Tuesday Musical October 2 & 20 Concerts

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Musical experiences you won’t find anywhere else

Welcome to Tuesday Musical’s 135th season!

Yes, you read that right: Founded on November 9, 1887, Tuesday Musical is now an anchor arts organization in Akron. We’re one of the oldest and most-respected organizations of our kind in the United States and for generations we’ve been bringing musical greats to our community.

Building on that impressive legacy, we’re celebrating the energy and excellence of TODAY’s classical music.

By mixing genres, superstar artists, and under-the-radar gems, this season offers musical experiences that you haven’t experienced before and can’t find anywhere else in our region. Plus, every program will personally connect you with our featured artists — offering insights into what excites and energizes them.

Thank you for joining us now and throughout our 2022-23 season.

Cynthia Snider, Executive Director

More to come!

The Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia Big Brass on Tuesday, December 13, 2022 — “No one plays absolutely beautifully all of the time…unless you’re my cousin Rodney,” claims Wynton Marsalis. Led by a member of American music family royalty, the world’s premier large brass ensemble is planning a festive holiday program combining swing, classical and New Orleans jazz.

“Our Song, Our Story” on Thursday, February 2, 2023 — This Black History Month concert will celebrate trailblazers Marian Anderson, Jessye Norman and Harry T. Burleigh (on Tuesday Musical’s season in 1919) with arias, art songs and spirituals. Soprano Jacqueline Echols and baritone Justin Austin will join a string quartet and Damien Sneed on piano for a program that also weaves in favorites by Handel, Puccini and Gershwin.

Pianist Martín García García on Tuesday, March 7, 2023 — Last year, Spanish pianist Martín García García joined the likes of Sergei Babayan, Angela Hewitt and Jean-Yves Thibaudet by winning the Cleveland International Piano Competition — known as one of the most intense, prestigious and highly rewarded musical contests in the world. This October, he makes his debut at Carnegie Hall. This season’s Margaret Baxtresser Annual Piano Concert is a special opportunity to catch a rising young star.

“An Evening with Itzhak Perlman” on Thursday, April 27, 2023 — A living legend, the IsraeliAmerican violinist and music educator has won 16 GRAMMYs, including a GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award, four Emmys and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In this historic and exclusive evening, Perlman will share intimate anecdotes and multi-media images from his life and career — and perform with longtime collaborator and friend Rohan De Silva — all curated by Tony Awardwinning director Dan Sullivan.

Art meets music at our October 2 concert

If you’re in the audience for our October 2 concert by the Soweto Gospel Choir, you’ll see new student artworks inspired by the world-acclaimed musicians.

Students Gwen Allred, Kaniyah Edwards, Makaylah Forman-McKnight, Alaina Tennant, and Sydnee Wade from The Akron School for the Arts at Firestone Community Learning Center have created a series of colorful paintings unveiled during the concert.

As part of the creative process, the students watched videos of the Soweto Gospel Choir and listened to recordings while they worked in class.

This is the latest in a multi-year collaboration with teacher Patrick Dougherty that’s resulted in a beautiful and thought-provoking collection of student artworks.

Works in progress: See the finished paintings during our October concert by the Soweto Gospel Choir. Photos by Patrick Dougherty

“The music makes me want to paint something with lots of color and to have fun with whatever I’m painting.”

Ariana Rush, student

“I see the color red, the color of passion, when we watch the Soweto Gospel Choir. They seem to really love what they do!” Isabelle Petit, student

Akron Concert Series

The Artists

Soweto Gospel Choir

Choir Master: Shimmy Jiyane

Musical Director: Diniloxolo Ndlakuse

Management: Mary Mulovhedzi, Shimmy Jiyane, Bongani Ncube

Choir

Bongani Mabaso

Nobuhle Dhlamini

Philisiwe Faya

Phello Jiyane

Warren Mahlangu

Victor Makhathini

Jeanette Mazibuko

Siyabolela Mkefa

Thabang Mkhwanazi

Nersia Mofokeng

Jabulile Mola

Zinhle Mpofu

Hlengiwe Msomi

Madgeline Ndindwa

Sipho Ngcamu

Zanele Ngwenya

Phumla Nkhumeleni

Xholani Ntombela

Fanizile Nzuza

Linda Sambo

Hlamarisa Sidumo

Concert Staff

Andrew Kay, Executive Producer

Toni Rudov, Senior Producer/Company Manager

Zachary Ciaburri, Set and Lighting Design

Allan Maguire, Production Manager/Stage Manager

Madge Fletcher, Tour Manager

Chet Nordskog, Audio Engineer

Hailing

from Soweto (South West Township), a town outside of Johannesburg and home of Nelson Mandela and South Africa’s democratic movement, Soweto Gospel Choir continues to inspire audiences around the world with its powerful blend of African gospel, freedom songs and international classics.

Soweto Gospel Choir was formed in 2003 at the end of the apartheid era and during South Africa’s inspiring return to democracy. Taking part in some of the major historical events in the new democratic South Africa, Soweto Gospel Choir is proud to have performed on many occasions for the Father of Their Nation, former President Nelson Mandela, and sadly at his state funeral in South Africa and at the subsequent commemorative service at Westminster Abbey in London. They were similarly invited to perform at the funeral service for the late President’s former wife, Winnie Mandela.

