Board Leadership

LIFETIME MEMBERS

CHAIRS EMERITI

Samuel Frankel◊ Stanley Frankel David Handleman, Sr.◊ Dr. Arthur L. Johnson◊ James B. Nicholson Clyde Wu, M.D.◊

Peter D. Cummings Phillip Wm. Fisher Stanley Frankel Robert S. Miller James B. Nicholson

DIRECTORS EMERITI

OFFICERS

Floy Barthel Chacona Baugh Penny B. Blumenstein John A. Boll, Sr. Richard A. Brodie Lois & Avern Cohn Marianne Endicott Sidney Forbes Barbara Frankel Herman H. Frankel Dr. Gloria Heppner Ronald Horwitz Harold Kulish Bonnie Larson David McCammon David R. Nelson William F. Pickard, Ph.D. Marilyn Pincus Lloyd E. Reuss Marjorie S. Saulson Alan E. Schwartz Jane Sherman David Usher Barbara Van Dusen Arthur A. Weiss

Mark A. Davidoff

Chair Erik Rönmark

President & CEO David T. Provost Vice Chair Faye Alexander Nelson

Treasurer

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Directors are responsible for maintaining a culture of accountability, resource development, and strategic thinking. As fiduciaries, Directors oversee the artistic and cultural health and strategic direction of the DSO. David Assemany

Governing Members Chair Elena Centeio Richard L. DeVore Aaron Frankel Herman B. Gray, M.D.,

M.B.A. Laura Hernandez-Romine Rev. Nicholas Hood III Hon. Kurtis T. Wilder (Ret.)

Secretary Pamela Applebaum

Officer at Large Ralph J. Gerson

Officer at Large Glenda D. Price, Ph.D.

Officer at Large

Shirley Stancato

Officer at Large James G. Vella

Officer at Large

Richard Huttenlocher Renato Jamett

Trustee Chair Daniel J. Kaufman Michael J. Keegan Arthur C. Liebler Xavier Mosquet Arthur T. O’Reily Stephen R. Polk Bernard I. Robertson Scott Strong

Orchestra Representative Nancy Tellem Laura J. Trudeau Dr. M. Roy Wilson David M. Wu, M.D. Johanna Yarbrough

Orchestra Representative

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Renato Jamett, Chair Trustees are a diverse group of community leaders who infuse creative thinking and innovation into how the DSO strives to achieve both artistic vitality and organizational sustainability.

Ismael Ahmed Richard Alonzo Hadas Bernard Janice Bernick Elizabeth Boone Gwen Bowlby Marco Bruzzano Margaret Cooney Casey Karen Cullen Joanne Danto Stephen R. D’Arcy Maureen T. D’Avanzo Jasmin DeForrest Afa Sadykhly Dworkin Peter Falzon James C. Farber Linda Forte Carolynn Frankel Maha Freij Christa Funk Robert Gillette Jody Glancy Malik Goodwin Mary Ann Gorlin Donald Hiruo

Michelle Hodges Julie Hollinshead John Jullens David Karp Joel D. Kellman Jennette Smith Kotila Leonard LaRocca William Lentine Linda Dresner Levy Florine Mark Anthony McCree Kristen McLennan Tito Melega Lydia Michael Lois A. Miller Daniel Millward H. Keith Mobley Scott Monty Shari Morgan Sandy Morrison Frederick J. Morsches Jennifer Muse, NextGen Chair Nicholas Myers, Musician Representative Sean M. Neall Eric Nemeth Maury Okun Vivian Pickard Denise Fair Razo Gerrit Reepmeyer Richard Robinson James Rose, Jr. Laurie Rosen Elana Rugh Marc Schwartz Carlo Serraiocco Lois L. Shaevsky Mary Shafer Cathryn M. Skedel, Ph.D. Ralph Skiano, Musician Representative Richard Sonenklar Rob Tanner Yoni Torgow Gwen Weiner Donnell White Jennifer Whitteaker R. Jamison Williams Margaret E. Winters Ellen Hill Zeringue

MAESTRO CIRCLE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Cecilia Benner Bonnie Larson Janet & Norm Ankers, Chairs Joanne Danto Lois Miller

Gregory Haynes Richard Sonenklar

WYNTON MARSALIS: Always Swinging

by HannaH Engwall

As an internationally acclaimed musician, composer, bandleader, educator, and leading advocate of American culture, Wynton Marsalis understands the complexities of creating and performing music and its intersections with history and culture. His musical philosophy is shaped by experiences across a career spanning more than four decades.

“You meet people, and you start to know who they are in relation to history and tradition,” said Wynton. “All these traditions, like religious traditions in many ways, have the same root; they’re saying the same thing, just in different styles. The more you can put together and the more informed you can be, the more you can enrich the music. While you study, you have to also figure out how to apply

what you study to your own creativity and sense of the world and your place in it, and people’s place in it.”

Acknowledging the essential role music plays in establishing America’s cultural identity, Wynton remains committed to education for the next generation of musicians and serves as a tireless ambassador for jazz and its rich history, preserving the traditions of the past while putting his own spin on the sound of the future.

“We’ve all known about the importance of cultivating young talent. So now to see Wynton at this stage of his career embracing the youth in our business and encouraging them to be their best, just makes total sense,” said Terence Blanchard, DSO Erb Jazz Chair and

Wynton’s childhood friend. Now recognized among the modern greats, the two started off as children playing trumpet together in New Orleans. Wynton’s jazz roots run deep as the son of Ellis Marsalis and a member of the iconic “first family of jazz,” yet his influences have expanded to include classical music. “If there’s one thing music like that teaches you, it’s really how to listen: to listen in depth, to listen patiently, to follow thematic material, and to develop an understanding of harmonic relationships between instruments,” said Wynton.

