The Colburn Orchestra - January 28, 2024 by colburncom

Colburn Orchestra Yehuda Gilad, Music Director

Elias Peter Brown, Conductor Aleksandra Melaniuk, Assistant Conductor Ezra Shcolnik, Violin January 28, 2024 The Soraya, 3 pm

Concerto No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra in A Minor, Op. 28 (1877)

karl goldmark 1830–1915

Allegro moderato Air. Andante Moderato – Allegretto

Intermission

Symphony No. 1 in D Major (?1884–1888; rev. 1893–1896; rev. ca. 1906)

gustav mahler 1860–1911

Langsam, schleppend Kräftig bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell Feierlich, und gemessen, ohne zu schleppen Stürmisch bewegt

The Colburn Orchestra is generously underwritten by Eva and Marc Stern. To learn more about performance dedications and underwriting opportunities, contact the Philanthropy Office at philanthropy@colburnschool.edu. colburnschool.edu

Featured Artists Elias Peter Brown, Conductor Elias Peter Brown works as a conductor, composer, improviser, and curator, seeking to create meaningful spaces for listening in and out of the concert hall. Described as a conductor with “infectious panache,” (Classical Source) and whose “gestures are sometimes strong and sometimes gentle,” (Klasika Plus), Mr. Brown is emerging as one of the most promising talents on the podium. This season, Mr. Brown serves as Salonen Fellow in the Negaunee Conducting Program at Colburn Conservatory and the San Francisco Symphony, where he will assist Esa-Pekka Salonen internationally, including engagements with the Orchestra de Paris, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Colburn Orchestra, and Ensemble Intercontemporain. Additionally, he will lead members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat, conduct a concert of contemporary works with the Zafraan and New Babylon ensembles on tour. At The Colburn School, he will conduct outreach concerts with the Zipper Orchestra, and a performance of concerti with the Colburn Orchestra. Mr. Brown was previously assistant conductor of the Korean National Symphony Orchestra in Seoul during the 2022–23 season, a role he assumed after winning the first prize and the Orchestra Prize at the Korean International Conducting Competition in 2021. Additionally, Mr. Brown has worked with BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Flemish Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin, Kammerakademie Potsdam, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Kammerorchester Basel, Magdeburgische Philharmonie, Neubrandenburger Philharmonie, Thüringen Symphoniker, Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester, Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra, North Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, and Armenian State Symphony Orchestra. His deep love for New Music has brought forth collaborations with ensembles and collectives across Europe, including Ensemble MusikFabrik, Ensemble Zafraan, New Babylon Ensemble, Spectra Ensemble, and Divertimento Ensemble. He recently served as assistant conductor at Acht Brücken Festival with the European Workshop for Contemporary Music.

Also a dedicated educator, Mr. Brown previously served as a teaching artist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, recently worked as a guest conductor with the Orchestra of the Royal Conservatory of Ghent, and has led workshops in creative and attentive listening at Berlin’s Floating University and at artist residencies in France, Japan, and in the Republic of Georgia. Beyond his role as conductor, Mr. Brown has been mentored as a music curator through the Sounds Now program at Onassis Stegi, and his work as composer has been performed at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, Krama Festival in Athens, and the Contemporary Art Centre in Vilnius, Lithuania. Mr. Brown is based between Los Angeles and Berlin, and he graduated with honors from Yale University and Royal Academy of Music, where he studied with Sian Edwards. He has completed a Professional Diploma in Orchestral Conducting at the University of the Arts, Berlin. He has participated in master classes with David Zinman, Johannes Schlaefli, Kristiina Poska, Mark Stringer, Marin Alsop, Robert Treviño, and Larry Rachleff, and was chosen as a participant for The Critical Orchestra at Hanns Eisler in 2022. Mr. Brown is currently a scholarship holder of the Conducting Forum of the German Music Council and was the recipient of a 2023 Solti Foundation US Career Assistance Award. Elias Peter Brown is currently represented by Colburn Artists.

