Helena Symphony - Season 64

SEASON SIXT Y-FOUR

2018–2019 17 EXTRAORDINARY PERFORMANCES

6 MASTERWORKS CONCERTS | 3 NON-SERIES CONCERTS 5 EDUCATION CONCERTS | 1 BENEFIT CONCERT

SEE IT. HEAR IT. FEEL IT. We're honored to be part of a community that embraces the arts. It makes Helena an inspiring and invigorating place to live and work. And it’s beautiful proof of the power of creativity—something we celebrate every day at Edge. Here’s to the Helena Symphony’s exciting 64th season.

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406.996.1361

CONTENTS 10

MA S TER WORKS CONCERT I

18

MA S TER WORKS CONCERT I I

30

NO N-S ER IES CONCE RT 2

38

MA S TER WORKS CONCERT I I I

46

MA S TER WORKS CONCERT I V

52

MA S TER WORKS CONCERT V

62

MA S TER WORKS CONCERT VI

Opening Night: Violinist Stephen Cepeda & Pines of Rome

THANK YOU TO OUR SEASON PARTNERS

The Dream of America Tango!

Pianist Claire Huangci & Brahms’ First Symphony Bach’s Mass in B minor Beethoven, Mozert, & Cellist Ovidiu Marinescu Tosca in Concert

THE HELENA SYMPHONY 04

Season 64 at a Glance

05

Staff & Board

08

Orchestra & Chorale

72

Donors

The official restaurant of the Helena Symphony

helenasymphony.org

406.442.1860

www.helenasymphony.org

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AT A GLANCE MASTERWORKS & NON-SERIES J UL 21

EDUCATION CONCERTS

N O N -S E R I E S C O N C E R T 1

Helena Community

Credit Union

Symphony Under

the Stars: Star Wars

S EPT 15

OCT 20

MA S TER WO R KS CONCE RT I

Opening Night: Violinist Stephen Cepeda & Pines of Rome

MA S TER WO R KS CONCE RT I I

The Dream of America NOV 3

N O N -S E R I E S C O N C E R T 2

Tango! (added if necessary) NOV 4

N O N -S E R I E S C O N C E R T 2

Tango!

D EC 3

N O N -S E R I E S C O N C E R T 3

Christmas in the Cathedral

JAN 26

MASTERWORKS CONCERT III

These FREE PERFORMANCES are all held at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church at 10:00 a.m.

We invite kids and families to hear fun, imaginative and interactive performances. Young learners are introduced to the world of music and instruments that engages them in the concert experience.

Instrument Petting Zoo sponsored by:

SEPT 29

SYM PH ON Y KI D S 1

NOV 10

SYM PH ON Y KI D S 2

FEB 9

SYM PH ON Y KI D S 3

APR 6

SYM PH ON Y KI D S 4

MASTERWORKS CONCERT IV

FEB 25

MASTERWORKS CONCERT IV

MAR 23

MASTERWORKS CONCERT V

The Wishing Star

Sponsored by generous support from:

Bach’s Mass in B minor

Beethoven, Mozart, & Cellist Ovidiu Marinescu MASTERWORKS CONCERT VI

Tosca in Concert

RON WAT E R M A N

Bach’s Mass in B minor

MAY 4

Fiona the Frog & Her Violin Ralph, the Runaway Rabbit

Pianist Claire

Huangci & Brahms’ First Symphony FEB 24

Jack & the Beanstalk

JUN 29

ANNUAL YOUTH CONCERT Tickets are not sold for this concert, as students attend through their school music program

APR 17

ANNUAL YOUTH CONCERT

Peter VERSUS the Wolf

Sponsored by generous support from:

BENEFIT CONCERT

A Night in Italy at

Montana Ting Helena Music Teachers Association

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Helena Symphony Season 64

ARTISTIC STAFF A L L A N R . S C O T T – Musi c Di re ctor “Maestro Scott is as intoxicating as you could wish and has that all-too-rare feeling of risk-taking spontaneity.”

– New Zealand National Radio “Maestro Scott is on a mission to bring music to the people, and if his music is as infectious as he is, then it’s only a matter of time.”

– Independent Record Appointed as Music Director of the Helena Symphony Orchestra & Chorale, Philadelphia Conductor Allan R. Scott is the longest serving Music Director in the Symphony’s six-decade history. Entering his sixteenth season, Maestro Scott and his leadership and conducting have been recognized by The Associated Press, music critic of The New Yorker Magazine, PBS, and Symphony Magazine for dynamic vision and ability to elicit top-notch performances from musicians. As the subject of SYMPHONY Magazine’s article “Big Sounds, Big Dreams,” Maestro Scott was acknowledged for his “large orchestra view” noting, “under Scott’s leadership the quality of the orchestra’s playing has skyrocketed.”

Dividing his time between residences in Helena and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia native also marks his seventeenth season as Music Director of Pennsylvania’s Southeastern Pennsylvania Symphony; serves as the Principal Conductor of the Wilmington Ballet Company in Delaware; and recently served as Conductor in Residence & Visiting Artist at West Chester University in Pennsylvania, and a guest lecturer for The Philadelphia Orchestra’s Pre-Concert Conversations.

Maestro Scott also is a regular host for Montana Public Radio reaching over 17,000 listeners, including specials on Mahler and a Bernstein Week for Leonard Bernstein’s Centennial Celebration.

Acknowledged by the Main Line Times for “splendidly realizing the awesome spiritual power of the score,” Maestro Scott has become most closely associated with the works of Gustav Mahler. As guest conductor, he makes his debut with the Marble City Opera Company this Season, and has appeared with the National Radio Orchestra of Romania in Bucharest, New Zealand’s Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, Firelands Symphony in Cleveland, Pottstown Symphony (Pennsylvania), Orchestra Society of Philadelphia, Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia, Fairfax Symphony, Ogontz Opera Company, Bucharest National Opera, Royal Opera of Netherlands, Portland Opera Company, Kent Opera, and Fairfax Opera Company.

Throughout the past twenty-five years, Maestro Scott has served as Music Director of Philadelphia’s Main Line Philomusica Orchestra & Chorus, Principal Conductor of Bluett Theatre, Music Director of the Rocky Mountain Youth Orchestra, and the Artistic Director of Colorado’s New Artists Philharmonic.

After studying piano since the age of five and his conducting studies at the age of fifteen, Maestro Scott developed his artistry under the guidance of some of the most prolific conductors of our time including Seiji Ozawa at the Tanglewood Music Center, Charles Dutoit, and Jorge Mester. He further refined his craft with Luis Biava, Zdenék Macal, and Sir David Willcocks at renowned institutions, among them the Tanglewood Music Center, California Conducting Institute, The Keene Music Festival, Ogontz Music Festival, and the Conducting Institute of South Carolina.

Maestro Scott is exclusively represented by Marvel Arts Management. www.helenasymphony.org

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ARTISTIC STAFF S T E V E O L S O N – HSO A ssi stant Con duct o r Conductor Steve Olson enters his second Season as the Assistant Conductor of the Helena Symphony Orchestra, and he has been a member of the HSO as a violinist and pianist for over a decade. A native of Belt, MT, Mr. Olson holds a Bachelor of Music Performance and a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Montana where he studied with Steve Hesla, Margaret Baldridge, Fern Glass, and Luis Millan.

Active as a chamber musician, Mr. Olson performs violin and piano throughout the region. As piano soloist, he has appeared in concert with the Glacier Symphony Orchestra and Helena Symphony Orchestra. In addition to his posts with the HSO, he also serves as the orchestra director of Charles M. Russell High School in Great Falls, teaching four orchestras, music theory, music history, and early music.

As a conductor, Mr. Olson is the founding artistic director of The Big Sky Telemann Players, an all-baroque music ensemble in Great Falls, and he is the music director of The Steve Olson Orchestra, which recently released its recording Merry Christmas from Great Falls, MT. Active in staged works, he has served as conductor for the Great Falls Ballet Ensemble and many community theatre productions. He is currently the President of the Montana chapter of the American String Teachers Association.

This Season, in addition to serving as Maestro Scott’s “cover conductor,” Mr. Olson will lead several sectional rehearsals, and conduct education concerts with the Helena Symphony Orchestra, including Symphony Kids performances and the annual Youth Concert for 2,000 fourth and fifth grade students.

L A R R Y S H E L D O N – HSC A ssi stant Cond u ct o r Conductor Larry Sheldon has a been a member of the Helena Symphony Chorale for several seasons, and this year marks his second Season as Assistant Conductor of the Chorale. As a singer, Mr. Sheldon has appeared with the Bozeman Symphony Chorale, Helena Chamber Singers, and the Helena Symphony Chorale.

After receiving his degree in music education from Montana State University, he led choruses at Park County High School and maintained a private vocal studio. For the past sixteen years, Mr. Sheldon has served as an adjudicator throughout Montana for district and state music festivals, and for the past decade, he has guest conducted several high school choral festivals.

In addition to serving as the “cover conductor” for Maestro Scott, Mr. Sheldon assists with rehearsals and will appear in performance during the Education Concert Series this Season on one of the Symphony Kids concerts.

J U N E L E E – Sta ff Accompan i st Joining the Artistic Staff of the Helena Symphony in 2007, Pianist June Lee received a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance with emphasis in accompanying and pedagogy from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington, and a Master of Music in piano performance at the University of Washington, as well as a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance. As staff accompanist, Ms. Lee works with Maestro Scott and the conducting staff accompanying guest artists in preparation for performance, performs piano and celeste with the Helena Symphony Orchestra, serves as accompanist for the Helena Symphony Chorale, and often serves as assistant conductor of the Chorale.

She held a staff accompanist position at Pacific Lutheran University, and an assistantship in vocal accompanying at University of Washington. After completing her degrees, she spent many years as a minister and missionary. Ms. Lee currently resides in Townsend, Montana, and maintains a studio, teaching piano and voice in Helena.

6

Helena Symphony Season 64

Scott Kall

Pat Keim & Dawn Cowan

Ronald Lukenbill

STAFF & BOARD ARTISTIC STAFF

Allan R. Scott – Music Director & Conductor Steve Olson – Orchestra Assistant Conductor Larry Sheldon – Chorale Assistant Conductor June Lee – Staff Accompanist

ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF

Scott Kall – Director of Patron Services Vacant – Development Coordinator Ellie Parker – Administrative Assistant Barb Berg – Education Coordinator Duane Johnson – IT Manager Ginny Emery – Staff Photographer Wipfli – Accounting

MARKETING

EDGE MARKETING + DESIGN Diana Norton – Public Relations Lori Pederson – Graphic Designer Deanna Satre – Webmaster

ARTISTIC ADMINISTRATION

Vacant – Director of Artistic Planning Scott Kall – Operations Manager Chelsey Hallsten – Librarian Joshua Dickey – Chorale Manager Dawn Cowan – Hospitality Coordinator Don Phillips – Technical Director Joe Sanford – Stage Manager Frank Montibeller – Head Usher Darla Sautter – Head Usher

OFFICE VOLUNTEERS Ellie Parker Marie Brown Marty Thieltges Lois Hudson

OFFICERS

Patrick Keim – President Ronald Lee, Ph.D. – Vice President Alison Paul, Esq. – Treasurer Eleanor Parker, Esq. – Secretary Matthew Dale – Past President

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Patrick Keim – Chair Helen Ballinger – honorary Caitlin Borgmann, Esq. Art Bumgardner, D.M.A. James Burkholder – orchestra representative Matthew Dalton Duane Johnson – chorale representative Ronald Lee, Ph.D. Ronald Lukenbill Virginia Markell – honorary Eleanor Parker, Esq. Alison Paul, Esq. Timothy Reardon, Esq. Allan R. Scott – ex officio Darien G. Scott – honorary Abigail St. Lawrence, Esq. Laura Weiss Smith, Esq.

HELENA SYMPHONY FOUNDATION

Ross Cannon, Esq. – President Joan Poston, Esq. – Chair Thomas C. Morrison, Esq. – Treasurer Peter E. Bogy, Esq. – Treasurer Darien G. Scott – Secretary Helen Ballinger

www.helenasymphony.org

7

ORCHESTRA VIOLIN

CELLO

Stephen Cepeda Concertmaster

Linda Kuhn Principal

The Mary Douglass Chair

Michael Mleko+ Principal Second** Eleanor Parker Associate Principal Second The Mary Jane Davidson Chair The Fran Waddell Chair

Keith Bocian Emily Cooley Sandy Daniel* Allison Elliott

The Dana Hillyer & Robert Caldwell Chair

Jill Miller, Principal

Don Stone Principal

The Abigail St. Lawrence Chair

James Burkholder+ Associate Principal

The Nancy & Richard Trudell Chair

Scott Black

E-FLAT CLARINET

BASS

Jennifer Skogley

The Carol J. Roberts Memorial Chair

Trebor Riddle Principal

BASSOON

HARP

Dana Nehring Principal Alicia McLean

Tess Michel Principal Angela Espinosa

CONTRABASSOON

PIANO & CELESTE

Alicia McLean

June Lee Principal

The David Genter Chair

Cortney Bury

The Katie Mason Chair

John Coefield** Max Johnson* Tom Larson Michelle Tanberg** String section players are listed alphabetically, as seating rotates.

The Barbara & Bartley Weiss Chair

The Linda & Patrick Keim Chair

Elizabeth Burke

OBOE Becky Tipler Principal Nicole Evans MacKenzie Stone*

ENGLISH HORN Sue Logan

* Substitute ** Leave of Absence

Helena Symphony Season 64

+ Players Council

Scott Kall

The Marie Kall Chair

Fred Wenger*

TUBA

BASS CLARINET

Phil Johnstone+ Principal

The Barbara Harris Chair

Erin Vang Principal

The Fran Waddell Chair

Katie Gildner Scott Grundsted Madeleine Price** Elisabeth Sibulsky Amelia Thorton* Aurora Torres* Richard Wells

The Renee and Steve Liston Chair

Mary Ann Jacobson

Elizabeth Burke

Barbara Berg Principal Kathy Chase

Garion Holian Principal

Jennifer Skogley

HORN

FLUTE

VIOLA

The Peter Sullivan Chair

PICCOLO The Rosana Skelton Chair

Coral White*

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TROMBONE

Jesse Ahmann* Katharine Cavanaugh David Harmsworth* Don Harmsworth Kelly Kuhn** Maren Haynes Marchesini Diane Sine* Carson Yahvah+

The Eleanor Parker Chair

Chelsey Hallsten Jeffrie Iams Mary Murphy Kyara Nelsen* Millie Olsen* Steve Olson Katelyn Osborn** Kiersti Osborn Luke Osborn** Trevor Ostenson* Vikki Payne* Taylor Peterson Cathy Pomeroy* Geoffrey Taylor Clara Weick* Laura Weiss Smith

CLARINET

The Susan Benedict & Scott Mainwaring Chair

Warren McCullough Associate Principal The Mary Douglass Chair

Brooke Mortensen+ Daniel Lande Ian McLean*

TRUMPET Thomas Lee Principal

The Scott Pargot Chair

Michael Hamling+ Associate Principal Jens Jacobson Duane Zehr*

The Lisa Boe Mason Chair

Steve Olson

HARPSICHORD June Lee

ORGAN Matthew O’Sullivan*

TIMPANI Dennis Dell

The Harlan & William Shropshire Chair

PERCUSSION The Kerry Brown Memorial Section

Tom Schaefer Lauree Wenger Dennis Dell Jennifer Hotz*

CHORALE SOPRANO Chelsea Basinger Margaret Bowman Fay Buness* Val Colenso Kelly Downing-Keil Christina Dube Laurie Ekanger Katja Elias Betsy Griffing Jill Guthrie Nancy Harper Christine Harris Fong Hom Deanna Johnson Sarah Karasch Linda Keim Karen Keith Autumn Keller Janet Kenny June Lee Carolyn Linden Blair Lund Sharon Maynard Patty Mazurek Karen McLean Meg McMahon Elizabeth Mehl Kellie Myers Susan Osborne

Stacy Perkins Laura Pippin Sanna Porte Makenna Sellers Gayle Sheldon Kate Siberell Coleen Smith Anna Strange Britney VanFossen Carol Waniata* Mary Williams Lisa Williams-Mathews

ALTO Rachel Aagenes Cathy Barker Andrea Bateen Anna Bierlink-Olheiser Jeannette Bower Kathy Bramer Sue Brookhart Marj Clark Connie Conley* Chris Deveny Lisa DeWitt Jane Fisher Jennifer Fladager Danna Jackson Jen Jenkins Christine Kaufmann

Ann Kenny Rika Lashley Sharon Madsen Beverly Magley Michelle Maltese Liz Moore Judy Nakagawa Roberta Nelson Rehanna Olson Carol Potuzak Mary Reynolds Molly Roby Kathy Schiffman MÄ“ghan Scott Molly Severtson Naci Spano Maggie Stockwell Marty Thieltges Teri Vore** Linda Vrooman Peterson Cathy Wright Dawn Zehr Janet Zimmerman

TENOR Jerry Bowman Harlan D. Conroy Joshua Dickey* Henry Elsen Seth Fontaine

Duane Johnson John Mundinger Dean Naylor Neil Squires Andrew Vigeland Dale Waniata Alex Worthy

BASS Jon Bennion** Art Bumgardner* David Buness Robert Caldwell Hal Fossum Gary Guthrie Jim Keil Pat Keim Evan Kulesa Ron Lee Kevin Mathews Ron Nelson Brett ONeil James Perkins Larry Sheldon* Norman Smith** Gordon Stockstad Michael Swisher Brad Ulgenes John Vore** Dick Weaver Greg Zeihen

* Section Leader ** Leave of Absence

www.helenasymphony.org

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MASTERWORKS CONCERT I

OPENING NIGHT: VIOLINIST STEPHEN CEPEDA & PINES OF ROME SATURDAY, 15 SEPTEMBER 2018 7:30 P.M. HELENA CIVIC CENTER

HSO Concertmaster Stephen Cepeda opens the Season with Benjamin Britten’s Violin Concerto complete with demonic virtuosity and emotional beauty that was once deemed “unplayable.” With music of Respighi, the HSO romances The Fountains of Rome and the “Eternal City” depicted with the mighty Pines of Rome. Opening Night is not to be missed!

Maestro Allan R. Scott

Mr. Cepeda’s appearance is made possible through generous support by:

The concert is sponsored by generous support from:

Stephen Cepeda

The post-concert Opening Night Celebration is sponsored by generous support from:

MARY DOUGLASS

The use of photographic and recording equipment is strictly prohibited. As a courtesy to the performers and fellow concert-goers, please turn off all cell phones prior to the beginning of the performance. Latecomers will not be seated until an appropriate time in the concert.

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Helena Symphony Season 64

JOIN US AFTER THE CONCERT!

O P E N I N G N I G H T C E L E B R AT I O N FREE for Season Ticket Holders / $10 for Non-Subscribers A reception with Violinist Stephen Cepeda, Maestro Scott, and the musicians of the HSO after the Opening Night Concert.

ALLAN R. SCOTT – Conductor STEPHEN CEPEDA – Violin H elena S ymphony O rchestra

BRITTEN Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 15+

Mr. Cepeda, violin

I. Moderato con moto II. Vivace — III. Passacaglia: Andante lento (un poco meno mosso) –– INTERMISSION –– RESPIGHI Fontane di Roma (Fountains of Rome)+

I. La fontana di Valle Giulia all’alba (The Fountain of Valle Giulia) —

II. La fontana del Tritone al mattino (The Triton Fountain) —

III. La fontana di Trevi al meriggio (The Trevi Fountain at Mid-Day) —

IV. La fontana di Villa Medici al tramonto (The Villa Medici Fountain) RESPIGHI Pini di Roma (Pines of Rome) I. Pini di Villa Borghese (The Pine Trees of the Villa Borghese) —

II. Pini Presso Una Catacomba (Pine Trees Near a Catacomb) —

III. I Pini del Gianicolo (The Pine Trees of the Janiculum) —

IV. I Pini della via Appia (The Pine Trees of the Appian Way)

+ = Helena Symphony premiere performance

www.helenasymphony.org

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MASTERWORKS CONCERT I STEPHEN CEPEDA & PINES OF ROME

ABOUT THE PROGRAM By Allan R. Scott©

BENJAMIN BRITTEN

Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 15 Britten’s Violin Concerto is scored for two piccolos, three flutes, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, two bassoons, harp, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, glockenspiel, triangle, whip, side drum, tenor drum, bass drum, cymbals, and divided strings.

