Classical Movements Presents Minnesota Orchestra in South Africa

AUGUST 10-18, 2018

CAPE TOWN • DURBAN • PRETORIA • SOWETO • JOHANNESBURG

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W E LC O M E F R O M T H E U. S . E M BAS SY Welcome to this performance by one of the United States’ premier orchestras, the Minnesota Orchestra.

The U.S. Mission is delighted to welcome this prestigious ensemble to South Africa for a once-ina-lifetime tour, inspired by and honoring Nelson Mandela in the hundredth year since his birth, the Nelson Mandela Centenary.

Americans have long admired Nelson Mandela, respecting his commitment to moral leadership, to democracy, and to freedom for all. To honor him this year, we are all encouraged to “Be the Legacy.”

At the U.S. Mission, we do so by being mindful of the values that Mandela stood for and that we as Americans share. His legacy inspires our daily work. The team of Americans and South Africans at our Embassy in Pretoria and Consulates General in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town strive to improve economic opportunities, foster prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic, and assist South Africans to live healthy and productive lives.

It is extraordinary for Americans to formally honor another nation’s president, but Nelson Mandela was no ordinary man. Americans remember that in 1990, Mandela toured the United States. He was greeted in New York by a staggering 750,000 admirers and a ticker-tape parade; he addressed a joint session of Congress (only the third private citizen to do so, and won 15 standing ovations); and he paid his respects at the tomb of another hero, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Americans’ heartfelt reception of Mandela reflected the shared values that he represented to us: that democracy is hard-won, but that it is for one and for all.

Nelson Mandela returned to America many times, including as South Africa’s President. His personal statesmanship set an example, demonstrating that the close, human ties between our two peoples are far more enduring than the formal ties of our regularly changing governments. You will read elsewhere that the Minnesota Orchestra’s tour grew from Music Director Osmo Vänskä’s experience with the phenomenal South African National Youth Orchestra. The Minnesota Orchestra’s tour was made possible through the generosity and initiative of private American citizens and corporations that value the warm ties between our two countries, which have continued to deepen since that first visit to the U.S. by Nelson Mandela.

“Music for Mandela” is an amazing and delightful musical exchange. From Beethoven’s beloved Ninth Symphony, to the eagerly anticipated world premiere of Harmonia Ubuntu by South Africa’s own Bongani Ndodana-Breen, I believe that you will hear both something that you have long loved and something new that you may treasure forever.

Please, enjoy this celebration of Nelson Mandela, and of the joyous harmony that can be achieved when you bring Americans and South Africans together. Congratulations to the Minnesota Orchestra and to Classical Movements on this incredible undertaking. The U.S. Mission in South Africa joins you, South Africans, and people around the world in honoring the Nelson Mandela Centenary.

Jessica Lapenn Chargé d’ Affaires U.S. Embassy Pretoria

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Minnesota Orchestra Osmo Vänskä Music Director Douglas and Louise Leatherdale Music Director Chair

Roderick Cox Associate Conductor

Doc Severinsen Pops Conductor Laureate

Minnesota Chorale Principal Chorus

Akiko Fujimoto Assistant Conductor

Kevin Puts Director, Composer Institute

Kathy Saltzman Romey Choral Advisor

Sarah Hicks Principal Conductor, Live at Orchestra Hall

FIRST VIOLINS Erin Keefe Concertmaster Elbert L. Carpenter Chair Susie Park First Associate Concertmaster Lillian Nippert and Edgar F. Zelle Chair Roger Frisch Associate Concertmaster Frederick B. Wells Chair Rui Du Assistant Concertmaster Loring M. Staples, Sr., Chair Pamela Arnstein David Brubaker Rebecca Corruccini Sarah Grimes Helen Chang Haertzen Céline Leathead Rudolf Lekhter + Joanne Opgenorth Milana Elise Reiche Deborah Serafini Kyu-Young Kim * Alexandra Early * SECOND VIOLINS Peter McGuire Principal Sumner T. McKnight Chair Jonathan Magness Associate Principal Cecilia Belcher Assistant Principal Taichi Chen Jean Marker De Vere Aaron Janse Ben Odhner Natsuki Kumagai Catherine Schubilske Michael Sutton Kathryn Bennett * James Garlick * Colleen McCullough * VIOLAS Rebecca Albers Principal Reine H. Myers Chair Richard Marshall Co-Principal Douglas and Louise Leatherdale Chair Open Assistant Principal Michael Adams Sam Bergman

roster

Dominick Argento Composer Laureate

Sifei Cheng Kenneth Freed Megan Tam Thomas Turner + Gareth Zehngut David Auerbach * Maiya Papach * Jennifer Strom * CELLOS Anthony Ross Principal John and Elizabeth Bates Cowles Chair Silver Ainomäe Associate Principal John and Barbara Sibley Boatwright Chair Beth Rapier Assistant Principal Marion E. Cross Chair Katja Linfield Marcia Peck Pitnarry Shin Arek Tesarczyk Roger and Cynthia Britt Chair Richard Belcher * Jim Jacobson * BASSES Kristen Bruya Principal Jay Phillips Chair Kathryn Nettleman Acting Associate Principal Mr. and Mrs. Edward E. Stepanek Chair William Schrickel Assistant Principal Robert Anderson Matthew Frischman Brian Liddle + David Williamson Charles Block * FLUTES Adam Kuenzel Principal Eileen Bigelow Chair Greg Milliren Associate Principal Henrietta Rauenhorst Chair Wendy Williams Roma Duncan PICCOLO Roma Duncan Alene M. Grossman Chair

OBOES John Snow Principal Grace B. Dayton Chair Kathryn Greenbank * Acting Associate Principal Julie Gramolini Williams + Marni J. Hougham Barbara Bishop * ENGLISH HORN Marni J. Hougham John Gilman Ordway Chair CLARINETS Gabriel Campos Zamora Principal I.A. O’Shaughnessy Chair Gregory T. Williams Associate Principal Ray and Doris Mithun Chair David Pharris Timothy Zavadil E-FLAT CLARINET Gregory T. Williams BASS CLARINET Timothy Zavadil BASSOONS Fei Xie Principal Norman B. Mears Chair Mark Kelley Co-Principal Marjorie F. and George H. Dixon Chair J. Christopher Marshall Norbert Nielubowski + Cheryl Kelley * CONTRABASSOON Norbert Nielubowski + Cheryl Kelley *

HORNS Michael Gast Principal John Sargent Pillsbury Chair Herbert Winslow Associate Principal Gordon C. and Harriet D. Paske Chair Brian Jensen Ellen Dinwiddie Smith Bruce Hudson Michael Petruconis *

TRUMPETS Manny Laureano Principal Mr. and Mrs. Archibald G. Bush Chair Douglas C. Carlsen Associate Principal Rudolph W. and Gladys Davis Miller Chair Robert Dorer Charles Lazarus TROMBONES R. Douglas Wright Principal Star Tribune Chair Kari Sundström William C. and Corinne J. Dietrich Chair BASS TROMBONE Andrew Chappell TUBA Steven Campbell Principal Robert Machray Ward Chair Jason Tanksley Rosemary and David Good Fellow TIMPANI Jason Arkis Acting Principal Dimitri Mitropoulos Chair Kevin Watkins Acting Associate Principal

PERCUSSION Brian Mount Principal Friends of the Minnesota Orchestra Chair Kevin Watkins Associate Principal Opus Chair Steve Kimball * Fernando Meza *

LIBRARIANS Maureen Conroy Principal Eric Sjostrom Associate Principal Valerie Little Assistant Principal PERSONNEL MANAGER Kris Arkis ASSISTANT PERSONNEL MANAGER Janelle Lanz TECHNICAL DIRECTOR Joel Mooney STAGE MANAGERS Don Hughes Matthew Winiecki ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER Gail Reich * SOUND TECHNICIAN Jay Perlman STAGEHANDS Molly Gubbins * Tom Gubbins * Steve Rush * + Leave of absence * Replacement Many string players participate in a voluntary system of revolving seating.

Section string players are listed in alphabetical order.

HARP Kathy Kienzle Principal Bertha Boynton Bean Chair PIANO, HARPSICHORD AND CELESTA Open Principal Markell C. Brooks Chair

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PR O F I L ES : O S M O VÄ N S K Ä A N D T H E M I N N ES OTA O R C H ES T R A Osmo Vänskä, music director Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä, the Minnesota Orchestra’s tenth music director, is renowned internationally for his compelling interpretations of the standard, contemporary and Nordic repertoires. Since becoming the Minnesota Orchestra’s music director in 2003, he has led the ensemble on several major international tours, including a historic 2015 tour to Cuba and six visits to Europe, most recently a performance at the BBC Proms in London earlier this month.

As a guest conductor, he has led all the major U.S. and European orchestras, along with several major orchestras in Asia. He is also

Minnesota Orchestra The Minnesota Orchestra, now in its second century and led by Music Director Osmo Vänskä, ranks among the United States’ top symphonic ensembles, with a distinguished history of acclaimed performances in its home state and around the world; awardwinning recordings, radio broadcasts and educational engagement programs; and a visionary commitment to building the orchestral repertoire of tomorrow. Founded as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, the ensemble gave its inaugural performance on November 5, 1903. The ensemble now presents about 175 programs each year, primarily at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and its concerts are heard each year by live audiences of 300,000.

Under Vänskä’s leadership, the ensemble has visited Europe six times and made a historic trip to Havana, Cuba, in May 2015, becoming the first major American orchestra to perform in the island nation following a thaw in U.S.-Cuban relations. The trip drew widespread international attention and prompted The New York Times to hail the Orchestra’s new place “at the cultural vanguard.” Under Vänskä, the Orchestra has undertaken several acclaimed recording projects, primarily for BIS Records. In 2014

deeply committed to engaging with student musicians, and one such connection was the impetus for the Minnesota Orchestra’s current tour to South Africa: his experience conducting the young musicians of the South African National Youth Orchestra (SANYO) in 2014 to celebrate SANYO’s 50th anniversary. Vänskä was appointed principal guest conductor of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in Reykjavík, effective in fall 2014; he has since been named the ensemble’s honorary conductor. He is also conductor laureate of the Lahti Symphony, which he served as music director from 1988 to 2008. Vänskä, who began his music career as a clarinetist, held the co-principal chair of the Helsinki Philharmonic (197782) and the principal chair of the Turku Philharmonic (1971-76).

