R.P.A.” Moderato

VI. “Ysobel” Andantino

VII. “Troyte” Presto

VIII. “W.N.” Allegretto

IX. “Nimrod” Adagio

X. “Dorabella” Intermezzo: Allegretto

XI. “G.R.S.” Allegro di molto

XII. “B.G.N.” Andante—a tempo

XIII. “Romanza” Moderato

XIV. “E.D.U.” Finale: Allegro

These performances are approximately 95 minutes long, including intermission.

The CSO is grateful to CSO Season Sponsor Western & Southern Financial Group

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is grateful for the support of the Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation and for the thousands of people who give generously to the ArtsWave Community Campaign. This project was supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts

Pre-Concert Talks are made possible by an endowed gift from Melody Sawyer Richardson

WGUC is the Media Partner for these concerts.

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in-orchestra Steinway piano is made possible in part by the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trust Steinway Pianos, courtesy of Willis Music, is the official piano of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops. Listen to this program on 90.9 WGUC February 19, 2023 at 8 pm, followed by 30 days of streaming at cincinnatisymphony.org/replay.

SERGEI RACHMANINOFF

Born: March 20 (April 1, New Style), 1873, Oneg, near Semyonovo, Russia

Died: March 28, 1943, Beverly Hills, California

Concerto No. 3 in D Minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 30

The impresario Henry Wolfson of New York arranged a 30-concert U.S. tour for the 1909–10 season for Rachmaninoff, so that he could play and conduct his own works. Rachmaninoff was at first hesitant about leaving his family and home for such an extended overseas trip, but the generous financial remuneration was too tempting to resist. With a few tour details still left unsettled, Wolfson died suddenly in the spring of 1909, and the composer was much relieved that the journey would probably be canceled. Wolfson’s agency had a contract with Rachmaninoff, however, and during the summer finished the arrangements for his appearances so that the composer–pianist–conductor was obliged to leave for New York as scheduled. Trying to look on the bright side of this daunting prospect, Rachmaninoff wrote to his long-time friend Nikita Morozov, “I don’t want to go. But then perhaps, after America I’ll be able to buy myself that automobile.... It may not be so bad after all!” It was for the American tour that Rachmaninoff composed his Third Piano Concerto.

Rachmaninoff’s hectic schedule during the early months of 1909 prevented him from beginning the new piece until June, when he arrived at his country retreat at Ivanovka, a village north of the Black Sea, but then he worked feverishly on the score all summer, adding the finishing touches when he returned to Moscow in September. He did not have time, however, to get the demanding solo part into his fingers before he left for the United States, so he took along a silent practice keyboard and labored over it in his stateroom throughout the crossing. The unorthodox method worked, and he was ready for the premiere on November 28, 1909, with Walter Damrosch and the New York Symphony Orchestra.

Rachmaninoff was, as he had expected, homesick during his inaugural American tour, though the impressions he made on his audiences were so strong that he was invited to become permanent conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, with whom he performed his Concerto No. 2 in January 1910, as well as the Boston Symphony—offers he firmly refused so that he could return to his beloved homeland. Eight years later, however, as fate would have

Composed: 1909 Premiere: November 28, 1909, New York City; Rachmaninoff was pianist with Walter Damrosch conducting the New York Symphony Orchestra

Instrumentation: solo piano, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, crash cymbals, snare drum, suspended cymbals, strings

CSO notable performances: First Performance: March 1928, Fritz Reiner conducting and Vladimir Horowitz, pianist. Most Recent Performance: May 2019, Karina Canellakis conducting and Kirill Gerstein, pianist. Other: Among the notable pianists who have performed this work with the CSO is Van Cliburn (1956 domestic tour, Thor Johnson conducting); in June 2014, World Piano Competition Gold Medalist Moye Chen performed the work with the CSO at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

Duration: approx. 39 minutes

OF NOTE

The CSO is proud to announce its 6th MAC Music Innovator, for the 2022–23 season, Endea Owens. Lincoln Center’s Emerging Artist of 2019, bassist Endea Owens can be seen nightly as the house bassist of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and as part of Jon Batiste’s band Stay Human. Owens is founder of The Community Cookout initiative, which seeks to feed communities in need throughout the New York area. Each month, the community cookout distributes 100 free meals as well as a free pop-up concert. endeaowens.com

The MAC Music Innovator program is a music residency that highlights leading African American classical musicians who embody artistry, innovation and commitment to education and community engagement. Supported by the Multicultural Awareness Council, the MAC Music Innovator participates in chamber music performances in schools and throughout the community. cincinnatisymphony.org/mmi

Endea Owens

Sergei Rachmaninoff

it, he was forced to leave Russia when his estate and family fortune were swallowed by the Revolution, and he settled in the United States for good in 1917—his annual cross-country tours were a hallowed American institution for the next two decades. The Concerto No. 3, the work with which he introduced himself to American audiences, remained an integral and constantly requested part of his repertory throughout his career.

The Third Concerto consists of three large movements. The first begins with a haunting theme, recalled in the later movements, that sets perfectly the Concerto’s mood of somber intensity. The espressivo second theme is presented by the pianist, whose part has, by this point, abundantly demonstrated the staggering technical challenge this piece offers to the soloist. The development of the first section is concerned mostly with transformations of fragments from the first theme, and a massive cadenza, separated into two parts by the recall of the main theme by the woodwinds, leads to a closing section that contains just a single presentation of the opening melody and a brief, staccato version of the subsidiary theme.

The second movement, subtitled Intermezzo, which Dr. Otto Kinkleday described in his notes for the New York premiere as “tender and melancholy, yet not tearful,” is a set of free variations with an inserted episode. The motive is played first by the orchestra alone, then in several transformations by the soloist. In the final variation, the music is broken off by a flourish from the soloist and a brief pronouncement from the brass to lead directly into the finale.

“One of the most dashing and exciting pieces of music ever composed for piano and orchestra” is how English composer, pianist and musicologist Patrick Piggot described the finale. The

STRIVE FOR EXCELLENCE

movement’s three large sections present an abundance of themes that Rachmaninoff skillfully derived from the opening movement, followed by both themes from the opening movement recalled in slow tempo, and a brief solo cadenza that leads to the coda—a dazzling final stanza with fistfuls of chords propelling the rush to the dramatic closing gestures.

—Dr. Richard E. Rodda

EDWARD ELGAR

Born: June 2, 1857, Broadheath, United Kingdom

Died: February 23, 1934, Worcester, United Kingdom

Enigma Variations, Op. 36, Variations on an Original Theme

In 1920, George Bernard Shaw, brandishing his steely tipped pen like a curmudgeonly sword, wrote, “The phenomenon of greatness in music had vanished from England with Purcell.... England had waited 200 years for a great English composer, and waited in vain.... For my part, I expected nothing of any English composer; and when the excitement about The Dream of Gerontius began, I said, wearily, ‘Another Wardour-street festival oratorio!’ But when I heard the ‘Enigma’ Variations [in 1899] I sat up and said, ‘Whew!’ I knew we had got it at last.” Bernard Shaw, who wrote music criticism in his early days in London, was given to excitement over few musical matters that were not Richard Wagner, but he saw in these two works—the “Enigma” Variations and the oratorio The Dream of Gerontius—the longdesired emergence of a major creative personality in British music. Edward Elgar, had been writing for over 20 years when he undertook these two pieces in 1898, but they were the first to gain him a solid reputation not only among his countrymen, but abroad as well.

Elgar’s triumph in London came by a Continental route, through the eminent German conductor Hans Richter. Richter, who played a major role in the popularization of Wagner’s music in Britain, had a close relationship with the English musical community and its audiences, and for his series of concerts there in 1899 he investigated new scores by English composers. His agent in London regularly dispatched manuscripts to Germany, and one such parcel arrived with an especially high recommendation: a new set of “Variations on an Original Theme” by Elgar. Richter’s enthusiasm grew as he read through the pages, and he determined to present the work not only in London, but also on his provincial concerts. Those performances spread the composer’s fame so quickly and successfully that he was knighted for his services to British music only five years later, in 1904.

Throughout his life Elgar had a penchant for dispensing startling or mystifying remarks just to see what response they would elicit. Turning this trait upon his music, he added the sobriquet “Enigma” above the theme of the work after it had been completed. He posited not just one puzzle here, however, but three. First, each of the 14 sections was headed with a set of initials or a nickname that stood for the name of the composer’s friend portrayed by that variation, whose identities Elgar did not confirm until 1920. The second mystery dealt with the theme itself, the section that specifically bore the legend, “Enigma.” It is believed that the theme represented Elgar himself (note the similarity of the opening phrase to the speech rhythm of his name—Ed-ward EL-gar). Elgar gave a helpful clue to the solution of this mystery when he used the melody again, in The Music Makers of 1912, and said that it stood there for “the loneliness of the creative

Composed: 1898–99 and dedicated to Elgar’s “friends pictured within”

Premiere: June 19, 1899, London’s St. James’s Hall, Hans Richter conducting; Richter also led the premiere of this definitive version at the Worcester Festival, September 13, 1899.

Instrumentation: 2 flutes (incl. piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, crash cymbals, snare drum, suspended cymbals, triangle, organ, strings CSO notable performances: First Performance: (CSO) March 1912, Leopold Stokowski conducting; (May Festival) 1904, Theodore Thomas conducting the Theodore Thomas Orchestra.

Most Recent: January 2016, Cristian Măcelaru conducting. Other: Paavo Järvi and the CSO recorded the work on the 2006 Britten/Elgar: Enigma Variations, Young Person’s Guide CD.

Duration: approx. 29 minutes

Edward Elgar

…Elgar had a penchant for dispensing startling

what response they would elicit. Turning this trait upon his music, he added the sobriquet “Enigma” above the theme of the work after it had been completed.

artist.” The final enigma, the one that neither Elgar offered to explain nor for which others have been able to find a definitive solution, arose from a statement of his: “Furthermore, through and over the whole set another and larger theme ‘goes’ but is not played.... So the principal theme never appears, even as in some recent dramas—e.g., Maeterlinck’s L’intruse and Les sept princesses—the chief character is never on stage.” Conjectures about this unplayed theme have ranged from Auld Lang Syne (which Elgar vehemently denied), to a phrase from Parsifal, to Dutch musicologist Theodore van Houten’s hypothesis that the phrase “never, never, never” from Rule, Britannia fits the requirements. We shall never know for sure. Elgar took the solution to his grave.

Variation I (C.A.E.) is a tender depiction of the composer’s wife, Caroline Alice, who was not only his loving spouse but also his most trusted professional advisor.

Variation II (H.D. S.-P.) represents the warming-up finger exercises of H.D. Steuart-Powell, a piano-playing friend who was a frequent chamber music partner of Elgar.

Variation III (R.B.T.) uses the high and low woodwinds to portray the distinctive voice of Richard Baxter Townsend, an amateur actor with an unusually wide vocal range.

Variation IV (W.M.B.) suggests the considerable energy and firm resolve of William Meath Baker.

Variation V (R.P.A.) reflects the frequently changing moods of Richard Penrose Arnold, son of the poet Matthew Arnold.

Variation VI (Ysobel) gives prominence to the viola, the instrument played by Elgar’s pupil, Miss Isobel Fitton.

World-renowned violinist Augustin Hadelich performs with celebrated artists Ilya Finkelshteyn and Ran Dank. The program features piano trios by Ravel and Beethoven as well as a soulful solo violin work by the multi-faceted composer Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson.

The brilliant and dynamic clarinetist Anthony McGill performs chamber music masterpieces by Mozart and Brahms. He will be joined by esteemed artists Jaime Laredo, James Thompson, Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, and Sharon Robinson.

Variation VII (Troyte) describes the high spirits and argumentative nature of Arthur Troyte Griffith.

Variation VIII (W.N.) denotes the charm and grace of Miss Winifred Norbury.

Variation IX (Nimrod), named for the great-grandson of the Biblical Noah, who was noted as a hunter, is a moving testimonial to A.J. Jaeger, an avid outsdoorsman and Elgar’s publisher and close friend. The composer wrote, “This Variation is a record of a long summer evening talk, when my friend grew nobly eloquent (as only he could be) on the grandeur of Beethoven, and especially of his slow movements.”

Variation X (Dorabella): Intermezzo describes Miss Dora Penny, a young friend hesitant of conversation and fluttering of manner.

Variation XI (G.R.S.) portrays the organist George R. Sinclair and his bulldog, Dan, out for a walk by the River Wye. The rhythmic exuberance of the music suggests the dog’s rushing about the bank and paddling in the water.

Variation XII (B.G.N.) pays homage to the cellist Basil G. Nevinson.

Variation XIII (* * *): Romanza was written while Lady Mary Lygon was on a sea journey. The solo clarinet quotes a phrase from Mendelssohn’s Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage and the hollow sound of the timpani played with wooden sticks suggests the distant rumble of ship’s engines.

Variation XIV (E.D.U.): Finale, Elgar’s brilliant self-portrait, recalls the music of earlier variations.

—Dr. Richard E. Rodda

ELIM CHAN, conductor

A sought-after young conductor, Elim Chan became the first female winner of the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition and was appointed Chief Conductor of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra from season 2019–20. She also has been Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) since 2018–19.

Her 2022–23 season began with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, followed by season-opening concerts with the Antwerp Symphony and RSNO. Upcoming appearances include, in North America, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Toronto Symphony Orchestra, as well as several engagements with leading orchestras of Europe and a European tour with the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra.

Chan’s 2021–22 season opened with an appearance at the Edinburgh International Festival, followed by debuts with the Sinfonieorchester Basel and the Boston and St. Louis symphony orchestras, European Union Youth Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Orchestre National de Lyon and Junge Deutsche Philharmonie. Return engagements included the Philharmonia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gürzenich Orchester Cologne.

Chan became Assistant Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra in 2015–16 and was appointed to the Dudamel Fellowship program with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the following season. She led the Orchestre de la Francophonie as part of the NAC Summer Music Institute in 2012. She also took part in masterclasses with Bernard Haitink in Lucerne in spring 2015.

Elim Chan holds degrees from Smith College and the University of Michigan, where she served as Music Director of the University of Michigan Campus Symphony Orchestra and the Michigan Pops Orchestra. She received the Bruno Walter Conducting Scholarship in 2013. elimchan.com

KHATIA BUNIATISHVILI, piano

An electrifying virtuoso with dazzling musicality, Georgian-French pianist Khatia Buniatishvili is an unparalleled artist, passionately committed to her craft.

A fixture in the most prestigious venues around the world, Buniatishvili has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw, Berliner Philharmonie, Royal Festival Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein and Konzerthaus, Philharmonie de Paris, and Suntory Hall, as well as at the Salzburg, Verbier, BBC Proms, Progetto Martha Argerich, and Hollywood Bowl festivals. Her notable collaborations involve the Israel Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, NHK Symphony, London Symphony, Orchestre National de Paris, and Munich Philharmonic, and prominent conductors, among them

Zubin Mehta, Gustavo Dudamel, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Paavo Järvi, Jaap Van Zweden, Gianandrea Noseda, Myung-Whun Chung and Leonard Slatkin.

