37 minute read
Transformational Support
The DSO is grateful to the donors who have made extraordinary endowment investments through the DSO Impact Campaign or multi-year, comprehensive gifts to support general operations, capital improvements, or special programs.
FOUNDING FAMILIES
Advertisement
Julie & Peter Cummings The Davidson-Gerson Family and the William Davidson Foundation The Richard C. Devereaux Foundation The Fisher Family and the Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation Stanley & Judy Frankel and the Samuel & Jean Frankel Foundation Danialle & Peter Karmanos, Jr. Linda Dresner & Ed Levy, Jr. James B. & Ann V. Nicholson and PVS Chemicals, Inc. Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation Clyde & Helen Wu◊
VISIONARIES
Penny & Harold Blumenstein Mr. & Mrs. Phillip Wm. FisherMM Alan J. & Sue Kaufman and FamilyMM
Shari & Craig MorganMM Mrs. Richard C. Van Dusen
CHAMPIONS
Mr. & Mrs. Richard L. Alonzo Mandell & Madeleine Berman Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Raymond M. Cracchiolo Joanne Danto & Arnold Weingarden Vera and Joseph Dresner Foundation DTE Energy Foundation The Fred A. & Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation Ford Motor Company Fund Mr. & Mrs. Morton E. Harris◊ John S. & James L. Knight Foundation The Kresge Foundation Mrs. Bonnie Larson The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Ms. Deborah Miesel Dr. William F. Pickard The Polk Family Bernard & Eleanor Robertson Stephen M. Ross Family of Dr. Clyde and Helen Wu
LEADERS
Applebaum Family Philanthropy Charlotte Arkin Estate Mr. & Mrs. Lee Barthel Marvin & Betty Danto Family Foundation Adel & Walter Dissett Herman & Sharon Frankel Ruth & Al◊ Glancy Mary Ann & Robert Gorlin Ronald M. & Carol◊ Horwitz Ric & Carola Huttenlocher MM John C. Leyhan Estate Bud & Nancy Liebler Richard & Jane Manoogian Foundation David & Valerie McCammon Mr. & Mrs. Eugene A. Miller Pat & Hank◊ Nickol Jack & Aviva Robinson◊ Martie & Bob Sachs Mr. & Mrs.◊ Alan E. Schwartz Drs. Doris Tong & Teck Soo Paul & Terese Zlotoff
Mr.◊ & Mrs. Robert A. Allesee Mr. David Assemany & Mr. Jeffery ZookMM W. Harold & Chacona W. Baugh Robert & Lucinda Clement Lois & Avern CohnMM Mary Rita Cuddohy Estate Margie Dunn & Mark DavidoffMM Adel & Walter DissettMM DSO MusiciansMM Bette Dyer Estate Marjorie S. Fisher FundMM Dr. Marjorie M. Fisher & Mr. Roy Furman Barbara Frankel & Ronald MichalakMM Victor◊ & Gale Girolami Fund Herbert & Dorothy Graebner◊ Richard Sonenklar & Gregory HaynesMM Mr. & Mrs. David Jaffa Renato & Elizabeth JamettMM Allan & Joy NachmanMM Ann & Norman◊ Katz Morgan & Danny KaufmanMM Dr. Melvin A. Lester◊ Florine Mark Michigan Council for Arts & Cultural Affairs Dr. Glenda D. Price Ruth Rattner Mr. & Mrs.◊ Lloyd E. Reuss Mr. & Mrs. Fred Secrest◊ Jane & Larry Sherman Cindy McTee & Leonard Slatkin Marilyn Snodgrass Estate Mr. James G. VellaMM Eva von Voss and FamilyMM
BENEFACTORS
COMMUNITY & LEARNING 50 YEARS OF CIVIC YOUTH ENSEMBLES
On January 31, 1971, the Detroit Symphony Youth Orchestra took the stage for its inaugural concert, refreshing the legacy of music education at the DSO. Today, that legacy lives within fourteen classical and jazz ensembles that make up Civic Youth Ensembles (CYE).
Since its founding in 1970 and through years of visionary leadership from Clyde and Helen Wu, CYE has grown in its mission to cultivate every student’s artistic and creative potential through rewarding musical experiences while developing meaningful skills outside the arts.
CYE offerings include full and string orchestras, plus wind, jazz, and chamber ensembles. Across these ensembles and through additional activities including sectionals and guest artist chats, students at all skill levels learn from experienced music directors, faculty, and
mentors. CYE even provides students with the chance to perform at historic Orchestra Hall and participate in masterclasses with DSO musicians and guest artists.
Overcoming the challenges of pandemic learning has been no easy task, yet CYE students, instructors, and staff have risen to the occasion to not only stay connected, but also celebrate a historic 50 years of CYE. This celebration will culminate April 29 through May 1 as the DSO welcomes CYE students, alumni, and supporters to gather in Detroit to enjoy music, share stories and memories, and look ahead to an even brighter future.
The CYE family has grown to more than 4,000 alumni, with many continuing to pass knowledge and appreciation for music to the next generation. Damien Crutcher, the DSO’s Managing Director of Detroit Harmony, remembers fondly his CYE roots. Now a CYE conductor himself, Crutcher credits his educators with instilling in him a lifelong love of music. After picking up the horn at Cass Technical High School, Crutcher became a student of now retired DSO horn Bryan Kennedy in 1984. Kennedy, himself an original member of the Detroit Symphony Youth Orchestra, mentored Crutcher, encouraging him to join CYE—at the time known affectionately as Civic—and helping build the foundation for a successful career in education and music. Today, the two regard one another as friends and colleagues, a connection made possible by CYE.
