KU Symphony Orchestra with Joshua Roman, cello: performance program

Tuesday

SEP 30

7:30 pm

KU Symphony Orchestra with special guest

Joshua Roman

Sponsored by

This event is sponsored, in part, by the Lied Performance Fund.

Please be mindful of the following in the auditorium and the Pavilion: • Please silence cellular phones and electronic devices • No food or drink • No cameras or recording devices

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

University of Kansas Symphony Orchestra David Neely, music director and conductor

Joshua Roman, cello Overture to Ruslan and Ludmila

Mikhail Glinka (1804–1857)

Violoncello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85 Edward Elgar

(1857-1934)

I. Adagio – Moderato

II. Lento – Allegro molto

III. Adagio

IV. Allegro – Moderato – Allegro, ma non troppo – Poco più lento – Adagio

Joshua Roman, soloist

Intermission: 20 Minutes Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21

I. Adagio molto – Allegro con brio

II. Andante cantabile con moto

III. Menuetto

IV. Adagio – Allegro molto e vivace

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)

KU Symphony Orchestra with special guest Joshua Roman, cello

Program Notes Glinka: Overture to Ruslan and Ludmila Glinka founded the school of Russian nationalism and used the folk songs of his native land to vitalize his legacy to Russian music and the world. The opera Ruslan and Ludmila, first performed in 1842, exerted a great influence upon the group of Russian composers known as the “Famous Five.” Rimsky-Korsakoff tells in his memoirs of the enthusiasm of Liadov for the work, and in many of the composition of Balakirev, Borodin and Mussorgsky, who flourished in the latter part of the nineteenth century, one can see that this opera was the model from which they drew their inspiration. The overture contains very little of the music of the opera itself except for some material from the finale and a portion of the air sung by Ruslan in the second act. It is constructed according to the classical mode with the usual development and recapitulation ending with a coda.

Source: Barbara Duncan, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra Elgar: Violoncello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85 The Cello Concerto, of all of Elgar’s orchestral works, is the most elusive and withdrawn, the most subdued in its orchestral dress. The rhetorical flourish for the soloist with which it opens...soon subsides into a long, deceptively simple tune. This is overpoweringly the music of wood smoke and autumn bonfires, of the evening of life; sadness and disillusion are dominant and the music comes perilously close to what Jaeger would have called a ‘whine’ of self-pity. The scherzo’s brightness of mood sounds forced (‘the heart dances, but not for joy’): there is an air of unreality and fantasy about the cello’s tessitura, the use of pizzicato and the woodwind scoring. In the very lovely adagio there is no attempt to disguise the melancholy: a short, sustained, songful lamentation, the music of a broken heart. And although the finale rattles the skeleton of the old, swaggering, rumbustious Elgar, the high spirits are short-lived. Chromatic string harmonies make the tragedy unequivocal.

Following Dvorak’s pattern, Elgar recalls a theme from the slow movement, and the music assumes a nihilist note that is unequalled elsewhere in his output. The opening recitative returns, plunges to the depths and the work ends in almost indecent haste as if too much has been revealed. It is sometimes said that this Concerto is Elgar’s war requiem, but the phrase, accurate in some respects, needs clarification. He was an egocentric artist, and the requiem here is not so much for the dead in Flanders fields as for the destruction of a way of life. With an artist’s vision, he saw that 1918 was the end of a civilization. The slaughter of war, whether of men or horses, had grieved mankind, it is wholly personal,

Tuesday, September 30, 2014 the musical expression of his bitterness about the providence that was ‘against great art’ and the Heavenly Spirit that was ‘cruelly obtuse’ to individual sorrow and sacrifice. There is no ‘massive hope for the future’ in this music, only the voice of an ageing, desolate man, a valediction to an era and to the powers of music that he knew were dying within him. To all intents and purposes this concert was Elgar’s last word. It was a word of resignation, but it was also a farewell to beauty in music of poignant pathos.

Source: Michael Kennedy — Portrait of Elgar Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21 “Confused explosions of the outrageous effrontery of a young man.” “It is believed that a prodigal use of the most barbaric dissonances and a noisy use of all the orchestral instruments will make an effect. Alas, the ear is stabbed, but there is no appeal to the heart.” Thus read some of the criticism of early performances of the thirty-year-old Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1.