Recipient of two ECHO Klassik Awards, Buniatishvili is an exclusive Sony Artist whose recordings encompass the works of Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Brahms, Liszt, Bach and Schubert, as well as Satie, Morricone, Gainsbourg, Pärt and Cage. In addition to her solo albums, Buniatishvili has recorded with Gidon Kremer, Paavo Järvi, and the band Coldplay.

A committed humanitarian, she has participated in benefit concerts for causes close to her heart: the plight of refugees, the United Nations, human rights, and music education.

Buniatishvili began piano lessons with her mother at the age of three and gave her first concert with the Chamber Orchestra of Tbilisi at six. She studied with Tengiz Amirejibi in Tbilisi and went on to work with Oleg Maisenberg in Vienna. khatiabuniatishvili.com

©Rahi Rezvani

FRI DEC 2, 7:30 pm

SAT DEC 3, 7:30 pm Music Hall

GIANCARLO GUERRERO, conductor

MICHELLE CANN, piano

TREBLE VOICES OF THE MAY FESTIVAL CHORUS, Robert Porco, director

Caroline SHAW

The Observatory (b. 1982)

George GERSHWIN Rhapsody No. 2 for Piano and Orchestra (1898–1937)

INTERMISSION

The Planets, Op. 32 (1874–1934) Mars, the Bringer of War Venus, the Bringer of Peace Mercury, the Winged Messenger Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age Uranus, the Magician Neptune, the Mystic

Gustav HOLST

These performances are approximately 120 minutes long, including intermission.

The CSO is grateful to CSO Season Sponsor Western & Southern Financial Group

The CSO co-commission, The Observatory, by Caroline Shaw is made possible by a generous gift from Melinda and Irwin Simon

The appearance of the May Festival Chorus is made possible by a generous gift from the Nancy & Steve Donovan Fund for Chorus and Orchestra

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is grateful for the support of the Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation and for the thousands of people who give generously to the ArtsWave Community Campaign. This project was supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts

Pre-Concert Talks are made possible by an endowed gift from Melody Sawyer Richardson

WGUC is the Media Partner for these concerts.

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in-orchestra Steinway piano is made possible in part by the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trust

Steinway Pianos, courtesy of Willis Music, is the official piano of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops.

Listen to this program on 90.9 WGUC February 26, 2023 at 8 pm, followed by 30 days of streaming at cincinnatisymphony.org/replay.

Composed: 2019, commissioned by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (made possible by a generous gift from Melinda and Irwin Simon) and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association Premiere: August 27, 2019, Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, Xian Zhang conducting Instrumentation: 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, glockenspiel, snare drum, vibraphone, piano, strings CSO notable performances: These performances are the work’s CSO premiere. Duration: approx. 15 minutes

CAROLINE SHAW

Born: August 1, 1982, Greenville, North Carolina

The Observatory

Creating a score for full orchestra can feel like simultaneously standing on a mountaintop, scrubbing your kitchen floor, swimming in the middle of a lake, riding the subway during rush hour, and gently holding someone’s hand. It’s not a medium that I work in very often. I always try to write for the particular environment (place, ensemble or person, time of year, etc.) in which the music will first be heard (in this case: the Hollywood Bowl, the LA Phil, the brilliant Xian Zhang, the heat of August 2019). It’s a fun constraint, and it helps keep the writing personal and connected to the real world. The first and only time I’ve ever been to the Hollywood Bowl was in September 2015, singing with Kanye at the 808s and Heartbreak show. It was a wild ride, and I remember feeling like an observer of a mysterious workshop that somehow churned beauty out of chaos. There is also something about writing an orchestral work for a summer evening in Hollywood that got me thinking about my favorite genre of film and storytelling—sci-fi. I love the way epic tales of the beyond can zoom in and out, using grand imagined alternate universes to tell stories about ourselves. And I love how music in these films carves and colors our attention to those worlds (in their various scales).

While writing music, I often imagine some kind of visual (usually abstract, sometimes figural, rarely narrative) as a guide for myself and sometimes as a thing to write against. There’s an invisible counterpoint here, but I’d rather someone simply listen and create their own contrapuntal narrative adventure than read an account of mine—to leave space for one’s own observation and reflection, whether it be of the music or their neighbor’s T-shirt or cosmology or tomorrow’s grocery list. (The grand story arcs of our lives sometimes play out in minutiae and the mundane.) And often the imagined visuals that I write to are nothing more than shifts in color or a quick cut between undefined scenes. (Sometimes the juxtapositions and transitions [and parentheticals] are where the stories are.)

I was in the midst of writing The Observatory while in LA earlier this spring to record some vocals (hi, Teddy Shapiro!). So one morning before our session I went up to the Griffith Observatory to clear my head. I looked down at the city with all its curves and all its edges (thanks, John Legend), and up at the sky, which has been observed and wondered about since the beginning of consciousness. I had been thinking about my friend Kendrick Smith, a cosmologist at the Perimeter Institute (and also my favorite grill master). Kendrick is at the cutting edge of the ancient tradition of stargazing, constructing new frameworks for analyzing data collected by the CHIME radio telescope. My simplistic distillation of his work: Kendrick develops ways of looking at ways of looking at ways of looking at nn(ways of looking at) the universe. Sometimes I think maybe that’s what music is. Or maybe it’s just a way to acknowledge and pass the time.

If you’ve gotten this far in the program note, you’re probably wondering if I’ll actually talk about the music you will hear in The Observatory. Okay. There are some very large chords, and some very large spaces. There are patterns and details of movements of patterns (thanks, T.S.). There are motives that appear in diminution and augmentation simultaneously, like objects in orbit at different phases. There is foreground and background. There is love for Andrew Norman. There are references to Strauss’ Don Juan, Bach’s

Caroline Shaw, ©Kait Moreno

Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2, Brahms’ Symphony No. 1, and the arpeggiated chimes used to summon audiences to their seats at orchestra concerts. There is celebration and criticism of systems. There is chaos and clarity. The very large chords return at the end, but their behavior is not the same as when we began. Welcome to The Observatory.

—Caroline Shaw, 2019

Read more about Caroline Shaw on p. 61.

GEORGE GERSHWIN

Born: September 26, 1898, Brooklyn, New York

Died: July 11, 1937, Los Angeles, CA

Rhapsody No. 2 for Piano and Orchestra

It was in 1927 that feature films learned to speak, and a flurry of activity followed in the ensuing months to import to Hollywood the creative talent needed to give them something to say—and sing. George and Ira Gershwin signed a contract with Fox Studios in April 1930 to provide music for a film titled Delicious, starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell, but had to delay their departure from New York until Girl Crazy was premiered on October 14. They left for California on November 5, arrived in Beverly Hills a week later, and moved into a two-story Spanish-style house at 1027 Chevy Chase Drive that had once given temporary shelter to Greta Garbo. (“I’m sleeping in the bed that she used,” George confided, “and it hasn’t helped my sleep any.”) Gershwin thoroughly enjoyed wintering in California. He took daily hikes up Franklin Canyon, swam, played tennis and golf (he liked to brag about the 86 he shot at Palm Springs one weekend), took side trips to Mexico, and was so in demand socially that he had to disconnect the phone in order to work. His music was much performed during his visit, including the local premiere of the Rhapsody in Blue by Artur Rodzinski and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

For Delicious, the Gershwins wrote six songs, none of them among their best known, and George provided a background instrumental sequence for one scene in which he tried to capture the bustling activity of the streets of New York. Only one minute of the original six-minute sequence ended up in the movie, but George felt the piece deserved another life and decided to expand it into a full concert work—“Rhapsody in Rivets,” he called it at first. The score was largely sketched before he left Los Angeles on February 2, 1931: “I wrote it mainly because I wanted to write a serious composition, and found the opportunity in California to do so. Nearly everybody comes back from California with a western tan and a pocketful of moving-picture money. [George got $70,000 for Delicious; Ira, $30,000.] I decided to come back with both of those things, and a serious composition. I was under no obligation from Fox to do this. But, you know, the old artistic soul must every so often be appeased.” The “Rhapsody in Rivets,” orchestrated in New York between March 14 and May 23, became tentatively the “Manhattan Rhapsody” and then the “New York Rhapsody” before it was finally titled, simply, Second Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra. On June 26, Gershwin hired an orchestra of 55 players to give a private trial performance of the new piece at a studio of the National Broadcasting Company so that he could judge its effect. The studio was linked by wire to the recording facility at Camden, and NBC transcribed the session there so that the composer could have a reference recording of the Second Rhapsody. “I was more than pleased with the result,” he wrote to a friend after listening

Composed: 1931 Premiere: January 29, 1932 in Boston, with the composer as soloist, Sergei Koussevitzky conducting

Instrumentation: solo piano, 3 flutes (incl. piccolo), 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, drum set, glockenspiel, crash cymbals, xylophone, strings

CSO notable performances: First Performance: These are the first CSO performances of the work, but the Cincinnati Pops performed the work twice in 1992, first at Sawyer Point with Erich Kunzel conducting and Michael Chertock, pianist, and then at Music Hall with Erich Kunzel conducting and Stewart Goodyear, pianist. Other: Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops, with pianist Stewart Goodyear, recorded the work for their 1993 American Piano Classics CD.

Duration: approx. 16 minutes

George Gershwin

to the recording. “In many respects, such as orchestration and form, it is the best thing I’ve written.”

Gershwin gave the premiere of the Second Rhapsody in Boston with Koussevitzky on January 29, 1932. He chose to delay the initial performance several months not only to finish work on Of Thee I Sing but also against the hope that the new Rhapsody might be given by Toscanini, who had expressed some interest in Gershwin’s music when the two first met in the spring of 1931. Nothing came of the plan (perhaps thankfully: when Toscanini finally got around to conducting some Gershwin—the Rhapsody in Blue in 1942—Virgil Thomson reported to readers of the New York Herald Tribune that “it all came off like a ton of bricks”), and the honor of the premiere went to Koussevitzky. Composer–pianist and conductor took the work on a short tour, which finished with the Rhapsody’s New York premiere on February 5, 1932. The work received praise when it was first heard, but it did not create the sensation that had accompanied the Rhapsody in Blue eight years before. “The Second Rhapsody is notable progress over the Rhapsody in Blue in organic unity, compactness of form, and adroitness of thematic growth,” wrote David Ewen in his 1956 study of the composer. “If the Rhapsody in Blue remains the more popular work, however, it is because the basic material is more inspired.” The score was published immediately in an edition for two pianos, but the orchestral version did not appear until 1953, and even then only in an arrangement by the composer Robert McBride rather than in Gershwin’s original. In 1982, orchestral parts were extracted from the composer’s manuscript in the Library of Congress, and the restored version of the Second Rhapsody has since become a welcome addition to the repertory of Gershwin’s concert works.

—Dr. Richard E. Rodda

GUSTAV HOLST

Born: September 21, 1874, Cheltenham, United Kingdom

Died: May 25, 1934, London, United Kingdom

The Planets, Op. 32

Holst’s interest in writing a piece of music on the attributes of the astrological signs was apparently spurred by his visit in the spring of 1913 with the writer and avid star-gazer Clifford Bax, who noted that Holst was himself “a skilled reader of horoscopes.” (Imogen Holst suggested that one reason her father may have been attracted to composing such a work was because he was having difficulty at the time formulating structural plans for large-scale pieces, and a suite for orchestra seemed appropriate to his compositional needs.) Of the music’s inspiration, Holst noted, “As a rule I only study things which suggest music to me. That’s why I worried at Sanskrit. Then recently the character of each planet suggested lots to me, and I have been studying astrology fairly closely.” Despite his immediate attraction to the planets as the subject for a musical work, however, he took some time before beginning actual composition. He once wrote to William Gillies Whittaker, “Never compose anything unless the not composing of it becomes a positive nuisance to you,” and it was not until the summer of 1914, more than a full year after he had conceived the piece, that he could no longer resist the lure of The Planets

“Once he had taken the underlying idea from astrology, he let the music have its way with him,” reported Imogen of her father’s writing The Planets. The composition of the work occupied him for over three years. Jupiter, Venus and Mars were written in 1914 (prophetically, Mars, the Bringer of War was completed only weeks before the assassination at Sarajevo precipitated the start of the First World War); Saturn, Uranus and Neptune followed in 1915, and Mercury a year after that. Except for Neptune, all the movements were originally written for two pianos rather than directly into orchestral score, probably because Holst was then having painful problems with his writing hand due to severe arthritis, and he needed to concentrate the physical effort of composition as much as possible. For the mystical Neptune movement, he considered the percussive sounds of the piano too harsh and wrote it first as an organ piece. All seven movements were orchestrated in 1917 with the help of Nora Day and Vally Lasker, two of the composer’s fellow faculty members at St. Paul’s School in London, who wrote out the full score from Holst’s keyboard notations under his guidance. The finished work is superb testimony to Holst’s skill as an orchestrator, much of which was gained from his practical experience as a teacher and conductor, and also as a professional trombonist in several British orchestras, a vocation from which he was forced to retire in 1903 because of his arthritis.

The Planets had a complicated performance history when it was new. Holst was judged unfit for military service in World War I because of his health, but he did manage to obtain a post with the YMCA as a music organizer among troops in the Near East. His overseas departure date was set too quickly to allow the new piece to be scheduled for performance in one of London’s regular concert series, so his friend Balfour Gardiner, realizing how eager Holst was to hear the work, underwrote a special private performance as a farewell gift. Holst and an invited audience attended the concert, conducted by Adrian Boult on September 29, 1918 in Queen’s Hall, London, only days before the composer sailed for Salonica and points beyond. On February 27, 1919, Boult led the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in a public performance of The Planets, but omitted Venus and Neptune,

Composed: 1914–16; the orchestration was completed in 1917 Premiere: The private premiere took place September 29, 1918, Queen’s Hall, London, Adrian Boult conducting; the public premiere of the complete work was November 15, 1920, Albert Coates conducting.

Instrumentation: 4 flutes (incl. 2 piccolos, alto flute), 3 oboes (incl. bass oboe), English horn, 3 clarinets, bass clarinet, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 6 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, 2 tubas, 2 timpani, bass drum, chimes, crash cymbals, glockenspiel, snare drum, suspended cymbals, tam-tam, tambour de Basque, triangle, xylophone, 2 harps, celeste, organ, strings CSO notable performances: First Performance: November 1934, Eugene Goossens conducting. Most Recent: February 2015, Peter Oundjian conducting. Other: Paavo Järvi and the CSO recorded the work for their 2009 Holst: The Planets CD.

Duration: approx. 51 minutes

Gustav Holst

so the honor of the work’s first complete public performance fell to Albert Coates, who conducted the score in London on November 15, 1920. Interest in the work ran so high in America that the premiere in this country was given simultaneously in New York (Albert Coates) and Chicago (Frederick Stock) during the 1920–21 season. The Planets has remained Holst’s most popular composition.

