KU Symphony Orchestra with Juan-Miguel Hernandez program

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Thursday

SEP 26 KU Symphony Orchestra

7:30 pm

with special guest

Juan Miguel-Hernandez, viola Conducted by Carolyn Watson

SEP 26 | KUSO w/Juan-Miguel Hernandez, viola

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PROGRAM Carnival Overture, Op. 92. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) Rhapsody-Concerto for Viola and Orchestra, H. 337 . . . . . . . Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959) Moderato Molto Adagio Soloist Juan-Miguel Hernandez

20-Minute Intermission Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 97 (“Rhenish”). . . . . . . Robert Schumann (1810–1856) Lebhaft Scherzo. Sehr mäßig Nicht schnell Feierlich Lebhaft

Program is subject to change.

Please see your pre- and post-performance emails for program notes.

This KU Symphony Orchestra program is presented in conjunction with KU Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS).

We greatly appreciate their support and willingness to be part of tonight’s program.

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SEP 26 | KUSO w/Juan-Miguel Hernandez, viola

JUAN-MIGUEL HERNANDEZ Violist Juan-Miguel Hernandez has been praised for “the sweetest, most sonorous tone” (Charles T. Downey, The Washington Post) and for playing that is “tender, lyrical, loaded with personality” (Pierre Ruhe, The Atlanta Journal Constitution). As a soloist and chamber musician, he has appeared in many of the world’s leading venues, including Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, King’s Place in London, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie and the White House. Recent and upcoming engagements include the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.; Chamber Music Raleigh; Pro Musica in Joplin, MO; and Oregon’s Chamber Music Corvallis.

Hernandez has performed as soloist with numerous organizations, including the Rochester Philharmonic, the Colorado and Atlanta symphony orchestras, iPalpiti, the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra and the Chicago Sinfonietta. He has collaborated with such distinguished musicians as Lynn Harrell, Ralph Kirshbaum, Kim Kashkashian, Gérard Caussé, Itzhak Perlman, Chick Corea, Gary Burton, Paquito D’Rivera, Nora Jones and Merlin Ettore. Hernandez was a founding member of Harlem Quartet, serving as its violist from 2006 to 2012, and he was violist in the Fine Arts Quartet from 2013 to 2018. He is a founder of Trio Virado (flute, viola, guitar) and the Boreal Trio (clarinet, viola, piano), both specializing in the creation of new repertoire.

Hernandez’s awards include First Prize at the International Johannes Brahms Competition (Austria) and top prizes at the National Canadian Music Competition and the National Sphinx Competition presented by JPMorgan Chase. He was honored with a medal from the National Assembly of Quebec for his significant international achievements.

In 2016, Hernandez was appointed professor at the Royal Academy of Music (London). He was invited to serve on the Jury of the 2017 Johannes Brahms International Competition and the 2018 Sphinx Competition.

Born in Montreal, Canada, Hernandez began his musical studies at the age of seven.

Among his teachers were Jean MacRae, Paul Coletti at the Colburn Conservatory, and Kim Kashkashian at the New England Conservatory. He also worked with Dimitri Murrath, Paul Neubauer, Karen Tuttle, Steven Dann, James Dunham, Barbara Westphal and Pinchas Zukerman.

He plays on a 2008 Miralles viola from Altadena, CA.

SEP 26 | KUSO w/Juan-Miguel Hernandez, viola

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CAROLYN WATSON A major prizewinner at the 2012 Emmerich Kálmán International Operetta Conducting Competition in Budapest, Carolyn Watson was a Fellow of the American Academy of Conducting at the Aspen Music Festival, where she studied with David Zinman. She has conducted orchestras throughout Europe, including Brandenburger Symphoniker, BBC Concert Orchestra, North Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Kodály Philharmonic, Savaria Symphony Orchestra (Hungary), Budapest Operetta Theatre and Bulgarian State Opera Bourgas.

Since moving to the U.S., she has led the Dallas Opera Orchestra, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Kansas City Ballet, Austin Symphony, Detroit Symphony Civic Orchestra and World Youth Symphony Orchestra. From 2013 to 2015, Carolyn was music director of the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra, with whom she was a multiple American Prize winner. She currently serves as director of Orchestral Studies at the University of Kansas, whilst continuing to enjoy an active freelance career throughout the U.S., Europe and Australia.

A Churchill Fellow, Carolyn is also the recipient of the Brian Stacey Award for Emerging Australian Conductors; Charles Mackerras Conducting Prize awarded by the Australian Music Foundation in London; Nelly Apt Scholarship; Opera Foundation Australia’s Bayreuth Opera Award; and the Berlin New Music Opera Award. Carolyn holds a doctorate in performance (conducting) from the University of Sydney, where the subject of her doctoral thesis was Gesture as Communication: The Art of Carlos Kleiber.

KU SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA The University of Kansas Symphony Orchestra (KUSO) provides performance majors the highest quality preparation for a professional career in orchestral playing. KUSO offers a comprehensive course of orchestral studies and performs repertoire spanning from the Baroque to the 21st century, including premieres of new works. In addition to large-scale symphonic programming, each season includes performances of major solo works featuring faculty, student and leading international guest artists, who recently have included Blake Pouliot, Joshua Roman and Simone Porter. KUSO also regularly collaborates with KU Theatre and KU Opera, as the resident ensemble for the productions. The orchestra combines with KU Choirs for the immensely popular Holiday Vespers annual concert as well as other choral/ orchestral literature throughout the year, and showcases the works of student composers in the KU composition studio. KUSO’s concert stage is the magnificent 2,000-seat Lied Center of Kansas, and the orchestra also regularly performs at the nationally renowned Kauffman Center in Kansas City.