Comprising a line-up of some of South Africa’s best vocalists, the uplifting choir has shared the stage and collaborated with many of the biggest names in contemporary music, including Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Beyoncé, U2, Diana Ross, Peter Gabriel, Chris Martin, John Legend, Pharrell Williams, Jimmy Cliff, Ben Harper, Angelique Kidjo, Robert Plant, Celine Dion, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Hugh Masekela and Josh Groban.

Soweto Gospel Choir is a three-time GRAMMY Award winner; in 2019 its Freedom was named Best World Music Album.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, was the choir’s patron. Soweto Gospel Choir is proud to be ambassadors for the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

Soweto Gospel Choir appears by arrangement with IMG Artists.

Program Notes

HOPE — It’s Been a Long Time Coming

A tribute to the fight for civil rights

“Tonight’s program offers a heartfelt message of hope to all people. It combines South African struggle songs sung by communities fighting the oppressive apartheid regime and the songs of America’s Civil Rights Movement. These are the songs of a people all praying for a better life. They are songs of resistance. They come from the soul. Theirs is a heartfelt message of both resilience and of hope. We trust that this powerful music will not only reach you and cheer you, but will give you inspiration that we can rise above all ills, that we can climb the mountain and emerge from the darkest valleys and into the sun, victorious.”

—Soweto Gospel Choir, 2022

“God has wrought many things out of oppression. He has endowed his creatures with the capacity to create — and from this capacity has flowed the sweet songs of sorrow and joy that have allowed man to cope with his environment and many different situations.”

—Martin Luther King, 1964 Berlin Jazz Festival

“… the political use of music in South Africa changed from being a ‘mirror’ in the 1940s and 1950s to becoming a ‘hammer’ with which to shape reality in the 1980s. In South Africa, music went from reflecting common experiences and concerns in the early years of apartheid, to eventually function as a force to confront the State and as a means to actively construct an alternative political and social reality.”

—Anne Schumann, “The Beat That Beat Apartheid: The Role of Music in the Resistance Against Apartheid in South Africa” in the 2008 Vienna Journal of African Studies

EJ Thomas Performing Arts

October 20, 2022,

p.m.

Scottish Chamber Orchestra

Maxim Emelyanychev, principal conductor

Benedetti, violin

Anna Clyne Stride

b. 1980

Akron Concert Series

at EJ Thomas Hall

Max Bruch

Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26 1838-1920

Vorspiel: Allegro moderato Adagio

Finale: Allegro energico

INTERMISSION

Felix Mendelssohn Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56, “Scottish” 1809-1847 Andante con moto - Allegro un poco agitato Vivace non troppo Adagio

Allegro vivacissimo - Allegro maestoso assai

Ms. Benedetti appears courtesy of Askonas Holt and Primo Artists. Tour Management: Opus 3 Artists

470 Park Avenue South, 9th Floor North, New York, NY 10016 www.opus3artists.com

Earlier this evening, Ian Haberman led our Concert Conversation with Gavin Reid, Chief Executive of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Occasionally presented in EJ’s Flying Balcony, Concert Conversations entertain, educate, and engage our audience members.

Support for this performance and related education/community engagement activities comes from generous foundations, individuals, and businesses. Among them:

Lisle M. Buckingham Endowment Fund of Akron Community Foundation, Kenneth L. Calhoun Charitable Trust, Betty V. and John M. Jacobson Foundation, KeyBank Trustee, Mary and Dr. George L. Demetros Charitable Trust, Charles E. and Mabel M. Ritchie Memorial Foundation, Helen S. Robertson Fund of Akron Community Foundation, Sisler McFawn Foundation, Lloyd L. and Louise K. Smith Foundation, Welty Family Foundation

The Artists

Scottish Chamber Orchestra

Principal Conductor

Maxim Emelyanychev

1st Violin

Stephanie Gonley

Elizabeth Wexler

Kana Kawashima

Aisling O’Dea

Siún Milne

Fiona Alexander

Amira BedrushMcDonald

2nd Violin

Irina Simon Renes

Gordon Bragg

Sarah BevanBaker Stewart Webster Catherine James Gongbo Jiang Kristin Deeken

Viola

Martin Kelly

Zoe Matthews

Brian Schiele

Steve King

Cello

Philip Higham

Su-a Lee

Donald Gillan

Eric de Wit Bass

Nikita Naumov

Ben Burnley

Flute

André Cebrián

Emma Roche

Oboe

Robin Williams

Katherine Bryer

Concordia at Sumner

Your worry-free

region’s

Clarinet

Maximiliano Martín

William Stafford

Bassoon

Cerys Ambrose-Evans

Alison Green

Horn

Steve Stirling

Jamie Shield

Huw Evans

Ian Smith

Trumpet

Peter Franks

Shaun Harrold

Timpani

Louise Goodwin

Staff Gavin Reid, Chief Executive

Judith Colman, Concerts Director

Louisa Stanway, Concerts & Projects Manager

Laura Kernohan, Orchestra Manager

Ronnie Herd, Stage Manager USA Tour

Fiona Noble, Orchestra Librarian

Susan White, Chorus Manager

PHOTO: ANDY GOTTS

PHOTO: ELENA BELOVA

The internationally celebrated Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO) is one of Scotland’s National Performing Companies.