Duration: 30 minutes

PA R A L L E L E V E N T S / 1 93 9 World War II officially begins Earthquake in Chile kills 30,000 people Films The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind premiere John Steinbeck publishes The Grapes of Wrath Billie Holiday records Strange Fruit Baseball great Lou Gehrig retires after playing 2,130 consecutive games Hewlett-Packard is founded Batman first appears in comic books First Little League Baseball game is played Assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, singer Tina Turner, politician Harry Reid, fashion design Ralph Lauren, and actors F. Murry Abraham, Lily Tomlin, and John Cleese are born 12

Born: Lowestoft, England, 22 November 1913 Died: Aldeburgh, England, 4 December 1976

IF THERE IS ONE QUALITY that sets the music of Benjamin Britten apart from his contemporaries, it is surely his unerring response to the theme of innocence. Born Edward Benjamin Britten, the English composer possessed the unique ability to capture an astonishing variety of moods through, as it were, the eyes of the innocent.

Even as a young musician Britten’s early effort as a composer included ten piano sonatas, six string quartets, three suites for piano, an oratorio, and dozens of songs. In all, the active composer, conductor, and pianist produced six operas, concertos for violin and cello, orchestral works, including A Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, many songs, chamber music, incidental music for theatre and film, folk song arrangements, and many choral works. Britten knew how to use music to the best effect, whether in the concert hall, on the stage, or in the church. His music possessed qualities of freshness and simplicity that made it easily accessible to the common listener, and he never lost the radiance that came from the imaginative understanding of youth, the loss of innocence, and the passage to adulthood.

By the time Britten was 26 he had composed fourteen works and was considered one of the most successful English composers alive. He was, however, very unsettled about his life. He was also feeling stifled by the more conservative trends in British music, and how his self-proclaimed pacifist thinking directly conflicted with his country preparing for a second world war.

In August 1938, Britten appeared as soloist in the premiere of his Piano Concerto, which led him to want to write a concerto for violin. Following his friend English poet W.H. Auden, Britten and his life-long partner and tenor Peter Pears fled England to Canada and the United States, though he would eventually return home in 1942 during England’s darkest hour. During his self-imposed “exile” and despite frequent bouts of depression and ill health, Britten completed several important works, including Les Illuminations, Sinfonia da Requiem, Ceremony of Carols, the operetta Paul Bunyan, and his Violin Concerto.

Britten sketched the Violin Concerto before his voyage from England and continued work on it in Toronto, later at his new home in Long Island in the summer of 1939, and then finished it in Quebec by September. He sent it to the legendary violinist Jascha Heifetz in hopes Heifetz would premiere the new work, but the famed virtuoso declined, saying it was unplayable (without ever explaining why). The composer then sought out Spanish violinist Antonio Brosa, with whom Britten had collaborated a few years earlier. Also settling in the United States, Brosa agreed to give the premiere performance of

“

Perhaps apologizing for its demeanor, Britten wrote to his publisher that the Violin Concerto “is without question my best piece – it is rather serious, I’m afraid.”

the Violin Concerto in 1940 with the New York Philharmonic and its music director, English conductor John Barbirolli. The reactions to Britten’s new work were fairly polarized: “pretty violent – either pro or con,” the composer recalled. American composer Elliott Carter praised the Concerto, saying that “nobody could fail to be impressed by the remarkable gifts of the composer, the size and ambition of his talent.”

The work opens with an understated yet noble five-note theme by the timpani until the soloist performs a series of brief, flowing descending phrases. The tonal centers of the first movement are somewhat unstable, giving an overt sense of anxiety. The second movement provides the shock-and-awe in the violinist’s pyrotechnics. The frenetic, sinister, Prokofiev-like second movement along with its cadenza (where the soloist plays without the orchestra) that recalls the first movement

are undoubtedly the heart of the work.

Composed in the structure of a “passacaglia” (a form of music that generally is very serious in tone and uses a series of variations popular with Baroque composers), the somber, final movement and its nine variations seem to be Britten’s sorrow on the horrors of war, especially the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and the looming, inevitable destruction of Europe by Hitler and Mussolini. “It is at times like these that the work is so important – that humans can think of other things than blowing each other up!”

Perhaps apologizing for its demeanor, Britten wrote to his publisher that the Violin Concerto “is without question my best piece – it is rather serious, I’m afraid.” Despite his hesitation though, Britten used technical brilliance and emotional depth to give voice to the human condition at a time when the world was experiencing despair and confusion. 

S T E P H E N C E P E D A – Vi ol i n The 2018-2019 season marks Violinist Stephen Cepeda’s thirteenth year as concertmaster of the Helena Symphony Orchestra. He has appeared as soloist with the HSO on several occasions, including performances of violin concertos by Sibelius, Mendelssohn, Brahms, and Tchaikovsky.

Performing with Maestro Scott, Mr. Cepeda appeared as soloist with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Symphony Orchestra on multiple occasions, and a performance the Lamont Symphony Orchestra at Denver University. In the summer of 2009, he completed a tour throughout Southeast Asia performing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, including a recital at the United States Embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam. Mr. Cepeda is a founding member of the award-winning Meritage String Quartet, which was featured on Emmy award winning television series 11th and Grant on PBS. Beginning his studies at the age of five with Daniel Reinker, Mr. Cepeda has studied with some of the nation’s finest violinists, including Stephanie Sant’ Ambriogio, and Julius Schulman. While attending University of Houston’s Moores School of Music, he studied with renowned violinist Andrzej Grabiec. With a passion for teaching, Mr. Cepeda was an Adjunct Professor at Montana State University, and maintains an active violin studio in Helena. www.helenasymphony.org

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MASTERWORKS CONCERT I STEPHEN CEPEDA & PINES OF ROME

ABOUT THE PROGRAM By Allan R. Scott©

OTTORINO RESPIGHI

Fontane di Roma (Fountains of Rome) Fountains of Rome is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, cymbals, triangle, glockenspiel, chimes, two harps, piano, celeste, organ, and divided strings.

Duration: 16 minutes

PA R A L L E L E V E N T S / 1 91 6 Height of World War I Woodrow Wilson is reelected U.S. President Montana feminist Jeanette Rankin is elected first woman to U.S. Congress Einstein presents his Theory of Relativity George Gershwin composes his first published song Planned Parenthood is founded Chicago’s Wrigley Field opens Actor Jackie Gleason, violinist Yehudi Menuhin, and news anchor Walter Cronkite are born James Kraft invents processed cheese Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs opens 14

Born: Bologna, Italy, 9 July 1879 Died: Rome, Italy, 18 April 1936

BORN INTO A MUSICAL FAMILY, Respighi was educated at the local conservatory in Bologna, Italy; however, his most influential studies occurred under the tutelage of Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov in St. Petersburg, where Respighi worked as a violist in the opera orchestra. The lessons must have had a profound effect on the young Italian musician, because within a few years Respighi gave up a full-time career as a soloist and member of a string quartet for a life as a composer and teacher at the Conservatory of St. Cecilia in Rome.

Although Italy is regarded as the birthplace of most of the prolific opera composers and nearly no composer has emerged from Italy without producing operas, Respighi became Italy’s greatest orchestrator and orchestral “painter.” Even though he did write nine operas, in addition to several ballets and chamber music, Respighi is mostly remembered and admired for his musical tone poems (not unlike his Russian mentor).

Tone poems, for all practical purposes, allowed composers to experiment with orchestra color without having to be concerned with the more formal symphonic structure.

A symphonic tone poem can be defined as a musical work that is inspired by another work of art such as paintings, poetry, or other music; that does not maintain the form and evolution of a symphony; but does maintain similar orchestral size or scope. For Respighi, the symphonic tone poem became his medium of choice and form at which he mastered. Respighi found inspiration from the landscapes of Italy, Botticelli’s paintings, birds, and stained-glass windows. What gave his tone poems artistic eternity is not the subject matter, but the sheer palette of orchestra color. Even the lyrical skills of Puccini and Rossini do not compare with the orchestration abilities of Respighi.

During a time when Italian heritage and unification were personally important to almost any Italian artist (especially Giuseppe Verdi) and in terms of orchestral music rather than operatic, Respighi alone put his country on the artistic map of the twentieth century. Even though the three tone poems that make up the Roman Triptych (The Fountains of Rome, The Pines of Rome, and Roman Festival) often receive the most performances and attention, Respighi’s additional symphonic poems are equally noteworthy.

FOUNTAINS OF ROME Rome’s fountains served as the inspiration for the work that launched Respighi’s career – Fountains of Rome. Divided into four sections without pause, Respighi offered his own program notes, saying that he “endeavored to give expression to the sentiments and visions suggested by four of Rome’s fountains contemplated at the hour in which their character is most in

“

What gave (Respighi’s) tone poems artistic eternity is not the subject matter, but the sheer palette of orchestra color. harmony with the surrounding landscape, or in which their beauty appears most impressive to the observer.”

As a city with an excellent water supply augmented in ancient Roman times by a substantial distribution of a system of aqueducts, Rome has literally hundreds of public fountains. Nearly every public square, palace, or monument has one or more fountain. Originally, they existed to merely announce the arrival of water by aqueduct, but over time they became considered elaborate works of art and architecture.

The first movement of The Fountains of Rome, titled The Fountain of Valla Giulia at Dawn, opens with a musical sunrise and reflective wind solos. Respighi writes that the first movement “depicts a pastoral landscape: droves of cattle pass and disappear in the fresh, damp mists of a Roman dawn.” Nestled in urban Rome, the Julian Valley was on the outskirts of the city in 1916. The Fountain, constructed with Italy’s National Gallery, is a place that stunningly captures the sun at day break over the Parioli hills that were still green pastures.

“A sudden loud and insistent blast of horns above the trills of the whole orchestra introduces the second movement – The Triton Fountain at Morn,” describes Respighi. “It is like a joyous call, summoning troops of naiads

and tritons, who come running up, pursuing each other and mingling in a frenzied dance between jets of water.” Created in the 17th century by order of the Vatican, the Triton Fountain depicts the Greco-Roman sea god Triton with a conch shell to his lips. Respighi thrillingly captures the spectacular horn-calls that perhaps are being sounded by the conch shell coupled with the powers of the sea and the shimmering lights on the sunlit fountain.

“Next there appears a solemn theme, born in the undulations of the orchestra. It is the Fountain of Trevi at Midday,” explains Respighi. “The solemn theme passing from the woodwinds to the brass, assumes a triumphal character. Trumpets peal: across the radiant surface of the water there passes Neptune’s chariot, drawn by seahorses and followed by a train of sirens and tritons.

The procession then vanishes, while faint trumpet blasts resound in the distance.”

Located in central Rome, the Trevi Fountain is the largest Baroque style foundation. It takes up the entire center of the Palazzo Poli and it measures 85 feet high by 65 feet wide.

Commissioned by the Vatican in the 18th century, the Trevi Fountain marks the end of a 14-mile-long aqueduct constructed in 19 BC and worked in Rome for more than 400 years!

Today it is mostly known for the tradition of throwing a coin in the fountain with their Continued on page 16

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MASTERWORKS CONCERT I STEPHEN CEPEDA & PINES OF ROME

RESPIGHI Pini di Roma (Pines of Rome) Pines of Rome is scored for piccolo, three flutes, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, six off stage “buccine” (typically performed by four trumpets and two trombones), timpani, triangle, cymbals, tambourines, rattle, tam-tam, orchestra bells, bass drum, harp, piano, celeste, organ, recorded sound of a nightingale, and divided strings.

Duration: 23 minutes

Continued from page 15

right hand over their left shoulder. Doing so will one day bring the visitor back to Rome.

The final part of The Fountains of Rome depicts The Villa Medici Fountain at Sunset. Announced by a somewhat melancholy theme performed by the flute and English horn, the music “rises above a subdued warbling,” says Respighi.

“It is the nostalgic hour of sunset. The air is full of the sound of tolling bells, birds twittering, leaves rustling. Then all dies peacefully into the silence of the night.” Overlooking the sun setting behind the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica, the Villa Medici was built in 1589 – the oldest fountain described in Respighi’s tone poem. Coming full circle, The Fountains of Rome ends as it began – in the reflective solitude of silence.

While The Fountains of Rome was not initially well-received, Conductor Arturo Toscanini performed the work later in Rome and Milan, which quickly led to its publication and eventual widespread appeal.

PINES OF ROME The Pines of Rome, written as a sequel to The Fountains of Rome, employs Respighi’s trademark of rich orchestration, including an imitation of the Roman army trumpet (buccine) and a recording of a nightingale’s song. Respighi wrote descriptive paragraphs to clarify each movement of The Pines of Rome: The Pines of the Villa Borghese – Children are at play in the pine groves of the Villa Borghese. They dance around in circles; they play at soldiers, marching and fighting; they are intoxicated by their own cries like swallows at evening; they rush about.

Suddenly the scene changes…

PA R A L L E L E V E N T S / 1 924 Calvin Coolidge is elected 30th U.S. President George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue premieres Matisse paints Arabesque Father’s Day becomes a national holiday Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, and U.S. Presidents Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush are born Opera composer Puccini dies First Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade 16

The Pines Near a Catacomb – We see the shades of the pines fringing the entrance to a catacomb. From the depths, there rises the sound of mournful psalms, floating through the air like a solemn hymn, and mysteriously dispersing.

The Pines of the Janiculum – A shudder runs through the air: The pines on the Janiculum stand distinctly outlined in the clear light of a full moon. A nightingale sings.

The Pines of the Appian Way – Misty dawn on the Appian Way; solitary pine trees guarding the magic landscape; the muffled, ceaseless rhythm of unending footsteps. The poet has a fantastic vision of bygone glories: trumpets sound and, in the brilliance of the newly risen sun, a consular army bursts forth forward the Via Sacra, mounting in triumph to the Capitol.

Not for timid sensibilities, The Pines of Rome is nothing short of over-the-top, similar to a 3-D film in high definition surround sound. It was by far Respighi’s greatest success, and unlike some composers, he was wonderfully proud of it. He went on to even name his country villa The Pines. 

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MASTERWORKS CONCERT II

THE DREAM OF AMERICA SATURDAY, 20 OCTOBER 2018 7:30 P.M. HELENA CIVIC CENTER

French composer Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem illuminates a peaceful passing into paradise. The concert continues with seven actors, projected images, and the words of immigrants to create a moving account of the hopes and fears of those who arrived in America in search of a utopian world through Peter Boyer’s Ellis Island – Dream of America.

Five of the seven actors are former immigrants and are now Helena citizens, including Isabel Pomerleau, Ersun Özer, Wilmot Collins, Christina Mayn, and Alexandra “Sasha” Fendrick.

Maestro Allan R. Scott

Isabel Pomerleau

Ersun Özer

Katy Wright

Wilmot Collins

Christine Mayn

Michael “Mokey” McNeilly

Alexandra “Sasha” Fendrick

Guest Artists’ appearances are made possible through generous support by:

The concert is sponsored by generous support from: 400 n park Ave helena, montana 406 - 443 - 4422 www.1stmt.com

proudly supports the helena symphony

The use of photographic and recording equipment is strictly prohibited. As a courtesy to the performers and fellow concert-goers, please turn off all cell phones prior to the beginning of the performance. Latecomers will not be seated until an appropriate time in the concert.

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Helena Symphony Season 64

ALLAN R. SCOTT – Conductor ISABEL POMERLEAU – Actor (Helen Cohen, Poland) ERSUN ÖZER – Actor (James Aponmith, Greece) KATY WRIGHT – Actor (Lillian Galleta, Italy) WILMOT COLLINS – Actor (Lazarus Salamon, Hungary) CHRISTINE MAYN – Actor (Helen Rosenthal, Belgium) MICHAEL “MOKEY” McNEILLY – Actor (Manny Steen, Ireland) ALEXANDRA “SASHA” FENDRICK – Actor (Katherine Beychook, Russia) H elena S ymphony O rchestra & C horale

DURUFLÉ Requiem, Op. 9

I. Introït

II. Kyrie

IV. Sanctus

V. Pie Jesu

VI. Angus Dei VII. Lux aeterna VIII. Libera me

IX. In Paradisum *Performed in memory of Matthew Dale –– INTERMISSION –– BOYER

Ellis Island – The Dream of America+

Prologue

Words of Helen Cohen, Emigrated from Poland in 1920 — Interlude 1 — Words of James Apanomith, Emigrated from Greece in 1911 — Interlude 2 — Words of Lillian Galleta, Emigrated from Italy in 1928 — Interlude 3 — Words of Lazarus Salamon, Emigrated from Hungary in 1920 —

Interlude 4 —

Words of Helen Rosenthal, Emigrated from Belgium in 1940 — Interlude 5 — Words of Manny Steen, Emigrate from Ireland in 1925 — Interlude 6 — Words of Katherine Beychook, Emigrated from Russia in 1910 — Epilogue: “The New Colossus” (Emma Lazarus, 1883)

+ = Helena Symphony premiere performance

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MASTERWORKS CONCERT II THE DREAM OF AMERICA

ABOUT THE PROGRAM By Allan R. Scott©

MAURICE DURUFLÉ

Requiem, Op. 9 Duruflé’s Requiem was originally scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two English horns, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, cymbals, bass drum, tam-tam, celeste, harp, organ, divided strings, mixed chorus, and soprano and baritone solos replaced here by the chorus, which is believed to be Duruflé’s later intention.

Duration: 40 minutes

PA R A L L E L E V E N T S / 1 947 Gandhi begins march for peace in India Jackie Robinson becomes first black professional baseball player Tennessee William’s play A Streetcar Named Desire premieres on Broadway Meet the Press and game show You Bet Your Life premiere Goodrich creates tubeless tire Gangster Al Capone dies Composer John Adams, Hillary Clinton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Steven Spielberg, David Letterman, Stephen King, Elton John, Glenn Close, Billy Crystal, and Cat Stevens are born 20

Helena Symphony Season 64

Born: Louviers, France, 11 Januar y 1902 Died: Paris, France, 16 June 1986

HOW RARE IS IT WHEN WE FIND a composer who has published only fourteen works and still assumes a place in music history?

As one of the most prominent, yet sincerely humble organists of the twentieth century, Maurice Duruflé began his early training at the age of ten in the choir school of Rouen Cathedral where he was exposed to daily rehearsals and performances of Gregorian chant – arguably the single strongest artistic influence on him. Duruflé entered the Paris Conservatory at age eighteen with classmate and future 20th century renowned composer Olivier Messiaen. In addition to studying organ and harmony, Duruflé studied composition under Paul Dukas (famous for composing Sorcerer’s Apprentice).

Duruflé’s student years in Paris occurred during some considerably important times in history: World War I had just ended; most of France’s famous Impressionists painters had recently died along with France’s greatest composer Claude Debussy; France’s more classical, traditional musical influence, Gabriel Fauré, retired as director of the Paris Conservatory just as Duruflé entered; and American jazz was becoming more en vogue in France. So times were changing, and clearly an era was coming to a close in France, politically and especially artistically. It was as if the cultural world of France was ushering in its new voice and its future, and Duruflé, whether he liked it or not, was a part of it.

Throughout his years at the Conservatory, Duruflé captured five first prizes in organ, harmony, accompaniment, counterpoint and fugue, and composition. He was named assistant organist to Tournemire at St. Clothilde and later assisted world renowned organist Louis Vierne at Notre Dame. After graduation, Duruflé’s performing career quickly progressed; he became a popular concert virtuoso organist and skilled improviser and was appointed titular organist at St. Etienne-du-Mont in Paris, a post he held for the rest of his life.

In 1936 Duruflé gave the world premiere performance and recording of Poulenc’s famed Organ Concerto. During the 1940s he was named Professor of Harmony at his alma mater, where he met another gifted organist and his future wife, Marie-Madeleine Chevalier.

