2019-20 UTAH SYMPHONY SEASON
UTAH SYMPHONY AT
THE NOORDA
September 2019 – March 2020
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UTAH SYMPHONY AT THE NOORDA CONCERTS
6 Welcome 8 Music Director
CONTENTS
The Music of John Williams
9 Utah Symphony
Sept. 18
10 Board of Trustees
13
11 Season Sponsors 58 Donors
entertainment
Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
66 Administration 67 Legacy Giving
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68 Support USUO
Oct. 23
masterworks
70 Acknowledgments
A Broadway Christmas with Ashley Brown Dec. 4
25
Program notes and artist bios for upcoming and past performances are available on utahsymphony.org.
Isabel Leonard sings Mozart
@UtahSymphony
PUBLISHER Mills Publishing, Inc. PRESIDENT Dan Miller OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR Cynthia Bell Snow ART DIRECTOR/ PRODUCTION MANAGER Jackie Medina
Jan. 9
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GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Ken Magleby Katie Steckler Patrick Witmer ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES Paula Bell Dan Miller Paul Nicholas Chad Saunders ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Caleb Deane EDITOR Melissa Robison
The UTAH SYMPHONY | UTAH OPERA program is published by Mills Publishing, Inc., 772 East 3300 South, Suite 200, Salt Lake City, Utah 84106. Phone: 801-4678833 Email: advertising@millspub.com Website: millspub.com. Mills Publishing produces playbills for many performing arts groups. Advertisers do not necessarily agree or disagree with content or views expressed on stage. Please contact us for playbill advertising opportunities. © COPYRIGHT 2019
UTAHSYMPHONY.ORG
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entertainment
masterworks
Fischer conducts Gershwin & Dvořák Feb. 6
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masterworks
Carmina Burana Mar. 26
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masterworks
Purchase tickets at utahsymphony.org or call 801-533-6683
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5
WELCOME
Paul Meecham President & CEO
Thierry Fischer Music Director
On behalf of the board, musicians, and staff of Utah Symphony | Utah Opera, it is our pleasure to welcome you to Utah Valley University’s beautiful Noorda Center for the Performing Arts and tonight’s Utah Symphony concert. We are thrilled to present this inaugural season of Utah Symphony at the Noorda in a new partnership with UVU, with special thanks to President Dr. Astrid Tuminez and her colleagues at the School of Arts. Our new Utah Valley home represents an exciting and significant initiative for USUO to bring performances by our state’s wonderful orchestra to you, the residents of Utah’s fastest growing county. Expanding our offerings at an educational institution in Utah Valley is a natural fit for Utah Symphony | Utah Opera. Did you know that, in addition to more than 100 subscription concerts and operas performed at USUO home venues every year, our artists present more than 200 free education performances statewide, including every year in Alpine, Provo, and Nebo school districts? And that nearly one-third of our total audience is comprised of students? Utahns have long recognized
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Thomas M. Love Chair, Board of Trustees
the power of the arts to inspire the human spirit and to motivate the betterment of mankind. USUO reflects this value through a deep commitment to music education and strives to have a meaningfully impact on every community in the state through our education and outreach programs. Thank you for your attendance at tonight’s concert. Whether you’re joining us for the four incomparable classical music concerts featuring world-class artists, for the kick-off of the series with the music of film score legend John Williams, or for A Broadway Christmas with Ashley Brown, we guarantee you will leave the Noorda enriched and wanting to return for another shared experience of great live music! Sincerely,
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MUSIC DIRECTOR
Swiss conductor Thierry Fischer has been Music Director of the Utah Symphony since 2009 and becomes Music Director Emeritus in 2022. Principal Guest of the Seoul Philharmonic 2017–2020, in March 2020 he begins as Music Director of the Sao Paulo Symphony. In Utah he has revitalized the organization, instigating a major commissioning program, taking the orchestra to Carnegie Hall for the first time in 40 years, recording Mahler symphonies for Reference Records and a Saint-Saëns cycle for Hyperion.
Thierry Fischer Music Director The Maurice Abravanel Chair, endowed by the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation
Recent guesting has included Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Maggio Musicale Firenze, Salzburg Mozarteumorchester, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, also Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Mostly Mozart New York, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, London Sinfonietta, and Ensemble Intercontemporain. Whilst Principal Conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales 2006–2012 Fischer appeared every year at the BBC Proms, toured internationally, and recorded for Hyperion, Signum, and Orfeo. His recording of Frank Martin’s opera Der Sturm with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus won the ICMA award in 2012 (opera category). In 2014 he released a Beethoven disc with the London Philharmonic on the Aparte label. Fischer started out as Principal Flute in Hamburg and at the Zurich Opera. His conducting career began in his 30s when he replaced an ailing colleague, subsequently directing his first few concerts with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe where he was Principal Flute under Claudio Abbado. He spent his apprentice years in Holland, and became Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Ulster Orchestra 2001–2006. He was Chief Conductor of the Nagoya Philharmonic 2008–2011, making his Suntory Hall debut in Tokyo in May 2010, and is now Honorary Guest Conductor.
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UTAH SYMPHONY
Thierry Fischer, Music Director
The Maurice Abravanel Chair, endowed by the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation Conner Gray Covington Associate Conductor
Principal The Sue & Walker Wallace Chair
Barlow Bradford Symphony Chorus Director
Elizabeth Beilman
VIOLIN* Madeline Adkins
Acting Associate Principal
Julie Edwards Joel Gibbs Carl Johansen Scott Lewis Leslie Richards†† Whittney Thomas
Concertmaster The Jon M. & Karen Huntsman Chair, in honor of Wendell J. & Belva B. Ashton
Kathryn Eberle
CELLO* Rainer Eudeikis†
Associate Concertmaster The Richard K. & Shirley S. Hemingway Chair
Principal The J. Ryan Selberg Memorial Chair
Ralph Matson†
Associate Concertmaster
Matthew Johnson
David Porter
Acting Principal
Acting Associate Concertmaster
Andrew Larson
Acting Associate Principal
David Park
Assistant Concertmaster
Claude Halter
Principal Second
Wen Yuan Gu
Associate Principal Second
Evgenia Zharzhavskaya Assistant Principal Second
John Eckstein Walter Haman Anne Lee Louis-Philippe Robillard Kevin Shumway Hannah ThomasHollands†† Pegsoon Whang BASS* David Yavornitzky Principal
Karen Wyatt•• Joseph Evans LoiAnne Eyring Laura Ha• Lun Jiang Rebekah Johnson# Veronica Kulig David Langr Melissa Thorley Lewis Hannah Linz•• Yuki MacQueen Alexander Martin Rebecca Moench Hugh Palmer• Lynn Maxine Rosen Barbara Ann Scowcroft• M. Judd Sheranian•• Ju Hyung Shin• Lynnette Stewart Bonnie Terry• Julie Wunderle
Corbin Johnston Associate Principal
James Allyn Benjamin Henderson†† Edward Merritt Jens Tenbroek Thomas Zera HARP Louise Vickerman Principal
FLUTE Mercedes Smith
Principal The Val A. Browning Chair
Lisa Byrnes
Associate Principal
• First Violin •• Second Violin
UTAHSYMPHONY.ORG
VIOLA* Brant Bayless
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PICCOLO Caitlyn Valovick Moore OBOE James Hall
Principal The Gerald B. & Barbara F. Stringfellow Chair
Robert Stephenson Associate Principal
Lissa Stolz ENGLISH HORN Lissa Stolz CLARINET Tad Calcara
Principal The Norman C. & Barbara Lindquist Tanner Chair, in memory of Jean Lindquist Pell
Erin Svoboda-Scott Associate Principal
Lee Livengood BASS CLARINET Lee Livengood
Jeff Luke
Associate Principal
Peter Margulies# Paul Torrisi TROMBONE Mark Davidson Principal
Sam Elliot
Associate Principal
BASS TROMBONE Graeme Mutchler TIMPANI George Brown Principal
Eric Hopkins
Associate Principal
PERCUSSION Keith Carrick Principal
Eric Hopkins Michael Pape KEYBOARD Jason Hardink Principal
E-FLAT CLARINET Erin Svoboda-Scott
LIBRARIANS Clovis Lark
BASSOON Lori Wike
Katie Klich
Principal The Edward & Barbara Moreton Chair
Leon Chodos
Associate Principal
Jennifer Rhodes
Principal
ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL Walt Zeschin Director of Orchestra Personnel
Andrew Williams
Orchestra Personnel Manager
CONTRABASSOON Leon Chodos HORN Edmund Rollett Acting Principal
Llewellyn B. Humphreys Brian Blanchard Stephen Proser
Caitlyn Valovick Moore
TRUMPET Travis Peterson
* String Seating Rotates † On Leave
# Sabbatical †† Substitute Member
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Principal
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BOARD OF TRUSTEES ELECTED BOARD Thomas M. Love* Chair
David L. Dee* Alex J. Dunn Brian Greeff Stephen Tanner Irish Thomas N. Jacobson Mitra Kashanchi Abigail E. Magrane Brad W. Merrill Robin J. Milne Judy Moreton William H. Nelson* Dr. Dinesh C. Patel Frank R. Pignanelli Gary B. Porter Shari H. Quinney Miguel R. Rovira Naoma Tate Thomas Thatcher
David Utrilla Kelly Ward Kim R. Wilson Thomas Wright Henry C. Wurts
Clark D. Jones Herbert C. Livsey, Esq. David T. Mortensen Scott S. Parker David A. Petersen
Patricia A. Richards* Harris Simmons Verl R. Topham M. Walker Wallace David B. Winder
Howard S. Clark Kristen Fletcher Burton L. Gordon Richard G. Horne
Ron Jibson E. Jeffery Smith Barbara Tanner
Spencer F. Eccles The Right Reverend Carolyn Tanner Irish Dr. Anthony W. Middleton, Jr. Edward Moreton Marilyn H. Neilson
O. Don Ostler Stanley B. Parrish Marcia Price David E. Salisbury Jeffrey W. Shields, Esq. Diana Ellis Smith
Joanne F. Shiebler Chair (Utah)
Susan H. Carlyle (Texas)
Harold W. Milner (Nevada)
David L. Brown (S. California)
Robert Dibblee (Virginia)
Marcia Price (Utah)
Anthon S. Cannon, Jr. (S. California)
Senator Orrin G. Hatch (Washington D.C.)
Jesselie B. Anderson* Doyle L. Arnold* Joanne F. Shiebler* Vice Chairs Annette W. Jarvis* Secretary John D’Arcy* Treasurer Paul Meecham* President & CEO Julie Aiken Judith M. Billings Gary L. Crocker
MUSICIAN REPRESENTATIVES Elizabeth Beilman* Andrew Larson* EX OFFICIO Doyle Clayburn Utah Symphony Guild Mark Stratford Onstage Ogden
LIFETIME BOARD William C. Bailey Edwin B. Firmage Kem C. Gardner* Jon Huntsman, Jr. G. Frank Joklik TRUSTEES EMERITI Carolyn Abravanel Dr. J. Richard Baringer Haven J. Barlow John Bates HONORARY BOARD Kathryn Carter R. Don Cash Bruce L. Christensen Raymond J. Dardano Geralyn Dreyfous Lisa Eccles NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL
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*Executive Committee Member UTAHSYMPHONY.ORG
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SEASON SPONSORS
SEASON SPONSOR
UTAH VALLEY UNIVERSITY PRESENTING SPONSOR
MASTERWORKS SERIES SPONSOR
E N T E R TA I N M E N T & F I L M S E R I E S S P O N S O R
KEM & CAROLYN GARDNER SYMPHONY CHORUS DIRECTOR SPONSOR
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RHAPSODY IN BLUE / AMERICA’S WONDERS IN 3D / MESSIAH SING-IN A CELEBRATION OF CHRISTMAS / CELTIC WOMAN: THE BEST OF CHRISTMAS CARMINA BURANA / THE TEMPTATIONS / BEETHOVEN SYMPHONY NO. 5
PICK 4 OR MORE PERFORMANCES FROM UTAH SYMPHONY | UTAH OPERA’S 2019-20 SEASON AND SAVE UP TO 20% UTAHSYMPHONY.ORG/DAS
ENTERTAINMENT SERIES
THE MUSIC OF JOHN WILLIAMS Sept. 18
/ 2019 / 7:30PM /
CONCERT HALL AT UVU’S NOORDA CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
Jack Everly, conductor
JOHN WILLIAMS: Call of the Champions
“Superman March” from Superman
“Flight to Neverland” from Hook
Theme from A.I. Artificial Intelligence
The Cowboys Overture
Excerpts from Close Encounters of the Third Kind “The Devil’s Dance” from The Witches of Eastwick “Raiders March” from Raiders of the Lost Ark
/ INTERMISSION /
Liberty Fanfare
Suite from Far and Away
Theme from Schindler’s List Madeline Adkins, violin
“Hedwig’s Theme” from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone “Harry’s Wondrous World” from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Theme from Jaws
Theme from Jurassic Park
“Adventures on Earth” from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial UTAHSYMPHONY.ORG
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ARTIST’S PROFILE
Jack Everly is the Principal Pops Conductor of the Indianapolis and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras, Naples Philharmonic Orchestra, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra (Ottawa). He has conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, the San Francisco Symphony, and has had numerous appearances with The Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom Music Center. Maestro Everly will conduct over 90 performances in more than 22 North American cities this season. As Music Director of the National Memorial Day Concert and A Capitol Fourth on PBS, Maestro Everly proudly leads the National Symphony Orchestra in these patriotic celebrations on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol. These concerts attract hundreds of thousands attendees on the lawn and the broadcasts reach millions of viewers and are some of the very highest rated programming on PBS television. Jack Everly Conductor
Mr. Everly is the also Music Director of the IPL Yuletide Celebration, now a 30+ year tradition. He led the ISO in its first Pops recording, Yuletide Celebration: Volume One, that included three of his own orchestrations. Some of his other recordings include In The Presence featuring the Czech Philharmonic and Daniel Rodriguez, Sandi Patty’s Broadway Stories, the soundtrack to Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Everything’s Coming Up Roses: The Complete Overtures of Jule Styne. Originally appointed by Mikhail Baryshnikov, Mr. Everly was conductor of the American Ballet Theatre for 14 years, where he served as Music Director. In addition to his ABT tenure, he teamed with Marvin Hamlisch on Broadway shows that Mr. Hamlisch scored. He conducted Carol Channing hundreds of times in Hello, Dolly! in two separate Broadway productions. Maestro Everly, a graduate of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, is a recipient of the 2015 Indiana Historical Society Living Legends Award and holds an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from Franklin College in his home state of Indiana. He is a proud resident of the Indianapolis community and when not on the podium you can find Maestro Everly at home with his family.