Formed in 1974 and core funded by the Scottish Government, the SCO aims to provide as many opportunities as possible for people to hear great music by touring the length and breadth of Scotland, appearing regularly at major national and international festivals and by touring internationally as proud ambassadors for Scottish cultural excellence.

Making a significant contribution to Scottish life beyond the concert platform, the orchestra works in schools, universities, colleges, hospitals, care homes, places of work and community centres through its extensive Creative Learning programme. The SCO is also proud to engage with online audiences across the globe via its innovative Digital Season.

An exciting new chapter for the SCO began in September 2019 with the arrival of dynamic young conductor Maxim Emelyanychev as the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor.

The SCO and Maxim Emelyanychev’s first album, Schubert Symphony no.9, ‘The Great’ (Linn Records), has received widespread critical

acclaim. Further recordings, of Mendelssohn and Schubert, are planned.

The SCO also has long-standing associations with many eminent guest conductors including Conductor Emeritus Joseph Swensen, François Leleux, Pekka Kuusisto, Richard Egarr, Andrew Manze and John Storgårds.

The orchestra enjoys close relationships with many leading composers and has commissioned almost 200 new works, including pieces by the late Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Sir James MacMillan, Sally Beamish, Martin Suckling, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Karin Rehnqvist, MarkAnthony Turnage, Nico Muhly, Anna Clyne and Associate Composer Jay Capperauld.

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s United States tour in 2022 is supported by the Chapel & York US Foundation, Erik Lars Hansen and Vanessa C.L. Chang, Edison International Matching Gift Program, Helen B Jackson, Kenneth and Martha Barker, and the Scottish Government.

More at www.sco.org.uk

Elevate your musical experience: Become a member

Heldin fabulous venues throughout our community, Tuesday Musical’s Members Programs offer afternoon and evening musical performances featuring professional musicians, students from our Brahms Allegro Junior Music Club, Tuesday Musical Scholarship Winners, and other members. These programs also feature delicious refreshments and opportunities to meet other music lovers.

Yearly dues are $75. Call us at 330-761-3460 or email info@tuesdaymusical.org to request a membership application.

Maxim Emelyanychev SCO Principal Conductor

At the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Maxim Emelyanychev follows in the footsteps of just five previous Principal Conductors in the Orchestra’s 48-year history: Roderick Brydon (1974-1983), Jukka-Pekka Saraste (1987-1991), Ivor Bolton (1994-1996), Joseph Swensen (19962005) and Robin Ticciati (2009-2018).

Highlights of his 2021/22 season included debuts with some of the most prestigious international orchestras: Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Deutsches SymphonieOrchester, Toronto Symphony, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. They include returns to the Antwerp Symphony, the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and a European tour with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, followed by appearances to the Radio-France Montpellier Festival and the Edinburgh International Festival.

In 2022/23 he is touring the United States with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and will make his debut with the New Japan Philharmonic,

the Osaka Kansai Philharmonic, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Helsinki Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Berlin Philharmonic, and will return to the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse and to the Royal Opera House in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte

He regularly collaborates with renowned artists such as Max Emanuel Cenčić, Patrizia Ciofi, Joyce DiDonato, Franco Fagioli, Richard Goode, Sophie Karthäuser, Stephen Hough, Katia and Marielle Labèque, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Julia Lezhneva, Alexei Lubimov, Riccardo Minasi, Xavier Sabata and Dmitry Sinkovsky.

Maxim is also a highly respected chamber musician. His most recent recording, of Brahms Violin Sonatas with long-time collaborator and friend Aylen Pritchin, was released on Aparté in December 2021 and has attracted outstanding reviews internationally.

With the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, he has recorded Schubert Symphony No 9 — the symphony with which he made his debut with the orchestra —released on Linn Records in

FENDER YAMAHA ROLAND MARTIN

November 2019. Further recordings, of works by Mendelssohn and Schubert, are planned.

Nicola Benedetti

Violin

Born in the Scottish town of Irvine, of Italian heritage, Nicola Benedetti began violin lessons at the age of four with Brenda Smith. In 1997, she entered the Yehudi Menuhin School where she studied with Natasha Boyarskaya. Upon leaving, she continued her studies with Maciej Rakowski and then Pavel Vernikov. In 2004, she won “BBC Young Musician,” launching her career as an international concert violinist.

With concerto performances at the heart of her career, Nicola is in much demand with major orchestras across the globe. Conductors with whom she has worked include Marin Alsop, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Jiří Bělohlávek, Karina Canellakis, Christoph Eschenbach, Iván Fischer, James Gaffigan, Jakub Hrůša, Kirill Karabits, Kristjan Järvi, Vladimir Jurowski, Cristian Măcelaru, Zubin Mehta, Andrea Marcon, Gianandrea Noseda, Michael Tilson Thomas, Robin Ticciati, Vasily Petrenko, Donald Runnicles,

Thomas Søndergård, Pinchas Zukerman and Jaap van Zweden.