Beethoven wrote his First Symphony on the threshold of the nineteenth century. He had previously composed only two works for orchestra, both piano concertos. Over him, as guides and warning, hovered Haydn and Mozart, whose combined output of symphonies exceeded 150. Before him stretched a new world of expressive art, and he already glimpsed its contours. Echoes of the “old order” abound in the score. The accepted patterns and conventions were too strong to break overnight. But there was enough in the symphony to stamp it Beethoven’s and proclaim a fresh outlook and aim. Minor audacities of key and discord jarred on orthodox ears. There are little innovations in the use of the basses, in the scoring for winds, in developing crescendos that point to the future. Enough, apparently, to have alarmed the sentinels of the older regime into pronouncing the symphony “a danger to musical art.”

Most of all, there was the third movement, innocuously labeled “Menuetto.”

That looked traditional enough, at least in print. Haydn had inserted a minuet in all 118 of his symphonies, and then there was Mozart. But Beethoven’s third movement carried a joker, the qualifying words: Allegro molto e vivace. That joker was literally a “joke,” a “scherzo,” a bright bubbling piece of badinage built on a simple ascending scale in G Major that “flashed across the musical heavens in a dazzling arc of new light.” Despite the title, a concession to the past, Beethoven had brought the “scherzo” into the symphony, and there it remained.

Source: Robert Bagar and Louis Biancolli — The Concert Companion – A Comprehensive Guide to Symphonic Music

KU Symphony Orchestra with special guest Joshua Roman, cello Joshua Roman, Cellist “A cellist of extraordinary technical and musical gifts,” as labeled by the San Francisco Chronicle, Joshua Roman has earned national renown for performing a wide-ranging repertoire with a commitment to communicating the essence of music at its most organic level. He is recognized as an accomplished composer, curator and programmer, particularly in his work as artistic director of Seattle Town Hall’s TownMusic series, with a vision to engage and expand the classical music audience. For his ongoing creative initiatives on behalf of classical music, Roman was named a 2011 TED Fellow, joining a select group of next generation innovators of unusual accomplishments who show potential to positively affect the world.

The 2013–14 season began when Roman was the inaugural Alumnus-inResidence at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. In the fall, Roman gave the San Francisco premiere of Dreamsongs, a new cello concerto written for Roman by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Aaron Jay Kernis, with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra. Other highlights include concerto performances with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and recitals in Napa, CA, Coral Gables, FL, Los Alamos, NM, and Seattle.

Roman’s work as artistic director of TownMusic in Seattle has showcased his eclectic musical influences and inspirations, from chamber music favorites to a host of newly commissioned works. Under Roman’s guidance, the series has offered world premieres of compositions by some of today’s brightest young composers and performances by cutting-edge ensembles.

Beyond the performance stage, Roman is dedicated to exploring emerging platforms to harness new audiences, in particular, social media. He recently completed an ongoing video series called “The Popper Project,” where the cellist performed, recorded and uploaded the complete David Popper’s High School of Cello Playing to his dedicated YouTube channel (youtube.com/joshuaromancello).

His newest YouTube project, “Everyday Bach,” features Roman performing Bach’s cello suites from beautiful settings around the world.

Before embarking on a solo career, Roman spent two seasons as principal cellist of the Seattle Symphony, a position he won in 2006 at the age of 22. Since that time he has appeared as a soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, the Seattle Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the BBC Scottish Symphony, the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra and the New World Symphony, among many others.

An active chamber music performer, Roman has collaborated with veterans like Cho-Liang Lin, the Assad Brothers, Earl Carlyss, Christopher Taylor, and other dynamic young soloists and performers from New York’s vibrant music scene.

Roman was also the only guest artist invited to play an unaccompanied solo during the YouTube Symphony Orchestra’s 2009 debut concert at Carnegie Hall.

The Oklahoma City native began playing the cello at the age of three on a quarter-size instrument, and gave his first public recital at age 10.

Tuesday, September 30, 2014 Home-schooled until he was 16, Roman then pursued his musical studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Richard Aaron. He received his bachelor’s degree in Cello Performance in 2004, and his master’s in 2005, as a student of Desmond Hoebig, former principal cellist of the Cleveland Orchestra. He is grateful for the loan of an 1899 cello by Giulio Degani of Venice.

David Neely David Neely is the director of orchestral activities at the University of Kansas.

His international conducting career spans several continents and includes appearances in the German cities Dortmund, Saarbrücken, Coburg, Bonn, Bielefeld, Kaiserslautern, Halle, Bochum and Eutin; St. Gallen, Switzerland; Bregenz, Austria; and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Neely resided in Germany for over a decade where he conducted over four hundred performances of wideranging repertoire.

