JANUARY 26, 28

Concerts of Thursday, January 26, 2023, 8:00 PM

Saturday, January 28, 2023, 8:00 PM

SIR DONALD RUNNICLES, conductor RUSSELL BRAUN, baritone

YING FANG, soprano ATLANTA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CHORUS

NORMAN MACKENZIE, Director of Choruses ADOLPHUS HAILSTORK (b. 1941)

Epitaph for a Man Who Dreamed: In Memoriam: Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)

(1979) 7 MINS JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833–1897)

Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem),

Op. 45 (1868) 68 MINS

I. Chorus: Selig sind, die da Leid tragen

II. Chorus: Denn alles Fleisch es ist wie Gras

III. Baritone and Chorus: Herr, lehre doch mich, daß ein Ende mit mir haben muß

IV. Chorus: Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen, Herr Zebaoth

V. Soprano: Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit Chorus: Ich will euch trösten

VI. Chorus: Denn wir haben hie keine bleibende Statt Baritone: Seihe, ich sag euch ein Geheimnis VII. Chorus: Selig sind die Toten, die in dem Herren sterben

Thursday’s concert is dedicated to SALLY & CARL GABLE in honor of their extraordinary support of the 2021/22 Annual Fund.

Saturday’s concert is dedicated to JUNE & JOHN SCOTT in honor of their extraordinary support of the 2021/22 Annual Fund.

The use of cameras or recording devices during the concert is strictly prohibited. Please be kind to those around you and silence your mobile phone and other hand-held devices.

Epitaph for a Man Who Dreamed: First and most recent In Memoriam: Martin Luther King, Jr. ASO performances: Epitaph for a Man Who Dreamed is scored for three January 11–13, 1996 flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, Yoel Levi, conductor

contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp and strings.

Adolphus Hailstork received his doctorate in composition from Michigan State University, where he was a student of H. Owen Reed. He had previously studied at the Manhattan School of Music, under Vittorio Giannini and David Diamond, at the American Institute at Fontainebleau with Nadia Boulanger, and at Howard University with Mark Fax. Hailstork has written numerous works for chorus, solo voice, piano, organ, various chamber ensembles, band, orchestra, and opera. Significant performances by major orchestras (Philadelphia, Chicago, and New York) have been led by leading conductors such as James de Priest, Paul Freeman, Daniel Barenboim, Kurt Masur, Lorin Maezel, Jo Ann Falletta and David Lockington. The composer’s second symphony (commissioned by the Detroit Symphony), and second opera, Joshua’s Boots (commissioned by the Opera Theatre of St. Louis and the Kansas City Lyric Opera) were both premiered in 1999. Hailstork’s second and third symphonies were recorded by the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra (David Lockington) and were released by Naxos. Another Naxos recording, An American Port of Call (Virginia Symphony Orchestra) was released in spring 2012. Hailstork’s newest works include The World Called (based on Rita Dove’s poem Testimonial), a work for soprano, chorus and orchestra commissioned by the Oratorio Society of Virginia (premiered in May 2018) and Still Holding On (February 2019) an orchestra work commissioned and premiered by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He is currently working on his Fourth Symphony, and A Knee on a Neck (tribute to George Floyd) for chorus and orchestra. Dr. Hailstork resides in Virginia Beach Virginia, and is Professor of Music and Eminent Scholar at Old Dominion University in Norfolk.

From the composer:

A great man is being buried. A few mourners ring the gravesite singing a spiritual. Gradually, more bereaved gather and join in (strings). They reflect upon their memories of hopes and

FRITZ LUCKARDT dreams inspired by their fallen leader. The service concludes and the bowed heads begin to lift. They will carry on. Technically the piece is a study in understatement and control. There is no virtuosity. There are no sudden dramatic effects. Harmony is simple, coloration is medium to dark. There is a very restrained and careful control of the climax, there being only one at the end of the work.

Epitaph was first performed in January 1980 by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under the direction of William Henry Curry.

