AT L A N TA SY M P H O N Y O R C H E S T R A
NOVEMBER 2023
encoreatlanta.com
N OV E M B E R
|1
2 0 2 3
I N T R O D U C T I O N S In Tune. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Music Director.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 ASO Leadership. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 ASO Musicians. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 N OT E S
O N
T H E
P R O G R A M
Written by Noel Morris
NOVEMBER 2, 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 NOVEMBER 9, 11. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 NOVEMBER 16, 18, 19. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 NOV 30, DEC 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 D E PA R T M E N T S Donor Profile.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 ASO Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Henry Sopkin Circle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
age 14 P ASO's Talent Development Program Turns 30
ASO Staff. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Woodruff Circle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Benefactor Circle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
Our audience is your audience.
encore Printed exclusively by Communicorp
Advertise with Encore and reach a targeted group of performing arts lovers. E N C O R E AT L A N TA .C O M P U B L I S H E R
Brantley Manderson brantley@encoreatlanta.com
SENIOR ACCOUNT DIRECTOR CHARLOTTE
Hila Johnson hila@encorecharlotte.com
E D I TO R
I N
C H I E F
Robert Viagas robert@encoreatlanta.com
G R A P H I C
D E S I G N E R
Tamara Hooks tamara@encoreatlanta.com
D I G I TA L
M E D I A
D I R E C TO R
Jennifer Nelson jennifer@encoreatlanta.com
W R I T E R
Keith Loria
ENCORE ATLANTA is published monthly by B2 MEDIA, LLC. P.O. Box 1377 | Columbus, Georgia 31902 Phone 678-837-4004 Copyright © 2023 Encore Atlanta. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited. Encore Atlanta is a registered publication of B2 Media, LLC. The publisher shall not be liable for failure to publish an ad, for typographical errors, or errors in publication. Publisher reserves the right to refuse any advertising for any reason and to alter advertising copy or graphics deemed unacceptable for publication.
C O N T A C T Hila Johnson 305-978-2922 hila@encorecharlotte.com
As one of the region’s largest Marketing Solutions Providers, Communicorp handles everything from print to digital to emerging technologies like clickable print or eCommerce storefronts. We guide clients through the maze of new marketing technologies and methodologies with a unique approach that always looks beyond yesterday’s solutions. Based in Columbus, GA, Communicorp is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aflac. To learn more about our award-winning solutions, visit Communicorp.com.
4 | encore ASO | IN TUNE
I
t often seems as though time moves at a presto tempo. This month we are taking time to slow down and reflect on two of our most important and influential education programs that are—quite literally—building the future of American orchestras. This Fall we celebrate the 30th anniversary of our ground-breaking Talent Development Program (TDP), which identifies and nurtures gifted elementary, middle and high school musicians of Black and Latine heritage for careers as professional classical musicians. In its 30 years, TDP has graduated over 100 students who have gone on to thrive at the most prestigious conservatories in the world, and now they are performing, teaching, composing, leading and performing, literally around the world. The fruits of TDP have come full circle. Two TDP alums play on our stage regularly, cellist Denielle Wilson and tubist Joshua Williams. Last month, star alum Brandon Leonard performed Shostakovich’s fiendishly difficult Cello Concerto No. 1 with the ASO conducted by Nathalie Stutzmann. In addition to checking out our feature story about the history of the program, I urge you also to join us for TDP events throughout the year—go to aso.org/tdp for details. We guarantee that you will be inspired. This past month, we also celebrated the 100th birthday of the guiding light of TDP, the program’s founder, Mrs. Azira Hill. With her husband Jesse Hill, a major figure in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s, Mrs. Hill led the charge for change—and she’s been pouring her passion for change and equity into the classical music world for the past 30 years. The TDP that she got started will continue to thrive for years to come, changing the face of classical music in America and beyond. In addition, 50 years ago, the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra played its first chords. Stay tuned for festivities marking this half-century milestone in the Spring, when we’ll have more to say about their many great accomplishments in a future edition of Encore. Finally, I would like to take a moment to thank our Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus for their tireless hours of dedication to the art of music-making at the highest level. The ASO Chorus is so special and unique, known around the world for their power and suppleness. Their partnership with Music Director Nathalie Stutzmann has brought the transcendent musicianship to new heights of glorious music-making, as we hear this month in a program featuring gorgeous, rich works by Brahms. We are thrilled you are here with us at Symphony Hall! With gratitude,
Jennifer Barlament, Executive Director
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
TODD HALL
DEAR FRIENDS OF THE ATLANTA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA,
encoreatlanta.com
|5
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
encoreatlanta.com
|7
ASO | NATHALIE STUTZMANN
N
athalie Stutzmann is the Music Director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the second woman in history to lead a major American orchestra. She is also the Principal Guest Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra.
When Nathalie made her spectacular debut at the 2023 Bayreuth Festival leading Wagner’s Tannhäuser, BR Klassik observed having “never experienced such a standing ovation at a pit debut in Bayreuth.” Last season also saw her acclaimed debut at the Metropolitan Opera with productions of both Die Zauberflöte and Don Giovanni that The New York Times declared “the coup of the year.” During the 23-24 season, she leads the Atlanta Symphony in a West Coast tour and twelve programs spanning some of her favorite core repertoire from Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms and Ravel through to the large symphonic forces of Mahler, Strauss and Tchaikovsky, along with a Bruckner festival marking the composer’s 200th anniversary. With The Philadelphia Orchestra, she returns to New York for her much-anticipated Carnegie Hall debut.
AUDRA MELTON
She was awarded the 2023 Opus Klassik “Concerto Recording of the Year” for her recording of Glière and Mosolov Harp concertos with Xavier de Maistre and WDR Sinfonieorchester. Gramophone praised her 2022 recording of the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos as “a brilliant collaboration that I urge you to not miss.” Nathalie Stutzmann is an exclusive recording artist for Warner Classics/Erato. As one of today’s most esteemed contraltos, she has made more than 80 recordings and received the most prestigious awards. Recognized for her significant contribution to the arts, Nathalie was named “Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur,” France’s highest honor; and “Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” by the French government.
8 | encore ASO | LEADERSHIP | 2023/24 Board of Directors OFFICERS Patrick Viguerie
Bert Mills
Susan Antinori
James Rubright
chair
treasurer
vice chair
vice chair
Janine Brown
Angela Evans
Lynn Eden
immediate past chair
secretary
vice chair
DIRECTORS Phyllis Abramson
Carlos del Rio, M.D. FIDSA
Randolph J. Koporc
Doug Reid
Keith Adams
Carrie Kurlander
James Rubright
Juliet M. Allan
Lisa DiFrancesco, M.D.
James H. Landon
William Schultz
Susan Antinori
Sloane Drake
Donna Lee
Charles Sharbaugh
Andrew Bailey
Lynn Eden
Sukai Liu
Fahim Siddiqui
Keith Barnett
Yelena Epova
Kevin Lyman
W. Ross Singletary, II
Jennifer Barlament*
Angela Evans
Deborah Marlowe
John Sparrow
Paul Blackney
Craig Frankel
Shelley McGehee
Elliott Tapp
Zachary Boeding*
Sally Bogle Gable
Arthur Mills IV
Brett Tarver
Janine Brown
Anne Game
Bert Mills
Maria Todorova
Benjamin Q. Brunt
Rod Garcia-Escudero
Molly Minnear
S. Patrick Viguerie
Betsy Camp
Sally Frost George
Hala Moddelmog*
Kathy Waller
S. Wright Caughman, M.D.
Robert Glustrom
Anne Morgan
Chris Webber
Bonnie B. Harris
Terence L. Neal
John B. White, Jr.
Lisa Chang
Charles Harrison
Galen Lee Oelkers
Richard S. White, Jr.
Susan Clare
Tad Hutcheson, Jr.
Dr. John Paddock
Russell Currey
Roya Irvani
Margie Painter
Kevin E. Woods, M.D., M.P.H.
Sheila Lee Davies
Joia Johnson
Howard D. Palefsky
Erroll Brown Davis, Jr.
Chris Kopecky
Barbara N. Paul
BOARD OF COUNSELORS Neil Berman
John T. Glover
Meghan H. Magruder
Michael W. Trapp
Rita Bloom
Dona Humphreys
Penelope McPhee
Ray Uttenhove
John W. Cooledge, M.D. Aaron J. Johnson, Jr.
Patricia H. Reid
Chilton Varner
John R. Donnell, Jr.
Ben F. Johnson, III
Joyce Schwob
Adair M. White
Jere A. Drummond
James F. Kelley
John A Sibley, III
Sue Sigmon Williams
Carla Fackler
Patricia Leake
H. Hamilton Smith
Charles B. Ginden
Karole F. Lloyd
G. Kimbrough Taylor, Jr.
LIFE DIRECTORS Howell E. Adams, Jr.
Connie Calhoun
C. Merrell Calhoun
*Ex-Officio Board Member
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
Azira G. Hill
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
10 | encore ASO | 2023/24 Musician Roster Nathalie Stutzmann music director
The Robert Reid Topping Chair
FIRST VIOLIN David Coucheron concertmaster
Jay Christy
acting associate / assistant principal
The Mr. & Mrs. Howard R. Peevy Chair
Dae Hee Ahn
Justin Bruns
Noriko Konno Clift
associate concertmaster
Robert Anemone
The Charles McKenzie Taylor Chair
David Dillard
Vacant
Eun Young Jung
assistant concertmaster
Eleanor Kosek
Jun-Ching Lin
Yaxin Tan
assistant concertmaster
Rachel Ostler
Anastasia Agapova acting assistant
VIOLA
concertmaster
Zhenwei Shi
Kevin Chen Carolyn Toll Hancock The Wells Fargo Chair
John Meisner Christopher Pulgram Juan R. Ramírez Hernández Olga Shpitko Kenn Wagner Lisa Wiedman Yancich Sissi Yuqing Zhang SECTION VIOLIN ‡ Judith Cox Raymond Leung The Carolyn McClatchey Chair
principal
The Frances Cheney Boggs Chair
Isabel Kwon Nathan Mo Brad Ritchie Denielle Wilson BASS Joseph McFadden principal
The Marcia & John Donnell Chair
Gloria Jones Allgood associate principal
Michael Kenady
associate principal
The Jane Little Chair
The Mary & Lawrence Gellerstedt Chair
Michael Kurth
Catherine Lynn
Karl Fenner
Nicholas Scholefield
assistant principal
Daniel Tosky
Marian Kent
FLUTE
Yang-Yoon Kim
Christina Smith
Yiyin Li
principal
Jessica Oudin
The Jill Hertz Chair The Mabel Dorn Reeder Honorary Chair
Madeline Sharp
Robert Cronin
Lachlan McBane
principal
Sou-Chun Su acting / associate principal
Ray Kim
Paul Murphy
SECOND VIOLIN
The Atlanta Symphony Associates Chair
The UPS Foundation Chair
The Lucy R. & Gary Lee Jr. Chair
CELLO
principal
Joel Dallow
The Edus H. & Harriet H. Warren Chair
Sanford Salzinger Vacant
Thomas Carpenter
Vacant The Miriam & John Conant Chair
Daniel Laufer acting / associate principal
associate principal
C. Todd Skitch Gina Hughes PICCOLO Gina Hughes
The Livingston Foundation Chair
Karen Freer
acting associate / assistant principal
Players in string sections are listed alphabetically
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
William R. Langley associate conductor &
atlanta symphony youth
Norman Mackenzie director of choruses
The Frannie & Bill Graves Chair
orchestra music director
The Zeist Foundation Chair
OBOE
HORN
TIMPANI
Elizabeth Koch Tiscione
Ryan Little
Mark Yancich
principal
principal
principal
The George M. & Corrie Hoyt Brown Chair
The Betty Sands Fuller Chair
The Walter H. Bunzl Chair
Zachary Boeding
Jack Bryant
Michael Stubbart
Kimberly Gilman
assistant principal
The Kendeda Fund Chair
Bruce Kenney
PERCUSSION
Samuel Nemec*
TRUMPET
Joseph Petrasek
Jonathan Gentry
Vacant
Emily Brebach
principal
associate principal
ENGLISH HORN Emily Brebach CLARINET
The Madeline & Howell Adams Chair
Michael Tiscione acting / associate principal Anthony Limoncelli*
principal
The Julie & Arthur Montgomery Chair
Michael Jarrett assistant principal
The William A. Schwartz Chair
Michael Stubbart
Mark Maliniak
The Connie & Merrell Calhoun Chair
The Robert Shaw Chair
William Cooper
Ted Gurch*
HARP
TROMBONE
Elisabeth Remy Johnson
Vacant
principal
Jesse McCandless principal
associate principal
Marci Gurnow acting associate principal
Alcides Rodriguez E-FLAT CLARINET Ted Gurch* BASS CLARINET Alcides Rodriguez BASSOON Vacant principal
The Abraham J. & Phyllis Katz Foundation Chair
Anthony Georgeson acting / associate principal Laura Najarian
principal
KEYBOARD
Nathan Zgonc acting / associate principal
Peter Marshall †
The Hugh & Jessie Hodgson Memorial Chair
The Home Depot Veterans Chair
Sharon Berenson †
Jason Patrick Robins
LIBRARY
BASS TROMBONE
Joshua Luty
Chance Gompart
principal
Jordan Milek Johnson
The Marianna & Solon Patterson Chair
Fellow
Sara Baguyos
TUBA
associate principal librarian
Michael Moore principal
The Delta Air Lines Chair
Juan de Gomar
Joshua Williams
CONTRA-BASSOON
fellow
Juan de Gomar
The Sally & Carl Gable Chair
The Terence L. Neal Chair, Honoring his dedication & service to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
Zeist Foundation ASO Fellowship Chair
‡ Rotates between sections | * Leave of absence | † Regularly engaged musician
Members of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Advisory Council is a group of passionate & engaged individuals who act as both ambassadors & resources for the ASO Board & staff. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra extends heartfelt gratitude to the members listed on this page. 2023/24 CHAIRS Jane Morrison advisory council chair
Justin Im internal connections
task force co-chair Robert Lewis, Jr.