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Violinist Ezra Shcolnik is pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree at the Colburn Conservatory of Music, where he studies with Robert Lipsett. This season, in addition to his performance this evening with the Colburn Orchestra, Mr. Shcolnik appears as a soloist with the San Fernando Valley Symphony. Previously, he appeared with the New Mexico Philharmonic. Mr. Shcolnik is also a composer whose music has been performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, USC Thornton Edge, and the Colburn Academy Virtuosi. At age 12, he performed his own composition as a soloist with the Performance Santa Fe Orchestra. An active orchestral musician, Mr. Shcolnik serves as concertmaster of the California Young Artists Symphony and in various principal positions with the Colburn Orchestra. He has also served as associate concertmaster of the Aspen Chamber Symphony and the Performance Santa Fe Orchestra. He has spent summers at the Aspen Music Festival and the Perlman Music Program, where he has studied chamber, solo, and orchestral repertoire under the guidance of esteemed artist faculty.

Ezra Shcolnik, Violin

About the Music karl goldmark (1830–1915) Concerto No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra in A Minor, Op. 28 (1877) Duration: approximately 31 minutes by Fiona Shea, violinist in the Master of Music program in the Colburn Conservatory of Music Jewish composer Karl Goldmark began his musical training as a violinist at the Academy of Sopron, later studying with Leopold Jansa and Joseph Böhm, but was almost entirely self-taught as a composer. Goldmark struggled with poverty throughout his life and supplemented his career as a composer with work as a music journalist. While his compositional work was celebrated during his lifetime, his music has fallen into obscurity in recent years, with his most well- known work being his opera, The Queen of Sheba. Fortunately for audiences, initiatives to diversify classical music programming have expanded the classical music canon, celebrating works by composers who have been previously ignored, including Goldmark. Goldmark’s compositional style is, in many ways, similar to other late Romantic composers. His music is full of the genuineness and charm of Dvořák, as well as the melodic richness of Brahms, and his Violin Concerto No. 1 is no exception, featuring lyrical and charming melodies throughout. From the moment the violin enters, the listener is swept up in the tender and heartfelt theme—the two-note descending leaps in the violin are reminiscent of sighs and create a sense of longing. This tender melody abruptly dissolves into a technical flourish, showcasing a brilliant display of virtuosity. A strong restatement of the opening orchestral tutti followed by a harmonically wandering passage in both the violin and accompaniment flow into a second, more urgent and emphatic melody that quickly transitions into another more extensive technical passage, full of sparkling cheerfulness. After a short cadenza, the first movement concludes with a return to the opening melodic material as a driving coda brings the movement to a thrilling end. The second movement, marked Air, is prayer-like, providing tranquility after the brilliance of the first movement. The middle section of Goldmark’s Air becomes passionate and full of angst before returning to the peaceful opening melody. colburnschool.edu

The third movement is folk-like and stands in great contrast stylistically to the rest of the concerto. What unites the third movement with the previous two is the inclusion of another tuneful melody following an orchestral tutti. While the melodies in the first movements are heartfelt and prayer-like, this high-registered melody shimmers over the body of the orchestral accompaniment. After another animated and technical passage, the movement arrives at a lengthy violin cadenza. The scoring of a longer cadenza in the third movement is atypical in the classical and Romantic eras, as most concertos typically feature cadenzas in the first movement. Third-movement cadenzas are generally reserved for brief flourishes, similar to the one in the first movement of this concerto. The way Goldmark flips this standard cadenza placement creates a strong and much-needed sense of arrival when the violinist finally reaches this moment— after nearly 30 minutes of music. Following the extended cadenza, there is a final restatement of the folk melody to commence the closing section of the work. Goldmark concludes his enchanting concerto with a return to the original melodic material of the third movement one last time before erupting into a rapid perpetual motion to bring the concerto to a stunning close. While the Goldmark concerto is certainly performed less frequently than the violin concertos of Tchaikovsky and Brahms, both were composed only a year after Goldmark’s. The Goldmark concerto is arguably as substantial as its more famous counterparts and will likely continue to be a delightful addition to the canon.