With successful alumni around the globe, a teaching roster of the best artists and educators in our region, and a commitment that no student will be turned away for financial reasons, CYE provides the opportunity for students to have enriching musical experiences outside of the classroom. We invite alumni to reconnect with us and we invite students from across metro Detroit to make the DSO their musical home by auditioning for CYE. 50 years, 4,000+ alumni, 14 ensembles, unlimited possibilities. Where will CYE take you?
Visit dso.org/cye to learn more.
“The reason why the DSO’s education programs are so important is not only for the fact that they train young musicians. They train them to get better on their instruments, learn famous repertoire, and participate in ensembles, but they also teach kids to have an appreciation for this music.
You teach them that the arts are important and that if you combine arts and academics, you have a much fuller life than if you just have one by itself.”
—Bryan Kennedy, retired DSO horn and educator
A COMMUNITY-SUP JADERPORTED ORCHESTRAJADER BIGNAMINI, Music Director BIGNAMINI MUSIC DIRECTOR
Music Directorship endowed by the Kresge Foundation
JEFF TYZIK
Principal Pops Conductor TERENCE BLANCHARD
Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair LEONARD SLATKIN
Music Director Laureate NEEME JÄRVI
Music Director Emeritus
PVS CLASSICAL SERIES
Title Sponsor:
VOICES OF AMERICA
Friday, March 11, 2022 at 10:45 a.m. Saturday, March 12, 2022 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, March 13, 2022 at 3 p.m. in Orchestra Hall
PETER OUNDJIAN, conductor GEORGE SHIRLEY, narrator AARON DIEHL, piano
William Grant Still Poem (1895 - 1978)
George Gershwin Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in F major (1898 - 1937) I. Allegro II. Adagio - Andante con moto III. Allegro agitato Aaron Diehl, piano
Intermission
Joel Thompson To Awaken the Sleeper (b. 1988) George Shirley, narrator
Samuel Barber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9 (1910 - 1981)
With additional support from Laskaris-Jamett Advisors of Raymond James.
Saturday’s performance will be webcast via our exclusive Live From Orchestra Hall series, presented by Ford Motor Company Fund and made possible by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Poem
Composed 1944 | Premiered December 1944
WILLIAM GRANT STILL
B. May 11, 1895, Woodville, MS D. December 3, 1978, Los Angeles, CA Scored for 3 flutes (2 doubling on piccolo), 2 oboes, English horn, 3 clarinets, 2 bassoons (1 doubling on contrabassoon), 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, and strings. (Approx. 15 minutes)
William Grant Still is remembered as a pioneering musician of the modern age. He was the first living African American composer whose work was performed by a major symphony orchestra, and his most popular work— the “Afro-American” Symphony—was the most-performed work by an American composer (African American or otherwise) for more than 20 years in the midsection of the 20th century. He composed more than 150 concert works, including symphonies, ballets, operas, chamber works, choral and solo vocal works, and arrangements of Negro spirituals. Still synthesized his musical experiences into a career that saw many firsts for African American composers, and throughout his career he wrote constantly about the challenges facing America’s Black citizens in contemporary society.
Still’s Poem for orchestra was commissioned for The Cleveland Orchestra by The Fynette H. Kulas American Composers’ Fund. The work’s premiere was conducted by Rudolph Ringwall on December 7, 1944, the third anniversary of the Pearl Harbor bombing.
Though Still is known for his gorgeous melodies, lush orchestration, and dynamic storytelling, Poem begins in a vicious and foreboding state. No doubt World War II weighed heavily on Still, and he called on some of the dissonant chord structures and jarring orchestration techniques he learned from his mentor, the avant-garde composer Edgard Varèse.
The work is based on a poem by Verna Arvey—librettist, pianist, writer, and Still’s wife. According to Arvey, it was “inspired by the concept of a world being reborn spiritually after a period of darkness and desolation.” Though the opening of the piece is aggressive, Still’s formidable melodic gifts shine through from darkness to light. As the music evolves, so too does its mood, blossoming into a serene and aspirational melody of both musical and spiritual affirmation. The final sonority is left unresolved, however. Its instability a reminder that Still was writing about hopes, not certainties.
This performance marks the DSO premiere of William Grant Still’s Poem.
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in F major
Composed 1925 | Premiered December 1925
GEORGE GERSHWIN
B. September 26, 1898, Brooklyn, NY D. July 11, 1937, Los Angeles, CA Scored for solo piano, 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, and strings. (Approx. 29 minutes)
In the beginning of the 20th century, classical composers were trying to find new ways to structure music, thinking that the possibilities of tonality had been exhausted. Schoenberg had turned his back on tonality and had developed a radically new method of organizing the 12 notes of the musical scale, while Stravinsky in his neoclassic period went the other way by returning to the past for a new kind of inspiration. Between these two extremes was George Gershwin, who tread the middle ground by incorporating
popular music into his compositions.
