Neighborhood Program Book 3 - May 2023

DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PRESENTS

2022-2023 CONCERT SERIES

TCHAIKOVSKY & PAGANINI

May 11, 12 & 14

SOUTHFIELD

MONROE

BEVERLY HILLS

MENDELSSOHN’S

“ITALIAN” SYMPHONY

May 25, 26, 27 & 28

WEST BLOOMFIELD

PLYMOUTH

BLOOMFIELD HILLS

GROSSE POINTE

MADE

LIFETIME DIRECTORS

Samuel Frankel◊

Stanley Frankel

David Handleman, Sr.◊

Dr. Arthur L. Johnson ◊

James B. Nicholson

CHAIRS EMERITI

Floy Barthel

Chacona Baugh

Penny B. Blumenstein

Richard A. Brodie

Lois Cohn

Marianne Endicott

Anne Parsons, President Emeritus ◊

Barbara Van Dusen

Clyde Wu, M.D.◊

Peter D. Cummings

Mark A. Davidoff

Phillip Wm. Fisher

DIRECTORS EMERITI

Sidney Forbes

Herman H. Frankel

Dr. Gloria Heppner

Ronald Horwitz

Bonnie Larson

Arthur C. Liebler

Harold Kulish

David McCammon

David R. Nelson

William F. Pickard, Ph.D.

Marilyn Pincus

Marjorie S. Saulson

OFFICERS OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Stanley Frankel

Robert S. Miller

James B. Nicholson

Renato Jamett, Trustee Chair

Ismael Ahmed

Richard Alonzo

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.

Maha Freij

Christa Funk

Robert Gillette

Jody Glancy

Florine Mark

Anthony McCree

Kristen McLennan

Tito Melega

Laurie Rosen

Elana Rugh

Marc Schwartz

Carlo Serraiocco

Alan E. Schwartz

Jane Sherman

Arthur A. Weiss

Hadas Bernard

Janice Bernick

Elizabeth Boone

Gwen Bowlby

Dr. Betty Chu

Karen Cullen

Joanne Danto

Stephen D’Arcy

Maureen T. D’Avanzo

Jasmin DeForrest

David T. Provost Chair

Erik Rönmark President & CEO

Faye Alexander Nelson Vice Chair

Laura Trudeau Treasurer

James G. Vella Secretary

Ralph J. Gerson Officer at Large

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

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

Shirley Stancato Officer at Large

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

Michael Bickers

Amanda Blaikie, Orchestra Representative

Elena Centeio

Dave Everson, Orchestra Representative

Aaron Frankel

Herman B. Gray, M.D., M.B.A.

Laura HernandezRomine

Rev. Nicholas Hood III

Richard Huttenlocher

Renato Jamett, Trustee Chair

Daniel J. Kaufman

Michael J. Keegan

Xavier Mosquet

David Nicholson

Arthur T. O’Reilly

Stephen Polk

Bernard I. Robertson

Nancy Tellem

Laura J. Trudeau

David M. Wu, M.D.

Ellen Hill Zeringue

Afa Sadykhly Dworkin

James C. Farber

Abe Feder, Musician Representative

Linda Forte

Carolynn Frankel

Malik Goodwin

Mary Ann Gorlin

Donald Hiruo

Michelle Hodges

Julie Hollinshead

Sam Huszczo

John Jullens

Laurel Kalkanis

Jay Kapadia

David Karp

Joel D. Kellman

John Kim

Jennette Smith Kotila

Leonard LaRocca

William Lentine

Linda Dresner Levy

Lydia Michael

H. Keith Mobley

Scott Monty

Shari Morgan

Sandy Morrison

Frederick J. Morsches

Jennifer Muse, NextGen Chair

Sean M. Neall

Eric Nemeth

Maury Okun

Jackie Paige

Vivian Pickard

Denise Fair Razo

Gerrit Reepmeyer

James Rose, Jr.

