PUBLISHER
Brantley Manderson brantley@encoremagazine.com
SENIOR ACCOUNT DIRECTOR NASHVILLE
Kelli Dill kelli@encoremagazine.com
SENIOR ACCOUNT DIRECTOR CHARLOTTE
Hila Johnson hila@encoremagazine.com
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Robert Viagas robert@encoremagazine.com
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Tamara Hooks tamara@encoremagazine.com
DIGITAL MEDIA DIRECTOR
Jennifer Nelson jennifer@encoremagazine.com
DEAR FRIENDS:
As the spring flowers continue to bloom in Atlanta, so does the music-making in Symphony Hall. This month, there are many exciting things to celebrate at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
May marks the official 50th Anniversary of the founding of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra.
Read more about this exceptional ensemble's history on page 14. Many of our alumni have gone on to impressive careers in music, on stage and off. A whopping eleven ASYO alumni have won blind auditions to play with the ASO. We couldn't be prouder of them and the ASYO.
We will mark the occasion with a special Anniversary Celebration Concert on May 11, featuring an alumni orchestra led by the founding Music Director of the ASYO, Michael Palmer, and Jere Flint, who led the orchestra for 35 years. Then the current ASYO will take the stage under the baton of current ASYO Music Director William R. Langley.
That same weekend, Music Director Laureate Robert Spano will return to conduct the Orchestra and pianist Garrick Ohlsson in Rachmaninoff’s towering Third Piano Concerto. The program also includes two pieces by living composers, Jennifer Higdon and Adam Schoenberg. The following weekend Robert will conduct the world premiere of a work commissioned from Jonathan Leshnoff, paired with Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring.
Thank you to all who attended the 2024 ASO Gala last month. The evening was perfect, and thanks to our generous donors and Gala Chair Sheila Lee Davies, we raised a record sum — more than $1 million to support the Orchestra’s education and community initiatives. With these funds, we can help ensure that future generations of students can continue to benefit from programs such as the ASYO. Here’s to another 50 years of success!
With gratitude,
Jennifer Barlament, Executive DirectorASO | NATHALIE STUTZMANN
Named “Best Conductor of the Year” at the 2024 Oper! Awards, Nathalie Stutzmann has been the Music Director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra since 2022 and is the second woman in history to lead a major American orchestra. She is also the Principal Guest Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra.
Nathalie made big news in the opera pit in 2023 with her debut in Wagner’s Tannhäuser at the Bayreuth Festival. She also made “a splashy debut” and “the coup of the year” (The New York Times) with her unanimously acclaimed double debuts at the Metropolitan Opera.
Highlights of her 2023/24 season with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra include a Bruckner festival to celebrate the composer’s 200th anniversary, collaborations with soloists such as Renée Fleming, Maria João Pires, and Daniil Trifonov, recording projects for Warner/Erato, and a tour in California. With The Philadelphia Orchestra, she will lead two weeks of programs, including her conducting debut at Carnegie Hall.
As a guest conductor this season, she has made debuts with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Teatro Regio Torino. She returned to the London Symphony Orchestra for a Bruckner celebration week. Throughout the season, Nathalie has had a strong presence at the Philharmonie Paris where she has appeared with the Orchestre de Paris and Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, and also chaired the jury for the La Maestra Conducting Competition. During the summer of 2024, she will head back to the Bayreuth
Awarded the 2023 Opus Klassik “Concert Recording of the Year” for her recording of both the Glière and Mosolov Harp Concertos with Xavier de Maistre and WDR Sinfonieorchester, Nathalie also released in 2022 the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos recorded with Haochen Zhang and The Philadelphia Orchestra. Nathalie is an exclusive recording artist of Warner/Erato.
Nathalie started her studies at a very young age in piano, bassoon, and cello and studied conducting with the legendary Finnish teacher Jorma Panula. 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.
ASO | LEADERSHIP | 2023/24 Board of Directors
OFFICERS
Patrick Viguerie chair
Janine Brown immediate past chair
Bert Mills treasurer
Angela Evans secretary
Susan Antinori vice chair
Lynn Eden vice chair
James Rubright vice chair DIRECTORS
Phyllis Abramson
Keith Adams
Juliet M. Allan
Susan Antinori
Andrew Bailey
Jennifer Barlament*
Keith Barnett
Paul Blackney
Zachary Boeding*
Janine Brown
Benjamin Q. Brunt
Betsy Camp
S. Wright Caughman, M.D.
Lisa Chang
Susan Clare
Russell Currey
Sheila Lee Davies
Carlos del Rio, M.D. FIDSA
Lisa DiFrancesco, M.D.
Lynn Eden
Yelena Epova
Angela Evans
Craig Frankel
Sally Bogle Gable
Anne Game
Rod Garcia-Escudero
Sally Frost George
Robert Glustrom
Bonnie B. Harris
Charles Harrison
Tad Hutcheson, Jr.
Roya Irvani
Joia M. Johnson
Chris Kopecky
Carrie Kurlander
Scott Lampert
James H. Landon
Donna Lee
Sukai Liu
Kevin Lyman
Deborah Marlowe
Shelley McGehee
Arthur Mills IV
Bert Mills
Molly Minnear
Hala Moddelmog*
Anne Morgan
Terence L. Neal
Galen Lee Oelkers
Dr. John Paddock
Margie Painter
Howard D. Palefsky
Doug Reid
James Rubright
BOARD OF COUNSELORS
Neil Berman
Rita Bloom
John W. Cooledge, M.D.
John R. Donnell, Jr.
Jere A. Drummond
Carla Fackler
Charles B. Ginden
John T. Glover
Dona Humphreys
Aaron J. Johnson, Jr.
James F. Kelley
Patricia Leake
Karole F. Lloyd
Meghan H. Magruder
LIFE DIRECTORS
Howell E. Adams, Jr.
Connie Calhoun
C. Merrell Calhoun
Azira G. Hill
Penelope McPhee
Patricia H. Reid
Joyce Schwob
John A Sibley, III
H. Hamilton Smith
G. Kimbrough Taylor, Jr.
Michael W. Trapp
Ben F. Johnson, III
John B. White, Jr.
Ravi Saligram
William Schultz
V Scott
Charles Sharbaugh
Fahim Siddiqui
W. Ross Singletary, II
John Sparrow
Elliott Tapp
Brett Tarver
Valerie Thadhani
Maria Todorova
S. Patrick Viguerie
Kathy Waller
Chris Webber
Richard S. White, Jr.
Mack Wilbourn
Kevin E. Woods, M.D., M.P.H.
Ray Uttenhove
Chilton Varner
Adair M. White
Sue Sigmon Williams
ASO | 2023/24 Musician Roster
Nathalie Stutzmann
music director
The Robert Reid Topping Chair
FIRST VIOLIN
David Coucheron concertmaster
The Mr. & Mrs. Howard R. Peevy Chair
Justin Bruns associate concertmaster
The Charles McKenzie Taylor Chair
Vacant assistant concertmaster
Jun-Ching Lin assistant concertmaster
Anastasia Agapova acting assistant concertmaster
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
Sanford Salzinger
SECOND VIOLIN
Vacant principal
The Atlanta Symphony Associates Chair
Sou-Chun Su
acting / associate principal
The Frances Cheney Boggs Chair
Jay Christy acting associate / assistant principal
Dae Hee Ahn
Robert Anemone
Noriko Konno Clift
David Dillard
Eun Young Jung
Eleanor Kosek
Yaxin Tan
Rachel Ostler
VIOLA
Zhenwei Shi principal
The Edus H. & Harriet H.
Warren Chair
Paul Murphy
associate principal
The Mary & Lawrence Gellerstedt Chair
Catherine Lynn assistant principal
Marian Kent
Yang-Yoon Kim
Yiyin Li
Lachlan McBane
Jessica Oudin
Madeline Sharp
CELLO
Vacant principal
The Miriam & John Conant Chair
Daniel Laufer
acting / associate principal
The Livingston Foundation Chair
Karen Freer
acting associate / assistant principal
Thomas Carpenter
Joel Dallow
The UPS Foundation Chair
Ray Kim
Isabel Kwon
Nathan Mo
Brad Ritchie
Denielle Wilson
BASS
Joseph McFadden principal
The Marcia & John Donnell Chair
Gloria Jones Allgood associate principal
The Lucy R. & Gary Lee Jr. Chair
Karl Fenner
Michael Kenady
The Jane Little Chair
Michael Kurth
Nicholas Scholefield
Daniel Tosky
FLUTE
Christina Smith principal
The Jill Hertz Chair
The Mabel Dorn Reeder
Honorary Chair
Robert Cronin
associate principal
C. Todd Skitch
Gina Hughes
PICCOLO
Gina Hughes
OBOE
Elizabeth Koch Tiscione principal
The George M. & Corrie Hoyt Brown Chair
William R. Langley associate conductor & atlanta symphony youth orchestra music director
The Zeist Foundation Chair
Zachary Boeding associate principal
The Kendeda Fund Chair
Samuel Nemec*
Jonathan Gentry
Emily Brebach
ENGLISH HORN
Emily Brebach
CLARINET
Jesse McCandless principal
The Robert Shaw Chair
Ted Gurch* associate principal
Marci Gurnow
acting associate principal
Julianna Darby
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
Juan de Gomar
CONTRA-BASSOON
Juan de Gomar
Norman Mackenzie director of choruses
The Frannie & Bill Graves Chair
HORN
Ryan Little principal
The Betty Sands Fuller Chair
Kimberly Gilman
Jack Bryant
Bruce Kenney
TRUMPET
Vacant principal
The Madeline & Howell
Adams Chair
Michael Tiscione
acting / associate principal
Mark Maliniak
acting / associate principal
Anthony Limoncelli*
William Cooper
Ian Mertes
TROMBONE
Vacant principal
The Terence L. Neal Chair, Honoring his dedication & service to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
Nathan Zgonc
acting / associate principal
The Home Depot Veterans Chair
Jason Patrick Robins
BASS TROMBONE
Chance Gompert
Jordan Milek Johnson Fellow
TUBA
Michael Moore principal
The Delta Air Lines Chair '
Joshua Williams fellow
Zeist Foundation ASO Fellowship Chair
TIMPANI
Mark Yancich principal
The Walter H. Bunzl Chair
Michael Stubbart assistant principal
PERCUSSION
Joseph Petrasek principal
The Julie & Arthur Montgomery Chair
Michael Jarrett assistant principal
The William A. Schwartz Chair
Michael Stubbart
The Connie & Merrell
Calhoun Chair
HARP
Elisabeth Remy Johnson principal
The Sally & Carl Gable Chair
KEYBOARD
The Hugh & Jessie Hodgson
Memorial Chair
Peter Marshall †
Sharon Berenson †
LIBRARY
Joshua Luty principal
The Marianna & Solon
Patterson Chair
Sara Baguyos associate principal librarian
GUEST CONDUCTOR
Neil and Sue Williams Chair
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
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
MEMBERS
Dr. Marshall & Stephanie Abes
Krystal Ahn
Paul & Melody Aldo
Kristi & Aadu Allpere
Evelyn Babey
Asad & Sakina Bashey
Herschel Beazley
Meredith W. Bell
John Blatz
Carol Brantley & David Webster
Johanna Brookner
Mrs. Amy B. Cheng and Dr. Chad A. Hume,
Ph.D
Tracey Chu
Donald & Barbara Defoe
Paul & Susan Dimmick
Bernadette Drankoski
John & Catherine Fare Dyer
Mary Ann Flinn
Bruce Flower
Annie Frazer
John Fuller
Alex Garcias
Dr. Paul Gilreath
Tucker Green
Mary Elizabeth Gump
Elizabeth Hendrick
Caroline Hofland
Justin Im
Baxter Jones & Jiong Yan
Lana Jordan
Jon Kamenear
Rosthema Kastin
Brian & Ann Kimsey
Jason & Michelle Kroh
Dr. Fulton Lewis III & Mr. Neal Rhoney
Robert Lewis, Jr.