The piano concerto began its life under the title New York Concerto, on which Gershwin began work in 1924 after the breakout success of his Rhapsody in Blue. While reactions to the concerto where more mixed than they were for Rhapsody, the piece slowly gained popularity and acceptance, and is now viewed as one of Gershwin’s masterpieces, as well as one of the most individual and unusual piano concertos of the 20th century.
As he was writing the concerto, Gershwin said, “Many people thought that the Rhapsody was a happy accident. I wanted to show that there was plenty more where that came from.” Prior to the piece’s premiere, he summarized it: “The first movement of the Concerto in F is quick and pulsating, representing the young, enthusiastic spirit of American life with a Charleston motif. Later, a second theme is introduced by the piano. The second movement has a poetic and nocturnal atmosphere which has come to be referred to as the American blues, but in a purer form than that in which they are usually treated. The final movement reverts to the style of the first. It is an orgy of rhythms, starting violently and keeping the same pace throughout.”
In Gershwin’s view, the popular and classical musical worlds were not mutually exclusive, and he was happiest when he could write music which appealed to audiences in both areas. The piano concerto represents the zenith in the merging of European styles with the freedom, rhythmic flexibility, and improvisational style of jazz, along with the wide-ranging appeal of American musical theater.
The DSO most recently performed Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in February 2019, conducted by Leonard Slatkin and featuring pianist Jon Kimura Parker. The DSO first performed the piece in January 1937, conducted by Victor Kolar and featuring Gershwin himself on the piano.
To Awaken the Sleeper
Composed 2021 | Premiered August 2021
JOEL THOMPSON
B. 1988 Scored for 2 flutes (1 doubling on piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 2 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, and strings. (Approx. 18 minutes)
Joel Thompson is an Atlanta-based composer, conductor, pianist, and educator, best known for the choral work, Seven Last Words of the Unarmed, which was premiered in November 2015 by the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club and Dr. Eugene Rogers and won the 2018 American Prize for Choral Composition. Thompson’s works have been performed by esteemed ensembles including the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Master Chorale, Los Angeles Master Chorale, EXIGENCE, and the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus. Currently a doctoral student at the Yale School of Music, Thompson was also a 2017 post-graduate fellow in Arizona State University’s Ensemble Lab/ Projecting All Voices Initiative and a composition fellow at the 2017 Aspen Music Festival and School, where he studied with composers Stephen Hartke and Christopher Theofanidis and won the 2017 Hermitage Prize. Thompson taught at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School in Atlanta from 2015 to 2017 and served as Director of Choral Studies and Assistant Professor of Music at Andrew College from 2013 to 2015. Thompson has a B.A. in Music and an M.M. in Choral Conducting, both from Emory University.
In August 2021, Thompson’s To Awaken the Sleeper was premiered in Boulder at the Colorado Music Festival, on co-commission by the Festival and a consortium including the DSO. In the piece, Thompson shines a light on American writer and activist James
Baldwin, weaving selections of Baldwin’s own words into a musical profile on one of the most powerful Black voices of his generation.
This performance marks the DSO premiere of Joel Thompson’s To Awaken the Sleeper.
Quotes from James Baldwin’s works “An Open Letter to My Sister, Miss Angela Davis,” “No Name In The Street,” and James Baldwin’s National Press Club Speech, December 10, 1986 are used with permission from the James Baldwin Estate.
To Awaken the Sleeper
“So be it! So be it. We cannot awaken [the] sleeper, and God knows we have tried. We must do what we can do, and fortify and save each other—[...] We know that democracy does not mean the coercion of all into a deadly—and, finally, wicked—mediocrity but the liberty for all to aspire to the best that is in us, or that has ever been.”
“Well, if one really wishes to know how justice is administered in a country, one does not question the policemen, the lawyers, the judges, or the protected members of the middle class. One goes to the unprotected – those, precisely, who need the law’s protection most! – and listen to their testimony.”
“Ask any Mexican, any Puerto Rican, any Black man, any poor person —ask the wretched how they fare in the halls of justice, and then you will know whether or not it has any love for justice, or any concept of it.”
“Ask the wretched how they fare in the halls of justice, and then you will know whether or not [this country] has any love for justice, or any concept of it. It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.” “Power, which can have no morality in itself, is yet dependent on human energy, on the wills and desires of human beings. When power translates itself into tyranny, it means that the principles on which that power depended, and which were its justification, are bankrupt. When this happens, and it is happening now, power can only be defended by thugs and mediocrities – and seas of blood.”
“The representatives of the status quo are sickened and divided, and dread looking into the eyes of their young; while the excluded begin to realize, having endured everything, that they can endure everything. They do not know the precise shape of the future, but they know that the future belongs to them. They realize this—paradoxically—by the failure of the moral energy of their oppressors and begin, almost instinctively, to forge a new morality, to create the principles on which a new world will be built.”
“We are living in a world in which everybody and everything is interdependent. It is not white, this world. It is not Black either. The future of this world depends on everyone in this room. And that future depends on to what extent and by what means we liberate ourselves from a vocabulary which now cannot bear the weight of reality.”
