Program Notes: Holiday Brass & Handel's Messiah

HOLIDAY 2023/24 HOLIDAY BRASS BRIAN BUERKLE, conductor COLORADO SYMPHONY BRASS & PERCUSSION Friday, December 15, 2023 at 7:30pm Boettcher Concert Hall

RAYMOND DAVID BURKHART

Rejoice!

TRAD. Christmas Around the World I. Little Drummer Boy (America) II. On That Night in Bethlehem (Ireland) III. Sussex Carol (England) GRABRIELI Canzon septime toni No. 2

From Sacrae Symphoniae BRUCKNER

Ave Maria, WAB6

TRAD. The Torches of Christmas I. Torches!

II. Bransle de la Torche III. Brinch a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella TRAD. ENGLISH

Greensleeves – What Child Is This?

ANTHONY DiLORENZO Baltazar – A King’s Journey TRAD. ENGLISH

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen — INTERMISSION —

PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY

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PROGRAM I

HOLIDAY 2023/24

JOSHUA DECKER

Holiday Fanfare & Song

GRAINGER

Sussex Mummers’ Christmas Carol

BERLIN

White Christmas

RICHARD CARPENTER/ FRANK POOLER

Merry Christmas, Darling

TRAD. ENGLISH

Hark! The Herland Angels Sing

ANTHONY DiLORENZO Christmas ‘Toons

I. Welcome Christmas from The Grinch

II. Trim Up The Tree from The Grinch

III. Frosty The Snowman from Frosty the Snowman IV. Santa Claus is Coming to Town from Santa Claus V. Jingle, Jingle, Jingle from Rudolph VI. There’s Always Tomorrow from Rudolph VII. You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch from The Grinch

CONCERT RUN TIME IS APPROXIMATELY 1 HOUR AND 40 MINUTES WITH A 20 MINUTE INTERMISSION

FIRST TIME TO THE SYMPHONY? SEE PAGE 19 OF THIS PROGRAM FOR FAQ’S TO MAKE YOUR EXPERIENCE GREAT!

PROGRAM II

C O LO R A D O S Y M P H O N Y.O R G

HOLIDAY BIOGRAPHIES BRIAN BUERKLE, conductor Brian Buerkle currently serves as Principal Trumpet of the Sinfonia Gulf Coast (FL) and Kentucky Symphony Orchestra (KY), and has previously held positions as Acting 4th/Utility Trumpet with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (2006-2007), 2nd/Sub-Principal Trumpet with the West Virginia Symphony (2007-2010), 2nd Trumpet with the Lexington Philharmonic (2000-2001), and 2nd Trumpet with the State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra (1999).

As an active freelance musician, Brian has traveled the world performing and recording with some of America’s finest orchestras; including the Pittsburgh Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony and Pops, Columbus Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, and Dayton Philharmonic.

Brian is also a member of several innovative chamber ensembles; including the Spectrum Brass, Canterbury Brass, Pittsburgh Brass, and the Queen City Brass. His recordings can be heard on the Telarc, PentaTone, BrassJar, Exton, Centaur, Albany, Summit, PSO, CD Baby, and AWSO record labels. Brian is currently an Artist-in-Residence at the Bay View Music Festival and is a former faculty member of the prestigious Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI).

In addition to his skills as a trumpeter, Brian is also an accomplished conductor and arranger.

His publications have been performed and recorded by groups worldwide, and his conducting experience ranges from brass ensembles to vocal choirs to symphony orchestras. Over the years, Brian’s guest conducting appearances have been with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Boulder Philharmonic, Grand Rapids Symphony, Suburban East Coast Music Festival Honors Orchestra, Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Brass of the Spectrum Brass Seminar, Sinfonia Chamber Brass, and in 2018, he made his overseas conducting debut with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

Brian received a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and a Master’s Degree in Music Performance from Duquesne University. In 2010, he was featured in an article of the International Trumpet Guild Magazine, recognizing his many achievements as a professional musician. He is a former music critic for the American Record Guide, and the current Owner/President of the Southern Ohio Music Company.

During his free time, Brian can be found doing a number of activities including playing tennis, racquetball, golf, baseball, darts, billiards, and ping-pong. He is also an avid audiophile and maintains an extensive collection of classical music recordings. Brian resides in Cincinnati, OH, where he enjoys an active and diverse musical career.