Holst gave the following explanation of The Planets for its first performances: “These pieces were suggested by the astrological significance of the planets. There is no program music in them, neither have they any connection with the deities of classical mythology bearing the same names. If any guide to the music is required, the subtitle to each piece will be found sufficient, especially if it is used in a broad sense. For instance, Jupiter brings jollity in the normal sense, and also the more ceremonial kind of rejoicing associated with religious or national festivities. Saturn brings not only physical decay, but also a vision of fulfillment.”

The individual movements of The Planets employ a wide spectrum of musical styles in which the influences of Stravinsky, Dukas, Debussy and even Schoenberg may be discerned, but, according to Imogen, “The Planets is written in Holst’s own language.” It is a language of spectacular variety—a greater contrast than that between the first two movements is hard to imagine. The staggering hammer blows of Mars, the Bringer of War are followed by the sweet luminosity of Venus, the Bringer of Peace. Each of the remaining movements cuts as distinctive a figure as the first two. Mercury, the Winged Messenger is a nimble scherzo that seems, like the fast movements of Baroque music, to be a stream of notes spinning infinitely through the cosmos of which the composer has revealed only a small segment. Within Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity co-exist a boisterous Bacchanalian dance (“the most joyous jangle imaginable,” according to Richard Capell) and a striding hymn tune to which Elgar stood godfather. Hard upon Jupiter—which reportedly inspired the charwomen cleaning the hall during rehearsals for the premiere to toss away their mops and dance a little jig—follow the lugubrious solemnities of Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age, the movement Holst declared to be his favorite piece in the suite. This music is invested with a weighty, Mahlerian seriousness that recalls Das Lied von der Erde. Uranus, the Magician is shown as a rather portly prestidigitator who includes perhaps more broad humor than baffling legerdemain in his act. The haunting finale, Neptune, the Mystic, springs from the misty domain of Debussy’s Nocturnes, but possesses an even wispier, more diaphanous orchestral sonority, with the disembodied siren song of the female chorus floating away to inaudibility among the spheres at its close.

—Dr. Richard E. Rodda

NOTE

The CSO is thrilled to welcome 30 students to the Nouveau Program. Started in 2007, the Nouveau program is a chamber music program for African American and Latine student musicians aged 7–18. The Nouveau Program is composed of four groups: Novices (students who have played 1–2 years), Apprentices (students who are at an intermediate or advanced level), Chamber Players (students who are at an advanced level) and Winds (students in grades 9–12 who are at an intermediate or advanced level). This season we have 10 Novices, 16 Apprentices, two Chamber Players students, and two collaborators who will work with the Chamber Players. To find out more or to apply for the program visit cincinnatisymphony.org/nouveau

Clifford Bax, a writer and avid star-gazer who inspired Holst’s interest in writing a piece of music on the attributes of the astrological signs.

GIANCARLO GUERRERO, conductor

Giancarlo Guerrero is a six-time Grammy Awardwinning conductor and Music Director of the Nashville Symphony and NFM Wrocław Philharmonic.

Through commissions, recordings and world premieres, Guerrero has championed the works of prominent American composers, presenting 11 world premieres and 15 recordings of American music with the Nashville Symphony, including works by Michael Daugherty, Terry Riley and Jonathan Leshnoff.

As part of his commitment to fostering contemporary music, Guerrero, together with composer Aaron Jay Kernis, guided the creation of the Nashville Symphony’s biannual Composer Lab & Workshop for young and emerging composers.

In the 2022–23 season, Guerrero returns to lead the Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Deutches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, Frankfurt Opernund Museumsorchester and Queensland Symphony.

Recent additions to Guerrero’s discography include the Grammy-nominated recording of John Adams: My Father Knew Charles Ives and Harmonielehre with the Nashville Symphony (Naxos), and Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 and the Academic Festival Overture for NFM Wrocław’s own label. He also led the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic in a recording with violinist Bomsori Kim, Bomsori: Violin on Stage (Deutsche Grammophon, 2021).

Guerrero previously held posts as the Principal Guest Conductor of both The Cleveland Orchestra Miami Residency and the Gulbenkian Symphony in Lisbon, Music Director of the Eugene Symphony, and Associate Conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra.

Born in Nicaragua, Guerrero immigrated during his childhood to Costa Rica, where he joined the local youth symphony. He studied percussion and conducting at Baylor University in Texas and earned his master’s degree in conducting at Northwestern. Given his beginnings in civic youth orchestras, Guerrero is particularly engaged with conducting training orchestras. giancarlo-guerrero.com

MICHELLE CANN, piano

Lauded as “technically fearless with…an enormous, rich sound” (La Scena Musicale), pianist Michelle Cann made her orchestral debut at age 14 and has since performed as a soloist with prominent orchestras such as the Atlanta and Cincinnati symphony orchestras, The Cleveland Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony and The Philadelphia Orchestra.

Cann’s 2022–23 season includes an appearance with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, return engagements with the Cincinnati and New Jersey symphony orchestras, and debut performances with the Baltimore, National, New World, Seattle and Utah symphonies. She makes her debut at Carnegie Hall with the New York Youth Symphony and performs recitals in New Orleans, Little Rock, Sarasota, Toronto and Washington, D.C.

A champion of the music of Florence Price, Cann performed the New York City premiere of the composer’s Piano Concerto in One Movement with The Dream Unfinished Orchestra in July 2016 and the Philadelphia premiere with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin in February 2021, which the Philadelphia Inquirer called “exquisite.” She has also performed Price’s works for solo piano and chamber ensemble for prestigious presenters such as Caramoor, Chamber Music Detroit, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, San Francisco Performances, and Washington Performing Arts.

Cann is the recipient of the 2022 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, the highest honor bestowed by the Sphinx Organization, and the 2022 Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award. Embracing a dual role as performer and pedagogue, Cann frequently teaches masterclasses and leads residencies. She has served on the juries of the Cleveland International Piano Competition and at the Music Academy of the West. She has also appeared as cohost and collaborative pianist with NPR’s From the Top.

Cann studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Curtis Institute of Music, where she serves on the piano faculty as the inaugural Eleanor Sokoloff Chair in Piano Studies. michellecann.com

©Lukasz

©Steven Mareazi Willis

MAY FESTIVAL CHORUS

Robert Porco, Director

Matthew Swanson, Associate Director of Choruses

Heather MacPhail, Accompanist

Christin Sears, Conducting Fellow

Kathryn Zajac Albertson, Chorus Manager

Bryce Newcomer, Chorus Librarian

The May Festival Chorus has earned acclaim locally, nationally and internationally for its musicality, vast range of repertoire, and sheer power of sound. The Chorus of 120 avocational singers is the core artistic element of the Cincinnati May Festival as well as the official chorus of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) and the Cincinnati Pops. Throughout each season the Chorus members collectively devote more than 40,000 hours in rehearsals and performances.

The May Festival Chorus has strengthened its national and international presence through numerous PBS broadcasts of live concerts and several award-winning recordings, many in collaboration with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops. Most recently, a live recording of Robert Nathaniel Dett’s The Ordering of Moses featuring Music Director Laureate James Conlon conducting the Chorus and the CSO at Carnegie Hall was released to critical acclaim in 2016 on Bridge Records. In 2001, the Chorus recorded Christmas with the May Festival Chorus, a popular a cappella holiday recording that was re-released on the Fanfare Cincinnati label in 2017, and a 2004 May Festival recording featuring the world premiere recording of Franz Liszt’s St. Stanislaus was awarded the 30th International F. Liszt Record Grand Prix by the Liszt Society of Budapest. The Chorus is also featured on the 2012 Cincinnati Pops release, Home for the Holidays, and several other Pops albums.

The May Festival Chorus has garnered awards in recognition of its continuing artistic excellence and performances throughout the state. In 2011, the Chorus received the Spirit of Cincinnati USA Erich Kunzel Queen City Advocate Award from Cincinnati USA Convention and Visitors Bureau. In 1998, the Chorus earned the Irma Lazarus Award from the Ohio Arts Council’s annual Governor’s Awards for the Arts. mayfestival.com/chorus

ROBERT PORCO has been recognized as one of the leading choral musicians in the U.S., and throughout his career he has been an active preparer and conductor of choral and orchestral works, including most of the major choral repertoire, as well as of opera. A highlight of his career was leading an Indiana University student choral and orchestral ensemble of 250 in a highly acclaimed performance of Leonard Bernstein’s MASS as part of the Tanglewood Music Festival’s celebration of the composer’s 70th birthday. In 2011 Porco received Chorus America’s “Michael Korn Founders Award for Development of the Professional Choral Art.” In 2016 he led the May Festival Chorus and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah for Chorus America’s National Conference.

Porco’s conducting career has spanned geographic venues and has included performances in the Edinburgh Festival; Taipei, Taiwan; Lucerne, Switzerland; Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Israel; and Reykjavik, Iceland; and at the May Festival, Tanglewood Music Festival, Berkshire Music Festival, Blossom Festival and Grant Park Festival. He has been a guest conductor at the May Festival and with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and The Cleveland Orchestra, among others.

The 2022–23 season is Robert Porco’s 34th as Director of Choruses.

TREBLE VOICES OF THE MAY FESTIVAL CHORUS

Sopranos

Karen Bastress Dawn Bruestle Sarah Evans

Anita Marie Greer

Melissa Haas Carolyn Hill

Jennifer Fillare

Julia Marchese

Audrey Markovich

Kristi Reed

Beth Roberts

Noelle Scheper

Christin Sears

Yvon F. Shore

Rosie Wilkinson

Altos Sarah Fall Amanda Gast Sarah Horseman

Beth Huntley Meg Lawson Kate Robertson

Kristie Stricker

Megan Weaver

©Roger Mastroianni

CAROLINE SHAW, composer

Caroline Shaw is a musician who moves among roles, genres and mediums, trying to imagine a world of sound that has never been heard before but has always existed. She works often in collaboration with others, as producer, composer, violinist and vocalist.

Shaw is the recipient of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Music, several Grammy awards, an honorary doctorate from Yale, and a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. 2022 will see the release of work with Rosalía (on the upcoming album MOTOMAMI), the score to Josephine Decker’s film The Sky is Everywhere (A24/ Apple), the premiere of Justin Peck’s Partita with NY City Ballet, the premiere of the new stage work LIFE with Gandini Juggling and the Merce Cunningham Trust, a premiere for the NY Philharmonic and Roomful of Teeth, the premiere of Wu Tsang’s silent film Moby Dick with live score for Zurich Chamber Orchestra co-composed with Andrew Yee, a second album with Attacca Quartet called

The Evergreen (Nonesuch), the premiere of Helen Simoneau’s Delicate Power, tours of Graveyards & Gardens (co-created immersive theatrical work with Vanessa Goodman), and tours with So Percussion featuring songs from Let the Soil Play its Simple Part (Nonesuch), amid occasional chamber music appearances (Chamber Music Society of Minnesota, Caramoor Festival, La Jolla Music Society). Shaw has written more than 100 works in the last decade, for Anne Sofie von Otter, Davóne Tines, Yo-Yo Ma, Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, LA Philharmonic, Philharmonia Baroque, Seattle Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Aizuri Quartet, The Crossing, Dover Quartet, Calidore Quartet, Brooklyn Rider, Miro Quartet, I Giardini, Ars Nova Copenhagen, Ariadne Greif, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Britt Festival, Vail Dance Festival, and many others. She has produced for Kanye West, Rosalía and Nas. Her work as vocalist or composer has appeared in several films, TV series and podcasts, including The Humans, Bombshell, Yellowjackets, Maid, Dark, Beyonce’s Homecoming, jeen-yuhs: a Kanye Trilogy, Dolly Parton’s America and More Perfect. Her favorite color is yellow, and her favorite smell is rosemary. carolineshaw.com

A

CSYO PHILHARMONIC

2022–23 Season

SUN DEC 4, 2 pm, Music Hall

KISMET

SAMUEL LEE, conductor

Piotr Ilyich Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasie TCHAIKOVSKY (1840–1893)

Samuel BARBER Adagio for Strings, Op. 11 (1910–1981)

BRIEF INTERMISSION

Piotr Ilyich Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64 TCHAIKOVSKY Andante—Allegro con anima—Molto più tranquillo Andante cantabile Valse. Allegro moderato Finale. Andante maestoso—Allegro vivace—meno mosso

CSYO CONCERT ORCHESTRA

2022–2023 Season

SUN DEC 11, 7 pm, CCM Corbett Auditorium

MIDNIGHT DANCE MIX

FELIPE MORALES-TORRES, conductor

Camille SAINT-SAËNS Danse Macabre, Op. 40 (1835–1921)

George GERSHWIN Cuban Overture (1898–1937)

Claude DEBUSSY Clair de lune (1862–1918) orch. H. Mouton

Jonathan Bailey Motor City Dance Mix HOLLAND (b. 1974)

Ralph Symphony No. 2, A London Symphony VAUGHAN WILLIAMS I. Lento—Allegro risoluto (1872–1958)

The CSO thanks Coney Island for its generous sponsorship of the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestras.

The Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestras is a program of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and receives generous support in the form of rehearsal space from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Walnut Hills High School.

PROGRAM NOTES

CSYO PHILHARMONIC:

PIOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY

Born: May 7, 1840 in Kamsko-Votkinsk, Russia

Died: November 6, 1893 in St. Petersburg, Russia

Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasie

Composer Mily Balakirev (1837–1910) was something of a busybody. He was not content simply writing his own music—he wanted a hand in the creation of music by several other composers as well. He was the leader of the group of Russian nationalists known as The Mighty Five.

Balakirev wrote to Tchaikovsky in the fall of 1869, suggesting the composition of an overture based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet Balakirev included some music he felt appropriate for the opening; he described exact working methods to help Tchaikovsky find inspiration, including prescribing the tonalities for the various sections of the piece. Tchaikovsky went so far as to submit the completed composition to Balakirev for corrections.

Composed: 1869

Premiere: March 16, 1870 by the Russian Musical Society conducted by Nikolai Rubinstein, in Moscow Duration: approx. 21 minutes

Balakirev liked much of the work, but he criticized the first theme. It reminded him of a Haydn quartet whereas he felt it should have the “old-world catholicism” of a Liszt chorale. He did not like the slow introduction at all, and he did not approve of the ending. Tchaikovsky meekly made the revisions, although he eventually became dissatisfied and worked on further extensive changes of his own.

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It is not surprising that Tchaikovsky readily complied with Balakirev’s suggestion for a piece based on Shakespeare’s lovetragedy. The subject was appropriate, because the composer himself was at the time involved in a hopeless love. A few months earlier he had fallen under the spell of singer Désirée Artôt. Tchaikovsky had not yet acknowledged his homosexuality, and he was eager to meet this enticing lady. He did see her frequently, and he began to talk about marriage. But Artôt herself prevented these difficult issues from ever coming up by marrying instead a Spanish baritone named Mariano Padilla y Ramos.