internal connections task force co-chair
Frances Root patron experience task force chair
Eleina Raines diversity & community connections task force co-chair
Otis Threatt diversity & community connections task force co-chair
Brian & Ann Kimsey MEMBERS Jason & Michelle Kroh Dr. Marshall & Stephanie Abes Scott Lampert Krystal Ahn Dr. Fulton Lewis III & Mr. Neal Rhoney Paul & Melody Aldo Kristi & Aadu Allpere Robert Lewis, Jr. Eunice Luke Evelyn Babey Asad & Sakina Bashey Erin Marshall Pam Martin Herschel Beazley Belinda Massafra Meredith W. Bell Erica McVicker Carol Brantley & David Webster Berthe & Shapour Mobasser Tracey Chu Bert Mobley Donald & Barbara Defoe Caroline & Phil Moïse Paul & Susan Dimmick Sue Morgan Bernadette Drankoski Jane Morrison John & Catherine Dyer Gary Noble Mary Ann Flinn Regina Olchowski Bruce Flower Bethani Oppenheimer John Fuller Chris Owes Dr. Paul Gilreath Ralph Paulk Tucker Green Fay & Ann Pearce Caroline Hofland Justin Im Baxter Jones & Jiong Yan Jon Kamenear
Eliza Quigley Eleina Raines Vicki Riedel Felicia Rives
Frances A. Root Tiffany & Rich Rosetti Thomas & Lynne Saylor Beverly & Milton Shlapak Suzanne Shull Baker Smith Cindy Smith Peter & Kristi Stathopoulos Tom & Ani Steele Kimberly Strong Stephen & Sonia Swartz George & Amy Taylor Bob & Dede Thompson Otis Threatt Jr. Cathy Toren Roxanne Varzi Robert & Amy Vassey Juliana Vincenzino Nanette Wenger Christopher Wilbanks Kiki Wilson Taylor Winn Camille Yow
For more information about becoming an Advisory Council member, please contact Cheri Snyder at cheri.snyder@atlantasymphony.org or 404.733.4904. aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
ASO’s Talent Development Program Turns 30 By Holly Hanchey
Mrs. Azira G. Hill, TDPs founding matriarch, celebrated her 100th birthday at a special Behind the Curtain concert with TDP student Brandon Leonard and the ASO, Nathalie Stutzmann conducting.
encoreatlanta.com
T
his month, the ASO celebrates the 30th Anniversary of the ground-breaking Talent Development Program (TDP), which is designed to identify, mentor, and develop middle and high school aged musicians of Black and Latino heritage, giving them an opportunity to pursue a career as professional musicians. The TDP aims to increase diversity and inclusion among professional classical musicians in the US. Currently, only 2.4% of all musicians in US orchestras identify as people of color, in contrast to the actual population of people of color in the United States. According to the 2020 Census, 13.6% of the population identifies as Black or African American, and 19.1% as Hispanic or Latino. The TDP has been working to change those statistics, and is succeeding. TDP alumni have gone on to hold positions in major orchestras around the world, including cellist Denielle Wilson and tuba player Joshua Williams, who are both current members of the ASO. Denielle is playing for the second year with the cello section, and Joshua joined the Orchestra in September as one of the first ASO Fellows. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are important to the growth of classical music in many ways. According to Ryan Walks, Talent Development Program Manager, diversity and inclusion “are important because they help deconstruct the thought that certain groups of people are not capable of learning and understanding classical music education, composition, and especially in performance.” Highly regarded harpist Angelica Hairston is a TDP alumnus who is continuing to work on using music as a tool for equity. She serves as Executive Director of Challenge the Stats, and says, “With not only diversity and inclusion, but the act of creating equity in the classical field comes the deep richness of broader perspectives, expanded repertoire, and new and innovative ways to craft an artistic experience. “Noting that BIPOC folks make up the global majority, it’s critical for the classical field to embrace the full spectrum of human experiences and voices. By doing so, we not only honor the historical contributions of underrepresented communities in classical music but also ensure its continued relevance and vitality in the modern world,” Hairston remarks. While almost all auditions for major US orchestras are “blind” auditions, meaning the adjudicators do not see the musicians as
| 15
16 | encore they audition and only hear the quality of their playing, it doesn’t necessarily mean the playing field is level. In order to be able to make it to one of those auditions, musicians need extensive — and expensive — education, including private studies, master classes, a conservatory education, and a quality instrument. Those factors can keep young musicians with exceptional talent out of the running for a career as a classical musician. However, one of the benefits provided to TDP Fellows are private lessons and master classes with ASO musicians. In fact, one-quarter of the musicians in the ASO are involved in the TDP in some fashion. Justin Bruns, ASO Associate Concertmaster, has taught many TDP Fellows over the years, and said “Working with students who love making music on their instrument is so fulfilling. I want to mentor students who are willing to be challenged, put in hard work to improve, and are on a quest to be their best.” “I think it’s important for young people to be able to see themselves onstage, as it really opens up the realm of possibility. The students I’ve worked with in the Talent Development Program are so much more than just talented,” said ASO Acting Associate Principal Clarinet, Marci Gurnow. “They are curious, driven, inspiring, and goaloriented. It’s the ideal combination of these factors that enables me to guide them along during their formative years. My role is to help prepare and mentor my students to make the transition into the larger music world of college and beyond with the tools that will take them far.” That study and preparation, in addition to the experiences performing in ensembles at the Fall and Spring TDP recitals and other concerts, give TDP fellows the education and skills necessary to audition for prestigious summer music programs, like Interlochen Arts Camp and Boston University Tanglewood Institute. If tuition and fees are out of reach, the Azira G. Hill Scholarship Fund supports those fellows. Hairston was a recipient of the Scholarship, and used it to attend the Boston University Tanglewood Institute for two summers as a harpist. Because of the scholarship, which she called “life changing,” Hairston said, “I was fortunate enough to study with Ann Hobson Pilot, renowned former Principal Harpist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a position from which she recently retired after 30 years. She was the first African American woman to hold a principal position in a major symphony orchestra.
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
encoreatlanta.com
| 17
TDP Alumnus Xavier Foley, who graduated from the program in 2011, has enjoyed a rich career as a solo artist and composer, returning to Symphony Hall in March of 2022 to play his own composition, Soul Bass, a concerto for bass and orchestra. And in the spring of this year, cellist and TDP Fellow Brandon Leonard, from Stone Mountain, won first prize in the junior division at the prestigious Sphinx Competition, taking home a $10,000 prize and several solo performance opportunities. Last month, he performed in honor of Mrs. Hill’s 100th Birthday.
BRANDON LEONARD
“Ms. Pilot showed me that I could truly accomplish anything that I set my mind to regardless of the societal boundaries and limitations often faced by musicians of color. To this day, Ms. Pilot continues to serve as a trusted mentor, offering support and guidance throughout my career.”
As for the next 30 years of the TDP, plans are well underway to build on the successes made so far, and look forward to a bigger and broader TDP. “We are already discussing what program expansion will look like with being able to support more students each year, just as some of our colleagues do with other intensive musical training programs designed similarly to TDP,” said Walks. “I would love for the program to be managed and overseen by someone in our alumni network and include more qualified TDP alumni as music instructors for the current student musicians in the program.” To see the work of the TDP on stage, join the ASO for these upcoming TDP events: NOV 18 | Sat: 3pm
NOV 17/18
MAY 4/5 | 2024
ALUMNI CHAMBER AND ORCHESTRAL CONCERT
BUILDING BRIDGES SYMPOSIUM: Connecting the Pathways: in-person, and virtual opportunities to join orchestra and conservatory administrators, orchestra musicians, and program managers to share best practices for creating, funding, evaluating, and growing a pathway program.
TDP SPRING RECITAL
Atlanta Symphony Hall A celebration of the program, its founding members, and talented students past and present.
Woodruff Arts Center, Memorial Arts Building Rich Theatre
Joyce, Aaron, and Joia Johnson:
An Extraordinary ASO Family By James Paulk
W
hen Joyce Johnson arrived at Spelman College as a music faculty member in 1953, she was younger than many of her students, including those in the glee clubs of Spelman, Morehouse, and Atlanta University, which Joyce accompanied for Sunday Vespers. That’s how she met Aaron Johnson, who was in the Morehouse Glee Club at the time, and who became her husband. 70 years later, Joyce is still at Spelman, as Professor Emerita of Music and College Organist. And she continues to play for the glee clubs. She and Aaron have had a long association with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra: Joyce as a piano soloist and volunteer, and Aaron as a longtime board member (he is now on the ASO Board of Counsellors). Their daughter, Joia, currently serves on the ASO Board and sings in the Chorus. Joyce’s Career in Music Joyce, who grew up in Kentucky, was something of a child prodigy as a pianist, and had completed undergraduate studies at Fisk University at an early age. She would later obtain a master’s degree and a doctorate in piano from Northwestern University, a practical move as African Americans were not permitted to enter Southern universities for graduate study at the time.
Meanwhile, in 1955, she was named Spelman Organist, a role she has filled ever since, and her teaching expanded. “I’ve loved teaching throughout my life, and I’ve taught a wonderful variety of music courses.” She has also advised generations of students and chaired the music department for 11 years. Today she is Professor Emerita, still teaching and accompanying the glee clubs. “I always wanted to have a performing career,” Joyce explained frankly, “but there were not opportunities for African Americans like there are now. For example, there were competitions in which I couldn’t participate because of race. And back then, competitions were an important part of getting recognition.” The Impact of Robert Shaw Joyce credits former ASO Music Director Robert Shaw with helping open doors for her and for other Black artists. “When Mr. Shaw came here in 1967, he was interested in bringing the symphony to African Americans, and in using African American performers and conductors.” In Shaw’s first season here, he began a contemporary music festival with the Orchestra coming to Spelman, and Joyce played with the Orchestra. But the real groundbreaking concert was in 1977, when Joyce was invited to perform in a subscription concert in Symphony Hall. “That was not happening for black performers at that time,” Aaron Johnson pointed out. “Shaw took a chance on me, I’ll never forget that. And it was just a joy to work with him. I had heard he was quite a taskmaster, but it was always a pleasant experience for me.” Joyce went on to become one of the ASO’s most frequent guest artists, performing eight different programs with the Orchestra: Joyce has performed extensively for decades, both as a soloist and in collaboration with some of the finest American artists of the era. The Civil Rights Movement Many of Joyce’s students were leaders in the civil rights movement. Joyce described her own role this way: “I was not a marcher. I didn’t do sit-ins. But by performing, I gave other people the opportunity to get to know black people: to have relationships with us; to see what our capabilities are; and to dispel myths and stereotypes that they might have had. It gave them a different perception of us.” Shortly after Dr. Martin Luther King died, his body was brought to Spelman College to lie in state in the Sisters Chapel. Mrs. King
20 | encore requested that Joyce play the organ for the visitors, and for two days and nights, she played as visitors stood in line to pay their respects. “Of course, there was a great deal of sadness,” she explained, “but I had to subdue all the pain, because I had a job to do, to provide music.” A Celebrated Organist Joyce has played many of the world’s greatest organs. She performed in a concert at Spivey Hall last season, and she will be performing in Louisville, KY, this month. She was recently invited to play at the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City. Joyce has long been on the International Roster of Steinway Artists and has received many honors, including the Edward Hansen Leadership Award from the American Guild of Organists. Last month she was inducted into the Atlanta Business League Women’s Hall of Fame. Aaron Johnson – Business Leader and ASO Board Member Aaron Johnson grew up in Chicago, where his father was a Baptist preacher, and sang in choirs with his brother, who went to Juilliard and had a career as a singer. Aaron came to Morehouse, where he studied mathematics, and later obtained a master’s degree in math from Atlanta University. His career as a management consultant focused on computerization in government and in business. He served as an Assistant Vice President of Georgia State College and as Georgia’s Commissioner for the Department of Medical Assistance. He joined the ASO Board in 1977 and served actively for 13 years, including a stint on the Board’s Executive Committee. In 2000, he was elected to the ASO Board of Counsellors. Joia Johnson: A Wonderful Legacy Joia Johnson, the daughter of Joyce and Aaron, said of her childhood: “I grew up surrounded by music.” She played clarinet and sang in choruses, something she has done for the rest of her life. She held executive positions at several Atlanta companies and at Hanesbrands, in Winston-Salem, NC before retiring in 2021 and returning to Atlanta. She now serves on several corporate boards. Joia served on the ASO Board from 2004 to 2007, and last year she rejoined the Board. She also sings in the ASO Chorus, which gives her a unique vantage point for observing Nathalie Stuzmann at work. “With Nathalie, you don’t think about the fact that she’s a female conductor: you just know she’s a great conductor. Something about her causes you to want to sing from a different place.”
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
22 | encore ASO | SEASON SPONSORS
We are deeply grateful to the following leadership donors whose generous support has made the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's season possible.
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
encoreatlanta.com
| 23
ASO | EDUCATION SUPPORT
T
he Atlanta Symphony Orchestra is grateful to the generous donors who support our Education & Community Engagement Initiatives. The following list represents gifts of $500 or more made since June 1, 2022 in support of the Talent Development Program and the Orchestra’s other education and community programs.
$50,000+ Delta Air Lines Accenture Lettie Pate Evans Foundation Paul M. Angell Family Foundation Georgia Council for the Arts The Molly Blank Fund Georgia Power City of Atlanta Mayor's Office of The Goizueta Foundation Cultural Affairs Graphic Packaging The Coca-Cola Company The Home Depot Foundation
Abraham J. & Phyllis Katz Foundation Charles Loridans Foundation, Inc. Amy W. Norman Charitable Foundation PNC The Zeist Foundation, Inc.
$10,000+ A Friend of the Symphony John & Juliet Allan Alston & Bird LLP Cadence Bank Foundation Costco Wholesale Elaine & Erroll Davis Ernst & Young
The Mark & Evelyn Trammell Fulton County Arts & Culture Foundation Jeannette Guarner, MD & Carlos del Rio, MD Thomas & Lynne Saylor The Gable Foundation The Scott Hudgens Family Foundation Georgia-Pacific The Livingston Foundation, Inc. Universal Music Group-Task Force Porsche Cars North America, Inc. For Meaningful Change Drs. Kevin & Kalinda Woods Publix Super Markets Charities
$2,000+ A Friend of the Symphony Azalea City Chapter of Links George & Gloria Brooks Jacqueline A. & Joseph E. Brown, Jr. Ned Cone & Nadeen Green Mrs. Nancy Cooke
Mr. David L. Forbes Azira G. Hill International Women’s Forum Cameron Jackson Donna Lee & Howard Ehni Margaret H. Petersen Ponce de Leon Music Store
$500+ Castellini Foundation Liz & Charlie Cohn John L. Cromartie II Mr. & Mrs. Reade Fahs KS Ford Charles Ginden
Mrs. Elice D. Haverty Mona & Gilbert Kelly Bill & Kathy Lamar Ms. Malinda C. Logan John & Linda Matthews Drs. Price & Jacqueline Michael Ms. Felicia Rives
Patty & Doug Reid Cammie & John Rice Slumgullion Charitable Fund The Society, Inc. TEGNA Foundation Dr. Brenda G. Turner Ms. Sonia Witkowski
Ms. Donata Russell Ross Dr. La Tanya & Mr. Earl R. Sharpe Ms. Fawn M. Shelton Ms. Juliana Taylor Ms. Mary A. Valdecanas
24 | nov2/4 Concerts of Thursday, November 2, 2023 8:00 PM Saturday, November 4, 2023 8:00 PM NATHALIE STUTZMANN, conductor THE ATLANTA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CHORUS NORMAN MACKENZIE, Director of Choruses
Thursday’s concert is dedicated to THE SLUMGULLION CHARITABLE FUND in honor of its extraordinary support of the 2022/23 Annual Fund.
JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833–1897) Nänie (Lament), Op. 82 (1881)
13 MINS
Schicksalslied (Song of Destiny), Op. 54 (1871)
17 MINS
Gesang der Parzen (Song of the Fates), Op. 89 (1882) 12 MINS The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus INTERMISSION
20 MINS
SERGEI RACHMANINOV (1873–1943) The Isle of the Dead, Op. 29 (1909)
20 MINS
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK (1841–1904) Selections from Slavonic Dances, Op. 46 & 72 (1878, 1886) 22 MINS Op. 46, No. 1 in C Major: Presto Op. 46, No. 2 in E Minor: Allegretto scherzando Op. 46, No. 7 in C Minor: Allegro assai Op. 72, No. 2 in E Minor: Allegretto grazioso Op. 46, No. 8 in G Minor: Presto
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.
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
notesontheprogram
| 25
by Noel Morris Program Annotator
Johannes Brahms
H
By day, Brahms took music lessons and practiced at a piano provided by a prominent citizen. By night, he played endless dance tunes. He did manage to feed his imagination during the all-nighters; as his fingers worked, he propped books on his music stand and lost himself in the written word. By age 14, Hannes complained of headaches, and his parents voiced concern about his unhealthy pallor. “He needs sunshine and fresh air,” declared his father, who arranged for the boy to go to the country in exchange for music lessons. The teenaged Brahms spent a couple of summers living with the Giesemann family in the hamlet Winsen-an-der-Luhe, where he swam in the Luhe and spent long, happy hours sharing books and wandering the forests with his new friend (and pupil) Lieschen Giesemann. After church on Sundays, he went with the family to the neighboring village of Hoopte where they all retired to a pub. There, young Brahms took up his familiar place at the piano, which led to an invitation to conduct the men’s choir. The boy with the adult-like ability had never conducted before, but he gave it a try. A gaggle of a dozen or so village men gathered ‘round and sang. Soon, they appointed him their conductor. Holding rehearsals beside a billiard table, the singers happily learned new repertoire composed for them by their young leader. The two summers in Winsen marked the beginning of lifelong habits for the composer: each summer, he left the city to commune with nature and write music. Throughout his career, he continued to conduct choirs—both professional and amateur—and while he is a giant in instrumental music, the bulk of his works feature the human voice.
ADOBE STOCK
amburg’s historic St. Pauli neighborhood flanks Germany’s largest seaport and boasts a world-famous red-light district. A fountainhead of debauchery, it is not an appropriate place for children. But little Johannes Brahms took his first job there out of necessity, helping his family to survive. By his thirteenth birthday, “Hannes” was a decent pianist, good enough to enliven a barroom with waltzes and polkas. With long, flaxen hair and dreamy blue eyes, the boy Brahms possessed a girlish beauty that drew inappropriate attention from prostitutes and randy sailors, probably scarring him for life.
26 | encore First ASO performances: May 20–22, 1976 Robert Shaw, conductor Most recent
Nänie (Lament), Op. 82 Nänie is scored for mixed chorus, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, three trombones, timpani, harp and strings.
C
onservatives vs. progressives. Sound familiar? As a public figure, Brahms endured constant mudslinging in March 10–12, 2016 a deeply polarized society. Due to his passion for antiquities Norman Mackenzie, and adherence to classical structures, critics associated conductor Brahms with the traditionalists. As Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times wrote, “[Richard] Wagner proclaimed his to be music of the future, whereas Brahms remained [a] stodgy classicist.” ASO performances:
For most of us, this 19th-century schism doesn’t mean much (it’s all great music). But it does offer some context for Nänie. Nenia Dea (Nänie in German) is the Roman goddess of funerals and refers to a funeral lament. Brahms’s Nänie pays homage to an artist who devoted his life to Greco-Roman themes. Brahms had known the German painter Anselm Feuerbach through a circle of friends that included Clara Schumann, Arnold Böcklin (the artist who inspired Rachmaninov’s Isle of the Dead), and Feuerbach’s stepmother, Henriette. Of all the contemporary artists, Feuerbach was one of Brahms’s favorites. Famous for being a “German Roman,” Feuerbach spent years in the Italian capital copying antiquities and absorbing the Classical style that came to embody his paintings. He later persuaded the standoffish Brahms to sit for a portrait but never finished it. In 1880, Feuerbach died suddenly at 50, rattling the composer. In response, Brahms picked up the poem “Nänie” by Friedrich Schiller. Like Feuerbach’s canvases, Schiller’s poem bristles with allusions to Greek and Roman mythology; it explores the inevitability of death and the need to embrace the ephemeral nature of life—a perfect tribute, which Brahms set to music over the following year. Like his German Requiem, he conceived the piece as a consolation and dedicated the work to Feuerbach’s stepmother, Henriette. The Brahms Library
J
ohannes Brahms was only a part-time composer. Reserving composition for scenic locales during the summer months, he spent the rest of the year performing and indulging in scholarly pursuits. An avid reader and antiquarian, he collected books, music manuscripts and documents by historic composers. He edited scores for publication and spent endless hours perusing used
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
encoreatlanta.com
| 27
28 | encore bookshops, amassing a priceless personal library. In 1864, he had a dust-up with Richard Wagner, who learned that Brahms had acquired the original manuscript of the Venusberg music from Wagner’s Tannhäuser. The great opera composer asked for its return, but Brahms refused. The issue festered for years until Wagner wrote to him, “It can only be of value to you as a curiosity.” Given Wagner’s celebrity, that, of course, wasn’t true. Brahms fired back, “I do not collect curiosities,” and suggested some sort of compensation would be appropriate. Finally, Wagner settled the matter by sending Brahms a printed edition of Das Rheingold with a personal inscription. At the end of his life, Brahms bequeathed his library, intact, to the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (Society of Friends of Music) where curators have continued to acquire artifacts. Now housed at Vienna’s Musikverein, the Brahms collection is recognized by UNESCO as “one of the most important sources for cultural history in general and the music history of Vienna in the second half of the 19th century.” First ASO performances: March 10–12, 1988 Robert Shaw, conductor Most recent ASO performances:
Schicksalslied (Song of Destiny), Op. 54 Schicksalslied is scored for mixed chorus, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani and strings.
J
ohannes Brahms’s love of books extended into his music, as evidenced by his extensive catalog of vocal Donald Runnicles, conductor works. In June 1868, he traveled to northern Germany to visit his friend Albert Dietrich in Oldenburg, who witnessed the genesis of Schicksalslied (Song of Destiny). They’d traveled north to Wilhelmshaven to see the naval port on the North Sea. April 5–6, 2014
“On the way there, our friend who was usually so lively, was quiet and serious,” wrote Dietrich. “He told us that early that morning … he had found Hölderlin’s poems in the bookcase and been most deeply moved by [Hyperion’s] ‘Song of Destiny.’ Later in the day, after having wandered about and seen everything of interest, we sat down by the sea to rest, we discovered Brahms at a great distance, sitting alone on the beach and writing.” Dietrich recalled, “These were the first sketches of Schicksalslied.” As it happened, Brahms lost the thread or at least took his time working his way through the piece. He completed Schicksalslied three years later and made an unconventional choice: The chorus sings the poem’s last lines—commenting on the inescapable nature
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
of human suffering—and then drops out. Breaking from the toil and despair of the preceding music, Brahms introduces a ray of sunshine in his orchestral writing, adding his commentary on the poem at the end of the piece. Gesang der Parzen (Song of the Fates), Op. 89
First ASO performances:
Gesang der Parzen is scored for mixed chorus, two flutes (one doubling piccolo), two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani and strings.
March 10–12, 1988 Robert Shaw, conductor Most recent ASO performances:
I
April 5–6, 2014 n 1779, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe penned his play Donald Runnicles, conductor Iphigenie auf Tauris based on the Greek tragedy by Euripides. He recast the play into prose in 1781 and into verse in 1786. Brahms saw a performance of the verse play and was captivated.
The story begins on the eve of the Trojan War. The Greek commander, Agamemnon, believes he must sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenie, to ensure safe passage for his army. Much handwringing ensues, and the girl disappears. Finally, in fits of vengeance, the girl’s mother murders Agamemnon; their son murders the mother. In Goethe’s version, Iphigenie avoids the chopping block and steals away to a foreign land to serve the goddess Diana. When brother Orestes arrives (the one who killed their mother), she must either escape with him or put him to the sword to defend the honor of those who had rescued her. Thematically, Goethe gives the classic tale an Enlightenment spin. Where Euripides uses guile, brute force, and divine intervention to set things right, Goethe gets everybody to have a constructive conversation. For Gesang der Parzen (Song of the Fates), Brahms’s last major work for chorus and orchestra, the composer looked past Goethe’s happy ending to focus on Iphigenie’s darkest hour, the “Song of Fates.” And it must be said: the poem presents the same duality that inspired Nänie and Schicksalslied. That is, Brahms’s choice of poetry pivots around the implacable barrier between heaven and earth, eternal joy and mortal misery—although it was not a miserable time for the composer. Brahms spent the summer of 1882 in a mountain cottage at the edge of Bad Ischl, a spa town. Between day hikes and visits to the local pub, he composed Gesang der Parzen and completed his F Major String Quintet and C Major Piano Trio.
30 | encore First ASO performance: November 5, 1955 Henry Sopkin, conductor Most recent ASO performances: Nov 29–Dec 1, 2018 Edward Gardner, conductor
The Isle of the Dead, Op. 29 The Isle of the Dead is scored for three flutes (one doubling piccolo), two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, six horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp and strings.
S
ometimes, a work of art lands in popular culture, resonating with the times. Copies start appearing on the walls of rec rooms, cafes, and dormitories. In the early years of the 20th century, that painting was “The Isle of the Dead” by the Swiss Symbolist Arnold Böcklin. Commissioned in 1880 by one Marie Berna, the funereal subject honored her late husband, but, like a good meme, rippled through a society captivated by Gothic novels (think of Dracula, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and The Turn of the Screw). By the early 1900s, it seemed everyone owned a copy of the painting, including Siegmund Freud and Vladimir Lenin. To this day, Böcklin’s picture continues to appear in popular culture. Most recently, “The Isle of the Dead” popped up in Pretty Little Liars and the 2017 horror film Alien: Covenant. “The Isle of the Dead” is a stark seascape with an island of jagged rocks thrusting upward from the sea. Doorways carved into the cliffs suggest catacombs. Cypresses split the rocky mass like dark, impenetrable spikes. In the background, the island looms ever closer as an oarsman draws a rowboat into its embrace. In the bow of his boat stands a tall, human form shrouded head to toe in luminous white drapery. There’s a casket at the corpse’s feet.
WIKIMEDIA
During the 1880s, Arnold Böcklin made five versions of “The Isle of the Dead,” in which the water varies from milky to glassy to inky black. In 1907, Sergei Rachmaninov traveled to Paris to play his Piano Concerto No. 2 at a concert series organized by the impresario Sergei Diaghilev. While visiting the French capital, Rachmaninov saw a black-and-white reproduction of Böcklin’s painting and thought of music: The undulating pulse of the oars draws the ghostly passenger into the desolate scene. In Rachmaninov’s hands, this is a one-way trip, wrapped in an atmosphere of doom and inevitability. When the orchestra heaves an anguished cry, it seems to be the end of the journey. Rachmaninov sounds the plainchant “Dies irae,”
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
encoreatlanta.com
| 31
or “Day of Wrath,” from the Latin Mass for the Dead. Given that this was a well-known funeral rite, its appearance is topical, although the composer used the theme in most of his major compositions. Rachmaninov composed Isle of the Dead in Dresden between January and April 1909. The first performance took place weeks later. Curiously, he later saw one of Böcklin’s actual paintings (the music was inspired by a black-and-white copy) and commented “If I had seen first the original, I, probably, would have not written my Isle of the Dead. I like it in black-and-white.” Selections from Slavonic Dances, Opp. 46 & 72 These selections are scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, percussion and strings. A Humble Beginning
First ASO performance: January 28–30, 1988 Robert Shaw, conductor Most recent ASO performances: May 7–9, 1998
Music lessons for the boy Antonín Dvořák were catch-asYoel Levi, conductor catch-can. As a butcher’s son, he learned reading and math. By chance, the schoolmaster in his little village was an amateur musician who taught voice and violin. At the same time, Dvořák’s father taught him the butcher’s trade, showing him the ins and outs of livestock. He insisted the boy learn German to improve his prospects as a tradesman. Such was life in imperial Austria.
It didn’t take long for Antonín to surpass his teachers in Prague, and he continued to develop musically through sheer will and invention. Joining a theater orchestra, he absorbed works by the German masters Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Schumann. In February 1863, Richard Wagner came to Prague to conduct excerpts from his operas, which became a cherished memory. “I was perfectly crazy about him,” wrote Dvořák, “and recollect following him as he walked along the streets to get a chance now and again of seeing the great little man’s face.” The political climate in Prague was tense. Due to a persistent policy of “Germanization” by Austrian authorities, pockets of Czech nationalism spread among the lower-middle class. Nationalists worked to gain majorities in various trade guilds. Some criticized Dvořák for writing music that didn’t sound Czech.
ADOBE STOCK
After the family moved to a neighboring village, Antonín found a piano and organ teacher. He showed less enthusiasm for studying German, so his father sent him to live with a German-speaking family. Undaunted, the boy found another music teacher. When Antonín turned 16, his father sent him to organ school in Prague.
32 | encore Before long, he did become associated with Czech nationalism, a label that was, in some ways, pressed upon him by his publisher. Yes, he wrote operas using the Czech language, used Czech dance forms, and wrote tone poems based on Czech folklore. But this begs the question: why wouldn’t he? In Dvořák’s case, being a nationalist simply means that he didn’t try to be more Germanic. Slavonic Dances For the better part of four decades, Antonín Dvořák was a proverbial starving artist. Trying to make his way in Prague, he lived with various relatives while teaching and playing viola. In 1873, with a baby on the way, he married and began working as a church organist. After baby Otakar arrived, a unique opportunity landed at his feet: a cash prize for a demonstrably poor and gifted musician. Immensely qualified on both counts, Dvořák won the award five years in a row. It would change his life. In 1877, he sent a fresh stack of music and a new application to the awards committee and found himself face-to-face with one of its judges: Johannes Brahms. Already, without a word to Dvořák, Brahms had pulled the Moravian Duets from Dvořák’s application and sent them to his publisher, Fritz Simrock. “There is no doubt that he is very talented,” Brahms wrote to Simrock. “And he is also poor. I beg you to think the matter over.” The publisher took a risk on the no-name composer and issued the Duets. Results were promising; Simrock smelled an opportunity to repeat an earlier success. A few years before, he and Brahms had stumbled upon a niche in middle-class Europe. Rising piano sales had seeded a demand for parlor music. Amateur musicians clamored for Brahms’ Hungarian Dances (published for piano four hands), and both men made a lot of money. After testing the waters with the Moravian Duets, Simrock asked Dvořák to write a set of Czech dances modeled on Brahms’s Dances. Dvořák obliged. Unlike the Hungarian Dances, which are nearly all arrangements of existing tunes, Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances are original compositions written in traditional Czech dance forms, such as the furiant and the polka. Dvořák completed his first set in 1878 and produced orchestrated versions almost immediately. Money and prestige followed. He gave Simrock a second set of Slavonic Dances in 1886.