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PROGRAM III

DEC 22-23 FRI-SAT 7:30

COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG

HOLIDAY 2023/24 HANDEL’S MESSIAH PERFORMED BY YOUR COLORADO SYMPHONY TAYLOR MARTIN, conductor COLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS ANNA CHRISTY, soprano ANN MCMAHON QUINTERO, mezzo soprano ISAIAH BELL, tenor NATHAN BERG, baritone Saturday, December 16, 2023 at 7:30pm Sunday, December 17, 2023 at 2:30pm Boettcher Concert Hall HANDEL

Messiah, HWV 56 PART I Overture Comfort ye, my people Ev’ry valley shall be exalted And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed Thus saith the Lord But who may abide the day of his coming?

And he shall purify Behold! A virgin shall conceive O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion For behold, darkness shall cover the earth The people that walked in darkness For unto us a child is born Pifa: Pastoral Symphony There were shepherds abiding in the field And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them And the angel said unto them And suddenly there was with the angel Glory to God Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened He shall feed his flock Come unto Him His yoke is easy — INTERMISSION —

PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY

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PROGRAM V

HOLIDAY 2023/24 PART II Behold the Lamb of God He was despised Surely, he hath borne our griefs And with his stripes we are healed All we, like sheep, have gone astray All they that see him laugh him to scorn He trusted in God Thy rebuke hath broken his heart Behold, and see if there be any sorrow He was cut off out of the land of the living But thou didst not leave his soul in hell Lift up your heads, O ye gates Unto which of the angels said he at any time Let all the angels of God worship him Why do the nations so furiously rage together?

Let us break their bonds asunder He that dwelleth in heaven Thou shalt break them Hallelujah PART III I know that my redeemer liveth Since by man came death Behold, I tell you a mystery The trumpet shall sound Worthy is the Lamb Saturday’s concert is dedicated to Dr. David H. Wagner Sunday’s concert is dedicated to Mike & Nancy Zoellner

CONCERT RUN TIME IS APPROXIMATELY 2 HOURS AND 10 MINUTES INCLUDING A 20 MINUTE INTERMISSION. FIRST TIME TO THE SYMPHONY? SEE PAGE 19 OF THIS PROGRAM FOR FAQ’S TO MAKE YOUR EXPERIENCE GREAT!

PROGRAM VI

C O LO R A D O S Y M P H O N Y.O R G

HOLIDAY BIOGRAPHIES TAYLOR MARTIN, conductor Taylor Martin is Associate Director and Conductor for the Colorado Symphony Chorus and Artistic Director of ELUS Vocal Ensemble. In 2019 Taylor made his debut with the Colorado Symphony conducting their staged version of Handel’s Messiah, titled Messiah: Awakening. Now in his ninth season with the Colorado Symphony Chorus, he has frequently taken the podium during the holiday season for productions of A Colorado Christmas and Messiah. Taylor has prepared the Chorus for productions with the Colorado Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Dallas Symphony, and he recently conducted a concert tour of Austria featuring works for chorus and organ, leading Anton Bruckner’s Te Deum with the Salzburg Domorchester. Known for his musical versatility, Taylor has prepared choruses for Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA, Al Green, and Josh Groban, among other critically acclaimed artists. Entering his seventh season with ELUS Vocal Ensemble, Taylor has led performances of great a cappella repertoire through imaginative programming of new music and major works, such as David Lang’s the little match girl passion and Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem to considerable acclaim. In 2021, ELUS collaborated with international EDM artist, OPIUO, to perform a sold-out show at Colorado’s iconic Red Rocks Amphitheatre.

COLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS The 2023/24 Colorado Symphony concert season marks the 40th season of the Colorado Symphony Chorus. Founded in 1984 by Duain Wolfe at the request of Gaetano Delogu, then the Music Director of the Symphony, the chorus has grown into a nationally respected ensemble. This outstanding chorus of volunteers joins the Colorado Symphony for numerous performances each year, to repeated critical acclaim.