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HIGHLIGHTS FROM BRAVO! SERIES the
Series Tickets Available Now!
THOMAS HAMPSON & LUCA PISARONI
No Tenors Allowed October 1, 7:30 PM
TENEBRAE
PATH OF MIRACLES November 19, 7:30 PM
DUBLIN GUITAR QUARTET February 4, 7:30 PM
KUNÉ
CANADA’S GLOBAL ORCHESTRA January 24 7:30 PM
ANDERSON AND ROE Piano Duo February 13 7:30 PM
“WE SHALL OVERCOME” Featuring Damien Sneed January 9, 7:30 PM
ZAKIR HUSAIN
with Jayanthi Kumaresh & R. Kumaresh April 2, 7:30 PM
ITZAK PERLMAN January 9, 7:30 PM
BYU Philharmonic
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ENJOY THE SYMPHONY AT HOME Recordings featuring THIERRY FISCHER and the UTAH SYMPHONY
b68223 06/08/2019 17:42 Page 1
Saint-Saëns Symphony No 1 in E flat major Symphony in A major The carnival of the animals
Available Winter 2020
Available Fall 2019
Purchase or stream at
UTAHSYMPHONY.ORG/ RECORDINGS
MASTERWORKS SERIES
RACHMANINOFF’S RHAPSODY ON A THEME OF PAGANINI Oct. 23
/ 2019 / 7:30PM /
CONCERT HALL AT UVU’S NOORDA CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
Aziz Shokhakimov, conductor Lukáš Vondráček, piano
MUSSORGSKY: Night on Bald Mountain ORCH. RIMSKY-KORSAKOV RACHMANINOFF: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43 / INTERMISSION /
PROKOFIEV: Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, Op. 100
I. Andante II. Allegro moderato III. Adagio IV. Allegro giocoso
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ARTISTS’ PROFILES
Newly appointed as the Kapellmeister at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and Principal Guest Conductor at La Verdi Orchestra in Milan, the remarkable young conductor Aziz Shokhakimov continues his rise on the international symphonic and opera scene. Aziz won the Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award at the 2016 Salzburg Festival, chosen from a field of 65 applicants overall. Each of the three finalists conducted the Salzburg Camerata during the Award Concert Weekend, and a jury led by Chairman Dennis Russell Davies and Honorary President Plácido Domingo selected Aziz Shokhakimov as the winner. In addition to the cash prize, Shokhakimov will conduct the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra in a Salzburg Festival concert at the Felsenreitschule concert hall next August.
Aziz Shokhakimov Conductor
Shokhakimov has enjoyed fruitful collaborations with the Folles Journey Festival in Warsaw, as well as engagements leading the Dusseldorf Symphoniker in Tokyo. Shokhakimov studied conducting at the Uzbek State Conservatory in Tashkent under the tutelage of Professor V. Neymer. In 2005 he was awarded the State ‘Nikhol’ Prize for talented young musicians. After conducting the National Symphony Orchestra of Uzbekistan for the first time, he was named Assistant Conductor in 2001 and has since led the orchestra in numerous concerts. In 2002 he made his operatic debut at Uzbekistan’s main State Academic Theatre in performances of Bizet’s Carmen. Since 2003 Shokhakimov has worked regularly with the Russian Youth Symphony Orchestra, based in Togliatti, and has led the orchestra on tours throughout Russia, as well as in France and the Ukraine. From 2005 to 2009 Shokhakimov was a participant in the trainee program of the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, under the patronage of Maestro Vladimir Spivakov. In November 2010 he conducted the orchestra in his first full subscription concert, featuring works of Haydn, Brahms, and Mendelssohn.
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ARTISTS’ PROFILES The indisputable winner of the International Queen Elisabeth Piano Competition 2016, Lukáš Vondráček, recently finished an exciting 2018–19 season. It saw him work with the hr-Sinfonieorchester, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Juraj Valčuha, BBC National Orchestra of Wales with Xian Zhang, and Orchestre national de Lorraine. He returned to the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, and Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo. Recitals took him to the Flagey in Brussels, Società Filarmonica de Trento, Vancouver Chopin Society, Philharmonie Haarlem, Casa da Música in Porto, and to Deutschlandfunk Cologne.
Lukáš Vondráček Piano G U ES T A R TIST S PO N SOR
EVELYN ROSENBLATT YOUNG ARTIST
Lukáš Vondráček made his first public appearance at the age of four. His debut as a fifteen-year-old in 2002 with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and Vladimir Ashkenazy was followed by a major US tour in 2003. His natural and assured musicality and remarkable technique have long marked him as a gifted and mature musician. He has worked with conductors including Paavo Järvi, Gianandrea Noseda, Yannick NézetSéguin, Marin Alsop, Christoph Eschenbach, Pietari Inkinen, Vasily Petrenko, Jakub Hrůša, Anu Tali, Xian Zhang, Krzysztof Urbański, Stéphane Denève, and Elim Chan. Previous highlights include concerts with The Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Philharmonia, and New Jersey Symphony orchestras as well as recitals at the Mariinsky Theatre, in Mumbai, Singapore, Leipzig’s Gewandhaus, at Brussel’s Flagey, and the Menuhin Festival Gstaad. International awards include first prizes at the Hilton Head and San Marino International Piano Competitions and Unisa International Piano Competition in Pretoria, South Africa, as well as the Raymond E. Buck Jury Discretionary Award at the 2009 International Van Cliburn Piano Competition. Following studies at the Academy of Music in Katowice and the Vienna Conservatoire, Lukáš Vondráček obtained an Artist Diploma from Boston’s New England Conservatory under the tutelage of Hung-Kuan Chen, graduating with Honors in 2012. His first commercial recording, a solo album for Octavia Records, was released in 2004 followed by another recital disc in 2012. His most recent CD, a recording of works by Brahms was released in autumn 2013 on the ORF label.
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EVELYN ROSENBLATT ARTIST AWARD
This weekend’s Masterworks concerts mark the annual Evelyn Rosenblatt Artist recognition created to honor a young soloist or conductor of exceptional promise who has an emerging national reputation. The 2019–20 Artist of Distinction is Lukáš Vondráček, this evening’s talented pianist. This annual recognition is endowed in perpetuity by Evelyn Rosenblatt and her family, who personally selected Mr. Vondráček as this year’s honored artist. Previous Rosenblatt tributes have been awarded to pianists Joyce Yang, Olga Kern, Yu Kosuge, Denis Matsuev, Cédric Pescia, and Denis Kozhukhin; violinists Stephan Jackiw, Viviane Hagner, Scott St. John, Baiba Skride, Veronika Eberle, and Will Hagen; cellists Narek Hakhnazaryan, Julie Albers and Matthew Zalkind; and conductors Keri-Lynn Wilson, Andrew Grams, and Karina Canellakis. The love of great music always played an important role in the life of Evelyn Rosenblatt. As a high school student, Evelyn took the train from Ogden to Salt Lake City every Saturday to study piano. Following her marriage to Joseph Rosenblatt in 1930, she hosted many of Utah Symphony’s musicians and guest artists in her home over the years. These include Leonard Bernstein, Jascha Heifetz, Gregor Piatigorsky, Arthur Rubinstein, Beverly Sills, Glenn Gould, and Isaac Stern. The Rosenblatt sculptural plaque, designed to honor Evelyn Rosenblatt for her care and love of the Utah Symphony, is located in the lobby outside the First Tier Reception Room in Abravanel Hall. In 1997–98, Mr. and Mrs. Rosenblatt served as the first chairs of the Symphony’s Annual Fund Committee. In January 2000, the Rosenblatt family created the Evelyn Rosenblatt Young Artists Endowment to honor Mrs. Rosenblatt on the occasion of her 90th birthday. Mr. Rosenblatt passed away in May 1999, and Mrs. Rosenblatt in April 2004. Utah Symphony | Utah Opera gratefully thanks and recognizes Evelyn Rosenblatt.
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NOTES ON THE PROGRAM: 1 / 2
by Michael Clive
Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881)
witches’ brew as a “hatful of horrors.” In fact, the composer’s four-part structure for this tone poem begins with [1] “an underground noise of inhuman voices. Appearance of the Spirits of Darkness followed by an appearance of Satan and [2] his adoration. [3] A Black Mass. [4] Joyful dancing of the Witches’ Sabbath.” With the tolling of a church bell, the darkness is finally dispersed.
(orch. Rimsky-Korsakov)
Night on Bald Mountain PERFORMANCE TIME: 12 MINUTES
Over time, Modest Mussorgsky has acquired a reputation as the wild man of Russian music—a notion that is understandable if not entirely deserved. It is certainly reinforced by the thundering climaxes and raw emotion we hear in his music. If his compositions are moody and steeped in Russian folk tradition, that description could fit the music of many of his peers. Still, Mussorgsky’s voice is well-nigh unmistakable, especially in the brooding, innovative harmonies we hear in Night on Bald Mountain and his other major compositions, such as his opera Boris Godunov. Composed in 1867, when Mussorgsky was still in his 20s, Night on Bald Mountain is early Mussorgsky and vintage subject matter: a tone poem depicting a witches’ Sabbath occurring on St. John’s Eve, the very night (June 23) when he completed the work to his evident satisfaction. It received its concert premiere in St. Petersburg in 1886, five years after Mussorgsky’s death, and achieved immediate success. In the West, our indelible images of the windswept Bald Mountain are derived from the vivid collaboration between Leopold Stokowski and the Disney studios in the animated classic Fantasia (1940). There is much more to the eerie content of this tone poem than just Mussorgsky’s characteristically vivid tone-painting of a craggy peak at night in bad weather. He larded his score with bone chilling elements, including the sinister roll of the bass drum and scary descending phrases that slither like serpents. One critic deftly described this 22
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943)
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43. PERFORMANCE TIME: 23 MINUTES
Rachmaninoff composed Rhapsody in 1934, when he had already written four full-length concertos. Not just a collection of variations on a theme, it is a concertante that is formally constructed, with the 24 variations dividing themselves into 3 movements in which most of the variations, like Paganini’s original theme, are stated and developed in A minor. The result closely resembles a concerto: It has traditional fast, slow and faster movements, and it incorporates additional thematic materials to develop musical ideas in a formal way. Listeners who cannot quite place the formal title of the Rhapsody will immediately recognize Paganini’s familiar main subject, which is the best-known and -loved of his set of 24 violin caprices. It’s built upon a pair of peppery A-minor phrases that sound vaguely demonic, especially on the violin. The melody starts with an emphatic A, and then, after a quick four-note figure, jumps up to E—then drops an octave to a lower E, repeats the four-note figure starting on E rather than A to arrive back where it began. This basic progression—start on the tonic, jump up a fifth, drop an octave and jump up a fourth to UTAHSYMPHONY.ORG
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NOTES ON THE PROGRAM: 2 / 2 the tonic again—is often called “circular,” and it could be repeated in an endless loop if a counterbalancing phrase didn’t intervene… eventually resolving it on the same tonic note. In Rachmaninoff’s treatment of this theme, the first ten variations form an opening movement, with another theme—a quotation of the Dies irae theme of the Latin mass—arising in variations 7, 10, 22, and 24. Variation 11 consists of a slow, poetic transition that leads us into a slow movement that moves gradually from D minor to D-flat minor, culminating in the most famous musical interlude in the entire Rhapsody, variation 18. You’ll be lost in the beauties of Rachmaninoff’s lush romanticism when this variation, vernal and ecstatic, soars forth, literally turning the original theme on its head—a direct inversion of Paganini’s original A-minor subject. Understanding its potential popularity, Rachmaninoff is reported to have quipped “this [variation] is for my agent.” It is often played as a stand-alone work.
Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953)
Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major, Op. 100 PERFORMANCE TIME: 46 MINUTES
Prokofiev would compose seven symphonies in all. His fifth took shape while World War II was still raging, fourteen years after he published his Symphony No. 4, and in its ardent expression of idealism and humanistic affirmation, it may be heard as a statement of patriotism and a vision of a more peaceful world. Freshness and energy are characteristic of all Prokofiev scores; but where some of his major works—for example, his five great piano concertos—thrill with their power and percussiveness, others UTAHSYMPHONY.ORG
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are written in a more lyrical style. The latter group includes his popular ballet scores, which shine with narrative expressiveness and singing melodies. His Symphony No. 5 combines all of these qualities. Despite the horrors and privations suffered by Soviet citizens during the war, music historians tell us that Prokofiev produced the Symphony No. 5 at one of the most optimistic moments of his life. He wrote it in an impassioned burst of creativity during the summer of 1944, reportedly in a single month. In a note on the score, he wrote that he intended the symphony as “a hymn to free and happy Man, to his mighty powers, his pure and noble spirit…I cannot say that I deliberately chose this theme. It was born in me and clamored for expression. The music matured within me. It filled my soul.” Like many of Shostakovich’s political symphonies, Prokofiev’s Fifth was intended to console and uplift the listener, a testament to art’s ability to inspire us at times of desolation. We hear this most clearly as the first movement draws to a close; following a long and formally constructed development, the recapitulation and coda come to us with sounds of triumph expressed through the brasses and percussion that seem to confirm what is most noble in the human spirit. In the second movement, Prokofiev’s characteristically driving rhythms— composed at a time when Soviet citizens were exhausted nearly beyond human endurance—seem to energize us as we listen. While the eloquent third movement can be heard as an unflinching depiction of war’s brutal realities, the final movement’s gathering energy gives rise to a profusion of orchestral color that blazes with excitement for the future. In its totality, the work is a towering symphonic assertion of humanism and of triumph over despair. 23
2019-20 UTAH SYMPHONY SEASON Select Utah Symphony concerts at Abravanel Hall September 27, 2019 / 7:30 PM September 28, 2019 / 5:30 PM (Saturday Prelude)
Respighi’s Pines of Rome November 1 & 2, 2019 / 7 PM
February 14 & 15, 2020 / 7:30 PM
Women Rock February 21, 2020 / 7:30 PM February 22, 2020 / 5:30 PM (Saturday Prelude)
Disney and Pixar’s Coco in Concert, Film with the Utah Symphony
Beethoven 2020: Symphony No. 7
November 8, 2019 / 7:30 PM November 9, 2019 / 5:30 PM (Saturday Prelude)
Singin’ in the Rain—Film in Concert
Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3
March 6 & 7, 2020 / 7:30 PM
November 15, 2019 / 7:30 PM November 16, 2019 / 7:30 PM (UNWOUND)
Rhapsody in Blue November 19, 2019 / 7 PM
America’s Wonders in 3D November 22 & 23, 2019 / 7:30 PM
The Rite of Spring November 30 & December 1, 2019 / 7:30 PM
Messiah Sing-in December 7, 2019 / 11 AM & 12:30 PM
Here Comes Santa Claus! December 10, 2019 / 7:30 PM
Celtic Woman: The Best of Christmas December 13, 2019 / 7:30 PM December 14, 2019 / 5:30 PM (Saturday Prelude)
February 28 & 29, 2020 / 7:30 PM
Sketches of Spain March 21, 2020 / 11 AM
Carnival of the Animals with Children’s Dance Theatre April 10 & 11, 2020 / 7:30 PM
Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 April 14, 2020 / 7 PM
How to Train Your Dragon, Film in Concert April 17 & 18, 2020 / 7:30 PM
The Temptations with the Utah Symphony April 24 & 25, 2020 / 7:30 PM
Beethoven 2020: “Pastoral” Symphony
A Celebration of Christmas
May 1, 2020 / 7:30 PM May 2, 2020 / 5:30 PM (Saturday Prelude)
December 20 & 21, 2019 / 7 PM
Beethoven 2020: Symphony No. 5
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix—Film in Concert January 3 & 4, 2020 / 7:30 PM
Debussy’s La mer January 31, 2020 / 7:30 PM February 1, 2020 / 5:30 PM (Saturday Prelude)
Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto
May 16, 2020 / 7:30 PM
Gala with Joshua Bell May 22 & 23, 2020 / 7:30 PM
Season Finale: Beethoven’s “Eroica” June 19 & 20, 2020 / 7 PM
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince—Film in Concert
UTAHSYMPHONY.ORG | 801-533-NOTE (6683)
ENTERTAINMENT SERIES
A BROADWAY CHRISTMAS WITH ASHLEY BROWN Dec. 4
/ 2019 / 7:30PM /
CONCERT HALL AT UVU’S NOORDA CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
Michael Krajewski, conductor Ashley Brown, vocalist
Choristers from The Madeleine Choir School
Broadway star Ashley Brown, of Mary Poppins fame, and choristers from The Madeleine Choir School brighten the Noorda’s Concert Hall this holiday season. Enjoy an evening of holiday cheer with all your favorite Yuletide carols like you’ve never heard them before. Indulge in Ashley Brown’s masterful performance as she takes you to warm firesides and snowy delights.
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ARTISTS’ PROFILES
Known for his entertaining programs and clever humor, Michael Krajewski is a much sought-after conductor of symphonic pops. He is Principal Pops Conductor of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, and previously served as Music Director of The Philly Pops as well as Principal Pops Conductor of the Houston Symphony and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
Michael Krajewski Conductor
As a guest conductor Michael has performed with the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras; the Boston and Cincinnati Pops; the San Francisco, Baltimore, Detroit, Indianapolis, Seattle, Dallas, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and National Symphonies, and numerous other orchestras across the United States. In Canada he has led Ottawa’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic, and the Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Kitchener-Waterloo Symphonies. Other international appearances include performances in Dublin and Belfast with the Ulster Orchestra as well as performances with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, and Spain’s Bilbao Symphony Orchestra. With degrees from Wayne State University in Detroit and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Michael furthered his training at the Pierre Monteux Domaine School for Conductors. He was a Dorati Fellowship Conductor with the Detroit Symphony and later served as that orchestra’s assistant conductor. He was resident conductor of the Florida Symphony and for 11 years served as music director of the Modesto Symphony Orchestra. Michael lives in Orlando, Florida with his wife Darcy. When not conducting he enjoys travel, photography, and solving crossword puzzles.
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ARTISTS’ PROFILES
Ashley Brown originated the title role in Mary Poppins on Broadway for which she received Outer Critics, Drama League, and Drama Desk nominations for Best Actress. Ms. Brown also starred as Mary Poppins in the national tour of Mary Poppins where she garnered a 2010 Garland award for “Best Performance in a Musical”. Ms. Brown’s other Broadway credits include Belle in Beauty and The Beast,” and she has starred in the national tour of Disney’s On The Record. Ashley recently returned to the Lyric Opera of Chicago to star in the role of Laurey in Oklahoma. She previously played Magnolia opposite Nathan Gunn in Francesca Zambello’s Showboat at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Ashley has performed with virtually all of the top orchestras in North America including the Boston Pops, the New York Philharmonic, The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra at Disney Hall, The Pittsburgh Symphony, the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, Fort Worth Symphony, the Cincinnati Pops, Philadelphia Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony, Seattle Symphony, the Houston Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, and the Philly Pops. She has also performed with the BBC Orchestra opposite Josh Groban.
Ashley Brown Vocalist
Ashley made her solo concert debut at The Kennedy Center as part of Barbara Cook’s Spotlight Series, and has appeared in New York City at prestigious venues including Feinstein’s at the Regency and Birdland. Other projects include a star turn at the La Jolla Playhouse in a production of Limelight, Sound of Music at the St. Louis MUNY which garnered her a Kevin Kline award, and her own PBS special called Ashley Brown: Call Me Irresponsible which received a PBS Telly Award. Ms. Brown’s long-awaited album of Broadway and American Songbook standards is available on Ghostlight/Sony. Ashley is a graduate of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.
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ARTISTS’ PROFILES
Located in downtown Salt Lake City, The Madeleine Choir School is far more than a music school. MCS offers students strong character formation and a holistic approach to exceptional age appropriate learning. Modeled after the historic cathedral schools in Europe, the Choir School music curriculum is unmatched and also provides outstanding instruction in the humanities, mathematics, and the sciences, as well as foreign languages, visual arts, theology, and athletics. Students graduate from the Choir School having received an exceptional music education, including intensive vocal training, music theory, music history, and a minimum of two years of violin study. The Madeleine Choir School, a mission of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Salt Lake City and a service of The Cathedral of the Madeleine, is an elementary school for children in Pre-Kindergarten through Grade Eight. Established in 1996, the school continues the cathedral tradition of inspiring young people to become engaged scholars, effective communicators, dedicated
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liturgical musicians, and responsible world citizens who seek to build a civilization of justice, mercy, and love. The choristers in grades five through eight regularly assist with worship life at The Cathedral of the Madeleine and participate in the Annual Concert Series. During the academic year, they can be heard at the Cathedral’s 5:15 p.m. Mass Monday through Thursday, and on Sundays at the 11:00 a.m. Mass. The students travel on international and national performance tours and recently returned from Italy where they performed in Venice, Florence, Assisi, and Rome. The Choristers of The Madeleine Choir School regularly collaborate with the Utah Symphony | Utah Opera and other arts organizations, including participation in the 2018 and 2019 Grand Teton Music Festival. Please visit our website at utmcs.org for a list of scheduled admissions events, or contact our Director of Admissions at admissions@utmcs.org or 801.323-9850 extension #103.
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MASTERWORKS SERIES
ISABEL LEONARD SINGS MOZART Jan. 9
/ 2020 / 7:30PM /
CONCERT HALL AT UVU’S NOORDA CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
Bernard Labadie, conductor
Isabel Leonard, mezzo-soprano
MOZART: Overture to The Marriage of Figaro, K. 492 MOZART: “Non so più” from The Marriage of Figaro MOZART: “Voi che sapete” from The Marriage of Figaro MOZART: “Deh per questo istante” from La Clemenza di Tito MOZART: La Clemenza di Tito Overture MOZART: Exsultate, jubilate, K. 165
I. Allegro II. Recitativo - Andante III. Allegro (Alleluja)
/ INTERMISSION /
MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 4 in A Major, Op. 90, “Italian”
I. II. III. IV.
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Allegro vivace Andante con moto Con moto moderato Presto and Finale: Saltarello
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2 0 1 9 - 2 0 2 0 I N AU G U R A L S E A S O N
FLY MORE THAN YOU FALL Starring Lexi Walker Smith Theatre Mon-Sat, Sep 12-28, 7:30 PM, Sat, 2:00 PM
AUDRA MCDONALD IN CONCERT Concert Hall Mon-Tues, Oct 7-8, 7:30 PM
SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET Starring Will Swenson Smith Theatre Oct 24-Nov 9, Mon-Sat, 7:30 PM, Sat, 2:00 PM
BERNADETTE PETERS IN CONCERT Concert Hall Sat, Jan 11, 7:30 PM
BALLET WEST’S
GISELLE Smith Theatre Fri, Jan 31 7:30 PM Sat, Feb 1, 2:00 & 7:30 PM
42 FT — A MENAGERIE OF MECHANICAL MARVELS Smith Theatre Mon, Feb 3, 6:30 PM
B-THE UNDERWATER BUBBLE SHOW Smith Theatre Mon, Mar 9, 7:00 PM
DIAVOLO ARCHITECTURE IN MOTION Smith Theatre Fri-Sat, Apr 3-4, 7:30 PM
FULL SCHEDULE AND TICKETS AVAILABLE AT UVU.EDU/THENOORDA The Noorda would like to thank its Title Sponsors:
SCOTT & KAREN
SMITH
ARTISTS’ PROFILES
Bernard Labadie has established himself worldwide as one of the preeminent conductors of the Baroque and Classical repertoire, a reputation closely tied to his work with Les Violons du Roy (for which he served as Music Director from its inception until 2014) and La Chapelle de Québec. With these two ensembles he has regularly toured Canada, the US and Europe, in major venues and festivals such as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Kennedy Center, The Barbican, The Concertgebouw, and the Salzburg Festival, among others. He began a four-year term as Principal Conductor of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in the 2018–19 season.
Bernard Labadie Conductor
In 2018–19, he guest conducted the Kansas City Symphony, Handel & Haydn Society, Canadian Opera Company, Philharmonie du Luxembourg, New World Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. International audiences in past seasons have seen and heard Maestro Labadie conduct the Bayerischen Rundfunks Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Nationale de France, Academy of Ancient Music, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, BBC Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Collegium Vocale Ghent, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, WDR Sinfonieorchester (Cologne), and Zurich Chamber Orchestra. In 2016, Bernard Labadie received the Samuel de Champlain award in Paris. The Canadian government appointed him as an “Officer of the Order of Canada” in 2005, and his home province named him a “Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Québec” in 2006.
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ARTISTS’ PROFILES
Highly acclaimed for her “passionate intensity and remarkable vocal beauty,” the multiple Grammy Awardwinning Isabel Leonard continues to thrill audiences both in the opera house and on the concert stage. In repertoire that spans from Vivaldi to Mozart to Thomas Adès, she has graced the stages of The Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, Paris Opera, Salzburg Festival, Bavarian State Opera, Carnegie Hall, Glyndebourne Festival, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and San Francisco Opera. She has appeared with some of the foremost conductors of her time: James Levine, Valery Gergiev, Charles Dutoit, Gustavo Dudamel, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Yannick NézétSeguin, Franz Welser-Möst, Plácido Domingo, Edward Gardner, Edo de Waart, James Conlon, Michele Mariotti, Harry Bicket, Andris Nelsons, and Michael Tilson Thomas with the Cleveland Orchestra; as well as with many other leading orchestras: Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Vienna Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, among others.
Isabel Leonard Mezzo-soprano
Ms. Leonard is in constant demand as a recitalist and is on the Board of Trustees at Carnegie Hall. She is a multiple Grammy Award-winner, most recently for Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges with Seiji Ozawa on Decca and The Tempest from The Metropolitan Opera on Deutsche Grammophon, both Best Opera Recording. Ms. Leonard is the recipient of the Richard Tucker Award and joined the supporters of the Prostate Cancer Foundation to lend her voice in honor of her father who died from the disease when she was in college.