gustav mahler (1860–1911) Symphony No. 1 in D Major (?1884–1888; rev. 1893–1896; rev. ca. 1906) Duration: approximately 60 minutes by Ezra Shcolnik, violinist in the Bachelor of Music program of the Colburn Conservatory of Music

Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 underwent dramatic changes in the composer’s mind before it reached its final form. Originally, Mahler had conceived of the work as a symphonic poem in two parts. The first part consisted of the first two movements of the symphony with an additional movement in between, entitled Blumine (Flora), which he dropped in the final revision. The second part consisted of the current third and fourth movements. To accompany this symphonic poem, Mahler had written elaborate programmatic descriptions, but after the negative reception of the 1889 premiere and several subsequent performances, Mahler opted to present the symphony as absolute music for its Berlin performance in 1896. Describing his reasons for this, he wrote, “Originally, my friends persuaded me to supply a kind of program, in order to facilitate the understanding of the D major [Symphony]. Thus, I had subsequently invented this title and explanations. That I omitted them this time was caused not only by the fact that I consider them inadequate, but also because I found out how the public has been misled by them.” Gradually, of course, audiences have come to understand and appreciate this symphony, even though it was ahead of its time. Whether we choose to consider it absolute or program music, the work puts Mahler’s glorification of nature and love of folk stories on full display and takes us on a profoundly human journey. The symphony begins with a striking sonority: the A note sustained over seven octaves in the strings. Mahler writes Wie ein Naturlaut above the score, which loosely translates into “as if a natural noise” or “as if spoken by nature.” Mahler seems to want the listener to hear this opening as sounds from the natural world rather than as music. Around this sustained A, Mahler weaves a motive of descending fourths in the woodwinds, alternating

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with offstage trumpet fanfares. The descending fourth is the central interval of both this section and the entire symphony. Soon, the descending fourth is reinterpreted as a cuckoo call, although the effect is somewhat counterintuitive and unsettling, as cuckoos typically sing major thirds. These cuckoo calls lead into the main body of the movement, which features a theme from Mahler’s Ging heut’ Morgen über’s Feld (I walked across the fields this morning) from his song cycle Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer). The song expresses a childlike love of nature; Mahler wrote the text himself, inspired by the collection of German folk poetry Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Throughout the first movement of the symphony, Mahler shows his remarkable ability to write music in a folk idiom that simultaneously sounds unique and fresh. For the second movement, Mahler writes a spirited Ländler, an Austrian folk dance in triple meter, full of distinctive rhythmic and melodic motives with colorful orchestration. Again, descending fourths figure prominently, starting from the first bars in the cellos and basses. A more refined and tender middle section follows, after which Mahler brings the Ländler music back for an exuberant finish. The third movement was one of the movements that truly unsettled the audience at its premiere. Over a foundation of the familiar descending fourths in the timpani, Mahler presents a folk tune that we know as Frère Jacques (Bruder Martin in German-speaking countries), but cast in a minor key. The tune is first played by a solo double bass, creating a highly distinctive sound, and as Mahler adds more instruments, he enhances the eerie and spooky effect. In this movement, Mahler originally had been inspired by a wood cutting showing a hunter’s funeral march that depicts a macabre procession of forest animals. Suddenly the oboes and trumpets, and later the clarinets, burst out in a completely new style that can aptly be described as klezmer music. Mahler marks this section Mit Parodie—with parody—creating an ambiguous and ironic mood. Mahler himself said that he wanted to express “alternating moods of ironical gaiety and uncanny gloom.” This contrast of emotions bewildered audiences at the time. How could these seemingly disparate musical elements be combined and juxtaposed like this? What was Mahler trying to say here? Throughout the course of the movement, as Mahler continues to alternate the