Tchaikovsky had really thought he was in love. Composing Romeo and Juliet must have been a sufficient catharsis, though, as the composer subsequently resumed his life without undue grief.

Balakirev wrote him, upon receiving the finished score, with praise but also a rather unkind irony:

It is simply fascinating. I often play it and should like to hug you for it. In it is the tenderness and longing of love, and much more that ought to go straight to the heart of the immortal Albrecht. When I play this I visualize you wallowing in your bath with Artôt-Padilla herself rubbing your stomach ardently with fragrant soap suds.

Surely Tchaikovsky was pleased with Balakirev’s praise; his reaction to the reference to his non-affair, however, is not recorded.

—Adapted from Jonathan D. Kramer

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SAMUEL BARBER

Born: March 9, 1910 in West Chester, Pennsylvania Died: January 23, 1981 in New York

Adagio for Strings, Op. 11

Samuel Barber was so successful as a composer that he avoided the necessity that plagues almost all contemporary composers—having to make a living at something other than composing. Barber was a

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

composition teacher only sporadically, except in 1939–42, when he returned to his alma mater, the Curtis Institute of Music, as a faculty member. This fact might account for there being relatively few younger composers who directly imitated his style. In contrast to his approximate contemporaries Walter Piston, Roger Sessions and Milton Babbitt, he did not teach and therefore did not imprint his musical personality on a new generation of composers.

Barber was a traditionalist who never abandoned tonality. He, like most major composers, maintained a healthy interest in all kinds of music. He studied scores by such stylistically divergent composers as Boulez, Schoenberg and Webern, but he always remained stubbornly resistant to influences foreign to this own aesthetic. He pursued his own lyricism with integrity, unconcerned with whether his music happened to be in favor or out of favor at the moment. In 1971 Barber stated, “I write what I feel. I’m not a self-conscious composer.… It is said that I have no style at all, but that doesn’t matter. I just go on doing, as they say, my thing. I believe this takes a certain courage.”.

The Adagio for Strings, the composer’s most popular piece, works its way from a subdued beginning to a climax of great intensity, after which it quietly returns to the work’s romantic spirit; despite the intense chromaticism at and just after the climax, the piece is remarkably diatonic for a composition written in 1936. Actually, Barber uses—loosely and in his own unique style—one of the medieval church modes (the Phrygian). The neo-romanticism of this work, built on the simplest and most direct of materials, lends it a unique quality; contemporary in spirit, it nonetheless evokes both 19th-century romanticism and 15th-century modality.

—Adapted from Jonathan D. Kramer

Premiere: The first performance of the string orchestra version took place in 1938, when Arturo Toscanini conducted the New York Philharmonic Duration: approx. 10 minutes

PIOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY

Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64

Once Tchaikovsky’s fame was well established, he felt he should solidify his reputation by making an international tour. He was practically the first Russian composer to make such a trip. He spent the winter months of 1887–88 traveling to Berlin, Leipzig, Hamburg, Prague, Paris and London. During his tour, he was constantly busy and unable to compose or to guard his cherished privacy. But he also enjoyed being the center of attention wherever he went.

When he returned to Russia in May, he moved into a new house in the country. He put behind him the hectic months of his European tour. “I have won a certain amount of fame, but I ask myself again and again, what is it all for? Is it worthwhile? My answer is, a quiet life without fame is infinitely preferable.” Before long, he felt the inevitable need to compose. He created the Fifth Symphony during the spring and summer months.

Tchaikovsky left no detailed program for the Fifth, as he had for the Fourth, written a decade earlier. All that survives is a scrap of paper, with a partial program for the first movement: “Introduction: complete resignation before Fate, or, which is the same, before the inscrutable predestination of Providence. Allegro: (1) Murmurs, doubts, plaints, reproaches, against x x x. (2) Shall I throw myself into the embraces of faith???”

The Fifth, like the Fourth before it and the Sixth after it, was concerned with Fate. But Fate is more personal, less abstract, than in the programs of the other works. Tchaikovsky speaks of his own faith, and he employs the mysterious symbol “xxx,” which he repeatedly used in his diaries when referring to his carefully guarded secret—

Composed: 1936 as the slow movement of a string quartet

Samuel Barber

…this Midnight Dance Mix concert is an opportunity “for us to let our hair down and have some fun,” says conductor Felipe MoralesTorres.

his homosexuality. Perhaps the “xxx” in the program refers to this proclivity, or perhaps it refers to a particular lover.

Tchaikovsky’s greatest talent—his gift for melody—is nowhere more apparent than in the Fifth Symphony. Is this lyricism what embarrassed the composer, what he meant by the work’s “gaudiness”? As we listen to its beautiful, romantic, lush melodies, we find it hard to understand his dissatisfaction. We need not know the object of this love to feel Tchaikovsky’s passion. It is no surprise that this melody, plus several others from the symphony, have been used for modern-day popular love songs.

—Adapted from Jonathan D. Kramer

CSYO CONCERT ORCHESTRA: Midnight Dance Mix | SUN DEC 11

A typical Concert Orchestra program engages with current or historical events. For example, the history-altering and life changing August 28, 1930 March on Washington is the topic of the Concert Orchestra’s May 14, 2023 concert. But this Midnight Dance Mix concert is an opportunity “for us to let our hair down and have some fun,” says conductor Felipe Morales-Torres. Tonight’s concert is a journey from midnight to sunrise and explores the many facets of the night through an eclectic array of musical styles and genres.

The journey starts with the 12 strokes of midnight on Halloween as “Death” appears to call skeletons from their graves to dance. Through music (tone poem) Camille Saint-Säens’ Danse Macabre tells this story and gives “Death” a mistuned violin (scordatura tuning) with which he plays for the skeletons to dance to. Listen for the rattling bones of the xylophone as the skeletons dance to Death’s fiddle. From Romantic era Europe, we travel to the island of Cuba in the 1930s for George Gershwin’s Cuban Overture

Before the U.S. severed diplomatic ties with Cuba in 1961, the island was a hotspot for wealthy Americans and was famous for its nightlife. Gershwin traveled to the island in 1932 and was fascinated with Cuban music and its percussion instruments. The Cuban Overture was the result of this trip. “In my composition I have endeavored to combine the Cuban rhythms with my own thematic material,” stated Gershwin in his program notes for the premiere. “The result is a symphonic overture which embodies the essence of the Cuban dance.”

No journey through the night would be complete without a look at the moon, which is precisely the theme of Claude Debussy’s Clair de lune (meaning “moonlight”). Although Debussy never prescribed a program to the work, the students and Morales-Torres imagine this piece as the experience of floating down the Seine in Paris with the moonlight reflecting off the water.

From a river in Paris to the Motor City (Detroit, Michigan), Motor City Dance Mix was written for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and incorporates musical idioms from the city’s rich music history and taps into popular styles like Motown.

We leave Detroit and head to the misty River Thames in early dawn with Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 2, A London Symphony In the first movement we are taken on a cinematic tour of London, where we hear the distant Westminster Quarter typically played by bells in the Elizabeth Tower belfry (hung next to Big Ben), followed by the sounds of the early morning hustle and bustle of the major thoroughfare—The Strand. The movement ends with an impression of a glorious sunrise.

—Tyler M. Secor

CSYO PHILHARMONIC ROSTER 2022–23

FIRST VIOLIN

Christy Kim, Concertmaster Vivian Chang, Assistant Concertmaster Angelina Chen+ Johan DeMessie Nicholas Donnellan Madeline Dugan Yuhan Gu Annie Li Edward Li Leo Luo Mara Seppala Ian Shang Isabelle Tardivon Maggie Vonderschmidt Jieun Woo Jillian Wu

SECOND VIOLIN

Erica Nam, Principal Second Stephen Dorsey, Assistant Principal Second Hollis Chan+ Grace Chi Evelyn Gao Monica Geiman Joshua Koo Shelby Li Anuj Mantha Norika Oya Caden Schroeder Alex Tran Kyle Wang Yeming You Alina Zhang

VIOLA

Maeve Henderson, Principal Christina Shiomitsu, Assistant Principal James Bingcang+ Gabriel Caal Benedict Cecilio Cuong Diep Seth Israel Christina Lehmann Broderick Merz Ben Wells Grace Yu Julia Zhu

CELLO

Ari Peraza, Principal Paul Orth, Assistant Principal Samvit Das+ Jayden Lu Krish Subramanian Owen Summers Claron Wang Shin-yi Wang Howard Weng Jihye Woo

BASS Sophia Troyer, Principal Kindall Benjamin Nora O’Donnell

FLUTE/PICCOLO

Marissa Hull Grace Kim 2 Lauren Simon 1 Mingjia Zhang

OBOE/ENGLISH HORN Julia Bradley 1 Joseph Mitchell Zoe Schnadower Isaac Scott 2

CLARINET Kotaro Fujiwara 1 Samuel Langer Kylie Quinn 2 Zachary Ramsey

BASSOON Liam Ferguson Emma Laude 1 Ella Sweeney 2

HORN Brayden Adamisin Jayce Mullins Alex Riley 1 2 Lily Wheatley

TRUMPET

Shelby Gault Stephen Stricker 1 Thomas Stricker 2 Trent Stricker

TROMBONE

Karna Gajjar Sean LaRoy Hamlin Monday 1 2

TUBA Matthew Lyons HARP Karma Fecher Veronika Stanichar

PERCUSSION

Brooke Hube

Jonathan Kaseff

+Begins the alphabetical listing of players who participate in a system of rotated seating within a string section.

1 principal, Overture 2 principal, Symphony No. 5

CSYO CONCERT ORCHESTRA ROSTER 2022–23

FIRST VIOLIN

Angela Tang, Concertmaster Marley Feng, Assistant Concertmaster Andrew Cheng+ Ishanvi Karthikeyan Paul Ku Sophia Li Sophina Li Cattleya Meyers Kenneth Wu Raina Yang Ethan Yao Irene Zhang Emily Zhao

SECOND VIOLIN

Anna Christos, Principal Arjuna Verma, Assistant Principal Lara Goodall+ Sophia Hamel Allyson Kim Evelyn Kunkel

Julia Li Sarah Perpignan

Ben Truong Kevin Wen Angela Zhang Alisa Zhao

VIOLA

Noah Huber, Principal Benjamin Zhou, Assistant Principal Adhithya Arasu+ Alexandra Kirk Wendy Lin Adah Muck

Madeline Murray Lainie Stautberg Trinity Thrasher

CELLO

Matthew Hruska, Principal Anish Patil, Assistant Principal Amelia Cecilio+ Andrew Chung Lorelai Gartside

Dianna Hester

Kevin Kim Autumn Rinaldi Jayden Thrasher Kate Wells Vivian Xu William Yeoh

BASS

Loki Wirman, Principal Owen Lutz, Assistant Principal Josiah Ericksen Aaron Scott

FLUTE/PICCOLO Katelyn Cheng Maya Hansen Alejandra Saavedra Lance Zhang

OBOE/ENGLISH HORN Emma Hull Simon Huth Arjuna Lee

CLARINET Morgan Cloud Meredith Hall Richa Jha

BASSOON Jackson Hatfield Angylynn Kiss Marian Rose

HORN Joyce Chan Charles Healy Josh Knehans Eden Proctor

TRUMPET Mason Hignite Katie Koziel

TROMBONE

Tvasta Gajjar Eshaan Gandhi Aaron Haas Ayden Mygatt

TUBA Wilaini Alicea

HARP Cody Banschbach Abel Mooney-Bullock

PERCUSSION

Adolphus McCullom II Justin Melvin Jason Nguyen

+Begins the alphabetical listing of players who participate in a system of rotated seating within a string section.

All wind players are considered principals and rotate between pieces.

SAMUEL LEE, conductor

First prize winner of the BMI International Conducting Competition in Bucharest and the International Conducting Competition in Taipei, Samuel Lee was appointed Assistant Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, beginning in the 2022–23 season.

Guest conducting engagements include his debut at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg with the Hamburg Camerata and in Gewandhaus with Leipziger Symphoniker, as well as with Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, Frankfurt State Orchestra, Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra, Hamburg Camerata, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Bucharest Symphony Orchestra, Arad Philharmonic Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Korean Symphony Orchestra, KBS Symphony Orchestra and the SAC Festival Orchestra. Lee was also a Conducting Fellow with the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in 2021 and 2022, where he worked with conductors Cristian Măcelaru, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Octavio Más-Arocas and Marin Alsop.

Since 2016 Samuel Lee has been the chief conductor of the C.P.E. Bach Musikgymnasium orchestra Berlin. Also an active violist, Lee served as a viola professor at Hochschule für Musik und Theater “Felix MendelssohnBartholdy” in Leipzig, Germany until 2022.

From 2009 until 2017, Lee was the violist of Novus String Quartet, and he was the second prize winner of the 61st International Music Competition of ARD Munich and first prize winner of the Salzburg International Mozart Competition.

Lee is an alumnus of Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” Berlin.

FELIPE MORALES-TORRES, conductor

Felipe Morales-Torres is an award-winning conductor and educator with a passion for inspiring the next generation of musicians. In addition to his role as Conductor of the CSYO Concert Orchestra, as well as coach for the CSYO’s Nouveau Apprentice Group, Morales is the Orchestra Director for Anderson High School and previously served as Director of Orchestras for Winton Woods City Schools. He is also an active guest conductor and clinician for student orchestras in the U.S. and Latin America, traveling to Costa Rica each summer to teach and conduct for the Foundation for the Advancement of Strings Education (FASE). He was a recent guest of the National Symphony Orchestra of Chile, where he conducted and studied alongside its director, Leonid Grin.

As a Latin-American teaching artist, Morales is driven to engage diverse student musicians and to make quality opportunities accessible to them. He has played a part in several community music programs, including the Louisville Youth Orchestra and the Dayton Philharmonic’s Q The Music, an El Sistemainspired outreach program.

Morales started his musical life as a violist, and later pursued bassoon studies as an undergraduate at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. In 2019, he completed a master’s degree in Music Education and Orchestral Conducting, earning the University’s Excellence in Teaching Award for his work with undergraduate music education majors.

Christmas Overture

HOLIDAY POPS

FRI DEC 9, 11 am & 7:30 pm

SAT DEC 10, 2 pm & 7:30 pm

SUN DEC 11, 2 pm & 7 pm Music Hall

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

Joy to the World Isaac Watts

We Three Kings John Henry Hopkins, Jr.

“Alleluia” from The Ballad of the Brown King Margaret Bonds Silent Night Franz Gruber

Chanukah Lights Marvin Hamlisch

Go Tell It on the Mountain Traditional

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day Johnny Marks Bells of St. Michael Mykola Leontovich

INTERMISSION

Joy! J.S. Bach

12 Days of Cincinnati Christmas Traditional

The Man with the Bag Irving Taylor, Dudley Brooks, Hal Stanley

Christmas Sing-Along Various

Wexford Carol Traditional

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Traditional

O Holy Night Adolphe Adam

We Wish You a Merry Christmas Traditional

The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra is grateful to Pops Season Sponsor PNC, Digital Access Partner CVG Airport Authority and Concert Sponsor Graeter’s

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is grateful for the support of the Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation and for the thousands of people who give generously to the ArtsWave Community Campaign. This project was supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts

WVXU is the Media Partner for these concerts.