Eunice Luke
Erin Marshall
Belinda Massafra
Doug and Kathrin
Mattox
Ed and Linda McGinn
Erica McVicker
Berthe & Shapour
Mobasser
Bert Mobley
Caroline & Phil Moïse
Sue Morgan
Jane Morrison
Gary Noble
Regina Olchowski
Bethani Oppenheimer
Chris Owes
Ralph Paulk
Ann & FayPearce
Eliza Quigley
Eleina Raines
Leonard Reed
Dr. Jay & Kimberley
Rhee
Vicki Riedel
Felicia Rives
David Rock
Frances A. Root
Tiffany & Rich Rosetti
Thomas & Lynne Saylor
Beverly & Milton Shlapak
Suzanne Shull
Baker Smith
Cindy Smith
Victoria Smith
Peter & Kristi
Stathopoulos
Tom & Ani Steele
Kimberly Strong
Beth and Edward Sugarman
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.
There are many paths to a seat in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. For ten of the current members, an important point on that path was the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.
Founded in 1974 as a subsidiary of the ASO (which itself began as a youth ensemble), the ASYO has shaped and elevated the music education of more than 2,500 young musicians, continually passing musical torches from one generation to the next.
Metro Atlanta students in grades 8 through 12 audition for places in the ASYO, just as musicians do for the ASO. Many veteran musicians serve as coaches and mentors for the budding musicians, creating an ecosystem where, in some cases, students and teachers may eventually be peers, playing alongside one another in Symphony Hall.
Ray Kim, an ASYO cellist in 2008 who is now in his first season as an ASO cellist, looks back: “I remember telling my teacher [ASO associate principal cellist] Daniel Laufer, you know it would be my dream to come back to Atlanta and then share the stage with you.
“And that’s what happened. Every week it’s a treat knowing that I used to come here as a kid, and now I get to share the stage with these musicians.
“It’s a whole circle moment.”
The ASYO started in 1974 under the baton of Michael Palmer, who turned over leadership in 1979 to Jere Flint. Flint in turn had amazing longevity and influence on the podium, serving as music director for 35 years, 1979-2014. Subsequent music directors have included Sung Kwak, Joseph Young, Stephen Mulligan, Jerry Hou, and the current AYSO music director, William “Buddy” Langley.
Like Kim, percussionist Michael Jarrett played in the ASYO under Flint and is now in his first season at the ASO.
“I wasn’t too sure what a career in classical music would look like,” Jarrett says. “But then I got the vibe it was a really cool way to make a living. I met with ASO percussionist Charles Settle and got lessons
from him. I went to his house and met his wife and remember their house feeling very inviting. I thought, ‘Wow, you can play in an orchestra and have this kind of lifestyle.’”
Jarrett and Kim, both ASYO alumnae from Cobb County in their debut ASO seasons, nevertheless had very different early musical lives.
Kim grew up in South Korea, learning both English and cello, but became disenchanted with what he calls the “abusive culture” of formal music instruction there. He quit playing cello, and in 2006 his parents sent him to live with a family in Cobb County and attend the private Dominion Christian School to immerse himself in American culture.
Jarrett, meanwhile, got his first drum set when he was about 10. The first song he learned was that gateway drug for young drummers, Queen’s “We Will Rock You,” but he was soon learning jazz drumming and other styles.
He played snare drum in the Pope High School marching band and auditioned for the ASYO his junior year but was not selected. He auditioned again in his senior year in 2009 and joined the ASYO.
“It was like being in the same stadium as the big league players,” he says. “In high school in band, we typically don’t get to play orchestral works. Just to be exposed to the big orchestral repertoire like Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony was really impactful.”
Jarrett, a two-time winner of the Atlanta Symphony Modern Snare Drum Competition, earned degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Manhattan School of Music and was a percussionist with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra before successfully auditioning for the ASO.
Kim’s path eventually found him rediscovering his love for the cello in his new life in Marietta, and he auditioned for the ASYO his senior year.
“It was my first time rehearsing weekly with people who shared a common goal,” he says.
“You could feel that everyone was there because they loved playing music, and it made me very happy.”
Kim went on to study at the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Texas, where he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree. He was required as a South Korean citizen to serve in the South Korean Army in 2020, but his musical ability served him well and he wound up in the Army band, where he learned trombone.
The ASYO teaches more than technical skills on specific instruments, Kim says. “I learned that you’re not here to play your part. You’re here to make music together as a group. And if you don’t know your part then you’re not only not helping yourself but you’re also not helping your group.
“You are responsible for your part of the greater good.”
The 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 & the Orchestra’s other education & community programs.
$50,000+
Accenture
Paul M. Angell Family Foundation
The Molly Blank Fund
City of Atlanta Mayor's Office of Cultural Affairs
The Coca-Cola Company
$10,000+
A Friend of the Symphony
John & Juliet Allan
Alston & Bird LLP
Mr. Keith Barnett
BlueLinx
Cadence Bank Foundation
Costco Wholesale
Council for Quality Growth
Elaine & Erroll Davis
$2,000+
A Friend of the Symphony (2)
Azalea City Chapter of Links
George & Gloria Brooks
Jacqueline A. & Joseph E. Brown, Jr.
Ned Cone & Nadeen Green
Mrs. Nancy Cooke
$500+
Johnnie Booker
Castellini Foundation
Liz & Charlie Cohn
John L. Cromartie II
Mr. & Mrs. Reade Fahs
Sharon, Lindsay and Gordon
Fisher
KS Ford
Shirley C. Franklin
Delta Air Lines
Lettie Pate Evans Foundation
Georgia Council for the Arts
Georgia Power
The Goizueta Foundation
Graphic Packaging
The Home Depot Foundation
Abraham J. & Phyllis Katz Foundation
Charles Loridans Foundation, Inc.
Amy W. Norman Charitable Foundation
PNC
The Zeist Foundation, Inc.
Ernst & Young
Fulton County Arts & Culture
Jeannette Guarner, MD &
Carlos del Rio, MD
The Gable Foundation
Georgia-Pacific
The Livingston Foundation, Inc.
Norfolk Southern
Porsche Cars North America, Inc.
Mr. David L. Forbes
Azira G. Hill
International Women’s Forum
Cameron Jackson
Mona & Gilbert Kelly
Donna Lee & Howard Ehni
Ms. Helen Motamen and Mr. Deepak Shenoy
Mary C. Gramling
Charles Ginden
Mr. and Mrs. Mike Griffin
Mrs. Elice D. Haverty
Bill & Kathy Lamar
Ms. Malinda C. Logan
Alan and Amy Manno
John & Linda Matthews
Drs. Price & Jacqueline Michael
Ms. Sharon A. Pauli
Publix Super Markets Charities
The Mark & Evelyn Trammell Foundation
Thomas & Lynne Saylor
The Scott Hudgens Family Foundation
Slumgullion Charitable Fund
Universal Music Group-Task Force For Meaningful Change
Drs. Kevin & Kalinda Woods
Margaret H. Petersen
Ponce de Leon Music Store
Patty & Doug Reid
Cammie & John Rice
The Society, Inc.
TEGNA Foundation
Dr. Brenda G. Turner
Ms. Sonia Witkowski
John and Monica Pearson
Ms. Felicia Rives
Ms. Donata Russell Ross
Dr. La Tanya & Mr. Earl R. Sharpe
Ms. Fawn M. Shelton
Mr. and Mrs. Michael Stinson
Ms. Juliana Taylor
Ms. Mary A. Valdecanas
DONOR PROFILE
LLillian Kim Ivansco and the ASYO: “Because Music Matters”
illian Kim Ivansco played violin in the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra for four seasons, then went on to earn degrees at Yale University and Emory Medical School, becoming a radiologist. The connection is important: “If you grow up with the kind of discipline and rigor it takes to succeed in music, you can absolutely apply that to medicine as well.”
The ASYO, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this month, provides Atlanta’s most talented and dedicated high school students with unique training and performance opportunities.
This season Lillian’s son, Daniel, was accepted into the ASYO. An eighth grader, Daniel is a cellist. “I’m thrilled that he gets to share the same experience that I had.”
Lillian and her husband, photographer Joey Ivansco, are ASO Annual Fund donors. They give, Lillian explained, “because music matters, because classical music especially matters: it enriches our lives. We are so lucky to live in a city
We are deeply grateful to the following leadership donors whose generous support has made the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's season possible.
Concerts of Thursday, May 2, 2024 at 8:00 PM
Saturday, May 4, 2024 at 8:00 PM
DMITRY MATVIENKO, conductor
YEOL EUM SON, piano
BENJAMIN BRITTEN (1913-1976)
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 13 (rev. 1945) 34 MINS
I. Toccata: Allegro molto e con brio
II. Waltz: Allegretto
III. Impromptu: Andante lento (attaca)
IV. March: Allegro moderato - sempre alla marcia
INTERMISSION 20 MINS
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF (1873-1943)
Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27 (1907) 60 MINS
I. Largo. Allegro moderato
II. Allegro molto
III. Adagio
IV. Allegro vivace
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.
At nineteen, Benjamin Britten dropped out of the Royal College of Music. He had already been a composer for fourteen years and felt his professors held him back. He had no trouble finding a job.
First and most recent ASO performances:
January 23-26, 2014
Robert Spano, conductor
Wu Han, piano
“1936 . . . finds me earning my living . . . at the G.P.O. [General Post Office] Film Unit under John Grierson and Cavalcanti, writing music and supervising sounds for films,” he wrote. (The G.P.O. administered the nascent telecommunications industry in the U.K.)
Paying £5 per week, the G.P.O. offered the perfect incubator for a young composer. The filmmakers asked for orchestral music, and Britten got to hone his craft. He also began a fruitful collaboration with poet W. H. Auden.
