2014-2015 La Crosse Symphony Program Book

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Welcome to the 2014-15 La crosse symphony orchestra concert season

Concert Dates:

contents 6 President’s Message

7 Board of Directors & Staff 8 Orchestra Members

October 18, 2014 November 15, 2014 December 19 & 20, 2014 February 7, 2015 March 14, 2015 May 2, 2015

2014-15 SEASON SPONSORS

9 Educational Programs 12 Alexander Platt

Welcome Letter

13 Biography 15 Chamber Concert 17 October 18 Concert 25 November 15 Concert 31 Valentine Ball 34 December 19 & 20 Concert 39 Rising Stars

Concerto Competition

41 February 7 Concert 50 Conductor Wannabe 53 March 14 Concert 62 May 2 Concert 67 Endowment 69 LSO Contributors 75 In-Kind Gifts 76 Corporate Partners 77 Memorials

Legacy Society

For your information... In Case of Emergency Please locate the exit nearest your seat. If an emergency should develop, move quickly and carefully to that exit when directed by the ushers or Stage Manager.

Wheelchairs Wheelchair locations are available on the main floor and lower balcony at the Viterbo University Fine Arts Center. Please call the Symphony Office if you would like further information or a wheelchair location: 783-2121.

Please... Turn off cell phones or leave them in your car. No smoking, food, or drink are allowed in the theatre at Viterbo. Taking pictures or using recording equipment is prohibited.

Cough Drops Located in the lobby by the Concert Sponsors’ display is a container of complimentary cough drops, courtesy of The Prescription Center.


LSO Office Hours & Ticket Info The LSO office is open from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and is located at 201 Main Street, Suite 230, La Crosse, WI 54601. Our offices are housed within the US Bank building in downtown La Crosse. Tickets are sold for all concerts at the Viterbo University EAST Box office on the nights of the performances starting at 5:30 p.m. For your convenience, you can reach the LSO office through the following: Voice: (608) 783-2121 Fax: (608) 783-3121 E-mail: accountant@lacrossesymphony.org Website: www.lacrossesymphony.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/lacrossesymphony Twitter: www.twitter.com/laxsymphony

BRAVO!

The La Crosse Symphony Orchestra extends Special Thanks to

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for our office space at 201 Main St., Suite 230, La Crosse, WI 54601

Website - Check it Out! Meridian created and maintains the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra’s new website as a generous donation. Find information about concerts, Symphony events, musicians, and educational opportunities. Use the site to place ticket orders, volunteer, or make contributions to the LSO. Take a look at www.lacrossesymphony.org.

NEWS IS A PROUD SUPPORTER OF

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Welcome to the 117th season of the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra! Board President of the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra

The theme of this concert season is “War & Peace.” It is a fitting tribute to the men and women who have defended our country in World Wars I and II and the Korean War and to pay homage to the members of our military who have so bravely fought and defended our country in other conflicts in the latter part of the twentieth century and now the twentyfirst century. We also want to celebrate the peace that all those involved in war are really striving for and the hope we all share, not only in the United States but around the world, for peaceful resolutions. This season we are privileged and thrilled to welcome the brilliant guest artists who will accompany our extraordinarily talented Music Director and Orchestra members in what will be an unforgettable season. In addition to our musical talent, there are many individuals who are key to our organization. These include the volunteers who help us with mailings, greet you at special events or escort you to your seat. Our dedicated staff members and interns keep the LSO running efficiently and effectively. All of these people work so hard and beyond the call of duty because of their love of the LSO. As I enter my second year as President of the LSO, I extend a heartfelt thank you to the incredible members of the Board of Directors who are dedicated to the success of the LSO. They not only contribute their talents at Board meetings but also go above and beyond to work on special projects and other tasks that are essential to our continued strength and growth. The LSO is more than the concert season. We bring educational programs to the youth in our area including the Rising Stars Concerto Competition, Symphony for Youth Concerts and String Scholarships. This type of outreach is critical to introducing young people to music and the Orchestra. They are the future of arts in this community. The LSO is strong---not only artistically but financially. In 2012, we started an endowment campaign to insure the long term viability of the LSO. To date we have raised over $1,372,000. Our goal of $2 million for the endowment campaign continues and contributions to the endowment are welcome and important so that the talents that the LSO brings together each season (both on stage and off) can be shared and extended. The incredible caliber of talent and music that is brought to the stage is only possible because of the generous support of our sponsors, benefactors and patrons. Please continue to remember how important the LSO and arts community are to the strength and vitality of our region and give generously. Now sit back, relax and enjoy this season’s opening tribute to War and Peace.

Pat Heim LSO Board President

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Administrative Staff The mission of the Symphony is “to provide excellent symphonic music for the pleasure of the public in the tri-state region, educate people of all ages in the symphonic repertoire and tradition, and encourage student and professional musicians to develop and share their musical talents and skills.”

Board of Directors 2014-15 President- Pat Heim

Pat Heim is the President and a shareholder in the law firm of O’Flaherty Heim Egan & Birnbaum, Ltd. “The LSO is a true jewel in our community and I want to expose more people to its beautiful music and its educational programs. I love being a part of this organization because music has been a large part of my life.”

Executive Director Tracy Fell

Finance & Operations Manager Jan Henry

President Elect- Ken Riley

Ken Riley is a teacher and president and founder of ED3 Solutions Group, a company that collaborates with educational leaders. “I saw first-hand the power of volunteerism through my involvement with the Friends of the Symphony. The volunteers positively impacted the greater La Crosse Community through music and education, and I wanted to be a part of that.”

Operations and Personnel Manager Melissa Roby

Artistic Staff

Treasurer-Jay Jaehnke

Jay Jaehnke, CFP, CPA, Vice President/Investments at Stifel Nicolaus. Jay works with business owners, professionals and retirees to build and manage their wealth. “I wanted to serve on the LSO board because of my passion for music and desire to serve the community in ways that involve both my interests and talents.”

Secretary-SUSAN KNORR

Susan Knorr is a wife, and a mother of two daughters. She is a registered nurse at Gundersen Health System.“I have attended the symphony since I was a child. Every generation of my family has played musical instruments since they emigrated here. Music is ever present with our family, be it on the stereo, playing instruments or attending live music events. It has been an honor to serve on the board of the LSO. I am continually learning and am amazed at the depth of dedication and talent displayed by everyone who is involved. We truly have a treasure in our midst.”

Past President David Reedy

Executive MemberS at Large

Michael White David Foran

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Marilyn Arndt Harvey Bertrand Laura Chesher Jeanne Connelly Kathy Davig Diane Foust Nancy Gerrard Jean Ann Gundersen

Julia Johnson Jennifer Kloehn Bill Leonard Steve Michaels Joan Parke Eva Marie Restel Terry Rindfleisch Janet Roth Connie Smith Randy Van Rooyen

Thank you to our office volunteers

Char Lebakken and Art & Kathy Ingalls www.facebook.com/lacrossesymphony

Music Director (Program Notes) Alexander Platt Concert Master

Wes Luke Producer

Bill Timm Equipment Manager

Aaron Lewis Recording Engineer

Brett Huus IT Specialist

Chad Gilbeck Head Ushers

Larry Frohmader Linda and Paul Winans Interns

Mary Eiken Noelle Griffiths Stephanie Krueger Lareina Taing 2014-15 Season

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* Principal

LOA: Leave of Absence

VIOLIN 1 *Wes Luke CONCERT MASTER Tim Kamps ASSOCIATE CONCERT MASTER Eric Bate Anne Judisch Brian Koh - LOA Brad Lebakken Amy Lindstrom Laura Mericle David Phipps Amy Scarborough

VIOLIN 2

*Susan Radloff Molly Breitlow Nicole Cody Nori Hadley Kris Jenkins Linda Lebakken Sam Rudy Margit Speckeen Carole Schoonover Mark Wamma

VIOLA

Section sponsored by Becky Post & David Maddocks

*Luke Hubbard Elizabeth Becker Melissa Roby Steven Schani

CELLO

BASSOON

*Jonathan Hodges Acting principal for 2014-2015 Season Kathy Boarman Cindy Johnson Randy Mastin

Section sponsored by Bob & Janet Roth

BASS

*Paul Litterio Tammy Bartz Kelly Heidel Kristin Thelander

*Michael Van Ryn- LOA *Chris Brown Acting principal for 2014-2015 Season Blake Bonde Doug Nelson Eric Solberg Karyn Quinn

FLUTE/ PICCOLO

*Daniel Breining Harry Hindson

FRENCH HORN

TRUMPET

Section sponsored by Richard & Dorothy Lenard and Richard & Lizbeth Reynertson

*Laura Chesher John Cord Patrick Gonsalves

Section sponsored by Florence Overgard

TROMBONE

*Carol Hester Barbara Tristano Bethany Gonella

George Von Arx Jesus Arellano

OBOE

Section sponsored by Alex & Jackie Vaver

*MaryBeth Hensel Jonathan Thompson

Section sponsored by Bob & Janet Roth

TUBA *Mike Forbes

HARP

Section sponsored by Dick Record

CLARINET *Michael Chesher David Bell

BASS CLARINET * Kristy Femal

*Elinor Niemisto

PIANO/ CELESTE

Section sponsored by Larry & Carolyn Furlong

*Pamela Kelly

TIMPANI

Section sponsored by Terry Rindfleisch & Linda Hirsh

*Tammy Fisher

PERCUSSION Section sponsored by Terry Rindfleisch & Linda Hirsh

*Richard Mac Donald Steve Groth James Knutson 88

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educational programs Annual String Scholarships: There are three performances, scheduled for 11 a.m., On Wednesday, June 25, 2014, auditions were held to award eleven (11) scholarships for area string players. These scholarships are awarded on the students’ merit, potential progress, and perceived goals and desires.

The Scholarship includes the following: • • •

Twenty lessons with an LSO musician with one-half tuition covered Tuition towards membership with the La Crosse Youth Symphony Orchestra Two complimentary season tickets

Congratulations to our recipients:

Teresa Falter, Mary Felsheim, Allyson Grossbach, Kira Guetschow, Ellery Hyeon Bae Leirmo, Madeline Ickes, Jordyn Marcou, Sara Scala, Zach Schiffer, Noelani Vargas, Estella Weisse

String Scholarship Program Sponsor: Anonymous Jeanne & Mark Connelly Jean Ann & Sigurd Gundersen III

String Scholarships:

Marilyn & Jerry Arndt, Diane Foust & Jim Nelson, Franke & Turnbull, CPA’s, Marine Credit Union, Joan & George Parke, Cindi and Deak Swanson, Educational Sponsorship in honor of Amy Mills (2) Otis & Winnie Burt Memorial David and Susan Foran (2)

12:15 p.m., and 1:30 p.m. Invitations to music teachers and home school parents across the area have already been sent; reservations are being taken. Teachers and parents have been informed about the theme and repertoire. It is our hope that these concerts will inspire a love of orchestral music and the development of a future audience for our wonderful La Crosse Symphony Orchestra!!! The youth are our future!!

Program for Symphony for Youth 2015 Concert:

Arr. Damrosch: The Star-Spangled Banner Berlioz: Rakoczy March Haydn: Violin Concerto in G Major, first movement, featuring 5th grader Victor Spaeth Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture

Major Sponsors: Ronald McDonald House Charities of Western Wisconsin and Southeastern Minnesota

Additional Support: BNSF Foundation, La Crosse Community Foundation, Maureen & Mike Norris, Xcel Energy Media Sponsor: WXOW - Channel 19

Symphony for Youth

This well established program is implemented by the musicians, staff, and volunteers of the LSO. It is the only project of its kind in the La Crosse area and is truly unique! The La Crosse Symphony for Youth program has been enriching the musical experience of over 2,500 students annually. The concert is geared towards students in third through fifth grades. These concerts act as an introduction to the full orchestra experience for our area youth.

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Symphony for Youth

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750 Third Street N., Ste. A La Crosse, Wisconsin

608.782.1469

Attorneys and Counselors at Law: Sabina Bosshard * George Parke III * Laura J. Seaton * Stephan A. Rogge Howard J. Eglash * Maryanne Kircher * Jason Goldstein Darla A. Krzoska * Andrew R. Bosshard * Joan K. Parke www.bosshardparkelaw.com

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8/27/14 2:18 PM 2014-15 Season 11


Dear Friends: The older I get, the more firm I become in my conviction that classical music expresses the noblest aspirations of the human race. As we commemorate the centenary of the start of the First World War, and watch with grave concern the troubles of our own world today, it’s my hope that our 2014-15 season at the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra, WAR AND PEACE, provides a bastion of reflection, celebration, and solace for our community. Our programs this season range from a remembrance of the horrors of World War I, to a commemoration of the sacrifice of our veterans in the “Forgotten War” of the conflict in Korea, to an evening commemorating composers working in the shadow of World War II -- and, in a different spirit, the joyous world of Paris in The Roaring Twenties, that giddy era of “Love Between the Wars” the pulsing Nationalist traditions of the late-Romantic era; and the imperial glory of the Russian ballet. Through it all, you’ll be amazed and uplifted by the awesome power of some of the world’s greatest music and its unique ability to shine a light into our souls....and, in our LSO tradition, I think you’ll have a bit of fun, too! At the LSO we’re ever more committed to giving you, the audience, what you want: great music and great performers in the wonderful ambience of our world-class concert hall here on the campus of Viterbo University. But, as ever, we can’t do it without you, so please do consider supporting the LSO in its quest for financial stability in the years to come. As always, I ultimately thank you most by bringing you the finest performances I can and, with my wonderful Orchestra colleagues and staff, I welcome you to another stunning LSO season.

