saturday August 17 sunday August 18
THE JOFFREY BALLET: THE RITE OF SPRING The Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Tito Mu単oz
T H E C L E V E L A N D O R C H E S T R A FRANZ WELSER-MÖST MUSIC DIREC TOR Kelvin Smith Family Chair
FIRST VIOLINS William Preucil CONCERTMASTER
Blossom-Lee Chair
Yoko Moore
ASSISTANT CONCERTMASTER
Clara G. and George P. Bickford Chair
Peter Otto
FIRST ASSOCIATE CONCERTMASTER
Jung-Min Amy Lee
ASSOCIATE CONCERTMASTER
Gretchen D. and Ward Smith Chair
Alexandra Preucil
ASSISTANT CONCERTMASTER
Dr. Jeanette Grasselli Brown and Dr. Glenn R. Brown Chair
Takako Masame Paul and Lucille Jones Chair
Wei-Fang Gu Drs. Paul M. and Renate H. Duchesneau Chair
VIOLAS Robert Vernon *
OBOES Frank Rosenwein *
Chaillé H. and Richard B. Tullis Chair
Lynne Ramsey 1 Charles M. and Janet G. Kimball Chair
Stanley Konopka 2 Mark Jackobs Jean Wall Bennett Chair
Arthur Klima Richard Waugh Lisa Boyko Lembi Veskimets Eliesha Nelson Joanna Patterson Zakany Patrick Connolly
Elizabeth and Leslie Kondorossy Chair Harriet T. and David L. Simon Chair
Miho Hashizume Theodore Rautenberg Chair
Jeanne Preucil Rose Dr. Larry J.B. and Barbara S. Robinson Chair
Alicia Koelz Oswald and Phyllis Lerner Gilroy Chair
Yu Yuan Patty and John Collinson Chair
Isabel Trautwein Trevor and Jennie Jones Chair
Mark Dumm Gladys B. Goetz Chair
Richard Weiss 1 The GAR Foundation Chair Helen Weil Ross Chair
Bryan Dumm Muriel and Noah Butkin Chair
Tanya Ell Ralph Curry Brian Thornton David Alan Harrell Paul Kushious Martha Baldwin Thomas Mansbacher BASSES Maximilian Dimoff * Clarence T. Reinberger Chair
Katherine Bormann Ying Fu
Kevin Switalski 2 Scott Haigh 1
SECOND VIOLINS Stephen Rose *
Mark Atherton Thomas Sperl Henry Peyrebrune
Alfred M. and Clara T. Rankin Chair
Emilio Llinas 2 James and Donna Reid Chair
Eli Matthews
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Patricia M. Kozerefski and Richard J. Bogomolny Chair
Elayna Duitman Ioana Missits Carolyn Gadiel Warner Stephen Warner Sae Shiragami Vladimir Deninzon Sonja Braaten Molloy Scott Weber Kathleen Collins Beth Woodside Emma Shook Jeffrey Zehngut Yun-Ting Lee
Everett D. and Eugenia S. McCurdy Chair
Robert Walters ENGLISH HORN Robert Walters Samuel C. and Bernette K. Jaffe Chair
CLARINETS Franklin Cohen * Robert Marcellus Chair
Robert Woolfrey Daniel McKelway 2 Linnea Nereim
Charles Bernard 2
Chul-In Park
Mary Lynch Jeffrey Rathbun 2
Robert R. and Vilma L. Kohn Chair
CELLOS Mark Kosower* Louis D. Beaumont Chair
Kim Gomez
Edith S. Taplin Chair
E-FLAT CLARINET Daniel McKelway Stanley L. and Eloise M. Morgan Chair
BASS CLARINET Linnea Nereim
Louise Harkness Ingalls Chair
William Hestand Barrick Stees 2 Sandra L. Haslinger Chair
Jonathan Sherwin CONTRABASSOON Jonathan Sherwin HORNS Richard King * Michael Mayhew §
Charles Barr Memorial Chair
Charles Carleton Scott Dixon Derek Zadinsky
Knight Foundation Chair
Jesse McCormick Hans Clebsch Alan DeMattia TRUMPETS Michael Sachs * Robert and Eunice Podis Weiskopf Chair
HARP Trina Struble *
Jack Sutte Lyle Steelman2
Alice Chalifoux Chair
James P. and Dolores D. Storer Chair
FLUTES Joshua Smith *
Michael Miller
Elizabeth M. and William C. Treuhaft Chair
Saeran St. Christopher Marisela Sager 2 Austin B. and Ellen W. Chinn Chair
Mary Kay Fink PICCOLO Mary Kay Fink
CORNETS Michael Sachs * Mary Elizabeth and G. Robert Klein Chair
Michael Miller
TUBA Yasuhito Sugiyama* Nathalie C. Spence and Nathalie S. Boswell Chair
TIMPANI Paul Yancich * Otto G. and Corinne T. Voss Chair
Tom Freer 2 PERCUSSION Marc Damoulakis°
Margaret Allen Ireland Chair
Donald Miller Tom Freer KEYBOARD INSTRUMENTS Joela Jones * Rudolf Serkin Chair
Carolyn Gadiel Warner Marjory and Marc L. Swartzbaugh Chair
LIBRARIANS Robert O’Brien Donald Miller ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL Carol Lee Iott DIRECTOR
Karyn Garvin MANAGER
ENDOWED CHAIRS CURRENTLY UNOCCUPIED Sidney and Doris Dworkin Chair Sunshine Chair
* Principal
° Acting Principal § 1 2
Associate Principal First Assistant Principal Assistant Principal