Following conducting studies under Jorma Panula at Finland’s Sibelius Academy, he was awarded first prize in the 1982 Besançon International Young Conductor’s Competition. Three years later he began his tenure with the Lahti Symphony as principal guest conductor, while also serving as music director of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the Tapiola Sinfonietta. In addition, Vänskä served as chief conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra of Glasgow from 1997 to 2002. For more information, visit www.minnesotaorchestra.org.

the Orchestra and Vänskä won the United States’ highest honor for orchestral recordings, the Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance, for a disc of Sibelius’ Symphonies No. 1 and 4, one of a three-album cycle of the complete Sibelius symphonies. The Orchestra’s current recording project features the complete Mahler symphonies, and the first disc in the set, featuring Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, received a 2018 Grammy nomination. The Minnesota Orchestra has a long history with Minnesota Public Radio, and, during the South Africa tour, the concert at Regina Mundi Roman Catholic Church in Soweto will be broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio in Minnesota and online worldwide at www.classicalmpr.org.

In addition to its five public concerts in South Africa, the Minnesota Orchestra is honored to participate in a series of cultural exchanges with young South African musicians, including collaborations with the Cape Music Institute, the Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, the KwaZulu-Natal Youth Wind Band, the South African National Youth Orchestra and the University of Pretoria, as well as an event in the Cape Flats townships with local musicians through New Hope International Exchange. For more information, visit www.minnesotaorchestra.org.

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Minnesota Orchestra in Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria

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Minnesota Orchestra Osmo Vänskä, conductor | Goitsemang Lehobye, soprano Presented by Classical Movements Friday, August 10, 2018, 8 pm Sunday, August 12, 2018, 5 pm Thursday, August 16, 2018, 7:30 pm

City Hall, Cape Town City Hall, Durban Aula Theatre, Pretoria

We recognize an anonymous couple for their generous contribution to fund the Minnesota Orchestra’s tour.

We recognize the Douglas and Louise Leatherdale Fund for Music supporting the work of Osmo Vänskä.

With the performance in Cape Town we gratefully recognize Margee and Will Bracken for their generous contribution to the Minnesota Orchestra’s Investing in Inspiration campaign.

National Anthems of South Africa (arr. Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph) and the United States (arr. Stanislaw Skrowaczewski) Jean Sibelius

En Saga, Opus 9

ca. 17’

Bongani Ndodana-Breen

Harmonia Ubuntu * Goitsemang Lehobye, soprano

ca. 12’

INTERMISSION

ca. 20’

Leonard Bernstein

Overture to Candide

ca. 5’

Ludwig van Beethoven

Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Opus 67 Allegro con brio Andante con moto Allegro Allegro [There is no pause before the last movement.]

ca. 36’

Presented in association with the Cape Town Philharmonic (August 10), the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra (August 12), and the University of Pretoria and the Pretoria Symphony Orchestra (August 16). * Commissioned for the Minnesota Orchestra South Africa Tour by Classical Movements as part of the Eric Daniel Helms New Music Program.

Osmo Vänskä’s profile appears on page 4, Goitsemang Lehobye’s on page 20.

thank you

We gratefully acknowledge our Corporate Consortium partners Ecolab, TCF Financial Corporation, Medtronic Foundation, Land O’Lakes, 3M, U.S. Bank, Thor Companies, Target and Pentair for their generous support of the Music for Mandela project.

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Minnesota Orchestra in Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria

Jean Sibelius

Bongani Ndodana-Breen

Born: December 8, 1865, Tavastehus, Finland Died: September 20, 1957, Järvenpää, Finland

Born: August 1975, Queenstown, South Africa; now living in Cape Town

En Saga, Opus 9

Harmonia Ubuntu

Premiered: February 20, 1920

Premiered: July 21, 2018

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arly in 1892, Sibelius completed the first of his several works based on the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala: the vast five-part symphony Kullervo, which depicts episodes in the life of the eponymous tragic hero. Sibelius’ senior compatriot Robert Kajanus saw to it that Kullervo was performed in Helsinki that April, and its success prompted him to ask Sibelius for a shorter piece that could be performed more frequently. Sibelius responded in June of that year with En Saga.

The new piece was not a success when the composer conducted the premiere in Helsinki on February 16, 1893. Nine years later, though, Sibelius subjected the score to a major revision, which made such a positive impression when he introduced it in Helsinki on November 2, 1902, that it immediately took its place in the general repertory.

It was not until four decades later still, when he had written the last of his works and the world had celebrated his 75th birthday, that Sibelius said anything at all about the extramusical significance of this work. At that time (the early 1940s) he remarked, “En Saga is the expression of a state of mind. I had undergone a number of painful experiences at the time, and in no other work have I revealed myself so completely. It is for this reason that I find all literary explanations quite alien.”

elemental forces The freedom Sibelius gained by not attempting to tell a specific story or paint a specific picture gives En Saga a universality and directness. It is powerfully evocative in a general sense, and it may touch us on deeper levels—may convey a sense of some primordial adventure—involving elemental forces rather than individuals, and both tragic and exhilarating in its fierce urgency.

The themes, strong and persistent, seem to grow directly out of one another, in the nature of metamorphoses. The rhythms are hypnotic, the darkish orchestral coloring (with a bass drum replacing, rather than augmenting, the timpani) as deftly achieved as anything from Rimsky-Korsakov, Strauss or Ravel.

The overall effect is one of striking originality, a style as unlikely to be successfully imitated or duplicated as it is to be mistaken for that of anyone but Sibelius himself.

Instrumentation: 2 flutes (1 doubling piccolo), 2 clarinets, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, bass drum, cymbals, triangle and strings

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n geographic terms, South Africa and the state of Minnesota are separated by nearly 15,000 kilometers. Musically speaking, though, they’ve rarely been closer than this July and August, as the Minnesota Orchestra presented a three-week festival in Minneapolis celebrating South Africa’s most famous statesman, the late Nelson Mandela, on the centenary of his birth, and is now touring South Africa in the first-ever visit here by a professional U.S. orchestra. “Music for Mandela” includes collaborations with South African soloists, ensembles and composers—with a central component of the project being the world premiere of Harmonia Ubuntu by Bongani Ndodana-Breen, one of today’s leading South African composers.

Harmonia Ubuntu honors Mandela and the ideals he stood for, such as peace, freedom, reconciliation and ubuntu—a Nguni Bantu term which Ndodana-Breen explains is “the knowledge that one’s humanity is tied to the humanity of others or humanity towards others.”

New orchestral works are often funded by ensembles or individuals, but Ndodana-Breen’s Harmonia Ubuntu was commissioned for the Minnesota Orchestra’s South Africa tour by a different sort of musical organization, the international touring company Classical Movements, through its Eric Daniel Helms New Music Program. After proposing the commission last year, Classical Movements—which is managing the South Africa tour—gave the Orchestra a list of recommended South African composers. Ndodana-Breen’s music stood out to Music Director Osmo Vänskä, and collaborative discussions ensued over how the new piece could best connect with the Mandela celebration. The incorporation of Mandela’s own words appealed to all parties, but rather than following the model of a work such as a similarly-conceived work honoring an American statesman, Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait—which employs spoken narration—Ndodana-Breen elected to have Mandela’s words sung by a soprano. This artistic choice allows the listener to hear those words in a wholly new way.

Harmonia Ubuntu received its world premiere performance by the Minnesota Orchestra and soprano Goitsemang Lehobye on July 21, 2018, in Minneapolis. Its international journey is continuing this month with performances on all five stops of the South Africa tour: Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria, Soweto and Johannesburg.

Program note by Richard Freed.

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Minnesota Orchestra in Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria about the composer Dr. Bongani Ndodana-Breen has written a number of works which relate to or are inspired by his country’s struggle against apartheid and for liberation. One of his most acclaimed is Winnie, The Opera, based on the life of Winnie Mandela, who was married to Nelson Mandela for more than three decades and was a fellow leading figure of the anti-apartheid movement. (Winnie Mandela herself attended the opera’s premiere in April 2011.) His other recent major operatic and orchestral works include Three Orchestral Songs on poems by Ingrid Jonker; the oratorio Credo, which is based on South Africa’s historic Freedom Charter with libretto by Brent Meersman; Mzilikazi: Emhlabeni, a sinfonia concertante for piano and orchestra; and the short opera Hani.

Ndodana-Breen’s orchestral works have been performed by major South African orchestras such as the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic, Johannesburg Festival Orchestra, Johannesburg Philharmonic and Cape Town Philharmonic, as well as ensembles around the world including the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Vancouver Opera Orchestra, Symphony Nova Scotia, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra and Belgian National Orchestra. In addition to his symphonic and opera writing, he has composed a wide range of choral, small ensemble, chamber and solo music.

Commissions have come from institutions such as London’s Wigmore Hall, the Vancouver Recital Society, Madame Walker Theatre in Indianapolis, the Hong Kong Arts Festival, Luminato Festival Toronto and the Haydn Festival in Eisenstadt. Among the many honors conferred on him are the Standard Bank Young Artist Award in 1998 and recognition as one of Mail & Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans in 2011. From 1999 to 2007 he directed the Canadian new music organization Ensemble Noir, which he led on tours to South Africa, Ghana and Nigeria.

“our common humanity” The English text sung by soprano in Harmonia Ubuntu is a composite of phrases from writings and speeches of Nelson Mandela, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning leader, philanthropist and human rights advocate whose centenary (officially July 18, 2018) is being celebrated worldwide this year. Mandela’s extraordinary life experience—including 27 years as a political prisoner for his opposition to the apartheid regime, followed by his election to the presidency of a government that pursued a “truth and reconciliation” model of honest accountability and healing—lends great moral authority to his words. The particular lines Ndodana-Breen has chosen, the composer explains, “reinforce our common humanity and inspire courage over adversity....[Mandela’s] message is one of reconciliation, forgiveness, freedom and justice and love for our fellow man.