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
34 | meettheartists ATLANTA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CHORUS
T
he 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). In addition, the Chorus has been involved in the creation and shaping of numerous world-premiere commissioned works. NORMAN MACKENZIE, DIRECTOR OF CHORUSES
N
orman 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.
JD SCOTT
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.
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
encoreatlanta.com
| 35
ATLANTA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CHORUS Norman Mackenzie
Hannah Davis
Peter Marshall
director of choruses
choral and artistic manager
accompanist
The Frannie & Bill Graves Chair
SOPRANO 1 Ellen Abney Khadijah Davis Liz Dean* Laura Foster Michelle Griffin* Erin Harris Erin Jones* Arietha Lockhart** Mindy Margolis* Joneen Padgett* Rachel Paul Susan Ray Samaria Rodriguez Emily Salmond Kristian Samuel Lydia Sharp Susie Shepardson Chelsea Toledo Brianne Turgeon** Deanna Walton Michelle Yancich Wanda Yang Temko** SOPRANO 2 Debbie Ashton Sloan Atwood** Jessica Barber Tierney Breedlove Barbara Brown Maggie Carpenter Gina Deaton Erika Elliott Heidi Hayward Amanda Hoffman Megan Littlepage Melissa Mack Lindsay Patten Murray Chantae Pittman Tramaine Quarterman Kate Roberts Marianna Schuck Anne-Marie Spalinger* Emily Tallant Cheryl Thrash** Donna Weeks**
TENOR 1 ALTO 1 David Blalock** June Abbott** LaRue Bowman Pamela Amy-Cupp John Brandt** Deborah Boland** Jack Caldwell** Emily Campbell Daniel Cameron* Angel Dotson-Hall Daniel Compton Katherine Fisher Justin Cornelius Beth Freeman* Clifford Edge** Savanna Hagerty Steven Farrow** Unita Harris Leif Gilbert-Hansen* Beverly Hueter* James Jarrell* Susan Jones Kathleen Kelly-George* Keith Langston* Joseph Henry Monti Virginia Little* David Moore Staria Lovelady* Frances McDowell-Beadle** Christopher Patton* Sara McKlin Mark Warden* Linda Morgan** TENOR 2 Natalie Pierce Matthew Borkowski Noelle Ross Steve Brailsford Rachel Schiffer Charles Cottingham # Camilla Springfield** Steven Dykes Rachel Stewart** David Ellis Nancy York* Joseph Few** ALTO 2 Sean Fletcher Nancy Adams** Thomas Foust Ana Baida John Harr Angelica Blackman-Keim David Ingham Elizabeth Borland Keith Jeffords** Emily Boyer David Kinrade Marcia Chandler* Tyler Lane Carol Comstock Michael Parker Meaghan Curry Marshall Peterson* Cynthia Goeltz Matthew Sellers DeBold** Thomas Slusher Michèle Diament* Scott Stephens** Alyssa Harris Joia Johnson Sally Kann* Nicole Khoury** Lynda Martin* Tiffany Peoples Duhi Schneider Sharon Simons* Virginia Thompson* Cheryl Vanture* Kiki Wilson** Diane Woodard** Lily Zwaan
BASS 1 Dock Anderson Noah Boonin Sean Butler Russell Cason** Jeremy Christensen Joshua Clark Trey Clegg* Rick Cobb Michael Cranford Thomas Elston Jon Gunnemann** Noah Horton Nick Jones # Alp Koksal Sims Kuester Jameson Linville Jackson McCarthy Joss Nichols Thomas Stow John Terry Edgie Wallace* BASS 2 Jacob Blevins William Borland John Carter Terrence Connors Joel Craft** Paul Fletcher Timothy Gunter* Thomas Hanrahan David Hansen** Daniel Lane Jason Manley Michael Nedvidek John Newsome Joel Rose John Ruff** Jonathan Smith* George Sustman Benjamin Temko** David Webster** Keith Wyatt** * 20+ years of service ** 30+ years of service # Charter member (1970)
36 | nov9/11 Concerts of Thursday, November 9, 2023 8:00 PM Saturday, November 11, 2023 8:00 PM NATHALIE STUTZMANN, conductor JOSEF ŠPAČEK, violin
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK (1841–1904) Suite in A Major, Op. 98b (“American”) (1895) I. Andante con moto II. Allegro III. Moderato (alla polacca) IV. Andante V. Allegro
Violin Concerto in A Minor, Op. 53 (1879) 31 MINS I. Allegro, ma non troppo II. Adagio, ma non troppo III. Finale: Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo Josef Špacek, violin INTERMISSION
Thursday's concert is dedicated to SALLY & PETE PARSONSON in honor of their extraordinary support of the 2022/23 Annual Fund.
19 MINS
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK (1841–1904) Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Op. 95 (“From the New World”) (1893) I. Adagio — Allegro molto II. Largo III. Scherzo: Molto vivace IV. Allegro con fuoco
These concerts are proudly sponsored by a gift from the Emory Woodruff Health Sciences Center.
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.
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
20 MINS
41 MINS
notesontheprogram
| 37
by Noel Morris Program Annotator
Suite in A Major, Op. 98b (“American”)
These are the first
ASO performances. This suite is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion and strings.
Dvořák and Nationalism Allow me quite shortly to thank you … for the great pleasure I have derived from the works you sent me. I have taken the liberty of writing about them, and especially the Duets, to Mr. Fritz Simrock. —Johannes Brahms n 1876, Antonín Dvořák was a struggling musician—desperately poor—when he sent off some work samples with a grant application. He received a reply from the famous composer Johannes Brahms. Brahms confessed he’d been so taken with Dvořák’s Moravian Duets he took the liberty of sharing them with his publisher, Fritz Simrock. It changed Dvořák’s life. Antonín Dvořák grew up in rural Bohemia under the thumb of the Austrian Empire. As a native Czech, he’d been a second-class citizen until Simrock flipped the script on his Czech identity. With the publication of the Moravian Duets, Simrock pushed the fresh and exotic sounds of Czech music. The German-speaking world gobbled up the Duets, and Simrock made a tidy profit. He requested more Czech music from Dvořák who responded with Slavonic Dances, and the composer never worried about money again. Dvořák had lived in Prague since he was 16, and the political climate was tense. Austrian authorities pursued an invidious policy of “Germanization” to quash the Czech identity. At the same time, pockets of resistance worked to gain majorities in various trade guilds. Some criticized Dvořák for writing music that didn’t sound “Czech” enough, but Fritz Simrock’s gambit changed all that. With the publication of Slavonic Dances, Dvořák became identified with the nationalists, though he wasn’t a political creature—yes, he wrote music inspired by Czech folklore and dance forms, but this begs the question: why wouldn’t he? In Dvořák’s case, being a Czech nationalist in the Austrian Empire simply meant that he didn’t try to be more German. American Suite The view from “Sandy Hook” (harbor town)-of New York with the magnificent Statue of Liberty . . . is most impressive! And then the amount of shipping from all parts of the world?! As I say [it’s] amazing. — Antonín Dvořák
ADOBE STOCK
I
38 | encore Dvořák sailed into New York Harbor on September 27, 1892, and remained in America for less than three years. Still, he left a lasting mark on American musical life, thanks to the vision and resources of one highly driven and persuasive lady. The American philanthropist Jeannette Thurber founded a music school in New York City similar to the great conservatories of Europe. To help foot the bill, she lined up a group of business magnates, including William Vanderbilt and Andrew Carnegie, and secured a charter from the United States Congress to establish the National Conservatory of Music of America. Her stated goal was to engender a nationalistic movement in American music. Convinced that Dvořák, the famous Czech nationalist, was the man to lead such an enterprise, she offered him an annual salary of $15,000—25 times what he’d been offered at the Prague Conservatory. In truth, it took some armtwisting, but Dvořák accepted the job and set sail. Dvořák found life in America exciting and endlessly fascinating. Although he missed his hobbies—trainspotting and caring for his pet pigeons—he loved the Central Park Zoo and delighted in all the ships steaming in and out of port. During the summer of 1893, he and his family spent their holiday in Spillville, Iowa, a farm town populated by Czech immigrants, which proved to be one of the happiest periods in the composer’s life. Throughout his American sojourn, he wrote music, including the New World Symphony (1893), the American Quartet (1893), and the Cello Concerto (1895). He composed the American Suite in February of 1894 in New York City. Originally, he wrote the suite as a piano piece but added the orchestration the following year. Dvořák’s American period was impactful but brief. The Panic of 1893 caused banks and railroad companies to fail. The crisis cut deep into the Thurber family fortune, forcing Mrs. Thurber to reduce his pay. By 1895, only one of the six Dvořák children lived with him and his wife in America, and he grew homesick. In 1895, at the end of the First ASO performance: school year, they returned to Bohemia for good. September 21–24, 1972
Robert Shaw, conductor Ruggiero Ricci, violin Most recent ASO performances: November 20–22, 2003 Hans Graf, conductor Sarah Chang, violin
Violin Concerto in A Minor, Op. 53 In addition to the solo violin, this concerto is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, timpani and strings.
T
he sprawling Sychrov Chateau cuts a striking image into the countryside of northern Bohemia. Its neoGothic features make for a popular tourist destination, and
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
encoreatlanta.com
| 39
it served as a film location for All Quiet on the Western Front (2022). In the summer of 1879, Antonín Dvořák stayed there and sketched his Violin Concerto. At 38, Dvořák had just enjoyed his first taste of success. The Viennese public had delighted in his Slavonic Dances, and his publisher, Fritz Simrock, was eager for more. Simrock suggested a violin concerto to be played by the famous Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim. Curiously, as Joachim had helped launch Johannes Brahms in the 1850s, he now set his sights on the up-and-coming Czech composer. Toward the end of July 1879, he hosted a gala in Berlin in Dvořák’s honor and saw the initial draft of the concerto. As he had done with Brahms, he sent Dvořák home with lots of suggestions. In March of the following year, Dvořák showed him the revised concerto and again received more suggestions. This time, Dvořák rewrote much of the piece. It took more than two years for Joachim to respond to the second version of Dvořák’s concerto, only to send the poor composer away with more revisions. In 1882, Dvořák wrote to Simrock: “I played the violin concerto with Joachim twice. He liked it very much. … I was very glad that the matter has finally been sorted out. The issue of revision lay at Joachim’s door for a full two years!! He very kindly revised the violin part himself; I just have to change something in the Finale and refine the instrumentation in a number of places. I must return to Berlin at the beginning of November; everything will certainly be ready by then and Joachim will organize an orchestral rehearsal at the Academy.” That never happened. And while the score bears a dedication to Joseph Joachim “with the deepest respect,” he never performed the piece. The world premiere happened in Prague in October 1883 featuring the Czech violinist Frantisek Ondrícek. Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Op. 95 (“From the New World”)
First ASO performance:
This symphony is scored for two flutes (one doubling piccolo), two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion and strings.
Henry Sopkin, conductor
W
March 16, 1947 Most recent ASO performances: October 20–22, 2016
Joseph Young, conductor ith her newly minted National Conservatory of Music, the American philanthropist Jeanette Thurber advanced an extraordinary vision: she aspired to cultivate an American sound by offering musical training to all qualifying students, regardless of race, gender or the ability to pay tuition. To that end, she set her sights on
40 | encore hiring a great nationalist composer who could inspire a homegrown nationalistic movement. That composer was Antonín Dvořák. Lured by a generous salary, Dvořák came to America and taught for three academic years. Aware of his own ethnic bent, he urged his students not to imitate his works but to reference American folk music, including Native music and spirituals. Excited by the creative possibilities, Mrs. Thurber urged her star employee to write a Native American opera based on Longfellow’s poem The Song of Hiawatha. As she secured a librettist, Dvořák threw himself into the music, making sketches and writing down ideas. At the same time, he bathed in the sounds of American music, witnessing Native performers at Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and giving special attention to the spiritual, a music sung to him by Harry Burleigh, a student, and grandson of formerly enslaved people. Dvořák wrote his Symphony No. 9, “From the New World,” in New York City, during the winter and spring of that first academic year, 1893. On the day of its premiere, he told a reporter that the inner movements, the Largo and Scherzo, used material from his upcoming opera, The Song of Hiawatha. Complications with the libretto foiled the dream of a Native American opera. After spending three years at the school in New York, Dvořák moved back to Prague and resumed his teaching position at the Prague Conservatory. The New World Symphony is the last of his nine symphonies. In his final decade, he focused on the folklore and fairytales of his native Bohemia, using them for operas and tone poems. His American students went on to teach George Gershwin, Aaron Copland and Duke Ellington.
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
42 | meettheartists JOSEF ŠPAČEK, VIOLIN
RADOVAN SUBIN
P
raised for his remarkable range of colors, his confident and concentrated stage presence, his virtuosity and technical poise as well as the beauty of his tone, Josef Špaček has gradually emerged as one of the leading violinists of his generation.
He appears with many orchestras around the world, including the Orchestre de Paris, the Bamberger Symphoniker, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. He equally enjoys giving recitals and playing chamber music and is a regular guest at festivals. He has performed at the Kennedy Center, 92 Street Y, La Jolla Chamber Music Festival, the ChamberFest Cleveland, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, and Rudolfinum in Prague. His chamber music partners have included Gil Shaham, Kian Soltani, James Ehnes, Clemens Hagen, and Yuja Wang. Supraphon released a highly praised recording of the violin concertos of Dvořák and Janáček with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, which was the “Recording of the week” of The Sunday Times. He has also recorded a recital disc with works for violin and piano by Smetana, Janáček and Prokofiev with pianist Miroslav Sekera. Josef Špaček studied with Itzhak Perlman at The Juilliard School in New York, Ida Kavafian and Jaime Laredo at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and with Jaroslav Foltýn at the Prague Conservatory. He was laureate of the International Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, and won top prizes at the Michael Hill International Violin Competition in New Zealand, the Carl Nielsen International Violin Competition in Denmark and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York. He has served as concertmaster of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the youngest in its history. Josef Špaček performs on the ca. 1732 “LeBrun; Bouthillard” Guarneri del Gesù violin. He lives in Prague with his wife and their three children. In his spare time, he enjoys cycling.
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
44 | nov16/18/19 Concerts of Thursday, November 16, 2023 8:00 PM Saturday, November 18, 2023 8:00 PM Sunday, November 19, 2023 3:00 PM DAVID DANZMAYR, conductor MICHELLE CANN, piano
Sunday's concert is dedicated to CONNIE & MERRELL CALHOUN in honor of their extraordinary support of the 2022/23 Annual Fund.