Britten’s star rose in June 1937 when conductor Boyd Neel got into a bind: Neel had promised to present a new English work at the Salzburg Festival in August, but he hadn’t hired a composer.
“I suddenly thought of Britten (till then hardly known outside inner musical circles),” Neel said, “because I had noticed his extraordinary speed of composition during some film work.” Paying homage to a former teacher, Britten sketched his Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge in just ten days. The piece became his first major success.
1937 proved significant for other reasons: Britten met Peter Pears, who would later become his life partner, and he lost a central figure in his world.
Biographer Neil Powell described Edith Britten as a doting, possessive, and obsessively pushy mother. From the time Ben was small, she believed he would be a great composer and arranged his affairs accordingly. Her death left a yawning gap in his life. When he received an inheritance from selling her house, he moved back to his native Suffolk. He purchased an abandoned mill overlooking the village of Snape and, over the next eight months, converted it into a residence with an adjacent cottage for his housemate, composer Lennox Berkeley. During that time, the 24-year-old composer agreed to write a piano concerto for the BBC Proms concerts at Queen’s Hall. He also agreed to be the solo pianist.
Amid the chaos of sorting out his mother’s estate, moving, and
overseeing construction, Britten made a slow start on his concerto. Across the English Channel, the rise of Adolf Hitler added to the disquiet. Britten wrote, “War within a month at least, I suppose & end to all this pleasure—end of Snape, end of concerto, friends, work, love.” Indeed, war was coming, but not yet.
Britten moved into the Old Mill (now a B & B) in April, with most of the concerto unfinished. The loss of his mother seems to have eased the way to another milestone: In July, he reconnected with an old acquaintance named Wulff Scherchen and fell into a steamy affair— his first relationship. Meanwhile, he slogged away at the concerto. With the premiere fast approaching, Proms conductor Henry Wood grew antsy.
Britten wrote to his friend and publisher Ralph Hawkes, “I wonder if you could use your tact & keep him quiet for a week or two to give me time to finish the sketch, prepare the two-piano version, & practice the damn thing.”
Cutting it close, the composer finished the Piano Concerto in Snape on July 26, 1938. The first rehearsal took place on August 5th and debuted on August 18th. In 1945, the composer revised the piece, swapping out the third movement, Recitative and Aria, for a new piece called Impromptu. Britten dedicated the concerto to his housemate, Lennox Berkeley.
First ASO performance:
November 24, 1953
Henry Sopkin, conductor
Most recent ASO performances:
March 1-3, 2018
Edo de Waart, conductor
Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2
By his thirtieth birthday, Sergei Rachmaninoff was among Russia’s most prominent musicians. As a teenager, he had written two works (a piano concerto and an opera) that wowed the musical establishment. He soon proved to be a natural conductor and an unrivaled pianist. The only itch he hadn’t scratched was his desire to be a successful symphonist. At twenty-two, he wrote his First Symphony, which nearly ruined him. Some blame the orchestra. Others point to the alleged drunkenness of the conductor. Whatever the reason, the premiere of his First Symphony was a disaster, and the criticism proved toxic. Rachmaninoff grew to hate the piece and sank into depression. For three years, he didn’t write a note. Then, in 1900, a doctor used hypnosis to guide him out of his malaise. Once again, the creative juices began to stir, and Rachmaninoff wrote the wildly popular Piano Concerto No. 2.
Over the coming years, he ascended the ranks of Russia’s elite musicians. In 1904, he signed a contract as conductor at the Imperial Opera at the Bolshoi Theater. At the same time, he worked on two operas of his own.
Rachmaninoff wanted to write music. And as long as he filled his time with other people’s music, he couldn't write. He longed for solitude as people hounded him for his time and talent. Meanwhile, civil unrest led to the failed 1905 Russian Revolution.
In 1906, after two seasons at the Bolshoi, Rachmaninoff packed up his wife and daughter and escaped the Moscow concert season, settling in Dresden for the winter.
“We live here like real hermits,” he wrote. “We see no one, we know no one, we go nowhere. I work a great deal and feel very well.”
Always a private man, Rachmaninoff wrote to a friend, “Not a single soul must know what I write to you now.” He went on to describe the music that was rattling around in his head, including a piano sonata, the opera Monna Vanna (unfinished), and his Second Symphony.
It had been almost ten years since the fiasco with his First Symphony. And he returned to the genre with confidence and authority. The Symphony No. 2 is a large-scale piece, lasting about an hour: the lush scoring and richly Romantic melodies belie the taut craftsmanship of its construction.
As was typical of the composer, he derived thematic material from the Dies Irae (Day of Wrath), a piece of plainchant from the Latin Mass for the Dead. Though he remained Russian Orthodox, this Roman Catholic antiquity appears almost like a calling card in many of his works. You’ll hear the theme sounding in the horns at the second movement's opening.
Rachmaninoff conducted the premier in 1908 at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, receiving thundering applause. Soon, authorities awarded him the coveted Glinka Prize. In subsequent decades, during an era of musical experimentation, the symphony suffered brutal editing by conductors who saw the piece as a lightweight vehicle for Hollywood-style tunes. (Some performances lasted as little as thirty-five minutes.) These days, most maestros perform the piece intact, in deference to the intensely integrated work of a master clockmaker.
DMITRY MATVIENKO, conductor
Dmitry Matvienko is the winner of the 2021 edition of the prestigious Malko Competition for Young Conductors with First prize and Audience prize. Previously, he was awarded the Critics and the Made in Italy prizes at the International Conducting Competition Guido Cantelli.
He has been appointed Chief Conductor of Aarhus Symphony Orchestra starting in the 2024/25 season.
He received his first music lessons at the age of six and went on to study choral conducting at the St. Petersburg Conservatory.
He was a member of the MusicAeterna Choir at the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre under the artistic direction of Teodor Currentzis from 2012 to 2013. In the following years, he studied conducting at the Moscow Conservatory.
In 2017, Matvienko became a member of the conductor internship program of the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia (chief conductor Vladimir Spivakov). He assisted and prepared several programs for chief conductor Vladimir Jurowski, Vasily Petrenko and Michail Jurowski with Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra.
While conducting concerts with the Svetlanov Symphony, the National Philharmonic of Russia, the New Russia State Symphony Orchestra and the Moscow Chamber Orchestra “Musica Viva”, Dmitry conducted revivals of Prince Igor, Faust, Iolanta, La Traviata, The Tsar's Bride, The Firebird, and Verdi's Requiem at the National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre of Belarus.
During previous seasons he conducted prestigious orchestras such as Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice Genova, Orchestre Philarmonique de Monte-Carlo, Orchestra Teatro Comunale Bologna, Orchestra Teatro Regio Torino, National Orchestra of Russia, Bergen Philharmonic, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, and Iceland Symphony Orchestra.
He made his Italian operatic debut at the Teatro dell’ Opera in Rome, leading the Italian premiere of Warlikowski’s successful production of From the House of the Dead.
YEOL EUM SON, piano
Pianist Yeol Eum Son, born in South Korea, is renowned for her exceptional artistry and captivating performances. Yeol Eum has captivated audiences worldwide with her boundless artistic exploration and profound musicality, establishing herself as one of the foremost pianists of her generation.
Yeol Eum's artistry is underpinned by breathtaking technical prowess and a deep emotional connection to the music she interprets. She possesses an insatiable curiosity that drives her to explore a diverse range of musical genres and styles, always striving to reveal the pure essence of each piece.
Her extensive repertoire spans classical masterpieces by composers such as Bach and Mozart to contemporary works by Shchedrin and Kapustin, chosen for their quality and depth. Yeol Eum Son is highly sought after as a recitalist, concerto soloist, and chamber musician, earning critical acclaim for her intelligent interpretations.
Throughout the 2022-23 season, Yeol Eum served as an Artist-inResidence with the Residentie Orkest in The Hague, performing works by Mozart, Gershwin, Saint-Saëns, and Ravel. She made impressive debut appearances with renowned orchestras worldwide, including the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Her international reach extends to collaborations with esteemed orchestras like the Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin, BBC Philharmonic, and Budapest Festival Orchestra.
Yeol Eum Son's discography features a range of remarkable recordings, including Mozart's Complete Piano Sonatas, which were hailed as Classic FM's Album of the Week in March 2023. Her discography also includes works by Berg, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Ravel, and Schumann.
Concerts of Thursday, May 9, 2024 at 8:00 PM
Saturday, May 11, 2024 at 8:00 PM
ROBERT SPANO, conductor
GARRICK OHLSSON, piano
JENNIFER HIGDON (b. 1962)
blue cathedral (2000) 12 MINS
ADAM SCHOENBERG (b. 1980)
Picture Studies (2012) 27 MINS
I. Intro
II. Three Pierrots
III. Repetition
IV. Olive Orchard
V. Kandinsky
VI. Calder's World
VII. Miró
VIII. Interlude
IX. Cliffs of Moher
X. Pigeons in Flight
INTERMISSION 20 MINS
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF (1873-1943)
Concerto No. 3 for Piano and Orchestra in D minor, Op. 30 (1909) 39 MINS
I. Allegro ma non tanto
II. Intermezzo: Adagio
III. Finale: Alla breve
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.
blue cathedral by Jennifer Higdon
About the composer
Jby Noel Morris Program AnnotatorFirst ASO performances:
May 9-11, 2002, Robert Spano, conductor
ennifer Higdon is one of America’s most acclaimed and most frequently performed living composers. She is a major figure in contemporary classical music, receiving the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music for her Violin Concerto, a 2010 Grammy® for her Percussion Concerto, a 2018 Grammy® for her Viola Concerto, and a 2020 Grammy® for her Harp Concerto. In 2018, Higdon received the Nemmers Prize from Northwestern University, which is given to contemporary classical composers of exceptional achievement who have significantly influenced the field of composition.
Most recent ASO performances:
April 28-30, 2011, Robert Spano, conductor
Most recently, the recording of Higdon's Percussion Concerto was inducted into the Library of Congress National Recording Registry. Higdon enjoys several hundred performances a year of her works, and blue cathedral is today’s most performed contemporary orchestral work, with more than 600 performances worldwide.
Her works have been recorded on more than seventy CDs. Higdon’s first opera, Cold Mountain, won the prestigious International Opera Award for Best World Premiere and the opera recording was nominated for two Grammy® awards. Her music is published exclusively by Lawdon Press.
From the composer
Blue…like the sky. Where all possibilities soar. Cathedrals…a place of thought, growth, spiritual expression…serving as a symbolic doorway into and out of this world. Blue represents all potential and the progression of journeys. Cathedrals represent a place of beginnings, endings, solitude, fellowship, contemplation, knowledge and growth.
As I was writing this piece, I found myself imagining a journey through a glass cathedral in the sky. Because the walls would be transparent, I saw the image of clouds and blueness permeating from the outside of this church. In my mind's eye, the listener would enter from the back of the sanctuary, floating along the corridor amongst giant crystal pillars, moving in a contemplative stance. The stained glass windows' figures would start moving with song, singing a heavenly music. The listener would float down the aisle, slowly moving upward at first and then progressing at a quicker pace, rising towards an immense ceiling which would open to the sky…
as this journey progressed, the speed of the traveler would increase, rushing forward and upward.