The Chorus has performed at noted music festivals in the Rocky Mountain region, including the Colorado Music Festival, the Grand Teton Music Festival, and the Bravo! Vail Music Festival, where it has performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Dallas Symphony, under conductors Alan Gilbert, Hans Graf, Jaap van Zweden, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Fabio Luisi. For over twenty five years, the Chorus was featured at the world-renowned Aspen Music Festival, performing many great masterworks under the baton of conductors Lawrence Foster, James Levine, Murry Sidlin, Leonard Slatkin, David Zinman, and Robert Spano.

Among the eight recordings the Colorado Symphony Chorus has made is a NAXOS release of Roy Harris’s Symphony No. 4. The Chorus is also featured on a Hyperion release of the Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem and Stephen Hough’s Missa Mirabilis. Most recently, the Colorado Symphony and Chorus released a world-premiere recording of William Hill’s The Raven.

In 2009, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the chorus, Duain Wolfe conducted the chorus on a three-country, two-week concert tour of Europe, presenting the Verdi Requiem in Budapest, Vienna, Litomysl and Prague; in 2016 the chorus returned to Europe for concerts in Paris, Strasbourg and Munich featuring the Fauré Requiem. In the summer of 2022, the Chorus toured Austria, performing to great acclaim in Vienna, Graz and Salzburg.

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HOLIDAY BIOGRAPHIES COLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS Duain Wolfe, Founding Director and Conductor Mary Louise Burke, Principal Associate Director and Conductor Taylor Martin, Associate Director and Conductor Jared Joseph, Conducting Intern Hsiao-Ling Lin and ShaoChun Tsai, pianists Eric Israelson, Chorus Manager/Librarian Barbara Porter, Associate Chorus Manager SOPRANO Andrews, Lottie Ascani, Lori Atchison, René Black, Kimberly Blum, Jude Bowen, Alex Burns, Jeremy Burr, Emily Causey, Denelda Coberly, Ruth Coberly, Sarah Collins, Elizabeth Collins, Suzanne Collums, Angie Cote, Kerry Dakkouri, Claudia Day, April Dobreff, Mary Eck, Emily Emerich, Kate Ewert, Gracie Gaskill, Andria Gile, Jenifer Gill, Lori Glazier, Taylor Graber, Susan Grace, Maura Headrick, Alaina Hittle , Erin Irigoyen, Alicia Jones, Kaitlyn Jordan, Cameron Kennedy, Lauren Kermgard, Lindsey Kinnischtzke, Meghan Kraft, Lisa Kushnir, Marina Lang, Leanne

Look, Cathy Linder, Dana Machusko, Rebecca Mattingly, Isabella Maupin, Anne Montigne, Erin Moraskie, Wendy O'Nan, Jeannette Peterson, Jodie Pflug, Kim Porter, Barbara Rae, Donneve Ropa, Lori Sladovnik, Roberta Stegink, Nicole Tate, Judy Timme, Sydney Von Roedern, Susan Walker, Marcia Wall, Alison Wise, Rebecca Wuertz, Karen Young, Cara Zisler, Joan ALTO Adams, Priscilla Arthur, Liz Berganza, Brenda Braud, Charlotte Chatfield, Cass Clauson, Clair Conrad, Jayne Cox, Martha Darone, Janie Davies, Debbie Deck, Barbara Dobson, Kezia

Dutcher, Valerie Fairchild, Raleigh Friedman, Anna Gayley, Sharon Golden, Daniela Groom, Gabriella Guittar, Pat Haxton, Sheri Hoopes, Kaia Hoskins, Hansi Isaac, Olivia Jackson, Brandy Janasko, Ellen Jarest, Michelle Kaminske, Christine Kim, Annette Kolstad, Annie LeBaron, Andrea Levy, Juliet London, Carole Long, Tinsley Maltzahn, Joanna McWaters, Susan Nordenholz, Kristen Nyholm, Christine Owens, Sheri Parsons, Jill Pringle, Jennifer Rehme, Leanne Rudolph, Kathi Scarselli, Elizabeth Schnell, Wendy Stevenson, Melanie Thaler, Deanna Thayer, Mary Trubetskoy, Kimberly