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NOTES ON THE PROGRAM: 1 / 4
by Michael Clive
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
boss, the Holy Roman emperor Joseph II. Yes, class commentary is identifiable in the music, but not in the overture; what we hear instead is the exuberance of a wildly careening comedy. Figaro contains a complete range of sexually suggestive stage business: concealment behind chairs and under dropcloths; disguises of all kinds, including cross-dressing; jumping out of windows and hiding in locked closets. As the opera’s subtitle affirms, it is “a day of madness.”
The Marriage of Figaro, K. 492 Overture “Non so più” “Voi che sapete” PERFORMANCE TIME: 9 MINUTES
It all begins with five notes: a quick trill that starts on the first tone of the major scale, tugging us eagerly by the sleeve and pulling us headlong into a joyful overture that starts fast and intense, then gets more so. Welcome to Le nozze di Figaro, The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart’s 1786 opera and the first of his magnificent collaborations with librettist Lorenzo da Ponte. Based on Beaumarchais’ play combining boudoir farce and edgy social satire, The Marriage of Figaro was controversial and even subversive when it was written, in the years before the French Revolution. The plot dares to critique the inequalities between wealthy aristocrats and their servants—most notably between the indispensable Figaro; his “padrone,” the sullen, spoiled, sexist Count Almaviva; and the count’s pretty, resourceful ward Susanna, who is Figaro’s fiancée. In fact, while Mozart’s frenetic Figaro seems to ingratiate himself with everyone he meets, Beaumarchais’ original character dares to speak critically of his authoritarian boss and the idea of aristocratic entitlement. Mozart directed da Ponte to avoid confronting these ideas too boldly in their operatic setting of the play, and their restraint secured approval for the opera’s libretto from Mozart’s own aristocratic 34
All of this is embodied in the overture’s quick pace and sudden dynamic contrasts. Passages that uncoil quietly, like the first 11 bars of the Figaro overture, may be followed by a crashing fortissimo that suggests a burst of comic discovery. The tempo, on the other hand, never flags. The other overtures for Mozart’s most familiar operas—Così fan tutte, Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute—introduce their comic ideas with slow, portentous chords that seem to frame a godlike view of the humans who are about to start scurrying around on stage when the curtain goes up. But Figaro’s overture begins fast and stays that way. The result is an overture that, as George Bernard Shaw famously noted, makes us impatient for the curtain to rise like no other overture in music. (He also noted, with some scorn, that its dithering pace had conductors checking their watches to bring it in at a uniform three and one-half minutes.) And while all the gleeful hubbub has made this overture one of the most popular in the concert repertory, it does not hint at the musical profundity that illuminates the rest of this great opera: its Shakespearean insight into character, its moments of melancholy and magic and, most of all, its representation of the power of love to redeem our humanity. Much of the romantic hubbub in Figaro is UTAHSYMPHONY.ORG
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NOTES ON THE PROGRAM: 2 / 4 propelled by Cherubino, a comic character whose charm and energy steal every scene he’s in. Sung by a soprano or high mezzosoprano en travesti—i.e., “in disguise” as a male—Cherubino is a randy adolescent boy who has only one thing on his mind: He gets an immediate crush on every woman he sees. In the context of the opera, “Non so più” and “Voi che sapete” are songs he has written to express this sweet confusion. In his Act I aria, “Non so più,” we hear his breathlessness and desperation as he describes to Susanna his need to declare his feelings of love at every moment, waking or sleeping, in company or alone. By Act II, when he sings “Voi che sapete,” he is calmer, and in his song he beseeches the more experienced Susanna and the Countess Almaviva to counsel him in the ways of love.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
La Clemenza di Tito “Deh, per questo istante” Overture PERFORMANCE TIME: 7 MINUTES
Mozart composed La Clemenza di Tito in 1791, taking time out from work on The Magic Flute to do so. It was the last year of his life, and a period of such intense and prolific composition that it has become a separate area of specialty for musicologists. Mozart was already far along in composing the better-known opera when the impresario Domenico Guardasoni offered the commission for an opera seria to celebrate the coronation of Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, as King of Bohemia. (Guardasoni’s first choice, the more eminent Antonio Salieri, was unavailable.) Mozart was well-regarded in UTAHSYMPHONY.ORG
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Prague, and he was happy to accept the assignment for what would be a very good fee. The schedule was rushed, but for the unbelievably prolific Mozart, this was no problem. (According to one account, he finished the extensive score in 18 days.) Getting an original libretto produced in such short order was another matter, and in the end Guardasoni fell back on a libretto by Metastasio that had already been set by nearly 40 composers. The story, in keeping with the occasion, was unapologetically reactionary: a tale from The Lives of the Caesars depicting the rectitude of the emperor Titus, who remains unshakably moral while surrounded by murderous conspirators, then forgives them all. This not-so-subtle sop to aristocracy was presented two years after the French revolution as a repudiation of its egalitarian ideals, and honored a ruler who rescinded an agreement to free the serfs of Bohemia and to increase the tax burden on nobles—a regressive idea even then. After its initial success, the years were not kind to La Clemenza di Tito…at least, not until relatively recently. Characteristic of its form, the opera proceeds through static declamation; much of the singing is commentary on offstage action. But, as always with Mozart opera, the music is full of melodic richness and psychological insight. Today it is acknowledged as a masterpiece of opera seria, and revivals are increasingly common. The plot of La Clemenza di Tito is a study of the conflicts between civic duty, personal loyalty, and romantic love. And, unusually for a Mozart opera, love can make good people do bad things. This has already happened when the character Sesto sings the impassioned aria “Deh, per questo istante solo.” Sesto (sung en travesti) is 35
NOTES ON THE PROGRAM: 3 / 4 in love with Vitellia, and though he is the emperor Tito’s closest friend, he has given way to the scheming Vitellia’s demands and joined with the conspirators who wanted to assassinate Tito. His conflicting emotions— remorse, love, a longing for punishment— are interwoven in this great opera. In listening to an operatic overture by Mozart, we can always expect a certain grace and melodic buoyancy that tell us something about the music-drama to come, even if we do not hear quotations from tunes used later in the opera (Mozart frequently avoids this kind of overt foreshadowing). Enjoyable in their own right, these overtures set the tone for a larger entertainment and make us eager to hear more. But some of Mozart’s overtures employ a device that adds to the drama of what we hear: a very slow, emphatic opening that seems almost to fling down a gauntlet before us as listeners—as if to remind us that no matter how enjoyable the music we are about to hear, the matter at hand is serious and we should listen carefully. The overture to The Magic Flute is perhaps the most familiar example of this technique: though the opera is an enchanting and hilarious fairy tale for children and adults, the first music we hear consists of three majestic, rumbling chords that open the overture with deep solemnity before it careens off on its merry way. The overture to Mozart’s opera seria La Clemenza di Tito is another example of this structure, opening with a very serious motif stated repeatedly. It’s almost like hearing a fanfare: Portentous silences separate each iteration and the sound is very upright and four-square, with a martial air. This is an opera of ramrod-straight morality, and as the overture proceeds and the tempo gains momentum, we hear this strictness underlining every theme. 36
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
Exsultate, jubilate, K. 165 PERFORMANCE TIME: 16 MINUTES
Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate used to be everywhere; recording it and performing it in recital was nearly mandatory for lyric sopranos, and while it is by no means a rarity, programming and listening patterns have made it scarcer. It is a three-movement religious motet originally composed for the castrato singer Venanzio Rauzzini in 1773, while Mozart was staying in Milan for the production of his opera Lucio Silla. Rauzzini had been cast as the leading man in Silla, which ran for a month in Milan starting the day after Christmas in 1772. Not every musician could meet Mozart’s high standards, and the incompetence of some could drive him from the auditorium during performances of his own work. But Rauzzini was a singer he actually admired, and he composed Exsultate, jubilate as a tribute both to God and to Rauzzini, revising the work around seven years later. After the era of castrato singing, it was adopted by sopranos and high mezzo-sopranos. In the 20th century it became a calling card for the groundbreaking African-American soprano Dorothy Maynor (1910–1996), whose purity of voice and sensitive phrasing were ideal for it. The sheer joy of expression in Exsultate, jubilate brings to mind the exhortation from Psalm 100 to make a joyful noise and to come before His presence with singing. In composing music as an expression of exultant praise, composers often turn to the soprano voice, which can soar as if reaching for the heavens. Bach’s cantata for solo soprano and trumpet “Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen” (“praise God in all lands”) and Handel’s aria “Let the Bright Seraphim” UTAHSYMPHONY.ORG
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NOTES ON THE PROGRAM: 4 / 4 stand with Mozart’s Exsultate as glorious examples in this category—especially with its third movement. This is the Alleluja, and is the best-known and most difficult section of Mozart’s motet. Its ecstatic beauty requires the singer to negotiate difficult, ornate passages while projecting sheer joy.
Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847)
Symphony No. 4 in A Major, Op. 90, “Italian” PERFORMANCE TIME: 26 MINUTES
In the 19th century, traveling for pleasure was limited to a fortunate few—among them Felix Mendelssohn, whose wealthy family could afford every artistic and intellectual pursuit that interested him. Travel was slow and lasted long in those days, and Felix kept a diary of his travel impressions expressed in music just as other refined travelers kept sketchbooks or painted watercolors. The compositions he based on these musical sketches are some of the most vivid examples of musical scene-painting in Western music. But even Mendelssohn enthusiasts can be confused by the titles of his travel-inspired works. His Third Symphony, “The Scottish,” was not published until after the one catalogued as No. 4, “The Italian.” For both “The Italian” and “The Scottish” Symphonies, Mendelssohn’s musical ideas were inspired by the grand tour of Europe that occupied the composer from 1829 to 1831. By then, Mendelssohn, around the age of today’s college sophomore, was broadly educated and a mature composer. The idea of young composers from elsewhere in Europe honing their styles in Italy was more than a century old; even the culturally chauvinistic French sent their best and brightest to Italy for two years with the Prix de Rome. UTAHSYMPHONY.ORG
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Extensive travels in Italy and brilliant letters sent home to a musically gifted sister were among the many strange coincidences linking Mendelssohn and Mozart. Felix’s letters reveal his euphoric embrace of Italian culture and landscape. In a February 1830 letter to his sister, Fanny, he references “The Italian” Symphony: “It will be the jolliest piece I have ever done, especially the last movement. I have not found anything for the slow movement yet, and I think that I will save that for Naples.” Yet despite the seeming effortlessness of the symphony’s flow and the golden glow of its sound, its composition caused him grief. He did not finish it until March 1833, more than a year after returning from his grand tour, and even then was not satisfied with the result. He conducted the premiere in May of that year for the London Philharmonic Society, a performance that made the symphony an instant hit, yet roused in him pangs of doubt and regret. After revising it in 1834 he still was not satisfied, and never published it— which accounts for its late numeration. What flaws could Mendelssohn possibly have heard in this apparently perfect work of art? We can only guess that some aspect of his Italian travels remained inchoate and unexpressed. But for listeners, “The Italian” Symphony seems to achieve the impossible, musically capturing the brilliance of sunshine and the vibrancy of wine. Suffused with a sense of travel and of the golden Italian landscape (though not, arguably, with the flavor and dynamism of the Italians themselves), the symphony’s scenic melodies sweep us along. It’s worth noting the sense of drama that opens the symphony, conveying the excitement of both departure and arrival. The effect requires virtuosic precision of attack in the brasses from the very first moment, a challenge that at least one wag has described to your intrepid annotator as “the dilemma of the horns.” 37
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MASTERWORKS SERIES
FISCHER CONDUCTS GERSHWIN & DVOŘÁK Feb. 6
/ 2020 / 7:30PM /
CONCERT HALL AT UVU’S NOORDA CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
Thierry Fischer, conductor Joyce Yang, piano
BERNSTEIN: Three Dance Episodes from On the Town
I. Dance of the Great Lover II. “Lonely Town” (Pas de deux) III. Times Square Ballet
GERSHWIN: Concerto in F Major for Piano and Orchestra I. Allegro II. Adagio - Andante con moto III. Allegro agitato
Joyce Yang, piano
/ INTERMISSION /
DVOŘÁK: Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op. 88
I. Allegro con brio II. Adagio III. Allegretto grazioso IV. Allegro ma non troppo
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P O D C A S T
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*See page 8 for Thierry Fischer’s artist profile.
ARTIST’S PROFILE
Blessed with “poetic and sensitive pianism” (Washington Post) and a “wondrous sense of color” (San Francisco Classical Voice), Grammy-nominated pianist Joyce Yang captivates audiences with her virtuosity, lyricism, and interpretive sensitivity. She first came to international attention in 2005 when she won the silver medal at the 12th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. The youngest contestant at 19 years old, she took home two additional awards: Best Performance of Chamber Music (with the Takács Quartet), and Best Performance of a New Work. In 2006 Yang made her celebrated New York Philharmonic debut alongside Lorin Maazel at Avery Fisher Hall as well as with the orchestra’s tour of Asia, making a triumphant return to her hometown of Seoul, South Korea. Yang’s subsequent appearances with the New York Philharmonic have included opening night of the 2008 Leonard Bernstein Festival—an appearance made at the request of Maazel in his final season as music director. The New York Times pronounced her performance in Bernstein’s The Age of Anxiety a “knockout.”
