Program - Symphonic Valentine - An Evening with Cynthia Erivo - DYAO Side by Side 2020

ALTERNATIVE

2019/20 SEASON PRESENTING SPONSOR:

2019/20

A SYMPHONY VALENTINE PERFORMED BY YOUR COLORADO SYMPHONY BERTIE BAIGENT, conductor LAQUITA MITCHELL, soprano Friday, February 14, 2020 at 7:30 p.m.

Boettcher Concert Hall BIZET Excerpts from Carmen

Les toreadors (suite 1)

Intermezzo (suite 1)

Habanera (suite 2)

Danse boheme (suite 2) MOZART

“Porgi amor” from The Marriage of Figaro

PUCCINI

“O mio babbino caro” from Gianni Schicchi

ARLEN

"I Had Myself a True Love" from St. Louis Woman

R. STRAUSS

Zueignung, Op. 10

TCHAIKOVSKY

Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture

MAHLER

Adagietto from Symphony No. 5

TCHAIKOVSKY Panorama from Sleeping Beauty Waltz from Sleeping Beauty PUCCINI

“Sí, mi chiamano Mimi” from La bohéme

ARLEN

“I Never Has Seen Snow” from House of Flowers

GERSHWIN

“Someone to Watch Over Me” from Oh, Kay!

R. STRAUSS

Cäcilie, op. 27 CONCERT RUN TIME IS APPROXIMATELY 1 HOUR AND 10 MINUTES. THERE WILL BE NO INTERMISSION.

PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY SOUNDINGS

2 0 1 9/2 0

PROGRAM I

ALTERNATIVE BIOGRAPHIES

PHOTO: BEN DURRANT

BERTIE BAIGENT, assistant conductor Bertie Baigent is rapidly building an international reputation as an exciting and dynamic conductor-composer. He is Assistant Conductor of the Colorado Symphony, Music Director of Waterperry Opera Festival and Principal Guest Conductor of the Denver Young Artists Orchestra; other groups he has worked with include the Dallas Symphony, the WDR Sinfonieorchester, and the Gürzenich-Orchester. Bertie has assisted conductors including Sir Mark Elder, Edward Gardner, and Jac van Steen, and has participated in masterclasses with Martyn Brabbins, Pierre-André Valade, and as part of the Dirigentenforum in Germany. Winner of the Royal Academy of Music’s Sir Henry Wood Scholarship and Ernest Read Prize in 2017, Bertie was the youngest semi-finalist in the London Symphony Orchestra Donatella Flick Conducting Competition 2018, and in 2017 participated in the Deutscher Dirigentenpreis. He is a Lies Askonas Fellow with Askonas Holt. Also at home in the world of opera, recent engagements have included The Magic Flute at Waterperry Opera Festival, Partenope for Hampstead Garden Opera, and work with Helios Opera and OperaUpClose. New music is particularly important to Bertie, with collaborations including those with the London Sinfonietta, the Phaedra Ensemble, the Royal Academy Contemporary Ensemble, and 4|12 Collective. Bertie’s compositions have been widely performed by artists such as the Aurora Orchestra, the Britten Sinfonia, the Choir of St Paul’s Cathedral, and the viol consort Fretwork, and have been heard in venues such as the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the Royal Festival Hall. He has been awarded prizes and commissions by organizations including the Royal Philharmonic Society, the BBC, the National Centre for Early Music, and the Royal College of Organists. His works have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM, and other European radio stations, and are published by Stainer & Bell. Bertie is a prize-winning Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, and trained as a cellist and pianist before focusing on conducting and composition. He read music at the University of Cambridge, graduating with a double first in 2016, and subsequently completed his master’s at the Royal Academy of Music, graduating with distinction and DipRAM in 2018.

FIRST TIME TO THE SYMPHONY? SEE PAGE 8 OF THE PROGRAM BOOK FOR FAQ’S TO MAKE YOUR EXPERIENCE GREAT!

PROGRAM II

C O L O R A D O SY M P H O N Y.O R G

ALTERNATIVE BIOGRAPHIES LAQUITA MITCHELL, soprano Soprano Laquita Mitchell consistently earns acclaim on eminent international opera and concert stages worldwide. In her compelling début as Bess in Porgy and Bess with the San Francisco Opera, Opera News said “Laquita Mitchell, in her first outing as Bess, dazzled the SFO [San Francisco Opera] audience with her purity of tone and vivid theatrical presence.” She has since reprised the role with The Atlanta Opera, The Tanglewood Festival, Madison Symphony, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Toledo Opera, Springfield Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Sheboygan Symphony, Traverse City Symphony, and many more. Additionally, PBS invited Ms. Mitchell to perform a solo recital including excerpts from Porgy and Bess with pianist Craig Terry for the Television Critics Association Press Tour in Los Angeles in preparation for the broadcast and DVD release of SFO’s Porgy and Bess.