Gratefully yours,

Alexander Platt

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Alexander Platt Music Director

2014-15 Season


exander Platt is Music Director of the Wisconsin Philharmonic, the Marion Indiana Philharmonic, the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra and the Grand Forks Symphony Orchestra, and spends his summers in Woodstock, New York as Music Director of the Maverick Concerts, the oldest summer chamber-music festival in America. He also recently concluded twelve seasons as Resident Conductor and Music Advisor of Chicago Opera Theater (2001-12). At COT he led the Chicago premieres of Britten’s DEATH IN VENICE, John Adams’ NIXON IN CHINA, Dmitri Shostakovich’s MOSCOW PARADISE and Britten’s A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM; the world premiere of the Tony Kushner/Maurice Sendak version of Hans Krasa’s BRUNDIBAR; the double-bill of Schoenberg’s ERWARTUNG and Bartok’s BLUEBEARD’S CASTLE with Samuel Ramey and Nancy Gustafson, and the world-premiere recording of Kurka’s THE GOOD SOLDIER SCHWEIK — all to consistently high acclaim in the major papers of Chicago and New York. Prior to this he spent twelve years as Music Director of the Racine Symphony Orchestra, three seasons as Principal Conductor of the Boca Raton Symphonia, and two years as Apprentice Conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Minnesota Opera, conducting Colin Graham’s production of MADAME BUTTERFLY. A graduate of Yale College, King’s College Cambridge (where he was a British Marshall Scholar) and conducting fellowships at both Aspen and Tanglewood, he has guest-conducted the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Illinois Philharmonic, the Freiburg Philharmonic in Germany, the Aalborg Symphony in Denmark, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the City of London Sinfonia, Camerata Chicago, the Banff Festival, the Aldeburgh Festival, and the Houston, Charlotte, Columbus and Indianapolis Symphonies. In 2013, he made his debut at the Ravinia Festival, the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, to high praise in the Chicago Tribune. He has recorded for Minnesota Public Radio, National Public Radio, the South-West German Radio and the BBC, and his Cedille Records disc with Rachel Barton of Max Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy is still often heard on radio stations across America.

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A special thank you to our Coupon Book Sponsors! Whether you buy a book to support the LSO or not, please thank these local businesses through your patronage; we ask our symphony patrons to support the establishments that support us.

La Crosse Youth Symphony

All proceeds benefit the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra

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only $30 2014-15 Season


The Chamber Concert

Thursday, June 25, 2015 Time: 7 p.m. Location: The Weber Center for the Performing Arts 428 Front Street South La Crosse, WI $20 per person Thank you to our Major Sponsor: Additional sponsors: Dr. Michael & Carolyn White United Ventures/Cindy Rothwell Guest Artist: Frank Almond Biber: Battalia a 10 (Battle Music in Ten Parts) Handel: Concerto Grosso in G Minor, Op.6 No.6 J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No.3 Vivaldi: THE FOUR SEASONS (Frank Almond, soloist) A new experience awaits LSO audiences in our first-ever chamber orchestra concert, as we make our debut at downtown La Crosse’s fabulous new Weber Center with four of the most popular favorites from the glorious Baroque era. A complete performance of Vivaldi’s four violin concertos known as THE FOUR SEASONS, with Milwaukee Symphony Concertmaster Frank Almond playing his legendary “Lipinski” Stradavarius, caps an evening of familiar masterpieces from the 18th century -- from Biber’s stirring “Battle Music” to Bach’s beloved “Brandenburg 3”.

Post-Concert

Reception Everyone is welcome! Please join our conductor and guest artists after each concert for coffee in the Fine Arts Lobby area. Coffee provided by

Call 608.783.2121 to get tickets!

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George & Connie Smith

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October 18, 2014 • 7:30 p.m.

The Guns of August Music and the First World War The National Anthem (The Star Spangled Banner)

arr. Walter Damrosch (1862 –1950)

The National Anthem of Belguim (“La Brabanconne”)

arr. Désiré Dufauw (1885 –1960)

Carillon (1914)

Edward Elgar

(1857–1934)

Berceuse Héroïque (1914)

Claude Debussy

(1862–1918)

Piano Concerto for the Left Hand

Maurice Ravel (1875– 1937)

llya Yakushev, Piano INTERMISSION Symphony in D Minor I. Lento; Allegro ma non troppo II. Allegretto III. Finale: Allegro non troppo

César Franck (1822 – 1890)

Thank you to our October Concert Sponsors George & Connie Smith


OCTOBER

Ilya Yakushev Russian pianist Ilya Yakushev, with many awards and honors to his credit, continues to astound and mesmerize audiences at major venues on three continents. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut in 2007 with Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas, performing Prokofiev’s First and Fourth Piano Concertos as part of the Symphony’s Prokofiev Festival. His performances were included in the top ten classical music events of the year by the San Francisco Chronicle, and prompted a return to the Symphony in September 2009 with Maestro Tilson Thomas performing Prokofiev’s 3rd Piano Concerto. The highlights of Mr. Yakushev’s 2013-14 season included return appearances with the Des Moines Symphony, Las Cruces Symphony, Cheyenne Symphony, and Utah Symphony. He also performed with the Anchorage Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, Klassika Orchestra, El Camino Youth Symphony, California Symphony, and New Haven Symphony. Mr. Yakushev also appeared as recitalist at the Mariinsky Concert Hall, International Keyboard Institute & Festival, and Maverick Series. In February 2014, British label Nimbus Records published Mr. Yakushev’s Prokofiev by Yakushev Vol. 1 CD. American Record Guide wrote “Yakushev is one of the very best young pianists before the public today, and it doesn’t seem to matter what repertoire he plays — it is all of the highest caliber.” Engagements in 2014-15 season include appearances with the La Crosse Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony, Pensacola Symphony, and Fort Wayne Philharmonic.

In past seasons, Mr. Yakushev has performed in various prestigious venues worldwide, including Glinka Philharmonic Hall (St. Petersburg), Victoria Hall (Singapore), Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall (New York), Davies Symphony Hall (San Francisco), and Sejong Performing Arts Center (Seoul, Korea). His performances with orchestra include those with the Kirov Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Boston Pops, Syracuse Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Arkansas Symphony and others. Winner of the 2005 World Piano Competition which took place in Cincinnati, OH, Mr. Yakushev received his first award at age 12 as a prizewinner of the Young Artists Concerto Competition in his native St. Petersburg. In 1997, he received the Mayor of St. Petersburg’s Young Talents award, and in both 1997 and 1998, he won First Prize at the Donostia Hiria International Piano Competition in San Sebastian, Spain. In 1998, he received a national honor, The Award for Excellence in Performance, presented to him by the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation in Moscow. Most recently, Mr. Yakushev became a recipient of the prestigious Gawon International Music Society’s Award in Seoul, Korea. Mr. Yakushev attended the Rimsky-Korsakov College of Music in his native St. Petersburg, Russia and subsequently came to New York City to attend Mannes College of Music where he studied with legendary pianist Vladimir Feltsman. Since 2002, Mr. Yakushev has served as Executive Director of the International Keyboard Institute and Festival at the Mannes College in New York City.

www.ilyayakushev.com

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World War I This evening’s concert commemorates “The Guns of August” -- the start of the First World War, almost exactly a one hundred years ago, the effects of which we continue to deal with around the world every day. It was with the surprisingly sluggish German invasion, of “gallant little Belgium” in August 1914, that such a conflict began, and so it is here that our season’s symphonic journey of “War and Peace” begins. A living accident of post-Napoleonic history, a nation consisting of two entirely different peoples, languages and religions, eternally quarrelsome but existing in peace and prosperity and unified by a constitutional monarch, Belgium could teach much of our world a badly-needed lesson in life. We open with a bracing arrangement of the Belgian national anthem, “La Brabanconne,” by the great Brussels musician Desire Dufauw -- a true figure of mystery, who led the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as its Music Director for just a few years in the 1940’s, only to sink into obscurity shortly thereafter and die in Gary, Indiana in the early 1960’s. The handful of recordings he left behind are nothing short of brilliant, and here, as well, he captures the haunting undercurrents of this jaunty little tune.

Our next two works -- short, haunting, and obscure -- owe their existence to a now-forgotten publication inspired by Belgium’s plight: “King Albert’s Book,” a rather curious anthology of art, literature and sheet music dedicated to her monarch and soldiers and donated by some of the great artists of the day in support of Belgian charities. Pressed for a contribution, the English composer Sir Edward Elgar, long renowned for his talents at music of martial character (think of his Pomp and Circumstance Marches), responded immediately with a kind of fantasia for reciter and orchestra, called Carillon -named after the title of the poem it set by Emile Cammaerts which begins with the line “Chantons, Belges, chantons.” T h e m u s i c -- which, if it is ever performed today, tends to dispense with the actual narration -- indeed sings in a chorus of frenzied joy, once elating and yet also giving the listener a certain sense of pause. With its opening pealing bells and thrusting waltz, the piece immediately became a sensation in battle-hungry Britain after its premiere at the Queen’s Hall in December of 1914; after a more gentle interlude, over which the reciter would have declaimed lines referring to “branches of beech covering the graves of our children,” the music builds to a wild climax, as the now blood-thirsty narrator would have exclaimed the eventual “vengeance sweet” and a “triumphant entry, in Berlin.”

Of an utterly different nature is the contribution to “King Albert’s Book” by the French Impressionist genius Claude Debussy -- his unforgettable little “Berceuse Heroique,” for piano, completed for publication in November 1914 and later orchestrated. Originally intending to write a “Heroic March,” Debussy could not bring himself to do it as the supreme torpor of trench warfare was becoming a reality on the Western Front. What he composed instead, was a “heroic lullaby,” that ends with a strange little quotation of the old “La Brabanconne.” Here, I believe, Debussy left the most profoundly touching musical evocation yet written of “the fog of war.” In 1931, Maurice Ravel, the Swiss-Basque composer, who by now had bequeathed to the world most of his sun-splashed, Impressionist masterworks such as Daphnis et Chloe and the Rhapsodie Espagnole, took a decidedly sharp turn from his usual Gallic sensuality in composing his Concerto for the Left Hand. Written for the formidable Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein -- brother of the great philosopher, who lost his right arm in gallant service as an officer in the forces of the Hapsburg Empire in World War I -- the Concerto is a dark, dramatic work for piano and orchestra, in one movement. As with every single orchestral work of Ravel, the orchestration itself is sublime, a work of art in itself; here, the sense of balance is so perfect that the piano is almost never

OCTOBER

Notes

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World War I “buried” in spite of the gigantic instrumentation required. The image is profoundly apt, as the one-armed soloist becomes a heroic instrument, thrusting a fist of humanity out of a mountain of carnage. Himself an ambulance driver in World War I, Ravel fully conjures the horror of that conflict with supreme dignity. The Concerto’s opening theme truly comes out of the depths -- first on the contrabassoon, then rising by degrees via the English horn, clarinet, violins and piccolo, with the French horns contributing a sorrowful countermelody. All in all, this opening section is tragic and defiant, a shaft of light against omnipotent darkness. A bravura development section quickly ensues, in which our soloist demonstrates that this piece is not an exercise in pity, but a full-fledged virtuoso vehicle. An allegro section suddenly appears, with a trombone slur and the rattle of drums -- indeed, though utterly devoid of the carefree, Parisian quality of his Concerto in G Major written exactly the same year, the world of Jazz and the dance (here specifically, the tarantella) is not far from this concerto’s heart. The opening music of the Concerto’s 19-minute span is eventually and summarily recapitulated, sped along its way by a pulsating side-drum. Finally, the wrenching mood of the opening lento comes back, all whipped up into a radiant close. Born in 1822 in Liege, of Walloon and German stock (the two nationalities which, along with the Dutch-speaking Flanders, make up the ethnicity of the kingdom),

Cesar Franck is indisputably the greatest composer Belgium has produced. French-speaking, like most Belgian musicians he eventually felt the pull of Paris, where he would settle by the 1840’s and live, in a mostly obscure existence as a church organist, for the rest of his life (ever the absent-minded professor, he died in 1890, having neglected to be treated for wounds sustained in a traffic accident). One of the founders of the “Societe nationale de musique” after the horrific French defeat in the 187071 Franco-Prussian War, Franck never composed in a style that we would immediately associate as “French” -though he loved France dearly, even serving at the barricades during the ill-fated Paris Commune of 1871. A quiet man, modest to a fault, Franck grew up and sustained himself as a church organist -- and indeed a very gifted one. No less than Franz Liszt was once seen coming out of Franck’s parish church after one of his by-nowrenowned post-Sunday Mass improvisations, muttering comparisons to Johann Sebastian Bach -- and it is the more Netherlandish sound of the cathedral organ -- utterly lonesome one moment, overwhelmingly glorious the next -- that defined his musical persona. An annoyingly constant gibe against the composer, that he was (like Anton Bruckner, his Austrian organist-composer contemporary) a slavish disciple of Wagner, is utterly false if you listen closely to his greatest works. It was the music of Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Liszt and Chopin, along with a simple, humanistic French Catholicism, that inspired his

own language. It was in 1879, with his thrilling Piano Quintet, that Cesar Franck defined his unique style of cyclic form, in which thematic material from one movement is developed and brought back in another -- though it must be said that Franck demonstrated this style as early as 1841 with a curious set of piano trios dedicated to the King of Belgium. Completed in 1888, Franck’s only Symphony, the Symphony in D Minor, is the grand summation of this style; the lugubrious opening idea, based overtly on the “muss es sein?” (“Must it be?”) motive from one of the late quartets of his idol Beethoven, haunts the work’s three movements like a gentle giant. In the first movement, a dialogue of slow introduction and sonata-allegro, a Lisztian monumentalism reigns in terror and eventual triumph. The second movement, a truly inspired combination of ballad and scherzo, begins with Franck taking us into a strange, antique sound-world of English horn and harps; then, out of nowhere, the rushed, quicksilver sound of muted strings ever deepens the sense of mystery, with the two totally disparate ideas eventually being superimposed on one another in a miracle of restraint. In the finale, a thematically rich and suave movement on its own, Franck reintroduces the main themes from both the first and second movements; in the magnificent coda, the Symphony’s opening theme appears as if out of a mist, leading the listener to paths of glory. Notes compiled by Alexander Platt

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ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR J. Thomas Seddon IV Dr. J. Thomas Seddon has a Doctor of Musical Arts from The Hartt School, University of Hartford. In addition, he holds a Master of Music Education from The Hartt School and a B. S. in Music Education from Lebanon Valley College of Pennsylvania. Tom also completed graduate work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Seddon has served on public school faculties in Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut. His public school teaching includes work at all levels from elementary to high school. Dr. Seddon has appeared as a clinician and presenter for regional and national conferences, does work as an adjudicator and is published in the Journal of Band Research and the Instrumentalist. At the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse, Dr. Seddon is the Director of Orchestral Studies and Director of the Wind Ensemble, where he also teaches conducting, trumpet and horn.