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in-orchestra Steinway piano is made possible in part by the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trust Steinway Pianos, courtesy of Willis Music, is the official piano of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops.

Program subject to change

John Morris Russell, conductor Annie Moses Band

Bernard Holcomb, tenor School for Creative and Performing Arts Chorale Sycamore High School Select Ensemble

Winton Woods High School Varsity Ensemble

The Studio for Dance

ANNIE MOSES BAND

The Annie Moses Band is a family of Nashvilleraised and New York-trained performers named for their great-grandmother, Annie Moses [read the complete back story at anniemosesband.com]. Genre-defying and unforgettable, the group has been thrilling audiences for over a decade with a sweeping virtuosity and musical spirit that is both fresh and poignant. These are true musicians of the highest caliber drawn together by the bonds of family, faith, and love for their audience.

Raised by award-winning Nashville songwriters Bill and Robin Wolaver, this band of Juilliard-trained siblings have graced the stages of Carnegie Hall and the Grand Ole Opry House. Their PBS specials, Christmas with the Annie Moses Band and The Art of the Love Song broke records and have been nominated for an Emmy. Their 2021 project, the album Tales from My Grandpa’s Pulpit, topped Billboard charts.

Their newest project, The Annie Moses Show, is crafted in the mold of Lawrence Welk and Carol Burnett. “It’s a snapshot of the whole world of Annie Moses—our work as a band, as educators, and as creative leaders at the center of reclaiming the arts through

Godly excellence,” says Annie, the group’s lead singer.

Band members are Annie Wolaver Dupre, lead vocals and violin; William Alexander Wolaver, viola; Benjamin Wolaver, cello; Camille Rose DaSilva, harp and keyboards; Gretchen Wolaver, violin, mandolin and guitar; and Jeremiah Wolaver, guitar. anniemosesband.com

The Annie Moses Band, from their album My Grandpa’s Pulpit. Pictured, from left: Gretchen, Annie, William, Jeremiah, Camille and Benjamin.

BERNARD HOLCOMB, tenor

Bernard Holcomb’s most recent engagements included a return to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra as a soloist in Lush Life: Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, after making his debut there in 2019 with Dancing in the Street: The Music of Motown. He also appeared in On Site Opera’s Diary of the One Who Vanished and What Lies Beneath, as well as Elmwood Concert Singers’ virtual Messiah and workshops for Beth Morrison Projects and Washington National Opera.

This season, Holcomb makes his house debut at Opera Omaha in X, the Life and Times of Malcolm X, and will take part in the workshop

of a new piece with Santa Fe Opera. He also performs Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra and returns to Damien Geter’s An African American Requiem with Fort Worth Opera (he sang the work’s world premiere in May 2022 with the Oregon Symphony and Resonance Ensemble).

New York theater credits include Thomas (lead) in Whiskey Pants: The Mayor of Williamsburg Off-Broadway and Collins in Rent. He also performed Sportin’ Life in the international tour of Porgy and Bess, and in productions of Company and Sweeny Todd.

He is an alumnus of Lyric Opera’s Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center and Sarasota Opera’s Young Artist Program.

A winner of The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (Michigan District), this Detroit native currently resides in New York City has earned a Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan, and a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music. bernardholcomb.com

SCHOOL FOR CREATIVE AND PERFORMING ARTS CHORALE

Richard Hand, director

The School for Creative and Performing Arts Chorale is an auditioned choir consisting of 9th–12th grade students majoring in

music. Over the years, Chorale has performed with many local arts organizations, including the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestras, The May Festival Chorus, Vocal Arts Ensemble and the University of Cincinnati CollegeConservatory of Music choral division. In 2012, Chorale earned a Gold Diploma at the World Choir Games held in Cincinnati and subsequently traveled to Beijing, China in 2013 to perform as part of a cultural exchange.

SYCAMORE HIGH SCHOOL SELECT ENSEMBLE, Ken Holdt, director

Select Ensemble is the preeminent choral group of the Sycamore High School music program. They have enjoyed collaborations with universities and professional groups from around the world: iconic rock band Foreigner, country music artist Eric Church, actor Whoopi Goldberg, and Nairobi Girls Chorale, among others, and they consistently earn Superior ratings at OMEA district and state adjudicated events. The Sycamore Community Schools Choral Program serves 800 students in grades 5 through 12, spanning 16 curricular and extracurricular ensembles.

WINTON WOODS HIGH SCHOOL VARSITY ENSEMBLE, Beth Calkowski & Alex Kress, co-directors

The Winton Woods Choral Program has an enrollment of more than 250 students in grades 7–12, and its curriculum spans three middle school choirs and five high school choirs, as well as courses in general music and music appreciation. The award-winning

SCPA CHORALE

Cristina Bates

Eden Duebber

Lillian Elliott

Heru Finnell

Khephra Finnell

Ke’von Gibson

Abigail Glacken

Chloe Hall

Colton Henderson

Yvonne Herrmann

Charles Jordan

Donovan Kesler

Julia Kirkham

Stephen Lambert

Isabella Langley

Emilie Lopez

Grayson Luckenbach

Eyre McCauley

Naimah Muhammed-Wilson

Abigail Rauen

Bella Reagan

DeMarco Reed Avery Reider

Luna Roberts

Mayoree Scott

Jenny Smith

Laiya Solimano-Nichols

Sanaa Sweet

Anna Voss

Ricky Walker

Tremaine Walker

Mirainda Warren

Gemariah Washington

SYCAMORE SELECT

ENSEMBLE Hannah Alex Joseph Arieta

Colin Battson

Sam Bringle

Madelyn Calabrese

Aidan Finn

Ella Giesler

Lyric Golden Chase Gvozdanovic

Adam Linser Devin Love Ben McCarthy Catherine Miller

Taelyn Rice Natalie Sieverding Noah Song

Leora Stern Sarah Wahlquist

Clayton Wallace Sadie Whalen

Julia Zinnbauer

WINTON WOODS

VARSITY ENSEMBLE

Surendra Bhandari

Sonee Boyd

Aviance Bryant

high school ensembles have qualified for state OMEA competitions for nearly 45 years and have been recognized by the U.S. House of Representatives and the Ohio State Senate. Winton Woods High School Varsity Ensemble has recorded three CDs with the Cincinnati Pops. In 2008 they were one of five choirs from the U.S. selected to perform in a preOlympic festival in Beijing and Shanghai. They were awarded a gold medal and placed fifth in the world in the 2012 World Choir Games. Varsity Ensemble also performs regularly with the Cincinnati Fusion Ensemble.

THE STUDIO DANCERS from THE STUDIO FOR DANCE

Shari Poff, director

The Studio Dancers, ranging in age from 5 to 17, study ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary and clogging at The Studio for Dance in Cincinnati. Under the direction of Shari Poff and choreographed by Della Lehane, these enthusiastic young people continue to win local and national dance competitions and are often named “Most Entertaining Performers.”

The Studio for Dance has performed with the Cincinnati Pops at Music Hall and at Riverbend, both with Erich Kunzel and John Morris Russell, for the past 33 years, including for two televised productions for PBS and for an appearance at Carnegie Hall in New York. They have also performed with the Hilton Head Symphony, May Festival Chorus, Blue Ash/ Hamilton Symphony, Lima Symphony, and the Windsor Symphony and Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, both in Ontario, Canada.

Gwendolyn Buckley Kayvon Crenshaw

Caneshia Curry Shaun Daniels Brian Davis Oli Doten Mickell Fiador Jorden Jameson

Amaya Johnson Kaitlyn Martin

Delan Massey-Wright Alexander McNeal Alina Mendez Gonalez Abner Morales-Mejia Hosanna Otchere

Anastasia Robinson

Chaz Sanders

Alyssa Sears-Baldwin

Jayvion Stanford Paulina Tax-Ramos Terry Trammell

Ndeye Wade

THE STUDIO DANCERS

Jocelyn Baum Mika Baum Rocio Bentancourt Kelsey Berling Alex Bingcang

Cate Bingcang Lily Bingcang Chris Boone

Owen Boone Lucy Brockman Paul Brockman Sophia Brockman

Becca Clark

Izzie Clark Leon Cohen Nora Cohen Sasha Cohen Zoe Cohen

Maria Colas Victoria Colas Simone Contardi

Lola Darbyshire Harper Davis Alayna Day

Madeline Day Scot Day Margaret Dillon John Dillon

Doris Du Brendan Dyer

Declan Dyer Mia Goodlett

Cassie Guthrie Riley Harris Chloe Hill Sophia Hopper Theresa Hopper

Chana Horewitz

Ava Kelly Meredith Koppenhoefer

Sarah Kuethe

Sophia Lauterbur

Krystyna Laux Fiona Lehane

Winifred Lehane Roger Leinberger

Livia Leonard Caroline Liu Gloria Luo

Sadie Mazer

Jillian Meyrose Sienna Parnes

Maddie Perdue

Amaya Peterson

Madeline Poast Mike Poast

Olivia Poast

Kay’Ler Pugh Eleanor Ramsey

Bianca Rattan Caroline Reinke

Steve Reinke Lucy Salters Molly Salters

Sharon Stone Grace Weinewuth Anna Wonderling

Brandy Wonderling Jeff Yetter

Tori Yetter

Abby Zender Sara Zink

INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT

Local and national foundations, businesses, and government agencies are integral to the Orchestra’s vibrant performances, community engagement work, and education activities. We are proud to partner with the following funders.

PLATINUM BATON CIRCLE ($50,000+)

ArtsWave

Charles H. Dater Foundation

The Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr. Foundation

Hamilton County

David C. Herriman Fund of Greater Cincinnati Foundation

Carl Jacobs Foundation

H.B., E.W., F.R. Luther Charitable Foundation

The Mellon Foundation

Dr. John & Louise Mulford Fund for the CSO

National Endowment for the Arts

Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation

Ohio Arts Council

PNC Bank

Margaret McWilliams Rentschler Fund of Greater Cincinnati Foundation

Harold C. Schott Foundation / Francie and Tom Hiltz, Trustees

Marge and Charles J. Schott Foundation

The Louise Taft Semple Foundation

Skyler Foundation

US Small Business Administration Western & Southern Financial Group Anonymous

GOLD BATON CIRCLE ($25,000–$49,999)

City Of Cincinnati Coney Island

The Cincinnati Symphony Club

Fifth Third Bank Foundation

Jeffrey & Jody Lazarow and Janie & Peter Schwartz Family Fund of Greater Cincinnati Foundation George and Margaret McLane Foundation

The Ladislas & Vilma Segoe Family Foundation

United Dairy Farmers & Homemade Brand Ice Cream

The Wohlgemuth Herschede Foundation

SILVER BATON CIRCLE ($15,000–$24,999)

Drive Media House

HORAN

The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati Jewish Cincinnati Bicentennial Johnson Investment Counsel League Of American Orchestras

The Rendigs Foundation Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP Scott and Charla Weiss Wodecroft Foundation

2022 ARTSWAVE PARTNERS

CONDUCTOR’S CIRCLE ($10,000–$14,999)

Bartlett Wealth Management Chemed Corporation

The Crosset Family Fund of Greater Cincinnati Foundation Kelly Dehan and Rick Staudigel Graeter’s Ice Cream

Peter E. Landgren and Judith Schonbach Landgren Mariner Wealth Advisors

Messer Construction Co.

Ohio National Financial Services

Oliver Family Foundation

The Daniel & Susan Pfau Foundation

The Procter & Gamble Company

CONCERTMASTER’S CIRCLE ($5,000–$9,999)

Levin Family Foundation Metro

The Willard & Jean Mulford Charitable Fund

Pyro-Technical Investigations, Inc.

Queen City (OH) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated Thompson Hine LLP

ARTIST’S CIRCLE ($2,500–$4,999)

d.e. Foxx and Associates, Inc. Mayerson Jewish Community Center Charles Scott Riley III Foundation

BUSINESS & FOUNDATION PARTNERS (up to $2,499)

African American Chamber of Commerce Visit Cincy Albert B. Cord Charitable Foundation

D’Addario Foundation Earthward Bound Foundation Susan Friedlander

Hixson Architecture Engineering Interiors Integrity Development

Robert A. & Marian K. Kennedy Charitable Trust PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

The Voice of Your Customer

Toi and Jay Wagstaff

Join this distinguished group!

Contact Sean Baker at 513.744.3363 or sbaker@cincinnatisymphony.org to learn how you can become a supporter of the CSO and Pops. This list is updated quarterly.

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops acknowledge the following partner companies, foundations and their employees who generously participate in the Annual ArtsWave Community Campaign at the $100,000+ level.

altafiber

Cincinnati Business Courier

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

The Cincinnati Insurance Companies

Cincinnati Reds

Duke Energy

The E.W. Scripps Company and Scripps Howard Foundation

The Enquirer | Cincinnati.com

Fifth Third Bank and the Fifth Third Foundation

GE

Great American Insurance Group

The H.B., E.W. and F.R. Luther Charitable Foundation, Fifth Third Bank, N.A., Trustee

The Kroger Co.

Messer Construction Co. Ohio National Financial Services P&G PNC

Western & Southern Financial Group

U.S. Bank

Pops Season Lollipops Series CSO Season

PERMANENT ENDOWMENTS

Endowment gifts perpetuate your values and create a sustainable future for the Orchestra. We extend our deep gratitude to the donors who have provided permanent endowments in support of our programs that are important to them. For more information about endowment gifts, contact Kate Farinacci, Director of Special Campaigns & Legacy Giving, at 513.744.3202.