CONDUCTORS Christoph von Dohnányi MUSIC DIRECTOR LAUREATE
Giancarlo Guerrero
PRINCIPAL GUEST CONDUCTOR, CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA MIAMI
James Feddeck
ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR
TROMBONES Massimo La Rosa* Gilbert W. and Louise I. Humphrey Chair
Anne M. and M. Roger Clapp Chair
EUPHONIUM AND BASS TRUMPET Richard Stout
BASSOONS John Clouser *
George Szell Memorial Chair
Mary E. and F. Joseph Callahan Chair
BASS TROMBONE Thomas Klaber
Richard Stout Alexander and Marianna C. McAfee Chair
Elizabeth Ring and William Gwinn Mather Chair
Robert Porco
DIRECTOR OF CHORUSES
Frances P. and Chester C. Bolton Chair
Shachar Israel 2
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The Cleveland Orchestra
Blossom Music Festival
T H E C L E V E L A N D O R C H E S T R A F R A N Z
W E L S E R - M Ö ST M U S I C
D I R E C T O R
Welcome, Joffrey! Our collaboration with The Joffrey Ballet continues. With these summer performances at Blossom, coupled with five sold-out performances of The Nutcracker last winter at PlayhouseSquare in Cleveland, we have again confirmed just how special a spark can come from pairing a world-class dance company with the brilliant musicianship of The Cleveland Orchestra. Your attendance here tonight is testament to the interest and enthusiasm of Northeast Ohio for great dance performances.
This weekend features a special anniversary presentation of The Rite of Spring, in Joffrey’s reconstruction of the original production from 100 years ago this year. In this single work, in its surprisingly different movements and sounds, can be found the essence of modern dance and modern music. We are indeed fortunate to witness this acclaimed recreation here in Northeast Ohio. We extend thanks to our friends at DANCECleveland and the Heinz Poll Summer Dance Festival, who have helped in promoting this weekend’s performances and connecting with people throughout the region. The Cleveland Orchestra is proud to stand with the region’s dance community in bringing audiences the best in dance.
Please also join with me in extending special thanks to The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, whose important and generous grant to the Orchestra announced this past spring — and its matching gift provision — is focused to increase funding so that ballet and opera can be an ongoing and integral part of each Cleveland Orchestra season.
Gary Hanson Executive Director The Cleveland Orchestra
Blossom Music Festival
Welcome
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THE
CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA
Your passion for ballet and opera is defining the future. Performances of ballet and opera with The Cleveland Orchestra are made possible through the generous support of these patrons: Chuck and Sandy Abookire Nancy A. Adams Dr. and Mrs. John A. Brown Ralph and Barbara Daugstrup Barbara Ann Davis Judith and George W. Diehl Judith Ernest and Jack Harley T. K. and Faye A. Heston Tim and Linda Koelz Mrs. Emma S. Lincoln Elizabeth McBride Mr. and Mrs. James Meil Mr. and Mrs. Stanley A. Meisel The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Donald and Alice Noble Foundation Mr. J. William and Dr. Suzanne Palmer Dr. James and Lynne Rambasek Barbara S. Robinson Mr. Larry J. Santon Patricia J. Sawvel Dr. Rachel R. Schneider Drs. Daniel and Ximena Sessler Ms. Frances L. Sharp John and Annette Shaughnessy Dr. Elizabeth Swenson Mr. Ronald E. Teare Carole Hershey Walters Grover and Mary Zinn Future support for Cleveland Orchestra performances of ballet and opera is being matched dollar-for-dollar through a generous grant from THE ANDREW W. MELLON FOUNDATION
To discuss how you can participate in this program, please contact Cori Finefrock at The Cleveland Orchestra by calling 216-231-7545
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Blossom Music Festival
Saturday evening, August 17, 2013, at 8:00 p.m. Sunday evening, August 18, 2013, at 8:00 p.m.