Lois L. Shaevsky

Mary Shafer

Ralph Skiano, Musician Representative

Richard Sonenklar

Rob Tanner

Yoni Torgow

Gwen Weiner

Donnell White

Jennifer Whitteaker

R. Jamison Williams

Margaret E. Winters

MAESTRO CIRCLE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Janet & Norm Ankers, Chairs

Cecilia Benner

Joanne Danto

Gregory Haynes

Bonnie Larson

Lois Miller

Richard Sonenklar

JEFF TYZIK

Principal Pops Conductor

FIRST VIOLIN

Robyn Bollinger

CONCERTMASTER

Katherine Tuck Chair

Kimberly Kaloyanides Kennedy

ASSOCIATE CONCERTMASTER

Schwartz and Shapero Family Chair

Hai-Xin Wu

ASSISTANT CONCERTMASTER

Walker L. Cisler/Detroit Edison

Foundation Chair

Jennifer Wey Fang

ASSISTANT CONCERTMASTER

Marguerite Deslippe*

Laurie Goldman*

Rachel Harding Klaus*

Eun Park Lee*

Adrienne Rönmark*

William and Story John Chair

Alexandros Sakarellos*

Drs. Doris Tong and Teck Soo Chair

Laura Soto*

Greg Staples*

Jiamin Wang*

Mingzhao Zhou*

SECOND VIOLIN

Adam Stepniewski

ACTING PRINCIPAL

The Devereaux Family Chair

Will Haapaniemi*

David and Valerie McCammon Chairs

Hae Jeong Heidi Han*

David and Valerie McCammon Chairs

Elizabeth Furuta*

Sheryl Hwangbo Yu*

Daniel Kim*

Sujin Lim*

Hong-Yi Mo *

Marian Tanau*

Alexander Volkov*

Jing Zhang*

VIOLA

Eric Nowlin

PRINCIPAL

Julie and Ed Levy, Jr. Chair

James VanValkenburg

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

Caroline Coade

Henry and Patricia Nickol Chair

Glenn Mellow

Hang Su

Hart Hollman

Han Zheng

Mike Chen

DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

JADER BIGNAMINI , Music Director Music Directorship endowed by the Kresge Foundation

TERENCE BLANCHARD

Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair

CELLO

Wei Yu PRINCIPAL

Abraham Feder ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

NA’ZIR MCFADDEN Assistant Conductor, Phillip & Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador

CLARINET

Ralph Skiano

PRINCIPAL

Robert B. Semple Chair

Jack Walters

PVS Chemicals Inc./

Dorothy and Herbert Graebner Chair

Robert Bergman*

Jeremy Crosmer*

Victor and Gale Girolami Cello Chair

David LeDoux*

Peter McCaffrey*

Joanne Deanto and Arnold Weingarden Chair

Una O’Riordan*

Mary Ann & Robert Gorlin Chair

Cole Randolph*

BASS

Kevin Brown

PRINCIPAL

Van Dusen Family Chair

Stephen Molina ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

Christopher Hamlen

Brandon Mason

Nicholas Myers^

HARP OPEN

PRINCIPAL

Winifred E. Polk Chair

FLUTE

Hannah Hammel Maser

PRINCIPAL

Alan J. and Sue Kaufman and Family Chair

Amanda Blaikie

Morton and Brigitte Harris Chair

Sharon Sparrow

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

Bernard and Eleanor Robertson Chair

Jeffery Zook

Shantanique Moore §

PICCOLO

Jeffery Zook

Shari and Craig Morgan Chair

OBOE

Alexander Kinmonth

PRINCIPAL

Jack A. and Aviva Robinson Chair

Sarah Lewis

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

Monica Fosnaugh

ENGLISH HORN

Monica Fosnaugh

LEONARD SLATKIN Music Director Laureate

NEEME JÄRVI Music Director Emeritus

DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

JADER BIGNAMINI , Music Director

Music Directorship endowed by the Kresge Foundation

JEFF TYZIK

Principal Pops Conductor

TIMPANI

Jeremy Epp

PRINCIPAL

Richard and Mona Alonzo Chair

James Ritchie

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

TERENCE BLANCHARD Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair

NA’ZIR MCFADDEN Assistant Conductor, Phillip & Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador

LEONARD SLATKIN Music Director Laureate

NEEME JÄRVI Music Director Emeritus

WILLIAM DAVIDSON NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERT SERIES