Nicola enjoys working with the highest level of orchestras, including collaborations with the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Czech Philharmonic, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and National Symphony Orchestra of Washington DC.

In December 2020 she formed the “Benedetti Baroque Orchestra,” which gathers freelance period-instrument players who collectively create the highest level of collaborative and energized musicmaking. Baroque was released on Decca Classics in July 2021 and features Nicola directs/ performs with this newly-formed ensemble. The album reached number one in the United Kingdom’s Official Classical Album Chart and received a 5-star review in The Times.

Nicola champions the commissioning of new works, including Mark Simpson’s critically acclaimed Violin Concerto, written for Nicola

with the London Symphony Orchestra, and Wynton Marsalis’s Violin Concerto which won a GRAMMY Award for “Best Classical Instrumental Solo” in 2020.

A devoted chamber musician, Nicola collaborates with cellist Leonard Elschenbroich and pianist Alexei Grynyuk, who have been performing as a trio since 2008. Past performances include Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw, Edinburgh International Festival, Alte Oper, Frankfurt, the Ravinia Festival, 92nd Street Y in New York and City Hall in Hong Kong. In June 2021 the trio embarked on a United Kingdom tour — giving seven performances across the country — and in spring 2022 performed a 13-date European tour with works by Schumann, Rihm and Brahms. In 2023 the trio will return to North America, visiting 8 cities across the east and west coasts.

In 2021-2022 Nicola opened the Barbican Centre’s season and performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, and Cincinnati Symphony, among others. Additional highlights included engagements with the LA Philharmonic, Royal

Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, directs/ performs with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and a tour to Spain with the Philharmonia Orchestra as well as “Artist in Residence” at the Aldeburgh Festival.

In addition to this evening’s performance, Nicola’s 2022-23 season includes a performance of the Marsalis Violin Concerto with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra at the BBC Proms and Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with Kazuki Yamada and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Further engagements include the world premiere of James MacMillan’s Violin Concerto with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, a tour to Japan with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and performances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Hallé, DSO Berlin, St Louis Symphony, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony and Orchestre de Paris amongst others.

Nicola has continued her role as a dedicated, passionate ambassador and leader in music education. Her commitment to supporting the United Kingdom’s music practitioners was underlined in July 2018 when she took over

as President of the European String Teachers’ Association. She continues to hold key positions in a number of the country’s most established and high-quality youth music organizations, including the National Children’s Orchestras (Vice President), Sistema Scotland (Big Sister), National Youth Orchestras of Scotland’s Junior Orchestra (Patron), Music in Secondary Schools’ Trust (Patron), Junior Conservatoire at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (Patron) and many more.

In 2019 Nicola formalized her commitment to music in education when she established The Benedetti Foundation. Since its launch, the Foundation has worked with over 29,000 participants, ages 2-92, from 103 countries through its transformative in-person workshops and online sessions for young people, students, teachers and adults. The Foundation unites those who believe that music is integral to a great education and demonstrates groundbreaking teaching by producing and delivering innovative and creative musical experiences accessible to all.

In 2021 BBC Music Magazine named her “Personality of the Year” for her online support of many young musicians during the pandemic. Winner of the GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo in 2020, as well as Best Female Artist at both 2012 and 2013 Classical BRIT Awards, Nicola records exclusively for Decca (Universal Music). Her most recent recording of Elgar’s Violin Concerto entered at number one in the United Kingdom’s Official Classical Album Chart and received critical acclaim including a 5-star review in The Times: “Yet beyond sheer agility, Benedetti offers

listeners something even more valuable: a dynamic personal interpretation, refreshing and convincing.”

Other recent recordings include her GRAMMY award-winning classical instrumental solo recording of pieces written especially for her by jazz musician Wynton Marsalis: “Violin Concerto in D and Fiddle Dance Suite for Solo Violin.”

Nicola’s recording catalogue also includes works from Shostakovich and Glazunov Violin Concerti, Szymanowski Concerti (London Symphony Orchestra with Daniel Harding) to Homecoming; A Scottish Fantasy, which made Nicola the first solo British violinist since the 1990s to enter the Top 20 of the Official UK Album Chart.

In March 2022, Nicola became the Director Designate of the Edinburgh International Festival, becoming Festival Director on October 1, 2022. In taking the role she will be both the first Scottish and the first female Festival Director since the Festival began in 1947.

Nicola was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2019 New Year Honours list, awarded the Queen’s Medal for Music in 2017 (the youngest ever recipient), and was appointed as a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2013 in recognition of her international music career and work with musical charities throughout the United Kingdom. In addition, Nicola has received nine honorary degrees to date.

Nicola plays the Gariel Stradivarius (1717), courtesy of Jonathan Moulds.

Ms. Benedetti appears courtesy of Askonas Holt and Primo Artists.