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OCT 2014

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Š 2014 Logistics Health Incorporated. All rights reserved. MKT1358-20140815

For the toughest battles in business, who do you need in the trenches?

Learn more at HiringOurHeroes.org Brought to you by LHI, in partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

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November 15, 2014 • 7:30 p.m.

Salute to our Veterans Korea and the Cold War

The National Anthem (The Star Spangled Banner)

arr. Walter Damrosch (1862–1950)

Prelude from the Requiem “For Those We Love” (1946)

Paul Hindemith (1895–1963)

Preamble to a Solemn Occasion (1949) Aaron Copland

(1900–1990)

Adagio for Strings Samuel Barber

(1910–1981)

“Turn” for percusson ensemble including the Korean folksong “Arirang”(2014) Dr. Soojin Kim Ritterling, Director of University of Wisconsin La Crosse

UWL Korean Percussion Ensemble Night Flight

Samuel Barber

(1910–1981)

Prelude on “Silent Night” Samuel Barber

(1910–1981)

Prelude and Task Force From The Bridges at Toko-Ri

Lyn Murray

(1909–1989)

INTERMISSION Armed Forces Salute

arr. Robert Lowden

Suite from Flower Drum Song

Theme from M*A*S*H

Salute to Ol’ Blue Eyes

(1920-1999)

Richard Rodgers arr. Robert Russell Bennett

Thank you to our November Concert Sponsors

Suite from The King and I

arr. James Curnow (b. 1943)

Richard Rodgers arr. Bennett (1902–1979)

arr. John Moss

Salute to the Big Bands

(1902–1979)

(1915–1997)

Don & Roxanne Weber

arr. Calvin Custer

(1946–2010)


Learn about what inspired the composers at the

Concert Preview With Maestro Alexander Platt 6:45 - 7:15 p.m. in the Viterbo Lobby

Did you know that wherever you are in Wisconsin you can hear a great orchestra? VISIT:

www.wisconsinorchestras.org to learn where to find wonderful music ... any time!

Maestro Alexander Platt will present a light and informative concert presentation regarding the composers and their music — what inspired the composers, historical perspective and what to listen for at each concert.

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Don Weber Don Weber is the company founder and CEO of Logistics Health Incorporated (LHI). He has 25 years of experience in designing and implementing creative health service programs. His leadership and vision have driven the development of many comprehensive and successful approaches to providing health care services to employers and employees alike. Today, under his leadership, Logistics Health has grown from a handful of employees to more than 900 full-time jobs. In 2010, under Weber’s leadership, LHI was awarded the highest honor given by the U.S. Department of Defense to an employer, the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Freedom Award, in recognition of the company’s support of its Service

member employees. In 2004, Weber was named Wisconsin Entrepreneur of the Year by the Wisconsin E n t re p re n e u r’s C o n f e re n c e , an award which recognizes entrepreneurial leaders who are instrumental in the development of the Wisconsin economy. He was also named the La Crosse Tribune’s Person of the Year for 2006. Weber serves on the Board of Trustees for Viterbo University and La Crosse Area Family YMCA, and also serves as a Board Member for Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater La Crosse. After growing up on a farm in rural Wisconsin, he joined the United States Marine Corps as a young man. He served active duty in the Vietnam War and, for his distinguished service he has received many awards, among them the Purple Heart and two Bronze Stars.

Dr. Soojin KIM Ritterling Dr. Soojin Kim Ritterling is Associate Professor of Music Education at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse where she teaches general music methods classes in music education and supervises field experience. An applied vocal instructor, she also directs the UW-L Korean Percussion Ensemble and Women’s Samulnori Ensemble. UW-La Crosse Korean Percussion Ensemble Founded in 2002, the UW-La Crosse Korean Percussion Ensemble has earned and maintained national recognition performing more than twenty concerts each academic year. The success of this ensemble has extended beyond the university to professional conferences at the state and national level, as well as the local public schools in the surrounding communities. During “Cultural Awareness” emphasis week, the groups often perform at local public schools, giving elementary through high school students opportunities to play instruments from halfway around the world. This unique ethnic music ensemble program directly enhances the diverse cultural life of La Crosse and surrounding areas. www.facebook.com/lacrossesymphony

“Turn”

Soojin Kim Ritterling (b. 1966) A story about Korea and her people, “Turn” is a unique example of a fusion music composed for authentic Korean percussion instruments and Western orchestra. This one movement concerto-style symphonic piece unfolds its story with three main themes. The first theme, emphasizing three tones, is based on menari tori, (from the eastern coast line area of Korea). Tori, refers to different tonalities of Korean music reflecting regional dialects in folk music. The second theme is the well-known Korean folk song, Arirang. This song is one of the most recognized folk songs by Koreans as well as westerners. Because five tones of pentatonic scale are equally used, Korean scholars categorize this song as gyeong tori (from central area). The motif of the third theme comes from taryeong, a Korean court dance music theme. Variations of this third theme played by the orchestra mimic the various dynamic aspects of traditional rhythms and dance movement. 2014-15 Season

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Korea & the Cold War Welcome to a very special -- indeed, a unique evening of words and music, celebrating the service and sacrifice of Wisconsin’s veterans of that “Forgotten War”, the conflict in Korea, and the Cold War in general. Some of the music, like Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings and Calvin Custer’s fabulous symphonic medleys celebrating the great popular music of the postwar era, you surely know; others may be a discovery. Our first half is dotted with curious, rather haunting little American works, all musical remnants of the Cold War. The devastating Prelude from Paul Hindemith’s secular Requiem, set to Walt Whitman’s Civil-War elegy “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d,” was written in 1946 as a memorial to Franklin Roosevelt, just as the Cold War was beginning; a genius of a German composer and musician, hounded out of Nazi Germany due to his free-thinking behavior and finding refuge in America (he famously taught for several years at Yale), Hindemith could obviously sense the coming clash of civilizations. Aaron Copland’s other great fanfare, his Preamble to a Solemn Occasion, composed as musical background for a recitation of the freshly-written Preamble to the Charter of the United Nations, reflects the fading and cautious postwar American optimism of 1949. Barber’s Adagio for Strings is by now ubiquitous in American musical life, and was first played in 1938 as war clouds were gathering over Europe. First

utilized as funeral music for FDR, it has been used to memorialize American heroes ever since. His lesser-known Chorale Prelude on “Silent Night,” written for Charles Munch and his Boston Symphony in 1960, is officially Christmas music but subtly conveys the anxiety of the Atomic Age. Lyn Murray’s music for what remains one of the best Korean War movies of the 1950’s, the William Holden/Grace Kelly vehicle after the James Michener novel THE BRIDGES AT TOKO-RI is both arresting and under-rated. The signature music for the hit TV series M*A*S*H needs no introduction. The sumptuous symphonic suites from the great Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals by the veteran Broadway orchestrator of that time, Robert Russell Bennett, are never far from the repertoire of most American orchestras; his medley from THE KING AND I is about as perfect as such music can get. And his equally charming suite from the 1958 FLOWER DRUM SONG, a stilted yet well-meaning portrayal of striving Chinese-American immigrants trying to adapt and succeed in postwar San Francisco, well conveys the American values of family, hard work, tolerance, and tradition that were ultimately our best defense against the Communist threat. No such concert would be complete without Bob Lowden’s Armed Forces Salute, a tribute to all of our stirring service hymns: Veterans, we hope you’ll rise and accept our

applause as your anthem is played. In between all this music, you’ll hear great words from the era, read by our extraordinary community leader and stalwart champion of veterans, Mr. Don Weber. As with the music, some of these speeches, such as those from Sir Winston Churchill, are quite famous. Several others are taken from the writings of another Wisconsin hero, Dr. George Kennan(1904-2005) -born and raised in Milwaukee, Ambassador to the Soviet Union, adviser to presidents Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy, and quite literally the architect of the Truman Doctrine, the policy of containment of the Soviet Union. Author of the famous “Long Telegram” which bluntly described the newly emerging Soviet threat, and which soon after appeared in the magazine Foreign Affairs and signed only with the pseudonym “X”, Kennan is now recognized along with Bismarck, Talleyrand and Disraeli as one of the greatest diplomatic minds of all time. The remainder of our readings come from humble Wisconsin soldiers in the Korean War, including those from La Crosse, who have chosen to remain anonymous. Notes compiled by Alexander Platt

NOVEMBER

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Mark your calendar for February 14th, 2015

Sponsored by

Celebrating 25 years of love!

For tickets call 783-2121 www.lacrossesymphony.org

FRED & JANET KUSCH

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600 Exchange Building • 205 Fifth Ave. South La Crosse • WI 54601

La Crosse's Alternative in Dance Education for 31 Years

DANCE OUTSIDE THE LINES... Unique Unique dance dance education education promoting promoting human human

Connection and Community by fostering Creativity and Collaboration

2716 Commerce Street, La Crosse, 54603 783-5155

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www.lacrossedancecentre.org lacrossedancecentre@yahoo.com

2014-15 Season

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December 19 & 20, 2014 • 7:30 p.m.

A Russian Christmas Mlada Khudoley - Soprano A Christmas Overture Nigel Hess

(b. 1953)

Agnus Dei Georges Bizet

(1838–1875)

“Vissi d’arte” from TOSCA

Giacomo Puccini

Ave Maria

(1858–1924)

Johann Sebastian Bach, arr. Charles Gounod

(1685–1750)

Carol of the Bells

Panis Angelicus

O Holy Night

Peter Wilhousky, arr. Belich

(1902–1978)

César Franck

(1822–1890)

Adolphe Adam

(1803–1856)

Waltz of the Flowers from THE NUTCRACKER

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)

INTERMISSION The Seasons Alexander Glazunov I. Winter (1865–1936) II. Spring III. Summer IV. Fall FRI: Misty’s Dance Unlimited, Misty Lown | SAT: La Crosse Dance Center, Nikki Balsamo

Christmas Sing-Along

arr. John Finnegan

Thank you to our December Concert Sponsors

(1926–2012)


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• One visit all ceramic crowns

1630 Losey Blvd. S. • La Crosse, WI

• Cosmetic dentistry

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• Laser dentistry

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DECEMBER

Mlada Khudoley Praised by the New York Times for her “lush, sizable and luminous voice,” Russian soprano Mlada Khudoley has toured with the Mariinsky Opera Company at the Metropolitan Opera, and has performed lead roles at Covent Garden, Staatsoper Stuttgart, Oper am Rhein, Oper Leipzig, Los Angeles Opera, Dallas Opera, Vancouver Opera, Carnegie Hall, Tokyo, Israeli Opera, Oper Leipzig, Kennedy Center, Baden-Baden Festspeilhaus, the Cardiff Millennium Center, Bolshoi Theatre, and Concertgebouw, among others. During the 2011-2012 season, she sang the title role of “Aida” at Vancouver Opera, “Salome” for Manitoba Opera and New Orleans Opera. With the Mariinsky Theatre she sang in Kaiserin “Die Frau ohne Schatten,” Donna Anna “Don Giovanni,” and Chrysothemis “Elektra,” Renata “Fiery Angel” in Torino, Les Noces in Paris and Dortmund. During the 2010-2011 season Ms. Khudoley’s engagements included Abigaille in “Nabucco” at the Royal Danish Opera and Teatr Wielki, Senta in “Der Fliegende Holländer” at Oper am Rhein, Katerina in “Lady McBeth at Mtsensk” with Opernhaus Graz, appearances at the Tokyo New National Theater, Die Kaiserin “Frau ohne Schatten” with the Mariinsky Theatre in Edinburgh and Amsterdam, and made her New York Philharmonic debut performing Stravinsky’s “Les Noces.” In the 2009-2010 season she returned to the Minnesota Opera as Salome, a role she has sung with Dallas Opera, Vancouver Opera, Gulbenkian Center in Lisbon, Latvian National Opera, and the Lithuanian National Orchestra. In the fall 2009, Ms. Khudoley debuted the roles of Kaiserin in “Die Frau ohne Schatten,” and Cassandra in “Les Troyens,” both new productions at the