Joyce Yang Piano
Born in 1986 in Seoul, South Korea, Yang received her first piano lesson from her aunt at the age of four. She quickly took to the instrument, which she received as a birthday present. Over the next few years she won several national piano competitions in her native country. By the age of ten, she had entered the School of Music at the Korea National University of Arts, and went on to make a number of concerto and recital appearances in Seoul and Daejeon. In 1997, Yang moved to the United States to begin studies at the pre-college division of the Juilliard School with Dr. Yoheved Kaplinsky. During her first year at Juilliard, Yang won the pre-college division Concerto Competition, resulting in a performance of Haydn’s Keyboard Concerto No. 11 in D Major with the Juilliard Pre-College Chamber Orchestra. After winning the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Greenfield Student Competition, she performed Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto with that orchestra at just twelve years old. She graduated from Juilliard with special honor as the recipient of the school’s 2010 Arthur Rubinstein Prize, and in 2011 she won its 30th Annual William A. Petschek Piano Recital Award. Yang appears in the film In the Heart of Music, a documentary about the 2005 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. She is a Steinway artist. UTAHSYMPHONY.ORG
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NOTES ON THE PROGRAM: 1 / 4
by Michael Clive
Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990)
Three Dance Episodes from On the Town PERFORMANCE TIME: 11 MINUTES
It’s no exaggeration to say that America has never known anyone quite like Leonard Bernstein, who burst into prominence in November 1943, when he was only 25, leading the New York Philharmonic on a few hours’ notice in a concert that made headlines. Bernstein possessed an extraordinary combination of impassioned musical creativity and personal charisma, a restless intellect that looked deeply into other arts as well as music, and a commitment to social justice. He believed that music could improve the world as well as entertain. Byronic good looks certainly didn’t hurt Bernstein’s musical mission, and he succeeded in bridging the gap between popular and high culture in the U.S. as nobody else has ever done. Born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, Leonard Bernstein took piano lessons as a boy and attended the Garrison and Boston Latin Schools. At Harvard University he studied with Walter Piston, Edward Burlingame Hill and A. Tillman Merritt, and made an unofficial conducting debut with his own incidental music to the ancient Greek comedy The Birds by Aristophanes— early confirmation of his gift for musical leadership. He had already been appointed assistant conductor at the New York Philharmonic at age 25, shortly before the fateful 1943 concert that launched his fame. Stepping in for the ailing Bruno Walter, he led the orchestra in a galvanic performance that was nationally broadcast on the radio
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from Carnegie Hall. Soon orchestras worldwide sought him out as a guest conductor. He became Music Director of the New York Philharmonic in 1958, and the Philharmonic’s players—who were known to give some conductors a hard time—were almost fanatically devoted to him. During his tenure as Music Director, which lasted through 1969, he led more concerts with the orchestra than did any previous conductor. In spite of all his musical accomplishments, Bernstein still has not found his rightful place as a composer in American classical music— perhaps because his genius spanned so many categories. Critics continue to argue about longer compositions, such as his operas and symphonies. With his theater music the argument is not over their merit, but their place in the catalogue: All of Bernstein’s compositions for the Broadway stage blaze with an energy, melodic inspiration and sheer theatricality that lift them beyond the level of “show music” and into the concert hall. Bernstein’s work on Broadway was a series of great collaborations that are now part of the Great White Way’s storied history. It all started with On the Town, a wartime romantic comedy about three sailors with 24 hours’ shore leave in New York City. Composed in 1944, it was Bernstein’s first composition for Broadway. “It seems only natural that dance should play a leading role in [it],” Bernstein noted, “since the idea of writing it arose from the success of the ballet Fancy Free” [which he had composed for the brilliant choreographer Jerome Robbins]. Bernstein chose three of the show’s dance episodes for use as a concert suite: 1. Dance of the Great Lover (from the Dream Ballet, Act 2); 2. Pas de Deux
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NOTES ON THE PROGRAM: 2 / 4 (from the “Lonely Town” Ballet, Act 1); and 3. Times Square Ballet (Finale, Act 1). All three episodes, like all of Bernstein’s dance music for Broadway, rise to a level of orchestral complexity and dynamism that was previously unknown in dance music for Broadway. “That they are, in their way, symphonic pieces rarely occurs to the audience actually attending the show,” Bernstein noted. “Their use…as concert material is rather in the nature of an experiment.” The experiment proved a raging success, and led to the even more symphonic dances of West Side Story. The stories of the dance sketches are familiar from their charming movie adaptation with Gene Kelly. In the first, “The Great Lover,” Kelly’s character Gabey develops a fantasy-crush on the girl in the subway promotion “Miss Turnstiles” and falls asleep on the train while searching for her. During the second episode, “Lonely Town,” the frustrated Gabey watches another sailor flirt with a young girl in Central Park and then ditch her—a melancholy episode lush with strings and laden with feelings of thwarted romance. Finally, in the best-known sketch, we hear the familiar, exuberant strains of the most familiar theme in the show: “New York, New York.”
George Gershwin (1898–1937)
Concerto in F Major for Piano and Orchestra PERFORMANCE TIME: 29 MINUTES
It’s not always easy to draw the line between America’s classical and popular music traditions. But in the case of George Gershwin, that line disappears. He
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possessed the ideal combination of talent and temperament to become a “crossover artist” before the term existed: with his brother Ira he was half of one of the greatest songwriting duos in history—a team whose success on Tin Pan Alley and Broadway made them synonymous with the sounds and style of the Jazz Age. Yet George is also acknowledged as one of the seminal talents in America’s classical heritage. He was born in 1898, just a few years after his parents, Russian Jews, arrived in New York from St. Petersburg. The Yiddish music he heard at home brought together stylistic elements from all over the world, awakening a voracious appetite for American pop culture and classical music alike. From the very beginning, it was music for George and verse for his brother Ira, who distinguished himself in writing light poetry as a student at City College. George was no student, but— to his family’s astonishment—had secretly learned to play the piano, acquiring what could only be called mad skills today. George left high school in 1914 to become a “plugger” in Tin Pan Alley, demonstrating songs to potential buyers at Remick’s, a music publisher. He heard all kinds of music, and there was no style that failed to excite his ear: African-American folk music, jazz, Yiddish songs and the Jewish cantorial tradition, European classical music. After three years in Tin Pan Alley he had published the first song of his own: “When You Want ‘Em, You Can’t Get ‘Em; When You Have Em, You Don’t Want ‘Em.” It hardly caused a stir, but did pave the way for “Swanee,” his first mega-hit, published when he was just 21. George was fascinated by classical traditions and was one of many American
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NOTES ON THE PROGRAM: 3 / 4 composers who made the pilgrimage to Nadia Boulanger, the venerated Parisian teacher of composition. His reported encounter with Maurice Ravel, though celebrated, remains unconfirmed: he supposedly sought lessons from Ravel, who—upon learning how much Gershwin earned from his songs—said that he should be taking lessons from Gershwin instead. The Concerto in F Major is often called Gershwin’s “most classical” composition, though opera enthusiasts point out that his opera Porgy and Bess is huge in scope and draws directly upon Wagner and Puccini. But the concerto, written in 1925 on commission for Walter Damrosch, hews closely to traditional concerto form. In this sense it is far more “classical” than, say, the popular Rhapsody in Blue. Gershwin scored the concerto himself (unlike the Rhapsody) and was piano soloist at the premiere. The musical building blocks of the Concerto in F Major are American jazz and dance, synthesized in classical forms. It probably remains the most successful and frequently programmed such work in the American canon. Its “jazziness” is unmistakable from the opening moments, with explosive timpani strikes. The extended orchestral introduction that builds to a dramatic solo piano entrance is traditional in form, but with jazz flair. Blues, of course, were never far from Gershwin’s pen, and in the second movement we hear the flatted thirds of the blues in “blue notes” that glitter elegantly, rather than wailing as they do in Rhapsody in Blue. In the final movement, Gershwin invokes the spirit of Ragtime, where his songwriting success began. Gershwin himself commented on the concerto’s sound, eloquently describing
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its riot of rhythms. “The first movement employs the Charleston rhythm,” he wrote. “It is quick and pulsating, representing the young enthusiastic spirit of American life. It begins with a rhythmic motif given out by the kettle drums…. The principal theme is announced by the bassoon. Later, a second theme is introduced by the piano. The second movement has a poetic, nocturnal atmosphere, which has come to be referred to as the American blues, but in a purer form than that in which they are usually treated. The final movement reverts to the style of the first. It is an orgy of rhythms, starting violently and keeping to the same pace throughout.” The concerto presents a finale of requisite flash, with exciting, rapid octave scales and pentatonic chord progressions juxtaposed against emphatic, vigorous percussion. The sound is as American as Broadway.
Antonin Dvořák (1841–1904)
Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op. 88 PERFORMANCE TIME: 36 MINUTES
The Dvořák we all know and love is not necessarily the musician’s Dvořák. His Symphony No. 9, “From the New World,” is one of the most popular in American concert halls, but critics hail the less-familiar eighth as an even more accomplished work, and the seventh is gaining ground as well. Chamber players consider his extensive output of chamber works to be a cornerstone of the repertory, with works such as the “Dumky,” a piano trio, to be essential compositions that helped shape the course of modern chamber playing.
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NOTES ON THE PROGRAM: 4 / 4 Dvořák played a pivotal role, if not always a successful one, in the international movement to promote national identity in classical composition. During his fateful visit to America at the behest of Jeannette Thurber from 1892 to 1895 to serve as director of her nascent National Conservatory of Music, his success as a composer contrasted starkly with his failed attempts to foster this idea among American composers; ironically, his strong advocacy of finding musical sources in African American and American Indian music helped create the enormous popularity of his “New World” Symphony as an audience-pleaser, but did not really take root among American musicians until decades after he left our shores. He composed his Symphony No. 8 during the period just before his time in America. The year was 1889; he had just been elected to the Bohemian Academy of Science, Literature and the Arts, and spent just a bit over two months—from the end of August to the beginning of November—writing a symphony to express his gratitude and pleasure in receiving this honor. He dedicated the score “To the Bohemian Academy of Emperor Franz Joseph for the Encouragement of Arts and Literature, in thanks for my election.” He conducted the premiere the following February in Prague.
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In contrast with the stormy Romanticism of Dvořák’s previous symphony, No. 8 is bright and optimistic in tone, suffused with the lilt of his beloved Bohemia. The sounds of the countryside are never far from Dvořák’s music, but in this case—as the composer himself noted—the structure is “different from [my previous] symphonies, with the thoughts worked out in a new way.” The folk-like melodies come in abundance, especially in the first movement, which is structured almost like a rondo—with the initial theme repeated every time a new melodic idea comes along. Though all these ideas are meticulously crafted, there is an air of spontaneity about them. And of course—as in all Dvořák’s music—the dance rhythms are so prevalent that it’s all we can do to keep still as we listen. The second movement, an adagio, alternates (as does the first movement) between major and minor keys, though in both movements a warm glow prevails. These open onto a delicious waltz in the third movement, which in turn leads us to a dramatic final movement introduced by a brassy fanfare and culminating in a strong assertion of sheer goodness. It all sounds simple, but in music, as in life, nothing is more difficult than simplicity. Small wonder that this symphony, with its combination of bucolic cheer and beauty of craft, has been called Dvořák’s counterpart to Beethoven’s “Pastoral.”
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MASTERWORKS SERIES
CARMINA BURANA Mar. 26
/ 2020 / 7:30PM /
CONCERT HALL AT UVU’S NOORDA CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
Kazuki Yamada, conductor Madeline Adkins, violin Amy Owens, soprano Brian Stucki, tenor
Christopher Clayton, baritone
Barlow Bradford, chorus director Utah Symphony Chorus
Choristers of The Madeleine Choir School
NATHAN LINCOLN DE CUSATIS: The Maze (World Premiere, commissioned by Madeline Adkins) Madeline Adkins, violin
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: The Lark Ascending, Romance for Violin and Orchestra Madeline Adkins, violin
/ INTERMISSION /
ORFF: Carmina Burana
Fortune, Empress of the World I. In Springtime On the Green II. In the Tavern III. The Court of Love Blanziflor and Helena Fortune, Empress of the World
Amy Owens, soprano Brian Stucki, tenor
Christopher Clayton, baritone
Barlow Bradford, chorus director
Utah Symphony Chorus
Choristers of The Madeleine Choir School
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#
@U T AH S YM P H O N Y #UTAHSYMPHONY # L E FTS PE EC HL E S S #FEELITFORYOURSELF May 2020
ARTISTS’ PROFILES Kazuki Yamada is Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, and has been appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, starting in the 2018/2019 season. In Japan he holds additional titles of Principal Guest Conductor of Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra (from January 2019), Permanent Conductor of Japan Philharmonic, Music Director and Chairman of The Philharmonic Chorus of Tokyo as well as Music Director of Yokohama Sinfonietta, an ensemble he founded whilst still a student. Yamada appears as a guest with such orchestras as Orchestre de Paris, Staatskapelle Dresden, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Philharmonia Orchestra and Tonkünstler-Orchester at the Vienna Musikverein. He has worked with Emanuel Ax, Boris Kazuki Yamada Berezovsky, Håkan Hardenberger, Nobuko Imai, Daishin Conductor Kashimoto, Alexander Kniazev, Xavier de Maistre, Steven Osborne, Vadim Repin, Baiba Skride, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Simon Trpčeski, and Frank Peter Zimmermann. In the current season, alongside his regular weeks in Monte Carlo, Birmingham and Japan, Kazuki Yamada makes debuts with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, RTVE Madrid, Stavanger Symphony, Royal Flanders Philharmonic, Berner Symphonieorchester and RTÉ Orchestra Dublin. Further afield, he maintains his regular relationship with NHK Symphony Orchestra and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. With Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, he tours to Zurich Tonhalle, Victoria Hall Geneva, Theater Basel, Grosses Festspielhaus Salzburg, and Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam. He is active in the field of opera and this season will perform Samson et Dalilah at Opera de Monte Carlo. He is strongly supported by Seiji Ozawa and, in August 2012, he conducted a semi-staged production of Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc, with Saito-Kinen Orchestra; a project that was also a huge success in spring 2015 in Côme de Bellescize’s staged version at the Philharmonie de Paris, with Orchestre de Paris under Yamada. Committed to music education, Yamada appears as guest artist every summer with the students at the Seiji Ozawa International Academy in Switzerland. Yamada was Principal Guest Conductor of Orchestre de la Suisse Romande 2010-2017 and together they have released a hugely popular series of CDs inspired by dance, on the Pentatone label. Yamada is also Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus’ Music Director who have released ten CDs on Fontec. Now resident in Berlin, Yamada was born in Kanagawa, Japan, in 1979. In 2009 he was the winner of the 51stBesancon International Competition for young conductors. UTAHSYMPHONY.ORG
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ARTISTS’ PROFILES Madeline Adkins joined the Utah Symphony as Concertmaster in 2016. She previously served as Associate Concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony for 11 years, as well as Concertmaster of the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra from 2008–2016. Adkins has performed as a soloist in Europe, Asia, Africa, and 20 U.S. states. She has served as guest concertmaster of the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra. She has also been a guest artist at numerous summer festivals including the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival in South Africa, the Sarasota Music Festival, Music in the Mountains, the Grand Teton Music Festival, and the Sewanee Summer Music Festival, as well as a faculty member at the National Orchestral Institute and the National Youth Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. Madeline Adkins Violin
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She performs on the “ex-Chardon” Guadagnini of 1782, graciously loaned by Gabrielle Israelievitch to perpetuate the legacy of her late husband, former Toronto Symphony concertmaster, Jacques Israelievitch. Adkins’ CD of the complete works for violin and piano by Felix Mendelssohn with pianist Luis Magalhães was released in 2016. In 2018– 19, she served as the Music Director of the NOVA Chamber Music Series. The daughter of noted musicologists, Adkins is the youngest of eight children, six of whom are professional musicians. Adkins received her bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from the University of North Texas and her master’s degree from the New England Conservatory where she studied with James Buswell.