Ein deutsches Requiem, Op. 45 Ein deutsches Requiem is scored for soprano and baritone solo, mixed chorus, piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, harp, organ and strings. The Backstory

Traditionally, a requiem is a musical setting of the Roman Catholic funeral. A rite that dates back (at least) to the sixteenth century, the language remained virtually unchanged for hundreds of years. This means that if you sing a requiem by Victoria (1603) or Duruflé (1947), you’ll find that much of the language is identical—and always in Latin. It wasn’t until the 1960s that the Church condoned saying Mass in other tongues. As a musical work, the requiem took on a life of its own. For many composers, it is the magnum opus, one that connects them to masterpieces by Verdi, Fauré, Berlioz, Mozart and Duruflé. For this reason, some composers continue to write requiems in Latin—but it wasn’t always optional. Back in the 1530s, a scholar named William Tyndale translated the Bible into English, ran it through a printing press, and began distributing copies. For his effort, he was arrested, strangled and burned at the stake. Less than three hundred miles away, Martin Luther had better luck. He started translating the New Testament into German while hiding at Wartburg Castle. He completed the Bible and Apocrypha in 1545. It was the

Luther Bible that provided the source material for Brahms’s A German Requiem.

Ein deutsches Requiem

Brahms had come from a family with little money, but he always had a robust support system in his hometown of Hamburg. As a child, he

First ASO performances: March 17–18, 1960 Henry Sopkin, conductor Most recent ASO performances: April 14–16, 2016 Robert Spano, conductor

received free piano lessons from local musicians. He was provided a piano and a room for practicing by others in the community. In 1853, at the age of twenty, Brahms turned up at the doorstep of two musical heavyweights: Robert and Clara Schumann. Immediately, the Schumanns brought him into their orbit. Making him their protégé, they made public endorsements and offered lots of career advice (they urged him to start writing symphonies). Clearly, there was a potent chemistry between them—Brahms remained devoted to the Schumanns for the rest of his life, although their trio lasted for just nine months. In February of 1854, Robert Schumann left home in his nightshirt and jumped into the icy waters of the Rhine. A worker fished him out, but he never recovered and spent his last two years in an institution. Young Brahms gravitated to the one person who shared his grief: Clara. Brahms stepped in to help her with her seven little Schumanns (it must be said, there is no evidence of a romance between them). On his own, Brahms began to sketch out a somber movement for a symphony based on the Spanish sarabande. It didn’t come to anything, but years later, the material found its way into the second movement of A German Requiem. Schumann died in July 1856. Years went by; Brahms settled in Vienna and gained experience as a choral conductor and composer. (He still didn’t manage to write a symphony.) Clara, one of the greatest pianists of their time, started touring to support her children. In 1864, Brahms received some bad news from Hamburg: his parents had separated. Brahms wrote to them, urging them to reconcile. And then a telegram arrived from his brother, Fritz. “If you want to see our mother again,” he wrote, “come at once.” Brahms made the 600-mile trip in two days but was too late. She had died of stroke. He was devastated. Back in Vienna, he poured his grief into music. Within a few months of her passing, he sent to Clara an excerpt from a new piece, a “so-called deutsches Requiem.” The work took shape over the next year. He also called it “The Human Requiem” because he had chosen versus from the Luther Bible that offered consolation. Where the Latin Mass is written for an “audience of one”—God—the Brahms Requiem is written for the bereaved. In the opening section, for example, the Latin Mass is a prayer beseeching God to grant eternal rest. In the Brahms Requiem, the opening comes from the Beatitudes: “Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

Musically, the opening adheres closer to the traditional requiem; it is hushed, mournful, and smacks of death. In fact, Brahms leaves the violins out altogether, choosing the darker timbre of the lower strings. When the violins make their appearance in the second movement, they’re muted, spinning a ghostly sheen around an offkilter funeral march (marches are typically written in two for the benefit of two-legged people; Brahms’s funeral march is in three). Taking a left turn mid-movement, the clouds part, and Brahms unleashes the full might of the ensemble to proclaim: “they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away (Isaiah 51:11).” Where the Latin Mass for the dead combines God’s wrath with urgent appeals for mercy, Brahms chose a different message: “But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them. (Wisdom of Solomon 3:1).” The resulting requiem is a journey through sorrow and doubt that ultimately wraps the bereaved in an almost Heavenly embrace. In December of 1867, Brahms premiered the first three movements of his requiem in Vienna, where there was a mix of enthusiasm and criticism—and evidently some hissing. Brahms made revisions. Rehearsals for the official premiere of a six-movement version began the following month. The concert took place at the Breman Cathedral on April 10, 1868—Good Friday. There was one mild disagreement between the composer and the director of music. Organist and conductor Carl Martin Reinthaler suggested to Brahms that he add language about the resurrection of Christ. Brahms declined. At the same time, he wasn’t entirely settled with the piece. After the premiere, he sent a copy of the score to his one-time piano teacher in Hamburg, Eduard Marxsen, who suggested an additional movement featuring a solo soprano. Brahms sat down and wrote “Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit,” the present-day fifth movement. The revised version of A German Requiem premiered in Leipzig the following year.