Mariinsky Theatre, as well as the title role in Aida, Lisa in “Pique Dame,” and Renata in “The Fiery Angel.” She was heard as Sieglinde in a concert performance of “Die Walküre” at the Cardiff Millennium Centre alongside Bryn Terfel with Maestro Gergiev. Ms. Khudoley has performed Lisa in “Pique Dame” at Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Senta in “Der Fliegende Holländer” with Los Angeles Opera, Oper Leipzig, Latvian National Opera, and Teatro Massimo, as well as Elisabeth in “Tannhäuser” at Tokyo Opera Nomori with Maestro Seiji Ozawa and directed by Robert Carsen. Ms. Khudoley has worked with such renowned film stars as Gerard Depardieu and John Malkovich. Recent engagements include the title role in Turandot with Opernhaus Graz, Abigaille “Nabucco” with Staatsoper Stuttgart and Avenches Festival (Switzerland), Cassandra “Les Troyens” in Vienna Konzerthaus, Sieglinde “Die Walküre” with the Mariinsky Theatre (White Nights Festival) and Senta “Die fliegende Holländer” with Latvian National Opera. Recent engagements include Cassandra “Les Troyens”, Abigaille “Nabucco” and the title role in Aida during the 2014 White Nights Festival at the Mariinsky Theatre. Ms. Khudoley recently made her BBC Proms debut in Janáček’s “Glagolitic Mass” in July 2014, conducted by Maestro Valery Gergiev. Future engagements include: “Salome” in Tokyo; Cassandra “Les Troyens” and Lisa “Pique Dame” at the Mariinsky; “Turandot” Opera Manitoba and Sieglinde “Die Walküre” in Birmingham and Edinburgh, along with Abigaille “Nabucco” with Tampere Opera. In the summer of 2015, Ms. Khudoley debuts as Turandot at the prestigious Bregenz Festspiele.

www.mladakhudoley.com

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A Russian Christmas

Following a first half of operatic holiday favorites, -- sung by a brilliant Russian soprano of international renown, who has made the La Crosse community her own -- we devote our second half to Alexander Glazunov’s ravishing ballet score, The Seasons, danced by both of our city’s wonderful dance ensembles. Premiered in 1900, as Imperial Russia was entering its final days, The Seasons has always basked in the sunshine of the immortal ballets of Tchaikovsky, with its own unfortunate neglect as a result. I can do no better for you than to quote the great 20th-century critic Edward Lockspeiser, in his astute description of Glazunov -- born 150 years ago -and his elegant work: “The best of Glazunov’s music is distinguished by its delicate and imaginative orchestration. This tasteful sense of the orchestra he acquired from Balakirev and Rimsky-Korsakov, past masters in the art of discovering the innate character of musical instruments, though Glazunov had been instinctively drawn to the orchestra even before his apprenticeship with these composers. He was among those musicians who regarded the orchestra as his instrument, as the piano was the instrument of Liszt or the violin that of Paganini. “If Glazunov’s work as a whole remains little known, the reason is not entirely a musical one. Since he lived well on into the twentieth century -- he was roughly a contemporary of Richard Strauss and Elgar -- it was long the fashion, among adventurous young composers, to frown upon the conservative musical tendencies which he represented. His allegiances

were to Balakirev, Rimsky-Korsakov and Borodin..... and although he stayed on in Russia after the Revolution, becoming Principal of the Leningrad Conservatory, his style hardly evolved throughout his long life..... The last years of his life were spent in exile in Paris. He died in the French capital as late as 1936, when forwardlooking minds were concerned with the latest works of Stravinsky and Schoenberg. “Glazunov’s best-known works, the three ballets, Raymonda, Les Ruses d’Amour and The Seasons, and the brilliant Violin Concerto, are a Russian counterpart of the French manner of Camille SaintSaens and his contemporaries ...... Like Tchaikovsky, he inherited the French ballet style, and The Seasons belongs to the epoch of those sumptuously staged spectacles whose period attraction is unmistakable, Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty. When it was first given in St. Petersburg in 1900, the place chosen for production was the Hermitage Theatre, adjoining the Winter Palace -- a considerable mark of honor for a type of work which, in those days, in spite of the success of The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake, was often considered to come in the category of the lightest and most frivolous entertainment. “The Seasons was dedicated to the renowned Marius Petipa, who had collaborated with Tchaikovsky on his two large-scale ballets. Petipa was responsible for the choreography, and also for the scenario which is an allegorical fantasy. Mythological figures are the characters of a slender tale, the purpose of which was to allow

the composer a free hand in writing a picturesque score evocative of the four seasons of the year. The ballet is in a single act in four tableaux. “The work opens with an Introduction, in which hollow, chilly chords evoke the figure of Winter. The choreographic scheme of the first tableau consists of a preliminary ensemble and four variations, each devoted to one of Winter’s four companions -- Frost, Ice, Hail and Snow. Warmth is their enemy, produced by a fire in the woods, lit by two impish Gnomes, and in a transformation scene, the wintry mound in the background is changed into a flowering bank. The Spring tableau, which follows without a break, consists of three short dances: the Zephyr and Spring; the Roses and Spring; and the Dance of a Bird. “Summer, the third tableau, which again follows without interruption and is set in a field of golden wheat dotted with poppies and cornflowers, opens with an Andantino, a short prelude complete in itself; the main figures are Satyrs, Fauns and Naiads. There follows a Waltz of the Cornflowers and Poppies, a Barcarolle to accompany a dance of the Naiads, a Variation danced by the Spirit of the Corn, and an extended Coda at the conclusion of which the flowering mound is transformed into an arbor of vines. The opening of Autumn, the fourth tableau, is danced by a group of Bacchantes and the characters impersonating the four seasons. This is followed by several solo dances; and the curtain falls on a final transformation scene, presenting a starlit sky.” Notes compiled by Alexander Platt

DECEMBER

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Dicce Prize

r& ulve rial C o eth 1st a B e Mem n : n n A sor Sali n e o Sp Jan ty Pla

ue Universi n e V iterbo V

2nd place prize sponsors:

Jay & Dawn Jaehnke David Reedy 3rd place prize sponsors:

Announcing...

Travel Leaders Owned and Operated by Goli’s Avenues of Travel John Bolstad

The 16th Annual Rising Stars Concerto C ompetition

PLEASE JOIN US! ATTENDANCE IS FREE!!

January 17, 2015 at 3:30 p.m. in the Recital Hall at Viterbo University

All high school students 14-18 years of age are eligible to compete for cash prizes. One pianist and one instrumentalist will be selected to perform at the February 7, 2015 concert. Application, repertoire list, competition rules & entry deadline are available at:

www.lacrossesymphony.org For more information, contact: Rita Schuman at tschoo@centurytel.net or Janet Roth at theroths07@msn.com

Don’t miss this yearly LSO event www.facebook.com/lacrossesymphony www.facebook.com/lacrossesymphony

2014-15 2014-15 Season Season

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Heart problems don’t keep schedules.

That’s why a team of specialists, including the region’s only full-time cardiac electrophysiologist, is right here in La Crosse. Some of the people who will see the cardiac care team next week don’t even know it yet. While most plan for their pacemaker implantation or ablation procedures in advance, a young athlete who suddenly collapses on game day doesn’t have that option. Good thing the right heart specialists are nearby.

Mayo Clinic Health System - Franciscan Healthcare 700 West Ave. South, La Crosse, WI 54601 mayoclinichealthsystem.org/lacrosse

To schedule an appointment for a consultation, call 608-392-9862

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La Crosse Symphony Program / No Bleed - 5.5” x 9.75” www.lacrossesymphony.org

2014-15 Season


February 7, 2015 • 7:30 p.m.

Rising Stars and Voices of the People Dvorak, Tchaikovsky & Sibelius

“My Homeland” Overture, Op. 62

Antonín Dvorak

(1841–1904)

Winner of the Rising Stars Concerto Competition (to be announced)

Winner of the Rising Stars Concerto Competition (to be announced)

INTERMISSION Symphony No.2 in D Major, Op. 73 “Ukranian/Little Russian”

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

(1840–1893)

I. Andante sostenuto – Allegro vivo I. Andantino marziale, quasi moderato III. Scherzo. Allegro molto vivace IV. Finale. Moderato assai

Finlandia (“Finland Awakes”) Op. 26 Jean Sibelius

(1865–1957)

Thank you to our February Concert Sponsors


usbank.com

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All of us applauding for you. At U.S. Bank, our customers and our communities are always center stage. We are privileged to support inspiring performances and programs that enrich the quality of life for everyone. Proud to support the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra La Crosse Office | 201 Main Street Suite 100 La Crosse WI 54601 | 608.782.8101

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The Civil War

The title of Antonin Dvorak’s joyously heartfelt Overture, “My Home,” would suggest a musical description of his house, but this would be a mistake: the Overture, given the opus number of 62 in the composer’s catalog, was so titled as to avoid confusion with “My Homeland” (or “Ma Vlast” in Czech), the sprawling cycle of symphonic poems by Dvorak’s senior colleague Bedrich Smetana, which by the time Dvorak composed his Overture in 1882 was already widely known as a masterpiece. Dvorak -- what Grieg is to the Norwegians, what Verdi is to Italy: the musical embodiment of the spirit of the Czech people -composed the piece on request from a Bohemian playwright who sought to honor the life and work of Josef Tyl, the veteran Czech theatrical pioneer who did much to build a Bohemian national theatre culture as the nation was struggling to find its own identity under the domination of the Hapsburg Empire. In this compact, yet effective work, Dvorak made use of two well-known Czech folk songs: one, “On Our Farm,” is truly that, while another, originally composed, was Frantisek Skroup’s “Where is My Homeland?” which later became the Czech national anthem. As most of you know it is the aim of the LSO to perform all of the symphonies of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in a cycle over the next several years, and his Symphony No. 2, subtitled the “Little Russian,” fits perfectly into our evening spotlighting the musical expressions

of Nationalism in 19th-century Eastern Europe. So nicknamed soon after its first performance by the critic Nicholas Kashkin due to the Symphony’s abundance of Ukrainian folk-melodies, few Americans realize that the term “Little Russian” is seen as derogatory by most Ukrainians -- now, perhaps, more than ever. A brilliant early work of the composer beloved worldwide as a man whose music surpasses boundaries, Tchaikovsky’s Second Symphony must not be forgotten as a musical example of one nation’s nationalism trumping that of another. Written in 1872 when its composer was in his early thirties, Tchaikovsky, as ever dissatisfied with one of his works after the first performance, substantially revised the Symphony’s first three movements in 1879, leaving the festive finale intact. (Interestingly, the original version of the Second Symphony finally saw the light of day in the last years of the 20th century in the West, and was duly recorded. Its first movement, a churning cauldron of ideas, is substantially different from the work we know today.) Tchaikovsky’s close friend, the great Russian composer, teacher and pianist Sergei Taneyev, actually preferred the earlier version of the Second Symphony, and there exists a fascinating letter from him to Tchaikovsky’s brother Modest, in which he compares the two scores in detail. That said, we should certainly give Tchaikovsky the benefit of the doubt -- especially as Taneyev, supreme musician though he was, in another

famous letter, famously wrong in his criticisms of the composer’s amazing Symphony No.4. The Symphony opens with a startling opening chord followed by a brooding slow introduction, based on a Ukrainian tune. The first movement proper, now a bristling, yet refined sonata-allegro, is built upon another folksong, “Down by Mother Volga”, which provides a strong and constant rhythmic energy; a pensive second theme is sung by the solo oboe. For the second movement, almost unchanged from its original version, Tchaikovsky salvaged a curious but charming little “Wedding March” from his failed opera of 1869, Undine -- the dialogue of woodwinds and timpani is unforgettable -- and this elfin spirit, in a more demonic form, pervades the intense third movement, a forceful Scherzo. Tchaikovsky -- not a child prodigy, but possessed of an extraordinary work ethic -- thought very highly of the Finale to his Second Symphony, and he was right. It opens with a foreshadowing of its principal theme, a Ukrainian melody known as “The Crane,”which is stated in its entirety only when the movement in earnest begins. There is very little in the following pages that could be described as bona-fide symphonic

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The Civil War

Bravo!