TH E JOF F R EY BALLET A S H L E Y W H E AT E R Artistic Director
T H E C L E V E L A N D OR C H E S T R A F R A N Z W E L S E R - M Ö S T Music Director conducted by TITO MUÑOZ with JOELA JONES , piano
Interplay
choreography by Jerome Robbins to music by Morton Gould
Son of Chamber Symphony choreography by Stanton Welch to music by John Adams
Adagio
choreography by Yuri Possokhov to music by Aram Khachaturian
INTERMISSION
The Rite of Spring
choreography after Vaslav Nijinsky, reconstructed by Millicent Hodson to music by Igor Stravinsky
The Saturday performance is dedicated to Barbara S. Robinson and to Giuliana C. and John D. Koch in recognition of their extraordinary generosity in support of The Cleveland Orchestra’s 2012-13 Annual Fund. The Sunday performance is dedicated to Jeanette Grasselli Brown and Glenn R. Brown in recognition of their extraordinary generosity in support of The Cleveland Orchestra’s 2012-13 Annual Fund. Media Partners: WCLV Classical 104.9 FM ideastream®
90.3 WCPN ideastream®
Blossom Music Festival
Program: August 17-18
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Ashley Wheater Artistic Director The Joffrey Ballet
Ashley Wheater has dedicated his life to dance. He was born in Scotland and trained at the Royal Ballet School in England. While at the school, he worked with Frederick Ashton in Benjamin Britten’s Death in Venice, and performed at Covent Garden in numerous productions, including Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, and The Dream. Having graduated to the upper school of the Royal Ballet, Mr. Wheater danced in many full-length productions and performed with Rudolph Nureyev in Nureyev and Friends at the London Coliseum. After leaving the Royal Ballet, Mr. Wheater joined the London Festival Ballet, where he continued to work with Nureyev in his Romeo and Juliet and Sleeping Beauty and with Glen Tetley in Sphinx and Greening, along with a large repertoire of classics and new creations. Under the artistic direction of John Field, he was promoted to principal dancer at the age of 20. In 1980, Ashley Wheater joined the Australian Ballet, where he continued dancing principal roles in both classical and contemporary work, especially in full-length ballets by John Cranko. Mr. Wheater joined The Joffrey Ballet in 1984 at the invitation of Gerald Arpino. For the next four years, he performed various works by American choreographers, including William Forsythe, Gerald Arpino, Mark Morris, Paul Taylor, and Laura Dean, as well as repertoire by Ashton and Cranko. Joining the San Francisco Ballet in 1989, Ashley Wheater continued his creative career, working with Helgi Tomasson, James Kudelka, David Bintley, and other choreographers. He became ballet master at the San Francisco Ballet in 1997 and, in 2002, assistant to the artistic director. Since his appointment in 2007 as artistic director of The Joffrey Ballet, Mr. Wheater has built upon the vibrant legacy of founders Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino. True to Joffrey’s vision for the company, he honors ballet masterpieces and seeks to preserve them, is constantly in search of new creative voices, and presents work relevant to the community and today. Under his direction, a range of world-class choreographers have created new works for the company. Full-length ballets that have been added to the Joffrey’s repertoire include Lar Lubovitch’s Othello, Ronald Hynd’s The Merry Widow, the world premiere of Yuri Possokhov’s Don Quixote, Krzysztof Pastor’s Romeo and Juliet, and Stanton Welch’s La Bayadère: The Temple Dancer. In 2008, Mr. Wheater was the recipient of the Boeing Game-Changer Award in recognition of his commitment to community engagement in Chicago and to the celebration of diversity through dance. In 2010, Mr. Wheater, representing The Joffrey Ballet, was named Lincoln Academy Laureate, the highest honor presented by the State of Illinois.
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The Joffrey Ballet
Blossom Music Festival
T H E J O F F R E Y B A L L E T has been hailed as “America’s Ballet Company of Firsts.” The Joffrey Ballet’s long list of “firsts” includes first dance company to perform at the White House (at Jacqueline Kennedy’s invitation), first to appear on television, first American company to visit Russia, first classical dance company to go multi-media, first to commission a rock ’n’ roll ballet, first and only dance company to be featured on the cover of Time magazine, and the first company to have had a major motion picture based on it, Robert Altman’s The Company. For more than a half-century, The Joffrey Ballet’s commitment to taking world-class, artistically vibrant work to a broad and varied audience has created a solid foundation that continues to support the company’s unprecedented capacity for achieving important “firsts.” Today, the Joffrey, which has been hugely successful in its former residencies in New York and Los Angeles, lives permanently in a brilliant new facility, Joffrey Tower, in the heart of America in Chicago, Illinois. The company’s commitment to accessibility is met through the most extensive touring schedule of any dance company in history, an innovative and highly effective education program (including the much-lauded Academy of Dance, Official School of The Joffrey Ballet), and collaborations with myriad other visual and performing arts organizations. Classically trained to the highest standards, The Joffrey Ballet expresses a unique, inclusive perspective on dance, proudly reflecting the diversity of America with its company, audiences, and repertoire, which includes major story ballets, reconstructions of masterpieces, and contemporary works. Founded by visionary teacher Robert Joffrey in 1956 and guided by celebrated choreographer Gerald Arpino from 1988 until 2007, The Joffrey Ballet continues to thrive under internationally renowned artistic director Ashley Wheater and executive director Greg Cameron. The Joffrey Ballet has become one of the most revered and recognizable arts organizations in America and one of the top dance companies in the world. To learn more about The Joffrey Ballet and to read biographies of individual dancers, please visit joffrey.org.