Symphony No. 1, Op. 9
Composed 1935-36 | Premiered December 1936
SAMUEL BARBER
B. March 9, 1910, West Chester, PA D. January 23, 1981, New York, NY Scored for 3 flutes (1 doubling on piccolo), 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, and strings. (Approx. 20 minutes)
Barber composed his First Symphony in the winter of 1935-36, which he spent in Italy. Although this is a youthful work—Barber was only twenty-five when he wrote it—its author was no novice in matters of orchestral composition. Two years earlier he had scored a major success with his overture to The School for Scandal, and he had followed that work with the impressive Music for a Scene from Shelley. A symphony, at least a small-scale one, must have seemed to the composer his logical next step.
In this piece, Barber used a symphonic design that compressed the usual four movements into one. The work’s tonal language is not the lean American neoclassicism familiar from the music of Aaron Copland and other of Barber’s contemporaries. Instead, its broad melodic lines, rich harmonies, and generous orchestration point to a decidedly Romantic sensibility.
The opening section introduces three themes, as prescribed in classical sonata form: a principal subject with a bold rhythmic profile presented by the full orchestra in the opening measures; a second, more lyrical melody first heard in the English horn and violas; and a closing theme of running sixteenthnotes, sounded by the clarinets and strings. Barber gives these materials an energetic development that builds from modest beginnings to an intense climax (a procedure he will follow in each of the work’s succeeding sections). Each of the ensuing sections—which correspond to the scherzo, slow movement, and finale of a full-scale symphony—use variants of the same themes. The closing part of the work is written in the form of a passacaglia, with a short phrase, first heard in the low strings, repeating continuously. Against this brief thematic “ground,” Barber blends portions of all three of the symphony’s themes in tightly-knit counterpoint.
The DSO most recently performed Barber’s Symphony No. 1 in March 2010, conducted by Leonard Slatkin. The DSO first performed the piece in February 1941, conducted by Albert Stoessel.
PETER OUNDJIAN
Recognized as a masterful and dynamic presence in the conducting world, Peter Oundjian has developed a multi-faceted portfolio as a conductor, violinist, professor, and artistic advisor. He has been celebrated for his musicality, an eye towards collaboration, innovative programming, leadership and training with students, and an engaging personality.
Now carrying the title of Conductor Emeritus, Oundjian’s fourteen-year tenure as Music Director of the Toronto Symphony served as a major creative force for the city of Toronto and was marked by a reimagining of the TSO’s programming, international stature, audience development, touring, and a number of outstanding recordings, garnering a Grammy nomination in 2018 and a Juno Award for Vaughan Williams’s Orchestral Works in 2019. He led the orchestra on several international tours to Europe and the USA, conducting the first performance by a North American orchestra at Reykjavik’s Harpa Hall in 2014.
From 2012-2018, Oundjian served as Music Director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra during which time he implemented the kind of collaborative programming that has become a staple of his directorship. Oundjian led the RSNO on several international tours, including North America, China, and a European festival tour with performances at the Bregenz Festival, the Dresden Festival, as well as in Innsbruck, Bergamo, Ljubljana, and others. His final appearance with the orchestra as their Music Director was at the 2018 BBC Proms where he conducted Britten’s epic War Requiem.
Highlights of past seasons include appearances with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the symphony orchestras of Detroit, Atlanta, Saint Louis, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and New Zealand. Winter 2021 saw the resumption of some orchestral activity with streamed events with Atlanta, Colorado, Indianapolis, and Dallas symphonies. The 2021-22 season anticipates return visits to Toronto, Kansas City, Seattle, Colorado, Detroit, Baltimore, and Indianapolis.
Oundjian has been a visiting professor at Yale University’s School of Music since 1981, and in 2013 was awarded the school’s Sanford Medal for Distinguished Service to Music. A dedicated educator, Oundjian conducted the Yale and Juilliard symphony orchestras and the New World Symphony during the 2018-19 season.
An outstanding violinist, Oundjian spent fourteen years as the first violinist for the renowned Tokyo String Quartet before he turned his energy towards conducting.
GEORGE SHIRLEY
George Shirley is in demand nationally and internationally as performer, teacher, and lecturer. He has won international acclaim for his performances in the world’s great opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera (New York), Royal Opera (Covent Garden, London), Deutsche Oper (Berlin), Téatro Colón (Buenos Aires), Netherlands Opera (Amsterdam), L’Opéra de Monte Carlo, New York City Opera, Scottish Opera (Glasgow), Chicago Lyric Opera, San Francisco Opera, Washington Opera (Kennedy Center), Michigan Opera Theater, Glyndebourne Festival, and Santa Fe Opera.
He has recorded for RCA, Columbia, Decca, Angel, Vanguard, CRI, and Philips and received a Grammy Award in 1968 for his role (Ferrando) in the RCA recording of Mozart’s Così fan tutte.
In addition to oratorio and concert literature, Shirley has, in a career that spans 49 years, performed more than 80 operatic roles in major opera houses around the globe with many of the world’s most renowned conductors (Solti, Klemperer, Stravinsky, Ormandy, von Karajan, Colin Davis, Boehm, Ozawa,
Haitink, Boult, Leinsdorf, Boulez, DePriest, Krips, Cleva, Dorati, Pritchard, Bernstein, Maazel, and others).
Shirley was the first African American to be appointed to a high school teaching post in music in Detroit, the first African American member of the United States Army Chorus in Washington, D.C., and the first African American tenor and second African American male to sing leading roles with the Metropolitan Opera, where he remained for eleven years.
Shirley has served on three occasions as a master teacher in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Intern Program for Young NATS Teachers. He was also a member of the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival and School for ten years.