This concert series is supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The La Crosse Symphony Orchestra would like to extend a special thanks to the Candlewood Suites of La Crosse for providing gracious accommodations to our Music Director.

development, but everywhere there is an awesome abundance of what the composer’s biographer Edwin Evans referred to as an “almost overwhelming elemental strength, suggesting at moments a more primitive type of mankind.” Indeed -Tchaikovsky’s very non-Western, nonacademic type of musical nationalism here supremely asserts itself, as climax upon climax, statement after statement, is transformed into a kaleidoscopic web of sound. It is ironic that Finlandia, the most famous and nationalistic work of Finland’s greatest composer, Jean Sibelius, was written by a man who, growing up, spoke only Swedish: as with educated Russians speaking French before the 1917 Revolution, Finnish was not considered a proper language for middle-class Finns to speak at home. The man now beloved as Finland’s musical answer to George Washington only learned Finnish as his nation began to make serious attempts to wean itself off Russian domination, in the waning years of the 19th century. And as he was born in that signal year of 1865 -- a year that also saw the birth of his Danish counterpart Carl Nielsen, not to mention Magnard, Glazunov, and Paul Dukas -- Sibelius would truly be the man in the right place at the right time. By the perilous 1890’s Russia was once again tightening the screws on Finland, long a semi-autonomous duchy of the Tsarist Empire; and

in the autumn of 1899, with the Imperial press censorship in full force, a group of courageous artists in Helsinki organized a series of “Press Celebrations”, with the aim of raising funds to support those journalists chased out of their jobs -or worse -- by the Russian authorities. The young Sibelius -- now fully transformed from Swedish-speaking doctor’s son to full-blooded Finnish patriot -- was asked to compose the music, set to accompany a series of tableaux-vivants (a now-forgotten art form, then widely popular) portraying great moments in Finnish history. The last of them, entitled “Finland Awakes,” caused a sensation; soon afterward Sibelius reworked the score into Finlandia, and the world of Scandinavian music has never been the same. Finlandia still has the power to startle: think of those snarling, tragic opening chords, in the low strings and brass. It also retains the power to inspire in this jaded world of ours, as its churning, frenzied development finally culminates in the clear, arching strains of its hymn-like finale, rather like an airplane struggling through storm clouds to finally reach the bright sunshine of its cruising altitude. A virtual national anthem for Finland, it has become a hymn to freedom everywhere.

Notes compiled by Alexander Platt

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In perfect harmony... Staying in sync with customers is as important to our business as keeping the strings in tune during a performance. Execution makes the composition. That’s why we proudly support the artists, performers and musicians in our community.

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2014-2015 Concert Season

Dr. Paul Rusterholz, Conductor

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Dear Friends, Please help us in our effort to fund La Crosse’s new warming shelter building in perpetuity. The new facility ensures that homeless men and women in our community will always have access to a shelter and to resources that may enable them to move forward with their lives. For more information contact Rick at (608) 385-8953 or rickstaff@ghrealtors.com. Rick Staff and Nancy Gerrard Founders of Shelter Development A Not For Profit Corporation

Thank you to last season’s Conductor Wannabes: Brittany Styles & Marco, Karla Stanek, Father Robert Cook, Bill Lanzel, and Barb Schultz. The winners of the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra’s Conductor Wannabe Contest are: 1st place Bill Lanzel who raised a record breaking $22,418 and 2nd place Father Robert Cook who raised $11,091. Together, the five contestants raised a record breaking $50,760. 50

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March 14, 2015 • 7:30 p.m.

War & Remembrance Egmont Overture

Ludwig van Beethoven

(1770–1827)

Letter from Home (1942) Aaron Copland

(1900 –1990)

Sinfonia Concertante, for violin and viola in E-flat, K. 364 I. Allegro Maestoso II. Andante III. Presto

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)

Wes Luke, violin - Luke Hubbard, viola INTERMISSION Symphony No. 9 (1945) I. Allegro II. Moderato III. Presto IV. Largo V. Allegretto – Allegro

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)

Thank you to our March Concert Sponsors Pat & Joe Heim


Guest Artists

Wes Luke

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Luke Hubbard

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Wes Luke is the Concertmaster of the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra, the Principal Second Violinist of the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra, and a section violinist in the Madison Symphony Orchestra. He is a frequent substitute violinist with the Wisconsin Philharmonic and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. He performs regularly with the Mosaic Chamber Players in Wisconsin and the Concordance Ensemble in Iowa and has performed widely across the United States, Europe, and Japan. He holds degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, MA and the University of Wisconsin-Madison and currently serves on the teaching faculties of the University of Dubuque, Divine Word College, and Loras College. His principle teachers have been Felicia Moye, Malcolm Lowe, and Doris Preucil. Luke Hubbard is the principal violist of the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra, a faculty member of the Northern Lights Music Festival, and an active musician and teacher in the Twin Cities and upper Midwest region. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Minnesota where he studied with Korey Konkol. As a violist Luke has succeeded on many levels including receiving national awards in performance, providing orchestral leadership in university and regional orchestras, acting as a collaborative chamber

musician with several internationally and nationally acclaimed individuals, and teaching and coaching students and chamber ensembles from beginner to advanced levels through work with the Northern Lights Chamber Music Festival and the SoundStrings community education program in Red Wing, Minnesota. In 2011, Luke joined the faculty at the Northern Lights Music Festival to give private viola instruction, coach chamber music and serve as principal violist for the festival’s opera orchestra. As a doctoral candidate he has presented several solo and chamber music recitals featuring the music of a range of traditional to contemporary composers. His experiences as a student and teacher have prepared him to have an understanding of the viola repertoire and to use it in helping students address their artistic needs and goals. In 2009 Luke was designated a Shinichi Suzuki Scholar by the American Suzuki Institute. While pursuing a masters degree at the University of Minnesota he registered two years of Suzuki pedagogy training with the Suzuki Association of the Americas. That training included a one-year teaching internship with the MacPhail Institute in Minneapolis. He currently teaches a studio of Suzuki students in Red Wing, Minnesota through the SoundStrings community education program and is active in both the Suzuki Association of the Americas and the Suzuki Association of Minnesota.

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World War II I can think of no better work than Ludwig van Beethoven’s Egmont Overture to begin our evening of great music reflecting the themes of war and remembrance. Beethoven, for whom his only opera, Fidelio, was now behind him, composed a set of incidental music to Johann von Goethe’s formidable stage play in 1810, by which time it was already something of an antique from Goethe’s Sturm und Drang (“storm and stress”) years of the 1780’s. (One should have no illusions about Goethe and Beethoven having a mutual-admiration society: the cryptic entries from Goethe’s diary, describing their one and only meeting at the Bohemian spa town of Teplitz in 1812, suggest that the the poet admired Beethoven’s piano skills more than his cutting-edge music.) Still, productions of the play with Beethoven’s music, especially when pared down to a kind or “oratorio” for actor, soprano and orchestra, had become part of the repertoire by the 1830’s, and still thoroughly warrants a performance today. That said, the legendary Overture is the perfect distillation of the passions and proceedings of Goethe’s play -which tells, in slightly veiled form, the story of the real-life Egmont, a 16th-century German freedomfighter who sacrificed his life to defend the Protestant Northern Provinces of the Netherlands against the mad Inquisition of Phillip II of Spain and his Hapsburg Empire. Executed

in 1568, -- as if out of a scene from “Game of Thrones,” one night in 1567 the Duke of Alba invited Egmont to dinner, and then had him arrested -Egmont’s tragic plight is well conveyed by the orchestra’s opening cry for help, as if out of a dark dungeon, with solo woodwinds providing the occasional shaft of light. After a thorough and dramatic development section, Beethoven elegantly segues to the Overture’s thrilling coda, taken from the “Victory Symphony” which concludes the incidental music itself -- as (and as in real life) William of Orange eventually and triumphantly leads the Dutch provinces to freedom. A quiet interlude then follows this evening, with Aaron Copland’s forgotten little gem, Letter from Home. Eager to do his part in World War II, Copland enthusiastically accepted a commission from the popular bandleader Paul Whiteman to write a short work for performance on the Philco Radio Hour of the American Broadcasting System. After a well-received premiere on the airwaves on October 17, 1944, Copland made some slight adjustments to the music and re-scored it from its danceband origins to the setting of a small symphony orchestra, and re-presented the work in concert form in 1962. Letter from Home is not one of Copland’s “big-picture” works from the World War II years, like Rodeo, Fanfare for the Common Man, the Third Symphony, or Appalachian

Spring. Rather than aiming for a grand statement, it is a quiet little nocturne, attempting with a graceful charm to convey the emotions of one of our myriad servicemen and women abroad in harm’s way, receiving a letter from their family back home. Moving as it does from languor to loneliness to even the point of tragedy and back, Copland achieves his goal with his usual subtle mastery, in this little work’s six-minute span. It’s no surprise that it’s one of the pieces Copland asked to have dusted off the proverbial shelf and played by the New York Philharmonic at a special concert for his 85th birthday. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s music has nothing to do with warfare, but his beloved Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola -- there is another “Sinfonia Concertante”, for woodwinds, a charming work of questionable authenticity -- has long been admired for its wistful combination of reverie and grandeur. Written in 1779 in Salzburg, the Sinfonia represents a new, mature language for the composer, still in his early twenties: as the British writer Richard Thompson has eloquently noted, “Gone are the last traces of galanterie and charm of the early 1770’s, and in their place is a new mood and a new depth of sonority..... In the majestic opening tutti of the first movement, Mozart announces six themes and then, true to the spirit of the concertante style, lavishes as many more new melodies, mostly stated by the soloists, on the exposition and development. A notable feature of this movement is the use of the long

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World War II dramatic crescendo that Mozart must surely have heard at Mannheim...... “The great C minor andante, with its drooping phrases and poignant chromatic harmonies, bears comparison with any of the finest slow movements in Mozart’s later concertos. Perhaps the death of the composer’s mother a few months earlier lies behind the eloquent sense of grief, almost despair, that pervades the whole movement and is epitomised by the semi-quaver phrases which throb persistently in the violas throughout the opening tutti. The nucleus of the movement, perhaps of the whole work, is the final, sixteen-bar cadenza which ends in a chromatic climax of almost unbearable poignancy, before the orchestra quietly brings the movement to a close. “As if as a release from the previous tensions, the finale sets off at a tremendous pace and seems to exalt in a sense of freedom which, although still a product of youth, is tempered now by a mature sense of proportion and balance.....Instead of a joint cadenza, as in the first two movements, each of the solo instruments soars to the very top of its compass (the violin to top E flat, the highest note Mozart ever wrote for the instrument) before the resolute concluding tutti which brings to an end this great and forwardlooking masterpiece.” With his Symphony No. 9, Dmitri Shostakovich brought to an end his galvanizing trilogy of symphonic

masterpieces describing the experience of the Russian people in World War II, known in the Soviet Union as The Great Patriotic War. The Seventh Symphony belongs to the last months of 1941, when Shostakovich’s home city of Leningrad (now once again called St. Petersburg) was literally being bombarded by the Nazis in one of the most brutal sieges in human history. Smuggled out of Russia and premiered in New York by Toscanini, it summed up the defiance of the Russians against all odds. In the Eighth Symphony, of 1943, Shostakovich went even deeper, producing an essay of utter devastation. A little later, he hinted that a new, Ninth Symphony would “create a musical interpretation of our triumph over barbarism and express the greatness of our people.” He began work in 1945, shortly after V-E day, and finished it six weeks later. Hinting at a grand, triumphal symphony in the manner of Beethoven -- a Symphony No.9, no less, and in the Eroica Symphony’s glorious key of E-flat -- the Ninth Symphony took many listeners by surprise -- one of them being Comrade Joseph Stalin, who was definitely expecting something in the manner of a “Victory Symphony” a la Egmont. This new Symphony of Shostakovich was hailed by a critic writing for The New York Times as “the simplest piece the mature Shostakovich has yet written, also the gayest, most youthful, and most melodious.” Less

approving, and far more foreboding of things to come, was a swipe by one I. Nestiev, writing for the Agitation and Propaganda Committee of the central Committee of the Communist Party, who scorned the composer for writing “a playful and fanciful trifle” and for his failure “to reflect the true spirit of the Soviet people.” Indeed, the Ninth Symphony would emerge as one of the most courageous orchestral works of the twentieth century. Refusing to gloat over the restoration of a Leningrad “that Stalin had destroyed, and Hitler had merely finished off,” Shostakovich composed a kind of five-movement musical “Raspberry” in the neoclassical style. From a breathless first movement, a tribute to the gaiety of Mozart and Haydn; the chaste, lonesome beauty of the second movement, going as it were into oblivion; the carnival-like frenzy of the scherzo; the outright desolation of the fourth movement; and the relentlessly forced gaiety of the hell-bent finale, Shostakovich brazenly thumbs his nose at the Soviet authorities, taking the wind out of Stalin’s triumphalism and exposing the depths of individual anxiety and despair. Small wonder, then, that this Symphony would throw into motion a chain of events which would turn Shostakovich and his colleague, the equally great Sergei Prokofiev, dangerously into pariahs of the Soviet state. Notes compiled by Alexander Platt

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To our Patrons who donated concert tickets for re-sale in 2013-2014 Mario & Fe Abellera Garry & Sandra Andersen Dr. Pamela Barge Ruth Bayer Johnston & Lillian Bell Jerry & Caroline Benser Harvey & Suzanne Bertrand Lois Betz Margaret Birchler Paul & Barb Bjornstad Marilyn Boland Pat Brault Frank & Kristi Cadwell Carolyn & Marvin Case Jeanne & Mark Connelly Jan Contreras Gail & Rusty Cunningham Don & Nancy Ellingson Rae & Ron Evenson David & Susan Foran Dr. Robert & Maureen Freedland Larry & Carolyn Furlong James & Janice Gallagher Michael & Gretchen Geary Dan & Roberta Gelatt David & Nancy Goode James & Jeannie Groskreutz Sig & Jean Ann Gundersen, III John, Donna & Tom Hansen Robert & Helen Harold Jon Hartfield Barb & Herb Heili Joe & Pat Heim Susan & Fred Heuer Art & Kathryn Ingalls Kenneth & Linda Kempf 7/31/13 4:21 PMSusan Knorr Ralph Knudson & Nancy Heerens-Knudson James & Maxine Kroner William & Jane Landman John & Barb Leinfelder Cindy & Stephen Lenser Wayne & Donna Loveland Patrick K. McGuire Caralee & Carl Miller Marla Natoli James & Rebecca Naugler Kermit & Barbara Newcomer Derek & Julie Nordeen Maureen T. Norris Lance & Sue Paulson Dave Peschau Tristan Peters Pdon Pinkham Galen & Marianne Pittman Patrick Pruse Lynn Quinlisk Howard & Barbara Reedy Todd & Eva Marie Restel Lisbeth & Richard Reynertson Barbara Rice David & Ann Rice Betty & Roland Roskos Dick & Mary Jean Sartz Jerry & Mary Lou Saterbak David & Carole Schoonover Jay & Connie Schnoor Martin & Ruby Smith Mary Stavropoulos Pamela & Richard Strauss Tom & Amy Strom Maureen Sullivan William & Louise Temte Dr. James & Nancy Terman Jeff & Sandy Thompson John & Roberta Ujda Randy Van Rooyen & Kelly Nowicki-Van Rooyen Katherine & Stephen Webster Jean Weigel Hans Von Weiss

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May 2, 2015 • 7:30 p.m.