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The Joffrey Ballet
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Tito Muñoz Tito Muñoz was recently appointed music director of Le Poisson Rouge’s Ensemble LPR, the flagship ensemble of New York’s celebrated multimedia performance venue, dedicated to the fusion of popular and art cultures in music, film, theater, dance, and fine art. He is also music director of the Opéra National de Lorraine and the Orchestre Symphonique et Lyrique de Nancy. In addition, his guest conducting engagements in Europe and across North America feature concert, opera, and ballet performances. An alumnus of the National Conducting Institute, Mr. Muñoz made his professional conducting debut in 2006 with the National Symphony Orchestra. That same year, he made his Cleveland Orchestra debut at Blossom, and subsequently served a three-year term as assistant conductor (200710). He continues to maintain a close relationship with The Cleveland Orchestra, where he has returned to conduct annually, including a critically acclaimed subscription week, stepping in on short notice for Pierre Boulez in 2011. Mr. Muñoz’s first performances with The Joffrey Ballet and The Cleveland Orchestra in 2009 led to a series of further performances, as well as an invitation to tour with Joffrey during the 2010-11 season. He most recently returned to Cleveland to lead performances with the Orchestra of Joffrey Ballet’s The Nutcracker at PlayhouseSquare in November 2012 and the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Concert in January 2013. Mr. Muñoz’s performances across North America have included concerts with the orchestras of Atlanta, Columbus, Detroit, Hartford, Houston, Indianapolis, Phoenix, and San Antonio, among others. Following recent engagements in Europe with the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra and Opéra de Rennes, he has upcoming debuts there with the Danish Radio Sinfonietta, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken, Luxembourg Philharmonic, and the Orchestre National de Lorraine. During the summers 2004-06, Mr. Muñoz attended the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen, where he studied with David Zinman and Murry Sidlin and participated in masterclasses with Asher Fisch, Leon Fleisher, George Manahan, David Robertson, and Leonard Slatkin. He is the winner of the Aspen Music Festival’s 2005 Robert J. Harth Conductor Prize and the 2006 Aspen Conducting Prize, and in 2007 returned to Aspen as the festival’s assistant conductor. Born in New York City, Tito Muñoz began his musical training on the violin at age thirteen in the Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program. He continued his studies at the Manhattan School of Music, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, and Queens College City University of New York. An accomplished violinist, Mr. Muñoz performed in a variety of New York’s leading ensembles, including the New York Virtuosi, Ensemble Sospeso, and Orchestra of St. Luke’s.
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Conductor
2013 Blossom Festival
ASHLEY WHEATER Artistic Director GREG CAMERON Executive Director ROBERT JOFFREY Founder
GERALD ARPINO Founder
Artists of The Company Matthew Adamczyk Derrick Agnoletti Yoshihisa Arai Amanda Assucena Guillaume Basso Miguel Angel Blanco OÄ&#x;ulcan Borova Anais Bueno Fabrice Calmels Raul Casasola April Daly Fernando Duarte Erica Lynette Edwards Yumelia Garcia Cara Marie Gary John Mark Giragosian Elivelton das Gracas Dylan Gutierrez Elizabeth Hansen Rory Hohenstein Anastacia Holden Dara Holmes Victoria Jaiani Graham Maverick Caitlin Meighan Jeraldine Mendoza Jacqueline Moscicke Amber Neumann Alexis Polito Christine Rocas Aaron Rogers Lucas Segovia Aaron Smyth Temur Suluashvili Shane Urton Alberto Velazquez Mahallia Ward Jenny Winton Joanna Wozniak Kara Zimmerman NICOLAS BLANC Ballet Master GERARD CHARLES Ballet Master GRACA SALES Ballet Master and Principal Coach SCOTT SPECK Music Director Production KATHERINE SELIG Principal Stage Manager AMANDA HEUERMANN Stage Manager JACK MEHLER Lighting Director
Blossom Music Festival
The Joffrey Ballet
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Interplay choreography by Jerome Robbins set to American Concertette (for piano and orchestra) music by Morton Gould costumes by Santo Loquasto lighting by Jack Mehler after Ronald Bates BALLET NOTES
Jerome Robbins (1918-1998) remains one of the great masters of American theater, whose influence over ballet and Broadway has been profound and long lasting. Following the enormous success of his first ballet, Fancy Free, Jerome Robbins chose a work by the American composer Morton Gould for his second ballet, Interplay. Both the music and the ballet are full of humor and jazzy influences, and are distinctly American. The ballet was first performed in “Concert Varieties” at the Ziegfeld Theatre in June 1945, and has since become a favorite of the contemporary American repertory. It still appears fresh and full of youthful energy.
The Joffrey Ballet, photography © by Herbert Migdoll.