Jim and Ann Nicholson Chair

Shannon Orme

E-FLAT CLARINET OPEN

BASS CLARINET

Shannon Orme

Barbara Frankel and Ronald Michalak Chair

BASSOON

Conrad Cornelison

PRINCIPAL

Byron and Dorothy Gerson Chair

Michael Ke Ma

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

Marcus Schoon

Jaquain Sloan §

CONTRABASSOON

Marcus Schoon

HORN

Karl Pituch

PRINCIPAL

Johanna Yarbrough

Scott Strong

Ric and Carola Huttenlocher Chair

David Everson

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

Mark Abbott

TRUMPET

Hunter Eberly

PRINCIPAL

Lee and Floy Barthel Chair

Stephen Anderson

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

William Lucas

TROMBONE

Kenneth Thompkins

PRINCIPAL

David Binder

Adam Rainey

BASS TROMBONE

Adam Rainey

TUBA

Dennis Nulty

PRINCIPAL

PERCUSSION

Joseph Becker

PRINCIPAL

Ruth Roby and Alfred R. Glancy III Chair

Andrés Pichardo-Rosenthal

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

William Cody Knicely Chair

James Ritchie

LIBRARIANS

Robert Stiles

PRINCIPAL

Ethan Allen

LEGACY CHAIRS

Principal Flute

Women’s Association for the DSO

Principal Cello

James C. Gordon

Personnel Managers

Patrick Peterson

DIRECTOR OF ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL

Benjamin Tisherman MANAGER OF ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL

Nolan Cardenas AUDITION AND OPERATIONS COORDINATOR

Stage Personnel

Dennis Rottell STAGE MANAGER

William Dailing DEPARTMENT HEAD

Ryan DeMarco DEPARTMENT HEAD

Kurt Henry DEPARTMENT HEAD

Steven Kemp DEPARTMENT HEAD

Matthew Pons DEPARTMENT HEAD

LEGEND

* These members may voluntarily revolve seating within the section on a regular basis

^ Extended Leave

§ African American Orchestra Fellow

TCHAIKOVSKY & PAGANINI

Thursday, May 11, 2023 at 7:30 p.m. at Congregation Shaarey Zedek

Friday, May 12, 2023 at 8 p.m. at Meyer Theater, Monroe Community College

Sunday, May 14, 2023 at 3 p.m. at Seligman Performing Arts Center

JADER BIGNAMINI, conductor GIUSEPPE GIBBONI, violin

Giovanni Bottesini Overture to Il diavolo della notte (1821 - 1889)

Niccolò Paganini Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 6 (1782 - 1840) I. Allegro maestoso

II. Adagio

III. Rondo: Allegro spiritoso

Giuseppe Gibboni, violin

Intermission

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Suite from Swan Lake, Op. 20a (1840 - 1893) Scène

Valse

Dance of the Swans

Scène

Hungarian Dance, Czardas

Spanish Dance

Neapolitan Dance

Finale

The William Davidson Neighborhood Concert Series is made possible by a generous grant from the William Davidson Foundation. WRCJ 90.9 FM also supports the Series.

PROGRAM NOTES

Overture to Il diavolo della notte

Composed 1858 | Premiered December 18, 1858

GIOVANNI BOTTESINI

B. December 22, 1821, Crema, Italy

D. July 7, 1889, Parma, Italy

Scored for flute, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, trombone, timpani, and strings. (Approx. 7 minutes)

Theera of 19th century virtuosi did not fail to include performers on the double bass. Its two most famous exponents were the Italians Domenico Dragonetti (1763–1846) and Luigi Bottesini (1821–93), though their accomplishments were built upon the work of several 18th century composers and performers, some extending back even to the late 17th century.

Bottesini, the son of a clarinetist, played several instruments in his northern Italian town before seeking professional training at the Milan Conservatory. Alas, the only scholarships available were for bassoon or double bass, according to biographer Rodney Slatney, writing in the second edition of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. The 14-year-old Bottesini mastered the cumbersome instrument sufficiently to garner one of them, and within four years, he won a major prize and began an important solo career. His career took him throughout Europe and as far away as St. Petersburg, Mexico, and Havana, where he conducted the premiere of his opera, Christopher Columbus, in 1848.

Bottesini’s well-rounded musical training, his interest in opera, and his conducting skills gained him the respect and long-term friendship of Giuseppe Verdi. He earned the privilege of conducting the 1871 premiere of Verdi’s Aida,

inaugurating a new opera house in Cairo.

In contrast to the gruff, noisy style of Dragonetti’s playing, Bottesini cultivated a light, lyrical, tonally-pleasant manner of playing the double bass. Bottesini’s overture comes from his opera Il diavolo della notte, “The Devil of the Night.”

This performance marks the DSO premiere of Bottesini’s Overture to Il diavolo della notte.

Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 6

NICCOLÒ PAGANINI

Composed 1818 | Premiered March 31, 1819

B. October 27, 1782, Genoa, Italy

D. May 27, 1840, Nice, France

Scored for solo violin, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, bassoon, contrabassoon, 2 horns, 3 trumpets, timpani, percussion, and strings.

(Approx. 26 minutes)

Someof the greatest works for instrumental soloists were written, not surprisingly, by people who could play that instrument themselves. When it comes to the violin, there is one man who puts all others in shadow: the Italian genius and genre-changing virtuoso Niccolò Paganini. Paganini was not called the “devil’s fiddler” for nothing: he single-handedly revolutionized violin technique, performing feats which no one had previously thought possible, and his phenomenal facility in executing double-stops and the brilliance of his harmonics mystified even the best professional violinists of the early 19th century. During his lifetime, most of Paganini’s compositions could be played only by himself. But he was more than just a flashy player: critics always agreed that his work expressed great emotional depth in addition to jaw-dropping technical flair. Paganini’s first violin concerto was

originally intended to be heard in E-flat Major. The orchestral parts were written in that key, but the solo part was written in D Major with instructions that the violin should be tuned a half-step higher so they would sound in E-flat. This was a practice known in the day as scordatura (Italian for mistuning), and it allowed the soloist to achieve effects sounding in E-flat that would not be possible in standard tuning—a “cheat” of sorts that helped Paganini maintain his how does he do that? reputation. Two hundred or so years later, however, both orchestra and soloist play the concerto in D Major.

The first movement is an almost uninterrupted display of virtuoso fireworks with only occasional stops to give the soloist a chance to catch their breath. The “weeping” second movement is a lyrical aria that tones down the special effects significantly and was supposedly an earnest attempt to render a famous actor of the day delivering an emotional speech. The last movement, with a memorable main theme, brings back the fireworks.

The DSO most recently performed Paganini’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in January 2020, conducted by Jader Bignamini and featuring violinist Augustin Hadelich. The DSO first performed the piece in April 1919, conducted by Ossip Gabrilowitsch and featuring violinist Jules Lepske.

Suite from Swan Lake

PYOTR

ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY

B. Votkinsk, May 7, 1840

D. St. Petersburg, November 6, 1893

Scored for 2 flutes, piccolo,

2 oboes, 2 clarinets,

2 bassoons, 4 horns,

2 trumpets, 2 cornets,

3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, and strings.

(Approx. 36 minutes)

The first performance of what is still considered to be the quintessential ballet was a disaster of such epic proportions that it took Tchaikovsky’s death and the subsequent renewal of interest in his life and works to bring about a second production. That premiere took place in Moscow at the celebrated Bolshoi Theater in March of 1877, and it was a failure for a number of reasons: the production overall was very shoddy; the choreography was uninspired and uninteresting; the prima ballerina was next to incompetent; the orchestra, inadequately rehearsed, simply could not handle the technical and musical demands of what was a very strong and inventive score; and that wonderful score was tampered with so as to include a number of dances by hack composers of the day.

The genesis of what is now the most popular of classical ballets is more mundane. In 1875, the director of one of the other theaters in Moscow asked Tchaikovsky to write music for a fulllength ballet inspired by a well-known German fairy tale. Mainly because of the financial reward, Tchaikovsky agreed, but he had also been wanting for some time to try his hand in this genre. He wrote at an uncommonly slow pace, and by the time the score was finished almost a year had gone by and he had actually become bored with writing the work. Then came the premiere, which, in spite of everything, actually did please a segment of the audience. The various folk legends on which the story was based were quite old, and usually had something to do with hunters finding swans, who beg the hunters not to shoot them, then at some point the swans are transformed into beautiful maidens who eventually marry the hunters.

Following the premiere, various revisions were made to the choreography—and even the music—by leading

PROGRAM NOTES

ballerinas of the day, demands to which Tchaikovsky surprisingly agreed. As a result, the ballet became more and more disjointed and difficult to follow, and performances virtually stopped. In 1880, a new choreographic version was created for the Bolshoi Theatre, but even though it remained in the company’s repertoire for three years, it was not successful and eventually was dropped from active performance. Then, with the great successes of The Sleeping Beauty (1890) and The Nutcracker (1892) on the boards, plans were made to mount an entirely new production in St. Petersburg. This eventually took place one year after Tchaikovsky’s premature death in 1893 and was the work of the famed choreographer Marius

PROFILES

JADER BIGNAMINI

Jader Bignamini was introduced as the 18th music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in January 2020, commencing with the 2020-2021 season. He kicked off his tenure as DSO Music Director with the launch of DSO Digital Concerts in September 2020, conducting works by Copland, Puccini, Tchaikovsky, and Saint-Georges. His infectious passion and artistic excellence set the tone for the season ahead, creating extraordinary music and establishing a close relationship with the orchestra. A jazz aficionado, he has immersed himself in Detroit’s rich jazz culture and the influences of American music.