Springtime in Paris Can-Can from “Orpheus in the Underworld

Jacques Offenbach (1819– 1880)

Suite Provencale, Op 152 Darius Milhaud I. Animé (1892– 1974) II. Tres Modere III. Modere IV. Vif V. Modere VI Vif VII. Lent VIII. Vif Piano Concerto in G Major Joseph-Maurice Ravel Allegramente (1875–1937) I. II. Adagio assai III. Presto

Alessio Bax, piano INTERMISSION Conductor Wannabe Winner (to be announced)

Conductor Wannabe Winner (to be announced)

An American in Paris George Gershwin

(1898–1937)

Thank you to our May Concert Sponsor


MAY

Alessio Bax Pianist Alessio Bax creates “a ravishing listening experience” (Gramophone) with his lyrical playing, insightful interpretations, and dazzling facility. First Prize winner at the Leeds and Hamamatsu international piano competitions— and a 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient—he has appeared as soloist with over 100 orchestras, including the London and Royal Philharmonic orchestras, the Dallas and Houston symphonies, the NHK Symphony in Japan, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic with Yuri Temirkanov, and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with Sir Simon Rattle. After a summer residency debut at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Bax launches the 2014-15 season with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, playing two Mozart piano concertos for the society’s opening-night gala. Fall also brings the release of his next solo album for Signum Classics, an all-Beethoven program featuring the “Hammerklavier” and “Moonlight” Sonatas. Upcoming orchestral engagements include Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto and Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto with London’s Royal Philharmonic on a UK tour, as well as appearances with orchestras in Denmark, Finland, and the U.S. With violinist Joshua Bell, Bax embarks on three extensive tours of Europe and the United States, crowned by dates at London’s Wigmore Hall and L.A.’s Disney Hall.

Among recent highlights are Rachmaninov and Mozart with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic under Temirkanov, Barber with the Dallas Symphony under Jaap van Zweden, Mozart with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra under Hans Graf, and debuts at Washington’s Kennedy Center, New York’s Carnegie Hall, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and 92nd Street Y, and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Besides giving solo recitals last season at Lincoln Center, in Atlanta, Dallas, Minneapolis, and Tokyo, Bax partnered with pianist Lucille Chung in the U.S., Canada, and Hong Kong, and Joshua Bell in South America. In 2013, he received the Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award and Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award, which recognizes young artists of exceptional accomplishment. Bax’s acclaimed discography includes Bax & Chung (Stravinsky, Brahms, Piazzolla), Alessio Bax plays Mozart (Piano Concertos K. 491 and K. 595), Alessio Bax plays Brahms (Gramophone “Critic’s Choice”), Rachmaninov: Preludes and Melodies (American Record Guide “Critics’ Choice 2011”), and Bach Transcribed; and for Warner Classics, Baroque Reflections (Gramophone “Editor’s Choice”). At age 14, Bax graduated with top honors from the conservatory of his hometown in Bari, Italy, and after further studies in Europe moved to the United States in 1994. A Steinway artist, he resides in New York City with his wife, pianist Lucille Chung, and their daughter.

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Springtime in Paris The period of the French Second Empire, from 1852 to 1870 and presided over by the decadent and grasping Louis-Napoleon, was one of glamour and pleasure-seeking for Parisian high society. Nobody reflected the spirit of that era more than that composer of operetta supreme, the German-born Jacques Offenbach. In the summer of 1855, during the legendary Paris Exhibition, he opened a small theater on the ChampsElysees, producing one-act farces with a handful of performers: clever and popular parodies on contemporary manners and morals, and after the successful grand operas of the time. In 1858 Offenbach would broaden his ambitions with the full-evening Orpheus in the Underworld, a satirical treatment of the great sacredcow of classical antiquity, the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice. It is a tale that has inspired many a profound musical work -- Gluck, Berlioz, Monteverdi, Stravinsky -- but this would not be one of them. Offenbach’s immortal Can-Can, the hilarious galop danced by these ancient gods in hell, begins our evening’s festivities. The era of Paris between the two World Wars, perhaps more than any other, would be another delicious era of laughter and frivolity -- not to mention some incredible creativity in all of the arts. Just think of all the Americans who arrived and flourished there: Copland, Gershwin, Hemingway, Cole Porter; Scott Fitzgerald, Josephine Baker, Virgil Thomson, Gertrude Stein. We

mustn’t forget, however, the great French composers already there, such as Ravel, Roussel, Paul Dukas, and the group of composers whom we remember as “Les Six,” of whom Francis Poulenc and Darius Milhaud were the most famous members. Short-lived as an artistic collaborative -- they never really were close, except when it was time for a party -- each of the group’s members stylistically went their own way, and it was Milhaud’s unique combination of influences -Jazz, folk music, Latin America, and the Hebraic traditions of his heritage -- which caused him to leave us some of the more joyfully profound music of the twentieth century. Amazingly prolific -- he was one of those men who would wake up in the morning, make his coffee, sit down and just start writing -Milhaud produced dozens of scores of incidental music for plays, films and pageants; and it was one of them, Andre Obey’s drama “Le Trompeur de Seville,” taking place in the giant open-air theater in the old Provencal city of Orange, which would be the inspiration for his Suite Provencale of 1936. Cast in eight magical little movements, the suite bursts at the seams with the sunlight of the South -of Provence, the Mediterranean south of France; and its material is based on the dances, marches and fanfares of the early Provencal composer Andre Campra, whose dust-covered music Milhaud had discovered while exploring old libraries and bookstores in his Provencal hometown, the

charming ancient city of Aix. Here we have, in music, the equivalent of the Provencal sunlight, the zesty cuisine, and the paintings of Matisse and Cezanne. First performed at the 1937 Venice Festival with its composer conducting, Milhaud would also lead the American premiere with the Boston Symphony in December 1940; one can only imagine the emotions of the performers and the audience, experiencing these life-giving tones as France was falling to the Nazi regime. It was with the Concerto for the Left Hand, written in 1931 by Maurice Ravel, that we opened our LSO season of “War and Peace,” and we now conclude it with Ravel’s other piano concerto, written in the same year -- the deservedly popular Concerto in G Major. It truly is amazing to think that one composer could have written these two masterpieces, so utterly different from each other in every way, at exactly the same time, and in their completely disparate ways they convey two very different sides of a genius at the peak of his powers. Having moved beyond his earlier, Impressionist period which produced the sun-splashed Daphnis et Chloe and his neo-Baroque works such as Le Tombeau de Couperin, Ravel, now imbued with the spirit of the Twenties -- and doubtless also influenced by his new friend, the young Mr. George Gershwin -- produced the greatest example we have of a “jazz concerto” that is still ultimately in the classical style; Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue would be its close companion. Jazz

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Springtime in Paris is everywhere -- in the raucous outer movements, and in the poignant central Adagio, with its melancholy aria for the cor anglais. It is the finest testament I know to the assertion that great music need not be sad or weighty to be profound. In the spring of 1928, George Gershwin took a little trip to Europe -- looking for pleasure and inspiration, and still hankering to be taken seriously as a composer for the concert hall, despite the runaway success of his Rhapsody in Blue four years before. It was Paris that he loved most over there -- who could blame him -- and it would be Paris that would serve as the muse for his greatest work of all, save for the immortal Porgy and Bess: the symphonic poem An American in Paris, a tone poem in every way the equal of a symphonic canvas by Debussy, Ravel, or Richard Strauss. Gershwin’s own description, given from his Paris digs to an eager reporter to the folks back home, still remains, poignantly, the best. Who knew then that he would only have a decade more to live? In words suggesting that the imaginary protagonist of this new symphonic poem must surely be himself, Gershwin presented his plan: “This new piece, really a rhapsodic ballet, is written very freely and is the most modern music I’ve yet attempted. The opening part will be developed in typical French style, in the manner of Debussy and the Six, though the themes are all original.

My purpose here is to portray the impressions of an American visitor in Paris as he strolls about the city, listens to the various street noises, and absorbs the French atmosphere. “The opening gay section is followed by a rich ‘blues’ with a strong rhythmic undercurrent. Our American friend, perhaps after strolling into a cafe and having a few drinks, has suddenly succumbed to a spasm of homesickness. The harmony here is both more intense and simple than in the preceding pages. The ‘blues’ rises to a climax followed by a coda in which the spirit of the music returns to the vivacity and bubbling exuberance of the opening part with its impressions of Paris. Apparently the homesick American, having left the cafe and reached the open air, has downed his spell of the blues and once again is an alert spectator of Parisian life. At the conclusion, the street noises and French atmosphere are triumphant.” Notes compiled by Alexander Platt

MAY

Notes

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All the classic rock you can Handel.

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LA CROSSE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA SCULPTURE: SYMPHONIC JOY Dick Record, co-owner of Midwest Family Broadcasting and a regular donor to the LSO for 30 years, commissioned a sculpture honoring the 116-year history of the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra. Well-known and respected La Crosse area sculptor, Elmer Petersen has created a piece of work to recognize the symphony’s significant role in the community. “The sculpture is something visible and tangible for people to connect with, and it is a lasting tribute to honor the history of the symphony,” said Record. He is a big fan of Petersen’s sculptures: “The La Crosse Players” on the plaza in front of the Radisson Hotel; “The Eagle” in Riverside Park; “The Family of Four” at Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center; “Women with Bird” at Viterbo University and others. Record said sponsoring symphony activities helps keep the arts organization an important part of the community. “I get to work with a group of dedicated people who want the symphony to make great music, and the orchestra is doing a damn good job of it,” he said. “Now it’s time for all of us to step up to ensure the symphony’s future because it takes more than buying a ticket to keep the LSO going.” The sculpture (Symphonic Joy) will celebrate the joy and music-making of the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra. Petersen’s artwork will allow people to experience a composition of music, Beethoven’s, “Ode to Joy,” as they would a representational painting. A colored glass-filled panel sculpture will represent a musical score with thick, stained glass notes of jewel quality that resemble church windows. If you’d like to learn more about how you can contribute to the Endowment Campaign, please contact the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra office at

608.783.2121

Endowment Donors $250,000 Leadership Circle

Anonymous Charles & Sue Gelatt Weber Family Foundation

$100,000 Conductor’s Circle

Hansen Family Foundation David & Barbara Skogen

$25,000 Principal’s Circle

Anonymous (2) In Memory of Vicki Bigley Joe & Pat Heim Dick Record

$10,000 Artist’s Circle

Ellyn Ash In Memory of Randolph Baier Barry Blomquist & Eva Dahl Ruth M. Dalton, M.D. Dr. Sigurd Gundersen, Jr. Ken Riley & Jay Lokken The Marie Lokken Family Memorial John & Linda Lyche Richard & Joan Marchiando Ernie & Sally Micek Tom & Amy Strom

$5,000 Patron’s Circle

Anonymous Jerry & Marilyn Arndt John Bolstad Anna Beth Culver Andrew & Jamie Dahl Terry Rindfleisch & Linda Hirsh Drs. John & Kerrie Moore James Munn David Reedy Bob & Janet Roth Marti Schwem George & Connie Smith Dr. Michael & Carolyn White

PLEASE CONSIDER GIVING www.facebook.com/lacrossesymphony

Less than $5,000 Friends Circle

Jesus Arellano Elizabeth Becker Kathy Boarman Nancy Borgen Lori Carlson Michael & Laura Chesher Mark & Jeanne Connelly Timothy Cox In Memory of Lucy Davidson Nancy & Don Ellingson Tracy Fell Tammy Fisher David & Susan Foran Mike Forbes Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration Mary Funk David & Abigail Gerzema Mark Glasel Bethany Gonella David & Nancy Goode Steve Groth Mary Ann Gschwind Jean Ann & Siguard Gundersen III Charles & Shirley Haas Nori Hadley Jean Hammons Natalie Hartigan Charlie & Jan Henry Mary Beth Hensel Carol Hester Harry Hindson Arthur & Kathryn Ingalls Jay & Dawn Jaehnke Dr. Julia Johnson & Jackson Jantzen Kris Jenkins Cindy Johnson Ornelle Jorgensen Anne Judisch Timothy Kamps Gary & Melissa Klein Brian Koh Greg & Susan Knorr Lewis & Charlene Lebakken Bill & Kay Leonard Angelica Lundberg Rich Mac Donald Conrad Madson Randy Mastin Kay Mazza Lorraine Mc Ilraith David Morrison Roy Munderloh Doug Nelson Elinor Niemisto Tom & Lori Nigon Lance & Sue Paulson Sue Radloff Melissa Roby Amy Scarborough Steve Schani Colleen Shaw Tom Schauer & Maureen Sullivan William & Louise Temte Dr. James & Nancy Terman Kristin Thelander Robert & Lynne Trine Barbara Tristano Randy Van Rooyen & Kelly Nowicki-Van Rooyen Alex & Jackie Vaver Donald Vinger Mark Wamma Roger & Carol Ziff