Text and Translation

Chorus

Selig sind, die da Leid tragen, denn sie sollen getröstet werden.

Die mit Tränen säen, werden mit Freuden ernten. Sie gehen hin und weinen, und tragen edlen Samen, und kommen mit Freuden und bringen ihre Garben.

Chorus

Denn alles Fleisch es ist wie Gras und alle Herrlichkeit des Menschen wie des Grases Blumen. Das Gras ist verdorret und die Blume abgefallen.

So seid nun geduldig, lieben Brüder, bis auf die Zukunft des Herrn. Siehe ein Ackermann wartet auf die köstliche Frucht der Erde und ist geduldig darüber, bis er empfahe den Morgenregen und Abendregen. So seid geduldig.

Aber des Herrn Wort bleibet in Ewigkeit.

Die Erlöseten des Herrn werden wiederkommen, und gen Zion kommen mit Jauchzen; Freude, ewige Freude wird über ihrem

Haupte sein; Freude und Wonne werden

Sie ergreifen, und Schmerz und Seufzen wird weg müssen. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. — Matthew 5:4

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goes forth and weeps, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. — Psalm 126:5–6

For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower thereof falls away. — I Peter 1:24

Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husband waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient.

— James 5:7–8

But the word of the Lord endures forever.

— I Peter 1:25

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. — Isaiah 35:10

Baritone and Chorus

Herr, lehre doch mich, daß ein Ende mit mir haben muß, und mein Leben ein Ziel hat, und ich davon muß. Siehe, meine Tage sind einer Handbreit vor dir, und mein Leben ist wie nichts vor dir. Ach, wie gar nichts sind alle Menschen, die doch so sicher leben. Sie gehen daher wie ein Schemen, und machen ihnen viel vergebliche

Unruhe; sie sammeln und wissen nicht, wer es kriegen wird. Nun Herr, wes soll ich mich trösten? Ich hoffe auf dich. Lord, teach me that there must be an end of me, and my life has a term, and I must go hence. Behold, my days are a handbreadth before Thee, and my life is as nothing before Thee: Ah, what vain things are all men, that yet live so sure of themselves. They go about like a shadow, and make themselves much useless anxiety; they amass possessions, and know not who will enjoy them. Now, Lord, in what shall I find solace? My hope is in Thee.

— Psalm 39:4–7

Der Gerechten Seelen sind in Gottes Hand, und keine Qual rühret sie an.

Chorus

Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen, Herr Zebaoth! Meine Seele verlanget und sehnet sich nach den Vorhöfen des Herrn; mein Leib und Seele freuen sich in dem lebendigen Gott. Wohl denen, die in deinem Hause wohnen, die loben dich immerdar!

Soprano and Chorus

Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit; aber ich will euch wieder sehen und euer Herz soll sich freuen, und eure Freude soll niemand von euch nehmen.

Ich will euch trösten, wie einen seine Mutter tröstet. The souls of the righteous are in God’s hand, And no pain touches them. — Wisdom 3:1

How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul desires, yea, even longs for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house: they will still be praising Thee. — Psalm 84:1–2, 4 Ye now therefore have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. — John 16:22

I will comfort you, as one whom his mother comforts. — Isaiah 66:13

Sehet mich an: ich habe eine kleine Zeit Mühe und Arbeit gehabt und habe großen Trost funden.

Baritone and Chorus

Denn wir haben hie keine bleibende Statt, sondern die zukünftige suchen wir.

Siehe, ich sage euch ein Geheimnis. Wir werden nicht alle entschlafen, wir werden aber alle verwandelt werden; und dasselbige plötzlich in einem

Augenblick, zu der Zeit der letzten Posaune. Denn es wird die Posaune schallen und die Toten werden auferstehen unverweslich, und wir werden verwandelt werden. Dann wird erfüllet werden das Wort, das geschrieben steht: Der Tod ist verschlungen in den Sieg. Tod, wo ist dein Stachel? Hölle, wo ist dein Sieg?

Herr, du bist würdig, zu nehmen Preis und Ehre und Kraft, denn du hast alle Dinge erschaffen und durch deinen Willen haben sie das Wesen und sind geschaffen.