JULIA PERRY (1924–1979) Short Piece for Large Orchestra (1952, rev. 1955, 1965) SERGEI RACHMANINOV (1873–1943) Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18 (1901) I. Moderato II. Adagio sostenuto III. Allegro scherzando Michelle Cann, piano INTERMISSION SERGEI PROKOFIEV (1891–1953) Symphony No. 7 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 131 (1952) I. Moderato II. Allegretto III. Andante espressivo IV. Vivace Michelle Cann appears by arrangement with the Curtis Institute of Music.
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.
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
5 MINS
34 MINS
20 MINS
31 MINS
notesontheprogram by Noel Morris Program Annotator
Notes on the program by Noel Morris
These are the first
Short Piece for Large Orchestra
ASO performances.
Short Piece for Large Orchestra is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, two trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, piano, celeste and strings.
O
ne hundred years after the birth of Julia Perry, her music is only just beginning to resurface. She lived and worked in a world mostly closed to the idea of a Black female composer. (To think, the Vienna Philharmonic did not admit women until 1997.) Yet Perry’s life and musical pedigree suggest that her talent did not go unnoticed. She won admittance to top music schools, studied with legendary teachers, and heard her works played by some of the finest orchestras. She achieved something exceptional against powerful headwinds. And that’s what makes this such a great story. Perry was born in Lexington, Kentucky in 1924. Her father was a doctor and amateur musician; her mother was a music teacher. Julia was one of five sisters, all of whom studied the violin. When she was 10, they moved to the upper-middle-class Black neighborhood of Spicertown in Akron, Ohio. (Spicertown is no longer there; developers bulldozed the community in 1964 to make way for an expansion of the University of Akron.) While it lasted, Spicertown was a nurturing community for young Julia. She excelled at track, violin, piano, and voice. Her childhood friend, cellist, and conductor Kermit Moore, remembered her as “an outgoing, aggressive, cheerful tomboy who would suddenly ride off on [her] bicycle, then leave it unceremoniously at the playground while she played baseball.” Perry sang in a choir on live radio and played chamber music around town. After high school, she won a scholarship to study at Westminster Choir College, where she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. There, she was a student leader in the choir and served as concertmaster of the College orchestra. She studied voice and conducting at the Berkshire Music Center Festival at Tanglewood and took conducting classes at the Extension Division at Juilliard. In 1951, she started lessons with the Italian modernist Luigi Dallapiccola and followed him to Italy to continue her studies. With two Guggenheim Fellowships, Perry flourished in Europe. She studied for a time with the legendary composition teacher Nadia Boulanger. She gained widespread acclaim for her Stabat Mater and
| 45
46 | encore conducted her works with the Vienna Philharmonic and the BBC Orchestra in London. Julia Perry wrote her Short Piece for Orchestra in Italy in 1952 and twice revised the piece. It enjoyed some popularity around Europe, with radio broadcasts and performances in Italy, Germany, and Austria. In the United States, conductor William Steinberg programmed the piece for a European tour with the New York Philharmonic but insisted that Perry retitle the work “Study for Orchestra.” (You can view her score under that title on the New York Philharmonic website.) Perry returned to the United States in 1959 and became more closely aligned with her African-American heritage, writing works such as her Integration Symphony and Soul Symphony. She suffered a debilitating stroke in 1970 and died in 1979 at age 55. Today, much of her vast collection of music remains unpublished. But a revival seems to be in the works—stay tuned! First ASO performance: December 17, 1949 Henry Sopkin, conductor Jacques Abram, piano Most recent ASO performances:
Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18 In addition to the solo piano, this concerto is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion and strings.
O
n March 28, 1897, the 24-year-old composer Sergei Rachmaninov huddled on the fire escape of a Robert Spano, conductor concert hall with his arms cinched across his chest. As Kirill Gerstein, piano anxiety welled up inside him, he jabbed his fingers into his ears to blot out the sound of the orchestra. It was the world premiere of his Symphony No. 1. September 20–23, 2018
“I had a very high opinion of my work,” he said, thinking back on its composition. “The joy of creating carried me away. I was convinced that here I had discovered and opened entirely new paths in music.” Rachmaninov later decided he’d been too arrogant, too prideful. “[The symphony’s] deficiencies were revealed to me with a dreadful distinctness even during the first rehearsal,” he moaned. (Note: today’s audiences have a much higher opinion of the piece.) If the composer was being hard on himself, the critics were worse. As he was already a public figure, they made no allowance for his youth— he was only 22 when he wrote the piece. Witnesses posited that conductor Alexander Glazunov had been drinking. Rachmaninov noted that whole sections of the work had been rendered “unrecognizable” by the shoddy performance. Whatever the reason for the disastrous premiere, the humiliation sent him into a tailspin. With the wave of a
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
encoreatlanta.com
| 47
wand (or baton), the career he’d been cultivating his entire life came into question. As a child, Rachmaninov had been an excellent pianist. His cousin, the pianist Alexander Siloti, suggested he study with Nikolai Zverev at the Moscow Conservatory, and off he went. His mother packed up 12-yearold Sergei and sent him 450 miles away to live with his teacher.
As he matured, Rachmaninov nurtured an interest in composition—something virtually impossible to pursue in Zverev’s noisy piano studio. When Rachmaninov asked if he could have an instrument in a quiet room, separate from the other students, a conflict ensued, and they fell out. Rachmaninov moved in with family and continued his studies at the Moscow Conservatory. By the time he graduated, he had successfully produced a piano concerto and an opera. Rachmaninov seemed destined to be Russia’s next great composer. After the First Symphony fiasco, Rachmaninov turned to conducting and wrote almost no music for three years. Although he proved to be gifted on the podium, people close to him noticed changes: he’d grown thin; he was moody and complained of sleepless nights. In January 1900, his family staged an intervention, suggesting he see Dr. Nikolai Dahl, a neurologist who’d built a practice treating trauma through hypnosis. Rachmaninov agreed and began to pay daily visits to the doctor. Dahl was a fine cellist, and the two bonded over their love of music. Their sessions focused on improving Rachmaninov’s mood, appetite, and sleep habits. Dahl paid special attention to composition, reinforcing the notion that Rachmaninov would soon write a terrific piano concerto. And he did. The Piano Concerto No. 2 began to take shape over the following summer, with material from a student work, his Romance in A Major for six hands (1891), feeding into the slow movement. Known among musicians as the “Rach Two,” the title page bears the dedication “À Monsieur N. Dahl.” And its legacy is gigantic. Apart from being one of
ADOBE STOCK
Rachmaninov described the Zverev household as a “musical prison.” Piano practice started at 6:00 in the morning, and beatings were frequent. The boys enrolled in the Moscow Conservatory. At the same time, Zverev provided clothing and tickets to concerts, operas and plays. On Sundays, the Zverev home transformed into what Rachmaninov called “a musical paradise,” with informal gatherings that drew the likes of Arensky and Tchaikovsky.
48 | encore the most popular concertos ever written, its music found its way into two hits by Frank Sinatra (“I Think of You” and “Full Moon and Empty Arms”), a runaway hit for 70s pop star Eric Carmen (“All By Myself) and the 1955 Marilyn Monroe film The Seven Year Itch. Scholars and critics took longer to appreciate Rachmaninov. The 1954 edition of the Grove Dictionary of Music predicted his music would fade, but his persistent popularity forced naysayers to take a second look. In 2001, a New York Times article addressed the issue in a long article after both Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center staged immersive concert series dedicated to the composer. “He was so careful, such a great clockmaker of music,’” said the scholar Gerard McBurney. “We get him wrong as a ‘rhapsodist.’ He put a haze over his music that disguises an ear for craftsmanship.” Ultimately, the Piano Concerto No. 2 delivers on all counts: it is a powerhouse for the soloist, a thrill for the audience, and a deeply satisfying concert piece. Symphony No. 7 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 131 First and most recent ASO performances: January 26–28, 1984 William Fred Scott, conductor
I
This symphony is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, piano and strings.
WIKIMEDIA
n his prime, Sergei Prokofiev was a vigorous man. He was a formidable pianist who wrote one of the most physically demanding piano concertos (his Second Concerto). People marveled at his drive to play tennis for four hours a day in 90-degree heat, and he kept an exhausting schedule, touring, performing and writing music. After living abroad for 18 years, he moved his family back to the Soviet Union to focus on composition. The timing could not have been worse. That same year, 1936, Joseph Stalin enacted policies that came to be called “The Great Purge.” Hundreds of thousands perished at the hands of their government, and artists faced a daily threat under the scrutiny of apparatchiks. Luckily for Prokofiev, the music that he wanted to write more or less conformed with Party dictates. But this wouldn’t always be the case. Home life for Sergei and Lina Prokofiev suffered under the stresses of relocation. For over six months, they lived out of suitcases, staying in hotel rooms while waiting for an apartment. As a vivacious, highsociety Spanish national, Lina lacked the personal ties to Russia that
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
encoreatlanta.com
might have made living there bearable. Meanwhile, Sergei lost friends and colleagues to the horror of the Great Purge. In 1939, he met a woman half his age and began the excruciating process of dissolving his marriage. During World War II, Adolph Hitler’s war machine crossed into Soviet territory, prompting officials to evacuate prominent artists. Prokofiev, now living full-time with young Mira Mendelson, was among the evacuees. Lina refused to follow her husband and stayed behind with the two Prokofiev children. Working from afar, he continued to support his family. At the same time, his demeanor changed. “He had always been rather grim and serious, but after he met Mira, he became more affectionate and friendly,” recalled a family friend. “The change in him was very noticeable.” In 1945, at war’s end, Prokofiev returned to Moscow like a conquering hero, conducting the premiere of his Fifth Symphony as Hitler’s army retreated across Poland. “Nothing else Prokofiev had composed since returning to the U.S.S.R. more brilliantly captured the spirit of the moment—even an entire era—or generated more unanimous and genuine critical, political and popular enthusiasm than his Fifth Symphony,” wrote biographer Harlow Robinson. Given what happened next, that premiere would be the highlight of a lifetime. Days after the dazzling debut of his Fifth Symphony, Prokofiev experienced a dizzy spell and took a nasty fall. He suffered a severe concussion and was never the same. Brought on by high blood pressure, the fall precipitated a series of health complications. At times, his condition improved, and he was able to write a number of works—some of which got him into trouble. In January 1948, the Party Central Committee went on the attack, censuring many Soviet composers, including Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Khachaturian and Prokofiev’s close friend Miaskovsky. “Formalism” was the charge (to this day, scholars struggle to define formalism, but it loosely meant that a piece lacked popular appeal in the eyes of jealous, back-biting bureaucrats). For the music community, public censure triggered memories of Stalin’s mass murders. Although the 1948 decree banned only specific works by Prokofiev, many musicians avoided him altogether—just to be safe. The boycott wiped out his income. Weeks after the public condemnation, Soviet authorities arrested Lina Prokofiev (Prokofieva), the composer’s estranged wife, and sentenced her to a Siberian labor camp.
| 49
50 | encore At the end of 1951, Sergei Prokofiev began sketching his Seventh Symphony for a children’s program on State Radio. Initially, he called it a “Children’s Symphony,” but later dropped the reference. To satisfy Party watchdogs, he added some snappy Young Pioneer tunes to the last movement but eschewed a heroic ending in favor of one marked “pensieroso”—pensive. He was advised to rewrite the last bars to go out with a bang. Sergei Prokofiev died at 61 on March 5, 1953. Joseph Stalin died on the same day. Prokofiev’s seventh and final symphony earned a posthumous Lenin Prize in 1957. Lina Prokofiev spent eight years in a Gulag, serving only part of her 20-year sentence, thanks, in part, to an intercession by Dmitri Shostakovich. She died in London in 1989, outliving her much younger rival, Mira Mendelson, by 21 years.
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
Our audience is your audience. Advertise with Encore and reach a targeted group of performing arts lovers.
CONTACT Hila Johnson 305-978-2922 hila@encorecharlotte.com
52 | meettheartists DAVID DANZMAYR, CONDUCTOR
D
RICK BUCHANAN
avid Danzmayr is widely regarded as one of the most exciting European conductors of his generation. He is in in his second season as Music Director of the Oregon Symphony and also stands at the helm of the versatile ProMusica Chamber Orchestra Columbus, an innovative orchestra comprised of musicians from all over the USA. In addition, he holds the title of Honorary Conductor of the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra with whom he had served as Chief Conductor—leading the Zagreb musicians on several European tours with concerts in the Salzburg Festival Hall, where they performed the prestigious New Year´s concert, and the Vienna Musikverein. David has won prizes at some of the world´s most prestigious conducting competitions including at the International Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition and at the International Malko Conducting Competition. In recognition of his successes, he has been awarded the Bernhard Paumgartner Medal by the Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum. Propelled into a far-reaching international career, Danzmayr has quickly become a sought-after guest conductor having worked in Europe and America with such symphonies as those of Cincinnati, Minnesota, St. Louis, Seattle, Baltimore, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Detroit, Colorado, Utah, Milwaukee, New Jersey, and Houston Symphony. He frequently appears in the world´s major concert halls, such as the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, Grosses Festspielhaus Salzburg, Usher Hall Edinburgh, and the Symphony Hall in Chicago. Danzmayr received his musical training at the University Mozarteum in Salzburg where, after initially studying piano, he went on to study conducting. He has served as Assistant Conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, performing in all the major Scottish concert halls.
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
encoreatlanta.com
MICHELLE CANN, PIANO
L
auded as “exquisite” by The Philadelphia Inquirer and “a pianist of sterling artistry” by Gramophone, Michelle Cann has become one of the most sought-after pianists of her generation. She made her debut in 2021 with The Philadelphia Orchestra and has recently performed concertos with The Cleveland Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Orquestra Sinfônica Municipal de São Paulo, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, and Cincinnati. Highlights of Cann’s 2023-24 season include appearances with the Charlotte, Hawaii, Indianapolis, Québec, Sarasota, and Winnipeg symphony orchestras, and recitals in New York City, Portland, Berkeley, Beverly Hills, and Denver. Recognized as a leading interpreter of the piano music of Florence Price, Cann performed the New York City premiere of Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement with The Dream Unfinished Orchestra in July 2016. Her recording of the concerto with the New York Youth Symphony won a Grammy Award in 2023. Her acclaimed debut solo album Revival, featuring music by Price and Margaret Bonds, was released in May 2023. Cann was the recipient of the 2022 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, the highest honor bestowed by the Sphinx Organization. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music and an Artist’s Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music. Cann joined the Curtis piano faculty in 2020 as the inaugural Eleanor Sokoloff Chair in Piano Studies, and she joined the piano faculty of the Manhattan School of Music in 2023. Listen now to Michelle Cann’s solo album Revival, Music of Price and Bonds, by scanning the QR code at right using the camera on your mobile phone. More information at Curtis.edu/revival.
| 53
54 | nov30/dec2 Concerts of Thursday, November 30, 2023 8:00 PM Saturday, December 2, 2023 8:00 PM ANTHONY PARNTHER, conductor ANDREW BRADY, bassoon
Thursday's concert is dedicated to CHRISTINA & PAUL BLACKNEY in honor of their extraordinary support of the 2022/23 Annual Fund.