ENDOWED CHAIRS

Grace M. Allen Chair

Ellen A. & Richard C. Berghamer Chair

Robert E. & Fay Boeh Chair

The Marc Bohlke Chair Given by Katrin & Manfred Bohlke

Trish & Rick Bryan Chair

Otto M Budig Chair Family Foundation Chair

Mary Alice Heekin Burke Chair

Peter G. Courlas–Nicholas Tsimaras Chair

Ona Hixon Dater Chair

The Anne G. & Robert W. Dorsey Chair+ Jane & David Ellis Chair Irene & John J. Emery Chair James M. Ewell Chair

Ashley & Barbara Ford Chair for Assistant Conductor Ashley & Barbara Ford Chair for Assistant Conductor Ashley & Barbara Ford Chair for Principal Tuba

Susan S. & William A. Friedlander Chair+ Charles Gausmann Chair Susanne & Philip O. Geier, Jr. Chair+ Emma Margaret & Irving D. Goldman Chair

Clifford J. Goosmann and Andrea M. Wilson Chair for First Violin Charles Frederic Goss Chair Jean Ten Have Chair Dorothy & John Hermanies Chair Lois Klein Jolson Chair

Michael L. Cioffi & Rachael Rowe— the Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer

Josephine I. & David J. Joseph, Jr. Chair

Harold B. & Betty Justice Chair Marvin Kolodzik and Linda S. Gallaher Chair for Cello+

Al Levinson Chair

Patricia Gross Linnemann Chair+ Alberta & Dr. Maurice Marsh Chair Stephen P. McKean Chair Laura Kimble McLellan Chair

The Henry Meyer Chair Louise Dieterle Nippert & Louis Nippert Chairs

Ida Ringling North Chair Rawson Chair

The Vicky & Rick Reynolds Chair in honor of William A. Friedlander+ Donald & Margaret Robinson Chair Dianne & J. David Rosenberg Chair+ Ruth F. Rosevear Chair

The Morleen & Jack Rouse Chair+ Emalee Schavel Chair

Karl & Roberta Schlachter Family Chair

Serge Shababian Chair Melinda & Irwin Simon Chair+ Anna Sinton Taft Chair

Tom & Dee Stegman Chair+

Mary & Joseph S. Stern, Jr. Chair+ Cynthia & Frank Stewart Chair

The Jackie & Roy Sweeney Family Chair

The Sweeney Family Chair in memory of Donald C. Sweeney Brenda & Ralph Taylor Chair James P. Thornton Chair

Nicholas Tsimaras–Peter G. Courlas Chair

Thomas Vanden Eynden Chair Jo Ann & Paul Ward Chair

Matthew & Peg Woodside Chair Mary M. & Charles F. Yeiser Chair

ENDOWED PERFORMANCES & PROJECTS

Eleanora C. U. Alms Trust, Fifth Third Bank, Trustee

Rosemary and Frank Bloom Endowment Fund*+ Cincinnati Bell Foundation Inc. Mr. & Mrs. Val Cook

Nancy & Steve Donovan* Sue and Bill Friedlander Endowment Fund*+

Mrs. Charles Wm Anness*, Mrs. Frederick D. Haffner, Mrs. Gerald Skidmore and the La Vaughn Scholl Garrison Fund

Fred L. & Katherine H. Groll Fund for Musical Excellence Fred L. & Katherine H. Groll Fund for Great Artists

Fred L. & Katherine H. Groll Trust Pianist Fund

The Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr. Foundation Endowment Fund Anne Heldman Endowment Fund**

Mr. and Mrs. Lorrence T. Kellar+ Lawrence A. & Anne J. Leser* Mr. & Mrs. Carl H. Lindner**

PNC Financial Services Group

The Procter & Gamble Fund Vicky & Rick Reynolds Fund for Diverse Artists+ Melody Sawyer Richardson* Rosemary and Mark Schlachter Endowment Fund*+

The Harold C. Schott Foundation, Francie and Tom Hiltz Endowment Fund+

Peggy Selonick Fund for Great Artists

Dee and Tom Stegman Endowment Fund*+

Mr. & Mrs. Joseph S. Stern, Jr. Fund for Great Artists

U. S. Bank Foundation*

Sallie and Randolph Wadsworth Endowment Fund+

Educational Concerts

Rosemary & Frank Bloom * Cincinnati Financial Corporation & The Cincinnati Insurance Companies

The Margaret Embshoff Educational Fund Kate Foreman Young Peoples Fund George & Anne Heldman+ Macy’s Foundation Vicky & Rick Reynolds*+ William R. Schott Family** Western-Southern Foundation, Inc. Anonymous (3)+

OTHER NAMED FUNDS

Ruth Meacham Bell Memorial Fund Frank & Mary Bergstein Fund for Musical Excellence+ Jean K. Bloch Music Library Fund Cora Dow Endowment Fund Corbett Educational Endowment** Belmon U. Duvall Fund Ewell Fund for Riverbend Maintenance Linda & Harry Fath Endowment Fund Ford Foundation Fund Natalie Wurlitzer & William Ernest Griess Cello Fund Fred L. & Katherine H. Groll Trust Music Director Fund for Excellence

William Hurford and Lesley Gilbertson Family Fund for Guest Pianists

The Mary Ellyn Hutton Fund for Excellence in Music Education

Josephine I. & David J. Joseph, Jr. Scholarship Fund

Richard & Jean Jubelirer & Family Fund*

Elma Margaret Lapp Trust

Jésus López-Cobos Fund for Excellence

Mellon Foundation Fund

Nina Browne Parker Trust

Dorothy Robb Perin & Harold F. Poe Trust

Rieveschl Fund

Thomas Schippers Fund Martha, Max & Alfred M. Stern Ticket Fund

Mr. & Mrs. John R. Strauss

Student Ticket Fund

Anna Sinton & Charles P. Taft Fund Lucien Wulsin Fund

Wurlitzer Season Ticket Fund CSO Pooled Income Fund CSO Musicians Emergency Fund

*Denotes support for Annual Music Program Fund

**Denotes support for the 2nd Century Campaign

+Denotes support for the Fund for Musical Excellence

by Joseph McDonough music

lyrics by David Kisor

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops are grateful to the following individuals that support our efforts by making a gift to the Orchestra Fund. We extend our heartfelt thanks to each and every one and pay tribute to them here. You can join our family of donors online at cincinnatisymphony.org/donate or by contacting the Philanthropy Department at 513.744.3271.

PLATINUM BATON CIRCLE

Gifts of $50,000 and above

Mr. and Mrs. Frederick E. Bryan, III § Michael L. Cioffi

Sheila and Christopher C. Cole

Susan Friedlander § Mrs. Philip O. Geier § Healey Liddle Family Foundation, Mel & Bruce Healey Patti and Fred Heldman

Harold C. Schott Foundation, Francie & Tom Hiltz Dr. Lesley Gilbertson and Dr. William Hurford

Florence Koetters

Mr. and Mrs. Robert W. McDonald Jo Anne and Joe Orndorff Marilyn J. and Jack D. Osborn § Vicky and Rick Reynolds Dianne and J. David Rosenberg Mike and Digi Schueler Irwin and Melinda Simon Tom and Dee Stegman

Jackie and Roy Sweeney Family Fund* Mr. Randolph L. Wadsworth Jr. § Scott and Charla Weiss

GOLD BATON CIRCLE Gifts of $25,000–$49,999

Karlee L. Hilliard § Edyth B. Lindner Calvin and Patricia Linnemann Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Maloney Mrs. Susan M. McPartlin Moe and Jack Rouse § Ann and Harry Santen § Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Ullman Anonymous (1)

SILVER BATON CIRCLE Gifts of $15,000–$24,999

Michael P Bergan and Tiffany Hanisch Dr. and Mrs. John and Suzanne Bossert § Mr. and Mrs. Larry Brueshaber Mr. Gregory D. Buckley and Ms. Susan Berry-Buckley Ms. Melanie M. Chavez Robert and Debra Chavez Stephen J Daush Mr. and Mrs. John C. Dupree Mrs. Charles Fleischmann Ashley and Bobbie Ford § L. Timothy Giglio Tom and Jan Hardy § Mr. and Mrs. Joseph W. Hirschhorn § Mr. and Mrs. Paul Isaacs Patrick and Mary Kirk Marvin P. Kolodzik § Mrs. Erich Kunzel

Peter E. Landgren and Judith Schonbach Landgren John and Ramsey Lanni

Will and Lee Lindner

G. Franklin Miller and Carolyn Baker Miller

Joseph A. and Susan E. Pichler Fund*

Elizabeth Schulenberg

Kelly Dehan and Rick Staudigel Mrs. Theodore Striker Sarah Thorburn Dale Uetrecht

Mr. and Mrs. JD Vance

Mrs. James W. Wilson, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. James M. Zimmerman § Anonymous (1)

CONDUCTOR’S CIRCLE

Gifts of $10,000–$14,999

Mr. and Mrs. Lars C. Anderson, Sr. Robert D. Bergstein

Mrs. Thomas E. Davidson § Dianne Dunkelman Dr. and Mrs. Alberto Espay Mr. and Mrs. Tom Evans

CCI Design, Molly and Tom Garber Anne E. Mulder and Rebecca M. Gibbs Mr. and Mrs. Scott Gruner Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Hone Whitney and Phillip Long Mark and Tia Luegering Holly and Louis Mazzocca Eleanor S. McCombe

Mr. Bradford Phillips III Mr. Michael E. Phillips David and Jenny Powell Bill and Lisa Sampson Mark S. and Rosemary K. Schlachter § Mr. Dennis Schoff and Ms. Nina Sorensen Ralph C. Taylor § Tomcinoh Fund*

Mr. and Mrs. David R. Valz DeeDee and Gary West § Anonymous (1)

CONCERTMASTER’S

CIRCLE

Gifts of $5,000–$9,999

Drs. Frank and Mary Albers Thomas P. Atkins

Mrs. Thomas B. Avril Kathleen and Michael Ball Robert and Janet Banks Dava Lynn Biehl § Louis D. Bilionis and Ann Hubbard Mr. Henry Boehmer

Robert L. Bogenschutz

Dr. Ralph P. Brown

The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation Gordon Christenson Sally and Rick Coomes K.M. Davis

Dennis W. and Cathy Dern Jean and Rick Donaldson Nancy and Steve Donovan Connie and Buzz Dow

Mrs. Diana T. Dwight

Mr. Shaun Ethier and Empower Media Marketing Mr. and Mrs. James T. Fitzgerald Marlena and Walter Frank

Dr. and Mrs. Harry F. Fry Kathy Grote in loving memory of Robert Howes § Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Hamby John B. and Judith O. Hansen Ms. Delores Hargrove-Young William and Jo Ann Harvey Dr. James and Mrs. Susan Herman Mr. and Mrs. Bradley G. Hughes Mr. Marshall C. Hunt, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Geoffrey Keenan Mr. and Mrs. Lorrence T. Kellar

Michael and Marilyn Kremzar Richard and Susan Lauf Mrs. Jean E. Lemon § Adele Lippert

Mrs. Robert Lippert Elizabeth and Brian Mannion Alan Margulies and Gale Snoddy David L. Martin Mr. Jonathan Martin Mandare Foundation Barbara and Kim McCracken § Mr. Gerron McKnight

Linda and James Miller

James and Margo Minutolo George and Sarah Morrison III Mr. and Mrs. David W. Motch David and Beth Muskopf Mr. Arthur Norman and Mrs. Lisa Lennon Norman Dr. Manisha Patel and Dr. Michael Curran Ms. Thienthanh Pham Drs. Marcia Kaplan and Michael Privitera Mr. Aftab Pureval Terry and Marvin Quin Mr. and Mrs. Thomas H. Quinn, Jr. Melody Sawyer Richardson § Ellen Rieveschl § Elizabeth and Karl Ronn § Dr. E. Don Nelson and Ms. Julia Sawyer-Nelson Martha and Lee Schimberg Sue and Glenn Showers § Elizabeth C. B. Sittenfeld § Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Skidmore § Michael and Donnalyn Smith Nancy Steman Dierckes § In memory of Mary and Joseph S. Stern, Jr Brett Stover § Christopher and Nancy Virgulak Dr. Barbara R. Voelkel Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Wachter Nancy C. Wagner and Patricia M. Wagner § Mrs. Ronald F. Walker Mrs. Paul H. Ward §

Jonathan and Janet Weaver

Donna A. Welsch

Cathy S. Willis

Irene A. Zigoris

Anonymous (2)

ARTIST’S CIRCLE

Gifts of $3,000–$4,999

Dr. Charles Abbottsmith Mr. and Mrs. Richard N. Adams

William Albertson

Mary Kay Koehler

Mr. and Mrs. Gérard Baillely Joe and Patricia Baker Ms. Marianna Bettman Glenn and Donna Boutilier Thomas A. Braun, III § Peter and Kate Brown

Janet and Bruce Byrnes Susan and Burton Closson Dr. Thomas and Geneva Cook

Peter G. Courlas § Mr. and Mrs. John Cover

Mr. and Mrs. James Dealy

George Deepe and Kris Orsborn Bedouin and Randall Dennison Jim and Elizabeth Dodd Mrs. Jack E. Drake

Patricia Dudsic Dr. and Mrs. Stewart B. Dunsker David and Kari Ellis Fund* Ann A. Ellison Hardy and Barbara Eshbaugh Mr. and Mrs. Richard Fencl Yan Fridman Frank and Tara Gardner Naomi Gerwin

Dr. and Mrs. Ralph A. Giannella Thomas W. Gougeon

Lesha and Samuel Greengus Dr. and Mrs. Jack Hahn

Dr. Donald and Laura Harrison

Mr. and Mrs. Robert R. Heidenreich

Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Hicks

Ruth C. Holthaus

In Memory of Benjamin C. Hubbard § Mr. and Mrs. Michael C. Hughes Dr. Robert W. Keith and Ms. Kathleen Thornton

Don and Kathy King

Lynn Klahm

Jeff and Mary Ann Knoop Marie and Sam Kocoshis

Mr. Frank P. Kromer

Mr. Shannon Lawson Dr. and Mrs. Lynn Y. Lin

Merlanne Louney

Mr. and Mrs. Donald Marshall

Ms. Amy McDiffett

Mary Ann Meanwell

Ms. Sue Miller

Mr. and Mrs. David E. Moccia §

Jennifer Morales and Ben Glassman Ms. Mary Lou Motl

From left: Heather Apple, Edna Keown and Mary Kay Koehler pose at the Sept. 24 Artist’s Circle Dinner. Judy Hall and Lynn Lin attend the Artist’s Circle Dinner on Sept. 24.