various types of music, he leaves these questions unanswered. It remains a fascinating and paradoxical movement. In the last movement, Mahler seems even more determined to break an audience’s expectations of symphonic convention. He begins with an ear-shattering cymbal crash and frantic outbursts in the winds and violins, meant to evoke “the sudden despairing outcry of a deeply wounded heart.” Mahler casts much of this movement in F Minor, a jarringly distant key from D Major, and one which he had alluded to in the first movement. Mahler felt that a symphony should encompass the whole world and nowhere is this more evident than in the emotional trajectory of this movement, taking us from the depths of rage and despair to the heights of ecstasy, with every other conceivable emotion in between. When Mahler first reaches D Major again, seemingly in the final climax, he does not allow the music to stay there. Instead, he ushers in an extended quiet and searching section in different keys, with reminders of the first movement as if to say that triumph over struggle must be hard-won. Thus, when the true climax in D Major finally happens, it becomes all-the-more satisfying and exciting. Mahler instructs the horn players to stand when they intone their theme—still based on descending fourths—and all the remaining clouds are swept away in a burst of glorious sound. Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 is remarkable in its motivic unity and overall vision. Within its nearly hour-long scope, it presents a vast range of styles, influences, and emotions unprecedented for its time. It showed new possibilities in symphonic writing and is one of the most assured and mature first symphonies of any composer.

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Orchestra Personnel Violin I Alena Hove *** Charlotte Marckx ** Muyan Yang Adam Millstein Hannah White Yvette Kraft Eunice Lee Wenlan Jackson Wei-Lin Chen Zi Yang Low Ethan Mayer Fiona Shea Yu-Wen Lucy Lu Amelia Sze Yu-Ping Tsai Violin II Duncan McDougall * Isabella Brown Wenqi Ke Sophia Ayer Julia Angelov Kate Lee Kaia Selden Bianna Bell Ellen Zhou Kingston Ho Emily Shehi Katia Tesarczyk Vivian Kukiel Viola Nicolas Garrigues * Zechariah Mo Raphael Masters Lan Cao Hope Hyink

Arian Cázares Diana Nazarenko Charlotte Stickel Daniel Jacobs ‡ Samuel Tatsuki Henry Woodruff Cello Shengyu Meng * James Baik Benett Tsai Mei Hotta Jiahe (Esther) Zhang Sanga Yang Keina Satoh Minchae Jo Alon Hayut Tessa Nysetvold Bass Jung Su Lee * Victor Lee Michael Banks Maya Letherer Angela Leeper SoJung Kim Flute Martha Chan Emily Harrington ‡ Danielle Kim ² Ann Kuo ¹ Piccolo Martha Chan Emily Harrington Ann Kuo

Oboe Jeehoon Kim ¹ David Kwon Elias D. Medina ² Eder Rivera English Horn Eder Rivera Clarinet Bence Bubreg Javier Morales-Martinez ² Artūrs Perts Jay Shankar Yuhsin Galaxy Su ¹ E-flat Clarinet Jay Shankar Bass Clarinet Artūrs Perts Bassoon Jerver Hernandez ‡ Zihan (Hank) Yin Shenghao Thomas Wang * Contrabassoon Jerver Hernandez ‡ Horn Luke Chong Isaac Ferrell ¹ David Holtgrewe Aurora Kuo Andy Liu Gabriella Sá ² Malik Taylor ‡ Jessica Maria Vicente ‡

Trumpet Anna SeokYoung Ahn ¹ Sean Alexander Joshua Harris Michael Remish ²

Orchestra Librarian Caitlyn Chenault

Trombone Minjae Kim ¹ Han Yun (Jonathan) Liang ²

Stage Manager David Mencos

Bass Trombone Charles Johnson * Tuba Seth Carter *

Orchestra Manager Chris Cho

Key Concertmaster *** Assistant Concertmaster ** Principal * Principal, Goldmark ¹ Principal, Mahler ² Guest Musician ‡

Timpani Peyton Esraelian * Jeremy D. Sreejayan Percussion Lisandro Atencio Jack Rutledge * Jeremy D. Sreejayan Tennison Watts Harp Anya Garipoli *