More importantly, we are reminded that it takes courage to pursue these ideals.” Selections from Ndodana-Breen’s notes on Harmonia Ubuntu follow; his comments appear in full at www.minnesotaorchestra.org/showcase.

Ndodana-Breen offers this description of Harmonia Ubuntu: “The music begins with an introductory figure in the lower strings. In

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the culture of the Xhosa of the Eastern Cape of South Africa, this figure is often termed ‘ukuhlabela’—a short musical introduction by a lead singer before everyone else joins in. This is a common trait in music from various traditions in Africa where the leader starts with a teasing ‘short start’—the leader sings or plays his opening introduction upon which everyone responds with their answer. The answer in Harmonia Ubuntu is a fanfare figure that makes three appearances in the piece, heralding the beginning and roughly the middle and end sections. Given that this work focuses on Nelson Mandela (and his Centennial), it can also be said that the fanfare alludes to the ‘statesman’ side of Mandela, South Africa’s first black president, coupled with the fact that he is regarded as a traditional prince of the Thembu people (who are Xhosa speakers). His father was Chief Mphakanyiswa Gadla Mandela, principal counsellor to then Acting King of the Thembu, Jongintaba Dalindyebo.”

The composer continues: “The musical ideas that frame this work are largely derived from the musical universe of Southern Africa. For example, the musical language is influenced by modes which are often associated with the Xhosa hexatonic scale. This is a six note scale that comes from the overtones created by musical bows (mrhube, uhadi) used over centuries by the Xhosa people. Aspects of the interlocking patterns in Harmonia Ubuntu looked beyond South Africa’s political borders, to the traditional mbira (African thumb piano), an instrument prevalent among the Shona people of what is now Zimbabwe. An aspect of mbira music alluded to here is not only in the constructing of a musical theme but the dynamic between a ‘kushaura’ (lead part) and ‘kutsinhira’ (following part)—a curious musical architecture where themes interact a note apart. This rhythmic counterpoint lends the music a trance-like and also a dance-like quality. The Shona mapira ceremonies are where the people ask ancestral spirits for guidance and intercession, in a trance-like state. There is a section in the music when the soprano alludes to this by singing words that do not have a lexicographical meaning but are certainly part of a deeply rooted (and felt) ancient Xhosa vocabulary. Music in African society is not an abstraction, it is informed by sophisticated aesthetic principles.”

Concluding his remarks, Ndodana-Breen states: “It is not uncommon in certain types of African music that the pulse of one performer (or group of performers) falls exactly in the middle of the pulse of another’s. Also, repetition forms a crucial aspect in the architecture of this piece. Repetition unveils dimensions of the music for the performer and listener that Gerhard Kubik observed in his study of Kiganda and Kisoga xylophone music: ‘To make all the inner dimensions of these musical picture puzzles gradually visible to oneself the total pattern must be repeated again and again. Only then is it possible to follow the conflicting inherent lines. If there were no repetitions, if the Baganda musicians had tried the kind of horizontal development of their art found in European classical music, there would be no chance for listeners and performers to appreciate this music in its highly developed vertical dimension.’”

Harmonia Ubuntu is scored primarily for standard orchestral

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Minnesota Orchestra in Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria

instruments, but Ndodana-Breen adds two percussion instruments of African origin: the wasembe rattle, which is played with quick downward motions, causing the gourd slices to move up and down the connector stick—and the djembe, a rope-tuned, skin-covered drum shaped like a goblet and played with the bare hands.

Instrumentation: solo soprano with orchestra comprising 3 flutes (1 doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, English horn, 3 clarinets (1 doubling bass clarinet), 3 bassoons (1 doubling contrabassoon), 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, suspended cymbal, djembe, rain stick, shaker, tamtam, wasembe rattle, marimba, harp and strings Program note by Carl Schroeder.

Harmonia Ubuntu: in the words of Nelson Mandela I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.

The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.

For to be free is not to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that enhances the freedom of others.

If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with them. Then he becomes your partner.

In the end, reconciliation is a spiritual process. It requires more than just words. It has to happen in the hearts and minds of people.

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.

We understand it still that there is no easy road to freedom.

We know it well, that none of us acting alone can achieve success. We must therefore act together as a united people for reconciliation, the birth of a new world.

Let there be justice for all. Let there be peace for all. Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways you yourself have changed.

After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.

The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.

From the writings and speeches of Nelson Mandela.

Leonard Bernstein Born: August 25, 1918, Lawrence, Massachusetts Died: October 14, 1990, New York City

Overture to Candide Premiered: December 1, 1956 (Broadway); January 26, 1957 (concert)

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hen thousands perished in the Lisbon, Portugal, earthquake of 1752, the French writer and philosopher Voltaire responded with the diverting story of Candide, a guileless innocent who through every trial and tribulation clings to the notion that this is indeed the best of all possible worlds. Published in 1759, Voltaire’s stinging satire attacked the bedrock premise of the philosophical optimists who provided a rationalization for any apparent evil.

Nearly 200 years after Candide appeared in print, Leonard Bernstein and playwright Lillian Hellman collaborated to produce a musical version. After tryouts in Boston and New Haven, Candide opened at the Martin Beck Theater in New York on December 1, 1956. For all its vigor, tunefulness and immense theatricality, the show was not an immediate success, earning mixed reviews and surviving just 73 performances in its initial run.

“Candide is on and gone,” Bernstein wrote in his diary in February 1957, penning a highly premature obituary. Already on January 26, 1957, Bernstein had led the Philharmonic in the first concert performance of the Candide Overture, which started its swift ascent into the orchestral repertory where it remains beloved for its embodiment of the high-energy American spirit.

Despite its initial stage failure, Candide has gone on to a successful life. The first of several key modifications to the production came in 1958, when Bernstein pulled in playwright Hugh Wheeler to take up where Hellman left off, helping Bernstein trim the two acts to one, restoring Voltaire’s biting wit and creating a narrator’s role for Voltaire. Still, much credit for Candide’s longevity and ultimate success must go to Bernstein’s music, the best-known portion of which remains the vigorous and lyrical overture. It begins with a dramatic fanfare, then offers a quick tour of “Oh, Happy We,” “Glitter and Be Gay” and other memorable themes from the operetta.

Instrumentation: 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, E-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, snare drum, tenor drum, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, glockenspiel, xylophone, harp and strings Program note by Mary Ann Feldman.

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Minnesota Orchestra in Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria Ludwig van Beethoven Born: December 16, 1770, Bonn, Germany Died: March 26, 1827, Vienna, Austria

Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Opus 67 Premiered: December 22, 1808

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he opening measures of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony feature the most well-known notes in classical music, and Beethoven’s Fifth is certainly the most famous symphony ever written.

Music so intense, so universal in appeal, cries out for interpretation. To some, those opening four notes were the sound of fate knocking at the door. A 19th-century critic believed that the symphony told the story of a failed love affair. Goethe felt threatened by the work, describing it as “quite wild; it makes one fear that the house might fall down.” In his review of the Fifth Symphony, E.T.A. Hoffmann spoke surrealistically: “Glowing rays of light blaze through the dark night of this world and we are made conscious of gigantic shadows which surge up and down, gradually closing in on us more and more and annihilating everything within us…”

More than two centuries later this music has become so overfamiliar that, when the famous opening rings out, some minds go on automatic pilot for the next 30 minutes. But to comprehend this astonishing musical achievement, we should listen with the same rapt attention that gripped its first audience.

the premiere Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony was first performed on December 22, 1808, six days after Beethoven’s 38th birthday. That occasion, in the Theater an der Wien, produced one of the strangest concerts ever given. Beethoven led a program that consisted of the premiere performances of the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, the first public performance of the Fourth Piano Concerto, the aria Ah! perfido and various movements from the Mass in C major. Apparently Beethoven was concerned that this was not enough music, so he hurriedly composed the Choral Fantasy as the concluding work.

The concert lasted a very long time, the orchestra was underrehearsed, the weather in Vienna three days before Christmas was freezing and the hall was not heated. From the German composer Johann Reichart came this devastating account: “There we sat from half past six till half past ten in the most bitter cold, and found by experience that one might have too much even of a good thing—and still more of a loud thing.”

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the music allegro con brio. The opening of the first movement is both very simple and charged with volcanic fury: it is an assaultive beginning, as Goethe instinctively recognized. The seemingly simple four-note figure that saturates this movement will reappear in many forms throughout the symphony, shaping the main theme, generating the rhythms and pulsing insistently in the background. It even becomes the horn fanfare that announces the second theme. The torrent unleashed at the beginning is unrelenting, and this brief movement hammers to a close with the issues it has raised still unresolved. andante con moto. Next comes a variation-form movement based on two separate themes. Violas and cellos sing the broad opening melody in A-flat major; Beethoven reportedly made eleven different versions of this theme before achieving what he wanted. The second subject, in heroic C major, blazes out in the brass, and Beethoven then alternates these two themes, varying each as the movement proceeds. allegro. The third movement returns to the C-minor urgency of the beginning. Lower strings introduce the sinuous opening idea that curls up out of the depths, and we are back in the darkness of the first movement. But horns quickly ring out the symphony’s opening motto, and this scherzo, pitched between darkness and light, never fully recovers its equilibrium. The trio, with its blistering fugal entries in the strings, subtly incorporates the symphony’s opening rhythm as it proceeds. At just the point where one anticipates a return to the opening of the scherzo comes one of the most famous—and most original—moments in music. allegro. Instead of going back, Beethoven pushes ahead. Bits of the scherzo flit quietly over an ominous pedal, and we seem to be gliding over a dark landscape as muted sunlight flickers around us through the clouds. Suddenly the final movement, a triumphant march in C major, bursts across that darkness like a shaft of golden light. At this same instant Beethoven widens his tonal palette, introducing three trombones (their first appearance ever in a symphony), contrabassoon and piccolo. The lower instruments add impressive heft to the orchestral sound, while the piccolo’s slashing, silvery runs enliven much of this finale. Near the middle of this movement Beethoven brings back some of the scherzo. It reminds us of the darkness surrounding this journey and briefly slows progress before the triumphant march bursts out again to drive the symphony to its close. The coda itself is extremely long, and the final cadence—extended almost beyond reason—is overpowering.

