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On Today’s Program J. HIGDON “Celestial Blue” from Dance Card BRITTEN Sinfonietta, Opus 1 I. Poco presto ed agitato— II. Variations: Andante lento— III. Tarantella: Presto vivace B. DEL SIGNORE Percussion Concerto II. = 96 BRAHMS Serenade No. 2 in A major, Opus 16 I. Allegro moderato II. Scherzo and Trio: Vivace III. Adagio non troppo IV. Quasi Menuetto and Trio V. Rondo: Allegro
ABOUT THE MUSIC
J. HIGDON “CELESTIAL BLUE” FROM DANCE CARD
JENNIFER HIGDON COMPOSER (b. 1962)
• Jennifer Higdon (1962–) is a contemporary Classical composer from Brooklyn, New York. She taught herself to play flute at age 15, began formal musical studies at 18, and started studying composition at 21. • Despite her late start as a musician, Higdon has become a major figure in contemporary Classical music. Her work has been commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, and Tokyo String Quartet, among others. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2010 and has won three Grammy Awards. • Dance Card, completed in 2015, is made up of five movements and each movement is designed so that it can also be played as a separate work. The Symphony will play the fourth movement from Dance Card titled “Celestial Blue.” • Higdon writes, “This work reflects the deep commitment that string players bring to their music making, not only in the many years of learning to play their instruments, but also in the dedication manifested in gorgeous music making as an ensemble.”
ABOUT THE MUSIC
BRITTEN S I N F O N I E T TA , O P U S 1
BENJAMIN BRITTEN COMPOSER (1913–1976) • Edward Benjamin Britten (1913–1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure in 20th century British music and composed a range of works including opera, vocal music, and chamber and orchestral pieces. • Britten was the youngest of four children and took an early interest in music, much to the pleasure of his mother, Edith, who gave him his first lessons in piano. He started formal piano lessons at age 7 and began to play the viola three years later. • His Sinfonietta, Op. 1, was completed in 1932 when Britten was just 18 years old. It premiered in 1933 at The Ballet Club in London. • The work was originally scored for five winds and five strings: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, two violins, viola, cello, and double bass. In 1936, Britten revised the score for chamber orchestra with two horns and a small string section—this arrangement was only played once during his lifetime.
ABOUT THE MUSIC
B. DEL SIGNORE P E R C U S S I O N C O N C E R T O , M V T. I I
BRIAN DEL SIGNORE • Brian Del Signore, principal percussion, joined the Houston Symphony in 1986. Prior to his appointment, he played with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, and others. • Del Signore began studying piano at age 6 and started playing the drums at age 11. In 1981, he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Carnegie Mellon University and earned a Master of Music from Temple University in 1984. • This weekend, Del Signore will make his Houston Symphony solo debut, performing the second movement (the “Marimba Movement”) from his Percussion Concerto. The movement is written for marimba soloist and chamber orchestra. • Del Signore considers this movement a scherzo. He says, “At first, the marimba soloist plays alone, introducing the musical material and improvisations, before being joined by the orchestra, which then provides a calm and steady harmonic ostinato underneath the marimbaist’s solo.” • The marimba is a percussion instrument consisting of a set of wooden bars that are struck with mallets to produce musical tones, and resonators or pipes are suspended underneath the bars to amplify their sound. The wooden bars are generally made from Rosewood, specifically Dalbergia stevensonii, which is primarily grown in southern Guatemala and Belize.
ABOUT THE MUSIC
BRAHMS SERENADE NO. 2
JOHANNES BRAHMS COMPOSER (1833–1897) • Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) was a Romantic era composer and conductor who wrote for symphony orchestra, chamber ensembles, voice, piano, and organ. Brahms was also a virtuoso pianist and premiered many of his own works. • Brahms’s two Serenades, completed in 1858 and 1859 respectively, represent the composer’s early attempts to write orchestral music. • The Serenade No. 2, which we will play on this program, is dedicated to fellow composer and pianist, and close friend, Clara Schumann. It was first performed in Hamburg on February 10, 1860.