I wanted to create the sensation of contemplation and quiet peace at the beginning, moving towards the feeling of celebration and ecstatic expansion of the soul, all the while singing along with that heavenly music.
These were my thoughts when The Curtis Institute of Music commissioned me to write a work to commemorate its 75th anniversary. Curtis is a house of knowledge—a place to reach towards that beautiful expression of the soul which comes through music.
I began writing this piece at a unique juncture in my life and found myself pondering the question of what makes a life. The recent loss of my younger brother, Andrew Blue, made me reflect on the amazing journeys that we all make in our lives, crossing paths with so many individuals singularly and collectively, learning and growing each step of the way.
This piece represents the expression of the individual and the group… our inner travels and the places our souls carry us, the lessons we learn, and the growth we experience. In tribute to my brother, I feature solos for the clarinet (the instrument he played) and the flute (the instrument I play). Because I am the older sibling, it is the flute that appears first in this dialog. At the end of the work, the two instruments continue their dialogue, but it is the flute that drops out and the clarinet that continues on in the upward progressing journey. This is a story that commemorates living and passing through places of knowledge and of sharing and of that song called life.
Picture Studies by Adam SchoenbergAbout the composer
Emmy Award-winning and Grammy®-nominated Adam Schoenberg (b. November 15, 1980) has twice been named among the top ten most performed living composers by orchestras in the United States. His works have received performances and premieres at the Library of Congress, Kennedy Center, New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and Hollywood Bowl.
Schoenberg has received commissions from several major American orchestras, including the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (Up! and La Luna Azul), Kansas City Symphony (American Symphony and Picture Studies), Los Angeles Philharmonic and Aspen Music Festival
and School (Bounce), San Francisco Symphony (Losing Earth), and Louisville Orchestra (Automation).
Adam Schoenberg has received two 2018 Grammy® Award nominations, including Best Contemporary Classical Composition for Picture Studies.
A graduate of Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Schoenberg earned his Master’s and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from The Juilliard School, where he studied with John Corigliano.
He is currently a professor at Occidental College. He makes his home in Los Angeles with his wife, screenwriter Janine Salinas Schoenberg, and their two sons, Luca and Leo.
From the Composer
In November of 2011, I received a commission from the Kansas City Symphony and the Nelson-Atkins Museum to write a 21st-century Pictures at an Exhibition. After conceptualizing the piece for six months, and visiting the Nelson-Atkins on three different occasions, I decided to compose a series of studies.
My main objective was to create an architectural structure that connected each movement to the next while creating an overall arc for the entire piece. The outcome is Picture Studies, a 26-minute work for orchestra based on four paintings, three photographs, and one sculpture.
The following impromptu notes were jotted down from initial impressions and repeated viewings of the artwork, after my selections had been made. These original notes helped dictate the form, style, and musical arc of each movement, and ultimately the entire piece.
I. Intro: Ghost-like piano theme (using the piano to pay respect to Mussorgsky) that transports the listener to the inside of the Nelson-Atkins Museum.
II. Three Pierrots (based on Albert Bloch’s painting, Die Drei Pierrots Nr. 2): Comedic, naïve, and excited. A triad will represent the three Pierrots, and throughout the movement, the triad will be turned upside down, on its side, and twisted in every possible way. The form will be through composed. End big.
III. Repetition (based on Kurt Baasch’s photograph, Repetition): Four figures walking, and each person is clearly in his or her own world. The idea of repetition can lend itself to an ostinato. This is a photograph, a slice of life, and represents only one moment in time. Take this concept of time and manipulate it. Change the
scenery (lighting, shade, color), so to speak, with a shutter click before returning to its original state. ABA form with an abrupt switch to B to represent the shutter click.
IV. Olive Orchard (Vincent Van Goh’s [sic] painting, Olive Orchard): Extended impressionism. Colorful, full of love. Perhaps a meeting place for two lovers. Start thin, gradually build to an expansive texture, end colorful. ABC (C references A to show the organic growth of the piece).
V. Kandinsky (Wassily Kandinsky’s painting, Rose with Gray): Geometrically fierce, angular, sharp, jagged, violent, jumpy, and complex. A battleground. Mustard yellow, encapsulates a sustained intensity. Block structures, cut and paste.
VI. Calder’s World (Alexander Calder’s sculpture, Untitled, 1937): As if time has stopped, dangling metal, atmospheric, yet dark. Quasi-aleatoric gestures, perhaps improvised. Gradually fade to niente.
VII. Miró (Joan Miró’s painting, Women at Sunrise): Child-like, yet delirious. There appears to be a sexually ambiguous tone. Try something new, a saxophone or bombastic Eb clarinet solo. Something spontaneous, bouncy, tribal, and raw.
VIII. Interlude: Return of original Ghost-like piano theme with minimal additional orchestrations. Takes us to the final chapter to be played without pause until the end.
IX. Cliffs of Moher (Hiroshi Sugimoto’s photograph, Atlantic Ocean, Cliffs of Moher): Delicate and flowing, find a way to musically represent the ocean and cliffs in the most gentle and subtle means. A return to an ostinato.
X. Pigeons in Flight (Francis Blake’s photograph, Pigeons in Flight): I’ve never looked at pigeons this way. There appears to be so much joy, beauty, and depth. This will be the longest and most expansive movement. Fly away.
First ASO performance: October 30, 1951, Henry Sopkin, conductor
Most recent ASO performances: February 14-16, 2019, Stephen Mulligan, conductor
Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3
Last year, Gramophone magazine wrote, “Rachmaninoff was perhaps the most complete musician of the past 150 years.” It was a tribute to a man who skyrocketed to stardom in three different careers: as a composer, as a conductor, and as a piano virtuoso. He’d achieved the first two in his native Russia, earning honors, celebrity, and all the trappings of an upperclass lifestyle. But when the Bolsheviks took over, he
gathered his wife and daughters and slipped into Finland. They lost everything but their freedom, and 44-year-old Sergei Rachmaninoff needed a plan. He gazed into the frightened faces of his little girls, weighed his options, and chose a piano career—the most lucrative.
Rachmaninoff had always been a formidable player. He often performed his works. But if he wanted a career as a touring virtuoso, he would need to build a repertoire and burnish his skills. And so he returned to the woodshed and did the work of a musician half his age. Success came quickly. Settling in America, he drew large audiences and stopped writing music.
The Third Piano Concerto comes from 1909, the waning years of Imperial Russia. The composer reluctantly agreed to an American tour, not for the publicity but because he'd make enough money to buy a car (he was an original motorhead). He wrote the concerto during the summer at the family estate.
“I wanted to sing the melody on the piano, as a singer would sing it,” he said, “and to find a suitable orchestral accompaniment, or rather one that would not muffle this singing.” Out of that singing melody, he spun a highly imaginative, intensely integrated work—and a beastly workout for the pianist.
Rachmaninoff debuted the piece with two orchestras in New York City, including the New York Philharmonic conducted by Gustav Mahler. Initially, no other pianist dared touch the “Rach 3.” It is notoriously difficult, “40 minutes of finger-twisting madness,” wrote The Washington Post.
“When you play this piece, you do feel like you’ve shown everything you can possibly do as a pianist,” said piano virtuoso Garrick Ohlsson. “From the most delicate . . . from the most singing . . . the most light to the most medium texture to the most romantic to the most heroic to the noisiest. Yeah, it’s the piece of a lifetime. I know why all pianists want to play it—if we can.”
After Rachmaninoff reinvented himself as a piano virtuoso, the Third Concerto became one of his most popular showpieces, helping to pay for a series of fast cars. During his twenty-five years in exile, he wrote only six more compositions.
ROBERT SPANO, Music Director Laureate
Robert Spano, conductor, pianist, composer, and teacher, is known worldwide for the intensity of his artistry and distinctive communicative abilities, creating a sense of inclusion and warmth among musicians and audiences that is unique among American orchestras.
After twenty seasons as Music Director, he continues his association with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra as Music Director Laureate. As Music Director of the Aspen Music Festival and School since 2011, he oversees the programming of more than 300 events and educational programs for 630 students and young performers.
Principal Guest Conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra since 2019, Spano began his tenure as Music Director in August 2022. He is the tenth Music Director in the orchestra’s history, which was founded in 1912.
In January 2024, Spano was appointed Principal Conductor of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School. In February 2024, Spano was appointed Music Director of the Washington National Opera, beginning in the 2025–2026 season; he is currently the WNO's Music Director Designate.
Maestro Spano made his highly acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut in 2019, leading the US premiere of Nico Muhly’s Marnie. Recent concert highlights have included several world premiere performances, including Voy a Dormir by Bryce Dessner at Carnegie Hall; Miserere, by ASO bassist Michael Kurth; George Tsontakis’s Violin Concerto No. 3; Dimitrios Skyllas’s Kyrie eleison; the Tuba Concerto by Jennifer Higdon; and Melodia, For Piano and Orchestra, by Matthew Ricketts.
Spano recently returned to his early love of composing. His newest work is a song cycle on Rilke’s Sonnets to Orpheus that he wrote for mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor. In 2016, he premiered his Sonata: Four Elements for piano at the Aspen Music Festival, and a song cycle, Hölderlin-Lieder, for soprano Jessica Rivera.
Spano has led ASO performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Ravinia, Ojai, and Savannah Music Festivals. Guest engagements have included the Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Minnesota Orchestras, New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, and the San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, New World, San Diego, Oregon, Utah, and Kansas City Symphonies.
Internationally, Maestro Spano has led the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala, BBC Symphony, Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfonica Brasileira, Orquestra Sinfonica Estado Sao Paulo, Wroclaw Philharmonic, the Melbourne and Sydney Symphonies in Australia, and the Saito Kinen Orchestra in Japan.
His opera performances include Covent Garden, Welsh National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, and the 2005 and 2009 Seattle Opera productions of Wagner’s Ring cycle.
With a discography of critically acclaimed recordings for Telarc, Deutsche Grammophon, and ASO Media, Robert Spano has garnered four Grammy® Awards and eight nominations with the Atlanta Symphony.
Spano is on faculty at Oberlin Conservatory and has received honorary doctorates from Bowling Green State University, the Curtis Institute of Music, Emory University, and Oberlin. Maestro Spano is a recipient of the Georgia Governor's Award for the Arts and Humanities and is one of two classical musicians inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.
GARRICK OHLSSON, piano
Since his triumph as winner of the 1970 Chopin International Piano Competition, pianist Garrick Ohlsson has established himself worldwide as a musician of magisterial interpretive and technical prowess.