No matter how familiar this music is, no matter how overlain it has become with extra-musical associations, the Fifth Symphony remains extraordinary music. Heard for itself, free of cultural baggage, it is as original and exciting and furious today as when it burst upon an unsuspecting audience on that cold winter night in Vienna two centuries ago.

Instrumentation: 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani and strings Program note by Eric Bromberger.

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THE MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA AT HOME The Minnesota Orchestra performs its home concerts at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Clockwise from top: Music Director Osmo Vänskä leading the Orchestra and Minnesota Chorale in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in 2016; Orchestra tuba players Jason Tanksley and Steven Campbell on each side of a student musician in a 2018 Side-by-Side Rehearsal; the exterior of Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis; a performance led by Associate Conductor Roderick Cox in 2016; cellist Yo-Yo Ma performing with Vänskä and the Orchestra in 2017.

Photos: Greg Helgeson, Tony Nelson, Betsy Wall Photography.

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Minnesota Orchestra in Soweto

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Minnesota Orchestra Osmo Vänskä, conductor | Goitsemang Lehobye, soprano Minette du Toit-Pearce, mezzo | Siyabonga Maqungo, tenor | Njabulo Madlala, baritone Gauteng Choristers | Minnesota Chorale Presented by Classical Movements Friday, August 17, 2018, 7 pm

Regina Mundi Roman Catholic Church, Soweto

We recognize an anonymous couple for their generous contribution to fund the Minnesota Orchestra’s tour.

We recognize the Douglas and Louise Leatherdale Fund for Music supporting the work of Osmo Vänskä.

With this concert, the Nelson Family honors Minnesota Orchestra Board of Directors Chair Marilyn Carlson Nelson for her extraordinary leadership and generosity.

National Anthems of South Africa (arr. Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph) and the United States (arr. Stanislaw Skrowaczewski) Jean Sibelius

En Saga, Opus 9

ca. 17’

Bongani Ndodana-Breen

Harmonia Ubuntu * Goitsemang Lehobye, soprano

ca. 12’

Leonard Bernstein

Overture to Candide

ca. 5’

INTERMISSION

ca. 20’

Ludwig van Beethoven

Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Opus 125, Choral Movement IV: Presto - Allegro assai - Allegro assai vivace Goitsemang Lehobye, soprano | Minette du Toit-Pearce, mezzo Siyabonga Maqungo, tenor | Njabulo Madlala, baritone Gauteng Choristers | Minnesota Chorale

ca. 25’

J. S. Mzilikazi Khumalo/

Akhala Amaqhude Amabili

ca. 5’

Bawo Thixo Somandla Xolani Mootane, conductor

ca. 4’

Michael Mosoeu Moerane/ orch. Susan Cock

Ruri

ca. 5’

Stompie Mavi/

Usilethela Uxolo (Nelson Mandela) Kananelo Sehau, tenor

ca. 4’

orch. Peter Louis Van Dijk

Archibald Arnold Mxolisi Matyila/ arr. J. S. Mzilikazi Khumalo

arr. Gobingca George Mxadana/ orch. Jaakko Kuusisto

* Commissioned for the Minnesota Orchestra South Africa Tour by Classical Movements as part of the Eric Daniel Helms New Music Program.

Osmo Vänskä’s profile appears on page 4; profiles of tonight’s other performers begin on page 20.

thank you

We gratefully acknowledge our Corporate Consortium partners Ecolab, TCF Financial Corporation, Medtronic Foundation, Land O’Lakes, 3M, U.S. Bank, Thor Companies, Target and Pentair for their generous support of the Music for Mandela project.

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Minnesota Orchestra in Soweto

Jean Sibelius

En Saga, Opus 9 Program note appears on page 6.

Bongani Ndodana-Breen

Harmonia Ubuntu Program note begins on page 6.

Leonard Bernstein

Overture to Candide Program note appears on page 8.

Ludwig van Beethoven

Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Opus 125, Choral, movement IV

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eethoven composed his visionary Ninth Symphony when he was in his 50s, deaf, and only three years from death.

The first symphony to include the human voice, it offers a romantic vision of the togetherness of all humankind, and for sheer grandeur of expression it has never been matched.

Beethoven had planned to set Friedrich Schiller’s An die Freude (Ode to Joy) to music as early as 1792, when he was 22, but that plan had to wait 30 years. The first performance of the Ninth took place in Vienna on May 7, 1824. Though he had been deaf for years, Beethoven sat on stage with the orchestra and tried to assist in the direction of the music. This occasion produced one of the classic Beethoven anecdotes. Unaware that the piece had ended, Beethoven continued to beat time and had to be turned around to be shown the applause that he could not hear—the realization that the music they had just heard had been written by a deaf man overwhelmed the audience.

“more pleasing and more joyful” Tonight’s performance features the Ninth Symphony’s final movement, which begins with a dissonant blast. Beethoven’s intention here was precise—he called this ugly opening noise a Schrecken-fanfare (“terror-fanfare”), and with it he wanted to shatter the mood of the previous Adagio movement and prepare his listeners for the weighty issues to follow. Then begins one of the most remarkable passages in music: in a long recitative, cellos and basses consider a fragment of each of the three previous movements and reject them all. Next, still by themselves, they sing the theme that will serve as the basis of the final movement. Again comes the strident opening blast, and now the baritone soloist puts into words what the cellos and basses have suggested: “Oh, friends, not these sounds! Rather let us sing something more pleasing and more joyful.”

That will come in Schiller’s text, with its exaltation of the fellowship of mankind and of a universe presided over by a just god. An die Freude was originally a drinking ode, and if the text is full of the spirit of brotherhood, it is also replete with praise for the glories of good drink. Beethoven cut all references to drink and retained those that speak directly to a utopian vision of human brotherhood. Musically, the last movement is a series of variations on its main theme, the music of each stanza varied to fit its text.

the music’s misuse In the nearly two centuries since the Ninth Symphony’s premiere, this music has been appropriated, and in many cases politicized, by a wide range of groups and governments. From 1974 to 1979 the unrecognized government of Rhodesia made the Ode to Joy melody its national anthem, “Voices of Rhodesia,” using newly-written lyrics of no relation to the utopian message of Schiller. To many millions around the world, though, the work conveys the meaning Beethoven intended: an idealism that reminds us of what—at our best—we might be.

[NOTE: The original German text and an English translation of the words sung in the fourth movement begin on page 19.]

Instrumentation: solo soprano, mezzo, tenor and bass, fourpart mixed chorus and orchestra comprising 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle and strings Program note by Eric Bromberger.

J. S. Mzilikazi Khumalo/ orch. Péter Louis Van Dijk

Akhala Amaqhude Amabili

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n Akhala Amaqhude Amabili (Two Roosters Crowing), Professor James Stephen Mzilikazi Khumalo (b. 1932) combines two Zulu folks songs dating from the 1920s and 30s (“Vukani Madoda” and “Qhude we Ma!”) in conversation, both “wake-up” songs admonishing listeners to get up and to start the day—and concluding with a symbolic call to all Africans. The Zulu cockcrow is featured prominently: Kikilikigi! Khumalo wrote, “For people who had no time-pieces of any kind, the crowing of the rooster at daybreak was a vitally important signal, serving as the communal ‘alarm clock.’” This arrangement was published in a collection of “Five African Songs.”

Khumalo’s earliest introduction to music was through the Zulu folk songs he heard at home; he went on to join singing groups that performed traditional Zulu songs at weddings and became familiar with the Western tradition through church music he encountered playing euphonium in a church band. Despite lack of access to formal musical education in school, Khumalo received private training from Charles Norburn, the organist at St. Alban’s Cathedral in Pretoria.

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Minnesota Orchestra in Soweto Since writing his first works in 1959, Khumalo has been a prolific composer of choral music whose catalog features works for mixed, men and women’s choirs, as well as solo voices; he also composed the first major South African work in an African language, the epic oratorio Ushaka Ka Senzangkhona, featuring a libretto by Professor Themba Msimang, and collaborated on the arrangement of the South African National Anthem. Khumalo also served as a respected professor of African languages and linguistics at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, until he retired in 1997 and was granted the title of Professor Emeritus.

The song is now an established classic in the South African choral repertoire and was selected for inclusion on the nowfamous album, Nation Building: Celebrating 10 Years in Music, curated to bridge western and African music traditions together in the years after apartheid was dismantled.

The Dutch-born Péter Louis Van Dijk (b. 1953) is one of South Africa’s most prominent classical composers whose works are performed internationally and widely recorded. Van Dijk has composed for choral and orchestral ensembles, including The King’s Singers, Chicago Children’s Choir and the Sontonga Quartet. His compositions frequently incorporate both African and Western elements, including his immensely popular San Gloria, which combines Sān themes and rhythms with the ancient Latin Gloria text. In addition to his activities as a composer, he also serves as a performer, teacher and conductor.

Van Dijk orchestrated the entire cycle of “Five African Songs” for symphony orchestra with or without choral accompaniment, in collaboration with Khumalo and the conductor Richard Cock.

These orchestrations were produced for and premiered by South Africa’s National Symphony Orchestra and a 2,500-voice choir during the Caltex-Sowetan Nation Building Festival in Johannesburg in 1993.

Archibald Arnold Mxolisi Matyila/ arr. J. S. Mzilikazi Khumalo

Bawo Thixo Somandla

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popular song of protest, Bawo Thixo Somandla was composed around 1973 by Archibald Arnold Mxolisi Matyila (1938-1985) in Xhosa, allegedly in response to his dismissal from a teaching position. Matyila was born in the Ngewazi Village, Middledrift in Ciskei Tribal Authority. Along with Michael Mosoeu Moerane, he was one of the few composers of his era to receive university training in music. Even before becoming one of the first students in the Fort Hare Music Department, Matyila began composing as a student at Forbes Grant Secondary School in Ginsberg, where he wrote “izitibili,” light traditional songs depicting specific occasions. Matyila was notorious for his outspokenness and for his contentious relationship with the Ciskei Government.

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As the story goes, Matyila wrote Bawo upon receiving notice of his dismissal from a teaching position at the Ntselamanzi Primary School in Alice. After writing each line of the song upon a chalkboard, he joined his students in singing it before then writing the next. Matyila’s colleagues were deeply moved, as was the government official who had delivered the letter of dismissal – and who then told Matyila that the government would reconsider its decision.