For many years Duruflé and his wife toured widely, giving joint organ recitals. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, they were in great demand throughout much of the world. In May 1975, both were critically injured in a head-on auto collision in Southern France. Mme. Duruflé eventually recovered and was able to resume playing at church services; however, Maurice Duruflé was confined to his apartment across the street from St. Etienne-du-Mont where he was plagued by trying to perfect the few works he published until he died in

“

Strikingly, Duruflé closes the Requiem with unresolved harmony to give the impression that the music continues without end – just as his hope for the soul of the departed.

1986 (Mme. Duruflé died in October 1999).

Duruflé became a highly respected composer, but because he was his most severe critic and perhaps because of the careful nature of his personality, Duruflé published only fourteen works, including his Requiem – the work that brought him international prominence as a composer.

As a composer, Duruflé absorbed the compositional styles of his formative years combined with the influential styles of his French predecessors. His works had a wonderful marriage of the Impressionist school of Debussy and Ravel and the elegant Classical French school of Fauré. Most importantly, however, was the influence of the polyphonic Renaissance choral repertory and Gregorian chant that remained at the core of Duruflé’s artistic style.

Duruflé’s Requiem, which began as an unfinished organ suite, was dedicated to the memory of his father. The motif for the original organ suite, based on the Gregorian chants for the funeral mass, carried over to the Requiem using the melodies from ancient plainsongs and their associated modal scales. The chant melodies that permeate the entire work give the work a forward motion and fluidity that in turn

creates a meditative sense. Unlike the Requiems of Verdi, Berlioz, and Mozart, which depict the Final Judgment Day (“Dies irae”), Duruflé avoids the stern call for repentance and only uses two verses from the “Dies irae,” namely the “Pie Jesu Domine” – a gentle prayer for eternal rest.

Of the Requiem, Duruflé writes: This Requiem is not an ethereal work which sings of detachment from earthly worries.

It reflects... the agony of man faced with the mystery of his ultimate end.

It is often dramatic, or filled with resignation, or hope or terror…

It tends to translate human feelings before their terrifying, unexplainable or consoling destiny.

The work concludes with the ultimate answer of Faith to all questions, by the flight of the soul to paradise.

Strikingly, Duruflé closes the Requiem with unresolved harmony to give the impression that the music continues without end – just as his hope for the soul of the departed. 

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MASTERWORKS CONCERT II THE DREAM OF AMERICA

ABOUT THE PROGRAM By Allan R. Scott & Peter Boyer©

PETER BOYER

Ellis Island: The Dream of America Boyer’s Ellis Island – The Dream of America is scored for piccolo, three flutes, three oboes, English horn, three clarinets, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, three bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, suspended cymbal, snare drum, trap set, triangle, tambourine, tam-tam, glockenspiel, xylophone, marimba, vibraphone, chimes, whip, anvil, tom-toms, harp, piano, celeste, divided strings, four female actors, three male actors, and slide presentation.

Duration: 44 minutes

PA R A L L E L E V E N T S / 2 002 The Euro becomes legal tender in 12 European countries Queen Elizabeth II celebrates 50 years as monarch in Great Britain Pennsylvania miners are rescued after spending 77 hours trapped Olympic Winter Games open in Salt Lake City Comedian Milton Berle, historian Stephen Ambrose, columnist Ann Landers, Great Britain’s Queen Mother Elizabeth, and Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas die 22

Helena Symphony Season 64

Born: Providence, Rhode Island, 10 Februar y 1970 Living: Altadena, California

GRAMMY-NOMINATED AMERICAN COMPOSER Peter Boyer is one of the most frequently performed orchestral composers of his generation. His works have received nearly 500 public performances by more than 150 orchestras, and thousands of broadcasts by classical radio stations around the world. His works have been recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, and a recent PBS Great Performances broadcast by the Pacific Symphony Orchestra.

His works have been performed in some of the great concert halls around the world, including Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Hollywood Bowl, and the Tanglewood Music Center.

Boyer began composing at the age of 15 when he composed a large-scale Requiem in memory of his grandmother. In his student years he was named to the first All-USA College Academic Team comprised “of the best and brightest college students in the nation” by USA Today. In addition to his studies at Rhode Island College, The Hartt School at the University of Hartford, and the USC Thorton School of Music, Boyer studied composition with legendary composer John Corigliano and film composer Elmer Bernstein. He currently teaches composition at Claremont Graduate University, California.

As a composer, Boyer has orchestrated music to more than 30 feature films for composers including Michael Giacchino (Jurassic World, Inside Out, Star Trek, Up, Cars 2, Mission Impossible III), James Newton Howard (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, The Huntsman: Winter’s War, Red Sparrow), Thomas Newman (Finding Dory, Skyfall), James Horner (The Amazing Spider-Man), Alan Menken, Mark Isham, Aaron Zigman, and Heitor Pereira. Boyer also orchestrated the music for orchestra concerts Pixar in Concert and Titanic Live. He has arranged music for two Academy Awards telecasts, composed music for The History Channel, and music for A&E Networks. He has served as composer-in-residence for Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Pasadena Symphony, and was recently commissioned by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra and “The President’s Own” U.S. Marine Band.

For the past several years, Boyer’s Silver Fanfare has served as the opening work for the Hollywood Bowl seasons.

In 2010, he was chosen as the Boston Pops 125th anniversary commission for his work about JFK, RFK, and Ted Kennedy – The Dream Lives on: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers.

It is, however, his 2002 work capturing letters and photos of immigrants coming to America that remains his most powerful and most performed work.

Commissioned by The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts (Hartford, CT) to celebrate its inaugural season of its theatre, Boyer chose to celebrate the historic American immigrant experience and the American dream. As his most ambitious work to date, Ellis Island: The Dream of America incorporates elements of the theatre and multimedia with the concert hall, employing actors and projected historical images from the Ellis Island archives. The spoken texts for the work come from the Ellis Island Oral History Project, an historic collection of interviews with actual immigrants about their experiences emigrating to America. After extensive research in this archive, Boyer chose the stories of seven immigrants who came to America through Ellis Island from disparate nations between 1910-1940. He fashioned short monologues from actual words of these immigrants and wove them into an orchestral tapestry which frames and comments on their stories – by turns poignant, humorous, moving, and inspiring.

The work culminates with a reading of the famous Emma Lazarus poem that is on the Statue of Liberty – The New Colossus (“Give me your tired, your poor…”), providing an emotionally powerful ending to Boyer’s musical celebration of a nation of immigrants.

PETER BOYER’S EXPLANATION OF HIS WORK: Ellis Island: The Dream of America was born out of my fascination with the relationship between history and music. I am drawn to good stories – especially stories which come from the past but are relevant to the present – and as an orchestral composer, I’m intrigued by the potential of the orchestra as a storytelling medium. My fascination with

the story of the Titanic led me to choose that as the subject of an early orchestral work, and considering the plight of that vessel’s third-class passengers – humble European immigrants bound for America – led me to think more broadly about early 20th century American immigration. America is a nation of immigrants, and our immigrant history is a profound part of our American mythology.

In the history of American immigration, Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty are icons of immense significance. In the years of its operation, from 1892 to 1954, more than 12 million immigrants, over 70% of all immigrants to the U.S., passed through Ellis Island, the processing station which was “the gateway to America.” Today, more than 40% of the U.S. population, over 100 million Americans, can trace their roots to an ancestor who came through Ellis Island.

The stories of Ellis Island immigrants are in many ways our family stories: whether they are tales of our grandparents, greatgrandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, or friends, so many American can relate to these experiences as part of our collective history.

This is what makes Ellis Island stories so fascinating, and it’s what drew me to this material as the basis of a major composition.

All immigrants interviewed (over 2,000) for the Ellis Island Oral History Project were asked a set of questions: what life was like in their native country, reasons for coming to America, the nature of the voyage to port and the journey by ship, experiences arriving in New York Harbor and being processed at Ellis Island, their ultimate destination, and the experience adjusting to life in the United States. Real words of real people telling their own stories! I wanted the immigrants’ stories chosen for inclusion to be widely representative of both geography and historical period. Ultimately, I settled MASTERWORKS CONCERT III SPONSOR

Continued on page 25

the

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Helena Symphony Season 64

MASTERWORKS CONCERT II THE DREAM OF AMERICA

“

“The stories of Ellis Island are stories of journeys.

My personal journey with this project...has been both a long and rewarding one. I hope that listeners may find these stories as fascinating, illuminating, and inspiring as I do.” – Peter Boyer

BOYER

Continued from page 21

on a structure which includes seven stories, four female and three male, of immigrants who came through Ellis Island from seven countries, between 1910 and 1940.

The music in Ellis Island: The Dream of America is continuous, framing, commenting on, and amplifying the spoken words. Following a six-minute orchestral prologue, the work’s structure alternates the individual immigrants’ stories with orchestral interludes. I attempted to compose music which was appropriate for the nature and character of each of the stories. For Lazarus Salamon’s story of the military oppression in Hungary during his youth, a menacing snare drum army band is significant. But when he speaks of arriving in New York and seeing the Statue of Liberty, a quiet, hymn-like theme for the strings is heard – which recurs during other mentions of the Statue. Lillian Galletta’s story is that of a child’s reunion with her father – an emotional and heartwarming story which I attempted to reflect in a lyrical “reunion” theme. The story of Helena Rosenthal is one of escaping the Nazis to find freedom in America, though her entire family perished at Auschwitz. For this I chose a solo violin to play a lamenting theme with a kind of Jewish character. In stark contrast to this is the story of Manny Steen, an irrepressible Irish immigrant and delightful raconteur. His story cried out for a “Tin Pan Alley” treatment, markedly

different in style from the rest of the music.

Just as each immigrant is a strand in American tapestry, so I attempted to reflect their tales with various music styles.

Work on this piece began months before September 11, 2001, and it was completed in the months that followed. During my research trips to Ellis Island in the summer of 2001, many times I imagined what it was like to be an immigrant sailing into New York Harbor, and seeing the skyline of lower Manhattan. As the world mourned those devastating events, I often reflected on how that skyline had tragically changed. After September 11, the Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island Immigration Museum, which draw millions of visitors each year, were closed to the public for over three months; the Statue itself did not welcome visitors again until August 2004. The reopening of these American icons reminds us of the endurance of the freedoms which have drawn generations of immigrants from around the world.

The stories of Ellis Island are stories of journeys. My personal journey with this project, from its conception in 1999, to its premiere in 2002, its recording in 2003, its recording release in 2005, followed by its Grammy nomination, and its more than 100 performances to date, has been both a long and rewarding one. I hope that listeners may find these stories as fascinating, illuminating, and inspiring as I do.  www.helenasymphony.org

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Helena Symphony Season 64

MASTERWORKS CONCERT II THE DREAM OF AMERICA

I S A B E L P O M E R L E A U – Act o r Kessler Elementary School (Helena, MT) student Isabel Pomerleau is in the 5th grade. Born in China, Ms. Pomerleau emigrated to Montana when she was 15 months old.

Isabel is actively involved in the Grandstreet Theatre School and the Queen City Ballet. She is thankful to the Helena Symphony for giving her the wonderful opportunity to be a part of this production.

E R S U N Ö Z E R – Actor Making his debut performance with the Helena Symphony, Ersun Özer is well known throughout Helena and the surrounding region for his nationally acclaimed restaurant, the Mediterranean Grill located on Park Avenue. Modeling his restaurant after the coastal Turkish town where he grew up, Mr. Özer curates an authentic Mediterranean dining experience beginning with his award-winning wine list, followed by flavorful appetizers and entrées, and ending with exquisitely crafted desserts. Mr. Özer is a longtime supporter of the Helena Symphony.

K AT Y W R I G H T – Act o r Local talent Katy Wright is excited to return to the Helena Symphony!

She spent nearly a decade traveling around doing theatre, film, and commercials before settling in Helena, Montana. Currently, Katy is a public Montessori teacher at Smith elementary, and has undergraduate degrees in education, theater and Soviet Area Studies and a Master’s degree in Montessori education. Ms. Wright is currently working on education policy issues.

She loves to do shows with Grandstreet Theater, most recently as “Tanya” in Mamma Mia and “Becca” in Rabbit Hole, and the Helena Theatre Company. Ms. Wright is also a member of Cow Tipping Comedy and Improv Mining Company. When Katy is not on stage, she loves adventures with her love, Scott Pargot, and their six kids.

M AY O R W I L M O T C O L L I N S – Act o r Wilmot Collins was born, raised and partly educated in Liberia, West Africa. Wilmot, a former refugee, arrived in the United States in 1994 and now resides in Helena with his wife, who’s a registered nurse at VA Montana and also an Army Reservist. Their daughter is Active Duty Navy, and their son is a senior at the University of Montana, Missoula.

Presently, Wilmot is the mayor of Helena, Montana, a Child Protection Specialist with the Montana Department of Health and Human Services, an Adjunct Instructor at the University of Montana and Helena College, and a U. S. Navy Reservist. Prior to working with MT DPHHS, Wilmot worked at VA Montana for many years as an Administrative Officer for Facility Management and also as a Public Affairs Specialist and Minority Veterans Program Coordinator. Wilmot is very active on several boards: United Way of Lewis and Clark Area, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, and Montana Immigrant Justice Alliance.

Wilmot holds a Master’s degree in Human Resources Management.

www.helenasymphony.org

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Helena Symphony Season 64

MASTERWORKS CONCERT II THE DREAM OF AMERICA

C H R I S T I N E M AY N – Act o r Born in Bolzano, Italy, Christine Mayn makes her debut on the Helena Symphony stage. Ms. Mayn began her acting career early as a 14-year-old in countless local theater productions in Italy. After studying at the Performance Art School in Innsbruck, Austria, Christine has appeared in many Italian, Austrian and German television and film productions. She lives in Helena, Montana, with her husband, German/American actor Nick Wilder.

M I C H A E L “M O K E Y ” M C N E I L LY – Act o r Following his performance with the Helena Symphony of all the roles in Mendelssohn’s incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream at this past summer’s benefit concert at Montana Ting, Mokey McNeilly returns to the HSO stage! He has also appeared in the Barber of Seville and the Trial of Peter vs. the Wolf with the Helena Symphony and co-directed with Maestro Scott A Little Night Music.

Mr. McNeilly spent years in Hollywood as a Mighty Carson Art Players on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, as a member of Mark Taper Forum’s acting ensemble, and appeared in numerous radio, television and film productions, which include: MacGyver, Knots Landing, Family, The Tortellis, Quest, and more! On stage, Mokey appeared in the world premieres of the Death and Life of Jesse James, The Collected Works of Billy the Kid, Hollywood Tales, Guns, Leander Stillwell, Conjuring the Event, and Concrete Dreams.

Performing at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Mokey worked with diverse talents such as Alec Baldwin, Jack Lemon, Eddie Albert, and Alfre Woodard. Mr. McNeilly recently spent eight days with Robert Kennedy, Jr. and the Klahoose Tribe, on ascent down the Toba River in British Columbia for a P.B.S. National Geographic Special.

A fan favorite in productions at Grandstreet Theatre, Mokey has recently played “King Arthur” in Spamalot and “Scrooge” in A Christmas Carol, and he has directed Saturday Night Live in Helena for the last 20 years. Mr. McNeilly has also appeared in Helena-based productions of Man of la Mancha, The Producers, Driving Miss Daisy, Private Lives, Camelot, The Will Rogers Follies, and Shakespeare in Hollywood. Mr. McNeilly also recently toured with a production of Old Man and the River with artist and composer Philip Aaberg.

Mr. McNeilly’s theater troupe MIMEPROV combines improvisation, mime, juggling, dance, song, hilarity and fun, and they have toured the Northwest. He has also taught acting, directing, improvisation, and stage combat at Carroll College’s Theatre Department, and has been a fly-fishing guide for 17 years and has never lost a client!

A L E X A N D R A “ S A S H A” F E N D R I C K – Act o r Sasha Fendrick comes from Novosibirsk, the largest city in Western Siberia (2 million civilians) in the Russian Federation. There she earned her Master’s degree in Education and served as an educator, then a leader of a large school district. Later, she was invited to work for the British Petroleum headquarters in Moscow, all the while earning her second Master’s degree in Business Management. In 2008, Sasha moved to the United States of America and lived in Kansas City, MO. Sasha came to Helena with her husband, Daryl, seven years ago.

Sasha’s passion is her job for WorldMontana®. As an executive director, she runs the office and develops the Montana programs for international professional visitors and the youth groups. Citizen diplomacy through exchange programs is an important part of Sasha’s life. www.helenasymphony.org

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N O N-S E R I E S C O N C E R T 2

TANGO! SUNDAY, 4 NOVEMBER 2018 (NOTE DAY) 3:00 P.M. ST. PAUL’S UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

SATURDAY, 3 NOVEMBER 2018 7:30 P.M. ST. PAUL’S UNITED METHODIST CHURCH (this second performance may be added)

“Daring, versatile, charismatic, and passionate” – Critically acclaimed Violinist Robyn Bollinger makes her HSO debut featuring the sweet and sultry sounds of tango master Astor Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. This special chamber orchestra performance includes the colorful Danses Concertantes of Stravinsky and homage to Rossini with Benjamin Britten’s playful dances in Soirées Musicales.

Maestro Allan R. Scott

Robyn Bollinger

Ms. Bollinger’s appearance is made possible through generous support by:

The use of photographic and recording equipment is strictly prohibited. As a courtesy to the performers and fellow concert-goers, please turn off all cell phones prior to the beginning of the performance. Latecomers will not be seated until an appropriate time in the concert.

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Helena Symphony Season 64

ALLAN R. SCOTT – Conductor ROBYN BOLLINGER – Violin H elena S ymphony O rchestra

STRAVINSKY

Danses concertantes+

I. Marche - Introduction

II. Pas d’Action III. Thème varié: Lento —

Variation I: Allegretto —

Variation II: Scherzando —

Variation III: Andantino —

Variation IV: Coda — IV. Pas de Deux

V. Marche - Conclusion BRITTEN

Soirées Musicales (after Rossini)

I. March II. Canzonetta III. Tirolese IV. Bolero V. Tarantella –– INTERMISSION ––

PIAZZOLLA/ Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas (Four Seasons of Buenos Aires)+ Desyatnikov, arr. Ms. Bollinger, violin

I. Verano Porteña (Summer)

II. Otoño Porteño (Autumn)

III. Invierno Porteño (Winter)

IV. Primavera Porteña (Spring)

+ = Helena Symphony premiere performance

www.helenasymphony.org

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N O N-S E R I E S C O N C E R T 2 TANGO!

ABOUT THE PROGRAM By Allan R. Scott©

I G O R S T R AV I N S K Y

Danses Concertantes Danses Concertantes is scored for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, two horns, trumpet, trombone, timpani, six violins, four violas, three cellos, and two basses.

Duration: 20 minutes “Ever since it appeared in our vocabulary, the word ‘dissonance’ has carried with it an odor of sinfulness.

Let us light our lantern – dissonance is an element of transition...”

– Igor Stravinsky

PA R A L L E L E V E N T S / 1 942 Height of World War II Height of Holocaust Kodacolor film invented Films Yankee Doodle Dandy, Casablanca, and Disney’s Bambi premiere Copland’s ballet Rodeo Artist Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks Playwright Thorton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth Boxer Muhammad Ali, rock star Jerry Garcia, singer Aretha Franklin, and actor Harrison Ford are born 32

Born: Oranienbaum, Russia, 17 June 1882 D i e d : N e w Yo r k , U S A , 6 A p r i l 1 9 7 1

PARIS, 29 MAY 1913 – The audience at a ballet rioted, stormed the stage, and prevented the performance from finishing.

Igor Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) not only is remembered because of the large scandal it caused in Paris, but it single-handedly altered the course of music.

Because of it and the rest of the output from Stravinsky, he remains the most influential and important composer (albeit, not the most loved) of the 20th century.