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ARTISTS’ PROFILES
Amy Owens enjoys a diverse career in concert work, opera, new music, alternative pop, and jazz. She has appeared in concert in venues ranging from Wolf Trap to Carnegie Hall with renowned orchestras across the United States, including the National Symphony Orchestra, Utah Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Virginia Symphony, and Buffalo Philharmonic. Her operatic engagements have taken her to The Santa Fe Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Dallas Opera, Michigan Opera Theater, Utah Opera, Central City Opera, and On Site Opera, and she appears regularly with the New York Festival of Song. Her debut album of original music, a collaboration with producer Howard Wulkan, HAETHOR, was released last year to acclaim in the electronica world, and she recently released an album of Leonard Bernstein songs, including previously unrecorded pieces, with pianist Michael Barrett. She performed at the 50th annual New Orleans Jazz Fest with the renowned musician Glen David Andrews, and as a budding conductor, she was selected to audit in the Hart Institute for Women Conductors at Dallas Opera and the International Conducting Workshop Festival in Bulgaria.
Amy Owens Soprano
Ms. Owens is the recipient of the grand prize from the Sullivan Foundation, two encouragement awards from the George London Foundation, and two consecutive wins from the Metropolitan Opera National Council district auditions in New York City. She has fulfilled young artist residencies with The Santa Fe Opera, Utah Opera, Central City Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, and Utah Festival Opera.
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ARTISTS’ PROFILES
Brian Stucki Tenor
Quickly distinguishing himself with a voice that The Salt Lake Tribune declares is “heaven sent,” Brian Stucki’s recent performances on the concert stage include Haydn’s Creation with Boston Baroque and Utah Symphony, Mozart’s Mass in C, Requiem, and Mass in C minor with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, his Avery Fisher Hall debut as well as his Carnegie Hall debut singing Fanny Mendelssohn’s Musik Für die Toten der Cholera-Epidemie with the American Symphony Orchestra, and Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Milwaukee Symphony, Honolulu Symphony, and Acadiana Symphony in Louisiana. He has previously joined the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Handel and Haydn Society, Virginia Symphony, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Boise Philharmonic, and Mormon Tabernacle Choir for Handel’s Messiah; Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra for Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Bruch’s Flight into Egypt with Pacific Symphony, and Music in a Sacred Space for Mozart’s Requiem, Utah Symphony and Mormon Tabernacle Choir for Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Handel’s Utrecht Jubilate and Holst’s Psalm 86 at the Deer Valley® Music Festival; and both the Waukegan Symphony and Bach Chorale Singers for Mozart’s Requiem. While at Indiana University, he joined the Chamber Orchestra and Choir for both Lukas in Haydn’s Die Jahreszeiten and Uriel in Die Schöpfung. Mr. Stucki holds a Master of Music degree from Indiana University and a Bachelor of Music degree from Brigham Young University. Additionally, he is a former member of the Glimmerglass Opera Young American Artists Program. Also an accomplished cellist, he has released a recording of Rachmaninoff works on the Tantara label.
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ARTISTS’ PROFILES
Baritone Christopher Clayton is establishing himself as a rising talent on the operatic stage. He has appeared with companies such as Utah Opera, Portland Opera, Opera Birmingham, Chautauqua Opera, Sarasota Opera, and Opera Idaho. Engagements have included Alvaro in Florencia en el Amazonas, Friedrich Bhaer in Adamo’s Little Women with Utah Opera, Tonio in Pagliacci with Opera Birmingham and Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, Conte di Luna in Il trovatore with St. Petersburg Opera, Germont in La traviata, Danilo in The Merry Widow and Falke in Die Fledermaus with the Imperial Symphony and Utah Opera, Marcello in La bohème with Opera Idaho, and The Grandfather Clock and the Black Cat in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges with the Utah Symphony.
Christopher Clayton Baritone
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Mr. Clayton was a Portland Opera Studio Artist and returned to Portland Opera in 2010 for Trouble in Tahiti. He was a young artist with Chautauqua Opera in both the apprentice and studio programs as well as a studio artist with Sarasota Opera. He received a Professional Studies Certificate and master’s degree from Manhattan School of Music. At Manhattan School he studied with Maitland Peters and worked closely with Warren Jones and Dona Vaughn. Prior to his studies in New York, he received bachelor’s degrees in vocal performance and mechanical engineering from the University of Utah. He has received prizes and grants from the Gerda Lissner Foundation, the Violetta Pollara DuPont Vocal Competition the Marian Anderson Vocal Competition, the Irene Dalis Vocal Competition, the Chautauqua Opera Guild, and the Oratorio Society of New York.
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ARTISTS’ PROFILES
Dr. Barlow Bradford Chorus Director
Over the course of his musical career, Dr. Barlow Bradford has distinguished himself as a conductor, composer, arranger, pianist, organist, and teacher. As an orchestral and choral conductor, he co-founded the Utah Chamber Artists in 1991 and has led that organization to international acclaim for its impeccable, nuanced performances and award-winning recordings. Dr. Bradford’s focused, energetic conducting style led to his appointment as Music Director of the Orchestra at Temple Square in Salt Lake City and Associate Director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Prior to that, he was Director of Orchestras at the University of Utah. His compositions and arrangements have garnered much attention for their innovation and dramatic scope, from delicate, transparent intimacy to epic grandeur. Arrangements by Bradford have been performed/recorded by the Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Tucson Symphony Orchestra, New York Choral Artists, Seattle Pacific University, Baylor University, Mormon Tabernacle Choir/Orchestra at Temple Square, Newfoundland Festival 500, and the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, among others. In addition to his post as Director of the Utah Symphony Chorus, Dr. Bradford continues as Artistic Director of Utah Chamber Artists and serves as the Ellen Neilson Barnes Presidential Chair of Choral Studies at the University of Utah.
See page 28 for information about The Madeleine Choir School.
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NOTES ON THE PROGRAM: 1 / 3
by Michael Clive Nathan Lincoln-DeCusatis, composer
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958)
The Maze
The Lark Ascending, Romance for Violin and Orchestra
PERFORMANCE TIME: 15 MINUTES
Nathan Lincoln-DeCusatis is a jazz and classical composer based in New York City, where he is on the faculty of Fordham University. His compositions are deeply grounded in classical forms and traditions, but are also noted for synthesizing a wide array of modern influences including popular, minimalist, and jazz idioms. Lincoln-DeCusatis’s music is often guided by psychological narratives that unfold through references to past musical traditions, communal improvisation, cult films, iconic works of art, and the ambient sounds of the urban landscape. In this way, his music produces a dense network of post-modern meanings that the listener is invited to unravel. The Washington Post has described Lincoln-DeCusatis’s music as “a kind of kaleidoscope…each moment bringing a shift in the harmonic feel and flow, from jazzy licks to piled-up counterpoint to independent chords.” All About Jazz calls him “a musician [who] has absorbed the stylistic vocabularies of the greats and distilled personal approach both muscular and lyrical.” Gramophone magazine (UK) hailed his music as “a dazzling, often momentous slice of life.” Lincoln-Decusatis’s music is widely recorded and programmed on the international concert scene. It has been performed at home and abroad by such groups as The Chesapeake Orchestra, Inscape Chamber Orchestra, The Atlantic Reed Consort, The Great Noise Ensemble, Corvus, The Ellipses Ensemble and by current members of the St. Louis, Utah, and National Symphony Orchestras. Since 2015 he has served as Composer-in-Residence for the Pikes Falls Chamber Music Festival in Vermont, and in 2018 he was the inaugural Composerin-Residence for the Jackson Hole Chamber Music Festival in Wyoming. Awards and accolades include an American Music Center CAP award, the Walsum Prize, an Atlantic Center for the Arts residency under composer/ musician Henry Threadgill, and the Ithaca College Smadbeck Prize.
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PERFORMANCE TIME: 13 MINUTES
Twenty-six miles across the sea. That’s all that separates the English town of Dover from the French port of Calais. But in its classical music traditions, England is worlds apart from the European continent. True, England laid claim to George Friederic Handel, a naturalized British subject who was born in Germany and studied in Italy. Handel imported continental influences that Londoners loved. But from then on, English classical music went its own way. Fast-forward to the first half of the 20th century and we can say that among England’s foremost classical composers, Benjamin Britten was the most international, while Ralph Vaughan Williams was the most English. He was considered the founder of the nationalist movement in English music, and it seems almost inevitable that he assume that mantle. Born in the classic Cotswold village of Down Ampney, he was the son of the local vicar, and his antecedents included stalwarts of English history from the interconnected families of Wedgwood and Darwin. Vaughan Williams studied at Cambridge and in London at the Royal College of Music, where his instructors included two of the principal figures in the resurgence of English music, Charles Stanford and Hubert Parry. The latest musical developments on the continent were by no means outside his knowledge: Starting in 1897, when he was 25, he began studies with Max Bruch in Berlin, and 12 years later took instruction in Paris with Maurice Ravel. But in 1903 he began collecting English folk songs, and was musical editor of The English Hymnal from 1904 to 1906. Throughout his long career, the English folk song tradition from medieval times onward remained his greatest influence. Vaughan Williams composed operas and film scores, and his nine symphonies have earned him a major position among 20th century symphonists. In all these works we can hear what makes him
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NOTES ON THE PROGRAM: 2 / 3 quintessentially English: soft musical contours that seem to echo in music the hills of “England’s green and pleasant land;” a reverence for the natural world; a sensitivity to lyric; a shunning of bombast; an easy familiarity with the ancient modal forms of the English plainsong tradition. The esteemed musicologist Phillip Huscher has described his style as “velvety.” The Lark Ascending is Vaughan Williams’s single most popular work. He composed it in 1914, originally for piano and violin, under the spell—as we listen, that seems not too strong a word—of the beauty of the English countryside in Surrey and his immersion in English folk songs. He was directly inspired by the poetry of George Meredith, who lived nearby and had written a poem called “The Lark Ascending.” Vaughan Williams inscribed these lines from Meredith’s poem in his score: He rises and begins to round, He drops the silver chain of sound, Of many links without a break, In chirrup, whistle, slur and shake. For singing till his heaven fills, ‘Tis love of earth that he instills, And ever winging up and up, Our valley is his golden cup And he the wine which overflows to lift us with him as he goes. Till lost on his aerial rings In light, and then the fancy sings. Vaughan Williams revised the score in 1919, and introduced the version for violin and orchestra in 1921. It is a favorite among listeners, violinists, and bird-lovers.