In the 1980’s the song was adopted by protestors, first against the Ciskei government and then more generally against apartheid.

It has therefore gained prominence as one of South Africa’s most popular and familiar protest songs (and is frequently and erroneously attributed as a folk song), particularly in the arrangement by J. S. Mzilikazi Khumalo (b. 1932). Like Akhala Amaqhude Amabili, this song was also orchestrated by Péter Louis Van Dijk, but is more familiar in its choral version—as it appears on the Nation Building album and at this concert.

Michael Mosoeu Moerane/orch. Susan Cock

Ruri

n

early four decades after his death, Michael Mosoeu Moerane (1902-1980) remains among the most popular of South African choral composers, with works including Sylvia, Matlala, Moerane Tlake, Della and Ruri enjoying enduring popularity, particularly in South Africa’s many choral festivals and competitions. Ruri (Truly) is one of his many songs celebrating nature as evidence of divine benevolence.

Moerane began his university music studies as a part-time student, after already beginning a career teaching high school English, Sesotho, Latin and Math, which he would continue throughout his life. He became the first black composer in South Africa to earn a Bachelor of Music degree in 1941; the tone poem he composed in fulfillment of his degree, Fatše la Heso, was inspired by three traditional melodies and was premiered in England in 1944, with subsequent premieres in New York and Paris led by the African-American conductor Dean Dixon.

Moerane’s catalogue includes three other works for orchestra and two piano works, but over 50 a cappella choral works for various configurations of singers. Moerane set texts in a number of languages (including arrangements of several American folk songs and spirituals), but most frequently Sotho, as in Ruri.

The orchestration is by the well-known South African composer, conductor, organist and music educator Susan Cock (b. 1958).

After working briefly as a music producer at SABC, Cock turned her attention primarily towards music education. She worked in both junior and senior music education, including serving as Director of Music at St. Mary’s School in Waverly. Beyond the school environment, she led other popular educational initiatives, including Classic FM’s “Classical Music 101.” In addition to numerous arrangements of popular and traditional

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Minnesota Orchestra in Soweto

songs, Cock has served as a conductor with her own chamber choir inVerse and for choruses and orchestras at events including the St. Stithians Choir Festival in Johannesburg, the Johannesburg International Mozart Festival and the Makaranga Festival in Durban.

Stompie Mavi/arr. Gobingca George Mxadana/ orch. Jaakko Kuusisto

Usilethela Uxolo (Nelson Mandela)

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silethela Uxolo (Nelson Mandela) is a song adapted from Unomnganga—the most popular hit of South African jazz legend Stompie Mavi (1955-2008)—by the well-respected Imilonji KaNtu Choral Society, with new Xhosa text to celebrate the release of Nelson Mandela from Victor Verster Prison in 1990. It remained a popular tribute to Mandela throughout the rest of his life—and continues to be one of Imilonji’s most identifiable songs to this day. Imilonji’s founder and music director Gobingca George Mxadana (OIS) (b. 1948) has taught Usilethela Uxolo to choirs around the world—and transcribed it into Western notation especially for this new orchestration for the Minnesota Orchestra by Jaakko Kuusisto (b. 1974).

From its founding in 1982, Imilonji has been deeply rooted in the struggle for social justice, using its collective voices to offer inspiration and comfort before apartheid was abolished and joy during the transition to democracy. Under the leadership of Mxadana, Imilonji has performed for major South African and international figures and at high profile functions, including the launch of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the ordination of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the inauguration ceremonies of both President Nelson Mandela and President Thabo Mbeki, the 1995 Rugby World Cup finals, the Africa Cup of Nations in 1996 and at official services following Mandela’s death in 2013. Mxadana is a ground-breaking and prominent figure on South Africa’s choral scene. In addition to Imilonji, Mxadana established the Mzantsi Traditional Orchestra in 2003, the first orchestra dedicated to preserving South Africa’s traditional instruments, was the first black chairperson of the International Eisteddfod of South Africa, and serves as chair of the Old Mutual/Telkom National Choir Festival, deputy chair of the Arts and Culture Trust, a consultant at Classical Movements and a member of several music and cultural boards in the community, nationally and internationally.

Program notes on Akhala Amaqhude Amabili, Bawo Thixo Somandla, Ruri and Usilethela Uxolo (Nelson Mandela) by Adam Jackson, Classical Movements.

SONG TEXTS AND ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS Akhala Amaqhude Amabili Kikilikigi!

Vukani madoda!

Sekusile we Mama,

Lakhal’ iqhude lathi: “Kikilikigi!”

Labhul’ amaphiko lathi: “Kikilikigi!”

Vukani madoda!

Kusile madoda.

Nilel’ ubuthong’obunjani We madoda!

Qhude, we Ma, Lakhala bahili kathathu, Sekusil’ amanz’ awekho.

Kusile, kusile, we Mama, Sekusil’ amanz’ awekho.

Vukani maAfrika, Lakhal’ iqhude lathi: “Kikilikigi!”

Two Roosters Crowing Cock-a-doodle-doo!

Wake up, men!

Day has dawned (oh, Mother!)

The rooster is crowing: “Cock-a-doodle-doo!”

It beats its wings and crows: “Cock-a-doodle-doo!”

Wake-up men!

Day has dawned, men.

What sleep do you sleep You men!

The rooster (oh, Mother!)

Crows twice, thrice, Day has dawned, and there is no water.

Day has dawned, day has dawned, (oh Mother!), Day has dawned, and there is no water.

Wake up, Africans!

The rooster is crowing: “Cock-a-doodle-doo!”

English translation © Santa Clara University.

Bawo Thixo Somandla Bawo, Thixo Somandla, Buyinton’ ubugwenxa bam?

Azi senzen’ ebusweni beNkosi, Bawo, Thixo Somandla?

Azi senzeni na?

Azi senzeni Nkosi yam, Sigqibana nje!

Emhlaben’ Sibuthwel’ ubunzima Bawo, Thixo Somandla.

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Minnesota Orchestra in Soweto Mayidlule lendebe Azi senzeni Nkosi yam, Sigqibana nje!

Ndinesingqala Enhliziyweniyam Ndisolokho ndisitsho “Mngci!

Ayidlule lendebe, Bawo, Thixo Somandla”

Father, God Omnipotent Father, God Omnipotent, What is my transgression?

What wrong have we done you, O Lord, Father, God Omnipotent?

What have we done?

What have we done, my Lord, That we kill each other like this!

In [this] world We are loaded with troubles, Father, God Omnipotent.

Let this cup pass from us, What have we done, my Lord, That we kill each other like this!

I have an unceasing sob In my heart, I keep saying “Truly!

May this cup pass from us, Father, God Omnipotent.”

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Koena ka bolibeng ha rali Koetsa Jona se tali me mahlo a eona Koena ka bolibeng ha rali koetsa Hase ho tsabeha koena koena.

Hase ho tsabeha Ma fube a mese ona a ea rateha: Me riti ea phirima eona ea rate, rateha bo!

Ruri, ruri ketso tsa Rabohle Hoja ka tseba mohloli on thateho Ke ne nka lu la ka Khotso e sa feleng Ha mafika a roetse so eu ba hloala mariha, tau erora selaong Metsi a hosha nokaneng.

Truly Truly, God’s works are wonderful.

The moon and stars in their beauty shine to the benefit of the nocturnal traveler, and also to the glory of their Creator, who loves all—even the creeping creatures of the sea.

The crocodile in the deep menacing pools, how fearful its eyes; the golden glow of day break; the dark shades of evening, how fascinating they all are!

Truly, God’s works are wonderful, if only I had a full understanding of this great love, I would live in eternal peace— with the huge boulders covered in winter snow; the lion roaring in its den; and the water flowing quietly in the stream.

English translation © Markus Nolf.

Alternate translation, by J. S. M. Khumalo: “The first section opens with the basses singing: ‘Father, God Omnipotent, what wrong have I done, in what way have I offended you?’ The sopranos join and say: ‘What wrong have we done, my Lord?’ The altos and then tenors join in with “In this world we suffer greatly, dear Lord.” In the second section the sopranos sing ‘May this cup pass from us,’ while the other parts continue with the words they have been singing.”

Ruri Ruri, ruri ketso tsa Rabohle, Ruri, ruri ketso tse hlollang.

Khoelile linaleli Jona mosa ca tsona mosa on tsona ke khahliso ho baeti

Translation by J. S. M. Khumalo.

Usilethela Uxolo (Nelson Mandela) Nelson Mandela U-Mandela Usilethela uxolo Wena Mandel’uyingwenya Wena Madib’uyindoda

Bring Us Peace (Nelson Mandela) Nelson Mandela; The Mandela, You bring us peace Mandela, you are a lion; Mandela, you are the man.

Translation by G. G. Mxadana.

Liabenya linphatsima Lirorisa Mong a tsona En ratang tsohle En sa khetheng le li ha ha bitsa leontle.

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THE MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA ON TOUR Since its first concert tour in 1907, the Minnesota Orchestra has performed in hundreds of cities in more than two dozen countries; earlier this month it appeared at the BBC Proms in London.

Clockwise from top: the Orchestra performing at the BBC Proms under Music Director Osmo Vänskä’s direction in 2010; a student rehearsing alongside Orchestra trumpet player Robert Dorer during a 2015 Cuba tour; Orchestra violinist Taichi Chen with a student in Bemidji, Minnesota, in 2014; the Orchestra performing at Herodias Atticus Theatre in Greece in 1957 under the baton of Antal Dorati; the Orchestra, Vänskä and violinist Hilary Hahn at Carnegie Hall in 2016.

Photos: Greg Helgeson, Travis Anderson, Stephanie Berger.

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Minnesota Orchestra in Johannesburg

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Minnesota Orchestra Osmo Vänskä, conductor | Goitsemang Lehobye, soprano Minette du Toit-Pearce, mezzo | Siyabonga Maqungo, tenor | Njabulo Madlala, baritone Gauteng Choristers | Minnesota Chorale Presented by Classical Movements Saturday, August 18, 2018, 3 pm

Johannesburg City Hall, Johannesburg

We recognize an anonymous couple for their generous contribution to fund the Minnesota Orchestra’s tour.