Anna Clyne Stride

Stride

draws inspiration from Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano

Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13, commonly known as the Pathétique Sonata, which is in three movements:

I. Grave – Allegro di molto e con brio

II. Adagio cantabile

III. Rondo: Allegro

I chose a few melodic, rhythmic and harmonic fragments from each movement (exhibited as an appendix to the score) and developed these in the three corresponding sections of Stride. The title is derived from the octave leaps that stride in the left hand in first movement of the Pathétique Sonata. I was immediately drawn to the driving energy of this bass movement and have used it as a tool to propel Stride

— Anna Clyne

24, 1866, with Otto von Königslow as soloist — and promptly withdrew the work straight afterwards. Something wasn’t right. Feeling he needed another person’s perspective on the music, he took the canny decision of sending the score to the great violinist, conductor and composer Joseph Joachim for his comments. Joachim had been responsible virtually single-handedly for popularizing and establishing in the repertoire the concertos of Mendelssohn, Beethoven and Brahms (whose Concerto he’d virtually co-written). It would do no harm, surely, to involve as eminent a figure as Joachim in the creation of a new concerto?

The violinist duly sent back lists of possible improvements to Bruch, who then also asked conductor Hermann Levi and composer/ violinist Ferdinand David (who’d premiered Mendelssohn’s E minor Concerto two decades earlier) for their own input.

Max Bruch

Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor

MaxBruch’s First Violin Concerto regularly tops polls of the world’s best-loved piece of classical music. And it’s been that way, in fact, ever since the final version of the Concerto was premiered in 1868, though it endured a surprisingly lengthy and somewhat troublesome gestation.

Bruch began sketches for a violin concerto as far back as 1857, when he was just 19, but began work in earnest in the summer of 1864. Some 18 months later, however, he was clearly struggling with the work, and wrote to his former teacher Ferdinand Hiller: “My violin concerto is progressing slowly — I do not feel sure of my feet on this terrain. Do you think that it is very audacious to write a violin concerto?”

Perhaps his concerns grew from a sense of responsibility to an instrument for which he felt a particular fondness. Despite being a pianist, he believed the violin could “sing a melody better than a piano — and melody is the soul of music.”

Bruch himself conducted the Concerto’s very first performance, in Koblenz, Germany, on April

Bringing together all three men’s suggestions, Bruch was finally satisfied with the results. Better still, Joachim was hooked, too: it was he who gave the premiere of the revised version — the work we know today — in 1868 in Bremen, Germany.

Indeed, Bruch’s First Concerto remained one of Joachim’s favourites. At celebrations to mark his 75th birthday, he famously declaimed: “The Germans have four violin concertos. The greatest, the most uncompromising, is Beethoven’s. The one by Brahms vies with it in seriousness. The richest, the most seductive was written by Max Bruch. But the most inward, the heart’s jewel, is Mendelssohn’s.”

Rich and seductive Bruch’s Concerto undeniably is. And once let loose on the world, it became an astonishing international success, quickly taken up by violinists right across Europe and America. So successful was the work, in fact, that it came to overshadow virtually everything else that Bruch wrote — not least his two subsequent violin concertos.

Bruch himself came to resent his First Concerto’s overwhelming popularity. Part of his dislike, surely, came from financial frustration: he’d sold the copyright of what would become

PHOTO: CHRISTINA KERNOHAN

his greatest hit to Hamburg music publisher August Cranz for a pittance, and therefore made hardly any money from it himself. Nevertheless, Bruch’s First Concerto remains a gloriously warm, expressive work, and at about 25 minutes, a relatively brief one, too. Indeed, its modest duration meant it fitted perfectly onto a single side of an LP record, making it the ideal choice for record company executives from the 1950s onwards (often coupled with Mendelssohn’s E minor Concerto, a tradition that continues today). A wealth of early recordings can only have added to the piece’s popularity.

Indeed, the Concerto achieves a miraculous balance of melodic simplicity and sparkling virtuosity — and despite the abundant melodic rewards it offers, it’s devilishly difficult for its soloist to play. One of Bruch’s nagging concerns was whether the work truly rated as a Concerto at all, a question exemplified in the work’s unconventional structure.

His opening movement, called “Vorspiel”

(“Prelude”), serves as an extended upbeat to the glories of Bruch’s prayerful, rapturous slow movement, which contains some of the most exquisitely beautiful writing in the whole violin repertoire. Bruch rounds things off with a propulsive, gypsy-style romp.

And indeed, if we’re looking for any more reasons behind the Concerto’s remarkable popularity, its unusual but highly effective melding of heart-on-sleeve passion, quirkiness and melodic immediacy should come high on the list.

—David Kettle

Felix Mendelssohn

Symphony No. 3 in A minor, “Scottish”

You could think of it as a 19thcentury gap year. Or, perhaps more accurately, an excursion in the tradition of an 18th-century Grand Tour, in which a wealthy young man completes his education by taking in the cultural highlights of Europe.

The 20-year-old Felix Mendelssohn, however,

opted not for the traditional Grand Tour destinations of France and Italy, but instead for Scotland. His three-week trip in the summer of 1829 would produce two of his most renowned pieces of music: his Hebrides Overture, which he completed soon after returning home to Berlin, and later his “Scottish” Symphony.