Although a dance without a storyline, Interplay is full of human interaction. The ballet shows the interplay between classical ballet steps and the contemporary spirit with which they are executed, between the dancers and the orchestra, and between the dancers themselves. The playful nature of the movements may make the work seem deceptively simple, but the choreography is packed with demanding technical feats and a sophisticated use of structure. Here, Robbins experimented with choreographic patterns and the interactions of dancers in various formations. Like a kinetic kaleido-
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The Joffrey Ballet
The Cleveland Orchestra
scope, lines, diagonals, circles, squares, and more complex patterns continually evolve from each other. The choreography’s style matches Gould’s score, with its jazzy orchestration and use of swingtime rhythms of the 1940s. The ballet is divided into 4 movements: 1.) Free-Play, 2.) Horse-Play, 3.) By-Play, and 4.) Team-Play. Interplay was brought into The Joffrey Ballet’s repertoire in 1972. American composer, pianist, and conductor Morton Gould (1913-1996) was among a new generation of voices in classical music that came of age in the middle of the 20th century. Although often overshadowed by Copland, Bernstein, and Barber, like them he worked across a variety of styles and idioms, in the concert hall and theater, and incorporated ideas from popular music into his works. Gould created his American Concertette in 1942-43 for the pianist José Iturbi. It was premiered in August 1943 in Philadelphia. The composer later wrote that it was “conceived as a little concerto for piano and orchestra” using “popular idiomatic materials in a classical framework and fabric.” Robbins heard the premiere on radio and thought it would make perfect music for a ballet. For this weekend’s performances, Cleveland Orchestra principal keyboard Joela Jones is featured in the solo musical role. An artist of exceptional versatility, Jones plays piano, organ, harpsichord, celesta, synthesizer, and accordion with The Cleveland Orchestra. As soloist with the Orchestra, she has performed over fifty different concertos in more than 200 performances at Severance Hall and Blossom, as well as on tour in Europe and Asia. She holds the Rudolf Serkin Principal Keyboard Endowed Chair. Performed by permission of The Robbins Rights Trust.
World Premiere: June 1, 1945, Ziegfeld Theatre, New York City Length of Ballet: 18 minutes THE DANCERS Cara Marie Gary, Amber Neumann, Christine Rocas, Kara Zimmerman, John Mark Giragosian, Aaron Rogers, Lucas Segovia, Alberto Velazquez Mvt 1: Mvt 2: Mvt 3: Mvt 4:
Free-Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Full Cast Horse-Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Mark Giragosian By-Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Christine Rocas & Alberto Velazquez Team-Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Full Cast
Blossom Festival 2013
The Joffrey Ballet
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Son of Chamber Symphony choreography by Stanton Welch music by John Adams costume design by Travis Halsey lighting design and scenic concept by Jack Mehler BALLET NOTES
Australian choreographer Stanton Welch (b. 1969) assumed leadership in 2003 of Houston Ballet, America’s fourth largest classical ballet company. Today, he is one of the most sought-after choreographers of his generation, having created works for such companies as Houston Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Australian Ballet, and Royal Danish Ballet. When asked to create a new work for The Joffrey Ballet, Welch began by looking for a variety of music to offer to Ashley Wheater. During that process, there was one piece that really caught his imagination, Son of Chamber Symphony by John Adams. Welch thought that Adams’s deconstruction of the music was like looking at the inner workings of a clock. The music inspired the choreographer to move in ways both expected and unexpected. While listening to the music, Welch already began to see the structure of his future ballet. As a choreographer, he likes to strip away the layers and to show the dancers, at the edge of their ability, riding the top of their physical wave. Just as the composer took a classical musical structure and deconstructed it, so does the choreographer take standard ballet traditions and opens them out to discover new interpretations and greater awareness. Throughout the ballet, there are references (more of an inspiration than direct quotes) to many classical works, turned inside out and evolved. Welch wants the audience to feel familiar with what they are seeing, but it is not important for them to know exactly why. Welch says that “so much of ballet is about hiding the difficulties and seeking to attain seamless movement. Here I want to show the seams.” The costuming underscores this, too. Recognizable forms are literally turned inside out, and show the inner construction marks and understructure of the garments. The women wear recognizable, but stylized tutus, the geometric shape of which forms an integral part of the movement and choreographic structure. The ballet opens with one woman in the quintessential ballet costume, a tutu, surrounded by four men. This could be the set up for the “Rose Adagio” from Sleeping Beauty, but see how quickly this allusion is shattered and the choreography takes off in new directions. The second movement is a pas de deux, another essential element of most classical ballets, but there are many additional things going on here. It is more than just a dance for two, there
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The Joffrey Ballet
2013 Blossom Festival
is struggle and complexity. In the final movement, there are allusions to a corps de ballet of swans, but the dynamics and thrust of the work show us so much more. Welch has given the group of women steps that would normally be given to principal dancers — he feels an obligation to keep moving the classical art forward and to challenge the dancers in a way that allows them to grow. But it is not only about athleticism. At the same time, Mr. Welch also looks for sensuality in his choreography. Welch says that there is no correct response that an audience member should have to his work, but he hopes that they will be left with a feeling. Son of Chamber Symphony is a dance work that can be enjoyed on many levels. The dance can be enjoyed as a visual enhancement of the score (being married so well to the music), or for the pure physical achievements of the dancers, or, for those with a greater familiarity with the classical repertoire, it can be fun to spot the short quotes or allusions to familiar works within the piece. Composer John Adams (b. 1949) emerged in the 1990s as America’s most performed and most influential serious composer since Aaron Copland’s heyday in the mid-20th century. Worldwide celebrations and festivals surrounding his sixtieth birthday in 2007 gave him a secure new platform as one of music’s established and respected voices. Too often labeled and lumped in with other trail-blazing “minimalist” composers (such as Philip Glass and Steve Reich), Adams has evolved far beyond minimalism’s repetitive reductionism. The depth, lyricality, imagination, and myriad conceptual vitality that he has invested in his music has created a body of works that is both timeless and enduring. Music performed by arrangement with Hendon Music Inc., a Boosey & Hawkes company, publisher and copyright owner.