ARTIST BIOS ROBERT SPANO CONDUCTOR 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. Beginning his 20th season as Music Director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, this imaginative conductor is an approachable artist with the innate ability to share his enthusiasm for music. An avid mentor to rising artists, he is responsible for nurturing the careers of numerous celebrated composers, conductors, and performers. 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 became Music Director Designate on April 1, 2021 and begins an initial three-year term as Music Director in August 2022. Highlights of Mr. Spano’s 2020–2021 season include conducting engagements with the Fort Worth, Houston, and New World Symphonies, in addition to multiple programs with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Spano’s 2019–2020 season included a return to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, conducting the world premiere of George Tsontakis’s Violin Concerto No. 3 alongside Vaughan Williams’s A Sea Symphony. He returned to the Indianapolis Symphony for a program of Higdon, Rodrigo, and Sibelius, and led the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the world premiere of Dimitrios Skyllas’s Kyrie eleison, commissioned by the BBC. Conducting debuts included the Wroclaw Philharmonic. With the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, programs included Spano’s quintessentially rich, diverse pairings of contemporary works and cherished classics, welcoming seasoned guest artists and many new faces. The orchestra’s 75th season featured numerous ASO premieres, including works by living American composers Krists Auznieks, Jessie Montgomery, and Jennifer Higdon, and a world premiere by Brian Nabors. The season opened with Joshua Bell joining the ASO for Henryk Wieniawski’s Violin Concerto No. 2 and Pablo de Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen.
ARTIST BIOS The 2018–2019 season featured Mr. Spano’s highly-acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut, leading the US premiere of Marnie, the second opera by American composer Nico Muhly, with Isabel Leonard, Janis Kelly, Denyce Graves, Iestyn Davies, and Christopher Maltman, and the conclusion of the ASO’s two-year “LB/LB” celebration commemorating Leonard Bernstein and Ludwig van Beethoven. This celebration featured six Bernstein works and nine Beethoven Symphonies, and vocal masterpieces including Verdi’s Otello, Beethoven’s Fidelio, and Bernstein’s Candide. Recent concert highlights have included several world premiere performances including Voy a Dormir by Bryce Dessner at Carnegie Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor; the Tuba Concerto by Jennifer Higdon, performed by Craig Knox and the Pittsburgh Symphony; Melodia, For Piano and Orchestra, by Canadian composer Matthew Ricketts at the Aspen Music Festival; and Miserere by ASO bassist Michael Kurth. In addition to his leadership of the ASO, Spano recently returned to his early love of composing. His most recent works include Sonata: Four Elements for piano, premiered by Spano in August 2016 at the Aspen Music Festival, and a song cycle, Hölderlin-Lieder, for soprano Jessica Rivera. Both works were recorded on the ASO Media label and praised by Oberon’s Grove: “On this latest release, from ASO, we experience Spano as both an imaginative and evocative composer–with a special gift for writing for the voice–and a poetic pianist.” The Atlanta School of Composers reflects Spano’s commitment to American contemporary music. He 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, 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, the Melbourne Symphony 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 cycles. 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 one of two classical musicians inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and makes his home in Atlanta.
ARTIST BIOS
BRIAN DEL SIGNORE PRINCIPAL PERCUSSION Brian Del Signore is sponsored by Linda & Jerry Rubenstein Mr. and Mrs. J. Stephen Marks
Brian Del Signore joined the Houston Symphony as Principal Percussionist in 1986. Prior to his Houston Symphony appointment, he held a one-year position as Principal Percussionist of the Grand Rapids Symphony in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and performed with the Kalamazoo and Lansing Symphony Orchestras while there. Before moving to Michigan, Brian performed in many orchestras in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, including the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Born in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, Brian Del Signore earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Carnegie Mellon University in 1981, where he studied with the Pittsburgh Symphony percussionists. In 1984, Del Signore earned a Master of Music from Temple University, where he studied with Alan Abel of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Del Signore began piano lessons at age six and drums at age eleven. His first drum teacher in the late 1960’s was Lou Carto, pop star Bobby Vinton’s drummer and bandleader at that time. Besides keeping a very busy schedule with Houston Symphony performances, Brian maintains an active education and outreach schedule, where he presents educational percussion programs in elementary schools and percussion clinics in high schools across the Houston area. “Digital Recording Tools for the Performing Musician” is a clinic and master class for college-aged percussionists and musicians which explores the use of recording technology to critique and improve performance ability. Del Signore has presented the clinic and master class at various music schools around the United States including Baylor University, Texas A&M-Commerce, Sam Houston State University, New England Conservatory, Boston Conservatory, Yale University, The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, New
ARTIST BIOS York University, Curtis Institute of Music, Temple University, Peabody Conservatory, Carnegie Mellon University, Cleveland Institute of Music, The Colburn School in Los Angeles, and San Francisco Conservatory. Brian Del Signore endorses manufacturers of high-quality percussion instruments and accessories. These companies—Remo Corporation, Sabian Cymbals, Pearl/Adams Percussion, ProMark Sticks, and Black Swamp Percussion—as well as The Houston Symphony League Bay Area support Del Signore’s educational and outreach programs. For more information on these educational programs please visit www.briandelsignore.com.