AARON DIEHL
Since his debut release on Mack Avenue Records in 2013, pianist-composer Aaron Diehl has mystified listeners with his layered artistry. He reaches into expansion. At once temporal and ethereal—deliberate in touch and texture— his expression transforms the piano into an orchestral vessel in the spirit of beloved predecessors Ahmad Jamal, Erroll Garner, Art Tatum, and Jelly Roll Morton.
Born in Columbus, Ohio, a young Diehl flourished among family members supportive of his artistic inclinations. His grandfather, piano and trombone player Arthur Baskerville, inspired him to pursue music and nurtured his talent. In 2003, Diehl traveled to New York; following his success as a finalist in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 2002 Essentially Ellington competition and a subsequent European tour with Wynton Marsalis, he began studying under mentors Kenny Barron, Eric Reed and Oxana Yablonskaya, earning his Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies at the Juilliard School. His love affair with rub and tension prompted a years-long immersion in seemingly disparate sound palettes he found to be similar in depth, resonance, and impulse to explore, from Monk and Ravel to Gershwin and William Grant Still. Among other towering figures, Still in particular inspires Diehl’s ongoing curation of Black American composers in his own performance programming. This ongoing project, along with his recent and widely lauded trio interpretations of Glass’s iconic repertoire, has propelled Diehl into the next phase of self-actualizing. He embraces the challenge of drawing on other artists’ visions and expressions, then interpreting those within the framework of his own personal aesthetic.
As thoroughly a collaborator as he is a leader, Diehl has appeared at such celebrated international venues as the Barbican, Ronnie Scott’s, Elbphilharmonie, and Philharmonie de Paris, as well as domestic mainstays Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, The Village Vanguard, and Walt Disney Hall. Jazz Festival appearances comprise performances at Detroit, Newport, Atlanta, and Monterey, for which he received the 2014 festival commission. Orchestral performances include hits at New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Diehl’s appetite for expansion has afforded him passing and extended associations with some of the music’s most fascinating and enduring figures including Wynton Marsalis, Benny Golson, Jimmy Heath, Buster Williams, Branford Marsalis, Wycliffe Gordon, and Philip Glass. His formative association with multi-Grammy Award-winning artist Cecile McLorin Salvant only enhanced his study and deeply personal delivery of the American Songbook. Recent highlights include an appearance at the New York premiere of Philip Glass’s complete Etudes at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, collaborating with flamenco guitarist Dani De Morón in Flamenco Meets Jazz (produced by Savannah Music Festival and Flamenco Festival), and performing with the New York Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra as featured soloist on George Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F.
A COMMUNITY-SUP JADERPORTED ORCHESTRAJADER BIGNAMINI, Music Director BIGNAMINI MUSIC DIRECTOR
Music Directorship endowed by the Kresge Foundation
JEFF TYZIK
Principal Pops Conductor TERENCE BLANCHARD
Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair LEONARD SLATKIN
Music Director Laureate NEEME JÄRVI
Music Director Emeritus
TITLE SPONSOR:
THE BEST OF RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN Friday, March 25, 2022 at 10:45 a.m. & 8 p.m. Saturday, March 26, 2022 at 8 p.m. Sunday, March 27, 2022 at 3 p.m. in Orchestra Hall
STEVEN REINEKE, conductor EMILY PADGETT, vocalist* JOSH YOUNG, vocalist^
arr. Adolph Deutsch Oklahoma! Overture/Main Title/ orch. Alexander Courage Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’^ orch. Robert Russell Bennett “People Will Say We’re In Love” from Oklahoma*^ arr. Don Walker “The Carousel Waltz” from Carousel
orch. Edward B. Powell “If I Loved You” from Carousel*^
orch. Don Walker “Soliloquy” from Carousel^ orch. Robert Russell Bennett South Pacific Overture
orch. Robert Russell Bennett “Some Enchanted Evening” from South Pacific^ Intermission
orch. Robert Russell Bennett The King and I Overture
adapted Ted Sperling
arr. Robert Russell Bennett “I Have Dreamed” from The King and I*^ orch. Robert Russell Bennett “Something Wonderful” from The King and I* orch. Robert Russell Bennett Cinderella Waltz
arr. Robert Russell Bennett “Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful” from Cinderella*^
orch. Irwin Kostal Prologue and “The Sound of Music” from The Sound of Music*
orch. Robert Russell Bennett “Edelweiss” from The Sound of Music^
STEVEN REINEKE
Steven Reineke has established himself as one of North America’s leading conductors of popular music and is in his second decade as Music Director of The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall. Additionally, he is Principal Pops Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Principal Pops Conductor of the Houston and Toronto Symphony Orchestras.
Reineke is a frequent guest conductor with The Philadelphia Orchestra and his extensive North American conducting appearances include Dallas, Detroit, and the Ravinia Music Festival.
On stage, Reineke has created programs and collaborated with a range of leading artists from the worlds of hip hop, R&B, Broadway, television, and rock including Maxwell, Common, Kendrick Lamar, Nas, Cynthia Erivo, Sutton Foster, Megan Hilty, Cheyenne Jackson, Wayne Brady, Peter Frampton, and Ben Folds, among others. In 2017, National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” featured Reineke leading the National Symphony Orchestra performing live music excerpts between news segments—a first in the show’s 45-year history. In 2018, Reineke led the National Symphony Orchestra with hip hop legend Nas performing his seminal album “Illmatic” on PBS’s Great Performances.