World Premiere: August 22, 2012, Jacob’s Pillow, Becket, Massachusetts
Length of Ballet: 27 minutes THE DANCERS Mvt 1 Anastacia Holden & Rory Hohenstein Derrick Agnoletti, Yoshihisa Arai, Oğulcan Borova, Graham Maverick Mvt 2 April Daly & Dylan Gutierrez Mvt 3 Christine Rocas & John Mark Giragosian Elizabeth Hansen, Dara Holmes, Caitlin Meighan, Jeraldine Mendoza, Alexis Polito, Joanna Wozniak
The Cleveland Orchestra
The Joffrey Ballet
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Seven Shows. Reimagined Classics. Unlimited Possibilities.
November 12-24, 2013
December 4-January 5, 2014
October 1-13, 2013 March 4-16, 2014
D®– WINNING TONY AWAR AL REVIVAL! BEST MUSIC
Photo by Jeremy Daniel
April 1-13, 2014
SICAL
Y MU ADWA E BRO
TH
May 6-18, 2014
Free PORGY AND BESS sampler CD with purchase of season tix! Mention "CLASSICS"
February 4-16, 2014
216-640-8800
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playhousesquare.org/broadway
Blossom Music Festival
Adagio choreography by Yuri Possokhov set to music from the ballet “Spartacus” by Aram Khachaturian lighting by Jack Mehler BALLET NOTES
Choreographer Yuri Possokhov received his training at the Moscow Ballet School and danced with the Bolshoi Ballet for ten years. He later joined the Royal Danish Ballet and then San Francisco Ballet. In 2006, after retiring as a principal dancer, he was appointed choreographer-in-residence with San Francisco Ballet. Possokhov choreographed this work on Joffrey dancers Victoria Jaiani and Temur Suluashvili for the Napa Valley Festival del Sole. Since its premiere, Possokhov has had the opportunity to revisit the work, to expand upon it, and to refine the interpretation of the dance. Although the music is very recognizable as the famous pas de deux from Spartacus, the duet is the choreographer’s response to the music itself and not an interpretation of the original storyline of the work. This dance is full of fluid movement as well as technically challenging moments that will touch the soul of the audience who share this experience with the dancers.
Composer Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978) was a Soviet Armenian composer whose works spanned a range of musical forms, including ballets, symphonies, concertos, and film scores. Along with Prokofiev and Shostakovich, he is sometimes called one of the “three titans” of Soviet music. Like them, he was also reprimanded for anti-Soviet “formalism” in his music, but was nevertheless more often embraced by the government censors and praised as an example to others. He composed his score for the full-length ballet Spartacus in 1954, for which he was awarded the Lenin Prize. It remains one of his most performed and widely recognized works. World Premiere: July 21, 2012, Napa Valley Festival del Sole
Length of Ballet: 9 minutes THE DANCERS Victoria Jaiani & Temur Suluashvili
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Blossom Music Festival
The Rite of Spring [Le Sacre du Printemps] scenario by Igor Stravinsky and Nicholas Roerich choreography after Vaslav Nijinsky reconstructed and staged by Millicent Hodson music by Igor Stravinsky performed in a reduced orchestration by Jonathan McPhee
costumes and dĂŠcors after Nicholas Roerich reconstructed and supervised by Kenneth Archer artistic supervision of the reconstruction by Robert Joffrey lighting design by Jack Mehler after Thomas Skelton scenic supervision and costumes executed by Robert Perdziola and Sally Ann Parsons originally commissioned for Ballets Russes by Sergei Diaghilev
The Joffrey Ballet, photography Š by Herbert Migdoll.
Part I. The Adoration of the Earth Spring. The Earth is covered with flowers. The Earth is covered with grass. A great joy reigns over the Earth. (Dances of the Young Girls). The men join in the dance and invoke the future according to the rites. (Mock Abuction). The Sage among all the Ancestors, or Elders, participates in the glorification of the Spring. All are made one with the abundant and rich Earth. Everyone tramples the Earth with ecstasy. (Dance of the Earth). Part II. The Sacrifice After the day, after midnight. On the hills are the consecrated stones. The young girls carry out the mystical games and look for the Great Path. (Mystic Circle of the Young Girls). They glorify, they exalt the maiden who is designated to be the chosen one of the god. (Glorification of the Chosen One). They call the Ancestors, venerated witnesses. And the wise Ancestors of Men contemplate the Sacrifice. It is thus they scrifice to Yarilo, the magnificent, the flaming. (Sacrificial Dance).