A native of Crema, Italy, Jader studied at the Piacenza Music Conservatory and began his career as a musician (clarinet)

Petipa and his assistant Lev Ivanov, who sought to create a memorial program of the composer’s music at the famous Maryinsky Theater.

This gala production took place in the winter of 1895, was an absolute triumph, and Swan Lake was finally revealed as an unquestioned masterpiece, and has taken its place as a work of great historical importance in the development of modern ballet.

The DSO most recently performed Tchaikovsky’s Suite from Swan Lake in February 2015, conducted by Leonard Slatkin as part of the Tchaikovsky Festival. The DSO first performed the piece in December 1944, conducted by Karl Krueger.

with Orchestra Sinfonica La Verdi in Milan, later serving as the group’s resident conductor. Captivated by the operatic arias of legends like Mahler and Tchaikovsky, Jader explored their complexity and power, puzzling out the role that each instrument played in creating a larger-than-life sound. When he conducted his first professional concert at the age of 28, it didn’t feel like a departure, but an arrival.

In the years since, Jader has conducted some of the world’s most acclaimed orchestras and opera companies in venues across the globe including working with Riccardo Chailly on concerts of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony in 2013 and his concert debut at La Scala in 2015 for the opening season of La Verdi Orchestra. Recent highlights include debuts with the Houston, Dallas, and Minnesota symphonies; Osaka Philharmonic and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo; with the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State

Opera, and Dutch National Opera (Madama Butterfly ); Bayerische Staatsoper (La Traviata); I Puritani in Montpellier for the Festival of Radio France; Traviata in Tokyo directed by Sofia Coppola; return engagements with Oper Frankfurt (La forza del destino) and Santa Fe Opera (La Bohème); Manon Lescaut at the Bolshoi; Traviata, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot at Arena of Verona; Il Trovatore and Aida at Rome’s Teatro dell’Opera; Madama Butterfly, I Puritani, and Manon Lescaut at Teatro Massimo in Palermo; Simon Boccanegra and La Forza del destino at the Verdi Festival in Parma; Ciro in Babilonia at Rossini Opera Festival and La Bohème, Madama Butterfly, and Elisir d’amore at La Fenice in Venice. When Jader leads an orchestra in symphonic repertoire, he conducts without a score, preferring to make direct eye contact with the musicians. He conducts from the heart, forging a profound connection with his musicians that shines through both onstage and off. He both embodies and exudes the excellence and enthusiasm that has long distinguished the DSO’s artistry.

GIUSEPPE GIBBONI

Withflawless technique and compelling expressiveness, Giuseppe Gibboni won over the jury and audience of the Paganini Violin Competition in Genoa in October 2021. The violinist, born in 2001, was the first Italian in 24 years to win the overall prize, as well as the audience choice prize and special prize for the best interpretations of Niccolò Paganini’s Capriccios and Violin Concerto. Subsequently, the now 21-year-old musician has begun an extensive concert career. He made his debut with Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with the Orchestra dell’Accademia

Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under the direction of Lorenzo Viotti. Shortly thereafter, he played with guitarist Carlotta Dalia at the invitation of Italian President Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinal Palace in Rome; the concert was broadcast live on Italian radio.

Gibboni had already attracted attention with a series of competition successes. He became known to a large television audience in 2016 through his success in the Prodigi–La musica è vita competition broadcast by RAI 1 in collaboration with UNICEF. In the same year he won the first prize and a special prize at the Andrea Postacchini Violin Competition, followed by successes at the Leonid Kogan International Competition in Brussels (2017), the George Enescu International Competition in Bucharest (2018), and the Valsesia Musica Competition (2020).

The son of a family of musicians, Gibboni was first taught by his father Daniele Gibboni before attending the Salerno Conservatory “Martucci.” At the age of 14, he was admitted to the Stauffer Academy in Cremona, where he received lessons from Salvatore Accardo. He also successfully graduated with a Diploma of Honor from the Accademia Chigiana in Siena. After a five-year advanced course at the Accademia Perosi in Biella with Pavel Berman, he now studies at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg as a student of Pierre Amoyal.