PROGRAM VIII C O LO R A D O S Y M P H O N Y.O R G

Virtue, Pat Wandel, Benita Worthington, Evin York, Beth TENOR Babcock, Gary Bowman, Ryan Carlson, James Davies , Dusty Dinkel, Jack Fuehrer, Roger Gale, John Gordon, Frank Guittar, Forrest Hodel, David Ibrahim, Sami Johnson, Trey Jordan, Curt Kolm, Kenneth Milligan, Tom Moraskie, Richard Muesing, Garvis Nicholas, Timothy Rangel, Miguel Richardson, Tyler Roach, Eugene Rosen, David Ruth, Ronald Seamans , Andrew Sims , Jerry Stohlmann, Phillip Thompson, Hannis Witherspoon, Max Zimmerman, Kenneth BASS Adams, John Carlton, Grant

Friedlander, Robert Glauner, Dave Gray, Matthew Grossman, Chris Griffin, Tim Hammerberg, Nic Hesse, Douglas Highbaugh, David Hume, Donald Hunt, Leonard Israelson, Eric Jackson, Terry Jirak, Thomas Johnson, Matthew Jones, John Joseph, Jared Lingenfelter, Paul Lund-Brown, Sean McDaniel, Jakson Mehta, Nalin Molberg, Matthew Morrison, Greg Nuccio, Gene Phillips, John Pilcher, Ben Potter, Tom Pullen, Jacob Quarles, Kenneth Richards, Joshua Scoville, Adam Skillings, Russell Smedberg, Matthew Steele, Matt Struthers, David Swanson, Wil Virtue, Tom West, Mike Zax, Jeffrey

HOLIDAY BIOGRAPHIES DUAIN WOLFE, founder and director, Colorado Symphony Chorus Three-time Grammy winner for Best Choral Performance, Best Classical Recording, and Best Opera Performance, Duain Wolfe is Founder and Director of the Colorado Symphony Chorus.

This year marks Wolfe’s 40th season with the Colorado Symphony Chorus.

The Chorus has been featured at the Aspen Music Festival for nearly three decades. Wolfe recently retired as Director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus after 28 years. He has collaborated with Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Muti, and Sir George Solti on numerous recordings including Wagner’s Die Meistersinger, which won the 1998 Grammy® for Best Opera Recording. Wolfe’s extensive musical accomplishments have resulted in numerous awards, including the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the University of Denver, the Bonfils Stanton Award in the Arts and Humanities, the Mayor’s Award for Excellence in an Artistic Discipline, and the Michael Korn Award for the Development of the Professional Choral Art. Wolfe is Founder of the Colorado Children’s Chorale, from which he retired in 1999 after 25 years. For 20 years, Wolfe also worked with the Central City Opera Festival as chorus director and conductor, founding and directing the company’s young artist residence program, as well as its education and outreach programs. Wolfe’s other accomplishments include directing and preparing choruses for Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, the Bravo! Vail Festival, the Berkshire Choral Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Grand Teton Music Festival. He has worked with Pinchas Zuckerman and Alexander Shelly as Chorus Director for the Canadian National Arts Centre Orchestra for the past 20 years.

ANNA CHRISTY, soprano Praised by the New York Times as “nimble of voice, body and spirit,” GRAMMY Award® winning soprano Anna Christy continues to impress and delight audiences with an extraordinary blend of sparkling voice, powerful stage presence, and innate musicality. In 23/24 she will return to the Colorado Symphony for Bruckner’s Psalm 150 and Messiah.

She regularly appears on the stages of The Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Canadian Opera Company, The Santa Fe Opera, Teatro Real, Opéra National de Bordeaux, English National Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Opéra national de Paris, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Teatro alla Scala, Théâtre du Châtélet, Opéra de Lille, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, New York City Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Des Moines Metro Opera, and Central City Opera.

Anna enjoys frequent collaboration with the world’s foremost conductors including Seiji Ozawa, Peter Oundjian, Joe Hisaishi, Stéphane Denève, Brett Mitchell, Michael Tilson Thomas, Marin Alsop, Harry Bicket, Charles Dutoit, Emmanuelle Haïm, Sir Andrew Davis, Edward Gardner, David Stern, Bertrand de Billy, Bramwell Tovey, George Manahan, Antony Walker, James Conlon, Paul Daniel, Marco Armiliato, Julius Rudel, Donald Runnicles, Kent Nagano, Jane Glover, and SOUNDINGS 2 0 2 3/ 24

PROGRAM IX

HOLIDAY BIOGRAPHIES Emmanuel Plasson to name a few. Orchestral highlights include Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, East Land Symphony, Messiah, In Terra Pax, Carmina Burana, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphyony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Symphony, Savannah Philharmonic, Kansas City Symphony, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Saito Kinen Festival, English Concert, Baltimore Symphony, and Les Vents Atlantiques.