Educated at St. Petersburg’s University in criminal law and legal philosophy, this son of a prominent opera singer carved out his own unique path in music. After privately studying with composer Rimsky-Korsakov, Stravinsky began his collaboration with ballet impresario, Serge Diaghilev. Between 1910 and 1913, Stravinsky composed three ballets that immediately ushered him to a pedestal of modern music. With these ballets (The Firebird, Petrushka, and The Rite of Spring) Stravinsky tried to capture his Russian roots by composing music that conveyed a never-before heard element of epic barbarism or primitivism.

The essence of this early compositional style of Stravinsky centered on rhythmic exploration. Using asymmetrical patterns of compound meters, the composer broke down traditional balanced phrasing. The pulse of the music was often unwavering, yet accented and articulated unevenly.

Just as The Rite of Spring in a sense predicted or at least foreshadowed the chaos of World War I, so did Stravinsky’s compositional style after the War reflect the time. The end of World War I moved Stravinsky’s music into a sparer, pareddown style. With works such as L’Historie du Soldat, Tango, Ragtime, Pulcinella, and his oratorio Oedipus Rex, Stravinsky’s neo-classical period first seemed like an element of parody, but after careful study, his second period of compositional style became a movement of “objectification,” like a Cubist collage with everyday objects painted by Picasso.

Stravinsky influenced more composers during the period between the two Wars than any other period during his lifetime, especially in the United States and France. He spent the last few years of his career experimenting with serialism (atonal music) inspired by composer Anton Webern.

It was during the end of Stravinsky’s neo-classical period that he composed his first work upon moving to Hollywood, CA. The Danses Concertantes proclaims its character in the very title. It is music that reflects traditional dance genres, composed in a concert style, or concertante style, meaning much solo work from the various corners of a small orchestra.

Commissioned by the Werner Jansson Orchestra of Los Angeles, the score to Danses Concertantes was explicitly intended to serve as an abstract concert piece, not a ballet work.

Because, however, the work was filled with references to and parodies of the ballet tradition, choreographer George Balanchine used the score for his ballet companies.

Continued on page 37

N O N-S E R I E S C O N C E R T 2 TANGO!

ABOUT THE PROGRAM By Allan R. Scott©

BENJAMIN BRITTEN

Born: Lowestoft, England, 22 November 1913 Died: Aldeburgh, England, 4 December 1976

Soirées musicales (after Rossini), Op. 9

IF THERE IS ONE QUALITY that sets the music of Benjamin Britten apart from his contemporaries, it is surely his unerring response to the theme of innocence. Born Edward Benjamin Britten, the English composer possessed the unique ability to capture an astonishing variety of moods through, as it were, the eyes of the innocent.

Even as a young musician Britten’s early efforts as a composer included ten piano sonatas, six string quartets, three suites for piano, an oratorio, and dozens of songs. In all, the active composer, conductor, and pianist produced six operas, concertos for violin and cello, orchestral works, including A Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, many songs, chamber music, incidental music for theatre and film, folk song arrangements, and many choral works.

Britten knew how to use music to the best effect, whether in the concert hall, on the stage, or in the church. His music possessed qualities of freshness and simplicity that made it easily accessible to the common listener, and he never lost the radiance that came from the imaginative understanding of youth, the loss of innocence, and the passage to adulthood.

At the height of his international career in the early 1800s, Rossini withdrew from the world of the theatre and for the remaining 38 years of his life he mostly wrote songs and piano works under the title Musical Evenings (Les Soirées musicales, 1830-1835) and Sins of Old Age. Many of the movements from these works were later orchestrated by other composers such as Ottorino Respighi and Britten.

In an attempt to begin a professional career as a composer, Britten worked for the Film Unit of the British General Post Office, composing and arranging music for short documentary films. For one of the films (The Tocher – where a young Scottish man attempts to win the hand of an upper-class lady), Britten composed an arrangement of a march from Rossini’s opera William Tell. He then included two movements from a collection of several random vocal duets and solo songs taken from Rossini melodies. Two more movements were added to the set, and Britten reworked it for full orchestra as “Suite for Five Movements from Rossini” with the title Soirées musicales.

Even though the orchestra size and harmonies are similar to Rossini’s, Britten’s musical wit permeates his Soirées musicales and they seem perfect for Italian salon concerts. Divided into five movements, Soirées musicales are all dance-inspired (and have been choreographed). The work opens with the March adapted from Rossini’s opera William Tell that is a 90-second cheeky overture-like for a comedy. Woodwind solos sing over a rippling accompaniment in the second and longest movement (a whole three minutes) in the work, Canzonetta, which is from a song titled “La Promessa” by Rossini from his own Les Soirées musicales. Adapted from Rossini’s La Pastorella delle Alpi, Britten sets the middle movement as a song from the Continued on page 37

Soirées Musicales is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, side drum, bass drum, cymbals, suspended cymbal, triangle, castanets, glockenspiel, xylophone, harp, and divided strings.

Duration: 10 minutes

PA R A L L E L E V E N T S / 193 7 King of England, George VI is crowned George Gershwin dies at the age of 39 Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana premieres Rodgers & Hart’s Babes in Arms premieres Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony premieres J.R.R. Tolkien publishes The Hobbit San Francisco Bay’s Golden Gate Bridge and New York City’s Lincoln Tunnel open Comedian Bill Cosby and U.S. General Colin Powell are born Composer Maurice Ravel dies First McDonald’s opens 33

N O N-S E R I E S C O N C E R T 2 TANGO!

ABOUT THE PROGRAM By Allan R. Scott©

ASTOR PIAZZOLL A

Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas (The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires)

arranged by Leonid Desyatnikov

The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires is orchestrated for solo violin and string orchestra.

Duration: 25 minutes

PA R A L L E L E V E N T S / 1 970 U.S. adopts 26th Amendment lowering the voting age to 18 Apollo 13’s failed attempt to the moon Ohio’s Kent State University riots spark national protests Earthquake in Peru kills 67,000 and earthquake in China kills 15,000 Sondheim’s musical Company debuts on Broadway The Beatles release Hey Jude album and “Let It Be” single Diana Ross & The Supremes perform last concert Films Catch-22, MASH, and Disney’s Aristocats premiere French leader Charles De Gaulle, rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix, and singer Janis Joplin die First Earth Day 34

Born: Mar del Plata, Argentina, 11 March 1921 Died: Buenos Aires, Argentina, 4 July 1992

WHILE ASTOR PIAZZOLLA WAS born to Italian immigrants in Argentina, he was raised in New York City where he studied composition and bandoneon (a concertina accordion used in tango) with bandleader and tango musician Carlos Gardel and Bela Wilda, a student of Rachmaninoff. When he was 16 years old, Piazzolla returned to South America where he quickly embraced his Argentinian homeland and began working as a musician playing the bandoneon. He quickly formed his own tango orchestra, Orchestra del 46, and also composed his first tango – the genre that he effectively reinvented and advanced in the 20th century more than any other musician.

In his 30s Piazzolla was writing for symphonic forces and traveled to Paris to study with legendary composition teacher Nadia Boulanger. He explained: Up to then I had composed symphonies, chamber music, string quartets; but Nadia Boulanger analyzed my music.

She said she could find nowhere any Piazzolla. She could find Ravel and Stravinsky, also Béla Bartók and Hindemith – but never Piazzolla. Nadia made me play a tango for her, and she said ‘You idiot! That is the real Piazzolla!’ So, I threw away all the other music and, in 1954, started working on my New Tango.

Also, while in Paris, Piazzolla heard American jazz baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan and his octet perform. By 1956 Piazzolla presented his Nuevo Tango – a hybrid tango that incorporates elements of jazz, classical, and popular music – in concert with his own quintet made up of piano, bandoneon, violin, electric guitar, and bass, with whom he successfully toured much of Brazil, Argentina, and the United States from the 1960s to the 1970s. “Traditional tango listeners hated me,” Piazzolla recalled. “People thought I was crazy, but the young people who had lost interest in the tango started listening to me.”

Piazzolla wrote the first of his Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas (“porteñas” refers to Buenos Aires) in 1965 with the Buenos Aires Summer movement (Verano Porteño). Piazzolla composed it in one night for a recording session that his ensemble was to record for an upcoming production of the play Melenita de oro (Golden Hair) by his friend Alberto Rodríguez Muñoz. Otoño Porteño (Buenos Aires Autumn) followed four years later, and then both Primavera Porteño (Buenos Aires Spring) and Invierno Porteño (Buenos Aires Winter) were written in 1970.

Originally it was not Piazzolla’s intention to write a suite that paralleled Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, as they were meant to demonstrate his Neuvo Tango and his Quintet, not an orchestra.

Occasionally the Quintet perform the four works together, but it was not until they were arranged for different ensembles that they began appearing under the title of Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas (The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires).

“

Piazzolla’s electrifying blend of fire and passion with the traditional tango coupled with modern harmonies and edgy textures produced over 750 works...

In the late 1990s, Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer collaborated with Russian composer Leopnid Desyatnikov to rethink and rearrange Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires as a work that directly relates them to Vivaldi’s masterpiece – meaning for solo violin and string orchestra. The use of bandoneon and electric guitar are removed, and the movements of Piazzolla’s southern hemisphere seasons are directly associated with the seasons occurring simultaneously in Vivaldi’s Italy. In January it is summer in Argentina, while it is winter in Italy.

So, the pieces are linked in that relative way: summer with winter, and fall with spring. The arrangement even quotes Vivaldi’s virtuosic

solo violin passages to make direct connections, hearing Vivaldi’s summer in Piazzolla’s winter for example.

Piazzolla’s electrifying blend of fire and passion with the traditional tango coupled with modern harmonies and edgy textures produced over 750 works – from intimate to theatrical, from violent to sensual, and from witty to melancholy. By the time he returned to Buenos Aires in 1985, Piazzolla was hailed as the musician who revitalized one of the quintessential genres of Latin music, and a true revolutionary figure for tango. While he died of a stroke in 1992, the popularity and excitement of his music is still growing. 

R O B Y N B O L L I N G E R – Vi ol i n Violinist Robyn Bollinger is recognized for her musical creativity, rich tones, and technical mastery. She came to national attention with her 2014 residency on PRI’s “Performance Today” and several appearances on NPR’s “From the Top.” A recent conservatory graduate, she is recipient of a prestigious 2016 Fellowship from the Leonore Annenberg Arts Fellowship Fund for her multimedia performance project, “CIACCONA: The Bass of Time,” which she began touring nationally in 2018.

Having made her Philadelphia Orchestra debut at age twelve, Ms. Bollinger has since performed with orchestras, in recital, and at festivals nationally and internationally, among them the Boston Pops, Japan’s Phoenix Hall, Oji Hall, and Tokyo National Arts Center, the Grand Tetons Music Festival Orchestra, and the music festivals of Aspen, Lake Champlain, Maui, Marlboro, and Rockport. Ms. Bollinger also performed in Boston with the Grammy-nominated string orchestra, A Far Cry, of which she is a member, as well as with Chameleon Arts Ensemble, the Lydian Quartet at Brandeis University, Mistral Music, and in concert for Boston’s Music For Food concert series.

Upcoming engagements this spring and in 2018-19 include “CIACCONA” tour performances, A Far Cry on tour at The Royal Conservatory in Toronto, Canada, concerts with the Musicians from Marlboro, and as soloist with the symphony orchestras of Knoxville, Helena, Charleston and California.

Works include concerti by Tchaikovsky, Paganini, and Piazzolla, as well as a world premiere by composer Katherine Balch, written for Robyn.

Robyn Bollinger is a former recipient of the Laurence Lesser Presidential Scholarship at the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, MA, where she received both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees with honors. Ms. Bollinger’s former teachers include Miriam Fried, Soovin Kim, and Paul Kantor. From July 2013 to May 2017, Ms. Bollinger played a 1778 Joseph and Antonio Gagliano violin on generous loan from the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Institute Instrument Bank. As of May 2017, she now performs on a beautiful 2017 violin made by the world-renowned luthier Samuel Zygmuntowicz, on loan from a private collection. www.helenasymphony.org

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Helena Symphony Season 64

N O N-S E R I E S C O N C E R T 2 TANGO!

S T R AV I N S K Y

Continued from page 32

The typical Stravinsky rhythmic gestures that lend so well to dance in Danses Concertantes involve passages in straightforward meters coupled with constantly changing rhythmic patterns. Throughout the work, Stravinsky undercuts the listener’s expectations of regularity by varying phrase lengths at will.

The five separate movements of the score are played without pause. The “Marche— Introduction” provides a mock military opening to the piece, though within the steady and insistent march rhythm, Stravinsky plays many little tricks on the ear. The second movement, “Pas d’action” surprises us with strong cadences (stops) in unexpected places.

The third section is a theme and variations that presents each variation a half-step higher in key than the one before. The fourth movement, “Pas de deux,” alternates music of contrasting characters, alternately stately and dignified with lively and fun loving. The “March—Conclusion” briefly restates materials from the opening movement to close one of Stravinsky’s wittiest and most charming works. 

BRITTEN

Continued from page 33

Tyrolean Alps (Tirolese), complete with yodeling and the stomping, clapping, thigh slapping of the Germany-speaking Italian territories. Spanish flavors peppered with castanets take over from the Italian tunes, with a two-minute Bolero before the suite concludes with adaptation of a Rossini chorus that turns into an upbeat and triumphant Tarantella (from the swirling Sicilian “tarantula” dance). 

N O N-S E R I E S C O N C E R T 3

CHRISTMAS IN THE CATHEDRAL MONDAY, 3 DECEMBER 2018 (NOTE DAY) 7:30 P.M. CATHEDRAL OF ST. HELENA

Usher in the holiday season with the Baroque masterpiece Vivaldi’s Gloria, Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate, and more holiday masterworks and Christmas favorites – all in a heart-warming concert that brings the spirit of Christmas to Helena.

Guest Artists’ appearances are made possible through generous support by:

CONNIE & RONALD BERGUM

A separate program, including texts and translations, will be provided at this concert. www.helenasymphony.org

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MASTERWORKS CONCERT III

PIANIST CLAIRE HUANGCI & BRAHMS’ FIRST SYMPHONY SATURDAY, 26 JANUARY 2019 7:30 P.M. HELENA CIVIC CENTER

Proclaimed to have “the fastest fingers in the world,” international superstar Pianist Claire Huangci returns to perform Saint-Saëns’ lush and witty Piano Concerto No. 2, which took only 17 days to compose. Brahms labored for 20 years over his First Symphony – a heartfelt and triumphant masterpiece that culminates the concert.

Maestro Allan R. Scott

Guest Artists’ appearances are made possible through generous support by:

Claire Huangci

The concert is sponsored by generous support from:

PAMELA BOMPART

The use of photographic and recording equipment is strictly prohibited. As a courtesy to the performers and fellow concert-goers, please turn off all cell phones prior to the beginning of the performance. Latecomers will not be seated until an appropriate time in the concert.

38

Helena Symphony Season 64

ALLAN R. SCOTT – Conductor CLAIRE HUANGCI – Piano H elena S ymphony O rchestra

SAINT-SAËNS Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22+

Ms. Huangci, piano

I. Andante sostenuto II. Allegro scherzando III. Presto –– INTERMISSION –– BRAHMS Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68

I. Un poco sostenuto – Allegro

II. Andante sostenuto

III. Un poco Allegretto e grazioso IV. Adagio – Allegro non troppo, ma con brio – Più Allegro

+ = Helena Symphony premiere performance

www.helenasymphony.org

39

MASTERWORKS CONCERT III PIANIST CL AIRE HUANGCI & BRAHMS’ FIRST SYMPHONY

ABOUT THE PROGRAM By Allan R. Scott©

Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22 Saint-Saëns’ Second Piano Concerto is scored for piano solo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, cymbals, and divided strings.

Duration: 24 minutes

PA R A L L E L E V E N T S / 1 8 68 U.S. President Andrew Johnson is impeached and later acquitted Southern states are readmitted to the United States U.S. Congress passes 14th Amendment to grant citizenship to freed slaves Ulysses S. Grant is elected 18th U.S. President Cuba revolts against Spanish rule Wagner’s opera Die Meistersinger premieres Brahms’ German Requiem premieres Monet paints The River Louisa May Alcott writes Little Women U.S. President James Buchanan and composer Gioacchino Rossini die First Memorial Day Type writer and tape measure are patented 40

C A M I L L E S A I N T-S A Ë N S

Born: Paris, France, 9 October 1835 Died: Algiers, Algeria, 16 December 1921

CRAFTSMANSHIP, FLUENCY, AND RESTRAINT best describe Camille Saint-Saëns’ approach to composition.

This creed would not only serve as a true rejection of the overly exuberant and self-expressive era dominated by the operas of Richard Wagner, but it would begin the very musical revolution that was passed down to Fauré, Debussy, and Ravel. Above all else, Saint-Saëns stood for the classical ideals of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven – ideals that seemed to adapt to the French culture yet took on its own uniquely French sound.

Even though he was born to a family of peasant origins and raised only by his mother, Saint-Saëns began composing at the age of six, and was still composing at the age of 86 (performing piano until ten days before he died). Often compared to the genius of Mozart, Saint-Saëns began picking out tunes on the piano at age two and could read music at age three. Saint-Saëns not only excelled musically, but was an extremely well-rounded individual who wrote poetry, was well-versed in many languages, sciences, and history, and spoke out politically during the Franco-Prussian War. As a highly skilled organist and pianist, he sought to gain notice as a composer by winning the coveted Grand Prix de Rome. Saint-Saëns failed to win twice; however, at the age of twenty-two, he was appointed organist of La Madeline – the most coveted post in France.

In addition to serving at the cathedral of La Madeline, he toured as a pianist throughout Europe and America; briefly taught at the Paris Conservatory; and championed the cause of new French music and rediscovery of Bach, Handel, and Mozart in France. His life spanned the heyday of the Romantic period to the birth of modernism and World War I; from Liszt and Wagner to the new era of Debussy and Stravinsky. Saint-Saëns’ compositional output includes over 300 works, including six symphonies (though he only published three), ballets, incidental music, sacred and secular choral music, chamber music, works for solo piano and organ, thirteen operas, tone poems (including Carnival of the Animals and Danse macabre), three violin concertos, five piano concertos, and two cello concertos.

As a child prodigy, Saint-Saëns made his debut piano recital at age ten, and as an encore he allowed the audience to choose any of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas for him to play from memory. His career as a soloist introduced all five of Beethoven’s piano concertos to the skeptical French audience of the mid-1800s. So, it is no coincidence that SaintSaëns composed exactly five piano concertos of his own.

Saint-Saëns was enjoying a successful career in his 30s

and had the admiration of his students and other legendary composers, including Berlioz, Gounod, Wagner, and especially Franz Liszt. Piano soloist Anton Rubenstein planned on a performance tour in Paris in 1868 and suggested to Saint-Saëns that they collaborate, with Rubenstein conducting and Saint-Saëns at the piano. There was a threeweek wait for the concert hall, so Saint-Saëns decided to compose a new work for him to perform. His Piano Concerto No. 2 remains one of his most popular amongst audiences and pianists today.

While Saint-Saëns seemed a bit unhappy with the premiere performance of the Concerto, it was widely successful. It was dedicated to Liszt who also attended the debut of the work. In many ways it is a tribute to Liszt, and shows Saint-Saëns’

admiration for the senior composer. As with Liszt’s own concertos, Saint-Saëns structures his Second Piano Concerto unconventionally.

The work opens with the soloist diving right into the cadenza (a virtuosic solo section without the orchestra) and with minimal interjections by the orchestra. It recalls a Bach-like fantasia coupled with Beethoven elements until the orchestra offers a dramatic statement. Moreover, there is no traditional slow movement; rather, the second movement is quick, delightful, and witty. Outdoing the energy of the middle movement, the finale is a glittering, rapid drive to an exhilarating close. If nothing else, Saint-Saëns’ Second Piano Concerto reflects a good-spirited, successful, well-admired musician who is enjoying his career and life. 

C L A I R E H U A N G C I – Pi an o Returning to the Helena Symphony stage, internationally-renowned American Pianist, Claire Huangci, began her international career at the age of 9, billed a prodigy and playing in a concert for President Bill Clinton at the age of 10. Since then, Ms. Huangci has been awarded many grants, performed numerous concerts and won several prizes, long outgrowing the image of a prodigy and coming into artistic maturity.