Phyllis Myers and Danny Gray

Mr. and Mrs. John Niehaus Dr. and Mrs. Richard Park § Poul D. and JoAnne Pedersen Alice Perlman Alice and David Phillips Mark and Kim Pomeroy Michael and Katherine Rademacher Beverly and Dan Reigle Sandra Rivers

James Rubenstein and Bernadette Unger James and Mary Russell Mr. & Mrs. Peter A. Schmid Rev. Dr. David V. Schwab Sandra and David Seiwert Mr. Rick Sherrer and Dr. Lisa D. Kelly Rennie and David Siebenhar William A. and Jane Smith Elizabeth A. Stone

Margaret and Steven Story Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Tinklenberg Dr. and Mrs. Galen R. Warren Jim and George Ann Wesner Jo Ann Wieghaus Sheila Williams Ronna and James Willis Matt and Lindsay Willmann Andrea K. Wiot Steve and Katie Wolnitzek Carol and Don Wuebbling Anonymous (2)

SYMPHONY CIRCLE

Gifts of $1,500–$2,999 Jeff and Keiko Alexander § Dr. Rob and Ashley Altenau Beth and Bob Baer Mrs. Gail Bain Mr. Randi Bellner and U.S. Bank David and Elaine Billmire Mr. and Mrs. Rodd Bixler Dorothy Anne Blatt Dr. and Mrs. William Bramlage Ms. Jaqui Brumm Rachelle Bruno and Stephen Bondurant Chris and Tom Buchert Dr. Leanne Budde Ms. Deborah Campbell § Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Carothers Tom Carpenter and Lynne Lancaster Dr. Alan Chambers Catharine W. Chapman § James Clasper and Cheryl Albrecht Carol C. Cole § Dr. George I. Colombel Randy K. and Nancy R. Cooper Marjorie Craft Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Curran, III § Mr. and Mrs. John G. Earls § Barry and Judy Evans Gail F. Forberg § Dr. Charles E. Frank and Ms. Jan Goldstein Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Fricke Linda P. Fulton § Mrs. Jay N. Gibbs Donn Goebel and Cathy McLeod Dr. and Mrs. Glenn S. Gollobin Drew Gores and George Warrington

Mr. and Mrs. Gary Greenberg

Jim and Jann Greenberg Bill and Christy Griesser Esther B. Grubbs § Mrs. Jackie Havenstein Donald and Susan Henson

Mr. Fred Heyse

Mr. Joe Hoskins

Mr. Bradley Hunkler

Heidi Jark and Steve Kenat Barbara M. Johnson Ms. Sylvia Johnson Holly H. Keeler

Bill and Penny Kincaid Juri Kolts

Mr. and Mrs. Richard Kovarsky Carol Louise Kruse

Mrs. John H. Kuhn § Jo Ann and George Kurz Charles and Jean Lauterbach Mary Mc and Kevin Lawson Dr. Carol P. Leslie Mr. Peter F. Levin § Elizabeth Lilly*

Drs. Douglas Linz and Ann Middaugh Mrs. Marianne Locke Mr. and Mrs. Clement H. Luken, Jr. Edmund D. Lyon

Allen-McCarren Stephanie and Arthur McMahon Stephanie McNeill

Becky Miars

John and Roberta Michelman Terence G. Milligan Dr. Stanley R. Milstein § Mrs. Patricia Misrach Ms. Laura Mitchell Mrs. Sally A. More Susan E. Noelcke

Rick Pescovitz and Kelly Mahan Sandy Pike § James W. Rauth § Drs. Christopher and Blanca Riemann Stephen and Betty Robinson Ms. Jeanne C. Rolfes

Nancy and Raymond Rolwing Jens G Rosenkrantz

Marianne Rowe § Nancy Ruchhoft Dr. and Mrs. Michael Scheffler George Palmer Schober

Tim and Jeannie Schoonover James P. Schubert

Jacqueline M. Mack and Dr. Edward B. Silberstein

Stephanie A. Smith Stephen and Lyle Smith Bill and Lee Steenken Christopher and Meghan Stevens Mrs. Donald C. Stouffer Rich and Nancy Tereba Linda and Nate Tetrick Susan and John Tew

Janet Todd Neil Tollas and Janet Moore Barbie Wagner Dr. and Mrs. Matthew and Diana Wallace Michael L. Walton, Esq Ted and Mary Ann Weiss David F. and Sara K. Weston Fund

Virginia Wilhelm

Rev. Anne Warrington Wilson Robert and Judy Wilson David and Sharon Youmans Andi Levenson Young and Scott Young Mr. and Mrs. Dan Zavon Ms. Nancy Zimpher Anonymous (10)

CONCERTO CLUB

Gifts of $500–$1,499 Christine O. Adams Judith Adams Romola N. Allen § Mr. and Mrs. Jay Allgood Lisa Allgood Mr. Thomas Alloy & Dr. Evaline Alessandrini Paul and Dolores Anderson Mr. and Mrs. Frank Andress Dr. Victor and Dolores Angel Nancy J. Apfel Mr. and Mrs. Keith Apple Judy Aronoff and Marshall Ruchman Ms. Laura E. Atkinson Mr. David H. Axt and Ms. Susan L. Wilkinson Ms. Patricia Baas Dr. Diane S. Babcock § Mrs. Mary M. Baer

Jerry and Martha Bain Mr. and Mrs. Carroll R. Baker Mr. Sean D. Baker Jack and Diane Baldwin William and Barbara Banks Peggy Barrett § Mrs. Polly M. Bassett Michael and Amy Battoclette Ms. Shirley Bear Ms. Bianca Gallagher Dr. and Mrs. Thomas E. Bell Mr. Oliver Benes Ms. Doris Bergen Fred Berger Dr. Allen W. Bernard Dr. David and Cheryl Bernstein Glenda and Malcolm Bernstein Sharon Ann Kerns and Mike Birck Randal and Peter Bloch Ava Jo Bohl Ms. Sandra Bolek Ron and Betty Bollinger Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Borisch Towne Properties Dr. Carol Brandon Robert and Joan Broersma Mrs. Jo Ann C. Brown Marian H. Brown Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Brown Jacklyn and Gary Bryson Bob and Angela Buechner Alvin W. Bunis, Jr. Donald L. and Kathleen Field Burns Daniel A. Burr Jack and Marti Butz John J Byczkowski Ms. Cindy Callicoat Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Canarie Mike and Shirley Chaney Dee and Frank Cianciolo Fund* James Civille Bob and Tisha Clary

Mr. David Clodfelter

Beverly Kinney and Edward Cloughessy Mr. Robert Cohen and Ms. Amy J. Katz

Fred W. Colucci

Dr. Pearl J. Compaan Marilyn Cones

Dr. Margaret Conradi

Janet Conway Robin Cotton and Cindi Fitton Dennis and Patricia Coyne Martha Crafts

Bev and Bob Croskery

Tim and Katie Crowley

Mr. and Mrs. Henry F. Dabek, Jr. Mr. Joseph and Mrs. Lori Dattilo

Mr. Louis M. Dauner and Ms. Geraldine N. Wu

Diane Kolleck

Loren and Polly DeFilippo Stephen and Cynthia DeHoff Robert B. Dick, Ph.D. Ms. Rhonda Dickerscheid John and Maureen Doellman Drs. Gerald Dorn and Deborah Hauger

Robert W. Dorsey § George Dostie

Jack and Diane Douglass Meredith and Chuck Downton

Mr. James Doyle

Jim and Karen Draut

Emilie and David Dressler Ms. Andrea Dubroff Tom and Leslie Ducey Tom and Dale Due

David and Linda Dugan

Mr. Corwin R. Dunn

Michael D. and Carolyn Camillo Eagen Joseph and Kristi Echler

Mr. and Mrs. Dale Elifrits

Mr. Daniel Epstein

Barbara Esposito-Ilacqua Walter & Mary Ann Feige

Ms. Barbara A. Feldmann

Mrs. Michelle Finch

Richard and Elizabeth Findlay Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Fischer Michael and Bonnie Fishel

Ms. Nancy B. Forbriger

Janice and Dr. Tom Forte

Mr. and Ms. Bernard Foster Susan L. Fremont

Mr. Gregrick A. Frey

In memory of Eugene and Cavell Frey

Mr. and Mrs. Fred Friedman

Michael and Katherine Frisco

Mr. and Mrs. James Fryman

Marjorie Fryxell

Dudley Fulton Christophe Galopin

Mrs. James R. Gardner

Ms. Jane Garvey Mark S. Gay David J. Gilner

Dr. and Mrs. Charles J. Glueck Mr. and Mrs. Jim Goldschmidt Robert and Cynthia Gray Carl and Joyce Greber

Dr. Anthony and Ann Guanciale

From left: Dwight Parry, composer Guillaume Connesson, and Louis Langreé join guests of Johnson Investment Counsel on May 7, 2022. Carl and Joyce attend a Schippers Society event on March 23, 2022.

Dr. Janet C. Haartz and Kenneth V. Smith

Alison and Charles Haas

Mrs. R. C. Haberstroh Mary and Phil Hagner

Peter Hames Ham and Ellie Hamilton Walter and Karen Hand

In memory of Dr. Stuart Handwerger James and Sally Harper Dr. Catherine Hart Mariana Belvedere and Samer Hasan Amy and Dennis Healy Kenneth and Rachel Heberling Mrs. Betty H. Heldman § Howard D. and Mary W. Helms

Mrs. E. J. Hengelbrok, Jr. Michelle and Don Hershey Kyle and Robert Hodgkins Ms. Leslie M. Hoggatt Mr. and Mrs. Sam R. Hollingsworth Richard and Marcia Holmes Ms. Sandra L. Houck

Melissa Huber

Deanna and Henry Huber Ed & Sarah Hughes Mr. Gordon Hullar

Dr. Maralyn M. Itzkowitz Mrs. Charles H. Jackson, Jr. Mark and Caitlin Jeanmougin Marcia Jelus

Linda Busken and Andrew M. Jergens § David & Penny Jester Lois and Kenneth Jostworth Jay and Shirley Joyce Mr. and Mrs. Robert Judd Dr. Jerald Kay

Dr. James Kaya and Debra Grauel Arleene Keller

John and Molly Kerman

Dr. and Mrs. Richard Kerstine Mr. and Mrs. Dave Kitzmiller Georgianne and Tom Koch Paul and Carita Kollman Carol and Scott Kosarko Mr. Robert Kraus

Kathleen B. and Michael C. Krug Fund* Dr. Diane Krumanaker, DVM Mark Kuhlman

Patricia Lambeck

Evelyn and Fred Lang Asher Lanier

Ms. Sally L. Larson

Mr. and Mrs. John C. Layne

Mr. Alvin R. Lee

Mrs. Judith A. Leege in memory of Philip B. Leege Patricia E. Leo Mr. and Mrs. Lance A. Lewis Mrs. Maxine F. Lewis

Iris Libby

Ms. Presley Lindemann

Mr. Arthur Lindsay Paula and Nick Link

Mr. Steven Kent Loveless

Dr. and Mrs. Robert R. Lukin Timothy and Jill Lynch Marshall and Nancy Macks

Dr. and Ms. Mark Mandell-Brown Andrew and Jean Martin Ms. Cynthia Mason David Mason § Mr. and Mrs. Dean Matz Tim and Trish McDonald Robert and Heather McGrath Mr. Bernard McKay

Mark McKillip and Amira Beer Mrs. Karin McLennan Charles and JoAnn Mead Ms. Carol M. Meibers

Ms. Nancy Menne

Dr. and Mrs. Richard A. Meyer

Michael V. and Marcia L. Middleton Rachel and Charlie Miller

Mr. Roger Miller

Sonia R. Milrod

Mr. Steven Monder Eileen W. and James R. Moon Regeana and Al Morgan Vivian Kay Morgan

Mrs. Ivan Morse

Mr. Scott Muhlhauser

Miami University College of Creative Arts Mrs. and Mr. Katie Murry Kevin and Lane Muth

Alan Flaherty and Patti Myers § Mr. William Naumann

Mr. and Mrs. Norman Neal

Mr. Ted Nelson and Ms. Ixi Chen

Mr. Gerald Newfarmer

Jim and Sharon Nichols

Jane Oberschmidt § Maureen Kelly and Andrew O’Driscoll Mr. Gerardo Orta

Nan L. Oscherwitz

Elizabeth Osterburg

Eric Paternoster

Don and Margie Paulsen

The Pavelka Family John and Francie Pepper * Mr. Mark Phillips Ann and Marty Pinales

Patsy & Larry Plum Mr. and Mrs. Richard Post Mr. Robert Przygoda

Ms. Mary Redington

Mrs. Angela M. Reed

Dr. and Mrs. Robert Reed Mrs. Hera Reines

Dr. Robert Rhoad and Kitsa Tassian Rhoad

Stephanie Richardson

Mr. David Robertson

Laurie and Dan Roche

Mr. and Mrs. Samuel A. Rodner

Mr. and Mrs. Ian Rodway

Stanley & Shannon Romanstein

Bob and Mary Ann Roncker

Dr. and Mrs. Gary Roselle Amy and John Rosenberg Mr. and Mrs. G. Roger Ross Patricia Rouster

Dr. Deborah K. Rufner

J. Gregory and Judith B. Rust Dr. Richard S. Sarason and Ms. Anne S. Arenstein Mr. Christian J. Schaefer Mr. Joseph Schilling Ms. Carol Schleker

Jane and Wayne Schleutker Dr. and Mrs. Michael Schmerler Glenda C. Schorr Fund*

Carol J. Schroeder § Mary D. Schweitzer

Joe Segal and Debbie Friedman

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas P. Semancik Drs. Mick and Nancy Shaughnessy The Shepherd Chemical Company Michael Shepherd Hal and Sandy Shevers

Alfred and Carol Shikany Ms. Joycee Simendinger Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Skirtz Ms. Martha Slager Susan and David Smith Ms. Margaret Smith

Mark M. Smith (In memory of Terri C. Smith) Mrs. John A. Spiess Paula Spitzmiller

Marian P. Stapleton

Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Stautberg Ms. Ruth M. Stechschulte

Susan M. and Joseph Eric Stevens Mr. Jason V. Stitt

Mr. and Mrs. Richard Stradling, Jr. Nancy and Gary Strassel Mr. George Stricker, Jr. Patricia Strunk § Ms. Judi Sturwold

Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Sullivan Dr. Alan and Shelley Tarshis Carlos and Roberta Teran Dr. Rachel Thienprayoon George and Pamela Thomas Mr. and Mrs. J. Dwight Thompson Pamela and Paul Thompson Dr. Ilse van der Bent William and Bonnie VanEe Ms. Barbara Wagner

Mary and Jack Wagner § Mr. and Mrs. James L. Wainscott

Jane A. Walker

Sarella Walton

Herman & Margaret Wasserman Music Fund*

Mr. Gerald V. Weigle, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Welsh Maryhelen West Mr. Donald White

Ms. Elizabeth White

Janice T. Wieland Ms. Desiree Willis

Mr. Dean Windgassen and Ms. Susan Stanton Windgassen § Craig and Barbara Wolf Mrs. Ann Wolford

Don and Karen Wolnik

Rebecca Seeman and David Wood Mr. and Mrs. Robert Wylly III Mr. John M. Yacher

Jeff Yang

Mrs. Darleen Young

Judy and Martin Young

Mr. David Youngblood and Ms. Ellen Rosenman

David A. and Martha R. Yutzey Dr. and Mrs. Daryl Zeigler

Meg Zeller and Alan Weinstein Moritz and Barbara Ziegler

Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Zierolf

Thomas and Joyce Zigler Mr. Richard K. Zinicola and Ms. Linda R. Holthaus

David and Cynthia Zink

John and Mary Ann Zorio

Ms. Jayne Zuberbuhler

Anonymous (16)

GIFTS IN-KIND

Mrs. Katherine Anderson

Ms. Melanie M. Chavez

Drive Media House

Graeter’s Ice Cream Ms. Sandy Gross Harris Media Co.

Jones Day Mr. and Mrs. Tim Ross

The Voice of Your Customer

List as of September 21, 2022

* Denotes a fund of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation.

§ Denotes members of The Thomas Schippers Legacy Society. Individuals who have made a planned gift to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Pops Orchestra are eligible for membership in the Society. For more information, please contact Kate Farinacci at 513.744.3202.