Neely’s polished, expressive performances have garnered particular critical acclaim for his interpretations of German operatic repertoire and his recent leadership of the American Classics Series with the Sarasota Opera. Landmark projects include the American premiere of Robert Orledge’s completion of Debussy’s The Fall of the House of Usher and the German premiere of MarkAnthony Turnage’s ENO-commissioned opera The Silver Tassie. He has led concerts in the Festspielhaus in Bregenz, Austria, and the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City.

Neely is the music director and principal conductor of the Des Moines Metro Opera, a post he has held since 2012. Past positions with DMMO include Bruno Walter Associate Conductor and co-director of the Apprentice Artist Program.

He has appeared as a conductor and guest teacher of conducting at Indiana University, and served on the faculty of the University of Texas as music director of the Butler Opera Center.

In 2011, Neely played a key role in a successful effort to save the Eutiner Festspiele. By helping to create summer internships for KU music students, the 60-year-old summer opera festival in Lawrence’s sister city was successfully restructured and the musical relationship forged between the festival and the University continues to this day.

Neely is a noted vocal coach, and has held master classes and coaching sessions for young singers at the Sarasota Opera, the Des Moines Metro Opera, Ohio State University, the State Conservatory of the Saarland and the Detmold Conservatory.

He holds degrees in piano performance and orchestral conducting from Indiana University, where his teachers included Leonard Hokanson and Zadel Skolovsky (piano), and Thomas Baldner and Bryan Balkwill (conducting). He also studied orchestral conducting with Gerhard Samuel at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, where he conducted his first operas: Tippet’s The Knot Garden and Janácek’s The Cunning Little Vixen.

KU Symphony Orchestra with special guest Joshua Roman, cello KU Symphony Orchestra Founded in 1904, the orchestra program at the University of Kansas is one of the oldest in the nation. Dean Skilton first assembled a group of music students to form a rudimentary ensemble and the KU Symphony Orchestra (KUSO) has grown during the ensuing 100-years. The KUSO serves the university community and the greater Lawrence area, while reaching out to audiences in nearby cities.

Past music directors have included such internationally known figures as Karl Kuersteiner, George Lawner and Brian Priestman. The current music director is David Neely, who has held the position since 2007.

The University of Kansas Symphony Orchestra provides performance majors with the highest quality preparation for a professional career in orchestral playing. The orchestra serves as a teaching tool for all music majors as they acquire a familiarity with the orchestral repertoire. It is also open to qualified students with majors other than music. In addition to its regular concert season, popular events include the annual Halloween concert and KU Holiday Vespers.

In the summer of 2011, members of the KU Symphony Orchestra traveled to Germany to perform at the Eutin festival in Lawrence’s sister city. Students played productions of the operas Don Giovanni and Hänsel und Gretel at the famous outdoor amphitheater on the Eutiner See. The cooperation with the Eutin festival continues to this day, with selected students in orchestral instruments and voice performing alongside European professionals and students in both concerts and operas.

World War I Centennial Commemoration The Elgar concerto, written in the aftermath of WWI, expresses the composer’s sadness at what had transpired. This program is part of the University of Kansas centennial commemoration of World War I, coordinated by the European Studies Program. Learn more about participating units and upcoming programs at KUWWI.com.

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

KU SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Flute Maddie Bert, principal Margaret Lambie David Ramirez, piccolo Oboe Matt Butterfield, principal Oboe Alyssa Ott Clarinet Tyler Goudlock, principal Mickayla Chapman Richard Adger Bassoon Grant Bingham, co-principal Nina Scheibe, co-principal Ryan Weaver, contrabassoon Horn Eric Hessel, principal Grant Parker Taylor Ensminger Caroline Strickfaden Trumpet Erik Mahon, principal Guangyu Dong Trombone Gun Yong Lee, principal Alex Dyess Andy Newbegin Tuba John Heaver Percussion Matt Ernster, principal Colby Snider Cherys Eland Tai-Jung Tsai Logan Cain

Violin I Kelly Bohling, concertmaster Mandy Wang Roy Schmeidler Meghan Crownover Michael Saasta Violin II Anne Schneller, principal Casey Gregory Erin Gaines Lindsey Mackiewics Allison Bieberle Viola Kathryn Byrd, principal Kaitlyn Hasselman Kris Hilding Irena Jasperson Darren Moring Cassie Tomas Cello Hanna Yeo, principal Audrey Herren Rebecca Tast Cale Cindric Kat Sterbenz Kaitlyn Jarvis Caroline Sager Lan Jiang Bass Oswald P. Backus V, principal Michelle Huey Lauren Roberts Adam Galigher Andrew Michuda Benno Wilkmann Drew Weidman Murphy Smith