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Conservatory of Music Scholarships We believe that one of the most extraordinary aspects of attending the Colburn Conservatory of Music is that it provides an opportunity for our students to explore the arts without financial barriers. Thanks to the vision of Richard D. Colburn, along with generous support from our donor community, we continue to offer full scholarships covering tuition, room, and board—a value of over $78,000 per person—to all our Colburn Conservatory students. In fact, more than 75% of Colburn’s operating budget is made possible by philanthropic dollars. This support helps Colburn to retain its world-renowned faculty who teach our students in the studio, in the classroom, and on stage. Our donor community recognizes the excellence of Conservatory students through the Louise Garland Scholarship and the Richard D. Colburn Endowment. Special appreciation goes to our donors who support the School through other avenues, including the Negaunee Conducting Fellows, Conservatory instruction, endowed faculty positions, instrument donations, and additional student and alumni support such as the Frances Rosen Violin Prize and the Amron-Sutherland Piano Scholarship. If you would like to learn more about supporting the Colburn Conservatory of Music, contact philanthropy@colburnschool.edu.

Colburn Orchestra Yehuda Gilad, Music Director Now in its 20th season, the Colburn Orchestra is the flagship ensemble of the Colburn Conservatory of Music. Under the direction of Music Director Yehuda Gilad, the Colburn Orchestra performs across Southern California in venues including Walt Disney Concert Hall, Ambassador Auditorium, the Soraya, Soka Performing Arts Center, Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, the Wallis, the Broad Stage, and Segerstrom Concert Hall, as well as on the Colburn campus in Zipper Hall. Dedicated to serving the greater Los Angeles community, the Colburn Orchestra performs for schools in neighboring communities every year, giving five concerts in a one-week period to school children of all ages. Since the inception of the Orchestra, Gilad and the esteemed Colburn faculty have invited leading guest artists to perform with the Colburn Orchestra to mirror a professional orchestral experience. Previous visiting conductors include James Conlon, Gustavo Dudamel, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Sir Neville Marriner, Kurt Masur, Nicolas McGegan, Ludovic Morlot, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Colburn faculty member and head of the School’s Negaunee Conducting Program, Esa-Pekka Salonen. Acclaimed artists such as Mstislav Rostropovich and Itzhak Perlman actively worked with the orchestra during its inaugural year. The ensemble made its United Kingdom debut at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2018, followed by a performance in Dublin. Colburn Orchestra recordings include a live recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 5 led by guest conductor Gerard Schwarz (Yarlung Records); an album of works by Menachem Wiesenberg (Live Classics) featuring Ronald Leonard performing Wiesenberg’s Cello Concerto; If You Love For Beauty (Yarlung), featuring works by John Adams, Chausson, Handel, and Mahler with mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke; and Paul Chihara: Viola Concerto and Music For Viola (Bridge Records).

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Dr. Herbert Zipper leads a concert at the 32nd Street Magnet School in Los Angeles.

Herbert Zipper, Champion of Community Music Dr. Herbert Zipper, for whom the Colburn School’s Zipper Hall is named, was a pioneer of the community music movement in the United States. Remembered as a dedicated activist, Dr. Zipper was known for his work in music education and his deep commitment to students. He believed a performing arts education should be available to everyone, a philosophy on which Colburn’s mission of “access to excellence” was built. Born in Vienna in 1904, Zipper was accepted into the Viennese Academy of Music where he studied with Richard Strauss and Maurice Ravel. Later in life, after his release from the Dachau concentration camp, he accepted a conducting position with the Manila Symphony Orchestra where he reunited with his future wife, Trudl Dubsky. The two later migrated to the U.S. where Zipper expanded his efforts in music education. On August 26, 1980, the groundwork for the Colburn School was secured after Zipper approached Richard D. Colburn with the idea of making the University of Southern California’s preparatory school independent. One of the very finest halls for chamber music in the U.S., our beloved 430-seat performance hall is named after Herbert Zipper. Colburn proudly welcomes students, faculty, staff, families, and other members of the community to Zipper Hall each year. The image from the Herbert and Trudl Zipper Archive is reproduced with permission from Celia Pool and Gavin Perry.