We recognize the Douglas and Louise Leatherdale Fund for Music supporting the work of Osmo Vänskä.

National Anthems of South Africa (arr. Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph) and the United States (arr. Stanislaw Skrowaczewski) Leonard Bernstein

Overture to Candide

ca. 5’

Bongani Ndodana-Breen

Harmonia Ubuntu * Goitsemang Lehobye, soprano

ca. 12’

INTERMISSION

ca. 20’

Ludwig van Beethoven

Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Opus 125, Choral Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso Molto vivace Adagio molto e cantabile Presto - Allegro assai - Allegro assai vivace Goitsemang Lehobye, soprano | Minette du Toit-Pearce, mezzo Siyabonga Maqungo, tenor | Njabulo Madlala, baritone Gauteng Choristers | Minnesota Chorale

ca. 65’

Presented in association with the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Johannesburg Festival Orchestra. * Commissioned for the Minnesota Orchestra South Africa Tour by Classical Movements as part of the Eric Daniel Helms New Music Program.

Osmo Vänskä’s profile appears on page 4, profiles of tonight’s other performers begin on page 20.

thank you

We gratefully acknowledge our Corporate Consortium partners Ecolab, TCF Financial Corporation, Medtronic Foundation, Land O’Lakes, 3M, U.S. Bank, Thor Companies, Target and Pentair for their generous support of the Music for Mandela project.

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Minnesota Orchestra in Johannesburg Leonard Bernstein Born: August 25, 1918, Lawrence, Massachusetts Died: October 14, 1990, New York City

Overture to Candide Premiered: December 1, 1956 (Broadway); January 26, 1957 (concert) Program note appears on page 8.

Bongani Ndodana-Breen Born: August 1975, Queenstown, South Africa; now living in Cape Town

Harmonia Ubuntu Premiered: July 21, 2018 Program note begins on page 6.

Ludwig van Beethoven Born: December 16, 1770, Bonn, Germany Died: March 26, 1827, Vienna, Austria

Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Opus 125, Choral Premiered: May 7, 1824

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eethoven composed his visionary Ninth Symphony when he was in his 50s, deaf, and only three years from death.

The first symphony to include the human voice, it offers a romantic vision of the togetherness of all humankind, and for sheer grandeur of expression it has never been matched.

Beethoven had planned to set Friedrich Schiller’s An die Freude (Ode to Joy) to music as early as 1792, when he was 22, but that plan had to wait 30 years. The first performance of the Ninth took place in Vienna on May 7, 1824. Though he had been deaf for years, Beethoven sat on stage with the orchestra and tried to assist in the direction of the music. This occasion produced one of the classic Beethoven anecdotes. Unaware that the piece had ended, Beethoven continued to beat time and had to be turned around to be shown the applause that he could not hear—the realization that the music they had just heard had been written by a deaf man overwhelmed the audience.

The opening of the Allegro ma non troppo, quiet and harmonically uncertain, creates a sense of mystery and vast space. Bits of theme flit about in the murk, and out of these the main theme suddenly explodes to life and comes crashing downward. This has been universally compared to a streak of lightning, and surely that must have been Beethoven’s intention.

The second movement is a scherzo built on a five-part fugue.

The displaced attacks in the first phrase, which delighted the audience at the premiere, still retain their capacity to surprise.

The Adagio molto e cantabile is in theme-and-variation form, but in the course of its composition Beethoven came up with a second theme, announced by the second violins and violas. He liked it so much that he could not bring himself to leave it out.

And so the movement became a set of double variations on these two themes.

“more pleasing and more joyful” After the serenity of the third movement, the finale erupts with a dissonant blast. Beethoven’s intention here was precise—he called this ugly opening noise a Schrecken-fanfare (“terrorfanfare”), and with it he wanted to shatter the mood of the Adagio and prepare his listeners for the weighty issues to follow.

Then begins one of the most remarkable passages in music: in a long recitative, cellos and basses consider a fragment of each of the three previous movements and reject them all. Next, still by themselves, they sing the theme that will serve as the basis of the final movement. Again comes the strident opening blast, and now the baritone soloist puts into words what the cellos and basses have suggested: “Oh, friends, not these sounds! Rather let us sing something more pleasing and more joyful.”

That will come in Schiller’s text, with its exaltation of the fellowship of mankind and of a universe presided over by a just god. An die Freude was originally a drinking ode, and if the text is full of the spirit of brotherhood, it is also replete with praise for the glories of good drink. Beethoven cut all references to drink and retained those that speak directly to a utopian vision of human brotherhood. Musically, the last movement is a series of variations on its main theme, the music of each stanza varied to fit its text.

the music’s misuse In the nearly two centuries since the Ninth Symphony’s premiere, this music has been appropriated, and in many cases politicized, by a wide range of groups and governments. From 1974 to 1979 the unrecognized government of Rhodesia made the Ode to Joy melody its national anthem, “Voices of Rhodesia,” using newly-written lyrics of no relation to the utopian message of Schiller. To many millions around the world, though, the work conveys the meaning Beethoven intended: an idealism that reminds us of what—at our best—we might be.

Instrumentation: solo soprano, mezzo, tenor and bass, fourpart mixed chorus and orchestra comprising 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle and strings Program note by Eric Bromberger.

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Minnesota Orchestra in Johannesburg

august 18

BEE THOVEN ’S NINTH SYMPHONY TE X T AN D ENGLISH TR ANSL ATION O Freunde, nicht diese Töne!

Sondern lasst uns angenehmere Anstimmen, und freudenvollere.

—Ludwig van Beethoven

O friends, not these tones!

Rather, let us tune our voices in more pleasant and more joyful song.

Freude, schöner Götterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium, Wir betreten feuertrunken, Himmlische, dein Heiligtum!

Deine Zauber binden wieder, Was die Mode streng geteilt; Alle Menschen werden Brüder, Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.

Wem der große Wurf gelungen, Eines Freundes Freund zu sein, Wer ein holdes Weib errungen, Mische seinen Jubel ein!

Ja—wer auch nur eine Seele Sein nennt auf dem Erdenrund!

Und wer’s nie gekonnt, der stehle Weinend sich aus diesem Bund.

Freude trinken alle Wesen An den Brüsten der Natur; Alle Guten, alle Bösen Folgen ihrer Rosenspur.

Küssen gab sie uns und Reben, Einen Freund, geprüft im Tod.

Joy, beauteous, godly spark, Daughter of Elysium, Drunk with fire, O Heavenly One, We come unto your sacred shrine.

Your magic once again unites That which Fashion sternly parted.

All men are made brothers Where your gentle wings abide.

He who has won in that great gamble Of being friend unto a friend, He who has found a goodly woman, Let him add his jubilation too!

Yes—he who can call even one soul On earth his own!

And he who never has, let him steal Weeping from this company.

All creatures drink of Joy At Nature’s breasts.

All good, all evil souls Follow in her rose-strewn wake.

She gave us kisses and vines, And a friend who has proved faithful even in death.

Lust was given to the Serpent, And the Cherub stands before God. As joyously as His suns fly Across the glorious landscape of the heavens, Brothers, follow your appointed course, Gladly, like a hero to the conquest.

Be embraced, ye Millions!

This kiss to the whole world!

Brothers—beyond the canopy of the stars Surely a loving Father dwells.

Do you fall headlong, ye Millions?

Have you any sense of the Creator, World?

Seek Him above the canopy of the stars!

Surely he dwells beyond the stars.

Wollust war dem Wurm gegeben, Und der Cherub steht vor Gott.

Froh wie seine Sonnen fliegen Durch des Himmels prächt’gen Plan, Laufet, Brüder, eure Bahn, Freudig wie ein Held zum Siegen.

Seid umschlungen,Millionen!

Diesen Kuss der ganzen Welt!

Brüder—überm Sternenzelt Muß ein lieber Vater wohnen.

Ihr stürzt nieder,Millionen?

Ahnest du den Schöpfer, Welt?

Such ihn überm Sternenzelt! Über Sternen muß er wohnen.

—Friedrich von Schiller, adapted by Ludwig van Beethoven

Translation by Donna Hewitt, © 1979 Boston Symphony Orchestra

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PR O F I L ES : VO CA L S O LO I S T S Goitsemang Lehobye, soprano Goitsemang Lehobye was born in Ga-Rankuwa, South Africa, and first heard opera during a television broadcast featuring the South African Black Tie Opera Ensemble.

After finishing school, she followed her dream by joining the ensemble’s “Incubator” Scheme to train for a career as an opera singer. She worked her way up from chorus member to ensemble and solo work and performed in a number of opera productions. In 2011 she won a scholarship to study singing at the University of Cape Town’s College of Music. Her performances there included La Bohème, Postcard from Morocco, Don Giovanni and La Traviata. She often performs as soloist with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, and in October 2015 she premiered a new song cycle by South African composer Bongani Ndodana-Breen, who is also the composer of Harmonia Ubuntu, which Lehobye is premiering with the Minnesota Orchestra in Minnesota and on this month’s South Africa tour. In December 2015 she was invited to perform in a new opera by David Earl in Cambridge, England. Other recent performance highlights include singing as soloist for opera galas with renowned tenor Johan Botha in Cape Town and Johannesburg, and touring to Argentina as Serena in the Cape Town Opera production of Porgy and Bess. She now studies with Daniel Washington at the University of Michigan, where she has appeared in two productions: the difficulty of crossing a field by David Lang and Dinner at Eight by William Bolcom.