As the creator of more than 100 orchestral arrangements for the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Reineke’s work has been performed worldwide and can be heard on numerous Cincinnati Pops Orchestra recordings on the Telarc label. His symphonic works Celebration Fanfare, Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and Casey at the Bat are performed frequently. His Sun Valley Festival Fanfare was used to commemorate the Sun Valley Summer Symphony’s pavilion, and his Festival Te Deum and Swan’s Island Sojourn were debuted by the Cincinnati Symphony and Cincinnati Pops. His numerous wind ensemble compositions are published by the C.L. Barnhouse Company and are performed by concert bands worldwide.
EMILY PADGETT-YOUNG
Aveteran of six Broadway shows, Emily Padgett-Young was most recently Broadway’s original Mrs. Bucket in the musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s beloved children’s book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, directed by the legendary Jack O’Brien.
Padgett-Young drew from her Southern roots in Steve Martin and Edie Brickell’s first musical, Bright Star, gracing the stage from the Kennedy Center to its Tony Award nominated Broadway mounting. The Kennedy Center was also a pre-Broadway home to Side Show, Oscar winner Bill Condon’s reimagined revival. Padgett-Young played Daisy Hilton from Side Show’s development at the La Jolla Playhouse, where she was awarded The San Diego Critics Circle Award for Best Actress in a Musical, to The Kennedy Center, where she was nominated for the renowned Helen Hayes Award, and finally, to Broadway’s St. James Theatre.
Padgett-Young was in the original cast of the most recent revival of Grease on Broadway and went on to play Sandy on its first National Tour. A true “triple threat” performer, Padgett-Young has toured the United States and Mexico as Demeter in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats and was chosen to originate the role of Alex in the musical adaptation of the beloved 80’s classic, Flashdance. For her dance prowess, Padgett-Young was nominated for the prestigious Chita Rivera Award for her turn as Helene in the most recent revival of Sweet Charity playing alongside Tony Award winner Sutton Foster.
Padgett-Young can be heard on several original cast albums including Side Show, Bright Star, and Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory. As a concert artist, PadgettYoung has appeared in New York’s most glamorous cabaret venues from 54 Below to the famed Joe’s Pub at The Public Theatre. She’s performed with symphony orchestras from coast to coast and has joined her husband, Tony Award nominee Josh Young for duo performances all over the world including invited engagements on Crystal Cruises’s select specialty line, “Crystal on Broadway,” produced by original Rent producer Kevin McCulum.
JOSH YOUNG
Prior to his Tony Award-nominated Broadway debut as Judas Iscariot in Jesus Christ Superstar, Josh Young had the distinction of playing the role of Marius in Cameron Macintosh’s Les Misérables and in more subsequent productions than any other actor.
Young also won the Theatre World Award for Best Debut Performance for his turn in Jesus Christ Superstar. He went on to originate the role of John Newton on Broadway in the world premiere of Amazing Grace. Young was awarded the Broadway World Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his turn as Che in the North American Tour of the Olivier Awardwinning revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Evita, directed by Michael Grandage.
This was a reprisal of the role for Young, having been awarded the same distinction by Broadway World Toronto for Gary Griffin’s production of Evita at The Stratford Shakespeare Festival. Young was a company member of The Stratford Festival for two seasons, the rare American to be given the opportunity at this world-renowned institution. It was Stratford’s production of the Des McAnuff reimagined Jesus Christ Superstar that brought Young back to the states.
Young toured Europe and Asia as Tony for the 50th Anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story. Also abroad, and most recently, he played Jerusalem as famed Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach in the biographical rock musical Soul Doctor.
Regionally, Young’s performance as Tateh in Ragtime earned him the prestigious IRNE Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He’s performed in North America’s finest regional theaters including La Jolla Playhouse, Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre, Walnut Street Theater, St. Louis MUNY, Baltimore Center Stage, Ogunquit Playhouse, San Diego Repertory Theatre, Huston’s Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS), DC’s Shakespeare Theatre Company, and North Carolina Theatre. He’s been involved in new works with NYC’s Roundabout Theatre Company, The Transport Group, and The New York Musical Theater Festival.
As a concert artist, Young has had the privilege of performing with major symphonies across the globe. Equally, at home in more intimate venues, Young has written no less than five one-man cabarets which have sold out venues from New York City to Ho Chi Minh City. Young is a frequent headliner on Crystal Cruises’s specialty voyage “Crystal on Broadway,’’ where his self-written solo shows are highlighted.
Young can be heard on numerous albums, including the original cast recording of Amazing Grace and on his two solo albums: Still Dreaming of Paradise and his self-titled debut album, Josh Young.
Young is the co-founder of Cutting-Edge Composers, a concert and weekly web series on Broadway World, created to give exposure to musical theatre’s next generation of songwriters.
Young is the Coordinator of Musical Theatre at Oakland University.
DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
A COMMUNITY-SUP JADERPORTED ORCHESTRAJADER BIGNAMINI, Music Director BIGNAMINI MUSIC DIRECTOR
Music Directorship endowed by the Kresge Foundation
JEFF TYZIK
Principal Pops Conductor TERENCE BLANCHARD
Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair LEONARD SLATKIN
Music Director Laureate NEEME JÄRVI
Music Director Emeritus
PVS CLASSICAL SERIES
Title Sponsor:
SCHUMANN & SIBELIUS
Friday, April 1, 2022 at 8 p.m. Saturday, April 2, 2022 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, April 3, 2022 at 3 p.m. in Orchestra Hall
Robert Schumann Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D minor (1810 - 1856) In kräftigem, nicht zu schnellem Tempo Langsam Lebhaft, doch nicht schnell Isabelle Faust, violin
Intermission
Jean Sibelius Symphony No. 5 in E-Flat major, Op. 82 (1865 - 1957) I. Tempo molto moderato - Allegro moderato - Presto II. Andante mosso, quasi allegretto III. Allegro molto - Misterioso
Saturday’s performance will be webcast via our exclusive Live From Orchestra Hall series, presented by Ford Motor Company Fund and made possible by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D minor
Composed 1853 | Premiered November 1937
ROBERT SCHUMANN
B. June 8, 1810, Zwickau, Germany D. July 29, 1856, Endenich, Bonn, Germany Scored for solo violin, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings. (Approx. 29 minutes)
The circumstances surrounding the creation, presumed disappearance, and ultimate rediscovery of Schumann’s only violin concerto constitute one of the most bizarre and fascinating stories in all of music. This unjustly neglected work was Schumann’s last major composition and was written rapidly in Dusseldorf in the fall of 1853 for the celebrated Hungarian-born violinist, composer, and conductor Joseph Joachim. However, Joachim never performed the concerto. After completing the concerto, Schumann accepted revisions to the work that were suggested by Joachim, and plans were made for a premiere the following year. Unfortunately, in that tragic year Schumann attempted death by suicide. He was forced to relinquish his position as music director in Dusseldorf and committed to a mental institution. As a result, the projected premiere never took place, and the concerto was not first performed until well into the 20th century.
Initially, Joachim and Schumann’s wife Clara thought well of the concerto, but after Schumann’s death in the institution in 1856 they changed their minds, feeling that it was the product of a deranged and morbid mind and unworthy of the great composer. Before his death in 1907, Joachim gave the music to the Prussian State Library in Berlin with the express instructions that it not be published until 100 years after Schumann’s death, meaning 1956.
In March of 1933 in London, Joachim’s two grandnieces attended a séance. One of the nieces was Jelly d’Aranyi, a well-known violinist in her own right. At this séance, d’Aranyi claimed that she had heard the voice of Robert Schumann asking her to find the unpublished concerto and perform it. Then, she said, she heard the voice of her granduncle Joachim telling her where to find the concerto. Up to this time d’Aranyi claimed to have had absolutely no knowledge of the work. After three years, she finally tracked the manuscript down in the Prussian State Library and managed to convince the curators that the concerto should be published and performed.
After some editing of the solo part by German violinist Georg Kulenkampff and the famous composer and theoretician Paul Hindemith, it was Kulenkampff who gave the first performance with the Berlin Philharmonic in November 1937, recording the work shortly thereafter. In 1938, d’Aranyi gave the first performance in London, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
The DSO most recently performed Schumann’s Violin Concerto in October 2012, conducted by Douglas Boyd and featuring violinist Baiba Skride. The DSO first performed the piece in January 1989, conducted by Günther Herbig and featuring violinist Gidon Kremer.
Symphony No. 5 in E-Flat major, Op. 82
Composed 1915 | Premiered December 1915| Revised 1916, 1919
JEAN SIBELIUS
B. December 8, 1865, Hämeenlinna, Finland D. September 20, 1957, Ainola, Finland Scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, and strings. (Approx. 31 minutes)
After walking close to the edge of tonality to meet early 20th century musical trends with his cryptic Symphony No. 4, Jean Sibelius stepped back from that precipice onto firmer tonal ground in his celebrated Symphony No. 5. Sibelius conducted the premiere of the symphony on his 50th birthday in the auditorium of the University of Helsinki. He was dissatisfied with the result, however, and made revisions in 1916 and 1919 (one and four years after the premiere, respectively).
The symphony does not represent Sibelius’s final achievement in telescoping the four-movement symphonic plan he inherited from 19th century composers into a single uninterrupted movement; that did not occur until the Symphony No. 7 was completed five years later. But Sibelius does transform the themes, rhythm, and pace of the opening sonata-form movement into a high-powered Scherzo, accelerating the two unified movements into an exhilarating climax at the halfway point of the symphony.
In his comprehensive study of the symphony, Sibelius scholar James Hepokoski notes that while the slow movement and the finale remain separated, the main theme of the finale is suggested in the bass line at the center of the slow movement, while a leading thematic idea in the slow movement is transformed to become a subsidiary theme at the center of the finale. In a sense, the finale becomes “the slow movement pulled inside-out.”
The slow movement, leading off with a gentle thematic idea in the plucked strings, shares dual characteristics of a set of variations and a song form with slightly contrasting music toward its center. But this delicate, lacy music, tinted in the pastel tone colors of pale modal scales, intrigues the listener because it does not fit quite comfortably in either category. The finale begins in a swarm of fluttering tremolos in the strings, leading to the gradual gathering of the woodwinds and the first appearance of a rocking horn theme that later returns to dominate the end of the movement. It forms a mighty climax to the symphony, which then concludes with a series of widely spaced, emphatic chords. —Carl R. Cunningham
The DSO most recently performed Sibelius’s Symphony No. 5 in October 2018, conducted by Santtu-Matias Rouvali. The DSO first performed the piece in March 1936, conducted by Werner Janssen.