Even at just 20, Mendelssohn was already a mature and respected musician, one whose upbringing in one of Berlin’s most cultured, connected families brought him into close contact with many of the city’s artistic, musical and scientific elite. It was his parents who suggested he should travel, but it was young Felix who decided he would begin in England and Scotland (though he toured France and Italy at later occasions in his three-year, stop-start European excursion). The whole Mendelssohn family were avid fans of the novels of Sir Walter Scott, and Mendelssohn hoped he might even meet the great novelist during his trip (he did, with disappointing results).

And even by today’s standards, it was quite some journey. After arriving in London in April

1829, he travelled north by stagecoach, arriving in the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s own home of Edinburgh on July 26. From there, he journeyed south to Abbotsford, residence of Sir Walter Scott, where he arrived just as the great writer was about to leave, spending barely half an hour with him and finding little to talk about in a rather awkward exchange.

Disappointments aside, however, he continued north to Oban, and then across the water to the island of Mull. It was from there that Mendelssohn sent a letter home with 21 bars of what would become the opening of the Hebrides Overture, and he continued his journey in Glasgow before returning to London.

It was only several years later, however, that he began work on his “Scottish” Symphony, and he admitted that he was struggling to recapture the particular mood he’d experienced in Scotland. He aimed to devote time to the Symphony during his stay in Italy in 1830, but found little to remind him of Scotland in the warmth and sun of the Mediterranean, writing home: “The loveliest time of the year in Italy is the period from 15

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April to 15 May. Who then can blame me for not being able to return to the mists of Scotland? I have therefore laid aside the symphony for the present.”

The Symphony was finally premiered in Leipzig in 1842, and later the same year received its United Kingdom premiere in London, to an audience that included Queen Victoria, the work’s dedicatee. Mendelssohn made clear that his initial inspiration for the Symphony came from the visit he’d made to Edinburgh’s ruined Holyrood Chapel, writing at the time: “In the evening twilight we went today to the palace where Queen Mary lived and loved; a little room is shown there with a winding staircase leading up to the door: up this way they came and found Rizzio in that dark corner, where they pulled him out, and three rooms off there is a dark corner, where they murdered him. The chapel close to it is now roofless, grass and ivy grow there, and at that broken altar Mary was crowned

Queen of Scotland. Everything round is broken and mouldering and the bright sky shines in. I believe I have found today in that old chapel the beginning of my ‘Scottish’ Symphony.”

The first movement’s dark, brooding introduction seems to capture the sombre atmosphere of the Holyrood ruins to a tee.

In the playful, featherweight scherzo that follows, Mendelssohn synthesises Scottish folk music into his own unmistakable style, most clearly in the clarinet’s folk-like tune with its distinctive ‘Scotch snap’, short-long rhythms.

After the wistful song of the slow third movement, Mendelssohn closes with a stirring finale marked “Allegro Guerriero” or “fast and warlike,” no doubt a reference to the historic Highland battles whose sites he’d seen — though if his Symphony ends in triumph, it’s a victory that sounds distinctively German rather than Caledonian.

—David Kettle

Support: Individuals

We gratefully acknowledge all donors this season. Thank you for helping Tuesday Musical continue to inspire current and future generations of music lovers. This list includes this season’s donors who have given at least $200 as of September 15, 2022.

Director $5,000+

Ann Allan

Donald M. and Mary E. Jenkins Family Trust Cynthia Knight Paul and Linda Liesem Michael and Lori Mucha Kenneth Shafer Tim and Jenny Smucker Darwin Steele Linda and Jim Venner

Benefactor $1,500 to $4,999 Howard Atwood Family Fund Lee and Floy Barthel Earl and Judy Baxtresser Sally Childs Judith Dimengo Robert and Beverley Fischer Bruce Hagelin

DuWayne and Dottie Hansen David and Margaret Hunter James and Maureen Kovach Peter and Dorothy Lepp Beatrice K. McDowell Family Fund

Natalie Miahky Dianne and Herb Newman George Pope Richard and Alita Rogers Patricia Sargent Larry and Cynthia Snider Fred and Elizabeth Specht Mike and Betty Taipale Kenneth and Martha Taylor John Vander Kooi

Sustainer $700 to $1,499 Eleanor and Richard Aron Alfred Cavaretta Kittie B. Clarke Frank C. Comunale Thomas and Mary Lynn Crowley Barbara Eaton Barbara and Denis Feld Paul Filon Sharon and Bob Gandee Sue Gillman Teresa and Ted Good Mark and Barbara MacGregor Anita Meeker Marianne Miller

Charles and Elizabeth Nelson Mark and Claire Purdy Roger and Sally Read Peter and Nanette Ryerson

Patron $400 to $699 Mark and Sandy Auburn John Bertsch William P. Blair III Bob Carlyon

Joann Collier Harloe and Harriet Cutler Terry and Mary Kay Finn Elaine Guregian Louise and Jim Harvey Lawrence B. Levey Landon Nyako and Dallas Moore Earla Patterson Elizabeth Rusnak Jean Schooley Richard Shirey and Jim Helmuth Sandra and Richey Smith Cecilia and Nathan Speelman Jennifer and Jeff Stenroos Gail E. Wild Shirley Workman