Carl Orff (1895–1982)
Carmina Burana PERFORMANCE TIME: 60 MINUTES
At least in part, classical musicians are known by the advocates they keep. For German composers of the 20th century including Carl Orff, the matter of public reputation is complicated by an inescapable question: What did you do during World War II? Carl Orff, an elemental musical talent who wrote operas and was an influential music educator, is remembered
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mainly for his amazing, tradition-busting oratorio Carmina Burana, which hit the music world like a thunderbolt. It is a work of exuberance and joy that is enduringly popular and widely copied. But Orff’s music had the misfortune of being popular with bureaucrats of the Third Reich, a fact that cast a shadow over his reputation here until American investigators found no reason to believe he held Nazi sympathies. Born in Munich to a distinguished Bavarian military family in 1895, Orff grew up steeped in German cultural traditions and demonstrated his musical talent early; at a young age he learned to play the piano, organ and cello and composed songs. He graduated from the Munich Academy of Music when he was 18 with a portfolio of early compositions that showed the influence of Debussy’s innovations. He then turned to the more Viennese experiments of Schoenberg, Strauss, and Pfitzner. But the year of his graduation was 1914, and Orff was coming of age in the shadow of World War I. Jobs as Kapellmeister at the Munich Kammerspiele and at theaters in Darmstadt and Mannheim honed his gifts in performance practice and music drama. In 1917 and 1918, as the war drew to a close, Orff was in his early 20s and was engaged in military service. The development of Carmina Burana wove together all the main threads of Orff’s early creative life: his gift for theatrical spectacle, his scholarly interest in medieval forms, and the return to musical innocence of his work in music education with Dorothee Günther (whom he eventually married). The oratorio’s texts are the result of sympathetic work by an earlier scholar: a collection lyrics dating from the 12th and 13th centuries discovered at a monastery in Upper Bavaria by the musicologist J.A. Schmeller in 1847. Schmeller applied the title Carmina Burana, referencing both the monastic order and the region of upper Bavaria where they were found. The obscure verses were mostly in Latin with some in early forms of German and even a bit of early French, but their content was about as far from academic dryness as you can get: These were lusty verses that celebrate the pleasures of loving and drinking, and that comment with ribald frankness on the vicissitudes of everyday life. Orff selected 24 of them for Carmina Burana. Written at a time when the church had a near-monopoly on music and poetry, these rambunctious verses
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pushed the boundaries of acceptable artistic expression in the Middle Ages. They were produced by poets including defrocked priests and minnesingers who counterbalanced the austerity of religious tradition with the earthiness of the here and now. Their humor can seem startlingly modern today. The boisterous energy and all-consuming rhythms of Carmina Burana make hearing it a physical experience as much as an artistic one. And who ever said classical music could be this much fun? (In fact, it was the irresistible sweep and popular appeal of this music that made it of particular interest to the Reich, which had repudiated many modern composers and musicians as “degenerate.”) Billed as a “scenic oratorio,” Carmina Burana originally incorporated costumes for its vocalists as well as an elaborate set. This was a production concept that Orff intended for his subsequent oratorios as well, though his compositions rarely include these elements today. To analysts such as Hanspeter Krellmann and John Horton, this visual spectacle comports with Orff’s aural spectacle: driving, emphatic rhythms, gleaming orchestration, and declarative intensity of musical utterance. Often startlingly explicit, the lyrics of Carmina Burana have at various times been strategically condensed and expurgated. Sexy descriptions, such as one lover’s removal of another’s underwear, share time with raunchy double entendres, such as the description of a knight’s lance rising at the sight of his lady. As is so often the case, censorship has accomplished less than nothing to desensitize these passages, only adding to their fascination. The music, for its part, is not just brazen in shoving the poetry’s sensuality in our faces; it does so with glee, making everything it touches seem innocent.
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Nowhere is this more apparent than in the “In taberna” chorale (In the Tavern), a drinking song that describes the raucous behavior in a local tavern where everyone is present, accounted for, and drinking lustily—the bumpkin, the sage, the pauper, the sick man, the bishop and the deacon, the old woman and the mother among them. The music proceeds with a naive, bouncy double-rhythm that acquires the momentum of an avalanche. Proceeding through sections on springtime, drinking and love, Carmina Burana forms a perfect arch, ending where it began—addressing “Fortune, Empress of the World” and complaining melodramatically about her fickleness. If you think this music sounds especially familiar, there’s a good reason for that: in high-budget advertising for cars and luxury goods, it’s often used to give an air of cosmic importance to the wares that will change our lives. Do the advertisers know that there is an element of self-deprecating humor in this hyper-dramatic music, and that its text, moaning at the capricious empress Fortuna spinning her wheel, is the medieval equivalent of a bunch of drinkers sitting around in a bar griping about life? The overstatement is intentional, and rarely have grandeur and humor coexisted with such comfortable irony. Then again—compare the words to a modern-day counterpart by Rod Stewart: Some guys have all the luck Some guys have all the pain Some guys get all the breaks Some guys do nothing but complain If fortune is indifferent to merit, at least it has spared Orff’s most celebrated composition. Carmina Burana is a work that has become, with Handel’s Messiah, one of the most widely performed oratorios ever written.
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INDIVIDUAL SUPPORT We thank our generous donors for their annual support of Utah Symphony | Utah Opera. This list includes donations received from August 1, 2018 to August 2, 2019. * in-kind donation
** in-kind & cash donations
† deceased
ENCORE ($100,000 OR MORE) Kem & Carolyn Gardner
Anthony & Renee Marlon
Patricia A. Richards & William K. Nichols**
BRAVO ($50,000 TO $99,999) Diane & Hal Brierley James A.† & Marilyn Parke Harris H. & Amanda Simmons
Naoma Tate & the Family of Hal Tate Jacquelyn Wentz
Jack Wheatley
OVERTURE ($25,000 TO $49,999) Scott & Kathie Amann Doyle Arnold & Anne Glarner Judy Brady & Drew W. Browning Michael & Vickie Callen Barron Collier
John & Flora D’Arcy John & Joan Firmage Kristen Fletcher & Dan McPhun Tom & Lorie Jacobson Edward Moreton Fred & Lucy Moreton
Carol & Ted Newlin Mark & Dianne Prothro Alice & Frank Puleo Jonathan & Anne Symonds Jim & Zibby Tozer John & Jean Yablonski Edward & Marelynn Zipser
MAESTRO ($10,000 TO $24,999) Fran Akita A. Scott & Jesselie Anderson Dr. J.R. Baringer & Dr. Jeannette J. Townsend Thomas Billings & Judge Judith Billings Berenice J. Bradshaw Trust Judy & Larry Brownstein Rebecca Marriott Champion William & Patricia Child Howard & Betty Clark Larry Clemmensen Tom Coleman Pat & Sherry Duncan Dr. & Mrs. Ralph Earle Robert & Elisha Finney Thierry & Catherine Fischer** Martin & Jane† Greenberg Doug & Connie Hayes 58
Susan & Tom Hodgson Mary P.† & Jerald H. Jacobs Family G. Frank & Pamela Joklik Bruce & Maxine Johnson Robert & Debra Kasirer Mr. & Mrs. Christopher J. Lansing Charles & Pat McEvoy Richard & Robin Milne Harold W. & Lois Milner Terrell & Leah Nagata Jim & Ann Neal William H. & Christine Nelson Leslie Peterson & Kevin Higgins Frank R. Pignanelli & D’Arcy Dixon
Stephen & Cydney Quinn David & Shari Quinney Dr. Wallace Ring Richard & Carmen Rogers Ted & Lori Samuels Elizabeth Solomon George & Tamie† Speciale Mr. & Mrs. G. B. Stringfellow Steve & Betty Suellentrop Thomas & Marilyn Sutton James R. & Susan Swartz Norman C.† & Barbara L. Tanner Kathleen Digre & Michael Varner Howard & Barbara Wallack Kathie & Hugh Zumbro
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INDIVIDUAL SUPPORT ALLEGRO ($5,000 TO $9,999) Anonymous (5) Craig & Joanna Adamson Edward R. Ashwood & Candice A. Johnson Suzanne & Clisto Beaty Mr. & Mrs. Jim Blair David Brown Carol, Rete & Celine Browning Neill & Linda Brownstein** Marc & Kathryn Cohen Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth R. Cutler Patricia Dougall Eager Trust Spencer & Cleone† Eccles Midge Farkas Jack & Marianne Ferraro Thomas & Lynn Fey Mr. & Mrs. Eric Garen**
Diana George Ray & Howard Grossman Chuck & Kathie Horman Annette & Joseph Jarvis Dale & Beverly Johnson James & Penny Keras Thomas & Carolyn Klassen Gary & Suzanne Larsen Harrison & Elaine Levy Michael Liess Hallie & Ted McFetridge Paul Meecham & Laura Leach Charles & Amy Newhall Dr. Thomas Parks & Dr. Patricia Legant Dr. Dinesh & Kalpana Patel
Brooks & Lenna Quinn Joyce Rice Peggy & Ben Schapiro Barbara & Paul Schwartz Thomas & Gayle Sherry Drs. John & Ann O’Neill† Shigeoka Sidney Stern Memorial Trust Janet Sloan Ms. Janice K. Story Larry & Nancy Tallman Mr. & Mrs. Glen R. Traylor Thomas† & Caroline Tucker Albert & Yvette Ungricht M. Walker & Sue Wallace E. Woolston & Connie Jo Hepworth-Woolston
ABRAVANEL & PETERSON SOCIETY ($2,500 TO $4,999) Anonymous(8) Robert & Cherry Anderson Pj Aniello Mr. & Mrs. William C. Bailey Robert & Sandy Baker Robert & Melisse Barrett Melissa J. Bentley, MD Charlotte & Hal Browning Mr. & Mrs. John Brubaker Richard & Suzanne Burbidge Vincent Cannella Dr.† & Mrs. Anthony Carter Charlene Carter Mark & Marcy Casp Hannalorre Chahine Hal & Cecile Christiansen George & Katie Coleman Raymond & Diana Compton Debbi & Gary Cook Dr. Thomas D. & Joanne D. Coppin David & Donna Dalton
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Ken & Marcie Davis David & Karen Gardner Dee Thomas D. Dee III & Dr. Candace Dee Elizabeth deForest Margarita Donnelly John D. Doppelheuer & Kirsten A. Hanson Margaret Dreyfous Carol & Greg Easton Mrs. Sarah Ehrlich Janet Ellison Kate Fauntleroy Blake & Linda Fisher Adele & James Forman Mr. Joseph F. Furlong III Robert & AnnieLewis Garda Jeffrey L. Giese, M.D. & Mary E. Giese David & Sherrie Gee Kenneth & Amy Goodman Arlen Hale C. Chauncey & Emily Hall
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Dr. Bradford D. Hare & Dr. Akiko Okifuji David & Connie Harris Jeff & Peggy Hatch John Edward Henderson Don & Lisanne Hendricks Sunny & Wes Howell Dixie S. & Robert P. Huefner Michael Huerta & Ann Sowder Ken & Margo Jacobs Jay & Julie Jacobson Drs. Randy & Elizabeth Jensen M. Craig & Rebecca Johns Maxine & Bruce Johnson Bryce & Karen† Johnson Neone F. Jones Family Dr. & Mrs. Michael A. Kalm Susan Keyes & Jim Sulat Jeanne Kimball Ashley & Ron Kirk Carl & Gillean Kjeldsberg
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INDIVIDUAL SUPPORT ABRAVANEL & PETERSON SOCIETY ($2,500 TO $4,999) CONTINUED George Klopfer & Joy Simeonova Howard & Merele Kosowsky Les Kratter Donald L. & Alice A. Lappe Lisa & James Levy Bill Ligety & Cyndi Sharp Herbert† & Helga Lloyd Ms. Susan Loffler Daniel & Deena Lofgren Mr. & Mrs. Kit Lokey Dennis & Pat Lombardi Jeramy Lopez Tom & Jamie Love Gregg & Karen Lund Milt & Carol† Lynnes David & Donna Lyon Keith & Vicki Maio Jennifer & Gideon Malherbe Jed & Kathryn Marti Daniel & Noemi P. Mattis Dale & Carol Matuska Christopher & Julie McBeth Tom & Janet McDougal
Michael & Julie McFadden Michal & Maureen Mekjian Mr. & Mrs. Richard Mithoff Dr. Louis A. Moench & Deborah Moench Glenn & Dav Mosby Marilyn H. Neilson Stephen & Mary Nichols Thomas & Barbara O’Byrne Ruth & William Ohlsen O. Don & Barbara Ostler Chris Parker Dr. S. Keith & Barbara Petersen Robert Petkun Ray Pickup Victor & Elizabeth Pollak Dr. & Mrs.† Marvin L. Rallison Kenneth Roach & Cindy Powell James & Anna Romano Spitzberg-Rothman Foundation Thomas Safran David & Lois Salisbury
Mark & Loulu Saltzman Margaret P. Sargent Grant H. Schettler James & Janet Schnitz Shirley & Eric Schoenholz William G. Schwartz & Jo Ann Givan Howard & Audrey Seares Dewelynn & J. Ryan† Selberg Stuart & Mary Silloway Mary & Doug Sinclair Tim & Judy Terrell Richard & Janet Thompson Ann & Steven Tyler Dr. Ralph & Judith Vander Heide Susan & David† Wagstaff John & Susan Walker Gerard & Sheila Walsh Wesley Warren & Amber Hawkins-Warren Susan Warshaw Dan & Amy Wilcox Gayle & Sam Youngblood
PATRON ($1,500 TO $2,499) Anonymous (5) Drs. Crystal & Dustin Armstrong Fred & Linda Babcock Susan Benson Roger & Karen Blaylock Mr. & Mrs. William D. Callister Mr. & Mrs. Lee Forrest Carter Larry & Judy Cohen Dorothy B. Cromer Pat & Nancy Forester Thomas Fuller Heidi Gardner Dr. & Mrs. John Greenlee
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David & SandyLee Griswold** Kenneth & Kate Handley Connie C. Holbrook Mr. & Mrs. Jerry Huffman Caroline & David Hundley James R. Jones & Family Bill & Sharon Macey Clifton & Terri McIntosh Cheri Measom George & Nancy Melling Dan & Janet Myers Dr. & Mrs. Richard T. O’Brien Lee K. Osborne Robert† & Catherine Pedersen