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BALLET NOTES
As a member of Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, Vaslav Nijinsky (18901950), was one of the greatest dancers of the 20th century. He was also an innovative choreographer. The Rite of Spring [Le Sacre du Printemps] gave him the opportunity to revolutionize dance, stimulated by his close collaborators Igor Stravinsky the composer and Nicholas Roerich the scenarist and designer. All three felt a desire to continue breaking free from prevailing classical ballet and were intrigued to evoke the primitive soul of their native Russia, returning to the colorful peasant costumes and the vast stony regions of the Slavic north. In his music, Stravinsky captured the first moment of the Russian Spring, which, as he said, was like the whole world suddenly cracking. Roerich and Stravinsky conceived a pagan rite involving elders of a tribe watching the annual fertility ritual, where a young girl dances herself to death. As the work was realized, it became a ballet completely apart from the norm of their day. The body movements that Nijinsky devised were so unfamiliar to the classically trained dancers that many of them rebelled against the steps he required. But he stood firm. Stravinsky’s polyrhythms were monumentally difficult. Diaghilev asked a pupil of Émil Jaques-Dalcroze (founder of the music study system Eurhythmics) to assist Nijinsky with the score for the corps de ballet. Her name was Marie Rambert (she would later direct the Ballet Rambert in London). Nijinsky created the role of the Chosen One in The Rite of Spring for his sister, Bronislava, who became pregnant and could not perform. She was replaced by Maria Plitz, who danced the role to acclaim. By the final rehearsals, most of the dancers believed in the ballet, though everyone, including Diaghilev, was anxious about the potential audience reaction to the new work. In fact, at the premiere in Paris in 1913, pandemonium broke out in the theater, with audience members howling, whistling, and catcalling in response to the violent fertility rite, drowning out the music and fighting in the aisles. There was chaos at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and the ensuing riot has become legend. The Rite of Spring nevertheless made a profound impression, considered by many to be the tumultuous birth of modernism in ballet. Stravinsky’s score is a staple in the repertoire of the world’s great orchestras. And more than two-hundred choreographers have since created their own takes on the score. Only Joffrey’s The Rite of Spring, however, turned legend back into artifact. It was meticulously researched and reconstructed by Millicent Hodson and Kenneth Archer and is recognized internationally as the closest possible version of Nijinsky’s original. Premiered in 1987, the reconstruction is a testimony to the ardent desire of Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino to revive rare classics — which the company still presents with great care, allowing audiences to experience the defining treasures of ballet.
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The Joffrey Ballet
Blossom Music Festival
World Premiere: May 29, 1913, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris Premiere of the Reconstructed Version: September 30, 1987, Los Angeles
Length of Ballet: 36 minutes THE DANCERS
Part I An Old Woman of 300 Years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Erica Lynette Edwards The Young People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Guillaume Basso, Raul Casasola, Aaron Rogers, Lucas Segovia, Shane Urton The Youths . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Matthew Adamczyk, Derrick Agnoletti, John Mark Giragosian, Graham Maverick, Aaron Smyth, Alberto Velazquez The Young Men . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yoshihisa Arai, Oğulcan Borova, Fabrice Calmels, Dylan Gutierrez, Rory Hohenstein The Maidens in Red . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April Daly, Dara Holmes, Christine Rocas, Mahallia Ward, Jenny Winton, Kara Zimmerman Small Maidens in Red . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yumelia Garcia, Elizabeth Hansen, Anastacia Holden The Women in Blue . . . . . . . . . . . Amanda Assucena, Cara Marie Gary, Jeraldine Mendoza, Jacqueline Moscicke, Amber Neumann The Tall Women in Mauve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Victoria Jaiani, Caitlin Meighan, Alexis Polito An Old Sage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gerard Charles The Elders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Elivelton das Gracas, Temur Suluashvili
Part II The Chosen One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joanna Wozniak [Saturday evening] Elizabeth Hansen [Sunday evening] The Young Maidens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April Daly, Erica Lynette Edwards, Cara Marie Gary, Anastacia Holden, Dara Holmes, Jeraldine Mendoza, Jacqueline Moscicke, Alexis Polito, Christine Rocas, Mahallia Ward, Jenny Winton, Kara Zimmerman The Ancestors in Bearskins . . . . . . Yoshihisa Arai, Matthew Adamczyk, Guillaume Basso, Fabrice Calmels, Dylan Gutierrez, Rory Hohenstein The Ancestors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Derrick Agnoletti, Oğulcan Borova, Raul Casasola, John Mark Giragosian, Elivelton das Gracas, Graham Maverick, Aaron Rogers, Lucas Segovia, Aaron Smyth, Temur Suluashvili, Shane Urton, Alberto Velazquez Reconstructed choreography © 1987 Millicent Hodson Reconstructed designs © 1987 Kenneth Archer Orchestration performed by arrangement with Boosey & Hawkes. The 1987 Joffrey Ballet production was made possible, in part, by grants to the company and to Millicent Hodson from the National Endowment for the Arts, L.J. Skaggs and Mary C. Skaggs Foundation, and the New York State Council on the Arts, and to Kenneth Archer from the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. Costumes were made possible, in part, by a gift from the Los Angeles Friends of The Joffrey Ballet.