CHANDA DANCY (b. 1978) Cacophony of Spirits: A Cinematic Tone Poem (2023) 12 MINS A theme and variations in four continuous parts: 1. Joy/Wonder 2. Fear/Suffering 3. Rage/Destruction 4. Sorrow/Acceptance JOHN WILLIAMS (b. 1932) The Five Sacred Trees, Concerto for Bassoon & Orchestra (1995) I. Eó Mugna (The Oak) II. Tortan (Magic, Witchraft) III. Eó Rossa (The Yew) IV. Craeb Uisnig (The Ash) V. Dathi (The Muse) Andrew Brady, bassoon INTERMISSION FLORENCE PRICE (1887–1953) Symphony No. 3 in C Minor (1938) I. Andante — Allegro II. Andante ma non troppo III. Juba: Allegro IV. Scherzo: Finale
Thursday's concert is proudly sponsored by Alston & Bird.
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.
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
29 MINS
20 MINS 30 MINS
notesontheprogram
| 55
by Noel Morris Program Annotator
Cacophony of Spirits: A Cinematic Tone Poem
These are world premiere
performances. Cacophony of Spirits is scored for piccolo, three flutes, two oboes, English horn, three clarinets (one doubling E-flat clarinet and one doubling bass clarinet), three bassoons (one doubling contrabassoon), four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, keyboard and strings.
Chanda Dancy
N
ative Texan Chanda Dancy started composing orchestral works at the age of 12. She has been described as a “phenomenal composer” (Ted Chung, Zacuto: Featured Filmmakers) and “quickly gaining recognition as a foremost black American contemporary composer.” (Anthony Parnther, Conductor, San Bernardino Symphony). Her works are described as “emotionally penetrating” (John Malveaux, Africlassical.com) and “rich” (George Heymont, Huffington Post). An alumnus of the USC Film Scoring Program and the Sundance Composers Lab, Chanda Dancy is both an accomplished film and television composer with over 18 years of experience and an emerging classical concert composer. Arts Boston named her one of “10 Contemporary Black Composers You Should Know.” She is known for her work on the Sundance award winning documentary Aftershock (Disney/Onyx Collective), the hit Netflix TV Original The Defeated starring Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights), the Korean War era epic Devotion starring Jonathan Majors (Da 5 Bloods, Loki) and Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick), and the Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody, directed by Kasi Lemmons. Besides composing, Chanda is also known for her performances with the indie rock band, Modern Time Machines, as violinist, keyboardist and vocalist, and as owner of the boutique post production studio, Cyd Post. From the composer: The past few years have been all at once a time of incalculable loss, suffering, and a general sense of doom as we found ourselves in the midst of a global pandemic with millions dead, widespread political upheaval, horrific witnessing of lives callously taken by law enforcement, war, after war, after war, and on top of it all, my own personal tragedy with the loss of my spouse. I have found my soul crying out, along with infinite others as we grapple with this uncertain journey called Life. Cacophony of Spirits was borne of these deep feelings. A cinematic tone poem for full orchestra in the
56 | encore form of a theme and variations, Cacophony of Spirits is an allegorical representation of an emotional and spiritual journey of the living souls that inhabit Earth. Divided into 4 parts, played end to end without break, the piece sets forth a theme and evolves it through such emotions as Joy/Wonder, to Fear/Suffering to Rage/Destruction and ending on Sorrow/Acceptance. In each section, the music borders on chaos, with the orchestra even “wailing” and “shouting” like the voices of countless souls crying out, and finally ascending into nothingness. These are the first
The Five Sacred Trees, Concerto for Bassoon & Orchestra
ASO performances.
In addition to the solo bassoon, The Five Sacred Trees is scored for three flutes (one doubling piccolo), two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, piano, celeste and strings. John Williams
I
n a career spanning more than six decades, John Williams has become one of America’s most accomplished and successful composers for film and for the concert stage, and he remains one of our nation’s most distinguished and contributive musical voices. He has composed the music and served as music director for more than one hundred films, including all nine Star Wars films, the first three Harry Potter films, Superman, JFK, Born on the Fourth of July, Memoirs of a Geisha, Far and Away, The Accidental Tourist, Home Alone and The Book Thief. His 50-year artistic partnership with director Steven Spielberg has resulted in many of Hollywood’s most acclaimed and successful films, including Schindler’s List, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Jaws, Jurassic Park, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the Indiana Jones films, Munich, Saving Private Ryan, The Adventures of Tintin, War Horse, Lincoln, The BFG, The Post and The Fabelmans. His contributions to television music include scores for more than 200 television films for the groundbreaking, early anthology series Alcoa Theatre, Kraft Television Theatre, Chrysler Theatre and Playhouse 90, as well as themes for NBC Nightly News (“The Mission”), NBC’s Meet the Press, and the PBS arts showcase Great Performances. He also composed themes for the 1984, 1988, and 1996 Summer Olympic Games, the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. He has received five Academy Awards and fifty-three Oscar nominations, making him the Academy’s most-nominated living person and the second-most nominated person in the history of the
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
encoreatlanta.com
Oscars. He has received seven British Academy Awards (BAFTA), twenty-five Grammys, four Golden Globes, five Emmys, and numerous gold and platinum records. In 2003, he received the Olympic Order (the IOC’s highest honor) for his contributions to the Olympic movement. He received the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors in December of 2004. In 2009, Mr. Williams was inducted into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and he received the National Medal of Arts, the highest award given to artists by the U.S. Government. In 2016, he received the 44th Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute—the first time in their history that this honor was bestowed upon a composer. In 2020, he received Spain’s Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts as well as the Gold Medal from the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society in the UK, and in 2022 he was awarded an honorary knighthood of the British Empire as one of the final awards approved by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. In January 1980, Mr. Williams was named nineteenth music director of the Boston Pops Orchestra, succeeding the legendary Arthur Fiedler. He currently holds the title of Boston Pops Laureate Conductor which he assumed following his retirement in December 1993 after 14 highly successful seasons. He also holds the title of Artist-in-Residence at Tanglewood. Mr. Williams has composed numerous works for the concert stage, among them two symphonies, and concertos commissioned by several of the world’s leading orchestras, including a cello concerto for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a bassoon concerto for the New York Philharmonic, a trumpet concerto for The Cleveland Orchestra, and a horn concerto for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In 2009, the Boston Symphony premiered his concerto for harp and orchestra entitled On Willows and Birches, and in the same year, Mr. Williams composed and arranged Air and Simple Gifts especially for the first inaugural ceremony of President Barack Obama. In 2021, Williams premiered his second violin concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood along with soloist Anne-Sophie Mutter, for whom he composed the work. From the composer: As we become increasingly aware of the damage done by the destruction of our forests, it is illuminating to discover that our ancestors, many thousands of years ago, prayed to the spirits before felling a tree. One prayer was appropriate for a maple, another for the elm, the ash and so on.
| 57
58 | encore The English poet Robert Graves writes of these prayers, which I have been unable to find but which, nonetheless, have moved me to compose this music about trees featuring the bassoon, itself a tree. This is all the result of a request for a concerto by the great bassoonist Judith LeClair, whose unparalleled artistry is a mystery and a wonder in itself. I Eó Mugna, the great oak, whose roots extend to Connla’s Well in the “otherworld,” stands guard over what is the source of the River Shannon and the font of all wisdom. The well is probably the source of all music, too. The inspiration for this movement is the Irish Uilleann pipe, a distant ancestor of the bassoon, whose music evokes the spirit of Mugna and the sacred well. II Tartan is a tree that has been associated with witches and as a result, the fiddle appears, sawing away, as it is conjoined with the music of the bassoon. The Irish Bodhrán drum assists. III The Tree of Ross (or Eó Rossa) is a yew, and although the yew is often referred to as a symbol of death and destruction, the Tree of Ross is the subject of much rhapsodizing in the literature. It is referred to as “a mother’s good,” “Diadem of angels” and “faggot of the sages.” Hence, the lyrical character of this movement, wherein the bassoon incants and is accompanied by the harp! IV Craeb Uisnig is an ash and has been described by Robert Graves as a source of strife. Thus, a ghostly battle, where all that is heard as the phantoms struggle, is the snapping of twigs on the forest floor. V Dathi, which purportedly exercised authority over the Poets, and was the last tree to fall, is the subject for the close of the piece. The bassoon soliloquizes as it ponders the secrets of the Trees. These are the first
Symphony No. 3 in C Minor
ASO performances.
This symphony is scored for piccolo, three flutes, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, celeste and strings.
O
ne day in 1979, a Yale graduate student in African American Studies made a trip to the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. The trip would change her life. Rae Linda Brown thumbed through a cache of uncatalogued works by Black cultural leaders and asked the librarians if she could help to catalog them. The library staff was happy to accept, and Brown went to work.
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
encoreatlanta.com
“I was going through this massive amount of music, and I stumbled upon Florence Price’s Symphony in C minor, her Symphony No. 3,” she said. At the time, Brown had never heard of Florence Price but realized it could be an important discovery—and it was. The manuscript led to a master’s thesis and a PhD. Eventually, Brown wrote a biography on Florence Price. Price is part of an esteemed group of composers (including Schubert and Vivaldi) nearly forgotten but for the efforts of scholars like Rae Linda Brown. These musical detectives riffled through basements, archives, and all manner of places to piece together a composer’s trip through life and the legacy left behind. Florence Price (née Smith) grew up in an upper-middle-class family in Little Rock and studied at the New England Conservatory. After graduation, she returned to her hometown where she married a lawyer named Thomas Price. They started a family, but when Thomas became abusive, Florence filed for divorce. Growing up in a segregated city, she had hoped to use her musical training to uplift other families, but this was a volatile time to be Black in the South. Six years after the Tulsa Race Massacre, a Little Rock mob lynched a 22-year-old man and dragged his body through the streets. The mob continued to swell until thousands of white rioters ransacked Black churches and businesses. With that, Florence Price packed up her two girls and moved to Chicago. Through the Great Depression, Chicago was a hothouse for music. Jazz and blues musicians flocked to the city, and Black churches resounded with the sound of a new art form—gospel—pioneered by Thomas Dorsey, Mahalia Jackson, and others. Price found a vibrant community and vital support system through the Chicago Club of Women Organists and the Musicians Club of Women. Several local orchestras performed her works, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Describing her Symphony No. 3 (1938), Price said she set out to “portray a cross-section of Negro life and psychology as it is today, influenced by urban life north of the Mason and Dixon line. … and for that reason treated my themes in a manner different from what I would have done if I had centered my attention upon the religious themes of antebellum days, or yet the ragtime and jazz which followed.” Instead, she saw her symphony as “a fusion of these, colored by present cultural influences.”
| 59
60 | encore Price found a home for her Symphony No. 3 with conductor Valter Poole and the Michigan WPA Symphony Orchestra, who premiered the piece on November 6, 1940. The concert included Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement with the composer at the piano. A critic for The Detroit Free Press wrote: “Mrs. Price is convincing. Mrs. Price, both in the concerto and in the symphony, spoke in the musical idiom of her own people, and spoke with authority. There was inherent in both works all the emotional warmth of the American Negro, so that the evening became one of profound melodic satisfaction.” He went on to say, “Certainly Mrs. Price has achieved what few women of any race are capable of doing when she made her invasion of the symphonic field.” It would be decades before more women invaded the symphonic field on a regular basis. Thankfully, we’re done waiting.
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
encoreatlanta.com
| 61
62 | meettheartists ANTHONY PARNTHER, CONDUCTOR
A
KONSTANTIN GOLOVCHINSKY
merican conductor Anthony Parnther is in his fifth season as Music Director of California’s San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra. As conductor of the Gateways Music Festival Orchestra, whose members hail from leading orchestras nationwide, it was Parnther who led its sold-out Carnegie Hall debut, showcasing the world premiere of I Can by five-time Grammy-winner Jon Batiste. A master of multiple genres, Parnther has conducted many of the world’s preeminent artists, from Joshua Bell, Lynn Harrell, Jessye Norman, and Frederica von Stade to Imagine Dragons, John Legend, Avenged Sevenfold, Wu-Tang Clan, and Rihanna. Recent engagements include collaborations with the Atlanta Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Calgary Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Music Academy of the West, National Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, and the Sydney Symphony in Australia. Dedicated to amplifying traditionally underrepresented voices, Parnther has reconstructed and performed orchestral works by Margaret Bonds, Duke Ellington, Zenobia Powell Perry, Florence Price, William Grant Still and Samuel Coleridge Taylor. As well as leading LA Opera’s world premiere of Tamar-kali Brown’s oratorio We Hold These Truths and Long Beach Opera’s revival of Anthony Davis’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Central Park Five. For his extensive championing of works by Black, Latino, and women composers, Parnther was profiled in 2015 as a “Local Hero” by Los Angeles’s KCET/TV. As one of today’s foremost film conductors, Parnther helms recording sessions for many of the world’s top international feature films and television series, working in close collaboration with some of the most decorated media composers on the scoring stages of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Nashville, Budapest, Glasgow, and London. Recent projects include Avatar: The Way of Water, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Encanto, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, Nope, Creed III, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Diaries of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules, Ice Age: Adventures of Buck Wild, Tenet, American Dad, Oppenheimer, Turning Red, Star Wars: The Mandalorian, Star Wars: Book of Boba Fett, and League of Legends.
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
encoreatlanta.com
| 63
ANDREW BRADY, BASSOON
N
As a soloist, Brady has performed concertos by Hertel, Rossini, Mozart, Weber and Zwilich with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Southeast Symphony, the Los Angeles Doctor’s Symphony and The Colburn Orchestra. He appears regularly as Principal Bassoonist with the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, and he has performed as guest principal with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, as well as at Carnegie Hall and on European tours with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. In past summers, Brady has been a proud member of the Chineke! Orchestra including a performance at the 2017 BBC Proms. The ensemble is the UK’s first Black and ethnically diverse orchestra and seeks to promote diversity and change within classical music by increasing the representation and visibility of musicians of color. Andrew is also thrilled to have participated in the “Juneteenth: A Global Celebration for Freedom” concert with the Re-Collective Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl in June 2022. The concert was broadcast live on CNN and marked the first performance of an allblack orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl. Enthusiastically involved in music education, Brady has taught as an Artist-in-Residence at Kennesaw State University. He has also served on the faculties of the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival, National Orchestral Institute, Brevard Music Center, Festival Napa Valley and National Youth Orchestra/NYO2 through Carnegie Hall. Brady graduated with his Bachelor of Music degree from The Colburn School Conservatory of Music in 2013, where he studied with Richard Beene. Other major teachers and influences include Anthony Parnther, Rick Ranti and Suzanne Nelsen.
JEFF ROFFMAN
ative Tennessean Andrew Brady joined The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in the 2022-23 season as Principal Bassoon. Brady comes to Minnesota from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, having served there as Principal Bassoon since January 2016. Prior to the ASO, Brady held the same position for two years with the Louisiana Philharmonic.