Her performance as Bess is constantly received with critical acclaim. This season, Ms. Mitchell reprises the role of Bess in Porgy and Bess with Grange Park Opera in the UK, Lithuanian State Symphony, and Harrisburg Symphony and performs as a soloist in Sanctuary Road and Porgy Suite with the Columbus Symphony. She will also perform in Colorado Symphony’s Valentines Day concert and make a long-awaited role debut as the title role in Aida for Virginia Opera.

Notable engagements include her creation of the role of Josephine Baker in Tom Cipullo’s Josephine for Opera Colorado, Coretta Scott King in I Dream with Opera Grand Rapids, Toledo Opera and Opera Carolina, Violetta in La traviata Opera Memphis, New York City Opera, and Edmonton Opera, and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Florentine Opera and Portland Opera.

Recent concert engagements include the soprano solo in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Berkeley Symphony, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with Missoula Symphony, the world première of Moravec’s Sanctuary Road at Carnegie Hall with Oratorio Society of New York and her return to the Philadelphia Orchestra to perform in their Academy Ball alongside Steve Martin and led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

An active concert artist, Ms. Mitchell recently performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Philadelphia Orchestra at Saratoga Performing Arts Center; Over the Rainbow – an evening honoring Harold Arlen at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall; Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Louisville Orchestra; a début with the New World Symphony in Alberto Ginastera’s Cantata para la América Mágica; the world première of composer Steven Stucky’s August 4, 1964 with Dallas Symphony Orchestra; her Boston Symphony Orchestra début as the soprano soloist in Wynton Marsalis’ All Rise under the direction of Kurt Masur; and the soprano solo in Tippett’s A Child of our Time with the Washington Chorus at Kennedy Center. She has also performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, the New York Symphonic Ensemble at Alice Tully Hall, and with Branford Marsalis and the Garden State Philharmonic. Additionally, she performs in recitals annually at Harare International Festival of the Arts in Zimbabwe.

SOUNDINGS

2 0 1 9/2 0

PROGRAM III

SPOTLIGHT

2019/20

LEGENDARY WOMEN’S VOICES: AN EVENING WITH CYNTHIA ERIVO PERFORMED BY YOUR COLORADO SYMPHONY CHRISTOPHER DRAGON, conductor CYNTHIA ERIVO, vocalist

2019/20 SEASON PRESENTING SPONSOR:

Saturday's Concert is Gratefully Dedicated to

Saturday, February 15, 2020 at 7:30 p.m.

Boettcher Concert Hall Strike Up the Band

GERSHWIN

VARIOUS “Ave Maria”

“I Put a Spell On You”

“Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”

“Stormy Weather” “Summertime”

“Ain’t No Way”

“I Never Loved a Man”

“Midnight Train to Georgia” — INTERMISSION — PRICE

“Finale: Scherzo” from Symphony No. 3 in C minor

BERNSTEIN

“Take Care of This House” from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

VARIOUS “Ne Me Quitte Pas”

“Feeling Good”

“All I Could Do Was Cry”

“At Last”

“I Who Has Nothing” “Edelweiss”

“I Was Here” CONCERT RUN TIME IS APPROXIMATELY 1 HOUR AND 45 MINUTES WITH A 20 MINUTE INTERMISSION.

FIRST TIME TO THE SYMPHONY? SEE PAGE 8 OF THE PROGRAM BOOK FOR FAQ’S TO MAKE YOUR EXPERIENCE GREAT!

PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY PROGRAM IV

C O L O R A D O SY M P H O N Y.O R G

SPOTLIGHT BIOGRAPHIES CHRISTOPHER DRAGON, resident conductor Australian conductor Christopher Dragon is in his fifth season with the Colorado Symphony. For three years he previously held the position of Assistant Conductor with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, which gave him the opportunity to work closely with Principal Conductor Asher Fisch. Dragon works regularly in Australia and has guest conducted the Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and West Australian Symphony Orchestras.