Blossom Music Festival
The Joffrey Ballet
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THE CLEVELAND OR-
OrchestraNews I.N M.E.M.O.R.I.A.M
Orchestra’s newest DVD recording of Bruckner 4th receiving strong reviews The Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director Franz Welser-Möst’s live recording of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4, made available on DVD in the United States at the end of April, is receiving wide acclaim in reviews from around the world. The performance was filmed in 2012 at th the beautiful 17th-century baro baroque Abbey of St. Florian in A Austria. Emmy Award-winne ner Brian Large directed the vid video recording. This is the fir first video produced of the re recent critical edition of the 1 1888 version of Bruckner’s F Fourth Symphony, edited b Benjamin Korstvedt and by published in 2004 as part of the Bruckner Collected Works edition. Review include: Reviews “H d “How does one approach Anton Bruckner and his exuberant Fourth Symphony distinctively? Franz Welser-Möst and his fellow Clevelanders accomplished it. And in such a way!” —Vienna Zeitung, June 2013 “A great orchestra, a Bruckner expert. . . . Five out of five stars.” —Kurier (Austria), May 2013 “In St. Florian, Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra breathed new life into this version. A glorious concert.” —Die Presse (Austria), May 2013 Clasart produced the recording, which is being distributed by Arthaus and Naxos. The Cleveland Orchestra’s longterm partnership with Clasart has resulted in five Bruckner DVDs to date. Founded in Munich in 1977, Clasart is part of the Tele München Group. The Cleveland Orchestra extends special thanks to Raiffeisenlandesbank Oberösterreich and Tele München Group for their ongoing support for electronic media projects.
THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA CLEVELAND O30RCHESTRA THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA ESTRA THE CLEVELAND ORCHE
News
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The Cleveland Orchestra notes the death on July 25 of retired Orchestra tuba player Ronald Bishop. He served as principal tuba of The Cleveland Orchestra for 38 years, 1967-2005. Ron was born in Rochester, New York, and earned a bachelor of music degree and performer’s certificate from the Eastman School of Music and a master of science degree from the University of Illinois. In addition to his role as principal tuba, Ron performed as a soloist with The Cleveland Orchestra on many occasions, and performed in recitals and gave masterclasses throughout the world. He inspired generations of students as a faculty member of the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He was also an avid supporter and performer with Performers and Artists for Nuclear Disarmament. Ron’s artistry, humanity, and sense of humor were priceless, and will be missed. The entire Orchestra family extends its condolences to Ron’s wife, Marie, and to all his family and friends. With this weekend’s performances of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, we especially remember Ron’s particular love of this great work — and of his playing in the two recordings with The Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of Pierre Boulez, including the Grammywinning 1969 version. A second Grammy-winning album also stands testament to Ron’s collaborative artistry — Antiphonal Music of Gabrieli, recorded in 1969 featuring members of the brass sections of the orchestras of Cleveland, Chicago, and Philadelphia. Ron, we’ll miss you, but your legacy lives on.
Orchestra News
The Cleveland Orchestra
“The trouble with music appreciation in general is that people are taught to have too much respect for music. They should be taught to love it instead.” —Igor Stravinsky Blossom Music Festival
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Concert Sponsors The Cleveland Orchestra gratefully acknowledges the generous organizations listed here, whose leadership in sponsoring our concerts makes possible each summer’s Blossom Music Festival.
BakerHostetler Blossom Women’s Committee Eaton The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Inc. Jones Day Littler Mendelson, P.C. Medical Mutual of Ohio Olympic Steel Park-Ohio Holdings Corporation PNC The J.M. Smucker Company
Supporting Foundations The Blossom Music Festival benefits from generous support from these foundations, enabling The Cleveland Orchestra to continue delivering world-class performances to the Northeast Ohio community throughout the summer months. The Orchestra gratefully acknowledges the following foundations for their support.
Lawrence A. Appley Foundation Glenn R. and Alice V. Boggess Memorial Foundation The Mary S. and David C. Corbin Foundation Mary and Dr. George L. Demetros Charitable Trust FirstEnergy Foundation GAR Foundation Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation John S. and James L. Knight Foundation The Lehner Family Foundation Laura R. and Lucian Q. Moffitt Foundation The Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation Polsky Fund of Akron Community Foundation The Charles E. and Mabel M. Ritchie Memorial Foundation The Sisler McFawn Foundation Lloyd L. and Louise K. Smith Memorial Foundation Welty Family Foundation
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The Cleveland Orchestra
CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA | SEVERANCE HALL
PROGRAM BOOK ADVERTISING
City Ballet of Cleveland (formerly Cleveland City Dance Company)
Holding Auditions for
Advertise in a world-class environment and reach northeast Ohio’s most affluent, well-educated and influential audience.
Uniquely Cleveland Nutcracker Sat. September 14 13108 Shaker Square Cleveland, OH 44120 216.295.2222 Performances are Saturday December 7 Sunday December 8
216-721-1800 | info@livepub.com
Blossom Music Festival
This production is partially funded by Cuyahoga Arts & Culture and the Ohio Arts Council
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