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To give a donation or become a sponsor please call 608.783.2121


Thank you to our 2013-2014 Contributors Thank you to these benefactors whose gifts were received by the LSO between Sept. 1, 2013 and Aug. 31, 2014

Virtuoso Society $5,000 & Greater

Harvey Bertrand & Dr. Suzanne Tanner-Bertrand Dr. Larry Casey & Alison Anonymous (1) Bradford Dahl Family Foundation Charles & Lu Cagin Ruth M. Dalton, M.D. Fund Mark & Jeanne Connelly Financial & Investment Ruth Nixon Davy Management Group Donald & Barbara Frank Gerrard-Hoeschler, Inc. James & Jeannie Groskreutz Gundersen Lutheran Dr. Sigurd Gundersen, Jr. Hansen Family Foundation Joe & Pat Heim International Furniture Wayne J. Hood, Jr. La Crosse Community Jay & Dawn Jaehnke Foundation La Crosse Tribune Logistics Health, Inc./Don & Jean’s Day Grant Roxanne Weber Bill & Barb Lanzel Marie Lokken Family Memorial/Financial Investment Lewis & Char Lebakken Dr. Richard & Management Group Joan Marchiando Jeff & Patti Lokken, McHugh Excavating Jay Lokken & Ken Riley & Plumbing Mayo Clinic Health System John & Kerrie Moore, DDS, S.C. Terry Rindfleisch Robert & Janet Roth Oral Surgery Clinic of La Crosse, Ltd./Dr. David & Paul & Judy Schams Tom Skogen Patricia Ludington Russell & Vera Smith Dick Record Foundation Ronald Mc Donald House State Bank of La Crosse Charities of Western WI Lynne & Robert Trine and Southeastern MN UMR S&S Cycle/ United Ventures George & Connie Smith John & Karla Stanek Grazioso Society Trust Point, Inc. $500 to $999 United Funds for the Arts Anonymous (1) and Humanities, Inc. Mario & Fe Abellera Viterbo University Fine Gerald & Marilyn Arndt Arts Center Bosshard Parke, Ltd. Michael & Carolyn White Cleary-Kumm Foundation, Inc. Cresendo Society Coulee Region Mechanical, Inc. Kathy Davig $2,500 to $4,999 David & Susan Foran Anonymous (1) Franke & Turnbull, CPA’s BNSF Foundation Larry & Carolyn Furlong Rick Staff & Nancy Gerrard Gerhards-The Kitchen Helen Trane Hood & Bath Store Charitable Trust William & Kathleen Hayman Dr. James Munn, Jr. Lisa Henner Northwestern Mutual Richard & Dorothy Lenard Financial Network Becky Post & David Maddocks Wisconsin Arts Board Kermit & Barbara Newcomer David Reedy Fortissimo Society Richard & Lisbeth Reynertson $1,000 to $2,499 Dick & Mary Jean Sartz Anonymous (3) Smile Care Dental Center Walter & Jean Susdorf www.facebook.com/lacrossesymphony

Alex & Jackie Vaver The Weber Family Jane Wood

Vivace Society $250 to $499

Anonymous Anthony Binsfeld Mary Briggs Dr. Robert & Yvonne Caplan Coulee Region Cremation Group Dakota Supply Group Kelly & Josh Fish Fleet Paint & Body Repair, LLC Diane Foust Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration Jean Ann & Sigurd Gundersen III Hock’s Construction, Inc. Ornelle Jorgensen Bridget & Jeremey Kendall Kish & Sons Electric, Inc. Robert Kroening Roger Kwong Robert E. Lanzel John & Barb Leinfelder Marine Credit Union Christine Saudek & Ronald Mc Kelvey Sally & Ernie Micek Florence Overgard Drs. Mark & Sandra Perpich Galen & Marianne Pittman Plumbers & Steamfitters Heather & Tony Reyerson Dennis & Sharon Ryan William & Bonita Sacia Benjamin & Kasey Schmiege Don & Kris Schoonenberg Fred & Jean Skemp Dave Seitz & Kathy Skiles-Seitz Solid Surface Specialist, Inc. Richard & Pamela Strauss Deak & Cindi Swanson Rev. Allan & Carla Townsend Randy Van Rooyen Stephen & Katherine Webster

Allegro Society $100 to $249

Anonymous (5) Abbey & Clint Ambroson All Facets Sheet Metal, Inc. Constance Arneson 2014-15 Season

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Thank you to our 2013-2014 Contributors Thank you to these benefactors whose gifts were received by the LSO between Sept. 1, 2013 and Aug. 31, 2014

Michael & Barbara Baroni James Bast Johnston & Lillian Bell Jerry & Caroline Benser William & Cindy Berg Margaret Birchler Barry Blomquist Dean Bodensteiner Joe “Buddy” Bodnar Borton Construction, Inc. Dr. Michael & Mary Bottcher Robert Breitzman Stephanie Brookman Wendy Butler James Carroll Clason, Buick, GMC, Inc. John & Arla Clemons Jan Contreras Coulee Bank Danny Chesebro & Terry Cozy Crest Precast, Inc. Anthony Curti Michael & Joyce Davy Robert DeBauche John & Margie Desmond Ronald & Carol Ellis Engelson & Associates, Ltd. Cecilia Caron & Thomas Erb Dan & Sandy Fanning Paul Felion Bonny Fish Greg & Becky Flege Flow-Rite (Mike Happel) Fowler & Hammer, Inc. Marla French Eugene & Alice Gassere Dirk Gasterland David & Nancy Goode Karla Stacey & Lee Goodhart Peter & Amy Grabow Mary Ann Gschwind Ron & Merle Gustafson Charles & Shirley Haas Julian Hamerski Natalie Hartigan Penny Havlik Herb & Barbara Heili Ken & Barbara Herlitzka John & Diann Honadel Scott Horne Kenneth & Virginia Horth HSR Associates, Inc. William & Yvonne Hyde Hydro-Flo Products Arthur & Kathryn Ingalls 70

Clare & Shari Jarvis Mike & Darbi Jefferies Jeff Johnson Eugene & Shelley Jorgensen Dr. Kenneth & Linda Kempf Bob & Cindy Klar Ruth Ann Knapp Rod & Paula & Krings Adam Kruger Joseph & Barbara Kruse Ruth Kurinsky Fred & Ruth Kurtz Bobby Lanzel Emily Lanzel Avis Lebiecki Anita Evans & Larry Lebiecki Kyla R. Lee, MD Carol Lewis Larry & Diane Lindesmith Jack & Toni Low Elizabeth Mac Ewen Beverly Mach Todd Mahr, MD Bob & Kathy Maney James Maney Beverly Marco Allan & Ruth Martin Master Building Solutions Paul & Kim Mauss John McCabe & Master Metals, Inc. Joan Barth & Jim Mc Cormick Richard & Sandra Mc Cormick Dennis & Jean Mc Donnell Msgr. Bernard Mc Garty Patricia Mertens John Streyle & Dr. Christine Miller Howard & Nancy Mills Modern Crane Service Dale & Karen Montgomery James & Rebecca Naugler Andrew Nordeen Elsie Patterson Bob & Pat Perlock Sonia Steiner Phillips Bob Ploetz James Poehling Jeffery Pralle Burleigh & Mary Jane Randolph Bob & Kim Riutzel Riverfest Commodores Alan Robertson Kay Robinson W. A. Roosevelt

www.lacrossesymphony.org

Roland & Betty Roskos Kent & Mary Rotering Phil & Rebecca Schumacher Jim & Linda Sherwood Robert Skemp Michael Skiles Dave & Barb Skogen Thomas & Judith Sleik Don & Nancy Smith Norene Smith Mary Stanek Mary Stavropoulos Jack & Janet Stilwell Tom Schauer & Maureen Sullivan Kristin Swanson Paul & Karen Taylor TCI Architects, Engineers, Contractor, Inc. Dick & Marcia Thompson Jeff & Sandra Thompson Thomas & Jean Thompson Thomas & Marilyn Tiggelaar Today’s Tree Service, Inc. UW-L Foundation Daniel & Kim Valiquette Dale & Jean Villhauer Jo Voight Kathleen Wagner M. Joyce Weise Mike & Joan Weissenberger Welshire Capital, LLC Mark & Lorie Werner Mary J. Werner Ralph & Ruth Wettstein Kathleen & Case Wewerka Eric & Vicki Wheeler Jerry Wiedman Ruth Williams Carl Wimberly Ken & Lynn Winter Jeffery Woodward

Dolce Society $25-$99

Anonymous (11) Jim & Paula Adkins Mike & Florence Aliesch Russell & Rosemary Allen Alter Metal Recycling Kris & Dan Ames Jim & Julie Anderson Rick & Joan Artman Dr. Arnold & Donna Asp

2014-15 Season


Thank you to our 2013-2014 Contributors Thank you to these benefactors whose gifts were received by the LSO between Sept. 1, 2013 and Aug. 31, 2014

Glen & Mary Bakalars Greg & Martha Balfany Frances Ball William Banasik Julie & Terry Bartels Jean Bassett Jessica Bast Terry Bauer Carole Baumgardner Sr. Rita Marie Bechel Dolores Bennett Bob & Marsha Besch Margaret Binash Clifford & Betty Blaha Heidi & Scott Blanke Paul & Kathy Boarman Jerome & Patricia Boge Joe & Brad Bond Nancy Borgen Richard & Margaret Boudreau Braun Intertec David Breuer Tracy Buccelli Dean & Marianne Buchanan Guy & Joan Buckley David & Jean Burgess Carla Burkhardt Richard & Debra Buswell Frank & Kristi Cadwell Buzz Campbell Timothy Candahl Cary Specialized Services, Inc. Marvin & Carolyn Case Chuck & Regina Chihak Darlene Christianson Edwin & Barbara Christie Ken & Pat Christie Tom & Louise Claflin Linda L. Clark John & Ardus Cleveland Kim & Mikel Cobb Construction Express, Inc. Bill & Michele Cook Gary Cook Jan Sahagian-Crandall Jeff & Shelly Cronk Patricia Crowley Anna Beth Culver Rusty & Gail Cunningham James & Karen Curtis James & Earlamae Dahlby Dan Dahlquist Robert Daley, Sr. Sr. Helen Deppe

Susan Deschler George & Betty Devine Jim & Sue Dillenbeck Dave Dinger Larry & Amelia Dittman Mark & Ruth Dregne Mary Ann Dreves Duratech Industries Dr. Tim & Sue Durtsche Todd & Linda Eber Chris & Paula Ebert Don & Doris Ebert Brad & Barb Eide Don & Nancy Ellingson Doug & Sharon Erler Ron & Rae Evenson Jacie Mailey Faas Fibre-Fab of La Crosse, Inc. Don & Marilyn Finn Tim & Diane Fitzpatrick Dr. Robert & Maureen Freedland Tom & Kathy Frisby Anita Froegel Alan & Laurie Frohmader James & Janice Gallagher Sheila Garrity Cornelia Gastner Michael & Gretchen Geary Chris & Karen Golding Daniel & Jeannie Gordon Florann Graf Jaime Greenfield Bill & Kathy Gresens Mark & Connie Greylak Joel & Roxanne Guberud James & Marie Guertin Dan & Lynn Gundlach Carol Haefs Kathy & Jon Hageseth Jeanne Halderson Cindy & Paul Halter Charles & Cheryl Hanson Doug & Nadine Happel Norm Happel Peter & Esther Harman Robert & Helen Harold Bob Carney & Christine Haskell Dr. John Hayden Robert Heiderscheit Marlin & Julie Helgeson Audrey Helstad Tom & Kathleen Hench Charlie Henry Clarence & Patricia Henry

www.facebook.com/lacrossesymphony

Joan L. Henthorne Doug & Peggy Herlitzka Chris Hesselberg Fred & Sue Heuer Edwin & Nancy Hill Lynn & Jim Hobart Mel & C.J. Hoffman Virgil & Theda Holder Russ & Katie Holman Karen Houlihan Douglas Howard Jason Hunt Kelly Huston Karen Innocenti Darwin & Darlene Isaacson Lenore Italiano Mike Jankowski M. Glen Jenkins Dan & Mikki Johnson Tim & Reggi Johnson Tom & Patty Johnson Elinor Johnston Rev. Mark & Sharon Jolivette Kelly Jones Doug & Diane Jorstad Jeffrey & Sandra Joseph James Kadlec Terry & Susan Kammel Rose Ann Kazmierczak Teri Kendhammer Betty L. Kendrick Ruth Kielley Michael & Regina Kilbey Lorraine King Greg Kjos Melissa & Gary Klein Eileen Knothe Glenn & Elizabeth Knowles Pete & Alma Kohnert Steven & Lynnetta Kopp Robert Kramer R. E. Kreutz James & Maxine Kroner Tom & Mary Kuffel David & Karen Lange Fred & Cheryl Lanzel Herb Lanzel Barbara Larsen Roger & Pat La Rue L & C Insulation, Inc. Ronda Leahy Stephen & Cynthia Lenser William & Carrolyn Leonard Nick & Margaret Lichter John & Carol Lietzow 2014-15 Season