With her technical brilliance, deep musical expression, playful virtuosity and her keen sensibility, she captures her audiences all over the world.

At 21 years old she won Second Prize at the 2011 International ARD Competition as its youngest participant, First Prize at the 2009 International Chopin Competition in Darmstadt, Germany, and the First and Special Prize at the 2010 International Chopin Competition in Miami, U.S. Ms. Huangci is regarded as one of the premiere Chopin interpreters of her generation. She has acquired a diverse repertoire and has become one of the most sought-after pianists of her generation. She regularly proves her diversity and interpretational skills performing with wellknown orchestras such as the Essen Philharmonic, Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Sir Roger Norrington, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, China Philharmonic Orchestra, German Radio Philharmonic Saarbrucken, Indianapolis Symphony, Santa Fe Symphony, Moscow Radio Symphony, and the Istanbul State Symphony. Ms. Huangci has performed in famous international venues such as Carnegie Hall, Tonhalle Zurich, Konzerthaus Berlin, Gasteig Munich, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Salle Cortot Paris, Oji Hall Tokyo, and Symphony Hall in Osaka. Additionally, she is a warmly welcomed guest at festivals such as the Kissinger Sommer, Verbier Festival, Lodz Rubinstein Festival, Menuhin Festival Gstaad as well as Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad, Mozartfest Würzburg and the Schwetzinger Festspiele.

In 2013, her solo debut recording of works by Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev was released by Berlin Classics. After winning a Young Artists Competition at the age of 12 (with Maestro Scott as president of the jury), Ms. Huangci studied with celebrated pianists Elanor Sokoloff and Gary Graffman at the acclaimed Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and with Arie Vardi at the Musikhochschule Hannover. In 2017, Claire released a celebrated recording of Chopin’s Nocturnes and her second solo album on the Berlin Classics label in 2015, which was awarded the German Record Critics’ Award and was selected as “Editor’s Choice” by Gramophone magazine.

Ms. Huangci appears courtesy of Karsten Witt Musik Management (Berlin, Germany). www.helenasymphony.org

41

MASTERWORKS CONCERT III PIANIST CL AIRE HUANGCI & BRAHMS’ FIRST SYMPHONY

ABOUT THE PROGRAM By Allan R. Scott©

Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68 Brahms’ First Symphony is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, and divided strings.

Duration: 43 minutes

PA R A L L E L E V E N T S / 1 8 76 Colorado becomes 38th U.S. State Thomas Edison patents the mimeograph Rutherford B. Hayes is narrowly elected 19th U.S. President by one electoral vote even though he lost the popular vote Alexander Graham Bell makes first telephone call Wagner’s Ring Cycle premieres Tchaikovsky completes ballet Swan Lake Monet paints Dans La Prairie and La Repos Dans le Jardin Henrik Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt premieres Johns Hopkins University is founded Cellist Pablo Casals is born National League of Professional Baseball Clubs is founded Al Spalding opens first sporting good shop 42

JOHANNES BRAHMS

Born: Hamburg, Germany, 7 May 1833 Died: Vienna, Austria, 3 April 1897

ABOUT THE COMPOSER After Beethoven left the world nine great symphonies, very few composers attempted to rise to the challenge of writing a symphony. As a result, most composers produced works that were less structured than a symphony and more programmatic such as operas or tone poems. In the immediate post-Beethoven world, the majority of composers followed the leadership of opera composer Richard Wagner, who led the movement of a new German school of composing. More exotic instruments such as the tuba and English horn were used in the orchestra, the number of strings tripled, and the overall sound took on larger-than-life images and intensities.

Composers throughout the world followed this new movement, what is referred to today as the Romantic Era (1820-1900). Started by Beethoven, the Romantic Period is principally focused on the will, dreams, hopes, disappointments, fears, or any emotion or desire of the writer.

The art and the artist are inseparable, where in the previous eras of Mozart and Haydn (Classical) or Bach and Handel (Baroque), artistic output was simply another occupation not prone to personal passions or influences.

While very much a German composer, Johannes Brahms rejected this new way of thinking. The son of a mediocre musician, Brahms embraced the more structured forms of the Classical era, including Beethoven who was the bridge between the Classical and Romantic periods. Above all else, Brahms hated wearing his heart on his sleeve and tried to avoid using music as a means to paint pictures or tell stories. He preferred more intangible works. Even Brahms’ funeral mass, German Requiem (his first major success), avoided the liturgical text that traditionally employed the words from the funeral mass.

Instead, Brahms used the texts from the more poetic Beatitudes and suggested that death is more concerned about consoling the living than the one who died (“Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.”)

Yet in a sense Brahms was more of the Romantic Era than most of those who branded him an anti-Romanticist. In nearly every work Brahms wrote, he composed from personal experience, especially heartache. Romantic artists seemed to not only embody their works, they are plagued with an “inner demon,” as Beethoven called it, which aided their plight to express themselves artistically.

Beethoven lost his hearing, Tchaikovsky struggled as a homosexual with serious bouts of depression, and Robert Schumann went insane. Looking at Brahms’ life and music, it is clear he suffered from a more common and perhaps more painful demon – loneliness. Ironically and tragically,

Brahms loved the wife of one of his greatest supporters and closest friends – Robert Schumann. Clara Schumann happened to be one of the world’s finest pianists and the first major woman pianist.

After Robert Schumann’s death in 1856, Brahms and Clara decided to go their separate ways, but their friendship remained the deepest and only emotional anchor Brahms ever knew. Artistically, the heartache and anguish sowed the seeds of several major compositions, many of which took years to complete.

As a craftsman, Brahms was a perfectionist and he sought to refine and finish every moment of music to absolute perfection. He offered advice to a fellow musician saying, “Go over it and over it again and again until there is not a bar you could improve on….Whether it is beautiful also is an entirely different matter, but perfect it must be.” Unlike Beethoven, Brahms really did not have a steady patter of

evolution and progress in his works. Rather, Brahms seemed complete as an artist from the start. Robert Schumann observed in a famous article that Brahms was one of “music’s mysteries in arriving fully armed, like Athena from the head of Zeus.”

As a result, Brahms became the heirapparent to Beethoven even before Brahms completed his first of only four symphonies.

Brahms surpassed his contemporaries in his ability to control the intertwining melodic lines coupled with richly expressive harmonies. Yet all of this was framed in the methodical and structured styles of his immediate predecessors, like Beethoven, Mozart, and Haydn. Brahms’ imaginative skill to phrase a musical line with the seemingly perfect orchestral timbres and colors is unprecedented, even today.

Brahms’ published works include the Variations on a Theme of Haydn, the Academic Festival Overture, the Tragic Continued on page 44

A NIGHT IN ITALY

B E N E F I T

C O N C E R T

SATURDAY, 29 JUNE 2019 $150 Per Person / Limited Seating - Reserve Your Place!

This event is unlike any other and seating is limited to 500 people, so get your name on the reserved list now! Exquisite food, picturesque views from the estate of acclaimed European actors Nick Wilder and Christine Mayn, and the music-making of the Helena Symphony Orchestra & Chorale. This is an elegant, formal, red-carpet affair. Look for details throughout the year!

www.helenasymphony.org

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MASTERWORKS CONCERT III PIANIST CL AIRE HUANGCI & BRAHMS’ FIRST SYMPHONY

BRAHMS

Continued from page 43

Overture, sonatas for piano, violin, cello and clarinet, piano trios, quartets and a quintet, string quartets, many works for solo piano, organ preludes, many songs, vocal quartets and duets (Liebeslieder Waltzes, Zigeunerlieder), choral works (German Requiem, Alto Rhapsody, Nanie, Gesang der Parzen, Schicksalslied), and four perfect symphonies.

ABOUT THE WORK The precocious prodigy Mozart composed his first symphony at the age of nine; Mendelssohn was 15; Schubert was 16; Haydn was 25; Beethoven was 29; and Schumann reached the ripe old age of 31 before composing his first symphony. Brahms unveiled his first symphony to the public at the age of 43; however, unlike the previous composers mentioned, Brahms’ first attempt immediately entered the mainstream of the symphonic repertoire.

Admiration is a powerful thing. Brahms was so awed by the works of Beethoven that Brahms was burdened by the legacy of Beethoven’s symphonies, saying “I shall never compose a symphony. You have no idea how it feels to be dogged by Beethoven’s footsteps; to hear behind you the tramp of a giant like Beethoven.” It did not help Brahms that twenty years earlier his close friend and composer Robert Schumann published an article suggesting Brahms would be the heir to Beethoven, saying that “if Brahms directs his magic wand where the massed power in chorus and orchestra might lend him their strength, we can look forward to even more wondrous glimpses into the secret world of the spirits.” At the time of Schumann’s proclamation, Brahms had yet to write anything for orchestra.

The long wait for Brahms’ First Symphony is generally explained by the intimidation at the prospect of composing a symphony worthy of the Beethovenian ideal, in addition to Brahms’ meticulous and methodical approach to composing. After his German Requiem (1868) and then his Variations on a Theme of Haydn (1873) Brahms’ confidence grew as well as his mastery of writing for orchestra. Finally, 23 44

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years after Schumann’s article and almost 20 years after Brahms began to sketch out his first symphony, on 4 November 1876, Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68 premiered at the court of Karlsruhe.

Brahms’ friend and critic, Eduard Hanslick, captured the premiere performance of the First Symphony: “Seldom, if ever, has the entire musical world awaited a composer’s first symphony with such tense anticipation…

The new symphony is so earnest and complex, so utterly unconcerned with common effects, that it hardly lends itself to quick understanding…but even the layman will immediately recognize it as one of the most distinctive and magnificent works of symphonic literature.” In many ways the description was subtly suggesting that Brahms’ First Symphony was not concerned with pleasing the public. Brahms furthered this by stating, “My symphony is long and not exactly lovable.”

In many ways this is Brahms’ most personal work and conforms to the Romantic creeds established by Beethoven and epitomized by Mahler, where the composer writes to say what he feels, thinks, desires, etc. – art for art’s sake – the composer and the art are inseparable. Brahms, who almost seemed to reject Romantic ideals and the charge led by opera composer Richard Wagner, could not resist the influence of the pressure from, insecurity about, and admiration for Beethoven that haunted his writings in his First Symphony.

With elevated emotions and responses to the world above abstract ideas, Brahms opens the First Symphony with a slow introduction, a tormented cry in the strings accompanied by the relentless undercurrent of the timpani.

This tense, darkly shifting musical landscape is riveting in its intensity which carries through the rest of the opening movement that pulses with driving rhythms and dense harmonies and a sense of restlessness, urgency, and defiance.

After the stormy and passionate opening movement, the prevailing mood of the second movement is one of heart-easing calm, solace, and a gentle relief from the

highly focused dark power of the first. The strings and winds carry on an extended dialogue before a tempestuous minor key interlude recalls the opening movement.

Without a single moment of muscle-flexing, the second movement eventually becomes a serene vision of peace, using a simple motif introduced by a solo violin and echoed in turn by the horn and various winds.

The third movement has a light, lilting melody that is traded playfully between the strings and the woodwinds. Not quite the typical Beethoven scherzo, Brahms creates more of a songlike intermezzo that is cheerful, gentle, and almost restrained with a touch of melancholy that enters most of Brahms’ works, recalling his loneliness and unreciprocated love for Clara Schumann (his best friend’s wife). Even the contrasting middle section, typical of the third movement in a symphony, is conspicuously more animated, but short-lived.

Now that the first three movements have played out their parts in the symphonic drama, the stage is set for the resolution in the form of a massive finale which announces its unmistakable character immediately.

The mood of deep expectancy comes to a head in the suspended introduction when

a peak of excitement and tension has been reached. There is an outburst of timpani and a noble, calming gesture from the horns, pushing back the clouds to make way for a brass chorale which seems to serve almost as a benediction to the whole work. The strings enter at last with the majestic theme and the movement progressively becomes more exultant and culminates in a blazing conclusion. The final movement features a theme that closely resembles Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, about which Brahms snapped that “any ass could see that!” Before giving way to the homage of Beethoven in the final moments of the First Symphony, Brahms makes his mark through the four movements in a way that suggests his own anticipation to see how this burden from and admiration for Beethoven’s legacy would measure up.

One of the first and greatest conductors Hans von Bülow hailed Brahms’ First Symphony as “Beethoven’s Tenth Symphony,” giving credence to Brahms’ reputation and skill.

Perhaps the most remarkable first symphony ever composed, Brahms’ first effort immediately secured his own legacy and he still had three more to go!

Yes, admiration is a powerful thing, but perfection is a rarity. 

Ford F-150

Toyota Avalon

Ford  Lincoln  Toyota  Honda www.helenasymphony.org

45

MASTERWORKS CONCERT IV

BACH’S MASS IN B MINOR SUNDAY, 24 FEBRUARY 2019 (NOTE DAY) 7:30 P.M. CATHEDRAL OF ST. HELENA

MONDAY, 25 FEBRUARY 2019 (NOTE DAY) 7:30 P.M. CATHEDRAL OF ST. HELENA

J.S. Bach composed one of the supreme achievements in all of music with his epic Mass in B minor! For well over two centuries, it remains a spiritual and dramatic summit of human creativity. Experience Bach’s tour de force in the ethereal setting of the Cathedral along with nationally-acclaimed soloists, the Helena Symphony Chorale, and members of the HSO.

Maestro Allan R. Scott

Rachel E. Copeland

Jonathan Weyant

Alison Taylor Cheeseman

Peter Kendall Clark

Guest Artists’ appearances are made possible through generous support by:

The use of photographic and recording equipment is strictly prohibited. As a courtesy to the performers and fellow concert-goers, please turn off all cell phones prior to the beginning of the performance. Latecomers will not be seated until an appropriate time in the concert.

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Helena Symphony Season 64

ALLAN R. SCOTT – Conductor RACHEL E. COPELAND – Soprano ALISON TAYLOR CHEESEMAN – Mezzo Soprano JONATHAN WEYANT – Tenor PETER KENDALL CLARK – Baritone H elena S ymphony O rchestra & C horale

J.S. BACH Mass in B minor, BWV 232+ MISSA Kyrie 1. Kyrie eleison 2. Christe eleison 3. Kyrie eleison Gloria 4. Gloria in excelsis 5. Et in terra pax 6. Laudamus te 7. Gratias agimus tibi 8. Domine Deus 9. Qui tollis peccata mundi 10. Qui sedes ad dextram Patris 11. Quoniam tu solus sanctus 12. Cum Sancto Spiritu –– INTERMISSION ––

SYMBOLUM NICENUM 1. Credo in unum Deum 2. Patrem omnipotentem 3. Et in unum Dominum 4. Et incarnatus est 5. Crucifixus 6. Et resurrexit 7. Et in Spiritum sanctum Dominum 8. Confiteor 9. Et exspecto

SANCTUS OSANNA BENEDICTUS OSANNA

AGNUS DEI DONA NOBIS PACEM

+ = Helena Symphony premiere performance

www.helenasymphony.org

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MASTERWORKS CONCERT IV BACH’S MASS IN B MINOR

ABOUT THE PROGRAM By Allan R. Scott©

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH

Mass in B minor, BWV 232 Bach’s Mass in B minor is scored for two flutes, three oboes, two oboe d’amores, two bassoons, horn, three trumpets, timpani, divided strings, continuo (played by cello, bass, and organ), solos for two sopranos, alto, tenor, and bass, and mixed chorus.

Duration: 126 minutes The first performance of Bach’s Mass in B minor was given in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, by the Bach Choir of Bethlehem – still one of the most active ensembles dedicated to performing the works of Bach.

PA R A L L E L E V E N T S / 1 749 Colony of Georgia legalizes slavery King George commissions Handel to compose Music for Royal Fireworks Mathematician Emilie du Chatelet dies German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, American publisher Isaiah Thomas, and discoverer of vaccinations Edward Jenner are born 48

Helena Symphony Season 64

Born: Eisenach, Germany, 21 March 1685 Died: Leipzig, Germany, 28 July 1750

ABOUT THE COMPOSER The Bach family was primarily comprised of musicians since the early 1500’s, but they were only locally known to the people in Northern German territories until Johann Sebastian. The youngest child of his parents, Johann Sebastian Bach, the organist, harpsichordist, composer, teacher, and stern Lutheran, is today synonymous with music as much or more than any other name in history. Bach, the towering figure of the Baroque era, who summed up the musical knowledge and techniques that preceded him and developed them further, represented his time more than any other – he was the Baroque period’s (16001750) most valid embodiment.

Largely self-taught, Bach spent his entire career as an organist and choirmaster in some of the most prestigious churches, courts, and schools in all of the German territories.

He produced his earliest compositions while in his late teens, writing most of his works out of necessity for his organist positions. As a pious Lutheran, Bach viewed music as part of his religious duty rather than as an art form.

Bach’s surviving compositional output includes five complete cycles of cantatas for the church year (almost 300), as well as two massive Passions (St. John Passion and St. Matthew Passion), numerous works for the keyboard, including the Art of Fugue, instrumental works (such as his Brandenburg Concertos), and his monumental Mass in B minor. Although he introduced no new forms of music, Bach enriched the prevailing German style with the perfection of counterpoint, a control of harmonic organization, and the adaptation of rhythms and textures from abroad, particularly Italy and France.

While Bach’s fame as an organist was great during his lifetime, he was not particularly well-known as a composer until nearly a century after his death. Bach, the father of twenty children between two marriages (only ten of the children survived infancy), composed over a thousand works before he became increasingly blind and died at the age of sixty-five (ironically, his eyesight returned ten days before his death). Today, Bach is considered one of the greatest composers in all of Western civilization, and scholars fittingly date the end of the Baroque era with the year of Bach’s death.

ABOUT THE WORK There are few works of music, if any, that summarize an entire composer’s career. Bach’s Mass in B minor not only is a compendium of his life as a composer, but it is undoubtedly a pillar in all of music and indeed in all of art. It is fitting that Bach’s Mass serves as the culmination of his entire career as it is a combination and compilation of his music spread over two decades.

The Sanctus, the first section of the Mass in B minor Bach composed, was written for a Christmas service in 1724, nearly twenty-five years before Bach would assemble the entire work into the Mass. The next music that would become part of the Mass came in 1733 when Bach offered the Kyrie and the Gloria to Friedrich Augustus II, the new Elector of Saxony, as a gift in order to help win him the post as court composer (for which Bach was granted a title of the appointment but nothing more).

The rest of the music of the Mass is borrowed or adapted from several other works Bach composed for other occasions.

Even though the Lutheran service only uses the Kyrie and the Gloria (only the Catholic service uses all six parts: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei), Bach never intended the Mass to ever be used to accompany an actual mass, Lutheran or Catholic.

Remarkably, the opening four bars of the Mass in B minor are more than an introduction. As massive as they are brief, the opening four bars immediately open the portals to something grander than anything heard in music ever before. The magnificent opening moments introduce an orchestral introduction and chorus of extraordinary Continued on page 50

R A C H E L E . C O P E L A N D – Sopran o Lyric Coloratura Rachel E. Copeland continues to receive acclaim as a thriving young artist combining her crystalline voice with her compelling and energetic stage presence. Ms. Copeland recently debuted at Avery Fisher Hall as the soprano soloist in Mozart’s Coronation Mass to rave reviews as well as performances with the Brussels Chamber Orchestra in a concert of arias and duets with the highly acclaimed 2012 Operalia winner, Anthony Roth Costanzo.

Other career highlights include the “Contessa” in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro with Cleveland Opera Theater, “Frasquita” and “Micaela” in Bizet’s Carmen with San Diego, Indianapolis and North Carolina Operas, the title role of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor with New Jersey Operas and subsequent covering of the role with Cleveland Opera, and “Queen of the Night” in Mozart’s The Magic Flute with Apollo’s Fire, The Cleveland Baroque Orchestra.