Jayne Roth Gibbs† & Catherine W. Smith Neylan McBaine & Elliot Smith Christine St. Andre & Cliff Hardesty Douglas & Susan Terry Robert R. & Sue A. Webb Charles & Ellen Wells Jeremy & Hila Wenokur Marsha & Richard Workman Carol Zimmerman Greg Grimshaw
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INDIVIDUAL SUPPORT FRIEND ($1,000 TO $1,499) Anonymous (3) Christine A. Allred Dr. & Mrs. Jeffrey L. Anderson Ian Arnold David & Rebecca Bateman E. Wayne† & Barbara Baumgardner Jennie & Charlie Beckham Victoria Bennion C. Kim & Jane Blair Michael Blum & Abigail Rose Diane Banks Bromberg & Dr. Mark Bromberg Janice Burk Lindsay & Carla Carlisle Dana Carroll & Jeannine Marlowe Carroll Michael & Beth Chardack William J. Coles & Joan L. Coles Dr. & Mrs. David Coppin James Dashner Larry Dickerson James & Rula Dickson Kathleen & Frank Dougherty Alice Edvalson Eric & Shellie Eide Eva Carlston Academy Robert S. Felt, M.D. James & Barbara T. Gaddis Quinn & Julie Gardner Bob & Mary Gilchrist Ralph & Rose Gochnour
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Mr. & Mrs. Richard R. Graham Sue & Gary Grant John & Ilauna Gurr Geraldine Hanni Robert & Marcia Harris Jonathan Hart Courtney Henley Camille Huchton Scott Huntsman Eldon Jenkins & Amy Calara Chester & Marilyn Johnson Jill Johnson Rick & Paulette Katzenbach Umur Kavlakoglu Robert & Karla Knox Julie Korenberg, Ph.D, M.D. & Stefan Pulst, M.D. Mr. & Mrs. Bruce M. Lake Guttorm & Claudia Landro Tim & Angela Laros Mr. & Mrs. Melvyn L. Lefkowitz Thomas & Mary McCarthey Lex Hemphill & Nancy Melich Dr. Nicole L. Mihalopoulos & Joshua Scoville Hal & JeNeal Miller Dr. Jean H. & Dr. Richard R. Miller Henriette Mohebbizadeh Barry & Kathy Mower Sir David Murrell IV & Mary Beckerle
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Oren & Liz Nelson Timothy & Lisa O’Brien Joseph J.† & Dorothy Moyle Palmer Linda S. Pembroke Rori & Nancy Piggott Thomas B. Pilger Renee & Russell Plumb W.E. & Harriet R. Rasmussen Dr. Barbara S. Reid Dr. Richard & Frances Reiser Gina Rieke Janet Schaap Sandefur Schmidt Mr. August L. Schultz Bianca Shepard Dennis & Annabelle Shrieve Barbara Slaymaker Mr. & Mrs. Isaac Stein Dr. & Mrs. Michael H. Stevens Richard & Karen Urankar David H. & Barbara S. Viskochil Gerald & Sheila Walsh Brad E. & Linda P. Walton Dr. James C. Warenski Renee Waters Scott & Mary Wieler Cindy Williams Margaret & Gary Wirth David B. & Anne Wirthlin Doug & Becky Wood
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ENDOWMENT
DONORS TO UTAH SYMPHONY | UTAH OPERA ENDOWMENT Utah Symphony | Utah Opera is grateful to those donors who have made commitments to our Endowment Fund. The Endowment Fund is a vital resource that helps the long-term well-being & stability of USUO, & through its annual earnings, supports our Annual Fund. For further information, please contact 801-869-9015. Gael Benson Edward Ashwood & Candice Johnson Estate of Alexander Bodi The Elizabeth Brown Dee Fund for Music in the Schools Lawrence T. & Janet T. Dee Foundation Thomas & Candace Dee
Hearst Foundation Roger & Susan Horn The Right Reverend Carolyn Tanner Irish & Frederick Quinn Edward & Barbara Moreton Estate of Pauline C. Pace Perkins-Prothro Foundation
Kenneth† & Jerrie Randall The Evelyn Rosenblatt Young Artist Award Bill & Joanne Shiebler James R. & Susan Swartz Norman C. Tanner & Barbara L. Tanner Trust O.C. Tanner Company M. Walker & Sue Wallace
GIFTS MADE IN HONOR Neill & Linda Brownstein Burton & Elaine Gordon Barbara Scowcroft & Ralph Matson
Mrs. Barbara Nellestein Joanne & Bill Shiebler Grant Gill Smith Dale Strobel
Matthew & Maria Proser Whittney Thomas J. Brian Whitesides
GIFTS MADE IN MEMORY Jay T. Ball Dawn Ann Bailey Betty Bristow Robert H. Burgoyne, M.D. Kathie Dalton Peggy Chase Dreyfous Robert Ehrlich Leah Burrows Felt Loraine L. Felton
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Crawford Gates Lowell P. Hicks Dr. Gary B. Kitching M.D. Harry Lakin Warren K. (Sandy) McOmber Dr. Richard George Middleton Jack Newton
Glade & Mardean Peterson Clyde Dennis Meadows Shirley Corbett Russell J. Ryan Selberg Frank & Maxine McIntyre Ann O’Neill Shigeoka, M.D. Phillis “Philly” Sims Maxine Winn
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INSTITUTIONAL DONORS We thank our generous donors for their annual support of Utah Symphony | Utah Opera. This list includes donations received from August 1, 2018 to August 2, 2019. * in-kind donation
** in-kind & cash donation
$100,000 OR MORE Anonymous The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Foundation Lawrence T. & Janet T. Dee Foundation Dominion Energy Emma Eccles Jones Foundation George S. & Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation Marriner S. Eccles Foundation
The Florence J. Gillmor Foundation Hearst Foundation Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Foundation O.C. Tanner John and Marcia Price Family Foundation Salt Lake County Salt Lake County Zoo, Arts, and Parks Sorenson Legacy Foundation
Summit County Restaurant Tax/RAP Tax Utah Division of Arts & Museums / National Endowment for the Arts Utah State Legislature / Utah State Board of Education Zions Bank
The Kahlert Foundation League of American Orchestras’ Futures Fund
Northern Trust Utah Symphony Guild
Joan & Tim Fenton Foundation Frederick Q. Lawson Foundation LOVE Communications** McCarthey Family Foundation Montage Deer Valley** Moreton Family Foundation Charles Maxfield & Gloria F. Parrish Foundation Simmons Family Foundation
Stein Eriksen Lodge** STRUCK* Summit Sotheby’s Norman C.† & Barbara L. Tanner Second Charitable Trust Nora Eccles Treadwell Foundation Utah Symphony Guild Vivint.SmartHome
$50,000 TO $99,999 Anonymous The Grand America Hotel & Little America Hotel* Janet Q. Lawson Foundation
$25,000 TO $49,999 Anonymous Arnold Machinery Carol Franc Buck Foundation Brent & Bonnie Jean Beesley Foundation BMW of Murray/ BMW of Pleasant Grove Cache Valley Electric Chevron Corporation C. Comstock Clayton Foundation Deer Valley Resort*
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INSTITUTIONAL DONORS $10,000 TO $24,999 Anonymous Adobe HJ & BR Barlow Foundation B.W. Bastian Foundation Big D Construction R. Harold Burton Foundation Caffè Molise* Marie Eccles Caine FoundationRussell Family Cultural Vision Fund Daynes Music Company*
Discover Financial Services Matthew B. Ellis Foundation The Evelyn Rosenblatt Young Artist Award Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC Grandeur Peak Global Advisors The Val A. Green & Edith D. Green Foundation Richard K. & Shirley S. Hemingway Foundation The John C. Kish Foundation Johnson Foundation of the Rockies
Park City Chamber/ Visitors Bureau Promontory Foundation S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney Foundation Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield of Utah St. Regis / Deer Crest Club** University of Utah Health WCF Mutual Insurance Company W. Mack & Julie S. Watkins Foundation Wells Fargo
Thank You to Our Advertisers… American Honda Motor Company BMW of Murray
BYU Performing Arts Ken Garff Volvo
Kids on the Move
Medical Supplies Outlet
Noorda Center for the Performing Arts OC Tanner
Stacey’s Comfort Shoes Utah Festival Opera
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INSTITUTIONAL DONORS $5,000 TO $9,999 Anonymous The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc. Deluxe Corporation Foundation The Dorsey & Whitney Foundation George Restaurant* Holland & Hart
Hyatt Centric Park City** J. Wong’s Thai & Chinese Bistro* Jones Waldo Park City Martine* Onstage Ogden Orem City CARE Tax Rancho Markets Raymond James & Associates
Rocky Mountain Power Foundation Ruth’s Chris Steak House* Salt Lake City Arts Council Stay Park City* U.S. Bank Foundation Union Pacific Foundation Utah Autism Foundation
Henry W. & Leslie M. Eskuche Charitable Foundation Inwest Title Services, Inc. M Lazy M Foundation Moka
Morris Murdock Travel Snell & Wilmer Squatters Pub* Zurchers
Millcreek Coffee Roasters* Prime Steakhouse Ray, Quinney & Nebeker Foundation
Glenna & Lawrence Shapiro Family Foundation Snow, Christensen & Martineau Foundation
Nebeker Family Foundation Strong & Hanni, PC
Swire Coca-Cola, USA*
$2,500 TO $4,999 Bambara* Bertin Family Foundation Robert S. Carter Foundation CBRE Ditta Caffè*
$1,500 TO $2,499 Castle Foundation Corning Incorporated Foundation The Helper Project Constellation Brands
$1,000 TO $1,499 Anonymous The Fanwood Foundation Western Office
The Utah Symphony at The Noorda is supported in part by a generous grant from the American Orchestras’ Futures Fund, a program of the League of American Orchestras made possible by funding from the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation. Additional support provided by the Orem CARE tax and the Noorda Center for the Performing Arts.
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ADMINISTRATION ADMINISTRATION Paul Meecham
DEVELOPMENT Leslie Peterson
David Green
Jessica Proctor
President & CEO
Senior Vice President & COO
Julie McBeth
Executive Assistant to the CEO
Collette Cook
Executive Assistant to the Sr. VP and COO & Office Manager
SYMPHONY ARTISTIC Thierry Fischer
Symphony Music Director
Anthony Tolokan
Vice President of Symphony Artistic Planning
Vice President of Development
ACCOUNTING & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Steve Hogan
Director of Institutional Giving
Mike Lund
Vice President of Finance & CFO Director of Information Technologies
Olivia Custodio
Karyn Cunliffe
Director of Individual Giving
Heather Weinstock
Controller
Director of Special Events & DVMF Donor Relations
Alison Mockli
Payroll & Benefits Manager
Lisa Poppleton
Jared Mollenkopf
Grants Manager
Patron Information Systems Manager
Nikki Orlando
Development Operations Manager
Ali Snow
Ellesse Hargreaves
Barlow Bradford
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS Jon Miles
Symphony Chorus Director
Walt Zeschin
Director of Orchestra Personnel
Andrew Williams
Orchestra Personnel Manager
Lance Jensen
Executive Assistant to the Music Director Symphony Chorus Manager
SYMPHONY OPERATIONS Cassandra Dozet
Director of Orchestra Operations
Melissa Robison
Program Publication & Front of House Director
Chip Dance
Production & Stage Manager
Jeff F. Herbig
Properties Manager & Assistant Stage Manager
Kate Henry
Operations Manager
Lyndsay Keith
Artist Logistics Coordinator
Robyne Anderson
2nd Assistant Stage Manager
OPERA ARTISTIC Christopher McBeth Opera Artistic Director
Carol Anderson Principal Coach
Michelle Peterson
Opera Company Manager
Michaella Calzaretta Opera Chorus Master
Accounts Payable Accountant
EDUCATION Paula Fowler
Annual Fund Coordinator
Conner Gray Covington Associate Conductor
Bobbie Williams
Development Assistant
Vice President of Marketing & Public Relations
Director of Education & Community Outreach
Kyleene Johnson
Symphony Education Manager
Becca Gee
Opera Education Assistant
RenĂŠe Huang
Annie Farnbach
Director of Communications & Digital Media
Symphony Education Assistant
Digital Content Producer
OPERA TECHNICAL Jared Porter
Website Content Coordinator
Kelly Nickle
Kathleen Sykes
Senior Technical Director
Nina Starling
Properties Master
PATRON SERVICES Faith Myers
JR Orr
Assistant Props
Director of Patron Engagement
Travis Stevens
Merry Magee
Marketing Manager - Patron Loyalty
Mara Lefler
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COSTUMES Verona Green
Patron Services Assistant
Jessica Cetrone
Andrew J. Wilson
Costume Director
Hallie Wilmes
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Genevieve Gannon
Kierstin Gibbs LisaAnn DeLapp
Group Sales Associate
Sarah Pehrson Jackie Seethaler Powell Smith
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Nicholas Barker Gavin Benedict Lorraine Fry Jodie Gressman Ellen Lewis Ananda Spike
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Krissa Lent
Opera Production Coordinator
Wigs/Make-up Crew We would also like to recognize our interns and temporary and contracted staff for their work and dedication to the success of utah symphony | utah opera.
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Elementary students create their own opera through Music!Words!Opera!
to Utah Symphony
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Utah Opera!
U Your music was amazing. It put me in a better mood.
n
-STUDENT, BROCKBANK ELEMENTARY, NEBO SCHOOL DISTRICT
Need a mood boost? If music brightens your day, won't you consider a tax deductible donation to Utah Symphony I Utah Opera (USUO)?
Only 30% of our revenue comes from ticket sales and we could use your help. As a 501(c)(3) non-profit, we rely on a combination of private and public support to sustain not only outstanding musical experiences, but educational and community outreach programs to every part of Utah as well. Would you be willing to help us with the remaining 70%?
For more information:
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And here's something to really make you smile: if you are a first-time donor, or if you wish to increase your annual gift, the George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation will match your contribution 2:1 ! Thank you for being a member of our audience. Seeing you at performances definitely puts us in a better mood!
Utah Symphony Associate Conductor Conner Gray Covington conducts the Orem High School Orchestra as part of our "Musicians in the Classroom" initiative.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS UTAH SYMPHONY | UTAH OPERA 123 West South Temple Salt Lake City, UT 84101 801-533-5626 EDITOR
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