Chorus

Selig sind die Toten, die in dem Herrn sterben, von nun an. Ja, der Geist spricht, daß sie ruhen von ihrer Arbeit; denn ihre Werke folgen ihnen nach. Behold me: I have for a little while had tribulation and labor, and have found great comfort.

— Ecclesiasticus 51:35

For here have we no enduring city, but we seek one to come. — Hebrews 13:14

Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet: For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? — I Corinthians 15:51–52, 54–55

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created. — Revelation 4:11

Blessed are the dead which die in the

Lord from henceforth. Yea, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them. — Revelation 14:13

DARIO ACOSTA

JOHANNES IFKOVITS SIR DONALD RUNNICLES, CONDUCTOR See bio Page 42 YING FANG, SOPRANO

This season, Chinese soprano Ying Fang returns to the San Francisco Symphony for Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 conducted by Robin Ticciati, debuts with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem led by Sir Donald Runnicles, and performs with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in Mozart’s Mass in C minor and Handel’s Messiah, led by Manfred Honeck.

A native of Ningbo, China, Ms. Fang is the recipient of the Martin E. Segal Award, the Hildegard Behrens Foundation Award, the Rose Bampton Award of The Sullivan Foundation, The Opera Index Award, and First Prize of the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition. In 2009, she become one of the youngest singers to win one of China’s most prestigious awards – the China Golden Bell Award for Music. She holds a Master’s degree and an Artist Diploma in Opera Study from The Juilliard School and a Bachelor’s degree from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and is a former member of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. RUSSELL BRAUN, BARITONE

Baritone Russell Braun’s highlights of the 2021/22 season include Sam in A Quiet Place for Opéra national de Paris, Speaker in Die Zauberflöte for the Canadian Opera Company and on the concert platform, Britten’s War Requiem with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. Braun sings regularly with the world’s major conductors and orchestras, including the Atlanta Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Montreal

Symphony, Danish National Symphony and Houston Symphony.

He has performed Peter Eötvös’s Senza Sangue in Rome, London, Norway and Sweden, Brett Dean’s Knocking at the Hell Gate with the BBC Symphony in London, and Kaija Saariaho’s Cinque reflets de l’amour de loin with the Radio-Sinfonieorchester in both Stuttgart and Freiburg. Recent highlights include Brahms’s Vier Ernste Gesänge arranged by Detlev

Glanert and Fauré’s Requiem with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Vaughn Williams’s A Sea Symphony with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. His discography features the Grammy® nominated Das Lied von der Erde (Dorian), JUNO winners Mozart Arie e duetti (CBC) and Apollo e Daphne, and JUNO nominee Winterreise (CBC). His most recent release is Dietch’s Le Vaisseau Fantôme with Les Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble on the Naïve label.

JD SCOTT

ATLANTA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CHORUS

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus, founded in 1970 by former Music Director, Robert Shaw, is an all-volunteer, auditioned ensemble that performs on a regular basis with the Orchestra and is featured on many of its recordings. Led by Director of Choruses, Norman Mackenzie, the chorus is known for its precision and expressive singing quality. Its recordings have garnered 14 Grammy® Awards (nine for Best Choral Performance; four for Best Classical Recording and one for Best Opera Recording). The Chorus performs large symphonic choral works, under the direction of Co-Artistic Advisors Maestro Robert Spano and Principal Guest Conductor Sir Donald Runnicles, and Music Director Nathalie Stutzmann. In addition, the Chorus has been involved in the creation and shaping of numerous world-premiere commissioned works. NORMAN MACKENZIE, DIRECTOR OF CHORUSES

Norman Mackenzie’s abilities as musical collaborator, conductor and concert organist have brought him international recognition. As Director of Chorus for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) since 2000, he was chosen to help carry forward the creative vision of legendary founding conductor Robert Shaw. During his tenure, the Chorus has made numerous tours and garnered several Grammy® awards, including Best Classical Album and Best Choral Performance.