Although long regarded as one of the world’s leading exponents of the music of Frédéric Chopin, Mr. Ohlsson commands an enormous repertoire, which ranges over the entire piano literature. To date, he has at his command more than 80 concertos, ranging from Haydn and Mozart to works of the 21st century, the most recent being Oceans Apart by Justin Dello Joio, commissioned for him by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and now available on Bridge Recordings. Also just released on Reference Recordings is the complete Beethoven concerti with Sir Donald Runnicles and the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra.
Mr. Ohlsson’s extensive discography includes a ten-disc set of the complete Beethoven Sonatas, for Bridge Records, which has garnered critical acclaim, including a Grammy® for Vol. 3. His recording of Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 3, with the Atlanta Symphony and Robert Spano, was released in 2011.
A frequent guest with the orchestras in New Zealand and Australia, Mr. Ohlsson returned for a nine-city recital tour across Australia in June 2023 and will open the Nashville Symphony’s season in September, followed by appearances with orchestras in Atlanta, Sarasota, Rhode Island, Singapore, Prague, Warsaw, Lyon and Oxford (UK). With recital programs including works from Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin to Brahms and Scriabin, he can be heard in New York, Seattle, Baltimore, Prague, Katowice, Krakow and Wrocław.
A native of White Plains, N.Y., Garrick Ohlsson began his piano studies at the age of 8, at the Westchester Conservatory of Music; at 13 he entered The Juilliard School. Mr. Ohlsson was awarded the Avery Fisher Prize in 1994. He is a Steinway Artist and makes his home in San Francisco.
Concerts of Thursday, May 16, 2024 at 8:00 PM
Saturday, May 18, 2024 at 8:00 PM
ROBERT SPANO, conductor
JOHN TESSIER, tenor
JOSEPH LATTANZI, baritone
CODY BOWERS, countertenor
ASO CHORUS
Saturday’s concert is dedicated to JOHN D. FULLER in honor of his extraordinary support of the 2022/23 Annual Fund.
Commissions of new works are made possible by THE ROBERT SPANO FUND FOR NEW MUSIC, established with a lead gift from The Antinori Foundation.
IGOR STRAVINSKY (1882-1971)
Le sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring) (1913)
35 MINS
PART I: The Adoration of the Earth
I. Introduction
II. The Augurs of Spring
III. Ritual of Abduction
IV. Spring Rounds
V. Ritual of the Rival Tribes
VI. Procession of the Sage
VII. Dance of the Earth
PART II: The Sacrifice
I. Introduction
II. Mystic Circles of the Young Girls
III. Glorification of the Chosen One
IV. Evocation of the Ancestors
V. Ritual Action of the Ancestors
VI. Sacrificial Dance
INTERMISSION
JONATHAN LESHNOFF (b. 1973)
The Sacrifice of Isaac (2024) WORLD PREMIERE
PART I:
20 MINS
47 MINS
Aria 1: "May G–d bless you and watch you"
Aria 2: "And Sarah will have a son"
Aria 3: "And G–d visited Sarah"
PART II
Aria 4: "Take your son, your only son"
Aria 5: "Abraham saw the place off afar"
Aria 6: "It's unnatural!"
Aria 7: "Wretched son of a wretched woman"
Aria 8: "You are called merciful"
Aria 9: "Yedid Nefesh" and Confession
Aria 10: "Lay not your hand"
Aria 11: "Remember us!"
Aria 12: "May G–d bless you and watch you"
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.
On a sweltering night in Paris, Igor Stravinsky unbuttoned his tuxedo jacket and took his seat in the Théâtre des Champs-Elysée. People fanned their faces as they waited to see his new ballet, Le scare du printemps, The Rite of Spring.
Around him sat “a fashionable audience in décolletage, outfitted in pearls, egret headresses, plumes of ostrich,” what Jean Cocteau called a “thousand nuances of snobbery, super-snobbery, counter-snobbery.” The lights dimmed, and a single bassoon pierced the silence in an impossibly high register. “If that's a bassoon, I’m a baboon,” sniped Camille Saint-Saëns. Things went downhill from there.
Hecklers drew angry shouts from others until they came to blows and dragged the audience into a brawl. Stravinsky slunk backstage, where he found choreographer Vaclav Nijinsky standing on a chair, shouting counts to the dancers (they couldn’t hear the orchestra over the fray).
Musically, “Le sacre” grew from the composer’s happy memories of Russia, where he encountered rural folk. He noted a timeless quality to their singing, their homemade instruments, and their deep connection to the earth. And when he conceived of a ballet about pagans, superstition, and human sacrifice, the sound of rural Russia informed his imagination.
First ASO performances: January 16-19, 1969, James Levine, conductor
Most recent ASO performances: March 13-16, 2014, Donald Runnicles, conductor
For all its unvarnished primitivism, The Rite of Spring is a highly sophisticated piece. It employs an enormous orchestra. And though Stravinsky leaned into repetition, he saddled it to a barrage of meter changes (6/8 7/8 3/4 6/8 2/4 6/8 3/4 9/8). To give the music added crunch, he combined harmonies that don't traditionally go together (bitonality). Yet his craftsmanship belies the simplicity of the source: folk song. The opening bassoon melody, for example, is a Lithuanian song called “Tu, manu seséréle.”
Stravinsky later admitted he struggled to notate the music in his head. His concept forced him to think anew about the instruments to achieve the faraway sounds of feral humans. In 1913 Paris, he challenged his musicians to work together in unorthodox ways—and count as if their lives depended on it.
Stravinsky wrote, “In the Prelude, I wanted to express the panic fear of nature for the beauty arising, a sacred terror.” As the action unfolds, it becomes clear that nature is but a supporting actor. The Rite of Spring is a reflection of humanity and its most animal
impulses. The tony Parisians of 1913 gave truth to the savagery, providing a spectacular example of life imitating art.
These are the first ASO performances.
Leshnoff's The Sacrifice of Isaac
About the composer
Distinguished by The New York Times as “a leader of contemporary American lyricism,” Grammy®-nominated composer Jonathan Leshnoff is renowned for his music's striking harmonies, structural complexity, and powerful themes. The Baltimore-based composer has been ranked among the most performed living composers in recent seasons with performances by over 100 orchestras. He has received commissions from Carnegie Hall, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Kansas City, Nashville, and Pittsburgh, among others. Leshnoff’s compositions have also been premiered by classical music’s most celebrated soloists, including Gil Shaham, Johannes Moser, Manuel Barrueco, Noah Bendix-Balgley and Joyce Yang. Nine all-Leshnoff albums are commercially recorded. Leshnoff is a Professor of Music at Towson University.
The Sacrifice of Isaac
“I’ve grown up with works such as Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s Passions that are so wonderful and deep and dear to me,” said composer Jonathan Leshnoff. “But I’ve always wanted to tell a story from the Old Testament from the Jewish perspective.”
For the composer, music and spirituality are “two sides of the same coin,” he told broadcaster Kara McLeland. He is an avid student of Rabbinic literature. “When I work with these spiritual concepts, it's easier for me to express my feelings and thoughts through music,” he said. “I guess that's why I’m a composer.”
Traditionally, the biblical figure Abraham is the first Jew. Leshnoff’s oratorio illustrates Abraham’s odyssey of faith: He and his wife, Sarah, are a childless couple. Miraculously, God grants them a son late in life (Isaac). But God has plans for Abraham. Putting him to the test, God instructs him to lead Isaac into the mountains and sacrifice him upon an altar. Abraham sets about this dreadful task; as he raises his knife, an angel stays his hand and saves Isaac.
A disturbing tale, the near sacrifice of Isaac provokes endless reflection, head-scratching, and debate. For the Jewish people, it is a pillar of the faith—and a gripping subject for art.
To craft a libretto, Jonathan Leshnoff scoured Rabbinic Midrash, the Talmud, commentaries on the Hebrew Bible, and the liturgy and stitched together a narrative to conjure the drama between father and son and the inevitable flood of emotional contradictions. It also provokes the eternal debate. Why would an all-knowing, all-loving God—who already knows the outcome of the test—terrorize Abraham and Isaac? Some Rabbis suggest the ever-faithful Abraham never doubted that God would intercede. For Leshnoff, the test served God’s greater purpose. “We never know our potential until it's tested,” he said. In other words, God designed the test to prepare Abraham for his true calling: the founder of the Jewish people.
To date, Jonathan Leshnoff ranks among America’s most-performed contemporary composers. An all-Leshnoff compendium received a 2021 Grammy® nomination. And he has a steady stream of commissions to work on. Yet, the idea of this The Sacrifice of Isaac percolated for years. It took Leshnoff’s long collaboration with the Atlanta Symphony’s (then) music director, Robert Spano, to greenlight the project. Leshnoff dedicated the oratorio to Spano. “I’ve always wanted to write this piece,” said Leshnoff. Indeed, he poured decades of scholarship and devotion into its fabric. For example, the voice of God comes not from a booming bass-baritone, as one might expect, but from a countertenor. Leshnoff points to the Bible verse I Kings 19:12 (“After the earthquake—fire; but GOD was not in the fire. And after the fire—a soft murmuring sound.”) In this moment, Elijah must listen for God in the stillness; and so must Abraham in Leshnoff’s The Sacrifice of Isaac.
Jonathan Leshnoff is a professor of music at Towson University.
This work was commissioned by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Robert Spano, music director, and was made possible through The Robert Spano Fund for New Music, established by The Antinori Foundation.
It was also commissioned by Patricia Werthan Uhlmann in loving memory of her husband, John Weil Uhlmann, and Eileen Williams and Judah Gudelsky. This work is co-commissioned by the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, Giancarlo Guerrero, music director, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Jonathon Heyward, music director.
CODY BOWERS, countertenor
American countertenor Cody Bowers has received national award recognition from The Sullivan Foundation, The Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, and The George London Foundation for Singers. In 2024 Cody debuts with the Metropolitan Opera in John Adams’ El Niño. He joins Ars Lyrica for Handel’s Theodora, Opera Neo in the US premiere of Polifemo, and the Alabama Symphony for Bernstein’s Missa Brevis and Chichester Psalms.
In 2023 Mr. Bowers made his Lincoln Center debut with the New York Philharmonic in Handel’s Israel in Egypt and the Houston Symphony in Handel’s Messiah. He also made a role and company debut as Ruggiero in Alcina with St. Petersburg Opera.
In previous seasons, he performed with the Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera, the Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, San Diego Opera, Minnesota Opera, Utah Opera, The Atlanta Opera, Boston Early Music Festival, Opera Neo, Tanglewood Music Center, and Cantos Para Hermana al Mundo in Torreón, Mexico.
Other concert credits include Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri, Ralph Vaughn William’s Mass in G Minor, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Mozart’s Mass in D Major and numerous works by J.S. Bach.
He is an active member of internationally celebrated ensembles like Gramophone award-winning Blue Heron Renaissance Choir, The Handel & Haydn Society, Apollo’s Fire Baroque Orchestra, The Thirteen, Bach Society Houston, VAE: Cincinnati, Washington
Bach Consort, Ensemble Altera, and The Choir at the Church of the Advent.