Minette du Toit-Pearce, mezzo Minette du Toit-Pearce performs regularly throughout South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, and has performed with all the major orchestras in South Africa, including the Cape Town Philharmonic and Johannesburg Festival Orchestra. Her repertoire includes Handel’s Messiah; the St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion and B-minor Mass by Bach; Stabat Mater by Pergolesi; Stabat Mater by Karl Jenkins; and Mozart’s Requiem. In South Africa, she regularly performs at the Songmakers’ Guild in Cape Town and has performed at festivals including the KKNK, Klein Karoo Klassique, AARDKLOP, Woordfees, Cultivaria, Suidooster Fees, Hermanus FynArts and Greyton Classics for All. She began her vocal training in 1993 under the tutelage of Magdalena Oosthuizen, and received bachelor’s (honors) and master’s degrees (cum laude) in singing. She completed the University of South Africa (UNISA) Teachers and Performance Licentiates (both cum laude) and received the DJ Roode Overseas Scholarship, the Gertrude Buchanan and SAMRO prize during the UNISA bursary competitions. She was the overall winner of the ATKV Musiq competition as well as winner of the singing category and the Mozart prize. She was named first runner up in the SAMRO International Scholarship competition and also won the prize for best performance of a prescribed work. In 2009 she was a finalist in the Kohn Foundation Wigmore Hall International Song Competition in London. In 2010 she was also a finalist in the American Institute of Musical Studies’ (AIMS) Meistersinger Competition in Graz.

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PR O F I L ES : VO CA L S O LO I S T S Siyabonga Maqungo, tenor Siyabonga Maqungo will join the ensemble at Theater Chemnitz from the 2018-19 season, where in his first year he will sing Alfred in Die Fledermaus, Tamino in The Magic Flute, Jaquino in Fidelio, Pang in Turandot and Froh in Das Rheingold, among other roles. In autumn 2018 he will make his debut at the Leipzig Opera as Conte Almaviva in The Barber of Seville. Other highlights of his 2018 schedule include singing Britten’s War Requiem with the Landesjugendorchester Sachsen in Dresden, Leipzig, Johannesburg and Cape Town. From 2015 to 2018 he was a member of the State Theatre of Meiningen in Germany where he performed in Adès’ Powder Her Face, Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Johann Strauss, Jr.’s Die Fledermaus, Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier and Capriccio, Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, and Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Così fan tutte, among many others. His future engagements include gala concerts in Johannesburg and singing the role of Belmote in Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio. He has also performed as soloist with many major orchestras. Born in Johannesburg, he studied at the University of North West, South Africa, under the guidance of Dr. Conroy Cupido and completed his master’s degree with distinction at the Köln Musik Hochschule. He regularly returns home to perform with the Johannesburg Festival Orchestra by special invitation of Richard Cock. For more information, visit www.estherschollum.at.

Njabulo Madlala, baritone Born in Durban, South Africa, Njabulo Madlala won a scholarship in 2002 to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama for graduate and postgraduate studies.

He went on to study for another year at the Cardiff International Academy of Voice with Dennis O’Neill. Additionally, he has been a Britten Pears Young Artist, a Samling Artist and a young artist at the Ravinia International Festival in the USA. He won the 2010 Kathleen Ferrier Award, 2012 Singers Section Final of the Royal Overseas League Competition, the 2012 Lorna Viol Memorial Prize, the Royal Overseas League Trophy for the most outstanding musician from overseas and Standard Bank Young Artist Award for 2014. His recent performances include his main stage debut at the Royal Opera House in Shostakovich’s The Nose, performances with the English Touring Opera, his Norwegian debut in Orlando Gough’s Voices and Votes with the Bergen National Opera, and performing the title role in Don Giovanni with the Mid Wales Opera, in addition to concerts with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, English Chamber Orchestra and the KwaZulu Natal Philharmonic Orchestra. His debut CD, Songs of Home, was released in 2013 on the Champs Hill Records label. In the current season Njabulo will perform a concert of Porgy and Bess in Moscow, and further ahead makes his debuts with English National Opera and the Dutch National Opera. For more information, visit www.ssartists.co.uk.

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PR O F I L ES A N D R O S T E R S : C H O I R S Gauteng Choristers Sidwell Mhlongo, conductor

Built on the foundation of excellence since its inception in April 1988, the Gauteng Choristers have become a cornerstone in choral music and related genres in South Africa. In its quest to diversify its music activities, the choir has performed with internationally acclaimed artists such as Sibongile Khumalo, Pretty Yende, Andrea Bocelli, Bala Brothers, the Parlotones, Karen Zoid, Sello Galane, Concord Nkabinde, Siphokazi Maraqana, Sibongile Mngoma, the Afro-Tenors, Renée Fleming, Sally Silver, Musa Nkuna and Aubrey Lodewyk. The choir takes the development of its choristers seriously; most of its members are young and from disadvantaged backgrounds. The Choristers’ first tour to Europe, in 2004, celebrated 10 years of democracy in South Africa. In 2015 the group performed and recorded uShaka kaSenzangakhona, accompanied by the Gauteng Choristers Orchestra at the Nelson Mandela Theatre in Johannesburg. In the same year, the choir was crowned National Champions of the Melting Pot. One of its most recent achievements, in 2017, was a sold-out performance of Mozart’s Requiem at the Lyric Theatre. The Gauteng Choristers were one of three South African choirs invited to sing at the memorial service of the late Nelson Mandela at the First National Bank Stadium in Johannesburg.

Sidwell Mhlongo started conducting at age 16 and became the conductor of the Kagiso Youth Choir in 1991. He performed in many choruses as a member of the State Theatre Opera Chorus and in the State Theater Philharmonic Choir. He made his debut as a professional soloist in the role of Samuel in the world premiere of the opera Buchuland, composed by Roelof Temmingh in 1998. He was recruited to conduct Gauteng Choristers in 2000 and has since led the choir to numerous awards including three championship crowns at the National Choir Festival Finals. He also conducted the ensemble through nine successful performances of Mzilikazi Khumalo’s cantata uShaka in six European countries, plus two performances of the same work in Chicago at the Ravinia Festival.

In 2011, Mhlongo was appointed the chorus master of Winnie the Opera, composed by Bongani Ndodana-Breen, which was performed at the State Theatre in Pretoria.

Soprano Lerato Mofokeng Tsekiso Moloi Sphiwe Mabuza Thembisile Coka Xolile Dyani Thulisile Ntetha Nomandla Ncayiyana Miseka Gaqa Hilda Mohlatlole Nombeko Stemela Cecilia Phetoe Linda Sokhanyile Sbongile Nhlapo Noxolo Conjwa Sanky Sitshinga Fezile Mkhulisi Buhle Madlala Motswa Mbatha Siphiwe Ndhlovo Brenda Thulo

Akhona Nyokana Gugu Mphahlaza Lindiwe Lebakeng Thembi Molotsi Nontobeko Mahlanza Dudu Moamohe

Mezzo-Soprano Pearl Mogodi Buyi Masikane Anelisiwe Mnyaka Seithati Phillips Dipou Mohlophegi Puseletso Motaung Nonhlanhla Nxumalo Noluthando Tshabalala Lerato Letlape Yondela Mlambo Makiwe Mgidlala Mahlatse Tshangase Nomaqhawe Kananda

Mathapelo Matlou Mbali Mathe Anathi Stuurman

Tenor Mpelo Sikhwatha Patrick Lekala Sizwe Nkwanyana Thabang Baadjie Mpho Dimpe Kgaugelo Dolo Bongani Khumalo Miyelani Khuzwayo Simphiwe Luthuli Zola Mabutho Percy Macheke Sphelele Madela Sabelo Madi Kgutatso Makola Alexanda Molete Zolani Mootane

Lebuhang Motumi Simphiwe Mthimkhulu Bongane Mthombeni Christopher Msiza Mdumiseni Ntshangase Fisumusa Ndlovu Nkosinomusa Ndlovu Senzo Ndlovu Kananelo Sehau Makhosonke Tshabalala Sikhumbuzo Tshabalala Sizakele Zitha Mandla Zulu

Baritone/Bass Thabani Msibi Bubu Zwane Wine Zitha Mduduzi Ntetha Molemohi Tjemolane Pheello Mothola

Sandile Nkosi Lehlogonolo Mashapu Donald Makofane Abram Legodi Siyabonga Ndlovu Cingisizwe Mbane Chris Mipi Tshepiso Modise Avela Gungqwa Kgaogelo Mfene Prosper Makhaya Themba Nkosi Sinenhlanhla Dube Lebohang Hlalele Sibusiso Madonsela

Rehearsal Pianist Janet Dancer

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PR O F I L ES A N D R O S T E R S : C H O I R S Minnesota Chorale Kathy Saltzman Romey, artistic director Barbara Brooks, accompanist and artistic advisor The Minnesota Chorale, named principal chorus of the Minnesota Orchestra in 2004, has sung with the Orchestra for more than four decades. Founded in 1972 and led since 1995 by artistic director Kathy Saltzman Romey, the Chorale is Minnesota’s preeminent symphonic chorus and ranks among the foremost professional choruses in the United States, best known for its work with the two major orchestras of the Twin Cities. Comprising ensembles for singers from ages 8 to 80-plus, the Minnesota Chorale is a multi-generational umbrella organization. Among its initiatives are the acclaimed Bridges community engagement program, the Minneapolis Youth Chorus and Prelude Children’s Chorus, the Voices of Experience choir for older adults, Men in Music for high-school boys, InChoir open rehearsals, and an Emerging Conductor training program. The Chorale recently recorded Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Minnesota Orchestra in June 2017 for future release on the BIS label and was featured on the Orchestra’s 2006 recording of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, a performance which drew critical acclaim and a Grammy nomination for Best Orchestral Performance. These performances in Soweto and Johannesburg, South Africa, mark the first time that the Minnesota Chorale has joined the Minnesota Orchestra for an international tour.

Kathy Saltzman Romey, the Minnesota Orchestra’s Choral Advisor since 2004, is artistic director of the 200-voice Minnesota Chorale. Known for her meticulous training of choirs, she has conducted the Chorale in local, national and international forums. She has prepared the Chorale for performances with the Minnesota Orchestra under the baton of Music Directors Osmo Vänskä, Eiji Oue and Edo de Waart, Sommerfest Artistic Directors Andrew Litton, Leonard Slatkin and David Zinman, and acclaimed guest conductors including Roberto Abbado, James Conlon, Paul Goodwin, Roger Norrington, Helmuth Rilling, Robert Shaw, Yan Pascal Tortelier and Mark Wigglesworth. Romey has been on the staff of the Oregon Bach Festival since 1984 and is principal chorus master of the Festival’s 54-voice professional Festival Choir. She has been a member of the faculty at the University of Minnesota since 1992, where she currently serves as director of choral activities. For more information visit www.minnesotaorchestra.org or www.mnchorale.org.