JUKKA-PEKKA SARASTE
Jukka-Pekka Saraste has established himself as one of the outstanding conductors of his generation, demonstrating remarkable musical depth and integrity. Born in Heinola, Finland, he began his career as a violinist before training as a conductor with Jorma Panula at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. He maintains a strong connection to the works of Beethoven, Bruckner, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, and Sibelius and is internationally celebrated for his interpretations of Mahler.
From 2010 to 2019, Jukka-Pekka Saraste served as Chief Conductor of the WDR Sinfonieorchester in Cologne. During his tenure, the orchestra built a reputation both at home and abroad, touring Austria, Spain, the Baltics, and Asia. The symphonic cycles of Sibelius, Brahms, and Beethoven were exceptionally well received. Previously, from 2006 to 2013, Jukka-Pekka Saraste was Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. He was subsequently appointed Conductor Laureate, the very first such title bestowed by the orchestra. Earlier positions include the principal conductorships of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, where he is now Conductor Laureate. He also served as Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Advisor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra. He founded the Finnish Chamber Orchestra where he remains the Artistic Advisor. Most recently, JukkaPekka Saraste is a founding member of the LEAD! Foundation, a mentorship program for young conductors and soloists. Based in Finland, the foundation has run projects in Stockholm, Lausanne, Dortmund, and Sofia. In 2020, it also created the Fiskars Summer Festival, an international platform for both Finnish and international artists to pass on their knowledge and experience to the next generation of conductors from all around the world. The second edition of the festival took place in the summer of 2021.
Jukka-Pekka Saraste’s guest engagements have led him to the major orchestras worldwide, including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Munich Philharmonic, Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Concertgebouworkest, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Wiener Symphoniker, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, and the leading Scandinavian orchestras. In North America, he has conducted The Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, New York Philharmonic, and Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal.
In recent years, Jukka-Pekka Saraste has developed a strong profile in operatic repertoire. Following concert performances of Stravinsky’s Oedipus rex, Schönberg’s Erwartung, and Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, Saraste conducted a new scenic production of Mendelssohn’s Elijah directed by Calixto Bieito in Vienna and Korngold’s Die tote Stadt at the Finnish National Opera. In the 2020-2021 season, he conducted a new production of Reimann’s Lear at the Bayerische Staatsoper.
Saraste’s extensive discography includes the complete symphonies of Sibelius and Nielsen with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and several well-received recordings with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra of works by Bartók, Dutilleux, Mussorgsky, and Prokofiev for Warner Finlandia. His CDs with the WDR Sinfonieorchester for Hänssler have earned him critical acclaim including Schönberg’s Pelleas and Melisande, Stravinsky’s Le Rossignol, Brahms’s complete symphonies, as well as Mahler’s 5th and 9th symphonies and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8. The complete cycle
of Beethoven’s symphonies, released in 2019 to high critical acclaim, can be regarded as a legacy of his tenure in Cologne.
Jukka-Pekka Saraste has received the Pro Finlandia Prize, the Sibelius Medal, and the Finnish State Prize for Music. He was awarded honorary doctorates from York University, Toronto and Sibelius Academy, Helsinki.
ISABELLE FAUST
Isabelle Faust captivates her listeners with insightful and faithful interpretations, based on a thorough knowledge of the historical context of the works, as well as her attention to current scholarship.
At an early age, Faust won the prestigious Leopold Mozart and Paganini competitions and was soon invited to appear with the world’s leading orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. This led to close and sustained cooperation with conductors including Claudio Abbado, Giovanni Antonini, Frans Brüggen, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Bernard Haitink, Daniel Harding, Philippe Herreweghe, Andris Nelsons, and Robin Ticciati.
Faust’s vast artistic curiosity encompasses all eras and forms of instrumental collaboration, performing a wide-ranging repertoire from J.S. Bach to contemporary composers such as Ligeti, Lachenmann, and Widmann. To highlight this versatility, in addition to her mastery of the great symphonic violin concertos, she also performs works such as Kurtág’s “Kafka Fragments” with soprano Anna Prohaska, Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du soldat, or Schubert’s octet on historical instruments. She will premiere several new works for violin and orchestra in the coming seasons, including concertos by composers Péter Eötvös, Brett Dean, Ondrˇej Adámek, and Oscar Strasnoy.
A prolific recording artist, Faust has a large discography. Her critically acclaimed recordings have received a Gramophone Classical Music Award, the Diapason d’or, the Choc de l’année, and other prizes. Her most recent recordings include Bach’s violin concertos with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and Mendelssohn’s violin concerto with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado. Her album of Bach’s harpsichord sonatas with Kristian Bezuidenhout was released in March 2018. Other notable recordings include Bach’s sonatas and partitas, and Beethoven’s and Berg’s violin concertos with Claudio Abbado and the Orchestra Mozart. Faust shares a longstanding recital partnership with pianist Alexander Melnikov, with whom she has recorded many discs for harmonia mundi including sonatas for violin and piano by Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms, among other chamber recordings.