Donor $200 to $399 Beth Amer John and Kathleen Arther Carmen and David Beasley Guy and Debra Bordo Judi and Jerry Brenner Linda Bunyan Amielie and Phil Cajka Frank Communale Robert and Susan Conrad Dr. and Mrs. Herbert Croft Roberta DePompei Michael Dunn Roger and Ann Edwards Rick Elliott Rosemarie George Barbara and John Gillette Stanislav Golovin Sue and Terry Greenhalgh Mark Greer Ian S. Haberman Jarrod Hartzler Michael T. Hayes Patti Hester

John and Suzanne Hetrick

Mike and Betty Howell

John Isham

Mary Ann Jackson Mark and Karla Jenkins

Greer Kabb-Langkamp David Knapp

Tom and Cheryl Lyon

JoAnn Marcinkoski

James and Mary Messerly Paul and Alicia Mucha Judith Nicely

Annette Nicoloff and Kristine Mikolajczyk

Alan and Marjorie Poorman Paula Rabinowitz Kathy Rose Pamela Rothmann and Soloman Cokes

John Schambach Anne Marie Schellin Donald Schmid and Rosemary Reyman Rachel Schneider Richard and Susan Schrop Betty and Joel Siegfried James Simon Sandra Smith Margo Snider Mary Jane Stanchina Mickey Stefanik Elinore Stormer James Switzer and Gretchen Laatsch

James and Mary Waltermire Lucinda Weiss Jorene Whitney Jamie Wilding and Caroline Oltmanns Christopher Wilkins Douglas D. Zook Jr.

& Tributes

These generous donors have chosen to honor special people in meaningful ways. List as of September 15, 2022.

In memory of Ron Allan Ann Allan

In memory of Margaret Baxtresser Lee and Floy Barthel Judy and Eral Baxtresser Toshie Haga Linda Hohenfeld

In honor of Judi and Jerry Brenner Anita Meeker

In memory of Kathryn Carcione Joel and Betty Siegfried

In honor of Barbara Eaton Fred and Elizabeth Specht

In honor of Bobbie Eaton Judi and Jerry Brenner

In memory of David Fisher Barbara and Denis Feld Ted and Teresa Good Bruce and Joy Hagelin Cynthia Knight Martha Kaltenbach Mark and Barbara MacGregor

In memory of Joy Hagelin Judi and Jerry Brenner Jane Delcamp Bobbie Eaton Barbara and Denis Feld Bob and Bev Fischer Rosemarie George Judith and Charles Gerdes Sue Gillman Mary Ann Griebling

Toshie Haga

The Hagelin and Wolff families DuWayne and Dorothy Hansen Jarrod Hartzler

Margaret Hunter

The Hupsters (Andrea, BJ, Louise, Sheila, Jackie, Pixie, Cathy)

Monica Jahn Mark and Karla Jenkins Cynthia Knight Peter and Dorothy Lepp Linda and Paul Liesem Barbara and Mark MacGregor JoAnn Marcinkoski Rebecca McLean Anita Meeker and Family Natalie Miahky

James Newgent

Newgent Families

George Pope Elizabeth Sandwick Bob and Katy Shroder Cynthia Snider James Tormey

Gail E. Wild Bill and Penny Wolff Shirley Workman

In memory of James Harvey Barbara and Denis Feld

In memory of Ellen Herberich Barbara Herberich

In memory of Marcianne Herr Barbara and Denis Feld Bruce Hagelin Geraldine Kiefer Virginia Wojno

In honor of Moneeb Iqbal Barbara and Denis Feld

In memory of Jon Kelly Audio-Technica Barbara and Denis Feld Dr. Jeff and Mary Kase Joel and Betty Siegfried

In memory of George Edward Kettlewell Mary-Jane Stanchina

In memory of Peter Lepp Barbara Eaton Barbara and Denis Feld Robert and Beverley Fischer Jarrod Hartzler Dorothy Lepp Anita Meeker

In memory of Marian Lott David Knapp Mark and Barbara MacGregor

In memory of George Lyon Ann and Roger Edwards Vickie Pitrof Lydia A. Schlosser Lavonne Voelz James and Mary Waltermire

In memory of Eugene Mancini Toshie Haga

In honor of Anita Meeker

Elizabeth Sandwick

In memory of Rusty Miller

Bobbie Eaton Barbara and Denis Feld Jarrod Hartzler

In memory of Bob Neidert

Bobbie Eaton

Barbara and Denis Feld Bruce and Joy Hagelin

Jarrod Hartzler

Patricia Jones-Neal Natalie Miahky Shirley Workman

In memory of Donald Reid Bruce and Joy Hagelin

In memory of Patrick Reilly Mark and Sandy Auburn Jane Berkner and Stewart Freedman Judi and Jerry Brenner

Bobbie Eaton Barbara and Denis Feld Bob and Beverly Fischer Bruce and Joy Hagelin Jarrod Hartzler Cynthia Knight Barbara and Mark MacGregor Anita Meeker