Gibboni recorded his debut CD at the age of 15 for the Warner Classics label. Since 2017, he has been sponsored by the New York SI-YO Foundation. He plays on an Antonio Stradivari, Cremona 1699, “Auer, Benvenuti” violin. As winner of the Paganini Competition, he also had the opportunity to perform on the “Cannone,” Niccolò Paganini’s favorite instrument built by Guarneri del Gesù in 1743.

DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Symphony No. 64 in A Major, “Tempora mutantur”

Composed 1773-1775

FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN

WILLIAM DAVIDSON NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERT SERIES MENDELSSOHN’S “ITALIAN” SYMPHONY

Thursday, May 25, 2023 at 7:30 p.m. at Berman Theater

Friday, May 26, 2023 at 8 p.m. at NorthRidge Church, Plymouth

Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 8 p.m. at Kirk in the Hills Presbyterian Church

Sunday, May 28, 2023 at 3 p.m. at Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church

KATHARINA WINCOR, conductor

HAI-XIN WU, violin

Franz Joseph Haydn Symphony No. 64 in A major, (1732 - 1809) “Tempora mutantur”

I. Allegro con spirito

II. Largo

III. Menuet: Allegretto

IV. Presto

Henri Vieuxtemps Violin Concerto No. 5 in A minor, Op. 37 (1820 - 1881)

I. Allegro non troppo

II. Adagio

III. Allegro con fuoco

Hai-Xin Wu, violin

Intermission

Felix Mendelssohn Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90, “Italian” (1809 - 1847)

I. Allegro vivace

II. Andante con moto

III. Con moto moderato

IV. Saltarello: Presto

B. March 31, 1732, Rohrau, Lower Austria

D. May 31, 1809, Vienna, Austria

Scored for 2 oboes, bassoon, 2 horns, and strings. (Approx. 21 minutes)

Thephrase Sturm und Drang is commonly used to refer to Haydn’s symphonies of the late 1760s and early 1770s. The French musicologist

Theodor de Wyzewa was the first to make the connection between a German literary movement, which took its name from a play by F.M. Klinger, and a group of highly individual Haydn symphonies, many of them, atypically, in minor keys. Since Wyzewa’s time, Haydn studies have made possible much more accurate dating of the symphonies, and it appears that most of his so-called Sturm und Drang works were composed well before the plays and novels that share the same sensibility. Nevertheless, the term is convenient, and suitable, as long as one does not assume that the inspiration of the symphonies is specifically literary. The musical antecedents of these crucial Haydn symphonies are no less important. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was significant, with his strangely juxtaposed chords, strong dynamic contrasts, and irregular rhythms. If one work can be singled out as a forerunner to the stormy minor-key symphonies of the 1760s and 1770s, it is the finale to Gluck’s ballet Don Juan, first produced in Vienna in 1761. So great was the impression this made that Boccherini modeled on it his D minor symphony, subtitled “the devil’s house,”

incorporating great swaths of Gluck’s music. There was a fruitful exchange between the theater and the concert hall in these years, and recently, several of Haydn’s quirkier symphonies have proved to have been written in connection with theatrical productions.

Symphony No. 64 falls into the Sturm und Drang period, and though it is in a major key, it shares some of the characteristics of its companions, not least a literary background suggested in the nickname Haydn himself gave it. The words tempora mutantur, often found inscribed on sundials, come from the Welsh epigrammatist John Owen (1565-1622).

The 17th century translation of Thomas Harvey reads: “The Times are Chang’d, and in them Chang’d are we.” A modern scholar has fitted the Latin words, syllable by syllable, to the opening notes of the finale of Haydn’s symphony.

The symphony itself proclaims a change from what Haydn had written before, with its skeletal textures and sudden changes of dynamics. If the first movement is startling, the second is positively bizarre, with pauses for breath where the listener expects a chord to resolve, and melodies that hurtle unexpectedly into far regions. The menuet is filled with wide leaps and sudden stops, and the finale, in the words of Haydn scholar H.C. Robbins Landon, is “one of the most atypical rondos of the period.”

The DSO most recently performed Haydn’s Symphony No. 64 in February 1998, conducted by Neeme Järvi.

The William Davidson Neighborhood Concert Series is made possible by a generous grant from the William Davidson Foundation. WRCJ 90.9 FM also supports the Series.