Dr. Copeland is currently on the faculty of Penn State University and was formerly the Associate Director of the East Carolina University School of Music. She is active in teaching nationwide master classes and is on the faculty of the Cornish American Song Institute in Falmouth, England. Dr. Copeland serves as the General Manager for the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival and Operations Manager for Oberlin in Italy summer festivals.

Ms. Copeland appears courtesy of Wade Artist Management (New York, NY).

A L I S O N TAY L O R C H E E S E M A N – Mez zo So p r a no Mezzo-soprano Alison Taylor Cheeseman recently “mined comic gold” (New York Classical Review) performing the dual role of dieties “Diana” and “Jove” disguised as Diana in Cavalli’s rowdy Arcadian opera La Calisto.

In 2016 she was featured in the title roles of both Rossini’s La cenerentola (Bronx Opera) and Massenet’s Cendrillon (Utopia Opera) and apprenticed with Bel Canto at Caramoor. Other notable roles include “Der Komponist” in Strauß’s Ariadne auf Naxos, “Nerone” in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, the premiere of a set of songs for mezzo and guitar by Gregory Mertl, and workshop performances of a new opera about the pop duo Milli Vanilli.

Ms. Cheeseman has performed with opera, theater, orchestral and dance organizations including Bronx Opera, Utopia Opera, Pocket Opera of New York, dell’Arte Opera Ensemble, Taksu Theatre Company, Yard Arts! Opera, Liederkranz Opera Theatre, Amato Opera, Human Company, the New York State Early Music Association, Big Apple Baroque, and the Christopher Caines Dance Company.

Ms. Cheeseman appears courtesy of Wade Artist Management (New York, NY). www.helenasymphony.org

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MASTERWORKS CONCERT IV BACH’S MASS IN B MINOR

“

(Bach’s Mass in B Minor) represents an exquisite balance between what comes from the past and what is most modern, coupled with a career summation of musical technique and spiritual experience.

BACH

Continued from page 49

breadth and force. The opening chorus, followed by a duet for soloists and then another chorus, employs just three different words, yet spanning nearly twenty minutes of music. Symbolically the Kyrie (the only part of the Mass that uses the Greek instead of Latin) is more than a primal plea for mercy; it is an idea of infinite dimensions where Christianity rests much of its faith.

Bach’s Gloria has its own symmetry and it starts with Bach’s most exuberant moments in the entire work. A more lyrical, spacious middle section, Et in terra pax (and peace on earth), is interspersed until the jubilant sounds of the opening return, bringing the opening two lines of the Gloria to a balanced close.

Bach’s design goes a step further in the Gloria, making the Domine Deus movement form the symmetrical center of the Gloria. The Domine Deus is surrounded by a pair of choruses, then a pair of movements for solo voices, and at the outermost point, by the choruses that begin and end the Gloria. Bach’s symmetrical ingenuity complements the theological importance of the text: Qui tollis (Christ, who takes away the sins of the world) is placed in the center of the Gloria’s movements.

Like the Missa (the Kyrie and the Gloria), the Symbolum Nicenum (Credo) has its own cohesive structure and is perhaps Bach’s finest culmination of nearly every style of music from not only of Bach’s lifetime but music from the previous three hundred years of the Renaissance. The superbly unified structure of the Symbolum Nicenum cannot be understood purely as a work of art. The formal relationships also illustrate the subject matter. The profession of belief in God the Creator, in the first movement, is musically 50

Helena Symphony Season 64

similar to the acknowledgment of baptism as the second birth and the hope of eternal glory in Confiteor – a sturdy, energized expression of faith. The focus however, is the belief in Christ, who was made flesh, was crucified, and rose again and where Bach composes his two most dramatic movements (Crucifixus and Et resurrexit) in the entire Mass. The Crucifixus has a melancholy distance to it as it laments the crucifixion of Christ, and Bach even goes to great length to ensure the chorus becomes barely audible in order for the proclamation of the resurrection to be overwhelming to our senses and intellect, surely some of Bach’s best orchestral and choral writing of his entire career.

From the Sanctus to the end of the Mass Bach offers a series of large chorus movements alternating with solo arias in minor keys. The Sanctus is composed for six-part chorus to suggest the six-winged seraphim and the Osanna expands the sound to eight voices (two four-part choruses). Even though composed much earlier than anything else in the Mass, the Sanctus fits perfectly into its place. In its two consecutive sections, the majestic processional of the opening leads directly into the faster fugue of the “Pleni sunt coeli,” that resembles a French overture.

The Lutheran communion service, for which Bach originally composed the Sanctus, did not include the Osanna and Benedictus as part of the Sanctus, so when Bach assembled the Mass, he was obliged to provide additional music for these texts as well as the Agnus Dei. As he did with two movements in the Gloria and four movements in the Credo, Bach used previously written

material for the Osanna, Benedictus, and the Agnus Dei, though all these movements are substantially revised from their original sources. The celebratory Osanna for double chorus is heard after both the Sanctus and the Benedictus. Both times it is followed by seemingly appropriate restrained texts, an effective contrast using only a few performers in the slow tenor aria (Benedictus) and the alto aria (Agnus Dei). The final Dona nobis pacem uses the music from the Gratias agimus tibi taken from the Gloria heard earlier in the Mass. With no final “Amen,” the Dona nobis pacem creates a slow, majestic build to the entire work while asking for world peace.

What is most remarkable about the overall

shape of the Mass in B minor is the fact that Bach managed to shape a coherent sequence of twenty-seven movements from diverse material – material that spanned Bach’s entire career. It represents an exquisite balance between what comes from the past and what is most modern, coupled with a career summation of musical technique and spiritual experience. Bach’s Mass goes well beyond the scope or use of a sacred ritual; rather it becomes an attempt to explore humankind’s relationship with the mysteries of something greater. Whatever one’s religious beliefs or lack thereof, Bach’s crowning achievement is nothing short of a monumental testament to the height of human creativity, intellect, and spirituality. 

J O N AT H A N W E YA N T – Te n or Nationally acclaimed tenor Jonathan Weyant won praise from Chicago on the Aisle for delivering “his high flying music with delicious pathos and splendid technique” as the “dying swan” in Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Chicago Sinfonietta at the Chicago Symphony Center. Mr. Weyant recently made his solo debut with Chicago Opera Theater in their production of Frank Martin’s Le Vin Herbé (The Love Potion) and was seen in Purcell’s The Fairy Queen. He recently sang “the Evangelist” in Bob Chilcott’s St. John Passion and debuted his first Bach St. John Passion as the tenor soloist. A graduate of Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts and Chicago Operais continuing his studies with Mark Crayton.

Mr. Weyant appears courtesy of Wade Artist Management (New York, NY).

P E T E R K E N D A L L C L A R K – Bari ton e Baritone Peter Kendall Clark is a distinguished interpreter of opera and musical theater who also excels in traditional concert repertoire. He has created roles in numerous world premieres, notably “Jehovah” in Mark Blitzstein’s Cain, for which the New York Times referred to his singing as “stylish and properly stentorian.”

Mr. Clark has appeared with New York City Opera, Virginia Opera, Hawaii Opera Theater Caramoor Opera, Ashlawn Opera, Syracuse Opera, Belleayre Festival, St. Petersburg Opera, Chelsea Opera, Opera on the James, and Skylight Music Theatre. As a musical theater actor, Mr. Clark has equal affinity with dramatic, comic and romantic roles such as “Sweeney Todd”, “Pirate King” in The Pirates of Penzance, “Frank Butler” in Annie Get Your Gun, “Henry Higgins” in My Fair Lady, “King Arthur” in Camelot, and “Fredrik” in A Little Night Music.

OPERA NEWS singled him out for his performance in DiCapo Opera’s The Most Happy Fella: “a strapping, energetic Joe (whose) soothingly sexy rendition of “Don’t Cry” was, in its way, the most memorable vocal moment in the show.” Recent engagements include Sweeney Todd with Hawaii Opera Theater, Le Nozze di Figaro and Glory Denied at Chelsea Opera, Candide, La Fanciulla del West, Peter Eötvös’Angels in America and Brokeback Mountain at New York City Opera, “Harold Hill” in The Music Man at St. Petersburg Opera and “Harry Easter” in Street Scene at Virginia Opera. He is thrilled to return to Helena, having sung Handel’s Messiah with the HSO previously.

Mr. Clark appears courtesy of Wade Artist Management (New York, NY). www.helenasymphony.org

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MASTERWORKS CONCERT V

B E E T H O V E N, M O Z A R T, & CELLIST OVIDIU MARINESCU SATURDAY, 23 MARCH 2019 7:30 P.M. HELENA CIVIC CENTER

The fiery energy of two overtures by Beethoven begins and ends this all “Classical” program that includes the emotionally dynamic and sophisticated Symphony No. 38, Prague by Mozart. Helena audience favorite and world-renowned Romanian Cellist Ovidiu Marinescu performs the endless charm of Haydn’s graceful Cello Concerto.

Maestro Allan R. Scott

Mr. Marinescu’s appearance is made possible through generous support by:

Ovidiu Marinescu

The concert is sponsored by generous support from:

The use of photographic and recording equipment is strictly prohibited. As a courtesy to the performers and fellow concert-goers, please turn off all cell phones prior to the beginning of the performance. Latecomers will not be seated until an appropriate time in the concert.

52

Helena Symphony Season 64

ALLAN R. SCOTT – Conductor OVIDIU MARINESCU – Cello H elena S ymphony O rchestra

BEETHOVEN

Coriolan, Op. 62: Overture+

HAYDN Cello Concerto No. 1 in C major

Mr. Marinescu, cello

I. Moderato II. Adagio III. Finale: Allegro molto –– INTERMISSION –– MOZART

Symphony No. 38 in D major, KV 504, Prague

I. Adagio – Allegro

II. Andante

III. Presto BEETHOVEN

The Creatures of Prometheus, Op. 43: Overture

+ = Helena Symphony premiere performance

www.helenasymphony.org

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MASTERWORKS CONCERT V B E E T H O V E N , M O Z A R T, & CELLIST OVIDIU MARINESCU

ABOUT THE PROGRAM By Allan R. Scott©

Overture: Coriolan, Op. 64 The Coriolan Overture is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and divided strings.

Duration: 7 minutes

PA R A L L E L E V E N T S / 1 8 07 Britain bans slave trade Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony premieres U.S. bans import of slaves First practical steamboat voyage Napoleon attacks Russia Confederate General Robert E. Lee is born 54

Helena Symphony Season 64

L U D W I G VA N B E E T H O V E N

Born: Bonn, Germany, 16 December 1770 Died: Vienna, Austria, 26 March 1827

ABOUT THE COMPOSER Beethoven once described himself as someone “who did everything badly except compose music,” and yet he aroused intense personal devotion not only by his music but by his personality, rough and ill-mannered, violent and wrongheaded though his actions often were. The nature of his personality and the fact he was virtually uneducated, gave his musical utterance simplicity and a sincerity that are without parallel among the great composers. It is these qualities, combined with his strong sense of humanity and his inexhaustible power of striving for the ideal, that have earned him his unique place in affections of music-lovers of all types.

Dedicating himself principally to composition from the early 1800s, he supported himself partly by public concerts, in which he presented his works and his skill as an improviser, and partly through dedication fees, sales of publications, and generous gifts from patrons. Determined to survive as a free-lance musician, Beethoven eventually ended his career as a performer for full time composing due to the gradual onset of incurable deafness.

Like his musical idol, Handel, Beethoven embodied his own musical era and at the same time contributed to the overall progression of music in technique and artistic form.

Unlike Handel (and even Mozart) however, Beethoven did not have the luxury of speed and instantaneous perfection in his composing; he made several drafts and needed to make edits to most of his works. Certain pieces were often started, interrupted by other projects, and finished much later, at times several years later. Beethoven’s large output of works in all genres includes much occasional music, some of which is rather mediocre. In every genre, however, there are works of the greatest mastery, and the finest of them are unmatched in originality and expressiveness. His works include one opera (Fidelio), several overture and incidental music (Egmont, The Ruins of Athens), two ballets, nine symphonies, two mass settings (Mass in C and Missa Solemnis), oratorios, including Christ on the Mount of Olives, and other choral works, five piano concertos, a violin concerto, string quartets and quintets, chamber music with winds, sonatas for violin and cello, piano trios, 32 piano sonatas, many variation sets for piano, works for solo and duet piano, dance sets, concert arias and songs, and canons.

THE FATHER OF ROMANTICISM What chiefly distinguishes Beethoven from his predecessors is his personal connection to his art. Recognized as the father

of the Romantic Era in music (the period between 1820 and the early 1900s), Beethoven is best understood by gaining an insight to his works, particularly his symphonies, string quartets, and the Missa Solemnis.

With Romanticism, the art and the artist are inseparable.

This connection between art and artist is the driving force that most music has thrived on for the past two centuries, whereby music strives to attain the unattainable, the ideal, and the larger-than-life. This is not to suggest that Beethoven surrendered the structures and forms established

by Haydn and Mozart; on the contrary, Beethoven is regarded as the link between the Classical Era of form and reason, and the Romantic Era of emotion over reason and art for art’s sake.

Beethoven’s own personal ideas, hopes, and faith, or lack of faith, are represented in his symphonic output. He wrestled with his own fate in Symphony No. 5; he strove to obtain ideal heroism in Symphony No. 3; and held true to the notion that the city of man can and should be equal to the city of God in Symphony No. 9.

ABOUT THE CORIOLAN OVERTURE Perhaps with the hopes to gain the attention of theatre directors along with the need to have another work for a performance, Beethoven composed an overture to the play Coriolan. Made popular by Shakespeare (his play titled Coriolanus), the same story was made into a play by Viennese poet Heinrich Joseph von Collin (1771-1811) with incidental music adapted from Mozart’s opera Idomeneo.

Beethoven composed the overture several years after the play closed.

The powerful tragedy tells the story of Gnaeus Marcius Coriolanus, a proud and reckless Roman general of the late sixth century B.C. Exiled unjustly by the Romans, Coriolanus leads the nearby Volscian army against Rome. About to enter the city gates, his mother and wife plead for him to abandon his wrathful revenge; he withdraws, making himself an enemy of the Volsicans. In Shakespeare’s play, Coriolanus is killed; however, in Collin’s version, Coriolanus commits suicide.

While Beethoven’s Overture does not offer a complete telling of the story, it does give a wonderfully powerful musical depiction of the tragedy of the play in a brief seven minutes. Like his Fifth Symphony and Piano Concerto No. 3, the Overture is composed in the haunting key of C minor.

Three massive C’s exploding into violent chords with dramatic pauses open the work. The tension of the play is established immediately, as Beethoven proceeds to musically paint a portrait of the hero ruled by will, restlessness, and rage. The intensity is contrasted with a second, more lyrical theme conveying the pleas of Coriolanus’ mother and wife.

Yet the massive C’s return foretelling the hero’s fate until the music suddenly disintegrates into the dramatic silence of death, ending with barely audible plucked C’s.

Beethoven’s focus on the emotional core and profound drama of the story seems almost too coincidental to not be seen as a self-portrait. The restlessness, pride, disagreeable manner, and resignation are themes directly linked to Beethoven’s life – perhaps the real tragedy.

Continued on page 59

Overture: The Creatures of Prometheus, Op. 43 Beethoven’s Overture to the ballet The Creatures of Prometheus is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and divided strings.

Duration: 5 minutes The complete score to the ballet The Creatures of Prometheus is the only score in which Beethoven included a harp, although not used in the Overture.

PA R A L L E L E V E N T S / 1801 Napoleon signs Treaty with Austria and with Papacy Thomas Jefferson becomes the third U.S. President Italian opera composer Vincenzo Bellini is born First and largest asteroid, Ceres, is discovered 55

MASTERWORKS CONCERT V B E E T H O V E N , M O Z A R T, & CELLIST OVIDIU MARINESCU

ABOUT THE PROGRAM By Allan R. Scott©

Cello Concerto No. 1 in C major Haydn’s Cello Concerto was originally scored for solo cello, two oboes, two horns, and divided strings.

Duration: 22 minutes

PA R A L L E L E V E N T S / 1 765 Great Britain imposes first tax on American colonies with the Stamp Act Daughters of Liberty, the first society of working women in America, is formed to boycott British goods King of England William IV, inventor of the cotton gin Eli Whitney, and English scientist James Smithson (name sake of the Smithsonian Institute) are born 56

Helena Symphony Season 64

F R A N Z J O S E P H H AY D N

Born: Rohrau, Austria, 31 March 1732 Died: Vienna, Austria, 31 May 1809

BEETHOVEN CONSIDERED HAYDN AT FIRST as merely a venerable professor, and the Romantics (especially Schumann and Berlioz) said Haydn was only a skillful supplier of fragile, courtly works, without lasting value.

Today, Franz Joseph Haydn serves as the perfect representative of the Classical era, the period of 1750-1820, the time of Mozart, the Age of Enlightenment, the era of order, reason, and the time of the American and French Revolutions. Haydn represents his epoch so well, rather than Mozart, because he, like Bach, appeared to detain the forward motion of time. Whereas Mozart and Schubert constantly shifted from the known to the unknown, from the past to the present, and from the present to the future, Bach and Haydn were final destinations, syntheses, and culminations of their eras, techniques, and artistic forms.

By the end of Haydn’s career, he was his generation’s greatest musical figure – the Classical era’s most valid embodiment. The patriarch (referred to as “Papa Haydn”) of the modern-day symphony and string quartet, Haydn possessed a natural yet noble tone, a feeling for formal order and, inside this order, a freedom of invention with a subtlety of expression and humor.

Like Handel, Joseph Haydn seems to have had no notable musical ancestry. He received his early musical training from a cousin, and at the age of eight the young Haydn was admitted as a chorister to St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna where he remained until his voice changed at the age of sixteen. Haydn later began a long and industrious career as a composer for the aristocracy, specifically the Esterházy family. Working for wealthy nobles and princes allowed Haydn lengthy periods of isolation, and solitude forced him to be original and perfect his craft, specifically his symphonies.

Haydn’s enormous output of music totals 104 symphonies (almost three times as many that Mozart composed), 14 Mass settings, six oratorios, almost 70 string quartets, many keyboard sonatas, concertos, songs, and operas.

As with most concertos, it is the great virtuosos who inspire composers to write them: Franz Clement’s abilities prompted Beethoven’s violin concerto, Brahms wrote his violin concerto for the great Joseph Joachim, and today, musicians such as cellists Yo-Yo Ma and Mstislav Rostropovich have catalyzed countless composers to write for the solo instrument accompanied by orchestra.

Few composers over time have scored cello concertos, perhaps not appreciating the instrument’s full potential and indeed, there have been far fewer virtuoso cellists.

Continued on page 59

O V I D I U M A R I N E S C U – Ce l l o The Helena Symphony is pleased to invite back to the stage one of the most outstanding musicians of his native Romania, Cellist Ovidiu Marinescu, who was chosen to play at Carnegie Hall for Romanian President Constantinescu on an official visit to the United States. Soon after, he made his debut with the New York Chamber Symphony in Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, followed by recitals in Merkin Hall (New York), Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. Last season he played solo recitals in Weill Hall and at Bargemusic in New York, California and Parma Festival.

After his debut with the National Radio Orchestra of Romania in the Saint-Säens’ Cello Concerto, which was broadcast live across Romania, he returned several times to perform works by Mozart and Iorgulescu, followed by an appearance as soloist and conductor in works by Boccherini, Beethoven, and Glinka. In collaboration with Parma Recordings, Marinescu is a frequent performer at Weill Hall in New York, with yearly engagements until 2020. Other notable concerts include performances with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Newark Symphony, Helena Symphony, Cleveland Philharmonic, Orquesta de Extremadura in Spain, the Limeira Symphony in Brazil, Cleveland Philharmonic, Southeastern Pennsylvania Symphony Orchestra, and the Great Falls, Portsmouth, and Immaculata Symphonies.

His critically acclaimed first recording “Fiesta Latina” was followed by a recording of the complete Miaskovsky cello works with the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra and pianist Kenneth Boulton released by Cambria. His recording of the Bach Cello Suites, released by Navona Records, has received international critical acclaim. The recording with Janet Ahlquist of the Arthur Gottschalk Sonata for Cello and Piano has received the Gold Medal at the Global Music Awards for 2014.