64 | encore ASO | SUPPORT
T
he Atlanta Symphony Orchestra continues to prosper thanks to the support of our generous patrons. The list below recognizes the donors who have made contributions since June 1, 2022. Their extraordinary generosity provides the foundation for this world-class institution. $1,000,000+
A Friend of the Symphony∞
$100,000+ A Friend of the Symphony 1180 Peachtree The Molly Blank Fund of The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation∞
Delta Air Lines Lettie Pate Evans Foundation∞ Barney M. Franklin & Hugh W. Burke Charitable Fund Georgia Power Company The Halle Foundation The Home Depot Foundation
Charles Loridans Foundation, Inc. Amy W. Norman Charitable Foundation The Zeist Foundation, Inc.
$75,000+ Alston & Bird LLP The Paul M. Angell Family Foundation∞
The Antinori Foundation The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation
Chick-fil-A Cadence Bank Foundation PNC
$50,000+ Accenture LLP City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs Ms. Lynn Eden Emerald Gate Charitable Trust
Emory Woodruff Health Sciences Center Ms. Angela L. Evans∞
Graphic Packaging KPMG Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP Slumgullion Charitable Fund Truist
The Coca-Cola Company Sheila L. & Jonathan J. Davies
Four Seasons The Gable Foundation Georgia Council for the Arts
Invesco QQQ Abraham J. & Phyllis Katz Foundation∞
$35,000+ Mr. & Mrs. Paul J. Blackney Cox Enterprises, Inc. Sally* & Larry Davis
The Roy & Janet Dorsey Foundation John D. Fuller Fulton County Arts & Culture Anne Morgan & Jim Kelley
National Endowment for the Arts Sally & Pete Parsonson∞ Patty & Doug Reid Mary & Jim Rubright Patrick & Susie Viguerie
$25,000+ Farideh & Al Azadi Foundation∞ Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Bailey Jennifer Barlament & Kenneth Potsic Janine Brown & Alex J. Simmons, Jr. Connie & Merrell Calhoun John W. Cooledge The Jim Cox, Jr. Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Erroll B. Davis, Jr.∞ Jeannette Guarner, MD & Carlos del Rio, MD
Mr. Richard H. Delay & Dr. Francine D. Dykes∞ Paulette Eastman & Becky Pryor Anderson*∞
Massey Charitable Trust John & Linda Matthews∞ Norfolk Southern John R. Paddock, Ph.D. & Karen M. Schwartz, Ph.D. Victoria & Howard Palefsky Porsche Cars North America, Inc. Publix Super Markets Charities, Inc. Bill & Rachel Schultz° June & John Scott∞ Troutman Pepper Kathy Waller & Kenneth Goggins Mr.* & Mrs. Edus H. Warren, Jr. Ann Marie & John B. White, Jr.°∞
Eversheds Sutherland Ms. Marina Fahim° Dick & Anne Game° Sally & Walter George The Graves Foundation Bonnie & Jay Harris League of American Orchestras Donna Lee & Howard Ehni The Livingston Foundation, Inc. The Marcus Foundation, Inc.∞
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
encoreatlanta.com
$17,500+ Mr. Keith Adams & Ms. Kerry Heyward° Affairs to Remember John & Juliet Allan Aspire Media Benjamin Q. Brunt Ms. Elizabeth W. Camp Wright & Alison Caughman Ms. Lisa V. Chang Choate Bridges Foundation Cari K. Dawson & John M. Sparrow Maria & Rodrigo Garcia-Escudero Mr. & Mrs. Charles B. Harrison Ms. Joia M. Johnson Mr. & Mrs. Randolph J. Koporc The Ray M. & Mary Elizabeth Lee Foundation, Inc. Mr. & Dr. Kevin Lyman Mr. & Mrs. Arthur Mills IV Moore Colson, CPAs & Bert & Carmen Mills Terence L. & Jeanne Perrine Neal° Lynn & Galen Oelkers Ms. Margaret Painter∞ Martha M. Pentecost Joyce & Henry Schwob Mr. Fahim Siddiqui & Ms. Shazia Fahim Ross & Sally Singletary Carolyn C. Thorsen∞ The Mark & Evelyn Trammell Foundation Universal Music Group-Task Force for Meaningful Change John & Ray Uttenhove Mrs. Sue S. Williams $15,000+ Phyllis Abramson, Ph. D. Madeline* & Howell E. Adams, Jr. Aadu & Kristi Allpere° Aprio Mr. Keith Barnett Mr. David Boatwright Mr. & Mrs. Benjamin Clare° Russell Currey & Amy Durrell
Lisa DiFrancesco, MD & Darlene Nicosia Eleanor & Charles Edmondson Ms. Yelena Epova Fifth Third Bank Craig Frankel & Jana Eplan Georgia-Pacific Mr. Max M. Gilstrap Pam & Robert Glustrom The Scott Hudgens Family Foundation Roya & Bahman Irvani Jamestown Properties James H. Landon Mr. Sukai Liu & Dr. Ginger J. Chen Ms. Deborah A. Marlowe & Dr. Clint Lawrence John F. & Marilyn M. McMullan Ms. Molly Minnear New Music, USA Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Paul Mr. Edward Potter & Ms. Regina Olchowski° Ms. Cathleen Quigley Charlie & Donna Sharbaugh Beverly & Milton Shlapak Mr. John A. Sibley, III Dr. Steven & Lynne Steindel° Elliott & Elaine Tapp° Ms. Brett A. Tarver Judith & Mark K. Taylor Carol & Ramon Tomé Family Fund Mr. & Mrs. Benny Varzi Adair & Dick White Drs. Kevin & Kalinda Woods $10,000+ A Friend of the Symphony (2) AAA Parking Paul & Melody Aldo∞ Mr. & Mrs. Calvin R. Allen Julie & Jim* Balloun Mr. & Mrs. Gerald R. Benjamin Kelley O. & Neil H. Berman Rita & Herschel Bloom Bloomberg Philanthropies The Boston Consulting Group The Breman Foundation, Inc. Lisa & Russ Butner
| 65
Mr. & Mrs. Thomas C. Chubb III Mr. & Mrs. Chris Collier Colliers International Costco Wholesale Corporation Peter & Vivian de Kok Donald & Barbara Defoe° Marcia & John Donnell Mr. & Mrs. John C. Dyer Eversheds Sutherland Dr. & Mrs. Leroy Fass In Memory of Betty Sands Fuller The Robert Hall Gunn, Jr., Fund Google Hamilton Capital Partners, LLC The Hertz Family Foundation, Inc. Clay & Jane Jackson Ann A. & Ben F. Johnson III° James Kieffer Stephen & Carolyn Knight La Fête du Rosé Dr. & Mrs. Scott I. Lampert The Sartain Lanier Family Foundation Pat & Nolan Leake Dr. Fulton D. Lewis III & S. Neal Rhoney Meghan & Clarke Magruder Merrill Lynch Capital Markets Caroline & Phil Moïse Moore, Colson & Company, P.C. Gretchen Nagy & Allan Sandlin ∞ Leadership Council We salute these extraordinary donors who have signed pledge commitments to continue their support for three years or more.
For information about giving to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Annual Fund, please contact William Keene at 404.733.4839 or william.keene@ atlantasymphony.org.
°We are grateful to these donors for taking the extra time to acquire matching gifts from their employers. *Deceased
66 | encore ASO | SUPPORT (cont.) Mr. Kenneth M. Neighbors Lisa & Joe Bankoff Burton Trimble Ms. Eunice Luke & Ms. Valdoreas May Chilton & Morgan* Varner Asad Bashey Dr. & Mrs. Ellis L. Malone The Norfolk Southern Amy & Robert Vassey Herschel Beazley Ms. Erin M. Marshall Corporation Alan & Marcia Watt Meredith Bell Mr. & Mrs. Margaret H. Petersen Christopher D. Martin Mr. Nathan Watt Dr. & Mrs. David F. & Maxine A.* Rock Jerome B. Blumenthal Belinda & Gino Massafra Ruthie Watts Thomas & Lynne Saylor Mrs. Sidney W. Boozer The Fred & Sue McGehee Mr. & Mrs. Robert L. Welch Family Charitable Fund The Simmons Foundation Carol Brantley & Dr. Nanette K. Wenger David Webster Ed & Linda McGinn° John & Yee-Wan Stevens WhoBody Inc. Margo Brinton & Ms. Erica McVicker Mr. & Mrs. Suzanne B. Wilner Edward W. Stroetz, Jr. Eldon Park Mr. Bert Mobley Mr. & Mrs. M. Beattie Wood Stephen & Sonia Swartz Jacqueline A. & Mr. Cesar Moreno & Mr. Greg Heathcock Mr. G. Kimbrough Taylor & Joseph E. Brown, Jr. $3,500+ Judith D. Bullock Ms. Triska Drake Sue Morgan∞ A Friend of the Symphony(2) CBH International, Inc George & Amy Taylor∞ Jane Morrison∞ Drs. Jay & Martin Mr. Paul E. Viera & John Champion & Music Matters Beard-Coles Ms. Gail O’Neill* Penelope Malone Mr. Thomas Nightingale Mr. John Blatz Dr. & Mrs. James O. Wells, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Miles R. Cook Ms. Bethani Oppenheimer Ms. Johanna Brookner Kiki Wilson William & Patricia Cook Mr. & Mrs. Mr. & Mrs. Dennis M. Chorba Carol Comstock & Edmund F. Pearce, Jr.° Liz & Charlie Cohn° $7,500+ Jim Davis The Hellen Plummer Ned Cone & Nadeen Green Jack & Helga Beam∞ Janet & John Costello Charitable Foundation, Inc. Jean & Jerry Cooper Karen & Rod Bunn Dillon Production Services Dr. & Mrs. John P. Pooler Mr. Ramsey Fahs Patricia & William Buss∞ Mr. & Mrs. Paul H. Dimmick John H. Rains Mr. & Mrs. Louis Gump Mark Coan & Family Xavier Duralde & Mr. & Mrs. Joel F. Reeves Deedee & Marc* Hamburger Mary Barrett Ms. Diane Durgin Cammie & John Rice Barbara M. Hund Dieter Elsner & Sally W. Hawkins Vicki & Joe Riedel Cameron Jackson° Othene Munson Grace Ihrig° Ms. Felicia Rives Mr. W. F. & Robert S. Elster Foundation Ann & Brian Kimsey Betsy & Lee Robinson Dr. Janice Johnston Dr. & Mrs. Carl D. Fackler Jason & Michelle Kroh Ms. Frances A. Root Wolfgang* & Mariana Laufer Ellen & Howard Feinsand Mr. Robert M. Lewis, Jr. Mr. & Ms. Joseph A. Ari & Fara Levine° Mr. & Mrs. William A. Flinn Roseborough Elvira & Jay Mannelly Deborah & William Liss° Bruce W. & Avery C. Flower∞ Tiffany & Rich Rosetti∞ Berthe & Shapour Martha & Reynolds Mr. David L. Forbes Mobasser John T. Ruff McClatchey Marty & John Gillin° Mrs. Kay Adams* & Katherine Scott In Memory of Mr. Ralph Paulk° Dr. Paul Gilreath Mallie Sharafat Dr. Frank S. Pittman III Hamilton & Mason Smith Mary* & Charles Ginden Suzanne Shull Ms. Kathy Powell Tom & Ani Steele Mr. & Mrs. Richard Goodsell∞ Gerald & Nancy Silverboard Leonard Reed Melanie & Tucker Green Ms. Juliana T. Vincenzino Baker & Debby Smith Mrs. Susan H. Reinach Martha Reaves Head Drs. Jonne & Paul Walter Ms. Cynthia Smith S.A. Robinson Azira G. Hill Mr. David J. Worley & Dr. K. Douglas Smith Mr. David Roemer Ms. Bernadette Drankoski Tad & Janin Hutcheson Mr. & Mrs. Dr. & Mrs. Rein Saral Camille W. Yow Mr. Justin Im & Peter Stathopoulos Donna Schwartz Dr. Nakyoung Nam In memory of Ms. Martha Solano $5,000+ Aaron & Joyce Johnson Elizabeth B. Stephens by Mr. & Mrs. Art Waldrop A Friend of the Symphony (3) Mr. & Mrs. Baxter Jones Powell, Preston & Sally∞ Mr. & Mrs. Rhys T. Wilson Dr. & Mrs. Marshall Abes Dede & Bob Thompson Mr. Jonathan Kamenear Ms. Sonia Witkowski Azalea City Chapter of Links Paul* & Rosthema Kastin Mr. & Mrs. Peter Toren Dr. Evelyn R. Babey Trapp Family Mr. Charles R. Kowal
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
encoreatlanta.com
| 67
Mr. & Mrs. Diana Einterz Ms. Rebecca Jarvis $2,000+ Jonathan K. Peterson Erica Endicott & Mrs. Gail Johnson A Friend of the Symphony(2) Chris Heisel Ponce de Leon Music Store Cecile M. Jones 2492 Fund Mr. & Mrs. Taylor Fairman Mr. & Ms. Lana M. Jordan Mr. & Dr. Paul Akbar Mr. & Mrs. Paul G. Farnham William L. & Sally S. Jorden Douglas R. Powell Sharon & David Schachter° Mr. James L. Anderson Mr. & Mrs. Massoud Fatemi Teresa M. Joyce, Ph.D Drs. Bess Schoen & Ms. Debra Atkins & Dr. Karen A. Foster Mona & Gilbert Kelly° Andrew Muir Ms. Mary Ann Wayne Annie Frazer & Mr. Lewis King Drs. Lawrence & Jen Horvath The Atlanta Music Club Mr. & Mrs. Theodore J. Rachel Schonberger Ms. Elizabeth C. French Anthony Barbagallo & Lavallee, Sr. Nick & Annie Shreiber Kristen Fowks∞ Gaby Family Foundation Lillian Balentine Law Helga Hazelrig Siegel Ms. Susan Bass & Mr. & Mrs. Sebastien Galtier Mr. & Mrs. Chris Le Mr. Tom Bradford Diana Silverman Raj & Jyoti Gandhi Mr. & Mrs. J. David Lifsey Dr. Laura Beaty Jeanne S. & S. Family Foundation Jun-Ching Lin & James Simpson Bell Family Foundation Mr. & Mrs. C. Ben Garren Helen Porter for Hope Inc The Society, Inc Sandra & John Glover Azy Lotfi & Max Lotfi Susan & Jack Bertram The Alex & Betty Mrs. Janet D. Goldstein Dr. Marcus Marr Smith Donor-Advised Catherine Binns & Mr. & Mrs. Daniel P. Griffin Mrs. Sam Massell Endowment Fund Jim Honkisz* Richard & Debbie Griffiths Dr. & Mrs. Douglas Mattox Anne-Marie Sparrow Leon & Joy Borchers Mr. & Mrs. In Memory of Peggy & Jerry Stapleton Andrew & Elissa Bower° George Gunderson Pam McAllister James & Shari Steinberg Martha S. Brewer Phil & Lisa Hartley Mr. & Mrs. James McClatchey Richard M. Stormont* Harriet Evans Brock Mr. & Mrs. Steve Hauser° Birgit & David McQueen Dr. & Mrs. Dr. Aubrey Bush & Mr. & Mrs. John Hellriegel Anna & Hays Mershon John P. Straetmans Dr. Carol Bush Ms. Elizabeth Hendrick Mr. & Mrs. Beth & Edward Sugarman Mr. & Mrs. Walter K. Canipe Ms. Ann Herrera & Thomas B. Mimms, Jr. Kay R Summers Betty Fuller Case Ms. Mary M. Goodwin Mrs. Pat Mitchell & Tegna Foundation Mr. James Cobb Mr. Scott Seydel Mr. Kenneth & Ms. Linda F. Terry Coenen-Johnson Ms. Colleen Hey Mr. Charles Morn Foundation Sarah & Harvey Hill, Jr.° Janice & Tom Munsterman∞ Dr. Brenda G. Turner Susan S. Cofer Vogel Family Foundation Laurie House Hopkins & Melanie & Allan Nelkin Malcolm & Ann Cole Dr. James L. Waits John D. Hopkins Agnes V. Nelson Ralph & Rita Connell Mr. Charles D. Wattles & James & Bridget Horgan° Gary R. Noble, MD & Ms. Rosemary C. Willey Matt & Kate Cook Ms. & Mr. Carli Huband Joanne Heckman David & Martha West Mrs. Nancy Cooke Richard & Linda Hubert Donald S. Orr & Russell F. Winch & Mary Carole Cooney & Marcia K. Knight Dona & Bill Humphreys Mark B. Elberfeld Henry R. Bauer, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. International Women’s Zaban Foundation, Inc. Ms. Elizabeth Wiggs Cooper Forum Solon P. Patterson Herbert* & Grace Zwerner & Mr. Larry Cooper Nancy & John Janet R. Carter & Marjorie A. Crittenden Foundation Patron Leadership Linda Matthews Nancy Janet chair (PAL) Committee Mr. & Mrs. Paul M. Cushing Belinda Massafra Kristi Allpere We give special Dr. & Mrs. F. Thomas Daly, Jr. Sally Parsonson thanks to this Helga Beam Mr. & Mrs. Kyle Dasher June Scott dedicated group of Bill Buss Priscilla Davis Atlanta Symphony Milt Shlapak Pat Buss Orchestra donorDelta Community Jonne Walter Kristen Fowks volunteers for their Credit Union Marcia Watt Deedee Hamburger commitment to Mr. & Mrs. Graham Dorian each year’s annual Judy Hellriegel Mr. & Mrs. Robert G. Edge support initiatives:
°We are grateful to these donors for taking the extra time to acquire matching gifts from their employers. *Deceased
68 | encore Jill* & Jennings* Hertz Mr. Albert L. Hibbard Richard E. Hodges Mr.* & Mrs. Charles K. Holmes, Jr. Mr.* & Mrs.* Fred A. Hoyt, Jr. H E N RY S O P K I N C I R C L E Jim* & Barbara Hund Clayton F. Jackson Named for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s Mary B. James founding Music Director, the HENRY SOPKIN Nancy Janet CIRCLE celebrates cherished individuals and Mr. Calvert Johnson & families who have made a planned gift to the Mr. Kenneth Dutter deForest F. Jurkiewicz* Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. These special Herb* & Hazel Karp donors preserve the Orchestra’s foundation Anne Morgan & Jim Kelley and ensure success for future generations. Bob Kinsey A Friend of the James W.* & Mary Ellen* Janie Cowan Symphony (22) Mr. & Mrs. William R. Cummickel Kitchell Madeline* & Howell E. Bob* & Verdery* Cunningham Paul Kniepkamp, Jr. Adams, Jr. Vivian & Peter de Kok Mr. Richard H. Delay & Mr.* & Mrs.* John E. Aderhold Miss Florence Kopleff* Dr. Francine D. Dykes Paul & Melody Aldo Mr. Robert Lamy John R. Donnell Mr. & Mrs. Ronald R. Antinori James H. Landon Dixon W. Driggs* Dr. & Mrs. William Bauer Ouida Hayes Lanier Pamela Johnson Drummond Helga Beam Lucy Russell Lee* & Mrs. Kathryn E. Duggleby Mr. Charles D. Belcher* Gary Lee, Jr. Catherine Warren Dukehart* Neil H. Berman Ione & John Lee Ms. Diane Durgin Susan & Jack Bertram Mr. Larry M. LeMaster Arnold & Sylvia Eaves Mr.* & Mrs.* Karl A. Bevins Mr.* & Mrs.* William C. Lester Mr. & Mrs. Robert G. Edge The Estate of Donald S. & Liz & Jay* Levine Geoffrey G. Eichholz* Joyce Bickers Robert M. Lewis, Jr. Elizabeth Etoll Ms. Page Bishop* Carroll & Ruth Liller Mr. Doyle Faler Mr.* & Mrs.* Sol Blaine Ms. Joanne Lincoln* Brien P. Faucett John Blatz Jane Little* Dr. Emile T. Fisher* Rita & Herschel Bloom Mrs. J. Erskine Love, Jr.* Moniqua N Fladger The Estate of Mrs. Nell Galt & Will D. Magruder Mr. & Mrs. Bruce W. Flower Gilbert H. Boggs, Jr. K Maier A. D. Frazier, Jr. W. Moses Bond John W. Markham* Nola Frink* Mr.* & Mrs. Robert C. Boozer Mrs. Ann B. Martin Betty* & Drew* Fuller Elinor A. Breman* Linda & John Matthews Sally & Carl Gable Carol J. Brown Mr. Michael A. McDowell, Jr. William & Carolyn Gaik James C. Buggs* Dr. Michael S. McGarry Dr. John W. Gamwell* Mr. & Mrs.* Richard H. Burgin Richard & Shirley McGinnis Mr.* & Mrs.* L.L. Gellerstedt, Jr. Hugh W. Burke* John & Clodagh Miller Ruth Gershon & Sandy Cohn Mr. & Mrs. William Buss Ms. Vera Milner Micheline & Bob Gerson Wilber W. Caldwell Mrs. Gene Morse* Max Gilstrap Mr. & Mrs. C. Merrell Calhoun Ms. Janice Murphy* Mr. & Mrs. John T. Glover Cynthia & Donald Carson Mr. & Mrs. Bertil D. Nordin Mrs. David Goldwasser Mrs. Jane Celler* Mrs. Amy W. Norman* Robert Hall Gunn, Jr. Fund Lenore Cicchese* Galen Oelkers Billie & Sig Guthman Margie & Pierce Cline Roger B. Orloff Betty G.* & Joseph* F. Haas Dr. & Mrs. Grady S. Barbara D. Orloff James & Virginia Hale Clinkscales, Jr. Dr. Bernard* & Sandra Palay Ms. Alice Ann Hamilton Suzanne W. Cole Sullivan Sally & Pete Parsonson Dr. Charles H. Hamilton* Robert Boston Colgin James L. Paulk Sally & Paul* Hawkins Mrs. Mary Frances Ralph & Kay* Paulk Evans Comstock* John* & Martha Head Dan R. Payne Miriam* & John A.* Conant Ms. Jeannie Hearn* Bill Perkins Dr. John W. Cooledge Barbara & John Henigbaum
Mrs. Lela May Perry* Mr.* & Mrs. Rezin E. Pidgeon, Jr. Janet M. Pierce* Reverend Neal P. Ponder, Jr. Dr. John B. Pugh William L.* & Lucia Fairlie* Pulgram Ms. Judy L. Reed* Carl J. Reith* Mr. Philip A. Rhodes Vicki J. & Joe A. Riedel Helen & John Rieser Dr. Shirley E. Rivers* David F. & Maxine A.* Rock Glen Rogerson* Tiffany & Richard Rosetti Mr.* & Mrs.* Martin H. Sauser Bob & Mary Martha Scarr Mr. Paul S. Scharff & Ms. Polly G. Fraser Dr. Barbara S. Schlefman Bill & Rachel Schultz Mrs. Joan C. Schweitzer June & John Scott Edward G. Scruggs* Dr. & Mrs. George P. Sessions Mr. W. G. Shaefer, Jr. Charles H. Siegel* Mr. & Mrs. H. Hamilton Smith Mrs. Lessie B. Smithgall* Ms. Margo Sommers Elliott Sopkin Elizabeth Morgan Spiegel Mr. Daniel D. Stanley Gail & Loren Starr Peter James Stelling* Ms. Barbara Stewart Beth & Edward Sugarman C. Mack* & Mary Rose* Taylor Isabel Thomson* Jennings Thompson IV Margaret* & Randolph* Thrower Kenneth & Kathleen Tice Mr. H. Burton Trimble, Jr. Mr. Steven R. Tunnell Mr. & Mrs. John B. Uttenhove Mary E. Van Valkenburgh Mrs. Anise C. Wallace Mr. Robert Wardle, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. John B. White, Jr. Adair & Dick White Mr. Hubert H. Whitlow, Jr.* Sue & Neil* Williams Mrs. Frank L. Wilson, Jr. Mrs. Elin M. Winn Ms. Joni Winston George & Camille Wright Mr.* & Mrs.* Charles R. Yates
*Deceased
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
encoreatlanta.com
| 69
ASO | STAFF EXECUTIVE
Kelly Edwards
Jennifer Barlament
director of operations
SALES & REVENUE MANAGEMENT
FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION Susan Ambo
executive director
Renee Hagelberg
Alvinetta Cooksey executive &
manager of orchestra
Russell Wheeler vice president, sales &
personnel
revenue management
& cfo
finance assistant
Joshua Luty
Nancy James
Kimberly Hielsberg
Dautri Erwin
principal librarian
front of house supervisor
vice president of finance
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS
Erin Jones
Brandi Hoyos
Ashley Mirakian vice president, marketing & communications
audience development
equity & inclusion
Jesse Pace
April Satterfield
senior manager of
controller
executive assistant
Emily Fritz-Endres executive management fellow
ARTISTIC Gaetan Le Divelec vice president, artistic planning
Hannah Davis choral artistic administrator
RaSheed Lemon aso artist liaison
Ebner Sobalvarro artistic administrator
EDUCATION & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Delle Beganie content & production manager
Leah Branstetter director of digital content
Meredith Chapple marketing coordinator
Adam Fenton director of
director of sales &
ticketing & patron experience
Robin Smith
patron services & season ticket associate
Jake Van Valkenburg sales coordinator
Milo McGehee
Will Strawn
guest services coordinator
Caitlin Buckers
Anna Caldwell
education
Lisa Eng
Ryan Walks
creative services
ATLANTA SYMPHONY HALL LIVE
Sarah Grant senior director of
talent development
marketing manager, live
manager, live
program manager
Mia Jones-Walker
Elena Gagon
marketing manager
coordinator of education
& community engagement Elizabeth Graiser manager of operations & asyo
OPERATIONS Victoria Moore interim general manager
Paul Barrett senior production stage manager
Camille McClain director of marketing
& communications Rob Phipps director of creative services
Bob Scarr archivist & research
guest services associate
Brandi Reed staff accountant
vice president of development
Cheri Snyder senior director of development
William Keene director of annual giving
James Paulk senior annual giving officer
Renee Contreras associate director, development
Nicole Panunti vice president, atlanta
communications
symphony hall live
development associate,
Michelle Hannaford associate director of events & hospitality
Esther Kim major gifts
Dana Parness manager of individual
Christine Lawrence
giving & prospect
associate director of
research
guest services
Sharveace Cameron
Jessi Lestelle
senior development
event manager
associate
coordinator
Michael Tamucci
Sarah Wilson
Madisyn Willis
associate director of
development operations
performance management,
associate
atlanta symphony
Jennifer Tinker
marketing manager
Sara Baguyos
hall live
associate principal
Dan Nesspor
librarian
director of diversity,
Dennis Quinlan DEVELOPMENT manager, business insights Grace Sipusic & analytics
multimedia technology director of marketing, live
executive vice president
ticketing manager, atlanta
Richard Carvlin
symphony hall live
stage manager
Liza Palmer event manager
manager of corporate partnerships
70 | encore ASO | CORPORATE & GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
Major support is provided by the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs.
Major funding is provided by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners.
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony
This program is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
THE WOODRUFF CIRCLE Woodruff Circle members have contributed more than $250,000 annually to support the arts and education work of the Alliance Theatre, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and High Museum of Art. We are deeply grateful to these partners who lead our efforts to help create opportunities for enhanced access to the work.
$1,000,000+
* A Friend of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
*
The Imlay Foundation*
$500,000+ Anonymous* A Friend of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra The Antinori Foundation Bank of America* Chick-fil-A Foundation | Rhonda & Dan Cathy
The Home Depot Foundation Sarah & Jim Kennedy Patty & Doug Reid*
$250,000+ Accenture Elizabeth Armstrong* AT&T Foundation Farideh & Al Azadi Foundation The Molly Blank Fund The Halle Foundation Invesco QQQ Novelis, Inc.
The Rich Foundation, Inc. The Shubert Foundation Truist Trusteed Foundations: Walter H. and Marjory M. Rich Memorial Fund and Truist Trusteed Foundations: The Greene-Sawtell Foundation UPS WestRock
THE BENEFACTOR CIRCLE Benefactor Circle members have contributed more than $100,000 annually to support the arts and education work of the Alliance Theatre, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and High Museum of Art. We are deeply grateful to these partners who lead our efforts to help create opportunities for enhanced access to the work.
$100,000+ 1180 Peachtree A Friend of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra ACT Foundation Alston & Bird Around the Table Foundation* Atlantic Station The Helen Gurley Brown Foundation Cadence Bank City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta Cousins Foundation Ann & Jeff Cramer* Sheila L. & Jonathan J. Davies Barney M. Franklin & Hugh W. Burke Charitable Fund Fulton County Board of Commissioners Georgia Council for the Arts Georgia-Pacific Estate of Burton M. Gold Google Graphic Packaging International, Inc. John H. & Wilhelmina D. Harland Charitable Foundation
Mr. & Mrs. Hilton H. Howell, Jr. Jocelyn J. Hunter* Jones Day Foundation & Employees Kaiser Permanente Abraham J. & Phyllis Katz Foundation King & Spalding, Partners & Employees The Sartain Lanier Family Foundation* Charles Loridans Foundation, Inc. Lululemon The Marcus Foundation, Inc. The Sara Giles Moore Foundation National Endowment for the Arts Norfolk Southern Foundation Amy W. Norman Charitable Foundation Northside Hospital PNC Bob & Margaret Reiser* Southern Company Gas Carol & Ramon Tomé Family Fund Warner Bros. Discovery Kelly & Rod Westmoreland Ann Marie & John B. White, Jr. wish Foundation
*A portion or entirety designated to Capital and and/or Endowment
aso.org | @AtlantaSymphony | facebook.com/AtlantaSymphony