The

In Honor of Kay Geiger

In Honor of Carolyn Freeze Anonymous

and Mrs. Robert R. Heidenreich

In Honor of Betty

Heldman’s birthday

and Kari Ellis Fund*

In Honor of Corey Watzek Bernadette Watzek

In Honor of Janie Williams birthday David and Kari Ellis Fund*

In Memory of Ernest M. Ambrosius Plumbers, Pipefitters & Mechanical Equipment Services

In Memory of Dr. Felix Raul Canestri Curt Hefner Crisann M. Tiemeyer

In Memory of Alixe Hastings Mrs. Thomas E. Davidson

In Memory of Dr. David Reed Karl and Peggy Braun

In Memory of Nancy Rosenthal The Poker Group

In Memory of Carolyn Russo Charles Deitschel Barbara Ward

In Memory of Leona Walsh Charles Deitschel

In Memory of Linda Wellbaum Frank and Nancy Bick Clark

WELCOME TO SEP–OCT GROUPS! (as of September 12, 2022)

Conner Middle School

Anderson Senior Center

Barrington of Oakley Berkley Square Cedar Village Cincinnati Pride Members

Maple Knoll Village Mayerson Jewish Community Center Molly Seamon & Friends Seasons Retirement Community Tri-State Prime Timers

CSO Sibelius & BARTÓK: Nov. 18–19

Christian Village at Mason Indian Hill High School Maple Knoll Village Otterbein Retirement Community St. Luke School SCPA Stivers School for the Arts The Knolls of Oxford Twin Lakes at Montgomery Wyoming High School

Lollipops Postcards Across America, Nov. 19

Bryan Equipment Sales, Inc.

Daisy Troop #4070 Karimkhan Family Kindermusik by Cathy Siebert George and Sue Lewis & Family Musicians for Health

CSO Gershwin and The Planets: Dec. 2–3

Covington Classical Academy Friends & Family of Ms. Nancy Sanchez South Dearborn High School Thomas More University

Holiday Pops: Dec. 9–11

All Saints School A&E Allergy and Asthma Care Anderson Senior Center Barrington of Oakley Batavia High School Berkeley Square Best Family Blake Family Boeing Family Bosco/Murphy Family Bryan Equipment Sales, Inc. Burns Family Christian Village at Mason

Cops go to the Pops— Cincinnati Police Department

Fairfield Crossroads Middle School

Fitz Flute Studio

Friends and Family of Gary and Bonnie Carothers

Friends and Family of George and Sue Lewis Friends and Family of Greg and Jennifer Best

Friends and Family of Jim and Jill Messner Friends and Family of Lily Feustel Friends and Family of Lisa Diesel

Friends and Family of Mr. Cody Jones Friends and Family of Mr. George Schmidt, III Friends and Family of Robert and Kimberly Walker

Friends and Family of Sunny Grothaus Good Shepherd Catholic Church Grant County Middle School Good Shepherd Catholic Church Holmes High School Howard Financial Maple Knoll Village Messner Family Metzger Family & Friends Miami University College of Creative Arts Mosko Family Otterbein Retirement Community Provident Travel Ramsey Family St. Michael School Schmidt Family Schmitt Family Seasons Retirement Community Sexton Family Smith Family Walker Family The Kenwood by Senior Star

The Knolls of Oxford Twin Towers

Pops Star Wars: The Force Awakens: Dec. 29–30 Friends of Verizon Jones Family Kremer Family Milford High School Mills Family Palmer Scouts Group

ENJOY THE MUSIC, TOGETHER!

• Groups of 10+ save 25% on most concerts and seniors and students save even more!

• Curate your own event with a private reception, guided tour or meet and greet— the possibilities are endless.

Contact CSO Group Sales: 513.864.0196 or groupsales@cincinnatisymphony.org cincinnatisymphony.org/groups

Pops Judy Garland: Nov. 11–13

THE THOMAS SCHIPPERS LEGACY SOCIETY

Thomas Schippers was Music Director from 1970 to 1977. He left not only wonderful musical memories, but also a financial legacy with a personal bequest to the Orchestra. The Thomas Schippers Legacy Society recognizes those who contribute to the Orchestra with a planned gift. We thank these members for their foresight and generosity. For more information on leaving your own legacy, contact Kate Farinacci at 513.744.3202.

Linda & Harry Fath

Alan Flaherty

Mrs. Richard A. Forberg

Dr. & Mrs.* Steven Katkin

Rachel Kirley & Joseph Jaquette

Carolyn Koehl

Mr. & Mrs. James R. Adams

Jeff & Keiko Alexander

Mrs. Robert H. Allen

Paul R. Anderson

Mrs. Charles William Anness

Carole J. Arend

Donald C. Auberger, Jr.

Dr. Diane Schwemlein Babcock

Henrietta Barlag

Peggy Barrett

Jane* & Ed Bavaria

Dava Lynn Biehl

David & Elaine Billmire

Walter Blair

Lucille* & Dutro Blocksom

Rosemary & Frank Bloom

Dr. John & Suzanne Bossert

Dr. Mollie H. Bowers-Hollon

Ronald Bozicevich

Thomas A. Braun, III

Joseph Brinkmeyer

Mr. & Mrs. Frederick Bryan, III

Harold & Dorothy Byers

Deborah Campbell & Eunice M. Wolf

Myra Chabut

Catharine W. Chapman

Michael L. Cioffi & Rachael Rowe

Mrs. Jackson L. Clagett III

Norma L. Clark*

Lois & Phil* Cohen

Leland M.* & Carol C. Cole Grace A. Cook

Jack & Janice Cook

Mr. & Mrs. Charles Cordes

Andrea D. Costa

Peter G. Courlas & Nick Tsimaras*

Mr. & Mrs. Charles E Curran III

Amy & Scott Darrah, Meredith & Will Darrah & children

Caroline H. Davidson

Harrison R.T. Davis

Ms. Kelly M. Dehan

Amy & Trey Devey

Robert W. Dorsey

Jon & Susan Doucleff

Mr. & Mrs. John Earls

Barry & Judy Evans

Ashley & Barbara Ford Guy & Marilyn Frederick Rich Freshwater & Family Susan Friedlander

Mr. Nicholas L. Fry

Linda P. Fulton

H. Jane Gavin

Mrs. Philip O. Geier*

Kenneth A. Goode

Clifford J. Goosmann & Andrea M. Wilson

Mrs. Madeleine H. Gordon

J. Frederick & Cynthia Gossman

Kathy Grote

Esther Grubbs, Marci Bein & Mindi Hamby

William Hackman

Vincent C. Hand & Ann E. Hagerman

Tom & Jan Hardy

William L. Harmon Bill Harnish* & John Harnish

Dr. & Mrs. Morton L. Harshman Mary J. Healy

Frank G. Heitker

Anne P. Heldman

Betty & John* Heldman Ms. Roberta Hermesch

Karlee L. Hilliard

Michael H. Hirsch

Mr. & Mrs. Joseph W. Hirschhorn

Daniel J. Hoffheimer

Kenneth L. Holford

Mr. George R. Hood

Mr. & Mrs. Terence L. Horan Mrs. Benjamin C. Hubbard

Susan & Tom Hughes

Carolyn R. Hunt

Dr. William Hurford & Dr. Lesley Gilbertson

Mr. and Mrs. Paul Isaacs

Julia M. F. B. Jackson

Michael & Kathleen Janson

Andrew MacAoidh Jergens

Jean C. Jett

Frank Jordan Margaret H. Jung

Mace C. Justice

Karen Kapella

Marvin Kolodzik

Randolph & Patricia Krumm

Theresa M. Kuhn

Warren & Patricia Lambeck

Owen and Cici Lee

Steve Lee

M. Drue Lehmann

Mrs. Jean E. Lemon

Mr. Peter F. Levin

George & Barbara Lott

Mr.* & Mrs. Ronald Lyons

Marilyn J. Maag

Margot Marples

David L. Martin

Allen* & Judy Martin

David Mason

Mrs. Barbara Witte McCracken

Laura Kimble McLellan

Dr. Stanley R. Milstein

Mrs. William K. Minor

Mr. & Mrs. D. E. Moccia Kristin & Stephen Mullin Christopher & Susan Muth

Patti Myers

Susan & Kenneth Newmark

Dr. & Mrs. Theodore Nicholas Patricia Grignet Nott*

Jane Oberschmidt

Marja-Liisa Ogden

Julie & Dick* Okenfuss

Jack & Marilyn Osborn

Dr. & Mrs. Richard E. Park, MD Mr. & Mrs. Charles H. Pease

Poul D. & JoAnne Pedersen

Sandy & Larry* Pike Mrs. Harold F. Poe

Anne M. Pohl

Irene & Daniel Randolph James W. Rauth

Barbara S. Reckseit Melody Sawyer Richardson Ellen Rieveschl

Elizabeth & Karl Ronn

Moe & Jack Rouse

Marianne Rowe

Ann & Harry Santen

Rosemary & Mark Schlachter

Carol J. Schroeder

Mrs. William R. Seaman

Dr. Brian Sebastian

Mrs. Mildred J. Selonick

Mrs. Robert B. Shott

Sue & Glenn Showers

Irwin and Melinda Simon

Betsy & Paul* Sittenfeld

Sarah Garrison Skidmore

Adrienne A. Smith

David & Sonja* Snyder

Marie Speziale

Mr. & Mrs. Christopher L. Sprenkle

Michael M. Spresser

Barry & Sharlyn Stare

Cynthia Starr

Bill & Lee Steenken

Tom & Dee Stegman

Barry Steinberg

Nancy M. Steman

John and Helen Stevenson

Mary* & Bob Stewart

Brett Stover

Dr. Robert & Jill Strub

Patricia M. Strunk

Ralph & Brenda* Taylor Conrad F. Thiede

Minda F. Thompson

Carrie & Peter Throm

Dr. & Mrs. Thomas Todd

Nydia Tranter

Dick & Jane Tuten

Thomas Vanden Eynden and Judith Beiting

Mr. & Mrs. Robert Varley

Mr. & Mrs. James K. Votaw

Mr. & Mrs.* Randolph L. Wadsworth Jr.

Jack K. & Mary V. Wagner

Nancy C. Wagner

Patricia M. Wagner

Mr.* & Mrs. Paul Ward

Jo Anne & Fred Warren

Mr. Scott Weiss & Dr. Charla Weiss

Anne M. Werner

Gary & Diane West

Charles A. Wilkinson

Susan Stanton Windgassen

Mrs. Joan R. Wood

Alison & Jim Zimmerman

* Deceased

New Schippers members are in bold

OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT & CEO

Jonathan Martin President & CEO

Andrea Maisonpierre Hessel Executive Assistant to the President and CEO

ARTISTIC PLANNING & PRODUCTION

Robert McGrath Chief Operating Officer

Shannon Faith Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer

Artistic Planning

Nate Bachhuber Vice President of Artistic Planning

Anthony Paggett Director of Artistic Planning

Kristin Hill Assistant, Artistic Planning and Music Director

Sam Strater Senior Advisor for Cincinnati Pops Planning Shuta Maeno Artistic Planning Intern

Production

Paul Pietrowski Vice President of Orchestra & Production

Brenda Tullos Director of Orchestra Personnel

Laura Bordner Adams Director of Operations Alex Magg Production Manager, CSO & May Festival

Carlos Javier Production Manager, Pops

Digital Content & Innovation KC Commander Director of Digital Content & Innovation

Lee Snow Digital Content Technology Manager Corinne Wiseman Digital Content Manager Kaitlyn Driesen Digital Production Manager

Learning

Carol Dary Dunevant Director of Learning

Kyle Lamb Learning Programs Manager

Hollie Greenwood Learning Coordinator

Ian McIntyre

Sound Discoveries Teaching Artist

Emily Jordan Sound Discoveries Teaching Assistant

Jaysean Johnson Education Programs Intern Elizabeth Reyna CCM Arts Administration Graduate Assistant

COMMUNICATIONS

Felecia Tchen Kanney Vice President of Communications

Tyler Secor Director of Publications & Content Development Charlie Balcom Social Media Manager

Wajeeh Khan Communications Intern

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT | DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION

Harold Brown

The Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer

Tiffany Cooper Director of Community Engagement and Diversity Amanda Franklin Community Engagement Manager

Nicole Ortiz Community Engagement Intern

PHILANTHROPY

Mary McFadden Lawson, CAP® Chief Philanthropy Officer

Sean Baker Director of Institutional Giving

Bhavya Nayna Channan Corporate Relations Manager

Leslie Hoggatt, CFRE Director of Individual Giving and Donor Services

Catherine Hann, CFRE Assistant Director of Individual Giving

Katelyn Conway Philanthropy Communications Manager

Emma Steward Donation Engagement Coordinator

Penny Hamilton Philanthropy Assistant

Kate Farinacci

Director of Special Campaigns and Legacy Giving

Ashley Coffey Foundation and Grants Manager

D’Anté McNeal Special Projects Coordinator

Quinton Jefferson Research Grants Administrator

Patrick Koshewa Philanthropy Intern

FINANCE & DATA SERVICES Richard Freshwater Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Finance

Kristina Pfeiffer Director of Finance, CSO

Elizabeth Engwall Accounting Manager, CSO Judy Mosely Accounting Clerk, CSO Laura Van Pelt Accounting Clerk, CSO Marijane Klug Accounting Manager, MEMI Deborah Benjamin Accounting Clerk, MEMI Matthew Grady Accounting Manager, MEMI Sydney Mucha Accounting Clerk, MEMI

Data Services

Sharon D. Grayton Data Services Manager Tara Williams Data Services Manager Kathleen Curry Data Entry Clerk

HUMAN RESOURCES

Kyle Wynk-Sivashankar Vice President of Human Resources

Jenny Ryan Human Resources Manager

Megan Inderbitzin-Tsai Payroll Manager

Natalia Lerzundi Payroll Specialist

MARKETING

Michael Frisco Vice President of Marketing Stephen Howson Director of Web and Audience Insight Alexis Shambley Marketing Assistant

Michelle Lewandowski Director of Marketing Nic Bizub Group Sales Manager Jon Dellinger Copywriter/Marketing Manager Carmen Granger Subscriptions Marketing Manager Stephanie Lazorchak Graphic Designer

Amber Ostaszewski Director of Audience Engagement Abigail Karr Audience Engagement Manager Elaine Hudson Assistant Box Office Manager Carmen York Assistant Box Office Manager Djenaba Adams Marketing Intern

PATRON SERVICES Supervisors Ellisen Blair Hannah Kaiser Laura Ruple

Representatives Rebecca Ammerman Drew Dolan Craig Doolin Grace Kim Hayley Maloney Wendy Marshall Erik Nordstrom Emily Schaub Aspen Stein

CINCINNATI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA & CINCINNATI POPS Music Hall, 1241 Elm Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202 Administrative Offices: 513.621.1919 | hello@cincinnatisymphony.org

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