A product of the illustrious Romanian National Academy of Music, he won first prize and Music Critics’ Award in the George Dima Cello Competition. In the United States, he studied with Wolfgang Laufer at the University of Wisconsin, and with Orlando Cole, at Temple University.

Marinescu has been honored in Romania with invitations to perform with many renowned orchestras including the orchestras of Cluj, Iasi and Brasov, and has toured with Bucharest Symphony.

Marinescu has commissioned and premiered many new works for cello solo, among which are those of Jae-Wook Kim, Andrew March, Mark Hagerty, and his brother, Liviu Marinescu. Penn Presents featured Marinescu in a multi-media program at the Annenberg Center in Philadelphia. In January of 2015, he performed the premiere of a new work for cello and orchestra by Kile Smith, commissioned for him by Helena Symphony, followed by The Sea Knows by Michael Kurek with the Limeira Festival Orchestra (Brazil). Marinescu is on faculty at West Chester University. Mr. Marinescu has also developed and is co-producing a TV documentary series entitled Resonate, which explores music making with people from across the globe, with the first episode filmed in Cuba.

He and Maestro Scott have collaborated for almost 20 years performing throughout the country many times, and he is an audience favorite. www.helenasymphony.org

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News you can trust and hand-picked music.

Missoula 89.1 & 91.5 | Hamilton 91.9 | Kalispell/Whitefish 90.1 & 91.7 Polson 89.5 | Libby 90.5 | Swan Lake 101.3 | Butte 91.3 Helena & Dillon 91.7 | Great Falls 89.9 | mtpr.org

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Helena Symphony Season 64

MASTERWORKS CONCERT V B E E T H O V E N , M O Z A R T, & CELLIST OVIDIU MARINESCU

BEETHOVEN

Continued from page 55

ABOUT THE CREATURES OF PROMETHEUS OVERTURE Composing for the popular theatre was a common and fairly critical financial benefit for most composers. Beethoven was no different and his music to the ballet The Creatures of Prometheus was one of his first great public successes. Much of the composer’s music for plays and ballet however was not as successful, such as music for Christoph Kuffner’s Tarpeja, Friedrich Duncker’s Leonore Prohaska, or Kriedrich Treitschke’s Die gute Nachricht.

Commissioned by the Milanese dancer and choreographer Salvatore Viganó, the incidental music to The Creatures of Prometheus emerged as one of the first major

H AY D N

commissions for Beethoven, as he was chiefly recognized as a pianist and for composing chamber works, one symphony, and two piano concerti. Using the mythological story of Prometheus who assisted human beings towards understanding life and the arts, Beethoven’s score to the ballet contained many moments of well-crafted and attractive writing. Beethoven must have thought so as well, as he employed a melody from the finale to the ballet no less than three times in other works: in a set of Contradances, a theme used as the basis for the Variations for Piano, Op. 35, and the finale to the Third Symphony.

The Overture to the ballet, although brief, is exciting, using a dance-like drive and energy to open the ballet. 

Continued from page 56

Neither Mozart nor Beethoven composed a concerto for cello. Of the three and one half cello concertos written by Haydn, one was never finished, one was believed to be composed by a contemporary of Haydn, and one no one knew existed until the latter half of the twentieth century. Mainly because Haydn’s cataloguer, Anthony van Hoboken, overlooked the earlier concertos of the composer, the first two cello concertos were not identified with Haydn until recently.

Haydn composed his first cello concerto for the principal cellist of his orchestra at the Esterházy estate. Unexplainably, the Concerto seemed to disappear with no knowledge that the work even existed. While the Concerto predates his second cello concerto by about twenty years, the Cello Concerto No. 1 in C major demonstrates Haydn’s witty lyricism and mastery of composing for solo instrument. Haydn always maintained a sensitivity to the abilities of the soloist, either instrumentalist or singer. Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 1 also serves as a bridge between the Baroque style of playing (the era of J.S. Bach and Handel) and the emerging structure of the Classical

period that Haydn would come to represent.

Within this structure and limitations he imposed, Haydn still crafted a brilliant concerto that is equally as prolific, exciting, and fun as any of his symphonies.

From the opening movement’s pomp and dance to the rapid scales and sweeping melodic passages of the final movement, Haydn demonstrates his hallmark musical voice even with one of his earlier efforts.

The aria-like second movement wonderfully conveys the Haydn sound that Schubert, Schumann, and Brahms would come to emulate in the Romantic period. After almost two centuries in obscurity, the Cello Concerto was given its modern premiere at the 1962 Prague Spring Festival by Milos Sádlo and the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra under Sir Charles Mackerras. Since the work’s recent premiere, it has gained ever-widening recognition and today is in the repertoire of the world’s leading cellists.

In the words of Mozart: “There is no one who can do it all – to joke and to terrify, to evoke laughter and profound sentiment – and all equally well: except Joseph Haydn.”

– even 200 years later.  www.helenasymphony.org

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MASTERWORKS CONCERT V B E E T H O V E N , M O Z A R T, & CELLIST OVIDIU MARINESCU

ABOUT THE PROGRAM By Allan R. Scott©

Symphony No. 38 in D major, KV 504, Prague Symphony No. 38, Prague, is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and divided strings.

Duration: 35 minutes The applause for the premiere performance of the Prague Symphony was so sustained that Mozart performed an encore at the piano, improvising for thirty minutes and demonstrating again his virtuosity as a composer and performer.

PA R A L L E L E V E N T S / 1 7 86 King of Prussia Frederick the Great dies Shay’s Rebellion in Massachusetts Wilhelm Carl Grimm, compiler of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, is born American frontiersman Davy Crockett is born Scottish poet Robert Burns publishes first book of poetry Most frequent visiting comet, Enche, is observed 60

Helena Symphony Season 64

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

Born: Salzburg, Austria, 27 January 1756 Died: Vienna, Austria, 5 December 1791

DURING MOZART’S BRIEF LIFE he developed significant relationships with the people of three European cities: Salzburg, Mozart’s birthplace and long-time residence; Vienna, the musical capital of Europe; and Prague, one of a very few cities that expressed a genuine interest and admiration for Mozart’s music.

It was in Prague, the capital of Bohemia (today located in Czech Republic), that Mozart developed a special closeness to the audiences. While the more sophisticated people of Vienna snubbed Mozart’s work at times, and eventually turned away from him completely (seemingly out of jealousy), the people of Prague had a pronounced love for the young master’s music.

Mozart’s operas Abduction from the Seraglio and The Marriage of Figaro both triumphed at the box office in Prague, causing Mozart to compose Don Giovanni specifically for that city. It was during an invited visit to Prague that Mozart wrote his Thirty-Eighth Symphony to honor the occasion and to show appreciation for Prague’s continued loyalty.

As a child prodigy, Mozart was immediately recognized as an unprecedented musical genius in every way. Under his father’s tutelage, the young Mozart became a virtuoso performer on the keyboard and violin. By the age of eight, he had composed his first symphony and had toured most of Europe, performing for dignitaries, royalty, and other prominent composers of the day, who were simply awed by the youth’s abilities and musical imagination.

No other composer has ever mastered every musical form as Mozart did, and with such great ease. For him, it almost seemed to be a nuisance or even a waste of time to transcribe his musical thoughts onto paper. Like Handel, although to an even higher degree, Mozart would develop and achieve perfection in his imagination before his hand ever began to write. Whereas most composers, even the great Beethoven, would go through countless drafts and revisions before completing a work; for Mozart, the first draft was the final draft.

In his brief 36 years, Mozart composed well over 600 works, including dozens of operas (both comedies and dramatic operas), many mass settings, choral works, songs, ballets, 41 symphonies (the last three of which he never heard and are considered to be his finest), divertimentos, instrumental dances, marches, serenades, sonatas, 31 piano concertos, eight violin concertos, and other concertos for flute, clarinet, bassoon, horn, even a new arrangement of Handel’s Messiah, and a Requiem, his final work.

Born into the Age of Enlightenment – the era of the American and French revolutions, when liberty and fraternity were the centers of thought – Mozart’s scores exhibited an order, balance, and structure associated with the Classical era that was led and fathered by composer Franz Joseph Haydn.

During the time when the Prague Symphony was composed, Mozart was evolving a new style of composition that reflected a more sophisticated form in both conception and performance. His musical vision was becoming more progressive than that of his contemporaries.

On the surface, however, the Prague Symphony seems to revert back to an earlier approach, for Symphony No. 38 has only the three-movement structure (as opposed to the traditional four movements) that many of the early symphonies of the period contained. The work, however, is not entirely a throwback to earlier approaches. The balancing of a slow,

thicker introduction coupled with a lighter and carefree main theme was a new technique yet to become mainstream for several more years. Furthermore, the part writing requires a level of expertise, especially from the wind players, that was not required in earlier works.

The premiere performance of Mozart’s Prague Symphony was a complete success, perhaps in part because one of the last movement’s themes had been borrowed from the popular Marriage of Figaro. Despite Vienna’s reputation for being the cultural capital of Europe, it was the more common people of Prague that saw the cutting-edge talents and genius of Mozart. 

CLOSING NIGHT CELEBRATION SATURDAY, 14 MAY 2019 Come Celebrate YOUR Symphony! Join us immediately after the 5:30 p.m. performance of Puccini’s Tosca In Concert in the Helena Civic Center Ballroom for a post-concert event in grand style, including exquisite cuisine, open bar, entertainment, and fun live and silent auction items! $75 per Person / $550 for Table of 8 / $700 for Table of 10

www.helenasymphony.org

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MASTERWORKS CONCERT VI

TOSCA IN CONCERT SATURDAY, 4 MAY 2019 (NOTE TIME) 5:30 P.M. HELENA CIVIC CENTER

A story of love, loyalty, obsession, betrayal, murder, and political intrigue! Experience why Puccini’s Tosca is one of the most popular, powerful, and unforgettable operatic dramas.

Maestro Allan R. Scott

Kathryn Frady

Kirk Dougherty

Jan Michael Kliewer

Jay Bahny

Joshua Dickey

Art Bumgardner

Guest Artists’ appearances are made possible through generous support by:

Charles Robert Stephens

Norman Smith

The concert is sponsored by generous support from:

The use of photographic and recording equipment is strictly prohibited. As a courtesy to the performers and fellow concert-goers, please turn off all cell phones prior to the beginning of the performance. Latecomers will not be seated until an appropriate time in the concert.

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Helena Symphony Season 64

JOIN US AFTER THE CONCERT!

C L O S I N G N I G H T C E L E B R AT I O N $75 per Person / $550 for Table of 8 / $700 for Table of 10 Join us in the Helena Civic Center Ballroom for a post-concert event in grand style, including exquisite cuisine, open bar, entertainment, and fun live and silent auction items!

ALLAN R. SCOTT – Conductor Floria Tosca, a celebrated singer.............. KATHRYN FRADY – Soprano Mario Cavaradossi, a painter .................. KIRK DOUGHERTY – Tenor Baron Scarpia, chief of police.................... CHARLES ROBERT STEPHENS – Baritone A Sacristan................................................. JAN MICHAEL KLIEWER – Baritone Cesare Angelotti, former Consul.............. JAY BAHNY – Bass of the Roman Republic Spoletta, a police agent............................. JOSHUA DICKEY – Tenor Sciarrone, a police agent............................ ART BUMGARDNER – Bass A Jailer....................................................... NORMAN SMITH – Bass H elena S ymphony O rchestra & C horale

PUCCINI Tosca+ Set in Rome, June 1800 Act I:

Inside the Church of Sant’Andrea della Valle –– INTERMISSION ––

Act II:

Later that day, at Scarpia’s Study in the Palazzo Farnese

Act III:

Dawn, the next morning at the Castel Sant’Angelo

Italian libretto by Luigi Illica & Giuseppe Giacosa.

Performed in Italian with English subtitles.

+ = Helena Symphony premiere performance www.helenasymphony.org

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WE ARE PROUD TO SUPPORT THE 2018–2019 SEASON

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Helena Symphony Season 64

TOSCA:

AN OPERA IN THREE ACTS

MUSIC BY GIACOMO PUCCINI LIBRETTO BY GIUSEPPE GIACOSA & LUIGI ILLICA B A S E D O N V I C T O R I E N S A R D O U ’ S P L AY L A T O S C A

Rome, June 1800 ACT I: Morning, the Church of Sant’Andrea della Valle Cesare Angelotti, an escaped political prisoner, rushes into the Church of Sant’Andrea della Valle.

He hides in one of the chapels just before the painter Mario Cavaradossi arrives to work on his portrait of Mary Magdalene. The painting has been inspired by the Marchesa Attavanti, whom Cavaradossi has seen in the church but does not know. He is struck by the resemblance of the dark-haired beauty of his lover, the singer Floria Tosca, and that of the blonde Marchesa Attavanti.

Angelotti, who was a member of the former Bonapartiste government, emerges from his hiding place. Cavaradossi recognizes him and promises help, then hurries back into the chapel as Tosca is heard calling from outside. She jealously asks Cavaradossi whom he has been talking to and reminds him of their rendezvous that evening. Suddenly recognizing the woman in the painting, she accuses him of being unfaithful, but he assures her of his love.

When Tosca has left, Angelotti again comes out of hiding. A cannon signals that the police have discovered the escape, and he and Cavaradossi flee to the painter’s house.

The sacristan enters with the choirboys who are preparing to sing in a Te Deum celebrating the recent victory against Napoleon at the Battle of Marengo. Their excitement is silenced by the arrival of Baron Scarpia, chief of secret police, who is searching for Angelotti. When Tosca comes back looking for Cavaradossi, Scarpia shows her a fan with the Attavanti crest that he has just found. Seemingly finding her suspicions about her lover’s infidelity confirmed, Tosca bursts into tears. She vows vengeance and leaves as the Church fills with worshippers. Scarpia sends his men to follow her to Cavaradossi in order to capture Angelotti. While the congregation sings the Te Deum, Scarpia declares that he will bend Tosca to his will.

–– INTERMISSION –– ACT II: Later that day, at Scarpia’s Study in the Palazzo Farnese Scarpia anticipates the pleasure of having Tosca in his power. The spy Spoletta arrives with news that he was unable to find Angelotti. Instead he brings in Cavaradossi. While Scarpia interrogates the defiant painter, Tosca is heard singing at a royal gala in the same building.

Scarpia sends for her and she appears just as Cavaradossi is being taken away to be tortured.

Frightened by Scarpia’s questions and Cavaradossi’s screams, Tosca reveals Angelotti’s hiding place. Cavaradossi is brought in, badly hurt and hardly conscious.

When he realizes what has happened, he angrily confronts Tosca, just as the officer Sciarrone rushes in to announce that Napoleon in fact has won the battle, a defeat for Scarpia’s side.

Cavaradossi shouts out his defiance of tyranny and is dragged off to be executed. Scarpia calmly suggests to Tosca that he would let Cavaradossi go free is she will give herself to him. Fighting off his advances, she declares she has dedicated her life to art and love and calls on God for help.

Scarpia insists, when Spoletta interrupts; faced with capture, Angelotti has killed himself.

Tosca, now forced to give in or lose her lover, agrees to Scarpia’s proposition. Scarpia orders Spoletta to prepare for a mock execution of Cavaradossi, after which he is to be freed. Tosca demands that Scarpia write her a letter of safe-conduct, so she may leave. After Scarpia concedes to Tosca’s wish, she grabs a knife from a table and stabs him to death.

ACT III: Dawn, the next morning at the Castel Sant’Angelo Cavaradossi awaits execution. He bribes the jailer to deliver a farewell letter to Tosca, then, overcome with emotion, gives in to his despair. Tosca appears and explains what has happened.

The two imagine their future in freedom. As the execution squad arrives, Tosca implores Cavaradossi to fake his death convincingly, then she hides. The soldiers fire and depart.

Cavaradossi does not move, and Tosca realizes that Scarpia has betrayed her. Just as Spoletta rushes in to arrest her, she leaps from the battlement to her own death.

THE END www.helenasymphony.org

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MASTERWORKS CONCERT VI TOSCA IN CONCERT

ABOUT THE PROGRAM By Allan R. Scott©

GIACOMO PUCCINI

Tosca Tosca is scored for two piccolos, three flutes, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, snare drum, triangle, cymbals, tam-tam, bass drum, glockenspiel, chimes, church bells, cannon, shot guns, harp, celeste, organ, divided strings, mixed chorus, and boy soprano, soprano, two tenor, two baritone, and three bass soloists.

Duration: 115 minutes

PA R A L L E L E V E N T S / 1 900 William McKinley is reelected 25th U.S. President Hawaii becomes U.S. territory China’s “Boxer Rebellion” First NYC subway opens Composer Aaron Copland, actor Spencer Tracy, and Elizabeth, Queen Mother of England are born Author Stephen Crane, playwright Oscar Wilde, composer Arthur Sullivan, and philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche die Ferdinand von Zeppelin invents his zeppelin Harley-Davidson goes into motorcycle business Hamburger is created 66

Born: Lucca, Italy, 22 December 1858 Died: Brussels, Belgium, 29 November 1924

DESCENDED FROM A LONG LINE of musicians, Giacomo Puccini is considered the most important Italian opera composer since Verdi. While it was assumed that the young Puccini would inherit the interests and talent of the family business, Puccini was by no means a child prodigy.

It was not until Puccini walked to Pisa at the age of 18 to see a production of Verdi’s Aida did he find his calling. A few years later he moved to Milan to enter the conservatory. Upon completing his studies, Puccini’s noted ability for melodic invention and colorful orchestration become noticed with one of his only instrumental works, Capriccio Sinfonico.

Puccini entered a competition for new one-act operas and lost. Ironically it was this loss that became the most significant event that launched his career! At a party, Puccini entertained the guests by playing and singing excerpts from the opera (Le Villi) that was not noticed at the competition. The party goers were so enthralled with the music that it was produced that season in Milan.

World renowned Italian publisher Giulio Ricordi recognized the immense success and potential of Puccini and acquired the rights to the work and began a long-time relationship with him.

Ricordi immediately commissioned a new full length opera by the composer titled Edgar; however, it was a dismal failure and despite its several revisions, it has not survived today.

Puccini’s next effort was based on the same subject that was used by French opera composer Massenet – Manon Lescaut.

Puccini, along with five additional librettists, composed an opera that launched Puccini’s career overnight and ensured his place as the rightful successor to Verdi.

The composer’s next three works included three of the most loved operas of all time: La Bohème, Tosca, and Madame Butterfly. For these three Puccini employed the talents of two librettists. Luigi Illica created the scenes and the picturesque details, and Giuseppe Giacosa wrote the poetry of the text.

While La Bohème is considered to be Puccini’s masterpiece, it was not nearly as successful as Tosca, which remains one of the most popular and successful operas today. Madame Butterfly, however, was not received nearly as well, and required several revisions before it gained mass appeal. At the turn of the 20th century, Puccini experienced significant torment in his private life that resulted in several artistic failures. In 1903, Puccini was the victim of one of the first automobile accidents in Italy and was seriously injured. In 1906, Puccini’s principal librettist, Giacosa, died; and in 1909, Puccini’s wife wrongly accused Puccini of having an affair with their maid causing the maid to commit suicide.

Puccini’s next work, The Girl of the Golden West, was commissioned for the opening of New York’s Metropolitan Continued on page 69

www.helenasymphony.org

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MASTERWORKS CONCERT VI TOSCA IN CONCERT

K AT H R Y N F R A D Y – Sopran o Making her Helena Symphony debut, British-American soprano Kathryn Frady has been widely praised for her vocal range and dramatic talent, and she continues to create dynamic and vivid characters, thrilling audiences with her artistry, powerful stage presence, and vibrant vocal range throughout the United States and Europe.

Arts Knoxville said of Kathryn’s most recent performance of Poulenc’s The Human Voice, “Soprano Kathryn Frady drew the audience deeply in as voyeurs into her psychological dilemma in The Human Voice. Frady’s brilliance as a soprano capable of riveting the audience’s attention—in vocal depth, in lyrical beauty, and in a marvelously conceived ebb and flow of posture and attitude-was as rewarding as it gets in theater.” TN Today called the same performance “nothing short of a tour de force.”