Soprano

Alto

Tenor

Bass

Kristi Bergland* Penny Bonsell Alyssa K. Breece* Deborah Carbaugh* Laurel E. Drevlow Alyssa Ellson Debra Gilroy* Pamela Marentette Merilu Narum Shari M. Speer* Deaven Swainey* Maya Tester

Kate Biederwolf Tricia Hanson Dee Hein Heather A. Hood* Claire M. Klein Katherine Mennicke Erica Perl* Laura Potratz Barbara A. Prince* Deborah E. Richman Joanna Zawislak

Patrick L. Coleman Benjamin Cooper Scott D. McKenzie David Mennicke* Kevin G. Navis Mark Pladson Paul Riedesel Patrick Romey* Scott Sandberg Walter Tambor

John Bassett Peder Bolstad Scott Chamberlain Mark Countryman James. J. D’Aurora John R. Henrich Steven Hodulik* Thomas Hollenhorst Jon C. Lahann* Steven W. Landby* Robert Oganovic Nathan Oppedahl Jerry Rubino* Russ Vander Wiel Rick Wagner* * Section leader

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C O L L A B O R AT I O N S The Minnesota Orchestra’s five public concerts represent only a portion of its musical engagement in South Africa. Over the course of their five-city tour of South Africa, Music Director Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra will participate in masterclasses, side-by-side rehearsals, school visits and other exchanges with South African musicians representing a wide range of backgrounds. In preparing for the tour, the Orchestra and Classical Movements have relied on a wide network of partners to arrange the concerts and collaborations and to advise on repertoire, identify musical materials (in some cases, composing, arranging or transcribing music into Western notation for the first time), promote performances and otherwise assist in making this tour a comprehensive cultural exchange, sharing music and goodwill across international borders.

American International School of Johannesburg Books For Africa Cape Music Institute, Camillo Lombard Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, Brandon Phillips Composers Qinisela Sibisi, Bongani Ndodana-Breen, Bongani Magatyana, Mokale Koapeng, Péter Louis van Dijk, Sue Cock and James Stephen Mzilikazi Khumalo Corporate Image Public Relations, Jennifer Crocker and Enid Vickers Children’s Radio Foundation Durban Music School Gauteng Choristers, Sidwell Mhlongo Happy Sounds Youth Development iGugu Le Kappa Chamber Choir, Phumelele Tsewu Imilonji kaNtu Choral Society of Soweto, Gobingca George Mxadana (OIS) Johannesburg Festival Orchestra Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra KwaZulu-Natal Youth Wind Band, Russell Scott Dr. Makaziwe Mandela and Tukwini Mandela Medtronic Philanthropy South Africa, Belinda Ngongo and Alice Brown Missouri Secondary School, Desmond Moses and Dr. Bathabile Molete National School of the Arts, Johannesburg Nelson Mandela Foundation New Hope International Exchange, Brendon Adams and the musicians of 29:11 Ovuwa Cultural Ensemble and Mxolisi Duda Pretoria Symphony Orchestra Publicity Matters, Illa Thompson Ravensmead High School Richard Cock Music Enterprises Anant Singh Soloists Goitsemang Oniccah Lehobye, Minette du Toit-Pearce, Siyabonga Maqungo and Njabulo Madlala South African National Youth Orchestra, Sophia Welz South African Youth Choir, Phil Robinson South African Broadcasting Corporation, Suzette Lombard University of Pretoria Music Enrichment Festival Frikkie Wallis

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND THANKS A historic orchestra tour of this magnitude and complexity would not be possible without the goodwill, help and advice of the following leaders in the South African orchestral and choral world. The Minnesota Orchestra and Classical Movements are deeply grateful to the following:

Louis Heyneman, CEO, Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra Bongani Tembe, Chief Executive and Artistic Director, KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic and Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestras Professor Wiseman Lumkile Nkuhlu, Chancellor, University of Pretoria Professor Vasu Reddy, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, University of Pretoria Professor Alexander Johnson, Head of the Department of Music, University of Pretoria Gerben Grooten, Principal Conductor, Pretoria Symphony Orchestra and Resident Conductor, University of Pretoria Orchestras Richard Cock, Director, Richard Cock Music Enterprises

Marlene le Roux, CEO, Artscape John Walton, Orchestra Manager and Reena Makan, Marketing Manager, KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra Shirley de Kock Gueller, Strategic Marketing, Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra Alexandra Trinder-Smith, COM, Richard Cock Music Enterprises Gobingca George Mxadana (OIS), Music Director, Imilonji kaNtu Choral Society of Soweto Sophia Welz, Managing Director, South African National Youth Orchestra Polina Burdukova, Artistic Administrator, Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra Father Reginald Anthony and Dan Dube, Regina Mundi Roman Catholic Church Sidwell Mhlongo, Music Director, Gauteng Choristers Composer Bongani Ndodana-Breen Cheryl van Doorn and Zain Kader, Computicket Mandela Washington Fellows Roné McFarlane, Voyukazi Mafilika, Khayakazi Namfu and Lukholo Ngamlana William Haubrich, College of Music, University of Cape Town We would also like to thank the following government officials from South Africa and the United States of America:

Patricia de Lille, Executive Mayor, City of Cape Town Zandile Gumede, Mayor, eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality Herman Mashaba, Executive Mayor, City of Johannesburg Jessica Lapenn, Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Mission in South Africa Mninwa Johannes Mahlangu, Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa to the United States of America Virginia Blaser, Michael McCarthy and Sherry Sykes, U.S. Consuls General in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban The entire Public Affairs team at the U.S. Mission to South Africa Denver Van Schalkwyk, Mongi Stanley Henda, Fazlin Simon, Tyrone Africa and Theo Esau, City of Cape Town MMC Nonhlanhla Sifumba, Liziwe Dyasi, Tshilidzi Lidiavhathu, Mpho Masuku, Moipone Molotlhanyi, City of Johannesburg Tumelo Phiri, Deborah Tshivhasa, Gauteng Province Eric Apelgren, Sharm Maharaj, Melissa Augustine, Nandile Mntwana, City of Durban Ms. Yoliswa Mvebe, Mr. Ndumiso Mngadi, Ms. Monica E van Staden, Ms. Pinkie Moleko, South African Embassy in the United States of America Judge LaJune Lange, South African Honorary Consul, Minneapolis Phumzile Mazibuko, South Africa Consul General, Chicago and the Midwestern States

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND THANKS Media Partners

Classic FM 102.7 will broadcast the Minnesota Orchestra’s August 17 Soweto performance in 15-minute segments from August 27 to 31 beginning at 5:05 p.m., and on September 1 and 2 at 12 p.m. and 4 p.m. In addition, Classical Minnesota Public Radio will broadcast the Soweto performance on August 17 in Minnesota and online worldwide at www.classicalmpr.org.

Classical Movements in South Africa Since the election of President Nelson Mandela in 1994, Classical Movements has arranged some 250 concerts throughout South Africa, collaborating with the country’s great orchestras and choirs. Classical Movements has taken more than 59 ensembles from around the world—with touring parties ranging from 40 to 210 musicians—across South Africa. In addition, Classical Movements has arranged international tours for six South African choirs, and with its clients, it has given back millions of Rand to a wide range of South African causes: choir loft restoration in Alexandra, benefit concerts for Johannesburg’s orphans, workshops for Soweto’s choirs, contributions of concert proceeds to dozens of participating choirs, instrument donations to the Eastern Cape Youth Orchestra, home construction in the Western Cape, home repair in Orange Farm and rhino conservation. In addition, through its Eric Daniel Helms New Music Program, Classical Movements has commissioned seven new works from leading South African composers such as Mokale Koapeng, Stephen Carletti, Phelelani Mnomiya, Bongani Ndodana-Breen, Sibusiso Njeza and Qinisela Sibisi.

In 2009, to celebrate 15 years of touring to South Africa, Classical Movements launched the Ihlombe! South African Choral Festival. Named after the Zulu word for “applause,” Ihlombe! quickly became “the largest annual international choral gathering in the country” (Cape Times). With the Minnesota Orchestra tour, Classical Movements has realized a dream of president Neeta Helms to bring a top professional U.S. orchestra to South Africa—and is proud to present the Minnesota Orchestra and its famous music director Osmo Vänskä to classical music lovers in South Africa. For more information about Classical Movements, visit www.classicalmovements.com.

The South Africa tour is arranged by the international concert tour management company Classical Movements.

Minnesota Orchestra Tour Staff Kevin Smith – President and CEO Kris Arkis – Orchestra Personnel Manager Maureen Conroy – Principal Librarian Molly Gubbins – Stagehand Tom Gubbins – Stagehand Don Hughes – Stage Manager Jen Keavy – Director of Marketing Beth Kellar-Long – Vice President of Orchestra Administration Jessica Leibfried – Director of Education and Community Engagement Kari Marshall – Director of Artistic Planning Frank Merchlewitz – Digital Producer

Joel Mooney – Technical Director Rob Nygaard – Director of Institutional Giving Gwen Pappas – Director of Communications Michael B. Pelton – Artistic Planning Manager and Executive Assistant to the Music Director Gail Reich – Assistant Stage Manager Steve Rush – Stagehand Angela Skrowaczewski – Director of Special Events Mele Willis – Artistic Operations Manager Travis Anderson – Photographer Jon Hallberg, MD – Tour Physician

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APPLAUSE, PLEASE, FOR OUR SPONSORS:

We are immensely grateful to our individual and corporate donors for making the Music for Mandela project possible.

We recognize an anonymous couple for their generous contribution to fund the Minnesota Orchestra’s tour.

We recognize the Douglas and Louise Leatherdale Fund for Music supporting the work of Osmo Vänskä.

With the August 10 performance in Cape Town, we gratefully recognize Margee and Will Bracken for their generous contribution to the Minnesota Orchestra’s Investing in Inspiration campaign.

With the August 17 performance in Soweto, the Nelson Family honors Minnesota Orchestra Board of Directors Chair Marilyn Carlson Nelson for her extraordinary leadership and generosity.

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