Natalie Miahky George Pope Gail E. Wild Shirley Workman

In memory of Dr. Bruce and Lola Rothmann Soloman Cokes and Pamela Rothmann

In memory of Lola Rothmann Elizabeth Rusnak

In honor of Lola Rothmann’s birthday Becky Ryba

In memory of Richey Smith Akron Community Foundation

In memory of Nancy Smyrski Barbara and Denis Feld

Support: Foundations, Businesses, Government

Through their vital support, these organizations help to sustain Tuesday Musical and the arts throughout our region. List as of September 15,

$25,000+ CARES Act

GAR Foundation

The Hillier Family Foundation

John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Ohio Arts Council

$10,000 to $24,999

Akron Community Foundation

Howard Atwood Family Fund of Akron Community Foundation

Mary S. and David C. Corbin Foundation

Mary and Dr. George L. Demetros Charitable Trust Kulas Foundation

Gertrude F. Orr Trust Advised Fund of Akron Community Foundation

Peg’s Foundation

Charles E. and Mabel M. Ritchie Memorial Foundation

$5,000 to $9,999

John A. McAlonan Fund of Akron Community Foundation

The Lisle M. Buckingham Endowment Fund of Akron Community Foundation

Kenneth L. Calhoun Charitable Trust, KeyBank, Trustee

Betty V. and John M. Jacobson Foundation

Polsky Fund of Akron Community Foundation

Helen S. Robertson Fund of Akron Community Foundation

Sisler McFawn Foundation

Lloyd L. and Louise K. Smith Foundation

Welty Family Foundation

$1,000 to $4,999

C. Colmery Gibson Fund of Akron Community Foundation

KeyBank Foundation

Lehner Family Foundation

Beatrice K. McDowell Family Fund

W. Paul Mills and Thora J. Mills Memorial Foundation

Laura R. and Lucian Q. Moffitt Foundation R. C. Musson and Katharine M. Musson

Charitable Foundation Synthomer Foundation

$200 to $999

KeyBank Foundation Community Leadership Fund

Business Partners Tuesday Musical thanks these businesses for their financial support. As our partners, they are investing in the community where their customers, employees, and families live, learn and work.

The McCarron Group

Thank you, State and Federal Communications!

We are delighted to welcome State and Federal Communications as Tuesday Musical’s newest Business Partner.

Is your business interested in connecting with welleducated and sophisticated arts supporters and community leaders throughout Greater Akron and Northeast Ohio? To discuss options and opportunities, please contact Cynthia Snider, executive director of Tuesday Musical, at 330-761-3460 or csnider@tuesdaymusical.org.

Tuesday Musical’s

Donations enable Tuesday Musical to share the world’s best music and musicians throughout our community.

Are you — and perhaps a few of your friends — interested in funding a specific budget item? Perhaps in honor of a friend or family member? (Unrestricted gifts for our general operating fund are always welcome, too!)

Wish List:

● Fuel for performers (concert meals and snacks): starting at $55 per concert, depending on numbers and needs of musicians

● Street banners in downtown Akron: $125 each

● Paper stock for concert tickets: $225 for a case

● Facebook advertising: $250 per concert

● Underwrite the cost of one bus for a school group to attend a concert: $300

● Concert promo postcard, printing and mailing: $400 per concert

● Concert Conversation in EJ’s Flying Balcony: $400 per concert

● Sponsor a post-concert reception with the guest artist(s): $1,500

● Sponsor a concert: starting at $10,000

● Endow and name a scholarship: starting at $13,000

Generous Wish Granters (thank you!):

● Linda Bunyan: Fuel for performers (concert meals and snacks

● Judith Dimengo: Underwriting the cost of five buses for school groups to attend concerts.

● Jim and Maureen Kovach: One season of tuning and maintenance for our Three Graces Steinway D Grand Piano.

● Anonymous: One street banner in downtown Akron.

● Cecilia and Nathan Speelman: Fuel for performers (concert meals and snacks).

For more information, please contact Cynthia Snider at 330-761-3460 or csnider@tuesdaymusical.org or write to Tuesday Musical at 1041 W. Market St., Ste. 200, Akron, OH 44313

Tuesday Musical is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Donations are fully deductible as provided by law.

2022-2023 Board of Directors

Executive Committee

President George Pope

Vice President/President Elect Claire Purdy

Treasurer Paul Mucha Secretary Marianne Miller

Governance Committee Chair Bryan Meek

Committee Chairs

Artistic Planning Cynthia Snider

Brahms Allegro Jennifer Stenroos Development Louise Harvey Finance Paul Mucha Hospitality Bobbie Eaton Membership Fred Specht

Member Programs Stanislav Golovin Scholarship James Wilding

Student Ticket Program Teresa Good

At-large Members Mark Greer, Cheryl Lyon, Landon Nyako, Shirley Workman

Staff

Executive Director Cynthia Snider

Director of Finance and Audience Services Karla Jenkins

Director of Artistic Operations and Educational Engagement Austin Ferguson Marketing Consultants Brett Della Santina, Jim Sector

Program art direction by Live Publishing Co.