JADER BIGNAMINI , Music Director Music Directorship endowed by the Kresge Foundation

TERENCE BLANCHARD

Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair

NA’ZIR MCFADDEN Assistant Conductor, Phillip & Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador

NEEME JÄRVI Music Director Emeritus

LEONARD SLATKIN Music Director Laureate

JEFF TYZIK

Principal Pops Conductor

Violin Concerto No. 5

in A minor, Op. 37

Composed 1858-1859 | Premiered September, 1861

HENRI VIEUXTEMPS

B. February 17, 1820, Verviers, Belgium

D. June 6, 1881, Mustapha, Algeria

Scored for solo violin, flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings. (Approx. 20 minutes)

AfterPaganini, what was a violinist to do?

As a player, he had pushed technique to the limits, and as a composer of concertos, he had established the fiddle as a monarch, to which an orchestra could only bend the knee. There seemed to be only two avenues of escape: to turn one’s back on the whole Paganini enterprise, reasserting a Beethovian balance between soloist and orchestra (none dared this before Brahms, who was, significantly, not a violinist); or to accept the notion that the violin concerto was a framework for virtuoso display, a form of amusement, but on no account a serious musical gesture. Among the violinist-composers who followed Paganini, only one made a stab at reconciling the old concerto style and the new: the Belgian-born Henry Vieuxtemps. “The works he has written for his own instrument and orchestra are conspicuous examples of qualities once thought mutually excusive—brilliant technical display and sustained symphonic interest,” Berlioz wrote in his memoirs. “Beethoven was the first to find a successful solution to the problem of how to give a solo instrument full scope without reducing the orchestra to a minor role. Beethoven himself, it can be argued, let the orchestra overpower the soloist; whereas the plan adopted by Ernst, Vieuxtemps, Liszt, and

one or two others seems to me to strike the balance exactly.”

Berlioz’s praise may seem overly generous today, but other critics of the time echoed him. When Vieuxtemps was 20, Schumann wrote that he “already stands so high that we can scarcely think of his future without experiencing a secret terror.” And in 1854, Hanslick said that “listening to Vieuxtemps is one of the greatest, most unqualified pleasures music has to offer,” going on to compare him with the sainted Joachim.

Who was this phenomenon who drew praise from all quarters? He was born into a family of weavers, his father being an amateur violinist as well. Vieuxtemps made his first public appearance at the age of six in his hometown of Verviers. He soon attracted the attention of Beriot, who took Vieuxtemps under him to Paris, where he made his debut in Rode’s Seventh Concerto.

The A minor concerto was written as a test piece for the Brussels Conservatory. Scintillating as the solo part is, it does not overwhelm the orchestra, and it is remarkably free from the sort of trickery that was Paganini’s stock-in-trade. In the Fourth Concerto, Vieuxtemps had begun to experiment with the traditional three-movement form, turning the first movement into a quasi-cadenza and adding a scherzo. In the Fifth, he joins all three movements into one.

Most of the weight falls on the first section, which corresponds roughly to the sonata-ritornello scheme of Classical tradition. There is no pretense of equality between the soloist and the orchestra, but Vieuxtemps treats the accompanying instruments so knowingly that the orchestra at least does not seem an intruder, as it often does in the Paganini concertos. After a cadenza supplied by the composer, there is a sentimental slow section from which excessive display is banished.

This leads directly to an extroverted final section that is too short to be called a movement, but which is psychologically just right, reestablishing the soloist’s virtuoso credentials without shifting the center of gravity too near the end. The DSO most recently performed Vieuxtemps’s Violin Concerto No. 5 in October 1985, conducted by Günther Herbig and featuring violinist Isabella Van Keulen. The DSO first performed the piece in March 1930, conducted Victor Kolar and featuring DSO concertmaster Ilya Schkolnik as soloist.

Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90, “Italian”

Composed 1833 | Premiered May 1833

FELIX MENDELSSOHN

B. February 3, 1809, Hamburg, Germany

D. November 4, 1847, Leipzig, Germany

Scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings. (Approx. 26 minutes)

Mendelssohn, the intrepid traveler, undertook a major tour of Europe between 1829 and 1831. At the suggestion of German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (great company indeed), the composer included Italy on this journey, and ended up remaining in the country for about a year and a half. A man of broad culture and education, Mendelssohn took an interest in everything Italy had to offer and used its endless inspiration as the base of his Fourth Symphony.