JOHN TESSIER, tenor
During the 2023-24 season, tenor John Tessier returns to Edmonton Opera to sing in Mozart’s classic Don Giovanni. Concert appearances include programs of Bach and Mozart with the Richard Eaton Singers.
Last season, John Tessier returned to Manitoba Opera to reprise his acclaimed portrayal of Prince Ramiro in Rossini’s La cenerentola; and with Calgary Opera he gave a role debut as Steve Wozniak in Mason Bates’ The (R) evolution of Steve Jobs. His international concert schedule included performances of Handel’s Messiah with the
Victoria Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Richard Eaton Singers, and Berlioz’ Roméo et Juliette with the Taiwan Philharmonic.
On the concert stage, the tenor has been heard in performances of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Iván Fischer and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall, and Carmina Burana with Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony, among many others.
John Tessier’s vibrant recording catalogue includes Mozart’s Requiem both with Sir Donald Runnicles and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and with Bernard Labadie and Les Violons du Roy.
JOSEPH LATTANZI, baritone
A2017 recipient of a top prize from the Sullivan Foundation, Joseph Lattanzi established himself as a singer to watch in the world premiere of Greg Spears’ Fellow Travelers with Cincinnati Opera, followed by further performances for his debut with Lyric Opera of Chicago.
In the 2019-20 season, Lattanzi returned to The Metropolitan Opera for Der Rosenkavalier, Madama Butterfly and Kat'a Kabanova. Lattanzi performed with Arizona Opera in Fellow Travelers and returned to the Virginia Opera’s production of La Cenerentola.
In the 2018-19 season, Mr. Lattanzi joined the roster of The Metropolitan Opera for the first time for their production of Nico Muhly’s Marnie and returned to Arizona Opera for Kevin Puts’ Silent Night. He made his Jacksonville Symphony debut in the title role of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, sang a concert celebrating the music of Bernstein with the Atlanta Symphony, and returned to the Cincinnati Opera in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro.
Recent performances include roles with The Atlanta Opera in Carmen and Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, and at the Grand Tetons Music Festival in West Side Story, Seattle Opera in Katya Kabanová and San Francisco Opera in Don Giovanni.
Mr. Lattanzi has performed Carmina Burana with the Reno Philharmonic and Chicago Sinfonietta. Mr. Lattanzi’s 2014-2015 season began with a return home to debut with The Atlanta Opera.
ATLANTA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CHORUS
The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus, founded in 1970 by former Music Director, Robert Shaw, is an all-volunteer, auditioned ensemble that performs on a regular basis with the Orchestra and is featured on many of its recordings. Led by Director of Choruses, Norman Mackenzie, the chorus is known for its precision and expressive singing quality. Its recordings have garnered 14 Grammy® Awards (nine for Best Choral Performance; four for Best Classical Recording and one for Best Opera Recording). In addition, the Chorus has been involved in the creation and shaping of numerous world-premiere commissioned works.
NORMAN MACKENZIE, DIRECTOR OF CHORUSES
Norman Mackenzie’s abilities as musical collaborator, conductor and concert organist have brought him international recognition. As Director of Chorus for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) since 2000, he was chosen to help carry forward the creative vision of legendary founding conductor Robert Shaw. During his tenure, the Chorus has made numerous tours and garnered several Grammy® awards, including Best Classical Album and Best Choral Performance.
At the ASO, he prepares the Choruses for all concerts and recordings, works closely with Nathalie Stutzmann on the commissioning and realization of new choral-orchestral works and conducts holiday concerts. In his 14-year association with Mr. Shaw, he was keyboardist for the ASO, principal accompanist for the ASO Choruses and ultimately assistant choral conductor. In addition, he was musical assistant and accompanist for the Robert Shaw Chamber Singers, the Robert Shaw Institute Summer Choral Festivals in France and the United States and the famed Shaw/Carnegie Hall Choral Workshops.
He prepared the ASO Chorus for its acclaimed 2003 debut and successive 2008 and 2009 performances in Berlin with the Berlin Philharmonic, in Britten’s War Requiem, Berlioz’s Grande Messe des Morts and Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, respectively, conducted by ASO Principal Guest Conductor Donald Runnicles.
ATLANTA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CHORUS
Norman Mackenzie director of choruses
The Frannie & Bill Graves
Chair
Peter Marshall
accompanist
SOPRANO 1
Ellen Abney
Khadijah Davis
Liz Dean*
Laura Foster
Michelle Griffin*
Erin Harris
Erin Jones*
Arietha Lockhart**
Mindy Margolis*
Joneen Padgett*
Rachel Paul
Mary Martha Penner
Susan Ray
Samaria Rodriguez
Emily Salmond
Kristian Samuel
Lydia Sharp
Susie Shepardson
Stacey Tanner
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
Martha Craft
Gina Deaton
Erika Elliott
Mary Goodwin
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**
ALTO 1
June Abbott**
Pamela Amy-Cupp
Deborah Boland**
Emily Campbell
Patricia DinkinsMatthews**
Angel Dotson-Hall
Katherine Fisher
Beth Freeman*
Savanna Hagerty
Unita Harris
Beverly Hueter*
Janet Johnson**
Susan Jones
Kathleen Kelly-
George*
Virginia Little**
Staria Lovelady*
Alina Luke
Frances McDowellBeadle**
Sara McKlin
Linda Morgan**
Katherine Murray**
Natalie Pierce
Kathleen Poe Ross
Noelle Ross
Rachel Schiffer
Camilla Springfield**
Rachel Stewart**
Nancy York*
ALTO 2
Nancy Adams**
Ana Baida
Angelica BlackmanKeim
Elizabeth Borland
Emily Boyer
Marcia Chandler*
Carol Comstock
Meaghan Curry
Cynthia Goeltz
DeBold**
Michèle Diament*
Joia Johnson
Sally Kann*
Nicole Khoury**
Katherine MacKenzie
Lynda Martin*
Lalla McGee
Tiffany Peoples
Laura Rappold*
Duhi Schnieder
Sharon Simons*
Virginia Thompson**
Cheryl Vanture*
Kiki Wilson**
Diane Woodard**
TENOR 1
Christian Bigliani
David Blalock**
LaRue Bowman
John Brandt**
Jack Caldwell**
Daniel Cameron**
Daniel Compton
Justin Cornelius
Clifford Edge**
Steven Farrow**
Leif Gilbert-Hansen*
James Jarrell*
Keith Langston*
Joseph Henry Monti
David Moore
Christopher Patton*
Mark Warden**
TENOR 2
Sutton Bacon*
Matthew Borkowski
Steve Brailsford
Charles Cottingham#
Phillip Crumbly**
Steven Dykes
David Ellis
Joseph Few**
Sean Fletcher
Thomas Foust
John Harr
David Ingham
Keith Jeffords**
David Kinrade
Tyler Lane
Michael Parker
Timothy Parrott
Marshall Peterson**
Matthew Sellers
Thomas Slusher
Scott Stephens**
BASS 1
Dock Anderson
Noah Boonin
Sean Butler
Russell Cason**
Jeremy Christensen
Joshua Clark
Trey Clegg*
Rick Cobb
Michael Cranford
Michael Devine
Thomas Elston
Jon Gunnemann**
Noah Horton
Nick Jones#
Alp Koksal
Sims Kuester
Jacob Lay
Jameson Linville
Peter MacKenzie
Jason Maynard
Jackson McCarthy
Joss Nichols
Hal Richards
Peter Shirts
Thomas Stow
John Terry
Edgie Wallace*
BASS 2
Philip Barreca
Marcel Benoit
Jacob Blevins
William Borland
John Carter
Terrence Connors
Joel Craft**
Paul Fletcher
Timothy Gunter**
Brooks Hanrahan
David Hansen**
Philip Jones
Daniel Lane
Jason Manley
Michael Nedvidek
John Newsome
Joel Rose
John Ruff**
Jonathan Smith*
George Sustman
Benjamin Temko**
David Webster**
Gregory Whitmire**
Keith Wyatt**
ASO | SUPPORT
The 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 worldclass institution.
$1,000,000+
$100,000+
A Friend of the Symphony
1180 Peachtree
The Molly Blank Fund of The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation∞
The Coca-Cola Company
Sheila Lee Davies & Jon Davies
$75,000+
Alston & Bird LLP
The Paul M. Angell Family Foundation∞
$50,000+
Accenture LLP
BlackRock
City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs
Ms. Lynn Eden
$35,000+
Mr. & Mrs. Paul J. Blackney
Cox Enterprises, Inc.
Sally* & Larry Davis
$25,000+
Farideh & Al Azadi Foundation∞
Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Bailey
Jennifer Barlament & Kenneth Potsic
BlueLinx
Janine Brown & Alex J. Simmons, Jr.
Connie & Merrell Calhoun
John W. Cooledge
The Jim Cox, Jr. Foundation
Mr. & Mrs. Erroll B. Davis, Jr.∞
Cari K. Dawson & John M. Sparrow
Mr. Richard H. Delay & Dr. Francine D. Dykes∞
A Friend of the Symphony∞
Emerald Gate Charitable Trust
Lettie Pate Evans Foundation∞
Barney M. Franklin & Hugh W. Burke Charitable Fund
Georgia Power Company
The Halle Foundation
The Home Depot Foundation Invesco QQQ
The Antinori Foundation
The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation
Cadence Bank Foundation
Emory Woodruff Health Sciences Center
Ms. Angela L. Evans∞
Four Seasons
John D. Fuller
The Gable Foundation
Georgia Council for the Arts
The Roy & Janet Dorsey Foundation
Fulton County Arts & Culture
Anne Morgan & Jim Kelley
Paulette Eastman & Becky Pryor Anderson*∞
Eversheds Sutherland
Marina Fahim°
Dick & Anne Game°
Jeannette Guarner, MD & Carlos del Rio, MD
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.∞
Delta Air Lines
Abraham J. & Phyllis
Katz Foundation∞
Charles Loridans Foundation, Inc.
Amy W. Norman
Charitable Foundation
The Zeist Foundation, Inc.
Chick-fil-A
Norfolk Southern PNC
Graphic Packaging KPMG
Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP
National Endowment for the Arts
Slumgullion Charitable Fund
Truist
Ann Marie & John B. White, Jr.°∞
Sally & Pete Parsonson∞
Patty & Doug Reid
Mary & Jim Rubright
Patrick & Susie Viguerie
Massey Charitable Trust
John & Linda Matthews∞
Northside Hospital
John R. Paddock, Ph.D. & Karen M. Schwartz, Ph.D.
Victoria & Howard Palefsky
Ms. Margaret Painter∞
Porsche Cars North America, Inc.
Publix Super Markets Charities, Inc.
PwC
Bill & Rachel Schultz°
June & John Scott∞
Troutman Pepper
Kathy Waller & Kenneth Goggins
Mrs. Edus H. Warren
$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
Florencia & 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.