ANN MCMAHON QUINTERO, mezzo soprano Praised for her evocative interpretations of oratorio and opera, Ann McMahon Quintero filled the 2022/23 season with new works and old favorites. She joined Boston Baroque and Alabama Symphony for Messiah, Charleston Symphony for Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky Cantata, and originated the role of Yadira in the world premiere of Ghosts with San Diego Opera.

Ms. Quintero was thrilled to join Santa Fe Opera in 2022 in one of her signature roles, Mistress Quickly in Falstaff. Also in the 2021/22 season, she portrayed the titular role in Lizbeth with Opera Orlando and Madame Flora in The Medium with Chelsea Opera, with whom she enjoyed a successful run as the inimitable Julia Child in Lee Hoiby’s Bon Appétit! in June, 2021.

Ms. Quintero also enjoys a rewarding relationship with the Defiant Requiem Foundation, performing their special presentation of the Verdi Requiem in Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín.

She has performed the piece with Mo. Murry Sidlin over a dozen times throughout the U.S., sharing the story of Rafael Schächter and the brave artists of Terezín.

The mezzo-soprano has performed the Verdi Requiem with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Cathedral Choral Society Washington D.C., Brevard Music Center, Berkshire Choral International, Southwest Florida Symphony, the South Bend Symphony, and the Boston Landmarks Orchestra, with whom she also performed de Falla’s El amor brujo.

ISAIAH BELL, tenor Isaiah Bell performs across North America as a tenor (notably Rufus Wainwright’s Hadrian at the Canadian Opera Company, The Barber of Seville with Vancouver Opera, Mark Morris’s production of Curlew River at B.A.M.) and complements that practice with composing and writing. He combines all three disciplines in his solo chamber-opera/cabaret-theatre show The Book of My Shames, a co-creation with director Sean Guist around Isaiah’s words and music. The piece, which has been described as “impossibly beautiful” and a “comic, wrenchingly personal tour-de-force”, has been presented by opera companies and orchestras across Canada. It continues to tour.

PROGRAM X

C O LO R A D O S Y M P H O N Y.O R G

HOLIDAY BIOGRAPHIES Recent and upcoming projects include Acis and Galatea with Richard Egarr and Philharmonia Baroque at the Tanglewood and Caramoor Festivals, Handel’s Messiah with the Edmonton Symphony and Colorado Symphony, Haydn’s Creation with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the world premiere of La Reine-garçon at Opéra de Montréal, Mendelssohn’s Elijah at Carnegie Hall, and Lysander in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Des Moines. He also returns to collaborations with conductor Nicholas McGegan and the Calgary Philharmonic.

NATHAN BERG, baritone A “tall, majestic bass” with “impeccable technique” and “a palpable presence on stage,” Canadian bass-baritone Nathan Berg has enjoyed a career spannning a vast range of repertoire on the concert and operatic stage. He has recently earned worldwide acclaim for his portrayals of the title role in Der fliegende Holländer in his Bolshoi Theatre debut, Alberich in Das Rheingold with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and Minnesota Opera, Doktor in Wozzeck with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the Houston Symphony, for which he won a Grammy Award, and his company debut at Teatro alla Scala in Robert Carsen’s world-premiere production of Battistelli’s CO2.

In the 2023-2024 season, Nathan Berg returns to sing his first Wotan in Wagner’s Ring cycle, specifically Das Rheingold and Die Walküre with Theater Basel, a new production by Benedikt von Peter. He will also sing Count Capulet in Roméo and Juliette at the Metropolitan Opera, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and sings and records Alcide in Alceste with Stéphane Fuget’s ensemble Les Epopées in Paris.

Born in Saskatchewan, Nathan Berg studied in Canada, the United States, and Paris, as well as at the Guildhall School of Music, London, where he won the prestigious Gold Medal for Singers.

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PROGRAM XI