In 2021, Wynton was honored by the DSO at the Arthur L. Johnson-Honorable Damon Jerome Keith Classical Roots Celebration following a weeklong DSO residency by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

Since its inception in 1978, Classical Roots has recognized and celebrated African American composers, musicians, educators, and cultural and civic leaders for their cultural contributions. This mission is close to Wynton’s heart, and he applauds efforts by the DSO and other organizations to offer diverse programming.

“We can still play music of Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Milton Babbitt, whoever you like, but kids need to be exposed to a lot of things,” he said. “Let’s pick good music and acquaint our students with good music, and let’s not do it fighting and screaming.”

This March, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis will return to Orchestra Hall. On March 4, they’ll take to the Paradise Jazz Series to perform original compositions, arrangements, and music by beloved jazz giants. The following night, they’ll be featured in the annual Classical Roots Celebration, playing selections by Duke Ellington and others before joining forces with the DSO for a performance of Wynton’s Symphony No. 3, “Swing Symphony.”

Commissioned in 2010, Swing Symphony draws inspiration from composers like Ives, Gershwin, Copland, Bernstein, and Ellington. It is at once invigorating and elegiac, bombastic, and introspective; a modern classic that captures the full breadth of 20th-century orchestral music and the spirit of American optimism.

Blending classical music and jazz across seven movements, Swing Symphony traces the sonic journey of jazz from New Orleans ragtime to Kansas City swing and New York bebop, embracing the many influences of those who have come before.

On what makes the piece American, Wynton said, “My belief in the freedom of other people who are not like me […], We don’t have to segregate ourselves from who we are. We are Winslow Homer. We are Walt Whitman. We are William Faulkner. We are George Gershwin. We are Duke Ellington. We are Mary Lou Williams. We are Louis Armstrong. All we have to do is embrace that.”

Later this season, we’ll hear more of Wynton’s music when Music Director Jader Bignamini leads the DSO in a program including Wynton’s Fanfare and Blues Symphony.

“Wynton is one of the very few musicians in the world who plays and composes music embracing the highest levels of blues, classical, and jazz,” said Jader. “Musicians appreciate his inspiration and musical technique, while music lovers appreciate the engaging melodies and rhythms that are the result of so much experience, energy, and talent. His Blues Symphony is a truly engaging

virtuoso masterpiece that highlights the best qualities of the orchestra’s musicians.”

Now regarded as one of Wynton’s most innovative and colossal works, the Blues Symphony, his second symphonic work, was many years in the making.

First conceptualizing the Blues Symphony in 2008, Wynton and his music supervisor Jonathan Kelly would continue work on it for over a decade, finding triumph through collaboration. The piece was recorded by The Philadelphia Orchestra under conductor Cristian Maˇcelaru and released in May 2021. “This recording is the culmination of the talents, efforts, well-wishes, disparagements, advisements, critiques, and prayers of quite literally 1000s of people. And that’s how you make a Blues Symphony. You sit alone and wallow. You wail to those that will listen. You seek help and you find it. You admit your own inadequacies. The ones you can change, you do. The ones you can’t, you embrace. You search high and low for answers, but mostly you find more questions. But most importantly, you never quit. The spirit of America lives in the blues. It’s our language. It talks of our scars, and it talks about healing. It laments the past and yearns for a brighter future,” said Kelly.

With a blend of influences from ragtime to habanera, the piece takes listeners on a sonic journey through America’s revolutionary era, the early beginnings of jazz in New Orleans, and even a big city soundscape that serves as a nod to the Great Migration. “The blues helps you remember back before the troubles on hand and in mind,” said Marsalis, “and they carry you on the wings of angels to a timeless higher ground.”

Despite his impressive body of work, Wynton’s view of his own legacy is remarkably humble: “I don’t think about it, we’re here and then we’re gone, I just want to be a part of something.”

UPCOMING

Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (Paradise Jazz Series) Fri., Mar. 4 at 8 p.m.

Classical Roots, featuring DSO and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, performance of Marsalis’s Swing Symphony (PVS Classical Series) Sat., Mar. 5 at 8 p.m.

Jader Bignamini Conducts DSO in Marsalis’s Fanfare and Blues Symphony (PVS Classical Series) Fri., June 10 to Sun., June 12

Philadelphia Orchestra Philadelphia

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Orchestra conductor and music directorYannick Nézet-Séguin, Nathalie Stutzmann, conductor and music director principal guest conductorNathalie Stutzmann, Carol Jantsch, tubaprincipal guest conductor David Kim, violinCarol Jantsch, tuba Fri-Sat Mar 11-12 // 8 pm // Hill Auditorium David Kim, violin Fri-Sat Mar 11-12 // 8 pm // Hill Auditorium The Philadelphia Orchestra returns to Ann Arbor for two performances, with The Philadelphia Orchestra returns to music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin Ann Arbor for two performances, with conducting the first night and principal music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin guest conductor Nathalie Stutzmann conducting the first night and principal the second. guest conductor Nathalie Stutzmann the second.

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Funded in part by: UMS Sustaining Directors

Funded in part by: UMS Sustaining Directors

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