Dr. Jennifer Lyman & Mr. Kevin Lyman
Mr. & Mrs. Arthur Mills IV
Moore Colson, CPAs & Bert & Carmen Mills
Terence L. & Jeanne Perrine Neal°
Lynn & Galen Oelkers
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°
Council for Quality Growth
Russell Currey & Amy Durrell
Deloitte
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
Brian & Carrie Kurlander∞
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
Barbara & 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
Dr. Ravi & Dr. Valerie Thadhani
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
Jack & Helga Beam∞
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∞
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
Hamilton Capital Partners, LLC
The Hertz Family Foundation, Inc.
Clay & Jane Jackson
Ann A. & Ben F. Johnson III°
James Kieffer
King & Spalding
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
Mr. Kenneth M. Neighbors & Ms. Valdoreas May
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
ASO | SUPPORT (cont.)
Margaret H. Petersen
David F. & Maxine A.* Rock
Thomas & Lynne Saylor
The Simmons Foundation
Tom & Ani Steele
John & Yee-Wan Stevens
Mr. & Mrs. Edward W.
Stroetz, Jr.
Stephen & Sonia Swartz
Mr. G. Kimbrough Taylor & Ms. Triska Drake
George & Amy Taylor∞
Mr. Paul E. Viera & Ms. Gail O’Neill*
Dr. & Mrs. James O. Wells, Jr.
Kiki Wilson
$7,500+
Dr. Marshall & Stephanie Abes
Judith D. Bullock
Karen & Rod Bunn
Patricia & William Buss∞
Mark Coan & Family
Davis Broadcasting Inc.
Ms. Diane Durgin
Sally W. Hawkins
Grace Taylor Ihrig*
Ann & Brian Kimsey
Jason & Michelle Kroh
Mr. Robert M. Lewis, Jr.
Elvira & Jay Mannelly
Berthe & Shapour Mobasser
Mrs. Kay Adams* & Mr. Ralph Paulk°
Perkins and Will
Ms. Eliza Quigley∞
Ms. Frances A. Root
Hamilton & Mason Smith
Ms. Juliana T. Vincenzino
Drs. Jonne & Paul Walter
Mr. David J. Worley & Ms. Bernadette Drankoski
Camille W. Yow
$5,000+
A Friend of the Symphony (3)
Azalea City Chapter of Links
Dr. Evelyn R. Babey
Lisa & Joe Bankoff
Asad & Sakina Bashey
Herschel Beazley
Meredith Bell
Mr. John Blatz
Dr. & Mrs. Jerome B.
Blumenthal
Mrs. Sidney W. Boozer
Carol Brantley & David Webster
Margo Brinton & Eldon Park
Ms. Johanna Brookner
Jacqueline A. & Joseph E. Brown, Jr.
CBH International, Inc
John Champion & Penelope Malone
Mrs. Amy B. Cheng and Dr. Chad A. Hume, Ph.D
Mr. & Mrs. Miles R. Cook
William & Patricia Cook
Carol Comstock & Jim Davis
Janet & John Costello
Dillon Production Services, Inc.
Mr. & Mrs. Paul H. Dimmick∞
Xavier Duralde & Mary Barrett
Dieter Elsner & Othene Munson
Robert S. Elster Foundation
Dr. & Mrs. Carl D. Fackler
Ellen & Howard Feinsand
Mr. & Mrs. William A. Flinn
Bruce W. & Avery C. Flower
Mr. David L. Forbes
Marty & John Gillin°
Dr. Paul Gilreath
Mary* & Charles Ginden
Mr. & Mrs. Richard Goodsell
Melanie & Tucker Green
Martha Reaves Head
Azira G. Hill
Richard & Linda Hubert
Tad & Janin Hutcheson
Mr. Justin Im & Dr. Nakyoung Nam
Aaron & Joyce Johnson
Mr. & Mrs. Baxter Jones
Lana M. Jordan∞
Mr. Jonathan Kamenear
Paul* & Rosthema Kastin
Mona & Gilbert Kelly°
Mr. Charles R. Kowal
Ms. Eunice Luke
Dr. & Mrs. Ellis L. Malone
Ms. Erin M. Marshall
Mr. & Mrs. Christopher D. Martin
Belinda & Gino Massafra
Dr. & Mrs. Douglas Mattox
The Fred & Sue McGehee
Family Charitable Fund
Ed & Linda McGinn°
Ms. Erica McVicker
Mr. Bert Mobley
Mr. Cesar Moreno & Mr. Greg Heathcock
Sue Morgan∞
Jane Morrison∞
Music Matters
Mr. Thomas Nightingale
Ms. Bethani Oppenheimer
Ms. Amy H. Page
Ann & Fay Pearce°
The Hellen Plummer
Charitable Foundation, Inc.
Dr. & Mrs. John P. Pooler
John H. Rains
Leonard Reed
Mr. & Mrs. Joel F. Reeves
Dr. and Mrs. Jay Rhee
Cammie & John Rice
Vicki & Joe Riedel
Ms. Felicia Rives
Betsy & Lee Robinson
Mr. & Ms. Joseph A.
Roseborough
Tiffany & Rich Rosetti∞
John T. Ruff
Dr. & Mrs. Rein Saral
Katherine Scott
Mallie Sharafat
Suzanne Shull
Gerald & Nancy Silverboard
Baker & Debby Smith
Ms. Cynthia Smith
Dr. K. Douglas Smith
Victoria Smith
Mr. & Mrs. Peter Stathopoulos
In memory of
Elizabeth B. Stephens by Powell, Preston & Sally∞
Beth & Edward Sugarman
Dede & Bob Thompson
Mr. & Mrs. Peter Toren
Trapp Family
Burton Trimble
Chilton & Morgan* Varner
Amy & Robert Vassey
Alan & Marcia Watt
Mr. Nathan Watt
Ruthie Watts
Mr. & Mrs. Robert L. Welch
Dr. Nanette K. Wenger
WhoBody Inc.
Suzanne B. Wilner
Mr. & Mrs. M. Beattie Wood
Yellow Bird Project Management
$3,500+
A Friend of the Symphony(2)
Paul & Marian Anderson Fund
Drs. Jay & Martin BeardColes
Mr. & Mrs. Dennis M. Chorba
Liz & Charlie Cohn°
Malcolm & Ann Cole
Ned Cone & Nadeen Green
Jean & Jerry Cooper
Mr. Ramsey Fahs
Mr. & Mrs. Louis Gump
Deedee & Marc* Hamburger
Barbara M. Hund
Cameron H. Jackson°
Mrs. Gail Johnson
Mr. W. F. & Dr. Janice Johnston
Wolfgang* & Mariana Laufer
Ari & Fara Levine°
Deborah & William Liss°
Martha & Reynolds McClatchey
In Memory of Dr. Frank S. Pittman III
Ms. Kathy Powell
Mrs. Susan H. Reinach
S.A. Robinson
Mr. David Roemer
Donna Schwartz
Ms. Martha Solano
Mrs. Dale L. Thompson
Mr. & Mrs. Art Waldrop
Mr. & Mrs. Rhys T. Wilson
Ms. Sonia Witkowski
$2,000+
A Friend of the Symphony(2) 2492 Fund
Mr. & Dr. Paul Akbar
Mr. & Mrs. Louis Alrutz
Mr. James L. Anderson
Ms. Debra Atkins & Ms. Mary Ann Wayne
The Atlanta Music Club
Anthony Barbagallo & Kristen Fowks
Ms. Susan Bass & Mr. Tom Bradford
Dr. Laura Beaty
Bell Family Foundation for Hope Inc
Dr. & Mrs. Joel E. Berenson
Susan & Jack Bertram
Catherine Binns & Jim Honkisz*
Leon & Joy Borchers
Andrew & Elissa Bower°
Ms. Jane F. Boynton
Martha S. Brewer
Harriet Evans Brock
Dr. Aubrey Bush & Dr. Carol Bush
Mr. & Mrs. Walter K. Canipe
Betty Fuller Case
Julie & Jerry Chautin
Mr. Jeffery B. Chancellor & Mr. Cameron England
Mr. James Cobb Coenen-Johnson Foundation
Susan S. Cofer
Ralph & Rita Connell
Matt & Kate Cook
Mrs. Nancy Cooke
Mary Carole Cooney & Henry R. Bauer, Jr.
Ms. Elizabeth Wiggs Cooper & Mr. Larry Cooper
R. Carter & Marjorie A. Crittenden Foundation
Mr. & Mrs. Paul M. Cushing
Dr. & Mrs. F. Thomas Daly, Jr.
Mr. & Mrs. Kyle Dasher
Priscilla Davis
Delta Community Credit Union
Mr. David S. Dimling
Mr. & Mrs. Graham Dorian
Gregory & Debra Durden
Mr. & Mrs. Robert G. Edge
Diana Einterz
Erica Endicott & Chris Heisel
Mr. & Mrs. Taylor Fairman
Mr. & Mrs. Paul G. Farnham
Mr. & Mrs. Massoud Fatemi
Dr. Karen A. Foster
Annie Frazer & Jen Horvath
Dr. Elizabeth C. French
Gaby Family Foundation
Mr. & Mrs. Sebastien Galtier
Raj & Jyoti Gandhi Family Foundation
Mr. & Mrs. C. Ben Garren
Sandra & John Glover
Mrs. Janet D. Goldstein
Mr. Robert Golomb
Connie & Danny Griffin
Richard & Debbie Griffiths
Mr. & Mrs. George Gunderson
Phil & Lisa Hartley
Mr. & Mrs. Steve Hauser°
Mr. & Mrs. Charles Hawk
Mr. & Mrs. John Hellriegel∞
Ms. Elizabeth Hendrick
Ms. Ann Herrera & Ms. Mary M. Goodwin
Mr. Kenneth & Ms. Colleen Hey
Sarah & Harvey Hill, Jr.°
Laurie House Hopkins & John D. Hopkins
James & Bridget Horgan°
Ms. & Mr. Carli Huband
Dona & Bill Humphreys
International Women’s Forum
Lillian Kim Ivansco & Joey Ivansco
Nancy & John Janet
Ms. Rebecca Jarvis
Cecile M. Jones
William L. & Sally S. Jorden
Teresa M. Joyce, Ph.D
Mr. Lewis King
Mr. & Mrs. Theodore J. Lavallee, Sr.
Lillian Balentine Law
Mr. & Mrs. Chris Le
Van & Elizabeth Lear
Mr. & Mrs. J. David Lifsey
Jun-Ching Lin & Helen Porter
Azy Lotfi & Max Lotfi
Dr. Marcus Marr
Mrs. Sam Massell
In Memory of Pam McAllister
Mr. & Mrs. James McClatchey
Birgit & David McQueen
Anna & Hays Mershon
Mr. & Mrs.
Thomas B. Mimms, Jr.