Kathryn’s performance of La Traviata with Marble City Opera was named the most memorable operatic performance of 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee, by Arts Knoxville, and the review said, “Retaining the silky subtlety and delicacy to contrast with the requisite power the role demands. Her performance was dramatically personal and intensely musically satisfying.”

Kathryn’s performance of “Amelia” in the world premiere of Larry Delinger’s opera Amelia Lost, was named “Most Memorable Operatic Performance in Knoxville, TN of 2014.” Arts Knoxville called the performance “a sensational theatre experience.” In 2013, Kathryn made her Opera Carolina main stage debut as “Papagena” in Jun Kaneko’s production of The Magic Flute, where the critics said, “Her voice found no quality wanting.”

Upcoming performances include “Mrs. Nolan” in The Medium with New Orleans Opera; “Alice Ford” in Falstaff with Diversita Opera Company in Dallas, TX; Amelia Lost with Opera in the City Festival, London, England, and the title role in Suor Angelica with Marble City Opera.

Ms. Frady appears courtesy of Pinnacle Arts Management (New York, NY).

K I R K D O U G H E R T Y – Te n or With a sound combining clarity, strength, and integrity, Kirk Dougherty is one of the most exciting voices entering the opera circuit today. His expressivity and commitment to both musical and dramatic interpretation has earned him continuous appearances as a leading tenor since he began a serious foray into the repertoire just six years ago. Of his recent performance in Tosca, the San José Mercury News exclaimed, “Kirk Dougherty shined…The unique timbre and expression of his handsome voice, coupled with refined, satisfying phrasing, provided noteworthy, heartfelt performances of ‘Recondita armonia’ and ‘E lucevan le stelle,’ two of the treasured arias of the repertoire.”

Recent engagements for Mr. Dougherty include the role of “Duke of Mantua” in Rigoletto with Opera Las Vegas, “Tamino” in Die Zauberflöte with Glacier Symphony as part of their Festival Amadeus, “Rinuccio” in Gianni Schicci/Buoso’s Ghost with Opera Delaware, “Pinkerton” in Madama Butterfly and the tenor solo in Stabat Mater with Wichita Grand Opera, “Nikolaus Sprink” in Silent Night with Piedmont Opera, “Edgardo” in Lucia di Lammermoor with Bob Jones University, and “Count Almaviva” in The Barber of Seville and “Albert” in The Secret Garden with Utah Festival Opera. Upcoming engagements for Mr. Dougherty include “Rodolfo” in La Boheme with Salt Marsh Opera, “Mr. Cannelloni” in The Impresario and “Rinuccio” in Gianni Schicchi with Knoxville Opera, and “Cavaradossi” in Tosca with Helena Symphony.

Mr. Dougherty appears courtesy of Uzan International Artists (New York, NY).

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“

(Puccini’s) greatest gift...was his ability to invent liquid, melting melodies with tender lyricism, combined with his genius of colorful orchestrations, intense emotion, and theatrical vocal lines that contribute to the stories he composed.

PUCCINI

Continued from page 66

Opera, with Toscanini conducting. The next two operas included one of his weaker works, La Rondine, and the much loved three one-act operas: Il tabarro, Suor Angelica, and Gianni Schicchi.

Because Puccini took such an active role in the production of his works, the composer only wrote 12 operas, compared to Verdi’s 28. While German, French, and Austrian influences can be noted in some of his music, Puccini rarely strayed far from his Italian roots. His greatest gift, however, was his ability to invent liquid, melting melodies with tender lyricism, combined with his genius of colorful orchestrations, intense emotion, and theatrical vocal lines that contribute to the

stories he composed.

Four years before his death, Puccini began his final work – Turandot. The work was never finished as Puccini died during surgery due to throat cancer. Today, Puccini’s works are framed by two masterpieces – La Bohème and Turandot, and he stands alongside Mozart, Verdi, and Wagner as composers for the stage.

Following his death, Italy went into official mourning and Puccini’s remains were eventually laid to rest in Torre del Lago, the small village where he composed most of his works. Today, Puccini fans make pilgrimages to the house where the most popular opera composer of the 20th century worked and lived. 

C H A R L E S R O B E R T S T E P H E N S – Ba r it o ne A frequent soloist with the Helena Symphony, Baritone Charles Robert Stephens has been hailed by The New York Times as “a baritone of smooth distinction.” His career spans a wide variety of roles and styles in opera and in concert. In addition to regularly appearing with the New York City Opera and in Carnegie Hall, Mr. Stephens has performed with the Oratorio Society of New York, Masterworks Chorus, and Musica Sacra.

In addition to nearly fifty performances of Verdi’s La Traviata with the New York City Opera, he appeared in the New York premiere of Adamo’s acclaimed opera Little Women.

Mr. Stephens has performed with the Seattle Symphony six times and is very active with orchestras throughout the Pacific Northwest including the orchestras in Tacoma, Spokane, Bellingham, Walla Walla and Yakima. He is on the voice faculty at Pacific Lutheran University and teaches privately in Seattle.

Past Carnegie Hall performances with Opera Orchestra of New York include roles in Verdi’s Otello, Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia, and Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur. Mr. Stephens has appeared in productions of Rigoletto with the National Theater of Taiwan, Aida with El Paso Opera, La Traviata in Montevideo, Uruguay and with the Minnesota Opera, Il Trovatore with the Boston Bel Canto, Madame Butterfly with the National Theater of Santo Domingo and the Helena Symphony, The Marriage of Figaro with the Hawaii Opera, and several other productions throughout the world. www.helenasymphony.org

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MASTERWORKS CONCERT VI TOSCA IN CONCERT

J A N M I C H A E L K L I E W E R – Bari ton e Jan Michael Kliewer is an active baritone soloist in both concert and opera.

He has performed professionally with the Robert Page Singers, Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and the Kansas City Choral Art Ensemble. As a soloist he has recently performed with the Casper Chorale and Orchestra, the Cheyenne Chamber Singers and Orchestra, the Northwest Civic Orchestra and Chorus, the Wyoming Symphony, the Billings Symphony, the Rimrock Opera of Billings, and the Helena Symphony. He has performed roles from L’elisir d’amore, The Medium, The Telephone, The Merry Widow, Don Giovanni, Carmen, La Traviata, Madame Butterfly, and Sweeney Todd.

In 2004 he sang in the premier performance of Nosferatu, a new opera by Alva Henderson.

As a student of voice he has studied with Noriko Fugi Paukert, Elizabeth Unis Chesko, Pauline Thesmacher, Dallas Draper and Inci Bashar. Mr. Kliewer is in his twentieth year teaching music at Northwest College, in Powell, Wyoming. He is engaged in teaching voice, music theory and conducting the Northwest College Choir, and is also an active conductor. His conducting pedigree includes work with Ernest Hisey, Robert Page, Eph Ehly, and Bev Henson.

J AY B A H N Y – Bass The Helena Symphony welcomes bass Jay Bahny back to the stage. Hailed by the New York Times for his “sonorous voice” with “appealingly resonant tone,” Mr. Bahny’s distinguished career spans three decades and includes hundreds of performances of over 50 roles in opera, opera chorus, oratorio, concert, musical theatre, and theatre. Mr. Bahny has performed as a soloist on the stages of the Metropolitan Opera, Sarasota Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, New York Grand Opera, New York Bel Canto Opera, and the New York Balalaika Ensemble Orchestra, among others.

Since retiring from his twenty year career in the Metropolitan Opera Chorus in 2010, Mr. Bahny has resumed his solo career in the title role of The Mikado and “Sprecher” in Die Zauberflöte with Opera Coeur d’Alene; “Herr Schlendrian” in a staged version of the Bach Coffee Cantata with the New Brandout Ensemble in Missoula, MT; “Mr. Lindquist” in A Little Night Music with the Helena Symphony Orchestra/Helena Theatre Co., “Wotan” in a concert version of Das Rheingold with the New York Opera Forum, and numerous concert and theatrical appearances.

Mr. Bahny toured internationally as a soloist with the Gregg Smith Singers and was featured on their album Christmas with the Gregg Smith Singers. An American of Russian heritage, he has also performed Russian folk songs, art songs and operatic arias in concert with the New York Balalaika Ensemble Orchestra under conductor Alexander Kutin.

J O S H U A D I C K E Y – Te n or Helena Symphony Chorale Tenor Joshua Dickey studied at the Eastman School of Music and Kentucky Wesleyan College. Originally from Owensboro, Kentucky, Mr. Dickey currently serves as worship pastor at Hannaford Street Bible Church in Helena, Montana.

Joshua has participated in a number of community chorales and musical organizations including the Helena Symphony Chorale, Owensboro Symphony Chorale, Colorado Springs Symphony Chorale, and the Theater Workshop of Owensboro.

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Helena Symphony Season 64

A R T B U M G A R D N E R – Bass A member of the Helena Symphony Chorale’s bass section, Art Bumgardner received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in vocal performance from the University of Texas. From 1966 to 2006, Dr. Bumgardner taught voice, opera, and musical theater at the University of Wisconsin-Superior where he appeared as the bass soloist with the University Oratorio Society. In 2006, he moved to Charleston, SC where he worked until he retired in 2015 from the College of Charleston.

Through the generous support of a McKnight Foundation grant, Dr. Bumgardner toured throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin with soprano Nancy Virkhaus in a production of Pergolesi’s La Serva Padrona. Dr. Bumgardner has also performed with the University of Minnesota-Duluth, Northland Opera Theater Co., and the Charleston Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to being a member of the Helena Symphony Chorale, Art also sings with Musikanten Montana, and he maintains a private voice studio.

N O R M A N S M I T H – Bass “He is an 18-karat bass in a world of pale imitations…” The Seattle Times.

Helena Symphony Chorale member Norman Smith enjoyed an active career in opera, oratorio, and liturgical music in Germany and the Pacific Northwest. He sang leading bass roles for six years in the opera theaters of Krefeld and Essen, Germany. Mr. Smith was particularly noted for roles in Lohengrin, Tristan und Isolde, Tannhäuser, Die Zauberflöte, and Nabucco.

In Europe, he recorded Beethoven’s Mass in C major for the Kirchenmusik label. A highlight of that period was singing a performance of Tristan and Isolde with Richard Wagner’s grandson, Wolfgang Wagner, in the audience.

After returning to Seattle, Mr. Smith appeared on stage with Seattle Opera, the Seattle Symphony, Northwest Opera in Schools, and with Civic Light Opera, where his “Emile DeBeque” in South Pacific received enthusiastic critical acclaim. In Canada, he appeared with the combined choirs of Trinity Western University and the Vancouver Symphony. His most recent performance with the Mid-Columbia Symphony was as “Don Basilio” in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville.

From 1985 to 2016, he held the position of Cathedral Bass Soloist at St. James Cathedral in Seattle, where he frequently performed Mozart’s Requiem. He appeared with the Seattle Symphony in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the Mozart Requiem and Bach’s Cantata 80. Additionally, he performed with the orchestras of Yakima, Walla Walla, The Tri-Cities, and Pullman-Moscow.

SPONSOR A GUEST ARTIST! HOW IT WORKS

Donate frequent flier miles through Delta Airlines or United Airlines (or your credit card frequent flier program)

SPONSORSHIP INCLUDES

A backstage meet and greet with the soloist and Maestro Scott, and / or attend one of the final rehearsals and sit on stage with the HSO to experience the rehearsal process with the guest artist up close!

MORE INFO artisticplanning@helenasymphony.org 406.442.1860 www.helenasymphony.org

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUING SUPPORT AND GENEROSITY Support of the Helena Symphony comes from a variety of important sources: donations, performance proceeds, program advertising, concert sponsorships, grants, patron-planned annuities, and the Helena Symphony Society Foundation.

(This list includes donations, grants, or gifts in kind from 1 July 2017 through 20 August 2018. It will be updated throughout the Season. Corrections are welcomed.)

MAESTRO’S CIRCLE

ASSOCIATE

$20,000 & ABOVE

$1,000 TO$4,999

Anonymous Pamela Bompart Helena Community Credit Union Linda & Pat Keim Scott Mainwaring & Susan Benedict Joan Poston Treacy Foundation

AARP Montana American Chemet Helen & William Ballinger Connie & Ron Bergum Browning Kaleczyc Berry Hoven Blackfoot River Brewing Co. Peter & Janice Bogy Fay & David Buness Robert Caldwell & Dana Hillyer The Carolina Bed & Breakfast Sigrid & William Carroll The Creperie D.A. Davidson & Co Matthew Dale Kelly & Matthew Dalton Michael Dalton Mary Jane Davidson Enterprise Rent-a-Car First Montana Land Title Company First Security Bank Of Helena Heidi & David Genter Elizabeth & Jeffry Goldes Jill & Gary Guthrie Barbara Harris Marilyn Hudson Jim Hunt & McDonald Law Offices IBM Matching Grants Program Paulette Jones Jorgenson’s Inn & Suites Keller Williams Realty Ron Lee Tatiana & Ron Lukenbill Katherine Mason Lisa Mason Patty Mazurek Joan Bird & Max Milton Montana Association of Symphony Orchestras Montana Club Carol & Wayne Montgomery Network For Good Nancy & Alan Nicholson Our Redeemer’s Lutheran Church Ann M. Page Scott Pargot The Parrot Confectionery PayneWest Insurance Piccolo’s Music Placer Motors Julie & Tim Reardon

BENEFACTOR

$10,000 TO $19,999 Anonymous James Burkholder City of Helena Eagle Beverage Helena Symphony Society Fndn, Inc. Mary Douglass & Harry Israel Ray Kuntz Montana Arts Council Montana Community Foundation Peter W. Sullivan Fran Waddell

PRINCIPAL

$5,000 TO $9,999 Blue Cross Blue Shield Susan & C. Franklin Brookhart, Jr Gail Brown Deloitte Services LP Great Northern Best Western Hotel Helena School District No. 1 Marie Kall Nick Kuntz Lewis & Clark County Montana Credit Union League Mary D. Munger Beth O’Hallerleu Opportunity Bank of Montana Ellie Parker Candace Rutledge LeRoy Schramm Mēghan & Maestro Allan R. Scott Harlan & Bill Shropshire Silver Star Steak Company Abigail St. Lawrence Wipfli LLP 72

Helena Symphony Season 64

William C. Roberts In memory of Carol J Roberts Joyce Schillinger Gayle & Larry Sheldon Sidney E Frank Foundation Rosana & William Skelton Laura W. & Marc Smith SoFi Nick Spano St. Paul’s United Methodist Church St. Peter’s Health State Employees’ Charitable Giving Campaign The Boeing Company Nancy & Richard Trudell US Bank Van’s Thriftway Barbara & Bartley Weiss Lisa Welsh

SUSTAINER $500 TO $999

Anderson ZurMuehlen Kathy Bramer Margaret Bullock Rena & Art Bumgardner Donna Burgess Amie Butler Rebekka Cantrell Victoria & John Cech Crowley Fleck PLLP Jean A. Davis Bruce L. Desonia Diana & Tom Dowling Donna & Donald Eisenmenger Laurie Ekanger Sue & Bob Ganter Helena Tourism Jim Hunt & Barb Howe Jim Darcy PTO Susan & Dale G. Johnson Janet Kelly Janet Kenny Beth & Warren McCullough In memory of Joseph McCullough Morrison-Maierle, Inc. Dianne Nickman Marcia & Pat Patton Alison Paul Robert Peccia & Associates Windbag Saloon

CONTRIBUTOR $100 TO $499

Adventure Dogs Beth Barry Base Camp Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream of Missoula Birds & Beasleys Boulder Elementary Activities Fund Beki Brandborg Richard Breijo Broadwater School Jan Brown Joyce & Raymond Brown Bryant School Parent Alliance Bullman’s Wood Fired Pizza Susan & Charles Butler, Jr Janet & Dave Campana Central School Parent Council Cheddar’s Gourmet Grilled Cheese Clancy School District Act Fnd Penny & Jack Copps Cottonwood School Bruce A Duenkler East Helena Student Activity Fund Tom & Kay Ellerhoff Allison Elliott Barbara Faas-Creel Karen Fairbrother First Lutheran Church William Flanary Fred Flanders Four Georgians’ Parent Council Bob Fox Agnes Frankino Leila Goldes Great Ape Crepes Betsy Griffing Rev. Joseph D. Harrington Ann Harris Hawthorne School Parent Council Helena Area Christian Home Educators Helena Area Community Foundation Helena Music Teachers Association Ike’s Shave & Cream, LLC Intermountain Jefferson School Parent Council Sarah & Boris Karasch Barbara D Kenny Kessler School Parent Council C. Korenbrot Jo Lasich Sidney & Karen Lebahn Mark Mattioli & Lisa Lovell Mekell Lybbert

Beverly Magley Shari McDonald Carol McKerrow Judith & Bruce Meadows Mary & Donald Meek Teri & Andrew Michel Montana State Fund Gwynn & John Mundinger Dana & Jonathan Nehring Timothy O’Brien Parents for Smith School Lezlie Pearce-Hopper Pennies On The Go Bob & Toni Person Power Townsend Robert Psurny Judy & Tom Rolfe Rossiter Parent Council Darien & Roger Scott Thea Lou Seese John & Luanne Smith Sodexo Timothy Speyer St. Andrew School Lori & David Swenson Joan & Dennis Taylor Townsend Elementary School Scottie & Tom Trebon Peggy Trenk Jim Tucker Shirley J. Warehime Warren School PTO Ron Waterman Richard Weaver Ann Williams Sue & Duane Wright

FRIEND

UP TO $99 Marika Adamek Amazon Smile Foundation Rebecca Ames Karen & Bonner Armstrong Annette Baird Elizabeth Baker M.C. Beeby Jane Benson Leeann F. & John W. Berry Don Betts Peter Blitzer Sarah A. Bond Carol & Richard Bondy Lesley Bredvik Marie & Kent Brown Colleen Casey Dennis Clark

Joann Clark Connie Conley Harlan D. Conroy James Darr Rebecca H. Donaldson Pamela & Stanley Duensing Len Eckel Elliston School District #27 Donald Erpenbach Sarah Fenton Louise & Barry Ferst Marylis Filipovich Tom Flowers Raylene & Edwin Glenn Margaret Godolphin Mary Karen Grande Colleen Grass James Greytak Brent Gruvman Deborah A. & Roy Hansmann Jasyn & John Harrington Kathy Harris Darice Henry Arthur Howell Scott Kall Bradley Kelso Andree Larose Leatrice Lily Kathleen & Michael Manion Ruth Ann Massey Carole Massman Cheryl. J. & D.P .McKenty Kay McOmber Richard Misplon Tasha & Robert Personette Becky Powell Tiffany Sauer Thomas J Schneider Allan R Scott Patricia Seiler Sandy Shull Robert Silbering Tedra Skaar Joseph Smits Van Oyen Rachel Spangler Laurie Stetler Robert Sturdevant The Boeing Company Gift Match Richard & Marty Thieltges Shirley I Thomas Donna Torgerson Trinity Parents Assoc.

Erin Vang Wendy & Gregg Wheeler Wolf Creek School District No. 13 Russell Wrigg

Because of your dedication, the Helena Symphony Orchestra & Chorale’s long-standing tradition of passionate music-making and innovative programming has become a source of pride, a cultural priority, and a transformative force in the Helena region. Your donation helps you and makes a meaningful impact on the Symphony’s educational and artistic programming.

TO DONATE:

www.helenasymphony.org

www.helenasymphony.org

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hccu is a proud supporter of the Helena Symphony and Symphony Under the Stars wehearthelena

thecu4u.org

Maestro Allan R. Scott

Helena Symphony Orchestra HCCU BUSINESS MEMBER

Federally insured by NCUA

Watch for BIG CHANGES at HCCU in late 2018!

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Helena Symphony Season 64

Official

THE

RESTAURANT OF THE

We are proud to support and serve the Helena community.

www.helenasymphony.org 833 Great Northern Blvd | 495.0677 | silverstarsteakco.com

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