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Thank you to our 2013-2014 Contributors Thank you to these benefactors whose gifts were received by the LSO between Sept. 1, 2013 and Aug. 31, 2014

Janet Linderbaum Charles & Rosemarie Link Sandra Locher Jeff & Patti Lokken Steven & Karen Londre Longfellow/LDI Middle School Wayne & Donna Loveland Steve & Jody Low Dick & Joye Luick Dorina Lukins F. N. Lund James & Jean Lund John & Linda Lyche Jean Lyles Carol & Michael Mader Judy Pace & Maari Mallett Bruce & Barb Marco Jennifer Marco Robert Marco Edward & Barbara Martinez Kathleen Mashak Barb Mason Stephen Mau Bruce & Diane May Kay Mazza Patricia McCormick Jim & Kathy McGettigan Patrick McGuire Lorraine Mc Ilraith Thomas P. Mickelson Phyllis Miletto Jerry & Sandy Miller Susan Miller Dennis & Julie Montabon Duane & Jan Moore Rey & Julie Moreno Lucille Mulder Marcia Naber Dennis & Dianne Naumann Aaron & Rochelle Nicks Wayne & Tiffany Olson Jane & Michael Osowski Joyce Ostergren Dorothy Paulikas Steve & Marian Pavela Sue Pederson Richard Pedretti Helen Peschau Sharon Pfaff Carole Plante Poellinger Electric, Inc. Saul & Keren Prombaum Ed & Eileen Przytarski Christie Przywojski James Putz 72

Phil & Barb Quillin Lynn Quinlisk Diane & Pete Raaum Jane Rada Radisson Hotel Liz Ranger Penny A. Reedy Greg & Danielle Reichert Suellen Stier-Retzlaff Arnold Reuter Barbara Rice Robert & Silvana Richardson Sondra Rieder River View Winery Kirsten Roacker Steve & Nancy Rose Jan Von Ruden Marion & Carol Rudser Nate & Karen Runde Curt & Bev Ruston Betty Sacia Richard & Mary Sage Sam’s Bar Eric Sandvig Bert & Judith Sasse Al & Julia Saterbak Jerome & Mary Lou Saterbak Alice Sather Schaller Jacobson & Collision Alignment Repair Gary & Susan Schettle Linda Schneider Jay & Connie Schnoor Timothy S. Schoonenberg Joan Schreck Kurt & Julie Schroeder Signe Schroeder Barb Schultz David & Diane Schumacher Mark & Kathy Shaw Steve Shultz Eugene Shumann Doug & Merri Shupe Susan Siegler Julie Simenson Bill & Jane Simmons Glen & Pat Skewes Rick & Teresa Skiles Brent & Ellen Smith Marita Smith Martin Smith Pat & Joanie Smith Soderholm & Associates, Inc. John & Kathy Speer Paul & Jane Steingraeber

www.lacrossesymphony.org

Russ & Joan Stenslien Pat & Joanne Stephens Nancy & Jeff Stevenson Mary & Tom Stibbe Pete & Sally Stinson Wally & Betty Stoll Kathy & John Storlie Brad & Lynn Sturm Rusty Stutzman Ray Sundet Bob & Mary Anne Swanson Dirk & Lisa Swanson Richard & Judith Swantz Myron & Chris Swenson Carol Taebel Kay Taylor T.D. Padesky Electric, Inc. Mark & Jennifer Terpstra Michael & Courtney Thomas Allan & Penny Tiedt Bryan Tomczak Dave & Betty Trapp Willard Tronick Edward & Mary Trussoni John & Roberta Ujda Tom & Charmaine Uphaus Jackie Jensen-Utz Lynne & Keith Valiquette Debbie Veglahn Mary Veglahn Tabatha Veum Larry & Kay Wagner Colleen Walsh Bruce & Pamela Walters James & Phyllis Warren David, Jenny & Matthew Waters Marie P.Weaver Paul & Suzanne Weibel Ken & Karen Weigel Chris & Beth Weiss Dorothy Wetterlin John & Ferrell Wettstein Wettstein’s & Lighting Design by Wettstein’s John & Loretta White Ray & Joyce Wichelt Abby Wiedman Wieser Brothers General Contractor, Inc. Karen & Ron Wilke Lewis Wilkins Robin Wilson Dr. Tom & Lois Wirkus Margaret Wood Lucie & Mike Yang 2014-15 Season


h Fforreallsseasons…

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• featuring a seasonal dinner menu • creative dishes & comfort food • serving fine wines, beer, & cocktails • fair trade coffee  • breakfast served Thursday–Sunday Hours: Mon.–Weds. 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thurs.–Sun. 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. happy hour 4 to 6 p.m. daily weekly drink and appetizer specials

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above People’s Food Co-op 315 Fifth Avenue S 608.784.5798 ext. 2202 www.pfc.coop • @pfccoop 2014-15 Season

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2014-15 Season


Thank you for in-kind gifts in 2013-2014

4 Sisters Wine & Tapas Anonymous (5) Aquinas High School Backroads Furniture Dr. Suzanne Tanner Bertrand & Harvey Bertrand Be-you-tiful Spa Scott Bjorge Blue Moon Brilliant Bodywork Candlewood Suites Carlos O’Kelley’s Central States Warehouse Commonweal Theatre Company Jeanne Connelly Coulee Golf Bowl Crescent Jewelers Crescent Printing Co. Culligan Water of La Crosse Dahl Automotive Kathy Davig Designing Jewelers Digicopy Drugan’s Dublin Square E Spa and Makeup Studio Festival Foods Michael Feuerhelm Fitting Knit Shop Forrest Hills Golf Course Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration Front Porch Photography Drew Gaskin Generous Earth Gerrard-Hoeschler Realtors Chad Gilbeck Gloria Jean’s Coffee Graves 601 Hotel Great River Shakespeare Festival Green Bay Packers Mary Ann Gschwind Head Rush Salon Heaven’s Hands Pat and Joe Heim Judy and Jay Hoeschler Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites of La Crosse

Holmen Locker Meat Market Holmen School District Impact Entertainment Innovative Graphics, LLC- Renee Chrz International Furniture James Jill House Joba Flat Justin Trails Resort Kick Ruth Ann Knapp Kraus-Anderson Realty Company Fred and Ruth Kurtz Kwik Trip La Crosse Area Youth Symphony La Crosse Community Theatre La Crosse Loggers La Crosse Radio Group La Crosse Symphony Orchestra La Crosse Tribune Lady Luck Casino Marquette Le Chateau Leithold Music Lynne Trine Madison Symphony Orchestra Mary Cody’s Restaurant Massage by Megan Meridian Corp. Metropolitan Salon & Day Spa Mid-West Family Broadcasting La Crosse Minnesota Marine Art Museum Misty’s Dance Unlimited Monet Flowers & Gifts Monique’s Culinary Experiences Claudia Newton Noelke Distributors Onalaska High School Panera Bread Pearl Soda Fountain Pearl St. Brewery Piggy’s Restaurant Alexander Platt Pleasoning

www.facebook.com/lacrossesymphony

Progreba Restaurant Pump House Quilting From My Heart Radisson Hotel Dick Record David Reedy Ken Riley & Jay Lokken River City Chiropractic Road America Bob and Janet Roth Seasons by the Lake Simple Pleasures / Christina Farrell Dave Skogen Slumberland Connie & George Smith St. Paul Chamber Orchestra Sue Kolve’s Salon & Spa Sullivans Supper Club The Children’s Museum of La Crosse The Company Store The Freight House The Minnesota Timberwolves & the Tanke Family The Prescription Center The Waterfront Restaurant and Tavern Three Rivers Lodge Travel Leaders Trempealeau Hotel University of Wisconsin La Crosse UW-L Theater Department Valentine Ball Committee Viterbo University Weddings by Nancy Wells Fargo Advisors Wettstein’s Whistling Staits Winona State University WKBT-News 8 WLSU-88.9 WXOW-News 19

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Thank you to our CORPORATE PARTNERS

Partners in Music 2014-15

Mr. Richard Record

Don & Roxanne Weber

ral urgery linic

Special Chamber Concert Major Sponsor: Mayo Clinic Health System Dr. Michael & Caroline White United Ventures/Cindy Rothwell The Valentine Ball 2015 Major Sponsors: Wells Fargo

Additional Support: La Crosse Community Foundation Herbert H. Kohl Charities Maureen & Mike Norris Xcel Energy Media Sponsor: WXOW – Channel 19

of La Crosse

Dr. David & Patricia Ludington

Concert Sponsors: October 18– S&S Cycle / Connie and George Smith November 15– LHI Don & Roxanne Weber December 19 & 20 – John W. Moore, DDS, SC & Kerrie A. Moore, DDS February 7– US Bank and Mayo Clinic Health System March 14– Pat & Joe Heim and Dahl Lincoln May 2– Trust Point Inc. Guest Artist Society: Burt and Norma Altman Anonymous Lu and Charles Cagin Pat and Joe Heim Dick Record Eva Marie and Todd Restel Tom Skogen Rick and Carolyn Smith Sponsor a Section: Dick Record Richard and Dorothy Lenard Larry and Carolyn Furlong Alex & Jackie Vaver Florence Overgard Bob & Janet Roth (2) Richard & Lizbeth Reynertson Terry Rindfleisch (2) Becky Post and David Maddocks

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS Pre-Concert Sponsorship: State Bank of La Crosse Rising Stars Concerto Competition: Dick Record Rising Stars Competition Prize Monies: Anna Beth Culver - $2,000 Jane Saline Memorial - $2,000 David Reedy - $1,000 Jay & Dawn Jaehnke - $1,000 Travel Leaders Owned and Operated by Goli’s Avenues of Travel -$500 John Bolstad - $500 String Scholarship Program Sponsor: Anonymous Jeanne & Mark Connelly Jean Ann & Sigurd Gundersen III String Scholarships: Marilyn & Jerry Arndt Diane Foust & Jim Nelson Franke & Turnbull, CPA’s Marine Credit Union Cindi and Deak Swanson Educational Sponsorship in honor of Amy Mills (2) Otis & Winnie Burt Memorial David & Susan Foran (2) Joan & George Park

Symphony for Music Director Sponsor & Youth Concert: Concert Master Sponsor: Major Sponsor: Anonymous Ronald McDonald House Charities of Western Wisconsin and Southeastern Minnesota

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PRODUCTION/BEHIND THE SCENES La Crosse Radio Group La Crosse Tribune Midwest Family Broadcasting WKBT – NewsChannel 8 WLSU – 88.9 WXOW – Channel 19 Grants and Foundations: Wisconsin Arts Board United Fund for the Arts and Humanities La Crosse Community Foundation La Crosse Tribune BNSF Foundation Elmwood Foundation Hansen Family Foundation Morris Family Foundation Russell and Vera Smith Foundation Rotary Works Foundation Xcel Energy Foundation Conductor Accommodations: Candlewood Suites Guest Artists’ Accommodations: Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites of La Crosse Instruments & Rehearsal Space: Liethold Music Onalaska High School University of Wisconsin La Crosse Viterbo University Winona State University LSO Office Space: Kraus-Anderson Realty Company

2014-15 Season


thank you for supporting the lso

Thank you to our CORPORATE PARTNERS

Storage Space: Central States Warehouse Concert Cough Drops: The Prescription Center Concert Bouquets: Monet Floral Evening Out Coupon Book: Digicopy Midwest Family Broadcasting

2013-2014 Memorial & Honary Gifts Ruth Davy Memorial George & Connie Smith Harold & Betty Haworth Memorial Anonymous In Honor of Alexander Platt & Ken Riley Nicolas Giegler In Honor of Nancy Borgen Natalie Hartigan

Musicians Bottled Water: Culligan Water of La Crosse Post-concert Receptions: Gloria Jean’s Coffee Valentine Ball Printing: Digicopy e-newsletter Sponsor: Wells Fargo Advisors

In Honor of Joe & Pat Heim’s 40th Wedding Anniversary Burt & Norma Altman Susan George David & Julie Harter Maryanne Kircher Deeanne Paulson Curt & Barbara Reithel Robert Schreier Amy Smith Paul & Suzanne Weibel In Honor of Dave & Fran Drewes 50th Wedding Anniversary Grace Schroeder

Musical Legacy Society:

New Web Site Production and Maintenance: Meridian

www.facebook.com/lacrossesymphony

Benefactors who have planned bequests to the LSO. John Bolstad Barbara & Herb Heili Fred & Ruth Kurtz The Marie Lokken Family Donna & Wayne Loveland Carol & Michael Mader Dick Record David Reedy Janet & Robert Roth Madeline Schuldes Tom Skogen Carolyn & Richard Smith Donald & Nancy Smith

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12

Canvas Prints

Great for any occasion • Family Portraits

• Sports Photos

• Graduation

• School Portraits

• Children

• Scenic Photos

• Weddings

• Interior Decorating

Posters Banners Trade Show Displays Jackson Plaza La Crosse

608.784.2110

You’ll love us even more! SuperSizeMyGraphics.com 78

www.lacrossesymphony.org

2014-15 Season


2014–15 Viterbo University Fine Arts Center

All Tickets On Sale Viterbo University Fine Arts Center Box Office 608-796-3100 www.viterbo.edu/tickets

Anything Goes

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain

James Sewell Ballet presents Lover and Other Works www.facebook.com/lacrossesymphony

2014-15 Season

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FIM Group Proudly Supports LA CROSSE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA “Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime isn’t enough for music.” ~ Sergei Rachmaninoff

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2014-15 Season


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