Mrs. Pat Mitchell & Mr. Scott Seydel
Hala and Steve Moddelmog
Mr. Charles Morn
Ms. Helen Motamen and Mr. Deepak Shenoy
Janice & Tom Munsterman∞
Melanie & Allan Nelkin
Agnes V. Nelson
Mr. Denis Ng & Ms. Mary
Jane Panzeri
Gary R. Noble, MD & Joanne Heckman
Donald S. Orr & Marcia K. Knight
Mr. & Mrs.
Solon P. Patterson
Mr. & Mrs. Jonathan K. Peterson
The Piedmont National Family Foundation
Ponce de Leon Music Store
Mr. & Ms. Douglas R. Powell
Ms. Patricia U. Rich
Mr. and Mrs. Douglas G. Riffey, Jr.
Sharon & David Schachter°
Drs. Bess Schoen & Andrew Muir
Alan and Marion Shoenig
Drs. Lawrence & Rachel Schonberger
Dick Schweitzer
Mr. David C. Shih
Nick & Annie Shreiber
Helga Hazelrig Siegel
Diana Silverman
Silvey James and Rev. Jeanne Simpson
The Society, Inc
The Alex & Betty Smith Donor-Advised Endowment Fund
Ms. Lara Smith-Sitton
Anne-Marie Sparrow
Peggy & Jerry Stapleton
James & Shari Steinberg
Richard M. Stormont*
Dr. & Mrs.
John P. Straetmans
Kay R Summers
TEGNA Foundation
Ms. Linda F. Terry
Dr. Brenda G. Turner
Wayne & Lee Harper Vason
Vogel Family Foundation
Dr. James L. Waits
Mr. Charles D. Wattles & Ms. Rosemary C. Willey
David & Martha West
Russell F. Winch & Mark B. Elberfeld
Mrs. Lynne M. Winship
Zaban Foundation, Inc.
Herbert* & Grace Zwerner
Patron Leadership (PAL) Committee
We give special thanks to this dedicated group of Atlanta Symphony Orchestra donorvolunteers for their commitment to each year’s annual support initiatives:
Linda Matthews chair
Kristi Allpere
Helga Beam
Bill Buss
Pat Buss
Kristen Fowks
Deedee Hamburger
Judy Hellriegel
Nancy Janet
Belinda Massafra
Sally Parsonson
June Scott
Milt Shlapak
Jonne Walter
Marcia Watt
HENRY SOPKIN CIRCLE
Named for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s founding Music Director, the HENRY SOPKIN CIRCLE celebrates cherished individuals and families who have made a planned gift to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. These special donors preserve the Orchestra’s foundation and ensure success for future generations.
Jill* & Jennings* Hertz
Mr. Albert L. Hibbard
Richard E. Hodges
Mr.* & Mrs. Charles K.
Holmes, Jr.
Mr.* & Mrs.* Fred A. Hoyt, Jr.
Jim* & Barbara Hund
Clayton F. Jackson
Mary B. James
Nancy Janet
Mr. Calvert Johnson & Mr. Kenneth Dutter
Joia M. Johnson
Deforest F. Jurkiewicz*
Herb* & Hazel Karp
Anne Morgan & Jim Kelley
Bob Kinsey
A Friend of the Symphony (22)
Madeline* & Howell E. Adams, Jr.
Mr.* & Mrs.* John E. Aderhold
Paul & Melody Aldo
Mr. & Mrs. Ronald R. Antinori
Dr. & Mrs. William Bauer
Helga Beam
Mr. Charles D. Belcher*
Neil H. Berman
Susan & Jack Bertram
Mr.* & Mrs.* Karl A. Bevins
The Estate of Donald S. & Joyce Bickers
Ms. Page Bishop*
Mr.* & Mrs.* Sol Blaine
John Blatz
Rita & Herschel Bloom
The Estate of Mrs.
Gilbert H. Boggs, Jr.
W. Moses Bond
Mr.* & Mrs. Robert C. Boozer
Elinor A. Breman*
Carol J. Brown
James C. Buggs*
Mr. & Mrs.* Richard H. Burgin
Hugh W. Burke*
Mr. & Mrs. William Buss
Wilber W. Caldwell
Mr. & Mrs. C. Merrell Calhoun
Cynthia & Donald Carson
Mrs. Jane Celler*
Lenore Cicchese*
Margie & Pierce Cline
Dr. & Mrs. Grady S. Clinkscales, Jr.
Suzanne W. Cole Sullivan
Robert Boston Colgin
Mrs. Mary Frances
Evans Comstock*
Miriam* & John A.* Conant
Dr. John W. Cooledge
Dr. Janie Cowan
Mr. & Mrs. William R. Cummickel
Bob* & Verdery* Cunningham
Mr. Richard H. Delay & Dr. Francine D. Dykes
John R. Donnell
Dixon W. Driggs*
Pamela Johnson Drummond
Mrs. Kathryn E. Duggleby
Catherine Warren Dukehart*
Ms. Diane Durgin
Arnold & Sylvia Eaves
Mr. & Mrs. Robert G. Edge
Geoffrey G. Eichholz*
Elizabeth Etoll
Mr. Doyle Faler
Brien P. Faucett
Dr. Emile T. Fisher*
Moniqua N Fladger
Mr. & Mrs. Bruce W. Flower
A. D. Frazier, Jr.
Nola Frink*
Betty* & Drew* Fuller
Sally & Carl Gable
William & Carolyn Gaik
Dr. John W. Gamwell*
Mr.* & Mrs.* L.L. Gellerstedt, Jr.
Ruth Gershon & Sandy Cohn
Micheline & Bob Gerson
Max Gilstrap
Mr. & Mrs. John T. Glover
Mrs. David Goldwasser
Robert Hall Gunn, Jr. Fund
Billie & Sig Guthman
Betty G.* & Joseph* F. Haas
James & Virginia Hale
Ms. Alice Ann Hamilton
Dr. Charles H. Hamilton*
Sally & Paul* Hawkins
John* & Martha Head
Ms. Jeannie Hearn*
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
James W.* & Mary Ellen*
Kitchell
Paul Kniepkamp, Jr.
Vivian & Peter de Kok
Miss Florence Kopleff*
Mr. Robert Lamy
James H. Landon
Ouida Hayes Lanier
Lucy Russell Lee* & Gary Lee, Jr.
Ione & John Lee
Mr. Larry M. LeMaster
Mr.* & Mrs.* William C. Lester
Liz & Jay* Levine
Robert M. Lewis, Jr.
Carroll & Ruth Liller
Ms. Joanne Lincoln*
Jane Little*
Mrs. J. Erskine Love, Jr.*
Nell Galt & Will D. Magruder
K Maier
John W. Markham*
Mrs. Ann B. Martin
Linda & John Matthews
Mr. Michael A. McDowell, Jr.
Dr. Michael S. McGarry
Richard & Shirley McGinnis
John & Clodagh Miller
Ms. Vera Milner
Mrs. Gene Morse*
Ms. Janice Murphy*
Mr. & Mrs. Bertil D. Nordin
Mrs. Amy W. Norman*
Galen Oelkers
Roger B. Orloff
Barbara D. Orloff
Dr. Bernard* & Sandra Palay
Sally & Pete Parsonson
James L. Paulk
Ralph & Kay* Paulk
Dan R. Payne
Bill Perkins
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
ASO | STAFF
EXECUTIVE
Jennifer Barlament executive director
Alvinetta Cooksey executive & finance assistant
Emily Fritz-Endres executive management fellow
ARTISTIC Gaetan Le Divelec vice president, artistic planning
Hannah Davis choral and artistic manager
RaSheed Lemon aso artist liaison
Ebner Sobalvarro artistic administrator
EDUCATION & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Sarah Grant senior director of education
Ryan Walks talent development program manager
Elena Gagon coordinator of education & community engagement
OPERATIONS
Emily Liao Master vice president & general manager
Carrie Marcantonio interim director of orchestra personnel
Renee Hagelberg manager of orchestra personnel
Kelly Edwards director of operations
Paul Barrett senior production stage manager
Richard Carvlin stage manager
Joshua Luty principal librarian
Sara Baguyos associate principal librarian
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS
Ashley Mirakian vice president, marketing & communications
Camille McClain director of marketing & communications
Adam Fenton director of multimedia technology
Delle Beganie content & production manager
Mia Jones-Walker marketing manager
Whitney Hendrix creative services manager, aso
Sean David video editor
Will Strawn director of marketing, live
Lisa Eng creative services manager, live
Caitlin Buckers marketing manager, live
Meredith Chapple marketing coordinator, live
Bob Scarr archivist & research coordinator
SALES & REVENUE MANAGEMENT
Russell Wheeler vice president, sales & revenue management
Nancy James front of house supervisor
Erin Jones director of sales & audience development
Jesse Pace senior manager of ticketing & patron experience
Dennis Quinlan manager, business insights & analytics
Robin Smith
patron services & season ticket associate
Jake Van Valkenburg sales coordinator
Milo McGehee guest services coordinator
Anna Caldwell guest services associate
ATLANTA SYMPHONY HALL LIVE
Nicole Panunti vice president, atlanta symphony hall live
Michelle Hannaford associate director of events & hospitality
Christine Lawrence associate director of guest services
Jessi Lestelle event manager
Dan Nesspor ticketing manager, atlanta symphony hall live
Liza Palmer event manager
Nicole Jurovics booking & contract manager
Shamon Newsome booking & contract associate
FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION
Susan Ambo executive vice president & cfo
Kimberly Hielsberg vice president of finance
April Satterfield controller
Brandi Reed staff accountant DEVELOPMENT
Grace Sipusic vice president of development
Cheri Snyder senior director of development
William Keene director of annual giving
James Paulk senior annual giving officer
Renee Contreras director of foundation and corporate relations
Esther Kim development associate, major gifts
Dana Parness manager of individual giving & prospect research
Sharveace Cameron senior development associate
Sarah Wilson manager of development operations
Renee Corriveau donor stewardship & events coordinator
Jenny Ricke foundation & corporate giving associate
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.
A Friend of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Anonymous*
Elizabeth Armstrong*
Around the Table Foundation*
Douglas J. Hertz Family Foundation*
Patty & Doug Reid*
A Friend of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
The Antinori Foundation
Bank of America*
Chick-fil-A Foundation | Rhonda & Dan Cathy
$1,000,000+ $500,000+ $250,000+
Accenture
AT&T Foundation
Farideh & Al Azadi Foundation
The Molly Blank Fund
The Halle Foundation
Invesco QQQ
Novelis, Inc.
The Rich’s Foundation
Emerald Gate Charitable Trust*
The Home Depot Foundation
Sarah & Jim Kennedy
Suzy Wilner*
The Shubert Foundation
Truist Trusteed Foundations:
Walter H. and Marjory M. Rich Memorial Fund and Truist Trusteed Foundations:
The Greene-Sawtell Foundation
UPS
WestRock