Completed two years after his return to Germany, Symphony No. 4 caused Mendelssohn (a perfectionist) great anguish—he was especially troubled by the final movement. Consequently, the work was never published or made widely

available during the composer’s lifetime. Critics today champion the work’s brilliance, however, and it remains a favorite both among Mendelssohn’s works and in the whole of the orchestral literature.

The work’s first movement suggests inspirations from an Italian dance, the tarantella, with bright themes from the violins and woodwinds expressed in an updated Classical first-movement form. The second movement is reminiscent of an ancient pilgrim’s march, possibly drawing from Mendelssohn’s experience of religious processionals in the streets of Naples. The third movement is a smooth-flowing minuet, its principal idea framing a central “Trio” section featuring the horns. Vigorous rhythms in the Presto finale combined with minor- key harmonies suggest the saltarello, a 16th century Neapolitan country-dance. A sense of excitement is maintained as Mendelssohn uses long orchestral crescendos throughout the movement. There is a subdued reference to the melody that opened the symphony, before the movement concludes with a last glance at its dark initial theme.

The DSO most recently performed Mendelssohn’s “Italian” Symphony in February 2017, conducted by Elim Chan. The DSO first performed the piece in November 1916, conducted by Weston Gales.

PROFILES

KATHARINA WINCOR

Austrian conductor Katharina Wincor is a rising, charismatic talent. She made a critically acclaimed Dallas Symphony Orchestra subscription debut in 2021, performing works by Mendelssohn, Schubert, and Anna Clyne, followed by appearances at the Grafenegg and Gstaad festivals. Recent highlights include debuts and return invitations with the Bruckner Orchestra Linz; Dresden Philharmonic; Cincinnati Symphony; Salzburg Festival ; Brevard Music Center Summer Festival; Deutsches Symphony Orchestra Berlin; Graz Symphony Orchestra; Seattle Symphony; Vancouver Symphony; Phoenix Symphony; Naples Philharmonic; OFUNAM Mexico; and the orchestra of the Opéra de Rouen Normandie.

Her previous participation in masterclasses and competitions allowed her to work with world renowned orchestras including the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the Bamberger Symphony, and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. She was one of just four conductors invited by Iván Fischer to a masterclass with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and was subsequently engaged as his assistant conductor for special projects with the Budapest Festival Orchestra. Other mentors include Fabio Luisi, Riccardo Muti, and David Zinman. Wincor began studying conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. In 2018, she continued her studies at Zurich University, where she studied in the class of Johannes Schlaefli. At the 2017 Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Wincor received the prestigious Neeme Järvi Prize and was awarded third prize at the 2020 Mahler Competition.

HAI-XIN WU

The Community Foundation is dedicated to supporting and enhancing the arts in Southeast Michigan.

Violinist

Hai-Xin Wu joined the Detroit Symphony Orchestra violin section in July 1995 and was appointed Assistant Concertmaster of the DSO in June 2004. He previously performed throughout the United States, Europe, and his native China.

At the age of 12, Wu was selected as the violin soloist of the Chinese Young Artists’s group to tour the former Yugoslavia. In May 1995, he made his Carnegie Hall debut in New York City, performing the Paganini Violin Concerto with the New York Concert Senior Orchestra. Wu was also featured as soloist with the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra for its 25th Anniversary Gala Concert in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center; with the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra on its recording and Midwest tour; and with Bergen Philharmonic (New Jersey), among others.

Wu has won competitions including the Waldo Mayo Violin Competition, the Friends of Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra Competition and the Manhattan School of Music Concerto Competition. He also won a special prize in the 2002 Lipizer International Competition. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music as a scholarship student of Ariana Bronne.

In addition to performing with the DSO, Wu often plays with various chamber groups, such as the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings and the Cuttime Players. From 1998–2001, he was a member of the Sonnet String Quartet as quartet-in-residence at Oakland University. He is currently an adjunct faculty member in the Wayne State University Music Department and a violin and chamber music coach with the Detroit Symphony Civic Youth Orchestra.

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Artists of the Year Duo Concert

Canadian Piano Quartet — 8 Hands, 2 Pianos

Elizabeth Bergmann & Marcel Bergmann (Duo Bergmann) Edward Turgeon & Anne Louise Turgeon (Duo Turgeon)

Afterglow immediately following the concert

Tickets: regular $25, students: $15, Under 12: free

For tickets and program details, visit TuesdayMusicaleofDetroit.org or