His 2015 debut performance at the Sydney Opera House with Josh Pyke and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra was released on album by ABC Music and won an ARIA the following year. Dragon’s international guest conducting includes the Orquestra Sinfônica de Porto Alegre, the San Diego Symphony Orchestra and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. He has also conducted at numerous festivals including the Breckenridge and Bangalow Music Festivals, with both resulting in immediate re-invitations. At the beginning of 2016 Dragon conducted Wynton Marsalis’ Swing Symphony as part of the Perth International Arts Festival alongside Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at the Lincoln Center Orchestra. Dragon began his conducting studies in 2011 and was a member of the prestigious Symphony Services International Conductor Development Program in Australia under the guidance of course director Christopher Seaman. He has also studied with numerous distinguished conductors including Leonid Grin, Paavo and Neeme Järvi at the Järvi Summer Festival, Fabio Luisi at the Pacific Music Festival, and conducting pedagogue Jorma Panula.

CYNTHIA ERIVO, vocalist Cynthia Erivo is a Tony®, Emmy®, and Grammy® Award-winning actress who burst onto West End and Broadway stages in The Color Purple and has taken the big screen by storm. Erivo can next be seen starring in Kasi Lemmons’ Harriet where she will bring the legacy of Harriet Tubman to the big screen. Upcoming, Erivo will star in Doug Liman’s sci-fi thriller, Chaos Walking, and John Ridley’s Needle in a Timestack. She is set to executive produce and star in Warner Brothers’ musical take on the American folk tale Rip Van Winkle. On the television side, Erivo is currently in production on her first television project, HBO series The Outsider, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. Erivo stars alongside Ben Mendelsohn in the series, which follows an unorthodox investigator and a seasoned cop investigating a gruesome murder of a local boy. Continuing to push the boundaries of her versatile career, Erivo stars in John Cameron Mitchell’s music-driven podcast anthology, Anthem: Homunculus. She also leads the voice cast and co-produced the QCode scripted thriller podcast, Carrier. In 2018, Erivo made her film debut in two major films from 20th Century Fox: Drew Goddard’s Bad Times at the El Royale and Steve McQueen’s Widows In addition to her illustrious stage career, Erivo is an accomplished performer with symphonies and music spaces including the Kennedy Center Honors, the 2017 Governor’s Ball (the official post- Oscars celebration) and the 2017 Grammy Awards. A UK native, Erivo graduated from the famed Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 2010.

SOUNDINGS

2 0 1 9/2 0

PROGRAM V

FAMILY

2019/20

DENVER YOUNG ARTISTS ORCHESTRA SIDE BY SIDE 2020 PERFORMED BY YOUR COLORADO SYMPHONY DENVER YOUNG ARTISTS ORCHESTRA BERTIE BAIGENT, conductor ARIANNA TULLIS, flute

2019/20 SEASON PRESENTING SPONSOR:

Presenting Sponsor:

Sunday, February 16, 2020 at 2:30 p.m.

Boettcher Concert Hall Night on Bald Mountain

MUSSORGSKY

NIELSEN Flute Concerto I. Allegro moderato — INTERMISSION — MUSSORGSKY/ Pictures at an Exhibition arr. RAVEL Promenade — The Gnome

Promenade — The Old Castle

Promenade — Tuileries Bydlo

Promenade — Ballet of the Chicks in Their Shells

Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle

The Marketplace at Limoges —

Catacombs, Roman Tombs —

Cum Mortuis in Lingua Mortua

The Hut on Fowl’s Legs —

The Great Gate of Kiev CONCERT RUN TIME IS APPROXIMATELY 1 HOUR AND 41 MINUTES WITH A 20 MINUTE INTERMISSION.

FIRST TIME TO THE SYMPHONY? SEE PAGE 8 OF THE PROGRAM BOOK FOR FAQ’S TO MAKE YOUR EXPERIENCE GREAT!

PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY PROGRAM VI

C O L O R A D O SY M P H O N Y.O R G

FAMILY BIOGRAPHIES

PHOTO: BEN DURRANT

BERTIE BAIGENT, assistant conductor Bertie Baigent is rapidly building an international reputation as an exciting and dynamic conductor-composer. He is Assistant Conductor of the Colorado Symphony, Music Director of Waterperry Opera Festival and Principal Guest Conductor of the Denver Young Artists Orchestra; other groups he has worked with include the Dallas Symphony, the WDR Sinfonieorchester, and the Gürzenich-Orchester. Bertie has assisted conductors including Sir Mark Elder, Edward Gardner, and Jac van Steen, and has participated in masterclasses with Martyn Brabbins, Pierre-André Valade, and as part of the Dirigentenforum in Germany. Winner of the Royal Academy of Music’s Sir Henry Wood Scholarship and Ernest Read Prize in 2017, Bertie was the youngest semi-finalist in the London Symphony Orchestra Donatella Flick Conducting Competition 2018, and in 2017 participated in the Deutscher Dirigentenpreis. He is a Lies Askonas Fellow with Askonas Holt. ​Also at home in the world of opera, recent engagements have included The Magic Flute at Waterperry Opera Festival, Partenope for Hampstead Garden Opera, and work with Helios Opera and OperaUpClose. New music is particularly important to Bertie, with collaborations including those with the London Sinfonietta, the Phaedra Ensemble, the Royal Academy Contemporary Ensemble, and 4|12 Collective. Bertie’s compositions have been widely performed by artists such as the Aurora Orchestra, the Britten Sinfonia, the Choir of St Paul’s Cathedral, and the viol consort Fretwork, and have been heard in venues such as the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the Royal Festival Hall. He has been awarded prizes and commissions by organizations including the Royal Philharmonic Society, the BBC, the National Centre for Early Music, and the Royal College of Organists. His works have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM, and other European radio stations, and are published by Stainer & Bell. Bertie is a prize-winning Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, and trained as a cellist and pianist before focusing on conducting and composition. He read music at the University of Cambridge, graduating with a double first in 2016, and subsequently completed his master’s at the Royal Academy of Music, graduating with distinction and DipRAM in 2018.

ARIANNA TULLIS, flute Arianna is a sophomore at Steamboat Springs High School. She began piano at the age of 5, but when she turned 9 she became adamant about learning to play flute. She has been a dedicated flautist since. This is her second year as a member of YAO, traveling from Steamboat Springs to Denver nearly every weekend during the orchestra season. She has attended several notable camps including Jimmy Walker’s Beyond the Masterclass, Northern California Flute Camp, and Interlochen Center for the Arts. Four years in a row, she was a featured musician in the honor solo performance at the Colorado Suzuki Institute. In 2017 and 2018 she was the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Colorado state woodwind champion. She also won the Colorado MTNA wind concerto competition in 2017. As an active member of the Colorado Flute Association, Arianna placed in the top three of the K-12 honors competition for the past five SOUNDINGS

2 0 1 9/2 0 PROGRAM VII

FAMILY BIOGRAPHIES years, winning three years in a row. Arianna has been accepted into the CU honor band since 7th grade and the District 8 honor band since 6th grade. This year she traveled with DYAO on a European tour as well as traveling to Australia as a member of the Honors Performance Series.

She had the amazing opportunity of playing in the Sydney Opera House with this band.

Arianna has had the pleasure of performing in masterclasses with notable flutists such as Jim Walker, Marco Granados, Michel Bellavance, Christina Jennings, Michelle Stanley, Robert Langevin, and Nicole Esposito. She also played in the Once a Flutist ensemble as a little Galway with Sir Galway conducting.

Arianna is the first student in the school district to gain gifted and talented status in music.

She enjoys mentoring the flutes of the Steamboat Springs Middle School band. When she first had braces and struggled with her tone, she wrote a letter to the editor of Flute Talk magazine which was published. She has used these suggestions to help others overcome the challenges of braces. In her free time, Arianna enjoys aerial silks, skiing, and bike riding. Arianna would like to thank her teachers and mentors: Mary Beth Norris for starting and growing her flute career, Brook Ferguson for supplementing her learning when Arianna travels to Denver, and Christal Huston for working with her piano collaboration skills.

DENVER YOUNG ARTISTS ORCHESTRA Founded in 1977 with the support of the Denver Symphony Orchestra, the Denver Young Artists Orchestra is a 250+ young musician organization that fosters the education and excellence in musicianship in the classical form in our community. The Colorado Symphony is thrilled to renew our shared vision of music education and build upon an already longstanding partnership with the Denver Young Artists Orchestra. In July of 2018, both organizations renew a commitment to pursuing the shared mission value of music education in a strategic partnership that will allow young musicians from the DYAO greater access and mentorship from the full-time professional musicians of the Colorado Symphony. The greatest shared feature of the DYAO Alliance with the Colorado Symphony will include soloist performance opportunities between both organizations, music coaching, and mentorship fostered by Colorado’s only full-time professional orchestra, masterclass opportunities for DYAO students with Colorado Symphony musicians and featured guest artists, new performance opportunities between ensembles, and a renewed fervor for volunteerism between organizations. Both organizations will also continue their commitment to serving the area by performing the annual Side-by-Side performance, and endeavor for even more events to connect with Denverites and beyond. Learn more about the DYAO at www.DYAO.org.

PROGRAM VIII C O L O R A D O SY M P H O N Y.O R G