At the ASO, he prepares the Choruses for all concerts and recordings, works closely with Nathalie Stutzmann on the commissioning and realization of new choral-orchestral works and conducts holiday concerts. In his 14-year association with Mr. Shaw, he was keyboardist for the ASO, principal accompanist for the ASO Choruses and ultimately assistant choral conductor. In addition, he was musical assistant and accompanist for the Robert Shaw Chamber Singers, the Robert Shaw Institute Summer Choral Festivals in France and the United States and the famed Shaw/Carnegie Hall Choral Workshops. He prepared the ASO Chorus for its acclaimed 2003 debut and successive 2008 and 2009 performances in Berlin with the Berlin Philharmonic, in Britten’s War Requiem, Berlioz’s Grande Messe des Morts and Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, respectively, conducted by ASO Principal Guest Conductor Donald Runnicles.

ATLANTA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CHORUS

Norman Mackenzie

director of choruses The Frannie & Bill Graves Chair Jeffrey Baxter

choral administrator The Florence Kopleff Chair Peter Marshall

accompanist

SOPRANO 1

Ellen Abney Khadijah Davis Liz Dean* Laura Foster Michelle Griffin* Erin Jones* Arietha Lockhart** Mindy Margolis* Joneen Padgett* Rachel Paul Susan Ray Samaria Rodriguez Emily Salmond Lydia Sharp Susie Shepardson Chelsea Toledo Brianne Turgeon** Deanna Walton Erika Wuerzner Michelle Yancich Wanda Yang Temko**

SOPRANO 2

Debbie Ashton Sloan Atwood* Jessica Barber Tierney Breedlove Barbara Brown Maggie Carpenter Martha Craft Gina Deaton Erika Elliott Mary Goodwin Amanda Hoffman Melissa Mack Heidi Padovano Tramaine Quarterman Marianna Schuck Paula Snelling** Anne-Marie Spalinger* Emily Tallant Cheryl Thrash** Donna Weeks**

ALTO 1

June Abbott** Pamela Amy-Cupp Deborah Boland** Emily Campbell Donna Carter-Wood** Patricia DinkinsMatthews* Angel Dotson-Hall Katherine Fisher Beth Freeman* Unita Harris Beverly Hueter* Susan Jones Kathleen KellyGeorge* Virginia Little* Staria Lovelady* Alina Luke Frances McDowellBeadle** Sara McKlin Linda Morgan** Katherine Murray** Natalie Pierce Kathleen Poe Ross Noelle Ross Laura Emiko Soltis Camilla Springfield** Rachel Stewart** Nancy York*

ALTO 2

Nancy Adams* Angelica BlackmanKeim Elizabeth Borland Emily Boyer Marcia Chandler* Carol Comstock Meaghan Curry Cynthia Goeltz DeBold** Michèle Diament* Alyssa Harris Joia Johnson Sally Kann Nicole Khoury* Katherine MacKenzie Lynda Martin Lalla McGee Sun Min Laura Rappold* Sharon Simons* Virginia Thompson* Cheryl Vanture Kiki Wilson** Diane Woodard**

TENOR 1

Jeffrey Baxter** Christian Bigliani David Blalock** LaRue Bowman John Brandt** Jack Caldwell** Daniel Cameron* Daniel Compton Justin Cornelius Joseph Cortes Clifford Edge** Leif Gilbert-Hansen* James Jarrell* Keith Langston* Sean Mayer* Christopher Patton* Stephen Reed # Mark Warden*

TENOR 2

Sutton Bacon Matthew Borkowski Steve Brailsford Charles Cottingham # Phillip Crumbly* Steven Dykes Joseph Few** Sean Fletcher John Harr Keith Jeffords** David Kinrade Michael Parker Timothy Parrott Marshall Peterson* Brent Runnels Matthew Sellers Thomas Slusher Scott Stephens**

BASS 1

Dock Anderson William Borland* Russell Cason** Jeremy Christensen Joshua Clark Trey Clegg* Rick Cobb Michael Cranford Michael Devine Thomas Elston Jon Gunnemann** Jason Hamlet Noah Horton Nick Jones # Frank Kingsley Alp Koksal Jameson Linville Jason Maynard Jackson McCarthy Hal Richards Peter Shirts John Terry Marshall Todd Edgie Wallace*

BASS 2

Philip Barreca Marcel Benoit Jacob Blevins John Carter Terrence Connors Joel Craft** Paul Fletcher Timothy Gunter* Thomas Hanrahan David Hansen** Philip Jones Tamir Mickens Michael Nedvidek Joel Rose John Ruff* Jonathan Smith* George Sustman Benjamin Temko* David Webster** Gregory Whitmire** Keith Wyatt*

* 20+ years of service ** 30+ years of service # Charter member (1970)